Thought so...

Referring to the post a few days ago. I was right. Now...after walking around on it for 2 weeks, how do I convince everyone that I should stay off of it?

Cool picture, huh?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow-Day! YAY!

Random Stuff

Since Fall quarter is DONE, I can finally breathe a little! It's been an INCREDIBLY busy 10 weeks with so much to blog about, yet so little time. In no particular order (and what I remember)...here we go:

1) It's going to snow today in RI. The same storm that's causing all sorts of blizzard conditions in the Mid-Atlantic is on the way. This means PANIC at the market! (And possibly a Church cancellation tomorrow!) Don't get me wrong, we always enjoy going to Church, but a break once in a while is always welcome because we're both so busy at Church too - it's hard to enjoy it sometimes!

Because the snow is coming I moved about 5 wheelbarrow loads of wood from the back to the front by the garage so we could stack it inside. That way we just have to go to the garage for wood when we need it. It's cold (19 or so degrees) and the kids were out with me for a little while, but got too cold so they came in for Mary Poppins (A regular feature at our house lately - Megan practically has the entire 2 hours and 22 minutes memorized!) Anyway...when I was finally done, I came in to see this:

Two kids, on the couch, with the Cheesy Poofs, watching the movie. What a life!

2) I went to Ryan's FIRST Christmas singing concert yesterday. It was cute! Details and video in another post to come!


3) I think I broke my toe. About 2 weeks ago, I tripped in my office while trying to get something away from Megan (she's a little "swiper" lately!) and I caught my foot on a shelf. Yes, it was graceful. I initially thought that I sprained it. I had a really pretty bruise for a while. But now it just hurts - all the time. Soooo...in addition to taking the kids to the Pediatrician on Tuesday (regular appt - no vaccines for us!) I'm going to try to sneak in an appointment with the foot doctor who happens to be in the same building. Lovely...


4) Megan - has been REALLY fresh lately. She'll look us in the eye and do just what we tell her not to do. She's quick too! I can't tell you how many times she's gotten the camera, a permanent marker, food, mom's craft scissors, and other stuff she's not supposed to have. She's also acquired a BAD habit of waking up in the middle of the night and coming into our room. She doesn't say anything anymore, she just climbs into bed with us. Of course Ric and I are always exhausted or half asleep and don't realize that she's there until the morning. *sigh*

Oh, and she also bit Ryan on the cheek the other day. He most likely deserved it because he'll hold her down and won't let go even if she's screaming so the only thing she thinks she can do is bite! He has some nice purple teeth marks on his right cheek. The joys of siblings!


5) Ryan - what can I say about this kid? He's grown SOOOO much, but still refuses to go to the potty! We've all but given up and are just encouraging every once in a while. Neither of us have the energy anymore to force him to sit/stand in the bathroom. At least he wears them... somewhere!


6) Ric has been coming home mentally and physically exhausted every day for the last few weeks. First, let me state here (and Ric would agree) that the people who run the Post Office are a bunch of idiots who don't listen to anyone who actually works with the general public.

At the end of November, two jobs in Ric's office were abolished. Then one was relisted for bid. (This happened at many offices around here.) Ric's coworker decided that she had had enough of the "public" and bid out for another behind the scenes job, so luckily, Ric was able to stay in his office.

Now...there are only TWO people in his office and one part timer. His office is EXTREMELY busy all the time. Think about it...just two weeks before everything starts to heat up for Christmas and they cut one position in a really busy office, PLUS hire someone brand new to it all part time that has to learn everything while people are lined up in the lobby and out the door? (sorry for the run-on sentence!) It does mean a little bit of overtime pay, but SO isn't worth it when Ric comes home and he looks like he's been beaten up!

Of course, today he's working and has to deal with not only the people who procrastinated and are rushing to the post office to mail Christmas stuff, BUT the people who HAVE to buy their one or two stamps because the snow that's the way! (And we all know the panic that happens when even one flake is mentioned here on the news!)


7) Take a look at this. My 14 year old fat cat, SuziQ. She's a permanent fixture in front of the fire lately. I think I just might join her while I work on Christmas Cards that should have been sent out WEEKS ago! (By the way...we actually didn't have to turn up the oil heat until just this week because of this fire insert!)

Poor Neglected Blog..

We'll do better...promise!

Kitchen Progress

I don't know why it's taken so long to get these pictures up. I guess I was hoping that it would all be done before I unveiled the results. But here you go - the progress...

(the messy - or not so messy - cabinets are blurred to protect the innocent)

We used to have a soffet (sp?) between the cabinets over the sink where there was a small recessed light. I tore that down and we rewired (ok, Ric rewired) so that we could hang a pendant light. We still need to put up new trim around the window and the ceiling, but for the most part, the top is done.

Now to finish the bottom cabinets! It's a long process when the kids are around - and should be interesting to see what they take out of the cabinets when I take the doors off! You can really see the difference in the last picture between the upper and lower cabinets. The kitchen is SO much brighter now!

Our plan is to remove the stove top and wall oven to replace them with a range/microwave combo. That will give me actual counter space where the stove top has been! (Maybe we'll splurge for a new counter too! Who knows...we can always dream!)

We've Adopted!

If only for a few minutes to get a photo! :) (He was about 1 1/2" long - creepy!)

Isn't he cute? If you look closely, you can see that he's munching on a fly for breakfast. Once we took the pictures, he knew what was up and climbed up to the roof. It took a couple of days before Ric was able to flush him out of hiding to spray him - but finally, he's gone! Whew!

Too Many Posts at Once!

I know...first I hardly put anything up for a month or so; then I load you up with posts!

After fighting with Blogger and my images, I've decided to go around the image uploader and just FTP them myself and insert the pics with HTML code. (I don't teach the stuff for nothing! hehe) I guess there are others having the same problem with images.

Anyway, so these last few posts are heavy on pictures and light on words because I just want to catch up! Soon I'll be current and you'll have to READ these posts instead of just looking through pictures!

:)

Blog Block

I know I know I know...it's been too long since we've put something up here.

It's not that we haven't done things, or taken pictures...just not enough time in the day!

So....stay tuned, I promise we haven't completely forgotten about the blog! :)

Tackling the Kitchen Finally!

Remember the dining room upgrade project? (For a recap, go here, here, here, here, here and here! That was ALMOST 2 years ago!)

Since then, I've been staring at my kitchen cabinets, etc. and planning in my head what I'm going to do with them (Ric hates that!)

Well, here's a refresher on what the kitchen looked like. LOVELY wood stained cabinets - in the strangest color. Not that it's a bad color, I just don't like it. I also don't like how shiny the cabinets are and the fact that there's no hardware on them to open the doors!





So...here's a sneak peek of how it's starting to look!

I won't show you the whole thing until it's done - but I do have to say that I LOVE the way it's going to be! :) Stay tuned!

Lessons Learned

This past week was an interesting one, with a few things learned along the way!

Experience #1: On Tuesday, I went to Target to pick up a few things like toilet paper, pull ups (gotta be ready if Ryan decides to cooperate with the the potty, right?) and soda. Since the TP took up so much room, I put it under the basket. I paid for everything, walked out to the car, emptied the basket, and put the cart in the corral - forgetting the 3 packages of soda.

It wasn't until I was pulling out that I realized I hadn't loaded up the soda into the car, so I looked over towards the cart and saw a man quickly loading MY soda into the back of his truck. It wasn't more than just 60 seconds between the time I got into my car and saw this happening. He MUST have seen me leaving the cart with soda on the bottom and getting into my car. Instead of saying something, he takes it.

What would you do if you were him in this case? I know that I would have tried to find the person who mistakenly left the soda. If I couldn't find them, I would have taken it back inside because it wasn't mine.

What would you do if you were me and saw this man helping himself to your soda? (He was driving a really nice truck, by the way.) What did I do? I let it be and cursed myself for not loading it up into my car all the way home. (Luckily, I used coupons, so it was cheap!) I thought about stopping, rolling down my window and asking him to load it into my car instead. But unfortunately these days, you never know about people. *sigh*

Lesson learned: Pay attention and load EVERYTHING into the car, OR don't put anything below the cart!

Experience #2: Today, I ran to Shaws to pick up a few more things! (HUGE sales this week!) I had Ryan and Megan with me. Usually they are pretty good, but they can be distracting - especially when checking out, I like to watch the screen to make sure that I'm getting all the discounts and prices I'm planning on.

I had split my groceries into two different orders to take advantage of a Catalina* (cash back to use on your next transaction) that was going to print out. (Did you know that you can do that? Split things up so you use them right away! It doesn't take much longer than paying for everything at once!) Anyway, the first transaction went through fine. The second transaction didn't. Of course, I was herding Megan and Ryan through in the cart and didn't realize that the checker hadn't scanned my store card for the second transaction! In the end, my groceries totaled about $92, after coupons it was about $65. That didn't seem right to me though, it was a lot higher than the $30 (for both transactions) I had calculated at home. But, they were already working on the next customer and the kids were getting antsy.

So, I took everything out to the car, loaded up the kids, started the car, and pulled out my receipt. It definitely wasn't right. The Hamburger Helper that was supposed to be only $1 a box rang up at $2.50!! Eeeek! When you buy 15 boxes, that adds up! I turned off the car, got the kids back out into the shopping cart, and went back in to the service desk, where we determined that my card wasn't scanned. I should have caught that - and the checkout guy should have caught it too, but we didn't. Anyway, they credited my account $46 - which in the end with both transactions was about right - whew!

Lesson learned: Either don't take the kids with me to the store so I can pay attention to the check out, OR make sure I check my receipt every time I shop!

Experience #3: This one requires a little bit of faith and knowing that we were blessed because we pay our tithing. A few weeks ago, Ric and I had our annual eye exams. If you don't know, Ric has reading glasses now that he uses at work. We found out that his prescription had changed, so he needed new glasses. (We think this is the reason that he was getting dizzy at work, his Rx was off!)

His prescription for new glasses had been sitting on my desk for a week. On Monday, I was surfing my regular coupon/frugal living blogs and saw a post that listed a sale on men's frames and lenses for a particular company. (Are you sitting down for this?) I found some VERY stylish frames, which included single vision lenses (anti-glare and all that), for ONLY $6.95. YES, you read that right, SIX DOLLARS and NINETY FIVE CENTS! Add the shipping and his completed pair of reading glasses was less than $15!

We couldn't go wrong to try this company, and we didn't. His glasses arrived today - they are very modern and the Rx is right. He's taking them to work tomorrow to see if he still has problems with getting dizzy. If he seems to be OK, I'm ordering ANOTHER PAIR! Why not? One for work and one for home! :)

Just so you know, the company is Coastal Contacts in Blaine Washington. I'm sure we'll be using them again! Even if we have to pay more for glasses!

Lesson Learned: Paying our tithing definitely blesses our family. We don't have a lot of extra money for things like this, especially since we used all of our flex spending for my gall bladder experience! Gotta love glasses for $14.38! :) We'll post pictures so you can see that we didn't pick up a cheap pair, they're actually very stylish!

PS - I have to share what we had for dinner tonight - Grilled Bruschetta Chicken. It was to die for! So easy, and didn't take more than 20 minutes to make! We're going to try the same ingredients on a pizza next - YUM!

Win Free Shelf Reliance Storage!

You all probably know by now that I'm a preparedness junkie. The hardest part is figuring out where to STORE everything - am I right?

Shelf Reliance has great solutions - I love their products! And now they are giving away all sorts of things every two weeks! Starting with their Harvest 72" storage shelves! (I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE those!)

If you'd like to win one, just go to their blog and leave a comment. And if you win - I promise I won't hate you forever! :)

FINALLY - Proof!

From day ONE for both Ryan and Megan, everyone says that they look like Ric.

Ummm...hello? I'm the one who carried them for 9 months, lost control of my bladder more times that I can count, endured the nausea, swollen feet, and all that other fun stuff.

"Oh she's/he's so cute - she/he looks just like Dad!" Grrrr...

Now I give you ME at about the same age as Megan now.

See the similarities? In fact, when I showed the picture to Meg she pointed and said "Megan!"

Love that! :)

Just a quickie to check out

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you might have seen my status on Saturday saying that GiGi had taken the kids to the Gaspee Days Parade and I had 3 hours to myself.

(For those of you who don't know - the burning of the HMS Gaspee was really the first event that eventually ended up in the Revolutionary War. It's usually missing from the history books, but it's a BIG DEAL here in Warwick, Rhode Island!)

Anyway...the big parade actually kicks off in front of our Church...and a port-a-potty was brought in to "help" the thousands of people out. Check out this picture my friend posted of the cast of characters lined up to "go" at the parade on her blog. Hysterical! :)

PS - pictures of Megan's birthday party coming soon! Oh...and you won't want to miss the PROOF that she is my daughter and doesn't just look like Ric! heh

At My Wit's End...

Why don't kids come with user manuals? I'm sure that there's a "boy" and "girl" version out there somewhere, right? (Warning: Extremely LONG post here!)

I'm. Going. To. Lose. My. Mind.

Wait - I think I already have!

Before you think that this is just a venting/complaining post (it very well might be that) - I'm hoping to find some answers too. Who knows, I may have some ideas myself, or someone "out there" who is reading may have the "miracle cure" for me! (I know...I could have used a "cure" about 4 1/2 years ago - BEFORE I got pregnant! But nooooo...now that I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 year old - I have find after the fact solutions rather than take preventative measures.)

Anyway... things at the Levett-ventures household are challenging right now.

Exhibit A: Ryan

I feel like I've completely lost control. My wonderful blue-eyed, blond haired boy is becoming someone I don't like. Of course I love him to pieces and always will. But lately, I don't like him.

"He's 3 1/2 - he'll grow out of it..." Right? I don't know. I feel like if I don't correct his behavior soon, he'll turn into the boy in the Sunbeam/CTR class at Church who needs special attention because of his bad behavior.

Let me just list a few examples of some "Ryan-isms" that are not so funny, so they usually don't make it up here for the masses.

"Mommy, I'm going to fire you!" (meaning, I'm going to burn you)
"I'm going to knife you..."
"I'm going to dead you..." (see where this is going?)
"I don't love you anymore"
"You are going to jail!"

It's not only what he's saying, but the anger behind it that scares me. He's hitting, kicking, pushing, spitting, pinching. Yes, I know they are all boy things, but that doesn't mean I can let him do them.

Unfortunately, saying 'Ryan, please don't kick your sister' just encourages him to do it more. So I have resorted to yelling at him and/or putting him in a time out. (Time out's at our house consist of a chair facing the corner in the kitchen for 5 minutes.)

The problems usually happen when he's bored and I can't keep him occupied 100% of the time without sacrificing everything I need to do during the day. For some reason, unlike Megan, he doesn't take the initiative very often to find something to play with or do by himself. He's always asking to do something WITH me or to have me HELP him when I know that he is can do it himself.

Anyway, that's the current version of Ryan in a nutshell.

I'm open to any and all suggestions, because everything I've tried just doesn't seem to make a difference in how he acts. (Yes, I try daily to control my yelling at him too - eventually, though I fail at that one.)

I think one thing that might help is a rigid daily schedule. The thought of putting together AND following a schedule completely overwhelms me. It's probably the solution I'm looking for - and I should get myself together and just do it. (I'll let you know.)

BTW - I did put a chore chart together for him, which he seemed pretty happy about. He earns points for doing different things around the house, and after so many, he gets to have a "happy meal" or something he's been wanting. At least he's learning (sloooooowwwwwwly) to earn and work for things.)

Exhibit B: Megan

Megan. My sweet little love bug is turning two in just two days! Up until the last week, she's been the best little girl I could want. All of a sudden (as if she KNOWS about the "terrible twos") she's been throwing tantrums. Just yesterday we were at the library and she was on the floor screaming (who knows why) and I was "that mom" who couldn't control her child.

(Not that I care about the ladies who moved their "exclusive well-behaved play group" from spot to spot in the library when my kids came near them... just PLEASE don't tell me that your kids have never had a melt down in a public place before because I don't believe it! )

Meg is smart. I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom. She really is very bright. She speaks in complete sentences and can have full conversations when she wants to - not just a sentence here and there. So it's not like she can't communicate her frustrations - she actually does, whether it be through what she says or what she signs to us. (A perfect example that learning sign language BEFORE you learn to speak will not slow down learning to speak at all - take that baby sign language critics! hehe)

Because this new "melt down" behavior came as a complete surprise, I really don't know how long it will last, or if she's just reacting to other behavior in the house (mine, Ryan's, Dad's etc) Here's hoping that it's a very short phase and she's back to her "perfect little girl" self soon!

Exhibit C: Potty Training

No...potty training is a subject for a different post.

Exhibit D: Me

I'm not perfect - never will be. But I like to think I try. I'm completely overwhelmed with all that I need and want to do. Ric (and my therapist) says that I take on too much. I'll admit that I do - but keeping myself busy usually keeps me happy! And I like to think that when I've accomplished what I set out to do that I'm very successful too!

Unfortunately, my perfectionistic tendencies start to work against me when I can't get everything done that I want to do! And my stupid self-talk kicks in with the same old stuff. "You're failing, just give up - You'll never be able to do that - Why do you even try?" (And you wonder why I'm in therapy and take a cocktail of happy pills? heh)

So - while I'm swirling in self-doubt, it makes it difficult to think straight enough to find solutions for what's happening with my kids.

Yesterday, after coming home from the wonderful library experience, we had lunch and Megan went down (unwillingly) for a nap. Ryan was constantly asking for something, a DVD, a TV show, something to drink, something to eat, to play a game, and on and on and on. It's like that every day! (Made worse by the fact that the weather is crappy outside so we can't get out to use some of that energy!)

I had hit my limit of nagging and begging and told Ryan that it was "quiet time" - that means that he sits or lays on the couch with a book and we'll turn something on TV to watch if he wants to. He doesn't have to sleep (though I hope he does!), but he does have to be quiet. This way, Megan can still sleep and maybe I can get something else done. The only rule is that he can't leave the couch.

He didn't want to hear it and started yelling something at me, at which time I put him (forcefully) back on the couch and threatened that he stay, or else! (Don't remember what the "or else" was.) He did stay on the couch, but screamed and yelled for a long while. In the meantime, I'm in the other room with my head in my hands just trying to think of SOMETHING that I could do to change it all. Nothing came to mind.

Just about a half hour before Ric came home from work, a guy pulled up with Massachusetts plates. He grabbed a bag from his car and rang the bell. Strange.

The first thing he said was "Hi Sister Levett" and then I saw "Living Scriptures" embroidered on his bag. WOW - that was a blast from the past! I used to collect the VHS Living Scriptures stories almost 20 years ago! (No idea where they are now...) I knew he was here to sell them to me, but I let him in anyway. :) (Maybe watching something spiritual instead of "Sponge Bob" would calm my tazmanian devil a little. Nope.)

Long story short - because I had subscribed so long ago, AND they still had it on record, I was able to pick up the DVD versions for half price! (These are MUCH more enhanced with a ton of features - maybe my kids will learn something from them!) Where was I going with this? I believe that this college guy from BYU Hawaii who showed up on my doorstep to sell me some DVD's was there on purpose and as an answer to an "informal" prayer in my heart. At least watching cartoon versions of Bible and Book of Mormon stories will entertain the kids a little, would be better than what they watch now, AND just might bring a MUCH NEEDED calming Spirit into my home. (Thank you!)


--------------------------

After all this typing, I do feel better. But still, I would appreciate any and all suggestions! I just want to keep what's left of my sanity, raise good children, and accomplish a few things on my list. Too much to ask? Hmmm....

Random Pictures and Random Captions

The Point of Exhaustion
(This happened no less than 3 minutes before Daddy got home from work.)

Another Exhausted Kid
(Oh yeah...it's the same one. What did he have to eat?)

Megan...being Megan...

(Would you believe that Ryan took these pictures of her? Just found them on the camera today!)

Mom's Survival Kit
(72 Hour Kit, extra H20, Stroller, Four 12-packs of Diet Mountain Dew, and four packages of diapers. That should do it!)

Chocolate, it's what's for breakfast.
(And all over your nightgown, and diaper, and face, and hands...)

Who dresses this kid?

(Wasn't Mom, he did that himself after deciding it was warm enough to run through the sprinklers. Yeah right!)

Verizon here we come!

A few years ago, Verizon FiOS became available in our area. We were die-hard cable fans, complete with our digital cable TV channels, including the music channels! (LOVE THOSE!)

So...when the sales people came door to door, we told them that we were in a contract and couldn't change (we really were) and sent them on their way.

Time passed, and we needed to cut back, save our pennies, and stuff like that. So, we canceled our phone service through Cox and went with Vonage. We also downgraded our digital TV to "Basic/Expanded" and gave up the music channels (*sniff*) - not to mention Noggin, a channel that Ryan LOVED!

It hasn't been THAT bad going without, and we really had no intention to change.

But the other night as I was seeing the Verizon commercial (for the ump-teenth time) with the cable guy who's watching the FiOS guy through the window (Off topic - did you know that the guy (Matt McCarthy) who plays the cable guy is from RI? Anyhooo....) I mentally went through what we are paying now for Vonage and our Cox Cable/Internet. The result? The price we would pay for Verizon services (phone, internet, digital channels/music) would be the SAME if not just a little cheaper! AND - we're able to include a DVR in the package!

*happy dance*happy dance*

So, the decision was a no-brainer since we don't have a contract with our cable company anymore. We'll be paying the same money, for more services. Why not switch? :)

The REALLY cool thing about this is that now we will have BYU TV! No more streaming General Conference over the Internet or plopping ourselves down on someone elses couch! Also, I don't have to change email addresses because I have my own domains. But...

*Housekeeping Note*

If you are currently using Ric's cox email address - rcl1 (at) cox (dot) net - change over to ric (at) thelevetts (dot) com so that your messages don't bounce back once the switch is made!

So, there you go, Verizon here we come!

My Big Boy

I'm not sure how I should be feeling right now. It's so hard to describe. But I'll explain what's been happening the past few days and maybe sort through it.

We live in a great neighborhood. There are a good number of kids, but ours are the youngest. Just a few houses down from us and across the street are two kids, Mason and Brody. Ryan has decided that Brody is his best friend. Apparently, Brody has also decided the same thing. The thing is that Brody is about 4 years older than Ryan is - and watching them play together is pretty funny.

Ryan now watches out the window and if he sees the neighbors garage door opened, he knows that Brody is out playing. It's been up a lot this week because it's Spring Break around here. As soon as he sees that the door is up, he grabs his shoes and wants to go outside to play. He's completely obsessed with playing with the big boys.

Two days ago, while Megan was taking her nap, I went outside with Ryan - of course he saw the the other boys playing and wanted to play too. So I let him. We talked about how to cross the street safely (not that he gets that yet) and to make sure that Brody says it's OK play. While I sit in a chair on our lawn, Ryan goes across the street to see the boys.

He stood on the street for 15 minutes in front of the house before he got the courage to go on the lawn and get closer to the boys. I could almost see his thought process. He wasn't sure he wanted to ask, but he really wanted to play too. (I was still sitting in my chair, just praying that he would be brave and say something.) Mason, Brody's older brother, had noticed that Ryan was there, but didn't do or say anything.

Finally, Brody came out from the back yard and saw Ryan. He instantly put his arm around him and brought him into the group. I cried. It was the sweetest gesture that Brody could have made. Ryan played for about an hour with the boys and had a blast!

He still doesn't understand that if Brody has to go inside or can't play that he'll get to play with him later. In fact, the next day I let him go over again, and when Brody had to leave for an appointment, Ryan came home crying. He thought that it was all over. He said, "But Brody is my best friend ever!" I'm not sure that he completely understands yet how it all works, but right now, he LOVES being with the big boys. Brody and his mom both know that Ryan is still learning about crossing the street and all that stuff, so they watch out for him - thankfully!

So how am I supposed to feel about this? I love seeing Ryan having so much fun and learning to be social with the other kids. But at the same time, I don't want to see him go there. Maybe it's just that I don't want him to grow up. First we sign up for pre-school in the Fall and now he's playing with the neighbors. What next, driver's license and mission call? eeeeek!

Randomness

Since Ric scooped up the kids and took them with him to Lowes to pick up some stuff for our garden, I thought I'd take a minute to leave some random thoughts and updates.

~~It's been a while since I've posted. Mainly because I'm just not "right" - meaning my meds aren't "right". I have an appointment on Tuesday to get it straightened out (I hope) and maybe soon I'll be back to my normal bloggy self. That means that things have happened, pictures have been taken, we've overheard a lot from the kids, but I just haven't felt like posting it. So look for updates soon!

~~Do you use Twitter? I do, you can follow me using @StampMonkeys. Something interesting is happening this weekend. Twitter keeps track of the trends, basically all the things that are being "tweeted". This weekend, the NUMBER ONE trend is #ldsconf. Yep - Mormon tweeters are filling up the "airwaves" with their thoughts about the Gospel. And even chatting with people who aren't members! It's fantastic! What a "modern" way to share the Gospel!

~~I'm glad that General Conference is here - I've been looking forward to it. Though, it's been frustrating because my Internet Streaming has acted up - so I could only listen to it. I didn't hear it all, but a favorite quote is: "You cannot do a Google search to gain a testimony. You cannot text message faith." -M. Russell Ballard

~~I spent my morning today putting a swingset together. Yes, Mommy Rocks! Ric was at work, it took only 2 hours, and that was with the kids "helping." Pictures to come soon! (It was windy, cold, and worth it to get Ryan off my back this morning! From 7:00 am he was asking to go put it together!)

~~I had the opportunity to go to a Senior Voice Recital at URI today. My friend Helen was phenominal! I knew that she was talented, but I had no idea! (Where have I been?)

~~Megan has become quite the conversationalist. Her cute thing now is walking into a room, "matter of factly," and saying "Hi Mom". She also puts her arms around Ryan and says "I lud you Wyan." *sigh* (Oh, and she also told me that she was going to "bribe the car" the other day as she climbed into the drivers seat of the van. We're in SO MUCH TROUBLE! heh)

~~For the first time EVER, I'm growing out my bangs. When I had my gall bladder out, I had to cancel my hair appointment, and so my bangs didn't get their usual trim. Well...I kind of liked it. So now we're trying LONG bangs. Wish me luck! It's new territory for me!

~~Did you know that if you color your arms with red permanent marker that Goo Gone will take it right off? Who knew?!

That's it for now - I have some dishes to finish before Ric gets back with the kids!

To my Wonderful Husband...

THANK YOU for letting me out of the house on your day off to spend time with my friend.

THANK YOU for not getting upset when I was GONE for FIVE hours and you were home being "Dad."

My toes are HAPPY with a new coat of "paint."

My feet are HAPPY with the rub down they got.

My ego is HAPPY because our cute waiter flirted with two married ladies who sat and talked and laughed WAY TOO MUCH about all sorts of things (including kids and husbands) at lunch. (Ohhh...and he WAS cute!)

My heart is HAPPY because I was able to get some quality GIRL time to recharge my batteries.

I'm HAPPY ALL OVER because you are so wonderful!

PS - Thanks Rachael for a FABULOUS time!

Just for a laugh

So I saw this an another blog I follow - it's hysterical. Hope you are up for a good laugh! (Now...where can I get some of what HE had? hehe)

Is It March Yet?

I don't even know WHERE to start to summarize this crazy month! Not that anyone is REALLY that interested, but here are the happenings of February 2009...hopefully soon to be forgotten!

Feb 3rd - (Happy B-day Gramma!) It's about 10:30 pm and all of a sudden Ryan is crying in his bed. It's a different cry, so Ric and I jump up to see what's wrong. Yipppeeeee! Puke-age! At first we thought it was something he ate, but then....

Feb 5th - At about 11:00 pm, Megan is coughing and crying. Her turn! Yet another night this week that Mom and Dad got hardly any sleep. How do you explain to a 20 month old that she just has to get it out of her system?

Feb 6th - I get a call from my sister that ANOTHER sister is in the hospital with major back pain and no one knows what the problem is. She eventually gets moved to ICU over night so she can be watched, then sent home a few days later. She has an appointment the next week with doctors to figure out if she needs to have her gall bladder out. (There's a theme here...watch for it!)

Feb 7th - at about 8:00 pm, I'm sitting in the living room with Megan. Ric had gone out with Ryan to get my "birthday present." He returns with Shelly, my best friend. (Previously blogged about here.) Just about that same time, I feel that tickle in my throat and I start coughing. Uh oh...I'm getting sick while my best friend is visiting for my birthday! NOOOOoooooooo!

Feb 7th - 11th - Shelly hangs out with us, it was FABULOUS, but...I was sick the whole time!


Feb 10th - Happy 40th Birthday to ME! :)


Feb 9th - 12th - I continued to teach my classes with no voice, a nasty cough, and probably infected the PC's at New England Tech in addition to my students! Since I didn't slow down, this little resperatory virus won't go away! Ric is sick too, and ends up staying home sick. Luckily, the kids were over their little stomach bug and seemed to be doing OK.


Feb 14th - Valentine's Day. It was uneventful, though we did make sugar cookies with the kids. They were good and didn't last long.


Feb 15th - I'm STILL not feeling well with this respiratory thing, so I arranged with someone else in the Ward to play the Organ and fill in for Primary. Thank goodness there's actually someone else who plays the piano now!


Feb 15th - Around 6:00 pm, I start to feel naseous and pain in my right side. I can't be having a gall bladder attack, can I? No, I'll lay down and I should feel better in a few minutes. Maybe if I go to the bathroom, everything will be fine.


About 7:00 pm, I'm feeling worse, so I call GiGi to see if she might be able to come over to sit with the kids while I go to the hospital. She's out of town, but on her way back to RI, and will call when she gets here.


8:30 pm - I'm actually feeling better! Maybe it's all over and I can just go to bed. I do have surgery scheduled for March to get this taken care of, maybe I can wait until then.


10:30 pm - Nope...pain again.


11:15 pm - Called GiGi again, she's coming over to sleep on the couch.


Midnight - We arrive at the Kent County Hospital Emergency room. Why is Ric taking his "sweet" time with everyting? (Of course he wasn't it just seemed like it when I was in pain!)


Midnight - 4:00 am - Waiting....in the waiting room and then an exam room. They took blood, but nothing else. FINALLY at 4:00 am, I was seen by a doctor AND given some morphine! It was excrutiating! Unfortunately, they pushed the morphine into my IV so quickly that less than 30 seconds later, I puked! (Poor Ric, for better or for worse, right?)


4:00 am - 5:00 am - we determine that I should be transferred to Miriam hospital because that's where my surgeon is located. Looking back, I should have just gone there in the first place. I probably would have been given some relief sooner even though it was a longer ride. (Can't wait to see that ambulance bill!)


5:30 am - 10:00 am - In the Miriam ER, they scan my belly, to see the lovely stones that are causing my pain, do and EKG, take more blood, I'm drugged up and pretty happy, and I'm really tired. It looks like I'm going to be admitted. I send Ric home to relieve GiGi and get some sleep. (I try to sleep too, but that really doesn't happen.) I also give Ric specific instructions to contact someone from the group of ladies I have a workshop with that night to cancel the workshop.


10:00 am - I'm finally in my room...with a roommate. :( Oh well...keep me drugged and I'll be happy.


Feb 16th - President's day - The nurses are fabulous and keep me drugged. I can't eat though, because I may be having surgery soon. Wait, it's a holiday, things are moving REALLY slow around the hospital. I need an MRI to see if any of those lovely stones escaped into somewhere else in my body that could cause even more problems. No MRI's today - I have to wait until tomorrow....WHAT? Because it's a holiday? That didn't make sense...and I never really got an answer as to why I had to wait 24 hours for the MRI.


I'm labeled as "NPO" - Nothing Per Oral. Meaning, I can't eat anything. I'm just hooked up to an IV to keep me hydrated and drugged up.


7:00 pm - Ric and Harry (friend and neighbor) stop by to give me a blessing. I'm sure I looked pretty scary, but I was grateful for the Priesthood and the comfort that a blessing gave me.


Feb 17th - still haven't eaten anything. Even the shrimp that the family of my roommate brought in smells good - and I don't like shrimp! FINALLY, at 12:15 pm - I have the MRI. Nothing escaped, so I'm scheduled for surgery after 5:00 pm.


While this is going on...my mom and Gordon are flying across the country. Not because I was in the hospital, but because they had planned to come out for a vacation a couple of months ago. It was just a coincidence that it happened on the same day.


Sometime that day, I also talked to Ryan who was so cute when he said, "Mommy, I want you to come home, we NEED you here!" *sigh*


5:00 pm - Surgery. After wheeling me in to the surgery wing, they make sure that my papers and stuff are all in order. the Anesthesiologist gives me something that starts to make me REALLY loopy. Then they discover that I don't have the results of a pregnancy test in my chart. (This may be TMI, but it's funny, so keep reading...) SO I say..."my last period was 2 weeks prior, and my husband has been "fixed" so there's no way I could be pregnant." Then one of the operating room gals said, "Unless you had sex in your hospital rooom last night!" Oh yeah...you KNOW that's just what I did! With my elderly roommate in the next bed and nurses checking on me all the time, I just slipped that in! RIGHT! We all laughed at that one. They finally found the test with the papers from Kent Hospital and we were on our way.


6:30 pm or so - All done! I'm in the recovery room. I'm moved back to my room and told that I'll probably go home the next day.


10:30 pm - I BEG my nurse, Anthony, for something to drink/eat. He comes up with some Chicken Broth and Ginger Ale - better than nothing!

12:15 am- I can't sleep (not that anyone sleeps in the hospital) so I call home to make sure that my parents got in OK.

Feb 18th - Finally...morning, and I'm REALLY looking forward to some breakfast! (Even though it would be liquids only.) The cart comes around, and nothing for me. By this time, I'm REALLY tired and frustrated, and want to go home. I cry and have a little pity party, then ask a nurse to track it down for me.

10:30 am - I'm seen by my doctor and told that I can go home...YIPPEEEEE! Ric picks me up, and we stop at Burger King on the way home. I'm slowly eating french fries (Yes, I know, not the best thing right after surgery, but I was desperate!) and feeling pretty good about going home.

Feb 18th - 24th - My parents are here and have a great time visiting. My mom seemed to like the idea that she could take care of us a little more than she would have. Ryan was a complete pain. We think that he had just had enough of the crazy changes this month, but didn't know how to express it. Megan was as cute as could be! I knew that my Mom and Gordon would just fall in love with her!

We didn't do a whole lot while they were here. I had hoped that we could visit the Boston Temple, but my surgery put that on hold. So we stayed around the house. My mom showed me how to can ground beef and chicken with my new Pressure Canner and Gordon and Ric worked a little on the trailer we have, making sure the lights worked.


Feb 20th - Remember my sister from before? It's her turn to have HER gall bladder taken out. Strange, it seems to run in the family. Watch out everyone else!

------------------------
So now there are just a few days left this month. I'm back at school, still feeling like a pin cushion, and you should see the lovely bruises I have!

I'm crossing my fingers that nothing else happens.

Husband of the Year!

So last night, Ric left at about 7:30 with Ryan. He said he was going to pick up a birthday present for me.

A half hour later, he walks in with....

MY BESTEST SEXY CELESTIAL SIS SHELLY! :)

I thought I was going to fall off the couch! Ric had arranged to fly her out here to surprise me for my birthday on Tuesday! Woo Hoooooo! He had warned me that he was planning something, and I would joke with him to make sure that it was sparkly! THIS IS WAY BETTER!

So now he's officially been entered into the Husband of the Year contest - and is already hands down...the winner!

I'm sure we'll post more adventures since she'll be staying here until Wednesday! (No idea how long I'll be on cloud 9 for this one! You'll all have to just put up with it! Ryan is already calling her "Auntie Shelly")

Hungry? Try these burritos!

Just in case you don't follow my "Get Me Ready" blog, I just posted the yummiest food storage burrito recipe - check it out!

I'm Feelin' It!

You know that scratchy/sore feeling in your throat that you get right before you get a cold? I'm feelin' it today!

You know how you swallow all the time just hoping that it has gone away? That's me! Nope...it hasn't gone away.

I was hoping that MAYBE I got away from getting sick like Ric got sick a few weeks ago - AND I'm hoping that it's just a minor little tickle in my throat...

I have WAY too many classes to teach this week (Both Stamping and New England Tech) to be sick!

Now...where's my Vitamin C? :)

The ONLY way Rhode Island becomes a Red State!

I'm not much into posting my political views here, and this isn't even political per se. But I had to post something I heard on the radio this afternoon about Rhode Island.

Time Magazine did a poll yesterday about the governor or Illinois and whether or not he was getting a fair trial. Here are the results....

Can you believe that RI is the ONLY state in Red? The ONLY state where the majority of those who voted in this poll thought he was being treated unfairly?

Now...there were only about 9 or 10 people who voted, but that sample amount is similar to other states. Even so...what's up with that?

Thought you might enjoy a good laugh at our expense!

Here's the link to the poll if you are interested.

(No, I didn't vote in the poll.)

I'm Not Complaining...OK, I AM

I'm having a hard time today forgiving my husband for something he did - he really didn't mean to, but in any event he did it. And now I'm going to suffer for it.

Let me back up a little...

It's been cold for the past few weeks. I'm guessing that the ground is probably frozen, which is why our dry well for our washer has been backing up. It's the only thing I can think of, other than a blockage, that would cause the rinse water to come back up the pipe. Obviously, it would be a rather cold and nasty job to see why the water isn't going down the pipe all the way. (We put the dry well in ourselves when we moved in and it's never done this before!)

So after a few garage flooding incidents, Ric attached the hose from the washer to a PVC pipe that goes right outside the back door and into the back yard. It's only water from the washer, so I'm not worried that anything might contaminate. In the process, he moved the washer closer to the door a little and changed the hoses for the cold and hot water to the steel hoses that we've had hanging around since we bought the washer almost 5 years ago.

One reason that we hadn't changed the hoses was because we were told that it would void the warranty if something happened and we weren't using the factory-supplied hoses.

Now...our house is over 50 years old and we've learned in the 5 years that we've lived here that most things are backwards. Any time we've had to rewire, what you would normally think would be the "hot" wire wouldn't be. The same is true for the hot and cold water in the shower AND behind the washer.

Ric forgot about this - and as he was changing the hoses, accidentally hooked up the cold water to the hot, and the hot water to the cold in the washer.

Not knowing this, I ran two loads of laundry yesterday - after the 2nd one came out steaming hot when I hadn't chose that option, I called Ric to see if he had swapped the hoses. In the meantime, I think that running the hot water when it wasn't supposed to be hot must have melted something inside the washer.

Why?

Because now...you can only choose a few of the wash options, AND when you try to press the "start" button, NOTHING HAPPENS!

So here's the deal, we've essentially voided the warranty, because any repairman will ask what happened with the hoses and why they were switched. We don't have money to pay for repairs or a replacement. AND, it's MY job to do the laundry. So I'M the one that's going to be dragging the clothes WITH the kids to a neighbors, or the laundromat to get our clothes clean! Not Ric. (We trade - I do laundry, he does bathrooms.)

Am I ANGRY? YOU BET YOUR SOCKS I AM! I'm so angry I could just spit nails!

I know that Ric didn't mean to make the mistake, but there was no reason in the first place to change the hoses, the others were working just fine. This is an expensive mistake! Not only do we have this to add to the list, but my van needs new tires, Ric just had a flat on the way to work on Wednesday, AND we have very little money to spare until I get paid in 2 more weeks! (Ric's paycheck pretty much goes to the mortgage every other week.)

OK, I'm done complaining...this wasn't something that needed to happen. I guess I know what I'm getting for my birthday in a few weeks! :) A nice washer repair bill! Woo Hoo!

PS - Thanks for listening while I air our "dirty laundry!" heh

Check this out - post # 500!

WOW - this is actually post number 500! If you're still reading - thanks! :)

This one is quick though, I put another post up on my Preparedness blog that I had to share with everyone. It's all about my SCORE at the grocery store this week. Make sure you check it out!

I was practically paid to shop!

Happy Thursday!

Hurry Up and Wait!

As I'm typing this, HUGE snowflakes are falling and we just got the call that there's no Church today. Poor Ryan - it's the 3rd week in January and he STILL hasn't been to Primary the whole time yet! He was pretty upset that we wouldn't be going.

This week I completely agree with the cancellation. The roads are really dangerous, and since the snow is still falling pretty quickly, it will be a while until they are safe to travel.

Oh well...at least Ric and I can enjoy our newest Sunday TV show - The Phantom Gourmet. (It's a local cable show that's on during Church so we usually miss it!) Not that we go out to dinner a lot, it's fun to see what's "cooking" at restaurants around here!

Just wondering...

Do you think it's considered child abuse if I tell Ryan that if he poops in his diaper, he can sit in it until Daddy gets home because I 'm not changing any more of them?

Get back to me on that one.

Only in Rhode Island...

...will you get a phone call on a Saturday night that Church has been canceled BEFORE the first flake falls.

(Not that I'm complaining...a break will be nice, but this is just nuts!)

Hungry?

If a diet isn't one of your New Year's Resolutions...get a load of THIS! If it is...at least you can drool at the picture!

Yep - I made it last night, IT IS TO DIE FOR! The recipe isn't online yet since this is a current issue of the magazine, but I'll either scan and post it or find the link when it's up. If you like peanut butter, brownies, mousse, and a chocolate ganache, you HAVE to try this recipe.

(Want a taste? Come on over!)

Fun with Food Storage!

Hey everyone! You don't want to miss this!

A BRAND NEW website with TONS of ideas for your Food Storage! Because they are brand new, they are having a PARTY and celebrating with TONS of giveaways! (Do I say TONS too many times?)

The website is Fun with Food Storage (http://funwithfoodstorage.net/) - don't miss this opportunity to first, get more food storage ideas AND to win some great prizes!

The BEST thing EVER!

Please Don't Grow Up!

I just can't get over Megan. She is the most adorable little thing, there are so many things that are perfect about her right now that I don't want her to grow up! This is just a small list, but I don't want to forget the things that I love so much about her!

* I love her little curls. Now that she finally has some hair, it's starting to curl all over. Hopefully that will stay once she gets it cut!

* I love how she grabs Ryan's cars and runs off with them laughing.

* I love her laugh!

* I love how she sings ALL the time and whenever there's music playing, she's dancing!

* I love how she still signs even though she's learning the words now. There's nothing like seeing her say "Mommy" while signing it at the same time.

* I love how she looks so pretty in pink!

* I love how she will pick something up - anything really - and just carry it around with her all day!

* I love how she's so cute with her dolls. She loves to hug them and feed them.

* I love how she will ask Ryan to show her "Mana Mana" on YouTube. And then run out 10+ times to tell us that it's playing!

* I love that she's a snuggle bug and that she blows kisses when she signs "thank you."

* I love how when it's time for Family Prayer, she comes over, kneels down, folds her arms, and THEN says "SHhhhhhh..." It just makes my heart melt each time!

* I love how she's a little shadow to Ryan and is learning so fast!

* I love how she repeats things we say so much and is trying to learn new words.

* I love how she loves her shoes! She'll wear two different ones all day long, and if you try to change them, she complains! Her fashion sense is just perfect! :)

* I love how she's started to have fun dressing up. She loves to put on glasses or hats and will keep them on for a while now. She's so pleased with herself and struts around with something new on!

* I love her smile, her squishy thighs, her belly, and toes. She's all girl, and all sweet!

* I love how she climbs up to play the piano every chance she gets.

I don't want her to grow up - she's just perfect right now. Can you tell that I'm in love? :) (Yes, I still love my son, even though he's 3 and a terror right now...)

Just so it's recorded, at her 18-month appointment, Megan weighed 24 pounds 1 ounce and was 32 inches tall. Once again...perfect!

Merry Christmas!

Just the kids in their new Christmas PJ's - at least we got a FEW good pictures!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Ornaments...and other Traditions

When I was about 12 or 13, I had a Young Women's leader who told us about a tradition that she and her husband started together when they got married. It's one that I never forgot and all these years later Ric and I have done since we've been together.

Each year, we talk about something significant that happened in our lives together and choose an ornament to represent that event. Would you believe that we now have 9 different ornaments? (Even though we met in 1999, we didn't start doing this until we put up our first tree together in 2000.)

So now, for the record, here are all the ornaments and their stories, for your Christmas Eve reading enjoyment. (Hopefully Blogger will display all the pictures with their comments, if not, I think you'll be able to figure it out!)



2000
It all began this year. Ric and I moved in together and put up our first Christmas Tree. So here's the ornament to match!




2001
We took a trip to Seattle and stayed with my Dad for a week or so. We found this ornament while doing some sight-seeing after taking a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle. It was a fun trip, so this was our official annual ornament. (By the way, on that ferry ride, we actually ran into a roommate of mine from college - small world!)



2002
For obvious reasons, we chose a "romantic" ornament this year because we were married in October! Rhonda, my good friend and roommate from college, gave Ric and I this ornament and it became our official 2002 ornament.



2003
We didn't do anything REALLY huge this year. It was our first full year being married and figuring out the whole "husband and wife" thing. My "bestest friend evah" Shelly sent this ornament as a gift and it was a perfect representation of our first married year together.



2004
We bought a house in 2004 and started to make it into our home. We've really loved it here since. Our neighborhood and neighbors are all fantastic, and you can't beat the fact that we're only a 10 minute walk to the beach! (A bonus we didn't even know about until after we moved in!)



2005
Ryan was born on December 1st this year. It was a no-brainer to get a baby's first Christmas ornament. We actually received this one from my sister, Andrea as a gift and decided that it was the official ornament this year.



2006
On March 31st, 2006, Ric and I were sealed together with Ryan as an Eternal Family in the Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, Utah. This was the most important event of the year, and our lives together so far. We found this gorgeous ornament to represent that event, and I've loved to hang it in a special place every year since.



2007
This year was an easy one - Megan was born in June. I remember that it was hard to find a Baby's First Christmas ornament that I really liked, so this one was what I chose because we could put Meg's picture inside of it. There she is! Our little "Meg-oo"


2008
You aren't seeing things, this year, our ornament is Ryan's "Retired" RedSox Binky. It's the year of the "B" - and if you've been keeping up with us this year, you'll know that many posts were dedicated to that "B"! Not only does it represent a HUGE milestone in the kids life (and ours) when they gave them up, BUT, it also represents the fact that Ryan went to his first PawSox game with Daddy.

Hmmm...if 2008 was the year of the "B", then maybe 2009 will be the year of the potty chair! I don't think that the Elmo potty seat will fit on the tree though! Maybe we should hope for a more "appropriate" event in our lives, what do you think? hehe


So there you have it - Our Christmas Ornament Tradition. This year, we're also adding something new...Chinese food for Christmas Dinner! :) Can't wait! (No more cooking all day, waiting for others to cook, we're just ordering in and enjoying dinner with chopsticks!)

What are your Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Festivus, or whatever!) Traditions? Are you planning to start any of your own this year?

SNOW! Lots of IT!

So on Thursday, while the sun was still shining, all schools announced that they were closing on Friday. Businesses decided to send their employees home early in anticipation of another snow fiasco like last year. Parking bans were in effect at 9:00 AM, HOURS before anything started happening! Can you say "overkill?"

That's the way we do it here in Li'l Rhody! :) At least it's entertaining to watch!

The snow started to fall around 2:00 pm - and around 3:30 it was pretty heavy. By the time 8:00 rolled around, we had about 10 inches on the ground! YEP - we were DUMPED on! Luckily, it wasn't all that heavy, because I was out there shoveling! (Much heavier this morning though! Glad I did most of it last night! And if you're wondering...I actually like shoveling, Ric had worked all day and I was glad to have a "break" from the kids!)

I took these pictures this morning - things are plowed, we've got the ruler in the snow keeping the tally, and I'm sure the kids will be outside later playing around in it. Right now, my toes are frozen and I'm getting ready to sit by the fire. (Good thing we brought the wood in from outside!)

Does your Vacuum Lose Suction?

No...this isn't a commercial for the Dyson Vacuum - save your $400 and just check for THESE little guys in the hose! (Lovingly placed by some "random" 3 year-old!)

Ours works much better now...thanks for asking!

Being Grateful

Just so you don't think that all I do is complain...here's a few things I'm thankful for right now. :)

I'm grateful for my new Pampered Chef Silicone Pastry Mat. LOVE that it's so easy to clean up after kneading the French Bread! (So worth the price after not having anything for so long!)

I'm grateful for my Mom who taught me how to make bread - from scratch - BEFORE bread machines!

I'm grateful for a little boy who can be so sweet and loves to watch me cook. I'm grateful for his questions ALL the time - because I know that he has a sharp mind and loves to learn.

I'm grateful for a little girl who loves to dance - to whatever music I have playing. (Peter Gabriel is also great cooking music in addition to cleaning!)

I'm sure there's more...but I'll leave some for later. :)

Just need to vent a little

Since I'm almost positive that most of Ric's family doesn't visit our blog, I'm relatively safe in posting this here. Even if they do - I'm not worried about what I have to say. I know that Ric feels the same way, but won't say it. So here goes...this will probably be random and thrown together just so you know.

Just in case anyone forgot - holidays are designed to bring families together. Especially Thanksgiving! What is more important than being grateful for your family and showing them that you are grateful! In fact, can one day a year be TOO much to ask to spend time together? It's not even ONE full day! Just a couple of hours to eat and visit!

It's NOT an inconvenience to cook for just 2 more - we're going to have so many leftovers that it wouldn't matter anyway! The whole point is to GET TOGETHER AS A FAMILY!

On November 1st, we started making plans with Ric's family for Thanksgiving. We found out that Ric's cousin Scott and his family would be with his in-laws for dinner in the afternoon and would be visiting his mom later in the day. Not a big deal, we'd just do our own thing and visit later for dessert so we could see everyone. TWO DAYS AGO (AFTER I had gone shopping for everything to make our own dinner,) we got an email from Scott's mom saying that plans had changed and that dinner was now at 2:00 pm at her house. This is the way it ALWAYS is - I should be used to it, but it still frustrates the HECK (Yes, I said HECK!) out of me every time!

We are not changing our plans at this late date to accommodate them, which will mean that IF we go over to visit, we'll probably miss Scott, Christine and their kids since they'll be on the way to the in-laws. On another note, if we DID decide to go over at 2:00, first, it would be in the middle of naps, and we probably wouldn't be eating until 4:30 anyway because again, that's the way it ALWAYS is.

About 3 weeks ago, Ric also called his sister Stacey to see what plans she and her husband had for Thanksgiving. Since we knew that we wouldn't be at Aunt Jan's until later, we wanted to have them over. (Stacey doesn't cook.) The kids adore Stacey and have only seen/met Tom once or maybe twice at the most, so it would have been nice to see their Aunt and Uncle for a little while. We hadn't heard back from Stacey, so Ric emailed her a couple days ago, and this was her reply...

Actually, Tom and I made reservations because we hadn't heard from you. We thought you might have been invited to Jan's so we went ahead and made reservations before there weren't any tables left.

Ummm...last time I checked, phones and email do connect to Warwick from Pawtucket! And what's this about "because we hadn't heard from you crap?" Whatever...

It makes me so sad that Ric's family just fell apart when his Mom died almost 4 years ago. No one wants to get together anymore unless they are practically forced to do so. We're the ones that have to initiate and plan everything. It's exhausting and frankly, makes us feel as if they really don't want to see us, spend time with the kids, etc. If that's the case, then just tell us!

Please don't take it (or us) for granted that we are going to be in Rhode Island forever. There may come a time when we'll just be gone, and it will be too late.

OK...I'm done. I've said what I needed to say. Now it's time to make the pie. :)

What's Going On?

Tons, and then again, not so much. Just some random tidbits from our crazy lives.

*I'm almost 40. As a result, things are starting to fall apart, as in things in my body. I just found out today that I have "multiple small movable gall stones" and that I need to have my gallbladder out. I also had my teeth cleaned today. The metal fillings I've had in my mouth for so long aren't working anymore - meaning there's some decay under 4 of them! That means I have to have them replaced, etc. *sigh* I'm not looking forward to THAT! Also, I have a heel spur in my right foot - it's been causing some significant pain. Thank goodness for Dr. Scholl's and Cortisone shots!

*Child-proofing has been kicked up a notch. Ryan can now move any chair he wants to climb up to get anything he wants. The other day he decided to make toast by himself. He put the toast in the toaster oven, turned it on (WAY on!) and left it. I didn't realize he did it until I'm smelling toast in the other room. Yesterday, he found one of those single dose Benadryl thingys. He found a way to open it and downed the pink stuff. Unfortunately, it didn't knock him out! (DARN!) So... we're double checking to make sure that nothing else can be accidentally "found."

*Megan has also turned in to a climber/dare-devil. She's fearless and will climb up on anything. The other day, Ric found her standing on top of the cover for the piano keys. Oh boy!

*We took the kids to Target today to have their pictures taken. Not for Christmas, but because Ryan is almost 3-years old. Ryan was so handsome in a white shirt, black pants, and red tie. Megan was just gorgeous in a pink dress. Can't wait to get them back to show you!

*I've lost my voice. Since about Saturday night, I've sounded like I'm croaking. Good thing it wasn't last week when I still had classes! We're off for Thanksgiving Week, so I can recover by not talking (yeah right!)

*In just ONE day, I won two blog contests! Woo Hoo! The first one is all of the Madagascar Toys from McDonalds all in one set - can you say stocking stuffers? :) (Thanks McMommy!) And the second one is a book called America at Home, which will feature a picture of the kids on the dust cover! (Thanks Emily!) Too cool! I don't win these things, so it was fun to see them both in one day!

*Thanksgiving is just the 4 of us this year. We had invited Ric's sister and Brother-in-Law, but they decided to make reservations at a restaurant somewhere else instead. We are planning to get together with Ric's cousin Scott and his family, and Aunt Jan & Arlene. But that's not until later in the day.

*Thanksgiving this year is completely from scratch. Since I'm not cooking for a ton of people, it should be fun to do. The turkey is "brining" as we speak. I've made cornbread and I will be making French bread for the homemade stuffing. (Which really won't be stuffed inside since it's just a turkey breast.) I'm making the rolls, the potatoes will be boiled and mashed. And we'll have a Mascarpone Hazlenut Crunch Chocolate Cake and homemade pumpkin pie for dessert. No...I won't be mashing the pumpkin...that's from a can! (Anyone out there wish you had made reservations at The Levett's? hehe)

*The closer we get to Ryan's birthday on Monday, the more I'm convinced that he's not going to make it.

*On the other hand, Megan is just getting sweeter and sweeter every day. She's got the funnest personality, and is quite the tiny dancer! Whenever music id playing (most of the time here,) she's bopping around - even in her car seat - so cute!

I guess that's it for now! :) Enjoy the random pictures!

PS - the kids on the couch with Ryan and Megan are Dave & Maria Chace's kids, Ethan and Sydney. This past weekend was the first time we were able to get together with them (from PA) since we've all had our kids. Dave is Ric's best friend (was his best man at our wedding too.) Also...Ethan is just a few weeks older than Ryan - HE made it to 3, maybe there's hope!

I Did a Dumb Thing

I put my brand new bra in the dryer. (Actually it was Ric, but more about that later.) The result was that the underwire on one side came out! I cannot find anywhere on this thing HOW it escaped! There are no holes, no open seams, no nothing! Believe me - I've been checking everywhere!

It's really my fault. I've been putting my bras in the dryer for a long time since they were nursing bras and pretty much like sports bras. Plus, I knew I wouldn't have them forever, so I didn't really care. Now that the nursing bras are all gone (Yipppeeeee!) I purchased a few new ones. (Thinking I need more though....Santa?) So since I didn't tell Ric to take them out, he changed the wash into the dryer and there you go.

But now, after only wearing it a few times, the underwire on the right side is gone - I have it, just have to get it back inside the bra - I can't be lopsided you know! I guess I'll keep looking for an opening, and if I can't find it? I'll MAKE an opening and stitch it back up. These things aren't cheap you know! (Plus it's so pretty - not that anyone sees them - and this one is "especially designed to minimize back fat overhang" - Woo Hoo!) Who knew there was such a thing?

Apparently we're doing something wrong

This is the window in the kids room. That hole in the window was the result of Ryan banging his head into it because he didn't want to take a nap. (Just a bump on his head, no cuts or anything - thank goodness!)

Apparently, we're doing something wrong with our almost 3 year old son. I'm at a loss right now...

(Unfortunately, even though we weren't planning anything big, now we have to replace a window instead of have a birthday party. Not that he'll understand...)

Today's Public Service Announcement:

CHECK YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS ONLINE EVERY DAY!

Sorry for shouting. :) But you'll be glad that you did.

I usually check every other day or so (if not every day) to see what has cleared and make sure that nothing bounces. (Since we're not "rollin' in the dough" over here, I have to keep on top of it so we don't get into trouble!)

Anyway, I noticed a debit charge on my account for .18 - yep - eighteen cents! Hmmmm....

I called the 800# attached to the charge and it wasn't a valid number. Soooo...immediately, I called the bank. When the customer service gal took a look, it was a charge that originated in Fort Worth, Texas. The name of the company was just "GFDL 8007640847 TX" next to the charge. We canceled my debit card and I'll go to the bank to dispute the .18 as well as order a new debit card.

After doing some research online, there are a TON of posts just in the past few days of similar things happening to people's accounts. SO....check your bank account and cancel your debit/credit cards if there's something suspicious! You won't be sorry! (Can you imagine how much money someone could collect if they did this to millions of people?)

Happy Monday!

One-Year Portraits

I've said it before - Megan is just SO FREAKIN' CUTE! (Yes, I know I'm just a little biased...)

Just to prove it - here are the portraits we had taken when she turned One. (Took us long enough to pick them up!)


We had Gene Hutnak do them for us - he always does such a fabulous job! After the first of the year, we'll go back for a family portrait to replace the one that we had taken before Megan was born!

With so many great pictures of her, it was really hard to choose which one we would have printed on canvas to match Ryan's 1 year portrait. But the the one we chose ended up showing so much personality.

And here's how they look on the wall together above the fireplace.

(Our wedding portrait was "demoted" to another wall. :) )

Saturday is a Special Day...

...it's the day we get ready for Sunnnnnn-day! (If you grew up in LDS Primary, I'm sure you're singing the rest of the song!)

So I went outside this morning to pick up the paper. When I came back into the house I was hit with the smell of dirty diapers! WHOA! That was the motivation I needed to crank up the Peter Gabriel (my standard cleaning music) and clean! With the kids be-bopping all over, we jumped into it!

Ryan is old enough that he has a special job now - he cleans the glass tables in the living room. (Especially since his hands are all over them!) He does a pretty good job, and LOVES to squirt the Windex!


Megan's job is the Swiffer. Once in a while she gets some dust!

BUT, she's expecially good at picking up! She'll sit down and pick up everything you tell her to - and she takes it VERY seriously. If Ryan takes something out that she just put in, watch out!

They don't last long...but every little bit helps! At least the living room is clean and the stinky trash is out. Hopefully, it doesn't smell as nasty. Anyone want to come over for a smell test? :)




(You know...once you start blogging - everything in your life turns into a blog post. How strange is that? You would think that I'd at least think to myself that no one really wants to know about that...oh well...if you're reading, you're gettin' it anyway! :))

What happens when you can't sleep

For me...I play around on the computer, catch up on blogs, mess around with Facebook, etc.

Check this out. I had no idea that Picasa could do this for my pictures! I've uploaded the original, then the cropped and tinted version.

Cool, huh? I'm sure I'll be playing around with this for a while!

(Like I need anything else to take up my time!)

ps - isn't she just a cutie? :)

So hard to catch up!

So we got back just over a week ago, and I'm STILL trying to catch up! It didn't help that yesterday I spent all day in bed! I felt like I had a vice grip on my stomach and side! Chills and fever, nauseous, and in pain.

Ric happened to mention all the symptoms to a friend and she said it sounded like a gall bladder attack! Just what I need! It's actually happened once before, and I thought it was something I ate, but this time I couldn't pinpoint one thing that I ate the day before that could have done this!

Anyway...so now I've been searching the symptoms, and it looks like I may need to visit Dr. Smith. :( Yipppeeeee!

I'm just about ready to go to school and hand out more mid term failing reports. This is the part that I don't like, but if my students don't do their homework, they don't pass the class, so it has to be done! (This isn't high school anymore - where even if you didn't do anything you weren't 'left behind!')

*sigh* Unfortunately, since the Florida trip, midterms, and getting sick, my Stamping Business has really suffered! Hopefully soon, I'll pull it all back together! Cross your fingers! :)

(I STILL need to post more Florida stuff, chat about Ryan's first visit to Primary, and other things....soon!)

What's wrong with this picture?

Only in Florida.

If only it really worked!

The Fisher-Price vacuum that is!

Question...

Does it burn more calories if while you are trying to "Turbo Sculpt" to the DVD if you are dodging two kids under 3 years old? What if they are using your "squats" as a "tunnel?" What if you are on the floor, trying to work your "obliques" and your kids think you are a jungle gym?

Hmmm....someone commission a study. Because if so ...BRING IT ON!

(Yes...I've come to the realization - with my doc's promptings - that I need to get in gear and take this post baby weight off! Note that I said POST baby! I'm one of the lucky ones who LOSES weight when I'm pregnant! And gains it when I'm not! Since that won't be happening anymore (snip!) I've got to try something else!)

Kegels Anyone?

So I hardly ever get to watch "adult" TV in the mornings. It's usually PBS or Disney Channel these days. (Not that I have THAT much time to watch!)

Today was a rare day when I did get to steal a few minutes and I watched Live with Regis and Kelly. I LOVE Kelly Ripa. I think that she's hilarious, real, and down to earth! If you didn't get a chance to see it, you HAVE to see the first few minutes of the show. Howie Mandel is her co host this week and they were talking about all sorts of things - all over the map.

At one point, Kelly was talking about "deep breathing" or something like that, and then it moved into Kegel exercises. At which point she said, "OK, everyone let's do one together" as she stared into the camera. I can't do it justice by trying to describe it here, you just have to see it for yourself! (Howie trying to do one is just too funny!)

Here's the link to the video - and it starts at about 19 minutes in so you can fast forward or just watch the whole thing - it's pretty funny. Enjoy! :)

Wildlife

So it's about 9:45 pm. I'm in the dining room, stripping the paint off the windows. Listening to a CD and generally enjoying my "down time." (OK, maybe stripping paint isn't really down time, but when the kids are in bed, it's heaven! heh)

Anyway, Ric is at Priesthood meeting, and all of a sudden I hear the front screen rattling. (It's still nice enough at night that we leave it open until we go to bed.) First I thought that Ric was home a little early, but I didn't see his car. Then I thought that one of the cats was still outside. Of course that would be a BAD thing since I was just smelling skunk!

When I get to the door, two little black eyes stare back at me with a little mask on it's face. It's the CUTEST little raccoon. NO, there are TWO raccoons! On my porch! The first thing I think is that I HAVE to get my camera.

While I run into the back room to get it, one starts climbing up the metal post thingy, the other one just sits at the door wondering when I'm going to let it in. Of course by now, both cats are curious as to why I'm taking pictures out the screen door! (I'm sure my neighbors were too!)

The problem was... the camera would only focus on the screen! So I'm making a racket trying to get it off in time to get pictures! (I wasn't going to open the door - those little guys were definitely not invited inside!) This is what I got! Cute - but they won't get anything from me - the little bandits!

All I can say now is that I'm REALLY grateful that what I found wasn't the SKUNK I smelled just 15 minutes earlier! Eeeeek!

Saaaa-Weeet!

YAY! For General Conference this year, the Church is offering a new media player. What does this mean for us? It means that we don't have to use Windows Media Player, which bogs down our PC's AND cuts out all the time!

FANTASTIC! :)

If you're listening/watching it via the Internet, make sure you download and install it - took only 2 seconds and it's SOOOOO worth it!

(Marni's doing the 'happy dance')

Charity Auction Info!

In case you aren't a frequent visitor to my StampMonkeys Website (and why aren't you?) I'm having a Charity Auction for the next couple of days. This auction benefits Stephanie and Christian Nielson and their recovery fund. Every little bit helps!

You can see all the details at http://www.stampmonkeys.com. Please check it out! :)

(Oh...and please pass this info on to anyone you think might be interested. I'd love to be able to donate TONS to these special people!)

WHAT is that SMELL?

So...for the last few days, Ric and I have been trying to identify a strange smell in the office. At first, we thought another fly had gotten fried in the halogen lamp - that can be a pretty nasty smell, but usually there's smoke involved. :)

I knew we had to figure out the source of it, not that the smell was all that bad, it was just strange. But, with all the STUFF in the office, wires running everywhere, our computer network, printers, etc. I was worried that something was slowly burning or something and might cause a fire.

So today, I took everything apart... literally! I pulled everything out from under my desk - all the plastic drawers that organize my craft and stamping stuff. I had the vacuum handy because I knew there would be cat hair all over since ChiChi likes to go under there and sleep.

As I vacuumed, I'm sniffing everywhere to see if I could find it. Nothing in the carpet. Nothing under the plastic drawers. I took my PC apart and vacuumed it out (serious dust bunnies there!), still nothing! THEN, I FOUND IT!

Inside the baseboard, laying on top of the heating core was a tiny little field mouse.

A d.e.a.d. little field mouse.

Apparently, ChiChi does much more than just sleep under my desk! She's always thought she was a mighty hunter. This isn't the first little animal or insect she's brought into the house. But this one ended up in the baseboard somehow. (You would never know that this cat is 12 years old!)

It couldn't have been there too long, but long enough to start to smell. YUCK! Sure enough, when I put my nose there it smelled!

Of course, being the blogger that I am, I had Ric put on the rubber gloves and get it while I got the camera! (hehe) Poor little guy!

(By the way, can you find Ryan in the picture of my dismantled office?)

Random thoughts for the week...

...before I forget them completely!

I hope I never forget the look of concentration on Ryan's face as he pedaled his tricycle around the block (ALL the way around the block) for the first time. His little tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. He was tired but so proud he did it!

Megan is so pretty in her little pink frilly nightgown. It's almost as if she knows that there's a ruffle on the bottom and that means she can flit around like a princess. Tonight, she brought her Sunday shoes in to me to put on, WITH the nightgown. Yep - she's definitely a girly girl! (Now if I can just get her to keep a bow in her hair!

My mom is right. (Yes, mom, you read that right!) It IS much easier to make dinner when you thaw a pound of already cooked hamburger! I'm LOVING my new FoodSaver! After vacuum sealing meatloaf, ground beef, chicken with and without marinades, powdered sugar, and granola, I tried the marinate feature. WOW - this chicken just fell apart after it was done in the oven! Yep - my new favorite appliance. (Thanks Rach for recommending it!) Anyway, back to the hamburger. I thawed one of my vacuum sealed already cooked packages today and threw it in with the pasta sauce for dinner. It was the easiest thing ever!

I'm happy that this is Week 9 at New England Tech. That means that next week is final exams - and then I have a week off! I'll miss the money in the paycheck, but it will be a nice (short) break.

Facebook - all things in moderation, right? It's been so much fun to connect with people, catch up, play games online, but man it's a black hole! I have to limit myself to just a couple minutes a day! It will be hard, but a person can only take losing a Scramble or Sudoku game so much, right?

We've been having MAJOR problems with Ryan going to bed lately. Most of the time he's OK with me during the day going down for a nap, but when Ric is home, he throws major fits. I don't know if it's related to not having his binky anymore (though he doesn't ask for it) or just being rebellious. Right now, we're all about charts and stickers. He gets to pick a sticker when he wakes up and he's in a good mood. I give him one before his nap, threatening to take it away if he's acting up. Then the same at bedtime. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Either the stickers aren't enough for him, or he's getting bored with them. We'll see I guess!

Last, before I forget... I JUST LOVE MY HUSBAND! Not for any reason in particular. He's just the BEST! :)

Get Me Ready

In case you missed it in today's Providence Journal, I've posted a great article on Emergency and Long Term Preparedness on my other blog.

Haven't been there yet? Here you go... Get Me Ready

(See? It's not just us crazy Mormon's who prepare for emergencies! :) )

Not that you're interested...we're Twittering! :)

Most of you probably follow our site in a blog reader, but I thought I'd let you know that I just added "Twitter" our side bar.

I'm thinking that most people won't care about the "minute by minute" action of Levett-Ventures - but I thought it would be a fun thing to play with!

Never heard about Twitter? It's a site that you can put quick little blurbs (less than 150 characters) about what you're doing right now. It's a running log of our boring (or not so boring) life. Anyway...there you go.

PS - it's kinda cool because you can twitter from your phone or mobile device - not that I have anything like that!

When nothing goes right...

Yesterday I had some sort of yucky bug (or food) go through me. It was painful, yucky stuff all day long. (I'll spare the details, it wasn't pretty.)

I felt good enough to start my online class at about 5:45 pm, but soon after I started, I decided to only go through one chapter and record the next one today. Even then, I had to stop in the middle, turn off the microphone, ask the students to wait, while I threw up a lung in the bathroom. Then came back like nothing happened (heh)

My students knew I wasn't feeling well, and they were all too happy to have an early night rather than listen to me for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

So today, I'm MUCH better. I sit down to record the second chapter online so they could get the lecture when they have a few minutes. It's going really well, the kids are napping and I'm about 3/4 done and have to pause to check something out before continuing. As soon as I start it up again, I realize...

I RECORDED THE WHOLE FIRST PART OF THE LECTURE WITHOUT TURNING ON MY MICROPHONE! AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH! (Meaning they could see what I was doing on my screen, but couldn't hear any explanation from me!)

At which point, Megan wakes up. Then the neighbors landscapers come over - meaning that I wasn't going to get the chance to do it again any time soon. I have another class to teach tonight, then a business coaching call after that. I can either do it at 11:00 pm - or wait (and hope) that naps will be together tomorrow.

*sigh* at least I'm lucky that I have some great students in my online class! They'll just take it all in stride!

WOW - the Blogging Community is AMAZING!

I just found out about this today...but it's an incredible story!

A couple in Arizona with a flight instructor were in a plane crash last Saturday night. The flight instructor died, but the couple did survive with major burns and are both in very serious condition. You can read the story here.

So I was reading a friend's blog and found out that she's doing a Japanese auction to help raise funds for Stephanie and Christian Nelson's recovery. (Since she just moved to Japan with her family - hubby is in the Air Force.) There is a website set up for them with all the info about their recovery, what happened, Stephanie's blog, how to donate, and other things: http://www.reachelandrew.com/NieRecovery/Home.html

Little did I know how BIG this is!

Over 165+ auctions/sales/etc. are starting today all over the Internet to raise money for this couple. They have 4 kids and are in for a VERY long recovery. I wish I had known about it sooner, but at least I can let you all know!

Go to Design Mom's website to see the list of everything that's up for bid or sale. It's incredible! Just more proof that we humans ARE in it together!

Who Knew?!

That I'd be the one crying myself to sleep tonight.

It just breaks my heart to see how much Ryan wants his "B" - he's being such a big boy, but it still hurts me to see him hurting and so sad like this. We were fine all afternoon, and it wasn't until just before bed that he started asking. When he woke up from his nap this afternoon, he just looked so lost! It just hurts my heart.

What a boob I am! (OK...what a MOM I am!)

If we can make it through this first night, I think we'll be on the road to "recovery!"

CLEARLY Someone is in Charge!

Remember back a few months ago when we were trying to refinance our mortgage? Remember how our appraisal came back so low that even Lending Tree couldn't do it for us?

Well, we just got our notice today of how our mortgage payment is going to change. Are you ready for this? (drum roll...)

The interest rate went from 5.25% to 5.5%.

The index was 4.37188% and it went DOWN to 3.23313%.

The change to our payment? An additional SIX DOLLARS AND EIGHTY SEVEN CENTS a MONTH!!

WOW!!!

We definitely dodged a bullet there! The payment we were looking at to refinance (because of the 2nd mortgage) was at least $400 more! Clearly SOMEONE is in charge here and we have been blessed!

Will You Be Ready?

In a news release last week from LDS Church HQ, they asked members to share their experiences with food storage and preparedness on Internet sites like Facebook, You Tube, and personal blogs.

I'm thinking that if it's important enough to put out a news story, that's saying something about how important it is to be prepared.

I was talking with some girls from Church last week about this very thing. We were talking about the possible disasters that might affect our area with a hurricane being the highest possibility. (We live WAY too close to the water in that case!) But I also mentioned that preparing for emergencies don't always mean natural disasters. What about losing a job? What about the rising fuel prices, which also affect the cost of food? (Here's a food storage perk - if you're "shopping" in your food storage, the prices don't go up - at all!)

We were also talking about patterns in the Scriptures about how people had been asked of God or Prophets to pick up and leave. (The early Saints? Lehi and his family? and on and on...) Then I mentioned this: What if we were asked today by our Prophet to do just that? Pick up and leave? Would you be ready to go?

The answer of one person surprised and saddened me. She said that if that was the case, we'd be told with plenty of time to prepare.

*WHOA!*

We've already been told to prepare! From the time I was little, I remember being told that food storage and preparedness is a necessity, if not a commandment! Even if we were told from just the time I was born, that's ALMOST 40 years! I would think that's PLENTY of time to prepare as she put it.

It made me really sad, and it still disturbs me - she doesn't get it.

Even though she is a strong member of the Ward, with a very strong testimony, she didn't understand that preparing for "whatever" is what we should be doing right now and what we should have been doing for years! We won't be given any notice if we are called to leave. I say "if" because who knows what will happen, but I for one want to be ready.

It's my gut feeling/opinion/testimony that time is short.

Will you be ready?

I QUIT!!!!

That's it - I quit. Nothing more to say.

Hmmm....just noticed...

...that the last 3 of 4 posts show my kids with stuff all over their faces! I think I need a life! (Or maybe a nanny! HA!)

Note to DCYF - I promise, they don't look like that all the time, only when I have a camera handy!

Note to Self...

...frost cake BEFORE you give the kids baths! What was I thinking? *sigh*

Megan had a BALL with the little beater I used to fluff up the frosting in a can! :)

(Didn't know that trick? If you want your frosting to REALLY frost a 2 layer cake, whip it up first! You'll have some left over! You'll thank me later. hehe)

By the way, I'm LOVING my new offset spreader from Pampered Chef! Martha really is right, it's MUCH easier to frost a cake, or cupcakes with them!

There's the cake! It looks a little"waxy" - I promise it really isn't!

You know you have kids when...

...the top rack of your dishwasher looks like this!

A couple of updates...

...a week had flown by with NOTHING from us! We're WAY too busy!

Anyway, Megan's WORD is "Cheese" - Rachael was the winner! :) Note cards on the way for you!

After many false alarms, we're getting our streets paved TODAY! I can hear them, the trucks, etc have driven by and all that jazz. Unfortunately, I have to teach today, hopefully our babysitter can get in and I can get out! eeek!

Yes, I do have video of Megan walking - a pretty funny one in fact - it just has to be converted. Hoping to do it TODAY!

That's it for now! :)

Three Hours of Perfection...

It's just so amazing what a couple of hours with a cherished friend will do for this tired mom's mood! Thanks Rach for a FABULOUS three hours of just "girl time!" Ahhhhhhhh.... I completely feel recharged! :)

(Now....how do we work it out so that we can do that more often? hehe)

A Moving Service

I had the opportunity to attend a memorial service this morning for a lady who recently passed away in our congregation. I didn't know her, though I had met her once or twice, but since I'm the Ward organist and pianist I'm kind of obligated to go as well. I don't mind it though, since I've only been going to this Ward 4 years, I'm still a newbie and don't know a lot of people who've been there since the beginning of time.

The woman who passed away was 74 years old and had been wheelchair bound for 40 years. Her body didn't work, but her mind was very quick until the end. Everyone who spoke said the most amazing things about her. How she didn't complain, or say 'Why Me?', or never asked for help. In fact, she was very independent, and those who came to visit (or help) her ended up just watching her do for herself. Her whole purpose was to serve others, not to be served herself. In fact, the reason we were at just a memorial service was because she had donated her body to research. (I don't know what her actual ailment was, but it was important enough that she wanted to help.)

I wish I had known her.

It was such a moving service. I know that she's whole again, and happy to be "home" as so many put it. I'm grateful that I'm asked to play at these kinds of services. It really helps me to understand the "big picture" and that we're all here for a specific purpose, if only for a little while.

Wicked Weather & Wicked Busy!

WOW...what's been happening around here? TONS!

This week was the beginning of Summer Quarter for New England Tech. I'm teaching 3 classes this time around - Access Programming and 2 XHTML classes. The one difference this quarter is that one of my XHTML classes is completely ONLINE! So...I was a little bit nervous about how it would work.

Luckily, it turned out to be a BLAST! Many major benefits of teaching online...

1. I can do it from home.
2. I can just wear a t-shirt and shorts because I'm at home!
3. My class doesn't require a web cam - SO, no one really has to see me, meaning, I can come as a grungy version of myself to teach the class! hehe

I have 6 students in my class, 4 of whom showed up. (It's not required that you be at the weekly lectures, but you do have to listen to the recordings if you miss it!) We use a software package called Elluminate, which gives us a white board, desktop sharing capabilities, chat room, and other stuff like that. It worked REALLY well!

At the same time, while I was hooked up with headphones and tethered to the computer, we had a nasty thunder storm come through! In fact - we had a waterspout/tornado too! Luckily, I was able to get through the class before the power went out!

In fact, the last two days have been crazy for weather. Major thunder storms - 3" of rain just yesterday! We do need the water, but if we could just spread it out a bit, I think it would be easier to take! (Today is sunny - yay!)

That's about it for me...the kids are good. Ryan's a menace, Megan is just as sweet as can be. I'm sure we'll have more to post later - especially with Megan walking everywhere. It's just so cute to see her little legs get her around! :)

Who wouldn't want THIS?

WOW! Check this out! I just stumbled upon this blog, but look at the GORGEOUS quilt she's giving away! Of course, I'm entering, AND telling you all about it. Why not? Go check it out yourself...you can click the picture above to see all the details.

Online Backup = Peace of Mind!

So, I've always preached the benefits of backing up my PC, but never really put it into practice...until now!

*Marni gets up on her soap-box!*

I've finally found a service that's PERFECT for backing up my PC because I don't have to do anything! The company is called Carbonite.com.

It's an online backup service - for ONLY $49.95 a year! (Less if you pay for more than one year at a time.)

Here's how it works...

First, you can sign up for a 15 day free trial. The first thing they do is create a FULL backup of your PC - the important files and ALL of My Documents, your Desktop, etc. For me, the entire backup took about 3 1/2 days. Yes, it takes that long because they can only encrypt and backup so many gigs a day! Once that is done, every file on my PC is marked with a little green "dot" at the bottom, showing me that it was backed up.

Now, I don't have to do anything! (Not that I did before!) It's a dynamic backup, meaning that every time I make a change, Carbonite checks for me and backs it it up! It doesn't slow my machine down because it backs up when my PC is idle.

If anything ever happens to my hard drive, etc. I just connect to Carbonite and the files are restored. Even better, I can restore to another machine if I want to. The files are backed up in two places - so if THEY have a disaster, they also have a backup! Cool huh?

In my (humble) opinion, if I lost my documents, they could be recreated - with a little pain and suffering. If I lost ANY of the pictures I've taken of my kids, I'd be devastated. Those cannot be replaced, and they are priceless to me. So, paying only $49.95 a year (not per month) is NOTHING compared to the peace of mind I now have because everything is backed up! :)

OK...back to your regularly scheduled blog posts - I'm stepping down from my soap box! hehe

If you ARE interested in trying this out - use THIS LINK: http://www.carbonite.com/raf/signup.aspx?RAFUserUID=420082 - it gives me credit for referring you to them (and free months of backup services!) You can do the same and refer your friends too!

By the way, the thing I'm checking into right now is backing up more than one PC - since Ric has his own PC. I'll let you know the details when I find them!

Edited to add: I have a friend who just had a hard drive crash and had to use Geek Squad to recover (almost) everything - the cost was OVER $800-$1000 to do it. A lot more than if he had been using Carbonite! Eeeeek! (Yes, he does use it now!)

One foot in front of the other

Yep - Megan is taking her own steps now! Only a couple at a time, and only when she's prompted to do it. My guess is that by the end of the week, she'll be zooming all over the place!

Ryan keeps asking to go on the plane again. I guess it wasn't a traumatic experience! Ric was great at telling him what was going to happen - his ears were going to feel funny - there would be a big bump when we landed. Ryan wasn't scared at all!

Just another Thursday around here...at least the humidity has gone away for a while!

(Soon...we'll post video of Miss Muffin walking around!)

Traveling with 2 SMALL children - a post trip analysis

OK, after surviving 4 plane rides total, here's what I'd do again and what I'd do differently.

Things I'd keep the same:

Thanks to Andie for this GREAT tip - I went to the dollar store before we left and bought a whole bunch of things to keep the kids occupied. If I had to, I pulled out something new. We even had new things for the trip home!

Things I wouldn't do again:

Take BOTH car seats. I can see how this would work perfectly for one child, but it didn't work for us. Yes, they were both comfortable in their seats, but we were outnumbered! Two adults, 2 kids (one that needed to be carried all the time, and the other one that had to be "wrangled" all the time), two carry ons (one with all the diaper paraphernalia and the other with all the dollar store goodies and treats) strapped to our backs, AND 2 BIG BULKY car seats just isn't practical! There was no way we could get on to and off the plane easily. We did have a luggage cart that we strapped the seats to when we were in the airport, but there was nothing we could do but haul the seats down the aisle one by one. It was a REAL PAIN! So... this Fall when we go to Florida for a wedding, we will try the little CARES harness thingy (if we can still borrow it!) for Ryan and we'll hold Megan. We'll rent car seats at the other end if we have to!

And Ric's Answer...

Go alone without the kids! :)

We interrupt this vacation...

...for a trip to the eye doctor! (You're not going to believe this one!)

Somehow, two nights ago, Megan scratched my cornea with her fingernail. It was in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. She woke up, I turned over to find her binky or something, and she caught my eye just right.

Well, yesterday I woke up knowing that something wasn't quite right, but I thought that my eye was just irritated. Nope...as the day went on, it got worse. By the time we got home from visiting some friends at about 9:30 last night, my eye was completely red, watering, and pretty painful!

I didn't want to go to a walk-in clinic because I knew that they'd just say that I needed to go to an eye doctor. So when we got home, I asked my mom if they knew one. She immediately picked up a phone and called Dr. Rowley (who is also a member of the Bishopric in their ward.)

In 10 minutes, he was here at the house, putting dye into my eye to see what was wrong. Unfortunately, he saw a cut in my cornea, which meant we had to drive (all the way) to Payson to his office.

He numbed my eye, cleaned it up from the stuff that had accumulated inside the cut (3mm), dropped a bunch of antibiotics in it and then bandaged it with a silicone contact lens. Ahhhhhh... relief! I can take out the contact lens tomorrow, and I'm dropping more antibiotics into it until then. But I'm SO thankful that someone was close by and that I didn't have to go to a clinic or spend the morning today finding a doctor!

...now back to our vacation!

PS - I found out the next day that Brian Rowley, my emergency Eye Doc is a good luck charm! Check out this article! (In case you don't want to click - the only two times he attended ANY Boston Redsox games at Fenway, they were BOTH No-Hitters!)

Before we leave...a rose update

LOOK! They're actually growing! Woo Hoo! :)

So pretty...now don't die while we're in Utah! Pleaaaaase!

An Actual Date!

It's been 3 years since we've seen Lyle Lovett in concert - the last time I was pregnant with Ryan! Now, before you say something like..."Lyle Lovett? Isn't he the country singer with the funny hair who was married to Julia Roberts? etc..."

Yes, he has funny hair. Yes, he was married to Julie Roberts. No, he is not a country singer. He's really not one who can be classified as country - I could call him more bluegrass and folk, even a little rock and roll too! He doesn't have anything "twangy" about him!

Anyway, Ric and I have seen him at least 5 times that I can remember...and each time is an incredible show! Talk about musicianship - his "large band" is so tight - meaning that they play so well together, it's almost like they are one person. The songs are fun, the kind where you can actually understand the words. In fact, Ric and I chose a Lyle Lovett song for our first dance at our wedding! If you haven't heard it before, make sure you check it out... She's no Lady, She's my Wife. (SIX months of lessons to learn the Western Swing!) The video is pretty old - his hair isn't that wild these days!

Personally...I'm really looking forward to driving ALONE with my husband, eating out ALONE with my husband, listening to great music ALONE with my husband, and driving back home ALONE with my husband. (It's about a 1 hour 45 minute drive to the Cape, where the concert is being held.) Of course, we may not have anything to talk about...funny how kids suck the conversation out of you!

Anyway...enjoy the music, I know we will!

Are we terrible parents?

Ryan has been a challenge lately. Especially when it comes to nap time. He so desperately needs a nap, but fights me every day. (If he doesn't get his nap, there's HELL to pay later on in the day!)

Is it awful that I've had to put up this latch to keep him in his room? (Especially now that he can climb out of the crib, so that's no longer an option for time outs.)

(Just my luck, some "do-gooder" will find this post and call DCYF! *sigh*)

Here's hoping that Ryan grows out of his terrible 2's by the time he's 3 in December! (And no...I don't want to hear from ANYONE about how THREE is the new TWO!)

:)

It WAS painted...

After spending the afternoon and some of the evening yesterday painting the wood sides and bottom for our trailer (I promise...you'll get the FULL story of the trailer when it's all done!) THIS is what happens when you finish...and not more than 30 minutes later, there's a DOWNPOUR! (Which lasted for quite a while!)

Luckily, it's just one piece that has to be redone! Yes, I know the color is kind of puky - what do you expect for $15 Walmart Stain? We just wanted to protect the wood, it's not a piece of fine furniture! hehe (Though...when it's time to paint again...I'll be picking a DIFFERENT color! Would you believe that the name of this color is "cedar?" Hmmmm...)

Anyway...my next painting project is the front door and shutters. I'm thinking a RED of some sort. What do you think? I should take a POLL..in fact I will. Watch for another post to gather YOUR ideas for color! :)

The Results are In...

...and it's not good.

Well, thanks to WAY too many foreclosures around here, where buyers were able to get homes comparable to ours at minimal prices, our house was only appraised at $200K. (That's down from $245K only 2 1/2 years ago! WOW!)

This is going to be a problem in November. Unless home values start going up again, or interest rates stay REALLY low (which doesn't look like it's going to happen.), or I go back to work full time where I know that the salary is consistent. We're not going to be able to afford our mortgage payment. (I'd LOVE to work my Stamping Business so that my income was more consistent, but when most people's disposable income is paying for a gallon of gas these days, it's hard to convince people that card stock, rubber stamps, and ink are a necessity!)

We still have a few months to hope that things turn around and/or figure out what we're going to do, but it's not all that hopeful right now. Maybe it's time to start thinking about moving West... where we can afford it! :(

Guess it's a good thing that we tried out those MRE's we might be eating them more often! :) (hehe)

Think Good Thoughts!

OK everyone... we need your good vibes, thoughts, energy, prayers, etc.

Three years ago, Ric and I refinanced our home to consolidate debt. The loan we ended up with was one of those evil ARM's - and it's scheduled to start adjusting in November. We've been looking around for alternatives, with not a lot of luck. The main problem is that the value of our home has gone down compared to the amount we need to borrow for refinancing.

If you can believe it, CCO Mortgage (Citizens Bank), our current lender wouldn't refinance because "now" they're following the rules and won't lend if the value of the home is a certain percentage of the loan. So, I asked the person on the phone if they would rather have us default on the loan and go into foreclosure in November, and his answer was YES! Can you believe it? (I'm actually sorry to say that I worked for Citizens - this is just another example of horrible treatment to their customers. Boy do I have stories I could tell you!)

Anyway...there is HOPE! Lending Tree is coming through for us! Yipppeeee!

I applied online yesterday, we have initial approvals today for everything to be refinanced (FHA) and so on. The only thing that will help get our payment and interest rate lower is the appraisal. So... here's where we need your good energy flowing our way. We'll have an appraisal in the next week. Three years ago, our house (aka - our shoebox - you know how little it is if you've been here!) was appraised at $245K. We need at the very least to be appraised at $220K for everything to go through. Higher would be even nicer because then we have the options to "buy down" our interest rate and lower the payment even more.

We definitely believe in the power of prayer, and know that everything will work out for us in the end. There's just a *tiny* bit of anxiety with this whole process, though. We've worked really hard the past couple of years to get ourselves completely out of credit card debt - having this refinance go through so that we have a fixed interest rate will be the final step to being completely debt free. :) (Thanks Dave Ramsey!)

Thanks so much in advance! We'll keep you posted!

You HAVE to read this...

...for all Mom's everywhere. This is TOO FUNNY!

A post from the McMommy Chronicles.

(Make sure you've already gone potty and you are sitting down when you read it, I can't be held responsible for any accidents because you're laughing your butt off! hehe)

Rose Update

Remember when I planted these? Just in case you were wondering...they're growing!

Woo Hoo!

Let's not forget Dad

I'm not talking about Father's Day either! :)

We were sitting at breakfast this morning - talking about plans for this Saturday. If you've been reading our blog for a while, you'll know that Ric's Dad passed away last October. We've finally planned his memorial service/burial for this coming Saturday. (Since he was cremated, there wasn't any hurry, plus there were tons of details that needed to be sorted out before hand. (Remember my RANT?)

Anyway...for a long while, Dad's remains have been sitting in a cardboard box in the cubby hole in our hallway. It's the running joke, "Dad's hanging out in the hall." Then Ric ordered an urn online and we dumped him in, so he's been in there since. (I know, it's a little creepy, but if you think about it, how do they transfer remains at the funeral home? Yep - I'm sure they use a funnel too!)

So today at breakfast...Ric says "Don't let me forget to bring Dad on Saturday!"

:)

It's ABOUT Time! :)

My good friend Rachael has FINALLY started a blog! She's always told me that she doesn't think she has much to say. HA! (Ric will tell you that EVERY time we get on the phone, he writes off the next hour BECAUSE she has so much to say! I have to remind him that she's not the only one on the phone! hehe)

Anyway...check her out - Mommy Learns to Blog. I can't wait to see what tidbits of your life you share with us! :) Welcome to the Blog-dom Rach!

Plugging some sites

You may or may not know that I teach part-time at New England Tech. I've been there for almost 2 years now. It's the BEST gig ever! I love working with the kids who go to school there, and I love the topics I teach.

One of them is XHTML - the basic backbone of the Web. Because I've been able to stay up with HTML, I've also been lucky enough to pick up a few clients on the side! Woo Hoo! (In addition to maintaining my stamping business website.) So, I'm going to plug the websites I've designed and maintain here on our blog. The main reason is because blogs are indexed by search engines A LOT quicker than regular websites are...since getting these sites FOUND is the reason they are there, here we go! :)

First, Tactical Prints. I've actually been maintaining off and on (mostly off, right Dad?) for the past few years. If you are a WWII Vehicle person, you might be interested in it. My dad restored his own GPW Jeep and then had a architectural drawing/print made of it. He's also filled the site with military links and other things like that. Poke around a little, you might find some fun things! (And if you find any broken links, typo's, etc - let me know! :) Here's the link again: www.tacticalprints.com

Second, I just finished the site for New Jersey Property Management Services within the past couple of weeks. I was referred to this company through a friend, and it worked out really well! She was looking for an informational website with a clean design. I know that she's happy with it, and I was pretty excited about how it turned out too! We were able to put everything together via phone, email, and fax. So if you're in New Jersey, and need a rental or need to rent something, contact Sandy, she'll hook you up! Here's this link one more time: www.propertymgmtsvs.com

If anyone reading this is interested in a clean, simple website, here's what I do:

• XHTML - well-formed pages that work on any user device. (i.e. PDA, iPhone, Blackberry, and other browsers, etc.)
• Javascript - simple scripts to enhance your website.
• Email Forms - collect information from your customers via email.
  
• Graphics - I can create a logo for you, or enhance what you already have.
• Written Content - Yep, I'll do that too. At the very least, I'll edit what you send to me so it's "web ready."
• Shopping Cart/PayPal integration.
  
• Domain Name Registration/Setup - including email accounts
  
• All according to your needs, using your color choices, etc.
  

What I don't do - right now anyway... :)

• Flash Animation
• Server-side databases

Interested? Just contact me and I can put together a proposal/quote for you!

Ahahahahha - couldn't be MORE true! :)

Thinking of Having Kids?
Do this 11 step program first!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.
How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

So I....

....had a mammogram today! Woo Hoo!

I guess you know you're getting older when your doctor says that it's time. Today was my baseline, and hopefully, it won't change!

You know, it really wasn't that bad! In fact, it was over in 5 minutes, and just a little awkward, but didn't hurt like all the horror stories I've heard over the years. The machine is actually really cool - it takes really crisp digital pictures that the doctor can blow up huge so they can take a look at every little part. After each picture was taken (4 of them in all), the x-ray technician had me take a look. (Not that I wanted my boobs to be digitized or anything...but it was kind of cool to see "through" them!)

Anyway...if you are one who has put off your mammogram - don't! Technology is so advanced that it's really NOTHING to have one! Really!

Look what I just planted!

OK, so they don't look like that yet...


















In fact, they look like THIS:

Pretty huh? :)



When you walk out into our back yard, there's not much going on to speak of, until now. I've been wanting to put something along the far fence since we moved in, and now I've finally started doing it!

We've never gotten any grass to grow, so I'm hoping at least some hostas or other shrubs will grow. We inherited two types of lilacs and one rose of sharon that do well every year. (You can see the lilac bush in the middle and the Rose of Sharon on the left - it usually blooms a little later in the summer.

(If you look closely, you'll also see a 55-gallon water barrel, one of the 4 we're storing water in! Yes...I'll be covering them soon so they "blend in" a little more.)

So I've edged the "garden", planed the hosta plants, which were donated by a neighbor who was getting rid of hers, so I divided it into 3 and they are LOVING their new home! And to the right of the lilac are the roses! Stay tuned for their "after" picture! (I actually ordered them online from David Austin Roses recommended by Martha Stewart - this is the first time I've tried them, so we'll see how they do!)

PS - this the view from the back door - you can't tell we have kids, can you? *sigh* one of these days we'll also have a decent lawn too!

Priceless!

Gas up and back: $40.00

Babysitter for the kids: $60.00

Lunch afterwards (Panera): $17.70

6 Hours (3 of that driving) with my FABULOUS Husband driving to, from, and spending time inside of the Boston Temple together: PRICELESS!

Yes, it's a sacrifice of both time and money, but SO worth it!

Check this out...Martha Stewart Cookies Book!

Remember that Granola Recipe I posted the other day? Well...the same gal who came up with the recipe is giving away a copy of the new Martha Stewart Cookies book! All you have to do is spread the word and leave a comment, and you'll be put into a drawing for it! She's lucky enough to have books sent to her to review...and when she's done, she'll give them away. Woo Hoo!

So go check it out...Spatula's, Corkscrews, and Suitcases

Family Search!

So have you seen the NEW Family Search.org website yet? I know that they are rolling it out geographically by Temple District, so you may not have access to it. WE DO! HAHA! Jealous? (By the way, if you set up an account and you live in a Temple District that it isn't available yet, you can't get into it - just the old version.)

OK, I won't rub it in too much - but I have to say it's awesome! No more going to the Family History Library with a diskette to get your names "temple ready" - it's all done ONLINE! Woo Hoo!

Ric and I are headed to the temple tomorrow with our file folder full of printouts so we can get the slips we need for the temple work. (Are you reading this Dad? As soon as the baptisms are done... you'll have more names to do! And anyone else who wants to help with Ric's ancestors for that matter)

Anyway, just thought I'd mention that it's pretty cool! :) Gotta love the Internet - Al Gore was good for *something* - hehe

Use that Food Storage (Oatmeal!)

I'm one that actually likes hot oatmeal for breakfast. BUT, not every day. Since we're storing so much oatmeal, I'm thinking that I can only have so many bowls of it and make so many oatmeal cookies! (OK, maybe there's no such thing as oatmeal cookies!)

I happened to find a fabulous blog that had listed a fabulous Honey Raisin Granola recipe that looked SO yummy I HAD to try it!

The result? SIX pounds of YUMMY Honey Raisin Granola, a house that smells just as yummy, and a silly "Wiggles" song that I can't get out of my head! (Crunchy, Munchy, Honey Cakes... HA! Now YOU'VE got it in your head! hehe)

Just because I wanted to see if it's worth the price of the ingredients, and my time, I added it all up. Guess what? IT IS! :) The total cost per pound of granola turned out to be about $3 - MUCH cheaper than buying a box of it! (Though I do remember begging my mom to by CWPost - remember that? YUM!)

Here's a link to the blog where I found it. Funny thing is, it's written by a gal who lives not more than 3 miles from me! In fact, she lives on a sailboat in Apponaug Cove! Too Cool! I've actually made another recipe from her blog, which was to die for! (Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Brownies) How did I find it? She's the mom of another Stampin' Up! Demo who lives in Vermont, and I love her work, so I check out her website quite often.

A couple of things I modified for my recipe. First, I didn't add coconut. That's only because I don't like it! (With every bite that Ric takes, he says "Needs coconut" - but that doesn't stop him from taking more bites!) Also, I couldn't find the "Date Sugar" so I emailed Donna and asked her about it. She said that I could probably find it at a health food store (Whole Foods), but I could substitute raw sugar or even regular sugar. I used brown sugar. It's Sunday, so I wasn't going to go to the store. It turned out perfect anyway! The other thing - I think that the next time I make it, instead of cooking it for a full hour, I'll reduce the time a little...and that's only because my oven seemed to over cook it a little. So instead of turning it over in the oven every 15 minutes, I'll do it for 15, 15, 10, and 10.

So yummy - and a GREAT way to use that oatmeal in your food storage! (By the way, 11 cups of Oatmeal is almost ALL of a regular size oatmeal can - just dump it all in!)

You HAVE to read this...

...I know that I couldn't have said it all this well.

Just for the record.

Now that I've read it, she's now on my daily "must read" list!

My favorite weekend in the springtime!

Here it is, "Masters Weekend" and it's my favorite time in the spring. It used to mean a lot more when I was single and "free" from all of my obligations, but it will always remain special to me. I miss spending time with my closest friend Dave and watching the coverage of the greatest tournament on TV; I'll have to teach Ryan over the years to appreciate it too. Not only is it the first official major outing for pro-golf, but it has always been the official start of golf season for me in RI. I'll be cheering for just about anyone except Tiger Woods, but I'd love to see Mike Weir from Draper Utah (and BYU grad) win his second green jacket. Time for Marni to resume her golf-widow status for another year. :-)

Ric

Time just flies...

My monitor was taken hostage for 2 days in the living room. For General Conference we hook up the "garage" PC (Franken-puter) to the stereo so we can listen without having to sit at Church for 2 hours with 2 little kids! Since my monitor was easier to get to, it "lost" the contest and I was computerless for 2 days! Eeeek! Actually, it wasn't that bad - and even though I have a lot to catch up on, I enjoyed the tech-free break!

Lots of things to update...so here we go, in no particular order:

Osmosis - for 2-year olds
I'm completely amazed at how much Ryan learns just through osmosis. Yes, it really does work! The other day Ryan says to me, "I want juice, actually." "Actually?" Where did he hear that word? And HOW did he learn to use it correctly?

Branding - for 2-year olds
From the time Ryan was little, Dad would take him to the "man store". Meaning either Home Depot or Lowes. Now he can just see a store logo, store colors, or HEAR an ad on the radio and he'll say "Man Store!" Oh...it gets better...

The other day, I was updating our checkbook in Quicken with some purchases. He was sitting on my lap as I picked up a receipt from Dick's Sporting Goods where Dad had picked up some shoes for work. Now, I don't think that Ryan has EVER been to Dick's. Every time we drive by, though, he sees the basketball, soccer ball, and other things on the sign. When Ryan saw JUST the name on the receipt, he pointed and said "Basketball! Soccer Ball!" WOW! This kid doesn't miss a THING!

Crawl Baby, Crawl!
Megan is EVERYWHERE now! You can find us most days rushing around to make sure the gate was closed behind us, just in case Megan zoomed down the hallway after us! She's quick. VERY quick! It's fun to watch her explore everything now. Soon enough she'll be pulling herself ALL the way up instead of just on her knees!

That's it for now...time to hit the showers! Ric and I both thought that General Conference was great! The talks were very powerful and uplifting! Can't wait to read them in the next Ensign!

Save those Pepsi caps for me!

If you drink any of the various Pepsi bottled sodas like me, I need your caps. I've started collecting the caps (usually yellow or orange) for the 10 digit codes on the inside and entering them for Pepsi-stuff.

Normally, I don't bother with these types of contests, but since I drink a lot of Diet Pepsi along with my co-workers, I thought I'd give it a try. One benefit of collecting the points is the free MP3 downloads of music that I can get.

So if your not doing anything with these caps and codes, please send them along to me via email and thanks for helping me along.

Ric

By the way...

... for anyone reading this who's into paper crafting or rubber stamping, I'm having a contest at my business website (StampMonkeys.com) that ends on Monday. I'm giving away a BUNCH of great stuff!

Check it out! :)