A little of this and a little of that.

Since I don't have anything specific to talk about, I'll just mention some of the highlights of our last few weeks:

We sold our spec house! (Phew!) A retired couple from Cali will be moving in on July 11th. So cool. Almost as cool was the fact that the lady asked Brian how much I wanted for the decor stuff that was in the house. I have been so eager to go get it out of there because my own house has seemed so bare, but now it looks like it may never come home. If not, I will have money to replace it all and a good excuse to go shopping. Anyway....now we will be able to get on with our lives and I will be able to get the Toyota Sienna I've been dreaming of. (Did I already mention in previous posts the battle Brian and I had for a year over what kind of vehicle to buy? Well, Brian finally agreed to let me get a minivan, but he reminds me that he will drive his truck to church until he feels ready and willing to drive the minivan. He doesn't think a minivan is consistent with the image he is trying to build. Oh, you think I'm joking?...) So I think we will probably try and buy the minivan at the auction in Vegas when we are down there in August. I can't wait. If there is anything that has brought me close to swearing on a consistent basis, it is trying to load and buckle three car seats that are jammed into the back seat of a camry.

We found a turtle on our street on the way home from church.

















I went to Melissa's sealing. I flew to Vegas and then drove up to Utah with my mom. She was married in the Bountiful temple, and it was fabulous. She seemed very happy and she looked beautiful. I had been anxious to see what her dress and hair would look like , seeing as she is no typical girl, and I was not disappointed. Her dress and hair were perfect for her. Man, I love that girl. She has been such an angel for me over the years. I was so excited to be reunited with three of my five roommates from my sophomore year in college. Monique and Kate--if you are out there--we would LOVE to find you guys!


My little sister, Laura, got engaged. She is marrying John Hendricks of Idaho. Although I have not met him, I have heard enough about him to feel like I have, and he seems almost as cool as Laura. He treats her like gold, promises to provide for her and let her take naps, AND he is a rapper and gifted percussionist. Could it get any cooler than that? They are going to put on a concert for all of us at their reception in August. I can't wait!

I got to hang out with Rachel and Sonya. Rachel is married to Brian's best friend, Justin, and I love her. I feel like I have known her forever. She introduced me to her sister, Sonya, who know lives in Coos Bay (which is in our stake) and I already feel like I have known her forever, too. Don't you love people who make you feel like that?

AND...I finished my fern project. What do you think?

Thank you.

So I did my thing at Enrichment. I think a lot of the ladies enjoyed it, but I know of at least one who hated it. She said that she was new to our church, so a bunch of questions about mormons was a little overwhelming. Great. So now I've scared away a new member. Oh well. What can you do, right? You can't please everyone. Thank you so much to all of you who emailed me or posted a comment with your answers. With the women in my ward who turned in answers and you guys that helped, I was able to say that I surveyed 50 women, and that was good enough. Thanks again.

Family Feud

So I was wondering if you guys could all help me out with something. I'm in charge of this Thursday's Enrichment Meeting and we're playing family feud. I am trying to get a hundred LDS women to answer the following questions so that I will have the results by Thursday. If you could cut and paste the following questions (and your answers) into a comment or email them to me (lac1107@aol.com) by Thursday morning, I will be your best friend. Well, maybe I'll just be your really good friend. Actually, maybe I'll just be really really grateful and you will be on my A list.

1. Other than a dress, name something women wear to church.
2. Name the length of time a high councilman's talk usually lasts
3. Name something "mormons" are known for.
4. Other than 1 Nephi, name a book in the BofM.
5. Name a dish that is likely to be served at a Relief Society function.
6. Name a reason a person might call the bishop.
7. Name the average # of kids in a Mormon family.
8. Name the hymn that is most frequently sung at church.
9. Name something a missionary misht ask for in a package while on his mission.
10. Name the subject most often talked about at General Conference.
11. Name something (other than scriptures) that women are likely to bring with them to church.
12. Name a reason a sister might give for not having completed her visiting teaching.
13. name the most common Sunday activity for members of our church.
14. Name the #1 thing people in our ward would say they love about living in Florence. (This won't apply to most of you)
15. Name something you might do to become freinds with someone.
16. Name a quality that women in our ward most desire to develop
17. What would women say is the most important utensill in the kitchen?
18. What would women say is their least favorite responsibility?
19. What would women say is their favorite thing about being a woman?
20.What would women say is their favorite part of the relief society organization?

I Need Help

I have an emotional relationship with food. This is kinda what it's like: (Me) "Ooooh, I love you food!" (Food) "Oooohhh, I love you, too, Ann! Eat me! Eat me!" Basically, I equate food with happiness. The way I look at it, anything is fun if there is food present. I think this is because I love to talk and eating is always accompanied by really good conversation. True, right? But anyway, I hate that I do not have more self control with the things I eat. Today my friend Kaori left a plate of big homemade cream puffs on my doorstep and I ended up eating all six of them! I actually tried to have Camp and Jane both eat one, but they were unfamiliar with them and so they wouldn't. I was seriously out of control. And this doesn't just happen with goodies. I just eat too much in general. I feel like I eat three lunches every day--my own, and then the left-overs of Camp and Jane. I feel like I almost have a responsibility to eat that PB and J sandwich crust and the last spoonfuls of macaroni, because after all, there are people starving in this world, and they would love to have these little remnants. Now don't get all crazy--all you health nuts out there. You don't need to shake your heads in disgust. I'm not totally pathetic. I almost never eat fried foods and I do love fruits and vegetables, and I only buy wheat bread. I just wish I didn't love food so much. Is this something a shrink could help me with? I don't know, but I remember trying to analyze my condition with my exercise-physiologist uncle a few years back and he asked me a bunch of questions about my childhood food experiences. He thought that maybe there hadn't been enough food available to me growing up, and that this may have influenced my need to eat more (way more) than a reasonable girl needs to eat. I assured him that that surely was not the issue. I grew up having lots of food and there was always more than enough. So I don't know what the heck my problem is...

Other than that (well, and the fact that a handfull of the people in my neighborhood wish that we did not live here because we have kids) my life is really good right now. Danin discovered the toilet, Jane got into some oil-based automotive paint but didn't get one drop on the carpet, Camp taught himself to ride his bike without training wheels (although he will only do it with his smaller bike), Brian is super busy but has refrained from going back to energy drinks, we put in a lawn, I have not lost my cool in almost two weeks, and I will be going to Melissa's wedding next weekend. So cool. Oh, yeah. And I finally conducted a taste test between the generic Safeway brand oreos and the real ones. Although the real ones won, my experimental units all agreed that the generic ones put up a darn good fight. Besides, the results would definitely be deemed statistically insignificant because my samply size (3) was way too small, there was no randomization, and the real oreos were double stuffed. P.S. Most generic brands are not as good as Safeway's (Vons).

OOhhh, I love getting a bargain!

So a few months ago, my friend was telling me about how her friend saves tons of money on groceries by subscribing to this online thing. Then this morning I happened to be watching this morning show and they had this lady on that was talking about her website, www.thegrocerygame.com that helps you save money on groceries. I went to the website and it sounds like it must be what my friend had been talking about. Have any of you heard of it? Anyone want to try it with me?

Mothers' Day and some other stuff

So I told you how my washing machine broke. Well, after two weeks and a $240 bill, we're enjoying clean stuff again. The silver lining on this dark little cloud? I got to go to the laundromat! Man, what a cool place. I think that was the most peaceful, enjoyable thing I did all week. I went after 9 pm on Tuesday night and was there until 11. The place was all mine, except for a guy who was just finishing up his folding when I got there, and another guy who had taken a shower there (they have showers there, too) and then blow dried his hair and sat to read for a while. As there was no attendant on duty, I may have been freaked out by the possibility of being dragged under the folding counter to be taken advantage of, but I was too caught up in the serenity of the situation and I was not going to let my fears ruin it. I just made sure to look up from my This Old House magazine every few minutes. Besides, my appearance that night was totally appropriate for a laundromat, if you know what I mean. I'm totally kidding. Anyway...after that night, I had a LOT of laundry to fold. Like eight loads.

And I've come to have a love hate relationship with Mothers' Day.

When I got married and became a future mother and then a mother, I was all about taking advantage of every holiday where I could get presents and extra appreciation. I've realized that receiving gifts and extra attention on special occasions is one of my love languages, and Brian has become good at accommodating this, so I loved Mothers' Day. And when Camp was a baby, I was ridiculously naive and I felt like motherhood was a piece-0-cake. I knew my calling as a mother was the most important one a person could have and frankly, I felt like I was doing great at it. So I was totally surprised when my mom told me that she had never really liked Mothers' Day. How could someone not like a day when they are guaranteed to be recognized--even if it just means a cookie or a flower at church or breakfast in bed. It would still be a little more special than a normal day, right? Well, my mom said that all Mothers' Day did for her was remind her of all of the ways she was not a perfect mother. Given the way I feel about my mom, that seemed so ridiculous to me.
But here I am, 29 years old with three kids, and I'm not sure I want Mothers' Day to come yet. I've had this plan the last month and especially this week, that I am going to be the best wife and mother ever so that on Mothers' day, Brian and the kids will feel great about being super nice to me. Although I'm definitely still looking forward to a little extra special treatment, I'm not ready for Mothers' Day to be here because I've managed to screw up another good plan. I think I've managed to nag Brian about something every day this week, and I don't think there has been a day that I haven't yelled several times and handled things poorly with my kids. Dang it. I hate it when I do this. Next year, though, I'm going to be an amazing wife and mother, and I'm going to be excited for Mothers' Day.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Ann, how come you are always talking big about being amazing in the future but you're always failing to be amazing in the present? " Well, you know what? Just be quiet. I'm working on it, alright? These are the things I will be working on this upcoming year:
I will not nag Brian or try to control the way he manages his time. (He is a super hard worker and does well at providing for our family, so I am very rarely justified in nagging him.)
I will not call Brian a jerk or call my kids brats--even under my breath.
I will use greater physical restraint when handling my kids
I will not give guilt trips.
I will try very, very hard not to yell.
Maybe you guys could check up on my progress every now and then. I think that would really help me. Ok. So enough about that.

Do you want to know what I have asked for for Mothers' Day this year? Well, I have been searching for a decorating solution for my big, blank family room wall. Everything I've thought of is either too small for such a big space, or big enough but kind of generic and impersonal looking and way too expensive. So I was looking through my Better Homes and Gardens magazine several weeks ago, when I found my solution. I decided that I was going to get a collection of fern prints (ferns grow all over the place here) from chartingnature.com (see pictures) and mat and frame them and hang them in a grid.


Because the prints are $18 and that doesn't include a mat or frame, I decided I would just get a couple at a time until I had twelve of them. Then I decided that that would take way too long, but buying all of them at once (plus the mats and frames) was definitely out of the question as well. But THEN I saw some fabric in a Ballard Designs catalog that I really like and decided that if I bought one yard of it at $21, I could cut it into six pieces and mat and frame them just like they were prints.

So my current plan is to hang a grid of white frames with six fern prints and six pieces of fabric. So starting this project will be my Mothers' Day gift. What do you think? I hope you can see the prints and fabric in these pictures. I will post pictures of the finished product when I've gotten everything and put it up on my wall.

P.S. Lest you worry for the welfare of my children and husband, I do do a few things well as a mother and wife. I tell them each I love them at least 10 times a day, I am very affectionate with them, I praise them every chance I get, and I fix dinner for them a few times a week.

Camp and I went on a date last Saturday. It's funny because despite the fact that I am home with him everyday, I find that I am in desperate need of time alone with him. (Time when I am not sending him to his room for hitting Jane or calling me an idiot--time when we have no one to distract us from one another.) Anyway, it was really fun. We went to Subway for lunch, and then to a play, and then to the grocery store where I let Camp get a chocolate donut to eat while I shopped.
Other than that...my washing machine is broken. Sometimes I hate being a grown up.