A Quickie Post

I made a quickie run to WalMart this morning before the blizzard hit.  The blizzard that I have received 4 (four!) emergency alerts (one at 3am) stating "Imminent severe alert"  and "Prepare. Avoid travel. Check media."

The snow finally started falling around 5:30 this morning.  Not quite blizzard proportions (just enough to cover up the fact that our backyard looks like it's been recently aerated, not because it has, but because the pups have been {doing their duty}, and the children haven't, if you know what I mean), but I suppose I shouldn't speak too early, as we have 12 more hours before the "imminent severe alert" expires.  You just never know around here.  Once they closed schools based on a severe weather forecast and nothing happened except a few flurries. 

Regardless, I have milk, butter, and eggs.

And I'm praying it won't hinder Britt and Austin's flight in tomorrow morning.

I thought I would quickly share a few things from the past week.

Shilo qualified for State in her 100Back on Saturday.  woot! woot!  I couldn't attend the meet, but Bill was there to cheer her on (interestingly enough, I think my children perform better when I am not present... which doesn't mean I'm going to stop showing up, just an observation).  Bill took some video on his phone - I will post it as soon as he gets it downloaded.  Which may be forever, so don't hold your breath.

She is a mere .6 of a second away from qualifying in the 50Free.  You can do it, Shi!

I made the locker tags for this week's meet (just hoping it doesn't get blizzarded out).

I was released from my Primary Chorister calling on Sunday.  After 21 months (which was preceded by 2 years in the Nursery), I feel ready.  I {love} being with the children in our ward, but I won't miss coming home beat.  Exhausted.  Spent.  My new calling(s) - (I was hoping for ONE, but got a couple others tacked on) - Ward bulletin person (the one I've always wanted - Taylor and Lex have had it and I've been secretly jealous), Ward Historian (I think I'll like it once I get this year's history collected, compiled, and submitted to the Stake by the Jan. 15th deadline), and Building Scheduler.  I have one more week of Choristering (and a week with a sub for that last Sunday of the month), so it probably won't hit me (gently, like a snowflake, or hard, like a snowball?) until the new Chorister officially takes over.
She will be awesome.


We hosted several Christmas-y gatherings (Sunday - dinner and caroling with the Yoshikawas; Monday - Bishopric dinner and FHE), and have Shilo's swim team Holiday Party (one of her coaches and a couple of the girls are Jewish) on Friday.  Mauri gives me daily updates on how many days until Christmas, and for whatever reason, I am still shocked every time she gives me the latest.  Taylor and Lynnea will come in on Saturday (barring blizzards) for a mere 24-hour stay before heading to her parents' home, so I have determined that we will snap a family pic on Sunday for cards.  Better late than never, I suppose.

Mar headed off to school today looking like this:

They have had "dress-up days" at school this week, and she is totally into participating.  Each team gets points for every student that dresses up, so it ends up being a little in-school competition (from what I understand, the 6th graders get into it the most.  Of course).  She really wanted an ugly Christmas sweater (such a hot commodity these days), but she did a great job coming up with an outfit using what she could find around the house.  She is such a cutie.

Gotta run.

The Drummer Boy

When Britta first told me she was dating a guy in a band... I wasn't quite sure what to think.  I figured it would probably be a short-lived-BYU-co-ed-fling type of thing.  Nope.

(Story note:  Britta met her best college girlfriend her first day on campus.  They both met boys from the band, and they are both now hitched to those boys.  What a perfect love story.)

The band is J.Wride.  Austin is the drummer (and in this case, master match lighter).
I thought I would share one of their lastest videos for your enjoyment.

Check them out on itunes and youtube.
Like them, follow them, and share them with your friends.

Too Many Cookies

I titled a post the same thing back here.  Obviously I still need to work on my cookie-overcrowding problem.

Here are a few of the treats from the past week or so:

High School swim is in full swing.  Last week Shi had a meet on Thursday, and an invite on Saturday. The above-pictured 400 Free Relay team handily qualified for State.
(This is their serious don't-mess-with-us picture.)

Shi has been trying to individually qualify in the 100 Back and the 50 Free. She is less than a second away from both.  She would like to qualify BEFORE Christmas break to relieve some of her anxiety about it, but has through the month of January to keep trying should it be necessary.

I volunteered to make the locker tags last week.  I'm posting one only for record-keeping sake, not for showing off.  (Although I think they turned out kind of cute.)

She has another meet today (v REGIS - Missy's team - the girls have already been told that Missy will NOT be swimming this meet.  Apparently she plans to only swim two dual meets this season.  There has been much ado about whether she should be competing on the high school level AT ALL, but I can say that, from my experience, Missy is a very nice girl.  All the girls on Shi's team would be excited to have her at the meet, and would enjoy the opportunity to say they swam against an Olympic gold medalist, even if it meant they had no chance in h-e-double-toothpicks of winning),
and a time-qualified Coaches Invite on Saturday.
Lots of opportunities for improvement (right in the middle of the busy holiday season).


We had several ward activities this week as well.  On Tuesday we had the YM/YW "Bishop's Bash" sans the Bishop.  All for very good reason (I'm discovering that very good reasons abound everywhere in the life of a Bishop, and that nothing is an absolute.  Like hosting your own party).  After spending the entire day preparing my home to welcome the 60-ish youth of our ward, I also had the honor of filling in as the white elephant game emcee AND the refreshment coordinator.  I seriously couldn't have done ANY of it without Lex.  She helped clean the house, taxied Mar to her activity, and distributed and arranged the boatload of goodies that the youth had brought with them.  Unfortunately, nary a picture was snapped, since the photographer was emceeing a game (cough).

I'm going to miss my Girl Friday when she heads to college in a couple of weeks.
(Lex, btw, spoke in her YSA ward on Sunday.  Her co-speakers:  the Stake President and an area seventy, Elder Hillier.  Shi, Mar and I slipped out of our ward early to go listen to her.  Despite the numerous challenges she encountered while preparing her talk AND the need to quickly edit the initial 15-minute version down to 5, she did an amazing job!)


Friday night was our ward Christmas party.

In the creation of a new ward, there are some fine lines to walk.  (Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of other members of the household, and should not be assumed as such.)

People are often attached to long-standing traditions, especially those who have been around for a long time.  Others, including newer-to-the-area members, want to share traditions from their past wards or freshen things up with new ideas.  The ward council discusses, and then determines how to proceed.  That being said, the switch from the traditional Breakfast-with-Santa party for the children and separate = tranquil Adult Christmas Dinner & Program, to the one-big-family-event ward party was a fair success.  Not a smashing success, not a great success, but fair.  A lot of people put in a darn lot of effort, but it certainly didn't go as smooth as butter.

There were definitely some highlights, though.

(Can you spot Mar with her lovely fuzzy floating halo?)

This cute nativity was awesome.  Any of the children in the Primary who wanted to participate, could.

Santa was a treat, too (if you could live through the eternal chaotic wait in line to visit with him).  This special Santa was "wired"  - parents could sneakily slip into another room and tell him via walkie-talking (or something like that) what their child(ren) wanted for Christmas.  He didn't ASK the kids what they wanted... he already knew.  Even Mar and her friends were thoroughly impressed.

Shi, Mar and I have also been on a cookie-baking spree.  Since Bill is at church for an average of 12 hours every Sunday, we have taken it upon ourselves to make cookies each week (except for Fast Sunday, of course) for him and all who spend many, MANY hours at the church each Sunday, to satiate their hunger until they can return to their homes and families.  The goal is to come up with a different cookie each week for a year.  MY goal is to train Shi and Mar to perform this service for their Dad on their own.  And to have two of my daughters become cookie queens.  I know, it's a lofty goal for all of us, but we'll give it the ol' college try.


I'd love to share about some of the other cookies crowding my plate, but it will have to wait for another day.  My time is far spent.

I just found out yesterday that Britt has started a blog.  YAY!  You can check it out here.

Thrifty Nifty

I haven't had time to post much lately.  Life keeps rolling like a stone down a mountain.  Gaining momentum, tumbling and twisting, with an occasional ricochet in some random direction.  

But I don't have time for those illustrative philosophical ramblings.

I have checked a couple of items off my to-do list.  Things that have been sitting around adding to the stress of a long, ever expanding list of simple-but-time-consuming things that have piled up.

I had to share.  Pat myself on the back.  Give myself a little self-affirmation that I am productive, thrifty, and creative.  (Okay, maybe not creative.  But definitely thrifty.)

Case Study #1 - Redo, reuse, recycle

Mauri had some dresses that we had purchased a few years back (on sale, of course).  She had pretty much grown out of them (they were getting much too short on her), but she STILL wore them a few times with leggings.  I was ready to put them in the Goodwill pile, all the while lamenting that she really needed some more Sunday dresses/skirts since she was down to a denim skirt, a white skirt, and a few summery dresses.  AND she's almost in Young Women's.  Meaning that wearing her favorite 2 or 3 year old velvet/satin embossed Costco holiday dress is almost out of the question.
Not that she has a problem with it, just that her mama does.

Then Mauri (deserving of the creative credit) said, "Why don't we make these dresses into skirts?"

Brilliant idea.

So I did.

Ta-da!  Three "new" skirts.  She wore the silvery one last Sunday and it was long and beautiful and awesome.
Totally YW worthy.

Case Study #2 - Use what you have

I purchased this Nativity set back in the fat days.  Not that I've ever really been conscious of those once-upon-a-time fat days, but in hindsight, I can see more clearly.  Let's just say that the lean days have increased my awareness.

When I purchased this, I had every intention of painting it darker.  I loved the figures themselves AND their large-ish size, but definitely had more of a bronze-y look in mind.  That was a good 4 years ago.  My intentions were so good at the time that I purchased a can of bronze spray paint within a week or two; the SAME bronze spray paint I dug out of our crawlspace the other day to set about finally completing the job.

Ta-da!

I am very happy with the results.  I used some metallic gold acrylic paint for accents, which was hanging out looking for purpose in the large stash of craft paint left over from my formative Homemaking years (I think I may have slightly overdone, but I can always redo years down the road if I find I can't live with it.  And considering I spent all of 20 minutes to do it, I think it's a mighty fine job).

Like I said, "Thrifty."

I have so much more to post about, but it will have to wait for another day.

Aye Aye, Captain

Congratulations to Shilo for being selected as one of the four Captains on her high school swim team!

She worked on her speech today after school, practicing several times for Lex and I.

Makes me think of this fun(ny) clip that I would love to share:

I'm going to watch it whenever I need a kick in the pants boost of encouragement.

"Everybody, I know you can believe in yourself!"

Last week Mauri and her friends participated in their middle school Talent Show.  This wasn't just any ol' participate-if-you-want-to kind of a deal; this was a bona fide try-out show.

The girls would practice after school, but I had never seen their performance until the evening of the show.
I'll admit, I was a little nervous for them.

They sang One Thing by One Direction.

I was surprised to discover that they all had SOLO parts, and Mar started it off.

I was thrilled to discover that they are ALL great singers, these girls that live only a stone's throw away from each other.

The curtain call:

And the last hurrah:

NOTE:  Mrs. Tarbell is the principal.  She has been the principal for all all 5 of my children.  We met for the first time the week we moved to CO as I was trying to open enroll Taylor in Sierra Middle School (we were technically in another middle school boundary, but it would be changing the following year and I did NOT want to manage two different high schools down the road).  I swear she hasn't changed a bit.  I'm sad that she is retiring after this year... couldn't she just wait for two more years until Mar is finished??

Mar is so much more gutsy than I ever was.  Or am.

Nice job, girls!

Attitudes and Gratitudes

Mar made this for me yesterday during some free time at school:

That girl is awesome.  She knows how to help a momma keep on keeping on.
How to lift spirits.  How to share a smile.  Thanks, Mar!

I attended a Relief Society meeting on Wednesday.  The evening was focused on others as we participated in several service activities for our community.  There was also the opportunity for a "service exchange" - you could write a service you would do for another sister in the ward on a paper ornament, then hang it on a small tree set on a table in the room.  You could then read through the services other sisters had offered and select one you could use.  (A simple but brilliant idea.)  In conversation at the table where I was sitting, I mentioned how one of my sisters I visit teach had told me of a book she was reading about positive affirmations, and how I would like to read it to rid myself of Satan's negativity that regularly encroaches on my thoughts (maybe I didn't quite state it as bluntly in that group setting, but you know what I mean).  Another sister at the table had another {simple} but {brilliant} idea for a great service exchange:  a positive affirmation every day until the end of the year via text or email message.  I jumped on it and decided I would give that as my service (along with an eyebrow wax... for good measure), and another sister did the same (along with brownies... for good measure), and we exchanged with each other.  Two days down and I'm thinking everybody needs to do this.  It has given me the opportunity to think about the talents and gifts of someone else, but it has also helped to encourage me about my own positive attributes.

This month our family is focusing on gratitude.  (Of course.)
We really should do this exercise on a regular basis, as it elevates our attitudes.
Counting your blessings can do nothing less.

I got this idea from you-know-where (who got it from here), but of course it is much simplified.

(I was going to tie some twine around my tall vases to dress them up a bit, but have yet to git 'er done.  At this point, I think I'll let it ride.  Can you see how my candle burned a hole in it's side and leaked wax all over my amber glass marbles?  That's going to be fun to chisel out!)

Something we are grateful for EVERY DAY.  No personal repeats.  We plan to read them together on Thanksgiving.  {Simple}.  {Brilliant}.

My gratitude for the day:
25 years ago today Bill asked me to marry him.
I am so thankful he did.

Happy Friday!

My New Mantra

After a slightly rough week, I have a new mantra:

Be a duck.

Let that water roll right off.

Let's see if I can put it into practice!

Disappointment and Success

Yes, I was disappointed at the outcome of the Presidential election.  So disappointed, in fact, that I turned off the telly and climbed in bed around 10pm Tuesday evening.  I didn't even turn on the TV the next day.  The Romney sign is still in my front yard (think I'll be taking it down today).  I was also disappointed that CO voted to legalize marijuana.  Just what we need: a hotbed of potheads.

 If you remember, I was also having a refrigerator delivered on Tuesday.  I was excited when it arrived, especially because I could not find a scratch, A- or otherwise, anywhere on the front of it.  It was carefully carried into the house, hooked up (water through the door again... functional ice-maker...) and signed off on.  Then I set about the tedious task of pulling off all the packing tape and foam on the inside, wiping it down, and arranging our displaced food items neatly on it's shelves.

Then I peeled the protective plastic film from the doors.

There appeared to be some residue that I chalked up to grimy hand smears (some of the protective film had been torn so there were several large holes in it when it arrived), so I set to the task of wiping it down.  The residue didn't come off.  Upon further inspection, it looked to me like it was a flaw in the finish - like the film had stuck to some areas while the paint was wet.  I had Bill inspect it when he got home, however, in the dark of short winter days, neither he or my girls could really see any BIG problem.  I swore to them that it was blatantly obvious in the bright sunlight of midday.  The next day Bill confirmed that the flaw was obvious, at least a C or C- (we are professional appliance graders... cough, cough), and we should call the salesman to see what he could do.

The salesman wanted pictures, which I assured him would most likely NOT adequately show the problem, especially since, again, the evening darkness had fallen.  He told me take them anyway.  The warehouse needed them to determine the extent of the flaw.

Since this is all I could capture on camera (which, btw, looks like some surface buffing had been performed previously),

I did a little photo-editing to show the areas in question.

I've yet to hear back if we will be getting a different slightly-but-much-less flawed refrigerator as a replacement.  I'm disappointed that I spent a good 2 hours unpacking the interior of this baby.  On the other hand, I'm happy to have a refrigerator that doesn't smell funny because it's contents are only slightly above room temp.

Enough with the disappointments and on to some successes.

Last Saturday, Mar and Shi had a swim meet.  Mar's age group competed mid-morning, then Shi competed early-to-mid afternoon.  Bill timed for Mar's session, so I needed to attend to make sure she was where she needed to be, when she needed to be there.  Bill and Mar headed home afterwards, and I stayed to cheer on Shi.  A full day at that same lovely pool mentioned back here.

Mar took 3 seconds off her 50 Free, and stayed within nanoseconds of her 50 Breast time.

Nice job, Mar!

Shilo improved her times in all three events she competed in, placing 8th overall in her 50 Back, and scoring team points in the other two (50 Free and 200 Back).  She and I were both impressed at this accomplishment -- I'm not sure if she has ever been in the point-scoring category on the club team before -- especially since also attending the meet were the Colorado Stars (Missy Franklin's team, which has become the elite team around these parts) and DSA (Denver Swim Academy), both of which are known for their FAST times.

(I still can't believe that people want to walk in front of your camera when you are literally next to the edge of a pool OBVIOUSLY filming.)

Way to go, Shi!


And my house was repainted the actual color I chose a year-and-a-half ago (you can read the long story here).

Instead of this color (no wonder I had anxiety about it... refresher here),

Good-bye Snapping Turtle

it is now this color:

Hello, Grass Clippings

It wasn't the best time of day to take a pic, with the sun going down on me, but you can see it, right?  The difference?  Ahhhhhh.... so much better.

It's so much nicer to focus on the successes than the disappointments.

Working on staying sunny side up,

Run, Run, As Fast As You Can...

I only have a few minutes this morning before I head off to my sub job.  I quickly glanced over my blogger reading list and found a link to this awesome post:

Run, Little Red Riding Hood!

I wish I could write as well.  I wish I could think as well.  Thank heaven for people who have great thoughts and great skill that can benefit and inspire me and my family.

It reminded me of another story that my Grandma used to read to me called The Gingerbread Man.

It had a sly fox in it.

It brings this scripture to mind:

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say:  All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well -- and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

"And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them:  I am no devil, for there is none -- and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance."

(2 Nephi 28:21-22)

Unfortunately, the Gingerbread Man trusted the sly fox, which was the end of him.
Hmmmm.... something to think about.

Election Day Stress

I'm trying to keep busy today to alleviate my Election Day stress.  I watched the news only briefly this morning, then figured it would be best to turn it off.  The added adrenaline is helping me be more productive and efficient.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.  That I'm more productive and efficient.

I sent emails that needed to be sent.

I scheduled appointments that needed to be scheduled.

I put away things that needed putting away (there's still more to do, but I did some of the tedious stuff).

I took the garbage out.

I posted two recipes (not necessarily new) on my family recipe blog Eating It Up.  

(I made my banana muffins yesterday using coconut oil instead of butter.  They turned out delish, and so much better for you.  Try it, you'll like it!)

I slept in until 7am, and had a nice long morning of peace and quiet (in which to accomplish all of the above), since the kids are out of school today.  I woke them up at 10.

I have watched this preview of Les Miserables THREE times.

I can't wait.

I am now heading off to the kitchen to straighten up and prepare for my new refrigerator to arrive.

Oh.  You didn't know?

Our not-so-beloved nearly-departed fridge has decided that, after 13-or-so years of partially freezing anything on the top shelf (even with the thermostat set at the warmest setting), and sucking up plenty of electricity doing it, it is sick and tired of keeping things cold.  I realized it when I put meat in to defrost (which typically takes several days) and it was soft and only slightly cool to the touch the next day.

Lest you think I am replacing it with the refrigerator of my dreams, I must say I am slightly anxious to see how serious the "A-" grade scratch is on the front of the "sufficient" appliance we have purchased (sight unseen).  I hope I can live with it, because I can't live many more days without a refrigerator that serves it's purpose.

The salesperson's comment:  "You can always put a magnet over it."

My thought:  "Unless it's 3/4 of the way down the door... who puts magnets down there?"
Maybe I can find a creative solution on Pinterest.


I was going to post a picture of my newly-painted house, but it's garbage day and you do not need to see my trash.
I have so much to say about it.
Maybe tomorrow.

Go Mitt!

Halloween Wrap Up

If you're like me, once Halloween is over, it's OVER.  Unfortunately, I haven't had time to properly record (in a non-traditional-journal-keeping-kind-of-way) and wrap up the festivities around here.  So here it is.  If you've already moved on, by all means move on.

Mar wanted to be a zombie this year.  Thanks to Pinterest (obviously my ONLY source of creativity these days), I convinced her to be a.... zombie-inspired... creepy girl??  She wanted a big, full skirt, and thanks to wedding supplies purchased earlier in the year, I had a boatload of tulle.  Her original idea was to wear the same dress she wore back here (with the big tulle skirt underneath), but we lent it to someone and couldn't remember who.  After texting and asking a half-dozen of our "best guesses," we moved on to Plan B.

This was Mar as she headed out to the ward Trunk-or-Treat Autumn Fest.

Caitlin, Lauren, and Mar... all creepish.

The pie-eating contest was a hit.

See many adults dressed up?  Me neither.

Bill and I were slightly overdressed.  (Thought you might appreciate the full-body shot.)

Trunk decked out and ready to go (my battery-powered eye lights that I purchased at 75% off after Halloween last year NOT knowing they were battery powered came in handy for a quick decor job).

Halloween Night: the gang of trick-or-treaters.  

Having to get only one child ready is so much simpler, although we were still rushing at the last minute to get Mar's make-up and hair done.  We cut a few corners, but she was ultimately satisfied in the end.  And out in plenty of time to make a respectable haul.

The pups had costumes, too.  Bill took them on a short walk as he escorted Mar and her group around the neighborhood.  He dropped them off at home after a bit, and they were content to nap in the play yard.  Personally, I think they liked looking more like people.

I don't have pics at the moment (Lex has them all on her phone), but will post one of them here as soon as I get one.  Be sure to check back, you don't want to miss it!

The weather was perfect.  Bill and Mar returned with a stash, and Mar was kind enough to share will the fam.  Such a nice girl.  I think Baby Ruth's are my favorite this year.

Being the only candy collector in the family, she had some high expectations.

She delivered.

Oh Yes We Did.

Bill and I dressed up this year for our ward's "Autumn Fest" (aka Trunk-or-Treat).  I think it's a requirement of the bishop (somewhere in the handbook).

 I was channeling a "mature" Deb from Napoleon Dynamite.

Bill... hmmm... not sure.  But he makes a great nerd, don't ya think?

I felt blessed to find this awesome home-sewn yellow polyester pantsuit at Goodwill the day of the party at 50% off.  Heaven was smiling on me.

We joined the, um, 5% of adults who dressed up for the event.  I certainly stood out from the crowd.  I'm not the sort who likes a lot of attention, so most of the evening was awkwardly uncomfortable.  Some of the Primary kids thought I was quite interesting.  I told them I could come to church the next day in the same outfit, thinking they would catch the tease.  Nope.  A lot of kids were disappointed when I walked into Primary in my normal Sunday apparel and make-up.

More to come.  Happy Halloween!

Pismo

It's hard to believe that two weeks ago tomorrow we headed off to the sun and surf of Pismo Beach. (It's been a long couple of weeks!) We made a couple of stops along the way (searching for rennet for homemade cheese - which we DID make - a post for another day), but eventually made it to Pismo by lunchtime to eat and relax on the shores of the great Pacific Ocean.

We ate lunch at Splash Cafe.  Yum.  I am not a clam chowder lover, but I could eat that clam chowder anytime.

Jill said the clam chowder was unusually cool (still yum-o), and the beach was unusually hot.  The ocean: cold, of course.  That didn't stop the girls from spending the entire day in it.  The waves were bigger than we've seen them before, and the boogie boarding must have been a blast, because we didn't see much of them during the 4-or-so hours we were there.

My niece, Rach, hung out with us in the shade (too hot for us olderish-ladies-not-in-swimwear out in the blaring sun) doing homework for a couple of hours.  (It was a hike to the water... good for us but not necessarily good for keeping track of girls.)  The beach was pleasantly uncrowded, and when a group of young adults moved into the volleyball net just to the left of us, they were well mannered, modestly-covered (all in knee-length shorts and most in shirts with sleeves), and there was nary a potty-mouth among them.  The perfect beach ambience.

(Sorry, Lex... I needed a picture of you!!)

We snagged some In-n-Out and had hearty political discussion as we listened to the 2nd Presidential debate on the way home.

A HUGE thank you to Jill and her girls for skipping out of their busy schedules to take us!  

It was an awesome day.