Yesterday I spent lots of time with Becky and her cute family. Becky and I went to yoga at 24 Hour Fitness. Man, am I sore today! I wasn't this sore yesterday. I must have done 100 down dogs! I wonder if Becky is sore, too?
Becky, Dana and I went to World Market. I was surprised to discover that they sell mostly furniture. For some reason, I thought they sold mostly food.
Becky and Ray had me watch 3 episodes of "Flapjack and Captain K-nuckles." What a weird show! Kinda gross for little kids. It was silly, but a bit disgusting. I did end up telling the kids about 2 of the episodes today. Meagan and Amber have seen it before, but not the boys.
Becky, Ray, Dana and Byron came over last night to bring David his birthday present. His favorite part was the "plexiglass" toilet candy that Becky bought at World Market. It was a plastic toilet with powdered candy in it and two "plunger" suckers. Silly.
They got here while we were putting together our 72 hour kits. We still don't have everything in them, but at least we found a permanent spot for them and I know what we need to get next.
Jarom, Cameron and Amber played outside with Dana. Meagan was at work, so she missed out. Jarom took the bubble gun he got for Easter outside and blew lots of bubbles for Dana. She was thrilled, except she wanted to be in control of the gun and Jarom wasn't too excited about that. I took Byron out and he liked the bubbles, too. We found out that Thor is terrified of bubbles. That surprised us. He hid under the Suburban for awhile then ran across the street.
Byron had to check out everything in our living room. Fortunately we still have a baby gate, so we were able to keep him in one room. Our living room is now mostly baby proof. I got out the plastic Noah's ark. Byron played with that for awhile. He also had to check out an old glow stick, the bread machine (doesn't everyone have one of those in their living room?), a power strip, all the books and papers on the hall tree, the printer (he figured out how to turn it on), the filing cabinet, David's oxygen...
When we thought we had picked up everything he could possibly stick in his mouth, Byron found a clump of dog fur on the floor, which rather delighted him. He liked the dog, too. So did Dana, Becky and Ray. And Jetta loved them. In fact, she followed them out to the car. When Ray told her to get in the car, she obediently jumped in and took his spot. After we got her out, she jumped back in again. I think Jetta would go live with them, if she could. We would miss her, though!
I guess Meagan and Tyler are officially over after almost 2 years. Poor Meagie. She's tough, though. She'll be ok. Hopefully she waits awhile before she gets another steady boyfriend. A couple of years, I'm thinking.
Mom said that Holly went to the doctor and found out that her liver tumors are actually shrinking. That is awesome! I hope it continues until the tumors are completely gone. I guess fasting and prayer do work. Of course, God does answer prayers in His own way. Sometimes it's in the way we hope for, like this time, it seems.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Food Storage and Polyjuice Potion
It has been a while since I blogged. It doesn't seem like that long. I have taught both of Amber's primary lessons I promised to. I hope Sister Huff is really coming back now. I know why I am not a primary teacher at the moment. Every other week David has to go to a 7:15 am meeting with the High Council and I get to make sure the kids get up and go to church by myself. True, it's not as difficult as it was when they were little, but they really aren't morning people - except maybe Amber. I wish we had 1:00 church again!
This morning it wouldn't have been so bad, but I had totally forgotten I was teaching primary until I looked at the calendar at about 7:15. If the kids and I had been ready and eaten breakfast, that would have been ok, but I had just barely gotten out of bed. As Sister McCombs pointed out to me later, "It's a good thing you had a calendar to remind you." Yes, it is - at least I did show up to class. I had a few minutes to throw something together - even if we were 15 minutes late for Sacrament Meeting. Hopefully I don't get asked to teach primary again until we have a later church block.
My big thing this week has been organizing the kitchen. I found some web sites about food storage and one of them had a couple of short videos about organizing your kitchen and food storage room so they're easier to use and you actually want to cook. I can use all of that I can get!
I am pretty much done organizing the kitchen, which has been a BIG job. I have driven my family crazy, moving everything around - especially Cameron. I think he's still mad at me. In the long run, I think it will be much better. Our fridge is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Now I've just gotta finish the kitchen and then figure out the food storage room. The hardest part of the food storage room is going to be figuring out exactly what to store, since I can eat hardly anything and Jarom will eat hardly anything.
I found a food storage web site that has a picture of what a year's supply of long-term food storage would be for 1 person, according to LDS church suggestions. It really didn't take up as much space as I thought it would. According to the web site, everything pictured would allow 1 person to eat 1 loaf of bread and 1/3 of a cup of beans a day. Jarom thought the loaf of bread sounded ok, but he wasn't too excited about the beans. Me, I'm not too excited about whole wheat bread. I could do rice and beans, though.
David and I went to Emergency Essentials yesterday to look around. David bought 3 emergency ration bars - the type that are 400 calories with lots of vitamins, some protein and a tiny bit of fiber. Mostly they're white (wheat) flour and shortening with a bit of wheat gluten - yum! David chose three flavors: orange, coconut and vanilla. David and the kids tried the orange flavored bar. David and Amber thought it was all right, Cameron thought it was edible, Jarom said it was slightly better than beans and Meagan ate the corner of her piece and let Amber eat the rest. I guess we won't be stocking up on those. I don't think they're very nutritious anyway. Lightweight and will keep you alive - if you're not allergic to them - but that's about it.
On Friday I decided to be brave and attempt to make a green drink for myself. Sheri and David (brother, not husband) make them all the time. Sheri even made one for me a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good. The directions Sheri gave me were pretty general, and I think I messed them up.
I think I crammed the spinach into the blender too tightly and didn't add enough frozen fruit. It turned into a very, very green drink, not pink like the one Sheri made me. It was kinda hard to swallow, but I did because it was my breakfast and I didn't have enough time to make another breakfast before work.
On my way out the door, with the cat, my very green drink and all my work stuff in my arms, David asked me, "Who's hair did you add to that?"
I said, "What?" and tried to figure out why he would ask me that.
"Oh, I said, "Because it looks like polyjuice potion?"
"Yes," he said.
"Well, not the cat's," I answered.
"Why not, Hermione did," was his reply.
"Yeah, and she hid in the bathroom all day and wouldn't come out," I said.
"That's true."
The cat did sniff the drink like he was interested in having some of it. I didn't let him. I drank all 3 cups of it and felt kinda sick to my stomach all morning. I think overall, though, it was very healthy for me...
This morning I tried making another green drink that was more similar to what Sheri made me. It was a bit closer, but still rather green. Actually, it was kind of brown - "chocolately" was Meagan's word for it. Amber's wasn't nearly as appetizing. I don't know why I couldn't talk any of the kids into drinking some of it.
The funniest part was when I stopped the blender, took off the lid and a big air bubble blurped up through the green drink. "That's pretty polyjuice-ish," she observed. "Have you been brewing it for a month yet?" I drank the whole thing, again. Maybe the third try will be the charm? After I finished the drink and put a little bit of water in the blender and whirred it around, Jarom came upstairs and said, "Hey, it's a Hulk drink."
Friday night Holly and Katelyn came over and took Cameron, Jarom and Amber to the dollar movie. They saw "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler. They seemed to like it. I was glad I didn't go because I was falling asleep on the couch before they even left our house. Holly brought the boys home and Amber slept over with Katelyn. I can't believe Holly stayed awake that late. She did have to go pick up Gary, though - at about 1:30 am.
This morning it wouldn't have been so bad, but I had totally forgotten I was teaching primary until I looked at the calendar at about 7:15. If the kids and I had been ready and eaten breakfast, that would have been ok, but I had just barely gotten out of bed. As Sister McCombs pointed out to me later, "It's a good thing you had a calendar to remind you." Yes, it is - at least I did show up to class. I had a few minutes to throw something together - even if we were 15 minutes late for Sacrament Meeting. Hopefully I don't get asked to teach primary again until we have a later church block.
My big thing this week has been organizing the kitchen. I found some web sites about food storage and one of them had a couple of short videos about organizing your kitchen and food storage room so they're easier to use and you actually want to cook. I can use all of that I can get!
I am pretty much done organizing the kitchen, which has been a BIG job. I have driven my family crazy, moving everything around - especially Cameron. I think he's still mad at me. In the long run, I think it will be much better. Our fridge is the cleanest it's been in a long time. Now I've just gotta finish the kitchen and then figure out the food storage room. The hardest part of the food storage room is going to be figuring out exactly what to store, since I can eat hardly anything and Jarom will eat hardly anything.
I found a food storage web site that has a picture of what a year's supply of long-term food storage would be for 1 person, according to LDS church suggestions. It really didn't take up as much space as I thought it would. According to the web site, everything pictured would allow 1 person to eat 1 loaf of bread and 1/3 of a cup of beans a day. Jarom thought the loaf of bread sounded ok, but he wasn't too excited about the beans. Me, I'm not too excited about whole wheat bread. I could do rice and beans, though.
David and I went to Emergency Essentials yesterday to look around. David bought 3 emergency ration bars - the type that are 400 calories with lots of vitamins, some protein and a tiny bit of fiber. Mostly they're white (wheat) flour and shortening with a bit of wheat gluten - yum! David chose three flavors: orange, coconut and vanilla. David and the kids tried the orange flavored bar. David and Amber thought it was all right, Cameron thought it was edible, Jarom said it was slightly better than beans and Meagan ate the corner of her piece and let Amber eat the rest. I guess we won't be stocking up on those. I don't think they're very nutritious anyway. Lightweight and will keep you alive - if you're not allergic to them - but that's about it.
On Friday I decided to be brave and attempt to make a green drink for myself. Sheri and David (brother, not husband) make them all the time. Sheri even made one for me a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good. The directions Sheri gave me were pretty general, and I think I messed them up.
I think I crammed the spinach into the blender too tightly and didn't add enough frozen fruit. It turned into a very, very green drink, not pink like the one Sheri made me. It was kinda hard to swallow, but I did because it was my breakfast and I didn't have enough time to make another breakfast before work.
On my way out the door, with the cat, my very green drink and all my work stuff in my arms, David asked me, "Who's hair did you add to that?"
I said, "What?" and tried to figure out why he would ask me that.
"Oh, I said, "Because it looks like polyjuice potion?"
"Yes," he said.
"Well, not the cat's," I answered.
"Why not, Hermione did," was his reply.
"Yeah, and she hid in the bathroom all day and wouldn't come out," I said.
"That's true."
The cat did sniff the drink like he was interested in having some of it. I didn't let him. I drank all 3 cups of it and felt kinda sick to my stomach all morning. I think overall, though, it was very healthy for me...
This morning I tried making another green drink that was more similar to what Sheri made me. It was a bit closer, but still rather green. Actually, it was kind of brown - "chocolately" was Meagan's word for it. Amber's wasn't nearly as appetizing. I don't know why I couldn't talk any of the kids into drinking some of it.
The funniest part was when I stopped the blender, took off the lid and a big air bubble blurped up through the green drink. "That's pretty polyjuice-ish," she observed. "Have you been brewing it for a month yet?" I drank the whole thing, again. Maybe the third try will be the charm? After I finished the drink and put a little bit of water in the blender and whirred it around, Jarom came upstairs and said, "Hey, it's a Hulk drink."
Friday night Holly and Katelyn came over and took Cameron, Jarom and Amber to the dollar movie. They saw "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler. They seemed to like it. I was glad I didn't go because I was falling asleep on the couch before they even left our house. Holly brought the boys home and Amber slept over with Katelyn. I can't believe Holly stayed awake that late. She did have to go pick up Gary, though - at about 1:30 am.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
A Wii Bit Sore
Yesterday I felt kind of sore and couldn't figure out why. I think I figured it out - I've done the wii fit twice this week - for about 1-1/2 hours total. I'm not used to working out that much any more. I used to go to the gym three times a week and work for about an hour and 15 minutes each time. Now that I've got to do kinesiology for myself, I don't have as much time to go to the gym. I miss it. I guess the wii fit will have to do for now.
Mostly what we've done today is listen to conference on the radio. We can't get channel 5 on the downstairs tv to work. It does work on the upstairs tv, though. I have enjoyed the talks and music.
David - caught Jarom and Amber's cold. He's in bed sleeping right now. He turned 43 on Wednesday. All 6 of us went bowling on Thursday because that's what David wanted to do for his birthday. We didn't go on Wednesday because I had to work. And I was so exhausted I came home from work, ate a bowl of cereal and crashed on the couch.
I think David had fun. I don't think we've ever gone bowling as a family before. Jarom was upset because he was the only person that didn't get at least one strike. He did get a spare, though.
The nice guy at the counter drilled the holes in David's and my bowling balls bigger for free. David needed one of his holes bigger because he's getting arthritis in his ring finger. I needed mine bigger because I don't think the holes were drilled big enough in the first place. It always freaked me out to use my bowling ball because I thought (psychologically, at least) that I was going to get my fingers stuck.
David's blue bowling ball and the orange ball from the bowling alley that Meagan and Amber were using got stuck twice at the end of the lane. David thought they had something going on, because it was always just those two balls that got stuck - together.
Meagan - bought David and MP3 player for his birthday. Now he just has to figure out how to use it. Meagan has been looking all over for her graduation photos and cannot find them. I'm sure I put them in a very safe place. If only I could remember what that safe place is. Meagan xeroxed off a copy of her Seminary General Conference assignment for everyone who wanted to do it. It was a word tally, which I found confusing, so I just started taking notes.
Meagan is heading out for work. She just came by and hugged me, then she "healed" me by putting the heal of her hand on my forehead and pushing. That's what they did in NC on David's mission when he went to other churches, so he taught it to the kids...
Cameron - just went and spent all his hard saved cash on a copy of the "Legend of Dragoon" video game. He's playing it now and is glad that it works because he bought it used from Game Pedlar. Meagan was nice enough to drive him to the mall. Or did he drive? I'm not sure. He says his driver's ed teacher says he's getting to be a better driver.
I came home from work last night and Cameron was shaving David's head. I used to have that job, but I guess it's Cameron's now. That's ok with me.
Jarom - is very happy because we have bagels again. And we had double chocolate cream pie and vanilla ice cream for David's birthday. Because we took so long bowling and buying David's birthday dinner (pizza) at Costco on Thursday, I was helping Jarom with his math yesterday morning before school. David was driving us crazy because he kept saying he didn't understand what I was explaining to Jarom. "It doesn't matter!" we both told him. Of course, David probably would not have been interested at all if we weren't in a hurry. Or maybe he would have.
Cindy and I had a discussion about this Tuesday morning on our walk to the Conference Center. She teaches Algebra at a Jr. High. She told me she tried to teach her husband algebra when they first got married. He didn't understand it and it only irritated him. Finally he said, "You're just going to have to live with me not understanding algebra."
I told her I had determined when I was a teenager that I would never marry a man who didn't understand AT LEAST algebra. Boy, was I wrong. I never tried to teach David algebra other than trying to explain why x and y and other variables are used in algebra. He just didn't get it, so I gave up. I eventually realized that David is smart in alot of things I'm not (sports, strategy, locksmithing, etc, etc), so it's all good. We balance each other. I did have to tell the kids to NEVER ask their dad for help with their math homework. He can help them with anything but math...and maybe science.
Amber - slept over at Kyleen's last night. She almost snuk out of the house without doing her missing homework assignments, but I got home just in time to make sure she did them. She was not happy with me, but she did do them.
Amber had good citizenship, so she got to play her DS for an hour or two at school yesterday. That was the reward for the well-behaved kids in the 5th grade.
Amber's primary teacher came over yesterday and asked me if I would teach Amber's primary class for two weeks. I thought about it and said, "Yes." The first week is Easter and the second week we have lots of YM/YW stuff going on, but I guess it will be ok. I told Amber she could teach the class. She said, "OK, as long as I can have the book." Maybe I'll have her help me. And the other kids in her class. I don't even know who's in her class anymore. We've had several families move out of the ward since the last time I taught her class.
Amber's teacher also had to show her the amber jewelry she's collecting. She told Amber she's glad she can collect something that reminds her of Amber. Awww....
Mostly what we've done today is listen to conference on the radio. We can't get channel 5 on the downstairs tv to work. It does work on the upstairs tv, though. I have enjoyed the talks and music.
David - caught Jarom and Amber's cold. He's in bed sleeping right now. He turned 43 on Wednesday. All 6 of us went bowling on Thursday because that's what David wanted to do for his birthday. We didn't go on Wednesday because I had to work. And I was so exhausted I came home from work, ate a bowl of cereal and crashed on the couch.
I think David had fun. I don't think we've ever gone bowling as a family before. Jarom was upset because he was the only person that didn't get at least one strike. He did get a spare, though.
The nice guy at the counter drilled the holes in David's and my bowling balls bigger for free. David needed one of his holes bigger because he's getting arthritis in his ring finger. I needed mine bigger because I don't think the holes were drilled big enough in the first place. It always freaked me out to use my bowling ball because I thought (psychologically, at least) that I was going to get my fingers stuck.
David's blue bowling ball and the orange ball from the bowling alley that Meagan and Amber were using got stuck twice at the end of the lane. David thought they had something going on, because it was always just those two balls that got stuck - together.
Meagan - bought David and MP3 player for his birthday. Now he just has to figure out how to use it. Meagan has been looking all over for her graduation photos and cannot find them. I'm sure I put them in a very safe place. If only I could remember what that safe place is. Meagan xeroxed off a copy of her Seminary General Conference assignment for everyone who wanted to do it. It was a word tally, which I found confusing, so I just started taking notes.
Meagan is heading out for work. She just came by and hugged me, then she "healed" me by putting the heal of her hand on my forehead and pushing. That's what they did in NC on David's mission when he went to other churches, so he taught it to the kids...
Cameron - just went and spent all his hard saved cash on a copy of the "Legend of Dragoon" video game. He's playing it now and is glad that it works because he bought it used from Game Pedlar. Meagan was nice enough to drive him to the mall. Or did he drive? I'm not sure. He says his driver's ed teacher says he's getting to be a better driver.
I came home from work last night and Cameron was shaving David's head. I used to have that job, but I guess it's Cameron's now. That's ok with me.
Jarom - is very happy because we have bagels again. And we had double chocolate cream pie and vanilla ice cream for David's birthday. Because we took so long bowling and buying David's birthday dinner (pizza) at Costco on Thursday, I was helping Jarom with his math yesterday morning before school. David was driving us crazy because he kept saying he didn't understand what I was explaining to Jarom. "It doesn't matter!" we both told him. Of course, David probably would not have been interested at all if we weren't in a hurry. Or maybe he would have.
Cindy and I had a discussion about this Tuesday morning on our walk to the Conference Center. She teaches Algebra at a Jr. High. She told me she tried to teach her husband algebra when they first got married. He didn't understand it and it only irritated him. Finally he said, "You're just going to have to live with me not understanding algebra."
I told her I had determined when I was a teenager that I would never marry a man who didn't understand AT LEAST algebra. Boy, was I wrong. I never tried to teach David algebra other than trying to explain why x and y and other variables are used in algebra. He just didn't get it, so I gave up. I eventually realized that David is smart in alot of things I'm not (sports, strategy, locksmithing, etc, etc), so it's all good. We balance each other. I did have to tell the kids to NEVER ask their dad for help with their math homework. He can help them with anything but math...and maybe science.
Amber - slept over at Kyleen's last night. She almost snuk out of the house without doing her missing homework assignments, but I got home just in time to make sure she did them. She was not happy with me, but she did do them.
Amber had good citizenship, so she got to play her DS for an hour or two at school yesterday. That was the reward for the well-behaved kids in the 5th grade.
Amber's primary teacher came over yesterday and asked me if I would teach Amber's primary class for two weeks. I thought about it and said, "Yes." The first week is Easter and the second week we have lots of YM/YW stuff going on, but I guess it will be ok. I told Amber she could teach the class. She said, "OK, as long as I can have the book." Maybe I'll have her help me. And the other kids in her class. I don't even know who's in her class anymore. We've had several families move out of the ward since the last time I taught her class.
Amber's teacher also had to show her the amber jewelry she's collecting. She told Amber she's glad she can collect something that reminds her of Amber. Awww....
YW Training Downtown
Cindy and I went to Young Women Leadership Training downtown. It was soooo good. I can't believe I didn't make time in the past to go. The spirit in the room at the Conference Center was so strong, so good and so soothing. The YW General Presidency are so cute and fun. They all have such a glow about them.
Sister Dalton, the YW General President, talked about how going to the temple makes her feel like she just got a "teflon" coating. The cares of the world and people getting mad at her for doing dumb things just bounce off and she's happy no matter what's going on. She said it lasts about a week, then she has to go back for another coating. Also, the guardian angels that have been following her around for past week have left because they've gotten sick of her and she has to go get a new bunch.
They talked about lots of other things, but that is what stands out in my mind the most. Maybe I'll have to try it...
Sister Dalton, the YW General President, talked about how going to the temple makes her feel like she just got a "teflon" coating. The cares of the world and people getting mad at her for doing dumb things just bounce off and she's happy no matter what's going on. She said it lasts about a week, then she has to go back for another coating. Also, the guardian angels that have been following her around for past week have left because they've gotten sick of her and she has to go get a new bunch.
They talked about lots of other things, but that is what stands out in my mind the most. Maybe I'll have to try it...
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