Weight, Favorites and Other Stuff
December 17, 2007 
Weight Update: I continue to act like a yo-yo. Up and down, I go. Last week I was down 1.5 pounds, and this week I am back up. BUT, I popped a hole through the knee of my last jeans so I went to my favorite store to buy my favorite jeans and…guess what….I was able to get a size smaller! I have always been somewhere around 14-16 but I bought size 12! They probably added stretch or adjusted the size or something, but it still feels good.
Other Stuff: Bryan got a new calling at church yesterday. It is a doozy. Stake Young Mens Presidency – 1st Counselor. We aren’t really sure what all this entails (if you know, please enlighten me) or when he starts. I think that he is a little excited though. He is ready for a new challenge, I think. Finally got my Christmas out. I sent some of them last week and the rest today. Oh, what a wonderful feeling.
My parents arrive Saturday so there is much house cleaning and grocery shopping to be done this week. Also, going into Oldest’s classroom to read a story for their read-a-thon. Trying to decide between two books: Bear Stays Up For Christmas and The Polar Express. Any thoughts?
I am revamping my chore charts and house rules. I am condensing the 9 rules into 5, and adding chores. They are doing so good at it, so I thought, hey! Why not make them do more of my stuff?
We will be celebrating my parents arrival by watching the BYU football bowl game. Go cougars. (Anyone know who they are playing? Hmm. Probably ought to find out.)
And finally…..
Favorite Moments from the week:
*Taking Daughter and Youngest to the mall and having Daughter act perfectly.
*While I was building the Thomas the train track that Youngest was demanding that I build, he decided that I should stop immediately and hook the trains together. I told him: “Hold your little pants on!” and he threw down the train and grabbed as much of his little Gap sweat pants in his little fists as possible.
*Lunch out at Olive Garden with Bryan. And no kids.
*Finished Christmas shopping, and it is a wonderful feeling (just waiting for Amazon to send those last two gifts…).
*I knew the library had one book that I put on hold there, but when I got to the library, there was four books waiting for me!
*The young men and Bishopric came to our house caroling and brought us a box of Christmas treats (chocolates, oranges, nuts, etc…)
Stuff I did
November 11, 2007 
I’m exhausted. The kids are watching Lion King so I am blogging while I try to avoid falling asleep at 5:45 in the evening. That is too early, right? I am thinking about how I ran twice this week and we went for a hike tonight for almost an hour, so I should have a good weigh in tomorrow. Crossing my fingers on that one.
I didn’t get near as much crossed of my list as I should have but right now I am feeling okay with that. I decided not to get the oil changed…it can wait until later. I did get out and get the frame for the embroidery that I am made for Bryan’s grandparents. I painted it red and it turned out good. I also got Bryan to help me rearrange the family room and living rooms. I am liking it better. This way we can see the fireplace and the tv. I didn’t get the laundry done or the papers to the school but those can both wait. I haven’t worked on my Christmas cards more, but they can wait. I need to enjoy Thanksgiving, and they will assemble easily while I watch the Biggest Loser on Tuesday. I got the birthday gifts wrapped, and the rag quilt is together. I need to clip the fringe but that should go pretty quickly.
My mom flies in on Tuesday and I can’t wait! My sister and brother will be coming for dinner that night and my sister has Wednesday off so we will maybe get to do something fun with her. I am hoping to take an afternoon to go to the Children’s Museum. Hoping to be able to meet up with my cousin while my mom is here. We’ll probably hit a scrapbook store too. Any other fun ideas for what we can do that the kids will enjoy too?
What I should be doing…
My mom comes into town on Tuesday. We are driving to Utah on Saturday. My to-do list at the beginning of the week was overwhelming. It continues to grow. I am being suffocated by my list of everything that I need to have done before my mom gets here and have ready before we leave for Utah but I can’t find the motivation to get up off the couch and tackle some of those things. Here is what I should be doing:
Work on Christmas Cards
Finish Rag quilt for sister
Get oil changed in van
Mop kitchen and entry
Wash clothes
Empty dishwasher
Clean out car
Move couch and tv
Wrapping gifts for birthday party tomorrow
Check mail
Make beds
Color my hair
Take immunization record for oldest to his school
Write thank-you cards
Work on embroidery projects for Christmas
Decide on something for dinner
Plan lesson for Sunday
Print lessons for sub while I am gone
Instead, here I sit watching Hannah Montana on demand with oldest and daughter. Oh, well. There is always tomorrow right?
4 Things
Tagged by Kelly
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Hairstylist
2. Movie Theater Assistant Manager
3. Clerk in a donut shop
4. Shipping manager in a production company
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Prince and Me
2. Cool Runnings
3. The Bourne Movies
4. Sweet Home Alabama
Four places I have lived:
1. Orem, Utah
2. Provo, Utah
3. Springville, Utah
4. Ogden, Utah (very exciting…I know.)
Four favorite TV shows:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. Home Improvement
3. How I met Your Mother
4. Reba
Four places I’ve been:
1. Cancun, Mexico
2. Alberta, Canada
3. Tiajuana, Mexico
4. St. George, Utah
Four favorite foods:
1. Dominoes Cheese Pizza
2. Sonic Mozzarella Sticks (Man, I miss Sonic. But not having them is good for me)
3. My moms broccoli cheddar soup
4. Mint chocolate chip icecream
Four websites I visit daily:
1. myfamily.com
2. wordpress.com
3. blogger.com
4. ebay.com
Four places I’d rather be:
1. the beach
2. a cozy cabin on a lake
3. in a hot bubble bath
4. in Utah
Four blog buddies I want to tag:
1. Cheryl
2. Holly
3. Christie
4. Bridget
And anyone else that wants to play along. Just let me know in the comments so I can come and learn more about you!
Weekend Recap & Movies
I forgot to report last week: down 1.5 pounds
and this week: down 1 pound
My MIL came in on Friday afternoon, and the weekend whizzed by way to fast. Friday afternoon was spent playing Candy-land, coloring and catching up. We at dinner at Quizno’s (have you tried their broccoli soup? It is the best!) and went to see the Bee Movie. Saturday morning we went to the park to play “baseball.” Playing baseball with a six-year-old, a four-year-old and a two-year-old is kind of a joke, but everyone got a turn batting, running and chasing. Oldest spent a lot of time throwing fits and eventually the game was ended for some time sliding down the slides before heading home for a lunch of grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches. Then we headed to the zoo with the rest of the northwest. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time exploring the zoo and seeing the animals that we missed last time. The sea otters were really active and the kids (especially the youngest) thought that was great. On the way home, we enjoyed dinner at Godfather’s Pizza (thank you, Grandma!). We watched a movie Saturday night and tried to not fall asleep. Sunday morning we all woke far too early because of the time change. My kids were up at 6:00. Imagine how pleasant they were at church. They weren’t pleasant. It was a bit of nightmare. Oh, well. Afterwards we enjoyed a long walk and Bryan grilled steak for dinner. We watched another movie, went to bed and by the time we got up for breakfast Grandma was at the airport and it was time to get life back to normal. We had fun.
Now for the movies:
The Bee Movie – So cute! I am glad we saw, but I don’t think that we will buy it. It stars Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock (as a mosquito). It is about a bee that decides that he doesn’t want to choose one job to do for the rest of his life so he goes out of the hive and discovers that humans are using their honey. It had a few laughs for the adults (my kids were too young to get the jokes) and kept the kids interested.
Because I Said So – Stars Mandy Moore and Diane Keaton. Do. Not. See. It. There is so much sex talk and innuendo. If you insist on seeing it, don’t watch it with your mother-in-law. Embarrassment is sure to follow.
Flicka – Stars Alison Lohman and Tim McGraw. It was a cute movie. Tim McGraw isn’t much of an actor and there was several really cheesy lines (Dad, it’s okay if you shoot us!) but it was a feel-good movie. My mother-in-law figures that it encourages kids to be disobedient. It is about a girl that decides to try to tame a mustang on her own, even though her dad has told her not to.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend.
Thoughts from last week
October 29, 2007
Filed under Chatter, Children, Food, LDS Church, Motherhood, Movies to see
Don’t doubt that thought to not get the “cool” cart at Safeway. When you fall for your children’s pleas and get the car cart you will end up with the loudest, most off balance cart ever. Your elbows will be sore when you are done shopping.
Going into the store for milk, and milk alone, is impossible. You will come out with tortillas, rice-a-roni, chips and raisins. And wheat thins. (And $60 later)
Don’t put son’s comforter and comforter cover back on his bed after you wash it. You will have to re-wash it the next day and try to get the cover back on. Again.
Don’t think that you will never say: “Don’t jump on the couch. Especially with a hammer in your mouth.” You will.
Don’t think that all the laundry will be done in one day. With the dryer needing to run everything for two 70 minute cycles (why is it doing this?!), it will take at least 3 days to get the laundry done. And then there will 3 more days worth of clothes to wash, dry, fold, and put away.
Don’t be surprised when, after watching N put on pink from head to toe, and you tell her that she is a ‘pink girl’, she yells, “I am black! My skin is black!”
Don’t stand on one foot with other foot twisted around while you give your talk in sacrament meeting. You will wonder through out the talk if you are going to faint.
Don’t freak out when you realize the stake president is on the stand. And. You. Are. Speaking.
Don’t get too excited about the Bourne Ultimatum DVD release, just because the Bourne Supremacy is on tv. That doesn’t mean that it comes out soon. Internet searches will not tell you the date. Who knows when it comes out? (I can’t wait!) Continue waiting patiently for Ocean’s 13 and Hairspray to come out on DVD. Both in November.
Pray when you feel most unworthy.
Smile when A starts taking Lighting and Mater to bed with him. Along with Doggy, Pupper and his beloved Froggy blanket. Before long there wont be room for him in that bed.
Don’t send son to his room for timeout. He will think it is fun to play Legos. Instead make him sit on daughters bed. He will not enjoy sitting on the purple bedspread.
Resist the temptation to run out to the mailbox at 9:00 on Friday morning. Just because People comes on Friday here (I had to wait until Monday to get it in Utah) does not mean that the mail will arrive before 2:00pm. I wonder if the mailman could make this his first stop on Fridays?
Try not to laugh when, during your primary class, you ask what the kids have had to sacrifice for being a church member and 9 year old girl responds (very seriously) that she tore a piece of paper in half. Huh? I was thinking maybe you couldn’t play in a sports game or go to a birthday party or something.
Random
So sorry about yesterday’s post. Felt like blogging and had nothing to say!
I think that we are finlly better. The flu bug hit this house pretty hard and hit us all individually. Seemed to drag on forever but we are done (hopefully for a long time!).
Today we head to the school to get T registered, then I plan on taking the kids to the store so T can choose out a couple of school shirts and a lunch box. Do kids use “lunch boxes” still or do kids use those insulated sacks? He is eager to take lunch to school, but I am thinking that he will tire of pb&j quickly. Any ideas for good school lunches?
I have been working on my KOTM (Kit of the Month) from Creating Keepsakes from a couple of months ago. It has been so much fun, but I am out of glue dots so I need to get some from the store. Any one know of a good scrapbook store in the Portland area? I left behind a great store in Utah, and I am starting to miss it! I’ll post a picture of the pages when I am done.
T and I went to the farmer’s market over the weekend. Had a great time! We bought some corn, green peppers, popcorn, cookies and blueberries. N loved blueberries last summer but I never buy them because they are expensive. Of course, she wouldn’t eat them this time around. I made some muffins with them but they were kind of dry so they weren’t a big hit either.
I hope that everyone is finding ways to have fun for the last week or two before school starts!
Mondays
Do you have a favorite day of the week? Do you have a least favorite day of the week? My favorite day is probably Saturday, but my least favorite day is definately Monday. I am like Garfield that way. I hate Mondays.
It seems like on Monday, my house is a disaster from the weekend. Why is the house always the messiest on Monday? Seems like there is another adult around over the weekend, it should be cleaner! Oh, well. There are a million things to do, as it is the start of a new week. And today, it is raining. My first Oregon rain storm. We were going to go to the park this morning but I don’t like to sit in the rain. (Are you thinking of Friends when Phoebe says: “I don’t like to fly in the rain”?) The kids were so excited to see it raining. As you can guess, they didn’t know that we were going to go to the park. I find that I don’t tell my kids things until right before it is going to happen because I don’t want to deal with the disappointment if it doesn’t go through for some reason. I do love the smell of rain, and how it makes everything out-of-doors seem clean. Too bad it doesn’t have the same effect inside!
Off to vacuum, mop, dust and clean toilets. Don’t you wish you were me?
Today
Today started off early. I was too tired to be up that early but one vomiting son woke up the other. And this, after I day that I spent feeling sorry for myself. T was up in the night twice vomiting and was at it again this morning at a quarter to six. This woke up A who I brought downstairs to keep entertained. I rocked him and prayed that it wouldn’t wake N up. We watched Disney channel and snuggled under one of his blankets. A is two, and since he the youngest there isn’t anyone else battling for so much attention. When T and N were this age there was a younger sibling needing the attention. I don’t feel like I enjoyed this age with them as much as I have with A. He is my delight.
I decided to be a good mom and take my two youngest to the park. We left around 10:15 and took lunch. I took a blanket and my book. The kids ran around and played and we did some swinging. We enjoyed lunch on the blanket, soaking up the sun. We laughed at the possessed cat with no tail (who does that to their cat?) and oohed over the squirrel. We pretended that the dandelions were beautiful flowers. And between all of this I got to read my book, and thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
And tonight, my brother and I are going to IKEA. Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world!
Highlights
We arrived to Oregon on Thursday of last week. Here is my highlight list from the last week and a half:
*Seeing how excited my kids were when they saw their new rooms
*Having lots of help to get the truck unloaded
*Seeing my brother, sister and nephew
*Tillamook cheese-at a reasonable price!
*Being near a lot of parks! We met my cousin and her daughter at Washington Park in Beaverton on Tuesday. Just beautiful!
*A squirrel for a backyard friend
*Meeting the girl next door and having her offer to baby sit!
*Getting tv, internet and phone service today! Far too long without my blogs. Who knew you could get addicted so fast?
*the Weather. Do you know that we haven’t had to have our AC on at all? Just open the windows. Smell the fresh cut grass. Hear the birds. Smell the breeze.
So far we are enjoying our new house, although I am seriously homesick! I miss my mom the most. She has been my best friend for a long time now! Glad we’re here, and that the kids cooperated on the drive here. We made it and we still love eachother! =)
