Random Thoughts

If music could follow me around....

2012-02-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

If you've seen the movie "Sleepless in Seattle," you know the entire show kind of revolves around another old movie - a Cary Grant movie too, but he's another blog entry for another time.

Now, I haven't seen "Sleepless" in a long time and I don't remember anyones names in the movie, so you'll have to excuse my vague descriptions. The two girls in the movie are sitting together watching the Cary Grant movie and the one girl is talking to the other girl "You don't want to be in love, you want to be in love in a movie."

There are days I don't want to live my life, I want to live my life in a movie. I want a soundtrack! I want music to play to help express my emotions or add emphasis to what is going on at that particular moment in my life.

So, I was listening to the Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack the other day and was listening to a beautiful song called "The Kings and Queens of Narnia." Oh, such beautiful music! There is one particular part, and you must go to this YouTube page. It is just the sound track, nothing else. The entire song is beautiful, but please listen to 1:06 - 1:35.

click here: The Kings and Queens of Narnia

Did you hear it? Isn't it just beautiful? I want to have that music played during some moment in my life. I want to walk into a scene of my life and have that music playing while I walk.

Ahhh, if only I could have that soundtrack. I've seen shows where they are talking about movies and they show a scene without the music, like say, Lord of the Rings. It's just a guy walking across a castle floor. Yeah, OK, whatever. Then, they add the music and suddenly, it's not just a guy and it's not just a floor, it's Aragorn becoming the King of the Men of Middle Earth. The music completely changes how the scene is seen. A couple on screen aren't just kissing, it's love's true one and only kiss. You can tell by the music.

How different my life might be if I had a soundtrack. I think that would be pretty cool.

Two and a half hours

2012-02-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Four days a week, I've got around two and a half hours completely to myself. Peanut is going to preschool. She absolutely loves it.

We've only been doing the preschool for a couple of weeks now and she hasn't gone a full four days of school in a row yet, but that's been because of school holidays and bad weather interrupting the schedule.
My problem is what do I do with that time? I've got a million things I can do, so how do I choose?

Yesterday was a perfect example of my unorganized use of time:

*Get home from dropping Peanut off at school

*Get on computer, check email, read a blog

*Still on computer: check school stuff (Monday was the first day of the new semester) pull up readings for the week and shrink them down on desktop. I pull up my school emails and glace through those. The grade from one of my classes last semester is posted. I check my grade and read the comments the professor left regarding my paper.

*Call Hubby, tell him my grade

*Work on a new project I'm formulating to eat better, exercise and hopefully loose some weight. Typed up those ideas and transferred my food diary I've been keeping on a scrap paper into my new system.

*Thought comes across my mind: Wow, I should be spending this time exercising.

*I walk out to the back yard. The day is beautiful and quite warm for being the last day of January. I walk to the back fence (our yard is quite large). I walk back to the house. I walk to the fence, I jog back to the house. I'm done. The ground is mushy from previous rain and very uneven. I'll just do one of my videos in the house.

(By now I'm down to 40 minutes left before I've got to go.)

*I can't find the video I want. OK, I'll do the other one. I put it into the DVD player and turn on the TV. No sound. What happened to the speakers? I mess around with the hundred wires that run behind the TV. Forget this! I take it down to my computer. The computer plays the DVD and I have sound, but why isn't the mouse working on the DVD menu? I literally bang around on the keyboard for a moment. Somehow it changes to the workout and I'm set.

*I do the workout. It's fairly short. I look at the clock and whoa! I should be leaving right now to go pick up Peanut! Run out the door and drive to the school. Peanut's waiting for me. I get a big hug.

I didn't get the school reading done. I didn't get the dishes done, laundry rotated, dinner thawing, or anything cleaned. No writing, no weaving, nothing. Even though I kept busy during all that time, I only accomplished 15 minutes of exercise.

I really need to get better at organizing this personal time.

The Witch

2012-01-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know when my mom came into possession of the Halloween Witch, but I believe it was when my oldest son was a baby. I came to visit my parents (and it wasn't Halloween), any my mom had a Halloween witch doll. If you squeezed her belly, she would say, "Halloween is fun!" If you squeezed her belly again she would say, "Uh oh, what was that?" Then, if you squeezed her a third time, she would start to vibrate, laugh with a cackle, and yell, "Hee hee hee, run for your lives! Hee, hee, hee!" It was very funny.

Every time I went to visit Mom, that witch was among the toys for the kids to play with.

Over the years, that silly witch started having computer chip issues. Without anyone touching her or even being near her, once in a while you'd hear the witch say, "Halloween is fun!" It's much more creepy when the doll talks on it's own and because it's a witch, it's extra spooky. It gave everyone a good laugh when we're sitting around the table, having dinner and from the other room we hear, "Halloween is fun!"

Well, it became a family joke that during big reunions at Mom and Dad's house, that whoever thought of it first, would get the witch and hide it somewhere in the house. Usually it was hidden under some one's bed. You could expect the witchy witch to go off in the middle of the night and scare the begeebers out of whoever slept on that bed.

The witch would then be hidden in a new spot and the fun would start over.

I love reunions at my parent's house. I love Mom's Halloween witch.

reconnecting in the time machine

2012-01-29T19:38:00.003-07:00

About 6 years ago I met a wonderful friend. I had never had a close girl friend to go out and do stuff with. Someone to talk to about girl stuff. It was a kind of friendship I never really had, except with my own sister. This was an awesome friend. When we moved away, I was so incredibly sad. Before I left, she said to me, you will always be my sister and when we meet next, it will be like we never parted.

Over the next few years, I saw her once and talked to her on the phone a small handful of times. She's a busy lady and I know that, but I would call and leave messages and never hear from her. There would be the occasional email or hello on Facebook, but that was about it. Life was busy for both of us.

We've now moved back to the state we lived in when I had this wonderful friend. We are several hours away, but she travels this direction a lot because she has a sister who lives about 20 miles away from me. This past weekend, she came to visit her sister. She invited me to a women's conference her sister had organized. I went to the conference.

I was nervous. I was afraid we could never really talk like we use to. Three years had passed. I was certain she would be quite disappointed in seeing me and had only invited me to be polite. When I arrived at the conference, I quickly found her. She looks exactly the same and she is such a beautiful person. All my fears and nervousness flew away as we hugged. We sat together, not hearing the first speaker at all because we were too busy whispering and catching up.

We helped with the clean up at the conference, still talking and sharing news and stories. At one point I looked at her and said to her, it's so fun to be here standing next to you. It's like those three years never passed and we were hanging out like this just last week. She agreed. That's when you know you have a good friend. Time doesn't really pass.

With this move, I left another dear friend behind. She is my sister and I know that when we see each other next, it will be as if time never passed. We are planning a get together late this year. I hope all works out for us both that we can make it. It will be fun to reconnect, share stories, look at pictures of each other's kids and laugh. Nothing quite like the feeling of being with great friends.

My cozy corner

2012-01-25T17:22:00.001-07:00

While unpacking a house, you get to know the house quite intimately. You find it's quirks because you are trying to figure out where personal belongings fit into the home. It's easy to find the faults and problems with the house while unpacking. However, once the unpacking is done and you can just enjoy living in the house, those little quirks aren't such a big deal anymore.

So it is with this house. One thing I LOVE about this house is my loom room. I have a little room of my very own. It has my loom, my rocking chair, a little bookshelf, and my Eiffel Tower lamp. It's a nice place to sit and relax and read. (Not that I have a lot of time to just sit and relax....)

Here is my loom room:

I know, terrible lighting in the picture, but I've never claimed to be a great photographer. Anyway, you can see my cozy corner with my lamp a-blazing.

In the other corner of the room are my looms. The big triangle wrapped in towels and blankets is my tri-loom. It has about a million nails on the front of it (that's how you weave on it). I didn't trust the movers to take good care of it, so I wrapped it myself. I'll hand it on the wall soon. The white decorations are decals. I never would have put them there myself. I'm not a huge fan of the dark purple/maroon color, but it's not bad either. It's my room and I don't care what color it is.

There is also a closet on the wall opposite of the loom. In the closet I've got a couple of t-shirts hanging, but also my warping board, inkle loom, sewing machine, and several drawers filled with yarn for the looms.

I love my little corner of the house.

Licence Plates

2012-01-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

My clever son updated his blog Stonehelm the Wise. Also, if you didn't see it, check out my blog entry just before this one about my son. I think the pictures of him and Doctor Who are pretty cool. :)

OKAY!
Moving to a new state involves many tedious things, like changing your address with everyone and every company you've ever known. It also involves getting new licences plates for vehicles and new drivers licences. That involves a trip to the DMV and we all just love going to the DMV, right? The long lines, the unfriendly workers, and the fact that everyone there is mad about having to be there. I imagine it is the way one might feel about jail, except in jail they feed you.

In our new state, getting a personalized licence plate cost the same as getting just a standard issued one with it's random numbers and letters. So I've been thinking, what do I want on my new plate. I've never done a personalized plate, now might be a fun time to do it.

This is one idea I've come up with:

MVD2MCH

Do you get it? (moved 2 much)

I'm not clever at coming up with other license plate ideas. I'm looking for suggestions for the van. I don't want any thing cheesy dealing with mom wagon or family van, five kids, or insane parent. I think it is pretty obvious that an insane mom is driving a van of kids around. I don't need to put it in words on the van. I would love to paint the van like the Partridge Family Bus, though. That would be awesome.

Come on get HAPPY!

Doctor Who?

2012-01-22T19:01:00.001-07:00

Until September, I didn't know anything about Doctor Who except it was an old British TV show. I didn't know it was modern and popular until my oldest son was introduced to it by his science teacher. Now the son loves Doctor Who. He is quite determined that he should be the next Doctor. Never mind it is a British TV show and he, who is quite American, has no chance at ever becoming Doctor Who.

The newest Doctor is the youngest actor to take on this role. This actor's version apparently likes to wear a bow tie and has been known to wear a fez. My son thinks this is quite awesome. For Christmas I got him a bow tie and a fez. He wears the bow tie to church and the fez around the house. I have no doubt that if he could find a place to wear his fez in public, he would. I think his Halloween costume for this coming year is complete and ready.

Matt Smith and one of his famous poses.

My son's version of the Doctor Who pose.

The green thing in the Doctor's hand is called a sonic screwdriver. My son has one. There are several other great pictures of the Doctor and my son has done his best to recreate them, but since I don't like to show pictures of my kids online, I won't be sharing those, but let me say, they are quite good.

I have seen very few episodes of the show. My son really wants me to watch them. I will some time, or at least see a few more so I'm more familiar with his favorite show.

A few short months ago, I didn't know who Doctor Who was. This is no longer the case.

Two more funny comics

2012-01-19T14:31:00.003-07:00

I saw this in the paper yesterday and it made me laugh. Years ago, before Twitter became what it is today, several friends and I talked about how two moms can't speak a full sentence without getting a interrupted. If I had only known we had discovered the secret to Twitter, I'd be rich!

Rhymes With Orange by Hilary B. Price

And this comic strip about teaching anatomy in silly, cutsie ways:

Close to Home

I promise, I did not coordinate my blogs with the comics this week, it just worked out this way, but it seems that the artists are feeling my vibes.

Title: Cutsie Anatomy or What in the World is That?

2012-01-18T07:27:00.002-07:00

Organ Wise Guys

This is what they are teaching my children at school and frankly, I find this a little disturbing. Body organs with personalities and hobbies. Tennis playing lungs, a dancing muscle (I think), a running bone (with big lashy eyes and pouffy lips), a football playing heart and exercising organs. However, what I find most odd is the four kids walking with the heart and the, um, what is that? A pancreas? A section of small intestine? Perhaps it's the end of the large intestines (If you know what I'm talking about.)

Is this what they are teaching my children? What ever happened to simply learning anatomy without turning them into cutsie characters with smiling lips? Disturbing.

Comic

2012-01-18T03:28:00.001-07:00

I think this comic captures the frustration with the phone guy I was feeling the other day.

Close to Home comic

By the way, the promised service that would come by sending two guys out to inspect the tower didn't happen. Guess what - no service!

Did you plug it in the wall?

2012-01-13T13:34:00.002-07:00

Do you ever just feel insulted?

OK, not the best start or the right way to ask that question.

You've seen/heard the joke where the guy calls customer service saying, "well, I turned it on and nothing happened." And the customer service guys says, "is it plugged into the wall?" And of course for the joke's purpose, the appliance is not plugged in. Oops. Ha ha, we all laugh.

Well, that's fine and dandy for a sitcom, but in real life, it's just plain insulting and yet, you've had that kind of question fired at you when you've asked for help, haven't you?

Today, I call our cell phone server because in our new home we don't get service. Nothing. First, I go through the automated menus that ask for the phone number and name on the account. Then, the automated voice tries to help problem solve with me. It asks me have I turned the phone off and then on again since having this problem. Duh!

I get transferred to an operator who asks me for the same information. Name? Phone number? What's the problem? Did you try turning it off and on? Calmly I answer in the affirmative. Then I'm asked, did you go outside? I explain, again, that we don't get any service for 5 miles away from the house. This is beyond her power. She transfers me to the tech guys.

Tech guy asks me name? Phone number? What's the problem? Did you try turning it off and on. (Really, by this point you have to ask? Do you really think I'm that stupid?) I explain there is no service until about 5 miles away from the house. He asks me, "so, what is it you need me to help you with today?" I tell him that if there is no way to get service here, we need to alter or cancel our plan since it's silly to pay for services not being received.

He asks me to remove the battery. It's not going to help. The problem isn't my phone, it's your service, but I comply. Nope, still not the problem. He says to me, "well, now we know the problem isn't your phone." I slap the air. Too bad the guy isn't there.

Then he asks me, will you go outside and try? I say, "Sir, we have no service for 5 miles from the house, going outside on the back porch really isn't going to help." He tells me to go out and try it anyway. I go out the back door. Hello winter weather! No sir, still no service. DUH!

After a while, he tells me he will put in a service request. A couple of guys will figure out what is going on with the signal. There is service, he tells me, but something is interfering with the tower's signal. I should see this entire thing corrected in three days time.

Yeah, dude. We'll see.

This is just one example I've dealt with recently of such idiotic questions. It's never their fault, it must be something wrong with me. Oh silly me. I forgot to plug it in. Oh silly me. I forgot my son's correct birthday. Gosh, where was I when he was born that I wouldn't remember? No, wait. I was there - so BELIEVE ME! I'm not stupid people! Give me the benefit of a doubt that I have tried the simple things first.

Rant, rant, rave, rave. Don't mess with me right now. I'm feeling confrontational. Does anyone need their insurance company called? I will call and yell at them. I need away from the house, some chocolate and a few laughs.

A little tea party

2012-01-10T06:34:00.001-07:00

My youngest, who is three, got a little colorful porcelain tea set for Christmas. She has loved it. Since Christmas, we have had many tea parties together. We had another this morning. I warmed some water for her tea pot. I cut a pop tart into little bite sized biscuits and we had a lovely little party. We sipped our water, ate our biscuits, and laughed as we wiped up spills every time we used the tea pot. Good thing neither of us serve real tea parties, we would be disastrous hostesses spilling the tea while we poured.

It was a fun, sweet time with my youngest child. I was holding her early this morning. She fell back asleep while I held her and I looked at her pretty face and smiled. Love those little moments.

Losing and finding the talent

2012-01-09T20:07:00.001-07:00

There is in the Bible, the parable of the talents. I always felt bad for the one guy. I tend to take the side of the person in those stories who is wrong or is wronged, but that's not what this blog entry is about.

In the talent story one poor guy is given one talent. To make this story short, let's cut to the end: his talent is taken from him and he goes home sad.

I was given the talent of singing. I'm not Barbra Streisand or anything close, but I had a pretty good voice and I just loved to sing, even if no one ever heard. (As a teen, I actually sounded a lot like Karen Carpenter, only not as strong.) I sang all the time. I sang when no one was around and I loved to sing before an audience.

When I went to college, I shared a dorm suite with four other girls. To be courteous, I didn't sing around the dorm like I had done around the house while growing up. I didn't want to disturb them, so I didn't sing. When I got married, I didn't sing for my husband. To be honest, I was embarrassed. I don't know why, but I was and I didn't sing. (Plus we lived in apartments or the basement to someone else's house and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors with my singing.)

Then I had kids. I felt silly singing for an infant, but I did sometimes. As they got older, I tried singing for them, but they didn't like it. I all but quit singing. Years later, we moved to Hawaii. While I lived there, I developed a chronic gunk in my throat. I couldn't get rid of it and it kept me from sounding good when I sang. I figured when we left Hawaii, the gunk would go away and I would sing again.

Four years later we did leave Hawaii and the gunk in my throat did not go away. I tried to sing, but it just didn't sound good and it was hard. I quietly sang hymns at church, but gave up singing any other time.

Then, in October 2010, I tried singing while driving in the car. I sounded terrible. I hated the way I sounded and even through my husband said I sounded fine, I knew that I didn't sound like I use to and I couldn't stand to hear my own voice. The talent had been taken away. But I missed singing. I decided to start singing again and try to work through the awful sound. I put some of my favorite songs in the car and I started to sing while I drove. I didn't care if my kids heard me or not. If they didn't like it, too bad! Slowly, I started to notice my voice was getting clearer and stronger.

In November 2011, one year after I began, I sang for my husband. It was the first time I could ever remember where I really opened up and sang. At Christmas, I noticed I was able to sing two notes higher than I could a year ago. A year ago my highest note was really a struggle and now I can go two beyond that. Those aren't my greatest sounding notes, I'm an alto and need to stay in that range, but I can do it.

I don't say this to boast, but I have to admit, I'm rather proud of myself when I sing now. No one who hears me sing wouldn't know how I've struggled and it really doesn't matter. I know how far I've come and it makes me happy. Is that silly? I know I don't sound as good as I did when I was at my peak in my late teens, and I might never again, but at least I don't hate to hear my own voice any longer. I worked at it and the talent was given back to me. Now I just have to continue working to keep it. I can't loose it again.

Phoneless

2012-01-05T07:25:00.003-07:00

For someone who hates making phone calls and talking on the phone, I'm sure missing having a phone available to me. I think that I could live without a phone again in a few weeks, but having a phone is kind of critical right after moving. There is just a lot of phone calls that need to be made, whether I want to or not.

The cell phones don't work out here. To get even service - not just a signal, but service - I have to drive about four miles away. At that point, there is no where to pull off the road and make a call. You have to go another mile down the hill for that.

So, two days ago, while sitting in the parking lot of my kid's elementary school, I made about 8 phone calls. One of them was to the local phone company. I told them I need a phone. Certainly, they would be happy to obliged. The appointment was made for two days later. Then they asked me, "Is there a number I can reach you?"

Um, I need a phone and that's why I'm calling you.

I told them I had a cell phone, but we don't have service where we live. They took the cell phone number.

Apparently, they called the cell phone yesterday to confirm today's appointment. We didn't get the message until that evening when my husband went to take the boys to Scouts.

What happens if they call today, to make sure I'm at home before sending their technician out and I don't answer because I don't have a working phone at home?

I can't get phone calls at the house, that's why I'm asking for phone service! By the end of the day I may or may not have a phone.

I'm amused by the irony, but completely frustrated by it.

My mushy memory and the Titanic

2012-01-04T12:31:00.002-07:00

When I'm at home, I'll think, "OK, next time I'm at the store I need this and that and a new whats-it."

Then I go to the store, walk in and think, "What am I here for?"

I try to write lists, but sometimes, I think of something and by the time I made it to the kitchen where my pen and paper are, I've forgotten. My brain is like mush.

It goes the same with my blog. I think of terribly clever things to talk about, but by the time I sit down at the computer, I've forgotten them. Mushy, mushy, mushy brain.

Oh well!

Today I unpacked the girls room and I put away all the bathroom stuff. That was fun, let me tell you.

Something I found amusing while driving across America last week:

The year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. A reason to celebrate, right? I heard about a company that is charging $8000 for people to go on a cruise ship and re-enact the Titanic experience. How many people are jumping to be first in line for that? Then, as we were driving through (I think) Tennessee, I saw a large billboard. Now, I was passing it at 73mph, so I only caught a quick glance, but this is what I saw:

A woman dressed in a maid outfit with a huge smile on her face. She is holding one arm up in the air as if to say, "Come on in! Welcome!" Behind the smiling maid is a large black ocean liner. The billboard says, "The Titanic, a family experience."

Words failed me. I laughed. I had to. What else are you suppose to do when you see something this ridiculous? Any thoughts on "The Titanic, a family experience?"

To top it all off, why is the family Titanic experience in Tennessee? I don't think they launched the Titanic from there. I mean, unless they sent it sailing down the Mississippi River first. So, why Tennessee?

I would be most interested in any insight you might have.

OK, I found a link to the Tennessee Titanic enthusiasits historical family fun website: http://titanicpigeonforge.com/ You can see the maid with her arm up welcoming you to the Titanic!

Progress

2012-01-02T19:20:00.002-07:00

My body is tired tonight, but my mind is happy. I got the entire kitchen unpacked today! It took all day long (from about 10:30 - 4:30). I ended up just dumping out most of the boxes into the middle of the floor and just sorting it all out. I repacked three boxes of kitchen things that I just don't have room for in the kitchen.

The kitchen looks great. I took pictures, but I haven't found the cord to connect the camera to the computer. When I find that, I'll post some pictures of the house.

Remember when I talked about wanting my own room and my Eiffel Tower lamp that I wanted a cozy corner for? Guess what - I have that cozy corner in my own room!!!!! In my room, I've got all of my looms, my rocking chair, and a little book shelf that I'll put my weaving books on (when I find them). On top of my little book shelf is my lamp, and a scented diffuser. I'll hang a few pictures in there when I find a hammer and nails. It's a perfect little slice of heaven for me. I'm thrilled to have my own place to hide away in. Again, when I find the camera cord, I'll post pictures.

Today I ran to WalMart and got all those little household items that you need in a new home. This home is dark. We are in the country with no street lamps. I had to get night lights for several kid rooms and the main bathroom. I needed new furniture polish, light bulbs and Clorox wipes. An exciting trip, right?

Well, I'm excited about the progress. I feel good about what I accomplished. Now I just need some Tylenol and some sleep.

Utterly exhausted

2011-12-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

If this blog entry isn't entirely coherent, it's because I'm very, very tired.

We've had a crazy few weeks. Ten days ago, the movers finished packing up the house. I believe that was on a Wednesday. Thanks to good friends, my kids had places to go that day to play. We spent the night at another friend's house, since our entire house was packed away in a moving van. They had comfy beds for us. I was so very tired.

Thursday morning, I went back to the house. Three other friends came over and they helped me scrub my floors. Every inch of the floor in that house was tiled. To get that tile clean, it has to be scrubbed with a scrub brush. We only had two scrub brushes and two mops, but we got it all cleaned. It was amazing. Those tiles are hard on the knees because you have to kneel while scrubbing, but those friends helped me without a single complaint. They were so dear to do that. We left the house at noon and I had a few errands to run. We finally left the city to head out on our journey at 2 in the afternoon. We arrived in Midland, Texas six hours later and stayed in a hotel room.

Friday morning we left Midland and six hours later we were in east Texas at my parent's home. It was so wonderful to be there. My parents and Gran were there. The kids were so happy to be out of the van. They played and played for hours.

We had a wonderful Christmas with family in Texas.

I left my parent's home on Wednesday, December 28th. We drove and drove and drove and arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama around 5:30pm. We ordered a pizza to our hotel room and we watched movies on TV. My youngest daughter was bouncing off the walls and jumping on the beds of the hotel room.

Thursday we drove from Alabama to Salem, Virginia. It was another long day in the van for everyone. I don't think I had ever been through Tennessee before, but I loved it there. It was green and rolling hills. It was really pretty country. I listened to a radio program for a while that was broadcasting from Detroit!

The trip from Salem to our home near DC was only four hours yesterday. I drove through some gorgeous areas of Virginia. It was really beautiful. Thanks to the GPS, I was able to find my way to the house, where the Hubby was waiting. If it weren't for the GPS, I never would have found my way. The house is tucked up in some hills, through winding roads that are filled with tall trees and beautiful homes.

Our home is very nice. In another post I'll describe it more. I like most everything about it except it has no garage. Where do we store all of our stuff? Where do we put holiday boxes? Oh, and the kitchen is very small, but after the wonderfully huge kitchen I had in New Mexico, any kitchen would seem small.

Today the moving van arrived with out house stuff. It took the guys about six hours to unload everything. The house is just filled with boxes. I've unpacked a lot, but there is still so much to do. I'm feeling quite overwhelmed and my feet are killing me. I'm looking forward to sleeping tonight in my own bed again. I'm just looking forward to sleep. If I make it to mid-night to see the new year in, it will be amazing. My husband reminded me tonight that unpacking the house is a marathon, not a sprint. I can't do it all today. Good advice. Maybe it's time to quit the unpacking for the year :) and relax with a cup of root beer and a plate of cheese and crackers. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

Happy New Year!

It's a shame when.....

2011-12-29T06:42:00.002-07:00

It's a shame when you are having a great hair day and will spend that entire day in the car.

Traveling

2011-12-28T17:10:00.002-07:00

Tonight we are in Alabama. Tired of traveling, we ordered a pizza for dinner. We are eagerly awaiting the pizza.

We started the day in Texas, drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, and now we are in Alabama. The kids have been great. We have one more full day on the road tomorrow. Friday will be a short drive.

I had a wonderful visit with family in Texas, but I am very excited to arrive in our new home in Virginia.

Just a few more days.... I can make it.

Slightly hysterical

2011-12-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am slightly hysterical. I keep telling myself it will all work out in the end.

I mean, so what if I forget to keep something out and the packers pack it away in a box. This isn't an uncivilized country. There is a WalMart every 10 miles in every city across America. If I've forgotten something desperately important, like a toothbrush, I can buy a new one.

I will be reunited with all my stuff in about three weeks time. I'll probably get all the boxes off the truck and wish I didn't have so much to unpack.

I admit I haven't had much patience with the kids (they've been bickering so badly), and I've sometimes been annoyed with my husband for leaving me in this situation, again. I'm mad at myself for not having it more together. I've not been terrible, but I've not been great either.

Today I took a pile of stuff to the local Goodwill drop off and on the way home I had my hysterical sobbing moment. By the time I got home, I felt much better having let off some of that emotion and frustration and was able to face the house and kids again.

There is still SO much to do. I guess what will happen will happen. My sister reminded me tonight that in a few days, I'll be at my parent's home, resting, laughing and relaxing. It will all be OK. I've made plans to get together with a few friends from high school. One of them I haven't seen in 20 years. I'm excited to see them both and meet their families. It will be a merry Christmas.

My husband found a house for us. I'm relieved. I saw some pictures of it today. It looks like a nice home and it has a yard! A real yard with a fence and grass and trees. It will be green in the spring. How lovely it will be. The kids will be able to play outside again. We move in New Years Day.

If I am gone for a while, it's because I'm moving. I disconnect the Internet tomorrow. How will I survive? If I'm not here again before Christmas day, then I want to say to ya'll,

Merry Christmas!

How time flies

2011-12-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

The move is upon us. It's almost here! The movers come on Tuesday!

There is so much to do and yesterday I was kind of freaking out about it, but then I remembered that no matter what, the movers will come, the house will get packed and we will leave. Taking care of my huge to do list will make the move easier, but it will happen regardless. So, I shouldn't stress out to much. It will all work out.

One week from today is Christmas! Yay!

Yesterday I emptied the pantry, cleaned the shelves and repainted them. I cleaned the stove and oven. I hate cleaning the stove and oven. I cleaned the fridge. I still need to do the freezer size, though. I held a yard sale. It was freezing cold outside. I looked completely ridiculous, I'm sure, sitting in my big, soft computer chair, wrapped in a red and black Scotty dog blanket, sitting in the driveway. To keep me occupied during the several hours outside, I read a book. I found Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden at the used book store. I've been wanting to read it for a long time, but the book is out of print and most of the copies I can find online are more than I'm willing to pay. I got lucky at the last trip to the used bookstore. It's a great book.

I need to take down all the pictures in the house, puddy the holes and paint over the puddy. Tomorrow I'll take down the few Christmas decorations I put up. The tree is up with only the lights, the star on top and about 6 candy canes the kids hung up. I also hung a small wreath and two strands of lights on the porch.

Tonight I pack the kids suitcases (as much as I can.) I hope they don't pack the washer and drier until the last.

The other day, I was at the Walmart. I was in the toy section with my youngest, letting her play with the toys before we moved onto the shopping. I saw a Magic 8 Ball. After thinking of all the many things I could ask it, I finally asked it, "Is everything going to work out with the move?"
It answered me: "Outlook good."

Pizza Cereal

2011-12-14T21:28:00.002-07:00

The other morning, my three year old asked me for pizza for breakfast. We didn't have pizza. She asked again for the breakfast pizza. I had not made a breakfast pizza. Frustrated with me, she showed me what she wanted - Honey Combs cereal.

Yeah, I guess it kind of looks like little pizzas. So now, when I list the cereal choices to her, she gets to choose between cocoa bombs, pizza cereal, or the stuff in the red bag.

What to join us for breakfast?

The Christmas play

2011-12-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

My Auntie M's Children's Theater just had it's second production.

It was a reader's theater called "What Will You Tell Us of Christmas?"
The reading cast was divided into three groups and they read as a chorus. Choral reading is really becoming a lost art among children. They don't do those kinds of things in schools anymore. No more reading plays or poetry. So, a play like this is really a unique opportunity.

It turned out so cute. The kids did great. There was one little hiccup in the show, but it's pretty funny. During the show, the children sang the first verse of several Christmas carols, but they never could get the tune right for "Once in Royal David's City." They always sang it to the tune of "Hark, the Herald Angel's Sing." I sang it for them, we even had a pianist playing the song during the show. They still couldn't get it right.

I was sitting back stage during the show to help the little actors with costume and prop changes. I just shook my head and laughed during the one poor mixed-up song. Other than that, it was great!

Here is a picture of the cast after the show. Yes, we had 2 boys and 13 girls. After the show, we had cookies and lemonade, which many of them are holding.

Thanks to my sweet kids and the parents who helped me out with the set up and clean up.
I'm sad that this was our last show here in New Mexico. I'll take Auntie M's to Virginia and maybe I can start up something there this summer.

Christmas Shows

2011-12-10T19:29:00.001-07:00

In October I talked about some of my favorite TV shows and their Halloween episodes.

Now it is Christmas time!

Those great Christmas specials are out and playing on TV now and I have a few favorites:

A Charlie Brown Christmas - classic. Just classic.
Garfield Christmas

Favorite Christmas movies:
A Muppet's Christmas Carol
Several of the Christmas Carol versions: George C. Scott and Alistair Sim
Scrooge with Albert Finney (I love the song, "Thank You Very Much.")
White Christmas - gosh, I just love the songs and dances and I think Rosemary Clooney is just amazing

TV shows:
The Monkees - a cute episode to be sure, but at the end, they sing A cappella "Riu Chiu" and it is beautiful. The harmony is amazing and it is such a fantastic display of their talents.

Enjoy!

Dear Friends

2011-12-09T09:58:00.001-07:00

Last night was a busy one. My oldest son had his last orchestra concert at this middle school. It was in the cafeteria of the local high school and involved every orchestra and choir from two middle schools. As you can imagine, there were a LOT of families in that cafeteria. It was hard to hear the performing groups. Before that concert was over, my next two kids had their piano recital. My two kids did a duet. It was sweet and they did very well.

Hubby left yesterday morning to go to our new home. Well, he's going to stay in a hotel because we don't have a home yet. That's his job while he is there before the rest of us arrive in three weeks.

I had to rely on a friend to help me last night. I couldn't be in two places at once. I'm an independent person and I don't like to ask for help, but there was no way around it yesterday. Thank goodness for dear friends.

I've been blessed here to know many wonderful people and have many good friends. I'm sad to leave them. It's sadly funny, but you know who your good friends are when you are moving because they all offer to help with that trickiness that is moving. They have said, "Do you need help packing?" "Do you need help cleaning?" "Do you need a place to stay?" "I'll take the kids anytime you need so you can get some work done without them." Then there are the people who say, "What day are you packing? I'll be there." They don't just offer, they are ready to put it on their calendars.

It's truly amazing. Thankfully, I don't need help packing. The movers will do that for me! Hooray! We have a place to go after the movers have packed our things. I've got sleeping bags, but on our dumb concrete floors, it's not a fun place to sleep. My husband's co-worker and his wife (my son's cello teacher) are putting us up in their house. I've told them you don't need to do anything special for us. We'll just all crash in your living room. But no, they'll have two bedrooms waiting for us.

If I really thought about all the generosity that is being shown us, I would break down and cry and you might not be able to pry me away from my empty house. How can I leave?

I just hope that I can find good friends where we are going. I hope I can help someone in return. I hope I can repay the kindness that is being shown me.

I didn't mean to be so mushy and I didn't intend to write this when I sat down to blog, but I can't help it today. Thank you dear friends. Thank you.

The Rio Grande

2011-12-07T19:50:00.001-07:00

Here we are standing in the middle of the Rio Grande. It's dry during the winters and fast flowing with water in the summers. A number of miles up stream is a dam. Right now they aren't letting any water through. It's been a dry year, until this last week.

I knew we couldn't move without getting our picture taken in the middle of the Rio Grande. We were surprised by the very soft sand and clams in the sand!

It was very cold that day and it started to rain while we were in the middle of the river. We took a few goofy pictures and hopped back into the warm van.

Then on Monday, it snowed! Tuesday was a snow day! The kids loved that. Today the world is back to normal, except for some snow left unmelted in the shadowed places of the city. Pretty cool. Actually, it's pretty cold. Today, when my son left for school it was 20 degrees. I wouldn't let him out of the house to go to school until he had put on long pants. Monday, the day it snowed, he went to school in shorts and a t-shirt. He was so mad at me today and told everyone about the cruel and unusual punishment that he has endured because his mother made him wear long pants. He still wore a t-shirt and no jacket....

Teenage boys..... what can you do?

The Lamp

2011-12-05T20:26:00.001-07:00

We are quite practical when it comes to furnishing our house. I don't have a decorating gene in my body. My sister got them all! We have a black sofa. We have a black rocking chair. We have bookshelves that hold books. The pictures on the wall are family photos. I've tried to match all the frames, but that's about all the decorating I do. I would like to decorate. I would like to make cozy corners with a side tables, comfy chairs, and a gee, I don't know. A knick knack? What do you do with a cozy corner with a table and chair?

See I'm really not talented when it comes to decorating.

Last week, my son's employer (and a good friend of the family) gave our son a family gift. It is a lamp. The lamp is shaped like the Eiffel Tower! I love it! It's so art deco. Now I know what to put in that cozy corner with the table and chair - my Eiffel Tower lamp.

Too bad I don't have that cozy corner. For now it sits on my kitchen counter. Hey! Maybe the next house I can have a cozy corner. Now I just need a comfy chair, a side table and a house to put it all in....

Back on line

2011-12-03T13:47:00.001-07:00

I'm so happy to have my computer back.

Today was our last play practice for Auntie M's Christmas play. This has been a very different kind of play and experience for me. It's been fun. I'm not nearly as stressed out as I was last time, but there are a few things that I'm just not sure how they will come together for the play next week. They may not, and that is OK.

I didn't want to involve kids younger than six, but instead I ended up with two 4 year olds. They, actually, are doing great. Although one of these cute 4 year olds was picking his nose on stage today. I laughed. It's amusing to see a shepherd digging for gold.

Next Saturday morning is the big show. I'm excited for it. It will be a lot of fun. The play is short, maybe 25 minutes long, and half of that time is singing Christmas carols. I'll be glad when it is done. Since we are moving in three weeks, not having my Saturday mornings free to work on things has been difficult. I really need to hold a yard sale. I could just take all the stuff to the local Goodwill, but it would be nice to try and make a little money first. Moving is so expensive. Anything extra I can get will help.

This next week will be crazy! Not bad, just busy. I bought paint so I can start touching up the walls in the house. I'll work on painting on Monday. I'm NOT doing that while all the kids are in the house.

Well, I'm just kind of rambling. I'll stop that for now. There is a lot to work on....

I decided not to pull out all the Christmas decorations this year, but I did pull out the tree and put lights on it and the star on top. That is probably all we'll do with the tree, but it sure is pretty to have my little tree with the blue lights on it. I love Christmas lights.

Just a funny thing: Last night I made my oldest son laugh while he had three saltine crackers in his mouth. Yeah, there was a lot of cracker pieces to clean up, but it sure was funny.

The Phone

2011-12-01T20:51:00.001-07:00

Years ago, we had a phone. It had been a good phone. It had actually gone through the washing machine (accidentally) once. And yet, it lived, worked, and was good to us for many years. Then it died.

I used a cheap corded phone while I decided what to do next.

My sister had just bought a new phone for her house, so she mailed me her old one. Now, the reason she bought a new phone was because the old one was very unreliable. She was quite annoyed with it.

Now, I was in possession of the annoying phone. It did give us trouble, but most of the time it worked. Then, as time passed, it got more and more unreliable. It didn't ring. It wouldn't give us a dial tone. It was not a good phone. But, I was too cheap to buy a new one and of course, I didn't want to offend my sister, who had so graciously given me the phone. (In retrospect, she probably sent me that phone to pay me back for trying to sell her when she was a baby.)

The phone got worse and worse. I called it the stupid phone. I would see someone out and about in town and frequently heard, "I tried to call you, but your phone did something strange." and I would say, "Yes, it is a stupid phone."

Still, I was too cheap to go out and buy a new one.

Well, this last week, it wasn't working at all. We couldn't make calls out and we weren't getting calls in. I yanked it from the wall and tossed it out. I plugged in a cheap corded phone again. My new cheap phone is a white, slim-line phone with no connections to oriental food what-so-ever. (That's for you, sis)

Today, I admitted to my sister that I had gotten rid of the stupid phone. Do you know what she said to me? "It's about time!"

Well, (snobby turned up nose) see if I accept a used phone from her again.

the dead computer

2011-11-29T22:25:00.001-07:00

My computer is dead. It's so sad. It was fine Saturday, then that night it started having problems. My dear Hubby, who is, in my opinion, a computer genius, has worked on it for days. He has tried everything, but it could not be safely saved. Tomorrow he will take it and have it erased. We have tried to get all the important files off of it and I hope we did. Right now, the only truly important file is my school file with the two papers I've been writing. If anything should happen to those, I might go quite crazy.

This won't be long as I am typing from a touch pad keyboard. I can do it, but it's kind of a pain.

Something kind of funny - my eldest son seems to have a difficult time coming out of rooms when the door is shut. It always sounds like he runs into the door and has a fight with the knob before he gets out. Well this morning I joked with him that really needs to remember to open the door before trying to walk out. He smiled and walked out. Several minutes later I hear a loud bang against a door and my son going "dang it."

ok this is getting really hard to type on. later dudes!

Children's Literature

2011-11-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

I love children's literature!

I love how fast I can read most of them. Wow, I just read an entire novel in one hour! (OK, so it's a novel for a 2nd grader, but hey...)

Still, I'm picky about what I read. I prefer to laugh or feel good while I'm reading a story, so I avoid serious dramas for the most part. I like a lot of the classics. I don't like books about dogs who die at the end. I hated that we had to read Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller when I was in middle school. They are still making kids read the same books.

I like fantasy and I like biographies. I like books about everyday life and the silly situations we sometimes find ourselves in. I like when the main character is an underdog, but manages to save the day.

Some of my favorites:
Peter Pan (of course) - Sir James M. Barrie
Heidi - Johanna Spyri
Long Way from Chicago - Richard Peck - all of his are funny and so heart-warming!
The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
The NeverEnding Story - Michael Ende
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
The Ramona Quimby books - Beverly Cleary
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

Recent reads include:
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
The Worst Witch - Jilly Murphy (a cute book)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever - Jeff Kinney

Currently working on:
Swiss Family Robinson - Johann David Wyss (I'm loving the archaic language. No one uses the words "repast" or "repose" anymore.)
Five Children and It - E. Nesbit (again, great old language. It was written in 1905.)

The ol' batteries need a recharge

2011-11-26T18:07:00.001-07:00

My batteries need to be changed, I think. I feel like I'm running down.

Nothing bad is going on. I'm quite fortunate that life is really pretty good. Still, I feel like the batteries are dying. My play is in two weeks. I've never had all the kids come to the rehearsals at the same time. One of them told me she didn't have her script because she lost it in her room and she is too lazy to look for it. Yes, that is what she told me. Know what I told her? Find it! She got my last copy of the script and I'm not making another just because she doesn't feel like looking for it.

I've got two school papers due. One in December, one in January. That really isn't a problem. The problem is we will most likely be moving during those times. Moving in the middle of the semester makes getting homework done and papers written difficult.

Speaking of moving.... where are we going? Somewhere in Virginia. When are we going? I don't know. Some time in December. How's that for planning?

We lived in Hawaii for almost 5 years. There is a lot of wonderful things there to miss, but for the most part, I don't think about it much. Tonight we were visiting with a Hawaiian local that is here visiting family. We heard her sing in Samoan. She fed us! We realized how much we miss that island and the beautiful people on it. The culture, the food, the kindness. It isn't the beaches or palm trees we miss. It's the people we miss. Too bad this upcoming move can't take us back to Hawaii.

Sigh. OK, that's enough of that. Like I said, things aren't really bad, but I feel worn down. Among other things, I'm concerned about not knowing where we are going, the kids school, saying goodbye to friends and hoping that wherever we go there are people as kind as the ones here. I need a hug. I need someone to hug me and tell me everything will work out just fine. I'm sure it will, but the hug would be nice anyway.

Things will be better Monday. The kids will be back to school and I will be able to enjoy a little more peace. My goal is to have my two papers for school finished before we leave and with everyone home for the Thanksgiving holidays, it's been hard to concentrate.

Trans Siberian Orchestra

2011-11-22T20:43:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday, my husband's work's Christmas party for the employees, were tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I wasn't terribly familiar with their music. I only knew a couple of songs. If you aren't familiar with TSO, they are kind of an electric guitar rocking band. They have an electric violinist, two pianist, a drummer on a huge set, and a small string ensemble. They really rocked the house! I'm not a head banging, electric guitar rocking fan, but their music was quite awesome. I had a fun time. The show lasted for about three hours. The first half of the show they told a sweet Christmas story with the spoken story being in prose and inbetween the storyteller's tale, they had their music. Some of it was original music and some was new versions to old tunes like Carol of the Bells (one of their more famous songs.) The second half of the show was their own oringinal music and showing off their tremendous talents.

The light system was incredible and their were lights in time with the music, laser show, pyrotechnics, and everything you would expect of a rock concert. It was a lot of fun.

Sadly for me, that's the night I got sick, so I was cold, achy and not enjoying the experience nearly as much as I might have otherwise.

I was really amazed to see, among the concert goes, a lot of gray and white haired people. I was kind of surprised to see so many older folks at the show. I mean, this was head banging, loud electric guitar music. But then I got to thinking about these gray haired folks. These guys were teens or young adults in the 60's and 70's. This was the generation that went to Woodstock. This is the generation that saw the Rolling Stones and The Who. They were the first to go to ear-bleeding, head banging concerts. Why wouldn't they still enjoy it now?

This is my 3rd concert I've been too. If you know anything about me, you might be able to guess who two of my favorite bands are. Can you guess? The Monkees and The Beatles. I was a kid when the Monkees had their 20th anniversary tour and I got to see them when they went to Dallas. I sat out in the grass for hours, drinking Gatorade and being so excited I could hardly sit still. Then the thrill of seeing Peter, Micky and Davy was beyond anything I had ever experienced. The funny thing about that concert was "Weird Al" was the opening band. At the time I didn't know who Weird Al was, but it was not a full year later that I was introduced to his music and became a big fan. All I remember of Weird Al's part of the concert was the "Addicted to Spuds" song. He had people dressed as potatoes dancing on the stage.

My other favorite band, The Beatles, broke up before I was born, but in the 90's, Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band came to Dallas and I went to see him. Awesome!

Now I can can Trans Siberian Orchestra to my list of concerts. It was so much fun. Next time, though, I need to remember ear plugs. It was a little louder than I was comfortable with. I'm such an old fuddy-duddy.

If you've never heard any of TSO before, I recomend this - Carol of the Bells: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vNcGlM8O3I

if you like that, you should also listen to Wizards in Winter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFLOh44P5z0&feature=related

nothing more than fragmented thoughts

2011-11-21T22:53:00.001-07:00

Things are never dull here. Honestly, I can't ever say that I'm bored.

What a week we had. What a week we have coming up. What a month ahead of me.

Thanks to good meds I am feeling 100% again after last weeks nasty sickness. Well, I was feeling 100%, but today while lifting boxes, I pulled a muscle in my back. Note to self - get Hubby or Son to do the heavy lifting. They have arm muscles, I don't. :)

We had family visit over the weekend. My parents, my husband's parent's and a nephew were here for a special occasion. What fun we all had visiting, laughing, sharing stories, watching the kids play. It was only a few short days, but it was great fun while they were here. I'm sad to see it end, but at the same time, I need everyone to go so I can focus on getting this house ready to move.

The kids have school tomorrow, but then they are off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It will be fun to have them home. I hope they will work to behave themselves and get along with each other. Is it really just three days until Thanksgiving? I haven't even thought about fixing Thanksgiving dinner. I love doing it, but it's really snuck up on me this year or I've been too busy to notice its approach. Today I was at the store getting a few essentials and not really shopping. However, my mother-in-law, who was with me, reminded me that I hadn't bought my turkey yet. Oh yeah! I hope it thaws by Thursday.

My son loves the Elf Yourself website. He plays on it every morning before school. His favorite thing to do is put himself and some of his favorite famous people in the pictures (i.e. David Tennent (from Dr. Who), Bill Murray, Fabio, and Weird Al) and then watch them dance. It's pretty entertaining.

Really, I have no point to my blog entry this time. It's just some of my thoughts spilling from my mind onto the keyboard. (Kind of weird imagery there, isn't it?) I have a fun blog entry in mind to do, I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write it. I've GOT to get school work done, but maybe, if I need a break from library concerns, I'll blog about a fun evening I had last week.

Later!

Birthday cake disasters

2011-11-18T21:33:00.001-07:00

I've got many friends who, on their blogs or Facebook page, post pictures of these amazing cakes that they made for their children's birthdays or a friend's birthday. It is simply incredible and some of them are a work of art.

Then, there are my poor cake decorated deprived children. They have a mom who is seriously handicapped at cake decorating. Seriously!!! It wasn't always this bad, but it seems each cake I make just gets worse and worse. Here is the most recent cake disaster:

Yeah, I know. That's bad. I don't even want to tell you what it makes me think of. So, I made the cake, like normal. After it was completely cooled, I took it out of the pan. Well, it broke into about three pieces when I took it out of the pan. Then I tried to ice it. It just crumbled. I've never had a cake do that. NEVER!

Thankfully my son was very amused and forgiving of his mom's incredible lack of decorating talent.

This was my daughter's cake last year. The two round cakes didn't sit well on top of each other and the top of the cake kind of slid off the bottom of the cake. It was a mess. She was forgiving as well.

Hey, my cakes may be ugly, but they are tasty. There is nothing wrong with the way the cake tastes and that's the most important part. Right?

My husband an two older sons don't even bother asking for a cake, they want cheesecake and I can make some killer cheesecakes. They are yummy! This year, after seeing her brother's cake disaster, my daughter asked for ice cream instead of a cake. Smart girl.

better

2011-11-17T20:26:00.001-07:00

Today was a much better day, thank goodness! I don't get sick often. I get a cold every year that keeps me coughing for about six weeks, but I can deal with that.

What happened to me the other day is a much more rare occurrence. I wake up in the morning, just fine and ready to tackle the day. By the end of the day, BAM! I'm flat on my back unable to move because I feel so awful and achy and dizzy. I was up at 1am and 5am last night (this morning) eating popsicles to help my poor throat.

Thank you medicine! Today I feel quite normal except for a very tender throat.

So, I cleaned today. Not a lot of fun and there is still a lot to do, but I feel better about what I accomplished today. Ooooo, I can feel my throat getting sore again. Time for some meds and maybe another popsicle.

sick

2011-11-16T18:40:00.001-07:00

It's amazing how you can wake up one day, feeling quite normal and with big plans for the day and by that night, you are shivering on the couch hardly able to move.

That was me yesterday. Today hasn't been much better. I've laid around, slept, and spent 2 1/2 hours at the doctor trying to gets some meds to help.

I have company arriving in two days. It will be the Hubby's parents AND my parents. Yeah, this house will not be ready for company.

OK, I'm dizzy, so I'm going to lay back down.

Birthdays, discos, and not freaking out (yet)

2011-11-15T08:20:00.001-07:00

In the last six days, we've had two birthdays in our house. The oldest daughter is 8 now and the youngest son is 6. It's hard to believe. I love that they are getting older.

Last night we had a disco dance. Now years and years ago, disco night in our house was a regular event. We probably had a disco two or three times a month. Our disco ball hung from the ceiling in the living room. We would turn on the spotlight, crank up the disco music and dance. It was great fun. Last night we turned off all the lights in the house and turned on the strobe light. Then we danced. It was so funny. I wish I could explain everything that the kids did. My youngest daughter, who is 3, had this strut she would do and she probably had the best moves of anyone else in the family. They all had fantastic moves. It was very funny and I'm a little jealous of their dance skills.

(Actually, my youngest just came up to me and told me she wants to do a disco dance again.)

As we will be moving soon, you can imagine it is on our minds a lot. I hope each day when Hubby comes home from work, he will know where we are going and when we are going. It makes moving easier to plan when you have those two vital bits of information. While I'm sad to say good-bye to good friends, I view each move as an exciting adventure. I'm not stressing over anything yet because there is nothing I can do about anything just yet. Hubby told me I had a good attitude about this move. (We've moved at least 9 times over the course of our marriage.) I told him if my attitude was annoying him, I could totally freak out over it. He declined my offer.

This move should be so easy compared to the last one. Last time we were trying to sell a house and I had six month old to deal with (along with the other 4 kids) and Hubby left for his new job about a month before I could leave to join him, so I was all alone. This time, it's a rental house, the kids are older and can help more. I'll stress out when we get close to the actual move. So, Molly-freaking-out will appear in about a month. Keep an eye out for the entertaining show that is to come.

Molly and Peter

2011-11-12T21:31:00.001-07:00

Several amazing things have happened this week. On Wednesday, Hubby found out his job here was ending. That means we move wherever the next job takes us. So, we're moving! Most likely next month.

It's crazy how fast the news comes and you work with it. I'd tell you where we are moving to, but I don't know myself yet. It's looking like Virginia, but don't quote me on that yet.

So, this weekend, we started cleaning out stuff. I've got a very large yard sale pile going. I've been going through boxes, cleaning out stuff we don't need and other joyous tasks of this nature.

Tonight, miracle of miracles, I found a set of photos that I thought I had lost. Honestly, I haven't seen these photos in six years and was sure they were missing forever. Hubby will tell you how upset I've been over the years at the loss of these photos. Tonight, I was searching through a box. It was probably never unpacked when we moved here three years ago. (Yeah, I know that's pretty sad to still have unpacked boxes from the last move....)

So, tonight for the first time in six years, I share with you a picture from my visit to Kensington Gardens in London back in 2005 to see the Peter Pan statue. I was 7 months pregnant with kid #4.

Molly and Peter

Peter Pan, my first love

2011-11-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

I don't guess I've really talked about Peter Pan before, but I can't not talk about him any longer.

Peter Pan was my first crush.

Many years ago, when I was just a young tot of two, (maybe younger, but I don't remember that far back) I had a record player. I listened to music and stories on my record player. I remember having several versions of the story of Peter Pan that I loved listening to.

Peter Pan frequently sent Tinker Bell to my home to visit me. I remember more than once, sitting in my living room while a light darted about the ceiling. I spoke to it. My parents might tell you that it was my dad holding a hidden flashlight, but that wouldn't be the truth - it was Tinker Bell.

I'm sure I visited Never Never Land after falling asleep many nights.

When I was three, just before Halloween, I fell and broke my left arm, just above the elbow. I already had my costume and no broken arm was going to stop me from dressing as, you guessed it, Peter Pan.

My brother and I. 1978

At the preschool Halloween class party. Most of the time, I wore my sling inside my shirt.

Peter was on my 4th birthday cake and I had either a mobile or a lamp from my very early childhood that featured Peter.

One of my favorite records as a child was a theatrical performance of Peter Pan on LP. It was a very groovy recording with original music. I LOVED that record. I can still sing the opening song from it. "There's a magic place I know, where it's summer all year through. A land at rainbows end of games and let's pretend, Never Land is waiting for you!"

Terrytown Players, I love you.
The record was made in 1977

I was given a beautiful story book from my parents in 1980 for Christmas. It had the most amazing pictures in it. I looked at those beautiful works of art over and over.

Stunning art work.
It really set my small child's imagination running.

I went to see Peter Pan when it came to Dallas and starred Sandy Duncan! (late 70's early 80's, I don't know the year) I remember going to see that. It was such a thrill. Years later I was introduced to the Mary Martin version of Peter Pan. I taped it off the TV and had it on VCR tape so I was able to watch it over and over and over. "I have a place where dreams are born and time is never planned. It's not on any chart, you must find it with your heart, Never Never Land." Then, as a teenager, the Cathy Rigby version came to Dallas and I saw that performed.

The Playbill for Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan

I have several versions of the books to read.

The book on the left is a nice hardback, the center book I got for super cheap at a used bookstore. It's great for just reading without worrying about destroying the book. The blue book on the right it the one with the beautiful artwork that I got for Christmas when I was very small.

The first unabridged book of Peter pan that I read.

I learned very quickly when reading Peter Pan, that it was much more than just a children's book. The language was difficult first of all. It's much darker story than the plays and movies I had seen. Peter is still lovable, but less so. He is an mischievous imp. You get so annoyed with him in his complete lack of understanding of Wendy's feelings, and yet, when he is hurt and about to die, alone on a rock from a wound inflicted by Hook, you want to cry for Peter.

There were movies, like Hook, in 1991 that were lots of fun. There were other movie versions that were well done, but not my favorite telling of the story.... I was in the play Peter Pan when I was 10 or so years old. I played the snake. I got to hang out with the crocodile. I was in every scene the crocodile was in. I don't have any photos of my in my snake costume, but I know my mom has at least one, somewhere.

I tried to convince my husband to name one of our children Peter, but I never could get him to go with me on that.

I had the most awesome record ever of the Disney's Peter Pan:

Yes, amazing pictures from the movie printed right onto the record.

As a teenager, probably 16 years old, I did a cross stitch of Peter and the gang:

It hangs on the wall in my home now.

Then, six years ago, I had the opportunity to go to London for about 36 hours. I didn't care what I saw or did in London, as long as I visited the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. It took several subway trains from my hotel and a very, very long walk through a huge park before I found Peter, but found him I did. A kind stranger took a picture of me with Peter Pan. I was 8 months pregnant at the time with baby #4. Sadly, I haven't seen those pictures since coming back from London. I have no idea what happened to them. I hope one day to find them, but until then, just know that I've been there. I've seen Peter. I sat on a bench across the walk from him, looked at him and thanked him for the many, many wonderful years we've know each other.

Fall Tradition

2011-11-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

Where would we be in life without traditions? Lost, that's for sure.

My kids can count on every year, the annual post-Halloween torching of the jack-o-lantern. We started this tradition about 10 years ago. We were living in Hawaii. It's hot there year round. Our poor pumpkin we bought and carved in mid-October was a nothing but a moldy, melted orange blob by Halloween. We decided to have a bit of fun with it and the Hubby sprayed it with lighter fluid and set it aflame.

This became a post-Halloween tradition. This year, after an unusually warm October, we once again had a melted, gooey pumpkin. Last night, we set it out among the rocks in our yard and the Hubby turned on the propane torch. Flames shot out of it's eyes and mouth.

Long live traditions!

Canadian Style Mincemeat

2011-11-03T22:37:00.000-06:00

The Hubby is a big fan of mincemeat. Every Christmas season I make him a mincemeat pie. I buy the brown goo in the big jar and pour it into a pie crust. He is the only one who will east it. I like it for maybe two bites and I'm done. The flavor is just odd to me. This year I thought it might be fun to do something different. So, I was searching for mincemeat recipes and came across one that looked tasty.

It is called Canadian style mincemeat. I don't know if it actually the way they eat mincemeat in Canada or if they get the brown goo in a jar like we have in the US. Perhaps someone just called it that for fun and it has nothing to do with Canada. I don't know. If any friends from Canada can solve this mystery for me, I would be so grateful.

Well, whatever it is called and where ever it hales from, it looked good and I decided to try it.
It is apple cider, cranberries, craisins, apples, raisins, and spices. It all gets dumped together into a pot, cooked, mashed and then stored in jars.

Simmering in the pot. It smelled as wonderful as it looks. Apples, cranberries and cinnamon.
That's an amazing fall aroma.

Canned into jars. It looks pretty.

Once I had this delicious concoction made, I had to try something with it. I found a cookie recipe. It's basically a sugar cookie with the mincemeat inside. I used a heart shaped cookie cutter. They turned out so very yummy. These little cookies are perfect for an evening treat. I heated up some apple cider to drink with my cookies. If there are seasons in heaven, this is what you would eat in autumn in heaven.

Delicious little cookies

So there it is, Canadian style mincemeat. I'll be making more of this stuff. When the holidays are upon us, I'll make a pie with it. Ooo, it will be so good.

The millions of ideas

2011-11-02T21:38:00.001-06:00

There is a million things going on in my head. I really need to focus on just a few things, but no, I try and tackle as much as I can.

I'm trying to get through school work. I like it and much of it is interesting, but this week, I have 31 pages to read. That's really not much, but every time I sit down to read, I fall asleep. Or my mind starts to think about the other ten projects I'm working on and by the time I've finished a page, I can't remember a single thing that I read and I re-read it, but continue to have a wandering mind. I still haven't made it through those 31 pages yet.

My theater is holding auditions this coming Saturday. I'm excited. Recent theater experiences in the last few months have given me great ideas to do with the kids for auditions. I'm going to have every kid go through the audition, but depending on the number of kids that show up, if they want to be in the play, I can put them in it. It's a great little show because the cast size is very flexible.

Oldest son really wants to have a comedy troop. We've had two meetings, but only one kid showed up and that's tough for him. My kids and I have been playing these funny games for month, but he never has, so it's hard for him to jump into our family's insanity. We discovered that one of our neighbors is a theater major graduate and he spent a year and a half in an improv comedy group while he was in school. We've invited him to our next meeting to come and really help us do some fun stuff.

I've given up on writing right now. The only thing I write these days is this blog and my school papers. Sad, but it's a trade off in the middle of the semester.

I need to figure out how to record sound with my computer. I can run the camera, but I don't want video, just sound and I can't figure it out. I've asked Hubby for help, but he is so busy with everything he is involved in, he hasn't had time to help. If I ever do figure it out, watch out! I've got a funny idea brewing.

The kids are good. My oldest daughter and youngest son have birthdays next week. Ahhh! I haven't even thought about those yet. I had a parent/teacher conference with my daughter's teacher a couple of weeks ago. She told me what they are learning in school and she told me, "don't teach her multiplication yet, we need to get the addition facts down first." OK. Well, today, for fun, daughter was at the table, writing out her own math problems and figuring them out. She realized that 12x6 is just 12 six times. She thinks of things that I never would have thought of at her age. She's smart, like her dad.

OK, Peanut, who I am holding, has fallen asleep. Now it's time to put her down and see if I can tackle those reading pages again. (yawn, maybe not)

Upcoming blog entries will include: Mincemeat adventures and my lifelong love for Peter Pan.
Oh yes, I know you're excited now.

Scary Thoughts

2011-10-31T10:25:00.000-06:00

We love our holiday TV specials, Garfield, Charlie Brown and such. With this being Halloween, I started to think of my favorite shows and their Halloween episodes. Most TV shows, that I can think of, have at least one Halloween themed show during their run.

Right now, as I am writing this, my daughter is watching Blues Clues. It is the episode where they are trying to find out what Blue is afraid of. At one point, they enter into an old haunted house that is occupied by a little ghost named Boo. Every time some one says Boo's name, everyone screams. It's funny.

My favorite TV show of all time, The Monkees, really didn't have a specific Halloween episode. They did have four or five shows that took place in haunted mansions with monsters, vampires, werewolves, mummies and coffins. Definitely a couple of great episodes to watch during Halloween.

Another favorite TV show for me is SeaQuest DSV. They had a Halloween one that if I remember right, aired on Halloween. It took place on an old sunken ship where tormented souls of ghosts did their best to scare the crew of the SeaQuest. I've seen the episode three or four times now, but one part of the show still freaks me out. It's at the beginning. The crew is watching some old footage of a Titanic-like ship. They pause the old movie to discuss what to do and while the movie is paused, one of the faces in the movie turns to look at them. Freaks me out every time. (Shivers)

I prefer to laugh than be scared, so I'll share a favorite YouTube clip of a not-so-scary witch. Just a warning - do NOT eat anything while watching this. I did this morning and about choked on my cereal because I was laughing so hard.

What's your favorite Halloween TV episode?

Halloween movies and music

2011-10-27T21:32:00.001-06:00

We love Halloween time here at our house. Personally, I just love that the weather is cooler and I can bake with pumpkin til my heart's content.

We love watching our favorite holiday movies and shows:
Garfield's Halloween
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Disney's Halloween Special
The Worst Witch

We listen to great music:
"Toccata and Fugue" by Bach (the great classic organ song)
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Dukas
"Night on Bald Mountain" by Rimsky-Korsakov
"This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman
Monster Mash

I found this fun list:
Dracula’s top ten favorite songs
10. You’re so vein
9. Fangs for the Memories
8. You’ve got a Fiend
7. You Don’t Bring me Plasma Anymore
6. Bat’s the Way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it
5. You Light up my Crypt
4. Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Casket
3. Don’t Go Stakin’ My Heart
2. Stranglers in the Night
1. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Donor

Getting Ready for Halloween

2011-10-27T15:19:00.001-06:00

Today is the first day that it has really felt cool out. I mean, the kids can and still are running around without jackets or shoes so it's not that cold yet. But, it's the first day that I haven't turned on the A/C in the house.

Tomorrow is the first Halloween carnival we will attend. Actually, there are three, but we will only attend one. Just two days ago, my 11 year old son finally told me what he wants to be for Halloween. So, what do my kids want to dress as for Halloween?

Oldest son wanted to dress as Dr. Who. He's rather obsessed with that show right now. Sadly, in this warm climate we live in, dark brown overcoats and matching suits with bow ties aren't to be found (for a cheap price, anyway.) We found a costume online for Dr. Who, but who wants to spend $300 on a costume for a kid that will grow out of it in five months? He was disappointed, but decided to be Charlie Brown in his Halloween costume. So, that is a sheet with a bunch of holes cut out of it. A $4 sheet from the local used clothing store is definitely doable.

Next son took until 2 days ago to tell me he wants to be a pirate. Well, he can wear his dark pants and white shirt. A trip to the used clothing store found a brown scrub-like shirt. With a little help from the old sewing machine, we turned that brown shirt into a vest. I've got some strips of cloth we can use as a belt. OK, we're good.

Seven year old daughter. If you've never seen the movie called "The Worst Witch," I highly recommend it. It was filmed in the 80's and is about a young girl at a witches academy. It's got a lot of Harry Potter elements in it, but this was more than a decade before Harry Potter even showed up on bookshelves. The main witch student is Mildred Hubble. This is who my daughter wanted to be for Halloween. We found a women's sleeveless cocktail dress at the used clothing shop and an orange shirt. They look like the uniforms the girls in the movie wear. A green ribbon belt and striped stockings finish the costume off. It's cute!

The five year old son has also waited until the last minute to tell me his costume choice - a ninja. Not too tough. Black pants, black shirt, black socks. We've got that. I will sew one more element to his costume this afternoon.

Then there is Peanut. She wanted to be a ballerina. We have a leotard already from when her big sister was this age. Some tulle and an elastic made a tutu. She spent two days already wearing her costume. Her tutu is looking pretty sad now. It's OK. It makes her happy.

I'll wear my purple medieval dress with the huge sleeves. I'll be Vaire the Weaver from Tolkien's The Silmarillian.

I'm so glad Halloween comes once a year.

The digital hybrid

2011-10-23T21:04:00.002-06:00

I haven’t said much about school this semester. We are only beginning our 5^thweek, so there hasn’t been much to say. Last week we had a group project to do. That isn’t easy when the members of the group span 12 time zones. Most of them are in the UK, but there are afew of us in North America and several in Asia and Africa. By the time I get all the kids to school andI’m ready to sit down and do school work, it’s around 4pm in the UK.

It’s really amazing, when you think about it, how studentsfrom many countries on six of the continents are in one class together.

Also this past week, we discussed “digital natives.” What are digital natives you ask? People born since 1993. They know no life without the Internet. The rest of us born prior to 1993 are called “digitalimmigrants.” An interesting idea, but asI see it, it is not entirely true. The generationI am from (sounds like a bad sci-fi movie) have lived with computers all of ourlives. We didn’t get the Internet untilwe were young adults, but we were the first generation to have personalcomputers, game consoles, and VCRs.

We had an Atari. Inever did get very good at those games. The joystick was awkward in my small hand, but that didn’t keep my brotherand I from trying to get the moving square (the ball) to hit the moving bars(tennis rackets, I think.)

When I was around 8, we got our first computer – an AppleIIe. Those old things had no memory atall. They didn’t run unless they had adisk in them. Yes, the 5 ¼ floppies. If you turned it on without a disk inside, itmade a lot of rude noises. We had a wordprocessing program. It was where I wroteall my plays and my first novel. We alsohad a couple of great games – Jumpman, Nibbler and Math Blaster.

We got our first VCR around that same time. Great fun. It was such a novelty to go down to the shopping center near our homeand pick out videos from the brand new home video rental store. This is way before Blockbuster. We recorded TV shows and could watch themwhenever we wanted!

Our first cell phone must have weighed about 10 pounds. Theyweren’t even called cell phones. Theywere mobile phones and despite their name, they weren’t very mobile. It was too heavy to carry around in your bagand your arm would cramp while trying to talk on it.

I think my generation should be called “digital hybrids.” I don’t think of myself as a technologicalimmigrant. I grew up with thestuff. Someday when I’m old, have apurple bouf, and whacking teenagers with a cane, I’ll be able to say, “Backwhen I was young, you whippersnappers, we didn’t have these smart phones. Our first cell phone was as long as your armand weighed more than a newborn baby.”
Oh yes, that will be the day!

I think I need some sunshine

2011-10-21T10:44:00.001-06:00

Having a blah day and I have no reason to do so. I've got several great projects going on. I love have a projects to work on. I just can't get myself to work on any of them. But on the flip side, I don't know what to do with myself either. Maybe I just need to get outside and soak in some sunshine.

Last night, Hubby was on one computer which is in our bedroom. The living room was filled with kids. Several of them were watching cartoons on the TV and the oldest was watching Dr. Who on my computer. I didn't want to hang out in the living room or the bedroom. Where else can I go? I had my oldest son assist me in moving my loom into the kitchen. Yes, the kitchen. I took my tablet, which has some of my favorite music. I put on headphones, and work in the kitchen on my loom. It was a great little work area. No one bothered me and I got the loom re-tied so I can start weaving again.

Peanut has been funny, and slightly annoying this morning. Several times, I've been in various rooms working on something and she comes in and says:
"Mom, can you come with me and get something down?"
"OK, I'll be right there."
"Mom, now."

and just a moment ago I got this:
"Mom, can you come to sister's room and sweep under the bed?"
"Why? Are there toys under the bed you want me to get?"
"Yeah, can you come now?"

I guess I had better go sweep under the bed before I get the "Now, Mom!"

Living in the future

2011-10-19T14:15:00.000-06:00

No, this isn't some strange sci-fi experiment.

All week long, I've thought this week is next week. Understand? My dear Hubby made arrangements to come home early today because I had an appointment. I checked the calendar to verify my appointment time and realized that the appointment is next week, not today. UG! I couldn't get hold of Hubby for a while and when I finally did, it was too late. He was one his way home.

Oops. Sorry.

This week I've done some Mad Libs with my kids. I love doing those. My 7 year old, who has recently learned the parts of speech, is really into doing these. She and I have had many a good laugh in the last week.

You can't help but laugh when you are talking about an orchestra playing Beethoven's "Fifth Flamingo" or Dois Day being elected Choo Choo Train of the Year and receiving a stinky dinosaur as her prize.
AND... did you know that the African Gravel Stone eats fifty pounds of fuzzy cheese a day?

Mad Libs are so funny. Oh yes, the next time you visit a zoo, watch out for the wild chocolate chips and recycle bins running around in large pens.

Auntie M's Children's Theater is back

2011-10-16T20:13:00.000-06:00

Check out Auntie M's Children's Theater! There are two audition announcements.

I'm also planning next year's season. If we can work it out, there will be three productions next year, spring, summer and fall! It should be a ton of fun. Check out the Upcoming Performances page.

The Whirlwind

2011-10-13T21:55:00.000-06:00

My three year old is a whirlwind. She’s as sweet as they come, but a completewhirlwind.

Each day for the last few weeks, she has taken to sortingthrough all of our movies. She pullseach one out and asks me what it is. Aside from watching a lot of Blues Clues lately, she has also been intowatching The NeverEnding Story, Mr. Bean, The Berenstain Bears and BabyEinstien. The problem is she doesn’t putany of the movies back. I find them allover the floor.

She does the same with all of the kid books. This last week, we’ve read Fancy Nancy’sHalloween many times. There have been alot of other books we’ve read, too. Theyare all over the floor.

She loves to wear shoes that are not her own. So, all over the living room and dining roomI’ll find everyone’s shoes. Then, whenwe need to go somewhere, I can’t find her shoes because she took them off insome odd place so she could put on her brother’s shoes.

She can make a mess of toys in her room faster than a desertdust devil. It’s a talent.

She loves to tell knock, knock jokes. Some of them are quite funny. Most of them don’t make sense, but you laughanyway because her delivery of the joke is fantastic.

She cut some of her hair this week. It’s never good when a three year old cutstheir own hair, but she didn’t do a bad job, surprisingly. They are almost like bangs. I don’t mind bangs, but when the rest of herhair reaches the middle of her back, a small section of above the eyebrow bangsis very short.

She thinks that she is going to grow up into a baby. Nothing you can say will change her mind onthis. She often tells me that when shegrows up into a baby, she will have a bottle, wear baby clothes, and play withbaby toys. You just have to agree withher. She can’t be swayed in her idea.

She climbed into some of the cupboards recently to get foodcoloring. She applied it very well anddidn’t make a mess of it. I just wishshe had not done that.

My little Peanut, what a gal.

The Halloween Fountain

2011-10-12T11:16:00.002-06:00

Thirteen or so years ago, the Hubby and I bought a littleHalloween decoration. It’s a smallfountain in the shape of a tombstone with a pool of stones at the bottom. When you turn it on, it played spooky musicand a small pump within the tombstone kept a stream of red blood-like liquidpouring from the top into the pool.

It was a fun decoration and we enjoyed it for severalyears. Then, we moved and half of ourbelongings went into storage and remained there for 10 years before we werefinally able to retrieve all of our things. Last year, we opened one of our storage boxes to find our spookyfountain. You can imagine my children’sthrill when we filled the pool with water and red food coloring. It didn’t play the spooky music anymore, butit was still fun to watch the fountain flow it a most spooky way.

Towards the end of October we started to notice that wecould, very faintly, hear Christmas music coming from the fountain. Odd.

Now this year is here and we’ve pulled out our Halloweendecorations, including the fountain. Iaddedsome water and turned it on. Very distinctlywe heard Christmas tunes coming from our fountain. Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a MerryChristmas played while the water poured from the top of the fountain to theskulls and stones below. It took awayall spookiness and made the fountain quite comical.

I wasn’t ready to add the food coloring just at that moment,even though the kids were asking me to do it. Really, it’s quite a mess and I didn’t want to deal with it quiteyet. Well, Peanut, my ever busy 3 year old, decidedto take matters into her own hands. Sheclimbed up onto the counter, opened the cupboard with the food coloring andadded it herself. She added blue. I haven’t changed it. So, our spooky skull Halloween fountain playsChristmas music and has lovely blue water flowing over the tombstone. Happy Halloween or Merry Christmas!

I don't know why Blogger keeps turning the picture sideways, but you get the idea of what the fountain looks like.
Are you spooked out yet?

Almost empty: a family tradition

2011-10-09T21:11:00.000-06:00

There's a joke in my family among my parents and siblings that when it comes to food you can not finish anything.

Imagine a plate with pancakes on it. The family eats the pancakes, but then as dinner is finishing, there is one pancake left on the plate. Who gets it? Well, it's not polite to take the last one, so everyone just leaves it and dinner is over.

What do you do with the one pancake? Do you just eat it? Do you throw it out, even though it is good food? Do you save it? Saving it would involve using a baggie or a Tupperware for just one item. Is it worth it?

During that same meal, everyone has a drink of milk. But, the tradition is, you must leave a tiny bit of milk in the jug. You must leave too much milk in the jug just to throw out, so you have to save it. An entirely empty jug, except for about 1/8 of a cup is stored back into the fridge.

Do you see how this is going? The family tradition of leaving just the tiniest amount, but too much to throw out has managed to be passed onto my own children.

It's too much food left to throw the container away, but it seems so ridiculous to store an almost completely empty container.

Same with the syrup here.

Must leave a little in the jar. Now the entire jar must be stored until the next time we eat pancakes.

I have learned over the years that the next time we eat these foods or drinks, I put the mostly empty container out first. If I set that jug of syrup out AND a brand new jug of syrup, the family will open the new jug and use it, never touching the jug that is almost empty.

Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just my family?

Just some food for thought. :)

PS: Check out my son, Stonehelm the Wise's, latest blog entry.

An update on the almost empty situation in our house:

Last night we had pickles as a part of our dinner. There was one lonely pickle slice the size of a nickle left floating in the jar.

School chats

2011-10-05T19:35:00.001-06:00

School has been going for two weeks for me. Some of it is interesting, some, not so interesting, but I guess that's the way school goes. Of course, it's only been two weeks. Today we had two "chats" in a chatroom. The first one was at 10am, Scotland time. That was 3am for me. I was awake and alert and participated and towards the end, I thought of a good question and decided to save the it for the next chat session later in the day. I got to go back to sleep for about 2 hours after the chat finished and before it was time to wake kids up for school. When the second chat started, it was 8pm Scotland time, one in the afternoon for me. I sat down to participate in the chat and couldn't remember anymore the question I had so brilliantly devised at 3:50am.

The next chat is next month and will be at 7am for me. That will be hard as that is the hour I'm getting kids out the door for school, but it's better than 3 in the morning.

The Scary Hotel

2011-10-02T21:31:00.001-06:00

A favorite blog inspired me to write this little story:

A little over a year ago I got to go to Detroit. I spent four days and three nightsthere. I was several blocks away fromthe downtown area. Now, I’ve heard a lotof bad stories about downtown Detroit, but I have to say, the actual downtownarea was very nice. The skyscrapers wereimpressive and the streets were nice. Now, you leave the immediate downtown area and things get pretty scarypretty fast.

I was about three blocks away from the downtown in a cheaphotel.

There is no way to really describe the hotel and do itjustice. I didn’t feel entirely safe. The room was quite large, painted pink and had one 60 watt light-bulb init. It was dark. In one corner of the room was, from what themanager told me, a Jacuzzi. Yes, a Jacuzziright in my room! However, as I checkedin, he told me the Jacuzzi didn’t work. It was in a corner of the room and it was so dark in that corner, Icouldn’t even see the bottom of the dark green tub. For all I knew, there could have been a dead body in there. Even though the Jacuzzi didn’t work, I was probablycharged extra just for the pleasure of having the view of one in my room.

There were bugs in the shower and I saw several on thebed. Thankfully for me, the room had acouch. I prefer to sleep on couchesanyway, but after seeing the bugs in the bed, I wasn’t sleeping there. The couch probably wasn’t much better, but Inever actually saw a bug on it.

The last night I was there, there was a lot of activitygoing on in the halls. I didn’t sleepwell. I kept the door locked and bolted,but someone tried to get into my room about three in the morning. I think the people were quite drunk because Ifinally heard one of them say, “oops, wrong door!”

The only thing that room had going for it was Wi Fi. I was able to hook up to the Internet andwrite a bad review of the hotel. StayAway!

The super pink hotel room

The dark corner with the mysterious Jacuzzi. The flash from the

camera makes it look lighter than it actually was in the room.

This summer, as a family, we ended up stopping quite lateone night in Flagstaff on our way to see extended family. Some huge motorcycle convention must havebeen going on. Every hotel we stopped atwas full and the parking lots were filled with motorcycles. We finally found a motel that was probablybuilt in the 50’s. Judging from thedécor in the room, it still had its original furnishings. I think the bedding and pillows were originaltoo. Our entire family slept in one roomon the beds, and all over the floor. Now, this was in July and the window A/C didn’t work. As Flagstaff is high elevation, the outsideair did cool down, but not in our room. I hardly slept. It was toohot. I should have slept outside in theopen air, but I was afraid of some motorcycle gang from the hotel next doormight see me sleeping on the patio. Hubby wasn’t impressed with the room at all, but I have to say, I neversaw a bug in the room during our 10 hours in the motel. (Except for the dead one smashed on the bathroom wall next to the toilet, but hey, at least it was dead.)

15th Anniversary

2011-09-30T08:16:00.002-06:00

It's the Hubby and mines 15th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow!

Did you know: the traditional gift for a 15th wedding anniversary is crystal. The modern gift is glass. The alternate gift is a watch. The flower is the rose (my favorite) and the stone is ruby.
Just a little fun fact.

I don't think we'll get to do anything special tomorrow. There is too much going on. Maybe we can have a date next week. Fifteen years. Wow. How did so much time pass? I remember about two or three weeks after we were married meeting a couple who had been married for nine whole months. That was an eternity in my newlywed mind. Now we have gone way beyond nine months. Here's to 15 years and an eternity to go.

Keeping busy

2011-09-29T15:15:00.001-06:00

I keep busy all day long with various projects. Unfortunately, most of those projects do not involve cleaning the house. Peanut's not helping either. She loves to look at her books, but to find the perfect book to read, she feels she must pull out every single book and spread them on the floor. She did that with a row of DVD's today, too. Now they are in a circle on the floor.

This week began my official first week of school with Robert Gordon University. So far, it's going well. I'm caught up with all the reading for the week and have joined in various discussions. I need to watch one video, but it's 59 minutes long, so, I'll schedule an hour tomorrow to sit and watch a dull interview. My assignment for one class isn't due until December, but looking at it, it's going to take that long to do. However, it is on a topic that I adore - names and onomastics - so it won't be a difficult project to do.

I want to do more for my theater, Auntie M's, but without a location, it's hard to do. I have a great play written that would be perfect for October, but I couldn't find a venue for it. Commercial spaces are so expensive and all other ideas I've had for the theater just haven't worked out. My son has been asking for months for me to start an improv group for him to participate in. I figured that we could try that. We'll hold it in our home. He has been gathering friends that he thinks might be interested. We have our first meet tomorrow. My son wants to play all sorts of improv games, but I've told him we'll have to work our way up to most of them. He is the only one among his friends with any experience and that has been limited to family games. We'll see how it goes.....

Over the past year and a half, I've sent query letters and the first three chapters of my book that I've written to about 20 publishers and agents. If any reply has come back, it's been rejection notices. I keep them all. They are pasted in my journal. I've been on the verge of giving up, but decided I'll just keep trying. There are hundreds of publishers. I've only just scratched the surface. When I've been rejected 100 times, I'll think about giving up again. So, today I sent off query letters to three more publishers. Now we wait. It can take 2-6 months for a reply.

Well, back to work on more projects. This afternoon's project WILL include cleaning the living room, rotating laundry and starting dinner.... maybe, if I don't get distracted by something else.

Flowers on the Move

2011-09-28T07:04:00.003-06:00

Our garden among the rocks was quite successful this year.

We had about 50 onion plants. My hubby loves onions, but even that was alot for him. He made a lot of FrenchOnion soup and put onions on just about anything he could. We ended up freezing a lot and we dehydratedand froze the rest.

Our one little strawberry plant produced fourstrawberries. They were little, but sogood. After we removed the rest of theplants that were sharing the bucket with the strawberries, they just started tospread. They are still alive and welland we will care for them over the winter so they can begin again next spring.

We also had a few small planters with flowers in them. They were the only color around ourhouse. We had them away from the rest ofthe garden and put them on our front porch. They did fantastic and we had lovely blooms all summer.

In August, I noticed something unusual; we had flowersblooming in the rocks next to the porch. Somehow, the flowers had spread. They left the fertile plant box and have thrived in the rocks. I’m so pleased with our little garden we hadthis year.

The flowers migrated from their box and into the rocks.

Dumb Criminals

2011-09-26T06:22:00.000-06:00

The other day on the radio I heard this funny story.

A man goes to the blood bank to donate blood. (Sounds likethe beginning to a bad joke.) He noticesat the front desk a 51” TV that the blood bank is giving away in a prizedrawing. That night he broke into theblood bank and stole the TV. He used ataxi to make his get-a-way. The TV wastoo big to fit into the taxi properly, so part of it was poking out.

Apparently, the blood bank realized very quickly what hadhappened. The man was arrested whilestill in the taxi. The blood bankrecognized the man as having just been in there that day and for goodnesssakes, they had all the DNA on the man that could ever be asked for. After all, he had just donated blood. Thanks to the stolen TV sticking out of thetaxi, the police were able to find him pretty quickly and arrest him.

I guess the guy was too desperate to get the TV to thinkabout who he was stealing it from. Maybehe wanted to really watch the new fall line-up on primetime TV.

Happy Hobbit Day

2011-09-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

I have the greatest sister in the world. I love to laugh and that is good because Ilaugh my hardest when I’m with my brothers and sister. There was one week about seven years ago whenmy sister came to visit. My hubby wasout of her town. She left her hubby athome because he was working. It was justher and me (and several children). Welaughed. I can’t think back to thatvisit without laughing. The weekinvolved stories about piñatas, electricscrewdriver home improvement projects, a noise at the side door late one night,and a day at a children’s museum where she and I had more fun than all thechildren at the museum.

My sister can do a dead-on Katherine Hepburn impression. She calls me on the phone and suddenly I’mspeaking to Katherine Hepburn. Dahling,you will never know the amusing things we have to say to one another.

Yesterday, Katherine Hepburn, I mean, my sister called meand we discussed making seed cake for the day’s Hobbit festivities. She told me a story about her husband and aparty with his family that had me rolling on the floor with laughter.

She is an awesome mom too. She sings crazy camp songs and speaks in fake English accents to annoythe heck out of her children. I wish Iwere as awesome as her.

Anyway, back to Hobbit Day. I fixed porridge for breakfast that only my husband ate. I wore the closest outfit I have to a Hobbit dressand an apron. For dinner I fixed adinner of bread, cheese, crispy bacon, and seed cake. Wash it all down with white grape juice. Mmm…. A great meal. I wish I were an elf, who floated about inbeautiful homes in beautiful forests, wearing beautiful clothes, but I realizedthat I am a Hobbit at heart. And I’m OKwith that.

PS, Happy first day of fall! I love fall.

My Dear Bagginses and Boffins....

2011-09-22T11:05:00.002-06:00

Happy Hobbit Day! May the hair on your toes never fall out.

A bit of a blow

2011-09-21T21:34:00.004-06:00

At the end of August, we welcomed into our home an exchange student from Brazil. She was having a hard time adjusting. I realized this and did everything I could think of to help her along. I thought things were going along pretty well. After dropping her off at school on Monday, I was thinking of some of the things I could do with her this week, and I was determined to look up a Brazilian recipe and try to cook something that she would like.

Monday evening, we were expecting the local representative for the program to come to our house and give us some orientation. Instead, she came to our home, told us that our student was unhappy and wanted to leave our home.

CRASH!

What? One moment we were talking about school and soccer like normal and the next moment we are told that she doesn't want to stay with us any longer? (It's because we had rules about her curfew and she didn't like that.)

I was hurt. I was personally attacked. They phrased it to us like, "You guys have been great, but you are very different from what she is use to at home and she has requested to be moved to another family." Let me tell you, I felt like someone had just slugged me in the stomach.

She left yesterday evening. I spent yesterday (Tuesday) very hurt. By evening, I was over the hurt and I was angry. Today, has been better. I've been able to think about things more clearly and realize that my hurt and anger were well founded. What the local rep. and our student did to us was completely out of line. My husband and I had no idea this was going to happen. The rep should have worked with us. She should have said, your student is having these issues, lets decided what we can do to help her. Her job was to help us work through problems and instead, she created a lot more.

I could go on and on and if you really want to hear the entire story, just ask, but be prepared, it's a long, crazy story.

So, we are back to our regular family again. The Hubby has already suggested that we consider getting another student. I said NO THANK YOU! I'm not doing that again.

OK, I've gotten this off my chest. Thanks for letting me rant a bit. You can go back to your lives citizens.

Among my friends

2011-09-19T10:29:00.000-06:00

I accept that I get older each year when my birthday rollsaround. It doesn’t bother me, but Ioccasionally say to myself, “I’m how old? When did that happen?”

Several days ago, eight friends and I got together fordinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday. While we were there, we realized that four of the nine of us had all hadbirthdays in the past week, myself included. An odd coincidence for nine friends, I think. We sat there at the restaurant, chatting andeating delicious Mexican food (a perk about living in New Mexico).

I looked around at each of us and realized only one othermom had a teen, like me. Her son andmine are both 13 years old. From there,the age of all of the kids go down with the youngest two being only 3 monthsold. So, I sat there, listening to thestories of kids, school, and activities and I noticed something that amused meand slightly depressed me. I was theoldest friend among our party. Oh man….

I guess I’m older and wiser. Right? Well, maybe just oldest. I’m not sure about my being wise.

Time to get out the cane young whippersnappers!

Can I live in Middle Earth, please?

2011-09-16T10:10:00.002-06:00

After a mostly dry monsoon season, we've had some weather the last few days. We were told to expect an epic storm last night. Perhaps what we experienced last night was epic for the area, but it was nothing more than a thunderstorm that lasted for about 5 minutes. I love a good thunderstorm and last night's was just too short. I guess I'll take what I can get out here.

I love the woods. Living in a small cabin, deep in a green forest with a stream running close to the cabin is, to me, a lovely idea. If I could, I would have a summer cabin like this. I want to sit under the eave of the cabin, with my loom and weave the hours away while listening to the wind blowing through the trees and the stream gurgling as it runs past the cabin. At night, I would drink hot chocolate while reading and/or writing by the light of the fire in the hearth. Doesn't that sound idyllic? Of course, I might get bored weaving every hour of every day, so I would also have a garden to tend, I would learn to spin and I would take long walks through the woods.

What a lovely idea. Of course, I know that living this way has its hazards. There are wild animals to fear, one must hunt for food, there are the elements to fight, and I suppose after a while, I would get lonely. I don't really like the idea of wild animals or being at the mercy of the elements, but to live that way I would have to accept such realities. Plus, I like clean clothes, but I don't fancy the idea of hand scrubbing everything.

After much thinking, I realized I want to be an elf who lives in Tolkien's Middle Earth. They live in beauty and have much control of their environment. The elements do not bother them and they are skilled in protecting themselves if something evil should cross their borders. Yes, I want to be a Rivendell Elf. Surrounded by beauty, art and music.

September 22 is Hobbit Day. I plan on celebrating Hobbit Day by not wearing shoes, making and eating seed cake and not having any adventures or doing anything unexpected. Since I'm not into the brewing of ale or the smoking of pipeweed, I will brew root beer and light a scented candle in whose fragrance I can enjoy.

Of course there will be real life to attend to and I will be required to drive kids to school, home from school, and to the various activities that several of them have that evening. No matter. A Hobbit does not let such things dampen their spirits when it is a day of celebration.

My dream home:

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

photograph by Nuno Silva

http://nunovix.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1bpax

more scrat attack

2011-09-15T08:14:00.002-06:00

Here are more of my daughter's amazing scrat creations!

Army Scrat

(don't you love his camo helmet?)

Ballerina Scrat

So lovely on her tippy toes.

Howday y'all, it's Cowboy Scrat.

"This acron is highly illogical," says the Vulcan Scrat.

Stay out of his way, young whippersnappers, it's Grandpa Scrat.

Scrat Attack

2011-09-13T21:57:00.001-06:00

Have you ever seen the movie(s) Ice Age? If so, you are familiar with the little character known only as "Scrat".

There he is. Well, several months ago, my 7 year old daughter saw a short episode about how to draw Scrat. She developed and perfected her own version of Scrat. I would like to present, for your enjoyment, several of her Scrat characters.

Sherlock Holmes Scrat

Mummy Scrat

The Pink Panther Scrat

Indiana Jones Scrat

Then, today I found one more page of her scrat drawings. We are Whose Line is it Anyway? fans. So, finding this page was too funny. Among the Whose Line Scrats, you can see:

Ryan, who is often seen drinking his glass of water through out the show.

Colin with his amazing crazy shirts.

And Greg with his totally awesome hair.

This daughter has drawn so many of these fantastic scrat characters. There are princess scrats, grandpa and grandma scrats, a Hobbit scrat, a Spock (Star Trek) scrat, a Sith Lord (Star Wars) scrat, a Boy Scout scrat and many more. What talent. Who knows... maybe she will do art for animated movies when she grows up. Until then, she keeps us very entertained with all her many scrats.

(Picture of Ice Age Scrat from http://desktopia.net/cartoons/cute-scrat-ice-age-desktop-wallpaper)

Getting what she wants

2011-09-12T22:18:00.000-06:00

I had such a fun birthday. Having my mother here was great fun. The fondue was fantastic! I've tried a lot of cheese fondue recipes, but this years was by far the best one. And then, you can't beat a chocolate fondue.

Things are going pretty well here. Keeping very busy, that's for sure. The calendar just fills up.

Peanut (who is 3 years old) has a remarkable gift of communication. This girl can talk. And talk in the most complete, complicated sentences. She has another talent and I can't find the word for it, but let me see if I can describe this amazing talent.

Last night, as I was letting the cat outside, a birthday package was sitting on the front door for me. I opened it and found a small purse with a box of Whoppers candy. It was late at night and we had finished our chocolate fondue not too long before. Peanut saw the candy and she wanted some. I promised her that I would share with her tomorrow because it was too late tonight to eat candy.

Her one-track mind wasn't going to take that for an acceptable answer. Over and over she brought me the small purse and would in her most sweet voice say, "Happy birthday, Mama." My heart would melt and I would give her hugs and kisses. Then, she would tell me how much she loved that candy. "Remember, Mama, when I had this candy? I loved it, but I lost it. I need more candy." She would say something to that effect over and over.

I couldn't help but smile and the incredible way she was trying to manipulate me to give her that candy. When that didn't work, she tried a new tact. She brought me the purse. "Happy birthday, Mama," she would say, while holding out the purse. "Thank you, baby," I would say and showered her with hugs and kisses. She looks at me and says, "Now it's your turn. You give it to me and say, happy birthday." She figured if I went along with the game, I would give her the candy, say happy birthday, and then she would be the owner of the candy and could eat it.

Oh my, little girl. What a creative thing for her to come up with. I guess now it could be called manipulation, but I think in 20 or 30 years, she could be a women of high position. She will be able to use these skills and flatter her employees to do whatever she wants them to do. That's not a bad thing either. What an amazing leader she will be.

For now, though, it's funny to hear her try these different tact's with me to give her what she wants. As promised, this morning, I did share some of the candy with her. She was so sweet when I did finally give her the long promised candy. She took her candy, hugged me, and said "thank you, Mama," in the sweetest voice.

There are days (weeks, years) that being a mom is tough. But, it's moments like "Thank you, Mama" that make the roughest days worth while. It's the greatest reward as a mom.

9/11 vs. September 11th or Remembrance Day vs. Party!

2011-09-07T18:06:00.001-06:00

As 9/11 approaches, I have a very different take on the day than most people. For me, the day has always been September 11th. What's the difference you ask?

9/11 is the awful day that so many people were killed on American soil by terrorists. It is now also know as Patriot Day and Remembrance Day.

September 11th is my birthday! PARTY! Every year for my birthday, I have a fondue. I love to fondue. We always do a cheese and a chocolate. Mmmm. I'm so excited. Really, though, I haven't planned it very well this year. I'll do that tomorrow so I can go shopping for all the necessary ingredients on Friday or Saturday.

This year will be special. My Mom will be joining us for the first time in, well, I don't remember the last time I celebrated my birthday with her. It's been a very long time and I'm looking forward to her visit. Because of her visit, we will be doing lots of fun things and playing tourist around town. Usually when she visits, it's only for 24 - 48 hours. Quick trips. This will be five days and I'm so happy. Five days to play, five days to stay up until midnight just talking, five days to laugh until my sides ache. The kids are excited too. Five days to show off their latest skills, jokes, dance moves or songs on the musical instruments that they play.

This is going to be a great weekend.

Working the textiles

2011-09-02T15:20:00.001-06:00

Last week I got the crazy idea that I wanted to sew my daughters some skirts. I am not a seamstress. Skirts are fairly easy, though. I opened the pattern and picked out the size I wanted for my youngest. With the cat sitting on top of the fabric and Peanut bringing me her own scissors offering to help cut the pieces out, I spread out the fabric on my floor and began to work.

The fabric was awful to cut. It was only two piece to make the skirt, but they ended up being quite different in size. A battle with the sewing machine began and after a little trim here and there and I finally made the skirt. I actually made two. The girls love them.

The sewing machine was put back into closet!

I've been weaving more. About a month ago I decided to do a project as big as my loom would hold. It's been kind of slow. I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I could. I have one little complaint, though. My bobbin's are small and the project is large. I go through a lot of thread very quickly. I wind three bobbins at a time. It's really cool looking, though.

The loom, fully warped.

See the little white bobbin? It doesn't hold much thread.

The underside of the loom so you can see the pattern

At the bottom of the picture, you get a glimpse of the

underside of the weaving. It looks just as good, maybe better.

Last night I pulled out my cross stitching. I haven't done any in a very long time. Each of my children have a beautiful, elaborate Christmas stocking that I cross stitched. Peanut is three and this year will be her 4th Christmas. Her stocking isn't even halfway done.

I've got a couple of months. Maybe I can finish it for her this year..... maybe.

To see more pictures of the weaving, go to my weaving blog, The Tangled Weaver.

Happy September 1st

2011-09-01T09:36:00.000-06:00

There is a lot going on around here, but nothing to really talk about, yet. So today is going to be a bit of a ramble.

Can you believe it is September already? What happened to this year? Well, my favorite time of the year approacheth. I love September and October! I'm going to start cooking with pumpkin. Peanut has been asking when I'm going to take her to the pumpkin patch. I love going outside and not baking in the 100 degree weather. Yesterday it got to 100 again. Today we are only suppose to get into the mid 90's! This weekend, a major cold front is suppose to come through and we might get into the high 80's!

Yeah!

My birthday is coming up. That means in Dallas, Texas, there will be a storm. Really. Every year, right around my birthday, either the day before, day after or day of, there is a storm. Mom told me it stormed the day I was born. Perhaps that is why I've always loved thunderstorms.

My oldest son, Stonehelm, as he is now known in Blogland, got braces on his top teeth a couple of days ago. Honestly, the experience was more traumatic for me than him. (But that is a story for another time.) His mouth hurts a lot right now, poor guy.

As I have mentioned many, many times, I have a million great ideas. What holds me back from doing many of these great ideas? Money. I don't have money. That's really a bummer, you know?

I've been doing some weaving.

Thanks to instant streaming on Netflix, Peanut has been watching a continuous streaming of Blues Clues. It's a good thing for me that I find Blues Clues to be a fun kid show. If I found it half as annoying as some of the other kid shows on, I would be going crazy about now.

An observation:
This year we choose to take the kids to school, rather than putting them on the bus. I've noticed while passing the various bus stops along the road, that the kids who are waiting on the curb for buses, all have their cell phones, iPhones or some other kind of thing like that. They are listening to music and texting. Do you remember back in the not so distant past that kids waiting for the bus would read a book? Would that texting alternative even cross the minds of kids these days?

OK, I'm rambled enough. Perhaps I'll think of something interesting to say or something brilliantly funny to share for next time. Until then, happy September 1st!

Reflecting on the Class

2011-08-28T18:57:00.000-06:00

On Saturday morning, I attended an acting workshop. After being away from acting for the last 17 years, it was so fun to do a little again. In the workshop, most of the time was spent being talked to by the teacher. I took four pages of notes.

I was nervous that the class would be filled with young, beautiful, in-shape college aged, theater major students. I was pleasantly surprised to find among the few college aged men and women, there were people in their thirties and forties and quite a few silver haired folks. There were thin people and not-so-thin people. There were people there with a large experience in theater and even some film. There were people like me who have done very little acting. We were from all walks of life.

The teacher gave us a sheet to use as a template. Write your bio, she said. I read through the sheet. List your most significant roles. What have you done recently - acting only. What are your special skills? I looked at the list and didn't know what to write. I sat for a moment in a kind of stunned silence wondering what in the world I could put in my bio. We were going to have to go before the camera and give our bio, so I had to come up with something fast.

After a few moments of loss, I started to think of some things. It only had to be 30 seconds long. I can find enough about my minor theater life to fill 30 seconds. My hands were kind of clammy as I took my turn before the camera, but I felt at ease overall. (For me, the worst of my nervousness comes after I've done something, then I get hot and start to fan my face with the paper in my clammy hands).

When we had all had our turn in front of the camera, the teacher, who had taken notes about each of our auditions, started to talk to us, critiquing each of our auditions. I sat there, listening to each of the critiques. She wasn't unkind to anyone. Really, everyone did quite well, but she pointed out the minor things, don't rock back and forth on your feet, don't talk to fast, etc. I was sure I must have just done terrible. She would have nothing positive to say and would just say to me, "Molly, give it up. You stink." But she didn't. She told me I did good. She pointed out several things that I had said about myself that were good because they were unique.

She had us do some more exercises like a director might in an audition. I was afraid, nervous, and embarrassed to think what she might ask me to do in front of the others. What if I totally bombed? But I plucked up my courage and took my place in line. When she got to me, she decided to try something different. She asked me and two guys in the class to improvise a scene. Whew, I can do that. It was lots of fun.

In the end, we got to watch our "audition" on the big screen in the theater. I cringed at first when I saw myself, but I watched it and realized, I didn't stink!

Having attended this workshop will help me next year when I hold the auditions for my children's theater again. I have a few ideas now on different things I can do with the kids. I'm very excited about this.

Who knows.... My slightly improved courage and this mini-workshop..... watch out Hollywood!

What am I thinking?

2011-08-27T08:12:00.000-06:00

I'll be heading out in a few minutes to go to the acting workshop I signed up for. I'm excited. It will be very interesting for me.

Even though I am excited about this, once in a while the thought will hit me, "What was I thinking to sign up for this?"

Then I remind myself that it is all for the fun of it. I love theater, I haven't done any acting in 15 years, and I'll get to participate in some today. It will be lots of fun.

But really, the best part about doing this workshop is an entire morning by myself doing something I want to do!

Very nice.

Jokes, Hair and Shirts

2011-08-26T09:08:00.001-06:00

All from this morning:

Presenting for your entertainment and confusion, a knock knock joke from my 5 year old.

Knock knock
Who's there?
School
School who?
Who!

Get it? School Who! He laughed and laughed over that one. I stood still; stunned in my confusion. What?

As 11 year old son gets ready to head out the door for school, I noticed he was wearing the shirt he wore yesterday. Go Change! He changes shirts and I notice his hair. It's looking slightly wet, like he wiped a wet washcloth over his head. Did you brush you hair? Nope, he just wet down his hands and used the palms of his hands to flatten his hair. Go Brush!

I'm driving 13 year old son to school this morning. I check the rear view mirror and notice son sitting in the back of the van. His hair is sticking up in the back with bad bed head. Did you brush your hair this morning? No? Well, it's too late now.

Why is it every morning I have to remind my two sons to brush their hair and change their shirts? They have been doing the same routine every school morning for many years and yet every single day I have to remind them to change their shirts and brush their hair.

I'm sorry to their future wives. I tried to teach them. Maybe you will have better luck.

Our exchange student

2011-08-24T21:12:00.000-06:00

We’ve got a sweet 16 year old from Brazil living with us right now as a part of a foreign exchange program. I will call her CC on the blog.

CC is our 5^th exchange student to have stayed with us over the last 8 years. The experiences have had their ups and downs. Our first student was a sweet girl from Japan named Yui. She was 16. She was with us for about 6 weeks as a part of a summer language program. I’m not sure if it was her personality or the Japanese culture, but she was as sweet as could be. Her English was rough, but we communicated pretty well. She kept in touch with us for many years, but sadly, we’ve been out of touch for about 4 years now.

Our next student was another 16 year old girl from Russia, Lena. This girl was smart! She also loved fashion. When she joined our family, I was 7 months pregnant with our third baby. I was hormonal! Lena’s personality and mine didn’t mix well. Her manner of dressing was inappropriate around our two very young sons, I felt. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this wasn’t working out. I feel bad now, when I look back. I could have been much more patient and understanding, but blame it on my youth (I was 27 at the time) or blame it on pregnancy hormones, I couldn’t deal with Lena. She was there for the school year, but she was with us for 3 months. We were lucky to find a friend who worked at the high school Lena went to, and had lived in Russia for 17 months to take Lena in.

We didn’t plan on having another exchange student when we got our third one. It was probably a around a year later. It was the Japanese summer language group again. We got a call from the agency asking if we could take in one girl for a couple of days. Her host family had an emergency come up and they wouldn’t be home until about 5 days after the students arrived. So, we had Chie for one week. She was a sweet girl too and we enjoyed our week with her. She also kept in touch with us for several years afterwards.

Our fourth student was a one month Christmas holiday student. She arrived, if I remember correctly, at the beginning of December and left soon after the new year. She was Emma, an 18 year old from Australia. She had just graduated from school in Australia. Honestly, I’m not sure why she did the program. Her family was quite well off and she had already visited America several times. She was done with school in her home, so she didn’t come for school experience. Emma sat on the sofa in the living room most days and just watched the little kids play. She always helped me with the dishes after dinner and we did a lot of chatting. We lived in Hawaii during these four students.

Now, six years later, we’ve decided to try it again and now we have CC from Brazil. (I won’t use her real name while she is here with us.) It’s still quite an adjustment for our family to take in an extra teen. I think our 7 year old and I have the biggest adjustments to make. CC shares a room with the 7 year old and I spend time with her as I take her to and from school and shopping as needed. My maturity (now in my mid-thirties) has helped me more with this student. And, CC is really a sweet girl. She is quiet, like I am. Our personalities are gelling pretty well. She is homesick, poor girl. This is quite the challenge for her. At home, she is the youngest child and the only one still living at home. Here in our family, she is the oldest and has to share a room. It's a big adjustment. When I first left home for an extended period of time, I was almost 19 and it was when I went away to college. I was far from home and couldn’t go to visit family whenever I felt like it. I loved college and was so excited to be there, but even so, I called home twice a week for two years.

I hope CC continues to adjust. There are days I’m sure she emails her mom and says, “You wouldn’t believe this crazy American family I ended up with!”

Heavy Metal Cactus

2011-08-23T10:32:00.000-06:00

Heavy Metal Cactus

Sounds like an awesome name for a rock band, right?

Well, here in the American desert, we have lots of cactus. Prickly Pear, ocotillo, and a lot of other nasty cactus plants that I do my best to avoid at all costs. This is a land filled with cacti, dirt, rocks and browness. All the homes, as a city rule, must be some shade of brown. It is the Southwestern look.

There are, throughout this city, several locations of "art". What kind of art, you might ask? Heavy metal cactus. Isn't there enough cacti in this city without adding rusty metal versions of it in various intersections around the city?

Yes, the one in the middle has been painted green.

Isn't that lovely? Watch out for that Yucca on the right there. If you bump into it, you might need a tetanus shot.

Bad Poetry Day

2011-08-18T10:49:00.001-06:00

So the other day I was watching a TV show and the poetry form of Haiku came up. The person on TV didn't seem to know what a Haiku was and I just kind of laughed because I am not a poet in anyway, shape or form. My 5th grade teacher had us write a lot of poetry and make a poetry notebook. I still have mine. I'm terribly embarrassed by mine because I can not write poetry. I think the teacher gave me a decent grade because I attempted the poems required and put forth some effort, even though the poems stunk.

So, back to the Haiku. That night after seeing that TV show, my mind composed a Haiku in my sleep! It was amazing. It followed the 5-7-5 pattern and it actually made sense. That morning I told my hubby my poem that I so brilliantly composed while sleeping. He was impressed. Now, several days later, I can't for the life of me remember the poem or even what it was about. It was either outer space or waterfalls.

This morning, while listening to the radio, I heard that today, August 18, is Bad Poetry Day! If I could remember my Haiku, I would share it, but I can't. Instead, I will share with you a poem I composed while in elementary school. It is your lucky day!

The Moss Boss

I went to camp one day
Walking along the sandy bay
Along the way, I saw some soft moss
It was a pretty green and I was soon the boss

Of moldy moss
Then I was now Molly the Moss Boss
Most people said it was gross
But you know me, I'm very verbose

It would have been good if we used it in salad to toss
They all said no, but it's still no loss
I can have a TV show called
Molly's Green Moss

I was interview by two girls, not by the name of Ross
I could make Zucchini Zoss, or Lasagna Yoss,
or Spanish Woss, Broccoli Poss and other recipes
Made of moss

You can taste the food for me
cause I'm not going to
There's no more moss for me
But it's still fun to be
The Moss Boss

Feeling brave, but not too much

2011-08-17T07:51:00.000-06:00

Molly the Fearless? Hardly. Molly the More Brave Than Before? Yes.

My theater experience from this summer has boosted my confidence in myself. I’ve got to be careful. Even though I have more confidence, I still have an extraordinary lack of experience in anything.

As I have said before, I’ve got a million ideas for projects, books, businesses, education and the list goes on and on. My trouble is taking one idea (or two or three) and focusing on that particular project. I have a million ideas and I want to do a million things and I want to do them all now!

Focus, Molly, focus!

I’ve always loved writing and I’ve probably written just about everything at some point or other in my life. I’ve written novels, plays, poetry, children’s books, young adult books, essays, journals and of course, this blog. I’ve even tried writing music. I have no talent for music or poetry, though. In my computer, I’ve got the beginnings of three excellent chick-flick novels. I work on them a little at a time as the muse strikes me. There is no dead-line on them so I can take as long as I want on them. However, one story in particular I have had a very hard time writing out.

This is frustrating to me because I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, but I cannot translate that story into a book. I’ve tried several times. Then I realized, wait, I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, why not write it like a movie? I’ve never tried writing a screenplay before. Ooooo….

After having this thought about writing a screenplay I looked up “How to write a screenplay” on my favorite search engine (The internet is so amazing!) and it came up with thousands of pages that teach how to write a screenplay. One site even had early drafts of movie scripts. I had a great time reading one of my favorite movies in one of its earliest drafts. I’ve got everything I need to do this. I’ve got my idea, I’ve got my Internet how-to site, and I’ve got my computer with a word document program. I’m ready to go!!

Don’t expect to ever see this movie or even the screenplay. I’m not looking to really turn it into a movie, but it’s the idea of writing a screenplay that has me excited. It’s something new I’ve never done before. I have no deadlines. No one is waiting for the first draft. It’s just me and my idea. I’m excited.

Back to this confidence boost I’ve been having, I signed up for an acting workshop in two weeks. It’s actually how to audition for film. I don’t want to audition for film, but I figured any experience that I have in the acting world, will help me do my children’s theater in the future. What have I got to lose? It’s just for one morning. It will be a new experience. I’m just going to go and have fun.

Watch out, I’m Molly, the More Brave than Before and I’m treading new territory!! (From the comfort and security of my own home.)

Philosophy by Molly: The Sphere

2011-08-15T16:59:00.003-06:00

I graduated from college at the age of 21. I was young, yes, but I was married and had two college degrees. I knew all I needed to know.

Or so I thought.

At that time, I knew I wanted a Master’s degree in library science. I wasn’t able to do that school of study at the time and it has waited until now. I still want that degree, but since then, I have found there are so many awesome things out in the world to study and learn about. Areas of study that I never knew about when I was 21. Since then, I’ve learned about linguistics and the fascinating history and evolution of languages. I wish I had known about that in college. I would have taken a class to learn more about it.

I now realize that I was very limited in my “sphere” of knowledge. My mother was a teacher. My parents are smart people. They taught me many things. But I got to college and met someone who was going to study Interpersonal Communications. I had no idea what that meant. How did he find out about that kind of degree? His sphere of experiences was quite different from my own. My parents taught me what they could from their sphere of knowledge and experience and that is what I went out into the wide world with.

Mom and Dad aren’t into spicy foods. So, most of the foods I ate fit into the “mild” category. I met my husband, who loved extra sharp cheddar cheese and spicy foods. I found a new side to food I had never known and liked it! Hubby had never listened to The Beatles growing up. His parent’s weren’t Beatles people. Mine were, so I grew up with The Beatles. I had never heard of Pink Floyd until my husband introduced me to it. Now, we are both Beatles and Pink Floyd fans. We shared our favorite books with each other. Hubby had never read The Never Ending Story and I had never read The Lord of the Rings. Now we have.

I grew up in a big city with plenty of opportunities for culture – symphonies, theater, art and museums. My husband grew up in a tiny town in the western USA. He knew about camping in the wilderness and not in a state park. We each had our spheres and when we married, we combined those spheres into a much larger one.

I look at my children. They have had experiences that I never could have imagined. We’ve moved around the country and have lived on the East Coast, the western desert, and a Pacific island. We’ve hosted five exchange students from four different countries. We’ve explored new foods, talked about many areas of study, and introduced them to a wide variety of music. I believe my children’s sphere of knowledge and experience when they leave home is going to be much larger than mine was when I left home.

Still, I have no doubt that my children will get out in the world and discover new things. I hope their sphere will continue to grow. It’s an amazing world out there.

Surfing on Camera

2011-08-12T07:55:00.000-06:00

My children have enjoyed playing with my computers video camera this summer. They have created many music videos. One day, I sat down to do some surfing on the Internet. I was reading email, checking what was up with my friends on Facebook, and checking the local classifieds for a chest of drawers. What I didn’t realize until a bit later was that the computer camera was on and recording. When I realized this, I quickly turned off the camera and deleted the video.

Know what? I look really goofy while surfing the ‘net. No one will know it though. The evidence is gone.

Now when I sit down at the computer, I take a look at the camera and make sure the light is NOT on. It’s not a pretty picture.

Toilet Paper

2011-08-10T06:40:00.000-06:00

My children are a major source of my personal entertainment. They are also the source of my biggest frustrations. What is really incredible, though, is how the kids can be entertaining and frustrating at the same time.

Do you know how much water 5 brand new rolls of toilet paper can hold?
A LOT!
How do I know this? I found 5 new rolls of toilet paper, heavily laden with water, resting at the bottom of a full bath tub after my youngest son’s last bath.

It was so funny and so frustrating at the same time. I hate the waste of all that toilet paper, but I certainly found it amusing enough to take a picture of it.

Enjoy!

Four of the rolls have had most of their water squeezed out, one is still full.

Can you guess which one?

Entry #500 and a guest blogger

2011-08-08T08:44:00.000-06:00

After thinking about how I could celebrate my 500^th blog entry, I decided to have a guest blogger – my 13 year old son.

As I’ve mentioned before this son is funny. A natural ham. His is also very smart. I hope that as he continues to grow and learn, he will use his talents and brain for good. I’m proud of his accomplishments. He just gets funner to be with each year he grows older. So, without further ado, I’m happy to present my son, whom will now be known as Stonehelm the Wise.

Philosophy of Life according to me:

When doing a maze begin at the end and go on till you come to the beginning; then cheer like a lunatic.

Believe in yourself when seeking the truth. Party when you find it.

When the student is not ready, then school appears.

If you think you're free, do not get caught by the cops!

If you chase two rabbits, be sure to bring a gun.

The 4 elements of summer: 1. Cook-offs 2. Watermelon 3. Root beer 4. Sunburns.

The best things in life are groovy.

Music energizes the soul. Silence is just plain creepy.

Ninjas are good, pirates are bad!

Irish Oxter Song

(To the tune of “Rubber Ducky”)

Irish spring, you're the one!
You make oxters so much fun!
You make me smell like
beer and bacon toooo!

Irish Spring, for a bit
You make me smell like armpit
I like it so that makes
It okkkkkkkkk!

HEY!

(Molly here: Oxter is the Gaelic word for armpit, and son’s favorite deodorant is Irish Spring)

Stonehelm the Wise just started his own blog. Take a look and enjoy the laugh you are sure to get.

Almost there.....

2011-08-06T12:45:00.000-06:00

This post is #499!

Well, a few things have been on my mind, including some deep, deep philosophical thoughts. I'll share those later. Don't worry, it's not as boring as it sounds.

Before this day is over, we will leave to go to the airport to pick up our exchange student. This young lady will be staying with us for one full school year. She is 16 and coming to us from Brazil. I will refer to her as "C". We are excited and nervous for C's arrival. Her room, which she will share with our 7 year old daughter is ready for it's new occupant. Monday or Tuesday we will take her to the local high school to get her enrolled in her classes. C left her home last night at 9:45 pm. She will arrive here today in the afternoon. I'll bet she is exhausted.

For dinner, we are planning the All-American BBQ! Hot dogs, hamburgers, potatoes, watermelon.... mmmmm. Welcome to America!

I have to say, I'm nervous about this. It isn't the first time we've had an exchange student, but this one will be the longest one stays with us. The first couple of months are probably going to be the most difficult as she adjusts to being away from home, speaking another language exclusively, and living with a lot of little kids. It will be an adjustment for us too as we learn to have a stranger fit into our normal routines, schedules and activities.

Still, it is exciting! My youngest is bouncing off the walls with excitement.

So, since the next post is #500, be prepared. I might have 500 tidbits about me or 500 ways to avoid laundry or 500 recipes for tater tots or 500 pictures of the rocks that make up my front yard or......

Well, just wait and see!

sharing a memory

2011-08-04T22:51:00.000-06:00

Sandrina the Sprite

Yep, that's me about a million years ago. Well, maybe not a million, but it feels like a million years and several life times ago that I was Sandrina. I loved that costume. I felt so elegant. That is a unicorn at my feet. The play was called The Unicorn of Zer. I don't remember what the unicorn had to do with the story at all since there was no unicorn in the show. There were some witches, some warlocks, a king, queen and princess, ladies in waiting, lords of the land, several trolls, a dragon, a bunch of kids, and four sprites.

How the director kept that many kids and teenagers in line, I'll never know. I went on for the next several years and worked with a couple of these folks a number of times. A few years after this, I did a Halloween show with two of the cast members here. I was a vampire. I had a purple afro wig. We sang about bats in the belfry. Good times!

My kids, keeping me laughing

2011-08-03T09:19:00.002-06:00

Kids are funny creatures.

Have I mentioned recently how funny my kids are? They keep me laughing. I have, over the years, loved to watch each of my children's personalities develop and with that, their sense of humor. We have some very different personalities in this family. They are all wonderful. This summer has been an especially funny one with my kids and I'll share a few examples of why.

My three year old. She is mature beyond her age in many ways. I guess that's what happens when you are child #5. Her ability to communicate is incredible and she has the most interesting things to say. One new phrase from this summer has been, "That was suppose to be funny." She uses it when she says something that she thinks we should be laughing at and we don't give her the kind of response she wants. She will tell us that it was suppose to be funny.   That is funny to hear her say, so we laugh and she is happy with us.

The five year old son. This guy is sweet and quiet.   He loves physical comedy. He doesn't often get word jokes and when he tries to tell jokes, you just have to laugh because they make no sense at all.
Here is an example: Why did the chicken cross the road? To go find the boss (a bad guy in his favorite computer games.) Yep, not at all funny and yet, hilarious!

The seven year old daughter. She is a smart, chatty, creative girl. In the last few months, I started playing some improv acting games with the kids. They love it. How often does mom encourage them to be totally goofy? (OK, I admit, these games are so I can be completely goofy.) The games have really been an eye opener for me, though, and I continue to learn more about the personal character of each of my children through the acting characters they create. That in itself is a whole other burrito, though. So, the other day we were playing one of our games. I let the kids pick any kind of character they want, but if they have trouble coming up with ideas, I have a bowl with strips of paper with ideas, a cowboy, a pirate and such. So the other day, this daughter started doing her character and we just couldn't figure out what she was doing. We tried to play along, but finally we asked what she was doing. She told us she was being her dad when he was a little boy. We were befuddled at this so she showed us her suggestion: Really Old Person. Apparently to this 7 year old, my 36 year old Hubby is an incredibly old person. I about fell to the floor with laughter. Poor Hubby.  He didn't find it quite as amusing.

The 11 year old son. Here is another quiet guy. He doesn't often have much to say, but when he does, he can be quite funny. He can also pull the funniest faces. Yesterday, we were at a big shopping center. He was waiting for a haircut and I was waiting just outside with the little kids hanging out in the shopping basket. I look over at this son and he peeks around the corner and pulls one of his funny faces. Of course, that gets me laughing. So, he does it over and over again, each time with a different face. I'm laughing and I'm sure everyone around me was thinking that lady is crazy.

The 13 year old boy. Here is a natural ham if ever I saw one. Not only is he quick with a joke, he is quick to laugh and I LOVE to make him laugh because his laugh is so funny. He and I have a few running jokes and more than once, I'm proud to say, I've made him snort his drink through his nose. I would love to tell some of the jokes we have going, but the set up would take so long to write down. He is just a funny kid and his current lankiness that being a teen in a tall body that he can't seem to control makes him even funnier. When I did my theater in June, I convinced him to do a pre-show act for me. Ok, I practically begged. He finally agreed to do one. Well, I have to say, he stole the show. I need to send him to his two uncles, my brothers. Hams all around.

I could go on and on about the funny things that go on in this house. I just need to write it all down, then someday I'll have enough material for an awesome humor book. Then I'll make millions!
Evil laugh: Mwuhaha!!!

More great products for you

2011-08-01T06:58:00.000-06:00

Don't you wish you had this patio? It's filled with all sorts of amazing things. Zoom in and you will see all the brilliant things I had to say about this set up.

I hope you enjoyed today's section of the Amazing Products catalog, put together by yours truly.

A trip down memory lane

2011-07-31T09:39:00.001-06:00

I was trying to remember the name of someone I went to college with, so I went and pulled out my journals I kept in college.

I was a great journal writer during those years. I wrote everyday. I wrote about classes, homework assignments, trips to the library to study or watch movies, going out with friends, leaving the apartment at 10 at night to go to a dance on campus, campouts, band recitals, football games... I was a busy girl.

It's interesting because every entry ended with my signature and the time that I finished writing. Most of the times were late, often around 11:30 at night. It was so amusing to read those entries, especially the ones that I wrote really late, because they are often full of funny sleepy writings. I would randomly capitalize letters or I would substitute words, instead of saying, "I had a lot of work," I would write, "I had a lot of world." Writing in your sleep can be very funny. One entry had some random sentence about cranberry sauce. I later wrote that I had been dreaming about a guy offering me some cranberry sauce. Let me tell you, it takes talent to write in your sleep!

Every Sunday's entry mentioned if I watched SeaQuest or not. It came on Sunday evenings and I loved watching it.

I wish I had written the last names of more people. I wrote about Stephen who did this, and Holly who did that, and how I saw Sean and Kristy on campus. Now I'm reading these again and wondering who are these people? Still, I'm grateful that I wrote what I did down. It's been fun to go back and read about my college years. They were so very, very different from my life now.

One thing I did write down were the names of some of the music we played in band. This is great! I looked up these songs on YouTube! There are videos of bands performing these concert songs, so right now, while I'm typing, I'm listening to a recording of a concert band performing "Scenes From the Louvre, Movement 3." The music is familiar. It's been so very long since I played in the band. I miss playing my bassoon! YouTube is great!

I'm so thankful for those late night journal writings. It's a time in my life that I loved, but as the years go by, those memories become more vague. I'll always remember my time in college and I'll always remember certain parts of it, but it's those details that are so easily forgotten that I'm grateful for my journals. The heartaches and celebrations of everyday college life. What fun it was!

Those crazy kids and their music!

2011-07-27T22:09:00.001-06:00

Permit me a little rant here, OK?

The kids have been home for the summer for the last two months. We've had a lot of fun, but there are a few things that go on each summer that kind of bug me.

Cue old lady voice: Back when I was young, I respected my elders!

Well, to really know the truth, you would have to ask my mother...
When I was 11 years old, the Monkees were in their 20 year reunion. I loved watching the show on TV, everyday. I got the cassette tapes of their albums and listen to and sang along with all the songs. My parents really didn't like the Monkees. Wrong generation, I guess. They were fine with me watching the TV show and listening to the music, but I knew that they didn't like them. I tried to be considerate of this and I only listened to the music in my room. I never watched the TV show when they were around and I tried not to talk about them much when my parents were around.

Now, we move ahead 25 years and I've got my own kids. They have their own music that they like. I don't like everything they do, but that's OK. However! They play their music on my computer in the living room, very, very loudly. Some of the music, I like, but even then, I get tired of it blasting in the living room. They have music players in their room that they can use, but I guess they just love the sound of the music in the front room. They know I don't like a lot of their music, but they play it anyway. The front room opens to the kitchen, so I hear it when I'm in the kitchen. My loom is in the front room... You get the idea. I knew my parents didn't like the Monkees and I respected that. My kids don't respect the fact that I can't stand most of their music.

Am I sounding old???
Yep, I guess I am. Old lady voice again: Them youngens and their music. I just don't understand what those whippersnappers hear in all that noise.

Alright, rant over. Thank you for your patience. Time to go watch some Monkees.

Approaching a milestone

2011-07-25T08:13:00.000-06:00

This blog entry will be entry #493. I have almost reached 500 blog entries!

I'm not sure if that is pathetic or something to be celebrated. Celebrating is a lot more fun, so that's what I want to do.

How should I celebrate my 500th entry? What should I write about? Does anyone have any ideas? If I don't plan this, I could end up blogging about something mundane, like the kids going back to school in a few weeks.

Any ideas???

Philosophical ideas

2011-07-24T22:59:00.000-06:00

About a year ago, I discovered the Philosophy and Pop Culture series. Before then, I had never studied philosophy and really didn't know much about it. These series of books are essays people have written about the pop culture topic.

I started with The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy. I loved it. I didn't understand everything they talked about. I haven't studied philosophy before and I don't know the different philosophers. Some of the essays I didn't agree with the view of the author. Some of them really caused me to think deeply about various topics. I loved those. I started thinking in a more philosophical way. Why couldn't Uncle Andrew understand the animals when they spoke, but the children could? Deep, deep thoughts at work here.

Since then, I've read The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, and I'm currently reading Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy and Pink Floyd and Philosophy. The next one I want to read is The Beatles and Philosophy!

The Lord of the Rings wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it could be. The Alice in Wonderland has been challenging to read. It deals with nonsense and logic, as the Alice stories do. I'm just not up on all the "great" philosophers and their theories. I don't understand a lot of it. It is highly illogical to me, but I'm not sure if it's nonsense or not. Pink Floyd has been interesting. I don't know their music that well, but such interesting music with such bizarre words and thoughts have lead to some seriously interesting essays. I've only read a few, but I've liked them. One of them discussed how music can form images in our heads. Sometimes in the form of pictures and sometimes in the form of notes, music, or time. I have found with me, there are a few specific songs that have the power to form images in my head. When I tried to explain this to my Hubby, I just sounded dumb. This book has shown me that I'm not the only one who has that experience with music. Weird and fascinating all at the same time.

We also have in our library Star Wars and Philosophy. My 13 year old is attempting to read this. I'll read it when he is done. I would love to see a NeverEnding Story and Philosophy. I'm sure that would be very interesting.

I never thought of myself as philosophical until I started reading these books and realized that I do have a tendency to think deeply in a philosophical way sometimes. For good or for bad, I love to philosophise. My husband and I are very different in several ways. I've pondered what it is that makes me obsess about some thing in particular and Hubby doesn't give the same idea a second thought. Hmmm, deep thinking at work here. Too bad I'm not articulate enough to explain my ideas here like the authors of the essays in the book.

If you will excuse me, I'm going to go ponder this problem for a while.

The Crazy Week

2011-07-22T21:54:00.001-06:00

It's been one of those crazy kind of weeks. You know the kind, the ones that throw themselves at you and you just deal with. It wasn't a bad week for me, thank goodness, just kind of crazy.
I won't go into long details of why it was crazy, but let me say that in the last week, we spent 24 hours in the van on the road with five kids. CRAZY! Actually, the kids were great. We couldn't have asked for a better trip with the kids. There was very little fighting or crying. No one got car sick. A lot of snacks were eaten and a lot of Gatorade was drunk. There was some singing, story telling, word games played, and philosophising of life, the universe and everything.

School starts for the kids in less than a month. The summer has just flown by. Soon it will be time to buy school supplies.

I'm having a hard time keeping a train of thought for this blog, so I'll end now before I say something really weird. Until next time... postcards that fly through the ocean get soggy. Hmmm, I think I need sleep.

A train of thought moving faster than a speeding bullet

2011-07-13T09:25:00.000-06:00

Quickly, before I forget!

Yesterday's blog post was about how my brain jumps from thought to thought very quickly. I have a hard time thinking about just one thing sometimes. Here is an example of what I mean. I was in the shower this morning after my morning walk. My mind started thinking and by the time I was done with the shower, I was way off topic of what I was originally thinking about. I had to back track my thoughts to get back to the original one.

Here is the line of thought:
-Funny how skills can be called two different names depending on their use. For example: manipulation is considered to be negative, but when turned around, it can be called good leadership skills. Right?
-Peanut, my three year old can be so manipulative. We've got to get her sleeping through the night in her own bed in in a different room from Hubby and I. I wish we had more rooms in the house.
-The number of bedrooms in the house.... We've got too many people, too few bedrooms and five kids who don't want to share their room with anyone else. There is too much fighting is going on over who went into whose bedroom. This kids have got to learn to share space better.
-The size of the house we are in now vs. the size of the last house we lived in. Our current home has 500 more square feet than our last home, but the smaller home had two more rooms than this house. I would rather have the rooms than the space.
-The longest I've ever lived in one house since getting married is 3 years 2 months. Come December 1, we will have been here for three years and it doesn't look like we are going to move again anytime soon. We might break our record of three years and two months. That's funny (or not) since I've wanted to get out of this house for the last two years.
- My Mom lived in one place for 30 years. She taught in several schools in the city, each year having 25-30 kids in her class. She knew people from church and civic people. She knew everyone.
-Mom was always running into someone she knew at the grocery store. I went with her to the grocery store a lot growing up and we could hardly make it through one shopping trip without her running into someone she knew. I didn't mind, it was just funny.
-I occasionally see people I know at the grocery store, but not too often. Of course, I don't know many people since I've only lived here for a couple of years. Do I ever actually look at the people in the grocery store while I shop? No, I don't think I do. I'm just there to get my stuff and get out. Would I notice a friend at the store if a friend was there? Maybe. What if one of my favorite celebrities were at the grocery store? Would I notice?
-I should make it more of a point to look at the people around me at the store. I might see a friend.

So, that is what ran through my head during my shower. It wasn't a long shower. My thoughts just go too fast and change too much. Maybe I should get a water proof voice recorder to carry around with me all the time. Then I can just talk while I think.... That might be really funny to listen to.

Now what was I thinking?

2011-07-12T08:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I thought up about four great blog entries. I wrote one. Not sure if it’s really great or not. The rest I’ve forgotten. I’m so attention deficit sometimes. My brain jumps from thought to thought faster than rabbit can jump across the desert.

Well, I’ve just gotten distracted by something else in the house, so I’m not going to finish this thought. I’ll come back to it later.

Update on the weaving blog

2011-07-11T21:08:00.000-06:00

It's been three months, but I finished my last weaving project and have begun a new one! Check out
my weaving blog

Onomastics

2011-07-07T14:11:00.002-06:00

I'm an armchair onomast. Perhaps amateur onomast sounds better. An onomast is a person who studies onomastics. Onomastics is the study of names. I LOVE names!
I don't blog about names often. I don't want to offend. Names are incredibly personal. I certainly have my favorites and there are names that I really don't like.

I love to read what's popular and I've made some fairly accurate predictions about what might be popular in the future. However, some of the names that have become popular have really surprised me. When I was a kid, I had a great name book that talked about name trends. At the time of publishing, the early 80's, names like Olivia, Ava, Emma, Max, and Owen were considered "Grandparent names." Who knew they would surface again? The three girl names I just mentioned are all in the top 10 for 2010 in the United States. I don't particularly care for these names, but I have always tended to shun the trendy names for my own personal slightly unusual tastes.

Anytime a member of the family finds out they are expecting, I start making up lists for them. Most of the names are intended as funny jokes, like unpronounceable Celtic names being a favorite category of mine - MacFhlannchaidh for example. Personally I love Gaelic names and so does America right now. There are a lot of popular names with Gaelic origins. I like the more unusual names. With each baby, I tried to convince my hubby that we should use the girl name Ailish. He didn't go for it and neither has anyone else in the family. I also tried to get him to agree to Moira. Nope.

Secretly, I would love to have 19 kids like that one family. I would love the opportunity to pick names nineteen times. So, if I could pick some names right now, what would I choose?
Ailish, Moira, Freya, Peter, Colin and Richard. OK, my girl name choices are quite distinctly cultural, two Gaelic and one Scandinavian. The boy names on the other hand are good ol' names that have fallen out of the top 100. The are unused enough that they won't have several kids in their class with their name, while remaining familiar, accepted and masculine names.

I just love names. I've had 7 or so friends have babies in the last 2 months. I love to hear what name the parents have picked out. Did they just find the name in a book and like it? Is it a family name? Is it a favorite literary or movie character? Each name has a story and each story is, for me, fascinating.

MORE great products for sale

2011-07-05T11:12:00.001-06:00

I love Sky Mall! It is the greatest catalog with the most amazing things for sale. Of course, I like to put my own twist on products.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them so you can read all about these great products.

I'm not sure why, but it Blogger won't enlarge this picture. It's funny, but the best part is the snowman at the bottom of the picture. A body bag for your snowman!!! What kind of sick and twisted world is this?

Enjoy!

Great products for sale

2011-07-01T22:20:00.000-06:00

For years my sister and I have gone through catalogs, cutting out the best of all the products for sale. We put our own twist on the products and make our own catalog.

Some of these items just make you just wonder WHY?

You'll have to click on each picture to be able to read what they say and what I wrote about each of them. Wouldn't you just love to get a catalog like this one in the mail? Enjoy.

Travel Thoughts

2011-06-28T19:46:00.000-06:00

Just as a warning, my thoughts are bouncing all over the place. This whole entry pertains to traveling, but some of it deviates away from the topic before returning…… (Ha ha, my thoughts are traveling.)

Hubby and I would love to do some traveling. We didn’t do a normal honeymoon right after getting married. We were both students in the middle of the fall semester in college. We waited about nine months before we took our honeymoon trip. We went to France. It was awesome!!!

Since then, we haven’t done much traveling. With lots of small kids, traveling has never been much of an option. So, we’ve talked about it a lot and dreamed about it. We know that one day we will be able to do a bit of traveling again, but the question has been for the last decade where do we go? Hubby loves sunshine and beaches. I love green pine trees high up in the mountains. Opposites may attract, but they sure have a hard time deciding on where to vacation.

Six years ago, this August, I traveled, alone, to Italy. I was six months pregnant at the time with my fourth baby. I don’t speak a word of Italian. I was just happy that the word “chocolate” is so similar in so many languages. I could point at the bun in the bakery and say “chocolate” and they understood me. What an experience! It was great! I went for a conference. The conference is held every three years. At the end of the conference in Italy, they announced the next one would be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I had hoped to be able to attend that conference, but I had just had baby number five a couple of months earlier. I couldn’t leave. Three years later bring us to 2011. This year they are holding the conference in Barcelona, Spain! Hubby and I really wanted to go, but things just haven’t worked out that we could make that trip this year. I guess we’ll wait until this conference is over. They will announce the location for the next conference at the end of this year’s conference. I hope it is in Scotland!

Speaking of Scotland, I’m hoping to hear from Robert Gordon University in the next month or so. I can’t wait to register for classes. I don’t know what I need to do. They haven’t given me any information other than I’ve been accepted to the school. A month ago, I got a call from someone at RGU to find out if I had any questions. I was surprised when I first heard the caller. It took me a few moments to figure out what they were saying. Listening to my professors’ lectures is going to be interesting for me. I’m excited to think that by the time I finish my degree in three years, I’ll probably be able to do a great Scottish accent. Because it is an all online degree, I never need to go to Scotland, but I would love to be able to travel there. Perhaps I can go for graduation. I think it will be the only way I could get Hubby to Scotland. It just isn’t his idea of a vacation spot. Yes, they have beaches there, but it’s awfully cold!

I hope there will be time for traveling one day. Until then, Hubby and I have plenty of time to dream and decide where we would like to go….. Often the anticipation is the best part of the trip.

The insanity that is creative thinking

2011-06-26T15:08:00.000-06:00

My mother is an amazing person. She taught me, while I was a young child, the insanity that is creative thinking. As a 10 year old, I participated in a school activity that involved 50 mouse traps. Now, imagine giving six kids ages 10-12, fifty mouse traps, several hot glue guns and a lot of green paint. That is just what my mom did. It was part of a creative thinking competition. We had to take those mouse traps and glue them down to a wooden board. Those mouse traps had to perform a chain reaction of events, like ring a bell. In a matter of weeks, I snapped my fingers, my toes, and my rear end more times than I can count. We burned our fingers on hot glue and learned real fast how not to use a hot glue gun. We didn’t do well in the competition, but I’ve never forgotten the tremendous amount of fun that insane little project was.

My mother was a school teacher. Teachers are very creative people. She was also a camp leader for several summers, a principal, a Cub Scout leader, Girl Scout leader, and so many other things. From her, I learned that to solve some problems in life, you must think creatively, and to think creatively, you sometimes have to be a little crazy.

Two weeks ago, after visiting the location for my theater, I realized that I would have no area for “off stage”. The auditorium wasn’t built for theater. What to do? I got creative. I bought some black sheets, got a lot of PVC pipe, and some scrap wood. I built a frame to hold the sheets that would create a curtain for us to hide behind when off stage. My first design didn’t work. I had to make the PVC poles shorter. As I was out in my backyard, struggling to get the pipe frame put together, I thought of my mother. I thought of how completely crazy I was trying to build a portable six foot tall frame to hold a sheet up. Several times the pipes slipped out of their joints, hitting me in the head or the knuckles. I would chuckle to myself about how much my mother would love this. I wished she had been there to help me fight those silly PVC pipes.

My mom and I came up with a great idea for a new TV show: Projects in your Pajamas! We’ve done so many home projects in our pajamas – house painting, replacing toilet seats, cutting drywall, and caulking bathtubs. It would be a great TV show – two crazy ladies in their pajamas, trying to do home improvement projects. You should have seen Mom and I five days after my youngest was born. We were both in our pajamas, standing on the kitchen counters painting the cupboards. “Insane,” you may say! Yes, we were.

I’ve worked my way through problems in life with the crazy art that is creative thinking. I think it could also be described as making-it-up in your way through life when you don’t know what else to do. Be flexible, think outside the box, laugh along the way and the most amazing things can happen.

A week of home improvment adventures

2011-06-19T22:09:00.000-06:00

Molly and her Mom's week of home improvement adventures.
October 2008

“Oops” was heard a little too often!

Tips for using a paint sprayer:
• Read the directions first. Just jumping in and using it isn’t always the best idea.
• Make sure you keep the drain tube in the paint bucket. This is especially important when priming the painter. Better yet, put the entire sprayer into a bucket.
• A plastic sack from Wal-Mart doesn’t make a good painters cap, a paper bag from McDonald’s take out is much better
• Don’t spray too much paint on popcorn ceilings. They will soak up the paint and then peel off the ceiling.
• Thoroughly clean the spray painter before you return it to its owners, they don’t need to know about all the paint spills you had.
• A scouring pad works great at removing the paint off the spray painter before you return it.
• Paint boogers are what you get if you don’t wear your mask while using the spray painter.
• Wear Depends when you work, in case you start to laugh too hard after spilling paint all over the floor (or any other “oops” moment)

Be careful about what you say out loud. Telling a kid you are sitting on the toilet, while hanging a TP roller onto the wall, while the kid is holding the phone out, with your best friend waiting for you on the line is very embarrassing.

If you don’t want to cook dinner or clean the kitchen, keep the stove covered in plastic and just tell people who come by that you are working on painting the ceiling. This excuse is good for several days.

If you get too frustrated with a project, just go work in the bathroom with the Goo Gone, it will make you happy!

Carpet surfing with furniture sliders is fun, but you need to watch out for two things – the wall and accidentally doing the splits.

When hanging shower curtains, be careful not to step into the toilet when using it for a step stool.

White paint on toes makes for a nice camouflage if your socks have holes in the toes.

Keep Tylenol handy. Paint fumes give you headaches. Paint rollers make arms and shoulders tired and sore. Painting ceilings makes your neck hurt. Tripping over extension cords can injure any number of things. Moving bookcases bruises shins. And, finally, running into paint cans stubs your toes.

How to make and use your own popcorn ceiling:
1 bucket of spackle
1 can of spray foam
1 sheet of wax paper
1 food chopper
2 crazy sleep deprived ladies, high on Goo Gone

Lay out a sheet of wax paper. Spray foam onto the wax paper. Be careful not to get any on your fingers. Wash off the foam you got on your hand anyway.

Allow foam to dry. When dry, tear chunks of foam into small rice sized pieces. Do this for about 15 minutes. You now have enough foam chunks to cover three square inches of space.

To apply popcorn ceiling you can either:

Combine a hand full of spackle with the foam pieces. Mix it well with your fingers and then apply the foam infused spackle to the ceiling.

OR

Apply spackle to ceiling and then stick foam pieces to the wet spackle.

Use a putty scraper to “smooth” out the spackle.

Allow to dry.

Inspect area. Scrape it all off.

Call in a professional handyman.

To the guys in my life

2011-06-19T14:24:00.000-06:00

I've been blessed to have many wonderful men as a part of my life.

First, there is my Dad. What a great Dad. My dad is a craftsman. When I was quite small, I had a wonderful doll house. Dad made it for me for Christmas. For many years he did the most beautiful wood working in marquetry. I have two of his pieces. Within the last 5 years or so, he got involved in archery. Not only does he shoot arrows, he makes the bows and arrows he uses. I have a wonderful bow and several arrows he made for me. Because of where we have lived for so many years, I haven't been able to go shooting, but it's still great to have something that my Dad created. He has an eye for perfection.
Dad has a mellow personality and a witty sense of humor. He and I have always gotten along very well. He is a hard worker, tells the most wonderful jokes, a good listener, a great story teller, and a nice guy. I love him so very much.

I have two great brothers. I never laugh harder than when I'm with my brothers. They are funny beyond words. They are the only people I know, who while in their twenties, climbed up on my parent's roof and had a light saber battle. They, with their families, live near my parents and so they get together often at the parent's house to have dinner or a fun weekend together. My mom will tell me some insane story about something my two brothers had done and I'll ask her how old were they when they did that? She usually answers me with, "Oh, that was last week." However insane my brothers are, they are amazing husbands. One of them has two daughters and he is amazing with them. The other brother and his wife will have their first baby in a few months. I know he will be just as great with his kid. What great brothers I have.

There is my husband. We've been married for 14 1/2 years! Each year that goes by, I'm amazed and thankful that he has continued to stick by my side. We've been through the good, the bad, the ugly and the amazing. We've had five kids together! Why this man continues to love me, I'll never understand, but I know why I continue to love him. He's good looking, incredibly smart, a wonderful provider, and great company. He is an amazing father. The kids adore him. Some days, when he has to be somewhere and I have to be somewhere else, the kids always want to go with dad. They love to be with him. There are days when for whatever reason, I don't get around to the laundry or some other household chore, and he just steps up to it. There are days when he comes home from work to a house in disaster, kids crying, and a wife who is way beyond the end of her rope. He listens to me rant, gets the kids in order and has them clean up the mess that I had been trying to get them to clean all day long. He hugs me and loves me even though at that moment, all I can think about is running away to live like a hermit in a remote mountain cabin. I can't put into words all the amazing things I would love to say about my husband. I love him.

Last I would like to mention my sons. I've got three of them. What neat boys they are. The oldest one turns 13 in a couple of days. He is taller than I am and he loves to rub that in. He is a ham. My two other sons are very different from their older brother. They are quiet, reflective and very caring for others. They are funny, too, in a more quiet, dry way. My 5 year old son has the most wonderful laugh and he can draw better than I can. They are all so creative. They never cease to amaze me. I can't wait to see these guys as they grow up and what kind of men they will become someday.

I could go on and on about the amazing men I've been blessed to know: my grandfathers, my father-in-law, my brothers-in-law, and many friends. But I think the best thing I can say to them all right now is, Happy Father's Day, guys! You are all amazing.