Follow your Dream - Run a Marathon!

A very good friend of mine has decided to follow her dream and organize her own half-marathon!  I'm so excited for her.

It is called the Saints and Sinners Half Marathon!

When:  Saturday, October 27, 2012
Where: Boulder City, NV - the course runs along gorgeous Lake Mead
Who:  Anyone and everyone! There will be a Kids Run, a relay, and the entire family is invited to attend.  It's a downhill course, so it's great for those first timers and young runners.

The greatest part of all of this is that 100% of the proceeds go to young LDS men and women who want to serve missions, but don't have the means to do it.  It is a great cause, will be in a beautiful locations, during a nice cool month and will be lots of fun!

Check out the Saints and Sinners Half Marathon website and then like them on their Facebook page!

TV Dad pick

I recently found a blog that shares writing prompts.  I had been looking for things like that for a while.  It isn’t that I’ve run out of ideas, far from it, but sometimes we get stuck in our own circle of thoughts and need to break out of that circle.  This is where the writing prompts come in.

Here is a fun one: “I wanted Mr. Rogers be my dad so I could live in his neighborhood and he could love me just the way I am.” What celebrity Dad would you have picked for yourself as a child?

I think Bill Cosby would have been a fun dad.  I would have stood out in a most odd way in his home, though. 

There are so many great TV dads: Ward Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver), Steven Keaton (Family Ties), Dr. Seaver (Growing Pains)….. 

Still, if I had to choose, I think I would pick Dick Van Dyke.  Who wouldn’t want to live in that great house with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore?  Have dinner with Rose Marie…  Yep, I think that would be my pick of a TV dad.

the "ee" names

Back from a spring break trip with the kids.  We had a great time and are very thankful to Gran for having us stay with her. 

I read something fun the other day on another blog.  The question was asked, if you could change your name, what would it be?

This is a fun question for me as I love names.

When I was a kid, I wanted to change my name to Sally.  I thought it was a beautiful name.  I'm not sure where I came up with that, but it is what I wanted.

Now, I think Sally is a nice name.  It is one that has quite gone out of style and it isn't looking like it will come back anytime soon.

Sally had it's peak in the 30's and early 40's.  It has steadily declined and last appeared in the top 1000 names back in 2004.  Yep, over 1000 names that people would rather give than Sally.  Sally is a pet name for the name Sarah.  It's a good old name that really needs to be revived, in my opinion.  Names tend to go in cycles.  It was a hundred years ago that names like Ava and Oliva were really popular.  Perhaps in about 25 years, Sally will get what she deserves and she will make a come back. 

I feel the same way about Maggie and Peggy.  I love those names.  Peggy, like Sally, peaked in the 30s and currently isn't in the top 1000.  Maggie's peak was back in the 1880s (or about there).  However, Maggie never really disappeared and currently is in the top 300 names.  Good for Maggie!

I guess I like Sally, Maggie and Peggy because they are similar in sound to my own name.  I don't know what I'd call myself if I could change my name.  My name suits me and I like it.

Hardest words for a 4 year old to say

Slinky, Squinky, Twinky

They rhyme and they are very hard for a four year old to say.

Happy birthday Doris!

Today is my favorite actress' birthday, Doris Day!!!

She is absolutly beautiful and incredibly funny.  Her movies are some of my favorites.  Enjoy a funny clip called Doris Day is Mad!

The Absent-Minded Moment

Last night I went into the bathroom to wash my face.  I picked up the little cotton ball, opened the cleansing liquid, and soaked the cotton ball.  I began to wash my face and whoo! my face was stinging.

I really didn't think about that.  Obviously my mind was elsewhere not to be concerned with the amount of stinging my face was feeling.

I looked at the cotton ball.  It was dirty.  I put the lid back onto the cleanser and at that moment did I realize what I had just cleaned my face with - nail polish remover!

No wonder the make-up came off so entirely and my face was stinging.

An absent-minded moment if ever there was one.

Happy birthday to blogging!

I just realized that May 26 was the 6th birthday of Random Thoughts! 

I've done over 600 posts.

I've had a lot to say over the years.

Well, blog, happy birthday and may we have many years of fun ahead of us.

Pictures of the local vegitation

Pictures!!

The spiral!

It's my herb garden.  I had an entirely different idea of what it should look like, but the kind of materials to build what I wanted would get expensive.  Still, I like the look of the spiral and hopefully, it will look very nice when things start to grow.  So far, I've planted peppermint, spearmint, lemon mint, borage, basil and mullein.  I've got a few others that I'll be planting when the local temps gets a bit warmer.  It will be awesome!  The lemon mint has begun to sprout.

Some of the local blooms.  The last two weeks were filled with trees that looked like this.  White blooms everywhere.  Now these trees are filled with green leaves.

I took this picture while driving a nearby neighborhood.  I'm sure the owner of the house thought I was crazy. 

I know this is hard to see, but to the right, next to my van mirror, there are tulips of all colors blooming.  They are so beautiful.  I couldn't get a better picture, because once again, I was driving and there was a car behind me.

The peas growing in the garden.

OK, like I've said, I'm not a photographer.  In fact, our camera needs it's battery recharged, but I can't find the recharger.  Things are still getting moved around and situated in the house.  It takes time to get the furniture just right.  I know where the recharger was, but I moved it because I needed to put a piece of furniture in front on the plug.  I remember thinking to myself that I need to put this recharger somewhere obvious so I can find it again.  I guess I didn't follow my own advice well.

The search is on!

local entertainment

This week my hair has been frizzy!  What is going on?  Oh yes, I've moved back into the world of humidity. 

If I could create my perfect world, there would be green trees, grass, flowers, tall mountains and thunderstorms.  All the while maintaining the dry arid air of the desert.  My skin, hair, and senses would be so happy.

This area that I live in is very wooded.  The trees are starting to produce white flowers and green leaves!!!!  There is a lot of wildlife for being the middle of a large city.  There are deer, squirrels, and birds galore: cardinals, blue jays, wood peckers, robins and turkey vultures. (Turkey vultures are huge!)

I've also seen foxes, chipmunks,  possums and even a wood chuck!  I had never seen a wood chuck before.  At first I thought it was a beaver, but that didn't make sense for the area I saw it in.  So maybe it was a groundhog.  Then, my husband saw it and identified it as a wood chuck.  Very cool!

Road kill is plenty here.  The only way I know possums live in the area is that I've seen them as road kill (a lot.)  In one spot a couple of weeks ago, which we drive past everyday, a deer got hit and was dead along the side of the road.  It never got moved.  I don't know who moves dead animals off the road, but this poor creature was left.  It is still there, at least, what is left of it.  It has been interesting (in a gross morbid way) to watch it decompose. 

Thank goodness there are beautiful flowers and trees to watch bloom.  The world is becoming green again.  Flowers and roadkill.  Local entertainment at its best.

Pictures to come (of flowers, not roadkill) if I can get my camera to cooperate.

Radio DJ

When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time in the family van.  Mom had a favorite radio station and we all were big fans of the morning program.  Ron and Suzy discussed traffic, weather, celebrity news, local news, and played all the popular songs like Uptown Girl.

I had a tape player.  This is obviously pre-CDs.  I also had a record player.  I loved tape recording myself on my tape player.  I would chat or sing or make up stories.  I started doing radio programs just like the morning shows.  Along with news and weather, I could do interviews.  I would ask the questions and in a deeper voice, answer the questions.  Thanks to the record player in my room, I could even have music on my radio program.  I did my own commercials.  It was so much fun.

My brother did his own radio program on my tapes and his were the best. Once he did a radio program on our Dad's little hand held tape player.  The best part of this was that it could be played at double speed.  I loved listening to my brother talking at double speed. It was double funny.

Part of me wishes that I had a tape recorder and I could do my own radio shows again.  The question is now, would I have the imagination to do it?  Could I chat about this, that or whatever without feeling silly?  Or would I just sound like some boring old adult?

My Mom, sister and I have talked over the years.  We think we could create a really great show.  Cooking, cleaning, child rearing, decorating, and personal opinion pieces.  Yes, we could do it all and it would be pretty dang funny.

Y'all just wait.  Move over Oprah, the T-Ladies are in the house!

Prioritizing my priorities

Hubby and I had a long chat today.  Long chats at home are rare.  Kids don't usually let us have that kind of time.  We talked about priorities in our duties and our personal pursuits.  We each have a long list of things that need to be done and a long list of things we want to get done.  We worry about teaching the kids all they need to know.  Are we succeeding?  Sometimes I think we are doing OK and other times I realize we have much more to teach them.

It is hard to get everything done that we need and want to do.  There is so much to do and only so much time.  Even so, dealing with kids can really break us down emotionally.  Not that the kids are bad, but caring for them and their needs is so wearing that sometimes there is just no energy left to do other things.

It's getting better in many ways as they get older.  I was able to do my theater last summer and I've been doing school this year.  There is still a lot to try and fit into each day and lately, I haven't been good about managing my time.  I work and work, but I don't think I really accomplish anything.  I don't normally like a strict schedule, but I'm thinking for a while I might need to plan my hours so I can try and get as much done with the time I have each day. 

Ironically, I haven't found the time to sit down and write our my daily schedule.  Maybe tomorrow I can schedule in some time to plan the schedule.

I've been busy....

I've been quite busy lately.  It's good to keep busy, but I don't feel like I accomplish much despite my business.

Mostly, I've been doing school work.  I've got a paper due on Monday.  I've spent a lot of time on it during the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, I was checking on my school site and reading the forums that go along with the papers.  Just in the last few days, the professor updated the requirements for the paper.  I had do re-write about half of it!  AHH!  I've asked Hubby to edit it for funky grammar, incomplete ideas and such.  Once he is done with that, I'll be able to pull the rest of the paper together.  I want to turn it in by Saturday.  I need this off my mind.  Also, I've been neglecting the other class completely for two weeks while I try and work on this paper.

Other busy things include the usual, cooking, cleaning, and mounds of laundry.  Why do they want dinner every night???  There is also helping kids with homework, baths, taking kids shopping for clothes and shoes.  Why do they keep growing???  And grocery shopping....  I need to set up some dental appointments for various members of the family, plant the herb garden I've set up.  Oo!  Wait until I show you pictures of what I've done.  It's going to be cool!

NOT my desk, thank goodness, but it is what
I feel like right now.

I've quit writing, quit weaving and the 20 projects I wish to work on are sitting and collecting dust.  The great part about this school program is there is no summer classes and school won't begin again until late September.  I'll have four good months with no school pressure and I'll be able to tackle all those projects.

Today, I took a school work break to work on the house.  I've pretty much ignored the cleaning of the house the last few weeks too.  I mean, I clean everyday, sweep, do dishes, and attempt to get the toys out of the living room.  The kids aren't helping me.  So, today I moved all the furniture, swept good, mopped good, cleaned all the junk that has been collecting on the tiny amount of counter space I have and the two front rooms are starting to look much better.  Now, I just need the kids to help me keep it that way.......

Culture Mash

I recently saw a resturant called "Carlos O'Kelly Mexican Cafe."

Now, to me, that seems like a crazy mix of cultures.  Carlos and Mexican work together.  I would guess O'Kelly is Irish and Cafe is French.

Perhaps a main dish would be Enchiladas with Bouillabaisse and Cabbage?

Corned Beef, Spanish Rice, and Blue Cheese

Foie Gras, Soda Bread and Sopapilla

Potato cakes, Tamales and Pain au chocolat

I just don't think that Mexican/Irish/French mix is really working out.  I think I'll just go to a good ol American burger joint.  French fries anyone?

PS - this is my 601 post. (little jig)

Um... what was I just thinking of?

I have my best blogging ideas when I'm driving but there is no way to write down those ideas.  My brain can't seem to hold a focused thought for more than a second altogether.  I'm constantly thinking of things to tell my husband, look up on the computer, or a blog idea that would be brilliant.  The problem is, by the time I turn around to face my husband or switch the Internet from one page to the next, I've forgotten.  This is how it goes:

Me: (think of great thought)  Honey?

Hubby: Yes?

Me:  Um, I forgot.

Now I'm trying to write a paper for school.  I'm typing away and think of some great sentence or word to describe what it is I'm trying to explain.  And then I forget it.  I sit there, my fingers resting on the home keys and I can't remember the word or the thought I was just about to express. 

It is so very frustrating.  I think I need some Ginko Biloba or what is considered brain food?  Is it swordfish or something like that?  What ever it is, me and my brain need help.

Do you know what today is?  It's Barbie Day! It is also Panic Day.  Really.  Let's combine the two and have Panicking Barbie Day!


"Ah my hair isn't perfect and my shoes don't match!"

Childhood toy - Cabbage Patch Kids

Sometime back in the early 80's ('83? '84?) on my sister's birthday, my sister and I each got our first Cabbage Patch Kid.  Mine had brown hair, blue eyes and freckles.  She was adorable, but came with the unfortunate name, Eleanora Dolores.  I changed her name to Ellie.  I love Ellie.  She and I had many days of fun, parties, chats, and such.  Over the years, I added to my little family.  In the end, I was a Cabbage Patch mom of six.

Ellie Lynn, Peggy Mae, Libby Audrey, Tom Ruben, John Richard and Clayton David

She looks just like my
sweet little Ellie did.

Even at a young age, I loved names and their names were picked with a great deal of thought and search through name books.

Peggy came to me with the name Peg Ruth.  She was a new version of the doll called a Preemie.  I picked her because I loved the name, Peg.  I changed it to Peggy.  It had special family meaning for me.

Libby Audrey arrived with to me with just that name.  I wasn't a huge fan of Libby, but I couldn't find anything else I wanted to call her, so Libby she was.  She had little pink glasses, which sadly got broken pretty early on.  Replacement glasses were never available.  She also had one leg that quite a bit shorter than the other.  I figured she must have had some awful disease before she came to me.

Tom and John were another new version of the doll - Twins!  I had three girls and I wanted boy twins.  I don't remember their original names, but I think Tom Ruben was the original name of the one doll.  I wanted their names to rhyme, so I chose John for the other name.  Yeah, I know, it doesn't rhyme.  Tom and John had matching blue jump suits and auburn colored hair.  They were super cute.

Last was little Clayton.  I actually never liked the name Clayton.  I wanted to name him Colin, but at the time, I couldn't remember the name. Clayton stuck.  The name David was named in honor of The Monkees.  Although Davy wasn't my favorite of the Monkees, his name sounded best with Clayton.  Really, Clayton Micky and Clayton Mike just didn't work.  Clayton Peter would have worked, but I felt David was the better choice.  Plus, I could honor the Monkees without being too obvious.  That means, by the time I got Clayton, I was probably 12 or 13 years old.  Yes, I was still playing with my CPK dolls regularly.

In the end, when I left for college, I left my Kids at home.  I was very sad, years later to discover my mom had thrown them all out.  I wanted to give them to my own children.  Mom's reasons for tossing them were sound.  They were old and not clean.  I think what I regret the most was that I never got pictures of them all.  I think I have a picture of me holding the twins on the day I got them, but the rest, I'm not sure I ever got pictures.  That makes me sad.

I got one for one of my own children, years later.  They didn't love it as much as I had when I was their age.  Oh well, times change and tastes change. Thankfully I have my memories of my first set of kids.  They were much quieter and didn't make messes of the house.  Good times!

driving thoughts

Have you ever seen those cars called The Cube?  I'm holding out for when they make the Pyramid.  That will be one awesome car!


The Cube

The Pyramid
http://pyramidinfo.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/pyramid-car/










Yesterday morning, while driving in the rain, a truck passed me and flashed his lights at me.  Now, I've usually taken that to mean either your brights are on and blinding me OR a police car is waiting in the bushes to get you if you speed past him.

I checked my brights. They weren't on.  So I checked my speed.  I was good.  I wasn't speeding.  I never saw a cop car.  So why in the world did that truck flash his lights at me?  It is a mystery of the driving universe that I will never know.

This morning after taking Peanut to preschool, three songs played on the radio in a row:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles
Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey

With songs like that playing on the radio, how can today be anything but a groovy day?




That's a lot of books!

We have a lot of books.  A lot.

When we moved into the house, we brought with us 7 large bookshelves and 2 small ones.  We unpacked what books we could and left the rest in boxes.  We didn't like have all the boxes of books sitting in the family room, but there was no where else to put them.  We decided we would just buy more bookshelves and get all the books out of boxes.  In the last month we bought 5 more large bookshelves.  They are completely full now, but our boxes are empty.  There is one in the living room, three in the family room, one in each of the three kids bedrooms, two in my loom room and four in the master bedroom.  Yep, our rooms are lined with shelves of books.  It's a little crazy and out of control, but we love our books!

In our dream home, we will have a library, the way they do in the old fancy homes. Like in Clue! I think  Professor Plum used the Abridged Oxford Dictionary in the Library. 

I don't often by books and when I do, I prefer not to pay full price.  I love 50 cent books from used bookstores.  Over the last year, I've started collecting some of my favorite young adult and children's literature.  I'll have to post a picture of my young adult collection one day.  I  have a bunch of name books!  I also have more parenting books than I care to admit to.  Too bad they haven't helped me that much.

Yes, one day... someday in the future, we will have our library.  Then we can reclaim the rest of the house as living areas.  Until then, thank goodness for bookshelves!

Library workings Survey

Hello friends!

I'm doing a class in cataloging and classification. I'm learning about the various classification systems, like the Dewey Decimal system.  I'm familiar with the way libraries in the USA classify books and I'm learning about the libraries in Scotland (because that is where my university is), but I'm curious to other countries.

In the United States, public libraries use the Dewey Decimal and the universities and national library (Library of Congress) use the classification system called the Library of Congress system.

What do the libraries in Canada use?  What about the rest of Europe? Other countries?

I don't guess it's really important that I know about other countries ways of library classification.  I guess I just need to know what they do in Great Britain (for my grades in class) and what they do in America since that is where I live and will work.  However, my class is really an international class.  I'm the only American with many from Great Britain, one or two Canadians, other Europeans, some Africans, and even folks from Asia.  It reminds me that there are many libraries in many countries with many languages and somehow all those libraries must classify their books.  I'm simply curious, but learning how the rest of the world libraries work can help me understand my own country.

I love this movie:  UHF.  Watch now and see Conan, the Librarian!

Lots of thoughts, nowhere to go

My brain is absolutely filled with thoughts, but nothing really worth blogging about.
School - gardens - kids - school - cleaning - laundry - family - no sugar - future ideas - more school

I'm still doing well with the sugar thing.  Yesterday our dinner guests cancelled.  I had already made the dessert, so we had it after dinner, even without the guests.  I made cake balls!!  I'm afraid I went a little overboard. They were so yummy.  It's no problem though, I'm back on track of no sugar today.  I'm thinking I'll have one day for a sugary treat each week.  Something to look forward to.

Spring is on it's way.  Each day of weather here is different from the day before.  Two days ago it was raining and cold.  Yesterday was in the high sixties and I had the back door open all day to let in the fresh air.  Today is sunny (so far) and should get to the low sixties, but it could rain this afternoon or evening. 

I love the rain!!!  I'm so excited for spring.  My natural-green deprived eyes might go into a state of shock when the forest we live in starts to bloom new spring green leaves.

My current computer wallpaper.  I'm trying to train my eyes to see green again.  LOL!

My first paper for school is due in 18 days!  Help me.  I don't know what to do.  I don't understand the assignment at all.  I'm thinking I need to work on that today.  It's hard to concentrate when my three year old daughter is on the computer next to me playing NickJr games and videos.  I'm going to have to plug in the headphones for her.  I can't take Dora and The Fresh Beat Band all morning.

Rest in Peace, Davy Jones

The Beatles are down to two members of it's original four.  And now, the Monkees has lost it's first and youngest member, Davy Jones.

Watching the Monkees will never be the same.

Love ya Davy!

A little bit of joy

* I love that the sun is rising earlier and earlier each day.  It's not dark when I wake up anymore.

* Nothing says Spring is around the corner like bright yellow daffodils starting to bloom.

* I've been going through a very difficult ordeal for me personally - detoxing my body of sugar.  I'm a total sugar addict.  I love it, but it was getting out of hand.  It was the only thing I was eating anymore.  I've been going without all sugars (natural included) for a week, with the exception of last Saturday.  And even then, it was a very small amount of sugar compared to what my normal was before.  Last week was terrible.  I was not pleasant.  This week has been totally different.  I'm not craving sugar any more.  It is so completely wonderful!!!  I will have sugar again on Thursday. We have guests coming for dinner and I plan on making and eating dessert.

* Yesterday was so warm, I opened the back door for a little fresh air while I cleaned the kitchen and cooked dinner.

* Hearing my 6 year old read.  It's slow and it's hard, but he is reading!  We have Hooked on Phonics and he is going through all the books in the kindergarten level and he is so proud of the stickers he gets to put on his chart as he reads each book.

* I'm learning the Dewey Decimal System and the Universal Classification System!  I have to say that I'm finding that the Universal Classification System is easier to learn.

That's just a little of the joy I've been feeling this week.  It is easy to feel this way when Spring seems to be right around the corner.  I hope the rest of the week is just as good.

Planning our garden

Our family has tried every year over the last many years to plant a garden of some sort or other.  Some years it's been nothing more than a few herbs in planters and one year we did a large garden in the yard that produced about 100 mini carrots.  The last few years, as we lived in the desert, our garden options were limited, but we found a way to have a garden among all the rocks.  We used large storage tubs filled with soil. 

This year we live in such a wonderful area.  The owners of the home have planted gardens in previous years and the space for them are still in the yard.  We cleaned two of the garden plots and have one more to clean out before it will be ready.

But oh are we excited!  The Hubby has purchased seeds for cucumbers, green beans, pumpkin, and more.  I'm working on the herbs.  I'm going to do chives, basil, parsley, dill, lavender, angelica, rosemary, mint, spearmint, chamomile, and more.  I'm very, very excited to try all these herbs.

My garden will probably just end up being a bunch of black planter pots, but I have dreams of doing something like this:

An active imagination

When I was a kid (and teen), I would spend hours in my room, creating an amazing world of fun, romance and adventure in my imagination.  During the spring months, before it got too hot and miserable to play outside, I would jump on the trampoline, all the while, imagining myself as a character in my favorite TV shows or movies.  I didn’t replace any current character, I was a new one, and so brought new adventures. 

One of my favorite books, ever.

One example is for a summer, I was rather obsessed with the movie The NeverEnding Story.  I made myself a new character.  I was Krista (an actual character from the book, but never in the movie.)  I was friends with Bastian and Atreyu.  The three of us went on many adventures.  We had quests to hunt for important stolen artifacts, rescue some poor Fantasian from an evil captor, or deliver a special gift to the Child-Like Empress.  The beams of wood that lined the flower garden in our front yard became narrow trees that crossed a canyon over a raging river.  The two trees on the side of our house became a forest with creatures fair and foul.  Bastian, Atreyu and I helped each other, ran together, and laughed together.  It was a great time.

I still have an active imagination.  It helps me to write stories and tell new ones to the kids.  You should have heart the story I told the three youngest kids the other night.  It was a beauty.

Off on an adventure through Fantasia!

My children are so different from me, though.  My oldest daughter is easily bored.  She wants to be entertained.  Thankfully she isn’t a TV-watcher or a computer game player.  The other day, she was quite bored.  Nothing I had suggested interested her.  I finally told her to go outside in our huge, wonderful backyard and play.  The day was warm and sunny.  No coat was needed to be outside. 

Not our yard, but I like the
idea that this chair
transported its owner to
this forest.

“What do I do outside?”  she asked me.  PLAY!  Create a world, go have an adventure.  She looked outside and said all I see is a chair.  True.  We have a chair outside in the yard.  I looked out at the chair.  It’s not just a chair, you know.  It’s a magical chair, left here on accident by some elves.  If you sit in it, you will be transported to another world.  She looked at me dubiously.  OK, how about this, you pretend to be Cinderella.  I will pretend to be your wicked step-mother.  You can sweep the floors, wash the floors, fold all the laundry and clean your room.  Daughter quickly went outside and played for a long, long time.

Thankful for ryhmes

We try to teach our children to be reverent when saying prayers.  Of course, being kids, this doesn't always work out, but I would have to say that most of the time, they are pretty good about reverence.

Well, tonight was different.  Peanut had a series of things to say in her prayer over the dinner food that had all of us laughing.  I was trying so hard not to laugh I was afraid I would pop a blood vessel in my neck.  First, Peanut said something to the effect of "Thankful for the food.  Bless that can poke out Peanut's eyes." Yes, she referred to herself in the first person (saying her own name, of course, not 'Peanut'.)  Hubby remembers her saying this as poke out and I thought she said pop out, but either way it was a shock to hear her say it during the prayer.

After she said that, I heard two of the kids start to giggle.  Peanut's prayer went on and she said "linner" instead of "dinner" and upon realizing what she had said, she went on to pray, "Thankful for linner dinner, they rhyme!"  At this point several other people started to suppress laughs and that set everyone off.  Peanut couldn't end that prayer fast enough.  And instead of anyone saying Amen at the end of the prayer, we all burst out laughing. 

I think Penaut needs a break from saying the prayers over the dinner food.  We can't have silly irreverence every night. Oh well, what is one night of laughing through the prayer?  We'll work on that reverence again tomorrow night.

Librarian philosophy musings

So I'm in my second semester of librarian school.  I'm really enjoying it.  Doing a school in Scotland, I had hoped to hear the lovely accents of my professors, but since everything is done online through chats and forums, I haven't heard a single Scottish accent!  In fact, last semester, one of my professors was Greek.  She had her on campus lectures recorded for us to watch.  Cool accent.

Anyway, this semester is all about classification.  There is a lot more philosophy than I imagined, but the question that librarians have been facing since library's began in ancient times is "What shelf do I put this book on?"  Perhaps the ancient librarians asked themselves, "What room do I put this scroll in?"

A book about Cat Worship in Ancient Egypt.  What shelf do you put it on?  Does it belong in the animal/cat section of the library?  Does it belong in the religious/worship section of the library?  Does it belong with books about Ancient Egypt?  You only have one book.  Where do you put it?

I think now-a-days the placement of the book isn't quite as critical as it was in the past.  That statement might be enough to get me kicked out of library school, but hear me out.  With computers and technology, the different topics a book offers can be cross-indexed.  If you look up on the computer a book about cats, you will see a cat grooming book as well as Egyptian cats in the list.  The more keywords you enter, the more specific your results.  You don't have to go to the shelf and search through every book on cats in the library to find one about Egypt. 

Technology is great!

Every time I start to talk about school to my husband, his eye glaze over with boredom.  I can sense your eyes have glazed over too.  Fine, I'll stop talking.

Spelling

I have never been known for my excellent spelling skills.  Just ask my poor Mother.  Aside from being my Mom and helping study spelling by giving me practice tests at home, she was also my teacher for 3, 4, and 5th grades (when I attended her awesome private school).

I have to say, I've gotten better over the years.  I write constantly and I guess it has helped.  Still, there are a few words that I just cannot get.  No matter how many time I write them I never spell them correctly.  Thank goodness for spell check on the computer!

AHHHH!  Now that I'm trying to spell the words I always misspell, I can't spell them at all.  I'm doing them correctly.  Wouldn't you know....  However, one word I can never spell right is 'embarrassed'.  I always do that word wrong.  How embarrassing....

Guess what! It's raining today.  I love the rain.  When I dropped off Peanut at preschool today, she ran up to her teacher and said, "I like when it rains."  Ah yes, a girl after my own heart.

W-MOM - The Morning News

Good morning!  It’s 7:15 am and it’s time for the W-MOM morning news show.  This show is being brought to you by Breakfast Cereal.  Yes, it’s Breakfast Cereal, the favorite breakfast of ours and so many families across America.

                We love breakfast

                We love cereal
                Pour in the milk and hear it crunch
                We promise that you’ll like it
                We promise that you’ll eat it
                So go to the store and buy a bunch

First we’ll take a look at this morning’s traffic.  Everything was quiet this morning until about 6:30 when the first of the morning commuters started getting up.  By the time Husband left for work, all five children were up and the commute through the house started picking up to its usual frantic pace as everyone started searching for shoes, backpacks, and homework folders.  Keep an eye out for traffic jams in the bathroom and be careful leaving your bedroom and going into the hall for the preschooler who seems to be running through the house in nothing but her underwear.

Today’s weather calls for sunshine, but right now it’s partially cloudy with a temperature of 14 degrees.  Make sure you take those coats when you head outside.  It’s cold out there.

This week is an exciting week as tomorrow is Valentine’s day.  Children across the household have planned and prepared in their own special way for the day’s festivities.  We go out live now to our Valentine’s correspondence, Daughter, to hear about some of the planned activities.

                “Thank you Mom.  Tomorrow my class is going to have a party.  I got a box of Princess valentine cards from the store.  I wrote the name of each friend on the card, wrote my name in the ‘From’ space and I closed the card with a heart sticker.  We will be trading cards in our class and having cookies.”

Thank you Daughter for that breaking news story. 

Also in this week’s busy schedule is the 100^th day of school celebrations.  Children are encouraged and some are even assigned to bring one hundred of something to school.   This assignment can be a daunting task for parents, but it need not be a cause for extra stress.  This Mom has done many 100^th Day celebrations over the years and has some tips for stressed out parents.  You might have heard about gluing 100 pennies to a poster board, but I will tell you that doesn’t work.  No matter how good you glue is, pennies are not going too stayed glued to a flexible poster board.  So what else is there to do? Here are some other good ideas: 100 stickers on a sheet of paper, 100 pieces of paper from the shredder machine waste pile and for those last-last minute ideas, grab a box of toothpicks.  All of these ideas are simple and economical.

We’ve just had a breaking story in the traffic center, it seems that the Kindergartener was making a left turn out of his bed room and ran right smack into the preschooler who was sitting on the floor in her underwear playing with dolls.  Big sister is on the scene to help pick up the scattered dolls and hand the preschooler a t-shirt to put on.  Kindergartener is reporting minor injuries on his knee from his fall onto the floor.  Be wary of traffic in the hallway, it is a bit slow right now.

Up next we have an idea story – school lunches.  Do those two words make your hair stand on end?  Dread lunch time no longer as we share a story filled with tears, laughter and information.

School lunches brought to you by Silverware, the leading brand name in silverware.  Silverware is perfect for spreading peanut butter on bread and makes packing those pesky school lunches a little easier.  Don’t forget to pick up your own package of Silverware.

Hey Moms! Does the thought of making school lunches everyday cause you to break out in a cold sweat?  One mom felt this way, so she set out to find ways to make school lunches fun, nutritious and eco-friendly.

                “I make five lunches every day for my children. I was getting bored with peanut butter sandwiches, chips and snack cakes. Plus I was using a lot of plastic baggies.  I decided to do a little Internet research.  I found some really great websites and blogs that showed pictures of the cutest lunches ever.  Instead of plastic baggies, they used silicone cups to hold the food in cute lunch boxes.  They filled the lunches with colorful pasta salad, fruit slices and they cut the children’s sandwiches into shapes with cookie cutters. 

                “I was inspired!  Searching the Internet a little more I found those great silicone cups for sale.  Four cups for $12.95? That seems pricy.  I guess I’ll just keep using the baggies.  I tried cutting my children’s sandwiches into fun shapes, but it was leaving a lot of scraps that were perfectly good food.  I felt more wasteful than ever.  I tried colorful pasta salad, but the kids didn’t like it.  All they wanted were their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips and snack cake.  Well, I tried.”

This great idea segment was brought to you by Silverware.  Show your kids you care, use Silverware!

The time is now 7:40 and it’s time to walk the children out to the bus stop.  The temperature has risen to a balmy 17 degrees.  Burr! It’s cold out this morning.  Make sure those coats are zipped up.  From the house the Pre-schooler has walked out.  She is wearing an unusual ensemble of a pink shirt, purple princess skirt, one sandal and one hot pink flip-flop.  It seems the chilly temperature has deterred her and she is going back into the house. 

It’s 7:43 and the bus is right on schedule.  The kids are on the bus and off to school.  Join us tomorrow right here at W-MOM for our morning show where we will talk about planning dinner by starting the slow cooker at breakfast.  Have a great day everyone!

What's that sound?

The other afternoon, I went outside to pick up the mail.  As I started down the driveway, I heard a loud noise.  It sounded like a deep rumbling.  We have trucks driving down our street all the time, but this wasn't a truck.  We don't live near enough to the freeway to hear the constant stream of cars flying down it.  The sound stopped me in my tracks.  I looked around and listened.

Then, I realized what the odd sound was - it was the sound of a strong wind blowing through the trees.  Three years of living without trees has made me forget what the sound of wind in the trees is like.

I can't wait until summer, when the trees are full of leaves and then to hear the wind rush through that.  What a sound it will be.  I love living among trees again.

Top 10 foods eaten in this house

I've got a house full of kids.
Top 10 foods eaten in this house:

1. Peanut Butter Sandwiches (most of these have grape jelly on them, but not all)  Two of my children will not eat most any food I make for dinners.  They end up with pb&j sandwiches.  One son has been known to eat 3 or 4 per meal.

2. Toast with cinnamon/sugar - A favorite snack and dessert among the kids

3. Hot dogs - Everyone loves hot dogs.

4. Crackers - if I don't hide the crackers, the kids have been known to eat an entire box in a matter of minutes.

5. Apples - Yes, we do have some healthy things.  My oldest daughter especially loves apples.  She will eat several a day if you let her.

6. Tortillas - fill 'em with what you like, but we eat a lot of tortillas.

7. Cheese - I've got two sons that refuse to eat cheese.  It's OK, the amount the rest of us eats makes up for what they don't eat.  The Hubby (a cheese lover) and the oldest daughter love blue cheese and stronger flavored cheeses.  I love Parmesan (real, off the block) and mozzarella.  The kids are happy with cheddar.  We all love smoke flavored cheese with smoked Gouda being a family favorite, except for the two weirdos that won't eat cheese.

8. Pizza - we don't have this all the time, but it's a favorite choice among the family.  Everyone has their preferences.  The two boys that don't like cheese, like to eat cheese-less pizzas.  Weird.  The oldest daughter loves the "Hawaiian pizza" with Canadian bacon and pineapple.  I love stuff crust when I can have it and we all are huge fans of pepperoni.  White pizza with Alfredo sauce is also a big hit.

9. Pork - we eat this in so many varieties: chops, loins, ham, bacon, and sausage.  Pork is fixed up in some form or other every week.  I also like Spam when I can't get pork.  Living in Hawaii taught me the many uses for Spam.

10. Cereal - My kids eat a lot of cereal.  Favorites include Marshmallow Mateys, Cocoa Bombs (that's what we call them anyway), and frosted mini wheats.  Some of the kids love Grape Nuts, and Hubby is a fan of Life. 

Can you tell I've got five kids in the house?

Hobbies

Over the years, I've had a number of hobbies. For the most part, they have remained the same over the course of my life.  I've added a few, like weaving, and some I don't get to do much anymore, but still love to do when I get or take the opportunity.

Cinderella puzzle I did last March

1. Puzzles - I've been doing puzzles as long as I can remember.  When I was a teen, I got my first 1000 piece and set it up on the floor of my room one summer.  I spent hours listening to my radio, sitting on the floor and doing my puzzle.  Last year, I did three or four 1000 piece.  One day I'll have to try a bigger one.

2. Reading - I've always enjoyed reading books of my choice.  I don't like it when people tell me what to read.  For that reason, I've never joined a book club.  I might take some one's recommendation, but I don't like it when someone assigns me a book.  I prefer young adult and classical children's literature.   For my favorite children's literature reading list, click here - Children's Literature.



Peter Pan cross stitch
done by me in 1990

3. Cross stitching - My first cross stitch was when I was seven years old.  It was a little Christmas tree with probably no more than 20 stitches.  I still have it and hang it every year on my Christmas tree.  I've loved cross stitching ever since, but I haven't seriously done any in almost 4 years.  I have got to finish my youngest child's Christmas stocking this year.  She keeps reminding me that I've done the other kids, but not hers.  I've also got a couple of huge projects in the works.  I should pull those out again.

4. Weaving - a fairly new hobby.  It will be three years this March that I discovered the joys of weaving.  I still feel like a beginner.  I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I should to move beyond beginner.  I'm almost done with the project on the loom.  I just need to finish it so I can move on.  I already know what I want to do for the next project.

5.  Watching old movies - yesterday I watched a Bob Hope comedy.  Good stuff.  I love old comedies, especially Doris Day, Cary Grant, and of course the musicals, Singing in the Rain and such.

buying clothes

I feel like I am constantly buying clothes. 

A couple of kids need new shoes.  Didn't I just buy new shoes?  Oh wait, that was for the two youngest.  Now it's the oldest son and oldest daughter's turn for new shoes.

Get this:  my 13 year old son is 5'9".  That's tall for a 13 year old, but he is going to get taller.  His hands are bigger than my husband's (who is 6'2") and the boy's feet are the same size as Hubby's too.  Whoa!!!  Stop growing kid!

Since the youngest son started school, he is going through pants like crazy and with him, it's not because he is growing a lot.  The little guy seems to be about the same size as always.  He is, however, always putting holes in the knees.  I need to learn to patch his clothes so I don't have to buy more. However, he is at that wonderful age where his size is the biggest in the toddler section and the smallest size in the boys section, giving me two options to shop in.  Yesterday, I went to buy him pants (again) and the cheapest pair of pants in the boys section was $12.  I crossed the aisle to the Toddler section.  I found pants his size on sale for $5.56.  YES!  New pants!

It's not like I'm out buying outfits just for the fun of it, although that would be fun to do sometimes, but, I just feel like I'm constantly buying clothes.  I shouldn't be surprised with 5 growing kids, but for whatever reason, I figured I'd by clothes and shoes at the beginning of the school year and clothes and shoes at the beginning of summer and that would get us through the year.

But NO!  My kids have their own ideas of growing in between those time.  The nerve!

Downstairs colors

So, I took the advice of a certain comment from SLC and turned off the flash of my camera.  I also took the pictures during the day, but that really didn't matter for two of the rooms since there are no windows or natural lighting.  Get ready for a most unusual rainbow of rooms.

Youngest son's room.  It is an odd blue/green on top and a rather ugly brown on the bottom and a white shelf that runs two of the four walls.  This room has no windows and only one small ceiling light.  I really need to buy some lamps for this guy's room.  He won't play in there and I don't blame him.

The two other boy's room.  Yes, it's light purple and dark purple.  It would have been better for the girls to have this room, but it is the largest of the kid bedrooms and so it went to the two largest kids in the house.  They don't do much more than sleep in here anyway.

The downstairs bathroom.  Again, no natural light.  It's a sagey green and it's quite nice.  The stone in the bathroom is white/grey marble looking.  It is the nicest of the three bathrooms in the house.

The main common room downstairs.  It's a bright yellow, but it's nice.  Like our fan?  We've had that since we lived in Hawaii.  It actually looks nicer in person than it does in this pictures.  I got a little too much ceiling in the picture. 

Laundry room.  An unfinished room with our disco ball.  It's a very groovy laundry room.

Well, there you go, a color tour of the house.  Nothing matches, but after the monotony of the last house where the tiled floors, walls and ceiling were the exact same white, this house is kind of fun.

Guessing game

What is this, you may ask?  These are photos taken with a flash.  I'm not a photographer.  Take a guess what these are and how they are all in common:

Tannish-brown

sage green

a shade of blue

maroon

OK, what do you think?  Are you ready?  They are all the colors of the walls in the upstairs of my house.  The living room, dining room and hall are that tannish-brown.  The girl's room is the green.  Really, it's much brighter and more like a lime than sage, but my excellent photography skills made the picture look sage.  The bluish room is the master bedroom and bathroom and the maroon is my loom room.  None of them work together.

Just wait until you see the down stairs colors.  None of them repeat what you see here.

BTW, I did not choose any of these colors, they came with the house, and being a rental, I can't change them, but if I could, I would make more of the house the bluish color.  It's a cool, pleasant color without being overwhelming.

If music could follow me around....

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

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.