A Plea for Help!

I needed to get your attention, did it work??:) Really, I do need your help though:)

I have a good friend who is struggling with the overwhelming feeling (that we all know) about housework. She got me thinking.

Take two minutes for me, grab your camera, take it around your house and take three pictures of the reality of your home (good, bad, or ugly!) Don't straighten a thing, just take three pictures and post them on your blog. Put the link to this post on your blog and make a comment on this post to let me know you joined in the fun.

My point in this activity is to accomplish one of two things, one: I will either prove to all of you that I am the failure when it comes to keeping my house clean. Or, two: I will prove that we are all striving for the same goal and none of us are perfect. We are all taking one day at a time, doing the Dang Best we can at THAT MOMENT. As Bob says on the movie What About Bob, "Baby Steps to the bathroom, Baby Steps to the dishes, Baby Steps to the vacuum...;)"

Join me in this moment of unveiling:)

Thirteen Years From Now

I take on this week in preparation for thirteen years from now. Thirteen years from now my son will come to me in a state of panic. He will tell me that there is no way he can reach the goal, no way to meet all of the deadlines, just No Way! And I will say, "Where there's a will, son, there's a way." I will then take him to the bookshelf in the family library that is lined with the books that were once my blogs. I will turn to the year 2009, summer semester, this section will tell him about how I found the will to meet all of my college deadlines. I only pray that it will be a good example. We shall see...

Deadlines:

• Poetry Piece
• Advancement on my Final Piece
• Reading review
• Final Exam (100 points, no small task)
• Research Paper (8 pages)
• No discussion questions up yet, I PRAY they don't appear!!

Afternoon Walk Through The Wildflowers: Cedar Breaks

Leif managed to pry me away from my computer and the house yesterday. I am so glad that he did! We took the afternoon and went up to Cedar Breaks. We had a wonderful time walking along a couple of little trails and experimenting with our camera. It was warm and then chilly with some rain, then warm again. The wild flowers are out and it was beautiful. I remember going to Cedar Breaks with my family and have a great time. Great Memories! I felt so rejuvenated after such a long week!

That evening we went to Leif's brother's house and had a fabulous shish-ka-bob dinner together. We stuffed ourselves! We then filled up even more on delicious smores. We visited until late into the night and still could have stayed longer. It was soo nice to just sit out on their porch and enjoy the peace that surrounds them in their little mountain town.

This first slide show is a show of my favorite pictures from the outing:


This next show is the other 4o Great pictures:)

Leif's Offering Massages in SL: Schedule Now!

We're coming into Salt Lake for a family reunion the weekend of the 24th-27th. We would like to stay longer and visit with family and friends. Leif always regrets not bringing his massage table when we come because he has a lot of people who ask him for a massage. So, this time we want to plan ahead.

If you are interested in a massage sometime within the last week of July, let us know! Leif charges 35$ per 1 hour. He can do the massage in Sandy (at my parent's house.) Or, he can come out to you if it works with the schedule.

The table takes up a lot of space, and the massages take up time and energy. So we'll only be able to follow through with this idea if we get several appointments. So talk to your friends and family and let us know ASAP!

I have tried to keep my mind on one path today. Unfortunately, I have failed. There are too many thoughts, too many things left un-finished. I will not

Today's focus

I am thrilled to say that yesterday I found the chamber door opened. I was able to make good headway with my final piece. It will be a long story, so I have a long way to go. But I really hope it continues to flow.

Today, I will take another road. I have to focus on technical writing and research. Wish me luck!! An interesting side-note: I just looked over the essays that I am supposed to analyze. They all revolve around health and nutrition. This is what my research paper is also about. It will be a health-ful day. Nice not to have to jack knife back and forth between subjects... Time to get started.

Fiction Piece

This week we are focusing on a few things. Story and plot, flashback, and scene and summary, to name a few.

As I was reading the chapter I took notes of things that I wanted to remember as I write this week. I am pondering the idea of starting my fiction piece with a Flashback. We'll see how it goes. I also want to focus on developing the characters in the piece and discovering the plot. I'm not sure if the plot will revolve around the destruction and rebuilding of a marriage, the destruction of a marriage and the karma that comes to the wife who chose to destroy it, or the loss of the nanny's innocent perspective on the world around her. I'll start writing with these floating in mind, and we'll see what comes out.

Fiction Piece

This week we are studying about flashbacks.

Many Directions

At the moment my brain and it's creativity are forced to travel in several directions. I have a fiction piece that I am hoping to complete this week (as it is due on Sunday.) I have the final piece that I have mentioned in previous posts. I have a large research paper in my other class that I am supposed to be putting together day by day, as well as a 2-3 page analytical article due by the end of the week.

Those are my writing obligations. I won't even go into the daily obligations as a mother. Chances are, you already know about that and can relate. The question is, how am I going to accomplish what I need to in my writing? I have 3 more school days in the week. I try to take Saturday off and Sunday for sure. I will take one project per day. On two of those days I have to do three discussion questions as well. Overwhelming? Yes. But I will do my best. That is all I can do. It will all work out.

Okay, let it be written, let it be done!

4th of July Festivities

We had a great 4th of July weekend! My parents, Jared, and Jason&Hannah came to our house to spend a couple days. It was fun to share a small town holiday with them. My dad posted a good description of all that we did and a few more pics on his blog. I feel bad but my blogging time is limited so I can't give a whole bunch of details. The highlights were:

Eating out together without having to wrestle the kids
Choosing fireworks
making smores in our fire pit
Going to the Fireman's breakfast
Watching the parade
Going to Zions
Watching Awesome Fireworks
Visiting!

We had a good time just being together. By the last day Leif and I were SOO Tired! It was strange how tired we were. But we had been going non-stop for a few days. Anyway, Jakob was So thrilled to have everyone here. We all were, but it is a huge treat for Jakob. Here are some pictures.

The Big Story

Today I am bound and determined to get SOMETHING down on paper for my final piece for my Creative Writing course. The subject of my piece will be a creative fiction story that revolves around the ghosts that live within the family-owned Woolen Mill. I have mulled over it for days, to no avail. I talked to family members to try and get some creative juices flowing about the subject. I had hoped for some great insite. At this point, I have received a history of the mill with some tid-bits about ghosts. One thing is for sure though, the mill is haunted, and there could be a fun story about it. The problem is, I am the one who has to come up with the story. Grrr!

I wish so bad that I could open that chamber in my brain that holds all of the great stories. I feel as if it is locked and I am constantly, frantically, searching for the key to open it up. There must be a window open, because I occasionally catch a breeze of inspiration. But that's it, a breeze.

Struggling To Create

Along with our weekly projects in my Creative Writing course we have a Final Project that we're supposed to