Gettin' Ready

Today is a rainy and cold day. I don't plan on doing a whole lot except for mopping the kitchen floor. I am in the middle of a mystery novel, (total trash...) and I have GOT to finnish it. I have to go to Caroline's class this morning for the weekly duty, but other than that I am free. I am in the mood to shop. I don't really know why. But I would like to spend some money. ANd I am getting in that Holiday mood ready for Christmas decorations. I looked at some magazines yesterday and got all excited about what food I will prepare on Christmas eve, and what kind of gifts I will be making for friends etc. I love this time of year. And I am not the least bit upset that it starts so early, either. That just means more time for Holiday Cheer! So get ready to Deck the Halls people! It is time to Fa La La!!!

Still Losing!!!!!!!!

I have lost another 2 lbs! That is 26, ladies! I am so happy! I never thought I could lose over 20. And here I am. It is taking forever, but at least it is coming off. I am so grateful for that! I continue to lose, slowly but surely and am not gaining. That is the biggest triumph of all! I just need to keep it up. I would like to lose 7 more by Christmas, I will take what I can get... believe me!

Halloween

Halloween is fun... I love the whole deal. But getting Caroline ready was a real pain. She has become such a drama queen. Wanting everything the way she wants it. And she is so concerned about being embarrassed! But I finally got her hair and makeup done for her Fairy costume. She looked very cute and I took pics. Hilton absolutely loved the whole thing! We first went to a lame Trunk or Treat at the church. It was in the cultural hall and just a bunch of people sitting on chairs handing out candy. Then we went Trick or Treating in our own neighborhood. We were only out for about 20-30 minutes. Caroline was really complaining about being cold. Hilton could have stayed out an hour if I let him! But it was FREEZING!!! So I was ready to go in too. The kids got plenty of candy and were very satisfied with their haul. Justin and I haven't even invaded their candy buckets. We had several Trick or Treaters come to our house. More than at any other house we have been in. All in all it was a successful night. We were home by 6:30 and the kids were in bed at the usual time. That was my biggest concern. But poor Hilton doesn't understand why all the Halloween stuff is gone. He wants to have Halloween again tonight! We went to Broulim's today and he was so upset to see that the pumpkin maze was gone and the spooky decorations were all gone. But I am sure he will get over it soon enough since all the Christmas stuff is out!

New Additions

We would like you all to join us in welcoming our new additions: Goldy, Chloe, and Finn. No, I have not been hiding a triplet pregnancy. I wish it were that exciting. But this weekend a friend of Caroline's gave her a teeney, tiny gold fish. She named her Goldy. Then Hilton wanted a fish too. I have been meaning to get some for the kids for a few months now, but just have not gotten around to it. So today, Hilton and I picked out 2 more fish to add to the family. Chloe is Hilton's Beta. She is red and blue and gorgeous. He named her himself. And Finn is mine. he is a fiesty blue Beta who is taking the place of what should be another baby or at least a puppy. But I have to settle for a fish with personality. We have the Betas in 2 nice big vases and Goldy is in a small goldfish bowl. They look really pretty on our mantel, but I am sure once Justin gets home, he will put them somewhere else. Soooo, I have 3 more babies to tend.

Our Weekend

On Saturday we inteded to go to the corn maze. I was all excited because we were going to be doing it as a family and we were doing something fall-y. But when we told the kids what we were going to do, Caroline said, "Well, what do you do?" I said it was a maze and we try to find our way out. She said, "So all we do is walk around?" Well, yes, but it is fun because you have to find your way out! Um, that doesn't sound fun. It sounds BORING! And then of course Hilton chipped in, Yeah, Mom, BORING! So we ended up going on go-carts, which they both absolutely loved. And I admit that Justin and I loved it too. Then the kids bounced on those inflatable bouncy things. So we had a good time,a nd the kids did too. Even though we did not go to the corn maze. That night we went to some peoples' house for dinner. The Ricks are in our ward and very nice to us. Justin cast their 9 year-old daughter as the rabbit in Charlie Brown this summer and they just think he hung the moon. There were 2 other couples there. We had smoked Chicken and baked beans and Italian sodas. I made a lovely green salad. I was a little disappointed that I had to do the salad because it is so boring... But I made a great green salad. If I do say so myself. It had lettuce and pears and blue cheese and walnuts and I used Balsamic Vinegrette for the dressing. It was absolutely a HUGE hit! And so simple. It was quite a dull time though because eveyone there was quite a bit older than us. Everyone has children that are married or in college and one couple has granchildren. The things they were talking about just did not interest me. And they were very gossipy. They all talked about people in the ward. Which, I am NOT being judgemental. I am just saying it was boring. None of it interested me. I was done after about an hour. And we were there for over 2 hours. Plus, I was sitting at a piano bench and my back was killing me after 2 hours. But the food was great! The woman is from Louisiana so she had a recipe and smoker from Louisiana. It was wonderful and made me a little homesick (or food-sick) for Louisiana! There is no food better than there! So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Church was church. I made a yummy apple pie and Ham for dinner yesterday. So it was a great sunday dinner. Of course, I did not have any of the apple pie, but judging by what is left today (maybe 2 pieces) I would say that Justin liked it!

I'm tired

I am tired. Hilton is jsut not sleeping through the night and I am exhausted. I need a nap. So I really have nothing to blog about... except that I want to sleep. Oh, we went and saw Spitfire Grill last night. It is a musical. The music is horrible. I hated it. But the actual performances were fine. And they all had decent voices. It was just the lack of material to work with. The story was great and touching. I loved that. But the music... yuck. So that is my professional critique. I am going to lay down while Hilton is watching a movie. I do not know how the child functions!

Snowy day

It is snowing! Yes, real snow! Stick on the ground, white, fluffy, snow. Our first snow of the year. Last year it didn't come until after Thanksgiving. I hope this doesn't mean that we are going to skip fall. I don't think so. I think it is just a fluke. But it is exciting. I was going to go to Idaho Falls today, but now I will have to stay home. But it is the perfect weather for finishing my book. I only have 20 more pages, and book club is tonight. Sooo, I will have a nice cozy day inside...

Pumpkin Party

Sorry I have not been able to post. Blogger was down and I didn't have the computer today. I tried to post on Sunday and it wouldn't work. Anyway, the party was a hit! It was a shower for my friend who had a little baby boy about 6 weeks ago. She insisted on not having a shower so I tricked her into having one by calling it a luncheon with a theme. Our theme was Pumpkins! And they happened to name the baby Peter, so on the invitation we put, "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater..." It was very cute. We had 3 kinds of soup, chicken corn soup, beef with barley soup and cheesy veggie soup. Then we had bread bowls that were made to look like pumpkins that we ordered from Broulims. (The local grocery store.) I had my pumpkin soup tureen, and I borrowed someone elses pumpkin soup tureen and we had a green bowl to put the other soup in. Then we had Pumpkin Roll and Pumpkin squares for dessert. YUM! For our drink, I made a peach slush which was orange in color, and looked perfect. Of course we had all kinds of fall decorations everywhere and I bought a gorgeous plaid table cloth to put on the table. It has all the fall colors. We ate and talked and then we played "Baby Bunko," a game another gal made up and we had prizes for everyone! We had little pumpkin mugs, pumpkin candles, pimpkin magnets and even pumpkin butter spreaders. And I won a big prize for the "Fuzzy Pillow prize." It was a warm, fuzzy fleece blanket. It is all mine and big enough for me to wrap up in on those cold Rexburg evenings. All in all the party was a HUGE hit. Everyone said how cute my house is and loved all the decor. I was very satisfied. And now that it is over, I am even happier!

day-dawn is breaking

It is 7 am on Saturday morning. The day of the pumpkin party. I thought I had a ton to do, but I really don't. I have the soup on the stove, and the dishes are washing, I am doing a load of laundry, the kitchen is clean, and I am on the computer. I went to a party last night. Actually the girl I am having the shower for had a pumpkin-carving contest, for adults. We had Chimichangas and I made my friend Ginny's pumkin cake. (Which was a HUGE hit!!! It all got eaten and people were raving about it!!! Thanks, Ginny!) We had fun carving pumkins and Justin and I came in 2nd place. We were happy with that since we seemed must less prepared than others. People took this very seriously. Justin was not very enthusiastic, until he saw how the other husbands were doing all the work. Then he dug right in and got his fingers dirty. I will try to post a picture of it later. But anyway, my hair still smells from the oil of the Chimichangas and I need a shower bad!!! So I will be doing that. My friend, Erin is coming over at 10 to help get set up, and then at 11:30 the guests will start to arrive! I am nervous. Everyone always talks about how clean my house always is. I have a lot to live up to! But I am going to let it go. It is clean and looks festive. It will be a very fun party and I will be soooo glad when it is over!

Dracula

I am currently reading Braham Stoker's Dracula. Can I just tell you how much I adore this book? I admit, I was skeptical because it is a classic and I have a slight aversion to the classics. I don't know why, because I always seem to like them when I get around to reading them. But this book is soooo good. I was also a little nervous because the other gals in my book group have been talking about how boring it is. I just don't understand that at all! It is thrilling. I can't put it down! I wish I had more hours or even minutes in the day to read so I could read more. Instead I have to help with homework, violin, make dinner, go to parent meetings, boring stuff. I would much rather be reading Dracula. The descriptions are so beautiful and the language makes me want to cry. I want to live in the late 1800's and to wear beautiful dresses and say things like, "I don't use slang." But this book is one of the best I have read in a while and I am so glad we are reading it this month. It is a little scary, but not too much so, but sooo entertaining. I had the same experience with East of Eden. I was convinced it was going to be totally boring and didn't want to read it because it was a classic. And I was so pleasantly surprised that it is now one of my favorite books of all time. So I guess I have learned a lesson. I should not be afraid of classics. They are classics for good reason. But I probably have not absolutely learned my lesson. Sometime, probably in the near future, I will not want to read another classic and hopefully I will once again, be surprised and pleased!!!