Wilson's World!

Do you have kitchen items with loads of sentimental value?  I do!  So I decided to take a picture of some of my favorites and share their stories with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So first there is the container with the ducks.  We had it in our kitchen growing up, now I store my wooden spoons and rubber spatulas in it.

The penguin ice cream scoop I bought for Chris when we were dating, it is definitely showing signs of its age, but I still love it.

The pan I bought when I first moved out of my parent’s home about 15 years ago.  I got a whole set from Kmart for $30 and this is the only left – definitely needs to be replaced.

The plastic spatulas are probably at least 10 years old, they are Rubbermaid brand and I love them.  They are my first choice when grabbing a spatula and now I have to throw away the small one because the white part is cracking.  It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend.

Last of all the metal pancake turner I’ve also had for about 15 years, but it’s older than that. I bought it at a second hand store, it already had 2 spots on the plastic handle that were melted – I liked the character of it.

What’s your favorite sentimental piece in your kitchen?

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So I have been collecting/saving my old formula cans for a few months now.  I finally got so many saved up I didn’t have any more room under the kitchen sink!  So finally I went online to find some ideas of what to use them for.  This is the website that got me started on most of my ideas.

So what I ended up doing with them was cutting up a couple cute gift bags and using those to cover the cans and now I am going to use them for kids’ snacks, single socks (that are missing their match), grocery bags (I reuse the plastic ones for garbage bags and now I can store some neatly upstairs), small toys and an “explosion kit” to keep in the car for diaper blowouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren’t they adorable?  I liked the idea of using them to gift cookies in also!  They were so easy to make, literally took me less than an hour to make 7 of them.  I like easy crafts that are hard to mess up, hehe.

I carefully took the wrapper off of one, used it to trace on the bags I had flattened, wrapped them around the can, taped it (you could hot glue it too) then decorated them with other parts of the bags or ribbons I had in my craft supplies.  See? Easy peasy.

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A few weeks ago I got to thinking about what a great man my father is and all of his great qualities.  I decided to write him a poem to let him know how special he is to me.  I haven’t written poetry in almost 10 years – I used to write a lot when I was depressed, but I haven’t had much time or reason for writing lately.  Anyhow, here is what I came up with….

My Dad

Silently I watch him pray,

He often has a heavy heart.

He has much on his mind,

9 kids, a wife and a job,

It’s a wonder he can pull it off.

But he has a refined dignity,

Giving advice to his children,

Leading through example,

Performing countless acts of service,

Feeding us spiritually daily,

He is concerned with the welfare of our souls.

With him it is not just lip service,

His actions match his words,

He is always striving to improve himself,

And trying to make the world a better place.

He seeks not the glory of the world,

He seeks only to glorify God.

I see him search the scriptures,

And meditate fervently,

He is a student of spirituality,

Never content to stop learning,

Ever investigating.

He puts his wife before himself,

Concerned more with her needs and wants than his own,

Never uttering a mean word or raising his voice,

He is a great example of what a husband should be.

I am joyous that he is part of my eternal family,

I look forward to eternity with him,

My mentor, my counselor, my Dad.

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I was laying in bed the other morning, half asleep but starting to wake up and I for some reason I came up with the idea of creating a personal mission statement that would keep me on track with my long term goals.  Here is what I came up with:

My Personal Mission Statement

To follow Jesus’s example and teachings.beautifully attractive, caring and supportive wife.  To be a patient, attentive mother and spend quality time with my children.  To treat those around me as my brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom.

So there it is.  I put a copy of it on my phone so I always have it with me.  I am going to try my hardest to live up to it – wish me luck!

 

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Be forewarned, I am about to get up on my soap box (again).  This seems to be the one avenue I have to get my opinions out there, so here it goes.

Last night I watched a movie with Chris entitled “I Don’t Know How She Does It”.  The movie was, in a word, disgusting.  The premise was a working, married mom of a 2 year old and five year old.  But the mother didn’t have just any job, she was a high powered broker that did a ton of traveling.  She remarked on her five year old daughter being upset with her all the time because she was gone but how her two year old was too young to notice (even though he wasn’t speaking at all by age 2).  I think just because a 2 year old is less likely to hold a grudge like a 5 year old does not mean they don’t notice being abandoned several times a week.

There were a few points in the film where they tried to portray the mom as the victim and make you feel bad for her – like when she was leaving for yet another business trip and her daughter tried to hold onto her hand so she wouldn’t leave.  The mom freed her hand then walked down the street crying, but I did not feel bad her at all, I felt bad for the daughter.  To have your own mother continually put her work first must have been awful for that little girl.

I know some moms must work to be able to support the household but I think it is clearly wrong when they take jobs where they regularly work 50+ hours a week.  Then they pretend like they don’t understand why their kids are resentful of them, they can’t keep up at work, they are sleep deprived, and their husbands are unhappy from being neglected as well.  Everything in their life ends up suffering and unfortunately, kids are just another casualty.

Then to top it off they had stay at home moms which they nicknamed “Momsters” who were portrayed as the villains.  They showed them dropping their kids off at school with perfectly made cookies for the bake sale and then going off to the gym for the next 6 hours until it was time to pick the kids up again.  The “Momsters” were also very rude and condescending towards the working mothers.  I guess making stay at home moms the “bad guy” makes the working mothers feel better about neglecting their kids?  I do not know ANY stay at home moms that go to the gym all day – they are usually doing laundry, making meals, paying bills, running errands, cleaning their home, grocery shopping, or any of the other million things it takes to run a household.  Stay at home moms are less likely to have cleaning ladies or other outside help.  They often have older kids in schools and tote toddlers with them while they try to get all the things done that they need to.  But yeah, make stay at homes the bad guys for (as the movie so condescendingly puts it) “wanting to raise my own kids”.

By the end of the movie everything comes to a head as the mother is asked to go on yet another last minute business trip, but this time she stands up to her boss and tells him she can’t go that day, she’ll have to go the next week.  He relents and apparently that is a happy fix, she is still going to work at the same place she is just going to get to “call more of the shots”.  Oh, and her 2 year old turns 3 at the end and starts talking.  And somehow I suppose her marriage miraculously survives even though she is too tired to have sex with her husband or even have a calm 5 minute conversation with him that is not (as he complains) “only about logistics and how they are going to survive that day.”

Whenever you find yourself rationalizing or justifying your action in your head you can best believe it’s because you are doing something you shouldn’t (in this case neglecting your children).  Our Relief Society class this week was taught by a girl in our ward that recently turned 18.  She talked about mothers and their relationships with their kids.  Her underlying theme was that she didn’t want a mom that bought her everything but then ignored her and she didn’t want her mom to be her best friend, she wanted her to be interested in her and support her.  She wanted a mom that asked questions about her day and sat down for a meals.  She is lucky that she DOES have a mother that does those things for her.  Even teenagers (who often seem indifferent) want the love, time and attention of their parents.  She said there were so many parents (of her friends) who seemed more interested in being on the computer or wrapped up in their own worlds.

I am so happy with my decision to be a stay at home mommy.  It’s not an easy job, it’s hard as heck, but it is the most rewarding job on earth and sometimes it’s pure heaven.  We might be a bit more financially constrained than those with double incomes but it is so worth it!  Even if we had to live in a much smaller home or an apartment I would gladly do that over leaving my children at daycare.  For anyone that is trying to make the decision of whether or not to be a stay at home mom I say, “Do it!  You will never regret it and your kids will thank you for it one day!”

I will now be climbing down off my soap box.

 

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