Crazy Wild

Hungry Boy

2011-10-28T21:42:00.003-06:00

J - Mom, I'm starving! Will you make me something to eat?

Mom - We have beef stew, taco chili, chicken fried rice, egg drop soup, or white chicken chili in the fridge. (All leftovers from homemade meals this week.)

J - Sick!! I mean something good!

Mom - I'm pretty sure you know how to make Ramen noodles.

J - Ooo, yeah. Will you please make it for me??

[An ongoing yet never changing conversation in our house...]

Mom Pace

2011-10-18T18:47:00.005-06:00

I walk fast. You may or may not have noticed that but if you spend much time walking with me you'll see that I have trouble going at a leisurely pace. Wait, I think I've mentioned this before... Yep, here ya go.

When the J was little, (from the time he could walk), he's had trouble keeping pace with me. He would hold my hand and say "Mom slow down." Or I'd be cruising along and realize he was running to keep up with me. I did try to slow down but really he had to learn to move it. To this day he is more of a dilly dallier than me. Until today.

Today I had the J take me to the library to switch out some movies. I was moving as fast as my little surgered self (gall bladder removal last week) could and he was several paces ahead of me. I said, "Are you running a marathon?" He laughed and said, "No, I'm just going my mom pace."

That gave me a good laugh. Which hurt. ;)

Don't You Love Getting a Surprise in the Mail?

2011-10-05T15:33:00.004-06:00

I mean really, who doesn't love getting a little unexpected surprise in the mail? This afternoon I got home from work and thought I'd check the mail on my way in.

I opened the box and just as I was about to reach in I saw, to my great surprise, a snake!! For the record I said, "ooo" but I didn't scream. I thought that was pretty good. And then I promptly moved far, far away from the mailbox. I've seen Indiana Jones and you just never know what these creatures might do!

Now, I'm sure this is a garter snake and they say those are harmless but really I've never had the urge to know that first hand. So I informed Dad and the J that until one of them removes it the mail will stay in the box. (This is a clearly defined "man" job!)

My guess is that those lovely junior high kids thought they'd have a little fun - at my expense. Rude.

Meet Bosco

2011-09-02T18:51:00.003-06:00

The J got a dog this week! Meet Bosco:

Isn't he cute? He's getting used to us and as I watch him I'm coming to see that he'll fit in just perfectly around here. He likes to bury himself in Js comforter to sleep just the way J does. Then I watched him eating this morning:

He takes food out of his bowl one piece at a time and lays them out on the floor then eats them one at a time from the floor and I thought "where have I seen that before?"

See? He fits right in with us already!

A Comic About Me?

2011-07-01T11:56:00.005-06:00

The J saw this comic earlier this week, cut it out, and showed it to me with a huge smile on his face.

(Ok, you might just have to click here to read it...)

When I read this my only question was "Almost July? How did she get all the way to July before she started planning summer vacation?" I'm just sayin'...

Then I saw the next day's comic:

(and here...)

Oh my heck!! That's the exact dynamic in my little family. The J doesn't like to travel and I love it. This is us to a T!

Part 3 - Wrapping Up Our Summer Adventures

2011-06-29T09:47:00.005-06:00

Here's the final installment of "What I did on my summer vacation with my Little Hs."

We had lots of story times. You can see that I have three sides so that I can fit three kids perfectly:

We enjoyed Ice Cream Soda day even though it was rainy. Actually the kids loved it! They put on their rain gear and played in the rain for a long time.

Speaking of water, we had a spontaneous Flotsam day. Have you ever read the book Flotsam by David Wiesner? It's a great book for kids - no words (or very few? can't remember at the moment), wonderful pictures and the kids make up the story as you go. Anyway, we started out by doing a science experiment to see what things float and what sinks. In our back yard we have sea shells scattered along the pebble walkway so the kids went out and gathered sea shells, rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. and their bowls just started to look like bowls of flotsam:

To continue on the floating experiments I gathered up lots and lots of pennies then we made a boat out of foil, floated it in a big bowl of water and added pennies one at a time to see how many the boat could hold before it would sink. Naturally they all needed their own big bowl, foil, and pennies because that's so much more fun. And it was the best thing! They played for over an hour without fighting or whining or anything. And they probably would have played longer if I hadn't called them in for lunch. Water just works wonders for kids, doesn't it?

One day we made shark shirts for the boys and a buddyfly shirt for Mia. These were really fun and easy to make but I'm really annoyed with the shirts themselves (Hanes t-shirts) because they shrunk so much when we washed them. So obnoxious!

One of the highlights that the kids really loved was movie night! We set up our projector to watch movies on the family room wall. The kids made signs for the movie and concessions. Tiernan sold tickets and treats: popcorn in movie style popcorn bags, taffy, and fudge (since it happened to be national fudge day), and pop! Josh was the ticket taker and Mia made sure everyone was invited and attended the movie. The kids set up blankets and pillows on the floor and we closed all the curtains to make it as dark as we could. (I'm not nice enough to let them stay up until it is dark before we even start the movie.)

This was so popular we had another movie night the next week and the Little Hs can't wait to do this with all their cousins in Durango later this summer. So much fun!

We went on lots of picnics in the park - too many in fact since the kids have said they don't want to go on any more picnics! Wow. I never would have expected that. :)

What a fun visit with my Little Hs!

Back Seat Drivin'

2011-06-26T16:11:00.006-06:00

This weekend Mom, Becky, Mia and I went to Durango for Jodee's (soon to be sis-in-law) bridal shower. Yay!

On Friday night we all went out to dinner for Danny's birthday and we (the girls) followed Danny & Jodee back from the restaurant to the motel. Now, as you may already know, mom is a notorious back seat driver. Well, we were stopped at a red light and when the light turned green Danny pulled forward and waited to turn left. (Did I already mention that Danny & Jodee were in one car and we were in another car? That's important to remember.) There were two cyclists in the cross walk walking their bikes across the street.

Mom said, "Look out Danny. Don't hit those people."

Me, "Oh my gosh. You're back seat driving from another car."

Part Duex (That works since their parents were in France, right?)

2011-06-23T00:06:00.005-06:00

On Daniel Boone day we went on an "exploration" hike at Chatfield. The boys had fun exploring and recording what they found in their explorer journals.

Mia? Well, she was not so into it and would have been happier staying home that day but 2 out of 3 isn't so bad.

We went up to the Heron Observation deck and even spotted a heron! And disagreed on exactly how many boats were on the lake. And enjoyed snacks while watching for more herons or anything else that was interesting.

One day we painted with corn cobs (between you and me, it was not nearly as impressive as the picture in Family Fun lead me to believe... What? Do they have professional corn cob painters there? I mean, really!)

...which evolved into finger painting then whole hand painting which is soooo fun! And just a little messy.

One of our favorite days was National Root Beer Day! We made homemade root beer (for the first time ever) and it was super fun. Let's be honest, anything with dry ice is super fun!

We had playgroup at our house that day and the Little Hs are rather shy critters. This is how the conversation went the day before playgroup:

Me: We're having playgroup here tomorrow for Root Beer Day.

Little Hs: We're not going.

Me: Um, it's at our house.

Little Hs: Well, we're not coming out then.

Me: That might be a little goofy.

Little Hs: We don't care.

When the big day arrived the making of root beer lured them unsuspectingly outside. They clustered together in the sandbox as the kids started arriving until they realized it wasn't scary at all - it was just a big group of friends and lots of fun. Whew!

2011-06-19T20:13:00.004-06:00

I was gonna say "let the fun begin" but since it's taken me so long to get to blogging anything it's almost time to say goodbye to the fun, so... Here's a look at how me and the Little Hs started our three weeks together.

First we made aprons because they all like to help in the kitchen and the adult sized aprons just don't quite do the job for them. We used tempera paint and animal stamps and they all designed their own:

One morning was National Donut Day so we made donuts at home. The kids each got a bag with either powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar in it and they got the shake the hot donuts in the sugar to coat them. That was fun! And messy!! And yum, what a delicious breakfast.

Another day was World Ocean Day so we made shark and fish (girls don't like sharks!) magnets using Shrinky Dinks. Those are so entertaining to watch while they shrink! And the magnets turned out really cool. But, we didn't realize until too late that you are coloring what will be the back of the magnets so now their names are backwards. Oh well! Still so fun.

I'll post more later after I break free from these outlaws!

The Renegade Tire

2011-05-31T23:18:00.005-06:00

I got a call this evening from the J. "Mom, I need you to call a tow truck for me. My back left tire flew off my car and I'm stuck on Santa Fe." Uh huh. So here's the whole comedy of errors - because it's too good not to share.

J and his friend N were driving down the street and heard a funny noise. They pulled over and found nothing wrong with the car that they could see so continued on their way. A short time later they stopped at a red light. Well, the car stopped but the back tire just kept going. It was flying away so fast that it flew right over the median, down the bank and into the river. N went chasing after it (not the best plan on a busy street I might add...). He saw it going for the river, took off his shoes as he was running, pulled up his pant legs and jumped in the river only to find that he couldn't reach it. He jumped out, found a nice long stick, jumped back in and rescued the renegade tire.

They couldn't put the spare on or even the rescued tire because, of course, the lug nuts flew off with the tire and one generally doesn't carry around extra lug nuts in case of renegade tires... So they called for a tow.

I was on the phone with the insurance company to arrange a tow, my brother, S, to ask car suggestions, and J who had called back to tell me never mind the tow because the police just showed up and the officer said he'll help them fix the tire and he'll get the tow company they use to come out.

They took one lug nut from each of the other tires and put the renegade tire back on with those lug nuts so that each tire had only 3 lug nuts. (Can I trust two teenage boys to drive safely and *slowly* home with fewer than recommended lug nuts on every single tire?? Eeek!)

S left work to go help the guys and called to say he couldn't find them and where did I say they were? I gave him the location, as far as I knew, hung up and called N to ask if they were on their way home.

"Well, not yet. See, we left the doors open during all this and now the battery is dead. We're in the motel parking lot and someone is giving us a jump."

Just this morning I gave J a kit with jumper cables for his car and as he was leaving I reminded him to put it in his trunk. Inspiration, ja? Ja!

I told the boys to wait there as S would be coming to follow them home and make sure they arrive safely then I'll take N home in a safe and properly working car. I called S and directed him to the Murder Motel (naturally that's not really the motel's name but when I was a teenager there was a murder there and I remember seeing it on the news and it just stuck with me so now I call it the Murder Motel and I can't imagine for the life of me why anyone would stay there!) where he found them safe and sound.

Tomorrow we'll go have a lug nut pressed for the back tire and then the wheels should all be safe and sound. And we'll get a new battery.

Whew! What an adventure. Thank heavens for a kind police officer and for kind Providence!

Absentminded Cook

2011-05-19T14:43:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I think it's a wonder that anything turns out in my kitchen. Today I was making Snickerdoodles and I opened the oven to take the first batch out and this is what I saw:

(Well, I guess that's not exactly what I saw since these are stacked on a cooling rack but you see what I mean...)

Gadzooks! What in the world? I mean I haven't made Snickerdoodles in years but I don't remember them being terribly difficult and I know they aren't flat!

The dough was really soft and I read the recipe three times to see if I was supposed to chill it before rolling into little balls but no, no chilling needed... I just couldn't see what else it might be. I walked out of the kitchen because I wasn't sure if I wanted to bother with the rest of the dough or just throw it out or what - so I took a break.

When I came back I realized that I had only put in 1 3/4 cup of flour not 2 3/4 cups! Duh!! I would like to say that this is the first time I've ever done something like this but it's not even close. In fact, this seems to happen in streaks so perhaps I need to do only minimal cooking for awhile. haha. I did add more flour to the remaining dough and it's quite amazing, the dough feels better and the cookies look like - Snickerdoodles.

I'll just say I invented a new cookie - Snickerdoodle Crisps. ha ha! I tell ya, if my head weren't attached...

June's Funny Days

2011-05-14T13:33:00.003-06:00

I've been looking for fun things to do while my nephews & niece are here for three weeks this June. I always like to look up the funny, little-known holidays cause you can build some fun around them.

Here's a sampling of June days you may not have heard of:

3 - Donut day

4 - Pencil Drawing Day

6 - Yo-yo Day

7 - Chocolate Ice Cream Day AND Daniel Boone Day

8 - World Ocean Day

9 - Donald Duck Day

10-13 - Superman Week (although that's not very accurate because this is 4 days not a whole week but apparently one day for Superman didn't seem like enough for whoever designated this day... I bet Tiernan would agree.)

11 - Corn-on-the-cob Day

14 - Family History Day

15 - Fly a Kite Day and Nature Photography Day

16 - Fudge Day

17 - Root Beer Day

18 - Go Fishing Day & Picnic Day

20 - Ice Cream Soda Day and Juggling Day

Of course, there are designations for each week of the month too. For example, June 6-11 is National Clay Week. That could be fun.

That leaves one to wonder if there's a designation for the whole month - well, of course there is! It's National Candy Month. Super fun!

I better get busy planning now, we have a lot to do!

Hands

2011-05-10T10:52:00.003-06:00

Have you ever stopped to think how wonderful it is to have hands? I was out planting flowers yesterday and I was using my little spade but, as usual, I ended up using my hands to break up the soil in the flower pots because, really, hands are just the most efficient tool I've ever found! They do the work much better and you have such control. I do the same thing with cooking - if I'm making a large batch of something (chicken salad, for example) hands just mix better than a big spoon. No worries, I use gardening gloves for gardening and food gloves for mixing big batches of food.

If you think about how much you use your hands every day - for everything you do - it's quite amazing! Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for all the very useful tools we have - and they are very useful - but sometimes you just have to use your hands to really get the job done. What a blessing to have hands!

Easter Craft

2011-04-12T14:38:00.003-06:00

March was National Craft month so naturally Becky & I felt obligated to have a craft day and here's the result:

Aren't they adorable? We bought the ready to finish kit from Etsy seller Wellgood then we sanded, painted, and assembled them. I do enjoy craft days when we find something fun to do!

My Love-Hate Relationship with Mornings

2011-03-20T21:10:00.004-06:00

I have a love-hate relationship with mornings. I'm not really sure I'm a night person but I'm not so much a morning person either. I'm a middle person? Well, I'm not sure what that would even mean...

Love - I really can be so very productive in the mornings and I l-o-v-e that! Really! If I get moving I can get so much done in a short amount of time and it feels great. Love it.

Hate - I h-a-t-e waking up in the 5's. The 5's were not meant for being awake. The other day the radio alarm went off and the DJ (do you call the announcer on classic music radio a DJ? Probably not...) anyway, the announcer guy said, "you're enjoying night music on Classical 89.5." SEE? My point exactly! It's night not morning. And since I've heard that announcement more than once I consider it solid fact that the 5's are nighttime. One should not arise then and certainly not before then and I have a really hard time doing so. Maybe there will be a day in the future when I can wake up in the 6's and see if I like that better but I'm not holding my breath. I really prefer the 7's but that's totally unreasonable except for weekends. (Which is a good reminder, if you want me to do something on the weekend that will require my waking before the 7's I make no guarantees of cooperation.) Hate it.

And lest you get too worried, I don't sleep past the 7's except for on very rare occasions and never to the 9's - I mean that's full blown morning and I'm decidedly up by then and even at the 8's I start feeling like I've wasted away the whole day. Maybe that's it - I just like the 7's.

Perhaps someday I'll get over the hate-it part but...let's not hold our breath. In the mean time I'll try to focus on the love-it part. And go to bed so I can get up in the 5's - and only hit snooze 1 or 2 times before doing so...

Preparedness - The Sound of Music Way

2011-02-24T15:52:00.004-07:00

I am once again in my preparedness mode - something that the basics of which are generally at least in the back of my mind and now and then takes the front seat. I was looking around for preparedness ideas on the net and found the funniest thing. The following was on a blog for a condominium in Seattle:

•The Sound of Music (1965)

The Sound of Music tells the story of an Austrian family -- with seven singing children -- in the days before the Holocaust. It’s a Couch Potato Preparedness classic for its sustainability and the sheer number of preparedness lessons.

– Maria is resourceful, making new clothes out of curtains.
– Captain von Trapp demonstrates using whistles as communication tools.
– He stays aware and informed of the situation, to make good decisions.
– To escape, they make a plan, share it, and adapt it as things change.
– The adults protect the children and the children help each other.
– In crisis, the family finds sanctuary and help from old friends.
– Of course: “My Favorite Things” is about thinking positively when bad things happen!

Use this family favorite to recognize diverse preparedness skills and actions.

I just laughed out loud when I read that - clever and certainly something I never thought of when watching the Sound of Music. And kudos for the condominium management for trying to help their tenants get prepared for natural disasters.

The O Goggs!

2011-02-13T17:28:00.005-07:00

Let's start with a little background to the onion goggle story. Here it is in a nutshell - I HATE ONIONS. That's about it. But allow me to elaborate a little... Not only do onions wreak to high heaven, they taste gross and they have a gross texture and they make me bawl. I mean bawl like someone just died. Generally I use onion powder and I'm perfectly happy with that. Other people like onions, my mom LOVES onion. One time I was on vacation and she called me to tell me that she made onion burgers with sauteed onions on onion rolls for dinner. Sick and wrong!

I've made a general rule that if mom wants onions in the food I cook (when I won't be eating) she has to chop them ahead of time and freeze them. Sometimes she does and then I just pull them from the freezer which works beautifully. Plus, then she can't complain when there aren't onions because she's the one who hasn't chopped them so it's her fault if there aren't any. hee hee.

A few months ago I was being particularly generous and decided I'd go ahead and cut up an onion for the whatever I was making. I chopped away and bawled - we're talking tears streaming down my face - and I couldn't even see what I was chopping so really I'm lucky I didn't chop a finger off! My eyes were burning and burned for a couple hours after the deed was done. I mean that is just ridiculous. I vowed that that was the last time I would be nice and add onion to anything unless it was pre-chopped and frozen.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I unwrapped these beauties:

Wow! Nothing says hottie like super-hero O goggs! The deal is that you wear these while you chop the onion and you won't cry and your eyes won't sting. I will admit that they mostly work. Some onions are just so nasty that nothing can help but if it's a mild onion they mostly do their job. (Have I mentioned that I also wear plastic gloves while chopping onions so that my hands don't stink?)

I have used them a couple times and aside from looking like a loon it was a better experience than most onion experiences. Did I also mention how self-serving this gift from Mom was? Or maybe you noticed that yourself. haha! But, lest mom or anyone else gets too excited, I still won't cook with onions (unless I won't be home for dinner) and the rule about chopping your own onions is still in full force. Just sayin'. Wanna make sure we're clear on that.

I Fell Off the Blogging Planet For Awhile

2011-01-31T16:48:00.003-07:00

...and really, I'm not sure if I'm totally back. See, I was going to blog about our fun Halloween party -

But I didn't get to it. Then I was going to blog about.... well, no I was going to skip Thanksgiving. So I was going to blog that Christmas was coming -

but it already came and went along with all the family -

that was here that I could've blogged about... Missed that too.

So here's the latest. I was released from the RS presidency after 3 1/2 years. It's bittersweet. I'm excited for the new presidency because as much work as it will be it will also be full of sweet blessings and so much growth. It was truly an awesome calling. So, what does that have to do with blogging? Well, not much really. I first thought maybe I'd be better about blogging but let's be honest, I probably won't. But I suppose I can't say it's cause I'm too busy now...

Maybe I'll blog about my most unique Christmas present - onion goggles. Stay tuned...

My Guy

2010-10-29T19:30:00.004-06:00

When my niece Mia was little (she's exceptionally grown up now at 2 1/2) we would ask her who everyone was and when the J came in or we saw a picture of him we'd ask her, "Who's that guy?" She apparently thought "Guy" was his name and that's what she's called him ever since.

When the J comes home from work, or wherever, Mia runs to find me and says, "Oh TeeTee! (her nickname for me) Your guy, your guy is home!! You see him? You say hi to him?" Then she'll find Guy and say, "Dere's your mom, Guy." This is always very exciting to her and makes me laugh!

And speaking of my Guy, he turns 18 this weekend!! Eighteen! Where did the time go? That's 18 years of all the typical parent/child roller coaster emotions and experiences. And 18 years of a happy life with my Guy! I love the J and I'm glad I'm his mom. (Even though he just reminded me that an 18-year old does not want to hang out with his mom on his birthday. Hey?! I'm cool! Oh fine! We'll hang out later.)

Happy Birthday Guy!

Enjoy Fall

2010-10-17T19:22:00.004-06:00

The J and I went to the mountains after church today to enjoy the fall colors and just kind of take a break away from our usual routine. We mostly missed the peak of the fall colors but there were still some great scenes. It was so nice and peaceful up there! We were by a little stream and I had to laugh when I realized there is no age limit on throwing rocks and sticks in streams and playing in the water. :) I always want to take my shoes and socks off and play in the water but it really was too chilly for that today. I'll have to go back there next summer.

While we were there the only thing that marred the scene were the random pieces of trash people left behind. I wonder (I often wonder) why smokers think the world is their ash tray. That drives me insane!! But there was plenty of other junk around too. I saw this quote from Pres. Hinckley this evening which expressed my feelings exactly:

“Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, "With All Thy Getting Get Understanding,’” Ensign, Aug. 1988, 2

The J thought I was crazy when I made him pick up some of the trash at the picnic area so I reminded him that we always leave it better than we found it. (And when I read that quote I was glad I did that!) We enjoyed the afternoon and I'm so grateful for the beautiful world Heavenly Father has given us. I'm grateful for the time to sneak out and enjoy it once in a while too! If you haven't had a chance to get out there and enjoy - make some time soon. You won't regret it!

Words, Words, Words

2010-09-07T10:48:00.004-06:00

I'm studying for the GRE - mind-numbing business - and some of the words in the Vocabulary Box are just amusing. Here are some of my favorites (See if you know or can guess the meaning before you read the definition):

Cosset - (kah suht) - to pamper; treat with great care.

We would love to cosset you at Enrichment night!

Now, if I said that we'd probably have an empty house because everyone would be scared of what's on the program.

Diaphanous - (die aaf uh nuhs) - allowing light to show through; delicate

"My your curtains are so diaphanous!”

Secretly I've used this word for years.

Panegyric - (paan uh jeer ihk) - elaborate praise; formal hymn of praise

The director’s panegyric for the donor who kept his charity going was heart-warming.

I'm not really sure what this sounds like, but it doesn't sound nice.

Legerdemain - (lehj uhr duh mayn) - trickery

The little boy thought his legerdemain was working on his mother, but she in fact knew about every stolen cookie.

What she really wondered was who the heck taught him to say legerdemain...

Contumacious - (kahn tuh may shuhs) - rebellious

The J is a contumacious teenager.

And if he thinks I used big words before, now he’ll really be confused.

And my favorite:

Pulchritude - (puhl kruh tood) - beauty

The mortals gazed in admiration at Venus, stunned by her incredible pulchritude.

Seriously?? Such an ugly word for a thing of beauty? I think this one should be tucked away in the vocab box and left there forever.

Ok, it's back to my 494 other vocab words for me! You're jealous, I know. I'll send them to you when I'm done if you'd like.

School Breakfasts

2010-08-26T14:43:00.003-06:00

School is back in which means we're back to the eternal question - what is quick and filling for a teenage boy for breakfast? "Quick" is a key here for me, but if you ask him, "filling" is the key. I made breakfast burritos, waffles, and french toast and froze them so he can just take out what he wants to eat in the morning and warm it up and that works pretty well but really, that'll only last so long... We do make egg mcmuffins frequently but he's fairly sick of those. (I can't blame him, it's about all he ate last year.)

Do you have any great breakfast ideas?? It really has to be A) something that I can freeze beforehand because I'm not getting up in the 4s to make breakfast or B) really fast if it's made the morning of. I'd love any and all ideas. :D

Travel Treasures

2010-08-10T14:58:00.003-06:00

It seems like I've traveled a fair amount this summer - no worries, I haven't made it to any exotic locations, just a lot of back and forth... So, I thought I'd share some of my favorite travel gadgets and thingamajigs.

A couple years ago I read this tip in Real Simple magazine and I loved it! Since we live in such a wired world and we have cords for everything they suggested getting a make up bag that is dedicated to cords. That way everything is in one place and no one is freaking out because they can't charge their iPod and phone (if you don't have teenagers yet, just wait... If you do, you know what I'm talking about...) This bag works so well. And it also holds my little book light, which I love and consider essential for travel.

This next one has revolutionized car travel for us! These are SeaBands. They're basically sweatbands you wear on your wrists. The little white ball you see rests on a pressure point (it's turned inside out in the picture) so that you don't get car sickness. And it works! These have made many car rides much happier! Next time I fly I'm going to wear them and see if it takes away that queasy feeling I get on take off and landing. The J and I both have them and so do several of my nieces and nephews and we all swear by them. If you or your kids get motion sickness you've gotta try these out. They're available at your local pharmacy.

This little gem is for hot curling/flat irons. Seriously, that's always the last thing you pack and you're just waiting for it to cool down enough to put in your suitcase without igniting your clothes and that always seems to take forever... This little bag, made by Baggallini, is available at the Container Store. You just put the hot iron in there, close it up, pop it in your suitcase and you're off. So simple and so nice!

Lastly, I found these toothbrush holders at Bed, Bath and Beyond and I love them! Look! It stands up so your toothbrush isn't lying perilously on the edge of the toothbrush holder while you just hope it doesn't end up on the sink or counter of the hotel (or where ever you are). The other option with traditional holders, of course, is to simply put the toothbrush back in the holder and close it up but then it never dries out. Yuck. With this holder you stand it up, the toothbrush stays off the counter and dries out. So much cleaner and less worrisome. I love it.

I love to travel. Mostly I just dream about fabulous places that I'd like to visit some day but when I do travel these are a few of the things that make life a little easier and the trip more pleasant.

Day in Historic Denver

2010-07-31T15:46:00.004-06:00

I'm up to my ears in planning (and pulling off) this event with the Molly Brown House Museum and Historic Denver so I figured I might as well get the word out about it! :) Day in Historic Denver 8/7/10 (Saturday) 2-9pm 9th Street Historic Park, Auraria Campus Day in Historic Denver will take you into Molly Brown's Denver. There will be costumed storytellers, historic games and crafts [That's my gig], food, music, tours, Titanic expo, and lots of fun! [Ever wonder how I'd look in a floofy Victorian dress with big leg-o-mutton sleeves? Come see me and you can rest your mind on that account!] Admission is free. Food and some activities require a ticket purchase. There is also a vintage baseball game that morning that will be lots of fun. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association & Historic Denver Inc.'s Karle Seydel Memorial Baseball Game will be played from 10am - 1:30pm at the Tivoli field, also located on Auraria's downtown campus. Admission is free. The first 1,000 attendees will receive a vintage style baseball card. [These guys wear 19th century uniforms and play by 19th century rules which can be pretty fun and lively to watch.] Hope to see some of you there! :)

I'm up to my ears in planning (and pulling off) this event with the Molly Brown House Museum and Historic Denver so I figured I might as well get the word out about it! :)

Day in Historic Denver
8/7/10 (Saturday)
2-9pm
9th Street Historic Park, Auraria Campus

Day in Historic Denver will take you into Molly Brown's Denver. There will be costumed storytellers, historic games and crafts [That's my gig], food, music, tours, Titanic expo, and lots of fun! [Ever wonder how I'd look in a floofy Victorian dress with *big* leg-o-mutton sleeves? Come see me and you can rest your mind on that account!]

Admission is free. Food and some activities require a ticket purchase.

There is also a vintage baseball game that morning that will be lots of fun. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association & Historic Denver Inc.'s Karle Seydel Memorial Baseball Game will be played from 10am - 1:30pm at the Tivoli field, also located on Auraria's downtown campus. Admission is free. The first 1,000 attendees will receive a vintage style baseball card. [These guys wear 19th century uniforms and play by 19th century rules which can be pretty fun and lively to watch.]

Hope to see some of you there! :)

Mia

2010-07-21T13:03:00.003-06:00

Can you guess how old my niece is? (I love this picture!)

What're You Reading?

2010-06-21T08:04:00.003-06:00

What are you reading this summer? Or what are your favorite books? I'm trying to find a book that I'll love but nothing is pulling me in or holding my interest at all. I'm still at the "fluff" stage after school, meaning I can't, and don't want to, read anything I have to think about just yet. Maybe I should just read Count of Monte Cristo again... hee hee. Really though, I just want a fun, engaging story and I seem to be hitting brick walls. What are some of your favorites?

Summertime

2010-06-16T09:56:00.004-06:00

I was looking at the flowers

this morning (yeah!!) and enjoying the comfortable temperature and at the same time realizing that it will clearly be a hot day. Then I did a little weeding in the garden where produce is really starting to grow and I was excited that summer is finally here. After years of mostly hating summer the last four summers have been so much more fun and enjoyable. Here are a few things I love about summer:

Visiting family and meeting my newest niece! Little Ava is so tiny and cute. She made Cameron seem so big which really made Mia seem huge.

Playing with the locals. We're on a mission to try new parks this summer and find a great place for family photos in July. This was at Lair O' the Bear park.

Fresh herbs in the garden - I have parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, chives, and cilantro. Yum - well, except for the cilantro, that's not so yum... hee hee

Fresh fruit to eat and make yummy things with. Avery and I made this galette that was so yummy. (Unless you ask Avery, she wasn't so thrilled about it.)

Here's to a great summer filled with family, friends, fresh, delicious food, and lots of adventure!

3 Things

2010-05-14T09:49:00.003-06:00

School is over! Can I officially say I’m a historian now? Well, maybe not but I’ll pretend. When the whole fam is here in July we’ll have a big party to celebrate my graduation and Jeremy’s graduation and we’re all excited to see the cake Becky is concocting. I hear it’ll combine our nerdiness perfectly! (I’m a history nerd and Jeremy is a math/physics nerd - you might not want to get either of us started...) So, here are a few thoughts about my journey through school:

3 things I will miss about school:

*The learning. Yeah, yeah, I know I can always keep learning but I love the classroom. Crazy, I know. But it’s just different than picking up a book and I’ll miss it.

*Access to knowledge - sounds the same but here I mean that while I was in school I could access databases and books from around the country and had so much information at my fingertips. Now I can still find plenty of info but it’s harder and could sometimes be expensive.

*The light rail. What!? Actually what I liked was listening to talks or stories on my iPod while commuting back and forth.

3 things I’m happy to be done with:

*Deadlines and tests! I’m one of those crazy people who doesn’t mind writing papers, it’s the deadlines I hate or the weird rules some prof’s have.

*Kids who don’t really want to be in school, couldn’t care less about their education and say things like, “I want to get a job w/the government so I don’t have to work hard and I’ll make the big bucks but won’t be pressured.” (Dead serious! A guy in one of my classes said that a few weeks ago. And I’m not sure why he thinks he’ll make big bucks in the gov’t but whatever... Nothing like a drive to succeed.)

*Uber liberal teachers (“I mean, do any of you actually still go to church?” Actual quote! Heard more than once in various forms from many teachers.)

3 ways I’ve been blessed during school:

*I’ve had so much support from my family - from living with me (this is often not easy), to editing my papers, to cheering me on, to eating freezer meals every night for weeks, and so many other ways.

*Support from my friends has also been a huge blessing! How many times have Kathy, Gloria, and Linda canceled meetings or taken me off the visits list so I could focus on my studies? (A lot!) And so many friends that have made me feel loved and appreciated along the way!

*I have a testimony that when we serve the Lord He will make up the time for us. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been amazed that I’ve been able to meet a deadline or pass a test that I was way too tired to study effectively for. There really is no way I should have been able to do all I’ve been able to do and I know that the Lord has blessed me and made up the difference.

3 favorite classes:

*Civil War

*WWII

*Nazi Germany (rise & fall of Nazi Germany, etc. - not b/c I'm psycho or anything)

3 favorite areas of history:

*Revolutionary War

*Civil War

*WWII

3 things I’m looking forward to:

*Reading whatever I want!

*Unwinding and breathing - at least for a little while.

*I’m still a little fuzzy about this idea but I think when I go to work I won’t have hours of homework at night, right? That could be nice. I actually won’t know what to do with myself!

The End is Near

2010-04-23T10:51:00.004-06:00

Just a little randomness...

I'm really glad it's raining because it's beautiful and I love rain! AND because I think it's keeping me from going insane while putting together my bibliography - the rain is soothing. I don't especially like writing sociology papers but I really hate doing the bib. And that goes for any paper. I think that's the worst part of the whole process.

And I just remembered I didn't put dinner in the crockpot yet. I guess it'll be plan b tonight.

Only one more book to read (oh, no, make that two), two more big papers to write, one paper to edit one last time and then finals. In only two weeks. Scream with me, you know you want to! I hear there's light at the end of the tunnel I just don't have time to look up and see for myself.

Ok, I think I'm better now. ;)

Holocaust Remembrance

2010-04-13T08:16:00.005-06:00

It's Holocaust Remembrance week. This is something I've studied quite a bit and it's just such a heart-wrenching thing that I do hope we never forget.

One of the truly troubling aspects of the Holocaust is that it was a human problem, not a German problem. There is much discussion about what was wrong with the Germans that they could do this, however, the evidence clearly shows that people from all of the European states that were invaded by Germany quickly and easily joined in.

That is not to say that no one resisted or refused to participate but a startling number of people did participate and a much larger number simply looked the other way. Let me also clarify that Germany was clearly responsible for the Holocaust and Hitler and his minions devised and carried out this evil. They simply did not do it alone.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a good video for remembrance week. It's about 9 minutes but worth a watch.

"The road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference." -Ian Kershaw

Note in a Bottle

2010-03-21T15:46:00.004-06:00

I got the best mail a couple weeks ago (I'm a little behind in my posting - what a shock!) - it was a note in a bottle! The kind you hope to see if you're stranded on an island.

Avery sent me a note and some stickers to share with Mia. That was the most exciting mail I've ever received. And I have to tell you too that I was really impressed with the Post Office because they didn't smash the bottle at all. So, if you're looking to wow someone, send them a note in a bottle.

Sparkly Kleenex?

2010-02-25T13:53:00.002-07:00

Have you ever noticed that the really soft Kleenex is sparkly? What's that all about? I mean do you need to draw more attention to your Rudolph nose?

In case you missed my bright red nose, now it's bright red aaand sparkly!

Huh.

sneezing and...

2010-02-09T11:43:00.003-07:00

There's a group of blind students who ride the same evening bus home from school that I do. Yesterday I was standing near the shelter waiting for the bus to arrive and there was a blind man in front of me talking to a couple of his friends. He turned around and sneezed and I was really grateful that he didn't turn around enough to sneeze on me! I mean he had no idea I was there so you know I'm fine with it. No problem. Well, I didn't really want to be sneezed on, I'm just saying I'm not placing blame - I mean he couldn't see me.

Well, a minute later he started doing that gross thing guys do - that sort of hacking-ish, coughing-ish deal to gather phlegm in their throat so they can spit a loogie... You know what I mean! Ish!! I very quickly moved a few feet away because I wasn't about to take a chance that the loogie might land on me. Oh sick. Just the thought makes me want to hurl. Of course, if he spit a loogie on me then I hurled on him I guess that would make us even... Right?

Still, the thought makes me shudder.

I was gonna blog today...

2010-01-12T12:29:00.002-07:00

but then I decided, school starts next week, why get anyone's hopes up?

Roof Inspection

2009-10-16T17:07:00.004-06:00

We had our roof replaced because of hail damage. After the work is done the county inspector has to come out and approve it. In order to do this the roofing company must put a ladder out for the inspector and secure it to the house. They must also post the permit in a public place.

The inspector came by today and left us a note as to why he could not inspect our roof - there were two problems.

1. The ladder was in the wrong place. (Side note here, if they are so dang picky about where the ladder has to be and the exact position it must be in and the way it is secured would it not make much more sense for them to bring their own??? Oh wait! This is a government agency so common sense does not apply. Nevermind.)

2. The permit must be posted. It is. Right in the front window. It's so obvious you can't miss it unless you're brain dead. But then if you aren't brain dead maybe you could also bring your own ladder... Right, got it.

I ask you, should people who can't put a ladder up be walking on the roof? Highly dangerous! Seems like a bad plan.

I read the inept inspector's note and the only thing I could think was AND PEOPLE WANT THE GOVERNMENT DO HANDLE OUR HEALTHCARE??

TST Test

2009-09-14T21:21:00.005-06:00

In one of my sociology classes we had to take a TST "test" and we're supposed to ask other people to take it as well so that we can see if there are certain links between age groups and some of their answers. Basically this is a social psychological test to determine one's "sense of self." So, I figure this is the easiest way to ask. :) It's really simple - you just answer the question "Who am I?" 20 times. Here's my list (not necessarily in any particular order):

I am:

1. a mother

2. a daughter/sister/aunt

3. a student and historian in training

4. a leader

5. LDS

6. single

7. a friend

8. happy/positive

9. reliable

10. mostly organized

11. not very patient

12. sometimes I'm too quick to judge

13. a museum docent

14. a tired mamma

15. generally shy (unless I have a responsibility that requires me not to be shy - figure that one out)

16. a giver

17. politically conservative

18. a planner

19. a laugher

20. I like to create

So, what's your list? I'll just thank you in advance (Thanks!) because I know you're all just dying to take this test! Right? ;)

Baseball, Suffrage, & Fainters

2009-09-07T21:32:00.004-06:00

I went to help at Rock Ledge today for their annual vintage baseball game which is a big draw for the ranch. The players are dressed in early 1900s costume and there's an old time band that plays between innings so it was fun. Hot but fun.

We women gathered our signs and interrupted their game (as in, walked right into the middle of it) demanding women's suffrage, a servant girls union, and prohibition. It was fun to see audience members get into the debate along with us (or against us). We did get the boys to agree (begrudgingly) to let one of our women play on their team - on the condition that when she messes up, she's out! She was wearing a reform or bloomer dress which is a shorter skirt with bloomers that completely cover to the ankles - very daring but much more conducive to such things as baseball or climbing mountains.

On one of my tours a girl fainted and it caused quite a little disturbance in the house for awhile. We had to call the paramedics so a big ol' fire truck drove right up to the house and excited lots of attention. She was fine thankfully but the incident made me wonder why I seem to get the fainters on my tours. I had one at the other museum last month too. I guess if it keeps happening I'll become pretty well versed on what to do and what not to do but at this point I think I need to work on spotting them before they go down! Perhaps I'll require everyone to drink some water before we start or they can't come with us. Or perhaps I'll just be lucky and not have any more fainters this summer. But beware, if you're a fainter, you may want to choose another tour... or maybe wait until the winter to visit me at the museum.

Death and Math

2009-08-29T10:24:00.000-06:00

The best part of the semester so far is telling people what my classes are on Tues/Thur - Death and Math.

Now, if you know me very well you're probably thinking I mean that I'm dying from having to take math. True. That's not an exaggeration as I think this math class just might do me in this semester... But then I think that every time I take math, right?

However, my death class is actually just that. A class on death and dying. It's a sociology class about how societies, the U.S. in particular, deal with death, dying, and bereavement. It's really very interesting but it's oh so fun to see people's reactions when I tell them what class I'm taking. One girl stopped by our classroom on the second day of class looking for the room she should be in and asked what class it was. "Death." She didn't even say anything else, just turned and walked quickly away.

The professor walked in the first day, "You're all here for death and dying?" We all just laughed.

You also get some weird looks when reading the text book in public. Some people would rather not sit by you. I wonder what people who are going to mortician school feel like? They must be the pariahs of society.

Now, I do have to say there are a couple people in the class that are a little too into this whole death thing and one girl even has the Mexican Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) skull tattooed on her arm. She's also super excited because there's a school of design that just opened in an old morgue and you can still see blood on the drains in the floor that they couldn't get out. "It's so cool to just go sit in there." Ok, seriously, that's a little over the top. Fortunately, most of the class are normal and aren't there for the gross factor.

Since death is not something we're comfortable with, and we certainly don't talk about it, it makes for some interesting looks when you take this sort of class. If you thought I was crazy before, now you know. We're going on a field trip to a mortuary and cemetery and I told the J he could go with me but he said he'll pass. Chicken. heh, heh.

Hmm, I think I might enjoy Halloween a little more than usual this year...

Well, I need to go catch up on my death reading and find a topic for my death paper. hahahaha!

(I'm having entirely too much fun with this...)

Pears

2009-08-19T18:38:00.007-06:00

Last Saturday Mom, Becky, and I canned pears. 110 pounds of pears which came out to be I think 56 quarts of pears. What a sticky mess. It's one of those times you just need a fire hose to spray down the kitchen because you use multiple rags and mop at least twice before the sticky goes away.

And you know how pears turn brown if they sit after you've cut them? Well, as it turns out the pear juice that you get on your fingers and under your finger nails also turns brown. Especially if your skin is dry. Then it just settles right into the little crevices in your skin and browns right up. It's gorgeous dahling! Especially since it's Wednesday and I can still see it. It looks like I haven't cleaned under my nails in ages. Maybe I'll just have to cut the long ones and start over...

I asked the J if he remembered these pears - they were his favorite when he was little but he hasn't had them in a very long time! He said, "Yeah, I love those with macaroni and cheese." Yep. That was his combo. He'd eat that as often as he could get it. And he never cared much for fresh pears because he preferred the bottled ones.

Some of our pears:

We had a few pears left over so I've been on a search to find great pear recipes. On Sunday I made a Pear Croustade for dessert that was yummy.

And on Monday I made Grilled Pears & Ham for dinner.

All this yummy fresh food is a blessing of summer!

So Long Summer

2009-08-14T17:09:00.000-06:00

Summer is coming to a close. Well, I know, I know it doesn't technically end for awhile but school starts Monday for me and that means that summer is over.

Some things I enjoyed this summer:

*Seeing a fox in our yard - many times. My favorite was when I saw him running through the front yard with a hamburger and two hot dogs in his mouth. Some poor neighbor, who was all set to BBQ, probably ran in the house for something and came out to find his food missing. I think that would be confusing and probably a little annoying. But I sure got a kick out of seeing the thief run off with his loot!

*This was a summer of creating. I had fun learning how to knit a little better, make jewelry, and sew a little (not as much as I might have). I've made a number of Christmas gifts (clearly I can't post pictures yet...) and that was fun.

*I rediscovered audio books. I always check those out when I drive to Utah and occasionally I put one on my iPod (no worries, I erase it as soon as I'm done listening!), but this summer I've listened to several of them. I had lots of drive time going to the Springs and downtown Denver every week and that's what got me started. Then I realized that I have lots of drive time anyway so I might as well listen to a book or learn something. It's been quite enjoyable and I think I will continue the tradition. Maybe I'll be able to tackle a few more on that BBC Top 100 list...

*The weather was fabulous! It was never terribly hot and there was plenty of rain. The hail and lightning storms that have been present far more often than usual were interesting to watch. And did I mention that it's been a pretty reasonable temperature all summer long? I mean there were only a few days (so far... I do realize that the weather part of summer is not over) that got into the 90s - blech!

*My staycation at home all by myself. Now before you get all antsy, you know you'd love one of those too! It's not that I don't love everyone it's just that it was sure nice to have some 100% down time.

Alas, summer is over and it's time to get back to real life. School starts Monday and usually by this time I'm excited and ready for it. Usually. But this time for some reason I'm not. I'm sure it'll be great, I'm just not there yet. I have all 16 of my required books, new folders and paper and pencils (love those!). I have freezer meals done and frozen. I almost have my desk organized - it's as close as it ever is. I've lunched with long lost friends. So, really I should be ready to go. I guess I just need to give myself a pep talk and dive in. :)

I hope your summer has been great too!

Invasion of the Flies

2009-08-13T17:20:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday I was sitting at my computer an a fly started buzzing around me. Then 4 flies started flying around. We have windows that open without a screen on one side so I opened it and shooed 7 (seven!) flies outside. Every room I went into there was a swarm of flies! Where the heck did they come from? I went around and made sure all the windows were closed - they were. There were honest to goodness at least 7-10 flies in every room!

When I went to bed there was a mad fly (as in, insane) that was flying in circles around my room and it would fly into one mirror and bounce off then fly to the other mirror and bounce off then fly in a circle again and repeat the whole process. It finally took a rest and I was able to kill it. I thought I was safe... but as soon as I turned off the light --- there was another buzz! Oh my heck!!

Yesterday and today there are still a couple stragglers but the swarm is gone. The whole thing still boggles my mind - where did the come from, why were they here for one day, where did they go, and how'd they get in?? So bizarre!

Bumper Stickers

2009-08-12T00:05:00.007-06:00

I just love some of the bumper stickers I've seen lately. There's only so much room on the back of a car so how does one choose? Now really I'm not the type to plaster bumper stickers on my car so I'll just have to admire them from afar... I don't know if you can read all of these or if they're too small but you might get a kick out of them.

You can find these and many more at http://www.survivingobamunism.com/

The Blood Bus

2009-07-29T07:19:00.002-06:00

I set a goal at the beginning of this year to donate blood because it seems like a good thing to do. It's the end of July and I finally got up the nerve to do it. See, no one can ever find my veins so I've never had blood drawn, or an IV, or anything with just one stick. It's usually several and several different nurses, techs, whatever, that try it. I'm pretty much averse to any and all pain and multiple jabs does not work with that. And I mean, really, who likes needles anyway? Ooo, yes, please poke me with that big sucker! Nevertheless, I decided I'd go and donate blood and check off that dang little goal.

I got to the blood bus and filled out my paperwork and they took my temperature, and pricked my finger to check my red blood cell count, etc. Then I sat in the lovely little reclining chair and one of the phlebotomists went to work. But couldn't find a vein in my left arm. So we switched chairs and a different phlebotomist eventually found a vein in my right arm. (Perhaps my veins reside in the middle of my arms rather than close to the surface like most peoples?) She put the needle in then looked at it with a screwed up face. "Hmm, not much blood is coming. It should really be gushing by this point. Do you mind if I adjust the needle?" Oh sure, why not! (This happened when I had surgery too - the blood should have been gushing... but it wasn't. Apparently I also have less blood than others or else it knows when someone is trying to steal it and it stays far away from the predator.) The adjustment didn't work. Phlebotomist Tom came over and looked at it and asked if he could see my left arm. He found a vein in my left arm and if I don't mind they'll switch me back to the other chair and take it from that arm. That is, if I don't mind.

Naturally I said I didn't mind - I mean what else am I going to say? Heck no! I'm done with this and this is what's kept me from coming here all this time? Well, I agreed and first had to go back to the waiting area while the other persons in the left arm chairs finished up. This is clearly a very simple procedure for most people - and fast - they come in, sit down, the blood flows, they leave. Ten to fifteen minutes. But not for me. Oh no, we're going on an hour at this point. And other people were just flying through the place!

Phlebotomist Tom was able to locate a good vein in my left arm and once he got the needle in the blood flowed quickly and filled that little bag right up. (I guess my blood gave up the hiding bit.) He said that if I want to donate blood again (he was clearly unsure if I'd be willing to come in again) that I should drink double my normal intake of water for 2 days ahead of my donation and that should help. I'm not sure that would help but I'll keep it in mind. Because by next summer I might have forgotten this ordeal and be willing to try again.

Oh yeah! They also wrap your elbow with a bright bandage around the gauze. I think the bright color is so that it stands out and people ask what that's all about and you tell them you donated blood and they say, "Oh! I should donate blood too!" I wonder if it ever works? So don't worry, I had bright teal bandages on both elbows and the small white bandage on my finger where they checked my red blood count. And seriously, my finger really did gush! Good thing I only had to pick one thing up from the store with those lovelies on. I only got a few curious looks. Not having donated blood before it didn't occur to me to go to the store before I was all bandaged from being attacked.

By this time I've learned a few things.

1) When it involves needles in my arm, whether that be drawing blood or getting an IV or whatever, I'm going to have to go in and just insist that they start me off with the boss - the person with the most experience. Not because I'm a snob (which is what most of them will think and the head nurse person won't be able to dispute it because they'll find my vein right away and not see what the problem is) but because I always end up seeing that person anyway but only after several unnecessary jabs and pokes, and much more discomfort than necessary.

2) My blood doesn't want to be removed. It's quite happy where it is so whether you want to test it or take it, you'll likely have to fight for it.

3) If I should undertake this endeavor again I'll need to plan on about 1 1/2 to 2 hours - just to be safe. (This one was over 1 1/2 hours...)

Blowin' Bubbles

2009-07-28T09:43:00.003-06:00

Mia (my niece) saw me blowing bubbles with my gum the other day and at first she was confused but very interested. Then she got excited and tried popping the bubbles and she thought it was so funny. She kept sticking out her tongue trying to figure out how I was doing it. This is a video Becky took of her reaction - it was pretty funny. :)

Isn't she so cute!?

Crazy Little Storm

2009-07-21T14:31:00.005-06:00

Last night we had a crazy storm about 11pm or so. I could tell it was raining buckets and hailing and it was so dark out I couldn't see much when I looked out but I had no idea the extent of it until this morning... Here are a few pics of the damage outside.

It looks like snow in July:

Leaves everywhere!

And look at this poor little flower! All the leaves are torn up and the petals were knocked off. There are many plants like this and our summer squash looks polka dotted.

Crazy! And while I was listening to the rain, hail, wind and thunder last night I thought how terrifying it must be to be in a hurricane when things truly are crazy. Especially on a little island in a grass hut. It made me grateful that I have a warm, safe house that's sturdy and that I live in a pretty mild climate where this is about as bad as it gets. I wasn't worried last night, it just made me wonder and be grateful for my blessings.

Random Carrie

2009-07-20T07:55:00.000-06:00

I was tagged to post 10 random things about myself (forever and a day ago!) - so here goes...

1. I *love* office/school supplies! White boards, pens, clips, etc., etc., etc.

2. Don't ask me directions. I have no sense of direction and I get lost going anywhere and everywhere. That whole north, east, south, west thing is ridiculous. I know where the mountains are but when I moved so did the mountains. Then what was I supposed to do? There is no such thing as an internal compass in me. At all.

3. I love to organize and plan things. I guess that fits nicely with #1 doesn't it? I'm not so good at coming up with creative, original ideas but I can help you execute it.

4. I like poison frogs. You know the little dart frogs? They're so cute! I love their bright colors and they're tiny which I always like. I don't want to hold one or get in it's way because I don't want to be poisoned you know, but I do like to admire them from afar. See, look: Cute, huh?

5. If I'm in a bad mood, Elvis can usually fix it. Usually.

6. I don't like red candy. Especially red M&Ms!

7. I'm both fascinated by and terrified of fire.

8. I don't think there will ever be enough time on this earth to learn everything I want to learn.

9. As J says, "If it's old, my mom will like it."

10. I took ballet and tap dance lessons when I was little and always had a secret desire to be a ballerina.

Simply Amazing!

2009-07-13T20:13:00.002-06:00

So, I'm trying to do some family history work tonight (you can see that I'm working really hard on it!) and I just have to tell you that every time I open the new Family Search website I laugh. It brings the user's info up first, so obviously that's me, and right next to my name it says "Add or find husband." Who knew?? Hmm, let's try "find." Now if I had known that doing genealogy was so helpful in the here and now I might have been much more on top of it years ago!

Well That Was a Rude Awakening

2009-07-13T08:08:00.003-06:00

Last night I put a glass of water on the nightstand by my bed because my throat was dry and I was coughing. This morning I mostly woke up (I wasn't all the way awake yet...) and went to take a drink. I did a quick glance to make sure there weren't any spiders in the glass - ok, pause here - I'm terrified of the nasty things and even if you're not, I challenge you to spend a little time in my room and not become paranoid...

Anyway, everything seemed clear so I took a small drink. And felt something on my lips! I spit everything out, sorry floor, and was now 100% awake. Then I checked the floor to see what might be crawling away and how much scrubbing I'd have to do of my lips (can't have any spider residue there of course). There was a tiny little white moth crawling across the floor. Still sick. Not as sick as a spider (by a long shot) but still unnerving. What a rude awakening.

Dog Sitting

2009-07-06T19:12:00.005-06:00

Last week we watched Becky's dog, Dakota, while they were on vacation. She was pretty good, she's calmed down substantially in her old(er) age which is nice because she was a total spaz when she was a puppy. Anyway, I came home last Thursday and Dakota was acting really weird and jumpy and kept going to the treats. Now, she always likes a treat after you've left her, whether it's for 10 minutes or 10 hours so I gave her one but that's all. (I did learn from this that we humans are not the only creatures that like a treat when we're feeling out of sorts.)

After a few minutes she started trying to hide under the desk and I noticed that her ears were back - and then it hit me! It was stormy outside and there was lots of thunder and Dakota hates thunder - quite terrified of it. So, of course, being the good doggie aunt that I am I sat down with her and pet her. After petting her for a few minutes, hair is flying everywhere and a nice little collection starts. If you think you've ever seen a dog that sheds a lot, wait until you see these pictures...

This was after petting her for about 20 minutes (and of course there was plenty left on the carpet, my clothes, floating in the air, etc.):

I put the movie next to the collection of dog hair just to give you a size reference:

This is pretty normal. She sheds like it's going out of style! I put up with it because, well, what else am I going to do? But also because it was fairly entertaining sitting there with her. She put her head down and rubbed against me and she tried several times to climb into my lap. Dakota is NOT a lap dog, as you can see:

Then she buried her head against my leg and covered her eyes with her paws. Any time it thundered she'd look at me and whimper. Poor Dakota! I feel sorry that she was so nervous but honestly it was quite humorous and endearing.

The J's Hair

2009-07-03T17:49:00.004-06:00

The J decided to get a haircut today and Becky offered to do the honors. (He won't let me touch his hair after a couple less than ideal experiences. Which is fine by me.) They got this far and he decided it was time to stop. What do you think?

Ok, ok, don't stress too much. They did finish the cut and he's back to short hair. BUT, we all agreed that if he grows his hair out again, he'll have the makings for a great halloween costume! Becky will give him a mullet again and he suggested adding a flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off to really complete the look. And a follow up buzz the next day of course.

Summer Poem

2009-06-27T09:54:00.003-06:00

I was looking for quotes to put on our RS calendar today and I came across this poem:

Bed In Summer Poem

In winter I get up at night,
And dress by yellow candle light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day,

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown up people's feet
Still going past me in the street,

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I had to laugh because I totally remember this feeling when I was a kid. Going to bed when it was still light was so unfair! Of course, as a parent I had no problem with that rule... But I'm pretty sure the J didn't care for it... heh heh.

Blister

2009-06-24T12:22:00.005-06:00

I wear these boots to both the museums I work for and generally they're pretty great. But last week I went home from Rock Ledge with a huge blister on my heel. Ouch! I had to wear the boots again the next day because I was filling in at Molly so I was pretty desperate for some relief.

I found these...:

...at the store and they're great! I put one on and honestly cannot even tell that I have a blister! Not kidding - there's no sign of it. Well, I can still see if of course, but I can't feel a thing. I've decided these are a great thing to keep on hand because you never know when you might need them.

So, if you ever have a blister you should try these BandAid Advanced Healing Blister pads! You'll be happy you did.

The House I'm Going to Buy

2009-06-21T08:45:00.005-06:00

Last night while I was waiting up for the J to get home I was rifling through a pile of magazines. The idea of course being to toss the old ones but clearly it also means that I have to take one last glance in them - you know, to make sure I haven't missed anything of importance. And I had! There was a section of historic houses that are for sale, generally for low prices, and one of them was just so adorable I had to go online and look at it in greater detail. It was featured at www.oldhouses.com and I just had a lovely time meandering through that site.

Then I found my house. Well, actually I found 9 or 10 houses that I could absolutely love. And really, I didn't really have time to look at every house on the site so there could be more... BUT this one just stuck with me. It's in New Jersey. I've never considered living there but I'll consider it now.

Here's the house (built in 1731):

In this living room (disregard the laser lemon paint - not sure what's up with that) notice the fireplace. I swoon over such fireplaces. In kitchens they were even bigger, called walk-in fireplaces, and I really love that kind. The kitchen in this house has one but you can't see it well enough from the picture.

This room may possibly be my favorite:

Oh, if walls could talk! I love it!! The site says that this is very near the Delaware where Washington made his escape in 1776 and the men marched right in front of the house. I would stand out front every day and envision that march in my mind. Seriously - it just makes me happy. Now, granted, you'd have to do the research yourself and make sure it's true but I can live on the idea of it for now.

It also sits on 8.4 acres. That would be fun. I love the idea of feeling a little isolated but still being relatively close to civilization.

Sadly, I'm short $1.45 Million for the purchase price. (This is not the house my adventure started with in the magazine and it's not in the 'generally low prices' category either.)

I wonder if they just want me to live there and take care of it? It's about an hour from Philly so I could go to school there (roughly the same commute time as going downtown from here) and I'd be in my history heaven.

If you want to see the rest of the pictures of my house you can see them here. :)

It's All About the Gold, Baby!

2009-06-19T17:23:00.002-06:00

Last weekend I went to a singles conference. Yes, I know - you're shocked. Me too. I'm trying to be supportive in my role on the singles committee... Anyway, on Friday night they did a personality test. Normally I don't put a lot of stock in those so I went in thinking I'd just have fun with it. It turned out pretty fun and pretty interesting.

After evaluating a series of statements, yada, yada, we were grouped into color groups (gold, blue, green, orange) according to our scores. I was "gold" and I now understand that I really am gold. And there are other crazy people like me! Seriously. Don't let that scare you though.

We sat in our groups and were given a poster board and told to make a poster that will explain our personalities to the group. The yellow (gold) poster board we were given was torn on the bottom two corners. My first, immediate thought was "ok, we need to either cut that edge off or make the other corners match." hahaha! Then almost everyone at the table said the same thing! hahaha! That was when I knew I belonged and everything would be alright. We started making a list - all in nice rows and columns - with words that explain us like "dependable," "organized," etc. There were some impostors in our group who drew pictures on our chart - sooo not gold - they should have been in the blue group. The blues are all about artsy creativity, lovey dovey kinds of things. Blue was actually a close second for me which is why I was ok about the pictures (although it would have been nice if they were centered a little better...) and not freaking out like some of the gold who were clearly 100% gold.

The oranges are the party/risk takers/need lots of attention people. They were arguing over who would get to get up and present their poster yet. The rest of the groups were arguing about who had to get up and present their poster. You think I'm a little crazy? You should think about those oranges you know - they really are crazy. heh heh.

Greens are the scientific type and they too makes lists but they must have bullet points. They say what they think because that's how it is and why dance around it?

It was so interesting learning about all of this. I realized that while I'm so very gold, it's because of the strong blue in me that I can live with my messy desk. See, I'm not so anal as you thought.

This Week's Menu...

2009-06-15T18:41:00.004-06:00

This is for you Adrienne. And it's a one time deal. haha!

Being the planner that I am (look for a future post about gold personalities) I try to plan a menu every week. I'm totally lost if I don't and we have things like "You Pick It, You Fix It" nights 4 out of 5 nights and chicken nuggets (or some comparable gourmet offering) the other night. Saturday is always a "You Pick It, You Fix It" night so I guess that would make 5 nights out of 6. Sundays, well that's a whole different story so they don't count in my week of planning. You can see that clearly it's better for everyone if I plan a menu!

Usually in the summer I'm really into cooking and I try new recipes constantly. And I make breakfast frequently. This summer that hasn't really set in yet. Maybe it's all the rain? Yeah, maybe not.

There are only a few new recipes on my menu this week. No, that's not so many - I'm kind of weird about that. You could say that trying new recipes is kind of a hobby for me. I checked a few cookbooks out from the library today - hoping to kick start something great - so we'll see what happens.

Generally The J gets after me if I don't make a good breakfast when I'm out of school but since he doesn't join the land of the living until after 11 or 12 these days breakfasts have fallen by the wayside. I kind of miss them but I'm not really going to cook a big (or even slightly involved) breakfast just for me.

So, here's my menu for this week:

Monday:

Adobe Chicken Wraps (recipe here)

Veggies on the Grill

Salsa and chips

Tuesday: (always breakfast for dinner night - hey Adrienne, don't I owe you a breakfast dinner still?)

Baked Cinnamon French Toast

Wednesday:

Sticky Fingers Ribs

I have decided sides for this one yet...

Oh, and I can't find the ribs in the freezer. There's a chance that someone, who shall remain aMOMynous, gave them to my brother. That's only slightly annoying, right? But I'm moving on...

Thursday:

Stromboli

Zesty broccoli

Friday:

Steak Hi-Hat (crockpot)

Noodles

That's probably as far as I'll get on Friday

I'm also known, mostly in the summer, to just change the menu rather frequently as I find new recipes to try. So who knows, we may not be having all of this after all. ;)

Day One at Rock Ledge

2009-06-11T16:36:00.002-06:00

I started my "internship" at Rock Ledge Ranch living history museum yesterday. First off may I ask why there seems to be only one adult chaperone per 20 children on field trips? They (mostly the kids) don't get that whole "don't touch" rule and the one chaperone has a hard time enforcing it. And sometimes they don't even bother. Sigh.

We made butter yesterday. (We're portraying life in the 1880s remember.) That's really a big process and a good work out! Last night my shoulder was getting sore and I couldn't think of why until I realized it's my right shoulder and since I'm right handed I mostly did the churning with my right arm. And since it was my first day the other interpreters took people on tours and I did a lot (but not all) of the churning. It's still sore today. I hope that doesn't last long.

I was sitting on the porch pressing the butter (just one of the steps in the butter making process) and it was raining. I was sitting right outside the kitchen door and there was a fire crackling in the stove in the kitchen, it was quiet and no one was around and it was so peaceful. I just loved it! A short time later the peacock found the tree by the porch and climbed into it and kept - I don't know, what is it peacocks do? scream? - screaming because he didn't like the rain. Poor General Palmer! It wasn't quite as peaceful then but still enjoyable.

When I was about to leave the Lead interpreter came up the house and said there was a tornado watch in Castle Rock and funnels had been spotted. She wanted to warn me since I have to drive through Castle Rock to get home. I'm no tornado chaser so I decided I'd stay a little longer until the watch expired. So I continued to mold the butter...

All in all it was a good day at the ranch. I'm sure to learn some interesting skills this summer that I'll never use in my real life but it'll be fun anyway.

Just Thinking

2009-06-09T11:52:00.002-06:00

I just finished reading a Holocaust memoir that really just made me think. A Polish family hid 18 Jews in a bunker under their house for 18 months. With Nazis often living in the house. It was absolutely a miracle that they survived there's no question about that. Reading the story made me wonder what I would do in such a situation.

I'm always glad when I read Holocaust memoir type books that I've never had to deal with such a time. And every time I read one I wonder if I'd be brave enough to hide or help a family in such a scary time. Or would I feel like I have my own family to take care of and I couldn't put them in danger in order to save someone else?

My other thought was how would I handle having to hide like that? Their situation in the bunker was almost as bad as the concentration camps (*almost*) with lice, sores, little food, poor sanitation, boards and a little straw to sleep on, no air circulation, etc. Could I do it? Would I be willing to put up with that and hope for a better day?

These are some of the questions that come up for me. I don't know what the answers are and frankly I hope I never do have to know the answers! But it does make me wonder.

The Superhero You've Never Heard Of

2009-05-31T22:24:00.002-06:00

Tiernan had to change his clothes on Saturday (this occurs at least once a day - one simply cannot have anything wet or messy on one's pants unless it's mud) but when he came back downstairs he only had on underwear and a mask. I asked where his clothes were and he said, "I'm Naked Man!" He's also reallllly into being a superhero and was quite happy to find the dress up box upstairs with all sorts of great costume pieces. Except on Saturday when the undies and mask were enough.

I believe Naked Man had just enjoyed a pudding pop...

A couple of good action shots here. I kept thinking it was too bad there wasn't a pool under him...

I for one feel much safer knowing that Naked Man (or which ever superhero is visiting at the moment) is here to protect us!

Wanderlust

2009-05-30T12:11:00.003-06:00

I wish I was in Charleston right now. Seriously. Charleston is great! But, if I get thinking about fun places I'd like to be the list would be really long... Just thinking stateside, how about Philadelphia, Boston, Maine (long time obsession that I can't really explain), DC, Williamsburg, Savannah. Ok, I'll stop there cause the list can get fairly long. Or really long.

Clearly summer is here and my wanderlust has kicked in. Well, I'd be happy to travel any time of the year but it seems to be an especially strong yearning in the summer. Too bad I'm poor. haha!

Where would you like to go?

Glasses Clapper

2009-05-26T10:07:00.003-06:00

Remember those old commercials for "The Clapper"? You could put it on your lamps and just "clap" them on and off. It seems like there was something similar for keys so you could find them. I need something like that for my glasses. I don't need my glasses all the time, although that seems to be changing but I'm going to continue to deny that, so I pretty much try to wear them as little as possible. I don't like wearing them and contacts are out. First off, as you'll remember I don't need glasses all the time so why wear contacts? Second, I cannot get the darn things in my eyes.

The problem is that I have a bad habit of taking my glasses off wherever I am and forgetting them. When I need to leave (especially when I'm in a hurry) I can't find them which of course leads to a frantic search. I can't drive without them so I really can't leave without them so if I'm late for something there's a good chance I couldn't find my glasses because I'm generally a very on time person.

Sometimes when I take them off and set them on, say, my bed, my nephew jumps on them and smooshes them. I know, I know, I should really just leave them on my face. But let's be honest, I'm not going to. I just need a homing device or a clapper or something in them so I can find them when I need them! Is that so much to ask?

Cooking Classes

2009-05-20T07:00:00.002-06:00

We are without a cooking group leader (small enrichment groups) for the moment so I'm trying to plan the summer months so that when we have a new leader she won't have to come up with something instantly. (Perhaps this will be an incentive for the new leader?) In June we'll be doing Dutch Oven cooking. In September I think we'll be doing a class on making and canning your own salsa.

What would be fun for July and August? Last summer we did summer salads and desserts and we did grilling... I'd love any suggestions that you'd like to see. And if you're in my ward you can still suggest something and I won't ask you to be the group leader. Unless I feel so inspired... ;)

hair styles

2009-05-19T06:57:00.003-06:00

I went to get my hair cut yesterday and I was hoping to find a new style. This raised a couple questions. Well, not so much new questions but for some reason they really annoyed me yesterday.

1. Why isn't there a magazine with haircuts for real people? Ok, I'll admit, I've seen a few of those seriously crazy styles on campus but 99.9% of us would not wear our hair like that and when we want to look at style options... that's not what we want. Or am I alone in that?

2. I often wonder when I do find a cute haircut, "...but will this hair look good even if I'm fully dressed?" I mean what if you got a haircut that only looked good when you were pretty much naked? That would annoy me!

Same beef with a google search. In fact, you have to be a little more careful there because if you decide that you like a certain starlets hair, for example, and you search her name... Whoa! You may be a little shocked. It's best not to search stars I guess. Maybe I should search "short hair that real women who are fully clothed wear"

3-Year Old Wisdom

2009-05-18T07:08:00.006-06:00

Last night I sat on the swing with my nephew, Tiernan, and had an enlightening and entertaining conversation with him. I think 3-years old is just about a perfect age to talk to kids because they'll just sit there and talk to you and they are perfectly comfortable in their logic and they're not afraid to tell you when you are confused. Here are some of the gems:

There were several bees on the flowers next to us. Tiernan does NOT like bees.

T - We like honey but not from honey bees.

C - But that's where we get honey - from bees.

T - We don't like that kind of honey.

C - Oh yeah? Where does honey you like come from?

T - Just plain honey from other bees.

C - So honey is ok if it's not from honey bees?

T - Yeah, we don't like them.

C - Hey, guess what? I saw two snakes in our yard yesterday.

T - Were they gardner snakes?

C - Yep. Do you think snakes move fast or slow?

T - Slow.

C - Oh. Have you ever seen a snake move?

T - Yeah. Snakes play soccer.

C - Really? How do they kick the ball?

T - With their tails.

T - You should take your watch off and put it in your pocket or robbers will get it.

Tiernan would like to live in the top of a tree and stay there forever.

C - What else lives in trees?

T - Birds.

C - What about bats?

T - No. They like their dark places to live.

C - What about bugs?

T - No. Bugs don't like trees.

C - If you live in a tree and never come down what will you eat?

T - Leaves.

C - Do you want to read a book about bats with me?

T - No. I'm scared of bats. I read a book about snow monsters.

C - Whoa! That's cool.

T - White ones eat bats but not black ones.

C - Black snow monsters? What do black ones eat?

T - Rocks.

Oh, and one of my personal favorites:

T - You can't move that rock. [A large rock in a flower bed.] Only monsters can move it.

C - I'm pretty strong. I bet I can move it.

T - You can't. You are not strong enough.

C - What if I'm Superman strong?

T - [With his face registering complete dismay at my suggestion] You're a girl! You can't move it!

Shoes

2009-05-15T15:58:00.002-06:00

My foot is still swollen from surgery and the incision area is still pretty tender (I guess body parts don't like to have people rummaging around in them) so I can't wear normal shoes yet except for my tennis shoes. That means I've been wearing my surgical shoe to church every Sunday and let me tell ya, as beautiful as it is, I'm so tired of it.

Then I found out that I have been awarded a scholarship from the Colorado chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and there was a luncheon I had to attend today for it. (More on that later.) Now I realize this might be a little vain, but seriously, I just really didn't want to wear my surgical shoe with my dress to this luncheon. I'm sure it would have been fine but I'm just sick of it. So I've been on a mad search for dress shoes this week. Most shoes are cut so that they cross exactly over my incision and clearly that does not work. Ouch. And most are too tight. Unless I go up a size. Then I can't walk because the left foot is falling out of that shoe. Sigh. I did manage to find a pair of a taupe-ish sort of color shoe that mostly worked (totally flat which is not so good for gnarled feet) and a black one that is mostly not that cute but wasn't too uncomfortable so I bought them and will leave them in the box until I decide they aren't that bad or until I find something I like better that works. (Although that's not likely as I've searched so many shoe stores around here...)

I put some Dr. Scholl's inserts in the taupe ones and they were ok today. Hooray! I still don't know what I'll do this summer - flip flops are out - but it's not hot yet...

Unwind

2009-05-14T17:34:00.005-06:00

Whenever I finish with finals I come home and I feel a little lost. Generally I have homework to do or something (for example, after midterms you just keep going) so when the semester is over.....I guess I'm still in the cram-your-head-full-memorize-write-essays-study-study-study mode and I don't know what to do. It takes a day to realize that I really don't have homework and I can, well, do something more fun with my time. Don't worry, it's not that I don't have anything to do (I have a huge to do list!), it's just that last bit of pent up energy that's kept in reserve so that I can make it through the semester and it needs to escape.

I think I'll go shoe shopping tonight.

Temple Invader

2009-05-11T21:46:00.003-06:00

J said that his history teacher was talking about Mormons today. (I'll put my thoughts in blue.)

He said his wife went to SLC for a business trip and he went along. He was at Temple Square and wanted to go inside the temple and just see it but, "there weren't any doors, then I saw a couple come out of some panels on the side of the building..."

Pause

Ok, Mr. historian those 'panels' are not a big secret, they are carved wood doors and I guarantee that the SLC temple is not the only building ever to have carved wood doors. I mean it has some unique architecture but, doors? Really. I've even seen doors at this very temple with my own eyes. Pretty sure they haven't removed them.

But here's where it gets better. When the couple left he "grabbed the door and ran inside. Then some guy literally appeared out of nowhere..." Certainly must have been one of our staff of guardian angels on standby. We also call them temple workers. But who knows, perhaps it was a guardian angel - descending from 'nowhere' and all...

"He just started yelling at me that I can't come in there and had to leave." Not sure 'yelling' is the appropriate term - I can't really see a temple worker yelling at someone to leave. But then again, if the guy busted in there through our secret doors, maybe he did have to yell at him to get him to leave...

Then of course the class conversation spiraled into all the weird things Mormons do like get married really young and have their kids taken away in Texas. Oops, not the Mormons but why bother with little things like facts?

Random Thoughts from Utah

2009-05-08T11:25:00.005-06:00

I still can't wear a normal shoe except for tennis shoes (too tight and painful) so on Sundays I have to wear one regular shoe and my surgical shoe. I was getting my shoes out of my suitcase and Avery said, "Are you just looking for matching shoes?" Who knew a 7-year old would be embarrassed that her aunt was wearing mismatched shoes?

Kelton adores Justin. All weekend he told J where to sit (right next to him if possible and close by if not), and just loved to be with him. I wish J could see how much those kids look up to him and adore him.

Jeremy decided that I'm perhaps more of a nerd than him. (Although he's a math/science nerd which is hard to beat... seriously.) In a nutshell, Elvis came up in the conversation and I had to correct some facts. Jeremy didn't know I knew so much about Elvis. I believe his exact quote was, "And people call me a nerd." Funny. He doesn't all about Elvis? Oh, you mean it's possible that most people don't know the exact date the king died? Hmm. Guess that places me squarely in the nerd category. But I've been there for long time... I'm good with that.

Just TCB baby!

And for those of you with toddlers - bubbles are a lifesaver in the car! Becky saw the idea on a website so she brought bubbles along. As soon as Mia was fussy I'd start blowing bubbles at her and she immediately calmed down. Now, my back was a little wrenched from being twisted around for so long (but that might have to do w/the cereal fight too...), but the baby stopped crying and that was fabulous. The boys were a little sad that they bubbles didn't reach all the way back to them but it was still entertaining for them too. If you have little ones - try it!

A Weekend Away

2009-05-06T07:57:00.006-06:00

We went to Utah this weekend for baby Cameron's blessing. I had an ear infection and cold all last week including when we left on Friday - this is not so good for packing, in case you were wondering. I forgot my toothbrush (good thing Mandy had a spare!), my hairspray, and my camera! That means I don't have any fabulous pictures to share which is sad because baby Cameron is adorable. And so are his siblings and cousins.

Fortunately, aunt Megan was there with her camera. Check out her blog for some fantastic pictures of Cameron and right below his are some great pics of Amelia!

Becky was holding Cameron and said that he smiled when she said she's his favorite aunt. I reminded her that he just doesn't know yet cause I haven't been able to hold him yet, being sick and all. Poor little guy. Then she said she's the nurturing aunt cause he just fell right to sleep. I said that's fine. I'm not the nurturing aunt, I'm way more fun. I just get the kids riled up. Then send them home. They love me. heh heh.

Sunday morning was chilly and rainy but the sky cleared up beautifully after church and it was a lovely day until about 5pm. That was a great blessing because we could all enjoy our lunch and visit outside and we had a great time.

On the way home (I rode w/Becky and her kids - we were the fun car - and Justin went w/my parents in the boring grown up car) Becky and I serenaded the kids - which they loved! Although I don't think they believed us that we were the original crooners for the Phantom of the Opera. Cynics. We even used licorice microphones but the boys just ate theirs, they wouldn't sing along. So they're cynics and party poopers. ;)

Then, out of the blue, Joshie threw a fruit snack at me. I couldn't find it so I opened a bag of Captain Crunch and the war was on. We were all throwing cereal at each other for miles. I even got one in Tiernan's mouth when he was laughing - that was great. I 'm pretty sure Becky has Captain Crunch in every nook and cranny of her car. But let's be honest, they'll want to ride with me every time from now on.

When we stopped for lunch at Burger King I was laughing about something and Justin said, "Mom, don't start squeeling in here!" In case you don't know, when I start laughing hard it sounds like I'm going to die. Literally. Poor Avery was in tears one time because she really thought something was terribly wrong. Well, there probably is something terribly wrong but the doctor just laughed at me when I told him about it so I'm just going to ignore it. Except when I laugh. It's pretty hard to ignore then. Anyway, I was taking a drink of my Diet Coke just as he said that and it made me laugh harder and I had Diet Coke all down my shirt and on my sandwich. Dang. So at that point I had red fruit snack on my shirt (did I mention that Joshie had licked or chewed the fruit snack before he threw it?) and Diet Coke - lookin' good! It was then I realized that J was definitely riding in the right car (the boring adult car) because, being a teenager and all, he would have been horribly embarrassed in the fun car. Poor kid. It's hard to have such embarrassing relatives.

The Bad Part About Colds...

2009-04-27T07:07:00.002-06:00

...is that, besides the achy, head-in-a-vice, runny/stuffy nose crap, I drink a lot of water cause my throat gets so sore - and that means that I'm in the bathroom every hour. (I think we're all aware of how small my bladder is...) That is so annoying. I'm done complaining now - at least here - I just wanted to throw that out there. How was your weekend? ;)

Pillow Case

2009-04-24T07:12:00.002-06:00

Last night we had the first in a series of basic sewing classes and we made pillowcases. Isn't this adorable? So, now I think I'm ready to sew historic clothing. Well, I'm not ready to sew historic clothing - by the way, do you know how much fabric those girls used!? - but at least this is a start...

Wicked

2009-04-17T12:24:00.003-06:00

I've heard a lot about Wicked, the Broadway musical, and how great it is and now I'm super excited because it's coming to Denver! It will be here this fall, October 7 through November 15, at the Buell theater and tickets go on sale on Sunday. So, who wants to go with me? I'm really serious by the way. (And of course I won't buy tickets on Sunday but Monday is right after Sunday...) Think how much fun that would be!

(I could see if J wants to go with me, I've dragged him to several plays and musicals over the years but he's never too excited about it, and these tickets cost a little more than some of the community theaters...)

No or Know

2009-04-13T13:57:00.003-06:00

Is "no" the same as "know?"

What about "their," "there," or "they're" - do they have the same meaning and can they stand in for one another? (Know! Oh, I mean NO!)

Oh, what about "than" or "then" - same thing?

Good heavens people! I know (or is that no?) it can be confusing, but for the love! It's college! Look it up and use words correctly. Or don't take online classes wear several people have to reed your wurk.

And for heaven's sake, stay away from big words that are confusing to use appropriately! (That means 'the right way.')

The Problem with the 1880s...

2009-04-10T19:19:00.003-06:00

I started training today as a docent at Rock Ledge Ranch in Colorado Springs (summer gig) and the house I'll be working in is interpreted in the 1880s. Rock Ledge requires period costumes so we (all of us trainees) were looking through their supply today and trying to find ones that fit. The problem with the 1880s is that apparently they did not have busty women. Hippy women - no problem! Big flowing skirts are very forgiving but tight fitted bodices, not so much. So I had to "rent" a couple patterns to see if we can adjust one of them and whip up my own costume instead of renting one.

Ok, now seriously, has this never come up before? Or do the bustier girls just have to make their own? And then since they went to all that work maybe they keep them rather than donating them to the museum for future busty docents? I did feel better knowing that 5 of the 6 in docents training today had a hard time finding clothing that fits. I would've felt a little sad if it was just me. Good thing we (notice I keep saying "we" - that's because mom is 100% tied to this project with me) have until June 6th to get it finished. That's enough time right? Right?

Slowin' Me Down

2009-04-07T18:16:00.003-06:00

My surgered foot is slowin' me down! You're probably thinking "duh!" - let me assure you I did expect this... It's just that I'm a little impatient - shocking, I know.

Generally I walk pretty fast - there's no need to mosey, just move it. I go nuts when I get stuck behind someone who is taking their sweet time and especially when I get behind a whole group that has to spread out and take up the whole sidewalk and meander and move at turtle pace - just kills me. I mean seriously, what is the deal? Dawdle if you must, but leave room so people can get around you. It's not that I have to be anywhere or that I'm always late, I'm not - I tend to be an early bird - I just walk fast, plain and simple. (But there might be people who do need to get somewhere so really, don't block the whole sidewalk. But I digress...)

Come to think of it, I have a tendency to leave people behind and not even realize it. One minute they're there, the next they're way behind. What's the deal? Keep up already, ja? Perhaps you've noticed this? Maybe it's better if you haven't. Yeah, I'll hope that you haven't and this is all just a surprising revelation, or confession, to you.

When J was little I'd hold his hand and walk like I normally do until he said, "Mommy, you're going to fast!" Poor kid! He was running to keep up and I didn't even notice. (I'm not talking about one isolated incident either.) But don't worry, I slowed right down. For a minute or so. I'm pretty sure I've done this to my nieces and nephews too. Yeah, I seem to remember Avery telling me to slow down once. Or twice...

So maybe this is a good thing for me. I can learn not to travel at warp speed (ok, I'm not that fast!) and I can see what all the fuss is about dawdling. Or perhaps I should say 'strolling leisurely' - that's a more positive spin. But, let's be honest, once my foot is healed --- there will be no more moseying so be prepared to keep up.

Baptism Gifts

2009-04-06T15:46:00.002-06:00

Mom teaches primary children turning 7 and she loves them! When they leave her class they don't leave her heart. Since they turn 8 the next year they, of course, get baptized and she attends their baptism and, of course, brings a gift. She asked me to make necklaces for the girls (she had I think 6 girls and 2 boys last year) and this is what I came up with. But what about the boys? I just don't think they'd appreciate a necklace even if it is really cute... Any thoughts?

Under the Knife

2009-03-30T19:35:00.004-06:00

I had surgery on my foot on March 20th and here are some thoughts from the process...

* Anyone who intentionally has surgery (basically meaning people who have plastic surgery, cause that's the only kind I consider totally optional) is crazy! C-R-A-Z-Y.

* Trust the nurses. When the doc says "you'll be up in no time!" and the nurses say "you'll be moving real slow and it'll be painful for a few weeks" - the nurses are right.

* Wearing a "shower boot" over the bandaged foot can make showering interesting. And it makes shaving impossible in the shower (well I couldn't have supported myself on one foot anyway) so I had to use my crappy little electric razor. Did I mention how crappy it is?

*And my right leg said "YES" on it for several days. (They write 'yes' on the leg so they operate on the correct limb. I think that's a good plan.)

* It was kind of nice to have that forced vacation where I really couldn't do anything. (well, ok, it'd be much more fun to do nothing on a beach with happy feet that don't hurt but I'll take what I can...) It was over spring break so I didn't have to be anywhere either. I read books that had nothing to do with school (well until Friday anyway) and watched movies. I also made this necklace and bracelet set for Becky:

Here's a better shot of the necklace:

* After I reminded Justin that my room is in the basement he was very attentive and helpful. :)

*And finally here's today's update... I had the stitches taken out and I still have to wear a surgical shoe but no bandage and no more shower boot. Yeah. Not that I can stand on my right leg alone yet but this is progress.

My foot is quite a bit more red and swollen than the doc would like so I have to elevate it above my heart and ice it 2-3 times a day and hope that I can avoid an infection. I'm not too sure how I'll do that 2-3 times a day on school days but I'll figure something out. Apparently this is part of the reason that it still hurts as much as it does.

And for those of you who like icky pictures, here's what my foot looks like today. Be warned - it's not pretty! I fondly refer to it as my Frankenstein foot.

Molly Brown

2009-03-18T14:13:00.006-06:00

I am officially a docent at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver and I led my first tours this morning. I was worried about what I'd forget but it turned out really well. And my first tour of the day only had two ladies which really was perfect because it allowed me to get into a groove and feel comfortable. In case your wondering, your throat is really dry after talking non-stop for 45 minutes. I think this might be more of a problem when it's summer and I'm in long sleeves and there's no AC in the house so I'll have to figure out a way to deal with that... Anyway, it was really fun today. And I think it'll be even more enjoyable after my foot is happier. ;)

Volunteers are invited to various meetings and lectures and so forth so this should be a great networking opportunity for me into the world of museum work. I'll also be interning this summer at Rock Ledge Ranch, which is near the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The Molly Brown house is a Victorian era home and one of the buildings at Rock Ledge is Victorian, so I have to come up with a Victorian costume to wear. "Come up with" means sew. And let's be honest, that's not my speciality but I'm about to dive in head first. Wish me luck with the sewing thing (don't worry, Mom has been assigned to be by my side throughout the ordeal).

I have to share this picture of my birthday cake while we're on the subject:

It's kind of hard to see in this picture but this is a Victorian woman and this cake was so darling! You can check out Becky's cake blog to see better pictures of it. Thanks Becky!!

French Toast

2009-03-13T16:36:00.004-06:00

Yesterday J made me French Toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast for my birthday. It was delish! And a great surprise! And then he wanted to know if he could go back to bed for 15 or 20 minutes and just be a little late for school. Ha-ha! Sorry Charlie!

Who says teenagers are rotten? Oh yeah, I've been known to say that. So maybe this was a reminder for me that they aren't rotten all the time. :)

Baby Gifts

2009-03-12T20:44:00.004-06:00

My sister, Mandy, just had a new little baby that I really wish I could hold and cuddle cause he's so cute! But he's far away so I'll have to wait... Anyway, Becky and I made some baby gifts that were fun so I thought I'd share:

This is a waterproof bag. It's cloth fabric on the outside and vinyl tablecloth fabric on the inside. The idea is that you can put wet things, such as swimsuits, inside so they don't get everything else soaked on your way to your destination. This bag is big, but since she now has 4 kids we figured that'd be good.

Then we made a hooded bath towel. She has several of these, but let's be honest, what kid likes to share? That's right, none of them do so baby Cameron needs his own towel. The good thing about the homemade bath towels is that they are thicker, because you use a real bath towel, and bigger. An added bonus is that these towels keep kids warm and happy at bath time for many years, not just during babyhood. I think the naked Cabbage Patch baby in this towel is just perfect for demonstration purposes. I mean what else are naked Cabbage Patch kids good for?

When you make a hooded towel, at least the way I do it, you use a hand towel for the hood that's been cut in half. (A hand towel is better than a washcloth because it's bigger and remember, if you're going to make it, you want it to last for a long time - therefore, you want the bigger hood.) The question is always what to do with the random half that's left over. This time is used fat ribbon, folded it over the cut edge and sewed it on. It makes for a big washcloth or a small towel but I'm pretty sure any mom can find a use for it.

Lastly, and this is probably our favorite, we made a taggie toy. This is just two pieces of flannel and various ribbon. And it's almost square. I was laughing when I was sewing this because I'm somehow supposed to make a Victorian dress for myself (more on that later) but I can't even cut and sew a simple square...

We also decided that these are gifts that we really should only give our sisters who understand our sewing abilities. Or lack thereof.

This was such fun. I haven't crafted in a long time and now Becky and I are in a crafting mood. Which is fun but can be dangerous too...

PPT Sing-Along

2009-03-10T20:46:00.003-06:00

One of the morning DJs on the radio yesterday was talking about new slang being used around offices and one of them just cracks me up - "powerpoint sing-along." The idea is that some people make a powerpoint that is nothing but words, and perhaps a few pictures if you're lucky, and they simply read it to you. It makes for a great presentation! It's sort of like story time for grown ups but there's no fun characters or plot line - it's just boring work/school stuff.

The more I thought about it, the more I laughed. I have a teacher that does this exact thing - BUT - to make matters better, she even has a laser pointer to point to the words as she goes along! I wish I was kidding. But, I'm not. I'm so glad she does that because we would be so lost if she didn't 'point' the way. I mean who can read and listen to the exact same words, often repeated more than once, without being totally confused? (Now, to be fair, I should tell you that she doesn't point to every word. But the point is that she points to far too many words.) Pointers are for charts or pictures where you have to pick out a small section or something, not to show us which word was just spoken...

If you've ever seen one of those Disney sing-along movies where the Mickey Mouse head or little ball bounces along from word to word, you'll know exactly what I mean. So don't worry kids, you'll still get sing-alongs in college!

Powerpoint Sing-Alongs! That is my new favorite phrase!

The Wasp

2009-03-03T17:17:00.003-07:00

It seems that sitting outside at school (I have a rather long break between classes) may not be my best plan this semester. Last week I got a sunburn. Hey! It really hurt! Then today I was sitting in class, before it started, and the guy behind me said "Don't move" and put his hands on my shoulders.

"You have a bee on your back. You aren't allergic are you?"

"No."

"Well, actually it's a huge wasp."

"Oh." (I mean, what else can I say?)

Then he said to stand up slowly and he used his notebook to try to shoo the thing off my back and it really didn't want to go. Maybe I smelled like flowers? Hmm, maybe not... I was a little concerned for a minute that he was going to try and smash it on my back - like he was lining up his notebook for a good hit but he was just angling to get my little yellow jacket friend to leave.

He finally did shove (push, scoot, whatever term you like) it off and the wasp was ticked off! It went tearing around the room - and don't worry, half the class was watching by this point - and we all watched it zoom around the ceiling for awhile. I'm not sure where it went in the end but thankfully it did not end up back on my back.

Girl Scout Cookies

2009-02-20T07:06:00.003-07:00

It's Girl Scout cookie time! And let's be honest, who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies!? (I always felt a little deprived in Utah because they're much harder to come by - maybe the Activity Day girls need to start selling cookies? Nah. I think the Girl Scouts have a lock on this one.) I remember going door to door selling GS cookies when I was a Brownie... Ok, I didn't love that cause I've never been a salesman, BUT I've had a love affair with the cookies ever since.

Somoas are the best! Sometimes I wish they were available all year. Then again, if they were I'd eat them too often. And then they would lose their charm after awhile which would be sad. So I guess I'm glad they only come around once a year...

And what's the deal with Thin Mints? Why do they always leave tiny black crumbs in your teeth? Even if you only eat one cookie? My word! Maybe that just means that you should eat a Thin Mint then follow it up with a Somoa so that the crumbs go away... See? It always comes back to the Somoas...

The Meaning of a Few Words

2009-02-12T22:26:00.003-07:00

I'm reading Broken Things to Mend by Jeffrey R. Holland (it's so great!) and I just really liked a quote in a chapter about tithing so you get to hear it too. (Well, I've really liked this whole book, not just this quote!) He said:

"We would do well to lay up treasures in heaven, where not taxes but doctrines give meaning to words like estate, inheritance, testament, and will."

Wow! Thinking of those words with an eternal gospel perspective changes them 110%. And they mean so much more! It makes you think about what else we see all around us that we might see in a different way if we just altered our thinking a little bit or changed our attitude.

2009-02-09T09:10:00.004-07:00

Ok, I think I've mentioned some of my pet peeves about school before but this one just kills me! My online class (big surprise that that's where the biggest problems are - always!!) is "taught" by a mostly-absentee professor who also happens to be a big jerk. His syllabus is full of comments like "it's frustrating when students don't keep pace" and the like. He in fact makes quite a point about how students who don't do their work just tick him off.

For discussions he wants one type written page per original comment and 1/2 page per response and of course you must respond - with unique ideas and comments - to at least 2 people every week. Little side note here, if you were in a classroom you would NEVER pose a comment or question that would equal a full page of text. But this is online and excuses the professor from having to be involved in any way whatsoever. But I digress... It's not impossible but that's just one of his assignments that are more like busy work than anything.

He does not have due dates on his syllabus just approximate dates. He doesn't even have places for us to turn in all of our work. I emailed him and asked him where we are to submit an assignment that was due (I think last week) - it took him 10 days to respond. Ten days! He finally replied that he would like it emailed to his personal email account. Um, isn't that a little weird? Yes. It is.

Then he graded me down because my first discussion was not two pages long. (I don't like to have Bs so this is really bothersome to me.) I emailed him and asked him to clarify because the syllabus states very clearly ONE page and that's what I submitted. I can do two pages but only if I know that's what's required. Perhaps I'll hear back by the end of February.

Discussion 3 is due and there's no where to post it. (The prof has to create a discussion board or assignment module to submit work.) How shall I do my work? I just hate when teachers don't keep pace! It makes the whole process very frustrating. Oh wait! Isn't that what he hates about students? I've learned over the years that when teachers go on and on about something they hate in their syllabus - they are very often the worst offenders on that exact issue. It makes me want to scream.

Library Movies

2009-02-06T12:47:00.002-07:00

I started checking movies out from the library, mostly because it's free, and I just reserve them, the library emails me and says they are ready and I just have to run in and pick them up. So convenient. The only drawback, that is only a drawback sometimes, is that it can take a really, really long time to get the movie you want. Long time as in 6-12 months sometimes. Since it takes so long and I never know when one will be ready it's sort of a nice little surprise and I can pick it up and watch it on the weekend. I'm talkin' new release movies, etc. I can usually get documentaries (duh! Of course I watch those!) and older movies pretty quickly.

Clearly this doesn't work for everything since sometimes I want to see a movie sooner than that, in which case I just have to break down and rent it or try to get to the theater before its gone.

I just read an article the other day that said since the recent economic changes (don't you like that positive word choice?) library patronage is up. Oh great! I mean, I'm all for people using the library - that's what they're there for. But it makes me think that my wait time for movies is going to be more like 12-18 months. Nuts!

And the blame goes to...

2009-01-30T08:04:00.004-07:00

Yesterday in my Politics & Power class we were having a typical discussion about how the rich men of America have screwed us all over and how the government can and must save us. The professor asked, "If you asked people on the street why we are in this economic mess what do you think they would say?" There were the typical answers about it's all Bush's fault and the war, etc.

Then one kid said it's because of greed. "The people who sell mortgages have been deceptive and really taken advantage of people..." He went on for some time about how unfair it is that people are loosing their houses, etc. and how if the people at the top weren't so greedy then we wouldn't be here.

Another girl said that people have also bought houses they couldn't afford, that are too big. The professor said the janitor in his friend's building makes you know about $8-10 an hour and he has bought two houses. Does that make sense? The conversation turned back to how awful those bankers and mortgage people are. "The person buying the house maybe didn't see the little black line that said they're payment was going to double or triple. That's not their fault."

I raised my hand and said, "Personal responsibility has to come into play here though too." I explained that when I was buying my house I was approved for a certain amount which was more than I had expected - cool! Then when I really looked at the numbers, (my bills, etc.) I realized I couldn't really afford that much so I bought a smaller house with a smaller payment. The prof said that's right (I was a little surprised!) and he said it seems fairly clear that a janitor making $8-10/hour probably can't afford 2 houses and he should know that.

This guy in the back said, "I agree with the young lady [well thanks! I'm probably older than all but one of the students but hey, I like it.] but I just have to defend the janitor. When someone tells you that you can have something that everyone else has you jump at it. You're just excited and you go for it and figure out the details later and worry about whether or not you can afford it later. For once you can have what the rest of the world has."

Who says the rest of the world has that??? I know very few people with two houses! Very few. Maybe I just don't live in the same fantasy world...

At any rate, I think he summed up beautifully why we're in the mess we're in. I'm not saying I'm perfect. Far from it and I've played into the material game far too often myself. BUT I'm not blaming anyone but myself for that and I have never expected someone to come bail me out.

And, btw, if you are signing your life away on a huge loan for a house, you have the responsibility and right to fully understand what you are signing. If you don't, ask questions! Find out! Be responsible.

Yes, it's true, mortgage lenders probably need to be more careful about what they approve people for but ultimately, you are the one making the final decision and you are the one responsible.

I'll save you from my full political diatribe on this one. :) I just thought I'd let out some of my confused, amazed, disbelief at some of the things I hear far too often.

Feelin' Guilty

2009-01-27T20:20:00.004-07:00

We were scheduled to have the missionaries over for dinner tomorrow but they just called and canceled. They have another appointment that will conflict. My first thought was "Yes! That's goo-ood news." Then I felt a little bad. I wonder if he could tell how eagerly I accepted his cancelation? "Oh, no worries! We'll just reschedule another time."

It's not that I don't want to have them over, it's more that I'm just feeling tired tonight and it sounds like a lot less work for tomorrow if I don't have to clean the house and make a big dinner. Is that really bad or what? That's probably a mark against me so now I better be extra good to make up for it, huh?

Hallux Rigidus

2009-01-21T14:30:00.002-07:00

I went to the foot doctor today because I've had toe pain for a long time. It turns out I have Hallux Rigidus, which in a nutshell is "a disorder of the joint located at the base of the big toe." It's largely due to the way my shape is formed and it leads to a type of arthritis that makes the bones rub against each other because the soft tissue is mostly gone. In words I understand best - it hurts.

They did X-rays and I definitely have a bone spur where the problem is (which happens with this hallux thing) and the soft tissue isn't so much there. No wonder I can't walk right. He said he can tell that it's made me start walking on the outside of my foot. I told him that was one reason I came in - if I start walking like that it'll just lead to other problems. He agreed and said it'll lead to knee, hip, and back problem. Like I need more back problems!

Short term solution - I had an injection in my toe, which didn't hurt near as badly as I expected it to, and he taped my foot as though I was wearing an orthodic. These don't solve anything but should make it so it's less painful until I elect to do my long term solution.

Long term - I'll have to get surgery if I want it to actually go away. They'll go in and shave off the bone spur and clean up around the joint and then I'll be able to walk normally again.

When I left his office this morning I walked without pain for the first time in a year! That was great. The numbing is wearing off now so I can feel a little pain again but hopefully it won't be as bad as it was before... I think I'll do the surgery over spring break - because what else am I going to do over spring break? :) Seriously, I can only put this off so long. I mean, I can't wear heels again until I've had the surgery. Maybe that doesn't sound problematic to you... but to me it's an issue. And frankly, it would just be really nice to not to have to limp or wince every time I walk somewhere.

One more quick side note, it was really kind of cool to see an X-ray of my foot. Hmm, those are my bones, not just a text book picture. Not that I didn't think those were real pictures, it's just different when it's your own body.

Glued Fingers

2009-01-20T17:28:00.002-07:00

Sometimes I glue my fingers. I know, how odd. But you see, in the winter, even when it's only a pretend winter like this year (not cold, not snowy...), my skin dries right out and and the ends of my fingers split right by the finger nails. So, a few years ago I started using superglue on the worst of the splits and it seems to help most of the time. But not always. And then I'm left wondering what I can do because the split can last for-ev-er! And, I don't know if you have this particular problem, but if you do, have you ever been shocked and it is somehow channeled right into the split? OH-MY-HECK! That's a beast!

When the glue wears off I reapply but really, when even the glue isn't working what's a girl to do?

Bad Comparison

2009-01-19T09:12:00.003-07:00

If I see Obama compared to Abraham Lincoln one more time I'm going to scream!! (So, get ready, I'm sure I'll be screaming very soon...) There's no reason on this green earth to compare the two! What exactly has Obama done yet besides make a series of really bad cabinet and secretary picks and name several czars to regulate things that, really, the government should not so much be involved in? (Are we Russia now by the way?) And, which oppressed people is the new King going to set free? The comparison makes me sick every time I see it.

I would rather crawl into a hole on coronation day than have to see and hear all day how our savior is here at last. And I just hate to think where we might be in a year or four from now since everyone is so wrapped up in his majesty rather than thinking about actions and consequences. But hey, let's just take one thing at a time and let the man become our all before we worry about what it might mean.

Seriously though, he is NO Lincoln and will never be! So Cut. It. Out.

Cookin' Ahead

2009-01-15T10:11:00.004-07:00

I made freezer meals again yesterday since school starts next week. I made 2 the day before and I made a few dry meal mixes the week before because clearly I had to have something to display for my "Cooking Ahead" class. And hey, I'm gettin' into the mix thing too and they're so easy.

When all was said and done, I ended up with 22 meals, mostly in the freezer. I was smart this time, not on purpose mind you, I made shredded BBQ chicken and shredded BBQ beef. I don't eat beef so the BBQ beef does me no good. (I had thawed too much chicken so I just used it for BBQ. I think I'll do that next time too.

Now, don't stress, I did not make 20 separate meals yesterday. I'm able to split lots of the recipes in half because J won't eat much, well, let me check my list... Um, no, in fact he won't eat any of the meals I made. What does J eat? That's a good question. I'll let you know if I ever figure it out. And I don't eat the ones with beef so really there are only two eaters in that case, so I can make multiple meals from one recipe. Not to mention, a recipe that feeds 8 will easily make 2 meals for us even if we all eat.

At least one part of me feels ready for school to start again! Which reminds me! I also made a few quick little lunch things, such as Sweet & Sour Chicken, that I can take to school. I'm pretty excited to see how they work because I'll have a long pause between classes (see 'schedule change' post) and I'll need to be better about bringing lunch not just a snacker this semester.

What's That in Your Hands?

2009-01-14T18:09:00.002-07:00

It's been so quiet here this afternoon which is highly unusual. I walked into the living room and there was J with a .......book in his hands. He's been reading for hours! I'm amazed. Clearly I'm not going to disturb this rare phenomena, which makes me think, kids don't realize the potential power they hold over their parents when they are caught doing things that are good for them.

Schedule Change

2009-01-13T13:42:00.003-07:00

Get excited! Since I got an A in math last semester (this is HUGE for me for those of you who don't know) I can skip the last remedial math class and then I'll only have one more math class to take! That, of course, will be math for non-math majors - why go any deeper in this insipid subject than one has to? This is cause for celebration.

But, it also threw a snag in my well planned schedule. I try to make sure I get home from school about the same time J does because, well, I just want to be here when he's here. I keep telling myself it makes a difference. I'm a pretender, what can I say? So, I was able to drop math-for-dummies but I had one heckuva time scheduling a new class. This is a new problem for me since I'm not generally in the category of students who wait to the last minute to do things. The only class that had an opening will mean I won't get home until about 5 twice a week. I told J the news, knowing that he'd be crushed, and here's what he had to say:

J - You won't get home until 5? - (then under his breath, but only slightly) - sweet!

Mom - Gasp!

J - I mean, (use your most sarcastic, dripping with fake sympathy voice here), oh noo-oo!

Mom - Yeah, I know! It's no fun for you.

J - (same voice as above) - Oh, dang!

The moral of the story is, if you ever want to feel loved or appreciated, just ask you teenager. :)

Such a Let Down

2009-01-12T17:32:00.004-07:00

I got a panini press for Christmas and I'm super excited about it because I make a lot of sandwiches and this will be great. I haven't had a chance to use it yet so I was excited to get it out tonight and make dinner. As I was opening it I thought that part of the outside looked as though it had had grease splatters on it that had been wiped off - you know, like on the plastic legs of your griddle? I figured it was nothing. Then I opened the press to wash it before I used it. Um, yeah, good thing! It's been used!!! How sick is that? And what is wrong with people that they return something that they used? And return it all dirty! I'm so sad. Now I hope we can find the receipt so I can go exchange it for a clean, not-previously used one. Ish.

Car Wash Games

2008-12-31T16:07:00.006-07:00

I gave in yesterday and finally washed my car. It was in dire need of a wash but I'm so impatient and don't like to wait in line behind all the other filthy cars so I tend to put it off as long as I can. I mean really, I have things to do! In the meantime I play a little game. I watch all the other cars and see who has a dirtier car than mine. I can usually find plenty of winners. "Whoa! Did you see that one? Where's he been? Four wheeling? Sheesh!" That always makes me feel better.

Then once I've washed my car the game changes to looking out for who hasn't washed their car recently. "Oh wow! She really needs a car wash. Wonder what's holding her up? heh heh." Then a little voice reminds me that my car is in that category 90% of the time and maybe I shouldn't laugh. But I laugh anyway cause for once (and for about 10 minutes) my car is clean. Well, the outside at least...

New Il Divo

2008-12-30T11:49:00.004-07:00

I got the new Il Divo CD, The Promise, for Christmas and I love it! It's just fabulous and better than their last CD. If you don't have it, I think you should put it on your wish list. :)

Here's to happy Christmas gifts!

time to organize

2008-12-29T13:08:00.003-07:00

Always at this time of year I want to organize things. Well, I want to organize things pretty much all the time but mostly don't have (or take) the time but now I'm ready. And feeling a desperate need to do so. (Have you seen my desk?) I was pretty excited to see rubbermaid tubs (not for my desk) and other various organization tools in the ads yesterday. Am I the only one to get excited about that? Every year?

I was also wishing we could have our 2nd annual Stuff Swap in January but alas, basketball trumps all. So, that gives me until March 21st to clean out and organize and clean out so I can donate all sorts of things. It just occurred to me that maybe not everyone knows what the Stuff Swap is...

Our Stuff Swap is like a giant indoor garage sale where everything is free. People bring anything they want to get rid of and we set it all up by category in the gym at church. Then for the next few hours people can come "shop" and take home whatever they might need/want. Last year was a huge success and we had stuff in just about every category you can imagine - clothes, electronics, toys, fabric, decor... Someone even donated several bars of soap that they didn't want. That might sound odd but it was great! The left overs go to various charities such as Goodwill, the Jeffco Action Center (JAC), Warm Hearts Warm Babies, etc. Places like JAC help homeless or needy families so things like soap are needed.

Anyway, it was really cool and I'm looking forward to it this year. (You may be able to tell that I'm also in planning mode...) I guess I'd better get back to my desk.

If your arms are full...

2008-12-22T15:06:00.003-07:00

This morning I went to Sams Club to get stuff for our annual fondue dinner on Christmas Eve. I was putting two large trays of meat in the fridge... well, let's rephrase... I was holding two large trays of meat in one arm and attempting to move stuff with the free arm. You might already have a foreboding feeling, and maybe you're thinking 'why didn't she just put the meat on the counter?' Let's not oversimplify things. I was sure there would be no problem to juggle things.

I reached for this largish tupperware, that was a little heavier than I had anticipated, and tried to move it up a shelf. The tupperware, however, decided that the floor was a better location. As I dropped it the lid went flying off and stroganoff-type sauce went flying everywhere. I got in my eye (even with my glasses on!), on my face, all over my clothes, across the room to the pantry doors... Needless to say there was a massive puddle on the floor with pork and potatoes swimming in a lovely brown gravy.

Of course I was supposed to be at the church in 30 minutes, when do these things ever happen at convenient times? I was trying to clean up quickly so that I'd have enough time to change rather than go smelling like onion and mushrooms. And because it was wet and uncomfortable.

This afternoon I started making a cake that looks great. It's a cinnamon cake with caramel glaze and chopped cashews on top. You're supposed to make the topping so you can pour it on the hot cake while the sauce is hot. Sounds easy enough. BUT the cake, which is supposed to take 22-25 minutes to bake, has now taken 35 minutes and is so not done. And the caramel sauce is burned. I'm thinking the outside of the cake will likely burn before the inside is done. Sigh. So much for our yummy dessert tonight.

I'd better get out of the kitchen before I create a real disaster. Good thing dinner is in the crockpot. I can't mess that up too much, can I? Can I?

The Question

2008-12-18T15:49:00.004-07:00

The question that is currently driving me batty is "Would you like that in a bag?" Oh. My. Gosh. YES. I would like a bag. Call me a planet killer but I am not going to carry my [x-many] oddly shaped items out in the snow in my arms.

Oh, no thanks. I'll just shove some of this in my pockets, some in my purse and some in my arms. No problem.

Sometimes it's only one item and not such a big deal but seriously people if I have more than that, put it in a bag. I will fully admit that I am not on the green bandwagon. I believe in taking care of our planet because it was a gift from Heavenly Father, however, that does not mean we must throw common sense out the window.

So, the next clerk that says "Would you like a bag with that?" beware - I've been shopping for days on end and I'm tired and really tired of that nonsensical question.

OH, and just print a stupid gift receipt unless you are prepared to accept a return without it without arguing! If you make stupid rules then play fair.

Excuse my little Christmas rant. I'm almost done shopping and I'm sure I'll happy up soon. :)

Christmas Shopping

2008-12-17T07:36:00.003-07:00

I was at Barnes & Noble this week and there were about 4 people in front of me. To one side they have a table for free gift wrapping done by various organizations that are hoping that you'll donate generously to their cause. (There isn't room for this table at the end of the line after you've paid so there it sits at the beginning of the line...) The guy immediately in front of me began talking to the lady at this table. Great, no problem. Accept that he totally forgot to monitor the line and before you know it it was his turn. There were two cashiers ready so I walked quickly past him to one of the cashiers and he stopped mid-sentence and said "Was I holding you up?" His face said so much more. It was more like "you dumb broad! What's your problem?" I smiled and said, "We're both up!" and pointed to the cashier who was waiting for him. Her face said, "Hey bozo, there are 20 people behind you who are ready to check out if you're not." (Never underestimate what a face can say. They say so much, you just have to pay attention.) Even my cashier was looking at him rolling her eyes because she had been waiting for him too.

Now, what I really wanted to say to him was that I think it's wonderful that he's interested in the I'll-Wrap-Your-Gift-For-Free-If-You'll-Donate-To-My-Charity lady but if you're not going to pay attention and step lively when it's your turn, then don't be offended when I go in front of you. Step out of line until you're ready to be part of the line.

That same day I was in line at Walmart and had a huge cart load (HUGE). The lady behind me started rolling her eyes and sighing. I was thinking she could have used those very eyes to look before she got in line and if she doesn't want to be behind my big cart, choose another line. And I have to mention that my order went very smoothly. It's not like I was that annoying customer that had 12 price checks and an open package that needed to be replaced, and, well you know what I mean. I just had a big order.

So, today I'm heading out for more shopping. I hope I have nothing to report when I return.