On the Third Day of Christmas....

life's blessings/cursings brought to me THREE FRENCH CATS A VISITING. Ok well they might not be french, but yesterday I wished that I had said two turtle gloves so I am making up for it today. Oh well. The three cats seemed to have taken up residence in my back yard due to the fact that I don't have a dog. No I don't think I will get a dog just to get rid of the cats, that seems silly to me. Here is a picture of two of the cats playing with Diana's jump rope. I happened to look out in my back yard and notice that each one had a hold of one end of the rope. They were pulling it back and forth. The picture does not really depict how funny this looked. Last night there was a terrible howling noise in my back yard. When I checked it out, I scared two cats away. Some of my friends were talking about scheduling a cat catching activity for Young Women's. Sounds like a good idea to me.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

life's blessings brought to me TWO GLOVES. Notice a "warm" theme happening here? These gloves are also precious to me because they live in the pockets of my wonderful coat. That means that they are always there when I go to get them. Also I love that they have fur cuffs like my coat. (Very fashionable, although they are fake fur and no animal had to give its life for my vanity.) Nothing cheers you up like warm hands on a cold day. Another great thing about them is that they can be shared. Sometimes at church I am sitting next to someone who also is cold like me. Unlike me, they have not come prepared for such coldness. So this is where I can say, "Here wear my gloves just for this class". I can give them my gloves that are already warmed up by me. It never fails that the person will say to me when they give the gloves back ,that they are surprised how much warm hands helped to warm the rest of their person. I love this ability to share warmth. And who knows maybe I have made a "warmth" convert who will bring their own gloves next week. Sometimes I say to people "Follow me, and I will teach you to walk in my ways of warmth".

Hit and Run

Yesterday morning when I took Diana to school, this is what I saw as I backed out of my driveway. This is shocking because the night before there was a perfectly good wall where there now is this mess. I do not even know how this happened. Who hits a wall and then just drives away? It is not anyone of the cars in my family, because none of our cars are crunched in the way a meeting with this wall would make happen. One possibility is the garbage truck, because it was garbage day. Would they just leave and not do anything about it? Perhaps. Another possibility is my neighbor, but his car seems unscathed as well. Then of course maybe it was some random maniac driving through the streets. It seems unlikely because we live on a cul-De-sac not a through street. So now we are left with a bit of a hole in our wall. Bummer.

Christmas Orchestra Concert

Trent had his concert last night. He looked especially handsome in his Tux that I did manage to take to the cleaners. Yay me. He is in three different orchestras this year. The chamber orchestra is smaller, only about 15 kids. Next, is the advanced orchestra which has about 30 or 40 kids in it and is the highest level of orchestra. This year for the first time, his high school is having a symphony, which is strings, percussion, and wind instruments. Trent is in that as well. He really loves it.

I was excited because for the first time since he has been in High School, I managed to get some video of his concert with my new digital camera. It is not quite as good as a video camera would be, but it is better than nothing and you can get the idea. Also I am using my new skills as a movie producer. This is a very new exciting thing I have discovered on my computer called Windows Movie Maker. I hope this video is not too long. I tried to cut it down, but it was hard. I attended the concert for an hour and a half, so three and half minutes is very condensed. Also I don't have much video of the Symphony because I was out of memory and the last shot I took the focus was having a problem. I left it in the movie, because you can still hear the sound. I hope you enjoy it.

On the First Day of Christmas

Ok, I came up with this great idea to do the twelve days of Christmas on my blog. If my math is right, I should have started yesterday. I did post some stuff, but my turn on the computer ran out before I could get to this. So today I will just do two days to catch up. These posts will just be random stuff in my life that I can manage to squeeze into the number categories of the song. Cut me a little bit of slack as I try to make this work, OK.

So on the first day of Christmas life's blessings gave to me.... ONE DOWN JACKET. Those of you who live around here know that I pretty much worship this coat. Last year I was at Savers one day and saw this coat for $10. It was not in my budget that day, but I could not pass up a deal like that. And boy it is the best $10 I have ever spent. From the fur lined hat and sleeves to the warmness of the down filling, I adore this coat. And believe me that if I am cold enough, I wear that hat, regardless of destruction to my darling doo even in church. It gets lots of use at soccer games, church, and even just out shopping. So hurray for feathered friends who sacrificed their well being for me. I don't even care that I am allergic to feathers. The warmth is worth it.

Jared Sings a Christmas Carol

This video was taken in November at our ward camp out. I was unknowingly visiting with a friend in her tent trailer . Because my kids are so old, I wasn't really supervising them. Perhaps I should have. Jared is sitting in the car playing on his PSP with the car light on. This could not have been good for the battery. Two of the girls in the ward are encouraging Jared to sing for them. They used my camera to record this beautiful rendition of "Sleigh ride". Jared was watching the movie ELF on his PSP on the way up and I guess that put this song in his head. In fact he is reading the words to the song off of his PSP while he sings. I wondered how he knew all the words. Now you can all experience a little taste of what we all were treated too, during the camp out. Jared sang this song pretty much non stop. Also I did receive his permission to publish this video. Thanks Jared for spreading the joy.

Diana's Decorated Den

This year Diana decided that she needed her own Christmas decorations in her room. I had this little tree that I let her have. Usually this tree gets little ornaments that are red, white, and blue and match my family room decor. Much to her delight, I bought her new ornaments that were pink and purple. She had spent quite a lot of time organizing her room. She had to shuffle a few things around to make room for her stuff on top of her dresser. Today she is making snowflakes that she plans to hang from her ceiling.
I still have not quite finished putting out the rest of my decorations. Every day I think I will get it done, and then other things creep in and keep me from doing it. Oh well, at least the tree is up and the living room is decorated.

Close Call Concerning Christmas Cards

After a whole week, I finally managed to get myself to Sam's club and order my Christmas cards. I was using the machine thingy to process my order. After I picked my picture and looked through the 260 choices of card type, I was ready to submit my order. On the machine was a sign informing customers to have a photo shop employee check your order before finishing it. I am a rule following person most of the time, and so I did ask an employee to see if I had completed my order correctly. She said "Oh, Dear, I don't think you meant to order 100 sets of 100 cards, did you?" Let's see 100 times 100 would be 10,000 if my math skills are still intact. No I guess I wouldn't like to order 10,000 Christmas cards, and especially I would not like to pay $2,500.oo for that order. So fortunately catastrophe averted. Now if I can just manage to get back to Sam's to pick up my order, compile my addresses on my new computer, figure out how to print my labels on my new printer, and purchase stamps, I will be ready to put everything together and get it in the mail.

Wintry Warfare

Yesterday Jared had a soccer game. I knew that it would be cold and windy at the field because it always is this time of year. Such an occasion calls for drastic measures called thermal underwear. I pulled them from the bottom of the drawer where they live for most of the year. I was almost toasty warm between my nice down coat and my long johns. When I got home I didn't ever have the chance to change. And guess what? I was warmer in my house with those nice warm things on under my sweats. So today when I woke up and thought about how cold I would be at church, a brilliant plan popped into my head. Why not wear my long underwear under my dress. And so I did. No one even noticed and I was much warmer than usual. Even though my church building likes to do its best imitation of a deep freeze during the winter months, I am on a crusade to conquer its cold contrivances. Armed with my down jacket, gloves, blanket, and thermals, I may win yet. And yes I know that I am a sissy when it comes to the cold. Obviously there is something wrong with my circulatory system, because I am always way colder than anyone else. Until I figure out what to do about that, I will stick to my arsenal of warmth.

Santa's Newest Elves!

Holidays got you down? Feeling stressed and burdened by all that needs to be done this time of year? Well click on the links below for some needed comic relief.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1273018950

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1272575380

Visit to Santa

Friday night was our ward Christmas party. It was a huge success. We had a nice program in the chapel to begin with and then went and ate a yummy turkey dinner. Then they had crafts for the kids and a visit from Santa. Here is Diana's cute picture with her good friend Camden. Jared had to bring his baby and that made quite a stir. Everyone was quite interested in it and it even started crying during the program. Luckily it was quickly silented with the key thing it comes with. Here is a picture of one of the babies in our ward, Andrew playing with Jared's baby. Diana had fun playing with my camera. Here is a beautiful picture she took of herself and her friend Taylor.

Nerdeekork!

My sister-in-law put this funny test on her blog. It will tell you what proportion of Nerd, Geek, and Dork you are. I thought it would be fun/interesting to take it. Here are my results. It is probably no surprise to those of you who know and love me that I am a pretty equal combo of all three. I am not sure what what kind of award, I will win for that. So go ahead, what have you got to loose? Only your sense of self esteem.

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

PAT's Score: Tri-Lamb Material

52 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 52% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd and Dork, earning you the coveted title of: Tri-Lamb Material.

The classic, "80's" nerd, you are what most people think of when they think "nerd," largely due to 80's movies like Revenge of the Nerds and TV shows like Head of the Class. You're exceptionally bright and smart, and partly because of that have never quite fit in with your peers or social groups. Perhaps you've realized, or will someday, that it is possible to retain all of the things that you like about being brilliant and still make peace with the social cliques around you. Or maybe you won't--it's really not necessary. As the brothers of Lambda Lambda Lambda discovered, you're fine just the way you are and can take pride in that. I mean, who wants to be like Ogre, right!?

Congratulations!

I beg to differ with their assessment that I am brilliant. I must have faked those answers somehow.

Happy Testing!

I'm a Grandma, kind of

So here is a picture of Jared's baby. As you can tell it is not really alive, but it is part of a health class project. Baby "Jason" will be part of our family for the weekend. He came with a stroller and diaper bag. At random times during his stay, he will cry. Jared has a key thing that is attached to his arm, that he will use to stop the crying. As parents I'm am sure there are many times that we wish we could stop our babies from crying with just the turn of a key. This project is suppose to help kids realize how much work and even bother babies can be. It is not mandatory, but Jared wanted to do it for the extra credit, although I don't think he really needed the points. I had to sign a consent form that informed me that the baby could disrupt the sleep of my child and the rest of the family. I am not thrilled to know this, but hopefully it won't be that bad. Jared has to take it with him everywhere. That will include the ward Christmas Party, his soccer games, and I guess church. It could provide some interesting material to write about, so stay tuned for further adventures.

One down, three to go!

Last night Diana had her Christmas concert for the Clark County Children's Choir. It was titled "Do You Hear What I Hear". Everyone did a fabulous job. I love these things while I am watching them, but they seem to entail a lot of stress. Making sure that you have the right socks and hair and everything can be a bit taxing. And so I am glad to say that the first thing is done. Now Trent has his concert next Thursday night. I need to get his Tux to the cleaners before then. Jared's concert is on the 18th. He is probably going to tell me his shoes are to small 30 minutes before the concert. I should check on that sooner. Then Diana has a program for her school on the 19th. She needs a black dress for that. The miracle this year is that for the first time in about 3 years, none of the concerts are on the same night as each other or enrichment. What a relief that is. I really don't know how the stars have aligned to make this possible, but I am grateful for it nonetheless. And this does not include the program at the ward party tonight or the ward program on the 16th. Yay for lots of Christmas music this time of year.

Christmas Comedy

I found this somewhere as I was reading at my computer. It made me smile, so I thought I would share.

CHRISTMAS DISORDERS and CAROLS
1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

11. Oppositional Defiant Disorder-- You better not cry - Oh yes I will
You better not Shout - I can if i want to
You better not pout - Can if i want to
I'm telling you why - Not listening
Santa Claus is coming to town - No he's not!!

Misadventure - Missed Milestone

It has come to my attention that my 100th post has come and gone with out so much as a celebratory or congratulatory word from me. This may not be a tragedy of enormous proportions, but still something that needs to be corrected. How amazing that I have reached that milestone that once seemed unreachable. When I first started blogging, I only posted about once a week. This fall I have stepped it up a notch. The credit for this would have to be my new camera. It is so fun to take pictures of everything in my life and then write about it. Just so you know, the hundredth post was my "Catapooloza" slide show of the kittens in my life. When TV shows have their 100th episode, it always seems like it is a really big deal and they pull out all the stops to make it really special. I guess unknowingly I did the same thing. Had I known that is was such a special post, I might have tried to think of something better, but the cat slide show was pretty good, so I am content with how fate dealt this special event in my life. So Hip, Hip, Hooray for a life worth writing about. Here's to many posts to come.

Some of my Best Friends are Flakes

Last night for young women's activity we made decorations for the ward Christmas party on Friday night.
We are in charge of the Santa room. Since there is no chance of snow in any other form, we made snowflakes and hung them from the ceiling. Very Winter Wonderlandlike. In addition we wrapped boxes with wrapping paper to help make the room look festive. The young men put together gift bags for Santa to hand out to the primary kids. Can I just say how happy I am to not be activities chairman this year. Instead of worrying about all the details of the ward party, I am spending the week trying to get my house cleaned up and my Christmas decorations up. I think I am about half way done. And yes I am glad to just have paper snowflakes instead of the real thing. Even though it is not as pretty, it is much warmer. Here is a glorious picture of me posing with one of our creations.

Much Ado about Nothing

Today I received my first call from the Dean at Trent's school. Actually I missed the call on my cell phone, because I was coloring my hair. So when I listened to the message and it was from the Dean I was slightly concerned. The message informed me that the campus police had noticed a gun in Trent's car which turned out in fact to be a toy gun. They called Trent from class and he let the police search his car and back pack. This search only revealed a gorilla suit. This led to another conversation. Officially the school could have expelled Trent. The Dean told me that because his record is completely clean and because he is in orchestra, they let him off with a warning. The gun was a bright orange thing from the dollar store. When asked why it was in his car, Trent said that a friend had used it as part of a costume at Halloween and it just got left in the car. Trent thought it was a bit ridiculous because the gun didn't really look that realistic. The Dean said that they didn't want to risk starting some kind of panic if someone started spreading rumors that someone had a gun in their car. But in today's world you can't be to careful, I suppose. Hey I couldn't expect a kid to go all the way through school without getting in trouble just once, can I? So from now on Trent will be sure to not leave toy guns in his car. And he better not pull any pranks in his gorilla suit, since he would be prime suspect number one. He keeps the suit in his trunk because one never knows when one might need such a thing.

Christmas Card Character!

Here is one of the rejected candidates for our Christmas card picture. Nice face Jared! What was I saying about him being a good kid? We chose a picture with a different grouping and setting so you will be slightly surprised when you get my card, although our faces and clothes will be the same. As an olive branch to encourage participation, I told everyone I didn't care what they wore, they just had to show up for the photo shoot. A big Thank you to my friend/photographer Kristin. After last year, I am surprised that she agreed to come back again. So at least we can say it is over. We are all in the picture and with fairly pleasant looks on our faces. Sadly, I seem to be most disappointed by what I chose to wear. Oh well, maybe someday I will get everyone into a professional photographer. And maybe pigs will fly. But that is OK. You know as far as photo shoots go, this one was fairly painless. So yay for one thing done on my mile long list of tasks to complete before Christmas.

Truth is stranger than Fiction

So here is a lovely picture of a house in my neighborhood. It is actually a business. Until about a week ago, this house was white with red trim. Now it is the color of a giant pepto-bismal bottle. Holy retina-burners Batman.
In a competition for most house/yard decorations, this lovely house seems to be winning, don't ya think? Located across the street from my friend in the ward, every time I drive by, there is something new added to this house. Notice the lovely turret on the top of the garage. Apparently at night there is a light that shines through the stained glass windows. It reminds me somehow of the house in my "Big, Fat, Greek, Wedding." Click on the picture to enlarge it and see all the gaudy details of this yard.

Woot Newbie

Ok I have made my first purchase on the website Woot. For any of you who are unaware of this magical place, check it out at woot.com My sister-in-law first showed it to me about a year ago. It is a website that sells electronic stuff for radically good deals. They only sell one item each day until it is sold out. I know several people who have bought a lot of stuff from there. My sister and sister-in-law both bought a rumba from this fun place. Another thing this site does is sell something they call a "bag of crap" for $1. This is a random bag of stuff that sometimes has really great stuff in it. I have a friend who actually got a rumba in one of this cool bags that she only had to pay $8 for. So now I can say that I have gotten a great deal and yay for getting one more Christmas present out of the way.

Bigfoot Sighting

The past couple of days Jared has been complaining that his shoes were hurting him because his feet have grown, AGAIN. So I took him to get new shoes. This 13 year old child is now wearing a size 13 in men's sizes. I am tempted to stop feeding him, so he will stop growing. Someone told me that 13 is that last size you can just run to Wal Mart and buy off the shelf. We did just that yesterday and yay for $15 shoes at Wal Mart. I will revel in the joy of that simple, cheap purchase, since it may be my last. Here is a picture of my smallish looking size 8 foot next to Jared's new shoe. Also here is a picture of Jared and I, back to back. He really is taller than me now. So I will have to look up to him literally and not just for his ability to be a great student, good friend, and all around good kid. Everyone sing together "Is this the little boy I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember getting older, when did they? Sunrise, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset. Swiftly fly the years." The breif break in this post has been brought to you courtesy of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof".

Diana's Slide Show

Diana had a sleepover with her friend Allison last night. They had fun dressing up and taking picutres together. They wanted to make a slide show after they saw my cat one. Here it is:

Catapalooza!

After all this talk about cats and kittens, I thought I would make a montage to all the cats that have graced my life. Of course it all started with Hercules and Zena. They are the patriarch and matriarch of the great cat dynasty the reigned at my house for 7 years. Kittens really are such fun, but they are a lot of bother as well. We had the most fun naming them. At first we stuck with the Greek theme: Zeus, Apollo, Thor (my favorite), and Aphrodite. Then we moved on to Star Wars with Luke, Leia, and Vader. One of my favorites was the Phantom of the Opera theme, Phantom and his two sisters Carlotta and Christine. We had Phantom for a long time, he was a good cat. Then as Diana got older she helped in the naming and we had the princess kittens. One of the last batches had one named Piggy. As I looked through the pictures, I was surprised at how similar the kittens look through the years. We could always count on at least one grey stripey one that looked like Zena. Even though they looked similar, let me assure you these are not pictures of the same kittens, over and over. Zena had from 2 to 3 litters a year for seven years. I figure the it must have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 kittens. Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Yes we had some fun times with them, but really it is quite a lot of trouble, ie: peeing on the carpet, cats spraying, and males cats stalking the house when Zena was in heat. Not to mention the disruption to ones sleep. The kittens would often start off in my closet and I remember one time when they had gotten to the stage of pouncing. Let me tell you, it is not fun to be sound asleep and have a kitten pounce on your face. I did have a linen closet that was the kitten birthing room. Zena would insist that I sit next to her box when she was in labor. She would tell me in no uncertain terms that if she had to go through this, so did I. And who can forget the many breech deliveries I had to help her with. Thank heavens, her first few deliveries were normal, so I was only there for moral support. When the next one did not go like usual I could tell that something was wrong. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending of your point of view, I had read the books All Creatures Great and Small. The vet in that book, talks about many breech cow deliveries. And so I knew that I would need to help her get the kitten out. Somehow I managed to help her and with much complaint on her part, we got the job done. She probably had about 4 breech deliveries in all. One time I pulled too hard on the poor kitten's tail and actually pulled it off. Yikes! But he turned out to be such a cute little kitty and somebody took him willingly when we sold them. And so while there are some great memories from the "cat years" of my life, I am not ready to go back. So at first I picked the song "Bye, Bye, Bye" for the song to this slide show. But in order to have the song playing, I had to have an annoying little small video box at the bottom of my slide show. After further deliberation, I decided to just have no music, since I couldn't find the right thing. So listening to the message in "Bye, Bye, Bye," I will try to stay strong in my decision to be catless.

My Cup Runneth over with Milk!

Yes, due to an unfortunate miscommunication Marion and I both went to the store last Saturday night and each bought 5 gallons of milk. He checked the fridge and saw that we did not have any milk. Shortly after that, I went to the store and stocked up. A little bit later Marion figured he should go so we wouldn't be milkless on Sunday. He was quite dismayed when he came home and found the fridge already full. Somehow we managed to cram it all in and on the bright side we won't have to buy milk for a while. I just hope it all gets consumed before any of it goes bad. Perhaps this emergency can only be solved by Chocolate Chip Cookieman.

Denial Delima

I always say the denial is my favorite part of grief. This is because it is the painless part. So I am in denial about many things right now. One of them would be that Christmas is really going to come. As long as I am in denial, I don't have to stress out that I am not ready yet. Like getting my ornery family together for a picture. I don't know why any of them should be surprised that this will happen, since it has happened every year for the past 16 years. But when I brought the subject up a few weeks ago, you'd have thought I just informed them that they would be getting dental work done without Novocaine.
Of course the other thing I am in denial about is my cats. No, I mean to say the cats that are choosing to live in my back yard. Judging from the activity going on out there, in about 12 weeks there are going to be the cutest little kittens running around. There should be some orange, some black, some white with black spots, and some grey ones. Perhaps my denial stage can last until the kittens are old enough to go to new homes. Yes, my friends this is a not so silent cry for help. Where do I sign up for the 12 step program to get over a cat addiction?

Lost and Found

This happened a few weeks ago, but I meant to write about it and never did. On the Wednesday of this week, I picked Diana up from school and when we were half way home she exclaimed "Oh, no, I lost my glasses at school." I am fairly concerned/alarmed/exasperated by this comment. So I turn around and head back to the school. A second look in her desk, produced the missing specs. Crisis averted, we returned home.
Diana went to play at a neighbor's house and then we went to the church that evening for an enrichment class. She played in the gym for the nursery. The next morning those darn spectacles were nowhere to be found. Diana had to go to school with only two eyes that day instead of four. I wondered if the glasses had been left at the church. After borrowing some keys, I went and looked thoroughly through the whole church. Nada. I looked throughout my entire house. I called my neighbor and had her look at her house as well. Still nothing. By Friday I was giving up hope, figuring that they were a permanent casualty of the Bermuda triangle in my house. I called the eye doctor to see how much it would cost to replace the glasses with the same pair and was told it would cost $260 for new peepers. Yikes! Then I asked how much would the cheapest pair be, $150. Still out of my budget of $0. So I decided to wait just a bit longer. Perhaps vision is highly over rated. In the mean time, I spent any spare moment looking for those glasses like Indiana Jones looked for the Holy Grail.
That Saturday, I worked all afternoon. When I got home I found out that Jared has scored a goal in his soccer game that day. Of course he only scores when I am not there. Anyway we decided to go out to eat at IHOP to celebrate. Diana brought along her purse. We were sitting there waiting for our food to come, when Diana looks in her purse and what do you think she finds? Yup, you guessed it, the missing glasses. I am incredulous. How they came to be there, I do not know. But yay for not having to purchase new ones. Someone should develop glasses for kids with a GPS system installed. It is ridiculous how much of my life seems to revolve around finding people's glasses. Sheesh!

Signs of the Season

You know it must be getting to be Christmas time when White Christmas is on TV. I love this movie. It is hard to say what is the best part, it might be the dancing or maybe the singing. This would have to qualify as one of my all time favorite movies. One of my favorite numbers would have to be when Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lip sync to the "Sisters" song. When I watch, I always think that which ever part I am watching is the best part. So yay for old movies at Christmas time. Another great movie that I only caught a little bit of the other night is "Meet Me in St. Louis". This is another wonderful musical of yesteryear. Judy Garland is fabulous in this movie, so check it out if you have never seen it. We also just purchased Mary Poppins on DVD. This movie is practically perfect in every way. It makes me so happy to see Diana following in my musical loving ways which I learned from my mother!

Young Women in Excellence at the county fair!

Tuesday night we had our Young Women in Excellence program. We did it around a country fair theme. Everyone dressed up in their jeans, bandannas, and straw hats. Here is a lovely picture of me with my bag of popcorn. The popcorn bags had the program for the evening attached to it. It was made with one of those movie popcorn machines and tasted really good. We then played a different carnival game for each value with the girls

who were presenting projects for that value. I was a bit concerned when I first heard of the idea, but it was so much fun and turned out so well. It was a big success. We had a fishing game, pie eating contest, donuts eating contest, duck shoot, ring toss, and sewing game. The girls were good sports and we laughed until we cried at times. We had apple pie and warm apple cider for refreshments.

Cute Shoes

Diana made these cute flip flops at activity day on Tuesday. She has the most awesome leader who always does the most fun things. And they are really checking off things in their books as well, which is really good. They also play a fun article of faith bingo game that is helping the girls learn their articles of faith. Sadly this sister just got called into the stake primary presidency. She has said that she will keep doing activity days until they find someone new. So we will see how long that lasts. In the mean time we will just appreciate her willingness to serve.

School picture, part II

Yesterday Diana brought her new school picture home. I think it turned out pretty cute, although I liked her hair better in the first picture. Diana liked this picture because she was disappointed that she had a small red sore on her chin in her first picture. I didn't think it was that noticeable, but she is quite sensitive about such things. Also a bonus, if you click on the picture and look at it closely, you can see her stick on ear ring. Did I talk about her ear ring drama? She got these stick on ear rings and the first day she wore them, we didn't even get past our drive way before they fell off. The next day we made it all the way to the crossing guard before she noticed they were missing. She then wanted to turn around and go back home to get new ones. This of course was out of the question which produced much protest on Diana's part. So imagine the joy that her ear ring managed to stay on long enough for this picture. Simple pleasures. So all's well that ends well. Now we have the fashionable red scarf picture for future generations to admire as well as this nice picture.

BYU prevails!

In a classic "It ain't over, until it is over" moment the BYU game went down to the final seconds before the winner was determined. We had nine people over to watch with us. It was awesome to watch with so many fellow cougar fans. Thanks to my Aunt Sally for supplying the pizza and treats. Of course at the crucial 4 and 19 play, I held my lucky bone for good luck. And no surprise it worked. When we completed a pass for the crucial first down, I was compelled to jump up and down on my couch, cheering with glee. And then when BYU scored the go ahead touchdown with seconds to go, well the crowd at my house went wild. Yay, for exciting games that end happily. Now we will wait and see if the Cougs will be back in Vegas for the third straight year. Good luck, team, at San Diego this weekend.

Fall into the season!

Yesterday we gave into Jared and Diana pestering us to put up the Christmas tree. Marion got the tree down from the attic and got it assembled. Diana then insisted that I get the ornaments down, so she could decorate the tree. I hate the ladder thing that goes up to our attic in the garage. It is really hard for me, who is mechanically challenged. After wresting with it, I finally climbed up to find the missing box. Somehow it was the first box I looked in. I wonder why I have never labeled my boxes before. Note to self, label the boxes in the attic. As I was pulling the large plastic tub down, it came faster than I expected. In a classic comedy moment, I lost my footing and fell backwards. No worries, a tool box broke my fall. Also some bags of salt for the water softener. I lay there for a moment and finally realized that I was basically unhurt. Today, I am very sore in several places, and I am sure I will have a great bruise in a few days. I am very glad that I will not be in some sort of cast for the Holidays. Here is a picture of our tree.

Recipes for Leftovers

Here are some yummy things you can do with your left over turkey:

Turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry Wrap

12 inch tortillas
Cranberry Sauce
Sliced Turkey
Stuffing
Spread 3 tablespoons of cranberry sauce on a tortilla. Lay 2 or 3 turkey slices on the wrap. Top with 3 to 4 tablespoons of stuffing. Roll the wrap and slice in pieces.

Very Easy, and equally yummy!

Cashew Turkey Pasta Salad

2 cups chopped turkey
3 cups spiral tricolor spiral pasta, cooked and drained
2 celery ribs, diced
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 c diced green pepper
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 cups salted cashews

In a bowl combine mayo, sugar, vinegar, salt, and lemon juice, add remaining ingredients except for cashews, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, stir in cashew.

This one is a little more work, but really quite tasty! Enjoy!

Black Friday

Well I decided to join the crazed masses that attempt to score hot deals on the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent several hours pouring over the adds, planning my strategy, and making lists of things I thought I might need. Diana foiled my plan to go to bed early when she found the musical "Legally Blonde" on TV last night. It had a few questionable parts just like the movie, but it was fun to watch a real Broadway production nonetheless. Thankfully Diana fell asleep and did not see much of it. I was reading something about it being the first time, that a current production allowed cameras to film a show and put it on TV. Finally it ended at 11:00 and I set my alarm for 3:30 am.

When my alarm went off, I actually did get up. Arming myself with my camp chair, down coat, water, snack, book on tape, list, camera, and competitive spirit, I set off in search of victory. When I opened the garage door, I woke Marion up. He came down to the garage just as I was pulling out. He then called me on my phone to see where was I going at that time of day. I said the sales, of course. He said he just wanted to make sure I wasn't sleep walking or that someone wasn't stealing the car. So off I went.

First I drove by Circuit City. They had a great lap top for $300. Even though they did not open until 5:00 and I was there at 4:00, there was already a huge line, probably 500 people. So I decided that it would be useless to stop there.

Next I headed to Mervyns. It was 4:00 when I drove up, which is when the store was suppose to open. There were huge lines here as well. The item I wanted the most was a Zume 30 gig MP3 player at Toys R Us. Since Toys R Us is right next to Mervyns and did not open for another hour, I decided to to just go on over to Toys R Us and get in line. Taking my camp chair with me and bundling up in my down coat, I took up my position in line which was rather far back I have to admit. Here is a picture of me. It was taken by the man in front of me who said he could not work digital cameras. I wish he had gotten more of me in the picture, but I felt it would hurt his feelings if I asked someone else to take my picture. I am sure that those around me found it humorous that I would even bring my camera to such an event. During this time I kept myself entertained by talking to my sister and sister in law in Utah. They had already been to several stores and were standing outside of K-Mart. It was pretty funny that I would have someone to talk to at 4:00 am in the morning. Finally the hour passed and the line began to move. Of course I had to carry my chair with me through the store. I went right to the electronic section, but of course they only had 16 of those MP3 players and so I struck out there. This was actually good news because I did not have to stand in the ridiculously long check out line that was forming.

Next I went down the road to the mall to go to K-Bee toy store. This is where my luck began to change. I scored a really close parking space. This time I traveled much lighter with just my purse and sweater, no coat or chair. Things at this store were much calmer than Toys R Us. Although it should probably be a danger sign when they give you a ginormous bag as you enter the store. They had all of their advertised specials at the front of the store. I proceeded to succumb to the feeding frenzy that was going on inside, buying pretty much one of everything. Perhaps in the light of a new day I will need to make some returns. The past two years I have put off shopping, and have not been able to get certain items on Diana's list. I think this year I have over compensated, but I can take things back, right? Finally I emerged, with a bag that looked like something Santa carries around Christmas eve.

Dragging my purchases across the way, I checked at Radio Shack. This is when I discovered that I had made a crucial mistake. Radio Shack had not been open when I first got to the mall. In fact I noticed that there were only 5 people waiting outside. If only I had stood in that line, I could have purchased the MP3 players for $99, but by the time I got over there, they were all sold out. Oh well, but it really irritates me that I was that close to getting it and just didn't plan correctly. Next I drove over to the Radio Shack that is close to my house. They didn't have any either, and so at this point I gave up on that dream.

Now I was already in the Wal Mart parking lot, so I figured that I would stop in there. It was now 7:00 am. I wondered aimlessly around that store for about an hour. Of course by this time the DVD players for your car were sold out. In fact the Wal Mart employee laughed at me when I asked her if there were any left. I think that was uncalled for. I did get several things that were on my list and so it was not a total loss.

After this, I drove across the street to Target. There was one thing I wanted there and they still had that, so yay. I can not be very specific about my purchases due to the fact that my children do sometimes read my blog.

By now I was feeling quite hungry. I snacked on my wheat thins and drank some water, while I drove over to game stop. Our play station II broke last Sunday. This was pretty much a tragedy since Jared had just purchased Guitar Hero III several days before. We went to Gamestop on Monday to replace the broken system. The worker there was kind enough to tell me that if we waited until Friday, the Playstation would be $20 cheaper. Sadly I had to wait in another line at Gamestop. This was due to the fact that, they only let a certain number of people in the store at a time. Finally I was allowed to enter and purchased the sought after game system.

So I returned home at 9:00 after five hours of shopping. I had some wins and some losses, but my trunk was full of loot. My children of course are dying of curiosity to get in there and see what I bought. They spent quite some time trying to get the keys away from me. Here is some good news, my new car has an alarm on it. I did not really know about this, but when they tried to open the car without pushing the button on my key fob, the alarm sounded. This then scared them away from the car. I wonder if I am going to have to keep things in there for a whole month. I don't know why they want to spoil the surprise, but neither Diana or Jared are especially good at waiting for things. Happily I did get a bit of a nap, but I still feel a little bit woosey. So I don't know if I would do this again, but I do feel like I learned some valuable lessons that I can use in future years if insanity strikes me again.

Turkey sings the blues!

As I was picking all the bones out of my turkey meat, look what I found! I think it is totally a sign that BYU will be victorious tomorrow. What else could it mean? Obviously even the turkeys are bleeding blue. Those of you who live in Utah valley, tell me this doesn't look just like the "Y" on the side of the mountain. So on to victory, Cougars. Perhaps I will drill a hole in this bone and make a necklace or hang it from my rear view mirror. Or do you think I could sell it on e-bay to some really die hard cougar fans? We are less than 24 hours away from kick off. I hope I can sleep tonight. This should be as exciting as last year's game and so I will need to be well rested in order to survive the nail biting that may be going on as I watch.

Happy Turkey Day!

I spent the morning cooking and finally got my turkey into the oven at 1:00. Marion, Jared, Diana, and I then went and saw the movie Enchanted. We all gave it two thumbs up. It was very cute. Came home in time to finish up making the corn, potatoes, and gravy for the big dinner. Here are the before and after pictures. It is always hard to believe how long it can take to make what takes people a few minutes to consume. We have lots of left overs, so hopefully they will last through the weekend. We did miss being with family, but we enjoyed a nice quiet day. I slept in until 9:30, how nice was that? Now I am planning for tomorrow and where to spend my shopping time and dollars. Hope to have a report for you all about my exploits. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all have sweet dreams of great deals tonight.

Work, Wal Mart, and Wise Crackers

So when I went to figure out my hours, so I could turn them and be paid, I discovered that I had worked 37 hours in just 5 days. No wonder I am so tired and my house is such a wreck, and my kids have been eating cold cereal for dinner for a week. Sheesh! Well at least I am done for a while. There will be more stuff to do in January. And I my checking account will very much appreciate the infusion of cash. So that is all good. I needed an extra helper last Monday and Tuesday. Jared was out of school for Veteran's day and teacher prep day so he volunteered to go with me. He was a big help. Part of our job was to help with the sample sale. Jared was excited to earn $8 in tips when he helped people get their stuff to their cars. He was even more excited to earn $180 for two days work. He already spent some of his cash on Guitar Hero III. Yea for paying jobs.
Due to the fact that pretty much every one in our family is on the brink of exhaustion, we have decided not to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. Both of our families wish we would visit, mine in Utah, and Marion's in Arizona, but they will survive without us somehow. I am looking forward to a very relaxing weekend full of movies and scrap booking. Oh yea, and a day of crazed cooking. But even that shouldn't be too bad. My turkey is defrosting in the fridge as I write. We will see how much of the trimmings cut trimmed away or make it to the table. Then on Saturday there will be the highlight of the Holy War to watch on TV. For any of you not familiar with what that is, it is when BYU plays the University of Utah. It is always a big game, but it is an even bigger game this year for very many reasons that I will not bore all of you with. I have missed parts of the last two games due to church responsibilities and the fact that I came home from the ward camp out very sleep deprived and fell asleep while watching last Saturday's game. Inconceivable! So I am keeping next Saturday from 11:00 to 2:00 sacred. Just so you know, don't call me and my kids will be instructed not to talk to me either. Not that it ever works, but it will be worth a try. Usually the boys are too embarrassed/annoyed with my screaming and leave the room. I will have to think of a project for Diana to keep her busy.
For any of you who are unaware there is good news called the movie Hairspray was released on DVD today. I just got back from Wal Mart with my exciting purchase. I went to Wal Mart because they always have their movies marked down the first day it comes out. Of course then I was enticed by the evil powers of the movie industry and succumbed to buying a two disc version for $25. I could not resist the "sing along to the lyrics track" or the "step by step dance moves". I am such a sucker for giving in and paying $10 more for it than just the plain DVD. While I was shopping there was announcement made over the loud speaker that went something like this:
"Attention all managers, please report to the meeting room where Nancy will give keep us spell bound by her information that she will impart in a most interesting way. And will someone bring some napkins for Dave. He has brownies all over his face and he needs napkins."
I found this announcement to be quite amusing and unlike any other I had every heard there. Who knew that there is actually one Wal Mart employee with a sense of humor? Besides the DVD I got some new sheets for the beds in Diana's room. The ones she has now are quite old and worn out. You know colored on with pen and stained by a burn mark when a hot iron was accidentally placed on the bed. Just your usual wear and tear. We are having some company this weekend and so I though they might enjoy having some decent sheets on the beds. So with only 3 items, I figured that I would use the self check thingy. I scanned the first item and put it in the bag. I think I forgot to touch it to the blue star on the scanner, so the "Skip bagging" message appeared. I hit OK. Then the machine said "Unauthorized item in the bagging area." Criminy, it was the one that mistakenly thought I was skipping the bagging. The same thing was repeated with the next item. For crying out loud, how long can it take to check out with three items? Finally I was triumphant and left with my purchases. It was at this point that I remembered some pants that needed to be returned but of course were still at home. Curses. Maybe next time, which is what I tell myself every time I go.

Ward Campout

Our ward had a camp out this weekend at the Valley of Fire. It is called this because of the red color in the rocks. The weather was absolutely, beautiful. This is one of the times that it actually IS great to live in Las Vegas. We have had a very mild fall, and it has been warm longer than usual. I think it is supposed to finally turn cold next weekend, but thank goodness it was still very mild for the camp out. The great thing about this place, is that it is really just a big playground with rocks to climb on. Especially for someone like me, with older children, I just said "Have fun, and don't get hurt." We went camping here for the first time last year and we loved it then, also. That time Jared found a great hole in the rocks that he slept in. We stayed at a different camp site this time, and so he just slept on the ground next to his friends. Because of daylight savings, we got there just after dark last night. I was worried that the kids would fall off of some cliff in the dark, but they managed to not get hurt. It is always a fun part of camping to put your tent up in the dark. I took my cot from girls camp and Diana and I slept in our little tent. We had a great time and even though it is a lot of work to get it all together and put it all away, I am glad that we went.

Be Back Soon

For any of you checking and being disappointed that there are no new posts, just let me tell you that I have been really busy working for the past few days. So just be patient and perhaps I will have the energy to post something new tomorrow.

On your mark, Get set, Go!

OK maybe Jared read my post yesterday about motherhood being an amazing race because he seemed intent on providing me with the opportunity to race this morning. When I got up at 6:55, I found him still asleep in his bed. This is bad, as usually by this time he has showered, dressed, eaten, and is preparing to leave the house fifteen minutes later. Once again I am forced to waken him with threats, hoping to get him to move faster than a snail. I tell him if he hurries, he can still catch the bus. This is not an incentive for him, as he hates riding the bus. His biggest complaint being that they are forced to have 4 people sitting in a seat. I do share his pain in a "Hey that sounds uncomfortable" kind of way, not in a "OK, I'll drive you to school every day" kind of way. This seems the perfect time for the life lesson "Life is hard, suck it up and deal with it". He takes a shower while I make his breakfast and lunch. He seems to be dawdling in the shower and I sense that he plans to be so late that he misses the bus and I have to drive him all the way to school . I counter by prodding him along with everything short of a cattle prod. Does anybody know where I can get me one of those? Finally we leave the house and I drive him to the next bus stop that is just around the corner. He tells me that, surely we must be too late and I should just take him to school. But I revel in the victory that is mine, as the bus drives up at the same time we do. Bwaaahahahaha! What could he do, but admit defeat and get out of the car and onto the bus. I am especially glad that I didn't have drive out of my neighborhood as I am still in my knee length pajama shirt, with only a robe on for decency's sake. For sure that would be the time that I was in another car accident. Perhaps that would be the best cure for Jared, drive him to school dressed very inappropriately and get out of the car and embarrass him to death. I will have to keep that card up my sleeve.

Next we moved onto the sport of getting Diana to school. It was of course picture make up day. I had decided to just take every one's advice and live with the first picture. It did after all have to potential for good memories in years to come. Just like the picture of Trent with his nose scraped up when he was 2. Anyway, Diana decided that she would like to get a new picture. So I helped her get ready. Her hair has grown since the last picture and so we had to curl it under instead of up. Who knows how this one will turn out. Stay tuned for the results. She was very excited to wear her stick on earrings. She had to make sure that her hair was tucked behind her ears, so that they would show. I guess you can't really see the earrings in this picture, but this is how she looked when we left the house. No scarf's, hats, or any other accessory. And I would like to know how this picture day landed on library day again. At least now, we have taken to keeping Diana's books in her backpack. We aren't really reading them, but hey we are able to return them when they are due. So does the teacher actually expect us to read them and return them? I think that is taking things a bit far. Onto school where I had to go in and fill out a picture form. There were about 30 other parents doing the same thing and it was quite crowded. Finally all was taken care of, my child went off to her class and I headed for institute. Yes, just another day in paradise and another victory in getting my children to school.

Paul Bunyan's got nothin on me!

So my front yard has been running amuck for a long time now. I have two rosemary bushes that are trying to take over my entire yard. If not impeded, I imagine some day they would have completely barricaded me into my house. This is a job that has needed doing and yet has not made it to the top of the to do list. Instead it has been easier to just drive into my garage and pretend not to notice the extreme overgrowth. So today I finally managed to get motivated to reclaim the sidewalk, if not for my benefit, for others who occasionally do still visit my house. I'm not sure

if the pictures can fully show how much I trimmed away. It filled a garbage can and four black bags. Just so you know I am dangerous with my tree trimmer, and am glad/pleasantly surprised that no blood was spilt in today's yard work. At one time the button stuck on the trimmer and I had to just do the best I could with it until I finally got it unstuck. At this time the thought of losing a toe did cross my mind. But all is well that ends well. Perhaps it is not a great idea to prune bushes wearing shorts and sandals. Also pictured here is the lovely rock mentioned in an earlier post. This is the infamous rock that was painted. It is actually quite cute in that Diana did it all by herself. Also pictured is a dead, decaying bird that is attached to a branch that I cut off a bush. I thought it was an uncommon occurrence to have a dead bird fall at my feet and so I documented it for all of you. You can thank me later for sharing. Now we can all walk on my side walk to my front door without a close encounter of the green kind.

No waiver required.

Many of you may know that I enjoy the TV program, The Amazing Race. My kids were asking me if I would ever like to be on the show. As much as I enjoy watching, that is where my involvement must end. I do not really like to fly and especially do not do heights. So there would be no point to starting something that I know I would not be able to finish. Eventually I would come to some point where the producers of the show would say "walk around the top of this sky scraper with a small rope supporting you" and I would say "not even for a million bucks". That would not be good TV and so I am sure I would never make the show. Never mind I could never leave my kids for 30 days anyway, so the whole thing is a mute point. But I can enjoy watching others do, what I never would and see interesting places around the world that I will never go to visit. In searching on the web, I found an actual application for the show and thought this part of it was interesting enough to warrant publication on my blog. What do you think?

"All applicants must be in good physical and mental health and must be aware that, and sign releases attesting that, the activities in the Program may involve risks and hazards, and that participating in the Program may expose applicant and other participants to, among other things, the risk of death, serious injury, illness and property damage caused by the risks associated with their participation in the Program, including, without limitation, the following: latent or apparent defects or conditions in any equipment used in the Program; the use or operation by applicant or others of said equipment; acts of other people including, without limitation, acts of the Producers or other participants; accommodations; weather or other natural conditions; the nature of travel including, without limitation, latent defects and human error; applicant’s physical condition; applicant’s own acts or omissions; sleep deprivation; first-aid, medical or emergency treatment or other services rendered to applicant or others; exposure to illness; consumption of food or drink; acts of God (e.g. earthquakes and floods); laws or local ordinances; war or riots; terrorism; strikes; and/or no reason at all. Applicants must understand and acknowledge that the above list of reasons is not complete or exhaustive. Applicants must accept and assume all risks of injury, death, illness or disease, or other damage to themselves, to others, or to their property, which arise in any way from their participation in this Program."

After reading this, I found myself surprised that no one is forced to sign a similar waiver when they become a mother. I think many of things listed on this waiver, are dangers that a mother faces on a daily basis. In my humble opinion, motherhood has been one of the biggest adventures of my life and has felt very much like an amazing race on a daily basis. Repeatedly, I have faced road blocks and detours and breath taking moments. So perhaps I don't really need to go on the TV show, I am living it every day.

Life at hyper speed and Betty Crocker

So I would like to know what is the deal with putting out the Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over. Is it really going to make or break these stores if they waited two more days to put out everything for Christmas? And is anyone going to buy Christmas stuff when they are still in the middle of celebrating Halloween? Is it just me, or does this seem to happen earlier and earlier each year. Pretty soon you will have to pass by the Christmas stuff when trying to buy fire works for the Fourth of July. Sheesh. Or perhaps they will just be out year round.

On a different topic, Diana was looking at my blog of her school picture. She misread the comment line to be complement. She asked me why she only had 2 complements and looked down at other posts and was equally disappointed to find zero complements there. I was cracking up because only she would just assume that people would be giving her complements. Saturday afternoon she engaged in one of her activities again. As I was laying on the couch half asleep, she informed me that she was making a cake "with or without me". I said "OK, I pick without". She proceeded to do just that. I did have her bring me the box and the measuring cups. Then I would hand a certain cup to her and say "Go put this much oil in". I don't remember being involved in the baking part of the project. Perhaps her father helped her, I can't be sure. But here is the result. It is a bit flat and over cooked, isn't it? I questioned her about it and she told me that she decided to put in extra oil. Next, I tried to explain that although individuality is a wonderful, even desired quality in many areas such as fashion, cooking is one place where one must conform to the recipe. I don't know if I convinced her, but hey at least this nap didn't come with the price of any colored substance being places that are not meant to be colored. I am still finding green food coloring in my freezer. Somehow it keeps coming back to haunt me. Oh well, there are perks to having an independent child. At least that is what I keep telling myself, to keep my sanity.

Lady in Red

Yesterday after school, Diana proudly gives me her school picture. I am excited to see how it turned out. Remember the picture day, the same day I went to traffic court? Well refer back to the post titled Traffic school Graduate, if you didn't read about all the trauma we went through the morning of her picture. Let me just say that I did not send her to school wearing a red scarf. So when I saw this picture, I was a bit stunned, shocked, perhaps even horrified. Had I know that this accessory would be added, I might not have chosen purple for the background color. I questioned her about the scarf. She informed me that "Oh my friend Bianca let me borrow it." Now it might just be me, but I think this scarf might fall into the "big bowl of ugly" category. (can you tell I have been watching to much Hannah Montana) I'm not really sure how I will feel about putting this picture on my wall and seeing it every day. I guess that is just what you have to deal with when you have a child with her own sense of fashion. I wonder when picture make up day is, perhaps we should try again. But then I have to go through the "morning of picture day" marathon again. Perhaps I should just call it good enough. And know that each time I see this picture it will bring a smile to my face because I have such an independent child. Who knows, she may grow up to be a famous fashion mogul someday.