A Change of Heart

Happy Valentine's Day!  One of my favorite holidays.  I relish celebrating this holiday of love.

In years past, the kids and I have made pink-frosted heart-shaped sugar cookies.  It seems like I'm too busy at Christmas to make sugar cookies, so this is the perfect time of year.  I love making special meals with heart themes to show the "sweethearts" in my life how much I love them.

This year, Valentine's Day came at the end of two of the busiest weeks I have had in a very long time.  In addition to the flood of writing, there were parent-teacher conferences and book fairs to volunteer at and organize at two different schools.  And, I needed to plan the Valentine's Day party for my son's second grade class because I am the room mom.  And, the night before Valentine's Day was the first night of juggling class.  It has been a very busy two weeks and I was feeling tired both physically and creatively.  So, as I sat with another mom/friend Thursday night at juggling class, I lamented that I had nothing special planned for this special holiday.

Friday came and went.  I wrapped up my writing, and we had a fun class party for Isaac.  I somehow got all the kids out the door with bags full of Valentines to pass out to their classmates.  Brian took me out for a lightning fast meal after the babysitting kids went home and before he had to leave for his evening photo assignments.  I picked up fast food for the kids for dinner and we watched the Olympics.  Because, watching the Olympics is fun.  It was a nice day, but our traditions were missing.

Saturday morning, I woke up renewed.  It felt good to put that long two weeks of work behind me and look forward to a long weekend of fun.  I decided it wasn't too late to celebrate the ones I love.  I started with these heart shaped waffles:

Next, I got to use the tickets I bought several months ago to take my mom to see "Les Miserables" at the Hale Centre Theatre.  It was breathtaking.  It exceeded my expectations from start to finish.  I loved it so much!  Every cast member nailed their part.  The music was so, so beautiful.  I can't find enough words to say how much I loved the production and how much I loved getting to spend the day with my mom.

That was a matinee, so when we got back to Ogden, my mom sweetly took Katie to her house for a sleepover so Brian and I could take the three older kids out for an evening with friends and their kids.

First, we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant our friends just discovered (and introduced us to) -- Smokin' Bones.  I'm not even a huge fan of BBQ, but the food was so good.  And, Isaac got to eat a hot dog deep fried in a scone.  Seriously, what is not to love about that?

Then, we headed to Salt Lake to watch the hilarious melodrama "Bandito Rides Again."  It was one of those melodrama parodies where they make fun of melodramas and pop-culture and other things.  Everyone laughed their heads off.  Even Isaac liked it (and, he is not a child who is easily pleased).

So, I had a change of heart between Thursday night and Saturday morning and we celebrated.  One day late, but we celebrated.  I love this family of mine.

Marathon of Words

I was going to write about how crazy this past week has been.

Last Monday night, I got a call from the newspaper asking if I could do three (what turned out to be five) extra stories for the Home and Garden insert coming out later this month.  Of course, I said "yes," and then spent the next eight days asking, "Why do I do this to myself?"

I scrambled to get my three regular stories for the week written and turned in.  On Thursday, the marathon began.  For two days I felt mental exhaustion set in as I worked simultaneously on what felt like five different research papers at once. And, it was the week of the book fair and parent-teacher conferences at the junior high (of course, I said "yes" to helping organize the book fair).

I just added it up.  I have interviewed twenty-five different people since last Tuesday.  No wonder I feel a little loopy.  I have ten more interviews to go and four more stories to write by the end of Friday.

But, right now, I am taking a pause to write about how crazy this all is instead.

I was going to write about how crazy this past week has been and try to answer the question, "Why do I do this to myself?"  But, now that the five extra stories are complete, I feel the way I always do at the end.  I feel like I have learned so many cool things about taking care of cement and kitchen remodeling and what the hottest trends for landscaping are right now.

I guess that is the weird part about my job that keeps me going.  I love getting to talk to interesting people and learn new things.

After giving it my all on Thursday and Friday, I woke up Saturday with a stomach bug.  How is it possible that right when a person has so much to do, that person gets sick?  I tried really hard to give myself permission to take a sick day.

Breathe in, breathe out.

On Sunday, I woke up at 6 a.m. in a panic because, while taking my sick day, I completely spaced out the fact that we were hosting Brian's family for dinner that night.  It was ward conference and I had meetings that morning, followed by church, followed by the dinner.  The house was not looking too great after I took a sick day.  I devised a plan.  I would be in charge of making the food if Brian would be in charge of cleaning up.  He agreed.

Then, I had to practice not being the expert at cleaning the house.  Have you ever noticed that when you are the expert at something, you get to do that thing all the time?  You have to let go of being the one in charge to get other people to participate.  On Sunday, I realized that I have been a bit of a control freak when it comes to cleaning the house.  So, congratulations to me, because I kept my mouth shut about how I thought things should be done.  Mostly.  It was hard. (Not as hard as doing everything myself).

Breathe in, breathe out.

But, in the end, dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles showed up with their wonderful meal contributions and we were all happy and none of it mattered anymore.  All that mattered was being together for Sunday dinner.  And, that was nice.

Yesterday and today, I had to wake up to the reality of how much work was still left to be done -- on the stories I mean.  If I woke up really early and started working until the babysitting kids showed up at 11 a.m. and worked again after they went home all evening until long after I would have liked to go to bed, it would be O.K.  It reminded me of finals week in college, when you are trying to cram so much in before a deadline.  Except, now there were all these other people depending on me for food and attention while I was working in the evenings.

It reminded me of having a new baby and not being able to find time to shower.

Breathe in, breathe out. 

This morning, my e-mail crashed while I was trying to receive photos from ten different sources for the stories.  They all started calling to say their e-mails were bouncing back to them.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Brian fixed it.  We survived all of it so far.  Every now and then, I get a startled feeling that Valentine's Day is just a few days away.  The kids need to go Valentine shopping, and I am in charge of Isaac's room party.  This week is parent-teacher conference and the book fair at the elementary school (of course I said "yes" to volunteering for a shift tomorrow night).

I am really looking forward to the weekend.  Right now, it is back to my marathon of words, because I refuse to let this spill beyond Friday (even though my technical deadline for the next four stories is 8 a.m. next Tuesday).  I can't wait to just cuddle those kids of mine and have all day Monday (President's Day) to do whatever we want!