Young Women's Activity

I feel the need to write a couple of notes from my YW activity this past Wednesday... I took on the daunting task to teach my girls some proper hygiene. It is quite needed. We focused on some of the certain points below... with added comments from me and my girls. First note that there are certain, forgive me for my lack of words, but certain stereotype of YW where ever you go - the thoughtful, the clueless, the blurter, and the one that defies and contradicts everything you say.

• It all started good as we discussed qualities of temples and then read the scripture relating our bodies to temples and how we need to treat them like well. It all went downhill from there as the next bullet happened...
  
• Inner and Outer Beauty... when introducing this topic, I had a great slip and said "Inner and outer Booty." That sure went over well! :)
• Showering... I was quite surprised to find out the girls who love to shower and do it every morning. When finding this out, I had to shape the discussion in other directions of different kinds of shampoos and conditioners and using too much or too little. Then, after some of the comments were made... I asked to make sure the girls knew what greasy hair looked like. Of course, my girls said yes, but my sweet clueless girl said, "That's when you leave in conditioner to make your hair look shiny." What was I supposed to say to that? :) Then we talked about body wash... which I couldn't get the girls to stop talking about.
  
• Smelling Fresh... this was a very crazy discussion. I talked to the girls about why the sweat and that I sweat a whole ton. Then I confessed to them my crazy secrets from high school days... I would take two of the same shirts to school and change two times a day due to my pit marks! Then, I told them that I use Old Spice deodorant because it is the only thing that works for me. I suggested they purchase a travel deo. and put it in their backpacks for days when it seems extra needed. Then my blurter commented (in a 14 year old disgust) "Oh, please use the bathroom! Don't do it in class like all the boys do! It is so gross to watch them put it on." This made me think of the boys that age that I was friends with. Do boys think their so cool and mature because they can put deo. on? I am so glad that I never have to return to that nightmare! My 2nd counselor mentioned how eating garlic and onions is something that can make your sweat smell bad. Complete silence... I could just see the girls processing that info!
• Continuing on with this topic, as bravely as I could mentioned that I brought up smelling good because most of the time, I can't close the door to the YW room because it smells terribly of Body Odor! The girls again were quiet. But I told them not to all wear a lot of perfume because that would make things worse... unless it was the same kind. They all laughed and this helped break the ice... again.
  
• I mentioned to them that they need to take more showers and such during their special time of the month... and one of my girls didn't see any reason for this. My thoughts at this point were, "What am I getting myself into? Help me make this as brief as I can." Then to top this bullet off... the same girl then said, "I have a whole floor to myself, so it doesn't matter what I smell like." Oh man! Here we go again... I then pathetically explained that personal Hygiene is not only for ourselves, but for the respect of others.
  
• Teeth and breath... I told the girls that it doesn't matter how much makeup they put on - if they have something in their teeth like food or plaque, no one is going to look at their makeup.
  
• Exercise and eating went over well... it is something they are all comfortable with. I had one girl ask about exercise and if it can help with depression (she has bipolar disorder) and I said yes so enthusiastically, I think I scared her! But I bore testimony that it did because I have dealt with depression and being physically active dancing helped so much in high school to make me feel good about myself.
  
• I had each of the girls make goals for being clean, smelling fresh, teeth, exercise, and eating right. Then we all have calendars and are going to keep track of the days that we do each of our goals. In a couple of weeks we are going to have part two of this activity and talk about the next steps in hygiene... doing your hair, clean and neat clothing, acne and blemishes, and basic makeup like lip gloss, mascara, and foundation. Hopefully the girls look forward to it.
  

I am excited to see the changes they make in the next couple of weeks. I am actually glad that I will be on vacation for the first week so I don't have to feel weird. I really just hope that these girls make the choice to participate in keeping a calendar of their goals because I can't force them too. I love them so much!

As a parting note... I was so wound up due to little patience with some of the girls and their "smart" comments and also with all the nervousness of even taking on this activity that I was stressing out! So with all the great counsel I had just given to the girls... Dan took me to Dunkin' Donuts for not one, but two donuts! We laughed at the irony of it all...

Sick and Tired... so we're leaving

We are SO done being sick and tired around here, so we decided (last minute) to pack up and leave. We've had it with the flu, coughs, sleepless nights, cold weather, and snow! We are going to the beach! That's right... sick and tired is getting left behind!
We originally wanted to go somewhere on the East Coast because it seems new to us... but as things just happened to work out, we are flying to California. Dan says that he feels sheepish because it is the road trip state of people in Utah... but I keep having to remind him that to "us" New Yorkers, it is REALLY far away.
We are so thankful to those that have helped us out with this trip! What a wonderful thing good contacts are! We are SO excited to go and get some sun... I was so excited that I went out and bought a cute beachy nail polish color! We look forward to sharing some of our greatest, sunniest, warmest, moments with those that feel as stuck as we did!

Basement Buddy

You all know that we have had some interesting experiences with what we find in our basement. It is like the creepy side of Mary Poppin's Bag! However, it all started with our little toad Dude and I was so excited when I caught him in action on video today.
Something else you might want to know about our little farm house and all its surprises... we have what are called cluster flies. For generations they have reproduced outside our house. But, when it gets warmer inside and colder outside, they come into the house through all the little cracks and crevices (and old houses have many!!!). So we have billions and billions of flies in the bedroom that we haven't redone yet. It is really gross! We have to vacuum like 5 times a day to keep up with all of them. They don't fly, they crawl and like to hang out in window ledges. Because it has been warmer in our house than outside (on most days :) ), we have had an ample supply of food for our Dude.

It is snowing like crazy here! We haven't had this much snow yet... and sadly, it should be getting close to spring! :( The flakes are huge and really pretty, but it sure dampens the heart that has cabin fever!

The Flu

The past week has been awful! We started out attending Winter Weekend... (not awful at all). This was an activity for young women and young men ages 14-18 of the LDS church. It consisted of three upstate NY stakes and one from PA. That covered almost all of upstate NY! There were 245 youth and over 65 leaders to attend. We had two dances, workshops, and a service project slammed into about 30 hours. I had the greatest privilege to teach dance in the workshops. I taught a triple swing and then the popular-as-it-gets Soulja Boy (click to watch the dance I taught) dance which is some hip hop and the latest rave! The youth LOVED it! I was lucky to have Dan come; however, we got unlucky too.
Dan woke up Saturday morning with the flu. He was such a great sport as we pushed through the Saturday activities at Winter Weekend. I have to say how thankful I am for the church because before dinner we were able to find two priesthood holders to give Dan a blessing. I felt so thankful that in the midst of all the ruckus of the youth, we could go into a quiet room and partake of the wonderful spirit of the Lord. We ended up going home early that night.
I woke up Sunday with the tight chest and by Sunday night we had both thrown up and were in bed. So this week we enjoyed our new bed to the fullest! It is now Friday and Dan is feeling better (even though his coughing still keeps him awake at night) and today is the first day that I have had energy to actually type these posts. I am still down hard, but getting up again.
We are thankful for the prayers that have been held in our behalf. We have felt them and can really feel your love and care.

Caught Red Handed!

My favorite Valentine's Day idea comes from my cousin Tiffany. She requires something red or pink and completely frivolous for her and her girls. So we have tried to adopt that in our little family and it is so much fun. This year, Dan surprised me by spray painting all of the snow around our house with hearts and "I Love You"s. As I drove in from the grocery store, I saw the red paint and thought something had died in our front yard, but was so surprised to see that it was just the opposite! I wished we were going to have people over so they could see how special my husband treats me! (For Dan's sake, I won't expound on the photo of why he had red paint all over his hands :) However, it was all over his hands and his only nice pair of jeans) Sadly, due to the weather in New York, it was snowed and rained upon that night and didn't last for more than two days. Dan received such a great gift from me... (talk about frivolous!). An Extra Special Tickle Me Elmo!
Dan also pampered me the rest of the night as we stayed in with a homemade dinner and a board game. I love Dan... I am so blessed to have such a great husband who takes care of me. He is always so positive and helps me to be a better person. He supports me in my schooling and dancing and is always ready to lend a hand anytime he can. He is so handy on the house and we are so blessed because we wouldn't be able to survive here without him. He is dedicated to whatever he puts his mind to and most of all, he is dedicated to the Lord. I love him and am so thankful that I get to have Valentine's Day to celebrate that again.

Home!

I survived! Dan is home now and I have to say that it is so much better. We have had some great adventures while being apart. For example, one night I talked to Dan over the phone and he was unfreezing his water pipes. About half an hour later, our water heater fell apart and I had hot water spraying all over the basement! Talk about a really stressful night for the two of us! I am so thankful that we made it through in a couple of pieces. Dan bought me some beautiful lilies for the feat!

We also had some great experiences. Dan got a lot of training and learned a lot while in Salt Lake and Oklahoma. And I had a very successful New Beginnings! This Young Women's President thing is getting easier as I learn!

As for the fun of late... one night last week Dan went down to stoke the wood furnace and there just happened to be a cat hanging out in our basement on a pile of logs. We didn't know how it got in, but it was a very well kept cat. So Dan brought it up to show me. Little did we know, a week later it would still be hanging out in our house. No matter how many times we tried to get it to go home, it just showed up at the other door. We can't seem to find and owner and the cat doesn't seem to want to go home. We have asked all our neighbors and found that one neighbor has had the same happen and now owns two cats that just showed up! Supposedly some people don't make it to the shelter which is about 3 miles away. We would like to keep the cat as an outside cat (that is if it doesn't have a home) but we cannot keep it inside because Dan is allergic.

We finally got carpet in our living room! So the room is all done except for the crown molding. So in the photos remember that it is missing those finishing touches. It has been so nice to get rid of the Grand Hallway and actually have a place to sit down.

This week has been a dreary one. We have flood warnings and freezing rain warnings at the same time. For those that know what we are talking about... we aren't going anywhere. And for those who don't know what freezing rain is (we didn't either) - it pours and once the drops hit something it freezes. So all the trees, roads, walks, building, and birds are frozen. They have canceled school and we can't work at the quarry. Guess I won't go grocery shopping for the third day in a row... thank heavens for food storage!