The Happy Homemaker

Well, I am in lots of pain again. This is the worst pain I have had in a while. I slept being covered in icy hot patches and ice packs. I even took a flexeril which did help me sleep and I woke up not being too sore. Then I got up and walked and […]

They were not kidding when certain people put this books on the list as one of the best historical fiction books ever written. This is the book that inspired countless other romantic historical authors from Jean Plaidy to Philippa Gregory.
This novel doesn’t just tell the romance story between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt. […]

Last year Doritos had a mystery flavor bag of Doritos chips. They tasted like grilled cheeseburger. I actually liked them. This year I decided to try it again. It was a black bag so there was no way of knowing what flavor it was going to be. So I opened the bag and tasted the […]

I have to back to physical therapy. My back is giving me trouble again. I really like the place I am going to. I get adjusted, massaged, and then I exercise. The therapist does say there is a connection between back pain and birth control in some women. I will finally get the mirena out […]

I just finished reading Ivanhoe. My university was to snobby to read Sir Walter Scott though we learned a little about him and his style. He is definitely a Romantic. I usually do not like romantic nationalism but Sir Walter Scott does it better than anyone. He doesn’t his heroes near translation to heaven and […]

Aziz has long talked about wanting to grill meats outside so I finally bought a grill at Walmart for $10. It is a tiny grill, but that is all we need really.
Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner and Aziz asked them to show him how to use the grill. I guess […]

What happened to my lazy summer days! It seems that the days are busier in the hot months over those during the school year. I spend my time shopping for the best food deals and keeping my children occupied. I finally started my antibiotics. This is the third round that I have to go through. […]

Victoria still loves rhythmic gymnastics. She looks forward to her class every Thursday and practices everyday. For a six year old she is doing well. I have never seen her so determined to do something well before. She wants to be a part of the team so she is working hard towards her goal. I […]

Aron is going through another phase of separation anxiety. This is the worst anxiety he has ever had. None of my other children ever had it that bad. Victoria got anxious, but showed it in different ways.
Aron screams whenever we walk towards an official looking building like a church, doctor’s office, or library. It […]

The BBC reports that toddlers who say “yuk” to spicy curries or say that they “stink” should be flagged as having racist tendencies and should be educated about racism. That includes children who stare at a black child or a woman in a hijab. Nowhere does it say anything about Muslim children who refuse pork […]

Right now we live in one of the most priciest areas, the Washington D.C. metro area. Housing prices are dropping all over the place so we decided to look at homes in Alexandria. We found homes under $250,000. Of course we were tempted! However, we discovered that the property taxes are over $4,000 for some […]

Saturday, after leaving the mall, I fell to the ground because of back spasms. They felt like someone lit a match on my spine. It was super painful. I rested and took Flexerall, muscle relaxer, but it did no good. I was still in pain and was in tears most of the night. I had […]

Everyone knows I love history. So it is natural that my favorite kind of fiction is Historical Fiction. In Historical Fiction you set a novel with the same drama and plot so forth as a normal fiction novel, except the setting and sometimes characters are based on historical fact. This is usually a writer can […]

I went to the doctor finally! I found a doctor I like. She was kind to my kids and actually took time to listen to me. I have tennis elbow and a little arthritis in my back. I was finally given some medication to help the pain. She will test my bladder and tell me […]

Did you know that I have been married for five years? Did you know I did absolutely nothing for my five year anniversary? I just thought about that the other day for some reason. My husband used to try to be romantic in the past, now I am lucky to see the back of his […]

My mother told me that she keeps up with the family by reading our blogs so I decided I would do a better job and keep up with my blog. I kind of got depressed for a while mainly because I kept getting sick. I still have some bladder problems and have already been through […]

Maybe it is global warming or just weird luck, but everywhere I move, even if it is for a few months, I have to endure the threat of tornado warnings. I always take such warnings seriously.
The only places in my entire life where I didn’t have to worry about tornadoes were New York City, Korea, […]

This year has been a particularly rough year. I have spent most of the year alone raising three children while my husband pursued career goals. This after almost a year of unemployment. We have had bronchitis, influenza (the 2 week kind), and strep throat. Then the dog I took care of as a puppy died […]

I decided to get back into voice lessons. I was tired of saying to myself, “one day I will get back into singing!” I sing around the house all day and look forward to singing hymns at church. I think it is time to do something more with this love I have for singing.
My […]

Last week I was given the anti-biotic Bactrim. I went through two horrible nights of illness soon after. I had terrible chills and I had trouble breathing. I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed. The worst part was that my chest was in pain. I went to the doctor and she […]

I am now living in a townhouse in Prince William County, VA (in Woodbridge). Prince William County is a beautiful, less expensive county 30 minutes from Washington D.C. There are many beautiful parks, rivers, and friendly neighborhoods. There is a lot of shopping with a mall with a lot of outlets, and an Ikea. Ikea […]

I am actually excited! My back is real sore though. I will write more when I have time I promise!

Sometimes when you are raising babies by yourself, you feel yourself going into insanity. I do this when I am super tired and my children refuse to go to bed. Victoria’s teacher was absent yesterday so she was in a bad mood. She hates change and has been diagnosed with having separation anxiety problems. I […]

It seems that when toddlers reach 18 months old they receive this burst of energy that never burns out. Right now my youngest, Aron, is in that stage. It is time a when strollers are absolutely needed. If you don’t bring a stroller, be prepared to run and fight your toddler into you are exhausted.
I […]

I have been sick the past week, so it was party time for my kids! No more! Momma’s back and she is feeling fine! Victoria got four time outs. She is six years old so that means she got 6 whole minutes!! Jon got two time outs for four minutes. I gave Aron 30 second […]

Even though I felt terrible, I was able to pull off Victoria’s birthday party with success. My parents helped out a lot! I am thankful for all of the help I received this past week while I was sick with the flu. Many women from church came to help. They watched my kids, cleaned my […]

I was up all night trying to hear the news. It wasn’t because of Super Tuesday. We had tornado warnings all night. I was worried and could not sleep. At 10:30 I heard a rumbling and my lights flickered. Forty miles away a tornado touched down in a rural area and killed almost 30 […]

Though I felt deadly ill, I promised my daughter that I would make cupcakes for her class, and made them I did. Victoria helped me and it was a lot of fun being with her. I felt ok in the beginning, but after an hour I had trouble holding myself up. I so exhausted myself […]

* Fever of 100 F to 104 F, which can reach 106 F when symptoms first develop. Fever is usually continuous, but it may come and go. Fever may be lower in older adults than in children and younger adults. When fever is high, other symptoms usually are more severe.
[…]

My children had the flu! My poor babies. I discovered this when I became sick myself and recognized the symptoms. The flu is the worse Hell! Even worse when you have three babies to care for. Some how I am making it.
One thing that I have learned about the flu is that caffeine and […]

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do. . .
Even though I have three children, I felt like I was that Old Woman. It is very difficult to raise children alone, and I don’t recommend it!
I live in an apartment. Outside they […]

I had a full nights sleep last night! Aron, Jon, and Victoria all went to bed by 9PM. Jon woke up again because he is sick, but he went back to sleep. I went ot bed too! Oh, I have finally weaned off Aron!! I feel so free, and full if you know what I […]

I tried vitamin water last night and really like it. I drank the purple one that has potassium. I do feel revived. I noticed on the bottle the marking for 5 cents when you recycle the bottle in Hawaii and it brought back some funny memories.
I lived in Hawaii when they first started the […]

We are still sick. We have this annoying little head cold. Victoria missed her second day of school. She had a 103 degree fever last night and is still dizzy and weak today. I am also very weak. Taking care of three small children alone is difficult. Doing it sick is even worse.
I woke […]

With the leftover chicken I had from Sunday I made made chicken fried rice. I just fried some onions and garlic. Then I added the chicken and poured a little soy sauce in it. Then I added some rice and fried it all together until almost brown. The kids loved it. Yeah, it is not […]

I am afflicted with an addiction to genealogy. It is an inherited condition passed on from my paternal grandfather, to my mother, to myself. (DO you want me to draw my tree? Ahnentafel #’s 3 and 6 are the guilty parties!)
It started with trying to see if I am related to someone famous. Then […]

I took the weekend off to do research on the Majors family of TN, GA and SC. Genealogy is a lot of work but very rewarding. If you are a history buff, then genealogy is for you. At the same time I am reading a book about life in England during the year 1000 AD. […]

My brother recently started working for Pilgrim’s Pride and my children think that is real cool. He is a manager at a chicken plant. I rarely get Pilgrim’s Pride chicken because I usually just buy the cheapest chicken I can find and don’t look at labels. Well, I was getting out chicken to thaw and […]

This is my first time doing something like this, but it looks like fun! Thank you Kara!
Appetizer
How many times per day do you usually laugh?
-I don’t know. Probably more than most. My kids can be pretty funny!
Soup
What do your sunglasses look like?
-None because if I had some they would be twisted and broken. Sunglasses attract […]

The blog The Online Recipe Box has a page on the National Food holidays. There is a holiday for each date. I think it is a good way to plan a menu.
Today was National Peanut Butter Day which was interesting because I ate the usual snack my father eats when he is hungry, peanut butter […]

The overnight low will be 14 degrees. I put the kids in their warm pajamas with the footies in them to keep them warm. For supper we ate sausage and potato soup. I added some cabbage that I needed to get rid of. Since cabbage is so cheap right now I bought a few heads […]

I took Victoria to gymnastics class full of excitement. We had just read a gymnastics book together the night before. Victoria got reay an hour in advance and kept asking me if it was time to go to gymnastics yet.
We get there and watch one of her classmates practice. Her classmate was preparing for […]

Well, one of my goals this year was to be more organized. I am still working on that. I got the night time routine down. It is the morning routine I still struggle with. I hate mornings, especially now that it is cold. It was 30 degrees this morning. What was strange was that my […]

We ate leftover pizza and leftover spaghetti that I froze last week before I went to visit my mother. We ate fruit and crackers for dessert. I got home late because after going to the library, picking up Victoria, and going to the grocery store, I only had time for something instant. The kids got […]

It was a rough day. Jon missed his Papa so much and asked for him most of the day. Other than that Jon cried in that most annoying noise that reminds me of a scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber! I had to rush to the library because our books were due. We got […]

On Friday we ate a t McDonald’s! We were driving down to Alabama which is a three hour drive from where I live. I was going to wait, but the kids woke up after a long nap and began to fuss. When we got to my parent’s we ate Taco Salad. The missionaries came over […]

I went to Alabama to visit my parents during this holiday weekend. My husband is already in Virginia. Victoria understands why he is gone, but Jon does not and has been asking “when is Papa coming home?” Aron has been looking for Aziz at the door. Poor babies. I miss him too, but I know […]

I had a rough day yesterday. I was down and in low spirits. I can’t be a happy homemaker all of the time. Sometimes a homemaker has down days, days when it seems like the world is crashing in on you. My day was slow. I didn’t do much housework. I didn’t even read or […]

“Oh Oh Oh” is now Aron’s favorite thing to say. Aron has discovered new things to do with his face. He scolds and does this weird thing with his face. He opens his mouth wide and says, “Oh, Oh, Oh” He does this when we let him change the channel or in response to us […]

Because I took Victoria to gymnastics class last night, I didn’t have time to prepare a huge meal.
Victoria has gymnastics on Wednesdays 5PM to 6PM. She goes to a wonderful gym. Last night the advanced team was practicing and it was like watching routines that you see in the Olympics. Victoria worked on the bar […]

Yesterday the van died while I was driving to the grocery store. All of the sudden, the wheel stopped turning. and the brakes and the gas pedal stopped working. I used all of my strength to turn the wheel and roll into a Kroger parking lot. At least I got my grocery shopping done.
Today we […]

The whole family went ice skating last Saturday. Because of the military discount, we all skated for $8. I was wobbly at first, but then I got the hang of it.
We loved it so much that we plan to go again.
Even Jon Jon skated. He actually did well.

Spiritual Challenge: Go to the Temple. I need to go to temple classes and do some baptisms and try to be ready by March.
Service Challenge: Help my grandmother. I will write to her and call her and visit her by February. I would like my kids to sing a song for her and make a […]

Last night I took the kids to gymnastics class for a trial class. Jon Jon went first and then Victoria. This was Jon Jon’s first class. He listened to his teacher and loved the trampoline, but otherwise seemed to be tortured for an hour. I think I will wait until next year to put him […]

This is in Centennial Park in Downtown Nashville. It was such a lovely day on Monday that I decided to take the kids out to enjoy the fresh air after enduring the cold and sickness for so long.

Sorry that I haven’t written in a while. I have been battling illnesses in my family for the past three weeks. First, my 15 month old got the stomach virus and threw up the whole time I was at the Mall  of America in Minneapolis. Then, he had diarrhea all the way back home to […]

After three kids and over five years of marriage, Aziz finally has a new car, a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. I finally feel free!!

I always hear the advice, “remember to take your prenatal vitamins” because I am nurse all of my babies. I always avoided taking prenatal vitamins though because they make me so sick. I think I am sensitive to the iron.
With my first two children, I did ok. I nursed mainly in the mornings and at […]

We finally have our washing machine and dryer, cable, and DVD player all set up! I finally feel at home.
All I need to do now is to organize the closets and I will be done. I am doing so much better than my last move to Louisville. I was still post partum at the time […]

I heard about the infant medicine ban but did not think much of it. My kids were not sick at the time and I was too busy packing and getting ready to move.
Now my 5 year old and my 14 month old have pretty bad colds. My 5 year old daughter is coughing and my […]

My mother came to visit last Friday to help with unpacking and I already miss her. It was a lot of fun to talk about decorating ideas and to go shopping with her. She loves to decorate and doesn’t mind driving long distances to army bases! It is also nice to talk to someone about […]

Aron is 14 months old and I still haven’t had a period. In fact since I became pregnant with Aron I haven’t felt like myself. I have felt tired and out of it.  Part of it is the birth control I am on.
Well, I finally feel crampy and hormonal. I told my mom that I […]

It seems to be that our family Halloween tradition is to move to a new city and then find a place to go trick or treating. We drive around until we find a neighborhood with large homes and go there. Usually you find in the “rich” neighborhoods older couples and empty nesters who love to […]

I ha a Yard Sale today at my friend’s house. It was more fun than I thought it would be. Four hours flew by.
My friend threw a yard sale at her house and invited us who do not have a yard to sell our things. I brought some clothes and some baby things. My old […]

Melissa’s Place referred me to this fun website called makeoversolutions.com
I decided to go with with Jessica Simpson look. It was a lot of fun and a great way to try out new make up and hair colors. I always wanted to see what I would look like blond. . .

In all honesty I think I […]

I took these pictures in November 2004. I was in Hawaii and my husband was in Iraq. While I was cleaning my two year old daughter decided that she was thirsty after marking up the computer desk with permanent marker and stole the apple juice. She hid under the desk while I looked for her. […]

Last week I was still suffering from my annual month long cold. I was trying to prepare for our trip to Nashville and get all of the laundry done. I noticed that my clothes in the dryer had purple spots all over them. After searching for a pen I discovered crayon paper in the lint […]

February was a rough month for my family. My husband got laid off, he got Bell’s Palsy and became seriously ill, I was super sick and had gastroenterological problems.  At the time we felt like it was the end of the world.
Then my husband got a temporary job with Google and did some work for […]

Everyone knows that I fell off of a horse in December 2005. I found this link to how to fall off of a horse. After reading the page I have learned that I almost did everything right.
Yes, I was 1 month pregnant at the time. We are alright now though.

Well, the dizzyness and irritability is caused by labyrinthitis, an inner ear infection. Boy, do I feel terrible!

Goodness! The past few days I have not been myself. Well, I haven’t been myself more than usual. I am super tired and irritable and I feel like my brain is floating in my skull. I have hot and cold flashes and a feeling that the world is over. I feel like my body doesn’t […]

Today I went to Music Makers at the stake building. Music Makers is a music program for toddlers and preschool children in our stake.
First, we have our opening exercise where we sing a song to get to know everyone. There is a thought for the day for the moms and some announcements. Then we have […]

It is the middle of September so that means your local mall will probably open up one of those temporary Halloween Express stores.
Last night after eating at Frisch’s Big Boy, food that tasted like school cafeteria food, we checked out our Halloween Express in the building that used to have Dillard’s. We had fun looking […]

I can stand to be outside for more than 5 minutes. I can sit on my porch and read a book while the soothing wind blows through my hair. It smells cleaner and fresher outside. The smells reminds me of Trick or Treating at my Aunt Ida’s house as a child. It smells like school […]

The library is the most fun place for me. I guess that makes me strange. I love going through the aisles looking at all of those books. They take to me places all over the world. I travel all through time. I see all sorts of political opinions. All of that knowledge just waiting for […]

Last night I went to Victoria’s Open House. The first hour was pretty boring so I am glad that I did not take the kids. We got the PTA speech twice. I can’t join PTA this year because we might move anyway. I go to the PTA activities and try to support them because I […]

Last night I was on my exercise ball showing Jon Jon how to do stomach crunches. I was on the ball next to the couch. Somehow sat wrong and I fell off of the exercise ball and got stuck between the ball and the couch. It was difficult to pull myself up. In doing so, […]

There is a report says that over praising your can set them up for failure.
I had to laugh when I read this article because it made me think of this lady I saw a McDonald’s the other day. She had her two small children with her and she did everything by the book. Her kids […]

This week there has been a lot of changes. Victoria started Kindergarten this week. Because of that I am forced into a routine. I needed a routine anyways so that is fine. I am still getting used to it. I take naps when my youngest two do and spend most of my day in a […]

Nursing a baby is not only beneficial to the infants development, but to the mother’s emotional and intellectual development as well. Nursing forces a woman to pause, rest, and think. Some women use that time unwisely and worry about what needs to get done, or what they could be doing instead of nursing. I used […]

I want to publically thank my husband for allowing me to take a nap. For the first time in weeks I feel great. I also for the first time had a very vivid dream.
I was taking care of Aron and I put him in his car seat where he fell asleep. I then went to […]

I finally took the kids to the Louisville Downtown Library one hot day. Since I knew we would have to pay for parking I took three dimes to pay the meters so that I could have enough time to break a dollar. After driving around we finally found the parking lot. I put the three […]

I love my pediatrician and hate that I don’t have insurance to go back there. There is never a long wait and they have a nice train track for the kids to play with while Disney movies play on televisions throughout the office. I was have a little laugh when I pass the neighboring law […]

Our life is a battle a war of will. Right now we are battling the evil croup monster who is currently attacking my 10 month old son. I hate battling germs and goblins on the infant front. That evil croup monster makes my baby bark and struggle at night. I hold him at night until […]

You primarily lose weight for your health. In the past I tried to lose weight only to fit in skinny pants or to look good in a swim suit. Now I have more important reasons to lose weight. Unfortunately as you get older it is more difficult to lose weight.
Though looking at recent pictures […]

1. I don’t follow rules well
2. I won the most improved student award in high school right after stating out loud that only losers get the most improved student award.
3. I took Hula lessons in University
4. I crave kim chi and cheesecake but not at the same time
5. I have a long list of allergies
6. […]

My family and I took a little excursion to downtown Louisville, a mere 10 minute drive from my home if you go by freeway. Our first stop was the beautiful and fun Water Front Park. This park is right outside of downtown and overlooks the Ohio River. There is a huge playground built with a […]

As I was super tired, I spent a big part of my morning watchign Project Runway. Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model are the only reality shows I watch. Even then I watch them only on marathon reruns. I like watching how the contestants meet the different challenges and how each challenge tests different […]

junk food is no longer fun. I think about being “regular” and dread hemorrhoids. I have to make sure I have enough fiber. If I eat fried foods, I pay for it later. I even took my kids to a fast food restaurant the other day and just got me a water and refused to […]

I have been living the housework schedule of a 19th century housewife and I must say, it works. It is more convenient and organized. On Mondays, I do all of my laundry. Of course, laundry today is much easier than it was in the past. On the other hand, we have more clothes. I also […]

I actually finished all of my laundry. I prepared salads and vegetables for dinner that were very delicious. I made Salad Olivier, Green Bean Casserole, Black Eyed Peas, and Macaroni and cheese, the kids’ favorite.
I talked to my mother and told her about how tired I am. She asked me if I was taking […]

Saturday was another depressing day. We got our severance pay but most of it was gone due to taxes!!
I spent most of my morning griping about taxes.If I wasn’t taxed so much I could buy a house, an additional car, and I could even invest more. I am poor and I DO NOT WANT the […]

I wasn’t much into housekeeping today. I had trouble sleeping Thursday night even though I had to take my 6 month old son to the doctor for his check up. I am trying to keep a positive attitude through my trials, but last night I was overwhelmed with worry. I had little sleep and […]

Since I already went to the commissary last Friday, I did not need to go to the grocery store. I just cooked some instant food and spent most of the day trying to help my husband find a job. He told me his dream is to get into intelligence. He lacks clearance at this time. […]

Today is the traditional Wednesday baking day. I decided to do some baking of my own. I planned to make some Uzbek non for my family. I planned to wake up at 8:30, but my daughter woke me up at 7:30 coughing. I then had to nurse my son at 8 AM. I decided to […]