A Day Off?

It seems the last few times I'm going to take a day off, someone's sick and it doesn't work out. I let everyone know that I was going to take a day off for A Room of One's Own Day on January 25. I said I'd make sure everyone got where they needed to go but that was it. Once they kids were home, they were on their own and they had to take care of Jet. Dinner was Fend For Yourself. I had plans for doing stuff in my room. 

Of course the night before, Lucky was sick so I kept him home from school the next morning. When he got up, he was fine. Yay. I was exhausted, though. I fell asleep once the other kids were at school and slept for a long time. Once Jet got up he and Lucky played together. Nice. So I definitely got some time to myself in my room but it was not what I was planning.

I did say it was FFY for dinner but I ended up throwing some pasta together for people to do whatever with.

I finally got a picture of me in my room last minute, too. To celebrate the holiday. 

I've had better times celebrating this holiday in the past but... oh, well.

Some September Catching Up

September 1 was Lazy Mom's Day. I was sick so I kinda took the day off, lying on the couch all day except when I had to take or pick up kids from busses. We missed a wedding reception that night and I missed out on a birding field trip the next morning. Jeremy went on the field trip at least.

 

Nichole came home for Labor Day, September 4, so I had her help with the American flag selfie that day.

Jr. and Jr. Jr. got up early with other young men to help set up flags in the neighborhood. It was cold and wet that morning so they warmed themselves up with hot chocolate when they got home.

The next night, Nichole went with some of us to watch a storyteller at the Orem Library. I love library events.

September 6 was National Read a Book Day. I started reading Fleur-de-Lis by Sarah M. Eden that day with swag I won in that contest a few months before. Good book.

Nichole celebrated National Read a Book Day not as happily by reading Animal Farm for a class.

I also combined National Read a Book Day and Shelftember with my Shelf Cooking 101 book by Jordan Page.

Going along with the book theme, I mentioned that Lucky's teacher has a Harry Potter themed classroom. Lucky brought home a Harry Potter snow globe he earned.

On 9/9 it was President Russell M. Nelson's 99th birthday. I went to a Stake Relief Society National Day of Service. 

Besides service activities, they had a luncheon. The bottle of water with the food made me think of Elder Allen D. Haynie's talk from April 2023 General Conference, "A Living Prophet for the Latter Days." Read or listen to the talk to understand the water bottle reference and why I squished the water bottle as I did before recycling it. 

On a more serious note, I am grateful to have a living prophet who helps us know what the Lord wants us to know. I have gained so many blessings from following the prophet and of course still have so many things to work on. I know the Lord is pleased that I am trying and that I sustain His prophets and apostles.

 

On a not so serious note, September 11 was Make Your Bed Day. When I told Jr. Jr. to make his bed this was his response. "But Mom, I did. I made it a complete mess." Jet has a habit of taking my made bed and unmaking it. So yes, I did make my bed. It didn't stay made.

We had pigs in a blanket to go along with Make Your Bed Day.

September 11 was also Hot Cross Bun Day. I used a recipe from The Fiction Kitchen Trio Cookbook to make Hot Cross Buns. I was maybe the only one in the family who liked the spice in the buns and I definitely liked them. I keep thinking I need to make them and just freeze some for myself.

And of course since it was 9/11, Jr. Jr. and I got our selfie with the American flag. I also took time to share with Lucky some of my memories of that day in 2001.

 

September 12 was National Chocolate Milkshake Day and Ants on a Log Day.

 

September 13 was the 30th anniversary of when The Animaniacs premiered. Seriously. 30 years. I remember afternoon cartoons. I remember anticipating that new show and then getting a kick out of it when it did premiere. My mom thought it was fun because she got a lot of the references that we didn't get as kids at the time. I got a lot more of the references as the years went on. Great for the whole family. I love that 30 years later, my kids enjoy that show as well. Jet will even ask for it by name. Jeremy and I did some reminiscing about those days on that anniversary.

September 13 was also Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day. I honestly can't remember how much they took over the kitchen that day. I made homemade tortilla chips from corn tortillas. We also made bean dip to go with those chips. It wasn't seven layers because we were shelf cooking for Shelftember- using what we had.

 

September 14 was Eat a Hoagie Day. Homemade buns for Chilly Pheesesteak sandwiches and homemade chili with corn chips we had in our pantry. Yumm.

It was also Parents Day Off but I didn't have time for that. Sigh. I actually took a couple of my boys with a neighbor kid out to practice bike riding.

I'd say that's enough catching up for now.

I Can Do What I Want. It's My Day Off

I've mentioned before that I am burned out. I've tried to take days off, I've tried to take afternoons or evenings off, I've tried to take some time to myself. Just to be clear, time to myself is not catching up on the dishes while Jet's asleep. Time off has not worked so well lately. Either I take Jet with me and he has different ideas of what it means to "stay by Mommy," or my time spent "relaxing" in my room is interrupted every 10 minutes by people wanting something, or I schedule my time and someone gets sick. 

Let's be clear about something else. I love my family. I love spending time with them. I love each individual child and their personalities. I love my husband so much. Life, however, sometimes burns you out. That's what happened to me. I needed a BIG break. I hadn't gotten one. Then I did. My husband made sure that I got a whole day off to myself. At first I thought of taking Jet with me but Jeremy told me to take a day completely to myself. That meant actually getting out of the house and doing what I wanted to do.

I had some plans then as I was getting ready that morning, I remembered, "what about watching the sunrise?" I haven't done that in a while. I always love watching the light shine more and more on the hills across the lake then come across to this side.

So I hurried to finish getting ready then headed out. As I started driving, I realized I didn't have to go directly to where I planned to watch the sunrise. "I can do what I want. It's my day off." And that became the theme of the day. I didn't have to stick to some schedule. I could change my mind. "I can do what I want. It's my day off."

So I headed out to Provo Canyon, drove past mostly frozen Bridal Veil Falls, and kept changing my mind about turning around or not. As I turned onto South Fork Road, I remembered there are some really pretty views of the mountains up that road so as I continued driving up the road, I could see the sun illuminating the mountain in my side mirror. Ahhhh.

I stopped at South Fork Park to watch the light creeping down the hills just like the hills across the lake. I got out in the cold to watch better and to take pictures and it was worth it. So gorgeous. I love nature! It was already rejuvenating me. 

;.,.u ....ujk 

(This is what happens when I try to blog while dozing off and a baby and dinosaurs are sitting on my lap. Those dinosaurs- always trying to jump on the keyboard)

I watched some ravens flying around and listened to a flicker. I picked a spot near the stream, though, so I mostly heard water.

After a while of standing there, my toes were getting pretty cold. I even had the thought to go back home and get an extra layer of socks on. The best bet, though, was to go back to the van and let my toes warm up a bit. I started walking toward the van then thought I should take one more picture of the light on the hills so I turned around around to go back to my spot and there in the stream were a pair of American dippers. Eeeee. I would have missed them if I hadn't decided to take another picture. Yay for my love of trying to capture even a little bit on camera what I experience out in nature. I'm not a photographer so my pictures aren't great but they help with the memories.

So I spent longer in the cold watching the dippers (also worth it) before getting my last picture of the hills then going back to the van where I did some scripture study. I used to bring my scriptures when I'd watch sunrises. It was a good combination of reading God's word and seeing God's creations so I made sure to bring my scriptures this time.

I said goodby to the hills and dippers and everything else and drove back down the canyon while listening to "The Score" on the radio. Then I headed up to Farmington Bay where I spent hours and hours and hours walking and driving around enjoying nature. 

 

I ate my lunch while watching a harrier fly around and thought, "I don't have to take pictures, I can just watch it." Though I did try to take some pictures. I can't help myself. There were so many harriers.

Going with the theme of the day, "I can do what I want. It's my day off," when eating breakfast that morning, I decided not to save any for anyone else. I packed the rest in a thermos and ate it for lunch. Yumm.

I spent so much time in nature that day, walking and driving, getting sunburned (just a little). After Farmington Bay, I headed up to Antelope Island and found a little spot to just sit and relax for a while. It was nice not having to do anything, not thinking about all the things I had to do at home. I did some people watching. I hadn't done that in a while. It's usually bird watching. It really felt good, though, to just do nothing, just rest. I also did some hiking which was nice.

I also visited my sister and we chatted for a while. That was nice. I love family. I love my sisters. I love my brothers. I love my parents. Ahhh.

I got home and as I was putting trip stuff away, one of my children came in to ask for things. Jeremy was right there in the room. Seriously? I just got home. I let my child know it was still my day off so he stopped. Heh heh heh. Jeremy took care of things right up until midnight and I finished the day by celebrating the holiday on February 19, National Chocolate Mint Day, with a peppermint patty.

Earlier in the day, Jeremy gave the kids Kellogg's cereal to celebrate the anniversary of when William Kellogg founded the breakfast cereal company.

Another Day Off?

Since my day off didn't really work on Lazy Mom's Day, I decided I was going to try it again on Friday, September 24, Bluebird of Happiness Day. That ended up more of a lazy mom's day.

I had such plans for that day. Once we dropped kids off at school, Jet went back to sleep, though, so I couldn't do what was on the plan. I could have gotten so much done while he slept with cleaning and organizing but I watched a TV show instead and got nothing productive done (lazy mom).

After the kids got home from school, they knew they were in charge of dinner again, so Jet and I headed off to do at least something I was planning to do. I guess I was chasing that bluebird of happiness with a day off.

We went for a walk at Powell Lake but Jet didn't want to ride in the stroller and didn't always want to stay right by the stroller so there was a lot of running after him to keep him from falling down an embankment. I'd say the majority of the time was chasing after him so he'd be safe. 

 

At one point it wasn't worth trying to make it all the way around the pond so we headed back. I didn't get a chance to look at the birds much. No bluebird of happiness. It took quite a bit of effort to get Jet back to the van and get him in and buckled and etc. etc. etc. Sigh.

We've had better outings. But hey, at least we got a few cute pictures in the van.

We drove home by way of driving around the lake. Jet fell asleep then woke up when we were about as far away from home as possible and was unhappy for a while. Plus we got stuck in construction traffic so it took even longer to get home with a poor uncomfortable baby. Sigh.

I found no bluebird of happiness while I was out. When I got home the kids were watching "Muppets Most Wanted" because September 24 was also Jim Henson's birthday. Nichole had her puppets out as well.

When Jeremy got home I went up to help him bring things in and we chatted with the neighbor for a little while until I saw something in the sky? "What are those?" They looked like something on fire. The neighbor looked up and said, "Oh, those are lanterns." We called the kids up and we all got to see floating lanterns in the sky. We got to see quite a few before they burned out/burned up. They must have been sending them off somewhere nearby for us to be able to see them so well, but for what purpose? I don't know.

So no bluebird of happiness but we saw floating lanterns at home. The End.