How I came to be . . .

I guess I should mention how this blog came to fruition.

Last Christmas an old college roommate of mine sent her yearly family update and mentioned that she had started a blog. So throughout this year I have been a casual reader, keeping up with her growing family. Then one day in my googling, I happened to stumble across another personal blog of a person I know nothing about. BUT I loved the way she wrote. It wasn't your casual day-to-day type entries. They were funny and witty and well-written. After several months of lurking on her site, I desired to become a better writer.

I've kept a journal, but I don't write consistently and my writing is very haphazard, jumping from one thought to another without any real cohesion. I don't plan my words or sentences when I journal write. My entire objective is to get my thoughts on paper without worrying if I'm using the best word or sentence structure, without worrying if I'm being too redundant. Confession: I'm a lazy writer. Correction: I was a lazy writer.

So I decided a blog would be an experiment for me to see if I could indeed be a better writer. I loved the idea of being able to add pictures. I discovered you can print your blog entries in book format (a definite plus for posterity's sake!). I don't care so much if anyone reads it now. In fact so far no one has read a single entry, but I try to write as though everyone is reading it.

The hardest part of this entire process has been coming up with a blog name. There were several days where I stalemated. I couldn't move beyond the naming game. I started one day just writing down everything that came to me: Joyful Mother of Children, Becoming, Miscellaneous Musings, Ramblings, Simple, Small and Simple, Creating Roots, Remember Remember, Family Is Everything. Nothing stood out to me. Then I remembered listening to a talk by Dr. John L. Lund where he described me perfectly. I am A HUMAN DOER as opposed to a human being. I am a visual person who tends to see everything that is not done (Dr. Lund is also very quick to point out that there is no such thing as DONE. There will always be something to do). So while I am intrinsically a doer, I am working on becoming.

Separated at last

New bunk beds for the boys arrived last week. Both Nate and Erik acted a little forlorn as if they were losing their best friend rather than their bed partner. How could Erik not enjoy his own bed! I've slept with Nate before and was never so glad to kick him out when morning came (snoring, kicking, moving). The morning after I asked Nate how he enjoyed his own bed. He looked at me, sighed, and said rather wistfully, "I don't know." Erik piped up and replied that he and Nate used to wake up in the morning and talk. I quickly assured them they could still do that. I'm sure all this sadness will disappear sometime, but right now I'm feeling a little blue with them.

Advent Stockings

In with new and out with the old. I wanted to try something different this year instead of our usual pull-the-ornament-out-of-the-pocket-and-velcro-it-to-the-felt-tree advent calendar my mom handed down to me. I came across this idea on familyfun.com and decided to try it.

1. I bought 24 different socks, 24 mini clothespins, and some Christmas ribbon.

2. I wanted to hang them in front of the fireplace for aesthetics, but had a difficult time keeping them up because of the weight. Every morning I would find my string of socks dangling. Tyler solved my problem by finding a way to tie the ribbon up.

3. I had to come up with 24 different things for each stocking. I wanted to read a scripture every day, so that was easy. I found a 25 piece Miss Spider puzzle and put a piece of the puzzle in each stocking. And then I just made a list of different activities or things to do each night. I love that Christmas creates that feeling of anticipation and wanted my kids to feel that every day. To have something to look forward to.

At first my kids balked at this idea. Erik even asked me if he could put up the old calendar, but after several days they were heard to say, "Can we do this again next year?!" Waking up to something in their stocking has given them a little bit of Christmas morning every morning and I have loved it.

Ideas I came up with
1. Start the 12 Days of Christmas to a family in our neighborhood

2. Watch Christmas devotional with popcorn

3. Christmas crossword puzzle (placed in the stocking)

4. Gold chocolate coins

5. Write Santa letters

6. Pick out our Christmas tree and visit the zoo for ZooLights

7. Camp out around the Christmas tree

8. Visit Santa

9. Breakfast for dinner with candelight

10. Visit the library and donate box of shoes and coats to charity

11. Ornament for each child to hang on the tree

12. Sudoku puzzle

13. Make snowflakes

14. Christmas music quiz

15. Get out of Sunday dishes (mom and dad will do them)

16. Go to Logan

17. Leary family Christmas party

18. Sing Christmas songs around the piano

19. Decorate gingerbread house

20. Game night

21. Movie night

22. Make cookies

23. Visit Temple Square and see the lights

24. Shop for each other for Christmas Eve present exchange

25. Drive around and look at lights

26. Read Christmas stories

27. Over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go

My Happy Place

Yes, this is exactly what I look like when I vacuum. Notice the heels, the nylons, the dress, the ruffly apron, but especially the gleeful smile.

Okay, I may ditch the heels, the nylons, the dress, the apron; however, Tyler will attest that I do vacuum with a smile. Vacuuming takes me to a happy place where neither kids, nor phone, nor doorbell can intrude. I just like to vacuum and proclaim myself an addict.