Solitude 22
3 years ago
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Odds and Ends
Dixon folding his arms for the prayer.
I was helping with homework, then turned to find Dixon busying himself in the pots.
This is how he says "hot."
Handmade Christmas--Bridget
I know, It's a bit too early for a Christmas post, but because I get to help 5 kids (plus myself) put together handmade presents again this year, of necessity I start early. This year, Bridget was easy. She's home by herself with Dixon, who is still young enough to be oblivious to all the goings-on around him. We wandered around Hobby Lobby, trying to decide what to do, when we spotted these sweet little plastic mugs at Hobby Lobby for 87 cents. You read that right. EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS!!!! The girls are always fighting over our various cocoa mugs, so this is just the perfect solution--AND it was easy enough for Bridget to do all by herself. 
It comes with some paper that you can color, but I just printed off everyone's name in a different font and Bridget decorated them with different colored stickers. Yes, that is her name. Yes, she insisted on doing one for herself. Oh well. I would've done one for her anyway so she wouldn't be left out!
A Different Kind of Halloween
We lucked out for Halloween this year. The Ward did our annual trunk-or-treat (which is becoming more tolerable as the kids get older) and the weather could not have been more perfect. It was warm enough that no coats were needed and the kids meandered from one car to another without chattering teeth! After we got home, I told the girls that the next day was supposed to be stormy and yucky, so they had a choice; they could go trick or treating in the rain, or they could stay home and watch a movie and have popcorn and cocoa. Every single one of them wanted to stay home and watch the movie!!!! I still can't believe they were willing to forgo trick or treating this year, but who am I to complain? We had a GREAT night watching How to Train Your Dragon and The Lightning Thief. It was the best Halloween I've ever had!!!
Sumo Wrestler
Pocahontas, Angel, White Witch (Narnia), Nadine Wimmer (KSL 5 news anchor)
The girls and their friends from school that they invited to our trunk or treat. Their ward had replaced their own trunk or treat with a humanitarian project. Good cause--not so fun for the kiddos, though. The Watson family has 4 girls and one boy, all the same ages as ours except for their son, who is a twin to the oldest girl (9). Yes, the tall girl in pink is 9 and is only 3 months older than Maggie. Needless to say, their father is a giant. Seriously. The little girl standing next to my angel Bridget is a year younger than she is. Hopefully some of those tall Martindale & King genes will surface in growth spurts for our kids soon. Until then, we'll keep looking up to the Watson's.
Good Enough
I'm sad that I've been such a terrible blogger lately. So many thoughts swimming in my head and so much has transpired that I have no record of because I've been so busy doing it all!
I heard a phrase this week week, specifically meant for perfectionists like myself.
(Didn't you know that about me? Of course you did. Amanda=Perfectionist. Look it up. It's there.)
It's "Good Enough." Hmmmm. Never been able to quite swallow that one. It's something I like and hate about myself at the same time. I mean, when I do something, you can bet it's the best I've got, however, if I know I can't give 110% to something, I generally don't do it at all. For instance....my kitchen cabinets. These old things have been painted over so many times that they no longer shut properly. Plus, the layering of oil-based and water-based paints have caused the current hue of dark brown to peel away, revealing an oh-so-lovely shade of dirtyish yellowish brownish whitish. (Which actually kinda matches the dirtyish brownish floor that I'm avoiding mopping at this moment.) I know that the effort it will take to strip down all 14 cabinets will take an exorbitant amount of time, that I currently don't have in excess. So, because I can't get it all done to perfection, I've left them that way for a good year now.
I decided to go for "good enough for now" which consisted of taking down all the upper faces and freezing my tushy off on the back deck while I stripped a whopping 2 of them down. (I still have 12 to go, plus sanding, staining, varnishing and rehanging...I'm tired.) I'm now avoiding the kitchen at all costs because it feels a little like one of those bad "underwear" dreams where you can't quite figure out how you made it to school in only your skivvies and everyone's staring you down because there's nowhere to hide. My poor kitchen just seems so naked and vulnerable! Of course, this new openness has revealed that I desperately need to organize the cupboards as well, but my new "good enough" plan forbids me from tackling it until I finish the first project I started. You see my dilemma. Starting a project = good. Leaving my kitchen undone, taking 50 different steps and probably months to finish = bad for perfectionist Amanda. So, for now, I'm keeping the kitchen light off and sitting in the clean, put together living room with my back to the chaos so I can forget about the undoneness. It's almost working. Blogging about it is in not nearly as cathartic as I'd hoped it would be. I am hoping, however, that this approach will lead to the commencement and completion of other big projects and not to my ultimate insanity. The jury is still out.
In the meantime, I've been busy with my adorable Activity Days Girls and with my fun and exhausting calling as RS Meetings Coordinator.
For AD, we did a "Secret Service" Activity that you can find here with additional stuff here. Would be great for YW too, if you need a fun activity. My girls loved it and I'm so grateful for resources like these to make my job so. much. easier.
We also did a lesson on hygiene (thank you, Jen!) and gave the girls a little loofah, body wash and their own little deodorant. It was pretty cute to see some of them get giddy about getting their first deodorant! Who'd a thought? Wish I had more time to post all the specifics, but I'm working on "good enough" remember?
Anyway, the RS Swap Meet I posted about earlier turned out to be fantastic!!! We had a gym FULL of stuff, lots of ladies left with some great finds (like Meredith's leather blazer that I'm totally jealous of and Chelsea's hot pink stilettos), and we ended up with a pickup LOAD of stuff sent off to the DI. Apparently this was a very necessary activity! The seminar on organization was OUTSTANDING!!! Linda Isom's Top 10 Tips were a must-have and the very next day I actually got the girls' toy room organized--complete with see-thru bins, labeled with photos, that fit perfectly into their own little labeled spot in the cupboard. Can you sense my relief?
We also had our annual Service Auction on Tuesday. I made a killing on fall clearance decorations at Walmart (Does anyone else find it strange that Thanksgiving decor is already on clearance?), so I only spent about $40 and then took my lovely findings home to decorate my house with afterwards. "But honey, I HAD to get these for Relief Society!" It's a perfect cover.
I pulled out the ward's nice glass serving plates and tea cups and served hot spiced cider w/ a cinnamon stick and an apple gingerbread cake with lemon sauce and a dollop of real whipped cream. It was seriously so fabulous. Even the youth found their way to the kitchen after Mutual (Do they still call it that?) to beg for the cider they could smell wafting through the hallways. Best I've ever tasted, and several others made the same comment. I won a couple of babysitting certificates and a family photo shoot--yeeehaww!!! Can you say Christmas Cards? It would've been a perfect evening if we'd had more people show up. It was a lot of work for me to get ready for, and it's disappointing to have 2 fully empty tables. I guess you can bring the horse to water, but you can't make it drink, right? Our next activity will be a recipe exchange and taster's table in January. I'll be sure to post some of the good ones I get--provided people show up.
I heard a phrase this week week, specifically meant for perfectionists like myself.
(Didn't you know that about me? Of course you did. Amanda=Perfectionist. Look it up. It's there.)
It's "Good Enough." Hmmmm. Never been able to quite swallow that one. It's something I like and hate about myself at the same time. I mean, when I do something, you can bet it's the best I've got, however, if I know I can't give 110% to something, I generally don't do it at all. For instance....my kitchen cabinets. These old things have been painted over so many times that they no longer shut properly. Plus, the layering of oil-based and water-based paints have caused the current hue of dark brown to peel away, revealing an oh-so-lovely shade of dirtyish yellowish brownish whitish. (Which actually kinda matches the dirtyish brownish floor that I'm avoiding mopping at this moment.) I know that the effort it will take to strip down all 14 cabinets will take an exorbitant amount of time, that I currently don't have in excess. So, because I can't get it all done to perfection, I've left them that way for a good year now.
Until yesterday.
I decided to go for "good enough for now" which consisted of taking down all the upper faces and freezing my tushy off on the back deck while I stripped a whopping 2 of them down. (I still have 12 to go, plus sanding, staining, varnishing and rehanging...I'm tired.) I'm now avoiding the kitchen at all costs because it feels a little like one of those bad "underwear" dreams where you can't quite figure out how you made it to school in only your skivvies and everyone's staring you down because there's nowhere to hide. My poor kitchen just seems so naked and vulnerable! Of course, this new openness has revealed that I desperately need to organize the cupboards as well, but my new "good enough" plan forbids me from tackling it until I finish the first project I started. You see my dilemma. Starting a project = good. Leaving my kitchen undone, taking 50 different steps and probably months to finish = bad for perfectionist Amanda. So, for now, I'm keeping the kitchen light off and sitting in the clean, put together living room with my back to the chaos so I can forget about the undoneness. It's almost working. Blogging about it is in not nearly as cathartic as I'd hoped it would be. I am hoping, however, that this approach will lead to the commencement and completion of other big projects and not to my ultimate insanity. The jury is still out.
In the meantime, I've been busy with my adorable Activity Days Girls and with my fun and exhausting calling as RS Meetings Coordinator.
For AD, we did a "Secret Service" Activity that you can find here with additional stuff here. Would be great for YW too, if you need a fun activity. My girls loved it and I'm so grateful for resources like these to make my job so. much. easier.
We also did a lesson on hygiene (thank you, Jen!) and gave the girls a little loofah, body wash and their own little deodorant. It was pretty cute to see some of them get giddy about getting their first deodorant! Who'd a thought? Wish I had more time to post all the specifics, but I'm working on "good enough" remember?
Anyway, the RS Swap Meet I posted about earlier turned out to be fantastic!!! We had a gym FULL of stuff, lots of ladies left with some great finds (like Meredith's leather blazer that I'm totally jealous of and Chelsea's hot pink stilettos), and we ended up with a pickup LOAD of stuff sent off to the DI. Apparently this was a very necessary activity! The seminar on organization was OUTSTANDING!!! Linda Isom's Top 10 Tips were a must-have and the very next day I actually got the girls' toy room organized--complete with see-thru bins, labeled with photos, that fit perfectly into their own little labeled spot in the cupboard. Can you sense my relief?
We also had our annual Service Auction on Tuesday. I made a killing on fall clearance decorations at Walmart (Does anyone else find it strange that Thanksgiving decor is already on clearance?), so I only spent about $40 and then took my lovely findings home to decorate my house with afterwards. "But honey, I HAD to get these for Relief Society!" It's a perfect cover. I pulled out the ward's nice glass serving plates and tea cups and served hot spiced cider w/ a cinnamon stick and an apple gingerbread cake with lemon sauce and a dollop of real whipped cream. It was seriously so fabulous. Even the youth found their way to the kitchen after Mutual (Do they still call it that?) to beg for the cider they could smell wafting through the hallways. Best I've ever tasted, and several others made the same comment. I won a couple of babysitting certificates and a family photo shoot--yeeehaww!!! Can you say Christmas Cards? It would've been a perfect evening if we'd had more people show up. It was a lot of work for me to get ready for, and it's disappointing to have 2 fully empty tables. I guess you can bring the horse to water, but you can't make it drink, right? Our next activity will be a recipe exchange and taster's table in January. I'll be sure to post some of the good ones I get--provided people show up.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
LIVE!!!
Hours and hours and hours of work have finally come to fruition!
The new picklefaceplace.com just went live this morning and I couldn't be more excited!!!
Check it out and tell me what you think!
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