In Memoriam: Harvey Korman

Harvey Korman died at age 81. He will be greatly missed.

This is one of my favorite Carol Burnett Show sketches. He and Tim Conway played off of each other so well. Tim could get anyone to crack up, especially Harvey. They were such a great team, and I love watching the reruns and seeing him try to keep his composure.

So please enjoy this truly classic moment in Television history.

Yet i STILL married him

I love white and nerdy dearly. He is my best friend and soul mate and we have been together over 11 years now. But over the course of our time together I have found a few things out about my man that leave me just shaking my head.

1. He has a touch of OCD. He washes his hands about 497 times a day. He washes them after making the kids breakfast, after doing laundry, after making a bowl of cereal, after tying his shoes, after setting the table, after unloading the dishwasher, and of course after potty breaks and before meal times. He washes his hands after taking out the trash, or putting out the recyclables. He woke up this morning to the alarm, and said "I had the wierdest dreams, now I have to go wash my hands"
No, it wasnt some sort of erotic dream, or anything like that, in his dream he was digging through the trash(and found 20 bucks!), so when he woke up he felt dirty, violated and sick. SO yes, he DREAMS of trash and it makes him wash his hands.

2. When we met he didnt like Chinese food. Honestly, that was ALMOST a deal breaker.
We would go out and I would try and get him to go out to a chinese restaurant and he would stubbornly refuse. "I just dont like chinese food. I have had terrible experiences and I just cant eat it." So after a little more poking and prodding and needling I find the REAL story. WHen he was like 7 he went to a chinese restaurant in EL PASO TEXAS that wasnt any good. So in the remaining 17 years he refused to eat chinese food. So I finally forced him to go with me, he fell in love and now I can't get him AWAY from chinese food.

3. He is completely UN-handy. All the curtain rods, pictures, bookshelves etc are because of ME. Up until about 6 months ago he was so hopeless with power tools and the complete opposite of being handy. We owned all the tools and drills etc, but he rarely used them. Finally, while helping my dad install blinds, he got a crash course on the ways of manliness and power tools. So we're getting there...and it only took 11 years!!

4. He hates ABBA. Again, almost a deal breaker. I personally LOVE ABBA. I Love them. In fact I love them so much I have even seen "ABBA: The Movie" several times. Charles on the other hand barely tolerates them. However the ironic thing is this: One of his favorite Musicals is "Chess"(London version). The music for chess was written by none other than Benny and Bjorn from ABBA, and most of that music has the typical ABBA beat and style. So how he can say he hates ABBA, yet loves Chess is beyond me. Sometimes I will purposely listen to ABBA when he is around, just so he has Chiquitita or Super Trooper stuck in his head all day. Someday I WILL get him to admit he likes them."If you change your mind(take a chance) Im the first in line(take a chance)...take a chance take a chance take a chance chance"

5. He doesnt like onions. A Long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away he went to taco bell and had a burrito with onions. He claims the onions gave him really bad gas and a stomach ache, so now, even to this day, 18 years later, he cant eat onions. Everywhere he goes to eat, "no onions" When I cook I throw in onions and even if I have cooked them so much they no longer have flavor, he has this mental block and it turns him green. We eat a lot of sweet vidalias, which really have very little onion flavor. He seriously starts getting stomach cramps just THINKING about onions. He makes comments like "pretty good. Would have been better without the onions". But if he DOES eat onions at a japanese restaurant or whatnot, he makes a point of telling me "Look honey! I'm eating my onions. Arent you proud of me?" Yes,so proud. Now where did I put your medal??

6.He walks around barefoot 24/7. He comes from a barefoot family. He would mow the lawn barefoot if I would let him.
He really likes to be barefoot. He has about 3 inch thick callouses and dead skin on his feet from it too. I want to take him to the nail salnon to get a man-pedicure. I would love to see that Vietnamese slip of a girl tackle THOSE bad boys. They are like frodo from Lord of the Rings

7. He speaks fluent Portugese(having lived in Brazil). We have a fairly large Brazilian population here and if he hears someone speaking portugese he will find an excuse to talk to them in their native tongue. Of course they are always so surprised that this white and nerdy gringo speaks Brazilian Portugese it is quite humourous. Example: we were at an ice cream store and a group of brazilians walked in. They were looking at the flavours and one was trying to explain to the other group hat passionfruit was. He couldnt think of the portugese word for it(or he didnt know what the english word meant so he couldnt translate) Charles jumps right in and says "blah blah blah blah blah". The could have dropped dead there right on the floor. But they were grateful and were shocked at the same time.I know in their head they were thinking "where on earth did he learn that?"

8. He speaks his foreign words with an over pronouced accent. It really used to bother me, now I am just used to it. We go to a mexican restaurant an he super pronounces everything. Kind of Giada De Laurentis on the Food Network. Burrito(which I pronounce burr-ree-toe) becomes Boor-dee-toh)(the r and d are kind of rolled together)
En-chill-lah-duh becomes En-chi-la-da etc etc etc. Remember those kids in your foreign language classes who thought they were so great because they would over pronunciate everything? yeah, he does that.

9. He is SUPER WHITE. I don't mean white bread or typical stereotype white guy dancing(although thats true too). I mean, he is WHITE. We had one of our friends say "Man, Charles you are so white I dont know where your legs leave off and your socks begin!"
We are talking bike reflector white. Dont take him out in the bright sunlight, you will get snow blindness. He cant tan. He has two colors: white and red. There is very little in between. His arms can get a little color, but thats after a full summer out in the sun. Even in HAWAII he couldnt get a tan.


10. He is a pack rat and trash picker. If I try and throw stuff away he will pull it OUT of the trash and say "Hey we can still use this".(Then he will go and promptly wash his hands)
When we got married we received SEVERAL blenders, mixers, food processors etc. We kept them for about 6 years. Finally one day I went through, pulled out the ones we never used and put them in a box. I put them out by the dumpster with a note saying "free to a good home". He comes home from work and says "Oh there was a box of appliances out there someone was throwing away. I would have brought them in, but I know we already have like 3 of everything". He found out a year later that they were ours.
When we were moving into our house and were packing up, I deliberately waited until he was gone before I started de-junking and throwing stuff away. I threw out some old clothesa nd towels and my roller blades that didnt even FIT anymore. When he got home from work he came in, my roller blades in hand from the dumpster and said "Look what someone was throwing out! They are still in perfectly good condition and they are big enough they might fit you!" My friend Amy happened to be there at the time and she just cracked up. She looked at me and said "I totally thought you were joking about his habit!".
We have a whole house FULL of "we might use that again someday"s, and "I will lose enough weight to fit into that again" and "It's broke? i might be able to fix it. I'll get to it later".
No matter how hard I try to throw things away, they always find a way BACK into the house.

One more funny story. He may drive me crazy, but he makes me laugh.

My kids had a Buzz Lightyear costume from Disney store. It came with that purple stretch lycra cap that you put on your head and velcro under your chin. Well one day he was doing laudry, got undressed, and put on a pair of tighty whitey underwear. He pulled the purple cap all the way over his big head and velcroed it under his chin. He jumps out of the laundry room in nothing but underwear and a purple cap. He puts his hand on his waist, sucks in his gut, puffs out his chest and says "I'm Buzz Lightyear!".
I had to change my pants I laughed so hard. Now every time I see that purple cap laying around (because our kids may shrink 10 inches and they would wear that costume again you know) I just laugh until I cry.

So those were just a few silly quirks and funny things the man in my life does. It certainly makes my life more interesting. I wouldnt be as happy as I am without him in my life.(awwww, arent I mooshy??)
I love you White and Nerdy!

My Favorite pieces of Jewelry

I made this bracelet for my mom for Her Birthday 7 months ago. I made it in Pink and White as my mother is a Breast Cancer survivor. I thought it would be appropriate. Plus she wears a lot of pink.

She has NEVER worn it. My feelings are a little bit hurt, to be quite honest.
Should I ask for it back, or Would that be rude?

I mean why keep it locked up or in a jewelry box?

Do you think she is just keeping it to be nice, or will she actually wear it one day? I know that I would wear it, and I know she likes this kind of jewelry. Maybe she is just afraid she will break it. Mom, I make jewelry, I can repair it!

I used Czech Fire Polished faceted rounds, cats eye, swarovski glass pearls, and sterling silver daisy spacers, rounds and bead caps. Had I bought this at Nordstroms it would have been $50! I am thinking about recreating it in aquamarine and in a baby blue.

----------------------------------------

I made and sold this necklace quite awhile ago, but really loved it.

I think I may recreate it in a pink or green or even a white/silver. It is 6 strand seed bead and glass bead necklace with swarvski crystal and sterling silver. the seed beads are cobalt, turquoise and aqua and the glass beads are various glass beads.

The clasp is what I love most about it. It is a sterling silver filigree adjustable clasp. I went back to the bead shop where I purchased it and she no longer has it in stock. I am bummed.

-------------------------------------------------

I LOVED this piece(which I sold almost 2 years ago, but am STILL trying to find a way to recreate it. ) I can't find the mother of Pearl buttons with the single hole drilled into the center. This was a 12 strand MOP coin and transparent lime green seed beads. I just loved it and was sad to part with it. Maybe someday I can find the right beads I need to have another one.

It was the greatest necklace, it went with EVERYTHING: pink, blue, green, black, purple. I dont think there was an outfit it COULDN'T match to be quite honest.

So if anyone knows where I can get about 500 of these little MOP coins single center drilled, please leave me a comment!

I made this bracelet from Blue Moon Beads. Any craft store carries them(Michaels and A.C. Moore have a great selection...bring a coupon)

Sterling silver wire, czech fire polish faceted rounds, and the blue moon foil slabs and various E-beads and sterling silver rounds. The clasp is a Blue Moon cast metal posey toggle clasp.

I really liked how it turned out, and it goes to show you dont need expensive beads or findings or fixings to make cool jewelry. This is like a chain link bracelet. Each bead "set" is on it's own sterling silver wire and it links to the next bead set.

----------------------------------------

I also really was pleased with how these turned out. To me they had kind of a vintage feel and reminded me of something my grandmother would have in her jewelry box.

Red Jasper and Swarovski glass pearls with sterling silver filigree bead caps and sterling silver rounds. All on Sterling earwires.

I found the jasper rounds in a bargain Bin at a local bead shop and they shouted my name. The pealrs are actually not white, they are more of an ivory. So the creamy ivory and the dark red really go well together.

I totally wish I wore earrings.

Anyone want to go to Claires with me to get my ears pierced??

Maybe it is just me but I LOVE big bold jewelry. I love multi strand and large nugget jewelry.

BTW Shanda, the necklace you had on last night at Book club was totally cute.

Enjoy!

Oh Poop

I had a previous post about why I will never win a mother of the year award (something about a photoshoppd picture and telling my 4 year old we already went to disney world)
Now let me tell you why i SHOULD win one.

Poop.

One tiny word. One human by-product than can either make you or break you.

Saturday night 3am: "help. dad. help.dad. help. dad.daaaaad. heeeelllllppp!"
Charles gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom to find Finn COVERED in poop. And not a nice logger poop, but kind of that mushy soft sticky poop that gets everywhere. You could have patched a roof with it.
"Oh Crap" (literally) says hubby as he lifts finn into the shower. still mostly clothed.

I struggle to get my rear in gear and head into the bathroom and this is what I find.

1. Finn in a nightshirt and socks only, with poop all on his rear and legs, smeared on his socks and all over his nightshirt. I find toilet paper sticking to the poop and it is all over his hands and fingers. He is standing in the bathtub wondering what to do next, crying. He is almost 5 years old and has never had a poop accident. He has been potty trained for 2 1/2 years and never had a problem. He was just so embarassed. Apparently he was asleep and dreaming and pooped in his sleep. But he woke up, made it to the bathroom and tried to clean it up himself as best he could. i am really thankful that he had the presence of mind to call us in before things got much worse.

2. I find his soiled underwear on the tile floor, poop down(is poopy underwear like buttered bread?) I pick up the underwear and leave a glob of poo on the floor. It is in the grout, on the rug, smeared on the toilet seat and wall, just everything is covered in poop.

3.Charles, green around the gills, holding it in before he gags. On a related side note, charles and I have an unspoken agreement. He gets barf, I get poop. He handles barf WAY better than poop, whereas I handle poop so much better than barf. It is a nice arrangement. Except at 315 am when i am tired and grouchy.

So Charles goes off to make sure there is no poop footprints or anyhting on the bed sheets etc. He brings me up the all purpose cleaner and disinfectant. I clean up the surroundings as best I can, wipe it down and spray my tea tree oil mixture to kill the germs.
I undress finn, getting more poop on him in process. I threw away his underwear as I refuse to wash any kind of stuff like that. I would rather buy a new pack of underwear than deal with cleaning his old ones out.

Charles takes out the trash to the outside bin as I give Finn a shower and get all the poop cleaned off. I got it out from under his fingernails and bellybutton. I got it off his legs, thighs, feet, ankles, tushie etc. Thank goodness for a hand held showerhead! I put him at the back of the tub, bent him over and let the showerhead and its various settings do all the work. Surprisingly it was a lot harder than I thought. That stuff was stubborn and sticky! But I finally got it off, pulled him out and dried him off, and sent him back to bed. It was 335.
I did a quick rinse of the tub and sprayed it down with cleaner and disinfectant. I got back to bed at 345.
I was awake pretty much the rest of the morning.
So in honor of Poop, here is one of the funniest moments in Scrubs history: Everything Comes Down to Poo


So I may torture my kids with fake vacations, but I also get up in the middle of the night and clean up poop.

1 point going to hell
3 points good mom!

Pictures as Promised

This past memorial weekend we had a great time.
Friday night we went to a friends house for a cook out and some games and fun. There was a campfire and smores and all the good stuff in life.





This is Finn roasting his marshmellows. He likes his the way I make mine. Stick them into the flames until they ctach fire. Blow them out and eat. I LOVE the carbon crunchy black residue and burnt sugar. Oh sweet mystery of Life.
There really is nothing better than a flaming marshmellow.


Sunday after church we went out to Francis Beatty Park and had a cook out with my mom and dad. It was HOT HOT HOT. We went for a little hike in the woods and came across this "cave?"
The boys got in and started telling Ghost stories. Finn is so funny when he tells them too. He starts out in a whisper (words in BOLD are shouted)
"Once upon a time there was a DINOSAUR! And he went around and ATE PEOPLE ! MWAH HA HA HA HA!" Peters scary stories usually involve the words "dark and stormy night" and "Transformers".




Here is Peter in the woods, asking if he can just go pee in the bushes instead of walking all the way up to the restrooms. Because I am lazy and did not want to get out of the shade, I let him water the forest.

Finn played so hard he fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting into the car. He was OUT. Of course he popped right awak as it was time to get out of the car and go into the house.
So we all sat on the couch and watched the movie "Underdog".(WORST Villains EVER!)




.So that was a nutshell of my weekend.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Gardening Monday

It is Memorial Weekend, so we have been out and about as a family doing fun things etc, so I will post some of those later this week.

In the Meantime, here are some pictures from my garden. It is coming along nicely.

These are some tomatoes from my Roma plants. I love these little guys. Grow my pretties, for you shall soon be salsa!! I dont have a set Salsa recipe. I just throw in whatever looks good.

I have 5 varieies of tomatoes growing, so I use a mixture. Then I chop an onion (sweet usually, but have used yellow and purple before), add peppers (jalapeno or the garden salsa pepper), cilantro, and lots of garlic. I add salt and pepper to taste and I pour half of it into the food processor to get "creamy" and leave the other half chunky. I add them together for a perfect blend. I made about 6 quarts os Salsa last year before the drought took my tomatoes. So this year I plan on eating salsa ALL SUMMER LONG!

I am currently growing jalapenos, Anaheim peppers and Poblano peppers. The poblanos are VERY mild and used for stuffing and making rellenos. I already have a penny sized peppers growing my one of my poblano plants! The Anaheim peppers have a great flavor and are a fairly mild pepper, spicier than a Poblano but milder than a jalapeno. Great for kids salsa! I dont have any pictures of my peppers right now though. I need to get back out there with my camera.

This is my Bean Garden.

In the center with the wierd looking hillbilly trellises I made, are Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. I made those trellises out of tomato cages, stakes and garden twine. I LOVE Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. They are the perfect green bean for fresh, cooked,frozen or canned beans. I have grown them for the past 3 seasons. Season One I had more beans than I knew what to do with. I was harvesting and eating beans daily. Season two I harvested a little, then the drought came and everything burned up. I have about 8 of these plants, which will give me a bountiful harvest.

On the outer row along each edge I planted Blue Lake Bush Beans. These are beans that need no staking or trellising. These Stringless hearty beans are so sweet and have such a great flavor. I am looking forward to canning this season. I have never grown these before, so it will be a new experience for me. Everything in my bean plot has been started from seed, so these are really my babies. I have 10 of the bush beans planted.

I also have zucchini and yellow summer squash. They are both blossoming and looking great as well. I even have little teeny weenie babies on each plant! This is actually one of my zucchini plants but both zucchini and the yellow squash look exactly like this, so you get the idea. They all have blossoms and have fruits starting. Zucchini and squash are so easy to grow. I have grown zucchini for the past 3 years. They are pretty much a love em and leave em plant. Dont have to do much work and they reward you with squash. We stir fry zucchini and summer squash. I cut into coins and sautee them in a little bit of olive oil and garlic. Then when they start to get soft I add a bit of terriyaki sauce. I top them with grated parmesan cheese. If you dont have terriyaki sauce you can use soy sauce with a bit of sugar mixed in. Squash is so versatile. Bread, soups, stews, stirfry. You cant go wrong with squash.

I will update with more pictures as my gardening season progresses. Hope you enjoyed my garden pictures and I will update throughout the summer. I hope you have enjoyed this holiday edition of Sarah's Garden!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!

Why I will never win a mother of the year award

So, I got tired of Finn asking when we were going to Disney World.(October)

"When do we go? Thats going to take FOREVER! I want to go! I want to go on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin! Hey mom, when are we going to Disney World?" (He pronounces it disney Ward)

So back in January I took a picture of Charles and I in front of Cinderellas Castle and took a picture of Super Finn and photoshopped them together.

He asked me for the 9,427th time how many days we had until "Disney Ward" and I said "What do you mean? We already went!"

His little face crumpled and he stared at me with incredulous eyes, "You went without me?" His little lip quivered , and Then he smiled and said "You're just teasing me mom!"

So, I pulled up the picture on the computer and said, "No, look! See there you are in front of Cinderellas Castle at The Magic Kingdom! You had so much fun! We were right here on Main Street. Remember the dressed up people on the trolleys singing Main Street USA? And we went to the bakery and had a donut and you got a Mickey Mouse Shaped Waffle? Then we came out and Peter took the camera and took this picture of us in front of the castle. Then we went and rode Splash Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and we went to the Country Bears Jamboree. Dont you remember?

He looked at it and thought "Why am I wearing my superhero cape and mask?" I could see the little cogs and wheels turning in his mind. After all I had irrefutible proof. A photo of HIM at Disney World.

I told him he wanted to wear his super hero cape and mask because he wanted to help Save the princesses from the bad guys.

"Oh. I dont remember (or in his case "bemember") Did I meet Mickey?"

"oh yeah, you sure did. He was big and you were kind of scared, but you had a great time. We had a great trip. Dont you remember? But it is kind of expensive, so we're not going back to Disney World for a long time."

I could just tell he was trying to process the information. He didnt remember a thing, yet here I was with a picture. He had been waiting so long to go to Disney World and how on earth had he missed it?

So I asked him again, "Remember when you met mickey? You were kind of scared and didnt want to go meet him, but then you and Peter went up and both gave him a hug? Remember going on Mission space at Epcot? We blasted off like Astronauts to Mars?" I went on citing several more realistic examples, further scarring my child and implanting false memories.

Finally he said "where are the pictures of Peter?"

Darn. Now I am off to photoshop....

I am totally going to hell.

Old Main Hill Sledding

During the winter months, Northern Utah gets quite dumped on with snow. The skiing is fabu, there is sledding, there is snowboarding and tubing...there are also bored Utah state college students with a hill and a matress.

One such winter of 1994 a group of roommates and friends from Valley View and Mountain View Dorms decided to take a little study break and head on over to Old Main Hill on campus. Old Main Hill is the main hill where the "Old Main" building is. The picture looks pretty tame, but in actuality it is a rather broad, sloping hill that steepens and is ended by a concrete wall that drops down a few feet to the sidewalk and onto the road. When I went to school there, they used to put hay bales in front of the wall to soften the blow and to keep people from hurting themselves. This particular night the hay bales were covered in snow and made almost a little ramp over the concrete wall. Plus they were frozen, so they were just as rock hard as the concrete wall themselves.

We headed out with little plastic roll up sleds from Smiths and cardboard boxes that we salvaged from the recycling room. We trudged over to Old Main to discover we were not the only ones with the ideas to go sledding. There had been so much snow, we actually had classes cancelled. Out in Utah there has to be practically apocalyptic proportions of snow for people to even blink. I will tell you after this one particular snowfall I needed thigh high boots.

So we are sledding and having a great time, pretty tame. the snow had been packed down, the sledding was fun. Then the mattress kings showed up. This was a group of young men who lived off campus who had this old ratty full sized mattress that they brought out for special sledding occasions. They stood at the top declaring themselves King of the hill and 4 of them jumped on the bed and sped down Old Main Hill and bringing themselves to a halt right before hitting the wall at the bottom. They dragged their "sled" back up and asked if anyone wanted to go for a ride. I think it was My roommate,"Zab" and I who decided to have a go at it. (Zab was short for Elizabeth. When we first met she said "my name is elizabeth. Dont call me Liz, dont call me beth" so I said "can I call you zab?" It stuck. Anyhoo....) Like I said I THINK it was Zab, it may have been Diane or Amy. i honestly cant remember. So for all intents and purposes of this story, I shall keep the character Zab.

She and I piled on with the 3 mattress kings and another person. We were given a shove to get started.
The mattress slowly started to creep down the hill,then hit it's stride about 1/3 of the way down. Since there were 6 of us on the mattress, we were weighed down pretty heavy and this sled was using our weight as some sort of momentum. We were going faster and faster and faster, and I could see the brick wall was getting closer and closer. The kings were trying to stick their heels into the ground to get the juggernaut slowed down, but the hill just mocked our despair and urged our out of control vehicle to go even faster. Mattress King #1 started yelling "Oh no! Oh no! Oh No!" As his oh-nos got more and more frantic, his voice got higher and higher pitched and his words faster and faster, almost like our matress hurtling down the hill to our inevitable spleen ruptures and concussions.
Mattress King #2 started throwing out cuss words as he continued to try and dig the heel of his cowboy boot into the iced down path that we were taking. (i swear by the end of that trip the heel of his cowboy boot had been filed down into some sort of deformed shape)
Mattress King #3 just sat there, paralyzed with fear and shock. He was gibbering some sort of last words, praying in tongues or possibly his life was flashing before his eyes. He was pretty useless, crying for his mommy and apologizing for all his wrong-doings, bargaining with God to spare his life.
Finally Zab in her wisdom starts yelling "Bail! Bail! Bail" She is smacking everyone, starling them out of their last moments here on earth. "Bail! Bail! Bail!"

The other guest on our trip closed his eyes and fell over sideways, falling off the mattress like a water skiier hitting the water at 90 miles an hour, skittering over the surface to come to his final resting place. Zab pushed The paralyzed matress king off his perch, and he too went flying off bouncing off the ice as we continued to hurtle down the hill at breakneck speed.. She and I each grabbed a remaining matress king by the arms, threw them off and then rolled off, sliding, rolling, bumping down the rest of the hill.(Kind of like Wesley in The Princess Bride..."Aaaaaaassssssss yoooooouuuuuu wiiiiiiissssshhhhh!" )

I got kicked in the head and elbowed in the eye and hit my jaw on the packed snow and ice. We came to rest almost nose to nose at the wall of frozen hay bales. We got up, took a head count and realized we were all still alive, all accounted for with only a few scrapes and bruises. As we shook ourselves off and helped the three fallen kings, we realized the matress was nowhere in sight. It had hit the wall, flipped upright and dumped itself on the street below.
People were cheering and "I'm next!" and "That was awesome!"

The entire length of the ride: 12 seconds. It seemed like forever.

We helped the kings retrieve the matress and carry it back up Old Main on our shoulders, like warriors returning to the village with our spoils over our heads.

Mattress Kings regained their composure at the top of the hill and the rest of the night limited the number of people on the matress to 4 at a time. I cant tell you how many times I went Matress sledding that night, but every time I go sledding now(you know in the south where we just get a ton of snow) I think of the mattress kings and I can hear zab screaming in my ear "Bail! Bail! Bail!"

This picture was from the Utah statesman . Sledding down the Old main Hill has been a tradition since the University opened in 1888. I miss it sometimes.

Target Dollar Section

I got the greatest bag at Target. Stonecrest Shopping Center on Rea Rd here in charlotte. Right now they are having a 75% off green dot sale in their dollar section. But in the 2.50 cent bins they had a bunch of beachy stuff. They had this woven straw tote bag. It is pretty big with two sturdy handles and the inside is lined wiyh a fuchsia polka-dot cotton. It is just perfect. I then proceeded to fill my 2.50 tote up with 25 cent items, such as copper plant markers for my garden, a teeny terracotta pot with chives to grow on my windowsill, and a hand held garden rake(it has a pink handle too!). So for a whoping $3.50 i was set.

Let me tell you about my purchases:

The copper plant markers give my garden an air of sophistication now. la dee da.When Charles and i were first married and living in cincinnati I worked at Discovery Comunications in Kentucky. I worked in the Catalog division and was in customer service and took orders for Smith and Hawken, Discovery Channel and The nature company. At Smith and Hawken we used to sell Copper plant markers, and a set of 6 would cost you about $10. These look just as good and I got 10 markers for 50 cents.
It really does make the garden look fancy shmancy.

I didnt expect much out of the countertop chives, to be quite honest. Good thing they were only a quarter. i guess I can dream. Maybe one day I can expand my real garden and include herbs instead of hoping these little pots will produce.

The hand held rake is actually really nice. It is perfect for raking up those straggling weeds, plus it is pink, always a bonus. It is sturdy without being too heavy and has a nice spongy wrap around the wooden handle.

But the thing I love the most is my bag. It is roomy. It is sturdy. I used it for Church carrying music books. I took it to the library. I have been taking it to the stores so I dont come home with plastic bags. I took it to the home economist and loaded it down with 5 pounds of wheat berries, a bag of pumpkin seeds and a bag of sunflower seeds(I am zinc deficient), 2 tubs of the fresh smooshed peanut butter and almond butter and a thing of gummi bears(They were for the kids...HONEST)

I then took it to Trader Joes. If you bring your own bag to Trader Joes right now you are entered into a raffle to win a bag full of TJ favorites. I dont know if it is something they do regularly, or when it ends, but I am gunning for a win.And my winning bag had better include those schoolbox cookies. i am utterly addicted to them.

I am looking forward to taking it to the pool. It is big enough for towels and sunscreen. The thing is it was so cheap that I can go get another one if something happens to this one. In fact I may go back to target today JUST to get another bag to be on the safe side.

Gotta love the Bullseye!!

the two things that made me happy yesterday:

1. We got an AWESOME thunderstorm here last night. We were in Tornado warnings and the rain was so heavy you couldnt see anything. i LOVE a good thunderstorm. There is something so majestic and scary about lightning and thunder. I could just sit and watch a lightning storm over TV any day.

2.Peter had another good day at school yesterday. He also got a new brace for his right foot, so he has been walking better with it as well, not so crooked. It keeps his right foot a little more sturdy and forces his left foot from turning so much inwards. So I am very happy for that.

Things that make me happy this week

I find that in general I am a fairly cynical person. My glass tends to be half empty, my clouds never have a silver lining and I feel I am always saying "why me". So Instead of focusing on the negatives, here are 11 positives that make me happy.


1. Trader Joe's Cinnamon Schoolbook Cookies. "They're elementary, My dear Joe."
Each 1lb tub comtains cinnamon cookies in the shapes of the alphabet and 0-9. These little bite size wonders are fairly low calorie and taste like a crunchier version of snickerdoodles. You get 15 for 3 weight watchers points. A great little snack that satiates my sweet tooth yet keeps my points in reason.



2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. TCM was playing this the other night so I sat and watched it for the 300th time. Let me tell you why I love this movie. The acting is terrible, the musical segues are hilarious and Above all else, Benjamin. I also like saying the name Dorcas. Why Dorcas Gailen! The backdrops are so obviously fake and when the actors move or sing or dance it is glaringly obvious. There is no musical segue at all. They will be talking and next thing you know they are singing. (oh adam, Im just so happy la la la la la) I love those 7 big, brawny brawling men (why those pontipee men are all as tall as church steeples). I love when Howard Keel(Adam) is singing Bless your beautiful hide and he says "howdy ma'am" and she says "Well howdy backwoodsman". But the most important reason I Love 7BF7B is Benjamin Pontipee, played by Jeff Richards. He was so drop dead gorgeous. He wasnt a singer or dancer. They hired him because he was tall and they needed a tall man to play opposite Julie Newmar(Dorcas). You see him sing, you see him "kind" of dance, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty he usually stands in the background looking pretty doing conga thumbs.He was the brawler. He was always the one to step in and deck someone and take out 4 of his friends in the process. sigh. i love the women standing around in the middle of winter wearing their underthings and petticoats, dancing around singing "oh they say when you marry in June...". I love Millie wearing a patchwork quilt as a skirt, expecting a baby sitting in a rocking chair as if she is some sort of invalid. I love Howard Keels big booming laugh. This is just a great movie. My neice, Denice, and I used to sit and watch it and just do an entire Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it. good times. Can't want to see you in July Denice!!

3. Big Lots. I got Coppertone spray on sunscreen for $5! Usually it is 9 or 10 at the other stores. I also got a giant bx of corn pops, a giant box of cheerios for 2$ each. Cant beat Big Lots.

4. Finn. I was listening to the Top Gun soundtrack and Berlin's "Take my breath Away" came on. I was singing and Finn said "Hey mom? Why does she want her breath taken away? Wouldn't she die?" Also he is the king of asking the same question over and over, just in different ways. Did you have video games when you were little? No. only when you were big? when you were little did you have old video games? just new ones when you were big? you didnt like video games when you were little? Just when you were big. Why didnt you like video games when you were little and only when you were big? Did you not have a video game machine when you were little with old games? My mothers curse has come to fruition, he IS just like me. But he is as sweet as can be and funnier than poop on your shoe. He is always coming up with the funniest things to ask or say. And he is so loving and sweet. Sometimes he will just come up and hug me and say "I love you mom" and not be trying to butter me up for something he saw on Television. He is also the peacemaker with Peter. He will do whatever Peter wants just so Peter will play with him. He just loves and worships his big brother and is always saying "hey Peter look at this! Hey Peter! Hey Peter!"

5. The Red Leather Diary by lily Koppel. I am not happy because it was a great book, , I am happy that I am DONE reading it. Dont get me wrong, I enjoyed it. It just wasnt my cup of tea. i enjoyed the pictures and the background and I appreciated that she was so open. In fact there were parts that I could completely relate to her. BUT she was one of those wild cards that I just didnt understand her way of thinking or reasoning. Maybe I need to pull my prissie panties out of my tush and have a more open mind. I will wait to see what the other ladies thought of it at Book Club next week.

6. School is almost out and the pool opens full time soon!! Yay for the Y!! I apologize in advance to all the patrons of the Y who will soon see the great white whale. i am in the turqoise floral swimsuit. You will recognize me. I am reflective white and look like I escaped from Sea World. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will look more like a Walrus than Ahab's Obsession!

7. My garden is thriving. I already have tomatoes starting and peppers starting. I had the first blossoms on my squash and my beans are starting to send out their feelers. It is all looking so well and I am very hopeful. I have been very attentive and have been composting like crazy. In fact we put out our pulp from our juicer daily. Every day we walk past the compost bin you see a huge black fruit fly cloud. Dont walk to close or you will suck them in and swallow one(personal experience) Fruit flies do NOT taste like chicken.

8. Good Hair day. I dont know what it is. I got lucky I guess. At least I have one thing going for me.

9. Pedicure. I got a pedicure for Mothers Day last week. My feet have never looked or felt so good. It has been 2 years since my last pedicure. I am sure the woman doing my feet was thrilled to have to saw through an inch of dead calloused skin. But they are so smooth and pretty now. i need to get one of those foot baths and do them at home to keep my feet looking pretty.

10. The Home Economist. Health food and organic store in the area. They have just about every spice and herb in bulk, every rice and grain known to man. every salt, sugar and flour available on the market. We buy our wheat berries there to grow our own wheatgrass. 1.29 a pound, which will last us almost a month. You cant beat it. Well they now have the Nut Butter machine. In one side is fresh peanuts. In the other side is fresh almonds. You pick which butter you want, pick your container and push the button. The machine smooshes the nuts and out pops fresh peanut butter or fresh almond butter. No sugar or salt added, no chemicals or preservatives. It is so good I cant even describe it.

11. I have lost 4 pounds. YAY. Weight Watchers really works if you follow it carefully, measure out food and exercise. Did you know that 5 minutes on the Trampoline is like a brisk 15 minute walk?? So I think I can magane to squeeze in 10 minutes of tramp time a day and hit the Y for water aerobics or spinning or Zumba.(I will be the fat uncoordinated one in back trying to shake my groove thang)

So those were just a few things that have made me happy this past week.

Every day I will find at least 2 good things about the day or something that has made me happy.

what makes you happy?

The Psychic connection

There are two people I am positive that i am psychicly connected to.

#1 is lindsey. When we were 15 we ended our 3 year "I hate you" feud and realized we actually really liked each other and were inseparable. We Liked the same movies, music and books. We had a MILLION inside jokes, and liked to sneak down to Chicago when the Naval Base had their Leave. We would dress up, put on fake French accents and try and meet sailors. Hiya men!

We got banned from sitting next to each other in church as well.

We used to hate the same people and draw mean pictures of them and write mean poems and lyrics about them (HINT: do not leave this list where people can find it...BAD IDEA! People dont like finding out you have been talking about them behind their backs...) After this Ill-fated disaster we were not allowed to play together for an entire month. We could talk on the phone for 15 minutes and that was it. At Young Womens every Wednesday night we were allowed to say Hi to each other and we could hang out as long as we were chaperoned. I missed my lindsey so badly I ached. She was the best friend i had ever had.

But it was wierd. Every time I would pick up the phone to call her she would answer and say "Oh My Gosh! I had the phone in my hand to call you!" And it wasnt a coincidence. It wasnt at the same time every day or anything like that. Just random times throughout the days I would think "I need to talk to lindsey" and boom, the phone would ring, or I would pick up the phone and start dialing and I would hear "Hello hello hello??" The phone hadnt even rung on my end and I picked it up to dial her number and she was already on the line. Even now, 17 years later we STILL do that.

Then when we were about 16 years old I found a book about psychics and how to develop your psychic powers. After Lindsey and I were allowed to play together again, we used to practice. That way if we got grounded from each other again we could still talk to each other, kind of like those twins on Escape to witch Mountain. We practiced on Sending shapes. She would concentrate and think of a shape and I could visualize what shape she was thinking about.

We used to freak out her little sister and her friends. Lindsey would be on one side of the garage with Ashley and her friends and Ashley would whisper some odd shape, like "Rhombus" or "Trapezoid" and Lindsey would think about it. I would close my eyes and concentrate and about 95% of the time we were correct. We could do the same with colors as well. Lindsey was a great sender but a mediocre receiver. I was a great receiver but a lousy sender. Our psychic bond was best when she sent and I received.

Ashley and her friends were convinced it was somehow a scam or trick and that we were sending hints or clues to each other. They made one of us go in the house, or be blindfolded or go behind a screen or something. Somehow it was a trick and they were going ot expose us as the con artists we were. But we werent. It was just this odd connection we have. Strange huh? We havent done psychic sending in years, I wonder if we could still do it?? Lindsey, I am sending you a shape!!

#2 is charles(White and nerdy)(and whipped cant forget that). Ever since the day I met him I knew we were somehow linked. I first met Charles on Feb 7, 1997. It was at a Single Adult Dance at church. I had never seen him before, but when i walked in and was introduced I sensed immediately that there was a connection. i cant describe it. Up until that point I had completely stayed away from those dances and activities. I had a boyfriend and wasnt interested in dating or getting to know any men, in fact the only reason I was there was to have an excuse not to babysit that night for them fmaily I nannied for.
All night I sensed that Charles wanted to ask me to dance. During the Ladies choice he followed me around and in my head I could hear him saying, "Come on, ask me. Come on ask me!". But I didnt. Just to be mean(and a little to boose my self esteem) I walked to various parts of the room, just to watch him follow me around.(I am a total jerkface for doing that, I know)
The last dance I thought to myself "If you want to dance with me you had better ask". Next thing I know someone asks me to dance right as Charles came up. I picked the other person to dance with, as he had gotten to me first. In my mind I thought "Next time ask earlier" Honestly I thought I saw his head shake, like he was agreeing with what i had mentally chided him. I dont think thats what he was shaking his head at. It was probably some nerdy form of the running man from the neck up. Who knows.

A few weeks later he got my telephone number from a mutual friend and called me. He asked how long I had been living in Cincinnati and I told him 6 months. His comment was "You have been living here for 6 months and I am just now meeting you?? Thats Crazy!"
there was a brief pause and then, At the EXACT same time we both started singing Patsy Clines "Crazy". We were on the exact same note, the exact same pitch, everything. Now I dont normally sing when i hear words or anything, but when he said that word "crazy" , Patsy Cline jumped into my head and before I could stop myself I was blurting out her song...right along with charles. We both kind of stopped and started laughing. It was the most unusual phone call I have ever had.
He asked me out and the following night we went out on a date. We got lost on our way to where we were going so I said "Hey Chuck E Cheese is around here, want to go play Air Hockey?" He kind of looked at me funny and said "Are you kidding? i LOVE air hockey?" We ordered Pizza with Tomatoes and Mushrooms(according to him those are HIS fave toppings as well.) Over the next month he would show up as I was thinking about how I would love to see him, or I would think "I wish charles would call" and boom the phone would ring. I would be driving home with the kids from some activity and I would think "It would be nice if Charles were there waiting for me when we got home" and I would pull in the driveway and there was Buffy, charles piece of crap Mercury Topaz. I knew from the 1st date I would marry him. He knew from the 2nd, but took a month to finally ask me(while watching Days of Our lives in the living room of my employers house while the kids were at school) romantic huh? Yet i KNEW he was going to ask me that day. I knew he was going to give me his claddagh ring until we could go get a real ring. I was expecting it. so when he pulled off his silver claddagh I wasnt even nervous. I was thinking "Well its about time!"
we finished each others sentences etc. Even now over 11 years later we STILL have a wierd connection.
We will be sitting around and I will think to myself "Man i am craving chinese food". A few minutes later he will be like "You want chinese food dont you?" He can do that with ANy food I am craving, ice cream etc. Just out of the blue he will pop some random food or snack and say "you want such and such huh?"
Actually just a few days ago all morning I was thinking "Man I REALLY want Generals Chicken". Dont know why. He came into the piano room and said "You want Chinese food again".
I just kind of started at him through slit eyes and said "Oh you think you are so smart!"
He can be gone all day at work and come home and say "I have mmm-bop stuck in my head or "I cant get Hey there delilah out out of my head I have been singing it all day". It will happen to be the same song I myself have been singing all day. Weird random sings, like Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog, or Toast! by Heywood Banks. The wierdest one was "elle a fait un bebe toute seule" , a french song by J J Goldman. He doesnt even know the words except elle a fait un bebe toute seule, elle a fait un bebe toute seule..." he had that going in his head over and over and over. No reason. he just couldnt get it out. I hadnt listened to my JJ Goldman CD for months, but that morning after he was gone pulled it out and was listening to it. (so there really should have been no reason he had it running through his head. )
Here is the Video and song for all you francophiles out there.(I personally LOVE J.J. Goldman. He was HUGE while I was living there, I dont know if he is still or not.)





Is there anyone YOU have a psychic bond with? An unexplainable "I was just going to call you" or "I was just thinking about you" person?
I would love to hear about it...or am I just wierd?

They see me mowin'...

Ok so many of you know that I married a nerd. Now not just any nerd...A NERD.

• 
  He is BRILLIANT in Math
• He knows every character from Star Trek , their backgrounds and what planet they are from.
• has posters of Yoda, and the accompanying Star Wars Themed Potato Heads.
• He reads Sci-fi fantasy above all else,
• we own every Monopoly and Risk game sets having to deal with Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.
• He has more comic books than any human being should have, half of them in Portugese.
• His favorite Christmas gift was the box set of Star Wars Pez Dispensers from my mom.
• For Valentines Day I got him a musical card with the star Wars Theme and Leia and R2-D2 on the cover.
• If I dont know what to get him, as long as it involves Yoda or Frodo or Gandalf i think I am safe.
• If I were to ever have any more kids I swear he would want to name them Samwyse gamgees or Annikin Skywalker.
  UPDATE: I have been vehemenently reprimanded in the spelling and pronunciation of SAMWISE GAMGEE. Its Gamgee NOT Gamgees. get it right.
  
  
  Charles has a friend named Jeff. They worked together for 6 years at Windstream Communications. These two were like two peas in a pod. charles finally met someone who understood. Everyday he would come home "Oh Jeff sent me the funniest e-mail..." or "Jeff was watching the Lord of the Rings movies and blah blah blah" . Jeff Jeff Jeff. I was happy that Jeff would now take my place as the person to give two craps about that stuff.

Jeff and his wife had a baby Boy. They named him Hayden. He would have named him Darth or yoda or Luke or annikin if she would have let him. However in a stroke of genius he suggested hayden and she liked it. Charles came home and said "Jeff and April named their baby Hayden". Immediately I responded 'So he managed to name him after Star Wars somehow" Hayden Christensen is the young man who played Anniken Skywalker in Star Wars II and III. Jeff was impressed that I guessed it immediately, and asked me to not tell April...(Kidding)

I like star wars, dont get me wrong. I like sci-fi and lord of the rings...IN MODERATION.
But i was happy that he was happy and all was right with the world.

fast forward to last August. Charles quit Windstream(Hells Kitchen of communications) and went to work for another company. he and Jeff still kept in touch. But Charles just wasnt the same charles. He was a little mopier.
I noticed at the Bottom of his E-mails, charles would sign WANAW and Jeff would sign his something like WANT.
I just figured it was some secret geek club Klingon names for each other. Who knows that they were thinking? sure as heck not me. Who am i to barge into the middle of his trekkie man crush??

Fast forward again to 2 days ago. Driving up to Chapel Hill with Peter I stole Charles' MP3 player and was listening to the nice mix of music. Suddenly I hear what I thought was "Ridin'" by Chamillionaie and Krayzie Bone.
I sat in stunned silence as I thought to myself"He doesnt listen to that kind of music this must be a mistake".
Within 15seconds it all became Perfectly Clear. It was not ridin'... it was White And Nerdy by Wierd Al Yankovic.




It was as if the clouds lifted and it was suddenly all clear. To clarify:

WANT: White and Nerdy Trekkie
WANAW: White and Nerdy and Whipped.

Well at least he's got that right.

endless Love

Personally I am very tired of all the politics right now. I have no one I trluy support or even like running as a presidential hopeful in the primaries. But that is another blog for another day.
I am tired of Obamas "advisors and close friends" all resigning and severing ties due to unsavory character traits and anti american sentiments.

I am tired of Hillarys negativity. The USA is the greatest country on the planet. We enjoy so many freedoms that we take for granted. She is so cynical and jaded and acts like we are in the throes of doom and gloom. If we are such a terrible place to live then why do people risk life and limb to come here.

McCain, well I think he is a democrat in a (R) clothing. He at least has been smart and has been keeping his mouth shut while Hillary and Obama duke it out playing their dirty tactic games.

So we will see what he is really made of during the debates.

So in order to clear my head and not think about my decisions this November, I pulled outmy old Standby...Endless Love.
this was made a few years ago when Tony Blair was Prime Minister of Great Britain and pledged support and stood with the US after the dreadful 9/11 attacks. They were like BFF's and someone made the most hilarious music video. Look for my favorite part..."and your eyes"


Ahhh, remember the good times??

So sit back, laugh, relax and forget about the Clinton/Obama fight.
We'll get to that in August!

Just the facts ma'am

I cant tell you how many emails and forwards I get a day from friends and family.
Some of them are funny, some are sweet and poignant.
Others are "forward this on and make a difference" or "Write to your Congressman to get this changed" or "Boycott Pepsi". These are known as E-rumors.
Now although I appreciate you forwarding some of these on to me, I have something to say...

http://www.snopes.com/
OR
http://www.truthorfiction.com/


My cousin is the WORST offender. Every day i get 6 to 8 emails from her. AT LEAST 1/3 of her messages are those pesky e-rumors.

SO to break it down, here are some of the Hottest E-rumours going around, past and present:

1. Bill gates is not going to send you money or to Disney World for forwarding emails to "track" them for his new Beta Program. I dont care if the message said "my attorney friend looked at this and said they have to do it." or "I personally saw the check". IT ISNT GOING TO HAPPEN.

2. If you get an Amber Alert, before jumping in and passing them along, check out the veracity through Snopes or through center for Missing or exploited Children. Many of them are hoaxes.
BUT some are real.

3. The Cancer Society or Heart Association is not going to pay money for every email or card or forward some sick child is going to receive. They will not donate 3 cents per each forward towards cancer research, and AOL is not going to pay 32 cents for every 3 people that open or forward a message.

4. In God We Trust is NOT being taken off of the coins. Nor did a WWII memorial leave off So Help US God from the monument.

5. Don't Boycott Pepsi because they left off "under God" on their patriotic cans . Boycott Pepsi because their soda tastes like a$$.

6. (and my fave) THE CLINTON BODY COUNT... Every person that has opposed the Clintons has wound up dead, either through suspicious circumstances or "suicide". hmmm.
Political E-rumours are the hottest thing right now, especially with the upcoming election. I personally like the newest Obama endorsement from those morons in the KKK.

7. Andy Rooney, George Carlin, Jay Leno and Paul Harvey did not write essays or remarks about immigration, political correctness, Church vs state etc. On the Flip Side, Ben Stein, Bill Cosby and Charlie Daniels have. And on a personal note, the Dixie Chicks STILL suck.(verified through snopes)

8. Plastic Water bottles...dont get me started.

9. Starbucks refusing to send coffee to the troops because they didnt support the war...Do you know how many people boycotted Starbucks over this rumour? It all started when One worker at a starbucks in New York charged Ground zero workers $130 for 3 cases of water(true). People started jumping on the "we hate starbucks" bandwagon and next thing you know they are killing babies, and eating puppies for lunch and being called every other deplorable name in the book.

10. The Planet Mars is not going to pass so close to earth that it would be the size of the moon...

11. Your local gang will not have an initiation to kill someone who flashes their lights, gets bumped in an intersection or is wearing the color red

12. The Last Photo from a camera found at the World Trade center, Photos of The space shuttle blowing up upon re-entry and waves frozen into place are usually photoshopped, or taken from another source(Kind of Like Al Gores Inconvenient truth)


Now some E-rumours are Partly True, like This one about redeeming your gift cards from stores entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Partly true e-rumours tend to be more believeable, because SOME PARTS are true, automatically making this recipient think the rest is true.
Gas Boycotts, Cheating Gas Pumps, Barak Obama and #77 on your cell phone to avoid rapists have multiple status, meaing parts are true, but the rest are false or undetermined. The one about the tax payers costs of illegal Immigrants is a very popular one circulating right now(this one has sources backing it up making it seem very believeable) oh and Denzel Washington and the medical center is a pretty popular multiple status rumour too.

Other E-rumours ARE true : flip flops from Wal-Mart, Hand Sanitizers making kids drunk, and Strawberry Quick Meth and certain destructive computer viruses.


So next time you get that e-mail that appeals to your patriotic side, the one that tells you "boycott because of such and such" or "So and So wrote this about americans" PLEASE for the LOVE of all that is good and holy, CHECK THEM OUT before hitting that Forward button.

SAY NO TO E-RUMOURS!!

Thank you for your time.

Things charles is allowed to cook

My husband is forbidden in the kitchen. Unless it is something like Macaroni and cheese, ramen, sandwiches or Nachos, his cooking is a no-no. (Although that one night he made a romantic pot roast for our 2 year anniversary...i got pregnant that night...anyhoo, thats NOT why he isnt allowed in the kitchen).

He doesnt know how to follow a recipe. Somehow when he cooks his brain shuts down, spices and seasonings get forgotten, Tsp turns into TBSP and...well you get the point.

One night he decided to make hamburgers. I was working all day and came home to the foreman grill and a bowl of ground beef. He declared "I'm making dinner!".

Trustingly, I head off to shower and come back down to hamburgers and probably some sort of canned vegetable. I dont remember. All I do remember is taking a bite of the hamburger and thinking "hmmmm this tastes really odd". Turns out he channeled the Colonel and added 11 secret herbs and spices...including CINNAMON. (we had previously lived in cincinnati where their chili has cinnamon in it. He thought it would be a good idea). Needless to say 2 bites was all I could stomach. All night I heard "I'm sorry, I thought it would be a good idea..."

Another night i came home and he was making his own version of hot wings. He was boiling(or scorching, same difference) his version of wing sauce, filling the entire house with eye watering pepper sauce and vinegar. The wings were pathetic. i think we ended up ordering a pizza.

BUT Charles is a savant in the kitchen when it comes to desserts and sweets. He can whip up a Texas Fudge cake that will leave you in the throes of food orgasm passion. His desserts are legendary. It as if he gets a dessert recipe and all the planets align, the heavens shine down, his cooking brain clicks on and BOOM dessert nirvhana.

Yesterday afternoon after church he let me take a nap. He fed the boys, kept them quiet etc. THEN last night he let me watch my chick flicks (27 Dresses and The Holiday) and made me a rock em sock em batch of my favorite cookies NO BAKES. Honestly, BEST MOTHERS DAY PRESENT YET!!

But let me share with you the recipe:

2 cups sugar

1 stick butter or margarine, melted

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup milk

in saucepan combine and sugar and cocoa, add milk and melted butter. Mix thoroughly and Bring to a boil and let boil for ONE MINUTE. Do not overboil.

Remove from heat and add the following:

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cup quick oats

1 tsp vanilla.

stir well until PB is melted and oats are mixed in.

drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper or foil to cool. then enjoy

so to all the mothers or to be mothers, Hope you had a great mothers day.

The REAL Mothers day Wish List

Things i REALLY want for Mothers Day...

1. To sleep in and not have to make breakfast or pack lunches or get them bathed or dressed. To just laze in bed, reading and eating pancakes.)

2. A pedicure...No, a DELUXE pedicure with the foot bath and leg massage and heated chair and unlimited supply of People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly while I get my piggies painted a beautiful shade of "Aphrodite's Nightie".

3.an hour long massage(a PROFESSIONAL massage. Honey I love you and I love your massages, but there is something to be said about a trained professional who knows exactly how and where to rub to turn me into a useless and limp dishrag)

4. A day to myself with unlimited funds in my pocket to go shopping...Kind of like you see in the movies.

5. A day to myself to indulge in cheesecake, ice cream sundaes, Oatmeal Cream pies...things that are forbidden on my diet...of course and have the calories not count due to it being a holiday.

6. To be able to fill my car or truck full of gas without having to take out a 3rd mortgage on my home.

7. To have Magical Powers like Harry Potter.

8. To be a size 10/12 again without having to diet and exercise...cant I get something in a pill??

9. Kids who listen and hop to when I tell them to get something done. Kids who dont fight over every silly thing. Kids who say "yes Ma'am". "please" and "Thank you" consistenly and sweetly.

10. World Peace.

11. A republican candidate who is NOT john McCain

12. A husband who does not read my email and other stuff over my shoulder, or watch me play a game on my computer. It makes me nervous and I cant play to the best of my ability. It is like he is mentally playing the game and thnking "I wouldnt have made that move".

13. TV Stations who didnt cut in to talk about the tornados in the viewing area, which were not in MY area. They ruined the Thursday Night Line-up on NBC. Now I have to go online and watch them on the computer. So no Earl, Scrubs, 30 Rock or Office Spoilers, Please. NBC you forced me to watch "Dont foget the lyrics" on FOX. THEY wouldnt interrupt if a nuclear bomb was dropped.

14. I want THIS ring...it is only $5,000. So start saving your pennies Charles!!

Mexican Food

11 years ago at one of my Bridal Showers, I received this little book from my brother Tom and his wife kathleen. They are huge mexican food fanatics and were trying to convert me to the dark side. now dont get me wrong, I LOVE Mexican food. (oh who am i kidding, taco Bell is NOT really mexican food) I Like tex-mex and up until a few years ago authentic mexican food had never passed my lips. However since being married to a man who grew up in El Paso and who has a sister in law from Mexico and married into a family of Mexican food fanatics I have joined them in my love for all things spicy, salsa-y and full of south of the border goodness.

This book is "The Book Of Mexican Foods" by Christine Barrett.
This cookbook is the best little cookbook. It is like "Mexican Cooking for dummies".

They have basic recipes for making your own corn and flour tortillas, basic beans, refried beans and basic tomato sauce. They have recipes for soups, salads, appetizers, seafood, salsas, ceviche and desserts. Of course they have MY fave, chimichangas.

Tonight for dinner i am making CORN SOUP.


2 TBSP butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and shopped
3 small tomatoes, peeled and chopped(blanch the tomatoes...or use canned)
5 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
8 to 10 oz whole kernel corn(fresh, canned or frozen)
salt
2/3 cup half n half
2 TBSP chopped cilantro, to garnish

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is soft, but not brown. Add tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes. Add stock, bay leaf and corn. Season with salt to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
discard Bay leaf. Pour soup, in batches into a blender or food processor fitted with metal blade and process until pureed.
Return soup to saucepan. Stir in half n half and heat to just belw the boiling point; do not boil.
sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

DISCLAMIER: your soup may or may not look like this. This is a picture I found from one of my favorite food blogs, too many chefs. It is pretty close to what your soup should look like.

Also, add as much onion and garlic as you like. Since my husband is not a big onion fan, I cut down on the onion and add extra garlic. You can also add jalapeno or poblano to the soup for some extra kick.

Play around and come up with your own version. It really is delicious. Have it with a side of cornbread or rice.

Bon appetit!(or whatever they say in mexico before a meal!)

Diary 2009 Project

I am going to be a participant in the Diary 2009 Project by Fantazya.

She is accepting about 375 sellers and crafters to sign up and design the daily diary pages, and the monthly calanders. Each crafter can put whatever they want on the page, promote their own shop(but leave plenty of room for journaling) and it costs nothing...other than a few minutes on Photoshop and some creative energy.

She will have these printed and bound and will sell them. The participants can buy one for cost. Last year she sold out 300 diaries. This year she is printing off about 500. It will also come in CD format so you can print off your own pages and customize it how you like.

Want to design one too? The requirements are you have to have a website or a web space (ex. Etsy, Flickr, MySpace, any blog,...) from where you sell or promote your art.

She still has dates available- check it out HERE. You can still sign up, design your own page and be included in this project. It is basically free advertising for your shop, your blog your art or craft. Plus you can show off your creative side.

You can see some of the pages from Diary 2008 HERE


.

I decided to take on the challenge and design one myself. My date is July 20, 2009. I signed up as The Balm Shoppe

If you want to design your own diary page go visit Fantazya and sign up for a day.

You can do it on photoshop, or you can draw by hand and scan it and send it in.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Your own website from which you sell or promote your craft (etsy, flickr, blogger, myspace etc)

2. 1350x2450 pix in black and white

3. 300 dpi resolution

4. jpg format

Cant wait to see what some of you have come up with!!

Dear....(an open letter to various people in the express line at the grocery store)

Dear Person at the front of the line in the express Checkout at the Grocery Store....

Do you see the BIG RED SIGN that says EXPRESS LANE? You see how it says 20 items OR LESS?? That means dont take your shopping cart through it with 48 items. Thats right, I counted. There are 6 of us waiting in line with 1 or 2 items while you hold us all up with your 48 items because you dont feel like waiting in another line. Apparently YOUR time is more valuable than MY time. You made me so angry I almost had a stroke right there in the middle of the store. 20 itmes or less means 1 through 20 items. I would let you get away with 21 or 22, thats fine. But 48?? Come one now, you think we wouldnt notice. i wont tell you what the lady behind me said about you under her breath...


Dear Lady standing in front of me in the express line at the grocery store....

Please quit standing there and browsing through the magazines and books like it is a public library. Please pay attention to the line in front of you and move accordingly. Oh and tell your son that if he swings that dowel rod around me one more time I will take it from him and break it over my knee and whip him with it. He is old enough to know that Dowel rods are NOT nunchukas, batons, "pokey" sticks, light sabers etc. Honestly, why do you let him carry that thing around, it's a grocery store? He has to be what, 10? You know better, and so does he. But I guess you are too engrossed in the whole Jen Aniston/John Mayer dating story than to pay attention to the menace with a dowel rod you brought along.


Dear person with only 1 item in the express line...

Just because you have one item and i have three, that does not give you priority over me so please do not ask if you can cut in front of me. i dont care if you only need to buy just one thing of cat food. I need to buy just this one thing of juiceboxes, and these 2 boxes of granola bars for my kids lunches. i dont care that you have a meeting in 10 minutes and need to get through the line quicker. Talk to 48 items in his cart, or dowel rod menace to society magazine browser, Not me.

Dear person who is in line....

do not get in line to hold a place because the line looks long and you do not want to wait. Don't send off your child or significant other to get what you need. They always take longer than expected and you hold up the line with "sorry, we forgot one thing, he's getting it now". Bologna. I saw you get in line to hold a place and send them off. If you TRULY forgot one thing, fine, but I know the truth, don't you lie to me!

Dear Cashier in the express lane....

i understand you are tired. i understand that you are old. I understand you only took this cashier job to get away from your husband who has just retired and is driving you crazy. I understand you have to deal with idiots all day, but you REALLY need to get your game on and get your act together. Do not ring up the person behind me with my stuff because you werent paying attention. Dont wait until the last minute to realize you need change then buzz the overly worked and harassed supervisor. And for heavens sake please dont ring me up for the market bag I bought there LAST MONTH.

Dear store who owns and operates the express line...

You guys need to do a better job of cracking down on the rule breakers(48 items and line holder). You need to have more than one express lane open during peak hours. By the time I got into line I had 3 people in front of me(48 items, dowel rod menace and a law abiding consumer) then i had 2 people behind me. By the time I got to the front and paid for my 3 items there were (HONEST 8 people in line) It was a continuous long line of people and more were coming. Your self checkouts were full AND had lines(but thats another rant for another day) and the 2 other lanes you had open had lines with full buggies. You need to open more lines and express lines. I know you have plenty of cashiers and baggers I see them milling around. Apparently they all go on break together? You need to do a better job scheduling breaks and shifts, having more open lanes during peak shopping hours and training your employees to break kneecaps for the rule breakers!


sincerely,

Sarah

Please dont take away my Sunbeams!

At my Church I have 4 various callings.

1. I am on the Enrichment Board for the Relief Society(our womens auxillary and Enrichment is our once a month get together. Basically I am on the board to help decide the activities and plan all that kind of stuff)

2. i am the Choir Pianist.

3. I play the organ for our meetings every other month

4. My favorite, The Sunbeams Teacher. The Sunbeams are the kids who are turning 4 years old this year. It is their Primary class (sunday school). I was called to it at the start of the year. When they first asked me to do it, I was apprehensive, I thought I would hate it. I thought "they dont know what they are talking about! Does any part of me look like i would want to teach 4 year olds? " But turns out it is the best thing I have ever done. I had the SWEETEST class and I really love those kids. I had 7 kids to teach about Jesus and get them started on their spiritual journey. I look forward to every sunday to see my kids and cant wait to hug on them and see how their week was.

WELL, 2 weeks ago a member of the Bishopric pulled me aside and extended me a FIFTH calling, Activity Days co-leader. Activity Day Girls are 8 to 11 years old and they meet 2 tuesday evenings a month. We set goals, do activities to help them achieve these goals, help them work on their faith in God awards etc. He said "remind me of what your other callings are and we can release you from one or two of them"
so I told him what they were and told him "DO NOT RELEASE ME FROM SUNBEAMS!" (My husband was there he heard me say it, i have witnesses) He said "I will talk to the bishop and get this ball rolling".

The following Sunday we were out of town when I was called to Activity Day Girls and released from my other calling...The SUNBEAMS!

I got to church yesterday and the woman behind me (Finn's Primary Teacher) said "Sarah, we are going to miss you in Primary!".

WHAT WHAT WHAT???

So I ran up to the stand and called one of them over and said "What did you release me from last week?"
He said "Primary Worker, I told you we would be releasing you from something"
"BUT I TOLD YOU NOT MY SUNBEAMS!!!"

So yesterday was my last Sunday teaching them.
So to my dear sweet kids of Sunbeams 4A, I Love you and will miss you, you guys were the BEST calling I have ever had. I am very sad to no longer be your teacher. i tried to stay, but apparently i am needed elsewhere. Hopefully the Activity Day Girls will be as much fun as you guys were!

On a related side note I will hunt down their new teacher and DEMAND i be given first dibs if she ever needs a substitute!!

HOODWINKED

So my in-laws left yesterday morning after a very nice visit.(Thanks for the new back tires on the Galant, and for the dinner at La Unica)

All day friday and Saturday morning I was cleaning like a madwoman. I cleaned out all the bedrooms and changed sheets, swept and mopped the bathrooms, AND folded and put away the 4 baskets of heaping laundry! The house was spotless. even OCD clean freak that is my mother could find no fault. I was gone all the rest of Saturday and part of Sunday. When we got home Sunday there they were in our driveway IN THEIR GIGANTIC MOTOR HOME!

My Husband said to me ,"Oh yeah, they're in their motor home".

HE LIED TO ME! He KNEW they were going to be in their motor home and werent going to be sleeping in our house or needing to use our bathrooms etc. He "forgot" thats how they were now traveling. In fact they hardly spent any time in our house at all, except the kitchen and piano room, which are always spotlessly clean(as it is the main area of the house that everyone sees)

I turned to him, pointing my accusatory finger and said "It was a trick! You just wanted the rest of the house clean!"

A representative for Mr.McBride neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

Paperback Swap and Good Reads

If you are an avid reader like I am, but dont have room for any more books, check out paperback swap! http://www.paperbackswap.com/

You can list old books, and swap them with other book lovers. Sign up is free and your fist initial listing of 10 books earns you TWO credits. Each credit is good for one book from another member. So by listing 10 of your old books you earn the right to request 2 books from other members.

If someone requests a book from you, simply wrap it up, print out the mailing label and send off via media mail. once they receive your book they will credit your account and you will get another credit. The nice thing is the maling label already has the info printed on it, the correct mailing charge and MEDIA MAIL or FIRST CLASS MAIL already printed on it. Most paperbacks are 2.13 to mail to another member. They do request you mail out the books within the time you say you are going to, then mark them mailed after doing so.

If you would like to request a book, do a search, choose the one you want and request it. once you receive your book, log in and let PBS know you received it and the sender will earn a credit.

If someone requests a book you are responsible for shipping charges(which are usually 2.13 to 2.47). So if you request a book from someone it is totally free for you.

Want to sign up? Go to http://www.paperbackswap.com/. during registration they ask who recommended you please put in "sarahmcbride".

Want to earn credits? spread the word and when people use YOU as a recommend you earn credits! If you belong to a book club this is a great way to get your books for free for your readings.(it is what i do). They have waiting lists if the book isnt available as well.

GOODREADS: i love this website. http://www.goodreads.com/

You can go and sign up for free, and connect with friends, family and other book lovers.

You list the books you have read, or are currently reading or want to read. You can rate the books you have read, write reviews etc. You can request friendship with other members (kind of like myspace) and then see what they are reading, and how they liked it.

Goodreads is a great place to organize your books and spread the word about books you like, dont like, recommend etc.

Want a goodreads friend? Look me up! Under "add friends", go to find friend by email or friend name. My friend name is "slkmcb". i am happy to add new people, and I LOVE finding out what everyone is reading.

I am always looking at my friends lists and taking recommends. It is always so interesting to see what everyone is reading.

When you first sign up they will ask you to search your email address book, but you can skip that part and do it manually(enter email addresses of friends you want to connect with on goodreads)

Try them out and hope to hear from you all!!