A Mother's Ramblings

Jokingly a couple of weekends ago, whilst Flyfour and I were going to about our third Supermarket of the day (we were after some gluten-free items and nowhere seemed to have them in stock), I said that I was refusing to actually buy any food the following weekend and that everyone could just eat cereal for the week... and then I realised that would be our food challenge for February.

I shared on Facebook the other day, that I'd just spent a rather large amount of money to find out that our cat was going to die and there was nothing that could be done about it. Yeah. Pretty rubbish news huh?

Having finally found what my challenge for the family for February is (I'll reveal it this Friday) I feel a lot of weight off my shoulders for planning meals for this week. Along with the fact that we have had our food shop delivered to us a couple of times over the last couple of months (we keep being offered money off a shop at Sainsbury's so have taken the offer!), I feel like meal planning and food shopping is a great way for me to serve my family.

I don't know about you, but this last weekend brought a lot of happiness into the lives of Flyfour, the children and I. I don't know if it was the sunshine, or that Flyfour was in a super good mood celebrating his birthday (and having had a day off work) and that rubbed off on the rest of us or if we just were all synced up and ready for some fun together.

The predictions I made about the morning of Dan Jon's ordination, went almost exactly as I had said it would. Bishop did indeed stand up and say he'd had the opportunity to interview several of the young men and did say that he found them worthy to be ordained as Deacons and the whole ward did sustain them. I guess I have been paying more attention when this has happened in the past than I thought! After church and Sunday School had finished, Dan Jon, Tops and I, along with two other families, filed into one of the classrooms just down the hall from Bishop's office where the boys were going to be ordained.

I know they say that time goes faster as you get older, but at the moment the year seems to be going at breakneck speed and I'd like it to slow down just a little, please! It's funny, everything seems to be working well at the moment, we've pretty much eaten what we said we would when we said we would (there was an accidental trip to McDonald's on Wednesday for Tops and I) so hopefully, that'll continue this week and we'll stop feeling like we're spinning out of control time-wise!

Today is Flyfour's birthday, which means he's erm... one year older and wiser too! I did think about writing a soppy, "Oh my gosh, I love my husband so much" type of post, but well I figured that you all knew how I felt about him because, well the man is an actual saint to put up with me and my crazy antics and on top of that I think I talk about how fabulous he is all the time. Then I thought about just listing some of the brilliant things he does, that makes him so unique and special. Like how last night, whilst I had a shower,  he cooked me some steak because I was craving red meat and he put the bins out after Dan Jon forgot and he does the ironing almost every week. I did think that I could post a few photographs of Flyfour in recent months, but there aren't many that he would let me show and do you really want to see Flyfour eating something, looking a bit funny or raising an eyebrow at me taking so many photos? Didn't think so. So instead, I pu...

One of the first things I noticed about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was first finding out about the Church, was that family was very much at the centre of it all. Having been a member for a very long time (Twenty-something years) I can confirm that this very much is the case and to be honest I love it, because as I'm sure you've worked out by now; Family is rather important to me. This week, for Scripture Study, we've been studying the first few chapters of First Nephi, in The Book of Mormon and knowing what we would be talking about in Young Women's and in the Priesthood Quorum lessons (the latter where Dan Jon will be and the former where Top Ender and I will be) I've been thinking about how each member of a family plays a part in making a family strong, in making it a loving environment, in making it the best family for those who are a part of it.

The great thing about our house at the moment isn't that it is still full of Christmas snacks and treats, but that everyone seems to be in harmony about what we should eat each day. This seriously makes my day easier, because if I ask for suggestions and I get told a few of the meals I was planning I know that it isn't just me who is going to be eating!

When we were away camping at the start of the Summer, Flyfour arranged for us to go to the Eden Project. It was somewhere that I had always wanted to go and there will be a blog post about how fantastic it was, but I wanted to share one of my favourite things there. This simple water fountain.

Today, Dan Jon will become a Deacon. A Deacon is a term for boys or men who have just received the Priesthood within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our Bishop will stand and say that he has interviewed Dan Jon and has found him worthy to be ordained with the Aaronic Priesthood, to the position of Deacon, (there will be a few other young men in the same position, as they will all turn 12 this year), and then the ward will raise their hands to sustain Dan Jon (and the other young men). The time Dan Jon will spend as a Deacon (two years) is a time where he'll learn more about his faith, both through giving service and being taught (by me and his leaders) and means that at some point in the next few weeks, Dan Jon will pass the Sacrament to the congregation.

So far, the first few days of 2020 have been great for the A Mother's Ramblings family. I mean, I know that I've been suffering from the after-effects of BPPV but we had Top Ender's Birthday (which was fabulous!), we've had a lot of family time and we've even given the house a bit of a sort out. It's like 2020 has given us all a new invigoration... either that or two weeks of not doing anything has finally reminded us that we aren't inherently lazy as I feared! So, here's what we're eating this week!

I almost can't believe that Top Ender will turn 16 today. It doesn't seem true, it feels like we skipped a few years and suddenly ended up with an almost adult living in the house with us, but one that also needs reminding to put her plate in the dishwasher and to close the bathroom door.

At some point on New Year's Eve, after I had realised that the pills the Doctor had given me weren't going to make me feel better without the manoeuvre he'd suggested I try, I asked Flyfour to help me carry out the manoeuvre. I couldn't' do it on my own. I needed someone to help me get into the right positions and I needed someone to time me and basically force me to do what I had to do. It involved sitting on the sofa and moving my head and body in one direction and then another and my head needed to be held at specific angles too. I was supposed to do five rotations on each side but managed just one and a half before needing to throw up and feeling worse than when I'd started. I had to ask Flyfour to stop, or rather I told him I was stopping in between bouts of vomiting!

Early in the morning of New Year's Eve, I was rudely awakened by the room spinning. Later I thought it incredibly ironic, that my word for 2019 was Balance, and I was going to end the yar without any, but at the time enduring the room spinning, throwing up and feeling like I was about to fall off anything I was sitting on meant that I wasn't ready to do anything but call the Doctors to see if there was any chance they'd be able to squeeze me in. Flyfour knew that something was wrong as I was crying, very wobbly on my feet and couldn't articulate anything, it was just too much for me. Flyfour had to tell the Doctor what was wrong, as I was too busy crying and he quickly jumped into action, checking in case I was having a Heart Attack or a Stroke.