Oh no you didn't

"Hey, there's Big J!"

"Bryn, we call him Jesus."

2009 sidebar: I have officially posted more entries for 2009. Check.

Today is a yellow day

Looking at my closet, I realized I go through color phases. Meaning I subconsciously gravitate toward a particular color and then buy items in its varying shades.

Since college, this is my color wave and I have a few pieces left from each phase (in order):
Navy blue
Brown
Gray
Blue
Green (this was a long phase)
Black
And now: Purple.

I have about 6 different shirts in varying degrees of purple that I love to wear. Funny, huh?

this week sidebar: it is almost over. shew. Ry and Christy come (hopefully) tonight. I'm ready for this week to be over and to enjoy the weekend and next week...that currently seems to be footloose and fancy.

A festivus for the rest of us

Last night was the festivus and it was a good thing Aaron was out of town because it went till midnight. We decided next year it will be a PJ festivus. I love my friends and it was a really great time. What's in a festivus? Well first we:

• Aired our grievances with one another.
• Competed in a feats of strength contest (kendra is the official tough girl)
• White Elephant exchange (of which I got a smoke'n hot painter's bib)
• Parted with a 7/11 party favor game

it sounds like a lot of games, well because it was, but there was plenty of chatting and treats in between.

Good times, good times.

That is some smooth scat'n

Aaron's parents came this past weekend and it was a whirlwind of fun. The gingerbread house that the girls built with grannie and pa is now in ruins from little snitching fingers. I couldn't be mad about this because I remember snitching candy off our gingerbread houses growing up and it was all part of the fun. The girls are missing them desperately and now we need to figure out when we're going to head to CA this year.

Aaron just realized this morning that he's going to lose about two weeks of vacation come new year. He needs to be better about using his vacation. At Internap, I used every last drop of PTO. It is a crime against relaxation to not use it all.

Festivus sidebar: I'm having my girl's night Festivus tonight. We're going to do feats of strength and more. Should be good times. I've got a bit of scatting still left to do to get ready. And the post office might ruin me. swine post.

It's a big hat, it's funny

Aaron broke his toe. Synchronize swimming. To the nutcracker. At the ward party. He broke his toe during his first dive on a ladder and still finished the routine. It was his big toe. He chipped the bone; we'll see if he needs surgery. This really isn't his year.

She's lecturing me about family?

"Yeah it's okay to run around in circles as long as it's with family."

two men enter, one man leaves

Aaron and I have struggled with the Christmas tree for years now. We both grew up with real Christmas trees and we've had one every year we've been married...including this year. But the past few years, we struggle with the sensible argument to suck it up and buy a fake tree and a pine-scented candle. Both Faveros and Wilsons have made the switch. And the fake tree makes lots of sense, but it just isn't Christmas. We found a fake tree this year, and luckily they had a box problem, so we didn't buy it. But we're planning on it and I'm sure it will be a big fun tree.

To let the kids put their ornaments up, Aaron bought a small Charlie Brown live tree and we put it in the book room. We let the kids decorate it however they liked with colored lights and all. Martha Stewart would not approve. It's perfect. And Lauren read under the light of the small tree tonight. There's magic even in the small trees. The book room smells like heaven: pine and books.

Do I really need a big fun fancy "Mom's" tree? I'm content to settle under the Charlie Brown with the girls and poke fingers at the colored lights.

How's your portfolio looking?

Yes, it's that time of year again when I try to resolve my daddy-issues of wanting to set goals for next year. I'm cutting back drastically on my to do's and setting goals of keeping it simple. Like cutting back the kids' extras so they have time to play with friends. This has been very troubling to Lauren who feels she isn't getting enough friend time. What T TH isn't enough? Noted.

Another goal is just to focus. I like to throw everything into the air and then catch what I can. This year, I'm going to throw one ball at a time and see where that gets me. Probably the same amount of goals reached, but more managable and less stressful.

I need to trim the fat in a lot of ways. For example, I buy things that are useful but not necessary. I have a goal to cut out the unnecessary (this is going to be a tough one for me.) I'm already eyeing a second christmas tree. And that's my problem. A kid's tree is fine. I don't need a fake tree...at least not until after christmas when they're 50% off.

Anyway, these are just early thoughts. I'm going to make a smokin' hot checkbox list later.

thanks madden

"Well you see, he knows when you are sleeping. And, Mom, he knows when you're awake."

denver sidebar: it is a freezing 5 degrees today and snowing...and somehow they didn't call a snowday. The school was a mess this morning. Who was the genius that thought we should keep the schools open today? I plan on hunkering down with the kids and folding laundry.

mu-nu-mu-nu

"Mom, I want a morange for munch."

"Got it Morgan."

Later in the car, I hear coughing from the backseat.

"Ava, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm super okay."


Aaron sidebar: rest at ease, Aaron does not read my blog. And if he did? (Which would be shocking because he's shown no interest for blogs.) We already discussed the TV, so it isn't a big surprise...but I do have something that is. wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you know what I mean.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

I was flogged today. If you want to read the first page of my battered middle grade novel, go here. Ray gave me tons of good feedback and I need to watch my overwriting.
cheers.

Would you turn the page?

The PA crackles and I wake from my stupor. I nudge my friends sitting next to me on the bench and we exchange amused glances. This is a first. I wonder what could be so impor— “Attention, attention,” a polite woman’s voice echoes through the tunnel platform, “there is a credible bomb threat to this station. The trains will not be stopping; please exit immediately.”

That’s never good. I hop up and pull my backpack over both shoulders. Stepping around other people, my friends and I weave down a corridor to the elevator. Others are talking around me. I don’t say a word. (That’s not like me.) I listen.

“Do you think it’s real?”

“That bus blew up last week, so yeah I think it’s real.”

“But no one was hurt on the bus; they gave the people enough warning to get off.”

“Yeah, but we’re in the pit of this station. Who’s to say how much time we have? They didn’t exactly tell us.”

I push the button to the lift. No light. I push it again. Nothing. A crowd presses behind us.

“Back up everyone,” my friend bellows, “the lifts aren’t working; we need to find the stairs.” Groans ripple around the crowd of commuters. We double-back and round the empty platform; there’s another corridor about thirty feet away. Dimly lit and stale, the new corridor reveals a maze of empty hallways. There isn’t an exit sign anywhere. Nothing is familiar. So which way?

[Would you turn the page of my personal essay for Segullah and want to read more? If not, what do I need to work on? Setting? Tone? Character? I need to turn in my entry by the end of the month. Any and all feedback is welcome.]

Natalie sidebar: do you remember this?

And I said, "No salt. No salt."

Today is one of those days where I got a lot done, have a little to show for it, and yet I'm still not looking forward to tomorrow.

Thursdays are killer marathon days. I'm packing in way too much stuff. My mantra for 2010: simplify, simplify, simplify.

And then I volunteered to make soup for RS tomorrow but I'm dreading it. So much so that I looked for premade soup at the store. I chickened out and I'm making the butternut soup...but I'm not happy about it and that might sour the flavor.

Danielson, show me paint the house

Show!

I'm painting the dining room tonight to surprise Aaron when he gets home. I have a two minute break right now between trim and rollers.

The color: Terra Cotta Tile (fancy jumble of words for orangeish-reddish)

[the color is not a shock to Aaron. We agreed on it weeks ago, I just found the time to do it...or more accurately, I made time.]

ut, ut, uh. Always look eye.