Tagged Again--dang, I guess I'm not running fast enough!

I've been tagged by my friend Layne who is a very funny person. She doesn't care if I've been tagged twice in the last month and have happily played along. She just wants to bother me and give me lots of stuff to do. I've been trying to get out of posting this for about 2 weeks but she keeps nagging me about it. --Quit yer whining and just do it! It's not even that big of a deal so I'll just do it and get it over with. Happy now Layne?

The Rules:

1. Go to your documents/pictures.

2. Go to your 6th file.

3. Go to your 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

6. So here we go... here is my 6th pic in my 6th file.

OK--I downloaded and it went to the top and that's where it wants to stay. Sheesh. OK--A blog about this picture.

This is a picture of a Christmas tree skirt. duh.
I made it for the middle school fundraiser/auction last year. It's actually a very cute skirt--the pics don't show the colors off. It's a very limey green and bright red with lots of swirleys in the fabric. Kind of funky. It didn't bring in much money. I guess people at middle school auctions don't generally know how much fabric costs and how much time it takes to sew a project and quilt it. Lots of people liked it but they would look at the minimum bid and say, man, I can go buy one lots cheaper than that. Sure you could, but would it be this cute and would you get this quality? I think not.

So, there's my 6th picture from my 6th file.

I've decided to not name 6 people to tag. If you want to carry this on--go for it! It is a fun, fast way to pass along a tag and also fun to see what picture is in your file.

Happy now, Layne?

Goat Cheese

I lived with my grandparents when I was in my last two years of high school. That's a story for another day (maybe), but Grandpa loved farm animals. He had already done horses, cows, chickens and pigs, so, at this time, he bought himself a goat. We had an acre of old apple trees behind the house and he fenced off an area for the goat, built her a shelter, and put some pieces of old concrete piled up for the goat to climb on. His plan was for the she-goat to have a baby and then he could have free goat milk to drink. She was a cute miniature goat and soon she was as wide as she was long. I got to see her babies being born--she had twins. She just dropped them and kept on walking. The babies stood up, wobbled, took a few steps and then started clomping on the pile of cement. They were probably half the size of momma goat when they were born. I can only imagine how good that must have felt to finally get them out! So, Grandpa started milking her every day. He not only milked her but he started talking about how good the milk was, how nutritious, how it was the best milk in the world. When Grandpa liked something it was automatically the best and he had a hard time understanding how come not everyone shared his opinion. So, I tried the milk. It was strained, cold, fresh, nutritious and had everything going for it. Except it tasted like how the goat smelled. I thought it was pretty nasty. Grandpa couldn't understand why I didn't like it and why I didn't share his point of view. I was thinking that the only reason he liked it was because he had invested so much time in this little goat.

Grandpa really loved that goat milk. He made butter out of it and even cheese. He loved that goat for giving him such a wonderful gift--mmm...fresh milk. He bragged and bragged about the goat and the milk but I just could not drink it. I could not even try it again--it was nasty. (Grandma liked it but she drank buttermilk, too.)

I went to Red Robin today for lunch. Chris and I took the girls--they were home early from finals. Had a good raspberry shake and a Harvest Apple and Walnut salad. Doesn't that sound good and healthy and fresh? Guess what else was on the salad? Goat cheese. I read that on the menu but I was hoping it would be different. I was thinking that processed, manufactured cheese from a factory might taste all right. I was wrong. I got a little piece on a bite and that taste/smell brought back all of those memories of Grandpa bragging about his goat. Trying to get me to drink it and like it. That cute momma goat dropping her babies. Grandpa putting goat milk in the regular milk jug to try and trick me--didn't work. Grandpa building an elevated stand to walk the goat up to milk her, taking his bucket out empty and bringing it back full. His pride in all of his hard work. And there I was with my salad, enjoying my flashback in time and picking out the little bits of goat cheese that were hiding in the lettuce.

7-Things-Tag

I’ve been tagged by my friend "Slim" to list 7 random things about myself that maybe not everyone knows.

1) I had an article published in the New Era. This was a long time ago and it was published under my maiden name. If you know that name you can go to lds.org and look it up! It was very exciting to see something that I wrote in print.

2)I lived in Holland when I was a teenager. My aunt and uncle and 4 cousins lived there while my uncle served in the Air Force. They invited me to come and live with them for a year. I have wonderful memories of living in the dutch country-side. We would walk across the street to the dairy farmer to buy our milk, and down the street to the bakery for bread and stroopwaffles. The houses were all brick and had lace curtains and everything was clean--there were no bill boards on the sides of the road. I loved seeing the canals, people in the country really wore wooden shoes when they were outside working, most everyone rode bikes everywhere and everyone loved the queen. It was a great year!

3)I cry when I read "The Friend" out loud to my kids. I really do not know why, but we’ll be reading a story together and my voice starts cracking and my eyes water up. The kids just all look at me like, "Why is she crying? Is she crying because of the story? Really?" OK—It’s not just "The Friend." Sometimes emotional emails make me cry, too, but we don't need to get into that.

4)Something that I want to do before I die is be in or travel through all 50 states. The only ones I have left are: Alaska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, Vermont, N. Hampshire, and Maine. Time for a road trip!

5)Almost every day I read the newspaper—not cover to cover, but if something catches my eye I’ll read the entire article. I usually skip the Sports section, but I scan the Business section. I love the Wednesday Food section. I read the editorials if they’re not too long or if the subject is interesting to me. I’ve written an editorial to the paper before but after the phone calls from disgruntled readers I quit doing that—I guess that not everyone agrees with what I write. I do the crossword puzzle, sudoku, and jumble as time permits. I always do the crossword puzzle on Mondays and Tuesdays—it’s a little easier on those days and I can usually finish them.

6)I love to quilt. It’s just a good way for the artsy side of me to be expressed. I love putting colors together and finding new patterns to try. I’ve started keeping a photo album of the ones I’ve finished. I am currently working on a pink baby quilt for my sister—she’s due in a couple of weeks. I’m hand quilting a big flannel one for Chris—we won’t talk about how long I’ve been working on that one. I just finished collecting blues and greens to make a quilt for Cait’s bed—she needs soothing colors. And I’m mentally planning the one I want on my bed. I prefer traditional pieced quilts—the kind with lots of little pieces. That’s just a really comforting kind of quilt for me. A couple years ago I made a quilt that was auctioned off to support a ministry group here that helps people that are down on their luck. It was a huge king-size that took about 9 months to complete. Lots of friends helped hand-quilt it. The day of the auction was a happy day for me. I was glad that I could do something that would help others.

7)When I have a free day and want to do something for myself I go antiquing. I can only go if I have a lot of time and if I’m looking for something in particular. Of course, I can usually think of something to look for. I really enjoy the hunt and I find it relaxing. I love to see old things and learn about how they were used for everyday life. I don’t want to buy antiques just to have them because that would get very cluttery and be way too much to dust. Some examples of things I’ve found are—armoires for the bedrooms, a hutch for the dining room, and 12 mismatched but very cool ice cream sundae glasses. It took me over a year to find 12. My favorite antiquing buddy is Slim—she can look at a piece and tell you where it came from and about how old it is and what it was used for.

Well, there ya go! Now the world knows all about me. I’m passing this on by tagging my favorite Mar’s—Marci and Marnie! Go girls!

Jace's Resolutions

The following is a list of our "typical" 12 year-old's resolutions. He's always been an overachiever--big time, as you can tell. He wrote this list a couple of weeks ago, printed it up and stuck it on his mirror. He then proceeded to plan out his next project--a treehouse complete with refrigerator and cable tv. Treehouse isn't even on the list! He's a very impressive kid and we're proud of him.

-Organize and carry out 3 service projects:
A book drive for NAM
Perform skits and tell jokes at a hospital or shelter
Take care of a sick or injured person’s lawn
-Get these merit badges:
Communications
Emergency Preparedness
Camping
Citizenship in the Nation
Citizenship in the Community
Citizenship in the World
Metalworking
Entrepreneurship
Music
Bugling
Astronomy
Space Exploration
Aviation
Geology
Medicine
-Read the whole Book of Mormon
-Live the Book of Mormon
-Save up money for my future mission and college
-Try to be nicer to everyone
-Become Life Scout
-Learn about Aviation
-Do the best that I can in football in 8th grade.
-Run mile in less than seven minutes
-Make up three games
-Make a movie
-Run a four hundred in less than 1:20
-Run and complete a 5k
-Make good grades
-Write a published book
-Go snowboarding or skiing
-Get up on water skis
-Go paintballing

So, when is he going to sleep?

Pure Talent :)

We are proud to present Benj's button-snappin' belly. Enjoy.

FIFTY BOOKS

Last year, one of my goals was to read 50 books. It was the only goal that I actually completed! I decided to set the goal after 2007 when I realized I had read a LOT of books that year and wondered how many it was. So, for 2008 I decided to read at least 50 and keep a list of what they were. I'm sure you've all seen the list down the side of my blog.

A lot of the books are Bluebonnet Books. These are 20 books picked by Texas elementary school librarians. 3rd through 6th graders (5th grade in our district) read these, and in our elementary school give an oral book report on each one to pass them off. (Different schools have different ways to pass them off.) If they read at least 5 they can vote on their favorite which goes into the statewide vote for the Bluebonnet book of the year. If the kids read 10 they get a certain prize, 15 a better prize, and so on. Our school has a posse of "Bluebonnet Moms" who volunteer to go into the school and listen to these reports. I've been a Bluebonnet Mom in the past and have read most all of the Bluebonnet books to my kids over the years. Though some are very simple reading and some are picture books, they are all well written and many are favorites.

I've always read to my kids at night. We've read all of the Harry Potter's twice, Series of Unfortunate Events, all of The Borrowers, Bluebonnet books since Erin was in 3rd grade, and anything else we find at the library that looks interesting. There seem to be a lot of fantasy books out lately for that reading level. They aren't my favorite, but most are well-written and the kids enjoy them. I also enjoy reading Newberry Award winner books.

There were some books that I started this year but after a chapter or two I put them aside. I usually make myself finish what I start, but I am starting to get pickier about books. One book that I should have put aside was "One Thousand White Women." I don't recommend that one. It not only had too much xx in it, it was also depressing and ended sad. I usually don't mind tragedies--one of my all time favorites is "Tess of the D'Urbervilles"--queen of tragedy! But the White Women book wasn't worth the time it took to read it.

This year, I also read about the Korean war. I found a simplified version (in the kids section) to give me an overview. My dad fought in the Korean war. I don't know what he did because he's not around to ask, but I wanted to know a little more about it. It was enlightening. I read about Edward Hopper who painted one of my favorites, "Nighthawks." The painting reminds me of Hemingway's short story, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place." I also read "Anne Frank" for the first time. I saw her house when I was 14, but hadn't read her diary until this year. I loved it. So, I found other books from WWII -- "A Hatred for Tulips" and "The Boy Who Dared"-- and read them as well. I also read "Make Me a Home" which is authored by a friend, Tami Norton. I think this is her 5th or 6th book--Go Tami! Some of the books I read were books that Caitlin was able to borrow from work (one of the perks of working in a bookstore--the other perk is the discount!). Some of those were good and some were typical LDS fiction--a happy easy read.

Some of my favorites from this year's reading include, "Three Cups of Tea," "One-Handed Catch," "Out of the Dust," "Peter Simple," "Invincible Louisa," "Journal," "The First Day," "Reunion," and "The Christmas Sweater."

I have enjoyed keeping track of what I've read. It's nice to go back and remember what they were. For 2009, I'm going to change my reading goals a bit. I'm not going to worry if I get to 50 books or not. I'm going to try to read more classics and more spiritual books--I'm going for quality over quantity. If you want to recommend a good one, let me know!

Catching Up!

Wow! It's been over a month since I've posted anything! I guess life happens. And WOW! Erin's t-shirt quilt finally got finished! Miracle!

I think I'll start this catch-up back in mid-November with my birthday. It wasn't like a big thing, I don't like to go around telling people it was my birthday or anything. At my age, it's just another day! But what made this particular day memorable was my sweetie arranged for me to test drive one of my dream cars--a brand new Mustang GT. Oh, did I mention it was a convertible? Oh, and cherry red? Totally awesome! It was the middle of the day and the freeway was pretty clear of traffic. We sailed with the top down for miles and miles. Yes, I have a very cool husband. :) We also went out to lunch and saw James Bond, too. But the drive, now that was something.

Thanksgiving was a nice day. We actually were a bit selfish and didn't have anyone over. It was just us (minus Erin) and we could do our own thing. Chris and the boys went to play football in the Turkey Bowl and Chris happened to break his finger trying to pull a flag. It didn't hurt that much so he kept playing and then, later in the day, carved the turkey. He didn't go in for an x-ray until the next day. It was actually a pretty bad break--a spiral oblique, or something like that. But he's getting better. He still needs to keep it taped. Sorry I don't have a picture of the x-ray like I did with Stef's collarbone. This emergency room didn't give us the CD. I don't think we'll go back to that one. :)

The last two weeks we've had a great time with everyone home! It's so nice to have Erin here. It's almost like she never left and now that it's almost time for her to leave again I'm going through all of those emotions again. Also, the last two weeks I've been trying to get over a double ear infection, sinus infection, and bronchial infection. My sinuses are taking forever to clear out and my cough is still tight. I've been wearing my new BYU hoodie and we've been playing a lot of Monopoly which was one of Jace's Christmas gifts. It has electronic banking--very convenient. We have also done another puzzle, eaten a lot of goodies of all kinds, and I've mended some things for Erin. Today I took Erin to pick up some of those essentials every college girl needs--shampoo and chapstick and books and such. And we got pedicures and went out to lunch as well. Fun girl bonding stuff. Oh--my gift of the year was a heavy punching bag. Yes, very cool husband. I love it! It's so much nicer to punch the bag than the wall (j/k!).

Last Monday Caitlin had her wisdom teeth out. Not fun. Poor girl. She handles pain very well but I think she's getting tired of eating soft stuff and not feeling well. She had to go to work today and Erin and I went in to visit her. She looks a little swollen and bruised still. But she's a trooper!

Well, there's a bit of catching up for all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and lots of relaxing time to spend with loved ones.