CAST A VOTE FOR THE SMALL DOG!

I long for the days of Cialis commercials.
Remember those offensive ads?

Yeah, I hated them too...........until the election season.
Now, we can't watch a 30 minute show without being bombarded by political ads.

It's no exaggeration.

EVERY ad is a political ad.

And if that isn't enough,

every dinner hour is interrupted with phone calls from "Washington."

Everyday between 4 and 6, the phone starts ringing and I'm still dumb enough to answer.

It's always a recording.

It's always advising us of some dirty dog move that someone who is Democrat or Republican in Washington is making to end all of our rights and bring certain disaster down upon our household.

But my favorite call was the other night.
Ring......ring.....
"Hello?"

Same canned man's voice: "Survey 2010..............
Me: thinking....here we go.......
Man: "Do you own a small dog?"
Me: Taken aback.  Ooooo.....do we get to vote for the White House dog?  Are those dirty politicians taking away dogs' rights too?  This is going to be good.
"No." I finally answer.
Man: "Thank you very much for participating." Click
Me: Wait!  That's it?  Because I don't own a small dog, I don't get any input on raising taxes, term limits, or Wall Street bailouts?  What if I have kids who smell like dogs?  Come back!  Ask me another question!

Please make election season end!

Short Skirts, Glitter & Candy!

I don't have any fragments.

All I have is scraps.
Do you do that?
See something or hear something and then dig around for something to write it down on so you won't forget?
And now, all I have are little pieces of bank deposit slips and Costco receipts with cryptic scribbling.

Head on over and see Mrs. 4444 though.
She's the Queen of Friday Fragments


* Girls -
If it's cold enough to wear your Uggs, it's too cold to wear that little sash short skirt.
And if it's so dang hot that you have to wear shorts with a 1 1/2 inch inseam, then it's too hot for Uggs.

 * I went to Michael's yesterday - the official store of Martha Stewart glitter - to pick up the glitter for my Thanksgiving glitter corn.
I wandered around the store for 20 minutes and couldn't find the glitter.
They had Snuggies,
2010 Calendars for $1
Feather Boas
and Recipe Boxes...........
What does a snuggy have to do with crafts?  Unless you are going to glitterize it!

 *Trammell followed doctor's orders.
He went without dairy for 2 weeks.
Then, as instructed, he had some milk and ice cream last Saturday.
Sunday, he was throwing up.
Monday he threw up.
Wednesday he threw up.
And now he has what he describes as "morning sickness."
He's nauseous in the morning and then later in the early evening.
THAT's just not right!

* I've gained a couple of pounds.
I am now eligible to give blood - if you need any.
So you think it has anything to do with my bedside table?

* I'm on a new kick.  I love 3 Muskateers.

This is extremely weird, because I don't even like chocolate.

I eat about one piece a month.

And plus - 3 Muskateers are on the bottom of the chocolate food chain.

When I was little, sorting through Halloween candy - out of the three -

Snickers was number one with it's nuts, caramel, nougat and chocolate.

Milky Way was #2 because it had the caramel and nougat but lacked the nuts

and 3 Muskateers was the worst because of the lack of ingredients.

Who wants JUST nougat????

What is nougat?

I don't know.  But this week, I like it.

* Pretty much, I'm mom of the year.

College has been in session 6 weeks and I'm putting my 2nd round of care packages in the mail to the boys.

And there is good stuff in there.

I'm sending Tums, Prilosec, Shampoo, Toothpaste, Emergen-C but wait -

I'm also sending a tattoo sleeve

a make your own skeleton candy necklace kit, drinking glasses with skulls on them, Halloween pasta, decorations, and candy.  Aren't I awesome?  Where's my crown?

Well, everyone is calling me.

Parker is sick and wants me to pick him up from school.

Trammell is dry heaving outside his apartment.

And Garrett - well, who knows.

Happy Friday!

Planning, Planning, Planning!

I love planning.
I pretty much love planning more than the actual doing whatever I planned.
Almost...but not quite.


Yesterday, I got out the Halloween decorations,
but today, I've moved on!


Today, I'm planning for this -

and a trip here

for this

and this

and then I'm planning for this -



Glitter Corn - cool huh?

where can I get some of these cool, tall candles?

Pears with letters made out of cloves - forget welcome!  I'm thinking guests initials for place cards.

But first, I've got to package all of this up

and send it off because SOME people are stuck in October and are thinking about Halloween.

Move on people!  Move on!

The JOYS of KINDERGARTEN

It's been a long time since anyone in this house has been to kindergarten.
Trammell's going back.

Each Tuesday, Trammell "gets" to spend an hour in a kindergarten class.
I'm not really jealous.

Day 1-
Kindie: "Are you a dad?"
T- "no."
Kindie: "Oh, are you married?"
T- "no."
Kindie: "How old are you?"
T - "21"
Kindie: "And you aren't even married yet?"


T- I forgot how little kids are so cute and so gross at the same time."
Me: "What do you mean?"
T - "Like they are so little and cute but then they have 3 day old nacho cheese on their face or they blow their nose in their hand and give you a high 5."
Yeah - that's gross

And from the family annals-

Trammell at 5 years old - "I know the difference between boys and girls!"
Me hesitating: "You do?  What is it?"
Trammell: "Well, Dad and Garrett and I like bugs.  Girls don't like bugs."

Trammell at 5 - "Mom, I don't think you should let Grandma Jodi drive me to school anymore."
Me: "Why not?"
Trammell: "Well, every time she takes me, she drives past it and I have to remind her where the school is."

Garrett at 5 -
Me: "What did you learn in school today?"
Garrett - man of many words - "I learned.....what I learned."

Parker at 4 -
Me: "Now listen Parker, today when we meet with the principal to see if you can start kindergarten early, you need to listen and be polite.  And whatever you do, do NOT ask for a special teacher.  If she says that you can come to school early, you just thank her AND DO NOT ASK FOR ANYTHING ELSE."
Principal: "Congratulations Parker!  We have decided to let you come to Creekside Elementary early.  I'm so excited to have you in our school."
Parker: "Thank you very much, but I think I'm going to go ahead and skip this school and just go straight to middle school."

Don't you love kindergarteners!!!

I'm a Bakery Item!

We survived Monday and as a special reward,
we get Caramel Cake from Mississippi (at least I do)
and to play along with RaNDoM THouGHT TueSDaY with The Un Mom

* I read this quote in the front of a novel -
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are." Anthleme Brillat-Savarin
Oh geez- what does this mean for me?
I looked the guy up to make sure it was a real quote from a real person.
He was a lawyer and a politician in the 1800's - so no, we don't need to give his quotes any credence.
He had CHEESE named after him for heaven's sake.
I only listen to quotes by people who had desserts named after them.

* Overheard quote:
"They are always anxiously engaged in doing nothing."

I think I'd like to try that.  Do you think I could get these people to mentor me?

* The Social Network was #1 at the box office this weekend.....starring my neighbor's husband Armie Hammer.
He plays the Winklevoss twins. (The boys with the original idea for Facebook)
Not only is he talented enough to play one character, he plays TWO!
Okay - he had some help.........but you know what I mean.
Armie will be on Ellen today.
Go see the movie - it's about way more than Facebook!

* A couple of pieces of unsolicited advice -
1. Don't go jet skiing or boating in a lake full of pirates and drug cartels in a dangerous country.
2. Don't go hiking along the wilderness border of a country full of terrorists, a country always at war or in conflict or a country that has strained relations with your country.

* We had "Stay home and watch church on TV in your pajamas" this weekend.
No really.
Every six months, our church leaders speak to us via a televised broadcast.
It's really called General Conference.
It's four hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday.
It's awesome!
They give us counsel and guidance and it's so inspiring.
Their words make me want to be a better person!

* Last night we had a conference call with College Boy #1 in Utah and College Boy #2 in Idaho and we each discussed our favorite talks from this weekend's General Conference.  It was fun to hear their perspective and hear what touched each person.

* I am waiting impatiently for Fall/Autumn.
I am sick, sick, sick of the hot summer weather!
It's been over 80 for weeks/months.
Bring on Fall before Fall is over.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

GOOD, CLEAN FUN!

The week of non-stop fun ended with a BANG!
There's a group of kids who sick of the school dances - the immodest dresses, the trashy lyrics in the music, the simulated sex on the dance floor, the drinking, the smoking etc.
So they come up with their own good CLEAN fun.

This is what you get when you get a group of teenagers together with 50 gallons of paint!

What could be more good and clean than a paint war?

This is AFTER they changed out of their paint covered clothes.

 And Parker even went to the high school like this to help CLEAN up after the Homecoming dance.

Good thing he wore his old. ratty shoes!

Needless to say, there will be lots of kids at school today who STILL have paint on their elbows and ankles and scalp.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Life is never perfect.
Life is never easy.
But there are plenty of joyous moments and plenty of days that are good.
It would be easy to overlook those days when "mostly everything" goes right.
It's important to recognize when things ARE good - even little things.

Things that are good -
* General Conference weekend.

* The feeling in my heart just at the mention of the words prophet and Thomas S. Monson.

* The knowledge that there is a God and He knows each of us and He has a plan for each of us.

* Knowing that for right now, each of my children are in a "good" spot.

* Being along in the house knowing that Brian and Parker are at the Priesthood session together and that Trammell and Garrett are at the Priesthood session together.

* Knowing that all of those priesthood holders are living worthily and trying to live the commandments and make righteous choices.

* Listening to men of God speak and feeling inspired to try a little harder, serve a little more, be a little more unselfish (except with cupcakes), study a little harder, be a little bit more charitable, and have a little more gratitude.

* Recognizing the blessing of having my parents serve a mission in Italy - 1) that they are healthy enough to serve and 2) that they have the desire to seve.

* The knowledge that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for each one of us - not only for our sins, but for our disappointments, sorrows, and sadness.  We are never alone.  He knows exactly how we feel.

Life is good.
Every day is a gift with something good just waiting to be discovered!
Have a great - or a good day!