My life in binders:

I live out of binders these days. I'm not joking. I just realized this last night. I have more binders going than when I went to a few classes at UVU...Let me illustrate:
I've got two binders for Primary stuff- one 2" for meetings where I need all the nitty gritty info, and one 1" for just every sunday with lesson info and coming events and such. I've got a file for all my hair clientelle- lots and lots of 3X5 notecards. I've got a 2" binder for the Mary Kay info, training stuff, and product info. I also have 3 2" binders of MK samples for makeup color- I really am into trying before buying. I've got an accordian file for tax info for my two businesses. I've got a folder for client profiles for MK. I've also got a 1.5" binder for corban's Joy School lessons with all the unit info, and pictures for lessons.
I think that's it...
It almost feels like one of those young women's lessons about the different times we wear white? I just have a different binder for all the different parts of my life. I was about to say that the only thing I don't have in a binder is my family- but that's contained in a scrapbooking binder too... so there you have it. I live out of binders. Now that I've said this you'll start noticing how I always have a binder or folder with me. serious.

love
amanda

where does the time go?

I'm supposed to be doing less. I made this decision slightly before general conference and it was just re-affirmed that it was important when I heard the talk about slowing down- doing the important things and less of the non-sense. Yet I've begun a new business venture, started down a new avenue with my hair/make up skillz (doing hair and makeup for photo shoots), and found I have spent 0% of my day doing THE IMPORTANT things, and the rest of the 20 hrs I'm awake doing heaven knows what but end up feeling less fulfilled than ever before. I'm sure that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time I'm doing things that have zero importance on the grand scale and the fact that I've done nothing on the list of things that is actually important in the eternal scheme of things. My checklist may be full of checks but none of the ones that are checked off are important- none of them are bettering myself, none are family strengthening, and none are testimony building. With one exception- sometimes I am fortunate enough to do hair on someone that builds my testimony throughout the appointment as we have deep discussions of wonderful things, spiritual things, and I'm left wanting more. At that moment I should be running to read my scriptures and increasing the feeling of the spirit that I'm feeling right then, but usually it's the time that the boys are waking up from their nap and being everything but helpful (or so it seems). This week has not been my favorite. The fact that I ran out of unisom last saturday and tried to go without it didn't help the amount of rest I was getting when I'd try to go to bed and turn off my brain. The fact that I haven't spent any of my time just playing with my boys doesn't help. The fact that I haven't had time/energy to do anything that would make me feel like a better mother and wife definitely hasn't helped.

Tomorrow is Sunday. The day to rest. The day to honor the Sabbath. I'm going to make a list of important things and make sure that this upcoming week is different. I don't want to be sitting here next saturday feeling like I've had success everywhere but where it's important. I want to know I've succeeded in making my children love me more, I want to know that I've helped them learn and grow. I want to know that I've been a good wife. I want to know that I've done all I can in my primary calling. I want to know that I've helped someone in need. I want to feel better. ***And besides- doing these things that are more important eternally are usually easier on my preggo body- the hips especially enjoy sitting with my children instead of standing and walking to do other things.

(and as a random side note- if I meet one more new person that responds to my pregnant belly with a conversation like this: them-"oh is this your first?? me-"no actually it's my third, I've got two boys :)" them-"Oh my gosh! did you start having kids when you were 12??" I will kill them. promise. I can't take it anymore! Who thinks that saying something like that is an awesome thing to say?! Who the freak thinks that they have any say in whether or not I need their opinion about my family and how we're spacing our children??? Or my stinking age??? Can someone answer me? Really??? What happened to tact?)

Hello Ladies

I have a confession....I recently signed up to be a Mary Kay consultant....I know....ew right? Give me a second to explain myself please :)

Here's why I've done it:
A-I have used the products for the last several months of pregnancy and it's done **wonders** with my usually really terrible pregnancy skin. Their skin care is all non-comedogenic (which means it WILL NOT clog pores). My skin is softer and definitely feels loads healthier! Finding non-comedogenic products usually entails spending LOTS of money on skin care at a mall makeup counter-like $30 just for face wash-ummm, thanks but no thanks that's not in my budget.
B-Their prices are usually within $1 (either one dollar more or less) of my other grocery store brands that I've used in the past without having to spend the gas money to go to the store! A win win.
C-I liked the idea of having the ability to try out shades before putting any money down!!! (no more hoping you're matching it through the container and packaging pretty well while standing in walmart and having your kids try to grab nail polishes off the shelves.)
D-I had security even after I'd tried it- they guarantee ALL their products 100%- if I didn't like them I could still have options: I could try something else in exchange, or I could get my money back! Even if I'd used it all up they would have refunded it without having to jump through hoops because my consultant would do it for me! (nothing like walmart where you've got to deal with finding a receipt, being within a certain amount of time from purchasing, and having to make a walmart trip. gross right?)
E-The last several hair color appointments I've gotten questions about how to buy, apply, and pick out make up. Being that I'm already a Licensed Cosmetologist I can totally already tell you tips to do these things. Things like maximizing good features and minimizing not so good features- however I didn't have anything to show, demonstrate or sell to my clients to help them. The best I could do is point them in the direction of walmart and hope they had luck. That did not sit well with me. After all as any of you know from being a hair client of mine- I'm more than happy to try the cheap stuff to see if it will get the job done for you without breaking the bank, but I'm honest when it comes down to whether it's a good choice for your specific hair situation with finances in mind as well. I couldn't stand that I was having to tell clients to go to walmart and try to match shades as best they could, and find a brand that they wanted to try out first and move on from there. I wanted to be able to offer the ablility to SHOW my clients the right product for their face- SHOW them how to apply it correctly- Teach you how to care for your skin because after all- you only get this one face and everyone deserves to feel good in their own skin!!!
That's why I do hair- that's why I'm starting Mary Kay- Women should LOVE the way they look. They should be able to wake up in the morning knowing that they can take tools that they've learned how to use and care for their hair and skin and go out into the world feeling confident that they are beautiful, they are strong, and they can take anything that comes their way. Women are strong. Women are resilient. Women have skills that men only dream about having-you know it's true. We need to be proud to be women and we need to put our best foot forward everyday-including taking care of ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically. Whether your morning routine is 5 minutes long or 30 minutes long- you need to be taking care of yourself first or you will be ill-equipped to take care of anyone else throughout your day. The better your self esteem is- the better you can take care of everything that women deal with in a day. If I can help one woman at a time to improve that self image, and self esteem I will keep doing what I do because that's what I thrive on.
Thanks for giving me a few minutes to explain this seemingly crazy decision. Now for the other details: I am going to start to build up an inventory to be able to give you on the spot purchasing power so when you run out of something you love you can call me and I can deliver your product that day rather than waiting a week for shipping-or you'd always be welcome to just swing by and pick it up. I also would like to offer all of you the facial class to test out the skin care that I've fallen in love with as well as trying to create a nice color look just for you- whether that means just a little tinted moisturizer to slather on and go, or whether that means looking at foundation, eye shadow colors, and cheek colors-the whole nine yards. Either way I'd be happy to show you them anytime- if you've got a cut, color, or style coming up plan on me asking if you'd like to go over some while you're already at my house- you're welcome to say yes or no! Otherwise I'd also be happy to come to your home and show you anything you'd like to try out and feel free to make it a girls night and invite some friends- the more the merrier!

Thanks agian!

Sincerely Yours,
Amanda Larsen
~increasing women's self esteem one person at a time~

It's a Girl!

here are the ultrasound pics :) I'll try to explain as best I can, but without pointing to stuff it looks pretty crazy.

This is a profile view with her hand up by her face. You should be able to see eyes, nose, lips, chin, a little fist, and the rib cage.
Profile shot again of her yawning, you can't see her whole head because she was getting comfy, but you can see her mouth all open just up and left from the caption on the photo that says "yawning!"

Another Profile pic :) With some spine and the cute little nose.

She's got some LOOONG LEGS. Her feet are on the upper left hand side, she was constantly crossing her legs at the ankles like a good little modest girl...guess that's a genetic thing from me ;) The knees are where it tapers in a bit then back out again for the thighs.

mandatory butt shot-the butt's on the right hand side with the two thighs extending from there. The three little white lines and the lack of anything between the legs=baby girl.

We're way super excited. Corban is even okay with it now. We just need to get Gabe comfortable with me holding another baby, as of now he's pretty jealous if I pick up any other child besides Corban.

Oh yeah, the other mandatory shot- the alien face. Let me explain: you're looking straight on at her face, you can see the outline of the skull, the Orbits (eye sockets) the Nose, and mouth. Her fist is the little white area RIGHT beneath her chin. She enjoys opening and closing her fists apparently, because she was doing that throughout the whole ultrasound and her hands were right up by her face a lot of the time.

We're half way there~! February 14th here we come.

par-tay!

YAY YAY YAY!!! It's almost officially October!!! Our Halloween party is next weekend! (October 8 from 7-10 for neighborhood/ward friends, and October 9 from 6-10 for Family) Time to decorate my guts out! If I don't have your address and you haven't gotten an invite as of yet- send me your address :) jamandack@hotmail.com
*I may or may not be addicted to exclamation points while talking about Halloween stuff...*

ps. my yearly DEEP DEEP DEEP clean of my salon started tonight- and we think we found the culprit for our fat fuzzy friend a few posts back...SOMEbody left a Halloween pillowcase full of candy on the floor of my closet. It had been chewed through several places. So there you have it. Your mother's been right all these years...if you eat too much Halloween candy- You'll be fat. and then you'll die. the end.

oh. and sometime when I'm up for it I'll post all the major CRAFTY things Gwyn and I did during her visit. Lets just say I learned how to crochet and went a little tiny bit overboard ha ha. Don't worry both boys now have a couple pretty hideous hats that I absolutely love. If you don't make your kids wear ugly stuff when they're young, you're missing the boat on this folks. Don't feel bad though- Jack's mom is an AMAZING knitter/crochet-er so the boys also have some MEGA darling ones that she made.

here I sit...

eating way too many red vines and sniffing a dryer sheet thinking about things to come and wondering what in the heck to do. I may have to pause and throw up half of these red vines but for right now- it's worth it. here's my dilemma: with both my boys I had an epidural during labor. I loved it. Sure they stick a giant needle in your back but after that part you're pain free my friends. ***if it works- if they get it into the right place*** For some it doesn't work and I've always felt bad for those ladies. The dilemma is that with gabe I made it to a 9 before having an epidural (if you don't know what that means you may not want to read the rest of this post because it's probably not pertinent info...) and now I'm wondering: "should I have just gone all the way??? could I have gone all the way???"
Several of my friends have used a "newish" method to child birth called hypno-birthing and swear by it. yeah. hypnosis. as in surgical hypnosis so you don't feel any pain but you could undergo serious surgery without any anethetics. Here's the jist of it- you're supposed to be able to go into deep relaxation/hypnosis to be able to deal with the pain as it comes. It also goes into detail about making sure you're dealing with any FEARS of parts of labor and delivery or the whole thing for that matter, and teaches you how to overcome any of those fears. So all in all you should be better equipped to deal with the discomfort of labor, the fear of labor, and the healing process much easier, quicker, and safer. So. Do I try au natural??? I mean I did make it to a stinking 9 before having gabe....and that was without classes. without planning or preparation to not have any meds. Do I get a book from the library on hypnobirthing and go it on my own? or do I pay $300 bucks to take the class with jack and get all their hypnobabies brand info? Or do I just pay $800 bucks and kick back and relax with an epidural???

That being said- we went to a bbq to meet some of the ladies that have done the classes and they all had nothing but good things to say about it. The husbands said things like: "it's the best thing I've ever done in my life. It strengthened our marriage, our communication, and our parenting skills." (I'm not even exagerating that in the slightest- this dude was serious.) The wives loved that it got their spouses so involved in everything, and loved all the techniques they taught, and really said they worked very very well.

the down side: The ladies that we met seemed a bit too....how do I put it lightly???.....open??? let me explain: all the new babies got hungry all at the same time at this bbq and what did all these hypno mom's do? whipped out their boobs and stuck a kid to it. No covers. No going off alone someplace for privacy. No "are you comfortable if I whip my boob out in front of you while we're talking??" One lady even said as she was undressing: "it's what they're made for so I don't care who sees. they're not meant for the satisfaction of men." There was even a circle of mom's on the grass that were completely exposed and feeding kids and totally okay with it even though there were other families, dads, children running all around them. We were sharing a pavillion with a hispanic family celebrating a child's 3rd birthday for crying out loud.

Uh. HELLLLLOOOO?!?!? Duh it's what they're made for. BUT I highly doubt that as we teach our daughters modesty there's a clause that says "if there's a baby attached it's okay to have your hooters out in public." I doubt that the lord that made us women and men thinks it's okay to show it off because "it's natural- it's the way it's supposed to be"... Cover up ladies! Just because our bodies are beautiful doesn't mean you get to give up on modesty altogether while nursing your children.

We left when all the infants started crying for food and saw what all the ladies were doing-or not covering up I should say.

So do you see why I am scared to sign up for a class and pay $300 bucks?? They're obviously going to try to brain wash me into thinking that hangin out in public is okay as long as 50% of the population has them. no. I don't really think that but if that's the only type of women that are taking this class then I don't know if I can handle it. I am perfectly happy being a strong, opinionated woman, that will stand by what I'm comfortable with. I'm open to new ideas, I'll listen and try to wrap my head around it even. But don't under any circumstances try to convince my that nursing in public without trying to cover up at all is proof that you love your children more than I love mine. I happened to really enjoy being able to let jack get that "bonding" time with the kids! I happened to enjoy being able to feed my kids any where any time and not worry about whether or not I was being modest. I love the idea of nursing in the privacy of your own home, or car if you're out and about-it's the crazy ladies out there that are so gung ho about it that pushes me away. It's the ones that say: "cows feed their young without covering up- so why should I." *seriously a lady said that on a message board about nursing...* I'm also sure that cows take dumps in a feild and they're ANIMALS not people. Why would I want anything to do with being even remotely similar to a milking cow??? Can someone explain this to me??? Like I said- I'm totally up for listening- as long as all breasts involved are covered safe and sound.

so what do I do?

A: take the classes that attract the women that think they've got udders and shouldn't have to cover up?

B: Read the book myself???

C: or get the epidural again only earlier on in labor and watch a nice movie while my body does all the hard work?

D:...

ideas? please tell me! email me if you have so many good suggestions it'd be weird to just post as a comment- just tell me you need my address and I'll send it to you.

Total Willies....

I screamed today.

not like an "oh!" like a real full on horror movie screech (maybe I could make money selling my awesome scream...). For reals. Allow me to explain.

Gabe and Corban had just finished eating breakfast and I had just finished wiping Gabe down so he could go play. I took my new magazine to the couch and was ready to just let the kids watch some cartoons and play while I put my feet up. Gabe played for a minute then I heard him walk down our hall to go get something else to play with. He does this almost every day- goes into his room and finds two toys, one for him and one for me. Sweetest thing ever I know. He usually comes out with books, or cars, or stuffed animals. If he brings me stuffed animals he walks up making cute high pitched noises-kinda baby talkish-totally sweet. Today I had my magazine in front of face when he walked up to me. He started making the cutesy noises so I put my magazine down as I was starting to ask "oh what did you bring me??" He holds his hands out with only one fuzzy thing. As my eyes try to make sense of what he's holding I realize it's a real mouse.
****insert full on scream****

My son found a DEAD field mouse somewhere in my home!!!! I quickly grabbed a tissue and took the mouse to the garbage and washed our hands. Possibly three to four times...
This makes me question a few things:
1-why was it dead?
2-where on earth did he find it?? (he kept taking me to the garbage when I was asking him where he found it.)
3-am I really that bad of a housekeeper?!?
4-how much does a maid cost?
5-why was it so huge? It looked to be so well fed-but it was dead...
6-why would I be less freaked out if I found it alive?
7-why hadn't we heard the mouse? or found any "evidence" of it's residency in our home????

total willies.
we will be deep cleaning tonight.
wiping down walls and floors with bleach. possibly the ceilings too....
I think I want to buy a Kirby vacuum right this second...
washing all clothes that we own....
and wearing gloves the WHOLE time. maybe two pairs.