It makes sense to me...

A Trip to the Dentist

2012-01-19T07:34:00.001-08:00

Thankfully our dentist trips are usually pretty standard, cleanings with no cavities. Our trip yesterday was no different—except maybe for the two baby teeth our orthodontist wanted pulled from G-man.

G-man’s bottom teeth are a crowded mess with permanent teeth coming in behind baby teeth that just don’t want to leave their comfy home yet. The orthodontist told me a couple months ago that he wanted two of his baby teeth pulled so that his permanent teeth could start moving into place naturally, but I’ve been putting it off because I knew that G-man would be scared and freak out.

Well, I had to break down and make the appointment a few weeks ago because G-man’s next orthodontist appointment is next week. I figured I’d take all the kids and get all their cleanings done at the same time. When I called, I told the dentist office that he didn’t know about the teeth that were to be pulled and I didn’t want to tell him until the last minute, and they said that was fine.

After his cleaning, they took him into another room to put sealants on his 12 year molars that had broken through. Before doing this, they put the mask on him with the laughing gas and shot him up with some Novocain to get him ready to pull his teeth. He didn’t know what was going on because he’s never had to have any dental work done besides cleanings, and it’s been long enough since he’s had to have any sealants put on, that he didn’t remember that they don’t go through all that just for sealants. Long story, short, G-man had two teeth pulled and had no idea that they came out till I showed them to him. Somehow we managed to work it that no one said anything about pulling teeth to him till it was already done and over with! He thought it was pretty cool once he saw the teeth already out. Apparently this goes to show that ignorance truly can be bliss!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-28T15:32:00.001-08:00

I know, it has been forever since I have posted anything. So I am going to take the easy route and just post some pictures that we took for our Christmas cards.

Messing with the settings on the camera.

I, personally, think we should have used this one!

There you have it, the highlights of our family Christmas photo shoot. Now, I will try and post some pictures from the big day sometime soon.

The Tea Party

2011-12-08T13:23:00.001-08:00

This note was taped to Sqaunner’s door. It was to let me know where the tea party was that she invited me to.

She must be from Boston.

I Feel a Song Coming On

2011-12-05T12:52:00.001-08:00

Sung to the tune of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story.

“I am happy

Oh so happy

I am finished and I got an A!!”

I took my final in my Sociology class this morning and got 78 out of 80. I don’t know which questions I missed, but I don’t really care. I’m done and I should have an A in the class!

Now I just have to wait for the grade on my final 20 page project in my Professional and Technical Writing class!

One of Life’s Mysteries

2011-11-10T08:07:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid there were two great mysteries that could never be solved. The first was how my brother could possibly be older than me. My birthday was 8 days before his! If my birthday came first, then I should be older, right? It shouldn’t matter that he was born 1 year and 357 days before me, my birthday was first!

The other was when was tomorrow. Everyone would always talk about tomorrow, but it never came! Tomorrow was just some elusive day that never seemed to appear. I guess sometimes the great mysteries of life can never be solved!

Halloween Fun

2011-11-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'm going to jump back on the blogging bandwagon with some pictures from Halloween.

I told TRMinator that, at 13, he was too old to go trick or treating. He still really wanted to because his friends were going, so I relented and told him he could still go, but he had to make his own costume. So he made his and G-man’s costumes. I’m not sure exactly what they were, it was something from Lord of the Rings. I let Squanner decide what she wanted to be, and she wanted to be Rapunzel.

TRMinator cut all the pieces of their armor out of cereal boxes, taped it all together and spray painted it. It actually took him a bit of time to do. I made the rest from a picture he gave me.

This was right before the school Halloween carnival. I finished up G-man’s costumes literally minutes before this was taken and we walked out the door.

On the big night, Hubby took Squanner around the neighborhood trick or treating and G-man went with TRMinator and his friends. After about a half an hour, they made it to our house and G-man decided that he was done, and wanted to stay inside to watch TV and eat his candy. Of course now that he is about out of candy and his brother and sister still have lots, he’s regretting that decision just a bit!

I should really know better

2011-10-19T13:41:00.001-07:00

Why oh why am I unfaithful to you, Target? It all starts with that errant thought, that maybe Walmart will have what I am looking for in a bit bigger package, with a little better price. As I’m driving there, I’m questioning myself, thinking I shouldn’t do it and that I may regret it, yet I still pull into that retched parking lot.

Oh the parking lot. The chaos that is Walmart always starts in the parking lot. There is always the parking lot vulture. You know the one camped out waiting for that person’s spot who has just barely started to unload their cart full of bags, all the while blocking the whole lane.

After managing to get past that, I still venture into the store. I ask myself yet again, why? There’s a little voice in my head yelling at me to go home! Go back to Target where it’s safe! But no, I persevere, thinking that I’ll save myself some money. I now come to the cramped aisles that is the hallmark of Walmart. The powers that be must think that all the crap right in the middle of the aisle will be a great way to help the traffic flow by only letting one cart through on a side at a time. This doesn’t encourage the typical Walmart shopper to move along though, so all the others behind them can get through. It just means that you should stop and look at whatever catches your fancy, because no one in the crowd that is now blocked behind you could possibly be in a hurry, could they?

Ahh, I’ve found what I’m looking for and am heading to Walmart’s one saving grace—their self checkouts. I’m almost done! As I’m on my way out of the store and back into the light I can’t help but notice all the many carts parked haphazardly all over the parking lot. Hmmm, I guess that just means that you don’t have to clean up after yourself, someone else gets to. Except that they’re not, and the parking lot is a mess.

As I’m pulling away I promise myself to never stray from Target again! The next time I walk into Target, that well-lit, clean, and wide-aisled store, I may just give it a hug, and tell it that I won’t ever stray again!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T09:17:00.001-07:00

That’s an expensive battery

2011-09-20T13:24:00.001-07:00

Why is it that smoke detector’s batteries only seem to go dead at 2:00am? It always seems that you are sound asleep, having a dream about something or other, but for some reason there is some annoying chirp that keeps going off. No matter what you or anyone in your dream does, it doesn’t stop! That incessant chirp happens about every 30 seconds! Seriously, for the love of all that is holy, would someone stop the stupid chirping!!

Then you finally wake up to realize that the chirping is happening in real life and Hubby is up and trying to find which blasted smoke detector it is coming from. (because no one has thought to put an indicator light of some kind that lights up when the battery is low, so you don’t have to wait for it to chirp yet again and run to where you think the chirping is coming from (heaven forbid you have two that are close to each other))

Maybe that is why they tell you to change your smoke detector batteries when you change the clocks at Daylight Savings. But what if the battery has another six months of juice left? Then you’ve just thrown away a perfectly good battery. I guess for those, like me, that are cheap and don’t want to throw away batteries that still have life left in them, we’ll just deal with dreams that chirp at us every so often.

A day at the fair!

2011-09-13T13:39:00.001-07:00

We got wind a couple months ago, that Weird Al Yankovic was coming the Utah State Fair. My children (especially my little G-man) are huge fans of his, so we bought tickets. The cool thing about the tickets to his concert was that you got admission to the fair as well. I’ve never been to a state fair before, so we went a few hours early to check it out.

There was am interactive kids exhibit that Squanner enjoyed, G-man thought was okay, and TRMinator wondered why we made him go through.

(This picture is purely for my mother’s benefit. She knows why!)

After being mini farmers, we had to go over to the giant slide.

After spending 40 bucks on dinner, (I kid you not, I got Squanner and G-man each a cheeseburger and drink, and it cost $20!) we decided that Hubby needs to be the one that gets an unspecified amount of cash and gets everyone dinner. I need to completely stay out of it, and not know how much everything costs because if I do, I get cranky.

Before we left we realized that it was ice cream day! Each year, I believe it’s the Utah Dairy Association, picks one day and puts on an ice cream tent. You pay $3 for adults and $2 for kids, and you get as much ice cream as you want!

Now that I’ll do! I’m willing to drop $13 on ice cream for my family. Maybe that should have been our dinner!

After wandering around a bit longer and seeing some of the exhibits…

Seriously, someone really needs to tell the poor folks who made all this stuff that plastic canvas went out 20 years ago…

It was time for Weird Al!!!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the parents! Weird Al puts on a good show. He did a lot of costume changes and came out in character to sing the songs.

This was his parody of Nirvana.

Amish Paradise

His encore was his songs about Star Wars. My kids went nuts.

Fun stuff!

Random thoughts

2011-09-07T09:09:00.001-07:00

Why do I take pictures of the kids on their first day of school, but I don’t take any pictures of me on my first day of school?

Because my kids are way cuter, that’s why!!

Also, Hubby just did this last Saturday.

That would be the very top of a very tall mountain.

Yep, I think he’s nuts too.

Princess drama

2011-08-31T08:54:00.001-07:00

I always thought TRMinator ruled the roost in the drama department. Well Princess Squanner is going to give him a run for his money.

This morning was one of those mornings for the Squanner. She was extra tired and just didn’t want to get moving. After pushing her through breakfast and getting her dressed, she just wanted to lay on the couch under a blanket and watch TV. Since we had a few minutes till we needed to leave I told her she could. When it was time to go, I dragged her off the couch and made her put her shoes on. As she was walking past me out the door, she heaved her shoulder high in the air, and with a dramatic sigh dejectedly said, “I guess this is my life now.”

Yes, pretty princess, you have joined the world of those who have to get up in the morning. I know, it’s hard, but somehow we’ll survive.

I guess it’s true—time does fly!

2011-08-29T08:56:00.001-07:00

TRMinator decided that he needed to have a birthday—not just any birthday either. He decided that it was time to be teenager, so he turned 13!

13!!

My baby boy is 13!!

How is it possible that my sweet, precious, chubby cheeked boy is now a teenager?

Seriously. Would someone explain to me how this happened in such a short time?

Dive in!

2011-08-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Squanner’s first jump off the diving board.

Squanner and the G-man have been taking swimming lessons this summer. After one of Squanner’s lessons, the teacher asked if they wanted to go off the diving board. Without any hesitation she jumped out and went to line up on the board. Both my boys wouldn’t go off the board till they were at least 8 or 9, and it took lots of cajoling to get them to that point. She’s 6 and didn’t think twice.

As a side note, I asked Hubby if it would be hard to post this video on my blog. He said no, he would throw it up there. I should have known his version would be mixed, arranged, and produced to his standard.

Summer of camping—blech!!!

2011-07-30T08:16:00.001-07:00

Hubby and TRMinator have been gone for the last few days on a camping trip. It was one that they had to hike in, then camp. I, personally, can’t think of much that I would hate to do more! Oh well, they love it and I don’t have to go!

I think I’m ready for them to be home now!

Home—part 3, this should be it now!

2011-07-22T08:09:00.001-07:00

I think I’ll wrap up the pictures from Iowa today. Although this certainly makes for easy blog posts!

They were catching lightning bugs! There’s one sitting on TRMinator’s wrist. I forgot just how slow those things are!

My grandma!!

We had to run down to Nauvoo to take some pictures in front of the temple. Holy cow it was hot and humid that day!! It was one of those days that actually made me glad I don’t live in the Midwest anymore! We took a few more pictures after this and TRMinator told me that he didn’t want to get out of the car anymore—it was too hot!

This was at my aunt and uncle’s house with their sweet dog. My lense was all fogged up. I’m not sure if it was from the humidity or what, but I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t notice it sooner!

On our way home to see dad and G-man! Although I’m not sure that G-man was as excited to see us. He really enjoyed having the place to himself!

Home—part 2

2011-07-21T08:16:00.001-07:00

Okay, here are more pictures from our trip! I just realized that I didn’t say in the last post, that I just took TRMinator and Squanner with me, G-man stayed home and had lots of fun with his dad all to himself!

One of the things TRMinator wanted to be sure and see was Snake Alley. Ripley’s Believe it or Not declared it the crookedest street in the world. The one in San Francisco is longer, but Snake Alley has tighter corners. Anyway, they ran up and down in several times and it was hot and humid (surprise, surprise) that day!

Now that’s a river!!

Photo courtesy of Squanner!

No matter how far I roam, there’s no place quite like home!

2011-07-20T09:59:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, it’s been forever since I have posted anything. I’ll make up for that a bit by posting some pictures from our recent trip home to Iowa.

We couldn’t even get out of the airport before I had to take a picture!

Have I mentioned that my hometown has the most beautiful parks around? Well if I haven’t, they do!! There’s even a rainbow in the sky, you can’t see it very well in this picture, but it’s there!

That would be the mighty Mississippi in the background.

They wanted to touch the water.

I’ll post more tomorrow!

Welcome July!

2011-07-01T14:57:00.001-07:00

I just thought you all would like to know that it is now July. Which can only mean one thing… my birthday is this month!!

Has anyone figured out how to have birthdays but not actually get any older? Because I would really like to know how to do that! I’m all about celebrating my birthday, but this get older stuff has got to go!!

It’s finally summer!

2011-06-24T14:03:00.001-07:00

After an unusually long, wet, and cold spring, I think it is finally summer!

Think we need a bigger pool?

Hmm, I’d say probably yes.

Coming of age

2011-06-20T08:38:00.001-07:00

Hubby decided it was time for G-man to learn to mow the lawn.

Have I mentioned that my husband has an infinite amount of patience?

That one strip of grass was mowed really well!

The boy is after my heart

2011-05-30T20:47:00.001-07:00

I know I’ve been blogging a lot about my G-man lately. I was going to try and write about something else or something that one of the other kids has done, but then I saw this after G-man went to bed the other night.

This was posted on the wall outside his room.

The only thing I like better than a good list is things marked off that list! That boy is after my heart!

We are the champions!

2011-05-25T11:25:00.001-07:00

Last night was the pinewood derby. Hubby and G-man built a car (a Mustang, of course) and raced it.

We had to wait awhile till it was his turn to race, but it was worth it!

He won overall first place!! And to top it all off, today is his birthday!! I’d say that kid is having a good week!

I’m grateful for the little things

2011-05-24T08:33:00.001-07:00

This time of year I am so grateful that my family is healthy, and probably not for the reasons that you would assume (well, I’m grateful for those too). Our health insurance renews itself in July. So long about this time of year is when we have to start filling out the pages long health questionnaires to shop policies and see who is the cheapest. I dread those stupid forms. They generally want to know if you have ever been to the doctor--ever in your life--and if you have ever taken a prescription. If you have ever had to take medication, they want to know who prescribed it and and the dosage that you had to take, along with a promise that you will give your first born if needs be. Who remembers that kind of stuff?

Thankfully I keep a file folder of all the bills or anything we get from the insurance company or our doctor’s office, so I was able to fill out the form without too much hassle. The real reason it wasn’t too much of a hassle though, was because the only time any of us visited the doctor’s office this year was for TRMinator to get his 7th grade immunizations and Squanner to get her Kindergarten shots. None of my kids got sick last year, and we never had to get a prescription filled. (knock on wood!)

I am so grateful that my family is healthy! I’m grateful that we have been blessed with good health because I don’t want anyone to have to be sick, but it also makes that stupid forms a lot easier to fill out!

I love my son.

2011-05-21T09:46:00.001-07:00

(Yes, this is another story about my G-man. I have a feeling he is going to give me plenty of “fun” stories over the years.)

This weekend G-man and I had the house to ourselves. TRMinator and Hubby were camping with the scouts and Squanner was spending the night at Grandma and Papa’s house. So I thought it would be fun to something with the G-man, you know, some bonding time. This morning I told him that we were going to go out for breakfast. I thought that would be fun because that is something that we don’t do very much. He also had a free kid’s meal certificate to Mimi’s Cafe from school, so it would be cheap too! Win-win!

This morning as he was playing on the computer, I told him that I thought it would be fun to go out for breakfast. He paused and thought about it for a minute, then said, “Nah.” -- I literally had to force him to go get dressed and go with me.

Then once we got there he realized that he didn’t have Hubby’s phone to play on! My phone isn’t cool and doesn’t have lots of games on it. Could this morning get any worse?! He was forced to sit there and actually carry on a conversation with me. Horrors! It may have been torturous for him, but he did finally warm up and act like it was okay that he was there. Especially after I gave him some of my bacon and he discovered that he like it dipped in syrup.

By the time we left he was happy and ready to spend more time with me. He told me that he wanted to do a dance battle with me on the Xbox with Dance Central and was ready to hang out with me a bit. But the boys were back by the time we got home, so that went out the window. That’s alright though, I got some quality time with my G-man, and I know by now that when it comes to him, I have to be happy with what I get!

One Step Closer

2011-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

I had a brilliant idea the other day. I thought to myself, “Hmmm, I wonder if I can put all those Sociology credits that I earned my first time around at school to use for my minor.” So I called my esteemed university and asked if those credits expired or if I can count them towards a minor. The lovely lady on the other end of the phone told me, “Yes! You can use them!” So I said, “By golly, sign me up for a Sociology minor!” (The conversation may not have gone exactly like that, but you get the idea.)

Now I have a declared minor, and I was even able to sign up for a Sociology class next semester that is online! After that class I will just need two more then the requirements for my minor will be satisfied. Woo Hoo! Maybe I actually will be able to pull off this whole getting a degree idea!

Off Track Fun (For real this time!)

2011-05-03T10:35:00.001-07:00

I took Squanner to get a pedicure last week. Kind of a last hurrah before she went back to school.

For $5 more, they did her nails too.

It was a kind of silly and frivolous, but it was fun!

Off Track Fun

2011-04-29T19:29:00.001-07:00

I was going to post about the pedicures that Squanner and I got yesterday, but I can’t get to my pictures from my laptop right now. (Long story, and Hubby better fix it!)

**Instead, I’m going to interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post with one about the royal wedding!!**

Those that know me well know that I’m a sucker for royalty and I’m in heaven if there’s a wedding! Thankfully technology has progressed in the last 30 years, so I didn’t have to get up at 4 in the morning to watch it! I had it recorded so I could watch it this morning. And I did just that as soon as I woke up! I tore myself away for few minutes to make TRMinator’s lunch, sent him off to school, then watched some more. I think I watched the wedding at least twice, maybe more with all the internet coverage that I saw.

I loved everything. I thought the dress was pretty, I thought it was great that William drove he and Kate to Clarence House after the luncheon at Buckingham Palace (totally breaking with tradition!), and I loved that they rode in carriages after the wedding. Really, what is there not to love about a royal wedding? Nothing, if you ask me!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T12:01:00.001-07:00

Accomplishments

2011-04-25T10:33:00.001-07:00

My youngest two are off track right now, much to TRMinator’s consternation. He is on a traditional schedule now that he is in Junior High, and he gets a bit bent out of shape when the other two are off track and he still has to go to school every day. I’m sure that he will be elated when he is done for the summer and they still have a month left of school.

While the younger ones have been off track they have been in swimming lessons. G-man is not very confident in the water, so I have had them in swimming lessons every time they have been off track this year. This time he had a different teacher who I think he pushed him a bit more, which I was completely fine with. He seemed to get it a bit more this time and he actually went off the diving board! Sometimes even willingly!

He actually wanted to go back every day, and for G-man, that is a big accomplishment.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I got my final grade in my Critical Approaches to Literature class…

I got an A!!!!

Hmmm…

2011-04-18T15:19:00.001-07:00

There have been several times today when I have stopped and thought, “Hmmm, don’t I have a paper I need to be working on?”

The answer to that would be a resounding, “NO!!!”

I have to admit, it’s a bit weird to look around and see all my stacks of books that I have been using for my papers gone. I returned the last stack to the library on Saturday. Now all that’s left is to anxiously await my final grades. Oh dear!!

We’re the idiots!

2011-04-15T07:33:00.001-07:00

I am referred to (I would like to assume affectionately) as the water nazi in our neighborhood. I hate it when people waste water and water their lawns unnecessarily. Mostly because our yard is the low spot for all the surrounding houses, so we get everyone’s water when they over-water. It seems like when people think their grass looks a little ill, they think they need to water more. Throw some more water on it! That will fix it! Right?

Our secondary water came on a couple days ago. I told several people, “Watch. Once the water comes on, people will be watering their lawns even though the snow has just barely melted. People can be such idiots!” Well guess what? WE’RE THE IDIOTS!!

I was taking out the trash last night (after a very long editing session with my very patient husband-- my paper is due today and I’m still not happy with it) and saw our sprinklers going! After slapping my forehead in disbelief, I ran quickly back inside to shut them off before any of my neighbors could see that we’re the idiots with their sprinklers on already!

I have been thinking for the last several days that I needed to make sure that the sprinklers were turned off, but I kept forgetting. Well, they’re off now! And they are sure to stay that way for at least a month!

Praise the who?

2011-04-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

Ages ago, before I moved to Utah, my grandma used to babysit a cute little girl named Betsy and her little brother David. When it was a beautiful day outside, she would ask Betsy, “Praise the who?” Betsy would answer, “Praise the Wouwd!” (That was Betsy speak for praise the Lord!)

Well, let me tell you, today was a “Praise the Lord!” kind of day. After several inches inches of snow and rain over that last several days, the sun finally decided to make an appearance and the temperature finally got over 50 degrees. Today gave me hope that spring might finally be here. Of course, I think we are supposed to get another storm tomorrow. At least it was nice while we had it!

Just as a side note, this is the last week of this semester. Maybe, just maybe I’ll still have some creative juices left and I can come up with blog entries again. You never know!!

Ooops

2011-03-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

When you have two 8 page research papers due in two and a half weeks, there are a few things that will inevitably fall by the wayside. I’ve been keeping the laundry up, the bathrooms are fairly clean and my bed has been made everyday. (TRMinator made my bed this morning for some reason—he said he was bored, go figure!) I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping everything going while I was working maniacally on my papers. That is until a chain of thoughts about the air and inversion (I know, weird), on my way home from taking TRMinator to school led me to the realization that today is my anniversary! I don’t feel too bad though (or maybe I should feel worse, hmmmm….) because Hubby forgot too till I called and reminded him this morning.

The funny thing about this is I knew yesterday that the next day was going to be my anniversary. But then I got my grade for the paper that I just wrote about the ridiculous made up literary theory, (I got an A, thankyouverymuch, I guess it goes to show that you really don’t have to know what you’re talking about as long as you throw the right buzz words in.) and I came up with a thesis statement for my literary criticism paper that has really been eluding me. So in other words, my paper started taking over my life again, and the whole anniversary thing went out the window. I guess when you’ve been married for 14 years, its just not that big of a deal anymore! I told Hubby that we can go do something fun after April 15, because I’m going to be a bit preoccupied until then!

I want off!!

2011-03-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

I know I haven’t been around much lately. For some reason I hopped aboard a train that went to literary criticism world, and let me tell you, that is not a fun place to be. I want my money back for this trip, because I don’t like it here! I want to go home!

I have a paper that is due on Friday which needs to be a 2 page summary of the deconstruction literary criticism. Let me tell you just a bit about this theory. It’s a crock of huey! Let me explicate what I mean. (That’s a term that professors use when they just want you to explain something. Why, for heaven’s sake they just can’t say explain is beyond me. I guess it makes them feel smarter and more academic when they say explicate.) About 50 years ago, a bunch of literary academia's got together and decided that the world of literary criticism just wasn’t complicated enough. There had to be a new way to make something out of nothing. So they invented the deconstruction criticism. It’s a way of looking at a text that millions of people and critics have already read and got pretty much all there is to get out of it, but the deconstructionists think that there has to be something more. So they thought let’s analyze and reanalyze and analyze some more to see if there isn’t something, anything, that we can pull out to make ourselves feel like we’re good critics and feel better about ourselves. That’s really all it is in a nutshell—and I have to write 2 pages about it. At this point I am grateful that it is only two pages and not six.

The really good news is as soon as I am done with that, I get to start on two research papers! Ay yay yay. What did I get myself into?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-16T13:55:00.001-07:00

So many treasures!

2011-03-07T10:52:00.001-08:00

It’s amazing what you find when the snow finally melts and reveals all the lovely, brown dead grass. In the back yard I discovered a treasure trove of squirt guns. I usually make the boys go around and pick everything up before the snow flies. Apparently I didn’t last year. Maybe the snow came early? I honestly can’t remember, but the boys will be heading outside to pick up as soon as they get home from school today.

In the front yard the treasures waiting for me were even better- dog poop. And not just one little clump, there were at least 4 or 5. I don’t know if it had been there all winter and just hidden under the snow, or if it’s recent, but either way it really irritates me. That is one of the main reasons that I don’t want a dog! I don’t want to have to be constantly cleaning up its poop or stepping around it! Lucky me, I get all the joys of cleaning up after my neighbor’s dogs with none of the benefits. Sometimes I think I should live out in the boondocks so I don’t have to deal with dumb, inconsiderate neighbors!

Excuse me?

2011-02-25T16:02:00.001-08:00

I beg to differ!

It most certainly is!

Birthdays, anyone?

2011-02-22T08:06:00.001-08:00

I’m kind of avoiding starting my homework for the week, so I’m going to talk about birthdays today! Birthdays are on my mind because we went to a birthday party last night of a good friend and neighbor. He turned the big 6-0 and had his party at Classic Skating! (Utah friends, we don’t have those in Iowa, so I need to explain what it is to the Iowa friends.) Classic Skating is a big roller rink with lots of other fun things to do. They have a bounce zone full of inflatables, a big climbing thing for the kids to run around and climb, and laser tag. It’s a great place to have a kids birthday party. I thought it was great that he had his party there. All the kids had a ball and so did the adults!

I’ve also got birthdays on the mind because I’ve got two birthdays coming up in the next two weeks - my mother and Squanner. Those of you who know me well, know that when it’s my birthday, it’s a big deal to me, and should be to everyone around me as well. Well, I had to learn that behavior from somewhere, and that somewhere would be my mother. I had better remember and make a big deal about my mother’s birthday every year, but this year is extra important. This year she turns (well she is telling people, so I might as well blast it all over the internet) 60. Now if you think that is not that big of a deal, boy do you not know my mom! I don’t want to make it sound like she is being over the top or anything about making a big deal about her birthday, but, well… that might be kind of close to the truth. That’s alright though, because I have everything firmly in hand. Let’s just say, I don’t think she will be disappointed this year.

Squanner’s birthday is exactly one week after my mom’s. This year she gets her first party. Mostly just because my brother is going to be here, so we thought, “Why not?” She has been wanting a piñata for a while now, and my niece and nephews will be here, so we thought that would be a good time to do it and have a little party for her. You should have seen her when we told her she was going to have a party. Man, those genes (mine and my mother’s!) kicked in and she was planning out every detail. It was hilarious.

Hopefully all these parties go down as I have envisioned. If not, there’s always next year, right? Right? Oh dear, I hope it all works out!

A Day in the Life…

2011-02-17T08:53:00.001-08:00

And you wonder why we call him a tornado?

Goodbye my friend

2011-02-14T14:28:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I heard a familiar voice on my voicemail. I had a message from the mom of my best friend during middle school and high school. This was the woman that I used to refer to as mom #2. I spent so much time at her house growing up, that sometimes it felt like I lived there (I’m sure she would agree).

I called her back wondering what she wanted, since it had been several years since I last talked to her. When she answered the phone, she gave me some news that nothing would have ever prepared me to hear- my best friend, from the ages of 12-18, was gone. She had a blood clot that had traveled to her lungs.

I have gone through many emotions since receiving that phone call yesterday. I have felt shock, disbelief, a bit of anger, but mostly sadness. I’ll have moments where I start thinking about her and remember the fun times we had and break down into tears.

Our lives have taken different courses since graduating from high school. She took the career path, getting her master’s degree and working in Washington DC for the government, while I took the family route and had kids. For as much as our lives were different, we still kept in touch. We would email or send cards once or twice a year. Even though we weren’t as close as we once were, the news still hit me like a ton of bricks. Nothing can ever prepare you to hear that someone you knew and loved is gone. I take a bit of solace in the knowledge that I have that she and her dad are together right now, probably telling dumb blonde jokes. Rest in peace my friend, till we meet again.

She’s at it again!

2011-02-12T21:53:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I think this blog should be called “Cassie’s life… with a side of her crazy grandma’s exploits!”

My grandma is at it again. Apparently she has a wild turkey running loose in her neighborhood. I should probably explain a bit of what her street looks like. She lives on a very picturesque street with a view of the Mississippi river at the end, and forest lining the back of her yard. Deer are not an uncommon sight (along with Irish Spring soap in net bags hanging from all sorts of posts and stakes around her yard to keep the deer from eating her plants) as well as other rodents like squirrels. She lives pretty close to nature, so she’s seen most little creatures at one point or another scurry across her yard.

Well, a few days ago a wild turkey started hanging out in the neighborhood! No one knows where it came from, but it likes to eat the bird seed underneath the bird feeders that the birds have dropped. This turkey is so talented that it even took flight once. She said that she saw it up in the tree one day when the temperatures got pretty cold. Apparently my grandma and one of her neighbors decided that this turkey is going to be a welcome addition to the block, so they named it. Welcome to the neighborhood Matilda Grace! I truly hope you enjoy your stay!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-09T13:52:00.001-08:00

Here’s some pictures to help you remember what it’s like to be warm!

You’re welcome.

Everybody dance!

2011-02-03T07:53:00.001-08:00

I had to get some pictures of G-man and Squanner dancing with the X-Box.

They got their grove thang on!

Groove is in his heart

2011-01-24T07:14:00.001-08:00

We got a Kinnect for the XBox for Christmas. Santa brought it and one game for everyone. G-man got a Sonic game and TRMinator got one called Dance Central. Santa thought G-man would really enjoy Sonic because that was one of his favorite games to play on the XBox. It was, until he discovered Dance Central and found that he has a groove in his soul that was just waiting to come out.

G-man loves that game. And he’s actually pretty decent. Now that he has started dancing with it, he’ll just start random dancing wherever he is. It doesn’t matter if he’s at home, at a restaurant or at the store, he’ll get his little grove on to a song in his head. It’s pretty funny to watch. Just another one of his little quirks that makes me love him and want to give him a squeeze!

Belated pictures

2011-01-21T14:23:00.001-08:00

I’ve been meaning to post some pictures from the kid’s New Years party for awhile now. I am also trying to write a paper right now, so I am going to avoid that for a little bit and blog instead! Whenever I get writer’s block, it seems like a good distraction to post on my blog.

For the last several years we have had a neighborhood New Year’s Eve party. It is held just across the street from us, so we let the kids stay home and have their own little party. I got them some hats and noise makers and took them to the store to pick out all sorts of snacks. They watched movies and ate most of the night.

This is what we found when we walked in the door at 12:15am:

TRMinator said that G-man fell asleep by around 10:30, Squanner made it to about 11:45 and then he fell asleep just after midnight because of sheer boredom. That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it!

What a difference a few months make!

2011-01-17T08:04:00.001-08:00

Isn’t it funny how your perception of temperature changes depending on what month you are in? Today the high temperature is supposed to be in the 40’s. I’m thinking it might be time to bust out the spring jackets! (not really, but I want to) If this was October and the high was supposed to be in the 40’s, we’d be in winter jackets with gloves and hats. I guess when the high’s have been in the mid 20’s for the last month, 40 degrees feels downright balmy.

Random Friday

2011-01-14T08:58:00.001-08:00

Since Hubby and I have decided to stay put and not try and sell our house again for another year or so, we are going to do little things here and there to fix it up. Basically things that I would have liked to do, but we were going to move, so Hubby didn’t want to.

Last week we put up new lights outside and switched out the light fixtures in all the bathrooms. Next up, we would like to replace the linoleum in the bathrooms with tile and put in new countertops in the kitchen. I am very excited to be doing these things because it’s stuff I would have loved to have done when we built our house, but we couldn’t afford to then. It’s really fun to walk into the home improvement store and pick out what I actually want instead of picking out whatever is the cheapest.

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I am so proud of my boys right now. Today is end of the semester and TRMinator has all A’s! He’ll be getting a 4.0 this quarter because they are all solids A’s, no A –. His lowest percentage is in science and it’s a 94%. He even has three classes that he is getting over 100%!

G-man got monthly Jr. Wapiti for his class. His teacher does a little incentive program called Jr. Wapiti (before you ask, I’m not sure what a wapiti is, I think some type of elk or something). To get it you need to have all you work turned in on time, among other things, for the week. If you get it every week, you get Jr. Wapiti for the month. Well this month, for the first time he got Jr. Wapiti for the month and he is so excited. I am so proud of him because this is something he has been struggling with for most of the year, and it is finally clicking with him.

I think I’ll have to take them out for ice cream!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T12:08:00.001-08:00

Is this really what I signed up for?

2011-01-07T15:07:00.001-08:00

Wow, I’m really frustrated with my English classes right now, so maybe if I write about it I’ll feel better! (really sounds like an English major, huh?)

This semester I am taking two classes, both of which are online. I wasn’t exactly sure when I signed up for online classes if I would like it, but I figured, why not. Especially since Squanner is only in school half the day, I don’t have the freedom yet to go to class whenever I want.

Here is my opinion so far of online classes: it’s an easy out for the professor. I am not impressed with how it is working. I am particularly frustrated with my critical literature class right now. It is really feeling like a sink or swim situation without any direction. We are supposed to comment on discussion threads weekly, with the professor starting the first one. School started Monday and she still hasn’t posted a discussion question for this week yet. I really hope that she decides to pop into the discussion board and start actually teaching sometime, because right now I feel like I am going to have to teach all this material to myself and I didn’t pay that kind of money in tuition for a self-taught course.

Is he sick, or is he not sick, that is the question…

2011-01-06T09:12:00.001-08:00

The G-man stayed home from school today. He says his stomach hurts really bad. I believe him because he was up several times last night in our room complaining that his stomach hurt. But does it hurt bad enough to justify staying home from school? That’s the real question.

This is one of those things that makes me wonder if I’m being a good mom by listening to my child and believing him when he says he’s sick, or if I am being a bad mom and giving in to his slacking tendencies. (This is only his second sick day this school year. though.) I remember when I was a kid, we had to be half dead before we could stay home from school- that may be a slight exaggeration if you ask my mom, but I don’t recall it that way.

I told him that my goal was to take him to school this afternoon when I take Squanner to school. I guess we’ll just have to see how he says he’s feeling by then. And then see if I believe him or not.

My grandma cracks me up!

2011-01-03T13:27:00.001-08:00

I have mentioned before that when I was growing up, my grandparents ran an apple orchard. In addition, they also had a big garden that produced lots of fruits and vegetables that they would sell along with the apples. One of the things that I would help with was picking strawberries. My grandma was famous for telling us every single time before we went out to pick, “No white tips!” The thing with strawberries is, once you pick them, they don’t continue to ripen like tomatoes. So if you pick some that are still white at the tip, they aren’t quite ready and aren’t as good. Of course, I knew that when I was picking, and tried to only pick the fully ripe ones, but I was only 11 or 12, so she really wanted to make sure I didn’t forget!

It has become a running joke between my grandma and I now. Whenever I see anything with strawberries, I think of her. A couple years ago I got her a boxed set of cards simply because they had a big picture of a strawberry on the front. I sent them to her with a note on them that said, “Look! No white tips!” I got a letter in the mail from her today that her return address label had a little picture of a strawberry on it. Underneath she had written, “No white tips!” Needless to say, I laughed when I saw it. She cracks me up!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T21:28:00.001-08:00

Christmas goodies!

2010-12-22T16:02:00.001-08:00

I finished our neighbor gifts today. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Squanner also has been dying to make something with her new chef gear that her Aunt Tracy made her for Christmas. So we made some cupcakes.

The holiday baking is all done! Now for a collective, “Woot! Woot!”

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree…

2010-12-21T21:50:00.001-08:00

Those of you that know me well know that I take a certain pride in my Christmas tree. There isn’t very many things that I consider myself to be adept at, or to do particularly well, but I do like how my tree usually turns out. I’m very picky about what goes on it. The ornaments that I use either have to be in the color scheme of that particular year, or be important to me.

A few of my favorites:

I love my tree, and I love looking at it during the Christmas season. I am, however, usually ready for it to come down about 2 days after Christmas. I can only take a disrupted room for so long!!

Better post coming soon!

2010-12-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

So, I have been reminded (chastised, scolded, whatever you would like to call it) that I haven’t posted anything new for awhile. I have an idea of something, but I have to wait for Hubby to get home to help me with Photoshop. I swear, no matter how many times he shows me how to work that program, I can never remember the next time I sit down to do something with it. Hopefully I will have something up later tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

The G-man strikes again!

2010-12-13T12:59:00.001-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying oh, how I love my G-man. Our house would not be the same without him. I love his cute little smile and most of his antics make me laugh. There are times, however when I want to wring his warm, cuddly little neck!

A month or so ago, he came down the hall from his primary class at church with the tips of his church shoes ruined. He had somehow peeled the top layer of the pleather of his shoe off of the toe part. Of course we had the discussion with him about how he was ruining his shoes and he’d better leave them alone at this point. I decided not to get him new ones because they still fit him and I thought if I just put some brown shoe polish on the bare part, it would camouflage it.

He left them alone until last week.

As he left his primary class, the shoes were even more peeled and the light tan part of the newly peeled shoe seemed to scream at me against the dark brown. (See where I tried to put the polish on and fix them?)

I sighed, shook my head, and let Hubby deal with it.

As part of his punishment, Hubby told him he has to help pay for the new shoes that we were now going to have to get. So he had G-man bring him his wallet and empty it.

Including all of his quarters, he had a total of $7.00 to his name. I decided that I was going to throw a little bit of torture in with the punishment and make him go shopping with me for his new shoes. (G-man HATES shopping!)

Well, after only going to one store (we found some at the first store! I was hoping it would take longer than that!) we got him new church shoes and he has promised not to ruin this pair. We’ll see how long that lasts!

Impatient? Me? No!!

2010-12-06T07:56:00.001-08:00

You might say that that my impatience factor goes up around Christmas. But I say that it’s not me so much as it is everyone else around me! I decided the other day while I was waiting in line at the drive thru at the bank that if everyone could be a little more like me, things would go so much smoother! (That’s not conceited, is it? Ha! Ha!)

Let me illustrate: I try to be efficient in everything that I do. I watched the tellers at the bank laugh with each other and walk around like there was no big rush to anything. I’m all for having fun at work, but when there are at least two cars lined up in every lane, the need to get transactions expedited overrules your right to just mosey around and laugh and have a good time with your coworkers.

I also try to be aware of the people around me so that I’m not in anyone’s way or blocking anyone from getting where they need to go. Hubby and I took TRMinator to The Forgotten Carols the other night. It was held at the Dee Events Center, which is a big basketball stadium. As we were sitting in our prime, on the basketball floor seating, I was looking around at everyone around me. I saw a group of girls taking pictures of each other to commemorate the event. The one taking the pictures was standing in the aisle while the group being photographed was up against the gate with the stadium floor as the backdrop. That was all fine and good, but there were people behind them waiting to get to their seats. As I watched, she took the picture, then looked at it for a minute to make sure it looked good, then had to switch to someone else’s camera to take another one, and so forth for at least 3 camera’s. Meanwhile the line behind them is building up for people waiting to get to their seats. Sometimes I just want to scream, “People! You are not the only one in this world! You have to share your space with lots of other people! Wake up and be considerate to those around you! Seriously!”

I’m afraid the tendency for people to only worry about themselves and not care about anyone else multiplies at Christmas and it drives me nuts! I think I should probably just stay at home or else I may end up killing someone! Better yet, I’ll get all my errands done first thing in the morning, when no one else is out yet!

4.0, baby!

2010-12-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

Hubby and I have an inside joke in our family. Both our cars have a 4.0 L engine, so when we have to gun it to make a gap in traffic, or something like that, we say to each other, “It’s a 4-oh, baby!” Of course, his car is a Mustang, (super charged one at that) so it goes just a bit faster than my Explorer.

That would not be the 4.0 that I am referring to in this particular post, though.

I would be referring to my grade point average for this semester!

Yes, my grades were posted today, and I got an A!!!! Woo! Hoo! I am so excited!

Now, to keep it going for next semester!

Goodbye my little friend

2010-12-03T08:17:00.001-08:00

My little friend

I put away my backpack this week. I’m actually a little sad about that! I’m done with my class and I’m taking all online classes next semester, so I won’t need it for awhile. I’m kind of bummed!

I’m a little sad that I’m done with my class! I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by and that I manage to make it though with flying colors. (I’m pretty sure, grades aren’t out yet!)

I have mixed feelings about next semester. I originally wanted to take just one online class and one class on campus, but it just worked out to take both online. I kind of like getting out and actually going to class. I like having the option of talking to the professor after class if there is something that I need a little help with. I guess I just feel more like a real student if I am in an actual classroom.

At least I have the month of December off from school so I don’t have to be doing homework while trying to get ready for Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T10:51:00.001-08:00

Woo hoo!!!

2010-11-23T10:22:00.001-08:00

In case you can’t read that, (his handwriting can be a bit hard to read!) that would be 590 out of 600 points on my paper, followed by a “Well Done”!!!!

Hallelujah!!

And I recited my 30 lines of poetry in front of the class last week and didn’t bomb it.

Excuse me for a minute while I do the happy dance.

Whew!!… I have one week of this class left. I’m trying really hard not to go on cruise control, even though I really want to! I’m going to try and get my reading and notes for this week finished up before Thanksgiving so I can be done! done! done! done!!!!! (until next semester, that is!)

Random Friday

2010-11-19T15:27:00.001-08:00

We have a very special ring tone/message indicator/really any type beep announcer in our house.

She goes by the name Squanner.

Okay, let me just interrupt this particular train of thought for a minute. My mom thinks that I just switched from calling her the Princess to Squanner without warning or an explanation. I will grant the without warning bit, but I did explain in one post that I was changing what I was going to call her in my blog. It was a bit buried in a post, so some of you may have missed it. I changed her name in my blog to Squanner because that is what I call her at home. I’m not really sure where that nickname came from, but she answers to it, so we go with it.

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled post:

Any time a phone rings, any beeper goes off, or my instant messenger on my computer dings, Squanner has to announce it to us. Every time Hubby’s phone rings, she pipes up, “Dad! Your phone is ringing!”

My oven beeps when it is up to temperature. When it beeps, she announces, “Mom! Something beeped!”

The best is when I am in the front room messaging Hubby on my laptop, she is in the office at the back of the house playing on the computer, and she hears the ding indicating that I just got a message, and she has to yell to me, “Mom! You have a message!”

I really don’t know what we would do without our own special message indicator. I don’t know if I would know what all that beeping and ringing was in my house without her!

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As some of you may or may not know, I am a closet British Royal family junkie. I can tell you who just about every member of the royal family is and how they fit and are related.

The best part of the royals are royal weddings!! Yes, my mom woke me up at 5 in the morning (as best she could!) when I was 6 to watch Charles & Diana’s wedding. I remember watching Andrew & Sarah’s wedding 5 years later. I still have all the magazines and books of pictures from those weddings.

Well, guess what! There’s going to be another one!!

Yes, I am eating up all the details that are emerging about this one! I will also watch it, but thankfully DVR is around now so I don’t have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch it live. I’ll record it and watch it at a more sane hour of the day. I will probably sit and watch it with Squanner, so she can be properly indoctrinated into the royal family mania!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T09:59:00.001-08:00

It must be that time of year again!

2010-11-16T08:22:00.001-08:00

You know the holidays are just around the corner when you start getting the deal of the day emails. I may be odd, but I love those emails! I love to see what I might get a good deal on! I don’t usually take advantage of those deals but it’s fun to see what it is for the day.

I’m excited for the holidays this year. It’s going to be much less stressful for me because we are staying home! Well, technically on Thanksgiving day we are driving about an hour to Hubby’s brother’s house, but I get to sleep in my own bed, and cook in my own kitchen, so that is staying home for me! I’m excited because I don’t have to stress over a seven hour drive and worry if I have enough snacks and entertainment to keep the kids occupied for the duration, or how I’m going to keep myself busy for that long.

I think there’s also something to be said for cooking in your own kitchen. I know where things are and I know what size of bowls to use when I am home. I don’t know what it is, but when I don’t have the utensils I’m used to, it throws me off. I know how much fits and what I can make in my bowls, but if you give me another set, it just makes me all discombobulated!

I’m also much less stressed this year because I’m trying to stay on top of the things I need to do. I am trying to stay organized and am starting the things I have to sew and craft early. I love it when life is organized and I can check things off my list. I love checking things off of lists!!! It makes me so happy!

I guess the true test will be to check back in a month and see if I am still organized and not a ball of tense nerves ready to explode. You just never know!

Random Friday

2010-11-12T08:22:00.001-08:00

I’m sorry! I know I’ve been a blog slacker lately! My life has been hectic and I keep waiting for it to die down. I realized that it’s probably not going to, especially since I just doubled my class load next semester. (Yes, that would be a whole 2 classes that I’ll be taking!) So I guess I’d just better get used to it.

I got a bit irritated this week with my great, prestigious university that I am attending. Registration for classes next semester opened up this week. So I sat down and looked at what I needed to take and when such classes were offered, (I’m still a bit limited as to what I can take since Squanner in only in school in the afternoon) and tried to plan out my schedule.

I decided that I should take an intermediate college writing class because it was a prerequisite for several of the other classes that I need to take, that and I figured a refresher on how I was actually supposed to write would probably be a good thing. Well the problem with the intermediate class is that it has its own prerequisite which is introduction to college writing. I called the English department and asked if I could take a placement test and test into the class that I wanted. They told me to go take an accuplacer test. (Let me just add here, if they had told me to go take a placement test for math after a 14 year break from school, I would have been terrified. A test for English after 14 years, I’m okay with.)

So I dropped Squanner off at school and went to take the test. The lady at the testing center told me I did really well, but you can’t test into the 2010 (intermediate writing) class, no matter how well you do. I went home and called the English department again to see if I could count the English classes that I had taken for my associate degree as my English 101 that I need to get into the 2010. Long story short, after talking with the the department head I realized that whatever classes I had taken the first time I went to school won’t count toward my degree now because they are over 10 years old. My degree itself counts in that it still wipes out all my generals, but anything toward my major I will have to do again. Luckily, they were only counting one class that I had taken toward fulfilling a requirement for my new degree.

So I am signed up for introduction to college writing next semester. Yep, I am going back to the basics! I hope it’s easy. Watch, I’ll have more problems with that class than the senior level British Lit class I am taking this semester! I’m taking the 101 class online, so at least I won’t have to sit there in class with a bunch of 18 year olds! -- Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Mostly wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T20:31:00.001-07:00

I realized that I didn’t put a picture up so you could see their whole costumes.

there

I also had to put a picture of the trunk or treat.

This was before the rain started!

Halloween frights, spooks and stress!

2010-11-02T10:42:00.001-07:00

When you think of stressful holidays, Halloween probably doesn’t usually come to mind. Well, it does for me! I didn’t stress out too bad about making the costumes this year like I usually do. I didn’t really have time; I was finishing up my paper the whole week leading up to it, so costumes were much lower on my priority list than usual. The kids helped me out a bit with their costume choices as well. G-man wanted to be a clone again, so he wore the same costumes as last year (at least I know he grew a bit from last year, it didn’t fit quite as well, but it worked) TRMinator wanted to be a zombie knight, which was actually pretty easy, and Squanner wanted to be a princess, which thankfully I had started earlier and my mom helped me by gathering the never ending skirt onto the bodice.

The reason that Halloween is always so stressful for me is that I never seem to plan my time just right on that night. Something you may not know, is I always plan out a schedule in my head of when I need to do what so that everything gets done on time. And if that schedule in my head doesn’t go according to plan, I most likely lose it.

I usually need to do Squanner’s hair, and help everyone find all the pieces to their costume and get ready. I’ve tried starting early, but them I am just trying to keep everyone from getting mussed up until it’s time.

Our neighborhood always does a trunk or treat in the cul-de-sac behind us. This year a few families were getting together to do a potluck before it started. I guess I didn’t allot myself quite enough time to get my hot dog mummies (the dish I was contributing) wrapped and in the oven, Squanner’s hair done, and get there by the time I wanted to be there. Needless to say, by the time I got her hair done, found the shirt for TRMinator to wear under his costume, put all of G-man’s pieces on right, and got to the potluck, I was about ready to burst. But then, I calmed down and could enjoy myself.

But then, by the time the trunk or treat actually started, it was looking like this:

It had started to rain, and it was just wet and cold. I was so glad that I took the time to make Squanner her princess hat and do her hair when we took the hat off because it didn’t fit very well under her umbrella, and then her hair was just wet and ruined. Oh well. They still had fun. And that’s all the matters, right?

Oh happy day!

2010-10-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

I’m done! I’m done, I’m done, I’m done!

I’ve got 10 pages of British Literature goodness sitting on my hard drive ready to be edited.

At least I hope it’s 10 pages of goodness.

I really don’t remember much of what I wrote. My brain is kind of mush at the moment.

Oh dear, what if it’s crap and I have to rewrite practically the whole thing?

Kay, I’m not going there. I’m going to make a few tweaks here and there and call it good.

Oh dear, I hope it’s good…

Ay yay yay

2010-10-22T20:18:00.001-07:00

So….

Does anyone out there have any good ideas for some Neoclassic British lit (1660-1785) authors that raised some good social issues in their time that are still relevant today? That I can write at least 2-3 pages with?

Anyone?

(Bueller)

Yeah, me either.

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s Thursday…

2010-10-21T07:54:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

I was going to post that yesterday, but I ran out of time. That’s from our trip last weekend to Las Vegas.

Here’s why I haven’t been around my blog much lately. I am using all my creative energy for school and I don’t have much left over for my blog!

I have a deadline for a paper looming over me like a big, black storm cloud ready to unleash its fury. I have to write a 10 – 12 page paper that isn’t due for about a month, but I would like to have it done in about two weeks so I can hand it in, have my professor look it over, and hand it back to me if it sucks so I can redo it. That would be on top of the weekly reading and papers that I have do, not to mention the 30 lines of poetry that I have to have memorized sometime by the end of class. (Have I mentioned that I’m not a fan of poetry and that I’m not good at memorizing things? Yep, that assignment should just be a barrel of fun!)

At least I’ve decided on a topic for my paper. Now if only I could refine it more, so I will feel like I can actually sit down and start writing, that would just be awesome.

Of course, I still have to fit swimming lessons, piano lessons, scouts and church callings and lessons into my schedule as well. I think I’m ready for a vacation, or someone to write my paper for me. That would work too!

I’m probably just being picky…

2010-10-08T08:06:00.001-07:00

I’m not trying to be a snotty English major or anything, heck, I’m only on my first class, but I have a few pet peeves when it comes to the proper usage of words. (You may call that a run on sentence if you like, I don’t care!)

The word ‘sell’ verses ‘sale’. There are several varieties of this that make me shake my head. One is when people advertise a garage sell. I’m pretty sure you are not selling off your garage, you are having a sale in the vicinity of your garage. The other is when people ask if you could sale me something. I could either sell you something or I could make it available for sale. Take your pick.

The other is ‘accept’ verses ‘except’. Two different words, two different meanings. Let me illustrate; I would like to accept your congratulations, except that I didn’t do the work, so I can’t. Yes, there is a difference.

I know, it’s silly, but it’s things that I notice. Call me a nerd if you would like, hopefully I can parlay my quirks into a career some day!

Somewhat wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T07:08:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we took at drive though the mountains during the second session of conference. We tried to listen to it on the radio, but the signal was pretty crappy. So we stopped at the North Ogden Divide trail head and hiked for a little bit and took some pictures.

What a beautiful fall day!!

Why don’t they ever ask me for my opinion?

2010-10-04T07:54:00.001-07:00

I was flipping through the newspaper the other day and saw an ad for a fabric store. I’m sure you all know that I like to sew a bit, so I stopped and looked at the ad.

There’s something about fabric store fliers that I just don’t get. I would assume (and maybe I’m reaching on this assumption) that these ads are supposed to draw people in. They are supposed to advertise all the things that are on sale and also show nice outfits that you can make with some of the cute fabrics and patterns that they carry. If they are supposed to draw people in and make them want to sew, then why do they have pictures of some of the worst clothes I have ever seen?! Seriously, they are usually either the ugliest fabrics thrown together in what otherwise would have been a cute dress, or a cute dress, but it doesn’t fit well at all, so it ends up looking just as tacky as the ugly material dress.

They obviously didn’t consult me before they put those pictures in their ads! If they did it would look much better!

Wordy Wednesday

2010-09-29T09:13:00.001-07:00

Since I haven’t posted for awhile I figured I’d make this a Wordy Wednesday instead of a wordless one.

I think we might look into buying stock in Band-Aid. Squanner has been so accident prone lately! About 2 weeks ago, she fell on the playground at recess and skinned up her knee. She came home with 2 band aids on and it took me about 2 days before she would let me take them off so I could even see it. Then a few days later, she was walking on a curb in a parking lot and fell off and re-scraped that knee. So a new band aid had to go on.

Then last week, she was opening the door to church and opened it on her foot. Since she was wearing sandals, she gouged some skin off at the bottom of her toes on one foot. Let me tell you, that was a bit of a bleeder! That is pretty well scabbed over at this point and is healing nicely, but she still insists on wearing a band aid on it. I think it’s just because she can still see it, so it still must be hurt.

Then last night, we were walking G-man back from scouts and she was running ahead of me and… I’m sure you have guessed the outcome by now. Sure enough! She fell down yet again! This time she scraped up the other knee. So of course she has to have a big band aid on that knee and thinks that she can’t walk because her knee hurts. I’m about ready to put her back in the stroller whenever we walk somewhere so she’ll stop falling down all the time!

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So, I had one of those, “I can’t believe I’m such an idiot,” moments yesterday. Thankfully I don’t have those very often. I try to keep my life organized in such a way that I don’t miss things. I don’t forget when it’s my day to volunteer in classrooms, or the nights that we have scouts or when bills are due. I usually try to stay of top of things. The thing that I messed up isn’t life-shattering, but I am still really annoyed with myself. Grrrr!!

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My mom had to rescue me from gathering purgatory yesterday. I am working on Squanner’s Halloween costume, which is a princess dress. Holy cow!! That stupid dress has enough skirt panels that they stretched the length of my kitchen. And the best part of that is they have to be gathered onto a bodice that is small enough to fit a 5 year old! So she came and took it home with her so she can gather it on there. I am happily washing my hands of it! Now I can start TRMinator’s costume. This is his last year of going trick or treating. I told him that he is getting too old, and so far he is okay with that. I’m sure it might be a bit of a different story next year when his brother and sister bring home their hauls of candy and he doesn’t have any. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T13:16:00.001-07:00

Seriously?!?

2010-09-21T08:13:00.001-07:00

My hubby says he is going to put the word ‘seriously’ on my tombstone. I guess I say it a lot. It just seems to fit so many situations. Like this one, for instance. I had to give Squanner some cough medicine the other day, (we have a lovely bug going around our house right now) and the measurements on the side of the bottle for dosing were in tablespoons. There weren’t any other conversions in parenthesis, just tablespoons. Well, the cup that came with it for dispensing the doses only had ml on the side. So I had to pull a different medicine dispenser out of the drawer to see how many ml were in a tablespoon! Seriously?! They tell you how much to give your child in one measurement, but then give you something to dispense said medicine in a totally different measurement. So dumb!!! Seriously.

(applause here)

2010-09-14T16:38:00.001-07:00

I would just like to state, for the record, that I finally finished my Disneyland scrapbook!! Woo hoo!! And only about 2 weeks after I started it! I got sidetracked for awhile and had to put it away for a week or so, but I pulled it out today and got it done.

Now to start in on the last 5 years of school pictures that have been sitting in my scrapbook bag waiting to for me to do something with. Not to mention all the holidays for the past who knows how long too… Oh dear. I’m never going to be caught up. Oh well, the feeling was nice while it lasted!

Sometimes you just need your mommy

2010-09-11T09:53:00.001-07:00

Halloween is just around the corner! At least it is in my book. I have, like 6 weeks, (maybe less, I haven’t actually counted yet. I don’t know that I want to!) and I haven’t even started costumes. I’m not terribly freaked out about that yet, but I will be. Probably soon. And I’m sure when it hits, it will be bad.

Normally my mom & I shop for fabric for the costumes together. She tells me what she thinks will look good together, and I listen. Sometimes I go with what she suggested, sometimes (I’m sure to her consternation) I don’t. Well, she was busy this morning, so I thought I would run to the fabric store by myself. I thought I could handle it. I thought, “How hard can it be?” Well……

I can’t do it!!! I can’t do it by myself!!!! That tulle might look better with this satin! Or what about that satin! Should I do this netting or that?! Do I like this shade better than that one? Which ribbon looks better? Aaaahhhh!! I can’t take it!! Someone just tell me which one I want!

Hubby likes to tease me that ever since my parents moved here I can’t make a decision on my own anymore. Well, when it comes to fabric stores it’s true, and Idontevencare. I need my mother!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-08T08:37:00.001-07:00

Better late than never!

2010-09-06T08:44:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. I said I would post pictures from TRMinator’s birthday on Friday. Well, I don’t have a good excuse, so here you go.

I decided a long time ago that throwing birthday parties for my kids with friends is a lot of work, and that I just don’t particularly enjoy it. So I made them a deal and told them that they can have one when they are 5, 8, 12 and 16. G-man is happy with low-key parties that just include a friend of two. TRMinator, my social butterfly, usually wants to invite half the school.

Well, this year TRMinator turned the ripe old age of 12 and reminded me that this was his year to have a party. I tried to remind him that I let him have an end of elementary party with his friends after the school year was done, and that should be good enough, but unfortunately, he wasn’t going to let me off the hook. So I gritted my teeth and threw him a party.

I made him narrow the invites down to 8, (if he had his way, it probably would have been 20) and we played games from the show Minute to Win It.

They were trying to get ping pong balls into a glass. Not quite as easy as you would think!

Trying to get a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.

Let me tell you, that kid raked in the gifts!!

I think that was about the loudest rendition of Happy Birthday that I have ever heard.

He had fun, all the kids he invited had fun, and now I don’t have to do it again for another 4 years!! Woo hoo!

Wow. It’s Thursday already?

2010-09-02T11:12:00.001-07:00

A funny thing happened this week. It went from Monday to Thursday in one day!! I swear it did!! The phenomenon that makes this odd little fact even weirder is that this week hasn’t been nearly as busy as last week. Last week was one of those weeks where we had something going on every day. I think I saw Hubby for a total of about 2 hours.

This week has been much more relaxed, so you would think it would go slower, but the opposite is true. I’m not quite sure how that happened. Maybe because I have immersed myself in the world of scrapbooking for the last couple days. I got a Cricut last week and that has inspired me to actually start scrapbooking again! I thought I would start with our Disney vacation from 6 months ago. I’m sure once that is done, I’ll be done with scrapbooking again and all those school pictures from the last 5 years will have to wait for the next flurry of activity.

I realize that I haven’t posted any pictures lately. I will try and remedy that soon. I will maybe try and post pictures tomorrow from TRMinator’s birthday last week. He reminded me that I promised him he could have a party when he turned 12. I reluctantly upheld my end of that bargain, so I’ll have to post the pictures. I’ll do that tomorrow, because right now I have to scrapbook!! (Before I lose my motivation yet again!)

Hmmmm…. I think that’s a good thing

2010-08-31T07:41:00.001-07:00

On Mondays I volunteer in Squanner’s class. First of all let me say that kindergarten teachers are saints. If I had to deal with all the whining, incessant questions and unchecked energy that goes on in class, I would be insane.

As I walked down the hall to her class yesterday, Squanner was in the hall walking back to her class after she got a drink. When I called to her to say hi, she turned and looked at me and in her put-out, I’m annoyed with you voice, said, “Mom!! I’m not done yet!!” I think I’ll go ahead and take that as a good thing that she wants to be at school, not that she wasn’t happy to see me. Because my children are always happy to see me! Right?!?!

Who says parables only happened in Biblical times?

2010-08-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

When I dropped Squanner off at kindergarten today, the parable of the 10 virgins came to mind when I looked around me. Maybe you might think that I am a Bible scholar and examples of parables present themselves to me on a daily basis. Well, let me tell you, I’m not and they don’t. Maybe it came to mind because I had to read Absalom and Achitophel for school this week which is a veerrrryy looooooong and drawn out poem that draws an analogy between King Charles II and King David of the Old Testament and bible analogies were already on my mind. Also I have school tonight and we’ll be discussing this very long poem. Did I mentioned that it was a very long poem? Because it is. Like, over 1000 lines long.

Anyway, I’m sure we all know the parable of the 10 virgins. Let me paraphrase; there were 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom (Jesus) to come and they didn’t know exactly when he would arrive. They all had lamps and only 5 were prepared and brought extra oil and they other 5 didn’t, so they were left out in the cold, so to speak when Jesus finally came.

Now I know you’re all asking, “What on earth does this have to do with kindergarten drop off?” Or maybe those that know me well already know where this is headed. Let me start by saying that today has been a rainy day off and on. When we were driving to school the rain had stopped and the sun was sort of threatening to break through the clouds. But I’ve lived in Utah long enough to know that you can never really trust the weather to stay one way. I had dressed Squanner in jeans and a jacket (it was only about 50 degrees today) and had her bring her umbrella.

When we were waiting for the teachers to come out and get them (catch the foreshadowing here?) I looked around at the other children that were waiting. About half were dressed appropriately for the weather, about half were not. I saw flip flops on otherwise bare toes, there were bare little arms sticking out of short sleeve shirts, not to mention the younger siblings that were there, some that were babies in shorts with no shoes or socks on and parents in tank tops. I’m looking around thinking that these people have to be at least a little chilly. Then to top it all off, it starts to rain again. The teachers still hadn’t arrived at the door yet, so all these under-prepared kids and their parents had to wait in the rain. I bet they wished they had been a bit better prepared and brought some extra oil with them for their lamps! Or in this case, maybe a jacket!

I swear, sometimes people just amaze me. If you are an adult and want to go around in a tank top in the rain and 50 degree weather that’s your business. But maybe, for the sake of your child, look out the window and try to prepare for what might lie ahead. Because you just never know how long you are going to have to wait.

Seriously?!?!

2010-08-24T12:34:00.001-07:00

How did my baby boy go from this…

to this…

in what, I swear has only been maybe 5 years. Tops.

TRMinator started Junior High yesterday. He has entered the realm of bells ringing to signify the end of the period instead of recess, lockers, and changing for gym. I’m just not quite sure how this has happened so fast! On the bright side, he still likes me enough to let me drop him off in front of the school instead of a block away. I guess I’ll just have wait for high school for him to be properly embarrassed of me. At this rate, that just might be in another 6 months!

Random Friday

2010-08-20T09:26:00.001-07:00

It’s been a busy week, so I think I’ll make it a random day so I don’t have to tie everything together!

First off, we had a funeral last weekend. Hubby’s grandma died last week, so her funeral was on Saturday. It was nice to see everyone and celebrate her life since we know that she is happy and is with her family that has gone on ahead of her.

Hubby, his two sisters and I sang a song during the service. We know that Squanner thought that it was a boring song, because she loudly proclaimed as much to the people that were sitting around her during the song. (The things you can get away with when you are 5.) I pitched in because they needed another voice. I’m not sure why, but I don’t really volunteer to sing any more. I used to sing in church all the time growing up and sang in choir at school, but for some reason I don’t anymore. I guess it’s one of life’s mysteries because it’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I guess I just don’t want to put forth the effort.

The funeral was in Heber Valley, and those of you who aren’t familiar with that area- it’s beautiful, so you know there will be pictures!

Hubby’s grandma had a barn that he has lots of memories of playing in as a kid. It’s falling down now, but I still had to get some pictures of it.

You really didn’t think that I would have shots of just the barn, did you? Of course my kids were in it too! (hmm… I really don’t line them up that way, they just do that themselves)

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Then a couple of days ago my dad had a birthday. His is only the second in the long list of August birthdays for our family. We are going to have this birthday party thing down by the end of the month. Anyway, whenever you ask him how old he is, his response is always, “I don’t know, I was born in ‘48, figure it out.” Ahh, my dad is such a jokester.

My parent’s neighbors always bring him a cantaloupe for his birthday as kind of a joke. My mom hates cantaloupes and my dad likes them. I don’t know if he really enjoys the cantaloupe so much as he enjoys my mom’s reaction when he eats them.

Since I had my camera, and since my mom makes their back yard a mecca for hummingbirds, I had to stand there and take like 100 pictures to see if I could get a good one of some hummers.

Turns out, I could!

I had it in sports mode and just snapped away!

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Starting next week I am going to have all 3 of my children in school! I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. Although I am going to be in school myself, so maybe I won’t have time to ponder my feelings about being home alone. I guess I will find out soon enough! Wish me luck!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

We had to fend for ourselves!

2010-08-09T07:20:00.001-07:00

Ever since my parents moved to Utah 7 years ago, it has become a tradition that we have dinner at their house on Sunday evenings. Well, this Sunday they let me down and made me make dinner for my own family! All because they were in Arizona for my nephew’s birthday. Come on! Don’t they know that they have me trained now that I don’t have to cook on Sunday?! Sheesh!

I managed to survive making dinner, (we had scones) then we needed to come up with something to do for the rest of the evening. So we, along with half the town, decided to go to the park. Of course, this was a perfect opportunity to take pictures with my new camera! I don’t use it to it’s full capabilities, but I still have fun with it.

I suppose we fend for ourselves pretty well!

Where oh where has the time gone?

2010-08-06T15:08:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure if I feel this way every year, but for some reason this year’s summer break has seemed to zip by. Could be that we are on year round school and we didn’t get out till the first week of July and our summer is only 6 weeks long. Hmmm, that might have something to do with it.

Regardless, my youngest two start school next week, so we went to Boondocks yesterday as a sort of last hurrah for summer. So of course, I have to post pictures!

This was the first time we had gone there when it was warm enough to do all the rides outside. First up! Bumper boats!

It was kind of hot, I was about ready to jump in that pool! I bet I would have have gotten kicked out!

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Next up, the go cart race tracks.

TRMinator was big enough to drive on this track.

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They had another track that G-man was tall enough to drive by himself.

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After that, a few rounds of miniature golf. I must say, G-man is about the fastest golfer I’ve seen. Of course his methods may not be completely by the rules.

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While the boys were driving the go carts around some more, Squanner (that’s what I call the Princess in real life, so that’s what I’m changing her name to on my blog!) decided that she wanted to go on the bumper boats again. She was big enough to go by herself, so she did.

This is how she spent most of her time. The boats also could squirt water. She HATES being squirted with water, so she ducked down to avoid getting wet. Of course by this point, she knew that the boats could squirt water, and that chances were great that she would get wet, but she still wanted to go on it anyway.

She kind of floated out to the corner and stayed there because she didn’t have the whole steering thing down. When time was up and they were supposed to come in, she wasn’t quite sure how to do that.

So the guy that was working the ride had to jump on someone else’s boat then climb onto hers to steer her back to the side.

Maybe I should have been concerned that my daughter was stuck adrift in the middle of the bumper boat pool, but I thought it was kind of funny! I was actually more than willing to dive in and go rescue her. That water looked sooo tempting!

We had lots of fun. Now, I guess it’s time to start school, and the joys of homework! Uggh!

The dirty, stinky, and possible wet camp report

2010-08-03T10:50:00.001-07:00

TRMinator is home from camp! He and Hubby got home Saturday around noon. Hubby is the assistant Scout Master for his troop, so he was up there with the T-man for the second half of the week. They got home tired, dirty, sweaty and stinky, but they had fun.

One of the features of the camp they went to was the horseback riding merit badge. TRMinator was pretty excited for that one.

He earned 5 other merit badges while he was there, one of which was basket making.

This was my first experience with one of my kids going to an extended Scout camp. We’ve done day camps in the past but never a week long one.

I’ve learned several things from this experience. The first is, boys don’t like to shower. They will only do so when strongly encouraged (forced- however you chose to look at it) to do so. Second, they don’t really change their clothes. If they wore it yesterday and to sleep in last night, it’s still good enough for today, right?! Third, don’t ever wear white shirts. Because when they come home with at least 2 to 3 days of grime on it like dirt, sweat and fish guts, they don’t really come clean. Even when you bleach them and run them through the 2 1/2 hour stain cycle on your washing machine.

I must say, I expected TRMinator to be dirty and was prepared for it. The thing that I didn’t expect to see so dirty was this:

I have never, in the life of that car, seen it that dirty! Hubby could only take it for so long. He waited till that evening when it cooled off and went out to wash it.

Now here’s where the story takes a bit of a twist, you might say. It didn’t matter that there were storm clouds in the sky and it looked like it might start raining any minute. His car was filthy and it had to be cleaned off!

Yep. He washed his car in the rain. It wasn’t too bad at first, just a few sprinkles. When it really started coming down you would think that he would be done. Nope!! I sat in the garage and laughed at him while I took pictures to document his insanity for our posterity.

And I thought I had seen it all with the lengths he would go to to keep his car clean. I was mistaken.

I love it when a deal comes together

2010-08-02T12:48:00.001-07:00

I realized the other day that school starts for me in about three weeks (EEEK!!) and that I should try to see if I can figure out what books I need, preferably online.

I found the bookstore’s website and they had a place where you just put in what class you had, picked your teacher and BAM!! There’s the books you need with a convenient spot to order them.

I need two books and each one new was $41. They were out of stock new, but they had used ones available for $33. I was about ready to order them, when my Amazon buying brain kicked in and I thought, “Hmm… I wonder if I can get these off Amazon?”

I took the ISBN numbers of the books from the bookstore’s website and plugged them into Amazon, and da duh!! There they were for a fraction of the bookstore’s price! I got both my books for under $18! Can I get a “Woot! Woot!!”

This kind of getting good deals technology wasn’t around the first time I went to school! I love Amazon. It rocks.

Sigh

2010-07-29T07:56:00.001-07:00

TRMinator has been at 12 year old scout camp this week. He’s technically not old enough, but they are letting him go because his birthday is in less than a month and he is already a First Class Scout.

He has been looking forward to this for quite awhile now. He excitedly signed up for the merit badge classes that he wanted to take (horse back riding was one of them) and had his gear packed for several days.

I’m sure he is having a great time and learning a lot.

I’m not! I miss that kid!

It’s just not the same around here without him. I miss those big brown eyes and that grin. G-man has been doing a good job of stepping up and being the big brother and helping when I need him to, but he doesn’t sit down and chat with me the way TRMinator does. I think I’m ready for my big guy to come home now. Too bad he’s still got two more days!

That pack is almost as big as him!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-28T06:47:00.001-07:00

A day at the splash pad

2010-07-27T13:50:00.001-07:00

I realized the other day that my two younger kids only have a week and a half left of summer! It feels like our summer vacation just barely started and now it’s almost over! So I thought that I needed to get them out of the house and do something fun. TRMinator is away at scout camp for the week, so I called my mom and we took the remaining two kids to a splash pad in Riverdale. The splash area itself isn’t that big, but there is a big park with playground equipment surrounding it.

They went and played on the playground first.

I was really surprised. I thought the Princess would take to splashing in the water and the G-man would not. She walked around for about 5 minutes, then wanted to go back to the playground and play. G-man stayed and played in the water for quite awhile.

Finally the Princess decided the she could go play in the water- when we were about done, so G-man stepped up to the role of big brother.

They had fun. Now I’m sure we’ll have to go back when TRMinator gets back!

My new toy

2010-07-26T07:26:00.001-07:00

I may have mentioned in my last post that I got a new camera. (Have I said yet that I got a new camera? I got a new camera! (I don’t think I’m that bad!)) We’ve been taking it out and playing with it to figure out how it works.

Of course my first subjects were my kids.

Then, we went with my parents to some fireworks at the little town next door to them.

This was our first shot, just playing with the exposure time. I thought it was kind of cool.

It was fun playing around and learning the different things we can do. I’m sure there will be more! Stay tuned!

What?!?!?!

2010-07-22T22:13:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed the box in the left hand corner that says I need to get a new background for my blog… by tomorrow! Apparently the website that I, and most of my friends, get our backgrounds from, wants everyone to get a new one for some reason.

Well, I thought, “Pshaw! My hubby is a software engineer! He can design me up a new background! And if he can’t, one of his engineers or techs at work can! He runs a software company and they even have a website! For Pete sake, someone there can make me a nice new background!” Right?!?!!?? Nope.

He says that he’s not going to pull them away from the projects that they are working on to make me a new blog background. Seriously!! Where are his priorities?!? Aren’t I the most important thing in the world?? In his world, yes, but apparently not in the company’s world. Shocking, I know. I’m still trying to process it.

He said that I would have to be happy with what he came up with for my blog. So in other words, expect to see a blank background for awhile. For some reason, my blog isn’t real high on his priorities. Again, I’m shocked. Maybe since I’ve called him out so publically like this he’ll get right on it! Yeah…. probably not.

In other news, I got my new camera today!! It’s a DSLR, and for those of you that don’t know what that is, I will write a post later telling you all about it. I just got it today and I’m still playing with it and learning about it. The one thing that I will tell you about it now is that it is 18 mega pixels. 18!!! My old camera is 12, and I thought that was awesome. I still haven’t pulled the pictures that I’ve taken off yet, (because I’m not sure how) so we’ll see just how much clearer they are. Expect to see lots of pictures in the near future! Yay!!!

My little angel…

2010-07-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

(cue the choir of angels)

Aahh, my TRMinator, my first born, my eldest, the fruit of my loins… The one who always is so eager to please and do whatever I ask of him. A model child, really.

Holy cow he’s costing me a lot of money this summer! Sheesh!! It seems like if it’s not one thing, it’s another! First of all, he had his science camp. At least that was free, but it cost a lot in terms of time and gas. Then next week he has scout camp, which was surprisingly not cheap!! Next I had to register him for school. Now that he is out of elementary we have the joy of paying school fees. (Not to mention a whole new wardrobe- uniforms!) I also just registered him for a scout merit badge class… which wasn’t free.

I tell ya, it’s a good thing I love this kid and that he’s worth all this. Otherwise I might have to kick him to the curb! At least I have another 3 years before all the G-man’s expensive stuff starts kicking in!

What a GREAT camp!

2010-07-17T15:02:00.001-07:00

It’s time to explain my wordless Wednesday. I wrote several weeks ago about how TRMinator won a scholarship to a science camp on the University of Utah campus. The time finally (in TRMinator’s opinion) rolled around for him to go last week.

We didn’t know anyone else that was going to his session to carpool with, so I drove him down every morning, then back again in the afternoon to pick him up. Let me tell you, that was a PAIN!!! I consider driving down to Salt Lake once a pain, let alone 10 times in the last 5 days! (big sigh) He had fun and learned a lot, so I suppose it was worth it.

On the last day there was an informal open house so we could see what they had been doing. The made a sort of robot out of the Mindstorm Legos and raced them.

TRMinator and his partner got knocked out in the first round. He wasn’t too surprised because something about his sensor wasn’t tuned right… I don’t know, I tuned out once he started talking about sensors and stuff.

This is his robot.

I’m glad the driving is over, but I’m also really glad that he got the opportunity to go. Next up! A week of scout camp. Man this kid is busy this summer!

Hmmm, maybe what they say about me is true

2010-07-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

My birthday is in 2 days. I’ve been told that I am hard to shop for. When I’ve been asked time and time again what I want, I have no idea. I suppose that could be called “hard to shop for” in some people’s book. I choose to view it as, “you need to be creative and find something that I never knew I wanted!” And sorry, I am going to be of no help pushing you in one direction or the other because I really don’t know what I want.

There’s really two parts to this problem. The first is that when there is something that I think I might want, I just usually go buy it (on sale of course!). The second is, I’m not really a recreational shopper, and there’s not much in the way of clothes and such that I get really excited about. Also, if I am shopping for myself, I generally have to try things on and that gets tedious and takes too much time. And I might be just a bit picky. Hmmm, it’s a wonder I have any clothes to wear at all!

As for other stuff, I don’t really want anything for my house, it’s already decorated how I want it and I’m not really into chachki’s, I don’t want kitchen gadgets because I don’t use them, (that would mean I would have to clean them!) and I’ve got enough stuff for outside.

Sheesh! I don’t envy anyone that has to buy me a present for my birthday. I am one tough chica to buy for. So I think I need to wish Hubby a whole hearted, “Good luck!”

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

I’ll explain this later this week!