How To Swim In November

Last week, Addy found her swimsuit, put it on, then demanded that I fill up the wading pool that is in the garage. I tried to explain to her that it is freezing outside and that the water in the pool would be freezing too. Well, you can't explain anything to this girl. She just wanted to swim. She went out in the garage and found all the swim toys too. She brought them to me and then demanded again that I fill up the pool for her. How can you not want to give in to such persistence? So I filled up my bathtub instead. She had a delightful time swimming. And the whole of my bathroom was soaked when she was through.

WebCam Wednesday - Another Pleasant Valley Tuesday

Yesterday was a little rough. To say the least. I wasn't feelin' so hot. Aubrey did nothing but cry. Emily couldn't figure out her homework and she freaked out if anyone tried to help her. Zac kept trying to explain to me why Emily was wrong on her homework, even though I already knew that, and he kept trying to tell her that, which made her freak out even more. And Addy, well, she was just being Addy.

Monday Morning Musings - I'm Not Your Lunch!

So, this morning I was playing with Addy. I picked up her foot and acted like I was going to bite it. I said, "I'm gonna eat your foot" to which she replied, "I'm NOT your lunch!".

We had parent/teacher conferences last week. We met with Aubrey's teacher who doesn't speak English. I was very impressed with my daughter who could listen to, understand, and reply to her teacher in Spanish. My little Espanol girl.

The other day the kids and I were driving and I can't remember what we were talking about but somehow we got on the subject of the sun not giving off light anymore (the girls and I were just kidding) and Zac had to bust out with one of his facts. He said "Well, if the sun stopped giving off light, we would all be dead in 8 minutes." Apparently it takes the sun's rays 8 minutes to reach us and when they stop, we all freeze to death. Who knew? Oh, yeah, Zac did. I'm so glad he is around to keep us on track.

I'magonna tell you somthin' right now, that you have to promise never to tell anyone else. 'Cause it's real embarrassing for me and the old man, and if people knew, well, we just can't have that. So, it's like this, we put the kids in bed on Saturday night. The girls had been in our room watching TV. When we got in bed, we turned the TV on. It was on the last channel they were watching. iCarly was on. Yeah, we didn't change the channel. Sigh. Now you know. The sad thing is this. The episode that was on, I've seen it. Like ten times. *awkward* Sorry babe. It was gonna get out sooner or later.

I guess that's the end of Monday Morning Musings. I mean, what could I possibly say after that...

Back To My Roots. Literally.

I did it. I have been contemplating it for like a year now. Maybe two. And on Thursday I just jumped in and did it. I went back to my natural hair color. A special thank you goes out to my dear friend and neighbor, Jodi. Who has to play guessing games with me to try and figure out what exactly I want her to do with my hair.

I have hair issues. I have said it before. I have never had a haircut I have liked. And it has nothing to do with the person actually cutting my hair. It has to do with how down right irritating I am. Do you know I have been planning on getting a perm for three plus years now? I will spend months going back and forth and debating it in my head, and then I will decided yes, I will get one. And then I will live with that decision for a few weeks, until I decided how stupid that would be, so I change my mind back. And then I start the whole process over again.

But, like I said, I have been thinking about going au naturale for a while now. And I was all set to do it at the beginning of the summer, but then I thought I should wait for winter. And then last week, my sister Kristy paid some mean Russian man $300 to make her hair orange and then she had to go dark and so then I thought, well, if Kristy can go dark, so can I. But I forgot that Kristy is so down right beautiful she could shave her head bald and still be gorgeous. Some of us just aren't that lucky.

I loved it on Thursday. I woke up on Friday and looked in the mirror and thought, "WHAT DID I DO?" And I hated myself all day yesterday. I haven't looked in the mirror yet today, so I am not sure how I feel. But I can tell you this one thing for sure. This color hair and those butt ugly blue glasses are not a good combo.

So I am gonna go take a shower now, and get ready, and see what type of hairy emotions today brings. And Jodi, if you are reading this, PLEASE don't take it personally. You really did a fabulous job, if you could just fix what is going on INSIDE my head, well, then we'd be all set!

Flashback Friday - A Whole Lotta Love

Stand back people. Stand back. Yes, you read the title correctly. Flashback Friday. You know how long it has been since I have done a Flashback Friday? Well, I do. 'Cause I looked it up. March 6, 2009. That is a long dang time. You know why I haven't done it in so long? Because I was feeling guilty. Remember? How I was doin' the special FF and then I moved and couldn't locate the pictures I needed? And I kept promising I would start again. And I never did. So now I hope enough time has gone by that you all forgot about it. But now I've gone and reminded you again. So now you remember. But I don't care anymore. I mean, I love you and all, but get over it, life goes on.

The above pictures were taken at BYU not long after Steve and I were married, so about 14 years ago. My sister Farrah was living in Utah going to BYU and we were visiting her. We used to have so much fun with Farrah, and later her husband Bart when they lived here. I really think they should look into moving back....

I feel like I have done these pictures before on a FF. But I looked back through all of them and I couldn't find 'em anywhere. Have you seen them before. If you can find where I have posted them before, you get a very special prize.

Evil Genius Survivor Man

I'm a little scared for my boy Russell tonight. Real scared. On the preview for this weeks Survivor, they make it look like he is gonna get voted off tonight. NO Russ! Don't go! I love his little evil, buddha bellied, mind game ways. He has made the game so interesting this season. I love how everyone totally believes him and likes him and thinks he is the nicest guy. And behind their backs he is talking about how he is using them and when he's done, he'll just throw 'em in the trash. But now, it looks like his gig might be up. Only a few more hours and we will know. Be safe you nasty little evil genius man, you!

WebCam Wednesday - If You Saw My Family, You'd Understand

You might have noticed that I am trying really hard this week to be a better blogger. You can thank me later. Or now, whatever is more convenient for you.

Anyhoo, this is a little video of a fun moment in time when Mike and Sheila were here last summer.

Because You Asked For It

I have had requests on Facebook and right here on this very blog for a picture of my aforementioned glasses. These are the glasses I ordered but cannot see a darned thing out of:

And here are the Butt Ugly glasses themselves:

*A special thank you goes out to my dear little Emily, my blog photographer. She is the only person in the house who understands that you need to take 20 pictures with different poses before you can get a picture worthy of posting. Thanks Em.

Monday Morning Musings - And The Winner Is....Butt Ugly!

Over the weekend, Steve refinished his office floor, with the help of his two little cutie girls. I walked in while they were masking things off and I had this flashback. I flashed back to the first floor Steve ever did. It was some office floor in a car dealership or something like that. He had no idea what he was doing. Anyway, Zac and I were there helping him mask it off one night. Zac was just a little baby. We were masking it with newspaper and masking tape. Sigh...oh, you've come a long way baby!

Here' s the finished project:

Steve got a real good dose of Addy on Saturday. He was trying to work on his floor and I was at the store. She made a pretty good little disaster that included a sprayer full of floor chemicals, our living room floor, and various floor equipment. Earlier that morning, when I was in the shower, she went into the girls bathroom which is upstairs, plugged the sink and filled it up with water. A lot of water. Like so much water, that it was pouring through the speaker on the ceiling in the kitchen below. That much water. It made me have a flashback to the time when Aubrey did something similar to our old house. Remember that? Thankfully this time around, there wasn't as much damage done. Anyway, Steve was getting very frustrated with little sweet thing and I was like, "HELLO! Welcome to my everyday life!" *Scoff* that was nothin' out of the ordinary.

I am getting really frustrated in the eye glasses department. Like, REALLY FRUSTRATED. I got new glasses a few months ago. But the prescription in them was wrong. So I went back almost a month ago and had to have my vision test redone. Have I ever told you how much I loath the eye doctor? LOATH. I don't like people messin' with my head. "Which one looks better? One or two? This one or that one? Number one, or number two?" ARGHHHHHHHH!!!! Shut up already!!!!!! I swear they ask you the same one over and over again just to see if you will change your answer. Anyhoo. Deep breath in, deep breath out.....They called me about 2 weeks ago to say that my corrected glasses were in and I could come and pick them up. So I did. The guy that was helping me brought over these baby blue, butt ugly glasses and said, "Here, try them on". I looked at him in horror and said, "Those aren't my glasses." And he said, "Yes they are, your name is right here". And I was like, "Do I look like I would pick out baby blue butt ugly glasses?" So he looked in my file and found the glasses that I had ordered. He apologized for insulting my fashion sense in such a manner, and said he would put a rush order on the new ones. Well, I don't know what kinda rush they're in, but uhhhh, HELLO! No glasses yet. He was kind enough to let me take the butt ugly glasses home so I could see. Now I am faced with this dilemma every time I put on my glasses. Do I wear the butt ugly ones, or the ones I can't see with. Butt ugly, no sight. Butt ugly, no sight. Butt ugly almost always wins, and I'm getting real tired of his little victory dance.

You remember those crazy, kooky kids, Max & Dianna? They came over for dinner on Sunday. Max helped with my mom's roof and all he wanted in payment was dinner. Well, we have been tryin' for months to make that happen. Trying to coordinate a free Sunday with three families ain't no small task. We finally made it happen and we had a fun time with them as you can see below:

Am I really this short? Dianna, are you wearing heels?

The kids, getting their Beatles Rock Band on:

Trick Or Treat, Smell My Feet

I told my kids I wasn't buying any costumes for Halloween this year and they would have to make due with what we had in the Halloween box. They came up with costumes, but they did it going by memory of what was in the box. When I actually pulled the box out, about an hour before we went Trick or Treating, they changed their minds about what they wanted to be. Here's how we ended up:

Addy the Cute Little Doggie

Aubrey The Vampire for the second year in a row.

She was going to be a Vampire Cheerleader so she didn't end up too far off.

Emily The Rocker Chick

Zac and his friend Gus the Army Guys.