Focus on the Good and Bury the Pans

My favorite motto is, "focus on the good and bury the pans." I’m sure you’ve got to be wondering what bury the pans could possibly mean. In order to understand what this is all about, I’m going to tell you a little story about my mother. When she was growing up she didn’t learn a lot of the basic skills she always wanted to know. When she first got married she wanted to make a fabulous dinner for my dad as a surprise. Her first try at cooking consisted of meat, potatoes and gravy. Not exactly a beginners meal, but she didn’t know any better. Well not one thing turned out as she planned. In fact all 3 items were scorched beyond recognition and 3 of her pans were ruined beyond repair.

When you don't know how to cook

And you don't know how to

clean a scorched pan

what do you do?

My mom was so sad and upset. The burned pans stunk up the entire house. She didn’t know what to do, but in her embarrassment, she took the ruined pans and ruined food out to the back yard, dug a hole, and buried them. 

My mom took the ruined pans
and ruined food out to the back yard,
dug a hole, and buried them

Then she just sat down and cried. Oh, how this breaks my heart to think about. We all have times in our lives when metaphorically speaking, we burn the food and the pans. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The question is, what are we going to do about it? My mom decided the only way to learn how to cook, is to humble herself and admit that she didn’t have the skills she so desired. When my dad got home from work, she confessed that the meal she was trying to make didn’t turn out. She asked him if he knew how to cook. Turns out he did. They spent the night bonding and cooking. He taught her how to cook delicious mashed potatoes, and gravy. 

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Later on in life, my mom’s gravy became the most coveted commodity. In fact she learned how to cook up masterful meals out of basic ingredients. But in her pride, I don’t think she ever admitted to my dad, that she had buried the pans in the yard. I feel like that is A OKAY. Everyone doesn’t have to see when things don’t go right, but it is a good idea to not give up. 

My mom’s willingness to try and try again has really rubbed off on me. In fact, I’m sure that is why I am such a DIYer. 

diyismyhappyplace

My mom learned how to do everything that needed to be done around the house. She took my little brother to a barbershop and told the barber, she only had enough money for one haircut, but she had a lot of children. She asked the barber if he would teach her how to cut little boys hair. 

I can still remember sitting out in the car

watching through the window

as my mom learned how to cut hair

I can still remember sitting out in the car watching through the window as my mom learned how to cut hair. From that day on, with one little lesson, my mom cut all of our hair. She eventually had 9 children and we all were blessed that she knew how to cut our hair. 

She also realized in order to cloth 9 children, she would need to learn how to sew. Similarly she took one sewing lesson and then worked and tried and failed but eventually became a master seamstress. It didn’t happen overnight. 

In order to cloth 9 children, my mom learned  how to sew

Some of our haircuts and some of our clothes were not top notch, but eventually, in time, her efforts paid off. In fact, she made all the bridesmaid dresses for her daughter’s weddings, and sewed or reimagined 3 wedding dresses. 

If an appliance quit working, she would go to the library, check out a book, and learn how to fix it. 

Aberdeen Public Library

Checked out a book to learn how to repair the vacuum

She started with a vacuum cleaner and over time, she became mechanically minded and even fixed some of our vehicles over the years. 

One day I asked her how she knew how to paint, do electrical, building projects, plumbing, so many other things. She told me, if she didn’t know how to do something, she would find someone who did, then ask them to show her how. Then she would just try and try until she got it right. I’m sure many attempts at projects got buried along the way, but she kept trying. Her, GIVE IT A TRY spirit really rubbed off on her kids. I guess that is why 3 of my siblings have actually built their own homes. I’m not that ambitious, but I will admit there isn’t a single surface inside or outside of my home that I haven’t updated, remodeled and changed. I guess that’s where I get my DO IT YOURSELF ambition. 

I too will try just about anything. If I want it, or like it, I try to figure out how I can build it, create it, reimagine it, or make it, but on a tight budget, just like my mom used to do, but she didn’t have the luxury of youtube how to videos, or home improvement stores or even the Dollar Store. She lived out on a farm, far from stores. She did almost everything on what she could grow, trade, or muster up on her own. 

There is a movie called Apollo 13. It reminds me of my mom and myself. The rocket malfunctions while on a mission. They have to figure out how to fix it based on what they have on the rocket. 

In order to save the rocket,

mission control had to figure out

how to put a square peg into a round hole

Mission control is given the same supplies that are on the rocket and are tasked to figure out a way to put A SQUARE PEG INTO A ROUND HOLE, based on what they have on hand. Many times when I am starting a new project, I try to make it happen with the items that I already have around the house. Or with what I can buy far below the original price. I frequent the local Habitat Restore, second hand stores and dollar stores to get a lot of my supplies especially for home décor projects. 

So now you know my type of DIY. If you would like to follow me and my progress, please follow my blog and my youtube channel. And remember “Focus on the Good and Bury the Pans”

Tiling Lessons Learned From Volleyball

Lessons I Learned From Playing Volleyball

The Volleyball Parable

When I was in my 30’s, I lived in a community where there were 3 different women’s volleyball leagues within a mile of my house. They were categorized as upper, middle and lower division. I’m a pickup volleyball player at best who never even played in high school outside of Physical Education class. I played basketball and thought maybe at my age I should try an “easier sport” so I figured volleyball would fit that bill. I tend to be competitive by nature so the thought of joining the “lower” division seemed out of the question. I assumed that would be the league were goof-off inexperienced players would be. I decided in my head that I needed to, at the very least, be in the middle division but I thought maybe I should be in the upper division. I met a new friend at the park who was looking for an alternate player for one game. She played in the middle division. I jumped at the chance.

When I got to the event center that night ready to play, the team captain, who happened to be my husband’s boss, asked me if I was a setter or a hitter. This was the first clue I might be out of my league. I didn’t know what the difference was. Let’s just say, the entire evening I made an entire fool of myself. I was the only person on the court that night that served underhand and don’t even get me started on my skill level. I would jump up at the net as if to block a shot, but the reality was, I had no idea what I was doing. The idea of volleyball being an easy sport was quickly thrown out the window.

For the next year, I spent every spare minute learning the game of volleyball. I learned what a hitter was, a setter, a libero and every other volleyball term. I recorded every volleyball game that came on television. I would watch it meticulously trying to learn who was moving where and why. Even going to the local high school and college games as often as I could but the bottom line was, there was no way to really become a volleyball player without some coaching and practice. I remembered back when we were warming up the night of my "first" volleyball game, someone asked me if I would like to pepper with her. I needed to learn what it meant to pepper. No volleyball game I watched told me what that was. As it turns out, that is a term used during practice. That’s exactly what I needed. I needed practice. After all, practice makes permanent. 

FYI the definition: To pepper, two players face each other separated by a distance of 5–20 feet (2–6 meters). Distances vary based upon the players' preference. Player 2 starts by hitting or tossing a volleyball to player 1. Player 1 then passes the ball back to player 2 starting the drill.

I finally realized if I wanted to be a volleyball player, I needed to find someone who knew the game to teach me and to practice with me. I got a group of ladies together to make up a practice team. I knew I needed to learn things that couldn’t be taught just by watching. We practiced daily for a couple months and these sweet ladies taught me the basics. We got ourselves a sponsor and some matching t-shirts and joined the league, in the lower division.

This group of 8 thirty something ladies, who had not previously been in the volleyball league, were essentially out of our league. Even though every person on my team, other than myself of course, had played in high school, we were all out of practice. The big parable for me was, just because you watch the game of volleyball, or even played the game at some point in your life, does not translate into being good at the sport 15 years later. It took a lot of practice, and years of playing together before our little team worked our way to the top of the lower division. We even ended up taking lower division grand champions.

Eventually some of the other lower division teams started complaining that we were unfairly in that division and needed to move up to the middle division. Now that was a huge accomplishment. 

Even though we had come a long way, I personally never made it to the level of my dreams. I never got the skill to jump up in the air, smack the ball as hard as I could to spike it down on the opposing team, perfectly in the back corner of the court. It would take far more practice and learning to ever get to that point, and let’s face it, a community league volleyball team is not worth that sort of effort. At least not for me. So, let’s transition the volleyball story over to another similar situation I find myself in today. It’s a tiling project I took on in the same manner I did the first volleyball game.

My Dream of being a great "Spiker" was never realized!

What does this have to do with tile?  Well...

The only way to understand the predicament I find myself in right now you need to have a little background. About 6 months ago, I was in the Habitat Restore looking for a couple odds and ends. I love doing little fixer upper projects around the house. D.I.Y. shows and videos are an obsession, but my personal skill level is mostly in the painting area. I have painted things that probably shouldn’t be painted, like linoleum, mirrors, counter-tops just to name a few. Huge goals include turning trash into treasures. Confidence builders came along the way like when I took a torn, worn-out leather sofa, stitched it up and threw some stain on it. I remember thinking to myself, if this doesn’t work it’s off to the dump. Surprisingly it turned out, good as new. I guess I was building up my “Do It Yourself” confidence over time.

Jump forward to me walking through the Habitat building supply store looking for my next project when I saw a huge area of brand-new tile. It had a sign on it, “NOT FOR SALE.” I have picked up lots of building supplies over the years for little projects, but they have always been leftover shingles, or an odd sheet of siding I would turn into a shelf or fix a bookcase or something rather small. I even built a shed in the backyard from leftover building supplies from this store, but I never came across enough building supplies to do an entire construction job. Yet here at this second-hand store was brand-new tile. There was so much for sell I could tile an entire showroom floor. I found out it was not for sale because it had not been put into the system yet. They told me it would be for sale the next day.

I rushed back first thing in the morning. All night I could hardly sleep. The thought of getting beautiful, large format grey tile for a steal consumed me. I was in love. I helped my sister cut some tile about 20 years earlier, so in my mind, I was practically a professional. Even though my bathroom floor is still looking awesome with my painted linoleum, let’s face it, tile would be a huge upgrade. Maybe this would be my chance. Let’s just make a long story short. When the tile went on sale, it was such a good price, that I ended up buying and entire pallet full. I lined up a moving company to pick it up and deliver it to my house.

It’s been sitting in my garage for 6 months while I watched one video after the other online to teach me how to tile. I would freeze the television on every frame that had tile being set and analyze exactly what products were being used and how it was done. Watching youtube tiling videos became an obsession. “Remember my volleyball obsession?” It was the same thing. Once again, I tried to do something without practicing before the big game!

In my mind, just like the volleyball game, I thought I was better than I was. I decided not to start with the bathroom after all. I had so much tile, I would go for it and take on my large family room. As it turns out, being a first-time tiler, and starting with large format tile, was the equivalent of joining a volleyball team that was out of my league. Having no set skills to fall back on makes it a huge undertaking. My estimate of how long it would take to lay the tile was 3 days. It turns out I only average between 20 and 30 tiles a day. I have been working for a solid week and I still have around 40-50 tiles to go just to finish one room. It took a week to get the floor prepped for tile, that’s another story, and don’t even get me started on the grouting. At this point, my body aches all over, my wrists are swollen, and my skin is having a reaction to the tiling mud. This morning, before I can even start tiling, I need to let some Tylenol kick in. 

Here I am with a smile on my face
Because I am only just starting
I have no idea what I'm in for...

After working a week

Still not done

Usually, when working on home improvements, I love the process almost as much as the finished product, but I have to say, when it comes to tiling, it’s not my favorite. I just keep going, slowly, saying in my head, over and over again, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Oh, I can’t wait until I can say, I knew I could. Oh, I hope I get to that point!

Wish me luck!

Enough said, time to get back to work!

DIY Kitchen Remodel

Everything looks better with a fresh coat of paint

Can you guess how many of the upgrades are done with paint?

When we bought our house, I knew it was going to need a lot of updating. The kitchen was the highest priority for DIY projects I planned to do. I am just an average stay at home mom with no construction background.  I decided I would see what all I could knock out on my own just by watching youtube videos to learn how to do things.  I also, wanted everything to be able to be done on a very tight budget.  Let me give a list of the things I planned on changing from this picture:

1. Cabinet color
2. Formica countertops
3. Drop down fluorescent light ceiling
4. White plastic sink
5. Dated faucet
6. White appliances
7. Color of the kitchen walls and ceiling

8. No backsplash
9. Baseboard size and color, no chair rail
10. Hardware on the cupboards
11. Dining room table also needed an upgrade

12. Replace arched cabinet doors 

13. Replace hinges with hidden hinges

When I watch home makeover shows on tv, the remodel jobs always happen so fast.  In reality, when you are doing them all yourself, and you don't know how to do anything but paint, there is a large learning curve.  I took lots of photos and videos all along the way.  My initial plan was to have a blog post of hits and misses each time something went well or really flopped.  I wanted to document which youtube videos really worked and which ones should be left to the professionals.  It turned out that doing my own projects and documenting all the steps became very time consuming and I neglected to post as I went along.  

I may still post each step at a future date, but for now, here are the finished kitchen projects.  Well, sort of finished.  I am always changing my mind and redoing things here and there.  Let me give an example;  I hate the arches on the cabinet doors.  I have replaced about half of them, but the others are still being built, by me.  The new cabinet doors also have hidden hinges.  These are things you wouldn't necessarily notice but they certainly look better when they are all done.  At this pace it will probably be 6 months before they are all done.  I will do one every time another project I am working on needs time to dry or I am waiting on supplies etc.  If you look closely in the pictures some of the upper cabinets are still arched.

List redone, cabinet color, formica countertops, drop down fluorescent light ceiling, white plastic sink, dated faucet, white appliances, color of the kitchen walls and ceiling, backsplash, baseboards size and color, hardware on the cupboards, replace arched upper cabinet doors, hidden hinges

One of my favorite projects was the counter and backsplash.  These are just painted to look like marble, then coated with Stone Coat Countertop Epoxy.  I did my dining room table as a trial run before taking on all the countertops.  I love them so much.  It was hard to photograph because they are so shiny.  It's like taking a picture of a mirror, but they make me so happy!

I know having a cabinet desk combination is very dated, but we use this space a lot, so I decided to just give everything an update instead.  I see in this picture the ugly linoleum in the laundry room off to the side on the left.  I painted that to look like tile.  It's not shown in the picture, but it no longer looks like this. I'm reminded of another blog post I still need to do. Painting linoleum is a great way to update without a lot of commitment or expense. 

I can't believe how different it looks with recessed lighting

I ordered special lights to go in the Pendants.  They have silver tips on them.  Regular lights were a little to bright and I wanted a little more pizazz. 

I love the backsplash on this and the marble countertop.
Well it looks like marble. It's just paint and epoxy.
I also added chair rail and painted all the walls grey.

Taking down the light structure and installing recessed  and pendant lighting turned out to be the hardest project I have ever done DIY.  I had to get my kids and husband to help with the heavy lifting.  If I had it to do over again I would probably hire that part done.  Drilling holes in the ceiling and in the joists so I could run wire was a huge challenge.  But, now I know how to do it.  Thank you youtube, and my brother Daniel who facetimed me to make sure I didn't electrocute myself. 

Stay tuned for my next project.

Family Traditions Bind Us Together!

DIY Christmas Stockings

Everyone in the family designs their own stocking

Trees, Snowflakes and Candy Canes are always Beautiful

Sometimes couples coordinate their stockings

Nathan is on a mission so he gets a mission tie.
Grant made a torn stocking look. Anything goes!

I buy the stockings on clearance at the end of the year,
but even full price, they are a great no-sew option

Glitter and glue are the only items we used the first few years.  This year I splurged at the dollar store and got some tiny mirrors and a beaded tie.  Still the entire project was under $20.

Family Traditions Bind Us Together

Stability, purpose and security seem to come in abundance whenever we engage in a family tradition. During the holidays we have a lot of them. Some involve food, games, songs, and telling stories, but one of our favorite traditions is decorating Christmas stockings. Everyone in the family gets together one night a year, and creates our own masterpieces. All you need are some plain stockings, glitter and glue.  We put a piece of plastic down on the table to catch all the glitter as well as using plates and paper, but lets face it, glitter does get everywhere.  My boys call glitter Satan's dust.  They hate it, but only in a joking way.  Let's face it, glitter helps keep us all in the spirit of having fun together and creating memories.  There is nothing like telling a 25 year old son he has glitter on his cheek.  That's a good time!

My sons call glitter Satan's dust, but let's face it,
We all love the look it makes on our Christmas stockings

One of the great things about traditions is that they can live on for generations. It’s never too late to start a new tradition. Creating your own Christmas stockings year after year is something our family looks forward to and talks about for months leading up to our big day.

 
In order for this tradition to be something that can be done in one evening and by all ages and artistic abilities we have decided to keep it simple. I purchase a couple dozen Christmas stockings each year when they go on clearance but even when they are full price they cost under a dollar apiece. Buy some glue and glitter and you are ready to go. Make sure you buy extra stockings because every once in a while the design will go completely wrong and in order to keep the peace in the household it needs to be thrown out and started over.

Our family sits around the kitchen table, with Christmas music in the background and we create our works of art. This year I splurged on a few extra gems and mini mirrors. I got the stickered mirrors and some of the glitter from the dollar store.

This is a tradition I highly recommend!

My Unperfect Life

Rather than posting the perfect family photo, this post needs the REAL family photo

I decided to post a real, unfiltered story about myself. I am a blogger who has been off my game for a little while.  It's like I am flying around the airport but not landing very often. I love to do remodel projects around the house and blog about them. For about a year now, I haven’t updated my blog because of a condition I have been dealing with. I do plan on getting back to blogging soon but for now I want to share a very personal story. 

Many people suffer from migraine headaches. I have a different sort of migraine condition. I don’t have headaches and pain, but rather episodes of amnesia or weird fading in and out of amnesia. Other times, I am completely fine with no memory loss. It’s very weird. I have had many tests run over the past year or so and have been under the care of 3 different neurologist. It’s a rather rare condition but I’m not the only one.

One person who was suffering the same condition as me had an episode while having a brain scan done. My doctor told me the scan showed what looked like heat waves going on in the brain that causes the fading in and out of amnesia.

Now that I know exactly what it is, I am more aware when it is happening. It is frustrating to me when it happens at inconvenient times. During my worst episode I couldn’t even remember my own kids’ names.

Luckily it eventually passes and then I am back to my normal self. Whatever normal is for me.

The first time I had a real bad spell I ended up in the hospital for a few days because it mirrors the symptoms of a stroke. For about 6 months the doctors even called the episode a stroke until they had finished with all their brain scans and were able to rule the stroke out.

It is so rare they don’t even have an official name for my condition or if they do, I can't remember what it is called.  The only way I know to describe it is amnesia during a migraine.

While having an episode I sat down and thought long and hard how I could describe what it was going on inside my head. The best way I can describe it is I feel like my thought process has to go through a black hole in order to get to the other side. Common sense and things our brains usually process easily every day can get bogged down in what feels like mud in my brain.

At times I can't even remember who dear friends are.

Just like any other migraine it can be very strong or so light you hardly even know is there so most of the time I am able to plow through my daily life somewhat normal. When I am having a light migraine I just tend to repeat myself a lot.  It can be very upsetting, even for someone who always likes to look at the bright side of things.

I am not making this post to complain, or to draw sympathy, but rather to bring to light that every single person has an unperfect life.  Social media might make it appear that there are no troubles  and we may feel like we are the only ones with hard things.  Or in some cases social media makes it appear as if all of life is one big mistake. I would like to think that neither one are a true representation. Life is a test full of ups and downs.  We each take the good and take the bad because it is all part of the package and that's ok.  My issues might not show up like a broken arm so many might not even know, but I'm sure every person in the world has their own set of challenges.  Some are visible and some are not, but regardless, we are all doing the very best we can with the cards we are dealt.

I always like to look on the bright side of every coin.  It is just my nature.  For this reason I would like to share a tender mercy in my life. At one point I didn't know my kids names or even what a glass of water was.  When I would try to talk, my words got all jumbled up. The only word that has never gotten jumbled or lost in translation for me is the word, “Tim.” Tim is my rock and my world. He is my husband, best friend, and my constant through life. Today is our 29th anniversary. I love him so much and I’m so grateful for the best companion a person could ever wish for.

Happy anniversary through Thick and Thin!

Eye Spy Secret Service Agents

I spy, with my little eye, undercover secret service agents.

Yesterday, I picked my son Grant up from school early because he had a doctor’s appointment. As I was driving to the school, I noticed a few odd things along the way, like a broken down car, as well as two snow plow trucks stopped on the side of Highway 370. 

Seeing two snow plow trucks on the side of the road when we were having a heat wave of 45 degrees sends out red flags, are we about to get hit with a storm?

When I saw the old car, I thought of pulling over to see if they needed any help but since it was a man all by himself I decided against it. You can never be too safe. Then when I saw the two snow plows it made my mind race. I was thinking, is there a storm coming through that I don’t know about? That seems odd, since it was 45 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky. About 20 minutes later I picked Grant up and headed back down Highway 370 toward Bellevue Hospital, once again passing the snow plows and broken down car. We also noticed there were police cars everywhere. When I pulled into the hospital, there were three additional cops standing outside their cars waiting for something. That’s when it hit me. President Obama is in town and this was security for him. I asked Grant if he thought maybe those snow plow drivers were actually undercover secret service agents. 

While Grant was getting a cast, Obama was driving by.

While the doctor was putting a cast on Grant, I got a text from the school saying, “President Obama is visiting a PLHS teacher in Papillion and many roads are closed and traffic is congested. Please be patient as you pick up your children.” 

When we were leaving the hospital, Highway 370 was completely closed. We drove the back roads, to the school to pick up Nathan. As we were driving we were very alert to the possibility of seeing undercover secret service agents. We noticed construction workers standing next to large trucks sort of kicking clods around, and our best catch of the day was an old Ford truck driving directly in front of us on a dirt road. All of the sudden it pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. As we were driving by we saw the man, in a flannel shirt, talking into his “sleeve”.

As soon as we saw Air Force One in the sky, Highway 370 was re-opened.

Immediately following this incident we saw “Air force One” take off in the sky. The eagle has left the building was the only thing we could say. Immediately after we saw the plane in the sky, highway 370 was reopened.

The moral of the story is: we had the best day ever playing Eye Spy.

I Appreciate the Small and Simple Things In Life

When I was a young girl growing up on a small farm in Idaho, finances were tight. My parents had four children in four years and then one every other year until all nine children were born. I am the third of nine. As I think back on those years, I didn't know then how the struggles at such a young age were actually strengthening me and preparing me to appreciate the small things in life.

Saturday my sons Nathan, Grant and I watched the movie “Karate Kid.” As I was watching it with them, I started to think of the great principle taught. In the movie a young boy named Daniel wanted to learn karate. He asked an old man named Mr. Miyagi to teach him. Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel if he is going to train him, he needs to do whatever he tells him, no questions asked. First Mr. Miyagi has Daniel wash and wax a whole line of cars, all in a particularly unnatural motion using both hands. Wax on right hand, wax off, left hand.

Then he is told to sand a large walkway, paint a huge fence, and finally paint an entire house.  Each new task given, Daniel was told to do the chores in an unusual way.  Finally, when he was almost done with the house, Daniel gets angry.  He thinks he is being taken advantage of as slave labor.  Mr. Miyagi then proceeds to show Daniel all his hard work has actually strengthened him and trained him.  He instinctively is able to do karate because his muscles have been taught the correct movements.

I think growing up with very little has done the same for me.  I was taught, through lots of hard times, how to become stronger.  Even though I am stronger, I have still never forgotten what it felt like to want.  As a very young child, we rarely used the heat in our rented farm house because it cost too much money. We would cut down old trees in the woods or on the farm, haul the wood back to the house, stack it, chop it and heat the house with a wood burning stove.  Just getting the house warm was a lot of work.  

I remember on very rare occasions my mom would turn on the heat in the morning, just until a fire could be built.  We had one floor heat vent in the house.  To me, there was nothing better in the entire universe than standing on that heat vent in my night gown and letting the heat cover my entire body.  My nightgown would balloon out and dance around and the joy from this was immeasurable.  There was only one problem, I also had two other sisters and two brothers who wanted a turn on the same heat vent and the heat would only be on for about 10 minutes, so we would each get about 30 seconds and then it would be time to rotate.

This is the house I grew up in.  It has been renovated, updated and moved onto a new foundation, but it still brings back many memories.

I can remember thinking, when I grow up I want a house with lots of floor heat vents, and I want to sit on the heater until the inside of my soul is warmed up.  To me, that would be an example of pure joy.  Now, all these years later, I still remember the wish of my young childish desire.  I do have a house with a lot of floor heat vents, and I still do not take for granted the absolute joy of sitting on them on a cold brisk morning. Throwing a blanket over me to help direct the heat now takes the place of the nightgown, but the joy is still the same.  I don’t think there will ever come a time in my life that I will not appreciate simple basic things and heat in my house on a cold winters’ day is at the top of my list.

Who’s with me?  Is there anything in the world better than a blanket and a floor heat vent?

The weather outside is cold. 

This picture was taken today out my back window.  BURR!

No Soliciting Unless...

I have noticed that it is becoming popular to see signs outside of many doors with No Soliciting notices on them.  This has been a trend for many, many years, but more recently I have seen signs with an amendment to the no soliciting sign.  I have seen a lot of different versions of these, but most of them have something that indicates that if you are selling girls scout cookies, you can ring the bell but not if you want to talk about Christ.

In my church we talk a lot about Christ and if you want to come up to my door or write a post on my blog, and talk to me about the Savior, I welcome you with open arms day or night.  In the Book of Mormon there is a scripture that explains why.  It is in 2 Nephi 25:26, it says, 

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

I know a lot of my friends who are not of my faith often wonder why we spend so much time trying to share our beliefs with others.  There is an article that explains it so well, called “Come and See,”  If you read this article or watch the video, it will explain why my “No Soliciting Sign” has an exemption to anyone who wants to talk about the Savior. www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng&media=video#watch=video.

Joke of the Day

The thing I love most about children, is their absolute innocence. There are so many times when you misjudge, or get frustrated with a child, when really, they are not trying to be bad. A lot of our trials with children really stem from communication and understanding. At times it would do us all good to slow down and try to remember what life would be like if we didn't know everything we think we know.

I have a great friend who has a child that puts everything in her mouth. I'll call her Lizzy, (names have been changed). We were getting in an elevator and little two year old Lizzy saw some food on the ground and before you could blink an eye, she had it in her mouth. I'm not sure if it was a piece of chicken nugget, or dog food. Either way, to this little girl, it looked as good as anything else she might be asked to eat.

Later on in the evening, she was lucky enough to find some already chewed gum on the ground. In her mind, she figured it looked delicious and interesting so she popped it in her mouth. After her mom told her to spit it out, five minutes later she spotted a discarded cigarette. She felt the need to pick it up and taste it too. This is when my sweet friend recognized the need to stop everything, and get down and look into her sweet child's eyes and explain in detail, on a level she could understand without confusion, why we don't pick everything up and put it in our mouth. What a great teaching opportunity and parenting moment.

Had she punished this little girl at this time, she still would have missed a wonderful teaching opportunity. This same day I witnessed a parent on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I was standing in line at a store when a father and son who appeared to be about the same age, around two years old, came in. As soon as they entered the store the oxygen in the room seemed to get sucked out. The father was yelling and screaming and calling the poor little guy names. At one point, his phone rang and he talked the same way to who ever was on the other end of the line. I looked at this little boy and he seemed to be mentally crushed and broken. I just wanted to scoop him up in my arms. From my perspective this little guy was expected to follow a set of instructions far beyond his capacity to understand. In the end both the child and the parent were left angry. Neither one was satisfied with the outcome.

I look to the bible for help whenever I wonder how to handle the raising of a child. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6). I know at times we need to chasten our children.

President Boyd K. Packer has observed that when a person in a position to correct another fails to do so, he is thinking of himself. Remember that reproof should be timely, with sharpness or clarity... and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy.

I love it when I see a parent who does this in such a wonderful manner.

Seth's Mission Blog

My second oldest son just sent his papers off to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is a big deal in our lives.  His older brother Jaren is currently serving in Lima Peru on a mission.  Jaren's blog is http://jarenhackleman.blogspot.com.  He has been there for one year and has one more year to go.  I Started a blog for Seth for his mission.  He sent out his papers and is currently waiting for his mission call.  If you would like to add a prediction of where in the world he will be sent on a mission feel free to add a comment to his blog.  http://elderhackleman.blogspot.com/

Seth Hackleman Senior Picture

Best Mother's Day Gift Ever - 5 Generation Photos

Great Way to Remember Your Ancestors 

My mom gave each of her children 5 generation photos for a Christmas present.  Of all the gifts I have ever been given, this has to rank up there as one of my favorites.  It stands the test of time.  My brothers also got a 5 generation photo with the men in our family.  Priceless

My mom gave me the pictures, but they were all different sizes and colors.  Two of the photos were actually group shots with other folks.   These are the only known photos of my great and great, great grandmother.  I did some photo manipulating in Photoshop to create head-shots, as well as cloning out the other people.  This is not an easy task, so if you have photos that need Photo-shop, ask for help on this step.

After the photos were all adjusted to the same size and color, I created a page with all the photos in one document, added the borders on each picture to make them appear to be individual.  Then they were all printed out on one continuous page.  One great source for doing this is Walmart Photo Center.  You can add the five photos together and print out a poster sized page.  

Make sure you add the names of all the ancestors and a birthday so they are well documented.

Super Hero

Dealing with Alzheimer's

My mother is struggling with the effects of Alzheimer's.  It is an awful thing to have, but we try and look on the bright side of things as much as we can.  Whenever there is bad news, we can tell it to her once and she usually forgets it anyway.  We can give good news to her over and over again and every time she is excited as if it is the first time she heard it, because sometimes to her, it is.

Seth and Grandma Polly at the Omaha Zoo

Grant and Grandma Polly

Grandma Loves the Zoo

My Mom loves the Giraffes, the only problem is, they are located on the far end of the zoo
and it is quite a hike to get there.
The good thing about Alzheimer's is she forgets how grueling the hike is and just keeps going.