A weekend lesson in humility

  This weekend I spent roughly 20 + hours training to be certified in teaching one of these classes:

The process was

  grueling. Exhausting. Sobering. 

Nothing brings you back to home like being forced to teach a 6 minute section of a new to you subject that you first did only hours ago while not only doing the choreography perfectly, but adding in cues for the participants and being video recorded...then having to watch it and hear criticism. 

Now, to be fair my instructor was very gracious and kind. 

The truth was, I caught on somewhat quickly and could do the choreography and "cueing" decently. 

But I saw on t.v. what other people see. 

The reason I rarely look in a mirror. 

Chubby. 

I wish I knew what my instructor was really thinking. 

Was he on the edge of telling me I don't fit into the "look the part" of the compulsory elements?
We spent a good amount of time discussing this "look the part" subject in class. 

I guess I'll never know.  

I know, you're all rolling your eyes. But truly, as I watched the video I felt like a walking contradiction. 

Underneath my chubs, there is a physically fit person there. 

But no one is going to be inspired and motivated in an exercise class with an overweight instructor. 

This is something I really want to do. 

We shall see how I overcome this hurdle. 

On another sobering note:

Scott ordered this movie on Netflix:

BBC- The Diary of Anne Frank

filmed and released in 2009

I was annoyed and obnoxious about having to watch this. 

Admittedly I have never been an Anne Frank fan. 

As I was forced to read this in school when I was young I rebelled against the idea that any young person had a harder life than I. 

I disliked the book and wrote off any other production of her diary. 

Now that I am grown up, I can really appreciate how amazing this story is. 

I cried. 

It's so sad to tell you that I totally thought Anne and her family survived. 

(this shows you how well I digested the story as a youngin')

This isn't a movie I would watch on a regular basis. 

(as opposed to Pride & Prejudice, or Shopoholic, or any Doris Day movie)

However, this was a great film. 

I would recommend it to anyone and will definitely be showing it to my children when they get older. 

(though there is a "bare bum" showing... I would have to edit that out)

Welcome to our home!

It's about time I got myself put together to give ya'll a tour of our home. 

It only happened because I've been hostage at home with no car this week. 

So, without further ado: 

Please, do come in!

(Don't mind the black rectangle there...that's just my poor photo-paint skills covering up our house number)

Take a seat and kindly remove your shoes. 

To the left you'll see the totally boring laundry room: 

This is where the magic happens...

 by cooking of course!

(get your head out of the gutters!)

To do list:

* paint cabinets

*add bead board to island

*paint stools

And if you turn around: 

Dining area:

To do list:

*paint table white and rough it up to look like Pottery Barn

For those of you who like to see details: 

Now wait!

You've seen this view before. 

Only it looked like this: 

So, my walls are no longer...tan/brown/puke

The paint ended up being a LOT more blue than I planned. But I'm still loving it. 

To do list:

*paint blinds white

To do list: 

* move picture of Christ. 

* Put up an amazing plate rack I'm making out of Henry's old crib. 

*create a little sitting area against that wall

To do list: 

* make lots of people angry by adding wooden embellishments and painting mantel white, then distressing it. 

From another angle: 

On to the hallway: 

I know what you're thinking. 

WHAT!? She "framed" her thermostat!?

Why yes!! 

YES I DID!

The little kids' Room: 

 If you're thinking this room needs some major work done, you're right. 

It's in my "to do" list. I just don't know what to do with it yet. 

The big kid's room: 

And my bedroom: 

I know, boring shmoring. 

In the 8 1/2 years I've been married, my bedroom has NEVER been my priority. 

I plan on changing that. 

Hopefully sooner than later. 

Well, that's pretty much it!

You've seen the main bathroom. 

The master bathroom is even more boring than the bedroom. 

You're not missing much. I'll show you all when I get up the energy to do something with it. 

Thanks for coming!

Catch up post #1

It almost seems besides the point now that this happened practically a month ago. But I'm recording for our family history's purpose. So I can go and blurp it and lose it when my hard drive crashes again...

The kids are anxiously awaiting the arrival of DADDY!

This is cute. I tried to do the same thing but changed my mind when I realized I might crush Scott. 

Food took his place when he was gone. 

No more explanation needed. 

We were on our way to being a happy, suburban family. 

To complete the ensemble we adopted Zeus:

Scott and I found him on Craigslist weeks earlier and the previous owner was kind enough to keep him until Scott got home. 

He's a mut. Obviously mostly lab, but the vet says he's sure there is Rottweiler in there too. 

We love our Zeus- a- poos. 

(not sure why I have to call him that, it just rolls of the tongue)

A video may give you more of an idea of his super sweet personality. 

He LOVES to play fetch!

I've been getting a lot of slack for not blogging.

People. 

I'm sorry!

Our computer is SO close to being up and running. I have SO much to blog about but what is a blog post without pictures?? I can't download pictures onto our laptop because I lost my camera cord.

I know, will the sanity ever end?

But don't worry, hopefully by the end of this week I can show you how I painted my walls grey, but they actually ended up blue, and I still don't know what to think about that.

I can tell you about our new addition to the family, Zeus. Who is a dog. That we adopted. And we LOVE him!

I can show you how breathtakingly beautiful the little town of Homer, AK is. Scott ran a half marathon there and kicked everyones trash, and all the "Homerians" were like, "who the heck are you to come down here from Anchorage and show us all up?!"

Sound good? Okay then. Catch ya' later!

He's baaaaaaack!

Yes, I took 1 picture.

No, I don't have it uploaded.

Wanna know why??

Oh, yeah, my hard drive totally CRASHED on Friday.

It's a complete gonner. Nothing is savable.

Pictures. Itunes. Waaaaahhh!

So, until we get our hard drive replaced, I'm using Scott's dinky lab top (which I'm very grateful for considering the situation).

In the mean time, I'm enjoying EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE.

I love my husband.

I love watching him play with the kids. I love hearing Henry say, "Daddy?" as his first words in the morning.

Life feels....right.

Smells good

I 
LOVE
baking sweets in the afternoon quiet. 

Henry's napping. 

Lydia is playing barbies.

I'm wearing my lovely apron from Anthro.
(the only Anthro I own...thanks Gentri :))

I'm mixing away as I listen to my favorite music. Click HERE for my current fave. (she's on itunes)

Happy Afternoon!

10 things that made me happy today.

1. SUNSHINE. All day long! Such a rarity here in AK. 

2. A trampoline that I can set up all. by. myself. 

3. Henry getting serious air on the tramp. 

4. Moose eating their dinner in our yard while we eat dinner and watch them from our dining room. 

(I know, bad picture...you can see bits of them though)

5. This babbling brook in front of my house. 

6. My children having great attitudes about working around the house. 

(So she was pretending to be Cinderella and I the Stepmother -which comes much too easily I would say- whatever helps her to get the job done)

7. Henry and Lydia being best buds now that Gracie is gone at school all day. 

8. I can see Mt. McKinley from this spot close to my house on a clear day.

(Okay, so this was taken with my cell from behind a dirty windshield with screaming children in the back of the car. -it made a difference, I swear- if you look hard enough, you can see the tall shadow that is in between the light pole with the flag and the one behind it. Also keep in mind that it's roughly 300 miles away)

9. This handsome man (who hates these pictures because they were taken when he was only a 1Lt. (only) and we had just buzzed his head. Whatever, I think he's drop dead if ya know what I mean)...anyway, he comes home in approximately 15 days. Then his office owns him for a week. Then I own him for 3. 

Yay!

10. Watching this (short) video. Over and over again. So, this one is sort of bittersweet. Getting rid of Penny was one of the dumbest things we ever did. But we've learned our lesson....I hope. 

I am now obsessively shopping for a new member of our family. 

Can't wait to meet him/her!

Just for fun

 There is a street...er...."circle" named after me.

Don't feel jealous. Only needy, spendy, hot-tempered, unintelligent red heads get one. 

Don't laugh at my cheesy pose. I felt like the whole world was staring down at me while I took my picture with a street sign (???) and I couldn't open my eyes because the sun was blinding me. 

So, everywhere I turn I'm getting requests for pictures of the inside of our house. 

I understand. I'm one of those needy, hot-tempered, red heads that will be a pebble in your shoe until I get what I want. 

Please keep in mind this is FAR from finished. And there are toys on my floor. 

But who am I kidding? Will there EVER be a moment when it's perfect?

The front bathroom is the only other pic you'll get for now. 

I'm pretty sure I want to paint those cabinets...

You should see my "want to" list. 

Utah to Alaska

Were you wondering if we were still alive??

I'm sure you were. 

The last 3 weeks have been so insane. I'm certain I've completely forgotten how to be a normal, stay-at-home mom who's single.

But yet, I'm sure I'll spring back in no time. 

Until then I have some blogging to do!

I would post pictures of my house, but it's not complete...

yet. 

Here is a rundown of our road trip:  

Remember Alberta Beach? The place where I locked my keys inside my trailer:

The cutest, quaintest little place. 

With nice people. 

Toad River:

(I'm pretty sure it's hard to even find this on a map and I have no idea if it's in British Columbia or Yukon Territory)

I thought it was going to be hard to hold Henry in his spot and smile in mine at the same time. 

But no, he just climbed right up and held himself. 

We saw "some" wildlife. 

I was a little disappointed in the end, but I guess I can't complain. 

This was right along the edge of the road, we could have reached out and touched them if we wanted. 

But who wants to touch a goat? (Stone sheep to be exact)

This guy was not interested in smiling for our camera. 

We made a pit stop at Laird Hot Springs. 

If we hadn't had 2 more hours to our nights stay we would have jumped in and swam around. There were a lot of tourists soaking in the natural hot tub. 

Alas, losing Henry's shoe under the dock was enough for us. 

Thank heavens for playgrounds where Henry can work out his mad climbing skills. 

I may have given birth to Spiderman. 

A few cries, movies and fruit snacks later:

Bada bing Bada boom

We made it to our destination. 

Thanks to Gentri's help we're pretty much settled in our house. My bedroom is still a mess, and so is the garage, but the rest of the house is set to go. 

Unless you count painting the poo brown walls in my family room. 

But that will have to wait.