Don't Faint!

I got a wild hair....

and decided to do some canning.

I have never done this all by myself in my whole life!
(I'm sure that, in itself, causes me to lose status ["celestial points" if you will] as a Latter-Day Saint woman.)

Sure, growing up, I was on peach pitting & peeling duty PLENTY OF TIMES so my mom could accomplish her canning.
(In fact, I found myself with similar duties much of my youth. If there is one thing I came into adulthood knowing how to do, it's peeling potatoes & carrots and cutting them up! I'm quite the master.)

I've also contributed my pear coring & peeling skills with my MIL when she cans.

But, as far as doing it ALL - the "REAL" canning - like processing in a boiling water bath, I took that on a few days ago. And I was told NOT TO TOUCH OR MOVE the bottles for a while once I put them on the counter, so I have been paralyzed with "screwing-up-canning-fear," so they have been sitting there for several days now....

So, I finally decided to take a picture.




Are you ready for it?




Get your brown paper bags ready, in case this will start a hyperventilating problem for you or something...




Got your tissues, too?

Da, Da, Da, DAAHH.....

Before you think that something went terribly wrong and that I produce food that is the likes of the Better off Dead mom,
let me tell you WHAT I was canning.

Jalapeno Jelly.

I had the extra peppers from The Food Co-op and my SIL, Mandy, had been talking about jalapeno jelly over cream cheese to eat with tortilla chips...and I just got it in my mind that I was going to make me some!!

So, I got online & found a recipe and then called my neighbor, Heidi, no fewer than 10 times to ask questions (I actually called her another time, but hung up before anyone could answer because I didn't want to seem like THE STUPIDEST canner alive - I'll settle for the 2nd - THAT and I could see through my window that they were trying to sit down to eat dinner at that moment!)

As far as the taste?

I'm kind of too scared to try it.

Kids Say the Darndest Things - December '09 Edition

Taken from the sidebar...

Matt was talking to me with the kids around and he used some "code words" by saying, "Dot...dot...dot..." Haylee started smiling at this...
Matt: "Do you know what 'Dot...dot...dot...' means?"
Haylee: "It means you're going to be kissing all night long!" 12/09

We were looking at some of our toy princess figures that are breaking...
Me: "This one is missing it's feet."
Haylee: "And this one is missing her arms." (pauses & thinks) "If I had to be missing something, I'd want it to be my hair!" 12/09
(Well, that'd surely take care of the hair brushing battles! ;))

Hallelujah!

This made my "Gratitude List" for the week on the sidebar, but I think this deserves it's own post, as well...

Sunday marked THE VERY LAST DAY of our wretched church schedule this year!!

The time I am talking about is 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

No - that is NOT a typo. That is the REAL time.

That church block time does not even exist in most stakes in the church, so others frequently question me or try to correct me when I tell them what time our church is.

As if they think I don't know what time my own church is!

Even our extended families keep "forgetting" about our time (since, obviously, it's so unheard of, not to mention despicable) and try to plan activities on Sundays that would overlap or cut it too close to our church time.

We have been counting down from 48 weeks left (taking into account 2 General Conferences during the year and 2 Stake Conferences - although as luck would have it, we got assigned the 2:00PM time for Stake Conference, too! But, at least it was done by 4:00PM!)

Back before I ever experienced the 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. block, I thought the 9-12 block was the one to dread. Now, I ask myself, "WHY?!?" Anything is better than what we "took our turn" with in 2009 and what we've endured every 3 years before that. Well, at least, starting in 2001 when we arrived here. Hmmmm, maybe we need to move before 2012 when the rotation will come around again! ;) I'm serious. And, just in case there are any out there who would argue that any other time is "the worst" - believe me, THEY'RE NOT! You don't have a case. (I don't have strong feelings about this, at all, do I?!!)

Here's my "case" against the 2-5 block:

• It feels like you don't even have a Sunday - it's over by the time church is out.

(You may ask "What about the time between when you wake up and 2:00p.m.?" Well, just because our church worship services don't start until 2:00, anywhere between 1 to 3 of us have church meetings starting at 9:00a.m. and and go until the block start time.)

• The baby's afternoon nap is RUINED!

(Of course, we had to be on this schedule during the time Miss B was 12 to 18 months old!)

• It's getting dark by the time we come out of church!

(And we rarely actually leave at 5:00p.m. since we stay after to do "stuff," so daylight is definitely gone.)

• Dinner is an absolute JOKE! There's no way we can eat at a decent hour when I start making it at dinnertime! I guess we could have cold cereal, but it's "against my religion."
• The Primary Children are on their "best behavior" during that last hour for my Sharing Time -- NOT!!
• Our kids have ample time to ruin their church clothes and hair before we ever make it there!
• We can't ever do anything that our family normally would like to do together on Sundays.

So, what church schedule do we have coming up in 2010, you ask?!?

9:00a.m. - 12:00p.m.

And I am sooo looking forward to it:

• All meetings happen before church, so once the worship services are done, it's DONE!
• The whole afternoon is ours!
• Maybe a chance of a Sunday nap for us?
• But, definitely, the baby gets her nap.
• Sunday Dinner - normal time & adequate prep time - it'll be possible to make rolls again (without sending someone home from church.)
• Family game night
• Our family can go on Sunday afternoon/evening walks
• We can go visiting - even if they live far(ther) away
• We can get back to making our "Sunday Night Treat"
• We can be better prepared for Monday? (No more Monday morning, "Ohhh, I was suppose to bring a 4-foot Castle clay model to school today!") ???Maybe???
• We can have good feelings on (& about) the Sabbath!

Oh! I just remembered something. I'll retract one little thing I said earlier. I was living away at college up until the time I went on my mission, so my family's home ward was not really "my ward." Thankfully, I only experienced this once, but when I had my Missionary Farewell at my parents' ward back in 1991, their church time was 3:00 - 6:00p.m.

That time would most positively qualify as being "the worse."

Who Knew It'd be such a Hit?

This is what Haylee has been wearing for the past 64 hours!!

Yep, she opened it on Christmas Eve and hasn't taken it off since. If we didn't have church today, she'd most definitely extend that 64 hours even longer.

Once upon a time, Haylee casually mentioned to me that she liked how the girls in The Brady Bunch had robes and that they were able to put them on whenever they had to rush out of bed - for various reasons - in the middle of the night. So, I took that bit of info and stored it in the "gift idea" section of my brain.

Maybe back in September, I saw these nightgown/robe combos while shopping at Costco one day, so I bought it for Haylee's "Christmas Eve pajamas." And I checked that off my list - didn't think about it much after that.

When Haylee opened this present and saw what it was, she looked up at me, and in a soft, sweet, sentimental voice, said,
"You got me a robe?!?"

And then she jumped to her feet and threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. And held on, and on, and on. Still hugging. And then she was overcome with emotion and started to cry, still not letting go of the hug. The other people present looking on didn't quite know what was happening (I, myself was very taken aback), but then my eyes got watery, too. Quite a scene it was! She did eventually release me from her hug and sat back down, but exclaimed no fewer than 10 times during the evening,

"I can't believe I got a robe!"

Sure, I thought that she would like it. Did I think she would absolutely LOVE it so much? Not necessarily.

Did I ever imagine it would TRUMP this quilt I made her? (since she has coveted and is continually "stealing" her Dad's) NO.

Did I know the American Girl Doll (it's a knock off, but shhh! she doesn't know the diff) she got from Santa would pale in comparison? The same "American Girl" doll which she has fantasized about while poring over the AG catalog pages FOR MONTHS now? The "American Girl" doll which was chosen to look like her: brown hair with no bangs, brown eyes, tan skin, and does ballet? And the "AG" bathtub & accessories she got to play with the doll? NOT A CHANCE!

Shows you how much I know, huh?!?

Post Note: She came home from church and put it back on - she now looks like the 1st photo again! She may be wearing it 'til next Sunday, too, since there's no school this week!

64 hours (with a 3 hr. break) and counting!! :)

It's Official!

The Christmas season must be here...

I got my traditional Christmas pedicure.

(by my "in-house" pedicurist)

It's a definite sign of the season for us.

My next door neighbor, Heidi, makes an awesome Christmas Tree-shaped countdown chains to start the Holiday!

My prior neighbor friend, -she went & rudely moved on us! :) -Angie, decorates Gingerbread houses with her kids!

Our Relief Society President, Julie, makes homemade Christmas gifts every year for the sisters she visit teaches!

My friend, Kristen, has a marathon baking weekend and makes something like a 100+ dozen gourmet cookies & goodies and packages them up all professionally in craft boxes & baker's twine (who knew that even existed?) for the many people vying just to be her "friend" in order to be a recipient of her culinary genius!

My cousin, Melissa, has an interactive/animated reindeer that sings, "Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer!"

My friend, Mandy, arranges to have Santa Claus come to her house for their Christmas Party!

Me?!? I just lay back [while being fanned & getting fed grapes] and get a Christmas pedicure! :)

And I call it, "good" on getting the Christmas Spirit!

What does this say about us...

when we receive a Christmas card in the mail from these guys?

(but not from other "friends" & family)

{front cover}

{Inside of card}

I didn't think our "pizza habit" was too excessive. 

We're definitely not doing it multiple times a week! 

It's not even like it's once a week or anything. 

I don't even think it's once a month - I don't think....but, I've discovered (thanks to Big Mouth little sisters) that the kids secretly order pizza sometimes when Matt & I are out on a date...so, maybe I don't know what to think! :)

Random Question of the Week

When do girls stop crying EVERY DAY?

I keep wondering when this "magic age" is.

And when my oldest daughter will reach this milestone.

On numerous occasions, we have given the challenge, "Let's see if you can go a whole day WITHOUT crying!"

It has yet to happen!

Every day of the 7 years, 8 months, and 6 days of her life, she has cried.

The tears most often flow when she gets, "No" for an answer. But, there's also tears when it's time to get ready. Or when it's time to do her homework. Or when it's time to go to bed. Or when I pick up Miss B from Nursery (instead of her.) Or when she loses in a game. And very frequently on the way to school - and if not on the way - at home, before she goes. And most definitely when she gets teased by her brothers.

I kind of thought that after you reach a certain age - say 5 yrs. old, which means my middle daughter should be there, too - you only cry when you suffer physical pain.
Or severe emotional pain...which apparently all of the above mentioned items (& more) are just that, to her!

Ya gotta LOVE Jr. High -- NOT!

1. Here is my son, Ryan.

He is in Jr. High. (I can hear all the inward groans, now!)

One day he wore his baseball shirt, from a team he played on a few years ago, to school.

Here is what the front of the shirt looks like...

And here is what the back of the shirt looks like...
No big deal, right?
WRONG.
Another kid came up to him and asked, "Why are you wearing a shirt that says, 'SEX' on it?"
"Is it because you like sex?"
"And what does that '7' mean on the back?"
"Are you telling us all that's how many times you've had sex?"

Dude, Can you say Chicago White Sox? (Duh!)


2. Ryan tried out for the Jr. High boys basketball team again this year.
And didn't make it. :(
Ryan went up to the coach afterwards and asked,
"Just give it to me straight, Coach, what could I have done?"
The Coach replied, "Well, you need to lose at least 10 pounds!"

Ouch. Double Ouch!

3. Recently, Ryan & I had a meeting with the School Counselor to make his schedule for next year and
map out his track to High School graduation.
To assist in "planting a seed" in Ryan's mind about the importance of Continuing Education,
(and to decide what kind of classes to take in the future) the Counselor asked Ryan what he'd like to be when he grew up.
I could tell that Ryan had something on his mind, but was hesitant to say it.
He mulled around for several seconds and then said "a Pharmacist."
The Counselor wrote it in his "records" and responded quite positively to this, which, I think,
gave Ryan the necessary confidence to reveal more.
And he did.
He said he'd like to be a Professional Athlete.
The Counselor [very noticeably] did NOT write anything down, in fact, her pen stopped, frozen in mid-air,
and then she said, "Let's go for the Pharmacist!"
Way to shatter a boy's dreams!

Why Can't Family Pictures Ever Go off Without a Hitch?

Inform my whole family about Family Pictures (so there would be no protesting/complaining they "didn't know!") -- check.

Laid out 3 different wardrobe options for each child (so there would be no meltdowns because they "hate that!") -- check.

Asked Matt to come home from work early (so we could have enough daylight left for pictures) -- check.

Allow one hour before "showtime" to double check &/or fix everyone's hair/face/clothes -- check.

Back out of our driveway ON TIME -- check.

Have the gas tank full enough to get us to the picture location -- *@$#%^+%!!!

Yep, we ran out of gas on I-15 on the way to our picture appointment!

I don't even make it a habit to check the gas gauge, so I wasn't even aware.

Matt, on the other hand, had noticed we were on empty, but because he knew how hard I was trying to make it on time, he didn't say anything, let alone stop to fill up.

So, there we found ourselves stopped on the side of the road. The relative who lives closest to this "incident" was the lucky one to be called to come help us! :) Matt's brother (Thanks Mike) went and filled up a gas can (and his own car, too, since he was at risk to also run out!) to bring to us/come to our rescue.

But, this all takes time - and the minutes (& daylight) were ticking away...and I could not get a hold of our photographer (turns out, her cell phone had fallen out of her pocket and was laying in the grass in her yard.)

Meanwhile, as we were waiting on the side of the freeway, a Highway Patrolman pulled up behind us. He got out of his car and approached my [passenger] side. Since the car was dead and we couldn't unroll the automatic window, I had to open my door.

He asked what was going on. We told him we'd run out of gas and had already called someone...and, with great timing, right then our "help" pulled up behind the cop car!

BUT, instead of commenting on how well we were taking care of our "situation," he says to me,

"You know I could ticket you for this!"

I said, "No, I did not know that."

He said, "Yep, it's called a 'voluntary emergency stop.'" (or something to that effect)

Then he goes on to lecture me about how dangerous it is to be on the side of the road, and especially with all my children in the car. AND then he asks,

"I mean, really, how many gas stations did you pass on your way here?
Probably 3 or 4." (it was actually only one.)

He was really trying to lay it into me how much this was my fault & how careless I was! (I know, I know!)

(He let us go without a ticket, but reminded me again that he totally could give us one!)

So, here we are totally late for our appointment and I'm trying hard to hold back the tears -- unsuccessfully.

So, what d'ya do when that's happened and you're suppose to get Family Pictures taken?

You just get a creative photographer to cut Mom's face out of the photo...

Or you just take one of these handsome boys only...

(that Matt -- I tell ya, he IS a sight for sore eyes! :) Wooo!)
And, of course, you stay out of the picture again by just throwin' the kids in to pose...

There's always the option of looking away and just catching the family photo from behind...

OR you put "the center of attention" in the mix -- the one who makes everything all better -- who has the ability to draw a smile out of EVERYONE (even a frazzled, upset, emotionally disheveled Mom)...
Again, I ask, "What would we do without Brookelle?"

Reject!

A few weeks ago, our city delivered our NEW, big, blue recycling cans for us to start using. This created some excitement among the kids. We even got an additional garbage can in our kitchen, so we could separate the garbage inside: recyclable garbage & regular garbage -- then we would empty it into the big can outside when it was full.Well...yesterday was the first official recycling garbage pick up day since our city started the program. We were glad to set it out since it had gotten VERY full (fuller than our "regular" garbage can!)
Then, much to our surprise, we got this note attached to our can:

Apparently, we are "recycling rejects!"

And we've been called on it - even accused of "contamination!"

First of all, did they REALLY go through our recycling can and examine each & every one of it's contents? Did they do this to everyone's can? Do they really have the staff to do that?

And second of all, What are they talking about? We continually referenced our "Acceptable Recyclable items" list that came with our can over the past few weeks - in fact, whenever we were deciding about throwing something away, and weren't sure, we checked the list!

I did not throw any carpet, paint cans, light bulbs, dirty disposable diapers, or ceramics, etc. in there - and we did not bag it - so what's the problem?

But then again, we do have an 18-month-old living in our home....

who knows how to throw things away...

Hmmm....

Maybe that explains a few missing items around here:

the pencil sharpener

my lip balm

the girls' dance skirts

Haylee's Christmas stocking

1 pink slipper (mine)

our mailbox key

Kyle's November reading calendar (due today, of course!)

flip flops

the glasses repair screwdriver

socks & tights

fingernail clippers

a check

And maybe that explains the reject note from the recycling company!

(which I'll be sure to throw away in our recycling can) ;)