It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To!

I missed my blogging time on Sunday this week but I feel justified in the fact that I was suffering from some kind of strange illness. I finally was feeling better yesterday except for exhaustion so I have been trying to get a little caught up on things now. The one thing that I thought would be interesting to blog about last week was my husband's awesome birthday party.

Last Thursday my hubbie turned 31. I thought that I would throw him a friend party rather than the traditional family party. Not that 31 is one of those milestone birthdays or anything. I just felt too overwhelmed last year to handle throwing a large party but I felt better about it this year (even though we are busier now--go figure?).

Now, I am not very good at inviting people to come over. I always worry that maybe they won't want to and will feel pressured to say yes or just outright reject me! : ) Or I worry that I won't be able to make the evening enjoyable enough and they will feel that they wasted their time. But I called people up (another phobia of mine is calling people on the phone--go me!) and invited 6 other couples to join us in celebrating Paul's birth on Thursday evening.

On Wednesday I started cleaning and baking like a crazy woman. I made up lists of everything that might possibly need to be cleaned or cooked by Thursday evening and went at it. I made cake, I made his birthday dinner in advance so we could eat early and get the kids in bed before everyone arrived, I picked up/dusted/vacuumed/scrubbed/mopped everything except the kids rooms and our offices. The next day I did more of the same. By the time we were having our little family birthday dinner celebration before the kids' bedtime I was exhausted and getting very nervous about the evening.

After dinner we moved the table into the family room and set up the chocolate fountain, the cakes, the cheese and crackers, the fruit and dip and the water. We got the kids in jammies with family prayer and scriptures said and tucked in bed and now we needed to await our guests.

The sad part is that no one came.

My husband's brother showed up 20 min. late with their dad. Their dad left about a quarter to eight. By now I am fighting to keep a brave face for my husband and one guest but it was hard not to cry. My brother-in-law's wife showed up about 8 and I called my family to please come over and help us eat all the food that I had made. They did and we were able to have a nice evening together, but I have sworn to forgo any more large parties until he is 40! It is too stressful for me and so extremely depressing to have no one come.

Now, so you don't think that we have no friends, they did all have excuses. And two of the couples did call to inform us early that they wouldn't be able to make it. Of the others, one couple had sickness in the house, one couldn't find baby-sitting, and one couldn't get away from a scouting meeting that they were in. It would have been nice to have phone calls to know ahead of time but such is life sometimes. But overall, I feel safer with family parties. Family at least pretends they want to be with you ! : ).

The next night we were able to go out with Paul's brother and his wife and Paul's parents to a movie and had fun that way. All in all it wasn't a bad birthday. At least I didn't have to mess up my gorgeously clean home with a party! And seeing as how I got sick two days later it really helped to have things nice and clean before it started to fall apart rather than the other way around.

So, that is my adventure of the awesome birthday party and the lessons learned therefrom. Have a great week.

GSA (a.k.a. Gluttony Sufferers Anonymous)

Hello. My name is Kristin Hansen and I suffer from gluttony.

This week I have been striving to overcome this huge desire to stuff my face all day long. The more unhealthy it is the more my mouth seems to want to have it. Before Thanksgiving I was doing pretty good with Weight Watchers (keeping in my POINTS range most of the time and exercising 3-4 days a week for an hour). However, I have gone back to my gluttonous ways and I am struggling to return from the abyss!

I was blaming this on my children, saying that they were the ones that made me get so fat and so tired that I don't have the energy or brain power to resist those cakes and cookies or get off my rear end (not to their faces of course--what kind of mother do you think I am!?). However, I remember now that it started back with the Freshman 15 (or 25 or whatever it was)!!! In high school I seemed to have a lot more restraint. I was never the skinny girl but I had will power to eat one candy bar over several days or eat only a slice of bread or two rather than half a loaf! : ) Then I left home, bought my own groceries with no one telling me what to eat or when to eat or how much to eat and not having to share the food with a house full of people. My slumbering gluttony awoke and reared its ugly head and I seem to be able only to knock it out for short periods of time, never eradicate it!

I have been trying, for over a year, to lose 50 lbs. so that the next time I was pregnant I would not just continue to add another 10 lbs. to my bulk. I have managed to lose 30-35 lbs. which I should be proud of, but I can't seem to get passed the fact that I still have 20 to go. Does anyone have any magic will power pills to sell?! My good friend has started a 6 month BiggestLoser competition and I think that will help, but I am not a very competitive person so the thought of it hasn't been enough so far to get me to stop wanting (and usually giving in) to eating everything in sight. However, I do not want to report a weight gain so I have been limiting my portions (somewhat) and chewing a lot of gum to make me stop and think before I stuff. Maybe slowly but surely my once emerging better health habits will return.

Does anybody out there suffer like me and have suggestions for conquering the gluttony monster? HELP!!!

Time Flies

I am not sure that anyone cares that I haven't written here since October, but I figure that there is no point in creating a blog if I am not going to use it. (And sorry about having no pictures. I'll get on the ball next time.) So, for one of my New Year's Resolutions I have decided to try and write at least once a week about some "adventure" that has taken place in my little family. Maybe I will then catch the blogging bug and be more consistent. I don't think anyone really reads this but it will be a good way for me to keep a small record of my family's lives through the years. However, I have resolved to do better in my journaling most every year and have yet to really make it happen. It is all about enduring and continuing to try though, right? So here goes my first blog for January of 2008.

I thought that this time I would just jot down the major happenings of our week this time.

Monday: New Year's Eve! Paul and I usually celebrate the New Year alone at home since it is hard to get a babysitter for that time and then we usually do not stay up until midnight even. This year our ward had a 9pm-1am party at the church and I was in charge of doing some things for the young Primary kids who might come. I was just going to go alone while Paul watched the kids and come home around 11 when we were done with the activities. My mom and dad, however, said that they would have the kids sleep over at their house that night and Paul and I could go to the party! I thought, "Yea!!! Our first date in about a month (maybe more). " However, I spent 2 hours helping kids make Fruit Loop necklaces and when we were finally done Paul was involved in a Risk game. Good-bye to an evening spent together. I spent another hour watching others dance and then asked Paul if he wanted to come celebrate the New Year with me and his reply was only, "I still have 5 minutes." So I left upset and went to watch the fireworks and twirl my noisemaker alone. He did come out and watched with me for a while and then gave me a dance before returning to his game. I spent the rest of the evening visiting with some friends and being drug out on the dance floor with all the girls to dance to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (not really my thing). He did come and dance the last dance with me, but overall, not the best New Year I ever spent.

Tuesday: Laid around and did nothing!

Wednesday: Laid around and did almost nothing. : ) In my defense, I was feeling rather queasy.

Thursday: Still queasy but spent the day in town shopping with the kids and spouse and then spent several late hours scrapbooking and visiting with good friends.

Friday: Tried to act like I was helping Paul get the house in order but really struggling to do anything due to the late hours kept the night before : ). We spent the afternoon and evening at my mom's and dad's visiting with my sister and her fiancee and playing games with some friends.

Saturday: A big and special day. My first child was baptized. It was a stress in my life for most of the week. I hadn't been able to focus on it before due to Christmas and all the family partying going on so I was feeling a little unprepared. However, when the day came I didn't feel very stressed at all. The spirit was helping me to not sweat the small stuff and really enjoy the experience, I think. We kept it very simple and the spirit filled in any blanks. It was a wonderful experience to watch my own child take this first step. He is such a sweet, gentle boy who loves to learn and plan things out. He loves animals and drawing, reading and music. He gets very nervous about new experiences and he was a little anxious about this (especially since he is rather scared to put his face in the water!) I am so proud of him for not making a fuss and just doing everything with poise and quietness. He had his Grandpa Hansen and his Uncle Art Hansen give the talks and his dad performed the baptism and confirmation. I was a little sad that all our family had come to visit last week for Christmas and so there wouldn't be very many for his baptism but the small group was very nice. It was just grandparents and great-grandparents and a few aunts and great aunts and uncles. He had a couple friends come with their families and you could really appreciate each person as they came to show their love and friendship for Hyrum. It was a great feeling. My bother, Danny, is serving a mission and was sad that he couldn't be there but he wrote us a letter to read to Hyrum as a surprise at his baptism. It was a surprise for everyone and brought a very special spirit into the room. Afterwards we had dessert at my parents house and had so much fun visiting and eating. It was a fantastic day!

Now today is Sunday and tomorrow I have to start living real life again and I am almost sure that I am ready. I will miss not having my husband around as much to help and support me and I am not looking forward to having most of the free time that I have enjoyed lately taken away or my opportunity to sleep in diminished. However, there is a great deal to be said for routine and orderliness and I am ready to get back to that. December has been a month of craziness and complete change from the normal. But I now have a new back door, a broken window replaced, a new dishwasher, a painted family room and master bath and was able to visit with so many family members on both sides (there were about 50 people gathered in my in-laws double wide after the holidays! That's what you get for having 9 children, I guess, and teaching them about multiplying and replenishing the earth ; ) ). Let normal life begin!