And Life Goes On ...

It's been a while since my last entry and yet I find myself struggling to think of something of interest to write about. I have been busy. VERY busy, but busy in a way that most would find boring.

So I've been working on our year supply. Strangely, I am having a ball doing it.

I just ordered powdered eggs yesterday and the excitement I felt was ridiculous! My 11qt dutch oven came in the mail yesterday and my powdered cheese, butter and sour cream came the day before. The hand grain grinder is being shipped as well as ... (this just tickles my funny bone, and is a gift from mom) ... a portable toilet. Yes, you read that right.

I'm feeling a little less organized when it comes to a few other projects Scott and I are in the process of completing. Texas is a community property state and as such, it is imperative that we have a will (which we don't). So finding an affordable and state approved Last Will and Testament has become one of my searches. Why does Texas have to be so complicated?!?!?

We are also in the process of doing some serious editing of our possessions. During our last move, we had some friends helping us load up the moving truck and one of the comments was about how we had too much stuff. That is sooooo true!!! I look around the house and think about how much easier it would be to keep clean without all this superfluous stuff hanging around. So my closet has been purged this week and I will be posting a ton of stuff on ebay hopefully today.

We have two dining room sets and we only need one. We have two living room sets and we only need one. We have desks and beds and chairs and so much else that we just plain DON'T NEED! I have two piano's! Who has two pianos?!?!? That's crazy!!! Amazing how this "stuff" accumulates over time. I can't tell you how many bedding sets and blankets I have that have never even been taken out of the package. I find them for such good prices and think that I may use it someday and so buy them. Well, I've had enough!

So literally, I've been super busy ... but with what would only be considered boring, Boring, BORING activities. Hence the lack of updated posts.

But here's some fun news ... my sister found out she is having a boy (this is their first), my other one is happy living a double life in New York and I may have a temporary babysitting job starting in March and ending somewhere in the June through August months. Woohoo, more money to supplement my year supply fun! : )

I've just read another author that's lots of fun by the name of Gabriella Herkert. Her books are fun and fast in the mystery genre. Strangely, it's considered a "Cozy Mystery" which means limited language, no graphic love scenes so these can actually be on the book shelf even with kids in the house. I LOVE it!!! They were real fun to read.

I've also found the I'm-an-idiot-and-need-a-step-by-step-guide-to-year-supply-management book called Cookin' with Food Storage by Peggy Layton. I love this woman!!! The Lord put her on earth just for me and my supremely anal need to have everything set out in straight and orderly fashion. : )

And one last one. I've gotten the book by Joey Green called Amazing Kitchen Cures that is fabulous. I've been pouring over this for the last two days and find myself alternately amazed at what I have that can help in almost instance that grandma probably already knew but whose knowledge was never passed down to me and laughing at some of the trivia and historical information included about each topic. It's been a family-funny-insight-moment-provider for the last two days. We've all found something funny or interesting or even amazingly disgusting to tickle our brains in it.

Maybe something spectacular will happen soon and I'll have more to entertain you with instead of our boring busyness. Ta ta for now, as Tigger is prone to say. : )

I'm Back!

So the sweet siren call of the bedroom went unanswered yesterday. What I found myself doing instead, (now you will see just HOW DESPERATE I am to stay far, far away from the whole room cleaning ordeal) was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, cupboards and drawers. (Call me a desperate housewife!)

This entailed pulling EVERYTHING out and scrubbing the interiors. Then going through everything and eliminating the items I haven't used in I don't know how many years (one set of ice-cream glasses we got as a wedding gift and have only used once in our entire marriage). Then separating the items I will use on a daily basis (ok, weekly basis) and removing the occasionally items to a local (probably the garage) to be determined at a later date. Then, rearranging the location of all the items into a more cohesive and color-coordinated order. Frankly, I'm quite pleased with the results! Of course, Scott is completely lost in the kitchen now and I still need to get a receptacle to hold the knives so no one stabs themselves as they reach for one.

So you'd think the bedroom's beckoning call would grab me now, but - HAH! - now I've decided to move on to the pantry. Let's just see how long I can prolong the agony!!!! : )

For All My Ravenous Blog Fans

It's been a while. I know.... And I wish I could say I'm finally getting back into the groove of blogging and that's the reason for this entry, but sadly, the real reason is because I desperately don't want to clean my bedroom! : ) (I'm being absolutely honest about this!!!)

So to kill some time .... Scott got his ward calling. He is the second counselor in the Elder's Quorum. I love it! In his blessing/setting apart by the Stake Presidency, it was said that this is his time to shine. You have no idea how happy that makes me!

In other news... HOA hell has reared it's nasty little head once more. To my horror, the management company never paid a bill I sent them back in mid October. I received an email this past week asking very politely that the bill be paid by the company. I was shaking mad when I forwarded the email and a very blunt message to the management company. I received on Saturday a letter from the management company blaming me for them not paying the bill. (Crazy, I know, but true.) I, again, emailed a response to the letter and have yet to hear more on this issue. (Just as a side note, this management company is in the habit of not paying bills and has even racked up penalty fines for postponing payment.)

Colbey informed me this morning that he is quitting Athletics. Apparently, the athletic department has decided to change their rules on hair and it can no longer touch the ears at all. Of course, Colbey will have none of this and has chosen his silky locks over weight lifting and showering with other males. (Can't say that I blame him!) He's a skater and the hair is an important part of his image (thankfully he isn't into the tight-as-can-be-pants-that-look-like-a-second-skin type of skater) and this isn't a battle I'm willing to fight with him! So please don't make any comments about how I should change his outlook on life/priorities/ or grooming habits, because I just plain don't want to hear it! There are other more important battles coming that I'll fight and let him feel good about this minor win.

Landon ... well, he's just Landon. You know, it must really suck being the middle child! He's the one who gets in trouble the most and I honestly think the majority of the time, it's completely based on his position in the child hierarchy! Poor shmuck! Schools going well for him and he's reading soooo well! Colbey is continually annoyed with him (as could be expected) and Ryleigh is continually playing/annoying Landon (as could be expected), so the circle remains unbroken.

Ryleigh has discovered her cartoon voice since the operation. Fortunately, her normal voice has returned (for the most part) but now she plays with the high Betty Boop voice during the day. (SIGH!!!) She has recently started saying things like, "Follow me, I've got to show you something!" which translated means, "Let's go for a walkabout!" and "I need to go to the store!" which means, "Let's go spend money on me!" She is also my motivator in the "Dancing with the Stars" workout. She loves the warm up moves and the music of the Samba. (We haven't passed the Samba yet, but I'm sure she'll love all the music as she is introduced to it.) She asks for a repeat of the warm up and dance over and over and by the third time, I'm pooped!!!

So this is a brief update and now the lovely siren call of the bedroom beckons. I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

Callings

I never updated you on new ward callings. Scott is still waiting for his although the bishop said that he hasn't been forgotten. I'm sure Scott will be THRILLED with whatever he gets! : )

I have been called as the ward organist (woo-hoo!!!) and the bulletin/newsletter person. As most of you know, that is exactly the kind of thing I love doing so I couldn't be happier. Ok, I could be happier teaching in RS - Teachings For Our Times. But this is the next best thing!!! I've already got my template ready for the newsletter and it is so pretty and yet appropriately masculine at the same time. It's all about ratio's! : ) I bet you never knew creativity was all about mathematical relationships...

The only thing that could make this calling better is if the newsletter came out on "PRETTY" paper instead of plain jane stock. : ) This totally feeds into my love of making invitations/letters/cards/etc.

So, if any of you were in church Sunday, you'll see that there is much to be desired when it comes to the organ. Apparently, there is a DVD that accompanies the organ and I will be watching it!


So mom, because I know you're curious, we couldn't figure out how to go from the preset prelude setting to a normal setting without the organ turning off after the first chord each time. And yes, I tried multiple times on the opening song with only the first chord sounding for a split second before nothing. I finally moved to the piano for the opening song. Bro. Winters then was able to restart the organ while the opening song was being sung and we figured all would be good for the sacrament song. Not so ... Because the organ is brand spanking new and I've never played on it before, I am unfamiliar with the stops. I chose a stop setting that I felt by the looks of what lit up would be appropriate for the more reverent hymn. What I didn't realize was that the third pedal (you know, the furthest to the right) added more stops until all you heard was a horrible muddy yuckiness. In panic, I switched up to the swell for the second verse hoping to have a cleaner sounds and all that came out was two measures of muted air with a hint of the notes that only the Winters on the stand with me and the bishopric could hear. I went right back to the muddy yuckiness to finish out the hymn. (Our organ at the Coit building only has two pedals so this has been a learning curve for me. Of course I didn't realize this was the issue until after the Sacrament hymn was over and I could look more closely at the offending organ.) Now come time for the closing hymn I'm terrified out of my mind with what is next going to go wrong. Amazingly, it was perfect. I was feeling pretty confident again and wasn't worried about the dismissal hymn. But that's when things fell apart again. In my playing around with the stops, I have found a bass coupler stop hidden below the keyboards and well camouflaged. I had used it and the great to pedal stop on the closing hymn and hadn't thought to check to see if the stops had remained lit for the dismissal hymn. With my tweaking of the stops, I didn't think to check those two and they were most definitely missing for the dismissal hymn which came out all mousy. Oh the frustrations of an unfamiliar organ!!!!

So the story doesn't end there, mom. The "piano" (I use this term in the loosest of contexts) in the RS room is really a player organ with a setting for a bright piano and one for a mellow grand piano. Well, I prefer a mellow sounding piano to a bright so I chose that setting to play in RS. I don't care how fancy or expensive or necessary a player organ is for the RS room, I hate it!!! It sounded like electronic garbage instead of a piano. I tried both piano settings and they sound the same. So here's my solution ... everyone needs to learn how to play one hymn. You don't need to learn any more than one, just one. That way, you can switch out each week and have a different song and not worry that there is no one that can play the piano so the need for a player organ isn't necessary. See, easy solution and a whole lot cheaper and better sounding than the monstrosity I was trying to make pretty on Sunday. Obviously this was invented by a man!

But, I do love my callings and next time you visit, mom, you can laugh at me in my antics to provide beautiful music. : )

Drinking Like A Rock Star

Ryleigh has taken up drinking, and she's going for the gold. Hence, the title, drinking like a rock star! If it were alcohol she was guzzling, her liver would be pickled by now. I'm so proud of her!!!

Seriously, Ryleigh went in for surgery Wednesday morning (WWWAAAYYYY early - we started at 4:30am). She had her Tonsils and Adenoids (sp?) removed. Grandma, you'll be pleased to find out that they went down her throat and checked it and her voice box and all is normal and well, she just has a sexy voice (or at least did). Right now she sounds like she's been sucking on helium. Scott and I both hope her voice returns to normal shortly!!!

We spent the night and returned home just now. She has been a champ and really is drinking like a rock star. So the pics in this post are to describe where the tonsils and adenoids are located. The second one shows a bad tonsil area and a good (meaning cleared) tonsil area. The third is not Ryleigh, but her tonsils were described by her ENT as monstrous and these look very similar to hers. Where you would normally see a dangling thingy in the center and nice big openings leading down the throat, hers had no dangling thingy and only a circle no bigger than a #2 pencil eraser leading down the throat. They truly were monstrous!!!! There is now a "cavernous" opening going down her throat as the doctor described it and that is why her voice is changed but it should return to normal and if it doesn't (which occasionally happens) we'll get used to her new voice.

As I've said in earlier posts, 'tis the season for speed and non-stop activity, so tonight (yes, you read correct ... the very same night that we returned from the hospital) we go to Colbey's band concert, tomorrow is the Hooten farewell/graduation party and the combined ward Christmas party. Saturday I think is designated for catching up on my sleep. (I've gotten 10 hours in the last 72. I am surely not as young as I used to be because I'm hurting right now!!!) : )

PS - The tooth fairy left Pokemon cards for Landon's second tooth. He was thrilled!!

Pictures of Ryleigh's Birthday

Thanksgiving, Birthday's and Teeth

So we celebrated Ryleigh's birthday this past Saturday with her friends. The party was great and we had a blast with everyone here. We made a Ryleigh Birthday Mix CD and I personally think the mix is fantastic. If you'd like a copy, let me know.

1. Material Girl - Madonna

2. Yakko's Universe Animaniacs
3. Lullaby - Bond
4. Meadowlark - Sarah Brightman
5. Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Faith Hill
6. In My Arms - Plumb
7. Dear Jessie - Madonna
8. Happy Working Song - Amy Adams
9. The Love Cats - The Cure
10. Jump Jive 'n' Wail - Brian Setzer
11. Cartoon Heroes - Aqua
12. There She Goes - The La's
13. Park's Place - Royal Crown Revue
14. Dreams - The Cranberries
15. A Fairy Tale - Plumb
16. Happy Boys and Girls - Aqua
17. Hey Pachuco! - Royal Crown Revue

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair, but great nonetheless. The food was fantastic and the company superb. (It was just the 5 of us.) : ) Really, the turkey was the best I've ever had!!! It was a Cajun turkey, and I'm still oohing and aahing over the leftovers. We had a ton of food.

Ryleigh is thankful for turkey.

Landon is thankful for Jesus.

Colbey asked us to come back to him, but we forgot. I'm sure he's thankful for something!

Mommy is thankful for our home and warm beds and health.

Daddy is thankful for his job, the gospel and our health.

We finally got 5 chairs for the kitchen table this weekend. YEAH!!! Matching black IKEA chairs that took forever for me to save up to buy. Even at $19.99 a piece, I still had to spend a good portion of this year saving to get them. Each time I'd get close to buying them, something would come up that I would need to use the money for instead. But I have them now.

Also, Landon lost his second tooth. Apparently, the tooth fairy doesn't make visits on Sunday, so I'll let you know what he gets after the morning. The note is in with his tooth asking her for a computer, and if she doesn't have that, then Pokemon cards. : )

For All My Twilight Sisters

Scott and I went to see The Movie Friday night. It is going to become a cult classic and this is why...

It was beyond terrible. It was hold-my-breath-so-as-to-not-laugh-out-loud-and-annoy-all-the-little-teeny-boppers-who-were-screaming-in-delight bad! The acting was comically bad, the directing reminded me of a high school production by a student director. But here's the catch, the books are so long and fabulous, I don't think there is ANY way the movie could have come close, so the next best thing might be to be over the top bad. At any rate, the best part is when Bella comes into the kitchen to tell Charlie that she has a date with Edward and he wants to officially meet him. Charlie looks at Bella as he's cleaning his rifle, snaps the gun into ready position and says to bring him in. The worst part is when the Cullen's in the baseball field all lean forward to protect Bella from the bad vampires.

Carlyle looks younger than Edward and plays baseball with a 6 foot long scarf around his neck.

Rosalie is either on the chubby side or is just filmed unflatteringly.

Jasper looks like Edward Scissorhands.

There's just so much bad, it's hard to narrow it down. I can say, although we paid more than our favorite dollar movie theater, they were still discounted tickets and it was a good thing!!!

Not a movie we need to own. But good for a belly laugh!!! : )

Prosper Ward

So the split has taken place. We are now members of the brand spankin new Prosper Ward. YEAH!!!! And even better, we get to keep our bishop.

I love when we get to put together a brand new ward. This will be our second one since we moved here and it's always exciting!! Everyone gets new callings and it's a new beginning all around. I just love it!

We will start meeting in December in the new (the dedication is in Jan. 2009) Frisco West building at 1pm. SSSSOOOO GREAT!!!!

I'm just a little excited. : )

I did it!

We had Super Saturday with the RS yesterday. During it, the bishop spoke with us. (I adore our bishop!!!) He didn't speak at us, but interacted with us. He asked us what kept us up at night. My first thought was "what didn't?" But as I thought about it, I realized that truly, what kept me up at night was the fear of going to sleep because the morning would come so quickly and I would have to start all over again. You know, being everything to everyone. I spent the majority of the time listening to him and weeping. (I know, unbelievable that I listened and didn't talk!) : )

So, as a result of yesterday, I have decided to put my foot down and declutter my life by eliminating the unnecessary and taking care of what truly matters.

I resigned from the Advisory Committee just 10 minutes ago and I feel great! Thank you for all the kind words that you gave in response to my blog about wanting to resign. I love you all, and you were all right and I was blind to let other thoughts cloud my mind with doubt.

I'm free.