My boring life...

My Boring Life

Laren and I are going out to dinner with some friends tonight. I'm looking forward to chatting with them but not to all the high fat food. I hear it's super good tasting food though. After those cinnamon rolls and Halloween Candy, I'm afraid to step on the scale.

Laren and I had game night with the kids last night for an hour, it was actually lots of fun!! Then we had Kayla babysit while we ran to Dollar Tree and Kohls. My birthday is coming up and he is panicked that he has nothing to give me for that, yet he doesn't like to shop to find me something. We found me a cute shirt at Kohls. What I really need is a purse.

My purse.

Those 2 front pockets house some very important things, one is my cell phone and the other is my receipt pocket. I keep receipts in there for about 3 weeks at a time before I purge them.

My purse is falling apart. But it was a cheapy when we bought it a few years ago. Laren wanted me to get something nicer at the time but I liked this particular purse and looked forward to something different than what I had.

The lining is literally falling out of my purse.

I figured if it fell apart sooner than later I'd just get a new purse sooner. But I didn't realize what a pain it is to find a decent purse! I mean it has to be functional as well as look nice, be the right color and it is not supposed to serve just me but the entire family since they all expect me to house their belongings in there too!

Good purses are hard to find. My last few purses have been the Rosetti brand and I tend to prefer their purses. I see many cute purses around and I think they look great, but they are really not functional. At least they are not funtional for a Mom of 5 kids!

One of my friends has a super cute pink Kate Spade knock off that she got at a purse party when her youngest grew out of the baby stage and she no longer needed to carry a diaper bag.

I love purses/bags and could so go for a cute purse, just for special occasions. But, I need a practical purse first!!

Editing to add: We are back from Dinner with our friends. We went to Famous Daves Barbecue, it was really good. I tasted Laren's "meat selections" and I had a salad with the dressing on the side. It was really a lot of fun. We gabbed the whole time with our friends. Laren told me afterward that he had a migraine and it was all he could do to sit there.

We ran to Walmart to get some dishwasher detergent and curtain rods for some curtains we bought for our bedroom and he ended up losing his lunch so to speak in the parking lot. He is starting to have these migraines more and more. I have heard there are some good prescriptions to help with that, I need to have him go into the doctor because this is awful. We came home and he went straight to bed.

From the Smile File

Pictures from the Smile File

Rilyn with some of her new bracelet supplies.

Rilyn showing off one of the bracelets she made herself!! She was so ecstatic to do this!

A photo of Grandma's visit earlier in the week.

The yummiest Cinnamon Rolls I've ever eaten! Seriously, and to think I made them? That is unusual!! Thanks, Pioneer Woman for the recipe!!

A shot of the dwindling food at the "Mom's Morning" this morning.


Because they were SO good, I had to post this recipe. Be forewarned, it is very fattening!! Oh YUM, these are seriously da BOMB!!! Kathy and Kallie (my sisters) and Mom, wish you guys were here to share these with, I know you guys share my love of Cinnamon Rolls!

Cinnamon Rolls from the Pioneer Woman
(Thanks for the suggestion, Kelly!)

Mix 1 quart of whole milk, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 cup of sugar in a pan. "Scald" the mixture. Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in 2 packages Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for about 15 minutes.

Then add 8 cups of all purpose flour.

Stir mixture together. Cover and let sit for at least an hour. Then add 1 more cup of flour, 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder and 1 scant teaspoon baking soda and 1 heaping tablespoon of salt.

Stir mixture together. At this point, you could cover the dough and put it nin the fridge until you need it (overnight or even a day or two, if necessary.

Sprinkle surface generously with flour. take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, manintaining a general rectangular shape.

Now drizzle 1 1/2 - 2 cups melted butter over the dough.

Next sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter, followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Roll the dough in a neat line width-wise. Spray pan you intend to put the cinnamon rolls in. Then begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the pans. Repeat this process with the other half of dough. This recipe makes 50 + cinnamon rolls.

Let the rolls sit for 20-30 minutes to rise, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.


Maple Frosting

While the rolls are in the oven, make the deliciously sinful maple frosting.

To a mixing bowl, add 1 bag of powdered sugar. To this, add about 2 teaspoons maple flavoring, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup milk (the pioneer woman uses brewed coffee instead of milk for this part). Also add 1/8 teaspoon salt.

The mixture should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed.

Generously drizzle frosting over warm rolls after you pull them out of the oven.

Mom's Morning

On Friday I'm hosting a "Mom's Morning." I'm inviting 15 Mom's over to chat and have cinnamon rolls and fruit. Now, I've got to get a great cinnamon roll recipe (tried and true hopefully) and buy the fruit and juice.









I will have toys and a kids movie on in the basement for the kiddo's. Hopefully it will be a fun morning and not too crazy for me. Now that I got my busy month of October out of the way, I'm excited to have some fun for November and the coming months!



This will be kind of a trial run for a Girls' Night Out for the Mom's that I hope to host in a few more weeks. Maybe I'm crazy?

Tired

Daylight Savings Time just ended for the year (and I will miss it), I just got an extra hour of sleep over the weekend but I'm so tired!!

My Mother-in-law came to visit for a few days and we had a great time, but boy late nights up talking and early mornings don't mix even if you do get an extra hour of sleep!!

Yesterday we drove my MIL around to look at some homes with acreage. She is thinking she and her husband will move here to Colorado to be closer to her grandchildren. We are SO excited!! We hope it all works out!!

Grandma leading the horse while my kids each take a turn getting a ride!

I cannot express how wonderful it is for my kids to have a Grandma who plays with them, reads to them and engages in conversation with them!! She is already talking about how fun it will be to have the kids come for the weekend to ride horses and play with her 3 dogs.

I just hope it all works out!

Good, Better, Best

One of my goals...

I hope that I can make a memorable childhood for my children, one filled with good memories. I loved the following story shared by Elder Oaks in his Good, Better, Best talk from General Conference.

In choosing how we spend time as a family, we should be careful not to exhaust our available time on things that are merely good and leave little time for that which is better or best. A friend took his young family on a series of summer vacation trips, including visits to memorable historic sites. At the end of the summer he asked his teenage son which of these good summer activities he enjoyed most.

The father learned from the reply, and so did those he told of it. "The thing I liked best this summer," the boy replied, "was the night you and I laid on the lawn and looked at the stars and talked." Super family activities may be good for children, but they are not always better than one-on-one time with a loving parent.

Using my time for the things that are best is one of my biggest challenges as a Mother. There is so much to do, cooking, cleaning, errands, helping in the school, etc... But I'm trying to remember the most important thing is time with my children.

Just me and Rilyn

Just Me and Rilyn...

Rilyn really, really wants to make her own bracelet

Well, she wants to do it just me and her. I told her I would just buy her one and she said no that she really wanted to make one for herself with me. So when I went online to look at beads - I did not realize you had to buy a huge string of beads to make one little bracelet -- and she wanted mulitiple colors on one of them, which meant I had to buy 6 different strings of beads to make one bracelet.

>


So I contacted Kris at this website and she is sending us a couple of bracelet kits at a very reasonable price so Rilyn and I can have some fun Mommy and Me time making exactly what Rilyn wanted!!

She will sell kits to others as well. So get over there and get yourself a fun project for you and your daughter and you will have memories for a lifetime!!

Thanks Kris for helping to make Rilyn's wish come true!!

Invisible Moms

A friend gave me this, and I thought it was wonderful enough to share.

'Invisible' Moms....

It started to happen gradually.


One day I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, 'Who is that with you, young fella?'

'Nobody,' he shrugged.

Nobody? The crossing guard and I laughed. My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street I thought, 'Oh my goodness, nobody?'

I would walk into a room and no one would notice. I would say something to my family - like 'Turn the TV down, please' - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, 'Would someone turn the TV down?' Nothing.

Just the other night my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, 'I'm ready to go when you are.' He just kept right on talking.

That's when I started to put all the pieces together. I don't think he can see me. I don't think anyone can see me.

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She's going... she's going... she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as today that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.'

That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” I Corinthians 3:16

I posted yesterday below, all about our Halloween in case you missed it.