Feeling Festive

For the very first time in years I had someone to go Christmas shopping with. Big Little Brother came up and we went to Lunch, then home to play with my Merry Christmas to me….to Vicky from Vicky Nook Tablet. Yeah for me from QVC! LOL

While he was checking out all the free apps it came with  we looked on Fandango and saw the new Muppet Movie was starting in 1/2 hour. We looked at each other and stated to sing the theme song. Off we went.

 

Apparently the school kids are actually still in school and the parents with itty bitty little kids are too young to appreciate an 80’s Classic like “what we call the Muppet Show.” We were the only ones in the theatre!! We sang all the old familiar songs, laughed at the grumpy old men in the box seats, winced at Miss Piggy’s  all about “Moi” and whiney “Kermiy.” It was great fun! Then we went Christmas shopping to Toys R Us and over to the VF mall, bought more gifts and checked out all the changes there.

Of course once we got home and sorted out the packages Blane took off and left all his stuff here for Auntie Vic to wrap! LOL So I’m taking a little break from wrapping and watching the Glee Christmas Episodes.

Making Ends Meet

It’s Christmastime so of course I’ve been worried about the $$$$$. I’ve also been stressed because it’s never ever taken me this long to get the decorations up. We finished last night. The living room has the all the Santa figures in place and the white tree in the sleigh. The family room has the Angels and a couple of the smaller Nativity scenes. The Beardall’s are so much help to me Justin has run boxes up and down the stairs. Maury cleans and vacuums and Ben entertains Lucy. I supervise. Everything looks really nice.

Last night I went downtown and earned $75 just by walking in the door. I was supposed to be part of a focus group on Diabetics with Cardiac issues but they scheduled too many people so they paid me, fed me and sent me home. I’ve also been part of another Dry Eye study testing out a new medicine that has paid me to be a part of it. So that money has been my Christmas budget. I just have a few more gifts to get then I’ll be done.

I am Thankful for

So many things. Some of my friends made it a point to find something everyday this month to be grateful for and posted it on their FB page. I could of done that too but you know me the non-conformist. So since lots that I’m grateful for happened just this week here’s my list.

In no particular order.

My family…. for checking up on me and making sure I have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner. I ended up at Craig and Liz’s and visited with Margie and Rob, Jana, Steven and Julie and Aunt LaFaun, their kids and Grandkids and finally got to meet Trina’s new honey Wade Hickman. They’ve been married a little more than a year now and are really cute together. They stayed here with me so we had some good conversations and a lot of fun.

We also got a lot of things done.

Last month when Dawn and Vonn were here I was still working on the main bathroom and I had had Andy come take the toilet out so I could get to the wallpaper behind it and fix the floor. It still wasn’t done yet  because life got in my way. I cut my hand doing flowers for Brian Franchina’s wedding to Marci MacDonald and had to have stitches at the ER…..Sarah and her mom helped finish that wedding before I even went to the ER/

So  there it was still not done when I found out about more company coming. Uncle Gaylen and Aunt Carla took pity on me and came over Monday and Tuesday. She stripped wallpaper in the kitchen and he fixed the sheetrock holes including patching the ugly hole where the medicine chest used to be.

Then he fixed the floor, laid the new flooring and painted the whole bathroom and reconnected the plumbing. All it took was a bribe of Triple Berry Apple Rhubarb Pie! Wade and Trina got here just as he was finishing up.

They got busy on Wednesday morning and painted the bathroom a second coat, raked the leaves in the back yard, painted the pantry wall and the French Doors, hung new blinds and a curtain rod that I’ve had for a long time but have been to ill to climb the ladder to get them done. If that wasn’t enough they packed the bookcases into the closet and I’ll be ready to decorate for Christmas as soon as I recover from staying up all night working on Sam Caldwell’s wedding flowers  for today.  I need a rest. Wade is close to 90 and he was running rings around me! They left a few hours ago taking some Christmas with them. Klista and Selina will be here tonight on their way to Mexico. She’s promised not to need 10 days in the hospital this time.

I love my friends and family!

I have a lot to be grateful for

What’s Up? Chicken Butt!

That’s what TD always says. He’d be only half right. I don’t care if I never see another Chicken Breast right now.

I bought 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.49 per lb from Zaycon Foods on Saturday. I just finished getting them all re-packaged and in the freezer. There wasn’t a lot of fat but I did need to cut it all off. Lucy loved that part. The problem was that these were full breasts and they were so plump that 1/2 a breast would feed 3 people.

So I borrowed a food saver and got to work. I worked, the food saver didn’t. So late Saturday night I bought a new one. It worked wonderfully! It didn’t cost too much but once you add that in with the bags for it my great deal ended up costing me way too much.

But the good news is I have 52 packages of chicken in my deep freeze. A whole years supply if I only eat chicken once a week.

Go Ahead Make My Day!!

Is there anything better than someone giving you a compliment?
Yes there is!
When the person giving it is a total stranger to you.
When the person is the opposite sex.
When the person doesn't give off a perverted "Chester the Molester" vibe.
When you can tell they are sincere.
Best Feeling in the World!!

I was just running round doing some errands and popped in to get 2 things at the store. While I was in line this guy with 2 full carts lets me go ahead with my 2 things and says "I'm a sucker for gorgeous redheads. You have beautiful hair!"
I actually looked around to see if there were other carrot tops in the store. Nope I was the only one.
Totally made my day!!
Now I didn't really do anything to my hair today. I barely had enough makeup on to avoid scaring small dogs and little children. I was in a grey and coral striped tee and ratty jeans with flip flops and need a pedicure really badly. Nothing special at all. Just me being me

Today I'm glad I'm me!

Women Of God

My friend Darlene posted this on her Facebook page. It's so lovely. It describes the woman I want to be.

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

Date a Girl Who Reads

I found this just stumbling around on other people's web sites. It's a quote from an article promoting literacy.  I just couldn't resist posting it here. I am that girl! I don't remember a time when I didn't pack around whatever book I'm currently into all over the place. One of the many reasons that I looked really hard into getting a Kindle or a Nook. Books have taken me to all kinds of wonderful places. I've lived hundreds of lives through the magic of reading.

Date A Girl Who Reads

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."      

The BIG 50!!!

Yes you read that right, the big 50. Since noon last Thrusday I'm officially 1/2 a century old. As birthdays go it was pretty quiet. Teresa took me out for dinner the night before to El Rancho Grande. For once I got something different and ordered the Enchiladas Sonora. Very yummy.
Soon I'll be gumming my food and wearing my hair really short and poking every which away. I'll wait in line for the Early Bird Special at Golden Corral and spending obscene amounts of money on orthopedic shoes, support hose and mummu style dresses. I'll get things in the mail from the AARP, pre-need funeral plans and retirement homes offering compassionate caring staff to meet my every need in my Twlight years.
I'm not dead. I'm just getting older. Which is why I will no longer have Birthdays. When asked how old I am, I will answer 39 with 11 years of experience.
Sounds so much better than 50.....don't you think.

Changes

I hate change!!
I think it's because too many things feel out of control when the change is unexpected. I really think that part of it is just frustration with having to spend so much time on hold to get minor little things taken care of. Whoever came up with the whole phone tree for businesses with the press 1 for payments or 2 to hear this in Spanish is at the top of my $#iT list this week.
Sometimes you just really want to pop someone upside the head and smack them around for awhile for being so very, very dense. So I just want to say it here.......If you and the board were going to completely disregard anything we did, then why did you ask us to vote? Why let us feel like we mattered when we didn't? Well just so you know, you have lost all my business. In the words of Monty Python " I fart in your general direction!"  Remember I have Crohn's and Celiac so those suckers are pretty powerful. If I were you I'd be trampling over everyone with no thought to the life or limb of anyone else while I run upwind very fast!
Then to top off my day Blane calls to tell me Parky is gone. I spent the next hour or so bawling my eyes out. I'm so glad I went down there Sunday I'd should have petted him a little more. He was always the first to come over for a rub or ear scratch when the Frog was alive. He'd be on one knee and Berg on the other and Steve would pet them til his hands got too tired. Poor old dog, he and I started diabetes shots at the same time. He had a knee surgery a few years ago and I snapped these photos.

Poor Puppy. He was old for a big dog. He will be missed. Rest In Peace Parky Dog.

I hate my Hands!!!

I took my nails off a few weeks ago after literally having them on for the better part of the last 6 years. I just can’t justify the expense anymore. I did learn enough to do my own for special occasions even though the right hand never really looks right.

Now I’m willing to bite the bullet somewhere else in the budget to work my long nails back in. I can’t spell worth crap while I’m typing. They get even a tiny bit of white showing and it rips and tears, usually in layers. It’s painful and absolutely butt ugly!

I’ve tried to keep them painted but even that is looking pretty hacked after a day or two. Nothing seems to stick very long and even a clear coat peels off.

I Got Hit by A Car

A few days ago I was hit by a car. Right in the head. It left a pretty funky goose egg and had a lovely little coresponding bruise to go with it. Next time an angry toddler decides to have a tantrum I need to make sure no Hot Wheels are within throwing range.  I had a matched set of bumps on my head foe awhile.
My Budha Baby is growing up. he's walking all over and now tries to bolt and run when ever a door is opened. Maree said he almost made it 1/2 way here before she caught up with him the other day.
So are my nephews.
Both Gray and Emil had Birthdays in the last couple of weeks. Emil turned four and Gray turned 3. Jakob turned 1 the end of January and Seth did at the end of April.
I got to talk to Gray on his Bday he wanted a digger truck and was pretty excited to get it. He's really cute when he talks on the phone. He gets excited and talks so fast about every other word is all that I can understand. Those are mostly guesses too. But he is so funny!

This Song

Been listening to this song so much lately.
I read a long time ago that "Singing is like Praying twice"  This is the answer to the prayer.

Hold On by Michael McLean


The message of this moment is so clear

And as certain as the rising of the sun
When your world is filled with darkness, doubt or fear
Just hold on, hold on
The light will come

Everyone who’s ever tried and failed
Stands much taller when the victory’s won
And those who’ve been in darkness for awhile
Kneel much longer when
The light has come

It’s a message everyone of us must learn
That the answers never come without a fight
And when it seems you’ve struggled far too long
Just hold on, hold on
There will be light

Hold on, hold on, the light will come
Hold on, hold on, the light will come

If you feel trapped inside a never ending night
If you’ve forgotten how it feels to feel the light
If you’re half crazy thinking you’re the only one
Who’s afraid the light will never really come
Just hold on, hold on the light will come

The message of this moment is so clear
And as certain as the rising of the sun
When your world is filled with darkness, doubt or fear
Just hold on, hold on the light will come

Another Tough Day

I keep telling myself it's okay to feel like you are feeling. Sometimes you just need to allow yourself to feel sad without feeling guilty about it. So I'll call my mom and my MIL to wish them a Happy Mother's Day then I plan on wallowing in self pity for pretty much the rest of the day.
Just like I've done every Mother's Day since 1980.
I do really well the other 364 days of the year but this is the day that I deal with the disappointment, pain, sadness and trials of infertility. The helplessness, and grieving of a do it or die hysterectomy. We tried adoption with no success. We tried everything legal. The rest of the year I'll have myself convinced once again that I have no regrets.
Liar! Liar! your pants are on fire!
I will never be a mother. Nobody will ever call me Mom. I will never be anyone’s Nana or Gigi. No one will ever feel obligated visit me today in the care center. So I don't do Mother's Day. I wallow. That's how I choose to deal with it.
Poor poor pittiful me.

Wigging Out

Stole this from my friend Callie.

"Family are like underpants!!!! Some crawl up your butt, some get a little sideways, some are your favorite, some are holy, some are cheap and just plain nasty, and some actually cover your butt when you need 'em too!"

I am so grateful to my friends and family this week. I’ve only got about 15 more hours to sweat thru and then I’ll find out what the results are from my squish test and the follow up digital scan I had to have last week.

I call and they get me laughing and take my mind of of things. Patty even offered to put me to work helping her pack up her house. I’ve been Miss Debbie Downer all weekend they keep me sane.

Attitude

I was talking to my friend Marrey the other day about attitude. So many people see the glass as half empty, that negative attitude is so counter productive. I try hard not to worry and obsess over things I don’t have the skills or knowledge to change. I try not to worry or stress about things but sometimes life sneaks up on me.

A long time ago the Frog and I read a book on Adversity. The main theme was we NEED Adversity in our lives to help us stretch and grow. Last week at General Conference  there were a lot of references to how important attitude is in facing our trials. Then I read this.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. "
~ Charles Swindoll

Here’s to Attitude. Keep those thumbs and spirits up!!

True 100 Years Ago

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in
good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be
treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to
discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and
nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man
who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.
We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red
flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much
as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have
room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we
have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907

I’ve been reading a lot the last few days and I find it really curious this was so long ago and yet addresses some very real issues going on now.

I found a number of other quotes along the same theme. One of those is from a speech he gave in 1915

”There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all
possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities .”                                                 

— Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Knights of Columbus, 1915, New York

He also said that any immigrant to America who doesn’t learn the language in five years ought to be sent home. Which is hysterically funny to me, because while I was reading that I was waiting on a prescription at the hospital pharmacy. About every 3rd page there was repeated in Spanish.

I am an Idiot!

I am the stupidest person in my life. Lucy was acting like a crazy after the Budha baby left so I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride in the car. Went out to the garage, got in, buckled up, turned the key, put it in gear and stepped on the gas. Then we heard a horrible sound.....it was like fingernails on a blackboard, only really loud with someone squealing. Let's just say Melissa Leo was not the only one who dropped an "F bomb" this week.
I forgot to hit the button to open the garage door!!! It's all broken and bulging out. Right. Like the neighbours aren't going to see it and know exactly what happened. The whole world now has proof positive of what an idiot I am. Plus it will not close all the way. Who knows what types of critters will take it as an open invitation to set up housekeeping. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Almost 10,000 Days

Well I didn't get a Valentine but I did get to play with flowers and see others getting their Valentine's so that was something to feel grateful about. I was my own Valentine. I wore my Pink jacket, Hot Pink cami and Pink tunic and my fav Hot Pink Crocs. Then I took myself out to a "Red" dinner and before you ask I was at El Rancho Grande where else? Yummy!
Lucy went with me to get the flowers and on part of my deliveries. She wore her Pink sweater too. We had fun. we even went to the Dog Park .....which she adores.

I read an essay about someone being married 10,000 days. The Frog and I almost made it. We were only 41 days short. It's crazy how much I miss him some days. It has gotten easier but not this week. Too much Love in your face all around. Especially on TV.

I'll just have to learn to settle for doggy kisses instead of Frog Kissin'.

Books~Enlighten & Entertain

I have a ton of books. Lots and lots of books. Mostly fiction. Mostly CMR's (Cheesey Mormon Romance) from Seagull or Deseret Book. For the last 8 years I've been trying to only buy books that aren't full of sex, or creepy crawly scarey mind games. For instance I don't read Stephen King or Dean Kuntz they don't give me a good feeling when I'm done....I've literally not come even close to finishing the last ones I tried to read.

That being said.

I've been on a kick to re-read some of my favourite authors from long ago. I've been discovering most of their books still have the words to really move me and cause me to think. Isn't that what books should do? With all the books available for free on the internet and in the library am I choosing the right ones?

So right now I'm reading Louis L'Amour's Bendigo Shafter and I came across this little pearl of wisdom.

"You are luckier than you know. I mean in the books you have to read. People who came west cannot bring much, so they try to bring the best........A mind, like a home, is furnished by it's owner, so if one's life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself. You have a chance to select from some pretty elegant furnishings." 

Can I just say I Love this man? If you haven't read anything from him.....start.....my favourites are Down the Long Hills, Last of the Breed, and the Lonesome Gods.

My Week From Hell

Actually, it's been longer than that but last week was the straw that broke this camel's back. So after 3 weeks Christmas is finally put away. All the books need to go back on the shelves, they are still residing in the closet. Deal with that later.
So what's been going on?
You name it.
It happened.
Felt miserable so went in to the Dr. Strep. Great. No voice either. Not great.
After breaking out in hives because I'm allergic to the medicine I got. Spent forever in a long line at the pharmacy getting new meds. Lot's of us sickies out there.
Then TD called, did I find their bag? Nope so I go look again in the boys room. Walk across the floor
Wet sucky squishy smelly.
Water leaked all over the floor, everything is soaked!
Roo came over after work the next day. After pulling out 1/2 the wall of drywall out along with soggy insulation he found where it was coming from. It wasn't something he felt he could begin to tackle since we thought the leaky part was behind the Lazy Susan cupboard in the corner of the kitchen. Need to remove counter tops, sink and cabinets to get to it.
In the meantime can't use the water in the kitchen. Poor pitiful me. Cried a little but listened to the friend who said call the homeowners insurance. Woo Hoo!  Happy happy Joy! Joy! It's covered!!!
Except the actual plumbing bill and the deductible.
Neither of which I had.
Insurance adjuster comes. Disaster cleanup guy comes. They look they talk they leave. Then plumber comes. He works, needs something then leaves but came back later. Leak is fixed! Then the dryer guys come leaving 4 jet engine turbines blasting away nonstop for a week. Did I mention the never ending 5 days and counting migraine?
Still feeling crappy go to the Dr again. Bronchial Pneumonia.
More meds and another long line.
Insulation guy comes. Sheetrock guy comes. Tape and mud guys come. Everything all buttoned up and beautiful.........well not really...... but it was back to where we started from. Dryers and de-humidifer still running.
Then the bill came. My portion is $1850!!!! For a 2 foot length of pipe a new fitting and labour. Plus 4 fans for a week, a $12.00 sheet of drywall and a small bucket of mud.
What a racket!!

Where is Slave Labor When You Need It?

Goodbye Christmas...............Don't I wish!!!
Christmas looks like it exploded again! Half the decorations are off the trees and in little piles scattered about. I usually leave everything up til Twelveth Night. But now I want it all out of here. NOW! Where is a cute energetic 10yr old when you need them? Hyrum helped me put it all up and ran up and down the stairs bringing trees, boxes and totes up.  He worked very hard.
Maybe I can buy more totes and just send things sliding down stairs and forget about them. But that won't work since 1) I'm broke and 2) Christmas stuff is very breakable.

Happy New Year!!

Yesterday it was 4 years since the Frog passed away. I got thru it a lot better than last year. I’m sure it was because I had Tara, TeeDee and the boys here. I was so busy laughing at Jakob and Emil and Lucy that it wasn’t til later that I got a bit teary. Even then Lucy seemed to sense my mood and wanted to snuggle.

Today I was supposed to go play with Patty in Provo but there was so much snow here even once the driveway got cleared for the 4th time I didn’t go. Between Wenesday night and Friday morning we got about 17-20 inches. Terry and Emil cleared it off a couple of times while they were here.

So now for my resolutions:

Floss every day.

Eat more fruit and veggies. Do the outer perimeter of the store and shop clean like the GF Girl & the Chef. I may even join Bountiful Baskets like Baby and Middle Sis.

Start walking Lucy twice a day again. I’ve gotten terribly lazy.

Finish the Bathroom redo.

Read more, TV less. At least as many hours reading as watching TV per week.