Happy Thanksgiving

This time of year, I always miss my family. They all live in other states and it is not economical or really very feasible to go visit for Thanksgiving. However, this year, we'll be celebrating with some great friends who are the best substitute family we could have. They're fabulous! We're thankful to have them in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Have a safe and fun holiday! See you next week!

Guess What I Did Today

And it really wasn't that bad. Really. I mean, if you've ever had a baby or had a cavity filled without the drugs working, then this is a breeze. And if you haven't ever done either of those things, well, it's not that bad. And it only lasts a couple of minutes. You should do it. Just go. Get it over with, already.

Memory Monday...Class of '91

Okay, so I was supposed to post this, at my sister's request, on Friday. But, I had no idea where my senior pictures were. Which was just fine with me, really, because the world certainly doesn't need more permed hair and humongous lace collars. However, yesterday, in cleaning up a mess of the stationary that is stored in my closet (um, thanks for that opportunity, girls) I came across the senior picture I put in my yearbook. I have no idea why it was in there. Maybe it was fate, because, really, how could we all not love looking at this disaster?I wish I could have found all of the other proofs I have. I loved the ones with my name written in lights behind me, or the ones where I rested my chin on my hands on top of a mirror so you could see my sexy, serious look reflecting. But, I chose this one for the yearbook, because it was "classic" and "timeless" and sweet, but wise looking. Ha! I think it's safe to say that Jessica McClintock has moved on to better things, thank goodness. Those lace collars were awesome back then, though. I remember almost choosing for the yearbook a fabulous pose where I was looking over my shoulder, but the lace on the back of the dress was not so dramatic and gorgeous. Thankfully, I didn't choose that pose, because Tiffany M. chose that pose for her picture, and we had the same dress. Except hers was blue and mine was green. That would have been embarrassing.

Speaking of embarrassing, I could have posted my wedding pictures here, and I looked about the same--two years later. And, speaking of my wedding, I had one cousin that wore this exact dress to my wedding. Because I couldn't help myself from sharing my fashion faux pas with other younger, impressionable girls. I'm nice that way.

Flat

Yesterday, I hurriedly shuffled the twins into the car and started backing out of the driveway, to pick up Cinderella from after-school choir practice, when I noticed the flat tire light in the dashboard was flashing at me. Nice. I decided to investigate, and found that one rear tire was completely flat. Completely. And I really just wanted to cry. It was the last straw. Have you ever had one of those days?

However, I decided to take the higher road. I decided to laugh. I had Snow White and Sleeping Beauty hop out and come look at the gigantic screw that had adopted us sometime in the last few days. I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy when I laughed and told them we'd have to blow it up and then pray that we made it to the middle school, and then on to dance, and finally, to the tire store. We have a small air compressor that slowly, but surely, blew up the tire. We were only fifteen minutes late to get Cinderella, and twenty minutes late for dance. But, the air stayed in and we even got the tire fixed for free under a warranty. Phew.

Yes, it changed my plans for the day slightly, and I about froze my rear off blowing up the tire, but I was so glad that I took this advice from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin:

"Have you ever seen an angry driver who, when someone else makes a mistake, reacts as though that person has insulted his honor, his family, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam? Or have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim?

"There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh.

[...]The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

Now, if only I can follow this advice when it's time to motivate the kids to do their Saturday chores. I may just laugh until I cry.

Healthy Habits

I have taken the challenge from Michal at Relishing Motherhood to start or continue some new habits through the new year. I have chosen a few that will probably help me more mentally than physically. (And, the truth is, I could use it. Well, I could use both, but the physical thing is sort of feeling a bit hopeless. The headaches, I mean. Which really is another post, or blog, altogether. Anyway....) My goals are:

• Study my scriptures seven times a week--before blogging or computer time.

• Add at least one more fruit or vegetable to my lunch at least five times a week.

• Involve the girls in service outside of our home at least one time a week.

So, if you'd like, join me, and the (I think) sixteen others in forming some healthy habits for this busy time of year. You can visit the blog here, and comment to join in.

Tackle it Tuesday

(Actually, it was a Thursday.) I am so sick of pears. I really barely like them anyway. I use the pear sauce to substitute for oil in baking, and, occasionally, the girls (except Cinderella, she has an aversion to most fruits and vegetables) eat it plain. Ick-but, whatever, it's good for them. My friend Kelsey and I spent the better part of the day cutting and squishing and boiling. It was nice to be done. We've also spent the last few days drying a bunch. The best part? All of them were FREE. King's boss is so nice. :)

Before:

And, after:

Just So You Know

IF you use powdered milk (to ingeniously save money and rotate your supply in your food storage without having to drink the nasty stuff) for your recipe of broccoli cheddar soup, when you put in the cheddar cheese, it will not melt into the soup. Even after ten minutes of stirring, and melting. It will do this:I am no food scientist, so I have no idea why it wouldn't blend. I do know, though, that your family will have less curiosity than you do as to why it happened. They'll just want to eat. Which they'll do only because you put enough garlic in. But they'll only eat after you get all the globby cheese out. Because if you leave it in, it will just be too unappetizing. You don't save money, by the way, if you throw good, expensive cheese in the garbage.

Just trust me. Don't try it.

Extreme Veterans Day

Did you know that tap dancing is an extreme sport? Neither did I. Sleeping Beauty worked so hard on her tap dance for the school's Veteran's Day program. She, and her partner, N, practiced after school and during recess, even during some class time when their tap teacher, Michelle, came out to the school to help them. Intense instruction and extreme concentration. It was some extreme cramming to get the dance from start to performance in just under two weeks. However, I have decided tap dancing should belong in the extreme sport category for another unfortunate reason all together.

All week in their practicing, the tap teacher, N's mom, their school teacher, and I kept telling N to stop sliding around on his tap shoes and messing around. We were worried he would get hurt. So, it is ironic that Tuesday morning, right after N and SB practiced their dance, and SB was walking across the gym floor to change back into her street shoes, she was the one that fell and knocked off most of her front permanent tooth. Thankfully, I was there at the school, so I was able to take her in to the dentist right away. She broke the tooth off up to the nerve, so it hurt and you could see the little pink of the nerve on her tooth. (Shudder. It hurts my teeth every time I think of it.) The dentist put a "fake fingernail-like tooth" on, referred us to a specialist an hour away for the next morning, and sent SB back to school to perform for the Veterans.

It was traumatic. Snow White was more upset than Sleeping Beauty at first. I think it was because SW could see the tooth and SB couldn't. But, they both handled it, and performed well for the Veterans later that afternoon. I think that it is good that SB doesn't really grasp all the things that could happen as a result of the injury. She had to have a root canal yesterday on the one front tooth, (she was a trooper!) and hopefully that will save the tooth from falling out. There is still a possibility that the tooth will die and come out. But, we're praying that doesn't happen. Also, the other front tooth has a crack in it that can only be seen with a bright light shining through it (much like a stress fracture of a bone) that could result in another root canal at a later date. The two teeth next to the two front teeth are exhibiting cold and heat sensitivity, and show a little nerve damage spots in an x-ray, so the possibility that those could be affected is there too.

So, all we want for Christmas is SB's two front teeth. Which is good, because now that's pretty much all we're getting this year.

On a brighter, and much less stressful note, here is the video (not great quality, just from my little camera) of the girls' performances in the Veteran's Day program. They were great! Besides the video we have here, the girls also sang more songs, passed out programs, served the Veteran's lunch, passed out tributes to the Veterans, and helped with skits. Their teacher's class puts on the program every year. Snow White sang a solo of the Marine Corps song as they brought in the Marine flag. Sleeping Beauty tapped as a tribute to the WWII Veterans. I don't think the Veteran's noticed that SB wasn't smiling. They wouldn't have believed she had a traumatic injury earlier in the day. They all loved it. We'll never forget it, that's for sure.

In this picture, you can see that the doctor did a great job putting on her fake tooth. I bet you can't even tell which one she broke, can you?

Initially Speaking

It has been crazy around here the past few days. I have stories to tell. But, I keep feeling too lousy to put everything down when I have a free minute. Just to show my loyal readers I haven't forgotten about them, I thought I'd share a cool website with you. It is initiallyspeaking.blogspot.com. My sister custom makes and sells these adorable letters for your wall (or shelf, or wherever you put them.) She has decided to go online so now you can visit Initially Speaking to order. I think it would make the cutest baby gift or a unique Christmas gift. I love the FAMILY example she has on her site. Super cute. You can pick your own colors and fonts. It's so fun. So, go check it out and order something fun!

Oh Boy

What a day! There were good parts, and really not so good parts. The Veteran's Day program was fabulous. More later.
Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served our country. We appreciate you and your sacrifices.

Busy, Busy Girls

Sleeping Beauty and Snow White have been working feverishly on their parts for the Veteran's Day program at their school tomorrow. The teacher asked SB and her friend if they would do a tap number for the program. In three hours, they learned a routine that is two and a half minutes long and at least twice as fast as anything SB's done before. It's tricky, and I'm praying she can pull it off and be proud of her accomplishment.

Snow White has a vocal solo in the program. She sings the Air Force song. If I don't hear that song, and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, for a few days after tomorrow, that will be just fine with me. I can't sleep with them running through my head! Aaargh! (And, apparently, the songs are turning me into a pirate, too--aaargh, who says that?)

Not My Best Week

This feels like a really long week. King's been gone for three days, and I've been sick. I'm finally over my cold, but, unfortunately, my migraines have been terrible. Anyway, I'm not really complaining, simply giving some background to the following events---

• Yesterday morning I ate 3/4 of a bowl of cold cereal with milk when I realized that there were little curdled spots of milk in my bowl. Yep, totally rotten milk. I suppose that I just couldn't smell or taste anything so I didn't notice. Or, I may have thought it smelled a bit off, but, truthfully, when I have a bad headache my nose becomes super-nose and all milk, meat, shoes, kids, husbands, and almost everything smells terrible. So I guess I just thought it was a headache thing. Well, luckily I didn't get sick or anything, but I think I won't eat cereal for breakfast for a few days. Ick.
  

• Ten people asked me where King was and I didn't know. I simply forgot where he had gone because I didn't arrange the business trip and I was too sick to care when he left. I had to look it up. I swear, I shouldn't be trusted. It was worse that one of these people was my bishop. Uh, duh. How embarrassing.

• The girls were playing nicely and quietly outside, so I was resting and letting them enjoy no supervision whatsoever. A few minutes later I see that they have taken one of our pumpkins and smashed it all over the street. Hoodlums.
  

It's Finally Over

My friend led me to this electoral map that I think reflects a lot of what I feel at the end of this very long election process: Pretty, good, huh? And that's really all I have energy to say on this matter today. I'm off to the store to buy the essentials we're missing--tin foil, sandwich bags, and Nyquil.

People Watching

Today I have two things on my to-do list.

1. Vote
2. Try to get over this miserable cold.
   

Things are going slowly, but now that I've had my nap after a shower, I am about to head out and enjoy my right to choose.

Yesterday, I had a running around day. I took a friend to acquire an ID so that she could vote, went grocery shopping, got my allergy shots, met King for a date, got the oil changed in the van, picked up Cinderella from choir and took her to piano, took Sleeping Beauty to tap, got the tires rotated on the van, (yes, I did the oil and the tires separately, so it would be free) picked up Sleeping Beauty from tap, helped with homework, and encouraged good grooming habits in my children. I have to say that of these tasks, the ones I enjoyed the most were changing the oil and rotating the tires. Mostly because I didn't have to do anything but read a book, and people watch.

I love people watching. Yesterday, people were fun. There was one man that sat on the couch in the auto lounge intently watching a Soap Opera, hushing his wife every time she wondered aloud if they should check on their car or change the channel. Another man, not interested in the Soaps, got the following lecture from his wife when she returned from the bathroom: "Did you just read the last page of my book again? You better keep your mouth shut. I like to be surprised! I hate when you do that, you're going to give it away. See? You're already grinning, you know I'm going to like it. You ruined my book! Next time, you are not coming with me."

There were also the garden variety college conversations about telling or not telling a guy you want to "hook up" and whether or not the rent you pay is worth it with such lousy roommates. I also heard a sweet old lady cuss like a sailor when she lost her car in the parking lot. (I did that too. Not the cussing part, the losing the car part. But only for a minute. I hate that. And remember--I said I have a lousy cold. That might be a good excuse. This time, anyway.)

Anyhow, I think it's fun to watch people in action. I hope no one was really watching me. I was either reading, and blowing my dripping nose and wiping my watering eyes, so I looked like I was quite emotional about the book. Or, I was pretending to read, and trying to not laugh at my people observations, still wiping my eyes and nose. So sort of laughing and crying at my book. They probably thought I was a freak. My only consolation is that I probably left them with enough little germs that next week they'll look a little freaky. Too bad it's not still Halloween.

Halloween I-Spy

We had so much fun at our Halloween Carnival on Wednesday, and last night with our Halloween festivities, that I decided to make a fun game of I-Spy for you. See if you can find:

• A dangling donut and a "Baby" eating it right up
• Cupcakes with frosting that has so much dye it could do things to your bodily excrements
• A beautiful "Cleopatra" and an adorable "Astronaut" that joined us in our festivities
• A spooky dinner of Dead Man's Meatloaf, Green Brain Casserole, Mummy Dogs, Ghostly Mashed Potatoes, and Blood Red Punch
• Four very brave Elders that joined us for dinner
• A "Pink Lady"
• Busy girls wrapping "mummies"
• A "Little Girl"
• The cutest Spider Cake in the world
• An "Indian"
• An adorable group of Trick-or-Treaters
• A "Flip-Flopping Politician"
• Will Ferrell playing Wii with Cinderella
• Loads of smiles on a beautiful fall evening!