. . . All My Chaosity . . .

(my throat, that is) but pretty good all things considering. I'm thankful we have had neither the flu nor the swine flu this season, and hope to avoid it altogether. Bless his heart B has to work today- on his 34th Birthday. =( I wish he didn't have to- it's cold and rainy and he's out in it all day. D and I gave him under armour - the Walmart brand - pants and shirts for his Birthday and we're praying it keeps him warm and cozy all day. We are financially challenged this Christmas, but that may not be such a bad thing. Our meager finances have inspired Aball to consider making me a pot rack for Christmas, out of a really neat cast iron grate he found on ebay. He's bidding on it now. If he wins he plans to brush off the rust, spray it with black rustoleum and hang it above my kitchen peninsula. I've been asking for a pot rack ($300? 500? SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!? ) for years, and I'm pretty excited at the prospect and possibility of finally getting one!

I have so many ideas and not enough time (or ambition? That could be the word I'm looking for) for this season. It's after noon and I haven't even showered and dressed yet because I've been looking up all these ideas online, and trying to figure out how I could get them all done. I hope to finish my muffin pan advent calendar, but I'm lacking a few of the ornaments and some magnetic strips. Or something. So I need to go to Hobby Lobby today to get those, as well as some spray paint for the base. My mother gave us a "Nativity Book" for Christmas several years ago, and sadly this might be the first year I've actually looked at it ahead of time early enough to start it tonight. There's a scripture, story and song for each night of the week for the 24 days prior to Christmas. I wanted to make a couple of these for friends, but didn't look at it THAT early and have not time to do that now. =( Maybe next year. I keep reading about " Jes

There are so many fun blogs here, and one I've recently found is Marie-Madeline . They make gorgeous fun quilts,and they're giving one away! You just go comment on their blog to enter... and you can blog about it for more entries, link to it on facebook (you know I'm going to) and dream about the warm and cozy quilt you're hoping to win (I am *so* cold today!!!) Just go here to enter: Marie-Madeline , and don't forget to check out the pics above & below! Thanks y'all for fun giveaways!!!!

But I've definitely done worse, in the recent past. While DBall is doing his silent reading, I shall endeavor to update a little. I had my big Boutique Show last weekend and sold exactly 4 items. I'm so broke now I may never recover, and I'm not impressed with the situation. Obviously I will get through this, but I'm out over $200 over the whole experience. I feel it was completely due to the placement of my booth- whereas during the Spring Show I had great placement. Pretty much ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE ROOM would have worked out for me except where I was. I'm just sayin'. Yesterday was my 1 year "re-birthday" of my new life after RNY Gastric Bypass. What an AMAZING difference a year can make! I really wasn't sure if I was gonna live through it the two weeks after surgery. I actually might not have if Celeste hadn't been around to take care of me and my family- God bless her. She visited me in the hospital several times, brought food for d

I'm not complaining really. I realize EVERY day cannot be my Birthday. I hold this truth to be self evident...oops. Well I mean to say that I realize and accept that every day cannot be my Birthday. I disagree with the basic premise that we cannot celebrate me, at least in some small way, every single day... but that idea hasn't yet caught on like I hoped it would. But I digress... So my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy- a word about that quickly though. Has anyone else noticed that my child is gorgeous ?! I'm uncertain how I go to be so lucky- but the child is truly a vision. He's so fabulous- I think I can understand why other moms out there may harbor some resentment toward me, and therefore may decline to celebrate me (at least in some small way) every day. It could be that they're distraught that they were not blessed with so precious a child as I. I cannot blame them. I, too, would be a little sad and annoyed were I not the blessed mother of so

I'm not sure if I love Fall because my Birthday is in it, or just because it's Fall. I recently realized that it's entirely possible that Halloween is my favorite holiday because it's 3 days before my Birthday. Either way, I love it. Our Halloween festivities went well this year I thought. Monday night after a short Family Home Evening lesson we carved our pumpkin ("Jack") and roasted pumpkin seeds. B didn't love the seeds, but DBall and I enjoyed them. They ended up using the electric screwdriver (drill)to help carving the pumpkin.... Jack Jack "all dolled up" Then we had a Halloween Party at our house last Wednesday, there were LOTS of people, lots of food, fun and games. Celeste handled most of the games- I didn't intentionally stick her with them, but she does an amazing job.... =). Donut String Game.... I'm going to a Halloween party, and I'm taking.... I was actually surprised how many folks came out for a kid's Hallo

I'm considerably colder than I anticipated- but I can't complain. I HATE to be sweaty, and watching the leaves change and wearing fuzzy warm clothes all the time is fabulous . Tomorrow is Nannie's birthday, and also Columbus day. I'm calling it a holiday ! We're not having homeschool tomorrow- I'm kind of worn out?! Aball is off work tomorrow also- I really wish Where the Wild Things Are was already out so we could go and see it. At least we'll have pizza (medium for only $2.99 at Eureka!) and maybe (rental) movie night. Also there's soccer practice for DBall. Their Saturday game was canceled for some reason, so he has a soccer game Tuesday night this week. Saturday Celeste and I had a bake sale for a missionary family we became aware of through one of our homeschool groups. They had been serving in Singapore, I believe, and came "home" to deliver their baby. The woman was at home w/a midwife, and there was some complication and she c

This morning Celeste and I taught a home-school Science class. Well,we did the experiments/labs anyway. I did the Bee Books and Celeste's group made the ant farm. I was under the impression that everyone would've read the lesson beforehand,and shown up with their supplies (like ANTS ) on time for the activities. I must've been mistaken- at least it didn't go that way. I found that somewhat stressful and my "smile and raise my eyebrows" technique didn't exactly work for me. I think we'll organize a little better next time, and make sure the only parents actually participating in the activity are the volunteers that I've requested. I don't handle all the parents thinking they need to be in charge all at the same time very well. So my head hurt to begin with- but I came home and ate and napped and it was somewhat better. DBall didn't do any school work today besides the Science this morning, but that's okay. Tonight is our ward P

Just testing out my new mobile blogging capablities. . . And thanking GOD for the blessings already enjoyed today!

before we need to run and do Science stuff with Celeste and her family. But I just don't think I have it in me to write a long drawn out post.... So I know I need to get all the vacation info in, but today is just not the day for that . We're having crockpot chicken & (brown) rice for dinner tonight.... and we officially started our semester of homeschool. We managed reading (aloud) and comprehension , which I believe we will do 3 days a week. We're using Pathway (Amish) readers and the teacher's and workbooks that go with them. We did math , which will be every day, and we're still using Singapore math. We worked on cursive , but I've got to figure out an actual plan for that... going to see how "Cursive First" does it, which is the curriculum Celeste is using. I managed to print out my menu/chore list/calendar for the rest of this month (thankfully) and tonight is soccer practice . Tuesday I don't seem to have anything planned in the

And I likely won't finish it today. We had a fabulous vacation but I know I am grateful to be home. I can't imagine why anyone would move to Southern California on purpose- I know I never would. Our trip out was really fun- we stopped and played at Katie's (THANKS KATIE & FAM!!!) , then at Winterton's. :D It's been years and years since I've seen Katie and her parents; we really enjoyed our too-brief stay with them. We've seen the Winterton's a little more recently, but it's always good to catch up. They were all so hospitable- it was fabulous.

After quite a bit of rain yesterday and last night (hallelujah) it has been a cool morning. I went for my walk before 6am this morning, while B was showering before work. It's not quite chilly, but it hasn't gotten above 70° yet.... Saturday we celebrated DBall's birthday with his friends. I made him a Star Wars Lego cake out of double chocolate chip cookie (on the bottom) and brownie on the top. He wanted green (homemade) butter-cream frosting. He enjoys cooking and baking, so he was lots of help. We ate in what we hopefully refer to as the "Party Cabana". D of course loves opening presents. His friends gave him great gifts- he even got a Kid's Bop CD that we listened to for most of the party. That will come in handy on our vacation (road trip!) and B can download it to to D's mp3 player for him. He also got Legos and Bokugon things- he's enjoyed them all. Nannie sent him a huge Lego Star Wars kit which he started putting together that afte

I've been reading Adriana Trigiani novels lately. I was so glad to find an author who uses so little vulgarity and cursing- really I was getting worn out of it some days. I've read three of her novels now, and the last one was the first in a trilogy- woohoo ! So we went to the Jones Center to see Cman on the zip line. D had previously said he was glad he wasn't old enough because he didn't want to climb up all those ropes and stuff. He seemed pretty impressed with it though when Cman went across- and he's considering it for his birthday next year. When we picked B up from work (at 2:45p!!) he told him all about it. He was pretty excited. Back-to-school was always one of my favorite times of year. As I notice all the back-to-school supplies and sales this month I've been a little sad that DBall can't experience that. But then I realize that he never looked forward to school (after kindergarten) like I always did. He is ecstatic to stay home and

This has been a pretty busy week so far- and promises to be more so before it's all over. Monday D. and I searched all over- for hours- at department stores and malls for a short sleeve light purple golf shirt for him to wear in family pictures in California. To no avail. I guess I could check the different walmarts again... but I don't know where else to look. He has a long sleeve button up shirt of the appropriate color, which he may end up wearing with the sleeve rolled up, but I'd really rather he have a golf shirt (short sleeve polo). I can barely remember yesterday, except D and I cleaned floors (I vacuumed and he mopped), and he cleaned his bathroom. His Birthday party with friends here is Saturday- so we have to get ready! Today we're going to a home school activity at the Jones Center for a few hours. But later this afternoon he has Chess Club (6:00pm), soccer practice (7:30pm) and his friend C-man's first and only football game at 9:00 pm (if you

Oh well... I do what I can I guess. DBall and I have continued Homeschooling pretty well this Summer. We've had weeks where we did nothing "officially" towards school, but I figure we need breaks every now and again. We're going to stick with Singapore math for now, it seems to be going really well. We've begun learning/writing in cursive, though DBall complains oft about his sore hands. Truthfully I haven't been having him write nearly as much as he should've been all Summer... so his hands may be sore for a little while as they toughen up. I've been giving him spelling lists at some point during the week (usually Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday), and he must write a sentence using each word. Then he's been having only one spelling test per week- usually on Thursday or, more often, Friday- which is good enough for me. I've purchased the age-appropriate Pathway Readers for third grade, I'm optimistic about starting those in another mont

I haven't despised Summer for the first time in many years..... but it's taken it's toll I guess. With the record lows coming tonight and tomorrow night- it has been an AMAZING 80° F (the HIGH!!!) today and I couldn't be giddier about it. It's SO FABULOUS I can hardly stand it. Also I got an insurance refund in the mail today- which was truly a blessing. And when I cleaned out some more stuff from the old house- I found over $100!! Then just moments ago we sold that blue race car toddler bed to someone with toddlers. WONDERFUL!!! We get to go to Higgins tonight for Evan's birthday- there'll be pizza and chocolate cake with ganache . What more could you ask for?? Yesterday I took LilB , Cman & Bman to the movies- we saw Space Chimps. Well, they enjoyed it anyway- I'm pretty sure I slept through most of it. Then we followed poor Celeste home from the grocery store and had pizza rolls at her house. I bet she thought she'd never get rid of

So my surgeon and nutritionist seem to agree that all WLS patients need to walk 30 minutes/day, 3 times a week. I did manage to exercise 3 times this week already, but due to the (albeit sugar-free) candy I've felt obliged to eat a couple days this week, last night in particular, I figured it couldn't hurt to add another day. The thing is, I see other people out jogging or walking while I'm out, and they look good ?! I do not look fabulous by any stretch. Picture it in your head (if you dare!!): ME- for starters. Then I'm wearing navy yoga pants (not 'cool' ones, the WM ones, but they're comfy at least). I'm wearing a black T-shirt that is (I CAN HEAR YOU ALREADY CELESTE SO I'LL JUST SAY IT FOR YOU) TOO BIG for me. And my delightful hair, which I did wash last night but slept on since then, is back in a barrette on top and a pony tail in the back. I've got my cell phone in my pocket (so I reckon there's an extra bulge there) and I'

but wanted to add some photos from yesterday. The Wheelers and Peyton came over for swimming- and I was able to get a few pictures. They were mostly taking turns jumping from the ladder into the pool... after Benjamin left for swimming lessons they were all trying to ride on the same floaties at the same time..... Peyton, C-man, Dball Dball, C-man, Peyton again little brother's turn! THE END