This is how I feel today

I feel like a slug...ewwww.....

Don't know why....

Can't muster up any energy to do anything....

My feet are cold....

Laundry pile awaits....

Dictation pile awaits.....

Desk pileup awaits.....

List pileup awaits......

I mean, the sun is shining-it is going to be probably at least 60 degrees here.....how can I complain? I can walk out the door without having my own personal snow plow....

{sigh}

Okay-better get going.......

On This Day in History....

Ghandi was assassinated...

The Lone Ranger broadcast its first radio show....

Adolph Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany.......

The beatles played together in public for the last time....

Famous Birthdays......

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Gene Hackman

Dick Cheney

Phil Collins

Franciscus Gomarus

And.....

A new family is created! Happy Anniversary to us....32 years......(she's thinking-I'm going to have how many kids??)

See how good to me he is already.....he actually agreed to wear that tux...the height of fashion in the "Saturday Night Fever Days." He coordinated with my wedding colors....ahhhh....sweet.....

Hair Day

In honor of fabulous hair day, the day I submit to the "Divine Miss J's" skills......I present to you......Hair Through the Years:

My mother hated to cut bangs, therefore so as to cut them as little as possible, she cut them as SHORT as possible each time.....yes, dear, you look younger when you look UP to the camera......

The early marriage short haircut--I have had this in variations throughout the years. (dontcha just LOVE that jacket on TL)

Trying a variation on the long, smooth bob theme....and may I offer my sincere apologies to my daughters for the big hair look I forced upon you....looks like I inherited the short bangs gene too......

This is MY attempt at the big hair look.....somehow I could never get it right.......

This is the result of my 3 yr old hairdresser....hey I had to think of SOMETHING to keep her busy while I was working......

And finally......

My current do....with the highlights and "young piece." Looks like that "young piece" is handy for grabbing......

I'll spare you the high school "shag" days......

Farewell

I still can't believe it.

I knew he was mortal.

I knew he would leave us someday, but I couldn't stand the thought.

That someday came last night.

I am so happy for him--

But so sad for us--

I loved his optimism-

I loved his sense of humor-

I loved how he could tell us to repent in such a loving way-

God Speed-our beloved prophet,

Gordon B. Hinckley

Par-tay 2008

Tonight was the monthly family birthday Par-tay. Due to the large size of the family and the inevitable growing larger of it *, we decided to get together once a month to celebrate birthdays of everyone who was born in that month. So tonight was the first par-tay of 2008...hip hip hooray.....Here's my babies who were born in Jan....(I did not personally give birth to all of them, but hey-they belong to me!)

The next birthday will be a biggie because it's Baby B's first! Can't believe it!

Ooh, she's just on the verge of walking....look out mama!

*Our family has increased in size by at least one person every other year since 1997....look out 2009 - rumor has it that at least 3 of the 4 girls are in a conspiracy to give birth that year.......at least Elder Steve won't be bringing home a wife.......

Let There Be Light

Not feelin' too bloggish today......

But here's a photo of the latest completed project. We had dark blinds on our windows for years but FINALLY replaced them. I added valances with fabric from Ikea-yes they sell fabric too....Sure makes the room lighter....I tried to photo without flash-but it's too dang dark.......

So have a nice weekend my family and bloggy friends!

Awash in Memories

Today as I was dutifully sorting out my laundry, I had an epiphany of sorts....Why, this is not just a pile of work, why this is a stroll down memory lane! (more about the size of my pile later)

That pile of stinky workout clothes?

Why, it is just a symbol of goals achieved!

That unsightly stain on your white shirt?

Why that's just a memory of a Mexican food dinner you had with the family!

Those dirt encrusted socks?

Why that's just a memory of creating something beautiful in my yard!

When I come home from trips with my piles of laundry, well, I can remember all the places we went, things we did, people we met......

See, it's not drudgery-It's a memory!!

I make no mention of bodily fluids...those memories are best left suppressed..

(My piles of laundry are considerably smaller than a few years ago. Any child in my house over the age of 12-14 is required to do their own laundry-and well, the size of our household is much smaller. I never could figure out which was best-doing the laundry all in one day-or doing a few loads a day.....it always seemed to never end!)

Now what is this a symbol of?

The sign of a creative genius?

A kid that is too busy to pick up his own clothes?

The symbol of my teaching inadequacy as a mother?

(If anyone has any answers to this question-please advise immediately)

How Many Middle Aged Women Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?

Step 1: Look up and see light burned out in vaulted ceiling.
Step 2: Go get box of light bulbs in container in pantry.
Step 3: Go to garage to get 8 foot ladder so middle aged woman can reach lightbulb.
Step 4: Open garage door because new car in garage is so large, middle aged woman must walk around car to get access to 8 foot ladder on other side of garage.
Step 5: Get ladder.
Step: 6: Set ladder up, climb up carefully because said middle aged woman is slightly afraid of heights.
Step 7: Change light bulb.
Step 8: Climb carefully down ladder so as not to disturb middle aged woman’s equilibrium, carefully balancing burned out bulb so as not to drop it and break it into a zillion pieces.
Step 9: Take ladder back to garage, walking around car.
Step 10: Reverse Step 4.

Fly Like An Eagle

Well, we did it. Yesterday Bubba D spent two hours on his eagle project yesterday. (Threats and bribery work well!) He is going around to dental offices asking for donations for hygiene kits. Each kit has to have 4 toothbrushes, minimum of 100 hygiene kits to qualify.....ouch, you do the math!

I have been reflecting on the eagle scout this last 24 hours. Sorry to all you rah-rah scouters out there.. I live in the real world. Why is it that we procrastinate getting this done? Is it too painful to contemplate until we finally realize it is 6 months before the 18th birthday and we'd better get on the stick? Threatening to withhold the driver's license never worked for me....I WANTED them to drive so I didn't have to haul them around along with their siblings/friends.

I mean, on occasion I see a photo of the 14 yr old freckled face eagle scout in the paper, standing by his 10 thousand books that he has collected for an orphanage in Zimbabwe....what they don't show is his highly drugged mother being carted off to the funny farm in a straight jacket! I think that the Boy Scouts of America ought to award mothers of eagle scouts a trip to the spa or something! What is this with a pin for the mom??????

Eagle #1: What you don't see in this photo is his future wife in the audience! (He is the large, tall one in the middle-he's still large and tall and just passed the physical for our local police department..whoo hoo!)

Eagle #2: This Eagle is in the center bottom, trying to look studly.....it took him 5 (FIVE) times to do his application because they had changed over to electronic and it kept getting messed up and people "losing" the application. 4 of those 5 boys are on missions now-the first one left right after the awards ceremony!!!

Eagle #3: Ahhh, Eagle prospect #3 (the one being silly on the right). We have 4 more months until 18th birthday.........

Now, I know there are lots of advantages to having an eagle scout award, looks good on a resume, etc. etc. but the best one I heard yet was from a recent letter from Elder Steve:

"Tell Bubba D that having your eagle is great, especially when you get pulled over by a cop-just show him your eagle i.d. card and he probably won't give you a ticket!!" (sheeeesh)

Tag, You're It

Okay-I have finally gotten my act together to share a couple of serious recipes.....I'm not as terribly clever and elegant as Jen with these recipes-hers look so good it makes you salivate......but here goes..... I'm trying to be moderately clever and show the raw ingredients.....warning...if the sight of raw meat grosses you out....look away NOW...




Mexican Pileup

1 pound of hamburger (or 1/2 pound, 1 1/2 pounds, whatever suits your fancy)
1 can pinto beans (drain) (yes you can do it without home canned beans)
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can corn (drain)
1/2 package of taco mix & 1/2 package of enchilada sauce mix (save the rest for next time)

Brown hamburger, toss all other ingredients in and let it bubble and smell good. Then you place on plate: corn chips, mexican pileup, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, salsa, whatever suits your fancy or your diet!



Baked chicken breasts

2-3 whole chicken breasts, halved (why do they say this in recipes)
2 T. butter (never use it)
10 3/4 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. dry sherry (never use it-I use white grape juice)
1 t. dried tarragon, or rosemary or both (i HATE tarragon, never use it)
1 t. Worcestershire sauce (how do you pronounce that correctly?)
1/4 t. garlic powder (not salt)
4 oz can sliced mushrooms (half my family hates mushrooms, i don't really care)

Throw all this stuff in the crockpot and cook on low 8-10. We serve this over creamy mashed potatoes.....(it has been reported that my dad actually licked his plate clean with this one) (did you notice my fresh rosemary??from my garden...!)

I give all glory, laud and honor to my sister, ginny, who turned me on to both of these recipes. Every time I visit her, she gives me a new good one.....

Whew, got that crossed off my list. Today I am girding up my loins and fresh courage taking-today is MLK day, school holiday and I need to work with Bubba D on his eagle project. TL left me today with a hearty, football coach pep talk.....(yea like that helps)

Disclaimer- Sorry bout last night's post. I try to keep this blog uplifting and positive, I guess I needed to vent..........

I Spy with my little eye......

If you have ever been to my house, well you know what it looks like. This is a photo of my living room this morning. Can you see what is different about it?
Well, later you all...gotta a busy day!

LATER: Whoo hoo, Lori wins the prize....she said it first on the comments.......now i just gotta figure out a prize....hmmm.........

Random Blathering Vol 2

It's COLD here today! I know, I know, I am a wimp....all you folks who bravely face subzero temps....but remember I am a thin-blooded Arizona girl..... So why if I am freezing, did I eat a bowl of cold cereal today????? Because I am obsessed with this cereal:
It's really yummy with 8 gm of fiber...lots of flax and good stuff like that...It's a little high in sugars, 12 gm, but hey all that fiber should flush the sugar out, right????? Yummmmm.

Also, a shout out to my organizationally obsessed offspring and other relatives, I came across this blog today and WOW, all I can say is, check.it.out... this girl is good. I wanna be like her when I grow up!

And hey to my sis, G, I found that core secrets video we were talking about...at 1/2 price books! for about 7.99....yee haw.....I did it this morning and sheesh....the muscles are really fatigued. I think I am going to have to take a nap to recover.

Still working on the recipe tag---

I've been Tagged

Yes, I have been tagged by the lovely Allyson.....She wants me to post 3 main dish recipes....so here goes....

#1

Take one small pan of water.
Fill it nearly to the top and put it on to boil.
When boiling furiously, throw in package of ramen noodles.
Boil until it bubbles over on top of ceramic stove.
Dump in seasoning mix.
Eat in very large bowl.

#2

Open one can of Spagettios with meatballs
Put in dish.
Microwave until half of contents of dish explodes and petrifies on inside of microwave.
Take out of oven-careful it's HOT!
Eat.

#3

Open package of Doritos, Fritos corn chips
Spread liberal amount on plate.
Spread liberal amount of cheese on top of chips.
Microwave until cheese is melted and stringy.
Pour liberal amounts of salsa on top.

Sorry Ally, I am WAY tired tonight---I promise I will come up with something spectacular in a couple of days......Love ya!

Prayer Works

Prayer works. I woke up this morning thinking about that. You see, I have had kind of a little problem, not a major one, sorta like a hang nail or a zit that bugs you but it is not life threatening. It was really bugging me yesterday-to the point that I was fretting and fuming and near tears about it-and I said, "Father, PLEASE fix this! I can't figure out what to do."

So anyway, later that day, well, I had a tiny answer to that prayer, a little light at the end of the tunnel.....not earth shattering...but enough that I thought, well, okay-this is really good!

Another one of my prayers lately has been to have more patience with my teenagers.

And of course today, I have had PLENTY of opportunities to practice patience with my teenagers.........{sigh}

Yep, Prayer Works.....

New Title

I have many titles:

Wife

Mother

Mother-in-law

Grandma

Daughter

Sister

Chauffeur

Teacher

Nurse

Chief Cook & Bottle Washer

Child psychologist

My new title yesterday was:

Student

Yep, I finally mustered up enough nerve to get into another class this semester. I had signed up several times at the closest, smaller campus but the class got cancelled every time-So I am going to the big, bad main campus, for Section 1792, M,W, 12:00-1:15, Building GC, Room #103, Spanish Conversation II, #116. Whew......

So this is my latest Merry (mis)Adventure. Here's hoping that the middle-aged brain cells can handle the stress. My instructor is awesome, I actually know his family well. TL and his late father were in business together years ago. After class I introduced myself and told him a little about my history, hoping to win a friend and become teachers' pet, but I don't think it will work. We actually have to SPEAK Spanish in this class to get a good grade.......gulp......

weekend update

I had a fun weekend-hope you did too! Just a recap.....

On Friday, TL and I went to the southeast-most corner of AZ almost as close to the border as you can get-and visited Curry Farms and purchased more of this yummy salsa:



Ed Curry's main business is growing chilis for seed-If you have bought a jalapeno or any other kind of chili for your salsa recently, Ed probably grew the chilis that produced the seeds that produced the chili you bought.......(does that make sense?) Fun day, except this is a VERY rural area, no malls, Mickie-Ds or Burger Kings to be found...

Sat. did a bit o' scrappin' with the lovely Arwen-spend a wad for her birthday at Scrapbooks, ETC. -minus her most appreciated gift card and birthday discount! (just call me sugar mamma)




Finally, the piece 'o resistance was the Sunday dinners with the family-resuming again since we all go to church in the morning this year.




(picking out toppings for your Navajo taco is serious business)


And of course, for all you snowbound folks, I MUST gloat about our lovely weather.....sorry guys, I weep and wail and gnash my teeth every summer during our 100+ days of over 100 so I must have my moment of glory at this time:





Pickin' fresh broccoli out of the garden for the grandkiddies.


So now we have a new week fresh and bright before us....I am going to embark today on another adventure of which I will blog about tomorrow!!!
(dontcha' just LOVE cliffhangers.....)

Day Trip

Today TL & I are going on a little day trip to Pierce, AZ and Sunset, AZ to visit some of his clients. I have no idea where these places are......so when I find out....I let ya' know. Adios!

Thoughts on Swooning

Last night I was having a very pleasant evening, actually working on my scrapbooks and listening to the sweet sounds of the soundtrack of "Pride and Prejudice." I LOVE that movie, LOVE the music, I adore the book, read it 3 times (well it is hard to read and long too!) And I was reflecting on the part in the movie where Darcy comes striding through the mists in the early morning.....don't it just make you swoon....







So then I was thinking, could I imagine my man....striding through the mists in the early morning.......waiting to hear him say, " i...i....i.....loveyou." (remember that part?) ???? hmmmmmm............................................







naw-don't think so.........




Now get a load of this:
This is the real live Darcy....(bad photo) hmmmm..kinda makes me feel a little less swoonish........(maybe it's the hair)


therefore, I kinda like my guy who will rescue me when I have a flat tire on the freeway-who has changed his share of dirty diapers-spent many hours putting together various items for me like Ikea desks-rigged up a cool "stop" so I can't run my car through the garage wall- actually likes to go shopping with me--digs up my garden for me twice a year-- Can you imagine Darcy doing that??? hmmmmmmmm.......

naw-don't think so.....

My Surprise

I just got a text message from my daughter, Arwen, saying:

Dear Mom, I am very annoyed that you haven't posted about your surprise from the UPS man yet......

heee heee haa haa. this is the child who says she NEVER has time to read my blog....(should I make her wait longer?) hee hee haa haa.









Okay-I won't. Here's my cool new surprise for my office:
The Bedford Charging Station from Pottery Barn....(i ordered black)
I guess I am just a Pottery Barn girl at heart without a Pottery Barn budget, but I JUST had to have this nifty thing-it can charge a bunch of stuff and contains all the wires neatly and just looks so much better on a table top than a bunch of wires stringing around everywhere. Isn't that too cool?

Okay-glad I made Arwen happy.........

Holy Vitamins!

Since we have had such pleasant weather-rain included-I have been enjoying myself just puttering around the house and playing catch up on all the stuff that needs to be done now and then, you know, stuff like laundry, picking up things that have been stacked on flat surfaces for weeks and putting them away, putting about 20 finished scrapbook layouts in albums finally.....just stuff like that. I haven't had a chance to go check on all my babies in the garden but when I checked today----holy phytochemicals----look at this!

and this!

(the picture is turned wrong) AND THIS!

Wow-are we ever going to have a healthy meal tonight! The only problem is, half the family only likes raw broccoli and the other half likes only cooked broccoli.......(and how shall I split up the 10 peas between each family member?)

AND..

The UPS man has been very nice to me today. He brought me my glue dots:

He also brought me something else very cool which I will post about tomorrow.......

AND... (sorry for the length of this post)

Another bit of HUGE excitement for me was a phone call today:
Me: Hello.
Person: Habla espanol?
(I think 0h-oh-these calls make me nervous-I have to try really hard to listen and think now)
Me: Poquito....(a little) Quien habla? (who is speaking)
Person: Soy Juan Carlos. (I'm Juan Carlos)
Me: Juan Carlos de Peru? (we know someone named Juan Carlos in Peru-I think anybody that knows anybody hispanic knows someone named Juan Carlos)
Juan: No, de Nashville Tennesse...
Me: (I am screaming in delight, trying to put together a coherent sentence in Spanish, knowing this is someone who my son baptized!)

Turns out this Juan Carlos thinks Elder Steve is un hijo bueno, etc. etc. I had a lovely chat with him today. He is calling back tonight to speak to mi esposo (TL) who has a MUCH better command of the language than I do.

Confession

I have a confession......umm...yess.... welll....you see, last week while I was still sick, I decided it would be nice to just lay on my couch and watch TV under my warm blankie. And so, I heard that on QVC that afternoon there was going to be 2 hours of scrapbook mania with the queen of scrapbook herself, Lisa Bearnson. So I settled down for a nice cozy tv watching session and maybe even a snooze.

Well, then....I saw it.......item #F-03993.....it had my name written all over it....and it was SUCH a good deal. and well....ummm..... I called and I, uh....BOUGHT IT!

You see, I use lots of glue dots and so well, there were over 1300 glue dots for the easy price of 24.71....so....i did it....

Do I have buyer's regret....well, maybe not, we'll see when the package comes. But what they don't tell you at QVC is that in addition to the shipping price-which is ridiculous-they also tag on some other sort of charge-tax or something.....

So girls, when you're ready for scrapbook night-come on over. I have over 1300 glue dots to share!

Resolutions and Rocks

I guess it's finally time for me to reveal my New Year's Resolutions. There is a lot of talk around the blog world about resolutions and the "word" for the year. Here's a few of my resolutions:

1. Try to get Bubba D's eagle project completed without killing him first.
2. Try to figure out how to get a treadmill in my house without adding on another room.
3. Try to find nutritious recipes that my kids will actually eat.

So, well, I guess I don't really believe in New Year's Resolutions. (I hear a collective gasp). In years past I have vowed and resolved to do many things, some of which went by the wayside by the end of January or I tried to accomplish so much that I was ready to enter the funny farm by the end of January and went by the wayside anyway.

To illustrate my theme, or word for the year I share the following story:

A guy stands up in front of a room with an empty glass jar. He asks, is the jar full...well... no...Then he adds 4-5 big rocks. Is the jar full?.....well... yes....oh, but then he fills the jar with sand. Is the jar full?.....well....yes....oh, but then he fills the jar with water. Is the jar full? Well, yes now it is....

The point to this story is the discovery of what the big rocks in life are. If I do the most important things first-the big rocks-well, then the rest kinda doesn't matter. So I guess my theme, resolution, or word for the year is Rocks. What are my rocks?


Spiritual

Physical

Relationships

Service

Talents

So this year I will be putting those big rocks in my jar first and then the rest will just follow.....

Inferma todavia

I had a marvelously witty post that I have been creating in my head for today but the plain fact is....I still do not feel good, hence the title sick still, in Spanish. I have been coughing my brains out for the last week and the plain fact is... I am SICK of it. Here is a list of remedies I have tried thus far:
1. Throat coat tea.
2. Herba tussin tea.
3. Delsym cough syrup.
4. Dayquil and Nyquil (nyquil makes me feel like a zombie while still coughing)
5. Vicks vaporub slathered generously on the bottoms of my feet with socks (heard this one through an email)
6. Humidifier.
7. Vicks vaporub on throat and chest at night-makes a fine aromatic aphrodesiac!
8. Lots of cold water.
9. Hot salt water gargles.
10. Ricola herb cough drops (lots of these)

Short of taking narcotics-don't know what else I can do-no-I don't want to go to the dr. I DON'T think I have an infection and besides that-I will probably pick up some additional germs in the office along with all the other sickies.

So add the coughing, plus my age of f-f-fifty and having had 7 babies and weak pelvic floor muscles and well.......it doesn't paint a pretty picture, my friend.

So I'll just wait it out another day, and on a brighter note, the kids are back in school, TL says I can have a new piece of carpet installed for my front room and my office is nearly put back together.....so I can meditate on these happy thoughts while hacking away......

P.S. I am making a link to my very talented and amazing oldest daughter who has decided to start a blog-you will be amazed at her photography and brilliance........

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet Arwen......
She was actually due on Christmas Day, but true to my course of being overdue with 75% of my children, I went into labor a week later and spent the day trying to do cleansing breaths while the family crowd was watching the Rose Bowl. Arwen's claim to fame for me actually was the fact that she was my first epidural birth.What joy and amazement I had when after that drip was inserted-the pain went away! Wow! We actually settled back and watched the TV. I told the anesthesiologist that I had "long legs" so I needed plenty of medicine. Wow-did it ever work. So when the dr. strolls in to deliver the baby, and after examining me-we were quite surprised and the conversation went sort of like this:
Dr.: "Looks like it's time to have a baby."
Me: "Really?"
Dr.: "Yes."
Husband: "No way is she ready to have this baby."
Dr.: "Yes-fully dilated."
Husband: "But she's not acting like it's time to have the baby." (sensitive guy)
I am so pain free that while in the process of delivering baby I had a moment of panic-I couldn't feel anything so I didn't know if anything I was doing was working! Well, it did-and the only way I can describe it is kinda like a cork popping out of a champagne bottle.....

And our sweet little girl arrived into this world.....We didn't know what we were having and since I had two girls and one boy, of course logically I knew that this baby was a boy. So when it was a girl, well, I had about 15 seconds of confusion. But when I looked at her and saw that cute little dimple in her left cheek-well, I was a goner! Instant love at first site.

So have a lovely day-my dear, wonderful, talented, amazing Arwen....(her code name)

2008

My house is naked.
Yet, where it doesn't look naked, there are piles of things waiting to be sorted... {sigh}

Yes, we have been undecking the halls today and I am trying to suppress my OCD tendencies to clean out and clear out every closet and corner and purge, purge, purge....