Monday morning modnar....(modnar, that's random spelled backwards)

Well, Monday Morning Random just didn't sound right, and I've got some strange fascination with alliteration I think, so you get Monday Morning Modnar.
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So, the whole story is that I was rude to a customer at work. This is pretty unusual for me. Normally, someone has to really push my buttons to get a reaction out of me (unless of course, it's my kids--it takes very little for them to get the same reaction), and this poor unassuming guy made a simple comment about what he paid for an item several days previously and I guess I became overly defensive. I think I thought he was out to get something for nothing, so I just kind of snapped back. I don't know. At any rate, I was out of line. He complained later to upper management, and I got a write-up. Which I totally deserved. He was offered free passes to another exhibit where I work, which he accepted. So, I was really hoping I'd get a chance to see him again on Saturday so I could properly apologize. But, no such luck. I'm quite embarrassed by my behavior. Free tickets are nice I'm sure, but I think there's a lot to be said for a personal apology. So, that's the story.
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I love coming home to my family. There are always welcome home hugs and kisses. Jason and Justin got to stay up til I got home this weekend, and it was so dang cute! They look at my work shoes and say "Shoe! Shoe!" then get right to work helping me take off my shoes and socks.

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I got called to the nursery at church. Oh yay! Did you sense a little sarcasm there? Actually, I'm kind of torn on the subject. The cool part is I get to serve in the same class my little guys are in. And the bad part is I get to serve in the same class my little guys are in. HaHa. Really, it's not so bad. I do miss Relief Society--somedays I feel like it's the only spiritual nourishment I get. But then, I stop and think about the fact that these two are my last little ones and I need to enjoy them as much as I can. It's fun to watch them in nursery, especially singing time. I love watching them do the actions, and just taking such pleasure in it.

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I'm not really loving my new work schedule. It's mostly mid shifts, which is 12-9. The bright side is that I get to see an hour more of my girls each day. But, I'm seeing about two hours less of my boys, and getting a WHOLE lot less done around the house. I think the hour more with my girls is worth it though. The house doesn't really matter right? And the two hours I'm missing with my boys is mostly naptime anyway.

well, that's all the modnar I can think of at the moment.....

You are God's masterpiece

I couldn't figure out how to imbed this one, but go check out this
youtube clip. I love it!!
Thanks Barbara!!

what do you do when....?

Ok, so how do you repent of bad behavior when the person you were rude to is a customer you'll probably never see again? Is being written up for it and being sincerely remorseful enough?

Pondering things

You know that part at the end of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", where the beast turns into the handsome young prince? Was anybody else totally disappointed with his transformation? I know I was. I had come to love the beast, and seeing him in a different form was unsettling.
I've been thinking about this a little bit the past week or so, ever since I saw this post. What a brave and courageous woman Stephanie Nielson is. Do you remember her story? I'm sure many of you do, but just in case you don't--she and her husband were involved in a plane crash just over a year ago. Their pilot died in that accident, and Stephanie and her husband sustained major burns. Stephanie's covered more than 80% of her body. Stephanie was physically gorgeous before the accident. I can't even begin to imagine her emotions when she first saw herself afterwards. I can't imagine the heartache she felt the first time her children saw her. Despite this, she goes on. I'm just awestruck by her. I don't think I'd have the courage to post a picture of myself.
But here's what I've really been thinking the past couple days. I still see beauty in this woman. It shines through her eyes in that picture. The deeper beauty within emanates.
I'm wondering what she's going to feel some day, when her body is reunited with her spirit--after the Resurrection. She will have come, I believe, to love her body as it is now. Her family will too. This person she has become, and continues to become every day, is being refined into something glorious and even more wonderful than she was before (if that's even possible--she was pretty awesome before, I think); so I really wonder if, when that day happens, will she mourn the loss of this new physical being she has become accustomed to--much like I mourn the loss of "the beast" in that movie?

post script~~ I sincerely hope that this post in no way would be considered offensive to anyone, especially anyone from the Nielson family. I have the utmost respect and admiration for Stephanie and her entire family. I sincerely believe she remains as beautiful a woman as she was before the accident.

B-b-b-back to school!

Gosh, I'm getting forgetful in my old age. I logged onto my blog to upload some pictures of the first day of school, and of course, it takes for.ever. for Blogger to upload pics, so I thought I'd hop on my google reader and catch up on blog reading while I waited. Then I forgot that I was supposed to be posting something on my blog. Get sidetracked much? This picture is actually from church yesterday. I just loved Ashley's ensemble, so I had to snap a picture. She's becoming such a young lady. I can't believe it. She's almost is as tall as I am. It won't be long and she'll be looking down at me. sigh.

Of course, had to get the little guys in a picture too.

OK, back to school pics.

I really didn't take too many.

I let the boys walk to school instead of taking the stroller, so I was pretty preoccupied with keeping them in my line of vision.

Here are my big second and fifth graders!!

I love this pose of Haley's. She looks pretty cool in my opinion. She cracks me up sometimes.

Gotta get the boys in there too.

All lined up, waiting for her teacher.



We really lucked out this year. Haley got Mr. Barney.

He's in our ward (church) too. He's the best second grade teacher at the school I think. He's very awesome with the kids. Haley also lucked out in that she has several of her best buds from church in her class with her too. Hopefully that won't cause any problems during the school year.

I didn't get a shot of Ashley with her teacher or classmates. They went in before I could get over to her line and snap any shots. I didn't even get a goodbye kiss from her. :(

Her teacher seems pretty good though. We got to meet her on Friday. She say's she's a little strict. But I think it will be in a good way. She said she is big on organization and being hands on. Ashley can definitely use help on organization. She's looking forward to the schoolyear. One of her best friend's Miranda is in her class with her. So, I'm happy for her.

Hopefully it will be a great school year!

breakfast of champions

Daddy brought donuts home for breakfast this weekend. mmmmmm, powdered sugar!!!!!!

Can't get enough of this kind of goodness.
They ate more than their share worth.

So, who says you need to eat your Wheaties??

These water bottles, all dozen plus of them, were stored in the hall closet.

My little superhuman donut eating eating machines toted them all into their room,

where we found this lovely pile.

Looks like Daddy could use some of that powdered sugar kick!

I don't know....

I'm starting to think my girls aren't the best of influences on my little guys....... They've taught them how to lazily lounge about the house, and eat food on the furniture.

How to stick gum on their forehead......( she thinks it looks like the bad guy Transformers emblem)

And, yeah--dogpile.

Resolutions Revisited

So, I really can't believe we're already well into August. Didn't this year just begin like, yesterday?
How is it that some minutes seem to drag on for hours and yet months go by in the blink of an eye?
The girls go back to school in a week and a half. I'm so not ready. I haven't bought a thing yet, and it just doesn't feel like they've been home for five weeks already. I really would like to have more time with them--even though they do drive me up the wall half the time.

So anywho, I was contemplating all this the other night, and thought back to my list of resolutions I made in January. I thought I'd go back and see what I'd accomplished so far. Not much I'm sad to say.

• Let's see, I wanted to lose 30 pounds, or at least start eating better and getting more activity. Well so far, I think I've gained thirty pounds. My eating habits have even been declining. I usually skip breakfast and lunch and nibble on junk. I don't drink any water.
• I wanted to do more scrap booking----nope. Haven't even pulled out a picture
• Draw closer to the Lord---nope. I think I've actually gotten farther away lately. My scripture reading and personal prayer are not where they need to be. I do them both, but my reading is minimal and my prayers are rote.
• Do better on my church calling--again, nope! My visiting teaching is nonexistent, and last month the coordinator called all my sisters to get their reports. Bad, bad Mikki!!
• Get my Patriarchal Blessing---well what do ya' know? I did one!!! I did get my blessing in February. Finally!!!
• Get my Temple Recommend and go through the Temple---Oh my gosh!!! I did this one too!! Yay!! There's hope for me yet!
• Keep the Sabbath holy--Well, I'm still so-so on this one. Needs more work.
• Do better at Family Home Evening--again, not doing so good on this one.
• Quality time with my family--I think I'm making improvements on this one, but I could still do better.
• Saving money--nope, not so hot. We did open a second checking account, but we're still working on the savings part.
• Stop using my credit card--sigh. Another one down the tubes.
• Food storage--OK, really, what was I thinking when I made this list. Food storage? Me? Miss Disorganized? Miss I Can't Save Money Let Alone Save Up a Few Extra Cans of Food Now and Then? Get real!
• Organization--um yeah, did you see the previous one? Miss Disorganized, that's me.
• And then there was my home wish list. Yeah, none of that's come to pass yet either. We are still hoping to paint in the next month or two. We'll see how that goes.

So, overall, I'd say I'm failing. Well, maybe a D-. That's OK though, the year's not over yet right?

I think I'm going to re-work my resolutions and pick out a few that I want to focus on for the rest of the year. I've actually managed to do more than I usually do. And they were important ones too, so that has to count for something right?

gems

Well, I'm amazed. Lene knew the answer to the riddle. How did you know it Lene?????
Well girl, email me and I'll be sending you a little prizey for your efforts!!!
So the answer was:
A person is sitting on a stool eating a chicken leg, a dog seizes the chicken leg, so the person throws the stool at the dog and it brings back the chicken leg.

Yeah, it seems kind of obvious now doesn't it?

On to another little gem I discovered while reading this week. I really love this one. I found it in the pages of a book called "Out to Canaan" by Jan Karon. It's part of her Mitford series. They're wonderful books. Just delightful to read in my opinion.
So, here's the little tidbit:
" 'There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person,' Pascal wrote. 'And it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.'
Pascal had dazzled Europe with his sophisticated mathematical equations when he was only sixteen, and written about the God-shaped vacuum when he wasn't much older.
Nearly every day of his priesthood, Father Tim had seen what happened when people tried filling that vacuum with any created thing. Pauline had tried to fill it wih alcohol. Rhody Davis had tried to fill it with someone else's child...
He closed his eyes and prayed for all those who turn to the created thing, expecting much and receiving nothing."

So, my question to myself is this....what am I trying to fill that vacuum with? There's only one thing out there that will fill it. Nothing else even begins to occupy the space. Am I looking to Him to fill that void?

Riddle me this

So, Ashley got a book of riddles from the library, and Sunday morning we sat around trying to figure some of them out. Fun way to spend an hour. But I gotta' say there were a few in there that made me raise my eyebrows. This one for example, I wouldn't even try to figure out. I was like, "just give me the answer already, that's way too ridiculous!!!"



So, let me know what you think the answer is.....there might be something in it for ya'!



Two legs was sitting on three legs holding one leg,

Along came four legs and seized one leg,

So two legs picked up three legs and threw it at four legs,

And four legs brought back one leg.



What do you think ?
Of course, now that I'm looking at it, knowing the answer, it seems obvious. But when Ashley read it to us, it seemed impossible to figure out.

Count Your Many Blessings

Photo courtesy of Photobucket

"Suppose for a moment, that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. Which of our limbs and faculties would be left? Would I still have my hands and my mind? And what about loved ones? If God were to take from me all those persons and things for which I have not given thanks, who or what would be left of me?"
~~~~~Patrick Henry Reardon

Random recap regarding really redundant reality

Ok, so my alliteration sucks. What can I say? At least I can still remember what it is, right?

Thought I'd just update a little of what's been going on at our house lately.

Well, let's see. The other day we made home-made ice cream...... Here's our ingredients....

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Shake it! Shake it! shake it!!

aaahhh!! Cold hands!!!

I made mine chocolate, of course!

The taste test.

It came out pretty good. A little not so creamy, maybe. But it was still icy good.

I've heard that the smaller your ice, the creamier the ice cream. We'll have to try that next time.

Here we all are, just chillin' in the yard.

It was a nice evening for a stroll, which we did and then we hung out and watched the sunset, and the moon rise. Some of these pictures came out pretty blurry. Sorry.
The End

WhoooHoooo!!!

I'm so excited!!! Remember this little thing I posted about a couple days ago????

I won!!! I can't even tell you how thrilled I am to have won it!

Dreams really do come true! Thanks Shauna!!!

Greetings!