Where did 2012 go?

As this new year gets closer I have been thinking about what I want 2013 to be like.  I got Dan Miller's newsletter in my inbox and what he had to say had an impact on me and I wanted to share it with all of you. 

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Welcome from Dan

We know many people struggle with discouragement in this week between Christmas and the New Year.  Broken resolutions, failed goals, strained relationships and financial shortfalls can make it hard to be optimistic.  But there’s also something magical and fresh about starting a New Year.  So let’s draw that line in the sand and decide now what we want 2013 to look like.  Often an unreached goal still moves us to higher levels of success.  If you wanted to increase your income from $50,000 to $75,000 but finished the year at $68,000 – celebrate that success.  You didn’t “fail,” you made a 36% increase.  If you wanted to lose 20lbs and only lost 15, celebrate that accomplishment.

The definition of “success” is “The progressive realization of worthwhile goals.”  Thus, as soon as you start moving in that direction you are already “successful.”  And be reminded, success is not a destination; it is a direction.  You can experience success today!  

~Dan Miller

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It is so important to remember to set goals rather than resolutions. Any progress towards a goal is a step in the right direction and should make you happy. Celebrate all of your small accomplishments and look towards the next step. 

Make this the best year ever!

Christmas 2012

This week I was thinking about how great it was to have days off around Christmas this year. I had almost the entire week off. We got to go as a family and celebrate the Christmas with my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. Christmas of my past I have had to work on Christmas eve and then again the day after Christmas. I am grateful that I was able to be off work on Christmas day, as so many others aren't. I hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge Goal

So at the beginning of the year I set a goal to read 24 books this year. For some of you that might not seem like that big of a goal. For me it seemed like a goal that I would be able to accomplish. Well life happened and it was looking like I wouldn't reach my goal. My loving wife suggested that I read some small books to get caught up and be able to meet my goal. After all a book is a book, and I didn't say how big the books had to be. I started listing the books that I read to my kids at bedtime. Is that cheating? After all it is a book, and I did read it. As of today I need to read 2 more books to reach my goal of 24 books read this year. With my new tactic I'm pretty sure I'm make it. Maybe next year I'll set a goal of 200 books and log all the books that I read to my kids. What do you think?

See my 2012 reading challenge works out. 

2012 Reading Challenge

Chad has read 22 books toward his goal of 24 books.

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22 of 24 (91%)

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Our 4th Jean Quilt for our 4th Son.

Since our first son, we decided that we would make a jean quilt for each of our children. 

This has been a fun project that Carey and I have been able to do over and over again for each child.

This week during my vacation we spent a couple of hours working on this jean quilt for our youngest son.

With 4 young boys and 2 adults in the house, it took far less time to collect jeans for this quilt. 

  

 After cutting the jeans in to pieces we got to lay it out like a puzzle. We don't cut them into uniform sizes. We just do random size pieces and then figure out how to get them to mesh together. We really like the character the randomness gives the quilt. 

 Carey is the sewing expert of this project. Here she is getting it started. 

The top is sewed together. Now to get the bottom sewed on. 

 After sewing the bottom on it is time for the really fun part, watch a movie and tie the quilt. The movie of choice this time was Breakfast at Tiffany's. 

And here is the finished quilt. We went with a BSU theme because... I don't know, we live near Boise and I love orange. 

One Christmas gift done and ready to wrap. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today's project is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're pretty much my favorite cookie ever.

Post #2 Canned Food Storage System

Yesterday I posted about my Canned Food Storage System that I built. 

Today I finish that post showing the system with the second half installed. 

Although I still need 1 more L-bracket to finish the last can column. 

Each section is 4'x2'. The rows with the Campbell's soup hold 10, the fruit and veggie rows hold 8, and the Progresso soup rows hold 7 cans. There is also a little shelf space in the middle for miscellaneous items. 

Canned Food Storage System

My wife found this canned food storage system online and I just had to build it. 

It was pretty simple to build. I bought a 4'x8' sheet of 11/32" plywood and had Home Depot cut it into 4 - 2'x4' pieces. At home I cut a couple 1"x4"s into 9 22" pieces for the dividers. I cut a couple 1"x2"s into 9 20" pieces for the front to hold the cans in. At the bottom I cut an angle from a 2"x4" and screwed an L-bracket to it to keep the cans from falling out. There was a little gap on the end not quite big enough for a soup or veggie can so I put a couple little shelves to stack small cans on or something. I didn't have time to build the second one today, but maybe tomorrow. I'm planning on building it with the divided sections a little smaller to hold smaller cans. 

Quote from Thomas S. Monson

Choose a field that will supply sufficient remuneration to provide adequately for your companion and your children. I bear testimony that these criteria are very important in choosing your life's work. 
Thomas S. Monson 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_s_monson.html#zrmCg2GSLk4OgXJv.99

I think that it is important to remember that the main goal in our career choices is to "provide adequately" and not to stress about acquiring luxuries. 

Tennis Camp

When we were getting Carsyn lined out for school this year we saw a flyer for a Tennis Camp put on by Josh Bosen, a Nampa High student, for his senior project. We've been wanting to buy tennis racquets and take the kids to the tennis courts to hit some balls and thought that this would be a good excuse to buy the racquets. I got him a cool yellow kids racquet and while looking I found an adult racquet for on clearance for only $10, it was originally almost $40. Yesterday was day 2 of the 7 day camp. He says that he is having fun. He loves being at the courts with all the other kids. Another perk from him going to this camp is that he will earn his tennis belt-loop and pin in Cub Scouts. 

My $300 Kia is no longer mine!

Well a few weeks ago my $300 Kia died on the Freeway on my way to work. I got it towed home and didn't even feel like trying to fix it. So it sat here in my back yard until today. I debated selling it on Craigslist to someone who might want to fix it. Before I went to all that work I called one of the auto junk yards here in town and Pacific Recycling to find out about selling it to them. Pacific Recycling told me that they would give me $300. I got all my stuff out of it, loaded it on a dolly, and took it right over. Sure enough they gave me $300 cash money, Hundred Dollar bills. What a great deal, I probably wouldn't have gotten that much off of Craigslist. 

End result is that I got to drive the car for 3 months and then essentially get a full refund.

Not to bad of a deal. 

Dog water, an iPod touch, and side of rice

Yesterday my 21 month old boy put the kids' iPod touch in the bowl of dog water. I had an Otter Box on it, but I think all it did was hold the water in. When my nine year old boy brought it to me it was dripping. The  screen was on, but with no brightness. Then it went blank. For how wet it was I figured that it was toast. I took the Otter Box off, shook the water out, dried the outside, and put it in a bag of rice. I left it in the bag of rice for the rest of the day and through the night. This morning I tried to turn it on and nothing. I pugged it on and on it came! 

So the bag of rice trick saves another electronic device in our home. 

Fires in Idaho

There have been and currently are quite a few fires burning in Idaho. Just to give you a visual, here are a couple of pictures from my commute to and from work, just a couple of days ago. 

 This isn't fog or clouds that you see.

And these fires are far enough away that I can't see the flames during the day or the glow at night. When I finally get to work I have the campfire smell stuck in my nose and am unsure if it is just in my nose or if my clothes smell like campfire too. I'm very thankful that the fires aren't anywhere near my home and that my family isn't in danger. 

My new Apple

A couple months ago I signed my son up for a kids iMovie camp at the Apple Store in Boise. Today was day two of three. When the kids finish putting their movies together the instructors saved their movie on this cool Apple Camp bracelet flash drive. I asked Laurel if I could buy one and she said, "They aren't for sale". I wanted one and knew that my son didn't have much interest in it. After we left the camp I offered to buy it from him. He said he wanted $1000 for it. Um, no. I offered $10. Then my wife suggested a trade for a Skylander. My son liked that idea (as long as he could save his movie on my computer) so, we went to Toys R Us and bought a Skylander. I gave him the Skylander and he gave me his super cool Apple Camp bracelet flash drive!

Kids Bowl Free

We finally used one set of our passes that we got from kidsbowlfree.com

The kids had fun for most of the time. Two games are a little long for one who is under the age of 2.

Here is the oldest who thinks he's got it all figured out.

The kids' newspaper fort

Today we built a fort!

Start with newspapers. Take two pages and roll them tight and place a small piece of tape to keep them from unrolling. 

Then staple the ends together to make triangles and lay the triangles on the floor in a straight line. Then staple all the triangles together. Prepare triangles for the roof. 

Stand the long row of triangles up and wrap them around and connect the two ends. With some assistance hold the walls up while stapling the roof on. 

Cover with a blanket and play!

Not suitable for kids younger than two. 

He was like the monster that destroys the village. 

Free Book from Barnes & Noble

Your 1st-6th grade child(ren) can get a free book from Barnes and Noble's Summer reading program. They only have to read 8 books before September the 4th for this program. Get the information here.

What a great song!

Tenth Avenue North - Losing

This is one of my favorite songs right now. It is such a great song about forgiving. Most of the time it is so easy to ask God to forgive others, but so hard for us to forgive them. We want to put up a wall and hold a grudge, because if we forgive them, then its like they win and we lose. This is about asking God to help us forgive them. 

Hungry Boy

I think I'm hungry.

Oooh Cheese, Yum. 

Poem

Here is a poem that Carsyn wrote for his mother when she was having a bad day.

"Sometimes you feel like a carrot
being eaten by a great big parrot.
Other times you feel like a cheerful day
is being put at bay.

I love you Mom"

He can be so creative.

Wind at Relay for Life

So I thought the wind in Mt. Home was bad. Last night when I went to Glenns Ferry for Relay for Life I got the feeling that the wind is much worse there then it is in Mt. Home. I thought that our easy up was going to blow away. 

Umm... I can't see the road

Probably the worst spot to put the sun, or maybe just not the best time to be driving west. The sun set that followed this was beautiful.

Bridge Reflection

At work today I got to go and visit the Ann Frank Memorial at the Idaho Human Rights Education Center. Are tour guide taught us about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the story of Ann Frank and her family. While we were walking next to the river I saw this great shot. 

As I looked at it I thought "How cool would that shot be zoomed in?"

And here it is. 

I am loving the camera on my iPhone 4s. 

Bear Scout Wood Shop Project

For Carsyn's Bear badge he had to build a tool box. Since he already built a tool box when he was 7 years old, we decided to build a small gardening box. It is just big enough to hold the seed packages and a pair of gardening gloves. And it sports a rope handle. He will be receiving his Bear badge at pack meeting tomorrow, along with a quite a few other awards.

Full of thanks to God

Today I am thankful that my $300 car has air condition. And since it doesn't have sun-visors, I am also thankful for my sunglasses. I am also thankful for my wonderful wife, for making me buy the sunglasses.

My drive

So I have a 134 mile round trip commute for work. In the winter it is dark both directions. In the summer it is sunny both directions. In the winter you can use your imagination and make the trip quite scenic. In the summer you see this and it's hard to image anything out there.
But the sky sure is beautiful.

More from the remodel.

And check out my my handy work on the crawl space access door. My first time installing flooring on a trap door.

Room remodel finished

Carey and I finished our bedroom makeover today. Now to move all the furniture back in.

Room Remodel

Progress made. Carpet is out, trim is off and the closet is empty. Still a lot of work to do.

Paracord Bracelets

Carey and I made paracord bracelets for me and the boys. They are bright orange so that the will be easy to see when we are out camping. Plus that is one of my favorite colors. Carey is ordering purple paracord for hers.

They are available for only $10 from CareysCreations.blogspot.com

Ninja deal!

I'm so glad that I finally found a great deal on a Ninja, only $30! I made pineapple, banana, orange smoothies with dinner tonight. They were so good. The picture you see is what ice cubes look like after about 8 seconds in the Ninja! So cool! I can't wait to make more delicious, healthy treats with it.

Ham Radio is a contact sport

Here is another creation we put together to sell at The Idaho State Convention. We can customize to your style.

Ham Radio signs

Here a couple new items we started making. Customize to your style. We'll have a booth at The Idaho State Convention this weekend April 20-22, stop by to get your Ham Radio signs.

General Conference - April 2012

This weekend I actual get to watch all of General Conference. Usually I have to work one or both of the days. So I am grateful that I have this whole weekend off.

To help the kids pay attention and learn something I printed out these conference bingo sheets. The problem that has come up because of them is that one of boys thinks that as soon as he hears something and marks his sheet, he doesn't have to listen any longer. So maybe by the end of tomorrow he'll have it figured out that he can mark off more items, win bingo, oh and learn something from the talks. 

Here are some more Conference Bingo sheets that are black and white, if you want to save your color ink.

Turbo Kick

So yesterday I went with Carey to my first Turbo Kick class at the Idaho Athletic Club. We had so much fun, and I was a great workout. I have to wait clear until Monday to go again. It's to bad that my work schedule gets in the way. Although it is nice that I have a way to pay the bills.

Computer Fun

I haven't posted on my blog for a while. I've been busy reading and converting all my DVDs to iTunes files. In the process of converting the DVDs I discovered that my computer will not even hold half of my movies. Rather than spending a lot of money to upgrade my computer or to by a new one, I bought an external hard drive to store my iTunes library on. The first thing I did was learn how to partition my new drive so that I could use part of it for my Time Machine and the rest for my iTunes. I used this article from MacWorld to learn how. My next task is to move my iTunes library to the new drive.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is very well written. The story is compelling and doesn't jump all over. The author keeps the timeline straight and only jumps times for relevant content. It does cover a lot of Apple's history, but that is a big part of Steve's life (plus I'm a fan of Apple so I enjoyed all of that as well). There are a lot of reviews that talk about how much of a jerk Steve appeared to be and not a lot that talk about his passion. He was able to bend reality and make it become reality. He blended art and technology to create devices that people would love to have and use. He insisted on things being simple to use and nice to look at. The things he helped create were so great because his team members were building something that they wanted to use. This biography could be listed in with the self improvement books. It teaches you how to grow a successful company, and how to drive your team to reach heights that they themselves don't think possible.

I loved reading this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys biographies, business leadership, or books on making your dreams reality.

View all my reviews