More Miscellany

I have no time to post, but feel like I'm cheating if I leave up a Wordless Wednesday post for 2 days. So instead I give you these thoughts...

• The scale hasn't moved, but somehow I am visibly fatter. Does fat redistribute itself into unflattering ways just to mock me? I should be wearing some sort of radical support garment under my clothes, but the thought of being squeezed into that much spandex all day frightens me.
• I have taken to carrying pencil-topper erasers with me to school to give to the kids I help. So far I've only given two, but the two kids in PreAlgebra who were struggling so hard on their test on Tuesday both went through the erasers attached to their pencils.
• The PreAlgebra teacher had me sit on a chair in-between the desks of these two students so I could "be their conscience" during the test. I wasn't allowed to help them do the problems, but if I saw them doing it wrong I could say, "You might want to look at that one again." It felt like high pressure to me and ended up driving one of them crazy because he's a big worrier anyway, so having me say that meant he knew he'd done it wrong, but had no idea how to do it right; it was heart breaking.
  
• I ate lunch in my car yesterday and was fine with that. The only weird part was that I had brought a microwavable lunch and had to navigate mounds of snow while carrying it to my car; it's funny if you think about it. If I had taken a header I would have had Broccoli Alfredo all over me! Luckily I made it to the car without falling, and then was able to eat and read my book instead of being the biggest, invisible girl the teachers' lounge has ever not seen.
• The kid from the ink-blot incident struck again! It didn't end up on his forehead this time, but all over his shirt! I don't know if he suffers from some sort of oral fixation or not, but this time it was a black gel pen that ended up all over his shirt. It's a good thing I didn't see this until after class or I may have lost it again. I heard one kid say, "Dude, again?!" So funny.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: We've receive two Christmas cards already! Every year I think we're going to do ours sooner, but it has never happened.

Five for Friday--Slow to Load Edition

It is still taking way too long for my photos to load into blogger, so this post has been hours in the making, and yet I will be writing it in 5 minutes or less because I'm so tired and just want to go to bed. (How's that for a disclaimer?)


1. Robyn totally shocked me by loading me up with all these groceries yesterday when I went to her house to pick up Whitney from her sleepover with the cousins. Robyn said she wanted to do something to thank us for taking care of her kids lately, but she really went overboard!


2. Landon was folding and hanging up a load of laundry the other day and came out modeling my track pants and one of Randy's shirts. He thought it was hysterical, but I found the excess fabric from our clothes both telling and disturbing.


3. Of course, the reason I need so much fabric may have something to do with eating fabulous book club treats like this bundt cake with pooling ganache made by Michelle.


4. Or maybe this Tang float which successfully created a very tasty creamsicle flavor. Tang is like my discovery for the year 2009, how have I lived so many years without it?


5. Tasha drove down to Utah County to pick up her girls from her in-laws' house so Hannah arranged a little gathering at McDonald's so Tasha and Jessie could meet. I hadn't seen Hannah in awhile, or hung out with Jessie since she's been in town, and hadn't seen Tasha since last year when I took her family photos, I did see Michelle yesterday though.

Woohoo, success for this super fast post (at least for me since I'm going to bed now).

**Can you believe the bounty of groceries?
Do your kids think trying on your clothes is funny?
Could you say no to such a bundt cake?
Do you have Tang in your pantry?
Have you been to a McDonald's play land recently?**

Epiphany from my Vintage Self

Whenever I get to go to Michigan to visit Betsy I'm inevitably filled with nostalgia from my high school years living there. We had so much fun back then, looking back makes it seem like a constant sleepover, giddiness over boys, dress shopping for school dances, working, school sports, eating out, driving, and laughing all the time. Oh to be so carefree now!


I was looking through some old photos and came across this big haired photo of myself from 1988. I can't remember who took it or why, but I love that it captures some of my wall of cork behind me. The wall was already like that when we moved to that house, and I absolutely loved it! I covered it from floor to ceiling with the ephemera of my life (I would love to see detailed photos of that wall now). I used to cut inspirational images out of magazines and hang them on my wall. I had quotes, lots of pictures of boys, athletes who inspired me (my high school self would be appalled by my current fat-covered self), photos of friends and family, and so on.


I was recently listening to the book The Secret and one of the contributors talked about having a dream board of images for the things you want in your life. I think my wall of cork did that for me back then, so I'm thinking I could benefit from something similar now.


The bulletin boards in my studio (still looking for an appropriate name for this room) are covered with quotes, good mail items, photos and such, but I don't have any images relating to my physical self. Hmm, this may be an epiphany no? I need to be better about focusing on becoming my best self in all areas (physical, mental, spiritual, emotional) not just in the ones that are easiest for me. I think defining and illustrating who I want to be can only help.

**Did you surround yourself with things
you loved when you were in high school?
Have you read, watched or listened to The Secret?
Do you have a dream board now?
What do you think?**

Five for Friday--Takin Care of Business Edition

1. Whitney got a retainer this week (she looks so much older!). They have designs on retainers now (who knew?) so she chose a smiley face on the bottom of hers, plus the retainer they gave her is black (that was a surprise to her). Her orthodontist is rather fabulous and gives several tokens at each visit for various good behaviors (i.e., wearing the t-shirt they gave her, being on time for the appointment, good brushing, etc.), so we've been collecting these tokens since she started going there last summer.


We thought she needed 35 to be able to cash in for a $5 gift card, but it turns out they lowered the number needed to 20, so after that morning's appointment she had over 40 tokens in hand. She ended choosing a Target gift card and a Jamba Juice gift card. How about that? My visits to the orthodontist back in the 80s were nothing like this and I'm left with emotional scarring and bad dreams from the hours of staring up my orthodontist's very hairy nose!! Oh the humanity!



2. I babysat Eva for a few hours this week while Michelle was at a Cello competition with Max. Eva and I played a variety of games together included "Land Before Time" stuffed animals. She gave me a pterodactyl puppet that's not a character from the movie and thus is nameless. I begged and pleaded to be allowed to have a name, but no such luck! She was drunk with power and wouldn't allow it.


3. Lori and I had lunch at JCW's yesterday (sinful and delicious) but were greatly annoyed by the volume of the microphone/speaker combo going on in there. They call out your order number when your food is ready, and usually that's no big deal, but yesterday it was so loud we had to stop talking each time because we couldn't hear each other. What the?! We were there at lunch time so it was very busy and made for some comically, choppy conversation moments.


4. I received some seriously nice good mail this week and must share. I got an email from Denise B. (who is a noncommenting, regular reader...who knew?) saying she saw these great postal mugs and wanted to send them to me, but that they were a little out of her price range. I appreciated the cyber good mail and kind words (what if she hadn't told me?), how nice is that? Thanks Denise!


I was talking to a girl I know from church the other night after our ward book club discussion of "Nickel and Dimed" and she said she had something for me at her house. Hmm, I was intrigued. She gave me this beautiful journal and a nice card. That could NOT have been more unexpected and sweet. Thank you Cathy!


Whitney brought in the mail the other day and was holding this darling, little tin which made my heart skip a beat. What could it be?? Ahhh, it was a friendship sealing wax kit which Jane mailed as is by taping it shut and putting the mailing info on the top and a good mail label on the bottom. It was delightful!! Thanks so much Jane!


Heather sent me this package full of "bloggy prizes" though I'm not sure what the prizes are for. (I'll happily take them though!) They kids brought the mail in while I was snuggled up on the couch finishing my book club book so I opened the package and promptly started eating the Cadbury Eggs. They were freezing from being in the mailbox for awhile, but were oh so good. Heather even sent this big, hardback book for Randy because she'd noticed him reading another book by that author from a photo on my blog. So nice! Thanks Heather!


5. I bought a bag of Sonic ice the other day and had to laugh at myself as I pulled open the plastic (click to enlarge the photo to see the tear I made) and ate ice on the way home. I just couldn't wait the 7 minutes it would have taken to drive home, open the bag nicely and put it in a cup. It's not that surprising because I'm not really known for my self-control (hence my girth) but still...7 minutes.

**Did you wear a retainer at some point?
Did you have a cool orthodontist or a hairy one?
Have you ever been a nameless pterodactyl?
Is that good mail thoughtfulness inspiring to you?
Would you have waited to open the ice at home?**

Miscellaneous Monday

Last Saturday was downright dreamy compared the busyness of the previous Saturday. I was able to sleep in, blog a bit, shop on iTunes, work on my Sharing Time for Sunday, and then get ready at a slow pace before having to leave the house at 12:15pm for Landon's basketball game.


I have had an influx of iTunes gift cards recently thanks to Christmas and good mail from Natasha and Amy M., so I was happy to be able to buy 3 albums on Saturday. My first purchase was the clean version of Pink's Funhouse album. I am totally infatuated with the song "So What" right now and love the raspy beauty of her voice so I bought the whole album instead of just that song. I quickly burned a cd so we could have it in the car, and the whole family was rocking out on the way to Landon's game...good times.


I also bought Rosi Golan's album The Drifter and The Gypsy based on Amanda L.'s recommendation. I love soothing, acoustic music like this and was giddy to read the recommendation on Amanda's blog the other day.


My last purchase was James Taylor's album "Covers". I am a dedicated fan and can't believe I hadn't bought this album already. It's a great treat to have some new "James" to listen to.

Landon's game was an exciting one.

My parents and Andrew showed up at the game and then took the kids to JCW's for lunch afterward.


Randy and I went out to lunch somewhere else (so my parents could talk with the kids instead of us), then we picked the kids up and went to see The Pink Panther 2. We had passes for the movie and had just eaten so we didn't get popcorn or drinks so it was a free outing!


I got this Valentine package from Jen on Saturday and ended up using the sequined heart as a music baton during my Sharing Time on Sunday. Nice!


I also got this thank you card from Shannon for sending a set of these for her birthday. I am doing quote cards this year for blogger birthdays and am quite smitten with them.


Amy M. sent me this thank you note and iTunes giftcard last week for watching the girls while she and Adam were gone.


I usually don't take many pictures in primary on the weeks that I'm conducting and doing Sharing Time, but I handed my camera over to Randy (now that he's a primary teacher) so that he could document the teacher spotlight we did. Imagine my horror when I looked at the photos and found some of myself on there!? I am not a thin girl. Even though I know this, it's still startling to see candid shots of my girth. (This isn't even the least flattering shot!) Swing low...


For Family Home Evening last night we reviewed our "Year of the Belly" goals to check our progress (and lack thereof). It's no surprise that our worst areas are the physical ones involving eating better and exercising. Drat! Landon seems to be the only one doing well in either area, though I'm not sure his fruit eating is as good as he thinks it is.


I ended up walking on the indoor track at the Fitness Center this morning (14 laps to a mile...ouch!) It felt like I was walking forever, but it really didn't take that long and I was listening to a book on my iPod so that was good. I also did a Yoga Stretching dvd when I came home, and was reminded how far I've fallen from whatever flexibility I once had. Oh the humanity!


I cleaned out the door of the fridge today and wiped it all down (that's so satisfying). Last week I went to grab a jar of salsa to bring to Michelle's house and happened to check the expiration date and found it expired in May 2006! Apparently we don't eat salsa much unless we buy it from Los Hermanos for game night. This discovery prompted the great condiment cleanout of 2009 and I found 3 other expired items that dated back to 2007. Oh dear.

**Do you have any of these cds?
Do you love iTunes?
Do you check expiration dates much?
Did you exercise today?
Any exercise video recommendations for me?**

Creative Friday--Generalities Edition

Michelle and I finally got smart (it's only taken us a few years) and decided we should take our self-portrait at the beginning of Creative Friday, rather than at the end when make-up has been smeared and weariness has set in.


We took this picture in the first 5 minutes of me being there and all I can say is "Why didn't we figure this out sooner?"


We had sat on the stairs to take our picture because it's the best spot for lighting, but then Eva arrived and wanted Michelle to read her this book. I thought they were so cute together and had to laugh that Eva was happy to read the book anywhere and didn't see anything odd about sitting on the stairs to read.

It was Max's turn to be home sick for the day.

I brought Taco Amigo for lunch. Michelle had emailed me several suggestions for lunch, but they all involved medium to high effort on her part and I just couldn't justify her losing time catering to me (she does that far too often already).


Michelle worked on making thank you cards and kept saying ridiculous things like "I don't know what I'm doing at all, maybe I don't know how to make cards." I had to remind her to give herself a smack and tell her to quit making such silly generalities. She's a creative genius whether she likes it or not.


I made some cards and wrote a bunch of cards so it felt like a very productive day to me. I'm always surprised that I have so much to say, but when I take the time to think about it someone always comes to mind.


Michelle took this picture of my new ring with my word for the year on it. I think having the constant reminder will be helpful for me, though it didn't seem to factor in at all when I had several of the extra donuts I bought for Whitney's teacher's birthday on Thursday...oops.


This was my final output for the day, is that pleasing or what?! I have an envelope full of various denominations of postage and was surprised and annoyed to find that I am out of .42 cent stamps! What the?


As I was getting in the car to leave Michelle's house I noticed how blue the sky looked and took this picture. We've been having fog and rain this week, which is very weird for January (it should be snow) so the bright blue sky seemed very cheery and nice.

**Can you believe Michelle's generalities?
Do you like my ring?
Do you keep many postage stamps on hand?
Has your sky been blue?**

Creative Friday--Peas Edition

It's Friday again, and I miraculously made it to Michelle's house by 10:40 this morning. I'm always in a rush because I help at the school on Fridays and can't leave there until 10:15, but usually it's later than that, plus my stop at Sonic and the drive to Michelle's usually means I don't get to her house until just after 11:00. But Eva was at preschool for a make-up day today so we really wanted to take advantage of the quiet time before she got home at noon.


Michelle's copper pumpkins are fabulously festive on her front porch. Do you have a monogrammed pumpkin at your house, I don't?


I brought Michelle her usual Vanilla Diet Coke, but somehow ended up with a large instead of an extra large cup of ice. I know I ordered an XL, but they brought me a large and I didn't say anything about it. It was half gone by the time I got to Michelle's house, dang it!


For lunch today we had this fabulous tortellini, sausage crockpot meal (I don't know what it's called) with peas. It felt like such a real meal and was perfect for a brisk fall day like today. I also found out that I like peas...who knew?


Michelle (wearing her cute, new sweater) worked on gratitude journals again. She's pretty sick of working on them, but she's got some serious skills. Even though I've seen her in action tons of times I'm still surprised that she can use Mod-Podge without ending up covered in it. I have no such skills and usually end up a sticky mess.


I wrote 6 cards and put a package together then sorted through the correspondence container I always bring with me to her house. I'm always dumping stuff in there and then am annoyed that it's such a mess, so it was nice to find out what I had in there.


Michelle and I are increasingly distressed and disturbed by our neck and chin area and were laughing because we're going to have to start suspending the camera on the ceiling in order to get a shot taken from high enough above us to slim down our faces, hence our strategically pensive poses for today's self-portrait.


I thought it was cute and funny that Michelle was wearing slippers today, I need to get in on that. Maybe I could keep a pair there for Creative Friday purposes, especially since I'm almost always wearing flip-flops and do tend to get cold feet all winter.

**Do you like peas?
Did you mail anything this week?
Do you wear slippers?**

The Great Outdoors

Last night was our first flag football game of the season and it was a doozie. We've had 3 practices so far, but haven't had all the kids at all of the practices so some of them weren't real clear on what they were doing, plus the team we played was awesome. We lost 19-6, not that the score is the point of the game, but still.


Landon has improved tremendously since last year, so he has a better understanding of what he needs to do and has much more body control so he's good at running, catching and throwing. Woohoo! I'm so happy for him. (Remember last year when he would be fighting back tears when we practiced in the front yard together or when I posted about his eye of the newt style of playing?)


He played really well in this game, and could have done even better if he'd had more opportunities to get the ball (dang that coach for trying to let everyone have a turn, ha).


It was a seriously beautiful evening with a light breeze and a perfect temperature. I found myself consciously thinking "I love this air, I love this place, I'm thankful for this breeze."


I took generic statistics for the team again (like I did last year) as one of my assistant-coach duties. Apparently I enjoy holding a clipboard, and it will be nice to have a record of how each player did by the end of the season.


I snapped this self-portrait after the game and am thinking that all of the sudden I'm NOT aging very well. My forehead fissure seems more pronounced and my girth is expanding. I guess that's what happens when I haven't been gymalicious since May 5th! My gym actually went out of business this past week, so I've got to figure out a new plan.



In other news, Whitney brought the most random mix of things to occupy herself with during the game. She brought her tiger Leo, who was sporting a head scarf-type thing Whitney made out of a cut up pair of tights, a cape made from a cut off pair of fleece Jammie pants, 2 cups, a plastic spoon, 1 plastic door from a Barbie closet (could that be more random?), a sea shell and a clothespin...that's my girl! (I think it's also funny that she's wearing a skirt and a baseball hat.)

**Can you believe it's football season again?
Are you usually consciously
thankful for your surroundings?
How's your girth/regimen these days?
What do you think of Whitney's random items?**