Halloween 2010

We barely fit in pumpkin carving this year...it was Saturday the 30th when we finally got to it. Props to Douglas for seeding and carving all four pumpkins. I don't really enjoy pumpkin carving. I help trace faces instead.

J still whines and moans about sticking his hand in the pumpkin and gutting it. It doesn't even phase Paige.

Jackson choose a scary face and Paige choose a lion. I can't really remember the rest. I know I have pics on one of my memory cards, but I am yet to track it down!








I just could not bring myself to sew costumes this year and so the kids got to pick a costume from the PB catalog courtesy of their Nana. Paige choose the witch and J the shark. Paige got a lot of opportunities to wear hers, but unfortunately J only got to wear his for the trunk or treat and for an hour on Halloween night while he trick or treated. They both looked so cute (in my opinion). They even put Paige's picture in the newspaper from when we went trick or treating on Main Street. I will have to scan and post that!

We went to the ward trunk or treat (which was actually held indoors at the church and the kids trick or treated from room too room because is was so cold). They also do a fun trick or treating in downtown where all the stores pass out candy. We went to about 5 stores and then all Paige wanted to do was eat the candy. It was cold so we left. She was perfectly content with just a few pieces.

I had some families from the ward over for dinner in a pumpkin on Sunday night. It was a success. I made that, rolls, and a new dessert that was delicious! I will have to add it to my recipe site! The kids trick or treated down the street. P was once again done after a few houses, but J and his friend ran from house to house all down the street. They gave out good candy and D and I enjoyed the spoils of the evening after the kids went to bed. I think Paydays and 3 Musketeers should be outlawed as giveaway candy though. Yuck. And sugar daddies. Bleck! Now 100 Grand, Baby Ruth, Snickers and Twix. Mmmmm. I found a bag that had Almond Joy, Heath, Rolo and Snickers. Now that is what I am talking about. But, I digress...

Halloween was a success and I hope next year to be back to a family theme. Douglas and I had to recycle costumes this year and that is just not as much fun.

Now, onto Thanksgiving (and don't be surprised if you see some Christmas 2009 pics popping up soon...I never blogged about that!)

Day #2

Why is my blog named "Chitter Chatter". I don't really know. I guess it just sounded good at the time...you know "chit chat" with some extra letters. Sorry, but this is kind of a dumb day. Who cares, really?

Jumpin on the bandwagon...

Anne is doing this and since I do everything she does, I figured I would do it too. At least it might get me actually blogging and not just thinking of funny things I could blog about. Just remember this...it is past midnight so I cannot be held responsible for any dumb things I might write.

First, here is a recent picture:

now, onto my 15 things:

1. I have an aversion to going to bed. I actually think it is hereditary. If Douglas goes to bed without me, there is no telling how late I will stay up.

2. I can't go to bed with a dirty kitchen. This is the main reason I am still up at 12:09am. It is still there waiting for me and I can't bring myself to do it, though I tell myself I will do it as soon as I am done with this post.

3. I talk to myself, a lot. Paige does the same. It is really cute to see her repeat things to herself. Maybe I should be worried, but I turned out alright, so I suppose she will too.

4. For as much as I try to be really organized, I am actually very unorganized. It is kind of embarrassing. I forget things all the time.

5. I am always some level of cold. I wish I could walk around all the time with a heated blanket. Except when I work out. I can still run outside in short sleeves and feel good and it is 40* here.

6. I have been listening to Christmas music for a while now and it really annoys me that radio stations stop playing Christmas music the day after.

7. On that note, I always suffer from a severe Christmas depression after gifts are opened and the day after Christmas. I always feel such a sense of let down. Don't know why exactly.

8. I do not like to wear any clothing item that has a name brand or logo written largely across it. I don't like to dress my kids in these items either.

9. I look forward to getting the mail everyday. It is one of the highlights of my day.

10. Putting together my Christmas card each year is something I love and loathe at the same time. I feel like I must get it "right" yet am never settled on whether what I choose fits that bill.

11. I am horrible at running a business. Really, really bad. I hate bookkeeping.

12. I am very good at making things with my hands. There isn't a craft I have found that I can't figure out how to make. I love to create things and always have many projects in the works.

13. I try to make a good number of Christmas gifts each year. I wait too long to get started though.

14. I love Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I could drink them all day long if I wasn't afraid of ruining all the enamel on my teeth.

15. I am really unsettled as to whether to be done having kids or have more. I want another, but my kids are such a handful I don't know if I could handle another. I have determined not to stress about it, but since I am a natural stresser, I stress about it all the time.

November, already??

I get so far behind I don't even want to try. But, I am starting today. No catching up for now.

I woke up grumpy. I couldn't pull myself out of it. I wanted to be alone, yet I was surrounded by needy, whiny (Paige), screamy (Paige), unpleasant child. Somedays that girl will be the end of me. I finally had to send her to her room because I could handle no more. She was working with her bristle blocks and crying, whining about EVERYTHING!!

I volunteer in J's class on Tuesday mornings. This results in an insane morning because I have to get him to school by 8:45am and run P across town to my one friend in order to be back to school by 9:15am. It is pushing it every week. It is interesting to work in the class. I enjoy it, but there are some "interesting" kids.

BTW, Jackson's school is totally lame and they do absolutely nada for holidays. I can't tell you how annoyed I am that the majority gets jipped because there are a few people who don't like what you are doing. Since when am I the only one who has to be tolerant. When I was in school we learned about different religions at Christmas. Now, you can't even say the word Christmas. It is a bunch of bunk. Why is it so uncool and unaccepted to be Christian.

I can't stand Obama. Not that he is the cause of all of this, but he is a perpetuator and he is just lame. Everything he does is lame and he is screwing up our country.

Okay, enough griping. Can you tell I am in a grouchy mood?

Had a great time in DC last week with my family.

Have a lot of laundry and house cleaning in order to get life back in order.

Got my hair cut today. Luckily a friend in the ward cuts hair, so we swapped. It worked out dandy and my hair feels much healthier.

I volunteered to make 100 chocolate pinecones for our Christmas workshop. I am insane.

Pizza for dinner. New crust recipe that was thick and yummy.

Found out my high school BFF is moving to Toledo next June for her hubby to do a pediatric residency...only 45 minutes away. How fun.

Douglas got offered an internship for next summer in St. Louis. Wow! Excited for him.

Off to work a bit. Still bits to do here and there and still enjoying working so little.

here we go again...

so, my kitchen is still a mess from dinner. Arg. After cooking dinner, cleaning up the mess is the last thing that I want to do, yet there it waits. I usually try to do it right after, but today we dashed out for the kids flu shots which luckily turned out to be mists.

You see, the craziness started when I decided to take some pics of the kids before dinner and the dr. We got out to the beautiful tree and before I was able to take a SINGLE shot, Paige was in tears that continued until we left. I finally got her to calm down, my battery died and we were done. She had pink puffy eyes anyway.

Why is she such a pain sometimes? If only she could see my vision.

And, BTW, this was round two of these pics. The last session, on Sunday, had the same outcome. I think I will buy a Barbie to bribe her with. Jackson is good with the promise of dessert. Love that kid.

So, we rush out the door to get to the dr. Half way there J has to go numero dos so so badly...as in moaning, groaning and crying (literally) in the back seat. We are stuck in construction and just barely going to make it on time, but nope, I really thought he was going to have an accident. We ran into a beauty salon with such urgency they were probably scared. He took care of it and 15 minutes (yes 15!) we were on the road again. Oh the adventures of motherhood.

Feeling a little blah. Wish I was home, my old home. I said that last post too, right. I am just feeling a wee bit lonely these days. I just wish someone would reach out. I know, I know, I should just do it myself, but life is overwhelming enough and I just can't take on one more emotional thing. It would be much easier if people just came to me. Plus, I made squash soup tonight and my kids just didn't appreciate it. Where are you Anne? I need you to come and appreciate with me.

I am going to invite a friend over for P tomorrow. She asks everyday to which I reply, "we don't have any friends" to which she replies, "yes I do." and proceeds to name off all the girls in her nursery class. I wish I was so confident. She even now mentions her previous arch nemesis "Fibian" (Vivian) as a friend. She didn't like her for quite some time because she would take her toys in nursery. I am going to invite her nursery friend because really, it is just me and my insecurities that keep me from calling a ward member I barely know to have her daughter come over. Paige would do it in a second and think nothing of it.

Made a bushels worth of applesauce Tuesday. That is 13 quarts and some. Will do another bushel tomorrow. I borrowed a nifty little applesauce maker which has made the job much easier...no peeling or coring! I like applesauce. I like pork chops and applesauce. Yum.

Jackson is thrilled that he gets to go on a "film" trip next week. Add a cute lisp to him saying "film trip" and it just really doesn't get much cuter.

Does anyone spend much of their day rhyming with their kids and singing songs from PBS kids? I do.

Member the table I mention in every post? It is finished. Let's hear it...Hooray! Now I just have six chairs to finish up. The table looks pretty spiffy though. No one can eat at it though. It is only to look at. It took way too long to redo and I think I might get very angry if anyone mares it in any way.

I feel that way about cleaning too. Must be why I do it so infrequently.

Well, off to deal with the inevitable. and laundry. It never ends, does it?

random bits...

I made a goal to be in bed by 11pm this week. Doesn't seem early to you? It is for me. Baby steps, my friends. I got in bed at 9pm and have been on this silly thing since then. I still have 25 minutes.

Douglas popped an Ambien and has been sawing logs for a while now. He has to be pretty asleep to be okay with my typing. Watch, now that I said that, he will wake up and tell me to turn it off. His machine (breathing machine for his apnea) is making an annoying squeaking noise. He is getting up at 4:30am to study though so I will sleep with a pillow on my head and let it go. I'm nice like that.

My hubby and I are cut from different sleeping molds. There is little to nothing that convinces me to get up at such an insane time. A crying baby, maybe, but since we don't have one, I try to enjoy my peaceful slumber. You know what happens is that my alarm would go off and whatever seemed so important to get up for, would no longer seem so important.

I got a tetanus shot this week. I needed the booster. The shot itself didn't hurt, but my arm has ached and throbbed all week. I didn't remember tetanus shots being so horrible. My other arm even started aching, but just in sympathy, I think.

This was one of those weekends were I really question the whole parenting gig and then wonder what is wrong with me that I sometimes just really don't enjoy being a mother. Don't tell anyone I said that. I love my kids dearly, but I could do without the fighting, bickering, crying, backtalking blah blah blah that goes along with the profession. And really, what would it be like to be able to run in and run out of a store with no car seat to buckle and unbuckle. Boring, I'm sure.

So, I have re-goaled myself to enjoy my job this week. To love my kids more and to get more sleep (because there is a little part of me that thinks that a lack of sleep may contribute to the previous complaint.) I even, just might have, fasted for this. Really, I need that much help. Please tell me I am not alone though. Please.

Talking about professions...I have NO desire to market myself. I don't really want to work right now. Life is a little crazy and I am enjoying the lessened stress from not having to hit the streets running and find clients who will pay me boocoo bucks for pictures. Being a wife and a mom is really enough right now. Not that I would turn down work if it knocked on my door, but I am enjoying the easy life. HA. The day will come when the pocketbook says it is time to put my nose to the grindstone and work, work, work, but not now.

I have been kinda lonely this week and end. Yeah. Just missing friends, family, normal life, or at least the normal I knew. Not that I question being here. This is right, no doubt. But not easy.

I haven't even decorated for Halloween and I don't really want to. Maybe I am pouting. I think I will force myself to get a few things out. My kids would love it and since I am trying to be a good mom, it would make sense.

Haven't put away the groceries from LAST WEDNESDAY. Well, the perishables are, but the rest sits in bags on the basement floor waiting to be put in my makeshift pantry. Slowly I am using it all though, so maybe putting it away isn't entirely necessary, right? Paige can use it in her play kitchen too.

Really it fits right in with the state of my house right now. The dishes are done, but that it about it. There are random things everywhere. Tomorrow is the day to whip this place in order. The sad thing, though is that the whipping in order lasts such a short time and then it is a mess again. (insert heavy sigh here).

Well, I am down to 10 minutes. It was warm today (low 80's), the windows are open, but the air is still. It may be a hot night...temperature wise (wink wink). Wow, and obviously it is getting too late for me to be up. Until next time....

**EDITED TO ADD--when I finally did empty my grocery sacks I found two pounds of lunch meat that got overlooked. Guess next time I will get it done a bit sooner? Nah.**

Do you like ketchup?

I sure do and I am going to be playing a lot of it in the next little while. So, hang on, and enjoy the ride.

Douglas and his good friend Jimbo at the Cider Mill

Jackson on the tractor.

Paige and their friend Cy riding the tractor in the rain.

One of the girls in Paige's dance class brought cupcakes that she made all by herself so Paige begged me to let her make some all by herself too. She did let me crack the eggs and do the oven though. Here she is enjoying the fruits of her labors.

Tasting the best part of the cake...the batter!

Jackson and Paige playing Firechief.

Most firechiefs I know wear buckets on their heads and rain boots. You?

I took the kids to a Children's Expo. They had bounce houses, slides and a circus company that let the kids try their hand at circus acts.



a little juggling...

some stilt walking...I don't think my children are natural circus performers. Darn.

They had a bird station at the expo. J held the bird for a milli-second, but my fearless daughter let them climb all over her.


This is the huge bubble maker at the Hands on Museum. So much fun!


water table
My brother Drew came and stayed with us for a week. It was nice to have company! We wore our Michigan garb to root on the team who is on a winning streak!


Roasting dogs and making smores! Yum Yum!

HAppy Smore eaters.





The kids playing with Drew...


We went raspberry picking. Paige found a flower.


Drew picked only the most perfect raspberries...

Paige would pick and eat. Her raspberries were more juice than anything by the time we finished. I think that little hand frequented the jug.






The fruits of our labors!

Well. It is the end of another week. Douglas is at priesthood and some evil villain possessed my body for a short period of time and I cleaned like a crazy woman. I would, never in my right mind, do that. It isn’t that I don’t love a clean home, because I certainly do, but more so because I work so hard and it is torn apart so quickly. Cleaning tonight involved finding homes for a few of the things that have sat on the floor for a month now, wiping down cupboards, cleaning the stove top, vacuuming, mopping, full kitchen overhaul. Now, I am sipping on a soda and enjoying the quiet of my home.

Douglas and I have been watching a show called CHUCK in the evening. We try to carve (by “we” I mean Douglas some time out before bed to do that together. We have always enjoyed watching TV series and this is a good one. We will watch another when he gets home. It is so strange to have priesthood at 8pm…so late with the time difference! We are really looking forward to sleeping in the morning though. The first session isn’t until noon!

I tried to watch conference on my lap top today. It is so hard to get anything out of it with kids around. I get interrupted so often. It is so hard for them to wait to say the really unimportant important thing they need to say. Sometimes I feel like I shush them too often. Life is always busy and sometimes it is hard to always have a ready ear to listen to such silly things. I know it is important to them though, so I try to always be available.

It was a cold, rainy day today. We had arranged with some friends (Douglas’ friend Jimmy and his wife Sham and their boys—D was roommates with Jimmy his first year at BYU) to go apple picking and to the cider mill to get cider and doughnuts. We went out despite the rain, but only got the doughnuts and cider…no apple picking. I will have to take the kids to do that this week. There are lots of places around when you can pick apples. It is fun. We go through so many apples too. I bet between all of us we eat around 20 apples a week. Yikes. Douglas takes two to school every day. My favorite are the honey crisps. YUM!

They have delicious cider at these places. It reminds me of a place my parents would take us when we were kids…Apple Hill. Of the few things I remember from my childhood, that is one of them. I have a very vivid memory of the place.

The doughnuts were delicious. They were cake doughnuts and they had an apple spice flavor and a pumpkin. Yum Yum. Of course, I can’t think of a doughnut I have had that I didn’t enjoy! I wish they were good for you because I love them. As a kid my grandpa would always take us to get Winchell’s doughnuts on the way home from church when we were in Studio City visiting. Not exactly the best Sabbath day activity, but as a kid is was a special time. I remember it fondly. That and the $100 bill game we would play with my grandpa. He would have us hold out our thumb and pincher fingers and he would drop a bill through it. If we caught it we could keep it. It is much harder than it seems. I think in the end he would always let us catch it.

The kids had a blast, despite the rain. There was a cute place to ride trikes, a big tractor they could climb on, animals, and other fun things. When we finally left Jackson was so wet he stripped down to his undies and rode home that way. What a life.

We had a busy week. Let’s be honest, life is always busy, it seems! J is slowly adjusting to school. He loves it, but has some issues with obeying the teacher and being good in class. Shucks, I never thought it would be my kid that caused disturbances in class! I hope it is just an adjustment phase and will pass. I made a little chart for his teacher to mark if he is good in class. He got one star, one no star and two half stars. He gets to earn computer time for getting stars.

Tonight at dinner he told us that his music teacher doesn’t know, “I am a Child of God”. I asked him if he had asked her that which he had and she had said it sounds like a nice song. Such innocence. I love it!

I have started really making the kids do chores. Age appropriate, of course, but I am using myjobchart.com to let them earn points for the different jobs they do and earn rewards. They have been really great about getting their things done. J has to empty the dishwasher every day, P the silverware, straighten books, garbage, clean out the car, set the table, clear the table, help clean bathrooms, pick up toys, dust etc. I really want my kids to be hard workers and I figured now is the time to instill that in them!

J started soccer this week as well. Being the space cadet I am, I thought I signed him up for the Wednesday class when in actuality he is in the Monday class. I am glad because the Wednesday class had older kids in it and one of the kids just bugged everyone. The coach was a dufus (seriously) and I had to stand on the sideline and keep this annoying boy from touching all the other kids. J was lazy about the whole thing and just wanted to play on the playground and not have to do soccer (though he was the one who told me he wanted to.) I hope getting into a class with more kids his age will be better for him.

There is a really fun museum here in town called the “Hands on Museum”. I am trying to take P every week and she is loving it. There are all sorts of science projects that can try, play houses, building toys, huge bubble makers, water tables, beehives. It is really cool. It will be a great winter time activity!

Jackson’s school had a fundraising night at Chuck E. Cheese. Douglas was actually able to come (which was nice on many levels.) We really enjoyed sitting and talking while the kids ran around playing. It was nice because they stamped everyone with one of those invisible stamps that can only be seen with a certain light. Each family was a different number and when you left they would check to make sure the adults were the same number as the kids. That way, no one could walk off with your children. I thought that was really well thought out. Jackson would give away so many of his tokens to other kids (so Jackson to share like that). Paige was very conservative with using her tokens. She liked the rides and would wander around for some time before deciding on exactly what she wanted to do. I think she only used about 8 tokens the entire night. Douglas and I will definitely take the kids back there.

Douglas has been so busy in the evenings meeting with recruiters. Different companies come to the school and put on presentations so you can get to know the company. He has been excited about meeting all this different companies he is interested in. He even got to go to a free happy hour J put on by one of the companies!!

So, I am one step closer to hanging pics in my living room. I have made the goal to do it for the last three weeks or so and this week I finally made progress. I want to do a big gallery on the long wall so I cut paper out in the size of all the frames and arranged those on the wall. I think I like how it looks so now I just need to hang the actual frames. I have to put hangers on the back of most of them. That seems like so much work. But, I will get it done. I am hoping I love it when all is said and done.

Did I mention that I am refinishing my kitchen table. I sanded down the top and then painted the legs white and stained the top a dark brown. I spent the past week doing things slowly so everything had time to dry. Well, Friday night I had it sitting out on the driveway with the intention of bringing it in the house before we went to bed. Douglas and I watched our TV show and when we came upstairs to move it in, we were too late. Everything was soaking, including the table. We quickly dried it off, but it was too late. I will need to resand and stain it again. Rrrr….all that work down the drain. The legs, luckily are still fine.

I read a new parenting book called 123 Magic. I have really liked it. It has made a big difference with getting the kids to stop doing things they shouldn’t. It seems that I read these things and am really good about doing them for a while and then slowly I get out of the habit and everything goes back to how it was. I guess I should call it the discipline cycle. Jackson has really been difficult at home too, so I am looking for some more positive, consistent ways to get cooperation.

Well, it is Sunday and I have spent the day in the kitchen. I watched conference on my computer and made Doty Beans, white bread and pumpkin waffles (YUM!). Doty Beans are a total comfort food. It is a recipe passed down from my Great Grandma Doty. I ate it growing up and even now, when I make them, it makes me feel home. Not physically home, of course, but close to my family. You eat the beans on top of white bread (usually Wonder brand). They are a simple concoction of white beans, onion, bacon, tomato soup, baking soda, salt and pepper. Sounds strange, but trust me, there is a delicious hominess to them.

It is definitely fall here. I have my electric blanket on the bed and will possibly be getting one for the kids. Paige woke up cold a few times last night. We still haven’t turned the heat on, though I think the day is close for that! The leaves are changing colors. It is great to enjoy a real fall…such a gorgeous time of year.

I finally found the kids coats for the winter. I have been stressing about that. I found them at the Lands End Overstock. I still need to get them pants, boots, hats and gloves. What??? This is going to be quite the experience. I bought myself a coat to. I tried to find the warmest one I could!!

Well, there you go…life in the Shaw house. It is finally feeling like home.

What we are doing....

We had a busy and productive day today. Douglas didn’t have anything at the school so he was home with us all day and that was nice. I love having him here. It is nice to have the companionship and help with the kids. He usually lets me sleep in too, which is SO nice. I don’t know what it is though, when he is home, I feel like the house goes to shambles. I think it sort of throws my routine off so I don’t keep up on things like I normally do. Oh well, I would rather have him here and a messy house than away.

He spent a little time in the yard trimming some vines and edging. I don’t know how to use the edger yet so I asked him to do it. I think he is thrilled that I have been mowing the lawn so is willing to do anything to motivate me to continue with it ! He also put up some cupboards in my office. I think I will finally have enough room for all of my work, office stuff which is so exciting! My office is finally in order and it makes me excited to sit down and work again. I enjoy working, though the stress of fitting it into my life is hard. I don’t like to sit at the computer and leave the kids to fend for themselves too long, nor do I want them to remember me always being on my computer, so I really try to limit my daytime work. Unfortunately though, there is never enough time in the evening after they go to bed to get it all done. It has been a constant stress and worry for me, since I have had my photography business, to figure out where it fits into things. It will be even more challenging now that I am going to be the “bread winner” while Douglas is in school and instead of just using my earnings as “play money”, I will actually have to be responsible with it and use it for living.

That spells STRESS and ANXIETY for me. So, in an attempt to forget about it (haha) we will move on!

I have this really great pink, oversized, stuffed chair that I use as a photo prop. It is my favorite prop, I would say. I have hauled that thing all over the place. I love it. Sadly, though, it got pretty beat up on the trip out here. Something must have rubbed and rubbed it because when we got here there was a rather large hole in the back and one on the arm. I was very sad about it. I may have even shed a few tears over it. It seems so silly, but finding chairs and things for pictures is actually quite hard. You want it to be unique, yet not have to pay a ton for it. This chair fit the bill. Now, it is damaged to the point that it is really unusable. We went out to a shop to see what they would charge to recover it…$500-800. YIKES!!! I think I only paid around $150 for it in the first place! So, I have a dilemma as to what to do. I know there are many people out there who recover things themselves and claim it isn’t hard, but I don’t know. I guess at this point, what do I have to lose (except some of my sanity). Who knows, I may brave it. We will see.

The kids still love playing outside. We have a power line that runs between our the yards and every morning you will see squirrels walking across them. Without fail one of the kids will yell out “high wiring squirrel”. It is yet to get old to them. You see squirrels everywhere here. It is kind of fun. The weather has been awesome. There is little wind though so even with the windows open, the house won’t cool off. It is so strange. Last night I was so uncomfortable that I finally closed the windows back up and turned the AC on. It seems a shame to run the AC when it is only 75 or 80 degrees outside. Douglas says that all the trees kind of stop the wind, whereas in Santa Clara there is little to stop it so it just comes howling through. The kids found a bunch of ropes outside and occupy themselves for long period tying them up to things and making boobie traps. They will tie it to the porch swing and one of them will sit on it while the other goes half way across the yard and pull it back and forth to swing them.

I decided to make a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan for dinner. It is a Weight Watcher recipe that a friend posted online. It looked good and Douglas and I need to start eating healthy again. We had been out in the afternoon, but I figured I would just get home and whip it up…little did I realize that I had to salt the eggplant first, then precook it, than assemble the pan and then cook that. At 6:30pm I finally decided to just clean out the fridge and eat leftovers. The kids were starving and I was feeling ready to get them into bed. I went ahead and finished assembling it and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. I have to say that it doesn’t look very good, but I will stay open minded! It reminds me of a dinner I made for Douglas shortly after we were married. I found it in my Everyday Food magazine and who knows what possessed me to try it out. It was fairly simple…bowtie pasta, peas and ham. Not deli ham, large cubes of ham. Not knowing what type of ham to buy I bought some boiled ham at the deli counter. I went home and made this dinner for Douglas to have when he got home from work. It had kind of a cream sauce on top of it. Well, by the time I finished making it, it smelled so repugnant that I couldn’t will myself to try it. Douglas got home from work that night and, you know Douglas, he is good about eating anything. Well, he opened the Tupperware with the Bowties and peas and he couldn’t bring himself to try it either. It was that bad. I think it was the ham. We still laugh about how gross it was. I think that was my biggest cooking flop since we got married.

It wasn’t as messy as the time he made me a birthday cake and after changing his mind on the pan to cook it in, ended up cooking the entire thing in one 9” round cake pan. When I got home from school there was cake batter all over the counter and baked into the oven. It was such a mess. Since then I have kindly offered to make my own birthday cake. Haha!!

My neighbor Mary has brought us SO MANY tomatoes. And, before she brought them over I had bought some at Costco. So, tomorrow I will be making some black bean salsa and anything else I can think of. I may dehydrate some. We also picked a quart of raspberries off the bushes out back. Paige comes in with a handful of raspberries almost every time she comes in! There are also places you can go where you pay to pick raspberries. I promised the kids I will take them out there.

Tomorrow we go to the zoo (most likely) with a friend of my friend Staci Barlow. She connected us before we moved out here and we were in contact this week and she invited us to the zoo with her and some girls from her ward. It should be fun and I am sure the kids will love being with some other kids. So far we haven’t seen too many kids in the neighborhood and we are looking forward to meeting some.

That’s it I guess! I am feeling happier today, but feeling like I am coming down with a cold. I haven’t been sleeping well which is the pits. There is nothing worse than waking up a million times at night. Hope tonight is a better night.

I am posting some pictures I took of Jackson before we left St. George. I can’t believe how grown up he looks. I don’t know whether to be sad or happy about it. I love to watch him grow and learn, but it seems to pass so quickly!

So, I am feeling a little more love tonight. Little did I know, that when I turned “comment moderation” on, I actually had to moderate the comments. It was really only on to get emails to go private, but I forgot to change it after. I have to say I was feeling really sad for myself to come onto my blog and see that no one had commented. I just figured that I had already been forgotten.


Well, I have figured out how to get Paige to go to sleep at night. I have been reading Harry Potter to the kids each night and within minutes she is zonked. I guess it is lost on her, but really, it seems genius to me…read a good book and get my daughter to sleep at the same time? Win, win, if you ask me. There is nothing quite as nice as the quiet in the house after the kids go to sleep. So peaceful. Today was a day of little of that. The kids have been fighting non stop the last few days. We had “quiet time” a few times today just so I could separate them. Paige is a totally different girl when J isn’t around. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when they are the best of friends, but she is at her worst when he is around as well. When she is alone she will play and pretend forever. If I take just her out on errands she is pleasant and chatty and happy. I really think having J at school will be a good for her and their relationship. They will have time together when he gets home, but not so much that they are cut throat with each other.

(one of the moments where the actually are getting along.)

Well, the high today was 69*. This is how a summer should be J. I know come winter, I will be singing a different tune, but for now, I will enjoy each beautiful day!

Today was the first day at church that someone made an effort to talk to me. That being said, there was a new girl today and I made a big effort to talk to her and get to know her. It is so hard to be the new person (and since I am three weeks into it, I am the old timer??). This girl was nice, she came up to me after and we chatted for a good five minutes. It is just nice to know that someone may want to get to know me. I, of course, am not the type to just sit around and wait for it all to happen, I will make it happen (I have to much of a social need to not), but it takes a little while for me to feel the desire to do it. It really lifted my spirits, I must say. Isn’t that silly, one person talking to me making such a difference?

We taught our Sunday school class for the first time today. We teach the same lessons as the Gospel Doctrine class (a little more simplified, of course). Today was on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. It was a nice class…16-18 year olds. It is nice because they know how to use their scriptures and are thoughtful. I had to pull quite a few of the answers out of them, but hopefully that will get easier with time. I once had someone tell me (not in a kind way) that I don’t know how to relate to teenagers, but I actually really enjoy working with teenagers and feel like I do relate well to them. Gosh, I still feel like one some days. We made some scotcheroos for after the lesson, so the truth is, it didn’t matter what I taught them…they would remember it as a good lesson because of the treat, right??

I got another calling as well as the Relief Society Meetings Leader (aka Enrichment Leader). Not quite sure why they had to rename it something so plain. I feel a little Anne Shirley-ish saying that, but really “Relief Society Meetings”. Can we not be any more boring in the naming process? I am really excited for this calling. I have always wanted to work in Enrichment (much quicker to type Enrichment too!!). I am not the type to stamp napkins and make everything completely cute and perfect, but I sort of feel like a party planner. Maybe that is the wrong take on it, but I get to plan get togethers for a bunch of women. I think the prospect is fun. We will see, I suppose.

So Douglas was gone most of the week. It was a little depressing to be here alone, especially in the evening. We get the network stations on the TV without having to pay for cable, but do you know what was on EVERY night after the kids went to bed?? Murder shows, crime shows, etc. Not exactly what I want to watch in the evenings, alone, in a new house. Why can’t their be good, light hearted shows on anymore.

Which reminds me, in relief society today we talked about the things we do in our lives that aren’t great…I think the term was “marginal (can’t remember the second word)”. You know, the things that aren’t bad, per se, but also don’t invite the Spirit into our lives. TV and movies were talked about as some good examples…the ones that have a scene or two that are less than stellar. It made me think a bit about what I watch. There are so few things that don’t have a questionable scene or things in it that are against what we stand for. Sometimes I think it is so hard to know where to draw the line. Do we just turn the TV off all together? Do we allow one negative thing? I really don’t know. I know there are some shows that I like that are entertaining, but really show worldly things. The reality is that I probably shouldn’t watch them. Am I that good that I can just commit not to? Just fodder for thought, I guess. I need to decide where I stand on some of these things.

Douglas will unofficially start school tomorrow. His official class work doesn’t start until the 7th of September, but he has a math type of course that he will take tomorrow and Tuesday to get him up to speed on some things and then orientation, get to know you, leadership meetings until the official day. Am I ready to have him gone? Not at all. I think it will be a hard transition. Luckily, the house is really starting to some together. My office and studio are still in shambles, but I think I can get the office done if I just set my mind to it. The studio will be easy too, once Douglas cleans his stuff up. We bought some simple pine chairs to go around the kitchen table that came in the house and I spent Friday painting those. I did each a different color…red, green, blue and yellow. Not primary colors…more muted, but they look really cute. I found some fabric at Joann’s and will make some chair covers and I think they will add a lot of personality to the kitchen. I am excited. What really overwhelms me in the house is decorating! I have so many things I love, but I don’t know where to begin. I have about a hundred great pictures to put up, but it is so hard to decide where. Ahhh…Once they are up, it will really start feeling like my home.

I finally did my big grocery store run yesterday. It is nice to finally feel like I have a stocked house. They have a great farmers market where you can buy all sorts of good produce. We went on Wednesday and bought an eggplant. I have never cooked with it, but I was interested in trying a “light” eggplant parmesan recipe a friend posted on Facebook. We will see if it is worth it!

(only a portion of the loot...I made another run later to get meat, produce and dairy! Nice to have a stocked fridge again!)

Paige just woke crying. I hurried in to take her potty since that is usually why she starts crying at night. I got her as far as the bathroom door and she started peed all over me. Yuck. She did this same thing the other night except she just got up and peed all over her new rug. Sometimes I just scratch my head with my kids. Who knows why they do what they do. This is very unlike Miss P! So, a load of wash with the bathroom rugs is running. Good thing they needed to be cleaned anyway. I am actually perplexed because I have unpacked all the boxes and I am missing my bathroom rugs. I guess I must have decided to get rid of them when I was packing. Who knows what I was thinking!!

The realtor who manages the house finally sent out an electrician to fix the plugs and lights that didn’t work in the house. I was using a flashlight to navigate around the portion of the storage room that I turned into a “pantry”. It was kind of tricky to say the least. The washer also gave me problems while Douglas was gone. It worked great until the “cold” rinse came on and then only a small trickle of water would come into the wash. It would take two hours to fill enough for the cycle to finish! I didn’t feel like waiting until Douglas got back in town, so I just got a pair of pliers out of his tool box, turned the water off, unscrewed the water tube, cleaned it out, reattached it and it worked like a charm again. I was pretty proud of myself! I also mowed the lawn this week…first time ever in my life. Don’t tell Douglas, but I kind of enjoyed it! All his complaining about mowing, and it really is no big deal!! I think I will mow it again tomorrow. It makes such a difference in how the yard looks.

Douglas had a great trip and interview in St. Louis. He won’t hear anything for a few weeks, but he felt really good about things. He said all the people there interviewing were really sharp though, so we will see. I have learned through life experience that things happen as they should do I won’t hold my breath. If it is right for our family, it will happen.

I made a yummy dinner tonight…shrimp and grits…a recipe Douglas’ sister shared with me. It was delicious. We had it with fresh, local corn and a local watermelon variety which has yellow meat inside. Douglas’ school friend Hassan came for dinner. It was fun to have company. Cooking for people is so much more fun than just my family. Douglas is always very appreciative, but it is definitely lost on the kids!! They usually just complain.

(Paige wanted a picture taken...I got this first until I told her not to make a scary face...then I got this...I think she got the pose from her friend Ally.)


cute little girl!

It was a melancholy sort of day. Douglas has been gone a lot more for school things the last few days and I have been left in a disorganized house with two whirlwind of children. They are fighting plenty, but also enjoying each other. They like to tie a rope to the swing or their bikes and pull each other around.
They will be laughing and having a great time and the next second they are beating on each other. They are little stinkers. We cleaned up the basement which is nice now. I vacuumed, but the carpet is pretty junky (as is my vacuum...I think) and I had to empty lint out of it about 4 times...YUCK!! It is nice to have it cleaned up. I am not sure how to organize it all yet, but that will come.

Douglas got the desk in my office put together.

It will work out perfectly. It gives me a lot of space to work. Now, I need to empty all the boxes. Douglas leaves tomorrow for St. Louis. I am not ready to be home alone. I will have to make a sweet treat and eat away my loneliness ;).

We have a great neighbor who brings us things throughout the day. She brought me an enormous basket of basil yesterday:

so today I made 5 batches of pesto and froze it. I was so sick of pulling leaves off basil stems! I made a yummy dinner of chicken, peppers, pasta and pesto with some of it. She also brought over corn, huge jalapeno peppers (that I think I will stuff...never tried, but sounds interesting), a HUGE cantaloupe, watermelon and another variety of melon. Oh yes, and seeds. When she comes over she just chats away. Sometimes you have things to get done and she will go on and on. Good thing she is such a kind person! She is very thoughtful and aware of us. She even sent Jackson home yesterday when he decided to run away.

That is that folks...nothing else of interest to tell. We are surviving and I am enjoying the cooler summer days. I have the windows open to let in the cool breeze as we speak! Be jealous west coasters!