Help Comes To Those Who Ask

I've been given a HUGE blessing in the form of help with Sharing Times. My cousin, who is SO wonderful, has given me many websites with TONS of help. I'm going to post them on my sidebar, so we ALL can share in them.

I'm just grateful for people who are creative and make ME look good. ;)

Plums!

There is this lady in my parents ward who had announced in Relief Society that her golden plum tree was so full of fruit that it was breaking the branches and dying. She asked that anyone who wanted them to come and help save her tree. So yesterday my parents went...and I tagged along.

When we got to the tree the branches were nearly to the ground...it was DEFINITELY ready to be picked! So we started in on the job. It was really kinda fun! (I mean, I don't have to do it ALL of the time, so it's okay...) We ended up with 2 full boxes and three Walmart bags FULL of plums...and we didn't even scratch the surface! I noticed as I was picking the fruit off of one of the branches that it got higher and higher until I could BARELY reach it, when before it had been smacking me in the face!

ANYWAY, I took a box of them home, but now I have a new problem...What am I to do with all of these blasted plums?? Sure, I love munching on them for a snack, but I can't eat a FULL box by myself...Steve and Cam both say they don't like them...

If you have any helpful suggestions, recipes or help for me...please help me! They're ripe now, but soon they'll be a mushy mess on my kitchen table! :)

How Would You...

Okay, I've got a couple of gripes that I HAVE to get off my chest. It just hit the fan today and I don't know how to deal with either problem.

Problem Number ONE:

Today at school Cameron hit a little girl. Normally that in and of itself would be a HUGE problem, but there is more that just makes it worse in my mind.

The teacher caught it and disciplined him appropriately, but his in-class aide missed the whole thing because she was helping another child. UH! Why is she even there if she's NOT doing her job? She is supposed to be there to keep Cam on task so that he doesn't get distracted and doesn't disturb (let alone hit) other kids. I can understand that she may have been distracted for a while, but IT'S HER JOB! UGH!

Should I confront her about it? Or should I just let it go until something like this happens again?

Problem Number TWO:

Today was my crazy babysitting day (I had three kids to watch ON TOP of Cam...two of which are teeny babies.) Anyway, I had to start my morning bright and early, 5:30, and for at least two of the kids my job was to end around 1:00 that afternoon. Not a problem...if it had worked out that way...

Luckily Steve has had the last two Thursdays off and has been able to walk Cam to and from school...then I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get him there. But I'm still stuck watching a two-year-old who is VERY much into the "terrible twos" stage, a fairly content 3-month-old who only needs attention when he's hungry or poopy, and a very clingy, demanding one-month-old who wants to be held CONSTANTLY. I deal with the screaming from the baby J (the one-month-old) by letting him scream it out for the half hour or so that I'm caring for baby E (the three-month-old.) Little L (the 2-year-old) is pretty content to play with toys, making a mess, or watching cartoons. She does demand a sippy every once in a while, but she's pretty easy to care for.

What really frazzles me is when all three are demanding things at once. I can go from organized and collected to at my wit's end within seconds. (I had a bad breaking point today...just about killed anyone who crossed my path for those few minutes.) So, I've had a rough day, and to make things worse, the dad who is supposed to pick up his kids at 1:00 IS NOT THERE!

My friend told me when she dropped her kids off this morning that the plan was for him to get a ride from work to pick up the truck at his wife's work. Then he was going to come and get the kids after that. So he should be there around 1:00, 1:15 at the latest. I was looking forward to just watching J and Cam....2 kids would be HEAVEN after the day I had experienced.

Well, one o'clock comes and goes. No problem, right. I rationalize in my mind that he may have hit traffic. I think to myself, "I'll wait until 1:30...if he's not here to get his kids by then I'm calling his cell phone." I feel like I should give people the benefit of the doubt, because things come up, and it's expected that out of the ordinary stuff will happen...I can understand that.

So when he's still not there at 1:30 I call him. He gives me this story that the person who was supposed to get him from work couldn't come...they had other things going on. Okay, I can understand that, but where are you? Then he tells me that he ended up catching a ride with someone he works with, but the guy speaks minimal English, and C, the dad, speaks minimal Spanish. He tells me that he was BARELY able to give the guy directions to his home, let alone directions to a babysitter's house. UH! You couldn't give him directions to get your truck? He sounds sincere, but I'm beginning to think that this is just his way of getting away with leaving his kids with someone else so he can sleep. Granted, the guy has just gotten off a 12 hour shift, but what about me? I expected MY work day to end when he got there at 1:00, now he's telling me it'll be longer? At this point I'm MADDER than I've been in a LONG time, but I keep my cool, and tell him I understand.

Then C goes into this story about how he's just talked with his wife. She's not feeling good, he says, and she'll be getting off work early, and will pick up the kids when she gets off. She'll be there SOON! Okay, that means I only have to watch them for a short while until she gets there. I say good bye and hang up, waiting for L to pick up her kids.

She normally gets off work at 3:00...she got to my house to get the kids at 3:30! THAT'S NOT EARLY!! She apologizes and apologizes, telling me that she's upset with her husband. We discuss that he's probably using all this as an excuse, and how it's really not fair to me. She tells me that I need to tell C my feelings, letting him know that if things don't change soon, I'm going to have to stop watching their kids. She totally understands my frustration, and she's even sharing it, but her husband JUST DOES NOT GET IT!

So here's my dilemma:

I love watching these kids...I feel like they're my own kids most days. I love my friend L...she totally gets what I'm going through, and sympathizes with me. I want to continue to help out my friend, but I'm not getting through to the husband.

All I want is some respect.

I want things to work out so that if I'm told my day will end at 1:00, it WILL! I just want them to be honest with me...when they tell me something I want it to happen the way I was promised. Is that too much to ask? How can I deal with this husband who doesn't understand my predicament?

I'm tempted to tack on an additional charge...$5 for each hour over what they've told me. It seems mean, but I feel like it's my only option. I'm pretty much letting them use me as it is. I'm only charging them $80 a month...for 2 kids! I'm feeling used, and it's not fair that he's using me to get what he wants.

What do you suggest I do? Right now I'm going to take a Midol, eat my delicious chocolate ice cream, and fume some more. HELP!

Save Our Sanity!!

I am so excited about something that I got in the mail today! I usually dread the drivel that I receive, mostly because I end up with envelopes with mine or my husband’s name on them saying that we’re approved! Ooh, I can’t tell you the frustration I feel when I get 3 to 20 of those a day! I was thrilled to learn that there is something that you can do about those annoying letters. I tried it and I’m excited to see if it works! I thought that I would pass the good news along, since I consider you all my best friends! There is a way to "Opt Out" of credit card offers. Call toll free (in the United States, at least) 888-5OptOut (888-567-8688) and follow the instructions for opting out.
Why might you consider opting out?
1. Save your sanity. (Haven’t I already touched on this point? That was my main reason for doing this in the first place!)
2. Save a tree. By cutting down on the number of offers you receive, you may contribute to a small degree to a decrease in the number of trees cut down in order to make paper.
3. Save your identity. If someone were to steal your mail they could theoretically return one of these offers and open a credit card in your name at a different address.
4. MOST OF ALL, it will make your life much better. I mean, sure, you won’t be "approved" as much as you currently are, but you will be getting actual mail that you want (well, with the exception of bills!)
I called the number and it only takes a few minutes...unless you have an unusual name (like "Dawnyel," what was my mom thinking?) It won’t take effect immediately, but hey...you will be on this list for 5 YEARS!! It couldn’t hurt! I’m excited for the decrease in my mail.

I love RAIN!

It's been raining on and off all morning here and I LOVE it! This winter was strange for our area. Christmas was clear and not cold at all, but the last two months have been bitterly cold and snowy. I'm just glad that it's raining now. For some reason I've just always felt peace during rainstorms. I think the sound is one of the best things to hear when I'm frustrated or stressed out and the smell......oh, I just love rain!

I think the rain today should help me out. I've been stressing over babysitting again. I say again because I tried to be a permanent babysitter a few years ago for my cousin, but their schedule was so much different from the one I wanted for Cameron that I just couldn't handle it and I quit. Now I'm feeling that stress again, and it's not because the two families schedules are that different, I think it has to do with me not feeling completely in control of my son. I had a rough day yesterday with Cameron and the little girl we've been watching. Their behavior was awful! I had to go and visit someone and while we were at their house Cam tried to run up and down their stairs, pulled the little girl over and attacked some other kids. I was mortified. Anytime I told him to stop what he was doing he'd laugh at me and continue on. When we got home I was so mad at the boy that I immediately put him into time out, which didn't work like it was supposed to because the little girl I watch was upset he was not playing with her. I was at my wits end...I tried time outs, I tried talking to him, I tried ignoring it, but it only got worse and worse until I finally broke down in tears. I love my son, and I love this little girl, but I don't know how much more I can handle if my son continues to be so blatantly disobedient. I want to teach him how to be a nice boy, how to share, and those kind of things, but I don't know if he'll ever get it. I know I'm not alone in this fear either...I was talking to someone whom I look up to on the way she handles her kids and she's also commented on how her boys don't listen to her either. Is this just a boy thing, or a kid thing? What can I do? I hope that this day off from babysitting will help me mellow out and maybe calm down over the situation. I don't want to have to stop watching this little girl just because I feel crazy. Oh, I just need my vacation!

I need some advice....

I need some help. I just got a message last night from a former friend who I would very much like to be friends with again. Let me set up the situation...
When I was in school and dating my husband I had some very good friends who lived in the same dorms as me and we did everything together. (They were even there with me and Steve on our "first" date.) Anyway, one of my friends was a friend I had in high school. She was always bubbly and happy and I enjoyed being around her. Well, once I became serious with Steve I asked her if she would help me by doing my makeup and maybe massaging me before the wedding. She agreed. Here's where the problem lies....she took what I asked to mean, "will you be one of my brides' maids?" I took it to mean, "will you help me by being close to me on my special day?" So our versions of the story are very different. When it became official I invited her over to see what I had planned so far and I showed her the patterns for the bride's maids dresses and she told me that the sleeves were all wrong for her and wondered if I could change it. Needless to say there was a very awkward pause while I told her that I hadn't planned on her being one of my bride's maids. Since that day I haven't heard boo from her. I had heard from other friends that she was VERY upset with me, but that was it. I saw her once in the 6 and a half years since that day, but she completely ignored me. I thought it was over and decided to move on with my life, hoping that if I ever heard from her again that I could find a way to apologize to her and beg her forgiveness. I realize now that what I asked was not what she'd expected, and I have felt horrible about it.

So, last night I got a note from her (to my husband while he was working) and in it she told me that her life has changed for the better and that she is now dating someone and is very happy again. At the very end of the note she gave me her email address. As soon as I saw that I turned the computer back on and immediately wrote her that message that I've been anxious to give to her since I hurt her feelings. I had hoped that she would have written me back, but she hasn't. I feel like she may still be mad at me, but I don't want to continue to write to her and beg to be forgiven and sound insincere. What would you do if you were me? Please let me know!