A Happy Working Blog

Would you take a look at this beauty?! Have you ever seen such a gleaming specimen? I have been having a heck of a time getting out those stubborn hardwater (and other) stains and was getting tired of looking at them. I have tried the pumice stone and found that it was just scratching the porcelain. I mentioned this problem to a friend of mine and she suggested I try Drywall sanding screen. "What is that?" you may ask. Well, I don't know, but I tell you what, it sure did a number on those stains! They came off so easily, cleaning the toilet today was {dare I say} almost FUN!! So come my little friends, I have two more to do! YEA!!!!
Couple things---I had a clever little "Happy Working Song" playing while you read my toilet blog and the playlist is having trouble with it for some reason. That is where the "come my little friends" reference is from. It is as though I am inviting friendly rats, pigeons, and cockroaches to help me out like Giselle! So much for my attempts to be cool. Also, just in case you want to try this sanding stuff out, make sure you use the 220 grit. I assume no liability for scratched toilets! Happy scrubbing!

Bittersweet News

Our house finally sold, or is pending anyway. I guess this is good news...we got a good offer, they love the house and all that. We won't be making double house/utility/maintenance payments anymore, but I am really going to miss this house. I guess it is officially time to become a real Californian and register my car here.

What I Love About My Kids Today

This is going to be a total brag blog...sorry, but these are my babies and I have to share!

Jessica was able to go with the 4th graders to Yosemite National Park for a three day field trip. They dressed in period costumes and took on the role of various early Californians. She was Mary Peregoy, an early hotel and restaurant owner. It was a wonderful experience for her, I am really glad she was able to go, but I sure missed her! She is an amazing helper and only complains every once in a while. She always does her best and is eager to try new things. Her teacher has sparked an interest in art in her, and I am happy to oblige. She is so talented and beautiful. I love this girl!

Anna is so happy to be Anna. She is so sweet and excited about life! She loves to sing and has an uncanny ability to remember lyrics to songs (she didn't get that from me). She became a Math Master at school ("BEFORE JESSIE," she will tell you) and loves to read. She has such a funny personality. The other day she had to take out the garbage so she paused the TV show the kids were all watching and hid the remote in her purse. While she was putting the new bag in the trash, she heard the TV come back on, looked in her purse and said "Stinkin' kids! They stole the remote!" She is such an easy going kid and I love her to pieces! Reese is amazingly creative. He is always making something...usually with something he pulled out of the garbage. One day he hung up Anna's loom and had everyone look through it at the "Wild River". He loves to know facts about various things and has a wonderful vocabulary. He is really excited to start Kindergarten in July, I am excited to hear what stories he tells!
Maya is very agreeable. Her newest thing is "Sums up, Mom" after complimenting me on a yummy meal or a paricularly fabulous ponytail etc. She loves to help and is my best laundry folder. She is also a GREAT bubby (blankie) sharer, which, if you know me is huge in my book!

Bella is quite the nurturer. She loves to help with anything regarding Baby Jeffrey, especially if it involves stripping down to her undies and helping with his bath. She is such an outgoing little sweetheart! Jeffrey is getting so big and gets cuter and sweeter everyday! He reached for and grabbed his first toy yesterday. Ben was so proud until I told him it was a Barbie. Today, however, it was not a Barbie, but Jessica's oil paints. She was holding him and painting for some reason (???) and now both of them have paint all over themselves. Oh well, it washes, not very easily, but it washes!

Isn't he sweet? I could just eat him up!

My Mental Health Day...ok WEEK!

Last week was a bit of a doozy for me. After an unfortunate styrofoam/broken vacuum incident and a few days of clean up, I had reached my wits end. Fortunately for me, my Heavenly Father loves me. In the depths of despair, my prayers were answered by a sweet sister in the ward and I felt inspired to read Elder Ballard's talk again. I am so glad. It was really nice to be validated by an Apostle. So, I followed his counsel and took some time to do the things I wanted to do. I did the minimum around the house and enjoyed my kids. It started out being just Monday, but I was enjoying myself so much, it turned into Tuesday thru Friday too! So there you go. Now I can get back to my normal life, refreshed and renewed and RARRRRing to go!

Happy Muzzo's Day!

What a wonderful day! I love being a mom to so many great kids! They have been so sweet all week, wishing me a Happy Muzzo's day every day. The primary kids sang Mother I Love You in Sacrament meeting. The video is a recap, but with the added bonus of the dog singing along. Jessica did not want to be on the video but still wanted to sing. Ben and the kids surprised me with a spa day which I am really looking forward to. We were talking about what would be considered BAD Mother's Day gifts. Here's what we came up with:
1) a scale
2) an oinking/mooing cookie jar
3) cleaning products/equipment
4) nothing

Did we miss anything?

Mom and the girls

I would also like to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day. She amazes me. Not only did she raise 15 kids, which in and of itself is an amazing feat, she did it with such patience and love. Rarely did she raise her voice at us and has always been a great source of comfort to me. I am grateful to her and my dad for her staying home to raise us, even though it would have been easier for her to go to work. I am glad that she is always willing help, even if it is just to offer encouragement and advice. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and does her very best to live it. I love her very much and am so glad to be her daughter! I love you Mom

Last Requests

We drove past the cemetery today on the way to the dry cleaner. After an Earth Day ward service project a couple years ago, my kids have a very healthy attitude of what a cemetery is--almost too healthy. Reese looked out the window and very thoughfully said, "Mom, when I die and you bury me in the ground, will you please put plastic sea animals by my gravestone and put a picture of me scuba diving on it?" (I took this picture a while ago--please don't think I had him pose for this post!) My eyes filled with tears as I told him that I would, but that I hoped he wouldn't die before me. He asked if I would be sad if he died and I told him that my heart would break because I would be so sad, but that I know that I would be his mama forever, so I would be okay.
I am crying as I am writing this. I am so grateful for temple marriage and for the knowledge that I have that families are forever. I love my kids with all my heart and am thankful for the comfort that my testimony gives to all of us, but I still hope that I don't ever have to go put plastic sea animals by my son's grave. Boy, this is a depressing post...Sorry.

Our Daily Fashion Show

I am trying really hard to be better about finding humor in the little things in my life. Some things are really funny; what my kids say, what they do, and often times what they wear. What I am struggling to find the humor in, among other things, is the amount of laundry I do. So far this week, I kid you not, I have done twelve loads of laundry, and there is still more to do! This amount amazes me. I am not a clothes horse (I'll post about that another day), most of Ben's clothes are sent out to be dry cleaned, and I only have six kids (HA HA HA). Why on earth do I have so many clothes to wash? Two words: MAYA and BELLA. Here is where I need to laugh at things. I love these girls, but I tell you what, they change their clothes no less than 3 times a day. I have yelled and threatened, and I have even on occasion tried to gently persuade them to leave their original outfits on for a whole day. I have considered putting their clothes in my closet and locking the door so they had to wear the same clothes all day. If we are not going anywhere, I will usually let them exercise some autonomy and choose their own clothes. That is why they usually look like rag-a muffins. I buy cute clothes for them, and I always buy two of everything. Then there are the beautiful hand-me downs from their little friends that have to be worn at least a few times so there are not hurt feelings. Unfortunately, these usually end up being the favorites for a while. The honored new outfit is given a special ceremony the night before its debut and laid out in its entirety, (you remember) so that if you were a flat person, you could just lie down and shimmy your way into the days apparel. I will usually let them wear the new dresses/skirts etc a few times before they mysteriously disappear, but in the meantime we are blessed with a fashion show like no other. These pictures are a sampler of my day today. I did miss one outfit on each of the girls, it was on and off so fast.

Bella #1
Maya #1 This is actually #3 for both, I missed #2. This is what they were hoping to wear to the Primary activity this afternoon. One of the perils of twin-hood is that there are two left shoes and two right shoes, and sometimes they just don't get paired up correctly.
Maya and Bella #4. This is what they ended up wearing to the activity, not much better, but still an improvement.
Maya #5

There you go...don't forget about all the pajamas. Did you know that if you layer a shirt on top of a nightgown it looks like you have on a skirt? The funny thing is that it also makes more laundry. I will never win.