Words of Wisdom---Wisdom that I need everyday

I have to thank Kendra for her words of wisdom passed on by her experience as a stay-at-home mom. I have looked at this site a couple of times and have taken some info from them to make my day a little bit easier. Now it is an everyday e-mail and personal quest of mine. Here is a letter that I recieved in my e-mail from Kelly with the FLYladies (FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself for those of you who don't know).
Here it is:

"Dear Friends:

Recently I was having a conversation with a very dear friend about need versus having enough. How many times do you hear yourself say I need this and I need that? When is it enough for you?

This is not just about the tangible things in our lives either, it is about our homes, money and our relationships with others. How will you know when you have enough? Having enough does not mean being full and it does not mean that you are settling for something. It means being able to recognize that you truly do have enough.

Knowing that you have enough does not mean that things aren't hard. Life can bring difficult moments and times, but being able to know that in the end you do have enough is a very powerful thing.

When you are constantly worried about having a bigger house, a better car, being able to go out to dinner more, taking better vacations, needing this or needing that, you are never going to feel fulfilled, you are always going to be left feeling empty.

There are times and situations that get us thinking we NEED things, or feeling like we need to buy things to fill us up or make us happy that we find ourselves in debt. Not just financial debt, but emotional debt. The guilt and shame of overspending on things that we think we need but in reality we are trying to make ourselves feel full. In addition when we are buying things to fill ourselves, we are usually buying the very things that we toss out in 27 flings or the Super Fling Boogie.

It has taken years for me to figure out that I have enough. What I have in my life is plenty. This does not mean that I would not like to have some "things" but it means that I can view them as things that I would like to have NOT "need". I have enough. I am willing to bet that most of you have enough as well, you just haven't learned to view it this way. Instead of constantly feeling as though you NEED, remind yourself that you have enough. When you start to hear yourself using the the words "I need..." take a moment to see if you can say "I have enough" Save the "I need...." for the things you REALLY need. Transfer "I Need" to "I would like to have". Treats become treats and not something that you are trying to use to fill up when you are feeling empty.

Give yourself the opportunity to let go of all things that are weighing you down and keeping you from seeing all that you have. We surround ourselves with all the things that we thought we needed and now are just embarrassed and overwhelmed by the stuff that is just taking over our lives. Use this Super Fling Boogie to give yourself a break from the guilt of holding onto things that you used to define yourself or hide behind. You will be amazed at how free and full you will feel by blessing others with your excess and getting the clutter that is not worth having out of your homes. You can do this - we believe in you and know that you are worth the work. Those BabySteps will have you FLYing and soaring above the clouds!

Part of Finally Loving Yourself is knowing that you truly do have enough. Are you ready to FLY?

Love,
Kelly"

Boy what can I say, how many of us live/work/think this way. I have to love FLYlady.net and Kendra for bringing it to my attention again.

Finally out of my funk

Yeah, even though it was 3 degrees this morning when Dean left for work, I am finally out of this funk that I have been in.

Let me see the funk includes:

1. Being sick for almost 3 months straight. (It actually started as an upper chest cold, got better for 3 days, then went into this sinus thing for 3 1/2 weeks) Not fun!!!

2. Holidays: Actually I really like the holidays, but this year it was a little off. I haven't even got my Christmas cards out ( They have become the "Welcome to 2009, Happy Inauguration, and Happy Valentines Day Card") how pathetic, but I guess this is a lesson for next year.

3. Daylight: What can I say, daylight is a great thing for the soul, it has become lighter much later in the day now. Last night we noticed it was light after 5:00 P.M., what a difference that makes when we were having daylight only until 3:30PM or so. Just makes a person feel good.

4. Diet: O.K., so the only person to blame on this one is myself (oh, and all those people who made oh, so yummy holiday treats). All right I'll blame myself, it is will power after all. Not what everyone else puts right in front of your face.

5. Unorganization: This is a long one. We have so much stuff, but no place to put it, until now. I have to thank my husband on this one. He took vacation 2 weeks ago and we decided to tackle it head on and we are living much happier these days. We could not take the clutter anymore. For all of you who have been to our house we have got a long hallway which includes our laundry/mud room from out of the garage. It was becoming a cluttered catch all with NO organization what-so-ever. We decided to change that with closet-maid shelves, a new cabinet base and counter top. We now have a huge area to fold laundry (hang it too, while folding), and put all of that stuff that did not belong in the bedrooms/kitchen/bathrooms/hallway floor, or garage where you cannot find it. We also put up 8 shelves throughout the house. 3 in our bedroom above the computer desk, 2 above the comode in the bathroom, and 3 in the living room/front entry way.

6. Weather: I know I always end-up talking about the weather(which always starts or finishes a conversation when you have nothing else to talk about), but really it was a factor, just look at my other blogs.

O.K., so I think I have reached all of my points for my "funk", but have I found a solution for each of them?
I think I have:
1. No longer sick ( O.K. a little bit of a cough a couple of times a day, but not like it was, not even close)
2. The holidays are over. Yes, I need to get the cards out and get the Christmas gifts I have not gotten to everyone, but everyone is very understanding and if not well, I guess they will never understand.
3. I explained the daylight thing. Anyone who has lived near the 48th latitude understands completely.
4. I started my more healthy diet 3 days ago and have lost 3 pounds. I also have not had these spikes and drops, which come along with a very unhealthy diet. (I do need to work on the working out part, but baby steps, I will get there).
5. Organization (and getting rid of stuff) is a healthy thing for anyone. We still are not completely done with our de-cluttering, but working on it everyday which makes me feel good. 6. O.K., weather is one thing I obviously have no control over, but it has improved in the sense that we can at least get around much better now even if it is buck @$$ cold out there.
Oh, well you can't have everything.

Got Moose?!!!

Well we think that the neighborhood moose from last year is back. Maybe it's not the same one, but I would like to think that it is. She has a little (and that is relative) one with her, maybe a two year old, how cool is that. A friend of mine from down the street left me a text message saying there was a moose in the neighbors yard and she had a picture to prove it. I went outside at the time to see if I could see it and right then Fish and Game came driving through. I looked around but did not see anything, so I started walking toward the house and in our neighbors front yard, under the Hawthorne tree, was a moose eating all of the greenery around. I went in to let the boys know and came back out with the camera(and the boys of course). I snapped a picture and next thing you know I look down the street and a bigger moose is walking down the sidewalk. It was awesome watching them, they have hung out in Dean's parents yard also. They have left dropping there to prove it. By the way this was two days ago.

So today I look out the front window and there is a moose eating the neighbors tree (snap, snap again). I called Dean to let him know that the moose was in the neighborhood again, and as I said that I notice what looked like tracks in the front yard between the house and the crabapple tree, now that is close and I wish I would have seen it then. How exciting, gotta love it in Northern Idaho.

Cabin Fever and it's only December

I don't understand it, I already have cabin fever. I think the boys think that their mom has lost her mind. It has been 5 days of our cold weather and I am about to pull my hair out. I think that it is the fact that everyone is locked down. O.K. maybe that is an exageration, but that is what it feels like when it is too cold to play outside, the roads around here are actually a piece of $*%@ ( which doesn't happen that often around here considering we have more snow removal equipment than the City of Spokane), and because Christmas is around the corner and presents that are not wrapped are filling what little counter space I have left in my kitchen. MY HOUSE IS CLOSING IN ON ME!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! (Like I said I want to pull my hair out!!!)
I am using this as a way to vent. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ARE READING THIS, THANK YOU!!!!

The boys don't know what to do either. Cameron, after we came home from preschool, said to me in the car "mommy don't pull into the garage I want to play in the snow!!!". I had to explain to my 3 1/2 yr old that it is still too cold to play outside (my cats have even picked up on that, and they aren't too smart). Yeah he's 3 1/2 and he doesn't understand.
Some or all of you are wondering how in the world could we even get a car in the garage, well with this lovely weather Dean and I actually decided to take it head on (the garage that is). With our subzero weather we decided that the cats would probably like the garage better that their little igloo house that we got them. We had to toss some stuff and move some stuff around and put them in their proper spot and took some stuff to Goodwill, but we finally succeeded Saturday afternoon. It feels good to have project done in which we have been working on since we moved into our home in January of 2002. WhooHOoo, it's done.(NOW, to tackle our bedroom/office, but that's going to be screamfest some other day, I don't know maybe tomorrow!)

Thanks to blogspot for giving me a place to vent properly. I fell much better now!!! Now to tackle my messy kitchen without the 2yr old (he is taking his nap right now, Thank GOD).

Whhhhoooooooey, it's chilly!!!!

So, I chose this color because, oh it explains what is going on outside. This morning low was -8 here in Sandpoint, and -15 in Priest Lake. My question, is cold enough to freeze the lake all the way across? Yeah, I don't think it would be possible, but if it were this cold long enough, maybe. At least the wind finally stopped. I don't really mind the cold, it is the bone chilling wind that never seemed to stop. Thank God it finally stopped, I think they finally said that yesterdays windchill was -20. The winds were sustained at 27mph and gusts up to 39mph. Dean said that it really wasn't that windy in Bonners Ferry, I have been referring to Sandpoint as the "Funnel", or the "Tunnel" because how the wind just flows through this area.

Sorry, It has been so long since I have posted anything it has been a very busy couple of months. Now that the holidays are almost over, maybe we could keep you all up-to-date with all that is going on around here.

Last night was our first Christmas program. Cameron did a superb job for being 3 1/2. Mommy and Daddy were very proud of him. They sang Jingle Bells as their first song and I know that I got all choked up. Don't tell anyone, but I think Dean had a tear in his eye too. They sang a song that had to do with Christmas colors and his was Blue. He was standing in the middle of all of the classes combined. He is the youngest in his class, and you could tell by the way he was dwarfed by the two older boys to his left and right. He has been going to preschool since the middle of September and what a difference. He has become even more confident than he was before. He was shy at first when they started singing the songs, but by the end of it he was belting out his lyrics. (Don't know where he got that!)

His confidence has shown in his class work also. He has been practicing his letters and he almost has his name down without having to trace it. He knows how to say his alphabet and he can count with his exception of leaving out the #4. He loves to do that alot. His vocabulary has improved immensly right along with Evan's, I think sometimes the sentences that comes out of Evan's is better than Cameron's. It's more Evan has too keep up with his big brother.

To get to all of the other stuff going on in our world, we planned a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary Party for Dean's parents. I have to say we did alot to pull it off. It was alot of lying which I think my mother-in-law is going to have words with me for a while about this. It took Brian and Kristi, and Reese sneaking into Sandpoint(yeah, Sneaking) and just not letting too many people know about it. O.K. we let alot of people know about it, but made sure they knew not to say anything.

Jacki said she did not suspect anything until she saw Gene and Gloria's car parked outside the hall. Jimmy, Jeff and Mark pulled off the "flat tire" scene. Good Job Guys.

Thank you to all that brought food and support throughout the month and a half of planning.

Amongst the planning and actual doing, I had to work my normal Monday & Friday stint at Sears, Had 5 Pampered Chef shows, and was a full time Mom. Oh, Yeah had a couple of birthdays and some voting to do, some picture taking and all of the everyday fun stuff that you do too. Taking Cameron to school 3 days a week, dropping him off and picking him up three hours later, and then also trying to communicate with my husband. Planning a party for about 60 people, and it being a secret, and making alot of the food, and coordinating with Kristi and Brian, who live in Hayden, it has been a fun and stressful month and a half glad it's over.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!!!

O.K., so now my focus is of course Christmas. I may be a little late getting presents and Christmas cards out, so I am giving everyone fair notice now. Too everyone hope you all have a great day!!!!!!

Dear Santa,

O.K., so Grandma Jacki started this one.

Cameron usually goes to pre-school Mon., Wed., & Fri. This week he only had to go to school Monday due to the teachers getting further education. I am all for them getting their extra education, but then I have to come up with some other fun for him to do during his normal school time. Well, today wasn't that difficult because Grandma Jacki pulled out the Christmas catalogs for various toy and department stores in the area at Sunday evening dinner, which caused a big rucuss in the Santa Department.

Cameron started looking thru the catalogs and explained to us that he wanted several of the items. We told him that he would need to write a "Dear Santa," letter. He was willing to do that right off the bat. We told him that he would need to practice writing "Dear Santa" several times in order to make his letter. He did a wonderful job!!!! He wanted to make sure that he was in the picture of his "Dear Santa's".

After he completed his writing, he asked me if he could go and put it in the mailbox. How cute is that?! I told him that this was so he could practice and we will write the real letter probably on Friday.

Someone told me the other day, to take the toy catalogs and have him cut the pictures out of what he likes and glue them to his letter. I think I am going to put that to great use.

SNOW!!!

This is a picture from the docks at Dover Bay, overlooking the Pend Orielle River. Taken in February, 2008.

For all of you who were in the Sandpoint area for our record snowfall last year, well, Iiittt's Baaaack!!!!!:( I think we still had snow technically until Memorial Day Weekend on the valley floor. I don't quite want it yet.


We still have pictures from April, of the boys sitting near the huge snow mound left in the front yard from shoveling the roof (4 times). Don't get me wrong, if I did not like snow I would not live here, but we did not have a long enough summer.

O.K., so yeah I am whining, but it's way too early. Now I know that it is November, and technically it does start snowing in November, and yes, we had an absolutely wonderful October, but yeah, I don't want it yet.

I am including pictures from last years snow, just so those of you out there who don't have enough snow any time of year can remember what it looks like. Enjoy!!!!!

This is a picture of our resident moose (she is in the alley in our neighbor's yard). She spent alot of time walking thru our neighborhood, she even decided to eat our young japanese maple, but they did not have much to eat. I don't remember the exact number, but the Idaho Transportation Dept. said there were aproximately 140 moose killed on hwy 95 between Sagle and Bonners Ferry, way too many!!!

This is looking at our house from across the street, this was the end of February.

This is Dean standing on top of our house after shoveling it for the umpteenth time.(I know it is not a great picture, but you get the gist of it. My camera does not do well in low light, I need another one.)

And, Dean after jumping off of the roof into the snow pile.