Taking Advantage of a Good Day

I've been going through *My Entire House* weeding out the stuff we've hoarded but never used over the past 13 years of wedded bliss in this house. Yesh, I said wedded bliss. Anyway, back to my point. It's absolutely shocking what we'll hold on to. Magazines from years ago, VHS movies we'll NEVER watch again, dishes, old mismatched silverware, nic nacs I don't even like, every piece of clothing Rachel ever owned that wasn't torn or utterly stained, all of her baby stuff - blankets, crib set, toddler bed set, toys, etc. I have 8 HUGE boxes filled with toys alone. It's shocking. But as I go along, I scrub and rearrange and dispose of to either the trash or the currently in use yard sale box. In the end, my whole purpose is to make my house easier to keep clean (with A LOT less clutter) and to have a peaceful feeling of great accomplishment. It ain't easy cleaning all this stuff out of here. And I have to keep reminding myself the 300 boxes stacked in my bedroom will be gone in a couple of weeks - sold or dropped at Goodwill if it doesn't sell. I can hold on that long, can't I?

Breaking Up Summer

I love my daughter. We get along almost all the time. We enjoy each other's company. I love the person she is growing in to. I love to sneak in after she's gone to sleep at night and kiss her soft little cheek, telling her how much I love her and what a wonderful child she is. I secretly hope those words sink deeply into her sleeping mind so she can call them up when things make her feel less than the beautiful, amazing girl she is.

That said, being with her 24/7 for the past month plus has been a little....trying. We desperately needed a break. Then Girl Scout Day Camp, earned by selling many, many Girl Scout cookies this year, came calling. It's from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. all week. She's on her second day there and though I do miss her as we always miss our children when they are elsewhere, I know we will be happier with each other when this week long break ends. She had a blast yesterday, though she was very worn out from being in the heat all day. She made two new friends. She was happy to sit in the air conditioning and work on a story she's been writing. She had a whole new outlook on life (and her mother, whom she actually appreciated last night). Yep, I'd have to say breaking up the summer for a bit is a very good thing.

Concerts

I read a wonderful blog that one of my friends contributes to called Light Refreshments Served (you can link to it off my blog). It's written by 5 LDS women on just about any subject that crosses their minds. Oh, and they have free giveaways. Good ones. Anyway, one of them posted about attending the Police reunion concert (Sting) with her son. She mentioned first time concerts and it made me think about the first concert I ever attended. Of course, who was performing shows just how old I am. It was in the 1970's and my parents took my best friend and I to see Kris Kristofferson. Who??? you may ask. Yeah, well, it was a long time ago. Everyone around us was smoking pot and our 14 year old selves started giggling our heads off, all the while wondering what was so funny. And the concert was at the coolest outdoor amphitheater in the world (in my humble opinion), Red Rocks. The pics don't do it justice and the acoustics are amazing:

I posted a comment on that blog about how I believe my next concert was KISS. Awww, no body does it like Gene Simmons, eh?

Writing - Cleaning - Writing - Cleaning

I have a messy house. No, really. It's beginning to be filled with boxes of things we'll put out for a yard sale this summer (don't ask when - it's all based on how soon we get everything together which requires Jay's help). In the meantime, I'm keeping up laundry and dishes but that's about it. Now that's disgusting because we have 3 pets in this little house and I need to vacuum at LEAST twice a week and it's been almost a whole week. Usually, I run the vacuum 3 or more times a week, depending on how bad the hair seems to be getting. In the summertime, it's pretty bad. But today I WILL vacuum so I can stand being in this place. I'm just so torn. My creativity is really topping out right now - meaning I'm making great strides on my book. At the same time, I'm really needing to finish going through closets, cabinets, drawers and books to sort out for a yard sale. In between all that is a house in need of a good scrubbing. So, naturally, I've chosen to write.

With that said, I'm off to work on my book.

Fireworks, as Promised - Every Year

We got married in a fever - so the song goes. We'd planned an October wedding (the closest date to Jay's birthday in an effort to help him remember it- HA), but we couldn't wait. Okay, well circumstances brought us to a point where we really needed to marry sooner. But I couldn't whip it all together that quickly. So, we had a small ceremony with just my parents as witnesses (Jay's mom lived out of state at the time) on a hillside in Estes Park by the stone ruins of an old hotel. It was beautiful. Jay wore a suit and I bought a beautiful full skirt, lacy tank top and silky blouse all in white. A female Justice of the Peace married us. She is often mistaken for a sister by people who see the pictures which completely cracks us up. And the date? July 4, 1994. He promised me fireworks on our wedding night and then every year after on our anniversary and he's kept it. Well, he's had a lot of help.

I used to introduce Jay as my first husband, pause and then add he was also my second and third husband because we've had 3 ceremonies. I can assure you I got some strange looks both with the first husband comment and then the others. The July 4th one we celebrate, the October 8, 1994 big one I could have lived without (it was so stressful and I was all on my own planning, decorating and pulling it together with a rather uncooperative spouse) and then sealed in the temple April 24, 1997.

He's missed the last couple of years anniversaries because of work. I expected he would miss this year, too. But then he called me and told me he was on his way home and wouldn't be going back to work until Monday night. I was so surprised and happy, I just burst into tears. And it was a wonderful weekend. We were peaceful, had fun with a picnic at a park with our dog and daughter while we listened to the symphony and then an Air Academy band. At dark, we watched a really nice display of fireworks. And once again, we celebrated our anniversary with his promise kept. Fourteen years and it seems like so much longer. For all our problems in the past, I can hardly remember my life before him. We spent no money - just wrote each other a love letter and enjoyed the day. It was the best anniversary I can remember. Wouldn't mind a few more just like it. With the fireworks, of course!

Times Flies When You're Having.....Fun?

Days go by and I dread each one of them in the heat of the summer. I move less because I am miserable. I am sure being fat adds to this discomfort, but even as a thin child when it was hot, I didn't cope well. I actually feel a bit ill in the heat. It sort of runs in the family with my mother, a sister and a nephew being the same way. Once it's over 80, I'm very uncomfortable. But once it hits the 90's, I'm sick from the heat. I put refrigerated witchhazel on a paper towel and put it on the back of my neck. I drink lots of ice water and little else to stay well hydrated. I eat as healthy as I can with fruit and veggies mostly. I get up early to get an early start. In fact, I ran our dog this morning around 9 a.m. Came in sweating and miserable. But every chore I need to attend to is even more of a chore. Ah well, only two more months of this - meh.

I have most of my house clean but still need to get to the living room and the downstairs floors. It's all I can do to make myself do it. Dang, I wish that one, we had enough money to run our AC and two, that the dang AC worked well. Alas, neither is the case. So we sit with fans running and move only when we must for the most part.

I did find some stepping stones (something we'd wanted for some time now for our backyard but had put off the expense). They were actually in the fenced area around dumpster. I took all 8 of them. They are nice and in perfect shape. Apparently someone just wanted a new look. Probably the couple that live behind us and down one. They have a beautiful backyard - though really not a yard as he's paved it all. They keep it up well. Anyway, Jay will clean up the backyard when he gets home and place the ones we can use. I doubt we'll need all 8, but better safe than sorry. And the best part - they were free. If only I had the wherewithal to hit the construction sites and ask to go through their left over rubbish. People get great free stuff doing that, but I'm always nervous about it.

We had a busy weekend this past week with a swim meet on Saturday and then a swimming birthday party on Sunday that I let Rachel go to. It's wwaayy too easy to not go to church when you haven't been for a few weeks (because of my parents visiting), so we've had to recommit to go this Sunday no matter what. And I find I actually struggle a bit with my faith when we haven't been to church in a while. It feels as though we have been forgotten sometimes. It's as though we try and try, struggle and struggle but to no avail. We can't cut a break or get ahead. So I try to consider something small like the finding of the stepping stones our little boost. Not much to jump about, but it's something. In the meantime, I pray Jay can find a better paying job, that I can get my book done and then published for enough money to clear our debt and that we can put some money into fixing up our very ghetto looking house....sigh. Am I asking for too much?