Jennifer Cardwell

My Sister's Wedding

You might be wondering what this jumbled up mess is. Well, about mid-October I began working on these flower arrangements. I didn't have to do more than 10 table arrangements and 1 different table arrangement. A lot of it was easy to do, as I had done flower arrangements before. We boxed them up to get them to their destination, and this is just one of the very large boxes that we used.

If you were curious as to why I was doing floral arrangements, it is because my sister was getting married. She didn't want to overwhelm me with the floral (even though I said it wouldn't be a problem) so she only had me do the table arrangements. She had a lady that works with my mom do the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. Even though I didn't get to do all of the flowers, I do think the lady did a wonderful job. They turned out great!

This picture was taken before they were all boxed up. If you can tell, her colors were green, red, & purple, with a dash of white thrown in the mix. Each of those colors is represented in the arrangements as well as the ribbons around them. The ribbons were alternated with the flower and the ribbon colors. The white feather arrangements she had me do as a special arrangement.

This is how we had the table arrangements done on the tables. We had 8 tables. There was one on each of those tables, one on the sign-in table, and one on the food table.

This special arrangement was done for the "head" table. She had wanted something special for that table to set it apart. So, this is how it ended up looking.

There is a funny story about the cake. My sister had asked a lady from her ward at church to make the cake. She was more than willing to do so, in fact she had a habit of asking if she could do that as her gift to the bride and groom whenever there was a wedding in the ward. Apparently, the lady had some problems with her oven. It wouldn't work. She kept hoping to get it fixed in time to do the cake, but it just didn't happen. So, she calls my mom about 4 days before the wedding and informs her that she will be unable to do the cake. So, my mom had to step in and do the cake last minute. Well, I didn't have too much sympathy for her as my sister had originally wanted my mom to make the cake in the first place. This was the result of three hard worked days, right before the wedding. I think it still turned out pretty well. Knowing my mom though it would have been a little bit more "design" wise had she had more time.

We get to the venue first thing in the morning (after I dropped kids at school), and begin setting up. My sister, the bride (had to clarify as two of my other sister's were there as well), asks me to do her hair. I figure okay. I am doing mine and my girls' hair. It won't be that much to add her. Well, my other sister's and my mother wanted theirs done as well. I only really did the bride's & mine, but worked on the rest. My other sister's were able to step in and assist in finishing, which was good because I felt the bride's hair was the most important to do.

Left side

The right side has the something blue tucked in there.

Back

We barely got done in time for pictures before the wedding.

My youngest daughter was the flower girl. She wanted to take a picture with my sister all dressed up, and ready to go.

These are just a small few from the wedding. She was stressed all day, but as you can see she was very happy. She did leave early from the reception, mostly because she can't stand being in a dress. She even made me take down her hair and brush out the curls before she left. It took me 45 minutes to get it up, and seriously spray it in place, because her hair is so thin. So, I was a little sad that she made me remove it all so early in the evening, but I am happy that I was able to help her day be joyous. She really looked great!

So, I realize that I said that I began all of this in October. I also should mention that her wedding was on the 16th of November. My sister just dropped off photos to me this evening. So, I am just now getting this post done. I realize that it was a long post, but I wanted to share one of the most important days of my sister's life. Everything seemed a little rushed, but I am grateful that she is happy. I am proud of her. She has struggled to find her way in life since finishing school. She couldn't quite figure out where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do. She tried several different jobs, and have not been satisfied with them. I have prayed a lot for her, and hoped that she would find her path. I am happy to know that she is now happy. My blessings go to her and my new brother.

Jennifer

Files, Paperwork, and More Papers!

I absolutely hate doing paperwork. I hate looking at it. I hate taking care of it. I hate everything to do with it. At the beginning of my marriage, I kept up on it despite my loathsome feelings. Then we moved, and moved, and moved again. I have barely done more than chuck anything that didn't need immediate attention into the nearest box, and label it files. I am finally in a place where I have room to go through them and file them properly, including filing some in the shredder.

This has been my project for the whole day. I have seven years worth of files to go through. It is not going to be an easy task. I have almost two dozen boxes to go through, as well as the one small filing cabinet that hasn't seen proper use in a few years. I managed to get through almost two boxes today. I shredded about half of it as it no longer pertained to us; new home, several years past, warranty no longer applicable, don't have the product anymore, etc. As much as I don't want to be doing this, it is very much necessary.

My husband could get orders at any time in the next year, and I don't want to move it all again. Nor do I want to continue to look at them and feel guilty about all the wasted space from all the boxes. Besides, I know that I can get it down to fit into my small filing cabinet and a small file crate for each of the classes I teach at Michael's. In the process, I am cleaning up my office desk. I had taken to using a folding card table in my living room for temporary work space, and it turned into a more permanent structure in my living room. I am tired of that being there as well. I only wanted to bring out the card tables when we were in need of extra eating space when we had guests, not have it remain permanently in my living room to work on just because I didn't want to tackle this intimidating task.

So far,

• I have managed to gather all loose papers in the house into one location.
• I have taken almost everything off of the desk top.
• I brought all the loose papers to my living room and have begun sorting them out. I chose the living room in part because half of the loose papers were already there from using the card table, and also in part because it has more floor space to sort papers.
• I managed to set up a crate filing system for all of the kids' work coming home from school to include a spot for papers they need me to sign or look at.
• There was plenty of space in the crate after that, so I added a spot to put all coupons that I was collecting to use at the store (already tossed all expired ones in the process).
• There is also a file in it for correspondence that needs to be taken care of in one way or another, and a file for me to place a list/pictures of items I am saving money to purchase along with their costs. I still have room in it that I am sure that I will find something to do with as this system evolves.
• I also got an organizer set up for all of my bills. I had actually purchased it at a yard sale about four years ago knowing that I really needed to get on organizing all this paperwork. I just never "got around" to doing it until now.

In short, my living room has piles all over the floor. I have at least finished all the loose papers and am now starting on the boxes. My desk is clear of papers, but just has a bunch of office supply items that need to be put away still on it. My card table is also clear of papers, but still has a bunch of random items that I need to sort through and put away so that it can be put away. I hadn't realized how much my kids were using it as a dumping ground till I took all those papers off. There is everything from crayons and pencils to hair ties and empty candy wrappers on there.

I definitely need to get it cleared, but my first priority is the piles on the floor. I will only be able to keep my little guy out of those for so long. So, I will need to work on those everyday this weekend (if needs be) to get as much accomplished as possible. My darling husband is off work this weekend, which is helping to keep the little guy at bay. I don't know how long that will last when he goes back to work on Monday. Part of me wants to throw in the towel now, but I can't do that. I can't let this sit so long that I get trapped into moving it yet again. My friend says toss it all, but in today's day and age you can't be too cautious about the information that you toss in the trash. Besides, my luck I would accidently toss something important like a birth certificate or something.

My hope is to have it done in no more than three weeks. I would like to say that is my Christmas gift to myself, having it cleared and properly filed. I realize that with schedules and random pop up "emergency" items that it may take a little longer, but I am going to push hard to get it done. Besides, the faster I get it done, the happier I will be to not have to do it anymore.

I challenge you to find something that you have been putting off/dreading doing for however long and for whatever the reason, and tackle it this next week. Do this one thing for yourself and it will enhance your mood in a positive way during the holidays.

Jennifer

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and full Thanksgiving! I spent the day with my family. We played games, cooked food, and of course ate a lot of food. I managed to get some pictures for the first time in 10 years. I never quite get photos, because I am usually cooking or seeing to everyone's needs. But this year, I made sure to at least get a few photos. Each of my kids told us a couple of the things that they are grateful for and why they are grateful for it. Some of their items I expected, as they are kids. Some of them sounded like they actually gave some thought to them. It kind of surprised me, especially since it came from my two youngest girls. I know that we had a wonderful day, and I hope you did too.

I know that I am not so great at getting regular posts, yet! However, I do have a lot to catch you up on. And, I am going to try to get a few posts up in the next couple of days. I just have been extremely busy and have not been home except to attempt to sleep. I don't think that I have anywhere to be this weekend, so I am going to try to catch up on a few things (including the posts that I have started).

In the meantime my prayers are with all of you, and I hope you are enjoying this time with your family!

Jennifer

Long day today! Was the wedding! Congratulations to my sister and new brother! Hopefully can get pics up tomorrow.

Whirlwind of Events!

My week has been a huge whirlwind of activity this week! I really have been moving all week. I haven't gotten much fun. I haven't even worked on a project called 30 Days of Grateful (a project I want to go into more detail in a later post-maybe this weekend after the wedding) that I had started, tossed, and restarted. Things have just been crazy!

My week started off with me getting hit hard Monday with strep throat. I knew that I had it before seeing the doctor. I went from feeling fine first thing in the morning to crashing hard by lunch. Throat was really sore, red, and swollen. I couldn't swallow much of anything, including fluids. I laid down for a nap (yes, my husband was home watching the little ones), and I crashed for the rest of the day. I tried to get up to socialize with the family, but that only lasted an hour before I crashed again.

It being a holiday, I went in on Tuesday to be seen. While I was there, I had them take a look at my youngest. He had started getting this red, pussy, rash on his hand and back. I didn't want it to get worse so, I wanted him seen. Turns out he has a non-viral staph infection that is transferred more from touch than anything. So, we both got put on a bunch of meds. Then we crashed as soon as daddy got home from work.

Wednesday, I awoke feeling much better. I had half of my voice back, most of my energy, and was starving. So despite not having much restorative sleep from being too active, which is a side effect of one of the medicines I am on. I was doing fairly well. The down side was that it also increased my hunger. Here I am trying to eat well and lose some of this pregnancy weight, and I am now famished and want to snack all the time. So, far I haven't let it beat me yet, but not easy! So, I spent Wednesday morning in meetings, and the afternoon trying to catch up on daily chores from crashing and being at the hospital all day Monday and Tuesday.

Today, I found myself on my feet again all day! I have been going non-stop. No lunch. No snacks. I had a little water. A lot of stuff was going on. In between picking dropping off and picking up the kids from school, I spent my day running everywhere trying to do daily chores (so as to not be too far behind tomorrow) and doing final preparations that I needed to do for my sister's wedding tomorrow. The wedding is the reason I don't want to be too far behind tomorrow.

I already know that the wedding is going to have me busy all day, and I really don't want to spend my whole weekend finishing up chores from the week. I really want to sit and craft, or play a game, or even a movie marathon (like Lord of the Rings or something) with my family. The past few weeks have been getting crazier and crazier due to wedding stuff. And, our family time has been getting shorter and shorter. So, I think we need to do something together. We will still have daily stuff to work on, but hopefully not an overwhelming amount to do.

Hopefully, I will have pictures to share soon. I haven't had much time to try to add any. This is even the first chance I have had to update you this week. I can't wait to get back to a sort of norm, despite Thanksgiving being next week which means more holiday decor changes and projects to do. At least I should be able to get back to my de-cluttering, and my fitness, and other household projects in amongst all the holiday stuff. I have already planned most of it, so it shouldn't be too overwhelming (at least not to the point like a last minute wedding).

Well, I hope that the days are finding you well!

Jennifer

Getting out the Door!

So, this past week has shown myself busy with wedding preparations, normal chores, and work. Every time I turned around I seemed to be leaving again. Then I noticed a tweet today about how people get out the door, especially with little children. It seems to me that it is a recurring theme about people having to get places, and to get there on time. So, I thought that I would share some of my tips that I use to get my children and I out the door at a decent time.

Let's face it. Getting out the door can be an absolute nightmare! My family is not perfect in getting out the door and where we need to be on time, but I have found a few things that helps us the majority of the time to accomplish this goal.

First off, everyone gets baths in the evening when there will be no time to get it completed in the morning. This brings us to our second thing.

Secondly, when they are getting ready for baths (i.e. clean pajamas, etc), they also pull out their attire for the next day. Granted, my children are required to do that before bed regardless of whether or not they are receiving their baths before bed or in the morning.

Third, they are required to place all the items that they are wearing the next day in one of two places. They can either place it in a hanging sweater organizer bought specifically for this, or place them at the foot of their bed. If it is not in one of these two places in the morning, us as parents have no sympathy for the said individual about the "but I really wanted to wear that," and the "I don't want to wear that" cries as we quickly choose something else for them.

Fourth, we still have small children that are not potty trained. So, we still have a diaper bag. The diaper bag is checked and restocked in the evening prior to bed.

Fifth, if it is a morning where time is short, we plan for breakfast in advance. No, this doesn't mean quick runs to McDonald's for breakfast sandwiches. We make muffins or waffles that can quickly be heated up and served with either a fruit or yogurt first thing in the morning. We make a family time of it too. It gives us a chance to spend some time together as well as get some food done. When we are thinking far enough in advance, we even make enough that some of them can be frozen for a later date.

Sixth, if it is a school night, back packs are repacked with all school items before bed. This does include their lunches being packed.

Seventh, if it is a Sunday, kids eat breakfast in their pajamas so as to not get the nice church clothes messy prior to church. I would much rather have to throw a load of wash in to run while I am at church than to have to find another Sunday outfit last minute.

Finally, all shoes, coats, winter gear, lunches (for school days), etc. is located and placed in their appropriate position on their hook or shelf in the entryway. This ensures that anything that got drug out during the day and played with or used is put up and locatable to get out the door without doing that mad dash that we are so accustomed to doing in order to locate that one missing item when we really need to get going.

Like I said, we aren't perfect. We still have those days where we missed something when getting ready for bed. And, we still have those days that we are dragging our feet to get ready, even though everything is there to make it simple. But, most of the time we are able to get out the door and to where we need to be in plenty of time to allow for weather, traffic, or other unforeseeable occurrences that can't be avoided but could potentially cause a problem getting to our destination.

I hope that you find this helpful in planning your day in order to get out the door on time when needed! Hope to post again soon, but for now I got to fly!

Jennifer

I voted! Hope you do to!

Busy, Wedding Floral, & Sickness

 

So, that Friday, I didn't get half as much clothes sorted as I would have liked. My kids were out of school due to an in-service day. I should have known that I wouldn't get too far. So, I arranged for them to have a play date on Saturday. I spent all day Saturday, and all day Sunday on my feet working on those clothes. At least I got them pretty much done. I have found a few things here and there as I have picked up that needed to be added to the bags, but for the most part they are done.

The week went as it usually does: kids at school, my cleaning the house during the day and teaching a class in the evening. Friday, spent all day out grocery shopping. I know that I am going to regret some of it later. Usually I do the budget before I go, but I didn't get that far this time. Hopefully, I didn't cause any financial strains.

Yesterday, I was trying to finish up the floral arrangements that my sister had asked me to do for her wedding. I had just about all of it finished, short of about 1 ½ hours of hot gluing to do. It took me all day just to get one finished. The stomach flu that my family had been passing around finally hit me. It hit me hard! I can barely move without getting sick. My last two pregnancies weren't this bad either. So, my sister's will have to finish the flowers themselves. They wanted them done this weekend, and I am just not going to be able to get it done. I am not too worried about it, though. If by any chance they don't get them finished, I can easily finish them later this week when I am feeling better.

Family issues: Does anyone have one of those fathers that just think that anything that doesn't help him is an inconvenience? I do.

I had arranged to have my kids over at their house yesterday, prior to my getting sick, so that I could get some stuff done. Well that was a huge mistake in his eyes. My sister's (who were watching the kids) didn't tell me that they had arranged to work for the SAT's that day. So, he spent an entire phone conversation chewing me out because I didn't let them earn any money so their house hold was out $300. There was no explaining to him that it wasn't my fault that they didn't mention it, nor that they agreed to watch the kids. It had to be my fault, because I should have known that it was an inconvenience. My sister's know that they can tell me that they are unavailable. They do it regularly. There is never any hard feelings, unless it is one of those issues where they are cancelling (after previously agreeing) in favor of something more fun. You would think that this wouldn't be a huge issue, after all they are rarely over at their house. You would think that he would want to spend time with the kids since he sees them maybe once a very few months.

Oh well! There is never pleasing my father. I have known that for years. It took my pointing out that he never is proud of anything we do, for him to say he was proud of something, and then he only said it that one time. He likes to point out the negative, but has a hard time pointing out anything positive. That is just who he is.

Well, with any luck, I will be feeling better in a day or two and things can get back to normal in my house at least. I am getting way behind on my crafting, which is depressing. I kind of depend on my crafting time to keep me sane through the week. The closest to crafting that I have done lately (other than my cake class) has been working on those flowers. I need some time to just sit and work on a project and not think about deadlines, just think about the process and what makes me happy.

My challenge is to find something you enjoy and spend an hour doing it this week! I will keep you informed on my progress!

Jennifer

Been super busy to date. A lot going on. Hoping to get a full post done later today. Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! Also sending prayers to those effected by Sandy.