The Twenty Year Tag--Karie

I've been tagged!

20 years ago I:
1. Was ten years old.
2. Lived in Washoe Valley, Nevada.
3. Was reading my little heart out.
4. Was also made to practice the piano regularly.
5. Was the official dish-washer for the family, as our dishwasher didn't work.
6. Often absconded with my dad's Walkman while doing the dishes so I could sing along to the Deseret Sampler tape I'd been given for Christmas.

10 years ago I:
1. Was 20 years old.
2. Had been living in Campus Plaza for a full year.
3. Was working on my undergraduate English degree.
4. Was working at Auxiliary Maintenance at BYU--one of my favorite jobs.
5. Thought I'd never be done with college (unaware that graduation requirements would change and I'd finish one semester early).
6. Was looking forward to my next semester of school, which included a songwriting class (figured out I wasn't good at that) and a karate class (had fun in that, thanks to Cami and Kelly!).


5 years ago I:
1. Was 25 years old.
2. Lived in Sacramento, CA.
3. Was three months pregnant with Annika.
4. Was just getting over morning sickness.
5. Was getting back into novel-writing as a hobby.
6. Was serving as the Relief Society secretary.
7. Was just beginning in the freelance world of editing.


3 years ago I:
1. Was 27 years old.
2. Lived in Tempe, AZ (those few fateful months in Brother Brown's house).
3. Was eight months pregnant with Afton and ready to be DONE with the pregnancy.
4. Got into a routine of making an herbal milkshake and an egg over easy for Brother Brown's breakfast.
5. Learned how to make eggs over easy.
6. Served on the Enrichment Board.
7. Was doing my best not to throw a three-star tantrum, mostly due to my outrageous size and the numerous "you MUST be having twins" comments.

So far this year I:
1. Turned 30.
2. Had a fantastic pirate-themed birthday party.
3. Mostly just watched as Annika learned how to read.
4. Have tried to potty-train Afton.
5. Learned to make home-made bread in response to rising fuel and food prices. (It makes sense to me!)
6. Figured out that now is not the time to go back to school.
7. Wondered if I should pursue a doctorate at all.
8. Celebrated my seventh wedding anniversary.

Yesterday I:
1. Worked on a new doll for Afton.
2. Went to church and sat in the same spot for all three hours.
3. Made pasta with sausage sauce.
4. Slept in until 7am.
5. Got to church on time (ten minutes early, as requested by various church leaders).

Today I will:
1. Take the kids to the library (check).
2. Figure out what I need to get done before I leave for Utah.
3. Potentially plan a Family Home Evening lesson.
4. Clean the bathrooms.
5. Finish Afton's doll.
6. Figure out a way to get more exercise in my life.
7. Shred the chicken for tonight's dinner.
8. Figure out how to make bread that *doesn't* fall while baking--I may need to spend more time kneading.

Tomorrow I will:
1. Do all the things I didn't get done today.
2. Sew some new clothes to wear in UT.
3. Do some chores.
4. Teach the kids more signs from the ASL books we checked out.
5. Get the Enrichment sign-ups finalized so they can be passed around while I'm gone.

In the next year I will:
1. Start exercising! For real!
2. Celebrate Afton's third birthday and Annika's fifth.
3. Start homeschooling Annika--and have a plan for her education in place.
4. Move to a bigger place.
5. Go to a Renaissance festival. Maybe two.
6. Build up my food storage so I can quit thinking about it.
7. Sew myself 10 new items of clothing (I can be ambitious!).
8. Finish my second novel and get an agent.

I tag Cami, Kerry, Sean and Elizabeth, Jenny, Vlad, and Janell. And I'll try to get Mat to do it too.

Da**ed Dog!

Karie and I are currently enjoying one of those moments where Afton is suffering from information overload, and combining new words in very entertaining ways.

Ingredient #1
Lately, in an attempt to help Afton pay more attention to family scripture study, Karie has been having Afton help her "read" by repeating each phrase.

Ingredient #2
Last night I took the family to the Disney outlet store at the Arizona Mills Mall and used some of my birthday money to buy everyone else a present. Annika choose a 101 Dalmatian stuffed animal.

The resulting combination... "Annika, can I play with your one damnation?"

Proving that my life really is an open book

My friend Janell did this great photo meme on her blog, so of course I absolutely HAD to copy her.

Keeping It Real
(The rules are, take the picture--no fussing, no fixing it up--just a snapshot of your life, today, as is.)

1. Kitchen sink. Don't touch it, just take a picture: A good day, since there's still light coming through the kitchen window and the majority of the dishes are done!

2. Inside of the refrigerator: Not too full, not too empty, it's just right! And those are Martinelli's bottles on the bottom shelf, lest you think I need to have a chat with my bishop.

3. Your shoes: I've had these sandals for three summers now, and it always takes a day or two for my feet to get used to the chafing of the leather straps. But they're so comfortable, it's worth it!

4. Your closet: Here is the pseudo walk-in. I mean, I can walk into it, but I have to turn sideways. We store a lot of things in here--off-season clothing, costumes, extra linens, some food storage (you can't see it), jewelry, my dresser...
...but we store even more in the girls' closet. Holiday stuff, memorabilia, games, baby items that we don't use now but might use in the future, puzzles, some of the girls' dresses, our 72-hour kits...
...spare electronic cords, off-season and outgrown clothes from the kids, sports equipment, the car seat Afton just outgrew, extra shelves, water, and so on. There's a stroller hiding behind that chair. I should probably go through the closet and see if we really need to keep all of it.
5. Your laundry pile: Since I don't have a washer and dryer in my unit, my laundry piles are neatly contained in two hampers. The girls...
...and ours.

6. What the kids are doing: They're very good at sharing the computer.
7. Your favorite room: I don't have a favorite room, per se, since we live in a two-bedroom apartment. But this is my favorite spot in our apartment. The chair is comfy, the outlets are convenient for a reading light and the laptop, and so here is where I read my scriptures, write, and plan out my day. Have iPod, will meditate too. Don't mind the too-short pillowcase for the pillow. I'm gonna fix that soon. Really!
8. Your toilet: Um, it's clean? And supplied with excellent reading material (old Ensigns)? The extra toilet paper is easy to find--we're great believers in practicality over aesthetics.
9. Fantasy Vacation: Scotland, of course. It's pretty and green and misty--perfect. And it has castles!
Or England, just for this:



10. A self-portrait: Yes, I'm wearing an apron. It has a handy pocket for putting things that belong in other rooms into, for later, proper, stowage. And hiding candy. (Shh! Don't tell the children!) Helps me to stay in cleaning mode, too, so I get more done.



I'd love to see a day in the life of other people! Feel free to feel tagged to do this meme.

Picture pages, pictures pages, lots of fun with picture pages.

The holding pattern has been broken! Slightly. We've discovered, the hard way, that it takes at LEAST two months to get your practicing license if you're newly graduated, and people don't like to hire you if you don't have a license. Therefore, Mat had to find an in-between job to keep us fed and sheltered in the meantime. And who took him back without batting an eye AND raised his pay? Why, yes, that would be KinderCare! We may be against the idea of putting kids in daycare in general, but they've been pretty good to Mat. Part of the payraise came from moving Mat to the front office instead of making him a teacher again.

Anyway, one day Mat came home, took off his shoes and socks, and disappeared to a kid-free zone momentarily. I turned around to find a small child donning her father's socks, then his shoes. She's funny kid, and very shoe-obsessed.

I had the camera out for a moment tonight, and Annika asked to have her picture taken. Mat started teasing her, and this picture was the result.
We're exploring ways to keep ourselves occupied in the summer heat, and one option is playing with chenille stems (known as pipe cleaners when I was in grade school). The last time we tried the chenille stem thing, they ended up in a shapeless, twisted heap that stabbed my foot (not seriously--there was no blood) when I least expected it, two weeks after we bought them. Those got thrown away quickly and I swore off chenille stems for a while. Anyway, I momentarily forgot my promise to myself while we were standing in the dollar store looking at chenille stems and we ended up with a package. To avoid a repeat foot-stabbing, I decided to make something a little more permanent. These flower crowns are doing the trick, for now.

I believe that I mentioned my Christmas/birthday gift this year: the Pirates of the Caribbean version of LIFE. I love it, and the love is transferring to the children. So we've started a new tradition: Anyone who wants to play "Pirates" has to wear a pirate article of clothing (Daddy has a pirate attitude) and we listen to the soundtrack while we play. It's most enjoyable. Now if we could just teach Afton how to spin the spinner without laying across half the board.

Locks of Love is going to be about a pound of hair richer soon. In the meantime, I now sport this haircut, just in time for summer:

Clip Show!

This is what happens when I have, well, not too much time on my hands....I don't know what to call it. I happened to record Afton laughing while Mat was playing with her, and the project just about put itself together from there. Enjoy!

(Created in iMovie, music by Gerald Trimble--Dancing Feet, Celtic Odyssey)