Wacky Hair and Mismatched Clothes

Wacky Week is drawing to a close! Yippee! I think I am the only mother who took the time to actually participate in each day. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. But I figure if the teachers were going to take the time to have a Wacky Week I could take a few minutes to help support them. Yesterday (Thursday) was Wacky Hair day. If they had Wacky Week last week we would have been in great shape because he actually had some hair. But Scott's sister, Owen's beautician, had cut most of it off the week before. So he didn't have much hair to work with. A Mohawk would have been really cool! I thought about doing a Kool-aide dye, but from what I read online that wasn't a good idea. He would have had pink hair for a long time. So I decided to try to spike it. I used gel, it didn't work. His hair just fell right back down. So we stopped at the store on the way to day care and bought some hair putty...I've seen boys using that stuff to keep their hair up, so I thought it might work. We had about 30 seconds to try to get his hair to do something. I sprayed it with some water and then worked the hair putty in. Below is the result, sorry the picture isn't great...the sun was shining through onto his blond hair! It stuck into little spikes fairly well. He looked pretty funny when he went into daycare though because he was the only one with wacky hair! What a bunch of party poopers the other parents are...and their kids have tons of hair!

Then today was Mismatch Day! I was having a hard time finding something that didn't match, so I told Scott to pick him out an outfit! Every time Scott dresses him he doesn't match!!! But luckily I was able to find a hand me down shirt that he has never worn before that totally mismatched a pair of pants he has. So we put on the bright multi-colored horizontally striped shirt with the brown and black vertically striped corduroy pants and he looked quite awful! I added some baby blue socks and his black and white Converse shoes and it looked like his father had dressed him. Mission accomplished! Of course when I dropped him off all the other kids were in nicely matching outfits. I hope I haven't scared my child for life making him go to school dressed all crazy. The teachers liked it though. I'm guessing none of the other kids will even notice that he doesn't match.

I've Been Tagged!

OK...so I just got tagged for the first time. How exciting is that. Thank you Jocelyn! So here is the rules.

List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random surprises about yourself.

JOYS
1. My number one joy is my FAMILY. This includes my son Owen, my husband Scott, my parents, my brothers, and all my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents...they are all my number one joy in life!
2. FRIENDS are my 2nd joy. We are so lucky to live in a time when keeping in touch with your friends is easier than ever!
3. Right now, at this point in my life, WARM COOKIES AND MILK are a joy to me! It must be a pregnancy thing...I was the same way when I was pregnant with Owen. I couldn't get enough warm cookies and milk...YUM!!!

FEARS
1. I fear that something bad will happen to my children. I want to protect them from everything, even though I know that's not possible.
2. I fear SPIDERS!
3. I fear HAUNTED HOUSES. I don't know why people like going to them...why scare yourself on purpose?

GOALS
1. My main goal in life right now is to stay pregnant until October 19th...or somewhere close to there. This pregnancy thing is getting old.
2. A long term goal for me is to raise my children to be decent human beings and not little nuisances to society.
3. I would also like to have a clean house for one whole week!

OBSESSIONS
1. Right now I have become obsessed with reading again. I took a break for about a year where I didn't read much more than a magazine article here and there, but I'm back to trying to read as often as I can.
2. Watching TV shows! I watch way too much TV...but thankfully not at home. Thanks to the internet all the Network TV Channels have started posting their shows online....so I watch them while I am working! It works out well, the tv screen just fits into the bottom of the screen and I am able to do my work around it. It makes the day go by nice and fast too.
3. I don't have a lot of obsessions, so I guess my third would have to be Owen. I don't know if it's good to be overly obsessed with your child...but I think he's pretty cute and cool...so I will obsess over him while I can!

SURPRISES (This one was HARD!)
1. One of my brother's called to wish me a Happy Birthday this morning. It was a day late, and I think my dad probably called and told him to call me, but it was still nice to hear from him. He lives in Phoenix and it was only 5:30 AM there when he called me!
2. Surprise...I'm actually understanding Emma without the cliffnotes! I guess it just took a little bit to get use to the writing style.
3. I legally have a new niece and nephew. I've considered them as such since my brother married their mother about 8 years ago...but now it's legal. They went to the court house on Monday and the adoption papers were signed...and they are going to the temple on Saturday to be sealed together.

So now I get to tag some people...so I tag....DeDe, Amber, Alisha and Aleisha. Have Fun!

Thoughts on 29

Happy Birthday to me! Thank you to everybody who remembered and wished me a happy birthday...I appreciate your remembering! I have one more year left in my 20's, which is strange. It seems like I just was experiencing one more year left in my teens. The picture below is from my 19th birthday. In the picture with me are my good friends Amber and DeDe...and an old roommate Meredith (I'm not saying Meredith isn't a good friend, I just haven't heard from her in over 9 years).

Today was pretty good though...I can't complain. Only one person at work remembered that it was my birthday...and I haven't heard from one of my brothers! I guess that's where it would be nice to have a sister, sister's don't forget that kind of thing do they? When I got home from work though dinner was made! Scott had made taco's...and they were pretty darn good. Right now he is attempting to make my favorite cake...German Chocolate cake! It smells delicious. I got some money from my parents (always the perfect gift), a gift certificate from my mother-in-law, Scott and Owen each got me a card, and Scott bought me a ticket to Time Out For Women coming up in a few weeks. So not a bad birthday at all.

My mom was 29 when she had me, her only daughter. Now I am 29 and in a few weeks will be having my 1st, and probably only daughter. It seems kind of appropriate.

I was reading an article in the Reader's Digest by a woman in her 60's about aging. What an appropriate week to be reading it in as I was pondering how time has gone so fast, it seems like I just turned 19 and now I'm 29. How did I get to be this old? She says;

"I don't know what further changes I will enjoy or endure as I age, but I do know the answer to the question I asked myself at 30, at 40, and at 50: How did I get to be this old?

"I was lucky. Getting old is what I want to do. Getting old, whatever the years bring, is far better than not getting old. Or, in the words of Maya Angelou, 'Mostly, what I have learned so far about aging, despite the creakiness of one's bones and cragginess of one's once-silken skin, is this: Do it. By all means, do it.' "

Pajama Day

Today was Pajama Day...YAY! A day I finally didn't have to think about too much. Owen only has one pair of pajama's with short sleeves, so it was the Superman Pajama's for him. For an extra special treat I even let him wear his cape with the pajama's. Scott never lets him wear the cape at home because he thinks it's a safety hazard. Scott is super paranoid about safety...I'm not. We clash sometimes...but I usually just try to follow what Scott says to make him happy, plus I figure it can't hurt to be a little safety minded. But not today...I threw caution to the wind and velcrowed his little 10 inch cape to the back of his pajamas! You will all be happy to know that he survived...Woo Hoo!!!

Pumpkin Head

So today was Wacky Hat day at daycare. Wacky Hat Day? We don't have any wacky hats! Who has money to spend on wacky hats? I guess this is where the creativity comes in. Owen has two baseball hats that he LOVES. He looks so stinkin' cute in them too...but that's off topic. I decided to make one of them a little wacky. So my brilliant idea, I'd stick a pumpkin hat on top of it! When my brother Khyl's son Simon was a baby he had this cute little pumpkin hat that I just loved. I was visiting my parents when I was pregnant with Owen, and my brother Khyl had sent up bags full of baby clothes for me and my other brother Marc to go through (You see Khyl was done having kids and Marc's wife had just had a baby and I was about to). So as I went through huge bags of baby clothes the only thing I found that I had to have was the pumpkin hat! I didn't have a lot of room in my suitcase for much more. So there is the pumpkin hat...I still love it! I can't wait to try it on Holly, who will be born right before Halloween (hopefully). The bill on his baseball hat was green, so it matched the stem on top of the pumpkin hat well. I think he looks a little like Elmer Fudd in that hat too. When I dropped him off neither of the other two boys at daycare had a wacky hat on. I guess their parents gave up on trying to be creative!

Oh yeah...if you are trying to figure out how to pronounce my brother's name...it's Kyle. My mom got a little creative with the spelling of his name, to which he is very grateful still today (that was sarcasm...hard to convey on the screen though).

Wacky Week

When I went to pick up Owen from daycare last Friday there was a note on his lunch box. It's said that this week was going to be Wacky Week! Each day they wants the kids to wear something different to school. They want us to be creative too...YIKES! Don't they know I don't have a creative bone in my body? Oh well, I'll try my best. Today was backwards day. That's all it said. I didn't know if that meant we were suppose to walk in backwards or what. I finally decided that it meant he was suppose to wear his clothing backwards. I was sure hoping I was right too. I would have felt silly walking into daycare with my child's clothes on backwards if they meant something else! So here he is....all dressed backwards....

I sure was happy when I pulled in and saw another toddler walking into daycare with his mom...and his clothes were on backwards! I wonder if that could possibly be comfortable...wearing your clothes backwards like that? Neither of his teachers participated in the backwards clothes though...and they are probably the only ones who could give me a straight answer. So I guess if I want to know I will have to put my clothes on backwards. I'm not in that big of a hurry to find out!

A Handy Link

Here is a handy link to all my book club friends out there: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Emma.id-96.html

After reading the first chapter of "Emma" twice I knew I was gonna need a little help with this book. I really didn't want to have to read each chapter twice! Classics tend to read a lot differently than modern books do...and I guess I'm not quite bright enough to get it yet. So thank goodness for cliffnotes! I will still read the book, I will just have the cliffnotes handy so I'll know what's going on in all those long wordy sentences.

I did learn a new word though....valetudinarian...it means somebody who is overly concerned with their health. One website said it was kind of like a hypochondriac. But a hypochondriac is always worried that they are sick, and a valetudinarian is always worried about not getting sick, about keeping themselves as healthy as possible. Emma's father is a valetudinarian...I thought it meant he was really smart...LOL! Valetudinarian sounds like Valedictorian to me, that's why. Obviously I wasn't a valedictorian.

Team Edward

I guess I forgot to mention what team I am on. I'm on team Edward, for now. There is still two books to go, so I'm sure that could change. Jacob seems like a nice boy, but I'm all about the Vampire!

Thumbs Up!

I love working Saturdays. At my job we all have to work one Saturday a month, and yesterday was my one Saturday. The great thing about Saturdays is that I don't have to run my usual reports. I just have to sit and wait for the phone to ring. When the phone rings it's one of the telephone repair guys calling to get a new job to work on or to tell us about the one he just fixed. Then we type all of the information into our computers and wait for the next guy (or gal) to call. On Saturday's though they only have a small number of technicians working, so we don't get a lot of phone calls. So in between phone calls we get to READ! At least that's what I do. So I get about 7.5 hours of limited interruption reading. I love it.

So yesterday I got all that time to just sit and read "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer. It's the 2nd book in the Twilight series that everybody has been raving about. I must say that I enjoyed "New Moon" a lot more than "Twilight". I think it's because I didn't have to get to know the characters for half the book, the story just started right away. I actually couldn't fall asleep last night because I only had about 100 pages left and I wanted to see how everything would turn out. So I got out of bed and ran a bath so I could read in peace! I stayed up until Midnight...which is crazy late for me...just reading. I finally got too tired though and left the last 40 pages until after church today. Thankfully Owen took a nice long nap so I was able to finish it....YAY for Owen! I would love to start reading "Eclipse" right away, but I don't have it yet. I'll have to make a request from the library. Plus I've got to start reading "Emma" if I'm going to finish it in time for our next book club. So "Eclipse" will have to wait.

Stink, Stank, Skunk!

So last night at book club we were talking about smells. Somebody said that they didn't think they could live in a time before daily showers and perfume. OK, that's not exactly how she said it, but you get the picture. Somebody else pointed out to her that if that was your life you wouldn't think anything of it. I came up with the brilliant example that people who live in stinky houses don't know they live in stinky houses. You get use to the smells that are around you everyday.

Well, I must take my brilliant example back because last night I KNEW I lived in a stinky house! I got home from book club at about 9:45, and I could tell that our friend Pepe le Pew had been over for a visit. Our garage is about 30 feet from the house...I really didn't want to meet up with Pepe on the way to the house, so I ran for the door, which was locked! Scott opened it for me and I was so happy that I hadn't met with our little skunk friend. But as soon as I went in the house I thought I hadn't met him outside because he must have been inside. It smelled like a skunk had exploded in the house! Thankfully it hadn't...but it must have sprayed pretty close to an open window. It was the worst smell ever. I tried to drink some water but the water tasted like skunk. My throat was burning from the smell, and it was every where in the house. I just went to bed as soon as possible...which was the only way I could get away from having to smell the skunk. Of course I had to make 6 trips to the bathroom during the night (I just love the third trimester!) and I woke up with my nose burning from the stink of skunk everytime. Thankfully the smell was pretty much gone this morning...but it got me to thinking about why God thought he should create a skunk. I really don't see any useful purpose to them....they just go around causing problems for us by stinking up our lives. But, God's way's are higher than mine, so I'm sure he has a good reason. I just hope Pepe le Pew finds somebody else to bother tonight!

Speaking of our book club...I love it! I don't get out of the house too often without Owen. I'm not one of those fortunate mothers who gets to spend their days with their children, so by the time I get home from work I usually like to spend all my time with him. If I go anywhere, he's going too. The only exception is to our monthly book club meetings and Relief Society activities. It's nice to get out a few times a month and just talk to other women. It's fun and relaxing. One of our members brought a magazine article about book clubs and it said that it's not really about the book, it's more about women getting together to share some time together. That's so true. I love to read, and I enjoy talking about the book, but the part I really enjoy is just getting together with other women and talking about anything and everything. Oh, and the refreshments are always great too! So, if you aren't in a book club...start one up! They are great fun.

Did I Just Hear That?

OK, I didn't just hear this. I heard it on Friday night. I'm a little behind in my blogging though. On Friday night I remember that I wanted to blog about this, but I forgot about it until 5 minutes ago. I want to remember it though, and since my blog is my new journal I've got to record it here!

Friday night we (Scott and I) decided to take a trip to Barnes & Noble. I had to pick up a copy of Emma by Jane Austen. It's the book of the month for book club next month, and I also have to review it. So instead of picking up a copy at the library I decided to get my own copy just in case I want to mark it up. And they have the really cheap copies of all the classics at Barnes & Noble. Scott never needs an excuse to go to Barnes & Noble. So off we went...Owen in tow.

When we got there I found what I needed in about 30 seconds. Scott never gets out of Barnes & Noble in under 45 minutes. So I had to find a way to amuse Owen. So we headed over to the kids section. They have a Thomas the Train (or whatever he's called) train track in there that he likes to play with. First he was looking around at books though. This little girl was sitting at a table with a pile of books that she was looking through. She must have been about 10 years old. Owen and I sat at another table to look at the books he had decided to have a look at. That's when the little girl came over with the above pictured book. It was one where there are pictures of animals and one spot on the animal will have a thing of fur or something for the child to feel. She said to me that Owen might want to look at that book. So I thanked her and she went back to her table. Then she came back with some more books for him to read. She said he would want to look at those books too. Then she said to me, "Wouldn't it be great to be a kid again." WHAT?!?!?! She's 10 years old. I had to fight down a laugh because she looked so serious. I just agreed with her. What a weird world we are living in when a 10 year old doesn't think they are a kid anymore. They are in such a hurry to grow up. I guess I was that way too when I was a kid...I guess that's why they say youth is wasted on the young...or something like that.

I suppose age is a relative thing though. I'm sure some 70 year old would laugh at me if I told her that I wish I could be a kid again.

Tax Free Day!

Once a year Massachusetts has a Tax Free Holiday in August. I guess they have been doing it for 5 or 6 years now. Since clothes and food are tax free all year around I am usually not too excited about it. But this year I decided to take advantage of the 5% discount since I have some big ticket items to purchase, such as nursery furniture! So Owen and I headed out to the mall this morning, as did everybody else in Massachusetts. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I really didn't find any good deals though. I ended up buying children's hangers tax free! I also got a lamp and some new window shades at Walmart. But I didn't find any furniture that seemed like a good deal.



A few days ago a friend sent me a picture of a crib set from Walmart that she said she was going to buy if she had a girl...but she had a boy. She thought it would be great for Holly. So when I got home I went to walmart.com to check it out and the cribs. Turns out if you really want something from Walmart you should go to their online site. In the store they had 3 cribs, online they had millions! OK...that's probably an exaggeration, but it was a lot more than 3. So I found a crib, and I also ended up ordering the crib set my friend had recommended. It was cute, and I didn't have to look around at a lot of stuff, so I was happy. Plus the room we are putting Holly in looks like the room in the picture...with the white paneling on the bottom and painted pink on top...so I figured it was a sign. I guess the tax free holiday extends to online shopping too! Walmart will ship the stuff to the store for free and send me an e-mail when I can pick it up. Why did I bother going to the mall today? Oh yeah, to get hangers....


Tomorrow is my sister-in-law's surprise birthday party (Don't worry, she doesn't have my blog address...I hope)! So Owen and I decided to walk to the Fashion Bug in town and get her a gift certificate for her birthday. She is always wearing something stylish, and when I ask her where she got it she says Fashion Bug. There is a Fashion Bug about a mile away, it was a beautiful day, so we decided to walk. So I pushed Owen all the way over there, only to remember when we got there and saw the empty store that Fashion Bug has been closed for about 3 years now!!! The closest one is the next town over, and we weren't walking that far. But, there was a TJ Maxx in the same shopping center. I have been in there a few times, but I've never found anything that really excited me. I decided to see if they might have some nice clothes for Holly, I didn't want to make that long walk for nothing. WOW! They had so many nice clothes for baby girls, and for so cheap! I have been looking for dresses for months now, but all I can find are dresses with short sleeves. That won't work in the winter. So I've been figuring I would just have to wait until it got closer to winter to buy Holly some dresses. But TJ Maxx had tons of cute little dresses that were made for the winter time. I found cute little outfits, I was having a ball in there. I probably would have stayed longer but Owen kept tearing the tags off the clothes on the bottom rack to entertain himself...so we didn't stay too long. But I'm excited by my discovery. I'm definitely going to have to go back there...without Owen!

Little Einsteins

Owen has a favorite TV show..."Little Einsteins." What a life saver "Little Einsteins" is too! It comes on every morning at 8:00 on the Disney Channel, and Owen is hooked to the TV while it is on. If it wasn't for the Little Einsteins I would never be able to get ready for the day on time. Owen is very clingy, but not when his favorite show is on. It's a pretty cute show. For those of you who haven't seen it it's about 4 Little Einsteins and their friend Rocket. They always have some mission to complete during an episode, and they need "YOUR" help! Owen gets really into helping out during the episodes.

Whenever the Little Einsteins get into Rocket they have to rev up his power so he can fly. So they tell Owen to pat his hands on his lap..."Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat". Owen faithfully starts patting his hands on his lap. But Rocket needs more power, so they have to pat faster..."patpatpatpatpatpatpatpat"!

Then they tell Owen to throw his hands up as high as he can and say, "BLASTOFF!!!" That is his favorite part...he usually throws his hands up long before they tell him to. I love watching him do it, it's so stinkin' cute! Whenever we get in the car I tell him has to lift his arms so we can Blastoff...and he always does!

Kids are too dang cute!

Panic

Yesterday I went into panic mode! I was sitting there thinking that I only have a little over 9 weeks until baby Holly is due! How does time go by so fast? I realized that if I don't get moving she is going to have to wear a little hat home that says "Thank Heaven for Little Boys", and she will have to be wrapped up in blue blankets. I can't have my little girl wrapped in blue blankets. I have a few clothes for 0-3 months, but not enough! When Owen was that young we had to change him about 4 times a day because he liked to puke...a lot!!! I have no furniture for her room, and her room is filled with all my old books and winter clothes. So this weekend, tax free weekend, I'm going to go buy her some furniture! I'm going to pick out lots of cute 0-3 month clothes...including hats and some of those mittens for her hands to keep her from cutting her face up with her sharp fingernails. Nobody told us we needed those when we had Owen...his poor little face had lots of little cuts on it when we took him home. So no more slacking! I'm a woman on a mission...it's time to get up and get to work! Thankfully her room is already painted pink, there's one thing to cross off the to do list! Thankfully I also still have 9 weeks to get ready...that should be plenty of time if I don't drag my feet. I'm glad I went into panic mode now and not 8 weeks from now!

Good News, Bad News

I have some good news and some bad news. I'll start with the good news...

The good news is I'm not on Strike! As most of you know I work for Verizon, and as an employee of Verizon I belong to the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Union. Our 5 year contract with Verizon expired on August 3rd at 12:01 AM. We didn't have a new contract then, but the union told us to go ahead and keep on working. Then Friday we heard that the union had set a new deadline of 12:01 AM August 11th (that's today). They meant business. So I figured the company would be dragging their heels and we would be on strike today for sure. But nope! I woke up at 12:15 AM and checked the union's website to see if we were on strike. It said that an agreement had been reached! So no striking for us. I know a lot of people hate unions, sometimes I'm not a huge fan of them, but I can't really complain. I have a GREAT job with great pay and job security. The benefits are out of the world...I don't pay one penny for my families health insurance...and it's great health insurance too. After I had Owen I thought I would be getting a hefty copay bill from the hospital for all the services they had rendered...but I didn't. I didn't have to pay anything for giving birth...and I didn't pay a penny for the time Owen spend back in the hospital a few days later!!! Plus they paid 100% of my tuition when I was going to school...I just have so many amazing benefits, and I know I wouldn't have them if it weren't for the union. So I can't be a union disser.

So...that just leaves the bad news. The bad news is that I'm not on Strike! I was really looking forward to going on strike for a few weeks. I have so much that I need to get done around the house and two weeks off would have been very helpful! Back in the year 2000 we went on strike for 2 weeks...it was just enough time to get my life and apartment back to semi organized state. So I was really hoping for another 2 weeks...I've got a lot of stuff I want to get done around the house and just can't ever seem to find the time to do it. I guess I will just have to make the most of my weekends and get more done...because I'm not on strike!

Don't Drive

Do you ever have one of those days when you think you should just stop driving all together? That happened to me on Saturday. I had a wonderful Saturday morning. Scott, Owen and I went out and had breakfast together, and Owen didn't throw food at anybody! Then I went over to our monthly Relief Society activity. Our bishop gave a great talk on improving relationships, I got to be part of a panel on how to improve relationships (I have no idea why they asked me either), we had a great lunch and then we ended with a beautiful baptism. What a wonderful way to start the weekend!

On my way home I had to stop at BJ's. I had some coupons for diapers, so I figured I better start stocking up since Holly will be here before we know it. The drive home from BJ's usually takes me about 15-20 minutes. But here's where the trouble started. I got stuck in a HUGE traffic jam on the Massachusetts Turnpike. It took me 45 minutes to drive 3 miles. Not fun. I also got stuck behind a really old Volkswagen bus that obviously doesn't have to pass the emissions test because it was spewing foul exhaust fumes on me the whole time. I wanted to try to pass it in the other lane, but people weren't budging from their spot in line. Plus, my line was moving faster. So I stayed in it. I should have tried to move though because next think I know I'm looking in my rear view mirror at the car behind me and the woman in the passenger seat has her hand up and I could see her yelling "STOP". The guy driving didn't stop though. He rammed right into the back of my car. Thankfully he was only going about 3 miles per hour. We got out and checked our cars, no damage. . . but I must say I never wanted my first time being rear ended to be in a traffic jam and 7 months pregnant! Scott said I should have got out of the car holding my neck, "Ouch! My neck really hurts!" My dad had a better idea though, he said I should have got out holding my belly, "Oh No! The baby is coming!" I think my mind was in too much of a fog from all the exhaust fumes to think of something clever like that though!

I did finally make it home though. I wanted to spend some time with Owen, but I had to get some shopping done. The store I wanted to go to was about a mile away, so I was going to push Owen over in the stroller and get a little exercise...but it was a little too warm for me. I think I should have pushed him over. While we were driving there a bird flew right into our windshield!!! I remember when I was learning to drive I was always afraid I would hit a bird, but my dad said not to worry, they would fly out of the way. Not this bird...I felt horrible! Owen, who can only say 10 words, had to pipe up in the back seat too "BIRD!" Well, I guess it was a learning experience for both of us!

Thankfully I had a great morning though, so none of this ruined my day.

Getting to know me 2008

My very good friend Claudia sent me this getting to know you questionnaire for 2008! So I sent it back to her and a bunch of other people I know who don't check my blog out too much. Then I figured I would post it on my blog, and anybody reading this, who wants to, can copy it and put it on their blog. I guess it's a sort of tag! Plus, we get so many of these, the next time somebody sends you one you can just go back to your blog and copy and paste it into the new e-mail! Of course as time goes by our answers change, so it will also be nice to look back in 10 years and see my mind frame on August 5th, 2008. So have fun! (I filled this out yesterday...I just didn't have a chance to post it)

What time did you get up this morning? 7:00…I usually get up at 6:00, but I was being lazy. Pregnancy will do that to you!

Diamonds or pearls? I guess diamonds because I have more diamonds than pearls. Don’t think I’m Elizabeth Taylor drenched in diamonds though…I just don’t have any pearls, except for fake ones. And diamonds are sparkly!

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? “Iron Man” I wasn’t impressed. It was Scott’s choice, of course.

What is your favorite TV show? I watch way too much TV…but I never just sit in front of the tv and watch it, I always have to be doing something while I’m watching, like folding the clothes. Thank goodness for DVR’s so I can watch on my schedule! That said, I guess my favorite TV show would have to be “Lost”

What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal. I don’t really get into the whole bacon and eggs thing…I just like cereal in the morning. What kind of cereal differs from day to day though.

What is your middle name? Colleen…which is also my mother’s and grandmother’s middle name. That’s why it will also be Holly’s middle name. I can’t break tradition.

What food do you dislike? Hmmm…I remember when I was little my mom made some kind of salad, it was called Frog Eye Salad. I don’t like that! I’ve never had liver, but I don’t think I would like that either. And I really don’t like Eggnog. I guess that’s a drink though

Your favorite CD at the moment? “Grand” by Erin McKeown. I really like all her CD’s, but that is my favorite.

What kind of car do you drive? A 2000 Ford Escort…ZX2 model. I know, you are all jealous!

Favorite sandwich? Roast Beef….if you can find good roast beef. It’s hard to find though

What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance, selfishness, rudeness…all the characteristics that most people despise.

Favorite item of clothing? I don’t think I have one. Right now anything that fits is good with me!

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? American Fork, Utah! There’s no place like home!!!

Are you an organized person? No way. I wish I were, but I’m not. I was hoping that our union would go on strike for a few weeks so I could get a little more organized, but that didn’t happen….at least not yet.

Where would you retire to? I’ll probably stay where I am…but if I could I would retire in Utah.

What was your most recent memorable birthday? Birthday’s aren’t too memorable anymore. I guess the last memorable birthday was 10 years ago when I was in college and my friend DeDe made me a German Chocolate cake…and my friend Amber was visiting and we had just got 2 cool new roommates. We got a couple of cheap pizza’s from Little Ceasars. It was fun! Of course, I think that’s the last birthday I have pictures of, so that’s probably why I remember it the most.

What are you going to do when you finish this? Go home and be with my favorite person in the world…OWEN!

When is your birthday? August 27th….it’s coming up!!!

Would you like to know the year? 1979…that means I’m almost 29 if you don’t want to do the math. One more year to 30. How did I get this old?

What is your shoe size? 10

Pets? One cat….Peter. He’s the last pet I will ever have too. I’m not a pet person.

Any new and exciting news? I’m having a baby! I guess that isn’t new…but it’s exciting!

What did you want to be when you were little? A teacher…but my mom told me that was a bad idea so I never went for it. I wish I would have gone to school to be a teacher though. I would have the summers off to spend with my kids! Plus I would love to teach Algebra…I love math!

How are you today? Good…and you?

What is your favorite flower? I like all flowers…I can’t pick a favorite.

What are you listening to right now? Silence…I love it!

What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? October 19th…my due date. I know I probably won’t deliver on that day…but it’s a target date to look forward too. The day I get to meet this creature that has been kicking me and giving me heartburn.

What was the last thing you ate? A nectarine…I love summertime because the nectarines are so good in the summertime! I eat way too many of them. Oh wait…I had some Tums after that…do they count?

Do you wish on stars? No

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Whatever color God made me I guess. Do we really get to pick what color we are going to be?

How is the weather right now? Sunny and warm…not humid…Woo Hoo!

Last person you spoke to on the phone? Scott…he was telling me he was going to pick Owen up. Nothing too exciting.

Favorite soft drink? Pepsi

Favorite Restaurant? I don’t know…there are tons of good Mexican Restaurants in Utah and Arizona that I love. But no good Mexican restaurants in Massachusetts. I live in a communistic state that doesn’t know what good Mexican food is. It’s sad. I would really like some good Mexican food right now…Holly would too.

Hair color? Blond…always blond. I dyed it red twice, that was fun…but I don’t want to try to keep it up, so blond.

What was your favorite toy as a child? Probably our trampoline. We had a lot of fun on that thing. I’ve got to get one for Owen and Holly.

Summer or Winter? Winter. I really hate the heat!

Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate.

Coffee or tea? We should just take this question out since I don9t think I’m sending it to too many people who would like either.

When was the last time you cried? Today…I watching a special on Prime Time news called “The Last Lecture” about a professor who just had this wonderful outlook on life and he ended up dieing of cancer last Friday night. But he was talking about his kids and how he wasn’t sad that he was going to die, but he was sad that his kids wouldn’t have their father in their lives, then they were showing all these touching videos of him playing with his kids…I was bawling. I’m about to start crying again just thinking of it. So sad.

What is under your bed? Books…we have books everywhere in our house! That’s what I get for marrying a guy who use to run a used books store though.

What did you do last night? I read “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss to Owen….5 times.

What are you afraid of? Something happening to my children…health wise. I’ve been watching this show “Hopkins” on ABC. They show real stories from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Every week they have some baby who needs a heart transplant, or a kid with a brain tumor, or a little girl that is brain dead from a swimming accident. It’s pure torture! I don’t know why I keep subjecting myself to it, but I do. Then I cry and hope I never have to live through what the poor parents on the show are living through. That is my worst nightmare!

Salty or sweet? I have a horrible sweet tooth….that’s probably why all of my molars have fillings in them!

How many keys on your key ring? A lot…but I probably couldn’t tell you what most of them go to. How sad is that. I probably only use 3 of them…one for my car, one for Scott’s car and one for the house.

How many years at your current job? 9 years. Time goes by too fast. I’ll be retired here before I know it!

Favorite day of the week? Sunday…I get to spend all day with Owen! And I get to go to church of course.

Do you make friends easily? I think lately I have been…having a kid makes me open up to people more…plus Owen tends to draw people to me.

Fireworks in the Park

Last night Scott and I were very excited to take Owen to the park for his first fireworks show. Last year Owen was just a little over 6 months when firework time came, and I thought he was too young to take to the park with all those loud noises. So Owen and I ended up watching the fireworks from a few miles away by Scott's sister's house. So we were excited that this year he was old enough to go and enjoy the show with us. We live just a little over 2 miles from the park so we decided we would walk up there to avoid all the traffic. We love to go on long walks and it was the perfect night for a long walk. The weather was great...not too hot, not too cold...a nice breeze was blowing. It was great. Owen loves taking rides in his stroller too. So we were off. Owen seemed to have a lot of fun once we got to the park. He was running around, tearing the ribbons off the temporary fences, and getting his father nice and aggravated.

Being almost 7 months pregnant I decided to go use the restroom when we got there...but they were locked! I can't believe the park locked the restrooms with that huge of a crowd there. I couldn't have been the only pregnant lady who had to use the bathroom in the whole park! On the way back I saw where they were selling the glow in the dark necklaces that all the kids were throwing around. They were $2.00 each. Surprise, surprise, I had exactly $2.00 in my pocked. So I bought one for Owen. I had to. Growing up I always wanted to get a glow in the dark necklace when we went to the fireworks, but my parents always turned us down. It makes sense to me now...realizing that they had 5 kids, and 5 times $2.00 is $10! Kind of a lot to spend on glow in the dark necklaces. But I only have one kid. So I bought him a green one. He enjoyed it...but he kept trying to eat it! I was a little worried it would bust open. That glow in the dark stuff can't be good to digest.

Finally the fireworks started though! The first one went off..."BOOM!" Owen was looking around trying to figure out what the loud noise was. Then tons of fireworks went off all of the sudden...it was like a grand finale at the beginning of the show. Owen's jaw dropped and his hand reached out to clutch onto his father's shirt. The picture below is what he looked like during the first set of fireworks. After the first set of fireworks were over Owen just said, "OH!" It was kind of comical how he said it though...I wish I could convey it better on a computer screen.

So then the fireworks started going off again. The shock had worn off on Owen though. He decided that the world was coming to an end or something. He started crying. I felt so bad for my little boy : (

After crying for about 20 seconds he decided that he was just going to pretend he wasn't there, so he hid his face in Scott's shirt and closed his eyes. I took him from there since Scott was covered in a plant based insect repellent that you aren't suppose to get on kids under 3. Why he had to wear insect repellent I don't know...it was about 70 degrees outside, there were no insects to be found anywhere!

Pretty quickly after I took Owen he fell asleep. He slept through the rest of the fireworks and the walk home. It was pretty late by that time though. But I felt bad that he didn't enjoy his first fireworks display in the park. Hopefully next year he'll do a little better.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! How fun for us kids to have our parents birthday's so close to each other. So I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my mom. And, even though she doesn't think so, I think she is a wonderful mom. I'm grateful for all she has done for me. These are some of my favorite pictures of my mom.

It's weird to think that our parents had lives before us, but they did. Their lives were probably a lot more fun too. I remember the picture below was in my mom's yearbook. My mom is the one front and center who looks like she's singing or dancing, or maybe both. She was a lot more outgoing in school than any of her kids were. You would have never caught me dead doing something like that in high school. She's always the life of the party.

Happy Birthday to you mom. You still look as lovely as you did in the picture below, but I won't post any recent pictures. I know how much you hate getting your picture taken these days. So for one of your presents I'll refrain from posting any new picture. Plus, I like all these old pictures of you.

Tonight our city is having its fireworks display. They were suppose to have them on July 3rd, but they decided to hold off and have them today to celebrate the birth of my mother. How nice of them!

Happy Birthday to my niece Julie too. She turned 7 years old today! Time flies by too fast.

Twilight

So, I finished reading "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer today. I must say it wasn't the worst book I have ever read, but it wasn't my favorite either. The first half of the book seemed to drag on and on. It seemed like it was an endless conversation between Bella and Edward. Let's talk in the car, now let's talk in the cafeteria, now let's talk in the woods...on and on...and when Edward started asking Bella what her favorite color was I thought I was going to go crazy. I understand that they had to have conversations to get to know each other better, but a little action with the conversations would have been nice.

The second half of the book got better though. I read straight through the last 200 pages today, I couldn't put it down. I finally got to the action part of the book! I will keep reading the rest of the books. I already requested the 2nd book from the library...I'll read it as soon as it comes in. Until then I'll be reading this months book club selection, "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson.

Bright Future

Look whose future's so bright he's gotta wear shades!

Thanks for the sunglasses Grandma Sheaffer.