MaeLyn's Musings

Monday after Spring Break is a little bit hard when it comes to getting back into normal routines and getting up in the morning, especially when we're used to sleeping in a little later. This morning, I dragged Peter out of bed and sent him to the bathroom to get ready for school. I expected to have to knock on the door a few times to remind him that the clock is ticking as he has a tendency to get distracted. But surprisingly, he got dressed fairly quickly. When he was dressed he came out and said, "Mom, I have a haiku!" "What is it?" I asked. " General Conference  is right around the corner.  I can't wait to watch!" A little while later he told me, "and there's the other haiku, too." "Which one was that?" I asked. "The one about the first presidency!" "Oh?" "Thomas S. Monson Henry B Eyring and there's Dieter F. Uchtdorf." We had packed lunches and were just about read...

Time management can be an interesting thing. Each day has twenty four hours. I like to spend at least 7-8 of those hours sleeping. That leaves 16-17 hours of time each day to do stuff. Kind of. 15 minutes of each day is spent in family scripture reading and family prayer. About half an hour each day is spent in personal prayer and scripture study. About an hour and a half each week day is spent exercising. (This includes the time spent walking my kids to and from school.) About half an hour a day with personal showering/ dressing/ grooming activities. I spend about two and a half hours each day either preparing or eating or cleaning up from meals and at least 15 minutes a day just straightening up and picking up clutter. All that is only about 5 1/2 hours. That leaves 10 1/2 hours or so each day to do whatever, right? Well, then there is the house cleaning - the vacuuming, mopping, dusting, organizing. I probably spend two or three hours a week doing housework. (I could spend more,...

There is laundry to be washed,      clutter on the floor,           and trash to be taken out. There are Easter dresses in progress,       the fabric all cut out,           just waiting to be sewn. But there is snow on the ground outside,      and all I feel like doing           is curling up on the couch               with a good book.

If alarm clocks go off at 5:00am, I pretend I don't hear them. They aren't for me. Steven, showered and dressed, wakes me at 5:30am and I roll out of bed and grab my fluffy robe as I stumble out to the living room for family scripture reading. We read for ten or fifteen minutes before Steven and Hannah grab their jackets and head out the door for seminary, and work, and school. The boys and I roll back into bed and are quickly asleep. Around 6:30, a cat jumps on the bed and I glance at the clock and then close my eyes again and pretend that I don't have to get up yet. Ten minutes later, I'm standing in the shower letting the hot water massage my back as I rub the night's crust from my eyes and try to wake up completely. By 7am, I am out of the shower, dressed and on my way to wake the boys. John jumps up and retreats to his closet to get dressed almost instantly. Josh and Peter groan and stir and pull the blankets over their heads. I make sure Peter knows where hi...

Some Haiku to describe my day yesterday: Dark shadows chase me. I run, hide, full of terror then wake exhausted.      A brief flash of white,      A plummeting shooting star.      It begins to snow.           Sequins on my sleeve:           Glimmering, shining crystals           Of fresh fallen snow. Surrounded by friends studying ancient scripture: Institute heaven.      Dishes and laundry,      Blog, clutter, index and clean.      Then Doctor Who time. Kids arrive from school. The homework battle begins. How long till summer?      Pale white and rounded      islands rising from the sea:      toes in the bathtub.      ...

Six days into the new year and we are almost back to normal life again. I enjoyed our Christmas Day. It was quietly spent at home. We woke up and opened gifts, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, played with new gifts and enjoyed a delicious dinner at home. We appreciate the gifts that we received from distant family members, including a tiny wooden bird perch, which was crafted by Steven's Grandpa Donald, who passed away in November, but left Christmas gifts packaged and ready to mail. Steven's mom gave us a new DVD/Blue Ray player for Christmas (the old DVD player we had was possessed and would turn itself off randomly in the middle of movies), but we weren't able to hook it up because our TV set was too old to have the right connections. So, the Saturday after Christmas we did some research and took advantage of the gift card from Steven's Dad, and some other resources we received, to order a brand new flat screen TV.   On New Years' Eve we stayed ho...

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? What is our purpose? What is it that makes living this life worthwhile? There are lots of similar questions, and there are lots of answers. Look up " Meaning of Life " in Wikipedia, and you can read many of these answers: The meaning of Life is... Plato : ..."attaining the highest form of knowledge" Aristotle :... doing the "highest good", or "good for its own sake", or that which brings us happiness Cynicism : ... "living a life of Virtue that agrees with Nature. Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude." Epicureanism : "in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living" Stoicism : ..."freedom from suffering" through being objective and having "clear judgement" Utilitarianism : "whatever brings the greatest happiness to t...

I woke up with a headache this morning, and I don't really feel well, but I'm trying to keep in the habit of writing every week day, so this is what you get. Steven is still enjoying his job. After that one week of working late almost every day, he hasn't worked late much since then. Now when he's late getting home, it is usually because of traffic, accidents and the like since he has to commute clear across town. One day, shortly after Halloween I asked Google what " Dr Who " is. I'd heard my friend Tabitha mention it, and a girl in our ward showed up at the Trunk-or-Treat as a weeping angel, and I heard that it was a Dr Who thing, and I wondered just what Dr Who was. Anyway, I discovered this British science fiction TV program involving aliens and time travel and big explosions and suspense and I've decided that I really like it. I watched the weeping angel episode, " Blink " first, but since then I've begun watching from season one...

I spent a little while this morning looking for a couple missing library books. It seems ironic to me, that when my house is messy, I don't worry too much about things going missing. I just figure they'll show up eventually. It is when my house is fairly clean and I'm still missing things that I begin to worry, because that means that the missing things have found better hiding places. Last time I completely lost a library book (and had to pay for it) I found it six months later under the dryer. Luckily, I found the two missing books this morning. Meanwhile   (a book of 3,856 story possibilities) was under a couch in the living room, and Something Under the Bed is Drooling (A Calvin and Hobbes Comic Book) was, ironically, under Hannah's bed.

School has been in session for over a week now, and we are settling into the routines for the school year. Here is an update on each of us:  Peter just started third grade. He loves playing with LEGOs, and this morning, he showed me a town he had drawn, with all the LEGO characters inhabiting it. Peter's LEGO world Peter has had difficulty adjusting to an earlier wake-up time, and has frequently needed to take naps in the afternoons after school. He is enjoying being a cub scout, and he was awarded his Bobcat patch at our pack meeting on Tuesday. He found a leaf bug in his room yesterday, and caught it and put it in a jar. The leaf bug Joshua began 5th grade. He loves the erector set he received for his birthday, and spends a lot of time playing with it. He is also into Ninjas these days. This has meant practice fighting, as well as using his erector set pieces to build Ninja tools. Josh being a ninja this morning John is in 7th grade. His classes include ...

On Saturday, Josh attended a birthday party for a boy in his primary class. I feel kind of guilty, because Hannah is the only one of my children who has ever had a birthday party with friends. I really don't like planning parties. Also on Saturday, Hannah and John got to attend "Youth for Excellence" (formerly Best of Especially for Youth) where they got to listen to speakers and eat pizza for dinner. They both seem to have had fun. The speakers were Brandon C Goss and Lili Dehoyos Anderson. Yesterday, John was called and set apart as 1st counselor in the Deacons Quorum presidency. I taught Relief Society again yesterday. I'll post some of my notes on it soon. Last night we attended a seminary kickoff fireside. It is amazing to me that I have a child old enough to be in high school and attend seminary! Her teacher seems like an interesting person. It is kind of cool that we have lived in this stake long enough to have gotten to know a lot of the people in the ...

Saturday was a busy day for us. We got up and dressed, then set out for the church to help with an Eagle project for a young man in our ward. For his project, he had collected pieces of fleece for blankets, so on Saturday, we got to cut strips on the sides and then knot them to make blankets for the Children's Hospital. The patients at the hospital would receive the blankets and even be able to bring them home with them. By the time we finished, there were about 68 blankets finished. Peter was bored a lot, but even he helped to tie knots around the edges of the blankets. When we left the church, we went to the home of friends in the ward who were having a garage sale. It wasn't for sale, but they had a tandem bike that they were kind enough to let us ride around. That was fun. After playing with their bike and their drum set, we eventually bought a stuffed cow, a hiking pack thing, and a fancy tricycle (a green machine). From there, we ...

I read a blog this morning which was written by someone I don't know. She is a mother of three children, all under the age of four. She was wondering what her contribution was, or as I interpreted it, where was her source for a sense of accomplishment? She explained, when you go to school, you get your grades that tell you how you are doing. When you go to work, you get a pay check, which shows how you are doing. When you are volunteer for various causes, you can say, "Hi, I'm fill in name here, and I do _______________." With her young children, she was a stay-at-home mom (SAHM), she was finding less time to volunteer, and she was wondering what her contribution to society was. She claimed that she was an incompetent housekeeper, that she doesn't cook great meals for her children - her children wouldn't eat them if she did. She couldn't even say she was helping to raise a great next generation; she felt like raising her children was a gamble, and she...

This month has seemed really crazy busy. I've blogged about most of the big events, but here is the entire month at a glance: Josh and Peter went to cub scout day camp for three days. It was supposed to be four, but one day was cold and slightly sprinkling, and they cancelled it. I went on one day to help. Hannah got her hair cut . John attended the swimming portion of his 11 year old scout camp, while I attended a parent meeting for it. Steven and I scrambled to get the name tags for the Trek ready in time. Even the kids helped to type some of the pioneer stories. Steven had his last day at his contract job with GHX.  Steven and Hannah went on a Pioneer Trek for four days. While Steven was at Trek, our 15th anniversary came and went quietly. Josh and Peter got to help our scouts put up flags on Flag Day . We pulled out the LEGOs from hiding to play with.  (They went back into hiding yesterday.) We celebrated Fathers Day.  Steven continued his job search. ...

Today is Monday. The last day of school for Hannah is Thursday. The boys' last day is Friday. This is my last week of seven hours of peace and quiet five days a week. The evenings this week are going to be a bit busy. Tonight, Hannah has a final orchestra concert. That will be our Family Home Evening. Tomorrow is our stake temple night. Wednesday we have scouts. Thursday I have a visiting teaching appointment. Friday evening is open at the moment (Steven and I may go to the temple that night if we don't tomorrow night.) Saturday we have missionaries coming over for dinner. The big question is, what will I do with my days this week? My institute class wrapped up last week, so I don't have that to go to. Considering this is my last chance to have time to myself to work on projects without kids around for three months, I have surprisingly little planned. Today, I've cleaned house, washed laundry and baked bread. I have no idea what I will do tomorrow, or the next day. ...

Today the temperatures are in the mid 70s and the sky is blue and gorgeous. The tulips that I separated and transplanted last autumn are finally blooming. I'm looking forward to summer! Saturday night we had our ward pinewood derby. Steven was the only one who made a car this year. We didn't bring the camera to the derby this year, so I don't have pictures of it actually racing, and he wasn't quite finished with it - he still wants to paint it. I'll post pictures of the car when he does complete it.  He received an award for best design. Steven is still working his contract job at GHX, and while he is willing to stay there until the lady comes back from maternity leave (probably mid-June), he really doesn't want to work there permanently, so he is still searching for a permanent job that will be a good fit. At the moment, he is thinking that he would like to go back to Richmond Homes, where he was working in January. Nothing much changes for me. I stil...

Steven has been working at a contract job for Richmond Homes, helping with their year end audit and various reports. It was supposed to be just for the month of January, but he has been given a few extra things to work on, so the job has lasted an extra week and he didn't finish what he was working on Friday, so he returned to work today. Last Wednesday he interviewed for another contract job with a company called GHX (... It stands for Global Health Exchange or something like that...). They called him back that same afternoon to offer him the job. This one starts next Monday (the 19th), and is supposed to last three or four months while someone is on maternity leave. While we would prefer a permanent job with benefits, the contract jobs are a great help. Steven interviewed for a permanent job with Ball Corporation last month, and he thought the interview went really well, but he hasn't heard back from them since. Since we only have the one car and Steven takes it to work, I...

I was putting Peter to bed a few days ago, and he was sad because he wanted his monkey to sleep with. "You have a pillow monkey", I told him... But he didn't want that one. "How about this one, from Christmas last year?" But he didn't want that one either.   "The one I want is smaller," he told me helpfully.     "Well, how about this one? Or this one?   Or this one? Or this?" "No, no, no, the one I want is brown!" "Like this one? Or this one?" "No! None of those are the one I want!" "That's all the monkeys I can find!                    Does it have to be a monkey?                                    Could you sleep with Elmo? Or his good frie...

Besides Thanksgiving and Daniel's wedding, life continues for the Hiatt family.  Earlier this month, Hannah was part of an orchestra concert, with about seven other schools. Her favorite song to perform was called "Sahara Crossing" and sounded kind of like the "Arabian Nights" song from Aladdin. Peter is really into arts & crafts lately. In honor of Thanksgiving, Peter created a turkey, almost life sized: Josh has been having fun climbing the walls. I mentioned a few weeks ago that we hadn't unpacked the boxes of books yet. The children decided they made great toys and set up a store/library with them. (Most of them have since been either unpacked or covered with Christmas decorations.) In case anyone was wondering, Steven is still job hunting. Hopefully he will find something by the end of the year. :)