Random Heather

I'm not dead.

2012-02-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm just totally worn out.

When I last posted I was starting to feel better from an illness. That didn't last very long. The family got slammed with gross stuff. Since the Mommy is also the Family Nurse I've been pretty busy.

It's amazing how just a couple of weeks of fighting cold and flu bugs can just wreak havoc on everything. We haven't been sick this whole time but I've been doing a lot of catching up, there hasn't been much time for blogging. I apologize, but I do have some great posts planned. That's what I did. Daydreamed about all the fun stuff I could post about while trying not to think about what I had to clean up next.

TMI alert: Proceed With Caution. Those with weak stomachs can skip this blue part.
I'm a wimp. When my sick little four year old cried down the hall that he had "pooped all ober da baffroom" I was not able to clean it up properly. Instead I made a trip to the dumpster. I know it was wasteful but the towel was old and it was worth the sanity I saved. I'm lucky I'd put a towel down on the floor after his bath in the first place. I just bundled it all up and tossed it out, threw Joey in the bath tub again and hosed him off. If you were in my place you would have done the same thing. I promise. I swear if I ever get to build my dream house, the bathroom will have a drain in the center and I will be able to just power spray everything down. I honestly don't understand how people can have kids and carpeted bathrooms.

Alrighty, enough with the gross stuff.

One of the nicer things that kept me busy this month was celebrating the birthdays of both my boys. Joshua turned nine on the 6th and Joseph turned four on the 11th.

We don't do birthday parties every year. Only for the 'big' birthdays, 8, 12, and 16. On the other birthdays we just do cake with the family, a special dinner, and we give the kids a 'shopping spree' at the store of their choosing. Even when it's a big birthday they also have the option of having the spree instead. So far they've all chose the spree. That means I've never had to throw a traditional kid's birthday party. I count myself lucky.

Normally the kids want to go to Toys 'R' Us, Wal-Mart, or Target for their spree. Makes sense to me. Usually Grammy sends them gift cards to one of those places too. (My kids adore gift cards. It's money that they have to spend! Mommy can't make me save it in my bank! I have to get toys!) This year she sent gift cards for Wal-Mart. Naturally I thought that's where Josh would want to go.

Not this year. Can you guess where he wanted to go?

The Rock Store.

Of course.

I have to admit he did end up with some really cool stuff. I need to get a shot of the amethyst he picked up. It's purple and green and really quite pretty. The guy who runs the rock shop is really great and put up with all kinds of chatter from Josh about rocks and minerals. He even helped Josh pick out some Geodes that he took home to break open himself.

Josh has decided when he grows up that he's going to be a Dog Trainer and a Geologist. He's going to train the dogs to find rocks with him. I think it sounds pretty awesome.

We did a shared dinner for the boys' birthdays. Normally we try to split things up so they each feel special. They are less than a week apart though, so we gave them the choice between a shared dinner where we eat out or two separate meals that I cook at home. To my delight they chose to go out to eat. (It also helps that Joey is still too little to care much.)

We went to Chuck-A-Rama (known in my extended family as Up-Chuck-A-Rama after one unfortunate meal where a few aunts and multiple cousins got very ill.) It happens to be one of the few places where we can eat Gluten Free on a budget. There is still a risk of cross contamination, but so far we haven't had a problem. Everybody can also get what they want and that makes meals much more relaxing and peaceful.

"I'm bore!"

When we asked Joey what he wanted for his birthday he just wanted balloons.

"You want to go shopping for some toys."
"No. I'nna haf balloons. Wots of balloons."
"Nothing else? Just balloons?"
"An' a baby sistder."
"A baby sister!?!"
"Yup. Balloons an' a baby sistder."

He got lots of balloons. Not a baby sister. Apparently he thinks we can just buy a baby. Every time we see one in a store he has to fawn all over it (okay, I admit I do too!) and as soon as we walk away he tells me "We needa buy dat baby."

I tell him we can't buy a baby. I told him Mommy and Daddy have to make a baby. His reaction?

"Otay. Do dat."

Right. Sorry kid, our family planning decisions are not made by a four year old.

Don't think I'm forgetting about Elizabeth! Those pictures above show her in the last days of having Rapunzel hair.

She's actually leaning forward a little. She could almost sit on her hair.

She chopped it off!

She donated almost a foot to Locks of Love and what was left was still past her shoulders. It would have stayed past her shoulders but she kept leaning her head to the side as the stylist was combing it. The poor lady had to take about three inches off just to even it up!

I wish we could have left her hair long, she has such gorgeous hair! The problem is that it's so thick that when it's that long it's impossible for her to take care of it by herself. She's eleven years old now, well past the age where Mom should have to chase her down just to brush her hair out.

Her hair is still gorgeous. Since it's so thick and has a natural curl the bottom does a cute little flip that looks totally stylish. All she has to do is run a brush through it and it looks like somebody spent tons of time on it. I'm totally jealous!

She also looks so much older now. While her hair was long I could put her in braids or pigtails and pretend she was still my little girl. Now I have to admit that she's a whole lot closer to young lady than she is to little girl. While I'm so proud and happy for her it also breaks my heart a little. Very bittersweet.

Along with birthdays and illness I also had two Science Fair Projects to help out on. I promise my kids did most of the work, I just helped them organize their data and tried to keep them motivated. Keeping my kids on task is no small feat. Did I mention that our printer is kaput so they had to do the displays completely by hand? Yeah, lots of markers and starting over every time they messed something up. *sigh*

Josh did his project on "The Average Dog In Ogden". He took measurements of a bunch of different dogs at the Ogden Dog Park, interviewed the owners, organized all the data (with my help), then made charts, and did the math to figure out what the average dog would be. He even took all those pictures himself. (We got permission from all the owners, of course.) A big thank you to all the exceptionally patient people who let us bother them and the exceptionally patient dogs who mostly loved the attention.

He worked really hard and he got a 95/100. Wooo Hooo!

Bethy did her project on "Robots and Circuits." She wanted to just build a robot but her teacher said the project had to tie into what they had been learning in class. She worked really, really hard and built a basic circuit that people could actually operate. Eric helped her of course, since we don't allow our kids to use power tools on their own. She did a lot of the work herself though. Then she did the display where she did a diagram of a circuit, what a circuit does, and how it relates to robots.

Here's where I get a little Mama Bear-ish. Her teacher had her turn the project in weeks before the actual Science Fair. I personally helped her bring everything in. The teacher said it was to make sure they were doing what they needed to. When I came back to pick everything up I asked if it was alright. The teacher said it was fine. No mention that she needed to do some more work on it.

Bethy got her grade a few days ago. She got a 70/125. If I did my math right that means she got a 56%. I'm pretty sure that's an "F". Elizabeth worked for a month on this project only to get an F! I'm disgusted.

The Science Fair papers she brought home looked nothing like the paper with her grade on it. The only instructions had lots of suggestions and rules about things like open flames and explosives, but no actual requirements. As far as we knew this was a participation-type grade. The only kids who actually get judged to move on were the 6th graders.

I haven't spoken to her teacher about this yet. I'm still so angry that I don't think a real conversation would be possible. Eric is just about spitting nails. If any of you have any suggestions on how to handle this I sure would appreciate the advice. My ideas aren't really mature or responsible...

*****

Anyway....

I apologize again for being off the radar for so long. I've got some posts that I'm excited to get put up, so please stay with me for just a little longer! I'll be back soon, I promise!!

Sweet!

2012-02-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

I'm well on the road to recovery. I'm just sitting around today wishing my body could handle what my brain wants to do. I'm really weak, but I am feeling better. Not completely well, but better.

I have my own home remedy when I have a cold or allergies. Perrier and Orange Juice. There is something about Perrier that works miracles. The carbonation cuts through the gunk in my throat like some kind of mucus killing Draino, there is nothing like it. There also has to be something about the natural minerals in Perrier because I swear drinking it makes my illness much shorter.

I mix the Perrier with the O.J. mostly for the taste. Drinking straight Perrier works but the flavor makes me want to gag. I could mix it with any kind of juice but I go for orange juice for the extra shot of Vitamin C. I also like to get one can of orange juice concentrate and a can of pineapple juice concentrate and make my own orange-pineapple-Perrier cocktail. I have to already have the cans in the freezer though, otherwise I'll just send Eric to the store for a jug of juice (like I did yesterday.)

I vary the ratio of juice to Perrier depending on how sick I am. If I'm just mildly ill (like today) or I feel the cold coming on then I'll do a quarter glass Perrier to 3/4 juice. If I'm in the middle of a cold then I'll go half and half. When I'm really sick I'll do mostly Perrier and just enough juice to help the taste. If I'm really, really sick and my gag reflex can handle it then I'll just drink straight Perrier. The lemon-lime flavor is the most palateable to me and I think it mixes best with orange juice, but the lime flavor is also good. The lemon-lime is harder to find, so I had to go with lime this time.

This is my third refill for the day. I'm definitely staying hydrated.

Bethy and Joshua were home sick from school yesterday. They were running fevers but weren't feeling too bad. I had a hard time keeping them still and getting them to just rest. Bethy doesn't have a problem just sitting in front of a movie but Josh has ADHD and can't really stay at one thing all day.

I let him sit at the kitchen table and do some art stuff and he made me a sweet little present. I didn't get a shot of it all wrapped up, but here's the little booklet he made me:

I fuzzed out our last name for interwebs security.

Isn't that so cute!!?!

This is something very similar to what I helped my dad do for my mom's Christmas present, so I can't say he came up on it all by himself but he did do this all on his own. He was sure to let me know that he only asked Joey and Bethy what they liked about me and that he did all the work.

They might make me crazy most days but they really are good kids. I might call them my little monsters but I wouldn't trade them for any other kids in the world!!

Sick Day

2012-01-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've got some kind of cold. The older kids seem to have it too. I'll spare you the details, but I apologize in advance for my spelling and grammar issues.

I was actually kind of relieved when the big kids woke up running fevers. Not because I want them to be sick, just because I didn't want to get behind the wheel of a vehicle feeling this bad. My poor Suburban is damaged enough.

I really wanted a Dr. Pepper today, one of the really good kind from that gas station I love. I even tried to get off the couch once to go get one. I nearly passed out.

Then Eric called and suggested I order Jimmy John's for lunch. They deliver and they have Dr. Pepper.

I cried.

I really did. I was so relieved that I would get some caffeine to help with some of this illness and some help feeding the kids lunch at the same time.

Dr. Pepper, Jimmy John's, and Their Royal Hotnesses.

Thank Heaven for Netflix. The kids are watching endless cartoons while I play on my computer. I'm counting my blessings right now. This seems to be a pretty mild illness for everyone, nobody is puking, and the cold medicine seems to be working. Overall it hasn't been too miserable for a sick day.

That could just be the fever talking though.

Busy Week

2012-01-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile. It's been a busy week.

I found out on Monday that my daughter's Science Fair Project was due Thursday. I thought we had another couple of weeks since the Science Fair isn't until February 8th. My son's project isn't due until the first week of February and I somehow missed the memo that told me when Bethy's was due.

Luckily, we hadn't waited until the last minute for her project. Her and her dad have been working on it all month, we just needed to do the big display part of it. Every day last week I spent helping Bethy get her display finished. We were in a rush but I still tried to get her to make things look nice and neat.

In addition to her project being due this week was a big week for my daughter (and me.) Elizabeth had her first friend sleep over on Friday night. Bethy has spent the night with relatives before but never just had a friend over for a good old fashioned slumber party.

I also invited my friend and her kids over for a Play Date set for Saturday morning. My friend's son is one of Josh's best friends and he was kind of upset that he didn't get to have a slumber party too. Having friends over on Saturday was my way of making up for that a little.

Having the slumber party and play date meant that I had to get my house in working order. I did my best, every waking moment, but I still fell a little short. Oh well, at least now my friend knows I'm human. Her house is always clean and neat, so maybe I just grossed her out!

One other thing happened this past week that I need to come clean about.

I smashed my car.

It's still in driving condition and nobody got hurt, but it shook me up pretty bad.

I was pulling into a gas station and there was a guy parked really badly, right were I needed to get through to fill up my tank. I guess I'm still not used to driving such a wide truck because as I was concentrating on not hitting that guy's SUV I scraped my passenger side along one of those concrete barriers. The ones they put up so that drivers like me don't take out the gas pumps.

I mangled both doors on the passenger side. I completely broke off the handle on the front door but the back seat door still works okay.

The wave pattern is kind of pretty...

...if you squint..

...and don't look too close.

This is the first time I've ever caused so much damage to my car. I've been in car accidents, they've just never been my fault.

I was so upset. I'm still upset about it, but on Wednesday I was devastated. I'm really fond of this truck, and I feel so bad about mangling it. When I called Eric to tell him about it I was nearly hysterical. He was really nice about it though. He didn't yell at me or anything. (Mostly because he's nice, but I think he also knew I was punishing myself more than he ever could.)

It will be quite awhile before we'll be able to afford to have Tom fixed though. I'm going to have to drive around with the shame on public display for a few months. I was hoping we'd get to use some of our tax refund to buy a new couch, looks like now I get a couple of new doors instead!

Snowed in

2012-01-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

We've had massive amounts of snow dumped on us since Friday. They're measuring snowfall in feet instead of inches.

You might have seen this video:

That town is a little more than a half hour from us. That is what it looked like around here though. Maybe even worse, we're closer to the mountains. I was smart enough not to try to drive in the weather, my tires just aren't good enough. Luckily Eric's days off coincided with the days the road was bad so he could drive the kids to school in his little truck with the good tires.

On our way to take the kids to school we pass this awesome set of snowmen:

They makes me giggle a little every time I see 'em. I love people with a crazy sense of humor! I stole this picture from the Salt Lake Tribune. I'm glad somebody got a picture of it. We got lots more snow last night and they don't look quite as good any more. Still fun though.

Since I was basically snowed in all weekend I don't have a whole lot to write about. I had a couple of sleepless nights that I think I'm finally recovered from, and that's about it. I do want to apologize for the last post. It was really early in the morning and I was kind of out of it.

I don't want you to think I was just sitting around idle though! I knitted and crocheted a bunch of cat toys for a craft exchange. In my sleep deprived state I boxed them up without taking any pictures. I'm sorry! I do have lots of left over catnip though, I'm thinking of maybe making a few more. They were fun. If you have a cat and would like a kitty toy, let me know.

I also cleaned off my desk/craft/sewing table. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal but trust me it was! My desk sits in our dining room area and it tends to be a dumping ground for all kinds of things. Does it need to be fixed? Put it on Mom's desk. Don't know where it belongs? Put it on Mom's desk. Come in from outside and need to put your hat and gloves somewhere? Mom's desk. That's just the kids. I'm guilty of my own dumping too. If I get a paper from the kids' school, find a recipe in a magazine, have a receipt I need to keep, mail to send, patterns, or whatever other kind of junk I accumulate I tend to just pile it on my desk. Until the mess is so big it takes all day to clean it.

Now I've got it all organized! Woohoo! It's really ugly though, so I'm not going to post a picture yet. Right now my desk is just a folding camping table, a bunch of tool boxes, and a gross filing cabinet. I have plans to redo things, then I will post before and after pictures. It'll have to wait until Spring at the soonest though. My ideas all involve spray paint and I need to do that outside. It's me we're talking about here, I'm an accident waiting to happen. Spray paint mess on the driveway or grass is much less catastrophic than mess on tile and walls!

I also have to 'fess up about something. I got my Zenni glasses quite awhile ago. I know I promised I'd post pictures as soon as I got them but I need to have one pair adjusted at the mall. The mall isn't exactly close by so I've kind of been putting off going. I'm really going to try to go on Thursday though. Feel free to bug me about it.

Another Story Time

2012-01-23T04:10:00.000-07:00

What time is it?

4:30

It's not late

Naw

It's Early

Early

I miss the 90s.

Actually it's 3:16. I woke up around 12:30 for a trip to the bathroom and just couldn't fall back to sleep. I am normally a very sound sleeper, but when I get disturbed I have a really, really hard time getting sleep to come around again.

Since it's the middle of the night and there is nothing to do I'm here on my blog. Rambling about nothing.

Let's see, what should I tell y'all about this time.... Oh, I've got it.

I'm going to tell you about the time I got pneumonia (Holy Cow I spelled it right on my first try!)

When I was about 10 my parents took us on a great winter vacation to some kind of hotel/lodge. I don't think it was a ski resort but I remember we went tubing. What I do know is that the hotel had an indoor heated pool and hot tub. We got a big kick out of that and I think we spent more time in that pool than anywhere else. My sister and I especially had fun in the hot tub, going under water and playing with the jets.

About a day and a half into our vacation I started feeling sick. Really sick. I started running a fever and I was hot enough that my parents decided we'd better go to the hospital. As we were leaving the hotel we happened to pass by the hot tub and for the first time since we got there it wasn't running. It was nasty. There was some kind of green film on top of the water. I don't remember it, but I've heard the story. My mom says it looked like pond scum or algae. If she'd seen it first she never would have let us in that thing.

When we got to the hospital after a torturous car ride I had the pleasure of having my ears scraped out and trying to stand still for X-Rays while I was freezing and weak. Turns out I had an infection in both ears and full-blown pneumonia. I was given a prescription and my mom filled it there in the hospital. I had to take one of the pills right away, so she got me over to a water fountain and I took it.

I got about four steps from the fountain before I 'unswallowed' all over my little brother. He was about four years old at the time and had a beloved Care Bear, Grumpy. I covered this poor boy from head to toe in sick and all he did was stand there, bottom lip quivering and said the words that would soon become family legend,

"She trew up on Drumpy!" (My Joey sounds a lot like Dan did at that age!)

He didn't care at all that he had just been covered in vomit, his only concern was for his precious Grumpy. Sweet kid. My poor dad had to take my little brother into the Mens room to try to somehow hose him off while my mom took me into the Ladies to clean me up. I don't remember how they cleaned him up, but I think having vacation clothes in the car probably helped.

When we finally got home I was put to bed. The next bit of my memory is really hazy. I had a waterbed at that time and I remember that every time I rolled over or moved the waves made me nauseated. I also remember feeling so thirsty but the only thing I could hold down was ice water. If it wasn't absolutely freezing cold I couldn't stomach it. I was so in and out of reality that I would pick up the cup next to my bed thinking it was just a few minutes old when really it had been filled hours before. I'd take a huge gulp of lukewarm water and that would start the fireworks all over again.

When I finally started feeling better I asked what day it was. My mom told me it was Wednesday, so I thought I'd been out of it for three days, since I'd gone to the hospital on a Saturday. Apparently it was Wednesday of the next week. There is a whole week of my life that I have absolutely no memory of. My fourth grade class even made me a Get Well Soon card, but I don't remember seeing it. I heard about it when I got back to school.

My lungs have never been the same since then. I've been told I have permanent damage from the pneumonia. I'm not sure exactly what that means, other than I get winded a little more easily. I was never a very athletic kid, so it didn't matter much.

There you have it, the story of how I single handed-ly ruined a great family get-away. You've got to admit, I really did the job thoroughly! I not only puked on my brother, I'm pretty sure I gave my sister a phobia of hot tubs. I don't know how long it took her to get over that. Yep, when I ruin a vacation I do it with flair!

Well, it's 4:06 now. I'm still wide awake but I think I'm going to try to go back to bed. I've still got a couple hours before I have to get the kids up. Maybe I can get a little sleep. Good night!

Little Parrot

2012-01-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

My three year old (nearly four) is quite the little parrot. He will be paying attention to something else completely and just grab one word from a conversation or TV and repeat it. Over and over. Obviously I have to be careful what I say. Not that I'm bad, but I do tend to use mild expletives. "Crap" is the worst but I also use "Shoot", "Stinkin'", "Freakin'", and "Darn" pretty regularly.

Today I learned that I have to watch the other things I say just as carefully.

First, a little background. I don't often drink soft drinks, especially carbonated ones. I have problems with my gal bladder and carbonation makes it worse, I'm also very sensitive to high fructose corn syrup. However, when I feel a migraine coming I know that having a Dr. Pepper (the only kind of soda I like) will help get rid of the problem before it gets too bad. I always get a fountain drink because they are cheaper and the ice helps dilute it a little. The largest I ever get is 32 ounces. Any bigger and I get in trouble.

Today was one of those days where I needed a Dr. Pepper. I could feel the migraine coming on and I need to get stuff done today. There is a Sinclair gas station down the road from us that not only has the best Dr. Pepper fountain (something about their mix makes it really good, I swear) but they also have a drive-thru so I don't have to unload Joey just for a drink. The people who work there are also really nice and we go there a lot.

Those who know me know that I like to tease. In my family and Eric's family teasing is kind of a sign of affection. We only tease the people we like. If we don't tease you then you should feel left out. Good natured ribbing is par for the course. I also tend to tease my friends and people I feel comfortable with. Sometimes if I'm in a good mood random strangers will also get this treatment. What can I say, I'm a crazy person.

On to the subject of this post.

I dropped the big kids off at school and hit the grocery store. I felt the migraine coming on so I decided to hit the gas station on my way home and get my Dr. Pepper fix.

After the attendant handed me my drink we had to wait a few seconds for my receipt to print so I told him they had the best Dr. Pepper. Teasing him I said, "You guys put crack in the mix, don't you? Just to get people to keep coming back."

He laughed at me and played along basically saying, "Yeah, you caught us. It's all that crack."

We laughed a little and I pulled away. Two seconds later Joey pipes up from the back seat:

"Whas twack?"
"Why dere twack in you dotter pepber?"
"Why dey put twack in you dotter pepber?"

Crap.

I explained that crack is a bad drug and that I was just joking about it being in my Dr. Pepper. I'm hoping he forgets all about it soon. Fingers crossed!

Just so you all know. If you hear my son talking about my soda being laced with drugs. I promise, I do not now nor will I ever consume illegal substances!

I guess if that's the worst thing my kid learns from me I'm still doing okay!

Non-Perfection

2012-01-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I had a dentist appointment this morning. It was in my Google Calendar and everything. I even blogged about it yesterday! This morning I got up and showered and made the freezing drive all the way to the dentist. It was so cold this morning. So cold.

Turns out I didn't have an appointment this morning. I'm just an idiot.

At my last appointment I had a really great hygienist who really got in there and cleaned my teeth. She did such an excellent job that I asked her if it was possible to have her do my teeth every time. She was more than happy to oblige, but it meant that we had to reschedule my next couple of appointments. Silly me, I added the new appointments but didn't delete the old ones.

Who's got two thumbs and can't keep a calendar? ...This girl.

My sensitive tooth is just going to have to wait until next month for my actual appointment.

*****

Now it's time for Show and Tell.

Aren't you just so tired of seeing those perfect blogs with all those perfectly executed craft projects? If you are then you've come to the right place. I'm so completely honest that once I finish a project I'm going to show it off to you guys whether it turns out well or not.

As I've said before, I'm terrible with projects. I get all excited and buy all the supplies and get going, then I get frustrated or bored or distracted and set it aside. Usually for years. My list of UFOs (UnFinished Objects) is getting out of hand so I'm really trying to finish some of them. I'm not going to delude myself and say that I'm not going to start any new projects until the UFOs are done. I'm just going to think about what I need to finish when I get that itchy feeling to start a new project.

This particular project was started in September 2010. It's one of my younger UFOs. Seriously, there is a dress hanging in my closet half-finished that I started two kids ago.

Anyway, the plan was to knit myself some really pretty arm warmers. These were my inspiration and the pattern I used:

From Caron.com

Back in 2010 I got the right one knit up but not sewn together. This is what it looked like when I picked the needles again a few days ago:

Looks good right? It's the first real cable project that I've taken on. I've done some little washcloths just for fun but this is the first wearable, honest-to-goodness cabled wearable I've made.

Okay, so I finished the other one yesterday and I was feeling pretty good about myself. The meteorologists have been predicting a serious cold snap so I was really looking forward to having these babies to keep that gap between my gloves and my sleeve warm.

When I started sewing the seam I noticed that one side was a lot longer than the other. For those who knit, it was the stockinette side. For those who don't knit, it was the side on the the left in the picture above. The smooth side.

I did my best to compensate for the gaping but they didn't turn out very well at all. They are all wonky at the seams and way, way too big. As in, I could use these babies as leg warmers they're so big.

That's the flattering picture! I was really disappointed in this pattern. It was super easy to follow but the sizing is so off. I admit I have little, twig-like arms. This pattern said that the size was Medium/Large and I'm more of a Small/Medium, so I expected them to be a little big. I just thought that was a bonus because I could wear them over my gloves. Unfortunately, these turned out catastrophically big.

Still, they're handy to have when I'm freezing and want to play on my computer. They're not completely useless. I think next time I'll just design my own. Maybe I'll use the same design and just alter it so that it actually fits me. In all reality though, it will probably be a long time before I get around to making a new pair.

Ah well, C'est la Vie.

Teefs

2012-01-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday wasn't much fun. Josh got a small case of the pukes. I'm honestly not sure if he ate something bad or if he caught a quick bug. He wasn't feeling very well all day but felt a little better after he bowed to the porcelain gods.

He was just sick enough to be a pain. He had enough energy to be whiny. Quite whiny. That's how I could tell when he was feeling better. Usually when my kids are sick they get really mellow and quiet. They just want to lay on the couch and watch movies. Josh wanted to eat something right away and kept complaining that he was bored. That's how I knew he wasn't horribly sick. He was running a slight fever. That along with the barfing let me know he wasn't faking. Like I said, just sick enough to be a pain.

Today he was perfectly fine. Which was good since they kids all had Dental appointments. It's one of those places where you have to give at least 24 hours notice before a cancellation or you'll pay for the visit anyway. I understand the policy but it's tough when you have three kids who bring home all kinds of bugs.

"I buss my teefs!"

That picture wasn't taken today, it's actually Joey's first trip to the dentist back in 2010. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken on my phone.

I take the kids to Castle Creek Pediatric Dentistry in North Ogden. It's a cute place. They actually have a castle in the waiting room for the kids to play in. There are toys and video games inside. Every patient gets an entry into their monthly drawing, two entries if they don't have any cavities. They give away good prizes too. Scooters and video games and things like that.

The area where they get their teeth cleaned is in an open area that is painted to look like the garden of the castle. They even have little fairies hanging from the ceiling by fishing line. They also have a movie going on TVs that are tilted so the kids can watch. I think having things open is a really good way to do things. There are three dental chairs, so lots of kids get their teeth done at the same time. I think it takes some of the scariness out of it. The fillings and such are done in separate rooms, so the kids who are getting cleanings don't have to be worried about hearing drills or seeing the all the weird tools.

My kids were good. No cavities for any of them! Yay! I have a dental appointment of my own tomorrow morning first thing. Keep your fingers crossed that I can stay in the no cavity club myself!

I've been having some sensitivity on my lower left side and I'm really scared that I might have another cavity. I just had five filled last Fall. It's the Celiac Disease. Since it went so long without being diagnosed I have some bone issues from not absorbing the vitamins I needed. My teeth are suffering for it. I've been using prescription toothpaste and that helped with sensitivity at first but it doesn't seem to be working now.

I really don't want any more cavities, or worse a root canal. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Running Around

2012-01-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. Busy, busy, busy.

We started out with a Play Date with Joshua's friend from school at 9:00 this morning. I was able to sit and chat with my friend who happens to be the mom of said friend. It's nice to have somebody to chat with that can understand the struggle of raising a kid with above average intelligence but with all the quirks of a normal eight year old.

We got home about 11:30 and made some lunch. At 1:00 we had yet another Play Date, this time with Bethy's friend from school. It's the first time I took Bethy over to their house but I'd met her friend many times. Since I didn't know the Mom other than a short chat on the phone I went into the house to meet her and left the boys in the car.

Bethy's friend wasn't home yet. She'd spent last night with her dad and he was running really late bringing her back. I asked if we should just leave and come back when her girl got home, but the mom insisted that they'd be there any minute. At first her and I just stepped out onto the porch so I could keep an eye on the boys but eventually they got restless and she invited us all to come in and visit.

Her and I got chatting and a little while later her girls got home. We were having such a good time chatting and the kids were playing so nicely that we ended up staying until after 3:00!

When we did finally leave I wanted to stop by a store that a friend told me about. It's called Recreation Outlet (or something really close to that.) It was pretty cool! They have great prices, and tons of cool stuff. It's outdoor gear and some sporting goods, but I found a really cute hat on clearance for $3.99.

Okay, I know it's a dorky picture but give me a break. I'm tired.

Then I think I made a huge mistake.

I took the kids to the rock store.

Joshua loves rocks. In the words of Bethy's friend "He's kind of a rock freak." Until today he was completely unaware that there was such a thing as a rock store. I accidentally let the cat out of the bag. He was talking about a Christmas festival and wondering if it was still going on because he finally had enough money to buy a particular rock that they were selling there. Stupidly I told him that he could just get one at the rock store.

"There's a ROCK store?!"

"...Yeah..."

"HERE? In Ogden?"

"...Yeah..."

"Can we go!!?! Like today?! Please!!"

*mentally smack myself on the head* "Maybe. If you're good."

He was good. So we went. They were supposed to close at 5:00. We got there a little after 4:00 and I was finally able to herd the kids out at about 5:20. All three kids loved it. They have a fountain in the middle with huge koi that if you stick your fingers in the water they may bite. Joey was both fascinated and horrified. There were all kinds of sparkly and shiny things to keep Elizabeth enthralled, and of course Josh was in heaven. I even had fun looking at the stones.

Bruce, the absolute sweetheart of a man who works there was so patient with us. My kids had a million questions and he was more than happy to answer them all. He kept saying how glad he was to see a young kid so in love with rocks. I could really tell that the guy liked what he was doing.

I would show you a picture of all the rocks Joshua bought but he's finally asleep and I'm not messing with that. Maybe tomorrow. I bought Joey a really cool rock that Bruce said was Chinese Turquoise. It is bright yellow. I thought it was some kind of dyed rock but Bruce insisted that it's natural. It is really something to see. Joey went to sleep with it clutched in his chubby little fist. So cute.

After all the rock fun we hit the grocery store to get dinner stuff. Lucky for me Eric cooked, I spent the rest of the evening practically catatonic on the couch. It might not sound like we did a lot, but for me this was a huge day. It's the first Saturday in a very, very long time where I was well enough and actually had enough energy to do things. That's kind of a big deal.

Alright, I'm spent. It's time for me to go get in bed before I fall asleep right here on the couch. If any of this post is incoherent then I apologize. Goodnight all!

Fallen Hero

2012-01-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty hard post to write, that's why it's so late.

Last week an Ogden City Officer, Jared Francom, was killed while trying to serve a search warrant at a drug house. Four other fellow Officers were injured and one of the suspects was also killed.

Yesterday was Officer Francom's funeral and burial. There was also a funeral procession. The news went out that the city wanted people to stand along the procession route and hold American flags to honor the officer. My kids brought home papers saying that their classes had been chosen to attend and that they should dress warmly.

I planned to go but started feeling a little crummy right before we needed to go and I was afraid that sitting out in the cold would be a really bad idea. I totally wimped out, I admit it.

The funeral began at 11:30 and the procession was to begin at 1:00. I left my house at a little after 2:00 to go pick my kids up from school thinking that it would be over. Boy was I wrong. Luckily I had my camera with me and I was able to get a few shots of the procession.

There were police cars from all over the country. It was really touching. The flags were supplied by the Boy Scouts. Around here as a fund raiser they will plant a flag in your yard on every holiday. They took all those flags and lined the entire funeral route. It was a really beautiful sight.

The one thing that I saw that really made me choke up was this:

You see that hat he's wearing? That hat means he's a Veteran of Foreign Wars. A young guy, a veteran, probably the same age as the officer who was killed.

I stopped and talked to him for a minute because I wanted to have his permission to post his picture on my site. His name is Nick Lamb. He told me he wanted to honor the people who fight for our country every day. I'm sure he really knows what that's like. At least when Nick had people shooting at him they were considered an enemy, he knew why they wanted him dead. Officer Francom was killed by the very people he's trying to serve and protect. It was humbling.

I just want to take a moment to publicly thank all the people who work to make my life better. I know you aren't paid enough and a lot of people don't appreciate you, but I do. I really do.

Pictures

2012-01-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not feeling much like talking today, so here's some pictures I took at the Ogden River this afternoon.

The Ogden Sign, looking North. I'm pretty sure that mountain is Ben Lomond.

I always get Ben Lomond and Mt. Ogden confused.

That white billboard says

Recession 101: Chill, (Hysteria fuels recessions.)

A little island.

The water level is really high. Usually we don't see this until Spring.

I love the striped rocks. I wish the picture showed the colors better. That dark tan is actually a really great green.

An old dude and his dog, fishing and smoking.

I asked permission before I took the picture.

Accident Prone

2012-01-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here's my adventure for today. I nearly slid off an icy road into a rather deep, tree lined ditch. Nearly.

I'm accident prone. It's genetic. My dad is a massive klutz. Epic in his capacity to find and escape from accidents. When he was twelve he went through the windshield of a car. He hit his shoulder on the dash and that kept him from flying too far out of the car and it saved his life. Thank goodness he was leaning over trying to feed a rat a grape.

Thirty years ago he had a mortar simulator go off in his hand. By all logic he should have at least needed skin grafts. Nope, he just has hardly noticeable scarring and a hard time when it gets too cold. This man has been in so many car accidents I have honestly lost count. That time with the mortar thingy, we got in an accident bringing him home from the hospital.

A few years ago he was in his back yard checking out the pool filter and it exploded in his face. KAPOW! That's the kind of thing that could kill a lesser man. At first the doctors were hoping for just a skull fracture. Not my dad though, he makes Chuck Norris look mild. My dad has a skull of iron. He 'only' has some nerve damage in his forehead where he was hit and hearing loss in his right ear from the blast. They found pieces of his glasses in the front yard of the people who's back yard shares a fence with the people across the street from my parents. That's a completely different block. My dad is constantly having all kinds of these little near misses, I'm always amazed.

My Joshua also inherited the accident prone gene. Thankfully it seems to dilute with passing generations. I only got half the problem, Josh has a quarter. I'm really hoping he can avoid any major accidents. So far we've only had to deal with four stitches and a burn. No broken bones or anything like that. Knock on wood.

I could detail all my accidents but I think that would get boring. Lets just say that even simple things like doing dishes have been occasions for trips to the E.R. Taking a friend to pick up a rodent skull for a school project? Head wound. Grocery shopping? Sprained wrist.

Today's little mishap was incredibly minor, not one injury. Mostly because I am an awesome driver. I am aware of the accident prone-ness and I compensate by being amazing behind the wheel. I'm careful, I'm slow, I'm a Defensive Driver. That also means I tend to drive like a little old lady. So be it. I'm all about being safe instead of sorry.

This afternoon I was driving to the dog park like I usually do. Today was different though because of all that snow we got on Saturday. The roads at Ft. Buenaventura weren't plowed and it was quite icy. I hit a huge patch on the hill going down and all two tons of Tom headed for the big ol' tree lined ditch.

Since I'm such an amazing driver I just turned into the skid and slowly applied the brakes. I didn't even panic.

I stopped inches from the edge.

Scary, huh?

Now, just because I saved the truck from damage doesn't mean I wasn't still in a little trouble. Tom was stuck pretty well. I wasn't going to be able to get him out. Lucky for me today was Eric's day off and he could come to my rescue. Lots of salt later we were on our way. Thank you honey!

In other news, I'm feeling much better now. I woke up at 1:30 this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep, but Eric was here so I got a pretty darn good nap to make up for it.

I also finished another project! My nephews really liked the hats I made them for Christmas and so did my oldest niece. She liked her brother's so much that Eric told her I'd make her one too. She wanted one in plain black. Black is both good and bad to knit with. On the good side, it hides mistakes. On the bad side, it's hard to see the stitches. When I'm doing something simple like this hat black is great. When I am doing something with a lot of detail I want to use lighter yarn so that all my hard work shows up.

Viola!

I think it needs a huge flower or something but that's not my niece's style. She's much too old for being such a young kid. The reason is that there are two teenage sisters who are really close family friends. Of course, she adores these girls and wants to be just like them. That's not as much fun for me, but I respect her choices. Besides, I have two other nieces who still like the frilly, girly, frou frou things that are so fun to make.

Snow!

2012-01-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Friday I wore a sweatshirt to the dog park. No coat, no hat, not even a pair of gloves. I actually regret not wearing the gloves. Those tennis balls get slobbery. Like really grody. Covered in drool and grass and fur and whatever else the dogs have been getting into. Gee-ross.

What was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, now I remember. Friday was gorgeous. So was the day before it, and the day before that. We've been having some really awesome weather.

I wake up Saturday morning and BAM! here's what I see out my window:

We got like four or five inches of snow! Nothing for months, no White Christmas, nothing. Then BOOM! we practically get snowed in.

I totally made Joshua go out and take that picture by the way. I'm completely sick. Not sick like I caught something, oh no, this one is from my own stupidity.

I didn't take my medicine on Friday and that did it. I didn't do it on purpose, really I didn't. You see, I use one of those week long pill organizers and I'd run out on Thursday. Friday morning I set the thing on the counter, filled it up, then somehow got distracted and forgot to actually take my pills.

I felt a little dizzy on Friday afternoon, but I didn't eat lunch so I wrote it off as being hungry. Saturday morning I woke up feeling really gross. When I went to take my meds, the pills were still there from Friday. It all fell into place.

The thing is, when I don't take my meds my body kind of freaks out. It's called Serotonin Discontinuation Syndrome. They used to call it Serotonin Withdrawals but the doctors didn't like that because it makes it seem like you get addicted to depression meds. I call it Serotonin Sickness and an all around pain in the butt.

It kind of feels like the flu, luckily without the puking. Lots of weakness, nausea, dizziness, and muscle aches. It also comes with these delightful periods of complete oddness that are known as 'Brain Buzz'. I can't really describe them, it's sort of one of those things you have to experience to understand. They make me feel really stupid and out of it and it takes a little while to recover.

I guess my meds stay in my system for 48 hours because I really didn't feel crummy until Saturday. I took my meds yesterday and today but I'm still feeling gross. I don't know how long it will take for me to feel back to normal. I went to bed at 7:00 last night and didn't get up until nearly 9:30. The brain buzzes are gone today but I'm quite shaky and still feeling very flu-like. I'm really hoping that I wake up tomorrow morning feeling all better.

Since I was completely worthless on Saturday I spent most of the day on the couch. I was able to accomplish one thing. I taught Joshua how to play Gin Rummy.

That kid. He picks things up pretty darn fast. Now, I happen to be a pretty good Gin player. I mean, I've never played for money or anything but I win more than I lose. It appears that he completely inherited my skill. There was one round where he got something like 64 points from me! We didn't get a chance to finish our game because I was starting to feel too crummy. Right now as our points stand he's got 82 and I'm at 83. One or two hands should decide it all. I'll let you know how that goes.

Speaking of Joshua, for some reason I took a picture of his eyes yesterday. I remember taking the picture, I just don't remember why I took the picture. Don't get me wrong, he's got gorgeous eyes. They're kind of a brown green mix and he's got fabulous lashes. I just have no idea why I took a picture yesterday. Thank you brain buzz?

Ogden

2012-01-06T22:32:00.001-07:00

I live in a really great town. It actually does have it all. Honestly. Just read on to learn about the awesomeness that is Ogden, Utah, U.S.A.

I'm close to any outdoor activity I could want. You name it, it's here. Mountain biking, skiing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, camping, water sports, skate parks, and a bunch of other things that I can't think of right now. The climate is great and there is always something to do. 365 days a year you can find something outside worth your time. Personally, I go for the camping, biking, and hiking in the warmer months. Eric and the kids are a fan of the fishing. I'll admit, in the colder weather the most outdoorsy I get is taking Leela to the Dog Park. If I knew how to ski or snowboard I could though! I'm only a short drive from a bunch of world class (and Olympic!) ski resorts.

I'm lucky enough to live within walking distance of the Ogden River Parkway which would be cool if it was just a paved path along the Ogden River, but becomes awesome when you add in all the cool things that are along it. Ogden Botanical Gardens, Eccles Dinosaur Park (warning: music), Lorin Farr Swimming Pool (where parts of The Sandlot were filmed), and Pioneer Stadium, to name a few. More things are being developed all the time. There's even a cute little cafe that you can ride your bike right up to. How fun is that?

Aside from the outdoors stuff this town has everything else I could ever want. Ogden is a college town since it's the home of Weber State University. That means we've got all the amenities that go along with having a university. The libraries, the sports teams, all that educational stuff. Not to mention all the fun coffee shops and restaurants that go hand in hand with any college campus.

One of the highlights of Ogden is Historic 25th Street. It's basically two blocks of 25th Street from Wall Avenue to Washington Boulevard that are historically preserved. We even get the occasional film shot down there when they need a place that looks authentic to the early 20th Century. Here's a list on IMDb of all the movies and shows that have been filmed here.

Unlike a lot of historic city centers ours is actually fun to go to. Most other 'Olde Towne' places are tourist traps that are filled with cheesy art galleries, overpriced restaurants, and gross antique shops. At least all the ones I've been to were. 25th Street does have art galleries, antique shops, and restaurants but they're actually places that locals like to go. There's also an independent movie theater, a comedy club, a yarn store, a barber shop, a deli, a DIY pottery place, clothing boutiques, and various other great businesses.

My boys and Leela on 25th Street this Summer during the Farmer's Market.

The very cool looking town hall sits at one end of Historic 25th. On the same plot is the Ogden Amphitheater. In the Summer we've got the Farmer's Market (I'm drooling just thinking about it) and in the Winter it hosts a really cute Christmas Village. On the other end of 25th is the Union Station. It's not only old and historic and all that but it also has a train museum which is incredibly popular with pretty much every five year old boy I've ever met. The Union Station also hosts art shows and events. I've even heard that some schools have dances there! How awesome would that be? Way better than the stinky gym! It's also a real working train station thanks to the Front Runner. There are also rumors that it's haunted which I think is just really cool! Just don't ask me to spend the night there alone!

What I didn't know about my town was that it has an Indie scene. I knew about the amphitheater and I assumed there were occasional music acts. I knew about Peery's Egyptian Theater and the Foursite Film Festival (also a satellite location for Sundance) but I thought that was about it.

A few weeks ago I did a little search on Facebook for Ogden. I was just looking for local businesses that I might not know about or groups that I might be interested in joining. One of the groups I came across was Indie Ogden. After I found the Facebook page I started reading the website and blog. It's pretty freakin' cool and the ladies who write it are just adorable. They list every amazing thing that's going on in Ogden every single day. Stuff that I had no clue about. Local music, local art, local businesses. They are completely expanding my perspective of this town.

Tonight I went to a meeting at Grounds For Coffee (ah-mazing hot cocoa, by the way) and met with the people behind the site. I also met a few other people who think this town is as awesome as I do. It was a great meeting and I'm really hoping I can do a few things to be a part of getting the word out about my city. If I get my act together I might actually get the opportunity to be a regular contributor to the site! How cool would that be?!

Okay, okay. I'll shut up about my town now. At least for a little while. I hope this has given you a little taste of why I love it here so much. Especially you 'Zoners who don't understand how I could have moved out of your state. What can I say? Ogden is my hometown now and I love it!

Dog Park

2012-01-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the dog park after school today. The weather was perfect for it and there were a ton of dogs there. Of course, I forgot my camera! I charged up the battery yesterday and forgot to put it back in my bag. D'oh!

We had lots of fun. There were a bunch of puppies there today. A five month old Rottweiler that I just wanted to squeeze, an adorable eight month old Labrador/Australian Mix, and a very hyper nine month old Golden that kept knocking my kids down. So stinking cute. They were all so soft, especially the Rottie. Gotta love that puppy softness! They definitely made me glad I don't have a puppy though! They had way more energy than I'd be able to handle.

One lady came and brought her Husky/Malamute mix and German Shepherd. The Husky mix looked just like a wolf. He was gorgeous and huge! He was just a big sweetheart and a total wimp. It was so cute! Joshua kept trying to play with him but he was just scaring the pants of the poor dog. Josh would yell his name and go running after him like we do with Leela, but the poor Husky was just scared and would run away from Josh with his tail tucked between his legs. Josh eventually figured out that if he threw a ball then he could get the dog to play.

Leela doesn't really play much at the dog park. She does run around and get some exercise though, and that's what's important. She likes playing with other dogs but they have to really bug her to get her to play with them. It takes her a while to warm up to it. She especially likes playing with little dogs. She likes to chase them down and then chew on their ears. Not hard, she doesn't hurt anybody, just playfully. Some of the little dogs actually like it. It's funny, the ones who like it will get all slobbery. Then when it dries their fur stands up like spikes. It's so gross. I'm just glad Leela doesn't get slobbered on. It's a lot easier to bathe a little dog than it is to wash a beast like her.

Here are a few pictures that Joshua and Bethy took back in November. I'll try to remember my camera tomorrow and get some new shots.

Middle Child

2012-01-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

I spent some time this afternoon outside watching my eight year old, Joshua, do tricks on the new scooter he got from Santa. The light was going but I did manage to get a couple of pictures.

Here's a shot of one of his tricks. He calls it the "I Gotta Go".

Yup, that's my boy!

Sister Friend

2012-01-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

I spent hours last night chatting online with my cousin Shanon. Lots of fun. She's technically my cousin, you know, biologically and all that. In reality though she's much more to me.

When I was a teenager Shanon came to live with us and we went to High School together. Shanon is three years older than me, she was a Senior while I was a lowly Sophomore. She welcomed me into her group of friends and made my whole High School experience so much better.

Since we weren't exactly sisters but cousin seemed too distant to fully explain the relationship, Shanon came up with the term "Sister-Friend". That pretty much sums it up.

Even though Shanon is older than me I've always felt like the Big Sister. It's just my personality. I like to take care of people. I worry, fret, mother, and if we're being perfectly honest, probably smother people too. It's just how I am.

I'm actually trying to convince Shanon to move here. Not only since I think she'd like it here and my town is just amazing. I really, honestly just miss her. My sister-in-laws are awesome, they really are, they're just too normal. I need the color in my life that only Shanon can bring and my kids are seriously lacking in the 'Crazy Aunt' department. My little sister Heidi's kids get Crazy Aunt in spades. Not only do they have me, they've also got my sister's best friend Kim. My kids are pathetically neglected in comparison. Crazy Mom they've got, Crazy Aunt they lack. (By the way, I too have a Crazy Aunt. When we tell crazy relative stories I always win because of her. For those relatives who are reading: I'm not talking about Jeanne, Joanne, or Kitty. Although you all are pretty nuts...)

And now, since she'd have to be here in person in order to murder me with her bare hands, I present embarrassing pictures from High School!!

Summer 1995 at Disneyland. Left to right: Shanon, Heidi, Me, and our little brother Daniel.

Shanon and I in the Fall of 1995. She was blessed with adorable freckles and dimples. I just got zits.

We were paragons of style.

New Glasses

2012-01-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

I ordered new glasses today! Whoo Hoo! Two pairs of regular glasses and one pair of sunglasses. All for under $12 each.

How is this possible you ask? I'll tell you my little secret.

Zenni Optical.

They are brilliant. It's like buying glasses wholesale. I go into any glasses store at the mall, try on a bunch of different frames, decide which ones I like, then come home and find them online for a fraction of the price. What would normally cost me $250 after insurance turns into $15 including shipping. No insurance needed. I can even try the glasses on an uploaded picture of myself to make sure they fit my face correctly.

I first ordered glasses from Zenni in May 2010. I'd just gone to the eye doctor at Lens Crafters and purchases a pair of glasses there. After my insurance the glasses cost me something like $210. I don't have any special prescription or lens needs, but I did have them add the non-reflective coating. Then as an experiment, and because our HSA would pay for it, Eric and I decided to order some frames from Zenni and compare the two. I didn't order the exact same pair but it was the exact same prescription.

Eric has a really strong prescription in his glasses. In order to not have heavy Coke-bottle glasses he has to have the really expensive, light weight lenses in his frames. His one pair of glasses at Lens Crafters was $325. After insurance.

When we placed our 2010 order with Zenni we bought one pair of regular glasses and two pairs of sunglasses for me, and one pair of sunglasses with the more expensive lenses for Eric. Our total including shipping was less than $99. Four pairs of glasses for under a hundred bucks. After spending nearly $500 at the glasses store in the mall. I was already impressed.

It did take us longer than expected to get our frames. The website told us 2-4 weeks and we didn't get ours until just after the four week mark. I was starting to get worried. They did eventually come though and they were worth the wait.

The pair I got from Zenni were meant to be spare glasses. The ones I got from Lens Crafters were supposed to be my grown-up, everyday glasses. Six months after I got my 'grown-up' glasses, they broke. A year later the 'fun' pair are still going strong. They've lost a few of the gems at the temple but are otherwise stellar.

I've heard that some people have a problem with Zenni frames not being the correct prescription. Personally I haven't had a problem. The Zenni glasses are exactly the same to look through as the ones from Lens Crafters. Eric says the same thing. Oh yeah, I can also take my Zenni frames into any local glasses store and they'll do free adjustments to fit them for free.

Since everything went so well with our last order we decided to go ahead and try again. Eric priced some glasses for himself at Lens Crafters for $250 (after insurance.) We found a pair that look exactly the same on Zenni for less than $40. That includes his expensive lenses and the anti-reflective coating. I ordered another three pairs, this time two regular glasses and one pair of sunglasses. Zenni changed their prices a little and the frames I chose were even less expensive than last time. We ordered four pairs of glasses: one pair with anti-reflective and more expensive lenses, one pair with the sunglass tint, and two regular pairs with anti-reflective coating. All for less than $89. They're running a special right now where you get free shipping on orders over $50, so we saved $4.95.

Even if you don't wear prescription glasses I recommend you check these guys out. Less than $17 for a pair of sunglasses is pretty awesome. I know how easy it is to lose and scratch up sunglasses, for this price you could have a whole wardrobe of shades!

According to the website we should get our glasses in 7-14 days. Experience tells me it'll probably be closer to a month. As soon as the box comes in I'll model my glasses and post pictures!

Happy 2012!!

2012-01-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all had lots of fun last night! I stayed up with my two oldest kids watching Netflix and playing on my laptop. I just happened to notice that it said 12:00 on my computer and just sort of told the kids, "Hey guys, it's Midnight. Happy New Year." They were a little disappointed that we didn't watch the ball drop, so I guess I'll have to tune into that next year.

I don't make New Year Resolutions. I know myself well enough to know that I won't keep them. I have enough problems with guilt, I don't need to add to it. I'm also not superstitious about the New Year. I like traditions about starting things fresh, so I do try to start the year off with a clean house. I just don't think it feels like a new year. I prefer Chinese New Year. At least that happens closer to Spring. Then it really feels like things are starting over. Right now everything in Nature is still hibernating. There isn't anything fresh. Nothing feels new. I like to celebrate New Year traditions near Easter. That's when I really feel like shaking off the old and welcoming the new. Especially since I've been living here in Northern Utah. By Easter things are (usually) starting to bud and the weather is warming up. Watching the world wake up and come back to life is a great motivation for me. Midwinter just makes me want to curl up with a book and a cup of peppermint tea. Winter makes me feel like hibernation is really the best idea, I'm not exactly motivated toward action.

So there it is. Today is basically a regular day. Eric let me sleep in really late and I've been spending the rest of the day working on some housework. We skipped church since Eric is still fighting this stomach bug that won't let go and everybody else was up so late. Pretty boring.

I do have a goal for 2012. Not a resolution, just a goal. I want to be better about updating my blog than I had been in 2011. I really got started posting regularly around my birthday in October, so this isn't a recent goal.

Dressember really helped me. I had to not only get dressed up but part of the challenge was to post your outfit on your blog every day. Now that Dressember is over I'm looking for more blog challenges like that. If anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

I'm not just doing this blog to entertain my few readers. If I am entertaining then it's a bonus. Writing in this blog is a lot like journaling for me. I can post how I'm feeling and what I'm doing and learn some things about myself. When I keep up with my blog I seem to do a lot better emotionally. My meds can only do so much to help with my depression. Any other tools I can keep in my arsenal really make the war easier to fight.

Speaking of which, if you happen to notice that I haven't posted in a while that's probably a sign that I'm having a hard time. Dropping me a little note would go a long way to help. When I get depressed it's hard for me to ask for help. Sometimes I don't even realize how bad things are getting until I'm already buried. Having a little wake-up call can help me stop digging myself into a hole while I'm still able to climb out.

Wow, got a little dark there didn't it! Sorry about that. I hope I didn't kill your New Year's 'buzz'. I really do wish all of you a stupendous 2012! If there is anything I can do to help you with your resolutions, just let me know. I am a great listener and I love to motivate people!

Dressember Accessories

2011-12-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

I totally wimped out on the last day of Dressember. If I had somewhere exciting to go I'd probably have some kind of pretty outfit to wear. Since we're just staying home tonight I'm just wearing jeans and another of my Arizona State sweatshirts.

I was up pretty early this morning in order to take delivery of my friend's doggy. My friend had a death in the family and had to leave town suddenly. I told her I'd take her puppy for the day. She was here about 6:30. I didn't feel like getting fully decked out that early, so I just tossed on some jeans in the hope that I would get dressed later. Totally didn't happen.

So here I am. One couch holder downer on each side. Here's a couple shots of my friend's dog, she's a sweetie. In the first one you can see the aforementioned sweatshirt.

In the second you can see how seriously she takes the task of holding down that couch. Wild horses couldn't drag her from her duties. Bacon... now that's a different story.

She really is a sweetheart. Eric came home and she was cuddling with him in a matter of minutes. Never met him before to complete lapdog in seconds. Now he can't keep her off him!

Since I bailed on Dressember I thought I'd take some pictures of my jewelry, just the stuff I wore this month. My full body pictures kind of leave the accessories out and I really want to show them off a little. Especially since I made some of them! I apologize for the quality of the pictures. Shaky hands and close ups are not a good combination.

Opal Ring: 10th Anniversary gift from Eric

Cameo: I made it with pieces from Findings Victoria on Etsy

Faux Pearl Brooch: Garage sale, I think it was less than a quarter.

Butterfly Brooch: Target

Pocket Watch: Victorian Trading Company

Grey Freshwater Pearl Bracelet: A gift from my fabulous sister.

Pearl Necklace and Earrings: A gift from Eric on our Wedding Day.

Silver 'Globe' Earrings: Same Yard Sale as the faux pearl brooch, I think they were ten cents.

Gold Hoops: I think I got them at a mall kiosk but I can't remember.

Opal Necklace and Earrings: A gift from Eric.

Shell Necklace: I bought as a souvenir from the cruise my mom took my sister and I on back in 2006. I got it from the Hilo Hattie store in San Diego.

The four earrings on the left are all made by me. The gold ones on the right were purchased from Feather and Rust on Etsy. I thought displaying them on a glass of Martinelli's was appropriate.

Well, there you go. Dressember has come to an end. I really enjoyed myself and I plan to do it again next year. I know I didn't do a fantabulous job dressing up every day, I'm hoping I'll do better next time.

Happy New Year everybody!

Stay safe and I hope your 2012 is amazing and wonderful!

Late

2011-12-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

I'm running pretty late with this post. I had my picture taken for Dressember around 11:00 yesterday but I didn't sit right down and post like I usually do. Then I took the kids to Wal-Mart to spend their gift cards that they got for Christmas from my parents.

That was quite the ordeal. They absolutely love getting gift cards. The problem is that my kids are not exactly the most decisive. There wasn't one big thing they wanted to get, they wanted lots of little things. We kept going back and forth to the price scanner thingy so I could add up things and make sure they had enough on their cards. Then they'd find something else or have a new idea and the whole process would start all over again. At one point Elizabeth found a Smurf doll with no tag that she absolutely fell in love with. We looked all over that stinkin' store and couldn't find another one. We had to take it to Customer Service to try and find a price. Of course, since there was no tag they had no idea either. They asked us to finish our shopping while they tried to look things up. That was fine except that it made it a lot harder to determine how much Bethy could spend. Ugh. She had to wait until we were at the checkout to make her final decisions. I felt so bad for the people in line behind us.

By the time we got home I was completely wiped out. Practically catatonic. I sat down to play with my Christmas Present and didn't move for the rest of the evening. Thank goodness we were just having bratwurst for dinner. A few minutes in the microwave and dinner is ready. I tossed in a bag of chips and called it good. Okay, actually I just had Josh nuke the brats and told the kids where the chips were. Close enough.

Here I am before the shopping trip:

Luckily I was smart enough to change into my ballet flats before our shopping trip. Those shoes are comfy, just not hours at Wal-Mart comfy.

Scarf: Crazy Horse, I think I got it at J.C. Penny. It was years ago though, so I can't really remember. I bought it after seeing How to Steal a Million for the first time. If I could I would dress like Audrey Hepburn every single day.

Earrings: Another one of my creations.

Top: Wal-Mart

Skirt: Target

Leggings: Motherhood Maternity

Shoes: Wal-Mart

Since I was so late posting here's another bonus picture of my dog holding down the other couch.

What would I do without her? All those couches, just floating around on the ceiling. Oh yeah and my bed. She holds that down too. So helpful.

Rainy Day

2011-12-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

It's a little rainy today. It's actually pretty warm outside. Somewhere in the 40s, I think. It feels more like Spring than Winter.

Just take a look at that sky:

Isn't it gorgeous? It's been awhile since I've been able to use the grey yarn in my Sky Scarf. Today I can! Is it totally sad that I get so excited over such mundane things? Oh well, I prefer to see it as finding the Joy in Everyday Life. Yeah, that sounds much more normal.

Today's outfit is a subtle homage to the 90s. The sweater was a Christmas present from Eric our first Christmas together, 1998. The hiking boots with a skirt was a pretty big trend in the 90s. Especially the early 90s. A trend which I embraced fully. Is it sad that I actually miss the Grunge? Probably. I still listen to my music from then. I ripped the CDs to MP3 years ago. I kept the CDs though. Someday I hope to introduce my grandchildren to the awesomeness that is Green Day's Dookie on "original" CD.

Sweater: Tag says Crystal-Kobe
Polo: No Boundaries from Wal-Mart
Skirt: Issac Mizrahi from Target
Socks: Hanes
Boots: Alpine Design from Sports Authority
Necklace: Made by my Elizabeth

Fashion Show

2011-12-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've got a deluge of pictures of me wearing dresses today. I feel horrible about all the sick days I've taken from Dressember so I put on three different outfits today and forced my long-suffering oldest son to take a bunch of pictures.

I will admit that I didn't wear the first two dresses longer than it took to take the picture and then change. I'll explain why after each shot.

This is the first dress I ever sewed start to finish for myself. It's actually wearable. Okay, it was actually wearable. When I tried it on earlier this month and realized that I really need to let it out. In the bust area. I never thought I'd actually have to say that. I'm used to being the Pirate's Ideal. You know, a sunken chest. Needing to let out a bust is definitely a first for me!

Yeah, as you can see from the picture this dress needs lots of help. One of my Christmas presents is a Dressmaker's Dummy, hopefully I can do a lot of these alterations so that my wardrobe doesn't have to be held together by safety pins!

The shoes I've got on in the picture were purchased especially for that dress. I made Elizabeth a dress in a similar material the same year and those shoes looked just like her dress shoes. I thought it was cute to be a little match-y. They are the most uncomfortable shoes I own. Even more than the ones that left visible bruises. It's too bad they're so cute. I can just make it through the three hours of Church before I have to give up and take them off. I might also take them off any time I'm sitting down at Church. Let's just say I won't be sitting in front while I'm wearing these babies. Also so you know, I only wear them in the Summer. I'm a pretty strict follower of that "No White After Labor Day" rule. I know it's pretty silly but I just can't shake it. I also try to match my shoes to my handbag and belt if I'm wearing one. I swear I was born in the wrong decade.

Here's my red dress, the one I was saving for Christmas.

I think it's time for this one to go in the donate box. I iron it and it still looks so wrinkled. I hate ironing and I really hate ironing when it has no effect. I've also mended the hem three times. It's in need of more mending and I don't think it's worth my time. It's also too tight across the bust, gaping buttons are not attractive. Oh yeah, and the buttons end way too high up on my leg. I have to pin it for about a foot below the last button and that makes the whole drape of the dress wrong. I'm actually kind of glad I was too sick to go to Church on Sunday. I would have been really uncomfortable in that dress.

These shoes were also specifically purchased for this dress. They are the second most uncomfortable shoes I own. The ones that left the bruises are number three on the list. These red shoes are also Summer shoes, I don't wear any tights or nylons with them. I'm also on board with the whole "No Nylons With Open-Toes" rule. I broke it for the pictures of my favorite shoes a few days ago and I'm still feeling kind of guilty. Tights are a different story but it has to be special circumstances. I don't think the picture above is one of those circumstances. I just don't like how it looks. Maybe if they were patterned tights or woven or something.

Okay, here's what I'm actually wearing today:

I thought the ballet flats were appropriate since I feel like my ballet instructor from Third Grade, Ms. Greenwald. The T-shirt is from Target and the rest of the outfit you've already seen.

One last picture before I go. I found this written on our white board. I have no idea which of the two kids who can write actually wrote this but it's just too darn cute not to share:

Sick Day

2011-12-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

I'm still sick. Running a fever and everything. Since I feel like crud I'm staying on vacation from Dressember. I spent most of today sitting on my couch folding laundry and wearing the same sweats and grimy T-shirt I was wearing yesterday. I will admit that I am getting pretty rank. Hopefully I will get a shower before bed tonight, otherwise Eric might just kick me out of the bedroom.

Since I don't have a Dressember picture to post for you guys I thought I'd give you a little list of my favorite time wasting websites.

The Daily What, a site with lots of bite sized fun things.
Etiquette Hell, daily stories of massive etiquette faux-pas.
Very Demotivational, funny "anti-motivational" posters.
Learn From My Fail, funny stories of other people's mistakes.

There are tons more but I'm going to save them for a rainy day.

Holiday

2011-12-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

This was not a stellar Christmas at the Haskett house.

First a little background. Elizabeth's birthday is at the beginning of December. From the beginning I was concerned that her birthday would be overshadowed by Christmas. Because of that I have a few rules. One is that any birthday presents must be wrapped in anything but holiday themed paper. The other one is that our Christmas tree won't go up until after her birthday has passed.

On my side of the family Christmas starts immediately after Thanksgiving. There were times when we actually put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day. Christmas is a big deal in my family. A Big Deal. Coming from this type of background makes waiting to put up the tree a pretty big sacrifice.

This year wasn't too bad. The problem came after Bethy's birthday. We all got sick. Some kind of head cold type deal. We didn't get it all at once either. Oh no, that'd be too easy. It started with Bethy and slowly worked it's way around the family. I had it the longest. Probably because I didn't get the chance to rest since I was busy taking care of sick people. By the time we were all better we were well into the middle of the month and I had a ton of catch-up housework to do.

I finally got the house presentable again and the kids get sick again. This time it's some kind of stomach flu thing that's been going around. I think Eric brought it home from work, the lady he shares a cubicle with was sent home puking. Twice. Wasn't it just sweet of her to share?

Where does that leave me you ask? That leaves me on Christmas Eve with no tree up. Feeling worn out and achy. I rallied the troops though, and we got it done. Without further ado I give you our little tree:

One thing you have to understand about our tree is that we don't put ornaments on it unless they are meaningful to our family. We could have a great big tree but I think it would look funny having those few ornaments all spread out. Each of the ornaments you see in that picture have some kind of special memory attached. Some of those ornaments belonged to my parents and were on every Christmas tree I had growing up. Every one in the family has an ornament from their first Christmas. Whenever we go on vacation we pick up a new ornament from wherever we are. The kids also get a new ornament every year that gets their name and the year written on it. When they move out they'll get to take those with them. I know I'm kind of a snob about it, but that's the explanation for our tiny tree.

Okay, back to the holiday. Christmas Eve was basically spent trying to prepare for Christmas. Eric and I were feeling pretty tired but we were excited for the kids so we just soldiered on. Of course we stayed up late waiting for the kids to go to sleep so that Santa could come, and come he did:

Proof!

Unfortunately, Eric and I both woke up Christmas morning running fevers. The kids were all better but the parents were ailing. Due to the flu-like symptoms Church was definitely out of the question. We lazed around most of the day feeling sorry for ourselves.

Fortunately, the illness left really quickly. When we woke up this morning we were both feeling better. Not great but better. We've been playing catch-up all day, trying to get the house back together after the holiday. I've been running a fever off and on all day.

Things were so discombobulated that I also took a holiday from Dressember. I'm horrible, I know. Even today all I wore were my sweats and a grimy t-shirt. I'm going to try really hard to do better tomorrow, I promise!

Last Minute Christmas Shopping

2011-12-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

I watched my friend's kids yesterday, today she took mine. Woo Hoo! Kid free time! Unfortunately I had to spend the time braving crazy traffic and shopping in crowded stores instead of doing what I would like to have done. You know, sleep.

I was able to knock everything off my list and found a few bargains too. I also managed not to lock myself out of my car, kill the battery, or get in any accidents.

I did all this wearing high heels.

The skirt is another summer skirt. It's linen which means it wrinkles if you look at it funny. It's also very light and breezy. Perfect for Summer. Not so great for Winter. I came home and put on my sweat pants. I'm not sure my backside is defrosted yet...

Today's outfit is really an excuse to wear my new scarf. I could have just worn one of my blue floral dresses but I'm trying really hard not to be repetitive. All though, I am basically out of options. I have a red dress that I'm saving for Christmas but otherwise I'm pretty much done. I think the rest of the month will be variations on the skirts I've already shown you. Now's really the hard part, being really creative with what I already have. It's a good thing I like a challenge!

Scarf: See my last post.
T-Shirt: Target
Skirt: Tag says "Separates by New York Design Co.", I got it at a thrift store
Boots: Mudd

Kimono Scarf

2011-12-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

I showed you a picture yesterday of my latest project.

It's another scarf! I wanted something small and fun that I could wear as more of an accessory than an actual neck warmer.

I think it turned out pretty well. I needed a quick project to kind of help me relax. I've been knitting nothing but presents and using acrylic yarn, I've been dying to get my hands on something a little more fun. Eric took pity on me and let me get this fun yarn at my local yarn store, The Needlepoint Joint.

It's called Kimono, made by a company named Grignasco. As far as I can tell it's an Italian company and the Kimono line has been discontinued. This pattern would work for any fun yarn, but I was able to find some Kimono for sale on Ebay.

Kimono Scarf

Materials:

1 skein Grignasco Kimono

Size 15 knitting needles

Directions:

Cast on 14 stitches

Knit in garter stitch 114 rows or until you run out of yarn. Try to save enough to cast off with!

Weave in the ends and you're done!!

For those interested, I made the brooch from pieces I bought at Findings Victoria on Etsy. A great shop and very nice to work with. The first time I got my order it had been chipped in the mail and they sent me a totally new one at absolutely no charge to me. Plus they let me keep the chipped piece, so I was able to make Elizabeth a matching pin!

Six Kids

2011-12-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have six kids in my house right now. No, I didn't spontaneously give birth to triplets. I volunteered to have my friend's kids over for a while while she did some Christmas shopping. I only get the oldest three, she took her baby with her. Darn it. I was really hoping for some baby cuddles!

Things are going surprisingly well. The oldest boy is good friends with my Josh and they are playing together happily. Bethy and the middle boy are also playing together and so far it's been great.

The youngest is another boy who is just a bit older than Joey and they are like two peas in a pod. They've been having an absolute blast with each other. Things got a little quiet so I worried and went looking. I found them playing with a couple of flashlights in a box that I would have sworn was way too small for two boys. Somehow they made it work and had quite a time. So far, so good. Knock on wood!

I made lunch for everybody. It was so pretty I had to take a picture:

The cut off one on the far left is Bethy's Gluten Free Sandwich.

I feel like Martha Freakin' Stewart. Six nutritious lunches and I didn't even break a sweat. I've already cleaned up the mess too. Gape in awe at my amazing-ness.

Everything went so well I was able to finish my latest project. It's yet another scarf. Here's a quick picture to tease you, I'm going to type up the pattern for another post.

I knew I'd have a house full today, so I went for comfort over fashion again in my Dressember outfit:

The skirt I'm wearing today is actually a dress. It's the same as the blue one I wore on Dressember Eleventh, I bought them both at the same time. On clearance at Wal-Mart. For a store I hate I sure have a lot of clothes from there. The long sleeved T-shirt is from Old Navy. I can't remember if it was on sale, but I'm pretty sure it was. The boots you've all seen before, and I'm not wearing any accessories. Sorry, it's pretty boring today.

Dressember Twenty-first

2011-12-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

I actually saw a patch of blue sky today! YAY!

It was stinking cold out though so I took pictures showing all the layers of my outfit today.

First, all bundled up:

Similar to Dressember First

This is how I ran around the house all morning:

This neck warmer was too cozy to take off.

This is what I wore around the house the rest of the day after lunch:

Too cold for bare arms.

And here's the dress with no layers over it:

This happens to be my favorite dress. Eric bought it for me at Burlington Coat Factory waaaay back in 1999. That's right, this dress is 12 years old. If it were a kid, it'd be a Sixth Grader. If it were Harry Potter, it'd have defeated Voldemort three times. If it were the Beatles, it would have already broken up...

I've mended this dress a few times and it still looks great. I love how it fits and I think it's pretty flattering. It's machine wash and dry-able, and it never wrinkles. Even if it's been stuffed in the bottom of my closet and forgotten. And of course, it's blue!!

I've had twelve years to find the perfect accessories for this dress. The earrings are the latest addition. They were a gift from my good friend who's husband is from Tonga. They are shells in the traditional Tongan shape of a fishing hook. The necklace was my souvenier from the cruise Mom took Heidi and I on back in 2006. I bought them at a Hilo Hattie Hawaiian store in San Diego.

In the winter I wear this dress with my black boots. Gotta love those boots. As awesome as they are though, they don't hold a candle to the amazing, gorgeous, fabulous shoes I wear with it in the summer.

Drum roll please...

I LOVE THESE SHOES!! I think if my house was on fire I might just grab these shoes after I made sure the kids were safe.

They so totally fit my personality. The style is called 'Harlow' which fits right in with my love of old, old Hollywood. They have an ankle strap which means I don't have to worry about them slipping around. They're eye catching without being over done. Love them! Normally I wear them barefoot, the nylons are for warmth and the picture.

I actually bought these shoes at a real life Department Store. Not an outlet, not a thrift shop, not a yard sale, a real store in a real mall. Of course, they were on sale for half off but that's not the point! The point is that.... the point...the... Okay, there is no point. I just wanted to prove to you all that I am capable of buying things new. I don't prefer it, but I am capable. Especially when the items are as cute as these shoes are!

Outfit Info:
Earrings: Gift from a friend
Coat: Wilson Leather, thrifted
Neck Warmer: Made it myself
Necklace: Hilo Hattie
Dress: The tag says Max Taylor, bought at Burlington Coat Factory in AZ Mills.
Watch: Fossil, gift from Eric
Boots: Mudd
Strappy Awesomeness heels: Amanda Smith 'Harlow', I think I bought them at Z.C.M.I. (before it was sold.)

*****

For those of my friends who celebrate it,

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!!

Idiot

2011-12-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I'm an idiot? I really am.

Just when I think things are going well and that I've got this whole "being a grown-up" thing down, I go and do something completely stupid and prove what an idiot I actually am.

Wanna hear about today's episode? Too bad, this is my blog and I'm gunna tell you anyway.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning first thing. I left the youngest monster with Eric and dropped the bigger monsters off at school. Home was in the opposite direction of my appointment, so I just headed right there. Usually I drive by the university and hit traffic. Since it's Winter Break for them there was no traffic to speak of and my kids were actually ready for school on time. This combination made me quite early to my appointment. This unusual punctuality is important later in the story.

I have my appointment, no big deal, routine stuff. Then I leave the building and head out to my car. Walking up I notice my mistake.

I left the lights on.

It was foggy this morning and by the time I got to my appointment it wasn't dark any more. I had my lights on so other people could see me, since white trucks can blend in with fog. I thought I was being safe. When I pulled into the parking lot there was another lady leaving with her lights on and I said to myself "Don't forget to shut off the lights."

I should have just reached over and shut them off then. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot. So I didn't. Instead my head jumped to another subject, then another, and another.

Somewhere in between finding my lip balm, deciding whether to take or leave my gloves, and remembering to lock the doors, I left the lights on. FYI, the truck doesn't chime when the lights are on and the engine is off. If I leave my keys in the ignition it beeps at me, just not when I leave the lights on.

You, my intellegent readers, can guess what happened next. I go out and see that my lights are still on. Really, really dim, but still on. I was unusually early to my appointment, the lights were on quite a long time. Since the lights were still burning I got a rush of hope thinking that maybe, just maybe, the car had enough juice to start.

I'm not that lucky.

What I am is lucky enough to have an awesome husband who makes sure my car is equipped for emergencies, so I have jumper cables in my truck. *Whew*

There also just happened to be a guy sitting in the parking lot with his engine running. I walked over and asked if he would "Give me a jump." Lucky for me he agreed.

Problem solved, right? Yeah, I wish. You didn't think I'd get away that easily did you?

After he pulled his SUV closer we realized that our batteries were on opposite sides of our engines and there was no way we could get my cables to reach. He could have pulled into the spot on the other side of me except that there was already somebody parked there.

Here's where the real blessings come in. Just as the short cable realization is settling in another guy walks up with another pair of cables and asks if we need to borrow them! I was able to connect the two cables to each other and get my car up and running once again.

Wanna hear the real kicker? After I got my car started I asked the men their names to thank them properly. As I shook the first guy's hand he told me his name is Eric. The second guy? His name is Josh. The names of my husband and oldest son! How cool is that!

While we were standing around waiting for my battery to get enough of a charge to start the guy named Josh looked and me and kind of blurted out "What are you wearing?"

I don't blame him, I looked like this:

Scary.

I had the bright idea to have a little fun with today's look and decided to show my Sun Devil Pride. I was going for some kind of geeky schoolgirl look. Nailed it! I'll admit, I didn't actually attend Arizona State University. I just have family ties to the school. They're who I root for. It's where I would have gone if I had gone to college, so there's that. Also, this outfit looked a lot better in my head.

For those of you who aren't into ASU, these are also my Gryffindor colors. If you don't know what that means... I don't know if I want to be your friend any more... (totally kidding, of course.)

So yeah, you can totally understand why any normal person would take one look at those socks and wonder. I was also wearing a skirt in sub-freezing temperatures, which isn't exactly normal around here. I really don't blame the guy for thinking I'm bizarre. Of all the days this month, why couldn't I break down looking halfway decent? (I'm also doing the Heidi braids again, just adding to the geek factor.) Go ahead, have a little laugh at my expense. I've made my peace with it.

Polo: Mossimo for Target
Sweatshirt: Gift from my Dad.
Skirt: Issac Mizrahi for Target
Socks: Specialty sock store in the mall that has now gone out of business.
Shoes: Thrift Store. Aren't they awful? I bought them for reenacting, they were the only thing I had that I could wear with those socks that wouldn't completely clash and would still fit. Forgive me. I came home and put on my fuzzy slippers. (I'm also wearing nylons, it's too cold for any bare leg.)

Mormons for Devils!!

Dressember Nineteenth

2011-12-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

I'm feeling much better after a good sleep. Thank goodness. The air quality isn't any better but this seems to have been a pretty short lived illness. The fever only lasted a few days. I'm still having a hard time breathing but I'm pretty sure that's due to the air and not sickness. It doesn't hurt to breathe, just not easy. Kind of like when allergy season comes around.

Here's my submission for Dressember 19th:

Am I the only one who thinks Mickey's head looks like it's on fire in the background?

I'm not a huge fan of this skirt. It doesn't fit me at all. It's a size 12 and I had to pin the waist to get it to stay up. I like the shape of it so I might just take it in. I haven't decided yet. This is the last skirt from the collection I bought as running around in clothes that Summer. I really can't remember if it was last Summer or the one before.

Ponytail holder and earrings: More of my crafts.
T-Shirt: Target
Skirt: Kathy Lee Collection, thrifted
Boots: Mudd

Sick Sunday

2011-12-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've been dealing with sick kids, both my school aged kiddos started running fevers and dealing with sore throats. Now they're feeling better. Not totally 100% yet but they're getting there.

The whole time they were sick I was feeling a little under the weather. I was hoping that would be all, unfortunately I got whatever this is too. B-E-A-youtiful.

We're also having some really nasty air quality problems which are making things worse. If I was going with literal colors my Sky Scarf would be an ugly yellowish off-white. I want to end up with a pretty scarf though, so I'm just sticking with overcast white. Here's a picture of my scarf so you can see my progress. All that white on the top is from nasty, overcast days.

Two whole months of skies.

My throat hurts and it's getting difficult to breathe. Something as restrictive as a bra is out of the question today. (TMI) Even if I was up for throwing on a dress today there is no way I'm going to post a picture of myself 'au naturale' online. (Hear that in your head in a pathetic French accent.) Yet again I fail at my Dressember plan. I'm really, really hoping I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Instead of a picture of me in a dress (you guys are sick of those anyway, right?) I'm posting a couple random shots I took this weekend.

This is my gorgeous dog, Leela.

She is doing an excellent job of warming my computer cord and holding the couch down. If I didn't know better I'd say she's trying to lull any robbers into a false sense of security by pretending to sleep. Unfortunately, I know she's just a great big softy and a great big scared-y cat.

My kids all have artistic talents. They really do. I think my youngest has a great career in the world of sculpture. Here's his latest installation:

What I couldn't get a good shot of are the stuffed animals caged in the overturned laundry basket. He's always doing this kind of thing. Usually he erects his masterpiece and then wrecks it. This one must have been special to him because he left it up most of the day. Long enough for me to get this shot. This one is also one of the biggest. I'm kind of hoping he doesn't get any bigger unless it's in the back yard.

I also thought I'd show you guys one of my paintings. This one was done awhile ago but it's my favorite. It's called "Imagine I":

I take the letters of the word and use them as a framework for the painting. I think it's a pretty unique way of doing things. I can even call myself an artist since I sold a painting once. I adore custom work, so if you know of somebody who needs a great and totally unique gift... Just let me know. (Shameless plug over!)

Okay. That's all I have energy for. Now back to my peppermint tea and horehound drops.

The Teal Dress

2011-12-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm finally wearing the teal dress I bought at the thrift store back at the beginning of the month. I haven't found the right opaque tights for it yet so I'm just wearing my old white ones.

I've been dealing with sick kids and nasty, polluted, overcast Winter-y air. Plus, I'm not feeling too hot myself. I really needed a little pick-me-up so I decided wearing my new dress would do it.

Did I mention it's a size 4/6?

Any 31 year old woman who has given birth to three children who can fit into a size 4/6 (vanity sized or not) should feel at least a little happy about that fact. I'm giddy. I love this dress!

I think the shape is pretty flattering to my figure. And...

...IT HAS POCKETS!!!

That's my usual outside shot. I have most of my pictures taken here in the front yard because the light is better. This morning it was too good. I'm all squinty. I came back in, saw the shots and had Elizabeth take a few more inside.

As you can see from the pictures, the dress is pretty short. Thank goodness for opaque tights!! They cover so nicely! The pictures don't really show the color of the dress very well, it's more green-teal. I'm looking for the perfect pair of bright tights or leggings to go with it. I'm thinking magenta. Purple is a lot easier to find apparently but I really want a bright pink. Let me know if you see some.

Glasses: Zenni Optical

Earrings: Another yard sale, I think they were a dime.

Dress: Jody California, thrifted

Tights: Target

Boots: Mudd, purchased at Famous Footwear

Watch: Fossil, gift from Hubby (all my pricey jewelry has been a gift from Eric.)

Dressember Sixteenth

2011-12-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a shower yesterday and so I saved my crazy outfit for today. I've got two sick kids and I didn't get a shower until after 4:30. When I finally got myself dressed the sun was setting. Sorry if the picture is a little dim.

It's kind of a crazy outfit. I'd really like to hear your feedback on it. The dress is low cut, I usually wear it with a black tank top in the summer time. It's the dressiest dress I have. It's what I wore for the formal night on the cruise my mom took my sister and I on back in 2006.

Since it's obviously cold I decided to try layering it with a turtleneck and leggings this time. I was afraid that a black turtleneck would make the outfit too funeral-like so I went for the cranberry colored one instead.

The pictures that Josh took of me outside don't really show the front of the dress very well so I had him take a few of me inside as well.

You can see the empire waist much better now, and most of the shirring. You can also see how low it is in the front.

Turtleneck: Target, on clearance

Dress: Mossimo for Target

Pearl Pin: Vintage, I got it at a garage sale for a quarter

Leggings: Motherhood Maternity

Shoes: No Boundaries for Wal-Mart

Opal Ring: Gift from Eric

Watch: Fossil, gift from Eric

Glasses: Zenni

Since I have a somewhat decent picture of my hair I thought I'd give an update on the method I've been using for my hair. I LOVE IT!! My hair is so soft. I only have to 'wash' it twice a week tops. I can go five days between washing if I need to before the oily gets to be too much for me. My hair even smells good. My husband complements it, he says it smells like me. At least, I think that's a compliment. It's super cheap too. I love when frugal, homemade things turn out so much better than their store bought counterparts. I've been using it on my kids and it's working so well. I've just got to get Eric to try it out and I think the whole house will be Shampoo Free!

Dressember Fourteenth Part Two

2011-12-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

If you were waiting with bated breath for my second outfit of the day then I apologize.

When I picked the kids up from school it was very clear that Bethy wasn't feeling very well. We're having some nasty Winter air problems and it's really taking a tole on her. Since she wasn't feeling well I stayed home with her and the littlest monster while Eric went to Josh's Choir/Recorder concert.

I stayed in my jeans and grubby shirt. Sue me.

I'm not dressed for the day today yet either. Same jeans and grubby shirt. The missionaries are coming over tonight and I have a ton of housework to do. Then I will shower and get dressed. I have kind of a weird outfit planned for tonight, so I'd love your feedback.

In other news, we received our 2nd Annual box of caramel apples from my mom. (Hint, Hint Mom. Second Annual, as in please make this a tradition!!)

My mom gets these apples for us from QVC, they're called Mrs. Prindables. They are awesome!! I can't find the ones she sends on their website, so they must be a special thing for QVC. The ones we get are dipped in caramel, then rolled in chocolate chips and colorful sprinkles. We get three different kinds: white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. They are so yummy!

In fact, I'm having a white chocolate one for breakfast right now. My logic is that it's mostly fruit, which is good for me. That makes it a healthy breakfast. Just like brownies, 'cuz they have eggs in them. Everybody knows eggs are a breakfast food.

I'm also having Dr. Pepper for breakfast. It's already been one of those days.

Dressember Fourteenth Part One

2011-12-14T11:14:00.001-07:00

This was posted on my friend's Facebook status and I thought it was fun. I don't like posting this kind of thing on my profile, so I thought I'd do it here. (Thanks Deena!)

Everyone has six names. Let's see what mine are...

1. Your real name: Heather
2. Your detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Blue Monkey
3. Your soap opera name (middle name and street you live on): Erin Madison
4. Your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of last name, first 2 of middle name, first 2 of first, last 3 of last): Haserheett (I'm going to pretend that rhymes with Laser Heat!)
5. Superhero name (Color of your shirt and first item to your immediate left): Black Phone
6. Goth name (black and one of your current or former pets) : Black Leela

Okay, that was kind of fun.

*****

As some of you may know, I'm a member of the Utah Civil War Association (UCWA.) It's kind of a long story as to how I got involved, but since this is my blog I think it's okay.

It starts with my good friend (our moms are best friends, so I actually call her my cousin) Kelly. Kelly went to college up here and in the summers she worked at This is the Place Heritage Park (TITP.) My family was up for a visit the summer of 2008 and we went to see her and have a tour of the park.

It was a really fun experience and I really liked what she was doing. I've always been a big fan of history, and what Kelly was doing seemed like it would be right up my alley. I have rather a flair for the dramatic and it looked like a lot of fun to dress up in costume and pretend to be an early settler. I am also really interested in hand crafts and other old-time pursuits.

The problem at the time was that Joey was only a few months old and I didn't know how to do the volunteering with him that small. I put the idea on the back burner and left it there.

Fast forward to the end of 2009. Joey was walking and running around like a little maniac, so I wouldn't have to worry about coming up with some kind of 1850s baby carrying solution. I contacted Kelly and asked her how I should get started.

Kelly recommended that I get in touch with the American West Heritage Center (AWHC.) AWHC is just like TITP but it's located in Logan instead of Salt Lake, and it isn't quite as well known. I preferred the drive to Logan because I could go 75 MPH and there was much less traffic.

In January 2010 I met with the Volunteer Coordinator for AWHC and jumped right in. I went to a few classes and sewed myself and Joey outfits authentic to 1858. In the Spring I started out volunteering at their Baby Animal Days. It's just like it sounds, baby farm animals all over the place! So much fun! Then I started doing the school groups and talking about the Pioneer Kitchen. I learned so much and really enjoyed myself.

Unfortunately I was suffering from some health problems. That and the cost of gas made it impossible for me to volunteer any more. I was really upset, but it was the right decision for me and my family.

Towards the fall I started feeling better and wanted to get some more use out of the dress that I had worked so hard on. I talked to Kelly again and she suggested I find the Utah Civil War Association. I looked them up online and emailed the president. He told me to contact Amanda and Rachel on Facebook. I sent them messages and they immediately "friended" me and kept me in the loop. I got to know these two wonderful ladies over the next few months.

By the time I'd met Amanda and Rachel the season was basically over. There was one event left but I wasn't able to attend. Then the Christmas party, which I also missed.

In January I received an invitation from another member of the group to attend a Ladies Tea Party. I'm all about Tea Parties, so I was super excited to be invited. I contacted the Beehive Tea Room to make sure they could accommodate my Gluten Free diet, then sent my RSVP to the affirmative. I was so completely excited!

The lady who was organizing the party was a dear woman named Victoria. I sent her a private message asking her if she'd help me with my dress and she graciously agreed. We had a few sewing days at her house and she loaned me a corset and a hoop. With her help I was able to take my dress from a frumpy, ill fitting mess to a fitted 1860s day dress. It looks ever so much better now. I also helped her make a new frock for herself.

While we were having our sewing days in January 2011, Victoria gave me a ride down to Ft. Douglas in Salt Lake City for my first official UCWA meeting. I finally got to meet Amanda and Rachel in person! Of course, they were completely lovely and also introduced me to a sweet gal named Jorden. Jorden and I have since become quite good friends.

When it came to the Tea Party we actually turned it into a meeting and organized ourselves into an auxiliary organization to go along with the UCWA. We're the UCWA Ladies and Civilians Auxiliary. We let the soldiers do their thing and we take care of everything that's not in uniform.

The rest is history. I became a full fledged member completely because of the people I met. I sort of fell into the whole Civil War thing. Some are into reenacting because they feel strongly about it. I'm into it because it's fun, I love teaching people about history, and the people I get to hang out with have become some of my best friends. All that and the fact that hoop skirts are just plain FUN!

Now, there is a reason why I'm telling you this long story. Last night was the annual Christmas Party and I missed it again. It was on a school night and there was no way I could go and still have my kids in bed in time for them to not be monsters in the morning. Josh has a choir concert today, so he really needed his sleep.

In honor of my friends at the UCWA I am now submitting for your viewing pleasure, Dressember the Fourteenth: A picture of me in my Civil War Finery. (Taken this summer.)

Hat: I bought the blank and decorated it myself.

Dress: Made by ME!! With Victoria's help tailoring.

Collar, Belt, Cuffs, Earrings, Neck Bow: All made by me.

Pocket Watch: The Victorian Trading Company

Glasses: The Blockade Runner, Lens Crafters put my prescription lenses in for me.

I also bought the corset from a dear lady at Treadle Treasures on Etsy and my hoop from Fall Creek Suttlery.

As I mentioned before, Josh has a choir concert tonight. I'll get dressed up a little for that so I'll have another Dressember entry for today. Hopefully that'll make up for some of the days I've missed! I just wanted to get this blog post done while my bigger kids are at school.

Found the Mouse!

2011-12-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

I found the mouse! Yay! I don't have to knit a whole new one!! Whoo Hoo! Here she is, Marisol the Knitted Mouse.

The little scarf wasn't in the original pattern . I just thought she looked a little naked and so I knitted up an I-cord scarf for her. I think it adds quite a bit, don't you?

I'm so glad I found this little mouse. It didn't take too much time to work her up, I just have so many other things that need to get done. It was overwhelming to think that I needed to add something back onto my list.

Care to guess where I found her? Take a minute.

Are you picturing it in your mind? Have no idea?

I found her in my knitting basket. Yup. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm an idiot.

She was hiding under my yarn. I swear I pulled it all out looking for her but I guess I just didn't look hard enough. I thought for sure that Joey ran off with it. I asked him where it was and he took me on a wild goose chase. First he told me it was in his room, then he told me it was wrapped around a tire in my bedroom. For the record, I don't have any tires in my bedroom.

What I do have is this outfit.

Gold Earrings: Vintage purchased from Feather and Rust on Etsy. It's a great store with really reasonable prices, you should definitely check it out.
White Shirt: I got this shirt while I was in High School. I can't remember which store I bought it at, but it might have been Mervyns. The tag is long gone. I think I've worn this shirt to every job interview since my Junior year.
Brown Sweater: Dress Barn via Thrift Store
Skirt: Isaac Mizrahi purchased at Target
Tights: Target
Shoes: I adore T-Straps! I bought these sometime after the movie Chicago came out. They're George, so I think that means I got them at Wal-Mart. They're my flapper shoes, excellent for dancing.

By the way, it's snowing. It started while I was having my picture taken and there's at least a half-inch already on the ground. I spun out this morning making a left turn. It was wild. Luckily I was going very slowly and there weren't any other cars around. This is what went through my head:

"Steer into the skid."
"Wait, is it into the skid or opposite the skid?"
"Holy crap I hope nobody I know sees this."
"No, it's definitely into the skid."
"Okay, this is working."
"Please no cops either."
"Can I get a ticket for spinning out?"
"Not exactly my fault."
"Eric was right, these tires are pretty worn."
"Man, I'm glad the kids aren't in the car."
"Whew, that was fun."
"I handled that like a pro! Awesome."

It was only a split second, but that all went through my head. In pictures. I don't have a "voice" in my head, I see pictures. I don't know how to explain it, if you think like that you'll understand. If not, you never will.

Dressember Eleventh

2011-12-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

I had another rough night last night and today's Dressember outfit reflects that.

The dress is another one I just run around in. It's a Summer dress and I usually wear a T-Shirt under it , sometimes I use it as a swimsuit cover. I've got a matching one in green. I bought them both at Wal-Mart when they were getting rid of all their summer stuff and everything was marked way down. I think they were under $5 each.

I layered a Turtleneck underneath this time. Another end of season clearance deal, this time from Target. I don't really like this look. It's super comfortable though, so you'll probably see a similar outfit using the green dress.

The dress is all wrinkled, and I just tossed my hair in a ponytail. After the night I had, I really don't care much. (Don't worry about me, I've seen my doctor. I just have to wait for the treatment to work.)

Earrings: Made by Me
Turtleneck: Merona from Target
Dress: Faded Glory from Wal-Mart
Leggings: Motherhood Maternity. Yup, these are preggo leggings. I found them in the bottom of my drawer and tried them on. They fit just like regular leggings, they just have a really, really tall waistband.
Ballet Flats: Wal-Mart, the brand has worn off.

Happy Birthday Bethy!!

2011-12-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my oldest child's eleventh birthday. I am the mother of a tween. I can hardly believe it. Eleven years ago she gave me the greatest gift. She made me a mother. I love you Bethy!

The eleventh birthday is quite a special one. Most people won't have a clue what I mean.

"Eleven you say? How is that special?"

Well, I'll tell you my friends. There was something waiting on the table this morning. Something that couldn't be delivered by a regular Mailman, something that could only come via Owl Post.

Yes, Elizabeth got her Hogwarts letter.

I couldn't help it. I had to do it. I found a blog by an adorable lady named Michelle. She made her friend a belated Hogwarts acceptance letter and made up a template that other people can use. She even made up a PDF with instructions on how to download the right fonts. Go here to see it for yourself.

I just used the fonts I already have on my computer, and I did a little copy & paste work to move the Hogwarts crest to the top of the page. Since my printer is completely kaput I took the files down to Office Max on a thumb drive and had them print them out on some parchment looking papers. They can't do envelopes though, so I had them print the envelope out on a regular paper and just folded it around the letter and equipment list.

Elizabeth was thrilled when she found it this morning. She wanted to know if she could take her doll with her in case she gets lonely or scared. My kids are pretty literal. I had to explain to her that she wasn't actually going. I felt a little bad. She was still really excited and wants to show all her classmates on Monday.

Joshua had a leather working class this morning, so we dropped him off and had a little fun. I took Bethy to Ulta and she got herself a little makeover. The lady was super sweet and did things very light, keeping it appropriate for an eleven year old. Lip gloss, no mascara. Bethy loved it. We did a little clothes shopping, but she didn't find anything she wanted to spend her birthday money on.

She did find a feather clip to wear in her hair. Here she is modelling all her Birthday presents.

You can't really see the feather well, it's there on the left side of the picture. The Monster High doll is her gift from Mom & Dad, we gave her the birthday money and she picked it out. The watch is from Grammy & Opa. You can sort of tell she's wearing a little make-up. I think it's sweet.

The papers behind her are on a little clothes line. We call it our Art Wall. I bought it at IKEA years ago, it came with some cute lady bug clothes pins. It's great. The kids can hang up their art work and when it gets too crowded I make them go through and edit it themselves. They can also hang up things they need for their homework, like Joshua's cursive practice. It also adds a great shot of color to an otherwise blank white wall.

*****

I have a confession. I skipped Dressember the 8th and 9th. I was sick and I just couldn't do it. It was too cold outside to just wear one of my toss-it-on dresses and I just gave in. I'm sorry.

Having my picture taken is getting difficult. If it's not the dog getting in the way, it's the youngest monster. *Sigh*

Sunglasses: Zenni Optical
Top & Skirt: George from Wal-Mart. End of season clearance.
Tights: Target
Boots: Mudd "Spicy" from Famous Footwear
Watch: Fossil, gift from Eric. The little monster is another gift from Eric...

Laundry Woes

2011-12-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I hate laundry? I HATE laundry. Dishes and laundry are the bane of my existence. At least with dishes I can get a break now and then. I can use paper plates and disposable utensils. Better yet, we can eat out. Whoo hoo.

Laundry gives me no such break. I seriously wish I could call a "Naked Day" just so there could be one day when I get the laundry all done and it stays done! Take today for example, I'm so close to having all the laundry finished. There are just a few blankets and sheets that need to be washed, a load in the washer, a load in the dryer, and a ton to be put away. For me that is pretty amazing. Mt. Laundry is officially conquered.

A few minutes ago I was starting the last load of clothes and I realized that even though I am so close I will never actually be done. The kids are dressed now and I don't think the school would think highly of me if I just sent them in the same clothes for the rest of the week. It sure is tempting though. I don't think I could garner much support for Naked Day either. Okay, I'll admit it, even if Naked Day were real I wouldn't participate. I'm not that shameless!

Speaking of clothes, here's my outfit for Dressember the Seventh:

I don't actually like purple all that much. Especially light purple. I think it washes me out. Why is it then that I seem to have these pieces in my wardrobe? (And why on earth did I choose purple for my wedding color?!)

1.) The purple shoes, they came to me free. I was at a shoe store in our mall called Two Lips and they were having a clearance special. If you bought one pair of clearance shoes you'd get another pair free. I paid something like $11 for a fun pair of black patterned wedges and the only other pair of shoes they had in my size were these purple Converse knock-offs. Turns out the black shoes were incredibly painful to wear and the purple ones feel amazing. The black shoes have long since been donated and the purple ones get worn all the time. Isn't it funny how life works out sometimes?

2.) The pink and purple argyle socks. I got those at Target for $2. I like fun socks and for two bucks I sort of stocked up. These were just one of the styles they had. Maybe someday I'll take a picture of my sock collection and show it off to you guys.

3.) The dress. I think I mentioned that I bought a bunch of skirts last Summer from the thrift store, just to run around in. This was the one dress I bought at the same time. It's comfortable and it fits me. It's nice and light in the summer time, and it doesn't expose as much skin as shorts. I bought it for doing house work and that kind of thing.

Randomly I ended up with this horrific purple outfit that you see above. It really is pretty ugly. I admit it.

Thing is though, today is Massive Housework Day. I really don't care how fashionable I am. I just want to be comfortable. If I wasn't committed to this Dressember idea then I'd be wearing sweat pants and a ratty T-shirt. Probably the same socks and shoes though. See the thing about my purple dress is that I really don't care how it looks. That means I can use bleach on the laundry and not worry that I'm going to splash some on myself. I can get into the fireplace and clean out the ash without worrying that I'll stain my sleeves or rip my pants. It's nice not to care sometimes. Combine that not caring with a dress that fits well and allows movement and that equals supreme comfort. Since housework is hard enough on its own, having that little extra comfort makes it just that much less of a hassle.

Oh yeah, that picture was taken this morning before I took the kids to school. It was about 15 degrees out then. I was freezing! I was having my picture taken by Josh while Bethy was getting Joey loaded in the car. I was trying to be fast but I didn't want to give you guys another bundled up picture. I hope you appreciate my sacrifice!

Meet Tom

2011-12-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

I would like you all to meet Tom.

Tom is a 1987 Chevy Suburban. Eric picked him out for me a few months ago. I named him Tom after Tom Selleck because he has a mustache and he was big in the 80s. Doesn't that bug guard on the front look just like a mustache? I think it does. Eric calls him Big Bertha. When I pointed out that he has a mustache Eric said, "Some women have mustaches too." Nice try honey, it's still Tom to me.

Tom is great. He's big enough for the family and all our junk, even the huge dog can have her own seat. He's also got a really powerful engine so we can tow things if we need to. Of course he is quite the beast and he absolutely drinks the gas. We won't be going on any road trips anytime soon! Sorry Mom. When I'm driving on the freeway I can actually watch the needle on the gas gauge moving towards empty!

One thing I learned recently about Tom is that it's quite difficult to climb into the seats while wearing a form fitting skirt. It was quite tough Saturday and Monday trying to maneuver myself into the drivers seat without flashing people! I'm definitely getting better at it. Today's outfit has a looser skirt so it isn't as much of a problem.

Opal earrings and necklace: Gift from Eric
Black T-Shirt: Down East Basics.
Sweater: Tag says Dress Barn, I got it at a Thrift Store.
Skirt: Tag says George, another Thrift Store piece. I call it my ugly skirt.
Tights: Wal-Mart
Shoes: Say Naturalizer, they're vintage. I got them at the Thrift Store.

As you can tell from where I got most of Today's outfit, I like shopping at Thrift Stores. It started when I was in High School. I would hit the thrift shops looking for great vintage pieces. I rarely found them, but on occasion I would strike gold.

I still shop at second-hand shops, not just for the thrill of the hunt but also because I'm broke! I like looking different from everyone else though, so that kind of shopping fits my personality. Of course, if I had lots of money I would wear vintage Chanel every day. Okay, maybe not every day. Often. Last summer I bought a bunch of skirts just to wear around the house in the summer. Today's skirt was one of those. I bought it because it fit and was vaguely flattering. Dressember has me trying out all kinds of new things, so this one gets dressed up now.

I hit up my local Deseret Industries yesterday looking for something completely unrelated and came home with the brown sweater and the brown shoes I'm wearing today. I also found a really, really great peacock blue/green dress that fits me like it was made for me. It is awesome. Really awesome. Unfortunately, it's just a leeetle bit too short. The good news is that now I have an excellent excuse to find some really amazing tights. I'm thinking either fuchsia or maybe bright yellow. I could wear my white or black ones but this dress really calls for ah-mazing tights. I can't wait to show you guys!!

I'm really having a good time with this Dressember thing. It's been a lot of fun dressing up every day. I'm looking at my wardrobe in a whole new way and thinking of new ways to wear my old clothes.

It's also helping me a lot with my depression. Getting dolled up in the morning just starts my day on a great note. I feel better about myself and that gives me an extra boost first thing. Getting dressed up is one of those things I use as a coping mechanism when I'm having a bad day. Getting dressed up when I'm feeling fine still gives me that extra happy so I'm more cheerful all around. I think I might make this a regular deal. Maybe "Frocking Fridays" or something. We'll see. I might be pretty sick of dresses by January.

Another thing I've noticed because of Dressember is how much I'm loving my hair. It's been a month since I started going No 'Poo and I really like it. The copper highlights in my hair are coming out and my hair is so soft all the time. It stays clean much longer and it's so much easier to work with. It is still pretty static-y because of the dry weather and all the scarves and hats and things. I usually just wipe my hair down with a dryer sheet when it gets like that (I keep one in all my coat pockets.) For some reason this box of dryer sheets has some kind of powdery stuff and it gets all over my hair. I might have to get some spray detangler. I might just deal with it until I get a new box of dryer sheets though, just to see if this batch was a fluke.

A Nod to the 50s

2011-12-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

The storm yesterday wasn't nearly as bad as the one last Thursday. A few more branches were lost, but there aren't any more uprooted trees that I can see. We didn't lose power at all.

It's still windy today and it's really cold. The forecast calls for a high of 25 degrees but with the Wind Chill it feels a whole lot colder. Right now the current temperature is somewhere in the teens. When we were headed to the kids school this morning Eric tried to use the wiper fluid to clean the windshield and instead of fluid we got slush! It looked like somebody poured a light blue Slurpee on the windshield! I think it's time to go get some of the winterized stuff.

There's a huge pine that was downed in our local park. I had Eric stop the car and take my picture for you guys. I even took off my coat and scarf hoping to use the pictures as my Dressember shot for the day. I left my gloves on because, come on, it's freakin' cold!! I'm really too far away for you to see my outfit properly though. I'm only telling you so you can feel sorry for me because it was so cold. And so you don't wonder why on earth I'm outside without a coat.

Isn't that scary?! Look at how ripped up the soil is! This one actually has a pretty small root ball. Driving around town we saw a ton more that were lots bigger. This one happens to be on public property and there was no caution tape around it so I could get close enough for a picture. I've seen trees with 6 foot trunks and massive 10+ foot rootballs that are laying all over. There are lots of roofs with damage and there are plenty of trees that hit houses and cars. The damage all looks pretty mild compared to how it could be. In our neighborhood the trees have only clipped the sides of porches and eaves. No huge trees through the main part of any houses. At least not that I've seen.

Okay, here's the real Dressember pictures for today:

Joey wanted in on the fun, so did Leela.

Earrings and Necklace: Gift from Eric on our wedding day.

Twinset: Cherokee from Target.

Navy Skirt: Worthington from J.C. Penny (Probably the outlet at Arizona Mills, I've had this skirt for a long time.)

Knee Socks: No idea, I've had them for years.

Slingback Peeptoes: No Boundaries from Wal-Mart.

Boots: Mudd "Spicy" from Famous Footwear.

I went for a nod to the 1950s. Twin set and pearls. There's also a little scarf around my ponytail. I tried two different shoes with this outfit. The top picture shows my boots, the lower picture shows my slingback black peeptoes. The look is basically the same, so I'm going with the boots because they're warmer and more comfortable. I wear those boots a lot in the winter. They actually do pretty well on ice and other slippery surfaces. And they cover up a lot if I just happen to skip shaving...

In case you were wondering, I have my picture taken first thing in the morning after I'm dressed. I figure that way I'm guaranteed to look nice. There's no promise that I'll stay that put together! I'm a klutz and my kids are klutzes, so something can be spilled or dropped on me. I don't actually wear the high heels all day either. While I'm at home I have on my fuzzy slippers or bare feet (we have radiant heat floors.) I put the heels on when I leave the house.

Today is Eric's day off, so he's my photographer for the day. Joey and the dog wanted to get in on the photo shoot. As you can tell from the pictures it's pretty hard for me to get a shot alone. I'm like a celebrity, I have my own entourage.

After Eric got the shots of me he put the camera down and went to eat his breakfast and Joey told me it was his turn. I took these shots of him doing his Zoolander thing:

Isn't he cute!?!

First Christmas Projects

2011-12-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

I've been super busy knitting up a storm. I have 5 nephews, 3 nieces, and my own three kids that I'm trying to make Christmas presents for.

So far I've made two hats. One for my daughter who is really into owls at the moment. Hopefully she still likes them when Christmas rolls around.

I don't know if you can tell, but the cables are supposed to be owls. I'm going to add buttons or beads to highlight the eyes and that will help. I just haven't gotten to that part yet. I used this free pattern and I highly recommend it.

The second hat is done in University of Utah colors for one of my local nephews. I'm making a smaller one to match for my other local nephew who idolizes is older cousin.

If I have time I'm going to stitch big "U"s onto the front of these. If not they'll stay plain. I'll be making at least one more hat like this for my oldest nephew. He lives in Arizona but it's cool enough that a hat is nice to have. That one will be done in black and gray. He's not really as much of a sports fan and he'll be more likely to actually wear it if it's manly looking! I'm using this free pattern and it's another great one, super easy too.

I also knitted a cute little mouse for my youngest niece but I can't find it. I set it up on my desk for safekeeping but it has disappeared! I think Joey might have run off with it. As soon as I find it I will post a picture. It's really cute! Here's the Ravelry link for the pattern. It's free too, of course. I really hope I find the one I made soon and in good condition. I worked hard on that little thing and I'd rather not have to make a new one.

*****

Today is the fourth day of Dressember but I woke up sick at 2:00 this morning. I did finally manage to get a little more sleep but I'm definitely not feeling better. My dress for the day is a nightgown and a robe. No, you don't get a picture!

In other news, we have been given a Winter Storm Warning for tonight starting at 5 PM. It's not supposed to be as bad as the one we had a few days ago but I still might be without power. If I don't post for a few days don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I get power back on!

Dressember the Third

2011-12-03T10:32:00.001-07:00

The sweater I'm wearing today has a bit of a story behind it. It was made in Italy (according to the tag that has long since worn to a shred) and I think it was purchased in Germany. That's why I am wearing the Fraulein braids, I thought they'd be appropriate. Also it's still pretty breezy outside and I've got errands to run. Not to mention the fact that they're just plain fun. It's the first time I've tried this style and I think I might do it more often! (Let me know if I look stupid so I can cancel that plan.)

Back to the sweater. I'm not positive where it was purchased because it originally belonged to my dad. I don't know where he got it but I first remember him wearing it while we were living in Germany. Looking at the picture of me you can imagine how shrimpy my dad used to be. Sorry Dad, but it's true. Even he'll admit that when he joined the Army back in 1981 he was a "98 Pound Weakling." He barely made it out of Basic Training alive. That's not a joke. Ask him the story sometime.

After he got out of the military (and didn't have regular P.T.) he started expanding a little. Poor Sweater was being stretched to the limits of tolerance. While not horrific, it wasn't a pretty sight. By the time I was a teenager I realized something had to be done.

So I liberated the sweater from my dad's closet.

It was a hard fought escape. Sweater was recaptured quite a few times but in the end I succeeded in moving out with it in my possession. Up until now I have tried to be careful about my dad seeing me wearing it, but I now live 750 miles away. What's he going to do? Drive up and steal it from my closet? Bring it on Old Man. I love you Daddy but you can have this sweater back when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. Or, you know, when you fit back into it. Whichever comes first. Also, you're so blind I don't think you can read this tiny font. Bwah Ha Ha!

S.L.F.: Sweater Liberation Front. An Army of One

Heidi Braids

Earrings: Small gold hoops. I absolutely can't remember where I bought them. Elizabeth has a matching pair.
Turtleneck: I've had this thing since High School. It used to be black, now sort of a dark gray. No idea where it came from. It's pretty tight and perfect for layering.
Sweater: See story above.
Skirt: Issac Mizrahi for Target (And it's a size 4!! Pretty sure the size is fudged for effect or something but I'm going to enjoy it anyway, I've birthed three kids!)
Tights: Eric got paid yesterday so I invested in a pair of patterned tights from Wal-Mart. Now I have black and white! Woo hoo!
Boots: Mudd "Spicy" from Famous Footwear

I also tried this outfit with a pair of open toed slingbacks in red patent pleather but with the black tights they made me look like a *ahem* Wanton Woman. You'll get to see them tomorrow in a much more appropriate outfit.

Update: $&@@&$^%!! As I sat down to add the pictures to this post I crossed my legs and the zipper from my boot snagged a huge hole in my BRAND NEW tights!! I tried to mend them, but I'm afraid they look horrible. I'll just have to make due for this Winter and replace them next year.

Wind

2011-12-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I posted that we were having a wind storm, it turned out to be massive. I don't actually know how fast it was gusting, but there is serious damage all over town. Trees everywhere are completely blown over. Mostly pines, I guess since they have the most wind resistance.

Power went out at about 8:30 yesterday morning and didn't come back on until just before noon. I took the kids to school (running late, of course) only to be told when I got there that school had been cancelled for the day. The kids' school is on the benches, basically right at the bottom of the mountain. Something about that area makes it especially windy, and yesterday was no exception. When I came back out to my car there was a fist sized hole in the passenger side front window. It's safety glass, so of course it was completely shattered.

I made the kids ride home with their hoods up, eyes closed, and heads in their laps. I was scared to death that somebody would get glass in their face, plus with the window basically open there was all kinds of dust and debris flying into the car.

That picture was taken when we got home. With the sad little camera on my phone, so I apologize.

Back at home I made everybody stay in the living room. My kids were really well behaved, I taught them a new way to make friendship bracelets (Thank you Pinterest!) then we read books and played some Checkers. I didn't have the pattern for the friendship bracelets and I'd only read through it once, so I messed up a little. We did them with six strands and seven slots. It still makes a cool bracelet, just not the one shown in that tutorial.

When ever the wind would gust (about every two minutes) it sounded like somebody very large was jumping around on my roof. Branches were falling from the large elm trees in our yard. I saw one big branch completely clear the roof and land in the front yard, missing my Suburban by about three feet. It was at least six feet long and about as big around as Eric's arm. That freaked me out a little. The wind died down by about 1:00 or so in the afternoon. There were still some pretty good gusts, but not as massive as earlier.

When Eric came home we took my car to get the window replaced. Driving to the glass place we were better able to see the damage. There were trees uprooted all over the place. Power lines down all over too. Lots of store signs are damaged, and every single cloth banner is completely in tatters. There are also quite a few roofs damaged or missing all together.

Since it's December it gets dark quite early. Rather than try to rough it we decide to just get some take out for dinner. When we got home Eric started up our kerosene heater and I started a fire in the fireplace. It was a beautiful fire if I do say so myself! Between the two we were toasty warm but I decided I wanted all the kids to sleep in the living room near the fire. I slept on the couch and since Eric had work today he slept in bed.

When we woke up this morning it was a little chilly. About 45 degrees or so. I fired up the kerosene heater and got the fire going again. It didn't take too long for the main rooms to warm up. They got to be a balmy 60 degrees.

I busted out our Sterno stove and boiled some water for Hot Chocolate, then spent the rest of the morning trying to keep the kids entertained. Miraculously, after the last game of cards before I lost my mind, the power came back on!

I didn't actually get dressed until after the power came back on, I just put layers on over my nightshirt. When I finally did get dressed I put on a skirt to honor my commitment to Dressember. I went pretty casual today, and I'm wearing the same tights as yesterday. This time it's for warmth and modesty! I think I'm going to have to invest in a few more pairs of tights! (I think grey ones would have looked better today. Maybe stripes.)

It's freezing out there! I'm a little hunched over trying to stay warm. I took the picture in the front yard again so you could see all the branches. Compare that to yesterday.

Earrings: Gift from a friend.
Shirt: Thermal I got for $5 at some store in the mall that doesn't exist any more.
Skirt: Bought by my mom at the BX on Luke AFB for Easter a few years ago.
Tights: Target
Shoes: Converse knock-offs I got for free when I bought a pair of shoes I no longer own!

Dressember

2011-12-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post yesterday but the power went out just as I was about to hit post! -H

My friend Rachel did this last year and I was so inspired that I decided to join in!

For the entire month of December I will wear a dress every single day and document it here on my blog. Dresses + December = Dressember

This is not going to be easy for me. I haven't taken stock of my options yet, but I only have 4 dresses. I think I have 4 skirts too, so that should help. Still, be prepared for double, triple, and quadruple outfits. I will do my best to change things up using my meager supply of accessories, but there will be copies!

Today we happen to be having the worst winds in recent memory. Hurricane force winds. 96 MPH gusts were recorded in the county just south of us. I was woke (woken? awoken?) this morning by something large hitting my bedroom window. When my husband called to say good morning and I told him about the stuff blown around the yard he topped my story. He witnessed a semi blown over right in front of him on the freeway! He actually stopped and had to help the driver out of the cab because he was suspended by his seat belt! It took Eric and another man to get the driver out! Scary!

For modesty sake I'm wearing a long dress today. I purchased this dress a few summers ago specifically to be a "house dress." It's just something easy to pull on and wear around the house. It's nothing fancy, and it's probably a good ten years out of date. In fact, it was probably never what anyone would call stylish!

I'm also wearing my only pair of tights underneath. Again, modesty. I don't want any Marylin Monroe in the Seven Year Itch impressions! You'll also notice my hair is in a rather tight bun. Wind like this warrants nothing less! Lets be generous and call it a ballet bun. (Although with a backside like mine it's pretty obvious I haven't been doing any plies!)

I'd also like to apologize in advance for the pictures. They will probably all be taken by my rather enthusiastic eight year old.

Without further ado I give you my first ever entry for Dressember! Ta-DA:

Glasses: Zenni Optical
Earrings: Made by Me
Scarf: Storm Clouds Scarf
Jacket: Thrift Store
Arm Warmers: Made by Me
Gloves: Sears end of Season Clearance a few years ago.
Dress: Thrift Store
Boots: Mudd "Spicy" purchased at Famous Footwear

Story Time #1: Why My Dad Is My Hero

2011-11-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've been told I should write down some of my stories. I have a ton of them, but I'm not sure how they could actually go together in some kind of book. Instead I'll write them down here and share them with you all. If any book publishers are reading feel free to contact me and I'm sure we can work something out.

My first story is a sweet little number about why my dad is my hero.

My dad is an awesome guy. I don't want to get into too much back story, so let me just tell you two things you need to know about my dad in order for this story to make sense. 1.) My dad is retired Army. He could kill a man with his bare hands or whatever rudimentary tools happen to be nearby. 2.) My dad is super mellow and incredibly easy going. He could kill you, but he's just too great a guy to actually do it. It takes a lot to get him riled up in any way.

I've only seen my dad get really angry a few times in my life. When my dad gets really angry it's scary. That's when it's easy to see the soldier.

The times he's been really angry have only been when a member of his family is being threatened. This is my story.

When I was a little kid I used to have a recurring nightmare about a Nazi with a German Shepherd who was coming to get me. Every time I had the dream (twice a year or so) the Nazi was getting closer and closer. When I was 12 I dreamed that he was across the street from my house. Then I never had the dream again.

Fast forward to me at 16. My mom had a gas card for Circle K as a perk from her job and we were all allowed to use it to fill up our cars. Pretty nice perk, right? There was a Circle K about a half mile from our house and the next nearest was more like three miles away.

One day after I'd given my mom my gas receipts she noticed that for the past few weeks I'd been going out of my way to use the farther station. Of course, she wanted to know why I was driving so far out of my way when the other station was so much closer and easier to get to.

Well, there happened to be a creepy guy who looked just like the Nazi from my old dream that liked to hang out at the nearer Circle K. He would just stand by the counter and flirt with the girl who worked there and he'd flirted with me a little too. Nothing to bad, just mild banter. Still, it creeped me out enough that I stopped going to that station. (This station was old, there were no card readers at the pump. I actually had to go into the station to pay. The far station was newer and I could pay at the pump.)

My dad was in the room when I explained this all to my mom. She looked over at my dad, he simply nodded to her and told me, "Get in your car, we're going to get gas."

When we got to the station he asked me if the guy was in there and I pointed him out. I got my gas and my dad told me to go in and pay as usual. He said he'd be right behind me.

I went in and just like I'd said the creepy guy was flirting with the cashier and said something to me.

My dad went ballistic.

I mean that literally. My dad turned into a weapon. He physically swelled up and just lashed out at the guy. He didn't yell, but he wasn't speaking softly by any means.

"DON'T you DARE speak to my daughter. What are you doing here bothering the people who work here and bothering underage girls. YOU need to find a new place to be. If I EVER hear of you loitering here when my daughter comes to get her gas you will have ME to deal with."

My dad was probably 6 inches shorter than this guy but I saw Creepo literally shrinking away. The ladies behind the counter were startled at first and just kind of stared at my dad. After my dad watched the guy leave the station he went out and stood by my car. I sheepishly paid and kind of mumbled "Sorry." The lady who was ringing me up was grinning and told me not to be sorry, that guy had been bugging her for weeks and just wouldn't take the hint to leave. She was thrilled my dad had gotten rid of him for her too!

And that is one of the reasons why my dad is my hero!

2011-11-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've been up to my ears in projects. I don't have any pictures yet because as soon as I finish them I've been squirreling them away so the kids don't see them.

As soon as I'm able I'll post some shots. I'll also update with a whole list of the things I'm making.

I haven't forgotten about you, I promise. I've got great things in the works!

More Updates

2011-11-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been trying to conquer Mt. Laundry at my house and it hasn't left me much time for anything interesting. The good news is that I'm almost there, Mt. Laundry is now more like Sledding Hill Laundry.

I have been cleaning myself as well, so I thought I'd write a little now that I've been using the Oil Cleaning Method for a few weeks and I've used the Baking Soda and Vinegar System for my hair a few times.

I really like the Oil Method for my face. I'm still fighting some zits and blackheads but my skin feels so amazingly soft all the time. I still have my problem areas, overall though my skin has improved. I have fewer blackheads and I swear my pores look smaller. It's only been two weeks but I'm looking forward to the long term improvements.

I apologize for the picture. I have a really hard time taking a picture of myself!

I'm also really liking the No 'Poo thing for my hair. It's not overwhelmingly awesome, but it's working better than the two-in-one shampoo I was using. Since the weather is so dry I started using the vinegar mix on my whole head and not just the ends. It made a pretty big difference when I comb out my wet hair. Remember how I said it wasn't a miracle for tender heads? I might just be wrong on that count. I haven't tried it on my daughter yet, but I plan to. She has back pocket length hair that is super thick and gets very tangled. If it works on her it might actually be a miracle.

I've also had a little down time to knit. Of course since I made my oldest son some arm warmers I have to make some for my daughter too. I let her pick out the yarn colors and she chose a blue to match her coat and light gray to go with it. I've got the knitting part done, now I just have to sew up the edges.

The one on the left is right side out. The thicker line of gray on the bottom is so she'll know which end to stick her arm in at a glance.

I've also been working on my Sky Scarf daily! Just because I haven't been posting the weather doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention. Here's what I've got so far:

That's more than a month of sky. I really like how it's turning out. I'm thinking when I finish it I want to add a crochet edge all the way around. I think that'll give it a nice finished look. The gray yarn is thicker than the rest so it's making the edge warp a little. A crochet finish should take care of that. I really like how the gray contrasts with the rest of the scarf. Those storm clouds it represents are so different to the light fluffy white clouds that I think it is appropriate.

As for my Star Afghan, I'm paused for a little while. I ran out of the orange yarn I was using and I have Christmas projects to work on so I won't be buying a new color until after I get those finished... sometime in early March with the way I'm going!

Gryffindor Gauntlets

2011-11-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

I made up some arm warmers for my eight year old and since I figured out the pattern all on my own I thought I'd share it with you guys!

These are based on the Gryffindor house colors from the Harry Potter Universe. I let Josh help with the design, that's why they don't exactly match. He thought it would be cool to have coordinating but opposite colors and I think it looks pretty good!

So here's the pattern:

Gryffindor Gauntlets:

Super easy pattern excellent for beginners.*

Materials:

Worsted Weight yarn. I used the cheap stuff, Red Heart Super Saver, because I wanted these to be washable. ...and I'm a cheapskate... For the Gryffindor colors I used Burgundy and Gold. These didn't take much yarn, so they'd be good for stash busting

Size 8 knitting needles

Size 9 knitting needles (optional)

Size H crochet hook (optional)

Large eye needle for finishing

Abbreviations:

MC: Main Color

CC: Contrasting Color

Note:

I cast on tight so I use the size 9 knitting needles to cast on and off. If you cast on loosely then you can just use the size 8 needles.

This entire pattern is worked in Garter Stitch, that's the knit stitch across for every row.

Pattern:

Cast on 25 stitches loosely in MC.

Row 1-6 Knit across.

Rows 7-8: Tie on CC and knit across. Do not break off MC.

Rows 9-12: Bring MC up and knit across. Do not break off CC.

Rows 13-14: Bring up CC and knit across.

Repeat rows 9-14 until you have 6 CC stripes. Cut and tie off CC.

Knit MC in Garter Stitch until the entire piece measures 8 inches from the start. Cast off loosely.

Finishing:

Fold the mitt in half with right sides together and sew down the top edge 1 1/2 inches and up from the bottom 5 inches, leaving a hole 1 1/2 inches long for the thumb. Be very careful to match up the stripes as you sew. Weave in yarn ends.

If you'd like you can Single Crochet around the thumb hole using CC to finish the edge.

These are super simple to work up, and they go really quickly. There are lots of ways to customize these and add embellishments! If you make a pair I'd love to see them.

*This is my first ever attempt at writing out a pattern. Please, please let me know if there is a problem or any mistakes. If anything is confusing I'll try to fix it.

No More 'Poo

2011-11-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

You already know that I've stopped washing my face, now I've stopped shampooing my hair!

I found a really informative blog when I was researching the Oil Cleansing Method. It's called Simple Mom: Life Hacks for Home Managers and it's got a lot of great things.

On the page for the Oil Cleansing Method she mentions that she's been going shampoo-free and it caught my attention.

I've heard of going 'Poo-Free and the Curly Girl Method, but I wasn't sure if it was for me. I don't have curly hair, and I never use heat styling. Super straight hair can look dirty fast, so I was hesitant to try. I also have a really dry, flaky scalp and I didn't want to make the condition any worse.

This summer I started weaning my hair off of shampoo. I don't like all the harsh detergents in shampoo and I'm trying to be frugal. (I'm also lazy...) The first thing I did was switch to a two-in-one shampoo/conditioner combo. Then I started spacing out the time between my shampoos. I still shower often, I just put my hair in a shower cap or simply rinse it out with water.

I made it up to once a week as long as I rinse my hair every day after day 3. I don't really like having to do that, so I decided to give the No 'Poo method a try. I thought worse case I would be able to keep my three readers entertained with stories of my incompetence. (Hi Rachel, Kim, and Shanon!)

First thing's first, I had to make the cleanser and the conditioner.

According to the Simple Mom post on the subject you need a simple 8 oz. squeeze bottle. Problem is, I can't find one. I think it might have something to do with the airline regulations because all I've been able to get are 3 oz. bottles. On the website it calls for one tablespoon of Baking Soda and one cup of plain water to fill that elusive 8 oz. bottle.

Since I had a little bottle I just halved the recipe and called it good. One half tablespoon of Baking Soda went in the pink bottle with the help of a funnel, then I filled it up the rest of the way with water. I noticed that the Baking Soda doesn't dissolve. If I shake it up it'll mix with the water but then it just settles to the bottom as it sits.

The conditioner was much easier. On half tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar via funnel, then water. When I shook this one up it seemed to stay mixed.

The Simple Mom website goes into all the chemistry of why the Baking Soda & Vinegar are great to use. What I got from it was that Baking Soda is gentle and clarifying, while vinegar closes the hair cuticle and helps smooth things down.

To solve the problem of the Baking Soda settling I just shook it up really well before I used it. No problem. What was a problem was the fact that I had just made my concoction using glacial tap water. I held the bottle under the shower head for a little while but HOLY CROW was it still cold.

I got my hair good and wet and just squeezed the gunk right onto my scalp, working it in with my other hand just like I would shampoo. It tingles! It was a seriously weird feeling, but not unpleasant. Now the cold stuff running down my neck, that was unpleasant. After I felt like I'd gotten it all over my scalp I put the bottle down and worked it through with my fingers, I didn't pile my hair up like I would when I shampoo because frankly I was scared of tangles. Then I just rinsed with warm water like I would with shampoo.

For the "conditioner" I started right at where I would wear a ponytail and worked my way down to the ends.

It was a little difficult because it was so watery, so I tried to kind of cup one hand under my hair while I squirted the vinegar mix on with the other. It wasn't hard, just kind of tricky. I let it sit in my hair for a few minutes while I finished my shower then rinsed as usual.

When I get out of the shower I use my towel to wring my hair out a little, I comb it out with a wide tooth comb, then it goes back into a towel while I get dressed. Then I let it down, comb it again and that's usually it. This time I was scared to death that it would be a tangled mess. Turns out I was worried for nothing!

I'm not saying this is a miracle for all you moms with tender headed little girls. There were still tangles, but they were minor and easy to work through. I was genuinely shocked.

My hair was basically the same as using shampoo. The vinegar was stinky while I was using it but there was no smell left when I rinsed it out. I might add some essential oils to water to make a spray for my hair just to make it smell pretty, for now it just has no smell at all. The flakiness on my scalp seems less, usually right after I shampoo the flakes are at their worst. That's a good sign. I don't know if I used enough of the Baking Soda Concoction though. There was a small part of my hair that still felt a little greasy. I don't know if it's just my natural oils and I'm not used to them, but next time I'm going to use a little more just in case. I'm also going to try using the vinegar on all my hair, not just the roots. I will report back with my findings!

Speaking of reporting back, here's a new picture of my face:

That smear of toothpaste is on the bathroom mirror, not my face.

It's been a week since I started the Oil Cleansing Method and I'm noticing a difference. Those huge zits on my chin disappeared really quickly and my skin feels really soft all the time. As you can see from the top picture, I even bought a little squeeze bottle for my face oil.

You see, the first time I made my oil mixture I used a specimen cup that the pediatrician had given me to mix medicine for my kids. I put it in the medicine cabinet right next to Eric's toothbrush (without thinking, I swear!!) and totally freaked him out! "WHO PUT A CUP OF PEE NEXT TO MY TOOTHBRUSH!!??!!" He calmed down a lot when I explained it to him but he still asked that I move it to a different shelf.

*****

I've been working diligently on my Sky Scarf and we've been having some great sky weather for me to represent. I've got a couple of other projects that I'll post about on a later date. I'll get a new picture of my scarf up too.

Chicken and Dumplings

2011-11-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

Thank you to all our Troops, Retired Military, and Veterans!! I'm so thankful for you all!!

*****

I was on Facebook and saw a post by Udi's Gluten Free Foods that included a link to making Chicken and Dumplings using one of their products.

I think in order to underline the importance of this discovery I need to give you a little background.

My maternal grandmother is Southern. From Missouri (pronounced Mizz-er-uh.) She cooks like a Southern Lady, lots of flour and lard and fried things. Most of my cooking talents come from her. One of her specialties is her Chicken 'n' Dumplin's. Amazing stuff. Every time we would go visit her or she'd come visit us I would beg her to make us Chicken 'n' Dumplin's. It is one of those ultimate comfort foods for me. When I was a teenager I forced her to teach me how to make it. She has made it so many times and for so long that she doesn't even have a recipe, it's just one of those dishes she grew up making and just "knows". I had to hover over her and write down every thing she was doing. Even when I tried to make it myself it was never quite as good, Mamaw just has the touch.

Then came the Celiac Disease. Obviously there were a lot of comfort foods that I had to give up or try to find substitutions for. I've looked for recipes, and tried to come up with my own with no luck. Part of the problem is that Mamaw makes Southern Dumplings, they're big, soft, flat noodles. Apparently to the rest of the world dumplings are more like boiled drop biscuits. I can't quite wrap my head around that, so I haven't been able to find anything to fill that particular hole in my diet.

Until now!!!

I also learned how to add video to my blog!

It's Chicken 'n' Dumplin's!! USING PIZZA CRUST!!! I don't even have to make the dumplings from scratch using 8 different hard to find flours! Here's the written recipe just in case I borked the video some how.

I made this for my family on Wednesday night and it was excellent! I am so happy to have found a replacement for my comfort food. This time of year is just perfect for it too! The one complaint I have is that the recipe is too small. There was only enough for the five of us to have one serving each and everyone wanted seconds. I will definitely have to double it next time, if not triple, and there definitely will be a next time!

*****

In other news, Halloween candy is on clearance. We happened to hit at the right time and stocked up on enough to last us for the rest of the year. I kid you not.

This afternoon after lunch I sat down to surf the net and thought it'd be fun to munch on a little candy while I was at it. I chose a bag of Brach's Autumn Mix because I love candy corn and I generally like those pumpkin things.

What I didn't know was that those "Indian" corn candies aren't just a different color. That brown part is supposed to be chocolate flavored. Supposed to be. Instead it's some kind of nasty, sugary abomination of artificial flavoring. I actually popped one in my mouth and had to pull it out and look at it to see what on earth it was. GEE-ross. I'd given Joey a few after he finished his lunch, and even he wouldn't eat the brown ones.

I thought I'd give my dog a treat and give her the three brown candies left over from Jojo's lunch. I was sitting on the couch and did the whole "Sit, good girl. Take it!" thing with her. Each time she left for a minute and came back for the next one. I thought she was just leaving the room to eat them like she does with all her treats. OOOH NO, she was just ditching them in the hallway. She does that sometimes if she gets interrupted, so I just picket them up and tossed them on top of her dog food in her bowl. 15 minutes later I hear her eating her food so I figured she ate them.

When I went to unload the dishwasher this is what I found:

Dog food crumbs and three candy corn. She actually removed them from her dish. This is a dog that will happily roll in excrement, lick her own butt, and eat all manner of garbage. Yet she won't eat chocolate candy corn.

The really funny thing happened minutes after I took this picture. I'd picked up the two on the floor and threw them out but I left the third in her bowl. She actually picked it up and dropped it at my feet!!! Kind of like "Here, you forgot one." Hilarious!!

Sock Bun Curls

2011-11-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

I've talked about my face, now lets talk about my hair.

I have very fine hair. It's actually thickened up since I had kids, but it's still quite thin. For those of you who knew me when I was younger, it's also gotten quite a bit darker. It's kind of a weird color. Not quite dark blond but not quite light brown either. It actually has a variety of colors mixed together which is great for hiding grays.

I do Civil War reenacting with the Utah Civil War Association and to make my costume a little more convincing I keep my hair pretty long. I've also discovered that long hair is just easier to maintain. I don't have to worry about regular trims, and I can just throw it in a ponytail or bun if it's getting in my way.

Occasionally though I would like to look like a grown up and wear my hair nice so I'm always looking for inspiration for things I can try.

Enter Pinterest. Love that site. One of the things I've been seeing lots of is this technique called Sock Bun Curls.

Click here for this tutorial

Pictures like the one above gave me all kinds of hope for a beautiful head of curls and the comments were all raves which just cemented that hope.

Last night I gave it a try and had Eric take lots of pictures to share with you.

First I towel dried my hair and combed it out:

Clean and damp

Then I let it air dry for awhile. While it was drying I prepared my sock for the bun curling. I started out with a very old blue slipper sock that has been sitting in my lost sock basket for years. That's no exaggeration. I think it's been here longer than my middle child.

Very old sock

I cut the toe off to make it an open tube:

And then rolled it up onto itself:

I got blue fuzz all over the counter

I rolled it up inside out because I thought the terry on the inside would work better at absorbing the remaining moisture from my hair. Once my hair was mostly dry, shown in the picture at the top of this post, I flipped my head upside down and rolled it into the sock bun. I did it right on top of my head in an attempt to add some body to my pathetic flat hair. Then I wrapped my head in silky scarves to try to keep it from falling out while I slept.

Sexaaay

With high hopes and visions of gorgeous curls dancing in my head I went to bed. Here's what I looked like the next morning:

Don't I just look great? I must be some kind of masochist putting this picture up on the internet. I do believe in honesty though, but maybe this is just an over-share. So for my friends who never had the umm... pleasure of seeing me the morning after a slumber party, there it is.

With high hopes I took the sock bun out. Unfortunately my hair was still damp. Ugh. I don't know what I did wrong, but my hair didn't dry the way it should have. This is what it looked like when I took it down:

Not too bad from the front, but this was the back:

Is it just me or does it actually look wetter? How does that happen?

Ugh. I thought if I just left it alone and let it finish drying that maybe I could retain some of the curl. Just enough to make it look like I tried to do something. You know, "E" for effort and all that.

I'm not that lucky. Here's what it looked like after I let it dry and got dressed:

I think the word you're searching for is "Craptastic". At least when my hair is normal it doesn't frizz! All I got for my effort was massive amounts of static and weird frizz. So here's how I ended up wearing my hair...

....down to the salon to get a trim! The frizz highlighted just how badly I needed a cut. So bad.

At Great Clips, because I'm just that cool.

I had the stylist clean up the split ends and then add some long layers in to hopefully give it a little more body and movement. For comparison sake here I am in front of the same wall with dry hair.

See that wavy-ness there? That's natural! My own natural slight wave is more impressive that sleeping with a sock on my head like an idiot! Feel free to point and laugh!

As a bonus for those who made it all the way to the bottom of this lengthy post, here's a picture I took while I was waiting at a stop light headed home.

Pretty isn't it? I don't yet know what the sky will be like today, but yesterday was mostly cloudy. I wait to see what the sky looks like at 3 o'clock. That way any morning fog has had time to burn off and I'm usually out getting the kids from school anyway.

How many scarves does one girl need?

2011-11-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Ta Daaa!

I finished another project!! I'm on a freakin' roll! I think having my blog up and running helps me stay focused and accountable. The scarf is so fuzzy and warm, even though it's lacy. It measures about 12.5 x 70 inches unstretched, and it's quite stretchy. It's big enough to use as a shawl if I wanted.

I got quite warm while Eric took this picture.

GO ASU!!

I haven't been feeling great this weekend so I had plenty of time to sit on the couch and knit. In addition to working on my Stormy Clouds Scarf, I also totally frogged* my Sky Scarf and knit it up again. I didn't like how the yarns were going together, so Saturday I bought thinner blue and thicker white yarn. Now when the sky is mostly cloudy I can use a big white and small blue, when the sky is mostly blue I can use a thick blue and a thin white. I'm also using larger needles, I'm working on size 6 now instead of 4. It makes the scarf a little wider and not quite so tight.

I think it looks better this way, and it's easier to show the differences in the sky. I think will make the scarf much more interesting. It's harder to knit though, having so many different yarns make tangles inevitable. I have to spend almost as much time organizing the yarn as I do knitting it. It's worth it though. I think it's going to be awesome when it's done. If it's not it doesn't even matter, I'm having so much fun making it that the effort is worth it!

*frog To rip back (for the sound “rip it, rip it”) by removing the needles from the project and pulling on the loose end of the yarn; also applies to crochet. Generally used when mistake is found below the row you are currently working, or when completely undoing an entire project or piece.

Today's Sky: Mostly Cloudy

Stars Made: 1

My Face

2011-11-04T04:57:00.001-06:00

I have horrible skin. Since I was about 8 I've been breaking out regularly. My acne has settled down as I got older, and I noticed a huge improvement when I went on the gluten free diet after I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Unfortunately though, I still get gigantic zits on my chin every month due to hormones and I have lots and lots of blackheads. I also have huge pores, and tons of horrific acne scars. Speaking of scars, I also have a couple left over from chicken pox and a lovely scar near my left eyebrow from when I got hit with a baseball bat during PE. Remind me to tell you that story some time.

Like every person who has dealt with bad skin I've tried everything to try to "fix" it. I have dry, sensitive skin. My whole adolescence I spent using oil fighting cleansers, not realizing I have dry skin. I just though tight, flaky skin was normal with acne washes. Then in my twenties I started using moisturizer and realized my skin was actually dry. That's when the search for a good cleanser began. I've tried expensive department store brands and cheapo drugstore brands, and nothing has ever worked.

I literally gave up. I stopped using cleansers on my face a few months ago and just started using water and a washcloth. My skin balanced out a little, but I wasn't happy with just using nothing either. My skin was dull, and I wasn't getting enough exfoliation to remove the dead skin cells. I was still breaking out monthly, and I was still getting little whiteheads and lots of blackheads.

I decided to try one more thing, the Oil Cleansing Method. The basic premise is that chemically, like dissolves like. Using clean oil on your face is supposed to dissolve the dirty oil without stripping the basic moisture. Kind of like an oil change for your car, only on your face. It makes sense to me, but I couldn't find Castor Oil that didn't cost $12 for a huge bottle and I didn't want to risk that much money on an experiment. Well, the other day I happened to ask the pharmacist at Wal-Mart if they had it and she showed me where they hide it. (Tiny bottle, bottom shelf on the far left next to the Milk of Magnesia. It was less than $3.) It was in the shadows, I must have looked at it 3 or 4 times and still had to have it pointed out to me!

I bought the Castor Oil and it sat on my counter. This afternoon I took a rare nap and of course now I can't sleep. I decided since I was up anyway I'd go ahead and give it a try.

Like I said I have dry skin, so I did a mix with one part Castor Oil and two parts Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The Castor Oil is supposed to be the cleanser and the Olive Oil works as a delivery system (because Castor Oil is thick) and as a moisturizer.

I took a "before" picture, but my camera battery died before I could get an "after" shot. Be kind, it's very late and as usual I'm not wearing any make-up:

I don't know why but it looks like I have a lazy eye. I don't.

You can't really tell from the picture, but I have a couple of huge pimples on my chin. They're those deep, cystic kind. Ugh. And they hurt like heck.

The first thing I did was start the hot water running so I wouldn't have to turn it on with oil all over my hands. Then I poured about a quarter sized amount of the oil mix into my palm. I rubbed my hands together to warm the oil up then rubbed it on my face.

The web said to really rub the oil in and relax, picturing wonderful things and blah blah blah. I'm way too ADD to do that, so I just let my mind wander and watched the clock a little. When I felt like things were rubbed in real well it'd been about three minutes, so I called it good. It did feel nice, a kind of mini massage.

You're supposed to use a clean washcloth, but the only thing I had handy was a cotton face cloth that I knit. It isn't quite as big as my face, but I think it worked fine. I got it good and wet in the hot water and wrung it out. I laid it on my face and sat on the lid of the toilet until it was cool. Then I used the cooled cloth to wipe the oil off. My face felt amazing right after, but the websites all said to repeat it a few more times. I rinsed out the cloth and did the cloth-on-the-face-then-wipe thing two more times.

I was kind of dubious, but my face was actually really clean afterward. It was weird. My hands still felt kind of greasy, so I washed them with soap because I wanted to feel my face to see if it was greasy too.

It wasn't! It was just soft and clean. Really soft. I like it. It's been a few hours since I washed my face and it's feeling a little tight, so I think I need to add more Olive Oil to my mix. That's one of the great things about the OCM, it's completely personalized so I can adjust it to fit what I need. If it continues to work well I might splurge for some Almond Oil. I love the smell and it's supposed to be really good for dry skin.

I'll post another picture in a week or so we can compare the difference. I might even get Eric to take the picture so it'll turn out better!

Yesterday's Sky(11-2-11): Partly Cloudy

Today's Sky(11-3-11): Clear Blue

Autumn

2011-11-02T11:49:00.001-06:00

I actually had to break out my winter gear to take the big kids to school today. I wasn't wearing my super heavy wool coat, just my leather jacket; but I had my hat, gloves, and scarf on. I kinda liked it.

My dad was in the Army while I was growing up. I spent my formative years in Southern Germany, we moved back to the States in time for me to go to Fourth Grade. I spent Junior High and High School in Mesa, Arizona. Where my family is from originally.

Eric and I moved up here to Utah in October of 2001. We lived in North Salt Lake for awhile, and moved up here to Ogden in early 2006. I LOVE it here.

I don't know if it was growing up in Germany or what, but I feel a deep connection to the mountains. Where we live now I have a great big mountain to my North and more great big mountains to the East. I feel very sheltered, and I love it. We're only minutes from hiking, camping, rock climbing, fishing, amazing bike paths, and some of the best skiing on Earth. (We don't ski or rock climb, but it's still nice to know we could!)

Mountains to the North as seen from my front yard.

Mountains to the East as seen from my back yard.

I absolutely love, love, love the change in seasons. In Arizona you get the Hot season and the Not Quite As Hot season. Here we actually get to see leaves changing colors in the Autumn and blossoms budding in the Spring. Arizona does have its own unique and wonderful beauty, the landscape there really is stunning. I just happen to prefer being able to get outside and enjoy my beautiful scenery.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't particularly like Winter. The first few times it snows are pretty fun, and it's awesome to have a White Christmas. January and February pretty much stink though. It's cold and wet and pretty nasty outside.

Inside is a different story though. No matter how cold and gross it gets outside it's so easy to come home and cozy up. We have radiant heat floors in our house, and a fireplace. On the nastiest day I can always snuggle up with a blanket and a cup of tea and read a good book or watch a good movie. When my kids get cold they like to snuggle with me more, and come on, what mother doesn't love that. I can cook savory foods and do lots of baking to help heat up the house, and heartier foods help us all feel warmer.

On the other hand, Summer in Mesa was really hard for me. I got heatstroke at Girl's Camp when I was twelve, and apparently if you get it once it's easier to get it again. So the heat is really hard for me to handle. I've always said that I prefer the cold because you can always add another layer of clothing, with the heat there are only so many clothes you can take off! Plus, my personal clothing style is much more in line with cooler weather than warm. I prefer layers, cozy sweaters, corduroy, jeans, and heavy fabrics over light and gauzy things.

Cold weather also means I have a great excuse to knit!!

Yes, another project.

This yarn was originally supposed to be for my Sky Scarf. We had our first gray skies since I started the scarf, and I was finally able to use it. Once I got it knitted in with the others I realized that it just didn't fit. It's much thicker and much fluffier than the other yarns and it was way too big for the needles I was using.

I already had some worsted weight yarn in my stash, so I used that for the last couple of days. I think I might go out and get some different yarn still, I'm not thrilled with the thickness of the new yarn either. It's much better than the fluffy stuff though. Anyway, I decided that the fluffy stuff really needed to be a big, soft, lacy scarf. Last night I went on Ravelry and looked for a pattern. I found a fun little blog called Hockey Mom Knits, and a super simple pattern for an Easy Lace Stashbuster Scarf. I call it my Storm Clouds Scarf. This scarf works up really quickly, and I'm super happy with what I've already got done. The picture above shows how much I knitted last night while I watched Unforgettable after the kids were in bed.

Speaking of my Sky Scarf, here's an update:

I like how the gray color looks, but I'm not thrilled with the thickness. Monday's sky was a mix of white and gray clouds. Yesterday had a beautiful, beautiful sky. There were patches of gorgeous blue skies with scattered fluffy white clouds, right next to thick dark gray storm clouds. I wish I was a better artist so I could capture what it looked like. Just beautiful. Today it's supposed to be clear and cold, so it looks like I'll be adding another solid blue stripe. I am totally in love with this scarf! I'm having so much fun with this! Love it!!

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-31T19:02:00.001-06:00

In the spirit of honesty I have to admit that my little vamipress above is from last year. I forgot to get a picture of my kids before we went out and they stripped their costumes off minutes after we got in the door, so no picture this year.

Around here most of the LDS (Mormon) churches do something called Trunk or Treat. Instead of all the kids in the neighborhood going house to house everyone sets up in the church parking lot and hand out candy. Some places really go all out, decorating their cars, serving hot chocolate, and holding contests.

It starts early enough that we can go before it gets dark and the kids get plenty of candy. It's also really safe. I think it's a great idea, but I do miss the good old fashioned Trick or Treating. Last year we went to my sister-in-law's neighborhood and did the door to door thing. It was really fun for the kids and we might do that again next year. Halloween falling on a school night makes it tough though.

Today's Sky: Overcast Gray

Stars Made: 0

Balance

2011-10-31T11:15:00.000-06:00

Saturday one of my oldest friends ran her first 5k. Rachel also happens to be my favorite blogger and an amazing writer. Yesterday she blogged about the experience and I really want to share what she wrote. Please go over to her blog and read Sweet Spontaneous: Run For Your Life.

These are truly beautiful legs. (Rachel's, not mine!)

I really believe that life is about balance. Male & Female, Good & Bad, Happy & Sad, Summer & Winter. You can't appreciate the good things fully if you never experience the bad. Sometimes we are extremely fortunate and we can learn from other people's experiences. I can see the family who lost their mother and mourn for them while holding my own kids a little tighter. In comparison my own struggles are easy to bear.

Cheering Section

2011-10-30T15:48:00.000-06:00

I was sitting on the couch watching a movie and I hear screaming and cheering coming from the front yard. I go outside and see this:

That's my husband trying very hard to get rid of the horrible eyesore of a weed tree that is ripping up the sidewalk in front of our house. To the left you'll notice he's got his own cheering section. Those are my boys, they got out our camp stools and set them up to sit and watch the stump come down. As soon as Eric started the chainsaw the boys would go nuts!

Today's Sky: Clear Blue
Yesterday's Sky: Partly Cloudy (I did the knitting yesterday, just didn't blog about it.)
Stars Made Since Last Post: 0

Quick

2011-10-28T20:50:00.000-06:00

I've been a little busy watching T.V. the last few nights. Last night was a disappointing finale of Project Runway and tonight I've got a few season premieres to watch.

That means I'm not doing anything really interesting but I have gotten quite a few afghan stars made!

Today's Sky: Overcast with really high thin white clouds. I could almost see blue through them. It was a really interesting sky today.

Stars Made Today: 6
Just a note for future reference: I've decided instead of counting stars every day I'm just going to count how many I've made since my last post. That way I don't have to post those silly, short updates!

2011-10-27T16:45:00.000-06:00

I wasn't sure what to blog about today. I didn't do any crafts, no new recipes, just a regular day. I thought about introducing you guys to some of my favorite websites, but hadn't narrowed it down to one.

I randomly checked my Facebook, and saw that Allie Brosh had finally posted a new Hyperbole and a Half. Yay! I love her! She's so funny and her drawings are adorable. I just love the way she thinks.

Super excited, I hit the link and read the post. Adventures in Depression. Not so funny. Well, okay, it had funny moments. Mostly though, it was sad. She tells her readers about her past few months and her depression. Just reading it made me feel like putting an arm around her and giving her a big hug. Letting her know that I understand.

I understand what it's like to have that voice in your head that is constantly telling you what a waste you are. I know what it's like to feel like you only have friends because of what you give them. "She only likes you because you make her laugh." "He only likes you because he's friends with your husband." "You really bug them but they're too polite to tell you to get lost."

I know what it's like to have a huge pile of laundry or dishes that is so big and has been there for so long that I hardly see it any more. I stop seeing the mess as a self-preservation tool. If I really saw the mess then I'd have one more voice telling me what a horrible housekeeper I am.

I know what it's like not to care about what I look like because caring would mean that I was worth the time it would take to fix myself up.

I still suffer from depression. I always will. I'm lucky, I was blessed with an amazing husband who saw the signs in me and demanded I get treatment. It's still an uphill battle. Even when I get my medicine right my body can become tolerant of it and I have to adjust my dosage. I still have good days and bad days. Even with the medicines every day is a struggle.

Even little things that other people take for granted like getting dressed or making myself something to eat are a struggle. When I say struggle that's exactly what I mean. It's a fight. I'm fighting against those nasty voices in my head that are telling me I'm not worth it, I don't deserve it, why waste it on me. I'm fighting against the apathy and the physical pains. Simple things like this can be completely exhausting.

Just getting my kids ready for school can wipe me out for the rest of the day. Grocery shopping isn't something I've been able to do on my own for months. The last time I tried it took me 4 hours and I was exhausted for three days afterward.

I'm not typing all this out because I want you to feel sorry for me. When I read Allie's story I wanted to give her a hug and get her some help. While I welcome hugs, I am already getting the help I need. I'm actually doing pretty well right now.

I'm typing all this out for two reasons.

First, for anyone else who might be feeling this way. It's not normal. There are ways to feel better. Talk to somebody. Anybody. Try medication if you haven't, try therapy, if those things haven't worked for you feel free to talk to me. I'll try to help you find some solutions. Just keep trying.

Second, for those of you who don't know how this feels. Try to be a little more understanding. You can't tell somebody with depression to "Just cheer up!" any more than you can tell somebody in a wheelchair to "Just get up and walk!" Yet mental illness is looked down on as some kind of moral failing. I'm a talented, smart, loving person who also happens to deal with mental illness. Just like a diabetic has to manage their illness, so do I.

This is a great article for helping people understand "hidden" diseases. The lady who wrote that is talking about Lupus, but she might as well be describing my depression and anxiety. It's a really great analogy.

I believe that mental illness is a war. Every day is a constant battle. Medication and therapy are just a few of my weapons against depression. I also believe that this is probably a battle I will fight for the rest of my life. I could let that last part overwhelm me, but I won't for one good reason: I believe that as long as I keep fighting and doing the best I can do then I'm winning. As soon as I give up I lose. I'm too stubborn to stop fighting. The things I would lose if I let my illness take over my life are too precious to me. I won't lose my kids or my husband to something like this. I will fight every moment of every day because even if those voices tell me I'm not worth it, I know in my heart that my family is worth it.

Today's Sky: Partly Cloudy
Stars Made Today: 1

Leftovers

2011-10-26T19:29:00.001-06:00

Today was another busy day. I had three sick kiddos, plus I was feeling pretty under the weather myself. There was a lot of sleeping and television watching at my house today. Luckily the kids all seem to be doing much better, and I think the older two will be up for school in the morning.

We had leftovers for dinner, and I have to say that the Cupboard Soup is in fact one of those dishes that tastes even better when it sits for awhile. It thickens up considerably, I could almost eat it with a fork.

Today's Sky: Partly Cloudy
Stars Made Today: 2

Checkin' In

2011-10-25T20:18:00.003-06:00

I'm just checking in to update my sky and stars, today was a busy day!

Today's Sky: Partly Cloudy
Stars Made Today: 2

Anniversary and a Finished Project

2011-10-24T19:57:00.001-06:00

Thirteen years ago today I married my best friend and the best guy in the world. Apparently there are quite a few of you out there who also married great guys. That's swell for you, but my guy is the most awesome.

To celebrate our union he took me out to lunch. Planned it and found a sitter all on his own!

We went to Famous Dave's Barbecue in Layton.

I wrote all about it here for my Everyday Celiac blog. Go there if you want all the details and pictures. If you just want the highlight, get yourself to a Famous Dave's and have a Famous Sundae with praline sauce. SO GOOD!! I think that's what I'll be dreaming about tonight!

After lunch we stopped by some thrift stores and found some fun things. I have to say it's a lot easier bargain hunting when you don't have three kids bugging you. It was really great.

Oh, and the awesome-sauce icing on the amazing-ness cake that is my husband? Right now he's in the kitchen making me some Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies! Yup, he bakes for me too. Sorry ladies, he's all mine!

******

In other news, I couldn't sleep last night. I stayed up all night knitting and watching Warehouse 13 on Netflix. I did get a two hour nap this morning before lunch, but that's all the fuel I've got right now. Well, the nap and the Dr. Pepper I had with lunch. It's been weeks since I had any carbonated beverage, but with the lack of sleep I thought the caffeine would help.

The good news is that I finished Joey's hat! I actually finished a project! Go write this down in your diary, it's a banner day!

He really likes it! I tried to get a few pictures of him wearing it this morning, but he's a tough one to keep still.

I apologize for the fuzziness. I'm shaky to begin with, add in a hyper three year old and you get lots of blur.

You can't tell from the pictures, but I added a little i-cord loop to the top of my version. I think it makes the hat look a little like an acorn. Joey likes it too, he thinks the only way to take the hat off is to pull on the little loop and step out from under it! It's pretty funny.

It was pretty thrilling for me when I went to my Ravelry projects and actually marked this one as completed. I'm so proud!

Today's Sky: Partly Cloudy
Stars Made Today: 0

New Zealand!!

2011-10-23T20:33:00.002-06:00

I love Rugby. Today I watched the New Zealand All Blacks soundly whoop France to take the Rugby World Cup. Whoo hoo! The All Blacks are my favorite team and it was awesome to see them win on home soil.

I also love Hockey and American Football. Maybe it's the little barbarian in me, but I like watching the players pummel the crud out of each other!

This is the picture from the pattern, not my child.

I also started another project. It's a warm hat for my youngest. I let him choose the pattern himself, and I have to say he chose a really great one. I'll post pictures when I'm finished.

For anyone who is interested, this is what we're having for dinner.

Sky Today: Clear Blue
Stars Made Today: 1