Misplaced Homemaker

I'm swamped for the week, so my blog won't be updated. It's ok to cry a little. I'll leave tissue for you. *hands blogging buddies Kleenex* I have a 6 page essay to write, a 10 minute speech to do, more additions to my political blog need to be done, plus studying for a test. Then, in one week I have finals. I think there's a lot of truth behind why they call next week, the week before finals, dead week. Gotta love the end of the semester. :)

A Must Have

Listen up moms. If you have children and you don't have this cleaning tool, you're going to want to go out and buy one! Seriously. I admit, I was a bit skeptical about this product before buying it. A "magic eraser" that easily wipes off crayons, dirt, and grime? What do you mean I can use this in my bathroom and in my kitchen? Heck, I could use a cheap rag in those places too. What makes this so darn special?

Well I'll tell you. We recently moved and we've been cleaning our old apartment. You know the normal top to bottom cleaning that no one really likes to do. We started with washing down all the walls, which just so happens to be my least favorite chore. Anyway, as we're washing the walls we came across many crayon and ink marks from our oldest child. Ver thoughtful I know. Now we were just using soap and water and we all know that that doesn't clean off crayon and ink very well. I scrubbed and scrubbed.

I gave up after not too long and figured, why not, when we're done I'll try this so called "Magic Eraser" and see if it can do a better job then my scrubbing abilities. So we finish the walls and today I pulled it out. Interesting little thing really; a rough blue on one side and a soft white foam on the other. First, rinse with water, then wipe with white side then rub over with blue side. Simple enough. Almost too simple. So I head to the first wall. Blue crayon. All over. I take the Magic Eraser and one swipe later more than half of the crayon was gone! GONE! Another swipe and it was ALL GONE! *faints*

But I couldn't just stop there, I had to test it again. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe I had scrubbed it so hard earlier with my rag and soap that I had loosened it up. So I go to another spot. More blue crayon. One swipe...GONE! It's a miracle!! I wanted to shout praises from the rooftops! At that moment I had wished there were crayon marks over every wall! I was almost giddy. I heard my husband say "uh oh" from the kitchen when he saw me. I was in shock. What was in this miracle eraser?!?!

I should say that it didn't get the ink off as easily as the crayon, but it came off too. It was pretty much gone when I was done cleaning off the walls but I decided to try it in my bath tub. You know that dark ring you get in your tub that takes forever to scrub off? ONE SWIPE and it was GONE! Amazed and still shocked that even though I had thought the eraser was ready to be thrown away it surprised me by continuing to work as if I had just barely pulled it out of its box. Genius! A true miracle!

So again, to all the moms out there. This Magic Eraser is 100% worth it. No more scrubbing. No more back aches and pains. A few swipes and you're done! No more worries about "oh no, now my walls are ruined" when your child colors all over it. Put your mind at ease and buy this! Take it from a mom that knows!

*Disclaimer: No I do not work for Mr. Clean and No I do not get paid to advertise for them. This has not been tested with permanent marker.*

I did it!

I figured out how to put music on my blog. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! I hope everyone likes the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. These are two of my favorites. :)

Also, thanks to Kara for giving me the site to add a snifty calendar to my blog too. I like making fun changes.

10 Things I've Done This Year

Thank you Kate for the tag. :) I must say, that my year hasn't been near as exciting as everyone else's though. I aim to be more productive!!

1. I turned the big 2-3 this year. I'm not sure why it felt different than the big 2-2 but it did. I felt a little taller.

2. I gave birth for the second time. I was induced on a Friday around noon. Later that night, without an epidural, my second beautiful baby girl was born! I was so proud of myself for going through an induced labor without an epidural. For someone who doesn't deal with physical pain well, I felt it a great accomplishment.

3. I have moved twice within a very short period of time. I now consider myself a pro-packer-mover.

4. I too have tried to step out of my comfort zone and make new friendships especially in my ward.

5. I went to the SLC Temple for the first time this year to do sealing ordinances with my husband. That was a wonderful and beautiful experience.

6. I have gone back to school after almost five years. This has been a huge feat for me and has proven very beneficial.

7. I have finished organizing, filing, and shredding all of our files! We've had papers building up for years and now I'm officially done! We went from this huge box to one drawer in a filing cabinet. Yipee! It took me three days to shred all the papers. We had so many papers it filled up a huge laundry basket to the rim. Ohhhh it feels good to be done!

8. This year my husband and I celebrated our fourth year anniversary. I am truly blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband and father. He was so sweet this year. All he wanted to do was go out to lunch with me and then have us find a "new scent" for our home. We actually didn't find a candle until just recently, one that smells like candy cane, but I thought it was sweet that he wanted to make this a tradition.

9. This year I've worked hard on reading my scriptures every night. I've struggled with this, but now it is getting easier and I'm enjoying it too.

10. Also, I've been prioritizing (if that's a word) my life better than I ever have. I make more time for my family. Everyday I try harder to be with my girls and my husband instead of being distracted, whether by the computer or something else. Time goes by too fast and we will miss many important, joyful, and meaningful moments if we don't take the time to see what's going on right in front of us. I don't want to take time for granted. Who knows how much we really have.

This used to be fun

I can still remember registering for classes my first year of college years ago. I thought it was fun to pick all my own classes! But now it feels like more work. The first day of registration is today so I'm trying to figure out what to take. I've narrowed down my list of majors to radiographic science or physical therapy assistant. I'm leaning towards being a PTA. So I've been gathering information on what prerequisites I need to get into these programs. So far, here are some problems I'm running into.

First, my husband's job just extended him to the end of January. Technically he has 3 weeks of paid vacation he can take at that time, but whether or not they will let him is in question. If they allow him to take the time off, he can go to school. If he does, then I won't take as many credits. If he is unable to take the time off, then I can take more credits. So I figure I'll just sign up for more classes and if need be, I'll drop some later.

Second, one of the prerequisites is for a goal that I've already fulfilled. I'm hoping they say the class I've already taken will count, that way I don't have to add on another 3 credits. Oh how nice that would be!

Third, another prereq they listed is listed incorrectly. The course number and the title don't match. If it's the right course number, I may run into a problem because it's only offered at night. If my husband stays working, then I won't be able to go. If he can take the time off, then I can take this course. But it would be easier if the name of class is right instead, because then I could take it in the mornings and I wouldn't have to worry about it interfering with my husband's schedule.

Fourth, the PTA program starts in the Fall so if I can get all these prereq's in before then, I don't have to wait another year before applying. This is contingent on them accepting me of course where they only accept 20 people each year.

You know, just typing my thoughts is making me feel better about the whole thing. Hopefully no one is bored to tears. There's so much to think about when it comes to schooling. I just pray that I'm making the right choices. On a brighter note, I did sign up for a swing dance class! That class is usually full right away so I'm stoked. I don't think it will be too much fun if I'm pregnant by next year though. lol So we'll have to see about that one. :)

Great Friends

Don't you just love wonderful friends? I have a few wonderful friends, one of which is Kara. She has been so kind to me and my family that I just love her. :) She used to watch my girls for me while I was in school, five days a week. She would also let me do laundry at her house three days a week. I didn't even do my own laundry! I would put the first batch in, then she would rotate it with a second batch and have them both ready for me when I came to pick them up! She's so incredibly sweet to have done that and she still does! It's been such a huge blessing to us having her nearby.

Then there's today. She babysat for us while we went to my brother's sealing. I completely forgot to tell her the dishes in the dishwasher were clean and to feed the baby at noon. She unloaded and loaded my dishwasher for me! *cry* Plus, she remembered to feed the baby too! *cry* I felt like I should have paid her $50. What a sweetheart! Even if she didn't do all these things, she's still a wonderful friend. I just love ya Kara. Thank you for all that you do. We do appreciate it! *HUGS*

My photo blog

I have pictures to post! Hope you enjoy them. My apologies for the quality, these are off of my camcorder, so they are pretty dark and fuzzy.

This first picture is of the centerpieces of a luncheon I planned. The lady on my committee made these, they are so cute! I wish I was this creative.

Here are our carved pumpkins from Halloween. We had so much fun carving them!


Here's a close up of my pumpkin. I'm so proud as this was the 2nd time in my life that I've carved pumpkins. :)


Here's my husband's 42 lb pumpkin, he did a great job.


This is a craft my neighbor taught me how to do today. Yes, surprisingly I made something crafty! I made two of these for Christmas gifts for family. My neighbor gets a lot of credit, she really helped me out on these. I'm not much of a crafty person, but these were pretty easy. I wish I could keep one!