Journal Jar #3

Q: Have you ever been to a concert?


A: Yes, a couple.....


I was in the car the other day bringing kids home from somewhere and I pulled into my garage and finally mentally "realized" what song I'd been singing along to for the last minute or two... it was "The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block. It was playing on Radio Disney! This is the first concert I went to - it was New Kids in Sacramento at the Arco Arena. I'm not sure how old I was, but based on who I remembering going with, my best guess is 10th grade about 1988-1989.


In case you are not familiar with New Kids and their History, here is a synopsis from wikipedia:


New Kids on the Block was a boy band, and enjoyed enormous success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consisted of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide[1] , generated hundreds of millions of dollars in concert revenues, and paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.


So basically, I was a fan of the very first boy band - yeah for me! Not something that I advertise too often, but it was a really great concert when I went!

Even worse than this was my second concert: Milli Vanilli... yes... you teens in the 80's laugh all you want!!!! In case you don't know who they are, we'll let Wikipedia take over for a brief explanation:


Milli Vanilli was a pop and dance music project formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988, fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The group's debut album achieved high sales internationally which earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990. The act sold over 30 million singles, 14 million albums and became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 80s and early 90s. However, their success turned to infamy when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the actual vocals on the record were not the voices of Morvan and Pilatus.


So, yes, I'm going to admit publicly that we paid good money to see a couple of very skilled lip sync-ers! Of course, we didn't know their secret - yet! But I will say, it was a good concert performance, none the less!

There's Nothing Like....

... warm homemade bread with butter... hmmm....hmm!

Yes, that is MY kitchen, and I made that bread myself! And, I DIDN'T use the breadmaker! I may have cheated a bit and used my Kitchenaid mixer, but I even did the second kneading by hand! Here's the recipe I used, found here.

Basic Bread:
2 cups hot water
1 Tablespoon yeast
6 cups flour (I use 3 cups Whole wheat, 3 cups white bread flour)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup oil

I add a few other ingredients, but they are optional!
3 tablespoons ground flax seed
use 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 large tablespoon of Honey instead of 1/2 cup sugar.

Prepare as usual and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

I wanted to try the honey for sugar substitute, but am currently out of honey. I also would have added the ground flax seed, but didn't have any of that on hand, either. Definately next time! I did however, substitute ground "white wheat flour" for the whole wheat flour. It's wheat flour that looks and tastes more like white flour. Maybe someday I'll work up to using the purest form of wheat... but not yet!

The added bonus to my accomplishment - my husband and daughter LOVED it! Eric grew up on homemade bread and was thrilled when he came home to find out I'd made some. Some domestic devil must have possessed my soul yesterday, because I've never been a woman to spend more than the necessary hours in the kitchen. In reality, I haven't made homemade bread since our starving student days.... back then I experimented with all kinds of things I could make from scratch... wheat thins, bagels, etc. Now, I'm definately more a woman of convienence and loath spending hours in my kitchen if I don't have to. But this was really FUN, so maybe I'll do it again... but definately no promises!!!

Sick Day

As if we haven't had enough of this already, yesterday after church, Ian said his tummy hurt and went to his room to lay down. He then fell asleep for at least and hour (yes, in the middle of the day!) and slept it off. He woke up acting normal, so I just brushed it off as a fluke. Then I'm making dinner and I realized I hadn't seen Ian in a while... I asked where he was and Taylor said he was asleep (again) upstairs. I went upstairs to check on him and he was laying on the messy floor, with his bedspread over him, sound asleep. He woke up just in time for dinner (and to tell me that he didn't want anything I'd made, just top ramen). I finally got smart and took his temp only to discover it was 99-100 (under the arm). Barnacles! (That's something that Ian says all the time - it's from Sponge Bob's way of saying "darn it"!) So I told him he'd likely be having to stay home from school, but he actually wanted to go - what? is this my child??? Only because the Running Club is having a pizza party after school to celebrate the end of the season. So this morning we got him up and no fever... but his 2 year old brother had thrown up in his bed and rolled over to the other side and gone back to sleep. (Gross, I know, but this happens with him when it's stomach flu season!) Even though Ian had no fever this morning, I just didn't feel good about sending him to school, so I sent him back to bed. After all, I've got another one sick today, so there's no going out of the house for me is there??? So now, it's 8:24 and all is perfectly still and quiet in my house. Both boys are sound asleep in their beds and the older two are off at school. I honestly don't mind sick days like this all that often, but today I was really gearing up to get back to the gym and start working out again! It's been too long since I've been to the gym more than once in a month! I guess today is going to be a laundry day (lots of sheets already needed to be washed before I discovered vomit in one set this morning....) and I'm bound and determined to finish my taxes and file them today!!!

MVP

Ian had his final soccer game for the season today. It's a winter league that runs for a six week season. Ideal for us (now that we have a boat) so we can keep the "warm" Saturdays free for wakeboarding, etc. With such a short season, the kids are just now starting to show improvement with their skills. Such is the case with Ian - the first couple games, he had really reverted to his "non soccer playing" self. The last two games were a dramatic improvement in both his skills and confidence! Today he scored 2 goals in the 4th quarter (something he's NEVER done before!) And, of course, he picked his day to be a superstar when I had to be home with a house full of girls who slept over! Oh well, maybe having dad there was his lucky charm!

The Birthday Girl

Thursday was Megan's 11th birthday - I posted a tribute to her on her blog - check it out!


On Friday night we had 5 of her friends sleep over, which was very interesting! The girls were really very good, but the boys in our house (including Eric) didn't know how to handle such a large group of loud and gigglin' girls. They painted toenails, watched Aquamarine and played Barbies. It was a fun night for Megan!

The Power of Paint

Before: During:
After:

So I finished painting my bathroom on Thursday - I LOVE it! I'm so happy to say it's all finished and now I'm wanting to put up some pictures and things on the walls that I've been saving from my last house and hadn't really found a home for them. Now I have a plan for them and can't wait to dust them off and hang them up!

Lost

I was a "late comer" to Lost. I remember when it premiered, and I missed the first episode. Then a week or two later, as I was hearing all the "buzz" about it, I was flipping through channels one time and it was on, so I lingered a minute. As I sat watching for a few minutes, I was baffled even more. A woman (presumably Kate) was running through the jungle in the rain away from an unseen monster. I followed this for about 3-4 minutes and gave up. I was "lost" as to what was going on.... and I was a bit creeped out by what I was seeing. So, I flipped to another channel and forgot about Lost entirely.



Fast forward - just over one year later - the second season of Lost was well underway and I was talking to a good friend (Jenn Baxter) about our favorite TV shows. She told me how they named their new puppy after a character on Lost - Sawyer. (The dog turned out to be very like his namesake - lovable but a troublemaker, too!) She had the 1st season of Lost of DVD, so she lent it to me. So, I sat down one afternoon with many loads of laundry to fold and popped in the DVD. Needless to say, I was hooked within about 15 minutes.... and 3 episodes later I realized I didn't want to keep watching this show without Eric. So that night, I sat him down and re-watched the first 3 episodes with him. Every night after that , whenever possible, we put kids to bed and watched Lost. At least 2 episodes, sometimes 4! The beauty of the DVD is that you get to completely bypass commercials and you even have the bonus of reading the subtitles (for added clarification on what they are saying....) By this point, I was recording season 2 on the DVD, but we were missing some episodes, so we downloaded them on itunes. We burned through season 2 just as it was finishing up and couldn't wait for season 3! And so it goes... our Lost addiction has continued until today.....



So here are my thoughts about Lost. I think it's BRILLIANT - and I'll tell you why. They start the show with a survivor of a plane crash waking up to chaos of a disaster on a tropical island. As the mysteries of the island are revealed, you get the back story on each of the main characters in the form of flashbacks. It's very well done and always leaves you wanting MORE information. So the first 3 seasons all flash backed to things the characters were doing before the crash, until the last episode... where we get our first "flash forward" of Jack after life on the island. All this past/future info is spread into what is already a very elaborate and detailed plot on the island itself in the present. All of season 4 has been "flash forwards" of what happens to people after the island. We see who gets off the island and how it has affected them in the future, and all this is happening while the survivors are struggling with how to get off the island, how to protect the island from the wrong people and we still are wondering what Ben is really all about! The great thing about how they are doing this, is that when the show is over and the survivors are rescued (or escape) or whatever, we will already have the "ending" we wanted. I always hate movies that have really abrupt endings and don't give you the details you crave. With Lost we are already getting those details well before the survivors get off the island! Of course, it's not always a "happy" ending.... time will tell what else is going to happen!



Some of the nagging questions that I just want to know the answers to, but maybe I don't really want the answers, because that would mean that the series would be over:

• What is Ben's true purpose and what makes him tick? I've always assumed he was the "bad guy", but more and more I'm realizing that it's just not that clear cut. Yes, he's done some terrible things, but what I really want to know are his true motives behind what he does.... and what happens to Sayid to make him trust Ben post-island?


• How did the people on that freighter get the picture of Penny and Desmond? I think the "black guy" who hired Naomi (and visited Hurley in the hospital) works for Dharma and is trying to get Ben (and avenge the deaths of all the Dharma people way back in "the purge").


• Why can't women conceive and give birth on the island? If Sun leaves the island, will she be able to successfully give birth?


• Who is Jacob and is he real? What power does he have? Can he control the monster?


• Who is "Patchy" and why doesn't he ever seem to die? I'm totally expecting him to pop up again... a grenade explosion should be nothing for this guy who seems to have nine lives!


• What is the "force field" around the island that makes it unplottable, and constantly thwarts attempts by planes, helicopters, etc. to reach it (or leave it).


• What ever happened to Michael and Walt? They had one of the most intriguing story lines during the first 2 seasons and then it just went away - like that! I think Walt still has a part to play in the story of the island... at least I hope he does!


• What did the "time" experiment Daniel did mean?


• Why can't Jack and Locke compromise just a bit?????


• Why can't Kate choose between Sawyer and Jack and stop dangling them both along?


• Do certain people get to "stay" on the island when the others get rescued (like Locke, Rose, Sawyer, etc.) Maybe their is a second "purge" in the works.... Why does Kate leave the island with Aaron (and not Claire?)

So what are your thoughts? What are your theories? What are your burning questions? What part of this show is keeping you up at night?

And why did those darn Hollywood writers have to go on strike? According to this article, this season will only have 13 episodes (instead of the planned 16!)

If you haven't become a Lost Fan yet, it's not too late! Do yourself a favor and go buy the early seasons on DVD - don't bother renting them, because you'll wish you had just bought them, anyway!

Winter Wonderland!

On President's Day we took the kids and made a run to Flagstaff for a fun day in the snow. It was a blast! The weather was great and there was lots of snow! We brought 4 walkie talkies so we could split up and still keep tabs on each other and finally all our kids are old enough to have a good time and we didn't have to carry any "babies" around! We've also learned from past years to "be prepared"... years when we've come up with less than suitable "snow gear" have been difficult trips. One year, Megan's gloves soaked through, her hands were wet and cold and she spent 2 hours crying about it until we finally gave up and went home. On another past trip, we thought we could use "rain boots" for the kids feet, but Taylor being the rough kid he is, ripped holes in the toes of the yellow boots and was in tears because his feet were so cold.

There were lots of other funny things about going to the snow in Arizona. Many of the people up there have never purchased a "real" cold weather coat or appropriate shoes.... we saw some of the craziest 0utfits. I could have taken dozens of photos of people in weird get ups, but that would just be rude to post them online, right??? Maybe next time!

So, here are some pictures from the day - there are A LOT to scroll through, but I couldn't resist posting them all because we had so much fun!

Eric taking Brayden over to the "bunny slopes".... Ian and Brayden on their own - fearless and flying!
Christy actually getting some runs down the mountain!

Ian getting ready for his next maneuver!Brayden getting into the family snowball fight - the look on this kid's face says it all!
Taylor - stripped off his coat for the snowball fight with dad - he almost loved this more than sledding down the big hills!
Eric making snowballs to counter strike with - it was him against about 5 kids and he still beat them all! All four kids getting into the action - Brayden has already developed a pretty good arm!

Self portrait - taken by the girls - pretty good aim with the camera, I think!

This child has NO FEAR!Still smiling at the end of the day - borrowing mom's chenille beanie really helped!

Eric racing the big kids down the hill, notice Taylor launching a snowball over to Eric mid race, trying to slow him down!

Nothing like a nap at the end of a fun day!

Confessions of a Seven Year Old

If ever a child suffered from "middle child" syndrome - Ian is the one! He is the 3rd of four and for 5 long years he was the baby of the family. Now he is the middle boy. It's a tough place to be. Megan is kind of a middle child too, but being the only girl sets her apart in other ways. I never stop hearing about how she hates being drug along to all the "fun boy stuff" that our family does, but that's a subject of another post entirely! I never know what makes this kid tick. I can never tell if he wants to do something because he's just following in his big brother's footsteps or if he geniunely wants to do it himself. I want him to have his own idenity and I think we are both still trying to discover what his true passions are. He also stuggles with being seven. He has a brother who is 13 and a brother who is 2. Most times he wants to have the same priveleges as Taylor, but then we'll find him on the couch cuddled up with Brayden watching Backyardigans. He wants to be a "big boy" and a "baby" all at the same time.

Tonight we were rummaging through our "snow gear" to see if we had enough gloves, pants, boots, etc. for the whole family to go sledding on Monday morning and pretty much the only thing I needed was gloves for Ian. So, after dinner I took him to the store to get some gloves (thankfully Big 5 still has plenty of snow gear and it's all on sale!) On the way, this is how our conversation went:

Ian: Mom, how it was possible for the Holy Ghost to help 1000 different people all at the same time?
Me: It's possible because the Holy Ghost doesn't have a body like we do, so it's easier for him to be in many places at once. Are you excited to be baptized this summer and get the Holy Ghost?
Ian: Not really, I'm kinda scared.
Me: Why are you scared? What part of it is scary?
Ian: I'm afraid of getting the Holy Ghost because I'm not sure I can always be good. I lie a lot.

That is definately no lie! This kid is a compulsive liar - about the silliest things too. He's earned a bad rep for lying in the family and that makes it even worse, because when he is telling the truth, no one believes him the first time around. Hopefully we can get that under control before his baptism in August. Hopefully we can slove his "identity crisis" sometime soon. I don't want him to grow up with "middle child" syndrome! He's such a cute, funny and clever kid. He's had a hard day today, but we still love him anyway!

Please Help Me Spread the Word!

To my blogging buddies - please do me a huge favor and cut and paste this post into your own blog and help spread the word for my dear cousin and her husband.... read on.... I think you'll be impressed:

Hi.

We're excited to share with your our new web site. As you all know, we are anxious to complete our family through adoption. We feel that there are at least 2 more babies that are meant to come to our home and family. We do not know if they will come together (twins) or not but we know they will come through the blessing of adoption.

On the site you can find things such as:

* Why we are adopting.

* What our family is all about.

* How adoption has changed dramatically for the better over the past few decades.

* Myths and Facts about adoption.

* Pictures of our family, past and recent.

* A highlight video of 2007.

* The Top 10 reasons we feel our family is a great choice for a birth mother.

* A journal documenting some thoughts & feelings that we have kept since Nov. 2006.

* Our contact information.We'd love it if you'd check out our site!

And we ask that you help us spread the word about our efforts to adopt in a very simple way. PLEASE... share this info with everyone you know, even if they may not be single and pregnant, they may know someone that is or maybe know someone at their child's school, at their church, at their work, that is part of a sports team, etc. that is or may become pregnant and may wish to explore the idea of adoption. YOU could be the link that brings us together with the birth mother of our children. YOU could take part in the miracle of completing a family. Yes....YOU!

We asked our caseworker for some statistics to see how great of an impact family and friends can have on children being placed in homes of families like ours. Our caseworker gave us the following information:

***Regarding birth mothers who place their children for adoption, agency headquarters reports that 49% are referred to the agency by family and friends, 16% by church leaders (associated with our agency), 4% by hospitals, 4% by the internet and 3% designated.

49%, that is a significant number! We do hope that should you have any questions that you contact us and ask them! Anyone interested in contacting us about adoption can call us at (513) 649-4043 or by contacting our caseworker, Spencer Zitzman at (888)775-0125, or on his cell at (614) 432-6267. So with that said, we ask for your help in spreading the word and in sharing with others this site featuring our family.

www.pickourfamily.com

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us to complete our family through adoption!

With love,

Heidi, Rob, and Kids

Drum Roll Please.....

Here it is - the finished project! Of course, we still have to seal the grout, re-install the toilet, clean every square inch of the bathroom, and then finish painting... okay, so maybe it's not quite "finished" yet!

I went to the doctor this morning fearing that I have another sinus infection - negative on that, but he gave me another prescirption for a steriod to help get my sinuses cleared out - they are so congested and swollen that it's making me miserable. The pharmicist told me that the Prednisone, would jack me up and make my hyper for about 2 days, so not to plan on getting much sleep over the weekend - I walked out and thought, "well, at least now I have no excuse not to finish painting the bathroom this weekend!" I've also gotten a referral to see an allergist.... so now maybe asking to be tested for "guinea pig" won't be so crazy after all!

And "NO", I do NOT hire out... my Bishop already asked....

14 things that I love....

StACEy - thanks for this idea!

1 - my husband and his LOVE for me! :)

2 - Taylor - my oldest - he's thirteen and still gives me HUGS!

3 - Megan - my only girl - she has the most infectious smile!

4 - Ian - his puppy dog eyes, his LONG eyelashes, and his humor!

5 - Brayden - there isn't a soul alive who doesn't like this boy - he's so FUN!

6 - warm brownies (I like the corners - 2 edges for the price of one) with vanilla ice cream

7 - a great book to curl up on the couch with

8 - my ipod and audio books (it has kept my sanity through this bathroom project)

9 - Thursday night TV - Lost and The Office

10 - Amazing Parents (both sets - we love them so much!)

11 - Cell Phones - they are such an amazing tool for safey and security that I don't know how the world did without them before!

12 - Tulips - I'm not really into roses, but I'm a sucker for tulips

13 - digital cameras - again, don't know how I ever lived without this convienence

14 - all my blogging friends all over the country - blogging has helped me reconnect with family and friends that I haven't really been in touch with for years - that truly makes me happy!

Tag, You're It!

Best thing you cooked last week?
I think I made my Beef Stew (in the crockpot) - it's even better than Dinty Moore!

If money, time, and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who? Everytime I go to Disneyland I wish I could come back for a few days with just my husband and stay in the Grand Californian Hotel.

When was the last time you cried? Yesterday - I was watching Sense and Sensibility - I always fall apart at the end when Edward confesses his love for Elinor and she finally breaks down and loses it after all the time keeping her reserve and hiding her emotions.

Five things you were doing ten years ago 1998 - Moving from San Jose, CA to Dublin, CA; taking Black and White Photography classes at San Jose Community College in the evenings; Getting used to Eric's unpredictable work schedule and long commute hours; learned how to scrapbook; bought my first (and only) minivan!

Five things you were doing five years ago 2003 - Got my first Digital Camera - the Canon G2, Got a trampoline for the kids; Went on my first trip to Maui with Eric, but no kids; Conintued the never ending renovations on our fixer upper home; caved and finally signed Taylor up for Little League (he'd been begging for a long time!)

Five things you were doing one year ago 2007 - Overcommitting my time with kids sports - Taylor - basketball, Megan - gymnastics and all 3 kids in Running Club; bought a ski boat with 2 other families; replaced my old piano with a digital baby grand; got released from Primary (after 7 long years); attended 2 weddings (one in Eureka, CA and one in Provo, UT).

Seven of your favorite hobbies: Reading, scrapbooking, taking pictures, shopping, traveling, blogging, and exercising.

Five favorite foods: Tacos or Enchiladas; Pepperoni Pizza; Broccoli Beef; Cheeseburgers with Fries; Brownies

Five places you've been: the "Seven Sacred Pool" (Oheo Gulch) in Maui; Mt. Rushmore, SD; Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta, Canada; Valley Forge and Gettysburg, PA; and Niagra Falls, NY.

Five favorite memories: This is way too hard! Christmas Eve's at Grandma K's house, Swim Parties, going to Hawaii for the first time, Camping trips, Road Trips across the US and Canada.

Tag four fellow bloggers -
I Tag: Carol R, Michelle H, Stacy V, and Hillary W

Journal Jar #2

Q: Have you ever played a musical instrument or taken lessons? What instruments did you always want to play?

A: Yes, I've taken piano lessons... way back when I was a kid. I don't remember how old I was, but I know it was before we moved, so my best guess is that it was in Elementary School. I took lessons from a lady at church, Sister Clark. She was very talented. I remember that my mom took piano lessons from her too. My mom had always wanted to learn how to play the piano and never had the opportunity as a kid. I honestly can't remember if my brother took lessons, too. I think he did, but I don't think it lasted very long. I can't even remember how long I took lessons. To me, it felt like years... I think it was at least 2-3 years because I did come away with a pretty strong knowledge of chords, keys, etc.... I do remember that I HATED recitals. I would be on the verge of throwing up every time I had to preform. Even when I had my song perfected, I would freeze up in front of a crowd and fall apart. Over the years, people have made the mistake of asking me to play at church when the pianist wasn't there. Big mistake! For one thing, I only know a handful of hymns and I can't learn one on the fly. I CAN'T sightread at all. It takes me weeks of dilligent practice to learn a song. In addition to that, I can't accompany people. When I start to play, I'm usually okay, but the minute people start singing, I fall apart. I haven't learned how to skip a mistake and keep playing. I always have to fix the bad note to move on. It's not perfectionism either... the way that I memorized music as a kid involved motion memorization. If I wasn't on the right note to begin with, my hands couldn't move to the next note correctly. Weird, I know, but that's just how it is! I've tried to learn new songs as an adult and I can't seem to learn music any other way....

There are a couple instruments I would like to learn... we got Taylor a guitar for Christmas a couple years ago and I'd love to teach myself to play it. My dad has given me a little bit of help, but I just don't have the time to sit and dedicate to it. When I'm older and have more free time (not sure if that will ever happen!) I'd love to learn to play the harp. In Dublin, I knew a family who had two harp players... it was the most amazing thing to listen to!

Contractor Hands

Yes, I have contractor hands today - they are rough, they are dirty (even after many washings), they are calloused and they are blistered! But look what I have to show for it!!!

Thursday night Eric mentioned that now would be a good time to paint the part of the bathroom where the toilet is - while it's out of the way. I groaned and told him, "not on your life...." but by Friday morning, I'd changed my mind. So I went to Home Depot and picked out this lovely shade of green "sagey" by Behr (my favorite brand of paint). Friday afternoon, I spent 2 hours painting 2 coats in the "toilet closet", but the end result looked great!!! It definately was much better than having to paint "around" a toilet!

Friday night we installed the "backerboard" underlayment. This is basically an extra layer of hard work - you mortar down some special board (like drywall) to the floor so you can tile on it. We started Friday night (thinking this would be a "quick" job...) and finished Saturday morning at 2:30 a.m.! (And yes, that is my toilet perched in the bathtub!)

Saturday we started laying and cutting - due to all the weird corners and angles we had to work with, we cut and laid out everything before breaking out the morter. It took us 8 hours to cut and layout all the tiles. We then spent 3 hours cementing them all in - boy was that fun (not!) We finished on Saturday night about 11:30 p.m. By the time we got everything put away, cleaned up and showered, we didn't get to bed until 12:30. I was DEAD, considering we'd only gotten about 4-5 hours sleep on Friday night.

In the beginning I used spacers to layout the tiles - but about half way through I gave that up and just "eyeballed" the rest....

Sadly enough, the work is not done - Monday I get to spend my day grouting the tile and then we need to seal the grout. I'm thinking it's going to be at least Wednesday before I have a working toilet and tub again! Not to mention that I'll need to finish painting the rest of the bathroom - now that part is done, it will bug me until I finish it! Hopefully sometime this week I'll have time to do my taxes - I need to know how much $$ from my tax return this project is going to suck up. This project was

about double the cost I anticipated - and we did the work ourselves - can you imagine what it would have cost if I had hired it out!?!

What comes from....

Determination, A #5 combo from Jack in the Box (ultimate cheeseburger, curly fries and dr. pepper), and two and a half hours of listening to Edward and Bella (aka Twilight...)

The ultimate motivator - I don't like having to trapse down the hall at 5:00 a.m. to use the "kids" bathroom - yuck!!!! It always smells no matter how much it gets cleaned!

Now I can spend the rest of the evening watching Lost and folding the 5 loads of laundry I washed yesterday.....

Home Improvement Woes

Several months ago I was in the bathroom while Eric was showering and noticed a steady stream of water trickling down the outside of the shower door and down onto the floor. This part of our bathroom has carpet (another long rant for another time....) and so as soon as he got out of the shower, I began to investigate.... oh crap... we had water damage and a bit of dry rot under the carpet. So, we pulled the carpet and pad back and Eric started digging... he found more water damage than we expected. So, we "panicked" thinking that the damage might extend far under the shower and maybe even have started damaging the ceiling in the living room below. I called a good friend of ours who does Home Inspections and asked him if he could stop by when he was free to look at it for me. He was such a sweetheart - (he lives practically across the street) - he dropped what he was doing and came right over. Thankfully, the damage wasn't extensive and could be repaired very easily and would NOT involve taking the shower out (this was the "doomsday" senario that Eric was invisioning!) So, we plugged the hole with a towel, put the carpet back over and repaired the shower door while we figured out our plan for a long term solution. This is the interesting senario our bathroom presents - part is tile, part is carpet:

We called around and couldn't find anyone that sold the tile to "match" what we already have. So, we finally decided to pull out the existing tile and redo the whole thing in a tile of our choosing. So we went shopping for the tile and found some that we really love. Everyone told us that the area of tile we were removing wouldn't be difficult (about 10 sq feet). So, we started the project on Saturday... maybe these people have never removed tile before.... what a nightmare this has turned into.... it's grueling... and exhausting... and slow.... and words can't express how much we're both hating this job! Eric has spent Monday and Tuesday evenings chipping away at the mortar (it's what's under the tile that's difficult to remove). Last night we tried some "remover" paste, but seriously, that stuff isn't really helping. Good old elbow grease is what's working the best. So, if we can't get the remaining tile out of our bathroom by the end of tonight, our "schedule" will be pushed back enough that we wont' have enough time to install the new tile on Saturday... which means a full week to 10 days without the toilet in my master bedroom. Ughh... So, I'm biting the bullet and I've been chipping away at it all morning.... it's such a mindless, frustrating job that I decided to break out my old mp3 player that still has Twilight (in audio book format) on it and listen to that. It's the only thing that's keeping me going today.... as I sit here and type right now I'm waiting for the battery to recharge just enough to get me through another hour or so of work..... it had the nerve to die on me when I stopped to grab some food and re-fuel! I've decided that Twilight ranks right up there in my book favorites with Harry Potter... I can read (or listen to) it over and over again and not get tired of it at all! Many thanks to Stephenie Meyer for keeping me sane today!

California Here We Come!

Okay, not for 5 weeks and 3 days, but I am excited anyway! We are planning our visit to the "Homeland" for March 14-24.... so all you Rossiter's, Wanlass's, Muller's, McCorkles', Kuenzinger's, Henriksons's, Dayton's, Shane's and anyone else up north, mark your calendars! This will likely be our only visit home for 2008, so you won't want to miss out! (Yes, I know I sound like we are a bunch of celebrities coming to town.... wouldn't that be cool? Unfortunately, we are pretty ordinary people!)

I realize this isn't ideal timing for "spring break" and the cousin's school schedules - every year we have spring break different than everyone else on the planet, but a summer visit wouldn't be much better. Last summer was miserable - we were traveling here and there and everywhere and I just don't want a repeat of that. It's harder to leave the heat in the summertime and then come back to it once you've been spoiled in a cooler climate. I'd rather stay and be acclimated the whole summer and maybe make a fun trip to Lake Powell in July before school starts for our kids.

Public Service Announcement

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY!!!

If you reside in one of 22 states holding primary elections today, remember to go to the polls and VOTE! I've decided I'm voting for Mitt Romney. The more and more I learn about McCain, the less and less I like him. I know he's my state senator, but I didn't live here when he got elected, so I really don't know much about him. And, I'm confident that McCain will take Arizona, but there are rumors on the web that Romney may pull a suprise victory in California! So, don't sit at home just because you think your vote won't matter. Every vote counts!!!

I've taken the challenge

Taken from http://hinckleychallenge.com/

The challenge has begun!

Make Scripture Reading More Than A Goal.

Make It A Way Of Life!

President Hinckley often stressed our making the Book of Mormon part of our lives. He was 97 when he passed away, and we would like to celebrate his life and teachings by reading the Book of Mormon in 97 days.

Join me in following his teachings by reading the Book of Mormon in 97 days!

President Gordon B. Hinckley on the Book of Mormon:
"I take in my hand the Book of Mormon. I read its words. I have read Joseph Smith's explanation of how it came to be. To the unbelieving it is a story difficult to accept, and critics for generations have worn out their lives writing books intended to refute that story and to offer other explanations than the one given by Joseph the Prophet. But to the open-minded, this critical writing has only stimulated them to dig deeper; and the more deeply they dig, the greater the accumulation of evidence for the validity of Joseph Smith's story. Still, as has been demonstrated for a hundred and fifty years, the truth of the Book of Mormon will not be determined by literary analysis or by scientific research, although these continue to be reassuring. The truth about the origins of the Book of Mormon will be determined today and tomorrow, as it has been throughout the yesterdays, by reading the book in a spirit of reverence and respect and prayer."( "Praise to the Man," Ensign, Aug. 1983, 4)

If you haven't been to the website yet, click on the link at the top of this post. You can sign up (free) and track your progress. It looks like a fun way to stay motivated and finish the Book of Mormon in a quick amount of time! I was telling Eric that my stragety is going to be to read one of our navy blue paperback versions, and treat it like I would a novel. He said, "well, that should be easy. Just get into it like you would Harry Potter and you'll have it done in a week!"

I've decided that if I'm going to make this happen, blogging will be the reward at the end of the day when I've read my quota.... ya'll know how blogging can waste away an hour (or more...) without a blink of an eye..... so if I post another blog later today, you can assume, I've done my reading! (Should be easy today, no commitments, no energy, and lots of rain outside.....)