Wait, Am I An Alien?

Sometimes I realize that the bubble that I've been living in is a lot thicker than I ever thought.  It's less of a soapy bubble and more like a steel, sound-proof, at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean bubble.  I never really realized that I was so different from "the world".  Living in Idaho didn't really help me realize how different I am, but a little bit of Texas, youtube surfing, and a book I've been reading about pressures of adolescent girls opened my eyes to what people really deal with.

I really enjoy my life and the way that I grew up.  I never felt like I was a loser at school or was even pressured into things that I didn't want to do.  I was never even offered to do things that I knew were wrong, so I thought people never really did them.  Let me explain by starting with high school:

I am reading a book called Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.  This book was written almost 20 years ago (1994), so when I saw when it was published, I thought it wouldn't even apply to now or even when I was in high school.  The book addresses a lot of different pressures that girls go through: depression, weight, sex, drugs, violence.  The book is written by a psychologist who is writing different examples of girls that she has had in therapy.  Generally, I was shocked with how many girls are introduced to sex and drugs at such a young age and how many actually participate in that kind of behavior.  I'm sure now kids are introduced to it younger and younger.  

(eye break)

When I was in high school, I was never offered alcohol or drugs.  Is it because every weekend I hung out with the same kids that had high standards like I did?  Yeah, I bet.  I was lucky enough to have a group of great people to hang around, but naive little me thought that everyone had nice friends that had wholesome fun and I thought only the really popular people who had parents with loads of alcohol at their house drank.  In fact, I didn't even know what alcohol smelled like until I was (ironically) a missionary.  That's when I learned that I really like the smell of alcohol and I would definitely, no doubt in my mind be an alcoholic if my parents didn't teach me that I should never drink alcohol.  And I'm not saying that jokingly.  When I smell it, my body actually craves it.  Even more than chocolate.  Never tasted it, NEVER will, but definitely need to stay away from it.

So big bubble right?  Here's the kicker: more than 10 kids from my high school drank alcohol underage.  I know.  I was as surprised as I'm sure you are now when I realized the statistics.

Okay, so drugs, alcohol, sex , whatever.  I thought they never existed, but they really do.  You get the point.

Next:  Okay, don't judge me.  So everyone knows I like watching Ellen youtube clips.  If you don't know, now you do.  So she always has this lady on her show named Bethenny Frankel, who I realized as her own show.  I thought that maybe I would watch a few clips (but I don't really recommend).  Learned some interesting things:

The first clip I watched was some women's panel.  They showed a clip of a guy who rode his bike everywhere and used coupons and looked for deals when eating out.  Bethenny asked her lady panel if they would ever date a guy who didn't have a car, but instead rode his bike around everywhere and used coupons to eat out.  All of the said NO!  They were shocked that anyone would ever date a carless, coupon-eating man.  They claim that a woman needs to be treated like she's a princess and that a man needs to invest in a relationship if he wants it to last.

I couldn't help but giggle because my husband rides his bike everywhere and we always looks for good deals when going out to eat.  When we were dating, (and when I was quite thinner) we would just get one meal at a restaurant and share it and usually still had leftovers.  I know that's a little odd, but we didn't waste money on uneaten food.  I still feel like John treats me like a princess and invests in our relationship in other ways like paying cash for my wedding ring and saving for retirement and our girls' college education rather than going into debt for a piece of jewelry and spending money on expensive meals now and living of social security in the future.  And that's just the money side of the way he cares.  Does that means he doesn't love me the way that frivolously spending men love their special lady?  According to them yes.

Wait, hold on.  If you did not pay cash for your ring, I'm not dissing you yo.  That's just an example of my husband frugality and wanting to be responsible with his current financial situation.  I know that a really expensive ring is important to some people which is totally fine because it lasts forever and is symbolic, but I don't understand not using a coupon for a meal because it's not "investing in a relationship".

My thoughts are everywhere and I wouldn't blame you if you stopped reading now.

My point is, that what I thought was normal really isn't.  Did you know that a lot of people live together before they get married?  Like, almost everyone does.  People spend money that they don't have?  I knew people drank, but I didn't know a ton of people go to bars and they even drink on weekdays?  Some people sleep with someone without even knowing their name?  See, I had heard all of this before, but I never realized how common it is.

I just couldn't imagine growing up in a different world than the one that I grew up in.  I don't consider myself sheltered because I define a sheltered person as someone who has never been exposed to things that could help them live up to their highest potential.  I don't think there is anything wrong with not knowing about what really goes on around me.  Just because I haven't viewed porn or sipped a little wine doesn't categorize me as sheltered. I try not to judge people.  I don't think that these actions make these people bad people.  I really want everyone to see what truly being happy is.

Believe it or not, I had tons of fun as a single person.  Yes, I did enjoy a good Care-EEE-oh-key without being drunk and I enjoyed going on dates without getting frisky.  Now as a married person with a family, I enjoy every moment with my kids.  I still go out on date with my husband and have some "me" time, but kids are not a burden and don't block me from doing what I want to do.  Of course everything is a little harder with kids.  But would I trade my kids for tons of money, traveling the world, and have that smoking hot body that I use to have?  No way!  If I had to choose between being dirt poor, never traveling, sleeping at 8 every night, and having my children or being totally rich with a double-income family, travel the world, go out to fancy dinners every night, and still fit into a size-tiny dress, I would no doubt be the dirt poor lady with kids.  It devastates me to know that some couples who are totally capable of having children would pass up such a unique and purely joyful opportunity.

You probably know what I should do now.  Share a little gospel!  Because, let's face it, I'm who I am because of it.

My To-Do, To-Don'ts

Earlier this year I made a To-do list for the year.  I'm still working on it, but I'm a little devastated that I didn't do a few of them because it all has to do with things that I wanted to do in Idaho before I left.  I don't want to mention again how busy I was (even though I just did), but I didn't do these out of laziness, I didn't do them because I simply I too much to do in too little time.

So here are the things that I didn't do.  But just to make things even, I want to replace them with things to do in Texas so I still fell like I'm accomplishing a lot.

6.  Yellowstone: We have gone to Yellowstone 4 or 5 times since we've been married (3 years and counting), so it's not like I've never been there.  I am a little bummed out that Jocelyn still hasn't gone.  But the next time our renters move out, then I'll take the kids up to Idaho and take them, along with cleaning and updating our house.

7.  Tetons:  As much as I love the Tetons (because we've been there equal amount of time) I think I'm okay not going because my little dinky car from high school has trouble going up the huge mountain to the other side of the Tetons.  That's also on the list to visit when we go back up to Idaho someday.

9.  Craters of the Moon star gazing:  I guess there are stars everywhere so I don't need to worry about that right?  I'm justifying for not going.

11.  Watch sunrise on top of Cress Creek with the entire family:  Again, the sun is everywhere.  John and I wake up every morning before the sun is up anyway.  I'll just look out my window and replace it with something else.

16.  Hit my weight loss goal by December:  This will probably sound completely ridiculous to you and sound like I'm justifying my need to test every flavor of Blue Bell Ice cream, but I'm not paying attention to the goal anymore because I've always had problems producing enough milk for my little baby and the only way for me to make enough is by eating a lot.  However, even though I eat more than normal humans should, I still make sure those are healthy calories and Blue Bell ice cream.  But when I stop breastfeeding, I'm ready to starve again.

Oh.  And I don't exercise, but that's for another blog.

18.  Palisades 19. Harriman State Park:  I've just never been so that's why I wanted to go, but I've never heard anything amazing about these places, so maybe I'm not missing out too much.

So that's 7 things on my list that I can no longer do.  I am trying to research more about this area so I can replace these adventures with something else.  So far I have the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  Does anyone else have any ideas?

I'm already working on my list for next year!  Some things will stay the same like date night and trying to introduce someone to the gospel.  Since I started my list and read other people that have lists, one thing that I notice is that a lot of people think that to-do lists are really ambitious and neat, but they would never do it for fear of not doing everything on the list.  I think that's why, for so long, I never did a list like that.  But see, I didn't do 7 things on my list.  I tried to, but couldn't, but that didn't stop me from starting 2014's list!

It all started when I was a missionary and my first companion said, that our goal was to get a new investigator every day and invite them to be baptized.  Yeah right.  Right?  Wrong.  I never went a day as a missionary without getting a new investigator.  I don't think that would have happened if my first companion and I didn't set that goal.

Even though reading 50 books in a year with two kids seems a little unrealistic, I'm positive that if I didn't set that goal, I would not read 50 books or even read that many at all.  In all honesty, I'm way behind on that one.  I only have 21 under my belt, but that's still more than nothing!

I encourage everyone to make a list of things that are hard to do that you wouldn't normally do, or make a list of things you have never done!  One thing that will be on my list every year will be to introduce someone to the gospel.  If I could do it every day as a missionary, surely once a year is reasonable now.  It's pretty hard for me considering I only make friends at church, but it can be done.

I'm excited for my end-of-the-year update with everything that I was able to do.  Hopefully you are too, but if you're not, that's okay.  I'm sure this is way more interesting to me that it is to you.

My Poor Life

Hilarious story, or at least I think it's pretty hilarious:  John was in his Economics class and they were talking about something that I didn't understand when John's teachers said, "John, how much would you pay for a shirt?" He said, "12 dollars", thinking that that was totally reasonable especially considering that the shirt he was wearing cost 4 bucks.  Well, everyone in the class laughed.  I thought that was reasonable with my thrifty shopping.  The teacher asked 2 other people who said $30 and another said $50.  I can't even fathom spending 50 bucks on a shirt.  Maybe $30 if it was diamond studded.

Don't get me wrong.  We haven't always been like this.  Well, yes we have.  I feel like I've always been fiscally responsible (fiscally boring as my sister says).  Before we had kids, we could afford things like flying, flying other people, buying useless breast milk pumps, going out to dinner often, road trips, mini road trips, and other things.  Keep in mind, all responsibly.  Now with my $250 income (from our rental) I can afford rental repairs.

Wow.  This sounds awful.  I don't want you to feel sorry for me.  I'm actually really happy to be at this point in my life and I'm excited for things to happen in the future!

So, how am I going to live?  Easy.  Loans.

And (keep your fingers crossed) food stamps.

Is this too much information?

Probably.

Do you even care?

Probably not.

Or maybe you do if you want to feel rich.

Anyway, point is, I want to share with you reasons why I am not afraid to take food stamps and I think that other people should too in the same situation that I am in.  I actually asked a new friend of mine about government assistance and she said that she feels that people need to take responsibility for themselves instead of getting money from a government with no money.  She makes a good point.  I think there are a lot of reasons not to take assistance, but here are my reasons why I am.

1.  I feel like food stamps are like a loan from the government with a 99% continuous compounding interest.  Government assistant programs are for people like my family (or at least I think it is).  When John's done with grad school, a bunch of his paycheck will go to taxes, far more than we will receive in stamps.  They're investing in us.

2.  I always thought people should be really ashamed to be on food stamps.  But then I met a lot of really great people who just struggled financially and needed this aid for a short period of time.  I thought everyone on food stamps were lazy slobs who had no plans ever to get a job or shower.  I was very judgmental until I met real people who didn't fit my stereotype.  Normal people do it too!

3.  I need to feed my family.

That's actually all. I feel like they are good reasons and I don't think anyone should be ashamed.  It takes courage to apply, but it's there for a reason.  Oh by the way, I'm not on food stamps yet.  I'm still waiting for my interview because apparently the process takes 2 months.  Love government agencies, but I can't complain, or at least shouldn't complain if I qualify.

I Should Be a Professional Organizer

I can probably organized your house in 20 baskets or less.  That is, unless you're a hoarder.

For any of you who grew up with me, went to college with me, or even know me now, you probably know that I'm a pretty big slob.  You know what?  I'm okay with that.  You know why?  Because even if everything is a mess, and everything is everywhere, I still know where everything is.  I think I get that from my mom.  She always know where everything is even if she hasn't seen it in 3 years and it's buried in a box in the attic.  For example, when we were unpacking, John asked me where the scissors were and I told him it was under two other boxes, in a different room, and even in a box that shouldn't have scissors in the first place.  See.  I don't need to be organized.

However, I didn't know where our tools were.

But there is just one thing that I didn't like about being so unorganized.  I LOOK like a slob.  I don't care if I am one, but I want to appear as though I am neat and clean and actually care about what people think of me when they come to my house.  Plus my husband is SUPER clean and organized so the least I could do was start organizing my house.

My mother-in-law really should be a professional organizer. In fact, the first 3 times that we moved, she was always there to help me organized all of our stuff.  I didn't have her this time, but I think I did a pretty darn good job at organizing everything.  My trashy apartment actually looks like a nice little home.

The absolute hardest part about organizing everything is keeping it organized.  It has taken me a lot of discipline and several years of practice and I still need to practice more, but my house is still pretty organized.  Plus with my two kids, it can be pretty tough.  I do sweep up cheerios of my floor 5 times/day, but for the most part, it isn't that bad.

Okay, time to stop rambling and time to show some pictures.

This is the linen's closet, but I put my food storage in there instead because I have other ways to store my towels.  Plus, all that cereal, oatmeal, and Chewy Bars that you can't see were all under 60 bucks total.  I'm pretty good with looking for deals and couponing.

Keep in mind that we did go down from a 4 bed, 2 bath house to a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment.  This is our storage closet.  My motto is "Organize Up".  My sister got sick of me saying it when I reorganized her house, but my house looks so much nicer with the floor clear and everything up high.  We added a hook strip to the right side and put a bathroom organizer on the right. 

I don't really do much drawer organizing, but I do with my kitchen stuff.  My nephew Bryce organized this drawer for me!  I'm glad he wants to follow in his favorite Aunt's footsteps and do major organizing. 

Again, this is with my organize up idea.  Also, another thing that I never do is just put something on the shelf unless it's big.  EVERYTHING has a basket. All the baskets that I have I got from the dollar store because they surprisingly have really nice baskets.  However I have noticed that the bigger Dollar Tree stores have a bigger selection of  baskets.  If it fits in a basket, put it in and put it up high.  Then I use shoe organizers for all our shoes and I actually hang our towels in the girl's room in the closet because they have the biggest closet in the house.

See.  NOTHING on the floor.

You can call me a little obsessive about floor space.  I even have our huge old school TV (the ones that aren't paper thin) in our front closet so that it doesn't take up room in our living room.  We only watch TV for Disney Princesses, so it is nice to have it hidden away.

Surprisingly I actually enjoy it.  I helped my sister organize her house and her son loves to help me organize!  I don't want to bore you with too many pictures of my house, but I like the way it looks.  My sister's house looks unrealistic for her lifestyle, but I'm sure she loves it.  So if anyone is too lazy or just doesn't know how to organize his or her house, give me a call, bake me some bread (or buy me my new favorite Blue Bell ice cream), and I'll organize your entire house.