Laundry

I washed a load of laundry by hand today. I filled up my tub, soaked the clothes about an hour, then rinsed and wrung out each piece of clothing. I think the second part took me well over an hour. And my muscles were aching so bad! While I was doing it, I kept thinking about my pioneer ancestors, and how things like that were just the way life was, and how I'm so soft compared to them. I also really wanted to watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, since Charlie's mom is a laundry woman. Another thing I was thinking as I was washing was that I didn't put any of Joseph's pants in that load, and he had NO clean ones. I didn't think I'd have the stamina to do another load. While Mitchell was hanging the laundry to dry for me, Amber came over and offered to take the wet ones home to dry and the pants to wash. Her visit was an answer to my prayers!

Craziness

Everything has been so crazy in our lives lately.

Last week, we decided to take one last trip to visit Mitchell's family in Virginia before our move to Texas. Late at night, smack-dab in the middle of Richmond, our car died. Thankfully, Mitchell's mom was driving through Richmond at the same time, so she was able to come pick the kids up. We were able to arrange with USAA to have the car towed to a nearby, reputable repair shop. There was a motel close enough for Mitchell and me to walk to and get a room for the night. In the morning, we found out that our engine was broken, rendering the car useless. So Mitchell's brothers, Grant and Ross, were able to pick us up and take us to their brother, Sam's, house where the kids were.

We arranged for my cousin, Amber, to overnight the title to our car so that we could sell it to a junkyard. And we were able to relax for a week in a small town in Virginia. The kids had the best time with their cousins, and spent hours outside every day. It was so great to kind of get away from all the stress of regular life. On Friday, Ross drove Mitchell back to Richmond, where Mitch was able to sell our poor, little car for $300. On Monday night, his mom took him to get a rental car, and we left very early Tuesday morning. We were able to use the car for less than 24 hours, which made it a lot cheaper, and the price was completely covered with the money we got from junking our car.

While in Virginia, we spent a lot of time pondering, praying, and discussing our situation. We came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father wants us in Georgia for a while longer, so we have decided not to move to Texas. Even though this seems like a very difficult path, as soon as we made the decision, my heart felt so light that I thought I would float away. I know that Heavenly Father is going to bless us to find a way to make things work.

Mitchell has already started applying to pretty much every job within walking distance. We walked to Walgreen's to get some milk and juice, which is 2-miles roundtrip. We have been working closely with several members of our ward, including the Bishop and members of both the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society. We are going to find ways to coordinate rides to grocery stores, places to do laundry, and maybe help getting a bike and/or wagon. We feel so blessed right now as we are learning to stand on our own feet for the first time ever.

Too Much On My Plate

Today was a hard day for me. I feel like I just have a lot going on right now.

The "Bad" Things:

I didn't here back about the job at Veritas, Inc.

We bug bombed our kitchen yesterday, but the infestation is so bad that we have to do it again tomorrow.

I haven't had any use of my kitchen for about 36 hours, so we've had to eat out a lot even though we're completely broke.

We don't know how we're going to pay our rent for September, but we can't move anywhere else because we can't pay a deposit. 

I think I have a UTI. 

I'm having my period for the second time in 2 weeks because I had to stop my birth control pills prematurely; they were making me feel "morning sick" all the time.

The "Good" Things:

I had a job interview at a different PetSmart. They seemed really interested in me.

Joseph is starting Kindergarten tomorrow! And we have all his stuff ready for him.

We've been the recipients of many charitable acts over the past month.

Our landlord is providing all the supplies to take care of our roach problem.

I'm hoping and praying really hard that everything evens out soon.

Fried Brain

That's how my mind feels right now, fried. I just finished redoing my resume and cover letter so that they are both PDFs and small enough to upload to different websites. It took a lot of thought, and some help from Mitchell, but I finally got it taken care of. Now I can apply to jobs more easily, and my resume better reflects my skills and experience, so maybe someone will want to hire me now!

My brain is also fried because I'm worrying A LOT. We are still at a point where we have no idea what's going to happen at the end of August. Today we confirmed with our landlord that we are planning to move out. But we don't have plans to move anywhere. It's all just very scary and frustrating. It's definitely a trial of my faith and my patience, but I feel more spiritually in-tune than I've felt in a very long time, so I'm grateful for that.

Anxiety

I am SO nervous about starting a new job. I talked to my new boss, Jeff, yesterday, and we decided to have me start next week on Thursday. We postponed because we've got some fun stuff going on for Joseph next week (KinderCamp!). So now I have a week until my job starts, which leaves A LOT of time for me to build up anxiety.

Today, my chest was tight most of the time. Several times, I was close to tears and/or hyperventilating. I've also been sick to my stomach, but I guess it's good that I'm not eating as much? I hate that I feel like this, but it's been something I've dealt with for so many years. I specifically remember feeling like this before attending my first Stake Dance, but I had no idea why I felt so bad.

I don't want to take medication, though, at least not during the day when I need to do stuff. It took me most of the day to just figure out what I needed to do because my brain was working so slow, but I was able to get some good stuff done. My biggest accomplishment was starting a Scripture Journal. I've been feeling prompted to learn more about the Law of Sacrifice, so I decided to start a journal to keep track of what I learn. I'm going to blog more about the journal on my other blog, Searching for a Hobby. Studying about sacrifice has really helped me to feel more comfortable with the idea of working a new job; I'm realizing that I need to make some sacrifices to help my family progress and grow.

I looked over our budget today, and that REALLY helped strengthen my resolve to work. We are in a huge financial hole right now, but if I can work while Mitchell gets freelance work, we might be able to start digging ourselves out.

Change

I'm going to deviate from my recent format today.

I'm pretty sure I've talked on here before about how I have a difficult time dealing with change. Friday was Mitchell's last day of work, so now he's home all the time. And it's really throwing me off. I love having him here just because I feel like I've hardly seen him since we moved to Georgia, but I can seem to stay focused or on task. I've spent most of the past three days reading Mitchell's Dragon Ball comics (it's weird, I know). And my house is becoming an even bigger mess. I've suddenly lost all my motivation and I can't seem to stick to the routine I had finally gotten settled into.

All of this isn't helped by the fact that I started my period this week (sorry if this is TMI!), so I'm moody, crampy, and cranky. I'm not used to this whole period thing; it's only the second one I've had since I got pregnant with Charlie over 2 years ago.

If I try to look at things from another standpoint, it's not so bad, though. I've made dinner for my family, the kids had a bath today, we've been grocery shopping and got gas, and we've had a lot of fun together as a family. I guess the "moral of the story" is that I need to be a little more lenient with myself and remember that I just need time to adjust, but I can do my best while that's happening.

Shopping and Exhaustion

I know, I missed a few days... It's been pretty difficult for me lately.

The Hard Part:

I was SO exhausted today. I think it's due to two major things. The first being a very adventurous day yesterday, and the second that I STILL don't have my Cymbalta, so that's two days without it now. I

Was hit by a huge wave of exhaustion at lunchtime. I barely made it to the bed before I passed out on the bed. It was that kind of sleep where you just have no control over sleeping or waking. I slept about 2 1/2 hours. I was able to force myself awake when I realized that Charlie had been awake for a bit and had a stinky diaper.

The Good Part:

I was at least able to pick up the Wellbutrin that I was prescribed. And the insurance is finally, sort of, fixed, so the prescription was only $15. I really hope that adding it will help me out a lot.

The Work Part:

Despite being a sleep-walking zombie, I was able to get to Kroger where I got some grocery shopping done and picked up my medicine. I had loaded coupons into my Kroger card, so those combined with sales prices saved me $26 on my groceries. The kids were really wild because there were no car carts to contain them and my brain was working at half-speed, but it still went pretty well.

Two Long Days

I actually started typing this blog yesterday, but I got too tired after all the crazy activities. I'm super tired right now, but I'm going to make sure to post before I fall asleep. My blogging goal is to write at least 3 things about each day. Yesterday: 1. We went shopping with Pam! It was super fun. We went to Old Navy and got cute Easter outfits for Annabelle, Joseph, and me. We also got lunch together at one of my favorite restaurants, Noodles and Company. Joseph and Dutch were so excited to play together and didn't want to be separated when it was time to go to lunch. It was also funny that when I told Joseph that we were going to see Pam and Dutch, he got really excited and then he asked where Tina was, made a comment about Annemarie going downstairs, and finally started talking about Samantha and Athena. It's funny how he connects family together so well. 2. I accidentally took a nap. I was just going to lay down for 20 minutes, but my alarm never went off and I woke up an hour and a half later when Mitchell came home. 3. We had a really fun ward activity. It was a barbeque and we took a ward family picture, too. It was so fun to sit and talk with all of our friends in the ward. I haven't had this many really, good friends at church in a long time. I really love our ward! It's sad, though, because a lot of our friends are moving out this month or next month. The ward changes so much here because people are always graduating and moving out or getting married and moving in. 4. I didn't get the kids to bed until almost midnight! That wasn't fun. Annabelle just wouldn't settle down and since she was staying awake, Joseph wasn't going to go to sleep. It took forever for Annabelle to wear herself out. I don't know why she had so much energy. Today: 1. I made Banana Chocolate Chip muffins. They were really good. 2. Joseph saw his friends outside pretty early, so we went out, too. It was kinda cold, but it was fun sitting and talking with my friends. We were watching the BYU tree guys cut huge branches out of the trees. It was pretty cool. 3. Annabelle put herself to bed!! I swaddled her and put her in her crib and then I turned on her noisemaker (it does different nature sounds, tonight's is a heartbeat sound). I had to go check on Joseph so I just left her there. She kicked her legs for a bit and looked around. I came back in and watched as she just fell asleep. It was really awesome! I hope she sleeps a long time tonight. She seemed like she had a bit of a fever before she went to bed. I think it's because she is teething. I hope it is because she is teething. 4. I straightened my living room. The floor was so messy that you could hardly even walk through the room. It's so much nicer now, although I still need to vacuum it. Okay, Annabelle is actually awake now. She probably just wants to nurse. I feel proud of myself for blogging twice this week already! Yay!

My Return

Okay, I have a renewed desire to start blogging everyday. Let's keep our fingers crossed! I'm playing with some ideas to reformat the way that I blog that might make it easier for me. We'll see... My blow dryer broke while I was doing my hair this morning. It was pretty old and nasty, so I'm just glad it didn't explode and catch my hair on fire. Now I HAVE to let my hair dry naturally (which is what I normally do, but I was trying to break my "ugly" habit). This leads me to some other news: I cut my hair! It's chin length and cute. I just needed something that Annabelle couldn't pull all the time. I would post a picture, but I have NO idea where our camera is... My other exciting news: I took the ACT and scored really well. And now I am a BYU student!! I've decided to get BA in Family Life with Family Studies Emphasis and a Music Minor. It sounds fancy, but it seems like I'll mostly be learning to be a better mom. I'm tired now... there is more I could post about, but I don't want to burn myself out. I'll try more tomorrow.

Sorry!

I just realized that I never posted about my test results or anything. I left everyone hanging and worried about me.

My test results came back normal. It was a bit disappointing because I wanted an "easy fix" to my problems. However, my psychiatrist, who also happens to be my father-in-law, doubled my dose of Prozac. It took a couple weeks, but I'm feeling much better, except the past few days because I'm getting a cold or something. So everything's pretty good right now!

We have been super busy over the past few weeks. We've been inviting people over for dinner frequently (like once a week), I've been going to a lot of neighborhood stuff (girls night, mother/baby group, playgroup), we went up to Idaho for President's day weekend, and we just rearranged out apartment so that the kids have their own room. It's been great being busy. This dosage increase has made be feel like a real person again.

I'm hoping that having my computer in the living room, where all the activity is, will help me remember to blog more often. I got a fancy new phone that I can check my email on and even use the internet with, so I didn't even turn my computer on for a week or so. It was just easier to use my phone. But being able to be with the kids while I'm on the computer might make me more likely to blog. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Long Walks and Housework

I can't even remember what I did yesterday morning, so it must not have been anything important. I think I just did stuff on the computer. I do remember that after Mitchell went to class, I kept smelling smoke while I was sitting at the computer. There's a bunch of repairmen fixing stuff around the complex, so I figured it was something they were doing. Then I turned around and saw a small fire outside of my front window. Somehow some of the woodchips in the area next to our apartment had caught on fire. They put it out and everything was fine, but it was a little scary at first.

Joseph and I showered and then we walked to Rite Aid, which is just down the street. I browsed at different beauty products until Joseph couldn't stand to be there any longer. Then we walked down to Food Lion. When I got home with the groceries, I learned that buying eggs and walking home with them is not a very good idea because 4 of them broke on the way home.

Because we were out walking during naptime neither of us got a nap. So Joseph actually fell asleep at 8, which is early for him. I was considering going to bed early, but Mitchell called me while delivering pizzas. He was frusterated because one of his managers had been really condescending and rude to him. I decided to clean up the living room (which looked like a train wreck) so that he would have something nice to come home, too. I went to bed at 10 when I couldn't stay awake any longer. I've been absolutely awful about housework the past week or so and it felt really good to get the living room clean.

I'm feeling pretty great today and the sun just broke through the clouds, so I think it's going to be a beautiful day. I'm planning on getting a lot of good stuff done today.

Halloween 2009

Well, it was Joseph's first Halloween and I think it went pretty well. This is basically just going to be pictures with explanations. We did go to the Trunk or Treat. Mitchell passed out candy and Joseph and I walked around to show off our costumes and see the costumes of everyone else. We got some candy in the process.

That's right, we're Trekkies. We loved the show (the first season with William Shatner) when we watched it earlier this year and then the movie came out. We aren't the nerdy Trekkies, though. We've only watched the first season and I don't think we'll ever get into all the other versions. Mitchell was Scotty and even did the accent when he was handing out candy. I was Uhura. And Joseph was Captain Kirk.

Captain Kirk. I made his shirt. It came out so well.
Mitchell tried taking a picture of Joseph's little hair-do that he did. It was supposed to stick up a little like Kirk's does. It only lasted for about 20 minutes.

Uncle John and Aunt Sara, Mitchell's brother and sister.

Joseph's reaction after seeing Uncle John and Aunt Sara. It was so cute and so sad at the same time. He got really scared and started crying when Sara started laughing at John's costume.

So, that's our Halloween. It was good. Now I'm going to try to get back into everyday life after spending the past week trying to do costumes and things.

I actually did it.

First of all, here is the video of Joseph doing laundry. Mitchell helped me figure out how to do it.




I did finish my goal for the day. I couldn't have done it without Mitchell. I was having a hard evening. I was just feeling overworked and underappreciated (not by Mitchell, by other people) and he got me out of bed and working. It really didn't take long to finish the project at all. Here is the final product. It's so much nicer. Joseph likes to pull my shoes out of their cubbies.



I'm going to post about tomorrow's goal in a different blog because I have a few more pictures that I want to post and I don't want this one to be too long.

New day, new goal.

Yay me!! That is all of my folded laundry. Except for a couple small loads that I didn't get in because it was almost midnight. That's what I get for taking a 3 hour nap with Joseph. *cring*

I had lots of wonderful help from Joseph while doing the laundry. He's so funny. He does this every time I fold laundry. He thinks it's the best game. I have a cute video of him, but I can't figure out how to make it small enough. I'll wait until Mitchell comes home.

Alright, now for today's goal. We moved into our apartment on my birthday, the 28th of August. I still have not finished unpacking our bedroom closet. I still have most of my shoes in a box. There are also boxes of other things that have not been unpacked. Our closet is a walk-in, but on Sunday, when Mitchell tried to walk into it he stepped on the heel of my overturned church shoes. He's been wearing a bandaid on his foot to cushion it from the pain of walking ever since. So, I promised I would take care of the closet this week. I hope I can get it done.

It's Laundry Day

As you can tell by the above picture, my laundry has gotten out of control. The clothes on the right are actually clean and just haven't been folded for a week and the upper left clothes are all dirty. Doing laundry once a week doesn't work with a baby. I've known that for a while, I just haven't adjusted my schedule.

Oh, and last night, I DID find my vitamins and get them all organized. So I accomplished a goal. Yay me!!! (If you've ever watched The Suite Life with Zach and Cody, then you'll know about the "Yay me!")

Cookie Mania

I did it! I made over 70 cookies today! It was fun, too. It was hard and I almost gave up, but I did have fun.

I didn't get started until the afternoon because I was doing stuff with Mitchell. Luckily, he was home to help with the baby, otherwise I wouldn't have finished. I decided to make a double batch because I knew I wanted to take cookies to people. I don't have a mixer, so I was borrowing my mother-in-law's hand mixer. I had probably 4 cups of flour left to add when the mixer started to smell funny. I decided to mix in the rest by hand. That's when I almost gave up, but Mitchell came in and started adding the flour and mixing it all together. He got it to the right consistency for rolling it out and turned it back over to me. I rolled and cut and rolled and cut and rolled and cut for a long time. Then I baked for a long time. I made a single batch of frosting and did the white and black frosting. Then I made another single batch and did the orange and green frosting. I don't have one of those icing decorating kits, so I used sandwich bags to frost the details.

We delivered 6 plates of cookies. 4 were to sisters that I visit teach, 1 was to a family that Mitchell home teaches, and the last was to Mitchell's mom. None of the sisters were home and 2 of them don't even live at that address anymore. Luckily, they still have family living there who were willing to deliver the cookies. I have 1 more plate to deliver to a sister tomorrow and Mitchell taking one to Kevin at work. Delivering the cookies was an adventure in itself. It was cold, dark, and rainy and we had to drive all over Virginia Beach. It was fun, though.

Tomorrow I have a huge mess to clean up.

Mitchell told me to save it until tomorrow so that I can get to bed at a decent time. It's already really late. I'm happy, though. I'm glad that I accomplished this goal that I set for myself and I had fun in the process. Yay me!!!