Chocoholic

I crave chocolate constantly. And I indulge in those cravings constantly, too! I was telling my son a few weeks ago about my "favorite" chocolate, and he was confused because he thought another type of chocolate was my favorite. The truth is, I have seasonal and time-of-day favorites!!!

At Halloween time, I crave these:

At Christmas time, I crave these:

At Valentines time, I crave these:

At Easter time, I crave these:

In the summer, I crave these:

In the morning, I crave these:

In the evening, I crave these:

This list doesn't even include my favorite mint and fruit-filled chocolates!!! It's no wonder that I battle with weight-loss, because I always give in to the desire of eating chocolate. Speaking of eating chocolate....

I am Unique

The other day, I was thinking about certain qualities, certain quirks that I have that make me unique. We all have them. Things that we do, things that we like, things that make us tick, things that make us who we are, things that make us different from others, things that make us stand out, things that make us special. What makes you unique?

25 Unique Things About Me

1. I am a terrible cook but I love watching Top Chef. I like learning about techniques that the cooks use, and hearing cooking terminology, and I'm constantly amazed at what the chefs can create from their brains. When I cook, I have to follow a recipe card and pay attention to every detail for everything that I make, even if I've made it dozens of times, otherwise I mess it up!

2. I have an unexplained attraction to to looking at house plans, and have ever since I was a teenager. I love looking at blue prints and figuring out how a space will look, and I love walking through houses to see how the architecture of the plan works. It's exciting to walk through homes that are under construction, even if I have no idea who's home it is and I have no idea what the end product is actually going to look like!

3. I am chronologically anal: blogging, scrapbooking, journaling, photo editing...I can't write what's happening now until I catch up on what happened in the past. This is not always a good quality. I get behind, and I refuse to advance to the present-day happenings until the past is taken care of, and then I lose details of my present life because I won't record them. It happened in my high school journals, it's happened in my scrapbooks, it's happened on my blog...

4. I love randomly using quotes from TV shows or movies. I've done this for years-I used to play a "jeopardy" type game with my sisters making them guess what movie I was talking about when I said a quote. And I find myself enjoying the company of others now who have similar tendencies with quoting movies, plays, and TV shows.

5. I am completely honest with myself and others. If you ask me a question, I'll tell you the truth. I'm a terrible liar. I actually pride myself on my honest attribute; I feel like it's my one and only redeeming quality. But because of it, I completely dislike liars, and it's hard for me to forgive others who are close to me that have been dishonest with me. 

6. I love to perform in front of people. I have ever since the 3rd grade when I had a miniscule 1-line part in our class program. Being in the theater was the best thing for me in high school. I used to dream about being in community theater when I grew up, but then I moved to a city without an auditorium. I really miss being on the stage now.

7. I can always tell when people get haircuts, and I always compliment others that I see who have recently gotten one. When I was a child, I wanted to be a beautician when I grew up, so I paid a lot of attention to others' hair. And I still do. I seem to neglect my own, though!

8. I love to hum/sing songs to myself. I do it so much so that I don't realize I've been doing it until other people either stare are me wondering what I'm singing or others start singing the same song and I wonder why they're singing it. I also make songs out of everyday life things, interject them into a tune, and create new songs constantly. Seriously, it feels like everything in the whole world fits into a song.

9. I am mono-chromatic. I do it with my home-decorating, and with my clothes. I like wearing one color and having every single accessory match. I can't figure out how different colors go together. When I was in 4th grade, I wore purple pants with a red shirt and got made fun of terribly. I feel like it's better to stick with one color and look good, than to mix colors and look awful. My husband is good at mixing colors and looking good, though. I don't know how he does it.

10. I like trimming trees. Before Josh and I moved away from Tremonton, we took a tree-trimming class to assist us in the Landscape Maintenance business that we were managing. I was hooked after that class. I love trimming trees by myself or pointing out to Josh which branches need to be cut while he's doing the trimming. Every spring and fall, I look forward to it.

11. I memorize names. Beginning in 7th grade, I would peruse the yearbook whenever I was bored. I did it in high school, too, and by the time I graduated, I knew the names of everybody in my 325+ graduating class (now I can't remember half of them). When I worked at the credit union here in Salmon, I memorized the names of the members, and it was a great way to feel like I belonged to the community. Now I know more people that live here than my husband, and he grew up here!

12. I have vivid dreams, and I remember them too. I still remember my recurring dreams from my youth. In my childhood, I dreamed that I could float to the ceiling of my house and I would float down the hallway and into people's rooms watching them sleep. As a teenager, I dreamed that I was buried in a street, and I was reincarnated as an Indian. Sometimes I invest too much feelings into my dreams, like last week I dreamed that Josh married another girl, and I woke up and was so mad at him the whole day even though he didn't actually do anything wrong in real life.

13. I can't improvise.  I tried doing Improv in debate in high school, and I bombed every time. When I'm in front of people improvising, I get so nervous that I start to sweat, and I speak in a high-pitch voice at a super-rapid rate. I don't like that about myself, and I try to make sure that I'm prepared with information when I know I'm going to be in that type of situation. And yet, I still haven't come out of one Sunday School class I've taught or one Elementary School musical program I've directed without sweating and having rapid speech! 

14. Every night, I get thirsty as soon as I brush my teeth. It happens the instant I'm done rinsing, but it never seems to occur at any other time when I brush--only at night. And even though it happens every night, I never remember to bring a glass into my bathroom. So I either have to go back out to the kitchen for a glass of water, or I drink some of Josh's that he always remembers to bring to bed every night.

15. I'm a Spell-Checker Nazi. When Josh and I lived in Pocatello, I worked as a proofreader for the advertising department in the local newspaper. I loved that job. Now I proofread everything, and I hate especially when words are misspelled on TV or the newspaper or online.

16. I like mowing the lawn. But it has to be done with a push-mower because I like making the straight, even lines. Whenever my son mows the lawn, he uses grandpa's riding lawnmower, because the job gets done in twenty minutes. Even though it would reduce my time dramatically if I used it, I won't because I can't stand the way the lawn looks after a riding lawnmower has done the job. I would rather push one for an hour in order to create the nice, even lines to stare at for the next week!

17. I'm a loud person, but I always lose the vocal arguments in my marriage. My husband has paralyzed vocal chords, so he can't yell. And yet, he still wins the arguments! Go figure.

18. I fart when I travel. I don't know why that is, but it's true. If I'm in the car for a few hours, it happens. And unfortunately, anybody who's ever gone on road trips with me knows this fact and can vouch for the statement.

19. I love balancing the checkbook, just not my own. After working at the credit union for five years, I grew to love balancing the cash drawer. I loved how it always said "Zero" at the end, because I knew that meant I was 100% balanced. I just hate doing it to my own personal checkbook, because when it says "Zero" at the end, I know it means I have no money rather than from doing the job right!

20. I make food items be aligned perfectly. Specifically speaking, when I eat ice cream, I scoop it out in shallow, even rolls because the ice cream container has to be level. I hate when there's a giant crater in the ice cream from someone taking a big, deep scoop from the middle. When I eat cheese, I need to make sure it's flat and even before I start slicing pieces. I hate unevenly-cut cheese. So if the cheese block appears to be diagonal, I have to first cut off the diagonal part from the last person who cut it incorrectly.

21. I love symmetry. I like when homes have symmetrical architecture. I hang my pictures on the walls in a symmetrical pattern. I create symmetrical craft projects. I hate when things look "off" or "uneven" or "unequal".

22. I love extra pulpy orange juice, but my husband hates it. So I buy the pulp-free orange juice. And every time I buy it, I think about what I lovingly sacrifice for my family.

23. I am good at harmonizing. When I was in the 8th grade, I was a 2nd Soprano in the girls choir and I couldn't figure out why the other 2nd Sopranoes kept singing the 1st Soprano melody part. It took me years to realize that not everybody can actually sing harmony. I love harmonizing to songs on the radio, and creating a complementary back-up voice to the recorded artists.

24. The sight of blood makes me queasy. Seeing bloody noses and bleeding cuts and gashes make me gag. I passed out once from watching my own finger get pricked. I've never donated blood because of it. Thankfully Josh has a very high tolerance level for blood, so he handles it when it happens to the children.

25. I tie shoelaces in the MOST bizarre way. Not your typical rabbit ears way. When my grandpa was teaching me, I got confused about the rabbit ears, so I made up my own way. I throw the right side over the left side, put the left over the right to create an X, put my left thumb in the hole, pick up the left shoelace with the right hand, push the lace through the hole with my two left-hand fingers, and pull on both sides to create two loops. I didn't realize it was so odd until we started teaching our boys how to tie shoelaces. At least Josh knows how to tie them normal! I wouldn't want want my sons to be confused about it like I was!

Thirteen

On April 10, 1998, Josh and I joined hands to become ONE in marriage.

Since that time, we have..

lived in 2 different states,

been in 3 car accidents,

created & gave life to 4 beautiful children, and lost 4 close family members to death,

moved 5 times,
had 6 pets,
endured 7 surgeries,
attended 8 concerts together,
{Josh has} worked 9 different jobs,
gone on a 10-day vacation together to England,

owned 11 cars AND 11 trucks,

{Kala has} had 12 different employers,

and we've been married for THIRTEEN unlucky and lucky, blessed and cursed years!

Happy Anniversary to you, Josh. You are the love of my life and I've never been happier with you by my side!

Painful but true

I never thought of myself as a quitter, but I realized yesterday that I am.

At the first hint of pain, whether it's physical or emotional, I want out--I just want to quit. Here are some recent examples...

When Josh and I went on vacation 2 weeks ago, we spent one of the days at Arches National Park. We drove around the park, and we went on multiple walks & hikes to see some of the arches in the park. The last thing we planned on seeing before leaving the park that day was the famous Delicate Arch, which is a 3-mile hike from the road. I wasn't sure I could walk anymore, since we'd already walked/hiked 3.5 miles that day. I told Josh I needed to wait a while before starting the long hike because my feet and legs were already killing me from all of the other walks/hikes we went on. He started without me because he was determined to see it, and I didn't know if I'd make it. After a half hour, my legs were feeling better (I get shin splints really bad) so I started hiking up the trail. About halfway there, Josh was on his way back down from seeing the arch, and I planned on turning around right then and going back to the car with him. Instead, he turned around and pushed me to finish the hike to see the arch! I wanted to quit during the steep section, but he continued to push me to keep going. And I'm glad that he insisted that I not turn around, because otherwise I never would've walked to Delicate Arch on my own. I wanted to quit, I wanted to give up, but because of Josh I didn't.

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine hurt my feelings. I was experiencing some difficult circumstances and I was upset, and rather than showing compassion or kindness, she was rude and belittling to me. It was a painful experience, and I immediately wanted out. I withdrew from the friendship, and I stopped any interactions that I would have with her so that I wouldn't have to see her or confront her. I didn't want to feel the pain again that I had from that experience, so I backed out of the friendship.

Even with these recent experiences, it wasn't until yesterday that I actually realized how common my habit of quitting has become. Last night I went to an hour-long Zumba class for the first time. Zumba is an exercise routine that incorporates aerobics and dancing. After being in the class for 35 minutes, I wanted to quit. My body was sore and tired and I was sweating all over. I just wanted to be done already. But I kept telling myself repeatedly in my head "I can do hard things". And I didn't quit, I stayed until the end of class, but after that half-way point in the class, I stopped putting all my energy into the work-out. At the end of the class, I swore to myself that I would never return because I felt so fat, and out-of-shape, and insecure about my body and my soul. I talked to my friend and to my husband about my feelings, and the pain I felt physically and emotionally. As I laid down to sleep last night, tears ran down my cheeks and onto my pillow as evidence of what I felt.

Today my legs and shoulders hurt, but the pain is good. The pain is a reminder to me that my body is functioning and that I used parts of my body I haven't in a long while. I told myself at the end of class last night that it would be easier to stay home in the evenings and not exercise, it would be easier to hang out on the couch after working at the school all day, it would be easier to never go back to the class. But, I don't think that's what I need or what my body needs. I have gained back the 18 pounds I lost last summer and I'm frustrated with my weight and I need motivation to keep exercising. Apparently, the "easier way" isn't the "best way". So, I think maybe I will go again after all. And I asked another friend of mine to go with me next time. Because even though it was painful and I wanted to quit, I need to go again for my body's sake.

The emotional and physical pain that I felt last night after attending the class really made me think about myself and what is going on with me. I thought about my recent experiences lately, and I realized that I have created a quitter mentality. I'm always thinking about quitting: I want to quit my jobs whenever I get stressed, I want to quit going to church when I have to prepare for a difficult lesson, I want to move away whenever I have a hard time with people, I want to quit my marriage whenever we have a fight. I want to quit every aspect of my life whenever things get hard and I feel any pain whatsoever. But if I were really to quit my jobs, quit going to church, quit all my friendships and my marriage, I would ultimately end up all alone and life would be meaningless. And I don't want to be alone. I like my jobs, I like where I live, I love my friends and my husband and family are my life. So, I need to change my mentality, because I CAN do hard things.

Even though it would've been easier to not go on the painful hike to see Delicate Arch, I never would have felt such joy at finally seeing the famous landmark without the difficult hike. Elder Paul V. Johnson in General Conference last Sunday said "the only way to see the views is to make the climb". The same was true with the hike to see the famous arch: it could not be seen on any part of the hike. I couldn't tell how far away it was, and I felt like I wasn't getting any closer to it since it wasn't in sight. That made the painful hike even harder for me, but thankfully, since Josh had hiked up to it right before me, he kept reasurring me that we were getting closer. At the end of the hike, the trail traverses a rock ledge just before arriving at the arch, and after turning at the end of the rock ledge, the delicate arch is visible and is a gorgeous sight to behold.

Orson F. Whitney said "No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience, is wasted. All that we suffer, and all that we endure builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable. It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire". I know that I will never grow without experiencing the pain, and I will never change without feeling the pain. I want to be more like my husband, who I admire and appreciate so much. He's the exact opposite of me--he never gives up, he always takes challenges heads-on, and he always gives 100% to everything he participates in! I'm so grateful to have him as my never-ending partner!

Here's my new motto: I will not quit, I will choose to live, because I CAN do hard things!

Live & Love Life 365 (March)

Day 60: Coming home from work to find two of my sons (who stayed home from school because they were sick) asleep on the couch. It was a sweet moment to watch them sleeping.

Day 61: Dancing with the kindergartners!

Day 62: Watching Polynesian dancers perform at a school assembly. I absolutely loved it! And my students did, too!

Day 63: Soaking in the hot springs with my husband and friends. It was so relaxing!

Day 64: I bought myself 2 new pairs of shoes. The last time I did that was 3 years ago!

Day 65: I loved the beautiful sun shining this afternoon! We took an afternoon drive and it was so relaxing--Kanyon and I both fell asleep on it!

Day 66: Playing with the boys during Family Home Evening. One of the games we played was wii Just Dance, and I loved watching all my boys dancing!!

Day 67: Working with the 5th graders on a new project that I came up with: Creating a pretend cartoon theme song!

Day 68: Waking up next to Josh.

Day 69: Hanging out with Kimi and Kerry, and all of us laughing at Josh mimicking my laugh!!! Priceless!

Day 70: Dancing with Josh and Amanda and John. Being on the dance floor with the three of them definitely makes me happy!

Day 71: The Entrikin cousins were here all day, and my boys stayed busy playing with them, so I stayed busy getting all my weekend projects done!!

Day 72: Having family and friends over for dinner after church at our house to celebrate Malachi's missionary homecoming!!!

Day 73: Visiting with Amanda after we did a combined Family Home Evening.

Day 74: Watching Glee!

Day 75: Watching one of my music classes perform "Seussical Musical Jr." for their parents. They did a great job and I was so proud of them!

Day 76: Seeing the last 2nd grade class perform "Seussical Musical Jr.". They were absolutely spectacular!! And having a surprise visit from Josh in my classroom, after he'd been gone to Kansas for four days. It put an instant, perma-smile on my face and I was so happy to see him!! And going to dinner with a friend tonight and relaxing after having a crazy, stressful, busy week!

Day 77: Having some of my sons' friends over the house to play so I could get some projects done. And everything that was on my daily to-do list actually got accomplished!!

Day 78: Seeing Lady Gaga in concert with my awesome husband and my longtime friend.

Day 79: Riding in the golf cart while watching Josh golf the 18-hole Moab Golf Course, walking around Dead Horse Point with Josh, and Eating Buffalo for dinner.

Day 80: Driving, walking, and hiking around Arches National Park with my hot husband.

Day 81: Being inside the Manti Temple in the morning, visiting my grandma in the afternoon, and watching Bon Jovi in concert with my husband and sister at night.

Day 82: Sleeping in my own bed again.

Day 83: Watching a movie with Amanda.

Day 84: Sleeping in until 9:30.

Day 85: Not having to leave the house once today!

Day 86: Watching "The Amazing Race" together as a family.

Day 87: Listening to Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi CD's for 6 hours straight as I drove by myself to Spokane. My friend Heather made them for me, and they were the perfect companion for the long drive!

Day 88: Spending the day with my Grandpa.

Day 89: Seeing the "Top Chef" finale. I'm glad Richard Blaise won, although Mike's pepperoni sauce sounded delicious! And I'm so happy Carla won the fan's award! I've absolutely loved watching this season of Top Chef All-Stars!!

Day 90: Receiving a neck massage and a back rub from Josh.

Life is like a Highway

In the past week, I've gone on two different roadtrips, been in 4 states, and have done over 30 hours of driving. I've spent a lot of time thinking during that time, and I've come up with an analogy, called "Life is like a Highway, and We are the Cars":

We all drive different cars—some are older models and some are brand new, some are faster and some are slower, some are bigger and some are smaller. Our cars are a variety of different makes, different models, different years, different colors, with different features and options. In life, we are like the cars, and just like our cars, we come in all shapes, all sizes, all ages, and all colors, with different individual gifts and strengths. When we go on road trips, we all have a destination that we are driving to. And in order to reach that destination, we have to take different highways. When we arrive there, and see what we want to see, then we turn around and head back toward home. When we chose to come to earth, we all took a roadtrip of sorts, a journey to come to life on earth, and our destination is now to return and make it back to our home in heaven. Before going on a roadtrip, I consult a map to decide which route is best. Our map in life’s journey is the scriptures; they help us to know which pathway is best for us to reach our destination.

As we drive on the highways, the road signs let us know how fast to go, when to slow down, where the curves in the road are, and when to stop. On the highway of life, the prophet and the apostles give us warnings and cautions and counsel us to help us know what to do.

Occasionally, even after consulting maps and trying to obey signs we get lost. We took a wrong exit or took the wrong turn at an intersection. If that happens, it's best to stop and get directions to get back to where we need to be. And so it is with life--sometimes we get off the path for a little bit, and we lose our way, but if we pray to our Heavenly Father and follow the Savior, we can quickly find our way back.

Some highways are rough, some are under construction, and some are newly paved. Some of us go through rough periods, with lots of bumps and breaks and there’s no shoulder to stop and take a rest, so we have to keep going forward. Some of us go through changes in our lives, and we’re forced to go through construction because there’s no detour to go around it. And some of us experience a rebirth and we’re like new again after changes take place.

Some highways have no intersections for miles, and there are no other cars on the road but ours for many miles. Some highways have lots of intersections within a few miles of each other, and we are joined by lots of other cars alongside ours. Sometimes we feel alone during times of our lives, and sometimes we cross paths with several others and we are surrounded by friends, either for a short time or for forever.

Some highways twist and turn around mountains, and some highways go straight through valleys. Sometimes in our lives, it seems that we go around and around, and it feels as though we’re going nowhere, but when we come out of all the twists and turns, we find ourselves on top and we can see below us and realize that all those twists and turns brought us to where we are now. Sometimes in our lives, our pathway seems easy, and all we have to do is go straight forward, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to relax and enjoy.

Some highways have bridges in order to connect two high spots or to bypass an area with structures or to go around another road. We also need support in our lives, some times more so than others.

Some highways are two lanes, and some are four or six or eight. Sometimes our choices in life are few, and other times, the choices are many.

Some highways seem endless, and some highways are short. Just like our lives: some are longer than others.

Sometimes on road trips, cars break down or get overheated or need tire changes. In that case, we know that we can go no further until we get the problem fixed. Even though it may cost us, it is essential to making it to the destination. The same is true in our lives: when we experience problems, we know we need to take care of ourselves and fix the problem and repent in order to get back on the road to eternity.

Ultimately, no matter the type of highway, or the type of car that we drive, the goal is to make it to the destination. And what a feat it is after we’ve returned from a long road trip: we are grateful for the experiences, we are happy for what we were able to see, but we are most happy to be home, and to sleep in our own beds again!! Just like how happy we will be to welcomed back home by our Heavenly Father and to be in his arms once again!

Twinner Teeth

Last week, Jonah and Micah experienced a first: they both lost a tooth on the same day! It just so happened to be the exact same tooth for both of them, and the teeth fell out within minutes of each other! They were so excited!! Isn't it funny how teeth falling out causes such excitement?! Even though they're already identical twins, they looked like twinners with their matching missing teeth! They put the teeth in their tooth pillows that Grandma P. made them, and put them under their real pillows when they went to bed. When they awoke, they were happy to find that the tooth fairy rewarded both of them with a dollar! Of course, Ammon was a little disgruntled about that fact. He couldn't believe that his younger brothers received a dollar; he complained that when he was younger and lost his teeth, he only received a quarter or fifty cents. I told him that inflation caused the tooth fairy's prices to go higher!!

Bem-vindo

Josh's youngest brother Malachi has been serving a mission in Portugal for the last two years. At the end of February, Josh's parents flew to Portugal to pick up Elder Tolman and bring him home. They spent a week travelling to different parts of Malachi's mission, and met some of the people he served while on his mission. The first week of March, they all arrived back in Salmon. My boys made a very long and colorful banner and Josh and I hung it up in the entry of their house to welcome them home. The giant banner said "Bem-vindo Tio Malachi", which translated from Portuguese to English means "Welcome home Uncle Malachi". That was our gift to welcome him, and the boys were happy with the gifts that Grandma and Grandpa brought back for them, too: Portuguese t-shirts.

Malachi's missionary homecoming was two weeks ago. Josh's other siblings and their families came to Salmon to attend it as well. It was a beautiful and spiritual meeting! After church, we had the homecoming dinner at our house. To prepare for the dinner, we split up the responsibilities: my mother-in-law prepared the dinner, and Josh and I cleaned the house, and it turned out really well that way!! Around 40 people came, and I just loved being surrounded in my home with people that I loved! We had a lovely afternoon visiting with family and friends and being together! I was so grateful to live in this house which gave me the ability to host the event!

The weather was sunny and a little breezy, so after dinner most of the kids went outside to play on the trampoline and play freeze tag on the lawn (only a few remained inside to play nintendo). Because of that, the adults had a nice and quiet environment to sit inside and chat! It was really just a perfect Sunday!

Welcome home Uncle Malachi! We're glad you're back! You've really grown during these past 2 years!

"Mommy made me mad"

Our 4-year old son Kanyon is a behaviorally-challenged child. When he was 9 months old, he started banging his head whenever he was upset, and unfortunately he's never stopped the habit. His tantrums are worse on the weekends because when everyone is home from school and work, his routine is messed up. It's a noisier environment on the weekends, and Kanyon doesn't get to do whatever he wants like he gets to during the week when the other boys are in school.

3 weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, we were watching TV and Kanyon got super mad about something or other. He started screaming and crying and banging his head in the living room. I put him in time-out in his bedroom to cool down and have some quiet time alone. Usually after 10 or 20 minutes, he calms himself down and comes out. But after 45 minutes, he was still mad and was still screaming and banging his head. And while he was in his room, he broke his window.

When we asked him how it happened, his reply was "Mommy made me mad". He was so mad about being put in time-out that he not only banged his head on the floor and on the bed, but he also banged it on the window. And he did it hard enough to break it. Unbelievable.

Kanyon has developed a very strong head from years of banging it on hard surfaces. Breaking the window didn't hurt him one bit. I wish I could say the same for the window. Thankfully, the window is double-paned, so the cold air isn't coming through to his bedroom because we had to special order a new piece of glass for it and it still hasn't arrived.

It's rather disturbing to think that my 4-year-old can be so destructive with his head. I'm worried that the older he gets, and the stronger he gets, the more things will get destroyed...

MARCHing forward whether I like it or not

I don't like March.

As far as months go, I think it's ugly, boring, fickle, and I feel like it's somewhat of a liar, too.

It promises the hope of spring. It opens the door to spring, but only ever so slowly. It cracks a little, letting a bit of sunshine through, and then it swings open a little wider to let even warmer and brighter sunshine in, and I'm fooled into believing that it's open wide enough to enter into. But just when I take a step towards spring, believing that it's inviting me in, it turns bitter and cold and windy. It gets me every time.

And when the snow started melting, I was so excited for what was coming. I could imagine green grass and growing flowers and blooming trees. But when the snow finally all disappeared, all that was left was yucky brown and yellow grass, which unforunately this year is COVERED in deer droppings and mouse burrows. The lawn is super ugly, and now I don't know why I was so excited for what was beneath the snow. I think I preferred the snow-covered look to what's staring at me through my window now.
And since there's nothing besides St. Patrick's day to celebrate in March, there's nothing to look forward to. There's nothing to plan, nothing to do, nothing to really even decorate the house with. It's just super boring. For several years, we did our family goals on March 4th, because it is an action day (you know, as in "March Forth"). But this year, we did them in January instead of March. sigh.

Thankfully, this year, there was just one thing that saved the whole month of March from being black-listed in my mind. And that one special thing starts today. It's a gift to myself that I've been planning since November: today I'm going on vacation!

So here's to you, March! Even though you came in like a lion, and even though you've been uglier than I ever remember you being, and even though I don't like you, today is your chance to redeem yourself. Today I am going to go somewhere to soak up those rays of sunshine that you've been letting in, and I just hope that you'll be a good month and let me have my sunshine that I so desperately need, so that I can let you finish out what's left of your time in peace. Oh, and here's a little tip: going out like a lamb is SO in style right now!