My 34th Birthday, Projects

I had a good birthday. On Thursday, James and I got some sliders at Arby's and then went to Coldstone for ice cream. We hadn't been there in forever! Friday, I met James for some sushi in his classroom. I had to run some errands afterward, but everything worked out well. I made chocolate pound cake, which we enjoyed after dinner. The Relief Society activity was fun. I passed on the cake and ice cream since I already had some at home and liked mine better. ;)

Saturday, I attended a baby shower for my old neighbor on Zoom. It was pretty fun, and I even won one of the games. Unfortunately, that gift card went toward supplies for fixing our water heater, which either has a burned out element or broken thermostat. It's limping along, though, as long as I'm okay with about 7 minutes of hot water for a shower. We plan to work on it Saturday afternoon during Conference and replace both elements and thermostats.

When I realized it was broken, I put that stress into cleaning some random stuff that needed it. I organized the laundry room shelves and the shed. That wasn't enough, so I deep cleaned the girls' room and went through all the clothes of the youngest 3 kids. I ended up with several bags of trash and a big bag of clothes for D.I. I already donated them, took the littles to the library, and got some killer deals at the grocery store so I won't have to shop again until after spring break. Lewis and Samantha are getting easier to take places, and I'm really grateful for that.

James and Joseph went to the temple really early on Wednesday. I'm really grateful to have a temple so close, even though I didn't sleep well that night.

James and I went shopping last night for Kenny's birthday, which is next Tuesday. Mission accomplished! Our real date is today, so we're going to see a movie.

Bookcases, Outside Projects

We eventually got the bookcases put together by late Thursday night. It took longer than expected, but we had to figure out where they'd look best, drill an opening for our router, and buy some extension cords with flat plugs since the bookcases cover an outlet. Without the extra stuff, I think it would've taken 3 hours to just put them together. I didn't end up framing in the window like I thought because I didn't like how the bookcases looked there, and they made the reading nook a weird shape. We decided on the wall where the piano was instead, and I think they look great! I spent until lunchtime on Friday organizing, repairing, and shelving books, plus cleaning up the disaster of cardboard and trash from the night before and rearranging and cleaning my room (where one of the bookcases used to be). Things I absolutely love about these bookcases:

1. They weren't that expensive.

2. They're really tall, almost to the ceiling.

3. They fit all of our books with room to spare. (I've got some Amazon wish lists ready for books I want to buy for the kids for upcoming birthdays and Christmases.)

4. They're really sturdy.

5. The shelves are more than tall enough to fit binders and deep enough to fit the largest of books.

6. They look great!

The library area is cozy, and all 5 kids have used it for reading already. They've also taken interest in books they haven't looked at in a long time because they were hidden away in my room, a cabinet, or in the boys' room. I am absolutely thrilled at how well everything turned out. This is one of my favorite birthday presents ever.

Saturday was going to be a lazy day, but for some reason, we decided to clean up our yard and power wash all the concrete surfaces. James took extra time on the front sidewalk, which has always been caked in mud, and it looks great now. Though it made the day busy, the results were completely worth it.

Yesterday, I took the ShopVac and did a thorough job of vacuuming out the car. It took 1 1/2 hours, but it was also worth it. I usually have the kids do it, but they have never been great about the vacuuming. It looks so much better now. If there's anything I've learned about owning a house, it's that there are always more things to clean and organize. The last few weeks were pretty intense with the chain reaction of organization. Moved freezer to cabin > moved dining room back to kitchen > made empty area into a reading nook > rearranged my room. Of course that meant tons of cleaning, but it also means there's a lot less clutter and dust in my house.

My birthday's tomorrow, though, so I'm not go to do anything else productive outside of the norm.

People have been a little sick with a cold, but I think we're all better now. Everyone is back at school.

IKEA, UCET

Thursday night, we went on  date to see Mamma Mia! The high school did a pretty good job. I love ABBA's music.

We went to a YW dinner/auction on Friday night. It was pretty fun, even though we didn't end up winning anything. Saturday, I watched Women's Conference in the cabin since I was feeling a little crummy. (Thanks, PMS.) We hosted game night, and I was feeling a lot better by then.

I'd been checking online to see what IKEA had in stock for bookcases. I'm glad I did, but I also caused myself a ton of stress because they didn't have a lot of bookcases left. I favorited 21 different bookcases, most of which were out of stock. By the time James got to IKEA on Monday night, there were 3 left of one particular bookcase. He bought 2 of them, and someone else bought the other before the store closed that night. IKEA has not yet restocked anything else that would be the right size for the space we're dealing with.

If that's not a tender mercy, I don't know what is. I saw the inventory go down quickly over the week, especially on Saturday, but no one bought any bookcases on Sunday or Monday until James got there. I had a couple of backup ideas in mind, but I'm so glad I didn't have to use them. IKEA has never let me down. Their stuff is cheap and pretty sturdy, even when it's not made of solid wood. The bookcases we ended up getting were not the first ones I thought I'd want, but James said they looked sturdier and better than the others on my list. He also came home with 3 bar stools that look like cute chairs, a gaming chair, a nightstand, and a shelving unit, plus a few odds and ends. Between last night and this morning, I've put everything together except for the bookcases. (That's a 2-person job!) I'm absolutely thrilled that it worked out so well. We're planning on putting the bookcases together as our "date" today, which means I get to spend tomorrow organizing the library. This is my early birthday present. :)

The main reason James went to Salt Lake (well, Draper and Provo, really) was for UCET, an educational technology conference. He left Monday right after school and went to IKEA, then to the hotel. Tuesday, he was at the conference all day and ate dinner with his cousin Cort. Wednesday, he came home after the conference was over. Things went all right here. Tuesday was the hardest day due to the time change. Joseph also stayed home from school and was coughing a lot, which really got on my nerves. I think we've caught up on sleep now. He and Kenny are home today, which has been a huge help. They entertained the littles while I put stuff together. Their slight illness ended up being a blessing in disguise.

Rearranging

I've found that the best way to deep clean an area is to rearrange it. For about 5 years, we've had our dining room in the back part of the living room (with an indoor/outdoor rug to help keep the mess to a minimum.) James suggested that we move the dining room back to the end of the kitchen. In order to do that, I had to defrost the big freezer so James could move it to the cabin. I enlisted the kids to scrub the walls and I cleaned the windows and floor before moving the table and chairs. Now that the dining room is in the actual dining room, we have a small "den" area at the back of the living room. I want to turn it into a library. James is planning on going to IKEA next week while he's in the area for an educational conference. My plan is to create a cool wall of shelves/bookcases that frame in the window and can hold all of our books in one place.

We also did some rearranging in our room, removing an unused chair and table so my dresser could come out of the closet. We were hoping to get the same shelves for the closet that we already have, but they were almost double the price as before. Still, we freed up tons of room in the closet and bedroom, and the closet is nice and clean now.

Other than that, we've had a pretty normal week. James was home one day with a cold, but he's doing all right. It was milder for me, to the point where I barely noticed it. I've lost count of how many colds I've had since September, but most of them have been really mild.

I'm already seeing the benefits of moving the dining room. I'm not allowing the kids to eat in the living room anymore (which is easier since the table is further away), so there's a lot less vacuuming to be done. Having a freezer in the cabin means we can store treats there without the kids knowing and bring them to the small freezer when we're ready. It also means we'll have a place to store frozen treats for game nights. We can also start buying nerdy magnets to decorate the freezer. I'm so excited. :)

Another Nephew, Goals

We've had a pretty low-key week so far, and I'm not complaining. The snow is melting, everyone's healthy, and Covid has all but disappeared from Uintah County.

James didn't have students on Monday, so I joined him for lunch at the Chinese place. We didn't do anything special at home.

Exciting news: we have another nephew! Rachel and Christian had their baby on Tuesday. He doesn't have a name yet. I'm so excited to meet my nephews in April over spring break.

I've made a goal to return to some good habits I'd left behind, mostly due to a miserable pregnancy, then a pandemic. I want to make whole wheat bread at least once a week and include more fruits and veggies in our meals/snacks. I used to get Bountiful Baskets and loved them. Though I didn't get to choose what was in them, I enjoyed the challenge of cooking an occasional "weird" vegetable and using up everything within a week or two. BB hasn't been available for a number of years now, and I don't think it's ever coming back. :( Because of the size of my fridge and family, I need to go to the grocery store once a week now, but every other week will just be a small trip for produce. The little kids were actually really well-behaved when I took them yesterday after the library. 

Other food goals for my family will include eating out less often (2x a month instead of every week), including more beans and fish with our meals, and setting specific days for treats. I've found that I don't really want to make dessert more than once a week anyway, but the kids love ice cream, so I think I'll stick to baking on Saturday and having ice cream for FHE. Thanks to the pandemic, I no longer want to eat chips, ice cream, or desserts as much. It turns out that even the most delicious of foods lose their appeal if you eat them often.

Kenny and Katie's glasses came, and they look adorable!

I'm really happy about all the sunshine. When I think back to January, I can see that I feel a lot better about waking up than I did then.