Bird poop could be used as the new cement. Seriously. If there’s a shortage of whatever they use to make cement, they could always use bird poop. That or dried up jello.
Any guesses at what I’ve been doing today?
Month: March 2008 (Page 2 of 3)
Jenna (who is 7) just said to me, “Mom, at piano, I’ve learned avacados.”
I must have given her a blank look.
“You know, when you play really fast and just go quick, like that?” she said, wondering why I wasn’t getting it.
“Oh, staccato! Well, Avacados are nice, too,” I said.
At 3:30 I woke up. Ryan got up to use the bathroom or maybe he was just coming to bed, I don’t know.
But I was awake.
As I lay there hoping to go back to sleep soon, somewhere from my brain came these lyrics:
Please, don’t let this feeling end
It’s everything I am..
What? Where in the world did that come from? It’s the dang middle of the night, not the time to be dredging up old song lyrics from my tween years.
I can see what’s mine now
Finding out what’s true,
Oh come on! Can’t I just go back to sleep? I guess not. Sing it with me, folks….
Since I’ve found you
Lookin’ through the eyes of love.
Now, anyone under the age of -oh- 33 or 34, won’t even know what song this is, will they? Well, to help you out, here you go.
Because not only did we know the words to this song, we all leaned it on the piano. Didn’t we? Come on, how many of you could probably go and plink out the intro notes to that song right now? If you need to go and do that right now, I’ll wait for you.
Anyway, at 4:30, I changed pillows. I had the ultra fat pillow, but sometimes it annoys me because it’s just to fluffy. So, I switched to a flatter one. And then I heard music. Not just music in my head, but actual music. I sat up, wondering if one of the kids had set a radio alarm and it had just gone off. But as I listened, the music got softer, and then it was gone. I think it was a car. Really. A car. Maybe the paper boy had his radio up really loud or something like that, I don’t know.
At about 4:50, I decided to think of a happy memory. Maybe that would help me drift off to sleep. As I ran through the catalog of happy memories in my mind, several popped out from around the college era. A camping trip to Arches with friends, being in the play “The children’s hour” my freshman year at BYU, hanging out with my roommates, a trip with friends up to Island park to go snowmobileing…. and I don’t remember any more. That must have done it. A not so fluffy pillow and some happy memories helped me go back to sleep–Finally.
To bad I had to wake up only two hours later.
Do you need paper? If you have kids you definitely need paper. They print things, draw on things, jam the printer (oh, wait, that’s me–but that’s a whole different subject which we may discuss some other time), make origami, paper airplanes and any number of projects involving paper. Your paper. Paper that you should buy by the case.
Well, right now at Office Depot, they have quite a deal going on. This week, a case of paper that is normally $44 something, is on sale for $28.99. Plus, they have coupons in their ad for $10 off your purchase over $25.00. So, I bought a case of paper (that’s 10 reams) for $20.21 after tax. That’s 2 bucks for a ream! I just paid quite a bit more that that for a ream of paper at Target! And you can pick up an extra ad in the store, if you want to come back later in the day and get another case of paper. They have a coupon for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I might just go back again tomorrow for MORE paper! They also had some cute little flash drives for 10 bucks that the kids would LOVE to find in their Easter baskets, I’m sure.
(Office Depot did not pay me to plug their company. Really. I’m not even a fan, normally, but this deal is just too nice to pass up.)
If I ever go on the Price is Right (or any game show where there’s a slight chance I might win big prizes or large amounts of money for that matter) treat it as an aerobics class and be sure to double bra it.
Lately, I’ve been attending choir practice for our ward choir. It only took a few years and a few personal invites for me to decide that yes, I can actually make it to choir practice at 9am on Sunday mornings.
Why did it take you so long to go, Paige, don’t you love to sing?
Well, yes, I do love to sing, actually, and I’ve sung in many choirs throughout the years. And I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I’m a bit of a choir snob.
A choir snob? What’s that?
Well, I like to sing with people who know how to sing. I feel like if it’s worth the time of practicing, I want it to sound good when we perform it, not just like a bunch of people just got together and decided to sing a song. And since I’ve had some wonderful directors, I also really appreciate someone who can really direct a choir. I admit that I can’t do that. I can lead music, sure, but directing a choir takes another set of skills, and I really enjoy following a good director.
With that as the background, today at choir practice, we had quite an interesting dilemma. The regular choir director was out of town, and had asked one of our altos (who is also extremely talented and has experience directing as well) to fill in for her, since we are practicing for Easter, ward conference and Stake Conference coming up. She started us out on the song we’re singing next week (which at the moment I can’t remember the name of the song), and it has some complicated parts in the middle, where the soprano’s split into first and seconds, the altos split, and the tenors split into two parts, and the bass and baritone split, too. When you’ve only got four or five men, this is extremely difficult, as everyone ends up singing their own part. And behind me, there were two new basses who hadn’t been there before. The one bass, although he had a rough start of it and admitted that he doesn’t read music that well, eventually got the difficult parts, but the other one just wasn’t getting it. Even when the men were all supposed to be singing in unison, he wasn’t singing in unison with them. And the choir director was doing her best to go over the men’s parts, picking out the bass and baritone’s parts specifically, asking if they needed that part one more time, and generally doing her best to be positive. One of the tenors, who DOES read music, even came over and sang that part loudly enough for anyone to follow. Still not quite getting it.
Which really made me think. This is a ward choir, where everyone who wants to sing is invited to–even encouraged–to sing. There are no auditions, no tests to take to qualify for a spot in the ward choir. The only requirements are that you are willing to sing, and you come to at least some of the rehearsals. On the other hand, we as a choir want to sound good. We want to sound like we actually know what we are doing, and bring the spirit into the meeting. If people are distracted by someone who can’t follow, they might not enjoy the song, or feel the spirit. What is a director to do?
I asked my husband, and he said if he were the director, he would take this person aside, and thank them for wanting to be in the choir, but that they really shouldn’t be there since they were obviously struggling with the music. I thought, if it were me, I might ask them afterward if they needed some extra help, or if there were anything I could do to help them learn the music, or offer to let them take the music home to study in their free time. But I don’t think I would kick them out of the ward choir.
I don’t know what the director will do. I don’t know if this person will be there to practice next week, or if they will come up to sing with us in church next week. I’m glad it’s not my call.
What would you do?
7:30–Get Natalie out the door to catch the early bus and go to Orchestra
7:45–Cole leaves for Jr High
8:45–Send Jenna to the bus stop, and load John and Megan into the car to go to the Orthodontist’s
9:00–Check Megan in at the Orthodontist’s office, then take John over to Payless Shoes to buy his Lightening McQueen Crocs,
Then to Costco to get gas
9:25–back to the Ortho to make another apt in 6 weeks and pick up Megan
9:38–drop off Megan at school
9:45–meet my visiting teaching partner to go visiting teaching
10:30–go home and get John a snack, and help him change into his “itty bitty sports class” shirt
10:45–load John up into his carpool to go to the sports class
10:50–get my lesson ready for activity days, unload the dishwasher, and clean off the counter
12:00–John comes home from sports class, and needs some lunch. He also insists on wearing something green, or people will pinch him, so we find a green shirt and help him change it
12:30–walk John over to a neighbor’s house for a play group
12:38–drive to the grocery store, where I stock up on canned goods at the ‘case lot sale’, then go to the copy shop and spend $4 on copies for today’s Activity day lesson and handout
1:20–come home and unload groceries
1:40–sit down and watch part of Ocean’s 11 that I’ve had on the tivo since before Christmas and still haven’t finished watching
2:00–walk over (oh, no! It’s raining again) to pick up John from the neighbor’s play group
2:20–turn on Thomas the Train and let John watch it while I close my eyes for just a minute
3:00–Cole comes home from school. Mom does some laundry.
3:45–the girls come home from school, demanding a snack
3:48–get kids a snack, pick up neighbor and go to activity days
4:00–hold an activity for 7 roudy girls, where we blow out and color eggs, and teach them a lesson on the miracles of Easter, giving them each a folder full of the lesson to do with their own families for FHE
5:30–go home, reheat leftovers and eat a quick dinner
6:00-take Megan to the Jr High for her tour and registration
7:30–come home
7:35–encourage kids to
a)do homework
b)practice the piano
c)use the potty
d)do their jobs
8:30–encourage kids to
e)get in their pajamas
f)brush their teeth
g)stop fighting
h)say prayers
i)go to bed!
9:00–Everyone is finally in their beds, prayers and stories done, “I love you”s and “Goodnight”s said, wheat bags heated up, dishwasher started and counter cleaned off again.
9:10–I blog about it
On Monday night in lieu of a decent FHE lesson or activity, I broke out the surprise I had bought that day…. a USB Microphone for the Wii. Can I get a “Wa-Hoo”? I bought in on Monday, since I was already at Circuit City spending large amounts of money for a certain 13 year old’s upcoming 14th birthday. Actually, it’s part of a Christmas present. Late, yes. Who knew that if you bought the High School Musical sing along game for the Wii, you have to buy a Microphone to go with it? Really? Who knew? Well, not me. And then after Christmas when I tried to get one, they were sold out (ok, I really only tried two stores and then forgot about it, but I did at least try).
So, I broke out the microphone, we opened up the game, and we had a fun night singing along with our favorite High School Musical songs. Even John had a couple of turns, although he has a bit harder time at it then his sisters. The girls are belting out the songs, getting the words wrong and the tunes right about 1/2 of the time, but it was FUN! And these Wii characters, although they don’t really look like Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay or Ryan, actually have arms.
We will soon be experts on High School Musical songs, I tell you. We’ll know all the words eventually, and then we’ll move on to the dance moves. Oh, that will be a treat, I’m sure. I won’t tell you when that will be because I’m sure you would all be flocking to our family room to watch us dance and sing.
Wooo Hoooo! We have reached our 2000th comment here 
on this old blog of mine!
Did balloons fall from the sky and confetti pop out of your screen? Well, it didn’t happen here, either.
But my 200th comment came from….My Mom! Seriously, it was her comment on the big squish that earned her the coveted prize pack for the 2000th comment!
So, Mom, here’s what you win: (drumroll, please)
–my favorite little IKEA spatula
–A $10 Toys R Us gift card, (and since there are grandkids with birthdays coming up, I’m sure you can use this)
–Two free Kids’ Meals at TGI Fridays (oh, for when you take your grandkids out to dinner!)
–Two Tickets to the Hale Center Theater in Orem (I know you like plays)
–An entree and soft drink from the California Pizza Kitchen (to eat before or after you go to the Hale Center Theater)
–Two free kids meals to Mimi’s Cafe (again with the grandkids, right?)
–The book The Maker’s Diet. 
I don’t really know if it’s a good book, or a good diet, to tell you the truth, but it was given to me, and I know you love diets, Mom, so I’m giving it to you!
And while we’re on the subject of my mom, can I just let you know how much I love her? She’s a great mom, and she’s always been very supportive of me and my brother and sisters. She and Dad love their grandkids and come to as many events as they can. They even took Cole and his cousin Braeden on a road trip to Arizona! That’s at least 24 hours in the car with two kids who apparantly did far too much chatting and laughing. So, Mom, I love you, and Congratulations!
Since I have reached the ripe old age of 40, and it’s the responsible thing to do, I went today and had a mammogram. I honestly didn’t think my girls could actually go that flat. Wow. But it wasn’t as horrible as I had imagined. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but only for a few seconds at a time. Thinking about it was worse than the actual appointment.
And to reward myself, I bought some Crocs on sale. Well, not Crocs actually. Croc Knock-offs. But they are wild and crazy and make me smile.
Welcome Spring!
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