Nance

Disclaimer: I thought I had posted this awhile ago but I guess it didnt take so Im going to try it again.

Ok so today was a very interesting day for me. At work today there was a kid that just refused to do work so I gave him a pep talk. I told him that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do and I explained that even as an adult I do things everyday that I don't want to do but have to. I used the example of my job I told him that I would much rather stay home and work on my projects, spend time with my family, do more things out doors anything but go and work all day. Then I went on to say even though we don't want to do things sometimes we just have to do them. The benefit of me going to work everyday is being able to pitch in with money and to satisfy my Hobby Lobby addiction. I told him he would benefit from doing his work because he would get good grades and finish school. I started to think of all the things I have done in my life not because I really wanted to but out of necessity. As I was driving home I thought about it until I got to this Carniceria that I was going to so I could pick up something to make for dinner. I walked in and that's when I saw a this.....



For those of you that don't know what that is its something called Nance. When I was on mission people would make juice and soup out of it and give it to us with meals and sometimes when we would come over to teach. This is the most disgusting thing I have ever had in my life it has a distinct smell so even just the smell would make anyone sick. Now when thinking about things I have done in my life that I really didn't want to do Nance is huge on that list. I probably drank and ate 15 or so gallons of Nance juice and soup that I drank/ate so as not to offend investigators and members in Panama. I decided to have Daniel try it since he never has. I was going to put the video on here but I just cant do that to him Sorry.

Anyways there is a point to this I promise. Does anyone else think that we do to many things cause we have to not because we want to. I bet if we counted all the things we do the majority would be things we do out of necessity not things we love. I would like to challenge everyone to count those things. If your like me I counted and 90% of the things I do are things I don't want to. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing those things because those things are important to but if I can get those more even then I will be happy.

Furniture remake

I got this desk and chair for $20 at the D.A.V.



I reupholstered the chair with fabric I got on clearance at hobby lobby and bought a can of off white spray paint and a small jar of black paint to get the old antique look. Total for these supplies $15.

I then bought some turquoise paint for $10. I sanded down the desk and stained it but then found that it was an unnecessary step seeing as I ended up using the black paint to distress it anyway. After a couple of coats of paint I used a wire brush to scrape the surface then used black paint to get the distressed look. I bought new knobs at Hobby Lobby which ended up costing more than I liked they were $20.

I also had bought a mirror at the D.A.V. awhile back for $10 and I used the same paint as the chair and the same technique to distress it.


The Finished product! It was $30 for all 3 pieces. It cost $25 for supplies plus $20 for the knobs. So in total it was $75 for all 3. I saw something similar to this on pinterest and they wanted $250 for the desk alone I saved so much doing it by myself and it was so much fun and gratifying knowing that its my work.

Resolutions

The beginning of the year is always the time where everyone comes up with resolutions that they want to accomplish. I thought long and hard about what my resolutions would be this year. I thought of the usual you know loose weight get healthy etc. The bad thing about this is usually I say "yeah I will do that" but then I forget until around November and just decide to not try since its the holidays and its so hard to loose weight around that time. This is what is different about this year....... I am blogging this so i can be accountable to not only myself but everybody reading this.

I have always thought of having a blog that would have a little bit of this and a little bit of that so now my recurring theme for this year will be completing my resolutions. My most important resolution this year is my constant battle with my weight. I will not post my starting weight because frankly that's embarrassing but I will say its too much, according to any ideal weight chart I am obese and that's all you need to know.

The rest of my resolution list is as followed.......

*Become a better LDS church member (read my scriptures more, pray more, fulfill all my callings.)

*Be in a community theater play (Something I always wanted to do. Finally I will get to put my 4 years of High School drama to use.)

*Embrace Dave Ramsey's money saving tips and work on getting an emergency fund. Also pay off all my medical debt.

* Develop my talents to the point where they will benefit my family and others.

So I guess all that's left to do is accomplish my resolutions and not make 2012 a typical resolution year.
Here is a before picture I will post my progress periodically.




Wish me luck!

Re-finished side tables

Here are my pinterest inspired tables I got at a thrift store and fixed them up to make them look awesome.....

Took me a couple of hours and most of that was waiting for the paint to dry.

Pajama Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to remember all the things you are grateful for. Its also a great time to spend with family and friends. This year my parents went to visit my sister in Oregon since they haven't been in a couple of years, and my in-laws went to spend the holiday in Tuscon visiting the Uncles. Seeing as our parents were not in town and Daniel couldn't get off of work we had the opportunity to do our first Thanksgiving as a couple without the rest of the family. Some people might think "Wow that's sad to be alone on Thanksgiving" but I saw it as a great thing because we had the chance to create our own traditions. What we came up with was Pajama Thanksgiving. Instead of getting all dressed up for the BIG dinner we dressed down and wore our Pajamas. We made a huge dinner with the most moist turkey we have ever had. The best thing about wearing our P.J's was that after dinner when we had that horrible stuffed feeling you know the one where you tell yourself "I really shouldn't have eaten that 3rd, 4th, or 5th serving" our elastic bands on the pajamas were able to stretch as our stomachs did that meant we didn't have to unbutton our pants. (Hey you all know you have done that once or twice) After dinner and we planned on going out to do some Black Friday shopping but as usual I couldn't find my car keys so we tore the house apart looking for them. We finally gave up on the shopping idea and just kept looking for the keys because I had to work in the morning. I checked under the couch cushions a couple of times but thought "let me look again". That's when I experienced my Thanksgiving miracle. I reached my hand in the couch and pulled out my wedding ring. Weird place for a ring I know but it has been missing for at least 6 months. When we moved out of our old place we looked everywhere and just thought it was lost forever.   I had an epiphany this week with something that happened to me. I really believe the church authorities when they say "choose friends that inspire and uplift not friends that bring you down". This past week has past by very quickly for me as I'm sure it has for a couple of you. I have felt happiness, frustration and everything in between but what really puts things in perspective is a letter I got from my brother Michael who is on his mission. He was replying to a letter I sent to him about my medical problems. He wrote "Your letter reminded me of the story when Alma and Amulek were preaching in Ammoniah and when they finally have success the wicked people in the city burn all the people who believe in their words. Amulek is worried and he says how can we let this happen. Alma then explains that the lord suffers that the righteous fall so that their blood stands as a testimony against the wicked. Then comes the important part that your letter reminded me of. Amulek says maybe they will burn us as well, with faith Alma responds let all be done according to the will of the lord never the less we have not completed our work so they will not burn us. It takes a lot a faith to know that whatever we go through the lord has a purpose, faith that you have been blessed with" Sometimes I don't think I have that faith but if my brother can see it even though he isn't here then I must. Wouldn't it be great if we could see our future to see exactly what the purpose of everything is. If anyone knows exactly how we can see into the future let me know (anyone have plans to build a time machine?) until then I will just put my faith in the lord and know everything that happens is for the best.

The many backburners in our lives.

Pinterest.com is probably the most addicting site ever! For those of you that don't know what this site is about its a place where people post things like recipes, home decor, clothing and accessories etc. so that other people, like me can make them. The only problem with this is if your like me you don't have much time to do all the wonderful things people put on this site so that means that you spend so much time liking things, and pinning things on there that you don't have any more time to actually make something.

Today I said "no more, quit wishing and start doing." I started small with a recipe I have been wanting to try. So I made Crispy Chicken with Creamy Italian Sauce and Bow tie Pasta.



It was so amazing all I can say is WOW. My chicken didn't look as pretty as this one that was posted on Pinterest but it was very good. The best part about it though was the satisfaction of actually completing something. Since being on Pinterest I have done some small projects but I also have 4 projects still waiting to be completed. My goal this week is to finish everything I start. The feeling I had after doing this small task tonight made me remember how important it is to finish things I start. I think many people in this world have so much on their plate that we feel we don't have time for those little insignificant things or we think we might and start something and then realize we were wrong and just put them on the back burner.

While on my mission I served on this island called Carti Tupile. On this island we were teaching people on our island as well as a neighboring island. We didn't really go to the other island much because it involved finding someone to take us in their canoe which was hard to do. One Sunday we were asked to go pick up some investigators from our neighboring island but no one was willing to take us. Rather then give up we decided to borrow someones canoe, if no one would take us we would go ourselves. It seemed like a good idea at the time but let me tell you, two sister missionaries that don't even know how to row a canoe in the middle of the ocean is very scary.We could have easily turned back but we were determined to get there and even though it took us forever and we ended up missing half of church we got there and back safely. I sometimes think what would have happened if we would have put this task on the back burner because we had so many other things we needed to do.

I think about this experience and then I think about what we typically do in our regular lives. Now what gets really sad is when we are so busy with everything in our life that we sometimes tend to put important things like family, friends, and even our faith on that very same back burner because there are so many other things going on. Before we know it we are way far from where we are supposed to be because of all our busy distractions. This has happened to me before, actually it happened to me recently. It took amazing speakers at the Phoenix, Time Out For Women Conference that made me realize what I was doing wrong and helped me start to fix it. My pledge to everyone is to become a better family member, friend, and wife and not let life distract me from whats important anymore. I'm going to finish what I've started and not put anything on the back burner. Who's with me?

The Results

It has been over a year since I have posted anything on here but I have made plans to keep it up and continue to post. The big thing that has happened in my life that has really consumed me the past year is my health. I have 2 things going on 1st is Endometriosis, and 2nd is Poly cystic ovarian syndrome. Let me educate you a little on these things.

Endometriosis- This is a painful chronic disease that occurs when the lining called the edometrium usually found inside the uterus is found on the outside. Now this is going to get really technical but stay with me. When a women has a period this lining is shed but when you have endo. this lining is outside the uterus and starts to shed inside the body. Once this happens the body senses something strange so rather than let the tissue go inside the body it builds scar tissue over it to prevent it from going every where else. OK so interesting right but how is this causing me problems Well here are its affects.

1. Extreme Pain during that time of the month.
2. Infertility
3. Extreme Pain pretty much all the time.
4. Fatigue

So you think that would be bad enough but I have been diagnose with stage 4 endo. and that's as bad as it gets. Also don't forget about the poly cystic ovarian syndrome (referred to after this as PCOS)

PCOS- This is a syndrome where a woman's hormones get out of balance. It causes problems with a woman's period and also makes it difficult to get pregnant. Here are some other affects.

1. Irregular periods
2. Weight gain
3. Insulin levels get out of wack
4. Many other small things that have to do with your appearance.

So why am I talking about this? Well part of it is to educate people, and part of it is to let people know what has been going on in my life. Yesterday I went to a follow up appointment at the fertility doctor and found out I will probably only be able to get pregnant with artificial insemination (also know as invitro) which my insurance doesn't cover because its elective and its really expensive.

Feeling sorry about myself we came home from my appointment kind of defeated because we know we cant afford it and that means we wont be able to have kids. So now I have to put my trust in the Lord. I thought to myself that yes, this is horrible and yes, I am still going to be in extreme pain for a long while but it will be ok. Although my trials are hard for me to bear and are different than any other persons that doesn't mean they are worse. People go through hard things everyday, things that are hard for them specifically. Some people might think that what I'm going through isn't hard at all because they are going through their own stuff. Then it got me thinking that what the Savior went through was something that I cant even comprehend and it made me realize that what I'm going through is nothing compared to that. Then I thought about my mission and a scripture I used frequently which is D&C 24:8 "Be patient in afflictions for thou shalt have many but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee even unto the end of they days" I have gone through a ton of things in my life and I will continue to go through things, and even though I wouldn't wish these problems on anybody who better to give these problems to then me. It is really hard to put all my trust in the Lord and know that he will take care of it but I really know he will and even if I cant have children I can always adopt. On a lighter note at least Heavenly Father loved me enough to have me born in this time because I have the blessing of doctors and technology. Just think if I would have been born in medieval times I probably would have been beheaded for being barren.