Thanksgiving travels

The fam and I packed up and went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving.  Not because we wanted to remember what we have and be grateful for it as we watched it go down the drain in a casino, but because Hubby’s brother lives there, and that’s where everyone likes to go for the holiday.  (Just for the record, neither Hubby nor I have ever even played the slots, let alone the tables, I would be a confused mess if I ever did.  Sometimes it’s just too hard for me to count to 21.) 

If you’ve read my blog in the past, you know that a seven hour ride in the car pretty much equates to seven hours of torture for me.  I get really bored.  So, I prepared myself for seven fun filled hours of looking out the window and refereeing the fights between my children. (my wonderful hubby drove the whole way and didn’t make me take a turn!)

If you’ve ever gone down the interstate, you might notice a thing called an HOV lane.  Now, these special little lanes clear on the left side of the road have been around for awhile, you would think most people would have the hang of them by now.  Some people are under the misperception that as long as they have two people in the car, it’s just another lane, and it’s perfectly acceptable to putter along at 65 MPH.  I would like to take this opportunity to enlighten the general population.  The HOV lane is designed to encourage carpools,  and to help those people not get bogged down by the rest of the traffic as much.  If there was ever a lane to go faster in, it’s that one!  Seriously, if you are only going to go 65, don’t get in the carpool lane!  We got stuck behind so many slow people, it was ridiculous!  Other than that, the drive actually wasn’t too bad.  I’ll post more on the trip and the fun stuff we did and pictures later.  Now, I am sooo ready to sleep in my own comfy bed!

Thankful Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for!

T-  TRMinator

H- Hubby

A- A very special princess

N- New kitchen appliances

K- Kind people

S- Sales on stuff that I’ve been wanting

G- G-man

I- Ice cream

V- Very big hugs from my children

I- Internet access from anywhere!

N- Neighbors

G- Grandparents

Wordless Wednesday (from Las Vegas!)

 

I posted this while in Las Vegas, the picture wasn’t taken in Las Vegas. (just to clarify!)

It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeaaarrrr!!

Aahh the holiday season.  The time of peace on earth, goodwill toward man and the time where everyone runs around like they have lost their minds and common sense and courtesy go out the window.

I have a pet peeve about something that is generally worse during the holidays- shopping carts in parking lots.  Seriously people!!  How hard is it to put the cart back in a cart return!!!  Even when my kids were really little I could manage to put them back!   There are so many times when I see a cart stranded in the middle of a parking spot, and there is a cart return right on the other side of the aisle.  I watched a lady one time put more energy and effort into putting a cart up over the lip of the side walk that ran in front of her car so she could leave it there, than it would have taken to turn around and wheel it to the cart return that was directly behind her car.  It’s amazing to me that people can’t take the extra 2 seconds of effort to just put the cart where it goes, and show a little courtesy to everyone around them.

As I’ve gotten older and more crotchety, I’ve found that I try to avoid shopping centers if at all possible during the month of December.  I like to try and get as much as I can done early, so I can stay home in my nice warm, comfy house, instead of go out and curse under my breath at all the people who left their common sense and manners at home.

Aaahh, the holiday season, it’s the most wonderful time of the year… as long as I can stay home, and not deal with the general public!

p.s.  Here’s another one that I saw when Hubby and I were out shopping on Saturday, if it’s cold enough outside to be wearing a coat, don’t you think it’s cold enough to put socks or some type of footwear on your baby?  Don’t you think their little toes might be just a bit cold?  Some people’s ignorance amazes me!  Sorry, I try and keep this blog positive, but that one just bugs me!!

Are you smarter than a preschooler?

How is it, that a four year old can make me feel like one of the dumbest people around?

I was running errands the other day with the princess and she was pretty much chattering non-stop in the back seat.  Her chattering consists mostly of questions, and her questions are of the inane, pointless, makes no sense, variety.  So I find myself saying, “I don’t know” a lot.  

She also likes to play whatever game on the computer that her brothers are playing.  Of course, they are games that I’m not interested in, so I have no idea how to play them, and either does the princess, for the most part.  Every time she asks me how to do something in the game, I have to say, “I don’t know.”  Let me tell you, after spending half the day saying  “I don’t know” and the other half  saying, “What?” because I can’t understand her, or I have no idea what she is talking about,  I’m left in a near constant state of befuddlement, and I’m really starting to feel like I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. 

It’s moments like these, when I think I’m going to lose my mind because I’ve been talking to a 4 year old all day, and I’m really starting to think my intelligence level has dropped below hers, that I try and take a step back, and realize just how lucky I really am.  I get to stay home all day with her, and I get to hear all her inane questions, and not a babysitter.  I get to be the one that she comes to when she wants to know why the mountains are over there, and not over here, or why chips come in a bag.  I get to be the one that listens to her count out the 5 things she wants for lunch every day.  Being a stay at home mom isn’t always the easiest, most exciting job, but it’s the most important one that I will ever have and one that I treasure and wouldn’t give up for anything.

Wordless Wednesday (as wordless as I can get it)

 

I thought since it was cold outside, I would post a picture from our cruise 2 years ago, so I can dream of warmer days!    This was a beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

More of that dredging stuff

More picture posts!

I was going through old pictures of my boys this morning, and I had a hard time narrowing it down to two.  They were so cute!  They both had chubby little cheeks and their teeth were still proportional to the size of their head.  Aaahh, the good ole days.

This was when they used to let me dress them alike and they didn’t care.  I haven’t tried to do that recently, but I’m sure they would throw a little fit.  This was Christmas 2002.

Father’s and son’s campout 2003. 

Okay, I couldn’t resist!  One more!  2003, also.

Dredging up old memories

I’ve really got nothing exciting to write about right now, so I figured I would just post a picture or two.  This week may be full of wordless picture days, except not quite the wordless part, because I’m too chatty to be completely wordless.

I was going through my vast library of pictures (what do I think I’m going to do with all of these?  I’ve pretty much given up on scrapbooking!)  and I found some pictures from TRMinator’s Arrow of Light ceremony.  He (and I) worked pretty darn hard for that little patch for his scout uniform, so I thought I would post a couple of pictures.  This was from August.

He even got an actual arrow, and no, he hasn’t broken or lost it yet!  I know, impressive!

Come on, he was almost 11, it’s not like he could have all serious pictures!

Things to ponder

My sister in law, Carla forwarded me this email a couple of days ago.  Normally, when I get those, I read them and move on, but this one was pretty funny.  (I may have cut one or two out)

1. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
2. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
3. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
4. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
5. Was learning cursive really necessary?
6. Map Quest needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
7. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
8. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
9. Bad decisions make good stories.
10. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
11. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray?  I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
12. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to the ten-page paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
13. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this --  ever.
14. I hate it when I miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
15. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day.  What a waste.
16. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
17. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Gripe session!

I’m kind of in a mood today, so excuse me while I gripe.

Is it just me, or does the state of Utah have an extreme amount of dust?  I think I just might become friends with the dust and let it be.  Obviously it likes my house and wants to move in and become part of the family, so I think I just might let it.  Frankly, I’m getting tired of trying to keep it out.

As you might be able to tell, I’ve been cleaning the house today.  One of the things I cleaned was the bathrooms.  One of those bathrooms is the one my children use, more specifically my boys.  I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but holy cow!!  I may soon institute a ‘sit down’ rule in our house.  It was a bit ridiculous, between that and the toothpaste all over the counter, I think I might be living with a bunch of Neanderthals.

I went shopping last weekend.  I was so excited because I had friends and family coupons for 2 of my favorite stores.  One was for 30% your entire purchase at a clothing store for the princess.  (my other blogging friends never mention store names.  I’m assuming that’s not kosher for blogs, I don’t really know, but I’ll stick with what works for them.)   I got her two really cute outfits, and even with the 30 % off, they were still kind of pricey.  I just got an email from them and all the stuff I bought is now on sale.  I hate it when that happens!!  I can’t really get a price adjustment, because the extra 30% was only good for last weekend, and everything is 20% off now, so technically I got a better deal than I can now, but it would have been a heck of a lot better if they were 20% off to start with, then I got an extra 30% off.  Grrrr.

My other coupon was for an extra 20% off your total purchase at the fabric store.  I wanted to get flannel for the boys’ jammies and fabric for the princess’s Christmas dress.  Usually most everything is already on sale at that store, so I thought I would be scoring a good deal because my coupon worked on sale items too.  Well guess what.  Hardly anything was already on sale.  Aren’t we supposed to still be in a recession?  Let the consumers get some good deals, for pete sake!

I suppose I’d better get back to work now that I’ve gotten that off my chest.  I think I would be happier if that stack of ironing that is waiting for me magically ironed itself!  Either that, or hubby decided that it was cool to wear wrinkled shirts to work.  What do you think the odds of that are?  Yeah, not good.

My Babo’s still got it!

I have the best grandma!  First of all, let me explain her name.  We call her Babo, my brother came up with that when he was really little and for some reason it stuck.  So now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you a bit about her.

She was never one of those coddling grandma’s that baked us cookies and read us books (my other grandma read us books and always had the store bought iced oatmeal cookies in the cookie jar.  I loved those because that was the only place I got them!)  She was the fun, outrageous one that would blast Kenny Rogers from the radio and dance around the kitchen.  I loved to hang out with her while I was growing up.

She and my grandpa ran an apple orchard while I was young.  They had a building out back that was called the Apple House, where we sold produce in the summer, and did crafts in the winter.  I think we made more Apple Annie dolls than I could count!

I have great memories of running among the trees, and exploring all the corners of their property.  I also loved going to their house because she always had so many tubes of lipstick, and the really great thing was, she let me try it on!  It was fun getting all dolled up with makeup, then putting on one of her numerous pairs of clip-on earrings (the best!) and putting on a show.  I really think that I had a better childhood because she was a big part of it. 

My Babo is 82 now.  Most people slow down, and mellow out by the time they reach their 80’s.  Not her!  In fact, she got pulled over for speeding just the other day!   The policewoman said she had to run her license twice because she didn’t believe she was 82!  How awesome is that!?  My grandma is the best, and I wouldn’t change anything about her!  I love her!

It’s a bee-yoo-tiful day in the neighborhood!

I like to tease Hubby that he can’t write anything that is only one line long.  Whenever he puts out memo’s at work, they are about a page long (so I’ve heard) and generally includes at least one word that half the office isn’t quite sure what it means.  He tends to be long winded. 

I think that I might possibly be the kettle that is calling his pot black.  Whenever I think I will write a post that will be really short, it ends up being 4 paragraphs and way longer than I had anticipated.  Oh well, I just wanted to write a quick little entry praising this beautiful mid 60 degree day in November.  It is so nice outside today that I actually washed my car!  By hand!  In my driveway!  I’m amazing, huh?  I could go on with another little anecdote about washing cars in our family, but I’ll just stop here.  I can do it, really I can!

The laptop hunt

**Warning**   Boring blog ahead!  If you feel your attention start to wane, and your eyes glaze over, feel free to skip it!

Hubby has no less than 3 laptops right now.  Yes, 3.  You might be asking, “why on earth does he have three laptops?”  Well, I would be asking the same thing.  He has been shopping for a new laptop for the last several months, and let me tell you, that is no small task.  To his credit, he uses his laptop a lot, so he wants one that has all the specs that he needs, like the right screen resolution, and the list goes on and on.  Suffice it to say, there is not a perfect machine out there for him, so he has to compromise on something.  I guess he’s still trying to figure out which thing on his wish list he can live without.

So, why on earth does he have 3?  Well, he and his uncle decided that he should write an application for the I-Phone to go with their restaurant software.  Apple is very proprietary and will only let developers use Mac software to develop new apps.  So he has been shopping for a used Macbook Pro.  He found one for a good price locally on Saturday, so he bought it.  (With the intention of the business reimbursing us for it.)   Meanwhile, Windows 7 was released 2 weeks ago, so the new generation of PC laptops were released also.  He ordered a new HP Envy 2 weeks ago sight unseen, because he thought it would be a good one.  Now, if you’re like me, your thought process should be somewhere along the lines of, “Huh, extremely picky guy that has to try out every aspect before he gives it the okay, like how the keyboard feels, the screen size and ratio, how thick it is, battery life, etc., etc., etc.  Buying a laptop sight unseen…  hmmm, might be a bit risky, but whatever.”  This new HP beauty arrived on Monday.  He still has his old laptop, the Macbook and the HP.  He’s trying to decide if he likes the HP well enough, or if he wants to send it back.  He’s thinking that he might want to keep the Macbook as his own (now that he’ installed Windows 7 on it, it’s useable) because it’s a pretty nice piece of hardware, even I have to admit.

So we own 3 laptops.  I’m a bit anxious for him to make up his mind so we can either get reimbursed for the Mac, or send back the HP.  Counting the 2 desktops, at the present moment we have 5 computers in our house (oh, I forgot, that doesn’t include his server he has running in the basement, and we still have my mom’s old computer that I’m not really sure what his plans for it are), in case you forgot, that’s one for every member of our family.  That’s a bit ridiculous.  The computer count in our house better be going down soon, or heads (really, just one in particular) are going to roll!

Hallelujah it’s over!

Halloween is over!!  Hip hip hooray!  Now I can relax, right?  Wrong!!  I have this little personality quirk that makes it virtually impossible for me to settle down and relax when there is something on the horizon for me to do. Christmas is next month!  I have robes and pajamas to make!

Hubby says that I live about 12-24 hours in advance.  I’m always thinking of what I need to do next, and rarely stop to enjoy what’s happening now.  The perfect example of this is when we went on our cruise a couple of years ago.  I never stopped and just lounged on deck, or watched the ocean go by for more than about 10 minutes at a time.  First of all, I got bored, then I kept thinking about where we should go next, or what we should do next.  It was really kind of ridiculous.  I had a great time, and would love to go again, but I wish I would have done a better job of living in the moment and not worrying about the things that are in the future, and the things that are out of my control.  I probably would have had a better time!

So, since this little ‘quirk’ of mine isn’t going away anytime soon, I guess I’ll get busy and get the robes and pajamas done, so I can at least not worry about those, while I worry about everything else that has to do with Christmas!

Oh yes, pictures from Halloween.  You don’t think I would go to that much work, and not show it off?!! My two clones.  This picture really doesn’t do them justice.  Each one had 14 different pieces to it.  Each leg had 3 pieces, each arm 3, and shoulder a piece, with the body and the belt.  Then I had to figure out how to make it so they could actually get it off and on.  Let’s just say, I get really tired of sewing on Velcro.What handsome clones!

 

My little Tinkerbelle.  I sprayed her hair yellow.  I think that is what she was most excited about.

 

These two went with Dad.  TRMinator went with his friends.  (Notice the cape!  It kept her warm!)

 

  Getting ready to terrorize the neighborhood!