A Few Laughs

I have read some blogs the past couple of days that have really made me laugh. And since all of you aren't in the same blog "circles" I thought I would post a few links for your enjoyment:

First, Rochelle's hilarious and very disturbing BIRD SAGA. This is a three parter, so be sure to scroll down to start from the beginning.

Next is my cousin Kristin's hunt for a new family vehicle that will fit their soon to be family of seven. Dave's comments (her husband) still make me giggle when I think about them.

Enjoy! And as a side note, my psyche is in HEAVEN with this weather. I took Jaren to the park where he thoroughly enjoyed climbing up the steps and going doing the big slide BY HIMSELF. Ack!! I have a feeling my relaxing park trips where I sit on the bench and chat with friends are officially OVER.

Power of the Blog World

Okay, I am going to use this blog for something that I haven't had to use it for since the health concerns of my sister a while back: ask for the combined prayers of my readers.

This is my cousin Mandy and her husband Travis. Travis was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and they discovered yesterday that it has spread to his stomach and that it is very aggressive. They meet with the oncologist tomorrow to discuss treatment, which with start soon and be very intense. Travis is in his early 30s and they have four young children. The oldest is just a few years older than Jillise and the youngest is less than a year older than Jaren. The faith of their family is strong and they will be relying alot on the Lord and on friends and loved ones as they work through this. If you could include Travis in your prayers and ask that his body be strengthened enough to fight off this horrible disease I know they would appreciate it. Let's put our combined faith to work for this young family with so much ahead of them. Thank you!

Music and Malls

Yesterday was our district Solo and Ensemble festival. Four of my students were performing so I got to get up at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday and make the long drive to the location. It was held in this picturesque little town on the coast. I had never been there before (shocking, I know) and I couldn't have picked a more beautiful day to go. The weather was PERFECT. Sunny, clear skies, and nice Spring temperatures. My students all sang very well. My bass is returning to the state competition and one of my sopranos qualified, too. So we will begin the hard work of getting a second song performance ready. My bass student won the state competition last year (as a sophomore), so he really has to step it up to defend his title.

After the singing I headed over to the outlet malls. I scored some $90 Bass leather boots for $25, some Van Heusen dress shirts for Brian for $10 each (and a new tie) and some new church clothes for me. I am in desperate need of dress clothes. As my weight went down I was pretty good at buying jeans and pants since I wear them every day. And it doesn't really matter if t-shirts are a bit big. But it became really obvious a few weeks ago that I had NO Sunday options anymore. I can hide a "too big" skirt under a big sweater, but not so much under a thinner top. I even got a new purse, a Spring weight jacket, and a cool long black knitted cardigan. The retail price on the cardigan was $218 (it is BCBG MaxAzria and the original tags were still on it). I got it for $15. And here's the best part -- I got all that stuff for less than $150. It was truly a fantastic day.

Today the weather is living up to the word "Sunday." The Missionaries are coming for dinner and due to some alleriges I was just made aware of we won't be eating the Mexican Lasagna I had planned. Those lucky ducks get bacon wrapped steaks on the GRILL. Mmmm. I can't wait.

Countdown Tag

So, my sister in law Gloria tagged me. February must be a slow blog month because I have seen alot of tags floating around. So here it is:

10 Years Ago -- I was planning my wedding. I was a junior high teacher. I was living in Utah. I was blonde and a size 4. I had absoLUTEly no idea what life (THERE, HAYDEN!! BETTER???) would hold for me.

9 Daily Uses -- Internet. Computer. Piano. Colgate Total. Eucerin Creme. Flat Iron or Curling Iron. Microwave. Charmin Toilet Paper. Mascara.

8 Things on My To Do List -- Dishes. Clean Bathrooms. Put Folded Clothes Away. Get Ready for Solo and Ensemble Tomorrow. Purchase Plane Tickets to Utah. Dust. Exercise. Change Jaren's Diaper.

7 Places I Have Lived -- North Dakota. California. Washington. Okinawa. Virginia. New York. Illinios.

6 Things I Enjoy -- Cake. Back Rubs. Happy Children. A Completed To Do List. Laughing. A Good Book.

5 Facts You Don't Know About Me -- I still remember the long distance phone number of my best friend from elementary school. I clean my ears with a Q-Tip after every shower. I spoil my children, though I know I shouldn't. I sometimes eat gummy bears while I am making dinner, but I tell my kids they can't eat because dinner is almost ready. I can never leave a zit on my face well enough alone.

4 Jobs I've Had -- Elf at Nordstrom. Sbarros. Toilet Cleaner at BYU. Piano Teacher.

3 Bad Habits -- Sometimes I leave the dishes for the next morning. I interrupt people. I roll my eyes.

2 Books I Last Finished -- Eclipse. The Last Harry Potter Book.

1 Favorite -- Painted Toe Nails

I tag anyone who has an "A" in their first name.

I Want This

Is this not the HOTTEST little black dress?????? Ugh. I am so wishing I had someplace to wear it. Because owning this would be motivation to lose those last few pounds, strap on some sexy peep toed shoes and hit the town.

But in reality I could never own a dress like that. I couldn't wear it to church -- it would end up with goldfish crumbs in the pleats and I would have to suck in my gut while doing sharing time, which just isn't going to happen.

So until we are invited to some big event that warrents knocking everyone's socks off, I will just dream.

Cruisin' Down the Road (in 30 years)

A few weeks ago I was at the post office and parked next to me was a really nice 2008 Ford Mustang. Red, with leather seats, fancy rims, the works. As I was getting kids in the car, the owner of the car came and got in. It was a 60 year old (give or take five years) woman, with nicely done hair and attractive clothing. Not one of those women who is trying to look 30, but just someone who is well taken care of and enjoying her empty nest years.

It got me thinking: What do I see myself driving in 30 years, when the kids are gone, I am a grandma, and it is just Brian and I? Assuming that money wasn't an issue, what would I choose? Would I drive a minivan like my mom? She is SO excited to have a minivan that she can fit her grandkids in. There is a grandma in our ward that drives a pimped out 2007 Suburban. Will that be me? Driving a sportscar like the woman at the post office? I don't see myself as a pickup driver. Or driving a Cadillac. A zippy little jetta? What would I choose?

I still don't know the answer. I think I would go for some sort of luxury midsize sedan. Like a Passat (although we learned the hard way to avoid VWs -- to expensive to fix). Brian sees himself in an Audi or a BMW.

How about you? What do you see yourself driving when you don't have to drive kids anywhere and it is just you and your hubby?

"Who Am I" Tag

Edited: I guess in my Sunday fog I forgot to take off some of Rochelle's older comments. So in case you are all wondering why *I* was catching snowflakes with Jana last week TOO, I have fixed them.

Rochelle tagged me. She tagged everyone who read her blog using Google Reader. Darn that Google Reader. I knew it would get me in trouble sooner or later... So here is more about me than you care to know:

My nickname growing up was... Paige. I never really had a nickname that stuck. I always wanted one, though.

My moms' name is Karla

I was born in North Dakota

What do you do to relax?? watch Project Runway, read Us Weekly or Shape/Fitness magazine

Favorite smell? Clean fruity/citrus-y smells. And Spring. I *love* the smell of Spring.

Favorite food?? A really good, well cooked steak

Favorite pie? I prefer cake.

Favorite holiday? Christmas

Favorite vacation spot? We don't normally "vacation." I loved Disneyland.

Favorite dessert? Creme Brulee. Or Maple Walnut Brownie from Applebees.

Favorite movie? While You Were Sleeping Favorite day of the week? Friday

Favorite salad dressing? Ceasar

Favorite brand of body wash?? Dial Antibacterial

Favorite toothpaste?? Colgate Total

My favorite gem? The Diamond is my birthstone. Can't go wrong with Diamonds.

Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle?? Four Doors

Favorite number?? Um, nine?

How do you see yourself in 10 years?? Pulling my hair out because I will have two emotional teenagers and a cubscout.

(X) Gone on a blind date ?

(X) Skipped school? (Don't worry, mom. We went to the Fort Stanwix celebration. Weee!)

() Watched someone die?

(X) Been to Canada? A couple of times.

() Been to Mexico?

() Been to Florida?

(X) Been on a plane?

(X) Been lost? When I was two or three.

(X) Been on the opposite side of the country?

(X) Gone to Washington DC?

(X) Swam in the ocean?

(X) Cried yourself to sleep?

(X) Played cops and robber?

(X) Recently colored with crayons?

(X) Sang Karaoke? Not well.

() Paid for a meal with coins only?

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Daily.

(X) Made prank phone calls? We used to call 1-800-holiday and try to make fake reservations. We were such dorks

(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose? Grape juice. In first grade.

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue?

() Danced in the rain?

(X) Written a letter to Santa Clause?

() Been kissed under the mistletoe?

(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about?

(X) Blown bubbles?

(X) Gone ice-skating?

() Been skinny dipping outdoors?

(X) Gone to the movies?

() Body Piercings?

() Ever been to Africa?

(X) Ever eaten cookies for dinner?

(X) Ever been in a car accident?

(X) Ever been on TV?

() Ever steal any traffic signs??

What's in a Name?

Shannon and I were on the same wavelength today. I surfed across this site and wrote it down to do a blog on this week after people had a chance to read my randomness from yesterday. She beat me to it. Oh, well. Enjoy!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I love my name. People often will tell me what a nice "ring" my first and last names have. I tell them I lucked into it. My maiden name was hard to spell and hard to pronounce. I liked it, but I was grateful to marry into a name that people know how to say correctly and that doesn't sound like a female undergarment when said over a loudspeaker in junior high. But I digress.

There are 28,828 people in the U.S. with the first name of Paige. I am going to assume that 23,000 of them are under the age of ten. There weren't many girls with my name growing up.

There are 54,621 with my last name. They are all Brian's cousins. Ha! Just kidding. Only 50,000 of them are.

There are 5,553 people with my maiden name. That's not many. My grandma has hundreds and hundreds of years of genealogy of that last name. You'd think there would be more descendents that that.

I was the only person in the U.S. with my first name and maiden name. I always knew I was special. :) What about you? How many name doppelgamers do you have?

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That...

Reason #497 that I *heart* blogging -- finding old friends. I checked a friend's blog yesterday morning and happened to notice a new name on her blog roll -- the name of another old friend whom I hadn't heard from lately. So I click to check out her space, see cute pics of her kids, find out her hubby got a new job, blah blah blah... Then I check out HER blog roll and TA DA!!! The Holy Grail of blog rolls from my old ward. It was SO fun to know what these gals were up to. Our old ward was much like my current ward -- tons of young families with little kids of similar ages. Incredibly beautiful, funny, talented, kind women. We wanted SO badly to stay in that ward, but it wasn't exactly "new home buyer" friendly. So we moved, knowing from past experiences that we may end up in a ward with NO young families and very few friends. But lucky for us our new ward was just as great and I think we got to feel even more at home here because we owned our house and knew that we would be putting down long term roots.

Needless to say, yesterday wasn't super productive. I spent it looking at pictures of new homes, growing children, new babies, and cool vacations. I left several comments and I hope that they remember me so I don't freak them out. My Google Reader list grew by about a dozen yesterday. And I LOVE that I can do a three hour phone conversation of "catching up" without the three hours. And I can leave a comment, let them know I miss them, and they can come over here and do the same thing.
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*sigh* Jillise *sigh* Future brooding teenager. Future black lipstick wearing emo. AHHHHHH!!! On Tuesday we were on our way to school. It had been a totally fine, normal morning. She was telling me in the car about how they are putting new carpet in the music room. How the man installing it is the same one who cleaned up her throwup when she threw up in the classroom... uh, oh... that reminded her of when she threw up at school. We get to the front of the school for her to get out and she BURSTS into tears. She is an hysterical mess, doesn't want to get out, is scared, her tummy hurts... so I pull into a side parking lot and try to calm her down. I am 90% sure she is physically fine, but there are enough of our friends who are sick that I don't want to be wrong. So we head home and the whole time I am telling her that if she goes home, she is spending the day in bed. No TV or computer. She decides she wants to go to school. We loop back around and we have an exact replay of the previous five minutes. So we head home and I am furious. She cannot be reasoned with. It is like the first day of soccer or the ballet recital fiasco. Except it is NOT the first time she has done something, she knows the situation, and she is totally all worked up for nothing. We come home, she gets on her pjs, and after an hour in her room she is totally bored. Wants to go to school. Take three -- same outcome. In my attempt to make her realize that she is freaking out for no reason I tell her that if she doesn't go to school, she has to miss ballet on Thursday and the ballet Valentines party. Oops, didn't work. So we head home, she spends the day in bed. and she didn't go to ballet yesterday.

Wednesday was shaping up to be a repeat, but my good friend Michelle offered to take her to school to ward off a freak out and it worked. Jillise was a blubbery mess until Michelle drove off, then she snapped out of it like nothing happened. Eye yi yi...
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Joelle is single handedly cluttering my home. Okay, maybe not SINGLE handedly, but she is driving me bonkers with her need to have six or seven stuffed animals or babies with her all. the. time. She tries to bring them in the car, eat with her at the table, sleep with her at night. Then she will leave them on the couch and when she realizes she doesn't have them any more she will go get more. We have WAY too many stuffed animals and babies. I am trying to get rid of some. This caused tons of tears from both girls, even though the animals in the pile hadn't been played with in months. But what do you DO with stuffed animals? Goodwill doesn't want them. But I fell horrible throwing them away. I tried to see if I could sell some of the really nice ones (like our complete Winnie the Pooh set from the Disney Store that is like-new) but they are only going for a few bucks. It would be more to ship it than to sell it. So we have a huge trash bag of them in the garage, waiting for me to figure out what to do.
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Jaren. There is hope yet for him to not be shorter than his ginormous sisters. At his 19 month appointment this week (we got "snowed out" of his 18 month) he weighed 25 lbs, (about the 45th percentile) and he was 34" tall. Woo hoo!!! That is the 85% for height. Up until this appointment he had been below the 50th. Now there is nothing wrong with being short, but when your sisters are on the taller side and your Dad is a basketball FREAK it would be a hit to your self esteem to have to be the boy who cleans the sweat off of the court instead of one of the players. The doctor was pleased with his vocabulary and he is walking quite well now. He has decided that he loves to be rocked before bed, which is fine by me. He just snuggles on my shoulder and we rock in his room. Even if it is only for a minute, he will lay right down for bed if he is rocked first. He has also started to nod his head for "yes" instead of just shake for no. It is so cute to ask him if he is my buddy and have him smile and nod his head. I love this boy!
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Valentines Day has come and gone. I didn't do much for it this year. Last year I went all out and made a themed dinner for the kids. Not this year. I was kind of a grump. They had Burgerville, played the new Wii game with Brian (Playground -- pretty fun, though some of the games are hard), and they were in bed at 7:00. Brian and I had our traditional Omaha Steaks and potatoes. Yummy. I got some beautiful pink roses from Brian and a surprise flower delivery from my dad. It was very sweet. The kids got cards and balloons and Webkinz.
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Last but not least. (I'm sorry this post is SO long. I have a list of little things I have wanted to mention and I just want to knock it all out. Rochelle, I will do your tag tomorrow!) Have any of you felt the massive need to get your spiritual life in order NOW? I am not the best at reading my scriptures and saying daily prayers. But I am not the worst, either. We do FHE, I fulfil my calling, I attend the temple, and I feel that I keep my temple covenants. But the past few weeks I have felt the Spirit SO strong at random times during the day. I will be reading or singing a song and I will almost feel that I need to cry. And I just feel that I am being prompted to pray RIGHT NOW and better my act. And this has constantly been happening. I am trying to get two songs ready to sing at church functions in the next few weeks and I am seriously wondering if I am going to be able to get through it with out becoming a blubbery mess. I don't know if this was brought on by President Hinckley's passing, or what. I don't know if I am being prepared for something, or if it is just my spirit trying to get me to shape up. No need to respond to this part. I guess I just wanted to get this out there and document that I do feel the Holy Ghost in my life and that he does prompt me to be better and to do more. And whether it be because I just need to be a stronger mother or woman or friend, or whether it be to prepare me for a new calling, or a new challenge -- I am trying to heed that prompting. The Hinckley Challenge has come at a good time for me obviously. To finish the Book of Mormon by Jillise's birthday will "force" me to be a better reader and to make that a habit. I am grateful for the chance to do it. :)

Babysitting Poll Results

The answers are in! According to my totally unscientific poll which was taken by 27 of you;

3% pay $3/hour
22% pay $4/hour
55% pay $5/hour
3% pay $6/hour
11% pay $7/hour or more
3% answered "other"

And of both of the teens who responded said they got paid "just right." Though if they had to wipe the neon green snot coming out of Jaren's nose right now they would have put YOU COULD NOT PAY ME ENOUGH.

I am so ready for spring. After hearing rumors that the flower bulbs were starting to pop up I went out and inspected my own feeble attempt at a flower bed. Sure enough -- they are peeking through. Unfortunately, every year they try to come up this early they are frozen to death by a deep freeze which always seems to hit in late February or early March. It's a right of passage for the tulips, I guess. Survival of the fittest and all that.

Due to the nuclear goo coming out of Jarens nose he wasn't able to go to nursery yesterday. So we spent the last hour doing laps around the church. I was in short sleeves and it was SO nice to be comfortably chilly. The ground was dry, the birds were singing... Jaren was in heaven. Come on APRIL!! You can't get here too soon for my taste.

Book Tag

I was tagged by Shannon. This tag is different from all of those I have seen. Here's how it works:

1. Pick up the nearest book (one of at least 123 pages)

2. Open the page to 123

3. Find the 5th sentence.

4. Post the next 3 sentences

5. Tag 5 people.

The book closest to me is Wicked, by Gregory Maguire. I have not read this entire book. I don't even recommend it. I *love* the musical. How they got such great inspiration from this book is beyond me. I RARELY start a book and not finish it. I did that with this book. It's very weird, a bit raunchy, and just overall icky. The musical is not like that. I am hoping that page 123 is an okay page...

"So the boys took to swimming and rowing with the girls. Boq tried to fan in himself an interest in Shenshen or Pfannee, who certainly were coquettish enough. But they both seemed besotted with Avaric."

I tag Bonnie, Jodi, Terica, Sariah, and TEACHER JILL (who needs to come out of the blogging closet and just start posting comments. :)

Poll

I know that those of you using Google Reader weren't sent an update when I put my babysitting polls up. So please come on over to the site and answer them real quick -- even all you lurkers. I'm curious to see the answers.

And sorry about the lack of tunes the past few days. I logged on to my site the other day and some strange playlist was playing. I refreshed and someone ELSE'S playlist was there. So I took it off and reinstalled it. We'll see if it works. My apologies if you end up listening to Notorious B.I.G. or something.

BabySitters

My cousin-in-law had a post a few weeks back about babysitters that I found very interesting and I would like to know the experience of my friends and family.

She says that when she was babysitting in her youth, she was always responsible to get herself to a babysitting job, then one of the parents would always take her home. Now as an adult, she expects the same thing. She was surprised when she was trying to make babysitting arrangements and a girl wanted Kristin (my cousin's wife) to come pick her up. Ultimately, Kristin found a new sitter whose mother would drive her to the babysitting job. Kristin sees babysitting as a job (which it is) and when you have a job, you are responsible for your own transportation. And when we are getting ready to go, it is rarely convenient to pile all the kids in the car to go pick someone up. Fair argument.

I never assume that a girl is going to get herself to my house. Sometimes she will call me and say that her mom will bring her by and I am always very grateful, but I never expect it. Picking a girl up usually adds 10 minutes to my prep time, but I usually have it worked in to my schedule. Then I brief the girl on the plans while we ride home. I DO view babysitting as a job, but I also feel that the girl is doing me a favor by accepting the job. Since she is making it possible for me to go out, I am happy to pick her up. Without her, I would be unable to go at all. She could certainly say no -- I'm sure that hanging out with friends on a Friday is way more fun than making mac and cheese and playing Candy Land. I like to think that I pay well. I have well behaved kids and they go to bed early, so I think that sitting for me is a fairly easy and relatively enjoyable experience. There are far worse ways to earn $25.

Kristin had quite a few responses on her blog of women who felt the way she did -- that girls should provide their own transportation to the "job." How do you feel? How was it where you grew up? Is this a regional thing? A social class thing? I am curious. And Kristin -- I am interested to know if you will still feel the same way in six or seven years when your oldest begins babysitting and it is YOU that is piling all the kids in the car to take her to her jobs. Then again in five MORE years when you have THREE girls that will be babysitting and they all have to be different places at different times. I don't mean this to be argumentative, but I think of some of the families in our ward who have more than one or two young women who may be babysitting on the same night. I don't think that I want to be driving my girls to jobs when they are old enough. I guess my attitude is that if you want them to babysit, you can come get them!!

So, you all know how *I* feel -- how about you? If you aren't in my area and you feel comfortable telling me where you live or where you grew babysat growing up and what your experiences are, I would love to hear them and do a little "non scientific poll." Maybe I am just out in left field. And I hope I didn't offend anyone with my thoughts. Someone on Kristin's page strongly disagreed with my thought that the girls are doing me a favor. I still say that they are. Because if all of them opted to stay home I would have no social life at all.

In Loving Memory

I am shamelessly copying this from Rochelle's blog. I would love to encourage everyone -- including those not of my faith -- to watch this short tribute to a great man. The speaker is Gordon B. Hinckley and it is from a talk he gave to all of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints two years ago. No matter what you believe, who or how you worship, you can't help but be inspired to be a better person after hearing his words. Don'tforget to pause my music player at the bottom of the blog before you push play on the video.

Joelle Funny

Joelle is forever saying clever and witty things that keep us in stitches. Of course I am not very good at writing them down. But Brian told me this one from last night and I HAVE to preserve it for my sake and for Jillise's.

Last night Jillise was being pretty crabby (her usual M.O. as of late). She was asked to give the blessing on the food before dinner and at one point said, "And help me to not be..." and she evidentally paused long enough for Joelle to say, "grumpy." Which of course caused Jillise to get angry and say,"Jo-ELLE!!" Then she finished her prayer, "help me not to do what I was just doing..." Poor Jillise. I fear that she inherited far too much of me. She is destined to a life of short tempers and stinkpot little siblings. She is doomed.

The Boy

Yesterday Jaren was in rare form during my piano lessons. I gave him a little baggie of goldfish crackers to distract him in the kitchen. All of a sudden I hear HUGE peals of laughter and Jaren is clapping and screaming. I go into the kitchen and this is what I see:

Jaren was shaking the bag and waving it around in such a violent manner that the goldfish were flying all over the place. Which of course is WAY fun for an 18 month old boy. The sound they make as they hit the floor and break into pieces, the feel of them falling all over his head, and the natural feeling of accomplishment that comes from making a huge mess.

When he was done eating them off the floor (way more fun than out of a little baggie -- and don't worry, I had mopped that day) he proceeded to bring to the piano every shoe he could find. I think he is so proud of his newly discovered walking abilities that he just likes to carry things around BECAUSE HE CAN. I was hoping to catch him coming around the corner with another shoe, but this time he just had a crayon or something in his hand.

He has been so extra cute lately. He is really working on trying to communicate -- like signing 'more' and shaking his head for yes and no. He can point to several body parts if you ask him. He loves to wear his UNC hat and and if you say "GO TARHEELS!" He'll raise his hands in the air and scream something with three syllables. He still loves to share his food with the dog. He still loves crashing things into other things. We had to give his walk-behind toy away because he was running with it full speed into the kitchen cabinets (on purpose) because he loved the loud noise it made. But it was a three wheeled toy and not designed for high speeds, so sometimes it would tip over and send him flying.

Jaren loves shoes. He brings me his shoes and socks for me to put on him. He can say shoe (shee) and sock. I LOVE this age where they seem to pick up something new every day. He enjoys being in the new car. He will sit in his seat with a huge grin on his face, thinking he is hot stuff -- cruisin' with his homies. I sure love this kid. It was a bumpy ride at times, but I'm glad that he is part of our wild, disfunctional family!