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Showing posts from June, 2008

Coming up in July

Wow, my first month of blogging is nearly behind me and I really attacked it with a vengence. I'm not sure I can keep up this pace, but I'll try to blog once a day. July will be interesting for all of us here in my household though, and if I slack off feel free to harass me. First off in July we will be moving, as you might have gathered by now. Next week we head over to South Dakota to go house hunting for 4 days. Then it's back here to get more boxes packed. My little sister will be moving out as well, so we will be helping with that. Robert's last day of work will be the 28th of July and then we will be on our way. Classes at USD begin on Aug. 11th so that week will be interesting as well. So basically, what I'm saying is that I might be in and out all month. BUT, I have joined a little group called, Tuesday Tell All. They have a topic for discussion every Tuesday. Sounds like a great writing exercise so I've joined up. I've also come up with this gr

Diagnosis

So the story goes like this: When I had just barely found out that I was pregnant with my now 16 month old I had a little accident. I fell down the stairs. It was very dramatic, as these things go, and I was in a lot of pain when I hit the bottom. You see, as my right foot slipped on the step I threw myself backwards in an attempt to catch my fall. This, in some grand mathematical equation, caused my left foot to stay on the step I'd been on while the rest of me tumbled downwards. My knee folded out, away (and behind, and up) from my body like a piece of cardboard and when I hit the ground I was in pure agony. I couldn't move it at all the pain was so strong. I struggled desperately to control my language in front of my in-laws, and the pervading thought I had was, 'Crap, Marc is gonna walk in and see me like this and make some comment about his brother's wimpy wife.' Well, it wasn't so much a wimpy comment as a clumsy comment, but nevertheless years of his fa

I Am Mommed Out

It has been a very trying week in my mom world, I'm sure it's just build up from the fact that my children refuse to go outside. Yes, refuse. I'm sure that some reader's might be thinking that as a mother I should be in charge and to them all I have to say is... come on over and give it a shot. They have literally begged to do chores instead. To make my children go outside we have to drag them out, lock the screen door behind them and then listen to them bang on it and cry for as long as we can endure. The reason behind this is that they've decided they are scared of dogs. It's absolutely nuts! And it is making this summer crawl by, especially since I'm trying to pack. Now add to those two facts, the packing and the canine-phobia, that my son has learned the art of copy-catting. He finds immense joy in wandering around the house copying every word his sister says. He also likes following her around growling, either of these makes her scream at the top of h

Sweets

"...the most beautiful woman in the world was a French scullery maid named Annette. Annette worked in Paris for the Duke and Duchess de Guiche, and it did not escape the Duke's notice that someone extraordinary was polishing the pewter. The Duke's notice did not escape the notice of the Duchess either, who was not very beautiful and not very rich, but plenty smart. The Duchess set about studying Annette and shortly found her adversary's tragic flaw. Chocolate. .... Annette never had a chance." -The Princess Bride Chapter One I can relate. I have a soft spot for chocolate. When I was in Italy, nearly 10 years ago they had these chocolates called 'Bacci', they were to die for. After I returned to the States I wanted more of them and it took the dedicated efforts of a very smitten man to find them here in the U.S. (much to my pleasure). I haven't had them in years but I still think about them every once in a w

Old Faithful Part 2

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These are my son's old faithfuls: They are about a year old (which for a kid his age is saying a lot), they used to be pants, but as you can see have long since given up that title. The zipper broke about a week ago, the pull literally fell apart in my finger's, but he continues to wear them. Yesterday he went over to his best friend Heidi's house, he insisted on wearing these. So I had to get a picture for you. I think my dress is much nicer, but to each their own. Someday soon he'll have to find something new to wear. Until then I guess I have to survive my child looking like the Grapes of Wrath. Oh, and if you were interested, they are/were Gap Jeans.

So It Begins

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As some of you might know, we are moving in a month. So today I got out a notebook, a pencil, a permanent marker and some boxes and I started the tedious yet cleansing process of packing. I thought I'd tell you how it was going as we progress. I have some goals, some objectives I learned from our last move. 1. If it's still in a box from the last move (minus the books of course) then it needs to go. 2. If it's still in the closet we put it in when we moved, then it's going as well. 3. Everything goes into an appropriately marked box. None of these 'junk' boxes. If you have to title it junk... well, sorry. 4. Boxes will be labeled according to room or type, therefore if it isn't a bathroom supply, it doesn't belong in the bathroom box. 5. We are taking the drapes and shower curtains, no exceptions. So here's some pictures of what my living room looks like now. The bookshelf is the smallest of three, but I was smart enough not to unpack all my books la

A Suitcase Full of Books

My sister was beside herself when she came home last night, she'd been perusing through garage sale ads in the newspaper and had found one particular announcement. A local second-hand store was having a book sale, if you could fill a suitcase with books you could buy it all for $2.50. So today my sister, my kids and I all loaded into the truck and drove down. An hour, and two sore backs later, we could be seen dragging our $5 worth of books across the parking lot. I have an addiction, well, I have many addiction's really but books are at the top of the list. I recently had to go into the doctor for some abdominal pain, as is routine he asked me a list of questions to discover my current health. "Do you smoke?" "No." "Do you drink alchohol?" "No." "Do you use any recreational drugs?" "No." The doctor smiled and without breaking stride asked: "Do you have any vices at all?" "I read to much." He laughe

Underneath

Today I had the distinct pleasure of looking under the couch. Now why on earth you might be wondering, would she put herself through such torture. Well it's quite simple really, I was looking for the remote. The kids wanted to watch a movie and the parental locks are on the DVD player. This means you have to have the remote so that you can input the proper code. It's really pointless, since the kids know the code and it means scrambling around trying to find the remote. But the stupid thing keeps forgetting that I've unlocked the parental settings and tends to revert to them. So there we were, searching in the bookshelves, the TV armoire, the dresser, but the remote was nowhere to be found. I bravely told my son to look under the couch. He took a quick glance, said, "Nope." and moved on. At first I allowed this to pass. Until it became evident that the remote was hiding. Down on my knees I go, my cheek

Write an ad for yourself

This is actually something I did a while ago, but I thought it'd be fun to put on here. My husband's brother's teased me mercilessly about putting my emotions out for everyone to see. My sisters wondered what the heck they were talking about. So here goes, tell me if it's to 'emotional': P.S. This is a really fun writing exercise you guys should all do it. TOTALLY RELIABLE! Can run for hours on a single bowl of cereal! This particular model comes with a built in catastrophe monitor, just ask and it'll be able to give you the worst case scenario in under two seconds. But don't worry, it will also help you avoid them. Although we're still working out the kinks, her temper flare's have dropped to only a 55% chance. Don't forget to try out the smile and beautiful eyes button's. These have been known to hypnotize the most stoic, but the new improved version is programmed to only

If Evolution Works Then Why Don't Women Have Four Arms?

On one of the forums I frequent, they were discussing bumper stickers and someone posted the one I put in my subject line. I chuckled at this and remembered an experience I had last year. I was in labor with my third child and we we're doing the walking around the hospital thing. On the walls around us hung the entries into an art contest that had been held recently the theme being "Womanhood". As I'm walking through my pain, I had the chance to stop and rest my head near some of these works of art. There were intricately patterned quilts, paintings, sketches, sculptures, all were very well done, some were even impressive but none had been the winner. Finally, after what seemed, at the time, like an eternity, I again stopped to breathe through my agony. I looked up and there above me on the wall was a plain, brown doll with a framed piece of paper posted above it stating it as the winner of the contest. I glanced at the doll again and laughed delightedly. My husband l

U.S. Drivers?

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I just had to add these pictures, I got both of these in emails and they are just unbelievable. I'm proud to say that I have never been ticketed before. Nope, you are looking at a woman with a pristine clean driving record... well, okay, there was that one time I ran the stop sign, but I only got scolded. What you are looking at is a Semi with a Track Hoe (or something of that sort) misjudging the bridge height. How fast do you imagine you have to be going to make it half way through the bridge?  Anyway... have a great day everyone.

Night Games

Did you ever play night games as a child? We sure did; Kick the Can, Ghost in the Graveyard, Steal the Flag and Cops & Robbers were our favorites. We'd suit up in as much black as we could scrounge from our closets and trudge up the hill to either Andy's or Myra's houses. It made for some great memories, and some painful ones. The strongest memory I have of night games came not long before the joy of those days were finally curbed by parents. We were at Andy's house and we were playing a rather exciting game of Ghost in the Graveyard. Now for those of you who don't know how the game is played, I'll explain; it's like Sardines in that you have one person hiding and the rest of the group seeking, when you see the person who is it you holler “Ghost in the Graveyard!”. Then you run for all your worth to the safe point; if you are caught your it. Andy was the best one at this game, and we all loved it when he was it. H e hid extremely well, especially in h

The Danger of Violence Part 2

Two: Righteous Anger Brings About Righteous Purposes. The acts of patriotism wrought throughout time and the marvelous speeches and writings given during such turmoil are by far some of my most favorite literary works. Perhaps this is why I don't have a strong opinion either way on this topic, because I am so keenly stirred by the righteous defense of freedom. You may say to me “violence merely increases hate”-MLK Jr. at which point I would say, i s violence always predicated by hatred? W ar and defense have brought about some of the greatest results in the history of the human struggle. What of the acts of the brave soldier's in the World Wars. If there had not been someone to stand up and fight Hitler how many more would have died? Any time I think of a battle worth fighting for, I think of 'The Title of Liberty': “ In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children” Alma 46:12 Is that not reason enough to take up arms?

The Danger of Violence Part 1

It is widely argued that the act of war, or in a lesser sense, violence, can have an impact for good on humanity. I'm not sure where my opinion lies in this field. So I would like to make two separate points and see where they lead. Some of the references I use may be unfamiliar to some of my readers, mostly those who randomly stumble upon me, since the majority of my friends are of the same faith as I am, if you are interested in the quotes I would be more than happy to direct you to where they come from. One: Violence begets Violence. Like the saying goes, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” “ But I say unto you... whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” Matthew 5:39-41 Perhaps, for some, a weak beginning, as it comes from the Bible, which so of

What A Drive!

The town I live in is known as a 'bedroom' community- sounds racy, I know, but it just means that there are more people than jobs and that most of the people who live there commute somewhere else. In our case it's the larger town 23 miles west of us. This is where my husband works, this is where most of the shopping is, and today was where I was headed. It typically takes 30 minutes to get there... it didn't today. First I decided to take the frontage road, since the freeway is under construction. The frontage road has a speed limit of 70 MPH. Did I get to enjoy that speedy drive? No, I got stuck behind a crane driver who went 25 miles per hour. Why didn't I pass him? Well most of the road is a no passing zone, and I was on the cell phone with one of my dearest friends, Tasha. Okay, so that was fine... I got to the end of the road construction and hopped back on the highway, speeding along at a steady 80 MPH coming ever closer to 'The Pass.' Now when I

I Can't Believe I Just Said That

It's unbelievable the things that come out of a persons mouth sometimes. Like last night when I was listening to my neighbor and his friends screaming at each other, I chuckled a little at the fact that there were more expletives than nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and conjunctions combined. You couldn't figure out what point they were trying to make! “You are such a *&!!@$% , &^%$#$% , *&(%$ ^^$#$^%^, and &$#@! *&%$#... okay!?” One might actually be able to look past the foul language when you realize how stupid they sound. But then I start to think about some of the things I've said in the past few years and wonder whose sillier: “ Leave your sister's dirt alone.” “ Please don't wrap spaghetti around the dinosaur's neck.” “ Hey you two! Stop licking each other!” I've been writing these little jewels of speech down in my journal for years. I imagine to a person walking past our house it must seem strange

Peanut's Has Been Drinking

We've had some pretty interesting neighbors in our day. It always makes for lively conversation, but my one complaint is the timing. I've coined a new phrase tonight: “When the sun goes down for the day, the quacks come out to play.” See I'm a parent of three young children, I go to bed early, so anything past 9PM bugs me. I'm the type of woman who wants to know who in their right mind is calling me at 10:30PM So when that lady next door played her music at 1AM. The bass vibrating my bed and her shrill voice singing “IF I COULD TURRRRRRN BAAAACK TIIIMEEE! IF I COULD FIIINNND A WAY!” I could honestly say to my husband (as I lay staring wide eyed at my ceiling), “I usually like this song.” And then there is the litany of midnight (or later) visitor's, always accompanied by the ominous knocking at the door. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK: “Is Fred here?... No?....Sorry man, I guess I got the wrong condo.” KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK: “Hi, my name is Officer Smith. Did you giv

Old Faithful

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This is 'Old Faithful.' It's a dress, my favorite dress to be more specific, and technically it's really not that old... under a year. But it is the dress that I wear when I'm in a good mood, or when I've torn my closet and drawers apart trying to find something to wear and nothing feels right. I like this dress. I like that a bunch of 11 year old boys at church came up and told me I had a cool dress. I like that a lot of the women in church have said how cute it is. I like how it fits and how it wears and everything about it. I like it so much that I probably wear it 3 of the 4 Sunday's a month. I have a lot of dresses too, but this one is my favorite. My Old Faithful, that I know I look good in, or at least I feel like I look good in and so therefor am happy to wear whenever I get the chance. Do you have an Old Faithful? It doesn't have to be a dress or slacks, it could be any article of clothing that you turn to when everything else is laying on your

Finally Some Sun!

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The sun finally got strong enough to burn away those ever present clouds. The ones that kept dropping snow on us even though it's June. The state of Montana rejoiced, I'm pretty sure any one with half a sense and a mind to steal could have made a fortune today in all these empty houses. No one was inside! We spent the day packing the truck and heading up into the mountains to picnic and hike. There's this spot we love, Pine Creek, and we always go up. <-- It's very nice and very pretty and still leaves me in awe when ever we drive up there. Today we saw a doe on the side of the road watching us like we were unusual and it wasn't. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures to show you all. The reasons behind these pictures vary, some (like the one to the left) are to brag about the beauty of where I live, other's just cause I wanted to show you all parts of my life. So let's take a tour, shall we. Welcome to Paradise Valley, Montana.

Springtime in the Rockies.

The weather here is beginning to soften up and the first whisps of spring can be felt stirring for a few moments every day. We are soooo excited! The summer's here are, in no other word, intoxicating. We can't wait to spend our days at the park or in the mountains. We can't wait to throw open the windows, put the fans in and live with the warm summer air wafting through our house, cleaning out that stale smell of heating and bodies that seems to clog the winter air. It's about time we pulled off the thick blankets, and slept with only sheets to cover us. I can't wait to scoot the kids out the door, or hear the sounds of their laughter as they run with wild abandon, savoring their freedom. I'm looking forward to that big shade tree down at the park, the one so perfectly positioned to read under. Or for my summer skirts and flip flops (those ones I had to put away when we left Arizona). The Fourth of July Parade (the only parade we have in this town) that everyone

Proof of Identification

This is from my ’thoughts’ file... (the one I write in when I have something hit me that I just have to get out before my brain explodes) enjoy. My lack of identity came to an apex recently at Wal-Mart. Now I realize that as a mother, my sense of self has long been buried. But the struggle remains! I fight against it, sometimes through bouts of depression, my husband and children never quite realizing what is wrong with mommy. Hah! Mommy is just fine, it’s C that is screaming, C that is crying, C that is refusing to do laundry or cook dinner. My split personality is at war and on Sept. 13, 2007 a battle was won for Mommy. There I was, feeling a sense of freedom that only a mother of mulitple children can feel. I was down by one. My eldest started kindergarten and feeling an urge to spread my wings I hauled the boys off to Wal-Mart. Now this is no small feat for us, Wal-Mart is in another town, half an hour away. A trip there is a marvel in logistical and tactical planning. One mus

Gender’s and My Religion

On one of the forum’s I frequent they are discussing the gender neutralization of men. One of the women pretty much mocked the men saying there was no difference between men and women besides the ability to give birth. Anything beyond that was driven by societal norms and not by any God given (or natural) mean. I really get a kick out of the idea of gender rolling. I think it’s absurd, for the most part (I do think it’s possible, but only in the extremes). I had a daughter first, when she was a baby she was given three blankets: one pink, one orange yellow and blue and one crocheted with this IMO hideous mix of green orange and pink. She loves the crocheted one. She wanted to mother things as soon as she could move and she now wants to be a princess more than anything in the world. Did I push this upon her? Or is it a natural? I hardly doubt I pushed it on her, and if you know my husband and his family, you’d understand that there’s no way they did. Much to much testosterone running ar

Not sure yet... let me type, and we’ll find out.

My friend and I were talking about music the other day. About how it affects our lives (effects? affects? whichever). That listening to, say, angry music tends to leave us in a sour mood. We both decided however that certain types of music can also be an outlet for those exact feelings we are trying to dispel. Like rock, I have been through phases in my life where I just don’t desire to listen to a guitar, drums and pounding bass. Then I hear a song and I’m enthralled, and I want more. Cause there’s nothing like popping in a CD, cranking up the sound and letting the pounding noise wash out all other thought and feeling. My mom is very sensitive to music, when I was a teenager this drove me NUTS! She couldn’t handle songs like ’Killing Me Softly’, which I loved at that time... Hmm, I haven’t heard that in a while... It actually caused her pain, emotional pain to listen to such a sad song. I didn’t understand this at all and it made driving in the car with her a real pain. But then again

Dreams.

I had a dream last night that a giant Grizzly Bear was attacking me and my babies. Whether this was brought on by some psychological/emotional venting, or by the fact that the book I’m reading (Twilight) talks about ’irritable Grizzlies’, is beside the point. The point is that I fought back! The bear was coming at me and I suddenly had a pistol in my hand. I was rapidly loading it (I don’t think I’ve ever loaded a pistol, BTW) and then I was aiming and firing. Three shots to the head, one right between the eyes and the bear was down. So I told my husband about this dream and he said "WooHoo! Good job C!" What an odd reaction- you might be thinking. In reality, however, his response was very loving. You see, I have a problem with nightmare’s. It’s plagued me for years and years, often times to the point that I wake screaming, and my darling husband has to spend the next hour trying to calm me enough that I can fall back to sleep. In those dreams, the bear would have gotten to