vicious cycle

When will I ever learn?? If I just keep washing clothes, I'm going to have to keep folding them and putting them away! I'll never be free!! AAAAAAHHHH!

Children's Summer

Summer time
garden hose
riding bikes
spending time
ice cream trucks
wading streams
watermelon
hot dogs
shady trees
long days
crickets song
swinging, sliding
trampoline
catching bugs
shooting stars
dirty faces
wet clothes
happy mother's summertime.

"Julie's Thoughts" Blog giveaway

In case anyone hasn't been to Julie's Blog lately, she's having another excellent giveaway. Go check it out @ juleskeepstherules.blogspot.com
Gotta love Julie.

April Fools Day 2010

Here we have our double layer Meat-loaf cake with mashed potato frosting, and chicken nuggets and baked potato after school snack.(The nuggets are bananas rolled in toasted coconut and graham cracker crumbs- borrowed that idea from Sharra. The baked potatoes are vanilla ice cream rolled in hot cocoa mix with frozen whipped cream on top to look like sour cream). Not nearly as nasty as last year, everything was actually pretty tasty, although my husband refused to eat the meat-cake. I guess he's too visual.

Hundredth Day

Yesterday marked the 100th day of school, making the year about half way over. Sometimes in the doldrums of winter I will celebrate just about anything.
My eldest was a little sad that in fourth grade they weren't celebrating this milestone, while his younger sister's class was. So I promised to plan something. This is all I did, but it made him happy. After he guessed which one had 100, and how much was in the other containers, we had to do something with those chocolate chips; so I made some cookies. It's fun being the mom.

Penny Pincher Results

As I told my running buddies earlier this week, this little contest of mine pretty much backfired. I start reading through your your comments, and your guesses were so low! I figured, since I got discounts on every item I bought from coupons, sales, or a combination of the two, I had done pretty well. If I had paid full price, I figured I would have paid between $200 and $250. As it was, my actual cost was $128. No where near $40 as had been guessed!! I wish I was that good. So the winner is...Jill's sister, Laura, who guessed $135! Now, Laura, I just need an address from you so I can send you the Grand Prize. Congratulations! As for the rest of you, if you really know how to get groceries for that low, I would love to learn!

Penny Pincher Contest

So I have been trying out this couponing thing, and it was a challenge at first to organize and prepare before every shopping trip. At the same time, it was exciting to see how much I could get for so little. I feel so proud of my money saving feats, that sometimes I hold on to my receipts and show them to others! This is picture of my last shopping trip haul. What would you guess this would cost? The person who guesses closest to the amount I paid will get a prize!! I will take guesses until the end of November, with the prize being awarded on the 30th of November.

A Lesson to Live by

Furniture Polish: great for polishing furniture; not so great for polishing floors. On the other hand, if you've always fancied a skating rink in your kitchen, it might just be the way to go.

I ran my first 5k last Saturday, and I liked it so much that I want to do it again! I definitely need to do some training before the next one on Sept. 12, because I am still feelin' that last one. I also need to improve my time by 7 minutes. Anyone else want to run it with me? It is in P.G. (Brittani!!) and registration is $10 if you don't want the t-shirt.

You know you are a bit too pre-occupied with your budget when...

I was out running errands with the four musketeers today; grabbing some essentials like diapers and socks. Last of all, we stopped off to fill up our little propane tank for our BBQ-er. As the salesman put the full tank into the trunk of our van, he wanted to make sure we went straight home with it, as it would be a very bad thing to leave that out in our van in the heat. As we drove away, Ethan asks me: What would happen if it blew up? We would die, I said. Instantly, I think "well then I would have just wasted all that money."

Keep Abortion Out of Health Care

Keep Abortion Out of Health Care

Shared via AddThis

Redneck

Yessiree, jes call me a lil ol redneck from good ol Lehi. See I wuz lookin out yonder wind-o, an I seen them weeds jes a growin. Theyz lookin like they fixin ta take over ma propertee. So I took that weed whacker an I let em have it. Took me uperds uv bout four hours as the crow flies, an that's how I got me this here Red neck. Yeehaw.

Back in the saddle

I guess I've been MIA from the blog scene for a while...maybe I just haven't had anything witty or clever to say. Maybe I've lost my wits and they are all out wandering around somewhere with someone else. Maybe Marla. Can I have them back, please?

My m-i-l especially liked the kitty litter cake.
BEHOLD! My masterpiece. I especially like the way the microwaved tootsie rolls gave it that extra special something.
This little dish is called "diaper dump porridge".
Hot Dogs and french fries for breakfast (banannas and breadsticks rolled in sugar; strawberry jam instead of ketchup.

Last year, I had a bit of fun getting creative with an April Fool's Day dinner. I made little meatloaves in cup cake liners, topped with colored mashed potatoes to look like cup cakes. I also put red jello into drinking glasses, letting it set up in them, to look like punch. I enjoyed watching my kids reactions so much, that I decided to do it again this year- and I made a photo documentary to go along with it.

the final countdown

it is never a good sign when it is only 9:30 in the morning and you are nearing the nervous breakdown point with your children. Heaven help me.

Is anyone else feeling like they are ready for spring? I am trying to be positive by playing in the snow with my kids, enjoying the things that you only can do in winter in order to stave off the winter blahs. I think after Christmas and then New Years right after, it can just be a big let down. I think we just need to have more parties for no apparent reason. Maybe Valentines Day coming up is a good excuse for that.
In unrelated news, my #3 child has fallen asleep under his bed. This could be a problem, considering how low the bed is to the ground, and as it is a hefty bunk-bed, not easily lifted up. These things combined still might be just fine if it weren't for my dear child's large noggin size. I guess all one really needs to cheer up is to have some kids around. Something funny is bound to happen.

Johnny's latest work of art

These are a few of my favorite things

1- I love waking up in the morning when the new fallen snow glows in through my windows.
2- I love curling up and taking a nap in a warm spot of sunshine when I've been cold. (Something I learned from my old cat.)
3- I love seeing my kids play and work together, and hearing them giggle.
4- I love my husbands silly songs he sings all the time.
5- I love cooking something warm and yummy in my crockpot all day.
6- I love learning how to do new things, or learning that I'm good at something.
7- I love smiling at unsuspecting strangers and getting a smile back.
8- I love cracking ice under my boots.
9- I love coloring and finger painting.
What do you love?

Death takes a holiday

I think it all began 8 years ago, with one of my most memorable getaways. John and I wanted to get away for a little break. We didn't have much money, so I asked around my current workplace for some ideas. One co-worker suggested Mesquite. I had never heard of it. " It's great!" she said. "You can get a room for $18 a night"! She then went on to tell me how there were lots of fun activities to do there and that it was very kid-friendly, lots of good and inexpensive food, etc. Yes, she said, there was some gambling that went on, but it wasn't smoky or gross.
Once I told John the price, I think he was sold. He had never heard of it either. So we booked a room and off we went. Upon arrival, we were a bit concerned. This looked an awful lot like a cheesy and sleazy gambling town. When we entered the building to check in, of course our fears were confirmed since we walked into a smoke filled casino. Great. I also happened to be 7 months pregnant at the time, so I'm walking around trying to hold my breath so I don't poison my baby with all the second hand smoke that hung in the air like a fog. We went to our dinky little room that apparently was just converted the previous day into a "non-smoking" room from the smell that greeted us there. "Oh well, we're here and we should try to make the best of it" I thought, although John suggested we leave. I was not about to turn around and go back home after all my excitement about taking a vacation. "Maybe the food is good?" I was grasping at straws at this point. So we ventured back into the dingy casino, taking as few breaths as possible, to where the fine eating establishments were. After being seated for about 30 minutes, and deciding on what I could possibly choke down (like I said, I was pregnant, and all that smoke didn't exactly settle my stomach) our waiter finally arrived to take our order. In the meantime, an elderly trio is seated in the next booth, facing me. Somehow they are served before us and start eating. Then I notice the gentleman in the group seems to be struggling for breath. His female companion pounds him on the back, trying to dislodge what he is choking on, but she only succeeds in lodging it in his throat. All this goes completely unnoticed by any member of the staff, or, it seems, anyone else but me. Just then our waiter arrives, and I inform him of the situation. "That man is choking!" "What?" he says."That guy" I say, pointing, "right there, he's choking!" The waiter promptly panics and tries to get someone else to come help, but no one responds right away. With my big belly, I couldn't lift the ailing man up. So th waiter attempts the heimlich maneuver with no success. At this point, the man is turning blue. The EMT finally arrives and the food goes shooting out of the poor man. But it is too late. He died right there in front of us. The EMT's take him away, his sobbing party in tow. The waiter turns to us and says to us, "Did you still want to order? We'll give it to you for free." Hmmm. Some how I don't feel like eating anymore.
That was my worst vacation.
My second one took place some years later. By then, I had Ethan and Julie with me. It was an extended Lyde family vacation to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho. It was pretty nice, until the lifeguards started yelling and blowing their whistles for everyone to get out of the pool (this was no easy task with the hundreds of people that were packed into the pool that day). Soon we see the reason why as they pull a 10 year old boys lifeless body from the pool about 20 feet away from us. For a few tense moments they administered CPR to the boy. Thankfully, they were able to revive him and a cheer went up from the watching crowd.
Now, I ask myself, are my vacations hazardous to the health of those around me?!
I don't mean to trivialize these very real and traumatic events, nor the grief that their loved ones went through. It just seems so unlikely that this kind of thing would happen so close to me, twice, both while vacationing. Do you see the irony??
Those vacations make what happened to me this morning, on my 11th anniversary holiday, comical.
John and I are spending relaxing night over at the Little America hotel, on Tanya's reccomendation. The room and facilities are beautiful. The staff are helpful and accomodating. We had a nice dinner and looked forward to sleeping in in the morning, a luxury we don't get at home with our early risers. I am peacefully sleeping away, when I hear a police siren, then another, then another. They will pass by and fade out soon enough, I think to myself. But they're not fading. In fact, they sound like they're not going anywhere. How many sirens is that?! Is the building across the street on fire or something?!
Looking at the clock, it is just before 7 am. I stumble out of bed and look out to the street below, where I see an ocean of police cars, each with their siren blaring. But I don't see anything wrong. Yet there they sit.
Come to find out, it is the annual "shop with a cop" charitable event, where the police officers take underpriviledged children shopping for Christmas before the stores open. Apparently they all have breakfast together downstairs in the ballroom first. Great. Now I can't even be mad about it.

Revenge of the second to youngest

My 3 y.o. has a wicked sense of humor. Or maybe he's just plain wicked. Yesterday I was carrying my baby inside from the car when he dropped his binkie. I asked #3 to please pick up the binkie for me. "No." "Will you please?" I asked ever so kindly. So he bends over and picks it up, then he dips it in a pile of dirt before handing it over. Maybe I should have been mad, but I had to keep myself from laughing. What a stinker! I gotta love him.