Undone

and other such nonsense.

I am 25 (haha, Old) and have hated valentines for a long time. I’m going to go ahead and say since the first grade where I got locked out of my parents house (with my brothers) and ate all my Valentines day candy and then threw up that evening due to the over abundance of sugar. I hate those little candy hearts and I hate the fake-ness of it all.

If your single, why would you want to have the happiness of everyone else SHOVED in your face, what better way than a holiday to point out that “hey you’re alone and single!” and if you’re dating someone who you aren’t loathed to be with (IE in a happy relationship that isn’t marriage) you get to crowd in with all the other people who are happy, or are pretending to be so on Valentines day at various restaurants and such, getting some commercial card, chocolates, flowers and if you’re really “lucky” jewelry that Tom Shane convinced your Significant other that they absolutely needed to have in order to make you happy. If you’re married, you either are newly married and fall into the category of most people who are dating, and if you have kids (like i do) you don’t want to go through the hassle of finding someone to watch them so you can crowd in with those people who are also celebrating said “holiday”. I much more prefer my romance and dates to be sporadic and not required.

. . . .

That’s not to say I wouldn’t appreciate something for onValentine’s day, but just as much as I might appreciate something any day of the year. Hopefully this weekend we can fit something in that will be fun.

In other news, I am sick again. I am hoping I am catching it in time that I don’t have to take as heavy duty of antibiotics again. Gosh.

Derringer Meryl [sick.] Out

WHOA. Seriously. Whoa.

In the past three weeks Scott has had THREE jobs. I kid you not. First he had his Job where I work, then his new job, and then his NEW NEW job. the middle job there hired him with good intentions, but found that they had lost clients the same week he had been hired and that put him on the chopping block. It was NOT  a great way to start February, but over all, if any month in the year has to suck, let it be february because it’s so short.

I got to go and be there when Sukie found out that she was having a girl. I am SO excited for them, and SUPER excited to help throw her baby shower. I have never done one. Ever. Unless you count me helping my mom on baby showers before, but I don’t really since I mostly just sat there and agreed with my mom’s plans. I’m only help plan/and host, so I’m glad I don’t have ALL the responsibility, but I’m very excited for the shower. Did I say I want to make a cake and decorate it? I don’t have the clearance or go ahead… but of course I had to check it out… I was thinking, this?

too much?

I’m just kidding, in case you couldn’t tell. 😉 though I would have LOVED to have a cake like that with Audrey. It’s hilarious.

I’ve been thinking about Audrey’s Birthday a lot lately (I know I”m weird and obsessive) and I am hoping to make a marshmellow fondant ballerina cake. TECHNICAL. i am so … worried about it. I need to figure this stuff out. Maybe I should try not to over do it. I really enjoyed Katie’s last birthday because it was so simple. Balloons, clean house, family and close friends. It was great.  But … I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before… I love cake decorating. I do. I wish I could do something super impressive, but I find myself not dreaming about it too much mostly because I have stupid hands. (If you don’t get the reference, I highly recommend watching Futurama’s episode “The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings” and you might get it.) I love cakes (so much so that I’ve had two pieces this week… for no reason other than I needed it to not feel depressed, Yeah I”m horrible) and I love the pretty decor. I would LOVE to try something.

I should probably get into classes, even if it is just to learn. I don’t need to be a professional… I just want to do something fun.

Derringer Meryl [cakes on the brain] Out

2010 has been great so far!

Scott got the new job he’s been dying for, so that’s great! It means that we can work towards some awesome goals, and accomplish a few things we’ve been really wanting to do.

Additionally we will be going to disneyland in March. YES! barring any problems with Scott’s new job. yes yes yes! then I will work  my tail off, we will pay off our debts, and hopefully sooner than later I can stay at home with my kids. I love them so!

Things are looking up this year. I feel up, I am hoping that the trend continues!

Time to review 2009 goals. So… here we go!

Increased Church and Temple attendance. This feels kind of personal, but I know i can do better than I did. How’s that for vague?

Have a happy Baby in July – Man oh Man, did I accomplish this! July 2, I had a beautiful Baby girl. She is happy and smiley and even when she’s in a bad mood (from teeth, that she got on Sunday December 27, 2009, Bottom right) she still manages to be sweet and charming. Huzzah!

Attend The Specialist’s wedding – Yes. it was beautiful. We were a bit late. and we worried about leaving Katie out to play with Dax, but she was happy enough, and had a good time. Sweet girl. Amazing.

More Crocheting – Uh No. I still have not mastered the art of Crochet.

more Quilt work – I got Audrey’s Monkey Quilt done. Beautiful. I still need to take pictures LOL.

Get Katie’s Big girl room set up – YES! Twice! She was set up in a big girl bed upstairs, and downstairs. Amazing, we rock!

Have a great 5th anniversary – I was huge and pregnant, so it wasn’t the awesomest Anniversary ever, but it was definitely not the worst. 🙂

My Goals for the new year? Of course!
Save Money
Pay off debt (Most importantly RC Willey, and Scott’s Car)
Have a great time at Disneyland
Give Audrey a Great Party (whoo hoo!)
Become a Stay at Home mom
Spend more time with my kids and Scott
Learn to Cook … better? More? Whichever, or both 😉
Learn and grow more in the gospel
Sit IN the chapel more than once a (EDIT) month.
Potty train Katie (if she’s ready, and I think she is. :))

Recap:
(at the end of the year, In case I didn’t mention it in 2008, My BFF forever DQ moved in!)
Attended The Specialist’s and The Ballerina’s Wedding. Very Beautiful.
Found out that I was having my second little girl!
Scott took me out for a crazy romantic night at a B&B, and got me a pretty new necklace. 🙂
Work got a WHOLE lot busier as they cut jobs and increased our work load. I am grateful that it was not my job they cut, even though we are usually fairly busy.
Got really sick, and spent some time getting rehydrated in the hospital
Picked out Audrey’s name. Beautiful. I am very happy with it.
Had to Call 911 for Scott
Had Audrey! 🙂 Sweet girl of mine!
Finished Scott’s Book
Got my hair cut, LOOKS AWESOME!
Came up with a book idea, Leaving it floating in my head.
Got a Kidney infection 🙁
Went trick or treating for the first time With Katie, She was Cinderella
Thanksgiving and new moon with DQ, Fun times!
Cars break, Katie loves Christmas
I turn 25… GOSH!
Derringer Meryl [year end review] Out

A crayon went through our washer (and dryer) and now, a load of laundry (with some great cute clothes of my kids) has been ruined.

I’m upset. Especially since some of the clothes that have been ruined are Audrey’s Christmas clothes (Dress and PJ’s) and the prescribed method to get it out is the following:

1.      Examine all articles of clothing from the offending batch of laundry. You will want to remove the crayon from all pieces of clothing at one time. It’s going to be tedious and time consuming, but it’s definitely a process worth going through.
2. Lay the stained area of clothing on several paper towels. Four or five paper towels should do the trick. Try not to have any layers of material under the stain or you may end up with more mess than you bargained for.
3. Spray the stains with a car part lubricant. Let it sit for a few minutes. Flip the clothing over and spray on the opposite side. Let the fabric sit for a few minutes more.
4. Pour a little liquid dishwashing detergent onto the stained area. Gently rub the detergent into the stain. The wax will work it’s way onto the paper towels. Replace the towels as needed. Continue to work detergent into the stain until all of the crayon is removed.
5. Wash the clothing with laundry detergent and color-safe bleach. Use a hot water cycle for 15 minutes or on the heavy load option. Rinse the clothing in warm water.
6. Verify that the stain(s) have been completely removed. If there’s still crayon residue on the clothing, repeat steps above.

I don’t know what the life of a Stay at home mom is like, but I can tell you I don’t have time to clean 15+ items like this, especially each spot on the item. some of them have 5-10 areas on it that would need this method.  Part of me says to just move on and replace the items, but some of them are irreplaceable. One of Audrey/Katie’s receiving blankets got marked up, and honestly even though I could make a new one (or my mom could, whatever, since she made that one) it wouldn’t be the same. So I guess I’ll go through and determine “Can I/Should I save this?” and work from there. It’s really disheartening. i already feel like a failure most of the time because I’m really hard on myself as it is, but to have proof kind of bugs me. *sigh*really though when you think about it, one load of ruined laundry looking back over 5 years of being married and I did some of my own laundry (and my parents) prior to that, it’s a fairly good track record I guess.

I better go get the kids in the bath while I figure out what to do now… 🙁

Derringer Meryl [upset] out