The What I Thoughts VS. The Harsh Realities

After reading Lisa's "ME" blog entry yesterday, it made my thoughts go into over-drive. You know those times when in the shower, you just keep getting thought after thought, like you were having a debate with some unseen foe. I'm not sure if I won the battle, but I had so many "ah, ha" moments, I even wrote them on a piece of scrap paper so I wouldn't forget all my amazing new insights on life. :) So here are my enlightening revelations on what I used to think WOULD happen VS the realities of my life. (warning: this could be long and rambly, so if you'd like, you could quietly back away now and I won't be offended.) These thoughts came in random order, so that's how they are going down.

1) Myth- Adults know everything and are have all the confidence in the world.

Reality- It is just about the total opposite. The older I get, the less I seem to know. Scary I know. There are WORLDS of things out there that I realize I don't even know they exist until somebody introduces me to them. For example- chakra's - didn't know a thing about them until a few years ago. (look it up, then know Sabrina set me straight:) The more I know nothing about, the more my confidence goes away.

2) Myth- (this was my 17 year old me speaking) When I get married (especially TEMPLE married) and get my OWN place, my life will be perfect and so much easier.

Reality- This makes me almost vomit a little bit in my mouth to think about that now. What was I thinking? Don't get me wrong, I love being married, but life easier? I'm afraid we teach this to the YW unknowingly. "Get married in the temple and you've reached the ultimate goal and life will be easier - no more tests" When in reality, that's when life's tests begin. We were sent here to earth to be tried and tested, why would the tests get easier the farther along in life we get? In school each year progressively gets harder, doesn't it make sense that it would be the same in life? Progressively harder tests? Thats PROGRESSING. Enduring to the end, not sliding down hill to a finish line. When we master one part of life, we get to learn another lesson. My learning needs and curve will be different than anybody elses. Not my favorite part of life- I manage to usually learn the hard way and after many failed attempts, but I understand, finally, it's the plan.

3) Myth-Things will get better when......I'm old enough to drive, I own my own house, have that one bill payed off, etc, etc, etc.

Reality- It's not better, it's different- a change- but better? no. Refer to myth #2. When one trial or part of your life is over a new one appears to take it's place. I am the eternal "the grass is always greener" girl. I think everything must be better later. I am finally realizing to seize the day. Now is the time to enjoy life, because it's the only time I have a guarantee on. I am getting to the age where I can see I let much of my life slip by wishing for something else and now it is too late to go and get those little moments back. My kids are almost all gone and out of my grasp. I hope I took advantage of those times in my life that meant the most or had the biggest impact on them. Too late now. All because I was looking to an easier time (see #2) . No such thing. But what to do..... Learn and make the most of what I have today.

This sounds so deep, dark and depressing. the 3 D's :) It's not meant to be. I am thrilled to finally be growing up and understanding myself :) and the realities of life. And really- they aren't so bad now that I understand them a little bit better :) I had a few other thoughts- such as *If these are the best years of my life- kill me now! and *Once I lose this weight it will be off forever. Both myths I am finding out in a harsh way :)

What was I thinking?

The school year was 1972-73.

I was a freshman at good ol' PG High.

All I can say is- I didn't make the

transition from junior high to

high school very well. :)

I'm sure I did my own hair style.

and you can see why now, I have

such an obsession with poorly done

eyebrows :)

Lisa's Blog Candy

Lisa has an amazing blog site that you should check out! She is giving away a ton of "candy" right now! I wish I had a bit of her talent in me, she pretty good :) I wish I had the energy and creativity that she has, it's overwhelming sometimes :) She's the whole package- good mom, good cook, good at card making, good looking- the whole enchilada :) Here is the address- check it out!!

http://lisashandmadecards.com/

A New Sierraism

I always love the way a kid's brain works, how they don't quite hear things the way I do, or think the same way as an "adult". My kids have always been great at coming up with saying things that make me giggle or look at things in a new light. Some classics- "I can't find my diarrhea book" (meaning her diary :) or "the water in the bathtub is just Jacob cold" (meaning Luke warm) 2 favorites in my book. Well....Sierra came up with a new one the other day- (btw- the first two sayings were not Sierra's- Thanks to Lisa and Kira- and for being about 5 or 6 years old when you said them :) This new one is from Sierra a few days ago, that's what makes this really good. Conversation between Sierra and her dad- Sierra, "We went four wheeling today and saw a badger! It was awesome!" Eddie, "Too bad you didn't have a fur bearer permit, you could have shot it." Sierra, looking confused, " No dad, it wasn't a bear, it. was. a. badger." (She said that last part real slow, like Eddie was slow :) I guess she hear fur bear permit, I don't know what goes on in her thought process, she just makes me laugh a lot. She told me the other day that she didn't want to interview with the dentist for a year, just a semester. HUH? Interview? Oh, internship, you mean intern with the dentist? "Oh yeah, ha ha." blonde.

Famous Family Proms :)

While writing/whining about Sierra's prom dress (see posting below)

I got thinking about other proms, proms of the past.

I decided to find the pictures I have of proms

gone by. If the pictures are a little bit blurry

(okay so a lot of blurriness)

It's because I took photos of them with my

handy camera. No scanning here people, I'm

just a novice at this stuff. But you'll get the picture. :)

This is Eddie and his buddy Robert (Rob to his friends)

ready for their Junior Prom- circa 1974.

Look how handsome, hubba hubba.

In a bit I'll show you Eddie and his date.

This is Brad and his first prom, first date, only a sophmore,

barely 16.

His date Amber was a few days shy of 16, but got

special permission from dad Lew to go. Notice Brads

hair, the style then, shaved underneath :) 1995

This was the only prom picture I could find of Tommy,

it was a group picture, I just cut it down. Too bad kids

don't give their mom's the pictures from prom- then we'd

know where they are :) Tom went with Sara. He looks very

handsome :) 2006

Here we have Kira with Andrew. He sure looks

serious :( Kira looks stunning :) I made her dress-

We were going through a "Lord of the Rings" period.

weird that Sierra is now dating Andrew's little bro.

2003

Lisa's Junior prom. She went with some guy-

I don't remember his name, I do remember their group

rented out the old Grove theater and watched a movie

after prom there. She wasn't so impressed with him.

But she looked gorgeous! I made her dress too.

Do I hint a bit of Mallory in her face???

1998

Oops, Brad again:) Well his hair is worth another look :)

Brad and Kelly before Senior prom. He looks a lot more

confident, eh? Sporting a kilt and all. Yes, his mother

was still proud of him, at least it's modest :) We had

to find.... I wish I could remember.... 11 or 13 kilts

for he and ALL his friends to wear. Believe it or not

Brad won Prom King this year in this outfit :)

Must have been his hunky legs :)

1997

I know you've been waiting- here's Eddie with his date-

Lola.

They look like babies.

1974

I've saved the best for last-

Eddie and I ready for my Senior prom.

12 sets of professionally done photos didn't turn

out that year- ours was one of them. I remember being so

sad. I'm grateful Eddie's mom took this one so we'd have

something to remember. I didn't make this dress, I did

make the dress for my Junior prom, but I didn't really like

the guy I went with, so I didn't post it (sorry Carlos, I'm

sure you're a nice person:) LOVE the color of Eddie's tux-

it was very far out in the day.

1976

That's my walk down prom memory lane :)

Thanks for coming!

and if you're mad that I posted your old prom pics-

don't leave your pictures at my house. xoxoxoxo

THE Prom Dress

Meet the dress that controlled my life for a couple of weeks.

I thought I could make a dress for a lot less than the stores

wanted for it. And I did, but after the counseling I'll be needing

and the therapy sessions, it would have probably been cheaper to just

buy the darn thing:)

Sierra found the perfect pattern, with just one problem- it was

strapless. I was sure I could put two patterns together

and come up with one dress. I dream big. What you see below

came along after days of unpicking and countless times of fittings

on Sierra. Thanks to Ashley, we finally got a dress dummy and

Sierra was free from pin pricks :)

The dress called for over 40 yards of tulle and netting.

Yea, try working with all that- especially installing the zipper.

The dress had 8 layers of fabric and weighed in at about

45 pounds......just kidding, but it sure weighs a lot.

The day date for prom-

was spent at the new Jack and Jill bowling alley

in Lehi. They played laser tag and bowled. Sierra

was a little bit handicapped at bowling- throwing

6 gutter balls in a row, having a score of "0" in the 3rd frame,

actually throwing the ball into the lane next to her once (the ball

being stuck on her finger and letting go a little bit late:)- she

did get a strike for the girl in that lane, which made the girl happy.

One of the boys in the group got her the "handicap" bowling helper-

the ramp thing that you can aim your ball with. She used it once, then

got her confidence back and ended up with a pretty decent score:)

They ate pizza, bowled and laser tagged all at Jack and Jill's.

This is Sierra ready for the dance- showing off her beautiful new shoes-

she loved them- "they look just like what Lisa would wear!"

It's always awkward putting on the flowers! Sophie

made Stevie's boutonniere (I had to look that up:)

Sierra's wristlet. pretty :)

Stevie's friend Chris's mom made it:)

The final product.

Sierra told me she had the prettiest dress at the prom.

That made it all worthwhile.

My Love/Hate Relationship with my Computer

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like without a computer in it. I can kind of remember the time when we didn't own one, years ago (it seems now) when every home didn't have at least one PC tucked away somewhere inside. I wonder, now what would I do without one? How would I spend a good chunk of my day without my window to the world in front of my face? How would I keep up with all my friends lives? Without blogs and Facebook, would I have to talk to people one on one? Seriously, I am reaching up to 300 friends on FB- I couldn't keep track of them all like I do without my PC friend. How would I know how their Farms, Zoo's and Mafia's are doing? I am thankful every morning when I come in and check on my favorite blogs - that I can read about loved ones and see pictures of them, their families and know they are doing well- even thriving. I truly have a love affair going on with my computer. I spend more time with it each evening (between 9 and 10 pm) than I do with Eddie. Of course I'd rather play "Bejeweled" than watch "Matlock" (for the 100th time) with Eddie and Grammy, imagine, I'd rather be with the PC then watching with them. they can't :) I do enjoy hearing them say to each other "do you think he did it?" or Grammy "I can't believe people would behave like that" - They both have seen these episodes before, but like "Deal or No Deal" it feels like the first time each time they watch it. But I digress. I know my computer waits quietly for me, ready to perform at a click of a button. Hence, my hatred.

Comcast just decided to get rid of McAffee security and switch to Norton's Anti-virus. This is a free service, which I am grateful for. I've had Norton's in the past, it's good. whatever. The problem lies in the switch over. I followed all the instructions, took the better part of an afternoon to do it, but I was willing to spend the time to insure that my PC buddy was protected. All seemed to go smoothly. until. I. tried. to. visit. my. favorite. spots. pause. pause. still. waiting. and then a little box opens up. Low Disc space available. critical. now my computer runs about as fast as a snail. This is the point when I'd like to drop kick the thing down the stairs. It even gets more frustrating when kids come home, have to do homework or get their FB fix and get mad because the computer is messed up. I hate trying to update or fix things on my computer when to me it doesn't need fixing, and I end up ruining a good thing. So I guess I'll be calling my nephew or our local fix it guy to come and look at my sick friend here. I can't even download a picture to show you how sick it looks :( it would take all day. How sad, what was once a beautiful love affair has turned into a frustrating union of feeble souls. I'd better get on the phone to get it fixed! I have Prom pictures I need to post!!!