What I Think

WHAT'S FOR DINNER (and the winner of the 3M Strips)

2012-01-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to those of you who gave me meal suggestions for this upcoming week! The ones I chose and will be making this week are:

Turkey Bagel Burgers
Hearty Lentil Soup
Asian Chicken Salad
Well Dressed Chicken

I put these suggestions, as well as those I chose last week, into a hat (well, actually, a bowl), and Jane drew the winner:

Well Dressed Chicken (which, by the way, sounds like a perfect meal for Amelia Bedelia to make :) )
Congratulations, Laura! I hope you love the 3M strips as much as I have. Please email me at lac1107@aol.com to give me your address and I'll get them on their way. I love that after all these years, food is bringing us together again!

WHATS FOR DINNER?! The winner this month will receive an Airwick Scented Oil Warmer and 2 Refills

My New Year's Resolution

2012-01-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

My New Year's Resolution is nothing impressive, but I am super hopeful about it. This year I am going to...........GET ORGANIZED! It's so funny to me that I've had so many people just assume that I am really organized. Who told them that? It wasn't me, and it isn't true. I wish it were true. And with any luck, it will be at least partly true after this year. And don't worry. I'm smart enough to know that if my goal is simply just to "get organized", I will surely fail. It's not, though. I have specific, obtainable goals that I'm working on.

First, I am going to be better at keeping up with the laundry. I finally accepted the fact recently that it isn't impossible for me to keep up on the laundry (meaning I don't constantly have a gigantic pile of clean clothes overwhelming my laundry room), it's just that I have never made doing so a priority. I keep a pretty good grasp on my dish situation, but only because that has been my priority. You know what I mean? So, thanks to my friend Erin, I have developed a better system for my laundry: I bought four cute rectangular baskets to put on my teeny little laundry table (I would have bought more if I had more room on that table). And every time I take a load of the kids' laundry out of the dryer, I immediately sort it into the four baskets. Then, when the baskets are full, the kids (minus Skip) come and take their baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away. I don't even fold their clothes. Why would I? They just get messed up in their drawers the very next second...I still fold the linens and roll Brian's G's, and hang all the church clothes, but still---just doing the basket thing with the kids' clothes has given me just the help i need to keep things in control. I started this system the day after Christmas, and so far, I have kept up with the laundry. (As long as I hurry in there right now to take care of the last load. Yikes.) That's FOUR weeks--a serious all-time, never-thought-it-could-ever-be-done record! I'm so proud of myself.

Second, Brian and I are reorganizing our business. Brian has often (and I mean often) lamented the fact that he can't just swing his hammer and make a little money. He has to constantly worry about all the paper work/taxes/insurance/workman's compensation/licenses/permits/payroll stuff. And I'm not exaggerating when I say he HATES it--probably more than anything else in the world. And that stuff has always been a major source of contention for us because we have had incredibly poor communication, understanding, and commitment to doing it all right. And recently we hit a real low spot where we both felt like giving up. We were up half the night and I thought that in the morning, we might wake up with Brian deciding to join the army or become a police officer. And I would have been OK with that. He would be great in either of those professions. But the fact is, we woke up that next morning and Brian put his tool belt back on and went back to work. Because he really does love to build, and he's super good at it. He is very talented and very smart. We just need major help with the business side of our business. Sooooo, after all these years of fighting and not doing things right, we are really going to try harder. We're stepping up our game. We are going to communicate and learn and improve. Thanks to many prayers and fasting in our behalf, we have begun to experience little miracles that will hopefully start us on our way to success in managing our business better. We had a conversation about payroll. I was talking and sharing my thoughts. Brian was talking and sharing his thoughts. We were talking--to each other--about payroll--without fighting. M.I.R.A.C.L.E. Sigh....so anyway.... WISH--US--LUCK.

Aaannnddd, I'm going to get out of debt....again. Remember that day when I told you I had paid my last credit card bill? I do too. It was a very good day. Unfortunately, that day is long gone, but the debt is back. I'll spare you my excuses (because as you know, excuses are like armpits. Everyone has them and they all stink). Let's just suffice it to say that I am committed to getting back on track. I really love spending money, but I hate having debt even more. It gives me high blood pressure, I'm sure. It really does make me shake inside. For me, debt literally makes me feel insecure. You know what I mean? I just cannot handle it anymore--especially while being self-employed. So, armed with the tools and the encouragement I gained from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (I'm a graduate, you know) We are going to pay off our debt once again. It is going to be a long process and for right now, I'm not going to focus on our house or land, but we are going to start with the little debts and work our way up.
My goal for this year is to pay down our debt by at least $18, 000. That's an enormous goal; but for us, there is no better time than now to get going on it. And we're not going totally Dave Ramsey and cutting out every little luxury. We can't. We aren't that strong, and we aren't that willing... But we are going to cut out some things, and more than anything else, we are going to be more organized with our money. We are going to WATCH where it is going and keep track of things a lot better. Because of your help, I am going to be planning our weekly meals, which will keep me from going to the grocery store every day; I am going to practice patience; I am going to give myself limits. Little by little, I am going to rid myself of the little debt rain cloud that follows me everywhere. And someday, I hope to call Dave Ramsey and say, WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!

So anyway...I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Don't forget that today is the last day to give me dinner suggestions. Again, I appreciate it SO much, and I will be drawing the winner of the 3M strips tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Ann

Yo Mama

2012-01-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

I've had Yo Mama jokes running through my head lately for some reason. Wait. I know the reason. It's because Brian has recently been responding to my every comment with "Your mom-----(fill in the blank). He thinks he's so funny. He is pretty funny. And he's welcome to talk about my mom all he wants because I'm not insecure about my mom. I know she's the coolest. But just in case one of you is insecure about your mama, I won't tell any of the "Yo mama's so ugly she couldn't turn on a lamp" jokes. Instead, I was thinking maybe we could share some real jokes about our kids' mamas. Then we won't hurt any feelings and we'll just be laughing at ourselves. Got it? Here--I'll start us out.

Ahehehehehem...

Camp's moma's so cheap, she washes and reuses Ziploc bags! Ooohhhhh!

O.K. Now you think of some.

Oh, and by the way...THANK YOU for your continued help with dinners around here. I am continuing to love your recipes. So if you happen to be making dinner soon and want to tell me what your making, I'd love to hear. Don't forget the drawing for the 3M strips will be this Saturday. Yeah. That's about it.

P.S. Your mom goes to college. (I couldn't help it.)

And The Meals I Chose Are.....

2012-01-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

French Dip Sandwiches
Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Salmon with Steamed Veggies
Spaghetti Squash with Sauteed Veggies and Grilled Chicken
Thai Pineapple Chicken Curry
Mango Quinoa Salad
White Chicken Enchiladas (I had only ever made enchiladas with Cream of Chicken soup. Then Sarah told me you should never eat anything that plops--i.e. "cream of crap" as she calls it--so I walked away from enchiladas (almost all together) with my tail between my legs.   So while this recipe still includes the other cheesy, buttery good stuff--it's still a step up :)

You can find these recipes (or links to the recipes) in the comments here.

Yum!

So those who suggested these meals will be entered into the drawing for the 3M strips next Saturday, and they will receive double entries into December's drawing for my favorite shelf.    I must say-- ALL the meals sounded wonderful, and I reserve the right to later choose any of the meals not chosen this time. Also, if you are willing and interested, you may suggest up to three meals a week. This increases your chances of having a meal chosen, and it increases my repertoire of potential dinners. Win, win.

Seriously, girls--Thank you SO much for doing this with me.  You really helped to de-stress my week.

So, again--What's For Dinner? (Explanation given here. )

Also, this coming week I will be posting about things other than food--my New Year's Resolutions, Yo Mama Jokes, and a litte miracle. So stay tuned!

On The Menu

2012-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner and I decided to fix Katie's Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana. Very good. I was thinking I was going to have to be a little more careful with my portion size on this one, given all the good stuff in it--italian sausage, bacon, whipping cream....but no luck. I'm sitting here at the computer desperately trying to suck in my overstuffed belly. I hate when I do this. But, man, that was some good soup. Everyone but Camp ate it and loved it. Camp didn't even try it. Ugh. That drives me crazy.

But anyway...I love you guys. Thanks so much for your help. I'm sure my family appreciates it as well. So keep helping me decide What's For Dinner, and I look forward to sharing some of my favorite things with you.

Oh, and did I tell you my mom gave me some fake eyelashes for Christmas?! I'm pretty sure Laura had a hand in that. I haven't worn those bad boys yet, but they are really cool. I tried one on the other night and stared in the mirror, imagining myself as a long-eyelashed beauty. When Sarah was visiting, we went to Target and the girl at the register had the longest eyelashes I think I have ever seen. I couldn't even think about anything else--I was just so taken with those stinkin' lashes. I just know my life would be perfect if I had long eyelashes. :)

Family Pictures, Christmas Letter and a Confession

2012-01-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

In December, we had family pictures taken for the first time in over five years. Stephanie was such a sport to oblige us and I'm so grateful to her. I feel a little intimidated posting these pictures, because they don't look like all the other family pictures I see out there. There are no fancy bows in our hair, I'm not wearing any fancy accessories, Camp's hair desperately needs to be (and has since been) cut, and on and on and on. But the fact is--even though I do wish sometimes that it were different--if these pictures showed us in any other way--who would we be kidding? (Heck, the fact that my hair is done, there are no stains on our shirts and our shoes are on the right feet makes me feel like we've got the wool pulled over your eyes a little.)
It's funny because I remember feeling worried that it would come time for our pictures to be taken and we would be fighting and complaining and miserable and the smiles on our faces would be a complete misrepresentation of the way we were feeling in those moments--and I would feel dishonest. I know. Weird. But you know what? Those were actually a wonderful 20 minutes. Despite my being late and Brian's being REALLy late (because of an errand he was on for me--doh!) and the sun quickly setting, those were good minutes for me. Brian was so wonderful to make it a point to be happy and cheerful; and because Stephanie was so cool, the kids were happy and cheerful; and because everyone else was happy and cheerful, I was happy and cheerful, too. So anyway....those smiles weren't lying.

Aaaaaaannnnnd, just for documentation purposes, this was our 2011 Christmas letter. I think I'm done with Christmas letters.

December 15, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I have absolutely nothing to say this year. Usually I think about the content of my Christmas letter all year long. Pathetic, I realize. But this year? Nothing. Not a single idea.

We welcomed Skip in January, and man, that kid is darling. He really has only added joy to our family at this point. We’re all very glad to have him.

And that’s pretty much it.

Things are going fine with us. We have highs and lows like every family. Brian and I have struggled to understand and like each other at times. In October, after a tough couple of months, I decided to ask for a day off--which Brian readily granted. I drove to Portland and went shopping, and ever since then, things have been considerably better. I’m not sure what made the difference--Brian and the kids having gotten a 14 hour break from me or my having gotten some new clothes and toss pillows, but whatever it was, it helped a lot. I’m not trying to encourage anything--I’m just saying....And like I’ve said before, we all still love each other, despite our differences, and are in this thing for the long haul. I really do love my husband and children more than anything else.

And I love all of you, too. Every one of you has made my life better, and I’m so thankful.

So have a wonderful Christmas. I mean it.

Love,

Ann

Oh, and I have a confession. I've already been reading your dinner suggestions...I just couldn't bear to wait. I'm a little worried, though, that picking which meals to make is going to be a little tougher than I had imagined. I already made Kat's french dip sandwiches. I served them with asparagus and this cauliflower soup, and ~~there was a party in my tummy~~ it was really good. So maybe I'll end up making every suggested meal you give me...Who knows... Just please continue to tell me What's For Dinner, because the suggestions so far have been PERfect. Yeah, this is seriously going to be the best thing ever. You guys are the best.

Oh, and I have a question...how many times a week is some type of meat a part of your dinner? Meat is expensive, but I just seem to have a hard time coming up with meals without it that are still filling and substantial. Any thoughts?

My Christmas Rug

2012-01-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

As I've told you before, the only thing that gets me through taking down Christmas without sliding into depression is the excitement surrounding whatever decorating items I get. This year Brian gave me the rug I had pinned on my Pinterest board a couple months ago. I love it. I also got a little money to go after-Christmas shopping and picked up a couple fun stars at Pier 1 (and a bunch of stuff from Target). I'm going to enjoy the stars for a couple of weeks and then I'll pack them away with my Christmas stuff. I also kept a little holiday spirit by making a couple of holiday arrangements with Christmas tree branches, berries and pine cones. I feel like they are neutral enough to just be winter decor. What do you think? Also, I never showed you the headboards I made for my girls' beds. I was going to do tufting, but I forgot to buy button-covering kits and then I just got too impatient...So anyway...they are still a huge improvement just the way they are. And a while back I did a little project on my bedroom walls with my kids' silhouettes. I love them. It's amazing how individual and unique the outline of each of their faces is and how much personality each shows. And any day now, I'm going to be painting again, so I'll show you how that looks when it happens.

I haven't done Skip's silhouette yet because he wouldn't hold still; but can you see where it will go when it's done?

And by the way, we had a wonderful Christmas. Lots of relaxing, lots of candy, lots of watching movies, lots of messes, lots of fun.

My First Giveaway and What's For Dinner?!

2012-01-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

You know how I've told you how much I love my favorite things party? And you know how I've told you that I REALLY dislike having to think about what to cook for dinner? Well, I've decided to do a new thing on my blog--a series called What's For Dinner. The way it will work is this: Every Saturday, I will post an entry called What's For Dinner? . You will then have a week to post a comment on that entry giving me a suggestion as to what to cook for dinner. That next Friday night, I will have my husband read off the suggestions and I will choose at least one to cook during the upcoming week. Then on Saturday, I will post which meal(s) I chose and I will ask you again What's For Dinner for the next week, etc. Now--each of the names of those whose suggested meals I choose will be put into a monthly drawing for one of my favorite things! (I will tell you beforehand which of my favorite things it will be) Then, on the night of My Favorite Things Party in December, I will randomly draw one final entry from all of the dinner suggestions submitted throughout the year, and the winner will receive one of Brian's storage or entry shelves--valued at 229! (You can see Pottery Barn's here ) So even if you suggest that I make Tofu and olives for dinner, and I do not choose it (and I surely won't) you will still get a chance at the shelf. However, if I do make the meal you suggest, you will get double entries in the December giveaway. Get it? What do you think?

The winner will choose this shelf in white or black and have a couple hook options.

So.....What's For Dinner? Oh, and don't forget to tell me how to make it--this at least triples your chances of my choosing it :) (The winner of this month's drawing will receive a combo pack of 3M picture hanging strips that I mentioned here. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, January 28th.

P.S. I prefer meals that are fairly well balanced and nutritious--whole grains, fresh veggies, etc., but don't get too crazy. I'd probably feel overwhelmed by anything too extreme. And as you may have guessed, I'm not super big on tofu or olives. :) Thanks in advance for your help with dinner!!

Thank goodness

2012-01-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

....and Mom and Dad could hardly wait for school to start again. Amen to that.

Just Barely Golden

2011-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I baked 6 dozen sugar cookies for me and the kids to decorate. And guess what? I didn't burn a single one. I didn't even overcook a single one. Now THAT, my friends is a Christmas miracle.

We Three Trees

2011-12-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

Man, I hate getting behind. Where was I ....

Brian turned 33, and just like last year, he and I (and Skip this year) spent his birthday weekend in Ashland. And once again, he ran a 31-mile, muddy, freezing, trail run. Crazy. And I went shopping--Walmart, Costco, and the shops and Farmers' Market of Ashland. At the Farmers' Market, I was so excited to find a bunch of berry boughs ( I can't remember what kind of berries they are) to hang on the branch that I have suspended over my kitchen table. I wish I had better pictures of it. The lady that sold them to me told me that she had just sold her entire crop to the folks at Sundance Magazine. I thought that was kinda cool. (A quick aside: lately I've been very discouraged by the fact that I'm never going to be able to capture any pretty part of my home on my blog because I don't have the camera or skill to take good pictures. Do you know what I mean? As I've drooled over decorating blogs over the last year, it has been clear that these girls don't just know how to decorate, they also know how to take pictures. But anyway...what can you do?)

And then later in November, my Gain Goo turned 6, and Sarah's whole family was here to celebrate that and Thanksgiving with us. And can I tell you? I LOVE MY SISTER. I love all my sisters (and brothers, for that matter) but it is just so, so fun being in the same stage of life as my older sister. We understand each other's lives. You know what I mean. So anyway...Jane had a wonderful birthday. She's such a good girl--a little bossy at times, maybe, but practically perfect in every other way :) She still has a lisp that Brian and I love, and she still spends hours a day creating artwork to deliver to the

neighbors. She's loving school, of course. Yesterday, she walked into school in tears for fear of the lunch ladies pressuring her to eat her veggies. I had run out of stuff to make her a lunch, so I insisted she buy one. The funny thing is--it's not that she's so afraid of eating the vegetables (she gets forced to eat vegetables by me every day.) It's the experience of having adults requiring something of her that makes her feel disapproved of. You know what I mean? I was the same way. Before she left the car, though, we said a prayer that everything would be alright and would you know it? Everything went just fine--pizza eaten, vegetables averted. Happy Jane. Happy Mom.

And then I celebrated my second favorite holiday--my Favorite Things Party day :). Yep. I turned 33, too. And this year's party was super fun, although maybe not quite as fun as in years passed. This year I was super tired and much more unprepared than I would like to have been. I hadn't finished decorating my house and my bathroom was a mess--and those two things alone were enough to throw me out of my groove. But thankfully, Becky was here again (it is a tradition) and she totally saved me again. She wrapped all my gifts up nice and pretty in brown paper and string ((you know, from the favorite things song)--dang, I wish I had taken a picture of them. Thanks, Stacy, for that idea) and helped me clean the house and get the food on the table. And hopefully, my guests had as good a time as in the past. I really do love it.

This year my 33 favorite things are (in no particular order): my Pottery Barn-like entry shelves (the ones with the hooks) that Brian built, the leaf trivet that Camp made me, 3M picture hanging strips, tomato and red onion sandwiches (thank-you, Heather), blackberry cobbler, my IKEA drying rack, bedding, my blue and yellow t-shirt, boughs of berries, Christmas decor, DIY projects, decorating blogs, my magazines, my driftwood wreaths, Christmas tree light remotes, sales, dinner someone else made, my blue earrings, B&BW Mentha Lip Gloss, Costco's version of Bare Minerals makeup--the powder/bronzer (which is no longer being sold as far as I know. If you can get me some in medium, I will do something really nice for you!), my Walmart jars, blank notecards, white eyeshadow, cut branches, 3X5 index cards, my yellow book, my blue book, Brummel and Brown butter spread, the scents of Christmas, new clothes, my black exercise pants....and finally--Adele's Someone Like You . And have you ever seen this version or this version? I LOVE all of them. And you know why I love this song? Because I have been heartbroken before and because it reminds me of Sarah. She hooked me on it while we were both at my mom's this summer. We'd float around in the pool belting out the chorus: Nevermind, I'll find someone like you....Oh, man...I wish you were all here to sing with me again. So there you go. Maybe someday you will all get to come to my party and you will all sing and dance with me and I will send you all home with one of my shelves (Stephanie got it this year :) ). I would sure love that...

And finally, I've been decorating for Christmas and putting away the boxes left from decorating for Christmas for about three weeks now, and I'm loving it. I do wish I had some holiday toss pillows. I had intended on making some, but oh, well. My front room and family room trees are both Frasier Firs this year. It's funny, because every year it seems my trees are leaning more and more toward the Charlie Brown variety. As a young kid, we always got Douglas Fir trees, and then at some point we all got smart and went for the Nobles--no offense to you true blue Douglas fans. And now I just seem to me more and more drawn to the trees with more space in between the branches. The thing is, though--I really miss the smell of the Douglas Firs. Nobles and Fraziers don't smell like anything and that is a major sacrifice. So maybe next year I'll get Douglas Firs and just chop a bunch of branches out. Yeah, that might work... But this year I felt a little sad that my bedroom didn't have any sparkly lights, so when my friend mentioned to me that she lived on an old Christmas tree farm, I packed up my saw and some rope and headed out to chop down a third tree. We all know it's best to decorate in threes. And this third one--well it really is a Charley brown tree, but I really love it. Every night I go to sleep to it's glowing lights and Manheim Steamroller's Silent Night on repeat. So wonderful.

Still, Still, Still

2011-12-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

You know what? Ignore what I have written in my personal little ditty on the left side of my blog. Sometimes it isn't fun being a mom. I don't always love it. Some of the time I don't even like it. Too often I realize I've gone through an entire day without really smiling or laughing with or even at my children. And I then I feel awful. But it is really, really hard. My personal belief is that we are commanded to get married and have kids mainly because it is in doing so that we have the greatest opportunity to become perfected. In other words--it is in marriage and raising children that we are forced to confront each of our weaknesses. And I've got a slew of them. Thank goodness for forgiveness. Thank goodness for the atonement. Thank goodness for tomorrow. Oh, thank goodness for tomorrow.

What would I do without my children? I would go shopping all the time. I would have a really clean house. I'd have conversations all day long without being interrupted. I'd probably get dressed and do my hair everyday. And I'd be miserable. That's for sure.

You know what I love? Mannheim Steamroller's Still, Still, Still. There's nothing like a little Still, Still, Still to restore my peace.

The Skinny

2011-10-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

After a lot of years of feeling like I was still young and at least partially "with it", I have now gotten to the point where I really do feel like I'm getting old. Things are changing. Yesterday Brian granted me a whole 14 hour day to myself to go shopping and just be by myself...and it was wonderful. But I spent at least two hours looking for and trying on jeans and that part was not wonderful. It was awful, really. And you know what? I don't care what anyone says. Skinny jeans are not comfortable. At least not on me. I've come to the conclusion that you must have some hips and booty in order for them to even stay up. It's so frustrating because I have to shimmy and hop around to get the dang things on and then they just gradually slip down my pillar-like body with the crotch half-way to my knees. And no one else has that problem? You know--back when I was in high school, I didn't care a lick about how clothes or shoes felt. I only cared about how they looked. But now? I need comfort--so what in the heck am I supposed to do? Thankfully, Brian doesn't care how long my hair is or whether I do my make-up, but he does appreciate the times I put real clothes on. But real clothes just aren't very practical--not when I spend hours a day on my knees cleaning the floors and changing diapers. But anyway...like Audrey says--I do feel better when I get dressed and stuff.

Oh, and you know what? The other day, one of my friends (who is a little older than I) asked me if I would be interested in a couple pairs of pants that she has grown out of. Well, even though they didn't look to be pants I would be crazy about, I told her I would try them. So true to my word--I tried those suckers on. And you know what? They went clear up to my belly button and they felt so dang comfortable! I'm not kidding. I actually stood there feeling really discouraged and conflicted by the fact that comfort is really just a style change away.... What am I even talking about? I'm not sure. I did hear while trying on jeans, though, that high waists and flared legs are coming back. Is that right? Hmmm..

So like I was saying, I went shopping yesterday and got a few things that I hope are cute. Who knows...these days I feel MUCH more comfortable picking out bedding and pillows and stuff.

Oh, and by any chance, does anyone have an opinion about whether I should keep growing my hair out or cut it short again?

Dunked.

2011-10-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a good couple of weeks. Its birthday season at our house, you know. My little Sugar Plum turned four. She is adding; she is swimming; she is feisty and tough as heck; and when she cries, huge tears pour out of her eyes. When Dan was a baby, one of Audrey's boyfriends asked if she were Asian. Asian?? But now I can see it. Albino Asian, maybe. It's her eyes. They are so unusual--they're like little squinted, slanted paisleys and I love them. And my Homie is now EIGHT YEARS OLD. Crazy. And so he was baptized, and officially became a follower of Christ. Over the last several months, I've spent a good deal of mental energy thinking about his baptism (and just baptism in general) and what it means. And I won't tell you all of What I Think now, because there is too much. I'll save that for another day. But Camp's a cool kid. He's a leader. He loves to ask questions and wants to be able to understand everything. He's very creative, very curious, very interested. And he's amazing with babies. Have I ever said that?....

And we had my mom and Brian's mom and Rachel and Stacy and their kids all here for Camp's baptism! So fun...

Uh-oh...

2011-09-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

So this morning as I was arriving at the school to drop off Camp and Jane, Camp started wiggin' out. Apparently he had forgotten something very important. Desperately wanting to avoid any kind of breakdown, I quickly reassured him that we would return home to grab the forgotten item(s). On the way home, I asked him what he had forgotten. He hesitated and then said it was his homework. Since he had already told me he did not have any homework to return, and because I could tell he was not wanting to tell me the truth, I asked him to try again. Finally he told me that he needed to grab three shirts and a few pieces of paper. What for? For the club he is heading. It doesn't have a name yet, but it will be a ninja club and their meeting place will be the treehouse for which he is currently drawing the plans. Remember? Today was the day that each club member would be assigned a special animal spirit (thank you, power rangers) and be instructed on how to tie a ninja mask with a tee-shirt. Oh, man. I hope he doesn't get in trouble again. That kid....

I just don't understand.

2011-09-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

You know what I don't understand? I don't understand why so many children's Halloween costumes have an entire extra head attached to the hood of the costume. Do you know what I mean? It makes so much more sense just to have ears or something attached to the hood and just have the child's face BE the head of the animal. That little horsey costume might look cute until you put it on your kid and suddenly you have a scary two headed monster. I just don't get it... I also don't understand how anyone could prefer pancakes to waffles.

Skip is six months old today. Danin is totally swimming on her own and knows how to add. Janey was her class's first star of the week (granted, they just draw a name--but still) and Camp.....well, we fought again today...Sigh...But, man--he's such a neat kid. He's been working on treehouse plans for the last couple days...

And I added a little fall to my front door for only a couple dollars. I bought the wreath base at the dollar store, the ribbon at Goodwill, and found the other berry sprays up in my closet. And for two bucks, I really like it. Oh, and see how my shelf is transforming just a little? I think maybe I"ll spray paint those little vases white, though. What do you think?

What do you mean, you don't like it?!

2011-09-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

Remember that part on E.T........

And isn't it amazing how extremely difficult it is when you are so excited for your daughter to wear the darling jumper you got her for school and as soon as she puts it on (without even looking in the mirror) she declares she doesn't like it and will not wear it? Oh, my heavens--I think my blood pressure spiked!....And all that hard-earned money down the drain... I didn't handle it too well, I'm afraid, even though I know exactly what the good mom thing to do is. But I apologized during breakfast and told her that she is not the only one who has ever been particular about her clothing. I was a bit the same way. So I should understand. I'm trying to understand. Maybe she'll like it when she tries it on tomorrow...

Skip's crawling forward!

2011-09-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

2011-09-11T22:15:00.001-07:00

So we're back to school. Camp is in Second Grade and Jane is in Kindergarden. And I'm not sure who has been more excited--me or Jane. Jane is just one of those kids that is cut out for school. I knew she would love it, and I was right.
Both of them really enjoyed their first days. I remember Sister Avina video recording her youngest boy walking to school while I was growing up and thinking, really? But I happened to have the camera with me while I was waiting for Jane to get off the bus, so I thought, what the heck. :) Notice she was the only one on the bus. Even cuter. Oh, and she finally got her cast off!! So that's that...
You know what one of the hardest things in the world for me is? Being private. It is really hard for me to not tell people the things that are on my mind and in my heart. I think I have a harder time being private than anyone else I know. And because I know that saying too much about my private business is often not a good thing, I have spent a good deal of time analyzing why I struggle with this particular quality. And I still haven't totally figured it out. But I have realized at least one thing--that I much prefer having close relationships with people to just having acquaintanceships. I like to really know people and have them really know me. You know what I mean? I cannot feel close to anyone who does not know what I struggle with, etc., and about whom I do not know the same. In fact, when I have a friendship with someone who does not know about the hard things I have experienced in my life, I almost feel like I am being dishonest. Isn't that crazy? And I just really enjoy feeling close to people. So I really struggle with using discretion with the things I disclose to people. I'm sure you can see how this can be a really bad thing. But anyway...I'm not sure why I am talking about this. Oh yes I do. Because I am struggling with upset feelings right now and my first inclination is to telephone the world and tell them all about it. Not good. Well, actually, my first inclination is to call my mom and tell her all about it. But she is in Texas and I don't want to spoil her trip with my rantings. I know. I know. I shouldn't tell my mom everything. And I don't--not everything. And my mom is really good at letting me know when I am wrong, and I really appreciate that. And I live a thousand miles from my mom, so she only hears about the things that will otherwise render me unable to cope. Anyway, so do you want to know a few things about me? Don't answer that. Here they are, regardless of whether you care to know or not:
I hate having cold/dirty feet so I wear socks almost all the time. (I also do this to help keep my carpet clean as my grandma taught me that the oils in our feet soil our carpets)
I'm very particular about my hair.
I have no real desire to travel.
I love to talk about feelings.
I am left handed, but I use scissors only with my right hand.

I'm In The Mood

2011-09-05T01:53:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow is our last day of summer vacation. Ours has been pretty good, except for Janey having had a cast on for almost its entirety. And that meant no swimming while everyone else was swimming and pretty much no playing in the sand--and we live in sand. Thank goodness this broken leg thing happened to Jane because she is definitely the only one of my kids who would have been ok with sitting under a tree or something day after day while everyone else was having fun. I mean seriously. The other day I asked the kids if I am a mean mommy or a nice mommy. "Mean mommy," said Camp. "Mean mommy," shouted Danin. "Nice mommy, " declared Janey. "Perfect daughter," thought I. But anyway...
At the beginning of August, we got to enjoy visits from both Brooke and Addison and Merritt and April's family. Oh, man. I miss all of them so much. It was so fun having them back. The kids had a ball, Brian and I got to go out on a triple date with Merritt and April and Jim and Deena, I was introduced to German pancakes and Pinterest (I'm just starting my boards) and Brooke and I got to spend a whole night talking about decorating. I'm not sure she knows what she started--or restarted, rather. But more on that, later.
Guess what else? I ran my first trail run yesterday. Yep. After a week of absolutely no exercise (well, I may have run to the mailbox a time or two) I ran a 15K trail run with Brian down near Sunset Bay. And we stayed together. I told Brian he didn't have to stay with me, but he decided it would be fun to do so, since he does so many races nowadays. And that's my type of romance. Spare me the lighted candles and lingeree (yes, I spelled that wrong on purpose). The only thing that could have made it better would be for us to have been laughing and tellings jokes the whole way. Remember, Laura? Keep mooooooving... But anyway...That was our first time running a race together, and it was really, really fun. I love to feel like Brian is proud of me--you know what I mean? And I got a new tee shirt--my new favorite tee shirt, in fact. It's blue with yellow writing and it fits just right. It just might make it onto my favorites list this year. Man, I gotta start writing those down....Anyway...
Things are going really well right now. We've experienced some little miracles that have really helped relieve some of our stress and we've been more able to just relax a little. The kids and I have tagged along on Erin's adventures all summer long; Camp has started a duct-tape wallet business (they're three bucks a pop, if you're interested); Jane has drawn and colored a million pictures and packed a back-pack full of little dishes and stuffed animals every time we've had an outing; Danin has come to love peaches (we've been devouring peaches from the local produce stands); and Skip has just learned to crawl....backwards. Hmmmm...I wonder what that means--developmentally speaking. Yikes. And me? Well, like I mentioned previously--Brooke rekindled my decorating fire. Not that it ever went out. I just wasn't in the position to do much of it for a while so I made a point to kinda stay away from decorating blogs and stuff, and just kept rearranging things. So it was soooooo fun for me to get a little of this fabric and make me some faux roman shades for the kitchen. I even found a super easy tutorial to help me do it with almost no sewing! And did I tell you how I picked up some chairs at an estate sale recently? They're not the parsons chairs I dream of having custom slip-covered around my table someday, but I really like them just the same. They're definitely better than the ugly mission-style ones I had for so long. Yuck. The only problem was that the seat fabric was horrendous. A little of this fabric, though, and they're looking much better. Oh, and then I finally got around to putting together my other driftwood wreath. Maddie gave me that idea, and I love it! I know, I know. I don't have the right things to sit atop the shelf with it quite yet, but maybe I'll ask for some pretty white apothecary jars or something for Christmas. What do you think? And lastly, I came across this tutorial for making a slip cover for my wing back chair out of a painter's drop cloth! Perfect! So that's what will be keeping me busy next. Ahhhhh....nothing like a little decorating to lift a girl's spirits. I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. One last thing about Danin. The other day, the kids and I were going around the block before dinner and Danin had gotten ahead of us. Before long, though, she came pedaling back and said, "Skip the drama." They're exactly like parrots, these kids of ours.

I think my head might explode

2011-08-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

I've been in a bad mood today. I'm not sure why. I hate when this happens. People don't deserve to have to deal with me on days when I am in a bad mood. I feel bad for all of them. We got a new wireless printer. Actually, we've now purchased three new wireless printers in the last three weeks. I ordered the first one online, only to have Brian remind me that we need one that is also a fax machine and the one I had ordered was not. So I returned it and got one that was also a fax machine. While setting it up, I had a great deal of difficulty getting the wireless capability to work properly. So I called HP tech support and seriously received the best phone support I have ever received. In fact, I think I developed a phone-crush on the guy I was talking to. And he wasn't from India. He was in the U.S.! And he was so wonderful! He understood all of my printer woes and he really wanted to help me. Oh, he was so wonderful...Unfortunately, he was not able to make my new printer work and it was ultimately decided that my printer's wireless card was faulty. Thus, I was advised to return my printer (for the second time) and purchase another model. So I ordered the better model (third one) online and sent Brian to Eugene to return the second one. Unluckily for us, the last four digits of Brian's debt card do not match the last four digits of mine (as printed on my receipt) so Walmart would not return the second printer for Brian. Then last week the third printer arrived in the mail and I finally got around to setting it up tonight. But guess what? It's not working. And apparently the HP tech team that helps with Macs has gone home for the night so I have no one to help me. I think I might poke my eyeballs out. Oh, and this is not why I am in a bad mood, as I am experiencing this problem at the end of my day. This does, however, put me in a worse mood. I'm going to bed.

2011-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Scotty. We love you.

What I think

2011-07-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Patrick Hutchison was the object of my seventh and eighth grade affections. Man, he was so fine ... (remember when we used to say that?) He was in Mr. Jones' seventh grade English class with me. I remember three things about that class: Patrick was in it, Mr. Jones was nice, and on his bald, black head was what I'm realizing now was probably a ganglion cyst. But anyway... Patrick was also in others of my classes including my eighth grade Art class. One of my most prized possessions for many years was a photograph of Patrick, Randy, Christina and I all sitting at the back table in Art class. My hair was in a tiny little bun on top of my head with a bunchy around it and I was wearing a striped shirt from Miller's Outpost. Interestingly, I don't remember my Art teacher's name, but I do remember several details about that class. I remember my teacher's hands and voice. I remember doing a project where we were required to draw some kind of Halloweenish picture that would accompany some book title that had been given us. I remember Randy telling me that from the side I look like a witch (He was right! My darned chin and nose..ugghhh). And I remember one particular conversation Patrick and I had at that back table.

Patrick was Baptist, and pretty active with his church. We talked about religion--and the contrasts/comparisons between our religions/churches somewhat frequently. But one day I remember that for whatever reason, we had gotten into a little tiff about whose religion was right. I remember Patrick saying that his parents knew that his religion was right, and me saying that my parents knew that my religion was right. No doubt Heavenly Father was rolling his eyes at us at about that point. But I remember being a little confused about the fact that both of us seemed equally convinced that our respective churches were the right ones. Hmmm....So how was I to know who was right? I went home and asked my mom. I told her that Patrick's mom "knew" that their church was the right one, so how did she (my mom) really know that ours was? She told me she had prayed about it and that's how she knew. Of course! So I went back to school the next day and told Patrick that the reason my mom knew our church was true was because she had prayed about it. And then I asked him if his mom had done the same. Hmmmmmmmmmm?!! I can't remember what he said, to be honest. But I do remember him being a little uncomfortable with the question.

So that conversation has stuck with me all of these years. I've thought of it many times because it resulted in my recognizing a couple of very important things: first, that the way to know truth is by asking God; and second, that at that time I was only able to say what my mom knew because up until that conversation (and for a long time thereafter) I had not asked God to know for myself. (Side note: in college I took the most challenging grammar class at BYU, and I did pretty dang well. I remember, though, that my professor would always get after me for using too many extraneous that's. Nowadays, I'm sure my grammar is horrible at times and I'm still throwing in way too many that's. So sorry about that. Yikes.)

When I was growing up, I really thought my parents were always right. Don't be embarrassed, mom. I'm sure everyone thought that about his/her parents. Specifically, I thought that the way my parents parented... was the right way. Do you know what I mean? And then my brother Scotty died and a whole bunch of things started changing--like the way my parents parented. And it was really hard for me. It is still hard for me sometimes--not because they are doing anything wrong now( likely the contrary), but because it has forced me to confront the possibility that maybe my parents did not know and do everything right (and therefore I, too, was wrong), and it requires again that I find-out-for-myself what is right--or what will be right for my family. See what I mean? I have to work. It's been interesting because I've found myself feeling resentful toward my parents for (in the past) making me feel like some parenting technique or whatever was the right way to go and now making me feel like the better way is something totally different! The fact is--it's not my parent's fault at all. They didn't make me feel anything. Of course I shouldn't have assumed that they would do everything right. It's just that it is hard, and scary, for me to think and figure things out for myself much of the time. It's much easier to just have the people I trust (i.e. my parents and siblings) figure it all out and then believe and accept whatever they say. You see--I'm much more comfortable INside the box. :( The problem comes when they change their minds or views or beliefs or whatever. That's when it gets hard for me because I don't like change. I like to be right the first time. And I don't want to have to figure it out on my own.

Now don't worry. Don't worry. I know it is good for me to figure things out on my own...It's just hard.

My trip to Vegas and Utah was wonderful. I am part of families who love me and love my kids. They are generous and kind to us. I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father sent us to this earth in families. I love mine. My mom let me do chores to earn money...(Here I am at 32 and I'm still doing chores to earn money)...And she was SO generous in her compensation. And the kids swam, and ate treats and played with cousins and had a ball. Minus Janey breaking her leg in the final days of the trip, our whole vacation was really, really fun. And I feel so lucky to have the mom and sisters I have. They are different from me in many ways. They are more like Brian, and I am so grateful. When they discuss things with me, I can understand Brian more clearly and I am better equipped to be the wife he needs. And would you know it? I learned things about the ways my parents and siblings think and feel that I did not know before. To some extent, some of their views and opinions have changed; and to some extent I'm just now finding out what they've felt and believed all along. And the peek outside of my box is a little uncomfortable for me. But once again, I'm having to use my own brain to think for myself, and say my own prayers to ask for myself, and you know what the result is? Oh, that everything will be fine, of course. And I'll love my family even more.

P.S. It's after midnight and Janey just wheeled up to me in her wheelchair. She told me that at dinner she and Camp had asked for more corn but were not given any more because it was all gone. I asked her what she was trying to say. She said she was still hungry. I laughed, and when I did she started to cry. I tried again to explain to her that when I laugh, it is just a sign that I love her and think she is darling. I hugged her and asked if she believed me. She said she did but that she doesn't like when people laugh at her. Then I wheeled her into the kitchen to get her some cereal.

You're jumping up and down and you feel something brown...

2011-07-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

WARNING: This post contains details of experiences which would preferably happen only in the bathroom--your own bathroom. Reader discretion is advised.

I'd like to be classy. I remember that when Brian and I first moved here and I was working at the candy store, Liz Barnhardt commented to me how funny her family thought it was that Brian and I were married when we were so different. She said that I was "so classy" and Brian was so.......I'm not sure what she said about Brian because I was just so excited to have been described as classy. Come to think of it--I'm not even sure she finished the sentence regarding Brian. I think she just laughed and let her thought hang. I didn't misunderstand her; I knew they loved Brian. But apparently they were amused with what an unexpected pairing we were (are) and 'classy' just happened to be the adjective that came out of her mouth in an attempt to illustrate our different natures. Unfortunately for me, I'm confident that 'classy' was not the word she was thinking of. But what was she going to do? She couldn't correct herself at that point...

But ANYWAY....because I would love so much to be classy, I'm largely disappointed in my desire to share with you the following experience. It is not a classy experience and sharing it with you is even less classy. But the fact is--it happened. And it is the kind of story that typifies the conversations of my childhood. Shameful, I know. In fact, this experience has brought back many a memory of my siblings and I sitting around making up additional verses to the song referenced in the title to this post. (I'll refrain from using the actual word, so as to become a little more classy.) OK. Now I'm worried that I may be wrongly incriminating one or more of my siblings. I guess I don't specifically remember who was there with me all of those times; but at the very least, Scotty was. So anyway....

While I was on vacation visiting family, I caught the same bug that many of my family members got--the main symptom of which was a bad case of the runs. And I've been 'running' ever since, if you know what I mean. So on Saturday night, I made a trip to Fred Meyer to get groceries for the week. And about half way through my shopping, I got a little surprise...Let's just say I was spending all my money and I felt something runny. I'm not even joking. So I turned my cart around and headed for the bathroom, where I discovered that I indeed had a mess in my pants that in two places had already leaked through the linen pants I was wearing. And unlike the time when I wet my pants two days after Jane was born while I was day-after-Thanksgiving shopping, I did not have a sweater to tie around my waist. What in the heck was I going to do? I straight stripped off my g's, washed them in that nasty public toilet, wrung them out, and stuffed them in my pocket. I wasn't even carrying a purse to hide them in! Then I turned my pants around and put them on backwards, hoping that I'd be more successful at hiding what I needed to in the front than in the back. No luck. The fact that my pants were on backward was much more obvious than the fact that I should have been shopping for Depends. So anyway, I put my pants back on the right way, washed my hands good and well, and headed back out to finish my shopping. Lucky for me, it was about 10 o'clock and the store was mostly empty. By the time I got to the register, my bulging pocket was wet and I was worried that the cashier might ask what was in it. Seriously. What would I have said? My soiled g's, sir.

Oh, my heavens. The whole thing was horrible. But a good story--at least for Scotty. Do they even let you tell those kinds of stories up there, Scotty?

Anyway....other than having caught that bug, my time with the kids in Vegas and Utah was really great. More on that later...

This time you get the thousand words

2011-06-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

Remember that childhood story about me holding that picture of Kim (my childhood best friend who had recently moved across town) while I forced tears out of my eyes and sappy music played in the background? Well I have a little more to say about my friendship with Kim. She was my first (as in chronologically) best friend and therefore affected my life in a similar way as does a first love. You know what I mean? I really liked her and my general contentedness in life depended quite heavily on my relationship and experiences with her. It was so fun to have her as my best friend because not only did we enjoy each other, but we looked very similar as well. We were the same height, had the same color eyes and hair, and had approximately the same build as well. We had people mistake us for one another all the time, and I loved it. I loved it because I thought the world of Kim, and I couldn't imagine my life without her. I wanted to be just like her. The thing was--just as is the case for many sets of "twins"--one twin was the prettier, more popular one, and I was not that twin. Hmmm....this story seems to be derailing....But anyway....I remember that in third grade (or fourth was it?) two new girls-Macayla and Dorothy--moved into our school and a friendship between the two of them and Kim quickly sprouted. It wasn't long before I felt like the old getting tossed out and replaced by the new. Oh, man. I was heart broken. And I remember one time having Macayla tell me that during an overnighter with Kim and Dorothy, Kim had been talking badly about me behind my back. When Kim admitted to it, I seriously felt as if my world were crumbling all around me. I could hardly bear that pain of betrayal. (In all honesty, the trust issues I struggle with today probably did grow out of this one experience.) I've been surprised all my life at the pain I felt as a little girl having her best friend move on to funner, cooler pastures. OK. I have GOT to get to the point. The thing is...starting at that time and continuing throughout my life, I have been a bit heartbroken every time the person(s) whose affection I long for has chosen someone else over me. Most likely we've all been there a time or two--having a boyfriend dump us for someone else, being left out from attentions and invitations, being replaced by Macaylas and Dorothys. And it hurts. It hurts bad. And I don't know how you've dealt with it, but growing up, I didn't deal well. I was defensive. I was cold. I was mean. I did what I could to make my offender aware of my anger. And it was totally counterproductive, obviously. And I knew better. I knew being that way was not going to win me any friends or any boyfriends, but I just couldn't deal any differently.
It's been a long time since I've had to experience those feelings--not that I haven't experienced jealousy in a long time. I experience that all the time--but specifically the feelings that accompany a friendship which is somewhat unbalanced because one person is more dependent on the friendship or relationship than the other is. You know what I mean? Recently in my life I have found myself feeling somewhat desperate to develop a certain kind of friendship with a person who seems to prefer another or others to me. Man, this just sounds so junior high-ish. The good news is--despite the fact that I am experiencing little girl (or even high-school girl) feelings as a 32-year-old lady (I refuse to say woman), I am dealing with them like a big girl! I'm a big girl now! (Diaper commercial, anyone?) I'm not being mean and defensive. I'm not trying to get back at them. I'm not falling apart. Because I've at least matured enough to be OK with the fact that many times I'm not going to be the one who gets invited, and sometimes people won't like me as much as I like them, and sometimes I might feel left a little behind. But it's really OK. That's the way life goes for each of us, and it's OK.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words...

2011-05-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Open Enrollment

2011-04-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today while I was at the library, I got a call from the principal at Camp's school. He told me that he had been made aware that Camp had been passing out a "letter" of some sort at recess and asked me if I knew about it. Sure I did. I had been the one to make 19 copies of the original. You know. For all the kids that will be dying to get into Camp's exclusive Karate class. So anyway, when I started laughing and told Mr. Harkleroad I was aware of the document, he remained silent--not quite sure what to say next. Then he said, "I don't want to ruin his entrepreneurial spirit, but we can't have him passing these out at school." I understood, of course, and asked him if he could please go easy on Camp when he addressed the issue with him. He agreed. After school, when Mr. Harkleroad was directing traffic near the parking lot, I rolled down my window to ask him if he would be signing up. He laughed and told me that he had asked Camp what kind of moves he knew and Camp had responded with "sand the floor" and "paint the fence". Pretty much all the best ones. :) Not bad for twenty bucks.

No Good Excuses

2011-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm still really tired. Unfortunately, I really don't have any good excuses for being so. You know why?! Because my boy Skip is sleeping through the night!!! The last two nights he slept close to 12 hours straight! Now this may not be any big thing to some of you, but I'll have you know, it's a HUGE thing for me. None of my babies have slept through the night until at least like eight months. But with each baby, my need for a full night's sleep has increased, so with Skip, I've made the whole sleeping-through-the-night thing more of a priority than ever. And I'm sure many of you will agree that the secret to getting a baby to sleep through the night can be summed up by two words: Baby Wise. It's important for me to say that when I've read On Becoming Baby Wise, I haven't agreed with much of what's in it. The authors definitely make you feel like a horrible mother if you don't feed your baby on a schedule(which has been me to a large degree with my three other babies). And like any other mother, I don't like to be preached to--and those babies were still happy and wonderful, mind you. However, there's no denying that these folks are right on the money when it comes to getting your baby to sleep through the night (given that you have a pretty normal baby), so Skip eats five times a day (sometimes six) every three hours, and he goes to bed right around 8 o'clock like a champ every night. Anyway, just in case that is still useful information to any of you.....

Oh, guess what?! Remember how I've told you how I fantasize about singing along out loud to my Ipod while on the treadmill at the gym? Well today I got to almost experience that vicariously through this lady in front of me. Except she wasn't singing. She was dancing! I'm not kidding. This lady was probably in her late 50's and she was rockin' out. It was so incredible. When I pulled up to the gym and I could see her through the window, I was convinced she must be drunk or something. But nope. That lady was just without the inhibitions the rest of us suffer from, and she was having a dang good time. I'm talking head banging, raising the roof--the whole nine yards, and all while on a treadmill! Man, it was cool.

And I know I've asked you all about this before, but I'm considering getting serious about couponing again and I'm wondering if any of you have ever done one of those couponing programs and been able to stay on it longterm. I'm curious to know if you really have saved a lot of money over all when you look at your total grocery spending every month, or if you have just saved a significant amount of money on things you wouldn't otherwise be buying. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

You know what's funny? Brian is really competitive. But that's not the funny part. The funny part is that he doesn't even care if he is playing a game against a three-year-old. There is still no chance he's gonna let that kid win. So in our house, the object is for all of the rest of us combined to try and beat Dad, and we still rarely win. One of these pictures is of Brian and the kids right after a game of memory. Can you see how little everyone's pile of matches is? Oh yeah. Except Brian's.

And for my interested posterity's sake, I want to say how darling it is that whenever Jane and Dan get a treat of any kind, they immediately combine them and run to their room to get little dishes in which to portion them out. Every treat inspires a little game of house. I love it. And Camp has started teaching Karate lessons. Sure, his only qualifications include having watched the new and old Karate Kid movies a hundred times, but he already has two students. Whom exactly goes without saying, I'm sure. Isn't it interesting how boys develop this crazy reflex of Karate chopping that happens as easily and as often as blinking? Truly amazing.

I'm just too tired

2011-03-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

I've had every intention of updating my blog. I've just gotten behind in everything and I can't seem to pick up the slack. I'm tired. I'm usually so productive at night. After my kids go to bed, I usually clean up the front of the house, or vacuum, or do laundry, or watch TV, or update my blog, or a combination of some or all of those things, but these days, I'm lucky if I even brush my teeth before I fall asleep. And my scripture reading is slacking big time, too. As much as I've loved the addition of Skip to our lives, having a new baby--even as good a baby as he--has seemed to unravel things a bit. And like I said, I'm just tired. I've been wanting to tell you about how I got mastitis for the first time; and about how Brian was out of town for our Valentines date so I was accompanied by Camp instead;

and about how Brian ran his first Ultra marathon (which was 31 miles of trails!!); and about how we enjoyed another wonderful visit with Becky who came to meet Skip and be here for his Blessing; and about how I've been looking forward to Brian's and my 10 year wedding anniversary forever and when it finally came, it was awful; and about how good the kids are with Skip; and about how I got to visit with Brooke for a couple hours and see in person just how darling Addison is; and about how I'm finally going to make an appointment with the doctor so that he can prescribe me some ultra-strength antiperspirant; and probably about other things. The problem is, though--I'm just too tired. But don't you worry. As soon as I've gotten tons of sleep and my kitchen floor is clean again, I'll tell you all about it.

Just More Pictures

2011-02-08T21:34:00.001-08:00

Ever wanted to join a gang?

2011-02-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

You may or may not know my little sister, Laura. And you may or may not know her husband John. But they are pretty dang cool and pretty dang talented--more cool and talented than I could ever hope to be. And they just released a song on Itunes--and are currently raising money to produce the video to go with it. Now granted, this is my sister and brother-in-law we're talking about here, but I'm telling you--they've got some mad skills. If you are interested in deciding for yourself or would like to learn more about their project, I encourage you to go here. Oh, and to hear their song Good At Being Bad in full, go to Laura's blog and click on the widget on the right sidebar. And then I'm hoping you will think I am really cool by association. Go on. Give it a whirl.

The Details

2011-02-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

So here's how it went down.

My mom came in last Monday and was wonderful enough to let Brian and me leave to Eugene on Tuesday evening, instead of having to leave early in the morning on Wednesday in order to make it to the hospital by 8 a.m. The drive there was wonderful all on its own. We had good conversation--or at least I thought it was good conversation. Hmmm...Brian may have hated it, actually. It was one of those conversations where you talk about feelings and love and stuff. Yep. Brian probably hated it, alright. But he was kind, and he participated, and he made me feel like he really loves me. And I told him how much I love him. And I was a really happy wife. And I think Brian was happy, too, despite all the mushy, gushy talk. But anyway...

We went to Olive Garden for dinner. It had been too long. We both ordered the Asiago Ravioli (I think that's what it was called) and man, it was good. I love that stuff. And I swear I could eat three bowls of Olive Garden salad all by myself. I love it.

After dinner, we headed to Jen and Tim's to spend the night. Thank goodness for Jen and Tim, and thank goodness for their guest bedroom. They had gotten us this amazing chocolate cake (see picture in previous post) that had all these different layers of chocolaty, good stuff and we all sat around and laughed and ate cake and watched Youtube videos of people popping really big zits. Classy, I know. And despite my best efforts to get my body to start laboring on it's own (I even had my first acupuncture session earlier that day), I fell asleep without a single pain.

I've got to admit I was feeling quite nervous about the whole no-pain-med thing when we arrived at the hospital the next morning. I'd never been nervous before. I've always loved my labor/delivery experiences. And there was no getting comfortable in my room and settling into the whole idea either. Within minutes of arriving at my room, my doctor checked me and determined that I would indeed need to be put on Pitocin right after he broke my water. He broke my water at about 8:40 a.m. and a few minutes later, I was given my first dose of Pitocin. The nurse then upped my dosage every 15 minutes thereafter. By around 10 a.m my contractions were becoming painful and I was gearing up for the big ones. With the advice you all had given me, my game plan was this: rellllaaaaxxxxx, find a good position, stay focused, and do the low groaning thing that had helped me through the hard contractions of my previous labors before I was given anesthetics. (Lynn Winona was the one to first tell me about the low groaning thing when I was about to be induced with Camp. She pointed out to me that the line the cattle are lowing in Away in a Manger refers to the low groaning type sound that cows make when they are in labor. So cool.) So anyway...as the pain increased, I would close my eyes through each contraction and envision my groans traveling along a heart-monitor type line. As long as I kept it low, it would continue along the line without spiking. Weird, I know, but for some reason it really helped. Brian rubbed and put pressure on my lower back through each contraction and that really helped, too. By 11:37 a.m. I was ready to push. My doctor reminded me to take a deep breath at the start of each contraction and then hold it while pushing for around 5 seconds. Each contraction allowed me around 3 pushes, and by the end of the first contraction, my doctor told me the baby would be born on the next one. He was right. Skippy was born at 8 pounds 2 ounces and 20 inches long at 11:39 a.m.
So now I know what it's like to "go natural." And guess what? For me, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared--probably because it happened so quickly. It certainly would have been a different story had I been in labor for longer. But the worst contractions I experienced this time without any pain meds were only maybe slightly more painful than those I experienced in previous labors right before I was given the epidural or intrathecal (sp?). It was feeling the pushing that really made the difference, but because that went by quickly, it was manageable, too.
So anyway...thank you all so much for your advice and encouragement. I really appreciate it. My experience really could not have been better. It went a little too well, I'm afraid. Being reminded of how amazing the whole process is and how fun it is to have a newborn has only made me think that maybe we're not done. All I need is a few months, though, I'm sure.
For now, I am loving life and loving my little Skip. He's absolutely perfect.

My Son, Skip

2011-01-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it. And here he is. Meet my son, Skip.

The details to follow...

Pink Bunny Pajamas

2011-01-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

I don't know about all of you, but watching A Christmas Story has been one of our family's Christmas-season traditions. Man, what a classic. But this year, I've wondered at my possible poor judgment in allowing this tradition to be so. Maybe it's his age, maybe it's his being a boy, or maybe it's just his being Camp, but Camp always seems to be the one to pick up the aspects of movies that I'd rather he just leave alone.
This year (or I guess it was last year) was the year that Camp figured out what the F-word is. The F dash dash dash word. In previous years, he didn't understand that part, but this year he managed to piece together little morsels of experience and knowledge with the car trouble part of the movie. He let me know that he now understood what word was being implied. I was thrilled, of course. Thankfully, (and miraculously) he has not used that word yet. And do me a favor in joining me in constant prayers that he never does. I've had a hard enough time adjusting to a husband who says damn and hell all the time. I couldn't survive a son who used the f-bomb.

And that's not the worst of it. The other day while we were at story time at the library, there was apparently a little girl who was kinda whining in an annoying voice. (What am I talking about? Is whining ever NOT annoying?) And so Camp said to her: "You better stop that crying or I'm going to give you something to cry about!" Despite the fact that I was sitting close by, I was oblivious to the situation. Lucky for me (please understand my sarcasm) another mother took the opportunity to kinda freak out and scold Camp. At that point, I asked what had happened and she recited the appalling thing Camp had just said to the little girl (who was incidentally not this woman's daughter) in response to the little girl's crying. I was embarrassed and ashamed and felt completely overwhelmed at yet another situation involving my children's misbehavior--especially because I had been totally unaware of any interaction at all between Camp and this little girl. I called Camp over to me and asked why on earth he had said that to the little girl. He had no good answer, and I insisted he go and apologize. Being that Camp and the other little boys had already been scolded several times (by me and by others) for playing too roughly in the library, my emotional energy tank was in the red zone. Therefore, I had the kids gather up their things and we promptly left. On our way outside, I desperately asked Camp where he had learned to say something like that (his comment to the little girl) and he frankly replied, "A Christmas Story." And then he rehearsed to me the part of the movie where the family is eating and Randy is whining about having to eat his dinner. Camp was only reciting the line Randy's dad gave him in that situation. At that point--despite my still being disappointed at Camp's having said the WRONG thing at the WRONG time--I must say, I was a little relieved. Camp's comment really hadn't been out of malice--just a result of poor judgment. He simply had heard the girl's whining, been reminded of Randy and his potatoes, and completed the scenario the way he had seen it in the movie. My anger and frustration diminishing, I explained to Camp the inappropriateness of his action and reflected a few moments on how annoying Randy really was at that dinner table. :)

Finally, the other day, I walked into the kitchen in the middle of a conversation my kids were having while they were at the counter with a snack. I was just in time to hear Janey say to Camp, "I triple-dog-dare you to jump on Mom's bed when it's made!" Yikes. That's the scariest dare she could come up with? I need help. Seriously. What have I done to my kids?

Anyway, I might just be rethinking our Christmas move list next year. I don't even want to think about what my kids will soon be acting out from Home Alone. Heaven help me.

(I'm) Happy (It's a) New Year

2011-01-04T22:47:00.000-08:00

So my no-contest, hands-down, absolute-favorite time of year has come and gone again. And you know what? I'm doing alright. I kept a little holiday (so to speak) up on my pot rack, and that's doing pretty well at keeping my spirits up.

Christmas was good. A little bit different than other years, but still wonderful.
As it happens, I was not home for Christmas Eve dinner, but afterward, I felt grateful I had been gone, because my potatoes and stuffing were awful. I felt sorry for my guests. What a let down. I was especially disappointed because I had been so looking forward to sharing with you my new stuffing recipe that I got out of my BH&G magazine. (Have I already talked about this?) The thing is--I've never liked stuffing. Ever. But this Thanksgiving, I had come across the recipe and had been a little intrigued because it had some ingredients that I'd never seen in stuffing before--namely: spinach, feta cheese, and potato bread. And since I always have guests and most often some of them ARE stuffing eaters, I had decided that this year I would make my first stuffing and it would be great. And you know what? It WAS great. So great, that when I asked my guests if they would like to take any leftovers home, they said they would like to take some stuffing. But anyway...I was just so stoked to have prepared stuffing that Brian (he's never liked stuffing either) and I and everyone else had really liked. So when Christmas rolled around, I was excited to prepare the stuffing once again and see if I could convert any additional non-stuffing eaters. It was not to be. I didn't use as much bread as I should have and as a result, a really nasty, soggy, stuffing came out of the oven. And I ended up tossing about 90% of it into the garbage. Really? On Christmas Eve? Bummer. And my potatoes were WAY undercooked, so like I said, I am just glad I wasn't there to see the grimaces on my guests' faces.

Have I already shared with you the discovery I've made about myself this year? I've come to the realization that I do not like to cook. In fact, I very much dislike it. And I like baking even less. Do I still do it (cooking, I mean)? Well, of course I do, because I've got a family to feed and I do care somewhat about healthy eating and I certainly can't afford to eat out very often; but I just do not enjoy it. I would rather clean all day than have to think about and then prepare a meal.
The crazy thing is, I never realized how much I dislike cooking because of how much I've always liked to eat. I love to eat, and I love to entertain and socialize. And for several years, cooking very often went along with entertaining and socializing, so I never realized how much (or how little ) I actually enjoyed the cooking part. As the years have passed, though, and our family has grown, and other families have grown, it has become much less common for us to have company for dinner (minus the missionaries). Instead I usually find myself cooking for three kids who normally do not stroke my ego and tell me how much they enjoyed my meal. And while I'm pretty sure Brian does appreciate it when I actually fix dinner, it is somewhat uncommon for him to be home when the rest of us are eating, so I don't get to enjoy his gratitude and satisfaction until he scoops up the cold leftovers later on. It just seems like lot of work for very little reward. Anyway...I don't mean to complain. It's been interesting for me to make this self discovery. I just wish I did enjoy cooking. Because it's a necessary evil. You know. Oh, and I need to include that a large part of what I dislike about cooking is the deciding-what-in-the-heck to cook part. And the grocery-shopping part. The stress I experience over what on earth to cook for dinner rivals the stress I experience over keeping my carpets clean. Not cool.

ANYWAY, though, despite my nasty potatoes and stuffing, Christmas really was wonderful. It was peaceful, and that it the greatest gift I could have asked for. There has been a lot of fighting in our home this year, and a day of peace was just so welcomed. The kids were delighted with their gifts, we ate junk, and watched movies and played games; I got like a 3-hour nap; and I was able to take a drive by myself and park down by the river to have a phone conversation with my mom. It was just a really good day.
And while I'm still on the subject of Christmas, let me say that I think Camp's believing-in-Santa days are drawing to a close. When Jane opened one of her Santa gifts to find a little CD player that we had picked up at a thrift store a couple months ago, Camp recognized it as the one he had seen up in my closet (where he had been instructed not to look), and called my bluff. Also, he made a quick connection between the fruit-by-the foot things that were in his stocking and the one that was under his pillow when he lost his first tooth a month or so ago. I may have said enough to encourage his belief in Santa for a bit longer, but I was forced to come clean about the Tooth Fairy. Oh well.....

If you live far from me and got my Christmas card, you know (or maybe you don't because you didn't know if I was kidding or not) that 2010 was a bit of a hard year for us--as it seems it was for many of you; also. Again, I'm not telling you this with an attitude of ingratitude. I DO feel truly grateful for the blessings my family continues to enjoy, and still feel completely happy and satisfied with my life. The fact is, though, that some years are just easier than others, and this was just not one of those years. That's Ok, though, because I'm convinced that we're all just that much cooler because of it. And we were cool before, so....you know..... :)

OK. So if I do not have this baby sooner, I'm being induced three weeks from today (I've always been induced, mainly because I live 1 1/2 hours away from where my doctor is.) January 25th. Just two days after Dad's birthday and the day before Charley's. Have I already said that Brian and I are pretty sure this will be our last baby? (Man, you would think I was 90 years old, judging from my memory.) Never say never, but we're pretty sure we'll be done. Because while I'm really excited about this little guy inside me, I never really have been baby hungry since having had Danin. The thing is--Brian always said he wanted 4 kids, and I've always wanted a big family, and three kids just hasn't seemed to make the cut. Four kids barely seems to make the cut in my mind, but I just don't know that I could handle any more and be any bit of a good mom. Anyway....I've realized this year especially how grateful I am to my mom for toughing it through SEVEN kids. Because in doing so, she provided us each with perhaps the second-greatest gift she could have given us(the first, to me, being her choice to stay at home with us)--that of six awesome brothers and sisters. Man, I love my siblings. I am so grateful for each of them. I just feel so lucky.

But here's the thing: I'm hoping (and really planning this time) on doing the whole labor and delivery thing drug free for the first time. And I've got two reasons and only two reasons for this: 1) I'm curious. Like I said--this will likely be my last baby and therefore my last chance to experience things the other way. And I really do want to know what it's like. 2) I'm really trying to save money. And anesthesia isn't cheap. Agreed? So at this point (deep breath) I'm committed to going au naturel. There's just one problem. I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I need help! I need advice! What the heck am I supposed to be practicing? I need one of you to give me a crash course in Lamaze. Does anyone have any good music to recommend? Any relaxation techniques? Anything? I realize I'm thinking about this a little late in the game--but better late than never, right? And most likely, I'll be doing this natural thing after having been hit up with Pitocin (0r at least that's what's been the case with my other three babies), so have any of you ever done that? Pleeeaaasse help me......

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year,

Ann

P.S. While I wasn't kidding in my Christmas letter, my main objective was to make you laugh. So don't worry too much.

P.S.S. I asked Brian to build me a coffee table for Christmas, so we'd have something to put our feet up on, and he did just what I asked. I think I'll eventually paint it red, but we don't yet have the red paint I want, so for now it is light blue (which I wanted to have under the red anyway.) I'll try and post some pictures soon.

Thank you, Antionne.

2010-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Right now Danin is running around the house repeating, Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Hide your kids... I love it.

I love my girls.

2010-12-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

Right now my girls are having a war with some imaginary boys. They're yelling things like "We saved the day!" and "Fox on a mission" and "You blockheads!"

I love it. I just love it.

'Tis The Season

2010-12-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

Well, my birthday and the Creche Festival and My Favorite Things party have come and gone. So sad. Brian commented to me last Saturday while we were getting things ready for the party that I get as excited for my party as I do about Christmas. Hmmmm....yeah, he's pretty much right. But to me, My Favorite Things party is just part of Christmas, you know? It's not Christmas morning that I can't wait for anymore. Watching the kids on Christmas morning is super exciting and fun, but it also means that the season is rapidly drawing to a close. No, what I can't wait for all year is the decorating, the trees, the wrapping, the treats, the crafts, the smells, the parties, MY party, Christmas morning....ALL of it. I love it all. And don't worry. I don't forget the true meaning of Christmas either. I love and am grateful for that, too. :) I even look forward to serving and am always praying to be guided to someone whose day I can brighten in some way. But anyway.... I'm loving The Season--my house is all Christmasified and I love it. (Notice that piece of paper hanging on the Christmas tree? That's one of Janey's homemade ornaments. I love that girl :) )

It has become somewhat of a tradition for Becky to come visit the weekend of the Creche Festival and my party. And it is always so fun to have her that weekend. She helps me with all the last minute stuff for my party, she attends the Creche Festival with us and admires all of the nativities, ( I think I have over 15 of them now--14 or so of which she has given me) and she goes with us to see the lights down at Shore Acres. It has just been one of those things that we look forward to at the start of every December. We love it.

This year, the Creche Festival came with a little surprise. Back in November, I mentioned that Brian and I had gone down to Ashland where Brian was running his first trail marathon (and he did amazingly well, by the way). While we were there, I looked around in a couple of shops while Brian and Rob were registering for the race. Well, in one of the shops, I saw and then pointed out to Brian the Three Wise Men figures from the Department 56 Krinkles line. I had never seen them before and they were stinkin' cute. I started kinda collecting Krinkles about 7 years ago after Diana gave me my first one for Christmas back when I was managing the candy store. (You're awesome, Di.) So anyway... I saw the Three Wise Men, and just wanted to show Brian how darling they were.

O.K. now back to the Creche festival...I got there around noon on Saturday with Becky and the girls and talked with people and introduced myself for a while (I was one of the hostesses for that hour) before going around to look at all the different nativites. Immediately, I noticed that Amy Wade had been able to grab a magnet board from her house to display a magnetic nativity set that Becky had given me last year. As I neared it though, I also noticed that the name card labeling it as mine had been erroneously (or so I thought) placed in front of a set just next to the magnet board. I felt bad that I was getting credit for someone else's beautiful nativity, so I quickly grabbed the place card and went to put it in front of the magnet board. Right as I was doing so, I realized that the place card said, "Ann Lacouture's new nativity--2010" and the set it was sitting in front of was the Department 56 Krinkles set--the WHOLE set. Could this be a coincidence? I turned to look at Becky, who smiled back at me, and I quickly realized (as Amy snapped pictures of me and everyone else in the room smiled on) that the set was mine. It had been a surprise and a birthday gift from Brian and Becky. Oh my heavens. I couldn't believe it. It's not good to brag, I know, and Brian's not perfect, but because this blog will (hopefully) be really special to my children, I have got to say that I love my husband. He makes me feel taken care of. He makes me feel loved. He loves to spoil me and make me happy, and I am SO grateful to him. I am a very lucky girl. And I recognize and have thanked Becky many times because I know Brian is this way because of her. Anyway...the Creche Festival was wonderful, and my new Krinkles just made it more so.

Later that night, we (Becky and I) continued getting ready for my party. Brian had gone to the Civil War game and was on his way home, and the girls had both fallen asleep. Becky was even so wonderful as to return to the church to pack up my nativities so that I'd have time to vacuum and take a shower. It's so funny because I've found that just about every time I throw a party of some sort, I finish cleaning and cooking and getting stuff ready just in time to look down and realize that I look like poop--I'm wearing paint-stained sweats, I'm unshowered, and I stink like crazy. Not this time, though. This time I was clean AND there were lines in my carpet. What a treat! And the party was fun. So, so fun. It is fun every year--at least it is for me. I tell everyone--and I'm not kidding--that of course I love and look forward to the party each year. It's all about me. :) That's why I recommend that every girl throw a favorite things party for herself. My philosophy is that each of us should be able to do whatever we want for our respective birthdays. Isn't that reasonable? Totally. But anyway, we ate and talked and I went through my 32 favorite things (blank note cards, 3M velcro strips, baby wipes, Bath and Body Works lip gloss, baby powder, mudrooms, google.com, allrecipes.com, Costco makeup, my green book, Sarah Richardson, Christmas decorating, sweats, my red pot, Biosilk Smoothing Serum, my blue earrings, bedding, Christmas light remotes, my red shelf, baking soda, olive oil, BH&G magazine, Brummel and Brown butter spread, aprons, my two hallway rugs, my pan scraper, clean carpet, my pot rack, bag clips, Los Amigos Burrito tacos, ziplocs, and the Youtube video of Antione Dodson's interview), AND most importantly, we danced. And I loved every second of it. Just for old times' sake and to commemorate my favorite things of the past (which is ever so important), we first danced to Mark and Chelsea's Bleeding Love, and then The Best Wedding Entrance Ever, and THEN we danced to Antione Dodson. (It's way better if you watch the interview, and THEN the song. ) I'm smiling big just thinking about it. (As a side note, I've gotta say--these videos affect me in an almost spiritual way. It's like my blood starts pulsing at a different rate. And I'll tell you what--I'm not a super big romantic, but that wedding dance? THAT is romance, my friends. ) Becky was able to come back( from having been with Brian and the kids) just in time to have dessert and open gifts, and then she and I and several of the girls stayed up forever just chattin' it up. So anyway, I'm so grateful to have friends at all, and especially friends who are willing to humor me for one night. And I sincerely hope that I wasn't the only one who had fun.

So that's the scoop. I'm going to go straighten the family room (so that it will be clean tomorrow morning when Amy comes over to take our family picture for our Christmas cards) while I listen to a little Mannheim and Transiberian Orchestra. Wish you were here, Mom. I love you all. Thanks for reading.

P.S. Just one more thing. I'm not sure I've yet mentioned that Camp started Boyscouts and he LOVES it. He's a total scouting nerd, and it is the funniest thing. But anyway, the other night, he told me that he wanted to go "scouting for food." I asked him what that meant and he told me that his troop (which Brian leads) was doing a food drive. I suggested that maybe we wait until we could talk to Brian so that he could fill me in on a few more of the details. Camp didn't go for that. Instead, he outfitted the girls with backpacks and out they went into the night. After about a half hour or so when it had gotten dark and the kids had not yet returned, I got in the van to go track them down. When I was unable to find them, I returned home briefly to grab my phone and start calling a few neighbors to hopefully figure out where they had gotten stopped up. As I headed back out to the van, though, I heard their voices coming around the corner, so I readied the video camera and went to meet them. There they were, trotting along in the complete dark with backpacks loaded with canned food. Three little kids--ages 7, 5, and 3--in the dark, with no coats, and no adult, but smiling and bearing 20 lbs or so of canned food. I asked Camp what he had actually done and he said he had knocked on each door and said, "May we please have some canned food?" Oh, man. I was laughing so hard. At the very worst, I was going to have Child Protective Services contacting me any day, and at the very best we were going to have neighbors praying for our well being and leaving piles of food and other goods (like coats maybe) on our doorstop. This must really have been a slow year for the Lacouture's I could picture them thinking. It was so great. I will admit, though, that later Camp did say that he did introduce himself as a scout and tell them about his purpose as well. Let's just hope so. But man, what funny kids. Oh, and the reason I hadn't seen them when I had gone around the block was because all of the neighbors (who are all senior citizens) had invited them in to get out of the cold. Ohhhhh boy...

Nativities

2010-11-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who live in Florence (or the surrounding areas) and may not otherwise know, this Friday from 1 to 7 and Saturday from 10 to 5, our church is hosting the 5th annual Community Creche Festival. If you are not already familiar with it--it is basically just a huge collection of the nativities of people in our community. They come from all different countries and are made out of all sorts of materials--soap, paper, metals, glass, etc. There are those that have been sewn, those that have been painted and even those that have been made and/or colored by children. You can stay for as long or as briefly as you like, and while you're there you can enjoy cookies and Christmas music performed live periodically throughout the festival. Everyone is welcome--there is even a kids' table with nativities to color and display while you are there. Anyway, I know some of you may think Mormons are weird, and I'll give you that, and there are some things that make our churches all a little different, but I think mostly we have the same goals and desires and we certainly all worship and love Jesus Christ and desire to be like him. I have benefited from and enjoyed the events sponsored by many of the other Christian churches in town, and I hope this event will be no different. It is improving every year. So anyway, I invite you to pack up the family and come. I will be hosting (hostessing?) on Saturday during the noon hour, and would love to see you there then. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Oh, yeah. And just in case you're wondering--there will be no cost (and nothing being sold) and absolutely no proselyting. So don't you worry. :)

Who said it doesn't snow on the coast?

2010-11-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

You know those movies where the perfect family wakes up to a beautiful holiday morning with a magical snowfall, and all the kids go into their parents' room and pile onto their bed? Well, yesterday, that scenario became as much a reality as it ever will be--except that the beautiful holiday wasn't Christmas, it was Jane's birthday (well, and except for the fact that we are far from the perfect family--but whatever). What a perfect gift for a perfect girl. It was so fun to see snow falling outside onto an already snow-covered ground as we were all awaking. The kids downed their pancakes (which I only made because it was Jane's b-day) and piled on their warmest clothes to head outside. On his way out to work, Brian stopped--for what I'm sure was supposed to be a couple of minutes--to pelt the kids with a couple of snowballs, and I even put up my hood and grabbed Brian's Crocs to head outside with the camera. (Having snow reminded me of what a wuss I am in the cold.) Oh, my heavens--it was so fun. I saw that the kids had attempted the first tier of a snowman before heading for the tramp, so I went over to see if I could make something more of it. At first, the snow was really tricky to ball together as it was super dry and looked just like little tiny Styrofoam balls, but Brian and I persisted, and pretty soon, he and I--with the help of the kids--were rolling three huge balls around the yard. When they were ready, we transported them to the front yard and started to build. (The two bottom balls were so heavy that Brian had to pull up his truck so that we could use the tail gate to rest the second ball on until hefting it (the second ball) onto the first.) We got the body stacked and then rounded up some goods to make our snowman complete. And man, we were-and still are--proud of that snowman. That sucker was around 7 feet tall! ( I say was because today, he's hunched to only about 5 1/2 feet.) I even called the local paper to brag--confident that we had surely constructed the biggest snowman in town. But anyway, that kind of family experience (aside from being a strange form of aphrodisiac) is just one of those things that makes me so grateful to have a family. You know what I mean? THAT'S the kind of thing I want to to enjoy throughout the eternities.
Jane's birthday continued to be a wonderful one. Brian made her a real "poodle house" to replace the ones she is constantly trying to fashion out of paper scraps, cracker boxes and scotch tape for all of her little stuffed animals. And Brian is totally of the 'go big or go home' mentality, so this little dog house is no little thing. He actually stripped cedar down to make little tiny shingles, cut little skinny pieces of siding, carefully installed and trimmed out the windows, installed real bamboo flooring and painted the exterior and interior. INcredible. And Jane loved it, of course. Brian had anchored five mylar helium balloons to it, so it was very reminiscent of that darling little house on Up.
Just like on Camp's birthday, we all went bowling and then had dinner, and then headed home to have cake (the one that Becky had made when she was here in October) and oreo blizzards with the Larsens. So fun. I really am lucky to have Jane. She is seriously the most wonderful little five-year-old ever.
And Jane's birthday would be a big enough thing on its own. But this time it also happens to be the shot gun for what I'm sure will be a fabulous week of events. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, of course (and man, it seems especially lonesome this year to not have any extended family with us :( ), Friday I'm going shopping--which is a really big deal--and Saturday we'll be getting at least one of our two trees. Can you see me madly rubbing my hands together? I CAN'T wait.
I'll admit that I've already been listening to Christmas music--but only in the car, because there is a radio station that is already playing it and THAT is just more than I can resist. Come Friday, though, there will be music inside...

Oh, and one more thing. Next week is my birthday (the reason I'm able to justify my shopping on Friday) and you know what that means....it means My Favorite Things. It means I get to dance.

What a month...

2010-11-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

Welp. There goes October. Crazy how that happens. October was a good month for us.

Sugar Plum turned three. Man, what a darling little thing she is. It'll be interesting to see how this next year goes, though--because for my kids, it has been the threes that have been 'terrible.' And I can already see the craziness showing up in Danin. She's started throwing fits and developing a temper that she's never had before. Uh, huh. I've seen this before. Great. But anyway, for her birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese. We had never been there as a family before. Interesting place--one that I am WAY too cheap to frequent. Thanks to the special occasion and an on-line coupon that came with 100 tokens, my kids got lucky. And they loved it. We all did, really. Brian and I joked that our 100 tokens would probably earn us just enough tickets to get the kids each one tootsie roll, but would you know it? Brian hit the "Bonus" on one of the games and it spat him out 190 tickets all in one shot. So you'd think that'd be enough to get like a radio or a huge stuffed animal, right? Nope. TWO tootsie rolls AND a plastic frog. Man, those places are crazy. But whatever. It was Dan's birthday, and she loved it.
Becky came up just in time for Camp's birthday. It's become kind of a tradition. She spoils the kids by making them fancy cakes--the likes of which I do NOT have the skills for, and they all totally love it. She even makes and decorates a cake for Jane's birthday while she's here and puts it in the freezer so that Jane will have a fun cake, too, come her birthday in late November. Anyway, for Camp's birthday, we ate Subway and went bowling and then returned home for cake, Oreo blizzards and the new Karate Kid. They did a pretty good job on that remake-- I've gotta say--except that a 12-year-old romance is a bit ridiculous, and NO ONE could EVER replace Mr. Miagi (how the heck do you spell that?!!)
Lucky for the kids, I forgot to send Becky home with Rachel's costumes that she had sent up with Becky LAST year for Halloween, and upon going through the bag, we discovered that there were costumes that fit the kids this year that hadn't last year. So Dan was a butterfly, Jane was a vampire bat, and Camp (again) wore the very same karate outfit that Brian had worn when he was a little guy. So awesome. ( I really am sorry, Rach, for forgetting to send those all home with your mom. You really have saved me every year.) Unfortunately, I never got a picture of Danin in her costume even though she wore it for like three day straight, but I did manage to get photos of the kids with their jack-o-lanterns and of them with their candy, so that will have to suffice. Being that Halloween was on a Sunday this year, things were a little different, but everything turned out really well. Early in the month, I had determined that I didn't feel comfortable with the kids trick-or-treating on Sunday. I wanted them to realize that keeping the Sabbath day holy often times means sacrifice. So anyway....I managed to broach the topic with them one evening, and the idea of not trick-or-treating did NOT go over well. I reassured them, however, that whatever happened--I would make sure they got lots of candy. (Sacrificing can only go so far, after all.) So as it happens, I had a handful of neighbors who found out (either because I told them or they were told by another neighbor) that we would not be going trick-or-treating on Sunday, and were totally happy to have us come on Saturday evening, instead. Now that might be normal in Utah, (and I swear we went trick-or-treating on Saturday in Vegas when Halloween fell on a Sunday) but I can tell you this--the Lacouture kids were the ONLY kids in Florence out trick-or-treating on Saturday night. And even though we were only able to hit about seven houses, those seven houses took care of us. (Man, we are so lucky to have such kind neighbors.) Additionally, this year I made an extra effort to lobby for trunk-or-treating in our ward, which has never been done here (that I'm aware of). Another mother and I made sure that the ward party would have candy and games and everything to make little kids happy, and our ward members really delivered. Some of you have got to be thinking, Does it really matter THAT much? It's just a pagan holiday that involves tons of candy! Yes, it does. Halloween memories of sorting and trading mounds of candy are among the sweetest (pun partially intended) of my childhood.
As my siblings will remember, our childhood started out with my mom being the one to take us trick-or-treating every year. And every year, she would give us a little brown lunch sack and take us to the houses of a handful of ward members and the neighbors whom they recommended as being safe. One fateful year, though, the responsibility of taking us trick-or-treating was delegated to my dad, and though none of us would ever have guessed it (no offense, dad) that absolutely changed everything. That year, we were armed with pillowcases and those suckers took in a good load of candy. And we just could not believe our good fortune. Needless to say, mom was never invited back. What's a few razor blades in a whole pillowcase full of candy, anyway?
So, yeah. It matters that much.

Other than that, Brian's turn for a birthday falls on Sunday, so on Friday, he and I will be heading to Ashland for a day or so where he will be running his THIRD marathon in just over a year. Crazy. And this one is a 26-mile TRAIL run. It's no coincidence that I finally bit the bullet and got Brian some life insurance. He BETTER not push it too hard.

And I'm doing just fine. Like I've said before, I love being pregnant--and part of that is because my body looks so much better this way. It's the only time I have an excuse for no waist and ugly legs, AND I'm finally filling my 36-B cup again. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful.

With that, I'm about out of words--so I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Oh, one more thing. I apologize for the additional pictures of the house, but I rearranged some furniture and got a couple of fun yard-sale finds, and I know Brooke (if no one else) will appreciate seeing the changes. I've included a couple of the before pics of my kids' rooms so you will know why it is so special to have these rooms clean. Anyway....

Recovering The Past

2010-10-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Despite waking up to the kids fighting this morning, today has been a wonderful day--peaceful (after the morning squabbles were over), relaxing and enjoyable. Brian and I were--for the most part--able to watch both sessions of conference without interruption! I'm not even kidding. I know there are lots of amazing mothers out there who find creative ways to have their kids pay attention to conference, too, but I'm not there yet. I just feel grateful for having gotten to watch it myself. I did, however, take a few seconds to tell my kids why Conference is so important to me. Oh, and I'm just remembering that the kids did get a little of Conference because Camp recognized a reference to the stripling warriors and commented that he likes all the stories of the Book of Mormon. Anyway....

I was in such a good mood afterward that I even let the kids build toilet paper fortifications and have a marshmallow fight even though I just cleaned the carpets this week. Brian voiced his disbelief at my leniency. I told him its important to live a little. Ha Ha. It's amazing (and pathetic) how often the subject of my carpet finds its way into my blogs and conversation. It really is important to me to have clean carpets. It takes a great deal of effort, and causes a significant amount of stress, but it just makes such a difference to have clean carpet. And I'm trying to sell my house, remember, so the carpet has got to look good. As a kid, my grandma Hatch always kept her carpets remarkably clean despite the millions of kids traipsing in and out all the time. It makes me happy to know that she would be impressed to see my carpets now. I know having clean carpet is really, really low on the importance scale, but it gives me a little thrill none the less. Anyway....

Oh, my heavens! You know what I did this week? I successfully transferred over 6400 picture and video files from old hard drives onto our current computer! I had been feeling really sad lately because I've realized that it is already so hard for me to remember specifics of when Camp and Jane were little, and all the records I had to jog my memory were contained on two old hard drives tucked away in the bottom of my file cabinet. I had at least removed and saved them before we tossed our two former computers, but I had no idea how--and if really--I would ever be able to have access to those files again. I'd put off calling a computer guy forever, mainly because of what I feared it might cost, but my need to reminisce finally compelled me to take action. And I didn't end up calling a computer guy at all. Instead, I turned to the source of all worldly truth and knowledge--Google. I did a search for "how do I transfer pictures from old hard drives to my new computer" and a few minutes later, I was on the phone ordering two hard drive cases for a total of just around 25 bucks. When the cases came, I did another Google search for how to install the hard drives into the cases and connect them to my laptop, and before long, I was sorting through thousands of pictures and videos of my babies with a big smile on my face. Oh, and I was especially excited to watch one of the videos--for two reasons. First, it seriously made me giddy to be reminded of how darling Janey Mac was as a little girl, and secondly, I was singing in the back ground and I sounded on tune! You never really know what you sound like when you're singing--you know what I mean? We had friends growing up who were convinced they sang really well, but to our whole family, they sounded somewhat awful. I realize it sounds horrible to say that, but really it was about self-reflection. We had always thought that we sang on-tune enough, but how were we to ever really know? It takes a really close friend to tell you your singing stinks, and we'd never had that kind of friend. Wait a minute! I wonder if my mom ever asked Pam Alger if our singing stunk or not. She would have given us the truth, for sure. Anyway...it seems reasonable that it might be easier to be objective about one's own singing when he/she listens to it as a third person, if you will. I've often wondered at the people auditioning for American Idol with clearly no singing talent. Do they really think they sound good? For sure the delusion will be over once they actually see and hear themselves performing on TV, I've thought. Do you think it is possible that they might hear themselves and still believe they sound amazing? Hmmmm.....It would sure be horrible to find out that not only do I not sing in tune, but I can't even identify when someone else is singing in tune.. Oh, well. I'm choosing to believe that in that video, if not at any other time, I was singing on tune. And that's cool--cool because I love that song. It's the song that I cried and cried to as I drove down the dark highway to meet up with Brian when we were really struggling in our first year of marriage, and it's the song I cried and cried again to when I sat in the Doctor's waiting room after my second D&C. It just means something to me. Something totally unrelated to the lyrics of the song.

Back to the point. The point is--I've finally recovered the past. I'm pretty much a computer wizard by now, and one happy lady, too. I amaze myself. By the way, Google will totally be on my list of my 32 favorite things this year.

Evening The Score

2010-09-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's just occurring to me that Summer is officially over. Sad. Very Sad. After picking up Camp today, I drove over to the Tuesday produce stand to pick up some peppers and tomatoes, only to see a deserted gravel lot. No peppers. No tomatoes. No peaches. The season is over, and I'm not happy about it. It's a dang good thing that all the best holidays land in the fall and winter seasons, because otherwise they'd have no redeeming value. I've always said that the colder months are better because winter clothes are cuter than summer clothes, but now that my whole clothing sitch-e-ation has changed--not to mention the horrible things that added humidity does to my hair--my attitude about the fall and winter months has changed. Like I said--thank goodness for the holidays.
So far, Camp is really enjoying school. He gets annoyed by my asking for too many details, and he never says things are wonderful, but he always comes home happy and hasn't expressed any concerns, so I'm assuming all is well. I'll get to start volunteering in his classroom at the start of October, which I'm really excited about.
Jane and Dan are in swimming lessons again and Janey had her first soccer game on Saturday. Man, that girl is darling. She was a little timid at first, but soon enough, she was running all over the field--looking back every now and again to revel in Camp's cheering for her. Soccer will have been a huge blessing if for nothing else, just as a reinforcement to Jane that Camp really does love her.
And guess what? I got to do a little decorating recently. Nothing big, but exciting still the same. My friend Kim is in the middle of moving and was getting rid of a bunch of stuff, so she gave me some fabulous contact paper that she was done with. At first, I considered covering the backs of my bookshelves with it, but because I'm not sure it wouldn't harm the wood, I decided to just cover some books instead. I know it is totally lame to not be able to read the titles of the books, but it sure looks good. By the way--have I ever posted pictures of my family room after having painted it blue? Well here it is. I swore I'd never decorate with blue, but I'm eating my words now. I can't seem to get enough of it--although I 'm still accessorizing in green and red. (By the way--these are the new toss pillows I'll be asking for for my birthday. What do you think?)

I had a showing the other day, so I decided to take some pictures while the pillows were still fluffed and the lines were still in the carpet. Those things don't last long, you know. Man, I love it when my house is clean. I almost want to just move out onto the porch.

Brian ran a half-marathon trail run on Saturday in the rain after having worked through the night like half the week, and he still kicked fanny big time. So big time that I didn't even make it to the finish line in time to cheer for and congratulate him. Yikes. And he's just signed himself up for a marathon trail run for the weekend of his birthday. Can you imagine running 26.2 miles of trails?! I think I'll grab my next opportunity to go through his truck for illegal stimulants. The guy's obviously lost his marbles.
So anyway....

It's a good thing I just previewed my post because I almost forgot to explain the title. We're having a boy"! Final score (most likely): boys--2, girls--2. Tie game.

Chapstick

2010-09-06T22:39:00.001-07:00

Have you guys all seen Napolean Dynamite? A couple months ago I put it on for my kids to see what they would think of it. They loved it. Isn't that funny?! So they've watched it several times now....Well yesterday, out of the blue, Camp said to me, "Mom, will you bring me some Chapstick?"
"No, buddy, but you can go get it yourself," I replied.
"But my lips hurt real bad," he quoted in Napolean's voice. It wasn't until then that I realized that Camp didn't want Chapstick at all. He just wanted to engage me in a fun Napolean Dynamite dialog. I was totally impressed and laughed for a second before I replied (the best I could in Kip's voice),
"Just get some from the nurse. I know she's got a bunch of them in her drawer."
Camp finished it off right on target with
"I'm not using hers, you sicko!"

Oh, man. What a cool kid I have. That kid's got a memory just like his dad's. I couldn't believe his timing and wit.

Speaking of Camp--his first day of first grade is tomorrow and I'm totally stoked about it. I'm stoked for him and I'm stoked for me. I get to go with him tomorrow for the first couple hours, and I'm feeling like it's my first day of school all over again, too. I wish I had a cute new outfit to wear. Do you all remember all of your first days of school? I remember how exciting it was for me to get a few new outfits for school over the summer and although I would never officially wear them before the start of school, I would line them up on my bed nightly and try them on often... Over several years, most of our school shopping was done at the University Mall in Orem--during our visit to our Grandma Hatch's house. Later on, I remember getting stuff at Contempo. I remember this pair of navy blue Squeeze brand (is that what those things were?)shorts that had white and yellow daisies all over them. I loved them. They were just BARELY long enough to gain my mom's approval, and I wore them with a matching navy v-neck. I was thinking they'd change my life. They didn't.
I have so many memories of being so excited to get new clothes. I remember this one time in elementary school when I was lucky enough to have my mom take me to K-mart to get a new outfit. I chose this ruffly white skirt with stretch pants attached and a baby blue t-shirt. I kid you not--I was so excited to wear that outfit the next day at school that I did not sleep a wink that whole night. I felt sure people were not going to be able to take their eyes off me. Oh, boy...
All growing up, I spent ALL of my money on clothes--I never spent a dime on CD's or fast food or anything else. I just loved getting new clothes. When I worked at the GAP in the Fashion Show Mall my senior year, I'd go over to the neighboring hotel on pay day, cash my check, and head back into the store to spend it on clothes. I didn't make much money working there--or I didn't keep much money, rather. But I got new clothes a lot.
It's interesting how my shopping habits have changed over the years. These days, when I am lucky enough to have a little money to spend on myself, I almost always spend it on something decorative for the house. I care much more about how the house looks than I do about how I look. I would still love to look stylish, but I just don't have the money or time to realize that dream. I shouldn't say that. If I never bought anything for the house, I'd probably be able to dress a lot cuter. But it seriously baffles me when I see other mothers here in Florence who always dress stylishly, because I'm thinking, Aside from anything else, how in the heck are you able to find the opportunity to go shopping to buy those clothes when you have kids? Where are your kids when you are shopping? The few times I have attempted to shop with my kids, I have become so exhausted and overwhelmed so quickly that I've been lucky to get out with a new pair of sweats.
ANYWAY...I'm excited for tomorrow, new clothes or not.

Oh, just one more thing about clothes before I shut up about it, I promise. On Sunday at church, a friend of mine commented to me that her mom had commented to her (did you get that?), "Ann shouldn't wear that shirt she's wearing because it makes her look pregnant." So funny. Luckily for me, I AM pregnant....almost 20 weeks along. Yep. Luckily for me, I am pregnant... :)

A First

2010-08-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Have any of you ever seen one of those medical mystery shows where they tell you about some crazy medical condition and then you (as the viewer) are supposed to try and guess what the medical condition is? Well I've got a mystery of sorts (not medical, though) that I'd love for you to figure out. Here it is:

Almost all of my shirts (like all four of them) have the same little cluster of rips right in the same place--a couple inches below my belly button. Any ideas about how in the heck this could keep happening to all of my shirts?

I'll just tell you because I don't want to ask the question and then likely have no one answer me. The fact is, when I stand at the kitchen sink--which I do for like five hours of every day--it just happens that the counter hits me at exactly the height of my pants' button. So the friction caused by my shirt constantly getting rubbed in between and metal button and a stone counter results in holes in the same place on every shirt. Isn't that horrible? It's horrible, alright.
Anyway, so partly because of that and partly because I hate to have stuff that stains splatter on my four shirts when I am cooking, I really like to wear aprons. I have several of them and I wear them often. And I've found that once I have one on, I usually wear it for the rest of the day. I love being in an apron for some reason. It makes me feel domestic and I feel like it's flattering, and I just feel protected or something. One of the aprons I often wear is a red one with the name Jurgen embroidered on it. Who's Jurgen? I don't know. This particular apron is one of those reject items that was sent from Pottery Barn to DownEast Home because it had a flaw or had the wrong name embroidered onto it. Anyway....

And guess what? Something really remarkable has happened in my home--and more specifically, in my shower. My shampoo and conditioner will be running out at almost the exact same time. Have you ever had that happen? I haven't either! What an amazing first....

I guess it's been a while

2010-08-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Yikes. I'm not sure I've ever gone this long without writing before. And now I feel journal guilt. I hate rewinding.

We went to Vegas and Utah for a few weeks. It was a great trip, as always. The kids had a ball with their cousins and in the water, and I LOVED (and always do love) getting to spend time with my sisters and brothers and sisters and brothers in law. My favorite times with either family are when everyone is together, sitting around talking or playing games or whatever.

There was one night at my parents' house when a bunch of us sat around for a while playing Balderdash and laughing and telling stories, and I was so happy to be a part of it. I think it was the next night when a few of us were still up-- trying (unsuccessfully) to get another fun night going, when Laura slid the following note across the table to Audrey.

So funny. I still laugh when I think of it. (I kept the note and now use it as my bookmark. I'm currently reading The Book Thief. Any of you read it?)

Anyway, during the trip, I even got to meet relatives that I'd never gotten to meet before--Brian's grandma Gigi and uncle Chuck, and nine new cousins on my mom's side. My aunt Becky adopted nine Haitian boys several years ago, and I finally got to meet them.

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to spend the last four days at Sarah's house. It was the perfect end to my trip because no matter how wonderful a vacation is, after about 2 1/2 weeks, it becomes hard to be away from home. The day before going to Sarah's house, I had gotten to that point. I called Brian sobbing. What was so wrong? Oh, who knows? I was just at that point; you know what I mean? But anyway, being at Sarah's house couldn't have been more relaxing. The kids played and Sarah and I just enjoyed one another's company. One of the days we were there, we were able to go to my cousin Ben's wedding reception. It think it was the most unique reception I have ever attended. It was up in a canyon and they had a tin foil dinner buffet. My other two cousins were dressed as hobos and just hung around the fire all night, tending the dinners. Pretty fun.
Anyway... upon arriving, Sarah and I realized that we hadn't put together anything in the form of a gift (we had been running errands and taking the kids places all day). No matter, though. I just scavenged around my endlessly messy van and found a homemade but blank-inside-thank-you card that Camp had made in church on a previous Sunday, wrote a quick note inside and stuffed it with the few dollars we had on hand between the two of us. Bet none of you got a child's thank-you note for your reception. We were so proud of our cleverness. We sat there in the van laughing at our gift and the note inside for at least five minutes. Like Brian always says--no one really cares about the card, anyway. It's all about what's inside that matters. Brian and I are always calculating how much more money a couple could collect if people just forewent the lame little lovebird cards in lieu of a simple envelope from the junk drawer, and just gave the couple the 3 bucks they would have spent on the pointless card. But anyway....

Now I'm back to real life, and to be honest, real life isn't super wonderful right now. But don't you worry. The silver lining to this little rain cloud is that our circumstances have allowed me to come up with the idea for this year's Christmas letter. What more could a girl ask for?
P.S. Oh, and guess what?! While Laura and her husband John were in Vegas, John tried out for the Blue Man Group and made it!! He starts training at the Blue Man headquarters in New York in September and then after two months he'll be assigned a location. See Laura's blog for all the details.

As You Wish

2010-06-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

You know what's awful? So many times, I find myself being tempted (and giving into the temptation) to teach my kids things that really aren't appropriate. For example, last Halloween I couldn't help teaching my kids the rhyme that had such an impact on my childhood: Trick or treat? Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat... and you all know how it ends. But I just couldn't help myself. I knew my kids would love it, and they did not disappoint. I wondered at my discretion afterward, but the reward was so great....And then several months ago, as my kids engaged in constant boys-vs.-girls battles, I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth: Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider! Girls go to Mars--to get more candy bars! Oh, the vindication! But really?! As mothers we often worry about what naughty things our kids might pick up from other little rascals, but at the rate I'm going, kids won't be allowed to visit our home for fear of what they might learn from me. I hit an all time low recently when I taught Camp the words to I Like Big Butts (not all of them, mind you--yikes!) Camp was watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on which they had some kind of parody of that song, and I just couldn't resist educating him on its origin. Why did Bill Nye of all shows have to choose that song to parody, anyway? It's not like they don't know it's going to be a throw back to any moms in the room who will then surely be tempted to start reminiscing with their children. Ahhh!
But anyway, the point is--I'm getting out of control. I'm thirty-one years old. This shouldn't still be an issue. At least I didn't teach Camp to ask someone to pull his finger. He learned that on the bus. I just explained it later. So I'm not beyond hope.
Other than that....
Brian completed his second marathon a couple weekends ago--this time up in Newport. Two years ago, I couldn't get him to run the Rhody 5K with me and now he's doing marathons. Crazy.
Janey Mac Darling graduated from her first year of preschool on Thursday--hopefully not the greatest of the achievements of her life--but seriously fun all the same. She sang and clapped and looked adorable the whole time. And she got straight A's on her report card--mostly A+'s even. What can I say? The girl knows how to write her name and draw circles. But that's not all! As of last Saturday, Janey is officially riding her bike sans training wheels. I came home from my stake meetings to her cruising down the road all padded up with a big, giant smile on her face. And oh, man! It took everything in me to not just jump out of the car and eat her!
And Dan got her first big-girl bike with streamers and all that, and she's just as delighted to be riding for the first time with training wheels. It's so fun to helmet each of my kids and send them out the door to go around the circle by themselves. And Danin has said some funny things lately. The other day she came up to me and asked, "Mom, do you know where the heck is Janey?" And then she added, "Mmmm...I smell something delicious!" And when I noticed her picking her nose recently and asked her what she was doing, she replied, "Just looking for the treasure." Well then, by all means...
And Camp? Sigh.....Well, the battle continues... but I'm not going down without a fight--or with a fight, rather. I WILL figure this out. I think it is getting better--even if it is just my losing control that is happening less often. That's the biggest part, really. But I've had lots of wonderful moments lately with Camp, too. We went for a picnic lunch the other day, and while at the park, I assisted Camp in his first running catch completion. (What would they call that? I threw him the football while he was running, and he caught it...hmm...anyway...) And he was thrilled and insisted I take a picture of the victor. And last Friday I got to attend his end-of-the year field trip to Sand Land Adventures where we got to enjoy a dune buggy ride all over the dunes. He loved it and he was excited to have me there, which sure made me feel good. Maybe I haven't screwed everything up quite yet. And his end-of-the year program wasn't any less wonderful. You know that little "Fingerprints" poem kids always bring home during their first years of school? Well, his class sang its equivalent--with actions and everything--"remember that you were once small like me"...and I was left feeling sufficiently humble and grateful to have my boy. And tonight was a special night for Camp and me, too. We and the girls went over to the tennis courts after dinner and then we went home and dragged pillows and blankets into the family room to watch The Princess Bride. I thought of it recently and just knew Camp would love it. And you know that feeling you get when your kids are just about to run out to see the booty on Christmas morning? Well, I got to experience that feeling all over again throughout practically the entire movie. Camp was loving it so much, he couldn't even keep seated. Toward the end, my heart even got caught up in my throat as I watched Camp watch the last of the sword-fighting scenes. He AB-solutely loved it. As the credits rolled and the music played, he ran to his room for his carrot bats to challenge me to a duel. So fun...
So that's it. Mostly. There will be more news later.
We're headed to Vegas next Wednesday for a dose of some much-needed vitamin D. And we're driving this time. Wish us luck.

Religious Education

2010-05-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

I've had a good day today. We were on time for church today even with me having to make a dish for the linger longer ( I made vegetable bow tie pasta), and finish up the Relief Society newsletter. One of the fun things about living in a tourist town is that we get a huge influx of visitors on holiday weekends. The visitors today literally doubled the size of our congregation. And we had all planned ahead so as to be able to feed them all at our linger longer. I love visitors. My primary class of five grew to twenty-one--and they were all really well behaved. Our lesson was on Moses receiving the ten commandments, so I felt it appropriate to end our lesson with an outdoor game of Simon Says. Loose tie-in, I realize. But still...
Speaking of my class--a couple weeks ago, our lesson was about Joseph and Potiphar's wife. We discussed how Joseph set a good example for us by fleeing a bad situation. I asked my kids if any of them could remember a time when they were in a bad situation where they had the feeling they should leave. Samantha quickly raised her hand and shared with us a time when she was with a friend who wanted to kill a caterpillar. Samantha told how she shouted, "No! Don't do it!" and then ran quickly away. Then she added, "Actually, I galloped away because we were playing the horse game." Oh, man. I love that girl. Let's just hope killing caterpillars is the worst temptation she'll have to face.
And I wore pantie liners in my shirt again--cute lime green shirt, but we all know what happens to a cute lime green shirt when it gets wet. It turns dark green. No good. So I wore pantie liners and a navy blue cardigan. You know what color navy blue turns when it gets wet? Navy Blue.
O.K. For anyone who's interested, I'm willing to let you in on the business opportunity of a lifetime. I have the most amazing idea. I'm in the process of designing armpit liners. They will be skin colored and will be for the purpose of preventing sweat rings when someone is perspiring. Brilliant, right? I mean, if we have diapers for old people, and medication for over-active bladders, and girdles to hold in our bulges, the world is definitely ready for some legitimate confidence protection. The pantie liners just aren't cutting it. They are made for panties, after all. So I'm working on my prototype. Brian has suggested using mole-skin. He's so smart. But anyway...I'm in need of a business partner who would be good at the whole advertising/patent part of it all. I'm thinking we'll start by calling all the deodorant and adult diaper companies--maybe even some sports product companies--to pitch the idea and then offer to sell them the patent. What do you think? I figure that none of you can try to steal my idea because this is being eternally recorded on the world wide web. It will be easy to prove who thought of it first. So...anyone specializing in marketing out there? I'll be willing to split the millions with you 70/30 or maybe even 60/40 if you're really good. So let me know.

Other than that...I read an article recently which encouraged parents to teach their children to value and respect other religions. I think that's really important, so tonight we're watching Nacho Libre. Nachoooooooooo!!!!

Flat Chested

2010-05-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the Lintons treated Brian and me to an overnighter in Portland. We went to the temple (the purpose of our trip), out to eat, enjoyed a handful of Sees Chocolates (Brian likes the vanilla and maple creams and the caramel squares and I like all the ones with nuts and caramel and the California Brittle), went to Jamba Juice and topped all the fun off with a trip to IKEA. Up till now, I haven't been a huge IKEA fan (although I've gotta say that the organizational stuff totally excites me) but this time around, I saw like a hundred things that I want. My birthday and Christmas lists have begun...

You may be wondering why I am wearing my dress backwards in the picture below. Oh, no. I'm not. It just looks that way because I am so incredibly flat chested these days. Sad, I know.

Happy Mothers' Day

2010-05-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

Aunt Flo

2010-05-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

You know what? I've come to realize that PMS totally turns me into a crazy person. And I don't know if it has just gotten tons worse as I've gotten older or if it is just more noticeable now because of the husband and three kids that have been added to the equation. Whatever the case, I feel sorry my kids and Brian have to live with me on or around the 24th thru the 27th of every month. You know that last little (or huge, rather) episode I had with Camp? Well, it should come as no surprise that it occurred during the afore mentioned time period. Bummer. And it's not like none of it would have happened had I not been menstruating--it's just that I likely would have been able to deal with it a whole lot better. It's like I totally lose my ability to cope every time I'm starting my cycle again. You know what I mean? It's seriously crazy. Earlier this week, I commented to Brian that he should just move out for a few days of every month while I cry myself back to normalcy. His reply surprised me: "I do." Waaaiiitttt a minute! I sat thinking for a few seconds and then realized--- Brian had spent several of the previous evenings (and even through the night) working at his shop....Oh, my heavens! Would I really be able to match all of the nights Brian has spent at the shop over the last few years with days that I've been on my period?! Crazy! Smart man, I tell you. Smart man. But anyway.... I just wish knowing what PMS does to me could stop it from happening. You know?

Anyway...( I think I now say anyway as much as I said like when I was 14)... I'll just tell you a few fun things that have happened lately and then I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures before saying good-night.
I did have such a wonderful time having some of my family here. They got to go with us to Camp's soccer game and we went to the dunes and enjoyed eating and talking together. On the Friday night that they were here, we were totally bummed because our TV wasn't working (don't ask), so we all huddled around my mom's laptop and watched 20/20 (with the beautiful Elizabeth Vargas) online. Do all of you already know that my LITTLE sister Audge is a JUNIOR at BYU and Sethy is leaving for his mission to Mexico in June? Crazy, I know. I'm afraid my kids might have run them all ragged, but I sure hope they come back soon anyway...
And remember how I told you a while back about how Camp got that nice little note in the mail from the Primary President asking him to give the scripture and prayer? And remember his response? Well, just to illustrate how different two kids from the same family can be, let me tell you how Jane reacted when she got a little note in the mail. She was absolutely delighted! She was beaming as I opened the butterfly-covered card and read the message inside: Jane, would you like to be the 'reverent child' this Sunday? Oh, my heavens. Jane was so excited. She took the card inside and told Camp, "Camp! I get to be the reverent cgnild (Jane's nasally pronunciation of child)!" And then she proceeded to color the rest of the card and cut out the figures and tape them to the hallway wall. She's darling, I tell ya. And she's always a dang good reverent child.
And it's so funny because once in a while Danin will throw a fit over something little, but she's always quick to follow it up with a reassuring, "Mom, I just was faken" and then a forced little laugh. And she's taken to pooping in our back yard. Sick! I tell her that pooping in the yard is for dogs, not for little girls--and there's a reason we don't have a dog--(lots of them, actually.) I'm sure it's just a phase, though, and as long as it's always a pretty clean break, I guess I can deal with it.
And while Camp is not busy sneaking matches to melt empty water bottles in the garage, attempting to break down his locked bedroom door, or trying to counterfeit twenty-dollar bills in order to send one to Collin, he does do things that are pretty endearing. He loves to catch and care for caterpillars and lizards, for example, and he is super good with the toddlers I babysit occasionally, and it's not at all uncommon for me to go in to check on him after he's gone to sleep at night only to find him sleeping in some kind of crazy contraption. (You can't even see him in this first picture.)

I really am lucky to be a mother.

P.S. I can't believe I never even posted anything about Easter! The kids had a great time and the outfits Becky made them are the cutest ones yet! Oh, I'm so lucky to never have to worry about Easter outfits!

Good Night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite. Have good dreams. And don't forget to say your prayers.

2010-04-28T22:54:00.001-07:00

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.

2010-04-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

I should tell you about all of the funny things my kids have been saying and about how I painted my front wall again--yep, the same one I had just painted, and about the wonderful visit I had with my parents and Audrey and Seth this last weekend, but I had a hard day today and that's all that is on my mind right now.

After my last miscarriage and accompanying experience, I was scared that I would never feel comfortable getting pregnant again. However, as I prayed about it, I felt comforted and the desire to try again soon returned. Since then, I've been telling Heavenly Father that I would like to get pregnant again, and have been asking him to bless me with another pregnancy when the time is right for our family. Apparently, the time is not yet right for our family, because for the first time, we have been unable to get pregnant. On one hand I am very discouraged and disappointed about not being able to get pregnant, and on the other, I am grateful that Heavenly Father will not bless me with another baby until I am ready. I think what discourages me most of all, though, is knowing that I am not ready.

Many of you know that I got pregnant only a couple months after Brian and I got married, but I lost the baby at about 13 weeks. And although I was devastated at the time, as the next couple years passed, it became obvious to me that Heavenly Father was only showing me a little mercy by keeping a baby from me for a little longer. The timing had not been right.

A couple years later, I got pregnant and had Camp. By that time, I had learned a little more and Brian and I had figured some things out and life was pretty easy. In fact, I thought the whole mothering thing was a piece of cake. I'm afraid I began to be a little over-confident--so much so that when Camp was about nine months old, we tried and got pregnant again. Well, eighteen weeks later, I miscarried for the second time. And once again, it didn't take long before I was praying to thank Heavenly Father for not allowing me to get in over my head too early.

I'm dragging this out too long. What I'm getting at is that I have learned, and feel grateful that Heavenly Father has not given me babies until He knows I am ready for them. It's just been difficult admitting to myself that I am indeed not ready yet. That means I am not a perfect mother. That means I'm having a hard enough time with three kids. That means there are a lot of things for me to work on and lots of things for me to learn. It means I need to humble myself and be willing to change. Those are hard pills to swallow. Oh, and I know. The timing could be off right now because of things other than my not being ready yet. That's true, but I just feel like my not being ready is probably the biggest part of it.

It seems that way because truthfully, mothering as been a struggle for me lately. I love and adore and enjoy my children, but recently I have really been struggling--mainly with Camp. Brian and I have had a really, really tough time figuring out how to handle and discipline him appropriately and I have reached a point of complete discouragement and desperation. And while praying and reading my scriptures has been a great source of strength and help for me (like I've mentioned before), it has become clear to me that I need to be doing a little bit more. I need to be earnestly seeking revelation. I need to spend a great deal more time on my knees just thinking and listening. I need to simplify. I need to study. I need to be patient.

I lost control of myself today, and I am embarrassed by and ashamed of the way I handled Camp. Soon after, I found myself on my bedroom floor whispering, Please forgive me! Please help me! Please help me! Please help me! I waited.... I wanted to be faithful and feel counsel come to me, but I was so desperate. I called my mom and my sister who helped me focus and start developing some goals and a plan of action. Partly I felt guilty for not just letting some answers flow into my mind, but mostly I just felt so grateful to have a mom and sister through whom Heavenly Father has guided me so many times.

I'm now writing on Wednesday. Tuesday went so much better than Monday had. No losing control. No crying on the foam pad of my sheetless bed. No feelings of complete desperation. I felt hopeful and determined to start again and devote all of my time and energy to keeping myself in control and handling my children in the way that will ultimately be the most effective and the most productive. I'm reading Parenting with Love and Logic again. Ever heard of it? I know there are probably lots of great resources out there, but this happens to be one that I have read and has really made sense to me. It's funny because as I read it I am thinking, Man, I NEVER would have thought of this on my own, but it just makes so much sense. My sister is totally a Love and Logic parent, and while she may not be a perfect parent (and she may be), she definitely has what I am looking for: control. She has control of herself and of her kids. And she doesn't have control of her kids because she is a drill sergeant and finds a way to force them to do everything she wants them to do--in fact it's just the opposite. She has control of them because she has control of herself and doesn't let the way they act govern the way she acts.

So anyway, Brian and I are going to figure this out. Wish me luck. Pray for me. Don't be alarmed if you don't see or hear from me much. I'm just busy breathing deeply and focusing all my energy on choosing my words carefully and keeping control of myself. If all goes well, we will have a much happier home and a much happier family a few months from now.

P.S. I just put Dan in her room for hitting Jane and soon after I walked away, I could hear her crying, Mom, I need to go potty! Of course. By the time I got back into her room, it was already coming out all over the carpet. Breeeeaaaattthhhheee.

Love, Anner B

2010-04-18T17:42:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom and Dad,

Now that I am a mom, I understand that nothing brings a parent more happiness than seeing the success and/or accomplishment and/or happiness of a child. So I want to share with you a little victory I've experienced of late(as a result of your example)--that I think will make you lean back in your chair and smile.

When I was growing up, I knew you both loved the scriptures because I saw you reading them heard you discussing them on a very regular basis.
And because of your example, I wanted to love the scriptures, too. I certainly valued the scriptures and believed and appreciated what I read, and I read them pretty regularly because I trusted what you and my other leaders taught me about their value in my life, but I hadn't gotten to a point yet where I truly loved them like you did. I wanted the value and power of the scriptures to be clear to me because of my own experiences.

And guess what? After years of practicing what you taught me and living through my own experiences, I have come to really love the scriptures, too. I can feel their power in my life. It's kinda like magic. I read the scriptures; I am a better mother. I read the scriptures; I am a better wife. I read the scriptures; I am just a better person. Along with praying, reading my scriptures lifts me to a higher place or something--making me more spiritually minded, I think.

And guess what else? I've discovered something else that is even more amazing: the Book of Mormon is so much more than just 500+ pages of words of wisdom. It is exactly what it claims to be: another testament of Jesus Christ. It has seemed that every other verse I am being reminded of the Savior's atonement and it's saving power, and of his mercy and willingness to continuously gather me 'as a hen gathers her chickens.'

So anyway...just thought you'd be glad to know I'm comin' around....
Maybe someday I'll even love reading Isaiah.

For Sale

2010-03-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Man, I seriously haven't had a thought in my head lately, so I'm thinking I'll just make this a state of our union address.

Camp started soccer and he loves it. He looks over at me every time he does something awesome to make sure I've been watching. Earlier this week, Camp received a nice card in the mail from the Primary President telling him thank you for being reverent at church and setting a good example and asking him if he would give the scripture and prayer today in primary. After I read it to him, he responded, "Well, we'll just have to write her a note back saying NO." Great. So I stewed a while about what to do. ( I told you what happened the last time Camp was asked to give the scripture and prayer: I did it while Camp stood in front of the primary kids kicking and punching me. ) I tried to think what Love and Logic would tell me to do. I called Sarah for her advice. Maybe I prayed about it. I'm not sure. But ultimately, I decided to ask Camp if having a little treat in his pocket would help him be brave enough to give the scripture and prayer. He asked what the treat would be, and he asked if I could still stand up in front of the primary with him. I told him I would stand up there with him and help him with the scripture and that the treat would be a plastic egg with a few candies in it. He agreed. So today he repeated the words of the scripture loudly and clearly and then said a simple prayer. No kicking. No punching. No fits. All because of a few M&M's.

Jane participated in one half day of soccer and then decided she wasn't quite ready for it yet. She'll have the opportunity again next year. In the meantime, she and Danin will continue to play and have a ball along the sidelines. Jane has the most adorable lisp. She cannot say her J's, Ch's, or Sh's--so they just come out in this super endearing nasally sound. I've actually wondered if she has trouble hearing and that maybe this little speech impediment is related to that. I'm not sure. I think we mothers always wonder at some point if each child is having trouble hearing. Anyway...Brian and I can't get enough of her speech. She and Danin love each other to death. They play "mom and kid" or "mom and dog" all day long. I'm usually not part of the role playing except that they call me grandma and I have to be careful not to answer when I hear Dan calling for her mom. Oh, man. Thank goodness for Dan. I don't think I could survive acting as Jane's dog for a whole day--panting and all. I would die. Do you all know that I don't like pets? I don't. Yesterday, Brian spent some one-on-one time with both Camp and Jane. It was Jane's first daddy-daughter date. She loved it, of course. Brian said that it took her more than an hour to finish up her burger and fries because she was so busy talking and dancing and squirreling around. And it was so funny because when she returned home last night, Danin was up to greet her and the two of them spent the next several minutes rolling all over the floor on top of one another like two reunited puppies.

Danin is in the perfect stage where she does little wrong. (What are they even talking about when they say terrible two's?) She's just one of the big kids these days. She cuts her own hot-dogs, wipes her own bum, doesn't wet her bed, washes her hands, puts on her own clothes and shoes--and she's super funny. Last night when I asked her if she wanted some more cereal (which is what we had for dinner) she said, "Yeah, baby!"

Brian's been training for his first triathlon. I'm super excited to watch him this Saturday. And he's continued to be busy with work, for which we continue to be grateful.

And me? Hmmmm....we'll I've read three books in the last month which is pretty good for me--all short, easy ones, but still. I read Star Girl, The Hunger Games, (both written for young adults)and The Christmas Sweater--all decent, but not fabulous. I've decided that I usually have issues with books that are directed at young adult audiences. I guess it's likely because I'm not a young adult anymore.
Becky came to visit last weekend as a birthday gift from Rachel and Stacy. It was more like a birthday gift for all of us. It was a fun visit, as usual, and we were so lucky to have one day of super good weather when we went up to the light house and to the beach below.

Other than that, I'm back to the business of putting the house up for sale. I had a lot of lookers last year but didn't manage to get a contract, so we'll see what happens this year. I'm getting antsy to get outta here because paying for an extra land payment (as well as taxes, extra health insurance, and the van) is starting to hurt. I stuck a sign out front, and had my first showing two days later, so hopefully that is a sign of good things to come. And in the spirit of making my home as marketable as possible, I painted over my red wall. Sad, I know. But on all the design shows, they always say that colors like that are too taste specific. And I don't want to scare away any old folks with a red wall. The problem is, the color I took a gamble on turned out to be a little bit less neutral and a lot bit more blue than I had expected, so I'm not sure I didn't make the situation worse. But old people tend to like blues better than reds, don't you think?

And did I already tell you that I added that grosgrain ribbon to my drapes? It's definitely a super modern touch, but I like it. I also added a bit more of my attempted artwork. Oooohh, and I got some scrapbook paper at a yard sale that will make for some fabulous holiday artwork come Christmastime....
Man, this post is boring. I'm starting to put myself to sleep. Better luck next time, I guess.

corn starch

2010-03-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

I have this arrangement going with Rebecca. I give up going to the gym at my regular time on Mondays in order to watch her two youngest kids (while she volunteers in the classroom of her oldest), and in return, she watches my kids while I go to the gym later on, AND she is my go-to person when Brian and I go out of town over night. Great. So after Rebecca returned from volunteering on Monday, I took the opportunity to run to the gym and to the grocery store while she stayed behind with the kids. And while being at the grocery store without my kids normally accelerates my shopping time by at least 100%, this time the lines were long and for some reason, I was unable to find the corn starch. So I got in line and purchased the rest of my groceries and asked the checker where I could find it. She finished out the transaction and set aside my cart while directing me right back to the baking isle. Luckily, I found it this time, and headed back up to the register. OK. So here is the whole point of my telling you all this: as I approached the check stands with my corn starch, I saw Brian already in line with a couple things he had picked up for lunch. And he looked so good. And I felt that feeling. You know that feeling you got back in the day when you would see your crush somewhere unexpectedly? Yeah. I felt it! I hurried my steps and slapped his rear just as he looked over and noticed me. And he kissed me. Oh, man. I wished I looked good. I wanted everyone to see us kiss and know that we were together and I wanted him to be proud that I was his wife. As it was, I had just left the gym, and I was in my raggedy sweats. But he kissed me all the same and threw my corn starch onto the belt with his Cliff bars. He kinda rolled his eyes and smiled as I told him I felt like we were back in high school and he was treating me while on a date. He said the least he could do was buy his wife some corn starch. Man, I was so proud to be standing there next to him, feeling young again. I left the store still kinda swooning, thinking about how I get a little excited every time I see Brian's truck around town. I hope it always feels that way.

It's all over

2010-03-01T21:39:00.001-08:00

One of the notable tragedies of my childhood was the discontinuance of Family Ties. I still remember the last episode and the way I felt as the cast all took the stage one last time. I'm not sure if I cried or not, but I definitely remember writing about it in my red journal. Its ending made me lonely. And is anyone else crazy enough to remember the song that played on the last episode? Could they have made it any more painful?

And then a couple years ago, I was introduced to Pam and Jim over at The Office, just in time to catch the last few episodes of the second season. No matter, though. Brian and I rushed right out as soon as we could and rented the first and second seasons. We sat night after night in front of the TV, laughing and bonding with our new friends. And I was vicariously living out practically the greatest romance of all time. I felt a little unfaithful--to be honest. I couldn't get enough. I was devastated the night we watched the last episode and I woke up sad and lonely--maybe even more so than when Alex left home (and left me) for a stupid job on Wall Street. I felt the same way I felt as a girl when Emily's family would leave after having been at our house for a while. I'd sulk around the house hoping to find a shirt or a sock left behind to comfort me. This time my friends were gone, and they had left no socks. I called out in my mind, Pam? Jim?.....Dwight? Anyone? I was alone.

That's kinda the way I feel every time the Olympics comes and goes. It's not that I feel like I'm making and then losing friends, though. It's that I feel like for a couple weeks I'm participating in something that is uniting my country, and the world, for that matter, and then it's all over and we're all back to living separate existences. Do you know what I mean? You know how I feel about cheering. So cheering with and for my country is big. And I'm sad when it ends.

So anyway...I'm lonely.

No more food talk

2010-02-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

You may or may not have noticed that I have not posted the foods I have consumed over the last few days. And you may be reasoning that it is because Brian and I went away for the weekend for our anniversary and likely ate more than I was willing to document. You're partly right. Right about the eating a lot part, but not right about my reason for not having disclosed the details. The truth is, I have a certain very dear friend (whom I promised not to name) who was brave enough to tell me that my food posts were not a good idea for a multitude of reasons--not the least of which being that lists of soggy cereal and leftover spaghetti do not make for interesting reading. And while I appreciate her setting me straight, I've got to say, I'm a bit disappointed because being accountable to you for the things I've been eating really has been helping me. Nevertheless, from now on, I'll be forced to do my best to control my eating habits because it's the healthy thing to do and not because others might otherwise think I'm a pig. So that's it.

But Brian and I really did have a fantastic weekend away. We went to dinner with Jen and Tim, ate Pizza Pipeline bread sticks and watched a little of the Olympics, and then headed to Dez's and Nate's house to spend the night. In the morning, Dez made us a delicious breakfast and then we headed out to do some shopping--or looking, rather, for the most part. It was totally laid back and totally cool. Brian had me laughing a good part of the time, and seriously--what's more romantic than that? Not much, in my mind. Later in the day, we met up with Dez and Nate again, who treated us to dinner, and we then stopped to pick up some groceries before heading home.

So tomorrow, actually, marks our ninth wedding anniversary. Yep. That's right. We've enjoyed eight really good years. Ha Ha. And as it turns out, I don't like Brian as much as I did when I married him nine years ago. I like him more. Happy Anniversary, Sexy.

2010-02-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

* One big(ish) bowl of wheaties
* Two handfuls of chashews
* One small piece of chicken
* half of an apple
* two crackers with a little bit of low-fat cream cheese
* the equivalent of two PB&J sandwiches (mine and the leftovers of Jane and Danin)
* one plate of spaghetti leftovers (again)
* one piece of toast
* a bite of cereal

Oh, and I drink water. Pretty much just water.

Yeah, this has GOT to help me lose weight. I find myself always being a little bit hungry. I really feel like if I can just program myself to stop eating before I feel stuffed, I'll lost weight because I'll be eating less. I don't know. We'll see.

Oh, and yesterday at the gym I got a better workout than usual (and certainly better than I was planning on), because I just happened to pick the worst part of the gym in which to work out--right next to a personal trainer. Apparently, he couldn't bear to witness such a pathetic work-out, so he took it upon himself to advise me on how to beef it up a bit. Really, though, it was good for me. I mean, people who have more money than me pay for that kind of service. And my arms have been sore today and that's always a good sign. But anyway...

You now what word seriously drives me crazy? Wriggle. Really? Wiggle isn't good enough? And you want to know what wriggle means? It means wiggle. Why in the heck do we have two words that mean exactly the same thing and are spelled almost identically--except for that annoying little 'r.' I know it sounds weird, but it is seriously difficult for me to even say it when I come across it while reading. It's almost like it makes my mouth uncomfortable or something--it's hard to explain...
I better go to bed.

Just one piece of taffy

2010-02-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Wow. This food documenting thing really makes for lame posts. And guess what? I can't find the paper on which I wrote all the things I ate today. No, I'm serious. There is no sign of it in the junk drawer where I put it after dinner. So I'm just going to have to do my best to remember.

* The leftovers of Jane's frosted mini-wheats
* The leftovers of Danin's frosted mini-wheats
* One Nutri-grain cereal bar
* Two handfuls of cashews--Yikes! (Atleast they're the good kind of fats)
* Did I have some peaches?....Yeah, I think so.
* One burrito (leftovers from dinner on Monday)
* One piece of saltwater taffy
* A couple bites of Danin's leftover casadilla
* A small portion of broccoli and cheese rice-a-roni rice
* A plate of leftover spaghetti stuff
* A couple more bites of cereal (the kids got lucky and had cereal for dinner.)
I think that's it.

But I'm still hungry.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Today I ate:
* Another bowl of wheaties
* A good-size bowl of homemade soup
* 2 1/2 little casadillas (on corn tortillas)
* 1/2 piece of leftover chicken breast
*one plate of lasagna/spaghetti (it was an experiment) and salad
* two pieces of whole-wheat toast and butter
* nothing off the floor

Doesn't that seem like a lot? It does to me, but I was seriously using self restraint all day. I would love to enjoy another blizzard right about now, but I'll be good. Brian and I are celebrating our 9th anniversary this weekend, and I'll definitely be having some treats again then.

Oh, and how did the Charlie Brown Project go for everyone?! I've already decided to make it a yearly tradition, because it is seriously so rewarding to feel like you've brought a little bit more light into someone's life. I hope it was a neat experience for any of you who decided to jump on board.

Social pressure

2010-02-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

You know how I was pregnant recently? Well, during that time, I gained about six pounds, and unfortunately, those six pounds did not go back up to heaven with my baby. And I know six pounds isn't such a big deal, but it's still six pounds, and I'm sure you all agree that you can feel (and see, for that matter) the difference six pounds make. And you know how when you're trying to lose weight they always tell you to start by writing down EVERYthing you eat? Well, I'm finally going to take that advice. But not only am I going to document every little thing that goes into my mouth--I'm also going to tell you. And I know it's horrible to care about what other people think, but seriously--I really think that having to tell you everything I eat will make me think twice about it. It already has. I definitely would have eaten at least a few starbursts and a couple more oreo cookies if I hadn't been thinking about having to later include them on my list. Big breath. So here goes.
Today I ate:
* One bowl of Wheaties with 1% milk--not the ridiculous "suggested serving size", but reasonable none the less
* One handful of cashews
* One wrap including a high fiber, low carb tortilla; lots of spinach; red onions; grilled chicken; and a little spaghetti sauce........OK, and some cheese (a little feta, a little mozzerella, and a little grated parmesan :))
* The crust from Danin's PB&J sandwich and a bite or two of her ramen
* A couple of wheat thins and a jelly bean that I found on the floor while I was cleaning
*Two tacos--one bigger one in another high fiber, low carb tortilla, and a smaller one in two corn tortillas. No sour cream.
* A homemade oreo blizzard with a small handful of mini oreos, low-fat vanilla icecream and a teeny bit of 1% milk. Family night is no fun without treats.
* One regular oreo
And a partridge in a pear tree.