Better Than I Thought

When faced with this day I felt many emotions, some of which were, annoyance, pity, determination, optimism, pessimism, and whinyness. (Please consider that I was only in day 2 of what appears to be a rough cold.)

• Alarm was set for 7:19am, I pressed snooze and didn't wake up until 8:22am.
• Presidency meeting at 8:30am (#$@!) until 9:30am.
• 15 minutes at home for some Instant Breakfast and a bathroom break.
  
• 9:45-11:15 I took Landon to band, read at the park, then drove him home.
• 11:15-11:45 I showered and got dressed!
• 11:45-12:30 Stopped at Wal-Mart for Dayquil and ice for the cooler (not pebble ice), dropped Landon off at Michelle's house, picked up Whitney and a boy from church from Art Class.
• 12:45-1:45 Frantically got ready for Day Camp (i.e., pack a lunch, put on make-up, wrangle Whitney to get her stuff together, this time flew by way too fast).
• 1:45-8:30 Go with the Activity Day Girls and 3 other leaders to Day Camp for some sweaty fun.

My day ended with a cool shower, Taco Amigo for dinner with a fresh cup of pebble ice (courtesy of Randy) and some quality time watching So You Think You Can Dance with Landon. I'm amazed that this day went as well as it did, but I'm still glad it's over!

**Do you mentally prepare for busy days?
What has gone better than you thought it would?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Is it possible to unhinge your jaw while yawning?

Losing Track of Time

{Amy's cute window decorations}

On Thursday night we met at Amy's house for our December book club gathering (our last one without Michelle, woohoo).


Jana brought pizza, I brought snickerdoodles, Amy provided hot chocolate and fudge, Collette brought fabulous cranberry muffins (I can't stop thinking about them), and Jenn brought festive sugar cookies. I always love the mix of food we have, even if (or perhaps because of) the number of treats we end up with out numbers the savory items.


We loaded up our plates then headed downstairs to Amy's theater room where we could all have a comfy chair and blanket to ourselves.


We talked and talked for a long time before got to the book discussion part of the evening, then ended up having a good conversation about the book. It's a Young Adult book (we wanted a quick read for December) but prompted interesting thoughts from us.

Around 10:45pm, Collette decided she needed to call it a night because she had to be up for work at 5:00am the next morning.


The girls and I fell back into talking after she left and were shocked to find that it was 1:42am by the time we finished! What in the world? I guess being in Amy's clock-less theater room and having good friends to talk with just made the time fly by.

I think it's funny that reading books is what brings us together because we spend such a small fraction of our nights together actually discussing the book.

**Have you read this book?
What are your favorite foods to bring?
Does your book club spend much time on the book?**

Halloween--Not a Paris Post

We interrupt our Paris posts to bring you tonight's Halloween festivities...you're welcome!

This Halloween officially marks the end of any sort of cute kid-type costumes for our family since both Landon and Whitney went for gory face paint driven costumes this year.

{2002}

Gone are the days of a very excited Spiderman and the world's cutest Teletubbie, I didn't know the time would fly so quickly.

Say it isn't so!

The cousin count has increased since then too, there were only 5 then.

Now there are 8.

I'm not comfortable with the passage of time.

Can you believe I didn't take my camera trick or treating with us? I have finally decided to rely on Amy's brilliant photos since mine never turn out in the dark (she has a super nice camera with high ISO capabilities). It was liberating, except for the fact that I don't have access to those photos at the moment.

Upon returning, Adam put Ghostbusters on in the background while the kids surveyed their loot. Can you believe I've never seen this movie the whole way through? How did I make it through the 80's? I honestly don't know, but I've only ever seen tiny bits of it.


Whitney was actually distracted enough by the movie not to be blinded by the bounty of candy in front of her...I should have taken her temperature, something must be off!


Randy took Landon and Austin out for an extra half hour of trick or treating (Landon's idea of course), which resulted in tons more candy because many of the houses they visited were closing up for the night and dumped hand fulls of candy into their bags.


Of course there was sorting to be done. Landon proclaimed it "the year of the Kit Kat!"


It was a good night and the 7th year of our traditional family gathering at Adam and Amy's house. I like having this tradition, but am a little bummed out by how old the kids are getting. We have to rely on Ashley for the cuteness quotient, so she better stay little for a long time.

**Did you go trick or treating?
Do you still have cute costumes happening?
Are you comfortable with the passage of time?
Were you a candy sorter?
What's your favorite candy?

Comment Window Tidbit: I feel like I woke up this morning and realized my kids are big. I thought that wouldn't happen until they hit their teens, but apparently ages 9 and 11 are it. Dang it.

Five for Friday--Half Way Through Sept. Edition

Is anyone else freaked out that it's already the 18th of September? Apparently time really does fly. I'm trying to remember back to when it didn't feel that way.


1. Whitney started taking art classes at the house of an artist in Pleasant Grove 3 weeks ago and she absolutely loves it! I don't know why I never thought to find lessons for her before, this was a total fluke thanks to a friend from church mentioning that her 5 year old son takes classes there. We were able to get in the first week (it goes the whole school year) so she didn't miss anything.


2. The first 2 weeks of art class found me trying to run errands during that hour, but that ended up being foolish and stressful because there was too much construction (#$@!) and traffic between 5-6pm. So this week I brought my book (Olive Kitteridge) and read and dozed in the car and the hour just flew by. I can't seem to stay awake while reading anymore, and it's got me wondering how I made it through college!


3. The sky was so beautiful last night that it made the atmosphere look orange. Landon actually came and got me from reading in the cozy so we could go outside and check it out. I'm glad he did!


4. I have been watching Season 1 of "Thirtysomething" on the computer and am absolutely loving it. It really deserves an entire post all its own because it is such a brilliant, insightful, pertinent show that I loved 20 years ago and am loving again now as a Thirtysomething myself.


5. Thanks to Thirtysomething and my blog contests I have been rather productive in the good mail department lately. This just makes me happy and hopefully will make some of you happy as well.

**Can you believe it's already September 18th?
Do you ever sit in the car and read?
Do you have a hard time staying awake when you read?
Have you ever seen the orange atmosphere?
Did you watch "Thirtysomething" back in the 80's?
Have you sent any good mail this week?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It's supposedly only 84 degrees today, but I feel like a sweaty hog, what's up with that?

Five for Friday--Poor Taste Edition

1. I can't believe it's July already! I feel like I literally missed the month of June because of our long trip. It was a great vacation, but really did a number on me time-warp wise. In other news, I love this photo calendar I made through Costco.com, turning the page each month is fun.


2. I discovered a new and fabulous treat this week (because I really needed another treat in my life, seriously at some point the word "treat" loses its meaning right). I usually take my pebble ice straight up, but this week made Tang for the first time in years (or possibly ever) and poured it over the ice. It made for a most delicious, chilly delight. The only problem is that I drink/chew/snarf it so quickly that it's bordering on obsession and causes my bladder to fill at an abnormally fast rate.



3. Can you see something less-than-charming in the back, left corner of this photo? Ah yes, it's 5 pounds of horse crap right in front of our house! Fortunately I did NOT see it come to be (if you know what I mean), but I'm scandalized none-the-less. That is a huge load of crap is it not? Shouldn't the rider have come back later with a shovel and a bucket to remove this? How is it going to go away?? It's so big that every time I go outside my eyes immediately target it. Gross!


4. Whitney and I went to see Ice Age 3 in 3D yesterday while Landon was at Lucas' house for the day. It was a double kick in the crotch as the tickets cost $2 more each because it's in 3D (I did NOT know this before getting there) and then because the movie was pretty lame (3D is kind of annoying). Whitney liked it, but I actually dozed multiple times (of course, I hadn't slept the night before, but still).


5. We had a crazy rain storm the other day that produces sheets of blowing rain. That's so rare for Utah in July! I'm enjoying the cooler temperatures and greener mountains and lawns (we haven't even been watering ours), but it's truly weird.

**Do you make your own calendars?
Do you like Tang?
Would the horse deposit offend you?
How do you feel about 3D movies?
Do you like the rain?**

April Fool's Day

April 1.
This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are
on the other three hundred and sixty-four.
~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894

Bunnies?

After writing my SPT post yesterday about needing more productive hours in my day it became obvious to me that I need to take care of the bigger projects earlier in the day while I'm at my best. This isn't what I usually want to do because when Randy and the kids leave I like to come into my scrap room to blog, make good mail labels and cards, and take care of any other creative projects I have going on. I also feel pressed to do these things during the day because Randy has to work on the computer in here in the evenings.


But I psyched myself up and decided to tackle the closet. I moved my iHome into the bedroom so I could listen to my book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) while I fought my side of the closet. It was grim. I couldn't believe how much I had stuffed in there.


I took it all out and piled it on the bed, then went through it item by item to decide whether to keep it, trash it or donate it to DI. It's really not a very big closet, so how did I have so much in there? I worked on the closet for an hour, then got a last-minute invitation for lunch from my dad (very rare). I dropped everything and met him at The Pizza Factory (blast, I forgot to take a self-portrait, probably because he wouldn't have been cooperative.) Then I went to the school for an hour to help in Landon's class room, fortunately Whitney's class was at an assembly so I didn't have to stay to help in there...woohoo (not that I don't like to, just that it was a time bonus for me).


I hate the tangle of hangers everywhere, whether they are in the closet or on the bed. Hangers make me crazy! I returned home and had another hour to work on the closet before picking the kids up from school. I worked like a machine and made a serious dent before I picked them up.


I ended up with 2 bags of clothes and shoes to donate to DI, one whole bag to trash (bleach stained clothes, holey t-shirts, etc.) and a bag of maternity clothes (hello!) to return to Michelle. It felt great to lighten the load in there. Now I have a surplus of hangers, know where everything is, have room to move, and know that the things I have in there actually fit (for the most part).


I was still working on the room when Randy got home from work and ended up being in there until 7:30pm! I cleaned off my desk (I should have taken a before photo, it was horrific) which meant taking everything off of it, dusting it (hence the title of this post), and sorting through everything on there. It was a big job. I don't know why I let so much accumulate on there. I ended up recycling a ton of papers, trashing a bunch of stuff and then putting other things where they actually go. Now I can actually see my desk! I even took all the cards out of my ribbon board, dusted it and then put more recent cards up there. Nice.

Edited to add: Michelle made the awesome ribbon board for my birthday several years ago. She made it following directions from Martha Stewart Living (but I can't find them online, I'll keep trying).

**Do you need to clean your closet?
Do tangled hangers make you crazy too?
Do dust bunnies gross you out?
Where do you put the cards you receive?**

Holy Crap...I'm Prepared

My whole life I've been a last-minute Sally sort of gal. I always waited until the last minute to finish homework, write papers, and study for tests. I thrived on all-nighters. Somehow all the intensity and urgency of being forced to finish gave what I was doing credibility. This habit has carried over into most aspects of my life, including book club and gift giving.

{The shadow boxes Jenn gave us last year.}

It's ridiculous but I often find myself scrambling to finish a book on the day of a book club discussion. This is particularly dangerous and frustrating because I'm not a fast reader and hate feeling like I'm racing through a book. Duh.

{The collage Michelle made for us last year}

In years past I have also approached our Christmas book exchange in a last-minute manner too. Not that I haven't thought about it ahead of time, just that I don't usually feel any urgency about it until the deadline is looming. Also, I tend to get my best ideas when I feel pressured by time. This is a Catch-22 for me because it often means I don't have time to make my idea come to life. Aargh.

{Collette holding the book I gave her last year}

Well this year I'm not last-minute Sally. I finished my gifts for the book club girls last week (hooray, I'm giddy) and even wrapped them yesterday. I'm a present-wrapping spazz so it took me a long time just to wrap 5 gifts. I also had to make a buy a book, make a book mark and wrap these for our book exchange, and am happy to report that I have done all of this! What is up with the universe? Seriously?!


It's such a weird feeling to have these things done and to feel like I'm calm and ready for the night's events and not watching the clock in a panic to finish. Wow. It only took me 36 years to figure this out. Good grief.

**Are you a last-minute Sally?
Do your good ideas come late?
Is being prepared normal for you?**

I'm Okay

I didn't mean to not post yesterday, it just kind of worked out that way (I hate that). Here are the details.


I got up at 7:00am spent an hour reading blogs (I'm way behind this week) then spent some quality time cleaning. I scoured the bathrooms, vacuumed the entire house (including couch cushions), did 4 loads of laundry, dusted, and prepared the kids' room (aka the sleeping chamber) for their return. It may seem foolish to do all this cleaning only to have the kids return to destroy it, but it gives me peace of mind and resets my mental health. The nasty smell in the kids' room seems to be gone and this wonderful Tropical Mist carpet stuff smells so good that now the room smells fresh.


Lori came over and we went to California Pizza Kitchen for a scrumptious lunch. After that we ran some errands (XPedx, Barnes and Noble) around there before heading back home to meet my mom with the kids.


We stopped by Sonic for a Route 44 Diet Coke with lime for Lori and a Route 44 cup of ice for me. As we sat there at the menu it reminds us the Sonic commercials on tv, so I had to take pictures.

Me and Lori at Sonic, waiting for our beverages.

The kids came back last night and promptly aggravated the headache I already had. It was 100 degrees yesterday, and I just can't take that kind of heat (I don't know how you Arizona and Texas girls do it). Even though I'd had a 2 day break I felt spent quickly and couldn't wait for bedtime. Luckily Lori stayed and was helpful with the girls because Randy was out for the night and I was struggling.


Today we're setting up the pool. Whitney found the box in the garage the other day and immediately ran in to ask about it. I tried to deflect her inquiries, but she would not be dissuaded. I ended up telling her they had to wait for the weekend. I'm such an idiot. I should have hidden the box better so it would have been a better surprise instead of a disappointment. It has taken all morning to get this going though because Randy had to go to Big Lots to get a battery-operated pump to blow it up. Now they're filling it, but I think it's going to take a long time. It's 100 degrees again though and they're having fun filling it up, so I they don't care.


Adam and Amy called from their cruise this morning and they still don't have their luggage! Poor schmucks, they left on Tuesday morning and are still wearing the same clothes, but at least they made it to their ship and have had two good days of site seeing.

I just have to add this info. I caught about a minute of this guy singing on Jay Leno the other night and fell in love with his music. I checked out his other songs on itunes and ended up buying the entire cd. I haven't stopped listening to it since yesterday. It's fabulous. Are any of you fans?

All By Myself

You know what? My house is quiet right now and has been all day. I can only hear the whir of a fan, birds chirping outside, and the clicking of my keyboard...this is bliss after having so many kids here for the past few days (yesterday I also had 2 neighbor kids and a kid from church here as well = 9 kids, they did fine but it was loud).


I was so energized last night that I couldn't sleep until 2:00am $%#@!, how frustrating. That threw me off for this morning so I ended up sleeping until 9:00am rather than getting up early, going for a walk and having the morning home to myself. I know it's a luxury to be able to sleep in, but it's also a pisser to lose the morning (especially when that morning is kid-free), it's a Catch-22 really. (I always feel slightly panicked when I'm kid-free, like I really want to make the time count but can't decide the best way to do so.)


My partner and I (who is also my Activity Day co-leader and also my primary teaching partner) went visiting teaching from 10-11:30 and actually saw all 3 of the women we visit teach (it's so rare to see all 3 at once). Hooray! We had good visits with all of them and are done before the half-way point of the month, this makes me very happy because it's important to me that I do my visiting teaching and it weighs heavily on me if we don't do it (like last month) so to actually get it all done in one morning early in the month makes me ecstatic.


I then took myself to the movies to see Ocean's 13. There were only about 6 other people at the 12:30pm showing so it was pretty quiet in the theater, I was often the only person laughing. My sister Lori said she was the only one laughing when she saw it last week as well, what's up with that? It was enjoyable.


I then went to Target for a half hour, then picked up a pork salad from Cafe Rio and went home to eat it in the air-conditioned quiet of the family room with my feet propped up on the ottoman while watching a design show I'd recorded. It was so nice to eat that meal uninterrupted and while watching one of my shows for a change.


After that I just had to go lie on my bed and read for a bit. I managed about 10 pages of Charms For The Easy Life before I fell asleep. Delicious. I got about an hour nap before I had to leave for tonight's Enrichment Activity. It was at our RS President's house in her gorgeous yard. It was paradise. She has lived there for like 40 years so she has huge trees, great landscaping, a small pond/waterfall and gorgeous flowers, I would love to live somewhere like that. I would want to spend all my time out there reading and writing. Poor thing, she's so busy she hardly gets to go out there! If only I could create something like that even on a very small scale I'd be happy. (A girl can dream can't she?)

I have more to say about the visiting teaching message, one of the girls we visit, the promise of a free day, the joy of planning and sending good mail, how freakin hot it was today, the lovely Rudbeckia blooming in my yard, my lack of vacuuming (gasp), but this will have to suffice.

Happy Birthday Susan!!

**Would you be torn between sleeping in
or having your morning alone?
Do you like to go to movies by yourself?
Are napping/reading appealing to you?
Any other thoughts?**