A series of unfortunate events

I feel like I shouldn’t even be allowed to talk about my misfortunes considering all that’s going on in Japan. But throughout everything that’s happened to us in the past week, we’ve tried to see the positives. Our glass is half full! (Even if the other half did spill all over our basement…)

First event: Coming home from church the day after daylight savings time. We had to drive separately to church that day and pulled into the garage at the same time. Derrick needed help setting the clock in my car so I quick turned off the car hopped out and changed it before getting the kids out.

The next day we were about to go to the store and I couldn’t find my keys. Of course, they were in the ignition. Turned “ON”. Not running the engine, but just “on”, you know? Battery completely dead. DEAD. Derrick gets home and we jump it and it starts right up. I decided to go shopping after the kids are in bed, but once I tried to start the car it wouldn’t start again. It wouldn’t even jump. So we let the two cars sit connected for awhile and then it magically started. I was so relieved….I didn’t want to have to go buy a new battery! Positives: brushed up on our jumping skills, located the anti-theft radio code.

Second event: This past Saturday night our friends the Spencer’s and Ryan were over to watch the BYU/Gonzaga game. I decided we should get some Chili’s chips and salsa so I ordered some to go and then Jess and I went to pick them up. Her car was parked in our driveway, but on the opposite side of my car and, you guessed it, I backed up into her. I felt like a complete schmuck. Of course we’ll pay for it, and they were super nice about it, but I still felt like a big horse’s ass. I HATE doing stupid stuff. Positives: it’s just a car, nobody was hurt, we saw the Supermoon on the way to Chili’s, BYU won, despite all the swearing I was doing in my head.

Third event: We had some really warm temps last week in the 50’s, which had melted almost all of the snow. Sunday we had a huge rain/thunderstorm. Both of those combined make for a LOT of water hanging around. We had been checking the sump pump all day and it seemed to be doing fine. Monday morning as Derrick is getting ready to leave for work I take Summer downstairs to watch TV and as I stepped onto the floor….SQUISH. I ran upstairs and flagged Derrick down before he could leave and we got to work cleaning up the 1/4” or so of water throughout our basement. One call to our insurance and an adjuster was in our home within the hour, and an hour after that Servpro was there to take care of everything. They packed up our stuff and moved it upstairs to the living room, some to the craft room, and some behind the bar. A few hours later there were huge dehumidifiers and air movers everywhere and our carpet was floating. It was our first time dealing with our insurance company, Erie Insurance, for a claim and they so far have been fabulous. (Which is good considering I recommend them to people all the time! So cheap!) Anyway, I’m so grateful for insurance, and especially grateful for the backup sewer/pump clause we added!

See the wet footprints?

It has been a challenging week living in our home. The only places to sit are at our kitchen and dining room tables. Neither of which are very comfortable for long periods of time. There is nowhere for Summer to play, and she can only handle watching movies on the laptop at the kitchen table for so long. Plus the fact that the weather has been downright CRAPPY for the past 2 days makes everything worse. I want my house back! Luckily we have friends that let us crash at their place for a bit here and there to break up our stir-crazy days. And honestly, and somewhat embarrassingly, not having a TV is driving me crazy. Summer misses her Sesame Street. I am missing Idol, Survivor, and Martha. Luckily most of what we watch is online, but not right away. I hate waiting. It’s probably all for the best though, as I was supposed to make some cookies for an Eagle Scout Court of Honor that was this evening. I spent the evenings baking and decorating instead! Quite relaxing, and yet one more thing I’ve found myself becoming obsessed with. Positives: we didn’t lose anything valuable, I’ve been able to reorganize a lot of stuff I’ve been meaning to organize, I realized I will never have to purchase a gift bag for the rest of my life, I have that many.

My sweet cookies. One scout kid told me they were the best sugar cookie he’d ever eaten, because it was so soft. I give credit to the Lion House recipe, but I’m sure all the humidity in my house didn’t hurt either. ;)

And even though these two can drive me crazy sometimes, today at dinner they totally melted my partially cranky heart today. Hannah was eating and Summer was making her laugh by pretending to sneeze. Hannah was absolutely cracking up. She never laughs like that for me. I loved watching the two of them together and it made my heart happy to know they’ll always have each other.

So they say bad things happen in 3’s.Well, we’ve had our 3, thank you. We’ll take our share of 3 good things now!   

Going green

Everyone’s a little bit Irish on March 17th, right? Not one to pass up an excuse to throw a party, we had ourselves a bit of a get together.

I’ve been dying for an occasion to make this rainbow cake and what better time than St. Patty’s? I love, love, love how it turned out, both visually and….tastibly? What is the word I’m looking for? I can’t think. But it tasted amazing too. I might be addicted to Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

On the outside, just your normal, white-with-shamrock-sprinkles, unassuming layer cake.

But on the inside…..A PARTY FOR YOUR EYES!!! AND YOUR TASTEBUDS!!!

This was a really fun cake to make. A little labor intensive, but totally worth the reaction and results. Can’t wait to make it again. Just imagine all the color possibilities. And a side note….Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved rainbows. I was always drawing them, always arranging my crayons and markers in rainbow order. I loved Rainbow Brite and had sheets and pillows and dolls of her. Fast forward 15 or so years, and now my beloved color scheme has somehow been adopted by “alternative lifestyles”. Ugh. I hate that it’s been tainted, and honestly it’s the only reason I haven’t decorated my kids’ rooms in a totally rainbow theme. Coincidentally, my favorite color used to be purple. They stole that too! Sheesh!

Back to the party.

I got an idea for a rainbow fruit tray here and decided to make that, too. Love how it turned out. I made the classic cream cheese/marshmallow fluff fruit dip.

I made green glass block holiday jello from Our Best Bites. Summer loved this. I love the way it looked. Very festive.

I found a rainbow craft to do on this blog. My orange didn’t turn out as vibrant as I was hoping, but they still turned out cute, and I think the kids had fun making them. I’m already thinking of other uses for dyed pasta. (Very easy to do…soak pasta in rubbing alcohol and food coloring in plastic baggies for a couple hours, flip occasionally. Dry overnight. Mine were kind of splotchy…I think next time I won’t skimp on the alcohol and completely submerge the pasta in colored alcohol.) Once they dry, you hang them in your window…like little sun catchers! Cute, right?

Green utensils and plates, of course. And Brazilian lemonade in the pitcher off to the side. I tried to cheat and use Simply Limeade like a friend had done. Don’t do it. Not nearly as good. I also whipped up some Shamrock Shakes, a la McDonald’s.

My friend Brandy recently started a blog called Holiday Snobs and I saw a cute idea for little favors. Super cute, and under a buck (with a coupon!) All of the “Who’s your Paddy?” sanitizers were passed out, so I only have a shot of this generic green one. That subway art in the corner is from the same site, here. I just had it printed at Wal-Mart. It’s all sized and ready for an 8x10. It came out a little grainy, but from far away you can’t really tell.

And then just a shot of my mantle, which is always so festively decorated (I hope). I saw the idea for the garland on Etsy. Just felt circles sewn together. And yes, I know I need to buy 3 green candles. Just haven’t made it up to Hobby Lobby in awhile! Gasp! 

It really was such a fun little party. As you can see, I am a master copycat. I’m not the one to come up with cute original ideas, but I can copy the good ones with the best of ‘em. And I’m so lucky to have such great friends who not only put up with my crazy theme parties but always bring such delicious and theme-y treats! We were definitely treated to lots of good eats today!

I feel like I have been so cranky lately and today was just what I needed to pick me back up. Why have I been cranky? Honestly, I think it was because potty training was stressing me out so much. So thank you, ALL of you, for all of your comments and advice about what to do. As of Monday we quit potty training. I asked her if she wanted to wear diapers or panties and she said, “Diapers. No panties. Mommy change me.” That was all I needed to hear. We’ve both been much happier since then. But I do have to clarify that I started so early with her because she would tell me every time she peed or pooped, and asked to sit on the potty. So, what else what I supposed to do? At least I know she can do it for a few days, so hopefully next time we try it should go relatively smoothly.

And now it’s time for…..EASTER!!!

The Dirty Thirty

Yes, it’s official, I’m now 30. Yesterday was the big day. No, I didn’t do any of my goals. Not a one. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. Oh, it doesn’t? Hmmm…well perhaps I shall give myself an extension through the end of the month.

The festivities started Friday night with an 80’s prom. Snomageddon delayed shipment on my disco ball and slap bracelets. Luckily the disco ball made it in time for the party, but the slap bracelets just arrived yesterday. Send them back or keep them? Decisions, decisions. Either way, I’m stoked to have a disco ball now. I’ll be honest, it’s pretty sweet.

Everyone came decked out in their 80’s best. It was awesome. These pictures are truly horrible, but they have to be posted for memories’ sake. Please excuse my huge arms.

Please note the side pony and crimped hair.

Debbie and Richard were voted Prom king and queen. With big hair like that, how could she have lost?? Please notice the purple glitter curtain.

And what’s an 80’s party without Pacman? Derrick baked me a cake and I decorated it. I love Pacman!

And my girlfriends….well, they are just the best. 6 of my closest girlfriends all chipped in on a gift for me. I was totally surprised, and kind of still in shock! Of course, I love it! Next item of business: get Wii Fit and banish these flabby arms. THANK YOU Linda, Jess, Whitney, Tamara, Ashley and Martha! I love you girls!

I got lots of other awesome gifts too, like 80’s hair supplies, recipe software, jewelry and a Sonic gift card! Do my friends know me or what??

Saturday Derrick took me to dinner downtown which was delicious. Then we stopped by a fundraiser/benefit party for one of his coworkers for a bit. Always fun to see drunk people.

Sunday was of course the Super Bowl, where the Packers pulled out a win for me!! We went to the Chaplin’s and had lots of delicious food, as usual.

Yesterday we didn’t do much. The girls and I ran some errands and hit up Sonic. Nothing like a Cherry Limeade to help ease a girl into her thirties! Derrick surprised me with 30 gorgeous tulips delivered in the morning. They are just what I need to look at when it’s –11 and everything is covered in snow!

He also got me these adorable rain/snow boots. They are super comfy. I’ve been wanting something like these for awhile, so my regular shoes don’t get all wet and cold when I’m out running errands. They’re perfect!

I opened the rest of my gifts from family….cash, a scraper beater from my ‘rents that I’ve been wanting for my Kitchenaid, some kitchen stuff from my MIL, and Cricut markers from my bestie Sara in Omaha! Sweet!

Derrick was up at 4 am to go help sort boxes of championship t-shirts so he was pretty tired by the time he got home. We went and grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we both pretty much crashed on the couch and watched TV. It was a great weekend!

But wait, that’s not all! This morning I find out that I have a babysitter all lined up for the girls (since Derrick has class) and that Sarah is taking me out! Sweet! I still don’t know what we’re doing or where. I love surprises! How fun!

Thanks to everyone for the emails, texts, phone calls, and FB posts. I felt super loved yesterday, and totally spoiled overall. I have the best friends and family.

Snowmageddon

All week we’ve been hearing about this monster storm that was headed out way. They’ve been calling it Snowmageddon, Snowpocolypse, and Snowlapalooza. It’s been super intense! Things were closing before the snow even hit!

Well, last night it finally came. ‘Twas a blizzard, indeed. The wind howled all night and the snow swirled around. And when we woke up this morning, well, there was a ton of snow!

There were super high drifts on the other side of the street. You can definitely tell which way the wind was blowing, and luckily for us it wasn’t to our side!

This is what we saw when we opened the garage:

And this is what we saw when we opened the front door:

It’s 15” from the top of the snow to the walkway below (with a step in between). That’s a lot of snow!!!

Thank goodness for our snow blower! Having a small Christmas was totally lame this year (because we bought a snow blower instead) but knowing I never have to shovel our driveway again makes it all worth it! Plus, I totally dig how it makes those super straight walls.

Here’s our walkway:

I hate snow, you all know that. But as I was clearing off our front stoop and piling the snow up on the lawn, for a second I kind of wanted to make a little snow fort/cave and play in it. And then I snapped out of it, punished myself for thinking such crazy thoughts, and then went inside to warm up.

30 in 30: An update

Well, I’m a third of the way through my 30 in 30 goals. Let’s see how we’re doing so far, shall we?

1-Read a classic novel. I have finished 7 chapters of Pride and Prejudice. I probably would have finished it by now had it not been for Season One of Modern Family consuming most of my evenings.

2-Run 30 miles (not all at once!) Miles run thus far: 0. Miles walked: 1. Not sure if we’re gonna get through this one.

3-Learn how to play a new hymn on the piano. Realizing I’m failing miserably so far, I choose a simple, 2-lined hymn: #137, Testimony.

4-Start a journal for my girls. Nothing yet.

5-Read a church book (suggestions?) Nada.

6-Sew an article of clothing for me that I will actually wear. Have not started yet. Although I have picked out something to make: Circle Skirt from Made.

7-Send a handwritten letter to a friend. Not yet. Haven’t even decided who the lucky recipient is yet!

Yikes. Guess I better step it up!

Torn

I find myself, along with the rest of the free world, making resolutions and an attempt to start a new year with a fresh start. I love changes, no matter what kind. New shampoo, new furniture arrangement, new pens. One thing that I always looked forward to was a clean, new, empty calendar. I would spend an entire afternoon entering in birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, milestones, etc. Well, my trusty iPod has taken care of that for me. I love it. I love Google Calendars and how it syncs with my Touchy Feely. However, I do miss actually writing something down. There’s something so satisfying about writing something on a list and then crossing it off.

One of my resolutions this year (along with getting in shape, reading more, playing with my kids more, being less judgmental, serving more, yadda yadda yadda) is to be more organized have a more structured day. Now, I feel like I am pretty well organized as far as life goes. I rarely miss appointments. I have a decently busy social life and never double-book myself. But I need more organization at home. I need to get rid of clutter. I need to have a housekeeping schedule to keep me on track. I need to be able to respond to Derrick’s question when he gets home of “What did you do today?” with “Well, I did laundry, dusted, organized the linen closet, and helped Summer create a masterpiece with Playdoh all while creating a fabulously delicious and healthy meal for us!” instead of “Um….we played? Oh, and I managed to take shower today before you got home. And oh yeah! I changed the toilet paper rolls.” I need to have done some things during the day and not the 5 minute shove and stuff as he’s on his way home from work. (Secret’s out!)

I want to feel more productive, not only as a homemaker, but as a mother and teacher to a 2 year old.

The problem is, Google Calendars isn’t so user-friendly when it comes to making a list of housekeeping duties and activities. I looked through lots of apps to see if there was one that combined all the elements I was looking for: calendar, to-do list, note taking. There wasn’t.

In the end, I purchased a spiral bound planner. I have weekly and monthly items scheduled. I have activities penciled in for Summer: arts and crafts, learning letters, singing, etc. I have a daily to-do list. But if I don’t finish everything on my daily list, I don’t freak out. I just try and do it the next day. So far it’s working out well. I get to cross things off. I know at the end of every month I need to submit my FSA claims and send pictures to family. I know every week I need to dust and vacuum. I know in May I need to replace my air conditioning filter. Stuff like that.

Until I get to be programming savvy and create my own all-in-one app, this is going to have to do. Unless anyone knows of a fabulous app that they’re willing to share??

Corporate Blunders

By now you know I’m a fan of proper spelling and grammar. If I see misspelled words on a blog or email, I cringe, but I do give it a pass because it’s an informal written document. And let’s face it: people just are horrible spellers these days. However, I find it nearly impossible to forgive an error, whether spelling or grammar, when a large business or corporation commits one.

Still, in the past month I’ve encountered THREE gross errors while shopping.

Case #1: World Market.

I love this store. I love the glassware, the decorations, the food, the holiday stuff, all of it. So I was SO sad to see this sign!!

I’m assuming they meant “candelabra”. World Market is nationwide, and I’m sure they have a whole department dedicated to creating and printing these sale signs. How many people had to look at this and not realize they were missing an “n”??

Case #2: Woodman’s

I can kind of see how this happened, as many people pronounce avocado just as they have it on the sign, with an “a” sound instead of “o”. In fact, as I sit here saying it out loud to myself I too say it with the “a” sound. But that is no excuse for spelling it with one! Give this delicious fruit and it's heart healthy fats the respect it deserves!

Case #3: Wal-Mart

 

I know, I know, the fact alone that it’s from Wal-Mart should be reason enough to excuse this mistake. Since Summer is obsessed with seeing the fish every time we go to Wal-Mart, I have to see this sign every week. (Or three times a week, whatever.) Now, I’m no marine biologist (although I did want to be one when I was in 6th grade), but I have never heard of a “loster”. And I’m pretty sure those crustacean-looking creatures in the tank are teeny tiny lobsters. But look, it’s written not once, but twice!! In what looks to be the same handwriting. So one can only assume that the writer pronounces it “loster”, or just has an irrational fear of writing the letter “b”.Based on our demographics, I’m actually going to go with the former.