Frivolous Indecision

About 6 years ago we moved from California out here to Kansas City.

Now I can’t vouch for how things were 20 years ago, but I have to say that KC is not so “out in the sticks” as some would have one believe. There is probably some of the best restaurants in the country here. People are friendly and you don’t have to fight for your spot on the freeway. The shopping here is refined. While you don’t have a Nordstrom’s on every corner we do have a good number of shopping areas which have the upscale shops and designer styles. Granted things might not be as liberal or as cutting edge as living on either coast might be but I have truly come to love where I live. We are close enough to either coast it doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg to fly around the country. I love that my children can play outside and I don’t stress about cars, strangers, or any other urban danger on a regular basis. People care and are considerate of each other. There is a sense of community here that we never really felt before.

Now I’m not saying that this is the best place to live or that other places are not good for any other reason. I don’t love the ice storms that can come blowing through or the fact that tornadoes have a tendency to want to come crashing through from time to time in the spring. But as far as a place to live and enjoy a blessed life, we feel like this is a perfect fit for us. Just enough refinement with the symphony and the Broadway shows that tour through but far enough away to not have to deal with too many people or too much interference. It’s a good balance. And honey, this ain’t your mother’s Kansas City anymore! KC, she is moving up!

I mean just look! Where else can you see a giant badminton birdie?

KC is famous for her BBQ and the steaks we have had here are the best ever!

We have beautiful structures and amazing weather!

The minute you move here, you are a Chiefs fan. (As well as a royals fan) It doesn’t matter where you were before or what sport you watched. It is amazing to see how Chiefs fever catches on and takes a hold of you like nothing you have ever experienced. It’s almost viral! LOL

The sky line is beautiful and no where else in the WORLD can you actually SEE the “Hall of Justice” where the Justice League meets. (You old school cartoon and comic buffs will appreciate that

The Plaza is one of the best places to shop. Now anywhere there is a Tiffany’s just CAN’T be bad, can it? Of course not!

KC can claim the best gourmet chocolate EVER!  Yes, that is what I said….E V E R!  If you haven’t had Elbow Chocolates then you are just missing out.  If you have, well then, you know of what I am speaking. Right?  Right!

Some gratitude: 1. my green trees that line my property.

2. having seasons!…and beautiful weather!

3. The calmness and ease of life here.

4. the delicious food that can be found here!

5. Elbow Chocolate….yeah.

Well, you knew THIS was coming…right?  LOL

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Current Mood: Happy

A great day! A few things that made me happy today…

1. hearing my children laugh and splash around outside in the pool. 2. a clean floor when I got home. 3. relaxing on the couch with my Amore watching the game. 4. talking to my sister (she always makes me happy!) 5. hearing my 8 year old recite the 13th article of faith….with almost no help!

I love good days!

Current Mood: Happy

Well it has definitely warmed up and things are hopping around here! School is winding down. Four weeks left. The kids are hanging in there. No one wants to be inside when it is so beautiful and warm outside! I don’t blame them! But they are hanging in and getting their work done so that they can go outside as much as possible. We finally joined the country club and CW has been beside himself with golf lately. He is in heaven for sure. I really need to get my new camera so I can take pics. I’m sick of not having a camera. He and Jo joined the swim team this year as well. I’m excited for them. I think it will be good. Jo has her dance recital this weekend. She is totally pumped for it. She cracks me up. We have another meeting with the school to determine Payne’s services. I am glad we have made the changes we made. Things are a lot better for him since we have made a few changes for him.

I started a new blog. Just my own thoughts and personal events. It is here. That one will probably be more active since this I am trying to keep strictly to family stuff. heh.

I have been interrupted way too many times during this post. It is time I end it. LOL But not without my standard….

Grateful: 1. Beautiful Sunshine and warmth! 2. wonderful employees that make the bad days better. 3. my sweet children who thirst for the knowledge of Christ. 4. my understanding and compassionate husband who serves effortlessly without recognition. 5. my new car….I can’t help it. I love that thing!

Current Mood: Cool & Happy

Ready for Spring – can you tell? I whipped this up over the weekend and I really like it. LOL

Ready for our trip! We leave this afternoon and I am really excited on several fronts. Hopefully, we will come home with more than just a relaxing time with the kids. We will see.

Ready to hit the ground running with my shaping up for this year. With my workouts, my food, etc.

Ready to talk about what I am grateful for. Yes, this is a short entry. Yay me! LOL

Grateful for…. 1. airplanes that take me away. 2. kids that can help pack or will pack themselves without too much monitoring from me. 3. my employees and how great they are at just keeping things rolling when we aren’t around. 4. good books that let me escape. 5. the 70 degree weather that I will be headed toward here in a few hours. LOL

And of course…a little tune…

Current Mood: Happy

Okay I have 5 draft posts in my posts menu. I’m not really good at the finishing and posting thing, am I. Oopsie. Let’s see….I didn’t get a Christmas post in, I didn’t get my “end of year wrap up” post in, I didn’t get my “It’s a New Year and These are My Goals” post in, and finally I didn’t get my “here’s where I am” post in. So, Christmas was fun and the kids had a blast as did mom and dad. The end of the year recap helped me see all the wonderful things we accomplished and helped me look forward to our new goals both professionally and personally. The new year was rung in with a quiet evening playing games with the kids and hanging out with a good friend and her kids. We all had fun and went to bed promptly at 12:01 am. Happy New Year! That just leaves where I am….

I’m at work. Every. Day. I have to say for the most part I really really enjoy it! We have been able to get so much accomplished and things are really humming right along! Growth is always a good thing, even it is hard from time to time. It just seems like just when we think we can take a breath and regroup from growth, more growth just keeps coming instead. That’s good, right? ? ?

We are gearing up for our next WDW trip. Yes, we go a lot. Yes, we were just there. Yes, we are going again. With Payne’s recent issues and coordinating regression it just makes it all the more important for us to be able to spend time with him where we can effectively pull him out of his world and be more aware of our world.

I am still training and I am finally….FINALLY adding the food to my change here. It is helping….but slowly. I just need to stay focused which is not easy when your husband buys 10 boxes of thin mint girl scout cookies and 5 boxes of the samoas (yes I know that they don’t call them that anymore but I don’t care because that is how I know them and I’m not offending anyone…so there. LOL) But I am determined and I might just start logging my information here….maybe…at least my training sessions and possibly my food.

I am starting my gratitude journal back up….well, my online one anyway. LOL Oh which reminds me. I bought myself a small notebook that fits in my purse and I decided to write down little positive affirmations or things I am happy about or grateful for. I started doing this in December and I really love it. I love reading it, I love writing in it. I love how it makes me feel.

So…grateful am I…. 1..for my husband and his inspiration with our family, etc. 2..My scriptures and how I feel when I am reading them consistently. 3..my sweet boy who helps me out so much and has become SO responsible lately! 4..my health and strength. 5..my trainer and how he has helped me view myself and my food differently.

Gotta end with a video, right? LOL

I have all these aspirations of getting things done. Working on the family site, working on the autism site, blogging, pursuing some of my more passionate interests. Things I really like or LOVE to do. However, things just get in the way. Not the family stuff…the work stuff. I’m not complaining, mind you. We are incredibly blessed right now and I find work very stimulating and thoroughly enjoy working with Graigg and really watching our little business flourish. However….I am getting a little frustrated with the amount of time this little growth spurt has incurred and tromped into my personal time. I must say I guess I have been rather spoiled and in the past 3 months things just have been getting more and more busy. bah.

I had all the intentions of getting out Christmas cards this year. Here I sit on the 14th realizing that not only do I not have cards but my address list is sorely lacking and I don’t have the time or energy to even get it together. So, another year come and gone and all our friends and acquaintances will think that we are scroogies and don’t send out cards or feel like we want to spread Christmas cheer to our loved ones. I would care, but I don’t have the time to.

The kids have really kicked things up since things have been so busy. Their reading minutes have been sorely lacking but I can’t really complain since they are really helping tons with the house and other responsibilities. And since Payne refuses to go to school, his bus driver has been coming over and helping by watching him and helping out around the house. This has led me to believe that I need an Alice. I need someone to come in about 4 hours a day and just do general housekeeping. Wow, I sound spoiled. But, I must admit that would be the perfect gift.

Well, I have more I would like to say but every time I type out a line I delete it because it sounds boring and mundane. Maybe it is because the weather has decidedly turned against me and has made every effort to make me miserable every minute of the day. If it isn’t arctic winds at 25 knots (is that right? I don’t know. lol) then it is single digit temperatures. This Thing called winter is totally over rated when there isn’t snow and all fluffy before Christmas. I’m just saying.

Okay because I always have to have a song or a picture or both here you go….

No one can sing it like Bing…NO ONE. =)

Our kids and a couple friends being whos in Whoville before seeing The Grinch.

Current Mood: Happy

My life needed a reboot and the blog was not a part of it. Things are fine. We are all fine. Just a lot going on. Good, bad and ugly which always seems to be the case but, hey, that’s life! And, after all, “it isn’t what life brings you, but what you do with it that matters”. (I stole that straight out of Anne of Avonlea.) Much has happened….We took a much needed family vacation, met up with my kind, compassionate sister and her sweet family….we reviewed our finances and decided to take our company in a different direction. With the growth that we have encountered it was necessary for us to make some pretty big decisions….we had a death in the family…Feliz Navidad the Gerbil was laid to rest (in the dumpster outside the office), unfortunately the cause of death is unknown. As a friend said to me on FB “Vio Con Dios Feliz Navidad”. We had Halloween, which is always a very big deal with the Condiff Clan. There was a refocus on the family and some adjustments with activity schedules which have turned out for the best. And a flair up of sleep issues with the oldest which always leaves us walking around like zombies wondering if we are coming or going. LOL This weekend is stake conference and it seems that will be a big to-do since the time has come for a change in the stake presidency. This of course generally means an apostle comes and I am delighted that we will be able to hear from Elder Nelson. How exciting for those in our area what with the beginnings of the temple building and the change in the stake. This is pretty big for us members in this area particularly. G was asked to get his men’s group together to sing Brightly Beams for the priesthood leadership session and he is excited and nervous at the same time. He also was asked to help coordinate the seating set up for the Sunday conference at the local college as well as making sure things were set up for the leadership session on Saturday. Not to mention he is in the stake choir as well. Needless to say he is busy but it is a good busy. I am grateful for him every day. I joined a book club…it is called “Alisbookclub” HAHA! Anyway we meet next week to discuss our first book, The Help which I suggested and they were all obliging enough to go along with my bossiness. LOL I am really enjoying this book and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s opinions next week! We shut down the pool and put away all the back yard furniture, etc. So sad….summer is over.

Well, I have probably written enough. But, of course, I have to leave with some things I am grateful for… 1. a good book and the escape it can provide. 2. early morning silence. 3. the pilot G-2 pen – I love that pen! 4. my friends who call just when I need them most. 5. children who know how to do their own laundry.

….and, of course…a little music.

Just when I think I am moving right along….BAM! I just looked at the family calendar today and realized I leave THURSDAY for a cruise with some friends! EEP! I have done NO shopping for it what-so-ever and I really feel like I am not prepared for it in any way. That is so not good! I’m not prepared to leave Graigg and the kids either. Again, that is so not good! I’m going to have to really buckle down and get organized and things done right quick! Our sitter for Payne left for school. How dare he! LOL Now I need to find someone new to sit with Payne so we can go to church. The girl that was going to do it has plans tomorrow so it looks like I’ll be watching old conference talks, Spoken Word, and reading lessons on my own tomorrow. Le sigh. C’est La Vie, right?

I’m still trying to get a new theme completed for the blog. And, I am trying to decide exactly what I want to do with the family site. Other than a portal I don’t think there will be much on it. We will see.

Well, a little gratitude: 1. beautiful music that I find in the most unique places. 2. my knees…they work 3. mechanical pencils 4. my comfy couch 5. wireless things.

A picture:

No talking with your mouth full!

and of course – music.

Current Mood: Cool & Playful

So I thought I would lighten things up a bit after a bit of heaviness. I promise I am not all philosophical and serious all the time. Usually, I am frivolous and spontaneous. Well, I try to be anyway. I have found some new friends and I am excited. Today has been one of those stunningly beautiful days. The weather has been virtually perfect. I got up early and worked out and got in the office early. Not only did I get the weekly invoicing done like I needed to but I got all of our personal pictures, etc. uploaded on our FTP site. I have been “meaning” to do that for probably…oh….YEARS! But since I was in the mood and I was alone in the office I could do it. Now I have all our pictures on the FTP. The next step will be to get them in my gallery…yeah…about that….Well, lets just hope that it won’t take me another 5 years to do that. EEP! :O

We just got some plan ironed out for our next DW trip. I swear I need to do an “about us” page. I am so excited about this trip! My sister and her family will be joining us and the kids are flying HIGH! I can’t wait either! It is going to be a trip to remember! Maybe I should get a count down clock. Yeah…only it would be cool if it was an actual clock. Analog style. It would go backward instead of forward….It would make people think they are in wonderland. Hee!

I spent the afternoon by the pool with the kids in the back yard. I got home after being oh-so-productive and decided to just relax. Maybe I am getting lazy. Oh well, I don’t have enough energy to care right now.

I am not a huge fan of reality TV. I know, I know. But truly I have enough drama in my life, watching it is really not that entertaining to me. All I feel like doing is reaching through the television and shaking them and saying “WHAT is your deal?!? You are a certified FREAK in front of the WORLD!” Anyway, with that little judgement (haha) I do have to admit I have a total guilty pleasure. HGTV has Design Star. And, let’s face it. Nothing can be more entertaining than a group of primadonnas who think that they are the most original or talented interior designer only to see how utterly boring or completely tacky their taste is. I got thoroughly hooked last season and since we have DVR I can fast forward through the boring parts and laughing when the arrogant contestant says boldin faced into the camera that their design is the best only to find out in the elimination that they did the worst job possible. So, I lucked out because the new season just started last Sunday and I was able to record the first show on Thursday night. Thank you TV gods for re-aired shows! I have given the ultimate command to the offspring and have told them that if this show gets taken off the recording schedule there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and then I will come after them.

The man wants to go out to dinner tonight. I was perfectly happy just staying home. I don’t know. Something about being able to go a whole day without wearing any make up and not even caring sounded kind of nice. I am thinking if it is the local steak house I can make just get away with a little eyeliner and lip gloss. Of course he has to tell me he wants to surprise. Great…looks like I have to actually CARE about my hair and make up now. Hmmm…I need to develop the art of looking like I care when I really don’t.

Haven’t done a gratitude journal in a few days. I think it is time….

1. cute, clean, kid shows that have witty humor that I like. 2. google talk and being able to IM friends I am missing! 3. chocolate milk 4. girls night out at the movies with easy going friends. 5. my son who is still willing to do anything for me..even when it isn’t convenient. LOL

And just because we are disney/Tim Burton freaks I thought I would share this little piece of insanity…

So we went to Orlando last week and we had a wonderful time! The flight was a little rough but that is to be expected with Payne. The weather was ok. A little rain and not quite in the 70′s the entire week but hey, it beat the 7 degree weather that was going on back here! Haha!

I had a friend invite me to go with a group to go skiing. Now, please, understand, I don’t ski. At…all. Anyway, Graigg really thought I should go and he told me to. So, I am. What am I getting myself into? I have to admit I am a little anxious about this whole skiing thing. But, I am determined to have fun no matter what. Right? Right! LOL

So I leave tomorrow and I will be back in Thursday. Hopefully I will come home to a house that is still intact. I never would have done this if Graigg hadn’t encouraged me. That man pushes me beyond my comfort zone which is a good thing. I’d kinda rather be on a beach somewhere though. LOL

Wish me luck!