In the Army now!

My husband enlisted in the Army in June. He did a bunch of training and stuff and left for boot camp October 27th. Its a change. I was used to him working out of town for a week or two here and there, but this is different. He always called me. Every day. A couple times. And he would send me texts. All day. Now I can get letters. And every so often a five minute phone call. I miss him. I miss him more than I thought. Not that I really knew how much I thought I would. We have never been apart before like this, so......it's different.

It's strange to have every one look at me like I'm a time bomb waiting to go off. Like any minute now I'm going to start screaming and have a break down. I'm not - so relax. :) It's hard yeah but still. I'm ok. He is ok. It was so nice to go to his going away party and have so many people come. To have complete strangers come up to him and thank him for serving. He has received so much negativity about it from his family so that was nice. It's strange to have someone tell me I am brave for letting him do it. No I'm not. He is the brave one. And I'm not sure I had anything to do with letting him. When he told me it was what he wanted to do you could see in his eyes that he meant it. That he found his purpose, this is what he needed to do for him. How could I possibly say no you can't? But then I have never had an issue with the military so.... I didn't have that big of an objection in the first place. After all, he wanted (and still wants to do after the military) to go into law enforcement. Bomb squad and swat team kind of thing, so really how is this any more dangerous? I worry of course. I really don't want him to go to Iraq or Afganistan, but realize he very likely will. And we will deal with that when we need to.

For right now though..I just miss him. He is my friend. Sure we drive each other crazy and have each threatened to smother the other while we sleep, but really now, what married couple hasn't? :) I love my husband, I giggle like a schoolgirl and do a little happy dance with every letter I get. I have had three phone calls and those were awesome. His last one was Tuesday since Wednesday was Veteran's Day. He says he is doing well. They made him a squad leader and he says all the younger guys look to him. Which he says freaks him out a little. He said he doesn't know what he is doing any more than them just because he is so much older! Ha Ha Ha. He says his Drill Sgt. is the one all the other Drill Sgt.'s are afriad of. I laughed. Well at least he will know he REALLY earned it! He said some of it is what he expected, some of it is worse. But hey, it's the army. He misses everyone and said it sucks, he is getting smoked by some of these kids but over all he thinks he is doing just fine. :) I am super super glad he gets to come home for Christmas though! Josh is excited because he comes home on Josh's birthday!

Anyway - I think I meant this to be an update post but kind of just ended up wandering all over everywhere. :)

Rocket Cars and Puppies!

My Chihuahua's had puppies yesterday. They are so super cute! They are tiny but so is the mom. Josh is so excited! He of course asked if we could keep them. I said no, mean mom that I am. We have 2 - that's plenty. I don't know if they will be so cute when they are a little bigger and NOT housebroken. We'll see. But for now - super cute tiny little tribble dogs.

Aaron took Ansley to the Night Of Fire at RMR a couple weekends ago. They stayed out all day, and had a blast. He took Curtis along to help out but said Ansley was a trooper and never wanted to go home. When those cars raced by he just perked right up! Then when it got dark they raced the rocket cars. They fire up in the back like a shuttle before they zip down the track then the parachutes come out slow them down. Gennee was telling me that the next day after his bath Ansley was trying to hook a balloon to his backside. When she asked what he was doing he said "Mom I need a parachute! Too funny. Man I love that kid. I want to say it's Aaron's fault he is a redneck - but I think he was born that way. :)

Murder!

We had a murder party at my mother's house. It was great fun! We were all characters invited to dine with our host Arthur E Faxe. He is an archaeologist. (art e faxe get it? artifacts?) All of the names were puns. It was great. It was in the 1890's at a dig site. After we got to dinner we were informed that our host had been murdered and the police were on there way so we should figure out who the killer was before they got there. We all had parts and facts to be revealed throughout the dinner. It was great! My parents went all out decorating the place. They had played this one before so they were the cooks and the waiter. My dad is such a ham. You gotta love him! Overall I think it was a rousing success!!

P.S. It was Katie all along! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Singing in the Rain

I wandered outside last night with the dogs. (Yes I have dogs now. 2 long haired chihuahuas. My husband who is now banned from ksl saw them in the free section. So he took Josh up to look at them and I get a phone call. You know the one. Look how cute they are. We promise to take care of them and clean them and we love them so much they will be the best dogs EVER! Please please please please? And that was just from Aaron. ha ha ha ha. So now I have dogs. Cute little fluffy rats that they are. They don't bark except at the door, but they get over that pretty quick. They don't shake or pee when excited which is really nice. Over all I forgive them for guilting me into saying ok.)

Anyway, I still had yesterday's post in mind. So I stood there in the dark, listening to the wind go through the trees. Just me on the lawn with my fluffy rats. I closed my eyes and just listened. It sounds like the ocean. Like waves crashing down. I used to dream about what it would be like to talk to the trees. And if the wind was just the trees talking to each other. I read a book that had a tree in it that was a whole bunch of trees. 50 or 60 of them but they all shared the same root system. They were basically all one tree, or maybe a family i'm not sure. I thought about that wondering how they must talk to each other. With branches? Maybe shared sap? Like the sap was the blood of the tree coursing through all of them, sharing thoughts of the sun, the soil and the wind. How we must seem like mayflies with quicksilver in our veins. Rushing here, scurrying there, trying to fit everything in to our tiny short lives. I often think about how relaxing it might be to slow myself down and sink my mind into the sould of a tree. Feel myself slowly move along with the sap, feel the sun warm the leaves, and breathe. "But alas, quicksilver is my nature to ones like these."

And what about the mountains? How far would you have to slow yourself down in one place long enough to hear something from the stones? Those bones of the earth that have been here since the beginnings. Im not sure we are even mayflies to them. Far faster than quicksilver are we to them. But oh my, what wisdom and knowledge would we hear? The history of the earth, the ice ages and great floods?

Being quicksilver is allright though when its all you know. Im sure even the mayflies move at a pace that seems right to them. It rained all morning and will do so for a day or two the weather man says. I love the rain. I love the smell, and the sound. I love to listen to the thunder and watch the lightning. So who wants to be a mountain or a tree with no feet? They cant sing and dance in the rain.

Standing in the wind

On the Pride and Predjudice theme... I was at work this morning and my mom was playing the soundtrack to the movie. I was listening to the piano and I could picture Elizabeth Bennett standing on the cliff, with the wind blowing all around her. And I wondered what was she thinking about? What was she seeing? I listen to that music and it is relaxing, picturing myself on that cliff, standing in the wind. Listening to it blow, feeling it whip my hair and tug at my clothes and kiss my skin. Watching the sky and the clouds and the ground all around me, spread out for me to see. It's freeing. Just to let all my care and troubles and stresses free and be blown away for a while. To just stand there... What is so appealing to me in that thought? To just stand there, alone, in the wind.

Pride + Predjudice + Zombies = Silly

While I was in the airport on our way to California I wandered into a bookstore. There I found a gem. It was called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Oh my. It is the original book, just with some additions. The total effect of this is pure silliness. It's fun. Like in this picture where it shows everyone at the first ball where Mr. Darcy complains she is barely tolerable, then the zombies crash in the windows and the girls line up in the pentagram of death and fight to save the people. Never had Mr. Darcy seen anyone so fierce with a blade and he was immediately drawn to her. Ha ha ha ha. Elizabeth is definitely bad ass in this book. Having been trained with her sisters in the orient you know. Anyway, just had to review it. It was a lot of laughs, fun and silliness.I hear the author is already thinking of other titles to "add" to like A Farewell To Arms...And Legs. Ha Ha ha hahah. Here is an excerpt from the first chapter.

Plodding along.....

I have decided that I don't understand twitter. There is simply nothing that interesting about my life that I would need to constantly tell people about. "now I'm at the store buying apples. Now I am catching up on Dr. Who. Now I am brushing my teeth." I mean..really?? I rarely even update my facebook status because I have nothing to say. Which lead me back into this convoluted circle of explaining why I am so bad at this. I think to myself... I cant write until I have something cool to say. Then I realize how boring my life is. :)Then I realize .. I would rather have it be boring then tragic so hey! Optimism you know.
Except it really depends on what you call boring. My husband kind of defies the word. He is a very strange man. I love him, but he is an odd duck. We are down to 7 weeks until he leaves for boot camp. *sigh* I really hope he can make it. His back has been so bad that I worry. But, I pray for him. I believe this is what he is supposed to be doing, what we are supposed to be doing as a family and so he will make it and it will be a good thing. I really do. But I stress anyway.
Moving into my grandparents house has been a really cool thing. I felt like I had their blessing, that they dont mind my kids running around, playing drums in the basement and throwing walnuts at each other on the lawn. (Which is kind of a miracle since thats exactly what my grandmother minded when she was alive.) Not having attached neighboors, a huge lawn, tons of space. It's great. The kids have started at their new schools and have started to make friends. Thats a relief for me too. And the ward I live in is awesome, everyone is so friendly. And I am a hermit so they have to go out of their way to be friendly, and they do. Continually, not just once to say hi welcome. It's the perfect spot for us to be right now.
All in all, I have lots be grateful for. I find (like with my journal) I usually only take time to write when I am sad, or angry, or stressed so I just wanted to write one that says everything is fine. Thanks. :)

Busy, Fun, and Life

I'm sorry I haven't kept this up. Mostly it's because I suck. :) So anyway -- let's see. My husband enlisted in the army. He is going to be a Combat Engineer. Which I'm sure involves a lot more than what anyone is telling me. And I think I am ok with no one telling me. He is supposed to leave on October 27th. Maybe. They just called him yesterday wanting him to leave sometime in August. Hmmm. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's what he wants and there are a lot of great benefits. But....it's my husband going away. As much as he might frustrate me from time to time - he is my husband and I love him. *sigh*

Also - we moved. We moved out of our tiny little apartment in the midvale ghetto to my grandparents house in Holladay. It's 3 times the size. You can walk around and not trip over each other. The kids can go down in the basement, play their drums, games, whatever and they have all the room they need. And best of all -- I have no attached neighbors to yell at, or to yell at me. It's awesome. It took some work, but it's nice.

We went to California last weekend to visit Aaron's friend and his family. That was wonderful!! We had bought the tickets last year to visit his sister fr Christmas but were unable to go. The airline reminded me that the tickets had to be used by August or they were going to expire. (non-refundable and all that jazz)So we decided to go to San Jose. We flew in Friday morning. It was the kids first flight and they thought it was pretty cool. His friend Jen took us back to her house where we were staying to drop off our stuff and have some lunch - then she took us and her friend Chris to San Francisco.

San Francisco was amazing. Driving in it with Aaron at the wheel was scary. Kind of like being on a roller coaster. There were a couple of streets I swear we were vertical. Once while we were halfway through an intersection - an ambulance was coming the other way. As soon as they saw us they blasted their horn and lights and Aaron almost had a heart attack. I think they did it on purpose and laughed. I would have. :)


We went to Pier 39 and wandered. It was great. Their was a street performer guy Josh liked. We went and saw the sea lions, who oddly enough seemed like a group of noisy, snorting, grumpy old men. But the babies were sure cute. They were all laid out on the wood blocks like a giant harvest. Watching one of the ones swimming around climb back up on one while stepping on a bunch of other sea lions was kind of fun. Then we went and wandered through China town. That was fun.
I have this terrible attraction to cute useless things, so all these knick knack stores of course suck me in. There were awesome carvings and pretty little glass bottles and bone boxes and little figurines. Of course, there was a whole shelf in each store of figurines we had to steer the kids away from as they were old oriental people in every sexual position possible (and some I don't think were). I thought it was hilarious but still...not so much for Curtis and Josh.
We bought steamed pork buns and they were awesome! Give you heartburn for sure but still....yum! There were dragons on every single lamp post! Every one! How cool is that? Outside of one store there was a box of shoes that had all been stained in some way - new with tags on but stained. A couple kids made off with the boxes and took all but one pair. Jen's friend Chris picked them up and walked the next couple of blocks saying "Hey free shoes. Size nine - brand new." It was funny - then he stuck them in a fence.

Day two of our vacation was pretty relaxed. We went to a skydiving place where Jen helps out at packing parachute's and jumping when she can. We watched the planes and jumpers. We watched them practice poses on a wheeled table to show the newbies how to hold themselves and watched them pack chutes. They let us climb in the plane and jump out just so we could say we did. And Four feet to the ground is the only way I'm jumping out of that sucker. Josh was very disappointed to learn he was not big enough to skydive. They got a little bored and managed to find a video game machine in the corner. Then we just went and relaxed at Aaron's family's house. Curtis was being a brat and not letting me take pictures of him. Ick!

Day three was at the beach!! It was Curtis's birthday and we promised him bikini's. We wen to Santa Cruz. It was like Lagoon and a beach!! We played in the sand, buried Josh, and tried to body surf. We all biffed it pretty good, but it was fun. I just didn't expect the water to be so cold! Holy Crap! It was awesome! Curtis even smiled! Then we went to another beach about 20 minutes north. There was alomst no one there. It was foggy and breezy and chilly but it was so much fun! Jen said it was a clothing optional beach but I don't know if I beleive her. It was so pretty with these rocks that jutted out and the waves crashing over them. They tried to climb them a couple times but the waves were too high, Every time I tried to write happy birthday in the sand it kept washing away. It was awesome. I know I keep saying that but really..... I wish I could go back. I loved it. It was relaxing - no one argued. We needed it. I only had one complaint. Well two. We needed more time there. And we spent more on parking than anything else. But I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Kids and Too close to death for comfort...or in other words, Vacation!

So again, I wait too long to post. But when you don't have the internet at home because your poor and your husband isn't workin you don't get a lot of time. :) Ok so excuses aside let's move on. We went to Fremont in May for our 50th annual reunion or something like that. ( I think it's been 6 but the number we put on invites changes each year just for fun.) A lot of went rock climbing. My youngest has no fear (except for spiders) and went down 3 times! I finally got my courage up and went down once. Needless to say I don't think I will go ever again. It was a 140 foot cliff. About 15 feet down I got stuck. No not from panic, well not yet, but because I didn't know to put my hair up. And it all twisted up in the figure 8 that my rope was going through. Not a small chunk, but ALL of it. So I had to stop and pull the rope back up through it to get most of my hair out. .I still lost a little bit but oh well.And of course thats when my loose sneakers fell off. Then I very slowly made it most of the way down in my socks. Almost to the bottom i slipped and banged in the wall a couple of times and my harness was digging into my legs really bad so I hurt. I just wanted down, I was slipping farther and farther backwards and was pretty close to being upside down by the time I got to the bottom. I remember crying "just let me down I just want down". Not very dignified. And of course I was the one who had to let me down but I had a death grip onthe rope. *sigh* But hey Josh had fun!
And of course T ball was way way cute. Especially when the older cousins would try and tackle them and stop them from getting to the bases. Cute kids, lots of fun. And then my brother took me out on the lake in the boat while the boys went shooting their guns. It was good weather, quiet, and beautiful! Plus I caught 2 fish. That always helps. It was a nice half of the day to make up for almost killing myself on the mountain earlier. And what I have realized in the last month is how super awesome my family is. I have known this already dont get me wrong, but really really in the last while. Love you all!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

I saw this at www.despair.com. I know it's not technically my image to share but I am linking to their site so hopefully it's ok. Just wanted to share the love. :)

Babies and Sewing Exile

We have babies in our house. My husband likes babies. All kinds of babies. I do too though. I just like it better when I'm not the one who cleans up after them. We have had a lot of babies in our house. Baby snakes, baby iguana's, a baby duck. I liked the duck. Josh named him Bob. He liked to run around the back yard, jump in the kiddie pool, eat the bushes and chase the dogs. He was a big white one. I kept trying to teach him to say Aflac but it never worked. We had kittens (now mischief making cats), baby turtles (seriously only the size of a quarter, super cute. But now are more like obnoxious teenagers who beg for food and like to bite.), the fish regularly have babies that the turtles promptly eat,baby lizards, and now baby birds. I have to say that most all babies are cute. Birds however, are ugly cute. Ugly, scrawny, creepy things who are cute because the are tiny and after all, are babies. Our cockatiels had babies and we decided to pull them and handfeed them. That way when we sell them worth double, and are nice, friendly and tame. *sigh* I forgot what having to feed someone every few hours was like. *sigh* But I admit to being taken in by their cute ugliness and being excited as they get more feathers every day.

After Christmas and all the 6 months of sewing that entailed I banished my sewing machine to exile in the corner of my room where I put all the socks that need to be matched and folded. I didn't want anything to do with it for a while. Didn't even want to look at it. However I did buy a super duper cute quilt kit for myself for Christmas. It has dragons and castles on it. I just knew I needed a break before I touched it. I had made some basic quilts before (just some big squares sewn together) but never a real piece together one. Of course, this is nowhere near a complicated as some fantastic pinwheel blocks that I've seen, but it's enough for now. So I have decided it's time to start it. Mostly because Aaron found an old over the cab camper from the early 70's some guy wanted to get rid of for 20 bucks. Still works fine, no water leaks just in desperate need of a cleaning. We decided to give it new curtains and cushion covers. To give it "more testosterone" you know. He didn't like all that 70's turquoise paisley going on. So since I was sewing for practical reasons, I might as well sew for fun too! Right?

So here is a picture of the pattern:

A picture of what the castle blocks are supposed to look like:

And my first castle so far:

Of course I didn't realize until later that my towers weren't quite straight and one was taller than the other. But by then it was out together and there was no way I was taking it all apart. Besides, they were medieval masons and were probably drinking mead all day and its good to have one tower higher so the king or whoever can have a lookout right? Right? *sigh* Oh rationalization and procrastination will no doubt one day be my end. I still need to add all the people and doors and stuff but hey..its a castle! Woohoo for me.

Hermit Crabs

It's been a busy little while. And of course when things are actually happening ... I don't write. My grandmother passed away. She was an interesting person. I always liked her even if there were many times I wasn't sure she really liked me. But she was funny. My dad made a beautiful casket and we buried her quietly. I learned things about her after she was gone that I never knew while she was here. That's sad. Why didn't I try to learn all that sooner? I think of all the stories my father tells, and the places he shows me and think...man I need to record all this. I couldn't bear it if it was lost. I love my family, I wish I was more involved with them besides cruising their blog pages and checking out the family website. I always tell my cousin Cindy we need to get together, we need to get our kids together, but in the end I never call. That's sad. I am a hermit. For the most part I am ok with that but...one can be too much of a hermit. I need to come out of the shell more often. Or at least find a bigger one with room to visit. :)

Project Weekend!

Aaron went to Las Vegas a couple weekends ago to watch Nascar. He had an amazingly good time and told me how fun it was. He said it was so fun it didn't matter if I liked racing or not, it would still be fun and I so have to go next year. I told him that my present to him for his birthday each year could be to go watch and have a good time. His present to me would be to not make me go to. I think we have a deal. :)


While he was away I decided to rearrange my house. The boys room is a skinny rectangle. It's a very small room. It has a closet on one of the long sides and a window on the other. So we had the beds against the window and their dresser on one short side and the tv on the other. This made it feel like their room was never clean, because the minute they take their shoes off, put their coats down and stuff it took up almost all the floorspace. They just had a narrow walkway from the door to tv. So I decided to see if there was enough room for the beds to go on one of the short sides and see if I could square the room off. And they did!! Just barely, I think there might be a foot between the end of the bed and that part of the closet. But ha! it fits. Then just move the tv under the window and.....holy cow!! That made such a huge difference it was crazy! Makes it feel so much bigger all squared off like that. Then I repainted their room, and while I was at it the hallway, and the bathroom, and the living room. Then my sister gave me these cool blue curtains. One small panel for each side of the window. They don't cover it (which is good I didn't really want them to) but again I was amazed at how a little change can make such a huge difference!! Curtains just make it so much more homey than just blinds. It's awesome, thanks sis!But I haven't taken a picture of that yet since of course the kids really do always need to clean it. :)

Then I decided to tackle the living room. We have a small apartment and I really don't think I like the layout. It doesn't leave you many options. Hopefully you can see the arrows in the picture. I didn't take a before one. The fish tank was on the wall by the couch. (It's a small wall since it is just a divider wall between the kitchen and the living room, there is an opening on either side of it to go to the kitchen)The book case was in front of the window. I thought maybe if I moved it all around I could make it have more light and feel like it had more room. And it totally did. Also, I added curtains. Again - I am amazed that curtains can make such a huge difference to the room! Holy cow. I bought linoleum tiles (now sitting on the floor by the fish tank)to re-do the bathroom floor, but everything else took so much more time and effort than I thought it would that I didn't get to it. I am so taking before and after pictures of that when I do it though. So over all I am rather pleased with myself. Trying not to be smug. :)

Here is the picture again without the arrows.

Smooth Away ..... really???

I am usually pretty good about not buying things off of infomercials. Usually because I am broke. I did buy a Magic Bullet. (not so magic, but still not bad) I have been sorely tempted to buy this cooking thing that looks like a clear dome. Also - there was a ballet bar exercise thing that I have wanted try for a while -- but way too much money for me.

Now this Smooth Away thing comes on TV and I think to myself -- yeah right. See my problem is that I have thick, coarse, hard to remove hair and super, uber sensitive skin. This does not make for a happy combination. I shave and that day I am ok -- then I break out all over my inner thighs, back of my knees, etc. Most of it is ingrown hairs, and just plain skin irritation. Now if you are my sister-in-law Katie who only has to shave once every couple months, this is not your problem I am sure. But 12 hours after I shave (or once I get the chills) the stubble is back. I tried waxing but it only took off 20% of the hair and most of the skin. Nair (and equivalents) just dissolved it down to stubble and left my skin burned and rashed. *sigh* My best option was just to shave once or twice month. Yeah Sasquatch legs!! So I figured what could this hurt right? I bought this, and the 3 month supply. Cost 60 bucks with shipping. Ouch! Come to find out -- 3 days later I see it at Target for 10 bucks. *sigh*

Here is what I have found. It is pretty much superfine sand paper. Now don't be scared, I meant superfine. My cats tongue is rougher. The box comes with 4 replacement pads. Well you will need them all. They just don't last very long. And the hair needs to be short, like 1/4 inch or less. Unlike the lady in the commercials you do NOT just rub it up and down your arms and legs. You go in little circles like Mr. Miyagi. You know..hair on/hair off. Don't be afraid to use pressure but not too much! All in all, this worked. It only lasts as long as shaving, but it takes a lot longer than shaving to do! On the plus side, I have not broken out 2 days later. And as an exfoliant -- it is very good! I don't know that I would recommend it on your face though. Mine didn't get red or irritated, but it sure stung like *&%@ for a couple days on my upper lip and neck. My legs didn't have that problem.

So I am sure it will totally depend on your skin and hair type, and if shaving is quick and easy and you don't have problems, I would just keep that up, maybe use this as just an exfoliator? But for me this seemed to work ok once I got over how much longer it took and how long(or not) the pads lasted. But buy it from Target and not online!!! It's not worth the shipping. Just my 2 cents.

Football & Peppers

Football season is here again. Well, maybe football season part 2. This is indoor football. Should be fun. I have to say that I really enjoyed my nights and weekends though and now here they go again to the ever present football practice after practice. The interesting (and crappy) part is that they play indoor, but practice outside. In the cold. In the snow. And somehow -- they still love it. Bruises, frozen toes, snow scrapes that go up half their arms and all. Well, Curtis likes it, thinks it's fun. Josh adores it. It's fun listening to him talk to Aaron about his practices and words like man coverage, wedge, windows, cover 3 and stuff all seem to make sense to them. Now, I enjoy watching football, I really do. I have been a fan of the Giants for a couple of years. You know -before- they won the Super Bowl. But as to how to plan plays, what they are called and stuff - that part goes over my head. Mostly because I don't care. But I love seeing my kids doing something they love that doesn't involve electricity and paddles. (If you didn't know I meant video games that could sound kind of scary. But then in my family you never know -- So I'm just going to point out I meant video games.)

On my quest to be healthier and lose weight (The ever present New Years Resolution that somehow never happens. I think because I am lazy and really like my cheese and pasta.) I have discovered bell peppers. I have had green peppers of course on pizza and stuff because my mother loves them, but I have never really tried them before. However, I have cut my cheese, pasta, mayo, and creamy things down to almost nothing. I am trying to eat more salad as a side instead and have mostly successful. I realized that salad needs color. So I experimented, and have found out that I like radishes and bell peppers. All of the colors. Who knew that red ones were sweet? Well, besides people who have eaten them before. I get one of the four colors the supermarket has, chop them up and put a big handful in my omelets, and in my salads. Vegetables have mostly been limited to corn and green beans in childhood and since then I pretty much stuck to that -- adding in mushrooms here and there. But holy cow -- there is a whole world of veggies out there! Radishes, asparagus,leeks, and artichokes to name a few I have found and liked. I still don't like celery though. Icky. I do believe in fresh or frozen though. Most stuff out of a can is icky. Now maybe I can make myself try a beet.

Rock Band

Ok - so I have mixed feelings about this one. I knew my kids would love it. I knew my husband would love it. I knew I probably wouldn't. But I got it for my family for Christmas anyway. It's all they got (besides 3 packages of 20 energizer batteries and pajamas) and they loved it. No that's not true I got cool folding banana chairs for them too at walmart for 15 bucks the day after Thanksgiving. (which is an absolutely crazy time to go shopping and don't recommend it to anyone. Saving 10 bucks isn't worth it!!! BUT I had to go to Joanns that morning because the flannel was on sale for 1.99 a yard instead of the 6.99 it is regularly and when you are buying 40 yeards........that makes a difference. And since I was already up .. why not go to Walmart too. Which was scary!)

Anyway, the kids were trying to teach me the guitar. Which was frustrating and I kept bringing their score down so they gave me the michrophone. Um, well anyone who knows us knows that singing is just not a talent we have. That gene skipped all us kids. And Aaron .. well thats even scarier. But I was trying to learn so I didn't just get sick of listening. Because when they are just playing instruments its not so bad, but when they sing....they seem to think they need to sing (screech) at the top of their lungs. So not only are they singing (screeching) loudly, its also coming out of the speakers on the TV at top volume. Yay. Stereo. My poor poor neighboors.

The drums look kind of fun maybe. Can you justify playing a video game when you are the mom that tells the kids they can't just sit and play games all of the time? Not that I would. I have too many other things to go and I feel terribly guilty after half an hour or so. But why should they have all the fun? That, and it irritates them when I take it over. And thats fun.

James Bond

I think the first Bond film I ever watched was "A View To A Kill". Mostly because the evil black lady was in the Conan movie I just watched and I thought she was cool. Then I think I didn't see any more until "GoldenEye". I watched all the Pierce Brosnan ones and the first Daniel Craig. I didn't really like "Casino Royale" because I had been used to a more suave and polished Bond. This one just seemed a little harsh and cold.

Well come to find out, my husband had never seen any of them. So we decided to watch them all from the beginning. After all, you hear so often that Sean Connery is the only real Bond. I have to say -- I think he is much better looking as an older man. Now we are only up to movie #7. We just watched "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I liked George Lazenby better than Sean Connery. I'm not sure why. But so far I have learned a couple things.

#1 -- Mr. Bond has Arnold beat on the number of bad puns one can say in a movie. I'm pretty sure the Bond movies are where Arnold first got the idea they were ok and cool. I on the other hand think they are silly and roll my eyes.

#2 -- I never thought of myself as a feminist really. Mostly because of all the extremists. You know the men can never have a private club or school but women can (after all - who really cares or wants to be a member of the Elk Lodge anyway?)women are better, yada yada yada. However I do believe in equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work etc. Women should be able to have any job they are qualified for, should be able to get an education etc. See can be president, an astronaut, a teacher, a scientist whatever. As can our boys be anything they are qualified for. Anyway -- I have to admit that I cringed an awful lot watching these movies. Bond thinks nothing of sleeping with whoever he wants, slapping them around a little and moving on. The only one he seems to have any respect for is MoneyPenny. I realize all the ones I have seen were in the 60's but still. I shudder. Maybe I am more of a feminist than I thought. Especially when in the last one the girls dad tells him she is too independent and just needs someone to dominate and master her. Ich.

#3 -- I really dig new cool gadjets. Even in these old ones -- it's pretty cool. And the Aston Martin is a really really nice car. And I'm not even really into cars.


Well, we will see what happens as the movies progress. :)

Late Again

I realized that I really like reading other people's blogs more than I like writing my own. I think I just feel like I have to wait for something cool or big to write about. *sigh*

So, since I am easily distracted here are my very late Christmas project photo's. I made pajamas and blankets for everyone. Which was a little more work than I had originally thought. But it was fun. :)




I don't have pics of my parents or my brother Alex :( but anyway you get the picture. I just made blankets for my in-laws since I ran out of time. We draw names for cousins and stuff and I feel bad I didn't really do much for that. Just gift cards really. I got some shirt and apron kits for the kids names. Well I did make a baby blanket for a cousin on my mom's and I made a Jean quilt for my uncle. But I started that in May and they were his jeans he gave to my husband because he couldn't fit in them anymore - so it was almost a re-gift :)

My mom gave all us girls glass pans with our names on them. And made all the kids vests, and all the guys these super cool fishing vests with fun gummy worms and stuff in them that the kids promptly confiscated and ate.