Category: Uncategorized (Page 62 of 118)

As I was going to pick up Megan for her Orthodontist’s appointment (can you say ‘Orthodontics=goodbye to your disposable income’?), I saw something odd. There were a couple of policemen parked in the road on the road I wanted to turn left onto (bad sentence structure, I know!). One of them was stopping all the traffic coming from Alpine to let this company cross the road and head into a field: A guy on horseback, a guy leading a dog, a guy holding one of those long poles with a hoop on the end of it, and two guys with lassos. What could they be looking for? A bear? A mountain lion? An escaped prisoner? A werewolf? (just kidding on that last one) I don’t know, but I’m curious.

Later, after the ortho appointment, I let Megan choose where we would eat. She picked der Weinerschnitzel. Ok. We’ve never ever taken her there before, but it was right there, so we walked over. The kids were happily eating their hotdogs, and the woman who was sitting directly behind me was saying something like: “Yeah, he said to keep her in her pajamas all day.” One of the guys with her said something I didn’t pay attention to, and then she said, “No, you can’t catch it! Adults can’t get it for some reason.” Ok, I don’t really want to know what they are talking about and whether or not I can get it from her kid that is sitting directly behind me, but I’m not taking chances. “Ok, kids, pack it up!” I said, and got them out of there as quickly as possible. Now I ask you, If your child is not supposed to go anywhere, not supposed to get out of their pajamas, wouldn’t it be more prudent to get your food through the DRIVE THROUGH then come in and sit right next to the only kids in the whole place? I’m just sayin.

I’ve found myself engrossed in a book, and it’s hard to put it down and do any of the other millions of things that need to get done. I’m 3/4 of the way through New Moon, which is the second in a series of three books by Stephanie Meyer. Twilight was the first one, and yes, it’s about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. It sounds hokey, I know, and it kind of is. At times I get annoyed with the story, that it goes on and on and they don’t get to the action, even though I KNOW what’s going to happen a lot of the time. But it’s captivating and I WANT to read it. What’s your take on this? I think it’s too mature for the targeted teenage audience, and I even wish the main character, Bella, were not a high school student, as I feel that no girl that young could really fall in love that hard, nor should she be in a serious relationship (with vampire, werewolf or human). But it’s sweeping the neighborhood here, and even some of Megan’s 11 year old friends have read all three books. I’m glad that a BYU graduate has written these successful books, and I’m happy for her and her millions, and I think it’s a fun, entertaining read, but maybe not the best literature out there. What’s your opinion?

On the other hand, even though I’m not getting squat done here at the homestead, I like that feeling of being wrapped up in a book.  I like thinking about the characters and wondering what they will do next.  But I don’t like that disappointed let down feeling when it’s over.

I went to Albertsons today to get in on their 10 for $10 sale. It was not all that well stocked, since it’s already the second day of the sale. There was cereal, but hardly any.  I missed out on a great deal by about 10 minutes, too. They had some handisnacks on sale for $1 (when you buy 10 products), but the delivery guy also brought a bunch of $1 off coupons for them, and was sticking them on the snacks. So, $1 with a dollar off coupon makes them……Free. My friend, who was just finishing her shopping when I got there, managed to grab 10 of them. By the time I was there, they were all gone, thanks to ladies who bought 400. You read that right. Some woman in line in front of my friend had her entire cart loaded with those happy little snacks. She said she was going to give them out for Halloween. Well, that’s nice, but does that really justify that behavior? Shouldn’t she have left some of those for others, and limited her snatching to, say, 50? I’m surprised that the checker let her “steal” all of those. What are your thoughts on this one?

Do you say…”More power to the grabby lady. She saw an opportunity for savings and hopped on it,” or are you more of the…”That’s a little bit overboard. Maybe leave some bargains for the rest of us,” opinion?

I’m not saying the shopping trip was a complete failure. Looking at my receipt, I spent $116, and I “saved $178.49.” Or they didn’t overcharge me by 178 dollars today.

While shopping, there was a code Adam in the store. Someone had lost their little boy (probably that lady who had her cart so loaded up with handisnacks she lost her child–ok, I’ll stop with the snide comments), and all the employees went through the store looking for him. While I was feeling panic for the unfortunate mother, I was impressed to see how quickly the employees moved. There were two people at each exit, and they were walking quickly up and down every isle. It was less than 2 minutes until they announced that the child had been found, and we could all exhale. I was very relieved that it was a good outcome, and I could actually see the nearly hysterical mom run to where they had her child in the courtesy booth. I’m very glad that they found the little wanderer safe and sound.

I’ve had some people ask about my reflections skit (well, Two people, to be exact), so I thought I would just post it here. Now bear in mind that this skit came about because we already had a very large NEMO costume, and everyone has witch costumes. So, I wrote the skit around the costumes. We also have a candy bar costume, but at skit time couldn’t find it, so we eliminated the candy bar part at the end. If you are in charge of reflections for your school, maybe you could use this as an idea. For a small fee. Just kidding about the fee.

Reflections Skit 2007

Witches standing in a circle chanting: Bubble Bubble, toil and trouble, make this fish big on the double! *boom!* (Fish appears from behind the curtain.

Witch 3—Wow! That’s one big fish.

Witch 1—I have a question. Why must we always make trouble and bad with our spells?

Witch 2—Well, that’s just how it’s always been. We are witches! We make mischief and trouble.

Witch 3—Well, couldn’t we change that? Couldn’t we do good things instead?

Witch 4—Maybe we could make a difference in a good way!

Witch 2—Oh, we’re just little witches. We can’t make a real difference in the world.

Witch 3—Hey! That reminds me of something I was just reading about! When I flew over the school the other day, I saw a sign that said the PTA was having a contest called Reflections, and the theme was “I can make a difference by…”

Witch 2—By what?

Witch 1—What’s reflections?

Witch 4—What’s PTA?

Witch 3—Well, I don’t really know.

The witches stand and scratch their heads.

Fish (standing up)—Excuse me. I know I’m just a fish, and that you just put a spell on me to make me huge, but I noticed that you had some questions about Reflections. (all the witches stare at the fish with their mouths open) Since I’ve been in the PTA in my local school of fish, I know all about reflections.

Witch 1—Hey, that fish can talk! Did we do that?

Witch 2—Just be quiet and listen.

Witch 4–Go on, fish. You were saying?

Fish—Well, Reflections is a National Contest Sponsored by the PTA to encourage creativity in children.

Witch 3—What are you talking about?

Fish—Let me explain. Reflections is a contest. There are 8 categories—Would you witches mind holding up those signs for me? (Witches shake their heads and say “no, of course not”) Photography, Visual Arts, Literature, 3-d art, dance, music, theater, film and video. (Witches hold up signs)

Witch 1—So, we could draw a picture

Witch 2 –And I could write a song?

Fish—Yes, you could enter in each of the 8 categories if you wanted.

Witch 4—What should we write about?

Fish—It’s just like you were talking about. “I can make a difference by….” and then you tell what you would do to make a difference or make the world a better place.

Witch 3—So we CAN change the world! And then we can enter this contest! Can everybody enter?

Witch 1—Even witches?

Fish—Anybody who goes to Highland Elementary.

Witch 2—Let’s ALL enter!

Witch 1—If it’s a contest, does that mean there are prizes?

Fish–Yes, that’s the best part! There are prizes for the winners, and not only that, every student who enters the Reflections contest will get a candy bar!

Witch 3—Every single one? Wow!

Fish—And that’s not all, I heard that the class with the most entries will get a pizza party!

Witch 4—Wow!! That’s fantastic! I want to go home and work on my reflections right now! Are there rules and stuff, or can you just do whatever you want?

Fish—There are always rules, even for witches. Look for a note to be coming home soon.

Witch 1—I can’t wait! I think I’ll get started right away!

Fish—Now, do you think you could turn me back to my regular size?

Witch 3—Oh, sure! We could start making a difference right now.

All witches– Fins and Flippers and yellow eyes, Turn this fish back to the right size!

(Fish disappears back under the curtain.)

Witch 2—That was one smart Fish!

Witch 1–He sure knew a lot about Reflections. I’m glad we met him!

Witch 3—Yeah, what a cool contest! We can enter and win prizes.

Witch 4 —And don’t forget about the pizza party, and the candy bar for every one who enters.

Candy bar—Oh no, not a candy bar! (Runs across the stage)

Today I put on my new shoes (did I tell you I won free shoes from RYKA? Go to www.Ryka.com to enter to win your own!) and put John in the jogger stroller and said we were going to for a walk. I was actually prepared with a book and a toy for him, MP3 player and sunglasses for me, along with the cell phone, kleenexes, and a bottle of water. I had a few books to return to a friend, and I figured that would be a good, although long walk.

We made it. It took me over an hour, what with stopping there for a minute to see if she was home and getting a drink. There’s one big hill that we had to go up and down, but the rest was quite level. By the time we got to her house, I thought “What was I thinking?! Why on earth would I think I could walk this far AND BACK!” I wanted to quit, but since I was 2.1 miles from my house (I looked it up when I got home), we had to turn around and come back home. When we passed our church, which is still about 3/4 a mile from home, I rejoiced. I’m almost home!!!

John was such a good boy in the stroller the whole time I told him we could stop at his friend’s house when we were done and see if he could play. When I got there, I’m sure I looked a sight.  Red face, sweaty clothes, and just about ready to pass out.   “Oh, you’ve been out walking,” she said when she saw my sweaty red face and jogger stroller. When I told her where I had walked, she said, “That’s a 5K!” Wow, I hadn’t thought of that. She tried to convince me that it would be really fun for a bunch of us to run/walk a 5k together. Ha! She’s a runner. She runs 3 miles at a time while this is the very first time I’ve walked 4 miles. But, yes, I told her I would think about it.  It’s a Halloween 5k in American Fork at the end of October in the evening.

No promises made here, but I’ll think about it.

I know it’s kind of late notice, but if you happen to be watching Music and the Spoken Word with the Tabernacle Choir this Sunday morning at 9:30 on KSL, pay close attention to the artwork that will be shown during the spoken word.  The featured artist is my very own sister, Amy! She has done three paintings to go with the story, and I’m very excited for her!  If you miss it, then check back here and we’ll hopefully post a link to where you could watch a recording of it.

My dear husband has been out of town for almost a week, and we really miss him.  Parenting really is supposed to be a two person job, and I’ll admit that it’s been tough juggling all the schedules without a little help.  Plus, with him not here there’s been no reason to cook real dinners (why bother, the kids only complain), so we’ve been having lovely meals of corn dogs, scrambled eggs and waffles, and leftovers.  Since he didn’t the the one and only cell phone because I needed it to manage the kids and their various activities, I haven’t really been able to talk to him, because he isn’t at his hotel until after I go to bed (so he claims).  So, I’ve missed him.

And the house has missed him.  REALLY missed him.  Since our whole house is wired together and we have all this cool and funky equipment (thanks to Ryan’s job), all our lights, tv, videos, and radio and stuff are all tied up in the home automation system.  The system that is currently off line.  That means I can’t listen to the radio, no myth tv (our version of tivo), no dvds or videos for the kids, etc.  None of the remotes in the house work.  I can’t even turn on the tv manually since that button broke long ago and we can only operate it with a remote.

Yesterday I was exhausted after church (I gave a lesson.  It went fine, by the way) and feeding the kids dinner and I just wanted to lie down for a few minutes of quiet before we went to my sister’s house for a birthday party.  I just wanted to be able to put on a movie or let them watch something recorded, but NO.  Nothing works.  So I just told them to please be quiet (Right–like that works) and went and locked myself in my room for 15 minutes.  Of course the phone rang during my quiet time, and I had to answer it (it could be Ryan, after all), and then had to call my son and tell him the phone was for him.

My computer for some reason also senses that the master of all things electronic is away and it’s time to act up.  I’ve gotten about 50 spams a day asking if I want to increase the size of my….. never mind.  I can’t even access my blog, for heaven’s sake!  (I’m typing this on Ryan’s computer–I hope I don’t break it!)

But on the bright side, nobody’s broken any bones, the house has not flooded or caught on fire, and no trees were damaged in the recent wind storm.

And he comes back home today.

The first email I read this morning was from my mom. She had sent me a link to a story about Patrick Henry Hughes, a boy who was born blind and crippled, but with incredible musical talent. It made me cry. So, if you would like to feel good about the world for about 6 minutes (maybe longer–it gets you thinking), click here. You won’t be sorry.  It makes me want to be a better parent; a better person.

John had his first day at his new preschool today.  By the time the whole bunch of us were signing up, they only had afternoon spots open, so he goes from 12:30-3:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Today my afternoon alone.  He’ll be home any minute to tell me how much fun it was.

I had my own fun.  I ate lunch, cleaned the kitchen floor, started some laundry, then TOOK A Nap!  Not a huge nap or anything, but a nap just the same.  And it was so nice!  I think I can get used to this afternoon preschool thing.

Of course, I thought about going to the grocery store or the school or some other such errands, but I really wanted my first day of preschool to be relaxing.  I hope John enjoyed it as much as I did.