I don't know karate, but I know kuh-razy, and I will use it! (Shanghai Noon)

My April was kuh-razy and I didn't take the time to appreciate it. Therefore, in no particular order, I am posting some things that have made me smile thus far in May.

1. People who comment on my blog. Thank you for letting me know you're there!

2. I found my lost mix Cd's from Brittany! They make housework rock!

3. All the positive feedback I've received from teachers I've substituted for. I've missed teaching more than I realized. And I really smile when students come into the classroom and say, "Yes! It's you! You are my favorite substitute!" That and kids who run up to me in Sam's Club and Target and hug me.

4. My adorable husband. He is so loving and so good at making me feel special and beautiful. He also makes me laugh and smile, hence the goofy picture (please, no one tell him it's here!).

5. The Weight Watchers "Hungry" Muppet. Oh, and Flo from the Progressive commercials.

6. Michael surprised us with a visit home. He'll be here for a whole week! Thanks Nick and Diana!


7. Thankfully I mop my floors because I turned with the girls' Birthday Chocolate Cheesecake in my hands and it SLID right off the plate and onto the floor (darn cardboard packaging!). As I tried not to cry I was reassured that it was all good. The floor was clean, Charlie was held at bay and Steve, Helen, Allison, Emily, Christian and, yes, even I ate a piece of an extremely good chocolate cheesecake. Hey, don't judge! Do you know how long it's been since we had a cheesecake in the house?

8. My adorable, precious 17 year old daughters. They are pretty easy to please. The final remnant of the garage sale? A 4x4x4 foot box that made Emily squeal. Yes it's in our basement. Yes it's been cushioned on the inside. Yes, they're listening to music as they sit in it. No, Charlie does not like getting in it with them, and YES Emily has slept at least one night, that I know of, in it.

9. My missionary son, Chris, who writes to me and makes me happy. His last letter? All about numbers. "259- total number of e-mails I've saved, 39-ties I have (I came out with 12), 135-days until I fly home, 8-months worth of pictures on my current SD card, 46-Reese's pieces I just ate..." It's really hysterical. And if you knew about his greenie companion he's been trying to train you'd admire his ability to have a sense of humor. Huge jerk of a kid who has been called on the carpet by the Zone leader (Chris is his District Leader) and the Mission President many times and still was a, well, a bad word. I said 'was' because I heard in Chris' e-mail this morning that the bad word is out of there.

The peasants rejoiced.

And I smiled.

The Latest Tag

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

1. School being out so I can sleep past 6.
2. Christopher coming home from his mission in September.
3. Not cooking dinner tonight because the girls want Panda Express for their birthday dinner.
4. Saturday so I can stay home.
5. Steve coming home from work ('cause he has a job!).
6. Having a few paychecks under our belts.
7. Teaching my very own class someday, soon I hope.
8. When my mind and body can agree on things.

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Substituted for the Vanderhoodf Elementary Librarian.
2. Went to the Stake Girls Camp Meeting (2 hrs. of my life I won't get back).
3. Picked up three more sub jobs.
4. Saw our Home Teachers.
5. Picked up some prescriptions.
6. Said my prayers.
7. Brushed my teeth.
8. After washing my face I crashed into bed.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Not be so tired all the time.
2. Fix up anything in my house regardless of the cost.
3. Buy some new clothes.
4. Beat Emily at Mario Party 8.
5. Spend a week, with no interruptions, organizing and cleaning to my heart's content.
6. Go shopping for shoes and accessories and make-up with Allison, guilt free.
7. Get a new family portrait taken.
8. Not worry.

8 Television Shows I Watch

1. Lost
2. The Office
3. 24
4. Bones
5. America's Next Top Model
6. In season- Top Chef, Project Runway, Flipping Out
7. Food Network "Challenge" and "Ace of Cakes"
8. The Unusuals

8 People I'll Tag

Whoever reads this and wants to spill it.

There. Now I'm off to Panda Express.

My Sister, Sharon

My sweet sister passed away two years ago. I miss her. Ours is a strange and unusual family, you all know us, right? So I'm going to share part of my strange and unusual relationship with Sharon.

Imagine a four year old Gena standing on a kitchen chair rinsing and stacking dishes while a nine year old Marianne washed. Gena looks up and sees three children, Jalyn, Edwin and Norman, running across the lawn with their parents, Jay and Sharon, close behind. All she could think of was the mess of toys she had to clean up after they left.

Gena: "Here comes that bossy woman with her kids again!" (Sharon did tell me what to do... a lot)

Marianne: (with lofty disdain), "Don't you talk about our sister like that!"

Gena: (belligerently) "Who's our sister?!"

Marianne: (rolling her eyes) "Sharon's our sister!"

Gena: (growing indignant) "She is not!"

Marianne: (insert what you know this would sound like) "Go ask Mom!"

Yeah, turns out Sharon WAS my sister. I was so incensed! Why hadn't anyone ever told me? This explained a lot. I mean, why would my Mom let one of her friends tell me what to do so much?

As one of the "grown ups" I enjoyed getting to know Sharon as a sister. I realized we were so alike in many ways. I love her and I miss her.

The Queen Has Spoken!

Being a member of the ruling class has it's advantages. I get to boss people around. I can throw a royal fit now and then, blaming it on the aristocratic hormones of course. Let's face it, I rule.

But there are many tasks left to the queen that can dampen the regal spirit.

This week, first and foremost, has been the Arvada 3rd Ward YW's Camp Fund Raising Garage Sale (say that three times, heck, one time, real fast!). It was supposed to be this past Saturday but our latest blizzard put it on hold until the upcoming Saturday. This also mean that during said blizzard my car was outside. Try talking Helen into staying home sometime! I worried so about the Queen Mother stubbornly walking through the slush! Silver lining? More donations are piling up in my garage which will, hopefully, pile up more money. The photo on the right? That's a week old and I've had the items increase by almost 50%. Most excellent. I just wish I wasn't allergic to dust (hack, cough, wheeze...). But the best silver lining? Our cars are shiny and dazzling, even the windows! Now to get the inside to match the outer shell.

To greatly brighten the spirit... drumroll, please... Emily Faria was accepted into the exclusive singing group "Shades of Blue" for her senior year. She joins her sister, Allison. They are both very excited and are starting to scour the internet for dress options to present. Allison is also excitedly scouting out shoes. They are also knee deep in preparations for an audition Tuesday for a spotlight performance in the year end concert. The song is "Alto's Lament" (check it out on youtube, it's hilariously true to what altos face in music).

The royal mind is spinning and the Queen Mother is impatiently waiting to be taken to the post office. We love you all!

April and Easter

As you all know after many months and many prayers Steve got a new job! It's here in the Denver area which made Steve really happy. WE were ready to follow him anywhere but he was really stressed over the girls having to go to a new high school their senior year. So Allison and Emily are going to graduate as Ralston Valley Mustangs, like their brothers, and I don't have to pack and move. Allison, all by herself, made and decorated a cake for her Dad.



Decorating for Easter became a silly, light hearted affair.



We LOVED these little terry bunnies and chicks and had a macabre laden time inserting ribbons into their bodies to tie them to the chandelier.



My favorite decoration is a lamb I found a few years ago. He's so fluffy! I wanted something to show the scale of the lamb so I grabbed Charlie. He knows he's not supposed to be on the table and I kind of upset him by making him pose in this picture.

After six months of having "Daddy" around every day I was anticipating Charlie going through withdrawal. Steve's first day of work coincided with the girls going back to school after Spring Break and me starting a week of substituting. Mom said he had a miserable first day. He sat in the entry of the house all day and would moan and yowl every once in a while. He'd run to her and make sure she was still around and then return to the entry. As the week wore on he relaxed a little.

On Sunday mornings Charlie knows by our preparations that we are going to church. He mournfully follows us around. He's escaped the yard a few times and wandered the church grounds but Steve had altered the gate for strength and height. As Mom and I walked out of the church yesterday our flying furball met us. Walking with him across the little field we could see the gate was closed, so, how did he escape? Hmmm....




Let's see, printer cartridges, tissue box, pens, pencils,...



It's a good thing he's so darn cute and repentant!

Our April Fools Dinner

Allison, Emily and I made a delicious dinner last night. As interesting as it looks it was really, really scrumptious!

Oooo, do I smell potato soup simmering?



Cornbread all ready to bake!



Let's mix some yummy orange punch.



What a beautiful tureen of potato soup!



Just add bacon and cheese.



Mmmm, fresh steaming cornbread with melting butter!



And for dessert Strawberry Rice Krispy Treats with Green Sugar Sprinkles (just so it would fit in with the color scheme)

Spring Time in Lovely Colorado

When Gena told her friends in California, oh so many moons ago, that she was moving to Colorado they all shuddered at the thought. Did she know about the snow? Duh. But it's not what people imagine here in Arvada. Gena likes how Denise's husband, Mark, put it when he said "Everyone in Californina thinks we're buried in snow all winter and we like them to think that. It keeps them away."

Above is a picture taken from Gena's back door. Notice the chairs, stacked four high, popping out of the snow drift? This is the amount of snowfall in six hours and it's still coming.

Gena doesn't mind snow. It's pretty. It's white. It's fluffy. It's great to make snow ice cream with. It's much needed moisture. THIS snow is like being buried in a melted snow cone. Proof? Gena's van is at the foot of her hill on her street. As Steve and Gena left the store with basic survival supplies (milk, flour, sugar, "Quantum of Solace") they should have had a return trip of, oh, 10 minutes? Nuh-uh. Two and a half hours.




Gena's daughers decided to have a "grand adventure" (Allison's quote). Steve was determined to shovel enough slush off the hill around the family's second car to get it up the hill. That's right. The smaller front wheel drive car was brought to the bottom of the hill to rescue fair damsel, and domestic goddess, Georgena, and made it half way up the hill. The intrepid young women had two thoughts on their minds; to rescue the apple juice to drink and the flour and sugar so they could have homemade cookies. Said fair damsel was glad to see the enthusiasm since she had biffed it big time in the snow and her 46 year old body was aching from knees and elbows hitting the slush covered pavement. No picture of that, thank you.



Off they went. Their determined Daddy had struggled with his car and was within two houses away! The flour wasn't saturated! The sugar was dry! The apple juice was cold! (the movie had made the trek up the hill with the fair damsel)

Gena isn't too sad to miss substituting in middle school language arts today, and maybe tomorrow. She can stay home sniffling, sneezing and coughing in warm comfort where people will actually feel sorry for her.

Gena is deeply grateful that her family is warm, dry and happy. Happy? Oh, didn't she tell you? Gena's honey, Steve, got a job offer this afternoon. Here. In lovely Colorado.

ps. Allison wants to know if anyone can tell which bundled up girl is which... let us know... Helen messed up!

"Night and Day it's Cinderelly..."

Their schedule the past few months has been sleep, seminary, school, practice, nap and homework... every day. All the hard work paid off. The musical, "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" was a beautiful production. We are so happy that the girls were able to participate and had such a great time of it. After a lot of make-up sleep Sunday they are ready to get on with hum drum everyday life.






(gasp) The Prince is Giving a Ball!



































Who will win the tug of war and try on the slipper first?






















It took 38 bobby pins and 8 ponytail holders to take two braids from the base of their necks and secure it around their heads... too much hair to hold up in all that dancing!







The cast all get a mini poster and sign it for each other, ala yearbooks. I couldn't afford to buy each girl a bouquet so I bought some silk daisies and wired pictures of them in the play to the stems. I must admit I have a few good ideas now and then.