Shopping with Matt

Yesterday, I took Matt shopping for some new summer clothes. He has grown over the past year, which is good. So he is actually growing, albeit slowly.

So we walked into Kohl's and then into the boys section. I told him to find some shorts to try on. He found a rack of gym shorts and pulled a red pair off the rack and said that he'd like to try these ones on. We grabbed a few other things to try on, a couple more pairs of shorts, a pair of pants, and some shirts.

I steered him toward the fitting rooms and told him to try one thing on at a time and to come out to show me how whatever he tried on fit.

So he did. The first thing he tried on was the red pair of shorts. They looked a little small, so I took them from Matt and went to find a larger pair while he tried on the next item. I found the rack of shorts but alas, they did not have the red ones in a size bigger. So I grabbed a navy pair of the same style, and a red pair of a different style, both in the correct size.

I brought the shorts to Matt and told him that the red pair was unavailable in a medium, but here are some navy shorts of the same kind and red pair of another kind.

He said, "I'll take the navy. I don't like red."

....

My reply: " Well, then why on earth did you grab a red pair to try on? I would think if you were looking for clothes to try on that you would look for something you actually like."

He had no answer, except to say that he wasn't really big into fashion.

I can tell. I had to go through all the clothes we picked out to ask him if he liked the color and the style just to make sure he was getting something he was satisfied with. Silly boy.

The upside of shopping with him? We were done in 15 minutes. Other children of mine, specifically an older brother who currently resides in a different state, would have taken upwards of three hours to pick out 3 pairs of shorts, a pair of pants, and two shirts.

I am a material girl

I was in a T-shirt redesign mode yesterday. The gray shirt cost me $3--clearance rack happiness! I bought two. I had beads on hand, so no cost there.

Here is what I did to the gray shirt.

I call this picture "Robbing the Peter shirt to make the Paul shirt look prettier."
Here are three of the circle piles I cut out. I cut out a total of five. They are going to be flowers.
I hand-sewed them on the neckline of the shirt.
Bead detail. Black beads, clear beads and white beads.
On me:
I made the fabric circles by cutting a three-layered square off the scrap shirt, folding it in half, and cutting a half circle. Some of the squares I cut were on the edge of the shirt so they included a fold. This is what Matt did with those folded scraps, which had two holes in them:


Can he get any weirder? (And I see Other Jim's face in there)

Hayley got in on the chin protection action, under pressure from me. I think I owe her big now for posting the pictures on the blog.


I don't owe Matt anything since he seems to have no qualms about posing for pictures doing the strangest things.

Another T-shirt makeover

This time with a coral-colored T-shirt from Target. I'm amazed there was anything as colorful as coral in the plus-size section. On the clearance rack, no less.

I fiddled with the shirt at my mother's while she gave piano lessons to Budgie and Cheeky (yes, Cheeks is back on piano lessons after 8 or 9 months off during school--it was at her request too. She said since Honor Band and jazz band were over, could she have piano lessons back? Would Grandma allow that? I chuckled and said Grandma would be very happy to have her back).

I don't have before or during pictures of the shirt, just the end result. And this time, I got fancy with some leftover tulle and beads.
Bead detail
And on me.
I think it looks a little top heavy, and I don't like the pocket (which you can't really see in the photo), but it will do. I was going to cover the pocket with a rosette made out of the hem of the T-shirt I cut up, but...ack!...I left it at my mother's house. Mom, don't throw my scraps away! I left them on your basement sewing room table by accident. (yes we have to specify basement sewing room, because SHE HAS TWO SEWING ROOMS.)

I have a dark gray shirt, a lavender one, and a navy blue one still waiting redesign. I think I will forgo the ruffles and tulle. Maybe I'll do some flowers. I have some black and clear beads that I think would go well on the gray shirt.

Last Seminary lesson preparation for this school year

Folks, I am mighty tired. Seminary has been a huge chunk of my school year and I am eagerly awaiting next Wednesday--the last seminary day of this school year! (it's also the day I leave for my Florida trip)

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching seminary for the year and I have just spent the last two hours making up a round-robin, puzzle-and-quiz lesson for teaching the Articles of Faith. I used lots of paper. I would like to high-five Puzzlemaker, because without it, some of my lessons would be boring (and my Valentine's day treasure hunts would take longer to create).

Because I feel the need for pictures today, here are some from this year in seminary. All are taken with my camera phone, so they are small and kinda blurry.

This is the day I saw a rainbow in class.
I like this one, because J saw that I was taking a picture and she leaned over to make sure she was in it. She might have a future in Photobombing or "creeping."
Paul and his friend read out loud for the class.
Paul leads the class in reciting a scripture.
I'll have three months off, then I'll be back to waking up at 4:30 a.m. (and then again at 4:40 a.m. Must hit snooze at least once) and making up lessons that involve word-finds and crosswords.

Sick of coughing

I have coughed a lot the last few days. I have coughed enough to tone my upper body in ways it has not been toned before. Yesterday was the worst; my cough and I duked it out over control of my lungs til both of us were weak and weary. I won though, today, my cough is languishing and my muscles are not threatening to burst.

I was able to work today, even though while at work, I was unable to do a cartwheel and a bridge. I did, however, manage a somersault. I have skillz, yo.

After work, Hayley shared with me her latest internet fascination, Bad metaphors. Go there and laugh. I pity my preteen and adolescent self, with only four channels on the TV and no internet to amuse me.

Ten things in five minutes

Because five minutes is how long I have before I have to leave for work.

1. Matt gave his first talk in church yesterday. As he walked up to the podium, it began its descent to match his height. He watched it lower itself and said, "I dream of that not taking so long." Ever the comedian.
2. I have to give a talk next week AND play the organ. Let's see if I can screw both tasks up!
3. That will make 3 weeks in a row someone from my family has spoken in church. Paul and Jim better be ready.
4. It's a nice day!
5. Wish I could spend it outside digging holes in the yard
6. To plant new flowers.
7. Because of my new temporary work schedule, Jim is in charge of dinner for the next two weeks.
8. But if I don't want Taco Bell, pizza or spaghetti every night, I have to tell him exactly what to fix. Tonight his assignment is homemade burritos and I have already made the meat filling.
9. Working women who STILL have to worry about dinners are tired people.
10. Time to go.

It's Prom o'clock!

It's a drizzly day in the neighborhood, but that didn't stop several teenagers from getting dressed up to go to Prom.

Paul and his date Nicole

The bunch of lovely young ladies and dashing young men
The boys try group shoulder massages
Paul and Jim
And once again, Paul and NicoleMy advice to Paul was "Your job is to make sure she has a good time."

I hope they both enjoy the evening.

Polishing for Prom

The prom prep is swinging into high gear here.

The corsage has been ordered, the suit picked up, the vest and tie procured, and the hairs cut.

Last thing to do?

Polish the shoes.
I didn't realize people actually polished their shoes anymore. We've become such a disposable society--if things break, we toss 'em rather than fix 'em. If shoes look scuffed, we get new ones. But Jim sat down with Paul and taught him a little lesson on thriftiness and making do by showing him how to polish his shoes.

And just by accident, I caught Paul smiling on camera. He had been making annoying faces, but then as he laughed about my inability to get a "good" photo of him, I captured that elusive Paul-ish smile.

The one disappointing thing about Target...

Their selection of plus-size clothing SUCKS ROCKS. Big giant boulders. Big giant boulders covered with algae, oil slicks, and bird poop. It's bad.

As I wander among the racks of clothing for juniors and misses, I see all manner of cute tops with ruffles and patterns and in lovely colors.

I go to the four racks dedicated to the more generously proportioned, and everything is grey or black and blah. Nothing fancy, nothing cute. Not a ruffle or a twist or a tuck or a pleat or ANYTHING.

There was one t-shirt in an aqua color and I thought it would go nicely with a green/white/aqua skirt that I have. But it was so bland, so plain, so...so....T-shirty. I wanted a nice shirt with ruffles on it. And this certainly wasn't ruffly. Or cute in any way.

So I bought two of them.

And I cut one of them up into strips.
And I got out my camera to take pictures. And I took these pictures:If I were afflicted with ADHD, flowers and kitties would be the "Ooo, a shiny thing" distractions that keep me from completing my tasks.

Then I went back inside and played (using my sewing machine) with the strips of aqua t-shirt material to do this:And now, I have a shirt that looks like this:I may add a few ruffled flowers to it too, but for now, it's a shirt I can wear to seminary with my aqua/green/white skirt. And with my brown and black plaid that has aqua embroidered flowers.

It took me all of 40 minutes (and ten of those minutes were spent taking pictures of flowers) (five more minutes were spent winding a bobbin and picking out thread) (and then trying to locate the garbage can) (and telling Jim how cool the shirt was going to look).

Question of the day

Can I blog from my phone?

If you are reading this, the answer is yes.

If I am reading this, it means I've stayed up way past my bedtime.

The Mother's Day Tribute

The topic of the short talk was supposed to be "How I know my mother loves me." Hayley was one of six youth speakers at church to share their thoughts on this topic.

Her thoughts:

"I know my mother loves her children because she hasn't forgotten any birthdays that I know about."

"She goes to band concerts and track meets, time permitting."

And my favorite piece of evidence:

"I know my mother loves me because she cares about my teeth. I have braces and just last week, someone had given me some gum and I didn't think twice about it and took it. When mom came to pick me up, she made me spit it out."

The whole congregation was laughing, and I was nearly crying trying not to laugh as hard as I wanted to.

Other moms got "she does things for me," "she sacrificed for me," "she doesn't get mad at me," "she is a great example," and I get "she made me spit out my gum."

We are not a sappy family. We do like to laugh, however.

And I did make her spit out her gum last week. I did the "fake mad" routine. I fake yelled at her, saying, "Your dad and I are the ones paying for your braces. As long as we are paying, we get to decide how you use your teeth!" She laughed, but willingly spit out her gum and gave no argument.

I am glad I am a mother to five amusing children.

South Dakota

Jim and I met Mike and Jen at my mom's house for our trip to Mike's new office in Watertown, South Dakota. Mike invited me along so I could offer any opinions regarding the decor of my future place of employment. (Yes, I am planning to accept Mike's offer to work for him. A while ago, Jen asked me if when I was young would I have ever considered working for Mike. I would have said, "HECK NO." But Mike has mellowed a bit and I won't actually have to work under his nose most of the time anyway. He's letting me work from my own house. We'll see how it works out!)

The following photos constitute a pictorial essay from the trip.

Jen and Vi, two of our traveling group.

This is the view point from behind the front desk in the new offices of Prairie Ridge Endodontics. Mike is talking to the building owner.
This is what the front desk area looks like from the waiting room area.
And this should be the new Prairie Ridge Endodontics mascot.
What does the PRE mascot do? Mostly run around.
Jim inspects the staff lounge, the operatories, the bathrooms, the spare room, and the sterilization alcove.
For lunch, we hit the nearby DQ. The little munchkin waited patiently for her french fries.
A message from Watertown Livestock:
Next time I visit, I will be eating here just for the name:
I like the architecture in this small town. Nothing is cookie cutter and sometimes it can be a little puzzling. Why are there music notes on a building that advertises Computer Dan's repair shop? And why does a Medical Arts Building house a GRAVESTONE business? (I like the blue and white decorations around the top of the medical arts building). I'm also willing to bet Mike is going to avoid the community theater aka "Town Players" building next to Computer Dan's. Jen, if you ever want to go to a play there, I'd be willing to go with you.
After a trip to the lumberyard and a quick tour of the town, we headed back home. We wore Vi out.

Internet in my pocket

I'm on the road with Jim, Mike, Jen (Mrs. Hawleyfocus), and UV (owner of large eyes and a very cute dimple).

I'm on the road AND I'M BLOGGING.

I can blog because I have the internet in a little 3" x 3" black plastic square. I love technology.

We are going to South Dakota to pick out paint for Mike's future endodontistry office.

I might take pictures even.

My DNA was showing

Mom and I went to a book signing on Saturday. It was given by an author who also happened to be in my 10th grade English class and Math class. At the time, this future author, and future college professor of English, was a rebellious punk rocker. He had a band with a bad name even. And he wrote bad things in my 11th grade yearbook. (But I thought he was cool)

Too bad my name didn't ring a bell for him. Sigh. Oh well. I always figured I was unremarkable and utterly forgettable. (said in a way as to show you that I am at peace with the fact)

ANYWAY.

After I got my book signed, Mom and I tottered off to the deli part of the Scandinavian gift store where the book reading and signing was held. It was a small space with what seemed like a healthy population of patrons.

The deli part of the store offered head cheese (Jenni-Dear Old Mr. Dunderbeck should come to mind), Swedish meatball mix, pickled herring, lefse, and all manner of other Scandinavian delicacies. I wanted Kavli and lefse, and Mom got some Swedish meatball mix, lingonberry preserves, cloudberry preserves, two boxes of Kavli and maybe something else, I can't remember.

What made the purchase remarkable was that the butcher/cashier remarked on how much we looked like each other. Usually it's my sister who gets the "you look just like your mother" comments; me not so much (only one time that I can ever remember), even though I have always wanted to look like my mother. I said I rarely hear that, and he said, "Oh yeah, you look just like her." That made up for Mr. Author/former bad boy punk rocker not remembering me.