Tell Me: Does the word 'organize' exist in your dictionary?

It seems I've been totally out of sorts lately. There was once a time I used to have things ready to go weeks in advance.

My kids have a doctors appointment. Our insurance card is in my bag, their growth chart books are in the car ready to go, I know ahead of time whether today is a day they get immunizations or not so I can be prepared ahead of time and I used to show up at least 5 minutes early. This last time I was just lucky to get there on time AND bring the appropriate child to the visit. Sheesh.

Tomorrow my daughter has a clogging recital. It's her year end dance and we get to invite all of our friends and family. Did I have her costume out and ready to go? Nope. In fact I've been thinking all week, "I really should try to look for that again." FINALLY tonight after the kids were in bed I set out to look for it again (to be fair I had tried a handful of times) and after several hiding spots actually found it. Good thing my daughter didnt know the extent of my stress. I'm just glad she'll be able to dance tomorrow matching all her friends instead of being the only one up there in a very obvious non-matching outfit.

When did I start to loose my mind? When did I stop remembering things? Where did all my old tricks go? What happened to my organizing?

I know this is awful timing, seeing as how the kids are going to be home from school for the next three months, and it may be a bit tricker trying to keep to a general schedule but it's my (now public) goal to get and stay organized!

Tell me Tuesday (yes it still counts, there are still a few minutes left of the day): Do you have any great organizing tips? What works at your house? What have you heard that you might like to try?

Life This Week

Last weekend was my annual Sisters Retreat in Eden Utah. It's with my in-laws, where my hubby is 5th of 8 kids. Which means there are 9 of us (with my mother-in-law) which means we have an awesome group of fun!

We took a drive into Ogden and saw some adorable signs from Jeremy to his girlfriend. We never did see the final sign so we were figuring out all sorts of scenarios of how he actually propsed. Like standing in the middle of main street with bunches of roses, or that he got all of his friends to hold a ginormous banner down the side of the street as she drove past.

While browsing down 'historic 25th street' my sister-in-law kept telling me that she thought this girl was famous. After following her up the street for a while we finally snagged a picture with her (well I took it so I wasn't in it). We met Melissa Peterman (I know her as Barbra Jean from the show Reba, but you probably know her as the host of Singing Bee on CMT.) She was totally adorable and super sweet. I guess she was in town doing a comedy show at Wiseguys but sadly we had plans that evening so we couldn't go see it. I bet she was hilarious though.

*****

For those of you following my last post I think I may have reached a decision. I got online to start doing some research. Found an amazing doctor (heard lots of great things from friends who went there too) and was getting more information. I was calling for an appointment for a consultation and realized that I completely underestimated the cost of LASIK. Apparently I only have enough to do one eye, and since thats not really what I want to do, I'm not going to do it.

The good news is I'm not terribly disappointed since the other option (a trip to Southern California) is still a great one, in my opinion. So now I get to plan a fun vacation. And really it works out well because this fall there is a chunk of time hubby can get off work so we can make it longer and really enjoy it.

*****

Took my little guy in the doctor last week. He's almost three but in order to get him registered for preschool this fall we had to do the visits now. With my husband and I being pretty short we haven't been surprised that our kids are too. Although at this last visit my little guy reached his all time lowest mark on his height scale, bottoming out the charts at .02% of kids his age. Thats right, he's not even in the first percentile. Since he's near the magical age of three that means we have a plethora of fun tests ahead of us. Joy.

Two Great Choices

So I have a little chunk of change from graduation gifts and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. At first I wanted to do a girls trip to NY. While I plenty of people who were very interested I couldn't find anyone who could actually go with me (financially, take time off work, etc).

So I started thinking of what else to do. I had pretty much settled on the idea that I'd take the hubs and kids on a trip to Southern California. Maybe do a few days at Disneyland, a day at Sea World, the beach, perhaps the zoo. And the thing is, hubby could easily take the time so it'd be perfect!

However just earlier this week I got the brilliant idea of perhaps one other option that actually tickled my fancy. LASIK eye surgery. Oh man. Now I dont know what to do! They both sound so appealing and so great.

I'm a little nervous to actually get the surgery. And what if it doesn't go right? And we did just go to Disneyland last year (but we went with my extended family so this could be our chance to do our own trip and if we dont do it now it may not be fore another 5 yrs). And then again there is good things on both sides obviously.

Pros and cons anyone?

OR

PS I am reading and LOVING your comments. Sorry I haven't been responding as quickly as I'd like to. But please know I've REALLY appreciated all of you stopping by and all of your lovely comments. I promise to be better next week!

Tell Me: Try a job for a day?

Have you ever seen that show Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel? I dont know what it is about him but that Mike Rowe just fascinates me. Have you seen that mans resume? Have you heard him sing? Always something new with him. Any who thats not what this post is about. Back on track.

Whenever I get to watching it, it makes me wonder about jobs I think would be interesting to try. Not to have forever, but just to try once. I just wonder what goes on in some of these jobs. Not even just the dirty ones on that show. But any job. Driving around town I start looking around the streets thinking about the different shops. Hairstylist, plumber, actor, travel agent, artist, teacher, author, cashier, newspaper reporter, repairman, delivery driver, nurse, flower arranger, police officer, cake decorator, news anchor, broadway star.

Tell Me: What job would you like to try for a day?

*I made the above image using Wordle http://www.wordle.net/

Gotta love Facebook! Thanks Evonne for helping me remember what it was called!

Summer In Paris

Summer in Paris by Michele Ashman Bell

Loved this book! It was a delightful, sweet book that made me wonder how I acted as a young adult. Although I thought at first that the main character, Kenzie, was going to rub me the wrong way I very quickly came to love her.

While she was raised getting everything handed to her and felt like she should have anything she wanted, her life takes a turn for the different, very different. She is a sweet, tender-hearted girl who quickly learns that just because it's different from what you know, doesn't make it bad, wrong, or impossible to enjoy.

I inhaled this book so quickly and really enjoyed it! I'd love to have more to this story and know what happens from here. C'mon Michele. Please?! :) Off to go look for other books my Michele.


~~~
Here's more about the story from the publisher:
Kenzie Williams feels like she has it all; wealth, friends, popularity and talent. But when her father tells her that he has declared bankruptcy, her whole world in New York City turns upside down. Her parents' solution while they sort through their financial and marital problems is to send Kenzie to live with her relatives in Paris...Idaho!

Feeling like she's been sentenced to three months in Hickville Prison, Kenzie arrives in Idaho feeling like a square peg with name brand clothes, in a round, horribly podunk, hole.

Leaving everything she loves behind, Kenzie is forced to get up at the crack of dawn, do chores, and hang out with her cousin's loser friends. She feels like she's about to die until she meets Adam White, the town outcast, who's been accused of killing his best friend and is being blamed for some trouble that's been happening around town.

Not only is Adam the best-looking guy she's ever seen, but he's also the most fascinating guy she's ever met and Kenzie is determined to get to know him and find out his secret. But, the longer she stays in Paris, the more she realizes, Adam isn't the only one keeping secrets.

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Valor Publishing

Buy it here:

*I received this book from Valor Publishing to give my honest review.

Wordless Wednesday: Skylight

(Photo taken by me in February 2010)