Ward Triathlon...

Last year, Merril won a ward triathlon.  He was training for a marathon at the time and was in really great shape!  Merril was invited back this year to defend his title.  This time, Merril was in less than optimal shape.  

There's a 2-mile run, a 7-mile bike, and 5 laps in a pool(200 yards).  He was 2nd after the bike portion but got passed in the pool by two 16-year old twin boys.  He placed 4th overall.  Not bad for sitting on the couch since the marathon.  That's not true.  He plays raquetball a couple times a week with his BFF, Jared.  

When the kids saw Merril, they ran down to him and helped him finish the run portion.

Here's Merril after the swim portion.  His time was 48 minutes and 22 seconds, a little more than 2 minutes later than his 1st place time.   

He placed behind a lady, who was clearly in really great shape, and the two 16-year old twin athletes.  Not too bad at all.  

Unfortunately, the 70-ish year old guy who organizes the ward triathlon, fell during the bike portion and broke his leg.  He had to be taken to the hospital and have surgery.  He's an awesome older gentlemen and I'm sure he won't let it slow him down.

Been mad at my keyboard...

So the other day I sat down to look at blogs and moved my keyboard. The whole underside was soaked with water. Upon further inspection, it appears that someone (Juliet) dumped a cup of water on the keyboard and it leaked out the bottom. Needless to say, my keyboard stopped working. I was still able to surf from any pages on my Favorites List but I couldn't type a new http address or login to anything. Merril nabbed one today and it's felt like ages since I was able to type. Really, it's been 3 days I think.

Other than that, I've been painting like mad, ordering carpet and ordering a fan. The painting is almost finished. I still need to go back and fix a few spots and I'll post pictures when it's done.

We also got a new goldfish because our other one died. I went to Petco so the kids could look at all the other animals they have. It's our little zoo. So we bought our 13 cent fish and headed home. We put it in the tank and it was dead this morning. A little cheesed, I decided not to go back in case there was a fish disease in the tank at Petco. So I went to Wal-Mart this time and on the way to purchasing it, Maxine dropped the bag with the fish. A little bugged, we paid our 13 cents and took off home. As Maxine was getting out of the car, she dropped the bag again. From the other side of the car I said, "Did you drop the fish again?!?" She started sobbing and said, "I'm sorry!!!!" When I ran over, the bag had popped open the the fish was stuck in a corner of the bag with a teensy bit of water left. I ran it into the house and put it in a cup. After all that shock, he might be dead tomorrow too. We'll be going for the record, 3 fish in 3 days.

Adventures in painting...

After priming the walls and ceiling of the room downstairs with a roller, I decided that the doors, trim, and closet shelves needed to be done with an air sprayer.  So I finally rented one today, received my 5-minute tutorial, and started to work.  I think I got some primer on the trim and not just my face and arms.  I finished priming the trim and the closet shelves.  After the kids go to bed and the primer is dry, I'll go paint the the closet.  The air sprayer is sweet and works like a dream!   

So how was your trip?

Well, I'm glad that's over.  Disneyland was a lot of fun for Maxine.  Not so much for Jack and Juliet.  Jack's favorite part of the day occurred when two birds landed near our lunch table and nibbled crumbs by our feet.  Sweet.  Jack wasn't a big ride fan except for "It's a Small World."  Juliet had fits of unhappiness.  She wanted to play in the stroller but only when it was stationary; moving was not allowed.  She also did not want to be held as we walked or want anyone else to sit in her stroller seat as it was being pushed along.  So she went from ride to ride yelling and screaming if she was being held or in the stroller.  As long as we were sitting by the stroller and she could play with it without moving, she was great.  

But there were moments of happiness squeezed in between the screaming and meltdowns.  King Arthur's Carousel was a big hit.

Jack said the only thing he wanted to do all day was meet Mickey Mouse.  I love the look on his face.

I think Juliet's favorite part of the day was devouring half a bag of cotton candy with me while we waited for Merril, Max, and Jack to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So we did okay.  I think the trip would've been better if it'd just been me and Maxine at Disneyland.  Jack and Juliet just got too tired.

The kids were worn out after Disneyland and slept like logs.  The next day we went to the beach.  It was a little chilly when we first got to the beach (probably 70) but the kids forgot about it after a bit.  Maxine collected shells and posed for the camera.  "Concentrate Danielson!"

Jack drove his toy trucks in the sand.

Juliet frolicked in the surf and sand.

Merril surfed.

When we go back to California, I want to hit Sea World.  I remember it being a lot of fun too!

I just wrecked my car again, I'm goin' to Disneyland!

There's a song about Disneyland, called Dizz Knee Land, by a band called Dada and Merril sings it often.  It's a silly song in which a delinquent does all this crazy stuff and says he's going to Disneyland.  Examples, "I just robbed a grocery store.  I'm going to dizz knee land!  I just got cuffed again.  I'm going to dizz knee land!"  I'm guessing they had to spell it dizz knee land so that Disney couldn't sue.  

ANYWAY, we decided to go to Disneyland today.  I know, pick your jaw up off the floor.  Merril's less than thrilled, I'm indifferent, Maxine has enough excitement to run all the way to California.  I like Disneyland, truly.  I'm just not a big fan of taking kids to Disneyland because I'm going to pay a lot of money to have a rough day.  But Maxine has waited, patiently.  We always said, "Maybe next summer because Jack's a baby.....maybe next summer because Mommy's pregnant....maybe next summer because Juliet's a baby."  Well, we ran out of excuses.  It's time.  

Ward BBQ...

Went to a ward barbeque a few weeks back and a lady in the ward takes pictures.  She sends out an email with a link to download the pictures.  I nabbed these.

The pictures I have of me and Juliet usually include the side of my arm from holding the camera myself.  It's easier to get Juliet to smile for a person instead of saying 'cheese' in her ear.

Here's a rare one:  Merril and me in a picture without the timer being set or instructing Maxine to, "make sure and get both of us in the picture."

There were a lot of cupcakes at said barbeque.  I saw Jack nab about 4 and stuff them in his mouth before I could run over and stop him.  However Juliet would simply eat the frosting and leave the remnants on the table.

Sorry I haven't blogged as much lately.  I've been priming the room in the basement.  It's primed and ready for paint but the priming took 4 days and frankly, I wish I were done. Instead, I have to spend another 3 days to actually paint the room.  Seriously, painters don't get paid nearly enough.  I'm still looking good to make my goal of finishing by June 17th, Juliet's 2nd birthday.  *sigh*  

Painting the Sistine Chapel...

Okay, so we're not painting the Sistine Chapel but I feel really bad for Michaelangelo and my ceiling isn't nearly that big.  *funny side bit* At the exit of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, there were a ton of souvenir places selling prints of the finger of Adam reaching for the finger of the Lord and Merril said, "Those are nice."  I said, "Yeah but we just saw the original."  He said, "That scene is in the Sistine Chapel?!?"  I was like, "Yeah.  That's the reason we came to the Sistine Chapel, to see the finger of the Lord!  I'm sorry you missed it."  It had taken us nearly 3 hours to get to through to the Sistine Chapel so there was no way we were going back.  Which means I'm going back to Rome some day so Merril can actually see it next time.  

Anyhoo, I'm painting the ceiling in the basement.  Correction:  I'm priming the ceiling in the basement.  Seriously, I've decided that ceilings don't really need paint.  They're good with just primer, right?  The thought of covering the whole ceiling again with paint just makes my neck hurt.  The primer makes the ceiling look like a real room though!  Hee hee!

Hey, does anyone know if I'm supposed to seal those hair-line cracks in my cement floor before I put down carpet or tile? 

Electrify...

Today, I feel like a major obstacle (mostly mental) has been surmounted in the basement project.  I had an electrician come and wire the breakers and connect the breaker box to the panel on the outside of the house.  Here's the breaker box with the wiring half finished.  The electrician had to run and get more breakers at this point.

Here's the box all wired up!  Outlets, switches, and light fixtures will have to be wired up before we can flip the breakers on.  I'm so excited!!  

I could have light by this weekend....if I bought some lights and put them up.

New bicycle!!

For Mother's Day, Merril said he was getting me "the best Mother's Day present ever!" Mother's Day arrived and I received a bicycle!  The gift was actually the brainchild of Maxine.  Merril was fishing for Mother's Day ideas and casually asked Maxine what I might want.  She answered with "a new car."  Merril said that probably wasn't going to happen but was there something else I might want.  She said, "How about we get a bike for Mommy?"  Merril said, "Actually that's a pretty good idea!"

Before now, we've never had enough bikes to ride together as a family, either Merril or I would have to stay home.  But today, we took a trip to Maverick and bought ice cream and Reece's Peanut Butter cups.  I rode my bike to Young Women's the other night too.  

So I asked Maxine, "What should we get Daddy for Father's Day?"  She said, "I can't think of anything."  Bummer, me either.

Waiting for oatmeal...

Juliet cracks me up.  She has an overwhelming abundance of personality.  However, yesterday morning she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Here she is waiting for her breakfast.  
"Seriously Mom, are you done yet?"

Can-O-Rama!

Our family home evening consisted of teaching the kids the importance of self-reliance and food storage.  Then we canned some food!  The sealer we borrowed from the cannery was slick!  It wasn't completely automated, like the one at the cannery, but used a torque wrench to seal cans.  I had to lean all my weight onto the wrench to get enough torque to seal the cans.  Merril, on the other hand, could just stand there and do it.  Merril's holding the first can off the assembly line.  

Maxine was good at writing the date on the labels and affixing labels to the cans.  She'd also write on the boxes.  Jack was good at touching all the wheat that went into the cans.

We canned a bag of wheat and then put the kids to bed.  Merril and I finished the bulk of the canning on Monday night.  I went to Wal-Mart and purchased different kinds of noodles, cornmeal, and cream of wheat to can.  I finished canning those up Tuesday night.  We ended up canning 115 cans of food.  Harmons was having a sale on Morning Moos milk so I bought 6 cans of regular milk and 2 cans of chocolate milk.  I also bought some salt, honey and crisco (for oil). The only thing left to purchase are some buckets for the sugar and a 55-gallon drum for water.  I've heard that canned sugar can take on a metallic taste so I decided plastic buckets are going to be the way to go.  

I also bought a ton of soap and toothpaste.  In an emergency, I want to be as clean as possible.  Merril and I estimated that we have around 6 months of food storage.  We figure that's a good start for now!  My next task is to learn how to use my pressure cooker to bottle some chicken, beef stew meat and hamburger.  Yikes!  

Canning madness...

I picked up the sealer from the cannery today and bought a bunch of food and cans.  All told, I left with 50 lbs of beans, 50 lbs. of rice, 150 lbs. of wheat, 15 lbs. of apple slices, 50 lbs. of oats, 25 lbs. of dried onions (I like onions), 50 lbs. of flour, and 37 lbs. of milk alternative.  I'm still going to Wal-Mart and buying a can's worth of cornmeal, cream of wheat, and a bunch of different noodles.  I'll be canning 108 cans worth of food.  Juliet's excited.It's not everything we need but I figure it's a good start.  I asked Merril what he'd like to have in our food storage and he said a .30-06 rifle.  Ummmm.....okay.

Public Service Announcement...

When cannery assignments come up for our ward, I always want to go but that means a sitter for 4 hours for 2 or 3 kids.  Then I found out that the cannery lends #10 can sealers to ward members!  I just thought I'd pass on the info.  On Monday (May 4th), I'm borrowing a canner/sealer from the cannery and sealing a bunch of #10 cans for food storage.  I have to have it back by Thursday morning.  And if you have anything you feel like canning, you can buy the #10 cans at the cannery and bring it over.  I think they're $.71 for the can, lid, and one oxygen absorber.  

I'll be doing wheat, flour, beans, rice, apples, carrots, macaroni, oats, onions and whatever else I feel like throwing in a can.  I get the feeling we'll be canning for family home evening.  ;)

Tribute to Grandma Maxine and butter...

My Grandma has been dead for over a decade but I still remember her crazy outfits and amazing garden.  She was a fabulous soprano and even sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a number of years.  She'd take me and my sister with her to our great grandmother's house in Idaho for 2 weeks each summer.  She went to Idaho each summer to escape the heat.  These terrible pictures were taken with my first camera using 110 film and flash bulbs.  Geeze. I remember one summer we went out to a Pioneer Village place.  People dressed as pioneers demonstrated how the pioneers would wash clothes and make butter.  This is my sister, Jessica, on the left and cousin, Cherise, on the right.  Sorry ladies.This awful picture is me.  I must've been 9 or some other awkward age.  We're washing clothes with homemade soap.  The evening closed by the pioneer woman pouring cream into a mason jar and passing it around for the audience members to shake it until butter appeared.  She pulled freshly baked bread from a dutch oven and we buttered and ate it.

Anyhoo, on to the point!  The kids and I went to a historical site in our home town and that got us thinking about the pioneers.  I told Maxine about my trip to Idaho as a youth and how we made butter with whipping cream and a mason jar.  She made me promise that we'd try it when we got home.  

So I got out a mason jar, filled it with cream and we started taking turns shaking it.  It got really thick and after 10 minutes, I was starting to doubt whether the two of us could shake a mason jar enough to make butter.  I sat on the couch and started whacking the mason jar on the couch cushions.  After a minute or so, the contents in the jar suddenly changed consistency and there was a big lump of butter in the jar with whey.  I was like, "No way!  We actually made butter by hand!"  I drained off the whey and added a dash of salt and made some toast!

Here's little Maxine with the jar and butter.  Thanks Grandma Maxine for the great summers!!

They don't get paid enough...

We've been working on a room in the basement.  The idea is to get the room finished, move the office downstairs and move Juliet out of our closet.  Yep, I said closet.  My walk-in closet is her bedroom.  She sleeps in a portable crib.  The goal is to move her out by her 2nd birthday.  People have had to endure greater hardships, like crossing the plains.  Juliet's sleeping in the closet just makes it more difficult to access my wardrobe after 8 p.m.  At least I have a walk-in closet for her to sleep in.  Without it, she'd be sleeping in the laundry room or pantry, or worse, my room. :)  

Anyhoo, I was caulking in the basement on Saturday and realized that painters and caulkers get paid far too little for such a job.  Every single seam needs caulk.  Every shelf in the closet, every baseboard, every jam for the doors and every corner in the room receives caulk, so as to match and create a room that will match seamlessly with our upstairs living space.By the second tube, I started to get pretty good at it.  (BTW, I don't have a bubonic plague hand, I'm just wearing one black glove.)  I'm almost finished, just a few seams left on the doors.  The closet, baseboards and wall seams are done.  My next step will be priming and then on to paint!!  

Having a great day and then WHAM!!!

Yesterday we spent our first day at the lake.  The weather was calm and warm, the water was a little chilly but I still got it up to my waist, the kids played contently...quite the perfect day.  In fact, on the way home from the lake, Jack let out a contented sigh and said, "What a perfect day for going to the lake."  Merril and I looked at each other and smiled.

So we got home and I backed the boat in, for practice because I need it, and then Merril unhooked the boat.  Jack jumped out and I opened the garage and started to back in.  I was watching low in my mirrors, scanning for Jack and making sure I didn't run him over and WHAMO!  By watching for Jack, I neglected to watch to make sure the garage door was all the way up and smashed it.  UUURRRGGGG!!!  Merril was able to push the panels back a bit so the door can still go up and down and the damage is done.

I was so mad at myself for such a dumb mistake and luckily for me, Merril didn't have any snide comments.  All he did was give me a hug as I bawled saying, "It'll be okay, babe."  My total Zen-like state from the lake was ruined.

So I had a garage door guy come look at it today and it could be anywhere from $400 to $1,000 to get it fixed.  The manufacturer doesn't make this particular door anymore so even though I only need to replace the bottom 2 panels, the whole door might have to be replaced.  There's a chance he might have leftover door pieces in his warehouse but he'll have to check and see.  And then they have to be painted.  Great.  

On a happier note, I wanted to thank everyone who's helped me get excited about food storage!  I just put in an order for canned cheese and butter.  I know what you're thinking, how good can this butter be??  It's real butter and cheese.  They just stuck it in a can!  How crazy is that??  It's totally shelf stable and doesn't need to be refrigerated until you open it.  And the really crazy part, it tastes and looks great!!  Amazing!

Classic procrastinator...

Yesterday was tax day and in true procrastinator style, I didn't get addresses on the tax envelopes until later last night.  The post office by my house was closed and so I had to drive 15 miles into town to the main office to make sure my stuff was postmarked by April 15th.  This is my receipt for the postage.  Notice the date and time at the top.  Yep.  
If you've never been at a post office near midnight on tax day, it really is a fun place.  People are generally making jokes about "death and taxes".  One guy put his taxes in the bin, stepped back and said, "Wait, there wasn't a stamp on that one!!!  Oh, well.  Nothing I can do about it now." and walked out.  God bless America.  Luckily, I'm getting a return this year!  Wahoo, more basement money!

Does this sound like fun to you???

Merril got home at 2 p.m. this afternoon from his SaddleSore 1,ooo ride. The rules include no speeding, no use of stimulants to keep you awake and alert, ride 1,000 miles and do it in under 24 hours. He left yesterday at 7 p.m. with his friend, Ryan, and rode through the night and most of the day. He said he, "had a good time!"

Here's his GPS. He went 1,010 miles, riding for 14 hours and 13 minutes. HOLY. COW. They rested for 4 hours and 5 minutes. So the entire trip took just over 18 hours. Now to me, that doesn't sound like fun to bust it for a little piece of paper but whatever. I knew he was nuts when I met him, no surprise here. But I'm telling this story all wrong. Let's back up.

Here's the chief mechanic. He's making sure the saddlebags are properly packed with tools and such.

Here's Merril right before departure, looking sharp and alert.

Here he is on arrival at 2 p.m.

Notice the bloodshot eyes and kind of crazed look about him. Let's just say I don't consider this a really healthy past time. He had a shower and took a nap for a couple of hours. He's wandering around sore but happy.

Easter Sunday and Iron Butt...

As a kid, I don't remember so many holidays that included candy, but now I'm keenly aware of all the sugar. I need to buy less when it comes to candy holidays but for now, on with the story. We started our Easter Sunday with the egg hunt and found that Juliet was very possessive of her basket and its contents. No one was allowed near it, even me. She looks like she's investigating Maxine's basket to note its treasures.
Jack just wanted everything for himself.



We went to church and took this picture when we got home. It was the only good one with Jack. Afterwards, he jumped around like a goof and was blurry.
Maxine and Juliet wanted to pose so I caught this little face. I love her cheeky cheeks!And to change the subject, my husband has decided to do an Iron Butt motorcycle ride. The Iron Butt Association is composed of motorcycle riders who have completed a long distance in a short period of time. Merril intends to leave this evening to get his SaddleSore 1,000. He'll need to ride 1,000 miles on a motorcycle in under 24 hours. There are other rides including a Pacific to Atlantic coast ride in under 50 hours. He's even got one, and maybe two, friends to go with him. Sounds like a case of sore bum to me.

Jack's Easter tie!

I was a little scared about making a tie for Jack but I found an easy, free pattern online and it went right together! The website has easy to follow instructions and the downloadable pattern here. I cut out the pieces last night and put it together today. It's mostly ironing and sewing slip stitches by hand. It was really easy! Now all three kids have matching Easter outfits. Wahoo!

Easter dresses...

I just finished the dresses for Maxine and Juliet tonight!  Yeah!  I need to make a tie for Jack because he feels left out.  He wants me to make him a shirt too but that's not gonna happen.  I'll barely get it glued together by Easter Sunday.  Maxine has been wearing her dress for a few days, pinned in the back because I hadn't finished the buttons.  The bottom fabric is a dragonfly pattern and it's glittery.  The dress spins excessively and Maxine LOVES it!

The only casualty is my sewing machine.  It's so out of wack.  It's not a totally fabulous machine but it's sewing like a dog now: missed stitches, loopy stitches, jamming, etc.  I've adjusted it all over the place but I just need to take it in to be serviced.  And one day, I vow to have a really great sewing machine!  

Resurrection cookies...

Since Easter is coming up, I wanted to share a cool Easter activity that I heard about last year. Someone told me about resurrection cookies to make with kids.

These are to be made the night before Easter:
Pecans are smashed, to represent Jesus being beaten; kids taste salt to represent Jesus' tears; eggs are beaten until white and peaks form to symbolize purity; etc. There are scriptures to go with each of the ingredients and parts of the story. Afterwards the cookies are put in the oven and then the oven is turned off and taped shut (the tomb was sealed) and the kids go to bed. In the morning, the cookies are done and hollow inside, to symbolize that Jesus had been resurrected and the tomb was empty. If you Google "resurrection cookies", websites with the recipe and scripture references pop up or you can just click here.

I'm excited to try it this year because I've wanted to add a spiritual context to Easter. We've always just done eggs. (I'm sure none of you need the recipe because you're awesome mothers and have been doing this for years but I thought I'd just pass along the info just in case.)

HAPPY EASTER!

Finally finished...mostly

My living room has been cluttered for a month because everything in the entertainment center was thrown on the floor. Tools and random screws littered the carpet but today, it's finally all clean. Here's the finished project.

Here's the left one:

Here's the right one:

Here they are around the t.v.
I had to spend an additional $10 for some hardware so that brought my total to $82 for the whole project. I'm glad we saved some dough but it was more work than I thought it was going to be. Plus, I plan on doing a shelf in between. I found some board to use in the basement but it wasn't found until I was mostly done painting. I'll get it done before Christmas so my village can sit on it.

I'm very pleased with the results. Merril gets credit for the magnetic door latch idea but the rest was conceived, painted and reconstructed by myself. Personally, I didn't know if it was going to work out. I thought the whole thing was going to be a bust. Woosh! Now I need to focus on Maxine's Easter dress because I only have a little over a week!!

Oh, and work continues on the basement! I've got a guy coming tomorrow to do the baseboards, door casing and shelf work for the closet! Wahoo!

First Soccer Game...

Maxine announced that she'd like to play soccer this year. Okay. A Dad in the neighborhood is coaching and Maxine's friend is on the team. Maxine's taken 1 tumbling class and that's the extent of her athletic training. It's just not something we focus on at our house. So I bought the city jersey and shin guards and descended into the dregs of being a "soccer Mom." Yesterday was her first game and she played better than I thought she would!

Kicking in the ball.

She actually scored a goal too! Not that it matters because they don't keep score. At least the goal made soccer fun instead of just a lot of running around.

So in the end she got some exercise and had fun!

Food for thought: During dinner, I asked Merril, "If the singular for mice is mouse and lice is louse, is a single grain of rice a rouse?" Merril, puzzled said, "I don't know." Which prompted a Google search which returned the following: One of the mice is called a mouse, but one of the dice isn’t a douse, nor one grain of rice called a rouse, nor a cube of ice called an ouse. And why isn’t a house one of the hice or a blouse one of the blice? (And for that matter, why isn't a spouse one of the spice?) Happy April Fool's Day!