I'll Play the Game

Per Kelly Mear's request, here are my aliases:



1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Peanut Elantra



2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Sugar



3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) M-Sta



4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Shark



5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Joseph Mount Clemens



6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Stami



7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Black Juice



8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Robert George



9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (father’s & mother’s middle names) Dean Mae



10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Varga Vegas



11. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Rose



12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Socky



13. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Chex Bonsai



14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Gaming Rain Tour

I've been tagged.

Kelly Mear tagged me and also Mickey. Here are my aliases:



1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Misty Odyssey



2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Black Cherry Oatmeal Raisin



3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K-Sta



4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Elephant



5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) A. South Bend



6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Stake



7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Green Lemonade



8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Robert Richard



9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Sue Neil



10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Jackson Jacksonville



11. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Tulip



12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Grape Jeansie



13. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Oats Ginko



14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Knitting Sunshine Tour

A Great Man...An Inspiring Legend

I was saddened to read the news this morning of the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley. What a great example he was to our family and to the whole world! Kelly and I both commented on how we felt like he was saying goodbye in last October's conference talk. I guess it wasn't so much what he said but maybe the way he said it. Listening to him speak will be one of the things that I'll miss the most. His talks always had a way of demanding my attention, unlike anyone I can remember.



I can't imagine the reunion that happened last night. Another great example was the love he had for his wife. They must have been so excited to be with each other again.



I'm sure that we will be blessed with another great prophet, but right now it's kind of hard to imagine anyone other than President Gordon B. Hinckley.

This Week's Layouts

This week I got the brilliant idea to do layouts with the Christmas cards I've made. (Last year's card was staring at me while I was lifting my weights. I also needed to clean off the shelves above my desk and that's where it was sitting.) I found cards, pictures, and new letters from the last four years and put it all together. Here they are:

I feel like I cheated a little but I did do all the work, just not this week. I figure this kind of stuff needs to be documented also. After all I can't keep all my cards in a box.

Family Movie Night

We have not posted on this event in a long time.  We still do Friday night movies.  The choices are getting slim since we've been doing it for years now.  Last night we rented Mr. Bean's Holiday.  Megan has been wanting to see this one so we got it.  Let me just say Mr. Bean is not my favorite character so I probably won't give an unbiased review.  The movie started in English with them being in England.  Then he won a trip to southern France, Cannes.  Once he was on his way for the trip everything went to French, not my favorite language, and subtitles.  This made it really hard for me to follow along with the movie because I was trying to knit.  And I don't think Mat could read fast enough to keep up either.  She was done in the first half.  She did kind of stick around and saw the few funny scenes.  There weren't that many.  Over all I would say don't waste your time watching this one.



Mickey also rented Nacho Libre.  We have wanted to see it for a while now, ever since Mark and Janel were over quoting it.  And of course after seeing Janel's picture dressed up as Nacho we had to see it.  (Sadly she removed her picture.)  Jack Black was hilarious.  I can't believe how he can move his eyebrows.  We probably should have waited until tonight to watch it because we were both really tired when we started the movie.  I woke up some and laughed a lot.  I really like the fact that the movie took place in Mexico but they still spoke in an accented English.  I would say rent this one if you want a good laugh.

The Most Patriotic Truck Ever

I came across this truck by doing something I have never done before.  At the top of Blogger hosted blogs you can click on a link that takes you to the next blog.  I think it has them sorted in alphabetical order and the link takes you to the next blog in the list.  Totally random and I guess potentially dangerous on the eyes.  I happened to be lucky and stumbled across a blog of pictures, no words just pictures but that is where I first found the truck. It took me a little bit but I found this background information on the creator.

Dale Ison, creator of the Heroes Truck had a vision to create the most powerful and heartfelt patriotic vehicle to date.

Dale wanted show his appreciation for those Past, Present and Future heroes who have put their lives on the line daily for us all. Dale has invested over $600,000.00 into this project.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Fish

You might wonder what that is. It's a sandwich I came up with a few years ago during the Nemo craze. It's a pb&j cut into the shape of a fish. I don't know how many of these I've made but it's a lot. The girls have kind of outgrown them but I've started making them for Kade. (He only eats pb ones. I can't believe he won't eat my 'licious jelly!) It's a good way to make lunch fun. And if your little one won't eat the crust it works out great, most of the crust is cut off. Here's the picture. (The second fin isn't shown.)

Wiggle Layout

Here is the second layout of the week. (I got it done just before the deadline.) This one only took me about 30 minutes. Can you tell? I don't think it's that bad, very simple. It really focuses on the pictures.

More Layouts

I've been working on a layout all day. I don't know how many interruptions I had, too many to keep track. I tried to get Kade busy with his own scissors, paper, markers, and glue stick but he's different from the girls. He only lasted about 10 minutes and didn't like the sticky glue stick. After what feels like hours of work I finally finished ONE layout. Here it is. (Again it's not my best work, that would take about 3 days to do. And sorry about the light bulb glare. Anyone have pointers about how to take a picture without the glare?)

This one is a blast from the past, c. summer 2004. This is Meg before kindergarten, before adult teeth, and before glasses or braces.

I found another layout in Meg's book when I put this one away. I had forgotten about it. I'm proud of the work here so I thought I'd share it. In case you can't read the title it's called "Wild Child with the Face of an Angel". I like the little tear detail and that I stamped on the pictures. I was brave and it turned out great.

And this next one is for Becca (when she comes out of the dark). This is the page I did of our strawberry picking outing last summer. I love the vibrant colors. I used pictures of the berries to cut out my title letters. When I pulled this out tonight I really wanted a piece of the pie. (It was so delicious!)

Scrapbook Pages

Here are the two layouts I worked on this week. I said I would post the good ones but I don't think these rank as good. Right now I'm in the "just get it done" mode. I'm just happy to have two done and hopefully this will get my creative juices flowing so soon I will have good layouts. Now that I'm done for this week I'm sure I'll be spending a few hours trying to pick out what I want to work on next. We have too many photos to choose from. It's really bad to get so far behind.

Sorry, I don't know why the pictures are dark. I'm too tired right now to play around with the color in iPhoto. The Teeth Cleaning layout was inspired by a Becky Higgins sketch from her book Creative Sketches. I started the giraffe one last year and I don't remember where I got the idea from, probably one of Becky's. I really want her new book but I can't find it anywhere. It's back ordered everywhere I check. I guess it's good and they didn't print enough. I think I'll place my order with Amazon and hope it comes in soon.

Goals for 2008

I have been trying to get things organized in my brain and figure out what my goals for this year will be. I believe I've come up with a plan. (I know, it's about time since it's already the 10th of January.) I've decided I will do something everyday that benefits my body, mind, and spirit. I have a variety of things I can do which will probably help keep me going.



For body, since I already exercise 6 days a week I will have to come up with something different unless I increase or change my workout. I can eat better (meaning 5 fruits and veggies and less junky stuff), drink more water, or get to bed early (that's not happening tonight).



For mind I can practice the piano, work on Spanish, read an "educational" book, play Brain Age, or meditate. (Like meditating is really going to happen in this house of wild children.) I'm also working on de-cluttering the house. I know that doesn't really fall under the mind category but it will bring me peace of mind to know my house isn't a wreck and there's not a mess everywhere I look.



For my spirit I can study scriptures instead of just reading them, read/study the lessons for church, fast, sing hymns, or read the Ensign.



I'm also doing 2 layouts a week to get my scrapbooks more up to date. They'll never get totally caught up but I can try. (I'm almost done with my second one for the week. I'll try to remember to post some of the good ones.) If anyone has any other ideas let me know.



P.S. Commenting is not hard. All you have to do is register one time and if we know you then we will let you comment.

A Gingerbread House

We were a little late in decorating our gingerbread house this holiday season.  Oh well.  We were a little busy with other things.  I finally got around to getting it ready on Sunday afternoon.   (Yes, we are back to early church.  Hooray!!!)  The kids really had fun decorating it and then destroying it as they ate it.  No sense in letting it sit around gathering dust, right?  Here is a picture of the artists and here's a link to the rest of the pictures.  Enjoy!

January 7th

I can't believe the weather today.  If I didn't know better I'd think Spring was on it's way.  It's just a trick, there's a good 2-3 months of winter left no matter what the groundhog predicts in a few weeks.  Here it is the 7th of January and it's 64 degrees outside!  We had rain during the night melting away what was left over of the inches of snow we got last week.  The only snow remaining is found in parking lots, large dirty piles of it.  Here's the story on the weather from the local news station.  It's been mostly overcast but the sun did show itself while I was out running errands.  It was so nice.  The forecast for the rest of the week shows it will get cold again with snow likely by the weekend.  I guess the kids will get to play in the snow again.

Resolution vs. Goal

Resolution: A resolving to do something. A course of action determined or decided on.



Goal: The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective.



I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to work towards this year. I was a little distracted with everything at the end of December to really make the time to think about things. I wanted to work for something that I really wanted and could actually achieve with some work. Here it is the 5th of January and I'm still deciding. I was talking to Mickey the other night about someone's blog and how she went on and on about stressing over what resolutions she should make. I decided right then and there that I was setting goals and not making resolutions. One, because I don't think I have any terrible habits that need to be broken; two, I don't think I could make myself do something every day for a year (although I'm on a pretty good streak of reading my scriptures every night but I don't get all mad and punish myself when I miss a night); and three, I'd rather take baby steps to work towards something and once I reach that mark make it a little higher. I think goals are more my style. I like the idea of having an objective, a target, or a purpose. I feel more in control to reach the end result.



So today I got an e-mail from Mickey. I don't know how he found this and why he wasn't working but he sent me this link. I read it and thought "I'm smarter than I thought I was". Anyway, goals are the way to go for me. I'm still thinking about what I want to do and will sometime post what they are so you can make sure I'm working on them. Here's what I've been thinking about: getting back to/catching up on my scrapbooking (making 2 layouts a week), intensifying or changing my workout, recovering the Spanish I used to know, getting better at the piano (the violin lessons never worked out last year, may as well work on something I already know how to do), reading the Ensign every month, eating my 5 fruits and veggies a day,.... The list could go on and on but I don't want to try to do too much because I know myself, I'll drop most of it if I feel overwhelmed. I hope you have decided on some good goals for this year. Remember one can be easy to attain to help you feel better about yourself. Have a good 2008!

No More Diapers!!!!

Last Wednesday was the BIG day. It was the day Kade started wearing undies. I had been prepping him for weeks saying stuff like, "After Christmas there will be no more diapers, only big boy undies." He was excited about it, but I don't know if he totally got what I was saying. The day came. I was glad Mickey was home to help. We have a great little timer that beeps when there's 10 and 5 minutes left to go. We'd set the timer for about 30 minutes and we'd keep asking, "Do you need to go pee-pee?" He would usually say, "Not yet." Then we'd reset for a few more minutes. I'm sure he got tired of us asking (and the girls would chime in too) but how else are you supposed to find out if he has to go? He did really great the first day. We put a diaper on at night just in case, but he'd been dry in the mornings for a while before that. The second day went pretty well too. There was a little accident but it was my fault. I forgot to reset the timer and he was in the basement playing where I couldn't see him so I didn't think about it. Oops. Then the third day was good too but another little accident, again my fault. I was working in the office and he was upstairs. I heard him call for me so I went running. I found him in the bathroom with a little pile on the floor (use your imagination here). He tried to do it himself but just couldn't quite make it. Sunday was funny. I think he was nervous not knowing where the bathroom was and how long it would take to get there, because he needed to go every 10 minutes or so. He was out during most of Sacrament meeting. He's doing really well and he's even sleeping in undies now. His first night was a little like church, nervous, but he made it through just fine. He tells us "I going" to let us know he has to go. We don't even have to ask anymore but I do on occasion. If it's been a while I act like I have to go (most of the time it's not an act) and I race him to the bathroom. It's a sure fire way to get him to go. I wanted a fun way to announce that Kade's a big boy now so here's a few cute pictures of the big boy in his cool undies. (He busted his nose falling down the stairs, it's just a rug burn that looks bad.)

Goal Update

I'm a little late in posting this but December 31st I finished my 150 miles. It was kind of a let down. I thought I would be happier about reaching my goal but no. At least I can start the new year with an established good habit. Here's to many more miles and maybe a new pair of shoes. Happy New Year.