Been There, Done That.

AJ ordered his I-touch. (Thanks to his uncle JW and AAFES for helping with that!) He's excited for it to arrive. That boy has saved his pennies, man. And now, the pay-off. He had enough saved from all of the birthday and Christmas cash he was given, along with money he earned last summer. It's interesting to watch his friends be given these kinds of toys willy-nilly as AJ earns his cent by cent.

CC exchanged a few items at some stores today and was able to pick up some more suitable things for herself. She is so good at shopping. That blows my mind. She finds great bargains. Not to mention terrific stuff that looks good on her. I'd never be able to put these things together myself. She's got some outstanding skills.

The perfume she got today is out-of-this world!

Chocolate has been my companion today. The darker the better, I always say. In between I've enjoyed plenty of Bugles as well. You know what bugles are, don't you? Those salty corn crisps shaped like little horns of plenty. Empty calories of crunchy goodness.

Oh, my heck. I just looked at the time. 4 am. What am I doing online? I've got church in 5 hours.

I'm losing it. ......shutty....!

10K GOLDEN

LL sent me a sweet thing for Christmas that I have to tell you about.

It's a little read box with this written in sharpie across the top:
"They aren't much but remember someone (me) loves you every time you put them on."

Inside is a sweet set of golden earrings with hearts on them filled with crystals.

She always knows how to get to me. The best sis ever.

Up til now I've kept this hush hush but it is safe now to say:

Christmas threw up on us this year! All over our house. We have carved pathways through the loot, kinda like hoarders do through their stacks of valuable old newspapers. We've been eating better than we ever have before from all of the cases and cases of food. There's so much that we've inventoried it and stashed it in random places around the house. Just hope we don't lose the list or we won't know where we put the cream of chicken soup!

I know that the givers want to be anonymous. TOUGH NOOGIES! Shep, H. and H's family are the culprits. Yep, that's right. They brought two huge deliveries over a couple of months and we are still digging our way through it all.

BUSTED, you guys. And thanks so much for the rescue. That's just what we needed.

Fröhliche Weinachten!

Merry Christmas, world.

Those shepherds who were watching their sheep were so lucky! What a cool message to hear. What a fantastic thing to go see.

Simple.

Awesome.

O, du Fröhliche.

Alle Jahre wieder kommt das Christus Kind auf die Erde nieder, wo wir Menschen sind.

Dear Elder

Quick post:

LL says her boy was at the airport today waiting to fly off to Guadalajara.

Good luck, Tan-man. We are so proud of you!!

Check out his testimony in his blog (>>>>>click the pic in the right column to go to his blog>>>>>>>>>)

Christmas Spirit

What Shall We Give?

Decked Out

FINAL-LY

Done.

Finals are over for this semester. Yeah, I passed. I won't know what my scores are cuz they were short answer tests that have to be graded by hand. I did find out that I got a 95 on those maps that I posted earlier. That's right, people. Chomp down on it!

Something good happened today. I went to the bookstore to sell back my textbooks. I also took a pile of older textbooks with me that I tried to sell back before but they wouldnt' take them. It was worth a shot. The good news is they bought back all but three of the total set of books I brought in. Yeah, boy! Tcha-ching!! I got back enough to pay for almost half of the books I'll need next semester. Hey, it ain't much but it helps. Right?

Last week was AJ's band concert, Saturday was CC's dance recital and tonight was CC's choir concert. They are such awesome kids. It is so cool to see them take part in things and put themselves "out there". I admire them for that. I wish I'd been more like that myself. You know, out there trying things and stepping outside the box once in a while. Sure, everybody cares what others think and worries about being seen as a screw up. Beyond that, however, there are those who venture forth anyway and those who just watch. Is it too late to be a venturer?

My new calling: Primary Secretary!! Could it be more perfectly timed? No decisions to make. I even have an assistant who makes the copies, knocks on doors, puts up signs, passes around flyers... All I have to do is submit a quarterly attendance report and assign talks or prayers. AWESOME! My kids think I'll be bored to tears on Sundays when all I do is sit at a table in the back for a couple of hours. Maybe. We'll see. I may just get a lot of Ensign reading done.

Tonight I made the best, most savory chicken pot pie in history! It only had: 1 piece of chicken, 1 potato, a spoonful of corn, a spoonful of peas, a smidge of carrots, a pinch of onion flakes, 1 chicken boullion, 1 can cream of chicken soup. All into a pie shell and baked for 40 minutes. Simple, cheap and SO good! Can you believe it? I actually made something that we all liked for dinner. It's the end of the world as we know it....

Ma said her friend Marlene went in to hospital in Grand Junction to have a hip replaced but now she won't wake up. It's got ma kinda freaked out cuz Marlene is such a good friend to her. I told her we'd keep both Marlene and herself in our prayers. Ma's still battling that shingles junk and dealing with her back pains. What a long time to have to put up with all that baloney!

What do I want for Christmas?

Look What I Can Do

Yep, that's right folks. I can officially create maps for all occasions. Wanna harvest timber in the Uintah National Forest? I can find the right spots. Wanna See what hazards await you in Happy Valley? I can map that. Wanna see a flow chart of how to do it all? I can do that too.

Woop-dee-doo!!!

Took one final today. You know that feeling when you walk out of the test and instantly know the answers that you were drawing a blank on before? HAD IT! All I can say at this point is that it is over and I passed.

Am I the only one who chokes on exams? Not all exams, but certain types. The picky-oo-nee types that clog my brain with trivial details in mass quantities.

Anyway, it's done.

Next week--three more finals. The testing center is my friend, though. I really like to take tests in there. I do much better there. Could it be because there are more prayers uttered in that building than anywhere else on earth??? The Grant Building is my buddy.

Wish me luck.

What's Eating Me

I'm so sick of making he same things for supper over and over and over. Aren't you sick of it too? More often than not, the kids don't even want supper anymore. They aren't hungry or they just would rather eat cereal or something. They call it a "can we have a whatever we want dinner tonight?".

Mac-n-cheese with hotdogs
Spaghetti & garlic toast
Turkey burgers & oven potatoes
Fish Sticks & rice
Tuna patties & rice

Sometimes....chicken enchiladas, stew, meatloaf.

Yesterday I cooked a turkey dinner and for the first time in my life the ENTIRE dinner turned out perfectly! And what a welcomed feast after fasting all day. But today, nobody but me wants leftovers.

So, is this a phase or is this a commentary on my culinary crappiness?

The other thing is that I like to eat some things that are simple and easy but the kids don't care for them. Like chili and grilled cheese sandwiches (CC will join me on occasion) or Tuna and noodles (AJ makes it for himself sometimes).

When I approach the pantry cupboards I draw a blank. All that food, all of that potential and no place to call home. Tsk tsk.

It's also true that things taste better if somebody else makes them. Trouble with that theory is that it implies that there is someone "else" around to do so.

I want a pot pie. A chicken pot pie. A nice fresh chicken pot pie. Lean white meat and fresh veggies in a smooth gravy and a flaky crust. I WANNA POT PIE, PEOPLE!

oR nOt...

Ooooooooo, I just thought of having a tuna sandwich and some chocolate milk. Cya.

Alles Weiss

Leise rieselt der Schnee.

Freue dich, Kristkind kommt bald.

Clay-more

Like Stone said about me the other day:

I keep reaching into the empty clay pot and pulling out one more handful of meal.

Cashing In

All my kids want for Christmas this year is cash. That's all they wanted for their birthdays too.

--I remember when I was young, it was a no-no to give cash as a gift. My granny Dot and grandpa Lou would send a check to my parents and call it our Christmas from them. I recall it being a sore spot with my folks because it appeared that granny and grandpa were taking an easy way out instead of taking time to pick out gifts for us and send them. We kids probably wouldn't have even known about their check if it hadn't been a "big deal".

--The granny and grandpa that I remember were emotionally detached and distant, that's true. But the fact that they even bothered to fill out a check, address an envelope and send it to us was probably as much effort as they could muster. I mean, they didn't have to send anything at all, did they. They could very well have just let the season pass without a gesture of any sort. I think it's kinda nice that they made an effort in spite of the fact that it didn't sit well with the folks at the time.

--One year, about the time LL was born, granny sent a box to us for Christmas. I don't remember what else was in the box except one item: a wonderful white fur (faux) coat for me. Really? I was so excited. It had a collar and it was double-breasted with two rows of buttons on the front. A beautiful coat for me. Just for me. Not a hand-me-down, not a boy's coat castoff. A sweet girly coat just for me. So why couldn't I put it on? It reeked of smoke and the folks wouldn't let me near it. Granny and grandpa were chain smokers and the coat smelled like it. The coat spent days airing out but never really lost the odor of smoke entirely. (The coat was not machine washable either.) But, I finally did get to wrap up in it and enjoy having a cute fur coat (that consequently ended up being a couple of sizes too small anyway). Although I only got to wear it a handful of times, I treasured that coat and will always remember it.

--Did I tell you that I've done the work for both granny and grandpa? Yeah. Soda and I did the temple work for both of them. They were sealed (by some missionaries and myself as proxies) too. I have their picture on my bookshelf. Not all memories are rosey, but they have a soft place in my heart.

Cash is okay in my book.

The Last Month of the Year

We put up the Christmas tree and decided it looked best without the bottom row of branches. Off to the garbage can they went. (Is that sacreligious?)

We have 3 strings of lights but only half of the lights come on. (No, I will not be checking each bulb one by one.)

The kids put maybe a handful of ornaments on the tree. They chose those that had some meaning to them this year and left the rest in the boxes. (Mt. Rushmore, Kennedy Space Center, Grinch.)

The nutcrackers are all arranged on the top of the bookcases (because AJ is in charge of setting those up and he can reach that far).

The pets have been dressed in their snowman outfits but they are not loving it. I don't blame them. (The velcro straps are too tight these days which makes for a strangling effect on the poor critters.)

Our old family nativity set is set in a prominant spot (because CC is in charge of setting that up and she made it our central focus).

No lights on the outside of the house. Kinda Scroogy lookin'. (Well, at least it keeps the neighbors guessing about whether we celebrate Christmas at our house.)

Nat King Cole, Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Carpenters, Mannheim Steamroller...the music has begun. (Children, go where I send thee....)

What's missing? CHOCOLATE. There isn't any. (YET!)

Brain Damage

I know it's stupid, but I feel stupid.

At school I was working on my final project for one of my classes. I asked the TA to check my progress. Turns out, I was way off and there was no sign of where I'd gone wrong. The TA was so confused by my botched project that he just backed away shaking his head.

Geez!

So, I began again.

It's due next week. Everyone else is fine tuning theirs by now.

What am I doing? Apparently I have no idea.

Can you say dummy? I know you can....