Burned Biscuits

I tried a Pinterest recipe last week. It was a total fail. Oh well. That happens. (For your own safety, if you come across the "mashed bananas + oatmeal + chocolate chips" recipe, DON'T TRY IT. DISGUSTING.)

Also, after seeing a friend's gorgeous, newly DIY'd kitchen cabinets, I got it in my head that I wanted to stain my bathroom cabinets (actually, I got it in my head that I wanted to stain my kitchen cabinets but I decided to try it first on my smaller bathroom cabinets) and that too, ended up as a TOTAL FAIL. That happens, especially if you use the wrong kind of stain and you have no painting/staining skills whatsoever.  It did have a happy ending, however, because I ended up painting over the uglier-than-ugly stain and now I like my new black bathroom cabinets. I think. (Note to self: Talk to friend with  gorgeous cabinets BEFORE I attempt copycat project.)

Then I saw this story on facebook:

Burned Biscuits - A lesson we all should learn . .

"When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!
All my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing...never made a face nor uttered a word about it!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said, "Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Mom put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides . . a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!"

As I've grown older, I've thought about that many times. Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people.
I'm not the best at much of anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today...that you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child, or even a friendship!

-------------------

This story just reminded me that it's okay to be imperfect. It's easy for me to focus on all the things that I'm NOT, all the things that I DON'T get around to doing, all of my burned biscuits. And I burn a lot of them. But maybe it's okay. I need to let it just be okay.

--------------------------

It's official, I definitely let my children have too much screen time.

Santa beard in the bath, always a favorite.

 An English assignment my super-talented 8th grader did.

 A perfectly imperfect picture of two perfectly awesome brothers.

Some Valentines, some odds and ends, and a cat

I love Valentine's Day, and in the same breath, Valentine's Day makes me crazy ( a self-imposed crazy, though, in all honesty).Still, Garrett and I had fun making his monster valentine container this year. I thought it was the coolest thing ever until I was at his class party and saw the Lego Ninjago container that could have been on display in the Valentine Container Museum (if there were such a thing) because it was so cool. Still, we liked our monster, even if he did end up missing a few teeth after eating so many valentines.

There are two main reasons why I make myself crazy on Valentine's Day:

1. The children and I always MAKE our own valentines instead of just buying packaged ones at the store. In my (somewhat delusional) mind, it's going to be this fun, wonderful bonding activity  but what it actually turns out to be is added stress and cost when I should have just learned to be happy with a box of Powerangers for $3.98. Although I do have to admit that Garrett's Star Wars valentines were pretty awesome this year.  I liked Cassidy's as well:

2. The second reason I make myself crazy on Valentine's is that I feel like I have to think of this most wonderful, meaningful gift for Rich (and him for me) that sums up our loving, eternal relationship and will be meaningful and romantic and perfect. Really? How do you sum up a relationship in a gift? How do you express your extreme gratitude and love for a person who has seen you through thick and thin and still continues to love and support you even though your mind is delusional, your expectations about life completely unrealistic, and although well-meaning, you're just a little bit weird? 

That being said, on Valentine morning I found a pink gift bag filled with treats I love and a simple card that said all the right words and eased my self-doubt and made me feel beautiful and loved and it was the perfect gift. I, in turn, gave Rich a solar-powered cell phone charger. It screams romance, does it not? He loved it.

This is a valentine tradition at our house (and by tradition I mean I found it on Pinterest last year and managed to do it this year as well so that makes it a tradition). I have a pill box for each of the kids and Rich and for each day of the week leading up to Val Day I put a small treat inside with a slip of paper saying what I love about them. I hope the papers actually get read.

Garrett made this ceramic frame in art at school. My favorite part is the self portrait. I love art projects. I remember when I was in art in 6th grade and I sculpted this small statue of a women and it was the most horrific thing ever sculpted in the history of sculpting and I was so embarrassed by how horrible it looked. My mom kept it on a shelf for years, even when I begged her to throw it away. She loved it and thought it was wonderful. At least Garrett's truly is wonderful. I wonder which shelf I will keep it on for years?

The next topic I want to cover is parenting. Ahh, parenting!! The most challenging and wonderful and challenging thing I've ever done and ever will do. And it's challenging. I think about it all the time, how to improve and well, mostly how to improve. I watch others and try to copy those in my circle whom I admire so much. I read articles and books and search the internet. I pray and study. And still, dear children, you baffle me, even as I love you so much it hurts. If I could write a letter to my children and have them really understand me, this is what I would say:

Dear Children---I love you. Stop fighting against me so much. Stop fighting against each other. I want so much to teach you to be kind and honest, to love others and yourself, to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and a million other things that will help you to be successful and happy. Please listen to me. I've got your back. I'm on your side. This is not my first rodeo. Just trust me. Screen time is great and all, but there are other things that can be more fulfilling. I know your friends are smart and all, but what they think really doesn't matter as much as you think it does.  Your siblings could be your best ally if you would just show them a little tiny kindness every once in a while. Even though we are not rich or cool or important or live in a big house, our family is cool in its own way, and I wish you could see and feel that.As your parents we would do anything and everything  to help you in any way you needed, no matter what you do or where you go in life.

Help around the house when asked. Be kind to your siblings. Give your mom a hug and say thank you. See your Dad as the hard working, great guy he is, and know that both  your Dad and I are also learning and growing and trying and are bound to make mistakes. Center your life around the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everything else will fall into place. Oh, and keep your room clean, and it wouldn't hurt to brush your teeth a little better, either.

Love, Mom

Do you have a Sam? Everyone needs a Sam, but I'm not sharing. I love him too much.

And for the final picture in this crazy rambling blog post, our cat, Tyler. I put the kitchen chairs on top of the kitchen table to mop the kitchen floor, and he made himself quite at home.

Weekend

What did your weekend include? 

Ours included 

the Wasatch Winter Feis, where Cassidy competed in 5 dances and placed in 3 of them, includeing FIRST PLACE in her hardshoe treble jig. It was so exciting to have her do so well, and she was simply amazing. Love that girl. ( I took video but she forbade me to post it so you just saved 47 seconds out of your day. Do something good with that extra time.)

Also, if any of you are feeling extra charitable, Cassidy is selling tubs of cookie dough ($10) as a fundraiser to earn money for Irish dance. The cookies are probably not as good as girl scout cookies but still, we'd so appreciate any and all support! The flavors are chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, sugar, and white chocolate macadamia nut.

Because Rich was in Arizona and B and G had basketball games in Lehi and C had her dance competition in Kearns, Sam got to accompany me to the event. He was awesome, iPad-ing the day away.

The weekend also included some Chik-Fil-A and U-Swirl (evidently we can't eat at home when Dad is gone) and a really long Sunday but we were all happy to see Rich when he finally came home, me most of all.