Friday's Fabulous Five

1. Christmas was wonderful. So very wonderful! I was still sewing up until it was 'pajama time'...seems I can't help myself. :) What can I say? I think it's in my blood.

The girls declared it was the "best Christmas ever!" They make my heart so happy. I love my little children so much! I love our lives. I love where we are at right now.

In many ways this year has been the hardest of my life; in others it has been the sweetest. It was a joyous Christmas a truly filled with gratitude for our Savior and His tender mercies in our lives.

2. My Violet has been having a hard time lately. She is trying so hard to be happy, but it seems often she is really strung out. As if she just can't control her feelings. It's been going on for months and I've finally figured out what it is!!!

Isn't that wonderful?!

At first I thought she was just very tired and needing to start taking naps again. Nope. Then I thought maybe just "terrible twos"? No. That's just not her personality. She is such a contented little lady. Sick? No. It's been going on too long.

As I watched her craziness, I found myself completely understanding how she felt and so I made an eye appointment. Lo and behold, she is far-sighted. Just like her mama. (Although thankfully not as bad as I am.)

She'll be getting new little glasses in a week or so. :) I am so glad that I'm familiar enough with what it feels like to deal with eye strain that I was able to recognize it and help her even though she is still very tiny.

3. We get to spend several days with nearly all of Nels's family this coming weekend and I'm so excited! I love the Chicks! There are always lots of games and laughs when they get together. - We may even get to see my SIL, Melyni, and her family - who have spent the last three years on England.

We are going to have such a wonderful time!

4. For Christmas this year Nels gave me a sweet gift! A plane ticket for a weekend in Arizona with two of my good friends! I am so excited!!! I wish it weren't still a month away!

5. Last fabulous news: the Christmas candy is finally gone!

(finally=2 days later) :)

It's a blessed day indeed!

Post edit: Yes. Of course I meant ON England. That makes perfect sense!

A Priceless Conversation with my Princess

A conversation between Elsie and I yesterday as we put on her new boots --- the camouflage ones we got at Walmart last week --- since apparently whoever orders their merchandise is a sexist who refuses to get girls' snow boots into their store.

Elsie: I really like my new boots, Mom. They were really expensive, huh?

Me: Umm...no. They weren't too bad. I'm glad you like them.

Elsie: Yeah. I just really like the word expensive.

Me: Uhhhhh...that's interesting. I really like the word Affordable.

Elsie: Well, I guess that's kind of a nice word too...

Sure love my little princess! :)

A Little Love Goes a Long Way

There are a great many people in the world more eloquent than I.

One of those people, I am so very blessed to call my dear friend.

Lynsey says it so perfectly, so beautifully, and so honestly.

I love her.

Finding the Worth of a Soul {on Mormon Feminism and wearing THOSE PANTS!!!}


and if you haven't any idea what pants she referring to:

MormonChildBride

I've Been Dreaming...

...of exactly this.

It just so beautiful! Some places are just made to have snow.

I may be singing a different tune when I'm sequestered at home for weeks while Nels takes the van to work --- since his car is bound to be worthless going up and down the mountain in the snow.

But for now, I just can't get enough of this white fluff. :) Clinging to the cedars and pines... {sigh}

Vi and I took a little walk today. The cat, Midnight, is more like a dog. He tagged along. We followed some dog tracks into the trees and found lots of pretty things.

When we returned I discovered one of the awesome things about having satellite internet...When it snows hard, you have to clean it off...

We're going to have to devise another plan...

Tomorrow the girls are going to build a snowman army in our backyard and go sledding down our non-exsisten hill. :) What I really wish is that we could close off the road for an hour and go sledding all the way from our house to the bottom! That would be awesome!

I really love living here.

Tomato Mountain

Our backyard.

Yeah. It's rough. I know.

I got a wild hair last week and decided to actually follow through on something I'd told my kids we could do! It's kind of a novel idea for me, but it was so much fun we may do it again in the future.

Hazel and I were browsing Pinterest one afternoon when we came across a really cute and earthy idea for a wreath. We loved it. I pinned it. Then we decided to get started on it right away. (An almost unheard of experience at our house! I can assure you....my poor kids.)

Since moving up here, every time we go out I admire the beautiful mosses growing on everything. They are so green and lush and lovely and I LOVE all the different shades. I knew that we could find more than enough for our project in the backyard (and in the neighbor's backyard, but shhhh! don't tell!), so we set out with our basket in hand -- admiring the the misty mountain (hop!) along the way.

I won't tell you the story about another time I couldn't keep my mouth shut and trotted myself down the road to confronted our backyard neighbor about the condition of that horse. She looked so pretty standing there watching us. Just so perfectly beautiful!

We ventured into the woods, picking moss, enjoying the cedars and the birch trees and finding lots of hidden treasures on the way - a perfect little creek, lots of wacky fungi, and three deer.

And some really delightful children! Violet doesn't like the scary, dark trees, but she let me give her a piggy-back ride and got down enough to stomp in some puddles.

These girls make my heart overflow with love. They are so perfect!

Our haul was pretty good! We got tons of lovely textures and colors and it was so fun to see my little women get so excited over picking a big piece of moss with no tears. :)

I was feeling extra grateful to have this girl with me and feeling well enough to go tromping through the trees with me! She is always such a big help and such a sweet friend to spend the day with. I'm so lucky!

That night we let the moss dry, but the next day when Lilie got home from school, we glued all those pretty carpets onto our wreath form and even added some little friends to greet our visitors.

I love it so much that I almost want to put in on the inside of the door. :) 

Also, I learned that I am not great at tying bows. The resulting shenanigans with that one almost drove me to drink, but turned out pleasing - after I had about a cup of red glitter in my lap.

Another thing we did last week was get our Christmas tree! There is a Christmas tree farm just down the road from us and since Hazel wasn't quite up to a full-blown mountain experience, we decided to go there rather than head for the hills to cut our own. 

It turned out so pretty!

I was able to finish up the last two stockings while watching Animal Planet at the hospital. They make my heart happy.

All in all, it was a successful week. Filled with a few projects and lots of healing!

Now on to this week - which will be defined by the number of loads of laundry that actually get folded and put away!

Gosh, my life of servitude it hard!

P.S. The title of this post is coined from Violet. She calls the mountain we live on Tomato Mountain. The girls have even made up a song about it. It makes me laugh. Much. Tomato Mountain! Oh, YES! Tomato Mountain . . . 

From the Top of my Soap Box . . .

. . . on Feminism.

It's almost like a dirty word in my mind.

When I think of FEMINIST - I always equate it with INequality, rather than Equality. Perhaps that is not what it was meant to be, but the fact remains that our society links Feminism with men being less and women being everything.

At least, in MY 30 years, that's what I've observed. Over and over and over and over and over and . . .

Feminism is a movement. - with all sorts of agendas attached to it. I wonder how anyone could even say that feminism is a fight for equality? If men launched an equally named campaign (named . . . Masculism?? ha ha), would anyone hear about it and think, "They must want to be treated equally! Hey! I'm going to become a Masculist. Ya know . . . for equality." ;)

No. That would be stupid.

I'm not going to say that Feminism has done nothing for me. That wouldn't be true. Of course it has.

But I think that much of what has been accomplished has been at the expense of families and children. Fooling women into thinking that they can have EVERYTHING and that nothing would be sacrificed in the process. OR that whatever sacrifices (such as their marriages and children) WERE made, were worth it - to prove that they were powerful and good enough. If not better! than those around them. To prove that they were WORTH something.

Is society or are families better for Feminism? Are marriages happier?

I'd say that's questionable. In my (not so humble) opinion, I'd say an unhappy marriage 60 years ago, would probably still be an unhappy marriage today.

What about women? Are they happier? I'm not so sure.

Whatever inequalities have been in our society, they didn't come from God. I feel that it is certainly worth all of our time to fight for fairness. For equal opportunities. But a woman's VALUE does not come from that same screwed-up society. It comes from within. I believe that it comes from God. It comes because she is herself. And the same is true for men. We would be far better off if children (girls AND boys) were taught that in their HOMES. Rather than by going around, screaming FOUL! and trying to pass more and more laws (or lawsuits). --- Or by trying to bring men down.

{{{breathe}}}

Okay. Now, on to what was going to be my original short blog post about something I had on my mind. This is what I had intended before I decided to start ranting . . .

I read an interesting blog post today - from a woman named Courtney Kendrick - or C.Jane. There are some things that she thinks that are very similar to me and some that are really different, but I enjoy reading her thoughts regardless and have often come away with some good "food for thought". REALLY good food for thought.

Today she was writing about how she's realized that she is a Feminist. I thought it was interesting and couldn't help but comment to her. I have zero problem with her writing what she thinks (how stupid would that be? to think that someone else's opinion is wrong?!), but sometimes she presents things in such a way that it sounds as if ALL Mormons have had the same experiences or feelings.

So, just out of curiosity ('cause maybe I'm a freak), whether you are or were raised a Mormon or not, did you grow up thinking that boys were better, more important, or more valued in society's or God's eyes?

Yes or no, what do you think caused you to feel that way?

Because I never did.

Maybe it was being raised by a strong Mom and a Dad that treated me (and her) as if there was nothing in the world that I couldn't do or be. Or maybe I've always been completely oblivious to what was around me?

Whichever it is,

I know that this can be a sensitive issue, but I'd love to know your thoughts!

Give me some Brain Food. :)

I'd love to listen to and think about whatever you say. Today (and probably over the next few months or years), I'd love to have something to put on "my back burner" and stir around from time to time. --- As I'm trying to see the world around me more accurately, raise my daughters to be happy, and be more compassionate and understanding myself.

I have some strong opinions, but I really love other people's opinions and viewpoints, too. We are all so different and have had such different lives!