Where to Start...

Do you ever sit down to blog and then just stare at the screen wondering where to start, or try to figure out what's "worthy" of mentioning? I don't want my posts to just be about how I struggle day to day trying to stay sane, or describing how much work my kids are, but honestly that's my life so I don't have a lot of material to draw from. I feel like I waste a lot of time trying to phrase things eloquently, and I do a lot of revising after words, so I'm just going to type things out as they come to my mind and hopefully it won't sound too jumbled.

Last week Gabe drove to California for his Grandpa Roberts funeral and I got to experience being a single parent for 4 days. I kept it simple, doing frozen pizza for dinner, cereal for snacks, neglecting house work and letting the kids stay up late. During this time I was also prepping for a yard sale I was doing with a neighbor, so our living room and garage were full of boxes so I could organize everything. I'm surprised my kids didn't ask me if we were moving. I of course stayed up way too late the night before the yard sale doing last minute things and then decided to bake cookies and brownies for the kids to sell. They are earning money so we can go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Texas. I did get everything done, but only got 2 hours of sleep, so the next day was an adventure. Gabe was still out of town, so I had to stay in our garage or in the kitchen with our garage door open so I'd be available to be cashier when people were ready to pay. It made nursing a little awkward and timing my bathroom breaks a little tricky. My kids survived mainly on cookies and brownies from the bake sale and Mason was running around the block in his pajamas and a soggy diaper for the first few hours. Our garage is still in mayhem, but our living room is almost back to normal.

Last Sunday I was asked to meet with the bishop after church, so I knew a new calling was most likely going to be extended to me. Either that or I was going to be asked not to bring my boys to church anymore because they were too much of a distraction (I wonder if that has ever happened before?) My bishop told me I had been requested to be a R.S. teacher and then tentatively asked if I thought I would be able to handle accepting the calling. I was very tempted to decline because honestly I don't have a lot of spare time and it will be difficult for me to make the time to prepare my lessons because I have to read over them 10-20 times in order to counter my nervousness and bad memory. I knew my bishop would understand if I declined, and I have plenty of good excuses to not accept, but I knew in my heart that I would be able to handle it. (Now I just have to figure out how).

In the meantime I have been struggling with a lot of back and shoulder pain from some of my ribs being out of place. My chiropractor asked me if I was nursing because that can put a lot of stress on your back and neck. I guess after 5 kids my body is having a hard time keeping up. I know if I started exercising again it would help, but that is something all of us women "know" but knowing and doing are two very different things. Right now sleep is more of a priority because if I don't exercise before my kids wake up, then I never get around to it. I always start my day with good intentions, I'll stay in my pajamas and I'll keep putting off taking a shower because I tell myself I'll get the chance at some point... 2 days later I still haven't exercised and I'm past due for a shower : ) Embarrassing as that is, I know I'm not the only one.

One-On-One With Gage

It was a little tricky holding a baby and a camera at the same time, but I didn't drop either one, so I don't think I did too bad.