Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Bet you can't guess what I'm counting down. Anyway, this post isn't about that. It's about this: It's a snow cave. It was also where Matt slept last night (well, for most of the night). The details are still unknown, but I have verification from Jim that Matt dug the cave, shoved the cardboard in it, and bundled up in whatever woolen gear he had and zipped himself into the heavy duty sleeping bag and spent the night in this hole until 4 a.m. All I can think of is COLD and hopefully he slept with his feet towards the back of the cave, because I would get the willies, the heebie-jeebies, the creepy-crawlies, and the hackles raised if he had gone in head first. I don't consider myself especially claustrophobic, but if I went in head-first and stayed there any more than a minute, I'm pretty sure a panic attack would find its way in there with me and take up most of the air available for breathing. By the way, yes, Matt and Jim are at a scout campout o...

I Am SOOOO cold. My bones are made of ice, I tell you. I'm considering hopping into the freezer to WARM UP. I sat for 3 1/2 hours in 45 degree, rainy weather in the bleacher section to watch Paul run three races (however, I got there late and missed the first one). I brought an old bath mat to sit on because I knew the benches would be wet, I brought my umbrella, and I wore thermals and wool socks. I'm still cold. I sat. I was too cold to do anything except blow on my hands and hold the umbrella. Surprisingly, time went pretty fast while I was waiting for Paul's next race. Or maybe I was too cold to perceive the passage of time. After his second race, I went back to my van and sat in the running vehicle, with the heat blasted so my toes would unfreeze. Then I waited for the last race. I got out of the van to watch the second race and immediately my body core temp dropped close to absolute zero. Paul ran in his flimsy, thin, sleeveless track uniform. J...

This has been a bummer of a winter. I love me some white fluffy snow, even into May. I don't mind wearing a parka and I love mother-knit mittens. Hot cocoa is the drink du not only jour, but la saison aussi. (No, I don't know French. Except for the one line I remember from second grade when I was allowed to take French lessons instead of spelling: Dans la maison.... and then something about le salon) But if it's been a bummer of a winter, at least the bummer is in the form of wispy warmy breezy hazy not too sunny sunshine. So the bummer is a good kind of bummer. I felt so late springy that I wore my summery bracelets, TWO of them even. I like to wiggle my wrist and hear the beads chatter on my wrist. I feel like wearing flowery cotton skirts and single knit t-shirts and a big floppy hat. And leather sandals. The bummer of this bummer winter is that the flowers aren't blooming yet. "It's the middle of March!" they say, "It's like your alarm c...

...is that I worry that the one daffodil that is this >< close to blooming will die because of the snow. Luckily there will be more daffodils. Today is a ten things day because I feel like posting but nothing is going on (except the rapid dispersal of frozen precipitation from the clouds above). 1. Despite the snow, the lilac bushes have started to leaf out. The weather will set them back a week or so, but that's ok. It's like stretching Christmas out an extra couple of days. I love the anticipation of flowers! I check my plants every day! 2. I'm hungry even though I ate two breakfasts. Obviously they were crappy breakfasts if they didn't fill me up. Anyone have any ideas for fast, easy, nutritious breakfasts that fill you up? 3. We're gonna play Jeopardy in seminary tomorrow. The pacing guide for seminary lessons says to teach a THIRD lesson on Brigham Young, but I'm all Brigham'd out. 4. So then I was going to give the Scripture Mastery test in semi...

Cuz I have extra. Lots of extra, in fact. We are in the middle of a blizzard here in MN. I love blizzards! I am forced to stay at home, which is great! We have plenty of hot cocoa (although we are running a little thin on marshmallows) to drink. and Christmas movies to watch. So far this storm has conferred upon us 13 inches, and the clouds seem to be working overtime to produce still more. The only bad thing is that Other Jim had to work. He was supposed to work at 11 a.m. but because the roads were terrible, Jim drove him and they didn't get to Mart of Wal until noon (a 7-minute drive took them 45 minutes). And since no one is out and about today (unless they have a death wish to get eaten by ferocious snow banks), OJ probably gets to sit around at an empty store. Katie is spending a day in St. George and she called us to ask about the snow. She's looking at palm trees and I'm looking at this: And I'm fine with that.

Look at that! Isn't it pretty? 8 inches plus of good old fashioned snow! What makes it REALLY pretty is that I don't have to drive anywhere in it. My workshops were canceled because road conditions were bad. The snow is still coming down. I've gotten more stuff done today than I have this whole week. I will be baking squash buns in a little while. Bonus picture: Other Jim doesn't have to work today (a rarity, and an especially good one because of all the snow. He'd be a miserable cart pusher today). Instead, he researched college classes and came up with a workable schedule. Now we just have to hope the sections he selected don't fill up before he is allowed to register on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed for OJ. PS I complained so loudly about losing my camera battery charger that the camera battery charger fairy brought me a new one. So now I can use my camera because I have a charged-up battery! California, here I come!! (on Wednesday)

It's snowing! There is about 4 inches on the ground. I'd take a picture, but alas, I still have not found my battery charger.

1. Computer problems. We are getting a new computer because the old one is...well...really old. And it's sick. It can now only be used as a glorified typewriter. We will keep it upstairs in the sewing room. I expect some late night partying in that room because the serger is such a night owl and likes to stir things up, and the sewing machine will do pretty much whatever the serger tells it to do, especially if it means there'll be a party. The computer hasn't had any friends but the TV for so many years and I think it's excited to see some new faces. Plus there is food in the sewing room. I might have to knock a few power cords to keep it quiet so I can sleep. 2. Paul's first race of the season. No pics though because it was raining and I didn't want to get the camera wet. When asked how he did, he grunted. But I saw him talking with much animation to some of his teammates. He did say that he wasn't cold. 3. I have to use Other Jim's laptop for t...

Last day of the countdown: Katie was a big big help with cupcakes; party was a success; tonight is graduation! I have dishes to do--lots and lots of dishes--so I don't have time to post pictures yet. Maybe this afternoon. Pray for dry weather for south of the Twin Cities so that we can all go to the graduation ceremony tonight! Praying worked for the party last night, so prayer does work! The rain held off until the wee hours of the night but the party was dry and cool!

I'm just popping in to say that I spent a most wonderful afternoon at the lake beach with the kids, Jim, and a friend of Jim's from high school and his family, and my mother. Our kids and the Halterman kids got along great, despite not knowing each other very well yet. My Jim and Lynn Halterman have been friends since they were kids. The temp was near 90, but the humidity was low. No cloud dared cast a shadow over our picnic. We sat by the lake with our feet in the water, watching the boys play in the water and find giant sticks on the lake bottom. Other Jim brought his frolf (frisbee golf) hole (a.k.a. the Festivus pole) and the bigger boys had fun with that for a bit. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Even the sunburn on my neck feels right.

It's hot today. I don't like hot. But I do like feeling much better after being ill over the weekend. I think I can actually leave the house today. Too bad it's hot out. Did I mention I don't like hot weather? I want to move north in the summer. In less sweltering news, I'm three assignments away from being done with my Personal History class. I had made a goal to finish it before Other Jim officially graduates from high school. With his party coming up very soon, I'm not sure if I'll make that goal, but it will be close. I might have to submit the last assignment (which is a big one--over 40 pages long--but comprised of edited versions of five or six of the assignments I will have turned in by then) after the party. Next up after that, Poetry. Limericks. It's gonna be all limericks. Speaking of which, I wrote one for my mom. She asked for a poem on Mother's Day and I didn't come through for her (sorry Mom. Frowny face). Mom, here's...

Two hour delay for our schools this morning. The kids were happy to sleep in. This picture is from last night. I liked the scene. Paul sleeps a lot, and Paul is the only human that Magic really likes. He loves to curl up with Paul. This is the view from our front window. I like the layered snow hanging over the gutters. It hangs down about a foot. Here is Matt standing next to the pile of snow built up from shoveling the driveway. As you can see the pile is taller than he is. He's on his way to the bus stop. And then he had to climb it.

Paulism: "I was [doing something-can't remember what he said he was doing] yesterday or the day after..." Think about it. Matt said I had to blog it. Photo montage from this morning: Matt didn't know I took a picture of him like this. It's behavior like this that allow me to pretend that he's still a preschooler. The cat reached up for the brush and pulled it down and rubbed his face on it. Snow overhang on our garage. Yes, it's snowing again. We're supposed to get 6-12" today. And yet no school delay. Servo snuck outside and rolled in the snow to make a Servo snow angel. Then he licked the snow off one of his paws.

Band concert last night. This was the weather as we drove over to the school: Very pretty but a bit of a challenge to drive in. French horn player who "somehow" managed to "forget" to tell his mother that he had a solo in one of the songs so she nearly missed it because she was talking to the friend who sat next to her: Bassoons. I post this picture because Hayley's band director asked her if she'd like to learn to play the bassoon and she nearly died with excitement saying yes. Paul after the concert and after the verbal "thrashing" received over the lack of solo notification. As you can tell, he's very contrite, sorrowful, and repentant. Not. I just like pictures of snow falling.

This has been a challenging, but rewarding, series of blog posts for me. Normally, I write in my notebook as I read the scriptures, and I miss days more often than I remember to do it. Hopefully (if you stick around long enough to read what I write) you don't find anything offensive or way off the mark. This is just a regular person searching for meaning and trying to personalize the scriptures. Matthew 2:1-12 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. I wonder if the wise men were surprised that Herod apparently knew nothing of this King of the Jews? I wonder if even they expected that the Jews would have at least known as much about the coming of Christ as they did, having known of the signs and watched for them, presumably by reading of the prophecies of prophets before...

Look what the weather fairy left for us during the night! Summer is truly over! Bring on winter!

So it's Spring Break for the kiddies. Already, I feel like my brain is about to explode. My blogging routine is going to be irregular this week. Normally, I post by 8 a.m., but this week I probably won't get around to it til late morning. So consider yourself informed. I tried to exercise when I got up, but having kids milling around the house doesn't make exercising in the house easy. And I WOULD go for a walk outside, but apparently the weather didn't get the memo about Spring Break. It's raining. Sigh. The first day of vacation and it's raining too hard to play outside. It's one of those rains that could last all day. The sky is a uniform cold gray and the rain is steady and determined. Paul is off to his first track meet today. He has been placed on the 4x800m relay team with the three fastest guys in the track program (sez Paul) so I'm thinking that he will run varsity for that event, at least for the first few meets. Then he has also be...

Background: Magic the Cat is a skittish cat. He doesn't let us pick him up, and he dashes downstairs to hide the minute Jim gets home from work. One look from Jim and Magic will cower and try to escape. Last night Jim sat down on the couch to relax for a bit, and within minutes, he had a "friend." We don't know what prompted this, but I had to take a picture. Magic, we cannot figure you out. Katie, maybe this means that Magic will like you too when you come back in July for a visit. In other news, the weather was GORGEOUS yesterday! I saw the temp at 65! Everyone was out and about and I took fake child to the park after dinner (I babysat until 9:45 p.m.). Oh, how nice it was! The temperature hasn't been this nice since October, I think. Tune in tomorrow when I chronicle a science project that is taking up precious space on my kitchen counter. Edited to add: Happy St. Patty's day everyone! St. Patrick's Day reminds me of my Aunt Peg, who was vehem...

After months and months of exercising in the tiny floor space in front of the TV, trying to keep up with several Barbies with b00b jobs who bounce around way too fast for me so I end up MARCHING IN PLACE for half an hour, I got out of the house for a walk. The weather was finally warm enough so that I didn't have to worry about windburning my cheeks or wearing mittens. I still had to wear the parka, mostly for the several square acres of pockets, which held my iPod, cell phone, chapstick, mittens (JUST IN CASE), a water bottle, and several pounds of Kleenex because I have a runny nose and going outside in melty-snow weather makes it even runnier. I wish I could run as fast as my nose, then maybe I could burn enough calories to lose some weight. My new camera came with me on my walk. Too bad the cloudy sky made everything look miserable. Late winter is the worst picture-taking time of year because the snow is dirty, the melting exposes months of garbage that has not been picked...

I got a new camera. I saved my pennies (I call it embezzling from myself) and purchased a camera that will be able to handle capturing Paul running track and has better zooming capabilities. My old camera is a decent camera overall, but it didn't zoom very far (which is bad for band parents who sit far away) and it couldn't deal with action shots. There was a huge delay between pressing the "ignition" and the shutter actually opening. I really want to get some good shots of Paul running track this year and cross country next year. I gave my old camera to him, too, since he is next in line for a camera. Of course when one gets a new camera, one must play with it. Here is a sample of the playing: Tom Servo Kitty Paul texts. This is one of a series of continuous shutter action. I have a great new feature on my camera that lets me take a series of pictures in quick succession. Footprints in the snow My favorite Minnesota transplant Tom Servo in profile This pictur...