Category: Uncategorized (Page 59 of 118)

My boyfriend’s back and you’re gonna be in trouble (Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend’s back). Ok, not really my boyfriend, but that song just popped into my head. Really, my HUSBAND is back, and we’re glad to have him. He was gone for 8 1/2 days and 8 nights in glamorous Las Vegas! (Imagine a Price is Right model standing in front of a sign that says “Vegas”). Actually, I’m sure it wasn’t all fun and games for him, as it was a ‘business trip’. No gambling, no shows, no shopping– I don’t even know if he ate at any buffets– but he had his share of fun, to be certain. It’s been a long long time since we’ve been separated that long. As I think back, I do remember a time when he was working in Illinois and I was living here, and we were apart for weeks at a time, but that’s been a long time.

We did alright on our own, but we missed him. When things broke, there was no one to fix them. Only me, and I’m not a very good fixer. I just look at things or shake them, and then tell the kids, ‘Oh, well, we’ll have to wait until Dad gets home and ask him to fix it.’ It is kind of fun to not have to cook real dinners, and not have to worry about getting my stuff off of his side of the bed, and using the entire bed if I feel like it for that matter, but we’re glad he’s back home.

And when Dad goes to trade shows, he is required to bring home the expected “bag of spiffs”. The kids were all very excited to see what kind of show stuff he managed to procure, and as usual, they were not disappointed. Last night he brought out the fun stuff, and everyone got something. They all got a pom-pom guy with feet, and a cool pen, and we let the kids choose a couple of items from the stash of t-shirts, hats, frisbees, footballs, pens, bags, and business card holders. Noticeably absent were the blinky light items. It must not have been a big blinky light year, I guess. In my opinion, the best thing he brought home were water bottles that look like this and have the company logo on them. And they came from his own booth! He could probably have stayed home and still snagged me one or two of those. He also gave me a tiny little sqeegie tool to clean my computer monitor. Wow. That’s true love for you, right there. Oh, and mints. Lots of mints. Because my baby knows how much I love fresh breath.

One of my favorite radio stations was doing a Disco lunch today, and I love it. I don’t really like it when they do a whole weekend long disco thing, but one hour at lunch is just perfect. I find it’s the perfect music to do housework to! I can get down and Boogie-Oogie-Oogie while I’m cleaning the counters, be the Dancing Queen while I sweep the floor, and do the Hustle while I mop. I can even sing along, if I want to (unless my kids are there, and then they not so politely tell me not to sing). And I get a lot done. What’s your favorite music to sing along with while you do housework?

“Do you know what’s on the flyswatter?” I said to John.
“Fly guts!” says Jenna from the next room.
“That’s right. Fly guts! And we don’t hit people with fly guts, do we?” said mom.
John hangs his head sadly and says in a small voice, “no.”

In today’s mail was a little card that said “Odd Jobs” on the top of it. It looked kind of like a business card, only a little bigger. It has the name of a 9 or 10 year old kid in our area, with his address and phone number. Then in small print it says, “I made a series of mistakes and need to make up for them. If you have any odd jobs, please call me.”

I don’t know what to think of it. Part of me wants to call up his mom and ask what his mistakes were and how much he needs to earn. I guess I could have him shovel some snow or something. I wonder if it was his idea, or if his mom is making him do all this to make up for something stupid.

Just wondering.

Happy New Year to you, and Happy 2008. Yes, we’ve had a wonderful Christmas vacation and I’m looking forward to the kids going back to school tomorrow. Of course, Ryan also leaves for Las Vegas tomorrow, so that means I’ll also be a single parent. The good thing is that I don’t really have to cook for the next week, though, as there’s no point cooking fancy food for these macaroni and cheese lovers. But after eating non stop for the past couple of weeks, I really need to just buy one big bag of salad and eat only that. Right.

New Year’s Eve is a pretty casual holiday around here. Nobody invited us to any parties, so it was just us. During the day we used up a bunch of free things that were going to expire, and that’s always fun! We ended up going to Boondocks and the 3 oldest kids played laser tag and the rest of us just played the arcade games for a while. The kids took in their report cards and they get tokens for each A, with a maximum of 18 tokens. Well, 18 is just about right for an hours worth of fun. Ryan and I just bought some to share with John, and we had a great time. We also went out to lunch at Mimi’s cafe, and made a quick Costco run before coming home.

That night, after dinner, the kids watched movies and played Wii. Ryan worked on stuff, and I folded laundry. The excitement was running high, I tell you. At about 10, we ate leftover birthday cake, and then I went to bed. I did hear some noise at around 12, but I didn’t bother to get up. I watched the ball drop at midnight New York time, and really, what more celebration do I need?

But there are some people in my family who are much more ambitious than I. My brother-in-law has built a huge luge in his front yard again, and it looks incredibly fun. We haven’t made it over there to slide yet, and since I am carless today, we may not get there before it warms up in the next few days. But if you are in the neighborhood of South Jordan, you should drive by and see it–it’s quite amazing! Here’s what the Channel 5 news guys had to say about it.

This morning I took Megan the the pet store to buy a new parakeet. They were closed yesterday and she’s been trying to wait patiently. She picked out a cute little yellow female and she’s named her “Bubbles”. I hope that she and “Skyler” (her little blue parakeet) will get along happily.

So that’s about it. We’re kickin’ back and enjoying not having pressing to do for a couple of days. Happy New Year!

“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!”

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.

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.

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.