The House at Twilight

Two great tastes that taste great togetherrrrr

Found this little beauty at Fwee Fwee in Seaside, Oregon.

Be jealous.

Busy Day

It's a tough life

So here we are on our busy Friday. The whole week has been horrifically busy and not a little stressful. Along with this stuff we worked in soccer practices, Mutual (the young women had a hike around a nearby lake for certification), Roz's Mother and Daughter picnic for Activity Days, Carter's crossing guard field trip to Oaks Park, and a planned weekend trip that I stressed out about until it was cancelled Thursday morning.

Here we are at Culture Fair, with our last third grader parade float. 

Roz's table had Germany, Germany and Switzerland.  And Keller ;)

Eating German pretzels from the kid next door

Then soccer practice was fun, as you can see from Harrison's bloody shirt. A teammate accidentally kicked a ball into Harrison's face and his nose started bleeding. "Tell your mom that someone made you mad and you went all Mike Tyson on him and bit off his ear," one of his teammates said. Yummy.



Soccer kills

Neenaw sez: Really a nice picture.How did you get so hansome in such a short time.Stay happy and healthy, I will pray for wealthy!!

And what was I doing while my child was bleeding all over the soccer field (and his shirt)? I was sitting blissfully in the car, listening to Dennis Miller on the radio and cross stitching.  It's weird to have my kid be that old and autonomous - he gets hurt and bleeds everywhere and I'm completely oblivious until he comes back to the car and shows me his shirt.  He told me that immediately after his nosebleed, he scored a goal with his head.  Way to bounce back, my boy.

Driving home, we noticed quite a plethora of cop car lights down at the bottom of our hill, close to our house - never a happy sight.  It turned out to be someone else's car accident.  Hubby and I arrived home about the same time and immediately took off down the block to inspect the damage.  The road was completely taped off with caution tape, which Hubby says usually means that someone died in the accident.  They knocked out a couple of power poles driving eastbound.  Hope they're OK. 

"Don't Kick Each Other's Bruises"

Loved this: 134 Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness

So today I woke up, looked at the calendar, and realized that my beloved Wall had failed me.  WALL!!  How could you do this?

Rosalind's Culture Faire parade float was due today.  Culture Faire is fun - the kids each choose a country and make a cute little portable display about that country on a cardboard box.  Carter's float two years ago (Scotland) was completely sad, as we had just moved and had no idea what this Culture Faire parade float thing was, and did not yet have the Wall in place.  I was planning on helping Roz with her float (Australia) this weekend.  Oops!

"Educational" Barbie play

Fortunately, because of the Wall, we already had a paper model of the Sydney Opera House to put together.  I spent my morning doing that, and scoring Bella's English paper (she had to get someone outside the school to edit it, which I did last week, but then she threw this stupid rubric at me this morning and I had to make up dumb score numbers out of thin air and leave comments about her paper, and I'm like, "SHE'S MY KID, she's a genius!  Of course the paper is marvelous, you TWIT!" but I couldn't, I had to act like a real editor.  Whatever). 

Almost done...

Finished product and smiling child

Daddy came home with more awesome Australia stuff.  The finished parade float:

She looks so *old* in this pic!  But happy :)

Sorry it's so blurry.

Completely off topic but worth mentioning:
"If I ever get executed, I hope it's in Texas."
- Bella

Sunday Afternoon

Time for some Monopoly

There would I find a settled rest, while others go and come,

No more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home...

 



Oorah

First: A confession.

Today I made my kids have hot lunch even though they told me they hated today's menu. Roz ate two bites of it and Carter had two Jolly Ranchers (??). After school they were hungry, so I took them out for donuts. YES. I am that mom.

Next: Some cozy lounge time.

It's a tough life

And now, a nice story.

Charlotte the minivan had been sitting in our driveway since she FAILED her emissions test at the end of February, and of course at that point our tabs were expired, so driving her anywhere was risky business.
 
Yesterday, finally, she was fixed and ready to go. We were hoping to just pay the mechanic today and then show the emissions guys the mechanic's receipt, to show we had spent the required amount fixing her, so we wouldn't have to drive her illegally again.  But no.  "You know you have to go through emissions testing again," the woman at the shop said.  I made Hubby do it.

Charlotte passed the test and Hubby, on his way to soccer, handed me the paperwork so I could go renew the tabs. Drove through the DOL drive-through. "Our debit card system isn't working."

Went inside, with ten minutes to close. Their STUPID ATM didn't work, even after I rubbed it on my jeans, and the DOL woman put a strip of Scotch tape over the magnetic strip (! - or you could just buy a new, not stupid ATM, you silly DOL people). 

I was getting a little bugged and was seriously ready to bawl and I think everyone could tell.  The thought of Charlotte being *thisclose* to being driveable again after three months (I'd be such a terrible pioneer), and then to have to leave her overnight at the stupid DOL parking lot because the stupid DOL's stupid debit card thingie and stupid ATM weren't working, no way to call Hubby, and nothing but C-Tran to get me home... not that I hate C-Tran but I would have had to walk a couple miles to get to my route...

(seriously, a terrible pioneer)

Ahead of me in line was a young man and his 50s-ish mom, I think they were doing a title transfer or something.  His card worked in the ATM (of course).  He noticed my distress.  Then he did the most amazing, tenderest, mercifulest thing.

"Can I get the money out of my account for you, and then you can pay me back?"

And desperate me, I said YES!!!  Please!!  Thank you!!! 

The DOL people were cute.  "You raised that boy right, Mom!" Indeed she did.

So he withdrew the cash, I paid my fee, and we agreed to meet at the WinCo next door to withdraw my cash there.

WinCo's ATM was also out of order.

"We'll just buy something and I'll pay with my card and ask for cash back," I said.

Not enough money in my checking account to cover it.  Savings, yes, but there's no way to transfer funds right there at the checkout counter.  It was really getting ridiculous.

This kid, who by now I had chatted up pretty well and found out he was a Marine on leave from Japan, looked at me and said, "Well, that's OK." 

He was seriously going to let me off the hook for $50.  Like that's gonna happen.

Off we went to a nearby bank, the ATM worked (the one working ATM in our county, pretty sure), I paid him back and we went on our way.

I noticed that his rear license plate holder bore the tagline of a local car dealership - "Believe in Nice." He couldn't have personified it better.

His name is Nate.  He was my angel today. 

He's a Marine.  If you're prone to praying, please pray that he'll be safe during his time in the military and come home and have an awesome happy life. 

Oorah.

Talk About... Moving.

I don't know exactly how or why today became the day, but finally the Big TV Move was accomplished. Whew!

Lounge, before - so very sad.

Lounge, after!!

Living room, AKA Parlor, after!!

While moving stuff around, I banged my left knee on the wall. I have no idea how or what I was doing, but it scraped up and swelled up and got hot and weird and everything, and hurt for the rest of the day. Poop!!

Also, while we're speaking of mishaps, I had a phone call from the school precisely two seconds after standing up from my knee incident. Miss Roz was on the other end with her sweet tiny sad voice.  She fell into a puddle at school, trying to jump over it and wildly underestimating its width, and she needed some clean dry clothes.  Poor baby.

So, a good day with a few bumps.  But still good.

Young American, Young American, I was a Young American

....once.

Happy Memorial Day to y'all.  Hope it's a happy one.

Normally we'd be out doing graves on this day - but yeah, the one car thing, the weather thing, and you haven't lived until you've tried to negotiate the Memorial Day traffic at a national cemetery.  Oh it's fuuuuunnn.

CAN THIS MEMORIAL DAY BE SAVED?  Let's hope the heck so.  Hubby and Bella are already at the store, buying food for our indoor picnic and (probably) Arrested Development-fest. 

LATER: The day was swell and filled with food and TV.  Does it get any better than that?

On that note:

Some good Halloween costume inspiration, right there.

The Great Saturday

Morning: Wondering if the local miscreants polished off all the "good" cereal. Feeling torn between a warm snuggly bed and a growling stomach. Off to walk the property later. It's a rough life

Forget all that, we're going to Farmers Market!!

The lovely face painting lady works her magic

Road trip!!

Afternoon: Awesome day to be outside. On the tree next door that overhangs our backyard, we discovered baby cherries. SWEET. I see covert harvesting in my future.

Amazing Discovery

"Dying to research a new family tree. Can I research yours? Seriously."

Fifteen genealogy requests later, I found myself creating a new notebook, in which I...

"Just found the Rejected Elmo Dolls list!! Whoop whoop!!" 
The kids and I were goofing around a few years ago and made a list of rejected Elmo dolls - Beat Me Up Elmo, Chainsaw Massacre Elmo, You Ain't Got No Legs Lt. Elmo... good stuff.  This is what happens when we declutter, people.  Pure magic.

Karmee C posted this on my wall today:
 

On With Your Clothes!!

Baby it's cooooold outside.

Church calling frustration:
"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we leave everything to the freaking last minute." 

At this point I was reaching angst of Phil Connors-driving-off-the-quarry-cliff-with-the-groundhog proportions.  Really???

Awesome News!!

THIS!!! Thanks dear friend Acacia ;)

In other less awesome news: The mister is home with a cold. Sounds like he's trying to snorkle through pudding, poor man

The Naughty Kitty Face!

It haunts my dreams!

 

I am hers to toy with

Loving my slow-paced idyllic Saturday. Ahhhh.  Carter and I walked downtown to Farmers Market and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Rode the bus home.  Sweetness :)

 

Also: This article made me happy, happy, happy. But they just *think* they're joking. (Or do they?)

Yay, Sweet Tomatoes

And there was veggie and carb feasting for all.  (Belated birthday dinner for Bella and Harrison)

And we did roll forth into our front door like Violet Beauregard, post-Wonka Meal gum and pre-juicing.

Sick Day Conundrum

"Trying to think of a crazy scheme to make being sick in bed more fun. Prank calls are out. Thoughts?"

(It was a very yucky gastrointestinal virus. Ahem)

Ended up doing this instead: "Mormon drinking game: Reading "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and taking a shot of diet Dr. Pepper every time you read the word "paradigm'"

Vive Le Payday!!

Also: She blinded me with WHITE LEGS (boop boop boop)
Took my blindingly white gams outside for a sunny walk to try to get in shape for girls camp.  Sorry for the glare, drivers.

His Generosity Knows No Bounds

Watching last night's Survivor finale. THANK YOU FATHER AL

Later, Harrison posted this:
"cant wait.. ell oh ell.. smiley face"
From one of our favorite movies.  Love that boy.

Mother's Day 2013



Happy Mother's Day to all of you dear mommies, especially my mommy...
Love you forever Mom.

"Simply having a wonderful Mother's Day time." 
I was treated wonderfully all day.

 

A funny from my babies:

Bella: Let's watch a movie.
Me: Yes. What's a good Mother's Day movie?
Harrison: "The Help"

 

The Very Throwback Ward Talent Show

Talent show up-gussying with Hubby's support

If you're old enough to remember this song, awesome.
If not, just know that it was part of my childhood. Out at our house, the one radio station we could tune into was quite easy listening-prone and yes, it did shape my taste in music. And I AM NOT ASHAMED.  

Years later, married to Hubby, I don't know why but I sang it to him and said "remember this?" and he's old like me, so he did.  I found the title funny - "Feels So Good" - and wondered, "How would the lyrics go?"

Turns out, they go like this:
Feels so good
It feels so good
It feels so good
It feels so good, it feels so good
It feels so good
It feels so good
It feels so good, it feels so flippin' gooooooooood....

And even more years later (tonight), I found myself singing those very inspired lyrics with my favorite seventeen-year-old child, Miss Bella, at our ward talent night.  And we were gonged.

We planned it as a gong show.  We handed a pre-approved gong act list to the bishopric and said "These people WANT and are EXPECTING to be gonged" but they still had to check with everyone on the list before the show started, and even then, had a very, very hard time pulling the trigger on that little gong.  Too hilarious.  Love those sweet tenderhearted menfolk (Bishop P and Brother H).

What a great talent-filled night. Brother F brought his astounding artwork collection, which lined two walls of the gym. We had a display table for "non-performance" talents - I brought some cross stitch projects, Hubby brought some soccer pictures and paraphernalia, Bella her calligraphy and Brennan some leather necklaces he made - ended up selling one to Sandy P! Sweet! And there were amazing displays of woodwork, leather work, photography, quilting, crocheting, archery... we are truly a multi-faceted group.  We also had two tables laden with treats - our Sunday baker Harrison made brownies.

Our family's other two gong acts were Carter's "marksmanship" showcase, which consisted of his standing five feet away from Harrison and shooting Harrison with many, many Nerf darts, and Rosalind's dancing solo in our version of the Harlem Shake - we grabbed some of the ward kids for that one (Hubby ended up on the floor of the stage in his church clothes, doing a move that could only be described as a mock seizure - is it any wonder I love him?).

In case you need a reference (I had to watch several videos before we did this):
For the night's finale, a "Young Women's Dance Number" began onstage with our sweet ladies, and ended in a flash mob and Soul Train taking up the middle of the gym. We planted couples in the audience to stand up and dance at a certain point in the song ("Check out, the wheels are turnin'"), and by the end, other ward members had jumped up and were dancing down the line with us.

I spent a couple of weeks planning this one act and vacillated the whole time between "This is gonna be AWESOME" and "People will think I'm nuts for asking them to do this" and "What if this totally sucks?  Waaaaa!!!"

But it was better than I imagined it would be. BETTER.
 
Best night ever.  My ward is awesome!!!

Later, from dear Pam:
"Thank you again for all your hard work... it was a pretty fantastic evening"

That it was, my friend. 

10:22 PM: *still smiling*

Getting a little wigged out now

The talent show is tomorrow. *shriek*

This from Melanie: