Pictures, Project, and My Pretty

Here are my first pics in weeks and weeks! Hooray! - What a busy time of year, isn't it? 

This is Hazel's Christmas nightgown.

Lilie's Christmas nightgown.

This was my first project to complete over the past few weeks.

An afghan for my friend's new little baby. This is the first crochet project that I have completed in about 6 years. I'm so proud of myself. It turned out beautiful!

And these are a couple of pictures of Elsie that have just been sitting on my battery-less camera for weeks. This first one, I know is blurry, but isn't she just the cutest little thing!? This is her saying, "Cheeeee!" I love this baby!!!!

Friday's Fabulous Five

1. PERSISTENCE!!! 

Holy crap! I have just spent the last FORTY-SEVEN minutes on the phone with the bank, talking to FOUR different people about charges on my account THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE! And I'm not talking about like 25 dollars - I'm talking about $225.50! What the ---???!!! All three of the first people I talked to tried to say, "Well, that's because of this and that." I'd ask them, "Well, what happened to the money I deposited?" or some such. "Ummm. Can you hold for a minute? I'm going to transfer you." Get transferred to the next person, only to have to repeat the entire problem OVER AGAIN. The second to last person, I got so fed up that I was literally YELLING at her for about 3 minutes as she told me that she could only refund $35! Having her go through each line of my account --- as she is telling me that after transferring $831 in that account and a $8.03 transaction, there is only $51.04 available. UUUuuuurrrrrrgggggg. I was mad. The next guy I talk to, I tell him the exact same thing that I have talked to the last THREE people about and he immediately says, "Oh, I see what your talking about. Let me take a look at that . . . . Oh, I'll take care of that for you." 

I have learned a valuable lesson today. Key Bank has at least 4 tiers of customer service. The bottom three are filled with incapable, non-problem-solving, irrational, retards. Also if you need anything, keep yelling. There are tricky ways that banks manage to make money - which have nothing to do with investing and such. Many companies I have dealt with over the past 9 years of growing up have taught me that the best money maker in these companies is inconvenience and hassle for customers.

So today, I am thankful for persistence. If I had believed the first three people that tried to tell me it was MY oversight, I would have just handed over $225.50 of my money to said retards.

2. Second fabulous thing today is the blessing of tough love. (This is related to number one.) Whenever I have an experience like I had today - the kind where you are pretty sure that the person on the other end of the line is either knowingly screwing you out of your money (and therefore a thief) or they are not mentally capable of holding the job they have - I am reminded of an experience I had about eight years ago. There had been some unexplained charges on my Zion's bank account and thus I'd overdrafted my account, assuming the money was there. I had called my mom, crying, after I had realized what had happened, asking her what I should do and telling her to help me get it fixed. Now, all of these charges were a really big deal for a college student living off of about $25 dollars a month! I was really worried and didn't know what to do. My mom told me that it was my account and I was going to have to learn how to grow up and take care of it. I argued with her for about 5 minutes about how I didn't know what to do and I didn't know what to say, crying all the time. She just said, "I'm sorry. But it's time to grow up." Growing up wasn't the easiest process for me and I didn't like the prospect of having to be assertive with someone I didn't know. All in all, I learned to take care of it myself - thanks to a loving mother who knew the value of pushing me from the nest. Thanks Mom! Without you, I never would have learned to take care of myself, or anyone else, for that matter!

3. I have successfully completed two of my three nightgowns and they are ADORABLE!!! Do you want to see? Of course you do!!! So I'll show you . . . just kidding, I have to finish the ruffle on Hazel's first. I should be able to post a picture by tonight. I don't think that the dresses are going to happen --- but I keep dreaming, because they would look so beautiful on Sunday morning!!! :)

4. My baby! She is the cutest little thing that ever lived! (With the exception of my other 2 babies!) She LOVES to take baths! Ever since she learned to sit anyway, she has loved taking baths. Over the past two weeks or so she has run into a dilemma, however. What happens when you sit in the bath? You get wrinkly hands, right? Well, she HATES wrinkly hands. As soon as they get pruney I see her start looking funny at her hands, rubbing her fingers together. She then starts trying to wipe them off, splashing all over. She then starts alternately rubbing her fingers together again and holding them up for me to see saying, "Owey. Owey." I laugh and she goes back to playing again for about a minute and then repeats this little ritual of trying to viciously wipe off the wrinkles. It makes me laugh so much! 

As she got out of the bath, I wrapped her in her hooded towel, she reaches up and says, "Hat!" As I got her dressed, putting her arms in her sleeves, she said, "Om. Om." (arm) She is such a sweet little talker! She makes me SO happy! I LOVE being a mom to all my sweet little ladies!

5. I have an incredible husband!!! He works so hard for us! The past month he has been so insanely busy - often staying at work until 3:00 in the morning - all to earn more money for our little family. I love him so much and I appreciate the sacrifices that he is willing to make so that I can stay home with our girls! He is my best friend!

Friday's Fabulous Five!

Friday again, and I am actually going to remember to do my Fabulous's. :)

1. One of the most fabulous things in my life is definitely the fact that my children still seem to love me even when I am a crazy, screaming, ranting, raving, angry mom. They really are the most fabulous children . . . even though they don't seem capable of obeying or staying on task some times.

2. My fabulous husband who works incredibly hard for our little family. Even when he has to stay LATE many, many nights after work to do it. He is truly wonderful!

3. My Christmas tree doesn't appear to be dead yet and we have less than two weeks to go! :) It's a Christmas miracle!

4. The girls' room is finally clean!!! Another miracle. Okay, I did most of the work, but it's finally organized. Hopefully, this will help them with their endeavor of keeping it livable. 

5. Nels will be working late tonight (again) and tomorrow, so I'm going to clean quickly, and start working on some of my sewing projects tonight. Do you want to hear my list of things sewing projects that I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks? I know you do. :)

*Pajamas for all the girls (At this point I probably would have just bought them, but considering that I bought fabric for Hazel's last year, that never got made, and I already have fabric that I can use for Elsie's . . . plus, my mom always did . . . so yeah, pajamas.

*Dresses - BEAUTIFUL DRESSES - for all three little ladies. Yet another project started last year and not completed. I have the most gorgeous pink, blue, and purple brocade to make the dresses out of and I'm really excited . . . . for them to wear them . . . . not necessarily to make them, sadly. Oh well, hopefully they'll turn out to be lovely Christmas dresses instead of Easter dresses. :)

I'm also wanting to make a new shower curtain for my new bathroom, curtain for the girls' bedrooms, and curtains for the living room - but these projects can wait until the new year. :)

So you think I can do it? Three sets of pajamas and three dresses in less than two weeks? We'll see!

National Broadcast Company

Feeling tired and worn out today . . . .

For the majority of our marriage, we have not had television service. We recently got an antenna (how old school is that?!) and so now we have local service. Tonight, being worn out and procrastinating some of my self appointed projects, I sat down and vegged --- while Elsie went to sleep --- and then woke up --- and then went to sleep --- and then woke up --- and so on . . . until I just let her run around like a crazy woman. SO. I was watching TV and all I can say is, "Seriously? THIS is what I've been missing out on? Well, I wasn't missing much." Let's see if I can give you an adequate rundown:

Only ONE slight on Mormons tonight

Christmas memories where so and so's mom slept with Santa Claus - Oh, and he ran over his mom, then waited 8 minutes to call 911.

A guy gets all of his dad's keepsakes, which he then auctions off for pennies in front of a hospital - because he just never felt like his dad loved him - :( sad, huh?

A lesbian couple - one member has cancer and they have a six month old baby. We got to listen to some lady describe how "they were giddy as school girls" when running off to Massachusetts, marrying her "partner". Nice. (Yep, I'm a bigot.)

Then a pregnant illegal alien and her husband come into the hospital in labor and these horrible hideous immigration officers come right in as they're doing a c-section, demanding she has to come with them NOW. **Roll eyes, here.*** Seriously. Immigration officers are ALL horrible unfair people, picking on these innocent people that just break the law, dragging them out of their comfortable homes - and hospitals. Sad.

We are surrounded by such bad people. Mormons. Immigration officers. And, whoops, don't forget the little old lady bringing marijuana brownies into the ER and the doctor who told her husband that she just couldn't (wouldn't) try to work on their marriage anymore. Because he let their kids go to a party. -- Where they got in a car accident. What a jerk of a husband. -- Oh, and he also took in a homeless person's dog. -- Unacceptable. 

Tell you what, six years of not watching NBC really hasn't done me any harm . . . 

(Sorry to any of you out there who think that I'm being harsh. I just wasn't impressed. Just my opinion.)

Did you know?

Did you know, 

that when my house is messy, I don't feel creative. And when I don't feel creative, I don't blog. And when one room is a disaster, I don't feel any desire to clean the others? (Well, except the kitchen . . . . that one just has to be done . . . . every once in a while. :) Then everything feels like a mess and then I don't even feel the gumption to work on the one room that is the root of the problem. 

However! I DID get the rest of my tiles cut last night and I did get the remaining tiles put on the wall this afternoon. And I DID get the drywall painted. Today.

Even though I don't feel like it, I am working hard to get the "messy room" remedied, so that I can have my life back.

Did you also know that when Nels doesn't come home until late at night, I feel like I have no purpose? That's weird. I feel like the day has no end. That I'm not working toward any specific goal. Nels is my goal. :) Too bad I will see very little of him this month. (But seriously, Rachel, come on! You've live much of your married life with your husband not coming home until the wee hours of the morning. What are you complaining about??? One month? Chump change!)

Also, did you know that every year I get a live tree. I love my little tree and I decorating it with painstaking care (For real. I put the lights on myself (well, not ON MYSELF - that would be weird) every year (because I'm obsessive compulsive) and my arms itch all night long from the pricks). I check the water every day. They are such cute little trees. And every year (for the past 4 years) my trees have dried up before Christmas?? This makes me so angry. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I cut off the end. Why do they die?! Tell me!!! This year. I will NOT have a dead tree for Christmas. Come hell or high water, I will not have a dead tree! Do you hear me!?? 

Did you know that every night, I fight going to sleep? Why? Why do I do this? I just don't understand. I'm always tired. I just don't like to and I feel like I have no control over myself. Why can't I be like my sister, Melissa, who is tucked sweetly in her bed with her hubby at her side at 8:00 every night? :) Why do I fight it? I just don't know. Even now, I'm thinking. Maybe I should start a movie. Watching a movie, wrapped in a blanket, with the warm glow of Christmas lights making the room all pink-ish and pretty. It sounds inviting, doesn't it? You want to come watch a movie with me at midnight? Come on, Clanc, I know you're dying to do it!

Did you know that hopefully in the next few days, I'll have something to show you? I'm excited. Too bad work has to come before excited sometimes.