Graduation

I'm verklempt.  Talk amongst yourselves.

Sweet Tooth Fairy

If I had three wishes, I'd want them granted by a "sweet tooth fairy."  And it just so happens that the one and only "Sweet Tooth Fairy" is coming to our town, so I'm in luck!  If you read Nie, you may already be familiar with the gourmet bake shop called Sweet Tooth Fairy .  Nie is a big fan, they even named their vanilla cupcake "vaNIElla" in her honor. 

When my 16-year old daughter heard The Sweet Tooth Fairy was coming, she emailed the Fairy and expressed her interest in employment.  I cautioned her that school and dance might be a heavy load in itself, but she was determined.  A few weeks later she was granted the wish of an interview and now she'll be granting sweet tooth wishes regularly and bringing home a paycheck to prove it.  I'm so proud!

So if you're in Southern Utah this Saturday, please come to the grand opening of The Sweet Tooth Fairy and pick yourself up something nice.  After all, you deserve it. 

Apologies

Too late to apologize for my infrequent blogging?  I read somewhere that you really shouldn't apologize for not blogging on your blog - that's boring.  But I do feel bad each day as the time slips away from me while I run here, there, and everywhere.

And another thing, our house looks like a tornado hit it and we must deal with the damage.  Truth is we must box up the damage and move it three blocks down.  Then there's the cleaning in hopes of getting a full deposit back, that part makes me nervous.  Last time we moved our landlord refused to give our well deserved deposit back, so we took them to court.  Many stressful weeks later we got our well deserved deposit back.  I'm hoping for a nice and easy move this go around.

I continue to take each day one step at a time.  It's all I can do, and I hope no apology is needed for that.   

M-O-V-E

M-O-V-E gotta move, gotta move, gotta move.  This is a cheer I used to do in high school.  It was meant to encourage the football team to move the ball down the field.  These days, it is the story of my life. 

The location of our home is usually determined by the University my husband is coaching for.  But occasionally, it has happened twice now, we are forced to move because a landlord has decided to sell the house we reside in.  So, two weeks from today, we'll be three blocks down from the address we currently call home.  We'll also be in a different ward. 

Our family has decidedly embraced change.  We get antsy if we stay in a place longer than two years.  We like the idea of a new home, new surroundings, and new people to meet.  We love the adventure.  It's gonna take some effort, some moving boxes, and a few cleaning supplies, but we'll soon be enjoying life from a new perspective and I can't wait!

Still Swimming

Washer broke and flooded the house.  I'll have to just keep swimming.  Literally. 

Telegraph

Reservoirs of strength getting shallow.  Stop.

To Do list becoming unachievable.  Stop.

Laundry piling up.  Stop.

Refrigerator running low on food.  Stop.

Gas running out of car before payday.  Stop.

Children becoming impatient with post-end of level testing-homework.  Stop.

Made paper chain to summer.  Stop.

Send reinforcements.  Stop.

Lunch Ladies

Sometime during my last year in Elementary school I was assigned lunch duty.  Lunch duty involved a plastic apron, plastic gloves and a hairnet.  It also involved serving food to others, wiping down tables where other people ate (and spilled), and washing off other people's lunch trays.  There's a smidgen of OCD in me that makes other people's stuff a little unnerving.  Handing out milk at the end of the lunch line was the best gig, but one day I was assigned to serve the green beans.  I can still smell those darn green beans.  Ugh!  It's a fact that I still won't eat green beans to this very day.

My fourth grader was assigned to lunch duty last week.  The OCD bug has filtered down to my children so I felt a twinge of concern.  As it turned out, she LOVED lunch duty.  The responsibility, the feeling she was completing a grown up job, the service to others, the authority.  She didn't even mind scraping the mashed potatoes off the trays.  You go girl!

Here's a shout out to all you lunch ladies.  Your tireless effort to serve up food with ice-cream scoops does not go unnoticed! 

Busy

Busy negotiating life today, but I'd still like to make you smile.  Try this.

City Slicker

I've lived in small town USA for a little over two years now.  When we moved here I thought to myself:  "we're going to blow in and out of town before anyone knows we were here."  My thought process was heavily influenced by my husband's professional life as a football coach.  As two years are turning into three I've paused for reflection. 

Last night we spent FHE on the red rocks of Washington, Utah watching a stupendous fireworks show.  The cause for such an occasion was Cotton Days.  When I commented that no one does fireworks like Washington, my daughter responded by saying: "That's because all the city has to spend money on is fireworks and little league."  She could be right.  And since fireworks and little league are two things we love the most, that turns out to be a big bonus for us. 

My small town offers me professionals, like doctors and dentists, who treat me like family.  Familiar faces around town are comforting, like Miguel down at Jiffy Lube.  Roads less traveled offer room for exploration and I've come to find that exploration is enlightening.  Hard to believe, but this city slicker is finding much joy in living a small town life.

Life and Death

 My youngest was recently gifted ten dollars in a card from Grandma Judy.  It's a regular occurrence to open the mailbox and find an envelope from Grandma Judy that has smiley faces, love, and cash inside.  The question was clear:  how to spend the money?

After weeks of pondering options, it was decided.  A fish, because a guinea pig was absolutely denied!  A date was selected when we would actually have time in between obligations to make the purchase.  It seemed the obvious choice to go where we go for everything else in our life:  WalMart.  We could get a fish, a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter.

A big black fish was chosen and named Emperor Kuzco in honor of our very favorite Disney movie "The Emperor's New Groove."  In the movie, the Emperor is turned into a lama.  In real life, our Emperor turned into a fish floating on it's side the morning after we got it.

The Emperor's death led to a great discussion on life and death.  Then we did what we should have done in the first place:  went to an actual pet store where someone could tell us the best choice to make and give us suggestions for sustaining life.

We've kept our new beta fish, named Inca, alive for three days now and we couldn't be more pleased.  Life is good.