Online Organization

When I get online I have my homepage set up to easily access the things I use to keep on track. I have some links in my bookmarks bar, but the ones I use most often are in my google bookmarks.

Just thought I'd share. I know it makes my online browsing much easier.

"My Birth Day"

me in the same christening gown

"I was 20 when Nicole Celeste was born in 1976. Being in the army, I

was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood Mo. Now, Missouri has some of the

worst winters I've ever seen. And 1976 was no exception! Nicole was

due to be born the middle of March, and my grandma, (Ma-ma) had come

to spend some time with me. I'm glad she was there. She gave me a few

tips on babies, like anise tea when the baby had a tummy ache. Anyway,

Nicole apparently did not want to come into this world. I guess she

was too comfy. (Or stubborn.)


 About 10 days after my EDD, I started

having back pains. Ma-ma said it was probably labor pains. When the

pain spread into my belly, we headed to the hospital. The weather

wasn't too bad, but there was snow on the ground. And it was COLD!

They admitted me, and kept an eye on things for the rest of the day.

By evening, the pains had lessened quite a bit, tho still there. The

dr. told me it was 'false' labor, to go home, and make an appt. for

the next week. I told the nurse I would be back in the morning. She

just smiled at me. (More like a sneer.)

The next morning the pains were so bad, I went back to the hospital.

By now there was a blizzard on! After I had been in labor a few hours, the nurse 

came and told me to quiet down. There were others who were trying to sleep! 

They finally gave me an epidural, which I later regretted. After 36 total hrs.,

 Nicole finally made her debut,{on the 27th} with the help of forceps-yep, always been hard-headed! Lol. She was a chubby 8#s 3oz, and 100% cute! I couldn't wait to hold

her! I was able to nurse as soon as I got back to my room, which I got

to in a round about way. The nurse told me I had to WALK to my room,

but to get there, I had to go around the nurses desk! I was so glad to

get the rest they insisted on. After 2 days they let me go home. All I

wanted to do was sit and hold her and look at her. She was so

beautiful! My little poodle was sooo jealous at first, but immediately

protective of Nicole at the same time! The total cost of my experience

was around $8-the cost of my food."

mom in her christening gown 

They Call Me..... Mom

Whats in a name..

I was watching Ron White one evening with the hubby, when I heard one of the funniest comedy bits. ( Click Here to hear it) 

I dont recall the process, but at some point thought, I have an alias too.. Since 1998,  They Call Me... Mom. So then and there the code name was born. 

A short while after that I found this image online. I had it altered with my "name". Also if you look closely the Superman S is not there. No Super anything. It has been replaced with a CTR. For non Mormons, its a symbol that means "Choose  The Right". 

So thats my secret identity. ;) A superhero that goes by "Mom".. I by no means think I am a supermom.. We all know from the comic books.. The superheros are usually your average person in real life. There is no exception here. My superpowers are similar to most women. I grow people and make milk.

Why I will never watch the Superbowl again

First, I am REALLY bored by football. Second, the half time shows are terrible. At least give us a reprieve for watching the boring football. Its pretty sad when the half time show leaves us [non football fans] begging for the game to resume. But most of all, its the commercials. I remember when they had really cool, funny commercials.. On a normal sports event day the commercials are beer and sex. (One reason we stopped watching with the kids). But the Super Bowl had this higher expectation of commercial quality. In recent years I have seen it decline. Maybe it hasn't. Maybe as a maturing adult and mother I just see things differently. But I know I am not alone. 


One of the commericals that got axed was this one



Fox said the commercial was rejected for Fox said the commercial was rejected for “advancing particular beliefs or practices.” And that, apparently, is against company policy. They however did feel it was appropriate and acceptable to air the sleazy Go Daddy ads. the Skechers,  and the TeleFlora commercial. Let me add the "favorite" among American views was an adorable Volkswagon commercial. The top 10, were all pretty decent all together.


In regards to the axed commercials. Advancing particular beliefs or practices? I am not statistician, but I am willing to bet that more Superbowl viewers are less offended by a scripture reference, then they are by the terrible "entertainment" they call a pre-game and half time show. 


Next year I think I may plan a Non-Super Bowl Party. Complete with fully dressed women, intelligible music and food that doesn't permanently stain your fingers.

What’s a day like for me? Not much different than yours I suppose.

The Schedule: In brief

I get up about 6 am . The kids wake up on their own and are usually all up by 7. We get breakfast going and our am chores. Chores include feeding animals, making beds, breakfast clean up getting dressed and brushing teeth. Everyone does their part. We try to do a scripture study.  If the weather is nice we have some free time, if not we move right into school time. The younger ones have options, sit down with us or go play. Most often they enjoy school time with us. The 4 older children work on their lessons while I work on my own projects and help them along.

We break for lunch and clean up. Again if weather is nice we have outside free time. If not we use that time to catch up on lessons, maybe watch a movie. About 2pm we work back into lessons till about 4. Then again free time depending on weather and how well the children have done with school and chores. 

Dinner is at 6 and usually one of the children help. Clean up and ready for bed. Most everyone is in bed by 8 and they can read till they fall asleep.

Now this is a brief summary of a typical day here. And not all days run this way. We have the freedom to modify if we have something going on and the children and their behavior effect how much free time they get. We work first, play later.  An example of a variation in the schedule is today. My kids had a pizza party at church last night.. Its 7 am and I am the only one awake. This is why I have time to write this.

Chores and Responsibilities

In regards to chores, the rule is, if you can walk you can do chores. Jacob. The oldest does the most. He is also the one who oversees many operations J  Each child has  a partner. They are to work as a team- always. Jacob’s partner is Ezra. Jacob is my right hand man and helps me alot. And he enjoys it. This also gives Jacob more free time too as I do most of the partner stuff since Jacob helps with the rest. With great responsibility comes great rewards. Jacob is a very mature responsible kid. Quinten and Urijah are buddies. Urijah LOVES this.. Urijah is potty training and between Quinten and I helping he is really doing great. Quinten is very encouraging to him. Quinten’s job is to do his chores help Urijah with his. Their chores and responsibilities include putting away their own laundry, picking up their toys, making their beds. Quinten is also to help him get ready to go. He helps him get dressed and in the van. Abigail and Olivia are partners they are in charge of their own laundry and beds and dishes. Zachary and Isaac are also in charge of their own stuff and the table chairs and floor . Some think this is a terrible system and its not fair to the older ones who are “taking care of the siblings”. Unless you have actually worked this system there is no way to know that. In our home it is a wonderful system and has built a great relationship between the kids.. As the family changes as do partners.. so about once a year or every two years the partners change ( up till about 2 mos ago Jacob and Urijah were partners and Quinten was partners with Zachary) In a large family you have to facilitate bonding between siblings .This system does that. We have used it since Jacob was old enough to be an older buddy, so maybe 6-7 years. This also helps when we are out and about. They say it’s safer to travel in pairs. If we are at a public place I stand outside the door(s) and the buddies can use the restrooms. This also helps to prevent lost sheep. If you keep track of your partner we don’t have the “wher e is Zachary” moments.  Isaac always knows where Zachary is etc.  He has one person to keep track of. This makes keeping track of 8 much easier. I still count every 10 min but I worry a lot less.

Punishment and Rewards

We try to work on the reward part more, but some days they just wear ya down. We have some set rules. Here are a few off the top of my head.

1.       No tantrums. Do not throw a fit because you did or did not get something you did or didn’t want.

2.       No physical altercations out of anger. 

3.       No disrespecting of adults

4.       No tattling. We encourage them to make sure no one is in danger but I really don’t need to know every little thing the others have done wrong. Try to solve your own issues before you take it to me.

5.       

Punishments include timeouts, pushups or a swat. This varies by the violation of the rules. For example if the older 4 are caught fighting they will each get 100 push-ups.  Disrespecting of adults gets you swats ( or spanking as some may call.. But before you get all up in arms it’s perfectly legal to spank and whomever you want to report me to has already been out here to tell me that. So don’t waste anyone’s time. My kids are far from abused. ) The younger ones spend more time in time out although they do get some swats or push-ups. 

We recently started a great and fun reward system. I got the idea from my Relief Society President. It’s a Bingo sheet.  The squares have different goals and when you get a bingo you get a prize. A few things I list on the squares

1.       First partners ready for church

2.       Write a letter to a family member or missionary

3.       Help someone with their chore

4.       Share with a friend or sibling

5.       Do a chore without being told

This has been fun for the kids. I begin a new sheet at the first of each month and they can get up to 10 bingos per sheet. (Completing the sheet gets you 10)

So there is a typical day in the life of a large family.. I am sure there is more but I cant recall right now :) 

Photography

Photography has been a hobby of mine forever.. I really enjoy it.. Especially nature shots..I have a pretty decent camera right now but I dropped it last summer and its held together by packing tape LOL but it works! When I get a raise I'll spring for a new one ;)

Here are some pics I took today

A Mormon in the making

My first memory of the Church  was as a child.. I remember those feel good commericals with the brought to you by at the end.. I had no idea what a Mormon was, although I am sure I asked.

My mother is a Catholic and father claimed he was a Baptist, although I dont think he ever stepped foot in a Baptist church. My mom took us to church but I really didnt connect.. I learned so very little and we were never encouraged to read scriptures and such at home. Church was a hour on Sunday and that was about it, as far as being incorporated in our lives.

As I became a young teen I outright refused to continiue to go to church. I just didnt see the point. I wasnt getting anything out of it and my family had fallen apart. Some may say I was an Atheist, but I didnt even give it that much thought.

As I got older, I really dont know when or how, but I did have this idea that we had some overseeing power. I guess its the "there's no Atheist in a foxhole" idea. I just didnt know what it was. I studied Paganism and was quite intrigued. I really liked alot of the customs and tradions, but I just didnt feel they were complete. I still agree with many of them as they do apply to the Gospel.

On Sept 11 2001, everything I had ever thought changed. My understanding of history, or lack thereof, was first.. I realized how little I knew about anything. Joe and I started listening more to talk radio.. One of the hosts put a big emphasis on family. He talked about things like Family Night, Food Storage, etc. We began to incorporate these things into our own lives.

Around this same time we met a lady in our homeschool group who was LDS. She invited us to church on many occasions. We wanted to go but never did. One afternoon we found ourselves in the parking lot of the Church. We debated for about 10 minutes who was going to go inside and get information. Neitehr of us went in.

The said radio host continued to talk about how his family investigated churches trying to find "the one". We at that point knew he was a Mormon, and we didnt want to join becasue of that reason alone. It didnt feel genuine.

We talked about doing the same church investigation but never really did.. We attended church here and there and never felt comfortable. Nothing really stuck with us. We never felt at home.

It had been a year or more after we had last attended Church.. In late March 2008 Jehovas Witness' came to our door. As with anyone who wants to talk Joe invited them in and they talked. They stayed for probably an hour. A few days later they came back and we talked more. They invited us to Church that Sunday and we went. The sermon was, lets just say odd.. and after was a lunch prepared for us specifially. We were gracious, but uncomfortable. As we got in the car to leave, we gave each other the same look. We are not gonna go back there.

That evening and on thru the week we looked up the LDS church online.We realized there was so much that made sense to us. I believe it was Wednesday Joe called the church to find out what we need to do to attend on Sunday.

We showed up and sat in the front row. We were a bit taken aback by the three hours but by then end of it we knew this is where we were to be. The spirit spoke so strongly to us that day, not just to Joe and I but the kids as well. We asked to be baptized. We began taking missionary discussions and contined to attend church. On May 9th Joe and I were baptized.

 It was two years ago this week that we truly discovered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so ever grateful for the Gospel. It has greatly blessed my family with the knoweledge we need.

Callie

2001 was not a good year for dog for me. In February I had to put down my Shih Tzu, Bo Bear due to kidney failure and two weeks later my Lhasa, Coco Kendall committed suicide by vehicle..
I was devastated.. A week later a client called up and said she needed to find a home for Callie, a beautiful Australian Shepherd everyone in the shop adored. Callie was loved by her owners but the didn't have time for her.. Callie spent many nights at the shop when mom forgot to pick up.. When Callie was home she was spoiled with treats which led to her obesity.. We had told the owners if they ever wanted to find a home for Callie we would have one for her.. When she called that morning my heart had already started to heal..

I took Callie home and she fit right in.. She was the perfect dog.. I had no qualms with her..... not a one... till about a month later she started peeing on my wood floor.. At first I was upset but this was unusual so I took her in to the vet suspecting she had a urinary tract infection..

The vet delivered some devastating news.. Callie had diabetes.. at her stage she was given a year to live.. if that.. Her previous owners had loved her to death..... literally..

We did the insulin in hopes that it would give her the best chance possible.. and she was a trooper about it too.. Gradually her eyes were taken over by cataracts. Callie's spirit was so great she would still play fetch even when she could barely see.. she would listen for the ball..

When I adopted Callie in February she was a robust 65lbs.. By November she had dropped to 35.. She was holding on by a thread.. One morning, I woke up to see her sitting there with a look that asked "let me go" It was the hardest thing I have ever done..

I have had a thousand dogs come and go in my life.. Some were pets, some were friends pets, some were my foster pets, many were clients. Never... NEVER has a dog touched me the way Callie did.. I lost her 8 years ago and I still ball when I think of her..

They Call Me Mom

Thats me, Mom.. I have had that name for over 10 years... it doesn't seem that long, yet it seems like its always been that way..

I am a busy body.. I am usually doing two things at once.. on a good day 3 or 4.. as I type this I am also chatting with my sister in law, reading another blog and stopping to make sure lunch is rolling smoothly along..

When I am not working or doing mommy stuff ( or playing on the internet) I do other stuff to keep busy

I have many hobbies, and many things I 'd like to learn.. I love photography and have done a bit digital scrap booking. I also like designing websites although my knowledge of most programs is limited. I did make most of the graphics and the layouts on my blogs. I also make jewelry and dog bows ( they can be kid bows too!) I have dabbled in paper scraping and rubber stamping..I tried sewing and have realized that quits are the only thing I should work on.. they are beautiful and have straight lines. I can do that! So quilts are on my list of "projects I should do more often"

(internet photo)

I am also the great organizer.. I love stacking boxes, shelves and other such ways to organize and store items.. I could spend days doing projects like that.. I am actually considering doing it professionally part time.

(internet photo)

I also spend my time "doing the coupon thing" I love it but some days it frustrates the heck outta me.. I do have a pretty good food storage but its not as much as I'd like. I do not cook ( well I do, people just prefer I dont) but my family does. And there's alot of them, so I need to find the best deals on food. I do want to cook from scratch more and learn to can. I am not musically inclined nor will I ever be.. and I accept that LOL

So theres a little bit about me.. for now.