goals

Goals of the Day

Drink Water

Remember to pick up Graham's birthday present. (Shhhh. Don't tell Graham.)


Goals of the Week

Eat lots of butternut squash soup and homemade rolls. Mmmmm.

Hang stuff on the walls in my bedroom. I think I'm destined to always have blank walls, because I'm too lazy to go find a hammer and nail.

Goals of the Month

Stretch, stretch, stretch so my body doesn't break before I run the Lake Tahoe Half Marathon.

Decorate for Halloween!! Is it okay to decorate for Halloween in September?

Goals of the Season

Go to a pumpkin patch!

Make zombie cookies for Halloween! (source)


Unofficially run the Turkey Trim 5k (it's an off year, but that doesn't mean I can't go run it anyway).



Goals of the Year

Love my job.

Be super fit by New Years so I can eat candy and cake while everyone else starts their New Year's Resolutions.


What are your goals? Tell me something fun.

scarecrow sprinkler

We have a scarecrow sprinkler.

It has a motion detector and is set to go off if anything comes near the vegetable garden.

Only it never goes off when its supposed to.

Today I went outside and saw two squirrels run out of our grape vine.

Then I noticed that one of my butternut squash plants had been chewed in half. Curse you, squirrels!

So I decided the sprinkler needed to be moved farther into the open. It is kind of hidden in the corner. Maybe that explains its laziness.

So I turned off the water, gave it a little time (in order to let any leftover water in the hose retreat back toward the spigot), and walked over to the sprinkler.

Nothing.

A 5'6'' person walking toward it had no effect.

Closer...

Nothing.

Not even the telltale click that it was on. Hmmmm. Maybe the batteries were dead? Maybe Christian turned it off?

I reached down to pull it out of the ground, and...

SNEAK ATTACK!!

I got a lovely dose of warm leftover hose water right to the crotch.

Thanks a lot, sprinkler. Thank you for spraying me and letting the squirrels eat my garden. You were totally worth the $25.

potty training 101

1. Realize you have to take 2 days off in the middle of the week, so you might as well make it a 5-day weekend and give the potty training thing a try.

2. Start out with the understanding that your kid is probably way too young to be potty trained.

3. Admit the fact that he doesn't even communicate basic needs like being hungry or thirsty to you, so there's no way he'll tell you he has to go potty.

4. Try teaching him to teach a dolly how to go potty. Then remember that he has a 1-second attentions span and ditch the dolly when all he does it poke at her eyes.


5. Take the kid to a pool party/BBQ even though you're supposed to stay at home.

6. Thank your lucky stars you have a baby who doesn't mind being ignored.


7. Eat lots of junk food.

8. Give in when the kid demands to wear a helmet (and makes you and the husband wear them, too).


9. Curse the gardeners when they show up 30 minutes after said kid has gone down for a nap in underwear.

10. Figure this will never actually work, but keep at it anyway.

There are probably better things I could be doing with a 5-day weekend...

{Graham just got up from his nap, peed in the room even though the door was open, came into the kitchen, got on a chair, peed on the chair, looked at it and babbled something, then went on playing. Ha! This experiment is officially over. To be continued in a few months...}

back to running

Dear hip/butt/deep-inside-my-butt/hip:

Stop hurting. Stop it. Stop. It. Now. Stoppit. I am finally (almost) back to running consistent 10-minute miles (thanks to early morning runs with Andrew and Carrie!) and I really don't need a setback right now.

So listen up.

I am running 8 miles tomorrow morning. 8 miles of hills. With lovely ladies I miss and really want to run with. So knock it off.

I'm going to lay on a tennis ball for a little while. Then I'm going to lay on an ice pack. And then you can suck it up and stop hurting.

Understood? Good. Because I don't want to tell you twice.

All my love,

Molly

will this matter in a year?

Lately I have heard multiple mentions of the idea that you should take a step back, look at the worries in your life, and ask, "Will this matter in a year?"

If the answer is no, stop stressing about it.
If the answer is yes, make it a priority.

While our "trial" right now isn't exactly a grave situation (I have a good job; Christian has temp work at a great company; Our kids are healthy and have food in their bellies; We know our boys are well cared for while we work), the fact that Christian doesn't have a full-time, fixed job will absolutely matter in a year.

A key point reiterated time and time again in our religion is the idea that we should use the trials in our lives to learn and grow. Yesterday, Christian and I talked about what we've gained as a result of his job hunt in this difficult job market.

*We have both drawn closer to each other and to our Heavenly Father by praying together.

*We have included our kids in our family prayers. (Graham gives the funniest 3-second-mumble prayers.)

*We have learned how to take disappointment and let it go.

*I have learned to step back and not try to organize/plan everything for Christian.

*Christian has learned to ask for my help.

*We have learned the ins and outs of resumes and cover letters (and, in the process, have been reminded time and time again of the fact that Christian is a great employee).

*Christian has learned what he wants to do in his career. (This is huge. He may not have learned this had he gotten the first job he applied for.)

*We have more empathy for those going through the same thing.

*We have learned to be more economical and distinguish between wants and needs.

*We have learned to be patient.

Yesterday we found out that he was not chosen for a job he would have loved (and they for sure would have loved him). I was in the middle of reading Jordan Ferney's Oh Happy Day blog. The post was a single paragraph. Simple. To the point. I read the first half of the post, was distracted by Christian's incoming email about the job, then returned to read the last half of the post.

These were the words I read, and needed to hear, in that exact moment:

"I’m so grateful for the lessons we learned, mostly that if you are going through a hard time in your life, just put your head down and work. Really good things are just around the corner."

I'm sure looking forward to rounding that corner.

{Photo source}

he stands...

Once Liam hit 7 months, he started crawling everywhere. For real crawling. And nothing stops him, either. Chairs, toys, me. He'll crawl right over whatever is in his way.


Then suddenly I turned around and he was pulling himself up to the dishwasher. And pulling himself up to everything else he could get his hands on.



And out of the blue a few nights ago, he did this:


All on his own. He went from crawling to standing. Now he won't stop. He stands up everywhere, especially using Graham's big dinosaur walker. He loves that thing.

I give it a month (maybe two) before Liam is cruising with the walker.

He even self-feeds himself puffs and cheerios and anything else he finds. He's good, too. Fast little sucker. Got to keep the carpet well vacuumed.

Holy cow. Where did this little boy come from?