Amalgam

Say My Name

2011-12-11T10:40:00.000-08:00

After a skilled and nuanced dance of what I liked vs. what won the popular vote and then finally, what wasn't taken on Etsy and Blogger (yeah, I get now that I should have done that first...) I introduce to you...

Paisley Cinnamon

Blog is up now...see it here. I will keep both blogs, this one for more personal posts and Paisley for posts more about decorating, crafting and DIY.

Etsy shop is here, but is currently empty. Look for it to be up and running the first of the year. I have more ideas percolating than I know what to do with and am working furiously (and happily!) on my crafty goodies.

Thanks everyone for your kind words of encouragement. I'm excited to see where this year will take me!

I'm An Adult Now

2011-12-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

I turned in my letter of resignation at my job today.

I started working as an aide at Ellis Elementary 7 years ago; quite by chance. Sage had just started preschool and I wasn't looking for a job, but my friend-a teacher- called me up and said they were looking for someone to fill in a scheduling gap for a few hours each day. Since it was during the time Sage was at school, I took it; you know, shoe money. I never intended for it to become my permanent job; it just kind of worked out that way.

I have enjoyed working there very much. I've learned a lot about life and a whole heck of a lot about myself. Turns out I'm pretty darn good at teaching kids; who knew? Also turns out that I have a soft spot in my heart for kindergartners and 1st graders that I never would have suspected was there. Over the last two years of doing AmeriCorps, I also learned that I can work harder than I ever have before in my life, and I remembered talents and abilities that I had in my pre-kid days that I had thought were lost.

This year, though, I've been feeling like it is time for a change. My schedule this year is not the most convenient and there is little chance of advancing there--at least not at the salary I would like. I've toyed with the idea of starting to look for a full time job elsewhere, but that was not right either.

Now, after weeks of thinking, discussing, praying and worrying, we've come to a decision. I am going to open an Etsy shop to sell some of my crafts and home decor. Jacob has had an Etsy shop for awhile, but it doesn't get a lot of exposure. I--along with my lovely, talented and kind sister--will use some of my new found time to promote and build up his site as well. I am excited and the most calm and happy I have felt in months. I will also be starting a new blog strictly for my creative endeavors, so when the time comes I will direct you there. You know, for those of you who come for the crafts and not the witty anecdotes about my kids.

Now, gentle readers, your input. I need to decide on a name for my shop and I've narrowed it down to the following. I would love it if you would leave a comment with your vote to help me decide.

The Paisley Hatbox

Cinnamon Paisley

Paisley Cinnamon

Hazel Astrid

Hazel Grey

One of These Nights

2011-11-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

2 things for you today...

1) It is MOD Podge. Just because the second word has a 'dg' in it, does not meant that you pronounce the first word with it as well. MOD. Just Mod. Stop it.

2) Here she is!! Rag quilts are so easy to do, they're just a little time consuming. And this one took me For.Ev.Er. because I just kept being too busy to work on it, but I was so close to finishing yesterday that I just powered through and stayed up until 1 am finishing. (Which means I'm even more excited to curl up with it in my bed tonight.)

Very inexpensive project because I just used all the bits and pieces in my fabric stash. $8 for the batting (using a coupon at HobLob), about $10 for thread (I splurged on the heavy duty) and less than $10 for some extra fabric to have enough squares to finish (I just took whatever was on clearance). I love it! Here is a close up of some of the fun fabrics in it...And this is what the dryer will look like when you wash it:That is about half the lint I took out of the dryer and doesn't include the stuff I cleaned out of the washer.

Sleep tight!

Paint it Black

2011-11-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie today...

I was in Kmart a few months ago and found a rack full of clearance spray paint. They had Krylon Fusion paint in hammered metal black for $2 a can and I decided to experiment. I had a dresser that has been the eyesore of my basement for awhile now (befores can be seen in the background here) and I've just put off painting it because it is that plasticy laminate and I knew it would be a pain. Enter Krylon Fusion. It is formulated to stick to plastic. I've had good luck with it on small projects in the past, so I decided to go for it. For a total cost of about $12 (I also got some shiny silver for the knobs), here is the after:I think it's safe to say I may never paint furniture with a brush again! Now I wish I knew what to do with the great tower of ugliness next to the TV... Now the only thing left down here that doesn't match is the computer desk. That is next and I have some fun non-paining ideas for it!

And here is a preview of my next project. I need to amp up the speed on this one, cause it's gettin' cold here and I'm freezin'!!

Pot, Kettle

2011-11-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Just the other day I was watching a Tivo'd talk show from before Halloween. "Ugh!" says I. "I don't want to be subjected to Halloween now that it's November!" Delete went the whole show.

Then, as I'm cleaning out my camera yesterday, I realize I never posted Halloween pix. Oops.

Sage was so excited about dressing up this year, since it was her last year to dress up for school. She wanted to be a princess and we started scouting DI for the perfect dress back in September. Sometime around the first of October, we were there and spotted this beauty; isn't it perfect?She loved it so much; she was so happy! Great last costume, as far as she's concerned! I took a picture of the back of her hair, but it didn't turn out well enough to post. Which is a shame because it was pretty legendary, even if I do say so myself...

The Friday before Halloween we had a carnival at church and Jacob was in charge of coming up with a booth. He decided to do a photo booth and built this backdrop (with a bonus shot of Sammy the Superhero). Awesome, eh? I kind of just want it in my yard...
Here is the picture that Sammy's mommy thinks we should use as our Christmas card this year...Don't you love that "I'm the only normal person in my family" look on Sage's face?

Boy Meets Girl

2011-11-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

Can we call this one a successful fail? I've seen tutorials all over the internet showing how to make a stencil out of craft paper then bleach a design on a t shirt. I had some t shirts lying around so I decided to try it. I am just so not a good crafter when it comes to things that require a lot of attention to neatness and detail; I'm way too impatient. I know this, but sometimes I block it out and try anyway...

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, examples of how it SHOULD look can be found here

This is the first one I did, for Simon:
I tried doing this one by dabbing the bleach on with a rag. It bled under and up above the stencil. In the end, he decided he loved it anyway. He gets compliments like crazy whenever he wears it.

Attempt #2, for James. Tried using the squirt bottle this time. Thought I had covered the rest of the shirt better than in attempt #1. Clearly I was wrong. Got a few wayward drops of bleach, so decided to just go for it with the spray.Again, he loved it as it was and also gets a lot of positive comments when he wears it. Who woulda guessed?

On to Sage; I had had it with bleach by this point, but she had some very plain shirts that I knew needed a little something to jazz them up.

Sage shirt #1, I bought this striped shirt because it was purple (her favorite) and CHEAP! but it was way too plain. I found some purple fabric in my stash and made a fabric flower for it. I sewed it onto a safety pin so I can remove it for washing. Simple...took me one sitcom to make.
Sage shirt #2, I followed this tutorial*. This one was definitely the most work, but the result is Sage's favorite.
(I feel it's important to note that it is vaseline on her face in this picture, not snot, which I know is what you were all thinking. We were running out the door to school and I didn't notice how bad it looked until much later!!)

Sage shirt #3, I followed this tutorial* and it is probably my favorite one of the bunch.
*BTW, I'm pretty much totally obsessed with Maybe Matilda. She is awesome. And I want her hair.

Post

2011-11-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

I have several posts stacked up in my head and waiting to go. I finally took all the pictures from finished projects off my camera and put them on my desktop, but that is as far as I've made it. I'm planning to post this weekend; I swear it shall be done!!

We have had some very sad news in our little neighborhood this week. One of my neighbors passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday. She was just a few years older than me; mother of 6 kids ranging in age from 5-19. She was a truly great lady and they are an awesome family and my heart just breaks for them. When we moved onto this street, she was the first one on my doorstep with dinner, even though they had just recently moved in themselves. She was always the first to offer help and advice. I've learned a lot from her through the years that has made me a better person and a better mother. She will be greatly missed.

If any of my readers would like to help this family in the coming months as they struggle to figure out their new normal, there will be lots of help needed. Please contact me and I will let you know how you can best help.

Getting Away With It

2011-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, on a forum I often ~~read~~ peruse quickly on my lunch break, someone started a discussion about moms wanting to run away from their responsibilities and take a break. To be honest, I don't know how the discussion actually went --because I did not have time to read it-- but I did think about the concept.

Then, a few days ago, I picked up a magazine that was in my bathroom and started reading a short story about a mom who ran away from her family (note that I just finished this short story today because that is how long it takes me to read anything....see note above on not having time to read). She stayed in a hotel in another state for 3 weeks, enjoying the lack of chores and responsibilities and contemplating the different paths her life could have taken had she not chosen to be a mother. Once she finally decided to return, she was all happy and refreshed and rededicated to her life.

I, like-I'm willing to bet on this-ALL mothers have had times when I have thought about how nice it would be to run away. But this story made me realize that is actually NOT what I would choose to do. If you run away and stay in a nice hotel with room service, are you going to return refreshed and happy? Or annoyed and irritated when you just have to spend the next 3 weeks doing everything that didn't get done in your absence. I'm on the go from 5 a.m. until I fall into bed exhausted at 11 and I'm tired of running. I don't want to run away...I don't want to run anywhere!

What I really need is my family to run away for 3 weeks. Let them go stay in a hotel with room service and a maid that makes the bed for them and I'll stay here. Do you know how much I could get done in my house if I were here alone for even just a day or two? Projects and chores uninterrupted by fighting, feeding, erranding, and carpooling? Now that sounds like heaven to me.

I will consider counseling....

The Messed Up Truth

2011-10-15T17:34:00.001-07:00

Keane, Death Cab for Cutie and Depeche Mode. What do they have in common?

They all made better music before rehab.

Let me be clear...I wish them all the best in their new, straight and clean lives, I just don't appreciate the tunes.

In My Room

2011-10-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

The sprucing continues. The basement seems to have taken the brunt of the abuse over the past two years.

This table was our kitchen table when we first got married. When we replaced it, we cut it down and used it as a coffee table (it has casters on the bottom so we can wheel it around as needed). For years I've painted, sanded and cut right on the surface. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like before because it was kinda funny, but last week when I decided I had had it, I hauled it outside and had it sanded, stained and back in the family room before Jacob even got home from his meeting. (I just realized you can't see the whole table, but the legs are black.)The tray is one I've had on hand for ages and never used. The books are throw away DI books covered in scrapbook paper and the bowl was a $.50 DI find painted black. Notice the dresser in the background; that is this weeks big project.

Here is the dresser behind the couch. Black vase is one I've owned forever. The black is probably it's 4th or 5th color. Branches from my backyard spray painted white. The red vase was $2 at DI. I bought it because I liked the shape and planned to paint it for the living room. Luckily I brought it downstairs first because it is perfect in this space. EVERYONE comments on it.

Since I usually have pillows upstairs that my family complains are more for looks and less for comfort, I promised that the ones in the family room would be comfy. I was thrilled when I found this blanket. $12 for a blanket big enough to cover 4 big pillows and then some. My boys LOVE them... even if they do look like I skinned Elmo....
And one project for upstairs... Every year I buy a big paper planner at Walmart for $4. I love them. Each month is a two page layout. They are cute and roomy and perfect. Except that they are about 9 X 12 inches and therefore too big for me to carry around. When I bought my iPod a couple of years ago, I switched over to using the calendar on it. I like it because it's always with me, but I miss my cute paper calendar!! More practically, I really miss being able to see the whole week layed out in front of me, so I copied this (I can't find the site where I copied it from to give proper credit...sorry!), with some cheap DI frames, some black paint and scrapbook paper I already had on hand. Now it hangs in the hall going up to my bedroom so I can see it all at a glance. (Yay!! This is the first slow week I've had in awhile...expect more crafting soon!)

And......just to keep it real. Here is my decorating fail. I found this shelf at DI for $1 and loved it. Brought it home and painted it, painted the vase for the top and loved it. Walked away, came back downstairs a few minutes later and then I saw it. Ugh. Do you see it?

I'll be finding something else to replace the vase asap!

Sweet Emotion

2011-10-02T12:48:00.001-07:00

These are things I'm thinking about:

*When I am deep in project mode, I don't have time to blog. When I'm not in project mode, I have plenty of time to blog but nothing to blog about. I have been deep in project mode; my camera is full and I will have a project post coming soon.

*I am happy beyond words about the return to blogging of my friend. I've missed you and your blog!

*We saw Cars 2 last night. When I kept seeing all the bad reviews for it I assumed that people were just being silly and overly critical. They were not. It was awful.

*If there was such a thing as a Nobel Prize in Haircutting, my stylist should win it. She is a master with cutting my harder-than-average-to-cut hair and manages to make me look like I'm not a backwoods hillbilly who has literally been living under a rock....which is what I looked like all summer while she was living out of town.

*My daughter wants to be a Princess and I'm ok with that.

*We never watched Lost when it was on, but decided to start watching it on Netflix about a month ago. We may or may not be on season 5 now...

*One of the most ignored directions in our church--at least in our particular stake--is not giving both members of a couple busy callings.

*I mean no disrespect to anyone that chooses differently....but in my opinion, choosing not to find out the gender of your baby via Ultrasound is so arbitrary. To me it is like saying, "I'm don't want you to tell me what it is when it is born. We have chosen to wait until it is 9 days old and then we'll look and be surprised!" The baby is what it is whether you find out while it is inside your or out. Not looking for a random amount of time so you can be surprised is something I don't understand.

Ok Go.

2011-09-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I was flipping stations in the car on the way home just now and stopped on "Don't Fear the Reaper." Several blocks later it occurred to me that I don't really LIKE that song, but how do you pass it up; it's a classic? THAT got me thinking... what are the classic, everybody-loves-them songs that you don't really like?

Top of my list? We Will Rock You. No wait, Walkin' On Sunshine. No wait...

Ok, you go now.

Projekt

2011-09-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

My niece came over the other day--it had probably been about 6 weeks since she was last here--and she said something about how it looked like I had completely redecorated. I haven't, really, but I have been "sprucing" and finishing up some stuff in my to-do pile. My favorite part of finishing in-process projects is getting the feeling of having new stuff without the spending-money part.

Here are some projects from last week:

These were fun to make; just dip yarn in glue and wrap around a balloon. In process, I thought they weren't very cool, but once you pop the balloon, they're pretty cute. Almost free--I paid $.39 for the balloons on clearance.The "Home" plaque, copied from here. Used old barn wood; FREE! I also repainted the lamp. It is now on it's 4th or 5th color. Not bad for a Kmart clearance lamp, eh? FREE!

Updated my front door wreath. I love the clip on flowers from Michaels; they're a dollar and I can just change them out from season to season. Totally solves my I-can-never-quite-keep-up-with-the-seasons front door problems. Not free, but cheap.FINALLY decorated this ladder. It has just been leaning there naked for years. The dried....stuff...in it came from the field behind my house--Another FREE project!I angled the picture this way to include a shot of the flower bed. When we moved into the house, this area was "grass" (as we began to dig out the "grass" we found that there was very little grass or dirt there, but a whole lot of garbage. Ewwwww for finding other people's broken glass, pop cans, retainers and a million candy wrappers lodged in the layers of your yard).
We dug out the grass, put bricks around and filled in with dirt. We've been slowly filling it in over the years with plants people are getting rid of, plants on clearance and cuttings from neighbors. Economical, yes, but it leads to the area not looking too finished as we go. We finally got around to putting down bark this weekend and I can't believe the difference it made. Even though the flowers are still sparse, it looks so much nicer; wish I had done it at the beginning of the summer!

Years ago I found an ad in a magazine for diet bracelets. The idea was that you wore colored bracelets that stood for different things on one arm, and as you ate that food throughout the day, you moved a bracelet to the other arm. I went on their website, but the company no longer existed. Seemed simple enough to make, so I came up with a slightly simplified version.
The blue ones are for servings of water, the green ones for fruits/veggies. The black one indicates that it is a "no sugar" day, and the red one is for exercise. Now to make myself get started...

Last but not least...Sage has needed a new dress for awhile now, but I've not been able to find one in her size that I liked. Enter my sister's DI pile... She had this dress that she was getting rid of.I took it, cut off the top, sewed ribbons on for straps and voila! New dress for Sage in under half an hour. She LOVES it, and as she grows we can remove the straps and she can wear it as a skirt. Now I'm going to see if I can hem the bottom of the top portion and have her wear it as a shirt. FREE!!I've got some fun stuff planned for this next week, too. See you soon!

Back to school, Ring the bell

2011-08-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

First day of school!!!! This picture cracks me up; it totally captures all of their personalities. James--Mr. SuperCool; Simon--Mr. BoredandAnnoyed; Sage--Miss Excited. All three of my kids started the same day this year, but it was late start for the boys.

Slept in (a little)--check
Remembered to take photos--check
Everyone delivered on time to the right school--check
Living room vacuumed--check
Face facialed--check
Legs shaved--check
Bubble bath--check
Hair dyed--check
Toenails painted--check

All this before 9:30 in the morning! Unfortunately, I go back to work on Monday, so this kind of luxury is short lived. I know I should be using this time to work out! Clean things! Organize closets! But I'm pretty much not doing any of that. When I do go back to work, it's only for 4 hours a day, so I'm hoping my motivation returns with a more structured schedule.
Can't believe how big she's gotten. This is my last year having a kid in elementary school!

Check out the awesome headbandHere is James' first day of school shirt, for those of you that were asking for a photo... (credit here)And a picture with cousin Sammy, and inexplicably, Dwight Schrute...

Big Daddy of the Rhythm

2011-08-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

Lay Your Hands On Me

2011-08-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

I found this tray at the DI awhile back--the very definition of hideous, but it was only $2 and I knew it had potential.One of the spots in my house that is always in need of a little decor is the dining room table, but my family hates it when I put stuff there because it's always in their way. It's only a matter of days until whatever it is ends up shoved into a corner of the kitchen somewhere, never to be displayed again. I thought that maybe the tray would solve that...if it could all be lifted off together when needed, then placed back....Well, we'll see how it goes.

Here is the after:Painted, sanded, stained (I love the dirty, I-just-pulled-this-out-of-my-Grandma's-barn look of it) then mod podged a piece of scrap fabric into the bottom of it. Collection of odds and ends that I had around the house and a few hours later I had a whole new centerpiece for no money.

Here is a view that includes the painting above it. This is a piece I found out in the garage a few months ago literally collecting dust--and cobwebs--that Jacob had painted for a class in college. I trimmed it and framed it and I think it's perfect above the table.

Side by side on my piano keyboard

2011-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of notes of reference, for use in the following story, you know, for those of you who may not know us in real life.

1) A picture of my son Simon from a few years ago:

2) Sage is not adopted.
__________

I was flipping through a magazine the other day and saw the following Target ad:
It caught my eye for a couple of reasons and I took it to show it to Sage. I asked her if she noticed anything interesting about it and she almost immediately said, "That little girl is wearing braces on her legs like me!" We talked about the little girl for a few minutes, about how cute she was and about how she needed crutches but Sage doesn't.

Then I asked her if she noticed anything else interesting about the picture and she said no. I pointed out the little boy in the green shirt and asked who she thought he looked like. This is the resulting conversation:

Sage: "Simon? He looks like Simon?"

Me: "Yeah, he does, doesn't he?"

Sage: "Wait. Is it Simon?"

Me: "No, but he sure does look like him. When I was flipping through the magazine, I saw this picture and it looked so much like him that I thought, 'Holy Cow! Is that Simon? Did he sneak out of the house and go take pictures for a magazine without telling me?'"

Sage, TOTALLY SERIOUS: "So did you think the same thing about me when you saw that little girl? Did you think it was really me because she was wearing braces?"

It's just a question of time

2011-08-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

I sort of realized a week or so ago that summer was almost over and if I was going to get my house cleaned before I (hope, hope, hope) go back to work, I better get started. So I spent the last two weeks going through my house a room at a time cleaning and scrubbing and PURGING and I'm finally (mostly) done. Done enough to at least not loathe myself for letting the whole summer go by without doing anything.

I have been able to finish off a few fun projects as well...you know those things that you intend to do for years and just kind of never get to. Well, I at least got to a couple of them!

1) I've been working on a gallery wall down my stairs for awhile, just adding pictures here and there, but it never looked finished. I finally hung up a bunch of things right before surgery #1 and I love it. I will continue adding to it--I want it to be very full- but for now it at least looks finished (it is hard to take a picture of, though!)2)We have had a LOT of door-to-door sales people this summer. A LOT. And they have all been really pushy. After the one that came by last week, I marched right downstairs and made this:It's not perfect; I think it's a little too large, but this was a frame I had on hand. I might still do some tweaking, but for now it does the trick.

3) I think I showed this "painting" on the blog before, but I can't find it. It used to have a brown/mottled background, and although I loved the tree and bird, I never liked the background, so a few weeks ago I decided to update it with some bright color. I 95% love the way it turned out. I wish the color blocking on the left wasn't so evenly square, but I love the colors.
4) This project wins the "most bang for my buck" award. I rearranged my basement and needed some tchotchkes for one shelf. I stopped by a thrift store that I don't normally frequent, and they were trying to clear out their inventory while they remodeled. I got these:
PLUS a cool black metal basket for $1.20 TOTAL! Love it. I bought two more glass vases at my regular thrift store plus a couple of cans of spray paint and turned it into this:
Love!

5) The wall above Sage's bed has been empty for a LONG time. I knew I wanted to make a sign that said this, but I finally got around to making it. The base of it-that looks like beadboard-is actually some slats from some broken blinds. She also needed a bedside table because it drives her nuts to not be able to see her clock. We've just been putting it up on her windowsill, but that wasn't working out. I found this stool in the garage, painted it and it works perfect.

Deep in the hundred acre woods

2011-07-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already seen these? You're welcome.

You ain't got no alibi

2011-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

*Have you read the Uglies series? I brought home a stack of books from Tawnya's house in anticipation of my recovery, and Uglies was one of them. I had never heard of it, and honestly, didn't even read the back or anything. I assumed it was a chick lit, Mean Girls kind of thing. I started reading it a few weeks ago and oh-my-gosh I loved it! (Not Chick Lit--young adult sci-fi for those of you that are as clueless as I). It served well to fill the Hunger Games void in my life. I read all four of them in 2 weeks; I have heard negative things about the 4th one, but it actually may have been my favorite (right up until the very end...)

*Let's talk Facebook... I love FB, in case you haven't noticed. I have a hard time remembering what life was like without it. Oh, wait, now I remember. I had to actually use the phone for things like making visiting teaching appointments. Shudder. How did we live like that?

*One thing I've noticed that I think is so weird, is people who share their FB account with their husbands. Am I the only one that thinks that's odd?

*The other thing I think is odd is...how should I put it...people who send me friend requests who SURELY know that if I saw them in a store I would run the other way to avoid talking to them. Why would they think I would accept this request?

I opened my email the other day to find such a request and following is a recreation of my reaction:

"Ha! What? Really?

REALLY? Is she kidding? What the heck was she thinking?

Could she ACTUALLY picture me pushing the "confirm" button? What in the name of all that is good and holy was she thinking?

Hey Jacob, guess who I just got a friend request from!"

Jacob answers by saying he got the same one...and goes through his own rant similar to above.

*So, what is your position on FB friends? Will you friend anyone, or are you pretty picky? What are you FB friend rules?

My Sticky Shoes

2011-07-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

I bought these shoes years ago from Target online. I was never totally in love with the black shoe/brown heel but they were super cheap so I bought them anyway. Turns out they are super comfy-like I can wear them to work all day without them hurting-comfy. BUT, the brown part started scuffing and wearing off from the first time I wore them, leaving those awful white marks, so they've sat in my closet now for over a year, untouched. So yesterday, I did this. LOVE THEM!

I can feel your heartbeat

2011-06-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

*Tomorrow is 4 weeks since I had my heart surgery. I thought I would be blogging this whole time; so much time sitting around with the laptop to catch up! Instead, I've been watching episode after episode of Ugly Betty and Drop Dead Diva. After much thinking about what this said about me, I've come to the conclusion that it has less to do with the recovery and more to do with the last two years. For the past two years I have done nothing but work, do my calling and squeeze in a little cleaning and grocery shopping here and there. (Those of you that think I'm exaggerating are dead wrong.) I think I've just really enjoyed this time to sit around and do NOTHING. Anything that feels like effort gets rejected. I'm enjoying it.

*Up to a point, apparently. And that point happened today. I felt like I really needed to DO something, so I made a pair of flip flops and painted my toenails. Baby crafting, but crafting nonetheless. I followed this tutorial and used a pair of flip flops that I picked up at the grocery store for $.79. My next project is to mod podge a pair of wedges that have been hiding in the back of my closet; stay tuned for that!*I can hear my new heartbeat. It sounds like a very loud watch ticking inside my head. It is disconcerting. I have nothing further to say about that.

*I took pictures the day I came home from the hospital with the intention of blogging at least a couple. I just went and looked at them. Blech. It was just too gross; I couldn't do it and deleted them all! Yucky yuck. And you're welcome.

This and that

2011-05-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

*For those of you who have been following along over the last 2 years, I'm done with my job. Done, done, done. I stop short of saying I regret doing it, but if I knew then what I know now, I don't know that I would have taken it.

*Just to clarify, I loved every single thing about working at my actual school; the things I didn't love were AmeriCorps and "Holy crap 1700 is a lot of hours" related. I am desperately hoping that I will have a (normal part-time) job there again next year.

*Today is my first day home without a stack of school stuff to work on. Even feeling crappy, I have accomplished so much. I was clearly not meant to be a full-time working mom. I am more cut out to be a full-time crafting, cleaning and shopping mom. I must have checked the wrong box somewhere.

*Back to the feeling crappy part, I think I'll take a nap after lunch...

*I have a Facebook friend that unfriended me. I don't know when; it could have been forever ago. It has been years since we saw each other in real life, and after the initial catch up, we never chatted on FB either. Still, when we lived by each other years ago, we were quite close. I thought of her last week and went to look her up on FB to see what she was up to and we were no longer friends. Now, if she had a small, tight number of friends, I wouldn't have been bugged by this; I understand that some people only want to hear from people they are actually involved with. However, she had over 300. In 10 seconds I went from never thinking about this girl to wondering what I did that upset her. I wonder about the long term ramifications of things like this on our society. I also wonder if I swear too much on Facebook.

*We watched Social Network this weekend and I have to fight the urge now to call it The Facebook.

*I recently turned over to the boys the job of doing their own laundry. Best. parenting. decision. EVER.

*8 days to the chest-cracking event of the season!

Pure and Simple

2011-05-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Wow. In a world of bad news, ugliness and destruction, this was just a wonderful use of three minutes (or, you know, 6. Or 9.)

I'm too sexy for my family room

2011-04-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

I just heard that one of the hottest new color combinations for spring is grey and bright raspberry red. Hmmm...Much like the color scheme that I did in my basement 2 years ago. I'm so ahead of the times. It's a good thing I didn't redecorate down there; I'll enjoy being in style for a few months!

Giving, receiving, having and sharing

2011-04-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Favorite part of the conference so far? The Corporation for National Service gentleman who gave the talk about how we need to change the way we do things and work harder and reach farther and make our service better (apparently, by collaborating--which he said 62 times in a 30 minute speech) which was followed up by the lady who was conducting standing up and saying, "The important thing for us to take away from this is that we all have to keep doing exactly what we are doing!"

That song in my head

2011-04-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

With all the talk about how people don't like blogs because they paint an unrealistic view of people's life, I feel that it is my duty to keep it real for my readers. Yes, you--all 4 of you-- you get my life, my thoughts, and my embarrassing moments just as they are!

So, I take James this morning to do some shopping for his upcoming trip to Seattle. He needs some new black concert dress slacks and a jacket sufficient for the rainy Washington weather. I've been trying to take him out all week, but between one thing and another, just couldn't get to it, and I finally figured today had to be it since Spring Break is almost over, so in spite of the...uh...somewhat inconvenient gastrointestinal issues I was suffering today, we go. We end up having to go to like 5 or 6 different stores to find exactly what we're looking for, and it is my unpleasant reality to have to visit the little girls room in every store.

But, this story isn't about my tummy.

I notice in the first bathroom that they are playing an REM song--not one of their hits, but an obscure, deep cut that no one ever really knows. I think it is weird but don't think too much about it. Next store, I notice that they are playing Groovy Train by The Farm. That is even weirder. I remember to notice the Muzzak a little later in that same store and it is Mariah Carrey or something similar--more what you would expect in a store of its type. This continues to happen, store after store; I hear Smiths, I hear Peter Murphy but only in the bathroom. The music out in the store is always boring top 40 adult pop. I am truly baffled about this strange phenomenon. Really...why would stores play different music in the loo than they are playing out in the store, and why are the all store's bathrooms playing cool 80's alternative??

Finally, in the last store, I totally notice the Muzzak because it is very loud and very annoying, and then I go to the bathroom and they are playing the Rave Ups. Ok, now that is too weird to even make sense...As I'm leaving the bathroom I am really trying to understand this when I realize I can still hear Rave Ups--it's quiet but I can hear it faintly under the loud other music. That's when it finally occurred to me...it was coming from my pocket. At some point I had pushed play on the MP3 player on my phone and it had been playing this whole time; I guess the only time it was quiet enough to hear it was when I was in the bathroom.

I'm so glad that I can share these moments with you, gentle readers.

And yes, I'm feeling better now, thank you.

Speak and spell

2011-03-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

So I'm working with a small group of kindergartners today and having them sound out and spell words like cat and van and net and we're nearing the end of our time and I'm pretty tired so I say-you know, for my own amusement-I'll give you an extra sucker today if you can spell, "Mrs. B is falling asleep."

Well, they are a pretty clever and somewhat cheeky bunch so they all laugh and say things like, "Ha ha," and "We can't spell that," and "How do you spell Mrs.?" and "I bet we can sound it out if we try," and "Oh, Mrs. B., you are the very most wonderful and amusing teacher of all time and I greatly appreciate how you enrich my life with your humor!"

I notice one little girl--please note that this is a little girl who has been speaking English for all of 7 months now--who is staring furiously at her paper and obviously trying to work something out in her head. Finally, she writes on her paper, then, with a huge and somewhat wicked little grin turns it around so I can see it.

She has written N-A-P.

She got her extra sucker.

Sing Your Life

2011-02-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

My sister did this today, and I thought it looked fun, so I'm copying! First 5 songs that came up when I put my whole iPod on random...

1. Grand National--Close Approximation. No video to be found. Not my favorite GN song by a long shot, but a solid one nonetheless.

2. British Sea Power--Lights Out For Darker Skies

I didn't know this song (Jacob often puts bands on my iPod that he wants me to listen to) but I liked it.

3. Red Flag -- In My Dreams (No video...T, how did you end up with 5 songs that had readily accessible videos???) Anyway, It's no Rain, but it'll do; I do love me some Red Flag.

4. The Big Pink -- Crystal Visions Love this. It reminds me of .... something from the 80's but I can't put my finger on it. Anyone?

5. Shout Out Louds -- The Candle Burned Out Just one of my very favorite bands, as readers of this blog will know.

Huh. That was interesting. I don't know that this is a fair representation of what I've been listening to lately, but I do like all these songs.

Your turn!

One last random...

2011-02-13T19:31:00.001-08:00

Cause I really have to work twice as many hours this week to make up for last. At least all the sickies are finally better!

I do not like this.

My hair looks so much better when it has fresh color on it. I do this myself; it does not require a trip to the salon. It costs me $4 from a store that cannot be described as being out of my way and about 45 minutes of my time. Why, then, do I continually wait until I have 2 inches of yucky greyish, mousy roots before I get around to doing it? It brings me so much happiness when I finally do ...why do I wait?

Absolutely wonderful Leadership Training broadcast yesterday. Were you able to attend? It was really great; life altering, even!

I am a big reader of decorating/crafty type blogs. I love them. And I love the pictures on them. I almost never actually read these blogs; I don't care who the writer is, where they live, what their husband thinks of their crafting or whether they are pregnant. I care only about the projects, so the pictures are pretty vital. My question is, why do they put so many? There are a few blogs that will put 3, 4, 5, 10 pictures of different views of the same project--and I'm not talking about helpful "necessary so you can recreate it later" views. I'm talking about 5 different views of a spray painted picture frame. I really do not understand this; am I missing something?

Do you ever have those moments that just stop you cold? Terrify you to the core of your soul? Make you question everything about yourself and what you've always thought you believed in? I had that experience today when I realized that-unprompted and unaided-I knew every word to this song.

We are making necklaces as part of our Super Saturday next month. I had a few of my necklaces at church to show as examples. Last week we forgot to put our stuff back in our closet after church so the other counselor went back later to do it. Today I couldn't find the necklaces. I'm desperately hoping that I brought them home and put them....where? I don't know. I've looked and can't find them. I'm really afraid someone took them!!

Have a great week everyone!

Random post because I'm home with a sick kid and I can

2011-02-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Follow up to the last post, here is a picture of the legendary wallet. You know that you must gush now, whether you feel it or not.And Mad, now I want to see your husband's wallet.

Oh. And yes, I was trying to be funny.

Why do random people feel the need to get all I-am-the-keeper-of-all-knowledgey and act as though they have all the answers when my daughter is sick? I don't really care what the flu looked like on your 18-year-old-otherwise-perfectly-healthy kid. Don't treat me like an idiot when that same flu lands my not-otherwise-healthy-handicapped kid in the hospital. I'm terribly sorry that if you ask me what happened, and I then tell you, that you are so uncomfortable with the ensuing conversation that you feel the need to excuse her symptoms and tell me all the reasons I overreacted by calling an ambulance when she wasn't breathing. I didn't offer the information unsolicited; you asked. If you can't at least fake appropriate sympathy, then don't ask next time. That is all.

I got the most awesome of all packages from my friend. I came home from aforementioned hospital visit to find it in my mailbox. What an awesome little pick-me-up to a rotten day. Thanks, Lbs! One of the items in the package was a necklace, which will now be my go-to, wear-everyday necklace. I love it so very much that I can hardly stand it. (I tried taking a picture, but between my crappy camera and even crappier photography skillz, it ain't happenin').

It's February. 3 1/2 more months until my job is finished. I've loved it, I really have, and I've been told that I have a job there in some form for as long as I want it--which I also love, but dang I'll be happy to not have to work so many hours. I brought home a bunch of work to do today while home with Sage and I haven't done any of it. Instead, I've enjoyed doing such unheard of things as cleaning my kitchen, dusting my living room, filing the taxes and washing sheets. I know I'll get sick of that again, too, but for now I feel like I need to get back in touch with my house.

I'm going tonight to register my son for his second year of high school. Nothing else to say about that, because just typing it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

Pride

2011-02-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Pride is a funny little thing.

So, back before Christmas I was in a store and saw this wallet that I just fell in love with. Really, like I thought it was not only the most beautiful wallet I had ever seen, I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Ok, perhaps I'm waxing a tad bit hyperbolicious here, but I really, really loved the wallet, and I really, really wanted it. I did not need a new wallet at all, much less one that was that ridiculously overpriced, so I left the store without it.

A few weeks later I was still talking about the wallet and Jacob all but insisted that I go back and buy it. So I did. I lovingly cleaned out my old, functional, but so-not-beautiful wallet and transferred the contents over to the new wallet. Just looking at it made me happy, and every time I pulled it out, it made me smile. And feel fancy. And a little classier when I happened to be pulling it out at the Walmart.

A few weeks more go by and I start to notice something; in all the stores I had shopped at and all the times I had pulled my new wallet out with the flourish it deserved, not one person had complimented me on how beautiful and special this wallet was. This started to bother me. Was everyone blind? Tasteless? Stupid? What was wrong with these people? I will admit that I even complained about this to Jacob with a small pout worthy of any 5 year old.

A few days later I am at school, and I am helping one of my little kindergartners. He is a cute and sweet boy. He comes from a family that does not value things like washing faces or combing hair before school. Or mothers who shower and put on something besides their bathrobe before they bring their kids in to school. As I'm working with him, one of my coworkers comes in and needs something from me that is in-you guessed it- my beautiful wallet. So I pull it out and the little boy says, "Wow! Look at your wallet!"

And I smile, prepared for the coming adoration. Because at this point, I'll take the praise, even if from a 6-year-old boy.

What he actually says? "My mom has that same wallet!"

Pride is a funny little thing, isn't it?

Walking Away

2011-01-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

I'm never sure what to do when you're chatting away with someone and it's not terribly important, but still, and then someone else walks by and they're just "going to say hi" so they start talking to the person you were talking to, but then their hi turns into a conversation of its own and now you're standing there, not quite finished with what you were saying and you're not sure whether to stay and finish but you feel stupid doing that because it wasn't important anyway and really you need to leave and go get back to work. Do you say good bye and leave? Slink away silently? Introduce yourself to the new people and join their conversation? Say, "Hey! I know what I was saying wasn't important, but still, I WAS talking, so SHUTTIE!"??

It's Grand. And National. Listen to it.

2011-01-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Loving this:

I got it bad, bad, bad!

2010-12-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. There just may be something wrong with that title...

It is that time of year! Teacher gifts!! I have been so crazy busy that I swore off my obsessive "must make something crafty" tendency and decided to buy a nice box of chocolates or a gift card. Then I saw this. Oh no! It's just so cute! Seriously, I was a goner as soon as I saw that bird, never mind the goodies inside.

Now that Sage is my only child left in elementary school, I had three of these to make; one for her teacher, one for her resource teacher and one for the principal. (Side note: does anyone give gifts to junior high and high school teachers? I feel bad that I don't--I certainly appreciate them--but it seems unreasonable to give something to all of them, right? Between my two boys they have at least 16 different teachers, most of them I have never met, probably never will and would be hard pressed to even come up with their names. Discuss.)

ANYWAY...here is my version. I probably spent a fortune to get them all filled, and I know I spent way more time than I should have on them, but they were so fun to make and I love how they turned out.Here's the inside. It was harder than I thought it would be to find things that were useful, cute and not ridiculously expensive. Although mine aren't quite as cute inside as the one I copied, I'm happy with the usefulness of the stuff I put in.

Photograph

2010-11-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

In case you've been hiding under a rock, the big thing right now is to have your family pictures taken, preferably in front of a funky wall or building. I don't usually go in for the latest big thing, but this is one I found myself wanting to get on board with. I have a perfect spot on the "family photo wall" for a long skinny family photo. However, I don't find myself with the extra money in the budget to pay a professional photographer, and have read too many horror stories about them not turning out in spite of the accompanying $2000 price tag. What I do have, however, is a very talented sister with a nice camera who was willing to drag herself out of her warm and cozy house on a Sunday afternoon for the promise of a pan of brownies (yeah...haven't delivered on that yet. Sorry!) The results? Awesome!

Almost there...
Almost there...
Almost there...Almost there...
Photoshop, anyone?

This one is probably my favorite.
I think I'll blow up this one...
Or this one...

Let's talk about sex, baby!

2010-10-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Sage are driving along in the car today and Sage suddenly says, "How do they tell if a baby is a boy or a girl?"

Jacob says, "How do you think they tell?"

Sage says, "I don't know! How do they tell?"

Jacob (nervously) says, "Well, Sage, they look at their privates."

Sage, completely scandalized, "That's a disgusting way!"

Jacob, "Well, babies look the same when they're born, except for their privates."

Sage, "There has GOT to be some other way!"
_______________________

Why can't girl babies just be born with that bow already stuck on their heads?

It's the final random

2010-09-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

I love the Cash Cab. I really do. I think if I ever met Ben Bailey, I would make quite a fool of myself. I usually watch it on our little kitchen TV while I'm making dinner. I'm very sad that I missed the Neon Trees on it. I most certainly would have Tivo'd that had I known they would be on.
Neon Trees did not do well on Cash Cab.
I'm pretty embarrassed to admit that we have a TV in our kitchen. I will stop short of telling you that we had to have the cable company come and install a line there just so we could have a tv in our kitchen. oh, wait...D'OH!
I saw these in the store the other day and I really want to try them. Do you remember when I stopped eating candy? Completely? For kind of a long time? Not so much with the not eating it anymore.
I really love candy.
Candy and TV. Now there's a good way to waste an evening!

Have a great Fall, ya'll. I'll see you on Christmas break!

Sing. Sing a song.

2010-08-31T06:43:00.000-07:00

I knew I was going to have several road trips coming up, so I made myself a huge oldies mix on my mp3 player to keep myself amused. When I'm driving by myself, I have to have things I can sing along to at the top of my voice.

Does it ever surprise you to find that you know all the words to some songs that you wouldn't have guessed that you knew? Like You're the Inspiration? or Hold on to the Night? Pump Up the Jam? Everything She Wants? Every word without even thinking about it.

Does it ever surprise you to find that you don't know the words to songs that you certainly would have sworn that you did? Notorious? Nope. If you Were Here? Nada. There's Something About You? Not even a little bit. Hmmm. this is so very ponderous (I apparently know all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody, too. Thanks, Wayne's World, for that.)

Only going forward 'cause we can't find reverse

2010-08-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

Every year, all AmeriCorps members are assigned a book that they have to read during that year. We are divided into study groups and we get together once a month to discuss that month's reading. I don't know what the books were before last year, but I've heard that they could be pretty brutal reading.

Last year we read this: http://www.amazon.com/Bridges-Out-Poverty-Professionals-Communities/dp/1929229690

Which most people I've talked to did not like. I loved it, reread several parts of it over and over and attended the lecture on it at our statewide training twice. I found it fascinating, (for reasons that I unfortunately cannot go into on this blog).

This year we're reading this: http://www.amazon.com/Make-So-Leadership-Lessons-Generation/dp/0671520970

I am SO excited. Last week at our training, we had a full on trekkie from the state department of Ed come and speak to us and base his whole presentation on principles from Star Trek. It was awesome.

I wouldn't call myself a Trekkie or anything, but I do enjoy TNG quite a bit. Did you know I met my husband because of Star Trek (thanks JK!)

Oh, and the best part? Every chapter has a TNG episode that goes along with it, that we will be required to watch and count towards our required training hours. Awe.some.

On to a different book, I finally got my copy of Mockingjay on Saturday. And because I was feeling sorry for myself (wasp sting on my EYE, people!) I started reading it. I knew once I started I wouldn't want to stop. Man, it's going to be a long day at work!

You make me feel like dancin'

2010-08-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Before I had a daughter I would always see pre-teen age girls in stores dancing their little hearts out to the Muzak and it always surprised me that they weren't self aware enough to know that they looked like complete and total dorks. I also always wondered why the mothers didn't lean over and say, "dear, you're embarrassing yourself." I understand now that pre-teen age girls are pretty much always doing something that would embarrass their 4-years-later selves and dancing in the aisles of the Walmart is not even on the mom's radar.

But this post is not about public dancing.

It is about naked dancing.

Sage really loves music (shock, eh?) and she REALLY loves dancing and will do it at any and all times. No music playing? No problem, she sings and beat boxes and dances along to her own beat. And I pretty much ignore her most of the time (store aisles included). Except when she is naked. She dances when she's getting undressed. She dances when she's getting dressed. She dances when she's fresh out of the tub.

I know this is one of those, "don't make it a bigger deal than it is" kinds of things, but I'm not a fan of the naked dancing, so we've made "no naked dancing" a family rule. It has not helped. That girl just cannot help it when she's got the boogie, so I say to her the other day when she's getting ready for bed, "Sage! What did we say about naked dancing?"

And she says, "To not to do it, but I can't help it, mom! I just LOVE the naked dancing!"

Oy.

It's a mad world

2010-08-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Kindergartners in our school district only attend school for 2 1/2 hours a day, so the first few full days of school can be a little tough on some of those first graders. A little first grade boy last week went and got his backpack after lunch, all ready to head home. His teacher caught up to him and explained that first graders have to stay a little longer and he wailed, in all indignant sincerity, "Well I want to know just WHO signed me up for THAT?!?"

I feel ya, kid.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

2010-08-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have survived my first week back at school! (a much less impressive feat when you understand that I don't actually work with kids for most of the first month and I spent 2 days of this last week in an air conditioned conference room doodling and stuffing my face with catered brownies and diet Coke.)

NEVERTHELESS.... I am into my 2nd and final year at this job, sitting pretty compared to where I was this time last year. I know what I'm doing, I know what I need to do and I have almost 200 hours under my belt already (thank you to my wonderful principal for letting me work over the summer; only 1500 hours to go!) Probably premature to start worrying about what I will do in May when I once again become unemployed, so instead I'll work on a big ol' random post. **

As a follow up to the dance debate...James went, didn't get into any trouble and had a great time. I hear from my neighbor's daughter that he is something of a "ladies man." I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that. I asked him who he danced with, and he listed off a rather lengthy list. I didn't know most of them, and when I would ask he would usually respond that he didn't know her previously, her friends said she thought he was cute, she asked him to dance and at least a couple of times, they were juniors. Yikes! Then, a girl brought him balloons and a hot fudge sundae for his birthday. Yikes, yikes! And he hugged her in front of me. Excuse me while I put my head between my knees for a moment...

I think I was supposed to do something for his birthday like name the 14 reasons I like James, or something like that but it will have to suffice for me to say that I think he's a pretty cool dude.

Oh, I did think of something specific...I absolutely LOVE that he loves 80's hard rock. How cute is that?

**the random got a little longer than I had first anticipated so I've split it out and set it to post a different random thought each day for awhile. Please comment! I'm needy!!

Second verse

2010-08-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your input. I enjoyed reading what everyone had to say!

1. I feel like, as has been said, James is a pretty responsible kid and I don't think he'll give them-or get into-any trouble. It seems like the big, major, whole high school, kick off to the new year and new school dance would be a pretty big deal to miss. HOWEVER, I don't like the idea of setting this precedent, either for James or anyone else that might be paying attention. We have decided to let him go, but I must say it isn't with a totally clear mind about it.

2. I absolutely intervened. The only way I wouldn't have, I think, would have been if Simon didn't want me to, but I gotta say I probably would have anyway.

I emailed his advisory teacher yesterday and explained what happened-in a very calm and rational way-and asked her what she would advise us to do. (I also emailed her from my school account, because teachers take me a lot more seriously when they know I work for the district. What's that about?)

She emailed me back right away and thanked me for letting her know, said she would rather nip something like this in the bud before it escalates, and changed him to a new locker first thing today. I think my biggest problem with the whole thing was that the asst. principal that "helped" us was such a jerk about it to begin with. He very clearly did not care about anything Simon had to say, or anything I had to say and we can see that he didn't listen to what the other student had to say. Unfortunately, that seems to be the overriding attitude of that school. Blargh.

Quickly I'll obey

2010-08-19T05:49:00.001-07:00

I've always heard the lessons in church about exact obedience where they use the example that you shouldn't date until you're 16 and if the prom is a week before your 16th birthday, you shouldn't go because that would be breaking the rules. I get it, I do. Despite what those of you who know me know about how I actually live day to day, I do have a testimony that this is true. I think you get the blessing from following the rules, not from almost following them, or mostly following them and we've tried to teach this to our kids.

SO, next Monday is James' 14th birthday. This Saturday is the big back-to-school tri stake dance for ages 14 and up. James really wants to go. After some discussion, we told him to ask the bishop. The bishop said he would have to think about it, and we assumed he would say no, but he called back last night and said it was fine with him, but that we had to make the final decision.

Now, I'm not really asking for advice; we've already made our decision, but I am very curious what you think. What would you do? Why?

******

Thing 2: The kids at the middle school have to share lockers. In the past, they've always just been assigned a locker buddy, but this year they showed them a list of kids in their Advisory class and let them choose. When we got there to register Simon, they tell him that this kid, V. has chosen him to be buddies. Well, Simon and V were in the same class in 5th grade and did. not. get along at all, so Simon was very surprised that he would pick him. I asked the assistant principal, who was handing out those assignments if we could switch because I really didn't think it was a good idea and he said (and not kindly, mind you), "V chose him, so I think he should just stick with it." So we left and I spent several days trying to convince Simon that maybe this kid didn't have any friends and knew Simon would be nice to him and this would end up being a good thing. Well, they show up for school yesterday and they get to the locker and Simon says, "hey, V, I'm so curious why you would even pick me" and V says, "I didn't. I told them NOT Simon." and they were both pretty unhappy.

Again, what would you do? Intervene? Insist they change him to a new locker? Let him deal with it because life sucks and you sometimes get stuck having to deal with people you don't like? Although I've already made my decision on this one, too-based on what Simon wants me to do-it was actually even more of a mystery to me what the right decision was. What would you do?

Somebody's knockin'

2010-08-05T20:38:00.001-07:00

I'm working on a huge project for the librarian at school right now. She wants to cover the walls of the library above the bookshelves in huge pictures that represent the Dewey Decimal system and she asked me last April to help her get that ready for the beginning of the school year. Yeah...I'm sure you can see this coming a mile away... I kinda just started working on it about a month ago. I knew it would be a huge project, but other things kept coming up and now it's crunch time. I have been drawing, projecting, cutting and coloring pictures of Uncle Sam, dinosaurs and Rapunzel non stop now for weeks (can I just say here...one year down-one year to go!) I'm trying to focus on the big picture here, which is how nice it will be to start next year with a hefty chunk of hours already under my belt, but yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to work on it.

So I blew it off and made this:

to adorn my been-naked-for-an-embarrassingly-long-time front door.

I don't love it, but I do really, really like it, and it didn't cost me anything as I put it together from stuff I already had. Ahh....it feels good sometimes to craft just for the sake of crafting.

Wednesday!

2010-08-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Are you watching SYTYCD this season? I was pretty upset when they announced all the changes but I LOVE it! I really like the all stars (Hello, Allison! Oh my gosh she's a good dancer!)
And oh, my, how old does someone have to be for me to be able to say "Hummana-hummana-hummana"??And of course we have Mia's hair, which just could not be more fabulous this season...

Adam Shankman is just sort of hilariously fabulous in general, and a whole season of no Lil' C judging? Yay!

All that has almost distracted me from the actual contestants themselves (almost). They're a little blurgh this year. What do you think?

And, of course, the greatest thing about Wednesday: Axl.

I love that show.

Can't fight this feelin'

2010-07-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

*I've been on a real classic rock kick lately. Hmmm. Weird, but I just cannot get enough. Good thing I live in a town with a good station, eh?

*So we're going to a restaraunt tomorrow that has a lot of old-fashioned, black and white pictures on the walls featuring well endowed women. So, I decide to warn the boys about this and tell them that they might not want to look around too much and I use the word, "Cleavage". James gets the appropriate look of disgust on his face, but Simon's face lights up in a mixture of fear and excitement, so I say, "Simon, do you know what cleavage means?" and he says, "yeah....like people getting cut in half?" So. many. things. wrong here.

*I took Sage to get her ears pierced for her 7th birthday. She was SO excited. We got to the place, picked out the earrings, put her up in the chair and the nice lady drew the dots on her ears with the marker and she started SCREAMING and crying that she didn't want to do it. There was no consoling her and we finally left with no earrings. I've mentioned it a time or two in the two years since then but every time she immediately says, "no. no. no. no, I'm way too scared!" Ok, no biggie. I figure she gets poked with needles enough that there is no way I'm pushing this on her.

So today we're at the mall, wandering around to kill time until the bug spray is dry in our house and we end up by Claire's which Sage-of course-wants to go into. We go in and she realizes that its the ear piercing place and says, "I'm feeling awfully brave today, I think I'll get my ears pierced." Um, ok. I make her wait 10 minutes to think about it and be sure, and I try to talk her out of it, since it was so sudden, but she had her mind made up! She yelped a little on the first poke, but not even a flinch on the second and she never cried at all!She declared that it hurts less than getting her blood drawn ("it only hurt like a 1") and on the way to Dad's work to show them off she suddenly exclaimed from the back seat, "I'm just so PROUD of myself! I just keep having this happy face on because I keep thinking about my new earring and how cute they look and how I didn't cry so I keep not getting a sad face, only the happy one and I think it's because I'm just SO PROUD of myself!!"

I'll still forget, but now at least it's cute

2010-07-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Every house we've ever lived in had a metal-core front door. I don't care one bit what the centers of my doors are made of, except that it meant that I could magnet things to the back of the door that needed to go out--permission slips, bills to be mailed, etc. Our current door is not metal and has led to years of not knowing where to put these things and therefore, years of very important mail (read Netflix dvd's) not being mailed out in a timely manner. I finally could live like this no more! and came up with a solution.
Here is the before, as picked up for $1.50 at DI (are you all getting a sense for where I spend most of my time?)And here is the after:
Could not have been easier. Painted the edges of the wood black, then gave it a quick sanding. Used a fabric scrap that I had on hand, cut to the right size and pulled it apart a bit to fray the edges. Nailed it to the top edge, then folded and stapled as I went down to give it three different pockets. Nailed the bottom edge down and stapled a ribbon to the back.

When I finished I thought it was a little plain, so I found a flower stamp in a drawer and stamped the flowers on using watered down craft paint (btw...I think its really funny that everyone calls it craft paint now. It's so totally because nobody knows if its supposed to be toll paint? Tole paint? Hey, I can spell Craft, let's just go with that...)

Call me blue

2010-07-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm loving turquoise blue lately. Shut up, Tawnya. The front of my house is all tans, blacks and reds, but I've added a few little pops of blue for some interest.

This....thing...I don't even know what it is, but I assume it was some sort of planter (sorry, I forgot to take a before pic before I started painting). I found it years ago at DI for $3. It is that horrible 60's gold plastic. It has a mirror in the bottom of it. I didn't know what I would do with it when I bought it, I just knew anything with this amount of hideous scroll work on it had to be mine! A coat of paint and some succulents later, and here it is all cute by my back garage door.Years ago, I had all mismatched chairs around my kitchen table. I collected them from thrift stores, painted them all off white and recovered their cushions in the same fabric. And about 6 hours later realized why you shouldn't have little kids and fabric-covered dining room chairs. They were soon replaced with the fully-scrubbable Ikea dining set we have now. This chair is the one that survived and has kicked around my house and garage in different incarnations now for awhile. I finally got sick of looking at the ugly stained seat and ripped it off.

Here it is now in front of my garage:
I love the red flowers against the turquoise.

I went to the dark side...where are the cookies?

2010-07-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

*I cleaned the Hey-Howdy-HEY out of my house last week. Jacob took a couple of days off work in addition to the bonus Friday Utah holiday and hung out with Sage while I worked my tail off (unfortunately not literally--I kept myself going with copious amounts of Mike and Ikes and take-out, so my tail stayed right where it was.) I am now several weeks ahead of schedule and may be able to sneak in some down time before school starts up again.

*School starts a week earlier this week than it ever has before. I know I will be happy about this next May when school is out before Memorial Day, but for now I'm a little grumpy about it, as it starts on our Anniversary. 15 years and I'm gonna spend it sorting through piles of papers, loading backpacks with glue sticks and kleenex boxes, and looking under the couch cushions for lunch money. Sort of poetic in a way, I guess.

*Over the next few days I will post pix of some of the picture-worthy projects that I have finished. I won't include everything I've done, because even I realize that you don't want to see a picture of the very cool, space-saving toilet paper holder I found for my boy's uber-tiny bathroom, no matter how cool I think it is.

You remember the space bedroom from Christmas? Now that he's lived in it for a few months, he wanted to do some tweaking. He never used the closet-turned-desk, and wasn't a big fan of the free-standing wardrobe, so we moved his clothes back to the closet and put the wardrobe downstairs in James' room (yes, its true. we move our furniture around more than anyone else on earth. We're currently seeking therapy for it.) We also took down the bed-on-stilts and the new arrangement gives him this whole, empty wall so this past week while he was at scout camp, I did this:I LOVE it. I pushed it over to one side instead of centering it on the wall, so that I can put a good guy on the other side as soon as we find a picture we like. 6 hours with a diet Pepsi, a paintbrush and the local classic rock station....who could ask for anything more??
(Oh, and Trish, the floor is holding up GREAT! We love it so much we plan to do another room next summer.)

*I also painted this on James' wall above his drum set:
I find myself amusing.
and I'm working on this above his bed:Right now it's just drawn on with marker, but I'll finish it off with paint next week.

More lazy, hazy. Less crazy!

2010-07-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

*For those of you that missed it on FB, I got a new calling. I am now the Relief Society counselor formerly known as the Enrichment counselor, formerly known as the Homemaking counselor. I am excited about this because I think it will be really fun and the ladies I'll be serving with are awesome, but I'm nervous because I know how much time it will take up and I'm especially worried about what that will mean once school starts up in the fall.

I'm curious to know, though, what are you guys calling Enrichment now days in your wards? How are you handling it since the latest change? What kind of activities have you done that you really loved?

*Check out this video:

What do you think? Tell me your impressions...

*And finally...are you watching So You Think You Can Dance this season? By the end of last season I was starting to get a little sick of it, much like what happened on American Idol; I just get burned out and it all starts looking the same. Then last week, this happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WghpdgPc-24&feature=related (grrr...won't let me embed)

The guy in the red is a classically trained ballet dancer but you would never know if from his hip hop. I've watched this clip about 7 times now. AWESOME.

*Several home improvement projects up and running; just a matter of getting them off the camera and onto the computer!

See?

2010-06-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sage's new specs make us 5/5. Good thing we're related to an optometrist, eh?

Vacation, all I ever wanted

2010-06-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

Working at a school, my summers have become even more precious to me than they were before. Unfortunately, due to my acute projectitis, the visions of long lazy days reading in the hammock are quickly replaced with long, sweaty days of caulking my shower and washing my windows.
I assign each room or area of my house a week (or two, depending) and I take that week to deep clean that room. I rearrange, tweak, repair, launder, purge and organize until it is as perfect as I'm capable of making it. Although it would be more fun to play, I know how much I will regret it next school year if I don't do this now! So, most of my projects for awhile will be around this theme (if I stay on schedule, I should be done shortly after July 4th).
SO...I started with Sage's room last week. One of the things that has bugged me about her room is her cd's. They were in a metal bin, but the top of her dresser was just so messy and cluttered all the time. I knew I wanted something that could fit the cd's inside and the stereo on top, but I just didn't know what that would be.As I was wandering in my garage last week, I spotted this:What in the world is that, you ask? Years ago (really, like probably almost 10) my brother and his wife were redoing their ultra 60's bathroom. This was a built-in planter that separated the sink and toilet. It had spindles that came up from it to the ceiling (stay tuned; I have plans for those too). They were throwing it out and I rescued it; I knew someday I would find the perfect home for it. I pried the wood pieces off the inside, sanded it, cleaned it up, painted it and glued wood block feet to the bottom. Voila! It's perfect.

School's out for summer

2010-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm so struck with how things change as time goes by. I used to try really hard to make sure my kids were dressed perfectly for events like the last day of school so they looked great for the day-long photo shoot. Now I'm doing good if they are dressed at all when it is time to run out the door. I decided to go ahead and snap a few pix on the fly, even though I'll admit it made us a bit late. I can't believe how tall everyone has gotten over this past year, especially Simon. He now wears the same size shoe as Jacob; I've been warning James for years to be nice to him in case he got bigger than him someday. Now I think it really will happen.

Just for comparison; here is a pic from the first day of school this year:

Here we go!

2010-06-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

I forgot I had left you with a dangling "before".... I know, I know, you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for the "after". Here it is...a super-duper easy, done in less than half and hour, recycled something I was going to throw out, new scripture bag for Sage.

If you watch this, you're probably my parents

2010-06-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Before James started middle school, he had big plans to be a guitar player, so when he got to 7th grade, he signed up for guitar. And only felt eh about it. But then we bought Rock Band for Christmas and he watched his cousin wail on the drums and fell in love. He started playing the drums on Rock Band whenever he could and getting better and better, then he wanted to start on real drums. We bought him a drum pad and signed him up for lessons over the summer to get him up to level so he could take percussion in 8th grade.

We realized the obsession was not just a passing fancy, so we bought him these:
for Christmas last year (thank goodness for drum lessons; drums are LOUD! Oh, and thank goodness for kind and understanding neighbors...)

Now, just one year later, he's awesome! Here I caught him just playing around:

Here he is on the snare with an ensemble at his school's talent show today:

He just found out last Friday he would be filling in for another student who couldn't be at the talent show. His drum teacher compliments him all the time on how good he's gotten and wants him to start taking lessons from a more advanced teacher. Come on, college scholarship!!

and it's you and me in the summertime...

2010-05-30T09:03:00.001-07:00

3 1/2 more days. Things I'm looking forward to:

*cleaning my kitchen
*working out in the mornings
*reading my scriptures
*finding my scriptures
*making bread
*finishing the half-finished painting that has been hanging in my living room for 9 months
*Summerfest
*Hanging my laundry on the clothesline
*Putting my laundry away the same day I wash it
*Reading for fun
*Going to bed before 11:30

When the moon hits your eye...

2010-05-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap!! (whenever I hear that, I always hear it in Frank Barone's voice...)

I made this for dinner tonight, and it was SO good. So, so good. So good. Really, really so good. I think you should make it.

Tropical Pizza

1 large whole-wheat Boboli pizza crust
1 cup pineapple mango chipotle salsa (I used Pace)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded Swiss Cheese
1/2 green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced

Heat oven to 450*. Place crust on a large baking sheet. Spread 2/3 cup salsa over crust. Sprinkle cheeses over the salsa. Spoon remaining 1/3 cup salsa over cheese; scatter pepper and onion over top.

Bake at 450* for 10-12 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Allow to cool slightly. Cut into 8 slices.

My notes: I am way too cheap to buy those Boboli crusts, so I used this recipe and made my own. It made enough to cover a large-ish cookie sheet in a rectangle. I didn't measure out the salsa at all; I just used the whole jar and used about 2/3 of it at first and then the rest on top of the cheese. I didn't slice the peppers and onions because my kids don't like them that way; I just chopped them up rather small. We all LOVED this; there was not a crumb left and I will definitely make it again.

I knew you were waiting for me

2010-05-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Three more weeks of school. I have my last parent involvement night (aka mucho, mucho stresso) on Tuesday, then it is pretty much just showing up until the end of the year. Can. not. wait. to start cleaning/decorating/crafting again. Literally, I couldn't wait, so I did a couple of fast and easy projects this weekend.

Ring and shoes, both easy, both cheap. Both cute, if I do say so myself!Here is a "before" of a project I did a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I remember to take the camera upstairs and get an "after" picture, I'll show you that too!

Haircut 100

2010-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

I've been toying with the idea of cutting Sage's hair off for some time now. Yesterday I just really got the bug to do it, so I text my stylish sister-in-law for a second opinion. I wait and wait and she doesn't text me back, so in my impatience and impulsiveness, I rush off to the Dollar Cuts and do it anyway. As we're getting back into the car, my phone rings, alerting me to an incoming text.

"I say no, don't do it, and Britt (her equally stylish daughter) says no too"

Oh, crap.

Well, luckily I think we got away with it; it turned out pretty cute and could not be easier to style, which is what I was going for. What do you think? Sassy, no?

Double Jeopardy

2010-04-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Answer: Justin Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson, Adam Goldberg

PBS Jeopardy

2010-04-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Answer: Word Girl, Ruff Ruffman and the new Electric Company.

This is what pancakes in heaven taste like

2010-03-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

I mentioned on fb the other day that I make really good pancakes, and several people asked for the recipe... here it is! I had used the same recipe for years...just the one out of the Better Homes and Gardens cook book but I saw a recipe in a magazine a few months ago that was called Perfect Pancakes. I ripped it out, made a few adjustments and now they really truly are perfect. Enjoy!

1 1/2 C. Flour
3 T. Sugar
4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/8 tsp. Salt
Pumpkin Pie Spice*
2 Eggs
1 C. Milk
1/4 C. canned Pumpkin
Milk Chocolate Chips

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and Pumpkin pie spice. Separate eggs and whisk yolks in a small bowl with milk and pumpkin.

With an electric mixer, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the egg whites, gently, just until no white streaks remain. When whites are almost all mixed in, add half a bag of chocolate chips.

Cook...well...you know how to cook a pancake. If you really don't, let me know and I can add that part of the directions :) I use butter flavored Pam so that I don't need to put butter on the finished pancake. Serve with syrup.**

*I don't measure this, sorry; I just kind of dump a bunch in. The original recipe actually called for Allspice instead, but since I use pumpkin instead of oil, I thought the pumpkin pie spice fit. You could also just use cinnamon if that is what you have on hand.

**For our family, I usually triple the recipe, then put whatever is left of the batter in the fridge and we finish it off a couple of days later. They are a little more dense the second time around, but still yummy!!

Well, have you?

2010-03-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

*Have you made this yet? Seriously, so good. We've had it 4 or 5 times now, and I think I like it even more every time. Thanks Dori!! I'm going to go warm up the leftovers now for lunch.

*Have you read this yet? Seriously, so good. I didn't think I would like it that much, as I don't tend to love the books that are getting all the hype (especially when they're YA Fiction), but I loved this one. I'm one chapter into the second and it's killing me that I don't have time right now to just sit and read it.

*Have you heard this yet? So excited for this new album!

*Have they fired me yet? We're in our Community Council meeting yesterday, trying to decide who we will name teacher of the year. We had it narrowed down to 2 teachers, both greatly deserving of the honor, and we were having a hard time reaching a consensus. We started around the table to say our votes one more time and when it gets to me, I say, "I vote for Mrs. X, but really I'm like 51/48."

Wow. I love saying things like that in front of my principal. You really should fear for the future of your children, people!!!

*Is it over yet?? 12 weeks of school to go. 620 hours left to complete.

I have a bad feeling about this...

2009-12-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

Here we are...the finished pictures (ish). Christmas morning, the bed was missing it's mattress, hours later, the mattress found its home but the room was already littered with toys. Santa also brought an awesome Yoda poster but we bought the wrong size frame for it, so that is not on the wall yet. I finally snapped a few pix this morning with the bed unmade, but that will have to do, as I go back to work tomorrow. Thanks for your interest and comments about the room! It was really fun, and Simon LOVES it (he thanked us throughout Christmas day-at one point saying, "I feel like I can't thank you enough"- and I even got a huge spontaneous hug.) HUGE thanks to Trish for you help with the floor; it turned out PERFECT.

Here is a view from the door (have I mentioned that this room is TINY?) Here is a shot of his (unmade) bed. We used their old bunk beds and Jacob re-built them into a loft, with play space underneath. I didn't get a picture behind the curtain, but there is a silver bookcase and a beanbag under there. (oh, and his quilt is reversible...it is blue on the other side, which makes more sense than the red you can see here!) One of the things I really wanted to do was paint his bed frame grey. I just ran out of time, so I'll do it over spring break.

When we first moved into this house, one of the things that bugged me was that all of the closets were so teeny and none of them had doors. This has actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it caused us to think outside the norm and we've transformed a couple of them into things other than closets and it has worked out really well. When Jacob was using this room as his painting studio, he built in a desk and some additional shelves. We decided to keep it this way for Simon and I love it. There is a shelf dedicated just to his Lego projects (he wants to be a Lego designer when he grows up...), plenty of space for him to draw and do his homework, and still lots of room for his toys and storage on the shelves above. The small dresser was rescued from the garbage when a friend of a friend moved and looks great there with a new coat of paint. We bought one of my sister's wardrobes when she moved and it takes up much less room this way then if we used the closet as a closet and then added in a desk. (I really wish my shower curtain had been closed when I took this picture...)
Here are some close ups of the mural above the desk. Yes, Dustin, he's already told me that X Wing fighters don't shoot green. I'll fix it!Can I mention how much I love spray paint -in general, and Krylon Fusion Spraypaint specifically? There is a new hole in the ozone layer with my name on it after this project. I picked up the desk lamp at DI for $2, and the cans on his desk for $.75 and $.50. They were all hideous 80's brass, but look perfect now with a coating of silver spray paint. The curtain rod is pvc pipe and joints connected then sprayed and mounted on some old valance brackets that I found in a drawer and painted too. Oh, and the curtains were cast-offs from a previous living room re-do. They were white and I dyed them silvery grey. Here is probably my favorite detail, though. There was no light fixture in this room at all; we wanted a silver ceiling fan until we measured and realized it would result in his decapitation, so we found this instead at Lowes for $12. Isn't is awesome? I love it.
Oh, and the stars really do glow in the dark.

Hello, hello, is this thing on?

2009-12-06T08:08:00.001-08:00

Can I just drop back into your lives for a brief moment of random?

-I am indeed as busy as I predicted that I would be; in fact probably a little more so. I do enjoy my job, though (but I will be happy to see summer come!)

-In spite of this, I have mostly finished my Christmas shopping. I still have one more thing to pick up, and I think Jacob is doing that this week, and then just completion of ...

-Here are pix of my latest project. We are moving Simon upstairs into Jacob's painting studio so he can have his own room. This is necessary; even with the resulting "where do we put all Jacob's stuff now". Two boys of that age and size in a small-to-medium size room is going to end in bloodshed. These before pictures are after Jacob had already taken out A LOT of stuff. We have told Simon this will be his Christmas present; although he knows he's getting a room, he has no idea the coolness that I have planned for in here. After pictures to come after Christmas.-I have really enjoyed your blogs these past months, even though I don't always take the time to comment. Thanks for still letting me into your lives, even though I'm too busy to let you into mine!

-So, we got a reverse 911 call yesterday morning to tell us about a mountain lion sighting. We live on the flat, west side of town-no mountains anywhere-so we assumed that they just called everyone and that the sighting was on the East Benches. We found out later that is not so; there had actually been a sighting in our neighborhood, and officials has spent part of the night looking for it in the FIELD BEHIND MY HOUSE!! What the heck????

-For a day or two there, I thought we might just leave the fall decorations up through Christmas, but we finally managed last night to get up the tree. The decorations are a scaled down version of what I normally do (especially since my dining room and family room are currently full of stuff that just came out of, or are waiting to go into Simon's new room...). But I think my tree is pretty. Here are Sage and Simon playing with the new addition to the tree this morning. Sage is in her pj's because we are on our 3rd week in a row not going to church. I'd like to say people might be getting worried about me, but quite frankly I don't think anyone has noticed!
-I'm the Stake Cultural Arts co-director; did I tell you that already? Anyway, we had a huge Short Film Festival back in November and it was awesome. It was a lot of work, but I think it turned out to be worth it. I'll have to tell you about it sometime!

-That's all my thought-spewing for now; see you again in a few weeks!

I just might die with a smile on my face after all

2009-08-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sage and Simon are both super competitive perfectionists, so the following scenario happens in our house at least twice a day:

Perfectionist child playing the Wii, Gamecube or Computer: "AAAaaaarrrgggghhh!!" followed by the clomping sound made by them stomping their foot or throwing something.

Me: "Stop getting so upset or you have to get off the game."

Perfectionist child 2 minutes later: "GRrrrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrRR!!!!"

Me: "Seriously with the angry noises? Knock it off!!"

Perfectionist child, angrily: "But I keep messing up!" (or, I keep dying, or I just can't get this part right, etc...)

Me: "It is a game. It is meant to be fun. If you are always frustrated then you are not having fun and you should go do something else!"

Perfectionist child continues playing the game in a state of increasingly-panicked frustration until I can't take it anymore and make them go do something else.

I don't understand why they persist in subjecting themselves to something that obviously frustrates and annoys them so.

Or wait. Maybe I do...

*******
When I first started this blog, I did it because I thought it would be fun. And it was fun...at first. I loved having a place where I could talk about whatever I wanted and I loved it when you guys talked back. I wouldn't trade for anything the new friends I've made, the old friends I've found and the people I've gotten to know better because of my blog.

But it isn't fun anymore.

I find myself increasingly having to force myself to write things just because it's been a long time since my last post. I have an edit box full of half finished posts and pages of scribbled down ideas for posts, but I just don't want to do it. I'm reminded of a friend of mine who was a huge scrapbooker; her husband accused her of coming up with family activities based around what would look cute in the scrapbook--I sometimes feel like I do things just so I can blog about them. Although I guess that's not terrible if it leads you to do something wonderful that you might not have done without the bloggy-push to get off your heiney and do it, I don't want it to become a controlling force in my decisions!

Last week as we were finishing up the kitchen redo, I realized I was obsessing about how something was turning out knowing that I would have to post pix on my blog. I was stressed about not having every finishing touch in place before I needed to post about it on my blog. I worked myself to an exhausted frenzy, so I could meet a self-imposed blog deadline. All the while, I kept taking "breaks" to come down to the computer and update my blog, typing, re-typing, deleting and starting over.

Me: "GRrrrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrRR!!!!"

Me: "Self, this is a blog. It is meant to be fun. If you are always frustrated then you are not having fun and you should go do something else!"

I will at least consider therapy...

*******

So, for now I will say good bye to you all, dear readers. (Well, you know...not really-but that was a fun sentence to type.) I will see some of you on PYP, I'll try my hand at being a little more active on Facebook, I'll visit you on your blogs, and for you silent readers, drop me an email now and then (shazbraz@gmail.com). And I'm not deleting my blog; I'm very fickle, you know. I just may be back someday.

New Me Monday

2009-08-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Weight loss: still 0

This gives me hope that I will be good at maintenance since I really have not been trying or tracking at all. 3 more weeks until school/work starts and I can start losing again.

On the player today: The Kooks. Love this band; they are just so deliciously British.

Friday Flashback

2009-07-31T05:51:00.000-07:00

This is one of those songs that I completely forget about and then every few years I hear it and remember how great it is. That was a stupid sentence.

You know what's not stupid? This song.

Random catch up and preview

2009-07-28T07:19:00.001-07:00

*Simon had a birthday; he turned 11. He goes to the middle school in the fall. There are pictures. Somewhere.

*James went on his first week-long scout trip. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. It was weird not having him here for that long, though. His Scout leaders were very complimentary when they returned and said that he was the best, most helpful, kind scouty type scout of the whole stake. Moms like to hear things like that.

* What is up with this boy in this ad?
*I gained 2 pounds last week. I almost never eat out anymore-really--ever--but in the past week I've had McDonalds once and pizza twice. And candy. And birthday cake. And Sonic blackberry Sprite. Oh, yeah, that was twice too. I ate like this last week because of this:

*Here is a little preview of the kitchen transformation. Which is why I've been too busy to blog. Or email. Or eat healthy. Or go to the store to buy food. Or sleep more than 6 hours a night (don't worry...I catch up on my sleep in sacrament meeting...)

*Hang on! I found Simon's birthday pictures. It was a very low-key day. He had some friends over for a backyard water party with hot dogs and cupcakes, and then later that night we had Taco Salad for dinner with an alien cake (yeah, you can see from the pix that I didn't even change out of my painting clothes for dinner--he's the middle child. He'll already need therapy, right?)

Friday Flashback

Weight loss this week: 3

I'm back baby!

Have a great holiday...I'm off to play!