Here's to the Weekend!

Let's kick off the weekend!
One of the best parts of the weekend is hangin' out with Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissn' Time.
She lets us de-frag!

Go on over and say "hi" and link up!  Everybody's doing it!

* I didn't even get to blog yesterday.  I went to my husband's office and worked a FULL day!
I got paid the same amount as if I had stayed home.
I got paid the equivalent of what I contributed.


* I sure am bossy!


* Tuesday, Brian went by Panera and picked up some chicken noodle soup for a sick employee.  He brought home some sourdough bread for himself and then slid a cookie out of the bag that he bought for me.

and said.............."Let the hoarding begin."

What is he talking about?

It's Friday, and this is on the counter -

Yeah..........I'm hoarding it.

No.......I won't finish it.

No.........I won't share.

Yeah.......I will probably throw it out tomorrow,



* Brian is going to Utah today to spend the weekend with Trammell.  No fair!!!!
Oh look!  Here's a blurry picture of Trammell and his friend Jen watching the sunrise on Mt Timpanogos
pirated from Facebook.

* My new favorite cleaning tool -

I was so excited to try it out on some lime deposits, I cleaned six toilets.

That's a LOT excitement!

You can get them at Home Depot or WalMart.

* I've listened to Rihanna's song "Cheers (Drink to That)" five times in a row.

It's the line "Cheers to the freakin weekend" that I sing along with.

Since I don't drink whiskey, I changed "Let the Jameson sink in" to "Let the Limeade sink in"

Shirley Temple is too many syllables! ;)

 "Life's too short to be sitting round miserable.

People gonna talk whether you doing bad or good."

Thanks Rihanna!



* However, I DO NOT approve of Rihanna's recent escapades while filming her new music video.

She asked a farmer if she could film her video on his farm in Ireland.

But when things got a little wild and she took off her top and bra and romped through the fields topless, the farmer kicked her and her entire crew off the farm.

Right on!

* Trammell called for the Family Chex Mix recipe.

It was easier just to make it than to explain that I don't measure ANYTHING.

I told him I would make it and send it with Brian.

I hope Brian's suitcase doesn't smell like garlic and Worchestershire sauce!

Cheers!  Have a great weekend!

Church on TV

Twice a year, we don't go to church.
Church comes to us!
Via our TV!


It's called General Conference and it's one of the highlights of my year.
On the first weekend in April and the first weekend of October, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints holds its Semi-Annual Generl Conferences and broadcasts it worldwide from Salt Lake City in 93 languages.

I'm Mormon.
And there are roughly 14.1 million of us who will tune in this Saturday and Sunday.


I love conference because we get to lounge around in our pajamas and eat shrimp, mini sausages, 7 layer dip, veggies and dip and Chex mix.
It's better than the Super Bowl!
But it's not all about the food.
The best part of watching conference is the inspirational messages from all of the speakers.
They are truly inspired!


They are awesome!
Even thought I take notes, I still miss a lot of golden nuggets.
Luckily, all the talks are published after Conference and we can read and re-read them.
But it's a weekend not to be missed!

Dazed and Confused!

Seriously! What time is it???


I almost missed the whole RaNDoM THouGHT TueSDaY because I was working for free.
But it's never really too late to hook up with Stacy

And jump on the RaNDoM train!
* Yeah, I went into Brian's office today to "help" with a file.
Can't go into a ton of detail because of HIPAA regulations.
But it was the big 1,200 page+ file.
Each document has to be sorted in to specific categories and then re-sorted in to subcategories and copied.
Easy! Right?
It would be except that it is the first file *I* have ever been asked to deal with since I was trained on how to do it in JUNE!


For some reason, my super large brain doesn't remember jack from June.


And seriously, why couldn't they have given me a 50 page file for my first file?
* Parker has been begging for "comfort food."
I love comfort food except that it's been 85 degrees everyday for the last week.
The only thing that would bring me comfort is a popsicle!
Anyway, being the super nice mom that I am,
last night, I made this -

                                                                Yummy Stovetop Chili Mac


We followed Martha's recipe except we added a can of kidney beans (for EXTRA protein) and we added our family's secret ingredient - Lowrey's Season Salt. It goes on EVERYTHING except for maybe ice cream or cupcakes.



* I'm sick of the news!
I used to be in the news business.
We were told to just report the facts.
Now, the newscasters go ahead and speculate and give us their opinion.
I don't want their opinion.
I just want the facts.
And even when they are dealing with facts.........they just give you the ones that will skew your thoughts toward THEIR opionion.
Just the facts!
* All week, I have been confused about what the date is.
All day yesterday, I thought today would be the 30th.
But then, I was pretty sure that October 1st was sometime this weekend.
I just couldn't work it out in my mind.
Yeah, I could have looked at a calendar, or the bottom of my computer screen.
Whatever.
What IS the date?
* Congratulations to Parker for getting his third academic letter for his performance in school last year!
Woo hoo!
Well, that's it.
Someone is at the door!
Have a great what's left of Tuesday!
It's Tuesday right?

How Old Are You When You Learn to Share?

I will let you be a fly on the wall.
A fly on the wall of our kitchen where TWO people had THIS conversation last night.
About THIS

Person A: What are you doing with MY ice cream?
Person B: I'm going to eat some.
Person A: You can't.  It's MINE!
Person B: Seriously?  It's been in here for two weeks and you haven't touched it.
Person A: Yes I did.  I had some. 
Person B: Yeah, two weeks ago.  You aren't going to eat the anymore so I'm going to have some.
Person A: No!  I'm going to eat it.
Person B: When?
Person A: Sometime.
Person B: Now?
Person A: No. Sometime.  Put it back.
Person B: This is ridiculous. You aren't going to eat it.  It's just going to sit in there.
Person A: So.  It's mine. Eat the other ice cream.  There are two other kinds in there.  Eat those.  That one is mine.
Person B: Wow!
Person A: PUT IT BACK!  You can't have it.

You will NEVER guess who is the parent and who is the child!

Forget-Me-Not

Last night, I dragged myself to the annual Women's Broadcast.
I hated to stop what I was doing, get into a skirt and leave the comfort of home and family.
But of course, once I got there, I was richly rewarded.

Isn't life always that way?
You have to sacrifice something!

My favorite talk of the night was by President Dieter Uchtdorf, counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Uchtdorf gave us five things to "Forget not"

1) Forget not to be patient with yourself!
God is fully aware that we are not perfect.  He also fully aware that the people who we think are perfect, are not.
We compare our weaknesses to other people's strengths when we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to others at all.
Be thankful for the small successes.

2) Forget not the differerence between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
Staying up into the wee hours comforting a small child who had a nightmare is a good sacrifice.
Staying up all night stitching hot pads for each sister in our Relief Society lesson is a foolish sacrifice.

I couldn't help myself -

I'm teaching Relief Society today, on an entirely different topic, but.......

3) Forget not to be happy now.  President Uchtdorf pointed out that like in the story of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factor", many people are looking for the Golden Ticket.  We are so intent on searching for the "one" thing that will supposedly make us happy that we forget the everyday joys.

"There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings, but we cannot put our life on hold and miss the blessings we do have.  Don't close your eyes or hearts to the beauties of everyday life."

4) Forget not the "why" of the Gospel.

We sometimes see the Gospel as a long list of "To-do's"  We focus on the what the Lord wants us to do and how it needs to be done, but we for get the "why."

See out the joy of the why.

5) Forget not that the Lord loves you.

This talk was an excellent reminder of so many things!
I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Excuses, Glitter and Candy!

Thank heavens it's Friday!
Thanks heavens for Mrs. 4444!
                                        
She reallly is the BEST hostess!  Get on over and visit her!

It's been a fragmented week!

* We FINALLY got around to getting Parker's senior pictures.

With the first one, we took advantage of early bird specials and had the pictures taken in early June.

With the second one, he was one of the photographer's "models" and had preliminary pics taken in February to convince his classmates to go to that photographer.

With the third and final one........we forgot to care.
Hey........the DEADLINE to turn them in isn't until NEXT Friday!

* Parker needed to take a note to school explaining why he, as one of the student body officers didn't attend the Homecoming Dance -


What I wrote:
"Parker did not attend the Homecoming Dance because it is not a wholesome activity."


What I should have written:
"Parker did not attend the Homecoming Dance because in his words, "If you aren't going to 'grind,' why go?"
Why would he choose to go somewhere with trashy music, half dressed girls and teens simulating sex on the dance floor?"

*Getting ready for Halloween.

 EVERYTHING is better with glitter!

I'm finishing up this little glitterizing bones project today.

* The back seat of Parker's car -

Yes, that's 12 pounds of candy back there.
WHY?

 * Because we don't have enough candy IN our house?

The CORNacopia of candy from last weekend's aMAIZEing CORN party.

And the year round CANDY cupboard.

Don't judge!  You all know YOU have a candy cupboard....okay, maybe a candy drawer.

Anybody want some candy?

Have a great weekend.

What's REALLY Important

Everyone is up in arms about the NEW Facebook.
Of course, I saw all the status updates: "I hate the new Facebook" or "This is confusing."
I had to laugh when several national news stations covered the angry response to the new Facebook.
And the fact that it made the front page of the newspaper this morning made me laugh.

Then........I saw this........

Sometimes it's hard to remember what is REALLY important!

Guest Post - Senior Poetry

Today's blog post is hosted by Parker unbeknownst to him.


The following is a poem written for a colleg prep writing class.
The assignment was to select a word and then to write a poem with the definition of the word.
Sorry, I didn't type the poem into this post, but I wanted to share the format and font usage as well.

Back to Normal....Whatever THAT Is!

Well THAT was quite a weekend week!
Last week's Homecoming week was full of costumes, activities and late nights.
With Parker having to attend games, events and activities every night, homework didn't start until 9:30.
And when you get up at 5:15 everyday, it's bound to lead to death being exhausted.

BUT IT WAS FUN!

Each class has 3 walls to decorate.
When I say "walls," I'm NOT talking about the kind in your house.
I'm talking WALLS!
Here is some of the Senior's handy work.

Oh, the theme was "Saturday Night Lights."
All the floats and the walls fit into the sports theme.

 All of the Seniors' names are listed in the blue squares - all 690 or 723 of them.  Whatever.

 You get the idea how high these walls are when you see the kids' heads.

Freshman wall - pretty cute.....predicting that the class of 2015 will win ALL the state championship titles.

Then we had the parade/BBQ/carnival/pep rally on Friday night.

Parker was specifically in charge of the BBQ.

 Wait!  Why do the Poms have the flags?

 Why do the flag boys have poms? 

Oh! Well! I certainly wasn't expecting THAT!  Thus the reason Parker is half out of the picture. The Poms' coach was quite impressed with those split jumps.  Eek!

I didn't take pictures of any of the BBQ festivities or the carnival games because I high tailed it out of there for a real dinner and left Parker to his responsibilities.  Byt he time it was finished and his committee cleaned up, it was 9 pm.

Saturday -

Tailgate, Football Game and aMAIZEing Corn Maze.

Remember, Parker didn't want to go to the dance, so he invited some friends to go to the corn maze and then come over for "corny" food.

 We had a CORNucopia of candy, CORN chips and salsa, mini CORN dogs, CORN tortilla taquitos, CORN on the cob cupcakes,
                                      
 high octane E-85 fuel (Okay!  it was apple cider) and high fructose CORN syrup (pop).  And I had to throw in a veggie tray for good measure.  No!  We did not serve baby corn!

A good time was had by all.

And now, we can put Homecoming 2011 behind us and go back to normalcy..... whatever that is!

Corn, Corn, Corn, Homecoming, Homecoming

Wow this week has been crazy.
It could be because it's Homecoming week and Parker has had to dress up every single day in some stupid outfit and then attend some crazy activity every night this week.
Or it could be because I'm losing my mind.
Either way, it's probably all Parker's fault.

It's the perfect day for

We can all thank Mrs. 4444 for hostessing!  Go thank her!

* Today is the Homecoming Parade!  WooHoo!
The flag boys LEAD the parade.

I am going to go and take pictures.
This time, I will make sure the memory card is IN the camera.


* Tonight is the BBQ.
Parker is in charge of the BBQ.
He is not happy with his committee.
Good thing the BBQ will be over soon!


* Tomorrow, is my parents "Homecoming!"
They haven't been home in more than a year.
They left last August to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rome, Italy.
They were supposed to be gone for two years.
Then my brother died in March and my Mom got cancer.
They left Rome and went straight to California for the funeral and then straight from there to Chicago for treatment.


* My mom is now cancer-FREE!
Woohoo!


* Parker's a-MAIZEing Homecoming Party is tomorrow night.
They are skipping the Homecoming Dance and going to the Corn Maze.
Then they are coming home for some "corny" food.
Corn Dogs
Corn Chips
Caramel Corn
Candy Corn
E-85 - get it?  because it is made with corn?  But we won't really be serving gasoline.  It will be Apple Cider.


And...........I'm making these -

Are these not the cutest cupcakes, excuse me, Corn on the Cob Cakes, you've ever seen?

Thanks to all my blogging friends who recommended them!

And I'm throwing in some non corn veggie tray on the refreshment table - I just can't help myself!

That's it!  That's all I can handle!  That's all the fragments!  Have a great weekend

Truth Is.....

Truth is........I've been wanting to play along with Julianna at Surviving Boys since she started this!

Truth is.........I'm late

Truth is........it's been a really busy day!

Truth is.......I went over to my parents house and picked up my wedding dress that has been in their possession for 27 years. 

Truth is.......I don't know why I haven't brought it home before now.

Truth is.......I'm not the ONLY one who has stored her wedding dress there.  My sister in laws was hanging up right next to mine.

Truth is.......I brought it home AND put it on.

Truth is.......it fits.

Truth is......it's not as pretty as it was in the 80's! ;)