Because Life is Funny

I'm in a good mood today. It's so simple really- why am I always falling off the bandwagon?! Be productive and do what you're supposed to do!

For starters I've been good about studying the scriptures this week- that always helps my days go better.

And then I've been getting up with Curtis in the morning. (I usually sleep until the kids wake me and then I am a complete disaster rushing them out the door.) This week I've been up well before them so that breakfast and lunches are mostly ready and I even got some laundry done!

The weather is sort cooling down a bit and we've walked to school for the past couple of days. In the past we biked to school but Daniel and a neighbor who carpools with us both need a little more practice before they're ready for that. But then I read

this post and decided to forget about the bikes and start walking asap. It's a mile walk and takes us about 15 minutes to get there.They complain a bit but I know it's a great way for them to start their day. Then I jog home. The whole exercise thing has been on my mind b/c I keep thinking that exercise needs to fit into my life and not be this two hour event sucking up every morning! I know I need more than just a morning walk to school but if I were doing that 4 or 5 times a week I think it would be a great foundation for health (I'm writing this as I eat Molasses cookies and milk btw).

I've decided that after living here for almost 4 years it's finally time to decorate the kid's rooms. I've been a painting machine for past couple of weeks and the end is in sight! Our whole house is a tan color and it's fine for the main areas but borrrring for kids rooms. The colors I picked... are not boring. :)

And last but not least I happened on this just a few minutes ago- someone forwarded it to me a couple of years ago and I had saved it in a word doc. It's called "They didn't study" and you can enlarge the pics to see them up close. The paper on "El Nino" is priceless. You will pee your pants.

And now for a Deep Thought:

If you're robbing a bank and you're pants fall down, I think it's okay to laugh and to let the hostages laugh too, because, come on, life is funny.

Jam in sunlight

The other day I got up early and was working in the kitchen when I noticed the way the sunlight was hitting a couple of jars of jam that I had sitting out on the counter. Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be another reason to love homemade jam.

I have a memory of sitting on the kitchen table, dipping strawberries in sugar and eating them. I was probably about 5 and my whole family had been strawberry picking that morning. My mom was making jam in the kitchen and I was "helping." I LOVED my mom's jam.

And then when I got a little older, she started buying Smuckers instead of making it homemade. I went on a jam boycott for years. (Which means I was bringing tuna fish to school instead of a PBJ-that's how much I hate Smuckers!) I finally gave in and started to accept store bought jam... until a few years after being married. I wanted to try making my own and see how hard it was. Turns out it is SO easy. For about $4-$10 and an hour of my time I can have 4 pints of the best jam on the planet. SO worth it!

P.S. I'm not a freezer jam person b/c I usually don't have the space for it and I actually really like the cooked jam taste. The End

Kids...

Sometimes my kids make me crazy. Like when Lucy broke the computer or locked Curt's iphone, or the time I realized there was no room in the freezer because the boys had a bunch of "experiments" in there (bowls with Legos & dinosaurs frozen in water). But sometimes their little sticky footprints all over everything just make me smile.