A Picture Description of a Crazy Day

Let's see....

I spy

 3 paper cups left out from the night before,

cereal bowls and cereal bags from breakfast,

Chobani yogurt from my hurried trip to Costco (at least I got all THAT stuff put away, right?),

chips and banana peel from lunch,

homework papers from somebody's backpack,

elastics and hair gel for Lucy's hair before rushing her to rehearsal right after school,

a towel from a spilled drink,

4 kids meals from Wendy's, brought home and snarfed down in a 20 minute break before we all rushed back to watch......

Miss Lucy and her Starlight company group perform at the 

Lone Peak Chevalier Drill Team Showcase.

Neurotic moment:  Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to handle her growing up and doing anything more than performing these cute little girl dances.  I had so much anxiety that I couldn't swallow for half and hour before she performed.  I put about 50 extra, unnecessary bobby pins in her head band, I asked her 12 times if she needed to go to the bathroom, I ran over right before and told her to pull her footie dance shoe things (can't remember what they're called) on tighter. 

Then I watched her come out and smile and do a darling job and it was all worth it.  

Carrot Cookies

This recipe holds a lot of sentiment for me.

My Nana used to make these cookies all the time after Sunday dinner when she had leftover cooked carrots.

Peel and cut 5-6 medium size carrots.  Cover with water and boil until very tender. (about 45-60 minutes)

Drain.  Mash with fork and/or beaters.  Set aside.

3/4 C. shortening                 1 C. cooked, mashed carrots
3/4 C. sugar                         2 t. baking powder
1 egg                                    1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla                           2 C. flour


Cream shortening, sugar and egg.  Add vanilla and carrots.  Mix.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix.  Drop onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (this works sooo much better than a greased cookie sheet).
Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes.

 Icing:     Powdered sugar

             Juice and zest of 1-2 oranges

Add enough juice to make spreading consistency.  Stir in zest.  Ice cookies while still warm.

These taste even better the second day.

This Video Speaks for Itself

Be warned.  Sleep deprivation and I don't get along.  

Rated PG for minor language.  :)       

Yoga Girl

It's hard to find things to do during the winter.

 I rarely allow my kids to play video games.

But I do encourage physical activity.

My kids love playing Wii Fit.

Lucy discovered the Wii Yoga and is pretty good at it.

This is the "Sun Salutation"

Jeff tried the "tree" and could not, for the life of him, balance the entire time.

He said, "Hon, come here and try this.  It's so difficult."

I think he forgot that I was/am a ballerina.  

The tree is basically just a passe in ballet.

Piece of cake.  I kicked his trash.

Legally Blonde!

For our last day in California, we drove up to Riverside to see my cousin.  As I've mentioned before, she is Elle Woods in the traveling Broadway production of Legally Blonde.

We met up for brunch before the matinee.  The first thing I asked her when I saw her was, "What's the worst thing that has happened on stage so far?"

I spent the majority of the time quizzing her on everything that could go wrong.

She kept reassuring me, "Amy, this is like my 200th show."

Stacey, me, Nikki, mom, Julie, Angie

Nikki gave us the backstage tour.  Here she is showing me her carefully laid out costumes for all the quick changes.  Then she told me about the one time a costume was misplaced and she missed an entrance. So of course, I stressed about that during the entire show.

A picture with Elle and Emmett.

Nikki is clearly NOT blonde.  I thought for sure they would make her dye her hair.  

Nope.  

Wigs.

These darn wigs gave me more anxiety than anything else.

I saw the hairdresser pin them securely on her head, but I was not prepared for all the head flipping that Elle would do on stage.  I seriously thought the wig would fly off her head at any moment.   

It didn't.  :)

Bruiser is Elle's dog.  He has his own dressing room, trainer, owner, wardrobe, laundry hamper, AND understudy.  
That is one important doggie.

Yes, I had major anxiety about all the possible backstage/on stage malfunctions.

Yes, I was nervous for Nikki.  

But, to quote a line and song from the show, "OhMyGo[sh]YouGuys!!!!",

It was so amazingly good!!!!!

I was so proud.  I wanted to tell everyone around me that Elle was my cousin.  

My mom, in fact, did just that.

I told Nikki that her next starring role needs to be in NYC on Broadway.  

I need an excuse to go back there again.

Girls' Trip

This is my awesome sister-in-law, Nicole.  She's married to my brother, Dave, and I don't consider her an in-law at all.  She is one of the girls.

 On the plane.  

Hello.... can you say Xanax-glazed-look-of-terror?

BIG NEUROTIC MOMENTS (PLURAL) HERE!!!!!

This is how close the beach house was to the water.  See my knees at the bottom of the picture?  I'm sitting on the balcony.

Ummm...certain death if a tsunami suddenly occurred here, BUT I did some research and found out that, given where the fault line is located in southern California, it is impossible for a tsunami to happen as a result of an earthquake (unless it is coming from another earthquake across the pacific, but then you have several hours of warning). 

Big, fat PHEW!

Ethan and Ben love Aunt Amy.

Dinner with the fam.  Chris is taking the picture.  He is a good sport to hang out with the girls.

Angie, my cousin, joined up with us on Friday.  

She is front, left.

Do you watch Cupcake Wars on the Food Network?

I do.  We ran into this place while walking around Riverside.

We ordered one of each flavor (almost), plopped ourselves down in the hotel lobby, and went crazy!

Red velvet is my fave!

Of course, the main reason we had this girls' trip was to see my cousin, Nikki Bohne, aka Elle Woods, in the traveling Broadway musical, Legally Blonde.

But that deserves its own post.

BTW, Neurotic Moment #2:  I found out on the flight out that 1 1/2 Xanax does NOT cut it when it comes to panic control on the flight.  The take-off was rough. I put my head down, plugged my ears, prayed, and cried but only a little.  And I only grabbed Nic's leg once during some turbulence.

I took two Xanax on the way home and I was fine.

I'm glad I have no flights coming up in the near future.

Everybody's Favorite

Gingersnaps

These cookies are, hands down, my entire family's favorite cookie.  This includes my extended family.  

My mom was so mad when she found out I made these when she was out of town.

My nephew, Yale, begs and cries for them.

2 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. shortening

1/2 C. butter/margarine, cold

Mix very well.  Add:

1/2 C. molasses

2 eggs

Mix well again. Add:

4 1/2 C. flour

4 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

2 t. ground ginger

2 t. cloves

1/2 t. salt

Mix well. Chill for 1 hour

(I'm very impatient and I like to speed up this process by wrapping the dough in tinfoil and putting it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.)

Roll dough into 1" round balls.

Roll in sugar and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake 375* for 9-11 minutes.

Cookies are done when they are just barely set and look like they might need one more minute.  

(Resist that urge to cook longer.  The cookies finish cooking while they are cooling and will be perfectly soft.)

That giant cookie in the picture is when I got sick of rolling balls and I made two giant cookies. 

 Maybe I'll do that from now on.  Super thick and yummy!

Impulse Buyer

I went into Target for a mattress pad.  JUST a mattress pad.

I had a little too much time to kill before going to pick up Josh from school.

So instead of getting JUST a mattress pad, I got a mattress pad, curtains, 2 pictures, three pillows, pillowcases, a bed skirt, a new lamp, new bedding for the toddler bed, 2 accent pillows and a ceramic piggy bank puppy named Rufus.  Really, that's his name.

This room looks a whole lot better, don't you think?

I'm so proud that I finally got the blankets off the window after 2 years.

It's not pottery barn, but it'll do for now.

Neurotic moment:  I'm going to spend us out of house and home if I can't reign in my impulse purchases.

Brushing Teeth

I don't know which is worse:

When your kids are young and can't do anything for themselves.

Or when they are still young but THINK they can do it all by themselves.

We are at that stage with Hamster here.

"I wanna bwush all by myself."

"No, don't turn the water on!  I can turn the water on."

"Don't help me!  No!!!  I wanna do the toofpase!"

*Sigh*

So, I bought him a step stool, easy-to-dispense toothpaste, and here you have it.

I love this picture of him laughing while climbing up to turn the water on and off.

Rinse.

I had to laugh when I opened the top drawer in the bathroom and found this.

How silly of me to assume that my kids would throw away their old toothpaste when I bought them new toothpaste.

Neurotic moment:   I religiously take my kids for their dental check-ups every six months.

Even so, I have severe anxiety EVERY. DARN. TIME!

I'm worried that they'll have a mouthful of cavities and have the trauma of the shots, numbing, gas, drilling and that the dentist will look at me and be shocked and appalled that a mother could take such poor care of her children's oral health.

Hasn't happened yet, thank goodness, but I leave the dentist's office with a tension headache every time.

Speaking of Hair...

Here's another 'do for Lu

I wash her hair and dry it about 80%.

Then I grab sections of hair, twist it around my finger, roll it into a bun and secure with elastics.  

She sleeps like this.  Poor girl.

But look how pretty it is in the morning.

I got the cutest invitation from this sweetie pie.

Translation:

Come to my reading party

Thursday any time on (with arrow pointing back to "Thursday")

From Lucy to family

 Who could pass that up?

Big Change

Okay, okay, not really. I say I want big change, but when it comes right down to it, this is as brave as I get.  A little lighter, a little shorter and (*gasp*) some bangs.

Ladies and gentlemen, the photography skills of my 12-year-old:  ( I had to stoop down to be eye-level with the camera.)

Ta-da!!!

Neurotic moment:  I have a terrible fear of looking like a thirty-something mom of four who drives a minivan. 

 Oh wait...

A Short Story

Once upon a time there was a girl who was having a really crappy day.

So, she went to the store and bought this.

Then she felt much better
and lived happily ever after.
Well....happily ever for the afternoon anyway.

The end.

Flying

Just looking at the picture below makes me short of breath and anxious.

I am not afraid of death.  It's the actual dying part leading up to death that scares the shizola right out of me.

And crashing in an airplane is on my top 5 list of ways I do NOT want to die.

I know all the logic. I know tens of thousands of planes fly every day.  I know driving a car is much more dangerous.

It's just the fact that I am in an enclosed space with no means of escape.  (AHHH!  I'm getting all panicky just writing about this).  I'm trapped.  I mean, would you rather die instantly in a car crash, or KNOW for 20 minutes or so that you are going to die as the plane is going down????  

I faced my ultimate challenge last summer when Jeff and I flew to London for our 15 year anniversary.  Not only would I be trapped in a plane for hours and hours, I would be flying over WATER!  A whole ocean! (Another in my top 5 list of ways I don't want to die--drowning).

So how do I cope?  That's easy.  Big time, hard core prescription drugs.

My modus operandi is just to be so out of it and unaware that I won't know or care if the plane is plummeting to the earth.

I just load up on an Ativan or two, and when that doesn't kick in fast enough, three, and I'm good to go.  

Jeff tells me stories afterwards of me staggering through the airport, wearing a neck pillow, crying off and on for no reason.  I don't remember a thing.  I think he's lying.  ;)

I think I overdid it last time because when we finally got to our hotel in London I threw up (too much Ativan?) and slept for 16 hours.

This is just a little flight to California.  It's only for 4 days so I can't waste a whole day and a half being drugged up on a drug as strong as Ativan.  A Xanax (or two) will have to suffice.

Poor, poor Nicole (my brother's wife) who has the task of flying with me.  I hope she is up to the challenge.

But I will do it.  Why?

Because I get to see this sister....

...and this sister...

...and this sister.  They all live out of state and I miss them.  I'm so excited.

This was the last girls' trip we all had together almost 4 years ago.  Too long.

L to R:  Julie, Steph, Mom, Stacey, Nicole, me, Keri (the only one who won't be going, sniff)