The crazy life of the ClarkClan. Living a life of grace through Jesus Christ.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Every Little Girl’s Dream

My husband gave me every little girl’s dream for my birthday this week. He brought me a dog crate. This was Matt’s way of telling me I could have the puppy I want. The kids and I are very excited about getting this puppy. She does not get to leave her mother until around Valentine’s day. So we are now getting the house ready for a puppy.

The puppy is a Yorkie mix. We do not think she will get very big, maybe ten pounds. This will be different for our family as we have always had large dogs. Loki, our dog we have right now, is a Golden Retriever/Husky mix. We are going to have to be very careful so that Loki does not accidentally hurt the new puppy. Loki is very active and loves other dogs, but can be a bit exuberant.

I was not really looking for another dog, but then my friend’s Yorkie had surprise puppies. My friend, J,  used to breed her Yorkie, but has not had her bred since the male died. She said last Spring she took the dog to the Vet because she was acting like she was pregnant again. The Vet said she had a “false” pregnancy. This past December, it seemed to happen again. Well, in reality, her dog really was pregnant. I just laugh at her telling us the story of driving home from visiting family and her seven year old daughter saying, “Mommy, there is a puppy back here.” J turned around to check and sure enough, there was a puppy. So they stopped and put Daisy in her crate where she had three more puppies.

The main reason I decided to ask Matt if we could have one of these puppies is because I know where the dog is coming from. J takes good care of her pets, the puppy is coming from a home where there are two dogs, two cats, and four kids. She will be used to being handled and touched by a variety of ages. Also, while I do not know the father, the mother Yorkie is a very friendly little dog and I liked the idea that I knew at least the temperament of the mother.

So, here is a quick snapshot J sent me today. My Yorkie mix puppy I have named Nutmeg.

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Monday, January 28, 2013

It was a Monday

Today was a Monday. It was not an absolutely awful day, but not a spectacular day either. Rebekah threw a small to medium fit over just about every school subject today. Mondays are always hard for her and then we had to go pick up our car from the repair shop early this afternoon. When we take a break in the middle of the school day, Rebekah has such a hard time getting back on track. She never wants to do anything after 3pm.

The Home Warranty company sent out a new repair man this morning after Matt complained on their Facebook page how he was not happy that it was taking 60 days to get the oven fixed and that nobody from the Home Warranty company seemed to care. I am hoping to have the oven working well soon.

The good part about today was we got our Suburban back from the shop and this time it seems to be working just fine. I was also able to complete my small step of starting laundry before I walk as well as make my bed and wipe down my bathroom. I think it helped that Matt worked the opening shift today and was gone by 4:00am.

We ended our day with a Meatless Monday meal of homemade pinto beans topped with cheese, tomato, avocado, and sour cream. It was very tasty, especially with whole wheat tortillas fresh made by the tortilleria at the grocery store here in town. And then, the best part of all for me., Matt was home this evening and was able to do the driving for Scouts tonight. This meant that I could stay home with Rebekah, get the dinner dishes done and then just relax.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Small Changes

I recently wrote about how I am trying to make small changes this year instead of grand, sweeping changes that fail. So, I thought I would write about what small changes I am making and how it is working out.

My first small change was to wake up 15 minutes earlier. I was waking  up at 6 am everyday, and out the door and walking by 6:30 am. I decided that I wanted to get up a little earlier, so that I would have time to put a load of laundry in the washer before I went for my daily walk. I would then be able to throw them in the dryer when I came home. I am hoping that by doing a load or two of laundry every day, I will not be overwhelmed as I do when I try to get it all done in one day.

This is working very well for me. I took the getting up earlier in small steps as well. The first day, I set my alarm for 2 minutes earlier, then the second day I set it for two more minutes earlier.I kept  moving my wake up time earlier by two minutes, until I reached my target time.  By gradually getting up earlier,  two minutes earlier, a day at a time, I never felt like it was too much and my body was able to gradually adjust to the new wake up time.

Friday, January 25, 2013

An Introduction to Shakespeare

When we were at the library today, I found a book in the Juvenile Fiction History section that looked very interesting. It was an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. Adapted by Bruce Colville and illustrated by Tim Raglin, this children’s book combines the play, told in prose, with various lines quoted word for word from the play.

I have read some Shakespeare, mainly in high school, but I have never read Twelfth Night before. It was hilarious. Ben, Rebekah and I giggled through the book. I had to keep stopping and re-capping what we had read just to keep the story straight in my mind. Ben kept saying that he was having no trouble keeping up with the different characters.

I am so glad we took the time to read this book. It gave us an excellent introduction to Shakespeare. There are a few more Shakespeare plays in this series. The kids have requested that we read the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet next.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

New Year, New Habits

It happens every January. I think this happens to a lot of people in January, judging by magazine articles and organizational books that abound during this month. It happens to me every January. The need to become a “new” person. The need to completely change how I clean, organize, exercise, raise my kids, and the list goes on.

Every January I feel like this, and by the middle of January, I wonder where I have gone wrong and how come I could not change anything. I am disappointed in myself because I have not gotten out of bed early every morning and had everything tidied up and dishes always done and.. and… and.

This year, I had the same feeling after Christmas. I started making my lists of what I wanted to change. Then a strange thing happened. I got sick. I got more than one type of sickness that lasted weeks altogether. You certainly cannot start new habits when you are throwing up, or can’t get out of bed because of a fever. My kids got sick. Once again, it is hard to take care of sick kids and start new habits. We also had company visiting for an entire month, different people, but one right after another.

So, have I given up yet? Just like I always do? Well, yes and no. I gave up the idea that I need to make many, broad sweeping changes all at one time. I instead am concentrating on just one new habit I want to instill. Then when that is fairly well established, I will work on another one. I am taking small steps, and when I fail, I am determined to start again.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Tired of Being Sick!

We finally seem to be on the mend. We had been hit hard with sickness since the Friday before New Years. Today was the first day I could say that nobody was sick. Everybody woke up feeling great.

It started on Dec. 28th. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach virus. It was the worst stomach virus I can ever remember having. I threw up multiple times, then came diarrhea, along with fever, chills and extreme tiredness. I am thankful it only lasted one day for stomach upset and one day to sleep, rest and recover.

The day I got sick with the stomach virus, Matt was fighting a cold, that I think was really the flu. His symptoms lasted about 5 days. Just as he was getting better, Ben, Rebekah and I came down with flu symptoms. Rebekah had the lightest case. Low grade fever, slightly stuffy nose. Ben and I ran fevers and had chills and other symptoms such as stuffy noses from Thursday till Monday.

During this time, Sarah came down with the stomach flu. She was miserable throwing up for a day and sleeping. Rebekah was the last to come down with the stomach virus, and her case was the lightest.

On Monday, Ben, instead of getting better, started running a high fever. I called the Dr. on Tuesday, got right in to find out he had developed a lung infection. So he is on antibiotics, a steroid, and two inhalers. The good news is that 12 hours after taking the first antibiotic dose, his fever went away and today 4 days later, he is about back to normal.

I am very thankful today that everyone feels healthy, we seem to be past the worst of this sickness. I have been reading on the internet about the flu epidemic that has spread across the nation. I am thankful that we are over the flu, and hope it will stay that way.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Snow in the Desert

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Snow came to the desert this past week. When I was a kid growing up here, snow was a big deal. It did not happen often and it was like a party atmosphere when it did. Everything shuts down, because there are just not the resources available to deal with snowy, icy streets and the inevitable car accidents that happen from people driving too fast.. This is “normal” to me. It snows, everything stops.

Then we moved to Montana and lived there for 6 years. Guess what? Things do not stop for snow in Montana. Life continues on, unless it is a blizzard. I learned how to drive in the snow, even if I never really liked it. It was learn to drive or be a hermit for 8 months of the year.

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Now that we are back in New Mexico, it is back to feeling excited that the snow is falling. The kids had a great time playing in it. It is warm enough here that they do not even need snow pants to play in the snow. It was melting fast today. By 4:00pm almost all the snow that fell overnight, about an inch, was gone. The party is over and life begins again.

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Friday, January 4, 2013

New Socks + New Pillow = Bliss

Yesterday when we went to Costco, I bought two items that make me feel very pampered. I bought new socks and a new pillow.

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The new socks are wool and I just love the stripes and colors. I know that socks are hidden by my shoes, but just putting them on in the morning brightens my day. And the feel of them is very soft and comforting.

The pillow was a surprise purchase. Matt really is the one who needed a new pillow. But at Costco, they come in sets of two. So I was the happy recipient of the second pillow in the package. It is very soft and fluffy.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the little things in life, like new socks and a new pillow.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year 2013

New Years Day Hike 2013 scenery

 

To kick off 2013, I decided the kids and I should take a hike. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, about 50 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, very light breeze. We tried a desert trail that we have not been on before. The trail begins about 1/2 mile away from our house. We then proceeded to walk it up, towards the foothills, for about an hour. It is all uphill, but a fairly gentle climb. Then we found a point to take some pictures, sit and talk and just enjoy each others company. Coming down the hill was quite a bit faster than going up. We all decided we want to explore that trail again. The next time we will keep going up and see what we can find.

New Years Day Hike 2013 take two