Three for Thursday

Three things I'm up to these days:
1. I finally started P90X. It's not so bad so far. Really.
2. Researching Celiac Disease and Gluten Free diets online.
3. I'm up to my eyeballs in dirty laundry and dishes. *groan*

Three movies I've watched lately:
1. My Name is Khan (I give it 4 out of 5 stars)
2. Lost in Austen (4 out of 5)
3. Red Riding Hood (1.5 out of 5)

Three of my favorite spices:
1. basil
2. cinnamon
3. nutmeg

Three things I'm counting down "sleeps" for:
1. My October trip to Texas to "meet" my friend Sami.
2. Thanksgiving. It's at my house this year!
3. My husband being safely back home.

Three things that get my blood boiling:
1. People who can't seem to find happiness in anything. Ever.
2. Pregnant smokers.
3. Short notice.

Three pictures:

More poisoned apples?

A good daddy is...

I drool every time I look at this picture.

Disease of Celiac

Tuesday night. 9 pm. I am getting ready to head out the door with my neighbor lady to visit another neighbor lady. Just then my phone rings. I don't recognize the number. I wonder "Who calls at 9 pm on a Tuesday night?"

The woman's voice on the other line asks for "Elle's mom".

That's me. I tell her so.

She in turn tells me this is Dr. So-and-so (the allergy doctor we saw two weeks ago for some mother's intuition food allergy testing) and that she had been trying to reach me personally for a few days so that she could tell me personally that my sweet little three year old Elle has something called Celiac Disease.

I've heard of Celiac Disease. My uncle has it. His daughter, my cousin has it. Her daughter has it.
I've heard of Celiac Disease. But all I know about it is...you can't eat anything with wheat in it.

And all I know about wheat is...it's in E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

If my neighbor had not been standing in my kitchen watching me talk on the phone, I might have broken down a bit with this news. While I know it's not something as serious as Diabetes or Cancer, it feels serious. It feels threatening. It feels hard.

But I can do hard things. I've done hard things before when I found out Elle's older brother, Dee was deathly allergic to milk when he was only a few months old. I did it before and I can do hard things again.

But if she had to be allergic to something if only she could have been allergic to milk just like her older brother... Now I'm going to have to make three different special meals instead of just the normal two. Whine whine whine. This Celiac thing sounds like a lot of work.

I want to Google it. But all at the same time I don't want to Google it. I need to know what our new life is going to be like, but I'm terrified all at the same time. I don't want to know. Then I really might cry.

Ahhh, but the temptation is too great. A'Googlin' I go.

Blog Swap: Welcome Again...The Great and Random Cannwin!

Cannwin of The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin and I are swapping blogs for the next several Tuesdays. She will be gracing Hanging by a Silver Lining and I'll be treading on her chunk of the blogosphere trying my best not to muck it up too much. We've done this before and had so much fun doing it that we figured it was worth another go.

Today...An interview! Here's your chance to get to know the woman behind the greatness and the randomness... (Make sure to head on over and hear what I had to say to the same questions.)



What was the spark that generated the idea that drove you to start your blog?

When my husband and I were discussing places to go to Law School, we talked about moving out to South Dakota (which we eventually did) and I started toying with the idea of creating a blog to keep up with family. I think the idea must have been in my head before then, but that's when it really started to take flight, but I still didn't think that much about it until I came up with the title "The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin." Call it slightly egotistical, but I really liked the title and then I wanted to make something that I could use it for. That's when the itch took over and I probably had the blog up within the next week.


What do you find most challenging about blogging?

Getting readers. Everyone says, 'If you want readers you have to be a reader.' I'm not a reader and my blog doesn't really have a niche. I guess you could call it a 'mommy blog' but, to me, it's so much more than that. It's exactly what it says it is--it's my ramblings, be they great ones (like the essay I did about growing up in an angry house) or totally random stories about strange things my kids do.


I would love to make the 'Blogs of Note' or be nominated for something cool that would get my name out there and make people notice that I've actually got something worth reading! (Well, most days at least).


How do you keep coming up with material for your blog?

I breathe writing. My mind is a constant whir of ideas and opinions and philosophies. 9 days out of 10 I have absolutely no problem with coming up with something to write about. I've also been a pretty big journal keeper since I was a child, so maybe that practice has made blogging easier (I don't write in a journal anymore--I just blog it all).


What piece of literature or media has inspired you throughout your life?

Poetry has been a huge influence in my life. HUGE... it was one of the defining characteristics of my teen years and honestly kept me sane. My most beloved poem is "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. The first time I heard that I was in Jr. High and it changed my life, literally.


Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?

There's this one blog that Evelyn actually pointed out to me called "The Noisy Plume," I think she's fantastic. She's poetic, she's a great photographer and she's an incredible artist (jewelry). I adore her blog.


The other blog that I really enjoy is called BS5. He's a British guy who writes maybe 2-3 sentences every time he blogs. And it's just day to day stuff, but I really enjoy it for some reason. I've been following his blog since I started blogging myself, which makes his the oldest one on my list.


What is the ultimate goal for your blog?

I think that ultimately what I would like to see is my blogs made in to books that I can have around my house. I imagine my grandchildren and great grandchildren (and hopefully great-great grandchildren) being able to pick up one volume or another (each would be a years worth of blogs) and reading through the posts and comments and really getting to know me. And maybe even laughing! If you ever look at my blog labels there's one that is just three periods (...) that's my note to self on which posts I want to keep for my 'books'.


What skills do you bring to the Super Mom table?

Are you kidding me? I created the Super Mom table!


If you could have lunch with anybody, living or deceased, who would it be?

My husband.


Which means that half of you just sniffled and dried your eyes, and the other half said that doesn't count... but I haven't seen him since August 1, 2011 and I only get to talk to him for about 10 minutes every night (in which he's typically half asleep during). I would really like to just be near him for a bit... like a refill on the mommy gas gauge.


Ever been to another country or state that you liked better then where you currently live?

I loved South Dakota. I really miss it. Like, super miss it. When we moved there I thought I was heading into the wilderness, but now my opinion is that it's this countries best kept secret.


What are you doing with yourself if you’re not blogging or actively mothering?

Currently? Nothing. I probably wouldn't even qualify under the 'active mothering' status at the moment. I'm sort of just surviving until March. Sounds depressing, but that's what flux stages in life do to a person. :)

For the Love of All that is Holy

I have mentioned before on my blog that I am a Mormon.


In the Mormon religion we partake of the Sacrament (pieces of bread and cups of water that symbolize the sacrifice made by the Savior for all of mankind to pay for our sins both on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane) every Sunday. This is the primary purpose for our main Sabbath Day meeting rather appropriately named “Sacrament Meeting”.

In a typical Sacrament Meeting this is how the Sacrament ordinance would go:

The young men line up near the Sacrament table. One young man sitting at the table blesses the bread with an established blessing. Then the lined up young men take the bread trays and disperse amongst the congregation passing the trays down the aisles in a reverent and organized manner.

The members of the congregation upon being passed the tray take a piece of bread, eat it, and pass the tray down to the next person, all the while pondering upon the Savior and taking the opportunity to renew baptismal covenants with humble hearts and clear minds. This process is repeated for the water.

It is a special opportunity to think of our Heavenly Father and Savior and to partake in the power of the Atonement. It SHOULD be a sacred, quiet, peaceful time where hearts and minds are focused and open to the whisperings of the Spirit.

And then there’s how the Sacrament goes for our family:

As the Sacrament prayers are being given Jeigh is turned around almost standing on the pew to look at the people behind us. Elle is yelling, asking where her elephant has gone. Dee is whining that he’s ready to go home. Never mind that we have been at church a whole of ten minutes. The baby is probably the best behaved out of all four children…

Until…the trays come by. Then she is squirming, twisting, and reaching to grab a hold of the trays as they come down our pew. As I wrestle her back with one arm and hold the tray steady with the other I feel as if I know what it must be like to be a calf wrangler.

She’s simply a curious baby and this wouldn’t be so bad if Dee wasn’t taking his sweet time figuring out exactly which tiny hunk of bread is destined for his tummy and eternal salvation. He likes to study the tray, wiggling the fingers on both hands in the air with the anticipation. Obviously it is crucial to get the RIGHT piece of bread as sometimes he grabs one and tosses it back after a moment of examination. If I weren’t holding a near screeching baby back I would grab one for him and shove it in his mouth, but this is wholly impossible. Instead I choose to cast him a dirty glance, dripping with maternal meaning. Finally he chooses the one piece of bread that is farthest from him requiring him to reach over and around the tray, nearly knocking the entire thing to the ground.

The three year old is much faster at picking her bread. But in her haste and hunger she usually grabs a good handful of bread instead of the one piece and crams it into her mouth before I can stop her. Maybe she’s hoping to be forgiven of extra sins.

As I pass the tray back and try to bow my head and close my eyes hoping to salvage some of the opportunity to commune with my Heavenly Father, a finger pokes my side. I look over at Dee who has chewed up his bread and spread it all over his teeth like a set of those cheap Halloween hillbilly teeth. I just stare at him unsure if I should puke or punish.

After the water tray comes and goes Jeigh is loudly swishing her reserved water through her teeth. The baby is happily kicking the hymn books against the pew in front of us. Elle is still in a dire and vocal search for her toy elephant. Dee is slumped over and sulking after being pinched with church appropriate chastisement. My husband Joe is rolling his eyes and muttering threats under his breath. I have broken out in to a sweat from embarrassment and effort at “helping” my children to learn how to behave appropriately during this sacred ordinance.

As the Bishop stands up to announce that the Sacrament is over I am feeling anything but Christ-like. Quite the opposite actually. Every Sunday I find myself wondering if the Sacrament still counts when you have visions of knocking a few heads together in the middle of it. Surely there is some kind of addendum to the Atonement for mothers of young children…

P.S. Of course I say this all very tongue-in-cheek. In my heart of hearts I KNOW it is important for my children to be at this meeting and learning about the Atonement and the Savior. I KNOW it is important for me to be there as well, knocking heads together or not (I kid, I kid. Kind of...) One day we will get this right. And in the meantime, we have been given the wonderful opportunity to repent, partake of the Sacrament, and try, try again.

Love knows no bounds. But it should.

We have a five year old girl in our family.

Thusly, our house has been swept up in a fit of amorous passion.

Everything in our house is kissing these days.

I walked in on Iron Man in a fervent lip lock with Princess Jasmine the other day. (Shhh! Don’t tell Aladdin!)

Barbies. Stuffed animals. Balls. Cars. Rocks. Shoes. Pillow Pets. Fruit snacks. Bikes. Lego blocks. Sticks. Broccoli and cauliflower chunks.

Love knows no bounds.

But this has just gone too far.

Eww.

Get a room you two.

Three for Thursday: Thursday? Is that what that was?

Today's Three for Thursday is brought to you by the three blessed minutes I finally found to sit down and write. What a hairy crazy day. Much grocery shopping, laundry washing, kid losing, taxi driving, phone talking, homework supervising, bill paying, and various other -ings were done attempted to be done today.

A frustrating, but full day.

Three funny things I saw or heard today:

1. A woman in a convertible following me around the grocery store parking lot beeping her car horn at my two girls who were sitting in the toy car front of the grocery cart beeping back at her. The first time it was funny and cute. The second and third time...it was just kind of creepy.

2. The Smith's clerk stopping me to tell me how beautiful my children were and that she fully believed that Utah made the best looking babies. I didn't have the heart to tell her we're from Idaho.

3. The Costco clerk asking if Elle's dad was the milkman. Yep. He's from Idaho too.


Three things on my Christmas wish list:

1. A gym membership. Why don't you throw in a personal trainer while you're at it, Santa?

2. An Amazon gift card for a million dollars. That's not greedy. Not one little bit.

3. The gift of Time. Oh and world peace.


Three things that I love about my neighborhood:

1. My wonderful neighbors! I love when they drop by just to see how we're doing. I love the power fists jammed in the air as I jog by each night. I love the free delicious tomatoes growing through my fence. By far the best neighbors we have ever had.

2. The proximity of stuff. The school, the dance studio, the church, the Costco...

3. The great hills that "enrich" my running routine. I really really love them. So so much. :P


Three things that make me happy and sad all at the same time:

1. Chocolate. A moment on the lips. A lifetime on the hips.

2. Watching my babies grow up.

3. Weight loss. "Wow! It's amazing that I can do this! Wow. Why did I wait until I was 30 to realize this?! I've wasted so much time."


Three movies I like that have Elephants in them:

1. Jungle Book the cartoon

2. Jungle Book the not cartoon

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom


Three pictures:

Mommy and Jeigh disagreed about what does and does not make a "cute" school outfit. Guess who won this morning?

Race Day with my sister. I did the 10K, she did the Half Marathon. So happy we could share the experience! Next year we're running the Half together.

This child will be responsible for 99% of my gray hair.

The Silver Lining is This

I had a rather clever little post for the day, but I'm afraid it's just going to have to wait. I can't let this day go by without expressing gratitude for all the comments on my post yesterday, the texts of "Hey! You okay?", and the messages of love and support.

Ya'll made me cry again, but with tears of gratitude and love.

Thank you.

Ever feel like the English language just doesn't have the right words to express how you feel? Me too. And that's how I'm feeling today.

So all I can say is...Thank you.

One of my greatest hopes for myself is that someday I can be the kind of friend and family member to others as they are to me. I may be going through a rough spot, but I am truly blessed with family and friendships such as these.

Thank you.

There's a Silver Lining Here Somewhere...I Think.

When I woke up this morning I did so with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I was happy. Truly happy. I got busy with the hustle and bustle of the morning routine, but added "Put 'I love my little life!' on Facebook status" to my mental TO DO list.

Before I could get to it, I checked my email.

I should have gone to Facebook first.

My email contained some truly rotten news that rocked my world today. While I can't discuss it publicly, it's hard to leave the hurt alone. In true Evelyn-fashion I cried. A lot. As I cried I tried to figure out how to approach this new trial in our lives. Do I lay down and die? Do I run for the nearest chocolate store? Do I get angry? Do I burn a few bridges? Do I give up?

Yes...

No...

Maybe a little...

I can't quite decide. It's been a roller coaster day. A humbling day. I keep flitting between "MY LIFE IS OVER!" to "Maybe this could be a good thing" and back again. I can't quite decide how to feel about it.

A few things are certain though.

Life is going to be a little rocky for our family over the next several months.

And life will go on.

Back in April 2003 I recall a memory where I felt the same. I had just broken up with Joe (for the dozenth time and what I thought was "for good"). I had recently dropped out of college as I had been doing terribly in my classes. I had resigned myself to taking a break and working for a bit to save money. The next day I was fired from my job, a job I had had for a year and a half and one that I actually kind of enjoyed.

I thought my life was over. No job. No school. No boyfriend. No future.

Anyone care for a second serving of Humble Pie?

A week later (the future) I had a new dream job at the local Emergency Department and I was engaged to Joe. The opportunity to go back to school came later. Despite what I had thought a week before life did indeed go on and even get better. Better than what it had been only a mere week before.

You know that whole saying about "God closing doors and opening windows"? I'm hoping that still holds true like it did in April 2003. 

So yes, I'm crying a lot today, but I'm also holding on to a shred of hope. My blog name is "Hanging by a Silver Lining" after all.

You Can't Judge a Mom by Her Wardrobe

My wall clock tells me that it is currently 1:28 pm.

My wardrobe tends to disagree.

You see, I'm still wearing my pajamas. Purple ones with pine trees of white, grey, and varying shades of pink in case you wanted a visual.

Before you have the chance to make any assumptions about how my Monday has been going let me tell you this. Just because I'm still wearing my pajamas at 1:28 in the afternoon does not mean I am lazy.

wake up at 6:30 am
read scriptures and say prayers
wash dishes
feed kids
dress kids
clean kids
shove kids out door
drive kids to school
shove kids out door
clean house
gather laundry
begin washing mountain of laundry whilst channeling inner Reverend Mother (♪♫ Climb every mountain... ♪♫)
check bank account
take garbage out
check mail box
freelance writing work
switch laundry (♫♪ Ford every stream...)
feed baby
put baby down for nap
change bedding
pick up kindergartner
chase 3 year old out of bathroom, out of cupboards, out of laundry room, out of bathroom AGAIN
make lunch
eat lunch
feed lunch to children
clean up lunch
homework
sight words practice
more laundry (♪♫ Follow every rainbow... ♫♪)
feed baby again

Lazy? Not even close.

You may have caught on by now that I'm a mom. And as a mom sporting pajamas of whatever shade or pattern means I have been doing anything BUT watching soaps and eating bon bons.

I have simply been so busy that I have not had the time to get dressed. So neener neener Monday.

And yes I totally wore my pajamas as I dropped children off at school this morning. And seeing as how I still have them on at 1:28 pm and my kindergartner's pick up time is at 11:15 am...Well, you do the math. Maybe my first grader will be lucky enough to see me in a pair of jeans before 3 pm.

And don't worry about the kids. The kids are too young to be scarred for life by their half dressed mother.

I hope.

Maybe I ought to start adding "GET DRESSED" on to my to do list. Then it would get done like everything else I've been doing around here.

Oh! Looks like it's time to add another load to the washer.

♪♫ 'TIL...YOU...FIND...YOUR...DREAM! ♫♪

Happy Monday ya'll!

P.S. Make sure to come back tomorrow! The Great and Random Cannwin and I are swapping blogs for the day. You don't want to miss this!

Three for Thursday: Staving Off the Nerves

My first 10K race is only two sleeps away (That’s how we track time in our house. Doesn’t everyone?) and I can’t help but be more than a little nervous. I know I can do it. I know I will do it. And I know how awesome I will feel after accomplishing that goal. It’s just the getting there part that is so darn nerve wracking. Wish me luck as I try to knock another physical fitness goal off my list and join me in another Three for Thursday as I try to distract myself from the gut wrenching nerves.

By the way, I'm simplifying things with 3 for TH a bit.
"Tis a gift to be simple! Tis a gift to be free!"

I cut the prompts down to five plus three pictures.
No prizes but the prize of having fun.
Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but my tight schedule, husband, and bank account send their gratitude.



Three accomplishments that I have under my belt:

1. I ran my first and only 5K back in September 2009. It was just a measly 3 miles, but it made me feel like a super hero.

2. As of today, 50 pounds lost over the last almost 4 months!

3. Successfully keeping four beautiful children alive…so far.


Three things that my grandma and I have in common:

1. Names that start with E.

2. Bad hearing. I already know hearing aids are in my future.

3. A love of swimming, travel, and adventure.


Three plans for Labor Day:

1. Run my first 10K race.

2. Bathe in chocolate and Dr. Pepper afterwards. (Maybe…I don’t really want to screw up that 50 pound mark.)

3. Celebrate the birthday of my little brother who was coincidentally born on Labor Day. Labor and delivery on Labor Day. How ironic.


Three ridiculous things I have spent money on:

1. Cowboy hats that Joe and I wore one time.

2. Food. I HATE when you spend money on food and it just doesn’t taste all that fantastic. That puts me in such a foul mood.

3. Dumb boys in high school.


Three things that only time will fix:

1. My hair. When will I ever learn that cutting it short is not a good idea?! UGH!

2. The hazard zone my office is. I feel certain that if I simply wait long enough, it WILL clean it self up, right?

3. My biological clock tick tick ticking away in spite of being “done”. I hear the day that last baby is potty trained is a glorious day of freedom. I’m waiting to see.


Three pictures:



Good grief! She looks so grown up, doesn't she?




We saw this guy ahead of us and could not stop giggling.




Did I mention I FINALLY got my picture frames up? Umm...I never said anything about getting pictures in those picture frames...