Christmas and Some Other Things

First up, Christmas was very nice. We ran all over Tacoma and Seattle and I was exhausted but it was a really good day. You know, besides the ridiculous amount of presents we got; by the time we got home there were literally toys crammed into our van, falling out when the door opened. It was insane. Don't get me wrong, of course I appreciate it and of course my kids loved it, but no one needs that much crap. And I don't want to have to find a place for it all and the clean up was crazy. So I hope your Christmas was as lovely as mine. Just less crap filled.

So now that I've updated on Christmas, I can blog about what I really want to blog about. And that is: nothing. I have about four ideas I've been working up in my mind but the thing is I am SO freaking TIRED I can't properly formulate them. I would like to know when the night will come that I am not woken up by a screaming child wanting me to hold them, or nurse them or rub their back...EVERY night. I'm also not very smart, because I haven't been going to sleep until like 1am most nights. I just don't get why I'm so tired...

Also I just wanted to throw out here that I hate those blogs that you have to click a "read more" button to actually read the whole post. Do you know what I'm talking about? It is SO ANNOYING. Why yes, I did come here to actually read the posts. So why do I need to keep clicking this stupid button to open up the whole thing? Then if I missed a post, I have to read the first one, click back to read then next one, click "read more" to read THAT one--when all I should have to do is scroll down. Dumb.

Hey guess what? My 8 month old is pretty much walking! Isn't that crazy?! It is so cute to watch his little legs carry him across the floor. Gosh I love him.

Also, I'll be back in a day or two for my wrap up of my favorite things of 2010!! Are you STOKED?! You should be. You should be.

Merry Christmas!

So this past week has been cuh-razy! Just lots of little things to finish up and get done, but I'm very happy to say that I'm at a good place. As in, pretty much done! I just have a few more presents to wrap, and a couple of handmade things to put finishing touches on. I feel good. :)

Plus, my house is pretty clean! I KNOW--its a Christmas miracle!! I was feeling so happy last night because I wrapped most of the presents, cleaned my house, got everyone to bed and even had a little time to mess around with some photography! It was heavenly.

Here's some of the stuff I did:

Those are Christmas lights, and I was figuring out how to change the shape of them from plain circles to whatever I wanted (like stars and hearts), get it? It actually wasn't too hard and although they're not exactly right, it was still fun to try and get some good results.

Update: I guess I should clarify, I didn't do the shapes in photoshop, I cut the shape I wanted (star and heart) out of a piece of black paper and put it over my lense, that changes the shape of the lights. Also, my cousin's hair turned out beautifully (if I do say so meself!), the lesson was good too! So all in all, I really have nothing to complain about, how weird! ;) Here's a picture of my cousin, sorry you can't really see her hair, I wasn't in the right mind set to think of taking a picture! (okay, stole some off of Facebook)

And this is what I looked like for the wedding, kind of fun to get dressed up! :)

Now on to the next couple days of fun and craziness! I hope you guys all have a great and amazing Christmas! Wishing you safe travels and no family fighting! ;)

Randomocity

I'm feeling better. Not completely Christmas-y but not so dark and gloomy and scary. So thats good!

I went shopping with my mom earlier and it was so nice to talk with her and get out some of my feelings, of course she has awesome advice and even some advice I think is dumb (mostly that she thinks I should wake up earlier, silly woman!) but she's one of the best people I know, so listening to her makes sense. (Except for the getting up earlier. That makes NO SENSE AT ALL.)

I have a busy weekend ahead of me. My cousin is getting married. I'm doing her hair, helping set up the reception, taking some bridal shots, and making like 500 asparagus roll ups. Pray for me that her hair turns out gorgeous.

I bought some of the Pepperidge Farms knock off Tim Tams. Pray for me that they're amazing. I'm going to need them.

I bought this potpourri spray that is really cinnamon-y and smells so good. I sprayed it on everything I could think of. Now its a little TOO smelly in here and I have a potpourri hangover.

Maybe I'm heartless but I didn't get that much out of Toy Story 3. I mean, I thought it was cute but honestly? They ARE just toys aren't they? I mean, is there supposed to be some sort of message about taking care of your toys? "Play with your toys kids or else they'll be sad!" or "If you accidentally lose one of your toys, they'll take over a daycare and make other toys miserable!!" I thought it was a little dramatic. Sorry.

I'm teaching Relief Society on Sunday, its about the sacrament. I wish I could just play this for them. I LOOOVE John Bytheway. Seriously. (By the way--OH MAN I'M soooo FUNNY!!--I saw him give this same talk live myself!--NO REALLY THOUGH, DID YOU GET IT??!!?--)

And I will stop here for tonight. Goodnight.

Bah Humbug

Honestly, after this last Christmas and the way things are going this year, I am not really loving Christmas time so much.

When I was younger, Christmas was magical. I mean seriously, it was magical. I loved it and I loved everything about it. The traditions my mom did, the smells, the weather...I loved it all. When we were in Utah, I still loved Christmas. We got to do Christmas our own way and I liked it. Sure Christmas is always stressful, there's decorating and shopping and wrapping and EVERYTHING, but I could do it how I wanted and it was still fun.

Now? It just doesn't feel like Christmas! The weather has been awful. Just rain and rain and RAAAAIIIIIINNN and gray and ugly. But not very cold, and not snowy. I miss the snow.

I feel all this pressure from certain family members who put an emphasis on the presents and Santa, and I hate it. Not just because we don't have money to buy a bunch of presents, but because we've never made a big deal about it and our kids have never cared...until now. We've never pushed the Santa thing, I mean, of course they know about Santa and watch the movies and all that, but we don't push a big "Santa's who brings all your presents!! Be good because Santa's watching!!' thing. I don't remember ever learning that Santa wasn't real, I just always knew and I never had a huge disappointing memory of finding out. I would've liked that for my kids, but its not working out. Also, I would REALLY rather focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas and thats the birth of the Savior. Not Santa Claus.

Enough ranting. The point is, because I feel like the focus is in the wrong place, I get all huffy and sad and upset and bah humbug-y and I can't even feel good anymore. And whiney a little...not that you guys didn't know that about me already. The whiney thing.

I'm trying, I really am. I usually love Christmas music and movies and I haven't even felt like they've made much of a dent. Plus why is time going SO FAST?! Its like December just started yesterday, and now its already the freaking 14th!? I have tons of presents to finish up and things to figure out still. So, how are you doing on Christmas this year?

Food for Thought

Every year my family and I write what we like to call "Memory Letters." We pick a new theme each year and write a memory about it, for example we've done: cousins, best vacation, favorite Christmas, most embarrassing moment, etc. This year we picked:

Food: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I finally wrote mine and thought I'd share it with you, mostly because I already wrote stuff today and I didn't want to come up with MORE stuff out of my brain for a blog post. Sorry, but I'm fairly lazy and I'm tired. So here it is:

Food and I have always had a rough relationship. From the very beginning, there's been problems. From the projectile vomiting that had my mom changing two or three outfits each Sunday, to long hours sitting at our kitchen table next to a plate full of food I refused to eat, we just haven't always gotten along.

On a pleasant note we'll start with the good then. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of "food" and "good" together, is when I was pregnant with Bethany. It was before we even found out we were expecting and were at Dave's parents for dinner. Steak dinner. I had never before nor have I since ever had a steak taste SO DELICIOUS. I remember finishing my own, then moving on to the nieces and nephews plates next to me that didn't finish, then sucking the fat on the plate. It was just so good! I also could tell you about every candy, cookie, sweet thing I've ever loved but I suppose that goes without saying. Also I've always loved cheesecake. My mom used to make me one for my birthday every year…why don't you do that anymore Mom?!

The bad huh? I'm sorry Mom, but I have to say the worst thing I've ever had is Sweet and Sour Meatballs. When I was younger, I made it very clear to my mom (and most my siblings did too) that I did NOT like sweet and sour meatballs--at ALL. But I think my dad did, or maybe just my mom, because she kept making them and I kept having to gag my way through them. I remember one particular day we had them for dinner and I refused to eat them. I sat and groaned and whined for what seemed a very long time, until my mom informed me that she was going to the church for something (can't remember what now?) and if I didn't eat my meatballs I couldn't go with her. I hum-hawed until the last second. No really, the LAST second possible. As she pulled out of the driveway there I was running after her, meatballs shoved in my mouth, gagging and crying and begging her to take me too. Very dramatic, as is my style.

You really want to hear the ugly? Well, as ugly entails I've had some ugly experiences with food as well. Mostly, many episodes of eating something and the ugliness of seeing it come back up again. After barfing up many things you become a kind of expert on whats easier to throw up and whats worse. Ice cream, not so bad. Wendy's fries, surprisingly not that different as when they go down. Mexican, VERY bad. When I was pregnant with Bethany, David and I and my parents went to the temple, I had a horrible headache that was making me feel pretty nauseous. While we were in the temple, the headache was gone, but when we came out it slowly started up again. We decided to go out to eat at a little Mexican restaurant. The headache was so bad during dinner I could hardly eat anything, just a little bit of the rice and some refried beans. By the time we got out to the car, I was not doing well. I sat in our brand new car of one week and started vomiting into my skirt, it was a sort of bowl to catch every thing. I don't know how I threw up so much since I'd hardly eaten anything, but boy did that burn and somehow it tasted like soap. It was probably the worst thing I've ever thrown up, and thats saying something.

Also, I can't eat fruit. It makes my throat swell shut. So I think food hates me too. Hopefully in the future we can mend our ways and learn how to play nice. I'm trying to do my part, but man that food is stubborn! We'll see if we can ever reconcile our differences but in the mean time I'm going to eat this chocolate over here…
Love, Melinda

Whats the good, bad and ugly you've had with food?

Also I Want A Snack, Just So You Know

Its that time again. The time where I talk about Facebook.

For the most part when I blog about Facebook its because something really weird has happened on Facebook because I mentioned something on my blog. For example, this and this.

But this time I'm just flat out complaining. (I know, so original for me huh.)

Why oh why oh WHHHYYYYY do some people have to make every single status update something political?! Ugh!! I don't want to hear your political garbage every five seconds!

Also NO MORE CHURCH QUOTES!

Wait a minute---this is feeling repetitive...have I blogged this before?! Why yes! Yes I have!

Guess what? ITS STILL ANNOYING PEOPLE!!

(Also, I KNOW you can hide people's posts, I just wish I didn't HAVE to do that because people don't get that NO ONE CARES.)

Okay then, here's a new one for you guys: in the last couple weeks I've seen at least three different instances of someone ripping another person apart on Facebook. Like for instance, one person was across the country at her mom's helping her after a surgery, her little brother was up late playing his drums. She couldn't sleep and it was waking up her baby. While I would be TOTALLY annoyed by this, I personally would've just gotten up and told him to shut it. She wrote it on FACEBOOK and said she hoped he read it. And I thought I had problems with confrontation. Yeesh. The other day a friend of mine was mad at her brother for not replacing the milk after he'd drank the last of it. And they had a full on back and forth war in comments. Really people? And yes, she's married. One of the other ones just ripped a lady in her ward apart for something she didn't like and the support she got was shocking. The hate, the anger, the swear words...

I think the lesson to learn here is that Facebook is a powerful thing and we need to use our powers for good, not for Facebook fighting.

I just save that stuff for here, on my blog. Because I am waaaaay more mature than THOSE people. Obviously.

ALSO: if I hear one more person say something about "so much for global warming" I'm going to explode!!

Okay, I feel better now. What do you think people do thats totally dumb? You know, besides harp on people for no real reason.