Snowing

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to go.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Ice Skates and Concerts

Baby Girl has really gotten into ice skating. She is taking lessons and going to practice as many times as John and I will take her. Last night she had class and then we stuck around afterwards for free skate. I don't skate I sit in the stands and knit and read and watch what she is doing. She on the other hand is so self contained that skating by herself for an hour was nothing for her. She was so excited to be able to stick around that she didn't even complain when I told her it was time to go home. She came off the ice and stole my 32oz ice tea and had finished it before we got home but it was so wonderful to see her rosy red cheeks.On the way home from ice skating she was telling me that she really really wanted her own ice skates. Little did she know I had already bought her a pair on eBay. I bit my tongue though and didn't say a word because I didn't know when the skates would be here. We got home and John had a package sitting on his desk. I made her sit on the couch while I opened it, when I pulled the first ice skate out, all I saw was a streak as she ran across the room and grabbed it out of my hand. I didn't even get to pull the second one out as she already had yanked and ran to the couch to try them on. It took her a bit to get them on and then I did them up for her. Once they were laced she tackled me so hard that I fell back into the couch. She felt bad but was off again to show her brother, I barely had a chance to stop her from walking across my tile in the skates but she did refrain. Even if she doesn't take any classes after these ones the excitement on her face when that first skate was pulled out made every penny spent worth it.

Now Bud on the other hand gets his extra special treat next Monday. John is taking him to the Halloween Hootenanny featuring the Gruesome Twosome, Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. I had to remind John that our boy was still a little small for the mosh pit but luckily he had already bought tickets right above it, so that they could watch the concert and the pit.

And of course on Oct 20 John and I are going to see Nickelback!!!!

Kindle

That's right I am posting again 2x in one week. No having another heart attack Denise.

So I wanted a Kindle for my birthday but Matt bought me tickets to Nickelback which I wanted more. But for the last year I have been buying and downloading books on the Kindle for PC. I LOVE reading books on the computer and knitting at the same time. I get so much done this way. I decided though that I really needed a Kindle, so I went online today to buy one. Unfortunately the one that they keep talking about being only $139 is wifi capable and we dont have wifi in our house, so I would have to get the 3g one for $189 which was out of my price range. I called Matt and told him I really wanted one and he went online right then and bought it for me!!! Now it is back ordered so we wont get it until the end of the month but I am so excited. Matt most definitely spoils me and treats me like a queen. I love that man so much that I cry just thinking about it.

Thats my story!

Dear Denise

Dear Denise,

My friend who says I suck at blogging. Well your right I do. So here you go, today sucked.

The End

School Starts Again

Every year I take the first week of school off of work to get my baby's ready and used to the routine of going back to school. With a 13 year old and an 11year old they aren't so much babies any more.

She starts 6th grade today and yet looks so grown up. I want to cry for my baby growing up so fast.

So grown up just waiting for Mom to take him to his new "school".

LIttle Girl and Fireworks

Yesterday was a big day for us. For those of you who do not live in Utah the 24th of July is a state holiday to celebrate the arrival of the first major group of settlers. So in the morning we went to Price to pick up Faith as she was spending a month with her Grandparents. We left at nine and didn't get back until after three. It is nice to have my baby girl home again and her kitty kitty has finally stopped wondering around the house whining like a kicked puppy.

We bought a couple of small packages of fireworks for the kids to light off and everything was going fine until we got to the end and Mom got to lite the finale fireworks. We bought these Crackling Strings that we love and are six feet long. I hung them on the Chain Link fence in front of the house and lit the first one. It was so awesome but because it is going off up the string it kind of lights on fire and drips a little bit. We had just a teenie itsy little tiny bit of a fire in the grass. I do the responsible thing and grab the hose that was already on just for this kind of thing and run up to put out the fire. At the same time the firework hit the top and and did a bomb exploding thing. The kids and Matt are yelling at me to get back and I turn and look at just the right moment and see the firework right in my face at eye level. I dropped the hose and ran just out of fear not because I was hurt but the family said I had been hit with several of the sparks but I didn't even feel it. It all turned out all right and Matt held the hose for the second one and it was all fun no one got hurt but I think I will leave fireworks and the maintain up to Matt from now on. I will just sit in my chair and throw flowers.

Sometimes its really hard not to laugh

So my friend D said I should blog about an incident that happened last weekend because she thought you guys would get a kick out of it also.

I was sleeping in on Saturday morning enjoying not getting up before the sun rises, when I heard a ear splitting scream. I grabbed my bathrobe and ran down the stairs thinking why the hell couldn't I sleep in peacefully just once. I heard the door slam and when I made it downstairs Faith was on the couch with her head covered by a blanket. I thought for sure that she must have been stung by a bee or something. I pulled her head out of the blanket to find out what was wrong and her face is dripping wet. I held her and rocked her until she was able to talk and found out the whole story.

Scott was out playing in the water and decided to water the flowers. Most people would be excited that a kid volunteered to do work, however the flower garden is specifically Faith's and mine and the vegetable garden is his and mine. Faith's window was open right about the flowers and heard him watering. She ran downstairs and outside in her jammies and instead of asking him not to water the flowers she shut the water off. He retaliated by spraying the high pressure hose in her face. At this point I wanted to make Faith feel all better but I wanted to laugh more because she got what she deserved for being a little snot. I did manage to calmly explain to her that her actions were not appropriate and that she should talk to him in the future instead of being a snot.

I made it all the way back upstairs to our room and closed the door. I started to tell John about it and lost my control. :)

Saturday Morning Rants

The husband should get up when I tell him
The cats should not be screaming at me for food, there not mine
The son should start his chores without a million reminders
The daughter should stop trying to sleep the day away just like the husband
The rain should not be falling when I have outside plans
The coffee should be hot and in my hand when I wake up
I should not have to turn my heater back on at the end of May
The home repair store should be open when I am ready to get started on my projects at 7 in the morning

Mother's Day

Can I just say that I have the sweetest little buggers around. Scott woke me up on Mother's day to breakfast in bed and Faith made me the sweetest Mother's day sign.

I have to tell you that Scott made bacon for breakfast but burnt the first batch so he woke his sister up to have her make the bacon. So he decided that he would make me his speciality. He brought the plate of bacon in with a bowl in his other hand. Now I figured he brought me cereal to go with the bacon or maybe scrambled eggs but nope. To go along with my perfectly chewy bacon and my fresh cold MT Dew at 9 in the morning was a big bowl of luke warm ramen noodles......Needless to say when he asked if I was going to eat it I told him how sweet he was for making it but I cant eat that early in the morning. He promptly asked if he could eat it, so it did not go to waste.

The kids both got me cards (with a lot of prodding on my part for John to take them) that were sweet and my parents sent me a card. Faith made me a dish towel that she asked that we not turn brown. So I told her we wouldn't use it at all. John made a funny face at that but he cant use it if I have hidden it away in the hope chest.

In the evening went to my in-laws for taco salad. My nephew The Tall Skinny One made the dinner, including homemade Guacamole. His brother for Mother's day made their mom a Grandma. My Great-Nephew was born Friday evening weighing in at 7lbs 9ozs, I think.

Yard work

John went to bed early last night, this meant that when I went to bed there was no room for me. He was knocked out and not moving. So I slept on the couch, which is really comfortable except when the fat cat jumps on my chest and starts kneading. Anyways so this morning John was sweet to keep the kids quite so that I could sleep. He woke me up before he went outside. I figured that since he let me sleep in that I should get up and go help him outside....

Three trips to Lowe's, and ten hours later my sprinkler system is fixed and working properly. Last year we had to replace one of the automatic control box's and Matt decided that the whole sprinkler box should be completely replaced. However he ended up covering the whole with a piece of board for the whole winter. Today that all changed.

Also Scott and I tilled and planted out a small home garden. Three tomato plants, two bell peppers, a jalapeno and Brussels sprouts from seed. If anything grows I will be shocked, but Scott wanted it so I figured it would be good for the two of us to do it together.

On another note the fabric swatches came in for the dining room. There really wasn't to much of problem picking the fabric. Taffeta vine on Cinnabar, its on the top on the right in the picture.. It's a shiny material that changes between red and orange depending on the light. It is perfect for my color scheme and we did chose on a color also we went with the darker green.

Quick Peek Cont.

Courtesy of Mickelle May Photography

Quick Peek

I am on my way to bed but I wanted to give you a quick peek at the pictures that we had taken yesterday. These were done by Mickelle May Photography. Mickelle was absolutely wonderful and patient and sweet. I would recomend her to anybody!

Sales!

Oh my goodness, Roberts Craft at Brickyard is closing. I knew about this for awhile because I have been hitting the 30% off and 50% sales. Today however Denise said, lets go to Souper Salad for lunch. No big deal, sounded good to me. So we are leaving and I am heading to the bank to get some cash and I drive by Roberts. I ask Denise if she sees what I am seeing and sure enough 75% off. Well I never made it to the bank instead I flipped a turn and we ran inside. We only had fifteen minutes left in our lunch but we split and hit our favorite aisles. I have been looking at these wicker and wood shelves that were priced at 150$ for my craft room. They stand about two feet tall and are probably 4 feet long but they have 4 wicker drawers also. They would be perfect in my craft room. I was not going to pay that much for them, today I got two for 80$. I never realised how much I loved a sale until then. The adrenaline was pumping and the smile was huge as I handed over my debit card. Yes that means I have to eat lunch at work the rest of the pay period and yes I have to stay home instead of going out this weekend but that's okay because saving 220$ was worth it to me. :)

Ramblings, Rumblings, Rimblings?

Perfectionist's should not be allowed to work on projects.

Teacher's should be given a nice test before being certified.

Sugar/honey/lemon does NOT belong in Tea.

Gourmet coffee should be able to be bought by the jug and remain hot until finished.

The extra few pounds from the holidays should melt away without exercise in January.

Snow is only allowed in the spring if it does not kill my flowers.

Husband's should not be left alone to have free reign in the home improvement store.

If your child can not behave don't take them out in public, also pay attention to what your child is doing in the store, it is NOT all right for them to climb to the top shelf.

Not all women like pink, stop making all women's sections be about the pink, especially in the spring.

Just because I live in Utah does not mean I ski.

Just because I am tall does not mean I play sports.

My kid may look like me but trust me she is much sweeter.

Tall girls do not have wear flat shoes.

A Typical Suburbanite Mom

I finally came up with something that describes me for my blog name. Now my friend told me that I am not typical but I like it because I am not. I do live in the suburbs now and I have the two kids and the two cars, two cats, two TVs, two computers, so in that respect I am typical. However I hate Wal-mart, as the same friend says "The Evil Empire", I hate large crowds, freak out if to many things go on at once and have one of the most convoluted families. I hate the color pink but love the color brown. I love dressing up but hate going places to show it off. I am just a contradiction. This is just me and this is how I am.

The dining room redo has begun

I love my house, but does it really have to cost so much to get it the way I like. We celebrated or more like recognized our one year anniversary in our house at the end of March. So far both the kids rooms have been pained, my craft room has been painted and the living room is all but done, just needs new floors.

With that in mind it was time to tackle a new room, I wanted to do the downstairs bathroom. A little ambitious I know but I wanted to do something that included more then painting. The money had to go to painting the outside of the house instead. We had peeling paint and boards coming up so it was a must.

I was thinking that it would be awhile until I started another room. Then Miss Flower Lily of the deathly night was caught using the room for something other then an eating place. I knew it was time to pull up the carpet, so I thought that I might as well do the whole room.

The bad news Scott got in trouble at school, the good news is the trouble at school equals housework. He pulled off most of the top layer of the wallpaper in the dining room. I then proceed behind him to wet down the bottom layer and just pull it right off the wall. Never have I had wallpaper come down so easily. It has been like peeling a band aid off. There are a few spots that stick but for the most part it just comes right off the wall.

I still need to pick the colors for the room and the fabric that will go along the top but I have a general idea of what I want.

It's been a long time

Yes, I know it's been more then a year since I last blogged but a couple of my co-workers told me I need to again. I am not sure what they want me to say exactly but hey just for the heck of it I figured I would.

At the end of February we went to Washington DC on vacation and had a wonderful time. We visited 5 or 6 different Smithsonian Museums, Arlington Cemetery, the Capitol building, the Lincoln and Washington Memorials and lot's more. We stayed at a hotel that was just two blocks away from the Air and Space Museum so we didn't even bother renting a car. It's a good thing we didn't though, the drivers there are nuts. They think that the horn is a warning that I am coming and you had better get out of my way. They have to have signs in the middle of the street that say Stop! For Pedestrians! One problem with walking every were though is when your husband (yes husband we got married in Nov) thinks that he knows were he is going so you can take a short cut through the city to get back to the hotel and he runs you right into the freeway. We had to back track several blocks, but the good thing was that we found a Starbucks right around the corner from our hotel!

I finished the Living Room in our house, we still have the pretty natures retreat color on the wall but now we have a cream colored wall fabric on the lower part that has green leaves on it. I also changed out the light fixtures and the switches. I am getting pretty good at this home improvement stuff. I started working on the dining room tonight. Most of the wallpaper came down pretty good but know have to the hard job of steaming the rest. The good news is that the primer they used under the paper is good so it should come right off.

Anyways that's enough though to fingers for me for one night. I will leave you with a random picture for now. This was taken at Thanksgiving when my folks came down to visit. Three Generations. :)