Max

I can't believe he's 14 already!

He enjoyed this lovely mint-chip-oreo-fudge ice-cream cake.

And hung out with (most of) his friends.

It was a good birthday.

He's becoming a great young man.

Six Things Weird About Me

Mandy tagged me, and so now I have something farily interesting to blog about today.
Thanks, Mandy!

To do this yourself, link to the person who tagged you. Mention the rules on your blog. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about yourself. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

So. . .
1 - Like Mandy, I have an ice thing. But for me, it isn't so much about quality as it is quantity. I always have to have an odd number of ice cubes in my glass at home. If the drink is already cold, 5 ice cubes will suffice. But if it's a fresh batch of not-yet-chilled lemonade, I must have at least 7 ice cubes, or 9 or 11. I've honestly tried to use 4 or 6 or 8, but I really can't. I have to put just one more in to make it an odd number.

2 - Again, like Mandy, there's a dream thing:
I always have very detailed dreams, and very bizarre (according to Jim). But my obsession is that I have to tell someone all about my dream when I wake up. If Jim has already gone to work when I get up, I tell whichever child is up first. I hate for the dreams to just disappear without acknowledging them - even the bad ones.

3 - If I am having an "ugly" day, or if I have to go out in public feeling ugly (i.e. early morning milk run) I just pretend I am invisible. Nobody can see me and so nobody knows how "ugly" I can really be.

4 - I'm sure that I have early-onset Alzheimer's. I have great recall of unimportant details from my past, but where the heck did I park my car?

5 - When I was a kid I had a horrible habit of smelling everything! I won't go into the disgusting details, but the habit ended abruptly when my dad pushed my face into my birthday cake while I was sniffing it.

6 - I get very annoyed when people use an incorrect word or pronounce a word incorrectly (even though I have done this myself). I am especially annoyed when people say "acrost" and "reconize". Poor spelling is another peeve, but I try to be kind with it since I am the only person in my house who can spell.

OK - So I don't necessarily want to "tag" everyone. I just would really love to see 6 weird things about all of you!

The Temptations

Last weekend our stake had its Roadshows. Our ward's show was called "Happy Valley". We were all residents of Happy Valley, USA, where everyone is always so happy! But we are invaded by the Temptations who threaten to destroy all of our happiness.

These were my two favorite Temptations.

Nikita tried to tempt "Jimmy" (played by Andre) to "just sit and keep playing" his video game when I needed him to take out the trash.
Max tried to tempt "Kid 1" (played by Ivan) to smoke a cigarette, telling him: "You'll look stupid if you don't!"
Fortunately, my two younger ones chose to "Follow the Prophet", and the Temptations withered away.
And all was happy again in Happy Valley!

Full

Do you ever have one of those meals where you just can't stop eating? Or you made something so delicious for dinner that you start nibbling on it before anyone even knows dinner is ready yet? Well, I did tonight:

It's almost 10:00, and I'm still full. But macaroni and cheese is one of my all time favorites. But not just any blue-box variety. It has to be homemade, with some very interesting macaroni. Something fun to chew, like campanelle - little ruffled rolled cone shaped pasta. And it has to be JUICY! I like it very moist and very cheesy.

I have to make a huge pot because, unfortunately, my kids like it as much as I do. But, fortunately, I'm the mom and nobody can tell me I have to stop at thirds. (Or maybe that's unfortunate, seeing as I've probably put on 3 pounds in one sitting.)

Oh, and I think that the peach cobbler (thanks, Mandy!) sitting on top of the macaroni and cheese might be adding to this bloated-whale feeling.

Well, looks like it's a Slim-Fast and Curves day tomorrow! I have to prepare for November's can't-get-enough dish: candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows!

I wish I liked broccoli that much.

What can't you get enough of?

I'm a "Lazy Blogger"

Holy Cow I just got hit on the head and recalled that I have not updated this since I had to start working to pay the ridiculous food and petrol prices to feed my kids... You would not believe how tidy my house now is. I hope they bring chocolate!.I am absolutely consumed with my tan, spending my husband's money, just generally being the life of the party to anyone unfortunate to cross my path.
My day seems to be a litany of stuff and giggles from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am so tired of my kids wanting me to give them attention and stuff; can't they see I am blogging. I will try to remember I promised you I will write something that makes sense soon. You wanna test me? This is for my ever faithful, devoted public..

(Thanks, Austin, for the Lazy Bloggers inspiration!)

Hello???

I know that this blog has been a real snooze lately, just like my life right now. I've been feeling very uninspired. But if you're peeking in at all, at least let me know you've been here. . . . . . Please?

Maybe someone could offer a little inspiration even. . . . some sort of prompt to jump-start my brain. . . . . anything. . . . I'm so blank, it's embarassing!

Rate My Drawing

Max, the artist, showed me this really fun site. You can draw pictures and they are posted to a gallery where other "artists" can view and rate them. Each time you view a drawing, it shows you a visual of the picture being drawn.

This was my first attempt. (Sorry it's so small.)

It's pretty pathetic, especially compared to most of the others.

In fact, I'll bet Austin could do something pretty awesome!

Check it out. You'll be blown away by the level of talent some of these people have.

I personally felt like I was drawing with an Etch-A-Sketch, and it looks like it, too.

But it was a pretty fun way to waste some time.

For those of you who don't also read Lynette's blog. . . . .

These are Jim's parents:

Ivan & Andre took our copy into primary for a little "show & tell".

They thought it was pretty neat.

We all do.

I forgot to mention my favorite part of the Rendezvous:














I LOVE the bagpipes (or maybe it's just the men in kilts!)
And when they played "Amazing Grace", I got the chills.
It was beautiful! I could have spent the whole day just watching and litening to them play.
But apparently, no one else in the family felt the same fondness for the Scotsmen.