Fighting Hunger Together

Walmart, the "Evil Empire", the store everyone loves to hate but can't seem to stay out of, is running a fight hunger campaign/contest on Facebook right now. They listed the 100 communities in the U.S. that have the greatest food need. Facebookers can go to the Walmart contest page and vote for their (or any other) community and Walmart will give $1 million to the top vote getting community's food bank. The second though sixth place communities get 100K for their food bank. This has started a food fight between Fresno and Salk Lake City. For the past several days these two communities have been trading first place. The contest ends in about 2.5 hours and currently Salt Lake City is holding on to first place by a significant margin... about 1,079,036 votes. That sounds like a huge number, but anything can happen on Facebook... Both sides have people accusing the other of cheating, but really, regardless of who comes out on top, the hungry in the top 6 voted for communities will all be winners. I feel bad for the communities that come in seventh through 100th place (by the way, Palm Way-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is currently in last place with only 185 votes... SLC has 5,148,327 votes, of which, if my guesstimate is right, more than 10K are from me!). Thanks Walmart for doing something to take a small bite out of hunger!

Santa Delivered!

McKenzie loves me & how do I know? The wire whisk says it all! Thank You!

To Nap or Not to Nap?

Both of my big boys stopped napping shortly after they turned two. I fear Miles will be the same. I'm trying to decided what to do with him and naps. Since the boys have been on Winter break, Miles' nap schedule has been sporadic. There have been days that he hasn't napped and days that he has. His nap time has been progressively moving later which moves bedtime later as well. On the days he doesn't nap, he gets grumpy beginning around 5 p.m. and goes to bed around 9 p.m. When I try and put him down for a nap, it has been turning into a 90 minutes wrestling watch in which I emerge as the victor, but I've had a large chunk of my time wasted and Miles sleeps later so he won't go to bed at bedtime and I suffer for that at my end. I've also noticed that when he doesn't nap, he is sleeping better at night and sleeping in longer. Last night he slept for 11 hours. The other day when he took a nap, he wouldn't go to bed until 11 p.m. then he was up in the night and woke up at 6:30 a.m. Yuck! I know he still gets tired during the late afternoon/evening, but the naptime fight and late afternoon naps are counter-productive, in my opinion. I don't know what I'm going to do... I guess I'll just watch Miles for clues and take it on a day to day basis.

My Unfulfilled Wish

All I really wanted was a wire whisk. It's all I've wanted for the past two years. Just saying...

Powerful Words

It's amazing this power that words contain. I know that a child who is genuinely angry thinks the words "I hate you" are full of power (I have always found it funny the first time each of my children have been brave enough to say those words to me!). Others think that "I love you" are the most powerful. For me, the most powerful words are "Thank You". I love hearing those two simple words. When combined together they convey acknowledgment of something kind that someone specifically did for that person. Sometimes those words express appreciation to a tablemate passing the green bean so the recipient didn't have to reach over the gravy (and get gravy on his/her sweater sleeve) while trying to reach the beans. Other times, the words "thank you" follow a compliment offered by a companion. "thank you" means that one has realized that another went out of his/her way, sometimes at great expense and other times at the spur of the moment, to do something to enhance or benefit the recipient in some way.

Sometimes I think the absence of "thank you" is even more powerful than when the words are expressed. Absence of "thank you" indicates selfishness and pride. The one who couldn't say "thank you" refuses to acknowledge that someone reached out or went out of his/her way to offer an act of service (large or small, it does not matter) to the other person. I don't expect to receive a "thank you" in return for every little (or big) thing I do. If I did, then I think I wouldn't value the words "thank you" as much as I do.

Christmas night, after all the hoopla was over and the boys were getting ready to head downstairs for their movie time, Nolan came and found and gave me a hug and said "Thanks for all the stuff". At "presents" time, he was too excited to say "thank you" but his enthusiasm conveyed it. At the end of the day, he found the "magic words" and his simple expression of thanks was my favorite gift of the year.

Christmas Cards

Are Christmas cards becoming an archaic past time? I've noticed that the number of cards we receive have been on the decline for the past several years. I know some people say that it's gotten too expensive to send cards, but most of those people didn't substitute an e-card or email instead of a USPS delivered card, they just stopped sending anything. While I am not a fan of the e-card or email, I'd rather receive that type of correspondence instead of nothing at all. Other people don't think a holiday greeting is necessary because rather than being limited to annual contact through the Christmas card, they use facebook to keep tabs on their friends much more frequently. I like to receive Christmas cards. It's the one time of the year I look forward to checking my mail. I plan on continuing to send Christmas cards, but my list may become even more selective. If I don't hear from "friends" for a few years, then I can assume that we're no longer friends and I don't need to send that a card anymore.

This One's For You, MOM!!!

I "promised" my mom a blog post that was just about her. Today my mom showed her true colors... she's a blonde. I made her the annual Christmas ornament, but in addition to the ornament I also bought her a necklace and a set of bracelets. The best size box I had to put the jewelry in was a sample size cereal box. I took the Kashi out of the cereal box and put the jewelry inside, taped the box shut,wrapped it up, and shipped it off. My mom didn't mention the jewelry this morning when I called them, but I didn't think anything of it. Tonight I called back to chat with my parents because my youngest sisters were off doing their own things. Sometime during the call, my mom asked me if I'd opened her box of cereal and then taped it shut. I was thinking "duh... that's how I put your present inside the box." I thought my mom was just acting dumb but in time, I realized that she thought I'd sent her a sample sized box of cereal for Christmas and she'd never actually opened the box. Actually, she'd put the box away with all the other cereal in the cabinet. Nice one, Mom!

Christmas 2010

Christmas officially wraps up in a little over 3 hours. It's been a fun 48 hours. Yesterday I got up and made 3 types of soup (Baked Potato, Pasta Fagioli, and some "Exotic Mushroom" kind (my sign of true spousal devotion as I despise mushrooms) and 2 types of rolls. Then we cleaned up the house and got ready for Dan's parents and brother to join us for dinner. Jonathan and Nolan both started off their meals with dinner plates full of rolls and no soup. Then Nolan remembered that he likes Baked Potato soup and went and got a bowl. Then Jonathan decided to try Nolan's soup and went and got himself a bowl- the first miracle of Festivus, I mean Christmas! After dinner we Skyped with Dan's brothers in Japan and Dallas. Fun time! After the Skype session, our guests left. Dan and I set out the Christmas presents then called downstairs to the Big Ones, who were watching A Christmas Story, that Santa had come and that they'd better stay downstairs until tomorrow!

I was the first one up this morning... 8:30 a.m. The house was quiet. Dan wandered out not long after. Miles woke up a little after 9 a.m. and the Big Ones appeared shortly before 10 a.m.- dressed and Jonathan was clean shaven (I guess he truly believed me when I said "no shave- no presents!). We started opening presents shortly thereafter and finished up around 11 a.m. The best presents moment occurred while Jonathan was opening a gift. Nolan wanted Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii and I told him he was not getting it. I'd bought him Super Mario Galaxy 2 (or something like that) and I'd bought Brawl for Jonathan (but I didn't tell Nolan that!). Nolan was happy with Galaxy 2 until Jonathan opened Brawl. Jonathan opened Brawl enough to read the game title. He got a funny grin on his face and said to Nolan something along the lines of , "You know how Mom said she wasn't buying you Super Smash Brothers Brawl, well, she never said she didn't buy it for me." He showed Nolan the game. Nolan shouts out "Mom, you're so mean!". We all thought that was really funny. Once again, Miles was not into Christmas presents. Once he found the tube of mini M&Ms in his stocking, he was perfectly happy. He still has 6 presents to open. I think his favorite gift was toothpaste- he has been carrying his tube of Buzz Lightyear toothpaste around all day- he even took it to Grandma's. We spent part of the afternoon at Dan's parents' house then went home and I cleaned up the wrapping paper mess, Dan put Miles down for a nap, and the boys played on the Wii. This evening Dan went to Bountiful for his mom's family thing. The boys didn't want to go and we knew Miles wouldn't like the event (or would be trying to destroy Dan's aunt's house) so I am home with the boys who are multitasking by playing the Wii/clarinet while watching Toy Story 3.

I liked the pace of today. Late morning, laid back afternoon and evening! Pretty much a perfect Christmas.

Devoted to Amazon

I was supposed to receive a package sent by Amazon via UPS yesterday. It didn't come. I checked the tracking info and it said "delivered" to Provo, Utah. Nice. I don't live in Provo. I verified that I gave Amazon the right address to ship the package to; I did. Then I tried to contact UPS to find out what they were going to do about the delivery error. It's really difficult to get a human on the phone at UPS. I went through the automated system and all I could find out was that they really did deliver my package to the wrong address in the wrong city. I hung up and called the main UPS 1-800 number and pushed "0" for operator. The automated system told me that it would be happy to connect me to an operator after I used the automated system. I went through the automated system again... no new help... it asked me if my questions were answered... I said "No"... it told me that my response was invalid and I needed to make a new selection. I said "operator" and it told me that was not an available option. Finally I just started pushing the "0" on the phone and finally I got a human! I explained the situation and the operator said she needed to transfer me to a different department. That department said the wait time would be about 35 minutes. Nice. I waited and cleaned my kitchen while on hold. I finally got a human and I again explained the situation. The UPS rep said that they did deliver the package to the wrong place and they would start looking into the situation. Then the rep asked me if I'd tried to go recover the package myself. Whatever... that's their job. Mr. Rep told me to contact Amazon on my end because that would speed stuff up and that UPS would call me by 10 a.m. today to update me on the situation. They didn't call back...

I notified Amazon via email about the problem and got a weird ESL type of response telling me that UPS couldn't find my address and I had 3 days to go pick up the package. That info didn't jive with the UPS info and at the end of the email it said that if the response wasn't sufficient, then I could click a link for more help. I clicked the link and it gave me the option to talk to a real live human. It said to put my phone number in the box and click "send" and an Amazon rep would call me immediately. Skeptically, I followed directions. I clicked "send" and my phone immediately rang. Jace from Amazon was calling. I explained the problem to him. He apologized and said that if it was acceptable, Amazon would send me a replacement product with overnight shipping at no charge. Remember, Amazon did not make the mistake... UPS did. If I no longer wanted the product, Amazon would refund the purchase price and the shipping. I requested a replacement product. In addition, to compensate me for the inconvenience Amazon gave me a $10 account credit. Wow! Thanks Amazon! They apologized for UPS' error... UPS never did. Amazon offered to make it right... UPS didn't call me back when they said they would. Yea for Amazon.

Oh, late this afternoon, I did get a call from UPS. They recovered my package and will redeliver it next week. So now it looks like I will have 2 toothbrushes... what it the ethical thing for me to do? I don't want 2 spiffy toothbrushes so I guess I'll send one back to Amazon, if they pay the shipping. It will be interesting to see how Amazon handles this!

Happy Festivus

December (and into January) is the busy holiday season. It seems like everyone celebrates something ...Chanukah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, Christmas, a combination of events, or maybe Festivus. If you're not a Seinfeld fan, then you probably haven't heard of Festivus and don't celebrate this epic holiday. According to Seinfeld, George's dad made up Festivus (but really it was one the writer's father who invented Festivus, the show just popularized it). If you're a Festivus celebrant, then instead of a tree, you proudly put up an unadorned aluminum pole. Then there is the Festivus meal where the "Airing of Grievances" occurs. This is where you let everyone know exactly how you feel about them and how they have disappointed you over the past year. That awesome bonding experience is followed by the culminating event... the "Feats of Strength" which is a free-for-all wrestling match which lasts until the head of the household is pinned and Festivus is then over. What a lovely holiday. Dan is all for the aluminum pole. The 6-foot pole with stand is only $39 at wagnercompanies.com which is comparable to buying a Christmas tree at Rite-Aid. It takes up less space and the cat wouldn't climb it... it may be worth looking into... Nah! I choose Christmas.

Rain?

I just looked up from the computer screen and realized it is raining. Yesterday we had a lot of snow so today's weather is going to turn the snow piles into a sloppy mess in the valley. It's snowing in the mountains... 33" inches of new snow in the past 48 hours at the resort where the boys have passes... I can't believe Dan is being so patient about waiting until there's "enough" snow before taking his fellow ski bums to the hill for the first time this year. But it's raining in the valley. Being positive... at least I don't have to shovel the rain! At least we didn't go the Las Vegas Bowl to watch the Utes take on Boise State... I can't think of anything more miserable than having to watch football in the rain. It's raining though and my garage is filled with water. It's raining and Jonathan is supposed to go Christmas caroling tonight. It's raining and the boys wanted to go sledding. It's raining and Jonathan is supposed to go to a snow party tomorrow. It's raining... I'm going to have to wear real shoes to the grocery store and I'm going to get wet. It's raining... sigh...

2010 Revisited

I stole this idea from a blog I stalk and that blogger "picked up this idea from some of the blogs over at Scientopia and really liked the idea. If any one else wants to give it a try, you post the first sentence from the first post of each month. Let's see what my year looked liked."

January- (Technically my second post since the first post of 2010 was a video) Santa came.

February- Dan is ecstatic! (Miles started eating ketchup)

March- I bought Miles a package of 600+ Toy Story stickers at the dollar store.

April- Last night the boys asked me if I was going to make them an April Fools mix-up dinner this year.

May- Nolan's teacher is expecting her first child and tomorrow his class is giving her a baby shower

June- Summer is here and at this house, we don't believe in the "lazy days of summer"

July- Confession... Miles isn't completely weened yet

August- I can cross that off the "What Miles has accomplished" list

September- Yesterday, Miles and I were out for a walk.

October- We have pumpkins!

November- More tidbits about Halloween that I omitted last night...

December- I had a flashback today that took me back to the late 1970's/very early 80's and to reminisce about my first alarm clock.

Okay- Wow! I blog about really boring things and I can't believe that anyone actually reads anything I post (but since my blog is for me, who cares?)! One thing I did notice as I looked over the 2010 posts is that I've started adding reflections and memories rather than just the day-to-day happenings in my life. These changes were brought on by me thinking about Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was thinking about how her books are basically an embellished calendar of her life. She rarely shared emotions other than bliss. I want to know more about her- did she ever have to go to time-out? Did she have attachments to any physical things? I started thinking about when she was packing her trunk to get married and she mentions packing up a box that sat on a shelf (actually I think it sat on a "whatnot")... what was this box? Was it special and why? What did it mean to her? Did she have a favorite food... "Anything you put on the table is good, Ma." Did she have a favorite color? My favorite chapters in the "Little House" series are the ones where Laura is mad (at Nellie Olsen or Miss Wilder) because it shows me that Laura Ingalls had depth and wasn't always perfect (like her grades). Because of thoughts like these, I recorded my thoughts about my first alarm clock, my banana seat, and the really heavy Thanksgiving Day newspapers. Chronicling day to day happenings really doesn't tell you about a person, but recollections add additional dimensions to the author.

The Frost Has Melted

The frost around my heart, that is. I've been doing all the Christmas prep... the decorating, the gift buying, cards, Christmas programs, etc, but I've felt like I've just been going through the motions and that I haven't really been in the Christmas groove. That's been true until today. I've been reading the "Sub for Santa" spotlights in the paper all month. Each time I finish reading a blurb about some family that needs help this Christmas I've thought, "Poor family, I hope someone helps them". Yesterday I was reading the "help this family" spotlight and at the end of the blurb it said something along the lines that there were still over 400 families in Utah County waiting for a Sub for Santa sponsor. I thought "Oh sad! I hope they all find someone." Then it hit me... I could be a family's "someone". I emailed the United Way and asked to be matched up with a family with teenage boys. Almost immediately they emailed me back with the information for 2 families. I took my boys shopping for the families yesterday. It was a nightmare... parking was bad, the stores were so crowded, Miles was tired, the stuff I needed to buy wasn't on sale and I didn't have time to go on a wild goose chasing looking for a bargain, and I still wasn't really into the whole thing. We brought stuff and took it home and sorted it, then we called the families to make delivery arrangements. One told us to come anytime. The other asked us to come today between 8 and 9 a.m.

This morning we woke up to about a foot of wet, sloppy snow. I went out around 7 a.m. and started to shovel. In 20 minutes I shoveled a stripe about 6 feet wide by the width of our driveway. It was going to take me forever to shovel the driveway and we needed to deliver the gifts this morning. I thought about calling and rescheduling but I was afraid that the families would think we were stringing them along. I needed shoveling help so I went and dragged Jonathan and Nolan out of bed to help me ("assemble the minions") and let Dan stay inside with Miles. My "minions" and I shoveled and shoveled. It was after 8 a.m. when we finished. Dan and I left to deliver the gifts around 8:30 a.m. We arrived at the first family's home and I knocked on their door and the mom answered. I handed her the gifts and she sincerely thanked me and then handed me a Christmas card that her boys each had written a thank you note in. I thought that was really cool. We drove to the next family's house. We pulled up to this 4-plex. A man and his son were out shoveling. I told them I was looking for the "X" family. They said they were the "X" family. I was worried about the boy finding out why I was there so I showed the man the Sub for Santa papers and he asked me to bring the packages around to the back and his wife would come out and meet me there. As I was leaving the little boy (he's 10) asked me if I needed help getting my car out of the snow. How awesome. I was there giving something materialistic to his family and he offered a gift of service to me. I thanked the boy and assured him that my car would be just fine in the snow (I love my Subaru) and then we were on our way.

The acts of kindness given and offered to me by those I was attempting to help far overshadowed what I had to offer to them. In trying to help another, I am the one who benefited the most.

My Nerves are Shot

The piano repairman/tuner has been working on my piano for the past 2 hours. He's tuning it now and I'm about to lose it! He's being very precise on the last upper octave of the piano and I can't handle the constant high pitched "ping, ping, ping". It's driving me nuts and I want to tell him that that part of the keyboard is just fine... no one plays those notes anyway!

Will I Ever Use it All Up?

Years ago I bought Christmas wrapping paper at Costco. I'm starting to think that was the biggest mistake of my life. The paper was cute, had lots on the roll, and was cheap. I've accumulated 4 rolls of Costco Christmas Wrapping paper that I've been using annually and exclusively for all the gifts that stay in this house for at least the past 5 years (and I know I've had one roll for at least 9 years because my sister-in-law and I bought the same roll of paper together before she moved 9 years ago). At the rate I''m going it's going to take another 5 years to get through the rolls. I hate the paper. It's "cute" and I'm over that phase now. I think the paper regenerates itself as it sits in the basement for 51 weeks of the year. So, here are my options... suck it up and keep using it (and buy really large presents next year... like buying everyone a king size mattress!), donate it to a Sub for Santa organization for them to use next year, or take it back to Costco for a refund because Costco takes everything back!

So wrapping Christmas presents... I understand why people hire others to wrap their presents. I hate wrapping presents, but am a believer that all gifts (with few exceptions... such as a live giraffe or elephant) must be wrapped for Christmas. Once upon a time, I loved wrapping presents. I even used to beg my mom to let me wrap my siblings' Christmas presents because I enjoyed wrapping presents (and I liked to get a preview of what they were getting). Those were the days... now it's the second to last thing I do before I am ready ready for Christmas (the last thing to do is clean). Today was wrapping day and hours later, I'm basically done... I have one gift to wrap (times 4), but have to think about how I want to wrap it. It's a challenge because it is small, flat, and rip-able so I need to think of how I want it wrapped... in a box? hanging on the tree? a treasure hunt? I'm not sure, but I'll come up with it!

Midway 2010

We just returned from our annual Pre-Christmas Midway escape. Truthfully, while it was good to get away, this year I didn't have the best time. First, there is almost no snow... that means no sledding or cross country skiing. Second, it rained while we were there which means stay inside or get really wet. Finally, the biggest bummer of all was that the pool and spa were closed for "complete refurbishment" and will reopen this coming Tuesday. Lame! So what did we do? We drove to Midway on Friday evening and keeping with tradition, it was snowing as we drove to Midway (lightly though instead of the usual near-blizzard) Friday night we watched Despicable Me (I love that movies... best animated film of the year and since I haven't seen any non-animated films this year, it's also my favorite film of the year!), then we played the dice game version of Phase 10. We "slept in" Saturday morning then tried to get a plan together. Dan and the big boys decided to go to the Olympic Park in Park City and watch the world cup luge event. I stayed in the condo with Miles. The big guys had a great time. Jonathan was impressed with the speeds that the luge sleds go. They go by in a blur. Miles and I went out in the snow. Miles wasn't thrilled. He wanted to eat snow, but he wouldn't wear his mittens so he didn't stay outside very long. It was better for me to go get him a bowl of snow so he could eat it inside. Miles took a nap, we played, we got bored. The big ones came back. We ate dinner, then we went swimming. The place we were staying made arrangement for people to use the facility at The Homestead, but you could only go once per day. The boys were disappointed because they think it's fun to not take towels to the pool, then swim for a while, then get really hot in the hot tub, then go outside and run back to the condo. The pool at The Homestead was too far away for them to play their psychotic game and not get frostbite or get me arrested for child neglect, endangerment, or abuse. We all had fun at the pool (even though it was really old and dirty, and dark). Miles is a danger-baby as he has no fear of the water. He loves to jump in without holding his "catcher's" hands. Swimming lessons time! After swimming we watched Elf, then Miles and I went to bed and the big ones watched an Ernest movie. Today, we got moving at a leisurely pace, packed up, and drove home. While the escape was less than ideal, it's still so fun to get away (and Dan's boss didn't even call once!).

A Little Out of Season

I bet all you locals think this post is about the unseasonably warm weather we are currently experiencing... nope! It's all about pumpkins, well actually, just one specific pumpkin that I bought totally out of season. The other day I went shopping with Amy because I had 2 gift certificates that were burning a hole in my pocket. The first stop was Rod Works where I bought a picture frame to display our new family picture in. Then we went over to a store in Lehi called "Scrooge and Marley's". That is one strange store. It's kind of a "locals preferred" boutique with signs that said things like "What happens in Lehi stays in Lehi" (I never knew Lehi was such a wild town), and "Lehi, a great place to grow". They also carry a lot of Willow Tree things and a lot of other "cutesy" items. I found a Christmas tree picture that I thought was fine- I didn't love it, but it was cute and cost as much as I had a gift certificate for. I was about to buy it when the store owner asked if I'd checked out what was in "the barn" yet. I said "no" and she told me to head out there and see if there was anything I wanted instead of the tree picture. We went out and peeked in "the barn" and I immediately fell in love with a pumpkin. I just had to have the pumpkin. It's totally impractical; it's huge (like at least 3 feet across by 2.5 feet high) ; it's completely out of season, but I had to have it! It's a wrought iron "frame" pumpkin with a really cool stem and tendrils. I checked the price tag. It was originally marked $124.99. It was 75% off, making it $31.25. I had a $25 gift certificate so I paid $8 out of pocket for this large and glorious gourd! It fit in the back of the Subaru; Amy secured it by tying it up with a seat belt. I brought it in the house and the boys had fun with it. Dan wanted to know how much he could scrap it for. The plan is to hang it from a hook in the garage ceiling until fall when it will grace the dead front flowerbed. I love it!

Christmas Day

We were not allowed downstairs to see what Santa brought until we were dressed for the day. I remember thinking this rule was mean because it took so long to get dressed. To speed things up Christmas morning, often we would sleep in our clothes. Yes, I'm sure that saved a lot of time because as a child, it really does take a long time to get dressed.

Once we were properly dressed and allowed downstairs, there were no rules! We didn't have anyone in charge of passing out gifts. We didn't have to take turns opening gifts. No wait, there was one rule... keep opened presents off the floor so they didn't get stepped on, ruined, or thrown away. Generally we started with our stockings. There was always a banana, an apple, and an orange. We never got socks or (even worse) underwear in our stockings, we got "good" stuff! Mom and Dad always waited to open their gifts until we kids were done. Sometime we actually stuck around and watched them open some of their stuff. We never individually received candy, but candy was always set out on the dining room table- M&Ms and peanut clusters.

We spent the rest of the day doing whatever while my mom prepared an amazing dinner. We had prime rib. My favorite part of Christmas dinner was the fan potatoes! Fan potatoes are potatoes that are thinly sliced, but not all the way through. They are rolled in butter then roasted. The outsides get all crispy and the insides are soft. Still my favorite way to eat potatoes!

Now I'm the grown up. I make my boys get dressed before they can open anything. Sometimes I tell them they have to shower and practice their instruments before presents. I don't think I've even made good on that threat, but the idea is appealing. My boys check out their stockings first. Oranges, apples, and bananas are still part of the stockings (but sometimes I substitute Clementines for the oranges). Dan grew up getting a king size candy bar in his stocking, so we've incorporated that into the stockings as well. Usually the boys get "practical" stuff- toothpaste is a lame gift, but they regularly get a tube of it. The "tree presents" are still a free-for-all. Everyone has to thrown the wrapping paper away after each gift is opened. I fold all the wrapping paper up so that it takes up the minimal amount of space possible in the recycling bin. After we finish our morning family time, we had over to Dan's parents to say "Hi". We don't have a traditional dinner because Dan's mother's family has a big get together on Christmas night and we eat whatever is there. Sometimes we go, other times (usually dictated by stormy weather) we stay home. And that is what we do for Christmas!

Got a New Toy

Yesterday I got the Baker's Edge Brownie Pan as a very unexpected gift (Thank you, thank you, again and again!). This is the "S" shaped brownie pan. I love edge pieces of brownies and this pan ensures that every brownie piece has at least 2 edges! I love the crispy, slightly hardened edge of brownies. I don't like fudgy or gooey brownies- give me the completely cooked corner pieces! Now I can have a "corner brownie" every time I have a brownie. Yea! Last night I had to try it out and it is amazing! It actually lives up to its claim to be "The Brownie Pan for Edge Lovers". It cooks the brownies evenly (I hate gooey centers); the browies slide easily from the pan. I bet I could use it to make a really cool snake cake too! The only downsides are that the pan is not dishwasher safe and that I'll probably gain 20 pounds from making brownies more often!

Christmas Music

Once upon a time, many, many years ago, my family went Christmas Caroling with my cousin's family and a bunch of other people who were probably people that I knew but now can't remember who was there. We gathered around the piano in my cousin's house to warm up and to see what songs everybody actually knew. I remember warming up with We Wish You a Merry Christmas. I was joyfully singing along and must have been singing loudly. I remember singing "Good tidings we bring to you and your KING, We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." After the song was over, one of the adults had to point out my word blunder and announce to everyone that the word was "kin" and not "king". I was really embarrassed.

I was fortunate to take piano lessons from a teacher who did not believe in Christmas Recitals! I knew it was Christmastime when I was told to bring Jesu Bambino, Away in a Manger, the Christmas medley, and What Child is This? to my lesson. I love those arrangements! The other day, Jonathan asked me when I was going to play the medley piece. I told him that it would have to wait until the piano repairman comes. He'll be here on Tuesday and I plan to dust off that piece Tuesday evening. While I didn't have to play in a Christmas recital, I did have to provide music for shoppers. One year I played on an ugly white grand piano that was set up in a major mall traffic (walking traffic)area- it was right outside the Hello Kitty store and I remember thinking about all the bubble gum scented erasers in that store as I played. I entertained mall shoppers with Christmas songs for about a half an hour. A few other times I provided music for Christmas shoppers at a boutique-ish store in Livermore during their Christmas open house. After I finished playing there, I got to choose any ornament I wanted from their tree. I remember choosing an angel with porcelain hands and head. I thought she was lovely.

Other Christmas music opportunities were the annual junior high and elementary school band concerts (painful to listen too!); my 8th grade band performed at the mall; and one year I sang in a choir that performed Handel's Messiah.

Gingerbread People

My mom always made the fanciest gingerbread people. Every Christmastime, she would roll out dozens and millions of gingerbread men and women and then spend, what seemed to me, hours making them fancy. She's use red hots for the eyes and raisins for the buttons and mouth. Then she'd "dress" the people by piping outlines of clothes on the gingerbread cookies. She'd put dresses on some ladies and skirts and blouses on others. The boys would wear shirts and pants. Sometimes they got ties and other times they got pinstriped pants. They were awesome. Sometimes the gingerbread people would get a little mutated and their eyes would melt while they were baking. The raisin buttons would get too hard to eat as well, but we always had the best dressed batch of gingerbread people in the free world.

One time, my mom decided that we would make gingerbread ornaments. Mom rolled out the gingerbread people and we decorated them with salt dough. I was probably 3 or 4 years old. I had no sense of "style" and completely covered my people with flattened blobs of salt dough. They were funny. Several years ago, I discovered that my mom still had one of my creations. It no longer graced the tree (because it was both too heavy and ugly) but still lived in the ornament box. I wonder if she still has it...

Nolan's Christmas Recital

Nolan had his first violin recital on Monday. He played The Two Grenadiers by Schumann and Angels We Have Heard on High. I was his accompanist for the Grenadiers piece and he and his teacher played a duet for his other piece.

Where in the World is Dan?

Dan is on travel again. He always seem to have a end of the year business trip. So, where is Dan? Dan is in Midland, Texas. "Where?" did you say? That's what I said. I was guessing that Midland was in north-central Texas, near the Oklahoma border. Nope! Midland is in west Texas not far from the southeast corner of New Mexico. He is meeting with field engineers, this I know because he took his hardhat and steel-toe boots with him. So... Midland... since I knew nothing about Midland, I turned to Wikipedia for the final, official word on Midland.

Midland is located on the railway, midway (hence the name) between Fort Worth and El Paso. Midland has about 100,000 residents. The local school district is the city's largest employer. Midland is the administrative center of the west Texas oil field (that would explain why Dan is there). There are 3 high schools and a junior college in Midland. They have a public library and a mall. Ten local television channels serve Midland. I thought their notable residents were interesting... Wikipedia lists practically everyone who ever lived there, but those you may have heard of include Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, the Bush family (both Daddy and Shrub), and Jessica McClure (the little girl who fell down the well and was rescued). For some reason, Wiki also lists someone named Steven Dale Green, a former Army pfc, who was convicted of rape and murder. Why he is notorious, I don't know, but why list him (who is obviously a substandard citizen) as someone "awesome" from your city?

Hurry home Dan, and leave the west Texas twang at the border!

Christmas Memories

Christmas is under control at our house, I think. The card are mailed, the California package has been sent, the shopping is done, gifts are sorted, and my index finger is bruised from making my mom's annual ornament. I still need to wrap most everything. 2 gifts are still in the possession of the USPS or UPS. I need to put together the neighbor gifts and Dan's work treats. All in all though, I feel on top of the holiday! I did procrastinate working on my mom's gift. Every year I make her a beaded ornament that involves sticking hundreds of pins in a satin ball. It took me 2 days to finish the ornament, and while my hands are busy, my mind has a lot of free time to wander. I started thinking about Christmas and what memories I have. I wonder when my boys are grown, what they will have memories of.

I love advent calendars because they were a part of my childhood Christmases. One advent calendar has become a family tradition. It's a strip of fabric with a Christmas poem on it. We hang Hershey's miniature candy bars on the fabric and eat one candy each night until the bell at the bottom of the fabric is reached on Christmas Eve. My boys appreciated this advent calendar more when I told them that they were the 4th generation of Madsen blood to be a part of this advent calendar. My grandmother made the one that hung in our house when I was a child.

We always had a real tree growing up. We never went to the tree lot to pick out a tree, we went to the tree farm and cut down our tree. We'd drive to the tree farm, which was located right in our city, borrow one of their saws, then wander through the maze of trees until we found the "right" tree. We'd saw it down, haul it out, pay, get our sticker advent calendar from the tree farm people, then we'd tie the tree to the roof of our car and drive home. Once I remember picking a tree that was so big that it seems to engulf the entire VW Bug we were driving. When Dan and I bought our first house, we decided it was time to get our first Christmas tree. I went to a nursery and picked out a tree. I really missed going to a tree farm and cutting down our own tree. The next year I found a place in Payson where we could cut down a tree. We drove out there and tromped around in the the slushy, muddy slop and found a tree. We paid and were given apples on the way out. We hauled the fresh tree home on top of our little car. Christmas was right again. We returned to the Payson tree farm for several years. One year, we drove to get our tree to find that the tree farm had been sold and that it was now a subdivision. Sad. Now we are the owners of several (okay, 8) artificial trees. I've developed an allergy to evergreens and physically feel much better not having real pine/fir/spruce/whatever in the house. I'm glad I got to share the tree cutting experience with my boys though.

More memories to come...

Feeling Festive?

Tonight I sat down to assemble the Christmas cards... card, picture, and letter all in the envelope (which I addressed and stamped a while ago). I thought that some nice festive music would be fun to listen to as I checked one more thing off my "to do" list. Amy found me a fabulous song that I just had to share...

Her Annual Photo

Third year in a row... the cat in the tree. Get out... Go climb your cat tree and leave my tree alone.

Cheese! More! More!

Miles was looking really cute wrapped up in a blanket today. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. He loved the flash and kept saying "More! More!" after each picture. Too Cute.

The Mouse in Our House

Something has been nibbling at our gingerbread house. The pretzel fence is missing. The "pine" tree in the front yard is missing. The m&m's "lights" are gone as well. Today, I caught the mouse in action...

So I Can't Type

I know I can't type. I spend so muich time corrcting my mistakes. I am the queen of typeos. so I thought I would be fun to write a quick post that is not corrected so you all can see just how aflu of a typist I am. I'ts a good thinkI never aspired to be a secretay becuase no one intheir right mind would hire me. I did taky typing (yes typing, not keyboarding) in high school and I did well nthe class (because I was the teacher's pet), but any skills I gained inthat class have been long lost. IO think it moght me a good idea for me to start playing typershark on the computer or completing a mavis bacon tyoping series. By the way, as much as I tried not to correct anything I typed, my pinky in auto trained to his the backspace button and make corrections that my brain know have been made. So, as bad as this post has been typed it really should have been worse.

Look, that last sentence was typed without a tyop!

Gingerbread Houses

Last night we had a "local family" gingerbread house decorating party. Aly's family, Leslie and Pieter, and Amy came to play. Nolan said the party was dumb and he wasn't coming, but guess who was right in the middle of everything? Last year when Christmas items were 90% off, I bought 4 houses to decorate, so this party was in the works for over ten months. Each family got a house to decorate in whatever manner inspired the exterior decorators.
The frosting was so hard to work with. First, it had to be kneaded to "warm it up" so it would flow; then it got too soft and ran off the house. Amy's creation... icicle perfectionist. (I don't know why this is underlined in blue)Nolan's amazing house!

Wounded Weekend Warriors

Our weekend was filled with bumps and strains, bruises and cuts. I guess that means that we were busy! The only person to get through the weekend unscathed (or at least not whining about any injuries) was Jonathan. Nolan has dry cracked bleeding hands because he refuses to wear gloves outside in the cold and refuses to treat his sores. He also has sore biceps from pushing a door shut while on a "mission" at the Space Center. I think he was trying to keep the aliens out of their ship (He explained it to me, but I think to really understand you had to be an active participant in the action). Miles walked into some molding around a windowsill and has a nice bump below his eye. I tripped/kicked Miles' trike which resulted in skin being scraped off of two toes (try wearing shoe when you don't have skin on two toes). Dan is the winner though. On Saturday, he was being "good" and was installing new blinds throughout the upstairs of the house. He was raising the biggest (and therefore, heaviest) blind up and the brackets popped open and the blind fell and hit him in the face cutting him both above and below the eye. The cuts were straight, but quite deep and the one below his eye would pull open every time he blinked. Instacare visit for Dan... he came home dermabonded! Sorry, no bloody pictures. I know everyone is disappointed. You're welcome.

Holiday Concerts

The holiday concert season is upon us. There are 4 concerts that my boys are in for us to attend within the next 2 weeks... Jonathan has in 2 band concerts and Nolan has a school orchestra performance and a violin recital. Actually, last night we attended the first 2 of 4 concerts... Nolan's school orchestra and Jonathan's Jazz Band concert.

Nolan is 3rd chair violin this year (which is awesome since he is only a second year violin student). His school orchestra combined with the school choir for a concert, and let me tell you, I'd rather listen to the stage full of elementary school students playing string instruments than listen to the school choir. Here's the orchestra playing Jolly Old St. Nicholas.


After Nolan's concert, we hurried over to the high school for Jonathan's concert. He plays in a small jazz ensemble with 8 other jazz musicians (but his teacher said that the ensemble was actually a large ensemble, so if Jonathan's group is a large ensemble, then what's the other jazz group that played called?- they had at least 20 musicians in it!). His group is for the students who want to be in a jazz band but can't fit the jazz band class in their schedules (or for the diehards who can't get enough of jazz band and play in both groups. They meet at 6:45 a.m. (one more reason I am looking forward to Jonathan getting his drivers license). Jonathan was the featured soloist in the piece "The Kings of Swing".

Family Pictures 2010

I finally decided that we couldn't/shouldn't put off having family pictures taken. I scheduled a photo shoot with my friend Kristine and 2 weeks ago, we met her "on location" for our shoot. It was a cold, overcast day. Miles was completely uncooperative. Well, yesterday we got our pictures. What do you think? P.S. Ignore my blurry hand in picture #3... it's being cropped out!

My First Alarm Clock

I had a flashback today that took me back to the late 1970's/very early 80's and to reminisce about my first alarm clock. I had a cheap white plastic rectangular alarm clock. It had a clock face, hands and all. I don't recall digital being invented then! To set the time, I turned the clock over and pushed the knob "in" while rotating the knob until the hands got to the correct time. The alarm was a small gold hand. To set the hand, I pulled the "time setting knob" out while rotating the knob until the alarm hand was at the correct wake-up time. To set the alarm, there was another knob on the back- pull it out and the alarm was set; push it in and the alarm was off. It sort of looked like this clock...Now, this "cheap white plastic rectangular alarm clock" was pretty high-tech because on the top of the alarm clock was a rectangular button-- a snooze alarm. I never used that snooze button, and because of my first alarm clock, I never have used a snooze button. My first alarm clock had the most awful sounding alarm ever. It sounded worse than a spoon in the garbage disposal. I hated my alarm clock and I remember never sleeping well when the alarm was set because the alarm sound was so terrible that I would wake up throughout the night to check to see if it was time to get up so I didn't have to hear the alarm. If the alarm did go off, I never hit the snooze because I didn't want to hear the alarm again. Fortunately, I was able to train myself to get up before the alarm went off. The alarm clock made a click sound before the alarm sounded. I trained myself to hear "the click" and shut off the alarm really fast so I didn't have to hear the "buzz-of-death." That alarm clock, as awful as it was, taught me that when an alarm clock goes off it is time to get up. I've never had a problem getting out of bed in the morning when an alarm clock is sounding.

All Done! All Done!

That's what Miles said when we took him to see this man...

An Unhappy Memory

I went outside today to get the newspaper. It brought back a yucky memory. Beginning when I was 10 years old, I had a paper route. My first route was a once-a-week "throw away" publication. There were no subscribers; everyone got the 12-ish page paper whether or not they wanted it. I earned about $10 a month delivering that paper. We moved, and I graduated to a 5-days-a-week publication that turned into a 7-days-a-week publication. I had to go collecting and attend "settlement" monthly. I remember making about $65 a month delivering for that newspaper. I didn't like the Sunday delivery because it was the heaviest paper. In fact, the Sunday inserts (advertisements) would be delivered to me on Saturday and I had to collate the ads to get them ready for Sunday's delivery. Wednesday was the next worst day because that paper was the next heaviest. Tuesday and Thursday were the lightest days. I'd get up and deliver my route (yes, I "porched" the papers) under the cover of darkness because I didn't want anyone to see me delivering the paper, not because I was embarrassed of being a papergirl, but because I was scared of people.

One day a year was the worst day EVER to have a paper route. That was Thanksgiving day. There were so many Black Friday ads and they were so fat and so heavy that I couldn't carry the ads and the newspaper all at one time in my paper delivery bag. I remember trying to carry half of them at a time because I hated having to go home to get more papers- that just took longer, but I couldn't even carry half of them at one time. I remember the most I could carry at a time and still be able to walk my route was 8 papers. That meant I had to make 8 trips out to get all my papers delivered.

This morning I went out to get my newspapers and memories of Thanksgiving deliveries returned. Yes, today's newspapers are not delivered by young teenagers or 'tweens, and no one walks paper routes anymore, but I still felt bad for the delivery guy who had to throw my papers out his car window (in the near zero degree temperature). I wonder how cold it was inside his car since his window had to be down to throw the paper onto my driveway. I wonder if he had a sore arm at the end of his route. I felt my delivery guy's pain and anguish at the Thanksgiving day delivery.

I brought my 2 papers inside and separated the ads from the newspaper. The ads are on the left and the newspapers are on the right.In case you were wondering, the newspapers combined weighed 1# exactly. The ads weighed 9 pounds 10.125 ounces. So, how much Black Friday shopping am I going to do? Probably none. Maybe I'll go to the Bosch store and pick up some cheap yeast, dough enhancer, and wheat gluten. Maybe. If I feel like it when I wake up tomorrow.

Thanksgiving is All About Pie

I like to think the Thanksgiving feast is one big appetizer leading up to the main course of PIE. I really do not like the traditional Thanksgiving feast and I tolerate it knowing that when it is all done, I get to eat pie. Today I had whole wheat rolls, mashed potatoes, and green salad (spring greens, peeled cucumber, Asian pear, raspberries, pomegranate arils, and sliced almonds served with raspberry poppyseed dressing) as my appetizers while I anticipated pie.

Growing up I always wanted to like sweet potatoes, stuffing, and turkey. I was fine with turkey, but have never understood why people want to eat soggy bread for dinner or why marshmallows were ruined by being put on top of sweet potatoes. I also wanted to like olives. I loved wearing olives on my fingers, but I cannot eat an olive. When it comes to pie, I dislike banana cream and pumpkin pies. I like most fruit pies; I cannot think of one I do not like; however I don't like double crust pies. I like crumb toppings. I guess cherry is my least favorite fruit pie, but I always want to like it when it has a pretty lattice crust on the top, but I really don't love it because it tastes like it came out of a can. I remember having at least a half dozen types of pies to choose from at Thanksgiving- give me my mom's Lemon Meringue!

I remember my first Thanksgiving with the Belliston family. I tolerated the traditional foods anxiously awaiting my reward of lots of slivers of lots of different kinds of pies. I was so disappointed to find out that the only type of pie served at a Belliston Thanksgiving dinner was pumpkin pie. There was no reward for me that year.

This year we had dinner with the Belnap family. There were only 19 of us this year. Knowing that pumpkin pie is usually the only option, I came to dinner armed with pie! I made 2 lemon cream cheese pies, 2 "darker" chocolate mousse pies, 1 Brazilian coconut pie, and 1 cranberry white chocolate pecan pie. When we arrived, I was delighted to see Lynn making more pies! He made blueberry and apple pies. Yummy! I ate until I was oversatisfied. After dinner, we went to Aly's house for a pie party (because Leslie is all about pie too- duh... she married "Pie"ter, and because Aly made lots of pies too)! At Aly's house there was lemon cream cheese pie, milk chocolate pie,"darker" chocolate pie, pumpkin, apple, key lime, and my pecan pie. Yummy again!

Now we are home and guess what I am going to have before I go to bed? Yep- more pie. I didn't take my coconut pie to the Belnap's and didn't have time to stop home and get it before going to Aly's, so it hasn't been touched yet. I think it will make a fantastic bedtime snack.

The Storm of the Century

Yep, that's what they were calling it. Big Blizzard, Snowmageddon II, whatever. We were told to have your 72 hour kits ready. Make sure your gas tank was full. Be prepared to be without electricity. The universities canceled classes. Emergency broadcast notices were sent out. We were told to expect 12+ inches of snow with 60 mph winds and near zero temperatures. Well, it is cold out there. Our snow total? None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Instead, last night we had a sprinkling of rain that evaporated before the real cold arrived. Am I complaining? Not at all. I didn't want to shovel today. I hate driving in the snow (and with dry roads, Jonathan can have another driving lesson today). Nolan will be sad. He was planning on sledding all day. Yesterday afternoon I was talking to McKenzie about the incoming "storm" that was to bring snow statewide; neither of us were panicking about the pending storm and I did take the attitude of "We'll see, Point of the Mountain has a weird way of affecting storms". True again. However, I take comfort in knowing that I was prepared for "The Storm of the Century" even though that preparation proved to be unnecessary.

Dreams

I usually do not remember my dreams, but for the past 2 nights I've remembered the BORING dreams I've had. The interesting thing (in my opinion) about my dreams is that both dreams had people from my "new" neighborhood in them. I guess that means that I'm feeling settled here, at last? Maybe? I mean, it's only been 17 months.

Dream #1- Tuesday morning. This was the last dream of the night. How do I know? Read on... There's a lady up the street and a-ways-away who is a whiner/complainer. She has a negative opinion about just about everything, at least in my opinion she does because she only calls/talks to me when she's "on one" about something. So Tuesday morning this lady is in my dream griping about this, that, or the other. My alarm went off, and I thought "Good! Now she has to go away!". I'd never been so happy to have my alarm go off. I have since banned this lady from my dreams...

Dream #2- Tuesday Night/Wednesday Morning. Stupid dream. I dreamed that Shonagh Davis, from the old neighborhood, Lucy Pierce, from the new neighborhood, someone else (can't remember who) and I were all going to get our flu shots. That's it. That was the dream.

My dreams are lame. My dreams are practical. I wonder how a therapist would interpret my dreams... probably something like "you are very practical and live a boring life..."

Random Ramblings

I am in my kitchen blogging on a laptop! Could it be? Have the Belnap's become techo-geeks? No, not really. Yes, I bought myself a laptop for my birthday, and yesterday we did get wireless internet, but since we still don't have cable or dish network, Tivo, or even Netflix, we are still officially un-cool.

Utah's is expecting to get hit by a massive snowstorm today... we're under a "blizzard warning". In anticipation of this storm, I went and ran errands this morning. I wore my tall boots. I'm almost 5'9" when I wear them! I hope my feet will forgive me, they were "tired" after being in the boots for several hours. Anyway, I went to Kohls and put Miles in one of their stroller/carts. That gave me a new appreciation for tall people who try to push strollers. With my boots on I had to stoop to push the stroller. I think all strollers should come with telescoping handles to accommodate people of all heights.

At Kohls I was exchanging that bra that I blogged about last month... the 36D that I distractedly grabbed. I found the right size and went to the customer service booth to make the exchange. I told the lady how I'd grabbed the wrong size and needed to exchange it for the right size. She looked at the returned size then she looked at me and then at the size of the bra I was buying and then back at me and then said "obviously". Nice.

My last stop with Miles was Costco. All I needed was a bag of pecans, but $143 later, I left Costco (milk, stamps, a sled, produce, Christmas garland, etc). I hate that. On the way out, Miles demanded food court lunch. I stopped and got him a piece of pizza even though it was only 10:30 a.m. He didn't want the pizza; he wanted a Coke. Thanks Dan for introducing Miles to carbonation.

Now we are home and waiting for the boys to get out of school and for Dan to leave work. Once everyone is "safely gathered in" then let the winter storm begin, if it really has to.

A Conversation with Miles

Yesterday was Sunday so we went to church. Midway through Sunday School, Miles was through with church and his nursery teachers brought him to me. I took him home and he immediately took a nap. After nap-time, Miles and I had the following conversation.

Me: Miles, did you go to nursery today?
Miles: 'es.
Me: Did you play with the cars?
Miles: 'es.
Me: Miles, did you cry?
Miles: 'es.

It was fun to have our first "real" conversation!

Oh Wow?!?

Jonathan got his learner's permit today. He and I stopped at an empty parking lot on the way home from the DMV and let him try out driving. I let him drive my precious Outback. It is a standard transmission so I warned him about the clutch. He only killed the car once before getting the clutch out semi-smoothly. He did a big lap around the parking lot (at a fairly fast speed) before he wanted to try parking. He parked fine, but was baffled as to how to back up when the car is sitting on a slight decline. After a big, bumpy clutch-popping experience, he agreed that he was done driving for the day, and I drove us home. It should be an interesting few months around here as we learn to accept a new driver in the family.

A Sure Sign of Adolescence

Today was the big day for Nolan... Braces! This day has been on the calendar for nearly a month. Nolan's assignment for the past month has been to wiggle his last baby tooth out. He hadn't worked on his task much until I started bribing him with money... $5 was mildly motivating, $10 was more so, but it wasn't until last night when I said I'd pay him $50 to get that tooth out that Nolan got really, really motivated. He worked on it a lot last night and started in on that tooth again this morning. Finally he was "ready" for the string to be tied around that tooth. I attached the string and he gave the tooth a big tug. Unfortunately the tooth did not come out. It made a bloody mess and now can be twisted all the way around, but it won't come out.It was time for the orthodontic appointment, so Miles and I took "snaggle-tooth" to his appointment. Nolan was afraid that Dr Hyde was going to "yank my tooth out". Nolan was really tense in the chair. Dr. Hyde tilted the chair back and Miles started to freak out. "No-nin! No-nin! No-nin!", Miles cried. Miles needed lots of reassurance that his "No-nin" was just fine. Dr. Hyde said that he'd leave Nolan's tooth alone if it didn't interfere with the wire. Lucky Nolan- it didn't! About an hour later, we left the ortho office- Nolan is sporting braces on his top teeth with red and navy blue elastics!

It Wasn't Just Any Rock

Nearly 12 years ago, I brought home a salt-crusted rock that I found on the shore of the Dead Sea. While we lived in Pleasant Grove, the salty rock was displayed on the "purple and white things" shelf in the dining area. When we moved, I didn't want those items together anymore and so while I was trying to decided what I did want, I put the salty rock on a shelf in a closet. Yesterday, this is what I found...That is my special Dead Sea rock, however it is no longer salt crusted. Evidently, my little friend pushed something over to the closet and climbed up on it and got my rock down. He then proceeded to lick all the salt off my rock. Sad. My "special" rock is no longer special to me- now it is just a rock. Miles is happy to add it to his collection.

Trip to Smiths

I went grocery shopping today and my favorite checker (checkette?) asked me how I've been because she hadn't seen me for a while. I had to laugh. I did a stock-up on "extras" grocery run today. I bought...

• 1 bottle Basalmic Vinegar (I knocked a bottle off the shelf and onto my foot today. The bottle broke open, vinegar went everywhere, Nolan asked "What reeks?")
• 3 big bags Golden Puffs
• 3 big bags Frosted Flakes
• 8 bags Pasta
• 10 boxes Granola Bars (I could not believe that we are nearly out!)
• 5 boxes Captain Crunch (new experience for my kids... I think this cereal is nasty)
• 6 boxes Cookie Mix
• 12 boxes Pudding (mmmm, lemon cream cheese pie...)
• 5 tubes Toothpaste
• 2 Toothbrushes (Miles will be happy!)
• 12 2-liter bottles 7-Up (don't worry neighbors, you're not getting them for Christmas)
• 30 cans Vegetable Broth
• 1 Bagel (to keep Miles happy and busy)

That would be 98 items! I had the cart brimming-full. It all fit in the cart, including Miles! Then I went to pay and the baggers didn't have a magic touch today and they had to put bags "under" the cart, next to Miles, and one bagger had to accompany me to the car carrying 2 bags with him. My pre-tax subtotal was $165.98. I paid (pre-tax) $41.92. So while I had another great grocery store victory, I now have to haul the 98 items (okay, 97... Miles ate the bagel) downstairs and put it all away.

Weekend Escape

Jonathan had 2 band competitions in St. George last weekend. We decided to go to St. George, see the band compete and to play. It was kind of weird because Jonathan wasn't with us. He traveled, hung out, slept, ate, etc. with the band. He even went home with the band while we stayed another night in St. George.

We left at 7 a.m. Friday morning for St. George. The band left at 6:30 a.m. We passed them just outside of St. George. Their first competition was around noon. We were the water providers for the band. After the band performed and rehydrated, we took off for some fun. The other day I was reading on someone's blog about "Little Black Mountain" which is just over the Arizona border. It sounded fun so we went to check it out. There are lots of petroglyphs and cool rocks to see. Miles thought the dirt was the best. He also liked the metal platform that you stand on to see the petroglyphs. His jumps echoed off the mountain. Nolan liked trying to squeeze his body through the crevices. There were ancient petroglyphs, and some not-so-ancient pertroglyphs...... loser modern man.

After we got back, the boys went swimming.

On Saturday, Jonathan and the band were the third band of the day to compete, which meant we had to be up early. Again, we were the "hydration specialists". Nolan and I got field passes to help the pit get their stuff onto and off the field. By 10:30 a.m., we were done with "band duties". Nolan mentioned that he wanted to ride the rollercoaster at New York New York in Las Vegas. Since we were only 120 miles from Vegas, we decided to take him. It costs $14 to ride the coaster once and $25 for an all day pass. We bought the all day pass and Dan and Nolan road the coaster 4 times while I entertained Miles in the arcade. Then we crossed the street to M&Ms World (crowded, silly, and expensive). After that, we were done with Vegas and drove back to St. George. On the way back, I took a picture of the Las Vegas Speedway for Jonathan. The boys went swimming again when we got back.

Jonathan returned home with the band on Saturday and the rest of us stayed behind in St. George to sleep. Sunday morning we got up and drove home. We missed having Jonathan with us. He managed quite well without us.

Loose ends...

#1: We did drive the Prizm on this trip. We crossed the 100,000 mile mark just outside of Las Vegas on the way back to St. George. #2: While I hate the drive to St. George, 80 mph speed limits are nice and make the drive less painful.
#3: Getting a little sunburn in November is weird.
#4: Miles added 2 more states to his "States I've Been To" list... Arizona and Nevada.
#5: There ought to be an ordinance against this type of yard ornamentation. We drove by this house many times in St. George.