The Not So Molly Mormon 5

So I have been thinking a lot lately about how to be grateful during our trials. As I went through my comedy of errors this morning, so pathetically funny that I could not make this stuff up, laughing manically as I tried to scour the filth of the morning from under my fingernails I found my positive. Your day has to be brighter after reading about mine... My four year old daughter Hadley woke us up this morning at 4:50am. Her normal wake up time is about 6am, but since daylight savings time didn't wreak enough havoc on our lives Sunday morning when we forgot to change our clocks, the 5am wake up call is a recurring theme in our home the past two days. My husband and I faked sleep for another hour with Hadley staring at the ceiling next to us and then grumbled out of bed at 6am. I was pouring my bowl of cornflakes and strawberries while Bobby did me a solid by taking the dog out before he went to work when he came in with a note and said, "Sara, there are cats on our front porch." Wha, wha, what? So, my parents have a slew of stray feral cats at their house that keep having litters of kitten that I thought we finally had under control. I had them all placed in homes several months ago and we were doing okay. One of the people that took two males had so thoughtfully brought back the kennel she borrowed from me and returned it with two four month old cats, both of them covered in urine and an adorned with the illegible note. Super way to start the day. I only knew who it was from by the kennel. As my husband sighed and left the building I opened the fridge to put the milk back up and poured a huge container of potato soup all over my feet. I thought the Great Dane, Lexie might enjoy the cleanup process so I let her out to work on the floor while I changed out of pajama pants and scoured the cabinets and counters and windows and doors. UPDATE: I started writing this post several years ago. I was so exhausted the day this happened that this was as far as I got. I thought about deleting it from my "drafts" but decided to put it on out there. Suffice it to stay the day continued on with me flying the Great Dane on the end of the least like a kite while I tried to wash poop from her body and then a neighbor telling me she thought a flock of geese was flying really low over our houses when I walked the kids around the corner to the bus stop and the same dog howled like her life depended on it. It was a good story. But this is reality. Even funny stories can't be told all of the time because in the midst of the almost painful humor there are tears and exhaustion and diaper changes and life. Writing is my most favorite thing to do besides life so thanks for reading. Until Next Time, The Not So Molly Mormon

Electronics fast 2015

I sit now using the very thing I am supposed to avoid, and man I love it. Our family has had an electronics fast this month. We usually do this in June but decided to bump it up a month this year and try May. This meant that my husband only watched the Grizzlies play in the play offs and not every other team that won and lost. This meant that I missed birth announcements, graduations, favorite dinners and post that people wrote just looking for a connection and for someone to acknowledge that what they thought mattered through a thumbs up or a "like". This meant that my kids didn't dive into the second season of Avatar The Last Air Bender or play one of the many electronic devices we can all get caught up in. I did allow myself the leniency to communicate with friends via messaging apps, though on a limited basis, and email and I even "allowed" myself to pay some bills online. So you all are just dying to hear my consensus, right? Well, this is what I learned this year. I have missed looking at my less than one year old child's chubby little fingers and the perfect lines of her closed eyelashes and nose while she nurses to look at birth announcements and graduations and favorite dinners. She has grown up in the past year and I have watched it day in and day out but in the most intimate moments when I had her close to me I looked away. My two year old makes a lot of messes when no one is looking. When someone is looking, he still makes a lot of messes but man he's cute doing it and he has a smile in those moments of mischief that is melt in your heart fantastic. My five year old likes "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" better than "Smash Bro's. on her DS. And it took her a day, A DAY, of reading lessons to begin reading simple books on her own and to provoke her love of reading once I found the right approach. My nine year old does not struggle with a love of all things shiny in the electronics department so all I learned there was that she's smarter than the rest of us in that regard and that of course she is delightful, but I already knew that. My eleven year old is the one that helped me impliment this. The first year I did this he thought he would waste away with no access to the XBOX, Playstation, DS, iPods, or Netflix. Now he almost begs for it. I think it gives his brain a chance to detox when what he is doing most is reading, playing with his siblings and finding out what things he likes most in life. Now, this reads like a predictably boring tale of chastising caution to turn your social media and video games off and BE in the moment with your family. I guess it is but it is not meant to be. I got all of these benefits though and from the outside looking in this was not much of a fast on my part. I have to admit, I accidentally bought a $20 bench off of facebook when it popped up on my computer while chatting with a friend at the end of the day. I looked up recipes to feed my family and pinterest post about an event I was doing and watched veterinary training feats online, not because I had too but just because I could. And you know what? It felt good. I love the ease of our lives through technology. I just realized more than usual this year that I don't want them blanketing my life to the point that I can't look up. The kids have decided we will keep this trend through the summer and I like that I can agree without trepidation. I like that it will become a habit to actually live the moment while I'm in the moment instead of it being a concentrated effort. Until next time, The Not So Molly Mormon