Friday's Fabulous Five

I got "booed" by Kaci, but let's face it... I'm not very good at this type of thing and I didn't pass it on. So, you just get to enjoy this cute little pic. Sorry Kaci!

So many things fabulous, so little items in five.... sigh.

1- Standard number one answer... Dustin's coming home today!!!!!!!!! YYAYAYAYAYYAAY!!!!
2- Dude! It's HALLOWEEN!!!! We have lots of fun things planned today and Dustin gets to be here to enjoy them with us!!
3- Ella is so darned cute. They all are, but she's extra cute today.
4- I bought a Scentsy candle warmer thingy at a party this week and I'm excited to see if it will help my house smell less like it was built in 1920, and not have the normal effect that lighting candles has on me since it's wickless and fireless. I'm also excited to get it to smell less like a squirrel lives here.

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

5- I got to experience a glorious sunrise this morning with my sweet kids who said they painted it for me (they learned that from D). It was truly fabulous and I will miss, after daylight savings time ends, how interesting the sky has been during our morning jaunts to school.


Let's hear it! What's fabulous in your life?

Solutions

Remember how I said my hands get cold when I blog? Well, it's not just my hands, my whole body gets cold. The hands are just the winner. Tonight was no exception, but as I went to change a load of laundry I found a fantastic solution to my problem.




Clothes fresh out of the dryer. They felt so good and warm, I draped them all over my body and left them there. It's been a good 15 minutes and the ones around my neck and on top of my head are still holding heat and I am not so cold. Who knows. With this genius solution, I might just keep up on my laundry...

Night of the Living Siblings

I guess I'm in the Halloween Spirit! Here's another little treat for you.... or maybe I should say trick? Anyway... remember this picture of me and my siblings? Well, my mom made a nice video of the three of us...

Check it out here. Mwwwwaaaaahhaaaahaaaahaaaaaaa!!!

Happy Halloween

Just digging through old pictures.... thought I'd share.

Dustin and I went to a sweet party back in '06. I was a witch, of sorts, and Dustin was "Daniel Larusso" (which he is EVERY year... stinker)



We played a game where one of the couples got to paint something on their other half's face. I made him into "The Ghost of Daniel Larusso". (Notice the black eye. Ya, Daniel sported that into the afterlife since he always seemed to have one when he was the Karate Kid)




I actually had a "hat" as a witch, but they wouldn't stay on my face. Notice the hat? It's very small up above my right eye.



What? You can't see it? Ok, try this one... See my little witch hat? Ya... it's there.



Melissa (party hostess) had a contest for who could bring the most "Halloweeny" treat. I won by a landslide. These are edible eyeballs. They're some jello/creamcheese/pineapple juice concoction that you refrigerate and they jiggly like jello... or like eyeballs. They were actually REALLY tasty, but not many got eaten because people couldn't get over that the felt like an eyeball when you touch them




And these were my cookies that I brought. Fleshy fingers and witchy fingers. These were tasty and looked rather disgusting too! Yum!



Happy Halloween!

Tue Pose a Question

Why oh why? That is the question. This applies to many things. And the answer is: I don't know.

• ~I don't know why I eat food so particularly. I am a save-the-best-bite-for-last kind of chick. Dustin used to laugh and laugh watching me eat (back when it was still a novelty). For example: A piece of bread. My favorite bite is the one where the top crust curves around and meets the bottom crust. It's particularly yummy and I like to save that bite of a sandwich for the very last.
  
• ~I also don't know why I am so compelled to stay up so darn late every night. At 9:30pm, as I walked out of the kids' room after getting them to bed, I wondered to myself what would happen if I just went to bed right now? Just go to sleep at 9:30? That would be weird. I thought I might feel better in the morning. I might not fly off the handle like I did earlier in the evening when Ella was being a whiny beast. I might, just might, get up early and write in the morning. *YEAH RIGHT* I don't know why but I just resist the thought of going to bed anytime before midnight.
• ~I don't know why I have moments where I feel great, like I can handle things, and then 38.3 seconds later I feel like an office chair that fell off the back of a truck going seventy on the freeway. How can one go from smooth sailin' to a broken shell of herself in a matter of seconds? The answer... I don't know. Perhaps the truck carrying the chair just hit a bump in the road and the chair was not secured, strapped down, wedged securely, etc... My life is the truck, my circumstances are the road, and my state of mind is the chair. Hmmm....
• ~Clearly, this is not a very clear post and I am feeling rather random and dim-witted. Ah well... that's what happens when you get carried away in a post the night before and don't finish it until 3am. Dim-witted, murky randomness!
  

Manic Monday: Ghost

Be sure to visit Mo for more Manic Monday fun!


Slowly the girls walked with their dates down the winding, paved road. The swift moving creek roared somewhere off to the left. The wind blew through the trees, their few remaining leaves hanging on like a drowning man on a life preserver. Erin carried a flashlight, but left it in her pocket as the moon faintly illuminated the black pavement, creating their eerie, declining footpath.

The group huddled closer, dates linking arms as they walked. Erin asked in a hushed whisper, "Have you guys ever heard of the legend of the Hippity Hoppity Lady?" Of course, Beth and Clancy had both been here before with Erin, but they feigned ignorance. Dave, Cody and Cache replied with a nonchalant 'No', and laughed it off. They were too cool and manly to be scared, and they had dared the girls to do their worst when the night started.

Erin began, "It was a long time ago, right in this very canyon. A mother lived with her three children in a small house near the river. They were a happy little family. The children loved to play all the games kids play and they did so every day. It was a simple life filled with simple pleasures."

"One day, the mother was cooking dinner and laughing at the sound of her children's games, when she suddenly noticed that the din she was enjoying had stopped. Smiling to herself and wondering what mischief they were in now, she went outside. Her smile faded as she realized they were nowhere to be seen. Putting down her dishcloth, she walked further in the direction they usually played. She found nothing. No sound of footsteps. No laughing. No children jumping out to say "Boo!". Not even a footprint to mark where they had run. She started calling their names. 'Eliza! Allen! James!! Where are you? Answer me!!!' Nothing. Not a noise. Not a giggle. The silence was deafening. Not even a bird call could be heard. The only sound was her footsteps on the crunching leaves."

At this point, Clancy thought it would be funny to throw a stick into the trees where it cracked against a wide trunk. Dave jumped. "What was that?!" he yelled. Everyone agreed that it must have been nothing as Clancy swallowed a giggle.

As the group walked ever slower and huddled closer, Erin continued. "As the mother was feeling panic rise in her chest that threatened to overwhelm her, she began to run. Franticly, she searched every place she could think that the children might have hidden themselves, every place they could have fallen or hurt themselves. She found not a trace."

"As the evening stretched into night, she continued calling her children, searching everywhere, and yielding nothing. She wiped sweat from her dirt-streaked face. All thoughts had left her, but the lost children. She searched endlessly through the night and into the next day."

"Late that afternoon, as she finally collapsed from exhaustion, a broken and miserable heap, she allowed herself to cry. Her cry shook the trees. It howled through the canyon like the very wind you hear right now." Just then a particularly large gust of wind burst through the tunnel the road created through the trees. Everyone shivered.

"She sat in a stupor for hours. It grew dark, and a small but sudden noise brought her out of her languor. She stood, backing away from the unexpected sound when her foot lighted upon something that was, clearly, not earth. Just as she reacted, trying to pull her foot away, she heard a snapping noise and felt steel shutting around her leg. A bear trap. She didn't care about her leg. Her only concern was finding her long-lost children. She was delirious... manic. Obsessed with the search."

"She lay there unable to move when the unexplained noise revealed itself. Just in front of her was the glinting, wicked blade of what must be the trapper's axe. Why he had left it here and how it had fallen and startled her, she neither knew nor cared. Here was her salvation. She picked it up and began to hack at her leg. When, at last, she was free of the trap, she got up on her leg that was whole, and began hopping in her hopeless search for her children. 'Eliza! Allen! James!!', she called. It was just a breath of what her voice had been two days ago. She was losing blood fast as she hopped along, saying their names as a chant now. 'Eliza. Allen. James. Eliza. Allen. James.' She hopped as long as she could and as she fell to the cold, leaf-littered ground, those were the last words that left her lips. 'Eliza. Allen. James.'

As Erin told the concluding remarks of her tale, she quietly grabbed the flashlight from her pocket. She prepared herself to shine it at just the right moment as she continued the story in a hushed voice. "It has been said that the ghost of the Hippity Hoppity Lady still wanders these woods calling for her lost children. You can hear her voice in the wind that whips through your hair. You can see her ghostly form as she hops, one legged, from tree to tree."

Suddenly Erin whips out the flashlight, shines it on an object just in front of the group and screams at the top of her lungs, "AND THERE SHE IS!!!!!"





Yes, this is a true story of a date we went on for a dance in high school (with some artistic license taken by the author on the actual story of the Hippity Hoppity Lady, and a few other minor details). This was what the pedestrian crossing sign looked like... a leg chopped, or more accurately, sprayed off, not by a trapper's axe, but by a little vandal! LOL! I must tell you that Dave (Beth's ACTUAL date) ran off screaming a very high pitched girly scream and ran all the way back to the car without stopping. For the rest of the night we visited every spooky place we could think of in Salt Lake City, including a visit to the lime kilns.

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- My hubby came home last night instead of today.
2- Squirrel cage has been obtained. (see video below) THANK YOU, JASON!!! YOU ARE A SERIOUS LIFESAVER. I like my squirrel again now that I'm not worried all the time about him getting out and defecating in my house or chewing on things like electrical cords. And he is a happier squirrel now that he has some room to run!
3- This is the weekend my friend, Maria, and I chose for our kid swap! She's bringing her kids over here today so they can go on a date and we'll bring our kids over to their house tomorrow so WE can go on a date!!! I can't think of the last time D and I went on a date.
4- I got to go to lunch today with one of my really good friends. I am so happy I got to connect with her!
5- I got to run down to The Creative Institute today and work on a website I'm building. My instructor was there working, but I was working on my own time, not class time so I didn't want to disturb him. I had a few problems that I didn't know how to solve, but I messed around long enough that I figured it out on my own!!! :) YAY me! And the website is REALLY REALLY close to being done! YAY!




While I'm at it, I might as well post a few more of the videos I've uploaded. This one was taken a couple weeks ago. It's amazing how much he's grown. This is how we have fed him for the last nine weeks. He's now starting to eat various solids... apples, avocados (his favorite), popcorn (which is bad for him, but he LOVES it!). But we still feed him puppy formula from a syringe a couple times per day.



This one was filmed this morning, just after I got out of bed. (that explains the goofy PJs and the crazy bed-head.) That's a number six for Friday's Fab Five... I got to sleep in and Dustin got the kids ready and took them to school. Ahhhh.... relief.
So, ya. What I'm trying to say is, this is not my hottest look!



This was when he was in a playful mood. I was wearing grungy clothes because he had peed on my nice ones- not just my shirt but my pants too. He smeared avocado all over these pants. Oh, the challenges of raising a squirrel.

Seven Things

I've been tagged again by the adorable Merrianne. This tag is seven things about me.

1- I like randomivity (as Mags puts it). Random things make me laugh and laugh and laugh. Napoleon Dynamite, for example. Loved that movie! The random scene breaks. The sudden dancing on stage. Things that make you say, WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT!? Ya. Those are my favorite.

2- I think cold-sores suck big, fat, moss-covered rocks. I've only had a few in my life... I think four or maybe five, but they bite the BIG ONE. I have one right now (a HUGE one) that's on it's way out. On Saturday I had TWO, yes, TWO people glance at me and say... nevermind... I just have to tell the stories.
Story#1 My cousin, Blake, came in my mom's house and said (as I turned around from a mixing bowl with a spatula in my hand), "Enjoyin' that chocolate, are you?" (I was making cream-cheese frosting which is WHITE, mind you!) I replied, "Huh? Oh... you mean my COLD SORE?" He thought I had some sort of chocolate cake batter or brownie mix on my face.
Story#2 Not two hours after the occurrence of story #1, my sister Lacy looked up at me at the dinner table and said, as she unconsciously wiped at her lip, "Clance, ya got some food on your face." I responded, "You mean, my COLD SORE?"
Both of them were very abashed, but I just thought to myself, "That will be a sweet blog entry!"

3- My hands get freakin' freezing when I sit at the computer. So, now, every time you read a blog entry, know that I sacrificed to write it. ;) lol!

4- I use these "..." in excess. Look through my blog posts. I bet there's ...'s in almost every one. I love to use them. I use way more than appear on my posts because I'm a super-freak editor. There is always many to delete.... :)

5- I am a concerned squirrel parent. My child is reaching his adolescent weeks and I am having some behavior issues. Incessant jumping, scratching me all over my arms (as he's hugging me like a tree and shimmying up my limbs), sneaking out of his box after curfew, chewing on things!, peeing on my shirt... I just don't know what to do with him! (Does anyone who lives where I live have a metal cage? He can chew through overturned laundry baskets....)

6- I don't eat very well when my husband is not home. Or drink enough water. Or sleep enough (but that is true whether he's home or not).

7- If someone puts their hand flat on my back, between my shoulder blades, I can grab around their hand and squeeze it with my blades. My blades... that sounds funny. lol!


There you are. I tag Connie, Holly, Brecca, Carmy, Beth B., Emilee, Jenny, and Melissa D. I hope they're reading.

From The Jar... #22 (revisited)

I wrote a witty and colorful account the other night of this jar topic, but, as you all recall, that got flushed down the cyber toilet, never to be seen again. It's probably floating in the lost-post cyber-sewer-treatment-plant right now... next to your lost blog entry. So, I will make an attempt to recapture what I wrote previously. You can be sure I'll be watching that autosave every few minutes.

So LAST week the Jar said:

Tell a courtship story about your parents. How they met, how they got engaged, etc.

My parents have a tidy little package for all three. Meeting, courtship and engagement.

My dad was 20. My mom was 19. Mom was attending Ricks College in Idaho and Dad lived in Salt Lake. My mom went down to SLC to visit her friend, Sydney, for the weekend and on Sunday they went to church together. My mom saw my dad for the first time while he was passing the sacrament. He had hair down to the middle of his back, and my mom thought that long hair was hot stuff! (who are we kidding, she still thinks that to this day!) She nudged her friend and asked, "Who's the long-hair?" (I could be making stuff up... Mom, if you read this, feel free to fill in holes or tell me I'm up in the night if I'm wrong.)

She was intrigued at first glance. Later on that evening, Sydney had a bunch of people, my father included, over to her house to play games, etc. Mom and Dad met and talked all evening. Then it was time for everyone to leave, so my mom walked my dad halfway home (just down the street). They stood on the corner shivering (it was wintery cold outside) and talking for another two hours! Those crazy kids...

As my dad came home that night, he talked to his own father for a bit. In the course of their conversation my dad said, "Dad, I've met the girl I'm going to marry. What should I do?"

My grandpa replied, "GET TO KNOW HER!" (Nice try, Gramps!)

My mom was supposed to go home on Sunday, but Sydney told her she'd drive her back to Idaho on Tuesday so she could see a guy she had been dating at the airport as he left on his mission. I can't remember if he flew out on Monday or Tuesday, but I know my dad and mom saw each other on one or both of those days.

On Tuesday, Mom went back with her crazy friends (who like roasted peanuts- ha!) to Idaho amidst a terrible snowstorm. On Wednesday, my dad called and said that he was coming to Idaho on Saturday to ski and could he see her? (was the skiing part right? I can't remember for sure.) So, he came up Saturday and they did see eachother. I don't know what their evening consisted of, except that it ended with them talking in my dad's car in Island Park, wherein my dad asked my mom to marry him. She shocked herself by saying, "Yes. It's too soon, but I say yes." It was a very powerful spiritual moment for them both.

So, in six days, they went from being strangers to being affianced. (Six days, you say? Yes, you're right. That would be the same amount of time it took me to freakin' decide to marry my sweetheart!) And, they are still married thirty-five years later. Quite happily, in fact.




A shout out to my parents for the awesome example they are to me of unconditional love and acceptance, for the incredible and undying support that they give to me, my husband, and my little family, and for the path they forge of growth and change and learning. I love you, Mom and Dad. You gave me life and by doing so you gave me gifts [solicited or "un"! ;)] that are my joy and/or my greatest lessons that keep me moving forward in my own growth. Thank you. Love you.

Tue Pose a Question

Here's my question...

How many of you who read my blog use Google Reader? If you don't, you should. It's the coolest. And iGoogle is the icing on the cake. (oh how I wish Google paid me a dollar for everytime I said that!)

Here's the point to this question. If you use Google Reader and you notice that I have updated my blog with yet another wordy post, you might want to go straight to my blog and read the post there. I, often... VERY often, in fact almost every time I post... edit the post after I've read it on my actual blog. I have proof-reading and editing OCD. I obsess over this A LOT and so I often do one if not several edits once it's posted. (I edit it at least triple that amount BEFORE I post it too...) I have noticed that Google Reader takes the first post and doesn't update for editing freaks like me. So... if you want the finished product of my verbosity, go straight to the blog, baby!

The End.

Manic Monday: Bite... AND Happy Birthday Dustin!

Shall we just have my blog have an auto-message at the top that says, "Better late than never"? I feel like I'm saying that a lot.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie. We had his party yesterday because tonight he is not here. :( Sitting here in this chair I am missing him and trying to think of a story for the word bite. As it is my husband's birthday I've recalled a story involving him and it comes from my archive of carefree and kidfree yellow kitchen days...




I yawn as I straighten out my stiff arm. It doesn't agree, and I wince as I slowly try to move it. I think to myself, 'That's what I get for laying here reading with my weight on my elbow for... wait... how long have I been laying here?' Glancing over at the clock I realize the answer to my question... too long.

It's late, but that's nothing unusual. Late nights and I have always had a beautiful friendship. But, since my recent acquisition of a husband (a few months shy of a year is still recent, right?), I mostly like to go to bed early and snuggle up with him. But, Night and I have become reacquainted as my Dusty got a new job where he gets up at o-dark-thirty every day. This, in turn, requires him to go to bed at a ridiculously early hour, which is simply not cool with me. So, I have been up to my old tricks.

Moving my tired body, I exit the living room to commence with my nightly routine of face washing, toothbrushing, and peeing every last drop so I won't have to wake up later. Walking toward the bathroom, I glance into the kitchen and grin to myself. I still have a chore to do before I go to bed.

I open the fridge and remove all necessary items for my chore completion. Lunch meat, mayo, mustard, bread, apple, orange, cottage cheese. Dustin's lunch box is already on the counter top... my friendly grin-triggering reminder. I even melted his initials on the top with a hot knife tip so it wouldn't get mixed up with the guy who has the same lunch box at work. As if he needed that. I always leave other little clues as to who's lunch box it is.

Cottage cheese in the little plastic Rubbermaid container. Check. Apple and orange in lunch box. Check. Sandwich made with mayo, mustard and meat. Check. Bite taken out of sandwich as a little token of my love. Check. Love note written on sticky pad and placed tenderly on his sandwich. Check. Bottle of water. Check. Love-filled lunch box placed in fridge for overnight coldness. Check. Heart filled with joy for being able to serve my husband and send little reminders of my love to him in the middle of his long, hard working day. Check, check, check.

As I head off to finish off my bedtime routine, I realize that I'm no longer tired. My heart is singing as my mind conjures images of him reading my note, finding my love bite and smiling as he thinks of me. It's amazing what love can do.



Happy Birthday, honey. I love you so much and I'm so glad that you waited for me to say yes. Sorry I can't make you lunches everyday right now because I might after this affectionate post! Love you so much.

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- Hubby home again. (deja vu)
2- I don't have to wake up at seven tomorrow and get kids ready for school.
3- Finished sewing Ella's Halloween costume today! I am completely ready for Halloween as far as my kids costumes are concerned, unless I want to try to get Mac a white shirt for his vampireness. Thanks Emilee for having a party today so that I was forced to finish. This is a record for me!
4- I can read and I love to read. Feeling grateful that I can read today.
5- My sister is in town.

:) Fabulous!

From The Jar... #22

Here is the whole sad sad story... I did my famous trick of hitting enter somehow and publishing before I meant to. I had a lovely post for your veiwing enjoyment... the title: "From the Jar... #22" and that's it, baby! (If you use Reader, you saw it! See comment #1 from Em)

It would be funny except that I went back and wrote a whole big post. As I was loading two pictures for it (yes, pictures!) my computer froze and I had to reboot. No problem... blogger autosaves.

No soap. I came back to button it up and I was back to my original publishing joke of just the title. I lost it all. >:-O

WAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!! (that would be me crying and throwing a fit)

I feel like Stephanie Meyer. I just can't write it right now AGAIN. I'm too d@!% pissed off!

Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

Tue Pose a Question

Thanks for playing my Q & A game last week. I enjoyed it muy macho!

This week I had a wonder as I was stepping over the wormy apples that fall from my neighbor's tree into our yard. It seems like all apples that grow on trees in yards have worm holes, does it not? That simple act of stepping over wormy apples set my brain in motion. I keep thinking about apples and worms. My little wondering brain wondered to myself what I would do if I bought an apple at the store and it had a worm in it!? Ewe.

What would I do? I think it would depend on what I was using it for. If I was just eating it, I would set it down and squeench a little bit (you know... shiver with yuckiness and have various muscles in my body clench in creepy ways {shoulders, gluteus maximus, thighs}. My brother invented the word squeench, btw), and then take it back to the store and demand my money back. If I had a specific plan for said apple, ie: apple pie, apple cake... something recipe-ish... I would cut around the wormhole, squish the worm, squeench again, and then cut up the apple and use it because I would have no time to go to the store and demand my money back because I don't plan well and I would most likely need whatever I was making in one hour... exactly ten minutes short of the amount of time needed to make whatever I'm making. That's how I seem to operate most of the time.

Funny thing is, when I make something from the yard apples, that consistently have a wormhole or a worm, it doesn't phase me. Expectations are the key here. I expect them in yard apples. I don't in chemical-filled store apples.

So... how bout you? If you got a worm in a store bought apple, would you squeench and throw a fit, or would you proceed with your original objective? ;)

Manic Monday: Moon

This may just be a little too much information for some of you, but I'm goin' with it anyway. Proceed with caution.

When I was in college, I lived in a house with seven other girls. Eight young women in one house can be interesting at times. I didn't know it when I first moved in, but it has been said that when women live together their menstrual cycles often sync. This was the case in our house. For some unknown reason, I was the one they synced to... I started the whole ordeal each month and my roommates followed within days.

I remember one time we had a room open up in our house and we got a new roommate. I don't remember who it was that moved in or who said it to her, but I distinctly remember this being said: "Be prepared for your period to change dates. Clancy's The Moon and she'll pull you in like the tide!" A new nickname was born.

It's just weird the things that come up in my mind on these Manic Mondays.

Friday's Fabulous Five

1- Dustin came home last night instead of tonight and so I got him an extra night and all day today!!! He made me pancakes this morning with chopped pecans in them!
2- We are going to get our little house rented this next week... AND we found out yesterday that another tenant is moving out and we already have a VERY good potential tenant! (everyone cross your fingers and whisper a little prayer that we will have better luck with these ones!)
3- Dustin came home and cleaned a lot in our house. (something I, apparently, have been incapable of this week.)
4- My children have a nice principal and secretary who take care of them when their parents miscommunicate and don't pick them up for 50 minutes. OY!!
5- My kids are playing outside with two friends in the 39 degree weather and they are having so much fun. It is my favorite sound in the whole world to listen to my kids playing nicely and using their imaginations. (it's even better than "fun ice"!)

What's fabulous in your world?

You Asked...

Questions answered! Thanks for playing!

MERRIANNE said...

1. how tall are you?
I'm 5'6".
2. What song makes you the happiest?
There's so many... music makes me happy. Right now it's I'm Yours and Lucky by Jason Mraz. Another that I can always count on is Goodnight and Go by Imogen Heap. Classic.

3. What is your favorite color?
Blue... this color, specifically (the pendant, not the webpage)

4. What is your least favorite food?
I'm a fairly adventurous eater... I am not sure if it's my LEAST favorite, but I don't like chicken. Weird, I know. It was a pregnancy-induced thing.

5. What was your first date with your husband like?
I'm rackin' my brain, but we never really went on a "date", I don't think. We sort of started hanging out with a bunch of people together. We all went rollerblading. I thought he was cute and AWESOME on his blades, and he thought I had a cute butt. I guess after hanging out a few times in a group we did go out alone together and you could consider that a "date". He showed up (unexpected) at my house, IN MY ROOM at about 8:00 am on a morning we didn't have school. I was in bed still! I was freaking out telling him to go away and he was bouncing off the walls saying stuff like, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!! Get up, get dressed! Let's go DOOOO something!!!!" I thought he was nuts, but I got up and got dressed and we went on a neat hike. It was in some weird place with giant trees on the west-side of Cache Valley. There were little tiny baby worms hanging from silk thread ALL over the trees. There were literally thousands and thousands of them. Dustin thought that was really cool. I thought it was creepy. I think we got some food after... breakfast or lunch? I don't really remember as I didn't feel like it was an official "date". Weird that I've never thought of our lack of a first date before...

Kaci said...

What is your favorite breakfast food?
I love crepes with whipped butter and ligonberries. But I FEEL the best when I eat scrambled eggs on wheat toast. But I most often eat cereal... bran flakes or Frosted Mini Wheats.
If you had to run or walk which would you do?
I guess that depends on where I'm going! If I'm playing ultimate frisbee, I'm running. If I'm at the grocery store, I'm walking! ;) Hee hee. Are you talking for exercise? I would much prefer to run. I was a runner for a month or two in the summer and I was AMAZED to find that I absolutely loved it. Then I got sick and never got back to it... then my husband left town so I can't go unless I take the kids with me somehow.

Leah said...
I'll take some questions off a game called "crazy quandries" that I have at home:

Would you rather always lose, or never get to play?
I would rather always lose. I can't stand when there's playin' going on without me, and I'm competitive enough that I would figure out a way to win or die trying.

Would you rather take ten kindergarteners to the zoo, or take ten teens to a night club?
Hands DOWN I'd be takin' ten teens to a nightclub, and I'd be dancing with them!

Would you rather grow cat fur for facial hair every night, or have horrible chronic dog breath?
LOL! I've thought about this specific question long and hard for two days now... and I think I'd take the cat fur. I could have laser hair removal done. Although I am allergic to cats, so do you think I'd be allergic to myself? If that's the case then I'm going for the dog breath. I would kill myself if I had to walk around all day everyday being allergic to my own face... eyes always itching, always sneezing. Dog breath is better than death by my own hand, don't you think? Would you still be my friend if I had chronic dog breath? (I guess since we are blogging friends and you don't often *or ever* get the chance to speak to me, that's probably an affirmative, right?)

Amanda and Beau said...

How did Dustin Propose??
We had gone roller-skating with our family home evening group. It was super fun... roller-limbo is burned into my memory. We had such a good time. I can't remember if we went and got dinner, but later we were just driving around and we went up on a mountain that overlooked Logan. It was super windy and cold (it was February 2... that's right, Groundhog Day!) and we sat in the car talking.

Dustin suddenly said, "You wanna get out for a minute?" I thought, "No freakin' way! It's freezing out there!" but I said, "Sure." We got out and walked around for a minute and he grabbed my shoulders, turned me around to face him and he said lots of sweet things to me that I will keep to myself. Then he pulled out a velvety little box, opened it, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I knew it was coming... not a real conscious thing until moments before, but I knew. When he asked, it almost felt like my life flashing before my eyes... very surreal. I remember thinking that I would remember this moment for the rest of my life... and how weird it was that this was happening to me. I was so young, although I didn't know I was young at the time, but I did know I didn't feel ready for that moment. And so, I said as much. I asked him if it would be ok if I said I don't know. He said, "I knew you would say that."

I waited six days to give him an answer. I don't think I've ever realized until this moment, typing this story, how that must have pained him. I knew it did, don't get me wrong, but just how difficult that must have been for him... the extent is just hitting me now.

I imagine that he hoped for that night to end very different than it did. He hoped to go home on cloud nine, engaged to his sweetheart. He hoped to go tell his friends and family that he was getting married. Instead, his night ended in torment wondering what my answer would be, and when it would come. He probably doubted himself and beat himself up while I was wrapped up in my own world trying to figure out if this was the right thing for me to do.

I didn't know how to decide and I was, quite frankly, scared. I don't remember anything about those six days except what went on in my mind. I don't remember if I was with Dustin at all during that week. I remember trying the ring on (he told me to hold on to it) and wearing it here and there, trying to imagine myself as engaged and married. I had some reconciling to do in my mind about someone that I had dated with whom things never officially ended (he went on a mission for our church and was still gone). I had a lot of other thoughts and prayers... it was not an easy time for me either. The whole week was surreal.

I obviously decided to say yes. I had gone home to Idaho and visited with my parents... prayed a lot... and come to my answer. I drove back to Logan and went straight to his apartment. We went to his room, I sat him down, and, looking very serious, leaned over and whispered "yes" in his ear. He bowled me over with a hug and sweet tears. We smiled, we cried, we laughed. His joy and elation were there, just six days later than he imagined.

Looking back on it from this perspective, I see things more clearly. I am grateful for this beautiful moment that I've just experienced, hammering out these thoughts on my keyboard and feeling some portion of my sweetheart's pain. I hear the symphony now and the rightness of how it all unfolded.

(whew! that was one long answer that went a direction I didn't expect!)

Carmy said...

Do you remember what your first thought of me was?
Sweet. Gentle. Quiet. Loves my brother.

Thanks for the break, Kristin!

Maria Hart said...

1. Why is it called "common sense" when does not seem to be common at all?
It's a whimsical and wistful phrase... kind of like fairies. We all wish they existed so they could wave wands and make dreams come true. Just as we all wish common sense was common and existed in every human brain on the planet, creating a world of idiotlessness... but it's really just a wish and a dream when we say, "it's common sense".

2. What super hero or super power would you love to be/have? Why?
I think I would like to be a Spirit Warrior, like the Quileute Indian tribe's histories in New Moon. I like the idea of leaving my body and being able to go back into it at will. I wish I could do that right now. Sometimes I could use a different perspective.

Do I have to pick just one? If I do, that's it. If I can have more...

I would also like to have fire come out of the tip of my finger, like Pyro on X-men. Think of how handy I would be when I go camping, or if I had a gas stove?! And I could make quick work of lighting birthday candles! I'd also like to be able to turn invisible. And I'd like to have pre-cognition... spidey-sense. And I'd like to run fast like Dash, but be strong like Mr. Incredible. Then I could just put my kids in the car, put it in neutral and push fast! I'd be the greenest darned car in town! :) Oh... I better stop there. I could go on all night!

Ginny said...

what has been your greatest challenge in your life thus far? and how did you deal with it?
This would have to be overcoming that voice inside me that tells me I'm unworthy, not good enough, etc... or my ego, as it has been called. I think this is the "natural man" spoken of in the scriptures. The natural man is an enemy to God and the natural man is who tells me I'm separate, alone, and unworthy of being heard. I could elaborate for pages and pages about this, my greatest challenge... but I've already written too much above. Maybe I'll post my thoughts some other time.

As far as your other question goes, "how did I deal with it?"... that implies that it was in the past and already dealt with. This is not so. I deal with it every moment. I deal with it in lots of different ways... reading, praying, talking to certain people who encourage me, grinding in new ideas that I'm ok and loved, safe and worthy, good enough and deserving, beautiful and bright. It is a moment by moment battle that I would imagine is a consistent journey rather than a destination. I think it will be ever-present while I am on this earth and it may change and morph and become better, but then some new level of the same challenge will arise as my awareness expands, and as I grow. I am up to the challenge.

Rachel Chick said...

I have a fabulous question for you . . .
Will you sing with me? :)
I don't care what, just something.
Nels thinks that we should make a band! :) LOL! Your dad could play guitar, Nels could play bass . . . we could make it work!

I think you are so fabulous Clancy! Thanks for being my friend.

ABSOLUTELY! I would love nothing more than to sing with you. And I think a band would be the awesomest! Finding time to be a band is the trick, but let's do it! And until we are a band, let's just you and I sing something together!

Thank you... I think you are equally fabulous and I am so grateful that life brought us together as friends.

beth s. said...

If you had to assign gender to salt and pepper how would you do it and why?
Brings back memories of good times...

Pepper is female. Salt is male. Pepper is so complicated looking. So many colors swirling around, can't make up it's mind, some bites burn your mouth more than others. Salt is constant. It's always cubical (you know... the fracture line things? Dustin's a geologist, I should ask him what they're called), it's consistently white and you can count on it to always taste the same. I don't know about the men in your life, but that's pretty much Dustin... very consistent.

What do you feel was the most, or one of the most, critcial moments in your life, you know the kind that change the rest of your life and you can trace it back to that very moment?
Saying 'yes' to Dustin. (see above) I can't elaborate a lot cuz this post is long already and I'm tired and want to go to bed... but that really is it. It set me down a path I don't know that I ever would have followed otherwise and it is exactly what I needed to learn some incredible lessons (still learning them)! I will say that after I decided to say yes, I questioned it and doubted all through our engagement. Then, on the day we were getting married (still questioning in my mind), I got my hair and make-up all fixed, and we went to the Salt Lake Temple and were meeting Dustin in the lobby area. He was waiting for me and, as soon as I looked at him, peace settled over me like a blanket. As long as I live, I will never forget that feeling. I knew it was right and I never doubted again.

Connie said...

Is it too late to ask another question? That's not my question.
No, it's not too late! LOL!

I know you sing and play guitar. Have you ever composed/written anything?
Yes, I have.

If so, what type of songs?
Dumb ones. ;) I dunno, it's hard to be objective on your own songs, but they're not very cool. I've only written two. One for an assignment in college which I had to perform for my final. I was sick for a week before that "final". The other is not quite finished... I wrote the lyrics first and I don't think it's as easy to do it that way... oh well. It's just for fun.

From The Jar... #21

Better late than never? It's been a CRAZY day!

Describe your Sundays as a mother/father.

I hated Sundays when I was a kid. Actually all the way through college and into our early marriage years too. Everyone laying around after church sleeping and blah. I wanted to go jump on people and wake them up and say... let's PLAY something!

As a mother, it's a little different. I like them much better than when I was younger. The following describes our Sundays when we have 1:00 church, as we currently do. I usually get to sleep in for a while... even if I don't stay asleep, I get to lay there while Dustin takes care of the kids. I usually get out of bed when Dust says breakfast is ready. He usually makes breakfast... Hootnanny Pancakes is the usual, but lately he's been making regular pancakes cuz he made chokecherry syrup. We eat breakfast and lounge around for a while. I make a bunch of phone calls to remind people in our church about choir practice. (I am the choir director) Then I take a shower, shower the kids, if they need it, get everyone as ready as I possibly can before I have to leave at noon for choir practice. ("Hurry!" is a word often heard Sunday morning... even with 1:00 church.) Go to choir and then church, go home, change clothes and head over to my parents' house for dinner! Have an enjoyable time over at my mom and dad's and then head home and put kids to bed.

9:00 church is similar except choir practice comes after church and there is much more franticness before church. (I'm late... A LOT!) Then there is more lounging before we head over to Mom and Dad's. Dustin usually makes cookies or bread. Yes, he is the baker and I'm the chef in our household. Although, lately, I have taken a hiatus from chef duty... which leaves us to call upon our backup chefs, namely General Mills, Kellogs or Post (cereal), Campbell's (Spaghettios), Wendy's, or, in tonight's case, whoever the maker's of frozen burritos are.

There's a little play-by-play of our Sundays, but the overall feeling of them is relaxed, but not blah. Mellow but not drowsy. (although Dustin often takes naps, I don't mind so much... the kids are awake!) I feel generally peaceful on Sundays now instead of frustrated like I did as a kid.

Wasn't wild about this post. Sorry. Tried to think of some creative way to write it, but I'm not feelin' it tonight. Ah well... even creative juices suck air sometimes.

A Favor?

I have a favor to ask of someone who talks to my husband in person. Please refer him to my blog and tell him that this is an idea for me for Christmas. Or this. Or this. Or these. I would just tell him myself, but that takes the fun out of it for me... and for him too, for that matter.

He might read my blog, he might not. He does sometimes. I never know when, though. Although, working out of town, he might be reading it religiously because he misses me so much! lol! (could happen...)

So, honey, if you are reading this... don't tell me... surprise me. I'll probably forget about it by Christmas... except for the fact that I look at your bank statements about 99% more than you do... so I'll probably know. You'll have to be covert. ;)

Tue Pose a Question

Tueday I'm going to steal an idea that the adorable Merrianne had on her blog a while ago. I thought it was cute, and let's face it, I'm feeling lazy today. Soooo.... the question for today is...

If you could ask me anything, what would you ask?

So I had to put that in question form because of the nature of my Tuesday posts, but the deal is, ask me anything and I'll post the answers on Thursday. Here's my big fear.... my insecurities scream, "You've told it all, girl! There's nothing left to ask." So, if I could humbly ask you to ask ANYTHING... even if it's some silly question you make up. Just ask and be silly if you must!
:) Thanks for your cooperation or should I say, indulgence....

6th

I'm it. Got tagged by the adorable MERRIANNE! I don't know if it's because it's October 6th, but this tag says go to your picture folder on your computer, go to the 6th folder, and then find the 6th picture and post it on your blog! This is a little scary and I'm a little bit tempted to cheat, but I won't. Here goes....





Wow. That pretty much sucks. This was a picture that my mom took when we drove to Arizona in June. Dustin asked us to take pictures of the terrain on the way down as he's never been to Arizona. This was somewhere past Flagstaff. Thrilling, is it not?


Lucky for all of you, I happen to have two"My Pictures" files... one from pre-computer-hard-drive-dump and from one post-computer-hard-drive-dump. The above pic happens to be post-drive-dump. (I was going to say post-dump, but that just sounds bad!) Anyway, I thought I'd see what I came up with in the other "My Pictures" file.... and *yikes* here it is!





I shouldn't told you I have two "My Pictures" folders, huh. Should have stuck with the boring window shot. This is a pic that my older brother, Zandy, took of Lacy, Taylor and I Christmas 2004. He emailed it to us after and titled it "Scary Siblings". Someday, if you ask nicely, I might show you what I did with this picture in Photoshop. *shudder*


SO....
that was a fun easy tag. Thanks, Merrianne! I am guessing I need to tag six people? That's what I'll do. I tag Kristin, Micci, Jen, Britta, Leah, and Beth at the Burn Unit! And Kaci... even though that's seven. Ready, set, GO!

Manic Monday: Leaf

This picture is exemplary of our autumn this year in Idaho. A color-shifting leaf in the still-green grass. It has been a beautiful fall this year with crisp mornings and warm, sunny afternoons. Perfect.

My mom has a huge garden... probably a quarter of an acre... in which they have row after row of corn, among other veggie-delights. They have been out of town and asked that I go and pick some corn. I picked. And picked. And picked. I might have picked three of the fifteen or so rows that they have there and I had three garbage bags full of corn! That's a lot, in case anyone was wondering. I couldn't possibly eat all this corn (plus D's been out of town so that's one more corn-eatin' mouth I was missing) so I started giving it away. I gave some to neighbors, friends, and I had something to drop off to one of my tenants so, naturally, I brought corn with me to give to them. There is a point to all of this... be patient.

I was on my cell phone so I was distracted as I walked up to their door . I knocked, realized they weren't home and hung the corn and some smoke detectors on the doorknob. I finished my phone call, and, as I walked back to my car (sans distractions), I heard it and felt it. The perfect crunch of the leaves under my feet. Without warning I was thrown back to the autumns of my childhood. My sister, Lacy, and I looking for those leaves with just the right crunch as we walked ourselves home from school. I never knew which tree they fell from, but they were small and would curl up just so after their descent from their lofty summer perch. We would seek them out and CRUNCH! For some unknown and inexplicable reason, this brought joy to our little child-hearts. The assault of memory didn't stop there...

Sounds were important to Lacy and I. Images were brought to mind of some sort of seed that dropped from some other unknown kind of tree. They were about the size and shape of a pea and we would chase around looking for that little group of seeds. When we found our treasure, we would roll our foot over them in just the right way and grin at each other. Those little seeds had a POP that was, somehow, a little bit of heaven.

Fall came and went and the season changed to winter, bringing it's own set of special sounds. The muted world of freshly fallen snow was a quiet joy that I kept all to myself, but Lacy and I had our very own fun, winter sound too. This one we had a name for. "Fun Ice" it was called. You know where a pock in the sidewalk had a little bit of snow that would melt in the daytime and freeze in the nighttime? Just a little thin sheet of ice would form and it would be hollow underneath. Or it might be in a bigger crack of the sidewalk or perhaps something in the gutter... but the important thing was the certain type of ice that would form on these imperfections in the ground. Our ten-minute walk home from school would often stretch into two hours in pursuit of "fun ice". The noise it made... a delicate crunching and popping sound was far superior to the leaf crunching or seed popping of the fall. "Fun ice" was, by far, our favorite of seasonal sounds.

But as much as "fun ice" was my favorite, I am profoundly grateful right now for the certain crunch of small leaves that I experienced Friday. It's incredible that a simple sound could bring back memories of innocent, quiet times with my gentle sister which, in turn, could have my eyes burning with almost-tears for the simple joys of being alive.

Walking Forward

It seems random.
It appears to have no rules.
It looks like a mess without order, without laws.

Stop.
Take a breath.
Look back and see perfection.
You see rightness in all the wrongness that turns out
to be not so wrong.
Simple orchestrations of little disasters, crazy frustrations, and small bursts of sunshine creating a moment by moment symphony that you only hear when you turn around.

Are you listening Now? The song is in each moment.
There is always joy.
There is always beauty.
And there is always a choice to see it.


~CL

Friday's Fabulous Five

YAY!! It's Friday again! Isn't it fantastic!

1- My husband is home again. *still working out of town midweek*
2- My children didn't have school today or yesterday and I got to sleep in a teeny tiny bit AND they've been really nice this whole week.
3- The future is feeling rosy, sunshiny, bright, happy, glorious, joyous and generally fabulous!!!
4- I bought a really cute shirt this week for $3.00 and cute jeans for $10.00.
5- Money is coming into my life more and more. Money is stalking me and I am so darned excited about it. Isn't it wonderful!!!

FABULOUSNESS IS IN ABUNDANCE! I could write so much more, but this is Friday's Fab FIVE not fifteen, fifty or five hundred...

Medicine

The Native American people believed that we receive guidance and healing messages from the animals. Squirrels have been making a major appearance in my life and so I thought I'd look up and see what "medicine" squirrel was bringing to me. I found it interesting and fun and thought you might too. Have any animals (wild) been making frequent appearances in your life?

Squirrel Medicine : Gathering

Squirrel's Wisdom Includes:

*Ability to solve puzzles
*Resourcefulness
*Quick change of direction
*Storing for the future
*Balance in gathering and getting rid of useless things/habits/people
*Discovery
*Preperation for change
*Avoiding danger by climbing to a higher place

When you observe the squirrel in nature they are always busy. They seem to have an endless supply of energy. Seldom do you see a squirrel inactive. Focused on the task at hand, agile and quick, they are constantly preparing for the future by gathering nuts and seeds for later use. Although they are always prepared for what may come they have a tendency to forget where they store things. The forgetfulness of squirrel serves as a reminder to those with this medicine to slow down, pay attention and to stop running frantically in several directions at once.

Squirrels are sociable and communicative. They can be quite vocal both in work and play. Sometimes their continual chatter disturbs the silence, which creates an air of distraction and chaos. If you find yourself disturbed by their constant chatter the squirrel is telling you to speak clearly and effectively or to go within and be still, depending on the circumstances around your situation. Their gathering nature teaches those with this totem how to reserve energy and store things for future use. Honoring the future and readying yourself for change.

Squirrel embodies the quality of trust and is one of the few animals that will eat out of a person's hand. This symbolizes a need to let down your defenses and learn to trust more. The issue of trust can play out in all areas of a person's life from personal intimacy to trusting Great Spirit. Because the squirrel is always prepared those with this medicine must remember that they will be taken care of. Establishing trust where it is presently absent would compliment the power of this medicine.

Squirrel represents balance within the circle of gathering and giving out. If squirrel has scampered into your life pay attention to the wisdom it has to offer you. Preparedness and survival skills can be learned from this powerful totem.

You Can't Help but Love It...

can you? Or at least can't help but smile and tap your foot.


I can't get enough.

From The Jar... #20

All are invited to play. If you wonder how and why go here.

Did you go on a church mission? If so where and when? What do you most remember?


Clearly, I got my journal jar from church. I thought so, but I wasn't sure until now. For any of you who might not know, I am LDS or "Mormon" and many young people in our church go on missions for two years around age 19 or 21. I didn't go on a mission anywhere or at any time and therefore, don't remember anything most. LOL!

Sometimes these questions don't quite apply to me and so I'll answer them with something from my husband's experiences, or some family member. However, my husband didn't serve a mission either and no one in my family ever has. That's kind of funny! I have some strange sense of pride that I married a guy that didn't serve a mission. It probably stems from an experience I observed with my little brother. One where he was discriminated against because he hadn't gone on a mission. How sad! It just goes to show that there is discrimination everywhere because, let's face it folks, we're all human beings. We are all messin' up all over the place and people are jerks sometimes, even if they think they are doing the right thing.

(and since I'm all about confessing lately... ok just in the last post, but that'll do... I have another confession. I once promised that I would just grab a question out of the jar and write and not choose another if I didn't feel like writing about that one, but I broke that promise tonight. I dug through like 10 of them. I chose this one cuz it was easy. Sorry for breaking my promise.)