Archive for category Jinny
6 Quirks
I’ve been tagged by Katie, who I am really excited is blogging, so I’m being a good sport and participating…
Here are the rules: “MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS”
- Link to the person who tagged you
- Mention the rules on your blog
- Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
- Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them
- Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.
My 6 Unspectacular Quirks
- I am a germ-a-phobe. As a mom, my biggest struggle is staying calm with anything germy and grossy that goes wrong.
- I don’t like lots of noise. I’m going to need one of those background noise filtering hearing aids when I grow up (though I’d enjoy one right now).
- I almost always skip to the end of a book about half way through, because I can’t wait to see how it ends. Then I’ll go back and read the rest of the book.
- I almost always finish a book within a few days for the same reason as above.
- Although my dad said when I grew up and had to pay for the hot water I would take short showers, I still take long ones whenever I have the time.
- I love to be right. Always.
Now I’m going to break the rules and tag anyone who wants to play. It’s fun to get to know my friends better, so if you have the time and inclination, I’d love to read about your quirks.
Tagged: 8 Things
I’ve been tagged. So in the spirit of good sportsmanship, here are some very boring things about me…
8 TV shows that I love to watch
1. The Office
2. House
3. 30 Rock
4. Life
5. SNL
6. Designed to Sale
7. Divine Design
8. CNN
8 favorite restaurants
1. Red Robin
2. Costa Vida
3. Chipotle
4. Applebees
5. Tempanyaki
6. Matsu
7. Hoola’s
8. Casa Lupe Deli
8 things that happened yesterday
1. We missed music class
2. We had our own music class at home
3. Omar and I watched and couldn’t finish watching the debate where they say nothing over and over
4. We had a dance party in the living room before family prayer
5. We went to McDonald’s for dinner and discovered Monopoly is back! (Now it officially feels like Fall)
6. I went grocery shopping by myself after the kids were in bed 
7. Isaiah went to bed without nursing for the second night in a row
8. Helaman made a really cool parking garage that turned into a really cool tractor car wash with his duplos
8 things I’m looking forward to
1. Omar having Monday off while Helaman is at preschool and Isaiah is napping. Alone?
2. Going to stake temple day in a couple of weeks
3. Getting my piano cord in the mail (thanks Chris!)
4. Getting all caught up with my pictures
5. Riding bikes to the park tonight
6. Making Helaman’s pumpkin costume
7. Designing a flier for choir practice on Sunday.
8. Voting
8 things on my wish list
1. Air condioting in the van
2. The majic bullet
3. Shelves for the toy room
4. Wheat grinder
5. A cadre of skilled doctors moving to Ridgecrest
6. A house on the beach (while I’m wishing….)
7. A haircut
8. Safe kids
8 people I tag
1. Amanda
2. Emily
3. Greta (write something on your dang blog!)
4. Trina
5. Michelle
6. Donna
7. Debbie
8. Melanie
Slacker and the game of tag
I’ve really been slacking on picture taking, blogging, and all general forms of memory keeping. Because of this, I have nothing interesting to write about tonight. However, I have–for the first time ever–been tagged (by Marla). Since it makes me feel like I’m “in”, I am happily willing to play.
So, some not very interesting things about me are:
- 10 Years ago I was at home from BYU for the Summer trying not to be in love with Omar, and failing miserably. I think we were “not” dating most of that summer….
5 Year ago I the wife of a very unhappy probation officer, living in Gridley, and just starting to get rolling with my web design business, wishing I had kids to keep me busy. - 5 Days ago I was filling out endless forms involved in house buying, worrying about all the details of house buying and thinking about pretty much nothing but house buying.
5 Things to Do on my LIST
- Make zucchini bread (this is on my to-do-list every day and never gets done)
- Clean the bathroom
- Fill out change of address forms
- Call my brother
- Water Tara’s plants
FIVE Snacks
- Salted Oranges
- Strawberry Special K Snack Bars
- Chocolate covered pretzels
- Kirkland Signature trail mix
- Apples
5 Billionaire Things
This was hard, I don’t even know how to think about that much money!
- Pay off all of our debt
- Build a house somewhere that probably isn’t the desert.
- Build temples, fund missions, and build up the kingdom
- Something helping kids, probably lots of somethings–how do you decide?
- Finance my own political campaign to run for president.
5 Places I Have Lived
- Provo, UT (a BYU baby, and then a BYU coed)
- Palo Alto, CA (at 18 months while my dad was an intern)
- Gridley, CA (2-18, 22-29 – most of it in the same house, all of it on the same block)
- Albany, CA (for a year while Omar finished at UC Berkeley)
- El Cerrito, CA (for 2 months in my Great Aunt’s basement when we first got married and couldn’t find housing in the Bay Area we could afford)
5 People I Tag…
- Tara Hepworth
- Amanda Eccles
- Emily Sorenson
- Becca Fire
- Cari Potter
And there you have it… a lot of really useless information about me.
Our Summer “Vacation”
We left town last Monday for our big summer vacation. No, that’s just my joke, because it’s the only trip we’ll be taking this summer. (I always have such big plans. )
Monday morning we headed to Ridgecrest to find somewhere to live for the next adventure of our lives. We had planned on renting for a while, but apparently with all the base realignments, there is not much renting to be done in Ridgecrest right now. So, we were on our way to buy our first house. It seemed like a big moment before we did, boy did I have no idea how big it was! But house buying will be another post.
Omar’s good friend Steven’s mom, Nancy, was wonderful enough to let us stay with her while we were in Ridgecrest. We had a lot of fun with her, and she was an awesome host. Helaman loved her big t.v., more than is probably good for him. We stayed with her until Wednesday night, then went to San Juan Capistrano to spend the 4th of July with Omar’s brother. Then it was back to Ridecrest on Saturday to be at our house when the inspector was there, and then a loooooooong drive home to Gridley.
It was a crazy trip, and we had tons of fun being together. For more fun details, or just details, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, you can always click through the pictures.
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- Fuzzy
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- The Park
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- Nancy
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- The Beach
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- My Boys
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- Isaiah in the ocean
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- Helaman digging
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- Isaiah playing
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- Asleep
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- Helaman’s Happiness
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- Worn out
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- Together
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- Swimming
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- Isaiah’s dinosaur hair
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- Fernando & Isaiah
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- Fireworks at Dana Pointe
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- Helaman’s impressed
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- Fireworks
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- In the Car
The Mean Mommy Solution
I’ve been trying for a long time to find a solution to the mean mommy problem. I can be patient for a long time, but then I have this snapping point, and I become the mean mommy. I have been praying really hard for help, since just trying to exercise self control didn’t seem to be working.
The answer came this week in an unexpected way. Whenever Helaman is having a hard time remembering to be kind and/or gentle, we sing this the primary song “Jesus Said Love Everyone” and it helps him remember and calm down.
When I started getting frustrated the other day, the song came into my mind, but with different words:
Jesus said love Helaman,
Treat him kindly, too.
When your heart is filled with love,
You’ll know what to do.
This has worked for me every time so far. I don’t freak out, and I’m able to stay calm and treat him with love, instead of getting lost in my own selfish frustration. I’m so grateful to know that Heavenly Father loves my boys and is there to help me take care of them. What a blessing to have Heaven involved in my parenting!
Inspiration from House?
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, We Believe on May 22, 2008
I was watching House with Omar yesterday. I love this show, but I couldn’t tell you why. I think I feel smart when I watch it. Ha ha ha. Anyway, I think Heavenly Father used it to teach me something very important yesterday.
I couldn’t explain the feeling, even to myself. This is my problem with just about everything. But it is definitely my fish.
House: You’re afraid to change. You would rather imagine that you could escape, instead of actually trying. Because if you fail, then you’ve got nothing. You give up the chance of something real so that you can hold on to hope.
If I keep holding back, I can just believe that if I tried I would be good. And I’m afraid to find out otherwise.
Now the questions is to figure out how to get over it…
Closer to Christ – Day 1
Posted by Jinny in Jinny, We Believe on May 20, 2008
I recently bough a book called “21 Days Closer to Christ
I’m also going to share my journey here because writing about it helps me reflect and meditate on it, because it will help me stay motivated to keep trying, and because I am grateful for the opportunity to bear testimony of Christ.
Mother’s Day
Helaman’s sweet teacher brought these cute frames for his class to make for mother’s day. He really enjoyed the project and was really proud of the outcome. Too proud to share. As we were walking out of church I said, “Thank you so much for this frame you made for mother’s day, I love it!” And he responded: “You’re welcome, but it’s mine.”
A point he has not varied from. Oh well, at least he put it on the fridge so I’ll get to look at it.
This morning a post on another blog made me curious about the origins of Mother’s Day. In North America it first started with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870. She was the author of Battle Hymn of the Republic, but after living through the horrors of the Civil War, called for women to unite in an international mother’s day to celebrate the cause of peace. I was really touched by her poetry.
Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.“We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
While I understand the necessity of war, I have always been distraught by the awfulness of it. He words describe thoughts and impressions I’ve had, but never been able to express. I thought it was absolutely beautiful, both in it’s message of peace and it’s tribute to the work that mother’s do, and I really wanted to share.
Happy Mother’s Day!
A good mommy
Just a note to myself, these are the things I’ve learned lately about doing my job better:
- Stop comparing myself. When Stephanie was here on Thursday I kept lamenting about all the wonderful things I saw other mothers doing. She helped me see there is a balance, and we all mother in our own way.
- Enjoy it more. I loved watching my friend Emily and her kids. They really enjoy each other and are very positive and upbeat. I want to make our home feel like a happier place to be all of the time. More play and less stress.
- Roll with it. Amanda’s job sure seems harder than mine in lots of ways, more kids, more trials. But she never complains and always seems to have such a positive attitude. Do I really need to freak out that I didn’t get the floor vacuumed today? Really?
- Notice all the little moments more. I enjoyed watching Nikki watch her daughter. It made me realize how much of my boys I am missing in all my stress and worry.
- Focus on them more. Lena’s focus always seems to be on her kids (or whatever kids are in the room). We’re all happier when I focus on everyone else. It’s so easy to get caught up in the worldly idea of meeting my own “needs.” And it never makes me happy. That’s when mean mommy comes out.
It was great hanging out with these women Friday night. I appreciated learning from them and having fun with them. It was just what I needed.