Crunch time!

I have decided to take the whole month of December off. I will not do anything that I don't want to do, or start any new projects or things like that. I have had a crazy couple of weeks, and the near future is looking pretty crowded too. I always always overload myself and then stress, don't sleep or otherwise make myself (and in turn, my family) miserable. I have trouble saying no to things that I really should say no to. I want to enjoy the holidays with my family, friends and neighbors, not rush through them like usual.

One year I remember actually enjoying the holidays was the year that Jake was born. I decided that I would have everything done for xmas by Dec. 5. All the gifts were bought/made/wrapped/shipped, I made my Christmas cards that year and they were finished and addressed in their envelopes before Thanksgiving. It was wonderful! No staying up till 3 am finishing gifts, or worrying about where the money would come from to buy last minute presents. Of course, now that the kids are older and in more activities, school, etc, life is more crazy than it was back then.

So, my goal this year is to not take on anything that causes me stress in the month of December. I will hopefully spend the time working on gifts, playing with the kids, having playdates, etc. I am so excited for it!!! Now I just have to get through November!

Tag!

Afton tagged me, so I get to play!!

The ABC's of Me

A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Attached (11 years)
B. BEST FRIEND? Steve, Melissa and Angie
C. CAKE OR PIE? cake
D. DAY OF THE WEEK? Friday, Saturday
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Cell phone, Butter Rum lifsavers
F. FAVORITE COLOR? Blue
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Gummy Worms
H. HOMETOWN? Gladstone, OR
I. INDULGENCE? Ice cream
J. JANUARY OR JULY? July!
K. KIDS? Becka, Jakey and Rachie
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? internet, swedish fish
M. MARRIAGE DATE? May 30, 1997
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? Technically, only one brother, but I like to claim all my bro and sis in laws
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? Apples
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Spiders, heights, large crowds, something happening to my kids
Q. QUOTE? "Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." James Barrie
R. REASONS TO SMILE? My kids, friends, flowers, sunshine, the beach, pumpkin milkshakes
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Superman
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE? Dana, Andrea, Kerry, Linds and Whit
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? I don't think there are any...I am a big blabbermouth
V. VEGETABLES? yum!
W. WORST HABIT? Procrastination
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasounds, they are a little less scary
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Mexican!!
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Pisces

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, right?

My name is Heidi and I have a problem...

I have always said that it is a good thing I was born and raised a Mormon. I'm afraid to imagine what I would be like if I had been exposed to drugs and alcohol. I have a very addictive personality. As it is, trying to stay away from ice cream (3 weeks and counting, with only one, ok, two slip-ups) has proved VERY hard and I completely gave up on the campaign to free myself from the clutches of Swedish fish candy.

I thought I had a handle on that sort of thing, until today. I have been working on the kids' Halloween costumes and decided that today would be a good day to make Rachel's Abby Cadabby wand and hair bows. Here is a pic of Abby in case you don't know who she is:



I was planning on using some ribbon to make the poofy part of the wand and some pink/purple poofy hair bows so that Rachie can have piggytails that look like Abby's hair. I started with the wand. No problem. I just used several different colors and widths of ribbon. A little spray starch and voila! We have the wand! Now onto the hair bows. I knew exactly which ribbon I would use. I have some bright pink and bright purple 1/8 inch grosgrain that will be perfecto! I can even glue on some little flowers like Abby has. I opened up my ribbon drawer and quickly found my purple ribbon. After a few moments of searching for the pink, I couldn't find it. Thinking to myself, "I know I bought pink, this drawer is a mess, I will just clean it up and then I will find what I am looking for."

I started by separating the ribbon into types (grosgrain, satin, organdy, etc). After about 30 minutes of separating and rolling the ribbon back onto the spools, I decided that I would never again let my ribbon get that messy and tangled. Now came the tricky part. In those categories, how do I organize them? By width? Color? Patterned/plain? Oh, the possibilities!

After another 30 minutes I came to a few conclusions.
First one was: I have WAY too much ribbon. What started innocently as a few spools here and there to supplement my card making and scrapbooking has become an addiction to buying ribbon, especially since Cami turned me on to making bows for Rachel's hair a couple of years ago. Seriously...what was I thinking when I bought some of this? When will I ever use cream colored ribbon with a pink and white argyle pattern on it? It was probably in the clearance bin at Michaels (another addiction...clearance bins). Oh, and why in the world do I have 7 (yes, SEVEN) spools of 3/8 inch black and white gingham ribbon? On the bright side, my ribbon drawer now looks lovely!

As I stood there cleaning it all up and categorizing it, I began thinking about the other addictions I have in my life. Here are a few: Scrapbooking stuff (both paper and digital), stamps, acrylic paints, stickers, craft books and magazines, markers and crayons, spiral notebooks, cute fabric (I'll just buy a yard of it, it is so cute!), chocolate...the list goes on and on. No wonder I can't get ahead of the mess in this house. I have a full blown craft-supply addiction.

Thus begins my new policy. No more craft stuff (unless it is for a specific project and I have checked to make sure I don't already have the supplies, and then I will only buy exactly what I need, not more, and I will stay away from any and all clearance bins). Think I can do it?

Oh, guess what?!?! I never did find that darn pink ribbon.

Official Twilight Trailer is available tonight!!!

Being bratty

I am such a whiny little brat. I am feeling sorry for myself again. I hate that I do that so often!!!
I won't bore you with the details, mostly because they might come back to haunt me if I put them down, but also because I just need to shake it off and "be a man!"

This morning we went in for a consult about Becka's orthodontist stuff. The first "phase" of her treatment will be $1250.00, then the second "phase" in a couple of years has an esitmate of about $5000.00! Our insurance will only cover $1500.00 total for her lifetime. I was shell shocked! Worst part is, that right on her heels needing treatment also is Jakey. GAH!!! At least I don't have to pay for both of them at the exact same time. That helps a bit. Jake originally had his appt. scheduled for tomorrow, but I changed it to mid-November. I can't afford even the 10% I have to pay. I feel like I should get a job somewhere, but between Steve's work and church schedules, not to mention child care, no job I could find would pay enough for it to be worth it in the end.

I am excited for this weekend. Saturday is a "Super Saturday" for the 3 wards that meet in our building at church. I signed up for a few projects and am mostly excited because Melissa will be going with me. We get to spend a whole day crafting!!!!! I feel bad about missing Jakey's soccer game though.

We have started a new system for better behavior with Jake and Becka. They earn tokens (poker chips) for completing certain chores, their homework, reading, art, music practice, exercise, being kind, helping out, etc. They use the chips for TV/computer/video game time, time with friends, special treats, etc. They are allowed to combine their chips for a total of 300, when they get to choose between buying a Wii or spending the night at The Great Wolf Lodge (a cool hotel with an indoor water park!). I am a bit nervous though, because they are getting closer and closer to 300, and I don't know what Steve's plan is for actually getting a Wii. :) So far, it is working fairly well. Our main goal was to help Rebekah with her issues, so hopefully it will continue being a good fit for our family. We got the idea from Ron and Cami when we visited them. Thanks guys!!

OK, well, Jake is home from school, Rach is up from her nap and the piano teacher will be here soon. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!! It's almost Halloween!!!!!

Just what I needed

It seems very much like heavenly father always knows just what I need, when I need it. Such was the case this evening.
Tonight was the General RS Broadcast. I went by myself (tried to convince Melissa to come along, but no such luck! Next time I am calling Dana so we can go together.), and I wasn't in the best frame of mind. I got there and it was packed...had to hunt for an empty chair and as a result, felt very uncomfortable sitting all alone by strangers. I have been dealing with a lot of anxiety lately, so I really had to make myself sit there and not get up and leave.
I sort of half listened through the first few talks and songs. They were nice, but my heart just wasn't in the right place for listening. When President Uchtdorf got up and spoke, I felt as if he was addressing me, and all the feelings and thoughts I have been having. He talked a lot about women's tendencies to feel inadequate when in reality, we do so much to help others and other important things. It felt good to hear him speak about those things and made me realize that it is ok to have some flaws, and not be perfect. I can't wait for his talk to come out in print. I want to read it again.
I left feeling better. Knowing that what I do makes a difference and is important. I needed that little lift.

Here is the audio stream link to the broadcast. President Uchtdorf's talk starts at about 56 minutes in. Scroll down on the page until you see the "Audio Streams" section, and click on the English MP3 option. It will play on Windows media player.
http://www.lds.org/broadcast/grsm/0,6220,285,00.html

My favorite quote from his talk is: "The number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance."

Dentist

I think that we have decided that Steve chose the wrong profession. He should have been a dentist.
We have had Kaiser dental insurance for the past few years because it was a lot less expensive. Well, after several bad experiences, I finally convinced Steve to switch back to our old insurance.
I mentioned before that Rachel had fun at the tooth doctor. Well, today the older kids went. I don't think that I mentioned how this dental office is. It is a pediatric office, so I knew it would be geared toward the kiddos. The whole place has an "island adventure" decor to it. Waterfalls, fish, boat stuff, tiki torches, you name it. They have toys, a tv playing movies, and two game cube systems in the waiting room. There are tvs above the chairs where you lay so you can watch a movie while they are working on your teeth. The hygienists wear heelies, and skate around the place. Today they were all wearing princess crowns. They had princess crowns, pink feather boas, top hats, fake moustaches and walking sticks out for the kids to play with. The staff is all super friendly, it really is an awesome place. Heck, I want to have my teeth cleaned there.
Because of our poor quality treatment at Kaiser, there are problems that I never knew about. One of Jake's molars never formed completely, and as a result, he has a big hole in the back of it...that has to be filled. The dentist said any longer and he would have had to have a root canal! All of the sealants that Kaiser put on have cracked and fallen off, so those have to be replaced. Neither one of my kids has enamel on their back molars, so they both have two little cavities that need filled. Neither one of them has ever had a cavity before. Poor things.
Then we went into the orthodontic treatment plan. Becka needs two of her permanent teeth pulled, an appliance on the roof of her mouth to correct her cross bite and then braces, Jake has to have 4 permanent teeth pulled, 4 baby teeth yanked, and the appliances for spacing until he is old enough for braces.
Yeah, not fun! Poor kids never had a chance between Steve and I. Both of us had braces, Steve's teeth are fairly soft. My mouth is really small. I had 15 baby teeth and 4 permanent teeth pulled before I had my braces put on. Heredity isn't very nice sometimes. At least Rachel seems to have been blessed with a bigger mouth than I had or the older two have. Hopefully her stuff won't have to be as extensive.
So, tomorrow, Becka is having her cavities filled, her sealants re-done and impression work done to prep her for braces. All of that is almost $1,300.00! I only have to pay 10%, but that is still a lot of money. Jake's appointment is in a couple of weeks and his will be almost $1,600.00!
Tonight at bedtime Jake was asking me a million questions about teeth, and since I didn't know all the answers, he said he was going to be a dentist when he grows up so that he can see what cavities look like. I wish him luck. Maybe he can buy Steve and I a beach house when he grows up, because I will still be paying off his dental bills!!!!