Life is Sweet

Monday, December 6, 2010

All In A Day

I loved that Pres. Uchtdorf talked about the Grinch during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.

Mauri and I read that awesome Dr. Seuss book the other day. Maybe it was even THIS {blogged-about} day... but I couldn't tell you for sure, since all my days are running together like the watercolors in the Kindergarten class.

I've been feeling a little Grinchy myself this season, but I'm blaming it on PMDD.

I'm feeling much better today (sigh of relief -- I would hate to think I'm really getting crotchety and mean in my old(er) age). And I have renewed resolve (thanks, Pres. Uchtodorf) to get my heart in the right place.

On to the sharing of a single day in my life last week. I think it was a Thursday.
Oh yes, that was it.

I started the day going on a field trip. I feel like I've been on a bus more in the past two months than in the past two years prior to that. Probably because I have. And you'll never guess WHERE the field trip was to...

Here:

Just in case you aren't clear of where here is, it's the same place I spent nearly a week of my life (most of which was NOT sleeping, by the way), as I was cleverly disguised as an event planner.

For comparison shots, go here.

The Inverness hosts a Trash-to-Trees event, where different schools decorate Christmas trees with recycled (the "trash") objects. Then there's an auction, and prizes, and all sorts of good things. Last year, GRE won $300 for their learning lab. Nice.

My boss ("Mrs. C" to all the special needs children) was the creative genius, and the kids had been working for the past two weeks in the lab on all the decorations. GRE's mascot is a Golden Retriever, so the tree had a dog theme... Santa Paws is Coming to Town or something like that.

The kids had a great time decorating the tree,

and I was totally impressed with the finished product.

And I just have to say, those Inverness people are the nicest people around. They were awesome with the kids. After Christmas cookies and lemonade, we were back on that bus, heading for the school.

After work I met a friend for lunch, ran some errands, and then ran home to make breadsticks for the cheer team dinner. And I had a helper. Who, by the way, is an awesome breadstick maker. I kept having that nursery rhyme run through my head about the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker... but I substituted the breadstick maker. Just to humor myself. I didn't share with Chase, since I figured he would think I was a nut.

Shilo helped whip out a salad, and I ran it all across the street where the cheer girls would gather for the big pre-State team dinner that night.

After the dinner, the girls were headed off to cheer at a wrestling match vs. a neighboring team (lots of rival tension) who has pretty much dominated the sport for years. As in State Champions. After the first 20-second pin, there wasn't a lot to cheer about, other than to encourage those LHS boys to give it their best effort. I've decided that wrestling is the most intense sport ever. It stresses me out. Every match has a winner and a loser, and there's only two of you out there.

Finally, after many losses (some quick, some not-so-quick, and one super close heartbreaker), the third-to-the-last (heaviest weight) Legend wrestler pinned his guy. Then the second-to-the-last wrestler pinned his guy. And the last wrestler pinned his guy. So although the final score wasn't in our favor, it was not a blow-out. Or a shut-down. It was a respectable loss. (Kind of like that last football game where we played the team that won the 4A State Championship this past Saturday.)

So that's about how every day has been around here lately, but we are counting down to our vacation.

11 more days.

I am anticipating

relaxation,

rejuvenation,

reconnection,

and rest.

I'm looking for a good book to take with me... any suggestions?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Crazy Busy

Yesterday was Shilo's first high school swim meet. It was a non-league meet against a high school in the city. At a school (and pool) that had to be at least a hundred years old.

Traffic was a nightmare, not only because of construction narrowing a thoroughfare down to one lane, but because it was rush hour (which seems to start around 3pm, from what I can tell. What do all these people do for work, for goodness sakes?). I had a late start, because Bill called 2 minutes before I was leaving, letting me know that Taylor had a "problem." His car had been rendered unusable (on his lunch break from Toys R Us), and he needed to get to his second job at Dominos immediately following his shift. I started calling/texting Lexee, who was going to save the day because, thankfully, she didn't have cheer practice OR gymnastics after school. She would be able to pick Taylor up, have him run her home, then he could be on his way again. If I could only get a hold of her. That girl racks up the texts every month, but do you think she had her phone with her when I needed her to? It was on vibrate, tucked into the pocket of her jeans, which were tucked into her gym bag, since she has a PE class at the end of the day. And she decided to hang out at the school for a while, since she had the day off of all after-school responsibilities.

My stress level, as I navigated the horrendous traffic AND tried getting a hold of Lex, was extremely high. Then a car in front of me decided to make a left turn, in a lane that clearly had a sign stating that a left turn was not allowed. Our lane stopped. Cars to the right rushed by. I honked. Then honked again.

Remember my resolution to be more charitable and Christlike? Out the window in a few short days. And church on Sunday was meant just for me. I had even rededicated myself again to being better. More kind. More loving. More patient. I mean, I'm no ogre, but I could definitely improve.

The car finally noticed the no-left-turn sign (after my gentle reminder), and proceeded through the light. Once I arrived at the school, I didn't know where to park, so I selected the front, in the visitor parking. I walked into the school, and asked the group of students at the help desk where the pool was. A nice young man started to explain, then said, "I'll walk you there, it's kind of confusing." The kindness of humanity (and a teenager at that), shone at that moment.

We took the long walk to the far recesses of the school, and arrived at the pool area just in time to catch the first event.

Shilo did well. It was a new experience, since she was swimming 4 events, and several of them were one-right-after-the-other. After her backstroke, another mom leaned over and said, "Shilo just made an A League time!" Her excitement and exuberance let me know that it was a big deal. I decided that I need to do some research to figure out how all this high school swim stuff works. That way I'll know when it's a big deal or not. Which may lead me into being one of those crazy swim moms.

Today's loaded, and tomorrow too. I will exercise patience. I will show love.

I know I can, I know I can, I know I can.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Flocked

Last night I sat down with the fam for an hour or so and enjoyed part of the CMA Christmas Special. For some reason it brought back that feeling... nostalgia. I loved Christmas specials when I was growing up, especially those vintage stop-motion animated shows like Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Now, you can't really call them specials because most of us have them in our DVD libraries (digitally improved), to be watched at our convenience and every whim.

Kids these days are missing out.

But, growing up, we would usually enjoy the Christmas specials of the musical variety also, most likely a Lawrence Welk or Osmond Family show.

So today I was glancing through those newly-digitized old photographs, and found a couple to share.

1968

1969

1969. Don't I look happy? And wouldn't you just love to have those exact toys today... in mint condition? They don't make them like they used to, that's for sure.

1971. I HAD to include the picture of me, my brother, and my sister... enjoying... could it be... a Christmas special?

This must have been our family Christmas Eve program.

STILL 1971. Oh, the dancing doll. You could strap her feet to yours and dance like Bobby and Sissy. Or Jennifer Grey and what's-his-name.

What I realized for the first time, as I perused my vintage photo library, is

MY PARENTS LIKED FLOCKED TREES.

I had forgotten. Or never realized. Or was too young to notice.

When I was a child, we always had a real tree (which I've only had ONCE in my entire married life), but the trees of my memory were not flocked. They had big, colorful lights, set in large reflectors, and were ornamented with tinsel (NOT the icicle type, but the kind that you could cut a small piece off of and pretend, for a moment, that you were an angel) and hand-made ornaments. But then those artificial trees started looking so gosh-darn realistic, the convenience-not-to-mention-ecomonic factor kicked in, and my parents succumbed.

But not before a final flocking.

1984.

Today, 2010, I have a bunch of pre-lit fake trees.

A nine-footer, traditional shape.

A seven-footer, slim.

(3) 32" fiber-optic trees (2 silver, 1 green).

A set of three rustic alpine trees, varying sizes.

I've never had a flocked tree, or even desired to have one.

I've told myself for years that I was going to get a real tree. Soon. Real soon.

And now I'm thinking I want a flocked one. For nostalgia's sake.

But it's not happening this year. It felt like pulling teeth to get our two fake pre-lit trees decorated. Another chore. And we've cut back on some of the other decorations, since we will be gone a full week on vacation. It just doesn't seem worth all the time and effort.

"Where's your Christmas spirit??" you may be wondering.

I found it. Last night. As I listened to the CMA Christmas Special. Thanks, Martina.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Locker Talk

In between the Holiday preparing, baking, serving, shopping, and decorating, I worked on locker tags.

These are fun little signs/tags/decorations to give encouragement to various teams and clubs at the high school. They are done by parents, and put up on lockers prior to a game/event/competition.

I have helped with many locker tags, and although I enjoy the creative and sometimes-social aspect, they have never been convenient. Like now. And sometimes they aren't even fully appreciated, but for some reason, I find satisfaction in making them. I feel like I am fulfilling my role as a loving, supportive mom.

And, deep down inside of them, I know my girls appreciate my efforts (rarely expressed, but they are teenagers).

The process can be messy... and it can suck printer ink like none other. Prototypes are recommended, to avoid costly mistakes.

Posters are a nice touch. Something to hang around the school, making sure students are aware of the impending event. This may even encourage them to attend and give support. And, if nothing else, they can at least wish the team luck.

Posters are messy too. Especially if, like me, you think everything could use some glitterizing.

Lexee's cheer team has a theme every year...this year it's "HOT."

They will be competing at the State Spirit Competition this Friday, so the tags and posters needed to be up today. At 6:30am, Rebecca and I headed to the school to git 'er done. In my rush to get out the door, I left my camera home. Bummer. But Rebecca snapped a few pics with her phone:

I know... some random team member. You can't be choosy when you don't have a camera, and when students are starting to filter in and you just want to get out of the school before you embarrass your children because you look like you just got of of bed because you did.

In between all that cheer stuff, I also volunteered to laminate the tags for the swim team's first meet. I thought this would be simple, since another mom was doing the prep work of designing and printing. When she dropped them off, they were too big for my laminator, so I had to carefully disassemble each one and cut it down to size. THEN I reassembled and laminated. I'm tempted to glitterize, but they aren't really my locker tags, so I'm holding off.

Phew! Glad it's done. Now on to the business of cleaning up glitter (I think it's going to be around for a LONG time), Christmas decorating, housekeeping, and laundry.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Most Wonderful Time

Yep, it's here. The Christmas Season. Officially.

I spent the wee hours of my morning on Friday here:

where I ran into a lot of people I know... happy, but with bloodshot eyes. Walmart was the best of the morning. After pleasantly finding the items I had come for PLUS a few more, we found the checkout lines to be reasonable. Then we went home for a two-hour break (I snoozed) before heading off to Kohls.

That's when things got ugly. It was a cold morning - I think about 16 degrees. We waited in the car until we saw the line of people start streaming into the building. We sauntered the mile up to the doors, and waited for the line to finish rushing in. A lady somewhere in the line started screaming. Something about the back of the line. She continued with the ruckus all the way into the store. Two sets of doors were open, and the line was only using one. I decided that it was ridiculous to just stand there, in the cold, with two perfectly good unlocked doors that weren't being used, so I headed in. Seriously, I would have waited until the line was in HAD they been using all available open doors. But they weren't.

I know, I know... I'm justifying. I got my due reward. I waited in a check-out line for an hour and a half, then got sent to the "next available line" as the cashier was "finishing up" a sale, only to discover that she wasn't NEAR finishing up with some lady that purchased enough goods to get $150 in Kohls Cash back. You do the math. Some lady that had her maybe-11-year-old daughter with her, and NO CART. Once the cashier had finally "finished," they had to figure out how to move her boatload of stuff out of the way. The process took a good 15 minutes. I watched as at least a dozen people, who had been behind me in line, checked out and left the store.

Shilo, eager to pull her first all-nighter, had spent the morning with me. She now says she will never have the need to attend the Black Friday madness again. She's done. I think I'm done too.

We rolled into bed around 5:30.

After about 4 hours of sleep, I dug into this:

which still isn't finished. Maybe tomorrow.

Today we headed here:

The good news: our Christmas shopping is done. Since Santa is helping with our upcoming trip to Mexico, we gave the kids a small budget for gifts from Bill and me. They each selected the one thing they would like the most (within the small budget), and the purchases have been made.

All I need to do is wrap.

I really do love this time of year, despite the craziness. I wish only the best to the screaming lady. I hope she got all the stuff she needed, without altercation, and that she got in a fast check-out line.

I am going to try to be better. To not let my natural-man-get-out-of-the-cold-nobody's-using-the-doors-anyway get the best of me. I want to exude the spirit of Christmas, spread the cheer of the season, and share the light of Christ.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanks Giving

It's late. The festivities are over. I'm filling the gap between Thanksgiving Day and the madness that follows on Black Friday. I'm questioning my decision to join the rabble. I will feel satisfied if I return with at least ONE great purchase. Last year, for the first time in many years, I didn't go. It felt so good to sleep in, wake up at my convenience, and leisurely put up the Christmas decorations. This year, at the encouragement of my husband (who will be sleeping, since he has work tomorrow), my friend Steph (wanting a shopping buddy), and a child or two with an interest in observing the craziness, I am going.

Which could possibly mean that I am up all night.

In the interim I thought I would share the activities of the day, and give some thanks in the process.

A big thank you to the men in the house for getting those Christmas lights up.

And a big thank you to the girls, for helping set a beautiful table and assisting with the food prep.

The turkey got done early. That never happens to me. But I've never roasted a brined natural turkey before. Was it the best turkey ever? I couldn't say. It tasted pretty much the same as all the other turkeys I've roasted before, but I've had a head cold and some sinus junk going on, so maybe I'm not the best judge. However, I think I'll just go for the frozen bird next year.

Mauri and her cousin Hannah made plans to wear their pilgrim dresses (referenced here) for the dinner. So even though they wouldn't be together in person, they would be together in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

A big thank you to our friends who joined us. The conversation was lively, and the jokes as good as ever.

The house-lighting ceremony wasn't so much of a ceremony, more like a come-see. But the lights look awesome.

The rest of the Thanksgiving Day story:

My pumpkin roll didn't turn out. We ate it for breakfast.

We've used the same joke cards for the past 7 or 8 years. I can never remember the punch lines, so I still find them funny. Maybe next year we'll make some new ones, although Taylor thinks the best tradition would be to use the same joke cards forever.

My apple pie... the one that looked pretty darn good in my last post? Pretty much hollow. Like a cave. The apples had all cooked down, and that durable Pillsbury crust kept it's lovely mounded shape. It gave us a good chuckle. The cream pies were yummy, though.

We hand-washed a boatload of dishes. A BIG thank you to all of my children, who were real troopers, and let our guests enjoy themselves.

I took an hour-long nap around 7 pm. Hope that gets me through the night.

Today I am grateful for many things, but most of all, I'm grateful for my husband, my children, my extended family (miss you all), and my knowledge and testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Reality Star

I used to like watching Little People, Big World because I was fascinated that Amy Roloff didn't seem to mind the world seeing her messy house.

My interest has waned as the stars have ever-increasingly added to their net worth, and let the things that initially mattered the most to them fall by the wayside. They now have lots of things (big house, professional organizers, cleaners, decorators, and cars galore), but their marriage relationship is a mess. And whatever happened to college for those two boys? Hopefully the sensible daughter will stay... well, sensible.

Back to reality.

Right now my kitchen looks a lot like the Roloff kitchen at it's worst. I'll spare you the gory pictures.

I am un-showered, mealy, and covered with this, that, and the other. Mostly sugar and flour.

My head hurts from hitting it yesterday on the big steel beam that runs down the middle of our crawl space.

My eyes hurt from wearing my glasses all day.

My legs hurt from endless standing in the kitchen.

Garth Brooks (he's still around?) is crooning on Oprah in the background as my children nap on the couch and floor. I'm trying to remember why I used to LOVE him. These days, the country twang just doesn't appeal to me. It grates on my nerves a bit. Okay, a lot.

I'm gearing up to head back into the kitchen to complete my tasks of the day. Then, hopefully, I will soak in a bath of steaming scented water as candles flicker around. In my freshly-scrubbed tub. Reality at it's (almost) best.

The reality stars of my kitchen at the moment:

Brining turkey. Doesn't look so pretty right now.

Semi-homemade apple pie. Pillsbury made the crust. Turned out a little dark.

Homemade rolls. My kids used to laugh at my rolls. Now they are begging to eat them.

Pie shell waiting for chocolate cream. Or coconut cream. The other shell shrunk like crazy, so I'm contemplating baking ANOTHER one, and using the bad one for the leftover pie filling I know I'll have. Then we can sample tonight. Which is better anyway, because tomorrow we'll all be too stuffed to fully appreciate the desserts.

Pumpkin roll. Waiting for cream cheese filling. I might need to make another one of those too, since they are the favorite of my children. Although this is actually the second one I've baked today... the first one stuck in the pan, making more day-before-Thanksgiving samples.

So, before I can hit the tub, I still need to bake another pie crust, make two varieties of cream fillings, make some kind of jello salad, and decide if I'm going to make another pumpkin roll OR if I should just make a pumpkin pie. THEN clean the kitchen. Maybe coax someone else into mopping the sticky floor. Reality at it's... realest.

Today I am thankful for:

family

a great marriage relationship

a terrific-smelling house

a daughter on her way home

a holiday to give thanks

clean bathtubs