Shh…

God help us all, I started listening to Christmas music today.

More Proof That God Exists

As one commenter on this blog said, “It’s like p*rn for my mouth…”

Some poor soul without a/c in a place that rains a lot but is currently (or was) experiencing record heat invented….

THE MACGYVER WAFFLE .

Oh Yeah, This Needed A Title!

 Hey!  I just figured out how to use different fonts here.  Yay, me!  And in one of my favorite colors, no less.  WOO HOO!!!  Oh crap, it didn’t work.  I thought when it said I could paste from WORD that it would carry over my cool font, too!  Oh, well.

I decided to share a little more about myself, because you can never know too much about me.  Ok, maybe you can, but let’s not go there. 

There are some things that I really love about myself and my life.  I really love living here.  Not just in California, but in this town.  I like that I have friends here.  Good friends.  I love how close we are to so many cool things.  Like the cowboy museum in Oakdale, and the water park in Ripon.  Just a few hours from Yosemite, the beach, camping, all kinds of cool stuff!  I love the smell of the trees, the dirt when it’s been freshly tilled… but not when it’s been freshly fertilized.  I could do without that scent.  I love that I don’t use the paper or plastic sacks at the grocery store, I use my own.  And when I was at Target today, I saw that they’re getting into that scene, too, so now I feel comfortable bringing my own bags there as well.  Although, I really do love their plastic bags.  They are FABULOUS trash can liners for little cans in your bedroom & bath.  I’m proud of the fact that even though taking our recycling in is a pain in the ass, I do it.  Living in an apartment, they’re not too keen on complying with that mandatory recycling laws we have here.  But I took the time to hunt down some good bins to keep in my kitchen, and I’ve finally drilled it into everyone’s head that we recycle whatever we can, even if we don’t get money back from it!

I’m grateful that we live in a time and place where we can eat really well.  And by that, I don’t mean that we eat a lot, I mean that we eat really good food.  All that fresh produce and whole grain available to us… how could we not?  I feel happy with my level of involvement in politics at the executive level, and I want to be more involved at the local level but it seems pretty much like the good ol’ boys club here.  I love that I take my kids to the movies every Tuesday and Wednesday morning during their summer vacation, and that they have swimming lessons.  I think B and S will start tae kwon do when that’s over.  We’ll see.

I love that my husband has a job that is so family friendly.  ( I have a theory that teachers are so underpaid and not treated as the professionals that they are because it didn’t cost them enough money to go to school.  They don’t have the school debt that doctors and lawyers do so it’s assumed that they don’t deserve the big bucks that they deserve.)  He leaves at a reasonable hour, has the shortest commute of anyone’s husbands I know, and gets home 2 hours before all my friends husband’s do.  His principal and colleagues are also super friendly and supportive of each other.  How great is that?

I love being in school.  I still look for any excuse not to go to class, but really, I don’t want to miss it.  So I’m glad that I end up there anyway, because it just wouldn’t feel right if I weren’t there.  I wanted to have my degree by the time I turn 40, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with taking more than one class at a time.

For the first time in history, my mental health is pretty good.  My down times or down days are so few and far between, I can’t even say that I have one once a month anymore.  That is such a relief… to have that burden lifted from me and taken off my shoulders so that I can enjoy life like a “normal” person is more than anything I could’ve asked for.

I love that I read so many books!  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my t.v. shows, but I love summer when it’s all over and I feel free to go on reading binges.  Man, I could go on forever about how many things I love and feel good about, but one little boy just is fighting to stay awake so I will come and put his covers on him.  Every other minute I hear, “Are you ready yet?” because I had told him I had to finish writing this before I could do that for him.  Don’t worry, I’m not a horrible mom.  We’d already had family prayer and “mommy tucks”.

So I guess I’ll go and do that Mom thing that I do so well, and bid you all adieu.  I hope you sleep well and dream good dreams like me.

MySpace Is Better Than A P.I.

A zillion years ago when I was in high school, I had a wonderful, wonderful guy friend.  Sometime in the general direction of after graduation, he came out to me on my front porch one evening.  Of course I was devestated because I was sweet on him, but isn’t that the way life is?

So anyway, he went up to Logan for college and did a stint at some camp place in or near Yellowstone, and that was the last I ever heard from him.  I was hurt when he didn’t come to my wedding reception (yes, I noticed!) and eventually found out that he’d moved to Baltimore.

Let’s just gloss over the little stalking expedition I went on and fast forward to today. 

So, I’m trolling myspace this morning doing a search for all my gal pals in town when I decide to punch in his name.  You’ll never guess whose profile came up first!  I couldn’t believe it.  I also wasn’t completely sure it was him because he’s back where I knew him and I just never in a million years figured he’d be back there.  But it was him.  And I’m so glad.  It would be great to renew our friendship, but maybe I’m part of a life he doesn’t recognize anymore.  What’s important is I know that he’s safe and he seems to be really happy and successful.

Hoist The Colours

I had THE BEST pre-birthday celebration yesterday!  Bananarama and her family had us all over and she made me the most fabulous potato salad I’ve ever had.  Of course, it’s also the only potato salad I’ve ever had, but that’s because I have a strict no-mayo-in-my-salad rule.  This one, did not have mayo in it.  It had all manner of yumminess that did not require the foul white substance!  You should visit her website HERE  in a couple of days where I bet she’ll post the recipe.  We also had some fabulous grilled chicken and corn on the cob, which I shucked because I’m so anal about making sure EVERY LAST SILK is plucked off the ear. 

Then we picked up some poor, unsuspecting young woman from their ward to watch all six of our kids while we went to see “Pirates 3″, which is also three hours long.

 BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Now that I’ve had some time to digest it and savor how thoroughly enjoyable it was, I am sad it’s all over.

Or is it?

Afterwards we headed back to rescue the sacrificial sitter and had the most fabulous lemon cake with tangerine/pomegranite sherbet, which makes for a fabulous frosting if you let it melt into a puddle around your piece of cake!

 Well, I think I can die happy now.  Excepting that my birthday is actually tomorrow, so I think I’ll wait.  After all, Grandma A sent me a check for this purse I’ve been eyeing over at my favorite neighborhood Target….

Domestic Goddess Strikes Again!

Today I cleaned & vacuumed the living room, cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes, vacuumed the hallway and made strawberry jam.  I also made everyone a nice, healthy lunch, and we have a FANTASTIC dinner on the menu.  Teryiaki-lime carne asada kebabs with lemon orzo salad.  I have Enrichment tonight, which they will be serving sub sandwiches at, but I think I’ll eat before I go.  My dinner sounds much better, no?

I REALLY wish I had my tub of quilting tacks so I could throw a couple of quilts on this afternoon, but they remain elusive.  I guess I’ll just have to finish sewing on B’s patches to his scout shirt!

 My friend, S, was over and so I had to show her the jar of dilly beans I’d made a few years ago.  They’re so pretty… I really should make them again, except for the giant pain in the butt that they are to make.  You have to have perfectly straight beans and they have to be the right size to fit in the jar, blah blah blah… plus I want to get a new kind of steam canner so I don’t have to boil gallons upon gallons of water for a water bath.  I’m thinking of making corn relish, too.  I love to give it away, but since it’s so much work and for only a few jars, I hate to eat it!  And then since I don’t eat it, I forget what you would eat it with.  Thus, the vicious cycle starts…

Ok.  I have to go find something else domestic to do.

Oh, did I mention that these strawberries were picked YESTERDAY MORNING???  How fresh is that?

Sunshine In A Jar

I’m making strawberry jam today.  As soon as the dishwasher is done sterilizing my jars.  The perfect storm occured making it all possible!

• Perfectly red, perfectly fragrant and perfectly sweet strawberries from my newly discovered strawberry stand.
• Kitchen is spotless.
• The mood has stricken!

 I haven’t made jam for at least two years now.  I’ve bought the strawberries.  I’ve bought the jars and pectin.  But I just couldn’t do it.  Now I’m ready.  Now I’ve got the muse again.

It helps I have my own full-on freezer as well to store this jelled-gold in as well.  Oooh…. speaking of gold, I wish I had some edible gold powder to put in it to give it that lip-gloss look!