My Nobel Prize Awaits

Another hour and the year 2008 will be over.
Strange isn't it? How slowly the time drags by when we are children but races by faster and faster every year that we are adults. I've been pondering this for a while now and I think I may have the answer figured out. Imagine that........One of Life's Greatest Mysteries solved by little old me!!
I'm sure to get the Nobel Prize for this brilliant school of thought. All of you will need to spread the word for me of course after all I don't think you can nominate yourself, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility....I could win it could happen.
So here it is...wit and wisdom for the ages straight from the mind of me and my little brain to you dear reader.
It's simple really
The older we are, the more people we come into contact with. So the longer we live the more friends we make and when they are gone the more people we miss. God makes the time fly on purpose so the waiting to see them again isn't completely unbearable.
Did I mention it was 2 years today that the Frog left?

On the 7th Day of Christmas......

No swans were a swimming since they'd freeze their butts right off.

Just got back from the Taylors where we had dinner and listened to a lovely guitar concert by Aaron and his friend Char a Sister Missionary that served in Uraguay with him. She's only been playing for about 5 months she said but she sang us 4 songs that she wrote and they were so beautiful!!! Aaron sang a song too then they moved to the piano in the living room.

I have to say that the Drama that is my life continued right on thru the Holiday. But it was a really really wonderful holiday all the same.

I told Blane that it was the most fun since 1987 when the whole family came to Utah and Baby Sis stepped on Blane's head during the annual Santa Sneak. ( a time honoured tradition in the Nelson household)

The power went out on Christmas Day just as we sat down to open gifts. Thankfully, when it happened the turkey was cooked thru and waiting to be carved. We just went ahead and had fun anyway. The youngest was S, so she wore the shirt and played Santa, passing out all the gifts. She was so busy that she didn't even notice the unwrapped gift Santa left for her....a BAB named Holly Noel Bunnyrarebit! She took it everywhere with her from then on. LOL She may be 12 but she's still a little girl.

The snow from Christmas Eve just kept on coming down. Real blizzard conditions. Not hard at all to convince K & S to stick around a bit longer. We spent most of the morning Friday shoveling out T's van. Thank goodness for neighbours with snowblowers!

They left Saturday the 27th and made it to Surprise, AZ with no major problems except a short detour due to a closed road at Hoover Dam. She was meeting Rigo at the border and then the whole family was heading home to Santiago.

Part of the reason it was so much fun was that I had a bit of unexpected money. So not only did I have enough to buy food for the crowd, there was enough to pay all my current bills and a get a few gifts for everyone. But the best part was on Christmas Eve day. I gave Salina $40 to buy her own gifts for everyone and turned her loose in the store while I read in the car. She spent most of the evening wrapping presents and giggling to herself downstairs. She made cards for all of us, including Lucy to go with our presents. Everyone had little secrets and surprises. So Fun!

Blane was just laughing with glee when he opened his gift from Salina.......she gave him a huge package of SOCKS!!!! His idea of being rich is putting on a brand new pair every day. Julie gave him some too so he will be living like the rich folk do for at least a month.

I 've been thinking tonight about the Frog (Meredith gave me a beautiful FROG Pin) tommorrow it will be two years....... I was able to keep my date in the Celestial Room with him on Saturday. TK and I went and did a session in the Jordan River Temple. It was so special and so lovely.......I literally felt him there beside me as I was in the Prayer Circle with a young man who had just gotten his mission call. How I miss Steve!

All in all everyone had a lovely Christmas surrounded by LOVE, hugs, good food, a blanket or two and a ton of snow.

An Up Date

Well some of the Drama has died down K is home from the hospital without having to have major surgery. Yea! She came home with a drain and a lot of antibiotics. I'll take her in tommorrow to have that removed.
M flew home and made it there alive and just before the Spokane airport closed again because of the storm. They've got 14+ NEW inches on the ground and more coming everyday.
Lucy is having a lot of fun with all these people to play with and pay attention to her. She gives out kisses to one and all and will play fetch for hours. She is also sleeping around with everyone upstairs and trying hard to be fair and give everyone a chance at warm feet. J couldn't take her being so cuddly and jumping on him in the middle of the night cuz he moved off the couch and has slept downstairs the last few nights.
All in all I think we are ready for Christmas.

Drama, More Drama

Is it just me or does life tend to interupt your plans too?
Let me begin by explaining that I knew going in that this was going to be one of my more interesting weeks this year. Little did I know how interesting!!
Trees aren't decorated, presents are NOT even wrapped, let alone mailed....... though I do think thay are all purchased. At least they better be since I'm out of $$$$.
Sunday night my cousin K and her daughter S were coming thru on their way home to Mexico. They didn't get here til 2am because of the storm we got hit with but they made it. She had literally been driving almost 24 hrs straight in snow wind and sleet so I convinced her to hang around another day and rest a bit before trying to drive on to Arizona. We got hold of Blane and her nephew C and met up for dinner.
She collapsed and passed out at the restraunt before our food even got there and we had to rush her to the hospital!! K was screaming in pain in the front seat, S was crying and scared in the back seat, I'm white knuckle driving in the dark with a ton of traffic on I-15. I hate all those headlights! It should also be noted that I was most definitely breaking the speed limit.
Why is every ER hurry up and wait?
They finally checked her in with a temp of 105, vomiting, chills and an incredible amount of pain. An abcessed and infected ovarian cyst is what they are pretty sure caused all of this and after 3 days of full bore IV antibiotic's with no relief they are going to operate today.
In the meantime TK and her kids arrive tonite for the Holidays. My trees are not done being decorated, beds aren't made up again, laundry is not done, packages NEED to be mailed and groceries bought. Is it acceptable to just hit Wal-mart and BUY new sheets rather than take the time do the laundry?
I also had 2 dr appoinments with labs and a trip to the dentist yesterday. Miss Lucy Belle had shredded paper all over the place and even got into the YW gifts which I'd left in a bag on the bed. This was apparently much to much temptation because there was a lovely trail to her water bowl and back. I haven't returned Baby Sis's calls all week. I'm on day 2.6 of a killer migraine and my eyes are messed up so no cards mailed yet. It's snowing.
And the Cherry on Top (literally) Aunt C needs a cute verse to go with her neighbour gifts of ChokeCherry Syrup.
Stop the World I want to get off!!

My How He's Grown!

I had the wonderful opportunity of attending church in K & H's ward today to listen to their son J's report on his mission. What an amazing young man he has turned into! How blessed am I to have him as a member of my family. It was a bit of a coincidence that as I was driving over to the church this morning I was listening to the Sounds of the Sabbath on 106.5 and the song was "His Image". J truly has recieved His image in his countenance. The love that he has for the people of Guadalajara really just shines on his face as he speaks of them. I noticed afterward that a few of his former companions came to the church to hear his report. One introduced his new bride and asked about one of their families they had taught and another who had only been home a month was there too.
J is truly his father's son. Like H he is outgoing, charming, very personable and enjoys being in a crowd having fun. Now after this mission experience he just radiates light! How proud his Uncle Steve must be of him.
Over to the house a bit later, his uncle K was asking him to talk in Spanish. He finally said a few words about L. It was pretty funny. I miss the days when the whole family spoke and the missionary bore his testimony in the language of their mission. J thanked me for the pages I did for his album. I'm so glad he is home and I get to witness the wonderful man he is becoming.

Deal or No Deal, A New Name or How my mouth ran away with my commonsense.....

You all are going to have to help me come up with a new name. The Smurfmobile doesn't fit the FIT anymore. This FIT is Blackberry Pearl rather than Ocean Pearl Blue. Smurf-Mobile is being detailed at Stockton to Malone Honda and getting ready for a new relationship.





Why????


Funny you should ask.....





Ever done something just for the Hell of it? Maybe you are doing it for one of the following reasons while waiting for your current car to get it's oil change, tires rotated and a new tire mounted and balanced cuz you noticed a weird bulge that didn't look good on that one there......


a) you have an hour+ to kill so you took a look at the new model to see if they fixed all your peeves with the one you were driving


b) as fast as you read, the book you brought will be done in 20 minutes unless you actually read the book group discussions at the end


c) your Little Imp of Mischief was just daring you to yank someone's chain. So you made a bunch of crazy @$$ demands and conditions that no Credit Manager in their right mind would ever go for so you figured you were safe


d) you were thirsty, wanted a soda, had no change and knew agreeing to a test drive would get you one for free


e) all of the above





The correct answer dear readers is E) ALL of the above





For the record this was my list of requirements to the question of "Well what will it take for you to drive this baby home?"





1- Absolutely not one thin dime out of my pocket. (My current savings balance is about $25 and checking has just a bit more than $100)..... this was where I thought I'd be laughed out of the showroom and back to the Service Lounge


2- Payments on the new vehicle were the same amount as I was paying for the Smurfmobile.


3- Interest rate was below 6% and loan could not exceed 5 years


4- Dealer's Bumper to Bumper Extended Warranty on top of Honda's New Car 3yrs/36000 was included at NO ADDITONAL cost so I could drive the new one for 70,000 miles with no worries. After all I'd paid good money for something it turns out I didn't need since there was still 16800 miles left on the Manufacturer's warranty on Smurfy........ I thought sure this was going to be a deal breaker


5- Finally because I'd already paid for the new tire and the cabin filter at the Service Desk so I wanted a check cut back to me for that $234 if I was trading Smurfy in.....after all they would have done it anyway if they had just took him back "As Is" when I'd brought him in





Things went back and forth a bit, I just kept reading my storybook and sipping my Free Pepper Pop and kept saying "I told you what it would take" til the pagey thing announced Smurfy was all bathed and ready to go. Then I got up, gathered my stuff and headed for the door and said to my Salesman " Thanks for trying anyway" and then the Credit Manager guy came tearing out of the office and said "Wait!! Wait!! we can do this entire deal with this as a payment.....$10 more per month" with EVERY other freaky stupid dumbass demand of mine was met.



Or do you think it had something to do with the fact that there was NOBODY else even in the showroom and 5 salesmen were just standing about doing nothing the entire time?

So now I'm driving Miss Blackberry Pearl 2009 which sounds a bit more "growed up" but is still just as freaking fun to drive, has an armrest, better storage and is safer since the back headrests aren't blocking your view. OOooohh and it locks my doors automatically when you go over 10mph so Patty won't have to keep reminding me.


For other details of the differences between the 2 model years go to http://honda.com/

The Reason for the Season

http://www.onesolitarylifemovie.com/

This is so beautiful. My friend Vickie sent it to me. What a wonderful way to start out a Sunday morning. Makes me feel very tender hearted. In part because memories of the Frog have been very close to me all week. I've heard from a ton of people who have seen his Christmas tree this past week.
Old friends and past ward family members have called off and on all week. You just don't realize how many lives you touch while schleping and slogging thru your own.

An Un-FROG-getable Christmas

I spent all of Monday with the Firth family and friends at the Southtown Expo Center setting up a Christmas Tree dedicated to MY Frog, aka Stephen. It turned out wonderfully!! I'm so grateful for all the efforts of the ward that went into making it so beautiful.

For awhile my house looked like I was going thru one of the plagues of Egypt. There were frogs.....literally everywhere!
The Relief Society sisters made clay frogs that were hung on the tree. The YW coloured and crowned the wooden frogs, tried to make a garland and tied up an entire bolt of ribbon into bows. The Primary Activity Day girls made rock frogs on lily pads that we 'floated' on the pond. I did the letters you see under the tree, bought everything that Ikea had that was Frog Prince stuff and turned shower curtain hooks into ornaments. I found some lovely Frog Prince cookie molds online and I highlighted them with help from Jenny. They were going to be out of clay then painted but the clay wouldn't dry so the actual molds were used and we did them right there at the Festival. All in all it was fabulous fun!! I have felt very close to my Frog as I've been working on all this.

Then yesterday I got an email from Steve's old companion, Elder Patrick Cavener who served in the Tampa Florida Mission with him. He had come across a few old photos of Stephen and sent them along. It was a wonderful Frog Kiss straight from Heaven.
Steve and Elder Cavener

He looks terribly young doesn't he? These were taken in 1978.

This one is my favourite! This is just how he looked when I met him just a few months later.

Oh how I miss him.

Graditude

After being up and down and in pain most of the night. I gave up and got up for the day. I skipped about reading some of my favourite blogs and checking out what is currently on sale on Craig's List. Then I decided to update my blog.
So here I am the day before Thanksgiving thinking about the things that I'm grateful for and some of the things that I'm not.
I guess alot of people would put their health at #1. That is so NOT me!! But I AM grateful for good Doctor's who listen to me as I listen to understand my body and how it reacts more.
I'm very grateful for ALL my families.
That's plural on purpose....thanks Eric.....
I'm grateful to be close to the Family I was born into, the Family I married into, the ward/neighbourhood Family I live with and most especially the Family of Friends that I've surrounded myself with.
The relationships I have built with my friends is extremely precious to me. How I love them all! They keep me sane, get me out of the house, encourage me to grow, let me lean on them, make sure I'm safe and make me laugh almost daily. They are my Heroes! We all make time to get together and have fun! Time flies when you are having Fun!
I'm grateful for my home. For the shelter it provides from wind, rain, heat and snow. For the precious memories of the Frog that took place here. For how warm,
cosy, and safe I feel within it's walls.
I'm so thankful for my girlgules...the YW...they challenge me to be better than I am. They never cease to amaze me! They accomplish so much when they are working together. They jump at opportunities to grow in ways that never even crossed my mind when I was their age. They jump, achieve then look round for the next opportunity. The ideas they come up with to entertain themselves, to provide service for others and live the Gospel principles boggle my mind at times.
I'm grateful for Lucy Belle. There are days I wouldn't get out of bed if it weren't for her. She loves to make new friends and go for walks. She knows when I'm talking about her to someone else. She has some really funny tricks. She's helping me be healthier, 22lbs have been lost since she became my roommate. I have learned I really need to be needed and she is 7 lbs of pure unconditional love.
Gotta stop for a bit and get something done.....

Not So Hot Shots

My new medicines didn't work too well after 2 months of taking it. I think all it really did was make me very nauseated. Good news for my waist bad for my body. So after yet another Dr visit now I'm on insulin shots every day. So NOT fun! and after almost aweek my sugars are still not coming down. Can you say discouraged?
I'm full of holes and have little bruises from the needles so stepping out of the shower is always quite colourful lately. The only good news is that I'm no longer pretty colours round my ribs......those bruises are almost gone.....still painful though. But Hey at least I can comb my hair.
Last weekend I went to a Scrapaway retreat with my friends we had alot of fun and it was so nice. Our Hostess Marcie does such a wonderful job and we ate and ate till we were quite stuffed. We had a few food snafu's but for the most part there was a sub for everything I couldn't eat. I got an awful lot done and feel really good about what I accomplished. J was able to come too and one day we went together and took some flowers to Baby M's grave. she worked on a few family photos that had him in them but handled it so much better than I did at my 1st retreat after the Frog passed away. I remember just bawling my eyes out a couple of times.
This Farmhouse was even better than the cabin was so I hope we can continue to go. She even had arranged for a massues (sp?) to come. My massage felt so good!!! i swear if ever I get rich I'm going to have one every day. Lucy licking my toes just doesn't compare to a full on backrub. I even got my temples rubbed and got rid of the headache that was nudging to get out. Lucy stayed at Blane's and tormented Berg if the stories are to be believed......$80.00 to kennel the little furball.....I don't think so! Parky just ignored her. They are huge compared to her but Berg was afraid of her Blane said.
These are some photos of Lucy with her friends, Jezzie and her pal Sarah from next door. She is getting bigger and bigger and if my scales are right she is now about 8lbs. I swear if I didn't have her I wouldn't get out of bed some days.

Singing is Like Praying........Twice!

I just got back from a Stake Fireside where the group Jericho Road were the featured speakers. It was really wonderful. We've been having some really choice speakers and they have all been exceptional but tonite was the best so far. Lynette came and brought Travis and his friend in from Grantsville, Karen and Kathy each brought their kids too so it was quite a group. Plus bonus both Travis and Eugenia were in the same building at the same time!
The second song they preformed was Every Single Tear. This is by far my favourite song I played it over and over those first few months after the Frog died. Still makes me cry.

Ouch!!!

This is the story of why you should not ever walk your dog after dark.

Which by the way I really like to do. After dark and dinner is over all the big mean dogs go inside for the night. That makes it way lots quieter on the walk. Little kids are inside too, brushing their teeth and whining that their friends get to stay up til 10pm why can't I? This makes Lucy calmer and a bit more focused on the purpose of the walk.

So there we were walking along minding our business when someone came out from a house and got into their car. Lucy took this as a signal to go nuts trying to get to the person to say Hi!. I got tangled in the leash and tripped.

I tripped HARD!! In my fall I managed to land with my chest right on top of the big Maglite flashlight I'd been carrying. It was excruciating! I literally had the breath knocked out of me.

There I lay dying and in pain and there was Miss Lucy Belle behind the car as they were backing out because I'd dropped the leash. I staggered to my feet and was able to stop her from getting hit. It took a few tries to get hold of the leash. then it was back over to the place I fell to get the flashlight. It of course survived whole and in one piece. The cell phone looked okay but hasn't worked since.

Some major bruises and at least 2 cracked ribs. Days of pain.....thank goodness for Lortab, ice packs and heating pads. I go walking in the morning now. If you go early enough no other dogs are out and you don't need a flashlight.

Dust Bunnies= Big Bucks

Lucy Belle is almost full grown now at a little over 5 lbs. She totally gets the words "walk" and "outside" and jumps around like a whacked out crazy spastic little puppy. The other day I guess she really felt the need to go out because she brought her harness and leash to me, then she put on her "I'm so way cute you can't deny me anything" face. Of course she is doing the cuteness campaign to make up for what happened about 10 days ago.
She morphed into a Killer Dust Bunny!!
There i was sleeping peacefully when I was rudely awakened at about 5:30 by a barrage of yippy squealing help me barks and whimpers. I being the total morning person that I am NOT yelled at her to go back to sleep as it was still night time and dark outside. The response was deafening! I could hear freaky weird tinny type scratching noises. So I dragged my big fat sorry ass out of bed to try and figure out what was wrong. She wasn't anywhere to be found in the bedroom so I went into the hallway. I truly thought from the ruckus that brought on that she had somehow poisoned herself and I was listening to her bark "I'm Dying! I'm Dying! Help! Help!". That's when it hit me.........earlier the day before dummy me had taken off the register cover to the vent in the bathroom and hadn't bothered to replace it. Lucy Belle had crawled into the hole to the vent and then unable to turn round had kept on crawling. She made it to big the main trunk vent underneath the hallway, where she apparently had a bit of fun but couldn't quite remember her way back from the Dark Side to get out.
An hour later I was ready to call my Home Teachers. It was unfair for them to be home sleeping when I needed them to rip the drywall away from the big vent. But I let them sleep a bit longer. At 8:35am I finally got her coaxed to where the little vent joined up to a point where I could reach her.
Note to self: Lucy Belle likes yucky peanut butter even better than teriyaki beef jerky.
She was totally covered in dust, dirt and other weird things. She looked like she'd bathed in talcum powder.....Like I said earlier Killer Dust Bunny!! Then the little $hit had the nerve to keep on squealing like I was killing her when I gave her a bath.
So last week for the first time in 14 years the vents got cleaned.... It is supposed to be done every couple of years.....who knew? After I got the bill Miss Lucy got no treats for 3 days.
Now every time the furnace kicks on with the main bathroom door open she barks like crazy.
Do you think it's because I told her the big scarey monster under the stairs wants to eat her up?

My Name

I saw this on ScrapnChicks blog so I went there and looked up my name. This is a better description of me than the What's Your Sign?

What Vicky Means

You are very hyper. You never slow down, even when it's killing you. You're the type of person who can be a workaholic during the day... and still have the energy to party all night. Your energy is definitely a magnet for those around you. People are addicted to your vibe. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

I dare you to look up your name.

Playing for Keeps

Yesterday at church I taught the YW as a group. The lesson was on marriage standards and why it was important to find someone with the same values, morals, ethics and goals. I had all the girls write down which qualities they would like. My brand new squeaky Beehive Trisha said she wanted someone with a 4 wheeler which I thought was really cute. It was pretty scarey teaching it though. I walked in and there were all the Stake Leaders, then Dennis came in too so the adults outnumbered the girls. But the girls were terrific!! They all participated and it went well.
It made me realize that though some of my choices I do regret...like getting more education.... but I will never ever regret marrying the FROG. I love knowing that I'm his wife for eternity.

Steadfast and Immovable

This was the introductory video shown at the RNC to let us know a bit about the Republican Party's Vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
The more I read about her the more I'm liking her. She connects with alot of people who just want some plain old fashioned commonsense from those who govern us.

I'm also feeling much much more comfortable with John McCain. I just finished reading his book Faith of My Fathers. It was amazing!! It is all about his family and his experiences as a prisoner of war in Veitnam by the VeitCong. He had oportunities to be released sooner but didn't take them and spent more than 5 years as a POW.

At church we constantly hear the phrase that we grow to love those who we serve. This man has been serving his country almost all his life. For those 5 years if for nothing else this man will have my vote come November. He knows alot about Duty and Honour. He knows how to stand steadfast in the face of oppostion and cruel adversity. He freely admits that his captors did break him but because of the encouragement he got from his companions he was able to find the strength to resist them all over again the next time he was tortured beyond all endurance. Steadfast and Immovable I like that.

Only Moron's Don't Vote

This is how I was raised. If you don't vote you can't complain about anything.
To bad he was born a Scot he is the only one making sense on TV today. You gotta love YouTuBE. I saw this last night on Craig Ferguson and it's a fabulous monologue and commentary on our policatical situation right now. I love the comment about which canidate you want to come over for dinner!!

What IF?

If you could start your life over what would you do differently?
This was a question on a MB that I belong to. I had to think a bit about my answer.

Here it is for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would have tried harder to get as much education as possible. Like some of you others I should have watched my weight more.
Other than that I don't think there is much else that I would change. I would have liked to have had the means to have given IVF more than 6 trys or pursued adoption a little more aggresively, but we did everything we felt comfortable with short of kidnapping at the time so really no regrets there.
I would have liked more time with the Frog but I really feel like he stayed around as long as he did because he was so very worried about me. Once I told him it was okay and that I'd be fine he was literally gone in a few weeks.
I think I'd also like to have acted on a few more RAK impulses I've had over the years....being nicer to people and said yes more often.

Too Close To Be Objective

I found this song on the internet. It's amazing what you can stumble upon. It really impressed me and touched my heart. Maybe because August 2 is when I had to have my Hysterectomy so many years ago or die of uterine cancer. Maybe because my sweet niece Heidi has gotten me hooked on the Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABCFamily on Tuesday nights and the main storyline is about teen pregnancy. Maybe I'm weird. Maybe little Lucy is filling a hole...after all I do call her Baby. Maybe it's because I'm in Young Women's and the thought of any of the girls having to go through either scenario in the song breaks my heart. Maybe it's because I could have written the song myself.....

Growing

Lucy Belle is still no bigger than a minute but she is getting bigger every day. Either that or my scales are way off. At the vet on Monday she weighed 2lbs 3oz. She did pretty good didn't seem to mind the shots too much unless you touched her where she got them. She is now 8 weeks old.We've got our own little rhythum going and a pretty good routine.
This is a photo of her with her friend Patches from next door. Patches is a little ShitzTzu and he is 18 months old. Lucy has him completely wrapped around her toes and they play together every couple of days.

Olympic Gold

All this past week Lucy and I have been watching the Olympics for a bit every night. Overall it's been really good but there have been some glitches.
I've decided I don't like the new way of judging the Gymnastics. I have fallen in like with Alian Bernard rather than Michael Phelps ( he is just plain cuter) I think the whole world Cheered when Phelps won the 8th Gold Medal he really deserved them so many World Records were being broken I lost count.
I found this on YouTube while I was looking for something else and thought I'd share. It really showcases Beijing and the Chineese culture.

Friends

LucyBelle has more friends than me! Today I was talking on the phone to Little Sis when the bell rang and there were 4 kids on my front porch wanting to know if Lucy could come out and play with them!
They came by last week and she had fun chasing them around the yard so they thought they should do it again. She must have gotten really worn out in the 10-15 minutes they were out there because she has literally done nothing but sleep since. Though she did perk up when the Olympic music came on a bit ago. I've been watching it every night for a bit and even neglected Ice Road Truckers last night to watch the Ladies Gymnastics and the Men's 4x100 relay Swimming and the USA got Gold!! Woo Hoo!
Beijing is the site this year and it's so very fun to watch the side stories of all the athletes. The Opening Ceremonies on 8-8-08 were really something. I thought Salt Lake did fab but this was really over the top. I think they said there were something like 10,000 performers and more than 2 million dollars worth of fireworks in the coolest arena that they call the Bird's Nest.

Little Did I Know...

I am now in complete sympathy with Baby Sis. Babies are HARD work!!!
Lucy Belle is no bigger than a minute but she really keeps me on my toes. I was so proud of her Thursday...not even one accident in the house. She really earned her treat. Yesterday though she was treating the house like it was one big toilet designed just for her. She piddled and poo'ed wherever she darn well pleased and was completely unco-operative. When I took her outside she just wanted to play. She seems to have the go potty then get a treat thing down but can't quite make the connection that she only gets a treat if she potties outside.
The joys of motherhood.....
She is so funny to watch and has a little hop skippy style of moving around outside. It's like she doesn't really like her belly touching the grass and is trying to avoid it. I still haven't found a collar or harness small enough to fit her but she is still a baby. So i'm hoping she will just grow into the little ones I got.

Presenting...........

Here she is everyone my new roommate. Meet Lucy LuluBelle. Lucy is a Yorkshire Terrier so she won't get too big. Her Mama's name is Tinkerbelle and she is back to a very svelt 8 lbs. just weeks after giving birth to 6 puppies.

Lucy is very cute and loves to cuddle. She is only a few weeks old and weighs in a barely over a pound, in fact she only weighs 20 ounces. She seems to have a real foot fetish and likes to lick my toes. I think she is trying to lick the polish off. It will be a little while before she gets her ponytail topknot and beard but she should be really pretty in just a few months.

Unlike Chloe this little roomie talks back!! LOL She was pretty vocal the first night but settled down last night and slept in her kennel til 5:30am. Tonite I'm hoping for a bit longer because we went down to Blane's and she was able to play alot with Parky and Berg. They got along pretty well they even let her know she is last in the pecking orderwhich goes Blane Parky Berg and then Lucy. We will have to see what she does when they come to HER house. LOL

Mama Mia!!!

Last night was another Girls Night Out. I am so lucky that I have friends who like to include me in their plans. Even better is a friend who buys dinner. ....Thanks Patty!! we all met at Joe's Crab Shack in the Jordan Commons and we had a ball ! Wendi and Andrea brought their husbands too and they fit right in.
They really had a very pregnant pollster over at the theaters going. James and Scott(?) told her they were gay and we all went along with it. It was so very funny, she really believed them too, especially when they told her what movie we were all going to see.
I loved the movie except for Pierce Brosnan's singing----they really should have dubbed that in. The musical at the Capitol Theatre had a much better Sam. the young girl who played Sophie was so lovely and she really looked like Meryl Streep who played her mother Donna. she had the most beautiful clear blue green eyes. Meryl was wonderful! It was so much fun to watch her let loose on the dancing parts. Very Very different from the character she plays in The Devil Wears Prada.
There were quite a few guys in the audience and one fellow behind us on the very back row was singing right along with all of us to all the old ABBA hits.

Vacationing

So I left late last month and meandered my way up home spent a week with the family then came home on my birthday. It's official I'm 29 with 18 years of experience. Had a great time watching Pullman's fireworks once tha camera cooperated.

here are some photos from all the fun I had on my vacation. Gray was blessed on July the 6 by his Daddy. He looked so cute in his little white suit. Tracy and Eric have a very nice home and it's just perfect for them.
Emil learned to walk more than a few steps fall then keep crawling. Thanks to Marquel who has a ton of patience. She just kept playing with him and working at it over and over, he was getting around really well the other night. Thanks also to her for sleeping on the couch all week so Auntie Vic had a bed. Emil also got a haircut thanks to her because his hair was so long she put it into ponytails
Emelia had her 1st day of swimming lessons and didn't drown or get kicked out.She also got to see a Buffalo in Yellowstone stick his bum into the window of their car. Which she had to tell everyone was only inches from Caralee's face.

Chayla and Cherise are looking more and more alike as they get older and turning into absolutely gorgeous young women. Cherise is busy with her job and getting ready to start her sophmore year of college. Chayla has been busy with Basketball /Camp and will be a HS Senior this fall. They liked the BAB I brought them too! They are both waayyy taller than me too. Matter of fact even Marquel is a bit taller than me.


Maren has been working for her grandpa in the fields pulling rye and was looking forward to going to the American Idol Concert over in Seattle last weekend.
Best of all Heidi was doing really well getting around on her new shoes. She shared my hotel room last weekend ( I wonder why she didn't want to squeeze in with Emma and her Mom and Dad?) and rode with me the 5 hours from Pullman to Boise last Sunday. She showed me "the Infamous Bridge". We had the best time singing along to the CD's she brought to listen to. i didn't get a really good photo of her or Marquel except in the group shots so I guess I'll just have to go back. LOL

A Superior Housewife.....

According to this test from the 1930's standards. I score BIG!! a whole 65.

center>

65 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/">Take the test!

Unfortunately there isn't a test like it for today. Some of the questions are pretty funny. I had to laugh about rinsing the lid of the milk jars before opening them. The Frog always thought it was weird that I rinsed the tops off on canned goods. Especially soups and tuna fish...totally skeeves me out when I see someone open a can of something without rinsing.....especially if it's canned fruit that doesn't get cooked.. UGGH!!

More of Alaska

I thought I'd post a bit more about our Alaska Cruise. Blane and I flew to Seattle where we met up with Aunt Ilene and Uncle Denny. Carla and Gaylen drove up visiting on their way so they had a car that took us all to the Docks...it took 2 trips to get all of us and our luggage there but the hardest part was standing in line. We did that alot on boarding day.

Once all the waiting in line was done we found our cabin and settled in. then we found a stowaway. Somehow Chloe sneaked into the bags.

She was made to feel welcome right away though. Our cabin Steward brought her a playmate.
we got underway about 4pm and it was off to our adventure. We were through the sound and at sea all day Monday. We explored and found our way around the ship. Then it was Formal night. Chloe was so excited to wear her new dress.

The Maitre'd of the dining room came over to show me the items I could have GF and he saw Chloe and brought her an off menu dinner too.

Good Gifts

I just got a call from Heidi Bug who turned 14 just last week thanking me for her B-Day gift. What a good kid she is! All of my nieces and nephews are good kids in fact. But she is special. I've been around her and Em alot more so that may be the reason I'm so partial to them.

I so glad she liked the book and she's excited to be getting the next one in the Twilight series in August that I pre-ordered for her too.

She told me she is going to her first Stake Dance tonight. I told her to be careful of her foot, we don't want to undo all the progress she's made. So NO Polka's, Bunny Hop, Conga Line or Swing for a bit longer. In just 2 years she'll be driving and dating. Where does the time go?

I love these photos that Caralee sent me of the girls at the park. Despite Em being a pesky pill sometimes and almost a 9 year age gap they do love each other and it shows in this photo.

They are so very funny and cute together.

In other news this week Little Gray got some help and built his very first Snowman on Tuesday. Pullman got a pretty heavy snowstorm .....in June!!

Tracy said she didn't get him a coat or anything because you just don't think of things like that for a summer baby.

So at one week old Gray saw snow for the first time.

Big News

I made COOKIES!!!!!
The end of the world as we know it is now much closer to the end.
I know this because I never ever baked cookies when I did do alot of baking. I baked Brownies or Lemon Bars but never ever cookies. In fact the last time I recall baking actual cookies was having Heidi help me make Snickerdoodles. Since I think this was during a trip long before Emelia was even born, it was quite some time ago. Hence the title of this post. After all Em is now 5 1/2
But I had Bananas that... while not too bad...... looked truly awful. Someday some one will figure out a way to keep bananas from going brown and growing hairy mold where they connect to others in the same bunch.
But I digress
Back to my story
Since I haven't baked in awhile it took a little bit of brainpower and quite a bit of effort to bring forth my culinary creations. (When you eat Gluten Free you get a bit experimental when it comes to baking without traditonal flour) It also took TIME.
Which is why I've never liked baking cookies. You plop spoonfuls of the dough on the baking sheet, pop it in the oven and then wait for 10-15 minutes for the timer to go off. You then remove the baked cookies to a rack to cool, scrape the burnt on bits off the pan into the sink only to plop some more dough on and jam it into the oven to hurry up and wait for the timer to go off once again. You then continue to repeat these manuvers until you run out of dough, time or patience. Since I had 5 bananas that needed to be used I doubled the recipe. Only one pan fits into the oven at a time.....It took 2 1/2 hours to bake all of the cookies and I was using heaping spoonfuls of the cookie batter.
Which is why I don't see alot of cookies in my future........unless there is a fire.
At which point I expect you all to back me up and swear to the insurance adjuster that my oven was a definitly a convection oven with gas burners.

Which is why I don't bake cookies.....except for the other night.

Welcome to the World!!

I have a new nephew!!

After many hours waiting for something to happen after she was induced on Friday, Baby Sis gave birth by C-section last night. Gray arrived Sunday. He was 22 inches long and weighed 7lbs 4oz.

Baby Sis is doing well and says he has a bit of Strawberry Blonde hair and bigger feet than she expected. Daddy kept us all well entertained by the frequent updates he posted to the internet. I think all the attention Baby Sis was getting and the sheer boredom of all the hurry up and wait really got to him about Sunday morning because he sure gave us quite the laughs. If you don't believe me, you can check it out for yourselves. Welcome to the World Little Man!

ICE

ICE ICE Baby!!! Is now one of my favourite songs!!

Why??

Because at the Inspiration Celebration Experience in Boise this last weekend

I played with Lil'Sis Caralee and my Cuz Cami. Saw some old friends and made some new ones.

BEST OF ALL

I won lots of stuff!!

Woo Hoo! for Me!!

I got all kinds of good stuff just for being there and then I won the Grand Prize!

Travelin' Light

Less than a week after getting home from Alaska and the Cruise off I went on a Scrapbook Retreat with all the great gals from the Shabby Chic group to the Scrappin' Smiles Cabin. We had a great time, talking, creating, eating and telling stories round the campfire. Cami came up with me and we managed despite a near accident in Heber to cram all our scrap stuff, clothes, bedding and pillows along with 2 six foot folding tables and 4 chairs into the FIT. Thank goodness we had the option of Jessica's van for the tables on the return trip. Going down the mountain wouldn't have been as easy. Tables slide on hills and during sudden stops.

Ask me how I know?