Blog Break--The Catch Up Post

So I didn't make it a whole week, but 5 days without blogging is a first for me. Remember, I have the interim blogger (aka Randy, the groove buster) blog for me when I'm out of the country or ill, so this has been quite a stretch. It was kind of nice not to read blogs because that sometimes feels like a never ending job, but then again I don't know anything that's going on with anyone else and I don't like that at all.


This experience was jolting for me because I think we have a very supportive, friendly community of blogging friends. We tend to encourage and commiserate rather than criticize, so the fact that the gibberish, nonpoem I dashed off in an exhausted and flustered state could spark such comments and feelings has been eye opening. I don't think of my blog as some big, public blog or a forum for discussion. This is a record of my life, a place to vent, share and document the minutia of my days. I only ever expected my friends and family to read it, so if there are people who don't like what I have to say, please don't read it.

Blog Break Day 1--Swing Low

This was rough and depressing day for me. Jessie's comment on my "Give Me A Break" post summed up my feelings best...

"Okay, here's the thing. I am going to take the liberty to interpret some of what I think Jill may be feeling: It's not just 'miss annonymous's' comments that are bumming you out. I think there was such a flood of comments that contradicted how you expressed that it felt like an attack. Having a difference of opinion and attitude is fine- in fact, at times it is paramount. We need to learn from each other's strengths and differences. The problem as I see it though, is that so many of those differing opinions came in nagging, self-righteous, or judgmental ways. NOT just anonymous. As I said, I'm glad that some of us seem to excel where others may struggle, but that doesn't give anyone a position of superiority, judgment, or condescension. If I am anything, I hope to be empathetic to the plights of others, offering an occasional difference of opinion in a kind way. Some people did a great job, but I'm afraid a few were a little too preachy. Now I'm being the judgmental one... Oops."

Fortunately Amie called and decided to bring lunch and some good mail for me. I had spent the morning in the cozy reading and was seriously giving in to the blues.


Amie brought Sonic for us to have for lunch, plus a reusable shopping bag, 2 packages of my favorite candle melts (Sage & Citrus), and a package of gum.


It was therapeutic to sit and visit with her while we ate lunch. (I got some wicked brain freeze from my cherry slushy, but kept going back for more.) I'm way too prone to brooding if left to it, and I didn't have any obligations on Monday (not even my presidency meeting) so I was left to my negative thoughts. Not good. So hooray and thanks to Amie for being such a good friend.


Later in the afternoon I was asked to come help out with Landon's Scout Meeting...ugh. I wasn't happy about this, but didn't have a good reason not to go help so I went. It ended up being pretty fun and got me out of the house so it was a blessing.


Later that day, Randy and I were on the bed reading (can you tell I like to be cocooned in pillows?) when Lori stopped by. She took this picture of us, and I must say I'm happy to have it. It's the sort of thing we do often but wouldn't normally ever have a picture of it. Kind of funny?

Overall it was a rough day for me, I felt so lost not having blogging as an outlet. I was starting to panic and fear that blogging was ruined for me, but it was only day 1 of the break so those feelings were irrational.

Blog Break Day 2--It's Good to be Busy


Tuesday morning my partner and I went visiting teaching to two new sisters in the ward. We had good visits with both of them. I chose to share this passage from Ronald Rasband's talk from General Conference.

"Our personal journey through life provides us with many special experiences that become building blocks of faith and testimony. These experiences come to us in vastly different ways and at unpredictable times. They can be powerful spiritual events or small enlightening moments. Some experiences will come as serious challenges and heavy trials that test our ability to cope with them. No matter what the experience may be, each gives us a chance for personal growth, greater wisdom, and, in many cases, service to others with more empathy and love."

Lori and I met for our weekly lunch, but went to The Toaster Oven instead of Thanksgiving Point. Our combined meal total was $7.85, so we were much happier with the total, though the food wasn't nearly as satisfying.


We took this solemn self-portrait since we'd spent our lunch bemoaning our anonymous commenters (she's had some recently as well). It was kind of nice that we were both feeling the same frustrations.

After lunch I headed over to the school and did some serious collating. I had my system down beautifully and got tons of work done for Landon's teacher. I listened to NPR Selected Shorts on my ipod and was in my own little world in the middle of the busy teacher workroom. (I didn't take pictures.)


Patsy sent me this sweet card and made life a bit better by doing so. Thanks Patsy!


That evening we had the kids' 2nd games of the season. Randy and I are both helping out as assistant coaches with Whitney's coach-pitch team. This means I'm the first base coach and Randy's the 3rd base coach. We basically remind the kids to run, and cheer them on while they play, it's pretty fun.


Randy helps out with Landon's machine-pitch team. They play after Whitney's game (they have the same coach) so that means we're at the park for almost 3 hours on Tuesday nights. I love being out there and being a part of it all. It's fun to watch the games, and am very loud on sidelines, I can't help myself, it just doesn't seem like a place to be quiet. Landon actually thanked me for cheering him on.

Day 2 ended up being a good and busy day, and ended nicely with American Idol watching.

Blog Break Day 3--Home Sweet Home

On Wednesday I got to stay home all day. Michelle had offered to come over and help me tackle my very unruly flowerbeds, but I declined in favor of hanging out in my room. She is very generous to make such an offer, especially because she knows how bad it would be. Randy was out (I can't remember what he was doing) so I had the house to myself (delightful). I spent a long time on the computer organizing photos and loading them into Smugmug. I've taken so many photos this month that it was a big job to get them all under control.


I ended up watching the BBC Show Clatterford on the computer while I worked. It is hilarious, I am completely smitten with it and love the characters and hilarious, dry humor. What a treat to discover this show through Netflix. These women were great companions for me on Day 3 of my blogging break.



One of Whitney's friends invited us to watch her in a play that day so Whitney and I went to see it that afternoon. Plays are so NOT my favorite thing, and this was their dress rehearsal so it was a little bumpy. Whitney really liked it though so I'm glad we went. I can appreciate the fun of the experience for those involved in the performance, but I really don't enjoy watching shows like this, it was less embarrassing than usual because it was all kids, but still. This one combined Pirates of the Caribbean, Sponge Bob, The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo so the story was rather hard to follow, maybe this is what it feels like for kids all the time.

Happy Birthday Lara!!!

Blog Break Day 4--Modern Dance and Me

Thursday was interesting. I headed to BYU in the back of a minivan (not my favorite place to be) along with 3 other women who will be running the school's PTA next year. Apparently I'm going to be our Public Relations person. I'm not quite sure how this happened.

You see, I had a conversation a couple months ago with the woman who is going to be one of the co-presidents next year. I know her from Whitney's soccer team last year because she was the coach and I was her assistant. She's looking to create a more sane PTA experience and thought I'd make a nice addition to their team, hmm.


So we went to the Statewide PTA Conference on Thursday. It was like Women's Conference, but different. We split up for our various classes, so I went to the Public Relations class to find out what I'm supposed to do. The words "alert the media" were involved. Right...


When we first checked in, we were given a blue bag with a bunch of information packets in them. We thought these were party favors or something, but as the day went on we realized how necessary they were. There were loads of vendors there sharing information and vying to be the fund raisers for as many schools as possible, so these people were all giving out treats, information, prizes and more. It was crazy in there, but the food parts were fun.


One of my duties will be doing the monthly newsletter, so I went to the newsletter class. One of the points the teacher stressed over and over again was the importance of proofreading, which was ironic considering the major typo on the front of the packet.

The other class I went to was called "Language and the Arts". I had no expectations for this class and was super surprised when the teacher asked us all to take off her shoes (my pleasure) and to join her on the floor for some dancing! What??! She's a professional dancer and uses dance to help teach. It was fascinating. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with this information, but it was really fun to be part of the class.

{My best friend Betsy and I dancing in the rain in her driveway
an hour before our high school graduation.}

She had us doing 16 count moves showing stretching, walking, working, celebrating and resting. This involved 100 women roaming all over a huge classroom striking all kinds of poses, skipping, holding hands and smiling. It sound ridiculous, but it was contagiously fun. I had a moment of remembering how much I used to love to dance and how it was such a part of my life through childhood and high school. It's just sad that other than a few dances classes at BYU I haven't danced in like 16 years! This struck me as seriously sad that I've forgotten a big part of myself. PTA who knew??

Blog Break Day 5--All Kinds of Good

By Friday morning I was feeling like my old self. All of the kind comments, emails, cards and phone calls have done much to boost my spirits. I opened up the Operation Cheer package that Rachel brought me to the blog party (hello, 2 weeks ago!).

I don't know why I was waiting, I guess I was saving it for a day I really, really wanted it and didn't mind documenting it (sometimes the thought of that makes me wait). She gave me a nice note, these beautiful cards and some coconut kisses. Thanks Rachel!

Claudia had given me a Christmas gift (that's right, Christmas) at the blog party also. It is NOT unusual at all for me to receive a Christmas gift from her in May, and it's always a treat. I opened the box up yesterday and let out a squeal of delight. She has such a way of choosing fun things for me. I love the randomness of her gifts especially. There were cutouts from magazines, stationery, business cards, a Shakespeare notepad, and just fun little things.


I opened the Shakespeare notepad to this page and thought how appropriate it was. These gifts were the perfect thing for me, especially on Day 5 of my blog break. Sometimes you just need Christmas in May. Thanks Missy!

{Not so fresh and foxy.}

Not too long after that I was on the phone with Amie when I received a call from the school. Whitney was asking me to bring her leotard and tights to the school for her talent show...what??! I hadn't even showered yet, ugh. I had to throw on some clothes (jammies aren't appropriate for school right?) and a baseball hat.

It turns out the talent show was just in her classroom. She did a back arch and a sommersault. I have no idea why she needed a leotard and tights for this, but she did. Good grief. I didn't take any pictures because I took some video instead, but I don't think she'd want me to post it. I was impressed with the number of kids who got up and did something. They all were very meager performances like scales on the piano, a cartwheel, the splits and some spins. Oh to be in first grade and have no inhibitions!

I came home 40 minutes later and seriously off schedule for Creative Friday. I received phone calls from Kristi and Amanda L., both to check on the status of my mental health and blog break. That was so nice of them. Cute Amanda feared she was breaking some sort of blog rule since she doesn't actually know me in real life. Thanks!


I finally made it to Michelle's house just before 1:00pm. I feared I'd worn out my welcome by coming so late, but I came bearing Cafe Rio so I think that helped. Ha.


I cut out some good mail labels for an Etsy order, packaged up a couple good mail items and wrote a couple cards. Even when I don't get a lot done I still leave feeling pleased that I did anything creative at all.

Michelle wrote thank you notes and took care of Eva. The nap time process and trampoline supervision cut into her creative time, but that's what Smotherhood is all about right?


We took our self-portrait on the deck this week and still were complete spazzes with the chin positioning.


I met Randy and the kids at the salon for Whitney's haircut (finally!). I thought it was hilarious to see Randy sitting under the dryer like this watching Whitney getting her hair done. He and Landon left after I got there, so her was only in the chair for 15 minutes.


Here is my cute girl again. She just isn't the same when her hair is long, tangly and a mess. We can't seem to keep it under control when it gets long, so this style suits her beautifully.

I think the video is amusing.

We had game night last night for the first time in like 3 weeks. Robyn and Lori were both absent, so it was just Randy, Adam, Amy, Jared, me and all 8 kids. I hardly took any pictures, but it was a good night.

Summary:
Times I felt angry: 157
Times I felt grateful: 225
Times I was gymalicious: 0.00
Good Mail items sent: 10
Trips to post office: 4
Thoughtful items received: 200ish
(includes calls, emails, comments, cards, and visits)
Epiphanies: 2

If you made it through this whole post I'm officially impressed. I'd like to send good mail to all the nice people who commented and encouraged me this week, but remember we're unemployed (we've got that going for us) so let's just have a random giveaway instead.

I want to know
what you like best about blogging,
worst about blogging,
a part of you you'd forgotten,
and if you think I own more than 3 shirts?