Bookclub--January Edition

We didn't start off the new year very well because bookclub snuck up on us and we weren't prepared to meet on the 10th like we were supposed to. We rescheduled for the 24th, but then Michelle ended up having the flu and Amy ended up on a trip to Florida. 

So Jana, Jenn and I met up (on the 24th) at Collette's house to eat dinner (we bring our own take-out) and conversation. Collette was so proud of herself for finishing the book, except that it turns out she read the wrong book! She is currently working full time and doing the Executive MBA program at BYU so we are working around her heavy load and opted to read The Happiness Project for January (it's a pretty fast read), but somehow she thought we were reading Revolutionary Road. No harm done though, we decided to wait for Amy and Michelle to be there for the discussion so we'll just have to wait until February for The Happiness Project and we'll discuss Revolutionary Road in March.

I didn't take any pictures of us sitting around eating dinner, but just had to take a picture of this potpourri because to me it looked like a bum and struck me as funny.

But then I flipped it over and it was a heart.

Since our book discussion was a bust we went downstairs to Collette's theater room and had a dessert bar of sorts.

Jana brought caramel and chocolate fondue (leftover from her son's birthday party) so we had some deluxe snacks for the show.

Collette ordered "Blue Jasmine" from Pay Per View and we were in cozy comfort. Having a room like that would be dangerous for me, especially because those lounge chairs are so inviting.

Edited to add:

Jenn brought these M&Ms which her husband and sister had had made for her 40th birthday last month...who knew you could put someone's picture on M&Ms?!

Miscellaneous Monday

Over the MLK weekend I cleaned out our pantry, this is one side of the finished product. It took a long time and meant throwing away A LOT of canned good (the oldest having expired in 2005). We have a can rotation issue that I'm hoping will be remedied now that everything is current. Good grief!

I also cleaned of the desk in my room and dusted this tray Claudia gave me awhile ago which houses my necklace chains and pendants; so pleasing.

While cleaning I unearthed this frightening find from 1994!

These are the supplies I carry with me to Michelle's every week for Creative Friday. I usually have them dumped into 2 or 3 different bags and it drives me crazy, so I emptied the bags out onto my bed so I could weed out and organize everything.

This is the finished stash! It all fits into one large bag and is divided up into Ziploc bags so I can find things!

Whitney joined me for to eat lunch in the car one day last week, that was a first.

One of our new office aides (a great, 9th grade boy) showed me his phone cover, I was impressed.

I tried to help Whitney with her math homework and it nearly did us both in. I have since hired Landon to be her official tutor (for $5 an hour with the expectation of finished assignments and good test scores).

I also found that most of Whitney's math assignments are covered with drawings like this, so it's no wonder she may be missing quite a bit of class instruction. I was telling Randy about this and sharing my desire to have her hands tied to her desk so she couldn't draw but he said she was just draw in her head (like he used to as a kid)!

Landon has been playing Rec. basketball on a losing team, but they finally one a game (by one basket)! 

I made cookies on Friday (since Michelle was too sick for me to come over) and ended up taking her family a plate of them, putting a bag of them in the freezer along with 2 logs of dough for future use.

On Saturday I went to the annual Stake Relief Society Women's Conference with my visiting teaching companion Jill B. We have become good friends over this past year or so of teaching together and I am so happy about that.

A Scorched Pan and Lots of Smoke

On Wednesday afternoon I had just settled down in the cozy to have a little break after a long day of work and before my presidency meeting. Whitney was all set up in the kitchen to make mostaccioli for dinner (which she has made before) so all was right with the world. I hadn't even opened my book yet because I was checking Instagram and playing Little Riddles (a fun game I like to think keeps me sharp) on my phone when I heard a weird noise and ran to the kitchen to see Whitney in a panic holding a very smokey saucepan. I told her to set it in the sink, and right as she did so it started sparking and sputtering with black smoke pouring out of it. Our smoke detector started beeping (what a lovely addition to the chaos) so we fanned it with a towel, then I grabbed the pan and took it outside where I dumped the remaining contents into the dirt.

It turns out that she had set the pan on the burner and turned it on, but then left to go to the bathroom so when she came back and put the 1/4 cup of butter in the very hot pan things got crazy! It was a like a science experiment of what not to do.

I opened all the windows in an attempt to vent out the smoke which was crazy thick. I took this picture (which doesn't do it justice at all) because it was not to be believed.

It all happened so fast and could have been so terrible if she had burned herself or put water in the pan or dropped it on the floor etc... I was also super relieved that I didn't freak out and scare her or me. I kept thinking that I didn't want this to keep her from wanting to cook again; that it was a learning experience and turned out fine.

Later she said, "I don't want this to be something we always tease me about." But then I reminded her that we still tease my sister Lori for throwing away the turkey drippings that were going to make our Thanksgiving gravy back in 1988! (Apparently my then 12 year old sister thought she was doing some pre-meal cleaning up so she dumped it down the disposal and we were gravy-less on Thanksgiving! It's family lore at this point.)

**Have you ever burned butter like this?

Would you have freaked out?**

Delightful

Since I frequently pin inspiring quotes on Pinterest, I decided to print a stack of them as 4x6 photos to hang on our fridge. But then I got this idea to put super strong magnets on the back of a cheap picture frame so it would stick to the fridge over the quote. This was a super easy project (I used Gorilla glue to stick the magnets to the frame) and makes me happy every time I see it.

**Do you pin lots of quotes?

Do you have stuff on your fridge?

Ever tried these super strong magnets?**

Sunday Thoughts

It turns out that 9:00am church is much more conducive to me writing Sunday Thoughts posts than either 11:30 or 2:00 church, just in case you're wondering why I'm suddenly posting on Sundays again.

My partner Jill and I went Visiting Teaching again this week and though I was giving the same lesson I'd just given 3 days earlier it ended up being different than I'd planned (I love it when that happens). I like to go with the flow of the conversation and see where things go (while still sharing from the message)  and this time was pretty cool because we ended up talking about the strength we feel just from being members of the church. I haven't ever articulated it before, but as we were discussing the message about being more Christlike and having the Atonement written on our hearts I ended up saying that I know I could call on the women of the ward (or the entire ward really) and have them mobilize to help me and my family as needed and at very short notice. Though I have never had to do this, it is hugely comforting knowing that I can; and also cool to know that I am on standby to help hundreds of other people in my ward family as needed. It's something to think about it and be grateful for.

Creative Friday--Christmas Edition

Landon and I went to Michelle's house for Creative Friday on December 27th. Landon hadn't been over there in months, so it was nice to go together again. We took this photo at a stoplight and the glare makes it look like I have blue teeth!

I splurged and got Los Hermanos take out for our lunch!

These lovely homemade candlesticks from Jessie's husband Timm were on Michelle's table instead of the green apples.

It was very exciting to be receiving lovely gifts from both Michelle and her mom! 

Michelle gave me this cute and comfy pajamas (which I'm wearning now as I type this) and an awesome kit with notebook paper gift bags, matching Washi tape, baker's twine and tags! I love it!! Michelle's mom Susan gave me some awesome notebook paper gift tags, Christmas napkins, alphabet masking tape (very cool) and a decorative bird nesting on shredded book pages. It was delightful! (Sadly I forgot my real camera so these are all photos from my phone and aren't great.)

These are the gifts I gave Michelle.

A gift certificate for a pedicure, some cloud socks and a bag of Cadbury Eggs.

And the world's cutest door mat! She had a similar one on her Amazon Wish List but it was no longer available and this was almost exactly like it. It's painfully cute really, especially with her turquoise door.

The boys played games in the family room and sound like men now, which is weird.

Michelle wrote thank you notes and I cut out a ton of tags I'd had printed...I will be prepared for next Christmas' tag needs for sure.

Pleasing no? These are all designs I downloaded from Pinterest for free.

The boys ended up coming over to the table to work on a puzzle Michelle had started the day before.

Max was home from BYU for Christmas Break!

Landon and Lucas exchanged presents...earbuds for Landon and a Cold Stone gift card for Lucas.

 Lando's card to Lucas.

I wrote 8 thank you notes.

Lucas ended up leaving to go out with friends because we thought we would be going home soon, but we ended up staying another 3 hours because we got sucked into the puzzle!

We finished it (mostly they did, but I did a bit at the end).

**Do you enjoy cute gift tags?

Do you have a cute Welcome mat?

Do you enjoy puzzles?**

Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve.

Christmas Morning.

Underwear!

Lori came over while we were opening presents.

Whitney made this for Landon at school.

My book club book that I bought for myself to get "from" Randy.

Landon got a full load of Rocky movies.

Love from Landini.

He is all about Nike Elite socks...who knew $15 socks could be such a thrill?!

Whitney's favorite gift (and successful surprise) was a Studio C t-shirt.

This is my pile of goodies--cardstock, book, stationery, chocolate, gift card, dvds, etc.

When presents were done we all got cozy and watched "Despicable Me 2".

The aftermath!

Later on there was napping and chatting with Lori, lots of eating, relaxing and movie watching as well.

Randy and I watched "It's A Wonderful Life" which felt like a great way to end the day...except for the unbelievable amount of coughing I did; at one point I coughed so hard I tweaked my neck and it hurt for 4 days.

 Our card from this year.