Token

I was out shopping yesterday at my new favorite store looking for cute things to put in my hair to help me until it grows out, and I found this:

I'm not actually participating in Self-Portrait Tuesday, but this made me think of it. I don't have any kind of good luck charm myself, and I didn't dress up for St. Patrick's Day. But if I ever wanted a little token to keep with me, I think I might just go buy this.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

After many months of not getting around to getting a hair cut, I finally went in on Saturday to fix that. I just went to the local Fantastic Sams down the street from my house. It's right next to the gym, which was my real destination, so it was convenient. They were very slow and actually had a bit of a discussion over who got me. I jokingly said I wanted whoever was best, but got whoever was next on the list.

I told her I knew I had a lot of damage, but I was hoping to keep as much length as possible. I also said I wanted some long layers in it. After playing with my hair a bit, she commented that I didn't really have any layers, and I said again I like my layers long.

Normally my favorite part of getting my hair cut is getting my scalp rubbed during shampooing. Sadly, there was none of that. I'm not even sure she got the roots of my hair when shampooing. She really concentrated on the ends. But that's not my real complaint. After shampooing, she combed my hair out and started to cut. The first thing she did was pull the front of my hair down in front of my face and before I knew it, SHE GAVE ME BANGS!! I haven't had bangs in years, and for good reason, and I certainly didn't ASK for bangs. But that was her very first cut. And it just got worse from there.

I lost about 5 inches in length, I have horrible, choppy, uneven layers, and the layers she did give me are all short! The layers stop a few inches from the end, then the bottom few inches are all the same length. This is quite possibly the worst hair cut I have had in my adult life. I've tried doing my hair curly (I looked like a poodle), I tried just blow drying it (it looks like an old lady cut), and I've tried straightening it with my flat iron (which just makes the unevenness and choppiness of the layers super obvious), and it's too short to even pull all of it back in a ponytail! I can get the back of it up, but the front of my hair just falls down around my face.

I didn't realize the cut was so bad before I left because I was just going to the gym, so I didn't even bother having her blow dry it. I just tied my bandanna around my head and left. It wasn't until after my shower later in the day that I realized how bad everything was.

No, I did not take a picture to show you because I don't want a record of this horrible cut. Until I figure out some way to make it look good, I'll be avoiding cameras. I guess the moral of the story is, when you have an option, don't just take the next hairdresser on the list. Find out who the best is and wait for that person. Or find yourself a good hairdresser and stick to them!

A beginning and an end

Because of the change in our ward boundaries coming up, last night was my last night hosting our recipe Enrichment group for my ward. As of next month I'll be in a new ward! I was a little sad to see it end, at least for the time being. We had 4 women in attendance (that included me), which is about average. This group never had the time it needed to build up a good group coming, though many women expressed interest in the group. We had a fun night talking about anything and everything that came to mind. Two of us made stuffed mushrooms, but they were so different it was nice to have them both. There was also a cold spinach dip served with french bread, a pineapple cheese ball, and a warm cheesy bread. It was all excellent. I'm glad I started this group, and I'm hoping someone liked it enough that they'll keep it going after the boundary changes. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to start it up again in my new ward. I'll let you know if I do.

So that was the ending. As for the beginning, I am officially a soccer mom! We signed Rachel and Tyler up for soccer and they both had their first practices this week. This will be a short season, just two months, so it'll be just enough for them to get a sense of the game and if they want to play in more established leagues (and it will give me an idea if it's worth paying for a more established league before I put in a lot of money into something they end up not enjoying). We ended up with great coaches for both kids. Tyler's coach is our neighbor, and her daughter, along with the little girl across the street are both on his team. This is really great for me since some of his practices will be at the same time as Rachel's gymnastics class, so he can go with them. Rachel's coach is also named Rachael, and it's a mother of one of the kids in her class, so she's met her several times. Both coaches have several years of experience and really know what they're doing. Not all teams have that. The district had more than double the expected number of kids sign up, so they called pretty much every parent who had a child signed up asking for people who would coach. As difficult as we're already finding it to get two kids to practices and games (and gymnastics for all three still), I'm excited that my children have shown interest in soccer. Scott played for years as a kid and really wanted his kids to play as well. We didn't push this at all, they told us about it (repeatedly). Rachel even read the flier she brought home from school and marked the last day for sign ups on the calendar to make sure we didn't forget! So we're off to start on our next adventure, this one being soccer. :)

Oh, I also had my first piano lesson last week! It was just an evaluation to see what I knew and what I didn't so he could start with a lesson plan for me, but even that was exciting and fun for me! I can't wait to see what I'm able to do with his help.

Fizzy Joys: unseasonably warm days, pumpkin candles, laughter, fresh fruit in season.

It makes me want to cry...

I found out today that in two weeks time, they will be changing boundaries for almost all of the wards in my stake. This most definitely includes my ward. And I've found out from a very reliable source (my bishop) that we will be changing wards. This has happened to us in the past, and I know this is a normal process, but this is a really difficult division for me. I feel more attached to my current ward than any other ward I've been in. I really feel like I belong in this ward, like I have a place here, and that I'm loved and wanted. I LOVE my calling and finally feel like I'm doing it well. Our primary is running smoothly with wonderful teachers and great kids who I have grown to love. My kids, especially Becca, adore their teachers. To be honest, losing Becca's teacher is actually the hardest part of this. Sister Bills has been the sunbeam teacher since Tyler was a sunbeam. She's been looking forward to getting Becca since she got the calling. These two seem to have a really special bond. Becca just adores her teacher, and is more attached to her than pretty much anyone she's ever known outside the immediate family. And after only 2 1/2 months together, they're being separated. I'm heartbroken over it. Sister Bills is heartbroken over it (she spent the majority of the day in tears, and the split won't even be happening for two weeks), and I'm sure Becca will be heartbroken when she understands what's going on. I know changes can be good, and I do believe the Lord's work is being done, but I'm still sad about what I will be leaving behind.

In case you didn't know...

DDR for the 360 is here!! I know because Scott came home with it tonight! I have to say, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've gone through all the practice lessons, and very much enjoyed the "lite" version of the game, but the one thing I did in the regular version I failed miserably at! I guess I'll see if I can do a little better tomorrow. :) Anyway, in case you didn't know, I thought I'd let you know it's out and I have it. Any advice or tips anyone has to share would be greatly appreciated!

Sigh...

It's snowing. But it's not the fun kind of snow, it's dry and small and COLD, the kind that doesn't really stick, it just causes problems.

Becca is sick again. She was complaining of ear pain yesterday (but says she's fine now), but she has a fever again and doesn't want to eat.

My friend I trade babysitting with brought her kids over today even though they have diarrhea.

Becca's car seat is in Scott's car, so I can't leave the house today.

I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night.

I need a bright side to look on. Anyone have any suggestions?

Edited 7:30 PM: Becca and Tyler are both throwing up now. Just when I thought we were finally healthy...

Quite a prize...

The first graders at my kids school were challenged at the beginning of the year to read 100 books by the end of the year. This was a challenge Rachel took to with enthusiasm. Of course they were promised a prize if they did it, and Rachel finished her first hundred books quite some time ago. But we've continued to count her books and send in her book lists. Last week she hit 200 books! Nobody else has anywhere close to that many books, not in the entire first grade. The next closest is 110. And today she came home with her prize from her teacher for her hard work. It was quite a prize.

Included was a darling Hello Kitty pink book bag, two little notebooks (Rachel's favorite thing in the world), three little gel pens in pretty colors, Hello Kitty stickers, Strawberry Shortcake cards, and a $10 gift card to Target! She got all of that just for reading! I'm pretty amazed at how far her teacher goes to encourage her.

As we approached 200 books, with so much time left in the school year, I've been encouraging her to go for 300 books, but she's fought me on it. Then I talked to her teacher and told her I would appreciate it if she would encourage Rachel in this. Of course she's happy to do so. So I told Rachel her teacher wanted her to go for 300 books. She didn't miss a beat before she said, "Okay, I'll do it." Just like that, she was ready to do it. Do you think she likes her teacher? :)

Oh, and if she makes it to 300 by the end of the school year, she gets to order pizza to eat with her teacher.

Aren't we done yet?

For the past week, we've been sick in this house. There hasn't been a day when there hasn't been someone sick. It started with me. I woke up last Monday with a fever and a lump in the back of my throat that was very painful and made it difficult to swallow. (I can't imagine what I would have done without Russian Tea!) On Wednesday I found out it was strep and was given penicillin. Within 36 hours I was feeling significantly better. But I wasn't the only one sick.

Tuesday, the day after I first got sick, Rachel woke up with a fever too. But not once did she complain of a sore throat, so nobody thought she had strep. She had a fever for three days, as I did, but when hers broke, she ended up with a pretty nasty cough that no medicine could touch. She's doing much better now, with just the last remnants of the cough, so she's finally back in school.

It was a relief when she woke up Friday without a fever, but by lunch time, Tyler had one too. But his wasn't the 101-102 degree fevers Rachel and I had, his came in at 105!! After not hearing back from the doctor's office, I finally got a hold of a consulting nurse. She said as long as he had no other symptoms, wasn't getting dehydrated, and medicine was helping to bring the fever down (does it count when ibuprofen and Tylenol combined only brings it down to 103?), that he would be fine and there was no need to bring him in. We medicated him heavily and often, and he seemed mostly fine. But if we missed a dose, he became lethargic and miserable. Both my fever and Rachel's lasted three days, so we were all set to deal with his for about the same amount of time. Imagine our surprise when he got up on Sunday morning, just a day and a half after the fever first hit, with a completely normal temperature. He does have a slight cough, but nothing like Rachel's was. I just have to say, I do not like fevers that high. They scare me. And I hated seeing my little boy suffer like that.

Sunday morning Tyler may have woken up normal, but Becca did not. Each one of my kids has had slightly different symptoms for whatever this illness is. Becca's fever is about 102, which is closer to Rachel, but she's been the only one who vomited. And that she did just once, Monday morning. She didn't want to eat for most of the day, just wanted water, and nothing could get her off the couch. My other kids were at least active when medicated. We are on her third day of a fever, so I am hoping it is her last. It's been more than a week of sickness in this house, and I am ready to be done with it! We've washed all the bedding and disinfected all the surfaces in the house. Let's just pray Scott doesn't come down with it next!!

Fizzy joys: ibuprofen, clean sheets and blankets, Russian tea, snuggling with my kids, someone else to make dinner, Dr. Seuss books, sun breaks, fleece blankets.

Tagged, I think...

Jenn sort of tagged me to do this (Does it count if there's a question mark?), and I thought it was cute, so I'm doing it!

6 Weird Things About Me

1. I love peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

2. I won't take medicine unless I absolutely have to.

3. I don't like artificial light.

4. Taking a shower is a chore, not something I enjoy.

5. Exercising makes me happy.

6. I think smoking should be illegal.

6 Things That Make Me Happy (Right Now)

1. Penicillin

2. Braeburn apples and green grapes on sale

3. Piano lessons :)

4. Rebecca's smile

5. Listening to Tyler and Rachel read

6. Mulberry candles

I don't really have anyone else to tag since Jenn tagged Mom and sisters and that's about all who read my blog. But I may take this over to MySpace and get a few people there to do it!

Valentine's Day

As a general rule, I'm not very fond of Valentine's Day. I don't like forced sentiment, and to be honest, my husband isn't very good at that kind of thing. But this year I had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day, all thanks to my amazing husband!

First off, he created a really great online riddle game for me. It's along the same lines as weffriddles, if you're familiar with that at all. I've been sick all week (strep throat) and he knows I've been going a little stir crazy, so he knew I would appreciate the entertainment. And entertaining it was, and fun, and creative, and challenging. It was so much fun! I loved it.

Then he came home with my REAL present. PIANO LESSONS! Yep, he arranged for me to be able to take piano lessons. I get an evaluation to see where I'm at and what I need, then 20 lessons after that. I couldn't be more excited, and he could not have done better for a gift. I accepted a long time ago that my husband is not the best at gift giving, but he completely blew me away this year. They say the best gifts are those that are creative and unique to the person you're giving to (as opposed to something like red roses or a box of chocolates that everyone gives). Scott hit the mark dead on.

Even though I have strep throat and basically haven't been able to eat or sleep in days, Scott's thoughtfulness and love made yesterday by far the best Valentine's Day I have ever had. Thank you, Babe. I love you!!

Happy Birthday Becca!

Today my baby turns 4. I can't believe she's so old! I thought I'd follow the example set by others and make a list of some of my favorite things about my wonderful little girl.

1. She has the best smile I've ever seen.
2. She wants to be friends with everyone she meets.
3. She is definitely a fashionista in training.
4. Hearing her count in Spanish always makes me laugh. "Una, dos, bles, watto..."
5. Her excitement is contagious, and she gets excited over everything!
6. She loves to share.
7. She has stopped cutting her own hair!
8. She says funny things every single day, many times a day.
9. She loves to cheer other people on, and she'll cheer herself on.
10. She loves to shake her booty and dance.
11. She is adamant that you call her by her name, whatever name she happens to have chosen for the day.
12. She is incredibly smart and learns so fast!
13. She LOVES Sunbeams.
14. She wants to be everything when she grows up. Nothing is out of reach for her.
15. She loves digging in the dirt as much as wearing nail polish.
16. She is fearless!
17. A kiss can still make everything all better for her.
18. Her bear hugs can knock you to the ground, and she loves giving them.
19. When she does something, she does it with all her energy.
20. She wants so much to do everything her older brother and sister do, and most of the time she can do it.
21. She runs nonstop until she drops in her tracks.
22. Her mood can change from happy to devastated to overjoyed in a matter of seconds.
23. Everything is her favorite!
24. She wants to include everyone in everything she does.

25. She is generous with her love and affection.

I am so lucky to have my Becca. Every day I am thankful for her. Becca (or Jo Jo or Pinky or Baby or whoever you are today), I LOVE YOU!

I'm not dead, I promise!

I know, it's been forever and a day since I've blogged. I'm not even sure I can tell you why or what I've been doing. But I'm almost never home, and even when I am I have a difficult time finding time to get to blogs. So I'm sorry I haven't been reading or commenting on your blogs. I'm going to try to be better about that. And I'll try to update all of you on what's been going on with me. Since it's getting close to midnight, I'll be brief tonight, but I promise to work harder at keeping you updated!

Becca had her birthday party yesterday. Her birthday isn't actually until Tuesday, but we wanted Scott's family to be able to come, so we had her party on Saturday. We decided to do an ice cream party, and it was a huge success! We had a couple of buckets of ice cream and a bunch of different toppings so everyone could pick what they wanted on their sundaes. I'll try to get pics up tomorrow of that. Now she's thrilled to be 4 (even though she's not quite yet), and she had a wonderful time at her pink ice cream party.

Tyler had the interesting experience of losing his first two teeth within a few days of each other, both in public! His first tooth came out in Jack in the Box. We were done with dinner, killing time in between gymnastics classes, and I decided to wiggle it a little. To everyone's surprise, it came out! Then a few days later, he was wiggling his other tooth in the middle of Sacrament meeting, and to everyone's shock, it came out too! He pulled out his own tooth! It was hilarious.

Rachel is thriving in school. I'm wowed at how quickly she is absorbing knowledge. She has also, after just one term, been moved up into the advanced grade school gymnastics class at The Little Gym. Her skills there are progressing rapidly, and I'm constantly amazed by her and how much she can do in every aspect of her life.

I'm actually getting to the gym again. I trade babysitting with a friend every morning, so from about 10:30-11:30 every morning, you'll find me at the gym! It feels really great to get back to it. I feel better, I'm lag less during the day, and I actually sleep better at night. I'm not sure what else I have to say about my life. I'm back to no dessert in my diet, I'm finally feeling competent in my calling at church, and I've made so much of Jenn's popcorn for my friends that it's becoming famous!

Scott is doing well. He mostly still likes his job, even though he works late most days. He enjoys his calling and is overall happy and busy. He's enjoying his X-Box 360. It took him less than 2 weeks to finish Halo 2!

So we're all (mostly) healthy and happy and doing well!

BRRR....

(This will be my second attempt at this post as I lost power again when writing it the first time!)

Did you hear about our weather? I hear it made the national news. Not that I saw ANY news, national or local, on it.

Thursday night we had a pretty major wind storm come through the area. It raged all night long knocking over fences, trees, power lines, trampolines, and anything that wasn't nailed down. It was fierce and powerful. We had a tree come down a few blocks from our house knocking out our power about 5:30 Thursday evening. I had my first Enrichment class that night, so you can imagine how disappointing it was for me to come home to darkness. (We did the class anyway, just by candlelight and with only the bravest few.) We hoped power would be back up by morning, but that was not to be. We woke up to learn most of our area was in a blackout. More than a million people were without power. And it was COLD. Inside my house was about 55 degrees when we woke up, but it was easily 20 degrees colder outside.

My neighbor and I took our kids up to the mall where there was power, but nothing on our way up to the mall did. It was like that was the lone grid with power in a sea of darkness. Then my neighbor talked to her husband who is a lineman for Qwest. They were told not to expect power back to our area for 3-6 days! And then came the weather forecast that predicted snow!

But we were one of the lucky ones. My neighbor was able to tell the power company exactly where the tree hit that knocked out our particular area, and when we were coming home we saw two power trucks pull over right at that spot! About 2 hours later, my lights (and heat!) came on!! I can't tell you how excited we were. My kids were dancing around and cheering the lights, and I was saying a heartfelt prayer of thanks.

My power did flicker a couple of times, and even went off completely for about 5 seconds at one point (when I was attempting this blog the first time). But we've been fine ever since. And we are lucky. At church yesterday we learned that there are still many people in our ward without power, and the majority of the ward got their power back Sunday morning. So it has been a cold, long weekend for many. I am grateful we got our heat back so quickly. 24 hours without power was an adventure. Much more than that would have been pretty miserable.

But it's still COLD!

Easy as can be!

Thank you Jenn for giving me your incredibly easy and oh so yummy popcorn recipe!

I know it's not nearly as cute as yours, but for a first try I thought it turned out really well! I probably should have drizzled more chocolate, but I loved how it turned out! So thank you so much! I'm sure this will quickly become a favorite at my house!

Real beats fake any day!

After a decade with our fake tree, we decided it was just too sad to pull out yet again, so Friday night the family took a little outing to go pick out a live Christmas tree! There was a lot about 2 miles from the house, so we didn't even have to go far. Just walking onto the lot made me smile. I LOVE that smell! We spent about 20 minutes debating over size and shape and finally found one everybody was happy with. But when we got it home, we realized it was a little too big to fit exactly where we wanted it! It is quite a bit bigger than our little fake tree. Add to that the fact that my kids broke most of our ornaments last year, and our nice tree is looking a little sad. We are definitely in need of more ornaments. (Mom, is there any chance I'll ever get MY ornaments from when I was a kid? I'd love to have them if you're ever willing to part with them!) But you can't beat the smell. Every time I walk into my front room I smell it all over again. The smell does permeate all over the house, but obviously it's strongest in the room the tree is in. And it's wonderful. All the pine candles in the world can't duplicate this smell. I would much rather have a real tree with very few ornaments over a fake tree all decked out. The wonderful aroma makes it totally worth it! It is definitely my fizzy joy of the day!

Lazy?

I've noticed only Jenn has posted a blog since we got home from the cruise, and she's only posted one. What is up with us?? Are we just lazy about blogging? I know we're not lazy in our every day lives. I know we're all busy and getting back to real life has been difficult, at least for me, but we're better than this, aren't we? I want to know what's going on in your lives! Where are my sisters at? Where are Mom's deep thoughts? Where are the blogs???

I made divinity and Valerie's caramels last week. The divinity turned out perfectly and I did a much better job on the caramels this time, though this time they ended up a little bit hard instead of too soft. I'll be making both again next week along with all my other Christmas candy. The problem is I want to make it, but I don't want to eat it all! The calories are killing me, especially after the cruise. I wish you were all here to eat it for me!

Fizzy joys: divinity and caramel, having a kitchen-aid mixer, a brand new box of tissues, unexpected telephone calls from old friends, finding the perfect gift.

Ready for a change!

I've decided I think I am going to be the most grateful out of all of us for the change of weather we're going to get on the cruise. Have you heard about our weather the last week and a half? With the constant rain, flooding all over the area, power outages (three times and counting at my house), and winds so strong it blows cars off the road and half my fence down (well, maybe not half, but several sections), I'm ready for a little fun in the sun!! So bring it on! Mexico, here I come!

Believe it or not, I'm actually really enjoying the wind. In fact, I'm liking it so much, it's my fizzy joy for the day! I love the way it makes everything smell clean. I love how refreshed I feel when it blows directly on my face. I even laughed today at how my hair was constantly getting caught in my lip gloss! Why did I even bother to put it on?

Am I crazy?

I just volunteered to start and run a new Enrichment group for my ward! I don't know what I was thinking. Except that I thought the idea was wonderful (thank you Mom!) and I really wanted to do it. I figured this was the only way it would get done, so I'm organizing it!

It's going to be a cooking group, but the way it's going to work is we're going to have a category for the month, and everyone is going to come having cooked something from that category. We can compare recipes, talk about what we've found that works and what doesn't, and have some kind of demonstration on the topic. At the end of the night you'll get to take home any of the recipes you want, and we're even looking into getting recipe notebooks to keep them all together.

Our first class is Thursday, December 14th at my house. Our topic will be Christmas candy. I'm actually really excited about this one, and I personally plan on making 3 or 4 different things. The women I've talked to about this seem really excited about it, so I hope it's as fun and successful as it sounds.

Future topics I've been considering: breads and rolls, casseroles, Mexican food, brownies, food storage, cookies, and cheesecake. Any other thoughts on what I can do? What would you like to see in a class like this? I've never done anything like this, so I'm a little worried about how to make it a success. I would love any thoughts any of you have!

Oh, I've also volunteered to start up a book club. It won't be under the umbrella of the Relief Society since our Stake President won't allow it, but my guess is it'll be almost entirely women from my ward. I'll have to deal with that when I get back from Mexico too!

Halloween

I forgot to blog on Halloween! I'll be brief, but in case you were wondering, here's a picture of my kids.

Rachel was a gogo dancer, complete with knee high boots (which she already owned). Rebecca was a cheerleader, a costume chosen over a princess costume. Tyler was a karate master, even though it's actually a tai kwan do outfit. Becca carried her pompoms for all of about 4 houses before she asked me to carry them. And they were all bundled up so much it was hard to see what any of them were! But Becca was really good about telling everyone at every house that she was a cheerleader. We walked around our entire neighborhood, which took a little over an hour. Their candy buckets were full! They whined and complained for at least half the walk, but by the time we got home, they said it had been lots of fun. Go figure.

We also got the little necklaces and bracelets that glow in different colors for my kids. This was the best thing I've done. Each kid was a different color, with a bracelet on each arm plus a necklace I could see from the front and the back. In times when they got caught up in large groups at a door, it was very easy for me to spot my own kids and keep track of them. It made the entire night much easier.

I didn't have the time that day to do the full Halloween dinner we usually do, so I came up with something a little different. Of course we did the spider dogs. My kids love those. But I also made "pumpkin cakes." It was just potato pancakes with food coloring added to make them orange. My kids loved it! And it was pretty simple to do. So if you're looking for something different to add to your Halloween dinner, this worked great.

That's my Halloween recap. It's not much, but at least you can see how cute my kids were!

Relief

I had sort of a rough week. Besides being busier than normal, my babysitter for the first half of the week of the cruise cancelled on me!! I was so upset I was almost in tears. I had 2 1/2 weeks until we were to leave and 4 days of no child care! So it's been stressful for me. But I am happy to report that I have solved that dilemma and I now have child care arranged for all 8 days we will be gone, as well as transportation to and from the airport! There are still a few minor details to work out, but overall the main issues are taken care of! I am so relieved. And I'm happy with the arrangements. I don't feel like I'm going to need to worry about my kids, who they're with, or if they're happy or being well cared for. So now I feel like I can finally be excited about the cruise! And we are. Very excited! We'll see you all in 2 weeks!

Fizzy Joys: Cheddar chowder, Halloween candy, a full moon, pumpkin candles, and new lip gloss.