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The Sunny D: July 2015

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Annoying, Insert Eye Roll Here.


My Thoughts About the News
I don't know if this is Cecil the Lion but this is one of my favorite pictures of all time. It says, "Sigh, I am happy." I obviously have too much time on my hands because I have watched a bit of the news. Cecil the Lion is making world news because he has been poached. I didn't even know who Cecil the Lion was. I can understand why people are enraged. I don't believe in killing animals just for fun. If you are killing Safari animals for sport I think maybe you should do something more constructive with your money instead of killing animals who's species are dwindling. And then I ask??? Did anyone hear the news on Sunday about the man who cut off his arm and poked out his eye and then killed his wife and dogs??? WHY aren't we in an outrage about that? Maybe the guy who went on a safari to kill animals could donate some money to help actual people who are animals get help, so they don't do this crazy stuff. Ugh. Insert Eye roll here.

I have a soft spot for Large animals...okay kind of a nervous soft spot. But still.

Another story in the news that made me so happy is this one...check it out you will NOT be sorry. Heart melter. Baby Elephant

My Thoughts About Stuff
Positive thinking. I am working really hard to be more positive because I can be a tad critical at times. Here's what is going through my head.
  • Stupid button down shirts that don't fit. I want one of those super cute chambray button downs and the size I need fits everywhere except the buttons pull on one spot. UGH. (Ladies, you know what I mean) So I go up a size and it is like I am swimming in chambray. How do I turn this into a positive. I can't. Insert Eye Roll Here.
  • Exercise and Losing Weight. My actual thinking is very negative so now I think...I am strong and healthy. I am powerful. I can run, and play with my kids, and work out really hard at Orange Theory. Losing weight is SO easy, I figured out the key to losing weight. It is just melting off of me! I love eating healthy foods they are my favorite. Insert Eye Roll Here. 
My Thoughts About Online Dating the Viscous Cycle

I think....maybe I will give it a go.
  1. Why are there so many weird pictures of men. Why do some men think the pictures they post will attract women?
  2.  I would say at least fifty percent of the pictures I have come across are men on fishing trips. They are standing holding a giant fish, or in front of a whole bunch of fish. Gross. Just gross. All I can do is smell raw stinky fish when I look at the pictures. The men look like they have been camping for eight days. Please take a shower before you make that your dating profile picture. I mean it is cool that you caught all those fish but for your main profile picture?
  3. Look. I am older when I go on vacation I don't want to camp. OKAY. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy camping( I usually go three times a year) but I don't want to go every weekend. So if your profile is of you camping, hiking, cliff jumping, rappelling, hunting...I feel like you may be looking for more of a DUDE than a girl to date. 
  4. Why are you kissing your dog? Your dog licks its bum and then you want to kiss me. Ew. 
  5. Or the shirt off muscle pictures. INSERT EYE ROLL HERE. 
  6. Pictures with a woman. Tell me this is NOT your wife. I wonder what she thinks of this? 
  7. Profile pictures where the woman and man's heads are together and he has cut her off but you can still see her hair on his face.  huh?
  8. How about a little smile? Smiling makes you look friendly.
  9. Why do you have sunglasses on in every picture? Do you have eyes? 
  10. Why are you lying about your age? You are definitely older than 37..like possibly 55. 
  11. I love going on dates when the man has said he is a certain height and I wear heels and he is four inches shorter than me. Why are you lying about your height???? Don't you know this causes a major wardrobe malfunction? I could have worn flats. Men who are 5'8 ALWAYS say they are 5'10. Just don't. Please just be you. This is an indicator of dishonesty it is mild but it is annoying. 
So I date a lot for a few weeks and then I get tired of dating because it is quite a lot of work. I hide my profile or end my subscription for another three months. Then I feel bad because I have so little time when I have my children I think....I should date. So I sign up again and the whole viscous cycle starts over. Maybe I need to apply positive thinking to online dating. Maybe guys could just put a picture of their face as their first picture without a hat to hide the baldness or glasses to cover the eyes. Just your face and tell the truth about your height. The rest will fall into place. No one cares if you are bald anyway. 

So I go back to my normal life cleaning, working out, drinking protein shakes and eating Greek yogurt with a little granola. Trying to help others and being the best Mom I know how. I enjoy my work, I love going out with my friends men and women. I love those friendships. I go to my Mom's every Sunday for dinner, sometimes I fall asleep and sometimes we have big family talks...and sometimes we play games. Then I work on planning my next adventure smiling to myself. My life is simple and happy there is no need for any eye rolling here. 

XOXO- The Sunny D....A little bit saucy. 






Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Happy Father's Day to Us

Gaggle Cruise Father's Day 2015

Father's Day. 

It feels awkward now. I know I should be celebrating my Dad on Father's Day and I am. I have the best Dad.  

 When you get divorced you expect that Birthdays and Christmas are not going to be the same. In fact, you mentally gear up for it.  No one tells you about those other holidays. In a nutshell Mother's Day for a single Mom is hell. There is no special breakfast, there isn't anyone to tell your kids to quit fighting remember...... it's Mother's day. In fact, you still have to go and teach primary. There is no respite. I had a pretty big pity party for myself the first few years I was divorced. Then I didn't seem to be getting remarried any time soon and I realized I needed to make those holidays special. In fact, I learned a great lesson from my Mom who said, "I don't want to go out to eat for Mother's Day I want to make what I want to eat." And so it was, we stopped eating out on Mother's Day Sunday and Mom goes all out and makes a fabulous meal. I have matured from a 33 year old Mom crying on Mother's/Father's Day to a Mom who shares the chocolate bar gift she received in church with her primary class. I have learned to make those days special for myself and do what I want to do. Focusing on others helps a lot. Focusing on the fact that Father's Day is your new Mother's Day helps a lot too. 

Father's Day is the day for the single mother and I will tell you why. 

At first, (when I was having my pity party for several years) I couldn't even bear to face anyone at church on Father's Day. The rule of thumb is your children spend Mother's Day with their Mom and Father's Day with their Dad. So going to church and hearing these talks about great Dad's and blah, blah, blah when you have been stripped of your previous "happy" family life is torture. Plus, you don't even have children to sit next to you and comfort you. You feel like a loser at life because ultimately you failed at marriage. That baby crashed and burned and the insides of you are left smoldering, smokey, and alone.

 I must insert here that I do not mean to be insensitive to those who haven't had children and are thinking...you have no idea what Mother's Day and Father's Day is like. You are correct. I don't and I am so sorry so please come and sit next to me next MD/FD. Maybe we can take our chocolate bars and go to my house and get a diet coke during Sunday school. There was a point in my divorced years that Father's Day melded into my actual Mother's Day. I could enjoy church, make myself a delicious breakfast, and there were no quarreling children. Hallefreakinglujah! 

This year for Father's Day I decided that it was time for a real treat. Seven of my best divorced friends and I left on a three day "Father's Day Cruise." I mean after all each and every one of our children were with their Father.  This group of friends has been nicknamed the gaggle. I am not sure how that came to be but I will refer to US as the gaggle. Here is our Father's Day cruise. 

We did a lot of stuff like: sleep, lay-out, eat and repeat that for three days. It was dreamy. It was the perfect Father's day. 


From left to right: Row 1 Maelynn, Tessie, Row 2 Dior, Tiffany, Row 3 Courtney, Tamara, Emilynn= The Gaggle. 

We crammed into one car because it was cheaper and then we could talk. 



We went on Carnival Cruise line aka the party ship. Let's just say we were VERY entertained people watching. 
There was some pot of chocolate dessert thing that was probably the yummiest thing on the ship as you can see we ALL had one. Every night. This is Spanish Sassafras. 


Courtney and Maelynn...beautiful.


Pool Time...Courtney, Emilynn, and Maelynn

The towel animals are pretty cute. We were greeted each night by one.  You can purchase a how to book in case you are just sitting around wanting to fold your towels into creatures. 

Do not judge. This was RIGHT after we had a conditioning treatment on our hair in the spa. Emilynn, Tessie, Dior. It was cold on the back deck of the boat. 

Courtney and Tiffany...darling girls. 


Tessie, Dior, Tamara

Emilynn and Tessie....adorable

I am not a Lobster fan but the shrimp was amazing. 

Cuties waiting for a show to start. The shows were pretty good and fun to see. 

I wonder who grows up and thinks one day I am going to be a cruise ship performer. I think that is so awesome! That is not something I ever considered growing up. 



I went down the water slide















Some weird drunk guy joining our party...



Tamara was picked to be the "Carnival Secret" Angel



The gym was abnormally hot. 





Four of us were crammed into a closet basically. This is what it looked like from my bunk. 




The Father's Day Cruise was a hit. We had so much fun spending time with each other, laughing, having heart to hearts. I am so grateful for this wonderful group of women I am lucky to call my friends. 


XOXO- Father's Day is SERIOUSLY the best holiday of them all. The Sunny D 








Tuesday, July 21, 2015

School can be Tricky

Study Session.....


For the last two weeks I have been up to my eyeballs learning Spalding.  The Spalding Method breaks the English language down into four components: Phonics, Spelling, Reading, and Writing. 

In order to be qualified to teach this program an instructor has to attend a rigorous 45 hour training session. This happens every year for three years. This was my first year. To be honest I didn't really know what I was getting into and was lured by the fact that I actually would get PAID to attend this training. What teacher doesn't need extra pay in the summer? I do, remember a month or so ago when my dryer broke...

Day after day I sat in class absorbing so much information that my brain literally hurt. I was exhausted when I arrived home. Every night I had about two hours of homework to complete in order to pass a daily quiz administered the next day and children who needed me when I arrived home. 

Anyway sometimes I think the "lessons" learned are not always so much about the material. 

And so the tables were turned on the teacher.........I became the student.....

Let me tell you something about me as a student............ I sucked. 

I was a terrible student in school. I struggled daily to learn what was being taught because the truth is I didn't really care that much, except when we learned about Dinosaurs. 

  • First Grade- My teacher hated me. She made us call the bathroom the lavatory and I was always worried I was going to pee my pants in front of the class because I couldn't remember the word LAVATORY. I sat in "wonderland" for most of the year. Wonderland was basically the linoleum section of the classroom where the naughty kids sat. There was also a boy who sat in wonderland. He was black and she put a refrigerator box around him so she couldn't see him. I was never really sure why I sat in wonderland. It made me feel dumb, insecure, and different. I was six years old. 
  • I loved second grade. We made sand pictures like the Navajo Indians and made coil pots and painted them. We sang songs about America and learned about dinosaurs. My teacher was Mrs. Cameron. She was nice. I felt like a normal seven year old.
  • Third Grade-I remember Mrs. Ortega teaching us about math at the chalk board. I also remember thinking....maybe I should pay attention but reading all of the animal reports on the bulletin board next to me. They were WAY more interesting than math! I remember having to ask neighbors about directions that had been given because I wasn't listening. I also remember homework being tedious and my parents spending hours trying to help me. I just could NOT 
  • focus in Math. It was like this big black cloud of information I couldn't understand. 
So it went, fourth grade Ms. Strang said I was careless. Which I was..I didn't care about the dumb meal worms that were wiggling and hatching...... gross. Or math facts, boring. Or carving the state of Arizona out of a bar of Ivory soap. My parents hired tutors to help me they really tried everything they could to help me be a good student. The best thing is they never gave up on me. They always had high expectations of me and they believed that I could really be something.

Math continued to get more and more difficult I had a lot of anxiety when I would take tests. It was almost like a panic. I would study for hours and then when the test sat in front of me I could not pull the information out.  My Mom became my number one champion one year when after a difficult semester in Math I received a D. The report cards were carbon copies back then and she erased part of it to look like a C. I barely passed Math by the skin of my teeth and graduated high school with a 3.2 GPA. Not genius but not dumb either. Especially considering I was in Cross Country and ran in the state meet. I was in two Orchestra's including the Chamber Orchestra which was very hard to get into. I auditioned and made the cut for the All-State Orchestra which is equivalent to making state in a sport. 

In college I finally began to excel academically. I even conquered Math. The sad truth is I took 092 three times before I finally passed it. The third time through 092 the teacher was explaining something on the board and he asked if anyone knew what he was doing. I raised my hand and explained the whole equation. He looked at me with his chin to his chest and said, "How do you know that and why are you in this class?" I said matter of factly, "I have math anxiety this is my third time through." He then went on to explain to the class what that was and began to talk about Math equations as stories. The apple walks to the bananas house and gets four carrots and they then divide the fruit. AHA. I aced 092, and took every subsequent math class from him that I needed for my Education degree. He was an amazing teacher. Anyway this story ends happily because I graduated with honors and was repeatedly on the Dean's List at ASU. 

Because I am an educator I now know that I probably have a classic case of ADD, and let me tell you it reared its ugly head in my two week Spalding course. 

I bombed the first quiz we took. I'm not sure what I was thinking but it was not multiple choice as I thought. It was a fill in the blank, write complete sentences type of quiz. I hadn't studied enough and I knew it. I found it hard to sit for hours at a time. My mind would wander and I was super fidgety. I had to stand up and take my books to the back of the room because I just could not focus! I felt like I was back in first grade. The information presented was new and I didn't understand it. Day three we had our second test. It was on silent final e's. The problem with me is I am a perfectionist. I expect myself to do well but then anxiety and doubt set in and I bomb. We had a review game right before the silent final e test which I got each and every question correct. I had studied and I was ready. We sat down the tests were passed out and I looked at the test and it was as if it was written in Mandarin. People had finished and were talking, I couldn't focus.  I couldn't separate the rules I needed to apply to the words. It felt as if all five of the silent final e's marched out of my head. I panicked. The instructors started picking up the tests and I hadn't even finished one question. NOT ONE. I had put so much pressure on myself because I knew I had stunk at the first test and now I was going to bomb this test and then would I even pass this course? Am I stupid? Thoughts raced and raced through my head. The instructor was standing in front of me to collect the test and I began to cry. I was so embarrassed. A 37 year old woman reduced to a 6 year old girl began to cry as I whispered, "Please, I need more time. I am having test anxiety and I can't focus." My instructor replied, "Why yes, of course." 

I sat in my seat dejected as tears rolled down my cheeks that I tried to hide from my table mates, classmates and teachers. What had just happened? I composed myself and class ended a few hours later. I was given my test and I finished it in two minutes. The pressure cooker valve had let out some steam. 

I aced every test, every assignment, every lesson plan, and presentation after that. The information unraveled and began to make sense each day and night as I poured over my books. The other teachers at my table became my friends and when I nervously stood up to give my lesson plan they cheered for me. They mouthed, RELAX when they could see I was nervous. I prayed for help before each and every test and help came. I received my final grade yesterday. 


I think this was a reminder for me. It was a glimpse into what my students might feel and how I can help them. I know how to help them because I have been there myself. I became the student. 

I learned that Just because certain things don't come easy DOES NOT MEAN you are not TALENTED. 

I am a talented teacher because school did not come easy. 

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. -Soren Kierkegaard

XOXO- The Sunny D




Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Thoughts Running in My Head...Part Duex

A little art for the kitchen



  • I love my kids. I mean really love my kids. They are working so hard on Mom school and I don't even have to remind them. (ok I have to remind then about the chores part)
  • There is nothing I love more than free stuff and we won tickets to a pre-screening of Minions tonight. It was great. Go see it, you will love it. I mean who doesn't love those little guys and Bob...Bob is the best. If you love animation you should check out this podcast Rotoscopers. That is where we won the tickets.
  • My best friends car in High School was named Bob. 


  • When I was on the cruise with my girlfriends I had a long winded thinking session about walking the plank. I think I have deduced that this may be one of the worst ways to die. Don't you think? First would be the "what if" anxiety of actually walking the plank. Then being pushed off and watching your only ticket out of there float away. Then what, hypothermia? Sharks? You become fish food? Do you drown? How long could a person float if they were made to walk the plank? I learned the watermelon method of floating when I was in swim lessons about 30 years ago. Is watermelon floating really the best method?? I wonder how many people in the history of time have either fallen off of a boat or been made to walk the plank. That is just terrible....and so it goes....random. thoughts. in. my. head. I held a little tighter to the hand rails on the boat, you know just in case the ship lurched or something. Oh and for the record that safety briefing that took 45 minutes and nearly caused the whole ship to die of heat stroke....I'm guessing that is just a hoax to make you feel better about being on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. We've all seen Titanic. I know what happens when a boat goes down and it isn't good. Sinking boat or walking the plank...which is worse? HA. 
  • Why is it so expensive to have your children home all the time? Why do they eat so much? Where did that gallon of milk that I bought...yesterday go? Didn't I just spend $150 at Costco? Did we really eat all those peaches in two days? Why is there no toilet paper? Didn't I just buy a big package of toilet paper? I am sure I did. Trust me, I love it. I love having my kids home and their friends over but I'm just saying it adds up. There is no place I'd rather have people be than in my home happy and comfortable. That is the good life my friends! You know..... but then you get the mail and there is the Anthropologie catalog AND the Nordstroms half yearly sale catalog and you think a little retail therapy would be SO nice right now...uh....except.....You have to buy milk, toilet paper, and peaches..oh and bread because that is all gone. Then you take a minute to be thankful for the things in life that really make you happy and this pops into your head.....one of your all time favorite movie quotes. 

  • Maybe I should work out....maybe later
  • Later......maybe I should work out and read the stuff I have to read for my summer training class
  • Even Later perusing the Nordstroms half yearly catalog........maybe I should do my homework.....
  • Really Late...son comes downstairs for an hour long talk about stuff. I had asked him a question earlier, I knew something was bothering him call it mothers intuition....good talk, such a good happy boy....
  • Then finish the hour of homework. 

Summer time, OH I LOVE YOU! 

XOXO- The Sunny D

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Summer Boredom? Enter Mom School



Mom.....There's NOTHING to do.

WHAT? CHORES?!

Are any of you hearing these same sentiments in whiny voices like I am? Does this annoy you as much as it annoys me? Something must be done. 

We have successfully de-junked most of the inside of our house. We just wrapped up a great season of swim team. I took the kids to see Phantom of the Opera because I think it is important to expose your children to the arts. We've been to movies, the public pool with the fun water slides. We have had friends over, rented movies, ordered pizza, done some school shopping. I just took my kids on Monday to the Arizona Grand for a staycation. All of these things are super fun..except for the de-junking of course.

Phantom of the Opera at Gammage

 Waiting for the show to start...Phantom
Mesquite Groves public pool....

 Arizona Grand....a little summer staycation
Aydan going down the slide...watch out it basically gives you an enema. Not kidding. 



I have pretty good kids. They don't complain about a lot of things and are generally quite grateful when we do fun activities. They usually are pretty helpful around the house and nice to each other. However, now that we are a few weeks into summer I have noticed a change............besides being broke.........

The kids are bored out of their gourds and it seems they have turned on each other and even me sometimes.

ENTER.....MOM SCHOOL

That's right. Mom School. Here is what the children at my house will be doing for the rest of the summer.



Mom School Dailies
Mom School must be completed BEFORE playtime.
§      20 minutes of Reading
Be prepared to orally summarize what you read for the day/or read aloud to me/ or a written on paragraph summary of what you read in your response journal
§      20 minutes of Learning
You Choose Numbers 1-4/ You may NOT repeat a number unless you have completed all four in four days. Number 5-6 up to Mom
1.               Work Book or Mom Prepared Worksheet…must be done correctly/ I will be grading…shotty work will be re-done
2.              Math Game/played kindly with sibling or family member
3.              Journal Prompt…… must have COMPLETE SENTENCES, correct punctuation, Each beginning sentence should be capitalized. A minimum of ½ a page journal response and picture. Picture must include details about the prompt. Make sure to date the journal prompt. Or Beware…you will re-do.
4.              Puzzle
5.              Cooking Lesson given by Mom
6.              Art Lesson given by Mom
7.              Aydan Only- Work on merit badges/Scouts
§      20 minutes of Exercise
You Choose ONE
1.      20 minutes brisk pace on the treadmill..no faster than 3.5, you may add incline
2.     Exercise Video- Mom has pulled a variety in the box next to the TV
3.     Longboarding/Bike Ride through the neighborhood
4.     Swimming (Mom will go with you)
§      Daily Chore from Mom/Pick up Room/Brush teeth/Comb Hair/ Get Dressed/ Bed Made
§    Something for the Spirit
  1. Work on Faith in God
  2. Read one Chapter in the Scriptures
  3. Memorize 1 Article of Faith
  4. Read a story in The Friend (online) or another activity on The Friend website
  5. Watch a Book of Mormon Stories/Bible Stories Video
  6. Learn a new Hymn or Song in the children’s songbook…Mom has an app you can listen to and sing along.
  7. Do a secret service for someone…write a kind note, do an extra chore for that person, draw a picture


Here is what it looks like:


Each child has a folder with a calendar. They need 5 tallies a day to earn their allowance at the end of the week. $1 a day that has 5 tallies. They can easily tally the work they do each day on the calendar. I have listed ideas they can choose from on the Mom School dailies. That way even though they have to do some activities that don't seem fun they have a variety of choices. I have learned that when I give choices it empowers my children. It has been very important for me to implement this in my home because there is SO much that my children have no control over.  (like having to switch back and forth between Mom and Dad's house for instance...they have no control over that) This way they have control over their choices within a safe boundary. 

As a teacher I have access to a lot of educational games, worksheets, etc. I will share where I found the things I am using for Mom School. Most of the things I am using I found by searching Pinterest. If you follow me just go to my preschool or 4th grade board. 

  • Kumon Workbooks- I bought mine at Costco. It was a great deal for a set of three. 
  • Kid's Journal Prompts- The glass jar in the back of the picture holds a variety of journal prompts. You can find them at the link above. The kids can draw a slip and their journals are located right next to the jar. 
  • Barnes and Noble gives children a FREE book after they have read 8 books. You can pick up a sheet at your local BN. It looks like this..each child has their own in their Mom School folder. Then they get a reward for the 20 minutes of reading I am requiring and it costs me nothing. 


For worksheets I belong to a site called Super Teacher Worksheets. I love it but it has an annual fee. Another good place to find extra worksheets is Teachers Pay Teachers. TPT has a free option so if you don't want to pay search there. I found a great math dice game packet for ALL levels at TPT. I am using that a lot with my kids to review math this summer. I have included the link to both. The really great thing about both of these sites is you can search by grade level which makes it easy to find the right level for your child.  
  • Super Teacher Worksheets
  • Teacher Pay Teachers
  • Cooking Lessons- I am always present for this lesson in Mom School. I let the kids pick a recipe, help me shop for the ingredients, and I teach them how to prepare the meal or baked good. 
  • Art Lessons- I am not an artist but I love art! Jan Brett is a children's book author and self taught artist! She gives free drawing tutorials online and there is a huge variety of animals or objects to choose from. I like to have my children watch the whole How-To video first so they know what to expect. Then we watch Jan draw and periodically pause the video to copy her steps. Here are a few of our drawings. She is so cute in her videos I love her! This is an activity I like to do on Sunday also because we are developing our talents. 
  • Jan Brett How to Draw
























































  • I love The Friend magazine. It has a lot of great activities that are fun and safe for children to use. You can access the Friend for free online here: www.lds.org/friend/?lang=eng

I don't have a lot of online activities listed here because I want my children to have a chance to unplug each day. I do not want our whole day ruled by the Disney Channel or BMX racing videos or the XBOX. I want a portion of each day used to learn something new: to write, to draw, to cook, to move our bodies. 

Happy Summer! 

XOXO- The Sunny D