It's Got A Hold of Me!

Cue music:

"Procrastination's got a hold of me"

It's in quotes because Michael McLean is the author of those words, not your's truly. It's part of his, no doubt, mountain of unpublished songs.

But, though I didn't pen the words, they describe exactly where I am in my life.

Here is my top ten list of favorite things to procrastinate:

10. Sweeping my kitchen floor. Thankfully, my floor hides a multitude of dirt!

9. Making visiting teaching appointments. I adore visiting with my sisters, but actually making the phone call is, for some reason, not something I want to do right now.

8. Putting away folded towels. I have insufficient towel storage space. So it's a struggle every time and I'll do it later.

7. Requesting medical flexible spending reimbursement. The paperwork; dotting every i or their gonna reject it; makes me tired.

6. Returning neighbor's dishes. When my family is in need and a neighbor or ward member brings dinner in, I am always grateful. But, I confess that I groan inwardly when I see real dishes, knowing they will sit on my counter for days (or weeks) and be washed several times before finding their way back to their rightful owner. (which will make me feel guilt and who needs THAT?)

5. Folding laundry. I'm getting a smidge better about this one, less attitude and more just get' er done!

4. Responding to event invitations on facebook. Don't know why, but I put it off until the last minute.

3. Eating and exercising. This one important to me, and yet, I've been in the, I'll start tomorrow mode for three solid weeks, pudging right up!

2. Mating socks. I know, I know, I already listed folding laundry, but mating socks is in a league by itself. I will NEVER have good attitude about mating socks.

1. Entering receipts into Quicken. The more I put it off, the more motivated I am to do everything but! This happens to be the thing I'm procrastinating at the moment.

What do you procrastinate?

Snippets of my life

No time for profound thoughts or beautiful prose today but I wanted to post a few things. So here they are:

1. Holding my first grandchild for hours on end was one of the sweetest things I've ever done. Mom and Dad don't want pictures of her on the internet yet, so no pics, but in time honored grandma fashion, I think she's the most beautiful baby on the planet!


2. My son told me about this article in Salon magazine about feminist, atheist women addicted to Mormon Mommy blogs; a very interesting read. However, I had two beefs: 1. The notion that a majority of mormon women are stay-at-home moms because of societal pressures. It says a lot about our world that the assumption is that women would never freely choose this lifestyle for themselves. 2. Many of the comments and a smidge of the article were skeptical that these "ideal" lives, without trial or struggle are real ("arranging flowers all day" etc). One of the four blogs mentioned in the article, of which I am an avid follower, NieNie Dialogues, catalogues Stefanie Nielson's life as a mom. Far from a life without trial, this woman was burned over most of her body in a plane crash, almost died and still struggles daily with physical limitations as a result. And yet, she chooses to focus on the beauty. It doesn't get more real than this.

3. Being in the east to visit family, I did not clean a thing, cook a meal, or scold a single child for five whole days. It was bliss. I also did not receive a single kid's kiss, snuggle any sleepy seven year olds, or giggle and play with with my twelve and fifteen year olds. It was a pit!
It's good to be home!

Thppbbppptt!

I am supposed to be holding my granddaughter right now, but nature had other ideas. Today, flights that I was scheduled to sit my keister on have been delayed more than a dozen times and cancelled at least six times. As my youngest sister would say, "THAT WHOMPS!"

I'm pinning my hopes on tomorrow and the weather had better cooperate if it knows what's good for it!

Random Thoughts

I'm taking a break from Christian Connection Thursdays today. I'll bring it back next week, but it's just not happening today and I'm gonna embrace that and move on.

Some thoughts that are dancing around in my brain:

Random thought #1
I sometime wonder if my children are "getting it". Do they understand why we live the way we do? Are they developing a love for, and a desire to be obedient to our Father? Am I providing opportunities for them to come to know God? Am I filling them up with my love so it will be easier for them to recognize His? It's so easy to get caught up in the minutia of life that you don't take time for the big important stuff. You know, cuddles, laughs, pointing out the blessings and savoring them, teaching them in the moment, even if the moment falls in the middle of a rush to get somewhere, asking what's on their mind. I truly believe these are some of the most important things, but they're not the squeeky wheel and so often don't get the "grease". (This random thought was brought to you by the desire to do better)

Random thought #2
The other day, Girlie-Whirl offered family prayer. I think the following is word for word:
Note: She says, Thankly for we thank thee, but what she really means is "please bless". We've worked on it, but she persists and since I wish I were more thankful for the trials and struggles, I haven't tried too hard. Her thankly's are a little whisper of reminder from God (when I let them be).
Henly Father,

We thankly for those that are sad to be happy.We thankly for Mrs. Frandsen's husband. We thankly for Sister Jones. In  the name...
Sweet, simple, direct, and all about others who need help.


Random thought #3
Is it possible to keep an organized house without putting in any effort? I keep desperately searching for a method that will not take time and energy, but alas, I can't find one!

Random thought #4
Having older children call home and "dish" is one of life's great joys!

Catching up. #2 Bread?

We load our bread machine every sunday morning. We adore coming home from church to the smell of hot bread.

Last sunday we came home to this.

This is the top of the loaf.

Here's the bottom.

My son swears he put all the right stuff in. We have no idea what went wrong. Any ideas?