Month: July 2005 (Page 1 of 2)

Ok, I admit it, I have a crush on Donny Osmond. If he walked in the door at a party, I’d probably say something REALLY stupid.

But in my dream last night I acted quite composed when I met him. I was helping a neighbor who was involved in community theater (honestly, in the daylight hours, she’s about the last person I could imagine who would be the community theater type person, but who am I to argue with a dream?) with some of her to do list–things like organizing programs and scheduling and costuming and stuff, and in walks Donny Osmond. Donny Osmond! I think I must have been staring, and after he said hello to my neighbor and gave her a hug, he came over to me and asked my name, shook my hand, and was very nice. He asked me about myself and we had a nice little chat. I, ever the assistant, offered him (and his friend/driver/assistant who was with him) some water–probably just to leave the room so I could catch my breath without looking completely stupid– and then we all sat down and chatted and he gave his input on the upcoming season of community theater and tried to figure out which shows he could attend. When he got up to leave, he gave me a hug, said it was so nice to meet me and other pleasantries. I must say he was in nice in my dream as he appears on tv (how’s that for adding credibility?).

Maybe I should get involved in community theater…

So, when I think about it, I can probably figure out where in my subconscious this dream came from–yesterday I went to pick up Natalie from a friend’s house, and her little friend gave me a flyer for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, which the local community theater was putting on this weekend. Get the connection? Community theater—Joseph–Donny. But rather than analyze the synapses and nuances of my subconsious, I’d rather like to think that Donny just wanted to visit, and chose to come in my dreams rather than make a fuss and come in the daytime. Keep dreaming, Paige.

Today Robin took Cole and Megan and her two kids to Lagoon for Bounce Back days ($7 bucks for an all day pass!). It’s really a good deal and she wants to cram all the fun she can into her last few days with the kids before they go to visit their dad. So, I’ve had only 3 kids at home today. It’s so nice and peaceful! So, I took the three kids to the library,( paid my manditory fine that I seem to have every stinkin time I go there), then to McDonald’s for lunch. I promised them they could play with friend when we came home, but the friends they want to play with aren’t home right now, so I’m letting them watch (horror of horror)….Cartoon Network. I just watched Amazing Race in peace by myself, and am now going to vacuum. I hope you are enjoying your day as much.

Peace, out, man.

Highlights of today:

***Picking up my check for $101.50 from which radio station? You guessed it, 101.5!! I also get to try my key with a hundred other people for a chance to win “The General Lee” (it’s the Dukes of Hazard’s car, remember?)

*** Going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point with all 7 kids

***Getting covered with kisses and “wuvs” from my little boy John

Lowlights of the day:

***emptying about a cup of small grainy sand like substance (used for digging and uncovering dinasaur bones at Thanksgiving point) out of John’s clothes and diaper

***Having John pee on the couch when his new diaper came off (I forgot to put his pants back on after emptying all that grit)

*** Weighing in at Weight Watchers and having gained 2.8 pounds this week UGH!!!! I guess there will be no eating this week.

***Amazing Race season 2 reruns–since we didn’t watch it the first time this is lots of fun, a new episode every night!

While eating dinner at our neighborhood “Cul-de-sac of fire” last night, Robin asked, “how is anyone supposed to lose any weight when they live here?! You’ve got parties or barbeques every day, and if you aren’t going somewhere, people are bringing you treats.” So, I guess I can blame my neighbors for keeping me fat. Maybe I should move……No, I think I’d rather be fat.

I really have the coolest ward.

Today we had our annual Pioneer Day Breakfast and it was delicious! Ryan flipped pancakes with the Elder’s quorum and we all ate like kings. The kids all stayed over at the neighbor’s house for a couple of hours playing in the sandbox.

Someone even called Robin today and asked if they could visit teach her. I’m not sure why she should need visiting teachers when she’s only here for 8 weeks, but I guess they think she does.

We enjoyed President Hinckley’s Birthday celebration on Friday night, even though because of some bad traffic issues we didn’t make it there in time and they gave our seats away. We went to the assembly hall and watched it on a screen there. Not quite the same as the conference center, but still nice. My kids were very well behaved and it was an excellent program. If you missed it you can catch it on BYU television or channel 11 here locally.

Wednesday we went to Lagoon, and it was about 104 degrees. Ugh. Good thing for Rattlesnake rapids, where you get totally soaked (especially if you go twice in a row using baby swap techniques). I had to go right from Lagoon to Bell choir, so that was a bit weird. I changed in the car, and put dry clothes over my wet underclothes–icky, but cool. I looked quite a wreck, but did my best to spruce up a little bit with makeup and a brush–oh well. We all had fun, though–especially since we managed to get passes for all 10 of us for free.

After vacuuming yesterday and noticing that the dirt just seemed to be jumping around in the carpet and not going up into the hose, I asked Ryan (my own mr. fix it) if he could clean out the vacuum head. Wow. He took out a fist sized glob of “guck”. Now I’m happily vacuuming with some suction again!

One of life’s little pleasures is a freshly vacuumed room!

Robin and I took 5 kids with us to Yellowstone. Not the longest drive, but not the shortest drive with 5 kids in the car, either. We had a good time and saw LOTs of wildlife. Elk (some very close), Eagles, Buffalo, a wolf, pelicans, and geese. We didn’t see any bears, but while camping we heard something grunting around the camp, and heard wolves howling.

The kids would tell you that they were “charged” by buffalo, but that wasn’t really the case. If you look at the pictures you may see one with the kids standing in front of a buffalo. The story is–we were in a parking lot, and along come two buffalo. After seeing so many and so close up, we weren’t all that impressed or suprised (one was 15 feet from us in our camp!) , but asked the kids to just stand there and we’d take a picture when the buffalo walked by behind them. Well, the two buffalo decided right then to change directions, and to pick up the pace, so they were trotting right toward the kids! They scampered out of the way and there was no real danger, but it gave us all a scare.

We saw all the great sites, had fun camping, and the second night we enjoyed our hotel in Idaho Falls with a Pool. By the time we got home on Sunday we were all a bit sick of being in the car, and not a little bit tired of each other.

Ryan was a real saint and he watched not only Jenna and John, but also Amy’s kids for half of the day on Friday. He was supposed to be working from home that day, but I don’t think he got much work done.

It was a fun trip, and I’d love to take the other kids someday when they were older. There was a noticable lack of children John’s age. It’s just too hard to keep them from danger when they are too big for a backpack but too little for following important directions (like don’t get too close to that scalding water, or don’t go and touch that big thing that looks like a “doggie” but is really called a buffalo). So, I’m glad we didn’t have John or Jenna along on this trip. Traveling with kids 6 and up is much easier!

Yellowstone Pictures…

Watch this space for the blog entry…

Chaos.

My house is pretty much in Chaos right now. I don’t like or enjoy chaos, although Organized Chaos I can handle.
Let me explain. We’ve already got Robin and Sarah and Jacob living here for a while. With our 7 people that brings us up to 10. It’s manageable, and even fun most of the time. Well, my sister just had her third baby early this morning (Congratulations Amy and Brian!) and so I’ve got her two boys over here, too. I’m not sure how long they will be here–probably two days while their Mom is in the hospital. So, that brings our numbers up to 12, except that Cole is still gone until tonight, so it’s technically only 11, but he still counts because I’m using my mental energy worrying about him.

So whatever plans I had for my day are now thrown into a tailspin, as I don’t really think I’m capable enough to take all 8 of them to the Dinasaur museum by myself–actually I know I could do it, but is it worth the mental and physical energies required? I don’t think so. And that temple assignment for tonight? I sadly think that one’s going out the window. I think instead I’ll do damage control here, try to keep up with the food and snacks needed for all these kids, keep them from killing each other without having to send them outisde in 100 plus degree weather, and pack for our trip to Yellowstone tomorrow.

Keep those calm, happy thoughts coming, I need all the good karma I can get.