Lofty aspiration

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 asked if he could eat the food in it) we discovered that it was twice that old.

Here are some things that I learned about the food we put in that 72 hour kit
1. Jolly Ranchers get squishy and leak after 6 years
2. They also start to smell medicinal.
3. While Jolly Ranchers soften, fruit snacks, on the other hand, harden and become like marbles.
4. Fruit Rollups turn into Fermented Drink Rollups
5. Cider mix smells like rubbing alcohol
6. The mixed fruit in a can starts to bulge
7. Everything else gets covered in sticky Jolly Rancher juice
8. Beef jerky is impossible to bite (then again, for all I know, it's that way to start with)
9.We didn't try the vienna sausages or the pork and beans.
10. Expiration dates: they are for real.

Banding together

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, he would have succeeded.

This is what Paul does to prepare himself for a band concert--he plays with his iTouch. (I like to call it a Touchie) (Paul likes to ignore me when I call it that)

Paul and his shelf o' hair blast away on the french horn.

What is coming up this week? No band concerts! Last weekend's calendar was packed with events. This week is more sedate, thank goodness. I have work to do at home. Like get the Valentine Treasure hunt going. And think about someone's 50th birthday (really. Jim is rapidly approaching the smack in the face that is 50) (anyone wanna help me plan a party?)

Farewell to arms (and legs and heads and eyes, etc)

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 since junior high.

The three young men who are leaving very soon.

We are proud parents.

Matt and his friend

EJ's display

Mike, EJ, and Jen

The mission map and a lot of facts you can't read because the picture is too small.

Grandparents and EJ

The mothers of the missionaries.

EJ gave his farewell talk in church today and made us even prouder. He spoke on the importance and blessings of service. He actually spoke for over 10 minutes. He's come a long way since that first talk he gave in church when he was 12 and he cried all weekend in dreaded fear of standing up in front of 150 people.

The seamy underbelly of the crafting world

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-backdropped craft photos? The mess.  I wouldn't be put off by the mess; no, I would be bouyed up by the fact that the crafter made a pig sty out of her craft room/dining room table. To me it proves that in order to get something good out of life, you have to slog through a lot of work and mess and you have to clean some stuff up before you get to do the enjoying.


Oh good grief, did I just turn this into a life lesson? I hate it when I do that. Even if there wasn't a little message in my musing, I would just really like to see what went on before the final product was shown in its best light.

Mess: it's not that bad. It should not be embarrassing.

(unless you are a hoarder)

EJ practices for his mission

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 only prepared his door approach.

He's gung-ho, that's for sure.

And if you want to keep up with his mission news, I have an ancillary blog now called "EJ goes to TJ" that will be where I post news and pics from the MTC and from south of the border.

In fact, I'll double post this over there: EJ goes to TJ

Saturday morning

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 alliteration). Not knowing how this was going to in any way determine or help my case, I covered up my left eye with it.

LO AND BEHOLD, ANGELS SANG AND I COULD READ THE LETTERS JUST FINE.

I said, "Wow. I can see great with this thing."

She put it away without another word. I wondered if perhaps the next prescripted contact lens for my left eye was going to be a circle of black construction paper with little holes poked through it. Or I could possibly be given an eye patch (which I could dress up a little with a bejeweler) with holes in it.

I was almost disappointed when the eye doctor explained that the perforated thing was just a test to see if my vision could be corrected and that my prescription just needs a little tweaking, rather than fuzzy vision being the result of cataracts or some other vision-obscuring horrible disease that would lead to me trying in vain to read with my fingers.

On a positive, nearly braggardly note, I do not need reading glasses. Yet. The doctor gave me leave to brag that my reading capabilities have not diminished despite my age. She says to consider every year spend sans reading glasses after the age of 40 to be a bonus, because most people succumb to it around 40. Jim turned 41 and had to get them and he can't do without them.

I do need glasses for everything else, BUT NOT FOR READING!

Yay me!

Hot lava

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.

Clearing out the camera

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? That's the day he leaves us.

A close-up of Lemmy. He is very nice. 

Katie holds a bunny at Uncle Mike's Farm Animal Emporium and Tractor Museum

Katie feeds the chickens and gets noticed by a barn cat.

Katie goes home tomorrow. I believe a list is in order:
Ten things we did while Katie was here.
1. Played Settlers of Catan twice. Once with just us, and once with Katie's friend, who promised sneezes three times, but failed to live up to his promises.
2. Saw the invention of the ugly pj pants. Oh, forgot a picture. Here is a picture of Paul's ugly capri pj bottoms that he gave away at a white elephant exchange:

Star Wars on the left side, Disney Princess heads on the right

3. Christmas Eve party at Mom's with lots of cousins and family around
4. Singing at the ward Christmas sacrament meeting. Heard lots of compliments on Katie's singing. She also accompanied the choir.
5. Katie and her friend Wanda spent New Year's Eve sewing dresses for themselves.
6. Completed the traditional New Year's puzzle putting-together during the course of a few movies.
7. Katie's wisdom teeth were successfully removed.
8. During her time of sedation for the wisdom teeth, she mentioned her friend was going to email her some ice cream, and then she was disappointed when I reminded her that she didn't have a printer to hook up to her phone. Then she demanded pizza flavored yogurt.
9. We spent an evening with Mike and family the night before Katie's extraction. We played Uno with them and cuddled bunnies and chickens.
10. There has been LOTS of talking. Katie's always good for conversation. She even had Paul talking and laughing and even walking around!