12 on the 12th--January 2020 Edition

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1. We woke up to snow, ugh.
2. Whitney and I upon leaving church.
3. I've had this quote on the message board for almost a year, I just love it.
4. I unwrapped an entire bag of Kisses so Whitney would make cookies with them.
5. Whitney booked her ticket to see Lori in April.
6. Cookie making!
7. My new, super pleasing bookcase.
8. I had Landon send me a selfie from USU.
9. I found Randy zonked out on the couch after a long day at church.
10. I updated my Ministering Profile Sheet while watching The Great British Bake Off.
11. Dinner.
12. Randy and I watched Brittany Runs A Marathon.

12 on the 12th--August Edition

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1. Beautiful Sunday morning.
2. Four of our six primary class members were there, I love them.
3. Golden brought his Kindness challenge paper back for a treat.
4. Landon taking a power nap.
5. The romantic comedy book I'm reading. It's enjoyable, but not my normal style.
6. Ferris likes to join me for my Sunday naps.
7. Whitney painted some shoes to make them look like Gucci shoes, she's amazing.
8. Randy prepping salad stuff for dinner.
9. Notes on my dresser about Whitney's upcoming doctor's appointment, yikes.
10. Corn on the cob for dinner.
11. Current letterboard quote.
12. I love The Great British Baking Show.

12 on the 12th--April Edition

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1. Whitney's work hours for the week, plus illustrations.
2. It was super windy so the flag at school was really blowing.
3. I decorated the computer for Angie's birthday and left her some Cadbury Eggs.
4. Cute Ferris lounging on Whitney's bed.
5. Whitney's filthy room.
6. Daffodils in bloom!
7. I'm loving Pachinko.
8. My mom took Whitney to work because she was close by, woohoo.
9. I did some eyebrow plucking, it's like a necessary hobby.
10. It snowed, ugh.
11. Randy and I enjoyed some frozen chocolate chip cookies.
12. We watched the first two episodes of The Crossing.

Vulnerable

I've managed to sleep through the night several nights in a row this week and thought I'd conquered my insomnia once and for all. Yet last night ended up being the worst night I've had in a long time, and it took me totally unawares. I went to bed at 11:00pm because I was so tired (that's responsible right?) and slept peacefully until 3:00am. What the?


After that I was wide awake and had the Jimmy arm (left arm always) something fierce. I got up and blogged for a bit, though bleary-eyed blogging is not my favorite, then finally set up camp on the couch and watched my latest Friday Night Lights disc. That took the edge off my not sleeping since I love that show so much. I was surprised that I didn't end up getting sleepy or dozing off for the 3 episodes on the disc.

In fact, I stayed up watching infomercials for another hour and half after that! (Yep, your math is correct, I was awake from 3-7am...#$@!).


I watched some of the infomercial for this vacuum and found myself wanting it, though I did not appreciate the sassy woman in the commercial who was so sure the vacuum could not clean up her messes. She stole the show.

Saw the infomercial for this printer and wanted it too! It was kind of rough seeing Al from Home Improvement selling this printer. He was super enthusiastic, but I just didn't buy the crowd of people who all just happened to be using the printer at the same time...I wasn't born yesterday.

Then finished things off with part of this weight loss hypnosis infomercial and wanted that too. Has anyone tried hypnosis before?

I felt vulnerable and very open to suggestion, but my decision-making skills were still in tact so I didn't order any of these things.

**Do you watch infomercials when you can't sleep?
Have you ever bought anything from an infomercial?
Have you seen any of these?**

Six for Saturday

1. I've been watching "Friends" this week on my computer while I've been working on our Christmas letter and some Christmas gifts, and have had the giggles more than once while doing so.


Remember this episode with Ross becoming overheated while wearing leather pants on a date? He goes into the bathroom to cool down and then can't get his pants back on so he uses powder and lotion to try help slide them up but ends up making a paste instead. It was so funny.


2. I feel like I've had a wrapping (not rapping, yo, yo, yo) break-through this year. It's probably obvious to everyone else, but I've been wrapping along the way and haven't ended up feeling overwhelmed or irritated at all. I've actually enjoyed it and have really loved having presents under the tree all month.


3. I'm so glad Kristi send me those huge spools of ribbon this week, it has made my gift wrapping time much more pleasurable.

4. Lori came over (all bundled up and in her jammies) with JCWs for dinner last night to watch movies and write Christmas cards. I thought she looked so cute I had to take this picture. We ended up watching "Just Friends" (which is so funny) and "Pride and Prejudice" (which made us swoon again). It was great.


5. This is our Christmas card display so far this year, wow! I am totally bugged that Randy and I are just barely putting ours together so they won't be mailed until Monday...the 22nd! Good grief, why does this happen every year? That means the few International cards we send will be arriving in January.


6. Every year since we've lived here the kids have mailed a letter to Santa and gotten one back. They both got letters from Santa today with this great post mark on them (isn't that cool?).

**Do you remember that episode of Friends?
Do you wrap all month or all at once?
Do you use ribbon on your gifts?
Doesn't Lori look cute?
Have you gotten a letter from Santa?**

Funny to Me

I've been watching The New Adventures of Old Christine through Netflix and have to say it makes me laugh in a way that produces the "Jan Face". It's just plain funny.

**Do you watch this show?
What shows make you laugh?**

Five for Friday

{Whitney suggested this pose.}

1. Today was the last day of school. For some reason it started 15 minutes earlier than usual, so that meant 8:45-10:15am, weird. It's hard to believe this school year is over already. Both kids have had a good year, and I've been really happy things.

{Landon is in the middle in the back, barely peeking through.}

Landon has absolutely thrived this year being at public school (as opposed to his last 2 years of home schooling). He has made lots of friends, has been far more active, has lost weight, has participated in a play, a dance festival, and all sorts of other things he wouldn't have done if he'd been home this year. It has been a blessing!

2. I ended up making burritos with refried beans, cheese and hamburger (the boy who requested the burritos okay'd it). I also made rice (for the 5 year old boy), a plate of orange wedges and strawberries, chocolate-chip cookies and rootbeer. I hope that was okay. I wasn't stressed about it, I just over thought it.


3. Making dinner last night confirmed my theory that it's not worth the mess. Yes, Randy and I ended up getting burritos for dinner too (the kids don't eat them), but I was in the kitchen for like 2 hours between the food prep time and the cleaning up. My feet hurt from standing in there so long and I just don't think it was worth it. Surely there must be a way around this. I'm either missing that very special mom gene that makes me feel like it's all worth it because I'm feeding my family or my small kitchen just doesn't make it enjoyable enough. What's a girl to do?


4. Last night was the Season Finale of LOST. Randy kept talking during it (I actually had to pause the show) to remind me of other things that had happened before. I remembered practically nothing. It's maddening. I thought the finale was more satisfying than the previous episodes have been this season because at least it brought some closure to things. I hate feeling like I have no clue what's going on, but I still love the show. Also, I decided Sawyer is my hero!

{Michelle made me a birthday banner!}

5. I haven't been posting my good mail much lately and that's not good. I like to have a record of it on my blog and want those who sent it to know I got it.


Becca sent me some fabulous Dove chocolates (I love these so!) a lip gloss and a nice note. Thanks Becca!

Wende sent me this nice note. Thanks!

Esther sent me a nice card and a bunch of .42 cent stamps (my first since the price hike). Thanks Esther!

**When does school end for you?
Do you get frustrated with the time
it takes to make and clean up dinner?
Did you like the LOST finale?
Do you document your good mail?**

Extraordinary?

Was anyone else a wreck after watching last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy? I watched in online Saturday morning and then rewatched it online last night. I thought it was a strong episode with some thought provoking issues.


One idea that was interesting to me is the idea of living an ordinary life versus an extraordinary life. Meredith's mother tells her that she raised her to be an extraordinary woman, but that she is very disappointed to find out that Meredith is merely ordinary. I cried as I watched this scene and listened to those harsh words come from the mother's mouth (what a terribly brutal thing to say). The thing I find interesting is her view of extraordinary. Her view seems to jive with "the world's" view as far higher education, career climbing, high salary, accolades, etc. So that means the rest of us who don't live like that are living ordinary lives (according to this character's opinion).


The reason this struck me so much was because I have felt this way before. My parents get a Christmas letter every year from a family we knew in Michigan. I always look forward to reading this letter because they give lots of details about their 5 kids (who are around my age) and what they're all doing now. The only problem is that after I read this letter I always feel sick to my stomach and feel like a failure. All 5 of their kids play instruments with symphonies, run marathons, have many children, have high degrees, have great houses and families, and love to get together with each other. I realize these are just the highlights from their Christmas letter and that this doesn't tell the whole story, but still the highlights from my life don't look anything like theirs so I can't help but wonder if I'm merely ordinary.

Now if someone else were posting about this I would be the first to point out that these people are probably freakish overachievers and that we are all extraordinary in our ways. Ultimately I know this and can usually recover from that Christmas letter within an hour or so, but the fact remains that I am NOT a freakish overachiever and do not appear extraordinary to the outside world. I'm okay with this (kind of) but am intrigued by the topic. Watching this episode of Grey's Anatomy (and previous episodes actually) I have often felt sorry for the characters because they are so driven by their careers that they have no other lives.


It is extraordinary to know what is most important to me, to have a family, to wake up each day and feel that I have a purpose. I have many flaws and hate that about myself, but would really love to get to the point that that one Christmas letter doesn't do me in.

**What do you think??
Do you ever feel this way?
Were you touched with this episode?**