Look at this!
My talented sister painted my daughter an d my grandma for Sunday’s Music and the Spoken Word painting. It’s cool to have such talent in the family!
Page 78 of 181
Oh, I’m a little wicked. Aren’t you? Yesterday we saw Wicked in Salt Lake City. It was Amazing! 
People have asked how I got tickets. Did I win them? Do I know someone in high places? Am I secretly a munchkin? No. Back in October, I got a message from my bank telling me I was eligible to buy Wicked tickets at a pre-sale on Halloween day. I put in on my calendar, and when the time came, I got on the internet, hitting refresh every minute or so, trying to get through. I was also on the phone trying to get through. It’s just like any other contest, right? Dial, busy, repeat. After about an hour, I FINALLY got through, and bought tickets. I was allowed to buy 8, so 8 I bought. Even though there are only 7 people in my family. So, no, I didn’t win them, but I kind of felt like I had won them.
When the time came closer, I realized that our tickets were for the same weekend as women’s conference at BYU, and my good friend R would be in town that weekend, so I offered her one ticket. As it turned out, however, she couldn’t come because of scheduling problems, so I offered that ticket to another friend, who I knew would love to see the show. Out of town. Hmmm. I actually had two tickets to sell, since John wasn’t old enough to go, so I offered them to my friend J, who had told me long before that if I had ANY extra tickets, she would buy them from me. She jumped at the chance, and decided to take her daughter, one of my daughter’s friends. Hooray! Plans were made, and we were getting excited.
Wednesday night I told the kids, “Guess where we get to go on Saturday?”
“Disneyland?” was their excited reply.
“Not quite THAT exciting, but still exciting. I have tickets to see Wicked.” They were sufficiently excited. I was happy I could take them. But then I realized that my 15 year old son had a scout camp out over the weekend, and he wouldn’t be able to go. Oh, no!
With one more ticket, I asked my friend if she wanted to take one more in her family. Darn. Her husband just had surgery, so he was out, and her son, who would also LOVE to go, had a soccer game. She couldn’t use it. I asked another friend, S, who has already seen Wicked twice, but who I know would LOVE to go. She was thrilled to be offered the chance. But just ONE ticket? Should she grab it up and go, or be a good mom and let her daughter go? She agonized over the decision, but it finally came down to letting her daughter go, and she would go with her other daughter to her dance recital. We were all set.
Saturday dawned, and I had my kids cleaning their rooms. John was set to go to a friend’s, whose mom willingly offered to watch him while we were gone to the play. I dashed over to a fun watch party open house, and while there, my phone rang. It was about 11:30. Ryan tells me he’s decided he has too much to do today, and can I find someone else to use his ticket? Are you kidding me? The show is in less than 3 hours, we are leaving in an hour and a half, and NOW you decide you don’t want to go? He said since he had already seen it once in New York, and he was leaving town tonight, he really wanted to get some things done before he left, and would I mind if he didn’t go.
I turned to my friend, M, who was also at the watch party, who was JUST BARELY telling me how much she WANTED to go to see the show, and asked if she could drop everything and go to see the show TODAY.
“What?” She gasped. “Today? What time?”
“Two o’clock. We’re leaving at 12:45 and we can take you.”
A look of anguish passed over her face. “I can’t go. It’s my daughter’s dance recital. And it’s prom tonight.”
I tried, unsuccessfully, I might add, to persuade her to ditch her family obligations, and come to Wicked with me.
She called me Satan, and told me to stop tempting her.
Back on the phone. I called S. More anguish. She had promised her daughter she would go to the dance recital, and she had to leave and go and get pictures taken. “ARRRGH!” she said, “Try someone else, and call me back.”
I called another friend of mine, but she was just leaving to go swimming with the kids. Could none of my friends drop everything and go? I was beginning to think I might have to make Ryan just go with me. And how rude I was to be phoning and calling while I’m at someone else’s house.
I called S back, who I KNEW really wanted to go. She was still agonizing over the decision, but trying to be a good mother and fulfill all her obligations. She decided she couldn’t go. I called my friend D.
“D,” I said, (only I didn’t just call her “D”, I used her whole name) “can you drop everything and ditch your family and go and see Wicked today?”
“Let me see. Can I call you back in two minutes?” she asked.
While she was figuring it out, I was mentally listing who I would call next. My sister, my friend S, my sister-in-law, who could be spontaneous? These darn families! Keeping us too busy to drop everything and just go. And who would have thought it would be this hard to get rid of tickets to Wicked?
Ring-Ring. It was D, “I’m in. What time?”
Good for her! Even though she had just gotten back from running 20 miles (Yes, that was not a typo–two, zero. Twenty.), her husband was ok to go to the soccer game with the kids, and she could go. I told her I’d pick her up in one hour.
Back home, we fed the kids lunch and got everyone ready. The excitement was running high. We dropped off John, picked up our friends, and were on our way.
Once we got there, we split into our two groups, four of us in row w, and four girls in row Z. Because it was a matinee and there were lots of kids there, I wasn’t able to get a booster cushion for Jenna, but sitting on my jacket and her jacket helped, and I think she was able to see all right. Although Megan just informs me that she “couldn’t see hardly anything because there were these really tall people in front” of her. Well, now. Sorry about that. I can’t make all the tall people stay home just so she can see better, now can I?
The stage at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake is definitely smaller than the Gershwin Theater in New York, but it was still amazing. I personally liked the Elphaba and Glinda we saw in New York better than these, but I liked the Fiero, the Wizard and Madame Morrible better. It was amazing. I loved it. The girls loved it, and my friends loved it. We sang all the way home. Gee, I wonder why Ryan didn’t want to go. Anyway,if you haven’t seen it yet, I hope you will someday get a chance. It was Over the Rainbow spectacular.
Today I spent just over $100 on a pair of stockings. Yes, gentle reader, that wasn’t your eyes playing tricks on you. Stockings. Moderate Medical Compression stockings, to be more specific. Icky, uncomfortable, squeeze your legs all the time stockings. For my veins. My veins that don’t work. (More about my veins in a later post).
As I was in Provo, and the medical supply place is in Orem by the mall, I decided to make a quick stop and pick up my dumb stockings. And some WAY cute fabric for some curtains (hopefully more about the way cute curtains when I actually sew them–later. Much later). But what makes me laugh is the picture on the box.
Look at this lady. Do you believe for one second that this lady has vericose veins? I don’t think so. But they put this pretty lady in the cocktail dress lounging oh so comfortably leaning on a couch. She’s probably at a party or something, with her pretty legs in her MEDICAL COMPRESSION STOCKINGS.
Do you think if I put these stockings on (I’m hoping I can actually GET them on!) I will look that good in my little black dress, too? Of course I will!
They can’t put a realistic picture on the box, can they? Because then someone who’s going in looking for the stockings might see something like this:
But at least, then I’d know that those were the stockings I was looking for. It’s not like people are in a department store looking at these stockings. “Oh, look, honey, it’s those stockings I’ve been wanting. And they are only $100. Let’s get them instead of those flimsy little Hanes that are only $4.65.” No. You get these stockings because your doctor calls in an Rx, and you Have to get them. And no, the insurance doesn’t cover it. But I can take comfort in the fact that I’ll look sassy and sexy, just like the lady on the box, when I wear them.
I’m sorry for the lack of, well, anything here. I have a bunch of stuff in my head I’d love to blog about, but no time.
Today I’m off to BYU for my second day of a fabulous women’s conference!
I’m not usually a fan of Reese’s Pieces. I’d rather just have M&M’s, wouldn’t you? But my peanut butter levels must be low, because today at the store, I saw the little peanut butter guys and impulsively bought a package. And I ate most of them! What’s up with that?! Maybe I’m low on some vital nutrient found only in Reece’s Pieces.
I haven’t written much about my crazy dreams in a while, and maybe that’s a good thing. But last night’s dream was just too great to not share.
I dreamed I was shopping with some friends, and we found this FABULOUS line of clothes. They were well made, good quality, and just beautiful. The best part was, they made the wearer look Fantastic! I tried on a skirt and I felt instantly transformed–25 pounds lighter and toned, and even my hair looked great! I was BUYING that skirt, and maybe a shirt to go with it. Yes, they were expensive, but, as I could see, it was worth it. As I was trying to pick out my favorite (since the whole collection was amazing, and it was very hard to choose), and figure out really if I could afford to buy more than one thing, my friend casually said, “Oh, and don’t forget about the penguin.”
“What?” I asked, not really listening, as I picked out another outfit to go and try on.
“You know, the free penguin you get with each item purchased,” she said. How she could say that so nonchalantly, I do not know.
I gave her that “Wha’ chu talkin’ about, Willis?” look, she laughed and said, “It’s an environmentalist thing. The penguins are in danger, and this company wants to be environmentally responsible and help out the penguins.”
“Oh, so I ‘ADOPT’ a penguin, and part of my purchase price goes to help out the penguins,” I said.
“No,” she said, “you ADOPT a penguin and it goes home with you. They’re really quite cute.”
What? I have to take home a penguin and take care of it so I can buy these really really cute clothes? Well, I guess I can take care of a penguin. “What do you feed a penguin?” I asked.
“We feed ours cat food and sometimes tuna for a treat. They really prefer fresh fish, but that was getting too expensive,” she said as she looked through the rack.
A penguin. At my house. These clothes had better be worth it. I decided that they were, picked out the favorite skirt and a shirt to go with it, and went to pay. At the register, the lady rang up my ridiculously expensive ensemble, gave me the total, which I paid, and then said, “Let’s see, it looks like your penguins are…….Stevie, and…… Brooke. I’ll have someone go and get them for you.”
Wait. Penguins? As in more than one? I have to take home TWO penguins? Oh, my husband is going to kill me. He already thinks I’m on the verge of being one of those crazy bird ladies, but now I’m bringing home two penguins? Trying to hang on to some measure of composure, I asked, “Do they come with some sort of instruction manual. The penguins?”
The lady at the store acted like it was the easiest thing in the world to take care of penguins, and that I was getting a special prize! Like when you get a free toy in your cereal box. Free Penguin with Purchase! Only I wasn’t really thrilled about the penguin.
I did take my two “lovable” penguins home, and, no offense to all you penguin lovers out there, but in my dream (let’s all remember this was just a dream) they were awfully hard to take care of. They made a mess out of EVERYTHING, and since I had no special penguin pond or penguin cage or anything, they kind of just took over the bathroom. They did NOT like the cat food I bought for them, and I believe they caused quite a bit of marital discord at home. (You think?).
Eventually I could take the stress of the penguins no more, and I took them AND the darling clothes back to the store. And what do you know? But penguins are NON RETURNABLE! Are you KIDDING me?
That was the end of the dream, thank goodness. When I realized it was a dream, I was actually really sad about those clothes. They looked SO good on me, I’m tellin you! But I was relieved about the penguins. *Sigh of relief* We don’t really have penguins at home that I have to take care of.
When I sat down to write this post, my kids came tooling by with penguins in the stroller.
They even put birthday hats on them. Oh, how cute. 
And I had a little bit of a panic. It was a dream, wasn’t it? 
My daughter probably wouldn’t like this. Mostly because she says this song is on ALL THE TIME. But I like this song, even if it is overplayed on the radio right now. But THIS version is Amazing.
They call it Taylor Swift meets Cold Play. I LOVE it!
I Love, love, love it! Jon Schmidt, you rock!
What do you think?
I turned on the oven to preheat at 425 to heat up some chicken nuggets for John and his friend. I left the room to do something, and when I came back, the entire kitchen, the family room, and pretty much the first floor was filling up with smoke. Smoke coming from the oven.
Oops!
I forgot about the cinnamon roll goop that glopped out onto the bottom of the oven when I made cinnamon rolls Sunday night.
Turn off the oven, open windows, turn on the fan.
And never use the oven again.
This week my kids are taking care of the neighbors’ pets. By pets I mean a dog, a goose and some chickens. Lots of chickens. And baby chicks. They have to be fed and watered twice a day, and they have to collect the eggs. This family also runs a little egg business, and have egg deliveries scheduled for about every other day, so we’ve also been taking care of that, too. But, as usual, this animal caretaking has not been without incident. Two of the girls went on Thursday to do the first run through, and after about an hour, I began to wonder where in the world they were. ‘Did they take a phone with them?’ I’m asking myself. No, they did not. I was about ready to go over there and check on them, when my daughter showed up at the door.
“Mom!” She called, “the chickens got out and we can’t get them back into their coop!” Her shoes were covered with mud, and so were her pants. Her new shoes, I might add. Ugh.
“We’re using Natalie’s jacket to throw it over the chickens and catch them!” she said breathlessly. Joy. Double joy.
Being in the middle of making bread, and not particularly enthused about going to chase down chickens in the snow (yes, we still had snow last week), I sent her brother to go and help her. “And take another coat for Natalie, and TAKE the phone!” I hoped the addition of one more person would help them, and they wouldn’t be outside in the cold for too much longer.
I waited 45 minutes before I called my son on the phone. “Are you guys done with those chickens, yet?” I asked. “Only one more!” he said. I could hear lots of noises in the background. It could have been the girls laughing/screaming, or it could have been angry chickens, I wasn’t sure. “If you are not done by 5:30, just leave the chickens and COME HOME anyway!” I said. Chickens or no chickens, I don’t need my children getting sick because they were outside for more than two hours.
Then I called a friend of mine. A friend who also has chickens. “Friend,” I said (only I used her real name, of course), “I have a weird question for you. My kids are trying to wrangle the neighbors’ chickens, and they can’t get them back in their coop. Do you have any tricks?” She told me that usually the chickens would go back inside for food, but if they had already fed them, then she didn’t know what to tell me. But she offered to send her five year old son over. He apparently has a talent for catching chickens.
It took about 15 more minutes for the kids to show up, but I guess the little guy really does have the chicken talent. He came, scooped up the chicken and got him in the cage. Immediately. I should have called for him sooner!
The good thing is, my kids got lots of exercise and fresh air that day. The bad thing is, I had three kids covered with mud. The pants, the shoes, the jackets, the shirts–all muddy. And they were freezing! I had them leave their shoes outside and took ALL their clothes to the laundry room for immediate washage. Then they took showers, changed clothes and got cozy under some blankets to warm them up.
The next two days passed without any such incidences. They would stay to play with the dog, collect the eggs and feed the chickens and were done in about half an hour. Today they had to catch some chickens again, but it wasn’t nearly as hard. Or as muddy.
And I’m enjoying having fresh eggs. Is it worth all that hassle? I don’t think so.
Today’s spring break activity was Boondock’s fun center in Draper. Before we left I had the kids make themselves a sandwich, and we packed a lunch. There is no rule that just because you are going to a place that serves food, you have to buy and eat their food. A couple sandwiches, a few cookies, a few capri sun drinks and a diet coke for mom, and we’re good to go.
We also rounded up a few report cards. Why report cards? You ask? Well, Boondock’s is one of the places that rewards kids for good grades. So, anytime you go, make sure and take a report card with you. It doesn’t have to be current. One of the ones we found for Cole was two years old. For each A grade, they will give you three tokens, with a max per child of 18 tokens. With four kids in school, that’s 4 x 18= 72 free tokens. That would cost almost $20 to buy those. Then we took in our 6 free laser tag certificates that the kids earned for participating in PTA reflections and other things at school. Each game of laser tag normally costs $6, but we got those for free. If you don’t have free laser tag coupons, you can scour the ValPack coupons for the buy one get one free coupons, or there’s usually one or two coupons in the Happening’s books. I was planning on using the buy one get one free coupon for Jenna and John to play in Kiddee Cove, which is only $3 each, but if I can get one for free, that’s always better. Jenna, however, was too tall, so we didn’t buy her a pass.
Now if we were going to Boondocks in the summer (or a spring break when it isn’t snowing) we might want to spring for the passes so we could play miniature golf and go carts and all the outside stuff, but when we’re stuck inside anyway, this is the way to do it. My kids played for two plus hours before their tokens and free games were up. Then, while I was playing my one game of Deal or No Deal, some nice kid came up and asked if we would like free popcorn coupons. “Ok, Thanks!” we said. He gave us three coupons for free popcorn at the concessions stand. 3 Popcorns at $2 each–Free. Normally we don’t have people coming up and giving us free things, but I’ve given away free tickets and things before, so I understand. They probably had to leave and we were just lucky, I guess.
About the time everyone finished up all their tokens and we were about to leave, the kids asked if they could use another set of report cards to get more tokens. Yes, I brought another set of report cards. Because we don’t always get to Boondocks every single quarter, and so, why not? So the kids went up to the counter and there was a different person there than before and they redeemed their report cards for 18 more tokens each.
So, our running total is:
144 tokens ($37)
6 games of laser tag ($36)
3 popcorns ($6)
Kiddie cove for one child ($3)
_____
$82+
I paid $3 plus tax. Cool, huh? Plus, the kids came home with a bunch of crap. Jenna and Natalie got a pretty decent size stuffed animal, some rubber ducks and some jewelry, John got a “laser gun” that lights up and makes noise, Cole got a silly pretend cell phone that shocks you when you push the button, etc….
I consider it a success. The kids had fun, I had fun, and we didn’t spend very much money. Hooray!
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