Why Marriage is Work

I am simply amazed at the divorce rate in this country. I am not sure what is happening, but I think it is the simple fact that no one tells you that marriage is work. I have been married for nearly 12 years, and while we have had some wonderful times, neither my husband nor I are perfect and it has taken a good bit of work on both our parts to make this marriage work.

I feel like in this day of instant satisfaction we expect that in every aspect of our lives including from our spouse. When the "new" wears off we just get rid of it. Right? With your cell phone company you only have to keep that phone for 2 years and then you can trade it in on a brand new fancy one. When you want information, you go out to the internet and get it NOW. And so it goes instant gratification.

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when the "new" of being married wears off the work begins. (I have to jump on my soap box now.) When you and your spouse looked at each other you said "For better or for worse". It is the "for worse" part I think that gets lost. Life is ever changing and while at this moment in time it may seem like the worse is only getting worse and things just won't get better, in reality they will. I have found that it is the worse times that make the better times even sweeter. On your wedding day you made a promise to your spouse that no matter what you'd be there for them and they would be there for you. A promise! What does that mean these days? I guess not much since about 50% of the population is divorced. I'd like to see us go back to a time when a promise meant something and people genuinely work on making their marriages last. You promise to make your mortgage payments, to stay with your cell phone carrier for so many years, and all other types of promises that you keep because they are tied to your credit score or will cost extra if you break that promise. What about breaking someone? What does that cost? I believe that cost is more than can be fathomed and is something to truly consider if you are thinking about breaking your promise.

I know that some couples just can't make it. Maybe they have tried and it is just not going to work for them. To these people I'd like to say, there was something that brought you together in the first place. Try to go back to that and figure out why you even wanted to be together. If this was only a physical attraction, then you may not be able to save your relationship, as I believe that a relationship only based on physical attraction is on shaky ground to begin with. However, there was probably something you had in common or you always make each other laugh or one of you can see the sunshine in all things which balances the gloom and doom of the other person. Try hard to think of why and then look at where you are today. Try to rekindle what brought you together in the first place.

Keep in mind that most problems are only temporary and while they may seem like a mountain today, they are probably a mole hill in the grand scheme of life.

I empathize with those of you whom just could not make it work. I realize sometimes you get married and either you change or you never discussed the important life goals before getting married and the paths you and your partner are on or want to be on are just too far apart to ever make it work.

For those of you in the grey area, remember it is WORK. Love will only get you so far and then you must put your shoulder to the grind stone and work. I believe love holds you together, but work keeps you together. (I'm now off my soap box.)

I wish all of you the best in all of your relationships! God bless and good luck!

I'd Like to Dig a Hole

Today is a day I'd just like to dig a hole and lie in it. I got up extra early today so we could go to school to look for my daughter's book bag. For your information my daughter has a nightly "book bag" that she brings home with her books to read for that evening. It also includes a sign off sheet which we sign and send back the next day to prove she did her nightly reading. When Makayla came home yesterday her books were not in her usual bag. When I asked why, she said it was because she didn't have it. SO we searched the house high and low and uncovered nothing. As I began to think about it I realized it was NOT in her backpack on Friday. So I assumed it must be at school (the reason for getting up early).

Even though I got out of bed 40 minutes before I usually do and got Makayla up 40 minutes before her usual time, we were still late out the door. I went in the school with her and we looked all over to no avail. Then I had to talk to her teacher, who informed me it was no big deal! Which it really isn't, but he had told Makayla her card in class would be changed to yellow if she did not bring it back. (In her class they have green/yellow/red cards to indicate how they are following the rules and behaving. Every day the kids start on green. I'm sure you see where it goes from there.)

So because I had to take the time with the book bag I was about 5 minutes late to work and of course there was a 8:00 am teleconference I had to be on and of course my boss was sitting right there giving me the evil eye and looking at the clock as I walked into the meeting and sat down. AH!!!

He never sees the good stuff I do. Only when I'm late or screw something up. It just gets OLD! I am sure you all have had the same experiences in your life and today I'm just frustrated with all things work related!

I hope all of your days are going better! If you are somewhere warm, get out and enjoy some sunshine! :)

Casa Loma Flowers

For mindless Monday I thought I would share some pictures I took of some flowers at Casa Loma in Toronto, ON Canada. This is a beautiful place and a must visit. Maybe I should highlight this location for Travelin' Thursday? Enjoy and have a great week!

Disney Hollywood Studios (Walt Disney World)

Our final park is Disney Hollywood Studios. When we visited this park we were focused on riding the two key rides, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller coaster. Consequently we missed out on some of the other attractions at this park. I will write about what we and visited and I will also highlight some of the things we missed.

To start we talked this park counter clockwise, because of the location of the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller coaster. Both of these rides had fairly short lines upon arrival, so we got in line and once we were done with the ride we went and got Fast Passes for later in the day.

I'll start with the Rock 'n' Roller coaster. This is the BEST roller coaster in the Disney Park. You are catapulted through a loop and several spirals in the dark as you listen to Aerosmith. During the development of this ride the engineers worked tirelessly putting the music to the ride. They did a FABULOUS job and this ride definitely ROCKS!!

Next we went on the Tower of Terror, which my husband and I remembered from our visit to the Disney Park on our honeymoon. This ride is lots of fun and provides a nice story line as you get on the ride. The theme here is an elevator hit by lightning that crashes to the bottom of its shaft. You then get into your own elevator and are dropped down, then raised back up and then dropped again. This is a great thrill ride.

Note: Both Rock 'n' Roller coaster and Tower of Terror have height requirements.

After we finished these rides we went over to the Animation Courtyard. Here we participated in the Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. This was great, because it includes a session where you work with a cartoonist to draw your own Disney character. The day we went the character was Jimmie Cricket. We spent a really long time at this attraction because we were fascinated with Walt Disney and the way the pictures are made. The attraction ends in a store (as most attractions do), but this one is particularly unique as there is an artist drawing in the store and they will draw a picture and personalize for you (for a fee of course). We thought this was a great souvenir and had one make for our daughter and one to commemorate our anniversary.

After we finished at the Animation Courtyard, we headed over to the Lights, Motors, Action! Stunt Show, because it was the last show of the day and this was a must see on our list. The show was very entertaining and showed some "movie magic" especially when cars are involved. I would highly recommend that you make sure not to miss this attraction.

Star Tours - The Ultimate Star Wars Thrill Ride was a fun ride. You are your own little compartment in which a crazy droid is in the cock pit. You have a number of near misses and make a wrong turn into a combat zone. This is fun for all, especially those Star Wars fans and kids!


To be honest that is about all we did a Disney Hollywood Studios. We went back and rode the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller coaster another time, and then the park was closing. We missed the following attractions and that was OK because we got to see what we wanted, and we just ran out of time. My suggestion would be to plan 2 days at this park and as always prioritize so that you can get in what you want to see.

The Backlot Tour is something that my husband and I took on our honeymoon trip in 1998. This was a lot of fun as it showed some of the houses that were used in a variety of sitcoms and also showed some "movie magic". This is a fun attraction and definitely worth the time.

Jim Henson's Muppet Vision 3-D is a 3-D movie show. I have not seen this show, but I'm sure that it is quite entertaining. I'm sure it is a must for all Muppet fans.

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is another stunt show with limited number of showings. If you want to see this make sure you plan! You will need to be in line early in order to get a good seat. As is indicated by the title it is based on the Indiana Jones movies with explosions and many stunts.

Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey is a show that is done in the dark, which was our main reason for not going as we thought our daughter might be scared. It is my understanding that you are in the dark and you hear a number of different "scary" sounds.

Fantasmic! is the nightly show at Disney Hollywood Studios. We heard that it could be scary for small children and since we had two small children, we opted out. However, this looks like a WONDERFUL show! The lasers, lights, music and animation look spectacular. So if you are traveling with older children on just adults I would not miss this. It is my understanding that the line begins to form quite early for this show, so you may want to delegate someone to stand in line and get seats. The theater opens 90 minutes before the show, and they recommend you get there 1 hour before to get good seats.

Beauty and the Beast — Live on Stage and Disney - Live on Stage! are both shows that have dedicated showing times. If you want to see them make sure to look at your map early and figure out which show times you want to attend.

I think the most difficult part about this park is that it has so many attractions with dedicated show times and limited show times. This makes it particularly difficult to get it all in one day. If I had to do it again, I would set aside one day to see all the shows and one day to ride the rides and see the other attractions without dedicated times.

Disney Hollywood Studios is a LOT of fun. The Animation Courtyard was particularly interesting as it showed how the films are made and gives you the opportunity to try your hand a cartooning!

Here are some links for Disney Hollywood Studios:
http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/disneyworld/theme_parks/hollywood_studios.htm

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/hollywood-studios/

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/mgm/st-overview.htm

This concludes my Travelin' Thursday series on Walt Disney World. I hope you all found it informative. If you are going to WDW I would love to answer any questions you may have! Have a great weekend. I am traveling and going to the mountains this weekend, so I probably won't update my blog until next Monday. Go Broncos!

Why do I “cycle” through hair lengths?

I often wonder why I feel the need to change my hair, which inevitably results in a style only my stylist can fix. I will just get my hair grown out and then I will decide that is looks “awful” and just needs to be cut. A pony tail is not a style! So then I get an appointment as soon as possible, because I “just can’t stand it anymore” and hurray to the store to get a new hairstyle magazine. I then spend hours going over and over the pictures in the book picking out several that I like. Then I take those to the stylist and ask her which one will work and we proceed to “whack off” what I’ve been working on for the better part of 2 or 3 years! At the end she whirls me around and whal-la all is fixed right? No more “awful” hair. And for that brief moment that is correct. I feel so much better and my hair looks great.

Then comes the morning after. I wake up the next day and it begins in the shower, as I shampoo my hair I realize just how much hair I got rid of yesterday. Did I go too far? Is it too short? Well, what’s done is done. The next dose of reality comes as I begin to try and style my “new do”. I remember what my stylist did the day before, but my hands cannot perform the task at hand. Finally, by the time it is dry it just looks like a mess on top of my head. It looks nothing like it did when I walked out of the salon yesterday and now I am beginning to regret my decision to cut my hair and at the moment vow to begin to grow it out again. And so the cycle begins again.

For a long time I thought I was the only one who participated in this madness, but after talking with other women I found out I am not the only one! I am thankful this seems to be a common occurrence. Whether it is the length or style or color it seems like the feminine sex just can’t leave our hair alone. What is it about changing our hair that is so satisfying? I am really not sure. All I know is that changing my hair is usually quite satisfying and results in a bit of a “new me”.

I am looking forward to the final edition of my WDW series tomorrow! We’ll visit a GREAT park Disney Hollywood Studios. See you tomorrow!

My Wonderful Husband for Mindless Mondays

I thought I would put in one of my favorite pictures of my husband taken at Animal Kingdom during our visit there last December. My husband is simply wonderful. He is a working/stay at home dad. He takes care of everything while I'm away on business trips. He makes me laugh when I'm all "wound up". He picks up Makayla at after school. He does it all!! I can't ever thank him enough. So I post this pictures instead. It shows he fun loving personality.

Thanks!

I just realized I had not thanked Thais for this BEAUTIFUL blog. It is just wonderful and I can't thank her enough! If you need a blog redesign be sure to contact her (http://olivinadesignhouse.blogspot.com/). She takes all of your visions and makes them a reality.

I am struggling to get followers and I am not sure how to make this group grow. Any suggestions?

I think that is it for today. My grandpa is having surgery on an aneurism, so extra prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!