We Bought A Zoo

Ever since before Christmas when they talked about this movie on "Extreme Home Makeover" I have wanted to see it. It took awhile to get there, but I thought it was worth the wait. I really, really liked "We Bought a Zoo". However, don't take your son with you when you go because he will accuse you of crying really, really loud. I would have cried quieter if he hadn't stolen my crying napkin.

"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."

Benjamin Mee

The Blogging Dilemma

Tonight it was brought to my attention

that my blog post production rate

has dropped drastically during the past 2 years.

• ► 2011 (42)

• ► 2010 (49)

• ► 2009 (180)

• ► 2008 (222)

Hmm. I hadn't realized that.

I better pick up the pace.

Actually, I decided recently

that I wanted to be a better blogger.

As soon as I decided that

something happened to the program

I use to upload pictures to my computer

and well,

what's the point of blogging

if there aren't any pictures

for my children who aren't into reading.

Due to my lack of photos -

Wait,

I am not lacking in photos.

In fact I have so many pictures on my computer

that I have no memory left

and my computer is slower than slow

and my husband tells me daily

that I need to move ALL my photos to the external hard drive.

But, I love my pictures

and I don't want them out of my sight

even for a minute.

Then while I am rambling on

about why it is so difficult for me

to produce a blog post

I push a wrong button and

the incomplete post publishes

and makes absolutely no sense.

Now do you understand

why my post numbers are down?

No?

Neither do I.

For those of you who

have hung on through

this entire nonsense -

I give you a story

for your enjoyment

which will include

a previously uploaded picture.

It is called

"The Blue Poinsettia"

When we had our ward Christmas party

each table had a blue poinsettia

as the centerpiece.

When the party was over,

the flowers were passed out to families

and one came home with me.

I put mine on top of the piano,

but the cats kept trying to eat it.

I have heard that poinsettias are poisonous

so I didn't think that was a good idea.

I tried really hard to keep them away from it

and they tried really hard to eat it.

When we left to go to California for Christmas

I put the plant out on the stool on my front porch

so the cats couldn't have a feast.

I told the oldest son

(who was watching our house and the cats)

that he could take it home with him

if he wanted it.

Apparently he didn't want it,

because it was still sitting on the stool

when we came home a week later.

It looked quite sad and forgotten-

very shriveled and unhealthy.

I felt the soil that it was in

and it was plenty wet

so I decided to just leave it there

and see what happened.

Fast forward another day -

both sons and I are walking into the house.

The oldest son says,

"I think your flower froze

one of the nights that you were gone.

It looked fine one day and

the next day it looked - pfft. "

The youngest son looked at the plant,

and then he looked again and said,

" Wait! You mean it wasn't always blue? "

For those of you
who care about things like poinsettias.

The weather here has warmed up
A LOT
and the poor thing is doing much better.

However, it is still mostly blue.

The Passage of Time

So,

here it is.

2012.

Am I the only one that feels like the year 2000 DID NOT begin 12 years ago.

It seems like last year.

Or maybe 2 or 3 years ago,

but not 12.

Things have changed a lot since then though.

Now all the kids that were wild young 'uns then

are starting to have young 'uns of their own.


They think they are old enough to put OUR puzzle together


and don't leave us any room at the table.

It was actually kind of fun though,

to have our daughters want to do puzzles with us.

It meant they were close by

and not hundreds of miles away.

My mom used to always say

that the person who put the last piece in the puzzle

was going to have the next baby.

That is another good reason to start

including the daughters in the puzzling.

The last piece in this puzzle was missing.

The oldest daughter spent some time

under the table seriously searching for it.

At this point she is trying anything that might get her a new baby.

She did find it

so we're still holding out hope

for a new member of their family in 2012.

We missed our friend that got to welcome the arrival of 2012

in a hospital bed facing a new challenge along with a new year.

Here's praying that her cancer disappears

as quickly as the past 12 years have.