The Cable Guy

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?

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

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

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

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?

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!

Things That Have Attacked Me In A Dream

bears
sharks
snakes
dinosaurs
ducks
mutant dogs with long curvy fangs
squirrels
chipmunks
bad guys
Russians
dogs
bear cubs (they didn't actually attack me but where bear cubs are,
momma bears are right behind)
terrorists
more dinosaurs
alligators
spiders
bugs
monsters
aliens
bees

What does it all mean? I never should have read Jurassic Park back in the early '90s....

Happy Tag!

6 Things that make me happy:

1. Great, energetic piano music.
2. Running and getting hyper to great energetic piano music.
3. People who do kind things when I feel I don't deserve it.
4. Being hopeful about the future in hard times. I don't care what you say, Glenn Beck, I'm going to try to prepare for the worst while being hopeful for the future. That's not exactly how I wanted to phrase that but I didn't want to go all PG on you.
5. Having a husband who I have things in common with- being passionate about similar things and finding humor in similar things. Not everything , of course, but enough to make life good.
6. Cute, blond children.

I tag: Ritsumei, Jen, Jenn, Terri, Isabella, and Zoe

...

I love the playroom under the stairs! This is Noah (of course) watching a movie while his sisters watch HSM3 in the family room. He's also slept there for the last three nights. See the secret entrance on the left side that leads from the family room closet. There used to be a window too, on the right, until we finished the bedroom on the other side and covered it up. Isabella and her friends like to set up club HQ in there. It's a good place to go star gazing-glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling. It's been a fun little hangout place for the kids. I tell Isabella and Zoe we should move one of them into Noah's room and this can be his room. He'd probably love it, for a while anyway!

Mommy Tag

1. Typically what time do you wake up? 7 am.
2. On a good night what time are your kids in bed? 9:30.
3. How long have you been a mommy? 11 years.
4. How old were you when you became a mommy? 26. So glad it wasn't any younger!
5. What is your favorite kids tv show/movie? I loved that Kit Kittredge American Girl movie. I've always been a fan of Arthur, even though it's pretty old now.
6. What is your least favorite kids tv show? Teletubbies, some of the tweeny disney shows like that short show between other shows with the high school kids in the hall acting like morons.
7. What is your favorite chore? Favorite chore? Isn't that an oxymoron?
8. What is your favorite meal to cook? Chicken tacos.
9. What is the meal you cook most often? Uh, spagetti?
10. What is your kids' favorite meal? That I cook? Chicken tacos and Crazy Casserole. They also love the kid's stand by: cheese pizza and mac n' cheese.
11. What is your favorite thing your husband does with your kids? He wrestles with them and plays soccer and he's always finding interesting and educational things to show them on the internet. He really is a great dad.
12.What are 5 things that make you smile when you're being a mom? 1. That they all still like to blow kisses to me. 2. Our drawn out bedtime routine that is too long but I will really miss it one day. 3. Scooter adventures with the kids. 4. Giving and receiving hugs and kisses on the cheeks. 5. That they really are good kids!
14. When was the last time you went out without your kids? Valentines Day.
15. What is your favorite pass time/activity to do with your kids? Going on adventures with them in the summer and holiday tradition stuff.
16. Name 1 thing you said you'd never do as a mom: I know I said a million things but it's been too long since I was a kid to remember. I'm old!
17. What is your favorite quality that your mom has? The way she would listen to me gab on and on before bedtime every night as a teenager. Those were good conversations.
18. What is your advice for new moms? Relax. Most of your screw ups won't psychologically damage them. (At least that's what I keep telling myself!)
19. What is the scariest or most heartbreaking moment as a mom? The hurt that they go through growing up, that we all go through, and there is nothing we can do about it as parents but let them get through it and, hopefully, learn and grow from it.
20. What is your most joyful moment of being a mom? Seeing them succeed and overcome their weaknesses.
21. When was the last time you were told 'I Love You' by one of your kids? Today when I dropped Noah off at school.

Pay It Forward!

I commented on a friends blog for a fun surprise- and now it's your turn. Comment on mine and you'll get something fun from me!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice--for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make NO guarantees that you will LIKE what I make! (I can only hope)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It WILL be done this year.
4. You have no CLUE what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a bookmark, something delicious or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows?
5. Most importantly, you MUST offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!