Slow News Day(s)

I haven't had much fun going on in my life lately. At least nothing anyone else would think is fun! I had to take a reading break (OK I was grounded from reading for a week) and actually spent time (gasp!) cleaning the house, helping kids with homework, working. You know, things responsible adults with a sense of priorities (ie NOT reading) would do.

So a couple of tidbits:

1. I talked to my mom yesterday who was shocked -- SHOCKED -- to read my answers on the Tag survey and find that I did NOT list the following songs to which I know all the lyrics. I'm sure if my sisters read the survey, they probably had the same reaction:
1. The Lonely Goatherd (OK anything from the Sound of Music soundtrack)
2. Copacabana
3. Delta Dawn

I decided what I need to do is create a list of songs I know the lyrics to. I think even I would be impressed. Stay tuned (pun intended), I'll post it someday.

2. Fisher is just a loud kid. No other way to put it. He'll get on a kick of saying something, and he'll just walk around saying whatever it is -- very loudly and over and over again. For a few days. Regardless of where he is or who else is around... Until he finds something else that sticks in his craw. A while ago it was "laugh it up fuzzball" from Star Wars. Then it was a word he made up as a sound effect for his crashing cars: Ka-BOOSH (Case picked up on this one too. Lots of fun for my ears). After that it was actually singing the theme from Star Wars (although he would get the main theme and Darth Vader's anthem mixed up and get upset with himself that he always gravitated toward the Dark Lord's song). The last couple of days it's been "This is my beloved Son. Hear Him." Talk about a difference in theme! I guess it's appropriate to be on a Christ kick, with Easter coming up and all. We'll see how long this one lasts...

3. Finally, courtesy of my sister in law Wyndi, another photo of the Curtis Family Multiples. Joe and Wyndi invited us over for some of her famous cinnamon rolls last week (Jarad has very few weaknesses - cinnamon rolls, Wyndi's in particular, are one of them). Wyndi snapped this cute picture of our two sets of twins chowing down. No doubt there was a sticky mess when they finished, but they sure were cute (and quiet!) while they were sitting together eating!

I just have to say...

In the last couple of weeks I've been consumed with reading two books: A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I am normally one to read a book and be done with it. It's a rare book that draws me in so completely that I am still thinking about it after I've started the next. But I cannot stop thinking about these books. Both of them were so well written and are really beautiful pieces of literature, but it's the stories that are haunting me. Because they're real.

Both books are disturbing, The Kite Runner a little more so. So let that be my disclaimer. And neither are particularly happy stories in the American sense. But if you want to read a really good ... REALLY GOOD ... book, pick up one of these.

Something new...

What? You're tired of reading my pithy answers to the Tag survey? I can't imagine why. So here's some new eye candy for you... Pictures of my kids.

Last Saturday was the grand finale game for the Fireballs. Fisher as player, Jarad as coach. They did awesome, and Fisher got his first hang-on-the-wall trophy (no, it's not a plaque, it's a trophy).




Fisher was invited over to his best buddy Preston's house last week to make a tie-dye shirt. Preston brought it over before school yesterday so the two musketeers could wear their matching shirts to school.



Many of my friends like to post their craftiness on their blogs. Food, scrapping stuff, etc. etc. Well, I've never been one to brag, but here's a meal I made a couple of weeks ago that was an utter disaster. So bad that EVEN I wouldn't eat it. It was supposed to be Porcupine Balls in a tomato sauce with rice. Please, no comments on that one. We ended up with cold cereal that night. I've been trying out recipes I'm finding on others' blogs, and this one... well, I'll just say it didn't make the list of meals I'll be making again.


Last night for our FHE treat we got extra fancy. Graham crackers with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. It was messy, but they had fun. I think my teeny tiny Tess has the biggest mouth of them all.

I've been tagged a million times...

And have never taken the time to do it. The surveys have been slightly different, so I've kind of compiled the questions into one. I don't even think there's anyone left to tag that hasn't already done this. Anyway, here goes:

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Finding a wedding photographer
2. Finding a wedding dress
3. Finding someone to make a wedding cake
4. Finding places for wedding receptions
5. Finding time to spend with my betrothed after doing all this planning! (we got engaged 2/3/98)

5 Things on my To Do list today:
1. Chaperone Emma’s field trip (check)
2. Fold laundry (not yet!)
3. Update the Graduate Medical Education document I’m writing for a client (thrilling stuff, let me tell ya) (did this survey instead when I sat down to work)
4. Go to the gym (lost my window when I went to Emma's field trip)
5. Go to bed early (been up since 4, thanks Case)
Man, what an unproductive day

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips (am I the only one who considers chocolate chips directly out of the bag a “snack?”)
2. Nana’s tortilla chips (thanks for the introduction Cheryl) and spinach dip
3. Hot artichoke dip
4. Bugles
5. Anything dipped in Ranch

5 Songs I know the lyrics to:
Oh, this is scary. One of my favorite Web sites is www.kissthisguy.com. It’s hilarious to see what other people hear when they listen to music.

1. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar
2. Anything by U2 (especially their old stuff)
3. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
4. Straight Up by Paula Abdul (hey, you didn’t say I have to LIKE the song too!)
5. Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann

5 Things I would do if I was a Millionaire:
1. Quit working
2. Pay off our house (and OK move into a bigger one with a big ol' yard)
3. Buy another house somewhere in the mountains (not the AZ mountains) where we could go in the summer
4. Hire a personal assistant (you know, a jack/jill of all trades: cook, clean, personal trainer, pedicurist… does such a person exist?)
5. If such a person as #4 does NOT exist, hire two assistants.

5 Bad Habits:
1. Procrastination (I got tagged for the first time probably four months ago)
2. Impatience (especially with my kids)
3. Editing other people’s blogs and emails (please don’t ever tell me if you find edits on mine, I can’t accept criticism – that’s not a bad habit, that’s a character flaw)
4. Taking everything personally (sometimes it’s hard to accept that it’s not all about me!)
5. Cracking my knuckles
6. Sarcasm. Oh sorry, that’s six. I was feeling it, ya know? Felt good to admit all my shortcomings. And certainly I only have six.

5 Things I would never wear again.
1. Parachute pants. Especially with the thighs I have now. I wouldn’t be able to hear anything but the swish swish of my pants as I walk around. Dangerous, if you ask me.
2. Puffy shirts. I’m puffy enough as it is.
3. Those big huge round tortoise shell glasses (a la Sally Jesse Raphael)
4. A bikini (I am rolling on the floor laughing at the thought of it)
5. Blue mascara (yes, it’s true. I thought it made my blue eyes “pop”)

5 of my Favorite Toys
1. My camera (Jarad calls it my boyfriend b/c I spend so much time playing with it!)
2. My computer (does it count as a toy if it’s also my livelihood?)
3. My kids (love to experiment with them. Ya know, play with their heads)
4. Everyone else’s Wii
5. My neighbor’s DVR (she’s recording all the Masterpiece Jane Austen movies for me, again, thanks Cheryl!)

5 places I have lived
1. Anchorage, AK
2. Provo, UT
3. Dallas, TX
4. NYC, New York
5. Gilbert, AZ

5 jobs I have had
1. Clerk at Beehive Books
2. Reservations agent for Princess Cruises and Tours
3. Front desk clerk Grandma’s B&B and hotel in Juneau, AK
4. Legislative staffer for an Alaska State Senator
5. Public relations consultant (I was going to say for how long, but MAN that makes me sound old)

5 things most people don’t know about me
After filling this thing out, I’m not sure there’s much left.

1. I was on the swim team and track team in Junior High. This will crack you up if you know me well.
2. I was RS president of my singles ward in Alaska before I got married. For TWO YEARS! That’s a long time for a calling like that.
3. I once stuck my bubblegum in the vat of Barbecue Beef while standing in the lunch line (6th grade). Did NOT get in any trouble. My mom couldn’t stop laughing when the principal called her. Grrr I couldn’t believe that Alison Arians told on me. I later forgave her though.
4. The first record (yes, record. It was a 45) I ever bought was Tainted Love by Soft Cell (another song I know all the lyrics to, come to think of it).
5. I met Larry Mullen, Jr. (the drummer for U2) when I lived in NYC. The only time I’ve ever been truly star struck.

I tag anyone who has gotten this far down on my post and has never filled one out. Be sure to tell me if you're going to respond, though, so I can see yours!

THE GREAT CORNHOLIO

I went today with Emma's first-grade class to the Symphony of the Southwest performance of Peter and the Wolf. I am responsible, as a chaperone, for five first graders, two of whom were (um how do I say this nicely?) "spirited." I had already told these two boys several times to keep their feet off the chairs in front of them. To stop turning around to talk to the kids behind them. To be quiet, please, and listen to the performance (which was abbreviated and narrated, so it really wasn't too much to ask of this age group).

At one point, they got curiously quiet, and I looked over at them and they both had their tee shirts pulled up over their heads, a la The Great Cornholio. It was seriously all I could do NOT to crack up and be just as disruptive as they had been earlier. I was silently dying in laughter! It was easily the high point of the field trip for me.

Isn't She Lovely?

 

We took the kids to the Riparian Preserve to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having on President's Day... I snapped a few pics of the kids at play, but this is by far my fave. Isn't Emma a beaut?

I was wrong...

Case is having a harder time than I.

g'night.