Good Night

We have Sunday Dinner with the in-laws quite a few Sundays during the month. Sometimes I am content to sit there for hours and visit and some weeks I am ready to eat and go home. Tonight was one of those very pleasant evenings where I was happy to sit and relax and just enjoy my family. All of our kids came and it seemed like they were each in a sociable mood and quite good company.


The youngest son entertained the littlest cousins (and next generation cousins) with horsey rides.


We all enjoyed watching him try to run and keep his pants up at the same time. I also think the flower behind his ear is a nice touch.

We had birthday cake for the youngest son and the roommate.


I think I should have paid better attention during our cake decorating classes. My cakes leave a little bit to be desired and yes, this son also chose cherry chip cake with cherry frosting. Not too masculine, but a delicious choice.


The son has done a good job of stretching out his birthday celebration this year. He gets to open a present a day. You know what they say about kids - they usually enjoy the wrapping as much as the gift.
Today I am thankful for

cooler weather.
sons who harmonize in the van.
watermelon.
the fact that the 2 inches on water on the bathroom floor came from the toilet tank and not the toilet bowl.

One year ago today - Died and gone to Heaven, Baby Blankie has seen better days

Water Fight

This afternoon I was attending a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters when I got a phone call from my youngest child. He wanted to know what had happened to the big bag of water balloons we had. I told him where they were and thought "water balloons sound like fun on a warm March day."
By the time I arrived home though they had tossed all the balloons and moved on to buckets and hoses. The sons, the daughter and the roommates all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It's hard to believe that it's still cold in a lot of the USA right now. I love Tempe, Arizona in March!!

Today I am thankful for

children that enjoy doing things together.

happy occasions to celebrate with my friends.

opportunities to sleep in.

Tying it Together

The oldest daughter and I decided to continue to be ambitious during her Spring Break so we borrowed some quilting frames and tied the quilt that we finished Tuesday.

We didn't want to just work during her "vacation" however, so the other daughter and the roommate-girlfriend came over and we went to lunch together.


I chose to take them to Iguana Mack's.

A fun restaurant that my visiting teachee introduced me to that has a reasonably priced lunch menu and some really funky interior decor.


We had a lot of fun. The youngest daughter enjoyed taking lots of random photos and the oldest daughter got to drink rootbeer "shot right out of the gun".

It's nice to have a quiet day and take time to smell the "roses".


Today, while we still had the quilting frames we put together some other fabric I had lying around and tied another baby quilt.


This one was to appease the baby if he's a boy. Plus it has little airplanes on it in honor of the son-in-law.




Now we just have to get them bound and they are done!

He Doesn't Bring Me Flowers...

When my husband and I were dating I lived in a house with 8 other girls. One of my roommates was being courted by a young man that had kind of a bad reputation and she didn't really know if she wanted to have anything to do with him or not. In an effort to sway her opinion he started sending her roses every day - every single day. We had vases of roses, in varying states of freshness, all over our house. One day I told my then boyfriend that these flowers were such a waste of money and also that I felt that this young man was trying to buy this young lady's affection. Little did I know that my boyfriend would take this comment to heart and it would have a noticeable impact on my future life. To this day he insists that I do not like flowers and that I think they are a waste of money. Now I will admit that I do think fresh flowers are not the best use of hard earned money, but every once in a while they are a nice gesture. This topic has come up in our home enough however that every once in a while now one of my children will suprise me with a boquet of flowers just because. These are courtesy of my eldest son.

Even though my hubby may not buy me flowers, I do know he loves me and he shows his love in many other ways. By the way, where my roommate was concerned apparently the flowers were a positive thing. She and the rose giver have been happily married for 25 years now and he turned out to not be such a bad guy after all.

Girl's Night Out

I am so lucky!
I have had a girl's night out.
with my daughters and
my pretend daughters
two Saturday nights in a row.

Last week
we all enjoyed Pork Barbacoa Salad
provided by the Stake Relief Society
and then watched the General Woman's Broadcast.
It was a wonderful meeting
and even better because
I got to share it with my girls.

Tonight we all went out to dinner
at Charlestons
while the boys attended
the Priesthood session of General Conference
and went out to dinner afterwards.




As you can see, some of us take our eating
a lot more seriously than others.



We laughed a lot
at things that weren't
all that funny.
We ate a lot
of garlic mashed potatoes
and glazed carrots,
although we all agreed
that the carrots needed
to be "burned" a little bit more.
We drank a lot
of nothing stronger than
water or diet Coke.
We had a really fun time.

Thanks girls for including me
in your Girl's Night Out.

Today I am thankful for

the females in my life.
a living prophet on the earth.
a loving Heavenly Father who knows who I am and the counsel that I need to hear.

Shopping Spree

Today the daughters, the roommates and I went shopping together. First we went to Ross which is one of my favorite stores because I can find unique things there that I didn't even know I needed. I bought some new place mats (since my old ones are ugly now since I washed them and they faded all over). A sheet set that I am planning on using to make a tablecloth for the table in my living room and a new shirt. My girls said it looked like me. I liked it so I guess that's OK that it looks like me.

Next we visited Lane Bryant. The youngest daughter was looking for new clothes to wear to work. The rest of us were supposed to just be looking. Lane Bryant was having 40% off everything in the store. We found lots and lots of clothes to try on. We had a dressing room fashion show and it was lots of fun. I ended up with 3 pair of Capri's for $8.00 a piece. I thought that was a good deal. The daughter who was suppose to be shopping had some second thoughts and left without anything. Her loss I say. Just for the record. I really liked the carpet in the Lane Bryant dressing room at Tempe Marketplace. If someone wants to buy me carpet that is the kind I want. They also had some nice square stools to sit on that I would take too.

After Lane Bryant we decided we needed an attitude adjustment and since our theory is that food solves all problems we went for food. We ate lunch at Red Robin. I had the Whiskey River Barbecue Burger and it was good, but I have a hard time paying $10for a hamburger. I'm more a $1.00 double cheeseburger from the McDonald's menu or a $1.00 Junior Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy's kind of girl. The younger daughter ended up paying though so that made it taste better.

JC Penney was next on the agenda for some of us and the rest of the group hit Payless Shoes. The eldest daughter bought a lot of clothes with a gift card and birthday money she had.

While we were shopping at Ross there was a mother there with a little boy in the cart who was probably about 2. He kept saying, "Mommy. I want. I want. Mommy. I want. I want. I want." over and over again. When I passed her I said, "I know just how he feels." She agreed that she could relate too. I think that is a common problem for all of us. "I want. I want. I want."

The "Townhouse Team" had to go home after that to let the puppy out of her cage and the teacher daughter and I went to the Lakeshore Store to spend her $500 purchase order from school. $500 sounds like a lot of money, but we managed to spend it quite easily and quite quickly. She mostly bought games for centers. I should have taken a picture of our cart stacked so high everything was falling out, but by that time I was too tired to take pictures.

It was a fun day. Thanks girls for letting me spend the day with you!

Today I am thankful for

a husband and son that mowed the lawn.

I'm loving this Family Life Merit Badge more and more.
daughters (and pretend daughters) to go shopping with.
SALES!!

I bought myself lots of birthmonth gifts today. I listed them above.

Poky's Hard Day

Today Poky the Puppy had a very hard day.

It started out badly when she found out that her mommy had gotten up and left the house early, leaving her home with her other mother.

This was so upsetting that she threw up. More than once.

The other mother called Poky's mommy and said "Poky's sick. The vet says we need to bring her in." The mommy was at her sister's school helping and didn't have a car since she had ridden there with Poky's grandma. Since Poky was sick though grandma told mommy that she could borrow her van to go take Poky to the vet.

The vet decided that Poky was dehydrated. She had to get a hydrating shot. More than one. It hurt. More than a little apparently.

The vet put her on a bland diet. We all know bland means tasteless, boring, yucky food. Poor Poky.

When Poky, Mommy and the other mother left the vet Mommy drove over a nail and got a flat tire. Poky had to sit out in the heat while Bud, the very nice and helpful man, helped Mommy and the other mother find the spare tire and put it on the van.

Then Poky, Mommy and the other mother had to drive to Discount Tire to meet Grandpa and get a new tire. Poky had to sit out in the heat with Mommy and the other mother while the tire got fixed.

Then she finally got to go home.

Poky was hungry but not for bland food. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

Poky's uncle came over after school. He laughed at Poky because the hydrating shots made her look all fat and puffy. Boys are mean. Poky felt bad.

Poky wouldn't eat. Poky wouldn't sleep. Poky wouldn't go to the bathroom. Poky couldn't walk right. Poky yelped whenever anyone touched her. Poky felt bad. Poky whined and whined.

Poky's mommy and the other mother and the other, other mother decided something was wrong with Poky. The vet was closed now. They decided to take Poky to the pet hospital.

Poky had to wait for a long time at the pet hospital.

The vet at the pet hospital pushed and poked Poky's stomach. Hard. Poky didn't flinch. The vet touched Poky's back. Yelp, Yelp. The vet says, "There's nothing wrong with this dog except that she is a drama queen." Her back hurts where she got the shots. She is fine. She's just a spoiled baby. Poky was offended.

It was a hard, hard day.

I could have told Poky's mommy that Poky is a spoiled baby and saved her a lot of time, money, grief and sitting in the heat today. But I won't because I think Poky's mommy had a hard, hard day today too.

Reflections on Moving Day

Today my youngest daughter and her roommates moved from their apartment in Mesa to a townhouse in Tempe. They have
been planning (not necessarily preparing and packing for) this move for quite a while now and they were very excited. All the members of our family were recruited to help with the move. Lucky us!








The roommate/girlfriend fell down the stairs to their apartment on Sunday and is on crutches and wearing a knee brace so she was out of commission and couldn't offer much assistance. Her family was going to help but her dad stepped on a bristle from a metal cleaning brush, got a very bad infection, had surgery and spent a couple of days in the hospital this week and is only allowed to travel by scooter. Her teenage brother had a kidney stone he finally passed yesterday and her mom is busy taking care of all the invalids. The other roommate's dad and brothers did help her move some stuff when they were in town a couple of weeks ago, but they had a father/son fishing trip to Lee's ferry scheduled for this weekend and since it had to be cancelled once (for Grandpa's funeral) they didn't want to cancel it again. This background is just to help you understand why the girls were willing to put up with our kind of moving help. Apparently we were the best that was available.

I am not a fan of moving. Never have been, Probably never will be. I am especially not a fan of moving when:

1. It is HOT outside.

2. Any of my children are involved.

3. The people being moved aren't the most organized.

4. There is not a designated "leader of the move".

5. Stairs are a part of the moving equation.

I pretty much knew from the 5:30 AM beginning of the day that I wasn't going to enjoy this experience and although I would tell my children that having a good attitude makes a difference, I'm not sure in this situation that it really would have. It hasn't been that long ago that we moved the 2 daughters into this apartment, at the same time of the year, and I unfortunately remembered it too well. You've heard the saying, "Too many chiefs and not enough Indians." Well, in our family we have the opposite problem. "Too many Indians, and no one wants to be chief." We spend a lot of time trying to decide the best way to accomplish the task, or as I perceive it, trying to get out of accomplishing the task at all, while the day just gets hotter and hotter and hotter and so do I.

We started out loading boxes into the oldest son's truck. I became the designated director by default and organized an assembly line. I told the son to stay in his truck to organize the boxes, the other son was responsible for carrying boxes from the apartment to the bottom of the stairs (he was definitely the youngest and the fittest of the group), the hubby loaded the boxes on the dolly and I pushed the dolly through the apartment complex to the truck and back. The moving help recipients were responsible for packing boxes and keeping Poky from getting stepped on (at least that's what they said they were doing). By the time the truck was close to full, we were beginning to realize how many truck trips we
were going to have to take to get all the belongings moved. Way too many! The son-in-law presented the girls with the idea of renting a U-haul and they weren't opposed, especially after realizing that their couch was a lot longer than the son's truck bed. While the newlyweds went to pick up a moving van, the sons, one roommate and I took the truck to the townhouse and emptied it.
We got back about the same time the van arrived and the "men" started loading the big stuff. There were a few scary moments when the couch was balancing precariously on the apartment balcony but it eventually arrived safely on the ground and we'll just pretend that those aren't really holes you can see in the back of it.

Despite some movers who did more entertaining than moving,

(which my mom would definitely say I deserve after all the entertaining rather than working I did as a child),
a few trips to pick up necessary items such as tools and more boxes,



and more than a few rest and water breaks,
we were able to get the van loaded and unloaded before the hottest part of the day. After a couple of hours apart we were once again able to speak civilly to each other and the newly located daughter treated all of the hired help to a delicious dinner at Mi Amigos. I can't quite say that it made all the work worth it, but it did help me feel a little better about the whole experience.

Today I am thankful that

this moving day is over.
my daughter married a boy who knows how to carry boxes, rent U-Hauls, and balance heavy furniture while holding his tongue.
Frys had lots of fruit boxes just waiting for me to come and steal.

For my birthmonth present to myself today I purchased a Diet Pepsi from Pete's Fish and Chips. This wouldn't have qualified as a gift, since I buy soda way too often to be considered special, but today I splurged and went for the 44oz. size. I felt I deserved it after all the fluids I had lost.