New Year's Resolutions

Today is New Year's Day. The day when people around the world make specific resolutions to do/be better in the next year. As it goes, they are generally said to be forgotten by the end of January, if not sooner. I, for one, am one of those generalities. Sad but true. However, this year, one of my resolutions is to remember and work on my resolutions (if that makes sense). But how does one remember one's resolutions to work on them? That is the question that I'm asking those who read this blog. Whether you're a regular reader or just happened to read this by linking from person A to person B to person C and thought it looked interesting (I know you're out there!), please leave comments on how you remember your resolutions past January. I need your help!

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a day late, but I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!


Just for interest, here's a little history about the rocking horse. I learned something new!

Snowing...Again

I want you all to know that I take snow with me wherever I go. In the last month I have been in 3 states. And it snowed in each state while I was there. Side-note: North Carolina (coastal) and Las Vegas are not known for getting snow. Maybe I should go visit Florida... wouldn't they be surprised?

This picture was taken this morning. There is significantly more snow now. Who knows? Maybe we'll even make a snowman this afternoon!

Nice Guy

Here's a story about the goodness of people.

When packing my house, the packers missed the glass top for our kitchen table, because it was stored behind a dresser and they couldn't see it. No fault on their part. So when the movers came and moved the dresser, the piece of glass was brought into view. The driver's helper said, "No way! He can't take that piece of glass on his truck without it being properly packed!" The driver said, "Wrap it in blankets and when I get to the warehouse, I'll have the packers pack it up." Nice guy. The glass was the last thing (literally) loaded onto the truck.

Well, when they unpacked our things last week, the piece of glass didn't come off of the truck. I didn't say anything because, as a last minute item, we hadn't recorded it anywhere, so I had no proof that it actually existed. And to have that be the only thing we lost... pretty amazing!

Yesterday, a minute after walking in the door from shopping, the doorbell rings. It the driver! Standing on my porch holding the blanket wrapped piece of glass. Apparently, while unloading in California, he came across the glass on his truck, remembered our last minute loading (okay, his last minute loading. I really only watched), and came back to drop it off! Thankfully, Las Vegas was on his route anyway, or that would have been a huge detour. As it is, our apartment is not even close to the freeway anyway, so he made a detour to bring it to us. I have been incredibly impressed with the driver. He's taken his job seriously and always worked to make us, his customers, happy. What a nice guy!

Been a while....

It's been a while since I've posted and a lot has happened. Here's a recap:

Flew with my daughter to visit family for Thanksgiving. My husband drove and met us there. All of my brothers were in town, as well as my grandparents. It was great fun!

Drove to Las Vegas. The nearly 12 hours in a car with a toddler weren't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. She did really well and we made it in one day. Side note: We were able to stop along the way and see my brother and his wife's new apartment (they just moved). I always enjoy seeing people in the place where they live. That way I can get a picture in my mind.

Saw our apartment (where my husband has been living for the past month). It's great, he did a good job!

Had a day to get acquainted with the neighborhood/community. I think my husband took me on the tour so that I wouldn't think that Las Vegas is a HUGE city and want to leave when our lease is up. It was a good plan on his part, and it worked.

Movers brought our stuff. We've been spending our days unpacking all of it and wondering "Why do we need that?" Thus starting a DI pile, that continues to grow as more boxes are opened.

When the boxes are unpacked and life is less chaotic, I'll post pictures.

Packing and Gratitude

Today I'm very grateful for:
1-
Not having to pack myself. I've really enjoyed not putting all of our stuff into boxes. And since it will be the first and the last time that someone else does all of the grunt work, I don't feel guilty for reading my books while they work. It's a little awkward at times, as I sit on the couch and the workers dismantle the lamp sitting on the table next to me, but not awkward enough to get me to help them. The packers are very efficient. In 2 not-full days (9-3:30), with 2 people on the first day and only 1 person on the second day, they were able to pack my 1600 square foot home into boxes. It's very strange to be in my home and not have my "things" around. Occasionally I think, "I'll go get ____" or "I'll just use ____", when really, it's all in boxes that I didn't pack and have no real clue what is in any of them.

2-
Really good friends who are willing to help. My daughter has been, shall we say, confused and bewildered by all of the changes in our home and lives in the last few days. Friends from the ward have offered to watch her and care for her. Friends have also fed us, let us hang out at their homes, offered us the use of their homes even when they won't be there, loaned books, and helped us unload our attic. When I was single and would have friends get married, I would go to their receptions, with a gift, and think, "If all of my friends get married before me, who will bring me gifts?" Well, it turned out that as my friends got married, I made other single friends and they brought gifts to my wedding (as did some of my married friends, not that I want to leave you out). This whole experience has left me with a similar wondering, "If all of my friends are so nice to me when I move away, who will help them out when they move?" and another thought, "How can I ever repay their generosity, when I won't even be here?" They all have been truly great.

3-
My daughter. When I pick her up from wherever she's been that day, I'm so grateful that we have her. She's a joy, even when she's clingy and constantly asking for Daddy. And it's great to know that she's missed me.

4-
The reminder that things really are just things and that I can live without them (books not included. See #5). When everything is packed, there's no thing to need (really just want) at the moment. It reminds me of Elder Perry's talk at conference. It was a good one!

5-
Books. Really, with nothing else to do, I've been reading a lot. Thank goodness for friends (see #2) who have lent books to me, so that I can have something to do. Without books, I might have actually helped the packers with their job. It would have been completely boring. Another post I'll write about one of the books...

Quiet Book

Against the advice of my good friend (who had made one), I made a quiet book for my daughter to use in church. There are pages with velcro, flannel, animals, shoes to tie, etc. My friend was right. It was a headache to make, took forever, cost a lot and doesn't look at all professional. However, I finished it (9 months after starting the project). If you go online, you can find them for $25. That's less than it cost me to make it. And all you have to do is click a button. And it looks professional. It will probably last longer, too (though I don't know yet). Tomorrow will be our trial run. My husband was a dear and brought up the fact that I would be sad if our daughter ruined it on the first day. He was right, of course.

The point is, listen to your good friends. They're pretty smart people . After all, they chose to be your friend, right? What could be smarter than that?

It's a Boy!

Or will be in 4 1/2 months. I had an ultra-sound and the tech was very sure. So now we have some cute pictures (really, he is a cute, little alien) to hang on our fridge. The cutest is of his feet, posing for the picture. He must have known we were looking.

I Voted!

I voted today! I'm so grateful to live in a country in which I have a right to state my opinion and in which my opinion is counted. Whether or not the candidates I voted for win, I did what I could for them. Although some of them I really had no opinion about, so I just decided which name I liked best or which sent me the least political junk mail. Not rocket science, but hey, I'm not a rocket scientist.

I'm also grateful for the nice man in front of me who let me go before him, so that I could get my toddler in out of the cold (yes, we do have cold weather, even in North Carolina).

And I know it's a little strange, but I'm excited to write in my journal tonight and put my "I Voted" sticker in to mark the day.

State Fair 2008

We went to the State Fair yesterday. I've become a big fan of state fairs (this was my third one). It's so much fun to see all of the cool exhibits, like the giant pumpkins and watermelon, a real life pineapple plant, a man standing in a bee cage surrounded by bees, the animals, etc. I also think the carnival game people are fun to watch. I try to imagine what kind of life they led that brought them to this point in their lives. How many people grow up thinking, "When I grow up, I want to be a carnival game man (or woman)?" The food vendors are great, too. Where on earth could you get so much fried food? My personal favorite is the funnel cake. I'm not brave enough to try some of the others (deep fried snickers, twinkies, oreos, etc), even if I did eat chocolate. We had a good time. There were things for the little ones to do, and we got to see what we wanted to. What could be more perfect?