Prepare yourselves...

Remember when I turned thirty? I do. I thought it was no big deal. It didn't feel like a big deal. I loved my life at the time and everything was going swimmingly. And then I actually had my birthday. It was a little lackluster. Maybe that's the right word to use. I had just had my hair cut to a "cute" little bob that I hated. I got my first minivan that weekend. And I was about eight and a half months pregnant. Thirty didn't feel so awesome. In retrospect, if I had recognized that it was a milestone, maybe I would have made it meaningful and enjoyed it a little more.

I have a milestone birthday coming up. Is that the right word? I think I should open up a thesaurus or something. I'm having trouble thinking of words tonight. My point here is this, I have a birthday coming. On the one hand, it's just another day. Just another birthday. On the other hand, I'm going to be forty! That's a number! A number to celebrate!

During the past few months, I have watched (on Facebook) as several of my friends have hit the big 4-0. Some of them wanted to do something to recognize that it is a meaningful time in life. One kept a blog for 100 days leading up to her birthday--she wrote down her daily efforts to improve her health. One wanted to have a sort of bucket list of exciting things to do. One wrote down some messages he wanted to pass on to his kids. Someone else had a list of books to read. I've put some thought into it. And I've decided how to celebrate.

I'm going to spend the forty days leading up to my fortieth birthday here, on my blog. I'm going to write out some of the ideals I have and how I approach life. My own life philosophy. My mid-life philosophy, if you will. (I think I'm soooo funny.) I tend to approach life very religiously, but these aren't necessarily my religious beliefs. Just a description of the way I think that influences the way I live.

So, starting tomorrow, 40 days of Megan's Mid-Life Philosophies.

Please, to enjoy.

P.S. Can you believe it's only 40 days until I turn 40? Do I seem like a 40-year-old to you?

Manhattan

Before I ever came to New York, I thought the Manhattan LDS temple must look really out of place amongst all those skyscrapers. Then I came here. Our temple is not the only beautiful place of worship squashed up in the middle of skyscrapers. On the same block as the temple, there is a Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which was completed in 1904. It is so pretty. I love the old churches in this area.

Lego Shop

My kids have been playing something they call Lego Shop. When they first started, Beth wasn't playing with them. She has since joined, but I haven't taken any more pictures. The basic idea is they sell Legos to each other (for other Legos). I like the way Nathan set up his shop.

Ammon's somewhat messy shop:

Nathan's organized shop:

And Sarah's:

Always Winter and Never Not Winter

This has been a crazy winter for those in the eastern United States. Storm after storm. Thunder-snow! I didn't even know that was a thing. Freezing rain. Ice pellets. And so much snow. Did I mention the snow? I really wanted to show a couple more winter pictures, but I think I've been guilty of over-sharing on Facebook lately. So, I'll just put them here.

It snowed enough to knock our mailboxes off their base. Then the snowplows knocked the base off its...um, whatever. Chris made this handy shelf out of the snow as a temporary solution. We still need to get all the cards and letters people send to us, after all.

You know how they say "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"? Well, our postal carrier brought us our mail, along with this helpful diagram showing us how to clear our mailboxes..

Did you see how much snow we got? It's so heavy--very wet snow. And we live on a very busy road where people zoom by at 50 mph. We laughed at this diagram. It didn't seem realistic. Anyway, Chris did the best he could to make the postal carrier's job easier. It's not exactly like this diagram, however.


Nathan got a sweet icicle and wanted a photo. In the second one, he was saying, "I'm cold! Stop taking pictures!" or something like that.

This is just a picture out the front window. We were in Manhattan. It's crazy enough to drive in New York City, but with the snow, wow. That's about all I can say. Wow. This road was pretty clear. Elsewhere, delivery trucks stop in the middle of the lane (because the curbside parking is full) while they make their deliveries. Anyway...

I'm still fairly cheerful. This winter is going much better than last winter. We have more wintery weather, but less wintery emotions. It has been around 50 degrees the last three days. We have so much snow and thick ice that it hasn't melted that much. Some water will melt, but it doesn't evaporate it just sits there. At night, the freezing temperatures come again and every morning we find ourselves in a slick, icy death trap. This last picture is one I took today, after three very warm days. There's a lot of snow! I'm showing you this because I thought I knew winter. This kind of winter is new and crazy to me.

The last week or so, birds have woken me up in the mornings. I love the sound of birds in the mornings. Yesterday I watched about eight robins playing in our backyard. Spring is coming any day now...

I'm awake!

When we were teenagers and planning to come home late from work or play, my mom would tell us, "Make sure to wake me up when you get home because I can't sleep until I know you're safe." 

I know: to you, it doesn't make sense. But I understand perfectly. We obeyed this rule. Wake Mom up. Tell her what time it was (so she would know we came home on time). And enjoy the conversation as she asked us about our evening. 

You see, Mom made no sense when she was tired. Or half-asleep. And it was hilarious. I have no specific memories of these conversations, but I do remember that we would laugh about them the next day. We loved telling stories about waking Mom up to tell her we were home.

I am nothing like my mom. 

That's just a little joke.

Ammon has had a lot of trouble sleeping lately. We're working on it. Last night, he came in my room and said, "Mom, I can't sleep. Do you have any suggestions for me?"

I plainly remember telling him to read a book. He said, "What?" in a confused way. I explained to him that reading would help his mind relax, especially if he read something he had read before. He laughed and left. I wasn't sure what was so funny, so I just went back to sleep.

This morning, Ammon told me the conversation from his point of view.

Ammon: "I can't sleep. Do you have any suggestions for me?"

Mom (that's me): "You can read a book or renew your crutches."

Ammon: "What?"

Mom: "You know, when you're awake, you can dream about stuff like Halloween, and then you dream about it again. That's how you renew your crutches."

Ammon: "Okay." [laughs]

See, unlike my own mom, I make sense when I'm tired.