"....?!"

Conversation last night about 5 minutes prior to arriving at a baptism:

Quinn (7yo): Mom, why can't I have a girlfriend?
Me doing an impersonation of a fish.
Rhys: 'Cause Quinn already has a girlfriend.
Me: You do? Who's your girlfriend?
Quinn: Isabelle.
Rhys: Yeah, they even held hands in the hallways for an entire day.
Me, looking at Robert, still doing my fish impersonation.

I guess all our conversations about "dating" haven't quite covered it.

Instant Chocolate Cake

This post requires some effort on your part.

And a sense of daring.

A friend, umm, An aquaintance, someone emailed me a recipe for 5 minute chocolate cake. The recipe is as follows:

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

1 Coffee Mug
4 T flour
4 T sugar
2 T baking cocoa
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T oil
Small splash of vanilla [Is this the equivalent of a tisp?]
3 T chocolate chips (optional) [REQUIRED! I'd through in more than 3T though! In fact, I did.] Some nuts (optional) [I just stuck my finger in - ha ha.]


Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and other wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to share!) [Seriously? Who shares chocolate? And this is 5 minutes cake. Your friend can make her own.]

So I made this cake already and have my own opinions, but don't want to bias any of y'all. Give it a whirl. Let me know what you think.

I'm sure many of you smarties out there can already deduce my opinion but JUST PRETEND YOU DON'T KNOW and try this anyway.

Dewy Shoes

Hello?!

Anyone still there?

Can you believe I haven't blogged for, like, ever?

If you'd been in my head, you would have had more blogging than necessary but I'm guessing that none of you are the voices that live there? [Unless you are....are you?]

What to blog....what to blog....

Rhys' team took second place in their Elementary Water Polo Tournament and Rhys got a taste for how nasty water polo could be.

Dad: Hey Rhys, I saw you elbow that kid in the stomach.
Rhys: He wouldn't get off me!!

Rhys came out of the last game with red marks galore. But he still wants to play this spring.

Quinn will be testing for his blue belt in Tae Kwon Do in a few weeks. We've also discovered that there is quite a bit of scar tissue on his ears from the two sets of tubes he received but according to the audiologist (we went yesterday) he still manages to hear just fine. He also nearly beat me at Othello. He is wicked smart!

Lulu is sassy as ever and so in love with shoes. I bought three pairs (all thanks to Lizzie because I am so not a shoe hound) that were on clearance (I do love a good bargain) for only $4 each. Lulu was excited.

Lulu: Mom, what kind of shoes are these?
Me: They're just flip flops.
Lulu: Ooh, what kind of flip flops?
Me: Pretty ones.
Lulu: Here, put them on....now the other one. Oh, those are great.
Lulu: (standing at the door to my room) Come here Mom! (to the boys) Aren't these great shoes?

Two of my shoes are the same style but one is plain black and the other is faux snake skin. She wasn't impressed with the black ones but said, about the snake skin ones, "These look really good on me.

Seriously. Where did she get this gene? I had one pair of dress shoes up until a few months ago and those shoes were left over from when I worked full time so they were, ummmm, 8 year old (and they looked about 20). When I was a senior in high school, I didn't own a single pair of shoes (try finding a size 9.5 in Juneau, Alaska in 1993. Could. not. be. done.). And now my daughter? She LOVES shoes. Loves them.

And....because I've been storing this since the middle of October...

I MET SHERI DEW!!! (And yes, that is about as good as her smile gets.)

She is so my favorite LDS woman. I LOVE her. She has such a fabulous testimony and perspective.

I went to Time Out For Women in Portland in October, mainly because Sheri Dew and Chieko Okasaki would be there (met her too). At the end of the seminar, I whipped out of my seat and stood next to Sister Dew. She finally finished her conversation and turned to me.

Instant tears.

Yeah, I'm so classy.

"Iloveyouandthinkyouaresuchanamazingwoman!"

Yeah. I know. Don't you wish I would stalk you?

Sister Dew had clearly been through all this too many times in the past and, with the line stretching out behind me to meet her, wasn't quite as thrilled to meet me but it was a fun moment. I can die happy now.

Ummm...hmm..what else to say....

Anyone wanna see the shoes?

Poetic Park Prose

Days like today are magical. I've often been asked, "Which is your favorite, summer or winter?" I've always picked winter because of the hot temps of summer and the mystical grace of a world made pure white. As I've lived, though, I find my greatest joys are not in the extremes but in the beauty in between. Today is such a day.

I sit here at a park; the sound of children's laughter and the clink of grey chain link mix together in my ears. The sun is warm on my back and the wind blows, rustling the hair on my arms. A teenage maple tree sits at my side, her bark cracked and spotted by age, disease and human misuse. But she speaks ever so softly a sound that pierces the chaos and bleeds peace into my soul. The rise and fall and brush and dip of leaves sounding like debutantes petticoats at a cotillion. It's an elegant dance that seems endless in the warm spring wind.

Today is glorious - it moves me so because in the stillness is a soft voice that speaks of other wordly things. Oregon is not grand; it does not smack me in my face with a 2x4 pronouncing the existence of God as other places have. Alaska has the water and mountains and glaciers; Snoqualmie, the falls; and New Mexico, that amazing sky. But here in Oregon, God's presence can be felt in the mellow love of warm spring days and the shadowy embrace of a fully clothed maple.

written Spring 2007

[Have I mentioned that I'm a hopeless romantic?]

Next To Godliness

Cleanliness that is and since I've completely failed to maintain my dresser's blessed clean state alone I am reaching out to the greater blogging community for help - DDA as it were (dirty dressers anonymous - wow, no double entendre intended but that's pretty funny).

So, following Suburban Correspondent's shining example, I give you "the stuff I kicked off my dresser this week"; in other words, the difference between this...

and this...

is this.
To the far left, (and no, this is not a political statement Mr. Freud) we have the "garbage pile:"

• Quinn's Halloween poster
• Quinn's spelling test
• Quinn's pumpkin for the class calendar
• a broken button (which I didn't notice while wearing the sweater until after church was over)
• a 3 Musketeers empty wrapper (to be fair, it was actually full when I clean off my dresser but I deserve some chocolate for cleaning before 8am)
• 2 bank deposit slips and junk mail
• bouncy ball (must get thrown away because these cause nothing but mayhem and harm)
• a dead bit of plant that I cut off and must have missed
• an empty pencil case
• little bits of Halloween fun from Quinn's teacher (why, oh why do they send this stuff home?! I am so throwing it away before he realizes it's gone and wants it.)
• 3 used tissues and an empty ear plug bag (I snore, therefore I am)

Next, in the "Need To Be Put Away" pile (which does overflow a bit and touch the garbage pile):

• a thermometer (from when Lulu got sent home last Tuesday with a fever and yet, half an hour later, when I took her temperature at home, there wasn't one. Curiouser and curiouser.)
• 2 pieces of stationery for love letters
• a privacy policy from the clinic I went too (I never did blog about that....)
• a vehicle registration I've been looking for
• a box of tissues
• Lizzie's pink sweatshirt
• 2 pens, an orange crayon, a suitcase key (like I can use those anymore), an empty water bottle (which I will refill)
• sewing/mending bag
• rechargeable batteries, unused tissues, tampon
• recipes copied while tending the book fair last month
• two addresses that I need to copy into my address book
• Study information for Robert on outboards (it's what I put under the laptop when I'm using it in my room)
• P90X information - this is the workout stuff I've been doing with a friend (do you see now why I was so happy to have completed and entire workout?!) It's meant for people in shape not really overweight people so we're just mucking along.
  

Behind the "Need to be put away pile" are 4 dirty shirts that need to go in the wash.

On the far right are clean clothes to hang up (including my husband's dress pants and tie from Sunday - not political comments aside, I find it humorous that the far right includes dress pants and a tie).

And in the back right corner, my mending pile: Rhys' quillow and umbrella

Whew.

Done at last.

And yes, while I was typing I filled the water bottle, recycled stuff, threw stuff away, hung up clothes etc. (But I didn't mend anything; I simply put in it in the "mending pile" which is no longer on my dresser - procrastination is the stuff of life.)

See how good this is for me.

Just wait until I start posting on the laundry....

Cold Day in July

I found this and LOVED it so I decided to give it a whirl. I opened up all my songs (religious and non) on my mp3 player and shuffled everything and here's what I got:

1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put the artist after a dash following the song name.
5. Put any comments in brackets.
6. Tag some lucky people to spread the disease.

How would you describe yourself?
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me

How do you feel today?
She Talks to Angels - Black Crowes

What is your life’s purpose?
Lord I Lift Your Name On High - Mercy Me

What is your motto?
You Raise Me Up - Josh Groban

What do you think about very often?
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon

What is your life story?
Make Me Cry - Concrete Blonde (Could this be any more fitting?)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Super Duper Love - Joss Stone

What will you dance to at your wedding?
After Ventus - Enya

What will they play at your funeral?
Annie's Song - John Denver (Will that be the name of Robert's second wife?)

What is your hobby/interest?
100 Years - Five for Fighting (I do want to live to be 100....)

If you could do anything right now, what would it be?
Miracle from Heaven - Kenneth Cope (Must be the year of miracles thing....)

What do you want most of all?
Soak Up the Sun - Sheryl Crow

What is your greatest fear?
If I Didn't Have you - Randy Travis

What is your darkest secret?
In a Little While - Uncle Kracker

What is your favorite thing in the world?
Follow Jesus There - Katherine Nelson

If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?
Man in the Sun - Kenneth Cope

What is your theme song?
Healing Water - Michelle Tumes

The next time you hear this song (aside from now, that is), you must dance.
Fairest Lord Jesus - Choir of Paisley (This is going to make sacrament meeting very interesting)

What will you post this as?
Cold Day in July - Dixie Chicks

Because I Just Can't Get Enough of Me

I haven't even been tagged and I'm doing this. Why? Because I just watched the recent episode of Grey's Anatomy but didn't really want to write (and didn't think anyone really wanted to read) another whiny piece on how surreal life is, death comes to us all and I just want to lie on my bed in the fetal position.

10 years ago:
1. I was pregnant, heavily pregnant, with child #1. He was born December 30 and over Christmas all I could think of was poor Mary, riding on a donkey from Galilee to Bethlehem. All I could think of was how to maim my physician when I came in on the 22nd and announced that I was two days overdue and she argued with me. SHE ARGUED WITH ME!! That the 22nd was really my due date. Really, who does that to a seriously fat pregnant woman? Apparently Dr. Kay Taylor of Issaquah, WA (never go to her.) I went home and cried (I know, shocking) because I was no where near delivering. And I so, SO, wanted to be done.
2. Rob and I were living in a tiny (600 sq. ft) house with 2 bed and 3/4 bath. In the "master bedroom," one window looked out on the local hardware store's parking lot and the other was only a few feet from the train track. Toot! Toot! So much fun when you're trying to take a much needed Sunday afternoon nap!
3. Got my first job post college as a file clerk. I was a file clerk with a BA making $8.50/hour with a 1/2 hour commute to Bellevue in nasty traffic. And you wonder why I laugh when people ask what I majored in. (Liberal Arts)
4. I cross-stitched like a mad fiend to get my SIL Julie's Christmas present done - the prayer of St. Frances of Assisi. Literally. I sat my heavily prego butt in a chair for two days straight trying to get the darn thing done before Christmas.
5. Spent a lot of time alone in that little house because Robert was going to school and working. Blech. And I knew no one in this new town. Blech. And I learned that it's near impossible to make friends in a new Mormon family ward when you're working because everyone one else is having family time when you're not working. Double blech.

Five things on my To-Do List today:
1. Get out of bed.
2. Do some laundry.
3. Don't cry.
4. Get out of bed.
5. Kiss Robert

Five Six things that I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off my house and keep as a rental property so we could move. Now.
2. Buy a house in Alaska with an apartment so my dad could live with us.
3. Let Robert buy more guns. And fishing equipment. And hunting trips. And cammo gear. And a boat - because the man needs a boat. And a quad or some other 4x4 vehicle. Maybe both. And a man cave. Because he needs a place to display his fabulous baseball cap collection (which is really more of a Snap-On/Mac hat collection - because they're free with a $500+ tool purchase).
4. Visit Europe (mais oui!)
5. Take the kids to Disneyland and Lego Land and somewhere where I could ride a real roller coaster for the very first time.
6. Buy some vomit bags for #5.


5 Places I have lived:
1. Juneau, Alaska - Amy had all these interesting things to say about the places she's lived. I'm trying to think of any thing noteworthy about Juneau. Technically, it's not even the state capital (that's Wasilla or Willow or some town in the greater Anchorage area) as voters chose to move it; they just never approved the funds to do so.
2. Santa Fe, New Mexico - it was brown. Very, very brown. I grew up surrounded by the very, very green. It took me four years (during which I acquired some HORRIBLE allergies) but I finally learned to love NM for the sunflowers and the amazing sky. And 10,000 Waves. Bliss.
3. North Bend, Washington - It was small. All housing was built either in the 70's or late 90's; there were LOTS of split levels.
4. Small Town, Oregon - I'm surrouded by Christmas trees, cows, pigs and sheep. And lots of scrubby oak trees that are draped with moss and lichen in the winter. If you drive by on I-5, I'll try and hit your car with a rock thrown from my front porch!
5. ? - umm...does it count if I lived there before my memories actually kicked it....Oooh, Even Smaller Town, Oregon where we lived with Rob's parents for 3 mo. It was the closest we've ever come to splitting. I'm so not kidding on this.


5 Jobs I've had:
1. Runner/Clerk for Legal Aid - I had thighs of steel from running up and down the hills of downtown Juneau.
2. Barista - is it anti-Mormon to say I loved slinging coffee? And I was really good at it? (My boss asked me once if that wasn't like being a pimp.) I had regulars that even sent me money at college - they loved me that much! And when I left, they stopped going because the coffee quality went downhill. I've always wondered how much I would love being an actual bartender. It'd probably be great except for the drunks.
3. Customer Service Rep for a Cruise Line - this is how I met my hubby, learned to play cribbage (which I've since forgotten), was personally seranaded by a Barbershop Quartet and had to report that my "20" was in the bathroom. Good times.
4. Bus Driver/Tour Guide - same cruise line/better tips. I ran over my step stool because I forgot it was there and managed to have two accidents while driving a bus. (All with inanimate objects - is that a good thing or a bad thing? Don't worry about my driving unless you happen to be sitting in a parked car.)
5. Orthodontic Assistant/Appliance maker - I learned that soldering is much more difficult than it looks and that the mouth heals quite quickly. I also learned that dental smocks can cover up a pregnancy until well in the 3rd trimester.

*sigh* I'm feeling better already. Thanks for being indulgent so I could cheer myself up!

Tagged 8 by Mary Ann

Are you getting tired of me being tagged? Really? Yeah, me neither. It's so fascinating to talk about me. I love it. And you love to read it too. Know how I know? Because you're still here! ;)

8 TV SHOWS THAT I LIKE TO WATCH:

• Grey's Anatomy
• Eli Stone
  
• Pushing Daisies
• Samantha Who?
  
• So You Think You Can Dance?
  
• Jeopardy
• Life
• Bones

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY: (is it bad that it took me awhile to remember?)

• Woke up and got out of bed
  
• Worked out for an hour (okay, it was just a bunch of stretching but we did it for a WHOLE HOUR!!)
  
• Picked 8 boxes of apples for and with a friend (she has a crazy idea of making applesauce) and a few bags for my family to eat
  
• Washed a few loads of laundry
  
• Tried to figure out if Oregon has a Senator yet.
• Went to Cub Scouts and played Dodge Ball.
  
• Wrote myself a paycheck (and did some other work for the business)
  
• Held a crying friend
  

8 THINGS THAT I LOOK FORWARD TO:

• The Afterlife - actually being able to have all of my loved ones near (including Mom)
• Robert coming home every evening
• My house selling
• Christmas
• Bedtime
• Jesus returning
• Going to the temple
• Lulu's Birthday

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST:

• Traveling the world (not that there are any plans for this one but someday...)
  
• Learn another language
  
• Selling my house
  
• Enough money to visit Lizzie in California after we both move (ach, don't make me cry)
  
• My children's health, happiness, continued well-being and a close relationship with Jesus
  
• A new back for Robert
  
• That the move will go smoothly
  
• Becoming the person I want to be and loving who I am
• And yes, I can count, I know this is nine but still, to write a book
  

I'm too tired to chase after and tag anyone. Consider this a freebie.

Elementary First Aid

Quinn brought home a self-illustrated booklet on first-aid. It includes some rules for preventing burns, "Dont go nere a verv hot stov." as well as three additional, important rules:

1. Dont let eny body push you down.
2. Dont get some body get you mad.
3. Dont get some body els verv mad and puth them mad.

What do these rules have to do with first-aid you ask?

Simple.

"Write 3 rules to stop cuts and scratches before they happen."

After all, he is my second boy.

My Quirks

I've been tagged!! Even after a year of blogging, being tagged still makes me smile. Thank you Zillah. You are so being added to my Christmas list!

So, I'm supposed to list my quirks. You'd think that I would have a whole novel to write wouldn't you but it's actually kinda hard to put all this to paper. Uh, computer.

1. I'm anal about spelling (although I make errors and still love those who can't spell, cough, DH.) and grammar. I'm forever correcting my children (Lulu gets a huge amount of this - it's gave not gived), my husband and even perfect strangers although I do apologize because I realize it's rude. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

2. I'm a little dramatic. Just a little. (Okay, maybe that last bit was a lie.) I use hyperbole all. the. time. I yell, I raise my voice, I cry, I laugh, I dance; I'm a regular after-school special. Is it saying something when you exhaust yourself?

3. I love being naked in between clean sheets. Feels so good.

4. I love being the same as those around me and I love being the odd ball out. I can never tell which is going to hit me at any given moment. But I like to fit in and at the same time I want to be a non-conformist. Is this just saying that, like so many others, I'm never happy? Or is this saying that Gemini was in the 7th house or something at the time of my birth? I may never know but I do occasionally wonder if my birthday should have been in June instead of August.

5. While I see myself as a bad housekeeper (or average depending on view point) they are somethings I cannot tolerate.

Videos must be alphabetized and arranged by viewers; there's a section for Robert, for me, for the boys and for the family and a whole 'nother section for "church videos" which are really Living Scriptures and Liken.

My books are organized as well. I have (or had when they weren't in tons of boxes) a section which is children's books that are mine that my children are not supposed to handle without my express permission or my presense, a section of educational books and then a section of picture books that I actually let them read and fondle (which, I must add, is far bigger than the section they can't touch). There is a section for kids' chapter books, a section for family history and then sections for literature, philosophy, child rearing, crafts and Harry Potter. Zillah has me beat on the color and size sorting - I think about doing that but then little hands destroy my work and well, I just get tired of so much sorting.

CD's should be alphabetized as well. Really, everything should be alphabetized. My children are even in reverse alphabetical order (R, Q, E).

My hanging clothes are sorted by pants, sweatshirts, nice shirts, every day shirts and dresses/skirts. All of the every day shirts are sorted by color so that they look a bit like a rainbow.

I think I have a touch of OCD. (which really, IMH, should be CDO).

6. I find/look for patterns in everything. You may think I'm kidding but I'm so not. My second son's birthday is six days after his aunt's (Robert's sister) birthday and her second son's birthday is six days after mine. Did you know facetiously is an English word that uses all of the vowels, including y, in alphabetical order?

7. I'm an incurable romantic who still gets a thrill out of romance novels. The thing is, I totally adopt the feelings of the heroine. I just read a book that I didn't like at all. The hero was, well, not quite so heroic and there was a lot of needless drama (being sold as a white slave, blah, blah, blah, keep it simple folks!). So the heroine felt all icky and I felt all icky reading it. Why did I keep reading? Because I wanted my happy ending! She should have dumped the hero's ass and moved on. Course they ended up reconciling (me vomiting) and I will end up returning the book to my library's paper back exchange section. Or burning it because (see quirk #4) I do like to burn books on occasion and have even (gasp) burned a Bible. (It's a long story but the short of it is that it was molded beyond use and needed to be burned.)

8. I'm the same way with movies. I will cry, I will laugh and I will yell at them not to get in the car or go down the stairs into a basement when the light switch doesn't work. (Hello?! Have none of these inappropriately dressed Barbies ever seen or heard of a horror flic? Don't they know Tommy's already dead and they're next?) I will hide my face or leave the room or change the channel if they are doing something really embarrasing. I love She's the Man but I do end up hiding my face quite a bit.

9. I like animals. I think every child should be raised with one. But I don't like to have animals living with me. I don't like finding hair every where and I don't like picking up poop. (Thank goodness my boys do that these days.)

10. I like to put my ear on DH's chest and listen to his heart beat. It means he's still alive. I do the same thing to my kids, when they let me. There's nothing in the world as soothing and comforting as a loved one's heart beat. I also like tummy gurgles.

11. When I'm sad or having a really bad day, I will go someplace quiet and imagine myself sitting on Heavenly Father's lap and just letting Him rock me and stroke my hair.

12. I see things move in my periferal vision ALL THE TIME. I'm convinced it's ghosts or other odd things. Or maybe just me glancing at something too quickly to properly process what I'm seeing. Whatever. (See #7) I prefer the ghost theory.

13. This is my favorite number. I also have a special place in my heart for black cats. (Maybe I'm really a witch.) But my real quirk is that I can keep houseplants alive and I can get (most) stains out of clothing. Not a big deal you say? Well, I couldn't do either of those when I got married and starting having kids but now, 11 years later, I'm pro.

Now the fun part, this is so much better then running around in circles and dying from hyperventilation and a heart attack, I get to tag other people. I would really like to hear from all my local friends: Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Carrie, Shelby, Gina and Lacey. I would also (but would really be amazed if they responded) like to tag BiV and Jill (consider this a possible post for NaBoBooBooMo or whatever). And Stephanie, and Mia, and On7 and any anonymous person. IF YOU READ THIS BLOG AT ALL, EVER, consider yourself tagged.

Miracle Update #3

Well, I'm finally getting around to some report on my activities. If I were an organized girl, I would probably post a link to the first Miracle Post but I always forget....Maybe someday but don't hold your breath.

1. Read my scriptures, cover to cover, book to book. I think I'll put the Miracles in orange, an homage to the season. So, I am no where near on target for this to happen but I have started a good regular study period. I finished the Book of Genesis and almost the Book of Moses. I joined an online LDS Bible Study group. The dialogue is greatly somewhat lacking but it's nice to post what I think and to read the thoughts of one other person others

2. Run a mile in less than 10 minutes. I, Maraiya, have started working out. "What?!" you say. "We know," you cry, "You blogged about it before." Yeah, well, truth be told, it only lasted a week. I know, I know. Like I said, I'm waiting for the magical workout that I only have to do once, ever, and be fit for.ever. But now I have a consistent partner (we've worked out two days in a row) and a consistent time (would you believe 5AM!! I would have put the 5 in caps too but that just comes out like this: %, which would be completely confusing!).

As far as the time thing goes, I have a trick to that (because really, getting up before 7/8am is just cruel and unusual). I didn't set my clock back. More, I set it forward 15 minutes. So when I get up at 4:45 am (blech, blech and double blech) I look at my clock and in my groggy coma-like state think, "Oh, it's 6am! Not so bad." And then I get up. If the clock actually said 4:45am, I might have to do something like fall on a knife or just roll over and go back to sleep.

6. Find a charity to support and donate, even a buck every month. Well, I did donate in September to Hopeline which supports 800-SUICIDE. I had hoped to give more in October but no one is spending money to fix their cars which means DH's paychecks are lame which means my resources for donating are limited. I did round up my purchases at Safeway and donated to Breast Cancer Research. I think that counts.

9. Monthly dates with my DH. Through no thought or planning of my own, we did manage to go on a date in October. A friend of the family and surrogate mother and grandmother to us, offered to take all three of my children for the evening. Fabulous. We went to dinner and then opted to just buy two new DVDs and take them home instead of paying to watch a movie. I got Clue. I just LOVE that movie! I laughed, I cried (not really), I was a happy girl.

And we're actually starting to get better about having a conversation between just the two of us. We still have silences as we try to avoid discussion of kids, money and other crises but it's getting better.

10. Volunteer or, potentially, substitute in HS math. I have decided not to worry about this one this year. I am feeling overwhelmed with getting things ready for Alaska (just realized that we need to give some thought to marketing our new area of my dad's business), helping my kids, keeping my home relatively clean etc. etc. Plus, Alaska does have an MAT program (University of Southeast. It's going to be tough to get in though (ha!) so keep your fingers crossed.) so I think my time would be better spent volunteering up there so I can establish connections with the community there. (I firmly believe in the old, "It's not what you know, it's who you know.")

16. Attend a temple endowment session. At least once. Potential bonus points for additional visits.
17. Attend a temple initiatory session. BONUS POINTS! BONUS POINTS! Would you believe I squeaked in another visit and did both again. Love it. Trying to get back again and store up all the memories like nuts because I won't be able to go in Alaska.

21. Find hope again. You may find this hard to believe, what with my many "happy" posts and all, but this one is actually coming along. I'm feeling a bit more stable (this month at least), feeling less down on myself (I totally rock) and feeling better about my mother's passing and that God is blessing my life.

24. Get the photos on my computer developed.
25. Get the photos sitting on rolls of film in my closet developed. So, #24 is officially toast, unless I mean the photos I've been taken recently, which could be a possibility but I just spent LOTS of money developing film. Yeah, I know. I should do it more often than once a year or two or three.

26. Clean off my bedroom dresser.
27. Keep my bedroom dresser clean for one week. Sing it with me, "Doin' a little dance...cause I'm so done"

Not so bad. Progress. And that's what I'm going for here because for me? Reaching for Progress instead of Perfection is a miracle in and of itself.

Scary Halloween Tales

I know - everyone's doing it. Here's my recap on our Halloween:

Yesterday, my son refused to wear his Sonic the Hedgehog costume because he was embarrassed by the way it looked. He came home and saw the ears I made for him, because Sonic has ears, and scoffed. He got dressed, though, because that's what one does when threatened persuaded with a strong does of mother love.

I will admit - I'm no Jill, but I thought I did a good job with skills I have in making an approximation of Sonic. My son disagreed and semi-sulked through the whole Trick or Treat downtown yesterday afternoon. (Semi because, really, how hard is it to pull of a whole sulk when people are voluntarily giving you candy?)

Then, a couple of cute young teenage girls recognized him (no one else did the entire day) and kept ooh and aahing over Sonic, "We love you Sonic!" in a way that only young females can. Rhys was completely stoked that he was recognized and proceeded to tell me that night (totally paraphrasing here) that next time he won't judge a costume based on how it looks. Next time, he'll be patient and understand that dorky looking costumes can still be cool. Maybe next time he'll even wear the costume to school. (He was one of three 4th graders who didn't dress up.)

This morning, I'm still contemplating selling him to the gypsies - it's a good thing we didn't run into any last night.

Quinn kept being called a Power Ranger. As if. He was Bumblebee the Transformer. I mean, they've already put out one movie with a sequel due out soon and NO ONE knew who Bumblebee was. Seriously. Poor kid. He was even carrying a Transformer bag. Too bad Patrick Jane wasn't there - he would've figured it out!

We got home at about 9:30pm last night and my daughter had crashed in the car during the long drive home. I carried her into the house (we still had to wash the red hair spray out of her hair as she has been Ariel - her favorite and my least favorite princess) only to make her stand up and put her costume back on because we had to go visit neighbors who put together special candy for our kids.

Today, I'm spending the day letting my children gorge themselves on candy, TV and computer games. All so I can lie about reading, catching up on all my favorite shows, blog and not make a real meal. (I did make them eggs this morning to add some protein to all that sugar.)

Yeah, I know -- bad costume, threatening sale to Gypsies, torturing half asleep children and feeding them nothing but high-fructose corn syrup....I'm one of those mothers.

Lulu, What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Lulu: Ariel.

Me: No, when you are an adult like me. What do you want to be?

(long thinking pause)

Lulu: Ursula.