Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

I woke up Tuesday morning and realized I didn't have enough time to make the kiddo's favorite breakfast: waffles with "purple syrup" and sausage. I got stuck feeding them cereal. I hate feeding my kids cereal.

I had to run to our lender's office to drop off some more paperwork. I hate going to our lender's office to drop paperwork off. I wish they would stop emailing me and just call me with all the stuff they need at once. Why do self-employed people get stuck with all the papers to file? Right now, I want to move to Australia.

Snow. I don't like shoveling the snow. I wish I could be mowing the lawn instead. I want to move to Australia. Maybe I could get a pet kangaroo instead of just a lousy goldfish.

While driving to the lender's office, I skidded off the road and hit some one's mailbox. I left a note in their mailbox. No one came out of their homes to help me on a snowy day. I wish I had my boots on.

I got home. Found a police officer pulling up to my apartment. A neighbor from the mailbox owner called the police and said I ran off after damaging property. I have a ticket for leaving the scene of an accident. I want to really move to Australia. But I can't. I have to go to court. I have to get this fixed and cleared off my record. I'm in the same "license department" as people with DUI's. I don't even have a speeding ticket. I'm having a horrible, no good, very bad week.

I broke the zipper off of a perfectly good winter coat. Sorry, Koen. Broken zippers are the worse. I wonder if there are after-Christmas sales in Australia.

I get a phone call from our realtor. We can't close on Thursday. I start to bawl. If we can't close before Friday, we will have to live in an apartment for the next two years. I hate the new loan qualifications. I go to bed grumpy and sour. I wonder if there are loan qualifications in Australia.

Closing day, or suppose to be. Koen wakes me up and climbs into bed and says with despair, "Mom, I don't like living here. When are we leaving?" He doesn't even know the failed closing date on our home. I start to scrounge around for something to eat. Thinking we're moving I haven't gone to the store in a while. I hate eating Spaghetti O's and Ramen. I find some lunch meat for Koen to snack on until breakfast is made. I'm beginning to hate pre-made anything manufactures call food. I wonder what they eat in Australia.

As I sulk in the kitchen, wondering how I could have gotten myself stuck in such a horrible, no good, very bad situation the phone rang. We could close on our house! Yeah. I don't really want to live in Australia anyway. But do you think they have fair judges?

Holiday Tradition Idea #11

Last month was the first time we did this but I quite liked it and would like to continue it. We had a month of lessons on serving others, especially family. You know just being nice. Our theme was "Showing your Light." Each person had a chart on the wall (it was an old page out of a calendar) with 30 squares. At the end of the chart was your trip to "show your light" by going to see lights at Temple Square/Ogden City Hall (or wherever you have massive Christmas lights). To get to the end of the chart you had to do nice things to someone WITHOUT asking for a check mark when you were done. Just random nice things. Example: Koen would tell Daradie that she looked pretty before going to school, Daradie was the master of putting toothpaste on every one's toothbrushes, etc. One neat experience is that Daradie noticed that her friend's pregnant mother needed a little cheering up and wanted to bring her dinner. Wow! What five year old thinks to bring someone dinner--talk about a RS president in the making.

It was something that worked good for us. Plus, the cooperation between the two kiddos could not be beat. And we still occasionally see toothpaste on our toothbrushes 43 days after the finale.

Holiday Tradition Idea #24

We celebrate our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith's birthday. On December 23, we invite a few families over for a pioneer dinner. We eat roasted ham, dutch oven cobbler and potatoes, baked beans, a homemade bread (scones, bread or cornbread), baked apples, and water or milk. We eat under kerosene lamps or candles. The chairs are turned backwards (facing out) before we eat. The chairs turned that way was a pioneer tradition to remind them of having family prayer. After dinner we have a stick pull contest and a story about Joseph. The kids have enjoyed doing this. It gives them something to look forward to and is a great reminder of the prophet that restored our church.