Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

I meant to do this a long, long time ago, but I got so busy I just didn't get around to it. So, please forgive the post-dated entry and enjoy our family Christmas photo & letter. :D



The Our Family Update 2009

Renaissance Man has been crazy busy in 2009, juggling the responsibilities that come with being a full-time grad student, part-time network admin, head TA for the U of U ‘s Mechatronics course, ward financial clerk, husband and father. In his spare time he enjoys eating and sleeping. :) If everything goes as planned, he should graduate with his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in May. Ultimately he’d like to get a PhD and teach at a university, but unless circumstances change we’ll be taking a break and working for a bit before jumping back in.

MamaBug thought she was a busy person last spring when she volunteered to take over the position as Box Tops Coordinator at the kids’ school. That job turned into the additional responsibility of PTA Vice President for the upcoming school year. Shortly after she committed to PTA, she was called as Second Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. In the last few months she has been in charge of a “low energy cooking methods” night (which had a bigger turn out than some of our ward parties), Super Craft Saturday, and the school’s Reflections contest. She has collected and counted thousands of Box Tops and soup labels and volunteered at the school eye clinic and in the kids’ classes. She also managed to can/dehydrate at least 15 different food products to add to our food storage. Now she is certain that she is a busy person. So, if this Christmas note arrives a bit late, she humbly begs your understanding and forgiveness. :)

Princess Bug, who turned 10 in October, has had a great year. In February she placed second place in the 3rd grade science fair with a project studying how best to remove fingernail polish from carpeting. (Anyone want to guess the inspiration for that project?) In early summer, Grandpa sold Princess Bug a digital camera and gave her photography lessons. Those lessons paid off with a first place finish in this year’s Reflections contest. Her entry has moved on to compete at the council level and we are all excited to find out how well she does. She loves to read and has a great sense of humor. She’s also becoming a great helper, especially with her baby brother, 'Lashes.

Sunshine Boy is wishing for his two front teeth for Christmas! He is 7 years old and eagerly awaiting his birthday in April so that he can be baptized. So far this school year he has been asked to be a peer mentor (to model good behavior & kindness for a classmate with issues) and placed 3rd in Visual Art in the Reflection’s contest. He has a talent and passion for building with Legos and designs some really cool ships! Renaissance Man says that he has “The Knack” just like his daddy. (If you aren’t familiar with the term, google “Dilbert The Knack”. It’s worth it. :) ) He has a tender heart and is very mellow and happy.

Bob is our busy, fun, big boy, 4 year old pre-schooler. The pre-school held parent teacher conferences for the first time this year. We were unsurprised to discover that at his start of year evaluation he has already passed end of year goals in his verbal and motor skills. Now we just have to work on his alphabet recognition. He is cheerful and outgoing, charming nearly everyone he meets. He loves playing with his big brother and sister and can’t wait for them to come home from school each day. He also helps keep an eye on 'Lashes. We suspect that in the near future, they will make a fearful (and wonderful) duo.

'Lashes will be 2 in February and is absolutely packed full of personality. He is trying out new words daily. He shocked us all a week or so ago when he followed the example of his big sister and brothers and told us all a knock knock joke. He has outrageously long eyelashes which he will bat at you with an infectious grin. He is the first of the kids to start out with dark hair and keep it. He knows how to move and climb our bar stools as well as how to unscrew lids and turn doorknobs, all of which he is employing regularly, much to MamaBug’s chagrin. He is sweet and cuddly most of the time, but he knows how to throw and impressive tantrum. He loves to tease and explore.

As a family, we joined MamaBug’s mom & aunt on a family vacation in June to Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore and some LDS Church history sights. We loved hiking around and seeing all the cool natural features in Yellowstone. We thought Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments were awesome. The only down side to it all was taking turns running a fever. We loved the whole vacation (the kids have already said they want to do it all over again, without being sick of course) and wished that we had had more time in each place. In July, we joined Renaissance Man’s brother, and his family on a camping trip to Posey Lake. Princess Bug renewed her love for fishing and Sunshine Boy caught his first fish (and a desire to go fishing more often). We all enjoyed paddling around the lake and taking a side trip to Devil’s Garden.

On the whole, we have had a very blessed, happy, and busy year. We send our love and prayers to all of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

A Cute Christmas Special

If you haven't seen this one, it's worth popping over to Hulu to check it out. :D

Prep & Landing

Just In Case You Forget How Many Reindeer On Santa's Sleigh

The Christmas Spirit

It's Very, Very Strange...

to wake up to the morning news on your radio and to realize that the "stupid criminal" story they are reporting is about your car...(Later a cousin sent me this link.)

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

(I'm going to copy the article text to the bottom of this post because I figure some day the video clip won't work anymore.)

RM's car was stolen out of our driveway about 11:25pm on Monday. He was working in the garage and heard it being driven away. He called me to make sure I wasn't in the car (I was in our room working on the computer) and then called 911. The Sheriff's deputy told us that Honda Civics usually disappear into a chop shop within hours, but that since we reported it so quickly, we might get lucky. We made a few phone calls and said a few prayers.

About 1:30am we got a call that the police had our car. After RM got there, he found out that the three guys who stole our car had been caught. They guy who tried running got tackled face down in the snow! We got most everything back (except a clip board full of yet to be turned in homework, ug!) and a few odds and ends. They caught them so fast they didn't have time to do much or take it to the chop shop. The steering column is broken up and the little triangle window in the backseat is busted, but all in all not too bad. The scary thing though is that one of them had part of our garage door opener on him when he was caught. Don't know where the rest is, so our garage door is unplugged until we can replace it with a new code.

Really, this has turned out to be a lot less awful than it could have been. We have been very blessed! We know that the guy who took the car thought he had hours before the car was reported missing. After all, the house was all dark. If RM hadn't been in the garage building stuff for homework, we probably wouldn't have known until morning. Earlier that night RM brought more things into the house from his car than he normally does...including the binder that has all his Master's research notes in it and some expensive parts for this robot. It is being inconvenient, but not too much worse. We're just thrilled the guys that took it are in jail.

"December 8th, 2009 @ 7:31am

WEST VALLEY CITY -- Overnight snowfall helped police track down a man driving a stolen car.

A West Valley City police officer noticed a stolen car on 4000 West near 4100 South around 1 a.m. When he tried to pull over the car, the driver took off.

Officers called in police dogs and followed fresh footprints in the snow to find the suspect around the corner.

Sgt. M.T. Johnson with the West Valley City Police Department said, "I think it's pretty cut and dried. Stolen car and the bad guy got caught."

Eddie Garza was booked into jail for driving a stolen car, fleeing and possession of a burglary instrument."

Possessed by Pomeranian Puppies

Princess Bug is becoming rather obsessed with the thought of owning a dog, specifically a Pomeranian. I have several concerns about this. Besides the whole "care and keeping" issue, Sunshine Boy is mildly asthmatic and shares my dog allergies. He's had asthma attacks after visiting homes with dogs before. We've discussed that if we ever did get a dog, we'd have to get a hypoallergenic breed. In case you haven't noticed, they aren't cheap. (This all began with a friend offering Princess Bug a pure bred Chihuahua at half price as a birthday present.)

In our discussion of dogs tonight she momentarily confused me when she began to discuss "hyperthermogenic" breeds. So, do you think she's related to an engineer? :D

I Crossed the Finish Line!!

Yay me!! I managed a post a day, every day in the month of November. I had a really great time participating, but I think I will welcome the opportunity to skip posting when I don't have much to say. I think those of you who follow me will probably appreciate that too. :D



NaBloPoMo

New background

Hope you like the new decor! It took me awhile to find something I liked AND that would work with my format. I wish people would design their center columns just a little bit wider. So, this is the best of what would fit. I like it, but it just doesn't quite make my heart go zing like the last one did. :P

I guess I just need to break down and learn how to do these things for myself. :P

Word Count & A Forgotten Favorite Photo Friday

Some of you may have noticed that my word count ticker for NaNoWriMo hasn't moved for several weeks. Truthfully, I wish I had done better than I have. However, I'm not feeling sorry for myself in the least. There were several factors that conspired against me. I let them and I'm okay with that. By participating in even a very limited way this year, I have already learned a TON that will prepare me for actually finishing the next time I attempt this. (Which I may very soon. Who cares if it isn't actually in November if I knock out 50,000 words in one month.)

I do want to share one little point of victory. I may not have been writing in a novel everyday this month, but I have made at least a small blog entry every day in November so far. It has been pretty fulfilling and a ton of fun. I just spent a few minutes doing a bit of tallying. Prior to the start of this entry, I have blogged approximately 6497 words between this blog and my private blog. If you add that to what I did on my novel and you'll get about 7225 words.

Not too bad. Definitely more than I've written in any given month for YEARS. It's good practice and I'm grateful for it.

I also realized today that in the hubbub of Black Friday shopping, I neglected to post a favorite photo for Favorite Photo Friday, so here it is now. I can't look at this one without breaking into a fit of giggles.



This one is SO BOB!! It was taken 3/07, just as Bob was approaching his 2nd birthday. Here he is in all his messy faced glory, riding the toy horse that Princess Bug brought home from the circus. Oh, he makes me laugh! This was before our kitchen/front room remodel and you can see the old icky brown cabinets, the big hole in the linoleum, and the horrible dark brown carpet. Nice. Yup, I don't miss those at all. :D

P.S. I'm giving you all fair warning that I'll be fiddling around with my backgrounds for a bit. Last time I did that, I was driving my sister-in-law all sorts of crazy and she had to come back later. :P

Black Friday

I'm not a crazy, rabid Black Friday shopper. I've never gotten up at 4am to go stand in lines to get that thing that everyone just has to have. I do, however, make my way around to a few stores to get things that I want after the main crush of crazy is over. I'm stoked to say that I managed to knock off a big chunk of my shopping today. :D There are still a few things we need to find, but we've gotten a lot finished.

So, do you get up at the crack of dawn to track down the perfect deal?

Thanksgiving Song

Well, I shared my deep and "spiritual" Thanksgiving video a couple of days early. So, I guess I'll share the silly and fun one today.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm grateful to have such good friends in my life.

A Quotation Has Come To Mind

From The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

"'When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.'

That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."

In The Spirit of Thanksgiving

I had planned to post this on Thursday, but I'm feeling a little brain fried tonight and not coming up with a good blog topic for the day. It's always a good think to ponder on what you are grateful for (especially those challenges that don't feel like blessings at the time). Enjoy!!

Footprints in the Snow

I had a rather interesting experience today.

Last night we had our second snow storm of the season. This morning there was about three inches of snow on the ground. There was also a set of footprints that led from the sidewalk into our driveway, back to the sidewalk and up the street. When I went to explore a little more closely you could tell that that set of footprints came up the sidewalk, out to the street where RM's car was parked, back onto the sidewalk and into our driveway and out. It even appeared that they made a brief stop at our mailbox. Obviously someone had been out and about checking cars to see if they were locked. Luckily ours were last night (which they are about 98% of the time).

I decided to follow the footprints a bit in both directions. Those same footprints stopped in the driveways of several of my neighbors as well. I decided to report the suspicious behavior to our local sheriff's office. They sent an officer out. When he arrived, I explained the situation. We had not had anything stolen, neither had my neighbors that I knew of, but obviously there had been someone on the prowl. He asked me what I wanted him to do. I explained that I just wanted the suspicious activity documented (we are trying to start a neighborhood watch in our area) and that I wouldn't be surprised if they had reports of cars broken into as the day when on.

Tonight about 9pm I got a call from a detective with the Sheriff's office. Apparently they had arrested a couple of suspects for breaking into cars along several streets in our neighborhood. He had seen our report and was calling to see if we had had anything stolen. They were in the process of trying to return stolen items to their owners.

I'd like to flatter myself and say that my call helped catch these guys. (After all, there was a set of footprints clearly leaving my driveway and heading up the sidewalk. I think the officer was following them as he left.) But whether I did or not, I am very grateful that last night wasn't one of those very rare nights when I forgot to lock our van or left my purse in the car.

Rationally you know things like have to happen fairly often. But, it is rather strange to have distinct evidence that it has happened, like footprints in the snow. You also have to wonder at the stupidity of these guys, going walkabout on a night where they could leave a trail for the cops to follow. :P

Three Cups of Tea

Ok, as promised, here is my review of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, which is a non-fiction book.



From Goodreads:
Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

As I glanced through reviews given to this book by others on Goodreads, I was surprised to see several low ratings. The chief complaint seemed to be that the book itself is poorly written. Huh. I didn't catch that. Maybe because I listened to it on audio book and didn't actually see much of it in print.

I was captivated by the story the book presents. I was fascinated by Greg Mortenson's efforts to help the children in these mountain villages. I learned a lot about the culture of the area and gained a great deal of respect for these people. They truly aren't much different than we are. Most want the same things we do, a chance to improve ourselves and to give our children a better opportunities than we have had. I think Mortenson is on the right track. Ultimately we will only defeat extremism and terrorism through education and love. Once the general population has been given sufficient education and opportunities, I think they will naturally reject extremism.

Whatever the flaws in the structure of the book itself, I found the themes of the book enlightening and inspiring. I highly recommend it. *****

I'm Drawing a Blank

Usually when I sit down to blog, I have a distinct topic in mind. Not so at the moment. As I sit here reviewing the events of my day/week, I am undecided about what I should share.

I could tell you about cleaning the bedroom that Sunshine Boy & Bob share. It still isn't done, but it's amazing how much better it is in there. Any discussion of that topic would have to include my complete and total frustration with the overall state of my house and my apparent inability to get my kids to embrace cleaning. I welcome any insights anyone wants to share there.

I could tell you about the library book (my library book) that got knocked off the kitchen table, smashed up against our sliding glass door and left to soak up condensation. The end result is that I had to buy the book for twice the cost of what it would have been to buy it online or from any of the big bookstore chains. It's a very good thing that I really, really, liked the book. It's too bad that now my copy of the book has wrinkly water damaged pages. :P Of course, this discussion wouldn't be complete without a review of the book. I'll try really hard to do that properly tomorrow. In the meantime, the title is Three Cups of Tea. It's awesome.

I could tell you about chasing all over the valley to try to locate the specific toys my kids want for Christmas while they were still on sale for a super price. But, that is just kinda boring. (By the way, if anyone happens to spot a Chihuahua Webkinz for a good price, let me know.)

I think I will tell you that probably the highlight of my day was going to visit a family friend who has some mad chiropractic skills. I haven't been this in alignment months. Of course, I'm already trying to slip back out. :( I'm just praying that this helps get rid of the terrible numbness I've had in my left hand. And that, my dear readers, is an entirely different blog post in and of itself.

I'll stop rambling now and try to think about a better topic (with book review) for tomorrow.

Favorite Photo Friday

Pictures of our family in our Halloween costumes are typically among my favorites. This year's picture is no exception. :D Our family has had a "theme" to our costumes from the time Princess Bug turned one (her second Halloween) until the present. This year I had to get creative to pull us together into an overall theme because Princess Bug had a definite plan for what she wanted to be. This just might have been the last year I'll get them all to agree to a group costume. *Sniff*

Here we are as "Our Favorite Magicians."


Top row: Me as Madame Mim, Lashes as Alec (Presto the Magician's Rabbit), and Renaissance Man as Merlin. Bottom row: Princess Bug as Elphaba from Wicked, Bob as Presto the Magician, and Sunshine Boy as Harry Potter.

While I have you all here, I want to share a really cool story about Sunshine Boy's scarf. The Wednesday morning before Halloween I was at "Crafty Ladies", which is group of ladies from my ward that get together every other week for a couple of hours to visit and work on whatever craft projects we have going on. I was using the time to work on our Halloween costumes. I mentioned that the costume shops wanted $20 for Harry Potter scarves, so I was going to sew my own from scraps of felt left over from previous years' costumes. My friend, Teri, volunteered to make one for Sunshine Boy instead. She is very fast at knitting and crocheting and told me flat out that she could have a scarf finished before I could. So, after "Crafty Ladies" was finished for the day, we made a run to Wallyworld to pick up some yarn.

Would you believe she crocheted the entire scarf and had it back to us by Friday afternoon? Would you believe she would have had it to me even sooner, but she got sick on Wednesday night? Sunshine Boy was ecstatic about his scarf. It was just the perfect touch to his costume (along with the homemade light up wand that RM made for him) and it made him feel so special to know it had been made just for him. In fact, he's still wearing it around. I don't think I could get him to put it away into the costume bucket even if I wanted to. :)

A Holiday Happy

I just wanted to share with you one of those "little things" that is making me happy right now. Two years ago I stumbled upon this at my local grocery store.



I am an herbal tea fan and it sounded so yummy I had to try it. I was right. It was perfect, probably my second favorite flavor ever. I bought a couple more boxes before the season was over. When they were all gone a few months later, I was sad. I made a mental note to watch for it the next year. Yay me! Something else to look forward to for the holidays.

Last holiday season came and went, but though I kept an eye open for Ginger Snappish, I never saw it anywhere. So sad!!

A couple of week's ago I stopped into the brand new WinCo grocery store in our area to check it out. (I must admit, I felt a bit overwhelmed. But, I digress.) As I'm nearing the check out stand, what do I see? An entire display of Ginger Snappish and it's sister, Eggnogg'n (which alas is a black tea flavor, so I had to pass it by). It was even on sale for a very good price. I promptly put three boxes in my basket. I may even go back and get more. :D

For those of you who are now curious, here is the description of Ginger Snappish from the Bigelow Tea website.

A snappy ginger herbal tea with a subtle hint of lemon! Bigelow's All Natural Ginger Snappish Herbal Tea...take a special moment just for you! This delicious caffeine-free herbal tea is a blend of ginger with a hint of lemon. 20 individually foil wrapped tea bags per box.

And, here is the list of ingredients:

lemongrass, lemon peel, cinnamon, ginger, lemon verbena, rose hips, natural gingersnap, and natural lemon flavor with other natural flavors (soy lecithin), licorice root, citric acid

If we're lucky, my very cool Master Herbalist sister-in-law will chime in and tell us all about the wonderful healthful properties of these various herbs. Then I might be able to tell you why it is that I crave this stuff. :D

Happy holiday find for me!

More Details & Other Stuff

Ok...I'm back with the details I promised. :D

1. Off and on (for a really long time now) Renaissance Man's right knee will give out without any warning. It just refuses to hold his weight. Once it gives out, it will keep giving out for hours. There have been times when he has actually fallen completely to the ground. It hasn't ever been painful, just really frustrating (and occasionally embarrassing when he falls in public). Well, it has been steadily becoming more frequent. Then, on Sunday, he was in the kitchen helping me clean up a spill on the counter when his knee popped. He was instantly in so much pain he couldn't walk. I helped him to a chair and we immediately iced his knee.

Monday he went to the campus clinic to have his knee looked at. They took x-rays and gave him a brace and crutches. They think it is a torn meniscus. He was told to ice it at night, take 800mg of ibuprofen three times a day and use his crutches until it stops being painful. If he is still in pain in 3 weeks, he's supposed to go back and they'll do an MRI. They are hopeful that it will heal without surgery, because sometimes they can. However, it sounds like surgery is quite common as well.

So, if you are a praying type person and you happen to remember, would you please pray for us that RM's knee will heal without surgery? Thanks!

2. I was reading diligently last night to finish The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow.



I really enjoyed this book. I felt there were some really remarkable insights and some great quotations to be had. It's a quick read and not much of a downer considering you know from the get-go that it was written by a man with terminal cancer. I thought he did a great job celebrating his accomplishments and sharing the lessons learned from them. However, I know one friend who felt like the author was arrogant. :) I guess I can see that, but it didn't bother me. I'd definitely recommend this one. ****

3. I had a friend call me to day to check up on my NaNoWriMo progress. You see, I was the one who got a couple of my friends to sign up. Of course, they are now both significantly ahead of my word count. I haven't even reached the first day's objective yet. Sigh. Truthfully, I wish I cared just a little bit more. My October was so outrageously busy that I still haven't recovered. It's just a bit strange to be in a position that I'd rather clean than write. :P Still, I've been writing at least a little bit every day on my blog for NaBloPoMo and finding that rather fulfilling. I'll be curious to see by the end of November how many words I've written for my blog as opposed to how many I've written for a novel. I'm not giving up on NaNoWriMo, but I'm also not fretting about it.

Other Stuff:

I'm canning again. I know, you thought I was done. Nope. I'm just now getting to the 7 boxes of apples that have been living in my garage ever since they were picked the first weekend in October. I just haven't been able to get to them until now. (See the aforementioned outrageously busy October.) There area few advantages to having my canning delayed this long.

1. My tart Granny Smiths have managed to sweeten a bit over time. I didn't have to put any sugar into the applesauce. It was darn close to what store bought unsweetened applesauce tastes like.

2. No fruit flies. They have all disappeared for the year. Yay!! No need to set fly traps. :)

3. I think my furnace has turned on a whole lot less than my AC would have. :)

I still have way too many boxes to use up, but hey, at least most of them stayed perfectly good until now.

I'm still hoping to find some pumpkins somewhere because I still really, really want to try canning pumpkin this year.

I Have Just Three Things To Say.

1. Renaissance Man is on crutches.

2. I'm trying to finish a book before book group at 10am tomorrow.

3. I don't want to break my post a day in November streak, so I'm posting this now. But, I will post about both of these topics again, in detail, very soon.

Free New Moon Gift

Some of you may remember that my friend Lori designs and sells some awesome t-shirts on Cafe Press. Some of her specialties are Twilight series inspired. She just sent me an email letting me know about some New Moon Freebies at Cafe Press. Go check it out!

Moody Lizard New Moon Announcement

One of her designs is prominently featured. :D

Thinking of You

This post would have been much more appropriate yesterday, but I just didn't manage to make it.

My uncle passed away from cancer two years ago yesterday. He was a really remarkable man and in many ways a second father to me. (My own father passed away when I was fourteen.) He was kind, funny, and loved to laugh. He was a man of great faith and a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He was loved and respected by hundreds. I feel blessed to have had him in my life. I really miss him.

If The Shoe Fits...

Just wanted to share a few funny video clips that feel awfully close to home. After all, if you can't laugh at yourself (or your husband)... :D

A Friday Funny and Introducing Favorite Photo Friday

Here's the funny:

Renaissance Man and Bob were driving home from Grandma's house tonight. They were listening to the oldies radio station when America's "Horse With No Name" came on.

Bob:"Daddy, why doesn't the horse have a name?"
RM: "They just didn't ever give the horse a name, I think."
Bob: "I think I know what I would name him."
RM: "Oh really? What's that?"
Bob: "Blank."
RM: "Blank?"
Bob: "Yeah, Blank."
RM: "Like an empty line?"
Bob: "Yeah, Blank."


Favorite Photo Friday:

I am blatantly stealing this from my friend Sarah. I decided it was a really cool feature on her blog and that I want to do it too. So, thanks, Sarah, for the inspiration. I'm going to try to share one of my favorite photos every Friday. Let me know if I forget. :)

In May of 2007 we went to a community event at our local high school. While we were there, we stopped by the school's greenhouse and bought a bunch of plants for a really good price. Sunshine Boy found a flower that he kept bending over to see so that they were directly at eye level with each other. He simply fell in love. The teacher was uncertain exactly what kind of flower it was since it was a freebie and not a variety they had planted that year. However, to this untrained eye it was clearly a daisy. After a couple of conversations with the flower, Sunshine Boy determined that HIS name was Mimi and that he was very happy to come to live in our garden.

Thank You Mignonne!!

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new background. :D I asked for links and Mignonne shared one that has me happy dancing. I was having trouble finding a background I was completely happy with at any of the links I had. However, I found several at My Style Backgrounds that I would have happily used. This one made my heart sing when I saw it. :D

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mignonne!

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'll happily collect your links as well!


BTW...I left comments for everyone on my Christmas music post.

I Need A New Background

I love my current background, but since it sports jack-o-lanterns and not merely pumpkins, I've decided I need a new one. I've seen several that I'd like to try after Thanksgiving/Christmas, but nothing Fall/Thanksgiving that I knew at first glance was "the one". So, where do you all find your fun backgrounds? This is the list I've managed to bookmark so far:

Shabby Blogs
hot bliggity blog
Delightful Dots
Scrappin' Blogs
Aqua Poppy Designs
Scrap-E-Blog
The Cutest Blog on the Block

I'm sure there are others out there that I haven't come across yet. Come on, share your blogging knowledge with this newcomer. :)

I guess it's that time of year.

There comes a point in every year when the siren pull finally becomes too strong and I finally yield to temptation. Today I went seeking Christmas music. I didn't listen to a whole lot, but I went seeking Christmas music to soothe my ruffled nerves. Not all Christmas music will do this for me, of course. Just like contemporary music, there are certain styles that don't appeal to me. But, there are certain songs that make me happy, calm, etc. I'm going to try to assemble a holiday favorites playlist soon. In the meantime, here's a favorite with a little video. :)



I'm behind in my blog reading again. I'll catch up with you all again soon!

Reflections -- A Pleasant Buzz

As a member of our PTA presidency I was asked to oversee the Reflections contest this year. It has been long overlooked at our school (3 entries last year) and our president wanted to revive the program. My friend Lori helped me and together we pulled it off. This year's theme was "Beauty Is...".

A few weeks ago we held a short assembly to get the kids excited to participate. Yesterday we collected, sorted and had all the entries that had been turned in judged. We had over 30 entries turned in! Today we hung them in the display case for the school to see with award ribbons on them.

We left the school feeling the buzz of a project well done and over (or nearly over). :) Thursday after school we take them down and send the 1st place winners on to council. Then we get to hand back the other entries with participation prizes. The only thing to do after that is have fun shopping for the awards and prizes for the winners. :)

Here are the proud mommy moments of it all...

1) Sunshine Boy took 3rd place in his age group for visual art! I know I'm his mommy, but, I think he should have placed higher. However, I wasn't allowed to judge. ;)





If you can't tell, that is the Earth and Moon. :) (The first place winner's drawing was of butterflies and flowers. I guess the judges found them more beautiful. ;) )

2)Princess Bug took 1st place in her age group for photography!! Her submission will go on to compete at council with a chance to move on to State. These were the two photos she turned in. We enlarged them to 5x7 and mounted them portrait style (in the order seen here) on a 11x14 sheet of black foam core. Printed, the pinks were equally intense.





Pretty good for a, at the time, nine year old don't you think? Her grandpa sold Princess Bug a really good, older model digital camera for a SCREAMING deal just before we went on vacation this year. What the camera lacks in mega pixels it more than makes up for with its Zeiss lens. (Those of you who know photography will get the lens thing.) Then he gave her a quick lesson on how to use it. These photos came out of that very first photo shoot. Can you believe it? :)

Between having the project pretty much over and having my kids do so well, I'm feeling a pretty good buzz about Reflections.






(Too bad I didn't get that buzz after Super Saturday make up night tonight. But, that's a different blog post entirely. :P)

Ever have one of those days...

that just runs you ragged and wears you out? One that for its much busyness leaves you feeling like you've gotten not a lot done? Today was one of those days for me. I'm really looking forward to going to sleep, if only the 20 month old would first. :P

Here's a couple more Sesame Street Google pictures. I'm sure they are about done, and then I will be too. :D







One of the most fun about this has been sharing the fun video clips with my kids. It's just fun and funny to listen to my kids wandering around the house la-la-ing slightly off key Carmen or offering to sell me an O.


Edited to add: You know what's even funnier? Falling asleep at the keyboard and somehow managing to click the publish post as you drop off. Blogging in my sleep. I impress even myself. :P

Pumpkin Patch

I'm just now getting around to uploading my October pictures from the camera to my computer. I haven't had a chance to properly sort through them all, but I thought I'd share a few really quickly.

We went to the pumpkin patch the Thursday before Halloween. It's honestly the first time I'd had an opportunity to even think about going. We had fun, even though it was quite cold and we were in a rush to make another appointment. I got some really cute individual pictures, but the attempts at a group shot were comical to say the least. :D


A little too much personality.


Is anyone looking at the camera?


Maybe portrait instead of landscape will help. No? OK. We're done.

All Together Again

Last night PrincessBug had a sleep over at her cousin's house to celebrate her cousin's birthday. I dropped her off about 3pm and we didn't get her back until about 5:30pm today. It's amazing how much you can miss someone, even in a short amount of time. Her brothers all missed her and were eager to have her to boss them around again. I kept looking around for one more. It was also unusually quiet around our house. Hmmm...

Any way, we are all together again and very glad to be so.

While I'm here, I'll share a couple more Sesame Street Google pictures. They are just so cute. I promise, I'm not nearly as Sesame Street obsessed as I appear to be. :D

Guess What I'm Doing?

Remember the great vinyl cutting disaster of Super Saturday 2009? Well, I have excellent news. I am at Renaissance Man's place of employment, where they replaced the expensive cutting blade on the vinyl machine. We are cutting the last of the vinyl now. Super Saturday make up night will be Tuesday and then I AM A FREE WOMAN!!!

Slow Progress

Well, I'm doing pretty well on my quest to make a blog post each day in the month of November. But, so far I'm not doing nearly as well on my NaNoWriMo script. *Sigh* It's probably too much time spent blogging. ;)

I made a ticker to track my progress until the official NaNoWriMo widgets are working. :P




See, now you can all keep track with me and give me grief for spending too much time blogging. :D



Hey look! Another new Sesame Street birthday notice at Google! It's so cute I had to share it too (and maybe one more sketch for good measure).







Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!!

It was a very happy thing to pop a Google window and discover this:



Yay for Sesame Street's 40th Birthday!

In celebration, I though I'd link you up to a few (who am I kidding, way too many) of my favorite Sesame Street sketches. Here they are in no particular order. Enjoy!!





































Now I really need to go do something useful!!

Skewed Perceptions

I guess I should preface this post with a warning that it might be a little soap boxy. I'm not really fishing for compliments or criticism. I'm just trying to wrap my head around something.

A little background. It should be no surprise to anyone that the finances of a family in grad school would be tight, especially when the grad student is the only one earning an income to support a family of six. However, as last Christmas rolled around, I was feeling particularly blessed. As a result, I made sure our family picked out some Angels from the Salvation Army/Toy for Tots Angel Tree. By the time we were able to go shopping, the childrens' angels were pretty much done, but there were a few crucial items missing from some previously returned angels, so we filled in the gaps. We also helped with a couple of Golden Angels for senior citizens. I felt it was very important to teach my kids to look outside themselves to help others in need.

Well, a couple of weeks ago our school sent home notes letting everyone know where and how to apply for help for Christmas from the Angel Tree program. Can you imagine my shock when I discovered that the income we have made for the last several years (supplemented by student loans) would qualify a family of three for assistance from the Angel Tree? I was also shocked to see just how much a family of six can earn and still qualify for the program (somewhere in the ballpark of 14K more a year than we currently make).

I find myself feeling as if something is just really skewed in either my perceptions or the perceptions of our society, or maybe both. Just who are these families that can't provide Christmas for their kids making that large an income? We made that much once, before the dotcom crash and before RM returned to school. That is the place in life where we finally started being able to put money in savings and pay off our debts. We felt as if we had plenty and to spare.

Somehow it has never crossed my mind that my family is "impoverished". I've always cringed filling out free/reduced lunch forms or CHIP applications just waiting to be told I've crossed some magic line and my kids won't qualify for help. Is there something wrong with me that making what we do it would never cross my mind to apply for help with Christmas? I simply feel too blessed and too surrounded by generous family to ever think we needed help that way. Let the funds go to help others who need it more than we do. We have all that we need and many things that we want. We are doing okay.

I guess now I'm feeling a bit jaded. Did I buy things for children whose parents make a third again more than we do last year? How many of these needy children are really needy? I'm going to have a hard time feeling good about contributing to that program this year, which will really stink for families that truly need it.

I'm also kind of feeling that ignorance was bliss. I think I preferred not knowing just how we look on paper to those who decide just where the poverty line is. Now I know why I've had people look at me strangely when I don't apply to various assistance programs beyond the few we already have. It's uncomfortable to think that "they" assume we aren't able to provide for our kids' needs.

So, I guess I'll keep plugging along, doing my best to feel blessed and highly favored and NOT resentful of others in need. All hail taking pride in your poverty. (Ain't it great how the adversary twists things all around on you. :P)

Something I Forgot to Add to the List

I forgot to add something else to today's random list.

4. My friend Lori is having a sale on the cool t-shirts she designs. You can check it out here.

A Few Randomish Things

I have a few randomish things to share today.

1. My dear friend Carin is having a four year blogoversary very soon. She's having a giveaway of some cool quiltish things to celebrate. Go check it out!

2. As I was getting caught up on my blog reading, I came across this post by Kara, an acquaintance of mine whom I'm really enjoying getting to know better through her blog. I've always known that it was important to read to your kids, but I'm recommitting myself to read more often after reading this fantastic paper. I just wanted to share.

3. Many of you know how much I love art history. I love learning about the artists, the historical setting of the paintings and the time period the were painted in, as well as technique. Well, I also like to laugh. I was recently reintroduced to Sister Randy. The Sister Randy sketches take an irreverent look at art history that just breaks me out in giggles. So, if you know art well enough to recognize the famous paintings Sister Randy so grossly misinterprets, you will probably get a kick out of these. Just be warned that Sister Randy is, well, often randy, irreverent, and once in awhile swears to make a sailor blush. The easiest way to view these is probably on the Sister Randy station on YouTube. There are also more videos at www.sisterrandy.com, but I was having trouble getting those to play for some reason. I've seen most of the skits from the Art History 101 & Art History 102 series, but I can't vouch for the other series. Some of my favorite (and among the cleanest) sketches are Paper, Rock, Scissors, Pull My Finger, and West Side Story.

It's November 1st

Wow. How did that happen? This is a day I've been looking forward to...and now that it is here I feel unprepared.

I guess I'd better back up a bit and explain.

Some of you may remember this post where I told you about signing up to participate in a writer's workshop. I never properly recorded my experiences there on my blog (which I intend to remedy). One of the things I learned about was National Novel Writing Month, which just happens to be November. The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. The goal is not to write a publishable novel (though if you happen to do it--great!), the goal is to develop the habit of writing. I've been so excited to try it this year!

Now it's here. And, my life just isn't where I thought it would be. I still have Super Saturday silliness hanging over my head. My house is even more trashed than usual because I haven't been home for the last three weeks. And, we're out of milk.

But...I'm going to do it anyway.

I don't know how I'll squish it in with all the backed up laundry, dishes, clutter, uncompleted canning (fermenting apples in the garage, anyone?), and extra-curricular activities (the PTA's got me in charge of Reflections), but I'm going to go for it.

I know of two friends who were also planning to participate, so with any luck we'll all cross this finish line together. And, if things go terribly awry, I can always play along with National Blog Posting Month. (Who knew that November was made for writers. ;) )

Tripped At The Finish Line

I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath to hear how my Super Craft Saturday turned out. Well, that can be summed up in a few words.

All hail procrastination.

I have been running for weeks trying to stay on top of everything going on in my life. But, apparently, I should have started running sooner, treated life more like a half-marathon than a 100 meter dash, or at very least more like a relay and passed on the baton more frequently. At any rate, I tripped at the finish line and fell rather flat on my face. (I think I'm out of running metaphors now.)

We had too many projects to begin with. I knew that. I just didn't know how to trim them down any farther, especially since so many of them involved the same set of skills with minor variations. I'd say at least half of the projects (and the most popular two by far) involved vinyl stickers. We had permission from RM's employer to use their plotter to cut our vinyl. We just had to supply our own vinyl, transfer tape, etc. Life being what it is, we didn't have a chance to actually use the machine until Friday night.

We got there an hour later than expected. We had a problem with the files and had to reformat them before we could try cutting. Then, when we were finally able to start cutting (after 11pm) we discovered the blade on the plotter was so dull that it started to shred our vinyl. (Good thing I accidentally over-bought.) It was after midnight when I texted my Relief Society President and asked her to call me if she was still up. She did and I explained about the dull blade and that all the stores that carry replacement blades wouldn't be open again until Monday. She was very reassuring and said that it would be okay. We'd just have to have a midweek activity sometime soon to finish them up. She told me to come home and go to bed. Which I did. But, not until after 2am.

To add insult to injury, every RS Super Saturday in the valley must have decided to do marble magnets, because the marbles have been sold out for weeks. I called every day last week, 2-3 times a day to see if the expected shipment had arrived. No luck. So, I guess we'll do the magnets sometime after the marbles come in. Sigh.

I was SO looking forward to having this project done. Then I was pretty much off the hook until after New Year as far as big church responsibilities go. I guess now we just do our best to get this project over before Thanksgiving. And, yes, it might take that long because I don't know how to fix our vinyl problem. I have a few options, but I still don't know how to resolve this.

Option 1: Wait for RM's work to replace the blade on the machine. I have no idea when they'll get around to doing this and it's not like I can demand they fix it so that I, the wife of a contract employee, can use it for an outside project.

Option 2: Buy a replacement blade for the machine ourselves. The thing is that they cost $60-70 or more. Not sure this is the best use of my funds. If we are going to lay out that much cash, we might as well look at Option 3.

Option 3: Buy my own plotting machine. We very seriously considered this after using the company's machine to cut out our prototype projects. I really wish I had, then I wouldn't have found myself in the mess I made last week. However, the machines are rather spendy, starting in the ballpark of $300. (You can occasionally find better prices if you hunt online, but if you want the "instant" gratification of walking out of a store with it in your hot little hands, you'll pay more.) Fancier models, sturdier models, larger models can all range into the thousands of dollars. I still haven't quite been able to classify this as a need instead of a want, though I'm not alone in wanting. RM can see numerous applications in his world of engineering and would love to play with the machine too. And, I could, once I owned the machine, make use of it in a part-time business kind of way. But, I worry that I'm not creative enough on my own, without reworking others' ideas, to do that sort of thing and the thought of running the business end kinda stresses/depresses me.

Option 4: Find another plotting machine that someone is willing to let me use to cut my stuff.

In any case, we need to figure out what we are doing soon. I'd love to hear your opinions.

The rest of the projects went rather well, I think. I seemed like I was forever running from table to table answering questions and explaining projects. I also spent more time than I had hoped trying to find all the supplies. They were all in the building, just not all with their kin. (Again, all hail organization, or the lack thereof.) Still, everyone seemed understanding of the situation and rolled with the punches, so I can't feel too bad.

But, truth be told, the after-project-high of a job well done just isn't there.

On My Mind While On The Run

I've been running non-stop for a couple of weeks (or more) trying to fulfill all the responsibilities I've got right now. (The most pressing of which is our ward's Super Craft Saturday which will over for better or worse this week.) All this running is one of the reasons I haven't been around much. But, there have been plenty of things on my mind and in my heart that I want to share. So, until it's over and I have some more time, I guess I'll just have to share these two songs. They are songs that are new to me, one because I hadn't heard it until last Saturday, and one because I'd never paid attention to the lyrics when I've heard it in passing. Both just really speak to me right now. Enjoy.

Princess Bug's Birthday

On Tuesday, my Princess Bug turned 10. Wow. Where did those years go?

Princess Bug came to us after four years of marriage and two pregnancy losses. To say that she was much prayed for and much anticipated would be an understatement. I was induced 10 days early, when it was discovered that she was dangerously low on amniotic fluid (anything less than 5ccm is grounds for induction, she had 1.6ccm). After about 7 hours of labor, Princess Bug began to show signs of stress. After awhile, her heart rate stopped returning to baseline after contractions. I still had several hours of labor to go before she would arrive on her own, so we decided to go get her. Just before 11pm they started prepping me for our unscheduled C-section. (I prefer to call it unscheduled rather than emergency. Emergency was the room down the hall. A nurse popped her head into my room to inform the staff there that they had lost the baby's heart tone and were go in NOW.) Princess Bug arrived by c-section 11:35 pm. She was such a tiny thing, only 6lbs. 2oz.


Princess Bug a few days old.

Princess Bug's safe arrival was without a doubt one of the miracles of my life. She has brought us so much joy. It's truly amazing to watch her grow and learn. I can't imagine my life without her. She's becoming quite an accomplished young lady, with burgeoning talents in photography, art and writing. She's a loyal and sensitive friend. I can't tell you the number of little girls that she regularly refers to as "my best friend". She's smart and loves to read and listen to audio books. Her vocabulary and use of language frequently surprises me and makes me smile. She's developing quite the sense of humor and she has a vivid imagination. And to top it all off, the girl is just beautiful, inside and out.

It's such a wonderful blessing to be her mom.


Princess Bug (3) & Sunshine Boy (almost 1)



Princess Bug at 5. One of my all time favorite pictures of her.

(I've got to run now, but I just didn't want to take any longer to post this than I already have. I'll be back to add more pictures a little later.)

Company

Just before our alarm went off this morning Bob crawled into Renaissance Man's side of the bed. As he settled in for a snuggle he said, "Guess what, Daddy? I came to keep you company."

How can you not feel flattered by that? :) RM replied, "Well, I'm so very glad you did."

Here I Go Again

I guess I've really become a part of the blogging world. I'm posting another link to another give away. :P

I realize that most people don't bother to explore all the blogs that their friends follow, so most of you will not be familiar with my friend Wendy's blog, The Shabby Nest. However, her blog is a must see for any of you with even the remotest interest in decorating. The things she does amaze me and her home is super beautiful. One of her sponsors is giving away a really cool necklace there. Hurry, you only have until Thursday to jump into the pool. :)

An Attempt at Family Photos

On September 26th, we attended the baptism of our niece. (Which was a wonderful experience, by the way.) The after-baptism family dinner was held at a park up a nearby canyon. Realizing our family had a chance to get some LONG overdue family pictures taken, I made sure we had on matching clothes. We asked Renaissance Man's dad to take some pictures for us.

I haven't yet had a chance to see the pictures my father-in-law took. But, I'm hoping that he was able to capture something that my camera missed. We were able to get a few cute individual pictures, but I think we're going to have to try again for a family group shot. Here's a few pictures (of varying quality) that came from my camera.

The best of the whole family


RM & Me


The kiddos


Princess Bug


Sunshine Boy


Bob


'Lashes


A favorite shot

Ha! I did it!

After much wailing, whining, and gnashing of teeth, I managed to change my background AND create a matching banner. Hope you like it. :)

Getting Antsy

All you ladies sprucing up your blogs with new Fall/Halloween duds are making me antsy. I think I'll have to spend some time searching for a new background tomorrow. :P

Something New For Me

I've never posted a link on my blog hoping to win a giveaway. However, these fabrics were so pretty, I thought I'd give it a go. If I win, I'll have to learn to quilt. :D

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/

Perception of Beauty

I hadn't seen this video until a friend posted it on Facebook. I tracked it down on Youtube because I can't stop thinking about it. I'd love to hear your feedback.



This just amazes me. Makes you think about what real beauty is all about.

The Importance of an Apostrophe...Or Lack Thereof

There is a company that advertises on the radio here. Their spokesman bugs me to no end. He always strikes me as greasy and untrustworthy...which is really bad when you are a mortgage company. I've heard him deliver the company's motto countless times and today I finally had to look it up to see what I have been hearing. The motto is: Committed to Saving Our Neighbors Money.

But, I swear to you that every time I hear him deliver the line on one of the commercials it feels like he's saying: Committed to Saving Our Neighbor's (or Neighbors') Money. Right into his own bank account. :P

So, there you have it. Was that post random enough for you? :D

Ring Around the Binkie

I don't know exactly what is was...and I'm not really sure I want to know. However, the boy is cute, so I thought I'd share. :)

I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob.

Tonight Renaissance Man and the kids were watching some Rube Goldberg machine videos on You Tube. One of the videos had Bach's "Air on G String" playing in the background. Part way through the video, Bob says, "Daddy this pretty music makes me want to cry."

Who knew my busy boy would be so touched by classical music. I think we'll have to listen to it more often. Goodness knows I own more than enough to get him started.

Later, as Bob and RM related the story to me I asked a rather flippant question to tease RM. "Are you sure he was reacting to the music? With Daddy's engineering genes, are you sure he wasn't reacting to the beautiful machine?" Where upon Princess Bug burst into a fit of giggles that didn't end for several minutes. Apparently I'm even funnier than I thought. :)