All I'm Going to Reveal About Me

Maybe there is more you want to know, but this is probably enough...

Ten Years Ago: we were still in the "warranty" year of our home in Grant Ranch, and discovering multiple construction defects, which ultimately led us to a lawsuit against the builder who was ignoring us. Our basement walls had over 200 cracks because of inadequate bracing against the expanding expansive soil. Our neighbor claimed that we actually lived on "Bentonite" Circle. That was our dream home, but it was actually more of a nightmare, and by 2001 we were totally out of there (which is why we now live behind the Hogback).

Five Things on Today's To-Do List: I should have done this yesterday because then I was organizing and paying most of our recurring bills,but: 1: Talk to the Insurance about Personal/Family Deductible and my cataract surgery charges, 2: Get serious about my Book Club reading of The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas, 3: Verify our motel reservations for Ed Week in August,. 4: Dovetail my errands to Kohls, King Soopers, the Post Office, two banks, Costco/Sams Club, and BB&B for three wedding gifts so I can save trips and gas, and 5: yuck, finish paying bills. There is always the recurring jobs of laundry, bathrooms to clean, shirts to iron, yadayadayada... so where are my hobbies? (I'm not mentioning the time I spend looking at email, internet searches, sudoku, and reading strictly for pleasure, but those things fill in the cracks...oh and I also have two projects to finish which shall remain nameless so I don't feel so guilty if I don't get them finished by my self-imposed deadline...)

Five Snacks I Enjoy, in no particular order: raw almonds, snickers bars, tortilla chips and salsa, raw veggies, Taco Bell empanadas, and evidently lots more if you look in my pantry and refrigerator...

If I suddenly became a Billionaire: I'd be a SNOWBIRD, with climate friendly homes in Colorado for the summer, Arizona for the winter, and at one or more Beach(es) for WHENEVER the mood strikes, and I'd do lots of spur-of-the-moment TRIPS to visit with FAMILY, especially my GRANDBOY. I'd TRAVEL to more PLACES with less stuff because I'd do more SHOPPING, and a lot more SIGHTSEEING, while I was there, places like NYC to see shows on BROADWAY, or to take part in FAMILY EVENTS.

Three of My Bad Habits, (wow, that's hard to limit it to only three), but here goes: 1. I spend a lot of TIME, Effort, and don't forget MONEY, to gather together all the supplies to complete craft projects (which I often never finish or even begin) 2. I am a collector who cannot rid myself of all the EVIDENCE of the addiction mentioned in #1.(After all, who knows when I may need those pipe cleaners, or rubber stamps, or paper punches, or counted cross-stitch patterns, or quilt bats, or embroidery hoops, or scrapbooking supplies, and yada yada...or the fad might come back so I might as well stay prepared with all that craft wood, right?) 3. Once I begin a reading-for-pleasure book I often, not always, but often, continue reading it until I finish it, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. This means I either disturb my husband's restful sleep by keeping a reading light on, or I have a light on downstairs until all hours. (But I am a fast reader so usually I can finish a book in a day...so why is it that the book club books never grab me like that? I guess I am rebellious about doing an assignment.) so that was actually confessing two bad habits, so you got to see an extra one of mine...

Five PLACES I HAVE LIVED: Whitney Hall (Heritage Halls at BYU); my parents' vacation trailer the first summer after we were married, followed by house sitting for two families in Grand Junction the second summer while B and I both did summer jobs in GJ; student housing in Iowa City for the four years of dental school; a memorable Nov-August in Clifton Park, New York, followed by a memorable 4.5 months in Mesa, Arizona, which was sandwiched in between almost 25 years of various condo/townhouse/home moves in and around Lakewood and Littleton. Once again, you got more that maybe you asked for, and I didn't even mention the first eighteen years of my life when I lived in Billings, Spanish Fork (twice), Montrose, and sort of Santa Clara; I also didn't mention the forgettable apartments in Provo and Orem where we lived while still at the BYU. We have done a lot of zigs and zags, (and I keep taking those "crap" projects with us as I increase my collection) note to self: when I am the billionaire mentioned above and have all those various snowbird houses, designate the one where I plan to keep all my craft supplies...

Five JOBS I have had: 1. Babysitter for Karen two summers in a row, maybe three 2: Grass Valley Merc
3: Dental Assistant for Ron 4: Dental Assistant/Receptionist for three really crazy dentists, Dr Kibler, and two in Provo, Dr Tucker and Dr Farnsworth (who played his violin for me more than once and made me late picking up my husband who had bought me an ice cream cone and was holding it while it melted, and then threw it out the window because I cried because he was mad, and then I cried again because it landed cone up on the yellow line) 5: Day Care for two working wives of dental students. Now I am the Go-fer, which means I go for distilled water, office supplies, run deposits to the bank, deliver nitrous/oxygen tanks, pick up food orders, purchase stamps, send packages, and so forth. My cell phone has an alarm sound for the designated ring when the office calls me, because sometimes they need whatever asap. Soon I "have" to go shop for more treasure box prizes for good patients, and since it is near Park Meadows Mall, I guess I'll "have" to dovetail a longer errand of checking out Pottery Barn and some other fun stores...

Five Things People Don't Know About Me: 1. I'm always doing math problems in my head, from counting stairs as I climb them, to figuring out cost per serving, to seeing sudoku as I'm trying to fall asleep. 2. When my kids are not around sometimes I have the radio loud (I know that probably shocks you Kristen) 3. I really enjoy what I learn as I am preparing talks or lessons, although presenting them is sometimes daunting. This also gives me an excuse to gather research materials which appears to be another addiction. 4. My favorite time to rehearse a speech or presentation is when I am alone in the car. I just talk away, which maybe looks a little strange to other people on the road with me, or maybe they assume I am using hands free link, which I actually have used a time or two, but usually I'm just talking to myself. 5. I always wear small earrings because my ears are not pierced evenly, so now you will notice that won't you...

The only people who I know read this and have blogs are kristen and janet, so if anyone is a blog stalker, leave me a comment and then write about yourself on your blog so I can read about you...or write about yourself in an email and send it to me ...

So Much for those New Years Resolutions

Lots of stuff seems to distract me from updating this, so since my (one maybe three) readers will know when I add a new post I hope it is worth reading... We had a very nice Christmas Eve with the H families from up north, and with the H famuel from Buffalo, and woke up to a real live fresh snow on Christmas morning. I love Christmas Day anyway, but it is always especially nice to have our holiday dinner provided by Jeff and Debbie---yum.

It was hard to say goodbye to our grandboy and his parents when they headed back to the cold Northeast, but so nice to see all the fun pix Kristen emails or puts on her blog...

We had the annual staff Christmas party on January 11th---that is very relaxing as far as the Christmas exchange part of it, and the restaurants are happy to see us, and we don't have to squeeze it in with all the other social activities in December---I somehow got to do the planning and synchronizing of events, so this is what we did: I was able to find a theater that showed open captioning for the hearing impaired; we all enjoyed watching the sequel of National Treasure (actually liked it better that the first one...) It is a little tricky to come up with activities that the whole staff can participate in together, what with two male types, Michelle who is deaf, and the other Michelle who is diabetic, and Janet who had very recently been injured in her car accident (and still in a lot of neck and head pain even two months later.) After the movie (which was preceded by breakfast at IHOP) we went to a fun place called Bead It, and all assembled jewelry items of our choice, everyone did something very unique (Brian put together his very own keychain) and we all felt very creative...a late lunch/early dinner at Mimi's Cafe was very nice, then we drove back to the office through the Friday night rush hour from Park Meadows westward and exchanged gifts. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

Fast forward a month and now I'm getting more current. We have discovered over the years that the only way to get Brian away from the office is to leave town. He scheduled a week off during Thanksgiving, but it was too easy to go in each day, so then he gets no feeling of "vacation" ...

THEREFORE, since he had scheduled his post Christmas vacation at the end of January and we decided to change the week to one in February, we committed ourselves to leaving town by booking a cruise which took us to Cozumel, Mexico; Limon, Costa Rica; and Colon, Panama. We flew to Fort Lauderdale on the 15th and spent the afternoon with Darryl and Kelly, then stayed at their place that night. They drove us to Port Everglades the next day where we boarded the Carnival Liberty for an eight day cruise. I love cruises. We slept great every night, got to eat whatever we felt like eating, and went to interesting new places. I didn't get even a smidge of seasickness, and none of us have evidence of a cold after all the hubbub of traveling to a different time zone. It was great--we highly recommend cruising as a relaxing vacation. (Love those fun animals they construct out of towels to surprise you every night)



We have been to Cozumel before but it was nice to walk on dry land for a few hours, and the shore excursion was fun. Brian and I did a boat ride with an ocean view and saw coral reefs, two sharks, plus a lot of fish. It is incredible to see water so blue as it is in Cozumel...Michelle and her friend Amber who we invited to come with us went for a submarine descent and thought it was cool (I think we saw more fish than they did however)










Costa Rica was my favorite of the three stops. We took a boat, bus, and train tour, and during the almost 5 hours we were out we toured a banana plantation,(who knew that bananas grow curving up toward the sun--I always pictured the bunches curving down...), boated down the river and saw monkeys, sloths, a termite nest, an iguana, and lots of birds, then we saw some of the same rain forest/jungle by narrow gauge train. Everything was so green, the banana we sampled was terrific, we experienced a train ride in a country where there are no gates to stop traffic at train crossings so they blow their (loud, very loud) whistle to warn folks they are coming through...we stopped once right by the most incredible tree, a rainbow eucalyptus, and if you look at the picture I have added notice the very big gasoline truck that came to our same intersection...












The Panama canal was very impressive and I am glad I saw it up close, but the shore excursion to get there was otherwise very disappointing and way overpriced. We had a crazy boat ride to and from an "authentic"? Emberra Indian village, had a bus malfunction, and were less than impressed by our bus driver and tour guide. (or maybe another way to look at it was that this was the more authentic shore excursion, and we were robbed by the cruise line tour people instead of bandits...)






Brian tells me that the locks on the Erie canal are constructed identically, just a much smaller scale, so he was able to explain it all to us. We were fortunate to see the canal in action with a big cargo ship coming through. (There was one foot clearance on either side of the ship, so it was operating at maximum capacity, amazing to see.) Now that would be a cruise, one that traveled from coast to coast through the Panama canal...



Our fun ship brought us back to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, a little behind schedule due to a medical emergency involving a passenger who had to be dropped off at Grand Cayman, and so we were "forced" to stay on board an additional four hours. We ordinarily would have disembarked at about 10 am or so, but didn't get off until sometime around 2 pm, amid a lot of chaos with all the people frantic to get to the airport to rebook their missed flights etc etc...so then we got to the airport at about 2:30 (5 minutes from the pier) and discovered that our 4:50 flight home was delayed to 8:30...the joys of traveling on a day before you have-to-go-back-to-work day. Never again (famous last words), but we didn't get home until about 1:30 in the morning, and B always gets up early, so he got about 3.5 hours of sleep. Anyway, now back to the same old same old... I'm still reeling about the news of cataract surgeries in my very near future so I'll save that for another day.

Christmas Eve Eve

We have a great little kitchen helper--and since the house is not childproof we get to do a lot of following to try to keep a certain Little from getting into trouble.

Grandpa is the best follower, because he likes to do stairs, just like Chase...

The fam all wanted to put together "gingerbread" houses so they mixed up the frosting and honed their creative sides...I decided to be a spectator and got to enjoy it from a distance. Voila!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Okay, I can probably manage to get in a couple posts a month, and maybe even have something to talk about. It is interesting how some people always have something interesting to say, while others ramble on and on and on...(like this for instance)...anyway, as Kristen pointed out I post more often when I am at her house. I guess that is because there is less there to keep me distracted than there is at my own house. I flit more places around here, so that must be part of it.

Our weather is about to change AGAIN, and I guess that one of these days we will get winter in earnest. It has been so nice to have relatively warm days to do my flitting. (As I explained to the checker when I bought two lightweight snow shovels, if I buy these it will be less likely to snow...same reasoning as the fact that if I wash my car it will be sure to rain...) who says we don't have some control over the weather? Also, now that Michelle's snow tires are on her car she can drive on dry roads for longer than if we delayed the tire swap.

Some days I think our last name could be Murphy. Just a couple of days ago I was at Costco and THREE customers in front of me all had some glitch in ringing up their orders while all the other lanes seemed to be moving. The guy behind me said that it was his fault for choosing what seemed like the shorter line, though, so I'll take his word for it. Maybe his name is Murphy. But seriously, doesn't it seem that the trainee teller is always at the bank when you run in to make a QUICK deposit, or the receipt tape needs to be changed no matter WHICH store you are shopping at, or the employees are doing a shift change as soon as you are locked into a check-out lane, or THEN they open up more and you are already committed... I have learned that the best thing to do is just try to be pleasant anyway, because getting grouchy just makes it worse on everybody, and if anything the transaction takes even LONGER. Oh well, we have all the time-saving stuff in our lives so I guess we are just impatient and petty when things don't go as fast as we want. I'm trying to come up with a better character so I don't get stressed out over all the small stuff, and most everything I deal with is actually the small stuff I guess...

I'm reading several books about the glycemic index, and it is pretty sobering that all my life I have made a lot of cooking and eating poor choices. It is a little hard to change all at once, but we are making some new choices and opening our horizons. Some foods seem like winners and some are busts, but we'll keep trying. Trouble is that a lot of our food storage is some of the poor-choice variety, so we'll get that gone and I won't replenish it. (Now for the new shopping...I like that idea, so maybe this won't be so bad after all.) ...Although come to think of it we have to eat differently at all the holiday feasts and grazing opportunities for the next six weeks, so time to buy more veggies and fewer processed grains... smile, think healthy choices...we can do this.

My Post Halloween Post

The weather started out pretty poopy, but then cleared so it was just cold (like 20 degrees cooler than the day before) so the trick-or-treaters got to come out bundled up for their candy quest in the 40s. We had about 35 come to our house, which was a good turnout, usually we get around 20-25. There are no sidewalks along the street and the houses are spaced pretty far apart so we don't get very many little kids (too far to walk) and the teens like to go where they get bigger volume of candy-givers. We always give out toothbrushes with the candy so usually our past visitors come around again every year.
It was fun to see all the cute costumes. One little toddler was dressed as a plush pink pig, complete with curly tail. Most of the older kids like to be monster types, but one boy came in his bathrobe, complete with rubber duck, bath brush, and towel. The dental office all dressed up, and I took pictures of how they looked. So now it's time to floss and brush...

Almost time to Head Home

The past two weeks have gone by so quickly--seems like I just got here, but the variety of photos taken shows that we've done a lot, and been a lot of different directions. Kristen has been mucho busy with the rehearsals and then three performances of the stake production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and she was both relieved and disappointed to have it be over. The timing for all the busy-est part of this was (of course) right during the stressful part of midterms for Aaron, which is why Chase invited me to come in the first place, and it was (I think) helpful for me to have been here. I don't think I have spent so much time on the floor sitting and crawling and playing, as lately. Also hurdling baby gates and barriers, and wrestling with a slippery FAST, twisty feisty little guy (who remembers what you just put out of his reach and goes after it the second he gets another chance...) I will miss him, and even though we'll be seeing them all again at Christmas, I wonder if he'll remember me. We've had a conversation of sorts on several occasions, and those are sweet memories I'll replay again and again.

I can see why my mother was always exhausted and a little relieved to see family visitors leave with our little noisy messy ones, but she always saved a few sticky handprints on sliding glass doors and mirrors for a few days, just to keep us there a bit longer. It will be fun to see how big Chase will be the next time we see him--officially one year old.

Boo-tiful Day for a Drive

After church and a quick lunch we drove (for more than an hour, so Grammy sorta snoozed) to Letchworth State Park. It was the perfect day to see the leaves, close to 80 degrees, no wind, and SUNNY. Lots of other folks thought so too, and it was a little tricky finding a place to park. We got to enjoy some of the beauties of Nature. I'll never understand how some people can claim that there is no Creator when we see waterfalls and how gorgeous Fall leaves look with a backdrop of BLUE SKY. (Of course the blue can't compare to the colors we REGULARLY see back in Colorado, but it happens so rarely here that we truly APPRECIATED it!!!)

I felt a little guilty being so enthused about our weather here, because at HOME they were getting the first measurable SNOW of the season, and the cold wind to go with it. I figure there will be more about the time I go back just before Halloween, because Colorado ALWAYS seems to be cold and rainy or snowy for trick-or-treaters. (Chase is going to be one of the BEST because he's got the cutest costume, but that's for another post)

Going to put some of the pix on from our drive, then get ready to go watch the little fishy at swimming class...

Back to Buff I go

Well actually I'm already here, and worn out from crawling around for four days. We've been busy doing all the things moms and baby get to do, and it's quite a challenge climbing over baby gates to get into the kitchen or bathroom, because little one wants to be where all the action is, and little hands can get into big messes in no time!!

There are lots of barricades to go around and frustrate little bodies, and most everything goes into the mouth to be tasted. I am amused and awed at the same time at all the "work" babies do and make. Seems like they go through a LOT of laundry and food time--then diapers, so it's a constant round of stuff to do or catch up on. Such is the life of a mom, and I'm glad I had my turn with the tinies when I had more energy and agility. (I went to bed early last night because this gramma was a pooped person)

I arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we all got reacquainted, which was good, because Chase and Grandma got to hang out together at church while Mama went to Primary and Daddy taught sunday school then went to priesthood meeting. After lunch and a short nap we took a drive to see fall leaves (which haven't really seriously changed yet) and a nearby ski resort (which has a dinky little hill, bit it was well groomed--hey, people here are easily impressed with what there is nearby, but it isn't exactly Breckenridge or Keystone.)

We went to swimming class on Monday and again today, and it was a lot of fun, except the water could have been a few degrees warmer, but once Chase was in he was pretty happy to be there. He sure wants to go after things, and his little legs are constantly moving. The getting in and out, and the drying off and dressing are all an adventure not to be missed. One mom just has her year-old guy sit naked while she gets herself dressed because otherwise she is trying to keep him from getting wet all over again on the dressing room floor. Kristen learned after the first class to come in with an umbrella stroller to lock her little guy in so he's off the floor and safely restrained so she can dry off and change. Lots of work for a 30 minute "lesson" but it makes for some fun pictures!

One Last Day of September

Wow, okay, I guess that Fall is really here, and the first of October clinches it...No MORE SUMMER until next year. Kids are back in the school mode, parents are on their semi-alert status instead of full-alert during the lo-o-ong summer weeks when "there's nothing" to DO (except for the kitchen cleanup,bathroom patrol,laundry that never ends,yard stuff that also never ends, and let's not leave out the trash that could be taken out, as well as the grocery and supply runs that likewise never end...) it's almost time to get serious about Christmas gifts and projects. The stores are already starting to put out Christmas stuff, and it's not even Halloween MONTH yet. So where did Fall go if we're already talking WINTER???

Book Club stuff

One of the enrichment group interests in our ward is a book group. We have a few loyal members and some that attend sporadically (that looks funny, maybe it is misspelled---and so does THAT) anyway, I digress...we are trying to read and suggest "good" books. (At least none of the members who attend are like some of the ones in Kristen's old group in Roxborough, who dissed the choices of others as being inappropriate, or violent, or too physical, but we are mostly reading non-controversial books, anyway.)

This month we are reading 1776 by David McCollough, and I haven't finished it yet even though we had all summer to do the deed. The discussion is tomorrow night, and I'll get it finished sooner or later, (obviously later), and then next month we are reading Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Burns. Kristen has gotten her dental wives' group together to read the Kite Runner, which she swiped from me. Someday I'll get around to that too.

The problem seems to be that I can read a book just fine if it's my speed and my idea, but as soon as it gets "assigned" I seem to have a disinclination to get to it. AND maybe I would just rather read mindless twaddle from time to time...

Oh yeah, K invited me to become her "friend" on a discussion web site where people talk about books they enjoy, and it is a great reminder of all the good stuff there is to read...I just wonder how many of the contributors "censor" the list of books they read, so we look more erudite and highbrow than we really are....Last Sunday's paper had the PERFECT comic strip for what I'm talking about, although I'll never tell everything I read...

BECAUSE I SAID SO: Adventures in Grocery Shopping#links

Kristen sent me a link to an ebay ad with a hilarious story of just why the Pokemon cards were for sale. I checked out the blog of the mother of six who had listed the ad, and it is a hilarious read--I even made a comment on her blog. (mom2my6pack)

I don't know if anyone read this, or tried to get to the funny lady's blog, but it makes my computer freeze, so I disappeared the link. She gets like a bazillion hits a day to her blog, and the ether is full...so I'll try to refrain from going there myself. besides, most of the readers are saying how funny she is, blah blah, and she doesn't have time to be a regular person now that she's famous.

It is much more fun to relive the hilarity from a distance, that way I don't have to have the sometimes agony as well. Other items she talks about are the common joys of motherhood, mixed in with stuff her very NORMAL kids do. ah, memories

birthday week

ever notice how fast the years start going as soon as you get over that hill? I certainly have, and this is kind of a nostalgic week for me. My mom's birthday and my dad's, as well as my own "somethingth" have all occurred, and I realize how much I miss them. Mom has been gone for 10 years and Dad has been gone for 13, and there are days when I would like to speak to both of them. Sometimes I think about calling Mom up to ask her advice, or for one of her recipes, and whenever I think of making comfort food I think of her kitchen, or of her sewing room. I think of my dad when I look at the bookcase that is in my bedroom filled with "church" books. I wish that I had spent more time with them than I did. I wish that my three children had known them better. I appreciate their sacrifices for their seven children as I reflect on my childhood, and I admire them for the lives they lived.

The older I get (and I speak this as the youngest of the seven) the more I realize how great my life has been because of the heritage I received from my parents. I hope that I can be remembered as well-loved as my Mom.

Summer Cometh

This is pretty embarassing to see how long it goes between posts on our blog. I spend a fair amount of time at the computer, but you would never know I ever look at blogs by this. (So for all of you blog-stalkers out there...here are some of my favorite family pix and events of the past month or so.) In May B and I had an enjoyable trip to Williamsburg Virginia/ Washington DC. We spent the week playing tourist around Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, and learned a lot of previously unknown (to us anyway) history. Our one day in DC was not sufficient to see everything we wanted, but we did a quickie tour of some of the Smithsonian exhibits, and walked (and walked, and WALKED) to see some of the main tourist attractions, like Washington Monument, the WWII memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the White House, as well as the Ronald Reagan building (where we parked.) Don't know how many miles we logged on our shoes that day, but the memorials are best available on foot. It is so amazing to see the green in Virginia. The woods reminded us of our time in Clifton Park. It was a great taste of our nations's history, and we'll go back again to see it again. Our trip to Jamestown was just one week after the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Pretty cool. We went to President's Park, a really nifty statue exhibit of 18-foot tall busts of all the POTUSes, and were told that Geo Bush I was coming "next week" to see his newly renovated statue. It figures, always a week before or after...

We had an eventful June, with three birthdays and Father's Day, plus the departure of Phil to New Zealand, and the arrival of the Buffalonians. For Brian's b-day we saw Wicked at the Buell Theater. Wow, what an amazingly clever story of how the WW of the W became wicked-out. K and C Wads joined us in the place of K and A (who did not arrive until midmonth and thus missed out), and we had a great time. Phil flew halfway around the world just a few days later, and assures us that NZ is a great place to be for the best part of a year away. We hope that he has found gainful employment by now and is pursuing his dreams of movie production. He calls every few weeks or so. Michelle's b-day is always right around Father's Day, and soon after that K/A/C flew "home" for a month, and then it was Kristen's b-day, which was also the day that Michelle received her asociates degree in massage therapy...and then before we knew it we hit July, and the Fourth has already come and gone. Wow, time goes by fast. We have had a great time watching the progress and development of Chase. He is almost 7 months now, and of course is the brightest, most beautiful, and bestest child. Something new to enjoy every minute we spend with him (and parents...)