Tales of a Shoebox Princess

The puns, they keep coming. We have decided that once EJ is gone, we are dismantling Paul's loft bed. Permanently. If there ever comes a time when we have 3 boys living in the house again, it will be time to kick at least 2 of them out. While this won't rival the Great Room Metamorphosis of last summer (or whenever we redid the sewing room--it might have been done twice), and for sure it will not be able to lick the toes of the Great Room Switch of 2008, it will be a big enough project to rearrange the boys' room and clear out EJ's junk. There probably won't be much rearranging because the bunkbed is going to stay in the room and remain in its current position. But we're definitely going to be cleaning out stuff. EJ has already started the process of boxing up his stuff to put in the garage rafters. He found a mylar bag which contained a 72-hour meal kit for emergency preparedness. I thought it was perhaps 3 years old, but when EJ opened it up (he aske

Band concerts. It's what's for dinner.  At least last Monday it was. And we had two helpings. One at 7 p.m., and one at 8:15. Fortunately the concerts were at the same school. I knew they were coming up sometime, but I didn't know exactly when.  I was puttering around the house when Paul and Hayley came home from school. Paul said, "Oh yeah, Mom, I've got a band concert tonight." And Hayley said, "Me too." Sigh. Luckily I had "nothing else to do" that night. Hayley did manage to let her Grandmother know long before she told me, and Grandmother had already made plans to attend. Pictures, you ask? Why yes, I did. Hayley even reminded me to bring the camera. She likes having her picture taken. Paul treats it like a necessary inconvenience. Anyway, here are just a couple. Hayley bassoons away. She even had a solo in one song and she did very well. Hayley flanked by two friends and a wanna-be photo bomber. If he stood still,

And the open house is over, and so is the farewell talk.  I didn't cry. I'm too excited to cry. Besides, EJ still has 16 more days until he leaves. 16 days until we drop him off at the airport and say goodbye for two years. (still not crying) The open house was last night (Saturday). There are three young men leaving in February and so the party was for those three boys. Lots of people came to show their support for Ethan, Jimmy, and Erik. Jen of the hawleyfocus posted lots of pictures on her blog and I invite you to check it out to see more pictures than I have here. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because I was too busy enjoying everyone's company to stop for Kodak moments. I did take some, and here are the best of that lot. I'm glad EJ got some food early on. He was busy talking with people for the rest of the evening. My tres leches cakes. I got pretty good reviews. Hayley and some friends. Jim and a friend of his s

I love sites like Pinterest, Tip Junkie, One Pretty Thing, etc... (no links cuz I'm too lazy). I love to look at pretty things people have made with their own two hands (and a bunch of raw materials. Or maybe not so raw) On occasion, I have even tried to make some of these things that the craft sites promise are so cute and easy and amazing and beautiful and designed to make lasting memories...... ad nauseum. (excuse me while I barf just a teensy little bit). And for the most part, the crafts do turn out pretty. I set them out during the appropriate season and I get a little kick every time I look at them. The problem is that nobody ever blogs or posts pictures concerning the ABSOLUTE MESS that is associated with each project. I made a simple card yesterday and, O heavens above, the mess was huge. It took me three times as long to clean up after myself than it did to make the one card. I should have taken a picture. You know what I wanna see along side those studio-backdr

So all of you know that EJ is going to leave us and preach the gospel in Tijuana. He's pretty excited. I can't fathom it because I have NEVER wanted to serve a mission. Talking to people I don't know is difficult enough to do without having the added burden of sharing a religious message. I tend to laugh too much, talk to fast and too high, and agree to whatever the stranger is saying just so I can get out of the conversation faster. EJ doesn't seem to see it that way. In fact, yesterday he went TRACTING with the missionaries in our ward to practice his door approach. We didn't hear much about it afterward until one of the elders told Jim this: He said, "Did Jimmy tell you about tracting yesterday? It was so cool. He gave the message and then asked if the lady wanted to hear more about it. The lady goes 'sure!' It was funny because then Jimmy didn't know what to do next so I had to take over." EJ had been anticipating failure--he had

I'm up early for a Saturday but I can spend the morning in my bathrobe listening to the cats whine about not being fed It's not my job but they like me anyway I see a house of opportunity of things to do most I won't do (like feed the cats) Instead of doing I am looking at pretty things like valentines and a clean kitchen counter that I bathed yesterday along with the stove and uploading pictures to make a photobook of 2011 So I can look at what I did

I had my yearly check-up at the eye doctor yesterday. I was a little worried that the person who knew my 6th grade nickname was going to be there and even if he didn't remember me, his personality was a little too friendly for my comfort. My worries were put to rest though when I got a sales person who was new to me and she didn't try to change my mind about not wanting new glasses or sunglasses. While I was in the exam room with the assistant (not the doctor), I explained that my distance vision is getting fuzzy. I've noticed a lot of squinting is necessary to read road signs. The assistant took note of my concerns and started up the exam. She tested my right eye first, and I could read the eye chart just fine. Then she tested the left eye, and all I could see was fuzz. I told her as much. She handed me a thing that looked like this: I was already covering my right eye, and now she wanted me to cover my left eye with this piece of perforated plastic (I like allite

Katie's visit is over. We had a good time having her around. There was plenty of happy noise and chatter, and lots of juggling of vehicles (that's a sight to see). Everybody had some time with Katie, and she has left her siblings with a desire to sew pajama pants. Paul and his mountain goat polar fleece pants On the last evening Kate was here, we had cake, an early birthday dessert for her. She elected to have rocks, dirt, lava and a fault line on her cake: Happy 22nd birthday (yesterday) Katie! We really enjoyed having you here.

I haven't taken as many pictures as I possibly could have while Katie was here; I'm rather just enjoying the time without thinking of a camera. But don't think I haven't taken ANY pictures. Here are just a few, which I may or may not caption. Our Christmas card display method. I like it, but next year I'll have to put up two strings of lights. One wasn't enough. I'll also have to actually send cards out next year too. My plans for this year were frustrated by a computer program. Our tree Hayley and her present. She can twang away at bass lines anytime she wants now. I don't think she has named it yet. Hayley has a crocheted hat fetish. She crochets them herself. This is her cupcake hat. Matt and our new resident, Lemmy the leopard gecko. EJ's present to Matt was this lizard and his living space. Matt is very happy. We all like to watch Lemmy eat crickets. EJ and his countdown calendar. See that blue spot on his calendar