Keeping up

It really hasn't been that long since my last post, but it FEELS like it's been so long.

In the Kitchen

Alee wanted to be just like Mom, so she pulled from her toy kitchen (in the playroom) the necessary pieces to make her meal like like mom's.

(We were eating bagel breakfast sandwiches with a side of grits (w/ cheese of course).

I volunteered to make the cake for Young Women in Excellence...not that my cake skills are that awesome - I just like to bake things loaded with sugar. It turned out ok (appearance wise) and fantastic (taste wise).

Drat! I just realized, I don't have a picture here of the finished product! I made little "truffula trees" with cake balls and oreo truffles covered with cotton candy (for fluff) and stacked on fruit loops (for trunks). I think my friend has a picture of it. I'll update it later.

[awaiting photo]

 The inside was the most fun part! (I was trying to mimic the "Oh the Places You'll Go" colored thing on the front cover of the book by Dr. Seuss, but on the inside of the cake.)

Blessing or Burden
And once YWiE was out of the way, it was time to declutter before October got too busy. I organized a blessing or burden party (a regular thing for my friends, but my first time offering to host)...I fear I may have been too organized and may now have been elected in charge of this regular thing. :)

(It's like a free yardsale. We all bring what we don't want anymore - the burden to us -  and we take home what we find that others don't want - a blessing to us. This is only the stuff from me and 2 other women. The dining room tabled was PILED with clothes. I even found a few treasures for me.)

We usually hold it outside in the driveway, but rain was expected the entire day on and off (and apparently there were flash flood warnings that I didn't know about at the time).

General Conference and the week after
I found out soon enough about the flash flood warnings - while I was enjoying general conference (listening to our current prophet and apostles), in other areas of the city (and throughout SC) there was flooding! It was sad to see the devastation online and later in person.

We weren't affected by the floods directly. But we had little inconveniences that affected our week.

Conference was so uplifting and I found much needed direction in areas that will help me draw closer to my Savior - but as soon as conference was over we started filling up tubs and water bottles...we heard water might get turned off. It wasn't, but a boil water advisory was then issued for everyone on city water and it was in place for the entire week.

Turns out boiled water tastes metallic and awful (like the pot it's boiled in!) - so we used it for washing hands and dishes and cooking and brushing teeth. We drank from our water storage in the garage and used the empty bottles to store the boiled water.

We made a donation here and served a little with the youth there...but mostly, we tried to stay off the roads and out of the way of all the people trying to put our roads back together (sink holes and flooded roads led to road blockages).

I struggled with not having anything much to offer to those who lost so much while my kids were having so much fun just being home; plus I still had my normal workload. Everyone else seemed to be giving and doing so much. I felt so inadequate. I felt guilty for doing normal things, like sewing or letting the kids have fun, knowing others didn't even have a home anymore. (I don't even know if that makes sense...just thought I'd share some "real life" and not just the happy things I took pictures of the last 3 weeks.)

I prayed to know what to do and was blessed with several opportunities to serve this week - some weekly normal service and some additional things.  I felt lifted as I served others. My service was small and nothing compared to what others have done, but I felt the approval from He who matters most. I love how when we pray we can receive answers and those answers are fitted to what we need.

The kids had an entire week off from school (mostly from the lack of clean water available).

Both grandparents came into town:

One to work on a project with me we had already planned - playtime with the kids was an added bonus. 

The other to get Seth for a birthday weekend #1 with grandparents (and the pumpkin painting was an added bonus there).

Normal Life and what I love

I tried to buy little tiny shorts to go over the girls' gymnastics leotards (because when they do splits and flips, I just want a little more coverage at the top of the leg), but I just couldn't find what I was looking for in town. 

Solution: just sew it.

Natalie requested hers have an attached skirt...so with some trial and error (my pattern for gymnastics/dance shorts is for smaller sizes). Kaitlyn wanted hers made the same way and got hers a few days into this week before gymnastics class. I'll get a picture of her wearing it later.

I love projects. 

(That's something I'd have never said in high school!)

Sometimes I have to take a break from them because my energy runs out, but they are my "extra" that gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish them.

Rob has also been working on a project we planned together - here's a sneak peak into part 2:

It was started last month and I think it'll take us another few weeks to finish, but it's going to be great. :)


Carolyn growing up
I want Carolyn* to learn to cook, but we have to start with some very basic kitchen skills (like boiling water and timing different parts of a meal to finish all together), and I need her to learn to make some things that are easy enough to do without me.

*Actually I want all the kids to learn to cook, but one at a time. (Kaitlyn learned to make quesadillas this past week. Seth is going to have to be "encouraged" [coerced] to learn something besides scrambled eggs.)

We started learning with boiling hot dogs and fries and carrots (raw).
She did well...and of course we have to make them look pretty. :)

Big Deal Change - 
I suggested a few years ago something to Carolyn, and she rejected my idea. Oh well.

But recently, she asked for that very thing I had suggested. I agreed and we finally did it this week.....

She donated her hair (12" of it!) to Pantene Beautiful Lengths (which works with the American Cancer Society to provide wigs to those who can't afford them). 

I looked at several (some that provided wigs specifically to children with hair loss for various reasons), but this one had good recommendations and was simple to donate to, so I chose this one since she didn't care which organization we sent it to.

I was worried that she might miss her long hair, but she immediately started tossing her hair around, loving how easily it swished. This morning, she commented how fast she brushed it and detangled it, and had fun with the reactions from friends and teachers who have never seen her with hair this short before. 

I think she looks really cute (and also older) and she loves it and I love it, and I'm happy that she was interested in giving to others what she has loved.