Marvelous Pigs in Satin

A post from 4 years ago

2012-01-26T11:27:00.001-06:00

Marvelous Pigs in Satin: Grandpa Bennion: My Grandfather passed away in January. At the time I was dealing with so much emotion I could not find words to express how I felt. I c...

Baby Watching

2012-01-17T08:02:00.000-06:00

My favorite pastime.

P.S. I procured some Baby Gas Drops and they have really helped. :)

True Wisdom: "Don't Carpe Diem"

2012-01-11T08:33:00.000-06:00

What she said

Gas? Colic?

2012-01-07T00:52:00.001-06:00

Baby Dumpling is 3 1/2 weeks old now. She typically has a fussy time every night. She acts hungry, but cries while she is eating and gets more and more upset.

I feel sure the trouble is a rumbly tummy.

Today she was fussy nearly all day. It got really bad after 8 p.m. At 10, I began to feel unsure about everything.

Finally I gave her a bath. She loves bath time. As soon as I put her in the water, she totally relaxed and just lay there in the water. I could tell she was happy.

Sadly, bath time can't last forever. She stayed happy for about 10 minutes after her bath. She even attempted to coo.

Then she was back to angry again.

Lucky for us all, she eventually fell asleep.

Good Riddance 2011!

2012-01-03T21:47:00.000-06:00

For New Year's Eve, we had a Good Riddance! celebration.

We each listed something we regretted/wanted to forget about last year.
We regretted the times we got angry with each other and shouted or called names. We regretted skipping homework and biting our nails. We regretted uncouth behavior like burping and tooting around company.

We sealed up our bad luck and sorrows from the past year in a box and burned them!

Good Riddance!

Then we looked back at our blessings and happy memories.

Now we are ready to make a fresh start in the new year.

We made some goals as a family- I was really impressed with the kiddie pies. They know what they need to do. Just like their mom, they need to translate knowing into doing.

I usually set a goal in each of what I see as the areas I have responsibility for in my life. Often, they are repeats from the last year because I do well in spurts-not the long haul. Sometimes I totally own a resolution--like 2 years ago when I decided to recycle all our metal cans. I pwned that one and it is a habit now.

Most of the time, I really have lots of goals in each area of my life--but I feel like I have to choose only 1. After reading my sister's blog today, I decided to free myself from that silly restriction and put down all the things I want to accomplish this year--because I can work on them one at a time and if some of them have to be on next year's list again, so be it.

Health Goal- Exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. My goal is to have good enough cardiovascular fitness that I can dance around the room to the Nutcracker Music with my girls for more than 3 minutes without huffing and puffing.

Drink a gallon of water a day-or as close to this as possible. Every time I crave something sweet, I will drink 20 ounces of water first. Then I will leave the kitchen.

Diabetic Eating Plan: for the last 2 months, I had to strictly follow an eating plan because I once again developed Gestational Diabetes. I successfully controlled my blood sugar levels by following my diet/eating plan. It was easy to follow a diet when somebody else's life besides my own was at stake. All I had to do was think of Baby Dumpling and I could say "no" to mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. It is harder to say no for my own health's sake. But I'm going to give it a try.

Mom Goal-
Establish the Children's Hour: each night at 7pm I will send the kids to get on pj's and brush their teeth. Then, until 8pm, it will be Children's Hour. I will read to them or even play quiet board games or just let them tell me about stuff. I am hoping this will improve their sleeping habits and help them feel loved. Often when they get home from school, I am so busy thinking my own thoughts that I'm not really paying attention to their stories. I want to actually "Be there" mentally for them.

Wife Goal- Not be sharp and cranky, ever. I haven't been sharp or cranky recently but that is because the Man of the House has outdone himself in helpfulness and sweetness. He's cleaned the house, done the laundry, taken care of the kids and is constantly asking what he can do to help me. I've mostly just sat around holding Baby Dumpling. It is easy to be pleasant. One of these days, I'm going to be tired and life won't be perfect and my pleasantness will actually be tested. That's when I can prove myself.

Homemaker goals-
*Stick to the budget better (by using the cash system) and save more this year than we did last year.
*Stick to the chore chart every day.
*Plan meals well enough that I only go to the grocery store once a week.
*Make plan for the week on Sunday evening & follow it!

Spiritual goals-
**Scripture study with kids every Sunday afternoon & write in scripture journals.
******Note to self: purchase composition notebooks for us all
**Read Book of Mormon every day. Planned time & place: at dinner table right after dinner.
**Have a general plan for Family Home Evening so it is easier to plan individual lessons.
**Go to the temple every other month. Pick day in February now!

Family Fun-
**Go on an adventure once a month: January's adventure is visit this new art museum on Martin Luther King Day

Happiness goals:
**Restart my gratitude journal
**Sew things!

Mary Kay goals:
**make a plan and work my business as if it is an actual job and not just a hobby!

Happy New Year's Baby

2012-01-02T16:40:00.028-06:00

Just wanted to post this precious picture.

So far Baby Dumpling has shown herself to be a good eater. She knew what to do right from the start.

At three weeks old, she still mostly just sleeps and eats. She has about 2 times a day where she is awake and looking around. She has gained control of her eyes, and they work together now.

She does not sleep through the night yet--four hours is the longest she goes without eating. Last night she did not go more than 2 hours without eating.

I have many hopes and goals for the new year, but I know I have to take a new baby into account as I make my plans. Saying I will exercise every morning at 5:30 am (which is what I wanted to say) is ridiculous, considering I am likely to be feeding Baby Dumpling then, or unconscious from being up so much with her.

Merry Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T22:35:00.001-06:00

We had a lovely Christmas! I think I was more excited than the kiddie pies--except Cutie Pie. She was so fun because she was thrilled by everything. Her face was constantly either a big "O" of surprise, or a huge smile with dimples!

Christmas Day being Sunday, the kiddies got up and got dressed for church first (with lots of peaks at the mantle on the stairs where stockings were hanging and SOMETHING was moving!! Finally, everyone was ready for church (except Mommy and Baby Dumpling who were not ready to venture into public yet.) Down came the stockings! The something moving turned out to be Honey Bunny.

She needed a new home and Santa knew we would take good care of her.

What treasures and goodies the stockings held!! Santa always brings us each a new toothbrush, exotic fruit, fancy hot cocoa, and candy. Cutie pie held up her kiwi fruit and exclaimed, " A Potato!" You can almost see in this picture, Cutie Pie's stocking (with the lamb on it) which I stayed up until midnight sewing so Santa could leave treats in it.

We then had a breakfast of sugary cereal (also brought by Santa because he knows Mom will NEVER allow it for breakfast otherwise) and off to church went the happy kiddies with Dad. Baby Dumpling and I had a nap, sorry though I was to miss church, especially on Christmas Day when the music would be so beautiful and the message so sweet. We'll be ready to brave all those germ infested people who think it is their right to poke their dirty fingers in new baby's faces in another week or two. Bless their hearts. (and may they be prevented from poking)

After church, Dad & kiddies hurried home & changed their clothes lightening fast so the rest of the presents could be opened.

Here is Cutie Pie hugging her new Totoro pillow buddy. I do not have pictures of all the fun things, but everyone was happy. It was a lovely Christmas indeed.

I am most grateful for our family and dear friends, whose part in my life brings me the most happiness and blessings of all. You know who you are. Your love and the way you uplift me with positive thoughts and words makes me rich beyond measure. Thank you. Through your love, I understand better the love Jesus Christ has for me and for us all.

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-22T22:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, so technically they are Graham Cracker Houses.

For the first day of Christmas Vacation, the kiddie pies and I made Gingerbread Houses. They have been begging to make them since December 1st, but I put them off because

A: I knew we would have a new baby and be unable to visit friends. We would need fun things to do during those days before Christmas. (Hopefully all the new toys keep them busy after Christmas.)

B: The lazy part of me hoped Aunt Amanda would be here to make the Gingerbread houses with them.

Sadly, Aunt Amanda doesn't get to visit. But reason A was enough.

Last year, the houses kept collapsing during construction, causing my kiddie pies much frustration. So this year, I braved the danger of serious burns and melted sugar to glue the pieces together first.

I escaped with only one small blister! Yay! My prefab houses did restrict the creativity factor, but I think that was worth it because we skipped the weeping and wailing caused by runaway roofs and wayward walls.

Here are the kiddie pies creating their art. Cutie Pie was happy just because there was candy all over the table. Tamale Pie and Pumpkin Pie were jazzed about having multiple colors of frosting.

**Speaking of frosting, I found a Royal Icing recipe that called for lemon juice. Best tasting royal icing ever. (Which isn't saying much. I've always hated royal icing. But this was tolerable.)
1 egg white, beaten until stiff.
3 1/2 cups (1 pound) powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar.

Cherry Pie spent so much time creating a garden around her house that she forgot to decorate the house itself. I like how she thinks. Check out her rose bushes and the sand box:

Blueberry's decorating rule of thumb seems to be cover all surfaces.

More houses:

Seconds after I took these pictures, all the houses met with violent ends. Who knew butter knives could be so deadly?

Baby Dumpling

2011-12-15T17:29:00.000-06:00

It's love at first sight.

Finished Projects this fall!

2011-12-12T21:54:00.001-06:00

I finished 4 more pairs of slippers, for a total of 7 pairs of slippers this fall.

Made my own maternity Jeans.

I made a quilted tote bag for a friend (but forgot to take a picture-too bad, the fabric was BEAUTIFUL)

Helped 2 of my children sew little gifts for their teachers- one kitty-cat felt sunglasses case and one very fat Reindeer felt tree ornament. (also forgot to take pictures, doh!)

One large Totoro Pillow Buddy out of fleece. I watched this youtube video on how to draw Totoro and get the proportions right. My drawing was great (I think.)

my finished softie....well... My Totoro looks more like a bowling pin with bunny ears. Sigh.

Note to self. Remember last time I made a pattern for a stuffed object?

Same problem. I need to add more width to the pattern to account for the fatness of stuffing. Maybe I'll remember that next time since I've made this mistake twice now.

Oh well, Cutie Pie will still love him on Christmas morning.

And do I feel awesome for finishing all this--while being pregnant and Primary President?

Yes. Yes I do.

Petting Reindeer Ponies

2011-12-11T14:43:00.000-06:00

This is Rudolf. He was in our town's Christmas Parade and after the parade, we were so lucky that he came by where we were parked. Cutie Pie was so excited to pet him. Seeing pure joy on your children's faces is definitely one of the perks of being a parent.

Christmas Song Medley

2011-12-07T18:41:00.002-06:00

This is utterly and completely wrong for so many reasons, but I laugh every time. Thanks, kids, for introducing me to Julian Smith. Check it out:

Drama worthy of Days of our Lives

2011-11-30T23:20:00.000-06:00

So....hopefully child services doesn't hunt me down after this post, because this is way worse than the time I made tuna noodle casserole and forgot to put the tuna in.

What happened was, I was doing a Mary Kay Christmas Open House last night and my sister was helping me. She picked up the key for the room we were renting before 5pm, when the Chamber of Commerce building closed for the night.

At just before 7 pm we get there, unlock the door and go in. I deposit my coat and purse and run to the bathroom, 'cause I have to do that a lot these days. She brings in her 5 month old baby in his car seat/carrier. Then we go back out to my car to bring in all the wonderful Mary Kay stuff.

She props the door open, but I say, "Let's close it so we don't let all the heat out."

Door closed, we unload my car onto the sidewalk and go back to open the door.

It is locked.

Key to door is inside.

Baby is inside.

My purse, cell phone, and car keys are inside.

My sister's purse, cell phone and car keys are inside.

It is way after 5 and everything is closed downtown.

I tell my sister to wait by the door where she can at least see her baby. I waddle my pregnant self down to the one building whose lights are still on. It turns out to be a gym. There are 3 guys inside working out, but the door is locked and they have music turned up super loud (I can hear it outside) so they don't hear me or see me banging on the window. I decide they might assault me instead of helping me anyway, so I seek elsewhere.

Think to self--3 blocks down is a Dollar General, that will still be open, and I can at least call the police.

Luck is with me and only 1 and 1/2 blocks down is a little coffee shop still open. I happen to have met the owner and know he is nice--though he probably doesn't remember me.

I go in and ask if I can borrow his phone and a phone book--ashamedly explaining why I need to borrow said items. I look in phone book and he oh so helpfully and non-judgementaly finds the home phone number of the secretary at the Chamber of Commerce.

We reach her husband who gives us her cell number. She is almost home, but turns around and comes the 20 minute drive back into town for the sake of the baby.

The coffee shop guy loans me his coat after asking where mine is and I am forced to admit that it is locked inside the building as well.

I waddle myself back to the Chamber building to give my sister the good news. Her baby will not be locked in the building alone overnight.

The lady comes and lets us in and explains that the door only permanently unlocks if you use an allan wrench at a certain place on the inside of the door. She says perhaps they should include one with the key. I want to say that perhaps just warning people that the door doesn't unlock permanently would be a good start--but I'm worried that I'll sound critical--so I don't say it.

She did drive all the way back into town for us, after all.

My sister and I attempt to compose ourselves and set up for the open house--some of the guests are already there by now and know for themselves what gooses we are.

When I tell DH about the whole thing later, he comments that I should have kept the key with me all the time.

I begin whining that my maternity dress doesn't have pockets (a pet peeve of mine that is definitely justified by the preceeding drama.)

Attitude

2011-11-30T07:18:00.000-06:00

It is amazing how my attitude sinks in direct proportion to how low the baby is sitting each day.

Then again, when I spend a sleepless night because my legs hurt so badly and I'm sure my hips are going to pop out of their sockets from the pressure, perhaps it isn't surprising that I'm crabby and impatient and depressed the next morning.

The same thing happened to me on Saturday night. So Sunday (my birthday) I was not a pleasant person to be around. Then Monday the baby floated back up and I became much more cheerful.

Now it is Wednesday and we are both down, down, down.

What to get the kids for Christmas

2011-11-29T23:07:00.001-06:00

As you consider gifts for your children this year, you may find this article helpful. I got some ideas!

The 5 best toys of all time

<3 GlowWorm

Free Book

2011-11-22T02:01:00.000-06:00

If you are suffering from insomnia like I am, you may be quite happy to enjoy a free book of what seems to be exceptionally good quality.

Edmund the Persuader

Today I am thankful for libraries, friends, and websites that share lovely books for free.

Happy Birthday, Tamale Pie

2011-11-16T09:58:00.003-06:00

Yum! tamalie pie might just be my favorite food. It is savory and warm. It has corn meal, which is comfort food and olives, which are delicious. I'll post you all a recipe later. The big news is

Tamale Pie turned 6 last week!

She asked for bean salad & tortilla chips for dinner and carrot cake for desert. What a good girl to ask for such easy food for me to make.

She wanted one of those big Barbie heads that you can style the hair. She has wanted it for a whole year, so she got it. I'm pretty sure she loves it, but the picture of her with it, her eyes are half closed, so she looks possessed and I'm not posting it.

I also managed to finish her slippers! This pair took me the longest time because I forgot about my sewing machine and hand sewed all those hearts on. Duh, GlowWorm, way to create more work for yourself.

A few days later, I finished Pumpkin Pie's slippers. Yay! 3 down, 2 to go.

Tamale Pie is my most dramatic child--usually in a happy way. Pumpkin Pie takes the Oscar for nuclear meltdowns of woe.

Tamale Pie laughs the most, dances the most, sings the most, hugs the most (and I'm talking about running from the other side of the room and jumping on you in a koala bear/monkey kind of hug) and she TALKS the most.

She went to Kindergarten this fall, and the house is so quiet during the day now. No longer do I have her constant monologue/questions/bossy paragraphs about what I should be doing. It is nice to have quiet. But I miss her little voice, too. I'll be cleaning or driving somewhere and realize something is missing. There is no little voice asking me where we are going or what I am doing.

The other day I found a movie that she had made of herself on the computer.
#1 I don't even know how to use our computer to do that. I don't know how to post it so you can enjoy it also. I can't even find it again to watch it. And I'm not that computer illiterate either.

#2 Many times the constant talking didn't quite make sense to me, but I figured it was because I wasn't always really listening. After watching her video, I realized that she often does not complete a sentence or a relate causality clearly. In other words, sometime she just doesn't make sense.

#3 Her video was hilarious. She was clearly copying a you tube video I had watched on how to style your hair with a flat iron. She mimicked the girl's gestures and vocal inflections (rather valley girl style) almost perfectly, even though we only watched it once.

"Okay, what we are going to do today is a hair style and we have this pony tail holder...yadda yadda and you take it like this and braid it, and you have to do this because when we all go to the store we get cereal....and don't forget to go to www.tamalepie.com."

That's right. Apparently my six year old has her own website.

Tamale pie loves to help me and often asks what job she can do for me. She loves to dance ballet. One of these days I might be able to find her a real dance teacher. (our town lists 3 in the phone book, but the numbers are either wrong or no one answers/returns calls.) Until then, we are making do with ballet class DVDs from Amazon.

When Cherry Pie was baptized, Tamale Pie and Grandma Rosi were walking through the hall at the church. Tamalie Pie stopped at the picture of President Monson and said, "That's my prophet."

Very impressed, Grandma Rosie asked, "Do you have a picture of him in your house?"

"No, " says Tamale Pie, thoughtfully, "but we do have Mary Kay!"

(In my defense, we don't have a picture of Mary Kay hanging on the wall. What was hanging on the wall in my office was a goal poster of the things I wanted to achieve in Mary Kay--pay off our mortgage, buy new clothes, take the kids to Disney World.)

Tamale Pie likes all the normal food kids love, plus broccoli. Her favorite color is pink and right now, her favorite song is "Away in a Manger." She wants to go to Disney World and has saved up $3 and some change to help pay for our trip.

She always notices things that are inconsistent in what adults (ahem) do and asks me about it.

One morning I came downstairs to make breakfast. There on the counter was the delicious half of a chocolate cake my mother-in-law had given me, missing all the frosting from the top. Tamale Pie was sitting on a stool near the cake.
I asked, "Did you lick the frosting off of my cake?"
She replied, "No, Mama."
I said, raising my eyebrows, "It's rude to lick the frosting off of my cake."
She said, "But I just used my finger."

There you go. Logic that cannot be argued.

Happy Day

2011-11-14T18:38:00.000-06:00

This little Cutie Pie is so unique! It always amazes me how different each of my children are.

She loves to fill pages in with color and will spend over an hour carefully filling a shape in with marker. While she colors, she sings, "A Happy Day, a happy day." (Think Mickey and the Beanstalk-"My what a happy day")

Every morning, she asks for toast with jam and a "friday egg." I love that she likes eggs. Such a healthy food.

Of all my children, she is the only one who has loved puzzles. She loves putting the pieces in wooden puzzles, things that snap together, building towers with blocks --anything that is like a puzzle.

She is also the most rambunctious and fearless. She will jump off anything and actually laughs and asks for more when her big uncles throw her up in the air.

Right now she loves farm animals, especially horses and "oinkies". She spends lots of time each day tying up her horses, building walls for them to walk on, and riding anything that might substitute for a horse, like the arm of my overstuffed rocking chair-- which now has no cloth covering it, thanks to her rough riding.

She blames anything bad on Swiper the Fox. She will often ask me to watch over her food/toys/clothing so that "Swiper can't get it."

When I ask her to pick up her shoes or jacket, she will first say, "But I'm too bigger enough to do that." When I insist, she will sometimes decide to comply and sigh and say, "alright."

She and I have had a great time together this fall with all the big kids gone to school. We'll see what happens when we throw a new baby in the mix.

Mary Kay is AWESOME!

2011-11-08T22:13:00.000-06:00

Today I got the best message ever from a customer. For several years, she has purchased Timewise age-fighting moisturizer from me, but that was all she wanted. Yesterday she came to me asking for help. Her eyelids were so dry, they had scales and were puffy, and her cheeks were bumpy all over as if she had poison ivy.

I was seriously worried, her face looked so bad, and actually asked her if she might need to see a doctor. She said it would take months to get an appointment with a dermatologist, and wanted to know what I could do for her. I told her she needed to use Mary Kay cleanser with her moisturizer--because products from different lines don't always work well together. I also explained that she should never use cleanser on her eyes, just our oil-free eye-makeup remover. I sent her home with a miracle set, firming eye cream, oil-free eye-makeup remover, and the targeted action eye revitalizer (which is for dark circles, another of her problems.)

She texted me today (a message 5 texts long) so excited because after only 24 hours of using 100% Mary Kay, the bumps were gone from her cheeks. The extreme dry patches on her eyelids that had been there for 2 months were gone and her face felt smooth and good. I had told her to wait a couple of days on the eye revitalizer because it tingles when you use it and I was afraid it would burn her dry skin. But she's already using it and can already tell that her dark circles are looking better!!

I'm so happy right now!!!! I really truly helped her and I made her happy. That's why I love my Mary Kay Business!!

Thanks, Sister

2011-11-07T22:19:00.000-06:00

Because my sister posted about her husband's secret favorite song, I got to find out that my husband has a secret favorite song, too. I can't tell you how happy I was to find this out--especially since most of the music he likes is the kind I'm sure will damage my children's brains permanently.

7 Brothers

2011-11-06T21:09:00.001-06:00

These are my seven brothers. And my dad.

Aren't I lucky?

Getting Ready For Deployment, part 2

2011-11-01T18:21:00.001-05:00

Little Caesar's Pizza just opened in my town. I now have $5 Hot-n-Ready pizza within a 5 minute drive. It's all I need to weather the DH's deployment successfully. (p.s. still no news as to whether it will happen or not.)

Trunk-or-Treating

2011-10-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

Frost Princess
**A construct a costume from the dress-up bin costume! My favorite kind.

Lady Bug

**Borrowed from a friend kind of costume! My second favorite kind!

Lizzy Bennett
*I made the red bonnet yesterday in about a hour. It's a Butterick Pattern. The rest of the costume was found around the house. Yay.

Satyr Warrior (with hoodie)
**Re-using the goat legs I sewed for him last year, plus a $3 sword. Yay! love re-using costumes. I think he just really wanted a new toy sword and planned a costume that would require a weapon.

**Not Pictured: Cutie Pie who slept through the whole thing.**

Recent Sewing Projects and happiness :)

2011-10-28T08:02:00.000-05:00

**Note I actually typed this post in AUGUST. I've just been waiting to get pictures of the skirts I made. As is my usual on top of things and preparedness, I didn't have my camera with me during the wedding reception. sign. I'm a bad, bad blogger.**

I have found time to sew recently!

I made skirts for my girls to wear to my brother's wedding reception. I used the Insa skirt pattern from the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" by Nancy Langdon & Sabine Pollehn.

I've really been excited about this book, which I got for my birthday almost a year ago. I was finally brave enough to try one of the patterns and it worked up very easily--even though the coral brocade was a bit murderous to work with.

I measured my girls and chose their size based on the measurement chart. I recommend this highly, Cutie Pie wears a 3T from the store, but I made the 18month size skirt for her and it fit perfectly. The only caveat I would give is that if your child is close to the top end of the measurement range, go ahead and make the next size up. Tamale Pie's skirt just barely fit.

I traced the patterns with a sharpie marker onto that clear vinyl stuff you get to put over tablecloths. It was easy to trace and worked great. I loved being able to see through my pattern as I placed it on the fabric. The only issue I had was that when I stacked my pattern pieces up, some of the sharpie transferred onto other plastic pieces. I layered tissue paper between the pieces before rolling them up to store until next time.

**You have to keep in mind when using the patterns from this book that seam allowances are not included. I didn't think I would like it, but it makes it so much easier to tell what size the pattern will fit and for matching directional prints **PERFECT** So I'm loving that now. Plus, I could make the seam allowance whatever width I wanted. Also, I could totally see myself using a quilting pencil to trace the edge of the pattern right onto the fabric so that I had a sewing line and my garment turned out perfectly. I found the directions in the book clear and the patterns easy to follow.

Modifications I made: I did trim the underskirt shorter by about 2 inches so that it wouldn't be longer than the tulle (which was my brilliant idea to add.)

Didn't they turn out great!!??

I'm excited to make more skirts with cotton. The Train to Crazy made this pattern with cotton and look how cute!!

I love her fabric choices. Definitely must follow this blog! She has a tutorial on making odd-sized sheets. I'm sew happy :) Also she obviously has a serger that works. **jealous**

I also helped my mom and sister-in-law, Cegan, assembly-line these vests for the boys. (this picture shows about half of the vests we made.)

Jimmy is exactly 10 years and 1 day younger than me, and he is probably my favorite brother. (shhh, don't tell Matt, he'll never work on my house again) I got to drive up with Jimmy to St. Louis on the morning of his wedding. We talked the whole way and it was so fun. I'm not telling on myself the brainless thing I did later that day. But it didn't matter because the whole day was glorious and peaceful and happy. I'm so glad for Jimmy and my new sister-in-law, Tahnee--who seems amazing and is obviously beautiful and smart and has a good sense of humor (or she couldn't like Jimmy.) They've started out right *smiley*

I also made a pointy-kitty for Tamalie Pie's friend for her birthday.

You can download the directions and pattern free at WeeWonderfuls.Com. It is a fun quick sew, although I add about a quarter inch seam allowance all around the pattern because the seams are so close! It is a little tricky, but still just a 4-hour sewing project.

Classy

2011-10-24T15:31:00.002-05:00

I read Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady earlier this year (sometimes my library does have good stuff--if you can get past the vampire heavy teen section. sheesh! enough vampires already! Just because Stephanie Meyer hit the jackpot, must every publisher bring out a vampire trilogy or two?)

Back to my sweetie pie, Derek Blasberg. He is a genius. Plus he grew up in my home state! Good things can come from Missouri! This book was hilarious and I learned some super useful things too, like:

What do you take as a gift for the hostess of a dinner party when you and your friends don't drink wine?

Answer: flowers! (perfect! I always wanted to be one of those classy people who brought a gift to their hostess, I just could never figure out what to bring. In movies it is always wine.)

How should you dress when flying?

Answer: classy and good-looking! The airport is one of the few places left where you can find a single man, and at least you know that his family can afford a plane ticket! (sheer genius. Heaven forbid I am ever single again, but if that day comes, I'm totally going to hang out in airports to meet guys.)

This book got a few too many negative reviews on Amazon (as in: any negative review was 1 too many.) They were either from people who had no sense of humor or people who write reviews for their own self-aggrandizement.

Mrs. "Everything in the book is quite predictable and even pedestrian," Have you no sense of humor?

Miss "I hardly learned anything," are you trying to impress us with your knowledge-- because I'm very (un)impressed by your inability to learn anything!

Anyway, it was a great read and very fun. It made me want to hostess a dinner party and go buy a cashmere sweater. One more nice thing. Derek recommended some great wardrobe pieces that are worth investing in, but he has a sense of proportion as well. I read and enjoyed Nina Garcia's The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own but my needs won't justify the 5 or 10 cashmere sweaters in all colors like she recommends. Derek's recommendations geared more for starving college student budgets are much more fit to my budget and my lifestyle. Let's face it, I don't get invited to 10 dinner parties a year, so 1 little black dress is really all I could ever use.

Happy Birthday, Cutie Pie

2011-10-19T15:36:00.000-05:00

Cutie Pie is 3! She loves anything about animals, especially horses and kitty cats. Often, she comes down the stairs on her hands and knees saying "Meow, meow." But if I say, "Hello little kitty cat." She will say, "I'm not a kitty cat, I'm a Julia." She also likes "Dora the Explorer" and Donald Duck. We were watching "The Three Caballeros" and she said, "That's Uncle Donald." I said, "You mean, Donald Duck?" "Yes," she said,"Maybe I love him."

All her siblings are in school, so she often asks me to take her to her school. She still has 2 1/2 years until she gets to go to Kindergarten. Sometimes I agree to take her to her school and we go to the park.

For her birthday she wanted Chocolate "Dapunzel" cake. (chocolate Rapunzel Cake) I couldn't find any Rapunzel cake decorations, so I just made Texas Fudge cake and said, "Here you go, chocolate Rapunzel cake."

She was completely satisfied.

Then, only a week (or 3) late, I finished her Kitty-cat slippers.
Didn't they turn out so cute?!!

I used this amazing tutorial by "Made by Rae" for Dragon Slippers.

I felt kind of guilty for turning such an awesome boy gift into a girly version--it is so hard to find things to make for boys. But I will be making the Dragon version for Bubba. They only took about 3 hours to make--including embroidering the kitty faces. The only bad part is I still have 4 more children who are expecting slippers. They all needed slippers this year, and I was just going to buy them. But slippers cost $10 a pair--for the ugly ones-- and that's $50 for just the kids. I got enough fleece (I think) to make everyone slippers for $15.

I had egg whites, so I had to make Meringues

2011-10-17T20:45:00.001-05:00

2 egg whites
pinch cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar - extra fine if you have it

Preheat oven to 250*F
Whisk egg whites until thick and frothy.
Add Cream of Tartar. Whisk quickly until whites form stiff peaks.
Continue whisking, sprinkling the sugar over the egg whites a little at a time.

Cover a cookie sheet with baking parchment or aluminum foil.
Spoon out 10 large dollops of meringue and push them with your finger onto the sheet, about 3/4" apart.

Bake 1 hour or until crisp and dry. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues until completely cool.

1 1/4 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp rum flavoring

Whip cream until soft peaks form.

Sandwich meringues together with whipped cream.

Heaven in my mouth.

Maybe some day I'll be brave enough to try this one:

Thoughts on Johnson Grass

2011-10-17T01:25:00.000-05:00

source

When I was a kid, one of the chores my brothers & sisters & I had every morning through the summer was to weed a row in the family garden. Since my parents grew an enormous and super abundant garden, this was no small task. I believe most of the rows were 50-70 feet long. It was a chore we all hated, and I remember many a time weeding my row with rebellion in my soul. Now I look back on those times in the garden as a family as some of the best times we had. We were all outside working together. We would sing silly songs like

"There's a Hole in my Bucket"
"If I get to Heaven Before You Do" -we made up extra verses to this one
"Johnny Verbeck"

and pretty songs in a round like
"I love the mountains"
"White Coral Bells"
"Horsey, Horsey, on your Way"

But I digress. Going back to when it was a hated chore--no one wanted to weed, but no one was slow to get started because the last one out got the worst row. Some rows had more sticker weeds than others, and those were no fun. But the worst row was the row with the most Johnson Grass choking it.

Johnson grass looks a great deal like a young corn plant. But as you can see in the picture above, it has huge roots, including fat white tuber roots. You cannot just grab the top of a Johnson grass plant and pull it out of the ground. The top will rip off, leaving the root behind, and the plant will grow back. If you carefully loosen the roots and pull out the whole root & plant, you still cannot just drop the Johnson grass on the ground like an ordinary weed. If the roots are still touching the dirt, they will latch back on and the plant will revive and grow. The only way to kill Johnson grass that we knew of, was to extract it, complete with roots and throw it on an old piece of tin Dad kept at the end of the rows we were weeding. On the tin where it was prevented from touching the ground, the Johnson grass would wither in the sun and die after a few days.

I think that people are a lot like Johnson grass. Here we are on Earth, growing. Sometimes life rips our leaves off. Sometimes Satan puts us through such a hard time that we feel completely uprooted. But as long as we keep praying and reading our scriptures--as long as we keep digging ourselves back into that good nourishing word of God--we will revive and keep growing. It is only when we become separated from the nourishment we need that we wither and die.

The difference is, we are not weeds in God's garden. He wants us there! It is Satan who is trying to pull us out. And it is our choice if we allow ourselves to be thrown up on that piece of tin and scorched. Satan can rip us up and rip us apart, but he can't separate us from the Lord. We separate ourselves from the Lord or we can cling to Him and find renewal.

This is me recommitting to be more faithful in studying daily my scriptures.
<3 GlowWorm

Pintrest Love

2011-10-16T01:02:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered that my list of Project links on the side of my blog caused a small problem. Any blog that I linked to that had enabled "links to this post" would show every blog post I made--even though my links was over on the side and not in a specific post. **EMBARASSING**

That prompted me to give Pintrest another try. I'm loving it now, and you can see all the projects I want to make over there now.

"The List"--or Preparing for Deployment, part 1

2011-10-10T22:03:00.000-05:00

10 days ago the Man of the House received a call from Battalion Head Quarters informing him that he was now on a list. This list is a list of National Guard officers who have not yet been deployed. He was also informed that a Colonel would be calling and "interviewing" him regarding an upcoming mission. Were he chosen for that mission, he would be deploying overseas next spring, in April or May. Apparently, once you are on "the list" they continue to consider you for missions until you have your turn at deployment.

Obviously, this is something we knew would come up some time. That is part of being in the military--especially now. However, the Man of the House kept getting transferred to a new Guard Unit every 18 months (this is typical for new officers) and the new unit was always just getting back from deployment. So it seemed like deployment kept getting put off into the nebulous future.

Sunday night the colonel called--though it was less of an interview and more of a giving of information. The colonel informed the Man of the House that they would make a decision and let him know within 24 hours.

Two days later, having heard not a peep, the Man of the House called Battalion HQ and they basically said, "We don't know why the colonel would say you would know in 24 hours. They always take a long time to make these decisions." So we resigned ourselves to not knowing for a month or two.

......The last 8 days have seemed like a month or two.

When the Man of the House initially told me what was going on, I confidently assured him that I had known deployment was a large possibility. I knew the kids and I would be just fine--we would miss him, but we would be fine. I'm surrounded by a huge support network of friends and family and everything would be totally manageable.

Then as we waited for news, I began to doubt myself. Was I being over-confident? (Not unusual for me) What if I failed to plan because I was over-confident? What if I was just wrong and we wouldn't be fine at all? When would they let us know so that I could start preparing whatever it was I needed to prepare? What if they called back and said, "You aren't going in April, you are going in November. You have 1 month to be ready." I started to stress out and get all weepy and go through scenarios in my mind where I had to deal with having this baby by myself in December.

??????? IS THIS ME ??????

Then, one particularly depressing day this last week, I took myself and Cutie Pie to a little used bookshop nearby. Because, what can be more cheering when one is in low spirits than a new book--particularly a good Fairy-tale re-write novel with lots of handsome princes/useful farm boys and strong maidens who almost don't need rescuing?

Just as I was about to leave, I spotted "When Duty Calls: A Handbook for Families Facing Military Separation" by Carol Vandesteeg. I'm pretty sure it was there just for me. I went home and began reading at once (with a handy bag of chocolate chips for companionship.)

The first thing I read was: "Part of Preparation is believing that you will successfully deal with the challenge." Hope was restored! It is okay to believe that we will be fine. Not only do I get to keep my optimism, my optimism means we have greater chance of weathering deployment successfully!

The rest of the book is sort of a collection of checklists and suggestions. How to be prepared financially. How to prepare and help your children. etc.

Here is what I realized: The man of the House may or may not be sent on this particular deployment. However, deployment is most likely inevitable and there are many things I can do now to make sure our family is ready when the time comes.

Not only that, many of the things I can do now will just make our family more prepared for life--Provident Living stuff. See, statistics say that soldiers are actually more likely to die in a car accident at home than to die during a deployment. Some of the things on the preparing lists were:
*make sure both spouses know all the usernames and passwords to pay the bills
online (If that is how you pay them, which we do.)
*Make sure both spouses know what to feed the family and how to fix meals.
*Make sure both spouses know where to find family records(birth certificates,
shot records, insurance information, etc.)
*Make sure both spouses can change the ink in the computer printer.
*Make sure both spouses know how to care for the family vehicles.
*Do both spouses know what must be done to keep the house neat and orderly?
*Do you have a will?
*Do both spouses know what stores to shop at for clothes for the children?
*Do they know what clothing the children need?

I'll be pretty much able to keep the house running if my husband spends a year in Afghanistan--because I keep the house running now. What I can't manage, I can ask for help with. However, if I died in a car accident tomorrow, the Man of the House would be without access to much vital financial and family information. Not good. (p.s. He does know how to change both the ink in the printer and the oil in the car.)

So my stress is all gone now because

#1 I have permission to be optimistic and

#2 I have a whole book of checklists to go through now--checklists which will benefit my family and make us more prepared for life even if deployment never happens. Happy checklists :)

Was it worth $3.25 at the bookstore? Absolutely.

Plus, as you all know, now that I am prepared for deployment, it won't happen. Just like when you are pregnant and you just can't resist that cute baby boy outfit--you are sure to have a girl instead. Or when you decide you are done having kids altogether and you give away all your maternity clothes....we all know what happens next.

P.S. I found this cool picture, but don't you think the wife should be holding like a vacuum or a frying pan or a lawnmower and not an AK47 (or whatever it is)?

New Dress, Random stuff

2011-10-06T00:52:00.002-05:00

I love love love to watch Project Runway. Since we don't get cable TV (or any TV) I either show up at a friend's house to watch it, or my sisters get a hold of a whole season at once and we marathon it. Now my daughters occasionally design fashion outfits and have runway shows. Tamale Pie designed this new dress for me. I thought it was a giraffe at first, but she explained that the "spots" were actually apples and that it was a dress. Then it was all so clear-including the spacious allowance for my growing baby bump. One thing I can say about my girl, she knows how to design for real women. Something those kids on Project Runway don't always know how to do.

Also, I bet you have all been wondering what we do at our house on a rainy Saturday Morning besides design high fashion. Here's the scoop.

Bubba likes to make armor and weapons. Cutie Pie likes chase him, screaming, "kill, Kill!" in true warrior princess form.

The rest of the Pies like to make things with play dough. My super cute nephew, CandyBar, was visiting us while his mother was in the hospital bringing forth a new little brother for him. When he wasn't on the table, CandyBar was playing with the toy horses we have in the animal box. Those horses kept him busy all day.

Monday was a no school day (teacher meetings or something) The girls have wanted to have a "Tangled" day--a day where they get to do all the things that Rapunzel does during her song. So Monday we invited a few friends over and had our Tangled day. We made pottery with bake-able clay, painted, read books, baked apple pies, had lunch, ballet, and painted faces with makeup.

Surprisingly, the girls all voted to skip mopping, sweeping, polishing, clean-up and laundry. I got to do all those ones, myself. And they wondered why we ran out of time and didn't get to do chess, ventriloquy, candle making, more painting, and sew a dress...

Now they all are begging to have home school. I think they think home school would be like Tangled Day. I'm afraid it would be too....

And if you are looking for cute Halloween ideas or cute things to make for boys, check out my new favorite blog to read: The Train To Crazy Don't you just want to go get a crochet hook right this second?!!

20 minute Maternity Jeans

2011-09-21T14:56:00.001-05:00

These are things I'm really wanting to buy right now.

Dansco Clogs

Sofft Black Heels

Simply Vera, Vera Wang earings

However, what I NEED is Maternity Jeans. I have lots of maternity capri pants but
#1 it isn't sandal/flip flop weather any more and I look dorky in sneakers & capris

#2 I am preggo enough that I don't care to shave my legs any more.

But Bubba needs new jeans too--more than I do. So it's the old sewing machine and helpful online tutorials for me. Yay.

This tutorial on Craftster is the best maternity jean tutorial I've seen. It took me 20 minutes from start to finish and that included the time I took to find the jeans, dig out an old t-shirt and thread, and get my sewing machine out of storage--where it has been banished while I'm in DIQ!!

Here is my result! I'm so proud!! Retail therapy is great, but the self-fulfillment that comes from making something useful out of stuff you already had is much more lasting.

1 Tutorial from Craftster. I *heart* Craftster!!

1 pair $7 clearance jeans from Lane Bryant that I was only skinny enough to wear for about a month. Perhaps they shrunk in the wash?

1 old t-shirt generously, albeit unknowingly, donated by my DH.

ha ha just kidding. I used my own shirt. I had one that was really too small that had a good lycra content for stretchy but firm.

1 bit of thread, scissors and my handy dandy Bernina 1008.

I did 2 things differently from the tutorial.
#1 I didn't have to sew the zipper shut because I couldn't zip it even 1/4". I just cut the whole zipper out. I also didn't cut off any of the jeans waist band in the back. They were low rise jeans and I wanted the belt loops. Just because.

**note scissors do not cut through rivets--even if they are gingers. The sewing machine needle will not penetrate rivets either.

#2 I made sure to cut the strip from the bottom of the t-shirt so I didn't have to roll the edge and hem it. Duh! I also cut it wider than 6" because I like the full belly coverage better.

Then after I finished sewing, I went to my friend's house this morning and she loaned me more maternity pants, including a dressy black pair. It's all I ever wished for. Life is good.

Not Panicking!--well maybe a little

2011-09-19T09:01:00.000-05:00

My Pregnancy Countdown ticker says I have 92 days left.

If I flunk my sugar test next month, that will minus 14 days off the total. YIKES! I'm so not ready yet!

Plus you know that means it is only 97 days until Christmas. Are you ready? I'm not.

Plus I am a little over 2 weeks into my first month of Sales Director Qualification with Mary Kay. The company gives us 4 months to meet the requirements, but my goal is to finish in 3, a.k.a BEFORE the baby is born.

I've been working so hard! I've done more facials in the last 2 weeks than I've ever done in a month. Right now, all I can do is keep working and hope the numbers add up to what they have to be by September 30th. I must just focus on the work I need to do and not focus on the worry. Worry won't get me anywhere.

In just a minute I'm going to take a deep breath and leave this computer and get to work. I'm pretty proud of myself that I've had the house clean, dinner on the table and the laundry caught up--all while working 15-20 hours a week on my Mary Kay. That in itself is proof how much I've learned about time management and self-discipline in the last few years. I even went to the temple last week.

But I also grouched at my kids several times and let my 3 year old watch too much TV. So I'm not even close to perfect yet.

I keep worrying that part of my current efficiency is due to the fact that I have only 1 child not in school and 4 big kids who come home and do at least 1 chore for me every day. In other words, I'll lose all this wonderful control over my life in December when the baby arrives. I have to keep reminding myself that it is a temporary and unavoidable thing--not being able to get anything done after a new baby arrives. Plus that new baby will be so much fun to cuddle and kiss.

I'm so excited about what is going on in my life right now and I am determined to keep working and not drop back into the old procrastinating me. The ostrich who liked to just stick her head in the sand periodically and pretend that nothing was going to fall apart if she just ignored it for a week or 2. As we learn in physics, 2nd law of thermodynamics, the entropy (disorder, randomness, chaos) of a system always increases unless we apply a counter energy or work.

So I'm off to work with a sense of urgency (not panic).

Pumpkin Pie

2011-09-16T23:04:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin Pie is my second daughter. She is sweet and wholesome and good. She is my little nurturer, loves to play with baby dolls and loves to help with real babies. She sometimes changes her little sister's diaper without me asking her to.

She was not friendly to strangers as a little child and glared at anyone who dared to look at her.

Her emotions are pretty polar. Either she is happy, or she is NOT. NOT happy = howling her unhappiness to the sky in complete and utter meltdown.

She loves to play the piano and hounds me until I give her a lesson. She practices that lesson without my ever asking her to. Often she will sit down and just try to figure out the next song in the book on her own.

She likes macaroni and cheese, nutella on graham crackers, and hot cocoa. Actually, she loves junk food so much that I have to just not have it in the house because she will refuse all real food if she thinks there are other options.

Actual pumpkin pie is my favorite dessert, possibly because my birthday often falls on Thanksgiving day. Also possibly because I can eat so much of it without feeling sick. I can even eat it for breakfast and suffer no ill consequences. The fact that pumpkin pie is my favorite does not mean that Pumpkin Pie is my favorite. I don't have favorites. But it certainly is easy to love someone who is so often a willing, cheerful helper.

Book Review

2011-08-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading The Fat Girl's Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker

"Why would you read that book, you're not fat?" DH asked.

Wasn't that sweet of him? The answer is, I read it because, while I may not be fat fat, I feel like I have no control over my size--which I'd like to be a bit smaller but I am waiting until after I am not pregnant to do something, obviously.

It's just that for the last 11 years I have been the amazing accordion woman, shrinking up and down in size to accommodate 6 babies. La Leche League will tell you that you loose weight breastfeeding and I have seen it to be true for some women. For me, my body hangs on to at least 10 or 20 reserve pounds until I stop nursing to make sure that baby has food.

It's not so much that I want to be skinny. I'd just like to be the same size for maybe a whole year or two. I feel a little delirious dreaming about being the same size for 5 years in a row. About 2 years ago, I gave up on the fantasy that I would someday be as skinny as I was in high school and right before I got married. The truth is, that wasn't a healthy weight for me and I had achieved it by not eating. So I just want to be a size and stick with it long enough to actually build one of those workable wardrobes that you read about that has a sensible amount of clothing that I can mix and match. Not a closet that has to have normal clothes, bigger size clothes, maternity clothes, post baby size clothes that I can still nurse in, etc.

But I've gotten off track.

The Fat Girl's Guide to Life blows some serious holes in the whole "you have to have a certain BMI (Body Mass Index) to be healthy" rule. I love it. It confirmed some things that I have often thought from my own attempts to lose weight and watching people I love try to lose weight.

I know lots of girls who carefully watch what they eat and exercise at least 3 times a week and yet do not lose weight. At best, they lose and regain the same 10 pounds over and over.

I know lots of skinny people who say that losing weight is a simple matter of caloric deficit and getting of your fat butt to exercise. If a "fat" person insists that they do exercise, the skinny person will insist that it must be the wrong kind/not enough exercise. Yet these skinny people will eat large servings of ice cream twice a day and rarely exercise more than once a week but will stay complacent in their assumptions that anyone who wants to be skinny can be skinny if they just do the work.

Did you know:
*A moderately active fat person is likely to be far healthier than someone who is svelte but sedentary. What's worse, American's (largely unsuccessful) efforts to make themselves thin through dieting and supplements are themselves a major cause of the ill health associated with being overweight.

NEWS FLASH! Dieting and Diet pills are BAD FOR YOU

* There is in fact no medical basis for the government's BMI recommendations or the public health policies based on them. The BMI range correlating with the lowest mortality rate is extremely broad, from about 18-32 BMI, meaning that women of average height can weigh anywhere within an 80 pound range without seeing any statistically meaningful change in her risk of premature death.

*In a decided majority of studies, groups of people labeled overweight by current standards are found to have equal or lower mortality rates than groups of supposedly ideal weight individuals.

*Large scale mortality studies indicate that women who are 50 or even 75 pounds "overweight" will on average still have longer life expectancies than those who are 10 to 15 pounds "underweight" aka fashionably thin.

*Numerous studies have shown that weight loss of 20-30 pounds leads to an increased risk of premature death, sometimes by an order of 700%

****
If you would like to hear some common sense and stop blaming yourself for all those failed diets, then this is the book to read. If you would like to stop feeling like the reason you are fat is because you are lazy, dumb, low on will power, and unable to delay instant gratification, then THIS IS THE BOOK TO READ.

Here is my favorite favorite quote from Wendy (who is 5'7" and weighs around 220 lbs. despite the fact that she spends an hour on a treadmill 3-4 times a week and lifts weights as well and sticks to a healthy, reasonable diet.)
"Think about how much time you've spent thinking about that poundage, and the time you've spent punishing yourself about that poundage. Then I'd like you to imagine NOT doing that. Instead, imagine the relief you'd feel if you could walk past a plate-glass window without cursing your reflection. ....
Now imagine if we all did it. The Fat Girls, the Skinny Girls.....all that free time on our minds that we aren't using to rip ourselves to shreds. All that money in our wallets that we're not going to spend on fat-free, sugar-free, taste-free sorbet. That's a lot of minutes and a lot of money from a lot of women who have a lot of brain power."

As I read this, I couldn't help thinking, we are doing exactly what Satan wants us to do. We are obsessing about something that isn't important. All of us intelligent, powerful women are using up our time stressing and worrying about whether we are fat and beating ourselves up about it. Think of all the good we could do if we quit worrying about fat.

So I have a new determination to not worry about what I weigh. I am determined to exercise moderately so that I can be healthy. I am determined to eat lots of vegetables so I can be healthy. But I am not going to worry about what weight comes along for the ride. I hope you'll join me. :)

Cherry Pie

2011-08-27T09:14:00.001-05:00

Picture from Food Network

Cherry Pie got her nickname--which is short for "The Princess of Sweetness and Cherry Pie" ('Hans My Hedgehog' from Jim Henson's 'The Storyteller') because she was so breathtakingly beautiful as a baby. I seriously spent the first 2 weeks after she was born on the couch holding her and surrounded by a pink warm fuzzy cocoon of baby girl happiness. She was so delicate like a flower or a spiderweb in the sunrise, covered in dew. I spent hours just admiring her. At some point, Bubba (story to come later), who was 2 started coming up and biting my knee, and I remembered that I had 2 children who needed love and attention.

Aside from being beautiful, Cherry Pie has a tart streak which keeps her from being overwhelmingly sugary and unbearable. She is fun and sporty and she has a twisted sense of humor (one might say slightly evil sense of humor) that is really startling and funny. Example: One day at the dinner table, she suddenly held her fork over her plate in a very threatening manner and, addressing her food, said, "Tell me the truth or I will stab you!"

I can understand this streak because I always loved the really gory fairy tales as a kid. You know, like the Cinderella version where the stepsisters actually carve off part of their feet to fit into the slipper. The little birds sing to the prince about "There's blood in the shoe, the bride's not right" and he goes back to get the real Cinderella.

Cherry Pie also inherited my compulsion to draw and color on walls. I'm sure my mother feels that this is only just and fair. Ironically, this particular mess was made at my mom's house. Sorry, Mom.

Cherry Pie is a collector which is why she also gets called "Magpie" from time to time. She gathers pretty things up and hides them in her drawer and other little nests in corners of her room. Sometimes the things are not exactly hers. She also gathers little scraps of paper and bits of stickers for her nests. When she was 2, she would pull out fat quarters from my quilting fabric stash and hide them under her bed. I would find her later petting them and calling them "pity, pity." Again, a compulsion that I understand well.

Picture from Food & Cook

If you began reading this post hoping for a great recipe, I'll not disappoint you. Click here to see a great one.

I HEART Picasa

2011-08-26T09:44:00.000-05:00

Did I mention how much I love being able to use Picasa?

Well, some pretty strange people have been visiting my home. Luckily, my security camera caught most of them on film. Don't worry, I'm sending the footage to America's Most Wanted.

Belated Trip Report**Now with Pictures!!

2011-08-20T06:56:00.004-05:00

Question: Why have I not blogged for over a month??

Answer: I can't find the cord to link my computer and my camera. waaaahhhh :(

The DH says it's around somewhere. I'm pretty sure he's the last one to have seen it, and thus is GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. He will receive no mercy when he stands before the tribunal. **after reading my post, the wounded DH went and found my camera cord for me--supposedly sitting on top of our broken printer in plain sight. Wasn't that sweet of him? I *heart* DH. In addition to that, I got copies of lots of pictures taken by other family members and due to some pregnancy insomnia and my new super high speed internet, figured out how to make collages with PICASA. I *heart* PICASA.

We had a wonderful, wonderful vacation and truthfully I was having too much fun at the family reunion to use my camera much, so I don't have very many pictures anyway (hanging head in shame)

The treats and games I planned worked well on the 22 hour drive out to Idaho. Best last minute bring along was a library book of quickie who-dun-it mysteries. The older kids enjoyed solving them for as long as my voice held out reading aloud. They even read some to each other after I quit.

On the way home, I decided that we ate as many snacks as we had and didn't really need so many. So I bought less and everyone was mostly OK. We never felt sick from car food, so I think the choices were good.

The toys/coloring didn't work very well on the way home. Although Bubba made some improvements to the pictures in Cutie Pie's "Dora the Explorer" coloring book.

Everyone was so tired of being in the car. The kids just wanted to watch movies and everyone was tired of the movies we had. I considered Redbox, but didn't want to drive around unknown towns searching for one.

I chose the DVDs we did bring along based on 2 criteria:
#1 what I thought I could stand to listen to while not being able to see it
#2 The kids would like to watch over and over

( the kids would have loved Mr. Bean. But the sound track to Bean is just canned studio laughter and a little background music. Not fun to listen to when you can't see what is so funny. Also no good is any of the Lord Of the Rings Movies. That entire sound track can be summed up as follows: "da-nuh- nuh, du du dunt...I'm glad you're here Sam...da-nuh- nuh, du du dunt...I'll always stay with you Mr. Frodo...da-nuh- nuh, du du dunt...*beastial howlings and growlings*...15...16...17...My Precious...da-nuh- nuh, du du dunt." repeat.

NO!

I only chose 4 DVD's because I didn't want movies kicking all over around the car. Four is how many fit in the glove box. Next time I will bring more than 4 movies--the DH and I got to hear "Tangled" and "MegaMind" about 14 times each. StarDust was less popular and only got watched about 4 times.

DH has a lower tolerance for repetition of kid stuff than I do, so when he couldn't take any more, I put in "Fiddler on the Roof." The kids watched it at least twice, and now if Bubba sings, "Do you love me?" to Cutie Pie (who is 2 1/2), she will say back very vehemently, "I wash your clothes and milk them!"

LOVE IT :)

So we broke up our drive out west by stopping at the highest peak in Kansas, Mount Sunflower. I can't say we climbed it, because we drove up and parked on the top. It was about 9 hours into our drive and made a lovely rest stop.

Cutie Pie is hardly in any pictures because she didn't stop running from the time I let her out of the car until the time I caught her and forced her back into her car seat.

A few hours later we stopped in Denver at our Priceline-won hotel. We ordered pizza for dinner and swam in the pool for over an hour. Tamale Pie said to me, "Momma, I dreamed of staying in a hotel and this is just like I dreamed it would be."

Lucky us, we got a room with 2 queen beds instead of the usual 2 double beds. DH, Cutie Pie and I took one queen bed and we lined 4 kiddos up on the other queen bed, with their heads from side to side, so they would have more room. It was quite the pile of humanity. (I never tell hotels how many kids we have because they invariably insist that I can't put that many people in one room and must buy two rooms. But they also refuse to guarantee me adjoining rooms and I will not have half the family down the hall, let alone on a different floor. The DH and I would have to split up so as to have a parent in each room and that would be no fun. So we crowd in one room and make do.)

The next morning, refreshed and rested, we finished the drive to the family reunion (my dad's family) where we spent 4 days and 3 nights camping at a place near Rexburg, ID.

We ate good food,

ran lots of relay races,

the little kids tunneled in the giant sand box,

and we talked and laughed ourselves hoarse.

(speaking of the giant sand box--my favorite part of the reunion place--My family was assigned to clean the bathrooms at the ranch on the last day. My dad commented, somewhat perplexed, that the women sure tracked a lot more sand into the showers than the men did. I pointed out that the women were the ones who supervised the showering of most of the 38+ little kids each day, and the mystery was solved.

I, myself, showered 4 very sandy little girls each day, hoping to reduce the amount of sand that was carried into the tent and sleeping bags. I'm sure that my efforts made a dent, but the tent was very sandy, nonetheless.)

The DH ran off with my sister's DH for 24 hours to climb the highest peak in Idaho: Mt. Borah. --if you think you are seeing a pattern here, you would be correct. It is his goal to summit the highest peak in all 50 states. We have to fit a couple in on every family vacation. The kids and I are happily doing the little ones with him. He is on his own for Rainier and Denali.

One of the events at the reunion was Family History Skit Night. Each Family Group was asked to come up with a skit about one of our ancestors. All the skits were amazing and fun. The other family groups all did fun, spiritual skits. Of course, my family group (comprising my parents, all my siblings and their spouses and kids) chose the irreverent route. We picked my dad's grandfather, James Edward and a particular event in his life. We set it to the tune of "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. I wrote up verses and then Dad helped me refine it until it was 100% historically accurate and balanced as far as length. No artistic license was allowed, even for the sake of a good rhyme or meter. (you know how at the end of each stanza the Beverly Hillbillies tune has sort of parenthetical expressions--well the rhythm of some of ours is WAY off--but it was really funny anyway.) We sang it and acted it out. My brother James (Jimmy) played James Edward.

You have to imagine it complete with a full stop after the first line and an argument--not even staged--about how I had supposedly started the singing at too high of a pitch. I swear, I was just trying to match Dad so we were singing the same note. It still ended up being a bit too high and got screechy on the last line of most of the verses. I blame nerves and the fact that we were trying to sing loud--the microphone had quit working.

Here it is for posterity, our family history skit:

Come and listen to my story 'bout a Mormon pioneer
Raisin' horses and a family in the wild frontier
James Edward was his name and he married Bertha Lamb
And they moved to Canada to live and work the land
(soil that is, planting crops, growin' wheat)

Well he had to dig a well, to meet the family's needs
So he and Uncle Nels got one dug down 60 feet
The hired boy was careless and the windlass flipped it's lid,
James dropped right down the well, the windlass landed on his head.
(knocked him flat, caved his skull, scalped him clean)

So Nels and the hired boy ran and grabbed a rope,
They pulled the windlass up, though they didn't have much hope
Down they sent the rope again and pulled with growing dread
And up from the ground came a bubblin' red
(blood that is, straight from his arteries, spurtin' left, squirtin' right)

**at this point, Jimmy smeared ketchup all over his face and continued squirting watered down ketchup from a bottle every so often. We had quite a mess to clean up when the skit was over.)

They carried him inside and they laid him on the floor
Then to fetch a doctor quick, they both ran out the door
The boy ran to Mountain View, the doctor wasn't there
Nels took a team to Cardston and waited in despair.
(All he could do, just wait until the Doc came back)

Bertha put down dish pans to catch all the blood
No matter what she did, she couldn't stop the flood
James wasn't even moving--blood was spurting everywhere
She finally browned some flour and put it on his hair.
(or rather, where his hair should have been)

The kids were all a wailin' and a cryin' heaps o' tears
But Bertha calmed them down and she quieted their fears
She said, "the Lord will care for us, have faith, do not despair."
At 2 am the doctor came and sewed back James' hair
(tried to, but his mangled scalp could hardly cover the gaping hole in his skull)

**my kids and my brother's kids provided the wailing.

Well, true to Bertha's faith, James recovered real soon
And survived many more accidents that couldn't fit in this tune
The family grew in numbers, in strength, in faith, in love
And we can all be thankful for these blessings from above.

So there you go. Now you have a good glimpse into my family's humor. If you need more, you can check out the birthday posts on my sister's blog. She even has pictures from the family reunion!

When the family reunion was sadly at an end, we drove down to Salt Lake, mercifully only a 3 hour drive, to visit the DH's sister, Linda. We spent about 2 and 1/3 lovely days with her and her 3 girls. It was not nearly enough time! "Anne of Green Gables" was watched. Amazingly, the girls also watched "Tangled." Ben got to see some of the movie he had, up to this point, only heard. Dress-ups were donned. Chickens were fed. The tortoise was petted. The sunbird bit everyone's fingers. Linda cooked us delicious foods. We went and tramped around the huge (for a city) lot they just purchased and will be building on soon. I can't wait to see it when it's done. Linda's DH is quite a green thumb and the landscaping will be breathtaking. They have over 40 houseplants--all of which made the move across country 2 years ago when they left their home in New York City. I am still amazed by this, as I have a total of 3 houseplants that I have managed not to kill, and they were large and sturdy when I got them.

Our last evening with Linda, we went to the park for our first attempt at pulling together a family reunion for DH's family. I got to meet Sarah and Rena for the first time. (I've stalked their blogs for at least a year now.) and re-meet his cousin, David, whose wedding reception we went to about 11 years ago. Also their cute, fun kids and spouses. We are so glad they came. I loved getting to know them all.

Then we headed North again and spent 3 days of heaven at my mom's family cabin on the Weber River. Again, my sister Katie has pictures. I'm not sure how she manages to take pictures and keep track of her boys, but she is amazing like that.

The DH, Bubbah & Katie's DH, Nate, plus Orville snuck off to go camping again.

I don't think Orville had a great time, but it turned out that he was sick :( DH was, as always, super impressed with Nate's fitness because he (Nate) was a faster hiker, even though he carried a pack and Orville most of the time.

After those 3 idyllic days in Weber Canyon, we headed back home to the Midwest. It was 37 degrees fahrenheit the morning when we left the Weber. Then next day as we crossed Kansas, it was 105 degrees fahrenheit. We were definitely going in the wrong direction is all I can say. We stopped at Panorama Point, Nebraska on our way home and bagged another highest peak.

We saw a dust devil. The mosquitoes were murderous. We stopped in North Platte for dinner. All I have to say is Perkins may be a Family Restaurant, but it isn't easy on a family's budget. $4.99 for a kid's plate of mac-n-cheese with a few grapes on the side, ouch. We stayed at a hotel with free hot breakfast, but the DH was so anxious to get on the road again that he wouldn't let us stay to eat it. :( Sad day. We ate cheerios in the car instead and Cutie Pie spilled hers in her car seat. That was nasty to clean out later, let me tell you.

I thought that last day in the car would never end. As we watched Nebraska and Kansas go by, I was so tired of the car that I thought pulling a handcart would be great fun and a nice change. The DH pointed out that we can go faster in 1 hour in the minivan than the pioneers could go in a week with their handcarts. I still sort of wanted to be out of the car and walking.

Now we are home and have to do stuff like clean house and weed the garden again. Truthfully, I'm happy to be home. But I sure do love all my family. They are the most awesome people on earth--the cool ones that I'm sure I'd never get to be friends with otherwise, but they are stuck with me because I was born in their family. :)

Family Reunion HERE WE COME!!!

2011-07-10T15:33:00.001-05:00

Yay!! We leave in just a little over 24 hours for 9 days of Family Fun!!

First of all, 21 hours of car time. But no worries. I am prepared and loaded for BEAR.

First off, we have an awesome practically new Toyota Sienna WITH DVD PLAYER. Let me just say that the best part about this is that the kids won't fall asleep during the day, so when we stop at night, they will be tired enough to sleep so us, the drivers, can sleep as well.

Speaking of which, every other trip we have taken, we always talk about stopping, but I think a hotel room should cost $50. So when we drive by on I-70 and everything is $75-80-99, we decide not to stop. KOA is $20 and I don't feel like paying that and then having to set up the tent either. So this year we got on priceline and bought nice hotel room in Denver for $50. My first time bidding on something on Priceline! VICTORY! It has a pool in case the kids need to get some energy out before bed. I'm not allowing us to watch the TV though. We are stopping so we can get sleep! That way we will not end up at a truckstop somewhere in Wyoming at 4 a.m. trying to snatch a nap because we just can't drive another minute. Ahh sweet sleep.

Second, I have coloring books, including one of those cool ones that has the colors printed on it and you "paint" it with a wet q-tip. My kids have never seen one so it will be a huge hit.

We are not taking crayons because those melt in the hot car, so we will be taking colored pencils and markers. I also have batteries for Bubba's sudoku puzzle game and his rubix cube game.

Third, I am giving the kids some control over their snacks. They will each have a snack bag and be responsible for portioning out their own treats. This way, I hope they will bug me for things less. Don't worry, I'm keeping back snacks so we are not left bereft if they gobble all the treats in the first hour of driving.

Speaking of snacks, I put a great deal of thought and friend research into choosing snacks that would be yummy but not too sticky or messy AND not make us feel sick by the end of our trip. Here is what I came up with:

Cheddar whale crackers (cheaper than goldfish and just as tastey)
Wheat thins
Pretzels
twizzlers
smarties
starbursts
cheerios
fruitloops
mint gum
bubble gum
Capri Suns
water bottles

Then in the cooler:
Apples
Grapes (were on my list, but at $3 a pound, did not make the budget after all)
chive & onion cream cheese for the wheat thins
Blueberry Bagels (with choice of plain or strawberry cream cheese)
baby carrots
cellery sticks
already peeled boiled eggs **this is a maybe
baby dill pickles and toothpicks
PB&J on store bread already made up and cut in cute triangles
slices of cheddar cheese
lunch meat (turkey) for sandwiches or just eating
Milk
gatorade

Side note(these snacks and food for 2 days of car travel cost the same as a week of groceries. yikes! That is the hard thing about travel food. maybe i'll be lucky and can stretch it for the two day trip home as well. After looking at my list, it seems heavy on the candy. It didn't seem that way in the store....)

What did not make the list
Granola bars (my kids never quite finish the ends and then drop those sticky messes on the car seat for me to find later)
Suckers (same reason)
laughy taffy and fruit snacks(same reason)
oreos & animal crackers (same reason)
cookies & graham crackers & homemade bread-- too crumbly

One of my friends says she has her kids wear their shirts inside out in the car. That way when the get where they are going, they turn the shirts right side out and look clean. GENIUS!!!!!!!!!

Last of all, I have a bag of magic tricks for when the kids just can't make it another mile. I scored some pretty sweet stuff at the dollar store, including a set of travel games and one of those magnetic fishing games where the fish rotate around and their mouths open and close. also one of those pictures that you can change the hairstyle by moving the iron filings around with a magnet, a mini magna doodle and a mini etch-a-scketch.

If only my printer worked and I could print off a few Madd Libbs games for Bubba and Magpie, it would all be perfect. None of the coloring book places had Madd Libbs. Just endless crossword puzzles. you'd think they could have ONE madd libbs book.

I still need to compile the CD's and DVD's for traveling and see if the library has any good books on tape. But I think we'll be good.

I can't wait to see all my family good times will be had, and probably enough good belly laughs to keep us all out of the hospital for another year. Plus I'll meet some of my husband's family that I've never met in person before. His family has never done a reunion, so he tried to organize one this year. He didn't get very much response, and got pretty discouraged for awhile. I think he wanted more involvement on the planning side. I kept telling him, just plan a potluck at the park and tell people when to show up. That's what we've finally done, reserved a park pavillion by a lake, so .....here's hoping lots of cousins come!!

Happy Father's Day

2011-07-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know it has been nearly a month since Father's Day. But I want to share what we did, cause it was AWESOME!!

Copying this idea from alphamom.com, which I first saw on homemade by jill, we made SUPER SNACKS for our very own SUPER HERO.

My Printer is broken--as in, it makes a terrifying shreek when I turn it on and then comes up with ERROR 5#@$^)%3582#$)(@#&$91802q1 and refuses to print.

Actually, my printer has been awesome for 4 years. I just miss it alot now that it doesn't work.

Anyway, because of the printer malfunction, we couldn't use the already made printables (origionally made by Jordan of O Happy Day), so we had to make our own. I think we did a pretty amazing job.

The best part was the Happy Father's Day cards that Bubba and Magpie made up all by themselves. My kids are awesome.

Hopefully, these snacks have kept our SuperHero happy and full of energy while he is off fighting villains and stuff so we can have food to eat and a roof over our heads. He isn't perfect, but he does his best for us every day and that is all a woman can reasonably ask for, after all.

Rodeo!

2011-06-18T05:42:00.000-05:00

We took the kids to their (and my) first rodeo last night. It was just a small town rodeo, nothing too big or crowded.

I tried to tell the kids what would go on at a rodeo.
They were excited about seeing horses IF they got to ride the horses.

I explained that you had to know how to ride a horse because the riders were competing and you had to be at least 15 or 16, I was sure, to compete.

Then would there be pony rides?

Probably not pony rides, but they might have something my friend told me about called "Mutton Busting" where they let kids ride a sheep.

When we got to our seats at the rodeo, I read off the program to the kids:

Bareback Riding
Steer Wrestling
Calf Scramble for the kids
Team Roping
Barrel Racing
Bull Riding

Ever hopeful of getting to ride something, Pumpkin Pie asked: "How old do you have to be to ride a bear?"

Summer Cuts II

2011-06-03T21:07:00.001-05:00

Here are the much cooler, hair cutted, Sweetie Pies. The tank tops are because it is 90 deg and I haven't turned on the air conditioner.

you can see from the back that Pumpkin Pie's isn't quite straight. But she tilts her head so much that it is hard to notice when she is moving around

They are A-line cuts. Which is different than an A-line skirt. A little language thing that always bugs me.

Cutie Pie got a baby hair cut.

After looking at how sweaty she is even after the hair cut, I turned on the a/c.

Eyebrows

2011-06-03T00:20:00.003-05:00

Okay. It seems that the 1st Lieutenant who sometimes resides in my house took MY camera with him to his State Emergency Tornado Cleanup Duty. Thus I can provide no pictures of the murderously short summer haircuts. (Which looked better in the light of day next morning, thankfully.) So if I wish to blog, I must content myself with blogging about something for which I already have pictures.

That means I have to tell a story on myself.

Sigh. Here Goes....

As you will note in the following picture, some people in my family have great eyebrows. Some people meaning all of my sisters.

Don't they look fabulous? p.s. this little pouf hairstyle is the one that earned me the polygamous hair comment from a friend. My sometimes resident 1LT reluctantly admitted upon questioning that it seemed a little old fashioned. I said, "But so & so wears her hair like that." He laughed and said, "Yeh, she does." Apparently that was not good defense on my part. dang't

So about a year ago, I decided that kempt brows would help with making me look more like I cared how I look (You can always tell a cheerleader/soccer mom by her thin eyebrows, even if she has no makeup, a messy ponytail and sweats on. You can also tell her by how skinny and tan she is, but I have limits. No offense intended to any of my readers who are skinny or like to tan a lot. I still love you, my skin just genetically will not tan. Plus I fear cancer.)

anyway...
I got my brows waxed for my birthday. After that I tried to keep them up myself. Last summer, while in Dallas for Mary Kay Seminar, I sat down in front of one of those lighted magnifying mirrors. It was amazing. I could see every little hair. I got a little carried away and perhaps overplucked a bit. (alot) In my defense, I think I had low blood sugar and it affected my judgement.

exhibit A:

Several months later it was again my birthday and I mentioned that perhaps I would go have my brows waxed.

My sometimes resident 1LT said, "Just don't go to the place you went last time. They gave you old lady eyebrows."

me (!!!! no way am I admitting I did that to myself!!!)

"Was it that bad? You didn't say anything at the time."

Him: "Well, you really couldn't do anything about it, so no point in making you feel bad."

Me: "Don't worry, I won't go back there." (note to self: Never pick up tweezers without having eaten something first. ever.)

I'd like to interject here that he said it all very nicely and picked just the right time to tell me when I could appreciate his advice and not have my feelings hurt. I really was glad to have been warned away from making the same mistake twice. So don't be hating the 1LT.

I think I'm doing better as the first pic in this post and the following one show.

Meh, I don't know. My eyebrows are still more round than angled. The thing is, I have round eyebrows. Just do. No getting around it. ha ha... around it ... round eyebrows... whew! I should get some sleep.

The thing is, I can't sleep tonight. It's one of those nights where I keep thinking of all the ways I fell short today and what a terrible selfish mother / friend I am. Sigh. I just have to do better tomorrow and be grateful that most of my friends are the really forgiving type. You know, the kind who always look at dumb things you do or say and think of the most positive wonderful reason why you did/said that. The kind who know I meant well even if it all came out horribly wrong.

I love you guys.

You help me to have hope that I can be better.

Thanks.

Summer Hair Cuts

2011-05-30T23:28:00.000-05:00

My GirlFriends' Guide to Pregnancy says that under no circumstances are you to ever do something drastic during pregnancy--like getting a new hair cut.

After tonight, I am sure it should also say that under no circumstances should you ever cut your childrens' hair when you are pregnant.

Pictures to follow tomorrow morning when the girls are awake.

Lucky for them, they are so cute that they still look cute with my murderous hack job hair cuts.

Also, lucky for them, my insanity stopped short of giving them bangs like they asked for. At least I knew that would be a disaster.

Lucky for me, the Man of the House is gone for 2-3 weeks with the National Guard helping clean up the Joplin tornado. Maybe their hair will grow back enough that I can take them to someone who knows what they are doing and have it fixed.

So, does skinny = beautiful?

2011-05-29T23:20:00.001-05:00

I ran accross this article in the New York Daily News.

It was all about how quickly celebrities lose weight after having babies. and how jealous we should all be because they get their "svelt" bodies back so fast. I quote, "Don't hate on them because they're famous. And rich. Hate on them because they look so darn good so soon after having kids."

First of all, Some of them don't appear to have lost that much weight--they're just smartly wearing clothes that camoflage it.

Second of all, I'm sure those celebs who did lose the weight spent like 4 hours a day with personal trainers and weights and treadmills to lose the weight so fast. Also, they ate nothing but salad and vitamin water and they could get away with that because they have maids to clean their houses and don't have to worry about having energy to clean and cook.

But that isn't my main point.

I looked through the photo gallery of 50 different Hollywood stars and Runway models. Each had a baby bump picture and a post baby skinny picture along with a brag about how quickly she got skinny.

The thing I kept thinking as I looked at the pictures was the pregnant celebs were prettier than their post baby skinny selves. Preggo they look glowing and radiant and healthy. On the other hand, in their skinny pictures, most of them have really sharp, anglular faces that look tired and starved next to their rosy pregnant twins. Also, you can see their arm bones under their skin, even on their upper arms.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to lose some weight after I have this baby. I would. And I'm proud of those celebrities who had the sense to eat food and feed their growing babies even though that meant they had to work their buns off later (literally). I'm just saying, I don't think skinny is necessarly the only judge of pretty and happy. I don't think the skinnier the better. I'm saying skeletal isn't pretty, in my opinion.
What do you think?

**all pictures came from the article mentioned above

***Yes I cheated and used the pictures that were the most extreme examples of what I'm talking about. But I noticed that many of the preggo pictures were taken at 6 months pregnant or earlier. Thus, those celebs got a whole lot rounder than they let us see.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday Night, the Man of the House surprised me with this lovely little flower bed, all planted and pretty and he took me out for a drive and bought me an Orange Dream milk shake (yummy). Then Sunday morning he and the kids came down with cards and mint chocolates. I got a little misty eyed about the whole thing.

Thanks DH for taking the time to think of something nice. It means a lot to me.
Thanks kids for being such good kids. I think I focus too much of the time on the things that they need to improve and forget that most of the time my kids are well behaved, obedient, and kind to each other. What more could a mother want?

Flowers and chocolate! check!

Oh, I know! How about a Women's Carhartt T-shirt in Mary Kay Pink?

Thanks Dad :)

Protien is my Friend

2011-05-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

I have to share this in case it will help someone else too!!

So I've been murderously morning sick for about 3 weeks now (It seems longer.) I know there are women who get much sicker than I do, which is small consolation. I don't actually throw up ever. I just feel like I'm about to all day long. Like being very car sick all the time.

It's really hard to make myself do things like clean the house when all I want to do is lay on the couch and moan,"I'm so ill, I can hardly speak." (name that movie)

Tuesday the man of the house felt sorry for me and grilled steak for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook. (Perhaps he felt sorry for himself, too. Meals I cook when I'm feeling like ralfing don't often end up tasting very good.)

Anyway, all Tuesday evening after eating a big steak, I felt amazingly well. Wednesday morning, I wondered to myself, "Was it the steak?" So I had a bit of leftover meat at about 9 am. I felt pretty good for most of the day.

Eureka! I sure wish I'd figured this out 5 or 6 pregnancies ago. But I'll take it! I can't eat steak every day, but I do have eggs (Which I can eat if I don't think about eating them first. I just tell myself, "I'm cooking these for the Man and the kids." Then suddenly they are on my plate and disguised with a little ketchup and some fried potatoes and I can get them down.) And I've got protein powder (non flavored) that I can add to things like milkshakes and soup and oatmeal. It is a little tricky, because what I feel like eating is mashed potatoes and frosted flakes and ice cream and veggie soup. But those things don't make me feel better.

So I've gone from feeling awful to only feeling mostly tired and vaguely queasy once in a while. I can actually function without having to drag myself about layering on the guilt to force myself to keep moving. I'm happy. My new motivation does not extend to finding pictures for this post.

Serendipity

2011-04-13T08:03:00.000-05:00

Sometimes If I just click on tabs on the side of blogs, I end up somewhere cool.

This lady did a blog last year-12 crafts til Christmas and shared what she did.

and she made a PDF file of how to make a Pillow Buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love her forever.

and my children will love her forever once I've purchased fabric and created these for all of them.

They'll love me forever also.

Now, do I make them for Easter, Birthdays or Christmas??? (listed in order of nearness in time. Probably Christmas is the only realistic choice--but not the fun choice.)

Apricot Chipotle Chicken and Sunday cooking

2011-04-11T08:33:00.001-05:00

I'm not a Sunday Cooker. All my life growing up, Sunday Dinner was a pot of pinto beans. Mom would put it on the stove to simmer on low while we were gone to church and when we got home, we had bean soup for lunch with bread and butter. On special days (or perhaps if there wasn't bread) Mom made cornbread. We never ate supper on Sunday--just lots of popcorn or leftover beans later in the evening. This was so ingrained in me, that I don't even think of eating supper on Sunday and am always surprised when someone else wants to eat at 5 or 6 Sunday evening.

What? Me? Cook a meal on Sunday Evening?
Surely you jest.
Go scrounge some leftovers from the fridge.
Fix yourself a dang quesadilla.
How about popcorn?

However, perhaps because we are spending more Sundays at home these days, where before we always went to visit my parents or his parents....

Or perhaps the sheer volume of requests for food has risen as my kids get older and are actually beginning to eat food....In fact the announcement that "I'm Hungry" seems like the #1 thing I hear these days and I feel like I'm fixing food constantly...

Whatever the reason, I have begun very reluctantly to fix supper on Sunday. Yesterday around 5pm, I faced the reality that everyone was hungry, despite the fact that I had already made Elephant Ears and re-heated yesterday's Tortelini after church.

I had some chicken thighs in the freezer and offered to bake them one way or another. The Man of the House voted for something glazed and sweet-like, perhaps oriental? After a quick search through my cookbooks, because I didn't want anything I make regularly, I found this marvelous recipe in a Taste of Home Magazine. It turned out deliciously!! Next time I'll actually make rice and a vegetable to go with it, but it will be on the menu regularly from now on.

Chipotle-Marmalade Chicken

**(I didn't have Marmalade, only Apricot Jam--I'm looking forward to trying it with the marmalade) so it is actually

Apricot Chipotle Chicken

**This is a slow-cooker recipe, so it could be done while you were gone to church for Sunday Lunch as well.

**I baked it in the oven and it was perfect

**The recipe that follows is my modification, which was basically more salt and apricot jam instead of marmalade. I do want to try the marmalade sometime.

**I thought it would be pretty spicy. Usually things we make with chipotle are, but it hardly had any heat at all. I might put in more chipotle sometimes when I want some burn.

7-8 Chicken Thighs-skin off or on as you prefer. I think Thighs work better in slow cooked recipes than breasts. Chicken breasts dry out so much during cooking.

salt & pepper

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil and line up those pretty thighs in the dish--or put chicken in crock-pot.

Mix together
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup apricot jam (or orange marmalade)
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. (You find this in a can at the grocery store. You never need a whole can at once, but I put it in a little glass jar and it keeps FOREVER in the fridge. Like seriously a year and doesn't go bad. Bacteria doesn't grow well on chili peppers. Sadly the same is not true for roasted red peppers.)
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pour that over the chicken, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or at 250 degrees for about 3 hours or in your crock pot on low for 4-5 hours. (Those times are sort of guesses--in case you are like me and always doing things last minute, I'll tell you what I did. My chicken was partially frozen still when I put it in the oven. So I baked it at 375 for 45 minutes. At that point, I checked it and it was still quite raw in the middles. We decided to go visit Grandma and eat later, so I reduced the oven to 250 and we left it baking for about 2 1/2 hours. When we got home, the chicken was done and falling off the bones tender. Perfect.)

So the chicken is done and tender. Remove it from the baking dish/crock pot and pour all the pan juice into a small sauce pan. Bring the liquid to a boil. The boiling will push the fat to the center and you can skim it off pretty easily.

Stir together
a heaping Tablespoon of cornstarch
2 Tblsp water

Stir into the boiling sauce and cook about 2 minutes until thickened. Ladle sauce over the chicken.

One last thing: If you taste it at this point and it seems a bit flat, add more salt. Yum :)

Really one last thing: I'm sure it's good with rice and steamed asparagus or broccoli on the side. It was good with instant potatoes and grapes last night.

My To Be List

2011-04-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard of Wordle?

I just found it thanks to Pink&Green Momma, though apparently my children have known about it "forever" and just didn't think to share with me. Wordle allows you to create word cloud art. You just type in the words you want--type the word more than once to make it bigger. Then you get to play with the font and color.

Beware. It is addicting.

Heat :)

2011-04-05T15:18:00.000-05:00

Did I mention my birthday/Thanksgiving present last year?

No??

Shame on me. I meant to. I totally posted it in my head at least twice.

My Dad installed a new super capacity Water Heater in my house and finally hooked up the hot water pipes that run through our floor.

All winter long we have been warm and toasty.

It may be hard for you to imagine a tile floor that feels toasty warm to the touch. but that is how my floor is. And it heats the air (by convection). The whole downstairs is warm without any cold spots or drying out like central heat does.
And, since the water heater is propane, all I need is 1 deep cycle battery to run the water pump and we can have heat even when there is no electricity.

Sweet, huh.

The pipes all come in right in front of the stove, which is why the princess pies are all curled up like cats in front of it. I have my favorite spot to stand in the morning while I make breakfast.

You can actually feel on the tile, the warmer paths where the pipes are and the cooler paths in between. We left it on once, thinking if we ran the floor long enough, it would even out. But the house got too hot, so I had to turn it off.

I love love love love my radiant floor heat.
I also love my winter electric bill.

Some Random bits of wisdom I gleaned from the Universe this Month

2011-04-04T08:21:00.004-05:00

And some other things I've learned before, but were brought back again to me with power.

I will contend with him who contendeth with thee and I will save thy children. Isaiah 49:15

Exercising 2-3 times a week for 3 weeks will result in me losing 5 pounds-even though I wasn't great with the dieting part! WOO HOO!

Having someone chew you out for a couple of days is no fun, but you can learn from it.

Having people chew you out nearly every day for 6 weeks can make you wonder if you really are so mentally unbalanced that you didn't see all these problems yourself before someone else pointed them out.

[We should] Pray for guidance, Do our best, Act with confidence and God will guide our steps. (David A Bednar, April Conf 2011)

Working consistently toward a goal for 30 days is both rewarding and confidence building.

Finding out that you have to face something difficult is better than knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what it is.

Facing something difficult with someone you love is better than facing something difficult alone.

Laziness never was Happiness. (thanks sister)

If you have ever had a month when the 6 days that your baby was so sick with flu that she threw up every 2 hours for 48 hours and then couldn't keep food down for the remaining 4 days AND that week was so much easier than everything else you had to deal with that it felt like a blessing from God to just rest and take care of your baby BUT you still sort of complained about it because it was the only thing that wasn't so devastating that you could actually talk about it THEN you will have some idea of my feelings the past few weeks.

When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously. (Dalin H. Oaks April Conf. 2011)

The Future is as bright as your faith. Thomas S. Monson

IMHO--ha!

2011-03-22T09:43:00.001-05:00

So, I don't know about you, but I loathe it when people whine or complain on facebook. Maybe it is because whining on facebook is usually something like: "I'm so tired of this weather" or "I'm so tired of people who judge" or "I'm so tired of being pregnant" or just plain "I'm so tired."

Whining and complaining on a blog, however, is totally fine. Why? you ask. It has to do with the fact that a blog post is longer than a one line status update. So you can explain how you feel in a more exact way--what's really bothering you.

Plus, blog whiners usually put in a little gimme like- "I know I'm just being a baby about this and I should really be grateful right now, but I just feel whiney...." So I can totally relate to that. They know they are being a baby and acknowlege it

And then, there are times when people have truly, deeply sad things happen and that is worthy of a blog post. A one-liner on facebook is too trivial to handle that kind of hurt.

What do you think? Does whining on facebook bother you?

hmmm. that sounded cranky. I'm really not cranky today. I am totaly wiped out! P90X plyometrics. Not for the faint of heart. It is now 1 1/2 hours since I finished working out and my face is finally close to normal color. It was a flaming beet red. Is that bad, in your opinion? I may not get much done today. Moving hurts. (whine whine whine--I know, when I can fit into my size 12 jeans I'll be so glad I did this--so you don't have to feel bad for me. I'm glad I'm doing it! Victory will be S-W-E-E-T.)

I have complained on facebook, much to my shame. And it wasn't very satisfying, let me tell you. By the time I was over it, people were still commenting sympathetically and I felt so shallow. What happened was, I got a haircut on Valentine's day. I showed the girl in the hair salon a picture of what I wanted and she talked alot about doing this or that and I said that sounds good and I wound up with the haircut she had instead.

This is what she did. After 4 weeks, I can almost make my hair look like how she styled it. Thank goodness I have a super awesome flat iron.

I felt okay about it until I got home. Then I had a complete meltdown and ate a bunch of chips and Nacho Cheese (and whined on facebook shamefully. In my defense, it was not a one-liner.) Then I ratted my hair like this.

Then I laughed at myself and I was fine. Besides, the haircut does look modern and like I know what is going on in the world--which was the ultimate goal. I was tired of people telling me I looked like a runaway from Little House on the Prairie or an escaped polygamist. Sheesh! How much more black eyeliner do I need to add?

The princesses all wanted to get in on the silly messy hair pictures.

One of the reasons I was originally upset about the haircut was that I had set my heart on bangs, and I couldn't see any when she styled my hair. But I found them. So I felt better.

This is another look I have not been able to replicate again. Too bad. Nobody would tell me I looked like a polygamist if my hair was like this.

New Exercise Program

2011-03-10T15:30:00.000-06:00

This is Cutie Pie. She dressed herself. Who says you can't mix different stripes? Who needs pants when you have super awesome tights like these?

In other news, the Man of the House and I started a new exercise program. His goal: be in shape to max out his Army Physical Fitness Test in 8 weeks.

My Goal: lose 20 pounds so I can be healthy. I am at my heaviest weight ever, 175 lbs. I know you are all shocked because you picture me as skinny, gorgeous, and multi-talented. Hah! I have recently begun to suspect that the reason we have no new baby-pie's entering our family could be related to my weight. Not Cool.

Well I am getting up at 5 (okay 5:30) AM every morning and exercising. I'm also almost dieting. Which means I try to make healthy choices but I still eat cookies sometimes.

The Exercise plan that we are following recommends taking before and after pictures so you can see how super you did while following their plan. Seems easy enough, right? Except why would I want to take a picture of myself right now? The whole point is that I don't like how I look. But laying that aside with the self-assurance that it is a goodbye to the old GlowWorm picture, there is still the problem of the picture. See, all the examples in the book are Men in swim trunks and women in bikini's/sports bra and shorts. Now while I do actually own a sports bra and shorts, I would never ever ever wear them without a t-shirt over it all. Nor would I ever leave my house in that ensemble for any reason, except perhaps if a random fire started in the middle of my exercise routine.

So why would I take a picture of me like that? I would never show it to ANYONE. I would never post it even here for you my loving fans. Even if I make a miraculous transformation and the P90X people invent a $5000 prize for the best set of before & after shots, I wouldn't submit my picture.

A certain person really thought that I should bare my stomach for my before picture. Just the thought makes me feel slightly nauseous. No one needs a picture. I'm sure you all know what bread dough looks like after you let it rise once and then punch it in the middle. That's what my stomach looks like. The following are the compromise before pictures that I took. A certain person is concerned that I won't be able to see my progress without the bare tummy picture. I am quite certain that the fact that my jeans fit or possibly my skinny jeans or possibly new jeans (please bless it to be true!) will be all the proof I need.

The pictures don't look as bad as in real life---somehow the fat rolls that are clearly visible when I wear that shirt sort of faded into the shadows. Not sure how that happened.

Cutie Pie felt no qualms about baring her belly.

True Confessions

2011-03-09T08:10:00.006-06:00

Once upon a time, there was a mommy who agreed to carve a jack-o-lantern for her childrens for Halloween.

Carving the pumpkin went pretty smoothly, even the part where she made the childrens scoop out the slimy seeds.

But then the mother realized that she didn't have any tea light size candles to put in the pumpkin's head and light up his face.

After searching around, she found a half-burned up pillar candle (blueberry scented). The only problem was, as many pillar candles do, this one had burned down inside itself so there were high walls of wax shielding the flame from the pumpkin's face, so no light could be seen.

So the mother decided to trim the walls off and expose the flame.

She did blow out the candle and pour off the hot melted bit.

She found a knife to trim with. *****Note: this candle was not made of that soft glowy see-through-ish kind of wax. It was a speckldy,hard, parafin-ish type of candle.

The mother began sawing on the candle. She did think, "hmm, I shouldn't cut towards myself with this knife." But the mother couldn't figure out a cutting angle that wasn't towards herself, so she just kept on and hoped for the best.

The tricksy knife slipped and stabbed the mother, right in the fleshy palm of her hand.

It was a very burning feeling. The mother took a quick peek at the wound. Luckily it wasn't very deep into her hand--just about an 1/8 inch under the surface, but about 1/2 inch wide and 1/2 inch long. She washed it, packed it with Triple Antibiotic Ointment and covered it with a band-aide.

The childrens had to be satisfied with a non-light up jack-o-lantern. But the mother made a delish-i-ous treat to distract them. So they forgot the whole thing.

The pillar candle was vengefully thrown in the trash.

The Mother was too embarassed to tell her husband about the stabbing, because she had been using a knife in a foolish manner.

So she never told him.

She didn't wash any dishes for about a week. Luckily, she had just washed them all recently, so the pile up didn't seem much out of place, and the husband made no comments.

After about a four days, the wound healed shut and not even a scar remained to mark the spot.

The mother cannot even remember for sure which hand was stabbed.

The mother does not let dishes pile up like that on a regular basis any more, so must be careful not to stab herself again, lest someone notice.

The childrens are older now and might tattle on her too.

Some Like It Hot

2011-03-04T08:14:00.003-06:00

Last week, the Man of the House and I went tango dancing. It was marvelous! We both loved it-even though we were beginners. We have tried merengue, salsa, waltz, and square dancing before. We had fun with those but TANGO is our dance. I intend to make sure we continue with it!!!!!

The tango music was familiar to me and I remembered a movie my sisters and I LOVED watching when we were girls.

Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemon.

So funny! ("How do they walk in these things? It's like Jello on springs.")

Jack Lemon's character, Jerry/Daphne the Bass Fiddle player, is my favorite. Tony Curtis (Jo/Josephine the sax player) makes a prettier woman, but he isn't as funny.

Probably my favorite quote from the whole movie is when Tony Curtis who has been masquerading as Josephine, changes into sailor clothes to pose as a millionaire--attempting to woo Marilyn Monroe. Jack Lemon is angry about it and gripes him out.

Jerry/Daphne : "And where did you get that phony accent? No-body talks like that!" You have to hear it though and I couldn't find a YouTube of it. Because actually, Tony Curtis is doing Cary Grant's voice and doing it perfectly.

So glamorous! (Marilyn Monroe & Tony Curtis making out fully clothed for hours. That's how I formed my first ideas of what sex was. I haven't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But I do know it is preferable to all the movies today that just throw people naked in bed with no prelude and no prettiness.)

Shoe Sugar Month: Day 13 SIZZIX BIG SHOT GIVEAWAY!!

2011-01-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

Shoe Sugar Month: Day 13 SIZZIX BIG SHOT GIVEAWAY!!

The New Template finally worked!!

2011-01-13T09:26:00.001-06:00

Blogger's new templates finally worked for me! I'm so happy about having a 3 column blog! Finally. I might weep a little for joy.

Thanks, Blogger. I don't know what you did, but it worked.

**happiness**

Christmas Projects

2011-01-04T07:55:00.006-06:00

I did get some sewing in before Christmas! It was all presents for other people.

This sweet little lamb is just a white pom pom I made out of crochet thread. Then I cut out a little black face from acrylic felt and used elmer's glue to glue it onto the pom pom. I made the little bow from ribbon and glued it on as well. You can't see, but there is a black pipe cleaner, bent in half and tucked through the middle for his feet and a ribbon tied through his middle for hanging.

I made these sweet silhouett ornaments for my MIL.

RootsandWings gives a great tutorial/pattern for. But I forgot to take a picture. They turned out so well that I'll be making some for myself, so I'll take a picture for you all to see then.

Remember this hat I made with a felted rabbit angora wool sweater? I used the leftovers and Chez Beeper Bebe's pattern to make 4 cute Beddie Bye Beasties for the big kids.

I made 2 rabbits and couldn't find one of them for the picture. that is why there are only three for you to see. (Just in case you thought I couldn't count.)

I was worried because I only had enough red to make 2 and then I came up with the brilliant idea of using the white wool for the fronts. So each child got one with a very cuddly side. That felted angora is amazingly soft for rubbing your face on. Judging by how much the beasties are carried around the house, the kids love them.

For Cutie Pie, I used Mama Byrd's Mortimer the Tortoise pattern. Cutie Pie saw Thomas over at Mama Byrd's house and did not want to be parted from him. So I knew she needed her own.

She was most joyful and has named her little guy NapTurtle. Which I am sure is short for Naphtali.

Here she is bestowing him with many kisses.

Here he is watching Ponyo with his little mistress.

One of my friends mentioned in passing to me that she had always wanted a flannel night gown like the ones I made for my girls last year. I thought. I could do that! Wish Granted:

(well I had to try it on to make sure it would fit! I made it without a pattern. Good thing I did, too, because the arms were too short and I had to lengthen them.)

If you have a peasant blouse pattern or know how to make one, that is all I did. Just make it 60" long.

Groupons??

2010-12-20T08:02:00.004-06:00

My amazing and talented cousin has started a blog listing great groupon deals

What is a Groupon, you ask? I didn't know either. It is like a coupon and like a gift certificate. You buy it, but it is good for usually at least twice the money you paid for it. Sweet, huh?

It all seems rather overwhelming to me, but my cousin is taming the beast and creating nice shortcut lists for us so we can look and click and not have to sort through pages of lists to find groupons we would like/use.

You can experience the Groupon List by clicking here and then seeing the daily list by clicking on "blog"

Happy Deal Finding!

Plus you need to get on there so you don't miss sweet deals like this one.

$85 for $155 custom made jeans.

**sob**

That would have been a Merry Christmas to me.

Here's one I'm considering:

Backwoods Outdoor Gear

That would be a Merry Christmas to the Man of the House

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-07T22:35:00.004-06:00

p.s. I made 2 other posts last night! Don't miss them :)

Camping in Lost Valley

2010-11-15T21:11:00.000-06:00

Lost Valley, Arkansas, is an AWESOME place to visit!

Following my handy camping checklist that I made last time, we had a lovely time and didn't lack for any cooking/first aid tools.

The camping sites were a little close, so it was noisier and not as restful as some of our trips. The kids all helped set up the tent this time.

Our neighbor to the left had about six 11-13 year-old kids. What we heard from their direction all evening was: " You guys come help me." "I could use some help here." "come ON, guys!"

Hopefully, with a little more experience, that Dad will learn to give specific job assignments/requests. Then he'll have help.

Building blocks are provided at each campsite for your rich entertainment.

But we did have the opportunity to share our over-abundance of delicious dinner with the tent on the right, saving them from a disastrous dinner of hot dogs. **shudder**

I was tired of dutch oven recipes that featured Cream of *whatever* Soup and searched around until I found this baby. In one word, it was *mouthwatering*. We've made it at home since then--it'll be a regular on the menu.

Dutch Oven Cheesy Chicken Italian-o
the recipe says that it serves 16. I think it accurately serves 8 hungry adults. I was too tired when I packed to do any math, so I made the entire recipe. My husband thought I was crazy, but it all got eaten :) It was that good.

Ingredients:

1 lb bacon (you KNOW this is gonna be good)
8 chicken breasts, cut into chunks-- or do like me and just throw the frozen bag in the cooler for worry- free car travel. Even if they are still frozen when you dump them in the dutch oven, you can chop up with your spoon later in the process.
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 29 oz can diced tomatoes or 6 tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 cups Minute Rice

**
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp ground oregano
2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
**

1 cup Mozzerella cheese
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese

I mixed up the sauce part (tomato paste through black pepper) at home and put it in a tupperware to save some space in the cooler and preptime at the campsite

Bubba and magpie helped with chopping veg.

The recipe directions included lots of steps--cook A, take it out, cook B, put in C and A, yadda yadda. That was way too much work for a camp meal. And before you raz me about the amount of cheese, I'll have you know that is 1/3 what the recipe actually called for. That's right the origional was 3 cups mozzerella, 3 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup parmesan. Can you believe it? We tried it that way and this way and there is no taste sacrificed by reducing the cheese.

Here are the lazy camper instructions:

Heat a 12" dutch oven using 30 charcoal briquettes on the bottom. Chop bacon into 1" chunks and add to hot oven. Fry until brown. Remove bacon from oven. and hide it between 2 paper plates. Try not to eat it all.

Pour out some of the bacon fat--reserving at least 2 Tblsp. in oven. Layer in all ingredients, except the cheese: onion, chicken, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, rice, and sauce mix.

Put lid on dutch oven and transfer 15 briquettes to the top. Take family on a hike to wait for food to cook--sort of like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.

Find the Bear's Toilet.

After 30-45 minutes, return to camp and the heavenly smells calling you. Lift the lid and stir in the cheese and the reserved bacon. Put the lid back on for five minutes to melt the cheese while everyone washes their hands.

Enjoy the most tasty meal you ever ate on a camping trip!

The next morning we set out on our hike to see the waterfalls and caves of Lost Valley.

We packed sandwiches, water bottles, and granola bars

None of the pictures I have capture the scale or beauty of the things we saw.

My favorite part of the hike happened when we stopped to eat our sandwiches

We stopped to eat our sandwiches in Cobb Cave (so named for the ancient corn cobs and other indian relics found there. We were happily eating our lunch, when suddenly we heard singing. A beautiful hillbilly love ballad, ringing through the cave--which was shaped like a natural amphitheater. I looked around and saw, clear across the cave on a heap of rock, a man, singing to his lovely lady. It was so sweet. They were far enough away that I couldn't even really see their faces clearly, but the cave amplified the sound, so I could hear perfectly.

After teasing my DH a bit for not serenading me, we went back to our lunch. The song ended and then to the delight of the lovely lady and everyone else, our bold singer went down on one knee and asked her to marry him for all the world to hear--at least all the hikers at Lost Valley that day heard-- because of that natural amphitheater effect I mentioned.

Happy Sigh.

The lovely lady was suitably ecstatic and after laughing, crying, jumping up and down and clapping her hands, she kissed her bold singer very enthusiastically several times. I went back to my sandwich in order to give them as much privacy as one can expect when one proposes in the presence of a family of 7, a large boy scout troup, and 3-4 senior citizens who got on the wrong OATS bus and ended up hiking Lost Valley instead of going to water aerobics at the YMCA.

Happy Sigh.

Happy Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T20:50:00.001-05:00

**BTW did you know that it is almost impossible to carve a "Pie" pumpkin? I found that out the hard way.

I only made one costume this year. Bubba has been planning to be Grover--from Lightning Thief--for the whole year. He read all the books and he and his friends at school pretend they are the characters all the time.

I found this marvelous goaty fake fur at Jo-Anns and used a Pajama pants pattern to make the goat legs, complete with tail and hooves.
After the movie came out, the deal was almost off because, suddenly Bubba though Grover should have a molded leather vest thing. I said No Way. I intended to create an orange Camp Half-blood T-shirt, but I didn't quite get it done. That's me, scrimping by on the least possible effort. Look, a mostly orange t-shirt. That's good enough.

I got the clay and forced Bubba to make his own horns which I hot-glued to some black hair barretts. They didn't stay in very well.

He had practiced a "goat walk" which was freaky, accurate, and hillarious! My son is awesome.

The girls all borrowed costumes from a friend. I love that kind. (both costume and friend)

MagPie got this floaty vampiress dress. She looked so eerie and floaty and perfect in it and then she insisted on having her face painted and that just cheapened the whole thing and she looked common. Sad day. But it was her costume, not mine, so I tried to keep my disappointment to myself.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cutie Pie

2010-10-14T23:08:00.007-05:00

Yep, my baby is no longer a baby. She turned 2.

She likes to be a baby and sit in a "baby chair" and drink a "milky" and snuggle in her blanket. She wakes up at least once a night and climbs out of her crib and comes down the hall to get in bed with Mommy.

She loves her "dollie" that Grandma gave her for her birthday.

She loves to watch Dora the Explorer and yell "SIper, no SIpee."

She loves to color and has very advanced fine motor skills. She just learned how to kick a ball--so her gross motor skills are a wee bit behind. That's my girl.

She loves to look at books about farm animals and have everyone make the sounds. Moo-Cows are her favorite. She likes to wear overalls like Grandpa and call "So Boss" to the cows. She likes to play pretend cooking more than any other of my children did at 2.

She loves to see pictures of her cousins. Especially the babies, Heath and Georgie and Wyat and Henry.

Her favorite foods are cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, milk, yogurt, and Macaroni and cheese. She also likes beans.

Her favorite computer game is www.helpkidzlearn.com check it out!

Her favorite other game is empty bottles of stuff on the carpet upstairs. I think I finally have everything put away high enough. In the last 2 months, I have cleaned the following out of the carpet: liquid and mineral powder foundation, face moisturizer, mascara, lipstick, shampoo, arm&hammer foaming shower cleaner, milk, urine, hair detangler spray, bubble gum, playdough, and soggy graham crackers.

She is very excited each day when the big kids get home from school. I don't know what we'll do next year when Tamale Pie goes off to Kindergarten. Julia and I will be quite lonely, I think.

Tutorial: how to shorten the rise in your 6 year old's pants

2010-10-12T16:40:00.006-05:00

Recently I pulled out all the rubber maid tubs with winter/school clothing in them. This is almost as good as Christmas for the kids (and me.) I went through and pulled out all the jeans. Everyone was well supplied except Pumpkin Pie. There were 6 pair of long pants that fit her in the waist and the legs were more or less the correct length. However, the rise each pair was so long that the crotch was hanging down near her knees. Obviously this wouldn't do.

After thinking about it, I decided to try and shorten the rise myself--since if I ruined the pants, nothing was lost--she couldn't wear them anyway.

If these were homemade pants, I could just cut off the waist. But these pants had little pockets and fake flies sewn in, so cutting inches off the top wouldn't work. I googled around and couldn't find anyone who had done this (and blogged about it).

So here is what I did. My first try, I cut too much and sewed more than would have been necessary and then took out too much fabric and created leggings. Pumpkin Pie refused to wear them. You get the benefit of version 2.0. Yay for you :)

#1 Start with a pair of pants/jeans that do fit properly. Lucky for me we had one. They were GAP jeans in a size 6 regular.

Here is a comparison of the khaki's I'm modifying and the GAP jeans. You can see the difference in rise length.

#2 Turn the good fitting jeans inside out and fold them in half so you can see the curve of the back crotch/rise seam. Fold them as close as you can on the seam lines. Lay the pants on a piece of heavy paper and trace around them. I had brown paper this time. My favorite paper to use is wrapping paper that has the grid lines on the wrong side. I used an orange crayon to trace around them. You want to get as accurately as possible the waistline, crotch curve, and hip line of the pants, as well as the taper from the curve to the legs.

#3 Fold the jeans in half the other way to get the front crotch curve. Trace as in step 2.

#4 cut out the two pattern pieces you just created. label them front and back, although the back is the one with the larger curve--if you forgot to label. :)

#5 Take the pants to be altered and turn them wrong side out. Trim off the inseam from about the knees up. Trust me, you do not want to be trying to match the bottom hem and fixing the crotch. (version 1.0, remember) If the pants you are altering already have fairly narrow legs, you may want to unpick the seam instead of trimming it off. Your call.

#6 Fold the pants in half so that the front rise is on one side. I took a pin and placed it in the side seam to keep the pants from shifting because of the elastic waistband. Match your homemade pattern to the side seam and trace a new crotch seam onto the pants with your orange crayon. ***Do not be tempted to match up the crotch and trace a new side seam.*** (version 1.o, remember?)

Plus at the super cool Fashion Incubator Blog you can see a great explanation of why that won't work. Don't blame me if you loose a couple hours there reading all about why jeans don't fit anymore. Loved that blog!!

****note: I found that this resulted in taking about an inch out of the waistband as well. Just follow the line up to the top and don't worry about it. I didn't cut the waistband until after I had re-sewn the line.

Back to Pumpkin Pie's Pants

#7 LEAVING A SEAM ALLOWANCE OF 1/4-1/2 inch, trim off the excess crotch fabric--don't cut through the waistband yet, either. Put the pants in your sewing machine and sew the new crotch seam on the crayon line you traced. Sew it again for reinforcement. Now you can trim off the extra waistband material.

#8 Fold the pants so that the front crotch is out. Line your front pattern up with the side seams and draw your new crotch. I found on the pants I was doing, all I needed to do was take off the end and taper the legs in. So I didn't have to resew the front rise. That was good because the fake fly probably would have gotten in the way.

#9 Open up the pants and line up the opening in the inseam. Pin this carefully. If one side is longer than the other, check your crotch lines and trim a bit.

#10 Sew up the inseam and reinforce--I used a serger-like stitch on my machine.

Rejoice in your thriftyness and have your child try on her new and improved pants. :)

Okay, they could have been taken up even a little more. Next time I be more careful in the pattern tracing stage. Let it be a lesson to you.

Here is a comparison of the two pants after Altering the khaki pair.

Meeting New Friends at the Park

2010-09-29T21:09:00.011-05:00

I took my kids to the park this evening and there was another woman pushing her kids in the swings next to me. Her kids had dark hair and eyes, like mine do and she said,

Her: So you are a white girl married to a Hispanic, too?

Me: ....(pause while I wrap my head around the question. I have never thought of myself in this way before. Probably because I define myself by who my family is, not by my race and my husband was born in the US and doesn't refer to himself as Hispanic.)

...umm, yeah. I guess, I mean his mom is Mexican, but he doesn't even speak Spanish. I think it would be nice if he did. Then our kids would learn Spanish.

Her: My husband and I, we both speak Spanish and English, so do our kids. You can put your kids in the Spanish class at the elementary school and they will teach them.

Me: There is a Spanish class at the elementary?

Her: Yes, it is called ES....something..

Me: ESL (English as a Second Language. My husband taught that in the high school for mostly HMONG kids. It is for teaching English, not Spanish.)

Her: Did you see on the morning show today, they were talking about the wives of Hispanics?

Me: No, I didn't.

Her: Well, they were complaining about how white women marry Hispanics and then when they get deported, the women go on government aid. They didn't even mention those of us who don't.

Me: Oh? (???)

Her: Like my husband has been deported 3 times and I never asked for government help once! His friends just helped me out until he was able to get back.

Me: ... uuhhh, That's good. (what!!!!!?????)

Her: Obama said he was going to give everyone work visas, and he hasn't done nothing.

Me: You're right, he hasn't. (It must be awful to live in fear that your husband will die trying to get back across the border.)

Her: We are all going to Mexico to visit soon. I'm kind of nervous because of what happened there on the border, you know? Like did you see that movie "Blood_something___" where they lured white women over the border and then chop them up and put pieces of them on crosses?

Me: No, I missed that one (thank goodness)

Her: We just got a bunch of them movies. There is this one, "Sin Nombre" it will make you cry. The man gets shot crossing the border. He doesn't make it.

*******
Then she ran off to catch her son because he was headed for the road. And I had to leave to get my son to Cub Scouts on time.

Here's the thing. I googled, trying to find the news program she was talking about. I couldn't find it. I have questions though.

1. Is "white" synonymous to "citizen" where you live?

2. Is "Hispanic" synonymous with "illegal" where you live?

3. Why should an American Citizen who is married to an illegal alien have less rights than any other American Citizen? What makes her worse than any other American Citizen who applies for government aid?

4. Can't this guy get a green card? He is married to an American Citizen.

5. Why can't we just give everyone a green card? Then no one would be illegal and we would know who is here and they wouldn't have to live in fear or be exploited by the bad guys.

Camping Check List

2010-09-27T07:30:00.004-05:00

The Man of the House didn't have to go to work Friday night, so he said, "Let's go camping!" We threw everything in the car and headed north to a state park we hadn't tried yet.

I forgot a few things--like a can opener :( mmmm, no fruit cobbler for dinner-- and I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy having fun. I forgot the first aid kit, so we were lucky no one got hurt.

But all in all it was a great trip and a great way to get back in the camping mode. We do not camp in the heat of summer unless it is required for a family reunion or something. We camp all fall until it gets below freezing. Then the Man of the House has to camp by himself.

On the way home, Saturday, I made a list of the things I had forgotten and wished I had. Then I listed the things I remembered-so I don't forget then next time. Here is my list--So I can find it, and perhaps you may find it useful as well.

List of stuff to bring when Car Camping w/Family

Cash to pay for campsite

First Aid Kit: bandages antibiotic ointment, bug spray, sunscreen, IB Profin, chapstick, eyedrops

camera/batteries

matches
oven mitt
can opener
pancake turner
salad tongs (for moving charcoal around on the dutch oven)
big metal spoon
duct tape
trash bags
salt&pepper
paper towels
wet wipes
Toilet paper
paper plates
plastic forks
foam cups
aluminum foil
kettle (for heating water)
paring knife
peeler
cutting mat
dutch oven
dutch oven lid hook
table cloth
charcoal
pocket knife
hatchet
hammer
lantern
propane fuel for lantern
new mantles for lantern

camp stove *wishlist
frying pan *wishlist

tent
stakes
ground tarp
sleeping bags
sleeping pads/air mattress for wimpy mom (closely related to super mom, but at the end of her magic rope)
1 or 2 extra fleece blankets
1 or 2 flat sheets
camping pillows (I plan on making these half size pillows soon)
camp chairs

hats
jackets
warm pj's
1 change clothing
hiking shoes
flip flops (because otherwise the kids WILL go barefoot in camp)
baby backpack
water bottles

toothbrushes
toothpaste
bar of soap
hand sanitizer
2 hand towels
ponytail holders
comb
shampoo *if camping more than one night
diapers for baby
wipes
dirty laundry bag

glow sticks :) fun
camping games *we don't need these yet, our kids are still in the run everywhere and explore it stage. When they are all teenagers we may want card games in camp. Electronics of all kinds are considered blasphemous and are banned.

*************************

We camped by a lake, but there was no way to get down to the lake from our campsite and the "beach" was closed for winter. So we might as well have camped somewhere else without a lake. I think our favorite place to camp so far has been Osage Hills State Park in Bartlesville, OK.

I really hate camping with a crawling age baby. They don't like staying in the pack-n-play and if you put them on the ground, they eat everything gross. SO I'm glad Cutie Pie is out of that stage.

Mindy Gledhill - Anchor

2010-09-11T01:23:00.002-05:00

Thanks for sharing, Sarah. I am loving this song. I am also loving her red lipsick. Maybe I should go blonde....

Empire State Building Biscuits

2010-09-06T22:34:00.007-05:00

A magazine that I now wish to subscribe to is "Cooks Illustrated."

I picked up a copy at my mother-in-law's and read a delightful article all about the science of the perfect fluffy biscuit. Cook's Illustrated was refreshingly free of advertising. No attempting to read a small article sandwiched between columns of ads. No scavenger hunt at the back of the magazine to find the second half of the recipe. (Take that, "Cooking Light!" I bite my thumb at thee.) Just recipes and a few good kitchen gadget reviews. I loved the process the author went through trying to discover the perfect biscuit. I learned a lot! I have tried this recipe 3 times and been rewarded with tall, fluffy, soft, and moist biscuits each time--even though I subbed whole wheat flour in for 1/2 of the flour called for.

2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 whole wheat and 1 all purpose)
1 Tablespoon double acting baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk

1. Place dry ingredients in a food processor and blend until mixed (about 6 one second pulses.)

2. Scatter butter cubes over the dry ingredients and pulse eight to 10 pulses until the mixture looks like pebbly coarse corn meal.

3. Transfer to a bowl and stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until just blended.

4. Sprinkle 1 cup flour on a cookie sheet. Use cooking spray to coat a round 9" cake pan and a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Scoop level dough with measuring cup and drop onto floured baking sheet. With floured hands, gently shape into a ball, shake off excess flour and place in pan. Fill the pan around the edges and then place the last 3 biscuits in the center of the ring.

5. Brush the biscuits with butter (or be lazy and just put a little pat on top of each one like I did.)

Bake at 500 degrees for 5 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 450 and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven, cool 2 minutes, invert on a cloth and break apart. Turn biscuits right side up and let cool 5 more minutes.

These biscuits are not flaky. They are tall and soft, similar to KFC biscuits, but not as dry. Flaky biscuits require different ingredients and a different technique. I have to go read "Cooks Illustrated" to find out how.

Job Chart, DONE!

2010-08-20T17:41:00.008-05:00

All my friends made cute job charts this summer. here and here. Everyone else in blogland made one too. I was very jealous and wanted my own. I dreamed of it all summer. What would be best for our family? What system would work?

But think of all the time and brain power to figure out jobs for the kids and me.

Then I had a GENIUS epiphany! I already had a whole system of chores written down from that one time when I got really excited about FlyLady. (I'm still going to get back on track with that, I mean it...)

So I just whipped out (searched under piles of things for a whole day to find) my handy control journal. In it I had already mapped out a system of weekly chores, and assigned them a day. I also had the whole house divided into 5 zones (one zone for each week of the month) and a list of chores that needed to happen monthly in each zone.

Brilliant! I really do love FlyLady.

I just transfered the weekly chores to cards and put them in the pockets. One pocket for each day. Lest you freak out, the Sunday pocket lists ideas for Sunday appropriate activities, not chores. I did not make out lists for each zone of the house. I just wrote "Spend 15 minutes cleaning in the zone." We can check the control journal for what zone to be in and what to do specifically. Now the kids and I can divy up the jobs each morning/after school and voila! clean house, happy Mom. The kids are excited about getting to choose their jobs. They are excited about working with me instead of alone. AND...They are also excited about getting treats out of the treasure box for a week of completing all their tasks. (Oh yes, I do believe in bribery.)

To make this job chart, I used a cork board that I found at the thrift store for $3. I covered it with a yard of fabric that I bought 2 years ago. I love this fabric, but could never find a sewing project that seemed right for it. Now I get to see it every day :) By covering, I mean that I cut the fabric the right size and tacked it down with thumb tacks all around the edge. The pockets are 3x5 note cards that I stapled onto the cork. high tech, I know.

Maybe sometime I'll get into a scrapbooking store and find some 3x5 cards that match my fabric. But it isn't high on the priority list.

I also made a quilt medallion square this week. Isn't it lovely? I wish I was keeping it, but it goes on to someone else now. Part of a fun challenge that my quilting guild is doing.

I love Dallas!!!

2010-08-12T18:32:00.002-05:00

Family Fun in the Summer

2010-08-09T22:58:00.008-05:00

I should be canning apples. But I'm too tired. So I should go to bed. But here I sit.

We all took a day trip to Arkansas last month. So fun. Except the part where I was crushed in the back seat of a van with 5 small childrens.

These are all of my parent's grandkids, minus 3

THere was room to spread out when we got to the Cousin's house.

Not everyone loved the swing.

Everyone did love Badminton, except those who got whacked.

Everyone loved the Gogurts--Great Grandpa Bennion's favorite treat

You may not know this, but I come from a family of super heros!

Insect-i-boy

Lava Girl

Worry Wort (whose super power is that whatever she worries about never comes true.)

Also capable of eating a whole pie all by herself!!

Sand Woman--who turns stuff into sand

Katy-Didn't (who's super power is that it is never her fault.)

Bat-Boy

Hank the Tank

I can't remember these 2's super hero names. Jungle boy and Incredi-boy?

Ladybug Girl and Bumble-Bee Baby

Super Luke

Amazing Hot Dog Man

There is no picture of my super-woman alter-ego: The Rememberizer (super power--helps mothers remember where they put stuff.)

Happy 6th Birthday, Pumpkin Pie

2010-07-08T09:40:00.003-05:00

Pumpkin Pie is 6. She loves to take care of babies. She loves pretty things like painted nails and fake sparkly tatoos. She writes little love notes to me often. Her favorite games are animal charades and "Guess Who."

For her birthday, I made her a little Jolly Postman set. I was inspired by this post and this one.

I used heavyweight pellon and random fabric scraps. The pellon was easy to write on with a ball-point pen. The "stamps" are all attached with velcro and can be swapped around. I used adhesive velcro, not sew-on. I skipped the mail bag because there are already enough bags in the dress-up box, but I might take one of them and add a "Mail" label to it. I really love these envelopes. I need to make some of them.

For some time I have wanted to make a family mailbox. My mother made a family mailbox when I was about 13. It was one long banner of double-knit polyester. Each of us had a pocket on the banner with our initial appliqued in the middle. My sisters and brothers wrote each other all kinds of notes. I even published a family newspaper, "Hansen Happenings" using an old manual typewriter. I have a copy of the first edition, including installment one of the "Storie Special: The Magic Rope" a fairy tale written by my sister, Amanda, and me. It featured a strong young woman and her adventures on the way to rescue her true love. We were girl-power feminists and we never knew it. The newspaper also inclues a "Lost & Found" column, a "Dear Jane" column and several announcements of summer camp plans and new clubs various family members were forming. There were 7 kids then and we lived way out in the country. We had to entertain ourselves!

The DH has also been busy. Here he proudly displays the fruits of his faith and labor.

I was the nay-sayer who thought carrots were too hard to grow. He has also been to South Dakota with his guard unit, for Operation Golden Coyote, to help the National Forest Service.

There he is driving a dozer. (Usually, he just supervises the work since he is the officer. This is me bragging. My DH is a sexy lieutenant. brag. brag.)

Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner

2010-06-11T05:24:00.003-05:00

The winners of my give-away are

Katie- Day Solution

Vicki- Primitive Felt Nativity Pattern.

Hope you love them!!

Vicki, send me your email address so I can send you the PDF file.

Much Better

2010-06-05T22:54:00.008-05:00

I leaned something profound today.

Something rather life-changing.

A day which doesn't begin well can be made much better if the Man of the House cooks dinner.

These Chipotle Lime marinated shrimp were muy delicioso. It is a secret recipe that DH found on the internet and made more secret by adding garlic and cilantro.

Also, I have to brag on my kids, who finished their first sewing projects. ("Finished" being key, as the both have begun things in the past which never reached completion.) Way to go Cherry Pie and Bubba

Cherry Pie over decorated hers. I started stressing out and then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it was her little bag and she could have it how she wanted.

And Cutie Pie got her first hair cut--which makes me a little sad, because I can't do these piggy tails any more. But she already seems cooler, so it is worth the sacrifice.

Morning Chores

2010-06-01T22:07:00.003-05:00

I left the window open yesterday
the day was so warm, and
flies invaded.
I heard them buzzing this morning.

So I stood in the doorwayofmyroom
swatting them.
I am
the cyclops
(not blind but
cl
um
sy)

They were having a CIRCUS
with acrobats
and Ferris wheels

When I was finished
I swept their bodies off my rug.

**************************************

p.s. Don't miss my giveaway

100th Blog Post

2010-05-26T19:31:00.001-05:00

<<**Confetti!!**>>

I have blogged about my slightly un-balanced life and my random crafty projects 100 times. Okay. Actually 103 times. So it's time to celebrate

YAY!

I'm doing a give away.

Mary Kay Day Solution: This is one of my favorite Mary Kay products. It has SPF 25 to protect you from sun damage. It is so light weight that it actually feels good on my face. Lo-ove it and perfect for summer, right?! It retails at $30 so free is pretty sweet, huh?!

I am also giving away 1 copy of my Primitive Felt Nativity Pattern--crafty goodness!

So post a comment and let me know which one of my posts was your favorite or what you wish I would blog about more often and I'll put you in my drawing.

lots of love to you my fans

And yes, I will give you two entries in the drawings if you link to my give-away on your blog/facebook.

p.s. while you ponder which post was your favorite, here is my new favorite song to listen too. I'm not sure what he is trying to say--but I like the music and the phrase "I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing" has captured my fancy.

Milking Cows

2010-05-19T08:18:00.004-05:00

Milking cows is like being in prison.

Only in prison, you don't have to milk cows.

a hahahahahahhah! I love it. Thanks, Sister F., I'll be laughing for a long time.

*this photo stolen from wikipedia

The Sandwich that Makes the Man of the House Happy

2010-05-09T13:35:00.006-05:00

This sandwich makes the Man of the House very happy. He calls it "real food." I love it because of the green peppers and the mayonnaise.

**caution Must be made with complete disregard for fat and/or calories, but I consider it healthy (sssh. don't tell the Man of the House)

Ingredients

olive oil
1 pound beef round stake
1 large yellow onion
2 large green peppers
salt, pepper, garlic powder
oregano or Italian seasoning
mozzarella cheese
yellow mustard
mayonnaise
homemade bread sliced thickly or homemade french bread subs

Directions:

1. Slice steak thinly
2. Drizzle olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Add Steak.
3. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder. (but not too much salt)
4. Slice onion. When steak is pretty much done browning, add onion to pot
5. Wash, seed, and Chop green bell pepper. Add to pot
6 . Sprinkle generously with oregano or Italian seasoning.
7. Reduce heat and put lid on pot. Simmer about 5 minutes until onions are soft and peppers are tender-crisp
8. Cover with layer of grated mozzarella cheese, maybe some Parmesan too, and cook long enough to melt cheese.

9. Spread bread with mayo and mustard. Top with hot steak.

Serve to Man immediately. You can eat some too.

**This Blogger not responsible for resulting results.

Decided!

2010-05-08T16:42:00.005-05:00

Thank you, all of my wonderful friends who left your suggestions and sympathy.

After reading through your comments and doing some soul searching, I realized that what I was hoping everyone would say was "CUT IT and Cut it NOW"

I decided that I really hated the shape of my hair, not necessarily the length. So, armed with new vocabulary like "long bob" (thanks Sarah) and "less layers" (thanks Mamabyrd) I went to a new haircutting place where the DH often goes. I like it there because the stylists don't make me feel like a hillbillie when I walk in. I sat in the chair and Betty, my new BFF, asked me a million questions until she understood both my hair and my unhappiness. Then she provided a solution that made me happy and kept my hair as long as possible.

And because TheLeader and JillS are right, I still plan on dying it --because that is too fun to skip. I just have to find that box ..... Here's a photo of the new happier me in the mean time. And the lighting is bad enough, you can get an idea for how I'll look with darker hair, which it will be.

The DH is contemplating what it will be like to be married to a goth chick. He's intrigued.

Hair 911!

2010-05-03T12:10:00.004-05:00

Okay, I need advice. Hair advice. My hair is making me crazy right now. It is a horrible cut. I have to spend 30-40 minutes with a curling iron and mousse to beat it into reasonable submission. I don't have that kind of time on a daily basis.

I want to chop it all off like this:

or this

See, I need something that can be cute fast. I have 5 kids, a house to clean, meals to cook, 10 piano students to teach and a Mary Kay business to look after. I loved this cut. All my girlfriends loved it to and I got tons of compliments each day.

However, there is one person who didn't love it.

You guessed it, my DH. He is wishing for something like this:

This is 4 years ago and was an exceptionally good hair day for me.

The thing is. I'm probably 6-12 months away from that kind of length--if I start remembering to take my vitamins. What do I do between now and then?

Plus, with all the effort, will the DH dole out compliments generously to compensate for said effort? Probably not.

The other day he remarked that I looked "nice". Now, just to clarify, that remark made me much happy. Also, remarks of that nature happen about twice a month these days, sometimes weekly--which is a much higher frequency than the first 10 years of our marriage.

So I'm happy and, you know, grateful for the improvement in positive feedback.

And yet, can you picture me as I spent an hour on my hair that morning? before dashing off to deliver Mary Kay, grocery shop, and knock out my visiting teaching. Do you suppose I was thinking, "I sure hope my husband thinks I look 'nice' today."

"Nice" just doesn't quite make up for the near anxiety attack that I have every time I walk out the door, stressing out about my hair.

I realize that it is a little crazy that I am freaking out about my hair. But here's the thing. I have control over my hair. I can do stuff to it. I often do things to my hair when other things that are bothering me are beyond my control. --hence the fact that I always cut my hair about 2 weeks before I give birth. There is stuff going on in my life right now that I have no control over and it sucks. So instead of worrying over it, I am obsessing over my hair.

So what do you think? Cut it? Not cut it? Mousse it? Dye it? Perm it? To hell with it?

I obsessively await your ideas. Don't worry. I'm only checking the computer every 5 minutes. The rest of the time I am distracting myself with chocolate and avocados.

Check it out, Yo

2010-04-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

My brother spent a night in jail. Because he didn't have proof of insurance in his car when he got pulled over.

Check out his experience at his blog

Chinglish

Poetry

2010-04-25T17:59:00.006-05:00

You could say I was raised on poetry. My Dad read poetry to my sisters and I instead of bedtime stories.
The Highway Man, The Pirate Don Dirk of Dowdee, Dilliki Dolliki Dinah, and Annabel Lee were my favorites. He memorized many poems and would recite them to us as we weeded the garden or on long car trips. He would sort of just burst into poetry like a musical. (He often burst into song too...) One night, he and I were driving home from Springfield, MO and he recited poetry for the entire hour and a half without ever repeating a poem or pausing to think of a new one. They just came rolling out of him. So I grew up loving poetry.

When I was in 6th grade, the local jr. college held a writing contest. Winners would be published in their magazine and poetry was one of the categories.

You must understand, I had never studied poetry in school --writing or reading. I was so excited to write my first poem. I was sure I would win and be published! The theme was "Enchantment" so I wrote a poem describing an enchanted lake in the middle of a forrest. I even used my parent's typewriter to type up my poem. I turned it in to my reading teacher and waited with breathless anticipation for her response.

The next day, she placed my paper on my desk and walked away without a word. At the top was written,

"Punctuate this."

I was crushed. I knew she hated it. I hadn't even known that poetry needed punctuation. I knew it should rhyme and that the lines needed to have a rhythm that matched. I randomly added commas and periods and resubmitted my poem. She never said anything about it. I did not win the poetry anything. (Though my best friend won and was published.)

This experience effectively murdered my confidence with poetry. I continued to write poetry, but rarely showed it to anyone.

When I was 14 or so, I wrote a poem for my grandfather. He was undergoing bypass surgery for his heart. Seven- Bypass- Surgery. He had been writing family history stories and some creative fiction and trying to get published, but no one was interested. Except his grandkids, who loved to sit around him and listen. He was a magical storyteller. I wanted so much to tell Grandpa how much I loved him and that I liked his stories. So I wrote him this poem and snuck it on the table at his house--that was almost more than my courage could muster. I was pretty sure that it was overly sentimental and no good, and yet it was me and it was what I wanted to tell him. Grandpa loved my poem. He loved it so much, that he kept showing it to people, which embarrassed me deeply. I was certain that Grandpa only loved it because he loved me and everyone else who read it would see exactly how amateur-ish and unoriginal it was. I was almost rude to my Uncle Joe, who tried to talk to me about it. I was so afraid he was going to criticize my poetry that I ran away. Now with 20 years perspective I think he was just trying to encourage me.

I still have no confidence regarding my poetry and yet I can't help writing it every now and then.

Funny the impact a teacher can have just by saying nothing. It is a lesson I try to remember with my piano students and my own children.

Incidentally, my DH wooed me with poetry. His love of great poetry, the poetry he wrote, and especially the poems he wrote about me stole my heart away. I had always dreamed of being one of those ladies who walk in beauty

And now I was.

I reminded him of that recently and wondered aloud if he might ever write me love poems again. I guess inspiration hasn't struck recently... :P

Apple Pie Danish

2010-03-15T15:02:00.007-05:00

Last night I created some tasty goodness.

Think apple pie

Think cream cheese Bearclaw

Put them together in a tasty dessert fusion.

Wait.

I did not just use the word *fusion*
Gack!

I meant ...mixture, ensemble,

Whirling Cyclone of Apple Cheescake Pie Goodness!

Here is what I did ---this would make 2 round pies, or one 8 x 11 casserole (which is what I did)

#1-Make a double pie crust recipe.

I think puff pastry would also be good, but I would make individual servings or a long bear claw, not 1 big pie if I used Puff Pastry. Moving On

This is my favorite Crust recipe
*********************************
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 tsp orange peel zest
6 Tablespoons cold water or orange juice

Cut the butter into the flour and orange zest. Mix in water with a fork until the dough sticks together.
Divide the pastry into 2 disks, wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator
*******************************

Next is the apple pie filling. If you can your own at home, that is a great filling to use.

I had some apples that needed to be used up (the impetus for this whole project). I just cut them up, tossed them with cinnamon and sugar and lemon juice.

A few of them didn't seem cooked through after the whole thing was done, so I think this is one where you want to cook the apple pie filling first. But don't use canned filling from the store. If you do, I will cry.

Cooked Apple Pie Filling:
****************************
Put in a sauce pan
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup water
6-8 small apples (mine were a mix of golden delicious and honeycrisps)
peeled and sliced thinly

Stir and cook on medium heat until the mixture gets thick and bubbly and the apples are softish.
Remove from heat.

Cream Cheese Filling from my friend's Cream Cheese Bear Claw recipe (HEAVEN!)
**********************
16 oz cream cheese
2/3 cups sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp butter flavor
1 tsp almond flavor (this is what I did--next time I would use less almond flavor. The filling tasted exactly like it was from a
bakery. But my personal preference is vanilla and I felt like it was overpowered by the almond flavor)
************************

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Get out your pie crusts and roll them out into 2 rectangles--about 2 " bigger all around than your 8x11 casserole pan.

Put 1 crust in the bottom of the pan, and add the cream cheese filling

Layer on the apple pie filling

Cover with the second crust. Seal the edges and cut steam vents in the top.

Brush the top with an egg wash of
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water

Sprinkle with pearl sugar

Bake 45 minutes -until crust is golden

Let the pie cool as long as you can stand it before you eat. It was good warm and good cold the next morning for breakfast. (Shhh--hey! apples, cream cheese, an egg, whole wheat--that makes healthy breakfast for sure!)

I have a Helper

2010-03-05T15:00:00.001-06:00

Tamale Pie helps out.

And I have an excuse to make a new post and therefore move the last post down! Not that I have a problem with the post itself, but the title. Ick! What was I thinking. Everytime I see it, I feel like I was calling myself "big and shapeless" instead of the shirt. Glad to move that one down on the list a bit!

Wardrobe Refashion--big & shapeless into cute and tailored

2010-02-24T09:30:00.005-06:00

This used to be a shapeless 2XL shirt which I bought at the DAV thrift store for $3. In fact, I thought it was a men's shirt, but my friend informed me that the buttons were on the woman side. I cut all the seams apart and using pattern NEW LOOK 6407,

I recut it out. I made a size 16 because I am not one of those tiny petite creatures that you usually see on wardrobe refashion blogs--you know, the ones who can take a men's shirt and have enough fabric to make a dress. sigh.

Anyway, I lined the pattern pieces up with the shoulder seam and the button placket and chopped away, marking the darts. the only change I made to the pattern was to cut a round neckline because I wanted it that way.

It was pretty much the same amount of work as just making the shirt from new fabric, except :

I didn't have to make any button holes or sew on any buttons. That was TOTALLY WORTH IT!! I hate making button holes.

Plus buying fabric and buttons would have cost me more than $3.

I really like this pattern and will be using it again. I tried on several button down shirts at the mall recently, and was very depressed at how top heavy they made me look. This pattern fits me as if I was that skinny girl who lives in my head, instead of the generously proportioned mother of 5 that I really am.

The Story of a Hat

2010-02-18T07:10:00.009-06:00

A young cowboy hat came to visit one day.

Here is the handsome head he arrived on.

When it was time for the handsome head to go home, our cowboy wasn't ready to go! He hid under the couch. What a naughty boy.

There was so much to do in Missouri.
Rope a LongHorn Tricycle.

Jump on the trampoline.

Watch Cardinals.

Play with the baby.

Flirt with some pink boots.

Unfortunately, there was no future in the relationship.

Finally, he was ready to go home.
Here he is in a Mary Kay box--which may have been beneath his dignity, but was the only one available that was big enough.

"Adios mi amigo."
Say "Hello" to Texas for me.

Don't Hate Me Because My Hat is Beautiful

2010-01-27T23:12:00.008-06:00

Or, the Story of a Sweater.

About 5 years ago, I purchased a red wool sweater at a thrift shop. I wanted to felt it and use it for quilting or other crafty goodness.

The tag read:
15% nylon
40% Lambswool
45% Angora Rabbit Hair

100% Lovely!

I washed it in hot water and dried it on high in the dryer 2 times. It shrunk some, bled ALOT of red dye out and got all furry. (My aunty who knows told me the Angora doesn't felt down as much as wool.)

But Cherry Pie, who was three at the time, loved wearing the furry red sweater which was now just her size. So I couldn't cut it up.

After being forgotten at the bottom of the dress-up box for years, it is time for Sweater to have a new life!

I'm having fun deciding what to do with the sleeves.

p.s. Thanks to DH for taking such nice pictures for me. Yes the lighting is less than spectacular and yes, my eyes are red. That is because I never have time for sewing except at 11:00 p.m.

Persian Pickles

2010-01-11T07:53:00.006-06:00

Did you know that ladies used to call Paisleys "Persian Pickles"? I didn't until I read a quilting novel "The Persian Pickle Club."
Loved it.

Since is is Monday and January 11, I am ready to make my New Year's Resolutions (oooh! did you ever notice before that the word resolutions is like "re" and "solutions"!!??) Well these are my solutions to fix my less than perfect self this year.

1. Exercise every day. --though I do hope to loose weight, I am not making weightloss my goal because I'm focusing on being healthy, not being skinny. Too much of my life has been wasted on worrying about skinny.

2. Have a morning devotional every day.--In which I read my scriptures and listen to God.

Since that takes care of my mind and my body, I should do something good for mankind or the planet or something* so...

3. Recycle my cans-- I found out my town has a recycling center for metal cans, but I have to wash out the cans and remove the lables. The old me would not want to take time to do this. But this is 2010 and it's time to take responsibility.

Most of all, this year I want to stop making excuses for myself. While I think that realizing my limitations is a good thing, I let myself off the hook way too often just because I get lazy. As friends, we often say to each other, "That's okay" or "You deserved a break/chocolate/binge/whatever." Sometimes it is just an excuse and I am tired of being disgusted at myself for not following through on what I promised myself/family I would do.

I have an amazing schedule worked out to allow myself to accomplish everything in my dreams. But I never follow it.

So, 2010 is the year of "No Excuses" I'll let you know how it works out :) <3 GlowWorm

*name that movie

p.s. You may have noticed that I changed my screen name (is that what it is called?) I had put "MarvelousThings" to go with my blog name, but the computer shortened it to "MarvelousThing," which always seemed very egocentric to me when I would stumble across myself online. "GlowWorm" is so much better on so many levels. plus it makes me happy.

The Joy of Christmas

2010-01-08T11:39:00.006-06:00

The Joy of Finished Projects!

Before Christmas arrived, I finished the tree skirt my DH has wanted for years!
I also finished 1 Momma apron and 3 little girl aprons for a friend. But sorry, no pictures

The Joy of Fat Stockings on Christmas Morning!

The Joy of Piles of Presents under the tree!

Yes, the kiddos are the decorators of our tree, which explains why most of the ornaments are clustered in a thick band at their eye level.

The Joy of First Christmas!

The Joy of Things that Grow!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.

My kind of Advent Calendar

2009-12-19T21:43:00.002-06:00

Now this is my kind of Advent Calendar. Advent Calendar for Slackers. Posted over at Filth Wizardry. A very fun blog to visit, if you haven't

Christmas Apron

2009-12-17T15:58:00.007-06:00

My Quilting Guild is having an apron swap tonight. Naturally, I began sewing two days ago. The woman I am making for is an extra-large size so I decided that a smock apron would be best for her (plus I love smock aprons.)

I didn't have a pattern for an apron, but I had a pattern for a shirt Simplicity 2962, which I figured I could modify. I tried to find a pic of the pattern to link to, --Apparently this pattern is no longer for sale. It is a simple round necked smock shirt. I made the front and the yoke front. Then I realized that I had to make the back yoke and part of the back (to finish the sleeve hole.)

I won't detail all the backwards sewing (seam ripping) I had to do as I realized over and over that one more piece would have to be added.

I modified the pattern by making it open in the back with one button at the neck. Also, the back piece is much shorter because I ran out of fabric.

I hope she loves it.

I even overcame my laziness and put on ric-rac.

Now I wish I was keeping it for me. I guess that is my assurance that I did well.

I also FINALLY finished binding this table runner--which I started 3 years ago. It is already off to it's new home. Someday I'll finish a quilted project for myself.

Fleece Mittens Pattern

2009-12-05T12:14:00.005-06:00

Last week I discovered the the pattern I linked to for my Fleece Mittens Tutorial was no longer available online. Luckily, I have a hard copy of the two different patterns I referred to. I have turned it into a PDF file and here it is for you, incase you wish to make fleece mittens for your lovely childrens.

It isn't the best pattern in the world. But if it snowed last night and you find yourself mittenless and your kids are begging to go outside with socks on their hands, this is infinitely better. (Because they need to play outside and socks just don't hold off the wet cold for very long.)

PDF Pattern FOR DOWNLOAD

In which I post too many pictures of my apple pie small quilt

2009-12-01T00:54:00.003-06:00

because I finished it and I'm proud.

"I like to eat pie" small quilt

2009-11-26T22:10:00.010-06:00

My quilt group is doing a mini quilt exchange with a sewing group in Japan. (I know, awesome!) We are each supposed to make a small quilt that is something American and of ourselves.

Here is the sketch I made of what I want to do. I love pie and what is more American than Apple Pie?

The fabric I am using is a Moda charm pack called Astor Manor. It is very pretty reds, pinks, creams and browns. Less contrast than I usually choose for my quilting, but I think my partner will like it--and it made getting started a little easier, since I didn't have to dither about fabric.

I found the idea for a pie applique here It's been ruminatin' round in my head for about 6 months and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get it out of my head and onto some fabric.

If you think I'm brilliant and want pie quilts for yourselves, I'll go over my pattern with a dark pen and make it into a PDF file and then everyone can make a pie quilt. Because really, I can't think of a reason not to have a pie quilt. Then you can eat pie, and put pie on your walls too. Then if you made a pie apron, you could wear pie. This just keeps getting better!

Speaking of eating pie, I found the most amazing site ever for printables. She is Lolly Chops. She has printable name tags that say "Hello my name is _____ and I like to eat pie." Can you not think of many occasions when just such a name tag would be perfect? Even more amazing is her single serving of pie in a jar gift labels. And here at Our Best Bites is the directions. Man o man, I'm so excited for christmas!!

Marvelous Pigs in Satin

A post from 4 years ago

Baby Watching

True Wisdom: "Don't Carpe Diem"

Gas? Colic?

Good Riddance 2011!

Happy New Year's Baby

Merry Christmas 2011

Gingerbread Houses

Baby Dumpling

Finished Projects this fall!

Petting Reindeer Ponies

Christmas Song Medley

Drama worthy of Days of our Lives

Attitude

What to get the kids for Christmas

Free Book

Happy Birthday, Tamale Pie

Happy Day

Mary Kay is AWESOME!

Thanks, Sister

7 Brothers

Getting Ready For Deployment, part 2

Trunk-or-Treating

Recent Sewing Projects and happiness :)

Classy

Happy Birthday, Cutie Pie

I had egg whites, so I had to make Meringues

Thoughts on Johnson Grass

Pintrest Love

"The List"--or Preparing for Deployment, part 1

New Dress, Random stuff

20 minute Maternity Jeans

Not Panicking!--well maybe a little

Pumpkin Pie

Book Review

Cherry Pie

I *HEART* Picasa

Belated Trip Report**Now with Pictures!!

Family Reunion HERE WE COME!!!

Happy Father's Day

Rodeo!

Summer Cuts II

Eyebrows

Summer Hair Cuts

So, does skinny = beautiful?

Happy Mother's Day

Protien is my Friend

Serendipity

Apricot Chipotle Chicken and Sunday cooking

My To Be List

Heat :)

Some Random bits of wisdom I gleaned from the Universe this Month

IMHO--ha!

New Exercise Program

True Confessions

Some Like It Hot

Shoe Sugar Month: Day 13 SIZZIX BIG SHOT GIVEAWAY!!

The New Template finally worked!!

Christmas Projects

Groupons??

Merry Christmas 2010

Camping in Lost Valley

Happy Halloween 2010

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cutie Pie

Tutorial: how to shorten the rise in your 6 year old's pants

Meeting New Friends at the Park

Camping Check List

Mindy Gledhill - Anchor

Empire State Building Biscuits

Job Chart, DONE!

I love Dallas!!!

Family Fun in the Summer

Happy 6th Birthday, Pumpkin Pie

Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner

Much Better

Morning Chores

100th Blog Post

Milking Cows

The Sandwich that Makes the Man of the House Happy

I HEART Picasa