The Do's & Don'ts of Insomnia

Do : Remind yourself that taking a pill to stay asleep isn't the worst thing in the world. (And if even a pill refuses to work..)
Do : Ignore your bladder. Getting up just makes you cold and cold wakes you right up even more.
Do : Close your eyes and repeat the following words, "There's nothing I'd rather be doing than sleeping. Sleeping is fun. Sleep is good."
Do : Ignore your rumbling tummy or keep a bottle of water on your nightstand. That usually works... well not really but it's so much better than what you'd find downstairs.
Do : Tell yourself that last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy that you had to miss will still be there tomorrow, and you don't need to get out of bed right now to watch it.
Do : Keep repeating your 'love-to-sleep' mantra
Do : Keep a notebook by your bed to write down your amazing, world-changing ideas that you're sure to come up with. In the morning you can read them and they will give you a good laugh. (They're never great, and they rarely even make sense, but they can be quite comical)

Don't : Decide that tonight you're tired enough that you could sleep through anything and opt not to take a sleeping pill.

Don't : Lay there concentrating on the sound of your husband's ever-constant snore. It will only infuriate you and bad things could happen.

Don't : Get up 5 times to pee because maybe, just maybe, if you're bladder is empty, you'll finally be able to go back to sleep.

Don't : Lay in bed thinking about all the things you would really like to be doing right now

Don't : Get out of bed and do them

Don't : Go downstairs and do the dishes

Don't : Think about IM'ing your dad because of course he's up too. By the way, thanks for the wonderful gift of insomnia, dad. Love it!

Don't : Watch last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy so you can 'catch up'

Don't : Snack (this is a big one)

Don't : Go back to bed and again start thinking about all the things you'd rather be doing

Don't : Come up with the world's best idea and then lay in bed thinking about how great your idea is and how big of a shame it would be to go back to sleep because then you'd forget all about it.

Don't : Seek out the nocturnal cat for a little company

Don't : Get mad at the cat when it turns out she's not really very nocturnal and she just wants to sleep and she keeps biting you when you try to put her on your lap and pet her.

Don't : Go in and lay with your sweet 2-year-old and watch her sleep (You'll wake her up and she'll cry!)

Don't : Lay on the couch and hope your latest book will put you right to sleep. (It won't. It's way too interesting)

Don't : Blog about your insomniac frustrations at 3:00 in the morning. (and then get back up at 3:48 because you thought of a few things you forgot to put on your list in the first place)

Well... It Was a Thought...

My little sister recently gave me her old bike. I was so thrilled. Since the girls started school, it's just Audrey & I for almost 4 hours in the afternoon. I have been wanting so badly to exercises and I thought this would be the perfect way. I hunted and hunted and I finally found a brand-new-in-box bike seat carrier for only $15. Hooray! After Ryan & struggled for way too long to assemble the seat, I thought I'd take the bike out today for a test run. Things didn't go so smoothly. In my one short little loop around the parkway, here's what I discovered about my wonderful new bike. The seat is set for a shortie and is apparently rusted shut so I can't raise it, the chain slips off if you try to change gears, the handlebars turn independently from the front tire, and the brakes apparently don't work at all. So a little dejected, I lowered my head and walked my bike back home. I'm one very sad girl right now.

Color IQ Test

I totally stole this off my sister's cousin's blog, but it was kinda fun. How good are you with color? Here's a little test to find out. Can you put these squares in order of color hue?

Zero is a perfect score. My score was 2! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Although, admittedly, I'm not sure what the ability to sort colors can do for me in my day-to-day life. Hey... maybe I can get a job as the gal who reorganizes all the paint samples at Home Depot at the end of the day. That's a skill!

If you have a few minutes, take the test yourself. Let me know how you score. (I'm curious to see how other people do) If your score is low too, maybe we can go into some sort of color-sorting business together! :)

Who Loose It?

Lately I haven't been able to talk on the phone without Audrey running in and yelling, "Who loose it? Who loose it? Who loose it, mommy?" Even after I tell her who 'loo' it is, she just keeps yelling, "Who loose it?" She will literally climb up my legs and try to grab the phone out of my hand so she can talk to 'looever' is on the phone. Although it cracks me up every time... I appologize to anyone who's tried to have a phone conversation with me lately.

Oooh Spooky

We are seriously lacking in decorations around our house. I am sad to say that most holidays aren't on display at all in our house. Every year I think to myself, "Oh man! We need more stuff!" I always vow that I'm going to go out the day after Halloween or the day after Christmas and buy some super awesome stuff. (because I'm too cheap to buy the stuff before the actual holiday) Needless to say, this never happens. This year the girls were feeling a little bad after I put up our three pumpkin pictures and our one string of pumpkin lights. They were right... it was pretty pathetic. Luckily I have a pretty creative husband. So...$0.99 later, here's what we've got. The girls were so proud of their work. They were right, it looked pretty darn spooky.

What a Wonderful Weekend

Can you see my girls sitting so nicely like perfect little angels?

For the first time in waaaay too long, I feel like I was actually able to listen and get something really substantial out of conference. Thanks to the Internet and it's many suggested conference activities, my girls were so good this weekend. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this church and to have the opportunity to listen to general conference twice each year.

My favorite talks this year were:

Finding Joy in the Journey Thank you Pres. Monson for knowing just what we women need to hear! This taught me to love the piles of laundry stinkin' up my laundry room. One day I will look back and miss the cute little pairs of jammies and all the time I spend stain-treating all the many random stains we end up with. I was left with a feeling that I just need to slow down. Sometimes life is racing by and things get so crazy. It's hard to remember that this is IT! This is what life is all about! I have the opportunity to stay at home with my three girls and sometimes I forget to enjoy it. "If you stack up enough 'tomorrows', you'll find you are left with a bunch of empty 'yesterdays'. I love that quote. I'm going to have to wait 'till it comes out in the Ensign so I can get it just right, and then I think I'm going to get it printed up in vinyl letters.

The talk on Unity. I really needed to hear this one. We are all in this life together. Beware of the things you say about people, and the judgements you pass. People are in this life and they're trying the best they can too.

Christian Courage. Loved this one! What a good message to pass on in this crazy time in our world. Sometimes taking a gentle, "Christian" approach is far more productive.

The talk on Virtue by Sister Dalton. It makes me feel good to know they my girls are in such good hands. She is so wise and she speaks with such love. When I think of the the future in store for my girls I always get a little freaked out. With role models like Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan, I worry about what's going to happen to them. Sister Dalton's talk really left me with some hope. We can bring virtue back. A few girls committed to strong values can really make a big difference.

In past years I have come away from conference and focused a little too much on what I need to change and where I need to improve. It's been a little overwhelming. This session left me with a much different feeling. Instead of feeling discouraged and like I wasn't doing enough, I was left with a feeling of hope and joy.

How about you? Which talks did you enjoy the most? Which messages have stuck with you?

Random Photos That Make Me Smile

After looking at my sister's fun post yesterday, I got to waxing a bit nostalgic myself. I broke out photo album after photo album and started perusing memories. Here's a random sampling of my life over the past 10 years. So many great memories that still make me smile!