Do Tell - Bad Borrower

Since I'm taking a statistics class this semester, I needed a decent calculator.

When the semester started, I dug through a basket of random electronics and came across a TI-86. I thought it was from when Scotty was in school, but as we discussed the calculator, he claimed it wasn't his, it was mine. I knew it wasn't mine because I've never owned a scientific calculator in my life!

...but I did borrow one in junior college for my algebra classes...

And that's when I realized that, for thirteen years, I've had someone's calculator, and I don't even remember whose it is!

Occasionally during my life, I've been a bad borrower.

There was the time in high school I borrowed a friend's dance shoes and never returned them. I kept them for a few years after graduation and then finally threw them away to purge myself of the guilt.

There was another time when I borrowed my cousin's copy of Write for College (apparently I've needed a lot of help in college) and never returned it (I took it to the thrift store last year) (cousin, if you're reading this and want your book back, let me know, and I'll buy you a new one).

And twice I've borrowed something from my in-laws (once a book and once a movie), and I've kept it for over a year, so I've snuck it back into their house and put it on the shelf as not to draw attention to how long I'd had it.

Overall, though, I'm a decent borrower. My worst fault is that I sometimes take too long to return things, but my track record is mostly clean. I try to not borrow things from people if I think I'll have difficulty in returning it.

However, I know some people who are terrible borrowers. In fact, I have two friends whom, if I let borrow something, I have to just consider it a gift to them, or I have to give them a date and time for when I will pick the item up from them, and then I have to text them a few reminders leading up to it.

So what kind of borrower are you? What has tainted your record? Do tell!

Do Tell: The Christmas Disagreement

Scotty and I don't always see eye to eye on things. You would think a married couple would just know what the other is thinking from time to time; and therefore, a consensus should be easily reached, especially for the dumb, little things. But not so. It seems like we have to consult one another about everything.

Like, everything.

Because if we don't, we end up dividing into "his and hers."

It seems to happen mostly with the kids. For example, I let our kids walk from our house to the corner pretty much every day. Then on Scotty's day off, when the girls walk to the corner, he's all, "Where are our kids? Why are they that far away? I only let them walk to the brown fence!"

And I'm like, "Uhhh... well, I let them walk to the corner. EVERY DAY."

So then it's his rule vs. her rule. Do we let them walk to the the brown fence or to the corner? Must we sit down and have a two-hour family meeting over this dilemma?

Oi!

One of the things Scotty and I disagree on is how to handle the opening of Christmas gifts.

One of us loves the idea of everyone tearing in to everything all at once - flying bows, paper cuts, and joyous screaming simultaneously.

The other wants the children to take turns opening gifts as to experience the love or hate of each present one at a time.

(Can you guess who's who?)

So today I'd like to ask how Christmas gifts are opened at your house. Do tell!

Do Tell: Life Roles

For the class I'm taking in school right now, I have to watch a lot of videos about study skills, time management, goal setting, and whatnot. All of this has taught me one thing: I am an unmotivated slacker.

I'm not trying to be mean to myself. Truly, if I compare what these videos teach to what I am actually doing in life, I'm a waste of flesh.

So, thanks for that, higher education.

Yesterday's video talked briefly about life roles. It said that each person should have 4-7 life roles at any given time. If we have more than that, we have probably taken on too much. It didn't tell me what happens when we have less than that, but it's probably along the lines of being an unmotivated slacker, like myself. Fortunately, this is one area where I actually have it right - according to the video.

I am a wife. I share my life with someone I love. We make decisions together, spend time together, and take care of each other.

I am a mother. I am raising three (soon to be four) children. I discipline, I teach, I nurture, and I carpool. I also wash lots and lots of underwear and prepare lots and lots of meals.

I am a student. I study, I do assignments, and I take tests.

I am a Mormon. I have committed myself to a faith. I believe. I worship, I pray, I study, and I seek answers.

I am a Primary President. I take care of the children's organization in my ward. I go to meetings, I prepare and teach lessons, I visit the children, I plan baptisms, I promote reverence, and I know lots of primary songs.

I am a fetus grower. This role comes and goes quickly, but while I take on this role, it is a very big part of my life. I get sick, I get tired, I feel uncomfortable, I take vitamins, I surrender my body, and I pee. A lot.

I don't really know where the line is drawn between actual "roles" and "things that are a consistent part of our lives but aren't roles."

What would you call those things? Less than roles?

My <roles would be things like: runner, gamer, birthday poster maker, and blogger. Perhaps extended family roles would also fall into this category: sister, daughter, etc.

What would you consider your life roles right now? How about your <roles? Do tell!

Do tell: Personality Types

A conversation from last night:

Britt: I have a "Type A" personality.

Scotty: I have a "Type White" personality.

Britt: That's the wrong personality assessment. You have a "Type B" personality.

Scotty: Whatever you say. You're the boss!

{via}

What type of personality do you have? A? B?

Type white?*

Have you ever wanted to punch a Type A in the face?

(I sure have).

Do tell!

*I score evenly between red, yellow, and white with almost no blue.

Do Tell - Sunrise, Sunset

The other day Amy posted this on facebook:

"Everyone's asleep, the house is quiet, 

the laundry is in the dryer, 

and the kitchen is clean. (Plus it smells like cake). 

This peacefulness is why I'm a night owl."

Just a few days prior to Amy's status update, I had pushed my baby in the stroller up the street to my mother-in-law's house at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast, and I spent the entire time thinking about how fond I am of mornings. I love the empty streets, the slight coolness of the air, and the silence. The world is slower-paced and more still in the early hours.

That peacefulness is why I'm a morning person.

I guess Amy and I crave the same things but find them in different hours of the day.

{sunset at San Clemente 2009}

So today I am wondering if you're a night owl, a morning person, or something in between. Do tell!

Do Tell: Maid, Nanny, or Cook?

 

[Via]

Sometimes I daydream about having help around the house in the form of a maid, a nanny, or a cook. I never go so far as to imagine myself with all three - that would be a little too unrealistic. Plus, I'm a bit of a control freak, and as awesome as it would be to have someone scrub my toilets, diaper my children, and prepare my favorite meals daily, I just can't surrender that much responsibility. But day to day, I stop and think which one would I pick?

A few months ago I read the book A Joyful Mother of Children: The Magic and Mayhem of Children by Linda Eyre. Now, if you're not familiar with the Eyres, they are like Super Parents. I love, respect, and look up to them all while almost hating them. The great thing about Linda is that she is very honest in her books. Just when that subdued hate starts creeping to the surface, she writes a paragraph about yelling at her kids, and I'm like Phew! I don't have to hate her. But then she writes about taking her kids to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I'm like Are you kidding me, woman? But then she openly admits that her husband drives her nuts sometimes, and I'm like Wow! That was a close one!

Anyway, this particular book was about finding joy in motherhood, and at one point in the book, Linda put it bluntly: if you house is a mess, and you HATE cleaning, and you're completely overwhelmed, FIND SOMEONE TO HELP YOU.

(I wish I could find the exact paragraph to quote her accurately, but my intense thirty seconds of google research didn't pull it up).

Basically, Linda Eyre gave me permission to have a housekeeper.

So I got one.

Well, not really.

But kind of.

I can't afford a real housekeeper, but I can afford to pay one of my neighbor kids to come over twice a week and clean for me for one hour.

So that's what I've been doing, and it has helped so much.

Kay, my "housekeeper," takes care of some of the little things I can never tackle - like dusting the piano, cleaning the windows, and putting clothes on hangers. She can do in an hour what I take all day to do amidst taking care of children. Plus, since I know she's coming, I have a standard of cleanliness I want my house to reach before Kay gets here, so I'm more motivated to keep up on the cleaning.

So, in a way, I've chosen "maid" for now.

Which would you choose? Maid, nanny, or cook? Do tell!

Do Tell - Yeah, THAT!

I've hit one of those phases where every moment of every day day is completely overwhelming. You know when your three-year-old is in the bathtub making tidal waves; and your curling iron is in the bathroom sink smoking; and the baby is on your bed crying; and your couch has diarrhea on it; and you have no clean underwear; and you haven't showered for three days; and there is nothing healthy in the house to eat; and you feel like you're starving; and all you want is a nice, big, juicy hamburger and a hand-scooped ice cream shake; and there are six baskets of laundry stacked in the hallway that need to be folded and put away; and your husband isn't answering your texts, phone calls, or e-mails, and you're not sure if he made it to work alive; and you wish with all your heart that you could ask him to take a half-day of PTO, but you know he won't, so you don't ask because it's easier to never ask than to deal with the rejection; and you've told your six-year-old to put his shoes on at least a dozen times, but he's too busy pulling faces at himself in the mirror; and the three-year-old? The one in the bath tub? Finds a brand new bar of soap and lathers herself up, eyes included, and starts screaming her head off so you have to haul her wet, naked body out of the bathroom and try to rinse her eyes out even though you know how it goes with soap... you just have to wait for it to work itself out. And your dang cat is meowing because he's out of food; but you can't do anything about that because you can't even brush your teeth, let alone, go to a store; and just as things start calming down a bit, you step in something cold and wet?

Yeah, that.

So please tell me something that has made you happy lately. Anything funny? Uplifting? Encouraging?

Do tell!

Do Tell - Three Things

Thing One

When I am pregnant, my personality is dramatically affected. Now that I've had my baby, and the crazy post-birth hormones are mostly gone, I'm turning back into my old self, and I love it. I'm so much happier. Everything is different, and I can't believe the changes. It's amazing that being pregnant has such a strong affect on me. So today I'm wondering how pregnancy has affected those of you who have had babies. Were you a different person during pregnancy? Or just a more tired version of yourself? Am I the only one who feels like I turn into someone else while I'm pregnant? Do tell!

Thing Two

Sometimes I worry that I've accidentally become part of a clique. This concerns me because I don't ever want to belong to a group of people that appears to not openly welcome others. I use the word "appears" because I think that people are often assumed to be unwelcoming when that is not the case. Sometimes there are other circumstances that contribute. For example, when I had Zoe, I sent out a bunch of text messages to people in my ward (church congregation). I realized, when I went back to delete the messages from my phone, that I only texted people who serve in the primary (the children's program of the Church). Mostly this is because those are the people I see all the time, and those are the people who specifically said, "Let me know when you have your baby!" Does this mean I'm in a primary clique? 'Cause that's not cool.

Additionally, if I hang out with other women during the day because I am a stay-at-home mom and they are, too, does that make us a clique? Simply because our circumstances allow us to spend time together? We may appear to be unwelcoming toward working mothers when really, we're not. We just have similar schedules.

I guess what I'm wondering is how do you differentiate between a group of friends and a group of friends with the negative connotations of a clique? What makes a clique? What makes you feel unaccepted by a group of people? Do tell!

Thing Three

I've never been a fan of push-ups. When I was in high school, my dance teacher made us do ten push-ups as part of our warm-up, and I don't think I ever actually did ten. I would just count to ten really loud while I did three. A few days after Christmas, on a whim, I decided to try doing some push-ups. I did three and just about died. I was kind of disappointed in myself for being such a weakling, so I've been doing push-ups almost every day since then. Today, for the first time EVER, I did twenty push-ups. I know that for many, that is a small feat, but I feel like a champion! It's amazing to me that my body has built up that much strength so quickly! I'm really proud of myself. What have you done since the New Year that you're proud of? Do tell!

Do Tell! - Candy

Do you remember the song "Candy" by Mandy Moore? It was her "break out hit," and sometimes I think I'm the only one who knows it ever happened.

(I spent way too many hours watching The Box back in the day).

(So did Scotty, so it's very appropriate that we found each other).

Mandy Moore and her candy similes aside, Halloween is coming, and there is candy everywhere. I turn into a bit of a mad woman at Halloween because I'm stuck somewhere in between hating the candy with a furious passion and wanting to hide in a closet with it to play Seven Minutes in Heaven.

Yesterday my mom stocked me up with a grand stash of candy for trick or treaters. It's sitting on top of my fridge taunting me now, so, of course, I can't stop thinking about it.

Candy in the morning and in the afternoon
Candy in the evening and underneath the moon!

So today I'm wondering, what is your favorite candy? BUT before you answer, let's establish a ground rule: you must pretend there is absolutely nothing wrong with sugar. That means no disclaimers in your comments, such as, "We don't keep candy in the house, but blah bla blah," or "I try not to eat candy, but blah blah blah..." Yes, we all feel the obligation to say such things, but let's just pretend we all eat sugar all the time, and there's nothing wrong with it!

Do tell!

As for me, I can't name any one candy as "favorite" but if I had a custom-made trick or treat bag, it would probably include Almond Joys, Snickers, Reese's Pieces, Peanut M&Ms, Dove Promises, Tootsie Rolls, and Everlasting Gobstoppers.

And, even though it's Halloween, there would probably be some Cadbury Mini Eggs in there, too!