The State of the Me - 2015

Dear Joey,

I know how you like to read your own blog, and re-read it, and then read it again when it’s printed in the book.  And, you like to refer back to specific posts, periodically, to amuse yourself.  So this one’s for you.

The State of the Me, 2015 – Dedicated to Me.

The year started off with a surprise beginning.  I returned to work at Deseret Industries after a seventeen month stint as a SAHM, or unemployed mom.  It has been a physical, emotional, and economic boost to be back to work.  My brain likes it and needs it.  Crazy things happen at the D but my brain is crazy without it.  I enjoy being a job coach.  I enjoy having good co-workers and supervisors.  I am amused by things that happen only in a D.I.  And, periodically, I feel like I do good work there.  Jake and the kids were so supportive of me returning to work.  Yes, I am a working mom who chooses to work.  Judge me. 

The first two months of the year was a back and forth waffle plan about leaving our Riverdale rental to find our forever (or semi-permanent) home.  After two years of debates between Jake and I regarding cities and the number of farm animals allowed in a subdivision, we found and were able to secure our home.  We had more people helping us move then we had ever met, literally.  Our new neighborhood and ward was overwhelmingly welcoming.  Our home and yard had been neglected for a time, which has given us (and will continue to give us) plenty to do.  Our half acre yard has between one to four deer visitors every day.  The home feels ginormous compared to where we had spent the previous year.  All of us have enjoyed spreading out and settling in.

At the end of March, my parents retired.  It turns out they are that old.  A couple months later, they flew away to South Africa to serve a mission in the Johannesburg Mission Office.  They have loved every minute so far, and are excited for their move to a village north of the city this coming weekend.  They will serve the members and Church leaders in Polokwane and the Seshego group.  They can enjoy that while I enjoy thinking about them coming home in December.

We celebrated Independence Day in our new city, beginning with the Sunrise Ceremony.  I’m not sure what the kids thought of waking up that early for that type of event but what’s the point of the day if you don’t see a flag raising?  The parade had actual floats and dancers and cheerleaders, which is refreshing after seeing the Riverdale advertising parade for so many years.

After a rainy week at Bear Lake we prepared to send the children to school.  Abbi was incredibly excited to start the 4^th grade.  She has done very well in her academic and social progress.  She attends a speed stacking club before school and has quite the talent for speed of lightening tower formations.  She tested out a little basketball camp and decided that it’s not the sport for her but would love to find a Track and Field club.  Turns out, Track and Field clubs are hard to come by.

The boy started Kindergarten.  He just walks right in with his backpack and apparently learns to read and such.  I’m still dealing with the shock of it all.  Half way through the school year, he has outgrown all of his school clothes.  His body secretly stretches longer and longer each night.  Clothing is an economic challenge that I haven’t quite conquered.

We partied it up this year by hosting my parents’ retirement party, an extremely large Halloween party, a Shirley Temple Soiree for Abbi’s birthday, and other intermittent parties and meals.  The Halloween party was as fun as singing Christmas carols and building snowmen, so that may be our traditional social event.

I would like to sum the year as follows:

Economically
We did just fine.  We were blessed.  We had a chance to struggle, too.  We came through.  This year, we look forward to a little less struggle, if you can plan that kind of thing.

On the Home Front
The house is standing.  The house and yard offers many jobs in which we use child labor and limited outsourcing.

Education
We need to ask the question "Is our children learning?"  They are.  And, they will.

Spiritually
There is work to do and meetings to attend.  We could use a little focus on our approval rating.  You know, approval rating???

Mentally
As it turns out, life is hard.  And, I might make it more difficult because I want to figure everything out.  But a lot of things can't be figured out.  The best advice I've gotten recently is, "Don't feed the bear."  It works.

Physically
I'm old.  I'm only getting older.  My back and legs remind me everyday that I'm no spring chicken.  Well, by the time I'm through, by back and legs will be stronger than two stupid spring chickens.

Foreign Affairs
None to report and no anticipated foreign interactions.  Unless you count Facetime with my parents.

Animal Count
Toby the Cat {2011-Current}
Daisy the Dog {2012-Current}
Sammich the Dog {Nov. 2014-Nov. 2014}

2014 was pretty solid.  And, 2015 looks pretty good, too.

The State of Me

It's that time of year again, when presidents, governors, and Joey's prepare their annual comments on the state of how things are going.  Unlike past years, I haven't done my research to know what kind of topics I should be covering.  I don't even have any quotes and wording to steal from the president, himself.  2014 The State of Me may read a little more unorganized than past years.  Fortunately, I can still imagine crowds of you standing and applauding after each sentence, as if what I have just said will change the future for millions of people.  Also, in the imaginary crowd, there are those who don't clap, or have ugly scowls on their faces.  The right-wing nut jobs.  Let us proceed.

2013 was a banner year for the Tracy family.  After 23 months of waiting, a letter arrived from the Office of the First Presidency giving Jake and I permission to be sealed in the temple.  On February 13, 2013, we had a wonderful evening at the Brigham City Temple.  It was a beautiful experience and the support we received was incredible.  2013 will hold a special place in our hearts forever.

At the end of March, we sold the Roy townhouse and moved to Riverdale as a stepping stone in our negotiations for our future forever home.  One of the best parts about being in Riverdale (and there are lots) is that Abbi can hoof it to school.  She loves that and frankly, so do I.

As far as scheduling, I over-did the summer.  When Abbi's school let out for summer, the kids were in swimming lessons, Abbi was in volleyball and started Karate, Noah started tumbling, and Abbi played another summer of softball.  The same week of swimming lessons, I started a new job.  Not my best mom work but I just wanted to get it all over with.  The kids loved it and we all lived.

Noah celebrated his 4th birthday while we were in Bear Lake.  The naughty monkey brothers from Diego stole all of his presents and the children had to go on a rescue adventure to find them.  Then, they all worried about these monkey getting back in the cabin.  Luckily, Jack (my five year old nephew) said he would stand guard and kill them as soon as he saw them.

The children and I {with my parents} traveled to California so that I could endure my 30th birthday.  We had a really fun vacation.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Steve are wonderful hosts.  Noah danced with Donald Duck, rejected a kiss from Ariel during the parade, and was an easy going little traveler.  Abbi rode California Screamin' and loved it, found a love in guacamole dip, and was a fun traveling companion.  My mom and dad did pretty good too.  

Abbi turned nine in November and seems like she is going to be taller than me before the next State of the Me Address.  She recently has been a thief of my shoes because it makes her so happy to be able to fit into them.  Little does she know, while she was at school, I wore her shoes the other day.  Fair is fair.

2013 was a big year for us, filled with lots of blessings.  It had a few challenges mixed in but those turned out to be stepping stones toward our future.  We are all looking forward to what we have planned for 2014.  We enjoy health and happiness and can see how blessed our lives are.  Best of luck.

Turns out, this wasn't a very fun State of the Me.  Sorry, maybe next year.  {In the first paragraph, I hope you weren't offended my the "right-wing nut job" bit.  I just had to say it to blend my state of the me in with the state of the union.  Besides, in college I wore a shirt at least once a week with George W's face and the words right-wing nut job.  I loved that shirt.}

the State of the Me 2013

Mr. Reader, Mr. Husband (who will never read this), Children, members of the universe, distinguished guests, and fellow bloggers:

I am going to attempt another year of the State of the Me.  Apparently, I was in no place to be remarking on the State of the Me in January of 2012.  You  may remember me from previous posts such as: 
The State of the Me 2011
The State of the Me 2010
The State of the Me 2009

It always feels a little overwhelming for me to try to sum up my current brain status but, "We can do this.  I know we can, because we’ve done it before."

"Let’s remember how we got here."  Long before blogs, Facebook, digital cameras, or even cell phones, somehow my life was documented.  Periodically, I would make entries into a big thick journal.  Many times, I carried around scraps of paper or small notebooks that held my odd or even thoughtful thoughts.  "Technology made businesses record keeping more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete.  Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren’t, and personal debt that kept piling up."

Although I was against it, even less than five years ago, I am a blogger.  It's how I capture my thoughts and experiences much more for myself rather than to share.  Each year, I have the posts printed into a book for my records.  Since then, I have been a less-than-diligent journal keeper.  So easily I went from thinking trite thoughts about bloggers to becoming one.  "It was wrong.  It was irresponsible.  And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hardworking Americans holding the bag."

Now, onto the 2013 State of the Me ....

The economy:

"Together, we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion."  No really, we have some work to do.  Fortunately, {and unfortunately} Wal-Mart is where we do our main spending.  I try not to think about and try to never enter Target.  That's in my past and holds memories I can't responsibly recreate at the time.  

"The state of our Union is getting stronger.  And we’ve come too far to turn back now.  As long as I’m Joey, I will work with anyone in this house to build on this momentum.  But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.  (Applause.)"

Why does money have to be such a huge part of our lives?  I went from liking it to a near hatred.  Does money make the world go 'round?  I submit that it does not.  So many stories and heartaches people carry have to do with finances.  I will not and refuse to allow the economy to have a space in my daily worries.  With or without, close management, careful spending, smart savings, and preparations for purchases and goals can remove the fear money attempts to put in our minds.

Moving on to better things...

Education:

Jake has been involved with school every month of 2012.  And, we forsee another 12 full months of school with an impending graduation date.  In addition to his school work at Utah State University, he has completed hundreds of hours of certification training and passed tests that have benefited him in his work.  Jake works so very hard with his job and school work.

Just a couple of days before the school year started, we learned that after eight months of waiting, Abbi finally made it through the waiting list for the local charter school.  Jake and I were seeking a better learning environment for her and although we weren't 100% sure what the heck a charter school was, we believed it had to be an improvement from the public elementary school we are assigned to.  Abbi and I had already done the back to school shopping but we set out again for uniforms.  We are all so happy, most importantly, Abbi is so happy at her new school.  The change in her and in her school work is amazing.  She has confidence in herself and is interacting so well with the students and teachers.  We LOVE the school and have been so pleased with their performance and we are ECSTATIC about the happy Abbi who comes and goes everyday.

Noah and I set off on a new adventure and started a preschool in our home.  Little Duck Preschool has been a fun experience, starting off with fourteen children, four years old and under!  Little Ducks will not see another academic school year but we are enjoying it for now.  Next year, we'll be outsourcing his preschool education. 

Immigration:

This past year, we made an effort to emigrate but were unsuccessful.  Indeed, we press on and will attempt to become immigrants in a place Jake doesn't consider "the city."  2012 saw only two animals immigrate into our home.  Tank {who has left us for another home} in March, and Daisy in May as my anniversary/Mother's Day gift.  Furthermore, we are hoping for another human or two to immigrate into our family in the future.

Innovation:

I have attempted, but remain unsuccessful, to become a competent housewife.  I have pretended {at best} to organize, to set a routine, to clean, to cook, even to do activities.  My desire is to be or even act like I am innovative in my endeavors.

"But challenges remain.  And we know how to solve them."

This year I am hoping to improve in my housekeeping, mom, and wife skills.  I have a plan to try out this month and hope to improve it and me over the course of the year.  The problem is that I have a really hard time with follow through.  I'm sorry to those of you who already know that.  I know it's my weakness.  

"That’s a bargain worth making.  (Applause.)"

Energy:

We are experiencing an off-kilter balance of energy in our household.  Jake somehow has enough energy to work a million hours, I have a conservative amount, Abbi has the most energy of any of us, and Noah has a ton of energy but has an energy crisis when his schedule gets screwed up.

"That doesn’t make sense."

the Great Recession:

You may call our 50% decrease in household income part of the Great Recession but it was self-inflicted.  2012 was the year I became a stay-at-home-mom.  I looked forward to that day, literally, my entire life.  I've never wanted anything more than to be a wife and mom at home.

So technically, I don't think our loss of income could be categorized with any sort of recession.  I would say, though, that my brain power and memory is suffering from some sort of recession.  While it is common knowledge that Noah owns property rights to my sanity, I'm not certain were my brain has gone.  I would have to label my brain/memory/soul victims of the Great Recession.

"With a rule like that, I guess it was worth crying over spilled milk.  (Laughter and applause.)"

Government:

I'm not sure who is in charge around here.  Four out of four believe they rule the roost but there in no discernible democracy.  Generally speaking, we don't have many power struggles other than when two stubborns {almost always male} go head to head.  And I'll tell you, that's a lot of head going at it.  Haha.  I'm the funny one.  

"The point is, we should all want a smarter, more effective government.  And while we may not be able to bridge our biggest philosophical differences this year, we can make real progress."

I think it goes to say, we are a happy family.  I find myself often thinking about how blessed I am to be married to Jake.  We may not have everything, but we are so grateful for what we do have.  Being able to have Abbi and Noah in our home makes us the luckiest we could ever hope to be. 

"There are plenty of ways to get this done.  So let’s agree right here, right now:  No side issues.  No drama.  Let’s get it done.  (Applause.)"

"How this incredible transformation will end remains uncertain.  But we have a huge stake in the outcome."

Security:

Uh, we're all good here, but 2012 was my poorest performance year security wise.  I have never, before 2012 had any car trouble.  This year, it was necessary for us to put a battery charger in the van for the many times we find it dead, due to the number of doors and lights we {I} don't check.  Furthermore, twice in one week my dad came to the rescue because I locked the keys in the van.  One of those times, the van had both mine and Jake's key inside.  In addition, it happened at work, too.  Good times. 

When I wasn't locking the keys inside, I was leaving the keys inside, or the garage door open, or the garage door opener exposed.  I lost my garage door opener privileges for a time and once, Jake brought my keys in from the front door at 3:00 a.m.  My bad, really.  In the last two weeks, I really have improved, though.

"I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed:  That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more.  (Applause.)"

"Yes, the world is changing.  No, we can’t control every event.  But our house remains the one indispensable home in world affairs –- and as long as I’m Joey, I intend to keep it that way.  (Applause.)"

"No one built this family on their own.  This family is great because we built it together.  This family is great because we worked as a team.  This family is great because we get each other’s backs.  And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard.  As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong."

"Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)"

{Please refer to the President's speech to find out that I used it, hopefully not illegally.}

what do these things have in common?

a packed house HUGE stake conference

my singles' stake president, President Wahlen

Mitt Romney, with whom I was tight

the number, 296

singing my talk, with Lisa turning the pages - laughing and correcting me

sheet music that I recognized

the last line was "Part of Your World" and I owned it

ketchup

Bishop Valletta

church HQ turned into a city

I-84 turned metro

4-6 choices for private school or private pools for Cody

swimming class

Taryn Wood and other familiar faces

This was one dream, two sleeps ago.  What is wrong with me?  If I believed in it, and could afford it, I would totally keep a dream interpreter on retainer for nights such as this.  What is your interpretation?

The State of Me

Distinguished guests and fellow Americans, the Constitution declares that information regarding the State of the (Me), should be given from time to time.  For the 3rd annual State of Me Address, I wish to garner the support of my supporters and I wish to ask those who don't support me, why are you reading this?  Amidst a turbulent 2010, the 'Me' still got some stuff accomplished.  Also, much was left undone through procrastination, neglect, forgetfulness, or lack of motivation.  For example, why doesn't the upstairs hall need an empty dresser?

I reached out a hand to the international community.  I'm pretty sure that international relationships have now been strengthened as I currently have a boyfriend in St. Maartin.  I don't know his name or anything but I bet we could find him exactly where I left him.  Also, I met people from the Philippines, Indonesia, Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, and Great Britain.  2010 was a record year for international relations.

I am hopeful about the economy and the 'Me' economic situation.  2010 did not put the 'Me' ahead or behind.  The economic goals stated in the 2010 address were fruitless, minus the vacation.  I hope 2011 can be a banner year for a provident lifestyle.  I anticipate that this will be the year to work within a budget.  I will invest in what the 'Me' needs and sacrifice what we don't. 

During the season defined as the "Promise of Change," I made a master list of projects to improve the infrastructure of my home.  There are key players in this movement.  Although I represent the entire 'Me,' I am realistic about accomplishing this on my own.  (plumbing, sewing, drilling, moving big stuff, etc.)  I look forward to working with many organizations and individuals with these tasks.

2011 will reflect my renewed focus on terrorism.  I will not negotiate with terrorists.  Furthermore, I will try not to be a terrorist either.

I am inspirited with the feeling of anticipation for 2011.  "We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. (Applause.) Let's seize this moment -- to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our 'Me' once more. (Applause.)" 

A special thanks to The Huffington Post, the Thesaurus, the number 17, and to viewers like you.