Missing school?

After some searching, I think this is one of the only pictures I have of me as a "teacher"!  At lunch with some students after a competition.

Do you know that if I didn't quit teaching, I would be about to start my EIGHTH YEAR???  That is crazy to me. 

When it comes to teaching, it's funny what I miss.  And what I don't miss.

-What I miss MOST is writing the subjects of the lessons in my weekly lesson planner.  This is so funny to me!  What a weird thing to miss. 
-I miss my students!  I loved them.  Before Olivia was born they were my whole world.  After Olivia, it's true, I couldn't give them as much as I felt they needed.  This helped soften the blow when I quit.
-I miss lecturing.  And if you think that sounds boring, well then you should have been in my lectures!  The other day I told my sister all about Christian Dior's "New Look" and how it was a rebound from the masculine style of the 1940's during WWII.  I just love interior design and fashion!
-Grading papers while watching Hulu.  While grading papers isn't my most favorite thing, catching up on Once Upon a Time while I do it was kinda nice.  Obviously I could only do design papers.  If it was anything I had to read, I needed quiet.
-Awards and recognition.  Yeah, I got a lot ;)

I guess here's another picture of me as a teacher.  I look kind of chubby, and I certainly was.  But I also like to think it's because I was pregnant and didn't know it yet.  This is Jordan Shumway presenting me with an award for Teacher All Star Team.  Best award I ever got.

What I DON'T miss
-Meetings.  When you get 100+ people in a group there is no such thing as short meeting.
-Hoops. One year we all had to work in PLCs (something learning community) with other teachers that taught our subject.  Guess how many interior design teachers there were at Bingham?  Just me.  Also we had to fill out these giant portfolios and get evaluated twice a year, but basically were told "Don't worry, it's really hard to get fired". 
-Expectations to work long hours with out pay.  Someone once said "FACS teachers are the first to arrive and the last to leave" and I was like "HECK no.  When 3pm hits, I'm peacing out of this place." 
-Freezing.  Absolutely FREEZING.  My fingers would get numb while typing on my computer during my prep period.  I wanted to wear cute pencil skirts to work, but mostly I wore as much clothing as possible.  I was always cold.  Except that one year when the heat would turn on at noon and my last period class would all get fevers.

Happy back to school tomorrow!  (Or last week, or the week before, because I swear school starts earlier every year)

Toddler Falls Out of Second Story Window: The True Story

Yesterday was Olivia's first day of preschool.

It was cool when the kids woke up so I lifted the blinds and opened the windows wide.  Not just to save money on AC, but because I hate the feeling that we as a human race are constantly stuffed up in artificial heat or cool and never connect with nature and the fresh air.

Later that day, I put my kids down for a nap.  I didn't close her window because (can I be honest here?) honestly, it didn't even cross my mind.  If it had, of course I would have.  Of couse!

 Olivia came down stairs twice, and I sent her back up.

Finally hoping that she was asleep, I settled into watch Project Runway.  At about 2:40 (sometime I know thanks to the time stamp on the phone call I made moments later) I heard a crash and a scream.  I realize immediately that she had fallen through her screen.  I don't know why, but I ran to her bedroom.  Maybe I was hoping she was still hanging on?  No she wasn't.

I ran down stairs and opened the front door.  Olivia was standing up and we ran together and I held her close.  I pulled her away to survey the damage and realized she was bleeding from her chin.  I set her down on the step and ran to get a towel for her deep gash. 

Once that was in place I started searching for my phone.  Who to call???  When ever I was unsure of anything about my child's health, her pediatrician's office had always been there for me.  So that's who I called.  We don't have a lot of money, and I've had to pay for an ambulance ride before.  There were clearly no broken bones and from the way she had stood up and walked to me, I knew there wasn't any OBVIOUS injuries, other than her chin.  I knew her Dr could stitch up her chin and check for other injuries.  If they told me to call 911 instead, I would have.

I called and they told me to come right in.  So we drove as fast as legally possible.  They saw us very quickly and cleaned her wound.  The doctor checked for injuries and gave her a few tests with her hand eye coordination.  She was passing them all.

She had stopped crying and was acting totally normal until they put this thing on, and she was NOT HAPPY!

Just to be safe we wanted some xrays and a CT scan.  She was stable, but obviously needed to be checked out further.  The hospital nearest me?  Doesn't take my insurance.  So we decide on Primary Children's.  Probably as far from my house as you can get in the Salt Lake Valley.  I'll drive her over and meet Adam there.

Just to be safe, they want her in an ambulance.

This is less than HALF of the paramedics that showed up to take Olivia.

Just because of rush hour, they want her in a helicopter.

Three police cars, two ambulances, one fire truck and one helicopter later, Olivia is safely off to the ER.  Axel and I are to drive SLOWLY to the hospital.  Adam is already there.  She was crying pretty hard when she left on the helicopter.  Do you know why?  The neck brace was bugging her and she didn't want to lay flat.

A series of xrays, a CT scan and six stitches and Olivia is completely good to go.  We get home and Adam sleeps in her room just to be sure.

Loving the attention.  Singing everyone her favorite songs.

Naked because they cut all her clothes off!  But having a good time painting while we wait for a CT scan.

We're so blessed and so lucky and so thrilled that she's okay.  I just can't even let myself think "What if" because that is a dangerous game.  It's debilitating.  My father-in-law told me not to look back, and I was glad because I had already decided not to.

It was too hard to ignore the negative comments on all the facebook news reports.  But honestly?  Reading negative blog comments has prepared me for this.  I know exactly the kind of person that posts them, so it really (not kidding!) hasn't bothered me.  I just wanted to set the record straight. 

The End of Summer: A free write

4th of July, just cruisin' looking for the ladies.

Look at this, a blog post on a Monday morning.  How very structured of me.  Maybe things will be like this again when Olivia is in preschool and I get my life back in order. 

I had to hurry and open blogger when I started thinking about this post, because blogging inspiration is hard to come by these days.  Actually, that's not true.  Blogging inspiration + time is hard to come by.  It always seems I have one or the other. 

Summer is nearly over.  There is just one week left.  Six days actually, if you don't count next Sunday.  I have a hard time with summer.  All these expectations.  We'll go to the water park once a week!  We'll walk to Matt and Stephanie's all the time!  Friends over, cook outs, swimming all the live long day!!  But what on earth is filling up my days, so that there is hardly room for this????  I honestly couldn't tell you.  We went to the water park twice.  Which I guess is still a savings, since I paid $25 for our season passes and it costs $25 for just one day.  So go twice and you pay for it. 

I just don't know how my life fell apart last week.  And that sounds incredibly dramatic and it doesn't need to.  But I had everything so under control.  Clutter was disappearing, laundry was getting done, bathrooms were getting scrubbed.  I thought I finally had this house thing down.  Vacations hit and I didn't recover well.  Not that I tried very hard, I read a trilogy in three days.  (The Selection, very fun if you're a Bachelor fan)  By the time I was done we had two days before our next trip, so I washed laundry like a fool and we were packed by Friday afternoon.  I have higher hopes for next time we return from vacation. 

I'm worried about fall, because I'm so hopeful, just like I am at the start of summer.  So much promise, so much time!  But all the things you keep meaning to do always get stuck in the last two weeks of August so you're trying to squeeze in time with too many friends before you move to college or fit in too many activities during your last week of vacation.  It always happens this way. 

Well my body says it's almost midnight on a Sunday.  My family will be shocked!  I go to bed at 9pm every night!  Well, that's what they think.  But I don't work anymore, family.  I go to bed at 11pm.  There.  I said it.  I feel like I betray myself every time I stay up past 9:30, but I sleep until 7, so I just can't go to bed as early as I used to. 

Anyway, I'm tired.  Happy Monday, go make the most of your summer!

What would you do with. . . Zucchini!

It's the second Wednesday of the month so it's time for Aubrey and I to tell you what we would do with. . . zucchini!!

Growing up with a garden I feel like we always had more zucchini than we knew what to do with.  One year you plant two plants, and the next year you don't plant any but some how you have 20 plants.  My parents used to fry it up with butter and salt, but once I ate it too many times in a row and it kind of ruined it for me.  I avoided it for a looong time until my grandma steamed some zucchini for dinner when I was visiting her in Jordan (the country in the middle east, yep, I've been there) and I was hooked again.  Still can't fry it in butter though.

So, what did I do with my zucchini??  First I made Preethi's Panzanella.  It is amazing food.  If you love olives and feta and garlic bread. . . make this stuff.

Then I googled "clean zucchini bread" (Can I get an aside here?  I've heard nutritionists don't like the word "clean" when referring to food, because it brings up that comparison of good foods vs. bad foods, but it's SO convenient to know that I can google any recipe with the word "clean" in front and find a recipe that doesn't use any sugar, white flour or processed ingredients.  Anyway, just my two cents.)  This recipe was really good!  Since I avoid dairy, I used almond milk and vinegar instead of greek yogurt (just a T of vinegar per cup of milk I think. . .) and it still turned out great!  Oh and I added chocolate chips instead of nuts.  Maybe cut down a little on the honey if you do that, it was kinda sweet.  Don't use your good honey for baking if you can help it.  Buy some cheaper stuff.  No need to use raw honey if it's just going to get cooked during the baking process, am I right?

Can you see the tiny flecks of zucchini?  No?  That's because this is banana bread, but I assure you it looked almost identical.  I forgot to take a picture, so sue me.

So there you have it!!!  Let me tell you, I am so FREAKING excited for fall, and so next month we're spending $20 on school/office supplies.  I don't know what I'm going to buy yet. . . maybe a bouquet of sharpened pencils. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Six Jobs

 I went to a Relief Society activity (the LDS women's organization monthly event) and I was really inspired.  The topic was about finding balance in our lives and the woman speaking is an expert.  She said that most of us can do 4 jobs.  If you're good at time management you can do 5.  If you're really really good at time management you'll max out at 6.  That's it.  That's all you can expect to handle.  6 jobs.  (So of course I'm sticking with 6, because I'm stubborn like that)

I came home and listed out my jobs.  I chose the same top three jobs as the speaker:

1. Daughter of God
2. Wife
3. Mother

And then I listed out the remaining jobs in no particular order:

-Housekeeper
-Blogger
-Chef
-Interior Designer
-Olive the Things CEO

That adds up to 8.  Two jobs too many.  Obviously I have to keep housekeeper and chef.  I would love to hire out my cleaning, but I'm not making enough money with my other jobs to do that yet. . . maybe one day! (hey, a girl can dream!!)  That left only one space left.  And I can't drop my new etsy shop.  So we have. . .

1. Daughter of God
2. Wife
3. Mother
4. Chef
5. Housekeeper (since I work from home, I have to clean before I can sew)
6. Olive the Things CEO

I'm not going to stop blogging or trying to make my home a more beautiful place, but those will have to be relegated to hobby status.  Something I do for fun in my free time, if I have free time :)

I don't value being busy, I love my down time.  But I do have a lot of things I'm passionate about and so it's easy to fill my time up so much that I don't have any fun and I'm nothing but stress.  I still stress about this blog, about what will happen if I don't try and post somewhat regularly.  I have got to get over that!  It was a great hobby with a newborn and I'm sure it will be there for me with my next kid too.

And I love decorating, but I'm going slowly as our budget permits.  Sometimes we have to pay for boring things like new blinds, but I know it will get there eventually.  (I do have a really cheap fun project I just completed for my living room I CANNOT wait to share!) 

I'm excited to put more energy into those six jobs as I learn to let go of other things in life.  It's hard to say no, but I'm getting better and better all the time. 

What would be your 4, 5 or 6 jobs?

Five Little Confessions: Hoarding

 

Once a month Aubrey, Carrie, Jacquelyn and I team up to bring you the 5 Little Confessions link up!  You can confess anything your little heart desires.  And link up!

Since I talked about my hoarding "problem" on Monday I decided to make that the theme of today's post.  I have to laugh because my living room is perfectly clean, Adam just took two car loads to the dump and thrift stores respectively and I've been dejunking for the past few weeks, so I'm making a LOT of progress.  I still have some things to confess though :)

1.  When my cousin was helping me move from my aunt's basement to my new apartment, he dropped a box with a glass item in it (sorry to be vague, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings).  I was bummed that it didn't break because I didn't want to keep it, but I felt too bad to give it away.  I have since given it away :)

2. Most people that move a lot are good at going through things and getting rid stuff.  Not me!  Every time we move it's like "We're just going to move again soon so I'll deal with this crap then"  I'm finally dealing with it now. (Four moves since we got married five years ago.  Two moves for me while we were dating but not married, so six in six years)

3. I've been working on using it all up, but I had three different containers of dish washer detergent in my cupboard.  I would try one, it would make my dishes cloudy so I'd try something else.  But I kept them all.  Now we have soft water so they're all pretty good and I can use them up and clear out space!

4. Also with lotions.  I never wanted to completely use a lotion that I really loved the smell of so I would try not to use a lot.  At our last apartment I put all of my lotions in one basket and systematically tried to use up as many partial bottles as possible.  I'm getting there.

5. There are somethings I don't have a problem throwing/giving away.  Things that are not a full set.  Olivia and Axel lost one of their blocks and I wanted to chuck the whole thing.  It doesn't even matter!  You don't need all 50 to have fun with it!  Also, I'm missing the green bowl in my nesting bowl set and it makes me sad EVERY DAY.  #OCDProblems

An InLinkz Link-up

When you realize you're a hoarder, and what to do about it.

One of my goals is to keep this credenza clean from clutter EVERY DAY.  After a few days it got so much easier!  Making things pretty definitely helps.

My name is Kimberly, and I am a hoarder.  No, I'll never be on the show Hoarders, my house is still liveable. But I'm terrible at getting rid of stuff.  When I moved into our tiny apartment two weeks before Axel was born, I had SIX large boxes of Olivia's baby clothes.  I didn't want to part with any of it.  But thinking that other baby girls weren't going to get any new clothes of their own was just silly!  Me, my mom and my mother-in-law will all be buying that girl clothes, so I didn't need to keep every little piece.  I've gone through her clothes twice and a year later, I have two boxes of her clothes 0-3 months up to 3T. 

Still there are Axel's clothes, baby blankets, CD's, DVDs, CRAFT SUPPLIES!, and weird miscelaneous crap that I'm worried I'll suddenly need very badly if I throw it out. 

Soon after moving into our house, and realizing that having SO MUCH MORE SPACE wasn't as much as I thought, I finally faced the fact that I needed to get serious about throwing away my stuff.  When you start dreaming about someone robbing your garage just so you don't have to deal with it, you know there is a problem. 

The solution (still in progress!)
-A place for everything and everything in it's place.  When I'm cleaning I do what ever I can to make a place for any items I come across, AT THAT MOMENT.  It's worth taking ten minutes to hang a hook or nail so there's a place to hang my camera knowing that next time I go to put my camera away, I wont have to think about where it should go (and I will have an easier time finding it!) 

-Take a picture!  Take a picture of special items I really have no need for.  And then give them to someone who needs it. 

-Be honest with myself.  I had about five half finished blankets.  I had to be honest with myself that I would never find the time to finish them.  I didn't want to throw them away either.  So I put it out on facebook.  My aunt offered to take them, finish them and donate them.  DONE.  Because I didn't need anymore blankets hanging around my house :)

-Trust in the internet.  I had to throw away EIGHT college notebooks.  I was keeping them for reference in my teaching.  I think I used them once in my five years of teaching.  If I need information that isn't in my brain, that's what google and wikipedia are for.  I know enough to know what is good content, but I don't need to memorize the information or hoard it in plastic bins. 

-If I haven't used it, touched it or thought about it in five years (or heck, five months!) I'm probably not going to miss it.  So give it away!

-Try not to be so sentimental.  People don't want to bog you down.  I have gifts from my childhood that don't fit my style now, I don't have space for and no one will know if I give them away.  I have to stop thinking "BUT!  It's from so-and-so!"  Again, take a picture and move on. 

I still have a LONG way to go, but my goal is to have it under control before I have another baby.  The more stuff I get rid of, the easier my house has been to keep clean, and a clean house just gives me peace and makes me happy.

How do you get rid of things???  Also, anyone know the correct protocol for disposing of seminary scriptures?