NICE PEOPLE DOING NICE THINGS

So if you've been around her very long,
you know that my kids are not normal.


Back in August, Garrett had an impending birthday
and asked for this:

Yes, an expensive fountain pen.  And he even found someone to teach him calligraphy.

Garrett's enthusiasm trickled down to Parker.

Parker eagerly anticipated his birthday in October and he knew just what he wanted.

While most soon to be 16 year olds are begging for a car,

Parker asked for this:

A few weeks ago, Brian was on an airplane and just before landing,

the man next to him struck up a conversation.

He noticed Brian's pen and asked him if he enjoyed it.

Brian replied that he had owned that pen for more than 20 years and loved it.

The man lamented that "writing"was a lost art.
Brian told him that surprisingly, our two boys loved pens and had a fascination with fountain pens.

This made the man's day, as he is an avid collector of pens.

He asked for our address and told Brian that he had some pens he would send the boys.

Brian thought the man was very kind to say that, but who would really go home and send pens to strangers?

A couple of weeks later,

we received these in the mail:

He sent these to the boys.

He also wrote up a brief history of the pens for them.

They are antiques from the 40's an 50's.

The boys were so surprised and excited to double their fountain pen collections!

We were surprised that the man actually took the time and cared to share his passion with us - strangers.

There are STILL nice people doing nice things all around us!

Once again, my faith in mankind is restored!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for today?


What am I thankful for?
1. A Heavenly Father who knows me and STILL loves me.
2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
3. The Atonement
4. My wonderful husband
5. Family
6. That my boys will be home for Thanksgiving
7. My home - a refuge from the world
8. Peace
9. Butter
10. Donuts
11. Bacon
12. Technology - so I can talk to all the crazy people in my life
13. A refrigerator full of food
14. A warm bed
15. That we get to go to church today
16. That we get to come home from church today and hang out with each other
17. Good friends
18. Prayer
19. Miracles
20. The scriptures
21. Brothers - crazy brothers who make me laugh
22. Their wives - for putting up with them
23. My Parents
24. Snowstorms, rainstorms, lightening, thunder, sunshine...but not wind.
25. Fall leaves
26. Blue skies
27. Cupcakes
28. Books
29. My life!

WHAT HOLIDAY IS IT?

I'm so confused!
I don't know what holiday it is.
At least I know it's Friday.
Yea for Mrs. 4444 and yea for FRIDAY FRAGMENTS!

Anyway -
I'm holiday conflicted.
After glitterizing the corn for my Thanksgiving table decor,
I started hauling out the Christmas Village.

* The other day,
I was in line buying something and I almost wrote "July" on my check.
But out of the corner of my eye,
I saw someone in a Halloween costume.
I did a double take.
It wasn't a costume.
It was an old wrinkled Rastafarian.
He was 75 with dreads.
It was Jimi Hendrix come back from the dead.
See why I'm confused?
People lookin like it's Halloween all year!


*Should I iron the Thanksgiving tablecloths and set the table,
or should I deck the halls?
Should I plan my Thanksgiving menu,
or should I change all the sheets for the impending arrival of guests?
Should I make a shopping list
or just sit around reading and eating the platter of Christmas cookies on my counter?
So many decisions!


* Have you seen the new Harry Potter?
Come on!
It's been out for 8 hours!
What are you waiting for?


* We DID NOT go see it at midnight.
We will see it as a family over the Thanksgving holdiay.
Like THAT won't add to my confusion -
a scary movie about witches at Thanksgiving.


* My niece is an "over the top" Harry Potter fan.
I received a text message from her that "someone" was at my house in a cloak
and they were taping signs on my door.
I opened my door and found this:

 It's my nephew!  Look at that face!  HOW could you call him Undesirable?

That's it!  I'm taking him away from his mean, mean family!

* Guess what I did yesterday!

Not blog!

My back is KILLING me.

I spent the ENTIRE day setting up this:

Well, back to the chore list!

Have a great weekend!

GINA

MARTHA STEWART'S GOT NOTHING ON ME!

Today, I'm sharing a beautiful, easy and fun craft that will not only grace your Thanksgiving table,
but will last throughout the holidays!
And it's a project that's so easy, the whole family can be a part of it.


GLITTERIZED CORN


What? It's a classy, glamorous name!


You'll want to do this project BEFORE you shower or get dressed - like early in the morning.
Trust me.


Scoot the kids out the door to school.
Go ahead.  Send them 15 minutes early.
It's only November.  It's not THAT cold.


See - the kids are participating.
They're staying out of the way.
NEVER let kids play with glitter.  NEVER.


Assemble your supplies:

You'll need 3 colors of Martha Stewart Glitter - Yes it's expensive and hard to find at Michaels (the only store that carries it, but it really is the best,  Elmer's Glue, a paintbrush and some paper plates for glitter containment.

Anyway, you'll need three coordinating colors and then one regular container of kid's normal glitter that you scrounge out of your craft closet or laundry room when you realize you don't really like one of the colors you bought.

Indian Corn - in a variety of sizes in colors.

They all come completely husked, but if you soak the husk in warm water (thanks Margaret) - or if you are in a hurry, just get it wet, you can pull some of the husk down to give variety to your Glitter Display.

Squirt the glue directly on the corn.  I tried to do it the neat and dainty way of putting a puddle of glue on a paper plate and "painting" it on with a paint brush, but then, the glue isn't thick enough and the kids will be home from school before you get done.

So squirt the glue on about two thirds of the corn - so there is a clean side to put directly on your table cloth.

Now, even out the glue with the paint brush.

Starting with your main color - which of course, should be Gold, sprinkle the entire cob like you are salting it.

More.

Then use your "accent" colors to give it dimension.

Don't be too heavy handed with the accent colors.

And remember, Martha's glitter is fine, unlike that crappy kid's craft glitter.

Go easy on the chunky glitter.

 DON'T touch the glitter!
Oh geez.......now you will have glitter everywhere - the phone, your cheek, the faucet, the glue bottle, the door knob, every piece of material you touch. FOREVER!

Especially don't touch the glitter if you cut your finger last week and should have gotten stitches, but didn't.
Now you'll have to get the tweezers and pull glitter out of the cut.
Now the tweezers have glitter on them.

Oh shoot.  Your husband's leaving for work.
Well, give him a little pat on the butt and a quick kiss on the cheek.


Ahhh.....now's he's in on the craft.
His co-workers will be commenting all day.
"Is that......uhh....glitter....on your cheek?"


"Ummm.....I think you have something on your pants."


He'll have glitter on his behind until May!
Told you not to touch the glitter!
Told you this project would last well into the OTHER holidays!

Well, it's too late now.
Don't say anything.  Just let him go.
Cuz, we've got to finish up.

 Use the paintbrush to paint glue "highlights" on the husk and sprinkle just a tiny bit of the main glitter color on them.

 Allow to dry while you attempt to clean up the glitter.
Not even a shower with a firehose will get that glitter off.
But hey, it's the holidays.
You're supposed to look festive.....
at 8 am on a Wednesday!

Happy GLITTERIZING!

Gina

OLD & BROKEN DOWN

Wow!  I'm NOT THAT old,
but lately, I'm feeling every minute of my 29 years!


You know who never gets old?
Keely and her RaNDoM THouGHT TueSDaY FESTIVAL

Go to The Un Mom and check her out!


* You know you are getting old when you walk downstairs to get something, you get there and you can't remember what you came down for. You stand there for a couple of minutes hoping that it will com to you.  It doesn't.  You go back upstairs and few minutes later, you remember exactly why you went down.


You know you are getting EVEN OLDER when you go downstairs to get something and forget what it was.  You don't even wait for it to come to you.  You know it won't.  You just go back upstairs and wait for it to come to you up there.

* I just carried two cases of soda downstairs.
It was soooo heavy.
Do you know how much 64 X 12 fluid ounces weighs???
Me neither, but it's heavy.

* Do you know how hard it is to text with dish gloves on?


* Ummm...why is Borders BOOKSTORE selling Christmas trees?
These Christmas trees -

for $199

* On our flight to Chicago,

Parker looked at the SkyMall Magazine and decided he needed one of these

At the TOP of the basement stairs. With HIS name of course. Why?

 

* Is it weird that I am suddenly a little leary of soup cans?

I decided to make chili last night but was afraid to open the cans of beans and tomato sauce.

It could be because the last time I opened a can (five days ago)I cut myself so badly,  I needed stitches.

Not that I got them.

I preferred to suck on that finger while I finished making the soup with my left hand.

* Garrett's Facebook Status:

"Some of you may have seen my status posted last week, regarding the faulty disney site and wanting it to be fixed so I can watch Phineas and Ferb. Straight up, im angry, and still waiting..... SOMEONE FIX IT! DONT JUST LIKE THE STATUS!"

Yes, he is a college freshman.

* Thanksgiving Countdown!
Garrett - Home in 5 Days. 
He can watch all the ICarly and Phineas & Ferb he wants!
Trammell - Home in 7 Days. 
He can pick up those coats he forgot to take to school.  I guess after living in Cambodia for two years, he forgot that it is 25 degrees in November.

Happy RaNDoM!
GINA

Good People Doing Good Things

Trammell called last Saturday afternoon.
He was walking home from the BYU football game.
He wasn't feeling well.
You know he had to be feeling sick to leave a total blowout game in 70 degree fall weather when he had seats two rows up on the 50 yard line.


An hour later, he called back and he was walking BACK to the stadium.


He was going to go clean the stadium after the game as part of a service project.

"I decided it would help me take my mind off my own problems, if I went and helped," he said.


There is a guy in his condo complex who has the opportunity to do this great internship.
But he has to pay to do the internship.
The company offering the internship sponsored a contest - to clean the stadium.
The student who gets the most people to come clean the stadium, doesn't have to pay for the internship.
I'm getting the details wrong - but you get the idea - get your friends to come clean and you don't have to come out of pocket for the internship.


This boy was recently in a freak accident and broke his back a few weeks ago.
He can't lift or bend.
He can't clean the stadium.
He didn't dare ask his friends to clean the stadium.


But the kids at Trammell's condo complex heard about the situation and decided to rally around and get as many people as they could to go to the stadium clean up for him.
TWENTY FIVE kids showed up.
They all cleaned for him.
He had the most people show up.
He won!


And those 25 kids won!
And I won because hearing that story lifted my heart, gave me faith in young adults and reminded me that there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things and we don't hear enough about them.

What is WRONG With Society?

What's NOT wrong is

Mrs. 4444 is the best.  She's hooking us all up at Half Past Kissin' Time for fun times and frags!



* According to news sources (like TMZ), Lil Wayne had a paternity suit filed against him.

Shocking! Just shocking!
He has four kids by four different mothers (should they be called that?).
And now, there is evidently a fifth.
This is all so hard for me to believe! ;)
What is WRONG with our society?


* Trammell told me he's figured out what's wrong with our society.
He volunteers in a kindergarten class helping kids read and write.
He overheard one of the kids singing:
"First comes LOVE...
then comes the baby in the baby carriage."


Yeah - that's what's wrong.


* Another thing that is wrong -
is this pretend global warming.
I WANT fall/winter weather!
We got ripped off yesterday.
It was supposed to start snowing Wednesday night
and we were supposed to wake up to 3-6" of snow.
Yesterday morning at 5 am, Brian lept out of bed and threw open the shutters
and then proclaimed "Liars!"
Not a flake!
Those stupid weather forecasters!


* Tonight is the LAST football game of the season.
What is wrong is that the last game SHOULD have been last week.  Our team is horrible and they somehow managed to win the first game of playoffs.
So we're advancing.
They will LOSE for sure tonight (spoken like a TRUE fan.)


So it's the LAST game for the Flag Boys!

EVERYONE is going out into Antartica (because even though it didn't snow, it's FREEZING) to cheer them on.
Except for me.
Sorry Parker.
I will not be able to support you.
I'll be somewhere warm - like a movie theater.........or my bed.


I will send you with handwarmers.
And I'll make you hot chocolate when you get home.
Cuz, I'm supportive like that.

 * I have a pile of prescriptions to mail my parents.
They are on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy.
Rumor is: packages frequently don't get there.
They are plundered or "go missing."
I'm trying to think of ways to ensure my package arrives.
Hot tip: Don't write "Drugs" on the customs form!
I'm thinking of writing boring stuff that no one wants like - "socks"
My dad says that packages marked "Candy" usually make it.
I guess drugs are kind of like candy.
Hmmm....what else can I write?
"Poison" - no that would have the Postale workers opening it right away.
Something gross like "Hemorrhoid cream?"  No, because of translation, it would get opened just to see what it is.
Give me your suggestions!


* I am reading the WORST book right now.
It's stupid!
It looked cute.
There's no sex or violence or bad language. (That's good.  Did it look like a complaint?)
The characters are poorly written.
It's contrived.
It's not even remotely realistic.
I can't wait to finish it.
Yeah - I have a problem.  I can't just put it down and walk away.
I have to finish it.


* Thanksgiving Countdown!

Garrett comes home in 8 days.

Trammell gets home in 11 days.

And my friend Allen who is like family and comes nearly every year, arrives on Thanksgiving morning.

Thanksgiving will be EPIC!  Okay, maybe not as epic as when Allen, Margaret and I went out at midnight to "rearrange" those light deer in people's yards.  But hey, we're not 42 anymore.

It will still be EPIC!

Have a great weekend!

Gina