Insert Something Positive

1) Quincy and Corbin spent the day throwing up.

2) Temps reached the 70's today! Loveliness! 

3) My dang chickens are LOVING the empty garden beds and roll around in them like pigs in the mud. It is really funny to watch, and also nice that my soil is getting tilled for free.  The downside: they also roll in the large flower pots and kick the potting soil everywhere, and poop all over the deck.  Free range all you want now, ladies, because come spring, you'll be caged up in your run for a couple months. 

4) We went on a date on Saturday night. Dinner at Table Mesa (hummus platter, sweet potato fries, pork carnitas, and tres leches cake. Very satisfying.)  After dinner we went to a coworker of Aaron's birthday party where another one of his coworkers was performing as lead singer in the rock band.  It was quite an experience.  I don't think there is ever a reason you should know how much chest hair a coworker has. Ew.  The band was actually pretty good though, and they played a great set.  It's always awkward to go to a venue with live music because only a small percentage of people actually dance.  The people watching was top notch.  Every person in the room touched Soren's hands.  We found out today that we left right before the night turned sour as one lady had too much to drink and fell over onto the stage area and took the microphone down with her. Stay classy, San Diego. 

5) Today was the 100th day of school.  I hot glued 100 pom poms to Reese's shirt and 100 buttons to Quincy's to celebrate the occasion. They looked really cute and Quincy was furious with me for not letting her go to school with a fever today. Good thing I made her stay home, because the puking began about 9 am and has outlasted both the clean laundry pile and my sanity. 

6) I have a crafty day with Katie coming up. We're going to make some really cute blocks. Can't wait!  

7) I'm over program for the February Relief Society enrichment meeting and we're doing a parenting forum.  I have a really great panel of people put together and hope that everyone who goes will come away uplifted with some fresh ideas, inspiration, resolve, or answers to their parenting concerns.  We just had our January meeting and I think it went well. It was a nice change of pace to be over food instead of program. We had a nacho bar.  Next time I'm in charge of the dinner I am totally doing Cafe Rio food. 

8) We plan to list the house for sale March 1st. The goal is to list it ourselves for 60 days and if we don't get any lookers, we'll sign with a realtor. Hopefully, this gorgeous weather will last, because we have some projects to do: 

Indoors:

-hang closet doors

-paint the new doors 

-prime and paint trim

-paint kitchen walls (so gross...)

-baseboards

-rearrange furniture

-take a zillion things to the storage unit

-clean carpets

-refinish master shower floor

-caulk bathrooms

-touch up paint spots on ceilings (hallway, bedrooms)

-rehang blinds in the girls' room.

Outdoors:

-clean windows 

-gutters

-plant garden and flowers

-mulch

-leaf clean up

-clean up and stack woodpile 

-paint house # 

-take down Christmas lights

-do something with the boat 

-sell Big Red (the trailer)

-get a tool shed to store the mowers, yard tools, bikes, etc

9) We upgraded to a large file cabinet last weekend. I feel so organized. It's great. 

10) I saved us fat cash by going through our medical bills with a fine tooth comb and asked for discounts on every one of them.  I also discovered we'd been billed for my OB after we'd met our out of pocket maximum, so I called and sorted that out, and was refunded $680. The check arrived today.  Persistence pays off. 

11) I'm obsessed with baking bread right now. 

12) I really wish we were going to California instead of Utah this summer.  I don't love Utah the way everyone else I know seems to love it, so it kind of stinks to spend so much money traveling to a place I don't particularly enjoy.  However, I DO really really love the people we will be visiting in Utah, so that totally makes it worth it. Can't wait to party it up with the Willys! 

13)  Gringo Fiesta is fast approaching. 

14) I started Soren on rice cereal. He loves it, but after 3 days of it he was covered in an allergy rash. I'll wait a couple weeks and try oatmeal. 

15) Potty training is still happening. Corbin always stays dry, but pooping is an issue. 

16) My sister and her husband are foster parents and they are doing amazing things. I am so proud of them both and happy for the children they are rescuing. These kids come into their home with absolutely nothing. I wish I was there to help out. They are doing the work of angels. 

17) While typing this, Quincy threw up two more times. I am exhausted. 

18) I got a full 8 hours of sleep on friday night and ran 7 miles on Saturday. It felt great and I had tons of energy. I haven't had an easy run in a year and a half, so it was victorious to know I'll eventually get back in shape again.  I'm still only managing to get out for a run about once every 2 weeks though, so I'm not committed to running the Bentonville Half Marathon just yet.  My baby won't be a baby forever, and I don't like feeling attached to a schedule or finding time twice a week to train.  I'm planning to run when I can and when I feel like it and see how I feel about it in a month.

19) I'm trying to be more vocal about my beliefs and share the gospel when the opportunity presents itself.  I realized recently that I miss a lot of opportunities to share good things with others by brushing people off or giving quick answers.  Like when the cashier at Walmart asked me "how are you today?" a few fridays ago, I didn't give the typical, "just fine, thank you", I gave the truth, "I'm great! My daughter is getting baptized today!" and at Williams Sonoma when I picked up my clay bread baker, and got into a conversation with the ladies there about milling your own flour, one of them asked me, "Are you a Mormon?  You all know so much about grains and food storage!" I didn't just answer with, "yes"  I told them where I learned about grains and food storage.  One woman asked for my email address and the other offered me a job in the store giving food demonstrations. (how fun would that be?!)  Anyway, I think there are a lot of people searching for more, so I'm trying to be more deliberate in my conversations, so that when the conversation is over, if the person still has questions, they leave without any doubt that they could come back and ask me.  I know I went 30 years afraid to ask Jehovah's Witnesses why there aren't windows in a lot of their meeting houses.  Just a curious question, but I was so afraid of offending them with my generalization that I never asked.  Aaron just asked his friend last week, and I thought....how silly that I've wondered all these years when I could have just asked.  People don't like to ask. After being in the news all of the time with the election, I know that people have questions. The visiting teaching message this month has inspired me to try to be a girl people can count on to give answers. 

20) We went to the Drive Thru Safari two weekends ago.  That place is a must see for anyone visiting Arkansas. Good times!