Thursday, July 31, 2008

Forgiveness

Ok, in one of my posts a long time ago I mentioned someone named "cami" ( not her real name) that I was working with cleaning houses. Well, we had an awful argument one day because I couldn't go to work because I was sick. I was having female health problems. She basically did not believe me and accused me of lying and just not wanting to work. She gossiped about me at the bank in town and the things she said got back to my mother in law(small southern community-you get the picture). My MIL was not happy . She ,to this day ,will not tell me exactly what was said. I was so upset that "cami" would do that to me because I considered us to be good friends. Well, that was shortly after Christmas and I haven't spoken to her since. I was so hurt and had decided that I would never speak to her again and if she ever tried to speak to me I would walk away. That is how bad it hurt me. We are in the same ward so it has been awkward.Until today. We both happened to be at walmart at the same time. She came up to me and for some reason all I could feel was sorrow about the fact that I had cut all ties with her. I do love her. All I could do was think about how I have missed her. She started to apologize about how she left things and something came over me. I stopped her and told her that its ok, and that what happened doesn't matter now. We hugged and talked like nothing had happened.
Holding grudges will only hurt the person holding the grudge. All this time I was so focused on what she had done to me and feeling hurt. I think I forgave her long ago but was too proud to admit it.
Forgiving feels so much better than holding onto hurt feelings. It doesn't matter who was in the wrong. The first and great commandment is Love one another.
Let it go, your heart will be so much lighter.

Future Blogger.

Only 2 months old and already preparing to take over my blogging empire. My little nephew here ,has potential. Makes me so proud.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Praise to the Blogging world

I have accidentally discovered an entire new universe. Housewives,Mothers,Stay at Home moms,whatever you want to call them,they're here.
Blogging.
Who knew??
This was a total accident. Here is how it happened. When I rang in the new year with my husband and kids,I made a secret resolution to myself to become better. A better Mom,wife,student,Visiting Teacher,cook,friend..you get the picture. I wanted to reinvent myself. I was depressed,unmotivated,and just down in the dumps all the time. I have gained about 40 pounds in the last year and a half. I can't get pregnant. I live in redneck land far away from all I have been acustomed to.
No offence to rednecks. I do like it here. I just am still not used to it. Anyways, I decided to start by repairing broken relationships with all the friends I knew and loved back in the day. I lost contact for about 14 years. Long story which I will save for another long winded post. I have a myspace page which I hadnt really used except to keep tabs on my fave celebrities(I know,get a life,right?). So I started looking for friends. I didn't really find many people. I did find my good friends brother. He tells me to try facebook. So I do. Everyone I have ever known and loved is on Facebook.
Wow. I found friends that I was sure had disgarded any memory of me,and found they still love me! I reconnected with my best friends,got aquainted with extended family,and made new friends too.I noticed a few people had blogs but never paid much attention at first. One friend of mine mentioned that she uses it as a way of keeping her parents up to date with the grandkids since they live away from each other. I think to myself "what a fab idea!".
So I started a blog. My first post I introduced myself etc because I did know that people that may not know me may see the blog. But I really had no idea. One time I was looking at this one blog and noticed on the sidebar ,links to different blogs.
"Huh????"
See, it took me awhile to navigate the whole blogging process. I'm thinking to myself..."lets check this out". I soon realized that blogging is the new shopping. The new playdate.The new mom group. This is what we all do!!!
My husband is completely oblivious.
He knows I have a blog,he hears me talk about funny posts,recipes and tips,and far away places ,but is really clueless to how big this thing really is. I am in awe. Now, all you gals who have been at this for a long time think I am very lame,I know. But I am so happy to have found this new fun world. I am communicating with real adult moms all over the world who understand me. I am no longer down in the dumps,feeling lonely from being surrounded by only children 16 hours out of the day.I found a pastime that is fun and I have found people I can hang with without leaving my chair and my pajamas. I find new recipes to try that my husband actually considers edible. And parenting....oh, there are other moms out there who understand my pain!! And my joys. I know how to speak in real adult sentences again.I feel motivated to excercise and I am losing weight. Instead of eating,I type. Call me corny but blogging is my therapy. And it is useful. Record keeping is important. And since that was my main purpose for starting this blog, I dont feel guilty for it. Yes, I could be doing laundry or cleaning toilets ( It WILL get done,just not right this second) but I would much rather be here in my chair wearing my pajamas drinking Dr Pepper.
ok, maybe I love blogging a little too much .

He's my Baby

" What do YOU want!!??" Says Baby Josh

Baby Josh, Daddy Myles and Mommy natasha
Dani,Uncle Josh and Baby Josh

Sunday, July 20, 2008

new addition


We have a "new baby". A little kitten that we rescued from the road. He is teeny tiny and the poor thing was all wounded,starved and almost dead. We gave him a bath,medicated his wounds,unhooked his stuck lip from his tooth,fed him,put him on a heating pad,taught him how to use the litter box, and now he's almost as good as new. And one of the family. We haven't named him yet.


We are known around the community as the cat family. We have a bunch of cats. they are outside cats,except for 2,for the record. And of course the new rescue until he is completely healed. The babies that were born about a week ago will be outsiders too as soon as they can walk and open their eyes,and eat from a bowl instead of from a nipple. Of course,they all like to come inside once in awhile because they all love to cuddle. They love the company,and their fuzzy blankets,and their teddy bears.

Neighborhood animals and strays gravitate towards our house. I guess the word on the street is "go to that house,they have food,they will save you" or something. It never fails.Lost animals,wounded little friends,they all show up. Dogs,cats....raccoons even spy on us.We don't mind. We love animals. My husband should have been a veterinarian. He will pull over on the road to rescue turtles. We have been a temporary stop to many a turtle. We are the unofficial animal sanctuary/rescue people of the neighborhood.

Sick today

I am sick today. I almost stayed home from church. Buts it's a good thing I didn't. I am the assistant ward pianist in my ward. Which means if the pianist isn't there I play. We also have an organist,who is there most of the time. Usually the organist plays one or 2 songs and the pianist plays the others. I know, most wards just have an organist but our ward is very large and a lot of people have more than one calling. So it helps to have someone share the load when you have other callings to tend to as well. Anyways, I knew our organist was going to be away today. Our pianist was away last week so I was not sure if she would be back today. But nobody had called me. So I figure I didn't have to worry about it. oooooo.....how wrong I was!!! I had this feeling of panic on saturday that I should practice the songs in case I had to play. Good thing I did. We left for church early just in case my gut feeling was right. Good thing because neither if them were there and I ended up having to play. I am also the primary pianist and the choir pianist. So then I had 2 more hours of primary piano playing to do. Its a good thing I went today because if I hadn't there would have been nobody to fill in for me either. ( if I am not there the organist fills in for me in primary). There are tons in our ward who play but they are either unwilling or busy with other callings. So, thanks to me following the promptings of the spirit,crisis averted. That is my spiritual thought for today.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Megan the artist

Megan drew this a few years ago. I put it in my "special" drawer and finally got around to putting it in a frame. I decided to hang it between the windows in the kitchen since there was naked space there.


"mom,take my picture!!!"




I love Baby Josh

Look at this face.He is so cute.
And even cuter when he smiles.
Joshua and Daddy,my brother Myles.
Sleeping after a long day at the pool.
Cute family,don't ya think?

Monday, July 14, 2008

pavlov's dog

Well, more like me, and walmart.
ok, first I need to back track to about 4 years ago. I was sick that day,had just dropped my kids off at school and my moms. I was debating on wether or not I needed to go to work. I finally decided to stay home. So on my way home I figured I would stop at walmart since it was on the way and there was a few things I really needed. I really did not feel well. I was sick to my stomach, i had cramps,and my head hurt. my stomach started to really really hurt bad. I figured I had some gas coming on,and just went about my business. Since I was in Walmart,might as well browse,right? I ended up with some bad gas, but figured I was ok since that particular walmart was not very busy at 8am.
now, lets just say that what I assumed to be gas was not.
I found this out because I had to pee,so I went to the bathroom.
What I thought was gas was actually diarrea. Oh...no.
I didnt know what to do. I lived close enough to my moms(the school was right accross the road from my moms) that to take the kids over I would just hop on the bus and then walk home. Like on this day,except I stopped at walmart. So you see I had a dilemma. DO I take the bus? People might smell me. Do I call a cab? The cab diver would definitely smell me. Walk home? not too far,and nobody would smell me. But I may get more "gas" on the way home. hmmm. I ended up walking. I of course paid for my purchases,hoping and praying and begging the Lord that no one would smell me while i was checking out. Got home and was so embarrassed that it was awhile before I went to that walmart again.

ok, so the reason for this backtrack,is that everytime I have gone to walmart since then, I end up having to use the bathroom.
This has caused chris to nickname me "stinky".

On friday night Chris's parents took us out to eat,then they took the kids home with them and Chris and I went to Walmart. We were browsing the toys when all of a sudden my stomach hurt. Like it did that one time.
I ended up with bad gas. that is when I had total flashback of that first bad gas day in walmart. So I gave Chris the cart and ran to the bathroom. Of course,the bathroom was ALL THE WAY ACCROSS THE STORE. And we were in the BIG supercenter walmart. It was a looonnnng walk. I made it just in time. It never fails to find me in Walmart. Never at target,never at the dollar store,Goody's or Food Lion. Walmart. It was terrible. And I hate using public bathrooms. Because they are never clean. Oh, it was awful. I dont know how long I was in there,but I was praying that no one who saw me come out saw me going in. Because the bathrooms are right in front of the checkout counters. Chris ended up coming to look for me,wondering what was going on. I may find a new place to shop. Target sounds good.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

my new nephew






JOSHUA.Born may 18th 2008. I love him to pieces even though I live far away and haven't officially met him yet. He is so completely adorable.

new additions


In a post a couple of months ago, I did a rundown of all our cats,how they are related,etc. Well, Grey just had a litter of 5 more. In the kids' closet.I would have had her spayed but she left NO time between her first litter and this one. I am so upset about this because I really want to get rid of all the cats.Megan is very attached to all of them and so is Chris. They won't part with them. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Monday, July 7, 2008

snaggletooth

Elias is now missing his 2 front teeth. Grandma Peggy calls him snaggletooth.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

cats being cute

She's hoping for some beefaroni.She ended up getting some,too, since daddy spoils her.Her name is sweet girl and she is chris's favorite. Every morning when he gets home from work she sits on his lap and goes to sleep.
The cats love this fuzzy blanket of Megans.

Panther asleep with Elias in the middle of the afternoon.


Ok, in the above picture the kittens are trying to nurse. Off of Booboo. Booboo is a boy. he's their great uncle. He just layed there with a trance look on his face while they were trying to suck milk out of him.



The kittens love to snuggle.


they love their stuffed toys.


Just hangin out in a dish.


Fascinated by the blind cord.


Chillaxin.



Best friends.


Our cats are like our babies so I can't leave them out of the updates. Here are some of them being cute.

summertime goodtime












This is what we have been doing since school got out for the summer. My in-laws have a pool, which is great because it gives the kids something to do and I can actually sit and relax for a bit. Elias picked out this lobster floatie at walmart the other day. I nearly passed out blowing the dang thing up. Fun times.