Eight Tag

I have a few post ideas cooking right now, but I haven't had the time I need to spend on such weighty topics as the economy, teaching our children modesty, and saving traditional marriage. I hope to do these posts next week when we're taking a week off of school, but as I am putting lots of things off until next week, it may be just as busy as all the others!

Anyhow, Rebecca tagged me for a game where we can tell any 8 random facts about ourselves. I've tweaked it a little, and I won't tag anyone, so just read and leave me a comment! And stay tuned--my next post is #200 and I have a giveaway planned.

Eight Things I Wish I Had More Time For:

1. Reading--I have been reading Wives and Daughters for 2 months now--pathetic
   
2. Blogging--this twice a week posting is driving me crazy
3. Calling friends on the phone--this is a rare treat anymore, but used to be my daily staple
4. Studying the scriptures--I do get in 30 minutes most days, but I'd love to spend more
5. Traveling--although money is also to blame here
6. Spending time with extended family
7. Cleaning and Household Projects--sad, but true
   
8. Developing New Talents--I really want to learn to sew, practice the piano, and so much more.

Eight Books I'm So Glad That I've Read:

1. The Book of Mormon--I couldn't navigate my life without this one, hand in hand with number 2. I spend time reading it every day and it never gets old or fails to fill my cup.
2. The Holy Bible--see number 1.
3. Covenant Hearts--click to read my review. The best book on marriage I've ever read.
4. The Well-Trained Mind--although I am still working through this one, I use it as a reference. It helped me develop my philosophy and hopes for homeschool into real plans.
5. Anna Karenina--this powerful novel so beautifully depicts the Russian consciousness of the time and illustrates the tragedy that comes from selfishness and adultery. Possibly my favorite novel of all time.
6. The Out-of-Sync Child--excellent resource on Sensory Integration Dysfunction/Sensory Processing Disorder.
   
7. On Becoming Babywise--this book is considered to be quite controversial. And yet, most of the criticisms on it seem to be based on "hearing about the book"-- I did not find it's method of helping babies sleep through the night to be rigid or cruel at all. What I took away from this book was a philosophy to feed my baby when they first wake rather than right before it's time to sleep again. I tried to keep them on a 3 hour schedule, although I think you can tell if your baby is truly hungry and I certainly would bend in such situations. I always made sure to change their diaper before putting them down so that they would fall asleep in their cribs. My outcome (with babies 3 and 4--the babies I had after reading this book)? I did not have babies crying themselves to sleep. If they cried, I picked them up. What I had was babies who knew how to fall asleep without me suckling them, rocking them, or sleeping next to them. They were both sleeping 12 hours straight at night before they were 8 weeks old. Twelve hours. This method worked much better for us than what he had done previously, which was get the baby to sleep, put him down, and hope he stayed asleep. Those babies eventually had to be trained to put themselves to sleep when they were much older--and that's when the real "crying it out" took place!
8. Pride and Prejudice--How could I not name this one? It's not that it has made me a better person or anything, but it is so well written, so delightfully funny, so very Jane Austen. This book is here for all of those great books that I couldn't fit on this list of eight.

Eight Foods I Can and Will Eat Any Time of Day (all are homemade unless otherwise noted):

1. Macaroni and Cheese
2. Apple Boysenberry German Chocolate Lemon Meringue Pie (German Chocolate from Marie Callendar's)
3. Fresh Bread
4. Granola (Homemade or Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond)
5. Cheesecake
6. Anything Chocolate
7. Fresh Salsa
8. Cookies

(Notice a trend there? It's almost all sweet.)

Eight Things I Love About Being A Mom:

1. Kissing a squishy, chubby cheek
2. Saying "I Love You" after family prayers
3. One-on-one tender moments with my kids
4. Sharing books I love with my kids
5. Hugging, holding, and rocking
6. Singing
   
7. Trying to interpret a one-year-old's language
8. Watching them sleep