For the Record

I don't think it is really necessary to confess at this point that I am not very good at color coordinating because really... anyone who knows me or frankly who has seen me... or even glanced at me would tell you this. Sadly, this curse has extended to my children by virtue of the fact that as their mother it is my responsibility to choose their clothes.

I'm sure at some future point as happens with all parents when children accuse their parents of messing them up in one way or another they will be able to add onto the pile of accusations their lack of color coordination.

I cannot, however, take credit for dressing Smiley in the following outfit...


He is solely responsible for the horrible sweater and vest combination and after I stopped laughing I changed him into something less hideous (even I recognized it was bad).

But after I thought about it I was rather concerned... his choice of clothing could still be my fault... I thought back to what I was wearing just the other night...blue jammie pants, a pink shirt and a red hoodie. The pink shirt was part of my outfit I had been wearing during the day, but it was getting close to bedtime so I threw on the closest jammie pants available which were cream and blue but it was chilly in the house and I needed something warm for my arms so I grabbed the closest hoodie which was red. So can you really blame Smiley for his lack of fashion sense when his mom is all about comfort???

Poor kid.

A Brief Pause

If you had noticed my post has not changed for a number of days and I'm sorry I have not had a chance to blog hop the last week or so. I think I am experiencing blogging withdrawal symptoms. I really don't have time now to post and feel guilty as I listen to the sounds of my husband scrubbing the shower in the boys bathroom. It doesn't sound like it is going well - he just remembered that the shower head is broken - hahaha!!! wait... darn it!!! my sister is on her way tomorrow... better get that fixed!!! add that to my list and my guilt for blogging when I should be doing other things to prepare for her arrival.

You see... she is painting a huge part of my upstairs. I just can't wait! I have been living in chaos for some time now and it will be soooo nice to have it over with.

I don't know that I will enjoy it for long however, because we have been house hunting the last few weeks. Smiley and I went for a drive the other day to look at houses and before racing back to get him ready for pre-school we saw some horses in a field. I couldn't resist stopping for just a moment - it looked so beautiful. I only had my point and shoot with me but I did my best. I think horses are beautiful and Smiley quietly waved hello to them so as not to scare them.



After our brief interlude it was back in the car to race home, get ready for school, tackle my laundry room disaster (Smiley was down to his last shirt and pair of underwear), pick up kids from their off-track activity, get Giggles from school and spend 4 more hours with a real estate agent looking at prospective homes.

Maybe if I can hold that mental picture of the serenity of that field and the horses in my mind I can make it through the insane business of this week. My fingers are crossed.

Well, must close... tomorrow is Smiley's birthday and pancakes are on the agenda for breakfast as is going to the Draper temple open house so it will be an early morning.

Random Act of Kindness

Don't you just love when someone does something kind unexpectedly like hold the door open for you when your hands are full, let you in when you are driving and you are in a hurry, do the dishes when you didn't ask them to, or in our case give you a gift in Target.

Smiley and I were shopping in Target and while I pushed him through the store in the cart we talked, I tickled him and Smiley kept telling me Spiderman was lurking around every clothing rack or t-shirt display. This then turned into Smiley and I pretending to be Spiderman and Venom spraying each other with our pretend webs from our hands and "catching" each other. This went on all the way up to the check out stand. There was only one lady in front of us buying some items. I "caught" Venom and told him I put him in jail and he couldn't get out. He continued to "spray" me with his webs though. He's persistent and busted out of my reinforced jail anyways.

I had to pause and pay for my items included my Milky Way that Venom wanted for himself but Spiderman insisted was for for him (me) after all Venom has a treat bag at home that Aunt April and Grandma G. replenish often with their packages (that's not a hint by the way... the treat bag is plenty full).

On our way to the exit, the woman who had been in line in front of us took a toy out of her bag and handed it to Smiley and said "I got this for you."

Smiley gave an appropriate gasp of adoration for this Ben 10 toy called Brain Storm and he was so enthralled it took a couple of prompts to get the thank you out.

She introduced herself as Cherish. Well Cherish, we will cherish this random act of kindness. THANK YOU!!!

The Good Old Days???

Yesterday I was going through some pictures and papers and bust out laughing when I found some notes from high school. I believe I have confessed in a prior post that I am a pack rat much to my husband's frustration. I do try to D.I. a few things every couple of months but unfortunately I'm accumulating quicker than I'm getting rid of things.

Anywhoo, I thought I had a crystal clear memory of high school which was one of depression, long hours of staying up late trying to figure out math only to go to bed crying, 3 years pining after a guy in high school who was also a good friend etc. etc. What I had forgotten was writing notes back and forth to one very smart classmate Shaun Sayers. I specifically remember Shaun in English class having all the answers and he was funny and always smiling. Apparently we exchanged a lot of notes because yesterday I was laughing as I read them. Here is one example of a note he wrote to me:

CAUTION: The following events, characters, and statements are fictional and are definitely not to be taken seriously. Any similarities between this crap and real life events are coincidental. Really.
WARNING: This is only a joke.
NOTE: Not to be taken personally.
IMPORTANT: I strongly urge you not to read this if your name is Robin, Dweebo Jones, or any combination or similarity thereof wherein, hitherto.

Let's begin now....
This is a survey conducted to discover the views and opinions of the world on the subject of Robin:

Question - What do you think of Robin?

And the response:

"Oh, she's really nice. And interesting, yeh. Um considerate, really considerate. Uh interesting, did I say she was interesting?"
-Shaun Sayer-

"She's ... interesting. Oh - uh - different. And nice, too. Really, really, really nice. " - Vicky Woods - "Really."

Question #2: Yes, but what do you really think? Keep in mind you may remain anonymous.

And the response:

"I really can't say. She'd break both my legs" Vicki Woods -I mean.. anonymous

"She wouldn't be so bad if she had a chin" - anonymous -

"Well, she's gross, but don't tell her I said that." - anonymous -

"She's boring and redundant but don't tell her I said that, she'll break my legs." - anonymous-

"a sweet and wonderful human being" -Robin Crouch-

"She's a rascal, that one is. I'm telling you, the first slip up she makes, the first chance I get and she'll be out on her.. uh, behind." "A real trouble maker" - Mr. Robb- (high school principal)

"Who's Robin?" - Andrew M.- (my high school crush)

"Talk about wimpy" Medwin Meyers III - head of the chess club and computer club, president of the library club (I was also a member of the library club)

"I think she's beautiful" - Woody Allen -

"I just want her out of the country. That's all OUT!" - Brian Mulroney- (Canada's Prime Minister at the time)

"Ah yes, Robin, she enlightens the room with her glittering charm and rare charisma. Such an intelligent person.. did I get it right, Bonzo?" - Ronald Reagan-

"No you idiot you got it backwards." - Bonzo

"She's too religious." - God-


Shaun and I bantered back and forth in our notes with sarcasm, teasing, high praise, low jibes, and flourishing words. After a long summer he sent me a note in English class entitled ESSAY: Why Robin is a goddess, and how we can cope with being her slave.

I always was more comfortable with guys as a teenager and they saw me as their "buddy" who helped them with their girlfriend problems. Shaun was no exception apparently because I have a note from him thanking me for helping him with a girl.

Sometimes I think I'm crazy for keeping things but I'm so glad that I kept these notes and other notes that I found from friends to remind me that there were some good moments and some things and some people that did make me smile. Sometimes we let the moment overshadow all of our moments. I let my whole teenage years be painted with the same dark brush of depression and loneliness that lasted a significant amount of time but not the whole time. There were moments of happiness and there were things that I enjoyed... theatre arts, dance classes, church dances, youth leadership, hanging out with Jen, Rick and Andrew in the cafeteria eating fries and gravy and writing notes to Shaun instead of listening to my English teacher who hated me.

I wouldn't go back to being a teenager. But perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. Maybe as I go through more of my notes and things it will change my perspective on my teenage years even more.

I'm so grateful for the life I have now and the perspective I have now. It too needs work on some days but I have a great husband with an incredible attitude that sets me straight when I'm going off-track.

On The Dot

Just wanted to highlight my latest blogging buddy to be added to my list in case you hadn't notice that someone was added.

Rebecca is my latest blogging buddy and has a blog as well as website with cute scrapbooking items for those who love to scrapbook. Her blog is called onthedotpaper.blogspot.com and her scrapbooking website is called onthedotpaper.com

Click on her link below in my blogging buddies list and check her blog out!!! For her website just type in the web address above

You'll be glad you did!

Fun with Friends

Last night we were invited out with our friends Alicia and T.J. (its actually just TJ - I put the periods in to bug him... hey what does T.J. stand for anyways????) We went to the Jazz vs New Orleans Hornets game. GO JAZZ!!!

I guess I haven't watched the Jazz for a long time (not that I'm a sports fan or anything) but the only player I recognized was Kirolenko (did I spell that right???).

We started out with a great dinner and I must admit I ate WAY too much (but then who doesn't at a buffet? ) Our seats were fantastic and it felt like you were right there on the court.



Although initially I was a little distracted by the glare in front of me.




The game did get close in the third quarter. I asked T.J. what the point spread was and he held up two fingers. (its a good thing it wasn't a one point difference.) hahaha!!!



Alicia was making some weird gestures with her hands at first to distract the opposing team.



I was trying to figure out what she was doing when I looked around and realized that she was using her fists as "clappers".




The Jazz pulled ahead in the end though and even for someone who does not follow basketball it was a great game and a fun time. Thanks Alicia and T.J. for letting us tag along for a great night!

Funk

No I'm not referring to funky music or funky feet ( although with 4 boys and a husband there are plenty of funky feet and other funky smells to go around).

My blog post has not changed for a few days because I, myself, have been in a funk. Blame it on the weather, blame it on the fact that every night I go to bed depressed that another day has passed without having sewn an inch on a pile of quilts calling out to me to be completed. Why won't you finish us????? And if I DO find a few precious minutes I'm so dang tired from all the running around or other daily mom things that I don't have the energy to sew. Or you can blame my funk on my dread of my hubby going out of town AGAIN. -sigh-.

So I was in need of some photo therapy today and took Smiley into our backyard for a few brief minutes because I loved the way the fence looked so dark while it is damp. I couldn't take too long because our gourmet dinner was cooking on the stove (Chef Borardee).

Smiley was obliging with some serious poses ...





and of course he comes by his blog namesake honestly for when I asked him to smile...