Today I am grateful for


friends to go walking and talking with.
light, especially right when it begins to drive away the darkness.
a wonderful family home evening lesson on scripture study taught by the youngest son.

Historic Haboob

Last night we were hit by a massive dust storm. The meteorologists and my hubby like to refer to this type of storm as a haboob. It was pretty amazing even though I didn't venture outside until it was over. Even then the air was thick with dust.

Here are some photos of what the storm left behind at the oldest daughter's apartment.

She might want to get her car washed when she gets back in town and her backyard needs a little clean up as well.

Our Family Motto?

Perhaps you remember that some time,

a long time ago,

we started a "family tradition"

of going out to breakfast on patriotic holidays.

At least that's how the story goes.

Well, this morning

when I asked the hubby

what he was going to make me for breakfast

he replied, "IHOP".

I voted for Village Inn.

I knew from past experience

that the other members of the family

needed to be invited.

Luckily, for our bank account,

the majority of our family

were out of town today

so we were a small family of four.

I haven't been to Village Inn in a long time

and they had done some redecorating.

I actually thought it was fun.

We were seated right next to this wall.

I'm thinking this is the perfect decoration

for my dining room

since it very easily could be our family motto.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you had a Happy Fourth

enjoying your own family traditions.

Today I am grateful that

I have friends and family to barbecue and celebrate the 4th with. Even though we are getting less and less festive as the years go by. No one took a single photo and we all wimped out on going somewhere to watch the fireworks. Fireworks lose their appeal for me when it is HOT.

I wasn't the grandma having a nervous breakdown every time a little boy stayed under the water a little too long in the pool.

my hubby cleaned the family room to make up for not making me breakfast.

Why Would Anyone Want to be a Dentist?

I really like my dentist.

He is a very nice man and takes good care of me and my teeth.

However, I do not like to spend time with him.

I don't know why anyone would choose to be a dentist.

I think the whole sticking your hand in everyone else's mouth is pretty gross, but in my opinion that isn't the worst part of the job.

The thing I couldn't handle is the feeling that nobody likes me.

I would get tired of going to work everyday just to hear people complain about having to visit me.

Now, I know there are some people in the world who have perfect dental hygiene and amazingly healthy teeth and all the dentist does when they visit is pat them on the back and say "Good job! See you in 6 months".

They probably enjoy their trips to the dentist.

I have those kinds of visits every now and then, but those usually involve a lot of time with the hygienist and a few seconds with my dentist.

The long visits with Dr. Thomas are the poke and drill and pull and grind procedures that I know are necessary, but definitely not enjoyable.

I am grateful that I live in a day and age where visiting the dentist is an option.

Where Novocaine makes my time in the chair fairly pain free.

Where I get to have my lousy teeth replaced with strong, gold crowns that allow me to continue biting and chewing and enjoying my food.

Don't get me wrong.

I am glad there are individuals out there who choose to be dentists and take care of my teeth, but I will admit that ever since my eldest son was in the musical "Little Shop of Horrors" in high school, the following refrain flows through my head at least once while my dentist works away in my mouth.

You'll be a dentist
(be a dentist)
You have a talent for causing things pain
(pain)
Son be a dentist
(son be a dentist)
People will pay you to be inhumane
(humane)

Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood
And teaching would suit you still less
Son be a dentist you'll be a success.

Now, my next question is - Why would anyone want to be a proctologist?

A Finished Project

I love to look at craft blogs and see all the fun things people make. Every once in a while I am so inspired that I even purchase the needed materials to complete one of the projects myself. Actually making the item, however, is a usually a different story.

Ruffle pillows are one of the crafts that have really intrigued me as I blog surf. When I found this one,

which even included a straight forward tutorial I was hooked.

During my next visit to DI I picked up a t-shirt for $1.00 in the perfect color to go with my new bedspread.

Surprise of all surprises, I even made me a ruffle pillow!

Now, the experience wasn't quite as simple as I had hoped. There are a few things I would do differently if I were to make another ruffle pillow (which I just might do , because I think they are so cute!).

First, I had this pillow form getting kicked around my house so I decided to use it instead of purchasing fiberfill. The curved corners were a little bit of a challenge for me and because I used the foam form I had to hand sew an entire side rather than just a small hole. I think next time I would buy the stuffing.

Second, the instructions said to cut the ruffles about 21 inches long. When I cut mine they ended up being about 26 inches so like the good doobie I am I trimmed each one to 22 inches and then kicked myself over and over again when I sewed the ruffles on and wished they had a little bit more gather. Next time I will make the ruffles as long as possible.

Third, I ended up making holes in my fabric in a few places either because my needle was too fat or my needle was damaged when I ran over the pins holding the ruffles in place. In the future I will use a needle made to sew on knit and I will move the pins rather than cruise through them.

Fourth, I had a really hard time spacing my ruffles and getting them actually sewn in a straight line where I wanted them to be. I'm thinking I might go as far as drawing some straight lines on the pillow top fabric to help with ruffle placement next time. The ruffle would cover the line up, so I don't think it would be a problem.

All in all, I am very happy with my finished project.

Now I just need to learn how to place my pillows so they look decorative and not dorky. I better go look for a blog about that.

Today I am grateful for

shade - that makes sitting outside in Mesa in June feel "not that bad".
ice cubes. We go through a lot of ice at our house in the summer.
obscure holidays that result in my husband having the day off of work. Today is SRPMIC day for those of you who didn't know, and for those of you who still feel clueless, today is the day that the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community became a recognized indian reservation.

Some Zerberts For Your Enjoyment

A few summers ago my children spent some of their free time watching all the seasons of "The Cosby Show". One of the things that came from this activity was a new family word - Zerbert. According to urbandictionary.com a zerbert is a sloppy kiss where you blow, making a farting sound (previously referred to in our family as a raspberrry).

This word was first introduced on "The Cosby Show", (Season 2, Episode 11). In the episode, Vanessa was practicing for a spelling test, and Rudy kept interrupting, asking what a series of nonsense letters spelled. The following, including spelling, is taken from the subtitles as transmitted.

Rudy: Vanessa, what does "Q-N-G-H" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing. Give me another word.

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Vanessa: Nothing!

Rudy: How come when you spell it's a word and when I spell it it's nothing?

Vanessa: Dad, I'm studying very hard for the spelling test, and she keeps asking dumb questions.

Cliff: I don't think anybody asks dumb questions. What's your problem?

Rudy: What does "Z-R-B-T-T" spell?

Cliff: "Z-R-B-T-T" spell? Uh... That's zurbitt. Zurbitt... uh.. You know what I think a zurbitt is? I just remembered. A zurbitt is this:(makes zrbtt on Rudy's cheek.)

As you can see, our family spelling and pronounciation may be a little bit off, but we all enjoy a good ZRBTT, zirbitt, or zerbert every now and then.

Today the youngest son shared some exceptional zerberts with his cousin's baby. Just looking at these pictures makes me want to giggle.




Who wouldn't want to zerbert those sweet little cheeks?

"Happy To You" Cake

The grandson has attended a few birthday celebrations in the last couple of weeks and he is especially excited by the birthday cakes. He likes the cake and the candles, but his favorite part is the singing. He loves to sing Happy Birthday.

On Friday night we went to his 2nd cousin Hezekiah's party.


and on Saturday we celebrated with his 2nd cousin, Anastasia.


Today, while he and I were visiting the Desert Botanical Garden, we decided to sit down and rest next to this planter full of some type of tiny aloe vera plants. He kept telling me "happy to you" as he pointed to the plant, but it took me a little while to figure out what he was saying. In his mind this looks like a birthday cake with very tall candles poking up. After he pointed it out, I could see the resemblance.



In honor of his ingenuity, we sang "Happy Birthday" several times, like maybe 12, while he practiced blowing the candles out.

Welcome Reprieve

Today dawned cool, windy and overcast. The grandson and I were anxious to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We bought us a Buzz kite, some french fries, some "juice", and a hamburger to share and headed to the park for a party.

When the grandson saw this picture on the computer he was really concerned about his wind blown hair. It made me laugh.


I'm pretty sure kite flying is a two person job and the second person should probably be over two.


We did manage to get the kite in the air for an extended period of time on several occasions, but I had a hard time taking pictures, flying the kite and keeping the kid in tow.


We had lots of fun and were even happy that it rained on our picnic. Every cool day from now until October has to be enjoyed to the fullest.

Today I am grateful that

Kmart had kites and they were even on sale.
I got to actually feel cold this evening.
it rained on my flowers so I didn't even have to water them.

The Cheap Seats

The grandson is a little bit addicted to Toy Story movies. He would watch "Duh", which is what he calls Buzz, all the time if we would let him. He especially likes Toy Story 2.


When we took our family vacation to Greer for Spring break his parents introduced him to the DVD player that we have in our van and since then every time we leave his house he wants to take his "moo-fees" "wif me" and every time we get in the van he asks for Buzz. A couple of weeks ago, I gave in and attempted to let him watch his DVD in transit. As luck would have it, all I managed to do was get the movie stuck in the player. The next day I purchased a new copy of Toy Story 2, because the kid was having major withdrawal symptoms.
The DVD player at their house used to be where the grandson could reach it, open it and put his movies in and out. For some reason, it quit working. Go figure. It didn't take too long for his mom to decide that a new DVD player was a necessary expenditure. However, the device that was purchased, and placed out of his reach, has issues with the Toy Story 2 DVD. It will play any other movie you put in it, but refuses to function when Buzz is inserted. This has once again caused some severe 19-month-old angst. The child has been feeling very Toy Story deprived, so imagine his excitement when on today's outing we visited the Phoenix Deseret Industries and happened upon a showing of "Toy Story 2" on not one, not two, but 13 screens. It was like a dream come true to him.


He allowed me to shop in the store as long as we went back to see what was happening with "the gang" every few minutes. Luckily for him, he knows the story line well and could jump right into the action. When I was ready to leave, we decided to make one more visit to the make shift theater. We were a little surprised to discover that we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the free movie viewing. A cute family had found a place to sit and were happily watching the show. The grandson was convinced that he needed to join them in their "cheap seats" and enjoy the remainder of the movie with them.


For almost half an hour we watched and cheered and danced and thoroughly embraced the suspenseful conclusion of Toy Story 2. Sometimes we even sat quietly.


We just never know what fun our days together will bring!

Today I am grateful for

a phone with a camera.
cheap thrift store fun.
Fridays!

Update (June 11, 2011)- since this post the original Toy Story 2 movie has been rescued from the van DVD player (the youngest son pushed the eject button and the movie came out). The oldest daughter's new DVD player likes that copy of the movie and so now we have Toy Story 2 at both "house" (grandma's house) and "home" (the grandson's house). Also, the grandson has perfected the pronounciation of "Buzz" with a b and a z. No Duh anymore.