The rescue was a success!

Juliet was documenting the necklace retrieval so you can blame her for the pictures. I'm wearing my new tool/project belt that my sister-in-law Camille gave me for Christmas. (I actually didn't use it since I was only using 1 set of vice grips but it was so cute, I had to wear it.)

Getting the P-trap off and dumping it into the bowl.

Ta-da!!

Yeah! I cleaned it off and put it on! I was elated that the trap caught my necklace instead of it being whisked away!

And I was shocked at how easy it was! The whole process from start to finish took 5 minutes. I love it when a plan comes together!

Carrots and a lost necklace...

I love growing carrots in the garden! I haven't purchased carrots since July! I've learned that they can take sub-freezing temperatures without batting an eyelash too. I needed carrots for soup today and went out to the garden to pull some up! They just keep getting fatter. I'm planting carrots every year! They don't get bugs, the heat or cold doesn't bother them and they can sit in the ground for MONTHS and MONTHS until I feel like you need them! What an awesome vegetable!

I swear this picture was taken today. Juliet just found a swimsuit and insisted on putting it on. She's so ready for lake season.

And the other thing. Juliet and I were getting ready for church and she decided she wanted to clean my necklace. It's a gold and cubic zirconium necklace that Merril gave me. It was on Valentine's Day while we were dating almost 10 years ago. I stopped the drain and let her clean it. When she decided she was done, she unplugged the drain and let the water run out. My necklace went with it. I hope it's residing here:

I'll be taking the P-trap apart tomorrow to see. Pictures to follow. Yikes.

We need a little Christmas...

I really didn't take very many Christmas pictures because I was experiencing it instead of capturing it. I woke up at 5 a.m. to take the rolls out of the fridge to rise and saw Maxine with her blanket and pillow laying next to the tree. I asked how long she'd been awake and she said, "Since 3:30." So I took the rolls and out and we gabbed about Christmas. We looked at her stocking and there was a puzzle ball inside. The puzzle ball turns into an ornament for the tree when it's completed. We put it together until everyone else woke up.

I'm amazed we got it together at 5 in the morning. I took a few other pictures but nothing to write home about.

Christmas picture...

I try to take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree every year. This year's picture isn't too bad! Jack's a little goofy but it was either this or him standing, laying, or sticking out his bottom lip because his blanket couldn't be in the picture.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Love from afar...

Merril's out of town working. But today, I came out of my church aerobics class and saw a young man, who works for Merril, holding flowers. I was like, "Hey Austin, what's up?" He said, "I know a guy who met you 10 years ago today..." and then he handed me the flowers.

I got all teary eyed because Merril remembered that 10 years ago today, my friend Ang set us up on a blind date. We were married 6 months later. Thanks babe!

Gingerbread...

Jack's last day of preschool before winter break was today. He came home with a construction paper wreath and a gingerbread house. I think he ate most of it already but when he brought it home, he was exceedingly proud of it!

And for some reason, he's taken to completely squinting his eyes when he smiles. Can you believe Christmas is in a week!

Where's Juliet?

So I sat down to play some Christmas carols on the piano for a few minutes. When I finished, I got up and it was really quiet in the house. So I started looking for the kids. Jack was downstairs by himself. I walked out the front door and no sign of Juliet. Then I looked in the garage and saw this:

Please don't look at my filthy Tahoe! It rained and I had to drive through a bunch of muddy construction! I'm washing it TODAY!

Now I don't usually leave step stools by the Tahoe and by now I could hear Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas carols. I opened the door and found this little girl playing with the stereo.

She knows how to get in and turn on music. Scary. She's going to drive off one of these days.

It's important to get the volume just right.

Merry Christmas!

Free-zer...

Merril told me the other day that the deer he shot had been cut up and needed to come home. Hmmmm...bummer....that's going to require a freezer because I don't have enough space in my kitchen freezer. So I turned to Craig's List to scan for cheap freezers for sale. I found one for free!

It's clearly older and I'll probably have to defrost it every year or so, but it'll do for a while.

I like candy...

During the holidays, I like to make different cookies and candies. For a number of years, I made English or Almond Toffee. So Yummy! A couple of years ago, a neighbor brought over homemade caramels and I was dying to watch her make some. I made a test batch this year and they were so yummy. There was a break in the weather, so I decided to make a full batch. (I've heard you're not supposed to make candy while it's raining because of the change in humidity or barometric pressures. Either way, I test my thermometers with boiling water for accuracy before starting and adjust from there but just try not to make candy during yucky weather days.)

Melting the butter and sugars! You really don't want to know how many calories are in there. Just close your eyes and think of Christmas.

I use a variety of thermometers. This year, we tried out Merril's digital infrared thermometer. I had my kitchen digital thermometer in the syrup too because I like accuracy.

Making sure there aren't any sugar crystals sticking to the sides.

And now the pan of caramel. It needs to sit for about 8 hours before cutting and wrapping. During which time, I'm always a little pensive, hoping they'll turn out all right.

I'm bringing them to a cookie exchange party. (I know they're not technically a cookie but I think they go with Christmas. So yummy!

Get a tree, like now!

We usually head out to get a tree the day after Thanksgiving. Since we were out of town for the weekend, it didn't happen. So we decided to go for Family Home Evening. We grabbed Maxine after school and headed out. We drove to Jacob Lake and the road we usually take was closed. So we ventured down a dirt road and by the time we found some trees, the sun had set. So we had about 10 minutes of dusky light. We fanned out, found the tree, chopped it and we were back to the truck in about 15 minutes. It was the fastest tree-hunting expedition in our family's history. This was the only shot of the evening. Please avert your eyes while my children fight to hold the saw.

Now as many years as we've been going to Jacob Lake to cut trees, we've never seen the lake. I thought maybe the lake dried up years ago. I've asked Merril what's the deal with it and he didn't know either. We decided it didn't actually exist. While stumbling on the dirt road back to the highway, we found Jacob Lake! It's more like a bowl-shaped meadow that catches a lot of spring run off. This time of year, it was more like a mud hole but it was too dark for pictures and we were too far away. All I could get was the sign next to it.

And then tree decorating. I don't believe in dictating where my kids put the ornaments. It's too hard to convince my 2-year old that 2 blue balls shouldn't hang on the same branch. I just wait for them to go to bed and fix it. If I didn't, my whole tree would look like this:

I hope your Christmas season is getting a great start!

Thanksgiving up North...

We went to my sister's house (Jo Anna) for Thanksgiving. She was gracious enough to let us stay there. Dinner was fantastic, as were the pies. I meant to get a picture of us all at the table but it didn't happen.

The day after, we went to a movie. This is me and gorgeous little sister, Jess.

That evening, we went to a festival of lights. Everyone piled into the back of the truck to save some bucks. It was freezing so I'm glad we were driving with the heater cranked, except for Maxine. She wanted to ride in the back with her cousins.

After that, Jo Anna's band had a gig at a bar. I got carded at the door and had to show my ID. Did you know our state's driver's license glows under a black light?? True story. Jo Anna is the one on the left playing the red guitar. She sings and plays keyboards too. I know, uber talented!

Her husband, Boyd, plays a mean set of drums.

We stayed out until 1. Super fun and they were awesome!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

I just finished putting the last of the return address labels and stamps on my Christmas cards!

I like to get them out the week after Thanksgiving! We're headed out of town to spend Thanksgiving with my family at my sister's house (Jo Anna). I just finished making pie crusts for the pumpkin and triple berry pies I'll be bringing. Nothing makes me feel more like a housewife than making pie.

Not that I ever wear heels when I bake pies but I just have this 1950s image stuck in my head while I bake. Sorry to the feminists, I never was one.

Snowy...

On an earlier post, I mentioned that Merril's dirt bike broke down and we had to go rescue it. Here are the pictures! Merril decided to try and fix his bike out on the dunes. His buddy Ryan was there to help.

I knew it was going to be chilly so I brought coats and blankets. Mostly for riding in the scout because doesn't have a top for the back seat or doors that keep the wind out.


Merril or Ryan, I can't remember which, zip-tied a pizza box to the door to try and keep the wind out. It didn't really work.

While Merril was fixing his bike, the wind really picked up and it started snowing. The kids jumped on my lap to warm up and then would run around in the snow.

After about 15 minutes of blowing snow, we decided to just load up and head back to the truck. It was chilly but we made it just fine, and without too much whining.

On a side note, I sliced my finger pretty bad making Maxine's lunch this morning. It could've used stitches but I didn't have time so I told Merril to go buy some super glue. We dumped alcohol in it and sealed it up. It was the first time I've ever needed a wound glued shut! I think I'll just try to be more careful next time.

Potty training success...

Now just so you know, I'm knocking on my wood-composite desk for continued luck. Lately, we've had huge potty training successes at our house. About 2 weeks ago, I started bribing Juliet with a Dum Dum sucker if she pooped in the toilet. She whipped right into shape and hasn't had an accident since then. She's even starting to forget about the sucker reward.

Jack, whom I've struggled with for 10 months, has finally started to show some improvement! He's always told me that when he's 4, he'll start pooping in the toilet. Sure enough, he hasn't pooped in his underwear since Thursday. He just goes and does it. There are a couple of factors playing into our success.

#1-Juliet has shown great success and he didn't want to be shown up by his 2-year old sister.

#2-He has a Woody toy (from Toy Story) that would sit on the fridge until he pooped in the toilet.

#3-Recently, if he pooped in his underwear, he'd lose his underwear privileges and have to go commando until he pooped in the toilet to earn his underwear back (Thank you Emily).

Also, about a month ago, I quit putting Jack in pull-ups at night because I didn't feel like it was helping. At the same time, Juliet refused to wear a diaper or a pull-up to bed, so we were washing sheets every couple of days for a few weeks. However, they've both made it through the night dry for 2 weeks.

It's been a long, ugly, stinky road but I'm feeling relieved that the end might be near. It's only taken 4 years to get Jack completely potty trained and I think it has a lot to do with Juliet. Juliet has been my easiest to potty train because she wants to do everything herself. She's so tenacious!

I'm not saying there won't be relapses, but I haven't washed out poopy underwear for 5 days and that feels wonderful!! Let's hear some noise!!!!!! YEAH!!

Sinking in...

Merril went to the sand dunes today to ride his dirt bike. Unfortunately, his bike broke down and he had to hitch a ride on the back of a friend's dirt bike. So we're going back to the dunes tomorrow to rescue the bike because it's sleeping out at the dunes tonight. But before his bike broke down, Merril took this picture with his camera phone.

When he showed it to me, I said, "Wow, nice job with the solar flare and the offset subject." He replied, "Yeah, it was total luck. I kind of just held up my phone and snapped the picture." Well, whatever works, babe!

Birthdays...

Maxine and Jack have birthdays in early November. Maxine is now 7 and Jack is 4. Yikes, I have a seven-year old.

Maxine wanted to have a fairy party and everyone wore wings. (She looks unenthusiastic but I swear she had fun.)

The fairy idea was all inspired by a cake we saw at Wal-Mart with a cascading river and tons of Pixie Hollow fairies. They wanted $38 bucks for it. We decided to make our own. It's been a while since I've worked hard on a cake. It was fun!

Here's a picture of the cousins eating cake at Jack's party. We just ate the leftovers from Max's party because that cake gets big in the back. It's 3 cake layers tall.

Another year older and I don't have to think about birthdays again until February, where I'll be turning 30. Oi.

Recycle...

Our Tahoe has a tape deck as well as a CD player. I can't think of a time that we've ever used the tape deck, until now. My MP3 player tends to slide around. Merril, bothered by things that rattle, buzz, or slide around while he's driving, took the MP3 player and stuck it in the little door of the tape player. It's the perfect size and fits nicely.

Today I'm elated because I was looking for a Christmas present for Merril and could only find it for $100 to $150 bucks while shopping on Saturday. Dismayed, I started hunting online. I searched some stores and found what I wanted on a big chain's website for $50. They have stores in town so I drove over to give it a look and it was only $40 on the shelf!! Wahoo! I'm actually going to cash in some rewards points off our business checking card and I'll only have to pay $15! I'm glad I didn't just give in and buy the $100 one. Saving money means more Christmas! (I'm almost done.)

Only Amy will appreciate this one...

I follow a baking blog for fun and they just posted that William Sonoma just released a limited edition Bundt cake pan that creates a small Christmas village. So with some powdered sugar and a little bit of colored icing, you can have a snowy scene. IT'S SO CUTE! It's $36 but I thought it was adorable. Totally not gonna buy it but I love clever ideas.

WOW! Clean stove grates! It really worked!

I've lived in my house for about 4 years. During that time, I've struggled with keeping the top of my stove clean. I have a gas stove and the grates on the top are not black cast iron, but an enameled grey color. Since they're enamel, they are a pain to clean. And let's face facts, I boil things over daily and rarely clean my stove top. :) I've tried spraying Oven Off cleaner and leaving them overnight and then scrubbing them like crazy the next day. It worked okay but it was a ton of elbow grease and they still looked like they had burned on food all over them.

I finally found a solution that required almost zero effort!! I thought about throwing them into the oven and then turning on my self-cleaning oven feature. I figured it bakes all the gunk in my oven down to ashes, could it work for my grates? I jumped online to see if it was okay and wouldn't totally ruin my grates. I found several people who'd done it and it had worked fantastic!

So I took my blackened/greasy grates and the little circle covers from the stove top, put them in the oven on the middle racks, and pressed the self-clean cycle and walked away for 3 hours. When it was done, my grates were as clean as the day I first used my stove. Some of them had a little white ash on them but it wiped right off, no scrubbing. SO CLEAN!

Just so you know, they were black in comparison from all the baked on food! I just thought I'd share.

P.S. A friend told me that her grates had little rubber feet and they got burned to ash. Maybe hold off if your grates have rubber feet. Mine were feetless so I didn't even think about it. Sorry Jamie B.

Family Home Freezing...

Yesterday was filled with sunshine and NO WIND. So what does our family do when it's warm, sunny and not windy?? We go to the lake. :)

I know it's November but it's unseasonably warm and we couldn't resist. It's supposed to stay in the 80s all this week! Yeah!

The water was so glassy because it was calm and there was hardly anyone there. Not that we were skiing because the water was freezing. I was trying to get the kids to the beach as quickly as possible because my toes kept numbing up.

We squished sand castles.

Maxine and Jack pretended to find buried treasure.

And as we left the lake, a HUGE moon was rising in the east.

So cheers to our first November lake day!

Something wicked this way comes...

Ahhh Halloween! One of my favorite holidays. Merril and I decided to dress up as The Blues Brothers for a Halloween party. Here's the original:

Here's us:

The crowd was kind of young and only a couple of people understood that we were the Blues Brothers and not Men in Black.

The kids were all themed from Peter Pan. Maxine was Peter Pan. Jack was the crocodile from Peter Pan.

Juliet was TinkerBell.

I made the costumes so they have that homey, unfinished quality about them. Jack's hat and Juliet's tutu were fun to make.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner? Maxine's birthday is this week so I have to start thinking about what we're going to do for it. Yikes. I kind of loathe birthday parties for my kids! Mostly because I'm sure how to entertain kids for that long.