Dinner Tonight? Tangy Cats and Mice

One of the fun crafts I made with my BFF, Mary last month were some cute chalkboards out of plates. It was quite easy and they turned out darling.

The only problem was we used a chalkboard spray paint...and since I was too lazy to go outside...I decided to cover my table with newspaper and stay inside to paint.

Did you know there is such a thing as over spray?

So, even though we sprayed very carefully just the one taped off small area...it floated everywhere. Like on the kitchen floor...the chairs, my bench, even the back of the couch.

I'm talking a film of oily, black dust, people. Not fun. Not easy to clean up either.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I bought a cute plate rack to put my new chalkboard on and set it up in my kitchen.

Now, fancy Miss Mary writes the meals for the whole week on hers...cause that's the kind of organized gal she is.

Eventually I'll start that up...when I actually get around to planning a menu before I shop {that new Harmon's on the corner will be the death of me...it is far too easy to just run there for a "few things" and never get all the things I need}.

So, until then everyday I just write down the {dinner} meal of the day. {don't be too impressed sometimes it says "Git yer Own"}.

And almost every day a little elf (we'll call her Savvy), changes the menu to a 'funny joke'.

The other day I wrote "Tangy Pork and Rice" -- an hour later I noticed it said, "Tangy Cats and Mice".

On a "Git yer Own" night she changed it to "Dad on a Stick".

Before we left for a reunion in Idaho this past weekend she wrote, "Idaho Potatoes."

I keep telling her to stop it--because it's MY chalkboard after all.

{Apparently, she hasn't been listening..or more likely she just doesn't care.}

Last night, I finally had my camera handy and took a picture of her latest Dinner Creation. She changed my delicious "Chicken Pot Pie" to "Chicken Pot Fly--with real Flies!"

Appetizin' ain't it?

I think I'll be making that clever girl of mine her own chalkboard.

It's Been THAT Long?

Seriously? It's been so long since I last blogged that I had to sign into my account? Took me three times to remember my password!

Sheesh!

And I thought with school being out I'd have more time for such pleasures.

What I have had more time for is:

cleaning the house with my Cinderella mice,
hanging out with my sis,
crafting with my Bff, having fun
summer visitors, going to
Family Reunions, chasing kids around
from activity to activity...
...especially swim meets, having sleepovers,
cleaning up messes, Facebook,
trying to stay caught up on things of an RS nature,
reading all of YOUR blogs on my google reader,
almost getting murdered at the apt's
the other day ...truly another story for another day,
drinking lots of diet coke,
holding my cute nephews,
watching Jay qualify for state swim in 4 events,
perfected painting sparkle toes on Jay and her BFF,
waiting for my new nephew to be born,
injured my back {at the temple no less},
went to Webelos scout camp, tried to
write the great American novel,
ate a new favorite dessert,
witnessed a miracle.


So what have you been
up to this summer?

The Sunday Funnies

Yesterday, I drove down to my sis-in-law's baby shower in my old home town...Oak City or the OC as my brothers have nicknamed it.

Somehow, my dad got schnookered into taking Savvy and her cousin Syd on a four wheeler ride.

They drove all over town, had a great time, and came home smelling like a campfire...mostly due to the happenings at one of the neighbors' weed burning parties.

When they got back, my dad was chuckling and shaking his head.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"While we were on our ride, Savvy yelled as loud as she could...'Grandpa! Make sure you drive by the cat lady's house!' We happened to be driving by the cat lady's house...and they were sitting out on their front porch and heard every word," he said.

Me-ow!

{Truth be told, it is Savvy's goal in life to be a cat lady with hundreds of cats}.

Lost in the Translation

Today I took Jay and her friend shopping for some last minute snickadees before youth conference.

In our travels, we stopped at Aeropostale to snag a couple of t-shirts and we happened upon their clearance.

They had jeans for $6!

{Of course, the catch was you had to be a Size 0 Short or a 14/16 Short.}

Feeling extra lucky, I ended up finding a pair of jeans that said "half" regular.

Jay normally wears a Size 1. But, I asked her if she wanted to try on the "half" size to see if they would fit. {I thought it was pretty unusual that they would make a size in between a 0 and a 1.}

"Mom," she said. "That isn't a half size--it's a size one slash two."

Sheesh!

But honestly, what's a girl to think when they put a 1/2 on the size sticker?

Family Home Evening

Tonight swim team practice got canceled due to bad weather.

This meant I finally had the kids home on a
Monday eve..so I put them to work.

I told the three of them they were in charge of every aspect of family home evening (except I'd do the refreshments).

Generally, when any of my kids are in charge of family night, it will either be a movie or some sort of game. So, I made the stipulation that there must be a
spiritual thought involved.

Apparently, they really wanted to play "Life". So, they orchestrated a FHE around it.

Jay narrated the creation from Genesis--whilst Savvy and Auzy held up homemade pictures.

I especially loved Auzy's rendition of Day 3-- does anybody else notice how earth looks an awful lot like Bikini Bottom (Spongebob Squarepants' domain)?


To-may-to, To-mah-to?

After the lesson, we played "Life" and I discovered some interesting tidbits.

#1 Auzy wants to name his children
Spongebob and Patrick.

#2 Savvy is planning on marrying a cat.


#3 The man on the $50,000 bill of Life looks a lot like Lorenzo Snow.

#4 Jay always took the pathway that earned her
more babies...not more money.

#5 I always took the pathway that earned me more money hey, I've already had kids and they aren't cheap

#6 Jay won the game by $100,000--and
boy howdy did she rub in the fact that I failed to follow one of the basic tenets from our FHE lesson...
multiply and replenish the earth.

The Sunday Funnies

Yesterday, our family spent most of the day at a swim meet. All three of the kids swam in it, and each of them improved their times in most of their events.

Successful swim meets involve lots of fun snacks, heavy duty sunscreen have you seen the fair skin on my kiddies? and plenty of liquid.

○ Snacks? Check. {bagels with cream cheese, crackers, sunflower seeds, and chex mix}

○Liquid? Check. {Gatorade, Diet Coke and Agua}

○Sunscreen? Oops! No check.

Being that this was our first outdoor swim meet of the year--and I am used to the indoor meets--I neglected to apply {or even bring} sunscreen.

El Jefe came to the rescue--and paid top dollar for a small tube of creamy, white sunscreen.

I slathered those fair-skinned kids of mine up like there was no tomorrow.

Shortly after the slathering, Savvy was talking to one of her coaches. He gave her his advice for her
upcoming race, and then told her she needed to
rub in the sunscreen on her leg.

"But, I didn't put sunscreen on my legs," she said, as she started rubbing it in.

Then she smelled her hand.

"Ewwww! This isn't sunscreen! It's cream cheese!"
she yelled.

Sheesh!

{A quick dip into the pool
remedied the issue.}

A Wednesday Funny

On Friday, our family was able to go to the conference center and watch Jay participate in a youth temple celebration--in honor of our new Draper Temple being built.

This was a once in a lifetime experience for her and we were so excited she had the chance to participate (even if our seats were way up in the balcony).

Just before the program began, President Monson entered the room with President Eyring and other general authorities.

The thousands of people who filled the conference center stood to show our respect and love for him.

I had a tear in my eye as I watched the prophet enter the enormous room and give a little wave.

And then I looked at Auzy who had his
hand over his heart.

In all seriousness, he whispered to me,
"Are we going to say the
pledge of allegiance now?"