I started the world of blogging on Myspace several months ago, which, of course is inferior. And I have fairly cute stories on there that I would like to have here, so I don't lose them. So, you're getting some flashbacks - that aren't really flashbacks, but worth reading about, even if out of sequence.
A real dining experience
I have decided that it would be best to eat like a one-year old. The enjoyment of eating would be so much more than the shoveling down that this mother (and so many others) has become accustomed to...due to the fact that you don't have any idea what might be thrown at you in the next 30 seconds.
Here is what ideal 'eating like a one-year old' would be like. First, you would smell your food (indside of your nose and out), touch your food, and try its texture on your tongue, face, fingers, arm, and smeared in the hair. You would taste your food in your mouth, then pull it out, examine it visually from your fingers and then taste it again.
Next you would really feel your food. You would poke it, prod it, tear it, smush it, wad it into a ball, squeeze it tightly in your fist, toss it up, throw it down on the tray surface and begin tasting in its new various shapes and density's. This of course must be followed again by visual examination, by removing item from mouth to look at the premoistened treat before retuning it to chew on. Chewing takes on different speeds and intesities as the food rolls about from side to side. It is chewed on with the mouth open and closed. The mouth is somtimes filled with a small portion, or more often, with a portion so huge you have to use both hands and all of your fingers to keep it inside of the mouth. This can become stressful for you at times. As you get full you would also experience the feeling of your food sitting on your lip...just resting there until it gets slipped into the mouth. Then, once in a while you might just watch it in or on your hands as you become a master of this partiuclar course.
At some point you may decide to devour it handful by handful, or more delicatly fork by fork full. However, once you are bored with the food, you may drop it onto the floor or fling it as far as it will go or swing it down hard with a ball players force...whatever it takes for the server to quite offering the meal choice.
Then some time later as you playing with your toys or roaming the house with lightning quick crawling abilities...it is possible, that if mother has not picked up the last gourmet meal yet (unlikely) that you may begin the process all over again on the floor with those pieces whose fate was to rest on the tile. Though if it is on the ground...it's most likely you will just pick it up, put it in your mouth and not give it a second thought..like that dried up fly you came across two seconds ago.
Denver: 14 hours and three diapers.
Left Mexico on a bright sunny afternoon. 6 p.m. we're on a plane to Denver. Nathan is rowdy and bouncing all over me, the seat, the floor and wherever his little body will wedge. I'm ticked at the lady behind me, who also just left Mexico but it hacking and coughing all over, is bullying her grown daughter, and has one of the nastiest attitudes I've ever heard. Well, I'm getting tired of overhearing her, I'm getting tired of trying to hold on to an energenic baby and mostly I'm thinking, hasn't it been three hours yet. Captain comes on, indeed there is a headwind slowing us down. It'll be another 50 minutes. 50 minutes more of grouchy woman and wiggly baby. Then we start to desend Yeah! Then we start to ascend. What? We're going up to make another pass, because there's still an aircraft on the runway. So we'll really have to hurry and get through Denver customs.
So we land. And we are the first off the plane! For some reason my stroller is the LAST off the plane. (Usually the first thing to come off) So now were are behind EVERYONE running to the elevators getting to customs. Obviously we are not the only flight. And we have 45 minutes until our connection leaves. So, most people are really nice and let us cut line to get back into the U.S.A. Then we have to grab our baggage and run to get it rechecked. Done. Then we have to run to the next elevator to get to the level that will take us back through security. 8 minutes to take off. We fly through security go down the next elevator that will take us to the train that will take us to concourse A. We run through the doors. Then we have to run all the way down to the VERY end of concorse A. And get on the elevator down to the 'great lakes' flights. Once we're are in the bowles of the airport we have to run AGAIN to the very very end of the building. Running. Running, breathless, panting sweating, but at least I have a very delighted baby.
We get to the desk to hear that we just missed the flight, they just shut the doors. "Call the captain, we're RIGHT HERE!" "No, he won't open the doors once they are closed." "BUT WE'RE RIGHT HERE, IT'LL TAKE THIRTY SECONDS" "Um, he just tuned on the engines. There's no way he'll shut it down." "THERE'S ME AND A LITTLE BABY WHO NEED TO GET HOME! JUST CALL HIM" "Sorry, we can't do that." So we watched our plane leave, knowing there were no more than 17 people on the plane who wouldn't care if it took ten more minutes to get a woman and her little one on a plane that would fly for one hour and 5 minutes to get home.
SOOOOOOOOOO Instead we had to talk to the lame great lakes people, who would offer us 45% off of a hotel for the night, but suggested we rebook with Frontier instead. Therefore go back upstairs, and rebook with frontier (Who are VERY NICE) who give us a hotel room for the night and $42 in food credit vouchers. Then we have to find our way back on the train to the baggage claim, find a wall of phones, call our hotel and get the directions for the the shuttle. We leave the airport, wait out in the cold for a shuttle, drive 25 mintues into town to our hotel, get checked in behind everyone else on the shuttle (because people don't notice a tired lady and her little one in a STROLLER) and then go to the bar for dinner, as that's the only thing open. The bar menu is VERY limited, we end up with french fries and mozz sticks..oh and apple juice. By the time we are IN our room and ready for bed it is 11:45 p.m. We would have been home already.
The baby conks right out and sleeps peacefully. I (being hopped up on cola products, adreniline, anger, apathy, anxiety and whatever else, sleep VERY LITTLE throught the night looking at the clock every half hour until 4:30 a.m. The baby wakes up promply at 6 and is ready to go. There is no trying to rest. So we get up wash our faces, change his diaper, and get ready to find the shuttle back to the Denver International. Did I mention I only have ONE diaper left at this point?
Anyhow, we arrive at the airport, go back through security, get back on the train, get back to concourse A, get some breakfast, get checked into our gate (which is still at the very end of the very end of the bottom of the airport) and then we walk for a whole hour until the flight leave. We find a nice lady who loans us a diaper. The baby sleeps from Take-off to landing. We make it home. The baby went to bed last night at 6:30 p.m. and slept until 8:30 the next morning. I got about two hours less than that.
p.s. Mexico was WONDERFUL!
January 30, 2008 - Wednesday
Sick Kids and Mommas
Had a fun week. Brooke came, we were supposed to go to Bear Lake with T&A and stay at their time share, but the baby was sick. Again. From Croup, to Infuenza to an ear infection in the last three weeks. The Dr. said the good news was that there wasn't too much more he could catch. How comforting. I got over the flu myself and continue to be a momma to a sick little boy.
Brooke and I made 51 Quart sized jars of cookie mix (sand art chocolate chip cookie mix) and put decrotive cloth on them and tied homemade laminated labels with ribbon around the tops. They are for Amy's Baby shower. And they turned out so darn cute!!
Baby, Grandpa and I leave for Mexico on Saturday. I'm excited and nervous. But we're stocked up on swimming diapers and ear drops.
So I just watched an animated c-section operation on BabyCenter.Com, meant to inform and educate. And, um I can't believe I went through one of those. I was physically sick in my chair watching a CARTOON procedure of what happened to me. I'm a sissy. I was seriously faint. So if you need a real good scare, go check it out! I do NOT think I'll be watching one ever ever ever again, even though any other children I bear in the state of WY will be by C-section. After comparing videos of both types of birth, I'm a HUGE proponent of natural birth. I'm still queezy.
Today’s journal and the PILES
So, I went on a bike ride today. That was wierd. Last time I rode a bike: College Times...to impress the boyfriend (who I later married...) But todays bike ride does post a landmark: Baby’s First Bike Ride. He rode in the bike trailer behind Shane.(Loved it! Giggled and screeched with joy.) Also went on a long walk today to the park where the midget played (mostly in the brown leaves from last fall.) And I washed almost 40 terra cotta flower pots.(Using them for church activity.) And cooked a chicken. Busy day for me...but there is something I have been putting off.
Let me tell you a little something about laundry. I don’t mind doing it, but damn, you’re twisting arms to get me to fold it and put it away. Don’t even mention Ironing. Do they still even do that anymore? Isn’t this a lost art like wearing things made from leaves or eating wild meat that hangs in the cellar? Anyway about the laundry...I have PILES of clean Laundry on my bedroom chair, in a basket in the laundry room and upstairs in a baby bassinet. Does anyone have a good solution to my laundry problem. Would it help if I had room in my drawers and closets? Let’s go back a step...I just inherited bags and bags and bags of clothing from my maternal parental unit. Nice clothing / active wear / and casual stuff. And, like putting laundry away, I also dislike trying on bags and bags and bags of laundry to see what I might keep and what I might not. So I also have heaps of bagged laundry. AHGHRHG! I guess I’m going to have to deal with it sooner or later. But here comes the other problem. Once I sort out what I’m going to keep, I’m also going to have to sort out those items that already are filling the overfull closet and drawers......FORCING me to try on almost EVERY ITEM I OWN! This sort of sucks. I’m worn out thinking about it. I worn out looking at it. I’m worn out that it isn’t done already. I think I’m going to adopt a uniform. One for active, one for nice dress up days and one for casual. I will buy five of each style, thus making any of this trying on gunk obsolete.
Anyhow...I needed to vent (could you tell?) and relate that the above information will still not have any real attention paid to it, until I return from Salt Lake and the birth of my niece. I will just have to pack by digging through the piles.
The Piles: Continued.
Today, it took me roughly six hours to deal with the fore-mentioned piles. (For pre-story, read above... Let's just say that the thrift store is receiving a generous donation tomorrow, a whole car load. Which reminds me: I'm no longer driving the beautiful blue Dodge Durango. I'm now driving a white 03 Camry with 50K miles. The snow is gone, so I suppose I don't need the 4 wheel drive. Plus cars can get into ANY parking space. That part IS awesome. And it's good on gas…blah blah blah. (I might miss the Durango a little.) Back to the point; my closets are in amazing order. From shoes, gloves, hats, boots…all the way to work out wear and Sunday best, I can now navigate my items with just a glance.
Ha Ha, as I'm composing this particular blog, my husband has just been asked to speak in Church next Sunday. Might I remind you that next Sunday is Mother's Day? (Again, see a long way below to read about the misfortunate call that lead me to speak last Father's Day.)
I have some cakes coming up this month and next. I also have a very cool trip coming up at the end of the month which I'm very excited about, as I should be seeing my Robling somewhere in my week of Canadian bliss.
I just wanted to mention, I'm one of the 80 people out of 109,450 that plays Puzzle Express on MSN games. Do we have anything in common? I can't get past level eight. Yep, I'm a geek. If my concentration seems distorted, this is why.
I did spend some quality time with my niece last week. She's a fantastic little infant with lots of dark hair, dark skin and dark eyes. In fact, if she got lost on the Reservation, she'd be gone for good. You'd have a hard time picking her out. Which is strange, because neither of her parents are native…Anyway, both parents are doing great and trying to adjust to struggles of infant rhythm. (Eat, sleep, poop, and repeat) I've rambled long enough, I'm tired. I'm going to bed, next to my spotless closet.
I go walking, after breakfast, in the sunlight:
And as I'm walking, after breakfast, in the sunlight, sometimes nature calls. And she knocks with a vengence while I'm on the outskirts of Lander, where there are NO public facilities available...or so I thought. Today, as I was out enjoying the pastures, cows and horses along a road, mother nature whispered rather harshly that I should have thought about her before leaving civilization for a animal science lesson with my son. Our regular walk involves strolling about five miles, and as I'm walking I'm calculating. I'm calculating how much further I can go, without going. Then I'm calculating how many people I know within that vicinity. After which, I'm calculating which of those are going to feel less embarrased about the situation I'm in. Well therein lies the dilemma. I can make it to no houses that within I wouldn't feel completly idiodic. So, now as I'm walking, in more pain, I'm looking into the strangers houses and even more excitedly, I'm looking at the two empty gravel and cement lots that are near the river. Where can I hide myself on these empty lots? Between those cars, nope that house would see me, behind that building...no that won't work either. I have resigned myself at this point to just letting my bladder explode ...or to wave down a passing car. Then, I see it!!! Right by the bridge, on the bank of the river drop off: An oasis in beige idustrial plastic! A sanitation station! A porta potty! Almost invisible behind the tree cover and placed in only a place a very desparate woman would see it! There were angels looking after me today. Supplied with both super-strengh scent protection and low grade paper, the teeny tiny earth toned box couldn't have been a more welcome sight! Lander walkers be informed! As you go up the hill, the first bridge, well before the llama farm is where you can find relief.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Flashback from Myspace part 4
FLY IN and Rodeo Friends! Fall 2007
Saturday turned out to be a super day! Crisp, cool and a bit cloudy at the Lander fly in as the world war two planes, acrobatic planes, a 13 million dollar twin prop and a ten thousand dollar TOY jet shot around the Lander air space from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hundreds of people, pancake breakfast and bar b que lunch all enjoyed by Shane, Nathan, the parents and I! It was a great turn out and only a four minute walk from my house!! Also a four minute walk from my house was the High School rodeo and the hundreds of horses and competitors that very honestly parked in our back yard! We watched some bull riding and some roping going on. But the most amazing thing was what these KIDS had to stay in! Semi trucks with sleepers, horse trailers with living quarters that include tv, kitchens, air conditioning...some had direct tv dishes. The amount of money that was being spent on these high school kids was unreal! Many trailers were nicer than vacation motorhomes! I had to root for the kid with his rusty pickup and his open air stock trailer
January 11, 2008 - Friday
Updates!
What's been Going on? Plenty of XC skiing, until my folks left for Mexico again. So now I ski indoors on my ski machine while the baby naps (unless I'm blogging instead.) The MOMS club of Lander is underway and has plenty of activities to join up on. We had LOTS of ladies and babies show..great start. My Church Activity Day girls had a great time ice skating on Wednesday. 17 Little girls, 17 pairs of skates and ICE.
Shane now has three snow machines...please someone come buy one, he doesn't need THREE. Business is good, he's sold four cars in two days. (Which is good because of his addiction to buying snowmachines.)
All of my Christmas stuff is still up, and may stay up until next week still. The Kiddo has added "no no" and "ca ker" (cracker) to his vocabulary and either kisses or dishes, I'm not sure which. He also has the Croup. Yes the official Croup..but its much better and he no longer 'barks' at night.
We have Sam again with us until the end of January and then again I think until about March. Shane, Baby and I are going to Bear Lake the end of January to stay with T&A at their time share...Brooke is supposed to come also.
Oh, my car sold, again, so now I need to find something else to drive. It is a sure fire way to get a car sold by having me drive it. I might need to just buy one with my own money and register it, so I don't have this Car Shift every month or two.
The weather has been in the upper 20's lower 30's, a HEAT WAVE from where it's been. (See photo's to know what I mean.) And otherwise I'm sad we never made it to Utah for Christmas or New Years to see anybody. But so it goes!
January 6, 2008 - Sunday
CAKE
Friday I created the biggest, most eleborate wedding cake yet! 1 six, 1 eight, 2 tens, 1 twelve, and 1 fourteen inch cakes covered in fondant and fresh roses and wrapped in ribbon. Also there were two sheet cakes and a stand by 10 inch. I'll get pics for you to see. But I can tell you that there was $70 worth of frosting, and over $200 in Flowers in this endeavor. Not to mention 10-12 hours of labor. This much cake would serve 450 slices. And all of this with a toddler at my feet for most of the creative combining of ingredients.
December 3, 2007 - Monday
Dependant on Communication
So I was just sitting here at my computer, when it hit me how dependant on quick communication I really am: like so many americans. I have my short wave radio on - Shane and I use it when he's at Autoplex. I also have my cell phone, regular phone, and skype phone about 12 inches away from me. And then I'm on the internet which, of course, puts me in email, instant messaging, online shopping, and information gathering all in seconds! But the good part is that when the power goes off: I don't miss it for a long while. (I would miss electric lighting though! Especially when it gets dark at 4:30.)
November 23, 2007 - Friday
Enjoying greener pastures
We're still here in Sunny Mexico. The midget is napping. The boys are headed to the zip lines, the girls are in the pool, and I'm resting...sort of. Thus far, Brooke and Sam has experienced the thrill of parasailing, Shane has combed the sandy bottom of the ocean with hours of snorkling, Nathan has had the adventure of swimming naked in the ocean and ventured into boyhood with his first tinkle off the back of a pleasure boat. Lori and I have hiked to the waterfalls and bartered for the best 'junk' this side of the pacific. We've tasted plenty of authentic Mexican grub and a couple of times have been sorry about that. We listen to the waves crash on the beach, we've felt the sting of sea creatures and common pests, we've all had sand in every possible body crevice. The vistas are tropical, green, flowery, and filled with butterflies. It is perfect.
November 2, 2007 - Friday
lil smokies Current mood: happy
Sometimes I eat lil smokies with breakfast. Note that I did not say for breakfast...because that's just too much processed greasey meat product to have alone. I figured I would start out with that thought since I have recently regretted my breakfast decision.
So this week has truely been beautiful. I got to hang with four of the most talented, most amazing girls I know. We had a little get together for Lisa, as she is due in January. So I played with Lisa, Julie, Holly and Lynnden...these are smart, educated, beautiful, funny, adorable people. I can't imagine how I was lucky enough to get such cool friends.
Then Shane hurt his back mountain biking on Sunday...it's been a struggle, but the chiropractor is putting him back together again. For Halloween we had the fortune of having a trick played on us: Orange water...as the house being built on our street hit the water main and shut down water to our street and the hospital. So, we're drinking and using saved water for a while, at least until ours isn't hinting at yellow anymore.
The Midget and I have logged at least 13 miles this week in the stroller, and we haven't even been out yet today. It's been a great week for exercise. We've done the loop twice, a three mile jaunt from the parents and then a stroll around the park, I'm not sure where we'll go today.
Have you ever noticed after taking a fish oil pill, you actually taste fish? Gross.
I have a huge cake coming up in the first part of January. When I say huge, i mean huge. It's actually a reception for TWO people, a brother and sister are getting married two days apart from each other and they are having one large reception. So I have to decide how to do the cake. I'm guessing there will be 600-700 folks coming. (It's the stake presidents kids.) I'm thinking of maybe doing a couple of smaller centerpiece cakes and then perhaps doing some sheet cake to serve. Or doing one regular sized cake and smaller cakes to serve...or one huge cake that encompasses several small cakes to serve, I don't know for sure, I need to wrap my brain around it for a while. I do know that the Mrs. did say I could charge her whatever I like for doing it. This does get my more creative juices flowing. Anyone who would like to offer suggestions, I will take them most graciously.
There you have my thoughts on the week. And a challenge..should you choose to accept.
October 10, 2007 - Wednesday
It is what it is, isn’t it?
Hhmmm.....
I traveled to Sheridan a few weekends ago, it was very nice to spend time with my sister. I came home just exhausted. Bro recently started her job at law firm and has precious little ’meeting new people’ time yet. So we shopped and cooked and cleaned and decorated for fall and created a wreath, and ate out and did a taste of home seminar, and watched movies and went for a four hour stroll down town and attended to the baby and Brooke’s dog..and had NON stop action from dusk to dawn...it was awesome. I did’t know I could have so much energy...I mean at least in college I napped during the day! Sheridan has some cool shops and Bro has a cool house on the end of Main Street. One evening it rained, it was soo beautiful to see the the cars on the street and the reflections of the lights in the rain...it was a ’city’ scene that you seen in movies and in paintings. I stood at the window several times to cement the scene in my brain.
Have I mentioned that I have to give kudos to George Bush for his say in the Daylight Savings decision!! SOOO glad that it’s not dark at 5:00....yet.
Plus, keep in touch I have a hunting problem that I have to get off my chest...but I don’t have the time to give it proper attention right now.
Oh...we’re looking for a new renter. Saturday morning 3 a.m., the whole family is awakened by the smell of smoke. Apparently the snow discouraged our renter from going outside for a drag and he thought it would be okay to light a few up in the house...let me rephrase...IN THE HOUSE! SMOKING IN MY BASEMENT!!!!!
September 25, 2007 - Tuesday
Yep, it DID snow yesterday!
We usually don't have snow until October, but it sneaked in a little early this year. Somehow snow always makes me think I should crack out the hot chocolate and the homemade cookies. I resisted...for now. But I do have this irritating nag that wants me to be done buying and wrapping Christmas presents already. (I could be insane) It's up to 70 again today, fantastic fall weather. The colors are changing.
The baby is crawling, saying mama and dada, pointing to things, singing little songs and becoming much more complex in his babbles and emotions... It's truly easy to see how moms can become SO wrapped up in nothing but thier children. I try to maintain a healthy balance of outside interests. (They usually somehow wrap back around again to the kidlet) Scrapping booking! Pictures of the kidlet. Photography! Take photos of the kidlet. Cooking! Purees and menus for the kidlet. Driving a new car! Is is easy for the kidlet carseat? New clothes! Will the kidlet get them all messy and stretched out?
So you see until we get a new puppy (Likely this spring) I'll mostly focus on the kidlet from a day to day standpoint. Or Shane! HE HAS THE GROSSEST THUMB EVER!! He bought some vans, a car and an suv this weekend...while moving a seat out of one of the vans, it sprang back and almost chopped his thumb off!!! The skin on one side is totally missing. Not to mention the pain in all of the exposed nerve endings. I can hardly look at it without my fainting and gagging reflexes being turned on.
I have been doing a bit of canning this fall with Lori and Holly. Holly and I did bread and butter pickles and banana peppers. Lori and I have made pasta sauce and enchilada sauces. I'm feeling particularly domestic about all of this food preservation. Glad to be able to know how!
p.s. I see that people are catching up by reading my little bogs...hee hee, I mean blogs...feel free to post comments or subscribe!
Saturday turned out to be a super day! Crisp, cool and a bit cloudy at the Lander fly in as the world war two planes, acrobatic planes, a 13 million dollar twin prop and a ten thousand dollar TOY jet shot around the Lander air space from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hundreds of people, pancake breakfast and bar b que lunch all enjoyed by Shane, Nathan, the parents and I! It was a great turn out and only a four minute walk from my house!! Also a four minute walk from my house was the High School rodeo and the hundreds of horses and competitors that very honestly parked in our back yard! We watched some bull riding and some roping going on. But the most amazing thing was what these KIDS had to stay in! Semi trucks with sleepers, horse trailers with living quarters that include tv, kitchens, air conditioning...some had direct tv dishes. The amount of money that was being spent on these high school kids was unreal! Many trailers were nicer than vacation motorhomes! I had to root for the kid with his rusty pickup and his open air stock trailer
January 11, 2008 - Friday
Updates!
What's been Going on? Plenty of XC skiing, until my folks left for Mexico again. So now I ski indoors on my ski machine while the baby naps (unless I'm blogging instead.) The MOMS club of Lander is underway and has plenty of activities to join up on. We had LOTS of ladies and babies show..great start. My Church Activity Day girls had a great time ice skating on Wednesday. 17 Little girls, 17 pairs of skates and ICE.
Shane now has three snow machines...please someone come buy one, he doesn't need THREE. Business is good, he's sold four cars in two days. (Which is good because of his addiction to buying snowmachines.)
All of my Christmas stuff is still up, and may stay up until next week still. The Kiddo has added "no no" and "ca ker" (cracker) to his vocabulary and either kisses or dishes, I'm not sure which. He also has the Croup. Yes the official Croup..but its much better and he no longer 'barks' at night.
We have Sam again with us until the end of January and then again I think until about March. Shane, Baby and I are going to Bear Lake the end of January to stay with T&A at their time share...Brooke is supposed to come also.
Oh, my car sold, again, so now I need to find something else to drive. It is a sure fire way to get a car sold by having me drive it. I might need to just buy one with my own money and register it, so I don't have this Car Shift every month or two.
The weather has been in the upper 20's lower 30's, a HEAT WAVE from where it's been. (See photo's to know what I mean.) And otherwise I'm sad we never made it to Utah for Christmas or New Years to see anybody. But so it goes!
January 6, 2008 - Sunday
CAKE
Friday I created the biggest, most eleborate wedding cake yet! 1 six, 1 eight, 2 tens, 1 twelve, and 1 fourteen inch cakes covered in fondant and fresh roses and wrapped in ribbon. Also there were two sheet cakes and a stand by 10 inch. I'll get pics for you to see. But I can tell you that there was $70 worth of frosting, and over $200 in Flowers in this endeavor. Not to mention 10-12 hours of labor. This much cake would serve 450 slices. And all of this with a toddler at my feet for most of the creative combining of ingredients.
December 3, 2007 - Monday
Dependant on Communication
So I was just sitting here at my computer, when it hit me how dependant on quick communication I really am: like so many americans. I have my short wave radio on - Shane and I use it when he's at Autoplex. I also have my cell phone, regular phone, and skype phone about 12 inches away from me. And then I'm on the internet which, of course, puts me in email, instant messaging, online shopping, and information gathering all in seconds! But the good part is that when the power goes off: I don't miss it for a long while. (I would miss electric lighting though! Especially when it gets dark at 4:30.)
November 23, 2007 - Friday
Enjoying greener pastures
We're still here in Sunny Mexico. The midget is napping. The boys are headed to the zip lines, the girls are in the pool, and I'm resting...sort of. Thus far, Brooke and Sam has experienced the thrill of parasailing, Shane has combed the sandy bottom of the ocean with hours of snorkling, Nathan has had the adventure of swimming naked in the ocean and ventured into boyhood with his first tinkle off the back of a pleasure boat. Lori and I have hiked to the waterfalls and bartered for the best 'junk' this side of the pacific. We've tasted plenty of authentic Mexican grub and a couple of times have been sorry about that. We listen to the waves crash on the beach, we've felt the sting of sea creatures and common pests, we've all had sand in every possible body crevice. The vistas are tropical, green, flowery, and filled with butterflies. It is perfect.
November 2, 2007 - Friday
lil smokies Current mood: happy
Sometimes I eat lil smokies with breakfast. Note that I did not say for breakfast...because that's just too much processed greasey meat product to have alone. I figured I would start out with that thought since I have recently regretted my breakfast decision.
So this week has truely been beautiful. I got to hang with four of the most talented, most amazing girls I know. We had a little get together for Lisa, as she is due in January. So I played with Lisa, Julie, Holly and Lynnden...these are smart, educated, beautiful, funny, adorable people. I can't imagine how I was lucky enough to get such cool friends.
Then Shane hurt his back mountain biking on Sunday...it's been a struggle, but the chiropractor is putting him back together again. For Halloween we had the fortune of having a trick played on us: Orange water...as the house being built on our street hit the water main and shut down water to our street and the hospital. So, we're drinking and using saved water for a while, at least until ours isn't hinting at yellow anymore.
The Midget and I have logged at least 13 miles this week in the stroller, and we haven't even been out yet today. It's been a great week for exercise. We've done the loop twice, a three mile jaunt from the parents and then a stroll around the park, I'm not sure where we'll go today.
Have you ever noticed after taking a fish oil pill, you actually taste fish? Gross.
I have a huge cake coming up in the first part of January. When I say huge, i mean huge. It's actually a reception for TWO people, a brother and sister are getting married two days apart from each other and they are having one large reception. So I have to decide how to do the cake. I'm guessing there will be 600-700 folks coming. (It's the stake presidents kids.) I'm thinking of maybe doing a couple of smaller centerpiece cakes and then perhaps doing some sheet cake to serve. Or doing one regular sized cake and smaller cakes to serve...or one huge cake that encompasses several small cakes to serve, I don't know for sure, I need to wrap my brain around it for a while. I do know that the Mrs. did say I could charge her whatever I like for doing it. This does get my more creative juices flowing. Anyone who would like to offer suggestions, I will take them most graciously.
There you have my thoughts on the week. And a challenge..should you choose to accept.
October 10, 2007 - Wednesday
It is what it is, isn’t it?
Hhmmm.....
I traveled to Sheridan a few weekends ago, it was very nice to spend time with my sister. I came home just exhausted. Bro recently started her job at law firm and has precious little ’meeting new people’ time yet. So we shopped and cooked and cleaned and decorated for fall and created a wreath, and ate out and did a taste of home seminar, and watched movies and went for a four hour stroll down town and attended to the baby and Brooke’s dog..and had NON stop action from dusk to dawn...it was awesome. I did’t know I could have so much energy...I mean at least in college I napped during the day! Sheridan has some cool shops and Bro has a cool house on the end of Main Street. One evening it rained, it was soo beautiful to see the the cars on the street and the reflections of the lights in the rain...it was a ’city’ scene that you seen in movies and in paintings. I stood at the window several times to cement the scene in my brain.
Have I mentioned that I have to give kudos to George Bush for his say in the Daylight Savings decision!! SOOO glad that it’s not dark at 5:00....yet.
Plus, keep in touch I have a hunting problem that I have to get off my chest...but I don’t have the time to give it proper attention right now.
Oh...we’re looking for a new renter. Saturday morning 3 a.m., the whole family is awakened by the smell of smoke. Apparently the snow discouraged our renter from going outside for a drag and he thought it would be okay to light a few up in the house...let me rephrase...IN THE HOUSE! SMOKING IN MY BASEMENT!!!!!
September 25, 2007 - Tuesday
Yep, it DID snow yesterday!
We usually don't have snow until October, but it sneaked in a little early this year. Somehow snow always makes me think I should crack out the hot chocolate and the homemade cookies. I resisted...for now. But I do have this irritating nag that wants me to be done buying and wrapping Christmas presents already. (I could be insane) It's up to 70 again today, fantastic fall weather. The colors are changing.
The baby is crawling, saying mama and dada, pointing to things, singing little songs and becoming much more complex in his babbles and emotions... It's truly easy to see how moms can become SO wrapped up in nothing but thier children. I try to maintain a healthy balance of outside interests. (They usually somehow wrap back around again to the kidlet) Scrapping booking! Pictures of the kidlet. Photography! Take photos of the kidlet. Cooking! Purees and menus for the kidlet. Driving a new car! Is is easy for the kidlet carseat? New clothes! Will the kidlet get them all messy and stretched out?
So you see until we get a new puppy (Likely this spring) I'll mostly focus on the kidlet from a day to day standpoint. Or Shane! HE HAS THE GROSSEST THUMB EVER!! He bought some vans, a car and an suv this weekend...while moving a seat out of one of the vans, it sprang back and almost chopped his thumb off!!! The skin on one side is totally missing. Not to mention the pain in all of the exposed nerve endings. I can hardly look at it without my fainting and gagging reflexes being turned on.
I have been doing a bit of canning this fall with Lori and Holly. Holly and I did bread and butter pickles and banana peppers. Lori and I have made pasta sauce and enchilada sauces. I'm feeling particularly domestic about all of this food preservation. Glad to be able to know how!
p.s. I see that people are catching up by reading my little bogs...hee hee, I mean blogs...feel free to post comments or subscribe!
Myspace Flashbacks part 3
Summer 2007
Some of my recent accomplishments include: Reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in three days. (I did like the way it ended, however, it is not my favorite of the series...soooo sad!!) Another thing I have been doing is walking a five mile streach two or three times a week. I take the stroller and the dog on these long excursions. It feels good to know that I can keep that up as often as I do, and that I’m strong enough to do them, considering 7 months ago it hurt too bad to walk up the stairs in my house to change the baby’s diaper. I FINALLY rented our apartment to a young couple and two young children, so that feels good, not having to think about that income for at least a few months. I had some more Autoplex onesies made for Nathan (so cute.) And today about our trek, we took it slower than usual and enjoyed the COOL weather and all of the smells that the rain had created! The musky smell of the old wood fences that line trails and meadows, the warm spicy smell of blooming flowers, the sound of the birds shaking water out of the leaves in the trees. Ohh it is a gorgeous day with heavy clouds down around the mountains and the cool crisp breeze that cuts through the heavy humidity hovering over the asphalt. We had rain much of last night at some sprinkles this morning...the clouds are still clinging to this small town and I’m glad of it. The sun tries to break once and a while...but fails to do a very convincing job. I hope this weather holds for the next two weeks!! But I’ll take it for however long it stays.
Gone for now... Current mood: sadToday is our 5th anniversary, which is a small landmark. However, this particular landmark was tainted with a bit of sadness...
My maternal grandmother, Verna Shepherd died this morning before 10:00 a.m. She had a stroke last Friday, which put her into a coma and she went peacefully from her hospice room.
Then, at about 4:30 this afternoon, Shane recieved a call from his step-dad, Kevin, that Shane's mother, Yvonne Petty died at her home from heart related problems.
As Julie just reminded me...they are the lucky ones. We're the only ones that are sad about them being gone. Still, I guess it's only human to mourn. We'll be seeing them again before we know it.
It can be more sad.
It is unfortunate that I must report that on our way back from Cedar City, we learned that Corbet died. It would appear that there was a miscommunication between Rita (who was taking care of Corbet initially) and my parents. They both thought that the other party was watching over him. It seems he died of exposure. We are super sad about the circumstances, but know that he's been a pretty happy puppy about his nine years of life.
Journal entry and Blades of Glory:
Here we are again, thinking about the interesting saga that is everyday life! From the new full fledged sloppy kisses I recieve from my baby, his love of raspberries (the actual berry) and his super intellegent patty-cake routines to my re-motivating myself to take the 5 mile hikes without Corbet and preparing for what is likely to be a soon aproaching Wyoming winter. New goals, motivations, hobbies, and interests are swimming in my head as I plan for the upcoming months with an increasingly mobile midget. We have returned to the lake and the results have been far more satisfactory than our first voyage, I'll get pictures soon The baby is sooo cute in a life vest floating in the lake. I have to get my CE credit for insurance before November if I'm going to maintain my licence. I'm going to have to visit Brooke in Sheridan before the weather is horrid. And perhaps I'll have some weddings, seniors or other picture-worthy events to capture to keep me going. So none of this is very interesting to the reading public and I apologize for that. Other than this....BLADES OF GLORY is one of my new favorite movies. If you have been putting off seeing it...DON'T! The best parts are the acutual skatings and comentaries...soo CLEVER! Some of the by-plot is less than captivating...but the performances make up for that. That's it, now you can't say you haven't heard from me.
Flashbacks from Myspace part 2
The little prince and reunion events: July 2007
On the 4th, Nathan fell asleep before the fireworks show at the rodeo grounds...which happens to be literally in our back yard. So through the cannon blasts and sparkling sizzles, Nathan slept. Even with the windows open and the blazes of light flashing in the windows....Nathan slept. So then when we came in to go to bed, Nathan continued to sleep on our king size, comfort sleep bed. We didn't want to move him to his crib and risk him waking. Therefore, we slept on the couches. Until four in the morning. Nathan is the beautiful little prince.
P.S. He did GREAT at the parade. This kid is soo darn mellow.
The 10 year class reunion was also this last week. Whoa. I did enjoy the reunion, but was a little dissappointed that more people didn't show. Especially when I knew that there were plenty of people actully living in Lander from our class that didn't make an appearance... Mostly it seems strange that almost no one has changed. At this point everyone pretty much buddied up with the people they would have in high school...I won't pretend I wasn't one of them. Thanks to Julie and the 140 cookies we baked for the picnic. Thanks to Holly, Jill, Lynnden and Amber for organizing this first 'experimental' reunion. Thanks to Shane for taking the class photo and for watching the baby for three nights in a row so I could party. Here's to the next 10 years!
Count Frisby
So, if you didn't know yet...I'll be playing the extremely dashing and mysterious Count Frisby in the Library Melodrama "Penelope, Pride of the Pickle Factory." I play an undercover FBI agent sent in to discover who the notorious Pickle Formula Theif is. Then I fall in love with Mrs. Bertha Blocker...founder of the Blocker Pickle Fortune. You can catch the excitement on July 13th at the church and on July 17th at the Library Carnegie room. Both performances are at 7:00 pm. Oh! And Shane has a bit part as a fireman! Next year, I hope to be able to play a woman.
We could be at the bottom of the sea!
Or at least at the bottom of the Boysen Resevior. So we went boating on 7/7/07 and it didn't go so smooth. We loaded onto the boat with plenty of food, drinks, sunscreen and so forth. Then we headed down the dock and into the water. The engines started. It was 97 degrees out. We stayed at the dock for about 10 minutes....or more....as the captains (3) tried and tried and tried to get the motors (2) in gear. Nathan and I stayed in the lower part of the ship....with sweat on our faces, sweat down out backs, sweat in places that we try not to think about in civilized conversation. THEN we went in gear...and went zooooming away from land. Ahhh the wonderful lake air...cooling almost all of the previously sweaty areas!! So to lunch, boxed KFC...however with no silverware or plates. We had chicken without sides...but plenty of cool bevrages to keep us with H20. Then the girls went out on the tube while the boat pulled them around. I got the baby to sleep. Then the storm. I consider waking baby to put on his baby life vest. But then resist. White Caps...sloshing waters...me, VERY sea sick, the girls on board, the boat to a cove, quickly. There we anchor for about an hour. It's now getting late...time to find our way home. Boat is heavy...one of the engines sounds bad. So my very handy husband opens the hatch to check on the engines....WATER. LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER! We could be sinking. Baby awake. Two buckets and two people bucketing out water as engines don't typically work well in water. And then came more white caps... We're in the middle of the lake, bucketing out water with an oncoming storm. Water in hatch a little lower, left engine working, right engine puttering out of power. Us SLOWLY making our way closer to shore. Both engines on...a little faster to shore when BANGGG! Captain kills the engines. Stranded on the lake. Right Engine back on...we make it to shore...boat flooded. Find out 'perhaps' one of the toilet plugs was not properly screwed in after being winterized. I remain sea sick hours after returning to shore...wonder why it feels like the bedroom is rocking back and forth. Huh...the first voyage...enough to make me wary for a while.
It was a HOTTTT one last night. We do have the new, industrial strength swamp cooler...but we can't leave that running all night...runs out of oil and water...and it's just not good on the motor. (And I think it's from the 1940's, no joke.) Sooo we restlessly tossed and turned in bed last night above the covers, with sweat beads all about our nooks and crevaces. (Not from Hanky Panky!!) About 1:00 in the morning, I find my incoherant body scratching mosquito bites. No big deal...we all get mosquito bites now and again. But five new big juicy bites have been extracted from my arms and legs. So back to sleep I go...then bolt awake from sleep to find a mosquito IN MY NOSE!! Smashed. So we start to nestle in again, after killing a flying pest or two when I look to my husbands knee...which has a HUGE, I mean you could eat this guy for a meal...HUGE grasshopper. Just crawling around on his leg looking at me with it's creepy beady eyes and wiggling it's nasty little antenea about.. (I HATE grasshoppers and millers worse than any bugs...this includes crickets, because they look like albino grasshoppers.) We try to settle down for another humid wink. Now it's about 4:00 am when Shane balks and finds an Army Ant crawling up through the jungle of his leg hairs. Back down again. Now there's something scratching Shane's back...luckily it turns out only to be a plastic clothes tag...but you can imagine how bug inclined we are at this point. 5:55 a.m. phone rings..it's dad with a question for Shane. 6:10 a.m. Baby is awake and ready to roll! How was your night??
Intruder alert
Remember my last blog, when we had all the bugs...so the next we had a cricket. I think I may have cursed myself by admitting to the cricket gods that I despise their kind. We found the nastly little pale, translucent crciket running abroad in our sheets holding up his little banner that read:" HA! I have conquered the bed of the humans and climbed upon their sleeping bodies to have them wake suddenly and fearfully. Long live the crickets!" This, of course, would be his last act on earth. Shane spilled the intruders pale guts. Long live the humans, says I.
Flashback's from Myspace
I started the world of blogging on Myspace several months ago, which, of course is inferior. And I have fairly cute stories on there that I would like to have here, so I don't lose them. So, you're getting some flashbacks - that aren't really flashbacks, but worth reading about, even if out of sequence.
Tradition: From 05/28/07
So, yesterday...it was almost like we lived in hurricane, ut....as the wind was horrible! But, alas, I was the only one home and it was up to me to keep up the memorial day tradition of driving down the alleys of Lander and stealing...I mean...collecting all of the flowering foliage to decorate Mom's grave. So with the baby in the car seat and with the trunk open and my pruning clippers at my side, we set to work lurking the dusty road. A trunkful of leaves, lilacs, honeysuckle, bridal veil and even some bleeding hearts created a lovely arrangment upon the grave. It was FAR to windy to place them in a flower pot, and even the ground arrangment blew over three times before I was done. But we did quietly, secretly and alone carry on the tradition of so many years! And we got smiles from heaven.
Dog and Stroller - what baggage! from June 2007
Today I have success. I have been trying to figure out how to take the dog and the baby on a walk. The baby is too heavy to put in a snuggli for lengths of time and holding the leash with one hand and pushing the stoller with the other...also too awkward. See, Corbet is a big dog and jerking him back on to the side walk gets exhausting after two or three good yanks. And if I leave him at home to go on a walk he howls...and howls and howls and howls until I return. You can ask the neighbors. (once a whole THREE HOUR stretch, we went to the park)
So today I looped the leash ONTO the stroller. It turns out that this is the best thing EVER! Corbet generally likes to wander away from me in a side to side pattern as opposed to a forward backward direction. This is fantastic because now he pulls on the stroller, which is a JEEP - all terrain stroller and it is resistant to such verticle stresses!! YEAH!! Now me and baby go forward and the dog tags along after trying to slide away to NO avail! We can now all go walking together in harmony. It is a good day.
P.S. I will be speaking on father's day Sunday.
The cow story at church: Father's Day 07
The talk is finished. I did fine, the content was fantastic.
During the talk I told a story about a time my father and I had to gut a cow on the side of the road. The brand inspector called, this cow had been hit in the head by an ambulance racing into town. Apparently the meat was good, only the head had damage...gross. So dad and I bundled up against the COLD Wyoming evening and set to gutting out a cow on the side of the highway. My job was to hold the back leg of the cow up in the air. (she was on her side.) Well, with the wind and cold, the only way for me to stay warm was to snuggle up against this animal. It was a very Empire Strikes Back moment like when Han puts Luke in the dead Tom Tom. So then some hours later after she was gutted, wenched up on flat bed truck and taken to the meat packers.....we find out. She is not our cow. She was laying on the side of the brand, only once she was delivered to the packers did we know.
This does not mean I like public speaking in church any more than I did before...it just means I told a cool story.
Tradition: From 05/28/07
So, yesterday...it was almost like we lived in hurricane, ut....as the wind was horrible! But, alas, I was the only one home and it was up to me to keep up the memorial day tradition of driving down the alleys of Lander and stealing...I mean...collecting all of the flowering foliage to decorate Mom's grave. So with the baby in the car seat and with the trunk open and my pruning clippers at my side, we set to work lurking the dusty road. A trunkful of leaves, lilacs, honeysuckle, bridal veil and even some bleeding hearts created a lovely arrangment upon the grave. It was FAR to windy to place them in a flower pot, and even the ground arrangment blew over three times before I was done. But we did quietly, secretly and alone carry on the tradition of so many years! And we got smiles from heaven.
Dog and Stroller - what baggage! from June 2007
Today I have success. I have been trying to figure out how to take the dog and the baby on a walk. The baby is too heavy to put in a snuggli for lengths of time and holding the leash with one hand and pushing the stoller with the other...also too awkward. See, Corbet is a big dog and jerking him back on to the side walk gets exhausting after two or three good yanks. And if I leave him at home to go on a walk he howls...and howls and howls and howls until I return. You can ask the neighbors. (once a whole THREE HOUR stretch, we went to the park)
So today I looped the leash ONTO the stroller. It turns out that this is the best thing EVER! Corbet generally likes to wander away from me in a side to side pattern as opposed to a forward backward direction. This is fantastic because now he pulls on the stroller, which is a JEEP - all terrain stroller and it is resistant to such verticle stresses!! YEAH!! Now me and baby go forward and the dog tags along after trying to slide away to NO avail! We can now all go walking together in harmony. It is a good day.
P.S. I will be speaking on father's day Sunday.
The cow story at church: Father's Day 07
The talk is finished. I did fine, the content was fantastic.
During the talk I told a story about a time my father and I had to gut a cow on the side of the road. The brand inspector called, this cow had been hit in the head by an ambulance racing into town. Apparently the meat was good, only the head had damage...gross. So dad and I bundled up against the COLD Wyoming evening and set to gutting out a cow on the side of the highway. My job was to hold the back leg of the cow up in the air. (she was on her side.) Well, with the wind and cold, the only way for me to stay warm was to snuggle up against this animal. It was a very Empire Strikes Back moment like when Han puts Luke in the dead Tom Tom. So then some hours later after she was gutted, wenched up on flat bed truck and taken to the meat packers.....we find out. She is not our cow. She was laying on the side of the brand, only once she was delivered to the packers did we know.
This does not mean I like public speaking in church any more than I did before...it just means I told a cool story.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Child Height Predictor
I measured N.Q. today. He is just over 3 ft. tall. I plugged that into the babycenter.com Child Height Predictor and (as I suspected) my child may get kinda tall :)
Your boy will likely be 6 ft. 2 in. at age 18.
Young men often continue to grow a little past 18 until they reach 21, but their height at age 18 is very close to their final adult height. This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used* there is a 50 percent chance that your boy's full-grown height will be within 0.8 inches (above or below) of this prediction, and a 90 percent chance that it will be within 2.1 inches.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Petty's Puppy
Here he is! The sweet, new addition to Petty's Place. We have yet to settle on a name, I'm calling him Jasper. Nathan is calling him Jack, as he associates the puppy with Jack (because the pup comes from Jack's family) and Shane actually has yet to lay eyes on him. So Shane doesn't call him anything....yet. (That should change in about 30 minutes.) If you have any suggestions, we're willing to listen!He's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Here's what the AKC says:
"AKC MEET THE BREEDS®: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is an elegant, energetic toy breed that is compatible for city or country life. Successful in conformation shows, obedience and agility, they also make wonderful therapy dogs due to their sweet, gentle natures. The breed also became a TV star when featured on "Sex and the City" as Charlotte York’s dog. Their silky coats come in four colors – Blenheim (chestnut and white), Tricolor (black, white, and tan), Ruby (solid red) and Black and Tan.
A Look Back
For centuries, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (a namesake of King Charles II of Britain) has been recorded in paintings and tapestries together with their aristocratic families. It is obvious from these works of art that Cavaliers were a luxury item and lived "the easy life" as housepets. Though used successfully for shooting small game, the Cavalier’s true purpose has always been that of companion.
Right Breed for You?
Friendly and easy to train, the Cavalier is a trustworthy companion for children and thrives as part of a family. The coat requires weekly brushing, but no trimming. The breed is adaptable in their need for exercise, happy with either sleeping on the couch or taking long walks.
Toy Group; AKC recognized in 1995.
Average size: 12 to 13 inches tall at the shoulder and between 13 and 18 pounds.
Companion."
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