Long Time No Blog

Wow, it has been a long time. Things have been busy, but there hasn't been that much to talk about. I'm telling you, it's just January. Blah January. At least we only have a few more days of this month and then we can move on to February. I was starting to get so excited that I only had a few patches of snow in my yard over the weekend. Then it snowed over 16 inches in 24 hours so now we are back to the "winter wonderland". It sure looks pretty though. I hope it melts fast though because we are dying to get out and go to the park.

Here are just a couple of things that have been going on:

• Adele had an ear infection and is still not sleeping all night consistently. I have been having trouble sleeping myself lately so this has made things worse for me. She finally (almost!) reached 20 lbs (19.5 to be exact) and the Dr. said that it would be just fine to turn her car seat around. Hooray, another babyhood milestone. It is just so much easier to adjust the car seat when it is forward facing and it is so much easier for all the kids to get in the car when it is facing forward.



• I hosted a Pampered Chef party at my house about a week ago and it was a lot of fun. I ended up having a selling total of $500 so I was able to get a bunch of free bonuses. I can't wait for all the stuff to arrive. Thanks to everyone who came to the party and double thanks to everyone who bought stuff. (And thanks to Keri for helping me reach the 500 goal!)
  


• We are excited that our tax forms are coming in so we can submit our taxes, get our refund and finish paying for our kitchen remodel. (We gotta get it in early before the government completely runs out of money....)



• We we went to the traditional ward chili cook-off/pinewood derby activity last weekend. It is so funny to see how "into" it the guys get about the racing of the cars. Kent was pretty excited to build his car. He did a lot of work on it and even decoupaged it to look like a brick wall. He drilled holes in it and put a bunch of fishing sinkers inside. It weighed 8 ounces. Kent put characters from Super Mario Brothers on the top and I nicknamed it the "Mario Mobile". For as un-aerodynamic as it was, we were very very surprised that it actually went really fast. In fact, the "Mario Mobile" won the most races and was pronounced the winner. It was pretty cool. The kids, who are very into all things Mario, were very excited every time he won a race.
  

The Underwear Bandana

Adele is at "that age" where she is constantly into everything. She has earned the nickname "The Re-distributor" because she is always moving things from their rightful locations to other locations. The other day I found her like this:

Yep, that's a pair of Hanes around her neck. They are clean, just FYI.

And yes, that is a dinner knife she is holding. I am guessing she kiped it from the dishwasher when I wasn't looking. The dishwasher is her second favorite place to play. Her #1 favorite "off-limits" place to play: The toilet. And she just figured out how to open the lid. This kid must be supervised at all times. Kind of like pretty much all 1 year olds I guess.

Coupon Tragedy

I went to Albertson's on Monday to get some more of the things that were in last week's ad. I had gone on Saturday and they were out of all the things I wanted. I put my coupon book and Adele in the cart and then I realized that the seat belt was broken. I moved her to another cart but I accidentally left my notebook in the original cart. I went to look for all the items on my list and they were out of every one of them so I ditched my cart and left. I got home and realized I didn't have my precious coupon book. I drove BACK to Albertson's and looked all over the place. I even walked through the whole store peering into people's carts to see if someone had picked up the cart with my book. I thought I was losing my mind. Finally I gave up and left my phone number and the description of my lost item with the customer service desk. About an hour later they called me. They had found my coupon book outside in a cart that was in the cart return. I was so relieved. I have done a LOT of work to get that coupon book organized and I would have been so sad to lose it.

Coupon-A-Rama

I am so excited about Albertson's ads this week! I went there and got so many deals I just had to share.

Here's what I got:


2 32 oz. cheese blocks $4.99 ea.
bananas $.69 per pound
oranges $.33 per pound
boneless chicken breasts $1.88 per pound
2 23 oz. Frosted Mini-Spooners cereal $1.27 ea.
2 boxes fruit snacks, $.75 ea.
3 boxes Cheerios $1.00 ea.
3 32 oz. jars grape jam $1.17 ea.
1 24 oz. pkg frozen veggies $.25
2 boxes frozen veggies $.34 each
4 6-packs Trix yogurt $.75 each
2 pkgs. real butter $1.49 each

AND


2 Pantene shampoos, 2 Pantene conditioners: $.17 ea.
2 Aquafresh toothbrushes: Free
2 pkgs. Stayfree $1.oo ea.
2 Tag deodorants $.67 ea.
2 Crest premium toothpastes $.50 ea.
2 Tide 64 loads detergent $4.99 ea.
1 Dawn dish soap $.75
1 Cascade diswasher detergent $2.00
8 giant-roll pack Bounty paper towels $4.75
2 Lysol sanitizing wipes $1.50 ea.

Plus I saved an additional 6 dollars from doubling 6 1 dollar coupons.

All in all, I spent $64.35. Not bad for a day's work. And I have to admit that I spent more time getting ready for this shopping trip than I ever have. There were SO many deals and SO many coupons it took awhile but it was SO FUN seeing my total going down, down, down every time they scanned my coupons.

Now, I must vow to not buy ANY MORE cleaning or hygiene items for 3-6 months because I am PREEEETY sure I have enough to last at least a year.

Even if you don't clip coupons, you can get a LOT of great deals at Albertson's this week.

You can also print free coupons from these websites:
http://grocerysmarts.coupons.smartsource.com/WEB/index.aspx?Link=235ZMFJDIS36M
http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=12812&zid=dl89&nid=10

And this site can help you organize your grocery list and match the available coupons with the sales:
http://www.grocerysmarts.com/utah/lists/indexg84rcm.php?s84mi2

The Return of the Inner Blogging Voice

Just a few short hours ago I said that my IBV hadn't been talking to me much lately. I was stuck inside the house and didn't really have much going on. It is amazing what a little middle-of-the night puking can do to get that IBV all revved up. Remember how I mentioned that I had a stomach bug over the weekend? I quarantined myself from pretty much everyone as much as possible and I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe my family didn't get exposed. But I was wrong. Last night Ian got up and came in my room. He does this sometimes when he has a bad dream. He said that his stomach hurt but that it was just a dream. Then he went back to bed and proceeded to puke in his bed. (It is a wonderful developmental milestone when kids become old enough and smart enough to actually make it to the toilet when they are sick.) At least most of it got on one blanket and his sheets and bedspread were spared. This happened at 2 a.m. and I knew that I'd be up for at least a few hours of repeated sick episodes. Finally at 5:00 a.m. after 3 or 4 (I can't remember now) more heaving episodes, 2 times through Primary CD #2, Ian finally went to sleep.

Today I have to say, he is faring much better than I am. You'd never know he was up for 3 hours puking. He's running around full speed and begging me to play with him. I on the other hand can barely connect two synapses in my brain and I am struggling to have patience with the 2 kiddos I have at home. I am declaring today to be "Mandatory Nap Day" for anyone who is at home. Maybe Ian will hit a wall sometime today and actually sleep. I think I hit MY wall about 1 minute after I got up this morning.

And, of course, since the Universe is so cruel sometimes, Adele slept like an angel last night. She has been waking up and crying a lot at night lately but last night: ANGEL. It figures.

This is a picture of a germ. It does bear a very close resemblance to something else in this discussion though so I thought it was the PERFECT illustration for this post.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/germ4c.gif

Photo highlights of 2008

Better late than never right?

(My personal favorite)

(Elise's head)

I can't wait to see what we do THIS year!

Random January

Blech. That is what I have to say about January. It is cold, it is gray and I hate not being able to take the kids to outside to play. I hate being stuck in the house.

My inner blogging voice hasn't been talking to me much. I keep thinking I need to post something but I am uninspired. I have hardly left the house for a week. I have been to the store on some great couponing errands, so that has provided me with enough excitement to sustain me for awhile. I have saved over 25 dollars with coupons this month already. (Wa-hoo!)

The kids are back in school now so at least THEIR brains are engaged in something exciting besides Mario Kart.

I have made a new goal this year to find something new to do. I have really been feeling lately (ok, well, for a long time actually) that there is something missing in my life and I really want to find something new to try. I feel kind of like I am trapped at home a lot and don't have a lot of time where I can do things without the kids. I really want to find a class to take, or a very part time job or something. If anyone has any great ideas, feel free to offer suggestions.

I can finally say that I have read a Jane Austen novel. I love all the movies but had a harder time getting into the books. I got Persuasion for Christmas and since I caught a stomach bug over the weekend I had a chance to finish it. I have to admit that I like the movie better. The book just meanders forever and keeps introducing new people and you just WANT them to admit their feelings. And they don't. Until the last 5 pages. And then they are in love and it is over. At least in the movie you can SEE how they look at each other and feel the WANT. I guess it is hard to feel THE WANT in the book. I don't think I will gear up to read Pride and Prejudice for awhile (if EVER.) I love the BBC 6 hour movie but if the MOVIE is 6 hours I can only imagine how long it would take me to get through that one.

New Year's Eve Cheese

One of our favorite Christmas/New Year's traditions is our annual cheese party. We do it every year sometime between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. It started the first or second year after we were married when Kent had a party where they sampled different cheeses. We talked about how fun it was to taste different kinds of fancy cheeses and our tradition was born. Each year we feature a new kind of cheese and we basically eat a bunch of appetizers for dinner. And we gorge ourselves on cheese. Over the years we have tried: Munster, Gouda, Edam, Myzythra, Butterkase, Bleu, Havarti and Gruyere. This year the featured cheese was Gorgonzola. I picked Gorgonzola because found a recipe for Candied Walnut Salad from one of my favorite blogs (http://www.ourbestbites.com/) that had G cheese in it. I have to admit that I kind of have a hard time eating something that contains visable mold. I have learned though that Gorgonzola cheese is LESS moldy than bleu cheese. And that the mold in G cheese is actually greener than the mold in bleu cheese, which actually is blue. I also learned from Wikipedia that Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are added to G cheese to make the mold ribbons. They also add penicillin. Weird. Next year we have decided to do fondue. No mold. Just cheese.

Photo from:http://www.food-info.net/images/cheese/gorgonzola.gif

C is for Cookie

That's good enough for me...

Our Christmas Card

One of my goals for 2009 is to practice and get better at digital scrapbooking. I have done a little bit with it here and there and I really enjoy it. And it is so much easier than haulin' out all the supplies and "goo" as my friend Megan would say. Here's our Christmas card this year.

December Update

I have a bunch of random stuff (as usual) so here goes:

• There was not one Jell-O fluff "salad" at the ward party a couple of weeks ago, which is why I never blogged about it. The only salad that was served was iceberg "bag" salad which really deserves a post of its own, but maybe I'll save that for another day.
  
  
• The kids had their last day of school yesterday. Now they think that they are "on vacation" or something. Unfortunately their vacation does not coincide with mine. Wait, I never even GET a vacation. What kind of a world is this anyway?
  
  
• Elise had a tooth "O" pulled at the dentist the other day Seems that my kids are genetically predisposed to have their permanent teeth grow in behind the baby teeth. Tooth "P" kind of had the same problem about a month ago but we wiggled the heck out of it and managed to get it to come out. Tooth "O" was much more stubborn. As was Elise when it was time to lie in the dentist's chair. She finally complied when we had a truly "Hollywood" moment out in the hall. Elise is a very dramatic person and she actually responds very well to love, hearts (especially being in one's heart) and all things tender. During that moment I had to pull out my most dramatic acting skills and I told her that she would always be in my heart and I knew in my heart she was brave. I told her that I wanted her to be brave for me. At that moment she followed the cinematic cue and lunged into my arms and said, "Mom, I know I can do it. I can do it for you." Then we went back in to the room, she laid in the chair, the DDS put the nitrous oxide mask on her and we were all much happier. Her only complaint during the procedure was that the dentist kept blocking the movie she was watching on a screen on the ceiling.
  
  
• Ian has some Incredible Hulk "punchy hands" that Adele was wearing the other day. She looked so funny and cute I had to take a picture.
  
  I was noticing as I looked through my pictures that I had a great picture of the other thing that is going on in Adele's life. Teething, which is represented here through copious amounts of drool. (You're welcome, I knew you wanted a picture of that.) 3 out of the 4 molars have broken through on at least one cusp and the last is about to break through. We hope that life will be happy again soon.
  
  

"One Another"

Ian: Mom do you love one another?
Me: Yes, I do
Ian: I don't love one another.
*pause*
Ian: Is "One Another" a good guy?

I then explained what "one another" meant. We grown-ups just take understanding everything for granted. It is fun to see into the minds of little kids. We forget that there is so much for them to learn.

11 Great Years

In sickness and health
For better or for worse
For richer (we're still waitin' for that one) and poorer
Through good times and bad
Through pregnancy and hormones
Through wakeful nights and parenting
Through "discussions" and laughter
Through silliness and romance
Forever and ever...

Happy Anniversary Kent! Thanks for 11 great years! I love ya! xoxo

Private?

Ok, maybe I am just being a lemming here and running toward the sea with all my other blogging friends, but I am seriously considering taking my blog private. I have been very careful to not include personal details, last name, and location information here, but I still feel insecure knowing that pictures of my kids and details of our lives are accessible to any crazy weirdo who happens to find this blog.

I am really heavily leaning toward making this blog private but I really hate to lose my readers who use Google Reader and others who won't ask to be invited. I know that I have a hard time remembering to check my private blogs. Really though, I'd sacrifice readers to keep my family safe.

I am going to finish the poll and then I think at the beginning of next year I will probably make my blog private. I really don't want to exclude anyone from reading this blog who wants to(provided you aren't a crazy weirdo). Please don't feel embarrassed about asking to be invited (unless you ARE a crazy weirdo....).

Email me and I'll invite you. Or, you can leave a comment with your address in the comment if you would rather. I love having people read and comment on my blog so please don't feel shy about asking to be invited.

:( Stupid stalker-weirdos. :(

Another Story Problem

Lisa is a mother of 4 has kids ranging in age from 8 3/4 years to 14 months. Figure her percentage of brain functioning based on the number of months where significant amounts of REM sleep were lost. Include pregnancy, sickness, teething and nightmares.

Sleep disturbances:

pregnancy, 6 months x 4 kids= 24 months (we'll be conservative here and assume there were 3 good months)
baby stage, 9 months x 4 kids = 36 months
baby Emilia factor=3 months (time of waking extending beyond 9 months)
baby Adele factor=5 months
collective nightmare total=3 months
collective sick total=2 months
collective teething total=2 months

Total months of sleep disturbance=75
Amount of months Lisa has been a parent including growing a fetus=110

110-75= 35 months of undisturbed sleep

35/110 = .3181
32%

Answer=32% average brain functioning over the last 9 years

(Yes, my inner blogging voice was working out this equation during an early morning screaming fit. Why do you ask?)

Math

I can remember as a kid, bringing home math homework I could not figure out. I'd show it to my parents, asking for help. About 9 times out of 10, they couldn't figure out ANYTHING that involved algebra. This just confirmed to me that either I really was never going to use algebra in real life or that my parents were born before algebra was invented.

Today marks a very important first in my life. Today my 3rd grade child brought home math homework is too difficult for me. I thought I was ok until Jr. High, but no. Today it happened.

So here's the problem:

The Jays beat the Tigers by 5 runs. There were 17 runs scored. How many runs did the Jays score.

Seems easy enough right? Well, sure you can GUESS, (Which actually was in the instructions, to guess and then check to solve, so I am not a total idiot YET.) When I heard the question, I thought, heck, that is easy enough right? Just make a little algebraic equation. NO PROBLEM. YEAH. Well, I am embarrassed to admit that I have not done an algebraic equation in 14+ years. At first Kent and I couldn't solve that equation so we did the "guess and check" method like the 3rd graders and then cheated and looked online at an equation solver website. After seeing it we did the "OOOoooh, THAT'S right... That's how you do it". But really. REALLY. This proves that all that math we did in high school and college (erm, elementary school) was pretty much useless. That or else we are experiencing neural atrophy.

SO, all you smarty pantses who are mocking me right now. WITHOUT cheating, I want you to write out an equation for that problem and solve it. Show your work. Let's see how smart YOU are.

Poll

The 4 people who voted for colored lights on the poll need to step forward and defend their position. (I am about 99% sure one of those votes is from Kent. And he has every right to defend his position here. I told him that.)

Adele's Skirt

My serger was feeling neglected because I haven't used it forever so I pulled it out the other day and made a skirt for Adele. It was actually kind of an experiment but I think it turned out cute. I had some apron fabric that I really liked so I decided to put it to good use. I wish I would have had a bit more of it though because the skirt turned out kind of small in the waist. I want to get some more fabric and make some skirts in the same style for my big girls.

Update

A lot has happened that I haven't caught up on so I guess I'll just do a random update.

• Kent is sick. He has what the kids had: The mystery fever/body ache disease with a moderate sore throat. Emilia and Ian both had it before Thanksgiving.
  
  
• Despite the sickness we had, everyone seemed to be well enough to make the LONG trek North to Idaho for Thanksgiving. (In the winter we really should do like the birds do and only go South. It was COLD there!) The kids had a great time with their cousins on Kent's side, and Emilia was in heaven because she got to play Mario Kart Wii all weekend. Her poor boy-trapped cousin Hailey was SO excited to have another girl to play with but Emilia was more interested in the Wii. Luckily, the back up sister Elise took over and everyone was happy. They had fun doing all things girly.
  
  
• Adele is cutting all 4 of her 1 year molars. She also has a cold and a runny nose. I can't think of too many things that are more fun than THAT.
  
  
• I think I have a disease called Superficial Infrapatellar Bursitis. Lucky for me I have a brother who is a orthopaedic doctor so he was able to give me a free diagnosis so I didn't have to go to the Dr. here and pay money for them to tell me there isn't really anything
• I can do except to TRY to rest the knee. (Yeah, right, by the way. Tell that to my kids.)
  
  
• I have some aprons in a local boutique and I worked a shift there on Friday. I was excited that one of them sold that night. I am hoping to at least sell a couple of others as well.
  
  
• I finally finished decorating the tree this morning. We put it up last Monday night but we kind of ran out of time (erm, patience with the kids) so some of the ornaments just got stuck on the piano. And sat there all week.
  
  
• Having a 1 year old during the Christmas season can be very challenging. Our tree has been redecorated many times and most of the ornaments are migrating to the North for this Christmas season.
  
  
• Our ward Christmas party is on Tuesday night, so I am SURE there will be some Jell-O fluff "salad" to blog about later in the week.

Well, I think that's it. I can't believe we only have 18 days until Christmas!

Cake Wrecks

If you haven't seen this blog you really must go check it out. It is one of my favorite blogs. Great for a daily laugh. Now why didn't I think of that?

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com