Girlfriends....

Sarah, my wonderful daughter just turned 12. She is in the 6th grade, and (ugh!) this is the age in which some girls begin to show their true...nasty...colors. Whether it is getting upset because one girl played with someone else today, or the sulking and and game playing and saying things like "I'll forgive you, when you figure out why I am mad and apologize" (Yes, Sarah actually had a friend say that yesterday.) Do you remember Adolescence? I don't know about the rest of you, but I remember it vividly...as a horror movie. I hated my early teen years. I guess the good thing is I can coach her on how to handle it better than I did. What I really love is Sarah trusts me and actually listens and takes my advice. I hope that continues for many years to come. If I could only do those years over...ACKKKK! What am I saying...?

Anyway...that isn't exactly why I am writing today. As I had a long conversation yesterday about how awful girls can be and how Sarah can avoid the pitfalls of it all...from avoiding gossip... understanding that if one friend is talking bad about their other friend to Sarah, she probably talks badly about Sarah to the other friends, and if one girl is nicer, smarter than the other girls, they will likely not like her because she is nicer and smarter...Go figure...And how to be nice and friendly to all people yet set boundaries and not be a doormat... Ah, so much to tell and so little time.

Well as I was telling her all this stuff, I began to use some of my friends as examples...of how there are some friends who just don't do that. And I realized that I am truly blessed to have, instead of lots and lots of friends, a handful of girlfriends who are truly my friends. Who NEVER make me feel like a doormat, who don't mind if I play with my other friends, who don't play passive/aggressive head games with me, and who don't mind if I AM cuter than them (Inside joke for Paige). But really, some of you read my blog. Some I don't talk to as often as I would like, but I still love because I know you are sincere and good and not like those women I was warned about as a kid growing up. When it comes down to it women can be women's worst enemy with all the competition, gossip, and game playing that goes on. But Women can also be women's best asset when you have girlfriends like I do. So to all my girlfriends...thanks for being the kind of people I could use as an example of true friends to my daughter. Thanks for letting her see what true girlfriends are all about.

I cleaned my pantry...

One of my favorite things is a clean pantry. It is one of the few areas of my house that when it gets cleaned, it will stay clean for a while...even a month or two. It is also a long process and an area I only get to about once a year...and I cleaned it early last summer. But I began to see little flying creatures and wormy things and knew that something (s) must have been infested and it was getting out of control. So I began. I did in fact find some Jiffy Corn Bread boxes and a bag of rice that became Chicken feed due to infestation. I also froze some boxes that were in question...only because I couldn't open them and look in.. (I hate it when I go to cook some mac 'n cheese and little "things" float to the top) So I figured if they are in there, at least they will be dead and not contributing to the increase of crawly things.

So here's another thing I did that was kind of cool. I took out all the stuff that I didn't want and that we were not going to eat (good stuff...not the bug infested stuff) and offered them on Craigslist. But instead of offering them for free, I decided to see if I could get someone to go to the store and bring me a couple of gallons of milk...not because I couldn't get milk, but because I didn't want to...and this kind of thing amuses me (Hey, I can't drink, Paige and I have given up sugar, and I can't have se...Never mind...Anyway, something has to amuse me.). So, believe it or not I had a gillion responses, and I got 4 gallons of milk brought to me in trade for my food that we were not ever going to eat and a bunch of expired food storage. Now that's cool!...if not a little weird... I think next time I will see if I can get a dozen eggs....

WOW! What a trip!!!

So this crazy thing happened last night. What? You ask? I'll tell you.

I am coming down with a cold, so before going to bed last night I took a shot of my favorite alcoholic beverage...NyQuil...so I could rest...and went to bed. Sometime in the middle of some dream in which I am yelling at someone...or something...I don't really remember, I heard this loud screech and a crash. I jumped out of bed, immediately thinking that someone had hit one of my Vanagons...Oh the tragedy that would be. Within seconds I was at my front door opening it to see what had happened. I looked out at my neighborhood...so quiet you could hear a pin drop. All I heard was the sound of a car in the not too far distance driving down the main street nearby and then silence. Nobody else was freaking out wondering what that horrific noise was. Nobody else had bolted to their door, heart racing... In fact, it was apparent I was the only person who had heard a noise...including my kids. Well, feeling really confused...not to mention kind of silly, I sat dumbfounded on my couch and tried to sort out why I jumped out of my bed and ran to the door....I was also waiting for my heart stop racing and was wondering if going back to sleep would be a possibility. Anyway, I did go back to bed...taking note of the time (1:45)...just in case the police would need to know...in the event I actually did bolt out of bed for some reason. I went back to sleep but kept waking up paranoid that perhaps the noise I heard was someone trying to break into my house...and wondering if it was the NyQuil that was making me so paranoid. I imagine for someone who doesn't drink...it wouldn't take much to do funky things to one's head...

Anyway, this morning I couldn't get the experience out of my head...you know like those dreams that when you wake up you are glad they weren't real, but they still feel real all day...you know what I mean? That's how I felt. I told Sarah about the experience and she thought it was weird. Later I told her that I just couldn't tell if it was real or a dream. She asked me how I would ever know. I told her I guess if I drove around the block and saw a wrecked car, I would know it was real.

So on the way to school, Jacob asked me to help him find his cello music. I thought he might have left it in one of my Vanagons...so I went out to look. I got past the back of my Vanagon...and there it was. A totally smashed car. Wow! I didn't have a NyQuil induced hallucination...It was real. I called Sarah over to look and both of us were relieved that I am not crazy...or at least that experience was not evidence of it...

I talked to one of my neighbors about it later and asked if she heard it...NOPE. Nobody in my whole neighborhood heard it...go figure. I finally called the police about it at about 10:00... He was pretty amazed that nobody had called earlier, and that nobody but me had even heard it. I have posted some photos of my view from my front door...and then the car just past the end of my Vanagon. Quite a hit to move it up on the sidewalk and into the brick fence post. I imagine someone else's car isn't looking so good this morning...I bet he/she's not feeling very good either. And while I am sorry for my neighbor...who I don't believe has even seen it yet, I am so relieved it wasn't one of my Vanagons. Whew!

Talk about your trippy Halloween Story!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful time tonight!

**************************

Works for me....

Paige likes to post "Works for me Wednesday" tips. Well, today I have one of my own. I am so proud of myself that I came up with this one all by myself. I even checked the internet and couldn't find anyone who had discovered this clever little trick....

Well First let me start of by telling you that Saturday was Sarah's 12th birthday. She had her party on Friday. We played the game "Curses"...which was a hilarious hit...thanks Paige... and the kids also carved watermelons...yes watermelons. It was Sarah's Idea...and was also quite a hit. She even entered her carved watermelon in the pumpkin carving contest the next evening and won most original.

Anyway...back to my tip...

Sarah wanted to have a bunch of balloons everywhere for her birthday...she loves balloons. So I bought about 150 balloons and figured I would use my air mattress pump to blow them up. Wrong...not enough pressure...bummer...now what am I going to do. I tried my air compressor...that didn't work either. So I blew one up on my own...OUCH...my ear hurts! OK there was no way I was going to do that 150 times. So I came up with this great idea....here it is...If you soak balloons in very warm water for a while they are waaaay easier to blow up. Did you know that? I blew up 50 balloons in about 10 minutes and it never hurt my ears! So in no time we had a whole bunch of balloons all around the house...we still do. OK...so there's my tip... What do you think about that...?

Warning....Failure to move head....

....when opening door could be hazardous to your health. I think this warning should be posted on all car doors. I talked to my lawyer about it and asked him if I had a law suit on my hands....after he got through ROTFLHBO....he told me he would check with his associates to see if they would let him take my case. Yes, yesterday when I was out garage sale-ing, I went to get into my van, however I failed to move my head prior to opening the door. The next thing you know...I am holding my bleeding head, saying a few choice words, and thinking "was that really necessary?". Anyway...I had a DR in my ward look at it to see if stitches were needed, but it had already sealed itself closed...so no stitches...but I will have a lovely little scar...that I have happily lived 38 years without. I guess I failed for opening car doors that day...Hopefully, I'll do better...I think I have it down now...Approach Vehicle, Grab Handle, MOVE HEAD, Pull Handle, Open Door, get in, sit down...BE SURE FINGERS ARE CLEAR...just in case, close door. GOT IT!!! It doesn't look so bad when I put make up over it...Thank Heavens!!

I don't know what posesses me...

The other day I saw this ad on Craigslist from a guy who had found a little 5 day old kitten abandoned in his back yard. He left it there to cry for about 30 minutes and then decided the mom was not coming back so he took it in. He bought the special milk and supplies to feed it. Then, I guess he realized that he had to work the next day, he put an ad on Craigslist to find someone who had nothing better to do than bottle feed a tiny little kitten day and night. Not only bottle feed, but help clean and potty the little thing. Did you know that mommy kitties lick their kittens because they need help going potty? I didn't...so if you take in an orphan kitty you have to use a wash cloth to simulate the mommy kitty licking them. It really is a lot of work! You have to do this every time you feed it... which is about every 2 or 3 hours or so. Also it needs to be kept at 90 degrees....which is not comfortable for most of us...anyway...here's a picture of the sweet little girl...she is only 6 days old...Isn't she sweet?