just.plain.weird.

bompie: "mom, i want to draw a picture before i go to bed."



me: "what you you want to draw?"



bompie: "i don't know....something weird and normal, i guess something normally weird...."



Pause. Bompie thinking.



bompie: "i know! i'll draw a picture of YOU mom!"



me: "um okay...??!!"



i guess that makes me weird, or normal, or just normally weird.

what would Jesus do?

josh takes his ITOUCH to church on Sundays...


...supposedly (it does) it contains all his scriptures on it. you know, so he can follow along in Sunday School class. He has been threatened with his life NOT to use it for anything else during Sunday Hours.


today during Sacrament Meeting, he was using the coloring program on it to color in pictures (cars and whatnot).


I leaned over and said to him "AHEM! those are NOT your scriptures! You are coloring!--what would Jesus say?"


without missing a beat, Josh replied, "He would say 'use more blue Josh, use more blue'."

oh YES! you can have your cake and eat it too...

Each year, sometime in February, Grandma "Regular" has her "PINK PRINCESS PARTY". This involves all the girls on Kyle's side of the family, wearing pink, celebrating birthdays (the January/February ones) and eating cake.

Kyle's sister, Laura, has taken up cake making in the past year or so and this year she made the cake. Only it wasn't JUST a cake...it was a work of art. And not just your run of the mill art either. It was a magnificent, zippity do dah, wonderful, pleasing to the eye, work of art. The princess cake was gorgeous! (I am already planning on hiring her for my children's weddings when the time comes.)

The party included princess costumes, valentine making and eating. Because you can never have too much of a good thing, right?


The cake was double vanilla on top and chocolate mint on the bottom. I asked for a small piece of each and made it halfway through the vanilla and one bite into the chocolate before I almost keeled over dead of sugar intoxication. (and i mean that only in the best of ways.)


The cake was simply divine to look at and to eat. (just very rich, made from scratch).

Kudos to Grandma for the party and Laura for the cake. Thanks to Belinda for the pictures (stolen from Facebook)-forgotten camera by yours truly.

forgotten

in all the post "he got a freakin' job" excitement, we forgot to celebrate Valentines Day. that's what i keep telling myself, but in reality we are waiting for the first paycheck. (which is still a few weeks away).

and quite honestly, as long as one (a paycheck) is coming in the foreseeable future, i am fine with the forgetting. (lack of celebrating)

this year, we dug out an old Cafe Rio "FREEEEEEEEE MEAL" coupon, and split a grilled chicken salad. We got "ARACHNOPHOBIA" from the library (which reaffirmed my sheer mortal terror of spiders) and called it good.

kyle remembered the kids with Reese's peanut butter hearts, and really is there anything better than chocolate and peanut butter mixed together in some high calorie treat? do you think Olivia noticed she didn't get one with her valentine from kyle?

this Valentines Day i had everything i needed: a roof over my head, my bills paid in full, food in my fridge, my husband off to work and 4 healthy kids....i am so blessed~

family size

Today I went to the store and I bought the FAMILY SIZE (family size!) package of Red Vines.

(this will only make you laugh if you have been reading my blog for a while)

But, I must say it felt wonderful to throw it into my cart with reckless abandon. I didn't even need toilet paper today, I just wanted some RED VINES.

(However, until I actually SEE a paycheck in my hand, this will be my one and only splurge. I went all out, didn't I? Listen, a girl has GOT TO have her priorities straight, right? My husband may be mad that I chose RED VINES instead of a 12 pack of Dt. Coke. That will come honey, that will come!)

unemployment by numbers....

idea shamelessly stolen from my writer friend brodi ...(brodiashton.blogspot.com)...


number of months/days umemployed: 6 months, 21 days

number of tears shed (for both good AND bad reasons): countless

number of job interviews in the past 5 months: 0

number of job interviews in the past 5 days: 4

number of loaves of bread delivered to my porch: lots

number of acts of service/kindness done for my family: countless

number of applications sent in: between 1000 and 1500

number of interviews resulting from applications sent: 2

number of networking emails sent from kyle to everyone: 1000's

number of books read to escape from my reality: many

number of hours spent praying/pleading/crying: countless

number of porta potties plunged by kyle: trying to forget that number

number of new spanish words learned on a hot roof in july: 16

number of days spent in bed (by me) feeling sorry for myself: 1

number of coupons used: 134

number of 25 pound bags of flour used during unemployment: 3

number of hours since we found out kyle had a new job: 10

number of days til he starts his new job: 1

number of times i called him back today to see if it was true: 4

number of exclamation points grace texted me back
with when she found out kyle had a job: 12

number of feelings of gratitude in our heart: countless

heavenly bacon

"is you is? or is you ain't? ...with me" (fabulous quote from the movie "oh brother where art thou?")


so are you? with me or not? do you love bacon or not? my home is divided. half bacon lovers, half sausage lovers.


me, i prefer good ole, fresh from the pig, bacon. and it MUST be cooked to crispy perfection. none of that limp, wiggly stuff will do.


apparently i have never tasted real bacon until recently.


i apologize for the use of "Mormon verbiage" in the post as follows, if you have any questions as to what i am talking about, leave me one in my comments.


my visiting teacher happens to be the wife of a "meat guy" who also happened to be our previous stake president. (you neighborhood folks know to whom i am referring).


anyway, on her past visit we were the recipients of a few meat products. mainly some chicken and a package (or two) of bacon. not nearly enough, after tasting this delicacy.


on the doorstep she warned kyle, "this is the BEST bacon you will EVER eat."


i thought, really? come on! all bacon is the same! best bacon ever?


i have been proven wrong, rebuked, been made to reconsider all that i ever thought i knew about bacon. this stuff is of the celestial variety.


i fried up a slice or two for lunch today. added it to my lettuce and tomato and bread. wallah! a BLT! after one bite, i was blown away. never had i tasted bacon this good. ever.


i managed to inhale the entire sandwich. i then proceeded to search the frying pan, the paper towels, and the plate for any bacon crumbs, or morsels, that may have escaped my masticating mouth.


it was that good.


i am now wondering what these pigs are dining on to create such unbelievably good bacon...


i think i will ask Marilyn the next time i see her.



(and do you think it would be shameful to beg for some more bacon?)