The Quibbler: October 2008

Friday Fill-ins

1. My favorite food seasoning is Worcestershire Sauce
2. Silence is music to my ears.
3. Lucky is getting the 30% off coupon from Kohls.
4. Getting enough junk food is something I take very seriously.
5. Many people are retarded. (Don't you just think that sometimes, or is it just me?)
6.Stuff for macaroni salad was the last thing I bought at the store.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to trick-or-treating, tomorrow my plans include political activism, soccer and scrapbooking and Sunday, I want to make cinnamon rolls!

New look with quirks

I'm so proud of myself that I changed my layout all by myself, but there are a few sidebar problems and there is no date in the box. We'll see if I can figure those things out by venturing into the html realm.
Let's see if I can ramble a bit about what's been going on with us. Amy has been off track for three weeks and goes back Monday. She has been busy talking, drawing lots of pictures, creating paper costumes for her Webkinz, and setting up comfy spots for reading. She has told me lately that I look weird and humongous. Oh, the honesty of children. Anna went off track last Friday. I'm sort of like an assistant room mom for Anna's class, and we had a fun class party with rice crispie pumpkins, ghost darts, Grab the Ghost (like Pounce), and giant Jenga. I think Anna's teacher must be very glad to be off now after that party! Anna really likes rubber ducks, and we have an order of 24 mini ducks coming soon. Jeremy also went off track last Friday. He has sustained several minor injuries since then, as usual. He had to give his first talk in Sacrament meeting last Sunday and he did a great job. He participated in the 24-hour-read-a-thon with me, although he slept and did other things, but read over 500 pages (I haven't gotten the exact count yet.) Kaylynn went to Universal Studios with Ashley recently and had a blast. She had a job feeding the neighbors dog while they were away for a week, which she loved. She has done a great job of getting up at 5:30 a.m. for seminary, although it's gotten harder for her as it has been darker later. The time change should help. She got a new cell phone that I am very jealous of, and you can usually find her texting someone. Yesterday she was even texting Ashley while they were talking on the phone. Whatever!
I have been doing who knows what. The read-a-thon was so much fun. I did stay up the entire 24 hours--the adrenaline and Mountain Dew Code Red helped. Dan even stayed up with me until about 4 a.m. (It ended at 5 a.m.) Together Jeremy and I read about 1600 pages, so that's a whopping $16.00 to send to the Perpetual Education Fund. It won't send anyone to college, but every little bit helps, right? Maybe next time (April!) we'll pledge more. There are mini-challenges every hour through the host blog, and I won three books! Some of the prizes were Amazon gift cards, and though I tried, I didn't win any of those. My favorite book of the day was Wednesday Wars by Gary S. Schmidt. It's one of the best children's/YA books I've ever read. Dan has been out of town a lot, coaching soccer, and helping out a lot with Prop 8 stuff. He's happy because he's growing a beard now because he's going to be in the stake Christmas play. No shaving for a month and a half! I'm not super happy about it. Kisses are a little painful--Dan has very sharp hair. He has a trip to Canada for two and a half weeks coming up, that he has to have a fire suit for. Exciting!
So that's a little bit about us lately. Hoping everyone else is doing well!
Happy Halloween!

Tag From Lorena

I wouldn't be posting if not for these tags! We've just been pretty boring lately--our lives revolve around school, church, homework, soccer, watching football and reading. Sometimes cleaning is going on, and working on a three-month supply of food. Some of us are doing something exciting and crazy and weird tomorrow--a 24-hour read-a-thon hosted by one of the book blogs I read. For every page Jeremy, Anna and I read, we are going to donate a penny to the Perpetual Education Fund. I don't know if it's possible for me to stay awake for 24 hours, especially since reading usually puts me to sleep, but it should be fun to try. I did the yard work today, am cleaning up the house, and got some snacks all in preparation for the big event Maybe I will take pictures--won't that be exciting? Pictures of people reading?
Anyways, here's the tag from Lorena's blog:

I am. . . Cleopatra--at least right now--Anna is put her costume headpiece on me.

I think. . . therefore I am insane.

I know. . . that there is a lot that I don't know

I want. . . a Blackberry type thing

I have. . . all that I need (except for the Blackberry . . . and a pool table . . . and a tummy tuck)

I miss. . . school.

I fear. . . earthquakes

I hear. . . Veggie Tales music

I smell . . . Taco Soup in the crockpot

I crave . . . crunchy things, then creamy things right after.

I cry . . . at predictable times evidently--my kids will look at me during certain parts of movies.

I search. . . for kid's shoes way too often.

I wonder. . .why I feel like crap all the time (sorry about the negativity)

I regret. . . not getting my degree before having children.

I wish. . . I had better self-esteem.

I love. . . eating dinner as a family--we laugh a lot.

I care. . . about the environment.

I always. . .do deep-belly breathing.

I worry. . . that I am doing all the wrong things as a parent.

I am not. . . an outgoing person.

I remember. . . when we got our Atari.

I believe. . . that my husband believes in Santa.

I argue. . . Me? Argue?

I write. . . rambly stuff

I win. . . books sometimes from book blogs. I just got a hardcover YA mystery called Creepers, signed by the author.

I lose. . . weight occasionally.

I listen. . . to audio books while doing housework.

I don't understand. . .why people litter.

I can usually be found. . . at home.

I need. . . more sleep than I get.

I forget. . . anything involving numbers

I am happy. . . when my kids do the right things.

Instant Pictures Tag

I have finally gotten my act together and downloaded photos to the computer. It turns out that the cardreader I thought was broken wasn't. I don't know where I got the idea that it was--I guess I just figured that since most things in this house are damaged in some way, that the cardreader probably was too! Anyways, I've done this tag from Lorena's blog. The instructions are to take the ten pictures right away in their current state. Even though I didn't take the pictures right away or even at the same time, I didn't do any special cleaning or straightening before I took the pictures. I just used strategic angles and distances:

1. The refrigerator--stuffed with Sam's purchases from that day.

2. The closet--actually has our clothes in it. They usually get hung up in the garage and never make it to our closet.

3. Self portrait--Woo hoo! What a hottie!

4. My favorite room--I just picked this one because it's decorated for Halloween.

5. The sink--from far away! I'm a soaker as you can see. I was lucky on the timing of this picture, because it usually looks ten times worse. This is the scariest part of the house for me.

6. The laundry "room"--in the garage. Pretty messy and surrounded by cobwebs.

7. The Toilet--the throne in all its glory, with the lid down of course. Some of my children are flush-challenged, so it can be scary sometimes going in there. Please do not enlarge photo.