Not to be overly dramatic or anything, but....

I don't even know how to go about writing this post. It's probably going to come across as super long and whiny, but here goes!

So, we're busy. Aren't we all? Typical Yoder schedule:

Sunday: church 1-4pm, Relief Society Presidency meeting (I'm the secretary), 7-8:30pm
Monday: school/work, gymnastics 6-7pm

Tuesday: school/work, Elder's Quorum Presidency meeting/visits 7:30-9:00pm (Mark's the 2nd counselor). Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, I have Activity Days at my house from 4:30-5:30pm.

Wednesday: school/work, gymnastics 6-7pm, Mark works the night clinic till 8:00pm
Thursday: school, Mark's day off (when we do a lot of catch up stuff, errands and projects). Every 2nd Thursday of the month is the Relief Society "weeknight meeting" 7-8:30pm
Friday: school/work
Saturday: Every 3rd week, Mark works at the clinic from 10-2:00pm.

Every 3rd week, Mark also has to take call, meaning he usually has to go do rounds on newborns at the hospital before and after work, take phone calls all night long at any hour, work on Saturdays and Sundays, and can't leave town.

He also has two monthly work meetings and one or two monthly hospital meetings. And he's had to lock the church up every night for a week (three different times). Then he had to speak in church. And then last month, he got assigned to teach new member discussions to a family in our ward. They wanted me to come to all the meetings (and start hosting multi family FHEs) but that hasn't been happening. We already have several families that we home/visit teach every month. We try to be obedient when assigned something relating to our callings.

Now, I don't TRY to exacerbate things. I don't volunteer at Madelyn's school, I'm not in PTA, I don't sign up for something if I can avoid it. There's a lot of things I'm not doing that I should, church wise, like temple night, the ward cannery, FHE, etc. But there's always something that comes up. Ward parties, having friends over, babysitting, trips to Hurricane and St. George to visit family.

Of course there's also the usual homework, housework, errands, paying bills, cooking, laundry shopping, changing diapers, getting Madelyn's homework done, and my own projects and blog. And do you have any idea how much time Luke alone takes up?!? (OK, you probably have some idea...) He's so needy, constantly wanting to be entertained, a picky eater, doesn't like to sleep in his own bed, destructive, just learned how to throw tantrums...anyway...

Things have been more hellish than usual. I've spent the last six weeks feeling completely overwhelmed. Going to bed feeling overwhelmed, waking up dreading the day. Just so much stress and busyness and work! Then we found out that our little cousin Stephen Peterson (Madelyn's age) has a rare and agressive form of brain cancer and has undergone multiple surgeries and procedures in the last three weeks. Mark's elderly Aunt Doris (who lives in Hurricane with his parents) is dying from cancer. Yesterday I found out that my childhood friend Terra (Baugh) Gaylord has a brain anuerism and had to have surgery today. Madelyn has apparently been feeling the stress, too and started having potty accidents and school and home almost daily.

For the entire month of October, I had exactly five days out of the month that didn't have something penciled into the calendar. It was insane. A few weeks before that, we started planning a big "Visiting Teaching Conference" for Relief Society, to be held November 6th. It was decided that I needed to update our old RS directories, which looked like this:

 

The old directory had been saved as a document that I could edit on the computer, but as I started working on it, it became apparent that I needed to transfer the whole thing over to a new format. I had to send around a clipboard asking for updates from the sisters for a month. Even then, there were gaps missing in information. Stuff the official church records didn't even have. So I had to somehow figure it all out. Names, addresses, phone #s and birthdays for 107 women.

(This was in between updating the master birthday list that includes all the sisters, and compiling our monthly newsletter/visiting teaching message/emergency preparedness message.)

It nearly killed me! And my president wanted me to print everything off myself and assemble 100 booklets, because "We already have the paper, and the copier in the library is free." (What she said after I asked if I could just have Staples copy center do the directories.) Luckily, she came to her senses a couple weeks later and I was able to FINALLY get all those missing gaps filled in and have the booklets professionally printed (which cost all of $35).

 

(The old next to the new) Not a single phone number or birthday is missing. I was so proud of myself.

I actually cried when I opened this box...

And....... I also needed to make new visiting teaching partnership cards, all cute with magnets on the back. These were harder to put together. There was no saved template, so I had to just go off of church records, typing it all up. I spent probably 30 hours (no exaggeration) at the computer. There's an average of six phone numbers, three addresses and three birthdays on each card (all of that info had to be gathered from several different church sources that I'd had the executive clerk print off for me) and it required a LOT of concentration. 

Then I had to print them all off, mount them on two different kinds of cardstock and put magnets on the back. I think there were 74 of them. The RS President before our current one had left a gigantic box of scrapbook paper, which they wanted me to use, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It made me feel 100 years old. Think early 90s pastel prints......

They turned out very cute!

So November 6th finally came, and of course my brother Kevin decided to bless his baby that same morning down in Washington. So, I had stayed up till 2:00am getting everything finished and ready, woke up at 7:00am, we raced down for the blessing, stuck around for lunch, came straight back (through the sleet) and I had to grab all this stuff and go straight to our ward for the VT Conference, which by then we'd been working on for three months.

Did I mention that I was also singing in a musical number for this meeting? And we'd had weekly practices for the six weeks leading up to it?? 

And also that they wanted to hand out little hand lotions (with quotes attached, naturally) to everyone, and that I'd had to find 50 trial sized lotions of the appropriate scent and price?

AND the president wanted to serve refreshments (homemade pumpkin rolls!) but at the last minute realized that it was fast Sunday so we couldn't??

I also had to have a sample handmade card ready to show,  which brings me to the next bit:

After I came home and collapsed that day, it took me two full days to get my house clean again. But I couldn't rest! Oohhhhhh no. Our "Weeknight Meeting" (Enrichment) was this past Thursday, and I somehow was one of the three people in charge of it. Remember the box of hideous paper that the former RS President left us? Well, that spawned the idea that we should have a card making night! (Ironically, I don't think that any of that paper was used by any of us, because like I said, it was hideous.)

So my next task was to cut out all the paper needed for about 36 handmade cards. My friend Erin offered to come help me, and I was going to call her on Wednesday but ended up having to watch my neighbor's kids for three hours while she went to an emergency court hearing (her husband just left her and it's been a big mess). Then of course we had gymnastics and I wasn't able to get started till that night.

 

So Thursday rolled around and I still didn't have anything ready. I got started, but then had to stop to go to my annual GYN appointment. Is there a more horrifying way to start your day?!? Blah.

Then Mark, Luke and I grabbed some Chinese food at a new place in town for lunch when we were out running errands. Luke missed his nap (or maybe slept for 10-15 minutes) and I could tell he was coming down with a cold. He was so cranky. So, Mark ran interference while I spent the rest of the afternoon frantically cutting out these 150 rectangles of coordinating scrapbook paper and making these sample cards:

 

Each person got to choose one design and pick a stack of coordinating papers that I cut out to make their card.

 I made it there just in time and helped everyone make their cards. More than one person commented how nice it would have been if they'd have been able to make a whole SET of greeting cards (with us having done all the prep work first, of course) instead of just three! Ugh. Overall, it went well, but about halfway through, I started feeling yucky. At 8:30pm, I finally made it back home.

I had to go straight to the bathroom. Luke followed me in and started climbing all over me, making me feel worse. Then all the sudden, the effects of the (bad, as it turns out) Chinese food hit me and the vomiting and diarrhea started simultaneously. And do you know what Luke did? He started laughing at me!! He was laughing more hysterically with my every retch. Finally, Mark came and grabbed him. 

We were both so tired after that day, so even though it was only 9:00pm, I crawled into bed with Luke.

...3...2...1

Then he threw up all over the both of us.

So we had to shower off, change the sheets, and get back into bed. Then I had to race to use the bathroom again, and while I was in there, he threw up all over the sheets again.

It continued like this all night. It got to where Luke would wake up and dry heave every 20 minutes, and I was to sick myself to help him. We had towels all over the bed and floor, and when day finally dawned poor Luke was filthy with vomit and bile. It was the longest night of my LIFE.

We spent the next three days mostly just sleeping, and I finally got dressed yesterday. But by then, Madelyn was feeling sick with a sore throat. She stayed home from school yesterday and today, and I finally took her into the clinic. Guess what!

She tested positive for strep throat!!

Someone kill me now!

Luke is still sick with the cold he caught last week, although he still found the energy to do this to the stamp stuff I'd left out:

Before I put all that stuff away, I decided to use up the leftover paper I'd cut out for RS to finish making  the cards. Instead of stamps, I used mostly stickers I had:

 

 

And so here I am. Today I had Activity Days again (where I host a group of church girls aged 8-9 at my house to do stuff), but I only have one more on December 6th. I asked to be released from that calling, and a couple weeks ago was told that they're searching for my replacement.

I already feel a ton better, now that all of these responsibilities have been met, and I'm hoping that I won't EVER have another couple of months like that again. I feel like Frodo coming off of Mount Doom.

Now all I have to worry about is the holidays!

And by the way, don't eat at China Kitchen on 200 North in Cedar City.

My morning so far

Crack of dawn: Mark gets up and leaves for a pediatric meeting at the hospital.
8:00 am: I hit the snooze button.
8:05 am: I roll out of bed and look out my window. It's wet and dreary. I go to wash my face and get dressed.
8:15 am: I come out of the bathroom and see this:

Oh. So THAT'S the way it's going to be. I see. I didn't realize I had moved to freaking Denver.

8:17 am: I try to drag Madelyn out of bed. She rolls over in her sleep and says, "I don't want hot dog slices!!"  ???

8:45 am: We dig our winter coats back out of the closet and trudge to the car.

 We slip and slide and hydroplane in the slush to school. I play beachy Colbie Caillat music to assuage my feelings and channel some Malibu warmth. It snows even harder.

Moving to California is getting more appealing every day.

9:00 am: I go to Lin's to pick up a few groceries I need to make dinner for a friend who just had a baby. This isn't so bad...Luke's got a Dum Dum (my secret errands weapon) and there's cutouts of people from Pirates of the Caribbean everywhere. A man talking like a pirate* tells me to check out sales over the PA system. Johnny Depp with extra eyeliner rather improves my mood.

9:20 am: I go to check out, and discover that my wallet is not in my purse! Again.** I have to leave my stuff and go back home to get it.

 I get home and see this cryptic message on my porch. It's a well known fact that four of our neighbor kids watch the premises waiting for Madelyn to get home and play.

9:25 am: I go back to Lin's to get my groceries. Thankfully, they have the best customer service (and donuts) in town. If this had happened at Walmart, I would have wanted to shoot myself.

 9:36 am: We finally arrive back home. Luke is still in his thermal jammies and bulldog slippers--no diaper change yet--slurping on a yogurt drink I put in a princess sippy cup. He's like, "Whatever, mom. I just want to go inside and watch Little Einsteins."

11:30 am: ...it's still snowing! The flakes are as big as quarters. There's probably two or three inches now. The rest of my day involves cooking, a play date, ballet, delivering a meal, a stake RS meeting, Mark's working late and then will be doing EQ visits till 9:00 pm.

I entered a drawing for a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean at the grocery store, because I don't know about you, but I sure need a tropical vacation, or at the very least a movie date this weekend to see Johnny. And some dry pants and socks would be nice.....


*Although contrary to what he said, International Talk Like A Pirate Day isn't till September 19th
**I feel the need to explain that I keep my floppy fabric purse shoved into a black cubby by my front door. It's down low and unless I crouch way down, I can't see if my dark purple wallet has fallen out. Which it does all the time because I kick my purse in there to get it out of the way, and then I'm always grabbing it and flying out the door in a rush when I leave. But since this is the fourth time it's fallen out recently, I'm going to stick an extra debit card in a different, less volatile part of my purse. So there.

12 hours of housework later.....

10/13/10

Seriously. I don't know what came over me yesterday, but I cleaned the whole frickin' house! (something I used to do weekly, but......) Monday I had spent approx. 6 hours just sitting on my rear in an unmotivated stupor (thanks, Mark for keeping me up all night with your hacking and nose blowing--sinus infection or not). Yesterday I woke up, then:

Took Madelyn to school, fixed Luke breakfast, washed dishes, gave Luke a bath, did 4 loads of laundry, cleaned both bathrooms, took out all the trashes, swept, mopped and vacuumed every floor in the house, changed the sheets, cleaned the bedrooms, de-cluttered, went through the mail, made tacos, took Madelyn to her school carnival, and by midnight it seemed like everyone's needs were finally met so I took a shower and climbed into bed.

Then, of course, Madelyn had scary dreams and was crying because the temporary tattoo she got on her cheek at the carnival wouldn't come off~which she had insisted on keeping on just a few hours before. (I am recording these priceless mothering memories for 20 years in the future when I am kid free and can finally get uninterrupted sleep.) I was up with her from 4-6:00 am. Then Luke woke up and was squirmy and congested and had trouble going back to sleep. Then Mark finally woke me up at 8:17 am because he had to go do rounds at the hospital and I only had 28 minutes to get Madelyn (who was still in bed) to school.

NOW can I PLEASE get to MY to-do list????

Here's what I've got lined up:

Sewing projects (must be completed by Saturday)

Almost done with this (I finished Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility, so I figured I might as well read the rest)

I need to make cookies for the poor soul who had to substitute teach my Primary class. Perhaps you thought I would just eat chocolate chips out of the bag? NOT that there's anything wrong with that...

10 new magazines to be perused....

Maybe watch the Netflix movie I've had for two weeks now

Sheesh. I'd better get started. Do any of you feel like you have to get all your chores done before you can craft or relax guilt-free? Or is that just me?....

And from the youngest member of the family:

Mess of the Day

by Luke

Luke sees us putting stuff in the garbage all day long

So he figures he should put stuff in there, too. I had just made him scrambled eggs and he grabbed the cooking spray (which is not empty, by the way) and put it in. He has also taken to depositing his brand-new toys in there, putting the mail key in the shredder basket, putting books in the laundry basket and placing toys and puzzle pieces in the compartment of his diaper pail where the stinky diapers go.

Remind me to sort through the trash cans on a tri-daily basis now.

You do the math

9/14/10

So far today (it's 9:19 am):

1 wet bed
1 extra load of laundry to do today
10 minutes of sulking about getting dressed (by Madelyn, also by me)
1 threatened spanking
5 minutes spent trying to find something that starts with the letter "D" for show and tell
1 blue dolphin that I luckily remembered from the 20 minutes I spent cleaning 100 things off the floor in her bedroom last night
2 spoonfuls of sugar to get Madelyn to eat her (already sweet, strawberry) oatmeal
31 Kleenex yanked out of the box and piled onto the floor (thank you Luke)
1 pair of lost glasses (Madelyn's, of course)
137 cherry puffs that dumped onto the floor while frantically looking for said glasses
6 times I've tried not to lose my temper

Oh wait--make that 7........

1 trip to school
2 Tylenol, 1 Sudafed and 1 chill pill I need to take while I spend the next 3 hours cleaning the house and trying to find those *&%&^! GLASSES!

It's been a lovely morning!

Is this a woman thing in general, or is it just ME??

8-15-10

Me, getting ready for bed:

Change, feed, rock the baby
Pick up Madelyn off the couch, who is already asleep, and take her potty, brush her teeth, get her jammies on, tuck her in, say prayers
Wash dishes (domestic goddesses never leave them in the sink)
Decide to leave dishes in the sink
Write e-mail, surf internet
Pick up toys
Sweep floor (Luke likes to leave little snacks for the ants)
Fold laundry
Prepare Primary lesson/take garbage to curb
Watch TV or read magazine on the couch
Eat bedtime snack
Take a shower
Put on lotion
Get jammies on
Lengthy and elaborate skin care routine
Brush teeth
Potty break
Touch up pedicure
Put away laundry
Blog

(At this point, Mark, who has been playing computer games with his headphones on this whole time, gets up and eats some cookies and milk)

Baby wakes up
Change, feed and rock baby again

Mark gets changed into jammies, brushes teeth and is in bed, asleep, in 3.4 minutes

Potty break
Check to see if the doors are locked
Change thermostat
Kiss the kids goodnight
Drink of water
Another potty break (I can't sleep with even a single microliter in my bladder, okay??)
Lotion hands
Stare at clothes in the closet deciding on tomorrow's outfit
Drink of water
Prayers
Crawl into bed
Baby wakes up............

Summertime

7/3/10

It feels like summer over here! We've been hanging out in the front yard while Mark works on the sprinklers, going to the park, flying kites and drinking milkshakes,* going to St. George to shop and getting reacquainted with that awesome sensation of standing inside of a giant convection oven.

*Ever had to scrub milkshake out of a couch at 1:00am? That's what I was doing last night. I was making jewelry and didn't notice that Madelyn had fallen asleep holding hers and the whole thing dumped over and went underneath the cushions. It was fantastic!

We are going to be busy working this weekend (the great American pastime!), but I have some evidence of our kids having fun**, at least.

**You know what I've discovered about myself? I have to be coerced into having fun and "relaxing". Like last night: "Come to the park with us!" Me: "Nooooo--then I won't be able to work on anything!" I need a life. One that does not involve seven hundred unfinished projects.

Mark letting her have it with the hose. She wanted him to do this.

"My sister is crazy!"

Look at those lil' Yoders! Aw. Those kids get so filthy. Look how green the water is...

Summer dance classes are going well for Madelyn

After she got home from class one day, she decided she needed to go hammer some tent stakes into the lawn.

♥!

Back after a costume change...

Those #&^%*%$$^@*!! sprinklers! We have had so many issues lately!

I'm glad that quilt I made is finally getting some use.

So there you have it. Now I've got to get back to work. Or I may just surf the internet for baby shower ideas. (My sis Maria found out she's having a girl!!!!!!) Procrastinate now, freak out later...yep, sounds like a good plan to me.

PS. I heard that M. Night Shyamalan butchered The Last Airbender movie. I was lying awake last night being annoyed about it.

What transpires when my crazy, OCD twin comes to town:

Ughh--I'm done--1:42am--I'm so happy, can't you tell?

5/31/10

Yes, that would be her--I mean me. There's the sane me and then the me who has crafting delusions of grandeur. Last year (after a similar, six month long OCD episode) after doing my sister Maria's wedding (see post here), I had the great idea to make her a wedding scrapbook! Since, you know, I needed another huge project to do. So I got a bunch of pictures enlarged and printed off and was going to do it, but then we got our house in Cedar City and I had to spend the next few months packing, moving, unpacking, getting ready for a baby, giving birth au naturel (French for "ouch") and then the holidays, jewelry, sewing, and house projects took over.

Anyway, so Maria's birthday was last Monday and I thought I could maybe get it done and give it to her then. There was no backing out because I'd already bought all the paper and stuff, and so began "The Project that Ate Luke's Room and Also My Brains and a Good Chunk of My Sanity."

See? Luke's in there sleeping amongst the carnage. For some reason, I like to work sitting on the floor. The aroma from the diaper pail was getting pretty ripe, though. And by the time I was kid-free to get some work done, Luke was in there trying to sleep. And he did not appreciate the light being on, nor my scrapbooking music. Not the best choice, location-wise.

My kids got to be desperate for my attention:

"Maybe if I cut a few more teeth..."
"Maybe if I get sick and need antibiotics..."
"Maybe if I stop taking naps and sleeping through the night..."
"Maybe if I play with the scissors..."
"Maybe if I get poop on my clothes or pee on the floor or front porch"
"Maybe if I go roll around in the dirt pile..."
"Maybe if I fall off the bed..."
"Maybe if I interrupt her every five minutes..."
"Maybe every two minutes would be better. Or thirty seconds."

"Maybe if I fall asleep waiting for her in a very suffocating manner..."

(Don't worry--he was fine)

In the end, I got the finishing touches done about ten minutes before I had to leave to Hurricane yesterday (almost a week after Maria's birthday) for her and my dad's birthday dinner. It took a total of three weeks and was 90 pages long--40 pages in an 8x8 book and 60 in a 12x12 book. "Oy vey!" is right. (*edit: my friend Rachelle just pointed out that 40+60= 100. Duh....well, I actually only did scrapbook 90 of the pages--the last 10 were left blank for Maria to put stuff in.)

Just have to throw this in of my nephew Nathan, who inherited his hamminess from his dad (my brother) Tyler:

Uh, that would be him in the back there. I handed the books over and was so glad.

I honestly enjoyed doing this for her (the creative parts--not so much the tiredness and the ornery kids and the mounting laundry) and am happy that I can FINALLY not have that nagging "unfinished project" feeling floating around in the back of my brain. Here's a few of the pages from the 8x8 book of Maria's bridal portraits (which me, my sister and my dad took) that I got photos of before my camera battery unceremoniously died:

Isn't she beautiful?? Now somebody please tell me not to take on any more projects for a while.

Oh, wait. I already have mending, painting, picture hanging, decorating and landscaping lined up to do???... It's a good thing I just restocked my chocolate stash.