Alright, already!!

Okay, so Diane tagged me. Apparently, I've been too slow to respond because now she has had to reminded me that she tagged me. You have to understand, Diane, I'm old and slow. Besides, I'd already blogged on Tuesday, and I needed to do my Wednesday Words of Wisdom blog so I was sort of saving the 'tag' blog for Thursday, but if you're going to get pushy about it......here goes....

The 3 things tag:

3 current goals:

1) Make Diane happy by responding to her 'tag' (I guess I should really be happy about it since I'm too old to play real tag anymore..I can't even outrun the 3 year old at my house! Of course, it could have something to do with the terrible accident I had at my brother's house in February where I fell down his stupid stairs and rolled my ankle! At least I can still play 'blog tag'!)

2) Transfer responsibility for chores/homework to my children (where it belongs!!) I'm tired of asking about chores/homework. There are certain things that you know you need to do and you should do them without your mother reminding you!!

3) Keep getting up when life knocks me down. It would be so easy to stay down, and sometimes it's hard to get back up.

3 current obsessions:

1) Blogging!!
2) NCIS (It's been months since I discovered it, and I still can't get enough!)

3) Blogging.

3 fears:

1) That I will never have an empty nest. At least 5 out of the 9 people currently living in my house should be out on their own. (I love you all, but you know it's true!)

2) spiders!! I hate them, they have way to many legs and when they look at me like that it gives me the chills!3) That I will someday NOT get up when life knocks me down.

3 random facts:
1) I used to date Diane's brother, Scott, when we were in high school.
2) I once got my finger stuck in a custom steering wheel and had to go to the emergency room to have it removed. (I am NOT kidding and would be glad to tell you the whole story if you buy me lunch!)
3) I secretly hope that I will never have an empty nest. (It would be so boring!)

So, there you go, Diane, I hope you're happy now. I may have exceeded my blog quota for the week by blogging twice in one day, but at least I'm not 'it' anymore.

I hereby tag: Jenna, Cherie, and Marcie (but I don't think she'll play--surprise me, Marcie, play tag with me!)

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own........

Here is one of my favorite quotes by Marjorie Pay Hinckley:

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

(Though I really wouldn't mind driving around in a shiny sports car while I'm here!)

4 year old logic....

Sirius has been in school for a whole 6 days now. When his mom got him off the bus today, the bus driver (Mr. Kelly) says: "You need to have a talk with him, he keeps standing up on the bus. I've had to tell him the last two days to get back in his seat." So we ask Sirius why he's been standing in the aisle of the bus while it's moving...are you ready for this.....
"I'm just trying out my new shoes! They're New Balance and I want to see if they work." Apparently, they do work and his balance is much improved, but Mr. Kelly still frowns on being out of your seat on the bus!

P.S. This is my last '4 year old logic' post. Sirius turns 5 tomorrow, but I'm sure there will be plenty of 5 year old logic to follow!

The Phone Lottery....

I don't play the South Carolina lottery. I like my money to stay in my pocket, where it belongs. When you play the lottery your money goes into someone else's pocket. They don't need my money, they have plenty. Enough, supposedly, that they are giving it away. But the odds of any of those millions of give-away dollars coming my way are just not high enough that I'm willing to play their game.

I do, however, play the phone lottery. I look at it this way.....of the several times a day that my phone rings, there is probably only one phone call that is actually of any interest or importance to me.

The rest of the calls are either for one of my children (those don't interest me at all, unless it's a teenage girl calling for one of my teenage boys. In that case I'm VERY interested!), or it might be a call for Wal-Mart (due to the fact that we have similar numbers), or a call for the Wackenhut family.

Now, I've never met the Wackenhut's but I'm sure that they are a very nice family, I just don't want to take their phone calls. Apparently, they had my phone number before I did, but wouldn't you think that if they wanted to talk with someone, they would have given them their new number?? I mean, really people, I've had this number for over four years!! Get a clue!! The Wackenhut's don't want to talk to you!! Move on!!

Other calls include people wanting to lower my home mortgage interest rate (can't be done, we've got a GREAT rate), people wanting me to participate in a survey (here's a quarter, call someone who cares), wrong numbers (these, I don't mind so much as long as it's not 3:00 in the morning) and politicians wanting donations for their campaigns (they made how much last year and they're asking me for money?! They should be offering me money, who knows, maybe you can buy my vote.)

So, every time the phone rings, it's like playing the lottery. I will probably lose.....I'm really taking a chance answering. And yet, I pick it up every time. Of all the calls I don't want on a given day, I still pick up the phone. Because who knows.....this might just be the call I've been waiting for....it might be YOU!...what are you waiting for!!

Hello, Me!!

An exclusive interview with ME!

Well, hello, Me!! Where have you been? Up to your ears in kids? And now they're off to school? Well, welcome back, I've missed you!! So what are you doing with all your free time? Enjoying the quiet house? Cleaning the livingroom and loving how it stays clean longer that 20 minutes? Thinking about reading a book--how indulgent and self-serving!! Maybe a nap?? What are you thinking? What if someone needs you? That's right, they're gone!! You're putting on some music? What about Spongebob and Patrick? Who needs them, you say?? Michael Buble?! More indulgence!! Where will it end!!

Don't you just LOVE the first day of school!!

One more day of Summer...

Peter had a great weekend with Jared, one of his best friends ever. Jared came over on Friday afternoon and they 'hung out' until late Saturday afternoon. They rode bikes in the neighborhood, went to the pool (to 'check out the ladies') did parkour at the playground, shot paintballs at each other, went to a late night movie (The Dark Knight) followed by a late night trip to McDonald's, rode bikes to visit friends in the neighborhood, rode around in Peter's car (Joe drove), played video games and basically just enjoyed one of the last days of summer. They start school on Tuesday.

Here they are preparing for battle. Jared with the gun, Peter in the helmet. Jacob, Sam and Sabian are watching.

Here is Peter reacting to being shot.....I refused to take a picture of the welt, let's just say it was a shot 'below the belt'!

Peter and Jared in Peter's car....Joe drove them around the neighborhood, but here they are planning future adventures.............

Watch out, ladies!!! Who could resist these two?

Yes, they really are that cool!

Now that the weekend is over and school starts on Tuesday, along with early (EARLY) morning Seminary that starts at 6:15, we have been talking about school night rules/bedtime. We agreed that the television would be off by 8pm on Sunday nights and will probably not be on at all Monday through Thursday. (I can dream, can't I??) We were going to start our plan tonight...until Peter saw this:

And then I saw this:

And heard: "Please, Mom!!"

Now, granted, school doesn't start until Tuesday, so technically it's not a school night yet. But the first time he saw this movie I had to listen to him talk like Napoleon Dynamite for months. (Gosh!!) I really don't want to go through that again. But, I'll probably throw caution to the wind and give in......after all, it is still summer......for one more day.....

Fair Warning....

Consider this fair warning.....I am NOT the Hyatt Regency. This is important information if you should ever come to visit me.

--You will NOT get a two bedroom suite with wi-fi access and your own big screen color t.v. with unlimited channels. You will sleep in the basement (it's a nice basement!) on a cot or maybe a blow-up mattress, and you will have to share a television with two small boys who watch Spongebob Squarepants for hours on end.

--There is no breakfast buffet. There is, however, quite a selection of sugared cereals, and maybe some bagels, frozen waffles, or pop-tarts.

--I do not have scheduled entertainment. There are no Broadway shows or dinner theatre. You can, however, watch my boys (15, 16, and 22) shoot paintballs at each other and compare the welts left behind. I've been told that this is great fun.

--You will not have a private bath with scented soap, little shampoo bottles, and matching towels. You will get a shared bathroom cleaned by a 15 year old boy who was looking to make five bucks and may have missed a spot or two. Your towels will NOT match.

--Lunch is whatever is on the menu....usually a peanut butter sandwich, cheetos and kool-aid.

--If I haven't scared you off, let me tell you the benefits of staying at Chateau Armbruster....

--If you come to visit me you will be welcomed with open arms and treated like family. We are pretty casual around here and like to spend time working on puzzles, playing games, and watching movies. You can go for a walk in the neighborhood, swim at the neighborhood pool, play tennis at the clubhouse, or just sit and talk. You can take a nap if you want, and I might make some cookies for us to munch on. You can play Wii, Playstation 2 or Nintendo 64. If you prefer, we can break out the board games and have a marathon monopoly session or play farkle or dominos.

So, there you have it. We'd love for you to come anytime, but you've been given fair warning.........there will NOT be a mint on your pillow.

Ho, Ho, Ho....Merry Christmas!

Okay, I realize that it's only August, but haven't you ever heard of 'Christmas in August'? We lived in a ward once that used to have a huge Christmas Homemaking (Enrichment) Activity every summer. We would have classes on different crafts, cooking, etc., all while listening to the sounds of the season! It was great fun, I miss it!

Other than that reminder, I have two people who have made me think about Christmas already.....one is a friend (Diane) who has a boy on a mission and therefore can't wait for Christmas to come to recieve her phone call from her missionary. The other is my SIL, Marcie, who quilts like crazy and already has a Christmas project on her website to encourage all of us slackers to get busy, after all, Christmas is right around the corner!! (See her sidebar, it's a really cute project, and the pattern is FREE!)

That being said......I'm sending out my Christmas request early this year in order to give you all plenty of time. I know that there are those of you out there who make things to give for Christmas gifts. One year my sister was into making 'quillows' and made one for each of my kids. Another year, Marcie (the aforementioned SIL) was going crazy making Christmas Baby Quilts. It happened to be the year that Jacob was born (4 days before Christmas) and the lucky boy scored two of her adorable Christmas quilts!! (He is now 22 and often stumbles out of his room in the morning for family prayer with one of the quilts wrapped around his shoulders!)

So, for those of you who like to make things for Christmas in bulk to give to friends and family, put me on your list! It doesn't matter if it's cookies, brownies, a mix in a jar, quilts, blankets, pillows, whatever, just add me to the list. I realize that this is a shameless request, but really I'm just not very creative and am simply too lazy to enjoy the fruits of my labor and would love to instead enjoy the fruits of your labor! I know that I have many talented and creative friends and I can't wait to see what you come up with! Remember, start your projects early......Christmas is right around the corner!!

More 4 yr. old Logic.....

Sirius, for the last couple of weeks, has not been wearing underwear. He comes out of his room fully dressed every morning so it never occurs to me to ask, but later in the day it always becomes apparent that he's not wearing any. So this morning, I asked him first thing. 'Do you have your underwear on?' Here's the reply I got: 'Abuela, I don't wear underwear anymore.' Silly me, I have to ask, 'Why don't you wear underwear anymore, Sirius?' 'Because people give me wedgies, and I don't like wedgies, so I'm not wearing underwear ever again!'

Makes sense to me!