Pyles of Clutter

Saturday Seven

~I made homemade hot pockets for lunch again this week.  I got the recipe from Neighbor Jane Payne on her blog (February 20, 2008).  The first time I made these, it wasn't too successful.  Not because they didn't turn out, but because one batch of bread dough didn't make very many and I have many hungry mouths to feed.  (Dang locusts)  This last time I made them, I made several batches of bread dough and I had many hot pockets.  Yea for me!  They went over very well and it is definitely going to be on the rotation. The only problem I have with them though, is that they do takeme most of the morning to make them.  It's all good though.  A question for Jane though, have you tried to freeze them? 

~Megan is gainfully employed!  She passed her interview this last week and will be a lifeguard at the pool this summer.  She went with her dad and got a bank account yesterday.  Oh, my little girl getting all grown up.  I wish her sister had the same aspirations.  It's just fortunate for Meg that the pool needs lots of lifeguards and she just happens to like to swim.  It's unfortunate for Lilly that the dance studio doesn't need that many teachers and so she only gets two hours a week to teach.  Little hours, little pay, bummer for mother and daughter.   

~Speaking of Lilly, she and I made the cutest thank you cards for her to send out.  It was totally a copy of Tracy's card with a few minor changes.  They did turn out pretty cute though and make me wnat to make more cards.  I also had to make cards for the Mia Maids class to copy at my house this last week, and so even more wanting to make cards.  I'm so waiting for a spare minute to do this.  I guess that is the problem.  There is no such thing as a spare minute.  Maybe I shouldn't blog so much and do some cards instead.  Naaahhhhh.  (By the way, pictures to come later)

~My husband is the most wonderful husband ever.  I wanted Tacos de Asada for my Mother's Day dinner, but didn't really want to get dressed and go to the restaurant. So he ordered it for takeout for me.  I love that man.  My favorite dinner in my jammies at home. 

~Unemployment rolls on.  I can't even talk about it anymore because I'm just so whiny about it and our goal is to "bear it well" as the scriptures says.  Can't. Even. Go. There.

~I'm enjoying looking at my son's and all his friends blogs.  What a fresh view!  It does drive him a little crazy though when I comment on the blogs.  He's like, dude, mom, don't comment on my friends blogs.  It's so embarrassing.  Actually, he said that when I sent a message to one of his friends on facebook.  Sorry, Ty.  I like to be involved in some form or another in my children's lives and this is all I've got right now.  Of course, I'm not putting his blog name out there because I'm not sure I want my friends to go see what he has to say.  Sometimes, it's a little embarrassing.  But just a little.

~I'll be going on another crafting terror soon.  Like later tonight.  I'll be posting pictures later.  Hopefully.  That's all I'm promising. 

Until later.

Love, me.   

Book Review--Pride and Prejudice revisited

I am a sucker for all things Pride and Prejudice.

Really I'm a sucker for all things Jane Austen.

So when I saw all the books based on a Post-Pride and Prejudice life, well, I had to have me some of those. 

Oh, I wish I hadn't.  What a disappointment.  First, I tried Darcy's Story.

This is the whole P&P story told from the point of view of Darcy.  I've always wondered why he was such a crumb at first and what happened to change his opinion of Elizabeth.  I had lots of questions for Mr. Darcy so I thought, here's my answers.

And while it did answer *some* of my questions, I found that I didn't like it.  I didn't like the liberties taken with Mr. Darcy, and his relationships with the other outside characters, such as Fitzwilliam, and Georgiana. To the author's credit, she is very true to the P&P original text, in even using the exact conversations that Darcy has in the book in her own work.  That's creditable, but boring.  I kept thinking, I've read this already, and in a better setting.  Not a barn burner for me.

So I moved on.

Mr. Darcy's Daughters is about, wait for it, Mr. Darcy's daughters.  He and Elizabeth have had five beautiful daughters, now in age ranging from 20 to 16.  (They do have two sons, but they are still young so they stay *out* of the picture back at Pemberley.)  Darcy has been called on to go to Constantinople on a diplomatic mission and Elizabeth, not being able to bear being away from Darcy goes with him.  Therefore, they send their daughters to live with Fitzwilliam, his wife, and young family, with the Gardiners to share in the guardianship.  The daughters are, amazingly enough, a lot like the Bennett sisters, and you can detect the similiarities from the very, bitter, beginning. 

Oh my.  That was the nice part of my review.  Because, can I just say, Elizabeth never would have let her daughters have their first view and experience of society without her there, especially if she was really raising the hare-brained daughters that these turn out to be.  Honestly!  I was so tired of the bunch, even the one that was suppose to be like Elizabeth by the end of the book, that I just wanted it over!  Please!  Each sister, with her very familiar personality, goes through the social whirl with the usual and unusual problems of society.  In my mind, I could never see Elizabeth raising daughters like Belle and Georgina.  The girls are selfish, prideful, and unmoved by the problems they cause for the rest of the family.  Never would Elizabeth have raised a Lydia, having felt the sting of Lydia's uncaring actions as a young woman. 

Now besides all this, I felt like the book, having been written in the 21st century, takes liberties that would not have been known in the age that the story takes place.  Pet peeve of mine.  It definitely was not written Jane Austen-ish.  Done. With. That. Book.  (But if you'd like to read a better review than mine, with a few less rants, you can go here.)

   And onward.

So I moved on to Letters From Pemberley: The First Year. 

Thank goodness there was only one year. 

While this book was truer to the style of Jane Austen, it was also much more boring.  At least with Daughters, there was a story that was being told.  This book was really story-less.  Even now, trying to really focus on the story, I can't remember too much of what went on in Elizabeth's letters to Jane.  There are some great passages talking about Mrs. Bennett and her nerves, which made me laugh.  But mainly they made me laugh because of the original P&P book, and not because of how they are handled in this book. The good thing about this book, it was mercifully short.  I read it in a few hours.   

Oh my again.  I'm striking out here.

So I went for a Not-So-Much sequel, but still a P&P take off. 

I really liked Shannon Hale's book Princess Academy.  I love her style of writing and I love the story that she weaves with humor, and conflict.  But I also love that there isn't too much conflict so that I have to be angst ridden for days after.  Sometimes, it is just too much for me.  For me, Austenland was much the same.  I loved it.

There is no moving on from Pemberley here.  The characters have nothing to do with the original Darcys.  They don't pretend to know how things ended up with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  And the book is better for it.  The story follows Jane in her quest to finally fall in love, or at least to live her REAL life.  Jane has the problem of always comparing her boyfriends to Darcy, and of course, next to that great example, they always come up lacking.  So when a rich aunt dies and puts in her will a trip to a reenactment of Austen's time period, how can Jane resist?  A chance for her to either find her Mr. Darcy or put away her dreams forever.  The story moves along quickly with twists and turns that you can see coming a mile away. Sometimes, that is exactly what you need.   

I loved it!  I needed it!  I love that Shannon Hale wraps it all up with a very pretty bow at the end too. I realize that some find that boring.  I find that a lovely fantasy.  There is very little in life that comes with a very pretty bow to wrap it up, so why not find it outside of your life?  I'm all for a little realism in my reading, but I'm also all for having a little happily-ever-after. 

Give yourself a boost.  Read this one. 

 

Glamorous

In our high school, the prom is just for seniors and their guests.  It makes it a smaller dance.  Lilly was fortunate that she was invited to go to Prom.  She had a lot of fun.  Some documentation:

The boys arrived to pick up their dates in this hummer limo.  Whew!  Glad I had a girl this year!  AJ's group rode in a motor home last year.  Much cheaper.

The girls met all together at one person's home, so there was some massive amounts of corsage and boutonniere exchanging together.  It's a fine art, isn't it, pinning a boutonniere on a tux jacket?  Although much easier than doing it on a shirt.  Shirts are a little more personal. 

Lilly and her date, Ryan.  Doesn't it look like she has a flower growing out of her head?  She's going to kill me when she reads this.

The whole group at the restaurant.  A little squished there at the bottom.

Making memories.

52 blessings--Sweet spirits

Well, here we go.

I'm going to tell you a story, that is a little irreverent, but it is really taking on a life of it's own, with people talking about it to us almost every day. 

In our church, we take the opportunity on the first Sunday of every month to have anyone that wants to, tell their testimony of Jesus Christ to the congregation.  The meeting is called "fast and testimony" meeting.  Last Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. 

I didn't think Tess was paying all that much attention to the testimonies that were being shared, but the spirit was very strong in the meeting, and some younger children were getting up and giving their testimonies.  At one point, right at the end of the meeting, she says, I want to share my testimony.  I say, ok, you can do it in FHE tonight.  She says, I want to do it here.  I say, oh. Ok. Have Meg take you up there.  She says, I'll see you later. 

So off they go, Meg and Tess to share Tess' testimony.  It started something like this (my thoughts in parenthesis):

I love my family, and I know my family loves me. (nice job, Tess!)  I think Jesus is very nice. (that is also a good thought) I have a favorite sister that reads me stories.  Her name is Lilly. (oooo, ouch) She is really nice to me. (where can this be leading) My dad is the best fixer upper in the world. He fixes lots of things. (liar, your dad is not a good fixer upper at all) My mom is the greatest mom in the world. (Oh my, that is so sweet, but so not true) My testimony is about loving people.  (ok, maybe we can get back to the right subject) We should love everyone because my brother....

At this point, I'm frantically signaling to Meg, who is on the stand to cut her off, because that morning we had been discussing super powers and if we had super powers what would they be.  Mine was to be a great mom and Terry's was to be a great fixer upper, and Lilly's was to read books, and ... see where this is going.  She was going right down the super powers list.  Time to stop!  Yikes!  Some of the other super powers would probably embarrassed other people that happen to be sitting in the congregation at that moment (i.e. Megan, and Zoey)!

I finally catch Megan's eye, but I have to say that the whole congregation was just laughing so hard, and our bench had tears in their eyes from laughter.  Oh my.  I leaned over to Terry and say, I think we have some guidance to do here about what a testimony is. 

But I have to say, that it gave everyone a little lift, to have this little girl extolling the virtues (real or supposed) of the people she loves, and who love her.  I think it gave pause to us, that we should do that more often, compliment those who touch us with their love.  Oh my. 

Big lessons can come in little packages.

Listen up Van!

It's an unfortunate fact that I have a little habit of talking to inanimate objects like they are alive.  (Remember the chair that I would introduce to Terry every time we went to Walmart) (and my dishwasher which I was always sure Terry was going to offend by his rinsing off the dishes before he put them in) but I've about done myself in. 

My brakes are squeaking really bad.  Finally, I couldn't take anymore so I called Midas.  I'm not even kinding!  As soon as I got off the phone from making the appointment to have them check, the brakes quit squeaking!!  Are you kidding me?!  I knew the van had heard me and didn't want to be "checked out" so it just quit doing it.  See how my mind works. 

As things go, I was late getting to the car appointment because of some unfortunate things going on, such as the fact that I had lunch to fix. So when I got there, I was a little distracted thinking beyond that moment and on to the next thing that I needed to do.  Well, when I went in, the man behind the desk says, Now what are we seeing the car for, and me, not thinking, say, the brakes were squeaking but as soon as the van heard me make the appointment, it stopped doing it.  I'm sure it doesn't want to be here. 

The man just looked at me.  I looked at the man.  Then I realized what I said.  I couldn't help myself.  I just started laughing.  Oh my.  What do you say after you say something like that, and the man thinks you are serious?  I tried to laugh it off and tell him I didn't really think that the van could understand me, but you know, he wasn't buying it. 

After the mechanic had looked at the brakes and given them a clean bill of health, because, you know, they weren't squeaking anymore, the man behind the counter, who thinks I'm crazy, says, "Um, I don't know what was causing them to squeak, but they, um, seem to be find now."  Honestly, people.  He was looking at me, like any moment I was going to pull a gun on him and tell him the building was telling me to do evil things.  Oh my. 

And now I just have to tell you that the MINUTE we went out of the parking lot, the brakes started squeaking again.  Now, what do you think?  The van listens to me, doesn't it?

Kids Fair

We had our community Kid's Fair this weekend.  The girlies danced at it, as well as Melanie's daughter, Kathryn, with her dance studio.  Tess was very excited to dance because, you see, she has gloves that go to the costume she got to wear on Saturday.  Oh, so funny. 

She loves those gloves.  I'll be excited when I don't have to hide those gloves anymore.  She did a great job, as did Zoey and Lilly. 

Lilly's friend Breanna was at the kids fair too.  She has an interesting job.  She is Cinderella.

A company here in town has Disney Princess parties, with Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty.  It is a fun gig for the girls, and pretty easy.  This is Breanna with Lilly, Ashley, and Kenzie.

It was also the first parade for the jr miss court.  It was the opening day of baseball and every team decorates a truck and they do a little parade around a couple of blocks.  The girls got to throw out candy to all the little kids waiting to see their siblings.  So funny.

This doesn't have anything to do with Kids Fair, or even Saturday, but I think it is so funny.  Tessa went on a field trip with her preschool class.  They went to the hospital.  They all got to have hats and masks, but they didn't have enough gloves, and footies for each child to have a pair, so they only got one  We put all of Tess' things on her, and then had her show us how it looked.  She had to hold the mask on because it kept slipping down off her head, or slipping up to hide her eyes.  This was on Tuesday, April 29.

Blog-iversary

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It is *almost* my two year anniversary!  I started blogging on May 12, 2006.  I can't believe that the time has gone so fast!  Crazy!  I started going through my old posts and realized how much it really chronicles my life.  I've talked about struggles I've had, and my day to day life.  I've also posted about my children's accomplishments and also how I admire and love them, and the strong people they are becoming. 

I've never printed my blog off, and it started me thinking that if something happens, say, the day I don't want to blog anymore, then I would lose all this journaling.  So I started printing it out.  Printing, and printing, and printing.  I went through paper, paper and more paper; ink, ink, and more ink.  Finally having this stack of papers.  My blog of the last two years.  I'm pretty proud of it.  I have loved going back and reading my old posts, loved the comments that were made, and seen the growth I have made.  It took me another half hour to punch holes in the papers, and then put them into binders.  And now I really do have a journal, with pictures even!

SPT--What will you spend your money on?

*I realize this is way more than a tank of gas, but really, this is what I want to spend my money on. 

If we could spend our stimulus check on anything, I would love to go to Disneyland!  I really want to go before Tessa doesn't believe that there are really princesses anymore.  I love the mystic of Disneyland.  I can hardly wait for the day that we can go as a family.  The big kids really want to go also, just to see the wonder of it all in Tessa's eyes. 

But alas, we won't be going to Disneyland.  We will most likely be doing this:

Grocery shopping.  In Big Town.  Yuck.  I'll try to take a SPT of me when I get to go, but this looks a lot like me when I go, minus the dress, and dog!

A Day

Yesterday, I made my list of things to do.  I think I crossed off one thing.  The days seem to slip by, with hardly a thing getting done, but when I look back on the day, I was busy.  No bon-bons and soap operas for me.  Although I do like me a good Perry Mason.

On Mondays, I have to go and clean up the magazines.  What a chore!  I got up at 6:30, get up everyone else, have family prayer, dress and go out to Walmart to do the mags.  The cashiers are so nice in keeping me a WHOLE stack of magazines that customers have put in the wrong place for me to put away.  (This is a sarcastic remark.  It isn't my job to put those away, I do it because I want there to be good will between me and the cashiers.)  It always takes me quite a while, an hour and a half to put all the magazines back in order, especially the magazines in the back.  What a mess!  Please people, put the magazine back where you got it.  And the books.  Please.

I went home and got right on to lunch.  Nachos.  But what to do for a treat?  Hmmm.  I do not want to bake today, so No Bake Cookies.  I love these cookies!  So easy.  But they are not my favorites to eat.  Consequently, I don't make them very often.

Sidenote, because you know I cannot stay on topic.  I made the best lemon bars last week!!  And also the best pumpkin bars!!  I ate like half the pan.  Good bye sweet diet!  I did my best but who can resist lemon and pumpkin!  Not I.

Back to topic.  Lunch comes and goes, the locust appear and eat everything.  (Only 25 more days!!) I clean up and then it is my time.  I sit with my computer and watch my favorite show during the day, Perry Mason.  I know who I would go to if ever I was wrongly accused of murder!  This is the one hour that I indulge myself and sit and do nothing.  Problem today: I fell asleep.  Yes, even Perry Mason could not keep me from a nap.  Bummer.  Thankfully, Tess was playing the computer and didn't try to escape.  The nap was short though, Terry kept waking me up, asking me questions.  Sleeping here!!  Eyes closed!!  He always says, go to the bed then.  But I really like the couch.  It is a great napping couch. 

I found out last week on Friday, that it was Kindergarten registration.  Oops.  I missed it.  Not only did I miss it, but Tess has to have not one, but two chickenpox shots before she can be registered.  So.  She doesn't even have the first one.  Oooops.  I called to get her an appointment for the first shot (better get started here) and they tell me that she has to have a physical first.  Ugh.  No insurance.  No job.  No money.  This ought to be fun.  She has an appointment on Wednesday.

I made meatloaf for dinner.  We haven't had meatloaf in a long time.  It takes too long to cook so I have to think WAY ahead to get it done on time.  Hard for me.  Once I'm done cooking the noon meal, I don't want to think about dinner.  How did women do it before, when you just get done with one meal, and you move right into the next because it takes so long to cook.  Yuck.  I'm tired of meals.  Yuck. 

Did I mention that last week we had to blow up my computer and I'm forever trying to load everything back on?  Ugh.  Yuck.  Bummer.  And all other things that I like to say.  I worked on music yesterday.  While I was waiting for the music to load, I started looking back to the beginning of my blog.  Wow, I used to write a lot more.  I haven't ever turned my blog into a hard copy, so I started doing that.  I was about 4 months into it by the time I had to go to bed.  I would load a CD, rip it to my library, copy and paste my blog, print it, start all over again.  In between all that, I also put sequin bands around some cowboy hats for dance.  All while dinner was cooking, and we were having piano lessons. 

What wasn't going though?  The laundry.  I usually hit laundry hard on Monday because I don't like to do it on the weekends.  Not today though.  I'm a little depressed still from it being my sister's death anniversary.  And we don't have a job.  And other things that I don't want to get into because they are silly.  Ugh.  So laundry will become a Tuesday job. 

What did I cross off my list?  The hats.  They were the only thing on my list.  What else did I do though?  I drove for dance, took pictures of the studio for Terry who is trying to get them a loan, made an appointment for the van's brakes that have a terrible squeaking going on.  I called the man out at the fairgrounds to see if drill team is doing a fundraiser out there, but he didn't answer.  I watched Dancing With the Stars, because I like me some fancy dancing.  I started planning for the next day.

52 blessings

Dear Readers,

It is that time of year again.  Spring, flowers blooming, finally a little warm weather.  Grass starting to green up, fields being newly plowed, waiting for a seed to nourish, to bring it to it's full potential, whether it be a stalk of corn, a bushel of wheat, a dandelion.  Yard work being done, trees being pruned.  Barbecues being readied for the summer season.  People shedding their old winter coats, new goals for weight loss in order to have "summer bodies".  Children counting down days until summer vacation.

It also is the time of the death of my sister on April 27.  Last year, I did a tribute to Cathy.  She is (was) nine years older than me and we were not great friends until after I had gone away to college, gotten married, gotten divorced and moved back home.  Then we became great friends.  I miss her still, and today has been a solemn day, with my emotions skimming the surface.  I have often been in tears, by the mere mention of anything relating to family.  We went to a missionary farewell, where he talked about his family and how they had strengthen him throughout all of his trials.  We went to a missionary homecoming, where she talked about the experience of families being strength by their belief in Jesus Christ and also of the support her family.  I felt the strength of my immediate family, my husband, my children, and also my extended family, my sisters, my brother, my parents. 

As we have been going through this time of unemployment, we have included our children in many of the steps we have been taking.  We talked to them about the cutbacks we would have to make, the jobs that we are being considered for, the consequences of possibly having to move.  Throughout all, they have been supportive.  They show concern certainly for not having money for things, but also for their father, and for his self esteem.  We have asked them to pray for employment in their prayers, we have asked them to fast for guidance in finding employment, and we have asked them to be more thoughtful of the things that they do, that we don't waste any of the means that we have been given.  And they have done so.  Their strength has been marvelous, and I wonder at it.

I'm sure by now you are wondering at the meanderings of my somewhat addled brain.  What is the blessing of today?  Today I'm feeling the spirit of the Holy Ghost in my life.  It is still comforting me over the loss of a beloved sister, daughter, mother, wife.  It gives me strength with the support of my family and extended family.  It gives us guidance in helping us to find employment, and to involve our children and their strength in that process.  I'm grateful for that Spirit, given to us by a loving, kind and understanding Heavenly Father. 

This is my blessing for today.