a.rose

Lately, I just can't get enough of the simple joys in life. I can't get enough... coloring with Big Grandpa. ... babies snuggling with Big Grandpa. ... picnics with root beer and lemon cookies. (ants not pictured.) ... not worrying if my shoes match when I go to the library. (Ok, I'm not quite there yet, but my two year old is teaching me, and I really think there's hope.) Certainly, I can't get enough of how much she can do all by herself . ... being at the temple with family. ... my daughter, loving my mother. ...my daddy, snuggling my baby.  ... trying to take photos with bright sunshine, and a two year old playing hide and go seek. ... pigtails, mischievous smiles, and friends who are beautiful without photoshop. These are the simple joys that are filling my heart with happiness.  Take a look around your own life, and see what it is you can't get enough of.  Let me know what you find.

One of my good friends has this new crowd of friends that she runs with.  None of them have a job, they just hang out with their fancy cars and their Iphones and look at her funny when she has to go home early because she has a job. I told her that when they ask why she has to work to tell them it's because every time they flush her toilet, she pays for that.  (I can see that I am making her friends out to sound like they are irresponsible rapscalions, and I mean them no disrespect.  My friend is a cool gal, and I am sure her friends are top notch.  But I think she might dig it if I made her out to seem a like a little rebel.  I hope.) Because, what I hadn't fully realized about growing up is that you pay for what you use.  Everything you use.  I am learning that it is even more true when you own a home.  Let me explain about this flooding in our basement/backyard business. It all started back in December.  Lincoln was layered in a crisp ...

Imagine. It's Sunday evening.  Our day of rest.  I'm sitting at my kitchen table working on a birthday present for my sister.  A late evening dusk is falling, slowly and peacefully as it only does in the summer.  My babies are upstairs, all nestled snug in their beds, if you don't mind me borrowing that phrase.  A light rain is falling outside, as it has been for the past day and night.  My parents are visiting, my mom upstairs enjoying her Sabbath rest after a hard week of working in my and my sister's yard and playing with her grandbabies.  My father is watching me work on my sister's present and offering helpful advice.  My husband is itching to be making something in the kitchen.  We discuss some ideas, and settle on chocolate covered peanuts, and chocolate covered walnuts.  He gets out the ingredients. I need to let the paint dry on my project, so I get up to help.  Now I'm standing next to the stove, spatula in hand, stirr...

I was vacuuming my stairs tonight in preparation for an exciting guest that's coming in on the train tonight at midnight.  He leaves tomorrow at midnight. It's all very mysterious and wonderful. So, I'm vacuuming, and I'm thinking about a book I just read called The Help .  I'm thinking about those women and how they worked harder in one day cleaning houses than I have probably ever worked to clean a house.  My excuse is typically "I'm too hot."  Well, unfortunately for me, these tough women were cleaning homes in the South in the Summer without air conditioning... I have nothing left. So I'm cleaning because I have no excuses left and my mysterious visitor will be here in a few hours.  I'm  now vacuuming the stairs.  It occurs to me that we have lived here for three months and a few days and the stairs have been vacuumed twice.  Once by Devin, and once now today by ME. Is that gross, or totally normal?  How often do you vacuum your sta...

Sometimes I forget that it is a beautiful world.  Lately though, I've had a little help in remembering.  See, we have a backyard now. (Er, yes, I will be talking about my backyard again. )  And backyards in Nebraska, as in many places I'm sure, have grass.  I don't think grass grew this fast when I was a kid, but alas we can't stop the world from changing can we?  This all boils down to the fact that I get to spend a few hours every week going around and around my backyard.  Tedious work, but leaves the mind free as a bird to think, or not to think.  (Is that the question?  Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against*... don't worry, I won't go there. But, Mrs. Springman, I really do still have the whole thing memorized.  Is that sad, or awesome?) As I make my way across the lawn, I discover new things every time that I had never seen before in our yard.  Most of the tim...

Tonight for dinner we had your standard Americanized tacos.  Tortillas, seasoned ground beef, refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and salsa.  Pretty tasty.  Devin and I always finish up pretty well the tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese, but we are not big meat eaters and so even though we always cook our meat in small portions we have large amounts of meat leftover that we use in creative ways throughout the rest of the week.  We also always cook too many refried beans, but that's because Devin loves his refried beans.  Tonight we had them from scratch, and Devin said, "I'm glad these beans don't have too much flavor.  Now we can spice them however we want later, Indian, or Italian and that will be yummy." (Please understand that is not a direct quote. That is not how Devin talks. I do not remember exactly what he said, and this statement is an interpretation of what he said.  OK.) And me, being ever so witty as I am, said, "Yeah, we should spice th...

You know I can't resist it when I have a great (strange) dream.  It is a great and strange place, that murky land of dreams.  The one I had last night had three main components, each slightly or largely or mediumly horrific, in their own way.  I would have called it a nightmare, if it weren't that I was so well acquainted with real nightmares. The first component was that I was on the swim team with Hannah, and Abby, and that was the one small fun part of the dream.  The horrific part?  We had our swim meets wearing bikinis.  Now, this would have been horrible for me even in high school, but in the true fashion of dreams I still had my current body. My "had two babies" body.  My body that is completely webbed with beautiful stretch marks, in all different levels of fading.  Grotesque, you're thinking? I agree.  Horrific, I told you. The second component was that I had an ex-boyfriend in the dream.  He was on the men's swim team....

Remember when I said I must live in a cave? Or under a rock? Or on Mars, even though I'm a woman and clearly therefore should be from Venus if I am from another planet?  Well, I'm feeling that way again. What's the deal with Elmo?  When did he first hit the scene?  I don't remember him from my childhood, the first time I remember him is when the Tickle-Me's invaded.  At the time I thought, "sure, he's cute, he has a funny high pitched voice, what's not to like?" and moved on with my life.  When I was pregnant with Hanna, sometimes (read: every single morning) I didn't have much energy so Hallie and I started watching PBS.  Clifford, Curious George, SuperWhy, Hallie loved all those. But when Sesame Street came on more mornings than not she would walk over and turn the t.v. off and up I had to get.  Nonetheless, somehow, Elmo has still managed to creep into her (my) life.  She's addicted to him.  Elmo anything - she wants it.  What is hi...

Wow, hey, thanks for all your comments. While it is nice that we are all unique individuals, it is also reassuring to feel part of a common group, especially since I think some of my emotional stress currently is caused by loneliness.  So really, thanks. A lot of your comments brought up some other topics about which I meant to write.  I wrote that post a bit hastily and while I was slightly distracted so I didn't get to say everything I wanted to say. First of all, one of the things that make me feel extra horrible when I am acting this way is that I do have such a good life, and here I am messing it all up.  I know that I have a good family, nice home, and a comfortable, easy life.  It makes me feel like Minnie Driver's character in Return to Me when she says, "I feel like I shouldn't have days ."  That's me. I feel like I shouldn't have these days. But, I do. And apparently I'm not the only one, so again, thanks. My second thought I started t...

Something is happening to me, and I only know two things about it. 1. I have no idea what it is that is happening 2. I don't like it. What are the symptoms, you ask?  Here are a few. It's time to brush Hallie's teeth in the morning. I don't brush them. I start to think about cavities, and the look on the dental hygenist's face when she discovers the cavities.  Whose fault are those? Mine. Fail. Devin comes home from work. I haven't done the dishes again . Fail. I have people come over. I haven't swept the floor, picked up the toys, or done anything really to make it look nice. Fail. The scary part?  I don't really care.  Me! The person who still has nightmares about forgetting to to homework!  Failing is one of the biggest fears of my life... Sometimes I can bring myself to care again, when I think about how cavities hurt and it's not fair to Hallie if I make her go through that because I am lazy. So we go brush. And sometimes I can bring...

Here it is folks. This footage was taken on the last day of May.  I know, you're thinking I missed my calling in life by not being some sort of someone on t.v.  I just have a presence don't I? (muaha ha ha ha. I say that to cover how embarrassed I actually am. I forgot I was wearing sweatpants, and oh man. Just love me anyway, ok?) Also - I take none of the credit for how good this backyard looks, except maybe if you're thinking the grass looks nice. I claimed the job of mowing the lawn when we moved in and it is still my weekly chore.  But honestly, aside from that, everything else has just come up from what she planted last year. The only work I did (aside from mowing the lawn) is in the garden (where Devin worked long hours also).  Ok. Just wanted you to know. Please, enjoy.