Boys Wrestling for Fun July 2013

I don't know why this video prompted some new people to subscribe to my YouTube channel (Rowanprincess) but if it made people smile/laugh (as inbox messages indicate) then it's ok with me.

'I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly.'

I just put on my iTunes Owl City playlist to help me feel like getting my tasks done.  I was about to go start on my bedroom but then I remembered how much I distinctly DESPISE going shopping.  If I have any shopping to do, or any errands at all, I must go in the first half of the day to avoid crowds, lines, traffic, and shelves being sparsely stocked.  We have been looking for something we all 3 like: 

I've been eating these for about 4 years now.  I try not to eat much bread anymore because I did some testing with my uncle Kory, who is a brilliant holistic health practitioner/chiropractic internist/energy testing/healing-type specialist.

I don't exactly know all his titles but here's a link to his practice at Premier Wellness:

http://www.premierwellnessutah.com/dr-kory-branham-bio/

Last summer I asked him to test me on gluten.  At that time I was struggling to lose some weight and feel less tired, more energy, and etc.  He said his impression at that time was that I did not need to decrease the gluten in my diet, but that it is a very wise lifestyle choice for anyone due to the complications in wheat and wheat-based foods today.  Well, in January and March of this year he tested me again and found that most assuredly my body doesn't like gluten.  Likewise, one of my 2 boys struggles with gluten.  He has been constipated and uncomfortable since February.  I can tell you more about that journey on another entry, since it's been a learning process and very frustrating as well as rewarding.  But anyway, when I began to decrease [Interruption about a mouse in our Catchmaster trap happened right here] the wheat bread, tortillas, pancakes, and cereals I was eating, I began to lose weight and have more energy.  Joshua's problems seem to be decreasing as well, but we are still struggling with getting him to eat enough fiber and helping him 'go potty.'

So back to these Rice Cakes.  I like to put avocado and cheese on them.  Joshua likes them with peanut butter or just plain mayonnaise or mustard.  He also likes canned chicken on them.  I grew up eating them with butter and honey but I wouldn't try that now.  Nasty!  But rice cakes are great when you just want to munch something that has a little taste and a little salt.  I eat them plain.  

Anyway, now to go to the store before it gets any later.  It's still morning, and I want to fill this day with productivity!

I'm going crazy.

I can't stand messes.  I can't stand sticky stuff, or crumbs.  By looking at my kitchen this very moment, one would think I actually liked it though.  I'm trying to muster the courage to go clean it.  I miss my kitchen in the "I Building" out in another part of West Jordan where I lived in 2011.  That was the largest kitchen I ever had.  Tons of counter space, large double sinks, a dishwasher, a large pantry...an open bar thing that looked into the living room... I really miss it.  In fact, that was the nicest apartment I've ever had.  I miss a lot of things about that place.  Mostly I miss the memories and the experiences of my life that happened while living there.  Right now we're in a townhouse.  It was so exciting at first to have 2 floors and some stairs, plus 2 entrances.  But now I'm feeling sort of smothered in the stacked-style space.  I would like to get back to a 1-level dwelling until I'm prepared to purchase a house.  

Basically nobody spends time upstairs.  I mean, the boys play in their room but I don't play in Mine.  It's the smaller bedroom.  I made that decision when we moved in because I felt it was important for the kids to have more space to create magnificent lego structures and k'nex models, plus laying out their toy cars in parades or building all sorts of block mazes and such.  I'm still glad I made that decision almost 18 months later.  There's just 1 of me, but 2 kids here so They get the larger bedroom.  I am trying to figure out the best arrangement in my room, though.  I have put my bed against 3 of the 4 walls, and I didn't like it there.  It won't fit on the 4th wall though.  I'm going to try the head of the bed against the wall so the rest of it juts out like a peninsula into the room.  Currently my bed is in the boys' room so I could move things around and lay out my room.  Another reason I moved my bed in their room is for those really hot nights when I have to use the Air Conditioner.  Theirs is the only room with an A/C unit.  So I either sleep downstairs on the couch bed if it's not too hot, or I go sleep in the boys' room to share the cooled off space. 

I have a mission today:  Take everything out of the room that I don't want or need in there, and bring it down to the patio.  Then I have to make myself go through it and get rid of it if I can't find a sensible place for it in the home.  This has been a struggle for me because I always think this is going to be the year when my circumstances line up in order to buy a house.  Why get rid of the big box of picture frames if I'm going to have more space soon?  But at this point I just want the space to be taken up with people and not stuff.  In a great blog I found, From My Tippytoes, I see it explained very well.

I like how she said to make room for people instead of Things because relationships are the most important part of this life.  When you die, you have your relationships.  You don't take your 'stuff' with you.

Now I am going to clean the table and floor in the kitchen, then start on my room.  Right now it doesn't feel like my room, but I'll change that this week.  I'm update this entry by posting a before and after picture.  Remember, in the Before picture you're basically looking at the room that has become the storage/project room since I moved my bed out (due to the heat of this summer).  How quickly things pile up.  

Pick a Little, Talk a Little

It's weird how a musical with songs I've heard my whole life but never watched (until this year) can be so prominent in my home.  You'd think my boys had paid no attention to The Music Man when we went to see it (to support my sister and her family) in May.  The way they carried on was less ideal for audience behavior.  They sat in the front row with their cousins Jordan and Jasmine and they laughed and made fun of things, imitating what they saw and heard, not understanding the plot.  But when "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little" began, they all listened even though they didn't look like they were listening.


One of us 3 sings Pick A Little, Talk A Little at least once a week now.  It's a song about gossiping.  Gossip isn't nice, but the song is sort of fun.  My sister was one of the Pick-a-Little Ladies in The Music Man. 

She's the one in the brown dress suit and greenish scarf thingy.

My son just bit my other son's arm.  I asked if I could take a pic but he said no. 

1 of my piano students canceled their lesson today.  That gives me time to complete an errand I tried vainly to accomplish last week.  TODAY IT SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED.

I have 2 boys.  They are ages 8 and 6, and currently wrestling on the floor.  (Don't people usually say '6 and 8'?"  I like to list the older boy first because he didn't come first for nothing.)

Someone behind me on the floor is singing about/chanting about his belly button in between protests while his brother is dog piled on him.  Is it possible to have a dog pile with just one dog...I mean person...piled on...another...Person?  I say yes because it is happening here. 

So after the errand which SHALL be completed today, I need to do some stuff I meant to do this morning (exercise, get some sun, finish laundry, and fill 1 box with stuff I'm going to donate or sell).  I also need to clean 2 mattresses and move some things around in the house.  I'm re-arranging 1 of the 2 bedrooms we have.  I moved out of that room so I could go through everything that has been in totes and boxes.  Everywhere we have lived since moving to Utah has been the same:  My bedroom becomes the storage room.  I'm kind of tired of it.  I need to make my room a sanctuary.  But I guess I just wanted to let the boys have the largest room so they could spread out their toys and have the play space.  If I'm being honest, which I am, I don't think I'll focus on doing My room this week though.

Behind me, Ethan just stated the following:  "You look like germ-y boogers."  Whatever that means.  But Joshua doesn't seem to mind.  He's still laughing and singing about his belly button. 

"I will not be late to church. This week I am going to be on time.  No, that's not true.  I'm going to be there a few minutes early."

Wrong.  I was late, darn it.  

I wasn't going to mention this next bit so early in my blogging experience, but I guess now is as good a time as any.

I suffer.  I guess I developed some anxieties.  I think this started earlier than February 2012, but that's when I noticed my life changing and I began to feel afraid.  One of the things I'm afraid of is being at church.  Last fall and winter it seemed like every speaker at church mentioned losing a loved one to a car accident or illness.  One prominent presence in my church meetings is a woman who had cancer, and she also lost her 30-something son in close succession.  (Her son left behind a wife and small children).  I felt that every comment about death or illness was for me.  I panicked during talks at the pulpit, and I panicked during meetings.  I panicked when I saw this woman or others who mentioned death.  I was not too bothered if I was late to church last year, because I didn't want to be there anyway.  I didn't want to hear more about death.  This is something I need to overcome for many reasons besides the obvious.  But in our religion we believe that things do not end with death.  They only change. Mormon.org explains this better than I do when I don't really want to talk about it further.

I'm so thankful that already this year my panic and anxiety has lessened.  (I may describe why or how it has been helped in another blog, and if I do, I'll edit this post and link to it.)  Still, when Saturday rolls around I feel dread because it means tomorrow is Sunday, or The Sabbath.  That means I will be going to church.  That means I will see those people whose life experiences 'scare me.'  I will be in those rooms I feel scared in.  I will have to fight to stay there when I feel scared, instead of finding a reason to leave the room and walk in the hallway, check on my kids in their classrooms, or pretend I need to use the restroom.  

So...I missed my opportunity for the Sacrament:  The Bread and Water which are the emblems of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for sin and death.  This is the most important part of church.  I feel bad about missing it.  Regardless of my fears, I still believe I should be there for the Sacrament portion of the meeting. 

I will Not be late to church next week, no matter how much I feel like Not being there.  And I will be early.  (I hope.)

Today I decided if the blonde woman with glasses can crochet or knit during church, so can I.  My boys and I sat in the foyer during the 1st hour and I pulled out a yarn project I had begun making (a cell phone cover/case) a few weeks back.  I worked on 2 inches of the length and ripped it out twice until I had the right size and shape.  I worked on this during the meetings because I knew if I stayed busy, I would feel less inclined to leave if I heard something that 'scared' me.  

I also made sure I sat by the window in the sunlight.  I don't like darkness.  I like the sun--I love light.  The long winter accompanied by several rounds of flu and other viral infections in me and especially my little boy made me feel like life was full of darkness.  Every time we went outside, even when properly dressed in warm clothes, my son would get sicker.  I finally decided we wouldn't go anywhere unless we really had to.  It was awful.  Maybe the absence of Vitamin D in my diet really hurt me by making me feel hopeless and dark.  

When the snow finally melted and it was obviously Springtime, I didn't feel very anxious or afraid anymore.  My son hasn't had a fever since February, and even though he's pale and thin, he has loads of energy and a good appetite.  He grew much taller in the last 6 months, so maybe that's where all the protein and calcium are going instead of putting meat on his bones.  It's my mission to help him gain more weight and fill out this summer.  I'll talk about the changes I'm making in his diet later.    





   

My dad gifted me with some Horizon organic chocolate milk this evening. Boy is it good.

About 2 or more years ago I asked a friend to fill in the blanks between high school and present day, if possible, to "catch up" on so many years.  As a result, I got to spent some time reading through his web journal entries.

Seeing his blog made me re-visit the idea of creating my own web journal.  My brother also started a Blog so I've been reading it recently, and my sister has one here.  I don't fancy the idea of sitting in front of a web camera and talking about my day on a YouTube channel, so this will do for now.  I like writing in a journal book, but I always say I will and I never do. When I type, my hands don't get sore like they do when holding a pen for a long time.  I'm detailed.  It is a challenge for me to be brief with any writing.  I'm hoping I'll have many days with short entries just to prove to myself that I can say a lot while writing little.

Chocolate Milk could be my downfall if allowed...

(Photo credit to Petit Chef at en.petitchef.com)