And Now...Home Decorating with SmallDaughter!

To recreate these amazing 3-D effects, SmallDaughter recommends that you simply start with a box of baking soda and a box of table salt (the large, round one)--then add a can of shaving cream, 2 bottles of lotion (she prefers the really nice, expensive kind, not the cheap stuff that smells weird that nobody wants anyway) and a brand-new bottle of liquid sub-lingual vitamin B Complex (because that stuff is a DEEP yellow, that really stays!). Mix it all together thoroghly, with your hands (and feet if you want!). She recommends doing it in your mom's bedroom.

Ed. Note--FYI--do you know what is worse than crumbs in your bed--salt!

Note 2--You know what makes a really gross, but surprisingly pleasant smelling mess to clean out of the vacuum tube? Guess!

Summer fun continues!

In top news: mostly the weather!

Last week we got an AMAZING storm!  Everything!  Wind, thunder & lightning, tornado siren, TONS of rain (this on top of the amazing rain two days previously!), lots of corn was flattened, the cemetery has 20 trees down.  We just had a lot of sticks and branches down (although some of them were driven about 5 or 6 inches into the ground!), no major damage.  BigGirl loved getting out and playing in the puddles as it flooded the road and various yards and parking lots.  The highway was closed for 3 days. One of our nearby towns had their downtown totally underwater.   Now, the rain has moved out and the hot has moved in! 

However—my garden is going crazy!  I have yummy crookneck yellow squash waiting to be lunch tomorrow! The “lawn” in the back yard, which is mostly made of non-grass plants was/is seriously taller than my knees.  Mowing is an ongoing challenge.  I finally got to check on my bees, and (yay!) I had to add another super because they are being so productive!  And, I got to watch a worker emerge from her cell (basically “hatching”) which was pretty cool. 

Wednesday—the day of the big rain—there was no youth activity because of Youth Conference, but I still had to take BigGirl and LargeBoy in to town—they spent the night because they had to be at the church at 5:30, and I didn’t want to get up!  I also picked up my sister V.  

On Thursday, I went to the Library Summer Walking club with Stephanie the Librarian and her cute college daughter, and then hurried home to pick up V and take her to riding (SmallDaughter was running a little fever, and was very sleepy, so she just napped at Aunt A’s house.)  It has really been too hot to be very productive!  On Friday, we had Fiber Friends—it is so fun to meet with dear friends (and cheaper than therapy!).

On Saturday, I planned to be massively productive, but ended up driving 30 minutes East, to the Scout Shop with SmallDaughter to get stuff to get LargeBoy ready to leave for Jambo, and then—the second I walked in the house—V told me I had a message from BigGirl, which turned out to be: “We are back from Youth Conference, and need you to pick us up!”—so we got BACK in the car and drove 30 minutes South!  They had a great time at YC—the boys stayed at the home of some very wealthy members (I heard about the HUGE house, the gated entry, etc, etc.) but I also heard a lot about the awesomeness of the RM son (he is the one I heard about last year, from the girls, because apparently he looks just like Taylor Lautner!).  The boys were excited when the dad said “here are the game systems, here is a fully stocked fridge, you can stay up all night if you want—just clean up after yourselves”— and then bummed when Bro. K (the YM president) made them go straight to bed!  LargeBoy was also jealous that due to a breakdown in communication the Clearfork YM didn’t have a ride in the morning to the service project, so Handsome Guy drove them over in the Porsche!

Anyway—they got home, showered, washed clothes and repacked, and slept!  On Sunday, we drove over to see how the flooding was affecting MFG’s folks--their power was out from Wed around 6 in the afternoon until the wee small hours of Sat am), then we dropped BigGirl off at  her friend’s, because she is a 5^th year Youth Leader at Girls Camp this week and they had to be at camp early, so all they YL’s rode together and I didn’t have to get up!  WIN!. 

                                                                                                                                  

W we took LargeBoy up to the Oberlin Walmart to catch the bus for the Jamboree.  He left with lots of eye rolling, and not the world’s greatest attitude, so I hope he has so much fun he can’t believe it!  On Monday, we went to see Bug’s Life at the library—mainly for the air conditioning!  SmallDaughter has been riding her bike every day, in the morning or evening when it isn’t so hot!  I checked my bees Monday afternoon—and boy is it hot in a beesuit!  Also, I forgot that I wasn’t wearing my hiking boots and long socks, and a bee crawled up my leg (inside my pants) which is a very distracting feeling!

On Tuesday, I had a Library Board Meeting—the boring one, where we have to decide on the Library Employees Insurance (which is also depressing, because it costs so much more every year!). Dad was here working on my porch when I got back!  We talked about his trip, and the reunion.   In the afternoon I did walking club with Stephanie, then picked up SmallDaughter & V and we went to the Relief Society picnic in town.  SmallDaughter had a great time—eating watermelon and jello and fried chicken, and wandering around (but lots of sisters kept an eye on her, and it was great!).  Around 8:15, she decided she was done, and got in the car and did up her seatbelt!  So we left!  V went home with P, so now it is just SmallDaughter, The WonderDog, Diesel (the kitten who is still here!), and I—and assorted other cats and chickens, of course!

I put her too bed, then worked on mowing around the beehive—I couldn’t blame the boys for not wanting to go there, but it was no problem at all~except for the sweat dripping down me!    It was 94 degrees today with 95% humidity, and we have NO A/C.  I have a great deal of sympathy for the Wicked Witch of the West, because I spent the whole day feeling like “I’m melting, I’m melting”. 

Today at the Summer Reading Program, SD got to dig for treasures in a sandbox!  There were lots of other activities, and she did try a few, but she played in the sand for almost an hour!  I loved it—she was happy and entertained and we were both cool!  Then she rode her bike to the Post Office, and got to put the letters in the postbox, which she loves!  The rest of the day was not NEARLY as cool!

We are going to the library a LOT this week, I can tell!

Diesel just managed to tip the trash can over on herself, and then attack and bite her own tail!

Busy Summer!

What a lovely week! Or couple of weeks, as the case may be!  On Saturday, I had Seminary inservice, where they introduced the new "Book of Mormon" Curriculum which is awesome! I am super excited for Seminary to start!

I spoke in Sacrament Meeting on service (as a prelude to kicking off the “Summer of Service”). Have I told you about the SOS?  We are doing it instead of the Book of Mormon Summer Reading Program this year.  Usually we would kick off at the beginning of June, but the Bishop asked me to move it back a month, which worked out fine.  I have really come to LOVE speaking, so that part was awesome—I was a little worried about going over my time, tho, especially after last time!  However, I prayed about it, and they ended up putting me last, after a sister who was SUPER nervous, who gave an excellent but very short talk, and I finished exactly on time!  YAY!  Then, during Primary time, we had the Visiting Teaching Conference, so we had yummy food, a nice lesson and the Brethren took over our classes!

BigGirl, SmallDaughter, The WonderDog & I left for Maryland right after church.  We had a nice drive, with a lovely sight when we came over the top of a mountain pass in the evening and looked down on a cloud and a rainbow!  We got in to our dear friends Mr. T & Miss D’s house about 10:30.  Miss D drove a big (non-air conditioned) 15 passenger van full of teens (including BigGirl) down to EFY (Especially For Youth) on Monday morning. SmallDaughter and I just killed time until Miss D got home.  On Tuesday, Miss D wanted to do something fun for SmallDaughter, so we took her to a neat park and then to McDonalds.  In the playland, there was a life sized “Ronald” sitting on a bench, and Miss D was not sure if it would freak SmallDaughter out—but she walked up and kissed “him” on the nose, and draped herself over his lap!  We had a good time talking, and she had a blast!

On Wed morning, Mr. T & Miss D left for Boston, and I got a text from My Favorite Gentleman that they weren’t working at all, so I drove over to Richmond VA to get him.  We were in a huge traffic jam, because somebody jackknifed their boat trailer and the boat was tipped over on its side across all three lanes!  Keeping it interesting!  On our way home we drove through some historical byways—apparently much of the Revolutionary AND Civil Wars happened right there!  It was amazingly moving to be in the birthplace of the nation on Independence Day.  That is NOT easy country—especially with horses, wagons, etc.!  As we drove along a very beautiful, scenic road, I thought “uh, oh—two naughty little dogs on the side of the road!”—but it turned out that it was two twin fauns, very tiny (smaller than The WonderDog!), still with spots, grazing less than 2 feet from the road!

SmallDaughter got sick—I think it was food poisoning--on Wed night, and spent the night alternating vomiting and diarrhea, which was not fun for either of us.  We spent a very quiet Thursday!  (glad we had the house to ourselves—and the washer & drier!).   We drove around and checked out the beaches near Miss D’s, then went to some thrift stores.  We got some 100% cotton work clothes for My Favorite Gentleman (he can’t wear synthetics because of fire danger—natural fibers burn and blow away as ash, synthetics melt into your skin~!), a cool T-shirt for LargeBoy and a great pair of tennis shoes for SmallDaughter, who’s feet are finally growing!

Fortunately, her tummy felt better quickly, so on Friday morning, we got to go to the beach!  She LOVED it!  And, since it is on the Chesapeake Bay, it was perfect—only to SmallDaughter’s knees for hundreds of yards out, barely any waves (like 1 inch high!)!  

My Favorite Gentleman was super cute with her—even though he HATES being in the ocean (he doesn’t like the textures—hot sand, sharp shells, squishy mud, gross seaweed…but the thing that really gets him is the thought of what is in the water   “we are wading in whale excrement!”---he doesn’t even like baths because you sit in your own dirty water!).  They also had a great time making sand castles—MFG would make a PERFECT castle, all smooth and nice, and SmallDaughter would stomp it and laugh!  

After we came home and had baths/showers, SD & I took a nap (still recovering!), and then we were going to go see theWashington D.C. Temple (where we were married!) and go to IKEA, but first SmallDaughter dumped an entire economy size bottle of Comet Cleanser on her head, so we did a major cleanup!  And she got ANOTHER bath—much less sweet!

The Temple was (of course!) amazingly beautiful!  We had some fun walking around on the nature trails and looking at the flowers (even though it was crazy hot and humid!), then we went to the visitors center.  SmallDaughter’s favorite part was the elevator!

My Favorite Gentleman had never been to IKEA, so it was quite an experience for him!  He still isn’t sure how he feels!  SmallDaughter loved the meatballs (which are one of her VERY FAVORITE foods!)  She ate all of hers, and half of mine!  Then we went home, and she crashed, and My Favorite Gentleman & I watched TV together and listened to fireworks, and enjoyed each other’s company!

On Saturday, I got everything cleaned up and packed, and as soon as BigGirl got back, we left.  She had an amazingly good time at EFY.  

Her testimony is stronger, she is feeling buoyed up and more self assured, and she made some new friends and learned a lot.  I am SO glad!  I would have enjoyed staying longer, but they didn’t get back until after 1:00, and we had a long drive!  We got home safely, and enjoyed being back in our own beds!  We picked up LargeBoy from BestFriend’s house.  He mostly spent the week helping Dad on our house, and doing various service projects.  He is pretty excited that his hair has gotten big again.  (Faster, this time—it’s been less than a year, and it is HUGE!).

SmallDaughter didn’t have riding on Monday, which was fine by me, since we had oodles of boys here, so there was a LOT of loud.  In the morning we all had our Dentist appts, and SmallDaughter was SO GOOD!  She sat in the chair all by herself!  I didn’t have to hold her or anything!  And she brushed the teeth on the little stuffed dragon (he has “people teeth”, and they use him to show proper brushing technique!), and then used him for a pillow!  We all had an “all clear” report, so that was excellent!  In the afternoon, BigGirl had her 4-H “picnic and filling out fair cards” meeting at the park in Plymouth.  The sad news is that our 4-H leader Hazel—who is in the middle of her 50^th year as our club leader--had another stroke and is blind, and not doing well.  The meeting started out on a somber note, and then the clouds rolled in so it was quite dark and menacing (with lightning!), and then the heavens opened—and we got about 4 inches of rain in an hour!  It was epic!  And I wasn’t willing to go out in it, so we just waited in the park shelter!  The town 25 miles away from us got 14” of rain in June (which is 2” more than Idaho’s average YEARLY precipitation!) We only got 7”—but that is still almost twice our normal for June, and it hasn’t stopped!  It is hot, humid and wet—which is doing great for my garden, but the boys can’t mow, so the back yard needs a baler, and I can’t check the bees when it is windy, rainy or threatening rain, so it’s been WEEKS!  From the outside of the hive, it looks like they are doing well!

I am enjoying my walking club at the library—mostly it is just me and Stephanie, who I have wanted to get to know, so this is great!  And, yesterday she wanted to know about bees and Mormons!  She kept apologizing for asking so many questions, but I told her my three favorite things to talk about are:

1. SmallDaughter, Special Needs & Service Dogs,

2. the Gospel

3. Bees, and Honey
so we hit 2 out of 3!

(and we usually talk about SmallDaughter & The WonderDog, so we are good there!)

In the evening, I went to Cub Scout Committee Meeting and sewed patches on LargeBoy’s scout shirts.  He leaves for the National Scout Jamboree on Sunday, and he needs 2 full uniforms, each with approximately 6 million badges sewn on.  I am slowly making progress.  Today I have to sew BigGirl a “Spiderman Apron” for her skit at Girls Camp.  I am also making a batch of deodorant and homemade laundry and dishwasher detergents as an experiment (the deodorant works great—we will see on the others!

BONUS KITTEN PIX!

(Yes, she is still at our house, why do you ask?)

)

Summer is here--with a vengeance!

For the past several weeks (basically since school let out) we had between 4 and 8 teenage boys here all the time.  They are great boys and I love having the house full, but it has been a little hard on BigGirl to have so many boys around all the time, when all of her best friends live far away, but--in super exciting news--a new family moved into the ward with a kindred spirit girl, and she has found another dear friend fairly close, so her life is getting better all the time! 

There was a LOT of excitement about a pretty big anime/geek convention that happens at a resort about 45 minutes from home.  It was a pretty huge deal in our lives!  BigGirl, LargeBoy, and (over the course of 3 days, a series of 5 additional friends) ended up going.  They went Thurs through Sat.  Whew! They are now thoroughly hooked on cons, and are making plans for next year’s—where there will be costumes involved!!

In the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL!  SmallDaughter got a BIKE!  The wish of her heart for years and years!  She has wanted a big girl bike, but the lack of all balance has been a big problem! On Friday, we went to Grandpa & Grandma’s, and their neighbor was having a  garage sale.  Their daughter has Cerebral Palsy, and they were selling the perfect bike for SmallDaughter--just her size, BRIGHT pink, with super training wheels (custom made) on the front--for $8 I have a feeling the rest of my summer will be spent following my "bike girl"! 

We did finally manage to get the new, improved, over-twice-as-big garden in! WOOT!  I was so late, I ended up driving to every little Mennonite greenhouse in the county (I am SO lucky I live where I do!) to get the last plants available--but I did manage to get almost everything I wanted--and at crazy clearance prices!  We got it all planted on Wed, and then had forecasts of tornados and golf ball sized hail that evening!  Fortunately, all we got was a nice soaking rain!

I just found out that  my dear friends Jana & Andrew finally named their baby girl (the name they had picked out before she was born just didn’t fit her!)  AND THE WINNER IS: Esther Brenda.  This is what Jana said on Facebook: “So we're ready to introduce our little one to the world. She is Esther Brenda.  We're delighted to have her in our family! Esther because she had the single-handed courage to face the king and save her people, and Brenda, after the lovely Brenda A, who, along with her family, has been such an inspiration to Andrew over the years and has shown him great love. I met her once over 20 years ago, and I still remember that day and look forward to greeting her again someday, but we are certain she is looking down over our little family and cheering us on.”  Yup, I cried.

This week LargeBoy is at Cub Scout Day Camp helping out Grandma, and my sister V is here with us for the week. Last week at Boy Scout Camp it POURED rain on them  on Mon--with added wind to destroy their dining fly, and rip the roof off his tent (one of the big, solid Canvas-on-a-frame, permanent installation kind!).  We picked him up early on Sat, and surprised him with a trip to Cedar Point with a group of his friends--where it ended up pouring rain (enough to make the parking lot shin deep, and coming down fast enough that as they stood at the front of the parking lot, they couldn't see ANY rides!).  When we looked at the weather channel, the entire state of Ohio was empty, except for tiny, severe storms over the islands!   We are thinking he might be a previously unknown rain deity!

We spent the rest of Saturday getting things ready for My Favorite Gentleman to leave.  He is finally in Virginia.  He went down on Sunday. He is really relieved that he is in a better motel than the last one (which his roomie called “the roach hotel”!).   

Also, in a huge chunk of irony (since my last post ended with "the cat got spayed.  She is the last of our female cats to go in, so no baby kitties for a while.  We will have to be content with the mere 8(ish)  cats that are bumming around here" BigGirl found a little (tiny little--probably only 7 or 8 weeks old) kitten under the car last week.  Very snuggly, very hungry!  She is wearing a flea collar, so we are looking for her family.   She is a gray, orange and white calico, wearing a flea collar, and very bouncy and kitteny now! The WonderDog likes her, but she keeps trying to nurse on him--and he DOES NOT like that!  We are still searching for her family, as I am sure they miss her, but I am becoming resigned to yet another addition.  She is really hilarious and entertaining, and she has such a great purr we named her Diesel!  

Also--besides trying to ride her bike in her pjs, LargeBoy’s shoes and her bike helmet, and (after she was dressed) 3 long bike rides, yesterday’s funny SmallDaughter moment was when I went to find her, and she was in BigGirl’s room, proudly putting on every pair of panties in the drawer, one over the top of the other—over her pants!  She ended up with 9 pairs layered on! and she was so proud of herself!  It was pretty hilarious!

I wrote my dear little sister a long, rambling, newsy letter last week filled with all of the stuff that has been taking up all of my blog time--and I am too lazy to re-type it, so here it is (in a slightly modified, and WITH PICTURES ADDED form!)

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Dear Sister Sister,

8:30am

Here I am, sitting at the most boring election EVER!  Primary Elections are always quieter, but this one is stunningly dull, since we don’t have any issues, or any democrats, and the only republicans are running for judge—which nobody cares about.  We have had the polls open for 2 hours, and haven’t had ONE voter yet. 

UPDATE—10:30: We have had 4 voters!

So, I brought the laptop, and my goal is to use this time to write you the nice, long, newsy letter I have been meaning to!  Since I think I have missed two weeks, I will start back then! 

So, two Monday’s ago (April 22), I was working on Miss C’s Tardis dress, and had to stop working to take SmallDaughter to riding.  When I got back, it turned out that Seminary Boy L, Miss C & Seminary Boy A were staying the evening, and we ended up having a great Family Home Evening about http://www.lds.org/topics/patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng

">Patriarchal Blessings, which was so inspired, and so excellent, and a spontaneous birthday party for LargeBoy.   The real party is on hold until Sam P gets back from Texas, which works out fine, since I forgot to order his gifts and they just barely arrived yesterday!

Tuesday was his actual birthday, and pretty darn dull as a celebration.  In the evening, we went to town for the 4-H banquet for everybody who got “A” grades last year.  BigGirl & LargeBoy had a good time (they always have entertainment, which is usually pretty good) and I ended up taking SmallDaughter to the park.  We partook of a mediocre “catered” dinner—stuffed chicken breast, corn, salad & cake—but I didn't have to cook it! 

I spent the rest of the week working on both trying to get my beehive parts painted (they are such a beautiful sky blue), and Miss C’s Tardis dress finished.  I also needed to finish Sarah K's dress, and my sewing machine was acting up and making me crazy!  There were many words uttered!  Also, SmallDaughter painted the archway, table leg & one chair a beautiful sky blue!  More words.

On Saturday, I finished up Seminary Boy L’s (matching, Tardis blue) vest, and Miss C’s dress.  I ended up missing a baby shower, but they looked GREAT!  Miss C was so thrilled that it was totally worth it! 

On Monday, I drove my dear friend Miss K's hubby to the campground (since he works nights, and was in no shape to drive, and she was still in TX--she is the mom of one of LargeBoy's best friends--and all of his best friends seem to be named Sam).  He inherited his parent’s trailer, and three weeks ago when he was there with his brothers he opened a drawer and found three baby squirrels (so little their eyes weren't open yet.  He is such a softy, he let them stay)!  He wanted to check and make sure they were gone.   They weren't   So we got to take the drawers out and let them go.  They sure were cute—about the size of a chipmunk, and they obviously hadn't been out—they were pretty wobbly on their pins.  I thought for a minute that one of them was going to run up BigGirl’s pants leg! 

When I got back, I immediately picked up SmallDaughter for riding, and we zoomed down.  The campground is over by Youngstown (in fact, one side of the lake is in PA)., so I logged a lot of miles!  While she was riding, my cousin Matt drove My Favorite Gentleman’s pickup over to the transmission shop for me, and I picked him up, and we went to Hobby Lobby to get photo albums, as I am attempting to get my huge backlog into a usable form!  I also got bright blue (royal blue) glitter, since I was planning to make cool corsages, but luckily, I didn't need to—because: very quietly, between Riding & Matt's house (less than 2 miles)—SmallDaughter quietly sprinkled $3 worth of glitter around the car!  The good thing is it matches the car—because glitter is forever!

On Tuesday, I drove over to pick up my package of bees.  On the way there, I talked to a hitchhiker (young guy in his 20’s with 2 dogs) at the stoplight on Rte. 250.  I decided that if he was still there on the way back, I would stop and pick him up (BigGirl was with me). She was very brave and held the crate of bees for the entire half hour drive.  They can't get out, but the buzzing IS pretty ominous! 

3 pounds-roughly 10,000 bees!

Well, when we came back, he was walking along the road with his girlfriend (who I hadn't seen the first time).  We picked them up, and ended up letting them spend the night in the yard, feeding them dinner and a good breakfast before they got back on the road.  I felt very glad, when I found out they had only had a bag of chips and some cookies to eat for more than 24 hours, because there were no stores along the road.    They were very nice, and they picked up all the sticks in the yard (which had been causing many arguments and stress amongst us!)—which was 3 huge wheelbarrow loads full.   I fed them a good breakfast on Wednesday morning, and they continued on their journey.  I can't recommend always picking up hitch-hikers, but I was glad I gave those 2 the benefit of the doubt.  

I ended up just giving up on trying to sew Sarah’s hem on the machine, as it hated the fabric, and made me crazy, so I just put on a movie and hemmed it by hand.

I got everything set up for my beehive on Wed morning.  It was so beautiful, a truly perfect day.  

I really enjoyed my “bee dump”—but there was one big, stupid boo-boo!  The queen is from a different colony than the rest of the bees, so she is in a separate cage in the crate.  (a cute, tiny little cage, about 3 inches long!).  It is screened so the workers can get used to her scent.  When you set up your hive, you remove the cork from the queen cage, and fill the hole with a candy plug (fondant works great), and the workers will eat the candy, and free the queen.  Since it takes a couple of days, by that time they are used to each other, and things go swimmingly. 

Although the package bees are totally tame and mellow, it still SOUNDS ominous, and I was trying to remember all the many steps I needed to follow (in order)—and when I got out the queen cage, I removed the cute tiny cork, and forgot to put my finger over the hole, and my queen flew away!  VERY BAD. Without a queen the colony will die.  SO, I had to call Queen Right, confess my mistake, take some very good natured ribbing, drive back over, and pay $25 for a new queen.  Everything is good now—and when they marked the queen for me, I had them put in the fondant, and didn’t even bother with the cork!

They are so fascinating!  At first, there was a huge flurry of activity as they all flew around the hive, because they all had to memorize it’s location.  Now, when I go see it, it is very quiet, with only 10-15 bees outside.  However, when you lift the lids and peek inside, you truly see a hive of activity!  My three pound package had about 10,000 bees in it.  Once the queen gets laying good, she will lay 1500-2000 eggs A DAY!  Her own body weight in eggs—every day!  By with end of the summer, the colony will have sixty or seventy thousand workers, who each have a few week lifespan.  

The more I learn, the more I realize how truly celestial they are!  They truly wear out their lives in service, and show us how each individual member may not be much (each worker will produce ¼-1/2 teaspoon of honey in her life), but working together we can be incredible ( a good hive can produce 150-300 pounds of honey in one summer!).  I was a little nervous about bee stings, but I got one sting (on the finger, because I wasn't wearing my gloves, and didn't watch where I put my hand!) FYI--honey bee stings are MUCH less painful and don't last NEARLY as long as wasp (Yellow Jacket) stings.  The last wasp sting I got felt like someone was literally pounding a 10 penny nail into my skin for hours.  The bee sting was on the pain level of a splinter, for about 10 minutes.  NOT a big deal.  Bees get a bad rap, being blamed for the nastiness of yellow jackets.  (Which, although they love sweet stuff are primarily carrion eaters.  Even yuckier than I had previously thought!  Urg.)

VOTER UPDATE—1:45: Five voters.

After we got back and got new queen installed, it was time to go into town for Young Women.  Matt got drafted to drive the truck up to our house (since the shop found out it WAS NOT the transmission!), and he got to see the hive.  I dropped him off at home, then went to the church early so I could fit  Sarah for sleeves on her prom dress (the great part was that I cut so much off the bottom to make it short enough for her that I had plenty to modest up the top!  I wasn't able to get all the hand stitching done until Friday, but it turned out beautifully, and she had a great time at her prom!  It started out strapless, it ended up looking quite like Meg from Hercules.

On Thursday, I drove the truck to a DIFFERENT shop, and Miss K's hubby stayed after work and brought me home.  He can’t wait for his family to be back. Fortunately  Miss K’s mom is doing MUCH better.  (they should be home tomorrow night or Thursday morning) . BigGirl got to go to New York to attend Youth Conference with Aunt M & Uncle O's stake--she had a GREAT time.

 LargeBoy went to the Seminary Boy A & C's house for a sleepover, and to see  Seminary Boy  soccer game on Sat.  LargeBoy was supposed to ride with their aunt into town to see the Youth Theater production of “7 Brides for 7 Brothers” which had LOTS of his friends in it.  However, during the game Seminary Boy C got kneed in the head, and went to the ER with a concussion, so LargeBoy missed his ride.  However, he got to go fishing with  Seminary Boy A  and had a great time, although he did get a pretty bad sunburn.

My Favorite Gentleman got to come home—just for Saturday, and we had a nice day together.  He modified the outside coop for the new chicks (who are now teenagers, and way to big for my basement!), and we got them moved out.  We also went on a nice date to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, and we took SmallDaughter.  She LOVED the guacamole, and the refried beans, and ate most of the steak out of my quesadilla (this is NOT the quesadilla you are thinking of!)  It is our favorite restaurant  and has spoiled me for all other Mexican joints--and I ALWAYS order their supreme beef quesadilla, because when you have found perfection, why mess with it?

VOTER UPDATE—2:25: Five voters.

BigGirl was still in NY and My Favorite Gentleman had gone back to work at 5am , so LargeBoy, SmallDaughter & I went over to Aunt A & Uncle R's house, where we ate a yummy lunch, and played with Matt’s new kitten “Seuss” (

the WonderDog wanted to play, but was pretty scared when we actually brought the kitten close—that big pansy!).  Their house looks great—My Dad & Uncle R put in a gorgeous new wood floor in the kitchen and hallways.  Afterward, we went to see the play, and we really enjoyed it.  SmallDaughter kept waving, and waving, each time she saw somebody she knew, and trying to whistle between her fingers!

Yesterday, I started the day with a Library Board Building & Grounds Committee meeting (I am the committee Chair).  It was pretty cool, because we were picking the samples and approving the final changes for our little Branch's makeover!  Then I ran a couple of errands and bought groceries and then drove North to pick up the Election Supplies.  Then I went back home, picked up SmallDaughter and took her to riding (south).  After we got back, BigGirl was getting ready to leave for her very important 4-H meeting, when we got a call from my dear friend Miss P.  She was babysitting her grand-kids  and she got a call from the rest home that her mom had fallen and broken her hip badly.  So we picked up the kids,  and went North (again!), and I took the little ones to McDonald’s playplace.  Afterwards, I took them back to Miss P’s and BigGirl watched them till Miss P came home.  AND—as if her day wasn't crazy enough—her oldest son and his sweet wife had their beautiful baby girl in the morning!  

That ends up being about 150 miles—a pretty good road trip, if it hadn't just been up and down the same stretches of road!

I got home and cooked some yummy food (ham and cheese pinwheels, chocolate cinnamon no bakes and blueberry coffee cake to bring to the polling place) and did my election prep (since I am the Presiding Judge, I have some extra stuff to do), and got to bed before 10:30, and got up this morning at 4:20.  Which, let me tell you –this boring day is not helping my desire to nap at all!

VOTER UPDATE—3:10: Five voters.

VOTER UPDATE—4:45: Six voters.

This election is less exciting than I imagined it would be—which is saying something!  I am happy that I am working with such nice people.

VOTER UPDATE—5:35: Six voters.

We have set a new record in our County—lowest voter turnout. 

The worst part of election day is that, BY LAW, is that someone has to step outside at 6:30am and yell “Hear ye, Hear ye, The polls are now open.”, and at 7:30pm, yell “Hear ye, Hear ye, The polls are now closed.”  That someone is (without exception) me, because nobody else wants do it—and I am the Presiding Judge!  I was pretty happy that there wasn't anybody here to hear me! 

VOTER UPDATE—6:05: Nine voters.  (we had a rush there for the three minutes it took for those 3 guys!)

Unimaginably exciting.

And, I have random snatches of song from“7 Brides for 7 Brothers”  running through my head--and we can't have any kind of radio.

The good thing is we are in the High School Library, but it is hard to concentrate on a book when everybody is talking.

SmallDaughter has been super cute and funny lately.  She loves her new playset, but oddly, does not feel that one should wear clothes upon it—so I have to go collect pants and gloves every day!

VOTER UPDATE—7:15: Nine voters.

Final count: 9 voters (plus 2 poor dems that we had to tell there wasn't anything for them to vote on!).  We officially set the low record for voter turnout in the county this election (not for all elections—I believe that goes to Hartland Center, who one year had 7 voters—4 of whom were the pollworkers!).  Anyway—I think my cunning plan for a long letter worked well, and you are now pretty caught up!

Whew! What a great week!

The entire month of March was so incredibly busy and booked solid that even though everything was good, it is kind of nice to return to our usual levels of crazy! 

The week before last at Church we had the Relief  Society (Adult Women’s Group) Birthday Dinner, which was very fun.  They had different sisters decorate tables in a seasonal theme—I had a “winter” table.  It was fun to see the different personalities and approaches.  My table did turn out really pretty—I had some sheer fabric in a “watery” print in several shades of blue that I used for a tablecloth, then I cut a giant (3 feet across) snowflake with RS themes—a wheat sheaf up the middle, hearts above that, the ornate “RS” letters  from the symbol, and the upper edge was sisters holding a heart between each of them (just the little paper dollies that  “hold hands”) I put a clear plastic tablecloth over it so it wouldn’t snag, and then a funny little centerpiece.  The evening was super nice.

The chicks are growing fast—not as cute as they used to be!  We have a mix of breeds (we just got the “Brown Egg Layer Assortment”)—I don’t know what kinds the yellow chicks (at least 2 breeds, as they are different shades of yellow!) will be, but I know the little black and yellow, that have a little yellow dot on their head like a fingerprint will grow into “barred” hens—black and white stripes.  Very pretty ladies—I am excited.

The kids had their temple trip and LargeBoy got to go to his first OA Fellowship (Order of the Arrow is the Boy Scout’s Honor Society) WITH Grandpa A.  When my Dad was helping us with the kitchen last year, LargeBoy was going on his first OA Fellowship, and Dad mentioned that he had been in the OA as a youth, and had always meant to get around to being active again.  So, for his birthday, I did the legwork to get the needed forms, and paid for his enrollment, and this was their first activity together. 

I went to an all day New Trustees Seminar for the Library.  It was at a really cool Library, and it was very well done—the speakers were all interesting, and I did learn a lot.  I was debating taking SmallDaughter to see “Veggie-Tales Live” that evening, but she was sick all week, and was still not feeling good enough. 

Sunday was Seminary day, and since LargeCousin was on spring break, she got to come to our Sunday Seminary Class with us, and then have a sleepover.  On Monday, I was supposed to be very busy running lots of errands, but it snowed enough that it basically shut everything down—I was SO grateful!  It gave me time to stay home and clean and get things at least partially ready for all the company! 

BigGirl did have her first 4-H meeting in the evening.  LargeCousin and LargeBoy are not doing 4-H this year, as they have too many other things going on.  I don’t mind—I am really proud of how well they have done in the past, and it is their decision what they want to do with their time and energy.  LargeBoy will be spending most of his time finishing up his Eagle project, besides going to the National Scout Jamboree. 

On Tuesday I took LargeCousin into town in the morning and took my inlaws their Birthday loot and ran some of Monday’s errands.  In the afternoon, BigGirl & I went to Yoga and Herb Class—it was on Native herbs and I was very relieved to find that many of the weeds that I have not gotten rid of are actually very beneficial! 

On Wednesday, Sister A’s family arrived and things started to get busy! In the evening we went in to have dinner with Sister M & Sister A’s families at Dad’s house.

Things really picked up on Thursday.  The guy’s picked up the awesome playset that dad had ordered from Lowes, and they got right to work on it.  I am really glad we got the kit, with all the wood pre cut and drilled, because even with that they still had over 2 full days of work to get it done!  It is AWESOME! And it has all of the features that will be great for SmallDaughter for a long time.  There was a huge bunch of cooking—I still have loads of excellent leftovers!  It was noisy, and chaotic, and FABULOUS! We averaged between 35 and 45 people all weekend long!

On friday, we helped the kids dye 5 dozen hard boiled eggs (and by "helped"--we let all the teenagers and college age awesome people "show them how it's done"!)  We had some awesome eggs!  Friday evening, we got LOTS of pizzas and we set up the projector and watched “The Princess Bride”.  It was so fun!  And—as many times as I have seen parts and bits, I haven’t watched the whole movie for years! My Favorite Gentleman got to come home on Friday, but he threw his neck and back out, and was in a lot of pain the whole weekend!

On Saturday, we had the Easter egg hunt.  It was rather cool and blustery—pretty early for a really warm Easter.  In the evening, Sister M, BigGirl, Aunt A, LargeCousin & I went to watch the Young Women's Broadcast .  It was so excellent.  

On Sunday, we filled the first 4 rows in Sacrament Meeting, and we almost doubled the primary!  We had a big dinner at Dad’s and had not one, but 3 different birthday treats (cheesecake for my awesome Brother, a “cake” made entirely of 3 types of ice-cream and toppings for Sister M, and a  Super rich gluten free chocolate “Ex-Girlfriend” Cake for her hubby—who has his birthday the day before hers!).  Sadly, people started to leave after dinner. 

Monday was nice and mellow.  Sister M got stuff packed up and then we went into town.  SmallDaughter FINALLY got to have her horsie riding—the first 2 classes of the season got cancelled for bad weather!  Youngest Brother took Awesome Brother to the airport on his way home, so we got to see them for a little while, then we just hung out with everybody. Grandpa & Grandma took the boys swimming at the Y, but SmallDaughter wasn’t really feeling good, so we didn’t even try to go.   Dear Auntie and her boys left at about 10 pm, so we came home then too. 

SmallDaughter is on spring break this week, which is good because she has spent the last 2 days laying on the couch with a chest cold and fever.  She is starting to feel better, but she is less than impressed with her mom—I have put an onion poultice on her the last 2 nights.  (everybody asks, so I will tell you:  just cut 2 onions into rings, and slice 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, then smash them with a French knife, so the oils are activated, then put them in a pan with either olive or coconut oil on low heat until they start to clarify—you are NOT trying to cook them, and you don’t want them nicely brown and carmelized.  Then, cool them down till they are a comfortable temperature, and apply a thick layer of Vick’s (and I also use a few drops of Tea Tree oil) to the back and chest and rub them in, then cover the chest and the back with the onions and wrap her up snugly in plastic wrap). 

She was not fond of this the first night—but she REALLY hated it the second night when she knew what was coming!  She said “Owie” “No” and “Hot”—which was funny, since it wasn’t any of those things, but she doesn’t have words for “nasty” “slimy” and “gross”!  It is a very interesting fragrance mix—let me tell you!  But it has really helped clear her up. 

We are recovering nicely from all the fun, and I am trying to catch up on all the jobs My Favorite Gentleman needs me to get done for him!  Tomorrow we are going to buy my hive and beekeeping tools, since the bees will be in sometime in the next two weeks!  Yaaay!  I am super excited for them!  And—in perfect timing, next Friday the Local Beekeepers Association is having a “live bee dump” at their monthly meeting.  They will show us exactly how to “dump” our bees into their new home and get it functioning right! I am glad to have so much help and mentoring!

With all the fun we have been having, we have lots of people we love who are going through hard times, and we are still praying for them.  It is always interesting to see how life is such up and downs!  However—I know that these times with the people we love (as noisy, crazy and hectic as they may be!) are the best memories and the real stuff that life is made of!  I am grateful to have a framework for living, so that when our family gets together, it is pure fun—no fights, no screaming or hitting, just love everywhere you look. 

I just want to share some of my Dad’s take on the week:

One of the most remarkable aspects of the whole weekend to me was "the guys".  We had six adolescent and young single adult males ranging in age from 14 to 28.   Not only were they not lost in their own world or electronic gadgets, they were deeply involved in everything.  (The biggest point of contention was who got to hold the baby).  Their major activity was playing with the rug-rats.  In the disengaged society we live in, I find this truly wonderful.  What great fathers these guys will make.

Pictures coming soon!

I have been busier than a marshmallow vendor while Rome burned!  At the beginning of March, I realized I did not have A SINGLE UNSCHEDULED DAY in the entire month!  It has gotten busier since then!  And, while all of the stuff is good—some of it is FABULOUS, even—it is still LOTS OF BUSY!

 Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Both the Yoga and the Herbs classes that we are taking are offered though our Tech HS Community Ed classes.  Yoga is very sneaky—it starts off so easy you think “this isn’t even really exercise!” and then, before you know it, you are working so hard you can’t believe it!  I am really enjoying it—I love it even more because I am doing it with BigGirl!  I wish we had somewhere closer (it is about 45 min North of us) so we could do it several times a week. 

The Herb class is actually 5 freestanding classes that I signed up to take as the entire series.  Mary Colvin, the teacher is a woman who is a Master Herbalist, certified through Dr. Christopher’s School of Natural Healing in Springville, UT (where my friend Heidi worked).  The first class was on Growing a Medicinal Herb Garden.  The second class was “Herbal First Aid” and the third was “Herbs for Women’s Issues”.  I am working on designing and preparing gardens, and hope to plant them next year.  However, it did make me feel better about several “weeds” that I never got around to exterminating—turns out they are awesome helpers that I was already growing!  YAY!

I am taking Beekeeping classes, also, and I will gradually buy apiary supplies this year and get my bees next spring.  I am REALLY excited about that—I didn’t think it would be possible to think bees were any cooler, but the more I learn, the more fabulously awesome they are—truly celestially designed!  (However, the pests that affect them are DEFINITELY in the telestial category!  GROSS and nasty!)   I will probably start my “vermiculture” worm farm this year.  Pretty neat little critters—but not as beautiful as bees!  Red Wigglers eat 1 ½ times their body weight a day in household waste that they turn into the highest possible quality compost!  You can just set up a bin in the basement or outside and make sure they have plenty of kitchen scraps and newsprint, and enough moisture, and they do their magic without much outside interference!

We had the Candyland Activity last Wednesday, so now I can give you more details!  The Laurels wanted to plan a really special Mother-Daughter Activity, and they recruited me, because they know where my talents lie!  We actually started the planning back in November, and over the Christmas break Sarah K and Aryn P came for a 2 day sleepover, and we started work on decorations.  BigGirl and I have been working at least once a week on parts of it since then! 

It started with walking in the YW hallway under 8 ft tall Candy Canes flanking the inner glass doors, with a “Welcome to Candyland” sign.  There were bright paper squares on the floor, like the game board.  If you followed them, you went into the YW room, where the front chalkboard had been turned into the Peppermint Forest, and they did a craft, decorating picture frames with Starlight Mints (red and green).  Then they went to the “Gumdrop Mountains”, and guessed how many gumdrops were in a jar.  Then on to “Peanut Acres” where they played cornhole with beanbags shaped like peanuts.  Each of those areas had a large (4-5 foot long) painted backdrop.  Then out into the hall, past “Lollipop Woods” which had 6 paper mache lollipops that were about a foot across standing in a grove. 

In the RS room we had 4 tables set up, each with a brightly colored plastic tablecloth. The table centerpieces were little gingerbread houses. Over the chalkboard we had the “Candy Castle” which was a castle I painted on sheet years ago for a little girls birthday.  Up at the front we had the “Chocolate Swamp, where I had a chocolate brown silk fabric “chocolate waterfall” and a real chocolate fountain, with stuff to dip.  On the other food table we had sandwiches in the shape of gingerbread people and “cupcakes” made with mini meatloaves in aluminum cupcake papers, topped with mashed potatoes piped on like frosting, then baked.  Out in the hallway by the gym, we blocked it off with the piano, and then put up giant stand up Gingerbread Mom & Daughter cutouts, where we took pictures of the girls with their moms, and we will put those pictures in their frames as a memento.  It was a HUGE amount of work, but we had a really good turnout, and we had several of the less active girls and everybody had fun, so it was worth it!

The next morning was our Seminary visit from our Stake Seminary Supervisor.  He drives all the way up from  Columbus twice a year to visit!  (He has to get up at 2am, and he is still willing, cheerful and brings donuts!  Talk about dedication!)  After he left, I jumped in the shower, then got SmallDaughter dressed and on the bus, then left for town, where I hooked up with a couple from my Ward, and my newly returned from his mission cousin, and we went to the Temple.  It was a wonderful session, even though I was running on 4 hours of sleep!  I stayed in town for an hour, then drove over to the church, where I carpooled BACK down to Columbus for the Stake Primary Leadership Meeting.  It was also very good.  There were several classes on Special Needs children, which was excellent, since SmallDaughter’s new Assistant was able to go! 

I had been really worried about finding a babysitter for SmallDaughter for Saturday’s Quad Stake Seminary Activity/Dance—I knew I would be gone 10+ hours, and there was NO way she would like it!  However—the babysitter situation was looking pretty dire!  Grandpa & Grandma were in Maryland for her brother’s wedding, LargeCousin & Auntie were in their final performance of “Oklahoma”, and Bestie K and her kids are in TX, where her mom has been in Intensive Care with internal bleeding.  Even my backups—were all babysitting grandkids!  AARGH!  I finally asked the mom of one of my seminary boys, and she was willing, but was sick, and not sure how she would be feeling.  Anyway, in blessings many layers deep, My Favorite Gentleman got to come home on Friday, so SmallDaughter just got to have an awesome day with her daddy!  He took her to see “Wreck-it Ralph”, to ride the carousel (once on the chariot, twice on kitties), and to eat Hamburgers at McDonalds! 

So, on Friday, I worked on the house (slowly, since I was super-tired!), and I was at Beekeeping Class when My Favorite Gentleman got home, but boy was it nice to see him!  It is working out that he comes home once a month, and I go see him once, so I average seeing him every two weeks, with the kids seeing him once.  Better than nothing, but less than ideal.  Please pray that he will be transferred to a crew that works 10 days on, 4 off, so he can be home more.  Saturday was the big seminary activity, and it was really fun.  I took my whole seminary crew and we had a great time, but I got home a little after midnight, and had to leave the house on Sunday at 8, so I could be at Ward Council by 9.  I presented the new Summer Project—instead of Book of Mormon Reading, we are doing a Summer of Service.  I have had so much inspiration on this, it has already been awesome for me, and I hope we can get the rest of the Ward to catch the spirit!

Today we are going to go pick up our new chicks!  Always a fun time!  (We just got back—they are--OF COURSE!—super cute!)  And varied, because I just got 25 assorted brown egg layers. I think we have 4 or 5 breeds—lots of barred (black and white striped feathers, very pretty), some yellow chicks that will probably be regular red chickens and 4 cute little “booted” girls that have feathers on their feet, and are a really pretty “seal” brown like a Siamese cat! 

BigGirl going to Spain is because we found a neat program called Pueblo Ingles, where they pair up native English speakers with Spaniards who need to practice English.  We only have to pay for plane fare, and they put the “anglos” up at a 4-Star resort, all expenses paid for 1 or 2 weeks.  All she has to do, is have lots of 1 on1 conversations with teens from Spain!  And,  they use English speakers from all over the world, so she can meet friends from South Africa, Ireland, Australia, etc.  The only problem we are having is with scheduling, because the teen program mainly runs through the month of July—right when she has Youth Conference and Girls Camp!  We are doing our best, but she is planning to try next year if we can’t make this year work!  And for just awesomeness, our passports have arrived!

How is everybody doing?  Well, My Favorite Gentleman is working lots and lots, BigGirl is busy doing awesome young lady things like watching the Lizzie Bennett Diaries (which finish up next week!!), staying updated on several webcomics, reading stacks and stacks of books, going to plays and various social awesome things, and  being on the Stake Youth Committee.  LargeBoy is drawing all the time, and having a great time being awesome with his seminary bros.  They alternate between video games, drawing, creating live online adventures via chat with the various far away friends, learning to play musical instruments and practicing sweet dance moves.  He is also working on becoming a fashion-meister with his own hipster, thrift store style.  It is pretty awesome (often involves hats, suspenders, cool belts and custom decorated canvas tennis shoes).  SmallDaughter is doing really well.  She is continuing to progress in school, and when I had our meeting with her teacher, Mrs. K, (who taught her for 3^rd grade, didn’t for 4^th and had her this year for 5^th), she has noticed LOTS more concentration, and Lots less picking, which gives me hope.  I am just doggy paddling along, trying to keep everything in balance!

Whew!

I haven't posted in a coon's age because SmallDaughter decided to make life...interesting. By climbing up and getting a bottle of lamp oil (the refined kerosene type) off the top of the refrigerator, and drinking it. We immediately called 911, and she got to spend several days in the hospital, and another week recovering. Now that I have done more research, I know how scared I should have been! I was worried about her stomach and esophagus being damaged--but the really scary part is learning how dangerous it is for the lungs (I didn't know I needed to worry about her lungs!).  

Here is a little sample of the reading I have been doing  (I underlined my favorite panic inducing statements!):
"Hydrocarbons ranked sixth in substances most frequently involved in human exposures reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers National Data Collection System in 1988. Roughly half of these cases involved children under the age of 6. This is not surprising in view of the fact that hydrocarbon-based products are commonly found in the home. With adults, gasoline siphoning or deliberate inhalation (“huffing”) appear to be the major sources of accidental hydrocarbon exposure.

Symptoms of aliphatic hydrocarbon ingestion, in the absence of toxic substituents, are confined to the gastrointestinal tract and the respiratory tract. Local effects include a burning sensation in the mouth and pharynx, nausea, gastric irritation, belching and diarrhea. These rarely require treatment and are considered fairly innocuous.

Pulmonary effects, when they do occur, are the result of aspiration. A severe necrotizing pneumonitis, with direct tissue destruction, can occur. Aspiration can occur at the time of ingestion, or during vomiting or gastric lavage. Aspiration can occur from minute amounts of hydrocarbon. Pulmonary toxicity represents the most common complication of hydrocarbon ingestion and accounts for the majority of fatalities.

When aspiration occurs, the patient may initially experience coughing, choking, gagging or grunting respirations.

X-ray findings are usually significant at two to eight hours after ingestion. Pulmonary infiltrates or perihilar densities have commonly been seen. Following aspiration, deterioration of the patient may occur over the first 24-72 hours, with resolution of symptoms in three to six days. Bacterial superinfection is also possible. Hemorrhagic edema can rapidly lead to the patient's demise.

Aspiration of aliphatic hydrocarbons may result in lethargy, tremors, and, rarely, convulsions or coma. These effects are more likely due to severe pulmonary injury or hypoxia."

So many scary things!

However--she is back up and around, and I am feeling SO blessed!

So, I am going to try to be better about posting...but (sorry!) no promises!

Life goes speeding by!

On Tuesday, for Relief Society Homemaking meeting we went to Catholic Charities to see just where exactly the 100 pies we make every year in November go. They were super nice, and I love knowing that good people are looking out for our brothers and sisters. The only weirdness was when lovely Patrice (our hostess), typed in the wrong code for the alarm system as we went down to see the food pantry, so we spent about 20 minutes huddled in a hallway with a VERY loud alarm went off—making jokes about what the police blotter would report about the Mormons robbing the Catholics! In the end, 2 police cars showed up, but everything was resolved smoothly.

On Thursday, I got to drive down to the Columbus Temple with a sweet sister from my Ward. It was so nice being able to do something spiritual for myself. It was a very peaceful and relaxing session, and I am super glad I went, and we had a lovely lunch afterwards.

BigGirl and LargeBoy both had big weekend plans. BigGirl went to Ohayocon ("Ohayo" is Japanese for Hello, so it is a clever pun with "Ohio"--a convention for people who enjoy Anime, Manga and Japanese Culture--which perfectly describes BigGirl!) with her friend Danielle, and D’s brother & his wife, then went to church on Sunday with them, then I picked her up. She looked very cute in her costume—Toph Bei Fong from Avatar the Last Airbender (and, having learned a major lesson last year, packed plenty of food--a cooler full of Bento).

LargeBoy went hiking at Hocking Hills State Park with his best friend Tall Sam’s family (it is a little confusing that both of his best friends have the same name!)—it was lovely weather, which has since dropped like a rock into the single digits (from the 60’s!).

SmallDaughter & I also had a big weekend—we went to the lovely home of our Primary 2nd Counselor for a Primary Worker Brunch (she had a great time playing with the other kids and their toys!), then I took her to the carousel, where she (ironically, in my opinion, since she begs for horsies every time we drive past!) did not ride any horsies! She rode the tiger, giraffe (twice!), bunny, kitty, bear & chariot. Then I dragged her off to the library, and she spent the rest of the day, expressing her disgust at my actions and her desire to go ride the carousel some more!

In the evening I cleaned the Church, with help from LargeBoy & Tall Sam (They went back to Tall Sam’s afterwards), LargeCousin & Sister V. I had been worried that I would be alone to do it, so I was really relieved!

My Favorite Gentleman hasn’t been home since Christmas, so he doesn’t have much to report in news—he is really cold and working hard.

The funniest quotes do not come from my house, but from my dear Sister's, where my nephews work hard every day to make my life funnier!

Almost 4 Year old (singing):
“Mary had a little man,
little man,
little man,
Mary had a little man,
And it was quite a show.”

Also, the boys are excitedly planning the turning 4 birthday party. Last year he had a “baby cow” party, but this year his big brother(age 5) informed him that baby cows aren’t cool, and what he really needs is a “Bully-Cow” party! Blessedly, the only experience they have with “Bullys” is as daddy cows!

Kitty Update

We have moved our last batch of kittens out to the barn/garage. They do not like this decision. The barn does not contain any of the things they like about the house—soft places to curl up in (favorites are whatever I am attempting to sew and the newly folded basket of laundry), or yummy things on the counter to eat (which is one of the reasons they are banished from the house!) The funniest thing has been trying to use the spray bottle as negative reinforcement for being on counters and tables. It works, and is very effective—except SmallDaughter LOVES to spray them, and whenever she can get her hands on the bottle, the cat is going to get it—which confuses them—“how is sleeping (on the floor in a patch of sunshine) naughty like being on the counter?” Less effective training, but pretty hilarious!

They are more pathetic than our other batches (or maybe I just forget the past!). Since the back screen-door screen is ripped, they can jump up and sit on the edge of the doorframe, just at the height to peek in through the glass window of the back door. And meow piteously. And occasionally, fall into the gap between the doors—always good for some amusing sound effects! It doesn’t worry me particularly, since the screen door doesn’t latch, and when they remember, they can just push on the right side of the screen-door to get out.

However, girl kitty (I think she is the one named Snickers) climbed through the mail slot on the front door last week, and got stuck between the door and the screen-door—which both latch securely and are much more solid! She will be too big for that trick very soon (I actually thought she already was!). They do keep things entertaining! SmallDaughter was just showing them her plate of scrambled eggs through the window. Very amusing from this side! Pretty darn pathetic from the other side!

I am in the finishing stages of sewing a bunch of capes for the primary kids. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. The theme for Primary this year was “Choose The Right” At the beginning of the year, our Primary Presidency decided to have a “CTR Hero”, which is a child we spotlight, and tell about a few of their good choices. I made a really awesome, swishy red cloak, with a very flashy CTR shield on the back—outlined in really blingy gold glitter.

Since I have no personal dignity, each week I don this piece of awesome, and swoop around the seated children, looking for my “Hero”. After I give some clues and they guess the child, the chosen one gets to wear the cape (and a crown) for the rest of primary. It has gone over very well. So, we are giving each child a smaller version of the CTR cape as a Christmas gift. My living room floor is covered with Red, Yellow and Blue capes, now embellished with a sparkly silver fabric paint “CTR” Shield on the back. Last night, I put on a movie and applied fabric paint (to the CTR that I had already traced on the back with a stencil and a sharpie!)—after I had put SmallDaughter to bed and made sure there were no critters in the house! Then they got to peacefully dry without anybody touching or stepping on them, YAY! They look really good—I hope the kids like them.

The most exciting news (for me, at least!)—is that I got a Serger for Christmas! While this does not fill everybody else with joy, I have been wanting, wishing, lusting and pining for one since I was in college! And now, I have a really awesome, brand new machine! And it is great! They do such different things than a regular sewing machine; it is rather like asking if a can opener or a blender is a better/more important kitchen tool. I need them both to be as effective as possible. And, because of My Dear Sister’s brilliance, I have set up a little sewing room in the back hallway (by the attic stairs, at the top of the kitchen stairway). It took a couple of weeks and a lot of work to clear out all the detritus that has accumulated over the last 5 years since the top stair broke, but it is working great now!