State of Obvious

Otherwise known as a great way to end a bad week: Eric and Josh went to the father son campout tonight. In an effort to keep Carly from melting into a gooey pile of tears, Carly and I had a girl's night out. That's right, the boys went camping, the girls went shopping. Carly got a very cute new pink hat and some shiney black mary jane shoes, I got a new pair of sandals (that Carly decided were not cute but I bought anyhow. I mean really, my 2 year old has good taste but she can't even match her socks). Afterward we went to Big Boy and had dinner, shared a strawberry milkshake and I didn't get mad that she only at about 1/4 of her hambaburger (that's how she says it). She didn't scream, I didn't scream, it was lovely. After we got home Carly played with her new shoebox, giving me the box that now held her old sandals, and singing "happy birday, happy birday, happy birday!" This evening a thunderstorm rolled through the area bringing the smell of rai

I spilled half a box of spaghetti on the floor the other day. It was sitting on the edge of the counter while I was cooking and the kids were playing outside. I ushered Carly out the door and away from the precariously perched box only to knock it over myself when I went to look outside and make sure the kids were still alive. It made a huge mess when I knocked it over, spilling out and tumbling all over itself. I don't know if you've ever spilled half a box of spaghetti on the floor, but it actually makes some pretty interesting structures when it falls willy-nilly out of the box. Some pieces intertwine, some break, some fly across the room where I am sure they are still hiding. For about a year now my life has been a lot like this little spilled box of spaghetti, tumbling out and twisting up and breaking. It is all linked, it seems, to Eric's mom dying. I hate typing that word: dying. I want to say the fluffy words like passed away but the cold simple truth of it

I don't know about you, but this election I just don't feel very good about voting for any of the cantidates running for office. They all make me cringe. However, I finally did find one person I feel 100% confidence in. I realize most of you reading this don't live in Michigan, so you can't vote for this guy (actually I can't either since he's not in my district!), but if you do live in Michigan and he's on your ballot, I hope you vote yes! Who is this international man of mystery? His name is Charles Findlay and he is a great friend of ours. He has been friends with Eric for 2/3 of my life - they love it when I break it down into numbers like that. He's running as a democrat...his only flaw, but I would still vote for him because he is just the kind of common sense politician this state and country needs. We need more Charles Findlays and less...of the other guys. Find more about Charles here . Spread the word!

I perhaps have mentioned before that I love to read. Give me a good book and I'll devour it in a matter of days; many of my favorite books are read over and over again. So, it goes without saying that I'm very intrigued by this little gadget: It's called a Kindle and its offered by Amazon.com for the low, low (are they kidding?!) price of $399. For that paltry sum you get free 2 day shipping and you get to pay for the cost of the books you load on top of that. If you're like me, the sticker shock probably made your heart palpitate. Once I watched the informative video though, I decided I do kinda want one. OK so more than kinda, but not for $400. The books are cheaper than buying them off the shelf (in most cases) with new releases averaging $10. However, does the cheaper book price really make up for the initial selling of your arm and leg? The jury is still out on that one. This is one case where I am glad I don't have a credit card to use because I was tempted,

So I made another movie. Eric uploaded a bunch of pics from his phone to the computer and I discovered that there were a lot of great faces. Now lest you think that I do this every day and my mom's video was nothing special, this movie took me maybe 30 minutes tops to throw together. My mom's video took me several hours because I wanted it to be just right...perhaps the end products are not too different but the effort surely was. And, you'll all be happy to learn (I'm sure you've been waiting with baited breath) that Carly is once again sans binky. Also, when Josh watched the video with me he said "most of these are of Carly". Yes, there are a lot of pictures of Carly. There are a few reasons: she's a ham, Josh rarely lets us actually take a nice picture and she's still a novelty. Eventually we'll ignore her just the same...

If only life worked like this: If it did, I could very politely but firmly say NO!

Again with the brilliance, the unconfirmed super hero that is (perhaps) my sister. Need I say it? Why do you not have a blog of your own, dear and mighty one! --- While I can neither confirm or deny my true identity, under this immense pressure I can reveal the current details regarding the multiplying laundry phenomenon reported. First the disclaimer: while the observable fact is well documented, and there are numerous well funded research studies ongoing to determine the source, no reports have ever been published. It seems that every time a draft of the findings is created it somehow gets lost in distribution for review, the text in the report fades or changes to a color that nobody can stand to read, or the paper shrinks to a size that can no longer be read. The condition is the result of the confluence of at least two distinctly separate events that under all other known circumstances cannot exist simultaneously. One component is subjugates allocationing, or more commonly known

There is a very good reason for it! No, I'm not having a sudden miraculous baby and no we haven't found out if we are moving to Houston. To put it simply, my sister Charlotte is awesome and there was no way - NO WAY - I could let her answers go anonymously into the night. For those of you that don't take time to read comments on blogs, here is one very good reason why you should: "Once I got past the shock of you actually doing dishes and making dinner on the same day I came up with a few answers for you: -Blue sky: it is not that scientific wavelength of light in the atmosphere, it is because it was decided by the majority in the council in heaven that it was the best color. -Nobody left dirty laundry on the floor, the items were clearly going in to the basket and there was a rupture in the space time continuium that moved the basket unbeknownst to the depositer -Like kitchen cupboards, even when all the clothes are clean and put away there is nothing to wear -Milk r

When we are kids we ask questions like 'why is the sky blue?'. Now that I am an adult, I ask different kinds of questions...here are a few I thought of today while making some mac-n-cheese and doing dishes: ~ Why do people* leave dirty laundry on the floor next to the dirty laundry basket? ~ Why does my father-in-law save the milk top rings? ~ Did my laundry take it literally when God said to multiply and replenish the earth? It seems to have the concept mastered. ~ How is it that dinner takes an hour to make and 5 minutes to eat? ~ Did the laundry teach the dishes how to multiply and replenish too?? ~ In what way is using plastic cups and paper plates more sensible? ~ What is it about cooking outside that makes things taste better? ~ How come I have a cupboard full of food and nothing to eat? ~ Just how does my mom's voice come out of my own mouth? ~ How come boys have no problem 'going' in the shower, but are grossed out by cleaning the toilet? ~ Where did that

This year for mother's day we made a video for my mom instead of mailing a card or flowers. The great thing about this "gift" is that I can deliver it on Mommy Day without postage or worrying about forgetting! I posted it here just in case it doesn't make it through the email channels and also because I wanted to publicly say to my mom that I'm so thankful to be her daughter. Despite all our ups and downs, I wouldn't trade her for anything. I had a nice mom day, breakfast in bed and all that jazz. We have a super smart bishopric that gave us Cadbury Chocolate instead of flowers (yum!) and Eric made a nice dinner. I am so grateful to have had not only one amazing, kind, wonderful mother - but 2! I wish that everyone could be so fortunate to have been blessed with double the love from these two amazing women.

Thanks Heather and Lacey for your kind thoughts, it really does mean a lot! The good news is that my grandma seems to have turned a corner back and is on the mend! Yay!

We all have our list, the things that are 'wrong' that we wish were more right. Mine seems to grow longer instead of shorter and seems to flash in big bold letters when I'm tired, stressed or lonely. A couple of recent events have led me to dwell on my sad little list a bit more than normal the last day or so. ~ Josh is really struggling in school again. SIGH . DOUBLE SIGH . I thought we were getting on track but then at the start of the week he brought home not one but TWO "E" grades! O.o Then! today he brought home a math test - usually a strongish suit of his - with only 7/20 correct answers! His teacher encouraged us to contact a tutor. Her suggestion only irritates me even more because when he was in 3rd grade and first started struggling so much as to need extra help at school, they discouraged us from seeking out a tutoring type service. I feel like we are always losing ground. And while I know that much of the responsibility is Joshua's, I