I've been tagged!

Okay, this should be a neat little one, at least it isn't 50 questions this time. Hmm, 5 of my favorite things....

1. My George Forman grill we got for free a few weeks ago, it get's used almost every day. I love how it cooks very quickly, and I can just do a piece of chicken really quick on it for lunch to go in my salad, and then it wipes clean pretty easy. The fat really does drip off!

2. My piano. Even though I don't get as much oppertunity to sit and play for long periods of time, I like knowing that I have a wonderful instrument that will last me until I die (or until the air force drops it in a move...) and that I can pass on to my children when I am gone. It is the first big-ticket thing Mark and I have ever purchased brand new. I love leaving a musical heritage to my children and hearing Oren play on it is wonderful, if a bit noisy at times.

3. My family. They can be quite the handful at times, and the different issues my children face feel like trials I can't deal with sometimes, but they all love me unconditionally. Mark is a wonderful husband when the Air Force lets him be home, and the boys love him to death. He has no problem being a human jungle gym. Oren is a sweetheart who will never stop being curious and asking questions. Nathan looks just like his daddy and has a lot the same personality. William is a whirlwind in a very small package, and can really hold his own in our chaotic world. And I couldn't live without any of them.

4. My smaller clothes. It can seem like such a small thing at times to others, but to me, having to buy clothes because mine are too big is awesome! I have been big since junior high, I have been ridiculed by unfeeling idiots, and I have been the friend who grits her teeth when her skinny friend complains that she doesn't fit her size 3's 2 months after giving birth to her 3rd child. But my smaller clothes are a huge achievment for me and is definetely a high point in my life right now, one that I know will only get better.

5. My weight loss blog. This has become one of my favorite things to do every day, read up on how Calista and Steph are doing. We are all so far away, but it feels so close. We have the same issues and are working toward the same goal. I love having the support of family and friends!

These are, by the way, in no specific order. And, being that I don't know who hasn't been tagged, decide to pass this along to anyone who hasn't been tagged yet, but would love to announce their 5 favorite things!

What a Pill!

It never ceases to amaze me what my little William will get into next. He has been trying to get into the stuffing container at every oppertunity. Oh sure, he can get the lid off, but there was a seal in the way. Well, somehow in the 10 minutes I was showering and dressing, he managed to break the foil seal, and spread the stuffing all over the floor, from one kitchen door to the other and into the living room. AAHHH! This one would be my fault however, I forgot to make sure the sliding pantry door was closed.



This is as much of the mess as I could capture on camera.


He had spread some other things on the floor too apperantly, so I swept those up too. This really was a lot of stuffing, one of those 12-cup serving containers. the big ones... What a pill. I am getting so I can laugh about most of their messes. Especially him. If that door is open even 1 inch, he will slide it the rest of the way and walk around with a huge box of crackers, just snacking away! He is a determined little guy....

Picture of the Day #24

I know his head is chopped off here, but it shows his jammies best. Notice how they are completely turned around? This is what happens when we put him in pajamas that are too big!

Here he is with an actual head.... He is such a happy waker!

A-ha, found one!

Melinda asked me to post one of my cakes. I have lost all the recent pictures, but this is the first wedding cake I ever did outside of class. I had this one and matching sheet cakes too. I do birthdays and whatever days, but my favorite is wedding cakes. I did one birthday cake where I took the image from the invitation, blew it up mirror image, transfered it to the cake. I matched the colors pretty well, and voila! Tinkerbell on a birthday cake, complete with sparkly wings, courtesy of edible glitter. I really enjoy covering my kitchen with powdered sugar and frosting, and have missed it while my wrist has been healing from surgery. Carpal tunnel really limits what you can do with frosting.... Janelle's wedding cake was gorgeous, poinsetta's and daisies piled on top and a big cascade of the flowers swooping down and across one side... one of the many pictures I have lost... I gave Marie a basic set for Christmas, she is very excited too. If you can't tell from my post, I love doing cakes! (now, if only I didn't have to charge for them.)

Completely Random Blog (everybody does at least one of these...)

Well, I got my kitty back from the vet. Her spay (apparently neuter is boy) went well and she seems to feeling fine, considering the staples. It was mentioned I am brave to have a pet and three boys. At one point we had three boys, a cat, two rats, and a small tank of fish. One fish died, and we have fed one of the rats to a snake. The other will follow the same road this weekend. They started biting the kids, then each other, and were very aggressive. We weren't going to give them to a family with small children and get more people bit. So we decided that instead of killing them ourselves, we would help out a friend with a 4 foot python that eats rats. Cruel? Not really. My friend knocks them unconsious before giving them to the snake. So after this weekend the cage will get cleaned and disinfected and put into storage in the garage, awaiting a time when I feel like owning another hamster. I had one in England and I actually like those. I do not like rats. They were for the boys, but the biting took care of that!

Today was piano lesson day. I really look forward to those, the boys I teach are a family that we know from over in Japan. I babysat them there. Military is such a small world, especially if you're LDS. I would love to advertise and get more students, but I am scared to. I do tell people that I teach piano, and I have little business cards I made with my info on them. But making little flyers and actively announcing my services is scary. I feel bad taking money for lessons. I shouldn't, I am really cheap and keep getting told I need to charge more because of the work I put into each student. And they are hiring me, just like any other service they need. I hate bringing up the subject, when people owe me. I have the same problem when I get a cake order. I grossly undercharge for my time. There was one cake that I did that was insane. For a week, every spare second I had, I was handcrafting fondant roses in three different colors and 3 different sizes for each color. Then I prepared and baked the cakes for a 3 tiered cake, directly stacked. That means no pillars. Frosted, and positions the garlands of roses that festooned the sides, brought it to the reception and set it up. I had to track them down for the money, and I never got some of my supplies back, seperator plates and such. I only charged $65 for a cake easily worth $200. All because I feel bad asking for what I am worth. And I don't advertise my cakes because I am hesitant about the money aspect. Yet, if I worked in a bakery I probably wouldn't have a problem. I am good at what I do, and it drives Mark crazy that I would do it for free if he would let me. Just to avoid confrontation of any sort. I think I have issues....

I got in touch with the people we are switching to for Nathan's therapy. If we can get his old clinic to send over the file information, test results, progress reports, etc., we can get him started over there with a minimum of fuss. She said she would be perfectly honest with me, she usually works with infants with feeding problems, cleft palates and such, or adults regain speech after head traumas. Neurological stuff is her specialty and palate muscles and things like that. So she will do a little evaluation to see if this is something she can help with. We had a blessing done when we started doing the therapy and talking about doing scopes and things, and he was promised that the doctors would do everything they could to find out what was wrong with him. I was struck a little later by the thought that he wasn't promised they would or even could fix it, just they would try to find out why he has so much trouble with his speech. That thought reaccured to me when she said she would try, but no promises, as his case is a little unusual. This might be something that we deal with for a very long time.

Please note, I am not complaining about any of this, some things make me feel better to talk about, and with Mark working such long shifts and never home/awake, you guys are my turn-to people. Family counts for a lot I think. Today actually wasn't a bad day. Just a thoughtful one. Thanks for listening....

The story behind the picture...

Those of you who guessed hair grease and baby powder would be right. I smelled the baby powder from the living room, and when I got up to check, clouds of baby powder were wafting from my bathroom. Apperantly, after spiking his hair "to look like Daddy", he thought he would set the look by simultaneously shaking and squeezing the baby powder bottle. The resultant mess took me about a half hour to clean up. And 2 baths to get the grease out of his hair....

Picture of the Day #23

This was the sky I saw as I went to go pick up Nathan from the bus stop this afternoon. This took me a full 30+ minutes trying to figure out how to get the picture off my phone, as my computer is not "bluetooth compatable". Stupid technology, great picture. I would be better off taking my camera everywhere I go than putting up with the hassle of getting them from my phone. But it was a gorgeous sky!