A Small Victory

Never thought a small piece of paper could make me so happy. After six months of pure frustration with the Town of Cardston, I finally have my development permit! I didn't really think I would get it going into the office yesterday, but I asked if I had finally met all their ridiculous requirements and he said yes. I was stunned. I was so used to having to go and do one more thing.

Tentatively, I asked if I could get the permit today. He said yes, I could, but it would take a half an hour of paperwork, and was I sure I really wanted to get it now, and why are you in such a rush, and you know you only have 90 days to begin development, and there is a good chance the weather will be bad, and all kinds of other garbage to talk me out of it. I firmly say YES.  He rolled his eyes and sighed, but began the paper work.

Let's such say it was a long and uncomfortable 25 minutes where no words were uttered. Let's just say that after everything that has gone on in the last few months my relationship with this person is a little strained. It ended with me handing over my debit card and him signing the permit. I snatched it and dashed out of there before he had a chance to change his mind.

One of the perks of this small victory is that I will never (I think) have to deal with this guy again. He also told me that I probably wouldn't get my house done in a year. What I have to say to that is WATCH ME!

Fun Trip

Even though it started rather horrifically, we had a fantastic 3-day ski/snowboard trip to Kalispell. A while back my brother in law signed us up to stay at the Meadow Lake Resort near Whitefish. It was a good deal, but of course you had to listen to their time share pitch. I have never had the pleasure of sitting in on one of those so I was hoping I could be strong.

Upon arriving we were handed an info packet that stated we were to attend the 2 hour sales pitch at 9AM. Because skiing was going to be our primary activity, we asked the management to switch our time. And THAT's when the wheels fell off the wagon. In a few short minutes they made it quite clear that we were not allowed to switch our time to ANY OTHER TIME, and that we were getting a good deal, and that they were doing us a big favor, and that WE were being unreasonable, and a whole lot of other garbage. We didn't want to miss half a ski day just to listen to those clowns.

Don began to get a little steamed, as did I. Pretty soon we were in an almost shouting match trying to get our point across to these numb skulls. I have never experienced such horrible customer service in my entire life. We booked another hotel and got the h.... out of there. I am sounding the alarm to everyone far and wide--NEVER, EVER, STAY AT MEADOW LAKE RESORT no matter how good of a deal you think you are getting.

Whew. After that little incident, everything was awesome. We stayed at La Quinta which the kids love. We have never been there when we haven't had the pool and hot tub to ourselves. It is cheap and they also throw in breakfast. The first day we skiied at Blacktail, which is a fun little, family friendly mountain south of Kalispell. It is super cheap and very family friendly.

The next day we skiied Big Mountain at Whitefish. No so good of a deal, but I have never seen so much snow on a ski hill. It was unbelievable. Cooper would crash and he would go right out of sight under the powder. Falling was like landing on a marshmallow. The kids even convinced me to take a few of the jumps along with them, and amazingly I didn't kill myself. I almost felt young for an afternoon. Can't wait to go back there again. My new favorite find in Kalispell is the Bahio restaurant. Mexican food is a favorite of mine, and this restaurant did not disappoint. Such good food and so much of it.

The ride home was a little sketchy from Marias pass on. The roads were horrible and visibility was almost non-existent. However, after my brush with death on the Duck Lake road last year at this same time, I hardly bat an eye anymore.

Now it is back to reality and on to teacher's convention on Thursday and Friday.

P.S. Could someone please do something about this weather. I really want to dig my basement. Thank you in advance.
 

Small Prayers Are Answered

The last few weeks, ok let's be real about it--MONTHS--have been really difficult as far as progress with the house goes. A while ago I asked a friend who had recently built a house what her best advice might be. Her response was "DON'T BUILD!" I now totally understand the wisdom in that statement and I haven't even broken one foot of ground.

Bureaucracy is the bane of my existence right now. I like to think of bureaucracy as a large, disgusting beast, kind of like Jabba the Hut. It is unfriendly, ruthless, oily, and ugly. It gobbles money, common sense, timelines, and hopes. In its slimy wake it leaves frustration, bitterness, feelings of defeat, and injustice. I'm just so done with it! I had a moment last week where I was 100% ready to throw in the towel. I couldn't stand dealing with it one more minute. Then, I realized if I did give up, then they would win. Now, if you know me at all you know that I am a little competitive. Ok, I admit it, I'm too competitive. I cannot let them kick me down and then slither away with my tail between my legs. I needed to come up fighting. I had a good sleep and a lot of chocolate and I was ready to go again.

That night I sought some divine intervention. I was doing everything I could do on my end and nothing was progressing. Sending up a desperate prayer, I left it in His hands. I don't think I have ever said a prayer with words in it like, road allowance, planning commission, and septic system, but who cares? We have been told to pray over EVERYTHING right? No lie, 20 minutes after I finished the prayer the phone rang. It was one of my contractors who was essential in getting the ball rolling. He wanted to meet the next day. Wow. Then the next afternoon, I came home to a message on my machine from the development officer stating that they reconsidered something that they weren't going to consider before. Double wow! Then that night I got an email from another key player who was willing to help me out in a big way. Flabbergasted, I sent up several prayers of gratitude. Ask and ye shall receive, I tell you.

I know this stuff is small potatoes in the eternal scheme of things but it had been consuming my every thought and spare minute. I was on the verge of a breakdown and the Man Upstairs knew it. I am so grateful for this tender mercy that let me know that HE IS AWARE OF ME and my STRUGGLES.

If everything goes well, I should be able to start excavating in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed. I got a lot accomplished on that vein this weekend as well. I went in to the window place and got all my windows organized and quoted, as well as meeting with the geothermal guys. Plans for quotes have been delivered to all but a couple of my contractors. I don't dare curse myself by saying things have been going ALMOST smooth, but the last 3 days have definitely been better.

Hopefully, I can forget about house woes for a few days while I am ripping up powder in Whitefish. Cooper has been down with a fever for the last couple of days so hopefully he will perk up tomorrow and that the trip can go forward. So looking forward to a change of pace!

Mean Old Mom

I haven't been too popular around the house lately. I've even been described as a killjoy by some of the residents here. The funny thing is, I don't really care because my evil plot is working. Okay, so its not really evil, except in the minds of the kids. After observing the addictive habits of my three favorite people, I realized there was WAY too much screen time going on at our house. Maybe I'm a bit guilty as welll.......but just a bit........ Dang you pinterest! I don't watch TV and haven't for about 5 years so I feel like I can justify my nightly pinterest perusing ; ) Any how, after reading a couple of articles in the Ensign and New Era I decided I needed to institute some kind of parameters. We call them 'Tech Tickets'. Each Sunday each kid is issued 14 tech tickets that are worth 30 minutes of screen time. They can cash them in as they see fit. When they are out, they are OUT. The only way to get more is to read for that amount of time.

It was funny to see how things went down this first week. As expected, Reg started blowing his right away. I think he used four the first day. Marin, my prudent and responsible saver didn't even use one until 3 days had passed. Cooper was fairly judicious as well, only using one or two a day. Right now Reg is completely cashed out and it will be interesting to see what he will do with his time come Saturday. The kids have been quite creative with their away-from-the-screen activities. Last night they spent and hour and a half constructing paper airplanes from a design book Reggie had, and then flying them outside. When it got dark they found some glow sticks in the closet, cut them open, and painted their planes with the goo inside so they could continue to see them fly across the front lawn.

After 6 days of this I have observed:

-more creative play
-less fighting
-more reading
-more board game playing
-increased general happiness
-cleaner rooms (they can't cash in until it is clean)

It does take a bit of policing but I think it is going to be worth it. I hope I have the stamina to keep it going. The kids are labeling me as kind of a hypocrite since I haven't made any tech tickets for me, and I guess maybe I should. Nah.

Traditions

I have been pondering a lot on traditions lately. Last week I was thumbing through Cam's scriptures and I found a couple of quotes scrawled in the inside cover.  Not sure where he got them but they were:

"We had the sweetest childhood. We had everything money cannot buy!"

and

"Traditions in the family help us to give our family all that is needed."

Traditions were very important to us both as children, and then as parents. It is harder now for me to go through with some of our traditions, but we have a new one that we have started each February 5th.
It is a party in honor of Cam's birthday. He would have been 39.

The last birthday we celebrated together was in a frigid and stark hospital room in the Tom Baker Cancer Center. I ordered in dinner from Chili's, one of our favorite restaurants. (We didn't tell the nurses or the dietician). He was ecstatic to devour one of his favorite dishes. If you knew him well you knew that food was one of his primary passions. After finishing, he promptly barfed it up. We wanted to cry so instead we laughed hysterically and made a toast with some Boost meal replacement. Even though that birthday was hardly ideal, what I wouldn't give to share another one like it.

Days like today are both brutal and sweet. I love the flood of memories that come with special occasions because they make him feel more near. That flood of memories also brings another kind of flood. One that usually involves a lot of kleenex and running mascara.

We meet out at the cemetery with all of my family and Cam's family. With all the nieces, nephews, cousins, and siblings, there are quite a few of us. After singing happy birthday we simultaneously launch helium balloons into the sky. One for each year. It is really quite breathtaking and the kids love it. Then we get together and have one of his favorite meals. Other years we've played massive games of dodgeball and floor hockey, another set of Cam's passions. In light of it being the Sabbath, we toned it down and had the party at the Tanner Center. We might as well have been in the gym with all the screaming and running around that the kids were doing. Love it.

I am so lucky to have the family I do. They help bring joy to difficult days. Happy Birthday Cam!