Pay It Forward

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what it will be is a surprise. There's a small catch though...You must post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift! For those who "win" my hand made gift...

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be (I don't yet either).

5- You are not allowed to judge me for my "hand made" skills ;).

From my kitchen to your screen ...

I'm tired of being sick and feel like even though I don't necessarily want to die anymore, the discomfort doesn't seem to be abating. So time to kick it up and into gear and let my body know who's in charge.

So .... voila!

Made fresh this morning. Ummm, ummm good!

Mean Kitty Song

So the kids are in love with this video and frankly, I like it too. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qit3ALTelOo

A Very Merry Unbirthday, To You!

Ryleigh is in love with birthday cakes and blowing out candles. To illustrate, she insisted that we make a carrot cake last week. Thinking that I could kill two birds with one stone, I agreed thinking I would pour half the batter into one cake pan and the rest in another (that way the family would have a cake and I could take the second to the RS activity that night). Then, she insisted that we use PINK frosting. Who has pink frosting laying around?!?!? Sadly, I do. I'm such a girl! But I didn't have enough pink frosting to make a beautiful job of the cake so I ended up using both cakes with the pink frosting in between the two layers and green frosting over the whole thing. Ryleigh was so excited about the pastel confection!!! Before we could have a taste test, she needed to blow out the candle (you can't tell, but the candle is pink). So this is the picture of a very merry unbirthday cake that Ryleigh shared with her brothers and parents. She's so generous!

Call Me Martha ...

I did it! I ground my own wheat flour and baked three loaves of bread yesterday. My first experience into baking bread ever. And here's the best part ... they taste great!!!

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!!