Highlights of Friday

-Woke up hurting all over. I don't know why some days are worse than others.
-Anne Marie had the kind of cough that made it so I would have only felt guilty if I sent her to school. Not because of how she felt, but because of infecting all those other kids. Except for the cough she seemed fine. But you never know how other people will respond to the same virus. So she stayed home today.



And because Anne Marie is sick, Nora felt sick for a few minutes too. Monkey see monkey do.



3. Sat around in my nightgown until 11, 2.
4. Decided that I would not feel guilty for being lazy today. My house is in decent order, everyone had their lunches made and ate breakfast. So what's to feel bad about?
~on a side note-Mormon's place a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect. Honestly, this is more of a cultural thing. Church leaders, the Bible and the Book of Mormon have never stated that I need to have a clean house all the time, be thin, or have perfectly coiffed hair. But somehow, we Mormon women have adopted policies of not good enough unless we can prove it through perfect homes and appearances. And that is not the message of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is to be perfected through Jesus Christ, which will  not happen in this life. So I for one am choosing to believe the Savior and cut myself some slack.
~Second side note-I am feeling sensitive today because I happened upon a blog that made me angry. I will just say about it that I wish people would grow up and stop blaming others for their unhappiness. I'm not saying others don't cause us sorrow, because they do. But if you're stuck in a cycle of blame, you will certainly never be happy.

I love this quote by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi:

“… when I refuse to forgive someone who has wronged me, I mobilize my own inner criminal justice system to punish the offender. As judge and jury, I sentence the person to a long prison term without pardon and incarcerate him in a prison that I construct from the bricks and mortar of a hardened heart. Now as jailor and warden, I must spend as much time in prison as the prisoner I am guarding. All the energy that I put into maintaining the prison system comes out of my “energy budget.” From this point of view, bearing a grudge is very “costly,” because long-held feelings of anger, resentment, and fear drain my energy and imprison my vitality and creativity.

-Kate and Julia have play practice until 6 today. I miss those girls. Everyone went back to school, and they had play practice til 6 the very first day. 

It's tough, because I want to go on a date with Jeff, but I miss them and I don't want them to have to babysit when they've had such a long week. So instead, I think a movie in bed will do the trick for some husband/wife time. What do you think Jeffy?

5.Because it's Friday, I think it will be pick your dinner night. I will make whatever anyone wants, as long as I have the ingredients on hand. Veggie stirfry for me, meatloaf for Jeff, waffles for whoever, mac-n-cheese? My pantry's the limit!

And tomorrow is Jeff's birthday. We will be the same age for 1 week before I become a year older than him again. I'm REALLY excited for his birthday presents. I think he will be very pleasantly surprised. 

And lastly-Day 3 of the Ninja Mask. He wanted to sleep in it as well last night, but luckily we temporarily couldn't find it. I just can't stand the thought of him sleeping with something on his face. The suffocation factor, plus potential ick factor of drooling all over it. 

We went on a date! Woo hoo! A real date, not just a quick trip to Walmart. We went to Red Robin and then saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. My oldest and youngest were asleep when we got home, but the middle 4 were awake still, at 11:30! Why? Cuz the Wizards of Waverly Place movie wasn't over yet. Wah.

But seriously, thank you Julia for babysitting even though you were tired.