Prom

If the prom committee had a suggestion box, I'd suggest they didn't have prom in January. It's like Halloween, once you've put together a magnificent ensemble, you're not really interested in putting your winter coat on over it. Nonetheless it was prom Saturday night and my son and daughter went. Not together, mind you, different groups all together.

The bonus of having two kids go to prom, besides the money you get to spend on a dress, tux, shoes, accessories, boutonnieres and corsages, is the fact that one can report on the other. Like, for example, I can find out how close they were dancing with their dates. I like to hear that there was plenty of daylight between them.

And speaking of daylight, did you know that kids these days go on a day date the day of prom? Well they do. They spend the whole day together, then come home and get gussied up before going to dinner and the dance. I'm glad this wasn't protocol for my high school years. My prom date was a classy guy, and I had a great time, but I'm not sure I would have been thrilled about negotiating a 12-hour date. In fact, I left my lipstick in the car of my prom date and when he called the next day and asked it he could bring it to me, I didn't feel much like hanging out with him again so I told him he was welcome to drop it in my mailbox anytime.

I'm glad my kids had a chance to go to the prom. I guess it's a rite of passage. They're already talking about preference that's coming up. My preference would be to keep the money in the bank, but in the long run I suppose it's better to have my kids sail smoothly down the road of life than it is for me to sail smoothly down I-15.

T.G.I.F.

No time to post today. I'm off to the temple. Tune in Monday for my post on the Prom!

Fruits and Veggies

My husband was busy recruiting last weekend. If your husband is a football coach, he was busy recruiting last weekend too because it's that time of year. So we wives left husbandless because of a pigskin decided to get together and do some recruiting of our own. Recruiting delicious Mexican food to get in my belly!

As we were dining on rice and beans, and me turning down cans of Coke-a-Cola because I haven't had one for 10 days now thank-you-very-much, my dear friend told me about Bountiful Baskets. It seems she had just picked up a basket, that's right a laundry basket (not currently holding laundry of course) of fresh fruits and veggies from this co-op.

One can sign up with the co-op, pay around $15 for your purchase, and pick up a whole basket of super, great, healthy (organic is an option too) fruits and veggies. They even have bread as well as herbs and spices. Seeing as negotiating ways to eat healthier is on my to-do list these days, I'm definitely going to take advantage of this. In fact, I tried to do it this very week but alas, it filled up before I had the chance. Next week for sure.

If you live in Arizona, Utah, Idaho or Washington you're in luck. These are the states where the co-op is available. Check it out at www.bountifulbaskets.org.

Coupon-ing

Coupon is a noun. I looked it up. But the women in my neighborhood (and one man I know) coupon in a very verbish sort of way. To coupon means you take several Sunday papers, the idea is one for every member of your family, strictly so you can get the coupon inserts. If you happen to read the comics I guess that's just a bonus. Then you go to a website, www.grocerysmarts.com to be exact, where you see what's on sale at your local stores and have opportunity to print even more coupons. The idea is you're buying what's on sale and you're using a coupon as well. You're also buying several of each sale item, because you're saving so much money, which is why you need several coupons. Now if that's not a negotiation process I'm not sure what is.

I resisted the urge to coupon for months. I didn't want the Sunday papers piling up in my driveway, nor did I want to pay for them. But after hearing about the amount of saving that was going on, I broke down and said I'd give it the old college try. Still hesitant, I only ordered 3 papers instead of the 6 that was recommended.

Now it's almost 6 months later and I'm hooked. It's true there's a lot of savings to be had. I shop at Walmart and just this past weekend I saved almost $20! Admittedly I'm a little nervous about handing my stack of coupons to the cashier because I hate to hold up the line. Recently the man behind me was either rolling his eyes at me or seriously trying to avoid looking at the impulse items to purchase near the check out. But when I my savings totaled up I smiled contentedly and headed to my favorite smoothie shop where I bought the whole family smoothies with my savings. :0)

p.s. If you'd like to check out grocerysmarts.com you'll need a passport. Utah's code is: g84cjg. It looks like other states have other codes listed in the top left corner. I also think you can get some good coupon savings strictly from the website and think I'll not renew my newspaper subscriptions when they run out. Good luck and happy saving! I'm happy to answer questions about the process if you'd like to get on board.

THANK YOU!

A big THANK YOU to C Jane for sending some new blogging friends my way!

Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by.


And a reminder to C Jane that Jamison is faithfully checking the mailbox for his $30.

Gray

Here's the thing. I'm going gray. It doesn't really bother me. Honest. I've always embraced the aging process. When I turned 30, I was thrilled. I'll turn 40 this summer and I can't wait. I appreciate the life experience and maturity that comes with age. In fact, I'm looking forward to retirement when I'll wake early, have lunch at Chuck-A-Rama at 11, nap, dinner at Golden Corral at 4, then bed. But I digress.

I don't want to color my hair. I don't want to keep up a color every six weeks. And like I said, I don't mind the gray. But here's the deal, I can't stop plucking out the gray hairs. Have you ever met a gray hair? They're like wire. My gray hairs stick straight out of my curly hair in a very porcupineish sort of way.

Every time I pass a mirror, I'll yank a few grays. Thing is, as soon as I start yanking, 10 more come into view. I can't stop. Pretty soon I've got my tweezers and I'm going to town with them. I find myself late for work, unable to pull myself away from the plucking. It's not an easy task either. Negotiating a gray hair in the mirror is tough. I'll often pull out several healthy brown hairs before I get the culprit I'm looking for, but I'll save my sob story regarding my thin hair for another day.

So I broke down and purchased a Nice N Easy color. Natural, medium, cool brown to be exact. It was the cheapest one I could find at WalMart. My girls helped me pick it out as I held my hair up to each box for a match. It promises me "layers of rich tones and contouring highlights with 100% long-lasting gray coverage." If this is true, and have you ever known an advertiser to lie, I'll be free of my plucking addiction for six weeks. If only I could free myself of my soda addiction with a four dollar magic box from WalMart.

Sweet 16 and A Single Parent

On December 30th at 1:06 AM, my oldest daughter officially turned 16. She had a swanky party that night with a cute collection of friends at SPARK while we were visiting Provo for the Christmas break.

On January 4th, at 6:00 AM, she started driver's education. We had to wake at 4:45 to get to the other side of the next town over where her classes were conveniently located.

On January 8th, at 6:00 AM, she got asked out on her first date by an invitation to the Jr. Prom. The gentleman scattered chocolate kisses across the dance room floor where she dances every other morning at six and said, "Since we've already kissed, will you go to Prom with me?"

On January 8th, at 4:00 PM, she got asked out for the second time by another invitation to the Jr. Prom. The gentleman left a pinata on the doorstep which my son was only too happy to take his baseball bat to. When the candy spilled out his name was on a box of Nerds, though I'm sure he's not one. Unfortunately this kind boy had to be turned down. Even though we live in a town highly populated with polygamists, we feel two dates to the Jr. Prom is probably in poor taste.

On January 16th, at 4:30 PM, she found a Prom dress she liked, and since it was only moderately pricey, and very modest and darling, we bought it. It is a classy, short sleeve, black, silk dress with a choice of a black or white sash. We're still deciding.

On January 21st, at 3:00 PM, she became a single mother. Her child development teacher introduced her to her new daughter she named "Ellie." She cries regularly and has to be soothed by an electronic key inserted into her lower back. She woke up ten times in the night to be soothed. Welcome to parenthood.

On January 21st, at 5:30 PM, she got her official drivers license and doesn't like her picture (even though it is beautiful). She is dying for a pink, 1973, Cadillac Deville that is for sale for $800 on a side street near her school. We are trying to get her to reconsider.

On January 22nd, at 5:45 AM, she is waiting for me to take her to dance since she doesn't yet have a pink Cadillac of her own.

Seven

Seven is the name of a movie I saw years ago with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. I thought it was very entertaining at the time, though very disturbing. Now that I'm older, and have turned into a prude, I negotiate my entertainment a little more wisely.

Seven is the number of times a day I get a hankerin for some soda.

Seven is the number of times I usually drive to town and back, seeing as we live on the outskirts of a small town.

Seven is the number of miles from our house to In-N-Out Burger.

Seven is the number of minutes it takes me to put on my son's brace.

Seven is the age of our black lab, Daisy.

Seven is the number of minutes it takes me to cook angel hair pasta.

Seven is the name of some fancy jeans that my darling sister-in-law just gifted me. Hand-me-downs are my favorite. I'd never spend over $100 on jeans, not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just that $100 is more likely to fall into my weekly grocery budget than my monthly clothing allowance (if I had such a thing). My sweet 16 daughter did not even notice the difference between me wearing Seven jeans and my Old Navy jeans this week.

Want to know how many dollars I spent on my Old Navy jeans that came from the clearance rack?

Seven.

My Wish

So I'm working at the elementary school and one of my groups is a fourth grade reading group. We just finished reading a short story and now the kids have been challenged to write about it. They were instructed to write about a wish they'd like to make that would solve a problem in their life. To encourage them, their teacher and I (the trusty teacher's aide) agreed to also write about a wish. So here is mine. . .

I wish that my car was always full of gas and that I would never have to make any repairs on it. If my car was always full of gas, I could go wherever I wanted. Maybe I'd go to WalMart and back five times a day just because I could. Or maybe the family would jump in the car and we'd drive to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. Of course, because I'd never have to make repairs, we'd never get a flat, have to have oil changes, get new brakes or even wiper blades! Most importantly we wouldn't have to get new shocks.

Did I mention I have to get new shocks on my car? Shocking, isn't it? Well I do and it's just not what I wanted to spend $1,000 on the month after St. Nick came to town. Guess I won't be negotiating any off-road crusin in the minivan tomorrow. But the boys down at Big O are champs and told me I could do the front two and back two on separate occasions and break it up into $500 twice. Sometimes life just smiles on you that way.

Taking Chance

You may or may not know that my husband is a football coach. You also may or may not know that a football team spends the Friday night before a game in a hotel together. It matters not whether the game is home, or away. This keeps players accounted for and in bed on time. In order to keep the players occupied and out of trouble Friday night, a video is usually shown. My husband has sat through some lame movies on Friday nights in the Fall, but this past season he saw a movie that is now his favorite and he shared it with me this past weekend.

The movie is "Taking Chance." It's a true story (my favorite kind). It's about a soldier who is killed in Iraq. Soldiers who are killed in the line of duty are escorted home by another soldier. The respect and honor that is shown to these fallen soldiers is very moving. I highly recommend you see the movie. We even encouraged our children to watch with us. There is no violence and only one swear word. We have zero tolerance for swear words at our house but wanted to show them the men and women who are willing to fight and give their lives for the cause of freedom.

After the movie we had a great discussion. We acknowledged the great care that was taken of the body of this young man. The fallen are cleaned immaculately. They make a brand new uniform for them. This is all done even though much of the time, including this particular story, the body is not able to be viewed - even by the family.

We also acknowledged that if such respect is given to the body of the deceased, how much more reason we have to respect our bodies that are living! We agreed to negotiate a few things. To watch more closely what we put in our body. How we dress, modestly and not sloppily. That cleanliness is important. That exercise is a must and sleep is important. To make good choices in what we allow ourselves to look at, what we let into our mind.

I'm so thankful for the men and women who are willing to serve our country. I offer my condolences to the families of those who have fallen. I hope that even though I don't serve in uniform, in an official capacity, I can still emulate the respect and dignity that our service men and women exemplify.

Defeat

At exactly 10:33 AM yesterday, approximately 5 1/2 hours after I wrote my last post, I thoroughly enjoyed a refreshing Coca Cola with pellet ice and a straw.

Negotiating resolutions is hard!

Soda

I haven't had a Coke in 3 days. Pray for me. It's not that I decided to quit - it's just that I recognize soda isn't the best choice in beverages and it would be great if my body didn't go into fits each day at 2 o'clock in response to a need for caffeine.

And it's not just the caffeine I love. It's the taste. And the fact that it's a little reward for how hard I've worked thus far in the day. And the fact that by 2 o'clock I've been up for 9 hours and my body starts to yearn for more energy.

But it's the new year, which means time to negotiate resolutions. And since I'm getting Wii Fit, I'm trying to get a wee bit healthy too. Fruit gushers and Little Debbie brownies have been replaced with celery and apples for after school snacks. And hopefully water has replaced my beloved Coca Cola. But we're only 3 days out, and I never promised you anything.

Camping Out

I hate camping. Something about smelling like smoke, lack of refrigeration, being cold and eaten by bugs just rubs me the wrong way. My family agrees with me. Our idea of camping out involves white fluffy robes, swimming pools and room service. So I was a little shocked when my husband suggested we have a camp out last weekend. Then he clarified we'd be camping out "Clark" style and I agreed.

Here's how it went. . .

Tinfoil dinners cooked in the oven. Bottles of ice cold cream soda. S'mores cooked in the microwave (though my boy preferred cooking his on a fork over a candle). Every mattress in the house moved to the family room where we all snuggled up, watched movies, told scary stories and slept together.

We had so much fun, we've decided to camp out again this weekend! Negotiating camping is a cinch.

My Wii Little Friend

Santa brought new Wii games that would be more fun if we had a Wii board. So I bought one. Turns out the Wii board comes with Wii Fit. Wii Fit is AWESOME! Not only does it encourage me to exercise in really fun ways, but I now have my own personal trainer I can visit whenever I can negotiate 30 spare minutes.

Yesterday my 30 minutes came at 7 AM between getting this child up and that child off. When this child did get up he found me in a dark family room, basking in the glow of the t.v., cyber hula-hooping. Soon my 30 minutes turned to 60 and my Wii little friend advised me it was only my second day of training and perhaps I should take it easy. He likes me, he really likes me!

When the kids came home from school I broke it out and showed them all the cool stuff I'd found. I bragged how I was a "champion" golfer and how my Wii friend told me I should think about taking my game to a real golf course. How do you like them apples? A two-day relationship and he's already giving me great advice.

I think this relationship is really going places!

On Board

A close friend of mine (you know who you are) has taught me the importance of being "on board." Being ON BOARD means you're fully invested (a shout out to Cougar fans).

It means if you've got a newborn you know you're not going to get any sleep, not to mention a shower, so you sleep when the baby sleeps and realize a day without a shower is not the end of the world.

It means if you have to get up at five AM to take your daughter to dance, you do it and count the extra hours you're awake as bonus time.

It means if you're on Christmas break you don't worry about blogging.

So this Christmas break our family got completely on board. We stayed up late and slept in even later. We stayed in by the fire and ate out a lot. We had tons of fun here and loads of fun there.

And now that it's the New Year it means you're agreeable to early morning wake ups again.

It means you see the possibility in each new day so you embrace it fearlessly.

It means you realize you are blessed and make an effort each day to share your blessings.

2010 - I'm definitely on board!