Sick week...

We started the week with Maxine spiking a fever. So we stayed home, watched tv and generally laid around in our pajamas. Tuesday she was feeling better. Thursday morning Jack spiked a fever. He's feeling a little better today but still lethargic. He's watching Top Gear in his Christmas "Stig" pyjamas (that's how they spell pajamas in the UK).

Juliet awoke this morning with the fever. She went back to sleep at 10:30 a.m. and has been asleep since. (I could've nabbed a better pic with my new camera but the shutter sound is quieter on my point and shoot and I didn't want to wake her up.)

The fevers have been uneventful, pretty low-grade and no vomiting thankfully. Just Tylenol and a lot of laying around.

The unintended by-product of feverish children? Not being able to leave for errands and generally looking around the house for things to do. I'm all caught up on laundry, I've organized a closet, and cleaned the storage room that has all the camping gear in it.

Before it was cleaned, there was stuff ALL OVER THE FLOOR, bins were dumped out to find something in the bottom and never put away. The sleeping bags were unrolled, climbing gear was dumped out of its bag, and 3 years of cups and garbage toted down there by the kids and left. Now the room has order! Yeah!

I decided I wanted to wire a light in there too. Since we're not currently working on the basement, I told Merril to pick up a cheap light fixture from Home Depot. It was $1 and now I can see what I'm looking for at night. That was so totally worth it.

And just as a side note, I've noticed I'm having a harder time throwing away anything fabric-like. Older shirts, jeans, baby blankets and keep trying to think of a way to piece a quilt together with all the scraps. And then I felt like someone living in the olden days when they used to piece quilts together with any scrap they came across. Hopefully I can piece something kind of cute. Not likely any time soon. :)

Homemade gifts...

I like to make some homemade gifts. I made Juliet some flower bows that weren't very interesting but I worked hard on Jack and Maxine's gifts. I made Maxine a scripture case. It was inspired by a quilting friend. Maxine loves this scrap fabric that we've had hanging around the house so that's what it's made out of. Think Asian and silky.

I made Jack a stick horse because we have 2 and someone is always left out.

The horse is smiling but you can't tell from this angle.

And Merril got me this!

He got it used on Craig's list and it was a steal. I will most likely take my little camera lots of places because I don't always like to lug a huge camera but the new camera is fantastic in low light!!

And this last picture is a nativity picture from Christmas Eve.

Nutcracker Patrol...

My Dad loves Christmas nutcrackers. Even that might be an understatement. He collects them and probably has upwards of 500 in different sizes. So occasionally, he gives us some when he gets duplicates. I've had a hard time thinking of where to put them. This year the kids brought them up from the basement and put them in front of the tree. The purpose? To guard the presents.

They stand as watchmen to make sure no one tampers with the presents. Especially Merril.

Merry Christmas!! I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life!

Leaky...

I was getting ready for bed 2 nights ago and the floor was damp. Just as background information, we have a waterbed. Sure enough, it had sprung a leak and dripped a little on the floor. So instead of jumping into bed, Merril and I were draining a waterbed and inflating an air mattress. Bummer. Got a new one and it's filled but that's not what I wanted to do right before Christmas. ;}

Triple Combination Challenge Completed...

I just finished the Doctrine & Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Mormon in 3 months! I have until Sunday the 19th so I finished a few days early. This challenge was such a wonderful blessing to me! It was an eye-opening experience to read the scriptures so quickly. The people and the history made more sense instead of dragging on reading the Book of Mormon over a period of years. I was moved to tears a number of times, I was inspired, and I was chastised. I was exceedingly saddened by this people that were so happy and so faithful and then turned so horribly wicked and destroyed themselves. During this Christmas season, I encourage everyone to have more faith, more charity, give selflessly and consecrate themselves more because this brings happiness! :) Merry Christmas!

It's the wood that makes it good...

A friend of ours does odd jobs cleaning houses after they've been foreclosed. So he calls Merril and says he has a whole bunch of wood that he's taking to the dump unless we want it. So Merril calls me and I say, "YES I WANT IT!" Now you might be thinking to yourselves, "What's so awesome about free wood?" Wood makes fire. Fires makes roasted marshmallows, dutch oven cooking, bonfires, tin foil dinners and improves general well being when sat around. Plus, I feel it adds to our preparedness factor by being able to cook some food or provide heat in an emergency. So here's our new wood pile. Next will be a fire pit, I'm sure.

And if anyone else feels like they want to ditch some wood at my house, you're more than welcome.

Where is it?

Merril and a buddy from Australia were at Wal-Mart the other night. They were shopping for things you can't get in Australia. So Merril called me from Wal-Mart and said, "Where are the Twinkies?" I narrowed my eyes and said, "The end of the bread aisle? I think there's a whole Hostess section there." After a pause on the other line he says, "Oh yep! Here they are! Thanks babe!"

This isn't the first time Merril's called me with a question about where to find something in Wal-Mart. I'm his personal Wal-Mart associate, except I don't get paid. And to date, I've never steered him wrong. I'm just trying to figure out how to market it. I could post little signs in Wal-Mart that say, "Can't find what you're looking for? Call Jamie." Heaven knows I spend way too much time there. The greeters must think I have no life.

The Silver Lining...

Maxine woke up at 5 a.m. saying, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." Bummer. So I stayed up with her and she ended up throwing up at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8 a.m. Double bummer. So she earned a day out of school and I looked at the inside of the house and thought, "Well, I'm not going anywhere today....I might as well finish decorating for Christmas!!" So I put up the Christmas village, the pine garland, the advent calendar, and the stockings. Afterwards, I figured I could assemble Christmas cards. Normally, I would've worked for an hour and quit. But I didn't have anything to do so I finished them all! They're addressed and ready to go.

Maxine didn't throw up anymore and seems completely fine now. And because she was sick, I got a lot done!

My First Ever Black Friday! Yikes!

I love to shop! But, I've never participated in the whole "Black Friday" hysteria because it never seemed worth it to me to save $10 on a pair of kids jeans for Christmas. But this year's budget is a little tighter than years' past so the thought of saving $25-$50 on some Christmas presents had some appeal. Wal-Mart was selling toys and housewares stuff at 12:01 a.m. I figured I could just stay up a little late and head over to Wal-Mart to nab a few items. That seemed totally doable vs. the idea of 4 a.m. at Target.

I decided to head to bed at 9 p.m. to catch a few winks. I was too excited! I maybe slept for 30 minutes before I got up at 11 p.m. This is me right before I left, bloodshot eyes and all. (I was sleeping on my face too, I'm all puffy and wrinkly.)

My friend, Amy H. met me at Wal-Mart and we browsed around until midnight, waiting for the bloody noses and scratching eyes out to start. I was pleasantly surprised that most shoppers were giddy and having a good time. There were a few grouches who should've just stayed in bed.

Total saved on Jack's present at Wal-Mart: $15. Saved $15 on Juliet's presents. Got a stocking stuffer for Merril, saving $5. And bought some towels, a $1.96 DVD of P.S. I Love You, and $12 Corel dishes for me (normally $30). I was saving so much money on everything else...how could I not? They were such a great deal!! Tried to admatch a present for Maxine from a Target ad but it didn't work out. So I ended up paying full price for Max's gift instead of saving $11. So I checked out after waiting in line for 20 minutes (not too bad) and waited for Amy. She got stuck in a slow line after we were separated in the madness. I called her to talk while she waited in line. Asked her if she got everything she wanted. She said, "I got some stuff but I'm going to Old Navy after this and then to Target at 4 a.m!"

Now I was torn. The gift I wanted for Maxine was at Target and I could save $11 instead of paying the full price. So after talking with Amy on the phone for a few more minutes, I decided to stay up all night and go with her to Target. I drove home, hid all the loot from Wal-Mart and waited for Amy to come get me.

We went to Old Navy, she picked out some stuff and we waited in line to check out for a solid 45 minutes to an hour.

Then on to Target. We got there a little after 3 a.m. and got in the back of a HUGE line!! We were all the way down by Lowe's (if you live in my area, you know how far away that is from Target.) My hopes of saving $11 for Maxine's gift seemed to be vanishing quickly. We froze our tails off waiting for 45 minutes and chatted with the friendly people waiting in line. Then the doors opened and we started to move. As the line started to move Amy said, "When we get in there, it's every man for himself." I totally agreed to split up and find her later. We got to the doors and I sprinted to Maxine's gift. That's me:


Okay, so that's not really me but you get the idea! Look how happy everyone is, maybe except for that Target employee on the left. When I got to the gift area for Maxine, there were tons left and I grabbed it! YEAH! Ran through the store and grabbed another gift for Jack, saving $15, and a $3 DVD of the movie ELF, also for me.

Then I went to go find the end of the checkout line. Yikes. It was around the back of the store.

(Pardon the stock photos, I left my camera at home.) Called Amy, she got what she wanted and was still browsing. I told her where I was and saved her a spot. She showed up a bit later with a cart full of stuff. We chatted for probably an hour and a half waiting to checkout, during which I had to run back to the food area of Target and grab a bag of pretzels and a lemonade to eat while I waited. I was starving and it was 5 a.m. by then! I hadn't accounted for the enormous appetite all the shopping would bring on!

So we stayed up late, giggled and saved some cash. She dropped me off around 6:30 a.m. I hid more presents. Then as I was about to get ready for bed, I kept thinking of an electronic item I'd seen in the Wal-Mart ad for way cheap!! I've wanted one for several years but they've always been too much money. I had $50 of my own money, not Christmas money, in my wallet and the item cost $49. Wal-Mart's electronics had gone on sale at 5 a.m. What were the odds that one was still left? So I decided I wouldn't be able to sleep until I checked. I drove back to Wal-Mart and asked if they had any left. The Wal-Mart employee radioed another employee and she said there were 3! I RAN to the back of the store and grabbed one! I'm going to wrap it and put it under the tree to give to the family but the tag should really say To: Jamie From: Jamie.

The store was empty and I walked to the front, checked out and was home by 6:45 a.m. I changed into pajamas, talked to Merril for a minute and then passed out.

Conclusion: I thought it was super fun, especially with a pal (THANK YOU AMY!!) and would totally do it again. Except next year I might just go and sell hot chocolate at 3 a.m. in front of Target. I could've made a killing. :) Merry Christmas!

UPDATE: After talking to some Black Friday pros, I was told that it's against the rules to run in the store, for the obvious reason of someone getting trampled. I feel like a total bonehead! No wonder no one else was running! They all knew better. I didn't. I apologize for running.

New Jeep Paint...

Sorry to be rude and not post the pics of the painted Jeep but it was a busy week with Thanksgiving and my first Black Friday experience! So here we go!

First off-the Jeep taped off:

And ta-da!

We've since cleaned the plastic panels so everything looks better. These pics still had the dust on the panels.

It is super shiney!! I could go out and do my make-up in the reflection. It looks soooo much nicer!

There is one little problem: The garage was a couple of degrees too cold and paint doesn't stick to cold metal. We had heaters in the garage but heat rises. Result? The paint ran in a couple of spots on the bottom of the Jeep (where it was the coldest). Solution? Problem areas can be lightly sanded and repainted most likely in the Spring when it warms up. Overall, the Jeep looks a million times better. The roof and the hood look superb simply because it was warmer up top.

So there it is. Conclusion? I don't think I'd ever do that again. It was an insane amount of work!! In the end, we got some super wonderful paint with a ton of shimmery metal flake in it so the quality of the paint itself is 100 times better than a paint job at Maaco. So in the end, I think we ended up with a way better paint job but man, that's a lot of WoRk!

It seemed like a good idea...

Our Jeep is old and the paint has been peeling on the hood and roof since we bought it. We looked into getting it repainted and it was $500. Hmmmm....we only paid $400 for the whole Jeep so the paint quote seemed a little steep. Merril has a friend who used to do body work and paint so with his expertise, we decided to paint the Jeep ourselves and save $325. Seems like a brilliant idea eh??

It was a great idea until I realized that sanding a vehicle take a lot of time and energy! We started sanding yesterday at 9 a.m., thinking it would take a couple of hours. We were wrong. Merril left for work at noon and I kept sanding until 2 p.m. when I ran out of sanding pads.

Merril brought home more sanding pads yesterday night and I made a goal to finish today. Merril's doing a Japanese tour so it's all me. I started at 9 again and just finished again at 2 p.m. I think it's mostly done, except for a few places that need to be sanded by hand.

I have 2 fears about this project.

#1-Merril's friend comes to paint on Tuesday and say we didn't sand it right.

#2-We paint it and it still looks crappy.

Yikes! Fingers crossed, I'll be posting pics of our beautiful paint job on Tuesday!!

Poor Jacky...

We went to the dentist last week and Jack had a bunch of cavities. The Doc recommended sedating him for the cavities because Jack FREAKED over getting his teeth cleaned. So he went this morning for his sedation. He was given some stuff to calm nausea and help him relax. He relaxed so much that he peed on the floor. The nurse said it's common and they even had dry clothes for him to change into. (Super awesome Children's Dental!!) Merril said that Jack was laughing hysterically when he was changing him, like he was being tickled. Then he got his teeth fixed. The Doc said he did great. I was there to hold him as he came out of anesthesia. He cracked his eyelids and said, "Mom, you have 4 eyes.....and 2 noses." After a 1/2 hour, we were able to leave and bring him home. He gets a day in front of the TV. Juliet decided she gets equal privileges so both beds came out to the living room.

The double vision is gone now but earlier he was saying things like, "Mom, the second Mom behind you does the exact same things you do." and "When you walked around the Jeep, there were 3 of you."

It's almost lunch time and he seems normal again. He was starving and has eaten a bowl of soup, a peanut butter sandwich and a string cheese. He's supposed to have Jell-O all day. I guess he eats like his father. :)

This just made me thankful that my kids don't have major health problems that require them to be in and out of the hospital!!

Maxine's Baptism...

We've been crazy busy around here! But before I forget, Maxine decided to be baptized!! We made a push to finish the Book of Mormon before she was baptized and finished the evening before! To learn more about our church click here. She was baptized on a Saturday morning by her father, Merril, and then we had muffins and juice at our house afterwards. Here we are at the church before the baptism.

This is the gorgeous dress that Maxine's Grandma C. made for her. She loves it and wants to wear it all the time.

Maxine's Aunt Rachel gave her a set of pearls too. She feels very grown up when she wears them. After I was helping Maxine change out of her wet clothes, I asked her how she felt. She said, "I'm cold on the outside but warm on the inside." We're very proud of her.

Triple Combination Challenge Update...

Well I've been busy and have gotten behind but I just finished the Doctrine & Covenants. I'm downloading the mp3 of the Pearl of Great Price. I still need to book it through the Book of Mormon by December 19th. It's going to be close!

My Sunday Morning...

I got up this morning to the sound of children saying, "I'm going to eat the Kit Kat." and "Help me get this wrapper open." So instantly I'm up and putting an end to the sugar fest and start to make breakfast. I decide to make muffins and turn on the oven. Five minutes later, Maxine comes in and says, "What smells weird?" I look at the oven and say, "Sometimes food spills in the oven and then burns on the bottom."

So I open the oven and see gobs of pink plastic oozing. I had totally forgotten that in a rush to clean my house on Friday, I had stuck a cookie sheet and a huge pink plastic bowl in the oven to "hide" it until I could wash it at a more convenient time. Now the pink plastic bowl was melting all over the racks and bottom of the oven. *sigh* Now it's time to clean the oven.

Classic: Mom has her head in the oven.

The bottom totally melted out.

Strings of pink ooze pulled off the rack.

Apple cinnamon muffins in the oven, finally.

Such a bonehead. :)

Thriller...

For me, it's not Halloween until I've watched the original Michael Jackson Thriller music video.

Happy Halloween!

Little girls...

So Maxine came home yesterday and said, "I corrected the teacher today!" Intrigued I said, "Oh yeah. What happened?"

Maxine: "So the teacher spelled nineth on the board and I told him he spelled it wrong. I said it should be spelled ninth. He didn't believe me so we went to his computer and he spelled nineth and the little squiggles appeared under the word. He spelled ninth my way and the squiggles went away!"

Me: "Wow babe! Good job!"

Yep, just a tad precocious.

Snickers, Kit Kats, and Almond Joys...

I don't normally buy candy because I just end up eating it. That being said, I love Halloween because it gives me a good excuse to buy candy. Yeah! But I always buy it too early and end up eating way too much. I did the same thing this year. So here's the plan for this year:

That's the gun safe. Now my Kit Kats and Almond Joys are nestled between shotguns and .22 rounds.

It's working out tremendously! If I have to go downstairs, open the safe, get the candy, close the safe, and go back upstairs, it's just way too much work. :)

To the zoo...

My immediate area doesn't have a zoo. We were out of town for a wedding and decided to hit Hogle Zoo. We had a great time and it was so easy. We walked around with no strollers or diaper bags. I felt very unencumbered! We rode the train, which was silly and overpriced in my opinion, but what the hey.

Jack turned into a turtle, so we decided to leave him there.

The giraffes were my favorite.

We rode the carousel.

It was a cool morning but didn't rain. I had to buy a hot chocolate because I'm not used to such cold weather. We watched the elephant show and had a great day!

Camping and rainy days...

Over the weekend, we went camping with the Hummels. It was kind of by Oak Grove but it was more like, "bear left on that dirt road for 7 miles." The weather was wonderful and the next day we went for a hike. I totally meant to take my camera but set it down before we left. So I snagged this with my camera phone. Juliet and I were in the back because the hiking was down a slot canyon and we were the slowest. There was a lot of hoisting her up and down. But I stopped to take a picture of her because she sat in the this crack, posed, and told me to take her picture.

And General Conference Sunday was a wonderful relaxing day! We had a huge breakfast and hung around in our pajamas. :)

And today it's rainy!

I love it when it rains because it rains so seldom! I want to stay inside and read a book and bake bread all day!

Trampoline hair...

Did you ever jump so much that your hair would go crazy with static electricity?

My kids have been on the trampoline all morning since it's so mild. It's going to be a nice day.

A little challenged...

So last night was Young Women's and one of the girls, for a Personal Progress project, challenged the other girls and leaders to read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price in 90 days. Yikes.

I'm not a fast reader. The thought is daunting to say the least. Especially since it's taken my family 2 years to get mostly through the Book of Mormon (we're in Ether.) So to get through a triple combination front to back by December 12th, I knew I was going to need some help. Fortunately for me, LDS.org offers free mp3 audio files of the scriptures and other reading materials like the Ensign and conference talks. I downloaded the Doctrine & Covenants because I wanted to finish the Book of Mormon with my family and then start over.

So I listened to the introduction while I did the evening dishes. I cried twice while standing over dried alfredo sauce. I thought to myself, "This is going to be awesome!" I'm all the way up to Section 6! I'm so excited!

So now I challenge you! Read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, even the front introductions, by December 12th. Boo-rah!

Family Pictures...

This year for our family picture, I wanted to take it out at the sand dunes in front of the Scout. (Don't worry Grandmas, I have cute ones for you without the Scout.) We took some good ones but since I don't want to spoil the Christmas card picture, you get this:

Non-Labor Day...

We went to the park on Labor Day and I noticed several large groups of people making lunch on a barbeque. I realized I wanted to be at a barbeque. Merril was out of town for Labor Day so I decided to load up the kids and head some place cool. We called the Hummels to see if they wanted to come and they did! We headed up into the mountains and started some charcoal and a fire for s'mores. The kids immediately started up some game where they had to camp overnight without any gear and Maxine was going to make them all sweaters out of pine needles. (Sounds itchy.)

Then the Hummels arrived and one of Jared's taillights had broken off and was hanging by the wires and scratching up the truck. So he pulled out a pocketknife to pry it loose and stuck it through his middle finger instead. Amy pulled out the first aid kit and wrapped up his finger but in the end they decided it was best to go to the hospital.

He received a tetanus shot and 10 stitches.

After the Hummels left to take Jared to the E.R., we made dinner and ate s'mores.

Juliet had the camera and snuck a picture of me eating a s'more without my knowledge. (I kind of don't like those pictures because I look and myself and start to think, "Do I stand like that all the time? Why is my arm like that? Does my face really look like that when I'm eating?" I guess I just prefer to pose for pictures.)

The kids got dirty and sticky and we had a fabulous time. I sat back and listened to the breeze blow through the pine trees.

Freshly painted toes...

After lunch, I decided to paint the trim on my back door. I've been caulking for the past week and now it was time for paint. I was taping off the door and around the trim. The wind was blowing slightly, frustrating me to no end. After painting a section, messing up, ripping the tape off I decided to leave it for another day. I put the kids down for naps with a disappointed feeling inside. I read my book for a minute but still felt crestfallen. Then I looked down at my feet. They were a bit dirty and in serious need for a pedicure. I frowned at them. So I closed my book and proceeded to paint my toes.

Every single time I paint my toes, I'm amazed at how good it makes me feel. A fresh coat of shimmery, iridescent pink with no chips, or scuffs brings my self esteem up! Ahhh. So now I'm feeling better and will figure out the door some other day.

And lastly, here's a gem I found on the camera.

Yikes!