The Puppet Show

We have two hand puppets.  One is Bard the Dragon from Baby Einstein.  The other is just a grey dog.  They make beautiful music together.

The duets began with my two oldest sons.  They got the funny idea to do a puppet show and have the dragon and dog sing to the song Monster Mash.  It is so funny!  Bard (played by my oldest son) sings the main song.  The dog, (played by my 10 year old son) is the backup singer.

Now, when the kids are all at school, my two youngest get the puppets and have them sing to the song Puff the Magic Dragon.  The best part is when I actually hear my two little ones sing the song.  I love their sweet little voices singing together.

If Peanut had not broken our camera, I would take a video and add it to the blog.  It's so cute!

Much on my mind

I've got a lot spinning around in my head, but not too much that is blog worthy.

I've written about this before: music.  I've been listening to a small list of some of my favorite music.  Only one song has singing, the rest are instrumentals.  Gosh I love my music.  I wish I could describe what about music that is so magical to me, but I can't.  Even if I could, the way this particular music makes me feel may not touch someone else and certainly not in the same way.  But music is for me, very magical and it seems to tickle a memory that I can not reach. 

I'm working on becoming professional.  Does that sound funny?  For my school program, I will have to post my resume before the semester is over.  I don't have much of a resume of professional work to post, but I started thinking of the several organizations I belong to.  They are very professional.  I may not contribute anything to those organizations as of yet, but being a part of them and reading their newsletters and publications keeps me informed on the professional things others do.  It looks good and sounds good when I can say I belong to the International Council of Onomastic Sciences.  It sounds very impressive.

Hubby and I went for a drive the other day.  I thought of something funny I wanted to blog about, but have since forgotten.  Typical of me.

Death of a camera

Peanut got ahold of our camera several days ago. 

She broke it and now I can't take pictures!

I miss my camera.

The idea of philosophy

I've never studied philosophy.  I never considered it before.  I never thought of myself as a philosopher in any way. 

Then, a few months ago, I ran across a book called, The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy.  I love the Narnia books and thought this might be an interesting read.  Boy was it! It was a collection of essays mostly written by university professors of philosophy.  Some of the essays I didn't care for much.  Some weren't to interesting to me, but I read them all and learned a little from each.  Some of the essays were excellent and thought provoking.

As I read the book, I realized, I've been a philosopher for a long time and just never realized it.  It's hard to explain, but about a year ago, I came up with an idea regarding the Narnia books.  I did my best to write down these thoughts, but they were hard to put into words.  I now realize I had a philosophical idea.  Who knew you could do that without knowing it?

Now, I'm looking to read another book from the same author/editor.  He has done several, but the next one I want to read is The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy.  It too is a book of essays.  I think it will make for very interesting reading.

When I started college, I knew what I wanted - to be a camp director.  To become a camp director, I needed to study recreation management and administration.  Done.  What I didn't realize while I was in college was the amazing amount of other interests and studies that were out there.  In the last decade, I've developed interest in the history of Indo-European languages, onomastics as a formal area of study, linguistics, etymology, and now I can add philosophy to my list.  It makes me wonder, what's next?

laundry conversations

Speaking to my 10 year old:
"Mom, I don't have any socks."

"Well, I did six loads of laundry yesterday.  There were no socks of yours in there.  What do you do with your socks when you take them off?"

"I throw them."

"Throw them where?"

"Ummm....."

Yeah, no wonder we can't find socks.

Speaking to my 6 year old daughter:
"Here, Daughter, is your pile of clean clothes.  Please take it to your room and put the clothes in your dresser."

"In my dresser?"

"Yes, in."

"Not on top of my dresser?"

"No, in your dresser.  That's why there are drawers."

phone conversation

A bit of the phone conversation I had with my 4 year old.  I was at the Phonix airport getting ready to board a plane to go home.
Son:  Hi Mom.

Me: Hi, how are you?

Son: I'm sad.

Me: I'm sorry.  Why are you sad.

Son: Brother got candy and I didn't.

Me:  Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.  I'll be home tonight and I'll be able to hug you and tuck you into bed.  Would that make you happy?

Son:  Playing Nick Jr. on the computer would make me happy.

The To Do List

To Do List

Those three words have the ablility to put fear and dread into the hearts of many.  Really, how many people say, "Yes!  I get to work on my to do list!" 

Not many.

Of course, it also has the ability to make great things happen.

My to do list is waiting for me.  It isn't pretty, but at the bottom of the list is "open up new thread"!  It's good incentive.  If I get my work done, I can finish getting my thread on the warping board.  I'm going to weave something new, big and different from anything I've tried.  I can't wait to get started.  I'd better go work on that to do list. 

The mountain of laundry is ugly!

Hanging out on campus

School has changed so much since I went and I didn't go THAT long ago.  I graduated from college in 1997, so that's what, 13 years ago?  It might as well have been a hundred years ago for all the changes.  Wi-Fi didn't exist.  Heck, I didn't use the Internet for the first time until my senior year in college.  If you had a laptop, it was huge and weighed about 30 pounds.

The catalogs needed to search for the classes you needed to take were actual paper catalogs.  Now, everything is online.  As handy as that is, having everything online, it can be a pain.  To see one classes description, I click here.  Nope, that wasn't what I wanted, back click.  Maybe this class, click, nope, back click.  It was handy when it was just on a sheet of paper where I could dog ear pages, circle a class that looked interesting, and X out the classes I didn't need or couldn't take.  Now I'm like, what was that class again?  Click on link, nope not this one, back click, this one? nope, back click, etc.

No one had cell phones, much less iPad, iPods, smart phones and all.  It was notebooks and paper.

So, here I sit, on campus, linked into their Wi-Fi, typing on my blog, listening to music on my headphones, and enjoying the college atmosphere.  I have to go home tomorrow and my little college life will be over.  I'll start classes, but I'll be at home, with kids running around in the house, trying my best to figure out how to take an online class.  Who would have believed that thirteen years ago?

back to school

We survived the first day back to school.  I must say, I probably had the best day of anyone else in the family.  :)

My oldest son, who is starting 7th grade had a really long, frustrating day.  It has to do with schedules and a group of kids (including him) who should be at a brand new school that isn't finished yet, so they are joining with another middle school until mid-October.  It's way to much to get into, but I feel bad for him.

The two elementary aged kids had a better day.  My 4th graders homework for today was to read for 20 minutes and he is happy to do that work.  We ordered him a book he really wanted to read and it's sequel.  Well, the sequel came last week, but the first book has not.  He is really hoping to get it soon.

The two youngest, who are still at home, had a good day.  They played a lot together and they fought a lot together.  They just love to annoy the heck out of each other.  I find that very annoying.

I enjoyed the peace that can only come with having three less kids in the house.  I got a ton of laundry done, dishes, general cleaning and a little packing for my trip later this week.  You know, the fees they put on luggage these days makes packing much more difficult.  Still, because I don't need to back extra clothes, books, and toys for kids, it will keep my suitcase light and I'll be able to get by on one small on. 

Hmm, I guess I had better get my MP3 player charged up.  It's going to be a long flight.

The things Peanut says

Peanut's grasp of the language is really growing.  She is starting to use prepositions.  "He is in his room," for example or "I want to watch a movie." (both things she has said to me recently)

Today she said:
"Hey, cut it out!"  when her brother annoyed her.

"I want to play Nick Jr. on Daddy's computer." (although she says Mick Jr.)

"Will you turn off the music?"

"I'm done crying now." (said while crying)

She loves to review the 12 - 15 sign language signs she knows.  Her favorites are baby, milk and eat.  She didn't do any sign language for a while and about two weeks ago, she started to do them again.  I need to teach her a few more.  My sign language vocabulary is very limited, but I know a few more.  I need to teach them to her.  We also sing the ABC's a LOT.  I should sign the letters while we sing.  Maybe she'll pick up on those too.

I love watching babies go from crying to speaking language.  It's an amazing journey.

Mom's homework

Every year we've lived here and had kids in school, they bring home a million forms during the first week of school for me to fill out. 

Today I filled out at least 10 forms.  With one son, I think we might be done with most of the paperwork.  For my daughter, we've got at least six more forms to fill out that will come home the first or second day of school.  I've done several for my middle schooler as well, but I know there is more that will come home.

Mom's homework.

So many projects...

I have so many projects to work on and there just doesn't seem to be time to do them all.  I want to weave more.  I've got a project that only needs 20 more inches.  It wouldn't take too long to do, but every time I sit down to weave, one of the kids needs something.  Then another kid needs something, and on it goes.

I've got my next weaving project all planned out.  I know what I want to do, but I really need some thread.  I've got 9 cones of thread, but they are all the same size and the same colors and although they are two different materials (one is cotton, one is acrylic) they feel exactly the same.  So, it doesn't make for anything diverse.  To tell the truth, I've got several weaving projects planned.  I just need to buckle down and do them!

I've ordered my textbook for the semester, so I'll have plenty of reading soon.

The house is in desperate need of a good cleaning, but it always is.  We did a good cleaning last week, but you wouldn't know it.  We even did a good cleaning yesterday, but again, you wouldn't know it.  These kids trash the house faster than a tornado.

My youngest daughter doesn't have her Christmas stocking yet.  I cross stitch all my kids stockings, and Peanut has had two Christmases without hers.  I want to have it ready this year, but that takes a lot of time and I haven't put much into that lately.

Also, this school year, I want to work on my youngest son's education.  He is too young for Kinder this year, so I have the joy of keeping him for one more year, but he doesn't know basics yet.  He can't say his ABCs or count to 20.  I've got a good pre-K curriculum and I'm going to work on it with him this year.  Peanut will join in as well and probably pick up the information very well.  She's smart!  She doesn't know her colors yet, so we'll work on that too.  I hope to help them both and make a bit of progress with my son.

Well, there is much to do today and the time is passing.

end of summer blues/joy

I never like sending my kids back to school after the summer break, but at the same time I love to send my kids back to school after summer break.  Can that be possible?

One big reason that the love of sending them back overcomes the dislike of sending them back is by the end of the summer, they seem more, oh, I don't know, argumentative?  There is some boredom in that they really start to miss friends.  So, instead of becoming better friends with their siblings, they start to annoy each other.  Why is that?  There is more fighting and more teasing.

My youngest two are going to miss the others when they go back, but I think they will find more peace and happiness with each other when the older three aren't around to antagonize them.

Still, I hate to send them off each day for 9-10 months to sit in a school room and do their best to learn in an environment that doesn't always encourage learning.

I guess you can have opposite feelings about some things.  This time of year is truly a sad and happy time, for all involved.

Party!

Yesterday my two older boys had an end of the summer party with some of their buddies.  They had a great time.  They tossed a beach ball around in the living room for a while.  Well, tossed is hardly the right word.  They threw the beach ball as hard as they could at each other.  It was pretty funny.  Then, one of my sons brought out a big foam puzzle and they threw the pieces at each other like they were Chinese Stars.  I'm still finding pieces of that puzzle around the house.

I BBQed hamburgers and hot dogs for them and they had lunch.  There was lots of food for them.  They turned on the X-Box for a while and discussed the pros and cons of Halo vs. Halo 2 vs. Halo 3 and what the future versions of Halo will be like.

After such a deep conversation, they went out in the rocky front yard to play some water games.  The game started with tossing wet wash cloths at each other, then one of them turned on the hose and started spraying the water at anyone who came with in range, including myself and my two littlest kids who were out there too.  My oldest son is so funny when it comes to water.  He loved it when they would spray him with the hose, and he encouraged them to fill up the buckets with water and dump them over his head.  They were all completely soaked and so was I.  My shoes are still sitting outside in the sun getting dry.

After several hours, moms started arriving to pick up their boys and I started cleaning the mess inside the house.  One friend stayed until dinner time and they had fun playing more X-Box.  I should have kicked them off and had them help me clean, but I'm too nice and I let them play.

The party was a great success and everyone went home wet and happy.  Now this last week of summer, we will be getting the last of the school supplies, making sure everyone is registered properly and attending open houses at the schools.  It is sad to see summer end (but I'm ready for them to go back).

Summer is coming to an end

The days just fly by when it is summer time.  The kids are certainly not ready to go back to school.  We have a week and a half until the first day of school.  And two weeks from today I'll be on my way to my own student orientation in Michigan!  I'm so excited.

So, we are almost done buying school supplies and a few new items of clothing need to be bought.  My daughter is tough to shop for.  She has one of those beautiful, long torsos.  (I wish I that)  Anyway, it makes finding shirts long enough for her tummy difficult.  She is set on pants, skirts, and shorts, but all of her shirts are belly shirts.  That means when she raises her hand, part of her belly shows.

The boys are good on shirts, but need new pants and shorts.

At least I have two at home that I don't need to dress up for school.  I can't imagine what next year will be like when I have four in school!  I just know, shopping for school supplies won't be cheap.

So, we are spending these last few days of summer trying to squeeze in as many activities and time with friends as we can.

picking the next president

I've said this before, but I don't like presidential election years.  I get so tired of the ads, the debates, the hate that pretty much splits our country in half.  I know this year isn't a presidential election year, (thank goodness) but I started thinking about the next election.

I've come up with a new system! This will be great.  The candidates will have two weeks to prepare for the big day.  What will happen that big day?  Grocery Shopping!  Yes, I said grocery shopping.  Whoever can get the most groceries (non-food items are included) for the least amount of money is made president.  This proves you have excellent financial understanding and can actually work on a budget - a small budget. What do you think?

I think other qualifications should be considered when choosing a president:
1. The candidate should have served on a PTA board.  You can not understand the incredible amount of work, organization, and financial planning that goes on in a PTA meeting unless you have been there.  It is incredible and it's all for the kids and their education.  This proves your organizational skills and true dedication to education.

2.  The candidate can not own more than four pairs of shoes and at least one of those pairs need to be at least 5 years old. This shows the American people you are resourceful.

3.  The candidate can not have had any previous political experience.  The candidate needs to be a regular American who has spend his/her life working, raising their family without hired help (the appliance repairman doesn't count), and been a good law abiding citizen.  This proves you understand the average working American because you are one of them.

If we get a president who can get $200 worth of groceries for less than $50, I think our economy will turn around. 

ho hum

I haven't had much to say lately.  Nothing is really going on (among the chaos of life).  School starts in three weeks and my kids are crying about that.  I need to go register my son at his new middle school.

I've been trying to weave, but I'm not liking what is going on with my threads.  Half of the warp is loose and half is super tight.  The pattern I thought I was doing isn't working out either.  I've restarted this project three times.  I just need to finish it, but it's a long way from being finished.  I've already got my next project picked out and I'm very excited about it, but now is the toughest part - picking out my threads.  What colors? What textures?  So many decisions.

Peanut has learned to turn on the Internet, go to the Nick Jr. website and play.  She has also learned to work the VCR.  (She has been a pro at the DVD player for half of her life.)

Now, a sneak peak at my new book I'm creating:  Cooking with Flamethrowers!

Cooking steak with a propane torch!

Burning, cooking marshmallows with the propane torch!

Storms

I love lightning storms.  We don't get them often where I am.  We live on a Mesa, and the storms usually seem to be surrounding us, but rarely over us.  Tonight has those huge clouds with lightning all in them on the western horizon.  It's quite amazing and I love to watch the clouds light up.  Now, we just need a home that is out of a neighborhood filled with two story houses.  They block the view!

Lastest weaving project

This is what I did in my weaving class.  I'm working on another project in class right now, but this is the big one.  It's 7 feet long and about 14 inches wide.

I had never finished a weaving project with anything but a tassel.  I didn't know how to do anything else.  My teacher taught me how to do this cord. I like the cord look a lot.

back into the swing

Well, after a fun vacation to see lots of family, we are home again.

Within 12 hours of being home, the kids were back into their normal routine, the good, the bad and the ugly.  My oldest son leave for a camp out tomorrow, so he is re-packing today.  He will have lots of fun, I'm sure.

I went to my weaving class last night.  We only meet two more times.  There are four of us in the class.  The other three ladies will be taking it again this next time they offer it, but I will not be.  While I'm having tons of fun and learning good things, I will not spend the money again to take a second round of classes just so I can keep weaving.  I have a loom at home to use.  So, I'll go twice more and finish my second project in the class and call it good.

I was terribly flattered last night at my class, though.  My teacher said he wants to take a break from teaching beginning in January and he said he would like to submit my name to be the next instructor.  It may or may not work out when that time comes, but it was so nice to hear.  I would love the opportunity to teach.  If it pays a little, so much the better!

Summer, where have you gone?

It's hard to believe that summer break is half way over for the kids.  It's been much busier than I expected.  When summer started, we only had on big thing on the calendar plus a few camp outs for my oldest son.   The calendar didn't remain empty for long.  It good, really.  I would rather have things going on than absolutely nothing.  Today my six year old has been walking around like a bored zombie.  So bored, so bored.  We have no yard to play in, and she is tired of playing with her toys.  So, we called up a friend and now they are playing dress up.  So great!

We have some acquaintances that have moved, but they are renting out their home.  We went to see it last week.  Oh my, what a house!  I want to move in now.  Hubby is more cautious and probably much more reasonable in hesitating before giving an answer.

The house has three floors.  The bottom floor has a common area, and four bedrooms!  The main floor has the usual rooms of kitchen/dining/living/laundry and the master bedroom.  The top floor has a large loft, a large playroom, a small room and a large storage room.  There is actual carpet in the house and the areas that are tiled are a much nicer tile than in my current home.  The house is huge and it has a yard!  Actual grass.  Not much, but enough for the little ones to play in and run through.  It has an area that isn't landscaped and it is obvious they have had a fire pit.  Doesn't it sound wonderful????  Oh it does.  Can I move in now?

The reason for being cautious - our current lease isn't up. Moving isn't fun, or cheap, even when it's in town.  Also, we might have to move again in 6 months.  That's the biggest draw back with Hubby's job.  It's a yearly contract and if the contract isn't renewed or his position within the contract isn't renewed, we've got to look for a new job.  It isn't a pleasant way to live, but that's the life we've got right now.  So, do we want to try and break the lease, endure the major hassle of moving with the possibility of moving again? 

I say YES!  Hubby, is still thinking about it..... well, we've got to give an answer soon to the owners.  I'll let you know what we decide.

Promised pictures

My computer isn't reading my camera's memory card, so I haven't been able to do much in the way of pictures, but now I can, so now you can enjoy my random summer time photos.

One evening, as I was trying to get the house clean for company, I put Peanut into the bath tub to occupy her.  It only took minutes, but when I came back in I found Peanut had occupied herself by dumping water out of the bathtub.  The water went all over the bathroom, of course, out the door, into the bedroom and underneath bookshelves.  It took about 10 big towels to mop up all the water.  Well, at least the bathroom floor got clean.

This is Peanut.  This is her brother's toy army helmet.  Peanut likes to wear it like this, with her entire face covered by the helmet.  She giggles and runs around the house.  Amazingly, she doesn't run into to many things, but if she does, at least she has on a helmet.

A recently completed weaving.  I like the way this turned out.  It's quite festive looking, but the yarn would separate every time I would advance the yarn on the loom.  It created gaps that I really can't fix.

Cake Entry #6

Last year my siblings, their spouses, my mom and I participated in a family 4th of July Cake decorating contest.  My sister won last year.  My cake tied for last place with Entry #6.  The problem was, there was no #6, my dad just voted for it as a joke.  Well, this year, I have created Cake Entry #6. 

Get it?

And last, but not least, a view from our garden.  Because we have a rock yard, our garden had to be improvised.  Our garden is made up of 4 large storage tubs filled with soil.  We tried to grow some new things this year, one of them is watermelon.  We didn't think anything was going to happen with the long vine that is growing from the tub, but the other day we found 3 small watermelons.  This one is the biggest.  At the time of this picture, it was smaller than a tennis ball, but it has grown since then.  We are very excited.  We might actually have home-grown watermelons to eat at the end of the summer!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the summer time photos.  Unfortunately, summer is about half way over for us now.  I ran into a store today for something and saw all the school supplies being set out.  Crazy, crazy.  I hope by the end of the summer, there will be more photos to share.

5+1=0 ???

Five kids, one messy house and zero motivation.

Ever have those days?

Crazy summer days

I use to go walking three times a week with a friend.  We planned on keeping it up after school got out.  Guess what.  I think we have been once since school let out a month ago.  Things have been crazy!

I don't think they are going to slow down much either.  Still, it's better to keep busy than be bored and lazy.  There haven't been many opportunities to be bored and lazy.

It hasn't all been bad.  In fact, we've had some really fun things going on, but that doesn't keep it from being crazy.

The two kids are healed nicely from having their tonsils out.  That's good to have done.  My oldest son went to scout camp and had a blast.  Peanut has kept me on my toes cleaning up messes that go way beyond the ordinary messes of everyday life.  I'm getting excited for grad school, but I'm not sure what I need to be doing to get ready for the start of the semester.  They are going to want money at some point.  Monsoon season has begun, but I haven't seen more than 10 drops of rain.

Funny, all this craziness going on and I can't think of anything to blog.
Well, watch out for future blogs, I'll be doing some pictures. What of?  Wait and see.....

Weaving

I've been weaving as much as I can lately.

I'm taking a class at the local art museum and have learned a few tricks that have already made things much easier.  For me, getting the massive amounts of yarn onto the loom was a multi-day task because I ended up with everything in a tangled mess.  Now after my class, I've learned how to keep things fairly organized while taking it from the warping board to the loom.

So, at home I just took something off the loom and have started a new project.  At class I've got something interesting going on too.  One or two more class periods and I might have that project completed.  I'll be able to start a new one.  I don't know what I'll do with it.  At 17 inches wide, it's not wide enough to be a shaw or wrap, but what am I going to do with a table runner?  I could place it on the table, but the kids or the dumb cat would pull it off.  I really need to remember to take my camera with me to class so I can show you what it looks like.  It's pretty, but I just don't know what I'll do with it.

I'll get some pictures of other recent projects up soon.

Today, however, I'll be cleaning my house.  My parents come in tomorrow for the weekend and I need to get the house spic and span.  Again, I'm not sure why I work so hard, my kids will have it destroyed by this evening.  Oh well, I try and that's the important part.

My oldest son just had his 12th birthday!  He is about an inch shorter than I am and his feet are bigger than mine (and I wear a size 10 in women's).  His voice is getting deep, but when he is playing chase with the cat, he can still yell like a little girl.  (hee hee hee)  I can't believe how much time has passed.  Scary to think about, but in four years, he'll be driving!

It's time for Random Photos!

Mutant gummy bears!  This is a regular sized gummy bear next to a mutant!  The mutant was left in a cup filled with 7up for more than 12 hours.  (Mutant gummy bears taste terrible!)

My water bottle dilemma.  Living in the desert, I have a fear of something happening to the water supply.  I can't throw away water bottles.  I always keep a supply of water bottles in the fridge and freezer for outings on hot days, but these are the left over water bottles that I don't have room for in the fridge or freezer.  There is more than 20 in that picture.  I don't know what to do with them, but I can't toss them either. They are taking over my kitchen counter, though! (BTW, they are all filled with water.)

My bathroom counter.  Do you see that mess?  Only the mousse is mine.  The kids have their own bathroom, but all of their toothbrushes are in my bathroom.  There is a doll, a beanie baby bear, kid necklaces, and a variety of other things.  You can't see it, but on the far side of the sink, there is a 6 inch spread of toothpaste across the counter - courtesy of Peanut.

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my summer life.

House dreams

I dream about houses a lot.  Last night I had another house dream.  I love those dreams!

Last night's house was large, but I didn't realize how large until I got inside.  There were two kitchens each one had two stoves.  Think of the meals that could be cooked.

The house was a maze of large rooms, small cozy spaces, and closets all over the place.  There was even a long hall on the second floor was could be used as a gallery for art work.  I found a perfect room for my looms and instead of a closet for food storage there were large rooms that could be chosen from.  There were enough bedrooms and large rooms that I could have about 20 kids in the house without crowding.

The back yard was large, had various levels and terraces, a walking path through a nicely landscaped area, and plenty of grass for the kids to run through. 

It was a great house!

Tonsils Out

Yesterday, two of my kiddos got their tonsils out.  What a day!

My son has had the hardest time with recovering.  He is just in a lot more pain or seems to be.  I joked with Hubby that it's because he's a guy and just can't handle the pain as well as our daughter.  :)

My son has basically stopped speaking.  He is afraid it will hurt, and maybe it does, but he won't even try to speak.  He does hand signals and a lot of pointing.

Poor kids, it wasn't easy and the next few days will still be sore, but it's worth it for them.  They won't gasp for breath at night, they will be able to swallow foods better and the doctor told me they will have more energy because they will be getting good night sleeps.  I also hope this helps with the colds they seem to have constantly.  My daughter was sick with a cold from September to May. 

I'm so glad it's over with.

How did Colorado know?

Colorado knew I was coming. I've spent 20 years longing to return to Colorado and see the beautiful Rocky Mountains. It hurt me to know that I probably would not see it again because the state had no appeal to my husband and so we would never vacation there.

Well, through a long set of circumstances, we drove Colorado this weekend from the north state line to the south state line. I could hardly stand the thought of driving through the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Colorado knew I was coming. For the entire trip through the state, it was cloudy. Low, dark storm clouds covered the entire state. I never saw a single mountain. Not a one. Can I tell you how upset I was? I cried. I cried driving from Denver to Raton, NM.

I spent 20 years dreaming of returning to my favorite state and never saw the one thing I wanted to see - the Rocky Mountains.

Colorado knew I was coming. It knew that if I saw Pikes Peak I would never return home to the desert. I guess it is just as well, but I sure am upset about it.

Happiness

For various reasons I've been quite interested in happiness lately. I've been reading books, articles, talks and scriptures related to joy and happiness. It's been fun.

One rule of happiness I've learned is "be true to yourself."

I have found this to be quite easy to do in some areas of life and hard to do in other parts.

I'm one of the few women in America that hates the Twilight series. It is easy for me to say, "No, I don't want to see the movie," or "No, I'm not reading the final book" (or any sequels or prequels.) It's easy to stay true to myself. I don't have to like what other people like. If I don't like the fad, I don't have to follow it. I remain happy.

What is hard is when it is related to church social functions. I've become quite anti-social in the last two years. I really don't like being in a crowd of people, especially women. Every time you get a group of women together, the topic always turn to weight and loosing weight. I'm heavier than most of the women I know, so when they talk about loosing weight, I feel terrible. If they feel the way they do and they aren't nearly as heavy as me, I can't imagine what they must think about me. I know I'm a horrid blob. I don't need to be reminded when I'm already self conscious in a room of people who are skinnier than me. Why should I go? There is no reason. I feel worse for having gone than I would have had I skipped the entire thing. But then, I feel guilty for not going to a church social function. I'm not true to myself and I'm not happy.

If I'm true to myself in such times, I would never attend, but that makes me a bad person too. So, I'm working hard to realize that being true to myself means that I don't have to like social functions because others like social functions. I need to be true to Molly.

What does make me happy? Good music (I've always got music going), old movies, working on projects, creating things, a green forest, peace and quiet. Hmmm, I'm feeling happier just thinking about those things.

I wish I had my own room

Most of my growing up years, I had my own room. I spent most of my time in my room listening to music, reading, doing puzzles, and of course homework.

I wish I had that now(my own room, not the homework). I'm an early riser and these days I get up at 5:30 to go exercise. So, to make sure I don't disturb Hubby, I have my clothes out in the living room and I sleep on my alarm clock so I don't disturb him when it goes off.

I'm often back from exercising before he wakes up. I would love to go shower, but I don't want to go in to the bedroom and make noise while he is sleeping. I don't think that is very nice of me to do. So, I wait and by the time he gets up, all the kids are up and I'm in full swing mom-mode. So, often, showers either don't happen or they happen at odd hours.

My Hubby's computer is in our bedroom. The kids play their games on it most of the day during the summer time. So, there is always a kid or two in my room. (Another reason it's hard to shower any time of the day.)

So, I don't get to shower when I need to or when it is convenient for me. I work around everyone else. I don't have a place to go be alone any time of the day or night. No where to read quietly, write in my journal, or get dressed. I wish I had my own room. It doesn't have to be big or fancy just a place to call my own with nothing in it that would attract the others.

Oh well. In that dream house of mine, I'll have my little room. My own little room.

One week down

So the kids have been out of school for a full week now. Can they go back?

Summer chores have been assigned. The older boys have been swimming three times at various pools around town and spent an afternoon hanging at the mall together. Squirt guns have been shot in and out of the house. We've picked five cherry tomatoes from our garden. We've watched a couple of rented movies. There has been lots of playing, lots of cleaning, and a few tears from the smaller kids. I'd say the first week of summer break has been a success.

One of the things the kids can do on their Bingo chore/project chart is fix one new recipe. They have all put it off and today they have all asked if they can fix something for lunch or dinner. YEAH! I might not have to cook today. I have a feeling I'll have to do a lot of cleaning in the kitchen this evening, but I won't have to cook!

I've been so uninspired lately with dinners. I feel like I cook the same things over and over, just in different variations. (Is "different variations" redundant? I think so.) I got some great new cookbooks from a local used book store. I just need to go through them, pick a few and try them out. Once in a while I come across a gem recipe that becomes a family favorite. But, today that is the kids job. I'll let them go through the books, pick the meal and cook.

random and shelves

We had a fun weekend. It's fun having Hubby home for three days. In those three days he managed to help two people move and visit some other people. There were times I wish he could have spent more of the holiday with us instead of with others, but I'm so happy he is willing to help others. He's a good example to the boys.

We invited a family over to dinner. Only the dad and a couple of the kids came. The others pleaded headaches and didn't come. I was slightly insulted, but what can I do about it? Nothing. They missed a great BBQ feast.

I've been meaning to get stamps for 3 weeks now. I hate going to the post office, but I never remember when I'm at the grocery store. I'm just going to have to suck it up and go to the post office. Some letters can't be delayed any longer.

My husband and I have very different decorating ideas. I think I've mentioned this before. The funny thing is, he has very different tastes from himself. He likes Egyptian and he likes fantasy fairies. They don't go together at ALL. We got a new bookshelf over the weekend (free!). It's very nice looking, so we put it in the living room. He stuffed as many books as possible on three of the shelves. He really wanted to put in the pretty coffee-table picture books we have. That's fine, but then he added some lesson manuals and paper backs that just don't look good. At least, to me. I would rather see a few of the coffee table books placed off to one side of the shelf and some to the other side of the shelf on a different level (if that description makes any sense). Then, the side without books could have a pretty decorative nic-nac, sculpture or framed picture. On the top shelf he has left me some space for my bells. He would like me to cram as many bells as I can on the shelf. Instead I choose 10 of various sizes and arranged them artfully. A small row of metal bells on the front row - two are from India and one is from Korea. Then a row of medium sized bells and in the back a row of taller, larger bells. I won't be sticking any more on the shelf now, but it gives me the freedom to rotate bells throughout the year. I totally forgot I have some Christmas bells that I haven't seen in 15 or so years (since I packed them up when I moved out of my parents home). It will be fun to display them this coming Christmas season!

No point to the shelf thing. It's just a funny observation I've made about the way my Hubby and I decorate. Maybe I'll take a picture of the shelf so you can see what I'm talking about. I'd love to hear with others have to say.

Ring Tone Psychology

While recently sitting at a dinner with a lot of people I didn't know, most everyone at the table got a cell phone sometime during the evening. I had an opportunity to observe the people and hear each of their ring tones. I realized that a person's ring tone is a glimpse into their personalities.

My ring tone is Peruvian music. Why did I choose it? I know that for me personally, I picked it because it is unique and easy for me to hear among other noises. A stranger might think I choose foreign music because it's my culture or a culture that has special meaning to me. While Peru and it's music have no special hold on me other than I like it, I am a fan of cultural folk music. I'm not sure what that says about me, though.

My husband's ring tone is a Pep Shop Boys song. He likes the Pet Shop Boys. He likes 80's music. I guess he is an 80's punk at heart.

One gentleman's tone, who was at the dinner table with us, had an old fashioned telephone ring. He is a traditionalist. After pointing out this observation to Hubby, he told me, the gentleman at the table was talking about how much he missed the old ways of life. My observation was correct. He likes tradition, but since being forced into a modern world of cell phones, he choose to make his ring tone a tradition telephone ring.

Another gentleman's ring at the table was a disco song. It's funny to look at him because he had a neat military hair cut, a white shirt and conservative tie. Have you ever seen the movie Hoodwinked? It's a great family flick. One of the characters is named Nicky Flippers, who is a respectable detective. At one point during the movie, you get a 3 second glimpse into Nicky's past and he is doing John Travolta disco moves on a disco floor. I think this gentleman is probably like Nicky Flippers, a respectable, conservative man with a disco past. He hasn't forgotten his disco years, but his professional life requires a very different demeanor. He has found his ring tone to be a personal way of keeping in touch with that inner John Travolta.

Then, there are those, like my mom, who kept the ring tone that came with the phone. She never changed it or personalized it in anyway. These are no frills people. They don't need anything fancy or fun. Just the basic. Let stick to business, people! You know the kind.

So, what kind of ring tone do you have? What psychology is revealed about you when your cell phone rings?

It's Summer!

It's summer vacation here! Today was the last day of school. This year went by fast and my daughter is now a 1st grader. It's hard to believe. She had such a fantastic year. Now she has decided she wants to learn cursive. I showed her how to write her name in cursive and now she is a pro at it. She can copy just about any thing I write in cursive. She is already better at it than my middle schooler.

Tomorrow we will have our annual Monkees Marathon! We love kicking off our summer by watching the old Monkees TV show on DVD. I can't wait.

It's time to make the summer chore chart. You know the kids are excited about that.

There isn't much time off before the summer activities really begin. Lots of scout camps and such.

I haven't done any weaving in about 3 weeks. So, I'm starting that again. I need a project. Anyone have a project idea? I'm thinking of weaving some shaws or wraps to take to church. It's often cold and while I like the cool rooms, some poor ladies shiver their way through church. I thought it would be fun to make some wraps and whenever one of the ladies gets cold, she can grab a shaw and keep warm. I just need to decide on what threads I want to use for that project.

There has been so much going on to blog about - funny little things the kids are up too, but I can't think of any right now. Oh well.

One thing I'm really going to have to work on this summer is keeping up with the really good exercise program I've started. It could be so easy to get out of the habit.

getting ready to walk

I feel good when I'm out walking and even though I'm tired when I get home, I feel good knowing I did something good for my body.

However, today, I'm having a hard time getting myself ready to head out the door.

Come on, Molly... just put on the shoes!

YOU CAN DO IT!

bathroom ideas

I've mentioned that I recently toured a parade of homes. I love looking at homes. I've enjoyed looking at house plans since I was 12 or 13 years old. I would get graph paper and draw out floor plans. I even had the idea of becoming an architect just so I could professionally design house plans. I still enjoy designing house plans, but now I do it on the game The Sims.

Then, on Sunday I got to thinking about house plans and bathrooms. In a typical 3-4 bedroom house, the master bedroom has a master bath. In some homes (like the nice ones I saw on the tour of homes), the master bathroom is very large and has all the luxuries a bathroom could offer - whirlpool tub, large shower with two shower heads, the commode in its own little room with a door, double sink.... you get the idea.

The other three bedrooms are expected to share a smaller bathroom that usually has a tub/shower combo, a commode and one sink.

WHY?

I must say, most of our family's bathroom time is spent in the master bathroom of this house. It is quite large. The tub, while normal sized and plain, is separate from the shower. The commode is in it's own little room and there is lots of counter space for hair stuff, and everything else that goes on a bathroom counter. The shower is large enough for several small children. It is a nice, spacious bathroom. It is where my two youngest bathe. It is where we are potty training Peanut.

I was wondering, why isn't this the other way around? I wish it was the kids bathroom that was the larger one. If three bedrooms and their occupants are expected to share one bathroom, the ideal bathroom would be the large one.

The tub area must be large enough for me to put a chair in. Sitting on a chair, looking at a magazine while my kids take a bath is much more pleasant that sitting on a closed toilet seat while they bathe.

Well, if I ever get to design a house for us, or have any say in our house design, the main bathroom that is used by all the kids is going to be a big bathroom! That way I can re-claim my bathroom.

snobs

My children are snobs. About certain things that is.

Snob Thing #1 - Hot Dogs
In years past, when we only had two kids, we would always get the cheese dogs. Yum. My second son couldn't get enough of them. Then, one day, this same son decided he no longer liked cheese and hasn't eaten much cheese since.

(I would say never eats cheese, but he does get some when he eats pizza, but he isn't a huge pizza fan and will usually try to pull off the cheese first, but this post isn't about pizza.)

OK, no more cheese dogs. Instead we got regular dogs. Often, I would buy the cheap ones on sale. The kids were happy to eat these. My husband was the first hot dog snob. He didn't like the cheap ones. He started buying beef franks. These are very yummy, but very expensive. My kids loved them.

Now when we have hot dogs, the first thing I hear is, "Are these cheese dogs?"
"No"
"Are these beef dogs?"
If I say no, they are regular dogs, they groan and complain how they only like beef dogs.

Hot Dog Snobs.

Snob Thing #2 - books
My oldest son didn't want to read for years. Nothing we presented to him would he read. Often he would see books and tell us he wanted to read them, so we would get them for him and he wouldn't read these either. Then suddenly, he began reading! Reading like there was no tomorrow. He will read through thick novels in 48 hours (which is hard to do when you are in school for 16 of those hours, and sleeping another 12 - 16 of the hours.) We were so happy to have him read!

Hubby would buy most of the books for him. Well, that can get expensive, especially when then are new and in hard back. So I suggested to my son that we get books from the library. They are free and if he doesn't like them, we've lost nothing. I also suggested that we check out book sites on the Internet where you can buy a book for $3-5 (includes shipping). He didn't like either of these ideas. He claims that second hand books are usually beat up and have pages missing. I've never gotten a book from a library that was missing pages. Sure, books from those types of establishments tend to have some wear, but not to the point that you can't read them.

He is just being a snob and wants a fresh, crisp, new book that he is the first to open. Once he is done, they tend to be a bit beat up. Especially if he puts them in his back pack when he goes to school. Books are expensive and he is ready to spend his own money, but the problem is, he doesn't make enough babysitting to buy new books as often as he would like to.

Book Snob.

pens and paper

I think there are a lot of us out there.

I love a good pen!

My favorite pens are smooth flowing gel pens. Once in a while at the dollar store, I can find a pack of two gel pens for $1. I usually buy three. Then I hide them throughout the house. I don't want my kids to get a hold of them!

I also love a book with blank pages. Imagine all the possibilities that await in a blank book. What stories can be told. What crazy ideas can be thought up? What memories can be recorded? What pictures can be drawn or doodled? (I don't draw. Not because I don't like it, but because I can't.)

I love to hold a book of blank pages and a nice gel pen. There is a feeling of creativity and mystery. Yeah, I know. It's weird.

What did he learn?

My middle school experience has been quite different from my son's first year in middle school. It's probably been better in someways, but there have been a lot of things I really don't like in their methods.

There is 2 weeks of school left - 8 1/2 days.

While chatting with my son this morning, I asked him if the teachers were busy doing reviews for final exams, remembering how when I was in school the last two weeks were spent finishing the final chapter of work for the year, going over study sheets and reviews for the big exam that would happen the last two or three days of school. He said no, they have already taken most of their end of year tests.

WHAT?

When did you study for these? I don't think he did. What are you doing in school these last two weeks since you've already done your finals?

Well, in English, they are walking laps around the football field, reading the book Holes and they will be watching the movie soon.

In math they are doing fun math projects. (What did you learn in 6th grade math? My son still has a hard time with fractions, decimals, and basic multiplication and division since they did very little of this.)

In science they are creating creatures that might be found on other planets in the solar system.

Anything else he told me about school, I didn't hear. I was too dumbfounded plus my son mumbles a lot and it is hard for me and my bad ears to understand.

I think only in Orchestra is he still doing anything productive. Tonight is their final concert, but I know music teachers will keep their kids playing until the last day.

This year, I only saw him do homework a couple of times. He had a science project, and a social studies project (that he didn't tell us about until the night before), and he did lots of free time reading in books of his choice. I don't think there is anything wrong with letting the kids choose their books for free time, I wish my teachers had let us choose more often, but not requiring them to read any of the classics is odd. He didn't study for tests, didn't have mid-terms that I know of and if he did, he didn't study for them. Like he didn't study for his finals.

Really, I'm just amazed at what I've seen this year. I know it isn't the teacher's fault. They must teach to the majority and the majority here doesn't speak English as a first language. Well, home school is looking more desirable each day. I say that until this summer is coming to an end and I will be wanting them to go back to school.

Light at the end of the diaper tunnel

I've had kids in diapers for almost 12 years. That's a long time. My youngest is beginning her potty training adventure. I don't have a method to the potty training madness, but I've managed to successfully potty train 4 children, although the verdict is still out on my 4 year old who wets his beds most nights.

We might have months of training ahead of us with Peanut, but it has begun. It's nice to think that by the end of this year I will be diaper free. I hope it happens long before the end of the year, but by 2011, I will not be toting diapers in my purse anymore.

It's the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. In 2011 I will enter the world of teenagers.

Being nervous of the future and comfortable with the past, I think I would rather deal with the diapers than the teenager. As hard as I try, though, I can't ignore the fact that my almost 12 year old is almost as tall as I am. He is growing up and I must put the days of diapers behind me.

Well, teen or no teen, I'm almost done with diapers! Now that is a milestone worth celebrating!

Busy to do list

There is a million things going on. Some of them are fun, some of them are chores and some are just things that need to get done.

I need to write a to do list!
TO DO Today:

*stretching video
*shower - VERY important
*clean kitchen
*wash kitchen floor
*get end of year presents for teachers (can wait until tomorrow if I run out of time today)
*write my "statement of purpose" for grad school application (I've been putting that one off for a month)
*call grad school to ask a question about the application (also been putting off for a few weeks)
*take Tiki to appointment
*pick up kids and take them to various places
*laundry
*pick up milk and a few other grocery items (can wait until tomorrow if I run out of time today)
*mail letter of recommendation info to a couple of people
*mail brother's b-day card. His birthday is past, but I didn't have his address until yesterday.
*write in future activities on calendar, so as not to forget them
*plan our annual Monkee Mania day to be held within 5 days of school getting out for the summer!
-This year we will include Monkee related foods, like cream of root beer.
*plan menu for rest of the week. I'm tired of searching through the fridge/pantry at 5:00 and saying, if I had thought of this sooner, I could have started something yummy in the crock pot.
*start the crock pot

If I manage to get a lot done on my list, perhaps there will be time for writing or weaving.

Well, it looks like a busy day. First things first, I'll do my stretching video (my legs feel cramped this morning) and then shower. We'll figure out what's next in priority list after the shower.

New banner and badges

Do you like my new title and badge on the side? Do you?

I made them myself. My husband has taught me some basics on Photoshop and last week I went a little crazy and made a bunch of badges.

I think they look pretty good. Hubby was good to help me. I'm usually embarrassed to do my projects with his help. He makes really amazing products with the program and mine are flowery and girly and not very impressive. Still, he was very good to help me and was very enthusiastic with my efforts, even if they are girly.

Oldest son

My oldest son turns 12 soon. It's hard to believe.

We reached a major parent/kid milestone recently. My oldest son received his first cell phone.

It's just a basic phone with minutes on it. It doesn't have a camera or texting capabilities. It is to be used when his schedule changes at school, like when he plans to stay after school to do some music practice and then the teacher can't be there. He can call me and I will pick him up rather than him waiting for 45 minutes or so.

He has been very responsible so far. It's handy to ask him when we leave or he leaves, "do you have your cell phone?"

Still, it was strange to buy and hand over a cell phone to one of my children. It's a modern day milestone.

First video!

My son, the singing blockhead.

He is so funny.

(OK, I'm not sure what this second box is about, but it doesn't do anything. Just watch the video and laugh.)

Blockhead

My oldest son.

I'm so proud.

Sense of style

My 6 year old daughter has style. She has always loved clothes and wearing whatever makes her feel beautiful.

When she was 2, she loved frilly dresses. She wore her prettiest, frilliest dresses everywhere. We would go to the grocery store and people would ask if we just had her picture done and I would have to explain, no, she just loves to dress her best. Someone else said she would never let her daughter wear her best dresses everyday. My thought was, if she wear them only on Sundays, they won't get much use before she grows out of them. I knew that one day she would grow out of that stage and there might even be a day when I have to fight her just to get into a dress. Plus, she just looked so gosh-darn cute in all those frilly dresses.

Now, she is 6. She is in school, she can read and is educated. She still loves to wear pretty dresses, but not everyday. Her style is quite different. It's more hip now than frilly. This morning she came out in an unusual outfit. She had on a long sleeve, pink leopard print shirt and a hot pink short sleeve shirt on top of the leopard print. The pinks worked well together and the print under a solid was cute. Then, she had on a pair of long pants with pink hearts and on top of that was a turquoise blue skirt. It didn't work. The pants with the hearts on them were a different shade of pink, plus the hearts and the leopard print just don't work together. I kind of liked the turquoise skirt. It really popped out among all that pink.

I suggested that she take off the long pants and wear the two shirts with the blue skirt or take off the leopard print shirt and just wear the hot pink shirt with the pants and skirt. She didn't like either suggestion and was quite upset with me to telling her to change.

What did she end up doing? She removed both the pants and the skirt and put on a pair of black pants instead.
It looked good.

At this point we were running short on time. I asked her to get her socks and shoes on. The socks she put on were yellow. They didn't match at all, but I'm not going to battle sock color when her long pants and tennis shoes cover most of the socks anyway. It wasn't worth our time or energy to coordinate socks.

18 school days left!

It works out to 3 1/2 weeks left until school is out, but it is 18 school days. Well, 17 now, today is done.

My kids are very excited. I love my kids and I always look forward to when school gets out, but this year, I'm not so much. When my kids are home, my second son starts asking to play on the computer as soon as he is done with breakfast. When I tell him no, go play for a while, and he will return about 15 minutes later telling me he has played and can he play computer now.

The thing is, when he is not on the computer, he and his older brother are picking on each other, sword fighting and running through the house. They tend to hurt each other, the smaller kids and either destroy the house or break something. It's easier and quieter to let them play computer.

Then, I always regret it. Their eyes turn red from playing too much and they get really moody.

It's always such a battle. We don't have a yard for them to play in and any swimming costs money. Well, I guess I'll be setting up the chore chart again.

Still, we do have fun in the summer time. I'm going to plan a Monkees Mania day. I love the Monkees (the old TV show) and we don't watch the show during the other seasons, just summer. I think this year I'll plan some tasty Monkees related treats to go with our marathon. I'll have to think of other fun things we can do to go along with the day. It will be fun.

Parade of Homes

I LOVE going to a parade of homes. I love seeing the houses, the styles, the millions of details and ideas that I had never thought of before.

I think we saw 19 or 20 of the homes in the showcase, plus a few others that were just opened. Some I saw and didn't like much. Some had wonderful ideas and parts that I liked, and a few were just so wonderful I kept wondering if there were any way we could arrange to buy it. (Not really, but I loved them that much.)

One home had only 2 bedrooms, but everything else about the house was amazing! Especially the outdoor spaces. It had a jacuzzi and a miniature putt-putt space. Fabulous!

Another home had a beautiful view and was at the foot of the mountains. Oh how I would love a view of the mountains like that one had. It had a pantry that opened out into the garage. Isn't that the smartest idea? After going to the store, you just pull your car into the garage and load all the groceries right into the pantry! This home also had a sitting room off the master bedroom with a large window that looked out to the mountains. It would be perfect for my loom.

We saw another home for sale, but it wasn't open to view. We picked up it's flier. It was HUGE! It had a 11 car garage. Can you imagine? Eleven car garage! We decided that if we could afford to buy that home (no way since it was $1.25 million), we would dig up the floor in a part of the garage and put in an indoor pool! Then on hot days, you could swim in the pool and not worry about sunburns, but you could also open up the garage doors to let light and breeze in.

I love touring luxury homes!

Been meaning to post....

There is always something going on.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and they were having a trivia contest. The lady contestant got the first question: the TV commercial "Don't squeeze the ____". She got it correct, Charmin. Obviously she watches TV, but I remember that commercial from many years ago.

Her second question was "What is the body of water that washes up on the east side of Florida?"

Umm, umm, I don't understand what you mean by body of water. The Pacific?

BEEEEP!

Nope lady. The DJ's were very nice about it and said sorry and gave her a complementary prize. I was thinking, Lady! Turn off the TV and spend some time looking at a map of your own country.

Then, last night, Hubby was telling me a story. He went to El Paso (Texas) for the day to work. He and a co-worker stopped at a nearby fast food place. While they were eating, a soldier came in and called to the general group, "Who has the black BMW with foreign licence plates?" No one answered. He called it out again to the group. No one answered. Finally a worker went out with the soldier and they figured out what was going on. He had bumped a black BMW with New Mexico plates. He is 30 minutes from the border of Texas and New Mexico, but he thought New Mexico was a foreign country.

That isn't the first time we've had that happen. Our bank called us a number of months ago and was explaining they were having a hard time cashing a check of ours because she thought it was from outside the United States. I had to patiently explain that I live in New Mexico and it is one of the 50 states of the USA. DA DING! Problem solved.

People, let's turn off the TV.

Priorities vs. Dreams

Today, a talk mentioned priorities. I wish I could remember more about what was being said. Kids distract me so much that I only get to hear bits and pieces of anything that is ever said.

But whatever was said, got me thinking about priorities vs. passions. (Passions being what I would like to accomplish most, my dreams.) Are my dreams of weaving quality things and publishing a book really good things to be working on? They are not high on what my priorities should be. Really, as a mom, my kids and my home are my priority. Everything I do really should be directed towards my home and family. Anything else is taking away from these priorities.

I guess my priorities have been wrong. I should not work on my dreams because priorities are higher than passions. Instead, I need to be better at teaching my 4 year old his ABCs and counting. I need to be better at playing and reading with my daughter. I need to find out why my smart son is making bad grades (maybe his grades are poor because my priorites have not been right.) I need be caring for and cleaning my house better. I need to be preparing better meals. Anything not related to family and home are not important, right? That is what I was told today.

This makes me sad, though. While I love my children and I try hard to clean my home, I have dreams. But, these dreams should not be allowed to happen. Molly should not exists as anything but a mom/wife and homemaker.

Isn't this right? It is what I'm taught. No one has to answer this. I don't expect it to be answered. I'm just taking a thought I had today and writing it out. It was poorly written as I can't get my thoughts and feelings into the best words and phrases, but writing helps it all out helps a bit.

Mischief

I took two of my kids to the doctor the other day. I also had the two youngest ones along with me.

The nurse took a look at Peanut and said, "She looks like she's a handful."

"Yeah," I replied, "she is."

"She has mischief written all over her face," the nurse went on, "it's something in those deep brown eyes."

I laughed. She hit the nail right on the head with Peanut.

Yesterday vs. Today

Yesterday I was mad.

Today I'm not.

It's better to be like today. (Happy Face)

The Passion Test

I picked up an interesting book a week or so ago at the library. It is called The Passion Test. It helps you to find your dreams and turn them into realities by setting up a plan. I've read the first few chapters and it has the rusty gears in my mind turning.

According to the book, the first thing you do is make a list of the 10 things you really want to do with your life. Then through a process explained in the book, you figure out which dream is highest on your list. The book talks about what you spend your most time doing is what you are going to succeed in. Is what you are doing the most related to that number one dream? If not, you will not realize your dream.

So, this is where I am. I did this test (although, at the moment I could only come up with seven dreams). Some of them were far out and at this time can not be accomplished, like running a bed and breakfast. I would love to do that, but at this time of my life, it can't be done and it isn't very high on my dream list.

My top two dreams are: 1. Get a book published, 2. Weave things of high quality to be displayed or sold.

So what am I doing? Nothing really. I weave when I can, but I could make more time if I planned my day better. I did sent out a couple of query letters to publishers about my book, but nothing since December. I'm not working hard to make either of my dreams come true. Last night, I bounced my thoughts of Hubby (he is so good to listen to his crazy wife and her crazy ideas.) I need my book edited. I can't do that myself. I have made a plan of finding an editor. I can send out more query letters. I'm going to take a basic weaving class this summer. Sure, I can weave, but I'm not efficient and I have tons of problems when I'm threading the loom and getting it ready to weave. I spend about a week from start to finish just threading my loom. I need a professional to teach me the best way to do these tricky things.

If I can do those things, I'll be on my way to making my dreams become realities. Those are simply step one. There will be many more things to do, but sometimes the hardest part is getting started. I'm going to get started on these dreams.

Finished tartan

I had to share my finished weaving project. It's beautiful and I'm so excited about it. It's more than 6 feet long and a little more than two feet wide.I've got enough thread on the loom to make another one the same length or several smaller ones.

the missing cell phone

It's not mine this time! Usually I'm the one to loose things, but this time, it's Hubby's cell phone that is missing. It went missing on Sunday. We haven't found it yet.

We had our oldest son clean his room. He will do anything to get out of that. One thing I don't understand - when you have a trash can in your room, why do you throw peanut shells, used Kleenex, and candy wrappers all over the floor?

I cleaned the other boy's room yesterday. It was a major undertaking, but it was good to do. The room is fairly organized, but still no phone. You wouldn't believe the amount of sand I swept up off the floor in that room.

I'll work on my daughter's room today.

What a weekend

You might remember I posted a blog entry after last Easter about my children fighting while searching for eggs. The older ones would run and grab them all before the little ones could get any. This year was different. Thank goodness. My youngest, who is now two years old, really got the idea of egg hunting this year. She loved it. My oldest wasn't quite into the egg hunt as he has been in years past. It's good that he is growing up, but kind of sad at the same time. I want him to grow up, but I don't want him to grow up.

My 2 year old had fun on her birthday. She really liked opening the presents.

The older daughter got a jump rope for Easter yesterday. She jumped roped most of the day. Her face was red and by the end of the day she was hot, sweaty, tired and easy to upset (because she was so tired). I put her in the shower and got her cleaned and ready to sleep. When we gathered for our night prayer, she was jumping rope again. She really improved. When she started at the beginning of the day, she could hardly jump four times in a row. By the end of the day, we watched her get up to 71 jumps. I wish I had her energy. My jump record for the day was 16. Nothing to brag about. What was funny was when Peanut wanted to jump rope. She would hold both ends of the rope and she would jump up and down (while the rope lay still on the ground). She was so pleased and we cheered her on.

What a fun weekend.

Happy Easter!

Check out my weaving blog to see my latest project. It's looking good!

Inkle and Weave

Happy Easter, everyone.

Peanut is TWO!

I can't believe my little Peanut is two years old.

This year has gone by quickly and we had many adventures and misadventures with Peanut.

She had learned to speak, pretty well for a two year old. I love to hear the things she has to say. She loves to talk on the phone and when she does, it's about her siblings.

She is the creator of many of the biggest messes in the house. She is the ring leader of all the messes made by her and her brother.

She loves the Muppet's and watching the old Muppet Show.

She loves to push her babies around in their baby stroller. She gets frustrated when it gets stuck somewhere and she can't move it.

She loves to be outside and this is sad when we have no yard for her to play in. When I take her to the playground, she loves to climb all over the set and go down the slides.

She has a fantastic laugh. You hear it the most when her siblings are being silly and falling to the floor. She loves that.

She loves to have her picture taken. Right now she makes this weird face when she sees the camera. I guess she thinks she is posing, but it's not flattering.

She still screams and throws a lot of tantrums. She can be frustrating, but she is sweet and funny and I'm happy Peanut is Peanut and two years old.

Nails

Yesterday my six year old daughter asked me to paint her nails. The almost 2 year old saw this and wanted her nails done too. I figured since we were on a roll, I would do mine too. I don't usually do my nails. Personally, I think fingernails are unattractive and I don't like bringing attention to them. Today I've been self-conscious, thinking that everyone is just staring at my nails and thinking, "wow, that's ugly."

Have you ever really thought about fingernails? Aren't they odd things? And yet, we put paint on them to bring attention to them? I don't get it and I'll probably take the pink polish off my nails soon. My daughters look adorable, though. A little pink nail polish on little girls can look so cute. I'll let them look cute. It's not working for me.

Venting

So, I've started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

(OK, I'm not really reading it, I'm listening to an audio book. Who has time to sit and read anymore?)

I'm only about four chapters in and I'm really loving some parts of it. I think some of the author's goals could work for me and would be great for me to try. Other ideas and goals she sets for herself wouldn't work at all for me. It's got me thinking, though.

One of the goals Gretchen has was to spend a certain amount of time, like a week or a month, and not dump all her problems on her husband. I must raise my hand at being extremely guilty about this. My poor Hubby. He has to listen to me vent all my frustrations on him. Some days there is very little to vent. Other days, like today, I have a lot more to say. The kids were being destructive, I had to deal with a stupid "customer service" person on the phone, etc.... He is pretty good about just letting me vent, but I still feel bad about it.

Maybe I need to set a goal like Gretchen's. I need to go one week without dumping my frustrations on my husband. I can write them in a notebook when I need to vent. I need to try and tell him about the good and the funny things that happen. One week, how bad can it be?

green vs. brown

We had a fun spring break. I love the area my parents live in. It's green, it's slightly hilly, there are trees and lots of cattle. I go there and I never want to leave. They have a wonderful view. When you look out their door, you see a big field with a house in the background and a large pond in the middle of the field. In the early mornings, the sky is pink and purple and a morning fog hangs over the pond and fields. It's so peaceful and pretty. The new spring grass was almost lime green it was so beautiful and new.

I never knew cows were so talkative, but they are. One day, it wasn't too hot or too cold. The weather was just right that day and those cows must have felt good because they chatted up a storm.

I come home and I'm sad. It's so brown and everywhere you look is dead scrub brush and rocks. I've warned my husband, one day I'm going to go visit my family and never return. Why leave beautiful lush green, ponds and trees for tumbleweeds and brown rocks? Well, I guess my hubby is worth it. ;)

(Don't mind me... just having some fun with color.)

Spring Break

It's that wonderful time of year again, spring break. This year we are headed to east Texas to see family and friends. It will be lots of fun.

Check out my weaving blog and see my latest project. I'm quite proud of it.
Inkle and Weave

Crying

The entire neighborhood probably thinks I'm terrible to my one year old. She cries every time we walk out the door. Sometimes it is just because she doesn't want to leave what she was doing. Sometimes there is no reason at all.

I've been to the library twice in two days. I had her with me both times. She cried and yelled through the trip. I was in and out of that library as fast as I could go, but I got a lot of disapproving looks.

When we go to a store, she cries because she wants to walk. She cries because she wants something and I make her put it back. She cries because she wants to go down one aisle and I want to go down another.

Well, if you see me and Peanut in the neighborhood, the store, or the library, and Peanut is crying, just know that I'm not mean to her. She is almost two years old and I'm a frazzled mom of an almost two year old.

If she would stop crying, you would see that she has a pretty smile.

Boo! Got you.

There is a never ended quest between my two oldest kids, my husband and myself to try and scare each other.

Several months ago, my 2nd son was hiding out in a room from his brother. He kept opening the door and peeking out. I quietly walked up to the door, got my face right in the door, so when my son opened the door ever so slightly, I yelled "boo!" and boy did he jump. It was so funny. We all laughed pretty hard.

I guess that same son got my husband good by hiding behind his bed and jumping out at him.

You get the idea.

I was just now in my daughter's room saying good night. I gave her a kiss and backed up towards the door while blowing a kiss her way. As I turned around, there was my 2nd son, yelling "boo!" and scaring me.

He and I had a good laugh as we headed back to his room. I had just tucked him in and I thought he was in bed. Sneaky little boy.

Don't squash "Booleh"

"Booleh" is the made up language of my 6 year old daughter. I don't know if that is how it is spelled, but it is the closest phonetic spelling I can come up.

One day my daughter came home from school and started speaking sentences in some strange language. I asked her if she was learning Spanish at school. No, she informs me, it's Booleh.

Once in a while she will come up to me and say something like, "Do you know how to say 'dinner' in Booleh?"

Nope

"It's fretoh" (Roll the 'r')

It can get pretty annoying when she is constantly telling me these words she made up. I can't squash her enthusiasm, though. What if Mrs. Tolkien had told her young son to stop all his made up language nonsense. Lord of the Rings could never have been what it became without those fabulous languages that he created.

Who knows where Booleh might lead us!

Mess of a cake

I suppose it's my fault. It's time to make a change.

Last night, I went out for an hour alone, to write in my journal. I love my journal time, but I only get it maybe once a month. Anyway, last night we had nothing going and I headed out.

When I got home, my oldest son ran out to the drive way to meet me. I asked him how everything was going.

He answered, "It depends on who you ask."

Uh Oh, do I want to hear this?

"When you bake a cake," he begins, "and you use two boxes of cake mix, and you only put in enough eggs for one box, does it make a big difference in how the cake turns out?"

Yes, it does.

I go into the house. The smell of cake is in the air. Hubby is on the phone with his family and working on my computer at the same time. I peek into the kitchen and my second son has a towel and is mopping up the floor. I assume one of the kids spilled some water. Slowly, I begin to find out what was going on during that hour I was away.

Hubby told the boys they could bake a cake. They've never done this on their own, but they are 11 and 9 years old, smart, and they know how to read. Hubby assumed the boys could follow the directions on the cake box well enough. Well, it seems, they couldn't find a cake pan, so they used the bundt cake pan. The mix only filled up a fourth of the pan, so they decided to add another cake. It seems they forgot to put in the eggs for the second cake. They added green food coloring to the cake, too. Boys... they love to see foods that aren't normally green turn green.

They also spilled the brand new bottle of oil all over the floor, dumping about half of it out. That's what my son was mopping up. Well, they didn't tell us that is what they did. Hubby went into the kitchen to get something and nearly fell when his tennis shoes hit the oily floor.

To make a long story short (too late) we discovered they boys aren't ready to bake on their own yet. I need to invite them into the kitchen more often and supervise. They need to remember to put in all the ingredients, close bottles when they are done using them, time what they bake, and clean up after themselves! There is a big mess in the kitchen this morning thanks to them.

The green mess of a cake was immediately iced by the boys, so the icing melted on the hot cake. everyone tried it. Amazingly, it was edible. It falls into the "ugly but tasty" category.

We'll try it again sometime soon, but this time, Mom's going to be watching their every move.

Things

Things are moving along like normal.

Peanut is into everything, making huge messes, and generally being a one girl wrecking crew. She is just too cute, though.

My four year old son started preschool. It's run by a friend and there are seven kids in the class. He's really enjoying himself and it's helping us all out at home. He was so bored. He wanted so badly to play with other kids, but we could never get anyone to come over. Now he sees his friends a few times a week, is learning some fun things and just enjoying being out.

My daughter is caught up in a school fund raiser. The fund raiser is, they say, for the American Heart Association. She wants to help the AHA, but we keep trying to tell her that most of the money from the fund raiser won't go to the AHA. She is insisting on putting her own pennies into the envelope. I'm so torn. I want her to help others, but I don't like school fund raisers. So much of the money goes toward the promotional company and all the little prizes they give out. Very little will go to the charity and if any of this is for the school, the charity will have to split what money there is with the school. I would rather donate directly to the school or the charity. I really don't like fund raisers and I hate how they play on the emotions and innocence of kids and then tempt them with prizes. I can get the same prize at the Dollar Tree for a dollar. Anyway, she has defied her Dad and my wishes not to put her own money in the fund raiser and has put her coins into the envelope and sealed it. I don't know what to do.

The older boys are not liking school. Good thing spring break is in two weeks.

I'm dealing with my own personal issues. I'm so tired of cleaning up toys and picking up laundry off the floor. I really hate the way my fingernails feel on these tile floors and yet they are constantly scraping the floor because I'm constantly picking up everything off the floor. We are going to have to move at the end of this year because I won't beable to deal with the feel of the floor anymore. It's really making my skin crawl and yet, there is nothing I can do. Things have to get picked up off the floor and I seem to be the only one in the house willing to do it. Ug, just thinking about my fingernails touching this floor is giving my skin the creepy-crawlies. I'm deffiantly developing a .... ?.... what is it called when you can't stand the way something feels? I'm becoming that way with my house floor.

The almost 2 year old

Peanut will be 2 one month from today. Problem is, she is already 2, or acting like it. During the last couple of weeks she has started throwing major tantrums about anything and everything. Horrible screeching, throwing herself to the ground, kicking legs, and if you try to hold her during one of those tantrums, she will hit you in the face.

This isn't unexpected. As a highly emotional child, I only expect the grandest of performances from her. I think I would be disappointed if her tantrums were little weak things. Still, it makes for difficult times with her.

She wakes up each day and within 5 minutes, she is throwing her first tantrum. It is usually because she wants Daddy to hold her and he has to get dressed for work. The tantrums go on all day long at whatever injustice she sees. Mom won't let her watch Blues Clues for the 3rd time in a hour, she throws a tantrum. Brother is playing with a toy she wants, she throws a tantrum.

The worst of them is the midnight tantrums. She will be sleeping and just wake up for no reason, angry and crying and throwing a tantrum. She hits and kicks and cries and is inconsolable. We don't like the midnight tantrums.

I'm hoping it's a phase. I'm really hoping it's a phase.