Lasting Value

Two days ago, I FINALLY cashed in on a gift certificate that I got two Christmases ago. I went to a salon and got a pedicure and manicure. It was my first ever experience with either of these luxuries (which might shock many women my age). The reason I waited so long to cash in was that I felt like something as fancy as a pedi/mani needed an "occasion." Nothing super important ever came up that I felt was worthy of such a treatment until NOW. Tomorrow we get on our plane to head off for a wonderful vacation to the Bahamas. So I figured that I'd get my nails done so I would look and feel amazing for our trip. The manicure looked great, and I LOVED the pedicure!

Then I went home. Within two hours of just being a mom, three of my poor fingernails had the paint chipped. I almost cried. I had waited for almost a year and a half for this wonderful gift, only to have nothing but chipped paint to show for it just two hours later! I know, I can just repaint them, but I was hoping it would last a little longer than TWO HOURS!

This made me think about value--and what I value. And I'm pretty certain that I won't ever pay for a manicure again. (By the way, the pedi has been hidden inside socks and still looks great!)

However, there ARE things that I am willing to pay for--like everything we'll be doing this next week. Sometimes, I can see the confusion on faces when I tell them that we are going on a cruise. Without them saying anything, I can hear the questions in their mind--"What? Aren't you the girl who won't pay more than $10 for jeans? Don't you pack a sack lunch for your kindergartener every day because school lunches are too expensive? And haven't you been using just one purse for seven years because you don't want to spend any money to get a better-looking one?" My answer to those questions is, "Jeans wear out no matter what I pay. School lunch comes out the other end within a day just the same as a sack lunch. And the purse I have works just wonderfully, regardless of how it looks." Those things don't matter to me, and I don't see any lasting value in them. I also look at them as ways I can save money so that I can use my money for things that are actually important to me, like spending six days with just Tony, strengthening our relationship, seeing and experiencing things that we never have before, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. To me, this has VALUE.

So the next time I'm in a restaurant (eating out my allotted once a month), and the waitress asks me what I'd like to drink, I will answer, "Water," and then think about the money I just put toward our next vacation!

What I'm EXCITED about lately . . .

Well, for one, my little sisters won the 1A state track and field championship this weekend, and I was there to see it! Granted, the weekend could have been better--better weather, and fewer little girls in tow that don't yet have an appreciation for 3-day track meets--but I LOVED it! The picture above is my sister, Olivia, and my cousin, Celinda, after taking first (Celinda) and second in the 800m. Olivia also got 2nd in the pole vault, vaulting 8-6! And she got 3rd in the 300m hurdles. Tessa was awesome as well (sorry no picture of her), taking 3rd in the 3200, 4th in the 300m hurdles, and she was on the 4x800m relay team that took 2nd place. Going into the last event, the Cokeville girls were down by 2.5 points. They needed to score at least 3 points more than Guernsey to win the team title. Olivia and Tessa were both on that relay team and ran personal best split times on the way to winning the event. Guernsey took 3rd in the relay, giving Cokeville 4 more points in the event and making them the overall champions! It was so suspenseful, and that's why I'm so EXCITED!!



I'm also excited about getting started on our garden. We now have 11 raised beds filled with top soil and ready to be planted. If only it would quit snowing . . .

And FINALLY, I'm excited about this:



I'll be enjoying this in just one week. I can hardly WAIT!! I'm counting down starting NOW. (Okay, so I've been counting down for about two months, but who wouldn't!?)

A Tribute to 18-month-olds

As a mom, I have found myself saying, "Wow! This is such a fun phase," when referring to my child's current age and development. However, in the same day, I have found myself saying, "Wow! This is such a hard phase." Do you know what I mean? I'm sure you do, since in my 6+years of mothering, I haven't found a phase yet that isn't both fun AND difficult. This month, Mariah turned 18 months old, and WOW! THIS IS SUCH A FUN AND DIFFICULT PHASE!!!
As I think about Mariah right now, I am reminded of a story I once heard where every sentence began with either the word fortunately . . . or unfortunately . . . So I thought I would write my own "fortunately . . . unfortunately . . ." tribute to my 18-month-old.

Fortunately . . . your hair is growing so much lately!
Unfortunately . . . it means I have to do more than comb it.
Fortunately . . . you are starting to say words that I can understand!
Unfortunately . . . your favorite ones are "NO!" and "MINE!"
Fortunately . . . I can almost always count on you for 11 hours of sleep at night!
Unfortunately . . . you only take one daytime nap now, instead of two.
Fortunately . . . you've started actually playing things other than "tear the house apart!"
Unfortunately . . . when you do decided to make a mess, you are REALLY good at it.
Fortunately . . . I don't have to spoon feed you anymore since you can DO IT YOURSELF!
Unfortunately . . . when I WANT to spoon feed you (applesauce, for example), you are adament that you can DO IT YOURSELF!
Fortunately . . . you can entertain yourself outside for quite awhile while I'm doing yardwork!
Unfortunately . . . you still can't do it all day, but neither can your 4 and 6-year-old siblings, so I guess I won't get on you too much about that yet.
Fortunately . . . you give great hugs and kisses lately!
Unfortunately . . . you have also just learned how to hit.
Fortunately . . . you go to nursery now!!!
Unfortunately . . . I really miss you in relief society. (Okay, so that's a lie--I can't find ANYTHING unfortunate about nursery!)

Fortunately, I get to spend time with this adorable little 18-month-old every day!

Unfortunately, she won't be 18 months forever. But I suppose that's fortunate in a way, too. :)

A Tale of Two Dressers

I don't know the whole story behind this dresser. All I know is that I saved it from death about 10 years ago. The apartment I was moving out of had been a furnished apartment, and now it wasn't going to be. The owners were throwing out all the old furniture, and I asked them if they cared if I kept my dresser. It was instantly mine, the first piece of furniture (if you could call it that) that I owned. I used it the next year, and then after I got married, Tony and I used it. When we moved into our house, we got a new bedroom set, so the dresser became Connor's. It has done a wonderful job of housing his clothing for over four years now, but awhile back I started thinking it was time for it to retire. Although it has a lot of character (in the form of scratches, kid stickers, and a missing knob), I decided it had served its purpose and needed to be replaced. Being the frugal person that I am, I first thought I would just give it a new paint job, but upon further consideration, I decided that that wouldn't really be a very easy project. The dresser is made of some sort of ugly wood with some sort of "fake" wood grain wallpaper--I don't know how else to describe it--over the top. So when my mom said she needed to get rid of this beauty, I snatched it up.

Once again, I don't know the whole story behind this dresser. I do know that it was mine as a young child; the evidence of that is inside one drawer in the form of my name written in crayon by a much younger Taffy. I asked my mom and she said it was her grandmother's. So it's old as well. But it had much more potential than the other one. This dresser has seen many facelifts in its lifetime, and I decided to give it yet another. Here's the finished product:

(So you can't really see it very well in this blurry photo, but you get the idea.)

And here's a little knob detail. I bought a set of these retro sports knobs online for $20 with the shipping. It's a little more than I would have liked to spend, but I justified it pretty easily since the dresser was FREE and the paint was left over from painting his bunkbeds.

WHAT?!?

May 12.

Yuck!

(Can I just be on my cruise already?!?)

Today . . .

. . . I had some pioneer girls at my house. Aren't they cute?

And then this evening I witnessed this:
(When Connor is not at track practice, this is what he is doing; and yes, that is my living room couch. :)

JAM

Today we made strawberry jam. Yum! This is what we started with.

There was a lot of teamwork going on. "Mariah, hand me a strawberry." "Mariah, don't EAT it!"

"Good girl. Now I'll put it in the blender."

Stir, stir, stir.

"Ah . . . now I can eat one. I'm happy. Can you tell?"

The finished product. (This won't last long, I'm sure.)

Dinner and a Treat

If you're like me, you're always looking for simple dinner recipes that your kids will like. Here's my favorite!

1 campfire

1 family

hot dogs and condiments

chips

jello jigglers

marshmallows

fudge stripe cookies (for s'mores)

roasting sticks

campchairs for everybody (can substitute a rock or log)

This recipe guarantees fun family time, clothing and hair that smells like campfire, and HAPPY CHILDREN! Here's what it looks like:

And now a treat. I was treated to this yesterday morning.

For those of you who do not have little girls, I am deeply sorry.