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!

I don't need to know...

We're having one of those mornings where the kids (and myself) seem bugged by everything. So I made them some popcorn for a snack and came in to check blogs. Jack and Jules were eating contently but the sound has switched to laughter and what I can only gather as mess making. Popcorn is a snack and entertainment at our house. It's generally smashed into little pieces and it's buying me a few minutes to unwind. However crazy it sounds, if I go in to check on them, I'll break the spell. They won't want to continue their game if I go see what's up. So as long as it's happiness I can hear, I'll let them do their thing. *Someone little left their gum on the desk and now it's on the elbow of my jacket.*

What we've been up to...

I apologize for my boring posts lately.  While sick, I didn't feel like posting pictures.  So here's some stuff that was missed.

A gas station opened by our house and they had a monster truck, race car, and chopper.  Of course, Jack had to go check it out.  It was cold so we didn't stay long but Jack thought the monster truck was HUGE!  He also wanted to know how the driver gets up to the door to get in.  

And now the entertainment center project!!

Here's the primed pieces.

I've got one almost put together.  The backer isn't on yet and there's a glaring white strip in the front that somehow got missed when the black painting was going on.  I'm going to need to touch up a spot or two so I'll just paint it then.  Oh, and put the shelves in. 

But here's the first glimpse:I'm actually really pleased with it!  It turned out way better than I thought it would.  I was pretty worried I was going to have to scrap the whole thing for a bit.  Total cost of project for both sides: $72.

Welcome Home Megan!

Merril's sister, Megan, finished her mission and flew home two weeks ago.  But I'm just posting the pictures now because I kind of forgot about them on my camera.  :)  

We made a sign to welcome Aunt Megan home!  

Now the kids are tired of holding the sign and decided to lay down.  In their defense, it was about 10 o'clock and they were tired.  I don't even want to imagine what was on that airport floor.

Here's Megan and Ma Campbell.  She was very excited!

Sick, sick, sick...

Our family has been pounded with illness lately. 2 1/2 weeks ago we got colds. 1 1/2 weeks ago, Max, Merril and I got the flu. And now Maxine and I have been diagnosed with pneumonia, everyone else is better. Max and I are on antibiotics and getting better but it's been a long time coming. Over the past week, my competancy as a parent has gone in the toilet. Diapers were barely getting changed. Luckily, Juliet and Jack just got the cold and have been spared the yucky stuff. I feel bad for Maxine because she's been sick the longest and was sick during the entire Spring Break holiday. What a bummer. But things are looking up and it's Spring! I haven't worked on my garden yet but it's getting time! I hope you are all doing well!

I hope I didn't make a mistake...

I just put the 4th coat of primer/paint on the entertainment center pieces. Now I wait. I hope it turns out but I'm a little apprehensive. Mainly because I didn't start with real wood. It's just an entertainment center made out of particle board with contact paper. If it doesn't work out, I just spent $70 and 5 evenings working on something I'm not even going to like. Urrgggg. We'll see.

Update...

The entertainment center has 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of black. 2 coats should do it. I hope. And I'm on page 207 of my book and even made the kids dinner *wink to Em.* Yeah!

Books...

I have a book discussion on Thursday. Through twists of fate, I didn't receive the book until today. I'm on page 57. I have 373 pages to go. Yikes.

P.S. I'm not an exceptionally fast reader.

Update...

I planted a peach tree and primed the entertainment center. I hope to paint the entertainment center tomorrow and finish it up this week. Pictures to follow.

So...how's that project coming?

I'm still working on the entertainment center. :) I finally got the pieces marked and ready for cutting. I had to plan, mark, and measure and that's not my strong suit. I like to imagine how it'll turn out and paint.

Today, I took the wood to a friend's house and borrowed her table saw. Merril, overhearing that I was going to use a table saw said, "Be careful with those things. People lose more fingers using a table saw than any other tool." I thought to myself, "Good to know." I was very focused on my hand placement whilst using the saw and am happy to say that I'm using all ten fingers to type.

Then I brought the pieces home and prepped them for primer. Here I'm cleaning some trim.

Here are the cut pieces, ready to be primed.

And then, like an idiot, I got a crazy idea to make my kids' Easter dresses. What...was...I...thinking? Juliet's is almost done. I still need to hem it and attach the buttons on the back. The buttons are little dragonflies to match the dragonflies on the dress. (Suddenly the word dragonfly looks weird.)
Maxine's will be identical except the bodice is pale yellow instead of pink. So the dresses will be similar but different.
And then I'm going to make a tie out of the leftover yellow material for Jack . *chuckle* We're having high hopes for the tie but it might just be hot glued together the night before Easter.

Merril's sister, Megan, is flying home from her mission in Sweden today! We're going to the airport to welcome her home! I'm excited to see her after a year and a half. She's probably somewhere over the ocean about now! Wahoo!

Bowling FHE...

We went bowling for FHE and were able to get the lane with the bumpers in the gutters. I would have had a ton more gutter balls if it weren't for the bumpers. Merril bounced off them a couple of times too. In the end, we had a 3-way tie for first place. Jack, Juliet, and I tied at 99 but no one could bust 100. Merril came in at 90 and Maxine finished up with 80. Jack got 2 strikes and Juliet got 1 strike by some fluke of bowling luck. Maxine was supremely disappointed that she didn't get a strike too. We tried and tried but to no avail. It was fun but I kept wondering when the last time the bowling ball holes had been disinfected. Eeewwww!

Dig a hole...fill it up...

So today, I dug a hole. It took about 2 hours. Reason? I want a fruit tree. I had always planned to plant fruit trees in my back yard. Well, our back yard isn't getting any closer to being completed. If I had planted a fruit tree when we moved in, I'd have a fruit-bearing tree by now! So I decided I didn't want to wait anymore. Unfortunately, our house sits on gravely-rock-sand. (Mostly rock.) If I ever want this tree to have a chance, I was going to have to dig a hole and fill it with good soil. I think this is a great start. The hole is about 2 1/2 feet deep and 2 1/2 feet wide. (I'm kind of kneeling in there, not standing.) I got some sun and some exercise too. I'll let Merril dig later.

Let's go to Vegas...

We went to Las Vegas to trade motorcycles with a guy. Hopefully the new motorcycle will sell for more moolah. Warning: Shameless plug- You can check out the Ebay auction here if you want to see pictures. When he told me he wanted to trade bikes, in my mind I was thinking, "Only if it's a BMW." I lost. It's a BMW 1150 something something something.

Anyhoo, we took the kids and decided to show them around! We tried to eat at the Orleans because they have a fabu Mexican place called Don Miguels. It's closed on Mondays. So we went over to the Paris for dinner. The kids had pizza slices but I had a toasted ham and swiss croissant. Then we had fruit tarts and eclairs for dessert.

Jack insisted on calling his eclair a doughnut. (I think you get thrown out of France for something like that.) Just kidding. French people are very nice as long as you don't go over there shouting, "America is the best thing ever!" Seriously, Americans are fat, ignorant, and arrogant. I love America, I really do. But I think Americans are a little spoiled. (Where did that come from??)

So on with the story, we ate and then walked across the street to watch the Bellagio fountain show. Here we are waiting for the show to begin. I have my classic, "Everyone look at the camera and say CHEESE!" face. But everyone else had a happy face so I can't complain.

Maxine loved the fountain show and stated that she felt like she was dreaming, only she was awake! (Parents score 2 points) Then we walked up to see the conservatory.

I don't have any pictures of the conservatory because it was being converted to a new theme. Maxine was bummed that we couldn't walk inside but settled for walking around the perimeter. It was a quick trip and we'll be heading back soon because Merril's little sister, Megan, will be coming home from her mission in Sweden in a little over a week! WOW!

Ambition...

I have a big projection TV. Merril gave me an entertainment center a long time ago when we used to have a smaller TV. So now the big TV doesn't go with the entertainment center and sits adjacent to the entertainment center, sort of. I want a new entertainment center, the type that has two bookcases and the TV sits on the floor between them. Reminiscent of this:

This picture was nabbed from my sister's blog. Nelson Family

So anyhoo, buying a new one is kind of out of the question right now so I'm trying to make mine work. I intend to take it apart and remove the middle section and then paint it black, to match the TV.

Here's the beginnings of the project. I apologize for my nasty phone picture. I couldn't find my camera. (Notice Chuck: The Evil Sandwich-Making Guy on the TV) I'm hoping to have most of it torn apart by tomorrow and marked for cutting. I still need to call a friend and see if I can use her table saw. It'd make things easier than hacking at it with a sawsall. I'm going to need some trim pieces but the rest should be reusable. So yikes!! I just hope it looks decent when I'm done.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

Home for wayward Scouts...

The International Scout tends to have a sort of cult following. Merril has loved them for years and I think neglected Scouts all over the world can feel that love and want to be near it. It's almost magnetic. But seriously, how many is enough?

Scout #1-

Current status: broken

Current location: my back yard

Reason for being here: going to be fixed up one day

Scout #2-

Current status: running (a rarity at my house)

Current location: parked next to the driveway

Reason for being here: Merril's Uncle McKay didn't want to pay to store it anymore. Merril intends to buy it some day.Scout #3-

Current status: broken

Current location: in front of my house, kind of on the sidewalk

Reason for being here: Not quite sure, it's a long story

Rick, Megan, and Dan-you'll all recognize this Scout. It's bounced around and has arrived back here again. I believe we're storing it until Merril's cousin from Washington state can come get it. I hope. I feel like I could sponser one of those starving children commercials for Scouts.

Just think, for pennies a day...you could sponsor one of these Scouts. Don't let this opportunity slip away. :)

Shaved head...

Merril couldn't stand the long locks of flowing hair so it was mohawk time. *cue the eye rolls and head shakes* Here's the before:

Here's the after (from behind, painted green and orange):

We went to the sand dunes so he could ride his dirt bike and look like a punk. Doesn't he look happy!

Oh well, at least he has a ton of hair.

I knew he was a punk when I married him. At least he keeps things interesting. :)

Oh, and one funny bit about the sand dunes. I drove Merril's red truck around the dunes with the kids. I'm not a super wheeler but I can hold my own. So anyways, we were driving around on this hill and watching others play on the hill. Merril was sitting on his bike and a guy on a 4-wheeler stopped and said, "Is that your Dodge?"

Merril said, "Yeah."

Guy said, "Is that your old lady drivin'?"

Merril said, "Yeah!"

So it's official, I really am old.