Random thoughts- Take 2

- We alternate every year with doing a family adventure or doing a birthday party with friends. This year it's parties. Sarah is turning 7 next week and I'm busy planning her party. I have 4 test in 2 weeks, with her party at the end of this mental gauntlet. Am I stressed? Hmm...


- She wants to do a fairy party and she wants me to face paint everyone. Not a big request, except who will run things if I'm busy face painting for an hour?


- The school has a rule that you can't pass out invitations at school without inviting the whole class. Great, except they also won't give you addresses of students, since that violates privacy laws. Result? We've invited her entire class to come, in addition to her friends from church and home school. This could be a chaotic mess!


- I decided that I will NOT decorate a cake myself this year, since I don't have any spare time to do so. I also can't afford to buy a decorated cake from the bakery, so I decided to make cupcakes, frost them, and poke silk flowers on top of them. They'll be pretty and fast to make.


- I finally mopped my floor yesterday. The Halloween party last week was very fun, but the witch's brew was VERY sticky when it was spilled by tiny guests. I've been sticking to my kitchen floor for a week. Daniel helped things along by spilling a gallon of milk on the floor a couple days ago. I finally mopped it!


- The secret to not leaving a soapy residue when you mop is this: don't mop with any Lysol/cleaning agents other than white distilled vinegar. The vinegar is a GREAT disinfectant and it dries clean, without leaving anything behind. I pour a cup of vinegar into a gallon of hot water.


- In my microbiology class they tested 4 cleaning agents for effectiveness. White vinegar cleaned better than Lysol, Simple Green, and Clorox bleach. Evidently the vinegar kills mold spores in addition to the bacteria, so it's the best one to use. What's even better, it's very cheap! I've been using it to clean everything lately.


- The marketing doesn't lie for once: Melaleuca oil DOES kill bacteria very effectively. We tested that agent as well in a different study, and it worked GREAT. I have a bottle in my medicine cabinet that I use for ear infections. We put a couple drops into the ear canal. It saves a trip to the doctor.


- I started a new painting a couple weeks ago, but haven't had any time to work on it since then. My calendar is so full  that I don't think I'll get to work on it until after Christmas. That's sad. I wanted to hang it up before then.


- I miss our extended family. Grandparents live in New Hampshire and Idaho and Utah. Erg. We can only visit every-other year. I want my kids to have more memories with their grandparents. We are thinking about moving closer to them in 4-5 years. I'll be done with school and Nate will have plenty of work experience for transferring to a new job.


- There is one problem: Nathan's job. We can't move anywhere because we love his job so much. We've looked at the job market in other places, but they don't compare. Not a bit. Nate's job has very high job satisfaction, and the company is rated in Fortune 100's Best Companies To Work For....it's been listed for the past TEN YEARS. It's a very good place to work and he loves it. Anything else would be miserable in comparison. Erg.


- I really don't like the PTA. They send a strong message that "If you love your student and want them to succeed, you would be a member of the PTA" and "Statistics show that PTA members have more successful students because you're involved in their education". That makes me angry. Don't they see the irony? They want to take me away from my children so I can go to meetings...how does THAT make my children better?! I stay at home and read world history with them instead. Or we cook together or do an art project. I'm busy actually TEACHING my children, but they tell me I'm not an involved mother?UGH! I'm looking forward to returning to home school.


- Nathan had a converstaion with a co-worker recently about education. She was proud of the fact that her kids had an educational advantage because she reads to them 10 minutes at night after picking them up from daycare. What has happened to society? Since when does a measly 10 minutes of fairy tales give an educational advantage?! She was bragging about this to Nathan, while she was at work and her kids were in after-school daycare. He called to see what we were doing, and we had been reading about Ancient Egypt and the process of mummification together for an hour. Before that we had done art projects. Why does society 'look down' at stay-at-home moms as if we're lazy?


- When we read together, I refuse to read 'drivel and tripe'. Most children's books on the market these days fall under that category. So do most adult books. I like high-quality books that use advanced vocabulary and complex plot lines and note-worthy writing styles. I recently found a great book that lists summaries of hundreds of great books so I can peruse them quickly and find the really good books for us to read.

- Okay, enough with the ranting and raving. If you aren't too annoyed with me, we'll continue. Well, I'll continue either way and you can decide whether to read on or go read something better...


- A friend asked me this summer to illustrate her book. I really loved the invitation and I really wanted to do it! One of my life goals is to illustrate a children's book. Unfortunately, I had to say 'no' with all the time commitment already expected from my college classes. It's not the right season for me to work on a book, but I am excited for that season to come.


- I love cuddling with my kids or rocking them. I love to feel their warm little bodies snuggle into mine.  I LOVE to caress their soft cheeks and kids their soft hair. I tell them everyday that they are my most valuable treasure.


- I painted our front door today while Nathan took Sarah and Matthew to a Primary activity at church. Daniel was with me and he really wanted to help. I gave him a little brush and had him help me paint the trim around the garage door. I now have little black splotches on the red brick and the white garage door. He was very helpful. :)


- I boiled two pumpkins to make into pies for refreshments tomorrow. After mashing the pumpkin, I realized I would have to make the pie crusts. I HATE making pie crusts. It's such a mess and it's never easy, something always goes wrong. I put the pumpkin puree away in a Tupperware and I've put it off until tomorrow, when I'll probably panic and throw together something entirely different. I'll most likely turn the pumpkin into Pumpkin Curry Soup for tomorrow's dinner.


- Why do I make refreshments? Because I hope that good food will bribe people into coming over on Sunday nights to sing. We invite the ward to come over and sing hymns and chat and eat. There's never time to strengthen friendships at church (everyone is so busy), so we decided to do this as a way to fellowship others. Last time we had 3 people come. It's a small gathering, but it sure is nice to spend time with them. I enjoy it, and we love to sing anyway, so it's fun whether there's many people or not.


- We went through the trouble of getting a fog machine for Halloween, and we never even opened the box. We were too busy. Now I have to drive 30 minutes away to return the fog machine. Thanks anyway, Rex!


- I recently started my vaccine regimen that is mandatory before I get into the nursing program. At the clinic, the nurse said, "I'm SO sorry, but we're having a needle shortage, so the only needles left are the really big ones. I'm really sorry...don't look at it! Just turn your head and I'll be fast." Okay, not too bad. Then she said, "Alright, just sign here to verify that you received your Hep A shot." What? She gave me the wrong vaccine! After a quick flurry and embarrassed apologies, they came back with the right vaccine. Erg.