Things I take for Granted- Post Ten

When William was a bachelor, he bought these lovely's.  Back at his "pad" it probably averaged around 1 load a week between him and his roommate.  Present day- averages 5 loads a week.

 

Yesterday I was reminded of how blessed I am to have a washer and dryer.  My dear friend served a 2 year mission in Accra, Ghana.  For 18 of those months he didn't have access to such a fine modern day convenience.   He washed by hand, with hands and a bit of soap.  Yet he always had a white shirt.  

I know that I take advantage of them.  The sheer amount of Disney/ Pixar underwear I wash each week would make my hands tired, let alone the sheets, pants, shirts and towels.  I am so glad that I have these time savers in my midst.  Would anybody else consider disposable clothes if washers and dryers were no longer around?  Or we could just live in denim. :)

Things I take for Granted- Post NIne

Eggs in our house don't tend to last long in our house.  Between 3 boys and a husband that tends to make breakfast we go through eggs (and I will admit cereal) at an alarming rate. Which is not a problem at all.  Until after 10 months of steady laying our chickens went cold turkey in September.  WAH!  Of course I had taken advantage of our 6 chickens that would lay us between 2 and 3 dozen eggs a week.  It was a reality check having white eggs in the house again (apparently I am racist?).  I was this >--< close to sending the chickens to some butchering family on craigslist when I decided I would give them a second chance.  I cleaned out the hen house, laid down fresh straw, installed the heat lamp, and upped the portion of protein lay pellets. 

Obama, Romney and Houdini

I did a little jig when I found one brown egg in the nest last Monday.  The next day followed with a brown and green egg!  In the last 7 days I have 16 eggs to show off!  Hooray for the pet chickens! 

Hopefully I will remember to appreciate my little chickens a bit more often.  They have a hard job after all.  It must be tough to clean out my garden, eat bugs out of my lawn and having to be forced to consume all of our scraps of dried toast and banana peels.  The life of a chicken. :)

Things I take for Granted- Post Eight

The lawn is swathed in leaves, the sandbox toys are haphazardly tossed at all angles away from the actual sandbox leaving 3 or 4 remaining content in their rightful place.  On the right is a gorgeous new fence that was installed this summer, before us is a work in progress, fix it up fence that still is looking 10 times better than it did in July.  Beside the house is the remnants of a garden with a bean fence laying on the ground half stalks of corn standing and decaying tomato bushes that have been picked over by our chickens.  Ah yes, the chickens are strutting around their coop hoping the next set of scraps are on their way out while in the back of their minds lays the decision of whether or not they will lay the impending egg on the front or back of the nest. 

Today, I acknowledge how much I have taken for granted our yard.  Since we moved in 2 years ago we have spent a lot of man hours improving it.  Clearing a garden space, trimming the apple tree, building raised beds, building a sand box, installing a sprinkler system (William dug over 200 ft of trenches by hand), repairing the back fence and as a treat, the neighbors handyman installed the new fence. And it has all been worth it!

I have become so accustomed to having this treasure that I seldom recognize what a blessing it is to our family. 

Things I take for Granted- Post Seven

I have taken for granted my Boys.  Yes. Some people reply, "You must have your hands full with 3 boys." Of course I do! And others reply, "How sad that you don't have any girls."  No, not so much sad.  But how much do I enjoy boys.  I will now make a list of things that I thoroughly enjoy about boys.
Balls
Bats

Blocks
Cars
Cameras
Chickens
Cuddling
Computer (poissonrouge.org is amazing)
Dirt
Dogs
Earth Worms
Fart Fascination (yes, gross, but so entertaining)
Frogs (Dallin still looks nearly every Sunday in the church parking lot where I found one last fall.)
Food (and lots of it)
Hide n' seek
Hot dogs
Hugs
Keys
Kindle
Loose change
Marshmallows
Monsters
Roadside Rest Areas (yes that would be our van off I-84)
Running
Sand
Scissors
Sledding
Snow
Stickers
Wrestling

That is the short list.  Now a quick list of what I don't have to deal with a majority of the time.
Princesses
Fairies
Pink
Barbies
Dolls
Drama
Make up

I think after being raised along side 5 sisters that Heavenly Father KNEW that BOYS are what I needed.  

Silly things Sam Says

I asked Sam to go look for Matt's sippy cup up stairs.  He laid down on the 3rd step.  I reminded him what I asked and he said with a big sigh, "Mom, I am out of energy."  Sounds like nap time to me.

Things I take for Granted- Post Six

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved to read.  She loved it so much she took advantage of it.  The end. 
In reality though, I have so many books that I have read and loved, and have forgotten that not everybody has read to many wonderful books as well.  I love how I can escape for a couple hours from Boise, Idaho and attend Hogwarts, the Battle School, Mr. Bingley's Ball, or the largest dump in Cambodia. 
The way I regretfully spend my life some weeks with out touching a single spine is why I feel I take advantage of it. So many of my books have left an impression on me.  They have helped me to understand the circumstances and minds of people in many different situations, to recognize the blessings that I have in my daily life and how to make the best out of even some of the hardest trials.

My overly crowded and messy book shelf

Books are taken for granted.  The ability to read is taken for granted.  The ability to be able to read the books that are in the world is taken for granted. 

Things I take for Granted- Post Five

When William and I were married we came home to a full-size bed.  Which with William's height means sleeping corner to corner.  There wasn't much room for me. :)  Shortly after my sister donated a queen bed she had access to.  What a blessing!  We obviously were not going to be picky as we were poorish newlyweds.  I was so excited after setting it up, I jumped on it and hit my head.  This was EXTRA-Firm.
Fast forward through moving 2 times and 5 years of college.  William and I bought a pillow top King Size bed.  HOLY COW!  Was this heaven or what!  It has been a little over 2 years since we bought this beauty.  And I have taken it for granted.  As Thanksgiving nears with the possiblity of guests staying down in the guest room I went down to change sheets on our old bed and decided to lay down while the boys were behaving in the toy room next door.  MY GOODNESS!  How on earth did we sleep on it!? 
So, I feel very blessed for my huge comfy bed that fits me, William and all 3 boys cuddled around us without to much maneuvering.
Do you take advantage of your bed? 

Things I take for Granted- Post 4

Today, I realized that I have taken advantage of having a dog.  Yep.  Our dog Koa, is taken advantage of almost everyday. 

This 100 lb Chocolate Lab is climbed on, pounded by tiny fits (petting) and is called upon at all hours of the day to clean up the floor in the kitchen and the dining room.  We force him to pick up all the macaroni noodles, the scattered cheerios and even the remnants of steak when dinner is over.  A "Suffrage for Dogs" movement needs to be started in this house.
I have knowledge of some families (even larger than ours) where they don't have a dog.  Those Mom's and Dad's get the time of their life cleaning up Jell-o and sliced hotdogs all by themselves. 
In reality, Koa is such a fixture in our home as a family member that even though I wasn't a fan of a dog the same height as my 3 year old running through the house when we brought him home, now I can't imagine not having him here to protect Sam and Dallin from the horrible Monster Mama, greet them as they get off the bus, or clean up the popcorn as we watch a family movie.

Things I take for Granted- Post Three

In our part of the world, October and Early November is hunting season.  For the months before I take for granted the fact that my husband shaves nearly every Sunday before church.  That combined with me not having a haircut day for about 3 months turned my husband into this:

                                                          Boom!  Caveman or Hobo!
In celebration of the end of hunting season as the sun set on November 9th we did a little work on this mess.  And then with a little shave (okay 30 minutes in front of the mirror and a clogged sink) I received this as a present on Sunday:

                                                                    Mr. Debonair
Too bad we didn't think of beforehand to go do some mysterious deed.  Grateful for the return of my engineer husband. :)

Things I Take for Granted- Post Two

My boys have a steady bedtime.  Every school night between 8 and 8:30 they are in bed.  For the weekends it is between 8:30 and 9.  They also always wake up at the same general time every morning.  This is a great blessing I realized I take advantage of after having some additional young children staying over the last 2 nights.  Like now.  9 pm and the only one in bed is my little Matt.  Off to go encourage the other 2 biological ones to sleep and flat out beg two not so biological ones to do the same.

Things I take for granted. Post One

I love how I can hand Sam a cookie.  And while he takes a bite I hand him a second one and say "Give this to Dallin."  As soon as the cookie touches his palm he runs to the room Dallin is in shouting "Dallin, here!"  The same is with Dallin.  I handed him 2 bowls of popcorn to bring upstairs while the boys watched a movie. "One is for you and one is for Sam."  So I have heard, it is not the same matter in other houses.  I love my boys!