A Major Award

My award for witty writing arrived in the mailbox yesterday - with much thanks to ColdCocoa and her daughter A for awarding such a prestigious honor - and for those who are just joining us you can see the contest here to check out all my stiff competition!  The promised prize was this:

As you can see by the next picture - the prize which arrived was MUCH better... don't hesitate to participate in contests sponsored by this blogger - she will not disappoint.

To be perfectly honest, the melting together of all the gummi worms was entirely my own fault for many many reasons:  1-I never check my mail... this extends to never getting around to mailing anything, which is what prevents me from doing my own giveaway until I am more disciplined  2-I did choose to live where the heat extends until Halloween (ahhh... gotta love costumes with shorts) 3-okay, there are really no more reasons - but just to set everyone's mind at ease I did not let M consume that entire blob, we pulled of a few for her and P has laid dibs on a significant chunk for after school!  Of course, being the poet laureate of cloudy days, I will have my own share as well!

In other news - I am shocked and dismayed at the amount of time I can now waste on the computer... even without playing boggle here or pictionary  -ACK!  I removed a link here because after not playing it for a long time I remembered in the middle of the night that it's sometimes a little hard to find decent people to play with - and that I can't stand the language...  THAT's why that didn't last long!  Now I've discovered Facebook (had to check it out for the kids after all...) and it's a weird kind of trip... you pick whether it's a trip down memory lane or a trip to the loony bin.  I have officially put myself on a 30 minute a day MAX diet or else it will likely become an obsession.  Frankly, with the life I have - there's no time for obsessions!  On the plus side - that little bit of a guilty "ugh, I need to DO something" feeling really gives me the kick in the pants I need to get the house spic and span :)

It Goes Both Ways... a.k.a. - TWINS!

Just to prove that it's not just my girl being a bit obsessive - M got dressed this morning and went (where else) next door to A's house.  On arrival there A took one look at her and realized she had that exact same shirt... and pants... and barrette... I'm not going to ask if they were both wearing Tinkerbell undies - I don't want to know.

  

They even ended up with the same hair-do, yellow pony-tail holder and all!  I think I could take them out and claim to have twins - well, except that the fact that A is 4 inches taller than M - and they really don't look alike - and the fact that I would have to give up the claim immediately knowing that I am ever thankful that my own children have come in singles!  

Staying Out of It!

okay, so really I'm all worked up over IOC rules, age controversies, ridiculously backward scoring procedures, politics that I'm quickly tiring of, meetings that I don't want to be at, kids who won't just pick a pair of shoes and get on with it, and laundry and dishes that never seem to stay clean for more than 5 minutes.  But listen up - I am officially Staying OUT of all such volatile conversations and keeping my aura clean...  I have been known to be a hothead in the past sure... but not this time - after saying some choice things to the TV last night I'm done.  

Now I'm going to go and play Ponies and Pollies until my biggest gripe is that those darn Polly Shoes are too tiny.

Playing with a 4 year old is a nice way to relieve stress.  Unfortunately - she's next door with her "best friend ever" and Mom is left to decide:  Play Ponies and Pollies alone, or do the dishes... I wonder if Lila's dress will look good on the Pony?

That Girl Needs A Restraining Order!

My sweet little M-girl is obsessed.  She wants to play with the next door neighbor girl beginning at 7 in the morning.  She mopes when I suggest that maybe we should wait for A to wake up first... and has been known to sneak out of the house to go next door if she doesn't like the answer "no" - These two will play all morning and afternoon and still M has a little fit when A has to go home (at 4:30).  The tears are a bit much, especially when it's just a 20 minute separation because we're off to pick up H & P from school!  If A comes over wearing something pink - M has to change into something similar.  Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) A's mom and I have hit a lot of the same .97 sales at Old Navy and they have a few matchy outfits.  Today M even had me putting in one pink ponytail holder (for A's favorite color) and one yellow (for her own favorite color)... hey, whatever gets her to let me do her hair right?

Wikipedia describes stalking as "the obsessive following, observing, or contacting of another person, or the obsessive attempt to engage in any of these activities.  This includes following the person to certain places, to see where they live or what the person does on a daily basis, it also includes seeking and obtaining the person's personal information in order to contact him or her; e.g. looking for his or her details on computers, electoral rolls, personal files and other material containing the person's private information without his or her consent."

Should I be worried?  Are the neighbors on the verge of leaving the state because my little girl is driving them crazy?  (really, they DO play at both houses... I even have the glitter covered bedspread today as evidence!)  Can you even GET a restraining order on a 4 year old?  

Hmm... maybe I'll worry more when they stop looking like they're having so darn much fun.

On the "isn't that cute" side - I have been informed that when they grow up they are going to be "best friend Barbies"

Except they're both blonde... 

A Gold Medal for the Danish...

And no - I have no idea how the Danish are doing in the olympics - instead I dedicate this lovely blog to the sweet yummy pastry pictured below:

Last Saturday - in preparation for Sunday's brunch treat - I dropped by my local CostCo and purchased a variety pack of Danish... they actually looked nothing like the above Danish but were yummy all the same.  The family ate them up happily (well, most of them ate happily at least) and we all appreciated the treat.  

Flash Forward to about 15 minutes ago when my phone rings and it's someone calling from CostCo...  my thoughts are wondering if I left my membership card, my credit card, or something vital - and then the guy says that they're calling because I purchased Danish...  now my thoughts are going really wild and I'm wondering if we'll all need to be tested by the CDC for something we ate - but NO - and I hope you're sitting down because this is amazing.  This nice fellow is calling because we were inadvertently overcharged for our Danish (an error I never would have caught) and he would like to offer us either the $1 refund or a free package of Danish on our next visit.

Am I on Candid Camera?  This is downright amazing customer service and in thanks for their honesty in business I am awarding them their own virtual Gold Medal from blogworld!  See... sometimes life is good... of course, I really shouldn't eat those fattening things, but they're so yummy...

and yes, I am aware that this is a Knitting Champion medal... it was funnier that way don't you think?

Creativity goes SPLAT!

Being in a far more productive mood today I have tackled my closet (it won the fight - there's a re-match scheduled for tomorrow), done some dishes, and attempted to clear the cobwebs out of the scrapbook room!  In all of this fussing and straightening I have located a LOT of stray crayons.  (I think they're like bunnies)

Besides thinking "wouldn't that photo make an awesome jigsaw puzzle" I'm wondering what on earth can be done with all of this fun colored wax...  I did find out that I can ship a whole box to the gal over at crazycrayons.com where she will recycle it into funky shapes of crayons and firestarters (wax covered crayon wrappers).  I could also attempt this process on my own - T or W (can't frankly remember which) even has one of those crayola crayon makers that does just this... slowly and tediously...  but that doesn't solve my problem since I want FEWER crayons in the house.  It is okay to just throw them in the trash right?

Wrong:  apparently that's not "green" enough these days - The World Environmental Organization has some ideas here that are nifty but I think they are for people that have 3 or 4 crayons left and not for those of us who used to teach preschool and have issues with throwing things away!

Maybe there's a way to turn them into something cutesy that I can attach a ridiculously sappy poem to for neighbor gifts?  Okay, somebody has to come up with better than that!

If I knew how to make crayons like those - this wouldn't be an issue, I'd keep 'em all... however I have to wonder if that's just a photographic trick and boring crayons are what I'm stuck with.  If anyone has any brilliant ideas - or just wants a pound or two of crayons - let me know!

OH!  I almost forgot the comment that prompted this post - M came in while I was checking e-mail and wanted blank paper... then some more blank paper... then her little friend A wanted some paper... just 2 more... just 1 more... just 2 more... and after about 1/2 a ream I wanted to know what was going on (I'm a little slow sometimes), so M describes her activity as "we make pictures with the black naked crayon" - and scarily enough, I totally understood that they were making crayon rubbing pictures.  See... finding all those leftovers has already come in a teensy bit handy.

A Day in the Life (subtitle: Could I BE more lazy?)

I had great plans for today - and until about 11:00, I was rocking them!  Let's go back and see where it all went wrong...

6:30 a.m. - the kids are milling about getting ready for school

7:20 a.m. - family prayer

7:30 a.m. - W is out the door for another year of learnin'  (it was boring, they just sat and talked about rules all day)

8:10 a.m. - T gets driven to his school for some education  (don't know how it was... the boy hasn't decided to come home... someone's in trouble)8:45 a.m. - Another trip out to take P & H to their classes.  P's favorite part of the day was lunch - probably because he was too excited to eat breakfast (really!) and H loved the fact that in 1st grade they get 3 recesses!!
Next comes the part that I was dreading... you see, when I was a young child (probably 8) I distinctly remember going to school with my older sister in 6th, me in 3rd, and my younger brother in Kindergarten... this left little 4 year old sis at home alone... and she cried, and cried, and cried...  (sorry K - I've outed you on this one...)  I wanted to avoid that so we've been talking up our exciting day of Mommy and M time - so it was off to breakfast at 9:15 - 

9:45 is where it all took a bad turn... because I actually ate all that food on my plate!

10:30 - after picking up a few things at the grocery store I head home (feeling a little groggy)

11:00 - M wants to watch her channel (KBYU... except I picked the other PBS so I didn't get complaints about the devotional) so that's what she does - while I sleepily answer her many questions

11:50 - a friend calls to make sure we're on the same page about picking up our kids this week...  yeah sure says my half awake self

(insert dream sequence fog here... frequently interrupted by moving up and down the stairs to keep M entertained by computer games and changing channels when something boring comes on)

1:55 - My still sleepy self realizes "shoot, W gets out of school in 5 minutes!"... so much for a day of getting lots of stuff done around the house... maybe tomorrow?

Now they're all (minus T) home and getting homework done (yes, on the first day!) and I have to get my act together!!!  Between Scouts and EQ meetings tonight I'll get a second shot at being a productive member of society :)  

That is... unless there's something REALLY good on the olympics tonight...

Update: T made it home minutes later...  how do you ground a kid on the first day of school...  but tomorrow...

Oh - and how could I forget that I actually made chocolate chip cookies for the kids to have when they got home (the instant break and bake kind were on sale for $2)... so I must be a good mom today on some level at least!