TTA- Women's Day

Who has been the most influential woman in your life, and why?Sunday was International Womens Day which is something that been around since 1911. Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. In some countries it's a national holiday. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. So, basically a day to celebrate the awesomeness of women:).

This one is probably a Major DUH!
Yesterday I was dealing with some discipline issues with my 4.5 year old. My mother happened to be on chat. She mentioned something from my own childhood that I could totally understand now, having been on both sides of the situation. Not only did I learn a lot from my own mother, but her influence continues and I feel very blessed that not only was she a firm influence for good, but has also been a very dear friend. Who's mother wasn't the most influential woman in their life? (for good or bad?) Motherhood is such a huge blessing, responsibility and joy, as such we have the capacity and outreach to touch so many lives and experience so much joy. I find it interesting that so many woman think they are oppressed. I have to laugh. Now there are ways that in the past women were, sure there are some things that maybe aren't "fair" but do I want everything to be "fair?" No, I honestly don't. I want to be a woman, honored, respected, and privileged, because the traditional idea encompassed that.

TTA-5 Words

What 5 Words Matter Most To You, and Why?

This week is National 'Words Matter' week, in case you didn't know:). Pick five words that matter the most to you and share why they do.

Home: Because where ever we are together is home. Residences have changed
over the years and probably will continue to, but Home is us. Home is a feeling,
home is the people that make it so.
Love: Because none of us can live without it.
Friendship: Comes in so many forms and crops up in the strangest places. I am
so grateful for it and the joy that it brings me daily.
Choices: Allow me to grow and learn and experience this life. They help me
see that so much of my joy is dependent on choosing it.
Family: It is a cup that holds the other four words.

Tuesday Tell all -School Days

A School memory.

hmm Here's a good and a bad.

I remember second grade my teacher was super ornery. I don't know why she was still teaching. I remember she totally railed into a kid in my class and it totally freaked us all out. It was the beginning of the school year, not a good way to start the year. I know a bunch of kids started crying even though they weren't the one being yelled at. She did it in front of the whole class. It was horrible.

In third grade I had a great teacher. I also had a crush. The coolest part of it was that he had a crush on me too. It was all pretty cute, he'd give me gum and little gifties and we'd sit together when we could. I remember the last day of school we were outside to take a picture (the building was being torn down that summer) and just before the picture was taken he stood up and asked the teacher if he could sit by me. Can I tell you how special I felt?

Tuesday Tell All-Back to school

This year Olea starts a neighborhood preschool. 5 kids. 5 moms and we all take turns teaching for the week. Olea is very excited for "friends preschool."

Growing up we didn't really have the big deal over buying school clothes because we didn't really have a lot of excess for frilly new clothes we got what we needed and made do. I don't remember feeling all that deprived but I know sometimes I wished I had a week's worth of new outfits rather than just one or two days. I know I generally didn't wear something new the first day. I figured everyone would be so concerned with their new clothes they wouldn't notice if I had new ones or not. I was generally right. School was just the end of the summer. What I liked the most was new mechanical pencils and a binder full of clean paper. I love office supplies, good thing I get such a kick out of them because that was the new things I got in highest quantity. :)

Olea starts "friends preschool" next week.

Tuesday Tell All-Summer Blockbusters

I don't typically see movies in the theater. It costs too much... just as it is, and then having to find a babysitter so I can drive 30 mins to a theater. We rent. So this summer I haven't seen hardly any movies because we have been consumed in the evenings finishing our basement. So what joy when now that we are finished Redbox is doing it's Monday and Wednesday free movie codes. So we've rented Spiderwick, because I read that this summer, I was so shocked they are such bitty books. The movie was quite different from the book but they did what they could for the format I guess. We just rented Dan in Real Life. I don't know who's opinion it was but they didn't like it much. I thought it was great. There were some woven values that I appreciated (like no sharing a bedroom till married). It was a cute love story and other things. I liked it. Gary and I are really looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight. We hope to actually see that one in the theater. Gary wanted to see the indiana Jones one in the theater but it didn't happen. We'll just have to rent it.

Tuesday Tell All - Olympic Spirit

Am I competitive?
I didn't think so... but I am learning that I can be, as long as it is not confrontational competition. I ran track in high school the other runners were my competition but it was an inner competition and they were just there to show me where I was at. I compete against myself and my own expectations.

If I was in the olympics...
(HA!) I would compete in the 100 or 200 meter dash. I know I was good at it in HS. I think now without a tumor to stop me... and training, I could do decently.

Tuesday Tell All - Shaping Up

I started walking with my neighbor at her invitation, it lasted a week. Well with her, she has since broken her foot and so I have been on my own since that first week. It's been over a month but I'm sticking to it and proud of it. When I go alone I like it when Olea rides her scooter rather than choosing to ride in the stroller because I have to keep up a good pace or run to keep up with her which means I am getting my heart rate up. Otherwise walking on your own keeping up a pace is hard I think. I used to do track in high school so I feel like a looser now because just walking is a big achievement. :) I have some excuses though, which I think are pretty good. I have asthma which was only partly to blame for my drop off in exercise. When we found out the real reason in 2005 and had my thyroid removed I was suddenly able to manage my asthma like a real asthmatic, the large tumors on my thyroid were blocking my airway thus making it hard to breath, swallow etc. No amount of medicine seemed to be doing the trick, becuase it just wasn't making it past the tumor. But by then I hadn't done regular heart rate exercise for 4 years. (I'd done weight training, which is super fun and I love but not the same). It's taken a lot of will power for me with two kids to figure out a time to go and stick with it esp. when I have to convince my 4 year old that this is something we HAVE to do. So now I am working on building up my endurance which everyone kept telling me I needed to do before the tumor was removed and they all though I was just being a wuss because it just got worse and worse as the tumor got larger and larger. I'm no wuss. (I could go off on a tirade her about how super I am, but I'll save you all). Ah the kind of track star I could have been had I not had a huge tumor blocking my air way. Alas. ;) And when the basement is done and we move the weight set back inside we can begin that again too.

Tuesday Tell All: Taste

this is a biased post
This last weekend my parents were down for Olea's birthday and my mom left some Sauerkraut soup for us. For those who don't know, my father is German. I grew up with all sorts of fantastic things to try. I have been craving the soup and of course only have store bought sauerkraut to make it with (my dad made it growing up) so it just can't be as good, plus I didn't have the recipe so she came at just the right time bearing just the right gift... for me. :) Generally I wouldn't think this up as being my favorite taste, I'd probably put peanut butter, margarine, lemon pepper, or wheat bread. (go ahead, laugh your taste-buds off), but since I was totally craving it to the point where I went and bought all the ingredients I could remember and hoped to get the recipe... still waiting.
When I do get the recipe I will post it for all those adventurous peoples out there. It's good, I promise ( I can hear you repeating my peanut butter, margarine, lemon pepper, or wheat bread list and shaking your head, yes I can hear this well, wait that's a lie... I can't hear that well, but in my imagination I can; so watch out).

I don't have a picture, because I scarfed the stuff so fast... but you can imagine a kraut colored soup, with polish sausage slices, dill, potatoes. ok you probably can't imagine. It tastes good. the end.

Tuesday Tell All: Smell

I think my favorite smell is the smell of fresh baked wheat bread. This was a weekly if not twice week smell in the home I grew up in. I have since continued the tradition of baking bread. I lapsed for a while after we got married and I was doing the mixing and kneading by hand since my carpal tunnel acted up, but then we got my beloved Bosch Mixer. I had a Kitchen Aid but it just didn't cut it. I love the smell, I love the taste and it goes with any meal. I love wheat bread. In fact I have been more sleepy than hungry lately due to staying up late helping Gary do the mudding on the basement and so I have not baked bread. We have been out for a week and I am severely missing it. Olea likes to help too. Olea helps Oma knead some dough.
Here is a visual of a batch Olea helped me put faces on. We do this on occasion. This one is Olea and Daddy breads. This is not a proud batch, it's kinda lopsided but I didn't knead it like I usually do. But it tasted just fine and it's cute.

Tuesday Tell All: Sound

here is a clip

Zurich has just barely passed up mamam and moved to baba and yaya but I still love t0 hear mamama.

Tuesday Tell All: Sight (summer memories)

I used to spend all summer with my siblings. I had friends but my siblings were always available. The picture is of my daughter and her cousin. They are adoring a rock and wearing "Hanna Montana" hair things, matching shoes and princess dresses. As I watched them play together I remembered that my sister and I played together we were close in age but as I look back we weren't close in friendship. We got along and I love her dearly but we are just different. Olea and her cousin fight but play together as well. My sister and I didn't fight I just am not confrontational. This image brought back lots of memories of my sister or siblings and I playing in the ditch as kids, quiet moments of discovery and wild activity, having kitty races and letting our crayons melt in the sun. We used to hunt for jewels in the ditch, which I later found out were colored aquarium rocks, did I believe they were jewels or did we just pretend, I don't know, but they were treasures we collected in a glass baby food bottle.

Tuesday Tell All: Graduation

I'll talk about my college graduation, cause that's most recent. I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. My associates degree is from BYU-Idaho it is technically a degree in Science because they weren't giving associates degrees in Graphic Design at the time. Though that's a more accurate description of my degree. I missed the festivities of my Associates degree Graduation because I was getting married to Gary. I graduated in August 2005 after taking a semester off for having our little Olea and not taking a semester off after having a major surgery. Somehow with my memory and such impaired by a total thyroidectomy I managed to pass Statistics and my other courses in time to graduate and walk with Gary (who graduated in April). Gary's parents came down and my mom and little brother. Right after graduation we got down to business to move from the armpit that is Provo to Orem. We were pretty serious about getting out of Provo as soon as we were graduated. We moved to a nice duplex that we really enjoyed. Those who could stuck around and helped us move. My sister watched kids while Gary's parents helped us move stuff in. We lived there till last year when we bought our house. It was a busy day but we got all that we wanted accomplished. We were finally free of BYU. :) For all of you out there who LOVE BYU, good for you. We just don't so much. Looking at these pictures, Gosh, I was skinny after that surgery.

Tuesday Tell All: One Word

Answer the following with only one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? ..backpack..
2. Your significant other?.....Gary..................
3. Your hair?.....blonde...............................
4. Your mother? .....sweet............................
5. Your father?........German..........................
6. Your favorite thing?............imagination..............
7. Your dream last night?....horrible....................
8. Your favorite drink......water.....................
9. Your dream/goal?.....design.........................
10. The room you're in?.....mine....................
11. Your children?.........beautiful...........................
12. Your fear?..........inability.........................
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years....there.......
14. Where were you last night?.....hospital..............
15. What you're not?.....man........................
16. Muffins........poppyseed..............................
17. One of your wish list items?......laptop...........
18. Where you grew up?.........smithfield..................
20. What are you wearing?.........jammies...............
21. Your TV?..................nothing...................
22. Your pets?.............stuffed......................
23. Your computer? .........dying.....................
24. Your life?...........is........................
25. Your mood?.............blessed......................
26. Missing someone?.........Olea....................
27. Your car?............great........................
28. Something you're not wearing?........earrings........
29. Favorite Store?..........JoAnns....................
30. Your summer?............open.....................
31. Like someone?...............love.................
32. Your favorite color?.........perriwinkle................
33. Last time you laughed..........today..............
34. Last time you cried?.........Friday................