My Guy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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