Best Career In The World

Last night I dropped Christine off at the school for the Thursday performance. She wasn't talking to me. Not even much this morning. 14 is such an interesting year, isn't it? She wanted to stay at the school after hours and then go to the Taco Bell on the corner for dinner for a couple of hours with friends until call time for play set up. We told her we didn't think it was the greatest idea. Big, busy corner. Car wash and gas station all right in the same location. Perfect spot for a quick shove into a car and onto the freeway. I mean, what do you do for 2 hours at a Taco Bell? Maybe next year. As it was, one of the girls (who has cancer), collapsed on the corner and had to be taken to the hospital, leaving the lone other friend by herself.

Anyway--then I hopped on the freeway and went to the dry pack cannery. Our ward had a time slot there and we had signed up to go. Of course, with Duff helping the Utah kids moving, and Mike and Adrianne doing their cub scouts, I couldn't use the carpool lane and it took double the time to get there in the after work/going home traffic. It was fun. NEXT TIME I HAVE TO BRING A CAMERA! Why didn't I think of that before I left. (Oh yeah-- I was dealing with the silent treatment.) All of us in those lovely hair net covers, plastic aprons, blue gloves. They have a really nice setup. We each had our jobs to do and we cranked all that stuff out in a couple of hours. Since I arrived late, I was a gopher. I kept supplying each filling station with empty cans so one of the two partners didn't have to leave to get them. I labeled, added oxygen packets, and got cans to the canner and canning team. I fixed cans that were bent at the rim. What a cool tool they have for that, and since each can is 71 cents, that can add up to a lot.

There is a 36 can limit per person, so since we were down to just me, I divided up my allotment into hard white wheat and sugar. I took home an already packaged case of rice as well and 1 starter kit, which I won't do again. The rice yes, but not the starter kit. I was hoping it was what they had offered a few years ago--a 1 month food storage kit for 1 person. Everything in it has a 20+ year shelf life except for the oil, which would be easy to rotate. We got 5 of those before (that was the limit at the time) and I wanted to add to it. We've used those to send with college kids for emergency prep and now it's nice for the newlywed couples to have. I have hard red wheat already and I want to add the white wheat for a little lighter texture and taste. Sugar might not sound like a healthy food storage necessity, but it is surprising how many recipes call for a bit of sugar, and if I think it would be a nice touch to have a batch of cookies or brownies every once in a while to boost ones spirits in hard times! What if you have berries in your garden and want to make some jam for your whole wheat toast?????

We were hummin' along and then it just had to happen! Lisa and Victoria. That naturally explains it. 'It' being a little food fight! Too hilarious. With the powdered milk no less! This is really when I wished I had my camera. Lisa and Victoria. Like Lucy and Ethel--dear friends always there for each other. And may I add with a flair for humor! It was warm in there and we all had that dewey glow going on, so the milk stuck well. It was just a very few flicks of powder, but enough to provide some comedy. Thanks, gals.

Dave D. loaded up my car for me which I really appreciated. Just didn't want to take any chances with my back right now. Got home with enough time to clean up the kitchen from dinner and get Christine's call to come and get her. She was really tired and ended up falling asleep upstairs on the couch. I couldn't even rouse her to go to her bed, so I tucked the quilt all around her, gave her a kiss (which she won't remember), and went to bed. When all is said and done, I really do love being a mother. Probably the best career in the world.

News and Views...

Garden-- Everything is now up. Duff buried the cucumber seeds a little too 'south', but with the extremely hot weather we've had they finally peeked out their sweet little leaves! The heat didn't bode well with the peas, but now that it has turned cooler they are much happier. And--yuck to weeds!

Lacrosse-- Christine had her first game last Saturday. She is on a B team. They are all 1st time players. In the beginning they were all on the A team, but when you have 13 new players it didn't make sense. No playing time, so they formed a B team with the newbies. They got initiated really well with this first game as they got scheduled to play an A team. In fact, the 2nd place A team from the last season. Obviously they lost, but learned a lot. Christine wants to play the goalie. She had some really good blocks and saves. The team did really well considering they are still learning skills and the rules.

Youth Conference--I can't mention the lacrosse game w/o Youth Conference, since I had to drive all over the planet for the combination of the two. It started on Friday with a 5:30am seminary morningside. Oh yeah. Got a taste of that early morning program again. It is interesting. All of the same rules, etc. apply to early morning seminary. Assignments, absences, etc. Sometimes I think the kids should get a little break for getting up at 4:45 am every school day even after extracurricular sports and homework have kept them up later than they should be for such an early wake up call.

Then after school, back to the stake center for speakers, dinner, and a rockin' dance! Then to leaders homes for devotionals and lights out. Saturday morning they were at the Irvine regional park installing a brand new fence. Digging the post holes and all. Pretty grubby and dirty. They worked hard. I know this because in order for Christine to make her game, I had to drive out there and pick her up so I saw what 450 kids were doing. It was pretty cool to see them all come together for that. She got in the car, we sped off to Newport for her game. She is changing her clothes as I'm driving. We had no idea where this field was and the directions weren't very good. I even mapquested them. We had driven almost all the way to the ocean and realized we must have passed it. We made a u-ie and found it tucked away behind some buildings on a completely different street. She ran with her bag in her socks with 6 minutes to game time while I parked. When I got to the sidelines with my chair and umbrella the coaches were strapping her into all her goalie gear.

I'm coming to learn that lacrosse is like hockey. Similar field/rink set-up, rules, etc. It was really fun to watch and I got to meet the other girls parents. It seems to be a great group of people.

We ran to the car after where she got her clothes changed again, grabbed a subway turkey/avocado sandwich, and headed to Irvine for the afternoon efy workshops. It worked out really well for her: the only thing she missed of youth conference was traveling time from location to location and lunch. She lucked out on that. They had 2 general authorities for the Sunday morning sacrament and testimony meeting. How cool is that! She got home in the afternoon, got comfortable in her jammies and was resting on the couch when I headed over for our meetings. When I got home several hours later, she had started the potatoes for dinner. I had put the chicken in the oven before I left. What a sweet thing to do. I really appreciated her thoughtfullness, especially when she was tired from going to bed every night at 2:30 in the morning!

Violin-- Christine is going crazy with her music. Practice, practice, practice. But in a very competitive school orchestra, she is now 2nd chair for 1st violins! Congratulations, Miss!

Box Repair/Food Storage--The additional shelves we ordered for the cabinet units we have in the garages finally came and were right this time. This is the 3rd attempt. But they gave us 1/2 off on them since it took longer than anticipated. Can't beat that! AND they repaired the ball box (a huge melamine box on casters with two lids that we store all the balls, bats, soccer, tennis, beach equipment in our garage). They put two new lids and hinges on it and I got it all vacuumed, cleaned out and it is like new again. Now we are in the mode of reorganizing all the food storage and canning supplies with the added shelves. Everyone who's been here to measure/install shakes their heads and thinks we're crazy. But every single one adds that they know where they are coming in a disaster. Yeah... Of course, along with all of that, I got the rest of the big garage cleaned out. Ah. Feels good.

Exciting News-- Mike has gone back to school! Since the job market is so bad, it is a good time. He started this week, and one of his professors used him as an example of how he wants the assignments done. Good Job, Mike! Just goes to show us all that we are never to old to learn and grow. Adrianne is such a trooper. A wonderful support, and your turn is next!

Along with that, Meredith found out that she got accepted to the BYUI Online Degree program. It is a pilot program right now and she fought her way hard into it. She got her AA there and is excited for her turn to finish school now that Josh is graduating next month.

Finals-- Natalie, Robert, Shaun, and Josh have been up to their eyeballs in finals and final papers. My knees have been 'bending' a lot in their behalf. N,R, and S are finally done as of yesterday. Phew. Natalie's computer crashed 2 days before her 1st final. NOT a good time for that! Dell couldn't get a guy out there for 4 days! What is up with that????? The service contract says 24 hours.....So she had to go to the law school and get a loaner to do 2 days of finals with. Lots of emotion going on.....When it finally did get repaired, they had to replace the screen and the motherboard. Good night nurse! Glad it was under warranty.

Weather-- It has been extremely hot here. Triple digits. Unbelievable. We've broken records 100 years old. But yesterday it finally turned, and now it is cold. 30* difference in temperature. It's not even 60 degrees yet at my house. A few days ago I had all the doors and windows closed to keep the heat out and now everything is still closed to keep the warmth in!

Finishing Up FINALLY

This is just crazy! I can't believe it's been almost a week since I've blogged. Totally not like me at all! Christine has had the busiest schedule and I've been trying to tie up all kinds of loose ends before the kids come home for the summer (in one week now) and my life will completely change for 4 months! Things like ordering a larger trash can for the summer from the garbage pickup company, get the ceiling fan repaired in the guest bedroom, have a new bathroom fan installed in another bathroom, etc.

It hit me about 2 weeks ago. I had a brilliant 'idea' for something I wanted to do. It could even be for a Christmas gift! I started looking through my 'crafting' supplies which are in various places in the house and garages. It slapped me in the face like a brick wall: no more new things until I finish all my unfinished projects. And I have a ton of them. You know--those 'things' you get started and then something comes up and you think: oh, I'll just put this aside for a day or so, and months, even years later they are not done. So that is what I've been doing in my spare time in and around Christine's crazy busy life right now. For instance: I started a beautiful counted cross stitch piece for my brother-in-law for his police work. It's still sitting in the bag. I just need to frame it! Christmas gift, yeah!

I did this several years ago too. I am still using most of the things I finally finished. Halloween placemats (which turned out darling and are timeless), a ceramic tea set for one of the girls, a quilt for a bed..... Why, oh why, do I let these things pile up?

So I'm very excited to be getting these things D-O-N-E. I'm trying to decide what I can take pictures of and what I can mention on the blog because I'm definitely going to be using some for Christmas gifts. Double blessing in this venture! It is filling my weak creative side to see these projects finally being realized. I am methodical and more of a kitchen gal. I really have to think out crafts and sewing. I'm a copier and follow someone elses lead when it comes to that. Unlike my mom, Lisa, Sue, Kristin, Jennifer, Gwen who can visualize it already in their mind and create it on spot.

Good news is: I've finally finished dubbing vhs to dvd. There were 4-0! Now I just have to load the computer program (scary for me) and print out dvd labels to put on them. These kind of 'new things' give me a bit of anxiety, but I just keep telling myself that I'm learning new things and there's something to be said for that!

It's the BIG 5-0 For Craig!

Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Craig.

You're not really 50!
You're 32 with 18 years of experience, right?

Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Have a great day. We send all our love and best wishes for the best day ever. We love you!

I'm Trying To Catch Up

The days have been a blur.
I'll catch up tomorrow, but for now I'm going to bed!

*Garden
*Lacrosse
*Violin
*Youth Conference
*Dubbing
*Games
*Church
*Finals
*Exciting News
*Food Storage
*Box Repair
*Clean Garage
*Maps and driving
*Sewing

Need I say m.o.r.e.? I'm hopefully sleeping in!

Tuesday.

--Really tired today. Didn't sleep good at all. Had a hard time getting to sleep and went into the bonus room so I wouldn't wake Duff up.
--More movie dubbing. Almost done, finally.
--Fertilized the garden.
--Cold and cloudy and feels and looks like it's going to pour down rain. Did they predict this?
--Big pot of split pea and ham soup loaded with carrots, celery, onion, and potatoes. OH! so good.

--Got Christine's bed all washed. She woke up in the middle of the night (2:30am) and had a pretty significant bloody nose. I was soaking bedding in the wee hours of the morning. With the combination of the bad nose bleed, cold, general overtiredness from her trip, she started crying and wanted me to lay down with her. I jumped at that. It's been a while, since she's turned into a teenager. We cuddled and she fell asleep to soft music on her ihome. Can't describe it. It's worth feeling tired the rest of today. I went back to my bed around 4:30. Up at 7.
--Praying for the kids. 4 are in finals, jobs, health, LIFE! Once a mother always a mother. Not that things are bad, just a mother's heart and intuitions.
--Christine and I were watching DWTStars, and I fell asleep. She woke me up to let me know Steve-O went home. Good. It was time.
--Off to bed. I think I'm gonna sleep really good tonight!

Couldn't Stop The Tears!

The ward Visiting Teaching/Women's Conference is coming up in a few weeks, so I was invited to come to the RS presidency meeting to go over the details together this morning. By the time I got back around noon, Duff was gone. I knew he had some errands to do later on, so I just thought he decided to go earlier. He pulled into the driveway and came into the house with Christine who he picked up from school. She wanted to go to school so badly, but couldn't quite make it. I had wondered about that when she left. She is still pretty sick with this cold, but she was determined. She changed into pajamas and came down to the family room. We still hadn't seen Marley and Me and decided to watch it while she settled in and rested. Movies are never as good as the books and we had both read the book. Bawled our eyes out with the printed word. We didn't know quite what to expect with the movie. I think in this case, the book actually helped us enjoy the movie even more. AND, as you can see above, we bawled our eyes out again.

All of a sudden she sat up and reached for the tissue box on the end table. At first I thought she just needed to blow her nose. She does have a BAD cold. Not. Crying. Trying to be discreet. 14 years old, you know. I was not as discreet, but I'm the old mom. My kids expect that from me. I could barely ask her to get a tissue for me. While she handed it to me, we both started laughing at each other. We were quite the sight.

If you have ever had, loved an animal, you know what I'm talking about. I've had a dog my whole life, and a chicken, and a duck, and rabbits; mice. They get under your skin, into your heart. Big time. Thanks be to the Lord. How did He know we would benefit and learn SO MUCH from His creations???

Easter 09

What a great day we had! We missed so many. Josh and Meredith, finishing up his last 3 weeks of law school! Natalie and Robert, starting finals tomorrow. Shaun Patrick, finishing his last paper and starting finals next week. Griffin and Katrina, at a brunch with her work. Next holiday for sure. It will be summer and a little less hectic, right? In spite of those we love and missed, we were filled with the joy and knowledge of eternal families made possible by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. How grateful and blessed we are for the atonement and resurrection! Traditional crescent rolls. This started with my mom when I was a little girl!
The pretty table with Mike picking in the green beans before the blessing!
I got this end of the bolt piece of fabric as an overlay for the pink tablecloth at Joann's for $3. A little hem all around and it turned out pretty cute, huh.
Flower centerpiece with everything coming from our backyard. Yes, the flowers are all blooming. As long as we get everything cut back and fertilized in January it is a pretty good guarantee that we will have roses and lilies by Easter! Ferns, year round.

Duff put the salad together: lettuce, avacado, tomatoes, and strawberries. Good combination.

This is how Christine spent Easter. On the couch. When we ate dinner, she did come to the table, and after a while she ended up on the dining room floor!

It's just not a nice thing to be sick on a holiday!

Kind of dark, but Darla did her best to beg!

Strawberry shortcake anyone?

HAPPY EASTER!

WE LOVE YOU ALL....

A Modern Day M and M Story

Christine is so sick. I'm exhausted. I was gone all last week, she was gone all last week, we were gone most of the day yesterday, and today is Easter. The Easter Bunny didn't even come. I didn't have any time. I know--she is 14 1/2, but a little basket is still a nice touch. We barely got some eggs dyed last night. The little bit of candy we got at the grocery store is still in the bag.

I got up this morning, made the dough for some rolls, (I didn't even have any Rhodes in the freezer), got the pound cake in the oven, Duff helped me put the cheesy potatoes together, and made some "egg gravy" with the hard boiled eggs for breakfast. It was the sabbath, Easter sabbath for that matter, and I was running. The whole house was completely clean and picked up when we left last week, and in less than 24 hours of being home it looked like a bomb went off with suitcases all over with stuff hanging out and piled on the stairs.

It was so important to me to get the dining room table set. I don't know why, but I just had a bee in my bonnet about it. So much so, that the thought that I could/should stay home with Christine seemed like the best 'option'. It is totally in the realm of being a 'good' mother, right? OH! I vascillated with this for over an hour. I could calm down; everything would be 'ready' for our family company for dinner; etc. It really wasn't that big of a deal, was it?

I found that for me, on this day, in this situation, it was. I was in the shower, and it kept coming to me: you need to go to church, you need to go to church. But I am soooo tired and I have soooo much still to do, I argued with myself.

I even asked Christine if she wanted me to stay. All she had to do was say the word, and I was there. She said, no, she was fine, she was just going to watch the Sound of Music and sleep on the couch. She is old enough to stay home alone.

I HAD THE BEST EXPERIENCES! The meetings were amazing. The talks incredible. The lessons in SS and RS over the top with the spirit. However tired I thought I was before, I was totally invigorated and every trace of fatigue was gone by the end of the meetings.

I got home to find that Mike and Adrianne had come early, they put the ham in and it was already cooking, the potatoes went in the oven. All I had to do was put the vegetables on and make the salad.

I had been channeling Martha. I'm so glad Mary won out. "...Jesus answered and said unto her, [Cindy, Cindy], thou art careful and troubled about many things; but ONE thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

It was one of the best Easters for me, and the table even got set in a jiffy and turned out just as I had envisioned!

Alisa's Family Baby Shower

We woke up pretty tired, but still had a full day ahead of us. We let Christine sleep as long as she would. Her inner clock is off being on the east coast for a week! The big event today was the family baby shower for Adrianne's sister, Alisa down in Oceanside. Dave and Alisa. Baby #3 is due in June and after 2 boys they are having a little girl this time! Alisa has made it this far and just this week has had to go on bedrest. She always has premature labor and this is the longest she has gone before having to be down. She stayed 'put' on the couch the whole time. Good girl!
Adrianne and Alisa's mom, Diana (on the left), and a great surprise was seeing Dawn G. there! She lives 2 streets away from Alisa, and used to be up our way in the stake and she and worked in the youth program together for years! We had so much FUN catching up!

Adrianne and Christine, with Apryl's little Gretchen.

Grandpa Randy, Apryl, Alisa, and Jaden. This is the quilt Apryl made. She hand painted all the pictures. She is amazingly talented and artsy--the whole family is. Apryl illustrates for the Friend magazine.

Adrianne and Alisa with the precious dress and flip flop burp cloth Adrianne made. Yes, all Adrianne's siblings names start with an "A"! There is also Aaron and Autumn.

We had a fabulous brunch with so much food: quiche, muffins, fruit salads, deviled eggs, green salad (from Newport Rib Co.--a favorite!), broccoli salad, and more of the same. Mike ran the kitchen during the festivities and Dave made an award certificate for him. We were asked to bring our big glass lemonade cooler. We parked, Duff opened the back of the car and the whole box had shifted on the drive down, fell out of the car and shattered. I sure hope Costco carries them again this summer! Oh well. That thing has served a LOT of parties for us and others who have borrowed it.

I got the laundry started--a week's worth from all the suitcases, and shopping for Easter tomorrow. Dyed a dozen eggs and Chris and I colored them. She had a little over-tired meltdown and fell asleep on the couch. She came home pretty sick with a cold from this busy trip. She needs REST.

Don't Remember Much---

We got sheets changed, bathrooms cleaned, vacuumed, etc. and then headed to the airport that evening for a night-time flight home. The SL airport was deserted. I had thought that it would be really crowded because of spring break, but not so. Mike and Adrianne picked us up and when we got home we were greeted by such a good aroma! She had made banana bread with the bananas that had over-ripened in my fruit basket on the counter. She did a unique thing: she turned off the oven and left the unfinished bread in it while they came to get us. By the time we got home, it had completed the baking cycle and was nice and warm and ready to eat when we walked in the door! YUM-O and DELICIOUS.

I was totally out of it. I get motion sickness very easily and it seems to get worse as I get older. I always have to take a dramamine when I fly and I can get by with just one. I ended up sitting in the back seat of the truck on the way to the airport, and on top of that the weather was stormy. Not a good combination. So I took another dramamine. By the time the flight took off, I was pretty sleepy. I knew I wanted to try and stay awake so I could get some water to drink when the flight attendant came by. I was asleep, but not quite. I was aware of people talking and heard her ask Duff what he wanted. This was my cue. My eyes popped open, asked for my water and laid back to sleep some more. Not to be. My body kept telling me to slumber, but my adrenaline was now pumping and I was a restless mess. I finally relaxed by the end of the flight just to have to get up and out.

By the time we got home, I had had it. I laid down on the couch waiting for Christine to call so we could go and pick her up at the school from her trip. I don't remember much, but apparently I provided a lot of laughs for Duff and Mike and Adrianne! Mike made us a bite to eat, and I don't really remember it. I recall standing at the sink with a Hawaiian roll, but the next thing I remember is being back on the couch and my phone ringing, but not being able to do anything about it. I don't remember them leaving, I don't remember going upstairs to my bed. I don't remember Christine calling, and I don't remember Duff going to get her! I DO remember she was home and I got up and went downstairs for a while, barely realizing she must have been home for a while because it was 2:30am and she had wet hair so she had already been in the shower!

Oy vey! They all laughed at me the next day! I laughed too. What else are you going to do? Note to self: sit in the front seat and only take one dramamine!

The EASTER BUNNY Rap!

E A S T E R B U N N Y

rap !

If you want to be hippin' and hoppin' click on the link below and bust a move to the Easter Bunny rap. I promise you'll enjoy it! (Thanks, Lisa K. for sending it to me! Happy Easter!) [You need to scroll all the way down and turn off my music first, 'k?]

http://www.dougpatton.com/custom/flash/rapeasterbunny.swf