“I didn’t have potatoes, so I substituted rice.
I didn’t have paprika, so I used another spice.
I didn’t have tomato sauce, I used tomato paste; A whole can, not a half can – I don’t believe in waste.
A friend gave me the recipe; she said you couldn’t beat it.
There must be something wrong with her, I couldn’t even eat it!â€Â
Author: Superpaige (Page 111 of 180)
It’s snowing outside and looks pretty miserable. Lucky for me I don’t have to go out much today. The kids are home from school and it’s and “inside day”. My shopping is done, so we can stay home, wrap presents, clean the kitchen, and maybe bake some treats. The kids can deliver neighbor gifts if they feel like going outside, and then we’ll head out for a soccer game (indoor) later this afternoon. And tonight I get to meet my oldest and dearest friends in the world for our annual Christmas get together. So, I’m feeling pretty Christmas-sy and happy about the day.
I thought I would share some of our Christmas decorations with you, since I’ve been meaning to do that, but just haven’t gotten around to it (not the decorating, but the sharing. I did my decorating a long time ago, of course).
We make these little graham cracker houses every year,
then as soon as they are finished, some little people start picking all the candy off of them. 
One of the easiest Christmas decorations is to use things you already have. I just fancied up my kids’ pictures on the wall with bows, so they look like the gifts. And they liked coming home and seeing the bows on their pictures.
The stockings are hung.
The tree is trimmed.
Of course, the kids did most of the decorating of the tree, so we get some clumping, and some interesting ornaments.
I guess the angels LIKE to be all together so they can sing, right? And I really don’t know what’s up with the upside down birdhouse. But someone painted it and so it must go on the tree, right?
I bought this little guy new this year. He’s supposed to watch and make sure the kids are being good and report their behavior to Santa.
Our Christmas countdown calendar is almost empty by now, and it’s been fun for the kids to discover a treat or note every day.
We’ve got a few nutcrackers up, and this shelf is decorated, although I sometimes ask myself why. The birds like to travel along the curtain rod and play on this shelf. So far they’ve knocked over the angel and the big Santa and tossed the blocks off the shelf, too. I guess it’s fun for them, and nothing there is really breakable. 
The teapots are put away and the Christmas things are now on our display shelf.
My Grandma’s ceramic nativity sits on the piano, and the other Nativity is in the kitchen where the kids can play with it.
Oh, and I don’t believe I’ve mentioned my new curtains, have I? I finished these curtains in November, and I think they really add to the family room.
So, there you have it. Not all of the decorations, but I can’t just go on forever, now can I? Enjoy your snow day!
The other night I was in a nice sleep, when my husband JUMPED out of bed, GRABBED the covers and YANKED them off of me.
What the heck?
So I looked up at him standing there holding all the covers and said, “Excuse me?!”
He looked back at me, mumbled something like, “Sorry,” and got back in bed, pulling the now seriously askew covers back over him.
I pulled up some covers and went back to sleep.
The next morning, when I remembered what had happened in the middle of the night, I said, “Hey, what’s the deal with ripping the covers off of me?”
“Oh,” he said, “sorry. In my dream, it made sense.”
Whatever.
It’s been kind of a rough morning here. My little guy, John, greeted me this morning with, “I threw up last night, but I feel better and can I have some breakfast?” What? Not really the good morning I’d like. He didn’t look sick or anything, so I had to ask Ryan. Yes, indeed, he had thrown up and Ryan stripped his bed (Thank you, honey!). Now those bedclothes are sitting in the laundry room waiting for me to wash them. Hooray! (Oh, and don’t tell my sister, or we may be banned from all the upcoming family activities.)
My little Jenna, who complained that her tummy hurt last night, STILL has a tummy ache and doesn’t want to eat anything. She’s staying home.
My Cole missed his carpool, so I got to drive him to school in the major snowstorm.
My usually responsible Megan said, “I’ve got to get my stuff ready,” as she handed me the note. The note that says, please have these things here by Tuesday (yesterday)…A tinfoil covered piece of cardboard 12 X18, a can of white frosting, a king sized candy bar, and a bag of smarties. Well, now, how am I supposed to supply smarties when I don’t have any? We had the rest of the stuff, and I sent a bag of lifesavers instead. That will have to do.
My excited Natalie was thrilled about the read-a-thon today and needed my help to find a pillow, books and snacks.
But what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an email in my inbox that made me extremely happy. I won a High School Musical MP3 player from NWI Parent. How fun is that?
Which reminded me that I forgot to pick a winner for my pay it forward book exchange. Silly me! So, I had my sick daughter pick a number, which was 2. That means that Amy is my book winner! I’ll send her out an email and then she will receive this fun book in the mail soon.
Now I’ve got to figure out if John is going to his preschool party, figure out what I’m wearing to my fancy dinner party at the Grand America Hotel tonight, order pizzas for the class that had the most reflections entries and take those to their class at 1:30 (yes, that ordeal keeps on going on, doesn’t it?), and finish my neighbor gifts. I’m hoping the rest of the day goes a little more smoothly.
Wow! I survived the past week, and it was incredibly busy and amazing. As a member of the Bell Choir, we got to perform with the Tabernacle Choir in their Christmas concert. The guest artists were the King’s Singers! Here’s an article from the Deseret News about the concert. It was truly a wonderful experience. I loved hearing those songs every night, watching all the dancers in the twelve days of Christmas number from our very high vantage point up by the organ pipes was really fun.
Can you spot me there in the picture? Maybe in this one?
I loved the King’s Singer’s “Oh Holy Night” that they sang with the choir. It was simply beautiful! I’m so glad they did that song on the broadcast so that I can listen to that song every day! Mac Wilberg’s arrangement was heavenly! We would listen every night from our perch on the steps going up to the choir loft and I felt like I had been transported to heaven. I hope they put that on a CD so I can really listen to it all the time.
And the King’s Singers weren’t just amazing singers, they were nice, as well. When they weren’t on stage, they would often chat with people backstage. I got two autographs, and they were happy to do it. They were complimentary and told US how great we sounded, when we were telling THEM how amazing and awesome they sounded. It’s nice when you meet “stars” and they really are nice and gracious. On Sunday morning they all took a minute to thank us all for an amazing week, and Stephen Connolly even said that this experience was the highlight of his 20 years with the King’s Singers.
If you didn’t get to go and see the concert, never fear, you can buy the DVD sometime in late October of next year, or watch it on PBS next December. You can see the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast again next Sunday on KBYU if you didn’t see it yesterday.
Of course the 40+ hours I spent with the choir last week did take it’s toll. I’ve been sick all week with an annoying cold and cough, and it was hard to leave my family every night. Ryan did a great job as the sole caretaker, and I’m so grateful that he can step it up when he needs to. He took the kids out to dinner on Saturday, let they sleep under the tree in sleeping bags, and even got everyone ready for Church on Sunday. There was no fancy hair or anything, but they looked ok.
So this week, I’m happy to have a little bit more down time. Time to clean the house, do laundry, wrap some presents, and attend a few Christmas parties. Time to be with the family and actually make dinner! It was a Fabulous Experience, and I feel so very lucky to have been a part of the concert, but honestly, I’m glad it’s over.
I am so excited, I can hardly describe it, but I’ll try.
Last night’s concert was Great! It was especially nice to just do the concert without two hours of rehearsal first. Although it’s wonderful to perform in such a beautiful amazing setting, it’s quite tiring. Our bells are stored way down behind the stage, and for every song we get to go down two flights of stairs, change bells, get ready for the next song, traipse back up the stairs and do the next number.
Anyway, we had a great concert! The King’s Singers were amazing, and the cute one who kind of looks like Dr. McDreamy even said hi to me backstage. After the last song, we stood there smiling up in our spots by the organ pipes and then were dismissed. We went down to the back, put our bells away and started walking through the conference center to go and change, trying to beat the choir, who were still in their seats.
Just past the drinking fountains I saw what must have been a vision. I must be hallucinating or it’s the cold medicine or something, but that looks just like….Donny Osmond! It IS Donny Osmond! The same Donny Osmond that I’ve been wanting to meet for like…my whole entire life! Standing there with his lovely wife and someone who was probably his son. They looked like they were waiting for someone. Waiting for me! I couldn’t just walk right on by, so I went up to him and shook his hand. I can’t recall exactly what was said, but our interaction went something like this:
Crazed fan in a black dress: Oh my gosh, it’s Donny Osmond! I’m a huge fan! Blubber Blubber stupidly.
Donny:(as crazed fan is shaking his hand) Thank you.
Crazed fan in a black dress: Did you enjoy the concert?
Donny: It was wonderful.
Crazed fan who couldn’t think of anything intelligible to say but so would have loved to sit and chat with Donny for a very long time: Thank you!
Then I left and walked away. Walked away from Donny. My friend Darrell was right there walking by and I caught up with him, and said in a high squeaky voice, “That was Donny Osmond! I shook Donny’s hand!”
And Darrell, oh so kindly, said to me, “Don’t freak out!”
“I’m not freaking out,” I said in a voice that was so high and squeaky that only dogs could understand, “but you saw, right? You saw me shake Donny Osmond’s hand, right? You are my witness.”
Darrell responded, “And I have my camera right here. Too bad you didn’t think of that.”
“Oh, I wish I could have gotten a picture, or an autograph or something! I have no proof! But you are my witness, right?”
“I’ll deny it.” Thank you, Darrell, for your support. So I made him promise me that the next time I meet Donny and shake his hand, he will have his camera ready and take a picture for me.
In the dressing room I told my fellow bell choir members, “I shook Donny Osmond’s hand!” And when I told my carpool, they were excited for me, since they do know of my long standing wish to just meet Donny Osmond. So, even though traffic was horrible getting out of the parking garage and it was a long drive home and I was extremely tired, I was on cloud nine.
Mere words cannot adequately describe my excitement.
Merry Christmas, Paige.
One of our favorite family Christmas traditions here is to pick an unsuspecting family and do a “twelve days of Christmas” for them. Every day (or night) for 12 days we deliver silly gifts to them, trying to stay out of sight so they won’t know who we are until the last day. Sometimes the family finds out who we are, like the time we asked one of the kids’ friends to just deliver it and not say who it’s from, and I guess she just walked over there, knocked, and said, “this is from the Ericksons.” NO!!! That’s NOT how you do it.
Any-who.
This year I’ve got a lot of the days all planned out, and I’ll share with your our favorites.
1-A partridge and some pears (Megan drew a picture of a partridge and we gave them a can of pears)
2- Two turtles and a dove (Two bags of Turtles and a Dove bar)
3-Three French fries (I mailed them a Wendy’s gift card, which they can use on fries or anything else. I mailed it yesterday, and it’s supposed to get there tomorrow. I hope I timed it right)
4-For calling birds (we have some little plastic whistles shaped like birds. I have also given calling cards and said “for calling birds or other friends.”)
5-Five golden fish (5 snack sized packages of goldfish crackers)
6-I don’t know yet what we’ll do for 6 geese a laying. any idea? Maybe a dozen eggs or something egg related.
7-Seven Swanson dinners is one of my favorites. (I also got some little plastic swans that hold candy. If I cheap out, I’ll fill the little swans with candy.)
8-Probably a gallon of milk or eggnog with a note that says, it took all 8 maids to get this for you.
9-Nine ladies? Hmmm. I don’t know what we’re doing for that one yet. In the past I’ve made paper dolls, all connected. Any ideas? Maybe a movie with people dancing–Oh, High School Musical 2 would be fun, wouldn’t it?
10-10 Frogs a leaping. I have 10 little squirty frogs.
11-Pipers Piping. Again, I’m not sure what this one will be. A package of pipe cleaners, maybe.
12-This is the day we reveal ourselves, and we take a plate of cookies and go and ring the doorbell, and hum “we wish you a merry Christmas”. Then we are Hummers Humming. There aren’t 12 of us, but sometimes we use puppets to increase our numbers.
Speaking of the 12 days of Christmas, the Tabernacle Choir is doing the most elaborate and unique version of the 12 days I have ever seen! We had our first concert last night, and after a 2 hour rehearsal we were all happy to just get started. It went beautifully, I must say. The King’s Singers are fantastic, the set is beautiful, the costumes are absolutely amazing (especially those 6 geese!) and the bells of course are there to do our little part to help the concert sparkle. Natalie and Ryan went last night and they really enjoyed it. Natalie’s favorite song was the 12 days of Christmas, as I’m sure it was for most of the kids. After it’s over I’ll have to post some pictures.
So, if you have any great ideas for days 6, 9 or 11, be sure to let me know.
It’s car inspection time for many of us. When you buy a vehicle near the end of the year, you don’t really think about how much of a pain it’s going to be to have to get that vehicle inspected and registered at this time of year. Every. Single. Year. Well, we really blew it. We currently have 3 vehicles, and two of them come due for their registration in November, and one in December. So you know that windshield you’ve been putting off buying? Well, now you’d better buy it. You know that check engine light that’s been on? Well, that car won’t pass it’s safety inspection with it on. Yes, it means unwanted unexpected car repair expenses RIGHT when you don’t have any extra money to do those repairs. A good friend of mine decided to sell her car last weekend rather than invest ANY more money in it and buy the new tires she needed. I can understand where she’s coming from.
So, anyway, Ryan took the last of our three vehicles to be inspected yesterday, and –surprise, surprise– it has two bad tires and needs something done on the brakes. Oh joy of joys, for Christmas we’ll be getting….more tires! That’s just what I wanted! I say ‘more’ tires because this is not the first set of tires we have bought this year. You may remember my extremely bad day back in July when we needed to repair the van and THEN get new tires (and then pay those overdue taxes). Yes, that was quite a financial setback. But we made it through. And we’ve only had to put about $300 more into that car this year. (You may notice that I say ‘Ryan’ is taking care of all these repairs, and for that I am grateful. I have this strange aversion to car repair places and tend to freak out just a bit when I am trapped in one with no vehicle. Maybe it’s because I know I’m paying about the amount of my mortgage for someone to fix a tiny little part that I can’t even see, just so I can continue driving. Yeah, maybe it’s that.)
But last month when Ryan took the Suburban to be inspected, he realized that it’s tires were also very bald. Ka-ching. He bought new tires for that one. And he was glad that he had, as he was driving through snow and ice this past weekend. And now these tires for the truck. So, if you are keeping track, that’s 4 plus 4 plus another 2 (maybe 4–he hasn’t told me if he’s doing just two or if all 4 are bad). So that’s 10 new tires.
I should have put that in my Christmas card. I could have done a 12 days of Christmas type thing. “And the tenth thing at Christmas that we didn’t plan to buy…. Ten brand new tires!”
I know I should be counting my blessings, being grateful that we HAVE cars and all that stuff. But right now I’m just frustrated. And a little ticked off. And wondering how long it will take us to pay all this stuff off.
So, if you have an encouraging story or a lovely quote or something nice to say to cheer me up, now would be the time to leave a comment. Or you could come over here and slap me and tell me to stop complaining. But I’d rather you brought me chocolate.
Even though we’re busy, there’s still time to do the monthly Pay it forward Book Giveaway, which is hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy.
This month I’d like to give away a light, fun read that you can get through in a couple of days and it won’t add to your stress load. I picked this up at a garage sale this summer, and I must admit it’s a well used copy. But still readable.
Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde. Fforde. Say that a few times–it’s ffun. Anyway, an amazon review says this about this fun book:
“Hetty has taken a job house-sitting a 600-year-old place named Courtbridge, which proves to be in dire need of renovations and extensive repairs. She agrees to tackle the assignment because, reeling from a rather humiliating romantic break-up, it seems like a good hideaway in which to mend her heart and ponder her future. Unknown to Hetty, the hospitalized owner, Samuel, has sent his rather beefy but handsome nephew Connor to keep an eye on her as well as his crumbling ancestral home. Hetty hatches a scheme to restore the old home to all its former stateliness by opening the mansion and charging for tours, weddings, and other social occasions. However, Connor would prefer to tear the old thing down, sell the property, pay off some old loans, and be done with the architectural dinosaur. Needless to say, these two opinionated and obstinate people discover in spite of their different views a remarkable attraction to each other. A satisfying although somewhat anticipated conclusion bodes well for the house, the couple, and even the cat, Clovis. Library patrons who enjoy the romantic novels of Jayne Ann Krentz and Nora Roberts will find a similar story here but with a delightful British accent.”
I enjoyed it, and I’ll be that one of you would enjoy it, too! Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered in the drawing. It’s that simple. Next week on Monday, I’ll draw out a name and then if you are the winner, I’ll send you this book (probably after Christmas). So go ahead and enter! And for more book loving fun, check out Overwhelmed with Joy and see what other books are being given away this month.
I was going to write about cleaning my couch cushion because someone in the house peed on the couch. But then I read this blog post and realized there are other people in the world with much more to complain about. People who’s homes have been washed away or their home is still standing but filled with mud. I know how blessed I am and how much help these people need right now. I realized that if there’s any way I can help, I should do that instead of wasting time and energy thinking I need a new couch because this one smells like pee.
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