Tuesday's True Confession: I want to be mad...

AT MY MOTHER!!! She gave Emily a tie dye kit for Christmas. I was going to get her one until my mom told me she had already ordered it and that she thought it was better than the one I was looking at.
Let me tell ya...It wasn't. The scarf that the kit came with was our first project(and maybe our last too). While the scarf came out beautifully, my hands and Emily's face, neck and fingers are horribly stained.
So why would I go so far as to say that the one I wanted to get was better?! Welllllll....The kit that I wanted to order had a special tube that you put the item to be dyed in, and holes to squeeze the dye into, but all the dye would have stayed contained in the...er...container. My kitchen was covered in dye despite the plastic we put down to cover the surfaces.
I tried so hard to let Emily do this with minimal help from me, after all she is 9....but after she squirted dye all over herself, the floor, ceiling, counter sink AND me...
I got mad, I yelled, I cursed my mother inside my head. Thankfully, it washed out of everything except our skin...I never never want to do that again! although I probably will, b/c it brings great joy to my child...and next time I will be better prepared and we will do it OUTSIDE...and maybe I will borrow toxic hazard suits from someone :P

Its officially the end!

The end of the fall semester that is! I have survived my third semester in college! Only 5 more to go lol. I was waiting on pins and needles for my last grade to be posted. I am beyond thrilled to say that I got the grades that I wanted and needed to continue according to my time table WOOT WOOT! I ended up with two A's and two B's this semster. Not shabby, not shabby at all :) NOW Christmas break can commence, I have NOTHING left to stress over school wise at least!

Tuesday's True Confession: I'm a control freak...

I am one of 'those' people. You know, one of those people who sit back and watch a show/program/presentation, heck even with some of my teachers lessons, and I think "I could do this better"...granted very rarely do I ever voice this out loud....except to Cory, and yet, he still loves me.
When changes are implemented in something that I am involved in do I go with the flow? NOPE, I buck the new system and I grumble...usually out loud...and I think I pretty much make everyone miserable until at some point I conform and fall in line.
With that said, let me add that if the change is MY idea, well then its practically perfect in every way!
There was a big change presented to me today that will I suppose be taking place in our primary, and every other primary in the world. My first reaction? UGH, do they realize how much extra work this creates for me! I don't like it! Its dumb, grrrrrrr.
And then a little saying popped into my head "change is certain, growth is optional"....damn. This is a perfect opportunity for me to let go of the control and sit back and go with the flow...and man is it going to be a challenge!
I have even worked out a script in my head of what I will (politely!) say if my input is sought...it took me almost an hour to make is polite and non offending to anyone....I still don't see exactly HOW this change makes anything better or easier, but that aside, someone MUCH higher than me knows that this is a change that needed to be made...for reasons unknown to me. I didn't even vent this to Cory yet, so I wonder what he will think when he hears of the changes and sees how I react...hopefully out of character :D
On a totally unrelated topic...I wonder if I could go a whole post without using...

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

Tonight was our towns 'Parade of Lights'. Cory's squad represented NCSO. There float was small but amazing! My kids were asked to ride on the float and dress 'in character'. The theme of this years parade was A Charlie Brown Christmas. I don't have pictures of the kids on the float yet, but I do have this one that I took at the house before we headed in,

The costumes may be a bit ghetto, but thats what you get when you ask the ONE person who doesn't work well with a sewing machine to make theme costumes...

I got to ride behind the float in the tahoe with Cory. We decked it out in lights and had all the red and blue code lights running, It looked great!!! It was a beautiful night too, which made it all the more fun, 55 degrees, so we didn't have to be bundled and have the heater cranked up on high, the kids didn't feel cold on the float either, which is always a plus!

Riding in the parade has one big advantage and that is that I get to hear the comments from people as we slow roll by them. I heard many comments on how cute the kids were all dressed up in their costumes and how awesome the Sheriff's vehicle looked with all the lights on it. Of course there were tons and tons of people that we knew, my hand actually got tired from all the waving! And everyone thinks its cool to see someone they know in the parade. But my heart glows with pride when I heard many people say "Thats Deputy Knights wife in there with him" or "There's Amanda, she is married to a Deputy" Yup, I sure am! And I love him so much it surprises even me sometimes. My mom and my sister and her little family came over for the parade and little Marion was sitting quiet as could be watching the parade and out of no where she busts out with "THERE'S UNCLE CORY!!" And we heard her too, it was cute as heck!

The kids all had a blast being IN the parade instead of WATCHING it, in fact they told me that they like it better this way lol...I see many more parade rides in our future :)

I don't even know if the NCSO float won a prize or not, and to me it doesn't really matter, we had fun, and that IS what matters.

...I have a dog...

Yup, we have a dog...we have had him for a little less than half the year....its a male...and getting him was more of a rescue situation than anything. So I have had to house train a 5 year old dog...and everytime I think we have mastered it and we do good for about a solid month...I find out we are practically starting over! Tonight, I walked into the playroom where I have a rather messy pile of blankets...they were folded just a few days ago, but I guess with the trampoline out of commision the blankets had to stand in. well, I went to get something out of the freezer....AND IT REEKS OF DOG PEE IN THERE!!!! grrrrrrrr.....momma ain't happy....and momma ain't cleaning it up. Cory wanted the dog, Cory can clean up after the mutt....and the dog can sleep on the chain, he has a fur coat, he will be warm enough.

MIA?

I'm here, I really am alive....I'm just consumed with studying for my 3 finals next week and finishing up last minute homework that sadistic teachers handout in the last week of school. I actually admitted that I have no self control and had Cory lock me out of my FB account. Oh, how I miss talking to many of my friends. School work has got to come first though, and my fingers have a sneaky habit of typing www.facebook.com when they are supposed to be typing a paper or looking for homework helps on youtube and what not. The facebook moratorium is paying off though. I got a B on a recent test...up from a very low C on the last one...I aced a big chemistry project, Aced an Anatomy quiz and have put in hours and hours of textbook reading time.
I have also found peace in doing little Christmas traditions with my children each day and night. So this little space of time is completely showing me that I need to learn some self control, and manage my time more efficiently.
Cory has been a blessing beyond measure...as I spend almost 5 days a week in Show Low gearing up for my anatomy tests. This class is time intensive!
On a totally unrelated topic, I'm getting fed up with the other co leader of Emily's girl scout troop and I'm thinking that I may tell her to find someone else to co lead with her...I just don't want to do it anymore! But its something that Emily and I can do together, and until she decides that she doesn't want to do it anymore, I'm going to support her in it wholeheartedly.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

To me there is nothing more stunning than a decorated Christmas tree. I have fond childhood memories of many Christmas trees. My absolute favorite part of the Christmas tree is sitting in front of it with all other lights turned off and I squint my eyes while looking at the lights...don't ask me why, I just love the way it looks! Tonight we decorated our tree. As I unwrapped each ornament my children exclaimed over many of them. "I remember making this one!" "Were my hands really so small?!" "Grandma Knight was a great painter!" "This one is funny!"

After decorating, we sat around with cups of cocoa topped with whipped cream and crushed candy canes. We are reading a scripture a day pertaining to the Christmas story. Its all bound together on a ring and hangs on our tree. I got it from a previous Relief Society presidency as a gift years ago. We read a story called The Last Straw, and reminded ourselves that the true meaning of Christmas is about love and service. Our story book has a different story for every day in December leading up to Christmas. It also includes a song per day. Tonight was O Little Town of Bethlehem. My kids know the first verse, but I sang the rest for them. We glued a cotton ball on our santa beard advent calendar, a loop was cut from the chain counting down the days until Christmas....all is well.

I wonder if I can maintain focus if I sit in front of the tree and study....hmmmm