Resolutions are made to be broken

So you would think that we would all resolve things like...I am going to gain a lot of weight this year! Or I am absolutely NOT going to get skinnier this year. I am going to have a horrendously messy house and NEVER clean it up! If we all did this then once we broke our resolutions at least we could be appeased by being successful at losing weight, cleaning up our homes or whatever the case may be. Instead we make resolutions that are harder to live up to, and give up if we slip even a little.
I thought about resolving not to make a resolution this year...but that would be kind of starting out as a failure from the start.
So what do I want to get out of this upcoming year? Of course I would like to get in better shape and get myself down to a healthier weight...but those are not things I like to use as resolutions. Just the phrase New Year's Resolution wreaks of doom to me. I think that I personally set goals that are too complicated to follow through with. So this year I am going to simplify my resolution, and make it broader.
This year my goal is...to improve. To improve something...whether its my weight, my attitude, my relationships, my life. Improve is going to be my motto this year. So will I get down when I lose my temper and snap at one of my kids? Will I think I have failed? No...I will think to myself...Improve...Do better...Try harder.
What are your goals this year? Impossible dreams? Or improvement...
From Dictionary.com some definitions of Improve are
im·prove /ɪmˈpruv/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[im-proov] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -proved, -prov·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition.
2. to make more useful, profitable, or valuable by enclosure, cultivation, etc.
3. to increase the value of by betterments.
4. to make good use of; turn to account.
5. to increase in value, excellence, etc.; become better.
6. to make improvements, as by revision, addition, or change.

Something to think about.

Saying Thank You

I am horrible at Thank Yous. I should say that I am horrible at sending Thank You cards. I am the rudest person in the world in this regard. I bought Thank You cards to send out after I got married, and I never sent any...not a single one. Of course...I have not received many Thank You cards over the years either...so it seems to be a widespread problem. It may be somewhat due to the same reason that I rarely get my Christmas Cards mailed...which is because of the expense of postage. Being a newly wed, we were pretty broke, and the thought of mailing out all those Thank Yous would have cost a lot of money. That would be some kind of excuse, but I think I was just lazy. I can't really remember my parents ever making me write Thank You letters or cards when I was a kid. We were taught to SAY thank you...in fact we would always race to see who remembered to say thank you first if we got a special treat like dinner at McDonalds and etc...and it was always embarrassing to have one of my sisters say it first and then I had to sound like a dork saying it right after they did. It became something of a competition to thank Mom and Dad first...at least on my part.
So, if any of you few that read this blog (all three or four of you) have ever given me a gift or done something worthy of more than a vocal Thank You from me...please accept this great big THANK YOU! Now immortalized on the internet (at least as long as this blog is here...which might only be a few years...but hey...that is still a pretty long Thank You).
A note to parents...if you want your kids to be good at things like writing Thank You cards... start them young, and nag them about it until it becomes a habit. My own boys are well on their way to being ungrateful and uncouth in the Thank You card writing department. I need to work on that with them.
Thank You cards make you feel appreciated. I know this because I received one from my sister N two days after Christmas. She wrote it out Christmas day, mailed it the next day, and I got it the day after. The extra effort she took made me feel like I was truly appreciated and like I was also an important person. It also made me feel a bit guilty that I don't do Thank You cards...hence this blog. I did receive some Thank You Cards in my Christmas stocking, I think I had better start using them. Thanks again N!

For your own safety...

It being less than three days until Christmas, I feel it is my duty to give you all some practical advice to keep your Christmas as safe as possible.

1. Avoid Papercuts. Wrap gifts carefully, avoiding the edges of the wrapping paper. Better yet, wrap gifts by using gift boxes or gift bags. These are reusable and more environmentally friendly (did you know that standard wrapping paper can't be recycled?). Or you can try what we have been doing in our family which is making various gift bags out of fabric (Kind of like pillowcases of various sizes, tied closed with a ribbon). We reuse these every year, and it really cuts down on the mess and again...environmentally friendly.
In the event that you do get a papercut, follow these basic principles of first aid.
a. Stay calm and move as little as possible
b. Lie down if you begin to feel faint
c. If the papercut is on your finger, keep your finger straight
d. Inspect the cut for foreign objects
e. Clean the cut with warm water and soap.
f. Disinfect (not with lysol)
g. Apply pressure (unless there is no actual blood) Discontinue pressure when the bleeding stops.
h. Apply a sterile bandage. (According to the Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Holidays, you should also avoid getting lemon juice and salt in your wound...as these will cause extreme pain.)
i. This is just a bit of personal advice from me, but taking deep breaths and eating some chocolate is even better than having your Mom kiss your owie. If you are not a chocolate eater, then feel free to substitute with some other confectionery delight...or a carrot stick if that is what floats your boat.

2. Lift with your knees, not your back. Santa may be a portly fellow, but even he knows to lift heavy packages and gifts in the correct manner. You can find out more about correct lifting techniques here.

3. Read the directions. When putting together bikes or other toys for the kids at Christmas time. Just swallow your pride and read the directions. No one wants to take little Charlie to the emergency room because he got hurt playing with an unsafe toy. Reading the directions also applies to driving to unfamiliar destinations.

4. Get enough sleep. Try to get your wrapping done before Christmas Eve. We all know the kiddies are going to wake us up early on Christmas morning, begging to start opening gifts. While it may not make Christmas significantly unsafe to not get enough sleep, it certainly makes for a happier Christmas morning if you have had more than four hours of sleep. Trust me on this one.

5. Watch out for ice...if you live somewhere where it gets cold enough to cause slick sidewalks, driveways and etc please be aware of conditions. Wear shoes with good traction even if you have to sacrifice a little bit of fashion...and wear plenty of layers so that if you do slip and fall, you have extra padding.

6. Don't overeat. You have all day to graze...you don't have to eat everything at once. Christmas is just once a year, but truly, the food will keep if you don't eat it all on that one day. Pace yourself...drink plenty of water, and visit the veggie tray and not just the goody plate. Also eat slowly and chew your food well so that your body has time to tell you when its getting full.

7. Don't overstress. Too many people make Christmas into this huge stress fest, when really it should be about enjoying family and friends. Let go of some things and just enjoy the company.

8. When opening your stocking, be careful when reaching in. What if Santa thought you would like a new pet rat? You could get bit. Feel free to dump the contents of the stocking out carefully so that you don't have to reach into anything unknown. And if you did put a rat on your Christmas list...watch the stocking for movement before you dump it out.

9. Don't eat fruitcake. Just don't. Fruitcake is not really about eating now is it? No...its about it being the thought that counts, and possibly also about giving a gift that will last forever. If you enjoy eating fruitcake...then you are one of the bravest people I have ever met. Also don't fall for the fruitcake having a different name. If it looks like fruitcake, then it probably is.

10. Make your list and check it twice...Nothing is more dangerous at Christmas time than having to rush out to get a last minute gift your forgot about. Along with this safety tip goes the one that says...Don't shop on Christmas Eve.

I will probably not have time to blog again until after Christmas. So here is hoping that you have a wonderful (and safe) celebration!

Goody Update

If you recall I have been in a quandary over what things to make goody wise this year, and what things to let go. I thought you might be interested in what I have made so far this season. Some of these have already been consumed or given away, so its not like we will have all of them for Christmas. I will leave the ones I am not going to bother with in white this time around, and the ones I have made will be in Bold Green and the ones on my list to try to make still I will change to red. Of course...you never know if the fancy will strike me and I will make something new, or move something off of the don't bother list.

1. Chocolate Fudge
2. Peanut Butter Fudge
3. English Toffee
4. Chex Muddy Buddies
5. Peanut Butter Buddies
6. Cinnamon Rolls
7. Truffles
8. Peppermint Patties
9. Caramel Filled Chocolates
10. Regular Chocolates
11. Snickerdoodles
12. Chocolate Chip Cookies
13. Sugar Cookies
14. Gingerbread houses/cookies
15. Chocolate Marshmallow cookies
16. Krumkake
17. Rosette Cookies

So see? I only have four things left to make...and one whole day to do it! (Saturday we are shopping for a new/used van...still, so I lost a day for Holiday prep there. Oh well.
Sorry this post is somewhat boring and lame, but I have posted three days in a row, and since not many people actually read this daily, I think it will be okay.

Stupidity is more common than you think...

I have been tagged...All because I left a comment on another blogger's site after they got tagged. Now-I could easily just ignore being tagged and say that I am not playing, but since I don't really have anything else to blog about today, I may as well play along.
Because I have been "tagged"...(and it was really more of a pity tag than anything else) I am required to reveal five things about myself that are not very well known. Of course, since mostly my family and a few friends read this blog...I doubt much of it will be a surprise.

1.) I used to eat Crisco as a child...straight out of the can...my family already knows this, and are still suitably horrified. Don't ask me why I did it, I am no longer sure, but I think it had something to do with texture. It certainly wasn't for the taste, and yes...it was something I did more than a few times.

2.) I have always perceived myself as a tough, athletic person able to defend myself and beat up anyone that gets in my way. Even though I am, in truth, an overweight and very UNathletic person who would lose in a fight with most ten year olds.

3.) Although I often come across as a very social and easy going person, I don't like social situations and I prefer not to engage in them. I dread getting together with adults outside of my family, and I find that social settings can easily induce panic in me.

4.) I was in two different bands as a young adult. We did original music, and a variety of genres. I sang, played guitar on a couple of songs, viola on a couple of songs, and bass on at least one song. I still miss being in a band.

5.) Okay...I had to think of at least one thing that nobody else would know. Here it is....
I have a second blog. Its not a public blog, and nobody has the address but me, so I doubt I will be getting many comments on it. Its about the quirky little things my kids do on a regular basis.

Now...I am going to tag 5 people like I am supposed to...but since some of them don't read this blog very often who knows if they will ever respond. But-if any of you do get tagged, and actually find out about it, at least you have something to blog about next time you need to. So Victorian Rhapsody and Dirty Dishes, Cornflake Girl, Alci65, Heididodah (I left the link to your blog off in case you want to keep that open only to people you know), and Quindy...you are it! Now you have to reveal five embarrassing or at least lesser known things about yourselves on your own blogs. Unless, of course, you choose not to participate.

My Favorite Christmas Music

Since there is less than a week left until Christmas, I thought I would take a page from Victorian Rhapsody and Dirty Dishes and actually talk about Christmas. Today I am going to talk about my favorite Christmas music. I can't narrow it down to my five favorite songs the way she did, because I just love Christmas music in general. I could categorize my LEAST favorite Christmas music though...Which generally includes anything to do with Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, and Jingle Bell Rock.
As for my favorites...These come in the category of Favorite Christmas CDs...
Any Christmas CD from the Blenders. The Blenders have three A Capella Christmas CDs. Its hard to pin down a favorite out of the three. This year I think my favorite is Most Wonderful Time, mostly because it is the one we just bought this year. Then there is When It Snows and Nog. All three of these CDs offer great vocal harmony, unique arrangements, traditional as well as original Christmas music, and they are just relaxing. The Blenders have a smooth vocal blend that just makes you feel good. I highly recommend them. (And they haven't put either of my least favorite songs on an album yet.) Next on my list of favorites is Three Kings by Eclipse. They are also a group that sings A Capella. (Hey-its what we like). They have a great version of The Little Drummer Boy that we love. Other favorites include Stephen Curtis Chapman's The Music of Christmas, Every Christmas by Gary Morris (sorry-its out of print, I had to really hunt to find the copy I have of it) who some will remember played Jean Valjean in Les Miserables for a time, and was a country singer before that. Any Amy Grant Christmas music (except of course...for those Rockin' and Rock songs), Manhattan Transfer's Christmas album, and Trans Siberian Orchestra are also favorites. We just love Christmas music in general here. I could listen to it all year round. People always complain that I listen to it well past Christmas, and tend to start listening to it again as early as August every year...but I say...the Gift of Christmas was given to us for every day, so why not listen to that music whenever we feel like it?

I think we have a problem...

We survived another Northwest storm this last week. Living at the coast, we have learned to be prepared for such occurrences, which are somewhat frequent during the winter months. We felt fairly prepared when we heard that a storm was coming, and we weathered that storm and its aftermath fairly well. However, I feel like we had it pretty easy.
For one, we have a gas water heater, so even though we spent 38 hours without power, we could still have a hot bath or shower when we wanted to, and we could do dishes (we don't have a dishwasher installed in our kitchen...we use the old fashioned kind...ourselves). A lot of people in the area have electric water heaters, and were suffering for want of a shower. Now, if this had been some other kind of disaster that was not just a storm with 100mph winds that knocked the power out for a couple of days, we might have really been hurting. We had a case and a half of bottled water...about...50 bottles I think. Divide that by seven people and its not as much water as you would think. Not to mention that if we had lost our water all together, that bottled water would have had to go not only for drinking, but for hygiene, for cooking, and etc. 50 bottles (I think they were 16 to 20 oz bottles) would not go far at all. Water is one of the ways that we are very unprepared for a problem.
Ways that we were prepared for a power outage included:
1. Having non-perishable canned food, and a way to heat that food for eating. We have a camp stove, made to be used outside, we have a BBQ, made to be used outside, and we have a small single butane burner that can be used inside...it is made for catering and etc. We cooked chili, soup, omelets, cocoa and etc on that burner while the outage was going on. We also have a great stove top popcorn popper that works great with that burner as well. We had snack foods such as crackers and granola bars as well.
2. We have a Kerosene heater. Its a smaller one, but it will keep our main living area pretty warm. We hung a blanket between the front area of the house and the kitchen to contain the heat. It worked pretty well. However, we would not have had enough Kerosene to keep us warm for more than a week or so. Luckily, we only needed it for a couple of days. I would love to have a woodstove or at least a fireplace someday, but we are not equipped for that at this time, and we don't have the funds to get one either.
3. We have a phone that doesn't have to have electricity to work. We also have a cordless phone, but it doesn't do you much good in the case of a power outage. We also have a cell phone and a way to charge its battery in the car during outages.
4. We have flashlights with extra batteries as well as flashlights that you wind to recharge. We have lanterns that run on batteries, we have candles and we have four oil lamps. You would think with all that light we would be able to see well, but it was still pretty dim. We also had (we used them up) glowsticks. They really help little kids to feel more secure in the dark and they are fun to boot.
5. We have a well stocked freezer. I know you are thinking this would be a great detriment but because it was so stuffed, the things inside didn't melt even with the power being out for as long as it was. Plus, we were able to put a frozen turkey in the fridge and it kept that cold enough that we didn't lost much food.
6. We have sleeping bags and blankets. Our house got cold at night, but we were able to stay warm in spite of that.
7. We have a small radio that runs on batteries. We were able to stay updated on the situation, and even enjoyed some nice Christmas music along the way.

Now, for a power outage...we feel like we have things pretty well in hand. But going through this experience has made us realize how unprepared we would be in a larger catastrophe. Water is an essential that we would not last long without. We have a good first aid kit, but not a specific place we keep it so it floats from place to place and can be hard to locate in a hurry. All of our essential papers and things we need are not gathered in one place for quick evacuation. That is something we need to work on. We need to brush up on our emergency preparedness. This includes drills of what the family should do in various situations.
All in all the experience of having no power for a few days taught me that we need to think ahead better. It also taught me that we shouldn't depend so much on TV, computers and other electronic devices to entertain our kids and ourselves. My kids did a lot more reading during the outage than they do on a normal day. They had more creative play, and I think that we would be better prepared if we did more reading and creative playing every day, and not just during outages. I think I learned that less really can be more...
Are YOU prepared for a disaster? Think about this...not just a physical disaster, but a financial one? An emotional one? What can you do to be ready? Something to think about.

There are important decisions to be made!

I know you are wondering what I am talking about. Am I about to become deep and political? Not really. Philosophical? Nope. I am just trying to decide which goodies to make this Christmas. Is that lame or what?
The problem is that I have too many options. When I was a very young adult, fudge was the only tried and true recipe in my repertoire. Its not like it was even my own recipe. I got it from a close friend of mine in High School, and it was the melt like butter fudge recipe that her Grandma made every year. It was also easy for the most part except for 10 tortuous minutes of stirring over a hot stove. That fudge became a family tradition in our family, and expanded from simply chocolate to include Peanut Butter, and occasionally white chocolate fudge. Then I met my future husband, and the Christmas we were engaged I was exposed to one of his family traditions. English Toffee, also exceedingly simple and easy, and delicious...And strangely enough, also involving standing over a hot stove stirring while waiting for the mixture to reach "just the right color". Okay, so fudge and toffee, that's not so bad. But wait...We have to make Chex Muddy Buddies (referred to by some as People Puppy Chow-which I find to be offensive as a title for anything I am going to consume). I can hear you already...Yes, its true! Chex Muddy Buddies are easy to make! Is there a trend here or what? Last year I even expanded those for the first time to make Peanut Butter Buddies, since I have friends that don't eat chocolate and I wanted to include something for them in my traditional holiday foods. So we are up to three easy to make, and yet oh so delicious and fattening foods. Is there more? Of COURSE there is! I can't remember how many years ago, but probably at least 6, my Mom gave me this recipe book for Christmas. It had a recipe in it for mock cinnabon rolls. Now, I will say that they are not just like cinnabon rolls to me (though some people try to claim they are) but they ARE very good. They have been a Christmas morning tradition for at least five years, and possibly longer. Last year I made them ahead up to the final rising, and then froze them, vacuum sealed them and Christmas Eve we just had to leave them out to thaw and rise overnight, and toss them in the oven in the morning. Also the addition to my kitchen of a Kitchenaid mixer has taken most of the kneading out of the equation (at least I don't have to do the kneading) making this ALMOST an easy recipe. A few years ago my sister bought me The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, where I was introduced to the wonders and glories of Ganache. Ganache that is so smooth and elegant, and yet so dang easy to make! Ganache that can also be used as the center of a great tasting truffle. Yes, truffles entered the traditional Christmas goody fare two Christmases ago. Now we are up to last year...Last year I discovered a wonderful recipe for peppermint patties. You have already guessed that its easy? You are very smart. Last year was also the advent of making our own molded chocolates including caramel filled ones.
So do you see where I have a problem? I haven't even mentioned the cookie aspect of this whole thing. There are the snickerdoodles, the sugar cookies, and the must have holiday tradition chocolate double fudge marshmallow cookies with frosting. I can't skip those...and this year also marks the previously mentioned (last post) introduction of the Krumkake and Rosette cookies to my list. So who wants to vote? Each of these is a favorite of someone in my family, so who do I snub? Here is the list again, please vote and help me decide.
1. Chocolate Fudge
2. Peanut Butter Fudge
3. English Toffee
4. Chex Muddy Buddies
5. Peanut Butter Buddies
6. Cinnamon Rolls
7. Truffles
8. Peppermint Patties
9. Caramel Filled Chocolates
10. Regular Chocolates
11. Snickerdoodles
12. Chocolate Chip Cookies
13. Sugar Cookies
14. Gingerbread houses/cookies
15. Chocolate Marshmallow cookies
16. Krumkake
17. Rosette Cookies

And hey, if you have as hard of a time deciding as I do? Please feel free to send me some recipes for YOUR family favorites and traditional Christmas goodies. Maybe I can make it to 20 goodies this year!
After looking over this list I am strongly considering writing a blog about how some evil force is using the holidays to try to destroy all of mankind through food. The sad thing is that many of the things on this list are things I only do this one time of year...Maybe I should spread the joy? Or maybe I could get rich creating Easy Bake oven versions of all these recipes so that it would come out to just one tray of treats instead of a whole banquet table full of them!

I am a bad, bad blogger...

I don't think I have ever gone a whole week without updating this blog...and now I have gone 8 whole days! I am ashamed. I can only hope that the three people that read this blog have not given up checking it.
I started out with such good intentions of writing three days a week...and I was even a bit snobby that I never went very long without updating things. What can I say? I am human. Shhh! Don't tell anyone!
What has happened to me is that the Holiday season is upon us. I am sure you are thinking that I am scurrying around trying to get my shopping done, but you would be wrong. I was actually almost done by the end of November. I only have one more gift to get, and its for my year and a half old nephew who is very easy to please. Now before you all start grumbling that I am bragging about being finished with my shopping...please know that while my purchasing is done, I am working on a gift for each of my boys that I am making...and I am sure I will be frantically trying to get them all done the weekend before Christmas. At least with shopping you just run out, buy something, wrap it, and you are done. I went out, bought the supplies, and now I have a lot of work left to do. I have always wanted to make some cool things for the boys, and didn't have the time or the energy...this is the first year I have actually done something about it.
Of course, making gifts for the boys is not all that has been on my mind. I somehow got put in charge of our Christmas party at church. Its not part of my usual calling at church. I am actually in charge of Home, Family and Personal Enrichment for the women. This means that I put together monthly social activities and quarterly those activities are on a bigger scale and involve some kind of educating whether its spiritual, learning life skills, hobbies, etc. Our last large scale activity involved learning ways to invite the Spirit of God into our lives...we had lessons on inviting the Spirit by taking care of your physical health, by having a cleaner, more organized environment in our homes (I taught that one since everyone knows I am a slob and was not talking down to them about their homes), and by using good music to invite the Spirit. For November our activity was mostly social and we got together for cocoa, apple cider, cookies and we addressed and filled out our Christmas cards while we visited with each other. That one was easy. I just started this calling at church in September...so I am still pretty new at it. The woman that had the calling before me had asked to be in charge of the Christmas Party, and so it fell to me when I took her place. So I have been distracted for the last few weeks getting things together for our Come to Bethlehem party, which involved getting the food together (pita bread, meat, cheese, olives, grapes and dates) as well as the children's crafts (star ornaments, crowns, and nativity pages to color). Luckily I had some wonderful help with the program part of things so I didn't have to stress out much after we found the people to do the various roles in the Nativity. The activity was tonight, and I survived. I can't say that it was great, because I was so busy running around, trying to help with food, crafts and keep control of my five little shepherds (dressing up for it was optional, but we did anyway) that I wasn't able to pay attention to how things really went. I am glad its over though...now I feel like I can really focus on Christmas (at least once our Stake Christmas Choir concert is over next friday).
I will hopefully be able to sit down and blog more often now, and even read blogs. Yes, sadly I have not been checking blogs every day like I used to...too busy!
I hope that my next entry will be more interesting than this one! Only time will tell!

Darn that tricky hail!

We live on the Oregon Coast. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, we get a lot of rain here. Rain is just one of the prices we pay for living in the most beautiful state I have seen so far. Snow happens in Oregon, but not typically where we live. Yet every winter our kids yearn for a snow day. Every winter it seems like they are just willing it to snow.
We have lived here for three years, going on four. Our first winter here, it snowed. It was one of those freakish 3 day winter storm things. It was not fun snow, but we played in it anyway. Playing in it involved stomping through the layer of ice that had formed over the top of the snow to get to the powdery stuff underneath. Of course, the powdery stuff was worthless for snowballs, so it wasn't the best, but the kids didn't care...snow is snow to them.
Our second winter here was a no snow winter...as is typical.
Last year was our third winter, and it did snow, but not until March. It was however, beautiful snow. Perfect snowman, snowball and snowangel snow. It was a one day deal. It was deep enough to have a lot of fun in, but melted the next day enough that we enjoyed a nice hike with friends and didn't worry about the roads or the snow. To me, last year was the perfect snow year. I like to play in the snow, but I don't love snow. Its a hassle. If I was in charge of the weather here we would get that one snow day a year to have fun and play, and then we would be done with it.
So here we are...and its technically not even winter yet...still Autumn. This week we heard it might snow. Haha we thought...we have heard that many times before. Earlier this week...Monday it was...I heard the boys talking in hushed and awed tones about snow. And then I heard D telling them it was time to go to school. I was thinking...something is wrong with that. We live in one of those places that cancels school for snow when the grass is still sticking up through the snow. Still...off the big boys went to school and it wasn't long before K was bothering me to let him go outside and play in the snow. I got dressed, made sure he was properly snuggled up in warm clothes, gloves, and a hat, and went outside with him. I could see right away why school was not cancelled. It looked like only a dusting of snow...there was a lot of grass showing, but there was a nice white coating all over the car. We decided to use it to make some snowballs. However, when I went to make my snowball I noticed that the "snow" was made up of a lot of tiny BB sized pellets of ice. It was, in fact, hail. We had been deceived!
It did snow off and on that day, with intermittent hail in between. Our town was transformed into a wintry landscape that had no fun value at all. We went off to Costco Monday evening to make some purchases, and just as we were finishing loading the car after Costco, it started to hail again. Marble sized hail. We had another stop to make, so we drove to the next store and sat in the van and waited for the hail to stop. By the time it did the entire parking lot was covered in a layer of white. Again, it looked like snow, but it was really hail. This made the roads slick on our way home and we stayed in the rest of the night. School went on the next day, although the towns to either side of us cancelled their classes. The "snow" that is really hail stayed on the ground for two more days. I am sad to say, that I think that this may be all the "snow" we see this winter. I suppose only time will tell.

You'd Better Watch Out...

Yesterday was a lovely Saturday, and being that we live in a small town that doesn't get hit quite as hard with the weekend after Thanksgiving horrors of holiday shopping, we thought we would go out and do a little shopping. I am already about 95% done with our Christmas shopping, but had a few things left to get, and some things that I needed for a Church Christmas party that I am in charge of. So off we went to the store.
D thought that it would be fun for the boys if we gave them each a dollar and let them spend it however they wanted to. Believe me, they were pretty excited! We started out our excursion at Deals Only...the local discount store. There the boys flitted around trying to decide what to buy. In the end, only K (4) and C (3) spent their money. K is now the proud owner of a suction cup dart gun (which the boys have been having fun sticking darts to the ceiling with) with a cool fake spy watch. C invested in a Rugrats Christmas coloring book which is now already half used up. J opted to spend ten cents of his money to get a package of Kool Aid in a flavor he has not tried yet. On we went to JoAnn Fabrics.
JoAnn Fabrics is not a great store to take five little boys into. Of course we always get comments like "Are all of those yours?" Like the boys are some kind of inhuman science experiment. And then there is the-not much to entertain little boys aspect of the store. All in all, they didn't do too badly, except that T (6) decided playing Hide and Go seek would be fun and stalked around the store hiding from his brothers, who were not even bothering to look for him. He got particularly frustrated when I kept stumbling across his hiding spots (purely by accident) and making him come with me until he escaped again. There were also some moments of C screaming that he didn't want to be there at the top of his lungs, and some face pinching by various brothers...I guess they weren't that well behaved after all.
From JoAnn fabrics we drove to the factory outlet stores just over a half hour away. The boys were eager to spend their money at the KB Toy outlet. I, however, had other places to go first, so we started out (after a much needed potty break) at the Kitchen Store. As soon as we went in T (who has a form of high functioning Autism by the way) went into meltdown mode. I wasn't really thinking ahead, and with T you have to tell him exactly what you are doing, and in what order. He only knew we were going to the toy store, and to him that meant without anything else in between. We got plenty of looks from the shoppers as T proceeded to have a noisy meltdown and throw a major fit, which included a lot of stomping and attempts to hit various products in the store (this all took place about three feet into the store). J (9)was also complaining loudly (did I mention he is also Autistic?) This ended with me dragging T (literally) out of the store and bodily placing him in the van (it was harder than you would think and involved me finally having to shove him in there and close the door before he could get out). Then I got into the front seat and proceeded to reason with him. This included a lot of screaming and crying on his part, and a firm, "You have two choices" on my part. Once he figured out that I meant it, he decided to be nice, and went back into the kitchen store with me and he was fine.
Next was the toy store, which proved to be too expensive for them to spend their dollars at, and even though its an "outlet" store, even our locally overpriced Fred Meyer has much less expensive prices. I did get one thing that was on sale for a good price (and that I didn't need to get since I was already done shopping for that person-so now I will have to save one of his other gifts for his birthday). Then we went to the bookstore next door, where the boys proceeded to lay on the floor and read books as if they were at home, and it was very frustrating. I got some of the rest of my Christmas shopping done though, and was happy enough to leave that store. I had one more outlet store to go to, which was a costume jewelry type place, and I knew the boys wouldn't do well there. On the way to the car (for the boys and D-the next store for me) K (4) was asking me when we were having lunch (it was getting dark by this time) and he just couldn't understand that we basically skipped lunch since we ate breakfast at noon. I am sure that other shoppers overhearing him ask about having lunch and dinner thought I was the worst mother in the world for starving her five cute (and skinny) sons. D took the boys to the car, and I hurried as best as I could at the last shop. I got what I needed, then went to the car, and amid the cries of the starving masses we drove towards Taco Bell/KFC. Once we got to the parking lot D made the cardinal mistake of asking the opinion of our boys as to whether we should eat in the restaurant or get it to go and eat in the van on our way home. This erupted into a huge argument and a fit on the part of J. The last time we all went into a store that J had protested about going into, he was HORRIBLE. He was already nearing meltdown stage, and my frazzled nerves couldn't take it, so D started the car, and we left. This caused an incredible amount of noise from the back of the van from all of the sudden screaming and crying. In the past we would have appeased them all and gone back. However, they have shown that that kind of spoiling doesn't help them, so we continued home. I wish I had recorded the noise...it was unbelievable. I have sensitive ears, so I turned up the radio-which was at the time playing one of my least favorite Christmas songs (Jingle Bell Rock if you are curious) and sang along at the top of my lungs. D looked over at me and said "I thought you hated this song." I just smiled and said I would rather listen to that than the kids screaming. The screaming continued (mostly by J with some crying by K) for most of the half hour drive home. I reassured the boys that we would have leftovers when we got home, and J proclaimed that he would not eat anything ever again until he got TACO BELL! I told him that he was going to get really skinny and we continued our drive home. Once we were getting close to home it just popped into my head, and I couldn't help but sing it out.

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town...

Of course I put special emphasis on "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake."

So to all of you out there contemplating taking your kids Christmas shopping with you...try to make it easier on them...better yet...try to make it easier on yourself! And watch out, because Santa may be watching you too!

Only Five More Weeks of Holiday Stress!

I hope you are getting your shopping done. I am pretty much finished with mine other than a few small things and some stocking stuffers. Still, I think that I have enough to do to keep me pleasantly stressed out until the emotional crash the day after Christmas when I look around at our messy, toy strewn living room and try to remember what went on over the last two months.
Seriously though...I am kind of excited because I spent the last two Christmases as a working Mom, and didn't get to really enjoy a lot of things about the Holidays. This year, I am not working outside of the home, and I will be able to have the energy to make those gingerbread houses (actually its a train in this case-Family Fun Magazine had a great idea for that in the November Issue). I am still trying to get things done ahead of time. I have some cookie dough in the freezer, and I need to get the cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning made up to the point of their last rising and freeze them also. Then there are all the candies to make, but if I could get all that done last year while working close to full time outside the home, I think I can handle getting it all done this year.
I have been thinking a lot about Christmas food lately. How I make fudge, truffles, peppermint patties, and other various tasty things that have no nutritional value. I think that in spite of these things, I eat healthier near the holidays than most times of the year. Its because citrus fruits are cheaper, so we buy it whereas we don't buy it at all during the other times of year. I also tend to get apples and other fruits more this time of year. I have, what I think is a doable goal of not gaining weight this year during the holidays. I WILL partake of junk food, but I do that all year round. However, I am going to make an extra effort not to eat until I am stuffed, and to sample desserts rather than eating a whole serving of every kind. Of course I expect that my weight will fluctuate depending...you can't not be heavier the day after Thanksgiving... but my goal is to not have that 10-15 extra pounds hanging on come New Years Day. Am I going to obsess over it? No. I am just going to try to pay attention to how much I am eating, and see what happens.
Sorry there isn't much in the way of cleverness in this post. My mind is focusing on getting the last of that Christmas Shopping done before Turkey Day, and all the fun things we are going to do this year. We start tonight with our traditional Apple Turkeys (this involves decorating apples to look like turkeys through the medium of toothpicks, fruit snacks, mini marshmallows, cheerios, raisins and etc.) I think I will put down one idea per week of something fun we can do as a family.
What are you going to do this year to put some fun back into the Holidays? Go on! Kick out the stress and have some fun!

Ah....The Power of......

Electricity!
I have been thinking about a few different titles for this blog entry. Among the possibilities were titles such as...You Light Up My Life, Schoolhouse Rock's Electricity song, Stormy Weather, and submitted by my husband...Gone With the Wind.
We have in fact had some...Stormy Weather here recently. And because of that weather, our...Electricity, E-Lec-Tricity was Gone With the Wind for about 9 hours on Wednesday. I have personally been waiting for a good power outage for a while now. I was thinking about how cozy it would be to just have some family time without the many distractions of TV, Computer and etc. Wednesday at about 4:30 in the afternoon the power went out. Now living on the Oregon Coast as we do, power outages are frequent. Usually its more of a flickering thing, and maybe an hour or two without power. At 4:30 I was just thinking about getting ready to make dinner, the boys were playing on the plug and play (since I had turned the computer off due to the high winds). Only half of the boys had finished their allotted time playing video games, and it was getting dark. So the power goes out. We are not unprepared for such things, although in the future I would like to add a few things to our arsenal against power outages. It was still somewhat light outside, so we opened all the curtains, I cleared the table off, and set out our two small oil lamps, some candles and got our flashlights and batter operated push lights and lanterns out. I had been talking to D on the phone when the power cut, which also cut our call due to the fact that all we had was a cordless phone that needs electricity to run on. (I say HAD, because I went out the next day and bought a corded phone to use in such situations in the future.)
The boys immediately began complaining that they didn't get to finish their time, that they were bored, and that they were afraid of the dark. I got out the playdoh, some paper plates for them to work the playdoh on, placed the oil lamps and some candles in the middle of the table and lit them. This occupied the boys for half an hour or so, until D came home from work because they didn't have power there either. A year ago we would have been cooking our food outside in the wind on our camp stove, but a while back my Dad gave us a single burner stove that runs on cans of butane, and can be safely used inside. Thank you Dad! The first thing I used our lovely burner for was to make two batches of popcorn with our Whirley Pop Stovetop Popper. Luckily we had some margarine out of the fridge, because I didn't know how long the power was going to be out, so we had a no opening the fridge rule so as to keep it as cold in the fridge as possible. We sat around the table and ate our popcorn, then tried to decide what to have for dinner. My original dinner plans involved several things from the fridge, so we cancelled that and opted for soup. The boys ate Tomato Soup (also cooked on our burner) and D and I had some Bear Creek Potato soup. After that we spent pretty much the rest of the evening trying to find ways to entertain the boys. There was much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by some of them, and many heartfelt and fervent prayers for the power to be restored, and then more tears when the power didn't come back on as soon as they said "Amen". D and some of the boys did do a puzzle by the faint glow of our oil lamps (which are more like glorified candles and don't give off much light). I appeased our oldest (and the most weepy and upset as he was the only one that didn't get to do at least part of his game time) by sharing the glow of my flashlight while I read. I made a call on the cell phone to check on the outage and found out that over 15,000 customers of Pacific Power were out of power. A couple of hours later, it was down to 12,200, then eventually 10,500, and finally around bed time it was down to somewhere around 8,000. We took the boys for a drive to tire them out, and to see the hopeful glow of lights from the next town over, that had previously been without power also. Then we went home where the boys went to bed (although scared to not have their hall light on like they usually do) and I finished the book I was reading by lantern light since I was getting tired of winding our LED wind-up flashlight (supposed to be good for "up to" 45 minutes of light, but really only good for 5 to 10 before you have to wind it again). We made some hot cocoa on our trusty burner, and fired up the Kerosene heater. The power was restored somewhere around 1 a.m. School was cancelled for the next day, which I thought was weird since we had power by then. The boys enjoyed a day off of school, and I have been thinking about how to better handle a power outage in the future.
I find it sad that our boys were so consumed by their need for electricity. They even tried to get us to set up Grandpa's DVD player with two screens (that we will be returning this weekend) in the van so they could have their DVD viewing and plug and play time. What I had looked forward to as cozy family time turned into a nightmare of whining, and irritation. I think that we should have some no power weekends every so often and just keep everything off for a day, just to get those kids off of their power kick. If we had to go more than an evening without power, I think they would have a nervous breakdown.
Here is my list of things I would like for future power outages...some are doable, and some are not so much so.
Real oil lamps...with a wide wick, so that they actually light up a good area.
A generator for the Fridge and Freezer so that we don't have to worry about spoilage (haha...like we will ever get one)
Checkers made with LED lights inside each one, so that you can see the game, and a glow in the dark board. (Someone invent that will you?)
One of those car battery jumpstarters that also has a plug and a light on it, so we could plug in a boom box or something and have some music (see, I am addicted to power also)
A fireplace (again...not affordable, but it would be oh so nice, and I could cook dutch oven in it as well, and we could have smores!) Actually what I want is a Soapstone Fireplace/Heater with a built in bakeoven...if anyone wants to give me about $10,000 to $15,000 for one, just let me know. Soapstone heaters stay warm after just a couple of hours of wood burning, and they retain the heat and keep you toasty all day. And the Bakeoven would just be cool, pizza anyone?
Really, we have all the essentials covered. We have light sources, we have a heat source (even though the kerosene can be smelly) and we have a way to cook. Our hot water heater is a gas one, so we would still have hot showers, (unfortunately our gas furnace needs electricity to turn on). All in all we have the things we need the most. Hopefully next time we will be able to focus more on a good family time and less on the woes of not having the electricity.
In closing, I will part with a poem from my high school literary publication of Thistledown.

Ode to a lightbulb. (originally written by...me)

Ode to a lightbulb
All shiny and bright
I love him a lot
'Cause he give me light.

Road Trips...Travelogue

First of all I have to apologize for my lack of posts. I have gone a record amount of time between posts. My only excuse is that I have been busy the last couple of weeks.
We just got back from a trip to visit my husband's family(mother, step-father and two brothers). They live in Kettle Falls, Washington, which is a bit of a drive from where we live. Of course its not nearly as bad as driving 23 hours straight through to Colorado like I did this summer with my parents and two of my sisters, but when you add in five sometimes impatient children, it can seem like a longer trip.
We wanted to go up through the Seattle area and over since according to google and other sites this would be the shortest route as far as hours of driving go. However, we were worried about the evils of Seattle area traffic (we have previously learned that nothing can freak out a kid on a road trip more than being stuck in a traffic jam and not moving at all). We were also worried about the possibility of flooding along the way, and snow in the mountains. Because of these concerns we opted to take the way we are more familiar with and drove through the Columbia River Gorge. This also enabled us to get a little head start on our trip by driving up to Vancouver, WA on Thursday evening and staying at my parents' house. This took two hours off of our drive time.
We left Vancouver around 8am on Friday morning (after stopping at a local grocery store to get our staple road trip breakfast of donuts and orange juice-I know its bad for us, but sometimes on a road trip emotional well being comes before physical well being, and eating those donuts was like getting a big hug.) Our first stop was Multnomah Falls for a potty break for the boys. We drove on down the gorge and pointed out places of interest to the boys along the way. We stopped at a rest area in Boardman and let the kids run around for a while. Then we were off to cross the border from Oregon into Washington. We stopped for a very unhealthy lunch from McDonalds and got gas in Kennewick. Then it was my turn to drive. There wasn't much of interest between Kennewick and Spokane, except a long gap in between rest areas. We had passed a rest area sign, and D took the opportunity to ask (unfortunately this was AFTER we passed the rest area) if anyone needed to use the bathroom. Of course T did, and of course there was not another rest area coming up anytime soon. This resulted in us taking an exit into some rural roads that seemed to go nowhere so T could pee someplace outside. Luckily this was our only foray into emergency peeing, and for those of you who are curious, I did take some Whizzy products with me just in case we ran into a horrifying toilet along the way.
I had made a deal with D that I wasn't going to drive in the city. I am not a city driver...I prefer rural areas. My wish was not to come true however. All of a sudden, we were in downtown Spokane, and I was still the driver. After many lane changes to get us in the right places for our route, I finally found a safe place to pull over and let D drive. Of course I had already gotten through the worst traffic areas, so he had an easy time of it after that.
I am sure you are wondering what our kids were doing this whole time. I will tell you. This is kind of a miracle really, because usually our kids can't even handle the ten minute drive to church without fighting, screaming and driving us crazy. To be sure, there was a little bit of all of that, but generally they were really good. I attribute this to the presence of a portable DVD player with two screens, a lot of good music (our rental van had a CD player in it) and the two plug and play video games we brought along with us. (Thank you Grandpa L for letting us use your DVD player).
I guess I forgot to mention that our van at home needs a ton of work and wasn't going to get us to where we were going. Okay, it probably would have, but for my peace of mind...the idea of breaking down with five kids in the middle of nowhere was not an option, so we rented a van and were given a really good deal on it.
After spending some time getting through Spokane we were on our way for the last leg of our journey. Kettle Falls is one and a half hours to two hours away from Spokane, depending on which part of Spokane you start timing from. We drove through such interesting places as Loon Lake (where there is a sign advertising the local Loon Lake Loon Society) and we got to see some snow on the ground. This of course excited the boys since we don't get much in the way of snow where we live. Then we went through Chewelah, Colville, and finally reached the in-laws house at around 5:30 p.m. We had been on the road for about 9.5 hours...except for our brief stops at rest areas along the way. The boys did a great job and were remarkably well behaved. 9+ hours may not seem like much of a road trip to some people, but to us, its a long drive.
We were able to enjoy a nice visit with Mom S, Dad S, Jesse and Preston. The purpose of our trip was to see Jesse off as he leaves for a two year mission to Montreal, Canada, French speaking. The boys enjoyed seeing two of their uncles, and spent a lot of the weekend making up for their time sitting still in the car. They ran circles around Grandma's living room and pelted each other and their uncles with nerf balls. They rammed Tonka and Little Tikes cars and trucks into walls and furniture, and they made an awful lot of noise. In general they had a great time. Their dreams of snow were not to be realized until Monday morning as we were preparing to leave. Of course all of their gloves, boots and etc were packed, so they froze their fingers and got their shoes wet making "Just one snowball" that turned into a lot of playing in the wet snow. It was only an inch or so of snow, but it might be all they get to see this year. We finally got them all into the van and headed for home. The drive this time was longer since we didn't stop to stay the night in Vancouver, and we spent almost 14 hours between here and there (some of which was because of longer stops along the way for meals and bathroom breaks). We also drove back along the Washington side of the gorge which is somewhat windier (as in more curvy as opposed to more windy) but has some interesting sites such as a life sized replica of Stonehenge along the way. The views were wonderful, and the windy roads were fun to drive. We drove through Camas where D grew up and stopped for fries at top burger. We also stopped in Vancouver for a potty break and got a pizza for dinner which we ate in the car before heading the rest of the way home. The boys were a little more restless on the way home...but all in all they did well aside from some bickering about the plug and plays. We enjoyed our visit, and we enjoyed spending time as a family. Now we just have to get back into our home routine. As much as I generally hate road trips, I think I would be willing to try it again under the right circumstances. I don't think I really want to take the boys on a trip that lasts more than a day of driving, but you never know.

Only in the Northwest

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, so I am pretty used to the rain, and generally it doesn't bother me too much. I think that its a pretty singular thing to this area of the US to see it pouring down rain, and yet the people out walking in the rain generally are not carrying umbrellas, and they aren't usually rushing through the rain to get to their cars quickly either. Of course they walk a little bit faster than usual, but I just don't see the cowering, dodging run that is common to other areas, or to people that are visiting this area from a drier clime. I think it is amusing to watch people in the rain and try to decide if they are from this area, are transplanted here, or are just on vacation. Its not usually too difficult to tell. Generally if you see someone walking calmly, with a patient or even serene look on their face, through a Northwest downpour, they were probably born and raised in the area and often enjoy the weather. These are the people who sometimes tell others, with a look of pride, that they were born with webbed feet. Then there are those who hurry through the rain with a look of annoyed resignation. They don't try to dodge the rain, but it obviously bothers them. These kinds of people are often transplants to the area, who fell in love with all the green beauty of it during some of the drier months of the year, then pulled up stakes and moved here, only to find that they had to endure a lot of rainy days to get their reward. The third category is my favorite to watch. They are the ones that are dodging the rain like they were dodging bombs in a war zone. They pull their coats up over their shoulders, they look panicked, and have such an aversion to water that I would not be surprised to find their genealogy linking them back to the Wicked Witch of the West (if she were not a fictional character).
Another thing I have noticed about the Northwest that I just don't think you would find anywhere else, is that people go to the beach no matter what the weather. Last summer my sister in law was coming to the coast for the day with some friends, and since we live on the Oregon Coast, we arranged to meet her at a beach not too far away. It was a warm summer day, but it was also uncommonly foggy, and when we got to the beach, the parking lot was full. D drove around while I got out to try and find his sister. The fog was so thick that when I got down to the sand, I couldn't see the ocean. I could barely see ten feet away from me, but as I walked around looking, I did see a truly amazing sight. Everywhere there were people laying on the beach on towels, or on beach chairs, some even with umbrellas over them, just as if they were sunbathing at some resort beach. They were oblivious to the fog, and didn't care that if a tsunami decided to strike at that moment, none of them would even be able to see it coming. I would personally go to the beach in any weather, but I think I can safely say that I would not be trying to sunbathe in the fog. I think most of the people there were of the tourist type, who just wanted to get their beach time in, and chose to do it in the way they were most accustomed. Generally I find NW people to be the kind that go to the beach to walk and play, not lay around like beached whales. Still, you have to love it. I hope I can live in the Northwest for the rest of my life.

Equality...Closer than you think!

I am sure you are wondering, "Just what kind of equality is she talking about?" Well, I will tell you. I am talking about the right to pee standing up!
What? Do you think I am kidding? I assure you that I am not! What woman on a camping trip hasn't wished that she could pee standing up instead of having to squat behind a bush and hope that she didn't drip anywhere important? How many women have envied this ability of men at least once in their lives? I would guess that many have. I would never want to trade places with a man. I like being a woman. I like it in spite of having to pee sitting down. However, now if I don't want to pee sitting down, I don't have to.
Okay...so I am feeling a bit sarcastic. I thought that products that help women to pee standing up were a little bit on the silly side. However, in my research I have decided that they can be useful. I even tried one out.
The first of this kind of product that I heard about is called Whizzy. My sister,(I keep saying just my sister, but I actually have four very cool sisters who are all quite different from one another) my oldest sister...told me about Whizzy a while ago. She had also bought some at one point, and this past weekend (as we were all at another of my sister's house for our annual pumpkin party) she handed me a package containing some Whizzy products. I was amused, and figured that I would try one out eventually.
That time came sooner than I thought it would. Even though we live in a fairly moderate area as far as tempertature goes, it has gotten colder here, and in an effort to save money on heating our home, we usually keep the thermometer set fairly low. Yesterday evening it was pretty cold (for here) and I had to use the bathroom. The thought of sitting down on that freezing cold toilet seat was disturbing to me though, and the package of Whizzy(s) that I had set on the bathroom shelf caught my eye. 'What the heck' I thought to myself, and followed the simple directions. What do you know! It worked! I can pee standing up! And no cold toilet seat!
Am I going to make a habit of it? Probably not. At a cost of around $1.00 per Whizzy I am not likely to use them often. They say that you can reuse each Whizzy one time, if you have a place to put it to dry out (ewwww). Still, its somewhat liberating to think that I can pee standing up if I want to!
Before sitting down (no pun intended) to write this blog, I did a little internet research and was surprised at the number of products like Whizzy out there. However, since Whizzy is the only one I have tried, it is also the only one I can recommend with confidence. Need the perfect gift for that hard to shop for woman? Whizzy is for you! Mother in law, feminist, friend, or just that gift for the woman who has everything...give it a try! If nothing else, it will make a good conversation starter!
In all seriousness, Whizzy and similar products can be useful! Especially for women who have trouble sitting down, or getting up from a sitting position. Camping? Hiking? You won't ever have to worry about sitting in poison oak or ivy when you pee! Car broke down? Stranded? Whizzy is your friend! Icky public restrooms, or worse, porta potties? You won't even have to touch that toilet seat! Whizzy is for you! Big family with only one bathroom? Now you can ALL pee standing up! Do you work construction on a high rise building? Now you too can pee from the roof like the guys do! Want to write your name in the snow? According to their website, with Whizzy, now you can! Before Whizzy and products like it, there was NO urinal for women, and now, THE WORLD IS YOUR URINAL!
For more information on Whizzy you can check out their website at http://www.whizzy4you.com/. Or feel free to do a search for other products that help women pee standing up.

On the road again!

Okay, so I don't really have anything specific to blog about today. I am blogging from my sister's computer. We are visiting family in Vancouver for the weekend, to take part in the annual family pumpkin carving party. This is the 11th year we have had this tradition. For me, it is my favorite part of the Halloween season. A few years ago we started having all the kids in the family dress up in their costumes for the party, and for our little family it has become our main celebration of Halloween.
My dilemma now is...what kind of pumpkin should I carve this year? I have already done the usual and traditional styles of pumpkins, as well as a movie star, a pirate, and etc. This year I was feeling stumped. I wanted to do a pumpkin with an X files theme, but since I also have to supervise the carving of five other pumkins for boys ages 9 and under, the X files route seemed a little too complicated. Then I thought I might stoop so low as to carve a puking pumpkin... juvenile yes, but easy to do.
Then came the pumpkin selection. There were two choices...large, or small...no in between. I was just going to grab any pumpkin I could find that wasn't rotting, when my sister stumbled on this year's pumpkin. It is beautiful, and not a typical pumpkin. Its smaller on the bottom half than on the top half, and looks exactly like...a skull. So my decision is made. I hope it turns out well.
Sorry this blog is a bit on the boring side. I didn't want to go a whole week in between blogs. I will do better next time!

Fall is here...

Our heater came on this morning. We usually keep it down as low as it can go until the cold weather sets in, and this morning the heater came on anyhow. That means that it got down to below 55 in the house. 55 is about the lowest our thermostat will go. The heat coming on woke me up, so I got up and turned the thermostat all the way off. I can't afford to be paying those winter gas bills this early. That is what sweatshirts are for anyhow.
In spite of the cooling weather fall is one of my favorite times of year. At least its one of my favorite times of year during the day. I like the crispness in the air, the beautiful colors as leaves change, and drinking apple cider. I love the way my thoughts turn towards the holidays and the family times we can look forward to having. For our family, fall is the time of year that we see the most of our extended families. We have the annual Pumpkin Carving Party at my Sister's house, Thanksgiving with whoever's turn it is that year, and the annual girl's day where the Sisters, my Mother, and my Aunt and my Nieces get together to make Christmas cards and enjoy each other's company. All of this leads into the Christmas celebration, which is technically in the winter by a few days, but which I spend most of fall preparing for or at least thinking about. Fall is also the beginning of hot cocoa and hot apple cider season. Its a season for enjoying pretty drives to look at the changing colors, and hikes where you stay warm from exertion, but never get too hot.
Fall does have one major drawback for me. It gets dark too early. It will be even worse when the clocks get set back this weekend. Where we live it will be heading for sunset as early as 4:30 p.m. and on the shortest day of the year it will only be daylight for 8 hours and 42 minutes. This is in comparison to 15 hours and 41 minutes on the longest day of the year. I like daylight. It means less electricity being used, it means more warmth, and it means less depression for me. The only good thing to me about it getting dark earlier is that the kids don't argue about bed time like they do in the summer. Summertime always brings arguments about it not being dark yet when its time for bed. (Of course, if we just did away with daylight savings, it would get dark an hour earlier in the summer, and we could avoid this problem.)
Here in western Oregon, the extra hours of darkness also combine with a rainy season to make it pretty dreary out in general. I have always struggled with a bit of depression in the fall, even while I excitedly go about planning my Christmas and other holiday celebrations.
This year I am going to try to keep my focus on the fun times we can have as a family, and not pay as much attention to how early it is getting dark. Wish me luck!

Family Review...part 1 Crayons...

The research for this review was in fact, completed weeks ago by our family. We spent an evening testing out various brands and colors of crayons. I have not posted the review yet because I was waiting for a time where D and the boys could add their contributions. I have decided, therefore, to post this blog in two parts, and I am starting with mine.
Four brands of crayons were involved in this review. They are, in alphabetical order: Crayola, Pentech UltraColor, Prang and RoseArt.
Let me start with Crayola. I have to admit that I have always had a soft spot for these crayons that were the crayons of my childhood. However, I wanted to keep an open mind, because although I love Crayola, they are also the most expensive of crayons, and if some other brand were just as good, I may as well save some money.
Crayolas when compared with the other brands of crayons did not disappoint. I found the colors to be true, as well as vibrant with a nice coverage and the crayons held up well. The tips did not wear down as quickly as some of the other brands. The color names were simple, and easy to read. They were also written in three languages, which I found to be somewhat unnecessary, yet educational. Made in the U.S.A.
Overall I give crayola a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, the half star demerit being given because of their price.
Next we have RoseArt. The color was quite similar to Crayola, although I did not find them to be richer in color as their package implies. RoseArt crayons also held up well and did not wear down as quickly as other brands. The coloring was fairly smooth, although there was one major flaw in them. I noticed a tendency for streaks with the RoseArt crayons when coloring something in solidly. The streaking tended to be a dark color that was not exactly the shade of the crayon, as if the colors weren't blended well enough in the crayon itself. The names of the colors were easy to read, and printed in bolder, larger letters. The names were also only in English, and each crayon wrapper states made in the U.S.A instead of it only being on the box. These are Patriotic Crayons.
Overall I give RoseArt 4 out of 5 stars. I always took RoseArt to be much less of a crayon than Crayola, but in comparison with the other two brands, RoseArt does surprisingly well. I have changed my opinion of them as a crayon in general and find them to be a suitable second choice when Crayola is unavailable, and a suitable first choice if price is the deciding factor and care is taken when coloring to avoid the streaking.
Coming in third we have Prang. First the positives, Prang felt smooth when coloring and had nice coverage. However, the colors were somewhat muted and lacked vibrancy. Also they were a softer crayon (thus the smooth feeling when using them) and therefore the tips wore down quicker, and the edges of the coloring were not as defined. Prang crayons also have the educational three languages printed on them, but the French and Spanish color names are printed next to each other and add some confusion. Made in Mexico with the word Mexico printed on each crayon (and yet still generally expensive.)
Prang gets 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. The smooth coverage is simply done in by the dull colors and lack of line definition. Of course, if they are on sale, and they are not being bought for a picky person, then by all means, pick some up.
Last and surely least we have Pentech UltraColor. The other three brands came in boxes of 24 crayons, and the UltraColors were a box of 64. In all fairness it was likely the presence of a greater selection of crayons that added to our confusion in trying to find familiar colors in the box. Once found, however, the colors were not true, and were less than ultra. The colors looked faded, and were not easily recognizable in the crayon itself. This meant that when looking for a red crayon we pulled out other colors that looked more red first. Colors with horrifying names like pinkleberry as well as mauve, rose, cranberry and raspberry before taking the last red color offered (which looked more like a variety of orange) and finding it to be red. Worse yet, the UltraColors had blatant lies on the package including these three statements.
SMOOTHER! LEANER LINES!, BRIGHTER! RICHER COLOR!, and STRONGER! WRAPPED 2x! And on the back of the package it says "The vividness of UltraColor crayons makes coloring exciting! Each UltraColor has more color and goes on smoother with better coverage than the average crayon. PLUS! Each UltraColor crayon is wrapped 2x in extra strong paper to increase its strength and durability, prolonging the life of the crayon."
Lies, lies, LIES! The crayons were not smooth even though they were soft. They tended to streak as well as to leave more bits of crayons on the paper (like the bits that erasers leave when you erase something, giving you the urge to constantly sweep off the paper) I also noticed that the more you try to shade something in darker, the more likely it was that your crayon would actually strip off the color you had already put on, leaving white spots. The colors were dull and not accurate, and definitely NOT richer. And the double wrapping (which by the way is also a standard feature of Crayola and Rose Art) did not save the crayons from being broken. In fact, this brand was the only crayon we reviewed that was broken during the process. If this crayon is smoother and has better color than the average crayon, as they state, then they must be referring to crayons in china, which is where these crayons are made.
These crayons get a rating of 1 out of 5 stars from me, and they get the one star only because they are, in fact, actual crayons and they color.

I would like to make a side note that we are all reviewing these crayons based on our own personal preferences and thoughts. My husband's review is much more in depth and scientific than my own, (which is not surprising because he is a more in depth and scientific person than I am). As for the boys, who may or may not choose to share their reviews, our 6 year old T picked UltraColors as his favorite, in spite of the fact that they kept breaking for him, and that the colors sucked in almost every way. He was won over by the color names such as Pinkleberry, Mint Ice Cream and Blue Lightning, as well as the name UltraColor itself which begs to be said in a superhero announcer voice. I suppose that Pentech should be given points for their marketing ability in choosing the name UltraColor to appeal to people. I did notice, however that their own brand name of Pentech only appears in very small print in an inconspicuous place, almost as if they are ashamed.

Blog Stalkers...

I think I may be one...or at least on my way to being one. I think that there are many blog stalkers out there, masquerading as everyday, normal people.
What is the definition of a blog stalker? Well...I was going to make one up, since it was a term I thought I came up with, but with the help of Google, I found out that Blog Stalkers are quite talked about across the board. One site says that blog stalkers are only people that are keeping tabs on their ex via a blog; Another says that a blog stalker (which they have coined as a blokker) is someone who reads your blog and then pesters you incessantly with emails and comments, multiple times a day; And a third says that if you check your favorite blogs multiple times a day in case of updates, then you are well on your way to becoming a blog stalker. That site even has suggestions for how you can be notified automatically each time one of your favorite blogs is updated, thus enabling you to stalk more efficiently.
I fall somewhat under the category of the third definition. I don't think it has reached the point of total obsession. I check on some of my favorite blogs daily, and I might check them in the evenings if there isn't a new post when I check earlier in the day. I usually find I can wait until the next day though. There are some blogs that I check only every few days, because the bloggers don't post very often. Those are actually the blogs I would want to set up an automatic notification for when they were updated...because (especially in the case of my sister's blog) it gets frustrating when they go for more than a month without blogging. My Mom tries to blog once a week, although she is two weeks behind now and claims she has nothing to write about. (My suggestion to those people is to see my archives and read the post on blogger's block).
The thought of blog stalkers actually scares me a little. I don't think I am in much danger since only about three people read this blog. However, I do think that some self evaluation is a good thing for all of us. So to all of you (you few who actually read this blog) take some time occasionally to ask yourself a few key questions.
1. Do I find myself getting angry when there are no updates on a favorite blog?
2. Do I take the lack of updates as a personal slight? Like I am being ignored?
3. Do I find it necessary to email the blogger to remind them that I have been without their blog for too long? (I apologize to everyone I have done this to)
4. Is checking blogs something that can make or break my day? (Depending on if there are updates)
5. Do I check for updates more than once a day?
Please consider these questions, and if you answer yes to any of them...you may be in need of help for a blogging addiction. If you can think of any other self evaluation questions for me to add to this list-please let me know or leave a comment, and I will add it on.

Being competitive Can Have Its Drawbacks...

I will admit that I am a competitive person at heart. I try not to be, but its just in my nature. I am generally upset when I lose and I have a horrible tendency to gloat when I win. This is especially true when I am playing board and card games that involve no real skill on my part. As a child I was uncommonly lucky when playing a favorite family game called Aggravation. I was also particularly ruthless in my competitive nature when playing this game, which involves being able to send someone's piece pack to the start if you land on the same spot. My family HATED playing with me. Somehow I would convince them to do it anyhow, and then I would proceed to crush them mercilessly every chance I got. I even coined myself "Doctor Death" as I would pass up a chance to send my last man home, and instead would go around the board again just to chase down every one of their men I could and send them back to the start. I think that I could have been described as evil in some ways.

Now that I am grown up, I have to be nicer. I do admit, and my poor mother can attest, that I am still competitive. She and I play email Upwords and I have a hard time with her winning. To my credit, I don't gloat over my wins (outwardly) the way I used to. I think that she still feels that I am too competitive, and I am sometimes surprised that she continues to play against me.

I don't play board games as much as I used to. D and I occasionally play a round of yahtzee, or millebornes and I always get upset that he wins more than I do. He enjoys my upset in a way I think, because he is about the least competitive person I know, and doesn't get upset when he loses. It amuses him to see my reactions to losing.

I also have to set a good example for my children. I honestly think that competitiveness is not only a learned skill. Some of my children are highly competitive, and have been from a very early age. I don't gloat when I win a board game played as a family, because I don't want them to learn such bad habits. To be honest, now that I am a Mom I lose much more often than I win, and I don't even have to let them win, they just do (to my own upset). I am careful when playing a game with certain of my sons, not to get on their bad sides. One of them in particular takes it very seriously if I jump one of his players, and boy can he throw a fit. I guess I can't wait for them to be old enough to understand that its just a game and they don't have to freak out if they are losing. (My husband would probably say that I still need to learn that lesson myself.)

Friday night we attended a western themed dinner at our church. During the dinner they had various activities going, including some games for the kids. Sack races caused a competitive streak to come out. After the sack races, the lady in charge brought out some pennies and placed them on the floor. The object of this race was to push the penny all the way across the room and over the finish line, with your nose. The room they were playing games in was carpeted. Most of the little kids couldn't quite get the hang of pushing their pennies. Son age 8, however, has a bit of a competitive streak when it comes to racing. He started right off with an army crawl, his nose to the ground, and he quickly passed every competitor and left them in the dust. I admit that I felt a small thrill of pride at his skill and persistence, until he stood up. He had a huge carpet burn all down his nose. It started to hurt shortly after that, and as I type this two days later, he still has a big scab on his nose. I would like to think that he might have learned a valuable lesson about being competitive, but I think that all he learned is not to rub your nose on carpet, even if it IS to win a race. Wouldn't it be nice if the next time he was faced with a competetive situation he could say "Hey-its no skin off my nose if I lose!"

Its a Bird!...Its a Plane!...Its....

Superman of course! I was recently subjected to a viewing of Superman IV by my children, and son age 6 is planning on being Superman for Halloween. So the man of steel has been in the back of my head off and on for a few days. I have come up with some questions for him...or rather, there are some specific things I am wondering about.
#1. Where does Superman keep his cape? Its not like its some little cape here! Its a regular tea length cape! Does he keep it rolled up in his briefcase? Does he tuck it down one pantleg? Is it wrapped skillfully around his torso? We may never know...maybe his suit has a secret compartment or something and he can just pull a string and Voila! Out rolls his nicely pressed cape. It HAS to be wrinkle free...I mean it. I am pretty sure its safe to say its not wrapped around his torso though, because when they show him rip open his shirt, we see the S symbol, not a wad of red fabric. Here is what I think Superman should have done in the first place. I think Clark Kent should have been a hunchback when he got to Metropolis. He could have used the cape to make a hunchback, and since he would always be hunched, no one would be able to really look him in the face, for fear they might be thought to be staring...it would be a perfect cover, and convenient too!
#2. What if Superman didn't WANT to be a hero? What other jobs could he have had? Of course you are all going to think of the obvious things that a super strong guy could do...but here is what I think...I think that he should have become a clothing designer. Or at least a fabric manufacturer...that supersuit after all, rarely gets dirty. It survives explosions, fires, and many other hazards and it comes through with flying colors. I haven't seen even a fray. The only time I can think of his suit looking in disrepair was when he was under the influence of Red Kryptonite, or was losing in a big fight (both of these are obviously a tool used by the movie director to make us understand the horrible gravity of the situation...Oh No! Superman's suit has a smudge...the world is about to end!) We all know that the real supersuit would never be stained or maimed in any way. And if Superman, or as he could have been known, Suave and Fashionable man was willing to share the wonder of that fabric, we would never have our clothes wear out, we would be protected from minor cuts and abrasions because things wouldn't tear through our clothes, and small children and factory workers in third world countries could look forward to a better life than the sweat shops...Also...think wrinkle free! We would never have to iron again, and Suave and Fashionable Man would still seem like a hero to the world. He could even branch out into footwear...because after all...those boots are miraculously durable as well.
#3. Does Superman have telekinetic powers? Okay I am just throwing this in because it showed him rebuild the Great Wall of China using beams (not heat beams) from his eyes in Superman IV. It also showed him use his piercing stare to lower some people down to safety when Nuclear man was wreaking havoc in the city. I never new he had that power.
#4. I admit it...I really only had two questions and just thought up the third on a whim.
Here's hoping we all have a SUPER day!

What A Ripoff!!!

I recently bought a candy bar. A Baby Ruth to be exact...chocolate, peanuts, and other tasty ingredients. On the outside of the wrapper was an advertisement to "Play Treasure Quest Online for your chance to win $1 Million! Plus: 1 in 20 wins a candy bar instantly!"
I didn't pay much attention to this when I bought the candy bar, and I paid no attention to it as I opened the candy bar in preparation for eating it. I had forgotten that there was even a contest involved. I was only after the chocolate. However, after eating the candy bar, I glanced down at the wrapper and saw the word Congratulations! inside. Yes folks, I was a winner!
Before you all come to me asking to borrow money, I will tell you, that I did not win the $1 Million. I won a free candy bar instantly! Except that my candy bar has yet to appear...
According to the package these rules apply. I will just include certain parts that I found particularly interesting.

To claim the On-Pack Instant Win Prize(s): Potential winner must mail the entire original winning Game Wrapper (keep a photocopy for your records) along with his/her name, address and phone number on a 3" x 5" card by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested to: Nestle "Treasure Quest" On-Pack Instant Win Game Prize Claim, P.O. Box 72512, Rockford, MN 55572.

I took the liberty of looking up the mailing costs of such an endeavor at http://www.usps.com/. To mail a 1 oz envelope Certified Mail with a Return Receipt from where I live to Nestle would cost me $4.64. This was the least expensive option for acceptable mailing to claim my prize. The second option was Registered Mail with a Return Receipt which added up to a whopping $10.14. Plus you should add 5 cents minimum for the cost of a photocopy.
When I started writing this blog today I was just thinking about the insanity of paying $0.39 to get a "free" candy bar. But as I read the fine print again, I realized just HOW insane the whole thing is. The sad thing is that somewhere in hicksville someone is probably stuffing an envelope with their winning wrapper, excited at the prospect of being a "winner". The real question is, will they actually mail it when they find out how much it costs? That would be the true measure of whether they are a winner, or a LOSER!
As for me, I had my moment of glory, and I choose to save my $4.64 with which I can buy 18 candybars at the sale price of $0.25 that I paid for my winning wrapper Baby Ruth.
You know, I have to wonder, if there is some kind of agreement between Nestle and the United States Postal service. Maybe Nestle gets a kickback or something. If all 5,700,000 winning wrappers were turned in for claim, that would be a minimum of $26,448,000 paid out to the USPS. More if people chose to use registered mail. It boggles the mind!

Surgeon General's Health Advisory...

Did that get your attention? I hope so! This is serious business here! Of course the Surgeon General hasn't probably given this particular health issue much thought, so I am taking matters into my own hands to give the warning to all five people that read this blog!

Bobbing for Apples is hazardous to your health!!!

Shouldn't everyone know this already? Of course they should! But is bobbing for apples still a routinely practiced ritual during Halloween/Harvest time? Unfortunately...Yes! I guess its frightening enough to fit right in with Halloween.

I remember they bobbed for apples when I was in Kindergarten (back when everyone dressed up for Halloween and paraded around school) and I got in trouble because I wouldn't bob for fear of ruining my wonder woman tiara. (Cardboard and tinfoil just wouldn't hold up you know!) I have never liked bobbing for apples since that experience. And if you really think about it...
Here are some of the reasons that you should never EVER bob for apples!

#1. Spit. Bobbing for apples certainly doesn't involve drinking or swallowing the water until you can get to the apples. No its more of a gargling, rinsing of the mouth and leaving that gargle behind for the next person in line.

#2. It involves your nose. Worse than the spit factor is the fact that bobbing for apples involves shoving your entire face into the water...Which means you get the same rinsing factor in your nose that you do in your mouth. Eeeewwwwwwww.

#3. Okay...So the first two things pretty much cover all that is gross about bobbing for apples. I just felt that it would seem more well rounded to have three good reasons. I guess there is the possibility of getting an apple someone else bit off of in their attempt, which just doesn't compare to the other two in grossness. I suppose you could worry about the possibility of worms or something, but really, spit and things that should remain in the nose are about the worst of it.

Now on to solutions...My husband thinks that apples should be hung from the ceiling by a string and each person just gets their own apple. I think it would be even harder to pin the apple to something when there are no sides...just air...So I thought that wasn't the best idea. I guess it would present an extra element of challenge though.

For parents who think its quaint but don't want to pass around every illness going around town, I recommend each kid having their own container and two or three apples in it and they all bob at the same time. I also recommend a tarp to go underneath wherever they are bobbing. Send all the apples home with whoever contaminated them.

If you are at a party and feel that you must bob...my advice is...Be the first in line, not the last.

Being Sick Is No Fun/General Conference

I regret not having posted for a few days. I have pretty much given up on the notion of writing in my blog on an every other day basis. This was a busy week and on top of it all I came down with whatever bug is currently going around. Kind of a sore throat, stuffy nose kind of thing; Not as miserable as I could be, but certainly not as happy-go-lucky as I would like to be.
I have been taking this stuff called Cold-eez...that is supposed to shorten the duration of your cold. Its a zinc thing. D likes using them, but I have pretty much found that they make my tongue feel numb and nothing tastes good for the next several hours. I also tried sucrets-which D also says work great. (No I didn't try them at the same time...) but they are even WORSE about making your tongue numb. I think that a dentist could drill on you after you had one of those and you might not notice. Yes, they do make your throat feel better. That is because they have an oral anesthetic as the main ingredient.
This weekend was also General Conference for church. For those of you who are not LDS we have General Conference twice a year, and we get to watch or listen to a broadcast from Salt Lake and get to hear the Apostles and the Prophet speak as well as other church authorities. Its something that I always look forward to. We could go and watch it at the church, or if we had cable we could tune into it there. We don't have cable and we have a hard time keeping the boys settled for four hours two days in a row. (Conference goes for two hours in the morning, a two hour break and then another two hours in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday) I got to hear many wonderful talks this weekend and they have me reflecting on being a better person and making some changes that I need to make. There were a few interruptions and such with the boys, so I wasn't able to get everything out of it that I wanted to. I also had a hard time getting up this morning because of being sick and missed some of the talks. The church website already has most of the sessions of conference available to be listened to or viewed (in English) at http://www.lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,49-1-646,00.html . I can even listen to them in 38 other languages plus ASL (if I had a faster internet connection.) Its nice to know that I can go online any time I want to be uplifted and listen to the Prophet of God and to the Apostles who are special witnesses of Christ. There are sessions of conference back to 1997 online, so there are plenty of talks to choose from, and there are many other talks from Church Education Firesides and other resources in the archives. I even found six years worth of Christmas devotionals! I think that D and I are going to make a habit of listening to something from the broadcast archives each week. For those interested the archives can be found at http://www.lds.org/broadcast/archive/0,7298,510-1,00.html . Its a wonderful thing to me that the technology is there for the Conferences to be broadcast all over the world and in many languages. It really helps to tie the church together and to make it a worldwide church. I like thinking about the many LDS people in Africa, South America, Russia and many other countries watching and listening to conference in their own languages. I also love that their Sunday School lessons and other church lessons are the same as ours, only in their own languages. It is a comfort to me that anywhere I go in the world, the church will be the same.

No News Really IS Good News

Have you watched the news recently? I haven’t. I don’t watch any kind of broadcast television, but I have listened to the news on the radio…and I do get daily emails with current news headlines. There is a disturbing trend that I have noticed in this regard. Most of the news is bad news…Depressing news…News that keeps you awake at night…News I don’t want to hear (or in my case…read). I took a quick peek at the last set of headlines I got for September 25 and 26 2006, and the closest thing to positive stories I could find was that a family of six was saved by their smoke alarm, although there was extensive damage to their home and their possessions, a pond in a park that has been drained for years is being refilled, and the other somewhat positive story was that someone in Iowa bought the winning 200 Million dollar Lottery ticket. That’s not something I really view as positive, but at least it wasn’t a murder, kidnapping or worse.
A friend of mine recently wrote in his blog about social capital. He talked about how people socialize less with each other, and trust each other less as well. He talked about how we need to reach out and get to know our neighbors and people in our communities. His ideas seemed like good ones, except that I can’t get over my lack of trust in humanity as a general whole. To check out what my friend wrote go to http://sansauto.spaces.live.com/ and read the entry for his blog on September 26, 2006. (Feel free to read the rest of his blog as well, especially the day by day log of his bike ride from Astoria, Oregon to Spanish Fork, UT found in the July and August Archives.)
I think that reading the news every day hasn’t helped my problem with trusting very much. The world is a scary, scary place. But is it also a really good place? I think so. I think we need to be looking for more good in the world around us. That is not to say that we should ignore the many problems in that world. Of course we need to find solutions to the state of the world. I think looking for some good in it is a place to start.
If you are tired of reading all of the bad news…check out http://www.happynews.com/ where all the news is good news, all the time. Some of it may be cheesy, but it’s still good. And please start today to look for something positive in your own world. It can only help.