Prickly Plum

Got It!

2011-01-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

It's ours! We are the official owners of the house on Kaibab, despite some hiccups on the road to closing. Not only did the title company "misplace" our down payment (see below) and then, in the 11th hour, our lender refused to fund the load because the offer had expired (it hadn't.)

Nonetheless, we prevailed! We are now the proud owners of two houses. (Yikes!) I'm officially allowing myself to get excited. We spent today cleaning up. Kent cleared out the garages, hauled a trailer-full to the dump, and then power-washed them, the driveway, and the backyard patio. We're going to paint upstairs so all the shelves, nails, screws, drapes, hooks, etc. have to be removed and the holes all spackled up. The previous owner had a thing for hooks and nails. You know, the kind you screw into a wall to hang up a bathrobe, for example. I'd say that one, maybe two of these things in a bathroom or closet would make sense. However, there were 14 in the tiny little toilet room of the master bathroom alone. None of them match, and they were all hung at different heights, in one corner. It's just...odd. I entertained myself all day trying to imagine how a sane person ends up with so many nails and hooks on the walls. I failed. Decided she might have been a fetishist with a compulsion. I took 33 nails out of the the master bedroom walls -- and have no idea what in the world could have been hanging on them all. Not pictures, as some were spaced only four inches apart. Also, there were all different types and sizes. Oh! And the drapes were held up by these tiny 1/2 screws only; and the small, decorative wall shelves were held up by monstrous 3-inch long lag bolts. Anyhow, it was kind of nostalgic as it reminded me of our first house -- finding out that the original owners were overly fond of using bathroom caulking to fix...almost everything.

The best part was meeting our neighbors across the street -- a really friendly family with FIVE boys -- the oldest is Alex's age. YEA!! A covey of young girls made a few circuits on scooters and two other couples walking their dogs stopped by too -- it's a very friendly neighborhood. (The original owner seems to have been well-liked so I'm keeping my fetishist theories to myself.) It's so nice...and different...and I can get used to the friendliness.

Ghosts and Monsters are for Sissys

2011-01-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know what's truly terrifying? After having wired a gob of money (gob = our life savings) the title agency says they don't have it. They. Don't. Have. It. Well, we don't have it either because it's definitely not in our account anymore! So after a slew of increasingly desperate phone calls between Vanguard and the title agency (let's call them We-R-Nincompoops Title Agency), it turns out ("tee-hee!") the We-R-Nincompoops Title Agency gave us the wrong wire transfer instructions! But don't worry! Because they found our money. ("And a lot of other people's money too -- so it's a good thing we looked.")

I kid you not.

House, Holidays, Hoo-rah.

2011-01-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

In addition to the regular busy-ness of Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years, our offer on the Kaibab house was accepted! Remember that we made an offer on a short sale house last July/August? Well, we had been warned that it could take awhile, and it certainly did! There are two mortgages on this house and the first lender, the primary mortgage holder, agreed within the first couple of weeks; but the secondary lender was dragging their feet. The second lender said OK to our offer on the 27th, and that started our 30-day-to-close countdown. We've been in a flurry of home inspections (pool inspections), termite/bug inspections, loan paperwork, etc. We close on the 21st -- yikes! Our current plan is to make some repairs, scrub the house from stem to stern, and move in. We'll leave some strategic furniture in our current home to "stage" it; and put it on the market in March. Since we're resigned (and planning) on paying two mortgages for a while, we decided to give ourselves a break of one additional month to make the move instead of trying to list our home for sale while moving.

What sort of repairs? Nothing major but I do want the carpets cleaned before we move in, the kitchen and bathrooms scrubbed, and if we decide to re-paint (and geez, we need to make that call soon!) we need to paint. I had wanted to put in new carpeting but when it started to look like $20,000.00 was the starting point on new carpet I had to give up the idea. There is no door between the master bedroom and master bathroom and I want one put in. The seller has a curtain strung across the doorway; which is moldering a bit on top where it gets extra steamy from the shower. (In the floor plans, there is an option to put a door in. I wonder why they didn't spring for it?) Also, there is carpet in the bathroom which has to go. I think I'd rather walk around on bare, splintery sub-floor than a soggy carpet. (And again, why? Who does that? I've never ever heard of a reason to put carpet in the bathroom.)

Christmas was great. I wonder how many more of these toy-centric Christmas mornings we have left in us. It's so fun and so easy when they are this age but I can already see foreshadowing in Alex. Alex wanted an iPad, or (at least) a tablet computer. Poor deprived kid didn't get either. At 12 and a half he is kind of too old for Lego Star Wars, and not nearly old enough to appreciate clothes as gifts. We got him a bow and arrows instead. (There is a new city park about two miles away with an archery range.) Also computer games.

On the 22nd, Grandma Willa died after a long struggle with pneumonia and MRSA. I flew out to Sacramento on the morning of the 27th, meeting up with Jen and Cris, and we drove to Victorville for the funeral. The weather was kind to us, and the VA cemetery is really lovely there. Willa was such a kind woman and I can see how L.Sue inherited the best qualities of both her parents. I feel lucky to have had her in my life.

On the 28th we drove to Las Vegas to spend the rest of the week. A cold front moved through while we were there and it snowed! It didn't stick and it didn't last long, but how fun for us! We didn't get to drive up to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow, though, because that whole area was under an avalanche warning and they closed all the roads. The snowfall was a fun novelty but I'm really glad I don't live anywhere that gets regular snowfall, measurable by feet! Over Thanksgiving Richard had bought a small ATV, and he and Kent tinkered over the engine until it was running. Everyone had fun riding around on that, and feeding the chickens on the farm. Alex can't wait for Richard and Mark to buy a horse (I wonder when that will happen, exactly) but seemed really happy to ride on the new ATV instead. Alex has been asking me, "How do you make friends with a horse." I told him that horses aren't like dogs (who seem to genuinely like you) but that if you brought an apple or peppermint candy to a horse every time you come by, that horse will certainly perk right up when you walk in. When I was a freshman in high school, we often had to go collect our rides from the pasture before our lesson and my usual horse loved rolling around in the muckiest bog he could find, which meant I had to wade in there too to go fetch him. I learned quickly that if I brought a little treat, he'd jump right up and trot over to me the second he saw me. Really, an important life lesson learned.

The new year is upon us and I'm back to work and the kids are all back to school. Alex and Thomas made the honor roll, which is huge, and I am so proud of them and their hard work. Kate and Sam don't get letter grades yet but get grade "codes": AG (Above Grade Level), OG (On Grade Level), BG (Below Grade Level), P (Progressing), AC (Area of Concern), MS (Meets Standards) etc. That's only the academic areas. There's a whole passel of other codes for behavioral things. I think it's to confuse the parents.

With the New Year comes our wedding anniversary -- 20 years! How 'bout that? You know what we did to celebrate? Bought a house.

Sam is still getting speech therapy for his Auditory Processing Delay. I see improvement, slow and steady, but he is still behind where he should be for reading and writing. Blessedly, Cigna has finally coughed up payment for the past nine months of therapy. FDH is smart enough to have their clients pay them; and leaves the insurance battles to us. I have been wondering if Learning RX would help Sam, as it did for Alex. If so, when would I be able to cram that into our schedule (with Alex it was six days a week, an hour each day, for five months.) And, as we enter into the phase of home-buying that I like to call the "hemorrhaging money" phase, I wonder how we would afford it, especially while we are swinging two mortgages. The best thing would be for our current home to sell quickly. Very quickly!

Fa La La La La

2010-12-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Birthday, Birthday, Thanksgiving, Birthday – that’s November for us. Kent’s birthday was the 5th. He wanted to take everyone to go see the 3-D MegaMind movie. I asked, “Are you sure? Maybe you just want to take me to see a movie. One without Will Ferrell?” No luck, but it was fun with everyone anyhow. (Man, movies are expensive!)

Thomas’ 10th birthday was on the 11th – we joke that he has a binary birthday 11/11/00. He’s such a great kid; I can’t believe he was born a decade ago. Time just seems to gallop away. Time seems to go faster and faster the older I get…maybe it’s just be slowing down.

Thanksgiving was in Las Vegas with everyone – that is so nice to be able to all gather together. The Powells will be spending Christmas with Munn’s sisters and Kel will be too far gone in her pregnancy to travel – so this is the last hurrah for the year. The food was delicious as always and, since we had to drive up on Thanksgiving day, I didn’t cook anything. Luck! We wrestled our way through Black Friday; Target for a Lego toy marked down $36, and H&M for kids’ clothes. (H&M, by the way, reminds me strongly of the Top Shop, London, circa 1986. It was a strong feeling of deja vu.) On Saturday, Jen and I made pomegranate jelly – gallons of it – with her father-in-law’s fresh pomegranates. Wow. It’s very labor intensive to get pomegranate juice. The jelly-making part is a cinch, though, and the little jars of jelly glow like rubies. Jen says her sisters-in-law do this every Christmas. I think if I ever attempt it solo I will just buy the pomegranate juice and skip the whole slicing, juicing, sieving, straining and squeezing process.

We got to travel over the Hoover Dam bypass bridge and it’s so quick that it’s very anticlimactic. Normally we have 4 ½ hours to fret over how long we’ll be delayed at the dam…or as we like to say, “in the dam traffic.” Two hours was the record. (I remember it vividly because I was six months pregnant with the twins and I had to pee. Ugh.) Now – it’s just whoosh, and you’re over. They’ve built up walls on both sides so you can’t see the 900 foot drop to the water (which is probably a very good thing) and then you’re in Boulder City. Coming back, however, we were backed up five miles for absolutely no discernable reason at all. That was maddening because I have been fantasizing about being able to sleep in ‘til, oh say seven AM, on our travel days back to Arizona but it looks like we’ll still have to wake up at o’dark thirty to beat the dam traffic.

Lehi’s birthday rounds out the month – 83 – and I have to say that he makes it look good. I hope I am as healthy as he is in 40 years. He credits napping for his longevity and good health and I think that’s at least part of it. Both his father and brother died in their mid-fifties of massive heart attacks, so he’s grateful for all his “extra” years.

Christmas, now. I pulled out the Advent calendars that Dad left for the kids and was patting myself on the back for remembering them ON the first, and not a week later. Shopping is…mostly done. I have about a hundred things for Kaitlyn and just a handful for Alex. Every year it seems that there is one kid that is “easy” and one kid that is a puzzler. Alex, at 12, is at the stage where cheap, easy toys are too young and what he really would like (a tablet computer or a laptop or an iPhone) is laughably out of budget. (Hey, me too kiddo.) An iPhone. HA. Then we can have two people who have super-cool smart phones on which they cannot make, or receive, a phone call. I told Kent we would have been better off duct-taping an iTouch to the back of his old T-Mobile un-smart phone. But I digress. Anyhoo, I need to make a gift audit of the stuff I’ve been buying and just stuffing into the back of the closet.

This Saturday I bought tickets for us to go to the Phoenix Symphony. They do a family series of classic and contemporary Christmas music, coupled with a bunch of “craft activities” in the lobby the preceding hour. We’ve never done it before but I thought it sounded fun, especially for Alex who has been playing in a band for the past two and a half years. I hope it’s fun because the kids are missing their second-to-last soccer games for it!

We still have to do the Christmas lights, and buy and decorate the tree – I’m not sure when these things will happen! I know it’s only the beginning of the month but we are already so crammed…. It must be easy to be Hindu. I love Christmas and isn’t it a shame when the things you love to do turn into chores? We are all off starting the 17th and then, when work and school and book reports and salt-dough relief maps of Arizona, etc. ad nauseum are all done….THEN it will be fun.

Harry Potter, a witch, a storm trooper, and a pirate all walk into a bar...

2010-10-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is from last night, before our ward "Trunk or Treat" party, which was lots of fun. Kent made 10 gallons of home-made root beer, which is now requested at almost every ward function. Everyone decorates the trunk of their car, and the kids go around the parking lot trick-or-treating. Tons of candy! Washed down by quarts of root beer! I can almost hear our dentist deciding that this year would be a good year to buy a boat.

Thomas pulled out the storm trooper costume that he had worn last year and we discovered six inches of leg and arm showing -- I can't believe he's grown that much in a year. I had to bribe Sam with silly bands to swap his pirate costume for the storm trooper. Then, as the evening was winding down, Sam had an asthma attack, his first in over a year, and so I had to take him home a bit early. Not that you could tell by the amount of candy he had collected by sheer poundage.

(And speaking of asthma -- his is non-existent...until it flares up and then is bad. Coughing, shortness of breath, nostril flaring, and retractions along his ribcage -- classic signs of respiratory distress. I was debating calling an ambulance vs. driving to the hospital vs. urgent care but he improved noticeably during the second ampule of albuterol so I'm glad I didn't blow my wad early and spend the night in the ER. I am wondering if it is the flu shot, which he got on Thursday. His arm is a mess -- red, swollen, hot to the touch from the injection site to just above his elbow. Ah Sam...he will keep me on my toes!) (He's fine today -- for which I am very grateful.)

And this is Disneyland -- soggy and cold (well, for us Arizonans, a high of 57 degrees is pretty cold, especially with all the wet.) NONETHELESS, a huge improvement from two years ago when it was sticky and 103. That was grim.
Disney must have made a huge profit that week on cheapo plastic ponchos. We paid $6.50 for each one. The dollar store was sold out! Target only had two left. It was good in that we rode Splash Mountain and the Ragin' Rapids without getting any more wet and it really kept the crowds down, unless you wanted to eat a meal inside or buy anything. Pirates of the Caribbean won my undying love for being heated. (I had no idea it would be heated...I already loved it for being air-conditioned when it was 103.)

We ate at Goofy's Kitchen, which was fun -- lots of characters walked around, including a few bonus princesses who are, let me tell you, decked out to the nines. Wow. I know what my dream job would have been back in high school...or even college. Now I suppose I'd have to be Mrs. Potts or the Fairy Godmother or or Maleficent (okay, probably not Maleficent -- I don't have the evil. Or the cheekbones.)

And this is LegoLand. The original picture is properly horizontal so beats the heck out of me why Blogger insisted (three times I tried this) on turning it on its side. Then I couldn't figure out anyway to rotate it once it was uploaded. Just goes to show that I have a real knack for making computers not work right, just by proximity. (If I hear "that's weird" one more time from the IT guys at work, I will scream. Kent's already learned not to say this to me, he just touches it and it works. Should have made him upload this one.) Ah well, everyone tilt their heads to the side.

Happy Halloween!

So so so so so lucky.

2010-09-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Kent was rear-ended in a three-car accident on the 202 freeway on Wednesday. He walked away without so much as a scratch. Here's our Pilot: And here's the Corvette who rear-ended him.

I'm not kidding!

The Corvette driver was air evac'd to the hospital and the 2nd driver (also in a Honda, also on his way to work) was taken away in a neck brace to the hospital. Kent, as I said, NOT A SCRATCH. If you look at the Pilot, even the tail lights are unscathed.

As for me, I'm doing fine. Surgery went really well. Dr. H. didn't have to make the exterior incision (yea!) and I think that helped with recovery. There was no bruising at all, a bit of swelling, and mostly just a feeling of stuffiness. It was like having a yucky head cold. The worst part was throwing up after the surgery (anesthesia, and swallowing blood on an empty stomach) and then having to sleep in the recliner for the next three nights. (I was to remain with my head elevated, and sleep in such a way that I could not possibly roll over onto my nose.) My recliner is a comfy chair, and a lousy bed. The first night I woke frequently; each time with either a song by Lady Gaga or Beyonce in my head. I blame that on the drugs.

My nose is still a bit tender and it is sore if I laugh too hard or (weirdly) yawn too widely. The inside, where the surgery took place, is still scabby but the outside is totally normal looking. I had arranged to take two weeks off of work (per doctor's orders) but I felt like I could have, in a pinch, gone back to work that following Monday. Not that I would have wanted to!

Honestly, between Kent's accident and my surgery/recovery, I feel so very, very lucky! (Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.)

As for other news -- I'm back to work now, and our beginning-of-the-year training is almost done. I have only one more elementary school to go and my own training at the Phoenix Art Museum has started. (Cezanne has an exhibit there now.) I love this! It's every Tuesday through September. As for the house -- there's no new info on our house. However, our Real Estate agent says it'll take two or three months.

Trampoline, meet Tree. Tree -- Trampoline.

2010-08-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting this picture of our poor, decrepit trampoline. I wasn't kidding when I said the wind picked it up and hurled it into the tree -- this is AFTER Kent pulled it back down to the ground. Yesh. That has been our most dramatic monsoon storm so far...but others have been pretty close. Arizona: we're 90% hot and sunny; 9% warm and sunny; 1% insane, trampoline-throwing winds and floods.

“And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” *

2010-08-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Alex's 12th birthday. We did the typical birthday things: cake and ice cream, presents, parental indulgences with chores and bedtime. The best gift that Alex received was the priesthood. I've been feeling very tender-hearted about it for weeks.

In our church, boys who are worthy may receive the Aaronic Priesthood beginning at age 12. Then these boys (ages 12–17) receive many opportunities to participate in sacred priesthood ordinances and give service. As they do this, they act in the name of the Lord to help others receive the blessings of the gospel.

Alex wanted a suit so when he had his interview with our bishop (who is like a minister or pastor) so he would look "respectful." It still makes me a little teary-eyed to think that this great kid is mine. (I bought him a suit, of course.) He looked so solemn as he went to his interview. Right after church he was confirmed to the Aaronic priesthood by Kent, and ordained to the office of Deacon. It was such a moving experience. Then, right after that, they set him apart to be the Deacon's Quorum 2nd counsellor, then handed him a fistful of blue Fast Offering envelopes and sent him on his way.

This Sunday Alex got to pass the Sacrament for the first time. I admit that I was nervous but he was calm, reverent, he didn't fumble the trays, and didn't forget anyone. (You know they don't train these kids or have them do a few practice runs?) It was the most meaningful sacrament I've partaken of in ... I don't remember when.

As for other things, Alex did start Junior High on July 26th. He's finished two weeks and so far I'm not dead yet. (I hated Junior High with the white-hot passion of a thousand suns; a little fact I'm trying not to let Alex know. No need to know that the cretins you meet and the things that happen during Junior High can still haunt you three decades later....) Alex actually seems to be doing fine. He's settled into his classes, made friends with this computer teacher and his band teacher (of course) and last week bought a locker. Alex's locker sticks a bit and when he told me I remembered those re-curring nightmares I had (and still have sometimes): I'm in high school and late for a class. I can't remember which class I'm supposed to go to next, but am positive there is a huge test which I didn't study for. Which will be given in a language I don't know, possibly Urdu. Then the locker combination doesn't work and I can't get my books and then I realize that I don't remember my locker combination! Then I look down and realize I'm naked.

My next big news is I'm having out-patient surgery this Friday. (Yes, Friday the 13th. I'm ignoring that.) I have a perforated septum, which my only prior knowledge of is that they usually occurred in coked-up starlets, circa Los Angeles, 1985. (NO, mine was not caused by a serious cocaine habit.) In a perverse way, it would be easier for me if it was because I'd feel like a perforated septum was the natural consequences for my bad actions. Instead I'm just feeling like, "Oh for Pete's sake, why me?" And of all the body parts I have, why my nose? It's just fine. Why can't I develop a perforated abdomen that requires a medically-necessary tummy tuck. Maybe some lipo too.

Anyhow my "perf" needs to be fixed surgically, since I'm not a good candidate for a prosthetic button. A perforated septum is fairly uncommon but never fear! if there's an unusual malady related to Ear, Nose, and Throat surgery, it seems that I will develop it. (Remember the dermoid cyst that caused the recurring "tongue plague" of the early 90s? I sure do.) I did a lot of research, which made me anxious and faintly woozy, involving ominous terms such as "mid-face de-gloving technique" and "inferior meatus mucoperichondrium" and now I know more about nose anatomy and septal perforations than anyone who is not an ENT should know. I have picked out a surgeon who is Board Certified in Ear Nose and Throat surgery...AND Board Certified in Plastic Surgery. He's operated on about 30 to 50 septal "perfs" during his 10 year career, and does four to five rhinoplasties a week. I asked about his complication rate with this surgery and he said he only had one where the graft failed. I've taken two weeks off of work, on his advice, and let me tell you what a pain that was. I have enough accrued sick time for one week, and was trying to find out how to do Leave Without Pay for the second week. Turns out I have to download and fill out a form, get my boss to sign it, get a note from my doctor, and submit it for approval. I don't get it. It's not like I'm asking for extra pay for the surgery, I'm trying to figure out how to NOT get paid. Also, if my boss is fine with it, why couldn't I take two weeks off and go on a cruise? What business is it of HR? Still, I was glad that the note that Dr. Hobgood's assistant faxed over was written on his "Valley ENT" letterhead and not his " Dr. Hobgood, Plastic Surgeon letterhead. ("Yes, I need two weeks off. I'm having some work done.") Overall I have to say I'm not remotely excited about the surgery or recovery, but I am feeling as positive as possible about my decision and my surgeon.

Our other big news is that we've made an offer on a short sale home here in Chandler. Since houses and mortgages are dirt-cheap, I've been looking at homes for at least two years, trying to find a house that has a walk-in pantry instead of one double-cabinet, a laundry room big enough to actually do laundry in, and a pool. Since we're not under the gun to move, either, it really had to be perfect because nothing else would induce me to handle every single thing that I own on this earth. Truly, my "looking for a house" kind of devolved into a hobby status rather than an actual hunt. Then this house came up on the market. (The Kaibab address.) Kent looked at it first, then I did the next day after he said I probably should. It's a Shea home, built a few years ago, but they're still making the floor plan which you can look over here. It has a four-car garage, a salt water pool with a jacuzzi and rock waterfall, it's a third of an acre lot, five bedrooms, etc. etc. etc. Kent and I kind of looked at each other and realized...we're going to have to move every single thing we own! We low-balled our proposition, but it was accepted by their Real Estate agent. The next step, which may take two months, is for the bank to approve our offer, or counter it. At that point, we can actually offer to buy the house, and get the ball rolling, or decline, no harm, no foul. I'm cautiously excited.

Lastly, we had a whopper of a storm here last week and our trampoline decided to be a hang-glider. Last Thursday, the heavens opened; I couldn't see 50 feet in front of my van while I was trying to pick up the kids from their elementary school. Lightening struck the high school directly behind our house and it sounded just like a cannon went off in my driveway. When I got back with the kids we stared goggle-eyed at our trampoline -- in our tree. There must have been a heck of a microburst because our trampoline had been hurled at least 30 feet across the lawn...and 30 feet up into our cottonwood tree. It wrapped around, slid down, taking several largish branches with it, before stopping about four feet from the ground. I'm sorry I missed it but so glad that the tree caught it. Otherwise I think it would have ended up in our neighbor's pool. Kent spent yesterday disassembling the poor, bent-up, buckled thing. It was really at the end of it's life though -- rusted through in spots that rest on the grass, mat all torn up underneath, and the kids couldn't jump on it without getting huge smeary black smudges all over their feet. One less thing to move, right?

Okay, I've spent too much time on the computer today so I'll wrap up and start making dinner. If you are inclined, I'd appreciate your prayers for me this Friday. I hate surgery.

*Hebrews 5:4

Aaaaand we're done.

2010-07-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

What? What? How did the summer end so quickly? It's still 116 degrees here, hot and soupy, and we just wrestled our pool up, and yet I have to go back to work on Thursday and the kids are back in school on the 26th.

Over the Fourth we drove up north to Panguitch again. It was cooler this year (niiice) and just as fun. We did the Main Street ("Candy") Parade, then went to the land and rafted down the river, rode an ATV, cooked hot dogs and s'mores, and lazed about. Mark and Richard brought guns 'n' ammo so I got to shoot a .22 rifle (which I've done before) and a 30-30 (which I hadn't done before.) What's funny is that I remembered shooting my dad's .22 -- you can sight your target, pull the trigger, see the cartridge eject and see if you hit the target or not. With the 30-30, you can sight your target, pull the trigger, and then see the sky as the recoil shoves the muzzle up. Then you squint into the distance, wonder if that was the bullet that knocked over the paper plate target or a gust of wind, and wonder if you need to lower your site, raise it, or if you really are Dead-Eye Dick. All things considered, I've decided I prefer the .22! (Unless it's for home security, in which case I think a shotgun is superior. I mean, if zombies are crashing in the door, aiming is over-rated.)

As I mentioned, we have an above-ground pool which I purchased three summers ago on a deep-deep clearance rack for practically nothing. It's huge -- about 18' in diameter, four feet deep, about 9000 gallons. The kids love it but it is a sweaty, involved job to haul it out, prepare a clean, level surface, assemble it, and fill it. So yesterday, with a extreme heat watch in effect, we did just that, wishing the whole time that it was already up and filled so we could cool off. Tonight after dinner will be our inaugural swim. I'll bet it's already warm as bathwater.

Before I forget (AGAIN) if you are a fan of Paula's Choice skin care, if you click on the icon to the right, it will take you to her website and I will get a small commission. So if you're inclined... (ahem.) If you've never heard of Paula's Choice, you might enjoy giving her a whirl. I've been using her skincare line for about a decade now. It's very sensibly priced (comparable to drugstore brands) and effective with no added fragrance. She seems to be phasing out her cosmetics, which is just as well. I hate buying makeup online. Oh -- except her "Browlistic Precision Long-Wearing Brow Color" which is completely awesome and I unreservedly love it. Mostly I use her skin care line: I use her SPF 15 mattifying daily sunscreen moisturizer (I don't like any of the other choices.) I use her AHA and her BHA exfoliaters (alternately) and her antioxidant serum, and her lip balm nightly. Her facial cleanser is excellent too.

Alex and Thomas returned from their trip to Palo Alto to visit with Heather and family. At the end of May, Heather called me and asked if I'd send them to visit her and play with her kids. No way, was my immediate reaction. (I was so swamped the end of May.) I told her I'd have to think about it. I have to say, the idea of sending them out there, by themselves, stressed me out no end and "no way" remained my preferred answer. However, it was one of those times when the Parent in me just had to trump the Mother in me. I knew they'd have a great time, and see lots of very cool things, and eat lots of very cool things, and get to play with their cousins. Nonetheless, sending them to Palo Alto was so far out of my comfort zone I could hardly stand it. Ooooh, the anxious days and sleepless nights. I'm SO GLAD it's over and done with. Now I can move on to my next anxiety attack which is...

JUNIOR HIGH! Ack! (How does this happen?) Alex will be in 7th grade this year and on Thursday we get to go to the open house where he picks up his class schedule, finds his locker, checks out the bus route, etc. My own memories of junior high are so vivid that I'm nauseous. Alex says he's worried ("a little") about homework. (Ha!) "Is there a lot of homework in junior high?" I just laughed and told him that I can honestly say I don't remember doing any homework at all in junior high. Of course I'm sure that I did -- it's just that memories of being teased, ostracized, and generally feeling pointless have overshadowed everything else. (And NO, I'm not sharing that with Alex. The last thing he needs to hear is that memories laid down in junior high can haunt you decades later.....) Bleck. I hate junior high.

My job starts back up on Thursday and I'm really sad to loose the summer. Hopefully once I'm there I get right back in the swing of it. Right?

Which brings me to the reason that I got the job in the first place -- we finally got the test results on Sam -- he improved, slightly but measurably, in all areas. Foundations Development House recommends further therapy, but at reduced rates and only two times a week instead of three. I said OK and that starts Thursday too.

Update on 123 Fit: the short of the story is I think I'm screwed. I did Google and there is no on-line “headquarters” to contact, just other franchises in other states. I found a street address in Denver, CO., on one of those on-line phone books, that seemed to be their corporate headquarters. I sent them a certified letter which came back to me as undeliverable. Then I looked up the manager on Facebook, and sent her a really nice note, something along the lines of: "Oh, too bad. Can you help me find the people to contact to get a refund on my contract?" She wrote back right away saying, Yes, it was a big surprise, she didn’t know the financials were so bad. "Don’t worry, my mom (the owner) is going through the members list and contacting everyone. We won’t leave you hanging.” That was the last I heard from her. I tried to send her another note last week (via Facebook) but she’s not responded at all. Aunt April found that 123 Fit is owned by Diversified Health and Fitness (thanks!) but when I called them, Diversified Health and Fitness denies all knowledge of that particular club. (Turns out that a year ago, they purchased the 123 Fit franchise but not every shop and the one I go to was not picked up by them. OF COURSE.) My next move is to look up the contact person for that particular club on the Arizona Corporation Commission's website and see if I can find the owner's address to send a letter too. Other than that...I can't imagine what stone I've left unturned. It’s not like a ton of money, in the grand scheme of things, but too much for me to be happy just writing off. On the other hand, I've already spent a bunch of my (summer off) time on it and I'm hesitant to make this my new mission in life.

And lastly, I think it might be time to get a new cell phone. Kent has an iphone (with AT&T of course) and I have a pre-historic flip phone with Sprint. I feel like we know both of those providers pretty well.... Anyone love or hate their phone? Provider?

Swimming, Sunning, and Sweating

2010-06-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

Kent's got all the kids in the front room, showing them Hook. Remember that one? About 20 minutes in, I remembered I don't like it so I've crept onto the computer to catch up on emails and my new summer's resolution #2 -- keep abreast of the Blog.

The summer is flying by alarmingly fast. Why IS that? How unfair. The kids' swimming lessons are going well and I'm pleased with the 9AM time slot I got for them this year. It's still pleasant at that time, a bit breezy sometimes, not too scorching. ("Pleasant" is a relative term, I know -- I mean "under 100.") I'm getting a lot of reading done on my "to read" list and that's always so deliciously satisfying.

Thomas gave a talk in Primary today, and Sam said the scripture. In practice Thomas kept stumbling over, of all things, George A. Smith's name. "It's your name! Say 'Smith'!" It was funny. This morning he did just fine. I practiced and practiced with Sam, and he did great too. (Neither Thomas nor Sam can say "Moroni." It's always "Ramoni," which should be flattering to their cousin Ramona, I've decided.)

Kent and Alex had a Boy Scout camp out Friday to Saturday. They really had to search for a campsite though. Apparently the new Scout leader didn't reserve one, and they were all full. After an hour of stopping at each campsite on the road, one Park Ranger took pity on them. "Just drive up the road and camp anywhere up there." They ended up in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, at a spot where they could actually build a fire. (Most fires, (even BBQ pit fires lit with charcoal) are forbidden in our forests here in the summer months. Everything is too dry and wildfires spark up at practically nothing.) It was a full-moon and the weather was cool and balmy. Astonishingly enough, Kent had cell-phone service up there. His iphone drops calls if a moth flutters by, but up in the middle of nowhere -- no problem. I told him it was the increased elevation -- a few thousand feet closer to AT&T's communications satellites.

The camp out conflicted with an Intel GPTW (I don't know what that stands for either) Summer Event at Amazing Jake's. I took the kids, plus a friend of Thomas' there on Friday night. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet, movies, bumper cars, a climbing wall, miniature golf, bowling, mini car racing, several rides, and a bajillion arcade games. Intel had rented out the place and everything was free. I got there pretty early with the kids and I'm glad I did because by 8:30 that night, it was packed. It was busy when we arrived at 4:30! We were ready to call it a night by 8:30 -- okay, maybe just me. An informal poll of the kids revealed that the "Elephant" ride was their favorite. It's like the Rocket Ride at Disneyland, except on the ground, and after they whirl you around 100 times forward, they do it all over again in reverse. Bleah. I didn't even try the Teacups, but did do the Bumper Cars, the Frog Hopper, and folded myself into the tiny railroad caboose.

Saturday night my friend had a birthday party for her daughter, who turned five. Kent and Alex got back in town in time so I took Alex and the kids with me while Kent unpacked. I have to say that it was the act of a true friend -- I didn't tell her that I don't even like to sit outside in the heat for my own children's birthday parties. But it was cute with a lot of little kids. It was odd to see my "littles" were the biggest ones there, by far.

Anyhow, two late nights in a row = early bed tonight. Woo-hoo!

Blogger's Ennui

2010-06-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Or just a general feeling of "blah." Part of it is burn-out -- the last two weeks of May and the first one of June was brutal. So many school projects, work projects (plus closing up shop for the Summer Intersession), band concerts, Fathers and Sons Camp out, soccer finals, First Grade Musical, and Cub Scout Day Camp smashed into a mere 21 days. Plus the added soupcoun of an emergency appendectomy (is there any other kind? It's not like you schedule these things like liposuction, right?) and an attack of gout made "one day at a time" a survival mantra more than a motto. (Also handy: "Reach for the Floor," "Shorten Your Stride," and my own, "Excellence is for Obsessive-Compulsives."

It's over though, and DONE! Tra-la! Look -- I even spiffed up the place. Now we're in summer-mode, full time. This means no school, no work, er...okay, that's it. The kids are signed up for swim lessons again (I do this every summer as I consider competence in the water one of those important life skills like driving and riding a two-wheel bike) but I deliberately did not sign them up for anything else remotely enriching. No Kraft Kamp. No magic class. No Sign Language. No pottery. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I've decided that it is not only acceptable, but positively beneficial to sit around the house doing nothing. Okay, fine. Not "nothing" completely, because there's still piano lessons, Cubs Scouts, and Boy Scouts...but NOTHING ELSE.

Yes, Alert Reader, I did mention gout and an appendectomy, both Kent. One morning Kent's elbow was sore, and warm to the touch. Over the next few days it swelled up until it looked as if an orange half was shoved under the skin. Red, painful tot he touch, and hot. I would have sworn it was some sort of ghastly insect bite except the skin was uniformly smooth and unmarked.... weird. Finally even Kent decided he had to go see some sort of medical professional (after I made dark imprecations about sepsis and watching out for expanding red streaks moving up the arm towards the heart) and the diagnosis came back...gout. Gout! Like Kent's a member of British royalty, circa 1750. Doctor prescribed some pills and eventually everything went back to normal. Richard thought gout was unlikely (medical expertise aside, I'm sure Richard noticed that Kent isn't a character in a 19th century novel) and says he thinks Kent pinched the synovial membrane and the fluid leaked out, and built up. Honestly, I think that's what happened too. But "gout" is more interesting to say. It's all back to normal now, except it kind of squeaks when you roll the skin over that joint. Not audibly, but "squeak" in a tactile sort of way. Weird.

Once the excitement of the elbow thing had faded, Kent's appendix decided to liven things up. We caught it early and the appendectomy was routine. Kent, being an engineer to the core, asked the surgeon to take lots of pictures so we now have photos of Kent's innards. (I know -- weird.) The nice thing is that it was all endoscopic. The bad thing is that there's still a bit of recovery time.... Kent says he now has real empathy for woman who have Cesareans. Other than three pinkish-purplish scars (and no appendix) all's back to normal.

I'm waiting STILL for the results of Sam's exit testing from Foundations Developmental House. (You recall he was doing the LiPS program and the Listening Ear program.) His first exit test was in May the results were invalid because of a short in the earphone jack on the headset that we used to test Sam. He needs to be retested.

Also discouraging and irritating, is that the gym I joined two + years ago went belly-up. It's called 123 Fit and it's a franchise chain thing a lot like Curves except you can adjust the weights on each machine. (Weights, not resistance.) I liked it, I liked the owner and I liked her adult daughter who managed the place. I liked the gregarious septuagenarian who worked there in the mornings. He was a good conversationalist, even when I was out of breath. I liked how, by the time I got there, there would only be four or five other people there. I liked how they let me pick the music I wanted to hear as I sweated around the circuit. Two and a half years ago I signed up before they even opened up their storefront, and, nine months ago when they had a super-special deal, I signed a dirt-cheap three-year contract. Ha. Dummy.

Now, I haven't worked out since December, when I started working. They open at 6AM, but that's not early enough for me to get back home in time to get ready in time, so I can get all the kids ready in time, etc. They're open until 7PM, but after work/school is homework, piano, dinner, clean-up, etc. and I'm just too wiped out to think about pulling on my sneakers at 6:30 at night. Anyhow, my last day of work for the school year was Friday the 4th and Monday the 7th, with a new resolution to find a way to wedge exercise back into my life (and what better time to get back into the habit than a work-free summer) I went to the 123 Fit place and...they're gone. There's no equipment, the place is dark and locked up, and there's a "For Lease" sign on the door. I stared kind of blankly and then wandered next door to the hair salon that seems to cater to gentil white haired ladies and asked if they knew what happened. "Did a midnight runner, they did," says the stylist who came to deliver the gossip. "About three weeks ago I was locking up for the night and went out back to make sure the door was locked and I noticed that they're door was ajar so I went to make sure it wasn't being robbed or something and they're all in there, tossing stuff into the back of a truck as fast as they can."

Argh. I still had 27 months on my pre-paid three-year contract! In my defense, I did read the fine print on the back of my contract when I signed it. It says clearly that in event of a franchise closure, 123 Fit will refund any prepaid annual payment. So, so far, so good. Except when I went back to find that clause, I see that there is, NO WHERE ON IT, a phone number or address or anything to contact headquarters to get that refund. There is a street address and phone number for the 123 Fit club that I joined -- that is closed. The phone number for which rings and rings and rings with no answer. I suppose that I am to wait for my refund check in the mail. Ha.

Hmm. Upon re-reading, I sound bitter. I suppose I am, a bit. But it's not like there is no good news. It is summer, after all, and I am able to do one of my favorite things (no, not "nothing" Smarty-Pants.) Read by the pool while the kids are swimming. Okay, okay...also "nothing." My summer project is to try to catch up on the kids' baby books. I'm up to 2004. Kent bought me a Cricut machine as an early birthday gift. (Also because he's a tiny bit besotted by the engineering -- it's a plotter. And it was on sale at a Costco roadshow.)

And, apropos of nothing, my annual review was the last week of work and my boss says I'm doing an excellent job. In fact, it two pages of the most ego-boosting and complementary and supportive job reviews I've ever had. My boss (Frank) is the best. Boss. EVER! Sadly, CUSD is moving Art Masterpiece out from under his purview (Community Relations) and over to Curriculum and Development. To be fair, it is a good move, because our little two-man, part-time office is how CUSD delivers it's state-mandated art curriculum to all 29 elementary schools and this move will give us more muscle...but still -- who's going to tell me I'm awesome now?

Well, that's the last two months in a nutshell. I should find some great photos to include -- at least of the twins' First Grade Musical -- but then I wouldn't be doing nothing.

Easter Earthquake

2010-04-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Did you feel it? About 3:30 in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, Kent hollered for me “There’s an earthquake!” he yells. “Where?” I asked, thinking, oh, poor Chile. Or Haiti. “Here! Can’t you feel that?” And as soon as I stood still, both feet planted on the floor, and my hands on the doorframes, I could. Long, slow, sideways shifts, as if our house decided it wanted to drive down the street, instead of decently sitting still. The blinds in the window chattered back and forth, and we and the kids ran excitedly from room to room, pointing at swaying chandeliers, shouting, “Hey, lookit that!”

To my chagrin, we ignored every earthquake safety rule. What better time to teach the kids about earthquake safety than during an actual earthquake? Even the simplest, which would be – go outside! (You know that most earthquake safety experts say that you shouldn’t stand in doorways, right?) In our defense, it was such a gentle, odd sensation that we weren’t scared at all. Not so much as a picture rattled on the walls. It felt like waves of dizziness more than anything else – vertigo perhaps. And then – nothing more! (We didn’t feel any of the aftershocks.) The Internet claimed it was an earthquake in LA, which worried me a lot. If we could, in Chandler, feel an earthquake in LA – geezo – was LA still attached to the continental plate or had it snapped off and sunk into the Pacific? After a few hours, the reporters finally got their stories straight. The earthquake was a 6.9, in northwest Mexico near the US border, about equidistant between San Diego and Phoenix.

My only other experience with earthquakes was a decade ago when we first moved here to Chandler and earthquake woke me up in the middle of the night. By the time I got Kent awake, it had stopped and he looked at me fairly suspiciously, as if it was an elaborate ploy I had concocted to make him loose sleep. It was a very mild quake too – the epicenter somewhere in the middle of Death Valley – that merely shook the bed, rattled the blinds, and caused the ball chain on the ceiling fan to clink gently against the glass shades. The next morning, the news had word of the earthquake as well as video of the water in people’s backyard pools sloshing about and I was vindicated.

It will definitely be an Easter that the kids will remember. Thomas claimed he couldn’t feel anything, even while the ground shifted under his feet. In hindsight, I should have had him run outside and lay on the grass. Sam was worried about tornados because, for some reason, he thinks tornados and earthquakes are in cahoots somehow. Also, if our house got “broken,” who would be call? The police? Can't you just picture the police trying to arrest a tornado?

The weather here is gorgeous lately and, history tells me, for just a brief few days before the “on” switch for heat is clicked upward. The mornings are cool, the afternoons are warm, and the air is redolent with the smell of orange blossoms. It’s perfect weather for opening all the windows and giving the house a good airing out before it’s shut up tight again for the next seven months-worth of air-conditioning. Too bad that my allergies are killing me. It’s been a wet winter (still too dry to get us out of a ten-year-drought) but wetter than the past several winters put together. That means that everything is blooming like crazy, and I seem to have developed allergies to it all. I think I’ve finally got a winning combination of Astelin and Clairitin.

I'll Bet Liz Taylor Has a Tiara

2010-02-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

This new job is helping clarify matters of physics, specifically theories about the time/space continuum. Specifically, I realize how few hours 24 really is. Instead of using the kids' school time to run errands and manage the house, I now am cramming all that into the afternoon hours. When Thomas goes to bed at 8:15, I am ready too.

The blog suffers. You poor, poor people who depend on it. All three of you....

Well, it's certainly been eventful. Thomas broke his arm (sort of) at a birthday party at Makutu's Island of Death* (*not it's real name) and Kent and he spent all night at Urgent Care and then Cardon Children's ER, just to be told that a) it's not really broken, and b) it's not even dislocated. In our defense, Thomas was in a lot of pain, his arm was swollen to twice it's circumference, and the doctors at Urgent Care were certain it was broken until X-rays said otherwise, and then the doctors at the ER (where Urgent Care sent us) were certain it was dislocated until 4AM, when they decided it was not....

A bad sprain, however, caused Thomas more pain than his broken arm did when he was two. Today Thomas is out of the splint and can use the arm again which is good because this Friday is the kids' Piano Recital.

Last weekend Dad was in town as well as the Tingeys. They all got to watch Thomas compete in the Pinewood Derby. He won 2nd place for our den, but in the Stake competition, won first place overall. The secret seems to be a graphite lube called “Pinewood Pro.” So…any Cub families out there – Pinewood Pro.

April asked how Kent feels about his decision to buy a Honda instead of a Toyota and let me tell you, Kent is THRILLED. It seems especially prescient since just a few weeks later, Toyota has recalled nearly every vehicle they make. Not their Sienna. Or at least, not yet.

Alex auditioned for, and won (is that the right word?) a spot on the 6th grade Honors Band. He plays the Baritone, for those of you who don't know, and the 6th grade Honors Band is made up of kids from all the elementary schools in the district (29.) They rehearse for four weeks, have one recital, and then are finished. Alex is the best Baritone player in his school, which sounds amazing, but in truth he is the only Baritone player in the school, at least in 6th grade. However, the audition included lots of Baritone players from other elementary schools, so I'm really proud of him. His band teacher always tells me, when we see each other, how he appreciates Alex because he takes Band so seriously. Apparently, the other kids in the brass section are goof-offs, so Alex stands out.

In the kids' Progress Reports, Sam's teacher says that he is making noticeable improvement in his reading, so it's not just my imagination. Hallelujah! Also, it seems that after stalling for two months, our medical insurance may cover a portion of the cost of the speech therapy. Double hallelujah! It's almost irritating how paltry of an amount they are going to cover, but I keep reminding myself it's better than nothing, which is what I thought would happen.

My job is going swimmingly. I continue to love the Basha Art Gallery tours -- we did 12 this week, which was a busy week for us, but I got to meet Eddie Basha ("Please, it's Eddie.”) He's a bit of a local celebrity and a truly nice man. We talked about Tom Lovell. The gallery has some framed sketches of Tom Lovell and next to them are the framed, finished paintings. I love to point them out to the kids and show how artists do "rough drafts" too. In one of them, there is a dog in the sketch, which is missing from the painting. Turns out that Eddie, a friend of Tom Lovell, knows why. So now I do too. ("Too distracting.")

Two weekends ago I got a chance to fly to San Francisco to meet up with the sisters and Dad and L.Sue. Kel and Heather both live there, Cris came in from Salt Lake, and Jen flew in from Las Vegas, and Dad and L.Sue were in town for a Petersen wedding at Oakland. It was so quick! In on Friday night and out again on Sunday morning, but so nice. The weather was fabulous, sunny, slightly breezy, slightly cloudy, but only a light misty rain one morning. We all went to the Legion of Honor to see the Cartier Jewel exhibit. It is Cartier's jewelry from the 1920's and 30's, with a few pieces from the Belle Époque, and extending a bit into the 1950s (Princess Grace, and Elizabeth Taylor.) I love jewelry and first I was all agog at the huge, glittery tiaras and chokers, and bracelets, and whatnot. But, interestingly, by the end I was thinking things like, "Hmm. That tiara would feed Haiti for a year." And even more interestingly, "Hmm. For multi-million dollar piece of jewelry, studded with flawless diamonds and emeralds, it sure is tacky." Funny, huh? Good thing I'm not obscenely wealthy. Obviously I don't have the refinement and taste for it. Although, if I had a diamond studded tiara, I would wear it every day.

Actual Tornado Warning

2010-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

California, that glory hog, got all the press last week what with their houses toppling down mud-covered hillsides, while we here in Arizona hardly made the Today show. We got TONS of rain last week. It was wonderful! At least 3 inches and considering that we are lucky to get 7 inches all year long, pretty astonishing. All the low-lying land turned into lakes. At the kids' school their soccer field had ducks swimming in it on Wednesday. On Thursday there were winds so strong they closed Sky Harbor, and knocked a bunch of trees down here in the neighborhood.

That was the night that we went to Bogle Jr. High for orientation. Alex, you see, will be going to Jr. High next year. Let me repeat: ALEX will be going to JUNIOR HIGH next YEAR. I am freaking out, but trying to be calm about it. I'm not really succeeding either. Jr. High was the worst two years, school-wise, in my life. I hated Jr. High. Hated it. Hated every stinkin' minute of it. I swear I walked into the PE locker room and had flashbacks. Naturally, I haven't shared this with Alex, and am putting on my best game face, but I feel so much like I am taking my sweet boy, dipping him in Gravy Train, and tossing him to a rabid pack of wolves. What kind of mother does that? (A bad mother, that's who.) If he had just one friend, I would feel better about the whole situation. Sadly, short of home-schooling him for the next two years, I don't see a way out of it. I feel such a sense of dread about it that I'm slightly nauseous. Blah.

In happier news, the job is going well. I had a slow day on Friday and the hours just dragged but this week should be much more lively. I've got another two tours of the Basha Art Gallery and those are fun. I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing, getting a good feel for what needs to be done, and now I know where the copy machine is.

Things to Do

2010-01-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

My "things to do list" has gotten longish so what am I going to do? Blog. I'm procrastinating the filing that needs to be done here (I haven't filed anything for months so there's a stack of stuff about four inches thick.) To do that, I need to pull up a TV show to watch, and I can't decide which of the dozen shows I'm hopelessly behind on to watch. Glee? Fringe? The entire last season of Monk? So many choices, so many shows I can't watch with the kids around (which is why they're TiVo'd in the first place.) For example, here's actual conversation between Kent and I, which occurred late at night on December 24th, while watching Fringe and wrapping gifts.
JULIE: Are those snakes coming out of that guy's mouth or tentacles?
KENT: I think they're snakes.
It's an awesome show.

Christmas was great. A few years ago we started giving the kids gifts from Kent and me, in addition to what Santa brings. So for a week or so before the 25th, the kids always check under the tree to see if we added anything. (Presents are about half from us, half from Santa.) This works so much better, gratitude-wise. It always irritated me that Santa got all the credit Christmas morning. New this year I had the kids buy gifts for one another. I gave them a chance to earn extra money in November and December and then a few days before Christmas, we took them all down to the dollar store and set them loose. The best part was that on Christmas morning, the kids wanted everyone else to open the gifts they gave, before they opened their own. Perfect.

Our trip to Las Vegas was hosed, though. Sunday night Kelly called to let us know that Tate was throwing up, and maybe we wanted to delay our trip for a day. Now, Kent would rather drive six hours in the opposite direction of vomit, so we didn't drive to Vegas Monday. Monday night Tate was still throwing up. Tuesday morning it was Aaron also. By Wednesday I threw in the towel and unpacked the suitcases and mailed all gifts and Christmas cards. I had been feeling sorry for myself, and sorry for the kids for missing their cousins, but on Friday Kel says that Solomon had pneumonia so now I'm just feeling relieved, like we dodged a bullet. Whew. We'll try again next intersession...after the Clorox has had a chance to kill off some bugs.

We drove them up to play in the snow at Ft. Tuthill, as a consolation prize of sorts. Couldn't find a solitary sled, not so much as a saucer, at any Walmart from Chandler through to Flagstaff. The lack of toboggans ended up being OK since Ft. Tuthill only allows inner tubes down their runs. There's a huge field and playground so the kids had a snowball fight, made snowmen, made snow angels, and we all tromped around until no one could feel their hands or feet. (Note to self -- BUY MITTENS.) It was a good day.

Also good, we got a new van! (Quick catch up for those of you not closely following the "we-need-a-new-van saga" -- we needed a new van since our previous one, 10 years old with 125,000 miles on it, needed more repair work than it was actually worth: air-conditioning, front struts, steering linkage, front sway bar, the transmission clutch plate (slipping between first and second gear) and the bypass clutch...you get the picture.) I suppose we could have repaired all that, and probably gone another 100,000 miles, but with a new vehicle at least I'm confidant that we will get another 10 years of usage. Kent finally went with another Odyssey. I thought his head might explode, or at least short out, trying to make a final decision. Logically, the Sienna was the best choice, at least cost-wise. But he just wanted the Honda. Now I understand "just wanting" something, even if it's not logical. But Kent practically made himself cross-eyed trying to find some sort of supreme justification for the Honda over the Toyota. He'd scour the forums, looking for anything -- hoping to find, I think, evidence that Toyota is in league with the devil, and funds terrorism. Needless to say, he didn't find anything to help him out. Wanting won out, and we have a shiny new Odyssey in the garage, with that lovely smell, and seat warmers and a moon roof. (And monthly payments just beginning when the Pilot was almost done, but I'm going to ignore that part.) I laugh a bit because I didn't want the moon roof and seat warmers but they came with the van and I just rolled my eyes. Honestly, seat warmers. In a desert. Where it's over 100 degrees for seven months out of the year. And a moon roof -- to let in more sun? Well, we've owned it for about 10 days now and I've used the seat warmers and the moon roof every day.

The kids started back in school on Tuesday and I went back to work. I'm starting to feel a bit more like I'm doing something useful. I did my first tour through the Basha Art Gallery this last week with two classes of fourth graders. The first time through I only forgot Howard Terpning (for Pete's sake -- he's one of the artists that the kids study in Art Masterpiece.) The second time, though, I remembered everyone. I was worried, since it's a complicated tour, that I would forget which direction to turn, or forget an entire wing, and I spent a lot of time over the intersession practicing/fretting but it all ended up smooth sailing. It was fun, really. I love that sort of stuff. (April, I reminds me of when you gave us all a tour of the downtown Chicago architecture.) If you're ever in Chandler, I can show off what I know about Western fine art.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

It’s almost Christmas and my “to-do” list is whittling down. (Whew.) Shopping is all done, baking is all done, wrapping is…not. The kids are out of school for their winter intersession, Kent has the rest of the year off, and so do I! It’s overcast and rainy today which is as close to a white Christmas as we are ever going to see. (I’m not complaining. I love rainy days.) It’s so cozy.

The new job is going great. I really like the woman I work with, I like my boss, I like where I work. I forgot, though, how much I dislike the beginning of the new job. You know, where you really want to be helpful, but don’t even know where the copy machines are? It’s been decades since I had to start a new job and I honestly forgot how intimidating it can be. I’m sure I’ll figure it out in a few months, at least. Happily I’m learning in a pleasant environment.

Employed!

2009-12-06T18:47:00.001-08:00

*Editor’s note: What follows is an incredibly long and not terribly well-edited story of employment. If you want to skip it entirely, I totally understand. Short version – I have a job, which I think I will do great at, and which allows me to be at home when the kids are at home. YES!

Wow. I just can’t believe all that has crammed itself into the past two months. My biggest news is that I’m gainfully employed again! It’s been 11 ½ years since I quit ASU (when Alex was born.) I’m the Art Masterpiece Coordinator (one of two) for the Chandler Unified School District. I’ve been volunteering as an Art Masterpiece teacher for the past three years in my kids’ classes, so I’m really excited to be paid for doing the job. Actually, it’s not the same job at all. Art Masterpiece is an all-volunteer art program for the 29 Elementary schools in the district. We don’t have an art teacher or art class for K through 6th. My job, and my co-worker, is to coordinate it among all the schools so that it is being run properly, and that all the volunteers are trained.

I had started this whole procedure back in August, when I was investigating becoming a substitute teacher. First you have to pass a criminal background check so you have to submit a request to DPS, wait for them to send you a fingerprint card, take the card to the Chandler Police Department (Tuesdays and Thursdays only), with a cashiers check (only) for $78, and then have them take your fingerprints and submit the whole shebang to DPS again. Then you wait for six to eight weeks for your IVP (Identity Verified Print) card to come back to you. Or, in my case, they rejected my fingerprint card as unreadable and I had to start the whole process over again.

Then you get an official copy of your college transcript ($15) and fill out an application, and send it and the IVP, and the transcript to the AZ Dept of Ed, with another cashiers check for $59. Then you are a Certified Substitute Teacher.

THEN, you go to the Chandler Unified School District and fill out an application, submit it with your IVP, your transcripts, and your certification and wait until they hire you. Only guess what? CUSD isn’t hiring substitute teachers. They aren’t even taking applications! Sooo…I started the whole IVP thing, collected my college transcripts, and kept checking the CUSD website to see if/when they were ever going to accept applications again when I clicked on a tab called Open Positions and lo and behold, at the top, was “Art Masterpiece Coordinator.” Hold the phone – they pay people for this? It had only been posted for two days when I found the listing…and was closing in three so I scrambled to fill out an application (on-line! I’m such a dinosaur that the last time I filled out a job application it was with a ballpoint pen.) and scrambled for letters of recommendation. They wanted a detailed job history for the past ten years but it’s been 11 since I had one so I filled in that I am and have been an Art Masterpiece volunteer for the past three years, and am a Cub Scouts Den Leader for Pack #885. (I figure they gotta appreciate the Art Masterpiece volunteering…and the fact that I’m BSA approved to teach young boys.) I did put down my job at ASU, even though my boss has long since retired.

I asked the current Art Masterpiece school coordinator at my kids’ school (Basha Elementary) for a recommend and she said I ought to contact the previous coordinator too – especially since she was friendly with “all those guys up at District.” So I did, and she very graciously gave me a lovely letter of recommendation…and told me that she had applied for the job too! Ack. So awkward. Also, since she has more than twice the Art Masterpiece experience that I have, I figured there was little hope of even getting an interview. Still, I submitted my application on the 28th of September and waited. And waited. And waited. Three weeks later I figured that they went ahead and hired someone else and I might as well forget it. Then, about November 6th, I get a call asking if I am still interested and do I want to come in for an interview? The interview was for the following Tuesday and I felt really good about it. I felt like I represented myself in the best possible light, and didn’t forget to say anything (or say anything dumb.) I interviewed with the man in charge of Community Education, and the current Art Masterpiece Coordinator. He said he’d have a decision by Friday, or Monday at the latest. So Friday comes…and goes. And Monday comes…and goes! And Tuesday, and Wednesday, and on Thursday I give up and call the office. “Has a decision been made? No? Tomorrow?” OK. Later Thursday night I got a call from my Cub Scout Committee chair who said she had gotten a call from the district verifying the letter of recommend. Yea! On Friday I get a call from the Comm. Ed. Office – but they didn’t offer me the job. Instead, they asked me to come in again…for another interview…but to be prepared to teach them an Art Masterpiece lesson (of my choosing) as if they were parent volunteers who were going to teach a 6th grade class. Yes, it was an audition.

I gathered all my materials, and practiced all weekend teaching Kent about Landscape Painting in the Yuan Dynasty on Kent. Monday morning I walked in with my box of supplies and taught them all I knew and again felt like I did as well as I could have wished. The worst part was on the way back out of the lobby of the CUSD office, I saw the other candidate (the only other candidate) they had called in for an audition besides me. It was, of course, the kind lady who gave me the letter of recommend! Horribly awkward. What in the world do you say? Yeah, I don’t know either so I snuck out quickly. The good news is that later that day I got the call offering me the job. I’ve since learned that they interviewed 14 people, and called back only myself and the other lady for the second interview. Stiff competition.

The job is 30 hours a week, which means I get benefits, and is in all honesty about 10 hours more a week than I had been originally looking for, but I can drop my kids off at their school, go to work for six hours, and then be finished in time to pick them up again. Plus I follow the CUSD calendar which means I have all the kids holidays and breaks off. I started last Thursday and have never felt so welcome! My boss sent me a note earlier in the week, welcoming me to the position, and bought me a lovely green potted plant for my desk, and introduced me to at least 50 people at the district office. The lady I work with (Dana) seems wonderful too. I have my own desk again, business cards are on the way, and I already have an official CUSD nametag, and a pair of keys. I know it’ll be an adjustment, but I am happy to have the job, and quite frankly, the extra income will be a nice cushion.

Cushion for what, you ask? Well, our 9-year-old Odyssey needs repair work in excess of its value so it’s time for a new vehicle. (Also, it has well over 120,000 miles on it.) Despite my love for the Odyssey, and my sense of loyalty to an awesome brand that has been good to us, I think the Toyota Sienna will work nicely, especially since it’s $1500 cheaper than a new Odyssey is, and Toyota is offering ZERO percent financing. ZERO. Honda’s 1.9% seems paltry by comparison. Every comparison between the two vehicles, short term and long term, comes up with differences so minute as to be null. Kent is having an epic mental battle – logically he understands that the Sienna is a better purchase for us right now…but he loves the Odyssey. We’ve known we need a new van since last March, and he’s put this decision off for that long. He keeps saying that since it’s “my” vehicle, I should have the final say. Fine, I say, go with the Toyota. But, I add, since he is responsible for all the maintenance and upkeep, it should be his. The deadline for the financing deal is early January, so we’ve got to have a decision before then. Any Toyota van owners out there that want to add input? Honda?

Also, Sam needs some additional, specialized speech therapy. His auditory delay is causing major reading and writing problems and we and his teacher are very concerned. I kept hoping all through Kindergarten that he would be able to catch up, somehow, with his current therapy. (Sam’s been in speech therapy since he was 18 months old.) But, not so. Luckily we found a therapy which I think will be a lot of help. It’s called Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing, and is very well-established and respected. (Katy, you probably know this one.) Also, we’re also doing a program called the Listening Ear program which is a 20 week auditory intervention program of CDs that you listen to at home that is supposed to strengthen the auditory neural pathways. Both programs, of course, are crazy expensive and, of course, not covered by any sort of insurance. But, I’m grateful that we’ve found something! It’s terrible to know that your child needs help, and is struggling, and not be able to find anyway to offer assistance. LiPS starts later this month, and we’re already on week 3 of the Listening Ear disks.

And of course, let’s not forget Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel, who just settled a lawsuit with AMD for 1.25 BILLION dollars, after being fined $1.45 BILLION by the European Union. Now, what has this got to do with us? Kent hasn’t received any raises or bonuses for the past two years because of the “economy” but has been promised a promotion next year (2010) … assuming the “economy” is better. Well, it WAS better, and Intel had a good year, until Intel lost a gazillion dollars in lawsuits.

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Alex and Thomas. Thomas’ birthday was on November 11th, so we’re a bit behind on that. Of course, Alex’s was last August so we’re really behind on that one! He wanted a party, but wanted to have his friend Frankie come. Frankie spends every other weekend in Tucson and we tried to coordinate our schedules for about six weeks before I gave up and Alex stopped asking for a party. Then after Thomas’ birthday, Thomas started asking for a party and it jogged Alex’s memory. Anyhow, I thought I’d just kill to birthday birds with one party. We went to the bowling alley, where they have quite a set-up for birthdays. Super easy on me. We might do all future parties there. I was so pleased with how it went. Thomas invited three boys, Alex invited three boys, plus Sam and Kaity. Everyone got along so nicely. Pizza and unlimited pitchers of soda, plus balloons, plus all the set-up and clean-up. AMF even has this sort of metal chute that you can push into place in front of a lane and just roll the ball down the slide, onto the alley, and right into the pins. Kaity won the first game using that chute exclusively.

Oh yeah – NaNoWriMo? Totally didn’t finish.

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

I have other things to write about our trip to Utah, plus Halloween, the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta, our last dentist appointment (No cavities. Hey, I guess I'm all done with that one.), Art Masterpiece, my upcoming job interview (!!!), Sam's evaluation at Foundations Development House, etc., etc., etc., BUT... I will be taking a hiatus to do THIS.

You should too! (Come on, of course you want to.) It's only the 3rd of November....

What We Did Over Autumn Intersession

2009-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

We drove to Utah, where an unexpected, untimely cold front dusted everything with a light layer of snow...at least up high(er). It wasn't too bad because I had pulled out all the kids winter clothes which, here in Arizona, consist of long pants, long sleeve shirts, and a hoodie.

Sunday it really was freezing (for us.) There was a cold, hard rain, with a high of 38 degrees! Driving down to the Conference Center, it was raining so loudly that we couldn't really even talk to each other. During one quiet moment, Kaity says in a reverential tone, "Wow. It really rains...loud here." I had to turn my windshield wipers up past "Intermittent" for perhaps the first time. Nonetheless we braved it and stood in the "will call" line for General Conference. No dice. Twenty-one thousand seats but not twenty-one thousand and six. They closed the door right as we got there. Right there. Oh well. We were able to watch Conference in the Tabernacle, which was pretty cool too. As far as the kids were concerned, Aunt Cristy's treadmill was hours of entertainment. Also, Addy's billions of Star Wars Legos were immediately coveted and played with.

Monday and Tuesday we hauled the kids around Temple Square. If it was in the Square, we did it. We went to the Church Museum of History and Art, where the kids got to see a life-sized covered wagon, hand cart, and got to climb into a life-sized ship's berth. (I thought they were not too bad, size-wise, until I was told that one berth was for the WHOLE family. Well, at least you'd probably be warm.) We went the to Tabernacle and Assembly Hall, toured the Conference Center. It is enormous and full of really amazing art and a rooftop garden. I found my friend Emily's picture. And, there is four stories of underground parking and storage for the four-story tall building. It's like an iceberg, sort of, with a lot hidden underneath.) We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and cried all the way through "Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration." We ate lunch at the Lion House, toured the Beehive House, and basically did every possible Mormon-related toury thing. I was disappointed to find out that they don't pass out Horehound candy any more at the end of the tour. They've replaced it with Lemon Drops. Granted, Horehound Candy is revolting, but I liked that it was appropriate to the period. Plus I was looking forward to seeing the kids' faces when they tried it. They still sell it at the Lion House, so I bought a bag, but they've added so much extra sugar it's actually palatable. I'm not complaining about it tasting good, but I am sorry that I can't see the kids faces when they try candy that pioneer kids would have though "Yum!" about.)

We had a cookout up the canyon from Cris and Munn's home. Hot dogs and more of Cris' zen-like S'Mores. Kent got a cute candid picture of me. I think it's a first! Usually candids of me have my eye half-mast like I'm an imbecile or stoned. Or both. I'm wearing the hoodie that I brought PLUS Cris' cyclops hoodie. Still not warm.

The boys hiked around. It was gorgeous. The leaves just starting to turn color, but mostly still green. Lots of water and trees. What a fun place to have so nearby.

The kids were excited to swim here. Homestead Crater. It's an inactive volcanic crater, filled with geothermally warmed water. "Hey kids! You want to swim in a volcano?" They were giddy. It was especially cool because Thomas just finished a geology section on volcanoes.

The lake is covered by a dome of rock, with a smallish hole at the top. We got there at sundown so for the first part of our swim we could see the sky. For the last part, we could see the stars. Access is through this door, excavated into the side of the crater.

The lake is over 65 feet deep! They suited us all up with life jackets, assuming (correctly) that we weren't up for the task of treading water for hours on end. They do scuba certification training too so as we paddled around the top of the lake, occasional bubbles rose up from divers deep beneath us. It was kind of spooky, actually. Made me think of that movie Dante's Peak, where the people who were cavorting in the geothermal pool were flash-boiled when the volcano suddenly roared to life.

I wanted to get a picture of everyone but there was so much steam rising it was hard. I stood, shivering violently on the edge of the peer (water temp: 98 degrees, air temp: 40 degrees, air temp "index" on warmed, wet skin -- frigid!) until everyone swam close enough for the camera to focus on them and not on the walls of steam.

Worth it! (I didn't even drop the camera.)

The last day we were they, Cris gave me her lesson time at the stables. She has a great teacher, very positive, and a great horse named Jake. It has been over 20 years since I rode horses and the experience made me realize a few things. First, riding is a lot of muscle memory. As I rode, I remembered things I hadn't thought of in decades -- flying lead changes, diagonals, oxers, posting, two-point position -- good grief -- but my body remembered what to do. If I didn't think too hard, I did well. Also, even though riding is a lot of muscle memory, my brain forgot I wasn't 16 years old anymore. Forty-five minutes into the hour-long lesson, I felt made of spaghetti. Geezo. I staggered around for the next several days with more than a few bruised muscles in delicate places. I realized that many of the horses I used to ride were undisciplined, barn-sour beasts because Jake was lovely. And I realized that my last riding instructor was a real B, which is undoubtedly the reason I quit at 17, because Cris' instructor understands the principles of positive reinforcement. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I realized that I am not jealous of Cris' riding any more because I think an hour every week might kill me.

But, I got to canter.

And jump!!

And Lastly -- Reason #493 why Motherhood is Not for Sissies

2009-09-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

AAAAiiiiiGHHH!!

Okay, I should start this out by saying that SAM is FINE, and I think I may recover too. Two weeks ago, I got a call from the school nurse, mid-morning, saying that Sam was "having trouble breathing" and did he have an inhaler? I kind of rolled my eyes, rolled the grocery cart to the checkout line, and then picked him up. He was, as I guessed, the tiniest bit wheezy, so we did a shot of albuterol in his nebulizer, and that was that. (Sam has what has been diagnosed with "mild, intermittent asthma." Basically, he gets a tiny bit wheezy when he gets a cold. We use his nebulizer about four times a year. I had to remember where the dang thing was, since I had last put it away in February.) Anyhow, after the ampule was gone, Sam was fine and dandy. He wanted to do his homework, so we did. Then we had lunch, and went about our day. As the afternoon wore on, Kaity started coughing, and spent all night barking like a croupy harbor seal. She called out to me twice and every time I got up to check on her, I checked on Sam too, who was sleeping soundly and breathing soundlessly.

Thursday morning I kept them both home from school. Kaity honestly seemed much better after a steamy shower, but Sam kept saying "I don't feel good." I did all the typical things -- checked for a fever, red eyes, checked for a fever again, sore throat, listened for wheeziness...nothing. By 10AM, I finally just said, "Do you want to go to the doctor?" and was nonplussed when he said yes! I almost didn't take him -- I mean, why take a non-coughing, non-feverish, non-everything child to the pediatrician's office just so they can say, "Well, Mrs. Smith, he may be coming down with a cold. Take him home and give him some Tylenol." In the meantime, you've exposed him to every sick kid in the place, and spent $20 for the privilege.

THANK HEAVENS I decided to take him in anyhow. Dr. C listened to his lungs, said to me, "I think I would take him to the ER where they can do some x-rays because his lungs sound terrible. In fact, I can't even hear anything at all in this section. His lung may be collapsed." I looked at her in astonishment and as soon as my brain synapses started firing again, I exclaimed stupidly, "What? The ER? I nearly didn't take him HERE!" I told her we'd go strait to the ER now. Then she said I needed to take him to Banner Children's Hospital in Mesa (not Chandler Regional which was only a few miles down the road.) Then she said she wanted to test his blood oxygen levels before we left. They were 85. Now 85% sounds like a solid B, but for lungs, B apparently stands for BAAAAD in terms of blood oxygen. She called an ambulance instead. While we waited, she started him on oxygen, and I called Kent, and tried not to freak out. Before the ambulance got there, Sam's lips and fingernails were starting to take on a blue tinge, and he was gasping for breath. It. Was. Terrifying. I looked up at Dr. C and said, "How am I supposed to know that my child is near death when they aren't feverish, or coughing, or ANYTHING?" She said I needed to buy a stethoscope. (And I have.)

Long story short -- terrible pneumonia, in both lungs, all over both lungs. No collapsed lung. (Which, apparently can actually just happen. I thought you had to be in some terrible car accident or something.) Sam probably was exposed to a mycoplasma bacteria (well, a LOT of bacteria) which caused instant pneumonia. We spent five days in the hospital, first in the ER, then down in the Peds ward. (There was a debate as to whether or not he should be in the PICU, or just the regular ward.) Five days on IV antibiotics, IV steroids, oxygen, and breathing treatments every other hour, round the clock.

He never ran a fever higher than 99 degrees. He never coughed, not until the last day there. He went from healthy to very sick in 24 hours without any visible symptoms. It was very humbling. I am so grateful I don't have a seriously sick child or even a chronically sick one. I'm no good at this stuff! I mean, I feel so "why me??" when one of my kids throws up. I'm such a wimp.

I spent the nights and mornings with Sam, and Kent spent the afternoons and evenings. Sam's not much for TV, so we tried everything we could think of to entertain him. He was in "respiratory isolation" which meant he couldn't leave his room but it was a moot point since every time we left that room with him (radiology mostly) we had to put him in a wheelchair, drag along his IV pole, plus his oxygen monitor, plus a WWII torpedo-sized canister of oxygen. (I mean, we weren't frolicking in the train garden.) (Yes, there's a miniature train garden in the peds ward. It looks like it would be great.) We ended up buying him Legos. Lots and lots of Legos. That was hugely popular but the only downside was that, with utterly no distractions, Sam finished each set in record time.

Eventually we got home (Tuesday, September 1st.) That first night I hardly slept at all, tired as I was. I kept getting up to check on him and make sure he was still breathing! But he did just fine and Sam and I took a three hour nap on Wednesday, which is probably the first nap he's taken in at least three years. I kept him home all the rest of the week. We saw Dr. C on Friday and she said that if he was still good through the Labor Day weekend, he could go back to school on the 8th. I was nervous, but he's been fine ever since.

THANK HEAVENS for good health insurance. I gripe every month about the premium but I won't ever again. The hospital co-pay was only $100, they waived the $50 ER co-pay when Sam was admitted. I got the ambulance bill already, it's $850, which my insurance should cover (they say they will.) So all in all, the Star War Legos we bought for Sam to play with in the hospital are going to be the most expensive outlay about this whole thing.

Whew.

And Back to the Catching-Up -- First Day of School

2009-09-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

It's seems silly now, since the quarter is almost over (two more weeks) but school started again for us the end of July.

Sam and Kate have the same first grade teacher who, coincidentally, has a third grade daughter in Thomas' class, and a 6th grade son in Alex's class. I like her fine.

Thomas received a hand-made card from his teacher the week before school started, introducing herself, and telling him about Meet the Teacher night, and generally impressing the heck out of me. Several weeks later, I STILL like her a lot. She has a program where she comes to the kids' homes (if they want) and they can give her a little guided tour of their lives. She came over after school last week and Thomas played "The Blue Danube" for her on the piano, showed off all his Legos, and introduced her to the dogs. She's the teacher I wish all my kids could have.

I even like Alex's teacher, who seems nice and sensible. I've been helping out a lot in Alex's class these past two weeks, with their Directed Reading Assessments. So far I've spent about 10 hours there...I'll be glad when they are done. (No, there are no teachers aides. Just volunteer parents.)

Art Masterpiece started again too. I taught Pieter Bruegal last week to Sam and Kate's class; and this week I have Katsushika Hokusai for Thomas' class and we're doing Egyptian cartouche for Alex's class. It's some sort of miracle -- there are THREE volunteers for every class I am doing this year. I hardly know what to do with myself!

We Interrupt This Recap to Bring You This News Flash -- Wallpaper is Tedious

2009-09-17T09:40:00.001-07:00

Before 1739, here in America, wallpaper was hand-painted, and extraordinarily expensive. Now I know why.

"I'm Not Dead Yet,"*

2009-09-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

You know what makes a birthday great? It's not the things that mattered when you were young, like the number of years or the presents you get.
It's having other people cook for you. Cristy made multi-colored potatoes au-gratin. Holy smokes, now I want some again. (Why didn't I think to freeze some for later?)

Kel made a red velvet layer cake with cinnamon buttercream frosting. I know, you want some too, right? I didn't think to freeze any of it, either.

And then she decorated it.

And I got to blow out my candles! Ta da! Happy Birthday to me.

* From Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's a favorite.

(Also, a nod of appreciation to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins who make my birthday memorable for everyone else.)

Time to Play Catch-Up, Flagstaff

2009-09-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

Flagstaff, ah Flagstaff. Where you can escape the broiler that is summer...usually. The Standages all met in the mountaintops and stayed at Ft. Tuthill in log cabins. It was excellent!The only thing wrong, if you can call it "wrong," per se, was that Flagstaff was having a heat wave the week we were there. So while it was 20 degrees cooler than "the valley" were we live, it was still 92 degrees in the cabins. Luckily, there was Slide Rock, where the icy water contrasted shockingly with the hot, hot sun. I blame the long soaking in icy waters for what happened below -- Cristy asked me to jump off the rocks with her. I have to say it's the bravest thing I've done on purpose in a long, long time. Then John, the showoff, had to dive in headfirst. Sigh. Every night ended with a BBQ while the kids ran amuk on the playground. We ended the evening in the traditional camp-out way -- loading up the kids on root beer and marshmellows.

Cristy has elevated S'Mores to a zen art.

To escape the heat, ahem, we rode up the ski lifts at SnowBowl. It's a long, intimidating climb up to 13 thousand feet. It's their black diamond runs, of course, but I suspect that at least half of the riders in the wintertime take one look off the mountainside, unfasten their skiis, and crawl back down to sane altitudes.

Or maybe that's just what I would do.

Once we got off the lift, we hiked just a bit further up to the top, which is above the tree line. While the edges are not sheer cliff drop-offs, they are still scary enough for me. You'll notice the death grips I have on Sam and Thomas. (Of course. The other two have a much better developed sense of self-preservation. And a healthy appreciation of gravity.)

I loved this tree. How do you suppose it even managed to grow as tall as it did?

Time to Play Catch-Up - Panguitch, July 4th

2009-09-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

What is the best July 4th you remember? I'll bet at least one of your memories looks like a picture below. "Fireworks? O' course we sell fireworks!" Motto: Buy Early and Often.

Yes, we let the kids set off a few. (Under heavy parental supervision. We're not complete hillbillies.) Sometimes temptation comes in the form of an entire table full of explosives.

What would the 4th of July be without the Jr. FFA rodeo? Sadly incomplete, that's what.

Oh, and don't forget the ATVs! The more, the better.

And last, but never least, a parade down Main Street, tossing candy to bystanders. Or, as the kids now call it, "The Candy Parade." (It's like Halloween, even easier!)

And pigtails.

Oooooh-ceanside

2009-07-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

This was such a great trip. Way way waaay back in June, we drove to Oceanside and stayed in the Tingey condos with Jen and Mark and kids. The girls go boarding. Kate was fearless in the waves and was quite happy to boogie board with me...until the Attack of the Terrifying Kelp. Then she was done in the water. It probably didn't help that I was laughing as I disentangled her feet. I couldn't help it...it was funny.

Then Mark bought some adult-sized wetsuits and kindly let me try his out. Guess what? Wet suits are AWESOME! I can't believe how well they work. After struggling into one, I walked out into the frigid waters and...nothing! My feet could tell the water was cold but that was it. It's like being Invincible. The closest I've ever felt to a superhero.

Eventually the men wanted to try them out too so I had to give mine up.

We did have plenty of kid-sized "shorty" suits. We did last time too. No wonder they didn't want to come out of the water.

The landscaping around North Coast Village is gorgeous. Sam couldn't help himself.

Neither could Kaity.

Alex developed sand lines instead of tan lines.

And at the end of a lovely, lovely vacation, the sun sank slowly into the west.

Bounty

2009-07-15T11:06:00.001-07:00

These are the Roma. I have Sweet 100's (cherry tomatoes) and Early Girl too. The peppers are perky and the cilantro has almost annexed the entire corner it was planted in. Garlic? Yup. Onion? Both purple AND green!

You know this only means one thing, right? SALSA!

Kindergarten Graduation

2009-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

You know, when Alex graduated from Kindergarten, I cried. I can blame it on hormones, as the twins were less than three months old, but still.... Then when Thomas graduated from Kindergarten, I didn't technically cry, but I would have if I hadn't been rapidly blinking my eyes, calculating pi, and generally trying to avoid thinking about the fleet, transitory, ephemeral nature of childhood.

On Alex's first day of school, I held it together until I drove away from the school and then I cried and cried. I remember feeling thoroughly shocked when a friend, who has older kids, telling me that she is so deliriously happy when the kids go back to school she just grins like a lunatic all the way to school on the first day. I tried to be charitable in my judgement of her and decided that it was the difference between the FIRST child making a big transition and the LAST child making a big transition.

Sam and Kate graduated from Kindergarten in June and there I was, grinning like a lunatic.

Oh, hey, howdy again

2009-07-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been six weeks (or so) but I didn't forget entirely about my blog. It is summertime, and the livin' is easy, or so I've heard, so that's my excuse. We just got back from a 4th of July trip up north to Panguitch and I took, much to my chagrin, over 200 pictures. In only 24 hours. (Less, really, since I didn't actually take pictures while I was sleeping.) Yikes! Downloading all of them, plus the Oceanside pictures, plus the Kindergarten graduation pictures, made me realize that I'm really behind on my updates.

These gorgeous shots are NOT from Panguitch but from a camping trip that the "boys" took in May. Kent is brave and took Alex, Thomas, and Sam up to the Mogollon Rim for an overnight.

Fishing? Why yes! But these particular fish where at the Fish Hatchery. You could have reached into the water and scooped out half a dozen...if that sort of thing was allowed.

Here in the creek, the only fishing that Kent did was scooping the kids out of the brink.

What's that? What did Kaity and I do at home?

NOTHING. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

It's Business...It's Business TIME

2009-05-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Flight of the Conchords blew in to Phoenix on the final dregs of their tour this year and I was NOT going to miss it -- especially after having lost out on the San Francisco concert last spring. It was a good concert...my first in...well, decades, probably. College? I honestly can't remember. (That's embarrassing, really. Why don't I go to more concerts? I like music.)

They seemed tired, actually, but extra goofy in that way you can get when it's long past your bedtime and then something strikes you as hilarious. Good natured, too. Someone yelled "Freebird!" about halfway through the concert and Jemaine looks nonplussed for a moment and starts to explain, "Well, that's not one of ours, actually," and then pauses for a beat...and then they both start playing "Freebird." Half-way through the song, they start just making up lyrics. Later, during a pause, Jemaine starts strumming "When Doves Cry" and then laughs and says, "Hey, that's not ours either." And Brett says, 'Yeah, someone left Prince's set list here on stage." Then there was a pause of utter silence and I yelled (from my awesome seat only 20 feet away) "PLAY IT ANYWAY!"

And they DID!!

As you can see, we had ASTONISHINGLY good seats -- row six, center. I'm guessing it's karmic payback for blowing it last year. Also astonishing -- they cost the same as the upper balcony nosebleed section. LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY (excuse me while I cackle) hee hee hee hee hee hee!

But best of all, Cristy flew into town to join me! (Even after she totally lucked out and got to not only attend the Salt Lake City concert two days previously but also got to GO BACKSTAGE and MEET everyone. In PERSON and EVERYTHING!!!) (Cristy doesn't keep a blog so I feel obligated to brag on her behalf.)

And, also, I'd like to add how KENT was lovely to give up his seat for Cristy (He didn't seem too upset about that, actually....) Even more lovely was how he took on all the kids and Cub Scouts and baths and lunch-making single-handedly so Cris and I could drive out to Phoenix to act half our age.

Ahhhh-SOME

2009-05-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Why have I never done THIS before? It is GREAT! I am a complete ZEALOT now. This is obviously a photo of me, getting some dental work done, but what you dont' realize is it is also a photo of me being a guinea pig.

See, Kaity had to get her next two cavities filled and, since the first two fillings weren't a pleasant experience for anyone involved, and I was fretting. They had offered the nitrous oxide to Kaity for her first two fillings, but Kate took one look at the nose cap and tubing and absolutely refused. In addition to Kate and Thomas' dental work, I had to have an old silver amalgam filling (which had cracked) drilled out and replaced. That morning I was struck with inspiration: why don't I do the nitrous oxide when they drill my tooth? Kaity can sit in the room and watch, and then maybe she'd try it too.

You should know two things: despite having a mouthful of fillings, I have never had nitrous oxide before. Also, nitrous oxide is the greatest dental invention ever known to man, and I include the thing where they drill a teensy-tiny hole into the root of your tooth, through the gum, and inject Novocaine right into the nerve! Anyhow, I am now going to have this done every time I need dental work. Also, Kaity did really well too.

Nitrous all around!

P.S. Thomas is done with his dental work too -- seven fillings, one crown, and guess what? When they did this last batch, they discovered one of the sealants on his 6-year molars had "failed" so they had to drill that out and replace it. The sealant is only two years old! For that matter, so is the tooth. What's up with that?

Happy Mothers' Day!

2009-05-10T20:26:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when I get to spend an hour and a half primping before church because, in honor of Mothers' Day, Kent's Sunday morning meetings get cancelled! Curly hair, carefully pinned and air-dried. Taa-da!

Did you catch that? I am as pretty as Jesus! (I am POSITIVE that this is the only time in my life that I have been told this....)

Also, 18 years old!! What a great Mothers' Day :)

More Painting

2009-05-09T11:00:00.001-07:00

Fixed the eyes! Better. Kaity says it's not her because "my hair isn't red." (That is true....)

She's Got Betty Davis Eyes

2009-05-05T20:44:00.001-07:00

Or not. But someone's eyes...some startled Asian lady. Not Kaity's eyes though. Too much white, and the eyelid isn't swoopy enough. (That's a technical term.)

Redeemed

2009-04-30T09:18:00.001-07:00

(The exclamation points and question marks crack me up -- it's like she's vehement and baffled at the same time.)

Later That Same Day....

2009-04-29T21:23:00.001-07:00

I took my gesso'd wood "canvas" to class and painted in the floor and background. I tried to texture the background paint with my brush bristles but it doesn't show as much as I hoped. I think there must be a paint additive that will give me the texture I want...I have to look around. (There are different types of additives -- to thicken up the paint, to thin it out, etc.)

My printer decided that morning to stage open rebellion so I wasn't able to print any reference photos -- I decided just to work on the background instead...hard to mess it up, even without references...and easy enough to fix if I did mess it up!

My Latest

2009-04-29T14:30:00.001-07:00

This is my current painting. I've got about 30 extra seconds and have been meaning to put this up so I'll do it with a minimum of comment. It's on wood, I gesso'd it myself. (So proud of that too!) We'll see if I like that better than stretched canvas. I'm further along than this and I've got more pics, but will have to post later....

Mom is Pope

2009-04-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Pope = poopy, in case you haven't read 6-year-old in a while.

Thomas - 1st, Alex - 3rd

2009-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby was yesterday and Thomas won 1st place in our Wolf den. He didn't even realize it! But then again, this is his first Derby. It's Alex's last Derby, as next year he'll be a Boy Scout. He won 3rd place in his Webelos Den. Thomas got to compete at the Stake level, where he came in 3rd place in the Wolf competition. Fun stuff and, as I've said before, I'm glad that Kent takes charge of this whole Pinewood Derby thing. I have pictures, but have to download them, and that probably won't happen tonight. Soon!

I've started a new painting. It's Kaity, at a Christmas party, when she was about three years old. It's interesting to study the photograph because I realize how much more cheerful and mellow she has become. In the photo, she's staring at me (us) as sober as a judge, on the verge of sullen. At a Christmas party! Santa was there, for Pete's sake. Anyhow, the idea of a portrait is terrifying but my teacher is quite a good portraitist, so I feel like I really should take advantage of her expertise. So far, well...not bad. I have photos there too, but again, I have to upload them. Or download. Whichever. (Both, I guess.) My friend, Emily, who paints professionally, allows me to hover over her shoulder while she works. It helps to watch someone who knows what they are doing; plus I have three new oil colors that I want to buy. Earth Orange, Asphaltum, and Burnt Carmine. None of them are available in the water-mixable Oils that I have been using, so it seems that I'll need to buy some turpentine too. ("Turps" in the lingo. Hee hee.)

The water mixable oils are great. I'm so glad I started with them. They are real oil paints, except the pigments are mixed with safflower and linseed oil so you can use soap and water to clean your brushes. It's great not to have an open container of paint thinner nearby while I paint.

And speaking of art, I'm in the middle of Art Masterpiece. We've done Wayne Thiebaud in Kindergarten (who is a local boy from Mesa); Georgia O'Keeffe in 5th grade, and we've got Edward Hopper as Mr. April in 2nd grade. That one is tomorrow. I'm feeling grumpy about it -- this time of year I'm kind of burnt out and then they dump the "Art Walk" which is a huge deal where they (WE) festoon the walls with the kids' art and information about the various artists. I thought it was a fund-raiser but it turns out it's just supposed to be fun. It's make-work, as far as I can tell...but then I seem to have turned into Ebeneezer Scrooge lately so you should disregard me. After all, it's VOLUNTEER work...it's not like I was conscripted.

And speaking of burnt out -- I'm "blah" about dinner lately. I just can't seem to get excited about anything meal-like. Has anyone got any good ideas? Easy is good, tasty is good, both is better.

And lastly, in dental news, we had our regular family check-up in March and guess what? Alex is good, Sam needs sealants on his 6-year molars, Kent and I both have old fillings with cracks (one each) that need to be drilled out and replaced (shudder) and Kate and Thomas have TWELVE CAVITIES BETWEEN THEM! I think they may have been brushing with molasses. Actually they have cavities in-between their molars so they haven't been flossing. Naturally, since I never make them floss and it hasn't occurred to me that they should. (Bad Mother Alert.) Anyways, our insurance covers almost all of this but is still going to be over $700!! I had to laugh because I've been driving around town on bald tires because I didn't want to spend $450 on a new set of tires.... Ah well, it's good that our tax refunds are coming.

Anyway, now every flosses morning and night. Plus I have bought a fluoride mouthwash that tastes like bubblegum. And, it turns out that a natural sweetener called Xylitol has shown to help kill the bacteria in your mouth that cause cavities. I read about Xylitol before when Sam was a baby and had so many ear infections. There was a small but good study of Xylitol done in Sweden where toddlers fed Xylitol (gum) had half the ear-infections as the control group. Anyway, reading about it in regard to cavities makes sense. I've stocked up on sugar-free gum which I'm going to start pushing on the kids like I usually push broccoli. Anyone out there with toothy concerns? Costco sells "IceBreakers IceCube" gum in bulk. The #1 ingredient is Xylitol.

And that's about it. The weather here has turned and it's supposed to be 100 degrees on Tuesday. Gah. The whole house is warm and I have the same headache I get every spring when the weather suddenly shifts from "gorgeous" to "pre-hell" in 24-hours. I hope the tomato plants hang on long enough to harvest some of those tiny, green globes.

It's that Pinewood Derby time of year

2009-03-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that Kent does this. Do you know you can go on-line to LOADS of places that specialize in selling pre-cut cars, specially balanced and weighed, with carefully calibrated tires and axles? You can even buy decals, like flames or skulls?

I hope all those people who buy those pre-made cars lose.

Bobcat Badge and Delicious Cookies

2009-03-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Thomas got his Bobcat Badge during the last Pack meeting we had. In our Pack, it's a tradition that rank advancements have a pie eating contest...or a whipped-cream-on-a-paper-plate eating contest. Thomas really got into the spirit of the thing. Also, I made the most delicious cookies for the Pack meeting! They are amazing. And delicious...did I say that? Super easy too -- no rolling out the dough, no cutting out the dough, and no frosting required! Fresh lemon zest, and a lot of it, is the key.

Lemon Sugar Cookies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Gradually mix in the flour at low speed, making sure to incorporate all of the flour and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Place remaining 2-3 tbsp sugar in a small bowl. Shape 1-inch balls of dough, roll in the sugar and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until set but not browned (or only very lightly on the bottom). Edges should be slightly firm. Cool cookies on the pan for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4 dozen.

I used unsalted butter, because that's what I have, and the zest from my two fresh lemons was much closer to 4 TBS than 2 TBS. Also, I refrigerated my cookie dough before forming the balls, but only because making dinner (I needed the oven) interrupted my plans for cooking the cookies. I think it helped, because the dough is sticky, and refrigerating the dough helped to form the balls. Also, I like the large granule Raw Sugar I have for rolling the balls in, instead of regular granulated sugar.

When you bite into the cookies, the Raw Sugar coating is crunchy, but the inside is chewy and the taste is really lemony and not too sweet. Bliss.

Here's the website I got the recipe from: http://bakingbites.com/2009/03/lemon-sugar-cookies/

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-03-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Silver Bells and Cockle Shells and Pretty Maids all in a row.
Or snapdragons.... Garlic and basil...

And cilantro.... yum!

It Even Has Shiny Handlebar Tassles

2009-03-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

We had to buy Kate a new bike. She has a tiny one with 12” wheels that a friend gave us when she was three. It was perfect and she was so cute on it. Now, at six, she is a giant. Plus it has a flat tire and Walmart and Target don’t seem to sell 12” tire tubes…especially when a brand-new bike with 12” wheels only costs $39.

She’s really right between a 16” and a 20.” Schwinn makes a perfect bike for learning how to ride – the seat can be lowered until it’s just barely resting on the back tire so the center of balance is nice and low…but they only make it in a 20”…with no training wheels. Anyway, we spent all day Saturday driving around to bike stores and sitting on top of one bike after another. We finally decided to buy the 20”, with add-on training wheels. And you know what? It’s enormous! (But she’ll grow into it by the end of this year I suspect.) We went on an inaugural bike ride where she crashed -- twice! I couldn't believe it. Both times because she was pedaling too fast to make a turn…trying to keep up with her brothers…and the second time she smashed into a trash can at the park and cracked up the cute little bell that the bike store added onto her handlebars. I felt so bad! But she really was a trooper and got back on. She’s been asking for bike rides every day now and tonight at dinner asked to have her training wheels off. (She’s not ready.) But I’m glad that she’s willing to try.

I took all the kids to the bike store today and let them all pick out bells for their bikes. When we got home, Sam dug out his screwdriver and installed them all.

Man, I'm going to be sorry when Spring Intersession is over....

First Piano Recital

2009-03-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is Thomas' first piano recital. He played "It's a Small World." A lot of the kids had trouble this time around, lots of fumbled fingers, but Thomas played flawlessly. Which is nice because he was so nervous that he was a bit green by the time it was his turn! Alex played "Raider's March" which is the theme song to Raiders of the Lost Ark. I heard a lot of "Duh duh DUH duh, duh duh DUH" for the last month. Made me want to dig out my copy of Raiders and re-watch it. Alex also played his perfectly. I'm not bragging...just stating facts :)

Thomas, my long-suffering friend Lisa who teaches them (and 30 other kids) piano, and Alex.

Today Was Such a Gorgeous Day...

2009-03-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

...that I had to take the kids to the park for a picnic. My allergies, usually really mild, are really bad this spring. The kids are all a sneezy mess too. We've gone through Claritan, Zyrek, and now I'm working through some prescription Flonase. So far, though, so good.

The kids are on their Spring Intersession and usually we try to get out of town. We're not having much luck this spring. Kent's swamped at work and I've taken advantage of the no school days to schedule routine doctor's appointments and dental appointments, etc. I love their breaks because there's no homework, no projects, and no schedules. Too bad none of my kids "sleep in" worth a darn.

Sam learned how to ride his two-wheeler without training wheels this past weekend. He's so cute -- he was so determined to learn this that even when we'd be over at a friend's house, he'd borrow a bike and try to ride around their yard. But he's so confident and fast! Fun. He and Thomas have been biking all around the neighborhood. Aren't I brave to let them ride alone? Considering that Alex was hit by a car three years ago while riding his bike? (With Kent!) I think I'm being remarkably calm and "good mom-ish" about it all. If I could only tag them with GPS microchips....

The Pots and Pans Fairy Came!

2009-03-05T15:02:00.001-08:00

Look what was waiting for me today when I got home from Cub Scout Roundtable! Yea! No more cooking in my antique aluminum pot with the broken handle and the cast-iron skillet that weighs 10 pounds, empty. They are NICE too. My only complaint is that it took two months to get them. Chicken Piccata tonight!

Grass, Flowers, and Rocks, oh My!

2009-03-01T09:41:00.001-08:00

My painting class is done but I've signed up for the next session. It'll begin at the end of March (after the kids' Spring Intersession.) I'm not sure...but I might be done. Three other ladies in my class have a lot more painting experience and that is what they all say -- it's really hard to know when to STOP. I understand that now because I keep seeing lots of things I could change...or mess up! Scary.

I added lots of grass and rocks and flowers, as you can see. I added a shadow in front of Thomas. There's still some things I want to tweak -- I need to add more paint to the upper part of the river because I can see my own pencil marks. I think the boys' legs need to be a shade darker. And, of course, I need to sign it. You can probably see the pencil marks here -- above left of Alex's hat.

Here I solved the problem of pink dirt -- grow grass on top of it! A few rocks don't hurt either.

Still Working on It....

2009-02-17T16:00:00.001-08:00

The DEATH STAR is DONE...duh duh DUH!

2009-02-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

All 3,803 Lego pieces are assembled.

Now the only thing we have to worry about is if a tiny Luke Skywalker gets ahold of an X-wing fighter....

Thousand Words Worth

2009-02-12T19:57:00.001-08:00

One laid-back lion.

Pre-garden.

Post-garden. Grow! Grow!

Whew.

2009-02-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

I’m glad today is over. I know it’s only 7:30 at night, but the hard part of the week is DONE. This month is nuts. I substitute-taught in Gospel Doctrine class last Sunday. Man, that’s an intimidating class to teach. I stressed about it for a couple weeks while I prepared. It went off well, though. I had lots of participation and three times as much material to present as I needed. The regular teacher just had a baby and honestly, I’d rather be a stressed-out substitute than have a week-old infant.

I chaperoned Sam and Kate's Kindergarten class' field trip to the zoo. It was so pleasant that all the animals were out. (If you go to the zoo in the summer, all the animals hide under dark, shady corners. It's like visiting the zoo after all the animals escaped.) This time the funniest one was the lion. He lay completely unmoving on his side, with one hind leg cocked straight up towards the sky. I would have sworn he was dead and rigor had set in except every now and then one furry ear would flick. The lion and lioness were rescued from someones apartment as cubs and have been raised in various zoos. My guess is that the lion doesn't miss the call of the wild at all.

Sam and Kaity both had a heart-themed school project (“Things I Love” collage) due tomorrow and Alex has a book report project due which, after much whining and tears (me) is done. It’s five pages long…typed. Plus, tomorrow is the day all the kids are exchanging Valentines, so the kids and I spent about an hour this past weekend, carefully addressing about 100 “Lik-A-Stix” Valentines with a Sharpie. Thomas has begged me to help out with his class’ party so…I’m doing that too. Also, I have three Art Masterpiece projects, two of which are done. Kindergarten was Henri Matisse (Monday) and today I did Louise Nevelson with the 5th graders. The Louise Nevelson project involved shoeboxes and dozens of pieces of “junk” for a “found-art” class collage. I’ve been box wrangling all month.

The Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet is on the 24th. Those of you who have no idea what a “Blue and Gold Banquet” is – well, lucky. My Den is in charge of the prayers, a gathering activity (we’re singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”), decorations for 10 tables in the Cultural hall (10 centerpieces, 8 posters), as well as our food assignment of 10 chopped tomatoes, 2 pints of sour cream, and three jars of salsa. Personally, my own boys are responsible for a gallon ziplock bag of shredded lettuce (Alex) and I’m claiming the sour cream for Thomas.

Alex and Thomas’ piano recital is the 27th and I always try to help out their teacher, who is not only a friend, but also cuts me a break on their tuition. (And by “cuts me a break” I mean it’s free.) So I’ll be baking either 6 dozen cookies or 6 dozen cupcakes for the recital. AND I just found out that I have a Cub Scout training meeting on the 28th which runs from 7AM to 9PM, I kid you not. Fourteen hours long. What in the world am I going to learn? It better be mind-blowing.

I’m so happy that Monday is a holiday.

It’s only February, I know, but it is early spring here. The lemons are juicy, the grapefruit perfect, the blood oranges have a color and taste to die for. Last week we were in the mid-eighties. (This week – low 60’s.) The pear trees on the street have exploded into white, blossomy showiness. The orange heads of the Mariposa lily are the first to show in our neighbor’s house down the street, who has cultivated a riot of desert wildflowers in his front lawn. It was time to plant the kitchen garden.

Anyhow, after a two-year hiatus, we put in a kitchen garden on Saturday. I used to grow tomatoes and zucchini but then the stupid dogs decided, for whatever demented doggy reasons, to LIE on my PLANTS. Not when the sets are first planted, no. Not even when they started blooming, no. And not when the first green globes started to blush, no. No, too bold. They would wait, biding their time, until the tomatoes were just started to take on that lovely, fat, glossy red sheen…wait a few days…and then roll around and make themselves a burrow. I tried everything -- fencing, screaming, threatening, and stopped just short selling the dogs or punji staking the garden (although I still say it would have been totally justified and very effective.) I just didn’t have the heart to plant anything last year. So Kent built me a raised garden and we’ve been composting and preparing the dirt ever since then. Saturday we planted what I am calling the “Salsa Garden”: three varieties of tomato, red, green, and yellow sweet peppers, red onion, chives, garlic, cilantro, lemon thyme, and, well, snapdragons. Just because. Then I declared that either I would have fresh vegetables to eat…or dog stew. So Kent devised a five-foot tall, bright-orange, plastic highway hurricane fencing around the perimeter. (It was free.) Now I think the garden is safe…it just looks like hillbillies are gardening it.

So far, the garden is safe.

Ghost Boys at River's Edge

2009-01-27T14:39:00.001-08:00

Not really. I'm just not done yet. Have you noticed how I'm saving the "hard" stuff until last? The river is done (mostly done.) I thought it looked pretty good. But surely the boys will be hardest so you'll no doubt have noticed that they are distinctly not touched at all? Dang pink dirt. I'm still working on it. I was pleased with how the grass turned out here though.

The whole thing. I love the sky and the river. I love the mountains and the sage. The foreground grass is too green, I think, and needs to be more "sagey." And, of course, the dirt. Not right. I'm tempted, SO tempted, to fix the dirt and grass instead of tackling the boys but I suppose I ought to go ahead with the boys...and then touch up all the spots I have in mind.

This Friday. Wish me luck.

Wheat Bread

2009-01-21T08:04:00.001-08:00

I tried this recipe from Smitten Kitchen over the weekend and I thought it was pretty good. When I make bread, I only make whole grain bread, so I'm always on the lookout for a good whole-grain bread recipe.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/light-wheat-bread/

Scroll down to the recipe. After the ingredients, I ignored ALL the instructions ("windowpane testing," "fermenting at room temperature", "pinching the crease with each rotation to strengthen the surface tension", etc.) and just tossed them all into my bread machine. I pressed the "2 lb loaf" and "whole-grain" setting, and it turned out just fine. Tasty, not too dense, with a nice, light texture, not too crumbly for sandwich slices.

One of the reasons I love to make bread is that it's BREAD. Not pastry, which requires a deft touch, mad skilz, and black magic, but bread. Easy-peasy.

What I Did This Weekend

2009-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

It's the end of a three-day weekend. (Mostly. Kent had to work today, but the kids have MLK day off.) We spent the afternoon slathering a coat of primer on the wood plank floor of our trailer. I thought this was such a good idea since whenever I so much as pull out a paint roller, I'm mobbed by kids begging me to let them "help." So -- the floor of the trailer. All pluses, no minuses: 1) We don't care how neatly it's done. 2) We can roll the trailer into the grass so drips and spills don't matter. 3) It can be evenly divided by four. And did I mention that I don't care how it looks?

I had the kids do their 1/4 one at a time, and they were all happy to help, but equally happy to go back inside the house when they were done. Huh??? I thought they'd be so amped up that we'd get the primer on, plus two coats of exterior paint! Nope. The floor planks are rough so after the kids put down their rollers, I went back and re-rolled a lot of it, really gooing up the knot holes and some longish cracks. Do you know that primer is really gluey? I hadn't realized it was significantly different than, say, latex house paint. I got primer over the tips of my fingers, under two fingernails, and some smallish blotches on the palms of my hands....and it's all STILL there. Usually I don't worry about it at all because the house paint wears off fairly quickly. Now my fingertips all feel weird. Like they've been injected with Novocaine. I've tried to scrub it off and now I'm reduced to just picking at it, like an alopecia patient plucking at her eyebrows.

It was a perfect day for painting -- about 83 degrees with a slight breeze. After searching and searching for cruddy clothes for the kids to wear while they painted, I decided they could paint in their underpants. I thought that was a stroke of genius. Worked great, too! (Relax, it was in our fenced back yard. Also, I remained fully clothed.)

I lengthened Marc's bracelet and fixed Audrey's mangled dangle and they're happily tumbling away as I type. (Waidelichs -- they'll be in the mail first thing after I drop the kids off at school tomorrow morning.) I had some fun ideas for earrings but am tyring to control myself. There's only so much free time in any given day and I have promised myself that I am going to work on the kids' baby books. I'm up to the year 2003. Sigh. I just don't wanna. AND, I have about 25 things that I need to photo and get listed on Etsy before I start making more. I think I have enough willpower to last until this weekend and then...I'll probably be making earrings....

My oil painting class went really well this past Friday. I've been working on my landscape and putting off painting the river as the reflections and ripples and everything involved in painting water just intimidated me. But, I've stalled long enough and really, it was time to paint the Sevier. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be lots of fun too! Now my repertoire includes: sky, clouds, water. Excellent. You know what's hard? Dirt. Dirt still eludes me as every time I mix "dirt" color it looks mauvey-pink. (A vaguely dirty mauvey-pink.) They should sell a tube of paint called "Dirt." I'll try to get photos done this week.

I finally found Alex a typewriter. For whatever reason, and I have interrogated him at length about it, he has decided he wants a typewriter. I explained, ad naseum, the vast superiority word processing and printers have over typewriters but he is adamant. These modern kids! (In a fit of irony, I got rid of my college typewriter about five years ago.) You can still buy typewriters -- for about $450. I checked ebay and Craigslist and Goodwill. Long story short: I found one for him at D.I. Five dollars. Now he's at the kitchen table, pecking away. It's an amazingly evocative sound, the typing: the "thock" of keys striking the paper, and the way the platen heaves itself up to make a capital letter, and the little "ding" it makes at the end of a line, and the purr of the platen when you shove it back over to make a new line. The model he bought is electric, but old-school electric. Even older than the ones I learned to type on in high school...back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Lastly, I've been wanting a new set of pots and pans. My Calphalon is about 15 years old and the Teflon coating has worn off in bits and chunks on both size omelet pans, the saute pan, and the larger sauce pot. Thus, their "non-stick" quality is obsolete, plus I'm fairly certain that eating Teflon bits in your chili is not conducive to good health. Kent keeps saying we should take them back to Macy's because they have a "lifetime warranty" which I keep rolling my eyes about. Sure, IF I could find the 15 year old receipt. Or a Macy's. (Plus, I want new pots.) So while I was wandering past Williams-Sonoma, I found myself wandering in. Strolling casually over to the racks of gleaming All-Clad. Airily checking on the prices.... YE GADS! Even the Calphalon is pricey. Guess what the equivalent size set costs? Six hundred, thirty bucks! Suddenly, I'm a convert to the whole "lifetime warranty" issue. Turns out there IS a lifetime warranty on my type of pots and pans so I packed them up and UPS'd them off to Michigan for replacements. I'm excited! New pots and pans! In about 10 to 15 days...after Calphalon receives them.... But -- NEW POTS AND PANS! In the meantime, we're going to be eating a lot of microwaved food.

Artsy

2009-01-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

My oil painting class started again last Friday so before I head in tomorrow morning, I thought I'd post my work-in-progress. This is just the top part of my landscape -- it's the Ranch -- from about five years ago. Turns out that sky and clouds -- super fun to paint! Who knew? I'm thinking about only painting sky and clouds now. And this...thing...is my last painting. It's officially done now because I'm sick of staring at it, trying to make it WORK. Actually, now that I haven't looked at it for a month or so, I'm liking it better. See, the petals are supposed to be these delicate, veiny things -- like tissue paper -- or at least, that's what the actual flowers look like. But these ones look thick and waxy. Sigh. My first painting. I wish the sight of it didn't make me go cross-eyed with ticked-offedness. Stupid petals.

BUT, if I told everyone I was painting magnolia blossoms.... You'd buy that, right?

A New Year Resolution

2009-01-08T15:33:00.001-08:00

One of my (many) New Year's Resolutions is to post with more regularity. (Ahem. Pause for snickering.) We'll all see just how well I do, won't we?

I couldn't believe that I hadn't posted anything since Kent's birthday. I have a habit of composing these things in my head, complete with photos and witticisms. And I guess my habit has progressed into mild delusion, since I was sure I had posted since the beginning of November. Alas, not so. So I'll recap in photo form:
Alex, Thomas, and Kent flew up to Las Vegas, met Bubba, drove all night to Utah to the ranch, and got to play with the heavy equipment that is building a bridge over the Sevier river. Thomas' 8th birthday. The Lego King. And since it's his 8th birthday that means...

Baptism!

And completely unrelated to either events -- the traditional Western BBQ at the kids' elementary school. Grilled hamburgers and the kids show off all the dance moves they learn in P.E. What? Is this not a tradition across the USA?

The Kindergarten Thanksgiving Play. Sam is playing the Traditional Snowflake and Kate is playing the Traditional Flower. Huh? You've never heard of these traditional roles? The Mayflower, the Pilgrims, Squanto and the Indians, and the Snowflake and Flower? What is American education coming to??

Things I appreciated during Christmas:

The angel that Grandpa made for me.

The kids' stockings! Finished and hung! (Thanks to Kelly.)

Christmas morning mayhem.

We love our stockings Aunt Kelly! ('Cause they're full of candy and presents.)

Snowball fight on Mt. Charleston. Biggest snowball wins.

Man, what a gorgeous day to play in the snow. Warm enough to unzip. Snow enough to sink up to your knees.

And, lastly, Sam decided that since he's loosing his first tooth (a full year earlier than any previous sibs) that he's old enough to ride a two-wheeler. So off came the training wheels (also a full year earlier than any of the sibs.) However, after a wobbly start, and Dad racing after him until red-faced and blowing like a racehorse, Sam decided that training wheels are pretty cool too.

And so here we are, in 2009. Kent and I had our 18th wedding anniversary on the 3rd, which we celebrated by dropping the kids off at Grandma's and running errands together. Funny how a couple of decades (almost) can change your mind about what you find romantic.... (Okay, we did eat lunch together too.)

Tomorrow I have the first class of my new oil painting class. Of course it's conflicting with several Art Masterpiece prep meetings I should be attending but I don't care. Well, I'm trying not to worry about it, anyhow. I'm really going to try to see if I can finish the landscape I started last class. I'll keep you posted. After all, it's my New Year's resolution to do so!

Rocket 2U

2008-11-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

Okay, while I was browsing about YouTube for that R.E.M. song, I found this one. It's The Jets. Remember them? Holy cow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPOhMbU8vHg&feature=related

If the Internet is right, it turns out they are Tongan, Mormon, and there are 17 kids in that family, the oldest 8 of which make up The Jets. (I hope that's true, because that is just too great of a story.)

You know what that means, right? I need to have 14 more kids. Then I'm sure at least 8 of 'em will turn out to have a hugely successful and lucrative musical career, and we can retire off the proceeds.

Snort! Who am I kidding? Seventeen kids would kill me.

Happy Birthday, Kent!

2008-11-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

We've decided that he's staying at 38. (Okay, that's what I decided, because that puts me at 35. That's a good age, 35.)

He got an iphone. He's SOOO happy, he could be 12.

Love you, sweetheart.

Obama, '08

2008-11-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Just as I predicted. But I'm not happy to be right.

On the radio, on the way home from teaching Cub Scouts, this is what I heard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmxyj6iInMc Commentary on the part of the DJ, not coincidence, I think. Ah well. Somehow, I think the earth will keep orbiting the sun.

Ironically, I'm teaching about the Second Coming of Christ in Relief Society this Sunday. Hopefully I can manage to keep the lesson on topic, without a lot of political jokes.

(Kidding. There's no way I'll be able to keep the class from making one "end of the world" joke.)

No Tricks, only Treats.

2008-11-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

When I was young, I remember my Dad would always take us Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood and Mom would stay home and pass out candy. And I remember that Dad would always be done with Trick-or-Treating loooong before any of us were. "Please, Dad, let's just go down that street," I'd whine. Or, "Just one more house? Those two? Please?"

We had walked down two streets when my kids started up: My feet are tired. My bag is heavy. I'm thirsty. But when I'd say, "Okay, let's head home," they all looked astonished that I would suggest such heresy. When we did call it quits, they each had about five pounds of candy.

This year we had a Star Wars Clone Trooper, Spiderman, and the Dread Pirate Alex. And yes, that is my only darling, dulcet, daughter. Dressed as a snake.

Queen for the Day

2008-11-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

Isn't it fun when people admire what you create, and listen to your stories, and generally give you the impression that you are the coolest thing ever?

My aunts and uncles came into town to stay at their condo in Scottsdale and invited us up to spend an afternoon. "Bring your jewellery," says Aunt Kate. So I did. It was such fun to show off, (the jewelry, the kids) and talk and talk. And as we drove home in a contented glow, I realized why -- I was two years old again!

When I was very little, Dad went to Vietnam and Mom and I went to go live near Grandma and Grandpa during his deployment. Aunt Aud and Kate were still young, in high school, and family stories say that they doted on me and took me everywhere. I have memories of Audrey boosting me up on the back of a pony in the stables where she rode. (My first lesson of perspective, by the way. Ponies are a lot higher off the ground when you are on their back.) And Aunt Katy took me to her high school once, and introduced me to friends who, very sweetly, fawned over me.

So, sometimes, if you are really, really lucky, you can go home again. Thanks again.

Spray Art for Sale

2008-11-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

You ever had those teaching moments, where you finally decide to "let your kids figure it out for themselves" instead of listening to your pearls of wisdom? Probably because the aforementioned "pearls" were falling of deaf ears? Me too.

There's a small city park a few blocks from our home and during the summer months (March through October) there are often kids selling lemonade, kool-aid, and whatever, for $1 a glass. I always look that these home-made booths and have several thoughts that go through my mind:
a. A dollar a glass? A dollar? Really? For Crystal Light??

b. Poor mom, sweltering in 115 degree heat, over there in the paltry shade of that Palo Verde.

c. Why is she letting her kids do this? She's crazy.

d. Snort. I'll never do it.

Then I drive by.

Well, for several years now, Alex has wanted to set up a lemonade stand. And for several years now I have said no. Then I list all the reasons why: it's too hot. We've got other things to do. No one is going to stop their car in the middle of the street to buy lemonade from you.

Then I start to list arguments: How much will you charge for a glass? Will that cover the cost of the drink? The cup? Where are you going to get your drinks from? Your cups? Are you going to buy the supplies? How?

Anyhow, a few Sundays ago, I came downstairs bleary-eyed, and found my kids all engaged in an art project that involved paper towels, magic markers, and the spray bottle of water I use for ironing shirts. "It's spray-art, Mom," Thomas explained. "See, first you draw a design on a paper towel with magic markers, then you spray it with water and it spreads around and makes a cool picture."

"That's nice," I said, then started to rummage about for breakfast-making things.

"We're going to sell them," he continued.

"No you're not," say I.

So we talked about it all day -- where are you going to sell your art? How much are you charging? Who do you think will buy it? And, since the kids were on their fall break, and there was no school or homework, I just decided, "Okay, fine. Let them learn for themselves how disappointing it is to try to sell stuff to strangers that no one really wants anyhow."

They asked for a box that they could use as a stand; I dug one out of the garage. Thomas made signs. Alex made a box to hold all their money in. And they made spray art by the ton. And Monday, after lunch, I let them set up at the end of the driveway. I sat in the front room and sorted and folded several baskets of clean laundry, feeling that if someone slowed down and snatched one of the kids from the sidewalk I could probably race outside fast enough to catch a license plate number. All the while listening to this interior dialogue: Oh well, too bad they've worked so hard and are going to be disappointed. Yeah, but you tried to tell them! And honestly, isn't it better to be disappointed by strangers than have your own mother poop on your parade? It's so hot out there. I'll have to remember to bring them out water. Nah, they won't stay out there longer than 30 minutes. And sunscreen. They'll burn if they're out there longer than 30 minutes. And a hat, too. It's almost their last day of vacation; I'd sure hate to spend my second-to-last day of vacation sitting out in the sun, watching the few cars that drive down our street just drive by....

And it was about here that Thomas raced in, face alight, waving a dollar bill. "WE SOLD TWO!"

And there was me, jaw agape. They'd been out there 20 minutes when our mailman came by and bought two pictures. Then one of my friends dropped something off at the house and bought one. Then someone else. They decided to sell their art for 50 cents a piece and by the end of the afternoon they had made NINE DOLLARS.

So...ahem.

Lesson learned.

Thousand Words' Worth

2008-10-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Disneyland, Day One, 10:00AM. All fresh-faced and sun-screened up on Main Street. Disneyland, still Day One, 5:00PM. Not as fresh-faced. On the deck of the Riverboat ride.

Legoland with Kent, three Darth Mauls, one Pink Kitty, and Enno.

The Legoland miniature cities were dressed up for Halloween. On the street, there were miniature Trick or Treaters, dressed as ghosts or witches, with Lego Moms and Dads passing out Lego candy. And in the graveyard...wait a sec...what is this?

Ah! Buffy the Vampire Slayer at work. Hilarious!

Disneyland -- the Happiest HOTTEST Place on Earth!

2008-10-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Maybe not literally. But the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we spent there it was sunny, humid, and over 100 degrees. Now I am used to 100 degree (plus) weather. I mean, I live in that kind of weather 9 months out of every year. But when it is over 100 degrees here, I do not spend ALL DAY outside! And for me, that kind of nasty, muggy, oppressive heat just sucks the pleasure right out of the day and turns 10 hours at Disneyland from a thing to enjoy to a thing to endure.

NONETHELESS, endure it I did. The kids seemed oblivious to the buckets of sweat rolling off of us so I just kept my complaints (mostly) to myself. We saw a lot of shows. We ate at a lot of restaurants. We did a lot of needless shopping. Anything air-conditioned. I can tell you that Pirates of the Caribbean is still my favorite ride, although I appreciated the air-conditioning more this time though. (Even since Disney pimped it out with numerous references and appearances of Captain Jack Sparrow, I still like it.)

The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride is finally re-opened! It has been closed since...well, at least since we started going as a family, about three and a half years. It's been re-themed as Finding Nemo and is very cute. My kids loved it and we rode on it twice. We would have ridden it more frequently except there's no FastPass, and the line was always over 40 minutes long, and completely unshaded. It is in TomorrowLand, which some of you may remember, is acres of concrete and metal and asphalt, and I've always thought that ol' Walt envisioned a future with NO TREES. After the first day, we learned to do TomorrowLand after the sun went down. Autopia, Nemo, the nausea-inducing Rocket Ride (I don't know why, but that little spinner of a kids' ride makes me green), Buzz Lightyear, and Star Tours -- all in the blazing sun.

The Matterhorn is open again too -- it's been closed as long as the submarines. I rode it again, to see if it's smoother but it's still very much like the ride I remember from my childhood -- jerky and jarring. Thomas loved it, Alex hated it before we even sat down, and after the first ride I was happy to stay behind with Alex.

The kid's favorites? Alex loves Autopia and Soaring Over California, Thomas loves The Tower of Terror, Sam loved Pirates of the Caribbean, and Kate loves Splash Mountain and Star Tours. I was wrong, by the way -- Kaity is my other thrill rider. Sam doesn't much like what he calls the "fast trains."

As we went on various rides, I tried to explain "audio-animatronics" to Kate. She kept asking, "Is that a real elephant?" (on The Jungle Cruise) and "Is that a real pirate?" (on Pirates of the Caribbean.) I think I got her to understand the concept, so now she would ask, "Is that a real lion or a Robot lion?" One of the days there at Disneyland there must have been a theme day or discounts for amputees as I noticed more than a few people with artificial limbs. Kate noticed one girl, about mid-teens, with a very high-tech artificial leg. One of those ones that don't even try to look like a "real" leg --it's just metal rods and gears. Kate was just fascinated, couldn't keep her eyes off of this girl, and finally pulls me down and whispers, "That girl has a robot leg!"

Well, it is the Magical Kingdom.

At California Adventure, Thomas went on the Tower of Terror with me. When it was done, he turns to me and says, with all sincerity, "Is that all?" He also rode on my favorite roller coaster -- California Screamin'. Fast and smooooooth. I asked him what he thought after we got off and he said, "Good. But I'm dizzy," and sure enough, he was a bit gray looking. I had him sit down with his head between his knees. We all went on the new Toy Story shooting gallery ride afterwards and it's darling. Also, the Muppet 3D movie/show is funny and cute (and air-conditioned.) Even the waiting area before you are seated in the theater is funny and fun to be in. (And, btw, the 3D show at Disneyland "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience," is loud and awful. And my "loud," I mean, "Brain Liquefying Loud." Why? Why?)

Friday was LegoLand, which is a new park for all of us. It's only open from 10AM to 5PM, but that was just about the right amount of time. It was 30 degrees cooler (nearer to the ocean? Cool front moving in? Deliverance?) and slightly overcast, with approximately 700, 000 less people in it. AWESOME. The rides are perfect for our kids' ages. Alex might have been bored except he hates thrill rides/scary rides, so it was probably his favorite day there.

Mom and Richard joined us for this day and at lunchtime Mom bought a face painting for the kids. Kaity chose to be a pink-faced kitty, and the boys each chose Darth Maul. So we spent the rest of the day at the park with a pink cat, and three Darth Mauls. After a while, I think they forgot what they looked like and couldn't remember exactly why kids and moms would point them out. There was a very gentle roller-coaster there that both Sam and Kate loved. And there was a nice Lego car driving course that Alex and Thomas loved. Alex and Kent did a Lego MindStorm robotics tournament (and won!) My favorite is the cities all done in miniature with Legos. There's Las Vegas, New Orleans, Washington DC, and a small town/farmland, and New England area. I could have spent another hour in that part alone.

P.S. Thomas seemed just fine until our last night. Then he threw up. And now he's fine again. What's that all about?

Ta Da!

2008-09-28T09:42:00.001-07:00

And here it is, finished. After we did the underpainting, we added the color. This is only the three primary colors, and titanium white. (A "limited palette," I've learned.) The browns and the blackish browns are mixed from the primary colors which, while I knew such a thing was possible, still seems like alchemy. We learned about glazing too -- you paint a thin layer of walnut oil with an alkid additive (so it dries..eventually) over the canvas and then thin your paints with the same oil. It adds richness and depth.

Next we get to pick something we want to paint. I've been going through magazines and photos here at home, trying to pick something that is fun, but not impossible. I have a gorgeous picture I took of a waterlily at Kew Gardens, but with all the water and reflections, I fear it is way beyond my skills. Still....so pretty!

The kids' fall break starts tomorrow and we are off to Disneyland for our biennial trip. I'm hoping that Thomas is tall enough for the California Screamin' roller coaster because otherwise no one else will go on it with me! So far, he's my only thrill rider. I'll bet Sam will be too but at 5, he's still too little for the Tower of Terror. The "Mom" in me won't let him even if he wanted too. I'm not sure that I want Thomas on that one either. We'll see. We driving out there tomorrow morning and plan to spend three days at the park, and then we'll go to LegoLand. That's a new one for us. Jen and Mom say that it's a perfect park for little kids, and easily done in one day. Perfect for us. Plus, Thomas and Alex are crazy about Legos.

The only fly in the ointment is that I got a call from the school nurse Friday at noon -- Thomas was running a fever of 102. And guess what? He still is. He says his head hurts and his throat hurts. I'm wondering...strep? I doubt we'd be so lucky though. (And I do mean lucky -- I'd love a sore throat that can be eradicated after only 48 hours on antibiotics.) And with four kids I have to also wonder -- is this the tip of the iceberg? So far it's only Thomas who is sick. And, as someone who went to Disneyland with chickenpox when she was three years old, I'm willing to drag along ONE sick kid. (The needs of the many, etc. etc.) BUT, I'm not looking forward to a hotel room full of sickies. Keep your fingers crossed!

Grisaille Underpainting

2008-09-19T20:32:00.001-07:00

Oil Painting: the assignment this week is to make a still-life from three objects, using the primary colors. Linda brought in all sorts of things that are red, blue, and yellow and I chose these ones:

And here is what I made! It's a "grisaille underpainting" done entirely in Burnt Umber. Grisaille is a style of painting that only uses one color, usually grey. Artists use these underpaintings as a guide -- they just paint the colors right on top. So our next assignment will be adding the colors, I presume.

Alla Prima

2008-09-14T20:05:00.001-07:00

So I'm taking this oil painting class on Thursday evenings this semester. This is my first attempt from my first class. You probably want an explanation.

Linda (our instructor) was taught a bit about light and shadows, and warm colors and cool colors. Where the light hits an object, you usually paint in warm colors. And where the shadows are, you usually paint in cool colors. On the table she had several all-white objects: a teacup, an egg, children's play blocks, two vases, and this Styrofoam mannequin's head. Our assignment was to pick any three objects and paint where the light hits a warm yellow, and where the shadows fall, a cool blue. Then she passed around easels and canvas boards. Then she said, "Paint." Er....yeah. So I set up the easel and the canvas. Then I lined up my paints (all two of them.) Then I lined up my brushes. Opened my brand-new pack of paper palettes. And stared. The other three students are all industriously painting away.

(By the way, the other three students also brought in their current works in progress. See, they are already painters. They already know how to paint. And I spent the first ten minutes of class trying to remember any fine print on the course description that mentioned something like "previous experience necessary.")

So as I stare paralyzed while everyone else is beginning I ask, "Uh, do we sketch it out first? Or ... what?" Linda says, "If you want to sketch I have a pencil." Then I stare again at the blank canvas. Then I decide to pick my three objects instead. Naturally I pick the head. My thought process was this: the mannequin head has got to be the hardest object to paint (right?) and so if my painting was terrible, I could at least say, "Of course it's terrible, I picked the hardest thing to paint!" Then I stared at my blank canvas again, patting my tubes of paint and brand-new brushes. Hmmmm. Then I looked up at Linda and said, "I'm a rules and procedures kind of girl. What should I do first?" She smiles and says, "You won't get a lot of that in here. Just start painting."

So I did!

And, honestly, I'm proud of it. I got it centered. You can tell what it is supposed to be. Plus, I almost finished it entirely. (The upper right hand corner is not left blank deliberately. I ran out of time.) Nonetheless...it's a disembodied head! When I was telling John (Gordon) about it, he said that art classes are like that: you get plenty of work that you're really happy with, but none of it you want to hang on your walls.

I'm going to call it: Blue and Yellow Head, #1. Creative, huh?

("Alla Prima" is my art term for the day. It means, painting in all one setting, without letting the different layers and colors dry.)

Sounds Like Whale Song

2008-09-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post on this. Alex is in 5th grade this year and 5th grade is when the kids can start band or orchestra. Alex decided that he wanted to play the baritone. Having no idea what that was, I said "okay" and signed the forms. I have learned, and as you can see, a "baritone" is a "mini-tuba." It is nearly half the size and weight as Alex. It comes with it's own little hand-truck to wheel it around. The entertainment value alone is priceless! Also, because it is not a very popular instrument, we were able to get a brand-new one from the district for only $20 for this school year. Compare this to renting an instrument from a local music store for $25 to $50 a month. And, Alex's band teacher says that if Alex is good at baritone and keeps up with it through high school, he'll get lots of scholarship offers. (Again, not a popular instrument, apparently.)

So take that, all you saxophone players. I'm now a big fan of the baritone.

Reasons Why I Love Costco

2008-08-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Number 1: Because they take back merchandise from a purchase 18 months ago and refund your money! (And that alone is reason enough to love Costco.)

My Roomba died. It was sad but quick. It had developed a strange case of convulsions, as if a twist tie or a piece of plastic Easter grass had entangled about it's wheel, even though nothing was there. It would start with a cheerful "Beep Beep ba Beep ba BEEP" and then go forward an inch and then start to judder and shake and then pause, think about it for a moment, and then the "Duh Duh" chime of "help me, I'm stuck." The first time it happened I checked everything over, cleaned up the sensor near the front wheel, and it was fine. The second time it happened, Kent touched it with his "Knack" and then everything was fine too. But the third time -- so sad. Kent diagnosed a faulty sensor, and I went on-line to find a replacement. I wanted to buy one from Hammacher-Shlemmer, even though they cost $100 more than any local ones. BUT, they have a life-time, no-questions-asked, guarantee which Jen has used a half dozen times. So that would be good, right? Nope! Kent decided to try to return the Roomba to Costco, where we bought it originally. I'm sure it helped that I had saved the original receipt, and Kent had saved the original wrappings and box. (Don't ask.) I figured he didn't have a snowball's chance but he said they took it back without batting an eye, refunded our original purchase price, and then Kent walked over to the new Roombas and bought one. It was only $10 more.

And man, it's a sleek, zippy little thing. My only complaint is that it's too good at it's job. I used to be able to count on my carpet being high enough to block the other one -- so it just stayed on the linoleum where I wanted it. But either my carpet is old enough and matted down enough, or this new one is just robust enough, that my carpet edge is no longer a barrier. So if I want it to clean JUST the kitchen, I have to set up an elaborate line of accompanying "Virtual Walls" and furniture. Nonetheless, I am a complete fan.

In completely different news, has anyone seen "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog?" (If not, it's here: http://www.drhorrible.com/.) After reading rave review after rave review I finally watched it while folding several baskets of laundry. (It's not too long, though. Maybe 40 minutes.) I really like it, a lot, until the very end, then, well, it just wasn't quite what I expected. Anyone seen it? Comments? I mean, other than the obvious, "That Dougie Howser kid sure grew up to be awesome."

Well, treat yourself -- Dr. Horrible and "The Knack." I can't watch on-line videos on my computer any more because since my "upgrade," any online video longer than two minutes causes complete and total systems failure.

I have the Anti-Knack.

Sleeping With My Eyes Open

2008-08-11T21:26:00.001-07:00

This morning Kent had a meeting at 7AM so I woke up when his alarm went off, woke up again when he got out of the shower, woke up again when he said goodbye.... A restless morning. I woke up, positive that I had overslept and how the kids are LATE FOR SCHOOL, only to realize that I still had 15 minutes to go until my alarm went off. When that adrenalin rush faded, at about quarter to seven; drifted off a bit again. Then, as I'm laying there in the quiet, semi-dark, I hear a voice hiss "JULIE!" in a loud stage-whisper, right in my ear. My eyes flew open and I sat straight up -- no one is in the room. Gah! NOW I'm awake.

I'm better now, compared to my rant from a week ago. I've been to all the curriculum nights, feeling a bit more like I have a handle on the year. Thomas has been just fine with his homework since that first horrible day; Alex seems to be getting a lot of his homework done at school which pleases and worries me. I'm glad he's got less to do at home; and I'm worried about the calibre of work he's actually turning in. Oh well. Kent worked with Sam and now Sam can spell his name, SAMMy, really well. I haven't done a thing with Kate but I will, I will.

Also I heard a rumor that this year, all Art Masterpiece volunteers will have to be fingerprinted and submit to a criminal background search. Yes, I have to go down to the POLICE STATION, get fingerprinted, and PAY for this also. (Yeah.) So if that rumor is actually true, I've decided to tell Basha Elementary that I will no longer be volunteering for them. I am offended. And this is the polite way I will tell them. The impolite way is to say, "Are you freaking kidding me??? You can take this volunteer job and shove it." It's not that I have some lurid criminal past, and it's not that I intend to go on a mid-life crime spree that will be foiled if my fingerprints are on file. I'm just ... well, offended! It's not like I'm ever alone with any student. I'm 99 percent sure that this whole fingerprinting thing is just the district lawyers' way of covering their butts. Not actually a way to protect children. Anyhow, my first Art Masterpiece meeting is this Wednesday morning. I'll know more then.

I wouldn't actually mind skipping Art Masterpiece entirely this year. I'm now the Den leader for the Wolf pack (in Cub Scouts.) In our church, this is a church position. It's also like a foreign planet. Apparently there's a bunch of training I need to do; no one knows the on-line codes to do it on-line, and it'll take months before I get my registration. I'm supposed to do the "Youth Protection" one in person, but they only offer it once a month. (I could do it on-line, if I had the code. Which no one knows.) And in the meantime, I'm not supposed to meet with the boys until I am completely trained. Which, at this rate, will be next February. So the reality is, I've already met with my den three times! The other leader, Janie, is equally new. So we're foundering about like fish on a dock. Oh, plus, I was also asked to be a nursery teacher. So...two full-time positions, one requiring several hours on Sundays, one requiring several hours on Tuesdays, as well as a whole mess o' training. I could have said "no" of course, but my sense of duty doesn't allow me to do something so sensible. The good news is that Janie and I spent three hours last Friday and hammered out a 12-month curriculum so that any Wolf, regardless of when he enters the den, will cover each Achievement and several Enrichment activities. Oh yeah, plus the Faith in God program, which we incorporated. So, basically, we totally rock...even though we haven't a clue as to what we are doing. (Why, you ask, wasn't there a curriculum already in place? What were the former leaders doing? you inquire. BEATS ME!) Ah well, my inner snarkiness has surfaced. In my defense, I had a rough, semi-haunted morning.

Okay, what else, what else? Oh yeah -- I registered for an oil painting class! I am really excited about this. About eight years ago I saw some oil paintings that Suzanna Briggs had painted and thought, Cool! I want to do that too!, but with a two-year-old and a 6-week old it was a complete fantasy. Then my aunt Pat started painting, and I looked anew at the roses painted and framed around Grandma's house (she and her mom-in-law Rose painted on tile.) And then I found out that Grandma Hazel was a painter, which I may have known, but had forgotten. So I'm figuring I have genetic talent galore. (Right? Right.) Recently my friend Emily, who is a professional artist has piqued my interest again. (Check her out at http://www.emilymcphie.com/) And now the stars have conspired and a woman I knew from my 3rd grade Art Masterpiece experience is teaching a class through the city. It wasn't offered this summer, but another one is starting in September. I just went today and picked up my supply list. Yea! I don't know why but I'm getting a little thrill just thinking that I will soon own something called "Alizarin Crimson" and a #2 round hog bristle brush. (And a palette knife! And more!)

And that's it. My eyes feel like they've been rolling around outside in the dust and I wish I could pluck them out and swish them around in cool water. Taking my contact lenses out will be the next best thing. Then I'm going to bed and hopefully no spectral voices will hiss me awake again.

P.S. I finished Breaking Dawn. LOVED IT. Yipee! (Stop rolling your eyes.)

I hate school. AGAIN.

2008-08-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking a bit and have decided what the most unfair aspect of motherhood is: having to go through school again. The homework. The mean kids. Book reports. Worrying if you will have a friend. Being baffled by an assignment but not having the courage to ask about it because everyone will think you're dumb. Distancing yourself emotionally by writing "you" when you really mean "I." (Oh wait. That's just me.)

When you have kids, you get to do this all over again, vicariously, and let me tell you, it is WORSE. No one ever warned me so I'm guessing I'm the only mom who has experienced this. I suppose every other mom who has been through it (that I know) has had brilliant kids who just blazed through every fargin assignment. Those moms probably had worries like: "Oh dear. Poor little Georgie just isn't challenged enough. There's not nearly enough homework to keep him stimulated." Those moms make me want to cry.

Today is the second week of school for my kids and Kate brought a note home today that says "Kaitlyn would really benefit from some extra practice at home writing her name." Kaitlyn -- who actually writes every letter of her name, in the correct order, in a recognizable form. I can only assume that Mrs. H didn't see Sam's odd reformed-Egyptian hieroglyphs. And Thomas -- sat with him for an hour and a half (an hour and a half! Second grade!!) doing his homework this afternoon. Threw a big temper tantrum and then sobbed piteously while I stood over him and made him complete the assignment. And instead of feeling compassion for him, I was ready to beat my head against the tabletop. (Thomas: the poster boy for why home-schooling isn't for me.) And then Alex -- the king of incomplete sentences, random capitalization, and creative spelling. Then he tosses a handful of punctuation into the mix, just for flavor. When I tell him to re-write it in a legible form, big sigh, crocodile tears, mutterings.....

I just....ugh. Hate school. Hate it.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

2008-07-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

Today is the kids' first day of school and the house is so quiet I hardly know what to do with myself.

I had no idea my refridgerator was so loud.....

P.S. Meh....

2008-06-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

...the polka dot template wasn't working for me...so I changed it.

Also, guess what was on T.V. last night? One of my top 10 favorite movies, The Princess Bride. I watched it while balancing the checkbook.

When SkyNet becomes self-aware, we're hosed.*

2008-06-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

I bought a Scooba. I just couldn't resist anymore. I've been looking at them on-line, watching my friend's Scooba slowly scrub across her kitchen floor, wondering if it would be a completely wonderful, useful, time saving tool (like my FoodSaver) or an exercise in silliness (ahem: GoDuster.)

I bought it from Hammacher-Schlemmer, mostly because of their awesome 100% lifetime guarantee, and because I found an on-line coupon for free shipping. It arrived Friday night and we powered up the battery overnight, then filled the Clean tank with water and cleaning solution, then pressed Power, and Clean, and .... zip. We got the "duh-duh" chime of doom.

But, and here's where I thank my lucky stars to have married an engineer, Kent brought it to life with his magic touch. (The pump had to be primed, he surmised.) (Kent has "the knack.") So while I dusted the front room, and vacuumed, and folded laundry, my kitchen floor was vacuumed, and mopped, and scrubbed by my new robotic trilobite. No more odd, random sticky patches. No more crushed Craisons. Yea!

*Although I'm not sure how much danger two floor-cleaning robots could pose our family. Maybe we could be sucked to death....

Aaaand the winner is....

2008-06-25T18:33:00.001-07:00

In a fit of delicious irony, the person who entered the contest in its 11th hour is the winner. ALSO, Katy just bought FOUR of my Queen of the Kitchen spoons, one of which was for her! Katy -- email me (at my cox account) and we'll figure something else out. Maybe you want one as a gift for someone else? Or a bumblebee?

This was fun (for me, anyhow.) We'll do it again.

I'm NOT sarcastic

2008-06-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

See? I'm highly evolved!

http://www.livescience.com/history/080620-hn-sarcasm.html

I hope scientists will soon discover that "crankiness" can be perceived as a virtue too.

(Psssst. Don't forget about the contest!)

One Year Blog-iversary! And a Contest!

2008-06-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yup, Faithful Readers. It's been one year since I started this blog, with the hope I would be more constant in updating it than I ever was with my group emails. Forty-five posts later (forty-six, if you count this one) and I feel ~~smug~~ ~~self-righteous~~ satisfied that I've succeeded.

It's time to celebrate! I redecorated the blog here, as you probably noticed. I thought it was time to try something new. We'll give it a whirl, anyhow.

AND, the fun part for you is, I'm going to give one lucky soul a personalized wooden spoon, just like in my Etsy shop! Only a very select few have these so they are extremely rare. Honest! More rare than a Rembrandt, or a Michelangelo, or even a unicorn! The rules are simple -- just leave me a comment on this post, and in one week I will draw a name from a hat, and one lucky friend or family member (or maybe even a complete stranger, who knows?) will win a personalized Wooden Kitchen Spoon. Yes! I know, it's very very thrilling!

I'll bet you can hardly wait!

We're all Re-Unified

2008-06-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

And...we're back. Spent the weekend in Reno, for our biennial "Reno-Union" family reunion.

My mom's side of the family has been getting together for over a decade, every other year, in Reno, hosted by my uncle Kelly's family (thanks guys!) We stay at the Nugget, eat at Rosie's Cafe, swim in the pool, and then meander over to the park where the Reno-Union festivities are held. This year was perfect. Kent and I decided on the plane ride back that it's mostly because our kids are a perfect age. No one is napping so we don't have to curtail our fun and/or put up with strung-out toddlers. Everyone is potty-trained. They are all competent in the water so I don't have to get in the pool with them, or hover around anxiously at the margins, but I can talk with the grown-ups at the grown-up table! Over at the park, I can just relax and let them play at the playground, without worrying about someone trying to climb a jungle gym that is above their skill set, or eat rocks, or wander off into the desert scrub. (I mean, all those things can still happen...it just wouldn't happen by accident.) Plus, they aren't teen-agers yet, or even "tweeners" so they don't think a family reunion is Torture by Boredom.

It's still crazy, though. They're so many people that I haven't seen in two years: cousins, aunts, uncles, second-cousins, new babies who were born since the last reunion, new spouses who married into the family since the last reunion, complete strangers who just smelled the barbecue and wandered over.... (Kidding.) Not to mention my own sisters and brothers-in-law, and nieces and nephews. I find myself each night, staring at the hotel room ceiling, and thinking, "Oh yeah! I never finished what I was going to say about compact fluorescent bulbs!" or "What was the name of that book that Jen said she was reading?" or "Dang. I brought that letter for Aunt Aud and never gave it to her." Poor Ken actually flew back home before I remembered he was leaving a day early! But it's a crazy kind of fun.

On Saturday morning, Reno had a Father's Day fishing activity for dads and kids over 7 and under 18. All the menfolk heroically woke up at the crack of o'dark thirty and hauled the boys to the marina for free fishing, free fishing poles, bait, t-shirts and, if you wanted to stay long enough, free lunch. (I'm guessing that legalized gambling really brings in revenue for a city.) Plus face painting and other sorts of fun booths for the kids. Mom said that there were hundreds of park rangers there too, helping the kids put the corn on their hooks, and cast out into the water. The rangers had stocked the lake with tons of fish, then netted them close to the shore. It must have been like shooting fish in a barrel. Nonetheless, with 7000+ kids there, it wasn't so easy. Alex and Thomas didn't catch a single fish but came back over the moon with their free fishing rod, t-shirt, Frisbees, whistles, chap-stick, sunscreen, googly-eyed sunglasses.... We had to send the rods and reels back with Grandpa Reno, but I managed to cram the rest into our luggage.

We also took the kids to see a matinee of "Kung Fu Panda" which I had absolutely no great hopes for and was delighted by it. It was the funniest movie I've seen in at least a year, possibly longer, and as a real added plus -- I felt good about taking my kids to see it. None of the humor was snarky and mean-spirited and most of it was genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. I'm actually looking forward to when the DVD comes out because I want to see it again. I was blinded by the awesomeness.

Aunt Audrey had asked that I bring one of my bracelets so she could see it and I decided to bring a bunch more. I managed to quash my sense of unseemliness for "pimping my bling" each time I brought out a bag of bracelets. But my family is the best and I sold more jewelry there than I have in two years on-line. I still feel a bit guilty -- I hope everyone really likes what they got and didn't feel obligated. Despite small guilty pangs, I deposited the checks today and have been eyeballing some more fine silver wire and a new on-line bracelet tutorial so....thanks for supporting my habit!

Ah, fun stuff. I love you guys. If I got any good pictures, I'll post 'em.

Oceanside

2008-06-04T13:52:00.001-07:00

I'm behind on this one. We went to Oceanside, impromptu, over Mother's Day weekend at the invite of the Tingeys. Jen and Mark had friends who had to back out of their plans at the last minute so the B Team was called in. (Kidding.)

What a wonderful trip! The kids are finally all old enough to (mostly) self-entertain for the seven hour car ride. Also, we only had to make one pit stop. Kent and I listened to Freakonomics on audio CD (loved it) and I could reliably monitor how close we were getting to the coast by how frizzy my hair got. The Tingey condos are in this lushly, Disney-esque landscaped complex right on the ocean. You can literally walk out the door, across in the lawn, and into the waves.

It was so relaxing. The quality of the light is softer, more diffuse. The ambient humidity makes it softer, lusher. Walking on the shore you can see that the sand is liberally spangled with gold flecks. The rocks are all worn smooth of their rough edges, rounded like eggs, colored dark grey, and light blue, and shiny black, and frosted green. We found tongues of kelp, thick, smooth shards of pottery, hundreds of wee purple shells, and of course, that caramel, brown, pepper and gold flaked sand. The waves are small, friendly, and the sand smooths gently deeper into the surf. We could see the ocean waves rolling onshore from our bedroom, and closer, a courtyard fountain gurgled and gushed below the window. So so SO mellow. I felt lighter there; calm, a mental somnolence that could easily melt into a coma-like trance.

You know that image of the stereotypical So-Cal surfer dude? The "hey, mellow out" guy who always smells like pot? WHY? Why would anyone who lives right on the edge of the earth and the sea have any need of extra-mellowness? How uptight are they, really? If they moved to Manhattan, for example, would they explode?

Alex was determined to learn how to surf and Uncle Mark was kind (and brave) enough to wade into waist-deep water to point out the gists of the boogie board. Kate was surprisingly brave about the cool water and waves and Sam surprisingly not so much. Kent buried all three boys up to their chins in the sand. Everyone got a bit sunburned. Judy's hair curled up into ringlets. Mark told Noah that the kelp fronds were fish tongues. I was sure I spotted a dorsal fin about 50 yards offshore and then chided myself on an overactive imagination and allowing the recent "shark attack" headlines to color my perceptions. We watched pelicans doing kamikaze dives into the water, pause, then struggle upward and air-ward again.

Later we walked to the marina and ate salt-water taffy and ice cream and pizza and deep-fried things. The side of sweet-potato fries I ordered was amazing. Alex decided we wanted to rent a boat. We explained we were just boat watching, not renting. Then he decided he wanted to go fishing. (Thank heavens a fishing license is required and I didn't need to argue about "What are you going to do with a fish? You don't even eat fish sticks" with him.) During breakfast the next morning, we got to watch a group of locals catch fish off the pier. The glamor of fishing wore off pretty fast then, watching as one ill-prepared fisherman stomp on the head of his catch to stop it from convulsing off the boardwalk and back into the water. Gah. Now I probably won't eat fish sticks either.

It was during breakfast that I saw the dorsal fins again. Dolphins! (Aha!) A pod of dolphins swam right by, clearing enjoying the morning. We counted about a dozen. Then, after breakfast, we got to watch a shivering, blue-lipped group of life-guards hurl themselves off the pier, into the water, then swim ashore. I'm not good at judging distance but it had to be a 40 foot drop -- and at least a half mile to the shore. Two of the kids were bleeding (I'm guessing fish hook injuries as they swam up to the pier) and all of them looked a degree shy of hypothermia. This was after then swam from the breakwater to the pier in the first place. Interestingly enough the two veteran life guards (who we guessed were the trainers,) seemed as relaxed as though they just stepped out of the bathtub.

See? It's something about the air there.

And I Thought Bar Graphs Were Boring....

2008-05-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

More here: http://graphjam.com/

Stephenie Meyer Book Signing

2008-05-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Lisa called me a week or so ago to tell me she bought me a birthday present. A very early birthday present, and she needed to tell me about it so I could put it on my calender. Intriguing!! She bought us both tickets to a Host book signing by author Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight fame.) And a copy of Host, of course. Whee! Stephenie Meyer is a bit of a hero of mine because a) she's an insanely popular author, b) she's LDS, c) she's got three little boys, and d) she lives right here in the valley! So at the risk of adding another "dorky stalker" notch to my belt, I was very excited to go.

So, apparently were 2,000 other people. (OK, maybe it was only a thousand. But easily a thousand!) We filled up a high school gym. A vast majority of fans were high-school girls, then middle-aged moms! Three boys. Not too surprising, I guess. Neither Lisa nor I had been to anything like this at all so we didn't quite know what to expect. Our tickets said that the "doors open at 5" and so we were there at about 5:30 for the 6PM signing. What a horde. There were cupcake vendors in the lobby, and other vendors inside selling Twilight-themed things (mostly jewelry) and a few quasi-Twilight things (stuffed monsters with fangs) completely non-related things too (handbags made out of woven candy wrappers.) (Yeah, I didn't get it either. But they were cool handbags.)

Stephenie came out (see how I'm on a first-name basis with her?) at a bit after 6 and answered questions for about 20 minutes. Then the book signing began. On our tickets was a letter of the alphabet ("O" for Lisa and me) and they called us up by groups. Thank heavens Lisa was there. I could have read The Host, I suppose, but chatting with a friend was such a more fun way of passing the time. Finally, it was out turn. Loaded down with books (she was willing to sign her other ones too) and camera, we approached the table. "Hi" I said, dorkishly. "Hi," she replied back. "How is your signing hand holding up?" I inquired again, dorkishly. "It's actually fine." she said, taking a swig of Diet Coke. (See? It's like we could be twins! Except for the world-famous best selling author part.) And that was it! Lise and I staggered out at 9PM!

Anyhow, here's my advice if you ever go to something like this -- Go with Lisa.

The Last Day at PB & J

2008-05-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

This is Kate and Sam's PB & J Preschool class. Today was the last day of the semester and I've been a little sniffly about it all morning. Driving to drop them off this morning, I kept going slower and slower. I just can't believe it. I met Niki Jo (proprietress) when Alex was four years old and I was scouting around for a good preschool for him. On a friend's recommendation I found Niki Jo and totally lucked out. Niki Jo now has a two-year long waiting list. I had Thomas and Sam and Kate on her list from the moment I knew I was pregnant. And now there are no more Smith kids to benefit from this amazing, wonderful woman. Sigh. Why can't ALL teachers be like her? So full of enthusiasm and love for "her" kids. So supportive. And so sensible!

After I picked up the twins I headed to Costco to fill up the van. Gas is $3.49 a gallon there. And that's about the cheapest game in town. It's crazy...and yet my Vanguard Energy Fund is going gangbusters so filling up nowadays is a bittersweet experience.

Sam noticed the mall across the street and requested a "big pretzel" for lunch. Sounded good to me, too, so after topping off the tank, I drove over there. I picked up a pretzel and a Strawberry Slushy for the twins, and then went to Wildflower Bakery for my own lunch. It was Ground Zero for kids -- I've never seen so many moms and strollers. Who knew? Sam spied a large chocolate frosted cupcake with sprinkles in the bakery display so I bought that too and we shared while I waited for my turkey pastrami on grilled rye. I'd take a bite, then give Kate a bite, then Sam. They'd open their mouths like baby birds. I realized that this was the single most pleasant lunch experience I've ever had with them. It was sweeter than the cupcake.

Ah HAH!!

2008-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

I knew it.

"First born kids really do have it tougher, new research finds."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24397323/?GT1=43001

Poor Alex.

How Cold Was It?

2008-05-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Thirty one degrees. Fahrenheit.

We went camping two weekends ago up to the Tonto National Forest Rim area (past Strawberry and Pinetop, near Clint's Well, for anyone who might know the area.) Our Stake had a service project to clean up the girls' campground, and our ward's Elders' Quorum was in charge of it (ie. Kent.) The campground is very nice, foresty, with open meadows, but it's not used at all in the winter months since it is under lots of snow. So in the spring, a group of volunteers goes up and cleans up -- hauls away and chops up any fallen trees or random branches, replenishes all the fire sites with fire wood, makes sure the trails are clear, and, since the campground is adjacent to a cattle ranch, make sure there aren't any unfortunate dead cows rotting gently in the middle of the clearings.

Anyhow, we went up the night before to camp out. The kids were all excited like monkeys on crack, even Kate, who hasn't camped before. As our altitude climbed, I started noticing suspicious patches of white, in and under the trees. "Is that snow?" I asked accusingly, while mentally calculating if a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket per child was going to be adequately warm. As the sun set, we found the campsite, and the kids all wandered around picking up spent shells (ammo shells, not sea shells) while I made dinner and Kent set up the tent. We were really racing the sunset, too, and finished up in total darkness. Kent kept looking around, slightly puzzled. "It just doesn't look like I remember it should. In the morning I'm going to drive further down the trail and see if that's where we should be." (He had been to this same campsite two years ago with Alex and Thomas.)

Our sleeping bags are all rated for 0 degrees and Kent brought the tent heater. Everyone slept quite comfortably. Not me, of course! As the night wore on, warmth spread down from my chest but I couldn't get it past my shins, and even with two pairs of socks on, and squenched up in a fetal position, my feet stayed like twin blocks of ice. It was just uncomfortable enough that by 4AM I gave up trying to fall asleep and just started praying for dawn. As soon as morning dawned, Kent stuck his head out, looked around in the clear dawn light, and said, "Yup. This is the wrong campsite."

!!!!

Anyhow, I pulled on clothes and started breakfast. The wind had picked up during the night and it made cooking over the campfire a challenge. Happily, Kent brought our little two burner camp stove so I was able to heat up water for oatmeal and hot chocolate really quickly while he, equally quickly, broke camp. The kids all went wandering and found a cow skull (which was "very cool") and about 10 pounds of spent ammo shells. "Was there a war here?" Alex asked. I am guessing it was target practice, as there was no evidence (despite the cow skull) of mass slaughter.

We hit the road again and once back at the main junction, easily found were we zigged, instead of zagged. We were able to find the actual campsite and started working to clear trails and cut up and split the fallen trees into firewood logs. Lots of people showed up to help and it was testosterone paradise what with all the chainsaws and axe wielding. One man had brought his gasoline-powered log splitter and as soon as he let my boys try this, they were hooked. They must have split 50 logs.

Finally warm, I took a catnap in the Pilot.

I still have no idea of who's land we camped on.

She's Alive!

2008-04-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Kate had hernia surgery on Friday morning. (Surprise!) Actually, the hernia wasn't a surprise at all; I noticed it first when we were potty-training, probably two years ago. She's most likely had it since birth. And I know that hernias don't just "go away" on their own, nor do you "grow out of them." So I put off showing our pediatrician because, quite frankly, I didn't want her to get surgery.

Fast forward two years until last month when I took her and Sam in to the pediatrician for their well-child check-up. I pointed out the hernia and she (our pediatrician is a she) asked, "When did you first notice this?" and when I said, "Uh, I don't remember. Maybe two years ago," she looked at me like I was nutso. "Why didn't you point this out sooner?," she demanded to know. Suddenly, I'm Bad Mom. "Er," I said, stalling for time as my mind casted about for a good excuse, and then I prevaricated: "Don't they just go away on their own?" figuring it's always better to be perceived as Dumb Mom than Deliberately Neglectful Mom.

And truly, I'm neither. The hernia was merely there. It didn't do anything. It didn't get bigger. It didn't hurt. It didn't affect Kaity in any way that I could measure. So why fix something that isn't broke? (Okay, it is broke. But it still is fine. Much like our family room window which some shot out but that is a story for a different time.) Especially when the "fixing" comes with inherent (albeit slight) risk.

Sigh. Anyhow, Dr. C printed me out three pages of pediatric surgeons within a 50-mile radius and told me to contact one of them for a consult. Which I promptly did not do -- I put that off for another month! How are you supposed to pick out a surgeon? They're all licensed and board-certified. They all have been practicing for at least 10 years. According to the Arizona Medical Board, none of them have been sued and none had disciplinary actions taken against them. So, finally, I picked one and went. That was Tuesday. He explained the surgery and then sent in the woman who does the scheduling. She says, "Dr. B. operates on Wednesdays and Fridays. So we can do this tomorrow morning, or Friday, or next Wednesday. Which day is best?"

????

Whoa! Well, "tomorrow" morning was too big of a shock. The kids were all out of school on Friday for the euphemistically titled "Spring Day vacation" (because heaven forbid we offend anyone by calling it "Easter Vacation.") And Kent's work schedule was the lightest on Friday. So Friday morning it was!

Surgery was scheduled for 10:00AM and we checked in at 8:00AM. They had a little waiting room with videos and toys and puzzles and things and some very nice nurse-type girls who showed Kaity the anesthesia mask, and how she'd wake up with an IV in her hand. Ten o-clock came and went...waiting...waiting.... Kaity was perfectly happy to play but Kent and I were getting more anxious by the minute. Finally it's go time.

Once surgery began, at 11, everything went according to clockwork. Forty-five minutes later, Dr. B. came out to say that all went well. Thirty minutes after that, a nurse came to fetch us. Kaity was awake and just a bit spacey but after about an hour, we were on our way back home.

They gave her a caudal block at the end of surgery for pain management. It left her legs wobbly. She could move them, but they wouldn't support her weight. I carried her to the potty, up the stairs, and around the house until bedtime. (I'm glad that I didn't put this surgery off until she was 10.) At bedtime I gave her a dose of the Lortab that Dr. B had prescribed and some when I went to bed, I woke her up to give her some children's Motrin.

By Saturday she was doing really well. A little hitch in her walk but we went to Costco and she walked all around without (much) complaining. By bedtime yesterday she was hopping around, chasing after Sam, just like normal. And today she went off to school. Her stitches are all internal and the incision is super-glued shut on the outside. No bandages or dressing. It looks freaky, to see that big gash in her tum, but it's a nice thin red line, just a bit pink around the edges, so it is healing really well. (And "big" is only relative. It's only two inches long, but on her small torso it looks really big to me!)

And I survived too.

Can't Shake the Post Couldn't-Get-Conchords-Concert-Tickets Let-down

2008-04-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I'm still stewing about it. Not constantly, mind you, not in some sort of obsessive, stalker-like, brooding, mentally unbalanced way. Just every now and then. Especially since Flight of the Conchord's new album is being released this week and I can't stop thinking about how much I would have LOVED to have listened to the very same songs, live, and then taken my very own autographed CD home. (That was my little fantasy.)

Sigh. Some dreams die hard.

See, I got the amazingly fun idea to go see my new favorite band, Flight of the Conchords, in concert. They're touring down the western coast in May and, hey, I know people on the western coast! Specifically my Dad, Kelly, Heather, and the Waidelichs. And, lo -- FOTC has a concert date at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. Excellent! Southwest is offering...holy cow! $69 round-trip airfare? And the concert prices are...really? $32?? And Kelly doesn't mind me crashing on her couch? I love it when a plan comes together.

So when it was all said and done, Aud, Marc, me, and Heather were going to go see the concert together. Then, afterwards, I was going to get a t-shirt autographed or, barring that, at least a copy of the new CD. (How was this going to happen? I didn't have all the details ironed out but, in a fantasy, it hardly matters. Rainbow colored unicorns could have descended from the rafters and spirited me onto the stage. Right? Of course, right!)

So Sunday morning, when tickets went on sale at 10:00AM, feeling as giddy as a child on Christmas morning at Disneyland, I was poised and ready at my computer, mouse clicker-finger at the ready. Logged in at 9:55AM. Started randomly clicking the "Buy Tickets" button at 9:59AM. At 10:00:01, I was offered four tickets on the far right, last row. And here is where I made the fatal mistake -- my inner dialogue went thusly:
Me: Those are terrible seats. All we'll see is the back of Bret and Jemaine's head. Maybe.
Also me: Yes, but I think I better click on "yes" because, you know, we might not get better....
Me: Don't be ridiculous. Those are lousy seats. I'm not flying all the way to San Fransisco to maybe see the back of their heads! What if tall people sit in front of us? We wouldn't even see the back of their heads! Click "try again." It's only been 5 seconds since they started selling. Have them look up in the balcony. There's probably loads of central seats up there.
Also me: Err, okay. Click.

Anyone spot my mistake? Correct! I should have said YES, I'LL TAKE THOSE LOUSY SEATS! AND THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR THEM! because the concert sold out in 90 seconds and I was never offered any other seats at all. Even though I tried constantly for another 20 minutes, in all permutations of "four" (er -- one, two, and three mostly.)

Click, click, clickety-clickety, click, CLICK, CLICK (!!!) CLICK!

AiiiGH! And of course, my only "in" with this group -- my flesh and blood -- my sister Cristy -- WON'T try to finagle concert tickets via her connection to her husband, via his connection to Jared Hess, via his connection to Jemaine Clement. (I embarrass her.) PLUS, she specifically forbade me to pretend to be Munn via email and score some concert tickets. Darn you, Cris, and your high moral standards and your total unwillingness to act like a fawning sycophant.

(Okay, breath deep, cleansing breaths. Let it go, let it go....)

Anyhow, like it said, it's not like I'm obsessing about this, in some sort of deranged fashion....

Wait...are you rolling your eyes at me?

It's April (Already!)

2008-04-06T20:01:00.001-07:00

Can't believe how fast the weeks are going. The days are long, but the weeks are short! I've been meaning to write about the twins' birthday. They are FIVE years old now, as of March 9. Mostly I wanted to write about the cake I made. See, I love to bake. Looove it. I can make a chocolate chip cookie that will make you weep with transcendent joy. (Or at least, gobble a few up while they are still too hot to eat and will make your nose run a bit.) And I can make a margarita pie with one hand. (A true story -- I made one once holding a screaming baby in the other hand so I am not exaggerating.) And cakes -- Texas Sheet Cake, Sour Cream Chocolate Cake, Magnolia Cake Bakery Vanilla Cake. Cakes from scratch, mind you, not boxed mixes.

But something about birthday cake is beyond me. Mostly because I keep trying to make something interesting or pretty or different. There was the one year that I made cake in ice-cream cones and the dang things didn't rise past the level of the cones. So the kids looked like they were eating ice cream cokes filled with frosting. And the year I tried to make a Winnie the Pooh cake and the *&%$^ thing wouldn't unmold out the the cake pan except in three big pieces so I spackled it back into the pan and decorated it with Pooh yellow frosting. It looked like pooh, all right, but not in a good way. Even birthday cake candles are against me. I bought long skinny ones a few years back and the heat from them being lit caused them to soften and melt and curl down onto the cake like worms on the sidewalk after a rainstorm. Anyhow, to sum up, birthday cake is beyond me.

This year was almost the same. First, I used Grandma Standage's round cake pans. They have removable bottoms (but not a springform cake pan like you use for a cheesecake.) I thought that this would make unmolding them easier. I also used them for sentimental reasons since Dad says that he used to make cake in them with Grandma. Ahhh. And even though the Birthday Cake Curse always lingered in the back of my mind, I though that this year will be different. Right? Ha ha ha ha ha. Right.

"How does the cake batter stay in the pan and not leak around the bottom edges?" I wondered.
"Well," I answered myself (although my inner dialogue is often more of an argument), "the cake batter must cook from the outer edges, and bottom, inward so by the time the capillary action of the batter would cause it to seep around and drip on the bottom of the oven, the cake batter would be thicker, and thicker, as it cooked, and ultimately solidify into cake before the dripping commences."
"This makes sense. After all, they must work somehow, magically, because Grandma used them and Dad remembers using them, and in that teeny tiny kitchen of Grandma's, she wouldn't have just kept around two duds of cake pans just for laughs. They obviously work. Somehow. Just have faith."

So I prepared the cake pans, prepared the batter, and poured it into the pans. Hmmm. Very runny. But have faith in the magic cake pans! I loaded them (carefully, by the edges, since you can't lift them by their bottoms) into my preheated oven, turned on the timer, and left the kitchen.

All seemed fine for about 10 minutes, when I smelled delicious cake. Now that seems off, because it's a long bake time, and usually you don't smell cake until the last 25% of the baking time. So I went back into the kitchen to check, and sure enough, the magical cake pans were leaking cake batter all over the bottom of my oven! Dripping occasionally but steadily unto the burner! Gack! Stupid magic cake pans! Stupid Birthday Cake Curse!

So I shoved a couple of cookie sheets onto the bottom rack, below the cake pans, to catch the drips. Then I waited. And what happened next is why I think the Birthday Cake Curse may be broken.

THEY TURNED OUT FINE! AND WERE DELICIOUS! Amazingly scrumptiously delicious! I made a chocolate cake that was so good that even Kent (not a big cake fan) loved it. It's a Ding-Dong cake. Called thusly only because the finished product is supposed to look like a giant Hostess Ding-Dong, (but not taste like one.) Rich, dark, dense, delicious fudgey chocolate cake, with a creamy frosting in between the layers, and covered with a glossy luscious ganache. Mmmmmmm.

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Cake
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut (I used Ghiradelli)
1½ cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1¼ teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups well-shaken buttermilk
¾ teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 300°F and grease pans. Line bottoms of 2 10-inch* round cake pans with wax paper and grease paper.
Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. (Or just use chocolate chips) Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.
Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
* Note: This cake will overflow if baked in 9-inch cake pans. If you only have 9-inch pans, you might want to 2/3 the cake recipe instead, as following: 2 ounces chocolate, 1 cup coffee, 2 cups sugar, 1 2/3 cup flour, 1 cup cocoa, 1 1/3 tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. baking powder, 2 eggs, ½ cup oil, 1 cup buttermilk, ½ tsp. vanilla, etc. and reduce the baking time by at least ten minutes.

Cloudburst Frosting (to frost in between cake layers)
4 T. flour
1 c. whole milk
1 c. butter
1 t. almond extract (I skipped it and used vanilla. Sam's allergic to tree nuts.)
2 c. sifted confectioners sugar
In small pan, whisk together flour and milk. Simmer until thick over low heat. Remove from heat and let cool completely but NOT in refrigerator. Cream together butter and almond; add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add flour mixture and beat until fluffy. The frosting will appear to separate, but just keep beating on high until it whips up into smooth, fluffy clouds.
(It DID separate and I had to slowly add more powdered sugar to get it to come back together. But maybe I wasn't patient enough. I dunno.)

Ganache Frosting (to frost outside of cake)
½ pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut (again, I used Ghirdadelli)
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
¼ stick (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly.
Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Chilling the cake will harden the chocolate coating.

And the pictures

2008-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the set. It's shot in a real bookstore in downtown SLC. Jared Hess (Director/Writer) is on the left, the tall bearded one. Jemaine is next to him (the shorter bearded one) then the ... Assistant Director (in blue) and then Munn.
Same thing, from further away. Cris and I tried to stay out of the way, be unobtrusive, so we shot a lot from VERY far away. (I have decided I need a new camera, too.)

It snowed! Almost non-stop on Friday. I was very excited because I never see snow but the Powells all seemed to be depressed about it. This is their house.

A terribly non-flattering photo of me and Jared Hess. He's very tall! And, despite looking like he was humoring a crazy woman in this picture, he was very kind and nice.

And me and Cris from our "non-obtrusive" perch on the balcony around the set (below.) In the very lower left corner you can see Jemaine and Munn and the AD. (Dang, what was his name?)

YEA!

It's Business Time!

2008-03-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

I got to watch Munn film a movie!!

So last Sunday night, after the twins' birthday party had wound down, and grandparents had gone home, and wrapping paper shrapnel was gathered up and tossed, I sat down at my computer to check email and, lo and behold, my sister Cris sent a message entitled "fantasy blog pics" and there is a photo of her and "Jemaine" eating cake (!!!) What? What?? So, despite the late hour, I called her at home (no answer) and on her cell (ditto) and then went to youtube to watch Flight of the Conchord videos. That's Jemaine Clement, right? Isn't it? But without glasses, and with a ... a beard? Dang, I can't tell. It is him, right? Where is Cristy? In New Zealand??

Anyhow, Cristy called me back Monday morning. YES, it is Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. It's a birthday party for Jerusha Hess. From Munn's new movie. (Oh yeah, Munn's filming a new movie.) And Jemaine is in it.

Once the story unfolded, it turns out that Jared and Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre) have a new movie and they've hired Munn to be the Director of Photography. It's called Gentlemen Broncos and the two actors' I've actually heard about are Jemaine Clement and Jennifer Coolidge. Cris says, "Munn's filming scenes in a bookstore with Jemaine this Thursday and Friday...you should come up and watch."

Long story short, it was too much to resist. Kent, bless him, took Friday off of work and stayed home with the kids as I dashed up to Salt Lake City for 24 hours to indulge my nerdy stalker self.

It was AWESOME!

Flight of the Conchords "It's Business Time" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHOSEcmZvG8

Jemaine Clement http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1318596/

Jared and Jerusha Hess http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381478/

Gentlemen Broncos http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1161418/

Jennifer Coolidge http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177639/

Hey, I've been featured on someone else's blog!

2008-03-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

Isn't that cool?

http://jmundodesigns.blogspot.com/

Yea me!

Bragging

2008-03-07T16:17:00.000-08:00

I finished three panels for Kelly for her boys. She found the design and got the wood from Uncle Marc. They turned out so well that I have amazed myself. (It's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way.) Here is the middle piece:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10098674

Cool, huh?

Pinewood Derby, Piano Recital, et. al.

2008-02-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

A busy, wonderful weekend! Mom and Richard flew in on Friday afternoon. None of us can quite remember when the last time they visited us was -- before I added the leaf to the kitchen table, before we got the giant, dust-collecting weight machine in the loft, definitely before we painted and wallpapered the twins' rooms..... Three years? Four? Wow.

Friday night was Alex's piano recital. Since Thomas started lessons just last month, Lisa gave him the opportunity of "opt out" of this year's recital. "Do you want to play a song in the recital, Thomas?" a question he took like, "Do you want me to set you on fire?" OF COURSE NOT! Too bad, because Thomas is doing really well. But there's always next year. Alex played Handel's "Messiah" and, as much as I love the Hallelujah Chorus, I will be glad not to hear it on a daily basis. As usual, Alex played it perfectly, which is not a surprise since a) Alex has nerves of steel when it comes to public performing/public speaking and b) he's had it memorized since November.

As usual, I helped with refreshments. Mini-cheesecakes! Do you remember them? You make them in cupcake liners with Nilla wafer cookies as the crust. Yum. I made five dozen and Lisa made five dozen and we each took home about six. So they were popular. I don't think I mixed them right because the texture I got was light and airy. Foamy. And cheesecake should be dense, right? No one seemed to mind, though.

Saturday morning was Alex's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He placed 2nd in his division and went on to compete at the Stake level. I'm not sure who was happier, Alex or Kent. Like last year, Alex's derby racer featured blinking LEDs. This time, Kent found a motion-activated switch for them so as Alex's racer zoomed down the track, the switch would trigger and the lights would flash. He didn't win but it is a very cool car.

Sunday Kent was put in as Elder's Quorum president. I'm really proud of him; it has been a while since he's had anything challenging to do in church. Kent even got up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to attend a 7AM priesthood meeting. (Wow!) The stake is insisting that I be released from 1st counsellor in Relief Society because of the demands of Kent's new position. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I told them I wold be fine with my calling, but they're insistent. When I think about what other possibilities there are....sigh. Now that my own kids are years past nursery age, I'm sure I'll end up there.

As for miscellaneous, Kate and I are sick. I have a bronchial, chesty sort of cough and the headache and sore throat that goes with it. Kate is worse; she has the same plus a high fever. Poor kid; she's missed about a week of school. So far, KNOCK WOOD, no one else is getting it. Thank heavens! But other than this, the kids have been amazingly healthy this winter. Two years ago everyone was sick constantly and chronically and I was ready to toss my Listerine spray and Clorox wipes and exchange them for gasoline and a match.

I added the European 4-in-1 chainmaille bracelet to my Etsy store. It's priced high, not only because it was time-consuming (tedious) to make and silver is at an all-time high price but also because I really like it and want to keep it. But, if someone is smitten and rich...I'll mail it out to them with a song in my heart. I photographed it in my new light box; still need to dicker around with the lighting, though.

This cracks me up!

2008-02-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

Anyone else recognize where this is from? Which episode? What the title of the episode was AND the plot?

GEEK! Ha ha ha ha ha.

(Ah, dang. It's too small to read here. It says: DETERMINATION Some women, when they want to attract a man, will get their hair done, or wear a short skirt. These women are amateurs.)

More here: http://echosphere.net/star_trek_insp/star_trek_insp.html

I'm Cheap (and file that under "Genetics" too.)

2008-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

I'm made myself a light box, for photographing my Etsy shop items. I shopped around, and the cheapest one I found was at Walmart, for about $50. Not being able to justify that, I cut up a cardboard box, glued in tissue paper, and voila! A lightbox for about a nickle. I'm still trying to get the actual lighting part right, but the Constantine Earrings and Constantine Bracelet were both photographed in my new light box. (See the last two photos under "What's For Sale" to the left. Click on them for a bigger view.)

Cool, huh?

Genetics gets you every time

2008-02-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

A little backstory: When we moved from Berlin, half of our household belongings were stolen. One of the two huge trans-Atlantic shipping crates that our stuff had been packed into was burglared in the storage warehouse and some German theives got a hold of a whole slew of clothings, half a set of American encyclopedias, and all our baby books, photos, and scrapbook things. Worthless to them; irreplaceable for us. So there are very little (I have four) photos of me before the age of 8 years old. I remember the scrapbook I had, because I used to love looking through it. Mom had saved the little gold signet ring that I had chewed on and then had to be cut off of my finger, taped it to a page. There was my first lock of hair from a haircut. Photos of my babyhood, toddlerhood, preschool years. All of the leaves from the childhood tree. Gone. And I felt that loss more keenly when my own children where born. Sometimes I'd hear a relative say, "Oh, he looks like you did at that age," and I have to think they are being charitable because, quite frankly, all my kids look like clones of Kent. (And Kent has the baby photos to prove it!)

Anyhow, THAT is the cerntral reason I have always thought I had for compulsively saving nearly every drawing, project, certificate, etc., ad-naseum, that my children have produced. And saved every ticket stub, museum guide, park map, postcard, etc. And that doesn't even count photos. We have, quite literally, thousands of photos. Of course, digital photography makes this possible but even limited to 24 and 36 exposure rolls of film, I am certain I would still have talleyed up thousands of photos.

Now the rest of the story: Dad has been in town for the past several weeks, going through Grandpa and Grandma's house. I have been going over in the mornings, helping him get things out from under the storage platforms that the beds are on, out from the top backs of high shelves, and other places that are akward for him to reach, with his hernia(s.) Then we've been sorting through albums. Grandma, if possible, was an even more compulsive saver than me. And not just photos, but ticket stubs and programs, and greeting cards and postcards.... We had a big bonfire in our new backyard fire pit of cancelled checks from the mid-1940s! And thumbing through this dizzying array of ... stuff ... made me want to go home and toss out two-thirds of the things I have so carefully preserved. Good grief. There's no need to chronicle one's obsessive-compulsive behavior, is there?

But then...there was an album of postcards from the turn of the century. 1890, 1910, and onwards. "Dear Della, Hope you can travel here someday. It's lovely." From my grandmother's sister, written to her (gram) when she was just a little girl. And those stickers from Yellowstone and Carlsbad Caverns that you used to decorate your suitcases with, circa 1930. And my grandmother's high school dance cards. Complete with tiny pencils, attached with gold cording. And, astonishingly, a fairly well preserved bridal boquet, from Grandma and Grandpa's wedding, pressed carefully between pages of an ancient scrapbook.

It was amazing. The closest thing to time travel that I'll ever experience, I think. Then, even more gold. Greeting cards from my mom and dad to Grandma and Grandpa. Little bits of my childhood, told second-hand. Mom wrote: "I'm making myself a maternity shirt. My store-bought ones don't button around me anymore! Jenny 'helps' me by emptying out the sewing machine drawers." Or Dad, writing: "Julie started horseback riding lessons. I wonder how long this will last." That was Virginia, in fifth grade. (I rode all the way through 12th grade.) I found cards I had made, construction paper and glued-on rickrack and lace, for Grandma's brithday. And I found two cards from Grandma Testolin to Grandma Standage. One, expressing admiration for a Quiet Book Grandma S had made for me, and the other, sympathy on the death of my grandfatehr's mother. I learned that while my dad was in Vietnam, and Mom and I lived in Wheaton, Mom had a job. A job! How modern! Grandma T was my day care -- she'd take me to the bowling alley during her league days.

Anyhow...I've decided I'm NOT tossing those two-thirds of my own collected insanity. If a grandchild of mine enjoys a treasure hunt, even half as much as I have, it'll be worth it. And if not, well, they'll make a pretty bonfire and the great-grandkids can make s'mores.

No one cards me anymore

2008-02-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

The winter months seem to be the months I cook the most. I don't mind slaving over a hot stove when it's NOT 110 degrees outside. Plus I can always crack open a window if something that I was searing moves beyond the range of "seared", past the land of "blackened," and into the realm of "cremated." Plus, there's a brand-new AJ's in the neighborhood (fancy-pants gourment grocery store) so I can buy slightly more esoteric ingrediants without making a big trek out of it all. Plus they have a wine "cellar" with dedicated staff for it which is a huge help when I, a non-drinker, need 1/3 cup of white wine for a shrimp scampi recipe. Because I want to buy the cheapest wine I can get my mitts on, short of being swill. See, I went there on my inagural trip looking for 1/4 cup of cognac for my 40-Garlic Clove Chicken (heaven!) and the wine guy walked me over to where they sell tiny airplane-size bottles of booze. So I spent $4 on a Barbie bottle of cognac, used it all, and now don't have to justify spending $50 on a bottle that will take up fridge space and slowly turn to vinegar. But back to the wine -- I bought a $7 bottle of Portuguese white wine, which the wine guy told me was "actually a very good wine" and went home to make my shrimp scampi. But as I loaded my groceries, and Sam and Kate into the van, I realized not only had no one checked my ID this trip, no one checked my ID for my last trip either. I can only surmise that I no longer look anywhere NEAR 21.

The scampi was a big disappointment too. Stupid garlicky wine sauce.

Made. Of. Awesome!

2008-01-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

Check it out! I'm so excited that I figured out how to display actual items from my Etsy shop.
<--------------
(Not that it was rocket science, Etsy had the programming tools to do it.)

Shamed.

2008-01-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write in my blog! (Honest!) Now Jen has shamed me into it.

Happy New Year! Anyone used to writing "2008"? Me neither. I'll get it down by October. Although this past November, while writing a check for my kids' elementary school "Jingle Jog" t-shirts, I dated it November 1998. Huh. I lost an entire decade.

Christmas was wonderful this year. Afterwards we drove up to Las Vegas and got to visit not only Mom & Richard, Heather & Kenny & kiddos, plus Jen and family, plus Grandpa, but Kel & John & boys were there too. I love it when I get to see (almost) everyone :) It was a nice, low-key visit. Alex and Kaitlyn got sick while we were there, which makes this five years in a row. It's not Vegas, it seems to just be the season. I have a friend with a two-year-old who has had a constant something for the past six weeks. (Runny nose, respiratory infection, ear infection, pink-eye, stomach flu....you know the litany. Or at least, I do.) She's ready to pour gasoline over everything in the house and light a match. I just laughed and laughed because when the twins were her daughter's age, we had the same thing. I went around the house with Clorox wipes in my pocket and a can o' Lysol. I was sure that we were breeding some uber-germ that would soon be able to grow legs and skulk outside in the rose bushes, waiting to ambush unwary UPS delivery men. It's much better nowadays. (Although, as I type, Thomas is running a fever and complaining of a headache.)

Speaking of Thomas, I am teaching Art Masterpiece in his class tomorrow morning. If, I suppose, he is well enough to go to class. Otherwise I will be home with him. It is Wassily Kandinsky this time. It's a fun project that the kids are really going to enjoy I think. They trace shapes (squares, circles, hand prints, whatever) with crayon, then fill them in with patterns, then add a water-color resist on top. Assuming, of course, that I get to teach it. Poor Thomas. (Despite feeling lousy, though, he is perfectly capable of hauling his achy body upright to manipulate the Wii controls.)

I picked up some cookbooks at the library today. I am going to try my hand at rustic French. 40 Garlic Chicken looks good. (Tomorrow, though. Tonight is pizza night.) Kent bought me a proper torch for Christmas with MAPP gas and oxygen. I've used it to fuse pure silver into rings but now I'm eyeballing it, thinking about creme brulee. Hmmmm....carmelized sugar.....

Best. Christmas. Ever.

2008-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

I know it's almost a month past but I LOVED Christmas this year. The kids woke up happy and excited and stayed happy and excited all morning. They loved their presents. There was no whining. Not once did I hear, "How come I didn't get...." or "Why did HE get....." or the dreaded, "Hey! He got more than me!" (Which is numerically untrue and I can prove it.) In fact, while I was making breakfast, I overheard Alex saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!"

But...why? Why was it the best Christmas ever? I didn't do anything different. I wish I knew so I could reproduce it every year.

I even loved our gorgeous Christmas tree. We got a super tall and fat one with fragrant, glossy needles. At exactly the same Home Depot lot we bought all past trees from. But this one was at least a foot taller than all the others in the 6" - 8" bin.

I'm tucking this one away in my memory for future savoring.....

Wii, Wii, Wii, All the Way Home

2008-01-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

My two oldest are making a mockery of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as they would happily stand naked and starving in front of the TV playing Lego StarWars on the Wii they got from Bubba and Enno. Right now they are playing (and arguing) in the front room. The Wii has been an interesting parenting tool -- I can add and subtract minutes for good or poor behaviour. Never has Alex so compliantly practiced the piano or emptied the dishwasher.