Don't Cut Corners

Sick kids always makes life slow down a little bit. Over the weekend, it felt a little bit like Katharine was draining the life out of me, but she's feeling better and things didn't get derailed around here. The house is still amazing clean and the kids are even doing their part thanks to the chore board where we are taking it one day at a time. There are about 4 or 5 chores listed for each kid, depending on what I see needs to be done. And for most of the kids, one of the chores is cleaning corners or baseboards. It's been amazing, and I'm not sure if it's cause they like doing those little quick jobs, or if it's cause there's such an immediate reward from making a dirty corner clean. It's obvious now which corners have been done and which one still need to be cleaned. I have two little buckets that have magic erasers, sponges, and a tooth brush, and the kids grab that to clean the corner or to work on the grout. The kids have been doing it and are proud to show off how nice the baseboards, grout, or corners look when they are done. After corners are done, we'll move it up to doors and corners of the cabinet and cupboard doors. I have thought to myself that "no cutting corners" could have meant no cleaning the house and having it look pretty clean but not do the corners cause you think no one will notice. Just like the clean grout, I'm noticing which corners are done, and I like seeing them clean and dirt and dust free. One of the origins of the phrase “cutting corners” comes from carriage driving in the 1800s, when horse-drawn vehicles came to a sharp turn in town, instead of going all the way past the curb, some would turn early, and the rear wheel would potentially clip the sidewalk. But I like the idea of a mother teaching her kids to clean, and making sure they do the walls, the floors, and don't forget or "cut" the corners! I guess we've been cutting corners for years, and I'm glad we're not going to let the corners get cut from the to-do list anymore. I'm also glad we've been able to get the house clean with this being a sick month. Honestly I've had a lingering cough this whole month since we got back from Florida, and the kids have taken turns with coughs and now K's fever. I'm glad it didn't derail us. So far the only thing that has changed is that Katharine has not been sleeping with Abi. K has moved into our bedroom for the past few days. We'll see if this is just a temporary move or more permanent. She was in our bed last night cause she's sick.  

Corey doesn't love them in our bed, so if this is a permanent move by K, we'll have to make her a little place on the floor. Over the years, most of our 2 and 3 year olds have slept on our floor (Two examples of Natalie and Owen). So as I was scrubbing the grout in the kids bathroom upstairs recently, I had the thought that I was getting my physical home ready for a visit from Jesus. It was an exciting thought and made me want to make sure that we get every nook and cranny of our house clean. We have been doing so good! and not by doing it all, but just being diligent every day at doing something to take another step toward that final state. A verse of scripture that I have on the wall by our bedroom door came to mind: 

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

- Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 

I'm trying to commit those 7 things to memory: Prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, order, God. I like that fasting is on there, not feasting, haha. (I haven't been taking steps in the "nicely set dinner" department at the moment. One thing at a time...)  Also I like the idea of "house" meaning "family" - Joshua 24:15, and also thinking of what is on every LDS Temple: Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord! 

I went to the Jordan River Temple at 4:20 this morning for a 5 am initiatories with my mom. She is the only one "crazy" enough to get up that early with me! Then I met Corey at the Ft Union Momentum for a quick bouldering session. I left at 6:50 to get home to take carpool and he stayed and did some cardio. I did 24 total (15 sends and 9 attempts) and then this afternoon I took a winter hike from 3:40- 5:15. I parked on the side of the road at Lisa Falls, where I had parked for my hike with the kids. I didn't listen to anything on my headphones. No music or podcasts, just nature's soundtrack. I walked up to the ruins, then along the river, up techgnar and then up techy, back down to Lisa parking lot. I love  Utah, I love Granite, I the mountains! I enjoyed exploring by the river. 

There was one spot where it looked like the snow and ice had formed a bridge across the river. It looked like people had walked across it. I attempted, but when I felt and heard it crack when I took a step, I immediately stopped and turned around! I don't want to risk falling in. There hasn't been fresh snow for a few days, so the snow had ice crystals on it and it looked really pretty. Looking into a water hole on the river.