start spreading the news... a minor rant

Carol and I had a spontaneous moment and decided to go to the matinee movie yesterday.  I packed some tuna sandwiches since we didn't take time for lunch before hand and THEY.WERE.GROSS!!!!  The bread got so soggy by the time we got there that there was no eating them.  I literally got up and walked them down to the trash and we feasted on our popcorn for the rest of the movie.

The movie... The Intern.  This is the cutest movie that I've seen in a lonnnnnnng, lonnnnnng time!  It's not quite a romantic comedy like You've got Mail, but it feels good like it.  Oh my!  You just want to hug Robert DeNiro through the whole movie and Anne Hathaway is wonderful.  I LOVE this movie and will buy it the day it comes out, in January supposedly.  I can't wait to see it again!  It's long.  Very long.  But, it's just a delight to watch.  The previews make it appear to be a slapstick comedy.  Not at all. It's warm and endearing.  AND it takes place in my favorite city in the world, NYC!!!  So many great shots of the beautiful brownstones.  I loved it!  See this show!  Oh, and it's clean!

It was one year ago tonight that Katie and I boarded that jet and headed to New York City to check off the number one thing on my bucket list! I want to be there again tonight!  I seriously, literally, ACHE to go again!  Last night, I reread and looked at all of my pictures from the trip!  WHAT A THRILL!!  I love NEW YORK!

I feel so happy in life at this moment.  Life still has it's challenges on a daily basis, but I'm happy!  I love almost everything about my life right now!!  I think that's why I've been feeling my mojo... being so creative... working on all sorts of projects.  A few of my latest projects in the works...

• finally creating a wall arrangement in the den on the big almost bare wall.  I need to exchange one item at Hobby Lobby and it will be done!
• I'm creating a silly, simple "arsty" journal... sort of like my conference notes, with doodles and quotes and whatever flips my trigger at the moment.  It's full of lists and just a "We did this today" type fact or two about each day.  It's only just begun on September 1, but it's been fun and gives me something to do when I do sit down.  I can't watch tv or a movie without something in my hands to keep me busy.  Call it OCD, I'm okay with that.
• I'm also collecting and printing hundreds of photos from the past ten years since I stopped scrapbooking.  I'm having them printed,and putting them into scrapbooks with sleeves.  I'll journal to my hearts content and include the journaling along with the photos. NO fancy pages.  NO embellishments.  My focus will be the journaling and capturing the stories.
• I'm going through all of my ten years of blogging, selecting the entries that I want to keep forever and will have them printed into books.  I'll not be printing every trivial detail, but the important things in life and the ones that meant the most to us.  Maybe when I'm gone, someone will read them.  We have Doug's grandmother's life story and a few others in hardbound volumes and I love them!!!
• I'm reading a lot!  Reading several different books at one time... some are serious, a novel, some are spiritual, some are motivating.  

Although, at this time, most of my time is spent running from one fire to the next, haul kids around and keep the family in order, I need to be filling my own bucket.  Lately, this is how I'm doing it...whenever I have a moment, I'm doing one of the above and it's keeping me happy!

I was chatting with a friend recently about how sometimes, as women/mothers/wives, we do things for ourselves and then we feel a bit guilty.  We "could have" used that time to read to a child, talk with a teen, walk with a spouse.  We feel guilty or embarrassed to admit that we did something for ourselves. WHY do we do this to ourselves?!?!?  Why do we worry about being judged for "playing" and taking "me time"? We need "ME TIME!"

I recently ran into a "friend" (note the airquotes).  We chatted a bit and she commented about how much time I "play". I'll spare the details, but, I could feel the judgement in their voice and see it in their brow.  My inner thoughts were, "Look, "friend", my house is clean and organized, my laundry is done, my family eats healthy and nutritious meals, we are keeping the commandments and following the prophets, I study and I serve, my marriage is fantastic!  DON'T JUDGE ME for having friendships and fun (or for the gallons of diet coke I consume!)  IT FILLS MY BUCKET!!!!" (Not the coke, the fun... well... the coke does too.) Instead, I was polite and said, "I know!  I'm so blessed!  Doug encourages it! And I have such great friends!  Life really is good, isn't it!?" 

I am a firm believer that all work and no play makes for a very unhappy woman!  "If Mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!"  So, "playing", whether it's going to lunch or a movie with a friend, crafting, memory keeping, or knitting, or pinning on Pinterest is healthy!!!  Once the work is done, play and make the moments count... the ones with the family annnnnnd the ones that you need for yourself!  It's good for the soul!  It's good for the family to see Mom happy! ZJ mentioned the other day that she loves it that I always laugh when I'm with my friends and she continued, "I love to see you laugh!"  My kids can see it!  They know that it's good for us all!

Anyway, that's what's on my mind this morning.  I took a break from my journaling to say so.  Laundry's done.  House is clean.  Dinner's started.  I'm off to lunch with Natalie!  Life is good!