COVID-19 Schedule

I thought that I would post the schedule that is currently working for my family.

The ages of my kids are 18, 16, 12, 10.

I have always been a schedule person (see here).

5:30am-8:00am - Mom time (this is when I exercise, read scriptures, pray, get ready, etc)
8:00am - Breakfast
8:30am - Family scriptures
9:00am-11:00am - School work
          -Snack break-
More school
12:00pm - Exercise time
12:30pm - Lunch
1:00pm-2:30pm - Quiet Time
2:30pm - Zone cleaning
          -Snack break-
3:00pm-6:00pm - Project time/other school/free time
6:00pm - Dinner
They take turns picking a movie or show to watch every night after the kitchen/dinner is all cleaned up. As long as they got all of the necessary school work done.
9:00pm - Bedtime

It's working pretty good for us so far.

I'll post more about each block another time.

I'm trying to post a little bit more to record memories of this time.

Ultimate Intimate

I went to girls camp for the first time more than 35 years ago.

I made some really good friends.

There were three of us that called ourselves, "Ultimate Intimates".

We weren't even in the same ward or in the same school.

We saw each other at stake activities.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we stayed close.

At least two of us did.

We grew up together going to youth conference and stake dances.

I think we even dated the same boy once. :-)


Then it was off to college.

We went to the same one, but hung out with different crowds.

We worked together in the summer.

And after that "last single summer" we went our separate ways.

Not by choice; just by life.

She got married the summer I left on a mission.

We didn't keep in touch.

But, luckily, our parents did.


One summer, about eight years ago, my kids and I lived in Virginia with my parents.

My friend was also living there with her husband and three daughters.

We went over and had dinner with them.

It was a little chaotic with my gaggle of children.

But, we laughed and visited and got reacquainted (somewhat).

Then we moved on with life again.


Last week, my friend brought her daughter to college here.

Her mom told her I lived in the area and so she reached out.

We decided to meet up for brunch.

I can't explain the feeling I had as I saw her walking towards me.

She looked exactly the same as I remember.

I had all kinds of emotions come up.

We hugged each other for a long time and had to wipe some tears.

And then went to eat, but mostly visit.

It wasn't one of those awkward visits either.

It was real.

We talked about real stuff.

It was just the two of us this time and it was perfect.


Why is it that I would feel so close to someone and share so much with this person that I haven't talked to in eight years?

There was a real comfortableness for me.

Maybe from knowing that she knew the real me from a long time ago?

I'm sure I could get more philosophical about it.

But, really, my heart is telling it's because we truly are ultimate intimates.

Thanksgivings

These are my thankful posts that I did on Facebook. I'm re-posting it here on my blog to help me remember.

November 1 at 9:15pm ·
I'm going to try and post something I'm thankful for every day until Thanksgiving. Because, I need to have more gratitude in my life.

First, I am most thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and the Atonement.
 
November 2 at 6:56pm ·
I am so thankful to be married to someone who believes in me more than I believe in myself. Who loves me the most and helps me be a better person. It doesn't hurt that he's super hot!
 
November 3 at 9:40pm ·
I am so thankful for my kids who drive me crazy, make me laugh, bring me to tears and my knees, and fill my life with so much love and joy.

November 4 at 9:17pm ·
I am thankful for a living prophet who speaks God's word to the world today, just as in ancient times. And for apostles who direct Christ's church on the earth. 

November 5 at 6:47pm · 
I am so thankful for my home. That I have a roof over my head, and heat for cold nights. And indoor plumbing and a refrigerator, stove, oven, sink. It is a true blessing.

November 6 at 8:33pm ·

I am so thankful for my body. I never want to take for granted the fact that I'm able to walk, run, exercise. And that having this particular body of mine allowed me to birth 7 children!

November 7 at 7:26pm ·
I am so thankful for my parents who raised me with love and taught me correct principles. They are perfect examples of focusing their lives on doing good and serving others. — with Sandra Banks and Douglas Banks.

November 8 at 7:54pm ·
I am so thankful for friends. The neighborhood where I grew up and learned to play and high school where I was a teenager (enough said). College roommates who helped me define myself and mission friends who taught me to serve. And no matter how many times I have moved or the numerous places I have lived there have always been amazing friends who have walked with me on this difficult/joyful path of life. Thank you!

November 9 at 5:23pm · 
In the same theme as yesterday, I am so thankful for my first friends - my siblings. Even though we had our moments growing up, and we now all live pretty far away from each other, and we aren't the best at keeping in touch, I know that my family would do anything for me. Feeling the love from and for Jeff, Pam, Jared, Christie, Katrina.

November 10 at 6:39pm · 
I am thankful for my husband's family which is also now mine. My in-laws raised an amazing son! (as well as 6 more sons and a daughter) I love that I get to carry their name and teach my children what it means to be a Cluff.

November 11 at 7:35pm ·

I am so thankful to live in the United States of America. I am thankful for the many freedoms that I enjoy. And I am thankful for all of those who have served to help protect these freedoms. 

November 12 at 8:59pm ·

I am so thankful for this small, quirky, awesome town that I live in. Even though it is below freezing most of the winter, and winter lasts until May, it is home. I love the mix of college students, young families, senior citizens, college professors, and farmers. I love the schools my kids go to and how I can drive the whole town (in traffic) in less than 20 min.

November 13 at 8:50pm · 
I am so thankful that my husband has a job that supports our family. This hasn't always been the case and I do not want to take for granted the fact that he works so hard for our not so little family in a job that is not always the easiest.

November 14 at 8:59pm · 
I am so thankful for weather. The different seasons; thunderstorms; blizzards; big puffy clouds; humidity; below freezing; radars; cold fronts, warm fronts, occluded fronts; the color of the sky before a big storm; the slight warm-up before the snow. Everything about it!
 
November 15 at 11:32pm · 
I am thankful for curry. The end.

November 16 at 8:11pm · 
I am so thankful that I can read the words of God in the scriptures. I am thankful for the Old Testament with the many stories and warnings of faith. I am thankful for the New Testament and the words and life of Jesus Christ and his apostles. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon which also testifies of Christ. I am thankful for the Doctrine & Covenants which has latter-day revelation from God. Reading the scriptures is when God talks to me.

November 17 at 9:38pm · 
I am thankful for teachers. They sacrifice so much to do something that they love for people that they learn to love. My kids have had such fabulous school teachers. And I love that I still remember my teachers and lessons taught to me in elementary school on up. And I'm thankful when church teachers prepare in such a way that I can continue to ponder their words during an entire week.
 
November 18 at 7:19pm · 
I am thankful that I have a car to drive around. And that it works more often than not. And that it fits my large family. I would love to be a public transportation person, but my town is not built that way. And grocery shopping would have to be completely different without a car.
 
November 19 at 7:11pm · 
I am thankful for the temple and the covenants that I have made there. I am thankful that 20 years ago today, my husband and I were married and sealed together in the Washington D.C. temple. And not just for time, but also for eternity. And I'm thankful that as I do my best to keep those covenants and through Jesus Christ, the family that we have created together will also be together forever.
 
November 20 at 5:06pm · 
I am so thankful for music. It has a way of reaching my soul like almost nothing else. I love all kinds. It sometimes (always) makes for a very loud house with a cello, trumpet, piano, synthesizer, pandora, etc. playing. But I'm thankful for the joyful noise that music is.
 
November 21 at 3:24pm ·
I am thankful for time. Two scriptures come to mind when I think of this. Ecclesiates 3:1-8 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...";

Alma 34:32 "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
Even though it seems like I don't have enough some days and other times I want it to speed up, I am thankful that I have time.

November 22 at 10:15pm ·
I am thankful for my ward/congregation family. I am thankful for the mix of personalities that come together for a common cause. And even end up getting along and loving each other. I'm surrounded by fabulous people.
 
November 23 at 1:47pm · 
I am thankful for answered prayers. Even when they are not answered the way I expect or want. I am thankful that God hears me and knows what I need.

November 24 at 8:34pm · 
I am thankful for our chickens. I love being able to walk past the egg section of the grocery store and not have to fill it with cartons and cartons. I was a little skeptical at first (being the city girl that I am) but I love gathering eggs every day and feeding them to my family.

November 25 at 6:47am · 
I am thankful for my education. I was never a serious student and I never got a "career" from going to college. But, I'm thankful I had the opportunity to learn and get wide experiences that have expanded who I am.

November 26 at 7:29pm · 
I am thankful to live close enough to my oldest's university that she can be home for Thanksgiving and help me make pies! — with Kensington Cluff.

November 27 at 7:44am · 
Happy Thanksgiving!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbXvCZfiOVM

Let's go to the Movies!

I love movies.

My husband loves them too.

I remember when we were first married going to two movies, in the theater, in one day.

And we love all types.

We watch romance, comedy, action, drama together.  

All of it.


One of my favorite things is to go to a matinee movie and come out when it is still light outside.  

It always gives me a thrill to walk out of the theater into the light.  

I think it has something to do with being so involved in a movie and coming out to the real world all lit up.  

"Oh yeah.  Real life."


I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to movies.  

I can't tell you the actors or the year it was made or what awards it won. 

And sometimes I can't even remember the plot that well.

I watch purely for enjoyment.


I'd like to think we're passing this on to our kids.  

We go on a date every Friday (at least we try to) and the kids take turns picking a movie to watch.

They love choosing movies from our local library or they pick something we have.

We've tried to introduce them to the classics like Davy Crockett, Herbie, Apple Dumpling Gang, Home Alone.  

And on Sundays they get musicals: White Christmas, Annie, Singing in the Rain, Annie Get Your Gun, etc.

Unfortunately, we can't show them too many movies from the 80's.  We've discovered that the language and innuendos are more intense than we remembered.


There have been sometimes, when the kids are on vacation, that we'll have a whole week of "Mom and Dad" movies. 

I think this might be one of those weeks.  

Saturday started with Support Your Local Sheriff.

Sunday was, Mr Blanding Builds His Dream House.

Thanks to our generous Aunt, we'll be going to Despicable Me 2 in the dollar theater tonight.

Any suggestions for the rest of Thanksgiving week?

Being Rooted (for)

When I was a kid, every Monday night when we would gather as a family, one of us would have the job to tell a story about one of our ancestors.

We had a drawer full of personal histories to choose from.

There were several stories that got repeated over and over again and became our favorite. And even though we had never met these ancestors we felt like we knew them through these stories.

When we got older, our parents compiled a notebook with these stories, and a few others from our pioneer history, and gave them to each of us to use in our Family Home Evening.

We love doing this in my family and now my kids have their own favorite stories that they share over and over again.

My parents have continued to put together histories of different ancestors and give us copies through the years.

A few years before my Grandpa died, my Dad put together his Dad's personal history in a book format.  It was a huge work of love and he had it published. 

It was so fun to learn new things about my grandpa and I felt so much closer to him.

Having caught the "book publishing" bug, my Dad decided he wanted to put together all of our old family history stories into a book format. 

He and my Mom gathered all of the old stories we used as children and found some new ones.  They even put stories from our own family growing up.

Each of my children just got their own copy as well as a copy of their great-grandfather's book!


For Christmas one year my father-in-law gave us a journal from his side of the family. As I was reading through some of his family's history, I thought that some of the stories sounded very familiar.

I wondered if our ancestors knew each other.

Then sometime around our second or third year of marriage my husband and I were taking a family history class and we came across a line that didn't branch like the others.  We realized that we shared a common ancestor.  (I believe it is our 5th great-grandparents.  Which, I think means we are 5th cousins.)

One of the histories that my mom put together actually included stories of this common ancestor. 

I was so thankful that I had been given information about these ancestors so that I felt like I knew them.

In fact, I had this vision of them in heaven; my ancestors and my husbands, looking down on us and celebrating that their descendants had gotten together. It seemed as if all of their work/history was being combined into our family. 

What a powerful thing to feel that we have our own (not so) little cheering section up in heaven rooting for us to honor their name and continue the work that they started here.

Re-Gifting

Last year when my parents came out to visit, my mom brought me a present.

It was a flower from a Sweetheart's dance that I went to in high school.

My date didn't have a real corsage to give me until we got into the car to leave and then he just kind of threw this flower thing into my lap.

It was fake and it had a safety pin on the back.

I refused to wear it. I was humiliated.


My mom is still friends with his mom.

When she brought it to me I found out that it had come from one of her dresses and that she hadn't realized, until too late, that he had taken it for the dance.

For 25 years, every time she saw it, she would think of me.

She thought that I should have it.

I'm glad I can laugh about it now, because it was definitely not funny to my 17 year old high school self.


My daughter is going to her first high school dance this weekend. 

Since she's never really done this before and the boy hasn't either, she's a little worried about how it's all going to work. 

She asked me if I thought he would get her a corsage?

I told her that I had an extra one that I could lend her in case he didn't.

Running Hills (part 2)

When I was in college, there was a hill I used to run up; from my apartment to a boy's house. 

About a month ago I spent the night at my sister's house in Orem.  Close to where I went to college.  I went running that morning and decided to run "the hill."

A flood of memories came back to me.  I remembered all the thoughts that used to occupy me as I ran. 

I didn't really like who I was back then. 

There was the angst of boyfriend issues, the worries of what would become of my life. 

I think I may have used that hill as a punishment.  I thought that if I could make it up this hill then I could control the other "out of control" things in my life. 

What a difference 20 years makes. 

I was amazed at just how different I felt. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.

I had the biggest smile on my face as I ran past his house.  I remembered all the good memories, and realized I really like who I am now.

Don't get me wrong.  I still have angst and worries about the future.  And I definitely have lots of improvements to make in my life.

But, getting to the top of a hill does not make that stuff go away.


The reward of running hills is not getting all my problems behind me.

The reward is the actual running of the hill. 

It's what makes me stronger.

highlights

Mothers of teenage daughters - unite! My oldest came home from school and said, "guess what? my friend's mom took all of her clothes away and is making her pay to get them back." HA!


My magical powers are increasing daily.


Halloween discussion between children:

"maybe I'll be a vampire"
"as long as you're not a sparkly one"

The curse of the jumper: what is it with jumpers making me gain weight?


I drove the "smaller" car [chevy suburban] the other day and hit my head getting in. I felt so little driving it.


Just a few updates and some things that I've meant to blog about but haven't.

(by the way, you have to click on the underline stuff to "get it")

Some Things Never Change

Spending the majority of the summer where I grew up, I had more than ample opportunity to walk down memory lane. As I did, I realized that some things never change (sort of):


Living with my parents.
I cooked a lot more; and cleaned a lot more than I ever did as a kid.

Giggling with a girlfriend from girls camp.
We’re both moms now with our own daughters going to girls camp.

Looking at myself in the same mirror where I would primp for stake dances.
I was changing a diaper and wasn’t as worried about my hair, make-up or the last dance.

Driving a van on the freeway with my dad in the passenger seat holding his arm rest with a death grip.
It didn't make me nervous; it just made me laugh.

Running up the hill behind my school to the field hockey field.
I was carrying a baby, racing my kids, and could barely make it up once.

Crossing 5 lanes of traffic to get to a left exit in less than 1 mile going 55 mph.
There’s an exit on the right hand side now for (wimps) those who don’t like to take risks.

Driving to my high school in a van with a bunch of kids.
I wasn’t listening to The Cars or New Edition. And they were my kids so there was no way they thought I was cool.

Going downtown to the monuments and museums.
I wasn’t on a school field trip so I didn’t have my soda can wrapped in tin foil. And I actually tried to understand the history and importance of what I was seeing.

Riding a crowded metro train.
I wasn’t an obnoxious kid that didn’t see the commuters roll their eyes.I was a mom that people would give up their seats for. (I may have seen some eyes roll as they tried counting the number of kids I had with me.)

Getting lost in Anacostia on the way home from National Airport.
I wasn't nervous. Mostly because I was with my husband and it was just nice to be alone for a while after not seeing him for 6 weeks.


It was a fabulous summer. I'm pretty sure I have the coolest parents ever.

It's nice that some things never change.

And it's nice to be with people you love.

You know, the ones who make all the good changes possible.

Behind

I am really behind in the whole scrapbooking thing.

I am horrible about taking pictures of things (I totally rely on my sister).

I'm even worse about organizing them (in some way other than in whatever folder they happen to download to on the computer).

Are my children are missing out?

When I do remember to take pictures I'm always disappointed because I end up viewing the important event from behind a little screen.

It bums me out to see these events second-hand.

I feel like I'm missing out.


- - - pause for light-bulb moment - - -

(self-talk q:) what is the purpose of recording these events?
(self-talk a:) I suppose its for those participating to have some reminder.


Could this be one of those sacrifices that we as parents, should make for our children? (I'm so not good at this whole sacrifice thing; isn't it all about me?)

I may miss out on some of the present excitement, but then that memory is carried on for my child and others.

Is that the deal?

Help me out here. Because I feel like I'm missing out either way.

(Maybe if I did it more often I could be confident of holding the camera just right and not have to look through it to get the picture?)

Dancing With My Star

I have this great memory from my childhood.

It's dancing with my Dad.

We had a daddy-daughter dance once and learned "The Minuet".

I can still remember some of the steps.

So, when I was put in charge of the activity for the girls (8-11yrs) at church, I thought of this.

It was a low key night. We just had punch and cookies.

Most of the dads who came with their daughters were very reluctant about dancing (including my own daughter's father) .

The girls, on the other hand, seemed to be beaming because they had their dads to themselves (I remember that feeling).

Anyway, I taught them the waltz. Just the basic box step. I also taught the Electric Slide; just to the girls (kind of to give the dad's a break). And then we ended with a final waltz to Journey's Open Arms.

It was fun, but I think my favorite part was listening to the girls giggle. They had so much fun.

I'm not sure if any memories were made for these girls, but it was nice for me to relive mine.

I love my Dad.