323. Arby's Dipping Sauces. They make me happy. They make my taste buds do little happy dances as I combine my horsey sauce with my golden mustard on the curly fries. Their little happy dance is a perfect little lunch treat after. . .
324. FINISHING THE GRE!! And - oh yes - doing so well. It doesn't seem right to toot your own horn. We are supposed to be humble and unassuming. But - It feels so good after struggling just to keep up with the laundry and the S-Train's creativity, and trying to fit my own creativity somewhere in the middle of dishes and yelling at the kids to "Close the DOOR," to actually go somewhere and do something terrifying (like math after fifteen years of math atrophy. - Oh, by the way, good thing I've been helping with 5th and 6th grade math homework - I've got decimals and fractions DOWN!) and come out of it with a result that says, "Oh, by the way, even though you feel like a bit of a slow top when it comes to running your house, you are ACTUALLY PRETTY SMART." Whew. It's done. I'll have normal conversations with my children that don't sound like. "Sorry. I can't. I'm studying." Now, where did I really want to go to school?
We will now take you back to our regularly scheduled program called - "Getting Ready for Christmas. One week and counting."
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Christmas Lights
322. My candles. I found some plastic Christmas window candles this year. A steal at 50 cents each! The very BEST part about them is that they have little light sensors built in. Every night they turn themselves on. Every morning, they turn themselves off. They are battery powered, so I'm not worried about chords. And - a bonus - they flicker like real candles! I LOVE coming home in the evening or the morning after seminary to see their happy shining glow. It reminds me of times long ago when candles in the window were a guide home and a signal that someone was waiting for you. It reminds me of the tradition of leaving a candle in the window for the Christ child at Christmas. As I remember these things, I want my home to be a place where my family feels that someone is always waiting for them, and I want to make it a place where we look for Christ in our lives and see Him in everyone who comes to visit.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
UUUUGGGH! The manly grunt.
321. Sending Mr. C out for a week of Manliness. Mr. C just spent most of last week up with his brother hunting deer. Why does this make me smile? Because he comes home so much calmer and happier. That time tromping out in the freezing woods and processing venison seems to be soothing to his spirit. Someone asked me if I was going to "put my foot down" because of something he was going to miss. NO WAY. This is his time to go out and grunt like Tim Taylor and shoot dangerous weapons and endure the freezing cold and come back hauling food to the cave. It makes him happy. And I'm in big favor of things that add to the general happiness of our family.
Of course, I wouldn't want to do it. All that manly stuff will put hair on your chest.
Of course, I wouldn't want to do it. All that manly stuff will put hair on your chest.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Major Accomplishments! (for me)
320. I Made My First Web Page!! This was SO hard and so fun. It took several intense days and all the avoidance I could possibly throw at it, but I got it done. They say that learning something new throws you into disequilibrium and it takes awhile to adjust to what you're learning and get your equilibrium back. Well, several times during this process I thought my brain was going to explode from trying to figure out what I was doing - but now I get it. I can now write a web page in BASIC html. I can even see how this could become easy if I kept at it. For some people, this is so elementary it hardly needs explaining. I needed to be walked through the process with baby steps.
So - here is my ugly little baby. You can get there by clicking here. (And there are even internal links to other pages!) There are lots of things I still want to add and tweak and, and . . . But it's a start!
Now I'm off to conquer the CLUTTER that has resulted from mom not paying attention to any sort of house keeping while working on her project for two days in the middle of putting up the Christmas decorations. Our house looks like a small bomb exploded. Most of the debris is Christmas related. Hopefully I'll have fought the extra stuff down to the basement by the time I have to take cranberry sauce up to the school for the fifth grade's Dickens Dinner.
So - here is my ugly little baby. You can get there by clicking here. (And there are even internal links to other pages!) There are lots of things I still want to add and tweak and, and . . . But it's a start!
Now I'm off to conquer the CLUTTER that has resulted from mom not paying attention to any sort of house keeping while working on her project for two days in the middle of putting up the Christmas decorations. Our house looks like a small bomb exploded. Most of the debris is Christmas related. Hopefully I'll have fought the extra stuff down to the basement by the time I have to take cranberry sauce up to the school for the fifth grade's Dickens Dinner.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thanksgiving Smiles
A long rambling list of things that made me smile this past week. There should be a prize if you make it to the end, because there are no pictures. Read only if you don't have to be anywhere in a hurry.
308. FHE - Operation Christmas Child and and School Board Meeting edition. Last Sunday we found out that the deadline for a shoebox was Monday. So, Monday after school we hurried to put together a box. What made me smile was watching my children scour the house. The kids had terrific ideas for things to go inside, like lengths of ribbon for hair bows. They used what we had and filled the box quickly. They felt so good, and kept saying, "I bet our little girl is going to LOVE this box." It's like I could see their hearts growing.
Afterward Sue and Lou came to a school board meeting with me. It was fun to see the girls trying to puzzle out what everyone was talking about.
309. Outlining. (This is the boring entry. You can skip ahead if you want.)
So - I signed up for Nanowrimo this year. With the book fair and other real life going on, I don't think I'll be winning. To get a little extra done in November anyway, I went to my new favorite meet-friends-and-write coffee shop. They weren't there this week. Something about a big holiday.
So - I sat alone and outlined. It went so quickly, it was like it outlined itself. The outline's not finished, but there is some direction. I was so happy to see a story arch beginning to take shape in this thing I've been working on for a year and a half! But then I realized. I'm only up to item four on what is so far a 12 part outline. I really need to up my productivity.
310. Stealth Puns.
Me, talking about something or other with Oldest. "Sometimes change is hard."
Oldest, "That's why coins are made out of metal."
311. Fun Dinner. A 22 pound turkey that is already gone but for soup. Awesome sweet potatoes with the BEST brown sugar topping ever. (And apparently more good stuff in the potatoes.) Green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls. And PIES. Lots of pies. Pumpkin cheesecake, Lemon, the first-ever attempt at an apple pie by one guest (great job!), pecan, and cherry. Yum. Sue did a great job carving a "Happy B-Day Mom" top into our cherry. There's nothing like Thanksgiving Birthday Pie. It didn't quite look like it was on fire. According to the candles I'm 26. I can rent a car, and my insurance rates are lower.
312. The world coming out to celebrate my birthday. It was so nice of everyone to celebrate wherever they were with a nice big dinner. The parade was a nice touch, too. Loved the phone calls!
313. Can you do this? The card game Pit in different voices. Opera. Or Whisper. My sister-in-law and I were laughing so hard we couldn't even play. Just try to whisper, "One!"
314. Cool Birthday presents. A manni-pedi gift certificate from Mr. C. Can't wait to use that! (Though I'm debating saving the pedi until sandal season.) And a VERY COOL T-shirt from the parents. Encouragement to write. It made me smile. My first official writing T-shirt!!
315. Black Friday Madness. Black Friday can be so fun. It's like a huge party. Mostly everyone is nice and points out where the good deals are or tells you about the other great sale, or the back of the store where you can check out faster. Only saw a couple of grumps. We have a new theory that all the grumpy shoppers stay home so they can avoid the crowds. Those that are left are so much fun! The only sad part is finding out later about the cool deal you missed!
Even Mr. C and his brother got out on Black Friday for their first early morning shopping expedition EVER. Of course, they went to Cabela's. So does that count as shopping, or hunting?
316. Catching the Ohio State Michigan Game - At the beginning! I started asking my family, "Do you KNOW what's on TV?" "Do you know WHAT'S on TV?" Of course they didn't. But once I had enlightened them and done my "Can you believe how cool this is?" dance they understood. And my kids came and watched most of the first quarter with me before they wandered off. Meanwhile Mr. C. nodded like it was great and went off to mow leaves and clean the garage. But I got to see things like a full field return touchdown 12 seconds after Michigan scored. It was beautiful. (Ohio did so well that I'll admit I wandered off myself some time in the 4th quarter. It was 37 to 7!)
The only down side of the day was that none of the little score updates at the bottom of my screen were telling me what was happening at the BYU - U of U game!
I know. I'm the only one who watches football in my house. Weird.
317. Compromise and Christmas Trees. A special thank you to Mr. C. for being the bigger person on our Christmas tree cutting expedition. We'll get his kind next year and vote on which worked best. But now, he was so sweet that I wish his tree was this year.
318. Another Missionary Farewell. Sniff. Brother Deshler's sweet remarks about these young men growing in stature with God and man. How they have grown so far and how they will. Beautiful.
319. Blessings and prayer. We know so many people with health problems, employment issues, etc. And today on the way to a meeting we saw a huge apartment fire. (Two families from our ward live there. We stopped and made sure their buildings weren't the ones affected just in case. We felt so bad for those out of their homes.)We are learning to pray for a long list of people. It has made my desire to serve increase. After all, those same problems could so easily be mine. It has made me hold my blessings up to the light with a little more tenderness. There is always something to be thankful for. And my life, with all the subterranean problems that try to mine away at it, is still full of beautiful blessings and smiles.
Are you tired yet? I am. That was long. Hopefully I'm a bit more caught up now. Just need to add in a few concerts.
308. FHE - Operation Christmas Child and and School Board Meeting edition. Last Sunday we found out that the deadline for a shoebox was Monday. So, Monday after school we hurried to put together a box. What made me smile was watching my children scour the house. The kids had terrific ideas for things to go inside, like lengths of ribbon for hair bows. They used what we had and filled the box quickly. They felt so good, and kept saying, "I bet our little girl is going to LOVE this box." It's like I could see their hearts growing.
Afterward Sue and Lou came to a school board meeting with me. It was fun to see the girls trying to puzzle out what everyone was talking about.
309. Outlining. (This is the boring entry. You can skip ahead if you want.)
So - I signed up for Nanowrimo this year. With the book fair and other real life going on, I don't think I'll be winning. To get a little extra done in November anyway, I went to my new favorite meet-friends-and-write coffee shop. They weren't there this week. Something about a big holiday.
So - I sat alone and outlined. It went so quickly, it was like it outlined itself. The outline's not finished, but there is some direction. I was so happy to see a story arch beginning to take shape in this thing I've been working on for a year and a half! But then I realized. I'm only up to item four on what is so far a 12 part outline. I really need to up my productivity.
310. Stealth Puns.
Me, talking about something or other with Oldest. "Sometimes change is hard."
Oldest, "That's why coins are made out of metal."
311. Fun Dinner. A 22 pound turkey that is already gone but for soup. Awesome sweet potatoes with the BEST brown sugar topping ever. (And apparently more good stuff in the potatoes.) Green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls. And PIES. Lots of pies. Pumpkin cheesecake, Lemon, the first-ever attempt at an apple pie by one guest (great job!), pecan, and cherry. Yum. Sue did a great job carving a "Happy B-Day Mom" top into our cherry. There's nothing like Thanksgiving Birthday Pie. It didn't quite look like it was on fire. According to the candles I'm 26. I can rent a car, and my insurance rates are lower.
312. The world coming out to celebrate my birthday. It was so nice of everyone to celebrate wherever they were with a nice big dinner. The parade was a nice touch, too. Loved the phone calls!
313. Can you do this? The card game Pit in different voices. Opera. Or Whisper. My sister-in-law and I were laughing so hard we couldn't even play. Just try to whisper, "One!"
314. Cool Birthday presents. A manni-pedi gift certificate from Mr. C. Can't wait to use that! (Though I'm debating saving the pedi until sandal season.) And a VERY COOL T-shirt from the parents. Encouragement to write. It made me smile. My first official writing T-shirt!!
315. Black Friday Madness. Black Friday can be so fun. It's like a huge party. Mostly everyone is nice and points out where the good deals are or tells you about the other great sale, or the back of the store where you can check out faster. Only saw a couple of grumps. We have a new theory that all the grumpy shoppers stay home so they can avoid the crowds. Those that are left are so much fun! The only sad part is finding out later about the cool deal you missed!
Even Mr. C and his brother got out on Black Friday for their first early morning shopping expedition EVER. Of course, they went to Cabela's. So does that count as shopping, or hunting?
316. Catching the Ohio State Michigan Game - At the beginning! I started asking my family, "Do you KNOW what's on TV?" "Do you know WHAT'S on TV?" Of course they didn't. But once I had enlightened them and done my "Can you believe how cool this is?" dance they understood. And my kids came and watched most of the first quarter with me before they wandered off. Meanwhile Mr. C. nodded like it was great and went off to mow leaves and clean the garage. But I got to see things like a full field return touchdown 12 seconds after Michigan scored. It was beautiful. (Ohio did so well that I'll admit I wandered off myself some time in the 4th quarter. It was 37 to 7!)
The only down side of the day was that none of the little score updates at the bottom of my screen were telling me what was happening at the BYU - U of U game!
I know. I'm the only one who watches football in my house. Weird.
317. Compromise and Christmas Trees. A special thank you to Mr. C. for being the bigger person on our Christmas tree cutting expedition. We'll get his kind next year and vote on which worked best. But now, he was so sweet that I wish his tree was this year.
318. Another Missionary Farewell. Sniff. Brother Deshler's sweet remarks about these young men growing in stature with God and man. How they have grown so far and how they will. Beautiful.
319. Blessings and prayer. We know so many people with health problems, employment issues, etc. And today on the way to a meeting we saw a huge apartment fire. (Two families from our ward live there. We stopped and made sure their buildings weren't the ones affected just in case. We felt so bad for those out of their homes.)We are learning to pray for a long list of people. It has made my desire to serve increase. After all, those same problems could so easily be mine. It has made me hold my blessings up to the light with a little more tenderness. There is always something to be thankful for. And my life, with all the subterranean problems that try to mine away at it, is still full of beautiful blessings and smiles.
Are you tired yet? I am. That was long. Hopefully I'm a bit more caught up now. Just need to add in a few concerts.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Way to much time on You Tube
307. Multitrack accapella youTube videos.
The Today show tried their hand
At imitating This:
Love the Mike Tompkins videos. He does a great job!
(They are better on You Tube - the format cuts off a bit of the right side of the video here. Anyone know how to fix that?)
The Today show tried their hand
At imitating This:
Love the Mike Tompkins videos. He does a great job!
(They are better on You Tube - the format cuts off a bit of the right side of the video here. Anyone know how to fix that?)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Good News!
306. Excellent Musicians. The Oldest tried out for Symphonic Band - the highest band at high school. She made 2nd chair. Not bad for a sophomore. She and another sophomore who was in symphonic band last year did better than a junior and a senior. (Only 4 tried out.) Congratulations, Honey!
(Miss Lou was ready for her to go challenge for 1st chair the next day.)
(Miss Lou was ready for her to go challenge for 1st chair the next day.)
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