SPW- Money, Money, Money

Yes, it's another SPW, because I can't seem to get in gear to get anything done on time this month. So this week the challenge was, to think of what you would do with that extra cash if you didn't have to pay such extraordinary prices for gas. This is my last recipe. My Jeep was still 1/4 full, so it doesn't show the entire impact. Also, the last truck fill up cost $80 and then there is the motorcycle. Luckily it doesn't take much gas, but it is another vehicle that gets driven all the time and needs to be filled up. If I could have all that extra cash to spend on myself, I might have spent it to go up to Valley Forge. I do that every year to go to the Creating Keepsakes Convention. Unfortunatley, I forgot when it opened and missed the opening sign up. Classes go fast and the Photography class that I really would have liked to go to was full and so I lost interest this year. It doesn't help that I don't have a friend to go up with me this year.

So, instead, if I could have that kind of cash everytime that I usually fill up, I would hire myself a tennis pro and learn to play! I would look cute in one of those skirts, wouldn't I?! Tennis anyone?

Fun things

This pair of sillies helps us enjoy our days. The other day, Joseph looked around and said, "Mom, why did God make colors?" I told him it was to make the world beautiful for us. He looks around again and then says, very matter-of-factly, "ya, I like it." Well, good job, God. I guess you got the job of making world from 5 year old Joseph. He likes your work.

Emma the other day, got a little joke at her expense from Sam. She was talking about her school class doing a wax museum and how she needed to look like wax. I was asking her if they were going to do make-up or anything and she said, "no, we have to go to school looking like wax, already." Sam pipes in and says, "That's Ok, because you already look like wax!" I thought that was pretty witty for a 2nd grader! Of course every time she brings up the wax museum, now, he has to tell her she already looks like wax.

This is how Max went to get the kids from school one day. I just had to take a picture, even if it was just with my camera phone!

Would you like to Make $95 every 15 minutes?

Well, have I got the job for you!

Locksmith!

That's right. I made a big, expensive mistake, today. I was lazy and late and didn't want to go all the way upstairs to get the keys I had accidentally left there, so I grabbed another key ring and ran the kids to school. I got home and looked down at my key ring. Uh oh! No house key! Everything was locked up tight. I was in dirty, sweaty workout clothes. I had done The Firm total body sculpt that morning and hadn't gotten cleaned up yet. Max and Joey were still in their PJ's. Rob was in Albequerque. Not a good situations. I went to a friend's home and she drove me to the airport, where our Jeep was parked. I looked and looked for the spare key we keep on it- I thought. No such luck. We came back and I looked and looked on the truck. Nothing. We went to the house and tried to jimmie it with a credit card- no luck. By this time the kids are all screaming hungry. We go back to my friend's home and as we start getting out of the car, she realizes that she has left her wallet at my house. We drive back and find it, thank goodness, but now the kids are beside themselves. Max was actually doing really good. This is amazing, because I had to get him straight out of the crib to take the kids to school and he hadn't had any breakfast and it is now 11:30 am. I felt so bad. Rebecca got them some peanut butter sandwiches, while I did the only thing left to do. I called a locksmith. It took him 15 minutes- from the time he left the office, found my house, popped open the door, charged me an arm and a leg and left. That's right. The whole job took him 15 minutes. Sweet job! So if you are in need of a good paying job, look into becoming a locksmith!

Man that shower felt good! And wow am I thankful for wonderful friends who go out of their way for you and don't hate you afterwards for ruining their day!

SPT goes Green

The question for the week- if you are new to SPT, do you consider yourself part of the green generation?

Answer: Well, I have been green with envy, and looked green when I was very ill, and I look good in the color green, but I don't know if I am very "green" in that sense. I am a wanna be! I recycle and almost always have. It has been a law in Germany much longer than it has here. We were always told to watch our energy and water usage by all those fantastic AFN(Armed Forces Network) commercials, so I have learned that, too. And now that I have a brand new washer that uses less water and high energy detergent, I am doing better at this.But, I eat way too much meat, I don't shop at the farmers market, because it's only open on Sunday's and we have only one light in the house that is the high effiecency kind. Also we own a truck and an SUV. Now that's not only not green, it's not smart in these high priced gas days. Unfortunately, we bought a house when it was in the all time high, right before the crash, so we won't be buying another vehicle anytime soon (or anything else for that matter!). Besides, I am holding out for that hybrid van that they just don't seem to come out with. Seriously people, when you say that such and such a van can get 26 miles to the gallon, do you really believe that any of us is impressed with that? The technology is out there to get 50 and 60 miles to the gallon and more. Why hasn't it happened yet? I will tell you why- the same reason they are short oil in Iraq- corruption. We've got it too, people!

We started growing some seeds in little pots for a little garden in our little townhouse, but until then, I did the anti-green thing and bought myself some beautiful tulips to help me green up the house!

This guy is pretty cute in green too! Here's to hoping for better things to come! Like Hybrid vans!

Parties, Power kicks, and Priesthood Leaders

There's nothing like a party in the park on a wonderful spring weekend to lift your spirits. The kids had so much fun, I hated that we had to leave in just an hour to run to soccer.Poor Sam is on the worst team this year. They only have 8 kids and that makes it hard for them to compete with the other teams that all have 11. They also have little, slow kids. Sam doesn't look so little compared to all of them and he runs faster than all of them. Of course he can keep up with the biggest kids even on the other team. They just smash him down a little too often. He was on the ground more than anything this last game. The weather was hot and he had to play the whole game. I was so proud of him. He came off at the end and showed us his battle wounds. I figured there would be more than he had. The funny thing was, the other coach actually talked to the ref about our kids pushing her kids too much. I had to be the loud mom at that point and point out that my kid had been on the ground half the game.

Sam's team is a lot like the teams Emma is playing. I now feel a lot more sympathy for their side. Again the coach had to make them stop scoring when they got up 5-0. It's not my favorite, because they don't get to play at the level they are used to, but it really helps them practice their balls skills as they just play keep-away.

This weekend Elder Ballard came and did a special fireside for the military folks. Rob was out of town and Dwyne (my friend's husband) didn't want to go, because he was sure some monkey would show up in their uniform (which they did), So Sara and I went on a date to see him. There was a lot of thank you for your service and "when I served" things, but Elder Ballard gave a wonderful talk. He hit hard on the sins of pornography and actually commanded as an Apostle of the Lord, those who had a problem with it to repent. It was very powerful. He also invoked a special blessing on the military members and their families that they would have peace. He reminded us that this is exactly what the world was to be like in the last days and gave us lots of scriptures to read at home. He also talked about the current financial crisis and stated that this country is a resilient country and that they would come out of this financial crisis, but that some of the members who had over-extended themselves, because they hadn't listened to the prophets and apostles close enough would have a hard time for a while.

Funny thing #1: Sara said she liked to guess who was enlisted and who was an officer and wanted to know what I thought, so we played the game for awhile, until the Stake president got up and announced the program, with the closing song being, "We are all enlisted"!

Funny thing #2: We missed our exit and got turned going West. We tried to get off at the next exit and turn around and ended up all the way in Arlington. Some people helped up get re-turned around, but didn't help very much because we up all the way west in Tyson's corner. We did a lot of driving that night! These are the days you need GPS or at least a cell phone between the two of you. We had neither!

SPT- What was I thinking?

This was a hard one for me- Because I couldn't figure out which one of those moments to choose! Yes, there have been many "What was I thinking moments" in my life! So I decided to tell you three.

1) Picture high school, bleachers, in gym. We are all waiting for something to happen and we are all getting bored. The boy in front of me starts pitching rolled up balls of paper at me. All the sudden I just snap. I run down the bleachers, ball up my fist and bunch him full in the face. Just as my fist connects, I think, "What am I thinking?" and pull up. I walk back to my seat feeling extremely stupid. That is the only "fight" I was ever in at school!

2) Ok, now picture high school, hallway. I am a Junior. The Senior boys are all sitting on the window sill just down the hall and laughing and talking. I notice there is a mirror on the ground. Someone should pick that mirror up before it gets broke! None the less, I continue walking in a straight line towards it. I even walk over it, then walk around a corner. A burst of laughter from the Senior boys and then at that precise moment, my mind finally starts working at normal speed instead of slow mode and I realize what they were doing! Uh, duh, "What was I thinking?"

3) Now we are in Church lots of years and many babies later. I am in the nursing lounge with a bunch of other mothers. It is a young ward. Someone mentions that one of the ladies skirts is really pretty and she says that she thinks it makes her look fat. They all start saying how she looks great and I pipe in to add my two cents, "you look like you need to eat something!" Everything goes dead silent. I have no idea why I said that, but it was true. Two weeks later I learned how true it was. The girl had gone home to be with her mom, because she was suffering from anorexia. Whoops! I had no idea, but still, "What was I thinking?" That is one of my better Foot in Mouth stories!

Oh, and I just have to put this one in. I never have been very daring with my cloths, so I don't have a lot of mile high hair, bicycle shorts under short skirts, or leg warmer pictures- I refused to do that kind of thing, but this definitely fits into the category of "What was I thinking?" As Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly on You've Got Mail says about a butterfly that she believes is going to Bloomindales to buy a hat, "that will turn out to be a mistake as almost all hats are."

Our Weekend by the Numbers

1 goal scored by Samuel

1 Sam's place in the rocket derby! Congratulations, buddy!

2 goals scored by Emma

2 family members laughing at me for my "take your broke arse home" song. Sorry, I had to take it off Gretchen. I can't be a Mormon Mommy of 4 with that on my site! ha ha!

2 hours spent trying to fix my blog that I accidentally erased. If you see something missing, let me know- except the song, Gretchen! :)

3 hours of Church

3 phone calls from the stake president to say that he made a tough decision to let Rob loose this battle, but that in his opinion Robert definitely won the war.

3 desserts consumed while talking about the battle that was now lost for 3 families.

4 fun families to play kickball with- too bad I was spending....

6 hours picking my nose in the minor care ward instead of the Emergency Room while they played.

over 10,000- Sara's score to win at Greed. Lucky dawg!

2-0 our foosball score to beat the dirty rotten villans that beat us on our own table so many months ago!

Amazingly enough, a pretty good weekend overall and now spring is finally setting in. I feel good. I had to get up and run 5.5 miles today, just to prove how good I felt. Every time I do it I am still amazed I can run 5 miles. Life is amazing!

One more of our favorites

Real Men of Genius Mr. Hot dog eating contest contestant. Just click on Real Men of Genius to hear it!

Real men of genius

One of our favorites

SPT nope!

I didn't participate in SPT this week. We were suppose to say what we would see if we had eyes in the back of our heads. I was feeling very negative and thought no one wants to read that I would see who was shoving those knives in our backs, so I didn't do it. But I have since changed my attitude. Remember that word of the year- Flexibility? I have had to use that against my bionic wife powers this week. At first I said we would have to go to another ward, but I have since relented. I thought there was no way I could support a leader of our church who lies to a stake president in order to remove someone, who wouldn't know a leadership style if one batted him over the head and who runs his little area of "the kingdom" with conjecture and rumors and never tries to find out the other side of the story. Now I realize in the history of bad leaders, he isn't even in the running. He hasn't molested anyone, as far as I know. I don't think he is embezzeling or committing adultry or into child ponography or anything like that. I do think there must have been true inspiration on his calling, because no one in their right mind would have called him. So, now I am able to go to church and support this man, knowing that even he can not hurt the kingdom of God. It will come forth, despite all our faults. So much for Flexibility of the mind. Now here are some happy things that are getting me through the week:

1. Rob comes home tomorrow!

2. They finally built that playground they said they would across the street from our house. The kids are so excited. Unfortunately, Max thinks it is so close that he can go out there whenever he wants. Um, don't think so Mr. 2 year old!

3. The hoochie mama and her ghetto family and the other getto family that live with them and the other ghetto family that live with them (that was repeated twice on purpose! yep there are three families living over there!) are moving out! NO more base booming in our ears everytime we try to go to sleep, no more teenage boys hanging around, no more dances on their front stoop that make me have to cover my boys eyes, no more dog poop everywhere!

4. I figured out how to get songs onto my phone. All two of them! I guess that slot for a memory card is actually supposed to be used! Joseph really liked playing with my phone after that. And guess what. I'm still not tired of those two songs! I guess I chose well.

5. I may be over my phone minutes, because of all the wonderful friends and family that have called to see if I was Ok and to let me talk. How could I feel any rain, with so many umbrellas out there for me? Besides that a ton of people e-mailed! I feel really blessed.
6. I finally put music on my sight- did you notice! Pretty cool, hu? Of course, I may have to do a better job of screening which music I put on there. There is one I think is not so good for little ears!
7. Real men of Genius commercials, even though we don't drink beer. Whoever came up with this idea deserved a big raise!

Soccer Season Begins

Soccer has started! Sam's team, coached by Dad did really well, but still lost in the last few minutes 3-4. Rob is learning to communicate with a lot of people who don't speaka da english so well. You would think that would make them a great team, but apparently not all Latin American kids play soccer really well- go figure!

Emma scored the first goal of the season within minutes of kick-off. It was a real pretty one to the corner. Unfortunately, she was also off-sides, so it didn't count. They took her out soon after and then put her in defense for the rest of the game. There aren't enough challenge league players, so they are playing a lot of regular recreational teams this year. They didn't want to blow the team out, too bad. Next week they play a team that got beat 12-0 their first game. I think the coach that let his team beat anyone 12-0 in a recreational league ought to be whipped with a wet noodle! I hope some one talked to him. They told the girls that they would have to be restrained so that it didn't happen again to this team. I feel bad, but in another sense, I would like my child to be able to play at her best. I wish it wasn't a choice of this or playing on Sunday's, but it is, so until we find something else, we will do this.

This is what Joseph and Max and Sam were doing while Emma was playing her game. Sam kept using the jump rope as a lasso and would lasso the boys and throw them to the ground and pull and pull until their shoes came off.They thought this was great fun. They also played swords with sticks. Notice Max's tongue- no wonder Lightening McQueen is his favorite- you can't teach the tongue hanging out thing. You either got it or you don't!

PS The Gynecologist thinks that the mysterious growths are really large polyps. He was suprised I wasn't in pain with them. I have to go in for an ultrasound and then meet with him again. Because this is the army we are talking about that will be in another month!

A TUF Member

This week was an especially stressful one. I needed to send myself a whole bunch of umbrella's! Rob was gone Sunday and that's when I was especially depressed. During my annual exam they found a mass that I have to have a specialist look at. My husband was told he is going to Iraq either this summer or next for a year. And things with the Stake President didn't go well. If you read the disappearing post you are aware of what is going on. If not, I'm not writing about it again, you will have to send me an e-mail. Let's just say we are thinking of attending another ward. Mostly the depression comes from having a lot of unknowns. I hate unknowns. Of course they are known unknown and that is better than the unknown unknowns! Haha- sorry inside joke. That is something that the former Defense secretary said- the one that even Army times called for his resignation- Donald Rumsfeld.

I really needed to talk to someone, yesterday. All the sudden one of our friends showed up with cookies. She said they had made cookies during conference and taken them to her husband's home teaching families. They had one package left and she decided that she would bring them to us. They have much better friends in the ward than us and she wasn't sure why she thought of us, but I do. I am so thankful the Lord sent her at that time, to come and bring us some yummy cookies. I just needed to cry and talk. I am sure I stressed her out a little, but she was very good and offered to come with me to the gynecologist. It's wonderful to have friends that are in tune to the Lord and come to help when you need it most. I decided to make my own society. The Toting Umbrella Friends (TUF). It may be a society of one, but if you want, you can grab the picture I have on the sidebar. I just wanted it to be a person that is there for their friends and people in need. A person who does random acts of kindness to lift others. A person that is in tune to the Lord and the needs of their family and friends. It was so nice to have that friend show up at just the right time. I want to be able to do that for others! I don't know if this makes any sense, but I hope you will consider being a Toting Umbrella Friend also!

SPT Goodbye!

Say it isn't so! Lelly over at amusche-busch is taking a leave of absence from the blogging world. We were to give her one last self portrait- all gussied up with our make-up and hair done and our favorite shirt. My favorite shirt was in the wash, but the one that I chose is a very good color for me.That make-up makes me look so young, doesn't it? Ok, Ok, enough April Fooling around! Here are the real results of my self-portrait shoot:

I am sorry to not have my regular Tuesday challenge to make me blog and talk about myself. I know I won't do it on my own. I have no self-motivation! I will have to find another creative mind on the internet to get me going and hope for future fun when things settle down for Lelly! Best of luck to her!

P.S. For any of you that thought the last post was a bit of juicy gossip, look at the label at the very bottom! Hee Hee! You remember what day it is, right?

personality test and news

Here is my Personality test that I took from this place. It was kind of interesting. You just move your mouse over the different colors and it tells you what it means.

I never told you what the Stake President said. That's because we are due for a new bishopbric soon and that is all I can say right now!