31 Days of Gratitude

Our cute friend Marianne did something so cool on her blog last month, and I want to do it on mine for the month of December. I'm challenging myself to post every day about something I'm grateful for. This is so good for me, because lately I seem to have a problem verbalizing anything that may cause me to get emotional, which either results in "the ugly cry" (as witnessed by my family last Thanksgiving) or just completely shutting down and not talking at all in order to avoid "the ugly cry," which is what happened at Thanksgiving this year.

So I guess that today, I'm especially grateful for this blog and the opportunity it gives me to communicate my gratitude for the many, many blessings that I have. I used to be so good about writing in my journal from the time my parents gave me one at my baptism up until right after Eric and I got married, and then I stopped - I don't really know why. Maybe it's because Eric LOVES to talk things out and is such a good listener, that he became my emotional outlet and confidant. Or maybe I just got lazy. Anyway, I wish that I would have kept it up and blogging, for me at least, is the perfect way to document our lives and my thoughts all in one place.

So stay tuned . . . so many, many things to be grateful for!

Uuuuuuggghhh! I hate this stupid blogging thing!

Can you tell that I've developed a little "blogging" addiction? I decided that I wanted to learn how to create my own page layouts and digital headers, and boy did I open up a can of worms! What was I thinking?

Right now I'm thinking I need to STOP with trying to create a design I like, and just start blogging, which was supposedly the reason I started doing this in the first place.

It's interesting to me how closely this process is resembling my life lately: diverting myself with trivial things to avoid talking about the things that really matter. I have so many thoughts in my head and so many experiences with my kids and my family that I should be writing down, and instead I'm sitting here trying to master "html code" and Photoshop design! Janice, Janice, Janice - when are you ever going to learn?

I promise from here on out to spend more time writing and less time designing and obsessing. Well, just as soon as I can get this one page just right - THEN I'll be good. I promise!!!

Say What You Need To Say

Well, I think I have a lot to say, and this new blogging thing is a blessing sent straight from heaven for a girl that hasn't scrapbooked or journaled ANYTHING in over five years! Hopefully now that I have the basic page set up, I will get in a better habit of writing on it every day or so.

This week has been a little crazy with Halle being sick, my nephews Jake and Josh both up at Primary's with asthma and RSV, and in the mean time trying to finish painting our family room and kitchen. Once again, I bit off WAY more than I could chew and am just trying to get a little bit done here and there (basically whenever Halle is sleeping!)



As a devoted Mitt fan, I've actually been quite depressed due to the Super Tuesday news and have probably gained five pounds watching all of the news networks and finding solace in comfort food (watching the Food Network during commercial breaks didn't help either!) The only other thing besides watching Food Network that brings me comfort is just looking at this picture:



I feel better already! (If you know me at all, you knew I had to throw a picture of Bono on my blog at some point, so I'm just getting it out of the way. For the full effect, listen to "Beautiful Day" while staring at the picture.)

So I am determined to get back on the horse tomorrow with this whole diet/workout thing I'm trying for the billionth (is that a word?) time if I can finally get some sleep tonight, which means I need to turn off this computer. Wish me luck!