FAQ

Every time I see ladies from church, the first question they ask me (without fail) is,

“So what are you doing with all your free time now that you aren’t Relief Society President?”

It’s a valid question.  For years, I fantasized about this day and wondered what my answer would be. 

The Short answer is this:  I’m playing “catch up” from the last 2 years.

The Long answer is, well…. LONG.   (I won’t have my feelings hurt if you stop reading now.)

For example, I was stunned this morning to realize it’s been nine days since I last posted on my blog.  Nine days!  When did that happen?  And I have my blog set as my home page so I see it often.  (I keep it as my home page so that I will remember to keep it up to date more… a reminder multiple times a day to not forget blogging.)  It’s not like I’m sitting on the couch all day watching Oprah and eating Bon-Bons.  (For the record, I lost all respect for Oprah a few years ago when she and Gail when on a Road-Trip where they had to drive themselves, check into regular hotels and eat average food, like the rest of us… what spoiled brats they were!)  I haven’t even had time to sit and watch TV yet this week!

This is what I have been working on for the last week.  It’s almost been six years since we bought this house… it’s about time I had a living room worthy of company.  It’s still not done yet, but progress is being made, finally!  It’s amazing what window treatments will do.  (A super shout out to my cousin-in-law, Tiffany, who inspired me finally with an idea that would look great in this room!)

I have this long list of projects and deep cleaning/dejunking chores that I want to whittle away at for the next several months.   Things like:

*finish I-spy quilt

*paper scrapbook the remainder of 2006

*digital scrap Jan-Aug 2009

*make a plan to scrap 2007-2008 (digital, paper, or both?)

*learn how to shoot in manual (on my camera)

*learn about clipping masks in PSE

*decorate laundry room

*window treatments for Taylor’s room and Game room

*take a magic eraser to my entire house (baseboards, doors, doorjambs, trim, stair rail, etc.)  I probably need 5-6 magic erasers to do this job

*clean windows, inside and out (I will have to hire someone eventually to clean my outside upper level windows)

*clean out dead plants from yard

*plant new plants where plants have died (most of my yard falls into this category)

*pull weeds from backyard

*exercise more regularly

*read scriptures daily, study Sunday lessons and read Ensign monthly

*write the life history of my Grandpa and continue to research his family tree

*de-junk closet under the stairs and guest room

And amidst all that, I am going to Science Camp with Ian in March,  we are planning for a Disneyland/San Diego trip over spring break, Girls Camp, EFY and Cub Scout Day Camp all in June and a visit home in late June, early July. 

Some of these chores will take less than an hour of time, some will take days and some are on-going daily things that will never go away.  I expect to feel like I am in a constant state of “catch-up” for the next six months… when summer break is ended and the kids start school again in late July, I think that might be the time that I actually start to get restless and bored… but with this list to work on, I will have plenty to keep me busy for a very, Very, VERY long time!

Absent

Disclaimer: It's taken me almost 48 hours to get this dang post typed and uploaded...


There are quite a few things that have kept me from the computer this week. The first and foremost is the Trek related task that I've not been able to disclose due to the "confidentiality waver" we signed a month ago (just kidding about the waver, but we were sworn to secrecy)... For Sunday night's Youth Trek Fireside, the main event was introducing the "Ma's and Pa's" to the group. No one will know who is in what family until we get to our destination, but we did a little "skit" to show the kids we are cool and able to laugh at ourselves (at least I think that was the purpose!)





Unfortunately, Eric and I scored a spot on the 3rd row back, so we are basically invisible to the camera, but I promise we are up there doing the Thriller dance in our pioneer throwbacks! Since my teenager didn't follow my "videotaping" instructions, the dance is spliced into two videos and I can only get blogger to upload the second video - I've attempted the first video three times to no avail... so it's cheesy and short, but gives you an idea of what kind of humiliation we subjected ourselves to!




We've been practicing our Michael Jackson dance moves for weeks... and I didn't realize how much this little "dance number" must have been secretly stressing me out... Sunday night after the fireside, I got everyone to bed and then crashed and slept 12 hours!!!! And no, I wasn't sick! And yes, it did feel WONDERFUL!!!


This is another little chore that's been keeping me away from the computer the last few days. Off and on over the last two weeks, I've been trying to get the grout on my kitchen floor clean so we could seal it. I can't count the number of hours I've spent on my hands and knees scrubbing grout with softsoap and a toothbrush. Today I can say that it's finally finished and I'm thrilled! I hope this project won't require my attention again for a few years!





In addition to grout scrubbing and sealing, I got on a decluttering/purging/dejunking kick on Monday afternoon (after sleeping 12 hours straight!) We went through all the kids bedrooms on Monday and purged and cleaned. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on the downstairs. I've delivered bags of clothes, toys and other items to six different families in our ward and I have a trunkful to take to Enrichment tonight. (We are having a "freecycle table"... bring your junk, shop for things you need out of other's peoples junk, and the rest goes to Goodwill.)

My parents just got here for a long weekend, so blogging will be minimal for a few days.
Hopefully, I'll get a post in of Megan's birthday party - we are having an "Amazing Race" in our neighborhood, which should be a lot of fun. The weather will be perfect too - partly cloudy and 80 degrees.