Hallow-eerie

Today I decided to add a few quick and cheap decor items to my Halloween collection.  

Maybe it's because I've had the same ol' decorations for many years (of which I am very fond), and the need for something new and dramatic (but cheap) has been gnawing away at me. 

Maybe it's because I feel my first taste of freedom:  from painting, from mess, from disorganization, from work (I can't remember if I mentioned that I've been subbing at GRE in the Speech and Language Dept. - much, much less demanding than SPED - one day a week for the past month or so, and they have a two-week Fall Break so I have a two week Fall Break.  YAY!)...  

Maybe it's because in four short days the girls and I are OUT OF HERE and off to relaxation, laughter, and good times in CA with my seester and nices.  

Maybe it's because, after several appointments, discussions, and a change in hormone therapy, I made an educated (via internet search) decision to STOP the new therapy-gone-bad that turned me into a non-sleeping, aching, and anxious witch ('tis the season, right?), and resume the not-perfect-but-better-now-that-I've-seen-the-other-side therapy I had been using.  I am coming to terms with the fact that I cannot feel amazing every day.  Livable, somewhat pleasant, and mostly kind will have to do.

Regardless of the reason, I whipped out a few fun Halloween decorations (ideas courtesy of Pinterest).

First I made these quick and oh-so-easy bats from black cardstock already in my large-but-seldom-used supply.  As I cut, I re-listened to a couple of my favorite talks from General Conference (President Eyring and Elder Holland).

When I was done, I pulled out our trusty ladder (I've had it out way, WAY too much lately) and taped these babies to the wall.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

 Love them. I think I can reuse them for several years, too.  AWESOME.

Then I headed off to Sally Beauty Supply to nab a few styro heads.  I had seen them on Friday, resisted the temptation for immediate gratification, contemplated all weekend if they were worth the change ($3 each), then, once deciding they were, waited patiently for this morning to purchase.  

 Initially I planned to cover them in spiders.  I put a few on, then decided to maybe leave them with just the cheesecloth.  It takes me so long to make up my mind these days, I might go back to the spiders.  Or not.  Either way, they are going to look extra creepy at night with a little china cabinet backlighting.

I am satisfied that they will bring me years of possibilities in the future.

Love them.

Hallow-eerie, don't you think?

Celebrate Good Times

I thought I would quickly post about Lex's birthday celebration, crammed in between work schedules and carpet.  (Who wouldn't want new carpet for their birthday??)

We headed to Lex's favorite burger joint late in the evening on Saturday.

 This was just the overflow of the fries.  To say we stuffed ourselves would be an understatement.

We had cheesecake waiting at home, but couldn't bring ourselves to even think about having some, so we decided to wait until the next day.  Lex had started itching just prior to our Five Guys run, and had broken out in all kinds of hives by the time we got home.

On Sunday, Lex was still having a major allergic reaction (so similar to the one I had back here, but we DIDN'T dial 911), so she stayed home from church to itch, scratch, and sleep off the Benedryl.  Later that evening we lit up the cheesecake, and sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday.  (We also listened to Grandma and Grandpa Goldsberry's rousing rendition - so much enthusiam, it was AWESOME!!)

It's crazy to think it's her very last year as a teenager.

LOVE YOU, LEX!

NHS

Shi was inducted into the NHS.

Legend has the biggest chapter in the district:  150 members.  I know Shi will be glad she applied (it took some parental persuasion).  I love that she will have more opportunities for service, and that there are some really great kids she'll be spending time with.

Congratulations, Shilo!

i-gift

Today is Lexee's birthday.

Gone are the days of PRINCESS parties, QUEEN parties (because after you are a princess, you become a queen), ART parties, SPY parties, and SURPRISE parties
(I'm not very good at those... reminder from last year's here).

These days, Lex would just like a day off from painting.

And an i-phone 5.

I could tell you about my extensive efforts this week to find one.  I could tell you how frustrating it is to have every Apple Store employee give you different or new information.  I could tell you about how thrilling it is to wait at the mall (NOT one of my favorite places to hang out) for 3+ hours waiting for a "shipment" to arrive to see if perhaps there would be an extra highly-desired-newly-released phone for actual sale in the store.  (NOPE.)  I could mention how fun it is to call and re-call the Apple Store, per employee suggestion, listening to awful elevator music with a "There are 5 callers ahead of you" thrown in every 20 seconds or so.  I could tell you about my begging and pleading to several of my local Sprint store employees, followed by daily phone calls in hopes that my name could be moved up on the waiting list.  But that would be a long, drawn out story of frustration and agitation, so I'll skip it.

In the end, my efforts paid off.

ONE phone was available at my Parker Sprint store IF I could make it there in the next 15 minutes.

It was black, instead of the preferred white, but it would do.

I wanted to surprise Lex a little (she knew I had been working on it all week), but I think when her T Mobile line was suddenly cut, she had a clue.

Regardless, we gave it to her a day early ('cause the girl can hardly survive without her phone).

 (How about that pile of unfolded laundry on the couch?  I think it had sat there for a good 2 days.  And Mar had just showered after swim practice.  We know how to throw a party around here.)

 (I think the surprised expression is a bit contrived, but she WAS thrilled.)

Shilo was a little disappointed that I couldn't come up with two (I AM a magician, you know), so she is patiently waiting to purchase her i-phone as soon as one comes available.  I will continue to assist.

Happy 19th Birthday, Lex!

We love you!

A Currant Bush

This past week I have had the song Simple Gifts on my mind a LOT (I listen to the Alison Krauss/Yo Yo Ma version).  I have heard it several times over the course of the week as I listened to my ipod and painted (4 rooms down, 2 to go + as many baseboards as I can get done).

To me, the meaning of the song totally relates to submitting ourselves to the will of our Heavenly Father - and how, through turning and bending (challenges and trials) we become perfected, or we "come 'round right."

Making the "turning" a "delight" is what we are all trying to learn.

My internet default page (not sure what it's really called) is set to lds.org, and this morning when I got up to work on some Primary stuff, I noticed a few new links on the homepage.  I was delighted to find this one:

Just what I needed to get through this next week.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be.

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we will not be ashamed.

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Still learning patience (and trying to submit gracefully),

Humiliation and Recompense

First for the humiliation part.

We are still in the middle of restoration.  It has felt like an eternity.  Today Bill lugged the broken toilet - the naughty culprit of our chaos - out to the curb for the garbage men to haul away (yes, they actually pick up stuff like that around here - even sofas and other large items, if you let them know in advance - I LOVE THAT!).  Normally our garbage men are here early.  Like around 8am or so.  Early enough that you have to be on your game to get it out on time.  We have had many a morning of rushing around in a panic, grabbing garbage from all over the house, and running our heavy-laden can to the street in our pjs as we hear the rumblings of the garbage truck coming down the street.

Naturally, because we had a nasty old toilet sitting on our curb today, the garbage men were late.  So late that when I got home from helping at the Book Fair at the middle school around 11:30, they still hadn't shown up. HUMILIATING.

I wasn't home for long before I had to run a few errands, and was relieved to find when I pulled into the driveway around 3pm, the toilet was gone, baby, gone.  I think we will have another toilet at the curb next week.  People are going to think there are some crazy things up at the Syddall's, but I'm trying to not worry about what people think these days (trying to take care of my own dirty windows).

I would have taken a picture, because there was some humor amidst the humiliation, but I have been too darn busy for more than just the thought that it would make me smile... a month or two from now.


On to the recompense.

About a year and a half ago I was all wrapped up in painting my house (reminders here and here).  The end result was not exactly what I had envisioned, but I have tried to get over it and move on, with an occasional comment to my husband, children, or neighbors about how it just doesn't all seem to "go" as well as I had hoped.

My trim color is a little too yellow.

Maybe I should have done the lighter trim around the roofline.

The green is so dark.

When I see my house from a distance, I have become accustomed to telling myself it looks just fine, and that there are certainly much worse color combinations... around.

Today my friend and neighbor Rebecca just happened to ask me if I had some of the old quarts of sample paints from back then, as she needed to have her rental house painted and was looking at similar colors.  She specifically asked if I had the color Grass Clippings.  "Oh," I said, "I think that's the color of my house."

She said she thought it was a little different, since she had some sample chips and they weren't really a true match.  I told her I would check, since the painters had left a partially-filled 5-gallon bucket of touch-up paint for us after the job was done.

The paint color on the bucket:  Snapping Turtle.  When I told Rebecca, she said she had never heard of that color before, which made me think I hadn't either.  Since I often have hormonally-induced fog-brain, I wondered if that was something I had just forgotten.  The more I thought about it, the more I decided that, no, I had NOT heard of Snapping Turtle.  I shuffled through my files (in the filing cabinet in the living room) and found the folder where I had kept the required HOA approval form with my paint selections.  Sure enough, I had chosen Grass Clippings.

Rebecca brought my quart sample back so I could paint it on the side of the house to compare.  Yes, we concurred, it was a better color.  A little lighter.  A little warmer.  It was more cohesive with the brick and trim.

I called the paint company.

Sure enough, they had the record of my selection (Grass Clippings, remember), and also record of the purchase of 15 gallons of Snapping Turtle.  They were apologetic, and offered to repaint.

I have had a renewed sense of faith in myself.  I DID choose a good color.  (At least I hope I did.)  We'll all know for sure the last week of October, barring snow and bad weather.

I can't wait.

Speedy Recap

I don't have a lot of time these days, but I wanted to {quickly} post what we've been up to the past while.  Please remain seated (I've learned that the hard way), keep your hands and feet inside the ride, and have fun.

The fence started going up.

Our little deers returned for some more zucchini.

Shilo received her first Academic Letter (that's her shaking hands with the principal, in case you were wondering... I have some pathetic photography skills).

Bill and I asked to snap a picture after the letter awarding ceremony, and despite Shi's pleasant expression, she was not thrilled to oblige.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the ceremony was before school and, as we were leaving the auditorium, school was getting ready to start.  Our kids often try to get out of public pictures with the statement, "Nobody else's parents are taking pictures."  Too bad we can always glance around and find several other children dutifully posing for camera-happy parents.

Cheyenne didn't seem to mind the picture request as much.

I caught Lex at work at Carinos one day when I stopped by for lunch.  She was not thrilled about a picture request either.

Still working on that fence.  Of course the only picture I took would have Bill with his eyes closed.

We are still living amongst the mess of the flood.  See?  I'm learning patience.  Our goal is to have it all back together by the end of the month.  It's already been a month living in chaos (so unnerving for me).

Mar tried out for the Aces Swim Team.  We were a little nervous about whether she would make it or not, since she hasn't been swimming for a year.  The first night of Rookie Week they popped her into a group that, for the most part, was full of older kids who had been swimming over the summer.  I could tell she was ready to call it quits after the first practice.  She decided to give it another try the next day, but we talked to the coach about moving her down a practice group, which was a much better fit.  It made us nervous when, on the final night of rookie practices, the coaches said they were "optimistic" that they could place about half of the kids who tried out on the team.  We were thrilled to get the notification a few days later that Mar had made it.  Phew.

I've been trying to squeeze in time to work on Bill's Align Group Insurance blog and Facebook page - tricky assignments for someone as technologically challenged and inexperienced in social media as myself.  It's all still a work in progress, but I look forward to the day when it's all aligned (no pun intended), connected, and only requiring regular updates.  You should check them out.

Over the holiday weekend, Mar went camping with Lauren and Lauren (and Chase and Bro. Billat).  They went to the Royal Gorge area and had a wonderful time.  Mar purchased a couple of small geo rocks as a souvenir, and couldn't wait to try crushing her first one open.

The inside was sparkly and beautiful (not quite captured by my mad photography skills).

Time to be done.  I've been speed typing and even made my pictures smaller to expedite the download process.  It still took too long.  Today I hope to get carpet ordered and Lex's bright purple bedroom primed for a more neutral guest-room-friendly color.  I hope.  I've not had the best track record for successful paint color selection.  I promised Bill that he would not hear a peep from me EVER if I didn't like it, I would just live with my choice.  Wish me luck.