cindy's blog thing

That Folk Singing Sci-Fi Geek Was Pretty Cool

2011-11-11T12:11:00.008-07:00

It may come as a surprise to you that I. LOVE. MUSIC. Okay, maybe not. When I was a young mom I was going through a slight postpartum cuckoo phase. I was conflicted, what kind of mom was I that I didn't want to listen to Raffi or Barney sing in my car whilst towing little ones about. But I felt my life was no longer my own and music was the only thing I could still control. The only thing that was still all mine. And in all seriousness, I don't think your kids care what kind of music it is and it won't stunt them cerebrally if they don't sing The Wheels on the Bus while driving about suburban Utah. So I had my music to sooth my troubled soul. Well that and Phil Hartman making me laugh on News Radio. (Laughter is right up there with music too.) I seriously mourned that guy's death a little when his wife tragically shot him.

Not to say I didn't give the kids a good dose of kiddie songs. Isabella had a Barney dinosaur that was about two feet tall with arms that moved as he sang. The three of us (me, Isabella and Barney) could belt out a medley of top 40 toddler hits like no one else. There was also my own medley to all three of my kids when they were babies of You are My Sunshine, Carpenters, Close to You and Beetles, Obladi Oblada. I could so rock that medley. So clearly, my kids were in good hands musically speaking.

Now it is so cool to see my girls enjoying their instruments. Zoe makes a great tormented pianist. She reminds me sometimes of that Muppet pianist on Sesame Street who always freaked out and banged his head against the piano when he couldn't get it right. (I kind of loved that guy.) But eventually she does get it and she is really enjoying it. Isabella gave up piano and moved on to guitar. I can't tell you how proud I was to hear her tell me after class the other day that her teacher said she was the winner of the best chord playing for Smells Like Teen Spirit. (Or how thrilled I was to find a teacher who teaches songs from musicians like Nirvana, Green Day and Bob Dylan.) Okay, she's only been in this class for a month but a mom can still be proud. I am more than a little jealous she is taking this class. Someday I'll make time to get back to learning the guitar.

So I love music, all around my house, in my car; I wonder when the day will come that my kids shame me enough into getting me to stop singing along. It was easier when they couldn't sit in the front seat. Now I'm getting a little self conscious, and I feel I should share the radio every once in a while. Not a fan of hip hop and the other music they play on that station but I can share (a little). I love seeing my favorite artists play in person too. I'd go to a concert every month if I could but that's not really practical. Last weekend Brent and I went to see They Might Be Giants again. They are just so much fun. Not quite the musical genius Ben Folds is but tons of fun and lyrics that are like goofy, profound poetry. I asked Brent if he minds me dragging him to these things. His reply was, I don't want to go out when I'm at home, then I get there and have a good time, then after about an hour I'm done and tired of standing. Well at least there is room for compromise in there somewhere. He was pleasantly surprised last week because Jonathon Coulton was the opening act. I said, who is Jonathon Coulton? Oh, he played some songs on John Hodgman's book on tape, he replies. Aaaa-hah! Now it makes sense. Well, no it doesn't really because a book on tape doesn't usually have a musical guest. Anyway, he turned out to be sort of a folk singing sci-fi geek sort of performer. How can that not be entertaining?

Funny how a song can sound beautiful, disturbing and funny all at once.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-10T20:39:00.003-07:00

The Zombie

The Mime

The Rock Star

Something Reeeeally Important To Blog About

2011-09-28T15:36:00.002-06:00

I don't like cake pops. To put it frankly, they are disgusting and they creep me out. The thought of eating a piece of cake that has been rolled around in someone's hands into a circle and then covered in fondant is not appealing to me in the least. (Fondant is a whole 'nother disgusting ball of wax all by itself.) It reminds me of how little kids like to take the crust off a piece of Wonder bread and roll it in a ball and eat it. Yes, I did this as a kid. It's not the only questionable thing I did as a child. Then I saw some cake pops in my current issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food. They used a circular cookie cutter, then covered it with chocolate. I can get behind that cake pop. I don't judge you for enjoying a cake pop or enjoying making cake pops. That is your decision and yours alone to make.

I'm not really into the whole fancy cake/cupcake thing anyway. Cupcakes are so 2008 anyway. Pie is the new cupcake, I hear. I'm not sure what the new pie is. For me a cake isn't about being pretty or exotic or being motorized in some crazy fashion. It's about finding a way to get frosting into your body so you don't have to sit there with a tub of Betty Crocker Supreme. I watch some of those cake shows on TV occasionally . But I wouldn't eat anything they make. Take Ace of Cakes, for instance. Do you really want to eat a cake decorated by a graphic artist who thinks he or she is making an edible work of art? I have my doubts about the cleanliness of those places. Way too many power tools involved and wood and cardboard...and rice crispy treats masquerading as cake under that fondant. Not right at all.

Twenty Years Ago Today

2011-08-31T21:18:00.000-06:00

Twenty years ago today Brent and I started dating. Ah, so young! So bright eyed and hopeful. Well, I would be if my eyes weren't closed.

Those Who Can....

2011-08-27T13:06:00.006-06:00

....paint or draw or something like that. Those who can't get a Charley Harper art book and cut out a bunch of pictures, mod podge it onto poster board and frame it. This allowed me to finally finish this family room of ours. Well this and discovering after the kids rearranged the furniture to make a movie theater one day that I still had room to exercise at the far end of the room. This and that and some strategically placed sock monkeys placed at the far end to balance out the other wall since I couldn't put anything big on the wall over there since Brent and Noah discovered that empty space I will now use for exercising is also good for a fun game of hand ball with a red rubber ball too.

A Brief Summary of Summer

2011-08-25T11:10:00.000-06:00

Summer was here! And now it's almost gone. It was a good summer.Thank you summer, we really needed (well wanted) a good summer. What did we do? We...

Had a week of cold and rain. Had swim lessons, with beautiful weather (not too hot, not too cold) I might add. We took lots of bike rides to the other side of town. Stopped for a few icees at the gas station along the way.

The kids ran the Run for Congo 5K run at Wheeler farm, half of it anyway. I helped out with kids activities (heel spur came back, no running for me.) Brent cheered us on. Followed it with a ride on Trax, exploring the SLC Library and visiting a park from my teen years.

We had girl's camp for Isabella (she had fun!); 11 year old scout day camp with Brent as leader; cub scout day camp, a first for Noah (and me as a parent volunteer).

Next up was a week off for Brent with some local fun. (We WILL NOT call this a staycation.) We rode the Heber Valley Railroad- got robbed by some train robbers, it was terrifying! We went to Lagoon. It ended up being the worst Lagoon trip in years. I got a small purse stolen. It didn't have anything in it but $25 but it was a cute little handy purse and I'd had it since 1990-something. I yelled at a girl running a ride. I think the purse theft was karma for my bad behavior. Then we got our stuff locked in the Lagoona Beach lockers and had to get a security guard to break our stuff free. The kids had fun though! Then the drive in of course, you have to hit the drive in once a summer.

Then there was the actual real vacation. We went to Lake Tahoe! Ah, beautiful Lake Tahoe! There was kayaking and playing in the water and on the beach, a sailboat ride, and horseback riding. The girls LOVED that. They'd never been on horses before so it was pretty great. My horse kept getting sassy and had to be separated from Zoe's horse.We stayed in a condo and did not eat at or from a restaurant once! Well, except for sundaes at the McDonald's drive up, but I don't think that counts.

Next I went on my own little adventure. I went to Seattle to visit and old, old, old, old friend. Okay, not old, because we're not old dangit (regardless of what my foot and back try to tell me). I spent three days there. It was great hanging out and seeing the sights. Did I ever tell you how much I love Seattle? Well I do. I belong in the Northwest somewhere. My friend Becky lives in a suburban forest. Huge trees everywhere. Paths that literally take you through the woods. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. It was magical, I tell ya.

While I was off enjoying the cool weather and the water and the trees Brent took the kids camping with Grandma Cathy at a lake. I hear they had fun, not as much fun as I had, but fun still.

Then summer was almost over and it was time to get ready for school again. I signed up for a new program at a different school which I will talk about more later, I'm excited. I had to get four shots though. I wasn't sure which was worse, enduring the pain of the shots or realizing how much it must have hurt my kids to get all of those shots when they were little. Okay, my own pain was probably a little worse than my empathy for the kids. Back to school shopping with the kids went really well and I didn't even want to shoot myself in the head numerous times. A small miracle.

So there you have it. Summer 2011 in a nutshell. You were good to us summer. Thank you.

First Day of School 2011

2011-08-23T20:44:00.000-06:00

School is back again! Summer went by so fast. My kids are growing up so fast. Isabella is in 8th grade, Zoe is in 6th and Noah is in 3rd.

Oh Yeah, That Birthday

2011-06-20T19:57:00.005-06:00

Oh, blog. What will it take to get me to post more on you?

I'm wondering what I should do. Whenever I answer the phone people think I'm a teenager. Now they think I am my daughter. Should I start smoking? That ought to give me a nice husky voice. Like Natalie Merchant in her later albums. I don't care for those later albums. Smoking is so 1980s though.

I never even blogged about my fortieth birthday spectacular. (I finally got it in my head, just in time, that there is no "U" in forty. I still reject the spelling on a certain level, but I'm slowly accepting it.) What did I do? After telling 39 it could "suck it" and 39 saying to me, "Right back at ya, babe!" I decided I better show 40 a good time. It's been so long I've nearly forgotten. The original plan was to hike to the top of a nearby mountain. It sounded like a good plan for turning forty but then I discovered, especially in a year as wet as this one, that I would likely be hiking through waste deep snow halfway up the mountain. First, our weekend getaway plans (for Brent and me) got postponed. So on Sunday, my birthday, we just drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and watched the rushing creek and hiked around a bit. It was a beautiful day, I remember. Brent volunteered to make me a gluten free cheesecake which was delicious. The kids made me birthday videos on the ipad! I wish they were on you tube so I could post them here. The next weekend we had our getaway to the city (it was also our anniversary weekend-16 years!- so that worked out great.) We wandered around, saw some art, saw a movie, ate a reeeaally good hamburger and just had fun being together.

But the best part of the birthday extravaganza was the Tuesday after my birthday. This wasn't planned for months or a year or more like some had planned for this. Two weeks before my birthday I thought, nothing exciting is going on the weekend of my birthday, so why not buy myself some tickets to U2, dang it! And so I did. Invited Isabella to come along with me. I can't say I'm a U2 superfan but of course I like U2. And being the music lover I am I think I know more of their songs than the average non U2 superfan. All I can say is it was one amazing concert! The best show I've ever seen, maybe even! I think I knew all but maybe two of the songs and I think I love that Bono and his humanitarian loving ways just a little bit.

So it was a great birthday extravaganza, I have to say. And it's not even done yet. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm on month 3 of Chalean Extreme (a three month workout program). Lifting heavy weights. My muscles are huge! You should see them! I kid guys, but my arms are looking decent and I've lost the beginnings of armulite. You know, cellulite on the upper arms. So, there's that too. And in July the fun continues when I go to Seattle (oh Seattle, how I've missed you!) to celebrate with a dear old friend who will also turn forty. So we will be having a great time celebrating our forty year old awesomeness together.

Isabella had a great time at the concert playing videographer:

Happy Birthday To Me!

2011-05-22T11:34:00.000-06:00

A Brief Religious Interlude (or what I learned from Jon Huntsman)

2011-05-19T19:25:00.011-06:00

Over in primary land I am able to feel the spirit and never hear religion mixed with politics. It is a blessing. To be honest though, my ward is pretty good about steering clear of that. From what I remember anyway. The internets are a different story however. I know, don't go seeking it out if you don't want to read that. You don't have to go there. So true, so true. But I'm a glutton for punishment, among other things, occasionally. Today I went to a blog and there was a little fundraising for Mitt going on. Dear old Mitt. The fundraising was going on so "America can get it's dignity back". Uggg. I hate that. "We have a president I don't agree with, he's not my guy, so of course our country has lost it's dignity." (Not an actual quote, just my guessing what is going on in these heads.) Why so vitriolic? I still say there is good in everyone. Why does it always have to turn so hateful? I'm being a little sensitive today, I know. Nursing an annoying, sinus bothering cold.

Anyway, That's not even what I was going to write about. Mormons are in a bit of an uproar because potential presidential candidate and former Utah governor, Jon Huntsman, is unable to clearly define his Mormonism. I really don't care about Jon Huntsman's Mormonism. I liked him as a governor. Solidly moderate he seemed. He seemed friendly on the environment. I liked that. But as far as his religion goes, a lot of Mormons aren't happy he didn't boldly bear his testimony. Or at least renounce the church. "You're either in or you're out!" they say. Now I understand people who like to comment on newspaper articles and threads and facebook statuses (stati?) on the internet are often more opinionated that the average person. So there's bound to be a lot of "You're either in or you're out!" "There is no such thing as gray! It's all black and white!" I don't believe that. I hate black and white. You should see the walls in my house, nothing black and white there. The ceilings are white though.

I don't mind that Jon Huntsman, for whatever reason, can't be completely black or white or straight with a reporter (he has time to do that anyway, why bother getting too personal on a subject that is very personal to some people before you've even thrown your hat into the ring officially). And I don't believe "you're either in or you're out". Is that what stake missionaries say? Do they go talk to the inactive family down the street, develop a report, get them interested in coming back to church and then, BAMM! "You know, Brother and Sister Jones, we really would love to see you at church (even though you haven't been in ten years). Please come this Sunday at 11. But remember, once you get there, you are either in the church, OR YOU'RE OUT! NO EXCUSES! If you ever have a question or doubt, don't bother coming back until it's gone. So we'll see ya Sunday, k?" And I don't believe the church feels this black and white about things either. They know we are all on our own path in our spirituality. If such a black and white stance was the case I would not be in the primary presidency. I was married in a church. I haven't been through the temple. My own spirituality is very personal so I don't get into it much. But if it was that black and white I don't think they would have called me to the primary presidency. This isn't about me. The whole black and white thing has long bugged me. The world is a beautiful place for all it's colors and shades of each color. I believe in God and Jesus Christ and I believe they know that too.

Frustration

2011-04-10T20:24:00.002-06:00

I'm frustrated. Hence the title. Isabella had a six months post diagnosis of celiac disease check up and she has gained weight and is feeling healthier, she isn't anemic anymore, but she's still getting unacceptable levels of gluten. So what do I do? Should I only buy whole foods and products from gluten free companies? I thought I was getting things down. I read labels but there is so much cross contamination that can be done in a food manufacturing plant. She wants to go to girls camp and youth conference for church this summer and I intend to let her go, but how much of a pain is this going to be? How risky is it going to be?

The other day we ate lunch at the only exclusively gluten free establishment I know of, Eleanor's Bakery. It was good, albeit expensive. We had these sandwiches on this cornmeal bread called arepas. We also had chips: Cheetos for Isabella and Doritos for me and Brent. These chips do not have gluten in them (I am becoming increasingly wary of food additives like MSG, however. Not because they contain gluten but because I think we should get away from artificial ingredients. We have a long way to go though.) These chips have also recently been changed on the Frito Lay website. They are produced in facilities that produce other products that contain gluten (like Sun Chips). They aren't on the much smaller list of products that have been tested to have less than 20 part per million (the acceptable level of gluten). I buy quite a few products that say gluten free on the label or have no gluten in the ingredients but also say they are produced in a facility that makes wheat containing ingredients or just says "may contain wheat". Like Heartland Gluten Free Pasta or Reese's Puffs cereal. I do that because it makes life easier and Isabella can have more options. But I guess I can't do that anymore. I realize I sound very whiny here. But this is my blog and I need to complain about how this is a pain in the butt once in a while. Especially when I have confirmation that while we are making progress, it's not good enough.

Trampolining and such

2011-03-27T16:39:00.003-06:00

One kid got baptized, one designed her own t-shirt, and one stuffed her face in a cake.

On the new trampoline:

Zoe made a cake at a party and decided the best use of it would be sticking her face in it:

Isabella went to Brent's work to job shadow him. She got to design and print her own t-shirt:

Noah was baptized by Uncle Matt:

What a handsome boy.

Twenty

2011-03-21T11:38:00.007-06:00

Internet, I've been sick most of the month of March. I'm just now beginning to emerge from an ibuprofen popping, oozing, aching, constantly feeling like a two year old is squeezing my tonsils in his or her strong, tiny fist stupor. So I've been in bed as much as humanly possible learning how to redo my neighbor's bathroom with fabulous glass tile and carrara marble flooring courtesy of the kind givers of knowledge over at the DIY network. I'll have to do my neighbors bathroom because I simply don't care enough to do my own. Bathrooms aren't my top priority. It could use a coat of paint though. So my neighbors have really lucked out this time. Kudos to them.

Prior to being stricken with walking pneumonia/the plague/throat, lung and bone cancer (strangely not the flu though, I went to the doctor and got a couple of swabs stuffed up my nose that was all at once invasive and cleansing but came back with negative results) I was getting in shape. Working out like a mad woman. I spent the whole month of January successfully achieving results with my new years resolution: workout at least five days a week and eat good 5 out of 7 days each week. I even broke the birthday cake curse: When you make a resolution to eat healthy FROM NOW ON! at the beginning of January but you forget that two of your kids have birthdays in the first two weeks of the year and you're a big sucker for a good birthday cake.

So, now I'm on the road to recovery (fingers crossed). I need to get back with it. I'm taking it to the internets. Which means this here blog. I want to lose twenty pounds. My only goal is to eat all the healthy/whole foods I can and workout as much as I can (which will probably translate into about 4-6 times per week). I don't do calorie counting, that's for schmucks (unless you count calories, I would never call you a schmuck). Today I have begun my journey with my own Power Breakfast (plain yogurt, blueberries, sliced oranges, ground flax seed, oats, stir it all together and enjoy) and a good stretch (never underestimate the importance of stretching) followed by a walk to the elementary school to volunteer and back. I'm still kind of sick, so let's not get too crazy.

Here is my before picture, which I really don't like much, but in my defense it was the day I really started getting sick and wound up with a 102 fever that night. You try looking good doing yoga with a fever of 102.

The Dumbest of The Smart

2011-03-03T11:06:00.005-07:00

If I ever write a memoir it will be called The Dumbest of The Smart....a Memoir. It's almost as cool as the name of Brent's future memoir, In The Shadow of The Squeegee. Very mysterious I know. These names are copyrighted of course. Sorry, you can't have them. I've always felt that way, dumbest of the smart. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. There's always room for improvement. If I were smartest of the dumb, well then I would have peaked. I'd have to say, this is as good as it gets. In high school I was in honors classes...just barely. I should write a memoir just to save all the timeless tales of my childhood for my children and my children's children to read someday. I think about it then I think, could I ever really put my most embarrassing moment on paper? Or on the internet? Or even in microsoft word? I've had the same most embarrassing moment of my life since I was 19 years old. So for twenty years. It was so embarrassing it has been difficult if not impossible to surpass. There I was, waiting for my date to pick me up in the afternoon. We were going over to the community college to play raquetball. There was a knock and Chuck (my step dad) told him to come in... Nope. That's as far as I can get. I've only told this story to two, maybe three people. Maybe it's not that bad, I just embarrass easily. Still. Some things are better left unsaid.

I could just start my memoir by telling how I got my name. Why did my parents name me Cindy? I'm not a Cindy in the '70's sense of the name. Cindy was always a dumb blond with a big chest on TV when I was growing up. I guess that is sort of appropriate. I am blond but anatomically I don't fit the bill. My dad had what I would guess was a small crush on a coworker. Why did he have a crush on this woman? Well, she'd had surgical augmentation, if you know what I mean. So yes, there you have it. My parents named me after a woman named Cindy who had a boob job. So glad I got that off my chest. Pun intended? I think my slight white trash upbringing streak is showing through. So back to my most embarrassing story. Could it really be worse than the story of how I got my name? I'm afraid so. It's funny if delivered properly. Funny and horrifying all at once. No, not yet. We'll save horrifying for later.

Quotes

2011-03-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

"I brought food to the hungry and people called me a saint. I asked why people were hungry and people called me a communist."-Dom Helder Camara

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." -M. Scott Peck

A couple of quotes I've read recently that I really love.

How's It?

2011-01-28T20:17:00.004-07:00

You're wondering how the gluten free cooking is going aren't you? Not bad, not bad at all. Isabella is up about ten pounds since she cut out the gluten four months ago. I'm such a proud momma! I still worry there is too much cross contamination going on and hidden gluten in foods that are supposed to be gluten free. But you can't argue with results. And she hasn't gotten sick since then either. I've got the cooking down pretty good. I've learned to cook some new things too. I dare say I make some pretty good stir fry and fried rice. And my chicken enchiladas are quite tasty. Have you ever tried rice crispy treats with rice chex instead of rice crispies? (Rice crispies have malt which contains gluten. You'd think RICE crispies would be safe.) They are better than the rice crispy kind.

I'm finding all sorts of places that sell gluten free stuff. Unfortunately they are all in the city on the other side of the mountain. But I get out there frequently enough. I walked into a Harmon's grocery store and nearly cried from happiness last week. They have a huge natural foods section with tons of gluten free stuff. It even has it's own freezer section. And every gluten free item in the store (many that are throughout the store too) has a label on the shelf that says gluten free. So convenient. It's all expensive of course, but that's just the way the gluten free stuff rolls. Maybe someday it will all come down in price. Hopefully by the time Isabella is an adult. Really, more and more people are discovering they have celiac disease. Bad for them but good for the consumer.

So what else have we been making? I found this awesome gluten free baking mix called Pamela's that is so handy for baked goods. We've made mint brownies, chocolate chip cookies, banana nut bread, muffins, it even worked well for our Christmas sugar cookies. It's so much easier than trying to work with a million weird ingredients and has taken out a lot of trial and error. And the price is about the same as mixing a bunch of stuff together so I may as well save myself some stress. I sound like an advertisement here now, don't I?

Still making homemade bread too. I found a simplified recipe off the Gluten Free Goddess blog that I'm liking a lot. I usually change out some ingredients to find a combination Isabella likes (and Brent, he likes to eat the bread too). She complains about a lot of it that it has "that weird taste". I've narrowed down "that weird taste" to either sorghum or rice flour or tapioca starch. Someday I'll figure out which one bugs her but until then we've found teff, millet, amaranth and potato and corn starch make up a pretty good bread.

Yesterday I made up some gluten free energy bars. Kind of like granola bars. They were so good! You should try them. Your kids will like them. Well, mine all did anyway.

Gluten Free Energy Bars

Ingredients:

3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
3/4 c almond pieces (or other nuts you like)
1 cup dried fruit (I used dried cherries and cherry flavored craisins)
4 cups GF brown rice crispie cereal
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper

Mix dry ingredients

In a large saucepan melt peanut butter with honey over medium low heat. Stir and watch carefully to prevent scorching. When the mixture is smooth and bubbling cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add salt and vanilla and stir to combine. Use a large spatula to stir in nuts, dried fruit and cereal. Stir until all ingredients are coated with nut butter mixture. Spread out on parchment paper. Let cool and cut.

I also added mini M&Ms. Next time I might add some ground flax seed to make it healthier. If you wanted to try them and didn't need gluten free you could use regular rice crispy cereal instead of the gf brown rice variety.

Birthday Party Year Is Over!

2011-01-28T19:23:00.004-07:00

Every other year the kids have birthday parties, starting with Zoe's birthday in September. Isabella and Noah both have birthdays in January so it usually goes: birthday, birthday, party, party. It makes for a LONG, busy month. Don't ask me why I didn't stagger the birthday parties every other year. I'm just not that smart I guess. Anyhow, I think they each had a good birthday and some fun parties. Isabella turned thirteen! I can't believe I have a teenager. It was a good group of girls, they were all loud and crazy but they all behaved well. No drama! I guess we didn't get many pictures. Got more video footage.

Noah had a lego themed party. It turned out fun, Noah said it was as good as the bowling/laser tag party he went to the week before. That is saying something. It helps that he was the birthday boy. There were lego games, lego prizes, lego candy party favors! I even tried to make lego pizzas and lego cakes. Ten 7 and 8 year old boys running around! I swear you burn off about a thousand calories hosting one of these things.

Belated Christmas Post

2011-01-28T15:44:00.001-07:00

I never got around to blogging about Christmas. Well, it was a good one. We had fun with family, Brent's mom was in town and stayed with us on Christmas Eve again. Noah got this telescope which turned out to be larger than him. This wasn't planned. Santa was supposed to bring a simple telescope that would be fun for him. He's wanted one for a while-mostly to spy on people out in the soccer field across the street. Hopefully we can make good use of it this summer when the clouds finally go away and at the star parties at the local observatory. The girls got digital cameras and have been having fun with them. They have a video mode so Zoe has been having fun making videos of herself pretending she is having a tantrum. (The things that entertain an 11 year old.)

Brent was sick on Christmas, my poor man, and I was exhausted. I had some minor outpatient surgery a couple of weeks before and between that and all the Christmas prep I was so worn out by the time Christmas day came. So it was a pretty low key day at home with just a short trip over to see my dad and step-mom.

New Years Eve I decided to be nice and volunteered to take the girls and their friends to the ice skating rink that is about 30 minutes away. I misread the weather again and while they all carried on having a good time in the car, I was white knuckling it down the freeway in an ugly storm. But all ended well and the storm had let up by the time we headed home. Luckily, we no longer have suicide tires on the van. New years day we headed over to the sledding hill. I love that we have a big hill that is perfect for sledding just down the street. So that about wraps it up, plus a boat load of pics:

I guess this last one will work in the Christmas post. It was over Christmas break I believe. Zoe and her friend Ellie were messing around with legos and decided to make a lego bathroom. From left to right you've got the tub, sink (with a storm trooper washing up), toilet with a toilet paper holder (yes someone is sitting on it, is this appropriate for my G/PG blog?), and a shower. It was too funny not to immortalize it with the camera.

Thanks For The Assistance

2011-01-17T14:25:00.001-07:00

Thanks, my friends, for helping me out with your comments on who is reading this here blog. Actually, I knew you all were readers (thank you sight meter, and a "Hello!" to you all.) Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to out the mystery visitor. And I don't have a problem with mystery readers, just with ones that engage in suspicious behavior. In that case I need to know I know who you are. Hopefully I won't have to make the old blog private. I hate private blogs. Such a pain with the signing in every time and all. Anyway, for the time being, we shall carry on as we are.

My Little Cub Scout

2011-01-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Noah started cub scouts last week. He's so excited and is already memorizing cub scout pledge type stuff (I really don't know what I'm talking about here). I'm still a little skeptical and I won't make him do it if he doesn't want to, but I'm excited that he is excited to be involved with it.

Letting Go

2011-01-17T14:07:00.001-07:00

I wrote this some time ago and never published it:

Letting go. I need to work on that. I think I've improved over the years as a mom but it is still a weakness for me. Letting go of what exactly? Control. I've always had the hardest time giving up control when it comes to my kids. One of the areas it has been the hardest is in the kitchen. One of my excuses is I don't have a huge kitchen so it's just easier to do it myself. And it really is a bad excuse because I hosted two cooking classes last year with Isabella and her friends and I had five extra people in the kitchen with me and we managed to make it work.

Sunday the girls found this recipe in a magazine and wanted to try it out since we just happened to have all the ingredients on hand. It was for banana split ice cream sandwiches. We were making to cookie part and I told the kids to put spoonfuls of the dough evenly spaced on the cookie sheet. All of a sudden I'm feeling very tense and I'm having a flashback to this episode of the PBS cartoon Arthur that I saw with the kids when they were little. If you haven't watched Arthur (and maybe they do it differently now, I don't even know if they still are making new episodes of that show, my kids never watch it anymore-stupid satellite discouraging my kids from watching PBS) they had this thing between cartoons where they would show real kids doing things. This particular episode showed kids at a blind school making cookies. I remember watching that and as they were tapping the dough off of their spoons onto the cookie sheet the best they could- but of course it wasn't that neat because they couldn't see what they were doing- I felt very tense just watching them do that and that is the feeling I had watching the kids put the dough on the cookie sheet, especially Noah. I know it's wrong, a bit of a sickness even. What will happen if the cookies don't turn out perfect? Nothing, that's what. And I'm not anywhere close to being the worlds greatest baker and I'm too impatient to make things really pretty so I don't know why I care how the kids do it.

I do things on my own timeline. When the girls were younger I picked the next days clothes out for them every night before they went to bed. This went on later into the elementary years than it really needed to. They could have been doing it themselves. But they do just fine now (and learned how to match their clothes, you never saw my kids wearing ridiculous mismatched combinations, not that that really matters in the scheme of things). I'm lightening up a little as they get older. As I get older. I think it was all a defense mechanism since you often feel like you have very little control over your life when you have young kids. That's also why they almost ALWAYS listened to my music in the car, not preschooler music. But they are growing up. They are capable of much and it's my job to help them discover what they can do. This year I will work on that.

Hello Friends

2011-01-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Friends, I need your help. I have a mystery blog visitor who needs to be identified. I know it's probably a friend or relative and I don't mind strangers popping in. I'm just curious about the identity of a particular regular visitor. So if my regular visitors wouldn't mind, could you leave me a comment? You don't have to register with blogger to comment. Just leave it under anonymous and leave your name. Thanks for the help!

2010 part one

2010-12-29T23:53:00.005-07:00

I should write on the year. Wrap up 2010. And do many posts on it too because I need more posts under 2010 (as previously mentioned). First of all, this year kicked my butt a little. I started the year excited. School. I loved school! Then I got called to the primary presidency. (That's still a head scratcher.) I was stressed (it doesn't take much) so I dropped the math class. I had this hand pain that made writing a lot difficult too. So I only had the online art class, but I loved it. I finally felt I had direction. I was working toward something. I've had the raising the kids thing going on for years and I really, really love my kids but I needed to go back to school. I've known that for a long time.

So there I was, in school. I had direction, a major in elementary ed., I was being a great example to my kids. To my girls especially. I believe that kids are more successful as adults if they see positive roll models of success in their parents. I love my parents but I didn't have that from them. So I really wanted to be that kind of role model. And don't give me that whole, well being a mom is the most important job there is for a woman. Don't give me that because I KNOW that. At least if you are a mom it is. If you are not then you are just putting down the woman who is not a mom. So I know that and I constantly think about if what I'm doing, whatever I'm doing, is best for my kids. But I wanted to show them I could be successful somewhere else too. I still want to show them that. But I'm a chicken and I worry about a million different things. In the fall I started with three classes and ended up with zero. One was dropped so I could focus on math, which I am scared of. One was dropped because I was annoyed with the teacher and the 800 page book for a two credit class and the fact that I could not get the 800 page book for the two credit class. The whole thing started off badly and it wasn't even because of my own bumbling which believe me happens often enough. So I was down to just the math class and then we found out Isabella has celiac disease and I would have to learn to cook everything without gluten (read: wheat flour). That and I was scared of the class and the teacher didn't know how to teach very well. Psyched out again. So I took the semester off.

Things started out great then suddenly I was back to square one, actually more like square negative ten or something like that. I was unsure of myself, I didn't know if I was doing the right thing with school. I'm still not sure. There were other obstacles too. After a while you begin to wonder, are these obstacles something I'm supposed to be persevering on and fighting my way around? Or are these obstacles telling me to go in another direction? My thoughts were, well screw it all, I'm just going to go get a job at Barnes & Noble. Because I've always sort of wanted to work at Barnes & Noble. But I'm not about to get a job (if they'd have me) at a store that is at least 30 minutes away from my house, depending on the location, just to be paid minimum wage. So I've been thinking, thinking, thinking. I've come up with an idea. I don't know if it is the best idea. I'm beginning to think there is no best idea. I've wondered if it may be settling. But is there really settling or is there just making choices and trying to come up with the choice that makes the most sense? I don't know. The one thing I do know is the biggest reason this is so hard to figure out is because I've got these three young people in my life and how it affects them for the next ten years is of utmost importance to me. Making everything a hundred times more confusing than it would be otherwise. That and money. Money always complicates things too.

One More

2010-12-29T23:14:00.002-07:00

Another video, because I'm still bulking up 2010 on the blog and this was my favorite song going into 2010. Sad and beautiful. It came out in 2006 though. I like music on my own timetable. Maybe in five years I'll be into Lady Gaga. Hahahahahaha! I don't know who's video this is. I'm pretty sure it's not the Decemberists. It cracks me up when people make their own videos for songs and stick them on youtube. It reminds me of when I was in third grade and we'd make up these elaborate lip sync performances to songs from Grease.

Home

2010-12-29T22:55:00.003-07:00

There are only a couple of days left in the year and I've only done thirty or so blog posts this year. I keep thinking maybe it's the end of the blogging road for me but I still have something to say that I haven't said yet. I'm not exactly sure what that is though. It's facebook. Too many one liners. There's nothing left to expound upon after so many of those. So I need to start bulking up the blog; and I need to get those singamajigs off the page. They were cute at first but rapidly grew annoying. I'll start with this video.* One of the funnest songs of the year. I've always liked hippies. Have occasionally wanted to be a hippy. I could never reach hippy status though because I'm too uptight, straightlaced and I insist on shaving everyday (legs get too itchy otherwise.) I miss my old hippyish next door neighbors. They brought balance to the place.
*Don't worry, this blog isn't going to turn into a showcase for youtube videos.

Peace, Love and Understanding

2010-12-13T19:42:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite Christmas songs that isn't actually a Christmas song but should be, and a good version of it too.

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T13:46:00.004-07:00

I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. And it had been about five years since I last cooked a turkey. I'd like to thank all the people who offered up the Reynolds Cooking Bag suggestion (if I had a dollar for every time...) but I decided to to go with my mom's tried and true foil pan meets foil tent covering method. You can't really go wrong following mom's advice on Thanksgiving, right? And that green bean salad showed up long after I left home so I don't have to incorporate that. Okay, I think that was really my sister's contribution, but whatever. So we had Brent's dad and step mom Karen over and Brent's sister and her boyfriend and their little Gabby girl over. The kids loved playing with little Gabby. The girls love babies and toddlers. I happened to watch the Ellen show for about two minutes with Isabella a couple of days before and she was giving away Singamajigs. Cutest, funniest toys I've seen in a long time. Then I ran into them at Walmart the next day for $9 each so I used Gabby as an excuse to buy one. So the kids could play with it with her. Well it's a lot cheaper than having another baby of my own just so I can buy little kid toys again. If you haven't seen these things:

Mine is a little more ghetto looking than these and I think it's probably best to have a chorus of them, but one will have to suffice. Anyway, we all had a good time and the food turned out good I thought. All indications point to no food poisoning. Now I don't want to get rid of the extra table. I kind of like the table for ten sitting in the middle of the living room. But it's going to get pretty tight once the Christmas tree shows up. I think my table setting would have impressed the editors at Country Living magazine (except I had disposable dishes, I should have scoured antique stores for coordinating dishes. But again, whatever.)

The next day the kids were about to have their sugary cereal that they only get on the weekends for breakfast and I thought, Hmm, pumpkin pie and fruit salad would probably be healthier than that. So...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Zoe's Eleventh

2010-11-28T13:08:00.004-07:00

Yes, Zoe's birthday was a couple of months ago and I never posted anything on it. At least we celebrated it on time, huh? So here's a little now. She's 11 now! And she had a sleepover/late night party with a few of her friends. I'm pretty sure they all had fun and they are all good kids who aren't too crazy so it didn't drive the mom crazy having all those girls sleeping over.

You're All Welcome Here

2010-11-05T09:59:00.012-06:00

Euuugh. There's the made up word of the day. That and withdrawling. I just saw someone use that and it struck me as funny. So life sucks right now. I'm not going to sugar coat it. Oh, the expounding I would like to do right now. But sadly my personal issues need to stay tucked in my head, or at least thrown up all over Brent for a while. I need like twelve people in twelve categories to be able to vent to. You go in the category of politics (which would probably be pretty easy because I've been working on my apathy). You, over there, you take religion. You take paranoia and hypochondria. And what do you want? Hormonal induced depression? Or, what am I going to do with my life crisis. Or, what am I doing with my life crisis. And you. You get gluten free bread.

Really it's just one of those funks or fogs or something that will eventually lift and all will be fine-ish again. There was a glimmer of the fog lifting yesterday. There was also this good line in a song I was listening to: "Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know, he's got his own blog." Funny. And I almost feel a little better now. Plus Monday I'm going to start working on Project: Holy Crap I'm Going To Be 40 In About Six Months So I've Got To Get It Together in A Good Way Before Then. Yeah, I'll probably go down that sad little path a little.

I truly believe that being happy all the time is overrated. No, you don't want to walk around all the time like you can't get over the disappointment you met in your teenage years but I think it's good to embrace life and all the emotions it brings. With the caveat that you are still a functional human being and able to get done the necessities and not beat your kids or bug the crap out of your husband. (And yes, I may use the words "crap" and "sucks" too often.) But I see people say things like, "I have decided to allow nothing but happiness into my life." Sure happiness is a choice but you can't remove all pain and unpleasantness from your life. Unless, perhaps, you are very shallow and not capable of feeling a range of emotions or doing anything productive with those emotions. This takes nothing away from those who are naturally optimistic. I see them out there. They are a mystery to me but I know they exist. It's kind of like when I was reading this ADHD forum once (when I was convinced I had ADD, not ADHD though. I've never had enough energy to claim ADHD). Some of the people were debating the pros and cons of medication. Some were of the opinion that they did not want to be on medication because it masked their true personality and forced them into a mold that would make them fit in with society, making themselves sort of a shadow of their true self. I think there is definitely a point there. (*Disclaimer, I am in no way qualified to tell someone with ADHD what to do.*) I think those of us who occasionally go to "the dark side" (and I'm not talking about Satan here so relax) should embrace that side (and really, this is everyone at least once in a while). Like I said before, don't embrace it so much that it is all encompassing and you can't function. Also, too much of that can get a bit self involved and narcissistic. Embracing the good and the bad brings about a clarity I think. See, I was feeling quite blah when I started writing this and I already feel better.

Don't get me wrong. I know I have a good life. Got the husband, kids, etc, down in a good way. But sometimes the crazy- it's there. I don't want to feed it too much, but I want it to know he has just as much right to be here as happy and well adjusted do too.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T09:56:00.001-06:00

Isabella is a dead princess if you can't tell and friend is Annabeth from the Percy Jackson books.

Noah is brain injury boy

nerdy Zoe and nerdy friend

I Remember

2010-10-29T11:27:00.002-06:00

We Have Bread!

2010-09-27T20:27:00.000-06:00

And it doesn't have any rice in it. I made my first loaf of gluten free bread today. My first loaf of bread ever, really. I know, I'm lame. I'm still getting over that bread making debacle from foods class in 11th grade. The bread is pretty good too. Tastes a little like wheat and a little like something else. I guess that something else would be buckwheat flour, sorghum flour and teff flour. Whatever they taste like. It's healthier than wheat bread too. Take that wheat! I guess teff is the grain that makes Ethiopean marathon runners run super fast and win all the gold medals at the olympics. Good to know, 'cause I could use an energy boost. So the bread didn't rise quite as good as it should have...I think. But other than that it turned out good. I have to give credit to this cool gluten free blogger where I found this recipe.I guess she's spent hours perfecting her bread. The internet is pretty awesome.

I'm guessing it's not supposed to be bumpy on top, but not bad for a first attempt.

Gl, Gl

2010-09-17T17:35:00.003-06:00

I'm debating whether I should start a new blog or not. This one will stay around, although it is quite dead in the water at times. I'm going to be rambling on about gluten free cooking a lot so it may be a good idea to make a new blog-call it "The Incompetent Gluten Free Chef". Now you're all gonna want to steal that name. Or maybe I will ramble on about my new adventure here. Who knows for sure today.

I will say this: I am wary of baking with a flour that has garbanzo beans and fava beans in it. Beans in your cookies are just not natural. But the oatmeal raisin cookies did turn out pretty good. So maybe I'll give it another try. A side note, I don't know all the rules on oats yet. You can ONLY use oats that come from dedicated fields (not contaminated by those evil grains). And I've read some stuff that says you should only eat oats after you've been off gluten for a while and healed up. Something about oats, they don't have gluten but their genetic composition is slightly similar to wheat. Or something like that. I don't know. I could be wrong there. In other good baking news: I bought a Namaste gluten free spice cake mix. Ten thumbs up from everyone here (two per person, not ten, we don't have fifty thumbs collectively). A little denser than regular cake but good still. Almost brownie like but not quite. Makes me think their brownie and blondie mixes must be pretty good. They also don't have a hundred ingredients like a regular cake mix. Only the basic stuff so it's probably healthier.

The other good news is my recurring dream with the words "gluten free" floating around freely has stopped. I was probably mumbling "gluten free" in my sleep. Then there was the worst dream. Gluten Free and Glen Beck. It must have been some sort of "GL" theme. Very disturbing. I really want to go order pizza now. (Nothing to do with my weird dreams, I just don't want to cook dinner.) No? Then tostadas it is. I wish I would have remembered the guacamole.

Answers

2010-09-10T11:20:00.004-06:00

I knew I wasn't crazy! Or paranoid. Or overreactive. Is that a word? This has been a while coming. Let me explain a little. It's been at least a couple of years, maybe more like three. We began to notice that one of my kids was slowing way down on her growth. She started out at a solid average height, some even said slightly above average. Then we noticed the shorter kids were catching up with her. Then they were passing her. Did I need to worry? Some said, well kids grow at different rates, she'll grow when her body is ready. No, it just didn't feel right. I know my being 5'9" and Brent being 6' tall is no guarantee of tall children. I don't need tall children. Although the pediatrician did do that prediction thing when she was 2 1/2 and predicted 5'8". But I also know you can't believe everything a doctor says. Especially when she has more than a dozen years to be proven wrong. But come on, I come from tall people. We don't do short. Brent's got mostly tall people in his family too. But maybe she takes after her grandma? Well sure, nothing wrong with that. But it just didn't feel right. So we waited for the growth spurt some said would happen. There was an inch here and there but it didn't seem right. So I took her to the doctor. This was Spring of '09. She was a little concerned. She ordered blood tests and x-rays. Everything was pretty okay. The x-rays showed her bone age was on the young side. That meant she would probably finish growing later than average. A late bloomer. So we moved forward. She grew almost two inches that years! But it looked like everyone else grew four.

I kept saying, well everything must be okay. She's just taking her time. Then why is she still throwing up? Did I not mention the recurring vomiting? But the doctor didn't seem overly concerned and her health seemed fine in general, besides the throwing up, so I tried a wait and see approach. This summer I took her back to the doctor for some immunizations. The doctor was now concerned about her weight. More blood tests were administered. Symptoms were beginning to be added on to this mystery: anemia, vitamin D deficiency. She wasn't absorbing nutrients properly. That would explain why she wasn't growing. I looked for answers on the internet. The doctor prescribed vitamins and ordered more blood tests. Finally, she contacted a pediatric G.I. specialist. So this past Tuesday we went into the hospital and she had an endoscopy. Celiac Disease. You know, the no gluten disease. We finally had an answer. My daughter is happy to have answers. Yes, she has to give up all gluten containing foods (anything with wheat, barley or rye). Forever. We may all try this new diet too. It runs in families and maybe in general it will get us eating more healthy. Get us off so much processed foods. But the best thing is we know what the problem is. We know what we need to do. It's going to be a big change. But it's nothing super scary. We are grateful for that. I love this girl, I'm so happy to know how to help her now. We finally have our answers.

Math Problems

2010-09-10T08:14:00.000-06:00

Here is the problem with math. At least for those who stink at doing it. The material is covered too fast and most math teachers, while being very good at doing math, are not very good at explaining math. So you go through class, barely comprehending from week to week. Then you either bomb the class and have to retake it or you scrape by and are not adequately prepared for the next class and the whole thing starts over again. There is rarely a set up for success in these situations. Unless you are blessed with one of those rare teachers who are good at math and good at explaining math to the mathily challenged. I miss you Patty Hayes! (quite possibly one of those rare teachers)

Another First Day Of School

2010-08-28T20:27:00.000-06:00

The new school year has come again. Isabella had her first day of Jr. High-7th grade. Zoe is now in 5th and Noah is in 2nd. They're growing up too fast, dang it! They all had a good first week and no one cried or had any horror stories. Success!

Zoe's New Room

2010-08-11T21:45:00.001-06:00

Remember this?

So I finally finished Zoe's room redo. Now I can retire my paintbrush again for a good long time.

Before it was Isabella's and Zoe's room. I loved the pink room. I believe everyone should have a pink room at one time or another. If I was single and I had enough space I would have a pink room just for fun. Okay, I think I may have liked the pink room more than the girls did!

But time marches on and Isabella has her own room now and Zoe has a new and improved room of the purple variety:

I Cut My Hair Again

2010-08-11T11:12:00.000-06:00

Did it myself. Cutting my own hair is always a sure sign that something is a little off for me this month. Some sort of expression of self loathing at the moment. That and it needed it RIGHT THEN and where am I going to find someone to cut my hair on a Sunday night? And no I couldn't wait until Monday morning when I had nothing specific going on. I shouldn't even mention this because now the few people from my neighborhood who read this blog are going to see me out and about or at church or one of my twenty trips to walmart each week and they will know I did this to myself. Instead of thinking, "That poor woman, she really got a butcher job there." And now I will have to keep my self haircut for the next month. I can't possibly go to a salon for a month. I have to let it grow out a little and blend in so I don' have to go in there, hang my head and shamefully admit I did this to myself. Let the punishment fit the crime I guess. Plus I'd have to get shaved bald if I were to go any shorter. Maybe I can pull off bald though?

One More

2010-08-02T15:23:00.001-06:00

A fun part of the Ben Folds concert last month. I found it on youtube so it's not me or Brent you hear singing up close (wouldn't let anyone hear that.)

A Sink In The Woods, You Say?

2010-07-31T23:10:00.006-06:00

Insanity is washing your hair at 5:30 in the morning in a dirty shallow sink in the woods with ice cold water and a bar of soap. It was Dove soap though-with 1/4 moisturizing cream. So it worked pretty well.

Yes, it was time for the annual family camping trip. I can't sleep camping. I wake up fifty times hearing sounds in the woods, usually bears I'm certain. However, the first night I, we all, slept great in our tent. I think it was because conditions were optimal. I went to bed at a proper time (midnight, usually it's to early). The air mattress was inflated properly. I didn't sleep on the wrong side of Brent as I usually do camping (I usually take the side closest to the kids which isn't the normal side at home). I had plenty of blankets so I didn't have to wake up from dreams of sleeping in a meat locker sandwiched between two large slabs of frozen beef. So it all worked out amazingly well the first night. The second night was another story. This time I was too hot and nearby campers had a small child that kept howling in the night. At five I was hot, sticky, grubby, tired of lying awake, and felt it was probably the ideal time to go get my self clean with a towel and a bar of soap in the restroom (this campground is awesome for it's flushing toilets and sink with running water). So that is how I ended up washing my hair with a bar of soap at 5:30 in the morning. I did because I was there, the soap was there, the sink was there. That is all. Oh, and the towel was there, of course.

Other than that it all went great and we had a great time. Brent's mom, Cathy, joined us in her little RV so that was new and fun. We saw a moose, or moosette rather. And then we saw her again, making her way through the campground. Missy the Moose, we named her. We took a vote and everyone said Aye, in favor of Missy. Some said Missy wasn't a very Moosey name but they didn't offer any alternative suggestions so Missy the Moose it was. We hiked, played in the shallow part of the creek, the kids were happy 90% of the time, it didn't rain like the weather said it likely would. Good times at campout 'oh-ten!

Oh, Man!

2010-07-20T11:14:00.000-06:00

I made a stop at Victoria's Secret a while back. I'm married, I'm an adult, and this wouldn't be announcement worthy. But I have a reason here. I paid with my credit card and I DO NOT recall just giving them my address. So yesterday I get a mailer addressed to our address with the name Cynthia and no "S" like my last name should have. First of all, of course, my mind automatically drifts to what it would be like if I was actually named Cynthia with no "S" at the end of my last name...Hmmm...what would I be like? Would I be different? Mysterious?

Digressing here. So now I'm on Victoria's Secret's list. I know what it's like to be on their list. Back in the early '90s, before I was married, I bought some clothes from a catalog of theirs that showed up at my dad's house addressed to my step mom. A cute, long sweatshirt and leggings to go with it. Incidentally, a roommate of mine later stole the sweatshirt and I saw her wearing it around the house. I was stunned, who steals another persons clothes and then wears them in front of them? So I never said anything to her (she also owned the house, maybe she would evict me for calling her a thief?) I actually ordered the sweatshirt again. I know, what a chump. Weird story. Not nearly as weird as the time I made all the power go out in Magna, Utah though. That's a story for another day.

Anyway, back to being on their list. I then received their catalog at least once a month for the next six years or so. Finally, when half a decade went by without ordering anything they removed me from their list. I also had heard something about them streamlining their mailing list to weed out the pervs who weren't ordering stuff. So I guess I didn't make the cut. Not that I'm a perv or anything. So now I'm going to be receiving their mailings with emaciated teenagers posing in their underwear, showing off their fake lips and fake other things. Coming to my mailbox where my children occasionally like to get the mail. I'm gonna have to send some emails, make some calls I guess. Oh, man!

Belated Anniversary Weekend

2010-07-19T20:18:00.007-06:00

Man, I miss the days when I could write a good blog. Where have you gone, inspiration? Well back in May, Brent and I celebrated fifteen years of marriage. Crazy, I know. At the time we were busy with end of the school year stuff and such and we didn't have any money to go on a proper trip to celebrate since we'd just gone to California with the kids a few weeks prior, thus we didn't do much. So we arranged to go on a weekend getaway this past weekend. The kids went to spend some quality time with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Karen. (Thanks guys!) I guess Noah entertained himself and anyone else he could when he went to church with them. He decided to spend his time staring down everyone he could who was sitting up on the stand in front of everyone. I guess he got a twelve year old boy who was going to give a talk to start laughing, and the Stake President came down and shook his hand after the meeting closed. That's my boy.

Anyway, we weren't sure what to do for our weekend getaway until we accidentally stumbled upon news that Ben Folds would be performing with the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley Resort. After we found out it was kind of like, duh! Cause I'm like Ben Folds's biggest fan and all. So we headed to Park City and we decided we would also try our hand at mountain biking at Deer Valley. We rented our bikes and got our helmets and water bottles and rode two chair lifts up to the top (near the top?). There I received confirmation that once again I stink at all athletic endeavors. I cannot help it that I am tall and awkward and clumsy. (I probably tripped on my way out of the womb.) So I slipped and fell and walked my way down the mountain path, yelling out at certain points, "This Sucks!" Twenty minutes into biking on the easiest course we could find, I was resigned to walking my bike down the mountain for the next couple of hours. But then the path got a little less steep, a little less rocky and I traded bikes with Brent (because as a tall, awkward clumsy person I am a magnet for faulty equipment rentals) and I got used to the whole operation just a bit. We made it down the first trail, much slower than Brent would have without me holding him back, and I only fell once and I only almost started crying once. Not bad. Then we made our way down the second half and were on a path that was even easier than the last and even though it sucked for a while it was a lot of fun.

As a side note I'd like to point out to all of those bikers we had to pull over for and let pass us by that maybe if you're going to go out and buy the fancy, shiny mountain biker outfit with all the fancy, shiny gear, that maybe you shouldn't be on the easy, beginner course. And if you need to be on the beginner course then maybe you should hold off on the fancy, shiny outfits and gear until you're ready for the intermediate course. Just an idea.

So we conquered the mountain and cleaned up and got lunch and headed out to stand in line for the concert at around 4:00. I figured if we were going to sit in the non-reserved section on the grass then we better get a good spot up front cause I wasn't going to be stuck in the binoculars section with no binoculars. So I figured the best plan would be to show up three and a half hours before the concert started and sit in the 95 degree heat for three and a half hours. And that is what we did. It actually wasn't too bad, we brought water and games and even an umbrella and got a good spot about four rows of blankets back. The concert was great, of course. The symphony did a great job backing up Ben Folds. Fun, fun, fun. The funny part is that a lot of the people attending this concert were season ticket holders for the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley, many of whom are in their fifties and older. Possibly, some were a little surprised to be at rock concert. The people sitting next to us fell into this category. They were sitting there with their picnic basket and their wine (sophisticated folk) and we over heard one say it was the most entertaining concert he'd ever been to for someone he'd never heard of before. So who is this Ben Folds anyway? You may be asking. Because many haven't heard of him. Well the perfect combination of piano genius and obnoxious. It's fun music.

This isn't from the concert we were at. I couldn't find any good footage from our concert. Ignore the stupid advertisement at the end.

Great weekend and an awesome way to celebrate fifteen years of happy times together. Looking forward to the next fifteen!

Let's Start Here...

2010-07-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

I guess I've been taking some sort of blogging vacation. Well, it is summer. It has been busy. I spent the month of June working like crazy to get projects around the house done. You should have seen the pile of junk I took to the D.I. (a store like Goodwill run by my church). When I was done I had an organized storage closet in the basement that was a thing of pure beauty. I also once again had a walk in closet that I could actually WALK INTO. No longer do I trip and break things when I try to find some pants to wear. I found those sneaky little extension cords that are always hiding out, never to be found when you need them. I found things that were needed for other projects I was working on that I didn't even know I needed yet!

We also had a broken dryer so I spent some quality time either dragging baskets full of wet laundry to the laundromat or hauling it all to the backyard pioneer style and hanging it up wherever I could find a spot. I love crunchy laundry. Thankfully a dryer-less home is once again nowhere to be found here.

The best part of my project list was finally getting Isabella's new room done. She'd been wanting her own room for a while so I agreed she could have the guest room this summer. So we decided to redo the whole room. That led to deciding to redo Zoe's room too and some minor changes in Noah's room as well so he wouldn't feel left out.

Before: Rarely used Guest Room

and...

After: A really cool, fun room for a soon to be teenager! She's still got plenty of room to add her own posters and what not above her bed there. She picked the bedding and we picked the paint together. (I'm trying to get over my control issues here.) I love the molding and the white paint at the top, it makes the low ceiling feel higher, I've done this in all the kids' rooms now. I love the desk! $25 from Ikea! Funny thing, though not surprising, she actually misses Zoe a little. Actually she doesn't anymore, we moved Zoe's bed in there the other night until I finish painting her room. Which I've admittedly started to get a little lazy on but it will be done before summer is over, hopefully before July is over!

Now, Noah...

                                         Noah's Room Before

                                           and...

Noah's Room After! Not a huge change, got some things moved around, got a bigger table and got the girl's bunk bed. I figure someone should enjoy the bunk bed while he is still young enough to have fun with it. What boy doesn't want to sleep on top of a bunk bed? (And the ceiling is low enough that he can't possibly comfortably try to jump off the bed. :)

These Kids of Mine

2010-06-06T21:45:00.013-06:00

It's been one of those weeks where you just look back and think, Dang I love those kids!

First of all, Noah. Noah uses his foot as a break for his bike. His bike has a couple of perfectly functional breaks so I cannot be blamed for this. Unlike so many other traumas in my children's lives. This time he was unfortunately wearing his flipflops and it all ended in bloody hysterics and Noah later hobbling around like a spazy old man.

Big bandaged toe there on the left foot

Zoe had her end of year piano recital. She struggled and it was touch and go there for a minute but she didn't quit and she ended up doing quite well. She was a trooper and I was a proud mama.

Isabella graduated from elementary school! I can't believe she is off to Jr. High in the fall. She has worked so hard and I'm so proud of her.

First day of kindergarten

Last day of sixth grade and elementary school. Ready for Jr. High. Help us all!

That's All

2010-06-06T21:07:00.000-06:00

I've thought about this long and hard since my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I've come to one plausible conclusion: 39 can suck it. *dot dot dot* Stay Tuned.

Vacation

2010-05-13T12:55:00.118-06:00

Last week we went here:

And here:

Oh, and we saw a lot of this:

Isn't that just a beautiful picture?

Yes it was time for another vacation not to Arizona (by the way, Arizona, I think it's your turn to come here) and we decided to see California, and as much as we could of it in one week. So we headed to San Francisco first. I don't know why, but every time I head anywhere in the Northwest I just feel at home. (Is San Francisco considered part of the Northwest?) Maybe I do know why a little. Maybe because the coast is so beautiful up north and the architecture is great, the people seem so nice and laid back, yellow isn't the primary landscape color, environmentalism isn't a dirty word. (I could go on and on about how impressed I was with the environmental measures taken in the hotels in San Francisco and Cambria and how San Francisco must be the Prius capital of America.) I've just had this thing for the Northwest since my first trip to Seattle in the early '90s. Maybe someday...

So we had a good time exploring San Francisco for a couple of days. The girls decided somewhere in western Nevada that the car game they would play would be Count the Obama bumper stickers. So they kept that up all through San Francicso and down to Los Angeles. Apparently San Francisco is more Obama friendly territory than in these parts. Ha ha. The final count was 17. We took a boat tour around the bay and the kids were all very disappointed we weren't going to take the tour of Alcatraz. I should have listened to Brent I guess. Here are some more pictures of the first leg of the trip. Too bad I still don't know how to put pictures on here in a better way:

Alcatraz

After San Francisco we drove down the coast and stopped in San Simeon to see the Heart Castle:

We also ran into a beach full of elephant seals. There were hundreds of them hanging out on this beach where they are protected.

Next came Southern California. We are now well acquainted with the infamous traffic of Los Angeles after three hours of freeway driving and three more through the city while trying to see the sights. But it was still a great time. Disneyland lived up to it's reputation for the kids, we all had a great couple of days there and we are even considering returning some day. Not bad for people who aren't die hard Disney people. It was a great week away with the family. Now if we could somehow move the east coast a little further west so we could explore that region next time around.

A few more pics (okay a lot more):

Best Home Movies Ever

2010-04-27T08:45:00.005-06:00

Well, to me anyway. From Brent's short stint as master home videographer. He really needs to take that up again.

Cars and Chemistry and Dishpan Hands

2010-04-22T12:59:00.004-06:00

I have now left the land of denial and am staring into the laughing face of reality. When I went in to talk to the academic advisor last summer I was all, "Yay me! I have 50 credits! How cool am I!" Even though as I said this to myself I was looking at the yellow paper with all the classes I need to take but a part of my brain wouldn't let what I was looking at fully register. Although it's true, I had 50 credits, they would only work with five classes. Yes, five classes. So I basically had one semester under my belt. No wonder it's going to take me four years or so to get through school (guess I should stop taking one or two classes per semester, huh?) So now that I've accepted the world of reality, what to do? Well reality isn't so bad I guess. I've registered for three classes in the fall and one in the summer. I'm not so sure about the summer class. Chemistry. It's online and for non science majors so that sounds a little less threatening. I also feel like I have something to prove after that debacle in high school, junior year. Did I ever show you my chemistry lab scar that is on my left hand? It looks like those paper doll cutouts where they're all holding hands. It's kind of cool actually. But the biggest thing is I'm wondering if I should take it, it is only one class after all. Or should I free up all my time to hang with my kids and get all OCD about organizing my house? I could probably do all of those, or at least hang with the kids and clean the house, along with the one class. Who knows. I've got a week to decide.

Anyway so spring semester is done. I really liked that art class. Fun times. Now onto domestic things. Our dishwasher broke about a year and a half ago. Well, halfway broke really. The heating element broke and we've been using it with the hot water from the furnace but that isn't working so well any more so I've taken up washing dishes by hand. Let me tell you, my sink has never been so clean on account of I'm a slight germaphobe and all. But I'm starting to get the dishpan hands, especially since I feel the need to put bleach in the water along with the soap. So what to do? Do you save up for three new appliances? Because they are all at varying levels of falling apart. Or do you just go out and get the new dishwasher and live with mismatched appliances for the next year or two or so? Because we have white appliances right now and I don't see the point in buying new appliances if they aren't going to be stainless steel and look pretty.

Either way the dishpan hands are here to stay for a while. It'll probably be a couple of months since we were in the position of realizing last week that our Subaru Forester wasn't worth the money it would take to fix it so we decided to go for the new car for Brent to get to work and back. If you have to buy a new car it is a good one though. A 2009 Toyota Yaris. 38 mpg freeway, baby! Ironically, it's white. Maybe we should have gone with a stainless steel car. We've named him Junior, because he looks like our Mazda MPV's small child, sitting next to it in the garage.

Sacrament Meeting First?

2010-03-29T21:16:00.001-06:00

So every once in a while I'll be perusing Mormon blogs on the internet or checking facebook or something like that and I'll read something about Sacrament Meeting at church. I'll be reading along and all of a sudden I'm lost, something about this story doesn't make sense. Then it hits me: Oh they don't go home after Sacrament meeting, they go to their classes! Now the story makes sense! My ward is among the .00005% that has Sacrament Meeting last instead of first (don't quote me on these highly exaggerated statistics). Our whole stake has had Sacrament Meeting last since the dawn of time I guess, or at least the dawn of the Stake, and the Stake we split off of before it. So we've been going to Sacrament Meeting last for the last 8 1/2 years. Which was a DELIGHT when the kids were little of course and needing a nap after almost two hours at church already. Now that they are 7, 10 and 12 we could care less. We don't understand why most everyone else is complaining about it still.* The seat saving still bugs me on occasion but I can get a seat in the Chapel a couple of times a month these days so it's fine. There was a period of about three years when I could rarely get a seat in the chapel so it was hard chairs in the cultural hall for me every week. Not very fun for my never completely healed from that one trip to the bouncy house with the kids for Family Home Evening one night in 2001 tailbone injury. I don't know why I didn't just abandon all pride and get that doughnut already. Now when I hear people talking about Sacrament Meeting being first (once I figure out that is what they are talking about) I think, You have Sacrament Meeting first? Well that's weird...

*Kidding, I feel for you, young parents.

To Nobody At All

2010-03-22T11:36:00.004-06:00

I'm glad the president and congress have finally stepped up and stopped listening to those who oppose them. Those who say, Who cares if this is what you campaigned on and got elected on (among other things). You can't do anything you set out to do! I'm glad they have finally stepped up and got to work. Nothing is perfect but health care will not bring on socialism. (Just ask a socialist and watch them laugh at you. By the way, I am not a socialist, I maybe lean toward democrat but never have made anything official.) If we can survive such atrocities as the public library, fire fighters and public education, we will survive this to. When I read things like this: “We’re coming to a Europeanization of America. And the American people feel it,” (Orrin) Hatch said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” I think, when did Europe become our enemy? Europe is not my enemy. It seems like a lovely place. Silly.

I'm not afraid for freedom. You won't be able to convince me to be afraid. I live in a country where I am blessed enough to be able to return to school at 38 years old. AND take guitar lessons. Pretty nice if you ask me. Go ahead and be afraid if you want, you have the right to do that too. I have other worries to occupy my time. Like how to get a ten year old to go to school every morning without becoming overcome with anger because her capri pants don't fit right or the head band feels weird. That's where I get to direct my energy. Is it summer yet? I'm busy, I don't have time for fear that would be irrational to me. I used to spend too much time consumed by irrational fears. It was exhausting. I'm not saying it isn't rational to you, follow your own heart. I've got my own moral compass to follow. Fortunately it is based in a world that is not black and white but full of beautiful colors. I need to workout now. I'm tired. I think I need some protein. And I need to finish reading A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cooking Up A Storm

2010-03-14T20:22:00.002-06:00

Isabella and Zoe cooked dinner for the family a couple of Sundays ago. Zoe wanted to reopen their restaurant, Loukieniez. They first did this restaurant a couple of years ago. Noah made up the name when he was about 4 or 5. Brent and I had a lovely meal in the art room all by ourselves, and the service was excellent! On the menu was peperoni pizza frittata, fruit, hash browns and strawberry lemonade. Delicious!

We also did another cooking class with Isabella and her friends (I've been rotating the monthly class with the other girl's moms, this was my last class). This time around they learned to make a tasty orange julius and homemade granola.

I thought I'd post the granola recipe since it was so good, especially with milk. I'd maybe double the cinnamon next time though.

Homemade Granola

Makes 6 1/2 cups

1/2 cup shredded coconut
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup honey
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins
½ c chocolate chips

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and spread shredded coconut on top. Bake until toasted. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment; set aside. In a large bowl, toss together oats, wheat germ, almonds, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together honey and butter; pour over oat mixture. Stir well. Spread onto sheets. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Break up granola; sprinkle with raisins, chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Store in airtight container.

Catching Up With Kids

2010-03-14T19:54:00.002-06:00

Isabella and Noah each had birthdays. Isabella turned twelve. (Gasp!) Noah turned seven. Well, the birthdays were actually in January. I am just that behind. Isabella got the cool new purple mountain bike.

Zoe joined myself and Isabella in the land of the glasses wearers. Isn't she cute?

Marla

2010-02-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

So I mentioned the four year old artist I was learning about for my art class in my last post. I thought I'd share a couple of her paintings here on the blog. Her name is Marla Olmstead and she is now 9 or 10. When the documentary about her and her art was made she was four and had made over $300,000 on her paintings. I'm not sure if any of these are recent or were done when she was four. I do think they are beautiful and interesting paintings. Makes me wonder if I could get Noah to do some abstract art for our family room. Or heck, maybe I should do some myself!

School and Such

2010-02-19T14:38:00.003-07:00

Life has been kind of busy. I'm enjoying my art class. I got to go to a museum and analyze some art and listen to all of that classical music. This week I get to watch a documentary about a four year old who briefly became the latest art sensation and then was torn down after it was discovered her dad may have been the one doing the art. Then I get to tear apart the four year old myself. Should be fun. Don't worry, the four year old will never see it and I will be nice. It's kind of cool having an online class. Instead of going to a lecture and trying to participate, which would mean me sitting there, occasionally having something to say and trying to get up the courage to raise my hand and properly articulate my thoughts in front of a large class (it's not as bad as when I twenty but I'm not completely cured), we have discussions that we are required to participate in. So I can think out what I want to say beforehand so I don't sound like an idiot, then post my thoughts on the subject of the day. Then if they don't care for my opinion, who cares. I don't know any of these people. Here's a sample for you. Me analyzing whether minimalist art is indeed art or not:

I like to think I’m open minded when it comes to art. I’m down with Pollock and the abstract expressionists and fauvism and even a blank canvas painted white. But the truth is I’m not completely open minded about what art is. While I don’t care for Fanny Sanin’s Acrylic Number 2 as it is a little too 1980s stylized for my taste, I can still accept it as art. That's easy for me. But when someone like performance artist Yves Klein covers women in paint and has them smear their bodies across a canvas I have a hard time calling it “Art” and an easier time calling it “A Gratuitous Cry for Attention”, or at least “a lack of imagination”. When Martin Creed sets the lights in an empty gallery to go off and on to a timer and calls it art, I can’t easily jump on board. But I believe that art in general is an individual expression. So I can accept that Klein’s art and Creed's art is art because they are claiming it to be art, it doesn’t have to be something I like or understand.
I do believe art is an individual expression. There is value in trying to open our minds and find art wherever someone is attempting to make art. When someone uses an unorthodox or even “grossly simplistic” means to express themselves in an artistic way, such as the white on white of Robert Ryman’s “State”, I believe there is more to it than meets the eye. That there is a purpose and intent to the art and it’s more than mere laziness or lack of talent. I liked the demonstration at the Gene Davis Exhibit where they allowed patrons to try to make their own striped artwork with the colored metal strips. The physical process and the mental process is usually more than we understand or at least take the time to understand. So if I believe art is an individual expression it isn’t hard for me to believe that even the simplest of Minimalist paintings is indeed art.

So it's a fun time. I also started guitar lessons a couple of weeks ago. Lesson #1 was great and I was a natural, naturally. Lesson #2? Well, there wasn't much natural about that so I think I've got a lot of practice ahead of me. But don't worry, I will soon be on my way to becoming the corner sidewalk troubadour my community has long needed.

This blog has turned into a series of incoherent rambles

2010-01-29T23:37:00.002-07:00

Ugg. Why is it painful trying to help Isabella convert pints to quarts and quarts to gallons and ounces to tons? It feels like your brain is trying to reach back through the recesses of time to that week in 3rd grade. After which you never bothered with it again (apparenty these days they are a bit more thorough.) Then your brain is being twisted in seven different directions.

Yesterday I watched the rest of the State of The Union Address. What struck me most about the whole thing was the bizarreness of watching congress stand up and applaud every three minutes. Then I noticed that there are far more women in congress who are democrats than republicans. I only noticed one female republican, not that there aren't more I suppose, that's just what I noticed. I also noticed that all those democrat women in congress like to dress like colorful polyester adorned peacocks. If I were in congress I'd definitely go for a more neutral looking dress suit or pant suit. Just sayin'.

All week I listened to classical music for my art class. A little Mozart. A little Verdi. A lot of Henry Purcell-from the Baroque period. My two favorite songs by Henry Purcell were "Scene of The Drunken Poet" from the semi opera The Fairy Queen and "Your Hay It Is Mow'd" from the semi opera King Arthur. They both had the added benefit of having cool titles too. Henry was my man to do a short paper on. Did you know school is a bit more complicated than it was back in the 1990s? When you submit your paper for your online class there is a thing that will check for you to see if you are a plagiarizer. It's so nice of them to warn you like that, huh?

So we took the kids to this family fun place for Noah's birthday a couple of weekends ago. We skated a bit and rode the crappy rides and watched the magician. The guy running the bumper car things- they were bumper cars with a big inner tube at the bottom- he starts the ride without checking to see if the riders had buckled themselves up. Noah hadn't and so after a second the guy stopped it and then kept restarting it because he was too impatient to wait for Noah. Seriously dude, your job consists of walking around and making sure a dozen people have their seatbelts on then pushing go and stop. It's not brain surgery! Then the kids rode this other ride that was kind of like a ferris wheel with things that spun in a circle. Brent rode it with Noah the first time then later Noah wanted to ride it alone so he could spin it whatever way he wanted. But they let some teenage boy sit with Noah and he kept spinning it as fast as he could. Noah was all smiles at first, then it was less and less until he did not look happy at all. The boy finally notice and slowed down. I think it may have occurred to him that he may have been in danger of having a seven year old barf all over him. Noah was ready to leave when that ride was over.

While we were there we were checking out the magician and he was doing some disappearing act with his assistant. After, Brent and I were commenting that we both liked that song that was blaring while the magician did his thing. I said it was Talking Heads or at least David Byrne. Brent disagreed. Because he's more of an expert on Talking Heads and David Byrne than I am. How do you explain that I knew David Byrne was from Baltimore and he didn't then? Huh? So when we got home I had to prove him wrong, but I couldn't! I could only remember three words of the song at that point so I google in the phrase "hold my hand" and "sounds like talking heads". The first thing that comes up is those exact words (of course) and a song by some band from the '90s called Rusted Root. So at least I was right that someone else out there thought the song sounded like Talking Heads. Google is awesome! Another example of that is Brent the other day saying to me, "Who's that actor? The one with the weird nose who tried to commit suicide?" Me, "I don't know." Brent,"Sure you do." So I google in "actor tried to commit suicide weird nose" and Owen Wilson comes right up. I'm going to find something really useful to google one of these days.

What's Up (with bonus bad British accent)

2010-01-19T19:02:00.006-07:00

Just so you know for the future- January IS NOT the month you throw new things at me. Christmas is over, the cheeriness is gone and winter, along with a million inches of smoggy disgusting air, has settled in for a long nap. Along with my "seasonal affective disorder" it also brings on a hormonal meltdown for some strange reason. Probably caused by the pollution. Hmmph. This is the place? Maybe if you're able to spend a month every winter in Hawaii it is. I think Zoe feels it too (just came in here and let out a big whine and collapsed onto the floor). Luckily, two years ago I came down with a case of "election fever" which distracted me quite nicely. Hmm, wonder who's winning the election for Kennedy's seat....

....Okay, I'm back. Looks tight. Could be bad news. Can't say I'm all that into it anyway. But you know which way I'm leaning. Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah, I hate January. Or does it hate me? Maybe if I just say it and get it over with I can start thinking more positively about things. The Sunday before winter semester started (little over a week ago) I was totally blindsided by being asked to be first counselor in the primary at church (you know, for kids). Why is it so hard for me to spell the word counselor? (councilor? councelor?) And google doesn't help. It had me spelling it the British way: "I'm the new councilor in the primary. Well isn't that just brilliant! Pip, pip!" said with a bad British accent. So clearly the radar I'd been comfortably flying under for some time had been reset wrong. And this was all THE DAY BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS!!! So naturally I freaked out and dropped a class and called myself out on being a loser for doing so. The good news is I still have my online art class (humanities type class) and it's more confusing than I hoped it would be. So I'm trying to stay positive. *You're an adult Cindy. You can handle this.* Just not what I expected I guess.

So I told Brent I can go about my new responsibilities in one of two ways: I can get one of my many planners out and get nice and organized. Or I can go about it like a bull in a china shop . Can I just apologize to my fellow ward members in advance?

bad, bad, bad, good

2010-01-08T14:29:00.011-07:00

I went to the doctor's yesterday. I've had this pain in my hand since late November. It only bothers me when I write. After a while it looks like I'm trying to enter a penmanship contest with Noah and Noah is winning. I had hoped that the month off of school would cure the pain but I'm noticing it's still there. So I went to the doctor, even though I doubted he'd be able to do anything to help me. I was right. He told me to take lots of tylenol and ibuprofin and get some fat pencils. Maybe that would help. My MIL, Cathy, helped me out when she came over last night by giving me a couple of "My First Tyconderogas" which are about twice as wide as normal pencils. Perfectly suited to four year olds just learning to write and thirty-eight year olds with crippling hand disfigurements. Now to find a pencil sharpener big enough for them. I can picture myself using them in math class while wearing a green visor with LAGOON written across it, like the one I had in fourth grade. Thanks, Cathy!

Then I asked him if my foot (which was afflicted with plantar fasciitis last spring) will ever return to completely normal. I started running this week again so I thought I'd get his take on it all. You know, since I was there and I wanted to get my copays worth and all. His answer was, probably not (although it has improved considerably). He recommended I give up my hopes of running again and stick with biking, swimming and ellipticals. Yay. I should just skip all of that and start saving up for my Segway. Not sure I'm going to follow the running advice. Maybe if I stretch the feet a lot. I don't know. It's not like I'm 85 years old and I should just roll over and give up.

So I come home, kind of bummed. I get the mail. What do I see? I've been called to jury duty. AGAIN. Okay, it's only the third time (all since Brent and I got married 14 1/2 years ago), and I've never actually been selected to a jury. (How often have you been called to jury duty?) But not really the best timing. I was quite steamed at first, but I've come to terms. Moved on. It shouldn't interfere with things too much if I do get selected. I'm taking two classes this semester. One is at night, the other is online and flexible. Of course I do still have these things called KIDS that I am supposed to be there for when I'm not doing the school thing. Hmm.

Today I go on the internet and read a group blog I like to frequent, FMH. Over there is a post about Michael Pollen. I really like his books and his ideas on food and the American diet. The cool thing is that out there on the internet you can find people, even in the Mormon community, who have interests in subjects no one you know is interested in. And that is a GOOD THING. Yay.

Last Thoughts?

2010-01-01T13:36:00.005-07:00

First of all let me say, I would rather have plywood coated with polyurethane in my kitchen than carpet. Or whatever that sub floor stuff is called. That has nothing to do with anything but I was reading a blog where the person was talking about vacuuming her kitchen carpet, which she hated of course and that was my thought.

Last night was New Years Eve and we had fun. Played Pictionary Jr. and the Wii and ate snacks. Too many snacks. The brownies were a cakelike abomination and if Betty Crocker ever does that to me again they will have to kiss my business goodbye.

In the car last night I ran into the top 101 songs of the decade on the radio. Let's just say it was a very bad decade for mainstream alternative music (can those words even be used together?) Maybe my impatience for commercials wasn't the deciding factor for me turning off the radio about four years ago and scarcely turning back on. But I did turn it on and even though almost every song of the remaining thirty-six songs had me saying, Really? This is one of the top 101 songs of the ENTIRE DECADE?! I couldn't turn it off and insisted on listening to the rest. Much to Brent's dismay. Except when we went over to feed the neighbors cat, of course. It's really making it hard to argue that the '00s produced better music than the '90s. That decade is now over and it seemed that no one ever came to a consensus on what to call it. Maybe the whole thing was doomed from the get-go. No really, we were quite blessed during the last decade. I can't complain too much. I shouldn't anyway. The world at large and America though, it was kind of a suckfest overall. If it all means that the last days are here and the second coming is on it's way, I'm more inclined to believe it's being brought on by neglect, cluelessness and stupidity than pure evil.

What can be said about the last decade or the last year? Well, I probably don't have many deep thoughts on the whole thing at this point. Let's see, I know what my least favorite overused phrase of the last year has been. Tender Mercies. Yes, your life may be full of whatever you consider Tender Mercies to be but it's just an expression that I don't care for. That and Moisture. Nope, no deep thoughts here right now. Seriously? Can you think of anything more vile than carpet on the floor in your kitchen?

Christmas Time Was Here

2009-12-29T10:06:00.040-07:00

Christmas was a great time. I love this time of year. We had the annual Christmas party at Brent's dad's house a couple days before Christmas. Brent's mom was able to stay with us over Christmas and we hosted Christmas night dinner- the first time we've done that since the year we moved into our house. I love this time of year with family, to remember how important they are to me. I also love the extra chance to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. There are innumerable things that I question in this world. However, Jesus Christ is not one of them. That knowledge brings peace to my life. May everyone out there have a peaceful, happy new year!

Random pictures of Christmas Cheeriness~

Images of Excess

2009-12-28T20:15:00.001-07:00

kids are just so funny to listen to

2009-12-15T16:56:00.005-07:00

Noah: "Sam* said Andrew's going to get nothing for Christmas and Andrew* said Santa Claus is going to punch Sam in the face."

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent, the hilariously innocent children.

Future Lawyer

2009-12-11T22:04:00.006-07:00

Zoe comes home from school and tells me she went to the principal's office today. Now I know something is suspicious because up to this point she's had model behavior at school (at school, not always at home but at school she's good as gold). She reminds me of this persuasive argument paper the 4th graders had to write to the principal a while back. She wrote hers on bullies. She was trying to convince the principal to help out the kids when they run into bullies. Good thinking. She mentioned these two boys who like to call kids names, they are rude and one day apparently one came up to Noah and screamed in his ear after school. Zoe had told me about this and the times they've called people names. I've basically told them to ignore them (unless they scream in Noah's ear again, they're not making my kid go deaf). They pretty much sound like small time thugs to me.

So the principal reads her paper and she was so convincing in her argument he wants to talk to her about it. She goes in the office and waits for him to call her and doesn't even know why she's there. She's all nervous, of course. Then he calls her in and asks her about the things she's written in her paper. He asks her their names and she tells him the name she can remember. He starts looking at his computer and figures out who the boys are, then takes off without telling her what he's doing. She waits there for a while then he comes back into the office with the two boys. He asks them if this really happened and they make some lame excuse about not remembering but the principal isn't buying it. He tells Zoe to let him know if they ever bother her or anyone else again and lets her leave, keeping the boys there.

Crazy story! But I gotta say I'm proud of her for being so brave. If I was her as a kid I would have been scared to death to meet any boys I accused of bullying, but then I was a big chicken girl. I'd say she's pretty darned good at the persuasive argument. Maybe I'll have her write him another paper on getting a security guard down by the path to keep the teenagers from taking kids' scooters out on joyrides.

Done!

2009-12-11T09:14:00.006-07:00

School ended for me last week. I've completed my first semester back in school. Hooray! Two weeks into the semester I was sure I would have to be a quitter. I was stressed out and my mind and body always resist change like crazy. I kept plodding along and thanks to my not super difficult first semester back course selections I did well. This is significant because I have confirmations I am not an idiot. I for one am glad to have this confirmation because I really needed that confidence booster. It's funny, you're out of school for so many years and you're sure your brain is going to mush and then you see that you are actually capable of more logical thinking than you were back then because of life experience. I think. That and because raising kids is like daily solving the worlds most confusing puzzles and riddles. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely aware that come January something I could be curled up in a ball crying in a corner out of stress and stupidity. I'm just so happy my first venture back into the world of formal education went well. And right now, I have to say, I kind of Love school! Hear that kids? School is fun! Learning is awesome!!

And now to get that Christmas tree up and that house back in order after three months of semi neglect.

Then I Heard This

2009-11-30T10:34:00.007-07:00

I'm flipping through the radio stations for a minute and I pause on a certain station and hear a sound bite that goes something like "Blah, blah, blah...SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD". Then it's immediately followed by "Family Values Talk Radio". I don't care who you want to shoot in the head. The former should NEVER precede the latter. Some days I'm just shocked at how messed up the world can be.

Happy Birthday!

2009-11-15T23:04:00.006-07:00

So Brent turned the big 4-0 last week! I can hardly believe it. He was 21 when we met. It seems like such a short time ago! I first saw him across the room at work, then a while later we started talking a little in the break room, then, well click here if you want to read about how we started dating. Who would think, when you take a summer job at a place you never in a million years imagined yourself working, that you will meet someone and eventually marry him?

He's had his goatee since I met him but about a month ago he started growing a real beard. At first I was unsure but he didn't get all Grizzly Adams about it or anything and I was also kind of like, "Dude, you're going to be 40 next month! Go for it!" He warned me years ago he'd have a long white beard someday. I don't think he's taking it there yet and there is still the distinct possibility that I will cut it off in his sleep if he ever does.

He likes things low key so we had a small family thing. Okay it was us and the kids. And I've finally perfected the birthday carrot cake with the addition of homemade cream cheese frosting and all whole wheat flour instead of half wheat half white. That was accidental but it was good. Semi healthy so you can eat without guilt or trans fats. Anyway, Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!

How To Be A Good Wife

2009-11-09T11:00:00.018-07:00

I ran into this funny thing out on the internet somewhere. It's taken from The Good Wife's Guide from Housekeeping Monthly: May 13, 1955. Holy Crap, I'm glad I wasn't a housewife in the 1950s! Although I do admit to listening to Noah read from the Dick and Jane book we have and thinking it looked like such a lovely, simple time. Reminds me of when I was at BYU and my roommates and I used to read from the book The Fascinating Girl and laugh hysterically. Okay, not all of us. There were a couple who found it to have useful advice. I especially like number six, can you say Stepford Children? And number ten. Huh? I'm all for striving to be a good wife, but come on:

(1) Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready in time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

(2) Prepare yourself. Take fifteen minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up and put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh - looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people.

(3) Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

(4) Gather up schoolbooks, toys, papers etc... and then run a dishcloth over the tables.

(5) Over the cooler months of the year, you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

(6) Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

(7) Be happy to see him.

(8) Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

(9) Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to say, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

(10) Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late, or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he may have gone through that day. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

(11) Your goal: try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

(12) Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

(13) Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low soothing and pleasant voice. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

(14) Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

(15) A good wife always knows her place.

Oh. My.

TMBG

2009-11-07T15:32:00.009-07:00

Brent and I went to see They Might be Giants in concert last night. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. We saw them once in '92 (incidentally, we were broken up at the time. Never date your ex while broken up, it's a sure fire way to end up married for 14 years with three kids.;) Anyway, I don't remember a ton about that show in '92, except for a bunch of accordion playing, of course. Fun time I think, not super memorable. So I just thought it would be: listen to some good music from way in the back where I would try to avoid being squished by pushy concert people. Turns out it was the funnest concert I have ever been to! The venue was very small and we were about twenty feet away from the stage. I swear John Linnell looked me in the eye. No one was pushy and obnoxious. The youngest looking person I noticed there looked to be about 25 so there were none of those obnoxious teenagers. Not that all teenagers are obnoxious, it's just that concerts seem to bring the obnoxious side out in them. It was just so fun, the music was great, they were funny, it was educational (how many concerts can you say that about?) There were even sock puppets for a few minutes (Part of their family show that is going on today, they do children's CDs too. Kind of wish I was taking the kids to that one.) Okay, that sounds a little too much like I'm into sock puppets, which I am not. It was kind of funny though. So fun, fun times with Brent and we got to stay the night in Salt Lake too while the kids were with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Karen.

Halloween '09

2009-11-07T15:23:00.003-07:00

The Which, the Goth Girl and the Scary Clown (Who wasn't really very scary because he didn't want to wear the scary mask. Which was fine by me because I prefer his cute face to the scary clown mask face.)

Blog Post # something, something, something

2009-11-05T09:10:00.006-07:00

I have so little to write about lately. I'm just doing the day to day tasks with my family and studying for school. Things are happening, but nothing that seems worth blogging about. Last night I had a dream. Actually, this morning, right before I woke up. I dreamed that I volunteered to make lunches, and deliver them, to every kid at every elementary school in the Jordan School District. I don't even live in the Jordan School District. But I was feeling overwhelmed at the task before me. Thousands of lunches had to be made and delivered and it was 11:30 already. I was never so grateful for Brent to wake me up and kiss me goodbye for work. I was so happy I didn't really have to make all those lunches, and so happy I wasn't really so stupid as to accept such an impossible job. How dare they even ask a person to do such a huge task, by herself, in one morning?

In other news, I had a scratchy feel in my eye for a couple of days so I went to the eye doctor on Monday. Apparently I have small pit on my eye that is filled with bacteria. Nice. I have to put antibiotic eye drops in my left eye for a week. To keep the pit from burrowing into the center of my eye and making me need my eye surgically removed. (Slight exaggeration here.) The eye drops drip down my sinuses and I can taste them in my throat. Eeew. You didn't want to read that, did you?

Cooking Class

2009-10-17T18:53:00.014-06:00

Isabella's friend Amber.... Her mom asked some of us if we wanted to do a monthly cooking class with the girls, rotating months. So this month was my turn and veggies were on the menu. It turned out to be a lot of fun with the girls, no one was injured with all of those knives cutting vegetables, and I think they may have learned something too!

A cornucopia of vegetables!

Vegetable Chowder

Vegetable Skeleton (in honor of Halloween)

Old Pics, Just For Fun

2009-10-12T10:42:00.011-06:00

I did this blog post over the weekend but didn't like it so I removed it. I still like these old pictures that I had on the post though, so what the hay, I'll just stick them on:

Little Bella

Little Zoe

Little Noah

Can't a girl miss those baby days once in a while? Maybe I should cut my crazy hair off again too.

This picture was from Isabella's Kindergarten birthday party, six years ago. It cracks me up because it reminds me of the cover of an album from the '80s or early '90s.

Now off to study for my Computer Information Resources test I have tonight. I'm learning all sorts of things that 13 year olds already know.

Insanely Stupid

2009-09-28T13:56:00.007-06:00

I do not have my finger on the pulse of all things tween. I tend to think that despite that, I'm still a good mom. I've still got the whole Big Picture thing going for me. Today, however, I almost blew it as a tween mom. Tomorrow is Zoe's 10th birthday. Today I got a phone call from her soccer coach and was offered free tickets to Miley Cyrus. Of course I said,"Woohoo! She's going to love that! I'm going to be a hero! Thank you so much!" Okay, I didn't really say that. What I said was "No thanks, it's Zoe's birthday." The coach's response was, "Oh, she's having a birthday party?" My response to him was, "No". So I say goodbye and hang up on the man who just offered me FREE tickets to Myley Cyrus on my daughter's 10th birthday. Immediately I know I am now in the doghouse. She's going to here about this. She's going to be sad because her BFF is going. I've just ruined my kid's birthday!

Isabella is going to hear about this too and how I could have gotten three tickets. Isabella asked me why we couldn't go to her concert a couple of years ago. My response, "I didn't even know she was coming until the day after". See, no finger on the pulse of what tweens want there. Then she asked last summer, "Why can't we go to Stadium of Fire and see the Jonas Brothers?" I answered, "Because we don't like giant crowds and traffic on the 4th of July and Stadium of Fire is just a little too Republican Rally for our taste. I prefer my holidays nonpartisan." (Don't be offended by this anyone, I'm just joking. I've never been there. Not joking about traffic though. 4th of July, 1989, Phoenix, AZ, literally FOUR hours in traffic!) She wouldn't have to ask me why we couldn't go this time, her answer would be, "My mom is mean and clearly hates me!"

Why did I think it was so important to keep my kid home on her birthday so we could open presents and eat cake and ice cream together? Because those are our big plans. Fortunately, I realized I was being stupid and insane and called the coach back up and told him I may have been the teensiest bit hasty in my initial response. Luckily, his offer hadn't expired and I was still able to get the free tickets. I'm going to have to milk this hero mom thing for all it's worth.

I'm Gettin' Political....Just Barely Though

2009-09-26T11:47:00.005-06:00

How can anyone think that this man is NOT completely full of crap?

Ramble Ramble

2009-09-04T17:36:00.008-06:00

First of all, I'm sitting here on my computer typing while listening to my blog music on the laptop. Pernice Brother's, I like you, even if I first heard of you by watching a Sherwin Williams commercial. It's just more fun to use two computers at once, and the sound quality on the laptop is oh so superior. Gives a nice a.m. radio vibe. I've done pretty much nothing constructive all day because I've gone brain dead from studying for 3 hours for a five question online math quiz this morning. Five questions? Really? So my brain is all fried because I'm not used to counting so much and I'm not sure I can even always identify the associative property of addition at all times and places. I've also been thinking and reading way too much political junk lately. I know I shouldn't do that. Another reason to get off facebook. Would someone just give Glenn Beck a bunker already? So I have to go to the store, to buy chocolate, of course, to combat the buzz in my head from the math and the politics. I'm driving down the highway and a slow truck ends up in front of me carrying a load of wood board things from the Home Depot. Probably finishing his basement. He's driving way slow and next to him, driving slow, is an old man on a motorcycle with a baseball cap on. We all stop at a light and he pulls on his goggles. The kind you use as protective eye wear for power tools and in high school chemistry labs. No real point here except I thought you might enjoy picturing the old man in the baseball cap and protective goggles on his motorcycle. He did pick up some speed and totally beat the guy with the wood board things in the back of his truck. Anyway, I got my chocolate and felt better so I could do the dishes. So there you go, something productive done.

You may ask, how is school going anyway? Well, let me tell you. The first week we had a lecture in my computer class, the professor taught us how to format our computers, even though if we followed her advice being the clueless computer people some of us are (okay, just me) it could have had catastrophic results. Okay, catastrophic may be a bit dramatic, and she did say, "Do Not Do This!" Then why did you show me how too? I'll just stick with the more important information, how to name my C drive after myself. What else? The other day I got to school a few minutes early and was hanging out in what can only be described as the student union of a one building college campus. I was there maybe six minutes and two people asked me if I had an appointment. I never had that kind of service just sitting around between classes at BYU. But then I was usually asleep on a couch in a bathroom or at the library, drooling on my homework. Hey, you try staying up 'til midnight with your super fun roommates, going to work at 3:30 am on campus as a janitor, and going to your 7:30 am class without falling asleep in a puddle of your own drool on your homework. The good news is I can now remember how to add 3/5+79/8 and get the right denominator and all that. So I'm getting used to everything. It helps that the kids' first week of school is done and my blood pressure has gone back down from my brain being yanked around in twenty nine different directions. And I no longer feel like I'm ruining my kids' lives because I'm thinking about algebra at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon instead of my kids and how maybe I should go spy on them on the playground at recess because Noah is in first grade now and I'm lonely. The good thing about being alone so much now? My mind wanders off into lots of bloggable rambling. Okay, it's probably not very bloggable, but entertains me anyway. And that's the real purpose of having a blog, right?

Back To School Pics

2009-09-04T15:05:00.007-06:00

Some cute back to school pics, even though they've already been seen by pretty much everyone on facebook. Worlds colliding again! Maybe they are right that facebook is a waste of time. Hmm.

They are definitely growing up way too fast!

Remember This?

2009-09-04T14:51:00.007-06:00

Remember Pay It Forward?
I finally got around to doing the projects for it sometime during the summer. At first I was thinking: What have I done? Why did I sign on to do this? But I had a project idea I was wanting to try out so I decided to give it a try and it was actually pretty fun. I do like a good craft every now and then, after all. I still need to send some out so send me your address, okay! Yeah, you! :)

Summer Is Over Sigh

2009-08-26T13:44:00.012-06:00

It was a great summer with the kids home. I love having them home in the summer and I'm always sad when they go back to school. Yes, I'm the one with the red face and watery eyes walking down the hall on the first day of school after doing the drop off, trying to compose myself. Here are some of the fun things we did, trying to squeeze in fun 'til the last day:

*4th of July in Logan for a mini vacation.
*We went to our first Real soccer game on the 24th of July. It was so fun! I knew soccer kicks baseball's and football's behind!
*Trips to the Gateway to play in the fountain and visit Clark Planetarium and Discovery Gateway (the children's museum).
*Trips to the pool. Noah can now swim and go down the water slide without floaties!
*Playing in the water at Liberty Park.
*Two trips to Lagoon this summer because I finally got brave enough to take the kids back by myself on the Bounce Back day (double the fun and nausea). They all dared to ride lots of roller coasters this year!
*The annual camping trip where we hiked to Dog Lake and saw no less than 13 dogs, many of them swimming in the lake even though there was a water shed sign that said no dogs in the water. (Irony?)
*Back to school shopping (of course). The most challenging back to school shopping trip to date. (Girl going into sixth grade, she's got her image to think of.)
*Back to school weekend outings. Friday we had a picnic at the park, followed by the new Miyazaki animated movie, "Ponyo". Saturday we went to the Museum of Natural History up at the U., followed by dinner at Macaroni Grill. We even had something fun to do on Sunday. Birthday party for Grandpa Richard. Lots of fun packed in one weekend!
*Kids got a lot of their summer school stuff done and the girls were even able to earn some money by tutoring Noah. Bribery or teaching responsibility? It's a fine line.

Good times o'plenty. I have the best kids!

I Win!

2009-08-20T12:08:00.010-06:00

Every once in a while Brent and I play this game without trying where he tells a story about his childhood that he finds sort of crazy. We all have those stories, especially if you were fortunate enough to be a kid in the 1970s. He tells his story and then I tell my own version of the story and make his story look a little, well.... let's just say I win the story contest every time.

Example: Brent's talking while we're driving in the car the other day and tells me about the time he went down with the scouts to sand bag the State Street River (big flood around 1983 or so, as kids we all found it fascinating) and his parents let him ride in the back of So and So's truck, unrestrained. It was so unlike them. (Disclaimer to Brent's parents: You were great parents, otherwise Brent wouldn't have turned out so great!) So I tell my own story: That reminds me, when I was five or six and we were moving, we had this moving truck and after we unloaded the truck at our new house my dad let me and the sibs ride back to our old house in the back of the empty moving truck. We were running around in it, great fun! Then there was that time when we got a new car and you could put the back seats down to make more room in the trunk. My dad let us climb into the trunk through the back seat and put the seat back up then he gave each of us a ride around town while we were in the trunk. Or what about my Stepdad, Chuck? I remember when we were staying in a hotel and he told me and my brother to come around the corner to check out....( words I cannot in good conscience type on the internet) or when I was 19, shortly before I left for BYU, and a date came to pick me up...(words that would force you to gouge your very own eyes out) ...washcloth. These stories amuse, horrify and annoy Brent (annoy because I feel the need to win the story telling contest, but he will always beat me at strategy board games so we're even). This is why some people were raised in crazy, disfunctional families, so we can later amuse and entertain ourselves and those around us with crazy stories of way back when.

I do know my family wasn't the craziest family out there. If Brent had been raised by a couple of junkies or free loving hippies I'm sure his stories would win every time.

*Posts like this are what happens when you give your family your blog address and they have no interest in reading it. :)

A Story In A Story

2009-08-08T20:24:00.025-06:00

Last night Brent and I watched the movie "New York Doll". It tells the story of Arthur "Killer" Kane who was a guitarist for the punk glam rock band (or something like that), New York Dolls in the 1970s. The band didn't have great success and after, he goes on to have a hard life with drugs and the typical washed up rock star stuff. After a terrible accident that almost kills him he joins the Mormon Church and it portrays his life as a poor, humble Mormon working in the Family History Library by the Los Angeles Temple (I think it's the Los Angeles Temple anyway). It was an interesting, sweet and sad documentary of his life as a Mormon and when he finally gets his shot at reuniting with his old band. One of the best parts was the interview with Morrissey (of the Smith's) in the extras when he calls the hair bands of the '80s basically no talents with no original ideas of their own (I thought it was funny), but I digress. Another interesting part in the extras was the creepy band leader singing the LDS hymn Come Come Ye Saints. He actually does a pretty good job.

So the movie ends and I guess I'm in a music documentary sort of mood so I pop in Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). A documentary about the musical career of They Might Be Giants. Watching this reminded me of Christmas, 2003. I got this movie for Brent for Christmas in 2003.
A few years before that I'd gone to my OBGYN who said after Zoe was born I could come for any old thing, not just baby and woman issues. (Don't listen to you OBGYN if he tells you this. First of all he doesn't really mean it. Second, well just look at the advice he gave me, enough said.) So I got a cholesterol test from him. He told me I had high cholesterol and told me to read the book "Protein Power". This book advised me to return my bread maker I had just got for Christmas, exchange it for a weight bench and start eating tons of protein. Okay, it didn't literally give me that advice, but that is what I took from it. Fortunately, I could never commit to my new meaty lifestyle and I never really got into the weight bench as I prefer DVDs and free weights (it ended up at the D.I. a few years later) but being on the verge of a heart attack was never too far from my mind.
So in the early winter of 2003 I noticed my left arm started hurting. I should also mention there was some stress going on in my simple stay at home mom life. I had two girls and a baby boy who was almost one. It was also the year the Iraq war started and I tend to take trouble in the world very seriously. I started having pain in my left arm. I am a certifiable hypochondriac (semi recovered) so you know what pain in the left arm has to mean. I wasn't sleeping well at night. I'd lie there after Brent went to sleep and my heart would start to beat fast and I was afraid to go to sleep, lest I wake up dead. It got worse as the days approached Christmas. On Christmas Eve I remember we went to Brent's Dad's house for the traditional Pre Christmas festivities: scriptures, treats, present opening, etc. The whole way there I felt weird and sick and anxious. I continued to feel worse and worse while we were there. I couldn't eat anything, really. I do remember eating a couple of m&ms, wondering if they could mean my imminent end. We went home, got the kids to bed and anxiously awaiting Santa Claus. We went to bed shortly after that and I soon heard Brent sleeping. Do you know that feeling at night when you're the only one awake and you feel incredibly alone? I felt like that and I kept feeling strange and anxious, my heart beating rapidly. I was pretty sure at that point I'd be dead in the morning. I lay there waiting for the end to come and finally got up. I turned on the Christmas lights and turned on the TV. It was about 2 am and nothing worth watching was on TV. I remember settling on some weird show on PBS about apostate returned missionaries. It was sad and kind of strange. Finally around 4 am I started to relax enough to doze a little and I went back to bed and went to sleep.
Around 7 or 7:30 we got up because it was Christmas morning and woke up the kids because Santa had come (maybe while I was dozing on the couch). Strangely, I felt much better but I was dead tired. We didn't have anywhere to go until the evening when we went to Brent's Mom's house for dinner. So I remember lazing around the living room in our pajamas for many hours and while the kids were playing with their new toys we put on Brent's new movie, Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). We watched it and I was feeling very tired but relieved I'd lived to spend Christmas day with my husband and kids.
I kept having these "episodes". I'd occasionally wake Brent up and tell him I just felt weird. I'd be having heart palpitations and my arm still hurt. He'd humor me for a minute and then go back to sleep. He knows all about my hypochondria. The story neared it's end one night when I woke Brent up, sure I was having a heart attack and made him take me to the E.R. (Crazy!) So we woke up the kids and headed to the hospital. Of course I wasn't having a heart attack. The doctor's only explanation for anything was I had a pinched nerve. I had bought some three inch high heeled boots recently that killed my back whenever I wore them. Remember, I don't wear heels because they bother my back (probably because they force me to stand up straight and there's just too much back length there to regularly do that). This was the climax of my trouble. Having confirmation that I wasn't dying helped me relax some. I think what I was probably experiencing were panic attacks.
The most irrational part of it all is I'd just lost 30 lbs. of baby weight and beyond by doing Weight Watchers. I was working out more than I ever could remember. So besides the extra Christmas treats I really wasn't doing anything to bring on a heart attack. I share this story not to make you think I am completely nuts. But because my kids will read this one day when they are adults or even teenagers and see that their mom had challenging times too. I survived and overcame. And maybe this will help someone else out there too. Who knows? Someday maybe I'll tell you about 2001 and the lead up to the year on happy pills (which were awesome to be on when 9/11 came around, by the way.)

They Might Be Giants-Ana Ng

Mom My Ride

2009-07-29T18:36:00.003-06:00

I don't know if this is old or not but I just saw it so I thought I'd share:

Sunday Conversation

2009-07-26T12:08:00.001-06:00

Cindy: "Do you want to walk to church today?"

Brent: "Nooo." (thinks it's too hot)

Cindy: "What kind of example are we setting for our children? That when you grow up you...drive everywhere?"

Brent: "When I was a kid we drove to church every Sunday. Now we walk when the weather is nice."

Cindy: "What qualifies as nice weather? Between 75 and 85 degrees? That only adds up to about a dozen days a year!"

Brent: "And only two of them are on Sunday." (laughs)

School Supplies!

2009-07-26T11:50:00.004-06:00

I was starting to feel anxious about going back to school next month. But then I realized, I get to shop for my own school supplies this year. It helps, a little. Brent suggested I get a Trapper Keeper, however, they didn't have them at Wal Mart and I'd need the nerdy 1980s variety anyway.

Kids Are Useful

2009-07-26T11:44:00.001-06:00

Isabella made dinner

How Many Have You Read?

2009-07-20T10:09:00.010-06:00

I saw this on another blog:

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

1 Pride and Prejudice -
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien -
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling -
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -
6 The Bible-
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell -
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott -
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller -
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien -
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk -
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger -
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger -
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot -
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy -
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams -
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky -
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck -
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll-
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame -
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens -
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis -
34 Emma - Jane Austen -
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis -
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne-
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving -
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery -
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy -
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood-
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan -
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel -
52 Dune - Frank Herbert -
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons -
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen-
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens-
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon -
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez-
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck-
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold -
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas-
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie –
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville-
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett -
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -
75 Ulysses - James Joyce -
76 The Inferno – Dante -
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -
80 Possession - AS Byatt –
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens -
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White -
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton -
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery -
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare -
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -

I've read 15. Some I haven't (or rather never) finished, however. I'm sure many of you could do much better than I did. I love books but I don't completely love reading. I wish I did. Get bored and distracted too easily. I was surprised at some of the books on the list. "The Da Vinci Code" was entertaining but I wouldn't call it great literature or anything (just my opinion). I was surprised "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" was on the list. That was an obscure book I found for book group a couple of years ago, trying to find something different. Maybe it's not as obscure as I thought. We didn't end up reading it because there was a little too much "language" in it. Ended up reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter", which was a good book. I also like to read non fiction too but this is a good list to work on.
The last book I read, a couple of weeks ago, was "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale. It's about a housewife who becomes best friends with a famous British actor. Improbable premise, but a fun read. Although it did have some irritating elements to it.

Books I'm currently reading (sort of anyway):
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I really need to finally read a Jane Austen book.)
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (How controversial could this book be, really? It was written in 1945!)
The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman (Wal-Mart practically controls America, boring book though.)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

What are your thoughts? What would you add to this list? How many have you read? Go ahead, embarrass me!

Anti-Anti-Dentite

2009-07-14T15:51:00.004-06:00

Today I took the kids to the dentist. Ending my five year stint as an Anti-Dentite. No cavities! Maybe I'm not a complete failure as a mom. Maybe my dental insurance isn't the world's worst dental insurance. Maybe dentistry isn't a sham after all!

Domestic Bliss

2009-07-13T15:34:00.009-06:00

We went away for the 4th of July weekend and stayed in a hotel. Noah, of course, threw up on his sleeping bag. Isabella did too after drinking the big slushy drink and then going swimming and jumping repeatedly into the hotel pool. Luckily, she made it to the bathroom with no mess involved. What's up with my kids and throwing up in hotels anyway? So the sleeping bag has been waiting for me to take it to the laundromat to wash the barfy smell out of it. (The mess was wiped up well enough but the stink remained, of course.) I also needed to get the quilt on our bed washed since it is also too big to put in the washing machine and honestly, I don't recall ever washing it. So I figured, might as well make a day of it so I (and the girls) stripped every bed in the house, loaded up the van, and took off with the kids for the laundromat I had recently noticed next to the Albertsons. I know, I'm goofy, nutty, crazy, whatever you want to call it but I was so excited when I entered that laundromat. It was so clean! And organized! One wall full of nothing but washers and the opposite wall filled with dryers and lots of clean tables to fold things on! Impressive, I tell you. We got there just as a woman was unloading the four super-sized washers and filled them all up plus one smaller washer. While the stuff was washing, the kids each got their summer school workbook page done. The girls got their daily reading done while everything was drying. We had time to walk over to the bank next door too. It all took about 2 1/2 hours rather than the All Day+ project it would have been at home!

1 sleeping bag, 1 blanket, 2 comforters, 4 quilts, a bunch of sheets and pillowcases and shams equals: One Happy Me!

Remember When....

2009-07-02T21:46:00.004-06:00

Remember when you became friends with your son's kindergarten teacher and she came over so you could go to the park for lunch with her and all of your kids? Remember when you went to the park and the kids were playing after lunch and your son decided to throw a rock at a tree to try to hit a piece of wood that was stuck in the tree? Remember how his aim was WAY OFF and he hit your friend in the head with the rock and she began to bleed profusely?

Remember that?

*She's okay. Didn't need stitches or anything. Still feel like crap about it though.

What DO You Do In The Summertime??

2009-06-27T23:14:00.017-06:00

First it was all cold and rainy and we didn't know what to do. So we went bowling. Me and the kids. They all kicked my butt. I haven't improved much since I was a girl of ten and on a bowling league with my siblings. What was that score I got on that one game back then? Oh yeah, a 5. Five! Do you know what the highest score in bowling is? That's right, 300. And bowling is supposed to be in my genes. Well, I didn't do quite as poorly this time. Got into the 70s in the second game. And the kids were using the bumpers. The bowling attendant wouldn't let me use the bumpers.

Then it was too HOT! Just a week later. We had to get out of the house. Hot and bored. Bad combination. So into the "big city" we drive. I have a new scheme in mind. I want to learn to play the guitar. I know! My secret calling in life is to play kick *@&* piano on stage while singing songs with thought provoking lyrics. Oh, wait. That's not my life. It's Ben Folds'. Anyway, I haven't given up on my secret, inevitable passion. But I've moved on to the guitar. I thought, since I'm going back to school with hopes of pursuing a degree in elementary ed. some day, that learning to play the guitar could be a fun asset. Do a little "This Land Is Your Land" and "Kumbaya" with the students. Yes, I realize it is not, in fact, 1978. I'll have to learn some new songs. So Zoe wanted to go look at guitars so we headed out to Target. Just window shopping. It turns out that Adam Levine of Maroon 5 has his own line of guitars over at Target, along with a lesson manual with a few of his band's hits to learn to play. Who knew? Mighty enticing, but we're not quite ready to commit just yet.

So from there it was off to PetSmart to browse the pets. We have no pets, as you may know. But it can't hurt to look, right? Stinkiest store I have ever been in. But, pets we did see. Fish, reptiles, vermin, etc., etc. I was tempted to get a simple little goldfish but no one helpful was around and we've already had one regrettable fish incident and didn't need another on our hands. So I needed to know what to do to keep this thing alive at least for a couple of weeks. We all thought the little hamster and white mice were cute, spinning around in their little wheels. But then you see about six of them crammed on one wheel, spinning and spinning and spinning. After a little bit you start thinking too much about those little spinning rodents and you start to get a little nauseous. I start softening though and thinking: Oh, a little pet. Wouldn't it be fun for the kids? But then I remember. Every animal poops. I don't need the extra excrement. I was softening a bit, though. Maybe someday I'll cave in and my poor children will get that furry critter they've been wanting. Maybe a lizard.

We finally left the pet store and made our way over to the shady Jordan River Parkway. The pond and playground were looking up this time around. They've implemented a "Do Not Feed The Ducks" policy (and sign). The place is no longer full of bird doo doo. Or crazy ducks and geese. Yeah, it was fun feeding the birds, but not worth the mess. So I was happy about the change. The kids played on the playground for a bit then we went for a walk down the parkway path. Very patriotic people live by the parkway in this area. There was nary a home without a flagpole and old glory waving. Very patriotic. We made it to the bridge and the wind was kicking up again and the rain was on its way, and Noah was tired of walking. So we made our way back to the car and returned home from our hot summer's day journey.

Reunion Week

2009-06-27T22:03:00.011-06:00

So how did the twenty year reunion go, anyway? Well, let me tell you....it was kind of fun and kind of boring. There's not a ton to tell about the actual reunion. It was five hours of dinner and mingling. With a silly song performed by a couple classmates thrown in for good measure. The most notable thing was seeing a room full of people my age. Seriously, I live in a place surrounded by people who are a few years younger than me. Most of them are 5-10 years younger. A few are older. Very few are the same age as me. It's fine. Whatever. It's just a little surreal being in a room of around 200 people where nearly everyone there is 37 or 38 years old. It was sort of like, huh...so we're really not in our twenties anymore. Hmm.
The next day was lunch with some of the old girlfriends. That was fun. This wasn't anything new. We get together every year or two when we're all around. A couple of days later was the Murray/Jordan shindig/brawl/smackdown/et al. Back in high school some of my friends and I had a group of friends from Murray High School. The Murray Guys, as they were known. Yeah, I know, not that creative. How do I describe them? I don't know. They were just great guys and tons of fun. It was great to see how they were, see and hear about their families. Tell old stories. Stories like when we got into the fender bender on the way to pick everyone up for the homecoming dance after we talked Sor into driving (even though his parents were out of town and told him, "DO NOT DRIVE THE SUBURBAN.") And how Barn (Brian) and Sor (Bryan) would drive around with Skippy (Chris) in the trunk of their car. Goofy teenage stuff. But they were good, fun guys. The kind of guys you hope your daughters will have as friends when they are teenagers.

Then

Jason, Candie, Sor, Becky, Me, Dave

Now
Me, Becky, Barn (paper plate stand in), Steve,
Mindy, Candie, Sor

Twenty Years Ago

2009-06-18T12:46:00.011-06:00

I cannot believe I have been out of high school for twenty years! I was thinking I don't feel that old but I think I'm changing that to "38 isn't old, darn it!" Tomorrow is the Jordan High School Class of 1989 20 year reunion. I wanted to go, then I didn't. I'd seen all these people on facebook so I didn't think I really needed to see them in person since I'd seen their pictures, and kids' pictures, employment status, etc. But my good friend Becky, who I've kept in touch with all these years, talked me into going. So now that it's here (almost), I'm kind of excited. Don't have super high expectations. Don't have to settle any old issues or find "closure" with anyone. So we'll just be hanging out in the back corner, making fun of people. Okay, not really (not much anyway). I did hear of a fun game Brent and I can play if we get bored. It's called "Who Won". The way you play is you look at a couple and decide who got the best deal, or is the winner, in the pairing. I hear it's great to play while standing in lines at Disneyland.

You were wondering what I looked like twenty years ago, right?

Summertime....It's Time

2009-06-04T10:25:00.006-06:00

School is officially out! Yesterday was the last day for Isabella and Zoe, Noah finished last week. I'll spare you the harrowing, psychological drama that is swirling through my head over having all three of my kids in school full time next year and how it's the end of a significant part of raising our family. A milestone moment, if you will....met with all sorts of mixed feelings!!!!

Zoe is starting off the summer sick, poor girl. Monday we will start our "summer school" books. Those are just workbooks we do on our own to make sure the kids brains don't turn to mush. Just a page a day and reading too, of course. I've got a million organizing projects to get done this summer. You know when you move into a house, like seven and a half years ago, and you stick stuff in cabinets and closets and never see it again? I've got lots of that to deal with. Plus the rest of the junk that has been crammed in front of it all. I'm not an organized person. Correction, I am surface organized. You know, everything you can see out in the open looks nice and neat (I actually consider it a compliment that I've been called a Stepford Wife before), but if you open a drawer or closet door it's complete and utter chaos. So we'll be working on alleviating this problem, at least until the next seven and a half years rolls around. I'll be cracking the whip at the children. Most of it for a nominal fee though. Teach them the value of earning a buck.

Other events on the horizon (So you know I'm not just a mean old mom):
Swim lessons for Isabella and Noah
Summer School for Zoe (her idea)
Piano lessons for Isabella and Zoe (let's see if we can finally get this thing going)
and hopefully some fun adventures!

Catching Up

2009-05-28T10:38:00.004-06:00

I have to catch up. I've only done two posts in May. I had my blog anniversary in April. Can't sit back and let this thing just die a slow death. Today was Noah's kindergarten graduation. Sort of anyway. It was more like a sing along since there wasn't really anything graduation-ish about it. I think they should have taught them all to hum Pomp and Circumstance. That would have been fun. The other day I was reading this book to Noah. Actually, singing it. It has these silly songs set to the tunes of other songs like "I'm Still here In The Bathtub" instead of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". He was enjoying my singing, of course. Who wouldn't enjoy me belting out "He's Got The Whole Beach In His Pants" (world in his hands) with my untrained voice? I was doing a song to the tune of "The Wheels on The Bus" and he gets this look of recognition on his face and a big grin and yells out, "All through the town!" It was like the most exciting revelation anyone has ever discovered. It was very cute. Then he got his joke book and laughed hysterically at jokes he probably wouldn't even get ten years from now. I mean, come on. This book was published in 2003 and it had a joke with a reference to the actor Don Johnson. Huh?!?
I've been trying to get registered for school in the fall. It looks like I will be taking "Math For Losers" and "Computers For Idiots". I decided to start at square one in the math since I haven't taken a math class in over twelve years. I didn't even bother testing into it or a higher class. I figured brush up on the foundations again so I can do well. After all, I'm constantly googling Isabella's math to remind me how to do simple things like subtract fractions. So it's a little humiliating that the class is considered "remedial". And to make matters worse, pour a little salt in the wound....They charge an Extra Fee for the remedial classes! Oh the humiliation!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-05-27T14:10:00.023-06:00

Fourteen years ago today we were sitting in Brent's red Nissan truck waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for the rain to stop. The family and friends had all abandoned us after a few quick pictures and a few wails from the freezing children. We sat there and waited for almost an hour, us in one car, the photographer in the other. Good thing we got married on Memorial Day weekend or he would have been busy and probably would have been out of there. Finally it stopped and we got our pictures. The pictures we wanted taken at Memory Grove, because it was pretty and no one else we knew had wedding pictures at Memory Grove. After, we went back to the new apartment we would share, just the two of us, and we proceeded to scrub the mud out of the bottom of my dress. Then I ran over to the bridal shop, which was all abuzz on a Saturday afternoon with prospective brides doing their prospective bride shopping and just about yelled through the noise, "I need new shoes now!" It was my wedding day right then. Not these girls who would be waiting for who knows how many more weeks or months (or days, this is Utah after all). I needed new shoes to replace those shoes that were sitting in my new apartment, covered in mud. So I got my shoes and I was off to get ready for the reception or open house or whatever we were calling it. Mostly it was just me and Brent and about 40 family and friends hanging out in his Dad's backyard. Eating and chatting while Brent and I took snapshots of all these people and then some of them took snapshots of us. Good Day.

Honeymooning at Sundance & in Park City

Coincidence? I Don't Know....

2009-05-20T10:09:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to removing my Barack Obama bumper sticker from the back of my car. (Someone had to represent the mini van drivers of America.)

It was time.

Since then I haven't noticed anyone tailgating me in big trucks driven by rednecks. Similarly, I haven't had anyone try to drive me off the road. Yes, it only happened that one time but after thinking it through thoroughly it was the only logical explanation of why someone would do that.

So is it a coincidence? We may never know for sure.

The Cable Guy

2009-04-26T20:03:00.006-06:00

Earlier today Brent called me the homemaking version of the cable guy: "Oh, I'll get to it, be ready to leave, etc. sometime between 8 and 5...."
It's true. I hate being tied down to doing things at a certain time. I much prefer in a while or later or I don't know to the concrete. This could be a problem when I go back to school in the fall.* He has also noticed I can't stick to a recipe (or any directions for that matter) without tweaking it to suit my own taste. Well, I just have better ideas I guess. :)

*Yes, for those I've yet to tell, I've been accepted to Utah State and will be going back to school in the fall at the local extension! Here come the recurring nightmares of me flunking out of high school again because I'm too dumb. No, I didn't flunk out of high school. My dreams just immediately sink me down to the lowest common denominator.

Is Everyone Crazy?

2009-04-26T12:17:00.006-06:00

Maybe it's just because church starts at one and I have too much time to kill on Sundays. I was standing there in my dress. A dress that is clearly past it's prime since I bought it right after Isabella was born. It's an ugly dress. A jumper. I used to love the jumpers but they have long ago gone the way of rolled up jeans and midriff baring tops. All of which are certain to come back in style any day now. Most likely the midriff baring tops will make their way back first since they are never gone for too long. Unfortunately. So I'm standing there in my ugly jumper thinking how my shirt looks ugly with my ugly jumper. I've always liked the fabric and the length of this jumper (very long). Many times I've thought it would make a nice skirt. So right then I take it off and cut the top off and Voila! Instant skirt. I suppose later I should hem it up at the top. But not today, I'm wearing my cut off dress with my long shirt and cami covering the cut part. I don't think anyone can tell, at least not unless they read this. I do realize I am the last person anyone should take fashion advice from. I've been told repeatedly over the last twenty years by my own sister, no less, that I have no style. I don't think I dress like a complete loser but I'll be the first to admit that since I gained twenty unnecessary pounds I hate buying clothes. So, I ask you, is this crazy?

A couple of months ago I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at my sort of curly hair. Last summer I discovered I suddenly had curly hair. "Enough with the curly hair already!" as Brent would say. So I thought it was kind of cool at first so I decided to try to let it grow and see what would come of it. Well I was looking in the mirror thinking, "I hate that frizzy looking part at the bottom." It wasn't really growing into the beautiful crown of curls I had delusionally envisioned. So I took out the scissors and cut it myself right then. I had nothing but a four inch mirror to see the back of it. I know, this goes against the code of all that is sacred and true for a real woman. But then I don't paint my nails or wear high heels. I'd sometimes like to wear high heels, if for no other reason than to be six feet tall; but alas, they hurt my back too much. So I've always had a sort of "screw the code" attitude. In my defense, it was Friday afternoon so if I really botched it I'd still have Saturday morning to go fix it. It turned out to be one of the best haircuts I've ever had. I don't have much luck with professionals anyway. I've been to the expensive stylists and the super cheap stylists. The results are all pretty similar. Very few stylists have even an inkling of know how when it comes to cutting very, very, very, fine hair. And sadly, that is what I have.

Those are just two examples of things I do when no one is around to stop me. So I wonder, does everyone do crazy stuff like this when alone and left to their own devices? Or is it just me who is a little crazy? Either way it's okay. I'm of the belief that crazy begats creativity.

Anne

2009-04-13T12:28:00.002-06:00

Isabella had to do a book report on a historical fictional character recently and dress up like the character for the report. She chose Anne of Green Gables and so she was Anne Shirley. I still wish we could have dyed her hair red!

Things That Are Stupid....and I'm an Idiot

2009-04-12T15:44:00.005-06:00

We finally returned triumphantly from Arizona yesterday after driving for about a thousand hours. It turned out to be a good trip for the most part. We did some fun touristy stuff: went on paddle boats on Tempe Town Lake, visited the Desert Botanical Garden where we saw the Chihuly Glass (an exhibit from a famous glass artist named Dale Chihuly), toured the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff. Remember we wanted to see Taliesin West? Well that was out because of the price and we didn't really have time anyway. We ran into this place in Flagstaff, we were staying there on our last night and needed something to do and it was on the map so we checked it out and it was a cool old mansion that a prominent Flagstaff family lived in, built around 1903 in the Arts and Crafts style of architecture. Something a little educational thrown in for good measure. Brent wanted to show us this natural bridge place he visited with his mom last fall but it was closed due to budget cuts. Darned recession! Oh and we also visited Montezuma Castle (old Native American ruins) and did the usual visit to the neighborhood lake which is great to walk around at night. That and family stuff, of course. The kids loved playing with the Arizona cousins.

The sucky part of the trip was seeing Chuck, my Stepdad. He is now about 74, thin as a rail, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. My Stepdad has a good heart but he is also mean as the day is long. It's now like his spirit is broken. I was almost missing his embarrassing, demoralizing comments that he can make. He was so quiet and childlike. It's just STUPID that this has to happen to people often when they get older.

Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in some idiocy for good measure. Brent and I and the kids took Chuck out to lunch and he really wanted to go to the store and find a bike. He was in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago, he will likely lose his license as a result, so he really wanted a bike to get around. Made sense to me so we took him over to Walmart to look at the bikes. I didn't know if he'd be able to ride one but it couldn't hurt to see, I figured. Chuck used to be quite athletic, played lots of tennis, ran a few marathons. But now he's so thin and he hasn't exercised in some time so he couldn't ride the bike. He kept trying to talk us into going to another bike store but I didn't see the point unless he managed to strengthen his legs and recover some balance somehow. So he was naturally disappointed and I was trying to figure out how I could help him when I saw the scooters. You know how I love the scooters so I thought why not let him try one out. We went outside and he tried out Noah's, we had the kids' scooters in the van. He was doing fairly well so we went back in to check them out some more. He tried out one in the store and was doing pretty good but not so sure still so we told him we'd buy one and we could take it to the park for him to try out, if he didn't like it we'd just keep it ourselves since we had a scooter stolen recently. Well at the park he tried it for a few seconds and he fell. I felt terrible and was thinking, Great I broke his hip! He was all right but he and I both agreed it wasn't the ride for him. I was also thinking this reminded me of the time when Brent and I tried to buy Isabella a bike helmet when she was 4 months old (4 months old!) so we could put her in the newly purchased bike seat and take her on family bike rides. Another dumb idea. It shows the inexperienced should not be left alone with babies or senior citizens. So no bike or scooter for Chuck. I just really wanted to help him out if I could.
Another interesting thing was seeing hobo cats at the park. We were at Pioneer Park, across the street from the Mesa Temple, practicing the scooter. They have an old train in the middle of the park that has a metal barred fence around it. The train had a bunch of stray cats that looked like they'd lived there since they were kittens. Someone had stuck cut open bags of cat food under the fence for them so they had plenty of food. The kids thought it was highly interesting and I named them "Hobo Cats".

Arizona Trip Pics

2009-04-12T15:22:00.009-06:00

Desert Botanical Garden and the Chihuly Glass in Phoenix

Tempe Town Lake

Red Cliffs in St. George, this was totally dry last year when we wanted to take the kids swimming there. This year it was too cool (and a little too green!)

Riordan mansion in Flagstaff

Hobo Cat

Blogging Again?

2009-03-31T11:11:00.002-06:00

There hasn't been much to blog about lately. Occasionally I have a good rant I'd like to get off my chest but then I'm too busy at the time to write or it would be construed as offensive to someone (not offensive in some sort of ugly, vulgar way, you know what I mean.) I will say this, Socialism Shmocialism, and the world has always been good/evil and I don't necessarily think it's any worse now. Remember hearing about that whole Holocaust thing? Anyway, I don't have time for a good rant at the moment. I will say this: I am at my wits end. I worked out for 90 days, six days a week. Felt fine the whole time after the first week. Then I finish and take a few days off. Yes, I started slacking and was down to two or three workouts a week. I have been fighting off injuries left and right since. What's the deal? I was actually excited to start seriously running and I was making progress. A friend of mine is trying to talk me into running a marathon in two years when we hit the big 4-0. I'm not ready to commit because, let's face it, I'd probably be one of those rare cases of death by running induced cardiac arrest. Or at least have to undergo a long series of knee surgeries. I know, there is no cure for hypochondria. But I was considering training for more 5ks and I'd even like to do a 10k, never done that before. But now the foot isn't cooperating, even though I was nice to it and bought pretty new running shoes. And they were more than just a pretty face. So now I need to take it easy on the foot, hope it gets better and take it to a doctor soon if it doesn't. Maybe I should look into this new workout that all the celebrities are raving about (at least acccording to some show on the lastest workouts all the celebrities are raving about that I saw around the new year.) It looks like an upside down bicycle and you pedal with your hands as fast as you can. Then I'd probably have a shoulder injury. Maybe I just need to get some patience. There are some things happening, hopefully. I've already told too many people and I'm afraid I'm going to jinx myself so I'll hold off on talking about that. We are going to Arizona for Spring Break. We weren't sure until just yesterday but it's a go now. Yay! 85 degrees! Seems like it's usually about 95 so it should be just right, or so weather.com says. Arizona is where my mom and stepdad and two sisters and brother and families live. The kids haven't been down to see my family in three years and my mom misses them so that will be nice. There has been a lot of, ehem, drama going on down South lately but it's looking like it will be a good trip regardless of that. While we were there we wanted to go take a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West but it will cost over a hundred bucks to tour for 90 minutes. I was trying to justify it saying, he's a world famous architect, it's like visiting Europe! But Frank and Europe will have to wait. Not in this economy, right? So maybe some nice hikes on South Mountain and Superstition Mountain will suffice. That is if my stupid foot will hold up. Stupid foot!

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