It All Started With a Fish Tank-or-How I Fell Off the Wagon

If you know anything about me, you know I have a small (well, maybe small is not the right adjective) cleaning addiction.  (See this post) Usually, the busy-ness of my life keeps this cleaning addiction at bay.  And the fact that I am working full time has really helped.  (Although in my opinion the cleanliness of my house has suffered.)  However, today, I kinda "fell off the wagon."

My friend Anjie and I were out for an early-morning run, and we saw a yard sale.  We stopped.  (Ya, we're "those" kind of runners-not too serious).  I seldom-ok I don't think I have EVER purchased anything at a yard sale.  However, strangely enough this yard sale had a large collection of 2 1/2 to 5 gallon fish tanks.  They were just two dollars each, complete with electric filters, lights, rocks etc..  Since I am going to be teaching 1st grade next year (a story for another post), I thought I might venture to have fish in the classroom.  (I'm not much of a "classroom pet" person, but fish don't seem too scary, and if I hate the whole thing-I'd only be out $2.)  When I got home I grabbed my wallet and headed back.  I ended up purchasing a 5 gallon tank which had some hard water marks on it.  I brought it home and immediately filled it with vinegar water to soak.  Then I remembered a Pinterest recipe for cleaning hard water using Dawn detergent and vinegar.  I actually bought both a while back excited to try this.  So I looked it up and began making the concoction to use on the lid of the fish tank.  However, while on Pinterest I also found a home recipe for cleaning the grime off  wooden cabinets, and then since I was going to be home all day, I additionally decided to set my oven for self-cleaning.  Long story short:  I have been happily scrubbing my wooden kitchen cabinets, oven racks, and everything in my house that has hard water marks  (sinks, tubs, and yes, of course the fish tank) for the last 5 hours.  My oven should "beep" any minute and then when it cools I can finish cleaning that.  I have enjoyed myself immensely, my cabinets look AMAZING, and all the fixtures in my house are sparkly....AND one thing about this addiction: I actually FEEL BETTER about life when I succumb to it. 

But, I've determined I should NOT EVER search "home cleaning solutions" on Pinterest unless I have a LOT of time which can be devoted to cleaning.

"What My Mother Means to Me" by Luke

"What My Mother Means to Me" by Luke Barlow-age 11
(5th grade school writing assignment)

What my mom means to me is....Hmmmm. Got it. No. Yes. She is gifted , awesome, and she spends time with me.

First, she is gifted.  She can make me happy when I'm sad.  She takes me to Wally's, which means a lot to me because I like food.

Furthermore, she spends time with me.  That says a lot.  She doesn't do what she wants to do like painting her nails.  She takes me to basketball and football games.

Lastly, she is awesome.  I mean everyone wants an awesome mom.  Besides the ones that want to grow up and be terrorists so they can say they had a bad mom.  She doesn't care where we eat when I pick.  That's why she's awesome. 

That's what my mom means to me.  SHE RULES!!!!!!!

*Now who wouldn't want an essay like this written about her?  Happy Mother's Day to me :)

Boston-the next best thing

Like the rest of the country, I was shocked and saddened by the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15th.  I have run a few marathons, and though I was quite certain I would not have been coming in at the time of the bombings, I may have had friends there waiting for me to come in.  The thought was/is a bit scary.  However, even more frightening was the fact that I was signed up to run the Salt Lake City Marathon which would be occurring only 5 days after the Boston bombings (on April 20th). And to make this endeavor even a bit more scary, two of my daughters would be running it with me.  (Lynae was set to run the full marathon with me, and Analise was signed up to run the half, which started with the full and ran the same course as the full till mile 8 at which point the courses separated.)

However, the whole experience turned out to be awesome.  Since I am pretty sure I will never qualify for Boston  (My fastest marathon time is 4:20-ish, and last time I checked based on my age, I'd need to shave about an hour off that time to qualify...yeah-that is not happening), running this marathon (the first full marathon in the US after the Boston bombings) turned out to be the next best thing.  The race was dedicated to the Boston runners, and we got to sign a huge banner at the packet pick up to be sent to the Boston Race director.  They gave us blue and gold (The signature color of the Boston Marathon) ribbons for our shoes and "Run Now" Boston bracelets printed with the date of the Boston Marathon.  They played "Sweet Caroline,"  ( A Boston sporting event tradition) at the start of the marathon, and they even had pacers in the race set to come in at the exact time of the bombings at which time they had a moment of silence.  So even though, I didn't (and probably never will) get to run the Boston Marathon, I got to do the next best thing.

Lynae, Analise, and Kay-"Remembering Boston" banner at packet pick-up

Signing the banner

Awesome headbands that the girls made me buy at packet pick-up. Can you read them?

Well-stocked fanny pack.  The girls teased me about being "more prepared than an Eagle Scout" but they were happy to let me carry their phones, eat my snacks, and take an Advil as needed.  (Don't moms ALWAYS have to be prepared with their children's needed-items?  And yes, moms ALWAYS get to carry EVERYTHING-even if they are running 26.2 miles in a rainstorm!)



Waiting in the car for the race to start. Thanks Kaylee for being our driver, but we wish you would have run with us.  (Note the bread and peanut butter on the seat between Analise and Lynae-we were carb-loading up until the last minute. If you look close you'll also notice an empty pizza box in the motel room picture above :)

In the rain at the start line.  The headbands turned out to be quite useful.  We tucked the hoods of our 99-cent ponchoes under the headbands to keep our heads dry.  But we still got quite soggy after running for several hours in a rainstorm.

Over 4,000 runners!  Start line

1/2 marathon finisher-Analise

Lynae comes down the homestretch finishing her first full marathon!

I finished the full 26.2 too-unfortunately I don't look as cute as my girls, but I am smiling!

Finishers!

Wet, muddy shoes, Bostons ribbons and bracelets.
WE DID IT!

Cha-ching!!!

I've been a parent for 22+ years, and sometimes (ok almost ALL the time) it is a pretty thankless job, but this week I got the following text from my 19-year-old college freshman:

"Just got out of my human development class where we talked about parenting and I think almost everything we talked about for a GOOD parent were things you and dad have always done for us.  Thanks for being such a good mom!"

Cha-ching!!! Major pay-off!! I think I have a new "favorite-ever" text! 

Thanks for making my day Kaylee!

Really??!!

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from the school nurse.  It was a mass e-mail sent out to all families of school children.  It stated that there had been a lot of pink-eye, strep throat, and mono circulating through the valley schools.  I already knew this and had been diligent in washing and sanitizing my hands multiple times daily while at school.  I was taking massive doses of vitamin C and Airborne.  I was getting plenty of sleep and drinking gallons of water.  I was winning!  I was NOT sick!  I had avoided the "plague."  Then last Saturday evening (on the eve of Spring break, when I would have a week off from daily exposure to the germ-fest that is public school), I felt the beginnings of a sore throat!  WHAT??!!  I upped the rigor of my prevention plan, taking even more vitamin C and drinking more water and napping.  I refused to be sick for my spring break trip to Provo.  And even if I was (I'm not admitting anything) I took enough Advil, Tylenol, and Daytime Cold Medicine to be in complete and total denial and have a wonderful time accomplishing my Provo "bucket list."  By Thursday, when I returned home and scaled back on the meds, I had a nice hacking cough which settled in my chest.  I slept sitting up sucking on cough drops.  By yesterday, Friday, I was sure that my sickness was on its way out.  (Only a slight sore throat and slight lingering sinus issues and headache).  However, this morning I woke up with my left eye sealed shut!!  REALLY???!!!  Where are these germs coming from??!! I haven't been to school in 6 days, and I'm just NOW getting pink eye??!!  No one else in my family has it.  So now I'm changing my contacts, washing towels, and sheets, and hoping that maybe I can get into urgent care today.  (I tried to get in on Monday before leaving for Provo, but it was an hour wait, so I just self-treated and hoped my illness was not antibiotic-requiring strep.) 

*Note: I did have an eye-doctor tell me once that all "pink-eye" medicine was was Neosporin in a drop-form.  He said to just rub Neosporin over your infected eyes like you would eye-make-up remover, for the same effect as prescription conjunctivitis meds.  I've already started that.  Happy Easter!

In other news, and quite ironically, I recently read 2 Nephi 31.  I'm usually pretty faithful about reading my scriptures-OK so I'm super faithful, I really NEVER miss.  But it is harder when schedules are crazy, like with spring break.  So the other night, as I was getting ready for bed, I realized that I had not read my scriptures.  I picked up the Book of Mormon that was in the bathroom, and just opened it.  (I know-how cliche-but still, at least I was reading).  I happened to open to 2 Nephi 31, one of the last chapters in 2 Nephi, and some of Nephi's last words.  (I'm always a bit sad when I get to the end of a particular prophet's writings in the scriptures; it's like I'm saying goodbye.) For some reason, while I stood reading this chapter quickly in the bathroom before bed, verse 20 really struck me.  This verse and its predecessor, verse 19 are quite "famous" (meaning they are quoted often) as making the point that we must endure to the end.  I knew this.  I had read it before.  I know that I must endure, that I must feast upon the words of Christ, that I must have charity, but what really hit me this time were the words "having a perfect brightness of hope."  I don't think I've ever given these words or this phrase that much thought.  But for the last few days these words ("a perfect brightness of hope") have been playing over and over in my head.  It's not just enough for me to endure and try to be good.  I have to do so with  hope, and not just with a "shred" or "particle" of hope, but with a "perfect brightness" of hope.  Wow!  That's a huge challenge for me.  Perfect! Part of "enduring to the end," is to do so with optimism, perfect optimism, despite my circumstances (like a sore throat or pink-eye) and the attitudes of those around me.  (Sometimes it seems sooo difficult to maintain a positive attitude when I am bombarded with the frustrations and irritation of those around me.)  But in the end, I have the agency to CHOOSE a "perfect brightness of hope,"  and thanks to the power and gift of the atonement, I know that I CAN do it.  So here's to a future of a "perfect brightness of hope!"

Provo Bucket List

We go to Provo a lot.  We have 2 daughters going to school there.  We take them.  We move them.  We help them buy books, find apartments, and grocery shop.  We have a lot of fun in Provo, but most the time our "fun" revolves around the needs of our BYU students.  So this year, during spring break, Kent and I decided to take a road trip to Provo to do some things WE wanted to do.  (Our daughters had school and work and were busy with their own lives, but joined us for some of our "bucket list" items.)  Our bucket list included:

*Hike the "Y"      
This one was my item-I had never done this-I know-how DID I graduate from BYU without hiking the "Y?!"  My guilt only increased two summers ago, when, as part of a family reunion scavenger hunt in Salt Lake we "hiked" the "U."  (Although "hiked" may be the wrong word-you can basically drive to the "U".  Hmmm....is there some hidden meaning in the fact that the "U" is so easy to get to, but the "Y" requires quite a bit of effort.  Just sayin...)

*Eat curry at the Bombay House
This item was Kent's.  Every time we go to Provo, and we drive by the Bombay House, he wants to eat there.  The curry was great, and our waiter was an Indian from India complete with a full beard, mustache, turban, and the name "Lucky,"  really-it was on his name tag!

*Attend a session at the Provo temple
It's so convenient that they have sessions every 20 minutes.  Can't wait till the new Provo temple is done.  The Provo tabernacle is being converted to a temple.  The whole thing is up on stilts right now while they build a basement underneath.  It's pretty awesome!

*Take pics at our daughters' apartments
Both our daughters live in apartments that I lived in while at BYU.  Kaylee lives in Heritage Halls-Young Hall to be exact.  She lives with Mady, who is the daughter of my freshman year roommate Corinne-How cool is that?!  Analise lives in Chatham on 9th East.  I lived there spring term 1988.  I was looking for a place to stay for spring term that year, and a young man by the name of Kent Barlow suggested that I move into Chatham where he lived.  I was interested in this boy, and decided that it would either be a very good move or a very bad one-depending on how things went with Mr. Barlow.  I finally decided that even if it turned out to be bad, it would only be for the 8 weeks of spring term, and I could endure anything for 8 weeks.  25 years and 6 kids later-I'd say it turned out to be a GRAND idea :)

Other fun things we did in Provo, not necessarily on the list:  Eat at Molly's-Yum!  Saw the Rembrandt exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art, Easter shopping, dinner at Red Lobster (Someday I AM going to save room for the delicious looking chocolate-filled dessert cookie they have there.) and sleeping, exercising, and relaxing at the Marriott.  Happy Spring break to us.  (For more info on the rest of our spring break activities see this post from last year-it was basically a "ditto" this year.  AND I uploaded some of this year's spring break activities photos to facebook-pretty amazing for me since I never post pics on fb)

Kay, Analise, and Kaylee ready to hike the "Y"

Kay and Kent ready to hike the "Y"
 (Not sure how excited Kent is about this bucket-list item.  To be fair, even though neither of us ever HIKED the "Y,"  we did four-wheel all over and around "Y" mountain in Kent's black Ford Ranger while we were dating.)

The Barlows at the top-gotta love Analise's sweatshirt-At least I wore a BYU shirt for the occasion :)

The girls at the top of the "Y"

At the Bombay House-Kent is much happier about this bucket-list item

Kaylee and Kay- Young Hall

Analise and Kay-Chatham on 9th East

Provo Temple
The best I could do-I got an eye-roll for even wanting a picture.  Forget about asking a complete stranger to take a picture with Kent and me IN it.  (Although I'm sure a nice missionary would have obliged right?)

New Provo temple aka old Provo tabernacle on stilts
For more photos and also cool updates on the building process, see this site
http://newtempleinprovo.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html

Happy Birthday-46 and 1

Yesterday I turned 46 and today this blog turned 1.  Happy birthday to both of us!

We went to the temple for my birthday. 
(Lynae and Trent did baptisms while Kent and I did initiatories-Luke sat in the foyer and read.)