The Sunday Funnies

On the way to swim team last week, Jay was telling me about her escapades in Drama class.

Each day her teacher has a prompt up on the board that is meant to get them thinking--its called a "sparkplug". Then they go around their circle and a few kids are able to share their thoughts.

On Thursday the Sparkplug was, "think of a person or moment that has changed your life".

One of Jordyn's good friends shared a story about her aunt's battle with breast cancer. She told about how her aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. How it was a struggle to watch her battle with the disease. How she eventually had to have one of her breasts removed and then followed that up with some chemotherapy and her hair fell out {but it grew back}.

At that point, Jordyn said, out loud to the entire class "You mean they grow back?"

{Jordyn had missed the chemo/hair loss part of the story and thought her friend said that her Aunt's breast was removed but it grew back.}

I laughed. Savvy laughed. Jay informed us that her entire class laughed..including the teacher.

Then Aussie, who had been pretty quiet in the backseat asked, "Why is this so funny? What's a breast?"

And that my friends, is another story for another day.

Next Season's "Dancing with the Stars"

My sister emailed this to me and I couldn't resist posting it!

Happy Birthday Elvis

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd celebrate a pet's birthday--little alone a CAT's birthday.

It's embarrassing really.

Considering that a year ago, I couldn't even stand the sight of cats--me sponsoring a celebration for a cat is nothing short of a miracle.

In all honesty, cats used to and some still do make my stomach turn--what with the licking, the shedding, the hissing, the scratching--I mean who could love an animal like that?

Then somebody decided to surprise the kids (and me) with a kitty-cat for Christmas.

I recall the conversation going something like this:

El Jefe: Guess what I bought today?

Sassy Mama: A really great Christmas present for me?

El Jefe: Yup--and you and the kids are going to go crazy with excitement...but I need you to ask a friend to hide it for us for a few days--so I'm letting you in on the surprise.

Sassy Mama: I'm not really into group gifts but whatev So what is it?

El Jefe: It's a kitty! I bought a kitty!

Sassy Mama: You know I hate cats right? I mean, I was practically raised shooting, kicking and trying to maim cats. I've never even held a cat. They are spooky.

El Jefe: You're kidding!

He was shocked.

So was I.

But, knowing how much my kiddies wanted a pet--I took one for the team and the rest is history. An expensive history. But history nonetheless.

Now, even though we got Elvis for Christmas, the kids noticed on his shot records that he was born on October 21st. So, for the past couple of months, they have been planning Elvis' birthday party. {We celebrated it Sunday, because our weeknights are so busy.}

Elvis' Birthday Extravanza

Jordyn made him her famous brownies--note the giant "E"? I think she used up the whole bottle of sprinkles.

Austin took creativity to a whole new level and spelled out Elvis' name in blocks.

Savannah bought Elvis a kitty toy that scared him so bad he hid under the coffee table for an hour. I neglected to get a picture of said toy because he hid for too long.

So here's my cheesy shout out to Elvis.

{And using my best Elvis impersonation}

Happy Birthday, Kitty.

{P.S. And just to prove how far I have truly come from those cat-hating years...today when I was teaching my 4th Grade Language Arts class about nouns--I inadvertantly listed cat under "Person". All of the kids said, "But, Mrs. H! Mrs. H! Cats aren't people...they are things!"}

The Sunday Funnies

Today during sacrament meeting, Aussie asked if I had a piece of paper and a pen he could draw with. I searched through my scripture bag for a piece of paper that I wouldn't care about being covered in

alien life forms.

I ended up finding an old agenda from a RS presidency meeting clear back in July. It was perfect because it was blank on one side of the paper and had old information that I didn't need anymore on the other side.

After busily drawing for a good half hour, Aussie presented me with his artistic doodlings. The pictures were great, but I couldn't help noticing that he had made a few additions and changes to the RS agenda on the other side.

Next to Food was

Pizza Bar

Email out requests for donations of

video games

Missionary Plan was changed to

Muffin Plan

Clean Church on Wednesday now said

mess up church

Now, there's a RS event I wouldn't want to miss.

{Of course, I'd likely be the only one

there that wasn't a 10 year old boy}

The Best Brownies Ever: A Love Affair Divine

On Sunday, Jay made the absolute best brownies I have ever tasted {they happen to be from our new ward recipe book}. Those brownies made every hour I spent on typing up the cursed thing...all worth it. I'm not joking. It was a love affair divine.

{Oh--and so was Jay's dedication to the boy she loves. She professed her love to dear "Blair Bear" in sprinkles. I chose to dedicate my love to the brownies with a glass of milk. Yum!}

Here's the recipe in all its glory!

Our Favorite Brownies

Cream in mixer:
1 1/4 cups softened butter* (Jay halfed the butter--and they were still divine)
2 2/3 cups granulated sugar

Add:

6 eggs

Beat until fluffy then blend in:
1 tsp. vanilla

Add:
2 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt

Mix thoroughly – will lighten up – about 1 minute.

Spread in greased jelly roll pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 20-25 minutes.
*or use ½ cup shortening and 3/4 cup butter.

Frost cooled or warm w/recipe below:

Brownie Frosting

½ cup butter

½ cup powdered cocoa
3½ - 4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup milk (or more as needed--I think Jay doubled that)

Mix with electric mixer until smooth.

Delicious!

Fall Break: Productive, Perplexing, Painful

Sigh.

Fall Break.

Just thinking about it has filled me with joy this year. Not to be rude, but I believe this is the first time in the history of my kids being in school-that I have actually looked forward to them {and me} being out of school--except for that one time we headed to San Diego for fall break--now that was a good time.

I have made some big plans for Fall Break. It does not involve a fancy vacation. It does not involve taking my kids on a grand adventure. It doesn't even involve spending a lot of money. All I want for my festive fall break, is a whole lot of deep cleaning--and maybe a little fun on the side.

We kicked it off last night with my sis and her family.

Taco Soup

+Homemade Carmel apples

+Kids

+Charlie Brown

=A pretty good time

note to self: next year get mom's famous Carmel apple recipe before making them--then you will avoid the issues of Carmel peeling off the apples

Productive

This morning, we cleaned and cleaned our little hearts out. It was great. I can't remember ever being this excited to clean house. The slaves pitched in and we got quite a bit done. A very productive morning indeed.

Of course, since I was beautifying my home..it didn't leave much time for beautifying myself. I did take a shower this morning. But, I got distracted with a couple of chores, and before I knew it my hair had dried all crazy-like.

"Not to worry," I thought to myself. "There will be plenty of time for doing my hair."

Perplexing

Just as I was heading into do my hair.

The doorbell rang.

At 2:30 in the afternoon.

And it was a friend of a friend of mine who was dropping money off so she could do a few crafties at our Fab Fri next week. We had never met before, and I was mortified. My hair was slicked down to the sides of my head. Glasses. No makeup. I was wearing a holey shirt. Oh and sorry grandpa--skip this next sentence if you are reading this Bra? NOPE.

Then, of course, my new BFF came in and wanted to see the crafts. And boy howdy, did she just love my clock wall. And where did I get that cool old door? Good grief. I was so freaked out about my appearance I could barely converse.

Finally, I said, "Listen. I am mortified that my hair is not done, I'm in holey clothes, No makeup. I am not at my best. But--have you noticed how clean my house is?"

She mentioned how nice it was to see that other people don't get ready for the day until noon--cause she has days like that too. I hated to bring up the fact that it was after noon. So I kept my mouth shut.

Painful

This morning, before the clean fest, I promised my slaves that we would go to the movie if they were good workers.

I called my sissy Jill, my sis-in-law Ali, and we all met at the dollar theater to watch "Space Chimps."

I hadn't heard much about it before.

That should've been my first clue that it might be lame.

Second Clue?

Opening credits of the movie.

Did I mention--Painful?

Okay. Okay. So there were a few funny parts. But the lameness by far outweighed the humor.

There were so many mini-plots--it was a joke. It was like the writers couldn't make up their mind on what they wanted the movie to be about--so it was about nothing.--and not a Jerry Seinfeld show about nothing either.

At one point, I leaned over to my sister and said, "This sounds like something Jay and her friends would write." To which Jilly answered, "Hey, isn't that being kinda rude to Jay and her friends?"

As a bonus, the kids liked it except for Jay--who, by the way, was highly offended that I inplied that her and her friends would ever produce such lousy cinema.

Another bonus? It was at the dollar movies--so it wasn't like we spent bunches of money on a doozy of a show.

Tomorrow's To-Do List?

more deep cleaning {don't tell the kids}

hair cut and colored--early so my hair will be done early too

Shop for some Halloween costumes--Savvy wants me to make her a bumblebee costume well actually she wanted to be a devil--and I said--no devils for you sista--and so then she said--well how bout' a bumble bee instead--talk about polar opposites and Aussie needs a mummy costume.

Read.

Relax.

Sew.

Drink some DC.

Good Times.

So, what are you

doing for fall break?

What Would Freud Do?

A few weeks ago, I came to the realization that if I wanted to have time to blog--I was going to have to be more organized with my efforts.

{You see, I had underestimated the power of a new part-time job, a busy church calling, a house without a maid, a phone that needs answering, a kitty-cat, 3 kids, and a husband.}

I enjoy reading a blog called Scribbit {its written by a gal in Alaska who I think of as a professional blogger}. So, I remembered an interview that I had watched on her blog where she shared tips on how to be an

effective blogger.

One of the ideas she shared was that she actually writes her posts a couple of weeks in advance. That way, if she has a crazy week like if there is a moose stampede and all power is lost she pulls a post out of her magical writing hat and she is all set.

I knew this was the plan for me. I decided to implement it toot sweet. So, a couple of weekends ago, I blogged up a blogging storm. I wrote some posts, saved them and waited. It worked great.

During the week, all it took was the push of the publish button. And you, Loyal Readers, were

none the wiser.

Using the same plan over conference weekend, I was able to write up a few more posts. Again, the plan was to scatter them througout the week--helping me to feel better about the whole being to busy to blog factor.

And then something unexpected happened.

One of my friends from AZ, Kelly B, stole my thunder.

I had just gotten off work and had settled down at the computer with an icy diet coke. I checked a few emails and then clicked over to Shenanigans and to publish my "Dream a little Dream" post. When what did my wandering eye notice on the sidebar? Kelly B had just updated her blog. Being a fan of Beeswax, I quickly clicked over to read it.

That stinkin' Kelly B had posted about her dream the night before.

And it was similar to mine.

Only funnier.

Well-written.

And smarter.

I'll be honest...there were places she was visiting in her dream that I hadn't even heard of--and the analysts? Oy Vey!.

Curse that Stinkin' Mindreader.

Why can't she just mind her own Beeswax?