To be OCD or not

My name is Emily.  I am recovering...from OCD.  Is that even possible to get rid of OCD?  Yep.  Let me explain.  I have been married for 17 years and now have 3 boys.  The first few years my daily was consumed by making sure my house was always clean, laundry was always caught up and dishes were always done.  Really, though, how many messes can 2 adults make while going to school and work most of the day?  Then 5 years into marriage we had our first son.  Of course the amount of laundry increased, but I was still able to keep up.  He was easy and liked TV.  Plus, I think there really is something about 1st child not liking to get dirty (again, the increase in laundry).  Then, 4 years later son #2.  I had to learn to let things go.  A. LOT.  If there was something to get into or a mess to be made, #2 found it.  From flour in the pantry dumped on the head, to pots and pans or utensils all out of the drawers or filling up toys with water, a large jar of Vaseline all over the hair (at least 2 inches thick), fingernail polish dumping...you name it, #2 did it.  So, I was busy cleaning up his messes and keeping up got a lot harder.  Part of the problem is the time he was 1 or so I started working from home full time, so he was sneaky.  Yes, I got tired, things started to slide a bit.  Another 4 years, #3.  Working full time, 3 kids and husband, lots of housework.  Boy #3 is a mix of #1 and #2.  He will watch TV, but likes to eat in front of the TV and draw pictures on printer paper and then cut them out, leaving lots of messes of broken crayons and bits of paper.  Plus, add Grandparents in the mix who think they have to buy 8 million toys every Christmas and birthday and what do you have?  A VERY CLUTTERED HOUSE.  And now, unfortunately, I'm 37 and starting to slow down.  It still drives me completely bonkers to have toys all over the floor and chips broken and mushed in the carpet, crumbs on the kitchen counter and dishes in the sink along with dirty clothes, shoes, coats all over, not to mention 4 loads of laundry to fold, 4 to wash (not counting what is on their bedroom floor); however, I'm just tired of being the nag asking everyone to pick up after themselves.  Results?  A house that I am ashamed of and hope nobody "drops by" unexpectedly or that I don't have to ask the neighbor to come unplug the crock pot while I take one to guitar (yes, that happened last night).

I'd like an excuse or reason the dust bunnies are growing by leaps and bounds and cobwebs are the latest decor, but mostly just because my give a darn is busted currently.  If anyone wants to take intervention before my house shows up on the latest episode of hoarders or Extreme Home Makeover, feel free.  Just give me a warning so I can clean up a little first. ha ha

Really, though, I think letting things relax a bit is a good thing.  I just need to reach a happy medium and find a balance.  That's the trick I haven't learned yet.  If you are a good organizer please feel free to share your tips and tricks, especially when it comes to toys.

While I sit here in disgust of my house I'm also very grateful that I have 3 healthy kids and a husband who are here to make messes because I keep telling myself that some day I will wish for the day that I had it all back.

A yummy healthy recipe

If you remember, one of my New Year's resolutions was to fix healthier food for my family.  I made a turkey and had some left over and found this recipe in a recipe book from Swanson's easy low fat recipes book.

Zesty Turkey and Rice
1 can chicken broth (I made my own with buillon and water.
1 tsp dried basil leaves, crushed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 can (14 oz) stewed tomatoes (I used some I had bottled myself)
3/4 uncooked regular long grain rice
1 c frozen peas
2 c cubed cooked turkey or chicken

In medium saucepan mix broth, basil, garlic powder, hot pepper sauce and tomatoes.  Over medium-high heat, heat to a boil.  Stir in rice.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook 20 minutes.  Stir in peas and turkey.  Cover and cook 5 minutes or until rice is done.

*If you are really in a hurry, do it like me.  I made minute rice separately while I cooked the broth mixture.  Then I put the cooked rice, turkey and broth all together and just made sure it got hot.  I did not use peas as my hubs won't eat them.

Feeling like the top investigator

As you read, one of my goals is to do 1 hour minimum of family history each week.  The work on my family has been done over and over, so I usually gravitate to Kevin's mom's side since she is a convert to the church.  It is fun to actually find work that needs to be done and find people to put into the family tree.

Sunday night I was just going to do indexing because I didn't think my brain was up to searching.  However, there was nothing to index (in English).  So, I started looking at Kevin's mom's side of the family tree.  In 2005 I had done a bunch of work there and gotten a lot of names temple ready for her for Mother's Day.  I went to her dad's family (Delbert Deloyt Brubaker) and came to his brother (Edward Dean Brubaker).  He was one of the names we had done, but I noticed he didn't have a wife listed.  Perfect starting point.  I didn't have any information except Edward Dean Brubaker and his birth date and death date.  I started first at findagrave.com.  I came to a headstone that was in Colorado matching his dates and gave Greta L as the wife with her years of birth and death.  I started looking for Greta Brubaker or just Greta, but found nothing that matched.  I finally just put in Greta in Ancestry.com with no other searching information and found a census record saying Greta Burbaker married to Than Burbaker, but her age matched.  So i looked at the original record to find the Th was actually a D.  Only figured that out because Daughter looked like Thaughter too.  So, I figured this has to be the same family.  I knew Dean was born in Nebraska which matched as well.  It said they had a 3 year old daughter named Kay.  It felt so good to find them.  I called my mother-in-law later to tell her and she said "oh yes, I talk to Kay once a year."  She is still alive.  Then she proceeded to give me her sister's name Vicky and that Greta's maiden name was Lewis and the names of both of their kids. 

The moral of the story, it was awesome to actually find someone, but maybe we should start with the people who are alive and get info they already know before wasting too much time.

I still need to go find proof of their marriage and then I can get her work done and have them sealed as well.  I'm just getting started though and it was fun to learn something and not come to a wall already in the year.

Finding a positive

I'm cold blooded.  It is in my genes.  I wear socks year round.  It is a problem I can't help, I was born with it.  My feet and fingers are generally always cold.  So, with all that said, you know I don't care for winter.  I am grateful to have a nice warm house and cars that have heaters to ease the pain. 

So, finding a positive, let's talk about sweaters.  I. Love. Sweaters.  Especially Under Armour.  They are soft.  They are cute.  They are so comfortable.  They hide the rolls that seem to be holding on for dear life around my mid section.  I love that in the winter I can dress so comfortably in a sweatshirt and I don't have to worry if the said rolls are hanging over and gonna gross out those in my presence.  Not to mention that they allow me to run in the coldest of weather that I dare brave and I don't get cold generally.  Now if only Under Armour paid me for the endorsement, in sweaters preferably. ;)

New Year's resolutions

The past many years I have not had any resolutions.  Mainly because I feel I should be working on myself all the time, not just at new year's and also because I get so down on myself if I don't accomplish something.  Generally I would write a lot of goals that were hard for me to accomplish so I would just quit because I was overwhelmed.

For some reason this year feels different.  I am determined to change some things.  If I write them down and put them where I will see them I am hoping this will make a difference in my accomplishing at least part of them.

1.  Read scriptures and pray daily.  Notice I have not set a time limit on the scriptures.  I hope to study them, but if I only get 1 verse, I will feel accomplished.
2.  Family history at least 1 hour per week.
3.  Declutter the house and dejunk (this will take all year)
4.  Run 1000 miles.  At least 3 half marathons, hoping for 1 per quarter.  My first one is scheduled for February 22nd.  Bryce Canyon in July and hopefully Little Grand Canyon, Cedar City or Halloween Half in Sept/Oct as well as Fish Lake Relay in August.
5.  Journal or blog at least once a week.
6.  Save at least $20.00 per month.  This sounds little, but I've never been a saver so gonna start small.
7.  Add 1 item per month minimum to food storage.
8.  I'd like to say I'm swearing of candy and sweets, but that is just realistic.  I can't even do it 1 day.  So, instead, I will try to make more healthy meals for my family and hopefully eat more raw foods.
9.  Read at least 1 book a month.
10.  Attend the temple once a month.

I could go on and on in ways to improve, but before I overwhelm myself, I'm gonna stop.  Feel free to share your resolutions too.