Spiky

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #21:

Balance

It's the last day of September, and let me just say... this month flew by. Time moves a lot faster when we start getting gray hair, doesn't it? I remember how long a school year seemed when I was a kid, and now as a parent, a school year is nothing. In fact, we're already approaching the end of the first quarter. I can't believe it!

With September ending, my writing challenge is also coming to a close. The prompts I didn't use are: quiet, boredom busting, weakness, inspired, animal, perspective, pause, awe, and place. I completed 27 of the 35 prompts. 

Yesterday I posted a list of 21 goals I want to accomplish before 2021. Prior to hitting publish, I was already working on some of those goals, one of which was to try something new. 

Yesterday I also mentioned that I have been participating in an emotional resilience class. A few weeks ago our class facilitator mentioned that she lays on a "bed of nails" to help with stress and pain relief. First I pictured a literal bed of nails, but then she clarified that it's actually a mat with plastic spikes. I envisioned this mat as something quite large, expensive, freaky, and for some reason, elevated on a table. 

Later, I googled it and found that what she's actually using is an acupressure mat or needle stimulation pad, and it's quite small and not very expensive. I decided to order one for my friend Lynsie and one for my friend Shannon - just because it seemed like an adventurous and somewhat funny thing to receive as a surprise from Amazon. 

Lynsie's arrived first, and she tried it out. She said it hurt, but she kind of liked it and she wanted to keep using it. She sent me a picture of her back - red and perforated. She said she had to call for her husband to come help her get off the mat. Then Shannon got hers, tried it, and also said she liked it and wanted to keep using it. 

Not to be left out, I ordered one for myself, and it came the next day. 

Here's what it looks like:

The mat isn't very big - it's about the length of my back and width of my shoulders, and it came with a spiky pillow. 

It's recommended that when you start using the mat, you wear a light layer of clothing and lay on the mat for about five minutes. Over time, as you build up more endurance, you can start using it directly on your skin and for longer lengths of time (10-20 minutes per day is the recommendation). 

Acupressure is supposed to stimulate the body's self-healing mechanisms and restore balance to the body's vital energy. There haven't been a lot of studies on the effectiveness of acupressure mats, but there is some evidence that they are helpful with reducing pain - including fibromyalgia, headaches, and general muscle pain. They may also help with insomnia and stress. 

Personally, I was just curious to see what it was like and whether I could handle it. Normally I'm not in to stuff like this, but for $15, I wanted to try it. Plus, I'd already made my friends do it, and I was starting to have acupressure FOMO. 

My first time using the mat, I was fully clothed, and I couldn't feel the spikes at all, so I stripped down to my garments (my religious underclothing), which created the perfect thin layer of protection. I laid on the floor with my back on the mat for about five minutes, and I found it tolerable. It definitely hurt, and there were moments where I found myself taking shallow breaths, but overall, I was okay. I was even able to get off the mat myself, though after Lynsie's commentary, I made sure I had Scotty on standby. 

After laying on my back, I tried standing on the mat. I haven't had a lot of chronic body pain thus far in life, but I have had plantar fasciitis off and on for several years, so I experience a lot of pain in discomfort in my feet. My first time standing on the mat was great. I only gave it about two minutes because I did it right before I had to leave to go somewhere. I stood on the mat barefoot, and it wasn't overly painful. My feet felt pretty amazing afterward. The following day I stood on the mat again, feeling all sorts of confident because I'd already proven I could handle it, and to my surprise, it HUUUUURT. I made it about one minute before I absolutely couldn't stand it any more. Since then, I've continued standing on the mat each day just for a couple of minutes, and it's interesting to see how the pain varies. Some days I'm fine. Other days it hurts, and I can't make it even a full minute. I tried it with socks on, but I can't feel it through socks. 

With my back, when I first lay down, it feels fine - just a little spiky through my garments. Then as time goes on, it gets a little more painful, but I can handle it. After a few minutes, I start to feel a burning sensation and my heart beat in my back. That's when I wonder if something magical is happening of if it's actually something horrible. I feel like I'm either miraculously healing or about to die. Not long after that sensation starts, I get off the mat... just in case it's the dying and not the healing. 

Last night was the first time I've tried the mat on my bare back, and holy moly, it hurt. I only lasted about a minute before I had to stop. 

I honestly don't know if the mat is causing anything fantastic to happen in my body, but I definitely feel amazing afterward. Some describe it as feeling like you just had a massage. I don't feel quite that great, but I do have a bit of a high from doing something that feels incredibly bad ass. 

As far as pain reduction and such, I don't really have anything to measure it with. Since the acupressure mat is still pretty new to me, I haven't had a chance to try it out when I have a headache or some kind of pain. 

I'm not sure if I'll keep using the mat long-term, or if it's just something I'll try for a while and move on from. For now, I find it amusing, and like I said, a bit bad ass.

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If you want to try an acupressure mat, yourself, make sure you do a little research beforehand. There are sources that recommend you not use one if you have certain medical conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. This is the mat I bought for myself (looks like it has gone up in price - I paid $14.95), and this is the one I bought for Lynsie and Shannon.

21 Before 21

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #10:

Change

This year has been rough, but at the same time, I can't complain. My level of trials has been much lower many others.' I just don't want to say that very loudly and tempt fate. 

Now that we are approaching the final quarter of the year, I've been thinking, why not go out on a good note? Of course, I'm terrified of what could happen over the next three months, and I'm even more scared of what could go down in 2021, but I can still attempt to end the year well, right? 

In order to change my tune for 2020, I decided to make a list of 21 goals to accomplish before 2021. Some of these things are easy, some are challenging, some will keep me focused, and some will be a lot of work for Scotty (see #s 5-8). When this year is done, I hope to have all 21 goals crossed off my list so I can close the year feeling like something good came out of it.  

Here are my 21 goals:

1. No soda for the rest of the year.

I haven't had any soda since Labor Day, and I want to keep going. If I can do this, I will have spent nine months of 2020 soda-free with a brief love affair between June and August.

2. Finish reading Jesus the Christ. 

As I write this, I'm on chapter 11. 

3. Try 10 new recipes. 

That ends up being about one a week for the rest of the year with room to skip a week or two. 

4. Get a haircut.

Just a trim actually. I'm very bad at keeping up on my hair, and I've lost a few inches of length over the past year from letting my ends get too damaged. 

Update: I've made my appointment.

5. Don't eat out for a month. 

This is not by choice. It's Nicky's thing. The other day he wrote up a contract about not eating out in October. He put so much effort into it that I felt I had to oblige. I signed the contract. Fortunately it has a clause that allows us to go out to eat by invitation. But Scotty and I aren't allowed to invite each other. The dang kid has thought of everything!

Nicky's contract

6. Finish the closet doors in the basement.

Hopefully putting this on the list will keep us from taking another six months (or six years) to get the job done.

7. Get the door hung on the storage room.

It's not like the storage room we built five years ago still doesn't have a door or anything... ahem...

8. Hang the closet doors in the kids' bedrooms.

Also not sitting doorless for five years... ahem...

9. Weigh less on December 31 than I weigh today.

One pound, and I can cross this crap off the list.

10. Walk 250 miles. 

That equals just over 2.5 miles per day. Nothing crazy. I am only counting intentional walking and not my daily steps (i.e. I have to actually go for a walk - going up and down my stairs 18 times a day carrying laundry doesn't count). 

11. Do 2,000 push-ups.

That's about 21 push-ups per day. I can do that. 

12. Do a DI run.

I have several bags of stuff I need to donate, but I keep procrastinating. 

13. Clean out the garden. Done!

I've been known to let plant carcasses hang out through the winter. Not this year. This year will be a no-plant-carcass year! I'm determined!

I also need to clean out our composter and take it to my friend I promised it to. I think my exact words were, "I'll bring it over... sometime..." 

14. Try something new. Done!

I tried something new! Stay tuned. 

15. Finish 9 books.

That will take me to a total of 75 books completed in 2020. Honestly, I'll probably finish more than 9 books, but 75 is a nice, well-rounded number to strive for. Can I make it to 100? Maybe... but I'm going to stick with 75 and consider everything over that extra credit. I need to overachieve at something every now and again. 

16. Clean out the box of junk that's been sitting on the window seat in my bedroom since July.

It's time.

17. Go to the doctor.

I've been procrastinating a doctor visit for a long time. The provider I usually see left the practice, and I'm really sad about that. 

Update: I made the appointment.

18. Complete a study of temple symbols.

This is already in progress. I am reading 175 Temple Symbols and their Meanings by Donald Parry. Then there are a few podcasts I'd like to listen to, and I want to re-listen to a talk called Understanding the Sacred Symbolism of Temple Clothing. For extra credit, I will re-read The Holy Invitation by Anthony Sweat (but again, that's extra credit). 

19. Buy a dishwasher.

Eek! It's on the list. Gotta make it happen!

(Scotty, look! It’s on the list!!!)

20. Finish a self-reliance class.

I've been taking an emotional resilience class with my Church's Self-Reliance Services, which my stake is piloting. It concludes in November.  

21. Hang the sign over the washer and dryer that's been sitting on the floor for two months. 

It will take five minutes. I just need to do it!

For accountability, I'll be checking in every week or two. Here's to the next 95 days! Well, 94 by the time this post is published. 

Friendship Tidbits

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #30:

Friendship

I have been very blessed in friendship in my life, but I didn't realize it until recent years. I've learned a lot about friendship as I've grown up, and while I'm not going to go into the "lessons" in great detail in this post, I will say that the views I hold of friendship as a 36 year old woman are entirely different from the views I held of friendship as a child, a teenager, and a young adult. 

Scotty & me with our friends 

Chad & Carlie of Game Night fame

Sadly, I have not always been a good friend. I've done some pretty awful stuff to my friends in the past - some of it knowingly and some of it in complete ignorance. The biggest example is my childhood best friend, Michelle. Sometimes I think about some of the ways I treated Michelle over the years, and I'm not sure why she stayed by my side! But I'm so glad she did. I owe her big time. 

Michelle & me in our super cool, custom embroidered, 

biotechnology lab coats in high school. 

Ask us what we learned in biotech... Nothing! 

We copied all our answers off

Diana and Todd.

Michelle & me on our very own log on Splash Mountain

fifteen years later.

Here are a few tidbits about my personal experiences with friendship:

Tidbit #1: I am still close to many of my childhood and high school friends. Michelle and Lynsie, foremost. I have known Michelle since I was about nine (3rd grade), but we realized after we met that we went to the same dance studio when we were really little, so we can technically say we knew each other when we were three (that dance studio happened to be owned by Scotty's aunt - which was an additional fact we learned later. It's a small world after all!) 

I met Lynsie in 7th grade, and we've been friends ever since. I have so many fantastic and hilarious memories with Lynsie! Lynsie has brought so much laughter to my life. I could easily rattle off a dozen memories that would have us both rolling on the floor instantly and another dozen that would have us hiding our faces in pure embarrassment. Lynsie and I have seen the best and the worst of each other. 

Lynsie & me with our snowman missionaries.

Tidbit #2: Michelle and I married step-brothers, so she is also my sister-in-law. So best friends really can grow up and marry brothers! In fact, I have had five sisters-in-law that I went to high school with!  Four have since divorced, but still let it be a lesson to you... you need to be nice to everyone because you never know who your brother might end up marrying!

Tidbit #3: Now that I'm an adult, age is less of a factor in friendship. One of my closest friends is the mother of someone I went to high school with. I find this very amusing - I hang out with Brock Johnson's mom now. And I'm pretty close to Ethan Bateman's mom, too. 

I really appreciate this aspect of adult friendship. I love that I can have close friends who are 20 and close friends who are 60. We can be in completely different phases of life and still be relevant to each other. 

You have to admit... that's cool. 

Me with Christie who is older than me, but only by

five years. When Christie turned 30, I couldn't believe

I had a friend who was so old and mature! Haha!

Tidbit #4: I have a frenemy. 

Yep. It's true. I'm petty enough to have a frenemy. I might even have two...

Tidbit #5: I'm not a naturally friendly person. It takes me a long time to form friendships, and sometimes I think it's a miracle that I have any friends at all! My kids inherited this trait, sadly. They don't make friends quickly or easily. 

Fremenies and social awkwardness aside, I really love my friends! They enrich my life and bring me joy. Sometimes they even laugh at my jokes. I think I'll keep them and maybe even add a few more. 

There I Am

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #17:

Throwback

Back when Scotty actually went to work, I would occasionally meet him in the cafeteria at the Church Office Building for lunch. We frequently ate under a large framed print of Carl Bloch's Sermon on the Mount painting. It's a very familiar piece to me since a lot of Carl Bloch's artwork is displayed in churches and temples. It's also on the cover of the Gospel Art book.

I remember reading in Dan Brown's novel. The Lost Symbol, that in art, the hand pointing up, as it is in this painting, is a symbol of enlightenment, knowledge, or understanding. Dan Brown used the example of Horatio Greenough's sculpture of George Washington, but I immediately thought of the image of the Savior teaching on the Mount. 

One day, as I sat under the painting enjoying a sandwich, I started looking at each of the people in the painting, wondering which one is me.

In truth, I see a little bit of myself in all of them. 

Sometimes I am this woman hiding my face due to doubts, fears, insecurities, and weaknesses. I'm present, but my heart is in a difficult place. I don't want to be noticed or recognized. 

Sometimes I'm this guy, sitting with my back toward the Savior as if I'm not really interested, and yet I'm still listening over my shoulder. I'm prideful, but I also have FOMO. I'm worried I'll miss something, yet, I'm not "all in."

Sometimes I'm this man in the background. I'm there, but I'm not listening all the way. I'm thinking about something else or leaning too far into my own intellect.

Other times, I'm one of these people whispering in the shadows. I'm listening but with the intent to gossip or scrutinize.

And then there's this guy. He's listening, but his body language suggests that there is part of him that is closed off from what he's hearing. It's like he's thinking, "This is nice, but I'm not ready to give up this or that to follow you." He wants to be convinced. He wants to take what he hears and process it on his own and then decide if it's what he wants. Sometimes I am him.

Sometimes I'm this man - listening intently but worried that I might be reproved. Ultimately, I'm on board with what the Savior says, but I'm on the edge of my seat because I don't want to feel chastened. I listen with equal parts hope and nerves.

Sometimes I am this person - wanting to be there to hear the message but lingering back just a little bit in case I'm not worthy. I want to be with the Savior, but I don't have the confidence to let Him see me up close, and I don't want to compete with the other people who are vying for His attention.

Sometimes I am this child - innocently distracted by a butterfly (read more about Bloch's use of children in his paintings here - it will give you a fun, new way to look at his work).

Fortunately, despite all my other personal connections with this painting, I also see myself in this man - giving the Savior his full attention and getting as comfortable as possible because he's in it for the long haul. Yes, that is me, too. I hope to be this man more than I am anyone else in the scene. 

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I originally wrote this post on January 29, 2018. I have reposted it with a few minor edits. 

Out of Doors

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #20:

Outdoors

Here are a few things that happened outdoors this week:

I took Nicky and Daisy to walk around Silver Lake. I was hoping there would be some great fall foliage there. Nope. There wasn't. 

There is a spot on the mountain that looks like a hidden Mickey, and I always find it amusing. I had to take a quick picture to send to my sister-in-law because that's what we do.

So his ears are a bit wonky, bit still... HIDDEN MICKEY!!!

One morning when I got home from my morning walk, I sat in my backyard for a while studying my scriptures, and I heard sirens going down the road. Sirens are pretty normal since we live on a busy street, so I didn't pay much mind to them. I heard sirens pretty regularly for about half an hour. Then I finally looked up from my scriptures and saw this:

The plume looked like it might be close to my mom's house a few blocks away, so I texted her and asked her if there was a fire near her house. She responded with this photo from her back deck:

It was a nearby barn. They seemed to get it contained quickly, but (from what we know) three horses died in the fire. 

We made two attempts to see fall leaves this week. Silver Lake was a fail, and so was Parley's Canyon. There is a park in Parley's where we sometimes take our kids to look for golf balls (my kids are scavengers and love to find stuff) that has a lot of trees. We did not find fall foliage there, but we did find a snake. 

My kids informed me that it's only fun to look for golf balls with Dad. 

When we bought our house, it was known in the neighborhood as the "gargoyle house." The previous owners had installed two stone gargoyles on either side of the garage. They took the gargoyles with them when they moved, and we were left with what we refer to as the "gargoyle thrones." Sometimes I throw a pumpkin plant in the west gargoyle throne for the summer, as I did this year. 

The other day I pulled out the pumpkin vine because I wanted to get it cleaned up before it started dying and leaving crusty leaf residue everywhere. Here is the before and after:

I'll miss it! But I'm glad I got it cleaned up.

Speaking of pumpkins, we took the kids to pick pumpkins at Scotty's uncle's pumpkin patch the other day.

Don't be fooled by Daisy's jacket.

It was 90° outside.

It was there that I remembered the risk of crusty pumpkin vine carcasses and decided to clean up my pumpkin vine. Plus... none of our pumpkins survived anyway. We just had vines and little balls of rot. 

While the big kids are in school, Eva can be pretty demanding. This week she insisted that we go on a picnic at the park. I had so much to get done, and it was so hard for me to set it aside and take her to the park, but I knew it was the better choice. 

We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and played in the leaves. I pushed her on the swing, and then she made me go for a walk around the perimeter of the park. 

The weather lately has boon cool fall mornings and hot afternoons. The highs have been in the upper 80's. The fall leaves have been a little thwarted by the horrendous wind storms we had a few weeks ago. The leaves blew off the trees prematurely. We've had a tiny bit of rain, which we need desperately! Everything is on fire, and there's a regular haze of smoke that keeps settling in. So "outdoors" gets complicated from time to time, but we make it work.

Closet Update - Doors

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #26:

Create

I've been posting a lot about things around my house lately. I'm just going to trust that my three readers don't mind. I'm always up for a sneak peek into someone's house - I'm nosy like that, what can I say? Chances are, you're nosy, too. Don't be ashamed of it.

Anyway, last week I showed you the closet we've been working on, and now, it's finally done!

(Well, kind of. There's always some sort of problem - and in this case, we've hit a few snags. More on that in a minute...) 

The closet is really big, so as we were planning it, we decided to make our own doors. Custom-made doors would have cost us a fortune, and building the closet to fit standardized doors wouldn't allow us to have the dimensions we wanted. Also, we have a second closet in the basement (for the water heater and furnace - nothing exciting) that has a one-foot ceiling drop, and it would have been really hard to buy doors for it. 

We decided to do sliding bypass barn doors for both closets. 

Door #1

I was a little hesitant to do barn doors because of how trendy they are (were?). When something is that level of trendy, it goes out of style hard. So thirty years from now we'll all be talking about our barn doors and our feathered eyebrows while our grandkids make fun of us. 

(Little do those silly grandkids know, they'll be repeating the same trends ten years after that). 

But what it came down to is that barn doors were such a good option for these closets! We knew they would be easy and relatively inexpensive to make in comparison to other doors. 

Last week we went and bought all the wood. Then Scotty built the doors while I tested stain colors on scrap wood. I went through several possibilities:

Rustoleum Barrel Brown

Minwax Ebony

Minwax Dark Walnut

Varathane Hickory

and finally... the grand winner: Minwax Early American.

First door finished

Once Scotty had finished building the doors, I spent two early mornings staining them. After adequate drying time, we got them installed and the angels sang. 

Second door finished

Glory, glory! The doors are kind of done!

Now for the problems. We bought the hardware for the doors during a Black Friday sale last year. Our delivery ended up sitting in a FedEx warehouse for six weeks (I had multiple packages held up by FedEx at the time, resulting in a sincere dislike for FedEx, but I digress...) When the hardware finally arrived, the box was damaged. It was only this week that we realized some of the hardware was missing from the box. Scotty contacted the manufacturer, and they are sending us replacement parts. Since they are the last parts that need to be installed, Scotty went ahead and hung the doors. When the parts arrive tomorrow (so long as they aren't coming via FedEx...) he can finish the doors. 

Me being incredibly helpful while Scotty

dealt with some of the problems

But that's not the only problem... there were some issues with drilling holes and hanging the rail and so on and so forth. That's just kind of how things go around here. We haven't started working on the second set of doors yet. Hopefully we learned enough the first time around to make the second set go smoothly!

The kind of finished product. After this photo was taken, 

we swapped the doors around to get rid of that gap on the left.

Here are a few more photos of the basement just for fun:

We moved the TV console we built last year to the basement:

Scotty suggested that we get a bigger TV, and I kept disagreeing with him because I thought a bigger TV would be too big. He went ahead and bought a bigger TV, and well... I LOVE IT. 

Moods and Stuff

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #5:

Mood

I love words. 

I could read a dictionary cover to cover and really thrive. In fact, why haven't I read a dictionary before? (Adds to bucket list). 

I don't claim to have an extensive vocabulary or to be a genius or anything (although I truly believe that having a garage recliner is a result of some degree of above-average intelligence), but I'm very intrigued by words and their definitions. I look up words every day, and I often get really excited about what I find. Sometimes I gain a better understanding of words I already know. Sometimes I learn entirely new words, and I rejoice that such words exists! 

Take, for example, the new word I learned yesterday... presentism, which refers to evaluating past events and people by present-day values. 

I like that this word exists! I need this word! 

Some other words I like (based on their meaning):

Affectation - behavior, speech, or writing that is artificial and designed to impress. 

Sophistry - the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intent of deceiving.

Reciprocity - the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit.

The other day I looked up the word "frill" for this post, and today I looked up "mood." I know what "mood" means, but I started to wonder if there was more I could understand about "mood." For example, is there a difference between mood and emotion?

Mood - a temporary state of mind or feeling. 

Emotion - a natural state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.

It seems that they are very interrelated, but there is a slight difference between the two, and since I'm only a genius when it comes to garage furniture, I had to google  "difference between mood and emotion." In an article from Psychology Today, I learned that there are three differences between mood and emotion:

1. Moods tend to last longer than emotions. A mood can go on for hours or days while an emotion can be for a brief moment. 

2. Emotions usually relate to something specific, like a person or and event, while moods can be more of a general feeling unrelated to anything specific. 

3. Moods are less intense than emotions, and you might not realize you are in a good or bad mood until you reflect back on your behavior and reactions. 

Now I can claim that I 50% understand the difference between moods and emotions, and therefore, I either A) have added to my vat of useless information or B) will be confused about what I'm feeling for the rest of my life. 

Boy! It was sure fun dedicating some of my brain space to the preceding information (googles preceding). 

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Oh! Did you think I was going to write about the kind of mood I'm in today? So did I! I got a little distracted.

Pretty much sums up my days

I Got Frills

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #24:

Frill

When I was coming up with the list of words to use as prompts for this month-long writing challenge, the word "frill" came to mind. It seemed like a good option, so I added it to the list. Then I thought, "I better make sure I know what 'frill' means." 

Do you ever do that? Use a word but then look it up just to make sure you know what you're talking about?

So "frill"...

According to Oxford Languages it can mean:

1. a strip of gathered or pleated material sewn by one side onto a garment of larger piece of material as a decorative edging or ornament

2. an unnecessary extra feature or embellishment  

Since my my mom no longer sews my clothes for me, I don't have many gathered pleats of decorative material in my life, but I probably have a few unnecessary extra features. 

Take, for example, one of the newest frills to come into my life: 

THE COUCH!

Scotty and I have had very few pieces of furniture that haven't been hand-me-downs or home-made, so buying a couch for our basement was a big deal. Because of the nature of our stairwells, we had to be really particular about the couch. There weren't very many options that could fit. So finding this couch at Costco was a blessing and a miracle! It fit our space (with very little room to spare), and it came in six pieces, which meant we could actually get it into our basement! AND!!! It wasn't thousands of dollars. Well... I mean... it technically was thousands of dollars, but not as many thousands of dollars as the couches we had been looking at from other stores. 

We bought the couch at the beginning of this year. We weren't ready for it, but since furniture season at Costco comes and goes quickly, we figured we'd be wise to snatch it while they had one in stock. 

The couch in our truck - quite the sight

in the parking lot

We stored it in our garage for six months. It wasn't fun. But at the same time, it felt good to know that we had our couch.

The couch came with three motorized recliners. I've never wanted motorized recliners because I don't have the patience to wait for them to open and close, and I never wanted to worry about plugging the couch in. Luckily, Scotty, in his enthusiasm for all things electrical, wired at least ten plugs in our small family room, allowing us to plug in our couch without drama. 

Now, not only do we have motorized recliners (which I still don't have the patience for, but somehow I manage)... we also have USB ports and outlets in our couch. 

I know we're behind on the times, and this stuff has been around for several years, but dang! What a frill! I can plug stuff into my couch! 

And I don't exactly hate it. 

That's the thing with frills... once you have them, you can't go back!

So here I am living the high life. I currently have my feet propped up on the recliner with my computer on my lap. And of course, that computer is plugged in to the couch because I got frills. 

A Few Thoughts About Books

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #29:

Read

Today I'm aiming for something quick and mindless, so how about a little reading questionnaire?

What's the last book you read?

The last book I finished was The Boxcar Children which I read to Zoe and Eva. I have three other books in progress: Jesus the Christ, The Running Dream, and The Book of Lost Names. 

Oh! And I just started reading Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus with Eva. 

What's the last book you purchased?

I just bought a copy of 175 Temple Symbols and Their Meanings with a 25% off coupon and a gift card!

When/where do you read the most?

I do a lot of reading in the early morning or after I put my kids to bed. I also read in the car while I'm waiting for my kids to come out of school, and I listen to audiobooks while I do house and yard work. 

What book have you read the most?

As a child, I read The Boxcar Children, Weasel, The Giver and The Cay over and over. In fact, I did pretty much every book report of my life on The Cay, and I now wonder why none of my teachers ever noticed. I had the same English teacher for three years in junior high. How did she not catch that?

As an adult, I have read The Book Thief about five times and listened to the audiobook twice. 

Do you have a favorite author?

No. 

What's the best book you've read this year?

It's been a weird year for reading because my mind has been mush. But I really enjoyed The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys and Ban This Book by Alan Gratz, which is strange because they are YA and middle-grade, which usually don't top my list.  

Do you read books one at a time?

No. I always have multiple books in the works. 

What is your favorite book?

The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Bird Box by Josh Malerman (but I always caution readers about Bird Box).  

What is your favorite series?

Harry Potter, of course!

What book would you like to see made into a movie?

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I didn't love the book (it was just okay), but the entire time I was reading it, I kept thinking, "This could be a really cool movie!" 

Do you you prefer buying books or borrowing them?

Either way. If I want/need a book now, and the hold list at the library is too long, I'll buy it. But usually if I buy a book, I end up giving it away when I'm done with it. I don't keep very many books. 

Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?

I enjoy both!

What are your favorite book genres? 

This is a difficult question to answer because I'm not really well-versed in book genres. This makes it really hard to shelve my Goodreads reviews. A few months ago, Amy taught me about "up lit." I'd never heard that term before (but have read several books that fall into the "up lit" category). Amy is a librarian, so she knows these things. I don't. If I want to know what genre(s) a book falls into, I often have to google it. I also don't really know what constitutes literary fiction vs genre fiction. I could learn, but I haven't bothered to.

So to answer the question... I don’t know. 

But I feel like I read a really wide variety of books, and my taste doesn’t really fall into any particular genre of books. 

Do you prefer paperback or hardback?

Usually paperback. I don't like dealing with book jackets, and I don't like the weight of hardback books. But if there's a book I want to read that only comes in hardback, I'll make due.

Would you ever write a book?

I have always wanted to, but I don't want to deal with the scrutiny and criticism. So I probably never will. 

Hooray for the Bidet!

I confess, I've been looking at my writing challenge prompts thinking which one will allow me to write a detailed post about my bidet? 

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #23:

Around the House!

Here we go!

A few months ago, we bought a bidet attachment for our toilet. I've always thought a bidet would be wonderful to have, but legit bidets are really expensive and, therefore, pretty low on the priority list. Several years ago, I started seeing online ads for bidet attachments, but I didn't think they would really be good quality. Then some of our friends bought bidet attachments for their toilets and loved them, so suddenly, my bidet dreams felt within reach! 

The first week of March, when toilet paper was scarce, but COVID crap hadn't officially hit the fan yet, I almost bought a bidet attachment. Two weeks later, they were completely sold out. Every model. I kept my eye on things and was able to buy one in June.

I couldn't wait to try it out! I had never "bideted" before. 

Scotty installed it while I was laying on our bed reading a book. As soon as he had it all hooked up, he fired the trigger, and the water shot all the way from the toilet to our bedroom wall behind my head.

That's how we learned that the bidet packs a punch! 

Then Scotty gave the bidet a trial run. I watched this process, of course! That was a moment I wish I had a camera on him. Everyone should have their first bidet experience on film! Well, you know... at least the facial expressions. 

(Oh! Everyone except me, of course. I required locked doors and everyone out of earshot).

Scotty pulled the lever, let out a hearty yell, and turned it right back off. He said some choice words. Not swears - just butt-related descriptions that I shan't repeat on the internets. Then he pulled the lever again, this time not to full blast. His face! Oh, his face! He then said, "Am I supposed to clench?"

Later, I took my turn, and I can say with confidence, don't go full blast. You really can injure yourself. 

We've now had our bidet for three months, and we love it! Here are some of the TMI's I can share:

TMI #1: The temperature control might not really be necessary. It takes so long for warm water to get to the toilet that we never use it, and it's fine. The water isn't that cold. Ask me about it in January, though. I haven't used a bidet in the winter months yet! The only time I've used warm water is when the shower or sink in the bathroom has been running and there's already hot water right there. The first time I got a warm water wash, it kind of shocked me! It can be too hot! Don't burn your undercarriage! In the online reviews, some users say that they run the self-washing feature on warm while they do their "business" so by the time they're ready for a rinse, the water is warm. 

TMI #2: The feminine position might also not be necessary. Part of using a bidet is moving around a bit to make sure the water is hitting where it needs to hit ("hula hooping" as our friend Kyle calls it), so why move a dial to a new position when you can just... well... lean a little? I, personally, never use that feature. 

So my point in all that is, if you're in the market for a bidet attachment, you can probably save a little money and forgo the warm water/feminine features and still be a successful bidet owner. Also, the temperature controlled bidet is more tedious to install.

TMI #3: A question I get asked a lot is, "What do you do about drying?" Well, you just have to figure out your personal preference, but I still wipe (oh my gosh, am I really writing about this on the internet?) 

I have two reasons for wiping: 1) I want to make sure the bidet gets the job done (sometimes follow-up is required) and 2) I want to be dry. So after I run the bidet, I wipe with a small amount of toilet paper. I'd say the bidet will definitely pay itself off eventually in toilet paper conservation, but it doesn't completely eliminate the use of toilet paper. 

TMI #4: The bidet is absolutely wonderful for the Monthly Visitor. That alone is reason to have one! And I have three daughters, so...

TMI #5: Scotty and I always talk about how much we miss our bidet when we are away from it. Whenever we have to poop away from home, we feel so burdened. Last time we went camping, Scotty commented that his butt was no longer conditioned to be wiped so much. We just might have to start carrying a peri bottle with us everywhere we go! 

So what are your thoughts on bidets? Have you used one? Would you ever buy one? 

Closet Sneak Peek

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #9:

Organize

One of the downsides to our house of 16 years is that it has no storage spaces. The house was built with a coat closet in the living room and a small pantry in the kitchen, and that's it. When we toured the house, I didn't really notice the lack of storage, so I was a bit frazzled when I was unpacking, and I realized that there was nowhere to store towels or linens. I also didn't realize that one of the bedrooms didn't have a closet. People always tell me that rooms without closets can't be counted as "bedrooms" in real estate listings. Somehow they got away with it here. They also got away with not disclosing that there was a hole in the floor of the basement with a sump pump in it. It was conveniently covered up with moving boxes both times we walked through the house. 

Making our home work storage-wise has been a bit of a nightmare, but we've managed. We have to keep our towels and linens in our bedroom closet and under our bed. It's not ideal, but it's also not the worst thing we've had to deal with in life. 

Several years ago we made our family room into a bedroom for Daisy and a storage room. We also added a closet to Nicky's bedroom that shouldn't have been considered a bedroom. The storage room helped a lot and was necessary for us to be able to move shelving out of our basement to build our new family room (six years later)... 

As we planned our family room, we wanted to make sure we included a nice, big closet. We decided to build it deep enough to store several 27-gallon bins. 

The closet isn't finished yet, but it's close, so I can show you what we've got in the works:

Basement closet at 75% completion

(See that awkwardness at the bottom-right? That's where the hole to the sump pump is). 

We've been working on sanding and staining wood for the shelving. We used some wood that Scotty got from his grandpa's property after he passed away, and Scotty really wanted to make the wood pretty because it's really nice wood, and he wanted to maintain its woody integrity even though it will go behind closed doors.  

We are now trying to decide if we want to add one more shelf, allowing us to store shorter bins on top, or if we want to leave it as-is, which will allow us to stack the 27-gallon bins two-high on the current top shelf.

Look at me! I have storage options!

I've actually had many of these storage bins for a while, as I've been anticipating this closet for the past few years, but they have been out in the garage. It's nice to finally be able to host them inside, where the stuff can be more accessible. Right now, I have bins for the following:

• Blankets & bedding (2)
• Holiday decor (1)
• Puzzles (1)
• Winter clothes (coats, snow pants, gloves, etc) (1)
• Costumes (1)
• Duffel bags/backpacks (1)
• Gift bags/boxes/wrapping paper (1)
• Imaginext toys (bat cave and fire house) (1)

The other three, I just bought last week and need to consider what would be most helpful to store in them. I can even fit four more if I want!

The closet is also hosting our gigantic waffle blocks. The blocks have been one of our kids' favorite toys - they use them all the time! But until now, they've been a bit of a pain to store. I'm pleased to have a proper and practical place for them.

I'm really excited to have this closet. I feel like it has enhanced my organizational options immensely and will take a lot of strain off other areas of our house. 

Daisy's "New" Bed

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #35:

Thrifty

I haven't done a lot of thrift shopping lately because I don't need any "stuff" right now. It helps that we recently got new carpet, and having to move everything out of the rooms gave me a renewed aversion to excessive possessions. I wish we could have gotten rid of half of the stuff we had to move, but most of it was stuff we should keep - ya know, like beds. But, oh! How I wanted to throw it all out on the front lawn with a "free" sign!

Anyway, I wasn't sure if I could manage a "thrifty" post this month, but by golly, I've got one!

Daisy turned 11 on Monday, and as I considered what to get her for her birthday, I thought it might be nice to give her a new bed. For several years, she has been sleeping on a metal frame with a huge dent in it. We stuck a board over the dent because her 40-year-old mattress (a hand-me-down from my aunt) was starting to bow in the middle. In order to make it look somewhat like a real bed, I zip-tied my childhood headboard and footboard to it. We are fancy around here.

I talked to Scotty about building Daisy a new bed. Time ran out, of course, and two days before Daisy's birthday, we had no bed and no time. I decided to check the classifieds just to see if we could scrounge up something quickly. Lo and behold, the perfect bed had just been listed 6 minutes prior, and it was only $25. The downside was that it was in Provo, and Scotty had just gotten home from Provo an hour earlier, but we called the seller, hopped in the truck, and had the bed 45 minutes later. 

The bed was such a great deal! It's super solid, and it has built-in shelving and drawers! Perfect for my hoarder child! But seriously, I love old, wood beds! Nicky, Zoe, and Eva all sleep on old, wood beds that my aunt (of 40-year-old mattress fame) gave us, and they are so well-built and sturdy. I was thrilled to get Daisy a good, solid, wood bed!

We decided to give it to Daisy as-is and let her decide what color she wanted it painted. A few weeks ago, we inherited a hand-me-down dresser for Daisy that's black, so she decided she wanted her bed painted black to match it. I also got her some new bedding.

Here is what the bed looked like prior to painting (it's wet because I took the photos right after I washed it):

And here is what it looks like in her room:

$25 bed + $9 in paint

I had to remove all of her gigantic pillows and stuffed animals to make the bed visible for a photo (hoarder child!) 

Daisy is a happy girl! And hoarding aside, I am a happy mom!