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.

Slowing Down to Catch Up

These days I've been feeling like a slug on the racetrack of life.  Why a slug, you ask?  Because I have felt increasingly slug-ish (I'm actually looking a bit slug-like, too).

I'm sure it can be attributed to the let-down felt after a nice break from the norm.

Our fall break trip to CA started a bit... rough.  The 16-hour trip turned to just over 18, thanks to the lovely weather conditions (pictured above), a near accident which very well could have included a tumble in the car - a literal miracle that we did not go off the road, a malfunctioning gas tank requiring fill-ups every 200 miles or so, and an hour-long stop on I-15 between Cedar City and St. George due to two separate life-flight-requiring accidents not far ahead of us.

But, lest you think it was all a bunch of yuck, once we arrived, things couldn't have been better.

The reuniting of family.

The weather.

The food.

The fun.

The politics.

I'm taking the catch up slowly, so as not to disturb my forward momentum since returning, sluggish as it is.  Stay tuned.

First Meet Drama

Mar had her first meet on the Aces swim team Friday.  It was a "developmental" meet, which means it was only for Aces (no other teams present), and was mainly to obtain official times for the beginning of the season.  Shilo selected NOT to participate (despite overt parental encouragement), which we she later regretted, as it would have been a good indicator of the improvement needed to achieve her time goals for the high school season.  I tried.

Mar packed up her things and we were off to the meet.  I thought we were prepared (this wasn't our first rodeo, you know).  When we arrived, the pool area was packed, and finding a seat was a challenge.  Finally we selected a middle row spot on metal bleachers at the end of the pool lanes.  There was a towel reserving the bench in front of us, and one or two people sitting on the back row behind us, but it seemed our roomiest option.

The call for warm-ups came, and suddenly Mar was in a panic.  She had not packed goggles.  The girl who meticulously makes sure that she has two pair with her at all times for practices ("just in case"), had missed them in the bag changeover.  Shilo could only find one girl she knew (the majority of older swimmers had selected, as Shi, not to participate in this particular meet), and asked if she had an extra pair.  No.
Mar started panicking and the tears began to fall.  

Trying to disguise her emotional state, Mar rubbed her eyes, then suddenly had a contact issue.  It needed to come out, but we were unprepared and did not have solution for rinsing.  I told her that we could rinse it with water and try putting it back in, but that it would probably be really uncomfortable for a few minutes (I speak from a lifetime of experience).  We tried it (freaking out the people sitting behind us) only to have our attempt fail.  The contact buckled and needed to be immediately removed once again.  Mar determined that she would just go without it, the panic from not having goggles overtaking her fear of not being able to see clearly out of one eye.  The anxiety for both of us was at highly elevated levels.

I walked over with her to the group of girls gathered for warm-ups and asked if any of them had an extra pair of goggles.  They all said yes, but one girl moved to action as she walked us over to where her mother was sitting.  She pulled out a stash of goggles and handed us a pair, telling us to come try another pair if they didn't work.  Mar grabbed the goggles and ran to join the warm-ups.

As I watched her, I could tell the goggles were not going to work.  At the end of each lane she would stop, lift the goggles, and dump out the excess water.  Finally Shi spotted a family of swimmers she knew would have a plethora of good-quality goggles, and ran over to borrow a pair.  Relief swept over me as she walked toward our spot on the bleachers, goggles in hand.  They were easily adjusted and worked perfectly.  Phew.

During this time of stress, more people continued to join us on the bleachers.  The single towel reserving the bench area in front of us became home to a very large man (in a heavy winter coat), his two twin daughters, a baby carrier with a very, very newborn baby, and his 11 year-old swimmer son.  His wife and the grandparents squeezed in on the front row.  Of course, the man sat directly in front of me, requiring the uncomfortable knees-to-the-side position for the entire meet (not to mention those metal bleachers made my forever-recovering tailbone ache like crazy).  The bench behind us also filled up with a loud-talking woman, her husband, and equally-as-loud swimmer daughter.  As soon as the meet was about to start, the woman decided that she would take a Subway run, and, after taking orders, needed to get down from the bleachers, borrowing shoulders as we squished together to create enough room for her foot as she stepped down through the crowd.

Needless to say, it was not our best meet experience.  

The good news:  

Britta and Austin, visiting for the weekend, came to support Mar (I wasn't necessarily expecting them to attend the meet, so we had NOT reserved seats - they ended up slightly to the right and down on the front row of the bleachers)
You guys are the best!

the 2nd pair of goggles worked great

the large man in front of me was friendly (it was their first Aces meet, too)

the loud woman and her husband behind us had a conversation about Mormons (Mitt-inspired, I'm sure) and had positive things to say

Mar swam her three events with courage and vigor, and now has official times to show future improvement

After the meet, we met up with Bill, who had been at the temple a few blocks away, and had all-you-can-eat pizza at Cici's

I am so proud of Mauri for making it through the drama and doing her best.

Love you, Mar!  You are awesome!