Helping one another.

           Last week I had a sister from our church (we call the women in our church sisters, because we believe they are our spiritual sisters) call me up. She told me she was going to be starting a group with a bunch of other women from our church and circle of friends and wanted to invite me. I have to admit I always get nervous when I hear this. I begin to think... what kind of group?  I start feeling the pressure of feeling like I have to join them.
           She went on to explain what we would be doing.  Each week we would go to one of the women's home and help her out on a project.  I admit my first reaction was "I don't want everyone coming here and cleaning my house! How embarrassing."  But then she went on to explain herself that we are all so busy, most of us have young children at home.  We own homes and have all these projects or things we'd like to do, every women has a list of projects.  None of us have time to do all of them. Our husbands have this huge long list as well and he can't get around to it either.  

           So her solution to this was get 6-8 women together. Bring all the kids and let them play (or fight) while we all help one of the women finish up or work on one of her big projects that she has going on and can never seem to get done. By the time she was finished telling me her idea, I started catching a glimpse of it and thought Wow! That is an AWESOME idea.

           So today was our first day. We went to her house at 9am. (It's only supposed to last about 2 hours) There were about 7 of us.  She wanted to finally finish painting her bedroom. So we all went to work and finished it in an hour and half.  It's now done. Who knows how long it would have taken her to do it on her own with all her young children.  Next week we'll go to someone else's house.

           The more I've thought about it the more I realize how wonderful this really is.  I have been wanting to paint some walls since I've moved in. Months later it still hasn't gotten it done with all my kids. What a relief to know that every two months, no matter what happens between those times, I'm guarateed to get one of these projects finished!  What a relief, how fun and exciting!  In two weeks it's my turn and my kid's bedrooms will get painted! Yeah!  It doesn't have to be painting. It can be anything. Next week we are going to another sister's house to help her clean her mudroom from top to bottom.  Another sister wants all her cabinet doors painted.  You could clean people's carpets. I want some canning done that I can't seem to get done with the kids. So they'll eventually help me peel and cut veggies and prepare a bunch of stew mix I want canned.  

           In this day and age we are too busy! We don't have enough time to do everything we would like to do. So it gets us down, it frustrates us, and we never see an end to all these projects.  For some reason we would never dare ask someone to help. We assume it's up to us to do it all.  It's not! Imagine how much more would get done if we all helped each other.  Not only that.  Imagine the kind of friends that would come from it.  I loved hanging out with these ladies this morning. We were able to talk about our kids, our families, our ideas for decorating our own homes. We shared tips, and ideas.  We were serving each other. How could we not all become good friends after serving and helping each other every week.
           Are you busy? Have you got too many projects that are never getting done?  You don't have to do it by yourself. There are tons of other women out there in the exact same boat, and you could all benefit from helping each other.  Just go ask them if they want to join you...:)

Such a cool idea!

           Is this not the coolest picture you've seen!  I found it on flickr taken by Rene Eharhardt.  It's painted on the side of some outer wall of a House. Old Town, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.  Amazing isn't it?  Lots of things have been inspiring me lately.  

Life as a home owner

           Well we've experienced the life of the homeowner's curse. Once one thing breaks down, it all goes! Last week it got cold enough to turn on the furnace only to find out that it was no longer working. It worked great earlier this year when we needed it, but suddenly it doesn't work now. The furnace was ancient, as old as the house is and we were lucky it even got a green sticker. Well when they came to check out what the problem was and see if it was possible to fix, they walked in, took a look at it and said "we're not even bothering to check, that thing needs to go!" So while I was at the ScrapGirls convention, we got a new furnace installed, which was half the size of the first one.
           This morning we were eating breakfast while Beau was in the shower when I suddenly heard really loud strange electrical noises and zapping coming from our pantry where the furnace, water heater, washer and dryer are located. I rushed in and smelled something burnt and ran to tell Beau that something blew in the pantry. He asked if I could tell what it was, and before I could even make it back to check he starts hollering and getting as close to swearing as the guy gets. He suddenly was getting spewed dark, sooting, nasty, black burnt water in his shower. It went in his mouth, up his nose and he was covered in it.... hmmm good guess that it was the water heater. He had to turn of his hot water and hollor while he froze in the ice cold water trying to rinse that nasty burnt stuff out of his hair, body and mouth.
           Soon he came to check it out since we weren't quite sure what had happened. To be safe since the water heater seemed to be gone, he went to turn the gas line off to it, and while turning the valve touched the dryer at the same time, giving him a good electrical shock. What in the world? Well we had no idea what was going on. There is no electrical wires or anything running to the water heater, and yet I was positive that what I had heard was electricity. How do you get a zap from a water heater that is not hooked up to anything electrical.
           Well we closed the door, to keep everyone out till we could get someone out to fix it. He started getting on his bike to take off when I heard it again, only this time it was worse. I glanced in to now see water spraying from the pipes leading to the water heater, and the smell of burned materials was even stronger now. He rushed in to see water spraying, and since the house is so old there is not a turn off valve for the water to the water heater, so he had to run outside and turn off the water to the house.
           So today we got to find out why we've been storing emergency water... not for natural disasters of any kind or famine. It's for times like this when you have a house full of kids 5 and under and no water anywhere in the house. You need things to wash your hands with after changing diapers, you need something to flush the toilet with and something to drink. You have no way to wash any type of dishes and clean up any messes. It's been a rather exciting day. Luckily we are leaving town for the weekend and can have water at the motel and a shower which I'm really wanting about now.
           In the process of trying to get this whole problem fixed, the people we're going through called up to let us know that when the man fixed the furnace he also got zapped by electricity. Since that happened, there is some electrical problem which requires fixing before they will replace the water heater. They can't work on it because it's a danger zone. Yeah no kidding. (We knew this old house would need rewiring at some point, because we can't even run the microwave and the toaster at the same time without flipping the breaker.) So tomorrow an electrician is coming out with the furnace man to see if they can figure out something with the electrical problem, so they can get us some water again and a new water heater.
           Poor Beau got quite the shower, was late for class this morning between the exciting happenings, didn't do so hot on his test, found out his lab wasn't working like it should (which was due), and now BYU is losing the football game. As he words it "The perfect end to a perfect day."
           (Really despite how awful all this homeowner stuff sounds it has really been a HUGE blessing with perfect timing.)

That time of year!

           Savannah had a field trip yesterday to pumpkinland. She was so excited! Ever since she got back she's been asking if we could carve her pumpkin. So today she drew her face, they cleaned it out, and I carved it. I forgot how much fun it is. Hopefully soon the whole family will get to go get our own and have a night of fun. I love this time of year!