Good News: I Finished My Kitchen

One of the blessings of owning a home is learning to work. I believe it is a blessing to work. With this home improvement project I learned I could do things I didn't believe I could. For example the thought of tiling and cutting tiles was overwhelming and I never thought I would be able to do it. Step by step and with a little push I have once again been taught that I can do about anything. Let me show you what I mean...
(above) This is when I moved in, boring white and I wish I could find the picture but a freshly removed blue and yellow plaid wallpaper from under the cupboards. Notice the lovely turquoise counter tops. Bellow might be a better shot of this. Here I have painted the kitchen a happy yellow. I really did like it and felt it lifted my spirits. So it took some time but I was finally able to get the counters redone. I love them and you can see that I changed the faucet and knobs to make things blend better. I also choose to repaint the walls to match the counters and floor better and the yellow was a bit much even though it was cheerful.The floor was my next project. I have really disliked it from day one but again it took some time to be able to get it done. Here you can see that there were multiple layers to rip up. It was a long process, I put a few hours in each day for several days but eventually found a tool that made the work move a lot faster.
Here we are mid tile. This is the part I actually helped with, I did some of the laying here.

Here is the finished product. A billion thanks to Shane and Robert who did most of it. Shane did all the cutting and Robert most of the laying. There were many other helpers when it came to prep work and follow up work too. Thanks everyone, you know who you are!

The goal when Shane and Robert were here was to also do the back splash. Unfortunately they ran out of time and since I had the materials and we had borrowed the tile cutter I was forced to take this part on alone. It frightened me but it had to be done so I dug in and did it. I think it turned out rather well. Here is the final product.

Good News and New Goals

Tis the season for setting goals and I don't usually do this publicly but I am going to this time and I will explain a little bit why as I talk about "good news."

This past year in Relief Society we often started the meeting with sharing good news moments. During this time anyone who had something exciting or new to share could share it. For example someone might tell about a graduation, a birth, a visit to an old friend, summer starting....anything. I never shared anything. Not that nothing anything good never happens, just never shared it.

One particular Sunday the good news was postponed to just before the lesson, after the teacher was up and ready to teach. If I were to share good news on this particular Sunday it would have been that my roommates fiance had come over one evening and did some home improvement projects for me that I was particularly nervous to get done. I was very excited that he completed the tasks that would have taken me many hours and much stress. But alas, I did not share my good news.

The teacher then went into a lesson on gratitude and noted that as we shared our good news we were expressing gratitude for the good things that were happening in our lives. I felt guilty for not having expressed my excitement that these tasks were taken care of and no longer a worry for me.

With this thought in mind I will share some goals I have, one being that I want to post more on my blog about some of the good things that have happened to me. I have always hesitated in the past for fear of sounding boastful or showy.

I share some of my goals (New Years Resolutions) so that you can all celebrate with me in my accomplishments that I hope are shared not as bragging but with a element of gratitude.

Laura's Life's goals starting 2011

1-be a better person...follow through on promptings for change and improvement to be the person my Father in Heaven wants me to be

2-work on my calling

3-continue to work on my weight

4-make better use of my discretionary time

OK, so really the first goal covers the rest so maybe it should be a main goal with 3 sub goals, but I will leave it at that.

Posts to come...recognition of what successes I have already had on these goals and general accomplishments in life that are to be considered "Good News".

This Just Bothers Me

Just to warn you, this is not my best written work, but I wanted to rant a bit.

So, I keep hearing this commercial and it keeps bothering me so I have to blog about it to vent a bit. So this lady calls into some kind of an office supply place and asks for help paying an outrageous bill at a French restaurant. Maybe you have heard it.

So first of all it absurd that this woman calls an office supply company because they "are so good at giving discounts" that they can even help her get a discount at a fancy restaurant. This is just a dumb add I think, but that isn't even what really bothers me about it.

The add really annoys me because she feels she is deserving of some kind of discount...lady you went to the restaurant and ate the food (or should I say et?) now you should pay, that is how life goes. If the place was too expensive for you, you shouldn't have gone there!

If that isn't bad enough there is a fire and everyone is running out and she gets all excited that she might not have to pay her bill after all.

Has anyone else heard this add? Is anyone else bothered that she doesn't care about the huge loss this restaurant is about to have? She only cares about herself and the big bill she might not have to pay.

I am a little fed up with people who think they deserve something for nothing regardless of the expense to others.

I Have Some of the Greatest Friends!

So this is from when I went to Ada Oklahoma to visit Kristin. We had a great time visiting Oklahoma City and I also was introduced to Braum's where I discovered triple chocolate cheesecake ice cream.

This came from my dear friends Karen and David who were driving though Oklahoma and went out of their way to buy a cooler, fill it with ice and drag some of that most excellent ice cream back home with them for me.

Thanks Kristin, Karen and David, you are all the greatest!

All You Can Eat

I hate it when I have a dream where I am at some kind of all you can eat or have been offered some really great dessert and I don't eat very much and then I wake up and think "Oh man, I should have eaten more while it didn't matter".

A Quick Thanksgiving Day Survey

I have heard many people tell stories over the years about showing up at someones Thanksgiving and being totally under dressed. It seems as though some people out there dress up for the festivities (and I don't mean like Pilgrims) yet I have still to meet anyone who actually does. I am curious, how does your family dress for Thanksgiving? Totally casual like pajamas? Jeans? Nice casual? Dress up (or should I say dressy)? Any funny or embarrassing stories?

Just curious.

Have You Saw...?

It has been several months now but after being introduced to a new local National Park and taking a walk there with some friends, I decided to stay and explore the “steep” trail on my own. I hadn’t been walking long when a young girl stopped me to ask “have you saw…” pause to ask her dad again what they were looking for...continue “have you saw a unicorn?”

Not sure why this situation makes me laugh, probably because I spent most of the walk thinking about the question and why she was looking for a unicorn and why her dad was encouraging her to look for mythical creatures rather than teach her other essentials in life. What do I mean by this?

Well, my response was “no I haven’t, good luck looking for one.”

What I wanted to respond was “No, I has not seed a unicorn.”