Positive Post: Surviving Crumminess

I am going to share one of my trade secrets for surviving crummy situations with a smile. As you know from many previous posts I am working the 2nd shift. Yeah still not happy about that despite some of the pros. I used to exercise in the morning but with my shift being what it is I prefer to sleep in and don't really find time during the rest of the day to accomplish this. Last week I decided I would still get my exercise in by playing two games while at work. 

1) Everytime I had to go to the bathroom, which is a lot because I drink 100 ounces a day, I have to skip, hop, or sprint to the bathroom. The bathroom is way down the hall. This alone pretty much provided me with my daily workout. 

2) The funnier thing to do when you are working alone, or with people, really up to you, is toooooooo DANCE!!!!!!

Often times I jam out to the radio and a few stations I listen too mostly rotate through the same dozen songs. Each night I pick one song and whenever that song is played I have to stop whatever work I am doing and "get down with it." 

True story. You know what, it is sooooo much fun. SO much fun that I have even choreographed one song that I LOVE. Now anytime I hear this song, no matter where I am, I bust out dancing. I am not going to share the entire song with you because I am no a hip hop dancer. But I will share this fun part with you. 

Moral of the story. 

Try to make any crummy situation you are in fun by dancing. It will make you smile from laughing at your lame dance moves or you remember how AWESOME you are. Even I have a smile at the end of the video. Is dancing the end all to your crummy problems. NO! But is sure rocks! :)

P.S. Throwing paper in the air while dancing is optional but encouraged. 

It's What I Do

I think I have been vague about what I do. Naw, I have said on here I make copies for a living. But today I want to give you an in depth look at what I do. To me it is so much more than making copies. 

I am super sure that when I was an angel in heaven I helped God make the following:

Grass 

(love the smell of grass, love mowing it, don't like weeding it but everything else about grass is awesome. Including eating Harry Potter grass jelly beans.)

Clouds

(because they are awesome looking and everyone sees something different)

& 

Paper

I have always loved to copy and print things. I cannot tell you why exactly. Daredevils get a rush from sky diving or cliff jumping but I get my rush from working 3+ printers at once, taking a print job that is impossible and doing it, or fixing a copier/printer to do something at my command that it was not made to do. 

I work for a company that provides copy, print, & customer services to large and small corporations. I am not sure how detailed I can get with who our clients our but I will say some of them are pretty huge. To name a few, national chain grocery store that all of you have been in at least once, large bank that has been around since the pioneer days ;), large state medical provider, and a prestigious law firm that has been around as long as the said bank. 

In my position I get to visit each site and fill in for other employees when they are out sick or on vacation. On top of that I do special projects at the main office or assist in any other overflow activity. I like to think I am good at what I do and enjoy it. Everyday can be different and there is always something new to learn. I started at a Mom and Pop print shop and have been in this industry for over 8 years and have mainly worked for 2 companies. 

The location I have been working for the last 3 weeks is one of my favorites. 

Look at it

It is huge and there are probably over 100 different types of paper to print on depending on the job. This site has the most variety, most machines (high end color and black and white), has the most shifts, and is almost always busy. While here I manage any incoming print jobs, which during my shift is mostly booklets and sometimes overflow projects from the day shift. I have to keep the machines going the entire time so we can meet our deadline. When I am not dancing around between each machine, refilling them with paper, or boxing up books, I am restocking paper on the shelves, cleaning, or entering job tickets into the system. Sounds so boring to most people but I love it. Especially when I have multiple jobs going at once. 

Often times I have to fix machines and if they won't work how they are supposed to I make them work another way. We have a long machine that prints and stacks each book and then pushes it through another machine that binds, folds, and trims the book and then spits it out onto a tray with a belt that gathers all the books. Then all I would need to do is scoop up the books into a marked box and POOF, job done! Today, the tray to the machine that spits the book out was not working. I had to make a few fun adjustments to get it to do what I wanted. This video below was the end result. 

So there you have it. That is what I do and what I love about it. 

What do you do?

Good Day

Today was a good day to be a Mom. 

Let me clarify. Everyday is a good day to be a Mom. But today I felt like I was a good Mom. 

Yesterday I was busy doing a lot of stuff that I didn't pay as much attention to Roan as I would have liked. I was pretty critical of myself on my way to work as I reflected on our day together. This happens often as I am sure it does with many many women and men. I love how Roan is growing so fast but sometimes I miss the swaddled up Roan. So today I decided to play with Roan how he would like to play instead of having him fit my criteria. Something I am going to try and do more often. 

We had a blast. We played with his new washable crayons (only way to go when it comes to crayons and toddlers). We created a "boy cave" out of a large moving box. 

We had a picnic in our newly mowed back yard. 

Then we played in front of the mirror and tried on hats. 

All the while Roan was kissable, cuddly, silly and energetic. 

He really knows how to show a Mom a good time. 

Here is to more days like today!

Postive Post: Positive Clicks!!

My friend Rebecca sent me this and I love it! I signed up as soon as I read it. Basically this lady did an experiment where she got a clicker and kept track of all her negative thoughts for a week. By the end of the week she was so depressed and blue from all the negativity. So she decided to do the opposite and keep track of all her happy or positive thoughts. She was much happier by the end of that week and dealt with any negativity around her in a more upbeat way. Only because she had the mindset to focus on the positive in any situation. You don't need a clicker to do this, even though I think having to physically keep track of something makes you more conscious of your thoughts and actions. Since she created this website many people, groups, families, schools, and corporations have joined in on the clicking to make a difference. And a big difference it does make!!

I started working this 2nd shift with a bad attitude. I was pretty cranky and still am a little bit. I decided to click my positive thoughts while at work this week. While I worked I started doing fun things rather than sitting out being grumpy. For example, each night I created a fun physical challenge to keep my spirits up throughout the shift. I laughed at all the silly yet positive things that came out of this experiment. Week 2 was way better than week 1. I lasted longer and actually enjoyed myself.

I challenge all you readers out there to participate in the "click". You will see a huge difference in your life. THINK. CLICK. BE
 

Nap Time Spy

Yesterday, after Roan woke from his nap I could hear him chanting and playing. I decided to spy on him and record all the action.

Taking Shape For Life

I read this in January. At this time I was plotting a big change in my life but I didn't want to really tell anyone because I was unsure of the outcome. I, like most everyone else, am vulnerable, and sharing something big can be rough. Especially when it is something most everyone has an opinion about. This was something I put a lot of thought, research, and prayer into. I am so glad I took the chance on myself and I am going to share it with you now.

As many of you know I had a baby and all most of that baby weight did not come off, even with breastfeeding. I really had a strong desire to get back in shape for many reasons. My family history has some various health problems I would like to avoid, I would love to be able to keep up with my kids and grand kids, I want to feel better about myself, help fight depression, and get my body ready for more kids. Those are just a few reasons to name. I decided to take up running. At first I was loosing a little weight but then I got hurt and everything came right back. Honestly, even though I was loosing some weight I still had horrible eating habits. I would eat junk food like no tomorrow. I could never stop at three donuts. My relationship with food was tied to my emotions too much. I felt like getting in shape was always going to be a battle with lost cause. I needed a change that was going to be positive and long lasting. But I hate diets, I hate them more than pyramid schemes. I didn't want a diet. I wanted a change and not just a one time event. I knew something like that would be a process but I was ready to commit and make it happen. I wanted something that was going to really help me reboot my thinking on food and get me to where I wanted to be, not just for a while but forever. The questions was where I would I find something like that.

 I ran into my cousin a while later and she looked really good. She told me how she did it and also got me in touch with her health couch. She was nice but the program seemed way too good to be true. So I shrugged it off as a fad diet that will not last. A while later my friend in Mississippi posted a before and after picture of herself on FB and she looked AMAZING. She also used the same program. I got together with her and she answered more of my questions. I thought about the program for weeks, talked to Lars, talked to her again, and read about it over and over again about the long term success. Finally, I prayed about it and decided I should take a leap and just do it. I really had nothing to lose and why shouldn't I gamble on myself.

The program is called Take Shape For Life. What appealed to me the most was that it is more of a lifestyle change than a diet. I needed something with the structure and support to help me reboot my eating, exercise, sleeping, and daily habits that effect my goal to be healthy.

Here is how it works. I set a weight goal. Until I reach that goal I will eat 5 of their high protein, low carb meals and then a meal I make that consists of 1 lean protein and 1.5 cups of low carb vegetables.  I can have a certain amount of condiments, snacks, and healthy fats in addition to that. While doing this I am reading Dr A's Habits of Heath and utilizing a workbook, this part feels like High School but the information is really cool and I am learning so much. I am losing weight and reaching a healthier BMI (body mass index) but most importantly I am figuring out what my triggers are and creating better habits for my health all around so going forward the weight will stay off. After I reach my goal weight I will begin a transition phase and slowly stop eating their food and replace it with other healthy foods. After starting the program I didn't exercise, but now I have incorporated light exercises, weights, and cardio. It is an amazing feeling to do physically things that I couldn't do before.I have a free health coach and an amazing support group on facebook that consist of other people who have/may join the program. Some of them are local some of them are across the country. We have free access to weekly calls, doctors, nurses and nutritionist.  Plus this is not just a one size fits all program. They have alterations for nursing women, diabetics, vegetarians, gluten free, and if you don't have a large budget you can do a modified version where you eat 4 of their meals and 2 lean and green meals you make. 

I bought the books and I buy their food monthly but the rest is free. Buying their food sounded so scary at first. I was worried it would be super expensive but honestly we are not spending anymore than we were before on our monthly grocery bill. In fact, we are saving money. We aren't buying junk food and we aren't going out to eat as often. I can still go out to eat but it is funnier and easier to just plan and cook at home. Making time to make lean and green meals is way easier than I thought. Sure, I have busy days and don't feel like cooking but with some slight planning I am able to get a healthy meal made up in 15 minutes.When I do go out to eat I get my meal protein style. Lars is not on this program and I still plan and cook his (and Roan's) other meals. I usually eat my lean and green meal for dinner and he eats what I cook. So far he has loved almost everything and has even been loosing some weight himself by association. ;) The program food really isn't too bad either. I don't have to just eat it plain, I can dress it up with various recipes I have found (I have two pinterest boards, Lean and Green and Medifast Meals).   I have learned some really cool and delicious lean and green recipes too. Did you know you can make just about anything with cauliflower? I have made, rice, breadsticks, Alfredo sauce, and pizza crust to name a few. Plus you can use vegetables as noodles like this, and this. Can't eat bread, try revolution rolls. All this stuff is good for you and taste great.

The first few days were tough because I was so hungry, but I was more determined to make this work and didn't give up. I didn't exercise much the first few weeks. Now I do 15-20 minute strength exercises 5 days a week. I usually rotate between upper, lower body, and core with my Skimble Workout Trainer ap that is free. I also try to walk 20+ minutes on my lunch break. On the weekends Roan and I try to walk to the park at least once. That is it. So easy. I could work out more, if I do I need to adjust my meal plan and eat more protein. I still have temptations and there are days when I am stressed or sad and want to drown my sorrows in junk food. But I ask myself, "Is this going to get me to my ultimate goal? No, then it is not worth it." I thought the program was too good to be true and I keep waiting for it to get hard. But it is the best and I know that it is easy because all I am doing is making better habits. No starving yourself or eating food that taste like saw dust. Just new instilling new habits. Don't get me wrong sometimes it is not a walk in the park, but it is way easier than everything else I have seen out there. 

Only Lars and a few other people I associate with daily knew about this. Eventually people started to notice. A few of my coworkers noticed my clothes were starting to hang on me and asked me what I was up to. I didn't go into as much detail as in this blog, unless they really ask, but I give a little run down. I love and appreciate the compliments. I love that when I moved into my house I tried on all my clothes and threw out a lot of clothes that were too big for me and was able to fit, like a glove, into my pre-preggo clothes that I had kept for so long.

For me, this program has been amazing. Not just because it made me look like this (see below), it makes me feel great. I used to get exhausted by 2 pm, now I have consistent energy throughout the entire day.  It simplified things as I go until I really learned what foods are better than others. I will still be able to eat chocolate if I want to, I just know how to balance it better because of what I learned from this process.  It gave me the structure and support I needed and honestly it worked. Now could I have gotten the same results counting calories or doing something...maybe. But this is what worked for ME. It gave me the reboot I needed so I can move forward being focused on moderation rather than do's or don'ts. It was hard at first but I made up my mind I wanted a positive change and I really don't miss the stuff I ate before. I will have some of those things again, like a beef n' cheddar, and moose tracks, but not right now. I am having too much fun looking and feel great!!!

I am not bringing it up here so you can join and I can make money off of you. I am not becoming a health coach (not yet anyway) or selling a product. I was just really shy about sharing this. I don't like to be singled out too often and in this case I can still live my life normal, just healthier I guess, but in the beginning it was hard to explain.  I know no matter how I look I am awesome. Everyone has a way of doing things and this worked for me and that is okay. It might not work for you and that is okay too. But I have a good thing here and it is hard not to share it. SO my vulnerable feelings aside this program is wonderful and I am so so glad that I am apart of it. This is a great option if you are looking for a change. If you are not looking for change then good for you. Just admire my change and congratulate me or give me a virtual high five! Because I feel amazing and healthy, my energy is consistently up, I love what I am putting into my body, I love my new fitness performance level, I just love what this has done for me all around. I haven't been this fit and slim for many many many years. I didn't think it could ever happen but it did and I am going to keep it up  :) Everybody is different and this worked for ME. If you would like to know more call me or check out their website.

Now that I told you all about it, let me show you all about it.

Start Weight: 191.6 lbs

Start BMI: 28

6 weeks weight into program: 165 lbs

6 weeks BMI into program: 24

I lost
26.6 pounds
7 inches off my waist

3 inches off my hips

2 inches of my upper arms

3 inches off my upper thighs.

By week 3 I had to wear a belt with all my current clothes and all my work shirts hung on me. I got to my pre-preggo weight by week 5.

Here are photos of the progress. I love that the weight loss is healthy and not happening all at once in the wrong places. It is melting off of me at the right times and in the right places.

Goal Weight: 145 lbs
(my 10 year anniversary is in August, I would love to get to my pre-wedding weight by then)

Goal BMI: 21
I still want to get more toned which is why I am lifting weights. I have a little ways to go to reach my goal but I am so happy and proud of the progress I have made so far.
Special thanks for the love and support from my health coach Thia and the TSFL groups on FB!!!!

UPDATE: I am becoming a health coach. My website is this. https://stephaniejoy.tsfl.com/   or    http://stephaniejoy.tsfl.com/explore Please call me if you would like to know more. :)

West Side

I have some sad news everyone.

This cute little boy....

.....has joined the West Side Gang!

He thinks he is so tough throwing out gang signs and passing around fist bumps! His west side robot shirt wearing gang has nothing on me. 

Is this what I get for trying to make play dough out of flour and failing miserable? At least I know how to cook and give hugs. This kid is easy to persuade, I bought him some washable crayons (so glad they are washable and so is my cedar chest) and now he has returned to the fold :).

A stump we have in our backyard that was made into a chair. 

Those are squeaky shoes he is wearing too.

I thought he was so cute in this shirt. I love dressing kids. Oh man I cannot wait to have a girl. :)

Spenders Anxiety

I have had spenders anxiety since we bought our house. It took me more than a week to build up the courage to go grocery shopping. When I did I felt better. We can own a home and still live right? It seems like every time we go to Lowe's or Target we can't walk away without spending $$. EEK! We have a lot of little projects that will require some funds. As new home owners we don't have a lot of the basics, like a working lawn mower or a saw (Lars really wants to saw some stuff), or any yard tools. I am working on thrifting for some of those items. And we are borrowing where we can. If you would like to make donations by all means go right ahead. We have company staying with us during the week of July 4th and we are hosting Lars's family reunion on July 6th. That is in a few weeks so we are trying to ready a few things, mostly in the yard. Everything else can wait until we can save up some moola. I am not complaining. I am so happy to have this house and these projects. It can be overwhelming when I think about all the stuff we need to and want to do with it. I keep telling Lars that we can't build Rome in a day and that each week or month we will get something done with the house to make it more our own.

In the mean time here are a batch of pictures we took before moving in to wet your appetite. We have since unpacked some and will hopefully decorate next week. When all that is done we will take more pictures or video. The pictures are from Lars' google+ account so they aren't in any special order. I commented on most of them what the picture was. Enjoy

Live It Up!

I had another positive post drafted but I wasn't feeling it. Then today I was helping a coworker figure herself out of a situation. She wanted to take a chance on something but was really scared to. I told her an experience I had as a teenager that was a huge turning point in my life when it came to taking chances. I think I already shared it here in my "History of Stephanie" post. I will paraphrase. I liked a boy, I asked out boy, he said no. Rather than being sad I felt empowered and awesome for doing something that scared me. That day forward I tried not to let things scare me out of taking chances on myself. I told my coworker that had I not taken that chance then, I might not have taken the next chance, or the next one. Because I was brave and seized the day that one time I was confident in doing it again and probably changed a few courses in my life. Case in point...when I met Lars I was brave and told him I thought he was cute. "Shy Stephanie" may not have done that but "Live It Up Stephanie" sure did and I got a hubby out of it. 

You might not get a hubby every time you live it up and seize the day. But it will make you stronger and more courageous to do the right thing in a tough situation, tell someone how you feel, stand up for yourself, or be kind, or do something you otherwise wouldn't do to have fun. The possibilities are endless. SO one thing that I do to be positive in life is to live it up. :) See what it will make you become and enjoy!

2nd Shift

This week I have been working the 2nd shift at my job. Usually I work 8-5 but I am covering for a shift at 3 pm-11:30 pm until they hire someone. I am trying to have a good attitude about it and see the perks of this shift. As I was getting ready for the day this morning, still at my normal time of 7:00 am, I was thinking about how much this shift really sucks no matter how I sugar coat it. Oh sure when there is no work to be done I get paid to read, talk on the phone, exercise, play on pinterest and facebook, blog (like this post as an example, in fact I have blogged 5-10 times a day this week). That is all fun. I am getting a lot of me time caught up. But in the process I am sacrificing other time with my family. Normally, Lars and I drop Roan off at daycare, work, then we all come home and party hard before bed.

Now I still get up with Lars, because that is when Roan gets up too. I play with Roan (which I absolutely love and appreciate out of all this), while he naps I do stuff around the house, make my lunch which is also Lars' dinner, load up the car at 2:30 to drop Roan off to daycare then go to work. Lars picks up Roan after 6 pm and heads home to take care of the evening routines of dinner, playtime, bath, miss Mommy, and bed. I roll into the house by midnight and tip toe around the house to spy on both boys sleeping and then crawl into bed myself. There isn't much traffic so travel time is at a minimun. I am pretty good at going to sleep right away but I am tired by 10:30 and this is my 3rd day on this shift.

A while ago I was looking for and applying for 2nd or 3rd shift jobs so we could avoid the expense of daycare. But when it came time to proceed and be serious about it it never felt right. Now I know why. Aside from my days being so long I miss Lars. I miss Roan and Lars and together family time. This week I have only seen Lars an hour each day. I do not know how some families function this way. I have a brother and his wife who do just that. They each work shifts so one of them is always with the kids. I have so much respect for their sacrficie to make it work. Lars and I still chat throughout the day as we always do. But I really miss my face to face time with him. SO kudos to the families who live like this and do their best to make it work.

It is not for me at all.

On another note about face to face time...times have sure changed when it comes to courting. I know I sound so old fashion saying that. I am a child of the 80's but kids now and days. LOL. There is this girl I work with who is a few years younger than me. She is recently divorced and has been dating lately. I hear all about that and more. I won't bore you with all the details she won't stop talking about. One thing though is that she is constantly texting 1-4 boys at once and narriating to all of us in the office about it. She asks for advice and plays these silly getting to know you games. What happened to a face to face dates to figure out if you like someone. Seesh it is all so crazy and made me grateful for a bunch of things. 1) Glad I married my best friend, 2) Even though texting was around when I was young and dating it didn't replace face to face courting. Good Golly Miss Molly!!

My Little Brother

When I was 12 years old I went with my Mom to a week long BYU Music Workshop. I don't think they have these anymore. While there I met an 8 year old boy named Brandon. He and I felt like the only kids there, probably because we were. We hung out and took a lot of classes together. I found out that he was the oldest in his family and didn't have any sisters. Seeing as how I was the youngest in my family and didn't have any little brothers we adopted each other. He introduced me to his Mom, Wendy, and all three of us became instant friends in that short week. We kept in touch as pen pals and then when email rolled around we kept in touch more.

They lived in Arizona and I in Michigan and then later on Utah. A few times we got to see each other when they were up visiting their families in Utah. The meet ups were always brief but amazing. 

I consider Wendy to be another Mom and Brandon a little brother to me. Then when I got married I sent them an invitation but knew it was very unlikely they would be able to attend. But the most amazing things happened. They surprised me and planned their family vacation around my wedding. I cried when they walked through the door. How fitting to have my 2nd Mom and little brother able to attend.

Then Brandon was old enough to go on a mission. I so wanted to go to his missionary farewell in AZ but was a very poor college student. Because they have so much family in Utah Wendy and her busband dropped Brandon off at the MTC and had a huge party for him before that. I got to go and see him off. Believe it or not we wrote each other here and there during his mission. That was 4-5 years ago. 

Fast forward to today. He is a college graduate from BYU. :) Wendy came up to help him in his last semester because he was recovering from untimely surgery. They stayed a few blocks from where I was living. I jumped for joy at the chance to see them both again. 

Here we are at our reunion in between the Saturday general conference in April. 

I love them both so much and am so glad I got to see them and they got to meed Roan. Roan was smitten by them both. Usually he takes a good 10 minutes to warm up but with them he jumped right into hugs and play time. That is what you do when you are around family. :)

Love you guys and I can't wait to see you again. 

Thank You

SO I really want to personally thank everyone that helped us move. My Mom taught me to write thank you cards and I usually do. This time I think I will take the lazy road and use my blog to do the work for me. I just don't have it in me right now to find addresses and address envelopes. Sorry you won't get a card to scarpbook or read and then toss. 

Please know that I love you and we thank you sincerely. 

So THANK YOU for helping us load the truck...

Cedar Hills 10th Ward EQP, Mark Hamilton , Justin Griffin, John Harrison, next door neighbor with all the adorable sons, Precious Roy and your friend Harrison. 

THANK YOU for helping us unload the truck...

 Monte, Bronwyn, Kyle, Dayton, Glenn, Ivan, Trisha, Mike B. Devon L, Mom B. Lorretta, Precious Roy and your friend Harrison. 

THANK YOU for stopping by to help, we didn't mean to get done so quick, hope you enjoyed the tour...

Karla, Dana, Karen, Andy, Neils, Curtis, Jacob, Anthony, Tim, & Tina.

Again, THANK YOU for helping me clean

Lorretta, Mom B. Valane, Karen, Trisha

I Like To Move It, Move It

I found some more pics I had on Google+ that were made into movement.

First Home: The Move and How We Roll

SO per my last post things were looking really grim for our moving plans. Thankfully on Thursday I was feeling better and things turned around on time for the move. I got home from work and loaded up mine, Lars, my sister, and mother in law car's with boxes from our current living quarters. This made me feel great because we didn't have as much stuff to move out as I had thought. We spent our first night at the new house on Thursday. It was fun and scary at the same time. Kind of like camping. You are excited to be there but can't sleep because you hear all these new sounds. Friday we woke up and had the carpets cleaned. Then my mother in law, my Aunt, and my sister went to town on cleaning the place. We were mean green cleaning machines. It was amazing how different the placed looked when we were done. We started at 9 am and finished at 5 pm and got everything done, except for 1-2 simple things that I can do this week. After that it felt so much more like ours. At last we were having the "it's ours" feeling.

Friday night we went back up to my parents house to gather up the final items and spend the night, one last time. :) Saturday we were up by 6:30 am and Lars was all business. We picked up the truck at 7:30 am and had it to the storage unit by 8 am. I waited outside the storage gate to let people in. We were so grateful that our Elders Quorum pulled through and we had 5-7 guys come. We had the truck loaded in 20 minutes. They said it was the easiest move ever. That is how we roll.

We got to the new house at 9:15 am and a dozen of our family and friends helped unload. I think we were done with that by 10:00 am. We all chatted and I gave tours while Lars returned the truck, we had it for a total of 3.5 hours. That is how we roll. Other family and friends continued to arrive to help move in for the next 2 hours. They were surprised that we were done unloading the truck, again, that is how we roll. It ended up being more like a reunion. Those that asked to help were given something to do. By Noon I had the kitchen unpacked. Lars' Dad, step Mom, and Mom stayed for a few hours to eat lunch and help with additional cleaning and unpacking. Everyone was gone by 3 pm. Lars and I did some additional rearranging and finished most of our bedroom and the family room. Then we relaxed and watched a movie. We both slept so good that night. Sunday we were going to sleep in but were up by 7 am. We went to part of church and then came home and napped, well Lars and Roan did. I unpacked more stuff then we watched another movie and went out to see some nearby family.

I did not take a single picture over the weekend. I wish I had got some kind of recording or a group shot or anything. Bummer. Lars took some pictures of the house before it was cleaned so maybe we will post those once we get organized or better yet I am sure we will get a video going as soon as things look like we didn't just move.

Best Part of Owning This Home Thus Far:

1. As I am unpacking I am unpacking everything out of their original boxes that I have kept for years to move with ease but this time I am throwing those boxes away. Plus I have room to unpack everything. I have a cupboard in my kitchen dedicated to all my little appliances, blender, waffle iron, food processor, kitchen aide, ice cream maker, that I used to have to rotate in and out. It is sooooo awesome.

2. Our home is located near other family members, but not too close ;) Lars has two cousins that are 12 blocks away that we have already had dinner with. Two of my brothers are a 10-15 drive away, we also had a little get together with them. I love being fairly close to family.

3. We have a house and it rocks!

Now granted this house isn't perfect. Since moving in we have noticed a few weird things that we would like to change. Lars already has created his own "Honey-Do" list. Of course we are having to prioritize this list because some of the items may be costly and those will be checked off as we can afford them. Either way we love our house and we are so happy to be in it.

The previous owners still had some in the sheds, we spoke with them and had a heart to heart and worked out a deal. Today they got everything out and cleaned the sheds, expect for one large item that will have to remain for another week, we think. Do me a favor if you ever own a home and sell it, give yourself, and your new owners, a clean break and get all you crap out of there. Yeah both parties involved have been adult and nice about this but it is really annoying to have one or two things lingering of theirs. The "It's Ours" feeling has only come in baby steps because of this.

Roan is having a blast with the new house too...most of the time. He wants to touch and climb on everything. He is learning and we are having to be patient with him when it comes helping him adjust to his new surroundings. A few things he has had to learn the hard way, poor guy, like falling off the coffee table or running over his foot with the closet door. I know he has sensed this change and we love that it is just "us" now. But I can tell that he misses my family when he wanders around the house as if he is looking for them. :) He started daycare today and from what I hear he is doing great. I on the other hand have been a complete basket case. I know it will be okay and that he will be learning good social skills but anytime we have a major change with his babysitting stuff I go through a period of anxiety. I like to think it gets easier with each change but it really doesn't. I will have it forever when he starts real school and then moves away to college. :) Because that is how I roll.

How do you roll?

Reaction to Adversity

SO this week has been one heck of a week. A series of events began on Sunday and ended with me sobbing in my pillow at 6:15 pm on Wednesday night. Ugh. Basically this week was supposed to be more happy and run smoother. The van we were using died, we are having trouble getting local people to commit to help load our truck because there is a community parade in our neighborhood (even though it starts hours after we will be done, people are still not coming, sooo annoying, way to go with service people), we got the keys to the house yay, but our renters still had stuff all over the lawn and in the storage sheds that they "hoped" wouldn't be a problem and wanted to leave there for at least a week (this is where most of my anxiety stemmed from), Roan's schedule is way off and he has a rash which is making him oh so enjoyable, work has been fun, I have been kicking butt and finally earning the respect of some of my coworkers, then they told me I am working 3 pm- 11 pm for the next 2-4 weeks (covering for someone who quit, anyone need a job). All in all I was having a bad attitude about EVERYTHING and then started to let little things bother me and then I really really really wanted a beef n' cheddar and then I really wanted to swear and scream at the heavens. I knew my breaking point was near and it took reading one silly petty facebook status to snap me into a sob for 15 minutes. I called a friend and as soon as I heard her voice I sobbed for another 5 minutes. I felt like I should be more thankful and have a better attitude. After all I am moving into a house, my house, I have good health and can run and jump and all that. But I was just so so grumpy and because of that I felt guilty which made me feel even more grumpy. Thursday I woke up more refreshed. I exercised, something I have done everyday this week actually (maybe I could have been more of grouch if it wasn't for that). Then the renters called to inform us that they were going to have the rest of the stuff out by the end of today. Hooray! I have a few things to finish packing at the house tonight and then Friday I have off to work on cleaning and getting the rest of the stuff in before we move our storage unit stuff in this Saturday. Then all we have to do is unpack and enjoy.

I know it sounds like I am complaining...because I am. But I do have a point to all this. Monday wasn't a bad or an awesome day, it was just a day. I had a few mionr ups and downs regarding expectations I have for myself. Half way through the day I got some great news (a friend just bought a house and I was able to get some great donations for my cousins fundraiser.) After I got this news my day turned around and I seemed more cheerful. On my drive home I asked myself a question that really got me pondering.

"Why did I have to wait to get good news to be cheerful?" I am not saying I should always be turned on up all the time, but life doesn't have to be so melancholy when there is nothing super awesome going on.

It is okay to just BE happy.

"Why do I struggle? Why am I troubled in this narrow, cramped routine, when life, all life, with its joys, lies open before me?"

"...while one is living, one must live and be happy."

~War and Peace

Now I sometimes take for granted that I am usually so optimistic. This week was tough, I tried to find humor in the bad parts but at the end of the day I let the negative way I reacted to things prevail.

"It is your reaction to the adversity not the adversity itself that will determine your future."

~ President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I feel like I failed this week BUT tomorrow is another day. I can still be happy and I will be. Thursday is feeling much better and I am thankful for all the help we have had so far. My mother in law watching Roan more often this week and cleaning parts of our new house. My sister is off this week and has been a tremendous help with watching Roan, cleaning, packing. She can read me like a book and has kept telling me over and over, "this week will be over soon and it will work out and you will be happy." She is so sweet.

SO moral of this post. Life is going to be life no matter how you choose to react to it. Decide each morning when you wake up that today is going to be awesome and let life be life.

I would like to link this positive post to another really good post that my friend Shawna wrote that is along these same lines. Read it here.