One more thing to do

I'm moving

2006-07-07T22:50:00.000-06:00

Dear Blogspot,

I'm leaving; it's not me, it's you. Sorry, Blogger, but your 'endearing quirks' have got the best of me.

I'm moving to Blogsome. I'm still working on making it my own, and it looks pretty bleak and barren right now... but I can post pictures, and so far, every time I've gone to it, the entire blog shows up - not just the header.

So for anyone that's interested, my new home is at:

http://taffisblog.blogsome.com

I'll keep this blog too, even though I plan eventually to copy the posts from here to there - but I can't give this one up entirely. I still love the template!

Sincerely,

Taffi

PS: For those following me on the Cosa MOFstra, I'm having issues getting the code to show up on the new blog - sorry! I'm working on it.

Poor DH

2006-07-06T17:53:00.000-06:00

Which is worse - setting an appointment several days away for a job interview or setting an appointment several days away to meet with the bishop? LOL

He just got called by someone to set up a job interview for the position he applied for a couple weeks ago. The interview isn't until Monday afternoon. He's already a mass of nerves. I asked him which was worse - waiting for a job interview or waiting to find out a new calling? He laughed and said they're both horrible... it's the anticipation that kills him.

Any positive thoughts or prayers for him would be nice, by the way. It would be wonderful if he got this job -- the job description sounds like it was written for him and it's in a new building about 5 minutes from our house. Best of all, he'd escape from the job that he dreads so much.

Argh. OK, no pics, just lots of words.

2006-07-02T20:15:00.000-06:00

I tell ya, Blogger's really pushing my buttons. I'm gonna have to check out Blogsome, I think.

There are more pics, but it won't let me put them up. There's a whole series of DH and Sweet Girl painting a tea set she got for her birthday, the cool early anniversary present DH brought home, some cute pics of Sweet Girl 'playing' a guitar, and then there's our whole Lagoon trip, plus visiting with the in-laws on Saturday. Maybe eventually I'll get them posted.

But, until I can post pics, I'll blog about my busy week while it's still freshly seared in my brain, LOL.

So… it was a heck of a long week! Monday night DH got home late from helping his dad cut hay (like 9:30) and then we decided for sure to take a trip to Lagoon. I started some laundry and made packing lists. Tuesday we took off to Utah, and when we got there I helped DH unload the truck and get the kids settled, then I was off to a girl’s night out dinner with some of my Utah friends from a private message board I belong to. That was a ton of fun! My mom, sister, her kids and one of my nephews also came down, and on Wednesday we all headed off to Lagoon. The kids, of course, had a magnificent time together. My mom and sister graciously agreed to watch our kids for a few hours at Lagoon, and DH and I took off and went to the Bountiful temple. That was really nice - it’s always nice to get to the temple together, and we love visiting different temples when we’re on the road.

Thursday we went to Lagoon again for a few more hours while Mom, my sister and the kids went to the dinosaur museum, then headed home. On Friday I got to go to Cub Scout Day Camp and help for a few hours. I supervised the water bottle rockets and little alka-seltzer mini-rockets…. it was actually a lot of fun! But I did get a little sunburn - ouch. Within 20 minutes of coming home, DH wanted to leave and go check out some laptops at the local computer outlet, so off we went - with the sprinklers going in the backyard and Little Man kind of needing to be changed, no diaper bag in the car - we were coming back in a half hour, right? Well, after deciding that those laptops were too spendy, we decided to head to Best Buy and price laptops there. Very long story short, 5 hours later we were home with a new laptop and all the ‘necessary’ accessories. The back yard and garden were very well watered! LOL While we were at Best Buy, I called Munchkin and wished him Happy Birthday - poor kid turned 13 in the middle of nowhere, no friends, no party, no card, no cake, only one quick ‘happy birthday, kid’ in the morning from his dad - and he and Kiddo were by themselves all night, since my ex went to work. We got home and to bed late.

Saturday we took off to visit DH's family for the day. We got there just in time for DH to grill the bulgogi - we had a great meal and visited with everyone. DH's mom wanted everyone together to have a combined birthday party for DH and his brother. Sweet Girl had a wonderful day playing with her cousin, who is only 5 months older than she is. I got some great photos of Little Man playing down by the creek. Someday I'll be able to post them.

The only blemish on the day was the conversation I had with my 18-year-old neice:

Neice: Hey, I saw a lady today at WalMart and I thought it was you. She was about the same height, wore glasses, had reddish hair, and was (insert hand motion indicating 8 or 9 months along) pregnant. She really looked like you.
Me: Um. Yeah. Thanks, sweetie. I know I'm fat.
N: No, that's not what I meant. You're not that fat, you're just always pregnant.
Me: Really? Two kids in the ten years you've known me is "always pregnant"?
N: Well, I guess not... but kinda... it seems like it... but, really, you don't look that pregnant...
Me: You just keep digging that hole, hon. Just keep digging.

OK, so they're old pics, but they're still cute

2006-07-02T20:10:00.000-06:00

June just kind of went "pbfbfbfbttt" for me. These are the pics I wanted to share last week, but Blogger wouldn't let me, then I was out of town pretty much the rest of the week. So, assuming Blogger is nice today, here are some funny/cute pics from the last few weeks...

Little Man loves Munchkin's bike almost as much as Munchkin does.

Bike ride time!

Little Man's legs are about this.close to being long enough to reach the pedals at the bottom. Doesn't stop him from wanting to ride along with everyone else... good exercise for Mom, I guess.

He's grown up so much! My second teenager!

Nice warning label. Note the last couple sentences. Yeah, right!

It's an Xgames bike, what else is he gonna do? LOL

The last week in photos

2006-06-26T19:37:00.000-06:00

Let's see if it'll let me add any more photos yet...

Woot! OK, so - we had Munchkin's birthday a couple weeks early, since that was the only weekend he was going to be here until August. He said he didn't care what the 'theme' was, as long as he got a chocolate cake. So, I took the chocolate idea and ran with it... Munchkin's cake was supposed to look like a chocolate bar. I had grand ideas, a killer recipe, and time to do it... but it still didn't work. Instead of using regular choclate frosting, I made a rich ganache from dark chocolate. When I poured it on and let it set, it had a nice smooth surface and an even sheen - it looked just like a chocolate bar. After it had set for a bit, I used a knife and scored it to make rectangles. Still looked like a plain chocolate bar. Then I went to melt the contrasting chocolate I was going to use to spell his name in the rectangles... and realized I'd grabbed a white chocolate bag instead of milk chocolate. Augh... well, I decided to try it. That's where I made my mistake - it looked horrible! So I let it set and picked it off, leaving big marks in the ganache. I spooned more ganache over it, and smoothed it the best I could, but the damage was done... lumpy, lumpy, lumpy. It looked like regular chocolate frosting. I gritched a bit, then went and printed off "Happy Birthday" in the same font I'd used for his invites, put some waxed paper on the cake, and let Munchkin arrange the words how he liked. It looked silly, and wasn't at all what I'd envisioned... but it tasted divine.

And he didn't really care about the cake after he saw his birthday present! He's been wanting this bicycle for a long time and about fainted when we brought it out.

I'm about ready to pull my hair out, because Blogger is refusing to load pics again. I'll publish this, then come back later to do more. Oh well. Happy almost 13th Birthday, Munchkin!

yeah, so, I've been busy...

2006-06-26T16:53:00.000-06:00

So, starting about two weeks ago... my life in pictures. LOL

I was printing off the invitations for Munchkin's birthday, and I let the printer rest between pages. Sweet Girl came in and asked why I stopped. I showed her the difference in color and told her that I needed to let the printer rest a while, so it would keep printing off dark brown and look like a chocolate bar. Her reply? "Well, if it looks light like that, then it will just be caramel instead of chocolate. That's OK!"

On the 14th, we had a really big storm come through the area. There was even a tornado watch, and that's practically unheard-of around here.

Anyway, afterwards, there was a huge mud pit outside where Little Man plays with the Tonka trucks... guess where he wanted to be?
Guess where he had to stay? LOL

The storm knocked over part of a tree at the house across the street.

Well. Apparently Blogger has decided that I've reached my limit of photos for the moment, so I guess I'll have to end here... Stay tuned, I still have a week to catch up on! LOL

(Grrr, Blogger!)

How do I love thee?

2006-06-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Today's assignment is to talk about our sweeties, and tell what makes our spouse so great.

Let me count the ways...

10. He's got beautiful green eyes.
9. When I worked at printing place in the same city he worked in, he'd bring 'just because' roses for my desk on his lunch hour, knowing that it made me the most-envied woman in the office.
8. He takes a couple weeks off every year, to go back home and help his dad with hay. He's that kind of guy - if you need help, he'll do whatever he can. I admire how committed he is to his dad, too.
7. He has got the wickedest sense of humor EVER. The first few times we hung out together, we hung out for hours and hours, just laughing. Many times, he almost had me snorting pop out of my nose from laughing at the wrong time.
6. When I worked at a place in Neighboring City, he'd bring me (and my friends!) lunch from our favorite teriyaki place in This City on his days off. Just because.
5. When he started attending church with me when we were dating, he didn't hold past bad experiences with LDS people against me - instead, he attended with an open mind and heart, and quickly saw the truth in the gospel, accepted it, and was baptized shortly thereafter. It was a big commitment to change religions, and I love him for valuing the same things I do.
4. He tries hard to be a good dad - he accepted the two older boys from my first marriage with open arms and considers them his own - and tries to do things with all the kids.
3. He was content to raise the older boys and not have any biological children, but also accepted my drive to have two kids. As he likes to put it, he wanted two kids, I wanted four, so we compromised and had four.
2. He works incredibly long, hard hours at a job that he hates, so that I can be at home for the kids.
1. He loves me, no matter what. And that's saying a lot.

102 things about me

2006-06-19T12:25:00.000-06:00

Sorry it took me a bit. It's been a busy past few days.

102 things about me:

1. I’m the youngest of five kids.
2. I have two brothers and two sisters.
3. They’re all several years older than me (about 7, 8, 10, and 12 years).
4. I was called the caboose, the 7-year afterthought, the oops, the runt, etc. often growing up.
5. My eldest brother died almost 4 years ago.
6. I grew up in the city next to the one I currently live in.
7. I’ve lived in either that city or this one my entire life.
8. I’m not very adventurous.
9. I did, however, go visit my sister in Connecticut when she lived there.
10. I got to look out over New York City from the top of the World Trade Center in May 1994.
11. I’ve been to a New York Yankees game, at Yankee Stadium. (They lost to the Orioles, 6-5.)
12. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
13. My current calling is 2nd counselor in Primary.
14. I was just released as 2nd counselor in Relief Society.
15. Prior to that I was 2nd counselor in YW.
16. Prior to that I was the Beehives Advisor.
17. Prior to that I was a Primary teacher.
18. I’ve spent most of my time as a Primary worker.
19. I was an honor student in high school.
20. I’ve pretty much lost all my brains. I passed them all to my bright kids.
21. I was married at age 19.
22. I had two sons with my ex-husband.
23. He left me 3 weeks after the youngest was born (the oldest was 19 months old).
24. I was divorced at age 21.
25. I met my husband by placing a personals ad in the newspaper on a dare from my best friend.
26. When he read it, he thought it was a joke, and called to see what kind of strange person I was, planning on laughing at me.
27. He left two messages.
28. We talked on the phone first in January 1996.
29. We met in February 1996.
30. We started dating in March 1996.
31. He proposed on June 14, 1996.
32. We were married August 31, 1996.
33. He joined the church in January 1997.
34. We were sealed for time and all eternity on our 4th anniversary.
35. We have two kids together.
36. I’m currently a stay-at-home-mom, although I’m rarely home. I’ve had a lot of jobs, though.
37. Prior to being at home, I worked as a proofreader / copy editor for a very large (worldwide) computer corporation. I worked there for about three years.
38. Prior to that, I spent six weeks at a local business forms printer as a sales assistant.
39. Prior to that, I worked a little over a year as a receptionist at a print shop.
40. I loved that job – I only left because business slowed down so much they couldn’t afford me any more.
41. Before that job, I spent about 4 years as a proofreader for a national printing company.
42. I worked at the local hospital for about 9 months, helping in different areas.
43. Before that, I was a sales assistant / proofreader at the local newspaper for 3 years. Again, a job I absolutely loved, but left due to money issues. (They don’t pay much!)
44. The newspaper was my first ‘real’ job.
45. Before that, I did a stint at fast food.
46. Before that (high school) I worked at the local library.
47. Phew. OK, before I was hired at the library, I volunteered there (in junior high).
48. Of course, there were the odd babysitting jobs in there, too.
49. I think that about covers job history. This is harder than I thought it would be.
50. For pets, we currently have two cats (see sidebar) and some fish.
51. We have one goldfish and one algae-eating bottom-feeder.
52. The goldfish was one of several 12-cent guppies purchased at Wal-Mart. They all died except that one.
53. It's been alive for at least three years (I've forgotten exactly when we installed the aquarium) and is quite large - at least 4 inches?
54. We have fish at the insistance of Kiddo; it is his job to feed the things, although I end up cleaning the tank.
55. While Kiddo is in another state visiting my ex, guess who has to feed the stupid things too? Yep.
56. I miss Kiddo very much, and it's not just because I hate feeding the fish.
57. I also miss Munchkin, although not so desperately, since he was home for the weekend.
58. Munchkin is gone for the week, however, at Scout Camp, so I still miss him.
59. On a completely unrelated note, because I can't think of any smooth way to change the subject, I used to sell Mary Kay.
60. There was a time (yes, during the MK years) that it was a rare sight to see me without at least full eye makeup, plus lipgloss, if not "the full regalia", as DH used to put it.
61. I now hardly ever wear makeup.
62. On good days I'll put on eyeliner and mascara, maybe some blush.
63. I hardly ever remember to take the makeup off at night, though.
64. This causes nasty morning similarities to a raccoon.
65. On rare occasions, I'll do foundation & the full regalia, and then I'll remember to wash my face at night because my face feels so greasy by bedtime.
66. The night I got to meet a bunch of awesome women I wore foundation and lots of makeup to try to disguise the very dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep.
67. DH was jealous because I hardly ever wear that much makeup around him! LOL
68. While I rarely wear makeup, I do wear jewelry every day.
69. I wear my wedding rings, a CTR ring or my birthstone ring, a watch, 2 sets of earrings (one of which I never, ever take out - more on that below), and the newest addition, an Italian charm bracelet.
70. DH bought me a pair of smallish diamond earrings for Christmas 1998 for two reasons - one, he was tired of the near-constant ear infections (and subsequent nasty goo coming out) in the top hole I got from the cheap earrings I always wore; and two, I had held my first Mary Kay Holiday Open House that day, had busted my butt to do everything "right" with beautiful decorations, refreshments, nice displays, lots of invitations sent, etc., only to have it be a huge flop (only my parents showed up - thanks, Mom and Dad!) and he felt sorry for me: I've only taken them out once, and that was just for a moment, during dental x-rays.
71. The above sentence may very well be the longest run-on sentence I've ever typed.
72. My Italian charm bracelet expresses me nicely in 21 charms.
73. Although it is very tempting to list them all separately, thus using up 21 spots, I won't; but I will describe them.
74. The first charm is one that says, "I LOVE MY HUSBAND!"
75. The next nine charms are about or from my kids - there are little boy & girl charms with their birthstones, the name of the local school mascot, and several "mom" charms the kids got me for Christmas - Super Mom, Soccer Mom, and Mom with a big heart - and then the Chinese character for Happiness.
76. Then there are more descriptive 'fun' ones given to me by either the kids or my sister - I love chocolate, happy birthday, Vote for Pedro, I love scrapbooking.
77. Then we get into the 'serious' descriptives - LDS, In Memory of My Dad, a lighthouse in honor of my dad, Lil Sis, In Memory of my Brother.
78. The last one is an American flag. I'm very proud to be from America. It may have its faults, but it's still the country I love.
79. OK. Only another 23 to go. How about movies I love? I recently saw Cars. It's being added to the list of All-Time Favorite Movies (ATFMs), or movies I tend to quote.
80. More ATFMs: Napoleon Dynamite,
81. The Princess Bride,
82. Top Gun,
83. The Cutting Edge,
84. Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail,
85. and Dirty Dancing.
86. I've only had one and a half semesters of college.
87. I met my ex-husband at the beginning of the 2nd semester and got stupid.
88. Someday I want to go back and get my degree, but I don't know what to major in.
89. My original idea was to major in English, get a teaching certificate, and teach high school English.
90. I have absolutely no desire to do that now.
91. One of the reasons I was attracted to DH was that he had a college degree.
92. I have a drinking problem - I can easily drink a six-pack a day.
93. My beverage of choice is diet Pepsi.
94. I used to drink a lot of water - but now it's my goal to drink more water than Pepsi.
95. The first thing I do when I come downstairs in the morning, though, is grab a pop from the fridge and drink it for breakfast, while reading my email and checking my message board/blogs.
96. I didn't know how to cook when I got married to my ex-husband.
97. My cooking skills were only marginally better when I married DH.
98. I'm a pretty darn good cook now.
99. I can bake a mean cheesecake, too.
100. I enjoy coming up with interesting cakes to match the theme of my kids' birthday parties.
101. I'll leave the candy making to my eldest sister, though, and the really good - gourmet - food making to my next sister.
102. I have kept & dried every rose that DH has given me since we've been together. They're in paper bags, labeled with the occasion.

Ta-da! Hope you weren't too bored. :-)

Wow. Really?

2006-06-14T13:56:00.000-06:00

Gina asked if I'd checked out her "100 things about me!" post in honor of her 100th post - I hadn't yet, so I did. Very entertaining! That got me to thinking, 'hmmm, I wonder how much longer until I hit 100 posts?' so I went and counted everything in my archives. I figured I'd hit somewhere in the 80s, possibly low 90s. Coulda blown me over with a whisper, because I actually have 101 posts already! Dang, I talk too much.

So... I'm gonna go start working on a "102 things about me" post. Yeah, that's right - 102, because I feel a need to follow the pattern (one thing for each post, natch) and because I'm vain, I figure everyone wants those extra two useless tidbits. ;-)

See ya in a while.

Favorite childhood toy...?

2006-06-12T19:19:00.000-06:00

Hmmmm. This is gonna be hard. I had several toys that I recall playing with, but many of them were hand-me-downs - that's what happens when you're the last kid of five :-) - and I really don't remember any one particular toy that was my 'favorite'. I wasn't 'into' dolls, really, although I collected a lot of stuffed animals over the years. I didn't 'do' play kitchens or EZ Bake Ovens. I read. A lot. I could probably name several books I read - like Barbapapa's New House, the Little House on the Prairie series, one book whose title escapes me about a Christmas tree that kept getting trimmed and someone using the trimmed part, The Color Kittens, and Elephant on Wheels - but toys....? Hmmm. Let me think...

This is me around age 3, I believe. I don't remember this stuffed animal, so it must not have been my favorite. But apparently I loved it! I remember a large orange stuffed toy - it looked like a smiley face on a body - that was my brother Wayne's. He gave it to me at some point, and I named it NoNose, because, well, it had no nose. (I'm a creative little bugger, aren't I?) There was a wooden ride-on giraffe that I remember (just like this one), and I've been told I used a set of play keys with it - it wouldn't 'go' unless I'd used the key to 'start the engine.' I don't have any pictures of those toys, although I do have NoNose in a box in my storage shed.

Mostly, I read books. I really don't remember much other than that! LOL Hey, Mom, sister one, sister two - do you have anything to add here?

heavy sigh

2006-06-11T09:55:00.000-06:00

It finally happened.

Sweet Girl finally acted her age... LOL

I wish I had a crying emoticon on here. It's not terribly noticable when her hair is down, but as you can see from the first picture, it will be very noticable when her hair is up (which it is 99% of the time). What do you think - should I make her keep it down until it's not so noticable, should we pull it up in a pony as per usual and then use barrettes to keep the 'wing' in place, or *gulp* chop the rest off to try and level it? :-(

Waaaaah. I'd never cut her hair before.

Yup. This sounds like motherhood.

2006-06-10T00:10:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Oshee for pointing the way to this quiz.

Which 'Star Trek' Character Are You?

Your results:
You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn't mean your job isn't important, but if you were in Star Trek, you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.

An Expendable Character (Redshirt) --- 90%
Uhura --- 70%
Deanna Troi --- 70%
Geordi LaForge --- 65%
Beverly Crusher --- 60%
Mr. Scott --- 45%
Jean-Luc Picard --- 40%
Worf --- 40%
Chekov --- 35%
Will Riker --- 30%
Data --- 27%
Leonard McCoy (Bones) --- 25%
Spock --- 24%
James T. Kirk (Captain) --- 20%
Mr. Sulu --- 10%

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz (And, yeah, I'll ditto Oshee - it'll take a while to clean it up nice enough for your blog, should you decide to post it.)

For Kara

2006-06-09T11:28:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine asked me if I really call Sweet Girl that at home. Yes, all the of the nicknames I use for the kids on here are ones I've used at home. Exhibit A:

Please ignore the milk on her chin - she was eating breakfast and I snapped a pic.

not really of any interest to anyone but posted anyway

2006-06-07T18:46:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was harvesting some of the radishes from the garden and noticed that they were huge.

The thought occurred to me that while last year was the year of the ginormous zucchini (see right), this may very well be the year of the ROUS's. (That's Radishes of Unusual Size, for all you Princess Bride fans out there - not Rodents of Unusual Size.)

:-)

She's learning already...

2006-06-06T19:51:00.000-06:00

... and I wonder just where she learned it from - certainly not from me! *cough, cough*

So the boys left a little while ago. As Sweet Girl said goodbye, she started sobbing. "Bye, Kiddo! Bye, Munchkin!" *sob, sob, hiccup, sob* "Bye! I'll miss you! I love you! Bye, Kiddo! Bye, Munchkin!" *sob, sob, sob* She must have told them each goodbye 9 or 10 times and kept wanting more hugs. She was carrying on so much, she even made my ex-husband's wife (who was picking them up) feel bad. Kiddo and Munchkin kept promising to call and telling her she'd be okay, but she kept sobbing all the way inside.

Once we got inside, in between sobs, she asked where the chocolate was and could she please have some?

Self-medicating with chocolate... never heard of the concept. ;-)

My boys

2006-06-06T10:50:00.000-06:00

It's amazing... for as little physical space they take up, and as few things they're taking with them, they're sure going to leave a huge hole in the family.

Have a good summer, boys. I love you. I'll miss you. Sweet Girl and Little Man will miss you too... find solace in the fact that they'll drive me crazy every day asking for you.

Can't wait until August - and I promise I won't go in and clean your room while you're gone. :-)

My Life Monday, week 5

2006-06-05T17:37:00.000-06:00

(I think. The week 5 part, that is.)

Today's assignment is to "photograph something (not someone) that represents a part of you. Explain why you chose it."

After mulling this over for a week, I decided on this:

Yup, my violin.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. When I was little, I loved to dance to any music my dad put on the stereo, and so I was enrolled in ballet class from age 3 through 3rd grade. Fourth through seventh grades found me taking piano lessons. In fifth grade, Mom enrolled me in orchestra, and I played in the school orchestra until I graduated from high school, in the college orchestra the semester I attended college, a community orchestra after the birth of the first two kids, and still play from time to time - mostly in church, always at the request of someone else. I also love to sing and have sung in church choirs since I was a teenager (didn't have enough electives to be in school choir and orchestra).

I grew up with music. It's part of my mom, too. Before I was born, she even had a little dance band that traveled around on weekends. As a child, I fell asleep listening to her play 'golden oldies' on the piano. Mom played violin when she was little, too... in fact, I use her violin. That's one of the reasons my violin is so special to me. It's a very old violin - her mom bought it used - and it has a beautiful tone. Every time I play it I feel connected to my mom, as well as her mom.

Even the case contains special mementos for me - I have old programs in there, one from the holiday concert from college and another from the honor orchestra recital at the end of my senior year. To the left, resting on the spare strings, you can see a small, shiny, gold object - that would be a piece of Werther's butterscotch, from my dad's funeral. Dad loved Werther's, and we had a large bowl of them sitting with the other memorabilia in the foyer at his funeral, with a note encouraging those there to take one to remember Dad. Kiddo took several and slipped one into Dad's hand in the casket; I put mine in my violin case. I locked it up with the other memories it contains and pull it out every now and then.

For more My Life Monday entries, visit Rachelle's blog.

Only in America

2006-06-05T12:01:00.000-06:00

Received in email:

Am I making fun of someone I don't know? Yeah.
Is it nice? Not really.
Am I going to hell? Probably.

Oh well.

;-)

hee hee hee hee hee.....

2006-06-03T20:18:00.000-06:00

So tonight we get home from a BBQ at my brother's house (farewell BBQ for my nephew, who enters the MTC on Wednesday!!!!) to a phone message from the bishop's executive secretary:

"Hey there Sister, the bishop would like to visit with you tomorrow morning at 10 if that works for you. And if DH isn't working and can come along with you, that would be great. Give me a call if you can't make it. Thanks!"

Hee hee hee hee hee hee.... am I finally going to be released from the RS presidency??? Have I learned my lesson and paid my penance enough that the Lord is answering my prayer??? We'll know in about 14 hours....

And just because I love this photo and blogger will not let me post it into the post it's supposed to be in (yesterday's chalkfest - I've been trying for 24 hours to post it) I'm adding it here.

More pics from this afternoon

2006-06-02T20:28:00.000-06:00

But these are of my roses.

Rainy afternoon + big covered porch + sidewalk chalk = happy kids.

2006-06-02T20:00:00.000-06:00

The perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon.

Sweet girl made hand turkeys...

... as well as foot turkeys. Never heard of foot turkeys? Neither had I. Notice the eyebrows. I didn't know foot turkeys had eyebrows.

Sweet Girl contemplates her next masterpiece.

Little Man contemplates how to get out of taking a bath.

Sidewalk chalk art is a messy business...

... but it's good for creativity - and creating lots of laundry.

That would've been ironic

2006-06-02T10:26:00.000-06:00

Little Man almost got hit with a huge binder that fell off a table here in my office. We're talking a huge, 3 1/2" binder, full of papers. It was standing up, with another binder, on the edge of the table. Little Man bumped the table as he walked by. Thankfully, by the time the binder fell, he'd gone just past where it fell.

What's in the binder?

Notes and the syllabus from my "Positive Parenting" class.

I should have known.

2006-06-01T01:33:00.000-06:00

A young girl was trudging along a mountain path, trying to reach her grandmother's house. It was bitter cold, and the wind cut like a knife. When she was within sight of her destination, she heard a rustle at her feet.

Looking down, she saw a snake. Before she could move, the snake spoke to her. He said, "I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food in these mountains, and I am starving. Please put me under your coat and take me with you."

"No," replied the girl. "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite is poisonous."

"No, no," said the snake. "If you help me, you will be my best friend. I will treat you differently."

The little girl sat down on a rock for a moment to rest and think things over. She looked at the beautiful marking on the snake and had to admit that it was the most beautiful snake she had ever seen.

Suddenly, she said, "I believe you. I will save you. All living things deserve to be treated with kindness."

The little girl reached over, put the snake gently under her coat and proceeded toward her grandmother's house. Within a moment, she felt a sharp pain in her side. The snake had bitten her.

"How could you do this to me?" she cried. "You promised that you would not bite me if I would protect you from the bitter cold."

The snake hissed, "You knew what I was when you picked me up," and slithered away.

Moral 1 to the story: Don't be tricked into being nice when negotiating with your ex-husband, when he's suddenly become accomodating and agreeable, and think that this time he's not lying to get his way. You knew what he was before you started.
Moral 2: Even minor misjudgements amongst friends can come back to bite you.

Works for me Wednesday

2006-05-31T18:10:00.000-06:00

Schedules.

The bane of my existance. Even with keeping the kids to one school activity, there's still Scouts, Young Mens, their visitation schedule with the ex, their general life, doctors, dentists, orthodontists, my general life, DH's work schedule... ya know. So how do I keep from going insane? Well, actually, I don't. But to keep me on track while going crazy, I've discovered this cool magnetic dry erase scheduler:

It came with 4 weeks and a pen. My sister told me about it, and said while it was cool, she wished it had 6 weeks. I thought it should too. So I bought two and kept 6 of the 8 weeks and gave her the other two. I love it.

Every Sunday night after every one's in bed, I pull down the current and upcoming weeks and get my dayplanner out. I correlate between the two, making sure I've written everything down on both. Then I erase the current week, move everything else up a notch, and write in the next needed week before putting it at the bottom.

Then I wrack my brain, pull out the cookbooks, and come up with dinner ideas for the week that work with the schedules... figure out which days need to be crockpot meals, which days I'll actually have time to cook, which days I'll need to fix something soft to compensate for a tender mouth fresh from the orthodontist.

After I get the menus done, I write down all the ingredients I'll need to buy in the grocery list in my planner (really, it's fabulous; you should get one) and any other items off the shopping list that's on the front of the fridge. I go shopping on Monday mornings for the week, then I'm done. It's really helped cut back on our grocery bill - even with two teenage boys, I can feed our family for an average of $65-70 a week.

Then I write down this week's meals on the white board. I started using this because I got soooo sick of hearing "what's for dinner tonight?" several times a day - each person would ask a couple of times because they weren't listening the first time. :-)

So... anywho... once-a-week planning/organizing and shopping... works for me.

In Memoriam

2006-05-29T23:43:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm posting late. I had a busy day.

I already did the emotionally-draining thing once today at the cemetary, what with listening to an a capella rendition of "Taps" while they lowered the flag to half mast, and then hearing "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes while standing at my daddy's grave; so I'm gonna keep it simple. And my computer is being all freaky, so I can't get my pictures uploaded. I'll try again tomorrow... maybe. :-) (Update: I finally got the pics off the camera, but now Blogger won't upload any. I hear that others are dealing with it too. Hope they fix it soon... I'll keep trying.) Here goes...

In loving memory of:

My maternal Grandpa, DL, 1907 - 1990. I never got to know him as much as I'd have liked to, due to 500 miles between our homes. He seemed like a stern man without much humor, but I've heard stories about him 'playing' with dynamite. I also remember that one time, he and my Uncle Dave took me fishing at a little lake near his house. Grandpa had to skewer the worm on the hook for me; but I caught a rainbow trout, and he was impressed.

My Uncle Dave, 1931 - 1994. I don't have any photos of him at my home. He and his wife had recently returned from a mission, and were looking forward to spending time together playing with their grandkids, when he suddenly passed away. He was an honorable man with a heart of pure gold.

My Auntie Barb, 1943 - 2000. I can't believe it's been 6 years already. Barb had the gift of making anyone feel instantly welcome in her home. She remembered little details about you and made you feel special.

My maternal Grandma, Ella, 1910 - 2001. Feisty redhead to the end. She ran a beauty shop out of her home for years and years. It was a special treat to lay back and have her wash your hair in the nifty sink in the beauty shop when you visited. She always had cookies in the big glass cookie jar... and never said anything to your folks if you snuck a few. She had Alzheimer's, but never lost her sense of humor.

My husband's great-aunt Ardath, 1913 - 2001. Her sister, Merle, was DH's grandma; Merle passed away when DH was 11, so Ardath was his surrogate grandma. I met her once, when DH and I passed through her city on our honeymoon. She was a lovely woman.

My paternal Grandma, Blanche, 1917 - 2001. Grandma and DH got along famously, mostly because DH is about as stubborn as Grandma was. She grudgingly respected him for it. I remember one time we went to visit, and Grandma drove us to pick up pizzas for dinner. DH tried to intercept the bill, and Grandma wouldn't hear of it. They went back and forth over "you are my guests and will not pay" and "it was our idea to go out, we didn't invite you to dinner to have you pay" while I tried to hide in the background. DH won. Grandma called him the stubbornest mule of a man she'd ever met. DH told her flattery wouldn't get her anywhere. :-) She also made the world's best raisin-filled cookies and always kept an ample supply in the freezer for company. I have her recipe, but they're just not the same.

(And yeah, 2001 kinda sucked.)

My biggest big brother, Wayne Jr., 1961 - 2002. I didn't know Wayne very well... he got married and moved out when I was 8. His ex-wife was nice enough, but they didn't spend much time with our side of the family, since she preferred to spend time with her parents. He was always my protector, though. Well, aside from the times he convinced me that chewing on balls of tin foil was the way to make new dental fillings stop hurting and that vanilla extract tastes as good as it smells. He got very sick in 1999; in 2000 his wife divorced him. That's when I started to get to know him more. He had a wicked sense of humor and loved to decorate for Halloween. I inherited his Halloween props - several 'bodies' that work well with the guillotine and casket DH has built. What can I say, we're goulish!

My daddy, Wayne, 1938 - 2004. Too many memories to try to pick a few. I've shared several already. Dad mostly raised me, since he had to stay at home due to medical conditions and Mom worked full time. My siblings tell me I had a different set of parents than they did; I believe it. Somehow I don't think Mom would have let them have a Chocodile and a chocolate milk for breakfast... but most days, on the way to drop me off at school, that's what Dad would stop and get me after we dropped Mom off at work. He was an indulgent father to me. More importantly, he had such a strong, amazing testimony of the gospel, and he passed it along. He may have had a frail body, but his spirit more than made up for it.

My paternal Grandpa, Leland, 1911 - 2005. Grandpa was tricky. He tried to fool people into thinking he had poor hearing, but if you were having a conversation in the next room, and he found it interesting, he'd pipe in and surprise you. He also said his sight was too poor to do various things and would ask you to do them - such as read the paper or clip his fingernails - but he could spot a penny on the brown carpet. He loved, loved, loved the Seattle Mariners; if there was a game on, he was either watching it on the TV or listening to the play-by-play on his radio headset. Also, he had a tendency towards being a dirty old man, LOL, 'goosing' people whenever he could. Example: at Dad's funeral, after my sister, nephews and I had gone up and played "O My Father" I returned to my seat. I had to pass Grandpa, who was sitting in a wheelchair in the aisle at the end of our pew. As I passed him, he slapped me on the butt. Excuse me? LOL

And even though I know this post is horrendously long, I can't end it without including one story that's truly fitting for Memorial Day. Today at the cemetary, my mom and I went to my great-uncle's grave - my mom's uncle, her mom's brother. As I cleaned the dried grass off his headstone, Mom told me stories about her uncles. This uncle had served in World War II and lived to tell about it; his brother, however, wasn't so lucky. Great-Uncle Hugh was piloting a bomber on a mission over England; his plane came under fire and then went up in flames. Knowing there were only minutes to spare, Hugh commanded all other crew member to jump out and save themselves. Then, rather than have the plane explode over the English countryside and the little village he was flying over, he flew the plane out over the ocean before it exploded, saving countless lives at the expense of his own. That's a true American hero, in my book, and I'm proud to be related to him.

I'm proud to be related to all of these wonderful people I've listed. I miss and love you guys. Until we meet again...

And some days, it's all worth it.

2006-05-26T15:38:00.001-06:00

Received in today's mail:

"Dear Mr. & Mrs. X,

I am writing to tell you how much I have enjoyed having Munchkin in my science class this year.

He always has a great attitude and has been like an in-class TA, frequently asking what he could do to help.

He is a very bright young man with good thinking skills and has always gotten his work done without being distracted by other students.

I wish him much continued success.

Sincerely,

Mr. Science Teacher"

I'm having it framed.

Sweet Girl = corgi?

2006-05-24T11:48:00.000-06:00

Know what a corgi is?

It's a breed of dog - a very cute, very nice, very smart, very short breed of dog.

Years and years and years ago, Pembroke Welsh Corgis ("pems" for short) were used for herding. "Like most herding breeds, they are active, intelligent, and athletic dogs despite their shorter legs. The short legs may seem to be a disadvantage, but they can run and jump just as well as any other dog of comparable size. Though still sometimes used as a working dog, today they are more commonly kept as companions. They are happy, loving, and eager to please. Pems are intelligent and quick thinkers, which can make them challenging to train, but their desire to please means that they thrive on praise. Although short, Corgis are fast runners." (courtesy of Wikipedia)

I wish I could find a video of a corgi running. It's about the cutest thing you've ever seen. Intense speed, from this little blob that doesn't appear to have any means of locomotion, because the legs are so short. (How do I know so much? The family of one of my best friends, Kirsten, breeds, raises and shows corgis. By the way, they're excellent family dogs - if anyone wants a pup, I'm sure I can hook you up with a fantastic breeder. ;-) Championship bloodlines, even!)

Anyway... on to my point... and I promise there might be one...

Last night at Munchkin's ball game, Sweet Girl, Kiddo and Kiddo's friend went across the field to the playground. When they were bored with swinging, Kiddo and his friend called to Sweet Girl (at the top of the slide) that they were leaving. She came flying down the slide screaming, "WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME!" and took off running after them. (They'd managed to get 50 feet or so ahead of her.) It was hilarious to watch her running. She very nimbly ran around the edge of the playground, jumping over the railroad tie border, and kept going. Now, to fully visualize this, remember that she's built like her dad - long torso, very short legs. After she got past the sandy playground area and into the grassy field, you couldn't see her legs very well (tallish grass) and it looked like this little torso was just zipping across the field. Watching, I thought, "she runs just like a corgi!" (Except, ya know, corgis don't run with arms flying and screaming, "WAAAAIIIIITT!")

It occurs to me that Sweet Girl has many of the same attributes as a corgi. She's cute, she's smart, she's nice, she's short, she's eager to please... and very challenging to train. ;-) She can also put on a burst of speed. For having short legs, the girl can move when she wants to.

I think she might have been a corgi in a previous life!

My Life Monday

2006-05-21T23:35:00.000-06:00

Time to join the bandwagon! I meant to join last week, because I do think how my hubby and I met is somewhat interesting, but last week was really suckily busy. I'll have to do the assignment another day soon. However, I'm all up for this week's assignment...

"Your topic is: My parents named me __________ because . . . Tell us about your name. Do you like it or dislike it? Would you name yourself something else? Does your name fit you?"

This is especially for those I met this weekend, who thought I was using a fake name for security. Nope. I really am named this! LOL

My parents named me Taffi Luv. Yes, Taffi Luv. They named me this to "match" my sisters, both of whom have first names that are five letters long, start with a T, have a double consonant and end with an I. The middle names are three letters long and start with an L. (My oldest sister has her name on her blog, but my other doesn't, so to be safe I won't put either's name on here. I'm still the baby sister and they still have the power to hurt me! LOL)

I wasn't a "planned" baby, so I guess my parents were scrambling to come up with something that worked. Either that, or the '60s were just really hard on them. ;-) Apparently, they saw the name "Taffy" in a pet column in the newspaper; they liked it, changed the spelling to fit the mold, and - voila! - a matchy first name. (And yes, my whole life people have said to me, "Taffi? Your name's Taffi? Ya know, my grandma had a cocker spaniel named Taffy!" *sigh*) As for Luv... well, they just liked it and made it fit.

Do I like or dislike my name... well, I wouldn't say I *love* it, but I don't *dislike* it either -- any more. It's a hard name to grow up with. First, no one recognizes "Taffi" as a name right off... introductions can be tedious. DH even called me from work one night and had me talk to a co-worker to convince them that my name really is Taffi... they didn't believe him. (Well, hon, that's what ya get for always yanking people's chains and teasing them... your cred does start to fall a bit! LOL) Most of the time, if it's someone I doubt I'll meet again, or don't want to embarass, I simply don't correct them when they say the wrong name.

Then, there's the whole "Kathy/Taffi" sound-alike problem. (I make it easy on people, though... yes, I answer to Kathy, or any variation on the sound of my name.) It gets confusing at times. In my 8th grade English class, we had 4 "Kathy"s and a "Taffi". My teacher resorted to calling us by our surnames.

Kathy is just the most commonly mis-heard name, though. Years ago, I worked for a local paper, answering phones part of the day: "Advertising, this is Taffi. How may I help you?" People invariably said, "Hi, Kathy, I'm looking for..." I kept a list of the names people thought they heard: Kathy, Debbie, Abby, Happy, Sunny, Cassie, Tassi... The last one taught me that "S" and "F" sound very similar over the phone. I'd spelled my name for someone who was faxing info to me, and I used to always say, "T as in tomato, A, F as in fun, another F as in fun, I as in icicle." Apparently they thought I said, "S as in sun!" So, I started using "F as in fabulous" - hey, it helped build my self-esteem, LOL.

Then there's the people that think they're soooo original... "Taffi? Can I take a bite?" or variations thereof. "Taffi? What flavor?" "Taffi? Are you as sweet as your name?" "Taffi, can I pull ya?" Oooh yeah, if I only had a dollar for every time I heard those.

Don't get me started on the middle name.

My maiden name is the same as a main character in children's book that was popular when I was growing up (it's now considered a classic... just to date myself a little, LOL). My 5th grade teacher read us this book aloud. A stinky boy found out my middle name. I was teased mercilessly from that day on: "Taffi Luvs ______" in that annoying sing-song chant all little boys know. Grrr.

There are plus sides to my name, of course. Because it's so unusual, people remember it - and me - easier. It's a fun name. I'm my own person - I don't have to sign "Taffi X" on message boards, like many of my friends of my generation - the Jennifers, the Heathers, the Stacys. Then again, the down side growing up was that there were never any of those cool personalized pencils or combs with my name on them. :-)

While I don't know that it fits me, I think I've grown to fit it - people expect a "Taffi" to be a happy, bubbly, nice person, and most of the time, I think I am. However, I've found that they also expect a "Taffi" to be a bit, well, airheaded. I've had to prove myself time and time again that I am capable of a great many things and have a good brain. (OK, well, I used to, before my kids sucked all the working brain cells out of me.) Of course, maybe that's the way it is for most people (women) but it seems to be especially true if you have a 'fluffy' name. (I once worked with a wonderful lady named Honey and she experienced many of the same things.)

Would I name myself something else? I've thought about it - plenty of times - over the years. And the funny thing is, even though at times I've hated the confusion, the teasing, the stupid remarks, I can't think of another name I'd go by. When I was at the paper, one of my favorite salesmen started calling me Doris. I liked Doris for the sheer fact that it was nearly impossible to mistake for another name. However, it's somewhat old-lady-like, I think, and just doesn't fit me.

I guess I'll stick with Taffi. (Pardon the pun.) I'm used to it. I don't complain much to my mom anymore, either.

Not since the day she told me to be grateful for Taffi Luv: she had considered Tippi Lou.

"So how was your day, Taffi?"

2006-05-21T20:58:00.000-06:00

"Only the BEST day ever, what do you think?"

Sorry for paraphrasing Napolean, but really... yesterday was just an all-around awesome day.

It started when DH got up with the kids and let me sleep in (until 10:15! wow!).

Then my mom, my sister, our good friend and I, plus all of our kids, went to a local parade:

Everyone waiting for the parade to start - my sister is in the far back wearing the pink shirt, next to my mom - in the red shirt with the visor.

Little Man was in seventh heaven with all the flags he saw. He absolutely loves flags. (That's one of the few 'words' he says... "LAA!" = "FLAAAG!")

Sweet Girl having a good time, waving at the 'princesses' on one of the floats (I think this was one of the groups of rodeo queens?)

Sweet Girl really got into collecting candy this time, and made out like a bandit. I think her bag weighed more than she did.

Little Man found it odd that people were throwing candy at us. Ever one to have things in their proper place, he'd pick up a piece and chuck it back into the road, whence it came...

After the parade, we came home and did some work around the house. Munchkin mowed the lawn, Kiddo helped clean in the garage, DH hoed the weeds in the garden and planted more corn - and Sweet Girl was all about helping him...

(OK, so this pic is from last week. It looked the same yesterday, though! LOL)

Meanwhile, Little Man found the cat food and the sidewalk chalk. No, the tic-tac-toe game wasn't drawn by him. However, he did manage to break the chalk into pieces and draw lots and lots of scribbles...

Love the dirt smudged on his forehead and the chalk dust on his chin! LOL

And while everyone was outside, I got to get some uninterrupted time and clean the kitchen without little helpers! Heaven! I should have taken a photo, because it sure didn't last. It was nice having everyone work together without any quibbling, complaining, etc.

And then... the grand finale to my day... I got to meet some of the coolest bloggers known to man! Had Very Mom's daughter not gotten sick and she'd been able to make it, my joy would have been complete. As it was, it was one of the best times I've had in a long while! My good MOFs, Alicia & Emily, and I joined up with the ladies for Idaho BlogGirl. It was so fun to meet these awesome ladies in person and get to know the woman behind the screen. I think I still have chills from Mary's story about how her husband told her he was ready to adopt. Brooke and I realized we used to attend church together years ago. Heather didn't believe that I wasn't there under a pseudonym. I think it was great that so many ladies went out of their way to travel to the wilds of Idaho and have a grand old Girls Night Out! We ended up going out to Wally World to procure souvenirs of our evening. We settled on sweet little Best Friend Forever necklaces. I plan to wear mine forever! Or, at least, until it turns my neck green...

Sadly, the evening ended and I traveled home to my family, where my sweet DH, bless his heart, had all the kids asleep but Sweet Girl. (She conked out within minutes of my arrival.) I even got some snuggle time with him, to top off my wonderful day! And I even got to sleep for several uninterrupted hours - neither Sweet Girl nor Little Man woke up during Saturday night. Bliss.

Of course... that was all negated when Little Man woke me up this morning by vomiting all over me and my bed... :-(

The one where I sound like a commercial - Random Product Reviews

2006-05-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

Oddly enough, they're all for personal hygiene products.

Thumbs up for the new shampoo I tried on Sweet Girl last night: Suave Kids Strawberry Swirl Smoothers 2 in 1 Shampoo. Sweet Girl has very very very very curly hair. She also has a major aversion to having her hair wet. These two things combined = no fun whatsoever when it comes to washing her hair. Shampooing is done sparingly and is a long, drawn-out process. We start with washing with a kids detangling shampoo and follow with a kids detangling conditioner; then, after she's out of the tub, using spray-on detangler with a wide-tooth pick to get the tangles out. All while she screams bloody murder. (On the plus side, this usually means that she's so worn out after a shampoo session that she'll fall right to sleep! LOL)

So last night, it was shampoo time. While Sweet Girl did her usual "I'm being tortured, where is CPS?" screaming, I tried the new shampoo I'd picked up. It's fabulous! I didn't use a separate conditioner (with other 2-in-1 shampoos we've tried, her hair still needed additional conditioner) because I was tired of listening to her fighting and just wanted to get her out of the tub (bad mommy, I know). And her hair still combed right out! I used a touch of detangling spray at the roots, but it was still great. She still hates getting her hair wet, but at least we've eliminated a step. Yay!

Next thumbs up: styling cream for my hair. Since the big cut, my hair has a lot of body to it! I like to put some product in it to help define the natural wave that's reappeared. However, I've gotten tired of moussed hair - it's sticky and crunchy. What's a girl to do? Dove Curl Defining Styling Cream is fantastic! It's just like the ad says - it keeps my hair frizz-free, soft, and not sticky, while helping my soft wave stay a little curlier.

Last product: Dove Ultimate Clear Deodorant. Big, BIG, thumbs up. I used to use another deodorant that promised to be clear and not have any white stuff come off on your clothes. It worked ok in the keep-me-from-stinking department, but still left little white marks on things. At the end of the day my armpits often felt gritty. Ew! But I've been using Dove for almost two weeks, and have yet to find a white skid mark on any of my shirts. Not only that, but there's no gritty feeling, and the skin seems a little smoother. AND I don't stink! LOL Considering that for the past week it's been 90+ degrees every day, and I've had to be out in the freaking heat, that's fabulous! LOL I use the "radiant silk" scent - which is almost no scent at all - a big plus to me, as I hate smelling like deodorant!

What are some new favorite products of yours?

What's your name mean?

2006-05-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

T	Terrific
A	Arty
F	Fuzzy
F	Fancy
I	Intelligent
L	Luxurious
U	Unusual
V	Virtuous

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

I think the only one that really fits me is the "Unusual"... OK, so on days I don't shave my legs, I'm also "Fuzzy".

random tidbits from the weekend

2006-05-15T23:42:00.000-06:00

Random tidbit one:

Saturday morning, Munchkin had a baseball game. I dropped him off at the field early for warmups, then ran up to the Maverik to get some snacks. On the way back, Sweet Girl saw a garage sale sign posted at the intersection...
SG: "Garage sale?" That's weird. We're not gonna go there, huh, Mom?
Me: No, not this morning.
SG: We don't need to go to a garage sale!
Me: Um, no, I just said that. We're not going to go to a garage sale. We need to get back before Munchkin's game starts.
SG: Yeah, cuz we don't need to buy that!
Me, wondering where this conversation was going: No, we don't need to buy anything at a garage sale. We have plenty of our own junk right now.
SG: Yeah, even we already have a garage! We don't need to buy another one at a garage sale!
Me: *hysterical laughter*

Random tidbit two:

I see this older lady occasionally driving around town - I think she's either a divorcee or a widow; either way, she seems to be living a nice life off of some guy's money. Why would I make such a judgement, you ask? Why, it's all spelled out for me on the license plate of her shiny new Cadillac:

MISSUTIM

Random tidbit three:

It's amazing how quickly complete thoughts can go through your mind - a total conversation with yourself in under a second. Today Sweet Girl, Little Man and I had stopped at the deli of Fred Meyer's for a snack before continuing shopping. While the kids were chowing down on some really nasty food (note to self: maybe that's why they don't eat much at home... the food is too fresh! I must try sitting the chicken and potatoes under a heat lamp for an hour before serving) I glanced up at the register. There was an older gentleman wearing pale blue jeans and a button down shirt, with not much hair, standing there. His face was mostly obscured by a sign. In the millionth of a second, I processed...

"Hey, there's Dad. What's he doing here? He & Mom never shop at Fred Meyer. Oh, wait, that's not Dad, but boy he sure looks like him. Same kind of jeans; I wonder if they shop at the same place! LOL Oh - no, I doubt that - because, remember, DAD DIED OVER A YEAR AGO."

And then I put my face in my hands and cried.

Tag - I'm it!

2006-05-14T08:08:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged by the Constant Gardener to play Two for Togetherness.

Two for Togetherness Tag

2 things you compliment your husband on while in his presence.
1. His cute butt
2. His bizarre sense of humor

2 compliments you make about your spouse to your friends.
1. He is always willing to help anyone in need
2. He works hard

2 traits you married him/her for.
1. His sense of humor - obviously bizarre, he dated me! LOL
2. His intelligence

2 days you cherished the most with your husband being together.
1. The day we were sealed
2. The days our kids were born (and he even got to watch one! LOL)

2 material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune.
1. His own fully furnished work shop
2. All the accessories he wants for his truck

2 things you would miss the most if she/he left for two weeks.
1. The smile and kiss when he gets home from work
2. The parodies he sings

2 thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw your spouse.
1. He's cute
2. He's got gorgeous hair

2 favorite dates
1. Going out to a redneck dive bar :blush: in a neighboring tiny town to play pool with friends
2. Going out to dinner, then to the mall to people watch

2 funny odd things you love about him/her.
1. He makes up parodies of songs that are really quite funny. Often crude and disgusting, but funny.
2. He has 'left' and 'right' socks. Once a new pair of socks has been worn, they are forever to be worn on the same foot. He can tell, I sure as heck can't. I just put all his socks in a pile for him to sort when I do laundry.

2 two places you have lived with your spouse.
1. The tiny bachelor house he lived in when we met (then we all crowded into it after marriage)
2. This house (we built it about 18 months after we were married)

2 favorite vacations
1. Lagoon
2. Oregon coast (Seaside)

Terri, ABC Momma, and Cassie, you've been tagged! Let's hear 'em!

New favorite song

2006-05-13T08:12:00.000-06:00

I've recently discovered a new favorite song: Julie de Azevedo's "Make Enough Of Me", from her 'Home' CD (released in 2004).

It just speaks to me.

Overwhelmed and underpaid
Morning comes too soon
Running late and on my plate
A million things to do

Got a baby cryin’
Another trying
To find the other shoe
When I open my eyes
The dam will break
Their need will flood my room

You made wine from water
And raised up Jairus’ daughter
From her bed
From her bed

Filled the empty fishing nets
And with some loaves and fishes fed
A hungry crowd
A hungry crowd
Make enough of me to go around

My mother’s sick
And I’m late to pick up kids at school
I need to clean
Can’t fit in my jeans
The fridge gives no comfort food

You made wine from water
Raised up Jairus’ daughter
From her bed
From the dead

Filled the empty fishing nets
And with some loaves and fishes fed
A hungry crowd
I hunger now
Make enough of me to go around

Multiply and magnify
This tiny little life of mine
Enlarge me
And expand this heart
And fill it with divine

My heart is cold
Nothing grows
But thistles and some thorns
They choke the light
And shrink the vine
I need to be reborn

You made wine from water
And told a scarlet daughter
Sin no more
Sin no more

Surrendered to the garden
Through thorns and nails you pardoned
The angry crowd
The angry crowd
Make enough of me to go around
Make enough of me to go around

© 2005 Julie de Azevedo (BMI)

before and after

2006-05-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

Before: Cousin Itt wanna-be

One heck of a comb-over, eh? Believe it or not, that's the front. Sorry for the flash.

Back view

And that's why I hardly ever had it down. Too freakin' much hair. It was always getting tangled if it was down, it was hot, it was heavy, and it made it very difficult to clean my scalp. I only conditioned it once a week because it took so long. (Body-only shower = 5 minutes. Body + shampoo = 10-15 minutes. Body + shampoo + conditioner = 20-25 minutes.) If I pulled it up while it was still wet, 12 hours later it was still damp. If I left it down to dry, my entire back was damp for several hours. If I bothered to put mousse or other product in it and left it down, it made my neck sticky. So...

After: human wanna-be

Sorry for the weird angle. I was holding the camera a little too low.

And I even got pretty highlights! I'm almost human! Best of all, my head feels about 15 pounds lighter. And... since a couple of my friends are currently fighting breast cancer, I've decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love in their honor.

OK, OK... so it's not 15 pounds of hair. I just weighed it on the digital postal scale and it's only 3.8 ounces... but it sure feels heavier than that!

Whatcha think?

Handsome little devil, ain't he?

2006-05-07T20:48:00.000-06:00

Munchkin's photo taken at band festival last week.

please help if you can

2006-05-06T16:50:00.000-06:00

Did you have a teacher that really helped you, who impacted your life? Honor and thank them by passing the help along. Teachers are wonderful people. Thanks.

Is anyone else's kid this weird? LOL

2006-05-06T16:31:00.000-06:00

Sweet Girl: Mommy, what's an octopus?
Me: It's a creature that lives in the sea. It has eight legs.
SG: Very good! And how many legs does a squid have?
Me: Um, six.
SG: Very good! And a stick has....?
Me: A stick doesn't have legs!
SG: (giggle) I know! It lives on the ground and only moves when people move it. Or dogs. Sometimes dogs move sticks, cuz sticks don't have legs.

I swear...

18 months, 2 weeks

2006-05-03T23:25:00.000-06:00

October 19, 2004 - 18 months and 2 weeks ago. That's the day my dad suddenly collapsed and died. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him. My memories of him are so vivid, so close to the surface... but I worry about my kids remembering him. Well, not Kiddo and Munchkin - they were 12 and 11. But the younger two... Sweet Girl was about 2 1/2 years old, and Little Man was 17 days away from making his appearance in the world. We talk about Grandpa a lot. Sweet Girl knows that she and Grandpa share a love of all things marshmallow - especially stale mini marshmallows from an open bag, or Peeps that have sat out for a day or two. She knows that on Grandpa's birthday, we always have angel food cake with cherry topping, because that was his favorite. Little Man carries his Grandpa's name... hopefully, some day, he'll understand and carry it with pride.

Anyway.... tonight, while Munchkin had baseball practice, I decided to go visit Dad's grave for a few minutes. (The cemetary is just a mile away from the ball field.) Sweet Girl opted to stay in the car with Little Man while I went. (Dad's grave is maybe 25 feet off the edge of the car path - I kept the windows down in the car and listened to the kids chatter to each other.) They must have mowed in the past day or two, because his marker was covered with dried grass. Luckily, I keep a little dust broom in the car just for this, and spent a few minutes on my knees cleaning it off. While I brushed the grass out of the nooks and crannies of the design engraved in the marble, I found myself talking to Dad. I ended up staying for a few moments longer than usual and ended up crying. (I'm to the point now that I rarely cry when I visit the grave... I think it helps that I usually don't have more than a minute or two, just a quick sweep off with the broom and maybe leaving something small, and then I have to run again.) Anyway, Sweet Girl must have seen me wiping my eyes because she kept bringing up Grandpa all night while we waited for Munchkin. One snippet in particular really made me cry, though.

SG: "Mom, I really miss Grandpa."
Me: "Me too, honey. Me too."
SG: "Yeah, me too also. Little Man, do you miss Grandpa also?"
Me: "Sweetie, Little Man wasn't born yet when Grandpa died, remember? Grandpa died in October, and Little Man was born in November."
SG: "Oh yeah."
Me: "So it's important that we tell Little Man all about Grandpa, so he knows what a neat guy Grandpa is! He didn't get to know him like we did, so we should tell him all the stories."
SG: "I bemember Grandpa! I'll tell Little Man what I bemember."
Me: "You remember Grandpa? What do you remember?"
SG: "Grandpa and I always builded with the blocks." (At this point, I thought she was just remembering the stories I've told her about playing with Grandpa - he loved to get down on the floor and build blocks with her. I usually keep it kind of general. Then she started supplying details...) "We would build a high tower, and then I would knock it down, and Grandpa would laugh and laugh! And I bemember that we made trains with the bridge piece, and Grandpa pushed the train through the bridge and I'd knock it over, and he'd laugh!"
Me, starting to cry: "Yes, honey. That's right, you did that together. You really do remember Grandpa, don't you?"
SG: "Of course, Mom. He gave me rides on his walker and that was so much fun! I really miss him." (I haven't reminded her about him giving her rides on his walker for a long time - like a year? Dad had one of those cool walkers that had a little built-in seat, so when he got winded he could rest; he also used it to bring in groceries from the car, LOL. He would put Sweet Girl down on the seat and walk around, or sometimes put on the brake on one side and just twirl her around in circles.)
Me, really crying now: "Yes, honey, he loved to give you rides on the walker. He thought you were pretty special." (Another gift of Dad's: he thought all the grandkids were pretty special - and he made each one of them feel that way.)
SG: "Yeah. I miss Grandpa so much, and I think about him every day. But then he had to go home, and he's so happy now! I can't wait to see him again when we're all home. He won't have his walker, but that's ok."

From the mouths of babes...

spring has sprung

2006-04-29T23:45:00.000-06:00

Played around with my camera in the yard today. I love spring!

Trees are no respecters of fences.

This bush has been here since we built the house 8 years ago. I still don't know what it is, but it's pretty.

Corkscrew willow in the pasture behind us.

Lonely little pansy.

Spring storm rolling in. It was a doozy.

The snowball bush is just about ready to bloom.

I was so freaking excited when I saw that the landscapers had put in a white lilac bush.

Did I mention I love lilacs?

The first iris! We planted these from starts last year and I wasn't sure they'd make it.

Fun with perspective. The sad little pot of pansies in the back of DH's beat-up truck.

Oh... and just for laughs... I forgot to delete this one the other day. DH loves it and has made it the desktop wallpaper for the PC. Little Man whimpers every time he sees it, LOL...

My trip

2006-04-29T16:45:00.000-06:00

Okie-dokey, I finally got around to dealing with the camera. Hey, it's been a busy week, deal with it! :-)

My Auntie Beth turned 80 last Saturday and my cousins threw a surprise party for her. My mom, a nephew, my sister & her kids, and my kids and I decided to surprise her even more and make the trip to visit her. Well, Mom, nephew, and sis all decided - DH and I couldn't decide for sure if my family was going or not until 9:30 Thursday night. I hadn't done any preparations, because we weren't sure if we were going, so I stayed up until about 3:30 doing laundry, packing food, etc. We left Friday morning at 7:30. It was a good thing I was following my mom up, and my sister rode with me, because it's a 10-hour drive!

It was so nice to visit with so many members of my extended family! I stayed with my cousin Jenni and her family. Jenni is so awesome... I decided that I want to be like her when I grow up. :-) Her kids are well-behaved, they offer (yes, you read right - they offer) to help, don't complain when asked to do something, and are so stinkin' cute! Her oldest son even gave up his bed so that I had a place to sleep. Her home has a sense of calm about it that I envy - she has 5 kids but has managed to keep clutter at bay - every surface was clear. I kept telling my kids to take notes, that's what a house is supposed to be like! LOL

I really enjoyed visiting with Beth and her kids, too. I even got to chat on the phone with her youngest son, who lives in Michigan and couldn't make it. I haven't seen him since his dad's funeral, which was almost 12 years ago. Beth's girls put together a memory book for Beth and I didn't quite get my page done the way I wanted to. I forgot to put down how she graciously offered her home to us to stay in whenever we were up visiting; how she always was up cooking breakfast before the rest of us even thought of rising; how she got my older boys hooked on homemade maple syrup and that's why I make it now, because after they had Auntie Beth's syrup, store-bought just wasn't good enough. (Although, mine doesn't taste quite as good as hers, according to the boys. And it's true. Hers is special.) I wanted to write how she is always doing something - usually service for another. She is such a Christ-like woman and I don't really remember her every really getting mad at any of us... even when my sister and I laughed hysterically after the pudding-in-the-blender incident! (Really, though, had you been there, you would have laughed, too. But as a testament to how nice she is, we didn't know until years later that she was so angry at us for laughing at her... she kept her cool, even while cleaning pudding off her face and out of the cupboards!) Anyway... I didn't get to add that her big hugs were always a highlight of visiting her. I can't believe that she's 80 now - she doesn't act like it at all. I love ya, Auntie Beth!

Here are some pics of the fun fun weekend...

This is Jenni's kids, Julia & Tad, letting themselves be abused by Little Man for his entertainment.

Not the most glamorous shot of Jenni, but I could never get a good candid pic... the woman never stops moving! Here she is fixing our breakfast.

The cousins... Jenni's 5 and my 4. Well, ok, 4 of Jenni's 5. The baby was napping when we did the group shots.

Jenni's baby is 24 days younger than Little Man. They got along famously, after they did a little getting-to-know-you wrestling! LOL

Sweet Girl is just over a year older than Meg, but that didn't matter... in the space of 2 days they became best buds and neither of them were very happy when it was time to leave Sunday.

I was sitting on the floor for a while at Beth's party. This is a shot of Little Man maneuvering his way through the sea of legs to come find me... I love his smile!

Now, for something completely different.

2006-04-25T12:59:00.000-06:00

I had a fabulous weekend involving lots of travel and lots of family and lots of pictures. I'm working on writing all about it, but I keep getting interrupted and the camera's battery needs to be recharged so I can get the pics off it. So, in the meantime, enjoy this little fun piece a friend emailed me today.

*Sigh* Never mind. I can't figure out how to attach a .wmv file. It's sure funny, though. Leave me a note if you want me to email you the "Husband Day Care" clip.

I'm not weird... no, wait, I am

2006-04-25T00:15:00.000-06:00

MOF Emily tagged me for the "Six Reasons Why I'm Weird" meme that's going around. Cool! I don't think I've ever been tagged by name. I love to be remembered. (One of the ways I'm weird, I think.) LOL

Here goes...

* I'm an avid font collector. I am always on the lookout for new and interesting fonts, something different than what I already have. It's getting harder and harder for a couple of reasons - one, I'm cheap and only get free fonts, and it's hard to find unique free stuff; two - I already have a freakish amount of fonts. The fonts folder on my hard drive lists 585 fonts (but not all of those are unique fonts - the 585 includes the 13 variations of Arial, for instance). However, even with all the cool stuff to choose from and the driving need to find more, I consistently use maybe 8 different ones.

* I'm slightly OCD about organizing some things. Like my spice rack. All the labels must face forward, so I can easily see the names when I'm putting them in alphabetical order. (Hey, I worked in a library for 8 or 9 years, ok? Some things are hard to overcome!) And I also clip coupons... a lot of coupons. I have a little organizer that I keep in my purse that has them all sorted out alphabetically. However, since I have so freaking many coupons, I also have a master list that I made in Excel and update every week. Coupons are listed by brand, what product it's for, how much it's good for and when it expires. I print it off and keep it at the front of my organizer, with a pen, and when I use one I cross it off the list. (Hey, laugh if you want, but I use them before they expire now and average a $5 savings every week!) Anyway... for as much as I'm obsessed with organizing some stuff, the rest of my house is a total pigsty. Clutter everywhere. I'm not fond of it, but most of it belongs to someone else in the house (anyone remember "NotMe" from the Family Circus?) and I can either spend my energy in picking up their stuff or trying to teach them to pick up after themselves (the whole give a man a fish vs teaching them to fish thing). Guess which one I do?

* In addition to collecting fonts, I also collect recipes. I probably have 3 dozen cookbooks, subscribe to the Kraft Food and Family and Taste of Home magazines, and a 3-ring binder full of random recipes I've cut out or found online, plus my recipes folder on the PC, which has 117 files (many of which contain several recipes - there's one document that's titled '15 pages of recipes', another of '101 crockpot recipes'... you get the idea). Once again... even though I have a wealth of available ideas, I rotate between the same 15-20 menus. Can you say stuck in a rut? (I blame this one on DH - he's picky and doesn't like chicken, Mexican food, anything with a lot of spices, etc... augh.)

* I love, love, love watching the medical shows on Discovery channel. I have no problem whatsoever watching surgeries or other procedures... but Trauma grosses me out a lot, when they show the accidents. Apparently, I don't mind watching someone get cut open and dealing with the controlled, precise nature of surgery - but the gashes, the broken bones, the things not where they should be... they make me shudder.

* I talk to myself, in a couple different ways. There's the full-blown conversations between me, myself and I, such as when I'm trying to decide the order of running errands for the day or determining the better price of an item at the store (thank heavens I have small children with me and can pass that off as babbling to the kids). Then there's the other, I-really-think-I've-lost-it times where I find myself telling stories, practicing conversations with someone, or re-telling an event. A song will come on the radio and nudge a memory out of some deep recess of the mind, and I start spilling it. It's a good thing I don't have a hidden camera in my car, because then my kids could use it to put me away -- "See, Judge? She hallucinates! She's telling a story to no one again!"

* I cannot stand to have long toenails. The minute I can feel any growth, I have to cut it off. I attribute this to the fact that I have Fred Flintstone feet - almost wider than they are long, and the toes are all pretty much the same length. Shoes always rub funny on the outer toes, and the toenail becomes very uncomfortable rubbing against the shoe. Yet... I also can't stand to have 'bare' nails - my toenails are almost always painted. I wonder what's the point, because there's like this.much.nail to paint, but paint I do.

This was harder than I thought it'd be. I know I'm a freak, but it's hard to define why! LOL Besides, the really weird stuff, I'm not telling... I want you to come back again! :-)

OK, so now I get to tag who is next... I'm calling out Terri, Idaho Momma, Cassie, ABC Momma, LazyMama, and my Cosa MOFstra neighbor SuAnn... also, some friends that don't have blogs but should... maybe if I badger them they'll start up a blog! So my cousin Jenni and MOF Jami are also being added. And if you haven't been tagged yet, but want to play... tag, you're it! Leave a comment and I'll come check out why you're so weird. :-)

mini vent for the day

2006-04-18T09:33:00.000-06:00

Last week I answered the phone when an unfamiliar number appeared on caller ID. On the other end was a confused lady:

Me: Hello?
Her: Buenas tardes. Loweoimx clcikpoawermsd lilwee oiawelkfmsldk lwiefma lweiaweifjaef. (Spanish spoken far too rapidly for me to understand.)
Me: Lo siento...
Her: akdf aowiefma ldmcs (she says as she interrupts me)
Me: Perdone me, lo siento, no hablo espanol mucho. Hables ingles? I think you have the wrong number.
Her: *click*

The same phone number has appeared on my caller ID several times over the past week, although I haven't been able to answer. There have been accompanying hangup calls on the voice mail. Obviously, she has let it ring enough times to get the outgoing message, which very clearly is spoken in English and is for a home, not a business.

She called again a few minutes ago.

Me: Hello?
Her: Hola! lkasjdflksdfjlksjlaskdfja?
Me: What?
Her: I am calling for the hour?
Me: What?
Her: I am calling to find the hour for the bus?
Me: I'm sorry, but you have the wrong number.
Her: Que?
Me: This isn't the bus company. This is just a house. I speak English and I don't drive a bus or know the bus schedule. Sorry.
Her: Really?
Me: Really. Yes. Sorry.
Her: Es seguridad?
Me: *click*

Rant point A: why don't people believe you when you tell them they've called a wrong number? Why do they argue with you?

Rant point B: why, after hearing the message saying, "Hi! You've reached Taffi, DH, Kiddo, Munchkin, Sweet Girl and Little Man's house at 123-4567! Please leave us a message and we'll get back to you" several times, would you keep calling the same number, hoping that *this* time, it'll be the bus company?

ARGH.

random thoughts

2006-04-14T00:46:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to blog for a while now, but nothing cohesive has come to mind. A couple days ago, while folding laundry, I had a great idea for a blog... but by the time I got on the computer, it was gone and has yet to return. So... here's some random thoughts instead. They seem to mostly be about Sweet Girl. Sorry.

* First, for those worried about my faith, I finally got DH to plant the sunflowers in the garden. Of course, it remains to be seen if they'll take off. I did, however, buy a packet of more sunflower seeds. One way or another, I'm gonna have sunflowers out back this year.

* A few days ago, Munchkin helped put away the remains of dinner. He must have put things in the 'wrong' place, because the next morning DH grabbed the bottle of Catalina salad dressing instead of ketchup. Luckily, he noticed it before he poured. I just laughed at him and told him that's what he gets for eating Polish sausage on hot dog buns for breakfast. (Eww.)

* We went to Lagoon last weekend. (DH and Sweet Girl are obsessed, remember?) Yep, we hit opening day and bought our season passports. It was a beautiful day - hardly any clouds, highs in the uppers 60s, not crowded at all. Unfortunately, we forgot sunscreen... it's now added into the master list I keep on the computer. (Along with underwear for Sweet Girl. The last time I updated the list, she wasn't yet potty trained. When I was packing for her, I mentally crossed off 'diapers' but forgot to substitute 'undies'. It's a very good thing I keep a couple of extra 'in case' pairs in Little Man's diaper bag.) Little Man and Sweet Girl also got sunburned, but not as severely. Well, that's debatable, really... Sweet Girl's burn wasn't as deep as mine, but her little face swelled up alarmingly Monday morning. She looked as if she'd been beaten up. Yes, can you say BAD MOMMY? The pic doesn't really do it justice. And, um, yeah - we now look like lizards, we're peeling so badly. Sweet Girl is pretty grossed out by it. "Mooo-ooom! I have dead skin on my face!"

* The new ride at Lagoon has earned a place of disgust in Sweet Girl's heart. She was *so* looking forward to the Ladybug Bop! Unfortunately, she really, really didn't care for it. "I don't like the drops!" she wailed.

* DH and I were afraid Sweet Girl was going to have a heart attack before we got to Lagoon. As we were driving from the hotel to the park, she kept an eagle eye out for the Lagoon signs. At the first sighting, she yelled, "Daddy! Look! It says LAGOON!" By the time we were pulling in to the parking lot, she was practically hyperventilating: "Look! Look! Look! It's the Lagoon! LOOK! LOOOOOK!"

* I don't often talk about Sweet Girl's academic accomplishments, because A) I don't like to sound like I'm bragging, B) most people don't believe me until they see her in action, and C) I can take no credit for her, she simply is who she is... Her 2nd week as a Sunbeam, she gave a talk in Primary. Eh, that's not so unusual, right? Well, she read it word for word from the paper in front of her. With inflection. On her own. Many of the teachers caught me later and asked when, and how, I taught her to read. She's been reading for several months now, and she taught herself. She loves, loves, loves to read. I only bring this up because of a phone call I got this morning. The stake RS president called and told me about a leadership training she'd recently attended, and filled me in on what they plan to do for stake leadership training next week. "Why is she telling me this?" I thought to myself. Turns out, part of what they want to do is emulate the training they received in Salt Lake, including having a small child recite the 13th Article of Faith. "And," she said, "I understand that you have a small daughter that could do this?" Geez, I thought. Sweet Girl's freaking infamous. How the heck does she know about my kid? Turns out her daughter is in my ward, and serves as a teacher in Junior Primary. Ahhh...

* For Sweet Girl's birthday, my sister promised to take her to Build-A-Bear. We finally got to go today (delayed due to various sicknesses running rampant through the family). She loved it! It took her a good hour, I think, to decide on which outfit she wanted for her little furry friend, but in the end she declared her 'perfect' and proudly pushed it out of the store in a little toy stroller. She picked out a white fuzzy cat and named it Flora. Flora ended up wearing a purple princess hat with matching wand, purple fairy wings, a purple tank top and blue slippers (with pink crowns on them). Yeah, no bottoms. I'm hoping to talk Sweet Girl into going back and buying the poor thing some pants. Meanwhile, she looks like a feline Donald Duck. Oh, and Flora has a 'baby' already. I asked Sweet Girl if the big cat was Flora, was her baby Florette? She said yes, while my sister snorted. I think I'll call Florette 'Broccoli' for a nickname and see if SG ever catches on. :D I'd take a photo, but Flora is currently tucked into bed with Sweet Girl and Brownie, her trusty teddy bear. Maybe tomorrow.

* Speaking of Brownie... I may have damaged SG for life. I'm not a very creative namer when it comes to toys. In fact, I don't really remember naming any of my dolls as a kid. (OK, I take that back - I do remember a large orangish toy I named No-Nose, because he had, well, no nose. It looked like a big smiley face on a body. Oh, and then there was the "pet" railroad spike Mom and Dad got me once, I don't remember why, that came with a leash and a sweater. I named it PeNailalope. But I digress...) Somewhere along the way, Sweet Girl procured this cute little brown teddy bear that has become her favorite tag-along. One day, she asked me what his name was. Being the uncreative person I am, I looked at the brown fur and said, "I don't know. Uh, Brownie?" and it stuck. Unfortunately... I think Sweet Girl thought I meant brownies the treat, instead of the color, and ever since then, most of SG's toy names have had food connotations. She has Chips, Salsa, and Berry (although, this actually may be Beary, come to think of it). Little Man got a teddy bear from the dollar store last week, because he was always stealing Brownie. SG named him Corn Dog.

Well, I hear Little Man waking up for his usual middle of the night fuss. Time to go. It's a good thing, since I was rambling anyway!

Apparently, my faith has died.

2006-04-05T21:01:00.000-06:00

Near the end of January, I was wandering the aisles of WalMart and found these cute little cups that had a disc of soil and some seeds. "These would be perfect for FHE!" I thought, and bought six. I tried to wait until the weather was a little warmer. A week or two later, I couldn't stand it and we had a nice little lesson about faith. The appropriate scripture was read, we sang the accompanying song, we talked about what faith is and things we can do to strengthen our faith. For our activity, we "planted" these sunflowers in their cups; the next day, we procured a little tray for them to live in, and I moved them into the window in Sweet Girl and Little Man's room. I dutifully opened the curtains every day and let them bask in the sunshine, I watered them every time I noticed the soil was dry. After a couple of weeks, we had some impressive shoots. For the past couple months, I've cared for them the best way I could with my black thumb. Even when the impressive shoots started to die down, and one by one they died, I kept watering, hoping that they'd rally around and make a comeback. However, yesterday I had to give in and admit that my faith has died:

All this time I've been deluding myself. Who knew? LOL

And apparently, DH isn't doing so hot, either:

But little children must have great faith. (That's probably why we're admonished so many times in the scriptures to be as a little child.) Because all the kids' sunflowers are still going strong!

Kiddo, Munchkin, Sweet Girl and Little Man's plants:

OK, so even if not all of them are thriving, at least they're green. *sigh*

On a mission

2006-04-04T14:20:00.000-06:00

I'm looking for a copycat recipe from Sizzler. DH looooves their teriyaki steak, with the teriyaki chutney sauce. I have spent far too many hours today searching the web, reading every copycat recipe site known to Google, I think, and have not found it. I've found a few new great teriyaki sauce ideas that I'm going to try, but if I could find "THE" recipe he'd be in heaven. Can anyone hook me up?

Also... blog issues. I added a link and now there's a weird space between the last and next to last link. I tried moving the links around and it's still there. Help?

Joyfully

2006-04-02T12:05:00.000-06:00

Hymns
My Redeemer Lives, no. 135

Verse 1.
I know that my Redeemer lives,
Triumphant Savior, Son of God,
Victorious over pain and death,
My King, my Leader, and my Lord.

Verse 2.
He lives, my one sure rock of faith,
The one bright hope of men on earth,
The beacon to a better way,
The light beyond the veil of death.

Verse 3.
Oh, give me thy sweet Spirit still,
The peace that comes alone from thee,
The faith to walk the lonely road
That leads to thine eternity.

Text: Gordon B. Hinckley, b. 1910. © 1985 IRI
Music: G. Homer Durham, 1911–1985. © 1985 IRI

I challenge anyone to listen to this hymn and not feel the joy of the Savior in their heart. That's even the direction given at the beginning of the hymn... it should be played joyfully.

President Hinckley's talk this morning was wonderful. To have it followed up by the choir singing his hymn was joyous. This is why, even with having to stop to fix toast and change poopy diapers and refill juice cups, I love Conference. It's not about getting out of church for a weekend. It's not about any big sales that might be going on. It's about watching the Prophet of the Lord stand and bear his fervent, tangible testimony that Christ lives and having the Spirit flood my heart. It's about getting my cup filled to overflowing.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

Sweet Girl's birthday

2006-04-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, eh? By the way, thank you all for your kind words, we're all feeling much better now!

So... birthday. Sweet Girl is *slightly* obsessed with Lagoon, the amusement park about 5 hours away from our house. (Just close enough that we can go often, but just far enough away that it's a big deal -- and we don't have to go all.the.time, although it certainly feels like it! LOL) Anyway... due to her obsession, when asked what theme she wanted for her birthday, she said, "I want a LAGOON birthday!" How the heck was I supposed to do that? Well, it worked.

I found a perfect new alphabet to use to make her invitations. The real ones were cuter, but here is the jist of it:

The alphabet is called "Fair Play" and is full of cute little cartoons of people doing various fair-type things - going on a roller coaster, the merry-go-round, etc. Too cute!

OK, invitations: check. Next... decorations. Well, I printed off clip art of carousels and assorted things, along with family pics from Lagoon, and found the matching font to the alphabet (same thing, just in black & white outline) to use in making posters. Unfortunately, I got sick before I got as far as getting them put up. Decorations consisted of a happy Sweet Girl, lots of family and a mommy watching everything from the recliner:

Ignore the double chin, please. It's bad enough when I'm upright, but laying down with my head tilted up to be able to see makes it appear much worse. :s

Where was I? Oh, yes. Invitations: check. Decor: well, kind of check. Cake: ah yes... the cake. I think it turned out really well, if I say so myself. I found a carousel cake on a really cool website; I took the basic idea and changed it to my abilities (i.e., no making intricate sugar cookies with royal icing for the carousel animals! LOL). I found some pics of Sweet Girl on the carousel at Lagoon and printed them off, taped them onto straws, and - voila! Carousel horses with rider.

(Side note: I overheard my 8-yr-old nephew talking to his mom about the cake and had to giggle. "Hey, Mom! That kinda looks like Sweet Girl on there!" "Yeah, well, that's because it is!" Sorry I used old photos, nephew! LOL Those were the best I could find!)

For the top, I cut a circle out of a manila folder, cut a slit in the middle and added one of Sweet Girl's hair ribbons. I think it worked out well. Sweet Girl helped me put the Skittles on the top.

So... on to the party.

First, a big shout out to my sisters, who saved my skin by bringing the food! LOL Also, a big thank you to my neice who showed up early and got drafted to do last-minute housework as a reward. :-) She also ended up helping my mom clean up Little Man and the table when we discovered he was also sick. :-( Ah, good times. Anyway...

Sweet Girl was thoroughly spoiled by her relatives. Again. (Again? Still would be a better word, I think. LOL) Here are some of the gifts...

Posing with the new dress I got her

With the box of ladybug chocolates from Grandma

Promptly eating one of the chocolates (that's my girl! LOL)

With the adorable netting dance skirt my sister made for her

Little Man wanted in on some of that action!

And of course, last but not least... blowing out the candle. She opted for a '4' candle instead of four single candles. With her daddy holding the cake while we sang:

Sorry for the fuzziness of the last photo. I was taking the photos at that point, and in my semi-conscious state, couldn't make the camera focus properly. Later, DH was kind enough to tell me again how to work it (like I hadn't figured it out in the 4 months I've used it) but I interrupted him and told him he should just be glad I didn't put any vile bodily fluids on the camera. So there. LOL

Anyway... she had a happy birthday in spite of everything. And when I asked her, the next day, if she felt older, she told me she did, indeed, feel much older now that she was 4. "Although," she added, "I wish I could skip 4 and just be 5. Or maybe 6 or 7."

Oh, Sweet Girl, that will come sooner than it needs to. Trust me... sooner than it needs to.

numbers game

2006-03-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

Number of hours since some sort of stomach flu-like bug hit our house: 31

Number of people currently at my home: 4

Number of people currently sick at my home: 3

Number of loads of laundry: 3

Number of slices of pizza I ate, severely overestimating how good I felt: 1

Number of slices of pizza I regret eating: 1

Number of rolls of toilet paper we've gone through in the downstairs bathroom alone: 1.5

Number of years Sweet Girl turned yesterday: 4

Yes, poor Sweet Girl had a birthday party with her mommy and little brother taking turns being sick. When I feel up to being vertical for more than 5 minutes I'll get the pics loaded and do her birthday justice. In the meantime, excuse me... again. I need some more Pepto Bismol.

Another silly fun personality test

2006-03-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I took the test three times, with different levels of questions each time, and got the same result all three times. So it's accurate, I guess. FYI, I've never seen this movie!

take my quiz

2006-03-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Take My Quiz
- on -
QuizYourFriends.com!

whaddya think?

2006-03-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Message board gals: this is copied from the Pen/Book Nook from about a month ago. If you've already read this, feel free to hit the "next" button for the Cosa MOFstra :-)

So, I'm *so* not a writer. But DH is looking for some comments and feedback on a short essay he wrote and asked if I'd have the MOFs read it. Yes, it's a rough draft, and there are some parts that need fixing, but here is the basic premise... He's got this idea to write a book of short essays about the church from his point of view and either title it, "Talks I'm Afraid to Give in Sacrament Meeting" or "Talks They're Afraid I'll Give in Sacrament Meeting". Basically a book of talks. Anyway - here is the first one, about preparing to give a talk, and he's looking for honest feedback, constructive criticism, etc... :-) He says tell them "don't hold back!"

PS - the conversations really happened several years ago.

Talk 1: Giving a Talk in Sacrament Meeting.

Let’s just face facts. I am deathly afraid of giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting. Getting up in front of all of those people and trying to discuss gospel principles makes my hair stand up on end just thinking about it. The sad truth is that I have no idea why I’m so afraid. Everyone at one time in his or her life is asked to prepare and give a talk in front of everyone. Therefore everyone should relate to what I’m going through when I give the talk that I am asked to do. You know it’s bad when you hope your appendix ruptures or you hope to get in a serious car accident on the way to church so you can get out of it.
Let’s get on with it. I’m sitting in Church or General Conference or Stake Conference, or a fireside, or whatever, and the speaker gets in front of everyone and gives the most eloquent talk we have ever heard. I can feel the spirit work its way throughout the room and everyone remarks how wonderful it was to be present so we could experience such a wonderful feeling. I’m ready for the week. My spirit has been re-charged. I can take on the world.
Then I get the call. Yes, I’m talking about when the Bishop or the Executive Secretary or whomever asks me to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. No matter how much I try to get out of it, it doesn’t matter. I’m doomed. I now have to get in front of everyone and give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. My week is now ruined. The Spirit is now long gone. The world has now ended, or at least I hope it will before I have to get in front of everyone and try to give a talk like the one I heard last Sunday. There’s no way I can give a talk that is even a fraction as good as the one that I heard from the General Authority. He’s good at it after all of these years. I’m not.
The conversation goes something like this:
Exec. Secretary: “ Hello, Brother P. This is Brother SoAndSo, the Executive Secretary.”
Bro. P: “Hello Brother SoAndSo. What can I do for you?”
Exec. Secretary: “The Bishop has asked for you to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. Will you be able to give one 3 weeks from now?”
Bro. P: “No.”
Exec. Secretary: “What do you mean, No?”
Bro. P: “You heard me, the answer is no.”
Exec. Secretary: “May I ask why?”
Bro. P: “Because I believe I’m having a heart attack right now and I may be in the hospital a while. Thanks a lot.”
Exec. Secretary: “Oh, Brother P, everything will be all right. You’ll be fine. Here’s your topic: Giving a good talk in Sacrament Meeting. See you on Sunday.” (Click).
What just happened here? Why is it the topic I am the absolute worst at? Why couldn’t it be something like “life as a convert”? I know a little bit about that at least. I must admit, he’s good. I’ll give him credit where credit is due. He leaves you thinking at least. Next time, I’m going to pay the extra $5 for caller ID. Maybe I’ll take it out of my tithing.
On the bright side, at least I burned off an extra 10,000 calories dealing with the anxiety attack I just received after hanging up the phone and thinking about how I’m going to organize and present my talk in the next 2 to 3 weeks. Maybe I can shed off that extra 10 to 20 pounds I’ve been trying to lose worrying myself sick and pacing around the house trying to prepare for this talk. I do know one thing: Those fad diets don’t hold a candle to preparing a good Sacrament Meeting talk.
So, now it’s time to start preparing. Maybe I can get out some back issues of the Ensign and find something that relates to my talk. Maybe I can catch up on my reading. I’m only 3 years behind. I should be able to catch up in 3 weeks, right? So I dig out a few copies underneath my TV Guide and Sports Illustrated and start reading. Nothing. Nothing that even comes close to what I’m looking for. Why couldn’t the topic be tithing? Or maybe service? Another 10,000 calories just got burned off. Now I know why some Mormons avoid caffeine. I’m a nervous wreck.
OK, there has to be something on lds.org. I can do a search and one of the General Authorities at some time in the Church’s history has to have spoken about this. OK, I’m calm now. The Lord will provide, right? I type in ‘sacrament meeting talk’ and get 10,000 hits (one for each calorie I just burned off with my third anxiety attack). How on earth am I going to sort through all of that to get enough information for one 10-minute talk that no one is going to listen to anyway? Calm down, everything is going to be all right. Breathe. That’s better. Now, I can pick through a couple of the talks and use them to emphasize my point. OK, that won’t be so bad. I will get though this.
Now, to find a scripture to include in my talk. Every talk needs a scripture. So, I get out my Book of Mormon and start reading. 1st Nephi… 2nd Nephi… Mosiah… Alma… Moroni… That’s it. Holy cow! I just read the book of Mormon overnight. Who needs a year? The Prophet would be proud. Oh yeah, I need to find a scripture. Back to reading again. Maybe I can find something in the Doctrine and Covenants. Here’s one that is interesting: D&C 112, Verse 5: “Contend thou, therefore, morning by morning; and day after day let thy warning voice go forth; and when the night cometh let not the inhabitants of the earth slumber, because of thy speech.” It refers to the twelve Apostles going forth and spreading the gospel amongst the people of the earth, warning them about the last days before the Second Coming. That’s not too bad.
OK, now it’s time to put everything together and type it all out so I don’t forget something and leave it out. Maybe I can just read it instead of trying to go off of notes. Let’s see… I should start out with a joke to lighten things up. Hmmm… I can’t use that one... Or that one… Maybe that one… Nope. So much for using a joke to open my talk. Maybe I can tell a story about myself so everyone can get to know me a little bit better. Let’s see… I remember the time I had my kidney operation and I was helping my wife at Young Women’s. I was still pretty sore from the surgery so I wore a loose fitting shirt so it wouldn’t rub against my staples. I couldn’t move very fast and so I started to walk towards a chair to rest for a while. One of the young women came up to me and started chatting. Here’s the conversation…
YW: “Brother P, did you just get an operation?”
Bro. P: ‘Yes, I did.”
YW: “How did it go?”
Bro. P: “Well, I’m a little bit sore and I’m not moving around very fast, but overall it went well.”
YW: “That’s great. But my mom told me that it’s going to take a lot more than an operation to fix you.”
OK, so maybe the way Mormons perceive me isn’t exactly what I would have expected. In the book of Exodus, Chapter 20, Verse 16, it states: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” It’s also in the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, Verse 20. So, I guess it’s OK. Maybe it’s a sign from my Heavenly Father that I need to work on something. I’ll think about that later…
Now to figure out a way to present all of the information in a well-organized manner. Start with the funny story. Get into the topic. Back it up with some scripture and maybe even a quote from one of the Prophets or General Authorities. OK, that wasn’t too bad. Now, print it off. A half a page!?!? That can’t be. All of that work for a half a page??? Maybe I can talk slow and it will last for 3 minutes instead of 2. Good thing Fast Sunday is this week because I can’t eat a thing anyway. There goes another 10,000 calories. Maybe I can cut-and-paste some quotes off of lds.org. No time to be picky. The time is getting shorter.
Finally, the day comes. I get to give my talk today. Talk about being nervous. I haven’t been able to sleep for 3 weeks, I haven’t eaten a thing since the Saturday before I got the call, and I think I’m going to pass out. I’m shaking like a leaf, my wife has a restraining order out against me, and my kids avoid me like the plague. I just want to get it over with. Maybe I can put myself back together enough to get through this.
I get to the Church early and get a good seat close to the front so I don’t have to walk far to the podium. I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself further by passing out before I get done. Then, to my horror, I think to myself that if I pass out, I will get out of giving a talk this week but I will have to give it next Sunday! Nooooooo!!!! I’m not going through another week of this. Pull yourself together!! You can do it!! OK, I’m seated, my talk is organized neatly next to me, and I’m ready. Oh no, here comes the Bishop. Please, Lord, don’t have him ask me to wait another week. I can’t go through this any longer.
Here’s the conversation:
Bishop: “Good Morning Brother P, how are you today?”
Bro. P: “I think I’m going to pass out.”
Bishop: “You’ll be fine. Could I get you to sit on the stand so you’re closer to the podium?”
Bro. P: “That’s a great idea, Bishop. Can you help me? My knees are kind of weak.”
Bishop: “Sure. Oh, can you excuse me for a minute? I need to talk with Brother SoAndSo.”
Bro. P: “Do I have a choice?”
Bishop: “I’ll just be a minute.”
So I wait for what seems to be an eternity for a Bishop that isn’t going to return to help me. It kind of reminds me of the time I was in High School and I finally got the nerve to ask the pretty girl out for a date and she accepted. When I waited for her at the ice cream shop, she never showed up. You would think that a man called of God could do better than that. Oh well. I have enough adrenaline in my system now that I should be able to leap over the railing. I work my way up the steps to the stand and find my seat. I look over the congregation as it gathers into the Chapel and it occurs to me that I get to see how many people are going to be looking at me as I give my talk. There goes another 10,000 calories.
Now, the opening hymn starts and finishes. The opening prayer is done. The Bishop makes the Ward announcements and takes care of the Ward business. It’s now time for the Sacrament. The Sacrament hymn is sung and the Sacrament is blessed and passed and now it’s time for the talks. First, a youth speaker. She gives a pretty good talk for a 12-year-old girl. That was really good talk on The Holy Ghost. Why couldn’t I have gotten her topic? I could have done that one fairly well since it only lasted 3 minutes. Next up, the Relief Society President. Her talk is on service. Gee, I say to myself, I should go out and help more. That was really great. Next, a rest hymn. OK, I’m next. It’s almost over. Verse 1 is done. Now verse 2 is over and verse 3 is starting. Now verse 4. Now verse 5. Why didn’t they stop at verse 4? I want this over with!! OK, verse 5 is done and verse 6 is finishing up. My heart is beating faster. Thump thump….. Thump thump….. Thump thump…. I’ve forgotten everything, including my name. I’m shaking so bad I can’t see the words of my talk. My hands are so sweaty they’re smearing the words. I think paralysis is setting in. Breathe…… Breathe…. Verse 6 is done and now, dead silence. It’s really my turn. There goes another 10,000 calories. I slowly get up and walk towards the podium. I hear one of the counselors behind me say, “You’ll be fine, Brother P.” Easy for him to say, he’s not about to give a talk like I am.
I look over the congregation and every eye is on me. There is literally no noise whatsoever. When the first 2 speakers were talking, people were chatting with one another, babies were crying, and small children were busy playing with their toys and coloring books. Now that it is my turn, everyone seems to want to know what I’m about to say. I take a deep breath. It’s time to begin.
I start by giving a quote by Elder W. Mack Lawrence from the May 1991 Ensign. He starts his talk this way: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that one day I would be standing at this pulpit giving a talk. I thought of putting a pillow between my knees so you wouldn’t think there was a woodpecker up here working on the pulpit. It’s a humbling experience, brothers and sisters, to stand before you, and I pray that the Lord’s Spirit will be with us all.” I add that I can’t wrap a pillow around my heart so you can’t hear it beating so loudly. I hear a few members of the congregation laugh, and it eases the tension I’m feeling slightly. I introduce myself and tell a bit about myself. I add that I am a convert to the Church and was baptized in January, 1997. I also announce that this is the first talk that I have been asked to give and that I’m a wee bit nervous. OK, I’m terrified, so please bear with me.
Now, I add in my story about my encounter with the young lady that told me what her mom thinks of me. Once again, a few more laughs. I’m slowly feeling better. I’m now down to burning 5,000 calories instead of 10,000. It’s a start, at least.
It’s time to give the heart and soul of my talk now. I use another quote from Elder W. Mack Lawrence from the May 1991 Ensign: ” When you speak to the congregation, include scriptural references, your testimony, and the Savior in your talk. I have heard of instances when the Savior is not even mentioned in a Sacrament Meeting. I hope this is never the case. He is the focus of our Sacrament Meeting, and all that is said there should bring us closer to Him.” Christ is the reason we are here, there is no other and should be no other reason for us to come to Church other than to worship and remember our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice. He is our savior. He is our eternal salvation.
One more quote from Elder Lawrence: “The scriptures are our basic commentary on the Savior and his doctrines. Use them regularly in your talks. We discover new treasures in them, and they are crucial to our gospel enlightenment.” 3rd Nephi, Chapter 9, Verse 18 says it best: “I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” If everything in our lives revolves around our Heavenly Father and the teachings of Jesus Christ, everything will fall in place.
And finally, one last quote from Elder Lawrence: “And don’t be afraid to include your personal feelings about the Savior, His gospel, and instances when you’ve felt the Spirit. Our testimonies grow when we hear testimonies of others. Some people have stronger testimonies than others, and that’s all right. Each of us is growing in the gospel. We should not feel pressured to say things that do not truthfully express our experiences. We should not be ashamed of what we do know, whatever stage our testimony may be in. Share it with others.” This has been a long and rough journey for me as I learn and ponder what my purpose in life is. Some trees grow very fast. Others take a little longer. I think I’m an oak tree because I take a very long time to grow. Some days, my testimony of the gospel is weak. Other days my testimony is strong. This is how I progress and grow within the gospel. I can’t thank the Lord enough for giving me this opportunity to be able to return to live with Him again and see many loved ones I have missed. I am slowly beginning to understand the love He has for me, even when I am not perfect.
Now, 1 million calories and 25 lost pounds later. I have my first talk under my belt. I’m starting to get feeling back in my legs and I’m starting to get hungry. I believe my wife has lifted the restraining order against me and the kids are talking to me again. Hopefully, it’s another several years before I have to do this again. It will take that long to get caught up on the sleep I’ve lost the past 3 weeks. I must admit, this talk has allowed me to grow spiritually and learn a little more about myself.
Sometimes, the Lord will have me do something that I normally wouldn’t do, to grow and progress within the Gospel.
I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Helpful hint for the kitchen #34

2006-03-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

When you're making brownies that have a very thick batter, and it's time to add in the chocolate chips and marshmallows, don't use a wooden spoon still damp from the dishwasher. You're stronger than you think.

these really cracked me up!

2006-03-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Having a little too much fun at blogthings.com...

Your Pimp Name Is...

Sweetness Dynamite

What's Your Pimp Name?

My high school sweetie always called me sweetness, LOL

You Were Nice This Year!

You're an uber-perfect person who is on the top of Santa's list.
You probably didn't even *think* any naughty thoughts this year.
Unless you're a Mormon, you've probably been a little too good.
Is that extra candy cane worth being a sweetheart for 365 days straight?

Were You Naughty or Nice This Year?

How'd they know I'm LDS? LOL

2006-03-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

You're 45% Irish

You're probably less Irish than you think you are...
But you're still more Irish than most.

How Irish Are You?

And a big shout out to my big brother Craig, who turns 41 today, and my sister's only daughter, Cassie, who turns 20 today. Happy Birthday guys!!!

Really, I hate to ask...

2006-03-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

...what's going to be the next thing to go wrong with my house. Within this past month we've replaced the dishwasher, the furnace decided to quit on Saturday (fixed on Monday, thankfully) and today, DH went to turn on the faucet at the kitchen sink and the handle came off in his hand. He's off at Lowe's now buying a new faucet. We're reaching the 8-year point with the house (construction started March 1998, we moved in at the end of May) and it seems like suddenly everything's going kaput. The paint is starting to chip in weird places, not areas I would expect. The floor has developed a squeak in front of the downstairs bathroom - but that wouldn't have anything to do with the Great Flood of Spring '05, I'm sure! (Don't ask.) LOL

I know, I know... people have it much worse and these problems are trivial, and at least I have a home. But when it all goes at once, and you have so many bills at once, it sucks!

random kid shots

2006-03-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

unaware I was about to take her pic (caught her just as she looked up)

the true personality shining through (devilish grin!)

my messy-haired little man

this is his new 'cheese' face

Now, lest you think I'm playing favorites, I want you to know that Kiddo and Munchkin have reached the age where the mere presence of a camera, let alone one pointed in their direction, is cause for the duck-and-hide, screaming "no! don't take my picture!" routine. Sorry. I have some lovely photos of them when they were younger...

Kiddo, approximately one month old, on his blessing day

Munchkin's hospital photo, used in his birth announcement

Strange Mommy moment

2006-03-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I needed to go, um, refresh myself, and as usual, after a few seconds, the entourage finds me. (At least this time it was only Sweet Girl, as Little Man was still in his high chair finishing his breakfast. Often they both come keep me company. Sigh.)

Anyway, so I'm sitting there, minding my own business, when Sweet Girl comes in to tell me about a video she'd watched yesterday with Grandma. Lately she's been very 'into' these Bible story videos that my ex-SIL gave the older boys years ago - the Beginner's Bible cartoon series. I'm not a huge fan of them, but they don't really do any theological harm (it just bugs me to see Christ portrayed as a cartoon, ya know?) so I let her watch them. Apparently yesterday she and Grandma watched several - the story of Jonah and the whale, the Good Samaritan, the story of the Nativity, and Daniel in the lion's den. Sweet Girl was telling me about the Nativity and did I know that Jesus was born in a barn? We chatted about that for a second, then she asked me to tell her about Jesus. I asked her what she wanted to know, and she said "Just anything you want to tell me!"

So I ended up giving her a brief description of His life, His ministry, how He taught us... ya know, a mini FHE lesson of all the stuff we've covered before, but apparently she'll only pay attention to when I'm on the toilet! LOL Then I started telling her about the Crucifixion and Resurrection - what Easter is really all about. I felt the Spirit touching our hearts as I explained that because Christ rose again, we will be resurrected too. It was a really neat teaching moment between the two of us.

It was just a bit surreal to experience that on the toilet. :|

Ummmm... isn't it supposed to be Spring already?

2006-03-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

The view out my back door yesterday morning:

Playtime denied:

I want my warm weather!

More proof that I'm getting old

2006-03-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

* Tonight Kiddo went to his first stake dance. I'm old.
But he had a good time. For his first dance, it sounds like it was a doozy - 4 stakes, lots of food and decoration, a karaoke machine in a side room, and one of those inflatable bungee-cord race thingys. He got asked to dance three times - once by a cute girl in our ward who regularly harasses him. He came home glowing. He's so cute.

* Last week I had to register him for seminary. I'm old.
I think he'll get to do release time. We'll see. I knew this was coming... I mean for his birthday I got him a nice quad that will hold up through seminary and hopefully his mission... but actually registering him reinforced that he's growing up so quickly.

* The past few weeks we've been working on his high school schedule for this fall. I'm old.
They expect 14-year-olds to choose a 'Career Path' they're interested in, and base class selection off that. I think he's going for the "Human Resources" path, which includes teaching, firefighting, police work, and social work. (Talk about a broad spectrum.) He's thinking about either becoming an elementary teacher or a policeman. But first, after his mission, he thinks he might want to do a stint in the Air Force. Gulp.

* Last Friday night I fell asleep on the couch at 9:15 pm. I'm really old.
In my defense, I went to bed an hour later than usual, was up once with Little Man, got up two hours earlier than normal, only drank half a diet Pepsi, and spent about 10 hours in the temple. That I drank a can and a half of diet Pepsi after I got home and still managed to pass out a couple hours later really says something about how tired I was, I think. Either that, or it shows just how bad my diet Pepsi addiction really is...

Mitsubishi Mama

2006-03-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Long ago and far away, on a bulletin board I hardly ever go to any more, there resided royalty... a wonderful poster we called Her Royal Genius, or HRG for short. She lovingly bestowed superhero-type names for any and all that asked. All we had to do was give a brief description of our talents, and she came up with a fitting name. I no longer remember many of the names, but they were perfect and often hilarious. After submitting a description of my powers (the ability to shuttle kids around the valley and get them where they needed to be, usually on time) she bestowed upon me the moniker of Mitsubishi Mama, in honor of Mitzi, my beloved SUV (no minivans for me, thank you).

I remembered this today and laughed. The general schedule is Mondays I take Munchkin to school (tuba won't fit on the bus), then pick up Kiddo an hour after school gets out (quiz bowl practice); Tuesdays Kiddo stays after school and works in the concession booth; Wednesdays Kiddo has quiz bowl practice and has to be at school an hour early; Wednesday nights they have Scouts; Thursdays Kiddo works concessions again; and Fridays I pick up Munchkin and his tuba. In the fall, wrestling practice and meets were part of the mix. Within a few weeks, baseball will start. (I cannot tell you how happy I was that Munchkin opted out of soccer this year.) Add in doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, calls for medicine (don't get me started on how schools don't allow kids to keep Tylenol or Pepto Bismol tabs on them... yes, yes, I understand the theory, especially for elementary age kids, but I think a 14 yr old should be able to keep one or two Tylenol on him! Augh!) or sick days, and I live in my car.

Today is a perfect example of why I am Mitsubishi Mama. Let me give you a recap of today's activities:

- 7:58 a.m.: took Munchkin and his tuba to school (half hour's drive from the house)
- got to Winco, realized I should run other errands before grocery shopping
- went to city water department and paid water bill and irrigation tax
- went to post office and dropped off other bills
- drove past county courthouse annex, contemplated renewing license plates there but opted to go to real courthouse in neighboring city where there was better parking
- drove to neighboring city and went to my lawyer's office, dropped off payment
- went to courthouse, saw parking lot was full and decided to renew license plates on Thursday when I have to go there anyway (court date against my ex)
- remembered that I forgot to go to the Albertson's near the post office to pick up Kiddo's prescription, so headed back that direction (about a half hour away)
- pull over to put a band-aid on Sweet Girl, who managed to give herself a heck of a paper cut from her (now bloody) book
- picked up meds
- headed back to Winco. About 45 seconds before we pull in to the parking lot, realized Little Man was asleep. Debated the merits of waking him up. Decided against it.
- went home long enough to check the mail and paper, brought in bags from Albertson's. Took Sweet Girl potty.
- went back to Winco and did the grocery shopping. By now, Little Man had slept for approx 40 minutes and was past the 'throw a screaming mimi fit if awoken' stage
- in the checkout line, the cell phone rings - Kiddo nervously asks if I can look in the back of the car. (It's 11:40 or so by now.) I ask if I'm supposed to look for his backpack. He says yes. I say, the backpack that is on the floor under the front room table that I saw this morning but didn't grab because I figured you didn't need it or you would have taken it? He sighs and says yes, and can I please just bring it?
- stop off at the pizza vendor in Winco and buy a slice to feed to Sweet Girl and Little Man in the car for lunch. OK, so maybe not the healthiest lunch in the world, but for $2.08 it's an easy & cheap way to feed them both (and I get any leftovers - that's my breakfast!)
- go home, unload groceries, put away cold stuff, take Sweet Girl potty again. Grab Kiddo's backpack.
- go to the middle school for the 2nd time today. Luckily, Kiddo is outside for lunch recess and sees me, comes to get bag. Wants to sit in car because it's nice and warm. I emphatically remind him that if he would wear a coat, he wouldn't be so cold outside in the 45-degree rain. (I'm such a loving mother. I'm not completely heartless, though - I did offer to let him wear my coat. Can't understand why he turned it down. LOL)
- from school, head to K-Mart. They have Pepsi products on sale, four 12-packs for $10. Time to stock up on diet Pepsi (breakfast of champions! LOL)
- finally home for more than five minutes. Put Little Man down in living room; poor thing has either been strapped into his car seat or a shopping cart since I woke him up this morning. He runs around in circles, screaming, with his hands over his head. I think it's the 'the crazy woman finally freed me' celebration dance. Time now is approximately 2:30 pm.
- while home, rotate laundry, dishes, and diapers. Put away remaining groceries. Grab lunch. Vacuum up around house where Little Man has tracked crumbs - he found the cracker stash while I was online. Whoops.
- it's now almost four. Time to get socks and shoes on, check Little Man's diaper, take Sweet Girl potty, and load up to go to the school again to pick up Kiddo at 4:30.

All I know is, it's a damn good thing I get decent gas mileage from Mitzi!!!

Christmas in March?

2006-03-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

DH went to visit his parents on Friday. When he returned, he was bearing Christmas presents from his brother's family. They didn't make it over at Christmas time because of illness, but apparently his mom visited them soon afterward and brought back their gifts in the trunk of her car... and forgot about them. Good thing nothing was perishable! LOL

Kiddo and Munchkin got a large shared present - one of those over-the-door basketball games. This one is electronic and is endorsed by Dickie V, the obnoxious shouting old guy from ESPN. (DH hates it when I refer to him that way... but DH is a fan of all things ESPN, whereas I merely tolerate it as a resident evil of living with 4 males in the house.) But I digress... I don't think I got any shots of them putting the hoop together, and it's not in playing condition yet (it takes four 9-volt batteries! who keeps four 9-volts around?) so I'll have to update on it later.

Little Man received a traditional Korean dress outfit! I can't wait to dress him in it. If he'll cooperate, I'd love to have professional pix taken of him in it. Maybe I'll put Sweet Girl in her kimono for her 4th birthday photos and get a couple of them together. Probably not. Every time I show Sweet Girl her kimono, I get a reaction very similar to the original one, on her first birthday:

Anyway, I'm excited to see him in his outfit.

Sweet Girl got a beautiful lady bug tea set. Her cousin (BIL's daughter) got one for her birthday and brought it at Thanksgiving, and Sweet Girl just fell in love with it. I told this to BIL's wife and asked where she got it. She (now I think it was rather convenient, LOL) forgot where they got it but told me she'd look. Sweet Girl was so excited to play with the lady bug tea set! She sat down on the kitchen floor and started setting it up. Little Man decided to join her.

Is that not the sweetest photo ever? I'm going to print it off and make into a thank you card for my sister-in-law. I think we should do this every year -- having Christmas presents come when you least expect them is fun!

Shhhhh.... don't tell God

2006-02-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

As we all came in the door to church this morning, one of the teachers rushed up to Kiddo and said, "Dude! Where's the bread?" Kiddo blinked and articulately said, "Huh?"

The other kid kept trying to convince us that Kiddo had volunteered last week to bring the bread for the Sacrament today. I'm pretty sure that Kiddo didn't know about it, because he's often talked about how cool it would be when it's his turn to bring the bread, and maybe we could make it, and he could help... so I'm doubting that he knowingly volunteered for this particular week. I'm thinking either they made a rotation schedule and he hadn't paid attention to his day, or he said "I can sometime" when they asked if he could bring some, not knowing they meant today.

So... at 10:57 (yes, church starts at 11:00) we were without Sacramental bread. I dropped my bags of stuff and all the kids but Little Man off with another lady and headed out the door. I was planning to run home and grab a loaf, but two things changed my mind: A) I live about 7-10 minutes from church, depending on traffic. There and back is a 15-20 minute trip. They would need the bread in about 10 minutes, max, depending on how many announcements and items of ward business there were; and B) I remembered that we'd finished off the loaf this morning, and I'd pulled the next loaf out of the freezer right before we'd left for church. It wouldn't be thawed yet. Panic set in.

So I broke the Sabbath and ran up to the Texaco station on the corner and bought a loaf of bread for the Sacrament. I think circumstances warranted it, don't you? But - shhhh.... don't tell God.

I know I'm spoiled...

2006-02-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

... because I view a dishwasher as a necessity. Oh, sure, I could wash by hand, and maybe I should, but quite frankly I'm lazy and I love my dishwasher.

This really came to light over the past few days. The dishwasher that came with the house started leaking some time ago (like a couple months, I think) and we've dealt with it by having towels permanently residing at the base of the washer. (Forgetting to put a new towel down after putting the old one in the wash was a bad, bad thing. The term 'lake' comes to mind.) DH finally had a chance to look at it last week and decided that the seals in the door had gone bad, and ordered parts for it. The seals came. He installed them. We put down a fresh towel, ran the washer, and crossed our fingers. The towel got soaked. DH cursed.

Last Thursday, I came downstairs to discover the dishwasher in the middle of the kitchen. DH had pulled it out to see what the problem really was. Turns out the pump was leaking... yes, the pump, in the rear of the washer. It's been leaking underneath and the water was working itself out to the front. Visions of horrible water damage flooded my mind (like the pun? water damage? flooded? LOL) but we were lucky. The linoleum had warped up on the edges and acted like a bowl, containing most of the water. Anyway, for a couple of days, we were sans an automatic dishwasher. It sucked. We're a family of six, remember? We generate of lot of dishes. We ran a couple of loads, mostly as a diagnostic tool, but felt it was better that we left it alone. So hand washing it was (for important stuff... mostly, I rinsed and stacked in the sink! LOL). What was worse, was the dishwasher's location blocked access to two cupboards, the silverware drawer and the microwave. Well, we could open the drawer, but only about 6 inches - just enough to see the handles and grab something; and skinny people (read: not me) could get past the washer to use the microwave. Ugh. Like I said, I'm spoiled and I know it.

After pricing a new pump, DH decided it would be smarter to just buy a new dishwasher. Yay! Of course, while I enjoy shopping, shopping for home appliances just isn't exciting. Chasing Little Man and Sweet Girl around the store wasn't much fun, either. But did you know that you could spend $850 for a freaking dishwasher? That's insanity. I don't care how many fancy features it has, it's just a dishwasher, for heaven's sake. For $850 it should scrape the dried rice and cereal off the bowls, wash, dry, and put them away.

Anyway... yesterday DH went and picked it up and installed it. I heart my new dishwasher. The controls are touchpads - and there's a 'key lock' function, so no little fingers (read: Little Man) can accidentally start or re-program it. The inside is bigger. The silverware basket is a long one, along the edge of the lower tray, instead of being a rectangle that takes up a large portion of the center. It's lurvely. So far, the only thing I don't like about it is the smell... it smells like new wet plastic. Ick. Hopefully that goes away quickly with use.

So, yes, I'm spoiled. I heart my dishwasher, but even more than that, I really heart my DH who was willing to buy a new one and, more importantly, knew how to install it! He's so smart! I would have been clueless and had to pay someone to do it for me.

Speaking of clueless... my wonderful, helpful DH ran my new cast iron griddle through the washer. Anyone know of any good tricks to removing rust and re-seasoning the iron? This is my first cast iron piece, and I bought it pre-seasoned, so I'm clueless as to how to care for it... the only thing I knew was to not run it through the dishwasher! LOL

Hmmmm...

2006-02-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

What's your sexy name decoder say?

Happy birthday, Dad

2006-02-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today my dad would have been 68. In honor of Dad's memory, my mom, my sister, one of my nephews and a dear family friend got together at Target's snack bar and had a hot dog. (That was one of Dad's favorite places to grab a snack -- he just thought that the Target hot dogs were really good. And, actually, they're not bad, as hot dogs go.) For dinner tonight, we're having Dad's favorite food - hamburgers, french fries, and angel food cake with cherries on top. (Yes, my family commemorates everything with food... hmmm... why am I 80 lbs overweight again? LOL) I left a package of Peeps at his grave with the lyrics to some songs. He LOVED Peeps, especially once they'd been opened and gotten a little stale. I miss Dad dearly, although I don't wish he were back... if he were able to live a normal life and be in good health, that would be one thing, but I just can't wish him back to endure the ravages of his sickness again. I know I'll get to see him soon enough, and that's going to have to be good enough for now. Love ya, Daddy.

A Father’s Hymn
by Taylor Anderson

Baseball and tennis
Cars and math problems
Books on eating right
Money and light

The value of hard work
The beauty of breathing
A soul that wants to sing
The power of dreams
Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

Hands made for lifting
Love for the loaming
Fears will fade away
In the light of new day

Respect for the heavens
New things don’t scare him
Cause for some tears
And laughter for years
Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

His love for the Son
And love for his children
Has made this world
More like home

With a heartache and pain
Comes joy and gain
Without such a father
I would not be free
Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

An old house for living
A talent for giving
Willingness to try
Reluctance to buy

Time for his children
The simple things thrill him
A playful mind and heart
None of man’s art
Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

His love for the Son
And love for his children
Has made this world
More like home

With a heartache and pain
Comes joy and gain
Without such a father
I would not be free

His love for the Son
And love for his children
Has made this world
More like home

With a heartache and pain
Comes joy and gain
Without such a father
I would not be free

Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

Here’s a hymn for the man
Who’s helped to make me

My family circa 1977

(dig the leisure suit?)

When I get where I'm going
by Brad Paisley

When I get where I'm going
On the far side of the sky
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly

I'm gonna land beside a lion
And run my fingers through his mane
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain

Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down here

I'm gonna walk with my grand daddy
And he'll match me step for step
And I'll tell him how I missed him
Every minute since he left
Then I'll hug his neck

Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down here

So much pain and so much darkness
In this world we stumble through
All these questions I can't answer
So much work to do

But when I get where I'm going
And I see my maker's face
I'll stand forever in the light
Of his amazing grace
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
Hallelujah
I will love and have no fear
When I get where I'm going
Yeah when I get where I'm going

With apologies to Janice Kapp Perry

2006-02-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

"I love to see the temple
I'm going there someday
La la la la the spirit
And to pray
For the temple is a happy place
Where we are still together
My family is forever!"

That was Sweet Girl's rendition of "I love to see the temple" after we sang it (twice!) for FHE.

It was so sweet.

Too bad the background noise consisted of Kiddo and Munchkin fighting over the football game on xbox. "Dude! Stop that! It's annoying!" "Dude! I know! You did it to me and didn't stop when I said to!" "Dude! Stop replaying every single play!" "Dude! I'm gonna do it as many times as you did it!"

Dude... take me away. Well, if ya won't take me away, at least bring me some aspirin, would ya, dude?

I'd almost forgotten

2006-02-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was going through the hard drive today, labeling and cleaning up the photo files, when I found some pics I'd taken after Christmas that I meant to share. Totally forgot about them.

A little background first: Christmas Eve is the 'big' celebration in my family. We all gather at my parents to exchange gifts and eat... and eat... and eat... and have fun. Since there's so many of us, we draw names for gift giving. Santa (a dear friend of our family) also stops by to deliver small gifts.

Here is Emily receiving her Santa gift. She likes Santa this year. The last couple of years, it was a different story!

We all have to take turns sitting on Santa's knee if we want to get our gift. Even DH. Ben was very afraid of Santa - I'm not going to post the pic, because it's just heartbreaking! LOL

Last year, since the older boys were at my ex-husband's place for the holiday break, they missed seeing Santa. But since Santa's so nice, he left them their presents anyway. They opened all their gifts they day they got back (Jan. 1). They had some great stuff - but they don't want me to post their pics. I'll work on them...

One word

2006-02-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

If you want to get an interesting view of how others see you, send out this email that I received earlier this week:

Describe ME in ONE WORD...just one word! Send it to me only, then send this message to your friends and see how many strange things people say about you!

Of course, I got it first from my mom... ever try to describe your mom in one word - when you weren't mad at her, that is? LOL I gave up and gave her a multi-word answer. Then I sent it on to my friends and family. So far, this is what's come back...

From my friend K: "solid (as in loyal and reliable)"

From my sister: "not possible!!! - LOYAL, INTELLIGENT, HILARIOUS, MOTHER, SISTER, FRIEND...............:D"

From Kiddo: "awsomlymagnifacent!!! (yes that is a word)"

From DH: "How about if I use categories? This would be describing you in one word by category:

Family: Foundation. Maybe stability would be a better description.
Marriage: Partner.
Life: Optimistic.
Spiritual: Companion.
Mother: Loving.
Daughter: Caring.
Sister: Compassionate.
Intellectual: Curious.
Personal: Humble.
Overall: Wonderful."

Try it. Makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy (if you only send it to people who like you)! LOL

My sister has joined the blogosphere

2006-02-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone, meet my sister.

My sister, meet everyone.

She's new to this whole blogging thing, so be gentle with her, won't ya?

Happy Valentine's Day...

2006-02-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

... Or, I gave you something, now where's mine?

"Kisses"

"Where's my kiss?"

It's a typical V-day here. I did nice things for DH and the kids; I'm not expecting anything back. If I do, it's a bonus... I learned long ago not to expect miracles! LOL

For the kids, I got up early and made red-tinted cinnamon-flavored pancakes with my new heart-shaped pancake mold. I stayed up late last night and made them valentines to go with the cute gifts I got them at Target (dollar spot, baby). For DH, I bought myself a new nightgown, which he probably won't see for a few more days (on the days he works, he goes to bed about 3 hours before I do) and my wonderful MOF made a beautiful black & white photo of a tree that appeared to have our initials carved in it. I had it enlarged to 16x20 and framed.

So far today... the kids loved their gifts they received at breakfast - they also thought the red heart pancakes were fun. My mom came over and watched the younger two for me while I went to my parenting class, and then I met DH for lunch. We met at the KFC/A&W near his work. I gave him the print, which he loved, we ate our chicken, I went home. I'm currently baking a thin chocolate sheet cake, which I plan to cut with heart-shaped cookie cutters, coat with candy covering & write cute things on the hearts, to make them look like conversation candy hearts. That's going to be dessert. After I bake the cake, I'm going to make chocolate chip bar cookies, cut them into heart shapes too, and wrap them up to give to my nephews. I'm fixing a nice dinner of steak and crab, with the little heart chocolate cakes for dessert. I'm gonna go clean off the dining room table and set it with the nice service, maybe get out the candles. I enjoy doing things like this for my family.

Last Friday, DH bought me a dozen yellow-pink roses at WalMart.

They're wilted now.

He meant to make me a card.

He didn't.

It's a good thing I don't expect much from him today; it's just not in his nature to 'do' holidays. I know he loves me, and he shows it a million different ways throughout the year instead of just today; that's all I want.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie. I love you.

Complete and utter mortification

2006-02-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

The scene (as I understood it): Munchkin and Sweet Girl are in the office, playing on the computers. Kiddo was upstairs, putting away laundry. Little Man was headed up the stairs, babbling at Kiddo. I'm in the kitchen, finishing up dinner prep. DH has been home from work for about 5 minutes, and is hugging me from behind, with his arms around my waist. I had just finished venting to him about a lady from church that didn't bother to do her homework, as it were, before asking me to do something, which resulted in me looking like an idiot. DH starts to vent about his day...

DH: It was just the suckiest day. Cory was getting me all fired up...
Me: I'm sorry you had such a bad day.
DH: It wasn't your fault.
Me: I know, I just feel bad that you had a crappy day.
DH: Yeah... it's ok.
Me (turning my head to speak more towards his face and dropping my voice only slightly): Well, how about later I [give a lewd suggestion that I'm not including here] or something to make you feel better? (laughing)
DH's eyebrows shoot to his hairline: Wow, talk about shock value... (laughing) You always like to try and shock me, don't you?

Approximately 5 seconds later, Kiddo gets up out of the recliner and walks across the living room, towards the TV, to remove Little Man from in front of the remote's sensor.

HOLY FREAKIN CRAP, HE WAS WITHIN EARSHOT FOR THAT REMARK! I could have SWORN he was upstairs, the last time I saw him he was headed up! Yikes! DH thinks that he didn't hear it, being enticed as he was by the TV, and having the volume up a bit. Good Lord, I hope so. I'm already going to have to pay for therapy for that kid as it is...

What does your candy heart say?

2006-02-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship.You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love.
Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you
Your flirting style: friendly and sweet
What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance
Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

Thank goodness for old friends...

2006-02-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

One of my dearest friends in the world called yesterday. She lives about 9 hours from me, goes to school during the day and works all night, so we pretty much only communicate via email and the occasional phone call. We're one of those types of friends that can go months without speaking, but pick right up where we left off and talk for hours upon hours... that's why we usually communicate via email! LOL We might get to see each other once a year - or twice if we're lucky. Her parents live about half an hour from me, but she doesn't get down here much.

Anyway... K called. She's a skinny little thing, but I like her anyway. For years we've plotted a way to take my excess flesh and donate it to her, so we'd even out. Here's some pics from the last time we saw each other, last July:

As you can see, she almost disappears when she's sideways. Me, I try to stand sideways so I look a little slimmer - especially compared to her! LOL

(All this talk about size is for a point, don't worry.)

In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that a friend she works with was depressed the other day, because he'd decided he was fat. Now, I've never met this friend, but I trust K's judgement, and she says he is most decidedly *not* fat. Nicely muscled, but certainly not fat. She asked him why he thought he was overweight, and he said he'd looked up his BMI and it put him as overweight. K thought this was ridiculous and said so. He showed her the web site he'd used, and she put in her statistics... and it told her she was overweight, too. Only by a point or so, but overweight none the less.

Ha! She's muscled up, too, so it doesn't surprise me (muscle weighs more than fat, yadda yadda yadda) but there's no way she's anywhere near fat. I told her about how depressed I'd been a while ago because of my body issues, and how when I'd done the BMI thing, it put me as morbidly obese (I know I'm obese, but I don't think I'm morbidly obese) and even my goal weight was still considered overweight by BMI standards. I told her that, according to the BMI site, I need to weigh about 120 to be within 'normal' range and she flat out told me that's way too skinny. (Ironic, considering we're the same height. That's the weight she wants to be, and I've been telling her the same thing for years - that's too skinny! LOL)

Anyway... it certainly made me feel better. If they consider *her* to be overweight, by golly, there's no way I'm going to let their opinion matter to *me*! :-)

From the "Gee... thanks, honey" file

2006-02-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

I made crockpot lasagna. I've made it many times before, and it's always come out great. This time... not so great. I don't know if I put in too much water or what, but the noodles were really nasty - somewhat gelatinous. *shudder* I couldn't bring myself to eat them - I picked the meat and cheese out and left the rest. DH took some to work for lunch. The following is our email exchange:

Me: Took the lasagna, huh? Did the noodles get better or was it still nasty?
DH: I must be used to your cooking because I thought it wasn't too bad.
Me: I don't know if that's a compliment or not!
DH never replied.

*sigh*

Men.

Monkey on the loose...

2006-02-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Why do kids always do things like this while I'm working on church stuff?

So I went into the office to check on the Enrichment surveys I was printing - I was only gone a minute, I swear - and came back to this:

Caught in the act!
Salt was everywhere. This doesn't even begin to show how much there was on the table... the chair... the floor... the word puzzler... him...

And there isn't an ounce of remorse in that face, is there? LOL

How on earth did he get up there? Well, it appears that he pushed the little blue stepstool to the chair and climbed on up. He's a monkey, I tell you. A monkey.

Funny dream

2006-02-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

You know you have no life when...

... your dreams involve the computer.

To fully understand this dream, you'll need a bit of background. But since I'm lazy, instead of typing it out, I'm just going to send you to MOF Emily's page. Don't forget to come back. :-)

I pretty much ditto everything Em said... well, except for the park days. I'm a slacker and only made it to 2 or 3 last year. (Would it have killed ya guys to have one in my town? LOL) Oh, and the neighborhood pool part doesn't apply to me either. But other than that... ditto to the whole online friends thing. OK... read it? Got the frame of reference now? All right. On to the dream.

Last night I had a funny dream. I only remember bits and pieces, but what I remember is funny... to me, anyway. I took real life situations -- MOF Cyl's post the other day about getting a toll-free number, and MOF Jami's post about looking for a new cell phone for her husband to use -- and morphed them into my dream. In my dream, we (the local MOFs) were planning another GNO. There were a couple people that were looking for rides and left messages on my phone. MOF Jami left a message that said to call her back on her new cell phone number. Guess what the number was?

1-800-2GO2GNO

Yes... To go to Girl's Night Out. It's official... I need a life. :-)

Well I'll be danged...

2006-02-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

I got tagged. Good thing, too... I've been wanting to blog but nothing interesting enough has happened to me lately to warrant an entry! I've never actually been called out on a tag before... I feel special. :-)

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.
1) Professor Me
2) Musical Mom
3) SheBooksIt
4) The Constant Gardener
5) One More Thing To Do

Next, select five people to tag. This may be hard... I'm among the last of the Cosa MOFstra to be tagged... and since I'm too lazy to go follow all the tags, I may double tag someone. Deal with it! LOL:
1) Alaina
2) Andrea
3) Bela
4) Stacy
5) Sunny

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Dating my now husband; working as a proofreader at a print shop in Caldwell.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Still adjusting to being a mom of 4; getting over the adrenaline rush of having to call 911 after my husband went into anaphylactic shock and collapsed in the living room. OK, so that was at the end of January, but in early February I was still a little freaked over it.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. My husband's white chocolate chip cookies, hot from the oven
2. fresh bread with real butter
3. homemade tortillas
4. diet Pepsi (not so much a snack for me as it is a food group)
5. Lay's Sour Cream and Cheddar potato chips

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1. I Am A Child Of God
2. I Do
3. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
4. Scripture Power (thanks to Sweet Girl, who sings it at least 15-20 times a day)
5. Theme Song to Oobi

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Tithing
2. Pay off our house
3. Go on a nice vacation with my husband
4. Put "the girls" back up where they're supposed (used) to be
5. Put the kids through college

Five bad habits:
1. Using sarcasm
2. Drinking too much diet Pepsi
3. Getting way too little sleep
4. Playing online too much
5. Procrastinating

Five things you like doing:
1. Scrapbooking
2. Reading
3. GNO (girl's night out)
4. Hanging out with my sisters
5. Being a wife and mom

Five things you would never wear again:
1. Maternity clothes
2. Pegged pants
3. Fluorescent shoelaces as a hair bow
4. Blue eyeshadow
5. Shoes that are more painful than cute

Five favorite toys:
1. computer
2. rotary paper trimmer
3. digital camera
4. kids & dh
5. ATM card (just kidding honey)

snicker

2006-01-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

Just saw something that made me giggle. I was checking out the website for The Office. While reading the comments on Dwight's Blog,
I saw that "Todd" is German for "death". Intrigued, I quickly googled 'german english translation' and checked it out. It's true. Well, close enough, anyway - according to the translator I found, death in German is "tod".

Did I mention that my ex-husband's first name is Todd?

Mwahahahaha.....

Yeah, I know, easily amused. So?

Old regrets

2006-01-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

As I was driving Kiddo home from quiz bowl practice the other day, he asked if he could get $20 from the child support account. Upon inquiry as to why he needed $20, he was somewhat secretive and said, "Well, that would ruin the surprise. It's for Valentine's Day." I smiled at said, "Honey, if it's for me or Dad, don't worry about it. If it's for someone at school, let's talk and see if we can't come up with something. Either way, you're not getting $20." There are two reasons to that: first, I'm trying to teach the kid to be fiscally responsible, and not just blow money because he can, and secondly, I try not to pull money out of that account unless we really need it. While Kiddo muttered under his breath about "only wanting twenty bucks", I thought to myself, wow, someone's not doing a very good job teaching this kid the value of money. Twenty bucks is a lot to me. (Did I mention I'm cheap? Well, I prefer the term 'frugal', actually.) Then the line of thinking went, if $20 is a lot to me now, I can imagine how my folks felt when I was a teen. Then the old regrets hit again...

When I was 14 or so, we went to a family reunion in Washington. It was a lot of fun, and I got to reconnect with some cousins I hadn't seen in some time. One day, we wanted to go window shopping at all the little shops downtown (this was in some quaint little coastal town that I no longer remember). My dad took some cash from his pocket and told me to have a good time. Woot! The cousins and I walked into town and wandered around for a while. At a music store, I found a poster or something I wanted and pulled out the cash from Dad... there were several $1 bills, a $5 and a $20! Wow! My cousin, J, next to me was as much in awe as I was. (Remember... this was mid 1980s... parents [well, mine, anyway] didn't hand out twenties to their kids like they do now!) "I don't think Dad meant to give this to me," I said. J said, "He must have! Adults are careful with their money. I don't think he would have given it to you if he didn't want to." And thus, so easily swayed, I happily bought the poster I wanted and the cassette I'd been aching to own for so many months: WHAM!'s 'Music From The Edge Of Heaven'. Oh, I couldn't wait to go back to listen to it on my tape player! (Remember, this was the MID 80s! LOL)

When we returned to the reunion, me clutching my bag of treasure, my dad drew me off to the side and said, "Sis, was there a $20 bill in the cash I gave you? I can't find it, and Mom's really worried about it. I could have sworn I gave it to her, but we can't find it." GUILT! Not understanding the concept then of returning purchases, I was afraid I'd get in trouble for spending the money... and lied. "No, Dad, I didn't see it. There was a five and some ones..." The worried look on Dad's face is still etched in my memory. "Shoot... we were planning on using that for gas money..." is all he said, and wandered away.

I never showed them the cassette. I was wracked with so much guilt that I never enjoyed that tape. I would take my cassette player into the bathroom, turn on the water to create background noise, and play the tape softly, holding the player close to my ear. (This was before I had a WalkMan, obviously... remember, folks, mid '80s! Only rich people had those! LOL) When my birthday came a few months later, Mom and Dad gave me that tape, not knowing I already had one... so then at least I could listen to it openly, but I still felt guilty listening.

I've felt guilty over that $20 my whole life. I've paid and repaid them monetarily lots of times over the years, but it doesn't make it better. We've bought them dinner, bought them groceries, gave cash at Christmas to compensate for all the cash they couldn't afford to spend on the grandkids... my husband, tired of trying to fix my dad's computer for the nth time, went down to the outlet store for the company he works for (memory chip manufacturer) and got my dad a nice refurbished PC. While at first Dad said he couldn't accept it, he did and was thrilled to death with that thing. (Almost literally... it kept him busy when he couldn't sleep at night from the pain and medications... he truly was thrilled with his new PC until he died.) I've filled their car with gas; I've picked up a case of diet cola and some yogurt so they didn't have to drive to the store in snow. I've bought Dad sausage biscuits with cheese at McDonald's, fries with extra salt and other things he wasn't supposed to have, for which Mom would have read him the riot act.

I did these things out of love for my parents... but there was often that nagging feeling in the back of my mind. I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't just the money that I felt guilty about... it was the disappointment I caused. You can repay $20 and easily erase a debt, but you can't change actions and so easily erase disappointment. I rarely lied to or otherwise disappointed my parents, especially my dad. I'll admit it, I was a Daddy's Girl. I just never wanted to cause him any pain... he lived with enough as it was.

I always wanted to confess to my parents, to seek absolution somehow. I never did... the opportunity never arose, ya know? I'm a grown woman of 34, with 4 kids of my own... but I still am afraid of hurting or disappointing my folks, afraid of getting in trouble with my mom. (It was always Mom. Dad wasn't the disciplinarian with me.) Maybe I should print this out and lay it on Dad's grave...

But then Mom would find it and take away my car privileges for two weeks. ;-)

Neat

2006-01-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Musical Mom for the site. Hey, what can I say, I'm easily amused...

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

2006-01-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

(Two points to anyone who can name the TV show I quoted in the title.)

Today my sister called and lured me to a ya-ya lunch with the promise of potato soup and turkey & cranberry sandwiches on freshly baked focaccia bread. Like I could pass that up! So Sweet Girl, Little Man and I traipsed off to my sister's house for lunch before going grocery shopping. Sister has a cool pond in her front yard. You have to cross a wooden footbridge over it to get to the front door. Sweet Girl is enamored of this pond. During the summer, frogs and small fish live in it. Birds are always in or around it. It's got lots of rocks surrounding it - and she always feels required to throw at least one into the water. As we pulled up, SG reminded me that she didn't get to throw a rock in last time....

SG: Mommy. I didn't get to toss a rock at the water the last day.
Me: Yes, honey, because we came in through the garage, then you were asleep when we left. Besides, the water's frozen over. You can't toss a rock into the water, it's covered in ice.
SG: I bet it's not frozen any more. (getting silly)
Me: I bet it is.
SG: I bet it's not.
Me: I bet it iiii-iisss.
SG: I bet it's noooo-ooottt.
Me: Ew! You think the pond is full of snot?! (giggles)
SG: Mommy! That's gross. The pond isn't snot, it's just water, and it's not frozen. (stamps off toward pond)
Me: (calling after her) I bet it iiii-iiisss....
SG: Is nooo-ooottt...

When I caught up to her on the bridge, I gleefully pointed out all the ice. (I'm so mature.)

Me: Look, Sweet Girl, I was right. The water's frozen.
SG: No it's not.
Me: Yes, it is! Look at the ice!
SG: Well, it's not frozen. It just has ice all over it!

Tag, you're it!

2006-01-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Amy, in a roundabout way...

Seven Things to Do Before I Die:
1. get caught up on scrapbook photos
2. tour the UK
3. see my kids get married in the temple
4. lose ~80 pounds
5. go on a cruise with DH
6. get all the temple work done for our family names
7. learn to enjoy planning Enrichment nights

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. keep the house clean for more than 30 minutes (unless I'm the only one home!)
2. keep the car clean for more than a day
3. bake bad cheesecake ;-)
4. sing solo
5. go more than a day at home without checking my email or message board
6. go window shopping with my sisters and not spend money
7. sleep knowing there's a spider in the house

Seven Things that Attract Me to My Spouse (not necessarily in this order!):
1. his smile
2. his dimples
3. his ability to make me laugh
4. his constant support of my goals, even if I'm not very confident in myself
5. his eyes
6. his willingness to get down on the floor and play with the kids
7. his intelligence

Seven Things I Say (or write!) Most Often:
1. hey, you two, knock it off!
2. shhh! daddy's sleeping (dh works night shift and sleeps during the day)
3. does your tummy hurt because you're hungry, or do you need to go potty?
4. are you sure?
5. Little Man, get down from there!
6. you want to watch the Dragon Tales DVD again?
7. do you need to go potty?

Seven Books (or series) I Love:
1. The Notebook
2. The Mists of Avalon
3. Harry Potter
4. The Book of Mormon
5. The Bible
6. Dr Seuss books
7. anything my daughter reads to me

Seven Movies I Would Watch Over and Over Again:
1. Princess Bride
2. Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail
3. Top Gun (beach volleyball, anyone?)
4. The Cutting Edge
5. Blast from the Past
6. George of the Jungle
7. Dirty Dancing

Seven People I Want to Join in: (be tagged)
In the words of Amy... I think everyone I know that has blogs and would read this has been tagged. If you read this and you have NOT been tagged--Tag, you're it!!

Now, where is Jesus again?

2006-01-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

I know, Sweet Girl wasn't really old enough the first 3 Easters of her life to really pay attention to the details of that particular holiday, but apparently I've failed miserably in educating her about Jesus and His resurrection.

We talk about Jesus, and how He lived on earth but now lives in Heaven, and how He loves us, and stuff... but I guess I hadn't quite gone over the resurrection part well enough.

See, Sweet Girl is a Sunbeam now, and is learning all sorts of new things in Primary. She loves learning the new songs and is singing them constantly. Yesterday she was singing her own version of a Primary song (I hate to admit that I wasn't paying enough attention to know which one) when she stopped to have the following conversation:

SG: Mommy, Jesus lived on earth a long time ago.
Me: Yes, He did. He taught us lots of good things.
SG: But then He died.
Me: Yes, he did.
SG: Like Grandpa. Grandpa's spirit is in Heaven with Jesus. So is Jesus under the ground at the cemetary, too?

Funk begone!

2006-01-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling much better about myself. A week away from any form of workout video will do that, combined with a loving husband, fairly consistent treadmill and pilates time, some scrapbooking time, and some chocolate, of course. But the thing that really helped was this wonderful place:

www.torrid.com

I found a Torrid at the mall today. It's a clothing store for plus-sized women that actually has... hold your breath... cute clothes for us large ladies. My kids were with me and were fairly dubious about the place - which made me love it even more. Kiddo said, "I dunno Mom, this is like, a goth store," as he eyed the racks of T-shirts with attitude and rows of cute thigh-high stockings. I laughed and sent them away. I loved that the mannequins were real-sized. I loved that the sizes were 0, 1, 2, 3 (along with the normal 16, 18, 20, etc). I loved that the '40s-style pinup photo on the wall was of a woman that was at least 160 pounds but gorgeous and glamorous. I loved that it made me feel that way, too. What I really, really loved was that the skirt I bought without trying on in the store (Sweet Girl was getting a bit sick and clingy) was slightly TOO BIG when I got home! I've been measuring myself once a week since I started exercising, and I haven't dropped a ton of inches - the clothes are just cut a little generous. Bless their Torrid souls.

I didn't love the prices - I'm very, very cheap. (Half the time, WalMart is too expensive for me.) I was telling Munchkin that I hoped this wasn't one of those places where a T-shirt was $15. No, they weren't. They were about $25! But I reveled in looking and thinking and feeling. Just being in there somehow was empowering - like I wasn't a freak. I was browsing along, looking at the fun socks that were in my price range, when the sales girl said hello... and did I know that all of the clearance was on sale an additional 50% off the lowest marked price? Hoooo boy... about half that store was on clearance 30 to 50% off, and add in an additional 50%... things just got in my price range! I found a really cute skirt for $14, and a fun bustier for $8.50.

I wanna go back tomorrow - just to return the skirt, of course... and check out the rest of the clearance racks!

No Thighs of Steel for me

2006-01-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

I am aerobically-challenged.

I don't mean that my blood can't exchange carbon monoxide for oxygen in my lungs. I mean I'm apparently totally uncoordinated.I took ballet for several years as a child. I can still dance a little and know my right from my left. I thought I was coordinated. Apparently I was wrong.

Three times now I've tried to exercise along to the uber-skinny chicas in color-coordinated buttless leotards that pretend to get sweaty doing this workout, and three times I've shut off the TV crying tears of frustration. Literally. Just when I started to get the hang of whatever move they were doing, off they went to the next step. Never explaining what it was, mind you, just prattling on with their "now we'll add in the cha-cha step, 4 beats, c'mon, you can do it!" garbage. Not only did they not explain what a cha-cha was, the camera rarely shows anything below their waist, so you get to see maybe 1 or 2 beats of the cha-cha step and then it's back to the plastic smiles on their perfectly made-up faces with unmoving hair. They are not real women, I tell you. (Real women are like me - in grey sweats that definitely cover the butt and thunder thighs, no make up [what's the point if it's just going to sweat off?], red, sweaty faces and hair in a messy ponytail.) No, not real... I think they're the Stepford Aerobics Instructors.

Almost worse than not understanding the moves and getting frustrated with trying to figure them out and keep up, was the incessant chatter. "OK, you can do this!" "Are you trying?" "You're concentrating too much! Just follow along!" "Don't think so much!" Here's a thought: if you think that perhaps your audience is thinking too hard about what they're doing, maybe that means you're not explaining it very well!!! Augh.

So, once again, I have decided that doing aerobics is not for me. I'll gladly walk and do my resistance exercises, maybe add in some hand weights, but no more buttless robots telling me I'm trying too hard. Exercise is supposed to make you feel better mentally, emotionally and physically (or so I've been told, lol) and after trying to do this tape, I feel worse about myself than when I started. Instead of feeling good that I tried, I felt like a clutzy fat cow. Today I literally cried in the shower for 15 minutes. Skinny people just don't understand what it's like to be heavy... especially when you haven't always been heavy. Having to lose 10 or 15 pounds after you've had a baby or something isn't the same as needing to lose 80 pounds just to be healthy. And when it's been a gradual thing, you don't mentally see yourself as fat. A little chunky, yeah, overweight, yeah... but every time you bump into the wall or a doorway because you're wider than you think, or everytime you have to wedge your butt into the chair at a movie theater, you are painfully (literally) reminded of just how bad off you are. And then there's the nasty looks and assumptions. People treat you differently when you're fat. You're not worthy of common courtesy (can't tell you how many doors have been shut in front of me, after having been held open for someone else) or a waitress' time (a couple days ago, my two also overweight sisters and I waited 10 minutes for our menus at lunch. We were 1 of 3 tables). For some reason, fat = stupid for so many people. They're often condescending to a fat person. When I show that I'm not stupid, there's always a look of surprise on their faces. I hate being patronized... and that's totally how I felt watching this video.

Turn it off? "Yeah, c'mon, you can do it!"

The horror that is Bella Dancerella

2006-01-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

My wonderful mother gave my daughter something for Christmas that she really loves.

It's my new nightmare.

Bella Dancerella's Ballet Studio.

This, my friends, is Bella.

She scares me.

This photo taken off my TV does her no justice.

The scary makeup, the horrible acting, the painful choreography, the mind-numbing songs... and the teddy bears in tutus. It's just wrong. Oh yes, don't forget about the tap dancing monkey puppet.

The costumes on this video frighten me. Well, just the 'casual' ones... when she's actually teaching the real ballet steps, she's got her hair pulled back in a bun and is wearing a normal leotard/skirt with tights and slippers. But during the 'casual' portion of the video, Bella and her little helpers are dressed in some funky dance outfits. Bella is in some sort of purple mesh tank top with pink and purple spandex pants, and some sort of tennis shoe.

The costumes for the young helpers are worse. I don't really want my 3 year old to think she should dress like a Wonder Woman wannabe, like the little girl on the right. It's like she's wearing Underoos gone bad.

Seriously, who wears tube socks to practice ballet? I took several years of ballet lessons and I don't recall a single tube sock. Leg warmers, oh yes -- after all, this was the late 70s/early 80s -- but no tube socks. And the halter top thingy bugs me.

So of course, since I can't stand this video (only 30 minutes long... but it's on some sort of endless loop... seriously, I've left it on for several hours and it just keeps playing! Aaahh!) Sweet Girl loves it. I must admit, it does do a good job of teaching her the basic five foot positions. (Which, by the way, I've tried to do... but apparently I wasn't freakish enough to learn from.) And she looks so stinkin' cute in her little outfit.

Along with Bella's dance studio (which consists of a DVD, plastic mat showing the five positions, and a snap-together barre) Grandma gave Sweet Girl dance clothes - a black leotard, a pink gauzy practice skirt, a pink net tutu, and several pairs of ballet slippers in varying sizes. The really cool thing is, they were all mine originally! I totally remember the tutu - it was so cool.

Sweet Girl insists on getting dressed completely to practice ballet. Which she does, several times a day. Because, as she likes to remind me, "Bella says if you practice every day, soon you'll be dancing the Bella way!"

Like the rhyme? It's only one of many mind-numbing phrases. "Right foot, left foot, stretch, return - what an easy way to learn!" "First you put your right foot down - then you bring your left foot 'round. Point and stretch, now we're done - that's position number one."

Anyway... seeing Sweet Girl so enthusiastic and just so darn cute makes up for the irritation (mostly).

This is one of my favorite pics of Sweet Girl practicing ballet. I'm not sure why I love it so much; I just do. I think it's the tutu.

Little Man's first haircut

2006-01-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

He was not amused.

Not in the least.

But he's still cute, and now he no longer resembles a sheepdog.

I'm sure it looked bad to the casual observer...

2006-01-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

... like, say, my husband. No, he wasn't home, but had he seen me, he'd still be giving me a hard time about it.

Earlier tonight I had my big fat butt parked on the couch, watching Alton Brown on Food Network, holding an eggnog-flavored Fat Boy ice cream sandwich in one hand, an unopened "Thighs of Steel" video in the other.

Good visual, eh?

Let me explain: the eggnog Fat Boy was the last of its kind, and I'd been looking forward to it. I used it as a reward for the treadmill today. (Yes, I know how wrong that is. I ate it anyway.) I was saying goodbye to my stash of frozen treats, because I'm Going On A Diet.

Again.

But this time, it's for real... Again.

Yep, my New Year's Resolution is to eat more healthily (is that a word?) and exercise more. I really don't eat that badly - I'm not an ice cream junkie, really, and cookies often sit for weeks. I don't have a big sweet tooth. (It's the chips that get me, although I pretty much cut those out a long time ago.) Occasionally, like once a month or so, I have dessert. That's not going to be a problem... but the before-bed bowls of cereal will be hard to give up. Mostly, I need to move more. Thus, when I spied the exercise tapes at the Dollar Spot at Target, I picked one up (the selection was fairly limited when I was there - I grabbed the only one that didn't involve step aerobics, or as I refer to it, Twist Your Ankle in 30 Seconds or Less) figuring I could invest a dollar in my health.... and, for a buck, if I never popped it into the VCR, I wouldn't feel particularly guilty. Yes, planning for failure already. What can I say, I know myself!

But this time I really have Motivation. Two forms, in fact. The first is plain vanity -- DH bought a new digital camera for Christmas, and it takes incredibly clear photos. I didn't realize just how big and jowly my chin had become. Fat thighs? Wobbly biceps? Poochy tummy? All hidden by clothing. Now a chin, you just can't hide. The second reason is bigger. (Yes, even bigger than my butt, which I realized the other day completely takes up the piano bench.) You see, in August this year, my husband and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. DH has been talking about it since last year. He wants to go on an Alaskan cruise, or maybe on a road trip to Vegas -- perhaps find a little drive-through wedding chapel with an officiant that doubles as an Elvis impersonator and renew our vows. Either way -- I want to be skinny. Well, if not skinny, at least not plus-sized. Skinny enough to easily fit through narrow doorways without bumping. Skinny enough to not sit askew on the roller coaster at Lagoon. Skinny enough that other guys won't pity DH for being married to me. I'm done having kids, so it's time I stopped looking pregnant. I'm hoping for a weight loss of at least 30 pounds by August... my 'big' goal is about 75-80 pounds, which I know I can't/shouldn't achieve by then. But 30-40 lbs in 8 months sounds do-able, with the rest by the end of the year.

As long as I don't spend more time on the couch with a Fat Boy in one hand and an unopened Thighs of Steel video in the other.

My stint as a wedding planner

2006-01-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

Kind of. Another lady helped plan, but ended up having to leave town before setting up.

So, last week a couple in my church decided to get married on New Year's Eve. The bishop called and asked if the Relief Society could put together some sort of reception for them. That was late Wednesday night... the wedding was Saturday afternoon. So, yeah, with three days' notice we put together a wedding.

Didn't turn out half bad, if I say so myself. It was mostly dumb luck, though. I called my sister to see if she had any tulle left over from my neice's wedding reception in July. Turns out she had everything left over! The arches were still in her garage, completely decorated with the tulle and flowers; the centerpieces were still around; and she had bags upon bags of silk florals. Between that, a lady from church loaning me some nice tablecloths, and lots of manual labor, we had ourselves a reception!

Looking down from the entrance towards the main arch:

The main arch

Cake table shots:

The happy couple:

I'm working on it!

2006-01-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

An update, that is. I keep putting it off. I want to add pictures, but haven't gotten around to uploading the digital pics and I've gotten to where I hate fighting my scanner with regular pics.

Remember, patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, and other such nonsense.

:-)

I talked to the boys!

2005-12-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

It was so nice. Kiddo called me last night - about 5 minutes before I was planning to call him. I talked with each of them for about half an hour. They each wanted to talk to Little Man and Sweet Girl, too -- in that order. Little Man just smiled, and turned to kiss the phone. I think he misses his big brothers! Sweet Girl carried on quite the conversation with the boys. It was fun to chat with them about everything - it's been not quite a week that they've been gone, but so much stuff has gone on!

I asked them what they got for Christmas down there - they each got a .22 with lots of ammo. (Better there than here, I guess. Except that here, they'd actually be supervised.) Munchkin was telling me all about the infamous trucks waiting for them ... they sound like total pieces of junk, but if they're excited about them, well, more power to them, I guess. I seriously doubt they'll be anywhere close to running condition by the time the boys are old enough to drive, but that's fine with me! LOL Kiddo's truck is a grayish color, under all the rust spots and bad body. It has an engine, but they won't be keeping that engine in it - "too powerful", whatever that means. Munchkin's truck is mostly dark blue -- except for the driver's side door, which is white -- and in better body condition than Kiddo's... although it has no engine or hood. Correction, there are 3 engines - all in the truck bed. They are covered by the hood. ROFL!

They were very excited when I told them how many presents were under the tree... all for them! I hope they look forward to coming home as much as I do. The house has been way too quiet! It's been a weird Christmas, having them completely gone. It's given me a taste of what life will be when they're grown and gone... :-(

Honest to a fault

2005-12-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

Uh, no, not talking about me. :-)

Tonight, I watched the kids of a friend of mine - 4 kids, ages 6 - 10 months. We all had a good time (mostly... there's a blog entry brewing off tonight) and I was proud of how Sweet Girl had acted - she'd pretty much shared anything the other kids wanted, was kind to the baby, etc. There were only 1 or 2 instances that I'd had to remind her not to fight over a toy, or she got catty about something.

So Sweet Girl and I were cuddling after I'd put her in pajamas for the night, and we got a little mushy... then she said the funniest thing...

SG: Mommy, I love you.
Me: I love you too, Sweet Girl.
SG: You're so nice. You're the nicest Mommy ever.
Me: You're pretty nice, too. In fact, I think you're the nicest Sweet Girl ever.
SG: Uh-huh.
Me: You were such a good girl tonight! You're so kind,
SG: Uh-huh...
Me: and nice,
SG: Uh-huh...
Me: and smart,
SG: Uh-huh...
Me: and pretty,
SG: Uh-huh...
Me: and funny,
SG: Uh-huh...
Me: and I'm so lucky you're my daughter.
SG: Uh-huh!
Me: Yes... you're a very good girl.
SG: Yes. I am. But sometimes, I'm a little bit mean, too!

Well... at least she's got a balanced look at herself! LOL

Look what I made!

2005-12-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

I finished this a while ago. It's what I'm giving my mom for Christmas. It's a birthday calendar thingy... hope she likes it.

Sweet Girl strikes again

2005-12-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

Things she's said or done in the past few days to crack me up:

* She speaks in Spanglish. (Too much Dora and Diego, remember?) We passed the sugar beet plant the other day, with its huge piles of sugar beets piled outside. SG says, "Wow, Mommy! That's a grande pile of sugar beets!" A while ago she was laughing at something Munchkin did and said, "You crack me arriba!" There are more instances, I just can't remember them...

* We went to the post office today to mail some packages (shudder). The guy working the counter was pretty nice, and gave her a candy cane. She waited until we were in the car to try to open it, but the plastic wrap was pretty stubborn. I took out my nail clippers to clip open the edge of the wrapper. Sweet Girl watched and said, "Huh. Nail clippers. That's a nifty idea, Mom."

* She was pretending to pour some water into a cup during a tea party yesterday. She asked if I'd like some. "Sure, " I said, holding out my 'cup' for a fill. I dutifully sipped out of thin air and said, "Wow, SG, that's some good water. Very refreshing." She said, "I know. It's from Swan Lake, so it has to be good." WTH?

* Munching on the aforementioned candy cane on the way home, she decided that she didn't like it:
SG: Mom, it's hot mint. I don't like hot mint.
Me: You don't? Since when?
SG: Well, now. It's hot mint and I don't like it.
Me: Um, ok then. Put it back in the wrapper and give it to me.
SG: Well, can you break off a small piece? I want some more.
Me: I thought you didn't like hot mint?
SG: Well, I don't. I'm just going to eat it for the fun of it.

* This morning I started making my mom's gift (yes, I know it's only 4 days til Christmas... what's your point?). It involves painting 24 little wooden hearts. Sweet Girl sat next to me and started playing with the to-be-painted hearts - stacking them, putting them in a row, etc. She said, "Mom, do you like my collection?" I glanced over and said, "Oh yes, very nice. Do you like these hearts?" She replied, "Yes. That's why I'm collectioning them. Hearts are my favorite, so I'm collectioning them now."

Snoopers of the world, unite!

2005-12-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

I admit it.

I'm a snooper.

I know there's more of us out there - and I bet if you're not a snooper, you've thought about it at least once.

I'm specifically talking about wrapped Christmas presents. They hold a draw for me - like a siren, beckoning, ever beckoning... until I give in.

I do it for the good of the family, you know.

It's not just because I don't like surprises, or is some self-serving desire. No, I snoop so I can have the appropriate response ready. I'm not that good at faking delight. Surprise - now, that I'm good at faking. (Years of practice.) As a mom, you know that if you don't show absolute delight and happiness at the gifts your children give you, it crushes them. When they were younger, fake "Oh wow, look at that!" responses were ok. They know better now.

Then there's the gifts from DH. He's the hardest to fool. He says I'm hard to buy for. I say he must not be listening. I give big, huge, "Listen to this, this is information you want" hints all year. The conversations often go like this:

DH: Hey, what d'ya want for Christmas?
Me: I don't need anything.
DH: Well, what do you want?
Me: Time to scrapbook!
DH: Let me rephrase. What can I give you?
Me: Take the kids for a day so I can get some scrapping done. Or a gift card to Scraps N Scissors, Paper Cottage, Scrapdoodles, someplace like that. Even Walmart. But really, I need to use what I've got. I'm so behind, I really just need some dedicated time to scrap.

or

Me, reading the paper: Hey, look, at the ShopKo big sale this weekend, their diamond jewelry is on sale 70% off!
DH: I already got you diamond earrings. (editor's note: yes, in 1998. I wear them every day.) Besides, you never wear much jewelry. (editor's note: everyday I wear two rings, a watch, two pair of earrings, and sometimes a necklace and/or bracelet.)
Me: Hmm. Hey, the George Foreman grill is on sale, too. Those are nice...

Why don't I complain, you ask? Well, I don't want to hurt their feelings. I'm just grateful they try, I really am. And they're improving. Baby steps, I remind myself. Baby steps.

Besides, I figure this is payback for all those rotten gifts I gave my own mom at Christmas.

Snow update

2005-12-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

The base of the lilac bush is now completely covered.

It's still steadily snowing.

Hmmmm.

With my luck, it'll all melt by morning. I'd better get some sleep. I think I'll be taking two middle schoolers, a tuba, a pre-schooler, and a toddler for a drive in the morning... ok, in 6 hours. Blech.

Did I mention that I hate the snow?

It's snowing

2005-12-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

Coming down pretty good, as a matter of fact - when I sent the last partygoer out the door at 9:45, there was only a scattering of snow on the ground. Now there's, what -- maybe 2 or 3 inches? Dunno, I'm not going out to measure it. It's still falling pretty steadily, too. Am I a bad mom for hoping it snows alllll night and we have a snow day tomorrow? Not because I think the kids would enjoy it or that it wouldn't cause scheduling nightmares for me, but because I don't want to drive the kids to school in the morning? Is that bad? I thought so.

*sigh*

I hate the snow.

The cake

2005-12-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

The last "H" broke when I tried to use it, so the "heck yes he is" part got modified.

Sad and cheesy.

Hopefully not too realistically sad and cheesy...