My First Response to a Tag

Kim and Erin both tagged me this week. The tags are both sort of similar so I'm going to respond to Erins. It's a bit easier.

8 Things Tag




8 TV shows to Love

1- Masterpiece Theater
2- Lost
3- American Idol
4- The Office
5- American Experience
6- Hardball
7- Everybody Loves Raymond
8- Almost anything on Food Network






8 Favorite Restaurants

1- Bombay House - best ever
2- Thai Village
3- Kneaders Bakery
4- The Tree Room - for a major splurge
5- Foundry Grill
6- Cheesecake Factory
7- Bajio
8- Paradise Bakery - most amazing tomato soup






8 Things I Did Yesterday

1- Ate lunch with Mike
2- Helped a friend make posters for a youth fireside
3- Made a fuss over the fairy house Mary Kate and Elizabeth created.
4- Sent an e-mail to Uncle Brad in an attempt to save him from a stroke
5- Served the boys cookies and milk, twice
6- Had a great phone conversation with my sister-in-law Emily
7- Watched Tyler Florence make a Moroccan chicken dinner
8- Wished I could eat the Moroccan chicken dinner that Tyler Florence made






8 Things I love about this season

1- Christmas
2- Hot chocolate
3- Snowflakes
4- New seasons of my favorite T.V. shows
5- Warm wool socks on my cold feet
6- Valentine's Day
7- Dreaming about a trip to Hawaii
8- Helping me fully appreciate spring when it finally arrives






8 Things on my wish list

1- Perfect teeth
2- Money to go to Paris and New York
3- Everyone I love to live close by
4- To meet Abraham Lincoln
5- To learn how to live in the moment and not worry about the future
6- A maid to clean my bathrooms every week
7- A bigger laundry room
8- That our neighbor's little boy will recover from cancer fully and quickly

I'm not going to tag anyone specific, but if you would like to do this tag feel free. I would love to see your lists.

Happiness is....Free Balloons at Maceys

When the boys and I go to Maceys we always get a cart with the car attached, cookie boxes (animal crackers), and we always keep our eyes peeled for the balloon lady. You know the one, the lady who walks around the store with a fist full of colorful balloons to give away. The boys LOVE this lady. You should see their faces when they spot her coming around the corner.

Wouldn't it be great to still be so completely delighted with simple things like animal crackers and balloons? Oh the happiness these little things bring to my boys! Here they are sleeping with their treasures. I'll remember these days when they're begging me for X-boxes, season tickets to the Jazz, and new cars.

It's Time to Choose Our Better History

If you know me well, you know that I spend huge chunks of my time watching documentaries. I love them. I have a Netflix membership largely because it gives me access to hundreds of documentaries that come right to my mailbox. In fact, documentaries are how I get myself motivated to exercise. I'll walk on the treadmill forever as long as I've got a good documentary rotating in the DVD player. I like most documentaries, but anything that has to do with American history I particularly enjoy. That's why I love Ken Burn's films. Kenny can present American history like no other.

I've considered why I love to enjoy learning about history and I've decided it's mostly because there are mental, emotional and spiritual benefits to learning about the lives of others who have gone before. To see the generations played out before me and have reaffirmed again and again the idea that people of all kinds have passed through the hardships, challenges and difficulties that are an inevitable part of life and have survived and triumphed, is a healthy thing. Granted, history is also full of tragedy and sadness, but what I see mostly is human beings who have survived despite tragedy and overcome against great odds. History is full of inspiring stories that prove the adage that life does go on.

Today our new President was inaugurated. I was captivated by the ceremonies. The prayers, the speeches, the music, the poetry, all great. Obama again delivered a fantastic speech. (No offense President Bush, but it will be nice to have a president that can actually captivate an audience and deliver a well written speech) It was a fantastic and inspiring inaugural speech, but I think my favorite part was when he talked about "choosing our better history." That idea resonated with me. We are experiencing difficult times as a nation and all of us have our personal challenges, but we can look to our better history. We can learn from it, gather inspiration from it and recognize that we will triumph like others before us if we just keep moving forward. I like the idea of embracing our "better history." I hope we will do this, as a nations, as citizens, as individuals. I don't know about you, but I'm going to choose to see a bright future for our country. We've weathered hard times before and we've lived to tell about it. We'll do it again.

Okay, I'm finished now. I've posted my sentimental ideas for today. I don't care if they sound stupidly optimistic. I think what we really need now is some blind optimism. Now go watch some history!

New Post

Hey Intuitive Eating group members. It's a new week so we have a new post with reading and discussion questions on the Intuitive Eating blog. Thanks again for participating. Hope you're not too bored!

The Blanket

When the twins were born, my good friend Danielle crocheted two baby blankets for me. I was so impressed and delighted with her gift. For one, I can't crochet at all, and two, I love gifts that are homemade. I used her handiwork all the time. I always tucked the blankets around the bundled babies for extra warmth. Here they are on their first day at home in their own crib with one of the blankets across them.



Homemade, crocheted blankets are generally placed in cedar chests and kept as heirlooms. That was my intention, but as Jonathan got older he took a special liking to the blankets. He loved holding one and sucking his thumb. The blankets became his security, his woobies. He couldn't stand not to have one to hold while falling asleep. Then he started taking one with him everywhere. Tucking the blankets in the cedar chest for posterity was not going to happen.

After awhile I noticed that the blankets were becoming a bit shabby after being dragged everywhere and washed over and over. I put one away for safe keeping and let Jonathan keep the other one. Eventually, the one he kept wore away to threads and met it's demise in the trash can. Of course, Jonathan couldn't live without a woobie, so I got the other one out for him. Time passed and this is what we ended up with once again .........



I started to worry. We didn't have a backup when this one reached it's last. Yes, I thought about using this opportunity to break Jonathan of his blanket habit, but I decided I wasn't ready for the chaos that would in sue as a result. Besides, you can only carry a blanket around for so long, and Jonathan is still little enough to get away with it. I didn't want to call Danielle and have her crochet another one. She'd already made two of them, for crying out loud. The solution: Call Grandma Janice. She can make anything!

This is how talented she is. I sent her a close-up picture of what was left of the blanket, and she was able to look at the photo and make this ......



Tah-dah, one intact blanket, one relieved mom, and one very ecstatic boy. Thanks Danielle for blankets one and two. They have been incredibly loved. Thanks Grandma for helping us out of a potential crisis. Your talents bless our lives all the time. Jonathan is so content with his new woobie. Just look at his face ..........



serenity.

Happy Birthday Lynette

I've heard many horror stories about other people's mother-in-laws over the years, but I've never had any of my own to tell, thank goodness. My mother-in-law is terrific! She is a gem of a human being and I feel lucky to have her in my life.

Jean Lynette Dickey has many wonderful qualities, but here a just a few that I like best......

1- She never criticizes me. I know that's not because I've never done anything worth criticizing, but she just doesn't do it. She does however make me feel like I'm doing a good job as a mother and wife.

2- She is a wonderful Grandma! She makes my kids feel so loved. Here she is getting a hug from the grand kids after planning a fun treasure hunt for them at Tony Grove, and with the twins when she came down to help after they were born.

3- She loves nature and is so at home there. This has helped me develop a better appreciation for God's beautiful world and the peace we can find out in nature. Besides that, every time we go camping, hiking, or picnicking, she does so much work to make sure we're all fed and happy and comfortable.

4- She is ever faithful. Life has dished out some difficult hardships for her, but she always remains faithful to God and what she believes. I appreciate this example in my life and look to it for steadiness when times get tough. I fully appreciate the benefits of her faithfulness in my life in all the ways they manifest themselves.

5- She's down to earth and unpretentious.

6- And of course, most importantly, she gave me this guy.......

Mike is an incredible person to have as a husband. He's a great guy. Lynette always claims he came that way and she had nothing to do with it, but I know better. A large part of Mike's goodness can be attibuted to Lynette's abilities and sacrifices as a mother. For giving me Mike, I am most indebted to her.

Happy Birthday Lynette. I love you!

Starting today......

Reading assignments and discussion questions have been posted for the Intuitive Eating group. Click the link to the right and see. Have fun!

Hiding

Due to the cold weather, the boys are stuck in the house all day and bored out of their minds! When they need something to do they will often tease and heckle the dog. They squeeze her and chase her and just generally pester her. She usually takes it pretty well, but the other day I guess she'd had enough. I went to my room and found her hiding amongst the decorative pillows on my bed. Just her head was peeking out. I don't blame her. I thought of how often I want to run and hide in my bed too, just to get away from it all. Alas, I do not often have that luxury.

Keep hiding Winnie, they're still out there!

Puzzled?

What do you do when it's freezing outside, the kids have two weeks off of school and you're all cooped up in the house together? You do puzzles of course! Santa left some puzzles under the tree this year. He was thinking ahead to the long break and the hours that would need to be filled. I never thought I was a puzzle type person, but turns out I very much enjoy them. What is it about puzzles that's so addicting? It's kind of like reading a really good book.... hard to stop until you're finished.



Mary Kate and I warmed up by doing all the "easy" puzzles in the house. You know, the hundred, hundred and fifty piercers. We did eight in one night and she and I really bonded over Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake. The Little Mermaid puzzle you see in the picture was given to Mary Kate by Grandma Winnie. She enjoyed doing puzzles too. I have many happy memories of doing puzzles with Grandma at her dining room table.

When we felt properly prepared, we moved on to a biggie. We tackled a seven hundred and fifty piece Disney panorama puzzle. Brooklyn from next door came over to help us. This puzzle took most of the day and half the night to complete (we're beginners remember). There were high fives and a great sense of satisfaction when we placed the last piece.






Puzzles are also great when you have lots of company to help with assembly. Mike's sister Laura, her friend Tim, my sister-in-law Dani and Mike's brother Lance, who has long been the family puzzle master, came to visit. I had just started a thousand piece country scene when they all showed up. We ate, chatted, and puzzled late into the night. The sky and blossoming cherry trees part of this puzzle turned out to be real beastly. Thanks for your help guys. Here's our finished product...



If you look closely, you'll see that there are fourteen pieces missing from this particular puzzle. Mary Kate spilled the box, not once, but twice in the game closet. I took everything out and scoured the closet three times, but never found the missing pieces. It remains a mystery. If you think that's frustrating, my parents (who are also into puzzles these days), had this one almost all completed when my dad slipped and fell to the floor pulling the whole thing down with him. They started all over again.....the die hards.



Yesterday, being the addict that I now am, bought this puzzle at Target, and even though I had a million other things I should have been doing, spent the evening, until 1:00 a.m. putting this five hundred and fifty piece puzzle together all by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it too.

I've got three more I Spy puzzles that Mom and Dad have passed my way, sitting in the closet. Mom says they're really difficult. I'm not sure I should even start them. I do have kids to take care of and laundry to do and my family needs to eat. Maybe I'll save them and do them over spring break, but I probably won't be able to wait that long. We can always order pizza and who needs clean clothes when there is a puzzle to be done?

P.S. I figured out a great way to store puzzles. Cut the picture off the box, put it in a Ziplock bag along with all the pieces and store them in a rubbermaid. I got twelve puzzles in one small container and saved myself tons of shelf space by getting rid of all the bulky boxes that always get smashed anyway.

Announcement

I've started another blog. Ever since reading a book my cousin gave me about three years ago and discovering the ideas in it, I've wanted to share it with other people. So.... I'm starting an Intuitive Eating group via a new blog. Click here to see what it's all about. If you like what you see (what you read) feel free to join us. I think you'll like it. If you know of others who might want to join, anyone is invited. We will be officially starting next week. If you're not interested, no worries, just ignore. I will of course still be posting our family happenings on this blog.

I'm not going to title this post "Snow Fun".......

because that would be so cliche and cheesy! But, it really was so fun playing in the foot of freshly fallen snow in Cache Valley last week.


Jeffrey the dare devil experiencing pure delight



Jonathan does not appreciate snow melting in his mittens



Face plant



Mike the work horse hauling Jeffrey back up the hill



Uncle Lance catches some air



The snow came up to Winnie's ears, but she managed to get around anyway




This winter I've learned that playing in the snow is a lot more fun and much less chilling when you wear snow pants. It only took me 34 years to figure that out. Also, I discovered I like eating snow. If it's clean.