I've decided to Move over to WordPress

Here is my new address so you can find me:

http://marvelousthingswillhappen.wordpress.com/

It's not a decision I've made lightly.  I've been deliberating about it all fall and all winter.

Pros for Blogger:
1- I'm used to it.
2- It's cuter
3-It's where all the crafty people are (unless they break the mold and go with typepad.)
4-Most of my friends and family use Blogger.
5-I love the widget that shows all of your blogs on the side and tells me the title of your most recent post so I know to go read it.

Pros for Wordpress:

When I make a comment on someone's blog, or if they comment on mine, WordPress shows me first thing with a little comment notification.  I can immediately reply.  If someone replies to a comment I made, WordPress tells me.

With Blogger, I have to either remember to check the box for follow-up emails (I never remember to check the box) or remember to keep checking back to see if anyone replied--don't remember that very often either.

So in the end, I've decided that WordPress allows for more of a conversation.  That is what keeps me blogging--to stay connected to my families that are far away

I'll miss my RSS feed widget, but I'm hoping that I can figure out how to do the same thing in WordPress.  In the mean time, I can use the Reader

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Scripture Cases

For their 8th birthday,  we give the kiddie pies their own set of scriptures.  I promised Pumpkin Pie a case to carry them in, and about 2 months after her birthday, I finally made it using this fun scripture case tutorial with great step by step pictures from PolkaDotChair.

I made one for Cherry Pie, too.

I was making cases for a Bible and Triple Combination, soft paper bound, which together are larger than a mini-quad (what Melissa at PolkaDotChair was making a case for).  I like my cases to fit pretty closely so the books aren't wallowing around in there.  Also because my kids have a tendency to hoard bits of trash and I didn't want much room left for bits of paper.  If you want to make your own case for scriptures like ours and don't want to do the math, here are the dimensions I used.  (Also in case I decide to make more and want to remember the math.)

Denim:
1--  9 3/8 x 8 inch for the flap
2-- 6 1/4 x 8 inch for the front & back
1-- 4 3/8 x 20 inch strip for the gusset
2-- 2 1/2 x 16 inch strips for the handle

It took a little bit more than a fat quarter for the lining:

2- 6 1/4 x 8 inch for front & back lining
2- 5 1/4 x 8 inch for front pocket
1- 9 3/8 x 8 inch for the flap lining
1- 4 3/8 x 20 inch strip for the gusset lining

I included a seam allowance of 1/2" everywhere except the handle- do 1/4" seams on the handle.

The first case I made was too tight.  The gusset was 1/4 inch too narrow.  I ended up unpicking all the seams and resewing them smaller so that there would be more room in the case.

**This is one of the secrets I've learned that has made me happier with my sewing.  When it isn't right, I take the time to fix it.  It's totally worth it.  If you hate unpicking, check your seam ripper.  If it is so rusty, it looks like you stabbed someone with it and left the blood to dry, spend $4 on a new one.  Totally worth it.

**Secret #2 top stitch.  It makes everything look more professional.

I adjusted the measurements for the second case and it turned out perfectly.  (The measurements above are the adjusted ones.)

Here are the instructions from the tutorial because I found it confusing to go back and read her instructions with different measurements.  

1. Front Pocket:  Take your front pocket pieces of fabric and sew them right sides together across the 8″ side. Press the seam open and turn right side out. Press and top stitch along the top.

2.  Place your sewn piece over your front piece of denim.  Baste around the edges of the denim piece to hold in place.

3.  About 2″ up from the bottom  and in the center of the fabric pocket, attach a magnetic snap.  Make sure you only go through the fabric piece and not the denim also.

4.  Sew straight lines through one end of the pocket to create some pen/pencil slots. Make sure you backstitch at the top of the pocket.

5. Attatch gusset:  Take your denim gusset piece and pin it to the denim front piece that has the pocket attached.  Sew around 3 sides.

Trim any extra denim (of the 3″ wide piece) off the top.

Pin your denim back piece to your gusset piece. Sew.

6.  Repeat Step 5 with your lining fabric to form the bag lining.

7.  If you are going to add an appliqué to the flap of the bag, appliqué it to the denim flap now. 

8.  Take your denim flap piece and your fabric flap piece, place them right sides together and sew around 3 sides (leaving the top open). Clip corners and turn right side out.  Press.

9.  Top stitch using contrast thread around the flap.

10. Take the other part of your magnetic snap and attach it to the inside of the flap (the piece you just sewed). Place it in the center about 1″ up from the bottom.

11. Place the right side of your flap inside your bag facing the right side of the bag back. Stitch in place.

12. Sew the handle denim pieces, wrong sides together, using a ¼” seam.  Leave one end open for turning.  Turn, Press, and Top Stitch.

13.  Place the handle in the bag and center it in the bag.  Stitch it in place on both sides.  (the handle).

14. Place your bag lining inside your bag (right sides together). Pin. MAKE sure the bag lining and bag pieces line up perfectly, if not adjust the seams on your bag lining piece until they do.

Sew 1/2″ down from the top of the bag beginning at the left front corner and ending at the right front corner (you are leaving the front side open for turning.) 

15. Turn bag right side out and press.  Turn under the open edges of the bag along the front and press under.  Top stitch (to close the opening), starting at the bag flap on one side, around the front to the other side of the bag flap.

On the Menu this Week

I made a schedule.  It is the mother of all schedules.  It is a plan.

If I follow the plan, all my wildest dreams will come true.

My new year's resolution is to follow the schecule, follow the plan.

Part of the plan is to have biweekly menu plans and only shop twice a month for groceries.  This will save me time for sure and probably money, as well.

Here is this coming week's plan:

Menu for Week of January 6

Sunday

                  Breakfast: Oven Peaches and Cream French Toast

                  Lunch:  Tomato Soup & Melted Cheese Sandwiches

                  Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie

Monday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Eggnog Cranberry Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Puerco Adobo, Brown Rice, & Cole Slaw

Tuesday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Apple Cinnamon Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Taco Soup, Bread & Butter

Wednesday

                  Breakfast: Crock Pot Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Freezer Raviolli, Alfredo Sauce, Steamed Broccoli

Thursday

                  Breakfast: Apricot Ginger Refrigerator Oatmeal

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner:  Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Green Salad & Ranch Dressing

Friday

                  Breakfast: CrockPot Banana & Coconut Milk Cracked Wheat Mush

                  Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers

                  Dinner: Quinoa Broccoli Casserole, Garlic Bread

Saturday

                  Breakfast: Applesauce Muffins

                  Lunch: Pasta Salad

                  Dinner: Garlic-Lime Chicken & Baked Sweet Potatoes

 

You'll notice that Sunday-Friday breakfasts are actually made the night before.  The crockpot mush recipes are actually steel-cut oat recipes from Monica at The Yummy Life.  I'm trying them with cracked wheat.  I think they'll work just fine.  Lunches are simple.  So that the Man-of-the-House can take leftovers to work for his lunch, Sunday-Thursday dinners are ones that reheat well.   If for some reason there are no leftovers, He'll get salad with cooked chicken added.

I do serve an afterschool snack to my kids each day, which will be
veggies & dip, strawberry yogurt, popcorn, oatmeal cookies & milk,  green smoothies, things like that.

At the beginning of every week I make a big green salad and a fruit salad and we eat those with dinner each night. 

I subscribed to the Grocery Shrink's Weekly Menu Mailer for about four months, and the biggest thing I learned was to plan food for every meal.  Previously, I have only planned dinners and bought the groceries for that plus eggs & milk.  I never had enough food in the house and my plans never worked.  I learned from Angela to plan lunches and snacks (especially on the weekend when everyone is home all day.) 


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Our New Family Mission Statement: Side by Side

We have our Family Mission Statement written!  Just in time for the New Year!

The Man of the House and I have been reading Steven R Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. 

We've had some family home evenings where we shared what we were learning with the kiddie pies.  They picked right up on the ideas.  They are better than I am about changing their behavior. 

Habit 2   [Begin with the end in mind] has you create a family mission statement.  We had a couple of brainstorming sessions as a family.  We let everybody say all their ideas and I wrote them all down.  No one was allowed to interrupt or criticize anybody's idea.

We talked about:

What kind of family do we want to be?

What do we want to do together?

What kind of feeling do we want in our home?

What is important to us?

How can we contribute to society as a family?

What is our purpose as a family?  These were my favorite answers
Pumpkin- So we won't be by ourselves
Blueberry- so we don't live in boxes when we grow up
Cherry- learn to love each other
Cutie- be nice

We got ideas ranging from "no shouting" and "be nice" to "Dad should give mom chocolate" (thanks, Blueberry) and "pizza on Fridays."  I had about 3 pages of notes of things we wanted to do and learn and be as a family.

So how did we take all those ideas and form them into a Family Mission Statement that we could all get behind and be inspired by?  For 2 or 3 months, we just let those ideas cook in our minds. 


Add in this: At my brother's wedding, his bride's family sang a song I had never heard before, but instantly loved.  The song is called Side by Side.
I thought, what a great thought to have as part of your family culture--that you'll do things together and enjoy it.

That sounds really like,  duh, as I type it, but I've been going through this phase where I just want to be by myself and do my own thing and everybody just leave me alone and do their own thing.  It's not a good attitude for a mom to have and I've been struggling against it, but I keep catching myself back in that attitude.  Clearly I need more than just to realize my thoughts aren't right, I need a paradigm shift.

Add in this:  One evening, Ben and I had a real heart-to-heart discussion about a few things and I realized what he was asking for was for me to be his friend.  He doesn't just want to do the things he likes (example: climb mountains).  He wants to do the things he likes WITH ME (climb mountains with me). 

Suddenly I knew how to put our family mission statement together in a way that would be inspiring to us (I felt inspired) and would help us keep focused on what is important. I ran the idea past Ben & he liked it.  So here it is Ta Da!  Our Family Mission Statement.  We might edit it a bit more before it goes up on our wall, but essentially we've got it.  It is a little bit long, perhaps, but I didn't want to be too general with things like just say "Be Responsible"  I felt like it needed to be more concrete for me and for the kids.

Side By Side

Our family is committed to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We will serve the Lord by being missionaries, by serving those around us, and by keeping our covenants. Being a Celestial Family is our goal.

Education is important to us, and we will never stop learning. We value the arts and other cultures. We will honor traditions we have received from our heritage and create new ones. We will discover and develop our talents to share and uplift others.

We love working and playing together, especially outside, keeping our bodies strong and healthy. Everyone will help with chores without complaint.  Being self-sufficient is important to us.

In our family we promise to be each other’s best friends.  We will do fun things together; we will help and encourage each other. We will always speak kindly and give each other hugs and kisses.  We will love each other.  We will stay together and encourage each other even if hard things happen. 

We will respect each other by being polite and never shouting.  We will appreciate each other’s efforts and remember that everyone is trying their best.

We will keep our house a clean and peaceful place so that we want to come home to it.  We will keep the Holy Ghost in our home.

We will be thankful in all things acknowledging the Lord’s Hand in our lives. We will show our gratitude by being generous with what we have.

We will walk through life together:  side by side.

Begin at the Beginning? Maybe not....

"Begin at the beginning.  And when you come to the end, stop."

So I've figured out my problem.  My problem is I always want to talk to people the same way I blog.  I want to begin at the beginning of my story and tell how I progressed and how my thought process altered and then show where I am now.

The problem with that method is that my first sentence is often in direct contradiction to where I am now.  So then when I'm at a party and talking, people hear my first sentence and are like, "Whoa, that's not right."

Then they get this look on their face like, "I'm not happy with what you're saying." 

OR WORSE, they interrupt me and say, "You really think that?"

And I'm all, "No! Wait! let me finish!" and I get all flustered.

And sometiems they are all,"I'm done listening," and I don't ever get to explain my story. Or worse, in trying to defend my story, I make some gross generalization that I'm way too smart to actually believe myself and totally cut the ground right out from myself.

I need to start at the end and then go back to the beginning.  Important information first.

Maybe I should blog that way too.  Important information first and then fill in the back story.  Maybe you all read my first sentence and are like, "Leaving now." and never finish it to find out how I learned something.

Come back, I promise I'm smarter now.

Les un-Miserables

Look Down

Saturday night, my mom and 2 of my sisters and I ran away to see Les Miserables.  I intended to leave the Dear Husband with happy children who had already eaten dinner.  Instead, when I dashed out the door, dinner was smoking on the stove, 2 children were howling their heads off, and there were a couple extra kids in the house that we don't even own.

We all giggled like school girls as we watched the previews and stuffed our faces with popcorn (so we could get a refill before the movie actually started.)

I mentioned in a post before that I have past emotional scars connected to the story of Les Miserables.  Anytime anybody would mention "Les Mis"  I would growl in my head and be like, "Stupid Movie, we hates it." It was Susan Boyle whose heartfelt rendition of I Dreamed a Dream on Brittain's Got Talent (2009) finally broke through to me and I heard the beauty of the music for the first time.  Thanks, Susan.  Music makes everything better.

The movie was glorious.  Eddie Redmayne made us all cry.  Amanda denies that she cried, but we all know better.

Look at all those delectible freckles!  It's about time we had a hero with freckles.  It's pretty great that a red-head has the last name of red mane, also.  And I haven't even told you about his voice yet.  swoon.  His singing tore the tears right out of our eyes. In a featurette about singing live during the filming, Eddie talks about hearing Anne singing: "That song which I thought I knew pretty well, suddenly I listened to the lyrics for the first time, afresh."  This is exactly how I felt about Eddie's singing.  No one has ever brought out the unspeakable grief like he did.

Samantha Barks & Anne Hathaway were heartbreaking.  We all agreed that Fantine should have had long hair when she came back as an angel.  Duh! Angels get to be beautiful.  They do not have shaved heads.

My only complaint about the movie was that Hugh Jackman sounded like he was singing through his nose the whole time.  It was awful.

Sunday afternoon while I was working on Primary stuffs, I listened to all the other men who have been prisoner 24601 on youtube.  My favorite is Alfie Boe.




I also like John Owen Jones.  He's almost as good as Alfie.  Colm Wilkinson is maybe a little too Broadway for me. (Or maybe a little too grey for me, Ah Snap.)  He is the bishop in the new movie, so that's a fun nod to the original Broadway cast.   However, after listening to 4 or 5 different professional Broadway singers, I went back to Amazon and listened to Hugh again.  Wow! He can't be beat for raw, real feeling coming through the song.  Now I'm repenting of all the complaining I did.  Mary was right.  He was good.  I think for enjoying the purity of the music, I'd pick Alfie Boe, but Hugh Jackman was right for the movie, though like Amanda, I'm wondering how our phantom would have been as Jean Valjean.  (John Owen Jones has played the phantom as well.  So it's a completely logical idea.)

All in all, I think I will be getting the soundtrack from the movie because of Eddie and probably another soundtrack so I can have Alfie, too.  I probably won't get a copy of the movie because definitely PG-big people and my kids will want to see it if we have it.

P.S.  Dear Dad:  If you are reading this, all of the blue words in my posts are links.  So if you want to hear Colm Wilkinson singing, or watch the featurette I was talking about, click on the blue words and the magical thing that is the internet will take you there.  Perhaps you've already figured this out, but just in case....because I know technology is not your native language....

Merry Mustache Christmas

Christmas Eve at Grandpa's House

Holding Babies

Playing with trains

I'll give a stone and a sheep for a brick.

Ha Ha, no.

Poor Eddie, his Kaitlyn isn't here yet :(

We decided that Memphis eating ham constitutes canibalism.

Grandma's Ipad always has a line of eager kiddies waiting for their turn.

Even Owie Boy wants a turn.

Yay! Cartoons!

A Christmas Eve nap is always good.

Some people are naturally cute.

Mom & Mary slaving in the kitchen to make food for the hordes.

a little silliness

What's going on?  I need a new diaper.

a bad picture of a fun advent calendar I made with a cereal box and some vintage clipart from the internet.

Baby Dumpling is 1 year old!

December first, we set up the Christmas tree.  We had a lot of fun-- so much fun that I forgot to go to a baptism that I had faithfully promised the missionaries I would attend.  It was for two of my primary children.  I still feel pretty bad about forgetting.

Baby Dumpling was so excited  about the tree and the Christmas penguins that she walked across the room for the first time.

That makes her our child who walked the earliest--almost 2 weeks before her first birthday!

Baby Dumpling can say lots of words, which is also unusual for such a little baby.  She says Mama, Dad, pig, dog, kitty, and cracker (but she means any food).

She loves to play peek-a-boo and for me to carry her around all day. 

She likes to play with cell phones and I can hardly use mine because the second I pull it out, she starts screeching for me to give it to her.  I blame Grandma's Ipad.

She loves to watch the dog and kitty playing outside and she loves to dig the dirt out of my houseplants and eat it. 

Hiking at HaHa Tonka State Park

Hiking in the cold was harder than I thought it would be.  But we still had a great day.

 But the castle was very interesting.

 The spring was beautiful and mysterious, and the kids had fun counting the 300 wooden steps down to it.

 Baby Dumpling got a free ride.

 Why so serious, Blueberry Pie?

 This little girl is my cousin, but she's the same age as Cherry Pie.

 Cutie Pie had lots of energy early on.

Cherry Pie is getting to be sort of grown up. 

The best part was stopping at Uncle Jon's on the way home for some fish tacos!  Scrumptious.  So scrumtious.

Personal Flaws

Consider flaws...like personal flaws....


Is there a flaw that while you would never never judge anyone else for having and in fact, love other people who have this flaw....

if it turned out that you had this flaw, would you be horrified, embarassed, and deny it vehemently?

I have a head cold this week and am rather stuffed up in the breathing department.  Other times of year, I have seasonal allergies that stuff up my nasal passages.

My husband says I snore.   (aaah I can't even tell you how horrified I am to even be typing this.)

I say:  

#1 loud stuffy breathing (where the sound comes from your nose) is not the same as snoring (where the sound comes from your throat)

#2  Snoring absolutely does not fit with the mental image I have of myself in my head.  Therefore it is impossible that I snore.

#3 It is very ungentlemanly of him to mention something that happens when I am asleep and completely unaware of it.

See?  It is impossible that I snore. 

I'm off to purchase some Nyquil. 

Pet Peeve #2

I thought it was bad enough that the second news hit about the shooting in Conneticutt, everyone around me started groaning about  "now they're gonna say we need more gun control."

Seriously?  You just found out that 22 children and 6 adults have been slaughtered by a madman and your first thought is, "Oh no, they're going to try to take away my gun."  ???

I hope we do have a discussion about what can be done to prevent horrors like this from happening again.

I thought the gun-control griping was bad, but it's gotten worse.  I've seen several self-righteous memes like this one smeared all over Facebook:

Pardon me a huge eye-roll. 


This ridiculous t-shirt is not going to bring anyone unto God.  It makes Christians look self-righteous and it demotes God down to about the power of Santa Claus.  

God is in the hearts of my children.  He is in the hearts of millions of other children and teachers all across the USA.  He is in the school and no laws about group prayer or not posting the 10 commandments are going to keep Him out.

Mosiah 24: 11-13

11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

 12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

A month of Christmas!

When I was little, my mom started the tradition for our family of celebrating Christmas they way they do all around the world, basically we celebrated as many different ways as possible.  We celebrated Scandinavian Christmas, English Christmas, German Christmas, Russian Christmas, even Hannukah which isn't Christmas, but does happen in December.

Most of the year, I'm a pretty lazy mom as far as celebrating stuff goes.  My kids do not get big elaborate birthday parties.  All the other holidays get maybe a special dessert and we get together with extended family or friends for a fun afternoon, but that is it.  There have been years when for Halloween I bought a bag of candy and we stayed home and watched a movie.

However, in December, I go all out, sort of.  I still try to keep it sane, because I'm only human, after all.  Here is my plan for this year.

December 1: Decorate the Christmas Tree.  Make an advent calendar.  (Looks like once again I do not have something beautifully sewn or quilted, so we'll be doing the paper chain with 24 links, one to be removed each day. Maybe in January we'll have a blizzard and I'll get one quilted.)

December 2:  First Sunday of Advent.  Advent is celebrated all around the world.  The word literally means "coming".  It helps us stay focused on Christ and prepare for his coming.  On each of the four Sundays before Christmas, we will be reading from the prophesies of Isaiah and other prophets who testified of Christ.  We'll light a candle and read from the scriptures words of light.  The first Sunday is the Sunday of Hope.    We'll be reading scriptures that focus on hope, both the hope Christ brings and the hope of the people who watched for his coming for ages:

Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7, Jacob 4:4, Moroni 7:41, Mosiah 16:6-9,
Joel 3:16

We'll sing "Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel" as a family

December 3: For family home evening, we will put out our nativity scenes.  Italian nativity sets are called presepio.  We will also set out a small empty wooden manger.  As the children do acts of kindness for others, they can add a piece of straw to the manger in preparation for the arrival of baby Jesus.

December 6: Saint Nicolas Day  In the Netherlands and Belgium, children put out their shoes on December 5, with perhaps carrots or hay for St. Nicolas' horse.  Saint Nicolas fills our shoes with nuts & sweets and perhaps small gifts.  Read the story of St. Nicolas here.

December 8: The first day of Hannukah.  We'll play the dredel game and eat potato latkes (pancakes) and jelly doughnuts.

December 9: Second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Preparation & Peace
Luke 1:26-38, Isaiah 11:1-4, Isaiah 52:7
We'll sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithfull."

December 10: for family home evening, we'll go caroling to our neighbors as they do in England.  When we get home, we will not burn a Yule Log (as we have no fire place) but we will eat a Yule Log nougat candy. (A disgustingly sweet confection that my dear husband's family always ate, so he is nostalgic about it.)

December 13: Santa Lucia Day.  The children of our house will get up early and led by their oldest sister, bring hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls
in procession to their parent's bedroom, where we will have a lovely "surprise" breakfast all together.

December 16: Third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy.
Isaiah 12:2-5, Mosiah 3:3-12,
We'll sing "Joy to the World" of course.

December 17: For family home evening, we'll make some special birdseed treats to hang in our front yard as they do in Norway.

December 23: Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Love.
John 3:16, Isaiah 49:13-16, Moroni 7:47-48,

We'll sing "Angels we have heard on High."
Also, we have the Dear Husband's family coming over for a big Christmas dinner.  I'm planning to have a pinata as they do in Mexico

December 24: Christmas Eve
we will read Luke chapter 2 and sing "Away in a Manger." 

December 25: Regular old American Santa Claus will have left presents (always including fruit & toothbrushes) in our stockings.  We'll give gifts to each other.  We'll eat cold cereal and no doubt have a big Christmas feast with my extended family that afternoon.

December 26: Boxing Day We'll do something of service, perhaps take food to someone in need or something...not sure yet.

New Year's Eve: We have our Good Riddance Party!

New Year's Day: We eat Hoppin' Jon Soup and Rice Pudding.  Whoever finds the almond in their pudding gets good luck for the whole year. (Yugoslavia)

January 6: Three Kings' Day We set out our shoes again as they do in Spain, this time with straw for the camels of the Three Magi.  They leave us a present, usually a new journal for the new year :)

On all the inbetween days, we'll be reading Christmas stories, watching as many different versions of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" as we possibly can, and making presents for each other and for our friends.  It will be grand.

Birthday Kisses

Julia: "Mom, what do you get for your birthday?"

Me: "Hugs and kisses from girls that I love."

Julia (giggling with excitment) : "I'm a girl."

Going to church Commando style

So yesterday after church we headed up to hang out with the Dear Husband's family.  It's been way too long since we got together so we had a sort of combined Thanksgiving dinner/November birthday celebration pot luck.  There are 5 of us born in November- that it is the best month of the year to be born in, goes without saying. 

It was a very random potluck indeed.  We had Chili pork roast, potato casserole, chilequiles, spanish rice, green salad, greek pasta salad, bacon macaroni & cheese, sushi, birthday cake, lemon cupcakes, and pumpkin gooey cake (with real whipped cream.)  It was all good.

My kids had a blast with their cousins.  My favorite was watching my 4 year old playing with her 15 year old cousin. 

The Dear Husband's youngest brother brought "just a friend"  with him to dinner so that added drama to the day.  You can't tell me that people bring "just a friend" to family Thanksgiving Dinner.

Speaking of drama, rewind to church. reeeet. (that's the sound of us rewinding.)  About half way through sacrament meeting this happened:

My friend's 13 year old daughter leaned back from the pew in front of us and whispered, "Cutie Pie doesn't have a diaper on."

I was like, "Duh, she hasn't worn diapers for awhile."

Friend, "She's flashing everyone."

I look over, and my 4-year-old is laying on her back in the bench, legs in the air, dress over her head, no undies in sight.  

You've got to be kidding me.  I personally dressed her and she had panties on when I dressed her.  Sigh.  She and I exit the meeting.  I took her out to the van, thinking I had a spare pair for her, but no luck. So she got to wear a much too small diaper for the rest of church.  I asked her where her panties were and she said,

"I forgot them at home."

I wanted to be like HOW COULD YOU FORGET THEM, but she is only four and also, no one would have ever known if she had kept her feet down.  I knew the real reason I was bothered was because I was embarrassed.  (Did you ever notice that the word "embarrassed" has the words Bare and a$$ in it?) 

I know people have different opinions on the subject of nude children.

My husband's parents never allowed their children to be naked because naked children = poverty.

My parents had naked children running around on the farm all the time because naked = the glorious freedom of youth.  All too soon we have to grow up and wear clothing in order to be socially acceptable so why not let the little kids enjoy it while they can.

I guess I still feel that way.  The man of the house doesn't call me his Ferengi wife for no reason....la la la.

What's your opinion on going commando/living life clothing optional?

I already know that at least 2 of my sisters think that if we lived in a nudist colony, at least we wouldn't have to do laundry.

And another of my friends considers undies to be dispensible/disposable in certain situations.

Dyin' to be at Dianne's

This is my dad's little sister, my Aunt Dianne.  I've told you about her Cheddar Pear Pie before.  Which is delicious and also, it is delicious.

My family has our own Happy Birthday song that we tag on the end of the one everbody knows.  One of the lines is "May your birthdays be bright with cheer and delight."  Because my dad's other sister is named Chere, I always amended the song in my head to "May your birthdays be bright with Chere and Dianne."  It was like a birthday wish to get to visit them in the next year.

Well this year, I got to visit Aunt Dianne.  I and 9 members of my family stayed at her house for a few days when my bro Eddie got married in August.

 We drove about 20 hours, including through the night, to get there.



(I suppose I shouldn't say "we" drove, as my dad and bro Jimmy did most of the driving.  I did lots of talking to keep the drivers from getting bored.  I'm selfless like that.)

Anyways, I'm sure that if you've been on a long trip like that, you know that sort of nauseous bleck feeling you start to get after eating trail mix and celery sticks in the car for 2 days.  Even when you have your choice of 5 different kinds of peppermint gum (thanks, Dad) you eventually start feeling a little green.

We entered Utah valley at about 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon.  Dad offered to stop at Burger King, or something, but it was just an hour or so until Aunt Dianne's and we all voted to wait.  A Whopper might be warm and taste good going down, but then it sits there in your gut feeling oily and heavy--especially if you are already kinda bleh.  We were sure Aunt Dianne would have a better option, and she did!

We landed at her house, crowded in and somewhat bashfully admitted that we were starving and tired of car food.  Well Aunt Dianne told us to sit down and before we knew it, there was a huge pot of pasta soup and loaves of homemade bread and lots of sliced up cucumbers from her garden: all my favorite comfort foods loaded on one table.   The 10 of us plus a couple more who were already at her house gobbled down as much of that delicious soup and bread as we could hold and then we all had glorious naps on her many comfy couches.

This is the "Love Sack".  It is much coveted by all.

All that weekend, Aunt Dianne fed us delicious food and it all just appeared out of her cupboards and fridge like magic.  If we ate it all, more appeared, until we were stuffed.  Even the night that 70 aunts & uncles & cousins showed up to gab and laugh, she calmly produced food for us all.

And she had time to sit down and talk and be interested in what was going on in our lives and laugh at our jokes and loan us her stockings when ours got snags.

It was the most restful retreat I've ever gone too, and I felt like a new woman when I got home.  I got back the energy and enthusiasm for life that I'd been missing since my last baby was born.

part of that rejuvenation came from hanging out with these 2 amazing women.

This is the kind of hostess I want to be when I'm grown up.  The kind that can seemingly effortlessly produce food to feed a crown.  (I know it actually takes work and good planning too.)  The kind of hostess where everyone who visits feels welcome and at peace.

Until then, I'm lucky to have friends & family who are willing to come over and pretend with me that the food was great and the fun was seamless; even if there's a pot on the stove billowing smoke and I'm hastily scrabbling together the ingredients to something else and there's a pile of dirty dishes behind me.  One day, their faith and long suffering will be rewarded (I hope.)

NaNoWriMo Update

400 words.  I hate my plot.  It is the worst ever and if I did finish it, I would die of shame to have my family/friends read it. 

It's a Mad Mad Mad November

Yesterday was November first.  Yesterday NaNoWriMo began for the 3rd or 5th time since I first learned of it.

That's National Novel Writing Month, for those of you who've been in the dark all this time.  All around the US (and the world?) average, everyday people turn off their TV's or sleep less, or whatever it is they have to do to carve out enough time from their usual day to write 1,667 words. Thus producing by month end, a novel of 50,000 words.  From it's humble beginning of 21 participants, NaNoWriMo has grown to over 200,000 participants.

This year was the first year that I remembered on November 1 that I wanted to write.  In fact, because a friend had committed to participate, I'd been thinking about it for a couple weeks.  But I had no plot idea.  Now I know, the guys over at NaNoWriMo have the philosophy of "No Plot, No Problem."  They favor quantity over quality, the point being something like, the weather is miserable in November so why not take advantage of it and write that novel you've always (or never) wanted to write.  However, I was unwilling to spend even 30 hours of my precious time writing garbage with no direction.

Finally I decided to write everyday instead, on the non-fiction book that I've intended to write for the last 6 years.  I figured, it may not be fiction, but at least I have some confidence that it would sell.  If it didn't sell, I could have confidence that at least it wouldn't be garbage.  One of the tidbits I've gleaned from the Universe (I think it came from someone talking about that book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad") was that people who are wealthy have multiple streams of income, not just one or two.  I figure, a useful nonfiction book and accompanying web site would be an awesome stream of income for my family and one I could possibly produce and still be Stay Home Mom of the Year.

I did not get any words written yesterday and I have not officially registered at the NaNoWriMo website, but I was still thinking I could maybe do this, even though I technically would not be writing a novel.

Then this morning at 3:00 am when the 4-year-old and the 11-month-old both woke up and required my attention, I REMEMBERED, I DO HAVE A PLOT.  Now I can spent 30+ hours of my precious time writing garbage WITH direction!  Back when the 9-year-old was a baby and I was up nights, I put quite a bit of thought into the basic outline of a fairytale type fantasy novel.  I didn't do any writing on it, which is perfect, because that would break the rules, which are that you must not begin writing before Nov. 1.  You cannot use NaNoWriMo to finish a novel you have already begun.  You have to use some other unfortunate month (January?) to finish already begun works.

So now I'm conflicted a bit.  Actually write the novel?  Write the nonfiction book?  That Twilight Franchise brought in 4.7 billion dollars.  Stephanie Meyer only has about 125 million of those dollars.

The teenage, idealistic version of me would have been shocked that I'm putting any kind of monetary consideration into this.  I should be writing for the joy of it;  writing for the uplifting and the benefiting of the human condition.

You are thinking, "Sheesh! at least learn the proper use of a semi-colon.  That would benefit the human condition."

The mother of 6, practical version of me feels that if I'm going to dedicate time to this, thereby possibly asking my family to sacrifice, that I should have some tangible benefit to promise them.

well that's not true.  Really I just love books and have always wanted to write a novel and if it sold amazingly, that's the pie in the sky dream.

I've already got 239 words of "The Mouse Bride" written and it's only 5:17 a.m. November 2.  I'm only 1,428 words behind. This is promising.

Sweet Action

a conversation en la casa:

Me:  Is "sweet action" something that only a guy says to another guy, or is it something that anybody could say to anybody?

(because I'm wondering if I said it to a guy if that would be weird.)

Dear Husband:  "Sweet Action" is something that your family says and thinks is cool, but nobody else says it.

Me:  Well, my brothers say it to each other, that's why I was asking if it is a guy thing....

DH:  It's a your family  thing.

Me: So... I shouldn't say it to anyone else?

DH:  No



p.s.  I checked the urban dictionary and it has 10 entries for "Sweet Action"  so I'm pretty sure it isn't just a phrase my family uses, but I'm still not sure if it is a phrase I should use.

Funny Dad Friday

So a friend of mine invited us all to blog about the funny things our dads say.  Immediately my mind went blank and stayed that way all week. I know my dad is funny, and appreciates a good joke, but I couldn't think of any.  The ones I could remember had 1 of 2 problems.  They were either

A-the kind of jokes that are funny if he tells them, but not if I tell them.  (I had to learn that the hard way.  In high school, I told my co-workers one of my dad's jokes that was always so funny when he told it and they all just looked at me, horrified. awkward.)  Kind of like there are some songs that only Willie Nelson can sing.

B-the kind of jokes that sound kinda racist in print--you gotta be there in person to hear them. ( "You hear about them new I-talian cars?  Dego through ice, Dego through snow, Dego through anything, and when dego flat, dego wop wop wop.")


Anyways, my brain finally unfroze so here goes.

My dad, the stand up comic

My Dad really likes funny little songs and poems, like this one by Austin Dobson:

Rose kissed me today.
Will she kiss me tomorrow?
Let it be as it may,
Rose kissed me today.
But the pleasure gives way
To a savor of sorrow;
Rose kissed me today
Will she kiss me tomorrow?

My dad also likes food. (Who doesn't.)  AND he doesn't complain.  He will eat anything that my mom cooks and he never complains.  As long as someone puts a plate of food in front of him, he gratefully and happily eats it.  He will eat a huge salad bowl of chopped cabbage and talk about how good it is. 

However, if someone cooks zucchini, he will make a token protest. He'll say, "I like everything, so I have the right to choose one vegetable to dislike and I choose zucchini.  Why would anyone want to eat zucchini?"

I've always thought it was pretty funny that he would fuss about zucchini when obviously he ate and liked everything.  But then, come to think of it, maybe it isn't a token protest.  My parents have never planted zucchini in their garden, not in my memory of 30+ years anyway, and they grow things no one else does, like asparagus and rhubarb, and bok choy.

My dad back in the '70s.  More than 30+ years ago.