Through The Looking Glass

Last week I did a post with a video from "The Office" on it. While looking for that particular video on You Tube, I stumbled on another little clip from The Office. Upon viewing this video, I had a startling realization. First of all, I thought the video was hilarious. So I proceeded to watch it. Over and over again. Zac was in the room with me and he was really getting annoyed. He asked why I kept watching it over and over and I told him it was because I thought it was funny. He then told me if I thought that was funny then my sense of humor was messed up. I wasn't being completely truthful with him. Yes, I did think it was funny. But there was another reason for the repeated viewing. Sigh.....I felt like I was watching myself. (anguished cry) I....think......I might be like.....Andy.....on the Office.....and he is really annoying.......soooooo.....
does that mean I am really annoying too?

Monday Morning Musings - Roly Poly Pell Mell Tumble Bumble

The title of this post really has nothing to do with the actual post. It is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite books. When I was trying to think of a title, that's all that came to me.

I don't want to steal anyone's thunder in announcing the birth of a new sweet baby boy, but I asked her if I could talk about it on my blog and she said yes. I have a new nephew as of this morning. He wasn't due until Wednesday. Kristy had placenta previa and the baby had turned again so he was breach (naughty little booger, after all those positive turning vibes your mommy was sending you). They had to do an emergency C-section early this morning. Both mommy and baby are doing well now. I hear he is very cute and weighs 7 lbs. and is 21 inches long. He is at the moment nameless. He has a maybe name, but I won't tell you what it is. I will let them do that when they have decided.

I think I might have made a mistake by letting my kids see the P-13 Indiana Jones movie. Now every time there is a PG-13 movie they want to see, they ask if they can see it. I say "NO! It's PG-13". And of course they reply, "but you let us see Indiana Jones and it was PG-13". It's really becoming irritating.

People keep dumping their junk in our dumpster at our new house. It is really beginning to tick me off. I really want to make a sign to hang on it that says:

"Please quit putting your crap in our dumpster.

I'm sick and tired of paying to haul away your stuff.

One of these days we will be your neighbors

and I hope you feel guilty every time you look at us!"

But I am afraid if we make people angry, they will do something worse than dumping junk in the dumpster. There was so much stuff in it the other day I told Steve I wanted to load it all up and drive to the main road that comes into the neighborhood and just dump it in the street. He wouldn't let me though. At least they are kind enough to put it in the dumpster now. Before we had a dumpster they just dumped their junk in the yard. What is wrong with people that makes them think that that is OK to do?

Before we got all the door and windows on the house we used to have this kid who would come in and vandalize the house. He never did anything really bad. But one day he made the mistake of writing his name really big in caulk. I think it was Carson or something like that. When that happened I really wanted to make a bunch of signs and hang them all over the neighborhood that said:

"If you have a child named Carson, he is vandalizing my new house and I would appreciate it if you would try and show some parental supervision"

But again, Steve took all the fun out it. He thought it was best not to upset sweet little Carson for fear that his harmless vandalization turn harmful. I still can't wait until the first day we go to church and meet a kid named Carson though.......

No Yolk!

Conversation with Zac tonight:

Zac: Mom, do you know that egg shells are actually really hard?

Me: Really?

Zac: Yeah. You know that carton of eggs? You could actually stand on it and not break any eggs.

Me: Really?

Zac: Yeah. I learned it on Reading Rainbow.

Me: Really?

Me, thinking to myself: .......that carton of eggs, eggs, Costco, tonight, that carton of eggs, five dozen, zac, eggs, car, refrigerator, that carton of eggs.......

Me: Zac. Did you stand on my carton of eggs?

Zac: Yeeeeeeeeees. But very lightly.

Flashback Friday - Hangin' With Grandpa

Aubrey, Emily, Zac and Roy: AKA Grandpa

Christmas 2003

Green Thumbs And Erasure

So we are having an open house tomorrow. I am bound and determined to sell my house this weekend. I have been killing myself getting ready for it. I spent the last two days doing yard work. YARD WORK. I don't do yard work. Um mmm, that is not my thang. I have had friends tell me that they think gardening and yard work is relaxing. And I'm thinkin', what in the sam heck are you doin' in your regular life that makes you think gardening and yard work is relaxing???? I have bought plants and flowers (potted-cause that way the work is already done for me) to put around the house and patio areas for past open houses. And then, when the next open house comes along, I take the dead stuff back to the store and get new ones. Just like yesterday, I took what appeared to be the remains of a palm tree back. I think it is fabulous for stores to make exceptions for people like me. You don't even have to save your receipt. If you pay with a debit or credit card, they can just look it up that way.

Anyhoo, I actually planted flowers in my flower bed. Which I am not very happy about. They look nice if you are standing just a few feet away from them. The problemo is I picked purple flowers and I didn't really think it through. I should have picked something that popped more. I looked for red but the red (cheap) flowers they had looked slightly evil and the purple ones were the only ones I liked. But you can't really see them from the street. Oh well, next open house I'll just yank them up and take them back and get new ones. Although there won't be another open house because I am selling the house tomorrow. I forgot. Anyway, I have to keep these puppies alive cause I am not doin' that again. Ever.

Current song stuck in my head:


Which inevitably makes me wish there was more of this goin' on in TV land right now:

(sorry this is the best video I could find)

Thinkin' Thursday - G'day Mate!

Global Warming Extremism At It's Best:

ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has on their website a fun little children's section. One of their games is called "Professor Schpinkee's Greenhouse Calculator". Children can answer a series of questions about their everyday life. The computer then calculates their answers and tells them what age they should die so they don't use more than their fair share of the earth's resources. Seriously. I'm not kidding. It told me I should have died at age 16. Oops, I've now used more than double my fair share! I am a useless, worthless piggy individual. What age should you die? Click here to play the fun game and find out. And then, you can go grab your kids and let them find out when they should die too. It could be a fun family activity.

WebCam Wednesday - Hola from Elder Snow

Yep, you read it right. I have a new weekly post. Don't worry, sooner or later I will run out of days of the week, and you will all be safe. (If you couldn't tell, I have this thing for alliteration.)Anyway, I was given a flip camera by my father for Christmas. He loved reading his daughters blogs everyday and he wanted to give us a handy way of sharing video. I feel bad that I didn't post more videos for him to see. But I have decided to bless you all with a little sneak peek into our everyday lives. Hence the birth of WebCam Wednesday.

For today's video I have chosen this little video taken on Mother's Day. My brother Sam is serving a mission in Mexico City. He was able to call home and talk to us all on Mother's Day. My mom did have to remind us that he called to talk to her (some of us were a little piggy with the phone-Stephen). We loved hearing his voice with his newly acquired Espanol accent. Only 3 1/2 more months and he will make his way back to us and we can see him in the flesh. But for now, this is all we got: (sorry my children are so obnoxiously loud-welcome to my everyday)

(I just remembered why I don't post more video. It takes a very looooong time to upload. I might have to rethink this whole Wednesday thing.)

Baby Jam

Addy listening to mommy's iPod.

Monday Morning Musings - Finally Gettin' Around To It

I just finished folding 5 loads of laundry, which probably shouldn't have even been folded because they have been all squished up in the laundry basket for so long. I have about 5 loads of towels that still need to be folded. I have a load in the washer, one in the dryer, and 8 loads sorted but dirty sitting on the laundry room floor. In the book I am reading, it takes place in the 1100's, and there is a monk and he is talking about how it has been like 6 months since he changed his clothes. I am very tempted......but then I read on about how lice and boils are a regular part of everyday life back then, and so I continue to bathe and change my clothes on a daily basis. Good old 21st century living, every things gotta be so clean.

Speaking of laundry.....SOCKS! I don't mate socks. I like my socks to live a celibate life. So I don't buy any cutsie, colored socks. Everyone has white, and everyone has only one kind of sock. That way when I do laundry I just put all Emily's socks in a pile, all of Zac's in a pile, and so on. Then I don't have to worry about there being an even amount or finding the matches. Only problem is they don't sell a package of all white socks for feet of Addison's proportions. That really irritates me. I bought a pack that had mostly white but still had some colored. I am really tempted to just throw the colored one's away.

While we are on the subject of socks being irritating, Steve has sock issues. He has this thing about buying new socks. He usually buys them when he is out of town on a job and feels the need to buy more....for some reason...I don't know. His problem is, he buys a different kind every time. That really goes against my one kind per person rule (he doesn't feel the need to conform to any of my rules, you unruly man you!) (that was said with my fist raised and shaking, just in case you didn't get it right). So if you thought I was irritated by trying to find the matches to Addison's socks, you should see how irritated I get when I have 20 different stacks of Steve's socks all over my laundry room table. Oh no, I'm not even slightly exaggerating. He has 20 different kinds of socks. And he likes to switch 'em up everyday.

I just went back and read that paragraph and I couldn't even make it past the first sentence. You know, the one where I said Steve has sock issues. I hate to admit it, but I could be the one with sock issues.

I bought a couple pairs of new capris the other day. And they both have the kind of waist doer upper things (I don't know what else to call it) that have the zipper, then a button above the zipper, then they have the part that goes over and fastens to the side. You know what I'm talkin' about? Well, I am used to pulling up my pants and only having to perform 2 tasks to get them all done up. Adding a third thing is really throwing me off my game. I find my zipper unzipped quite regularly. Ya know, cause I do the button, do the other fastener, and well, that's 1, 2 things done, and I think I am done. But really, I'm not.

Anyway.......maybe I should talk about something other than laundry.

The other day I Steve and I heard a song. And it was an old song, but someone had remade it. And I said, "Turn that off, they have totally screwed that song up". And Steve had never heard the song before and I said, yes you have to have heard it before, everyone has. And so I sang it for him, but he still said he had never heard it. And he asked me how old it was. And so I started doing the math. And it was from the 60's and, well, do you know that the 60's were FIFTY years ago. I mean, I know I wasn't even alive then (although Steve was), but most of my favorite songs are from then. So that means that the music I listen to is FIFTY years old. And when I think of it that way, it makes me feel really old.

Oh, and Karri Bertrand, if you are reading this, I just saw your comments in my picasa album. E-mail me! I'll put my e-mail in the comments of this post. And anyone else who wants to e-mail me too, feel free!

It's A River In Egypt. Oh, And By The Way, Happy Fathers Day.

Has it really been five months?

I have had that phone call before.

"Allyson, there is something wrong with your dad. They don't know if it is a heart attack or what but they are taking him to the hospital. Your mom wants you to meet her there."

The first time was on Mother's Day, 2000. We got in the car and drove to Dallas.

The second time, we were already in Dallas. Steve and my dad had just been at a Stars game. We had only been asleep for a short time when my mom came in and said my dad was having a heart attack and she was taking him to the hospital.

This time Steve and I made the 40 minute drive in silence. Almost. I kept thinking it would be just like the other times. It would be scary, but he would get better. We would be at the hospital a few days and then bring him home. Then, after driving for about 30 minutes, a thought came to me. What if this time.....what if this time? I turned to Steve and said,

"What if my dad dies?"

I didn't know I was speaking of an event that had already occurred.

Sometimes I wonder if I am still in denial. I still have his e-mail address in my address book. I still have his cell phone number in my phone. 5, send. That's all I have to push and my phone will dial his phone. I tried it the other day. I got a message saying his "The person you are trying to reach is not taking calls at this time." I didn't even get to hear his voice mail message.

I have thought, "I should probably delete those". But that just seems......wrong. I will never use them again, but......

Sometimes I think, "It has been a long time since I have talked to dad, I should call him". Then I remember.......

A couple weeks ago, I was driving and I saw a blue truck that looked just like his. These are the thoughts that went through my mind in about 1/2 a second:

"is that Dad's truck?"

"no, it can't be, he's at work this time of day"

"i should call him and see if that was him"

"what is wrong with me?"

I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I know that my father's spirit is alive today. I am thankful that I know that I will see him again someday. I am thankful that I know that my family is Eternal. We will be with him again someday.

It just seems like someday is a long time away.