1. Get organized--Can you teach an old dog new tricks? I mean, I went from being the person who could eke out the most minutes of sleep to getting up at 5:30 to exercise. But, to go from being completely disorganized to organized in the course of a year? I don't know. I have to try though because I'm going bonkers over here. The housework, the appointments, the deep cleaning and the mess. I need to wade through it all. So that's definitely #1 on my list. I'm not entirely sure how to attack this, but I've started making a plan. Hopefully I'll emerge victorious on the other side.
2. Increase the cooperation of the kids--Ah, if a cruise to Cabo taught me one thing, it was that my kids don't get along. That's going to change in 2011. Maybe they won't love each other, but they're going to respect each other. And me. Most definitely they are going to respect me.
3. Get healthier--Eek. We're getting old(er) and the pounds don't seem to be shedding as fast as they once did. And it's taking a lot more work to keep them from creeping on. So, in an effort to reign in both mine and Wade's waistlines, I'm going health(ier) in 2011. I'm going to start making A LOT more things from scratch and cutting out a lot of the crap in my diet.
4. Read the Standard Works--I've never read them, they're on my "list" and now's a good time to start.
5. Make a Grand Cake--I'm going to redeem A.'s birthday cake disaster and actually make a grand cake.
6. Paint the upstairs--It's time. Eight years is a lot to ask of your drab, boring paint. This WILL be done in 2011.
7. Send a book to a publisher--it might be the book I wrote in November. It might be something new. But, in 2011, I'm going to send out a manuscript to a publisher (or many). And chances are it will be rejected, but once the sting of rejection is felt than it shouldn't feel as bad the second or fifteenth time, right?
8. Win a toastmaster speech contest--Okay, now I know the "rules" both written and unwritten and this year I'm going to take at least the club level contest.
9. Attend the temple monthly--Wade and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and it's embarassing how little we attend the temple now that there are kids in the picture. Especially since we have something like 10 within an hour's drive and plenty of young gals in the neighborhood to babysit.
10. Pay off Pilot--This is our last debt aside from the house. We'll be paying that off this year. And then we can call into Dave Ramsey's show and yell "We're Debt Free!"
11. No use of the credit card--remember last year's goal of not buying new clothes? Well, for the most part, it worked. I no longer have much of a desire to buy new clothes. So, this year, I'm not going to use the credit card for anything. Eek. The credit card has always been my safety net, but I'm leaving it behind somewhere hidden so I won't be tempted to use it.
Wish me luck!
I hope you all have a great New Year's! Happy 2011!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The 10 Best Moments of 2010
These are in no particular order.
1. Writing a book--seriously, one of the coolest things of the year--nay, the decade.
2. Learning to love cooking--I had no idea this was even in the realm of possibilities. So cool.
3. Buying a table--Why does this make the list? Because we spent SO much time looking for one. 3 YEARS!!!
4. Taking 8th place in the Stansbury Days Triathlon--this is just a little local race, but it has some fierce competition. And I was SO surprised that I came in that close to the front. And the icing on the cake was taking 6th place in the biking portion.
5. Hiking Kings Peak--I can't believe we did this. It was awesome and so different from what I expected. I'm glad we made the arrangements and took the time to do this.
6. Running the St. George Marathon, again--I took nearly 45 minutes off from my time from 2007 and I felt really good for the entire 26.2 miles. Plus the journey there--the miles and the sweat and the tears--I did with two really good friends. So even though I fell embarassingly short of my goal of qualifying for Boston, I still feel good about how I did. Most days.
7. Swimming in the ocean in December--spending the day at the beach in Cabo with Wade and the kids was a definite highlight of 2010.
8. Crossing 7 things off "The List"--That's almost a tenth of the whole list! And now I'm down to 80 things to do before I die.
9. Getting family pictures done--Wade and I have been married 10 years and we didn't have a family picture hanging up. How embarassing. Now, we have some good shots and I can finally hang them up.
10. Making a kick butt Mario pinata for Josh's birthday party--Yeah, I did that. By myself. And it was awesome! I was the coolest mom on the block from the get go.
1. Writing a book--seriously, one of the coolest things of the year--nay, the decade.
2. Learning to love cooking--I had no idea this was even in the realm of possibilities. So cool.
3. Buying a table--Why does this make the list? Because we spent SO much time looking for one. 3 YEARS!!!
4. Taking 8th place in the Stansbury Days Triathlon--this is just a little local race, but it has some fierce competition. And I was SO surprised that I came in that close to the front. And the icing on the cake was taking 6th place in the biking portion.
5. Hiking Kings Peak--I can't believe we did this. It was awesome and so different from what I expected. I'm glad we made the arrangements and took the time to do this.
6. Running the St. George Marathon, again--I took nearly 45 minutes off from my time from 2007 and I felt really good for the entire 26.2 miles. Plus the journey there--the miles and the sweat and the tears--I did with two really good friends. So even though I fell embarassingly short of my goal of qualifying for Boston, I still feel good about how I did. Most days.
7. Swimming in the ocean in December--spending the day at the beach in Cabo with Wade and the kids was a definite highlight of 2010.
8. Crossing 7 things off "The List"--That's almost a tenth of the whole list! And now I'm down to 80 things to do before I die.
9. Getting family pictures done--Wade and I have been married 10 years and we didn't have a family picture hanging up. How embarassing. Now, we have some good shots and I can finally hang them up.
10. Making a kick butt Mario pinata for Josh's birthday party--Yeah, I did that. By myself. And it was awesome! I was the coolest mom on the block from the get go.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas Plus Some
Christmas
Christmas was really good at our house this year. J. got what he wanted from Santa (a Hot Wheels toy) and Legos and a few games for the Wii, so he was a happy guy. A. was a little harder to shop for. She doesn't harbor any obsession like J. did (does?) at the same age and so Santa went with a kitchen set. I think she likes it and maybe it will help let me get things done in my own kitchen.
Speaking of kitchens, my Christmas present this year was a new dining table. We inherited Wade's grandma's 1970's kitchen table when we got married...10 years ago! It was ugly then and it has only gotten uglier. We started with six chairs, but over the last decade we've dwindled down to 2 1/2. This has started posing a problem considering there are four of us. Our poor two year old--who is roughly the size of a three year old--has been sitting in the high chair and it's time to retire that back down to the basement considering she's a little too big for it.
This purchase hasn't snuck up on us. We've been earnestly looking for a new table for the last THREE YEARS. But nothing seemed to fit the bill. I wasn't willing to drop that much money on something I didn't love and Wade lived in some fantasy world where he wanted a 12-seater table. Which, incidently, costs A LOT of money and aren't very asthetically pleasing so it seemed like we were at an impasse. It
got to the point where the local furrniture place knew us so well that they wouldn't even bother to come talk to us when we walked in. They'd just wave from across the store.
So a few weeks ago, we were back in the furniture store and Wade found a table he loved. It sat 10, but I can't say that I loved it. To be honest, I can count on one hand the number of times that we have needed enough seats for 10 people in the last year. And I don't think that finally having a table to sit that many people will make it so that people will make the trek out to our house. In other words, I don't think it's the table size that is keeping family from visiting all that often...
But I digress...
As we were walking back through the show area, I saw a table I really liked. But upon further inspection we decided it would scratch too easily. And then I saw the one we ended up getting. I liked it, though I couldn't say I was in love with it. What I was in love with was the bench seat though and that may have been the deciding factor.
We left that store and went to another store, where we found the table we LOVED. However, it was nearly twice as much as the table with the bench seat and with the little kids, I didn't want to spend that kind of money only to stand over it and keep watch so it didn't get scratched.
In the end, we went with the table with the bench seat. And Wade brought it home on the 23rd. It took him 8 hours to assemble it. And I LOVE IT! I'm glad we went with this one.
The only bad thing about the new table is that it makes me want to change the kitchen to match the table. Wade thinks that's the table's fault and we should take it back but I'm pretty sure it's the kitchen's fault. I'm trying to convince him that we need to paint the walls and as long as we're painting, we might as well put in tile. And granite countertops for good measure. But so far, the argument isn't working. I'll keep at him though.
Plus Some
Can you believe it's the end of the year already? Where did 2010 go? So, as customary to all the other years, I'm going to change things up here at the blog. Which is to say that for a few months, I'll change things up, but then I'll probably revert back to my same old (boring?) self. But, at least it will be a change for a few weeks nonetheless.
So, here's my proposed outline:
Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays I'm going to keep open to relay funny stories or not...whatever.
Tuesdays will become Picture Perfect Tuesday. J. got a kid's digital camera for Christmas and he loves taking pictures of the weirdest things, so Tuesdays are just going to be pictures of weird things and people. Some from him. Some from me. No words, so you'll get to decipher the meaning of the pictures.
Wednesdays will still be What's For Dinner. Incidently, these were my most popular blog entries of 2010 and also the most fun. Turns out, I enjoy cooking. Who knew?
Thursdays will become Thankful Thursdays. I plan on focusing on one thing I'm thankful for. This could get interesting...
Sundays, I'm going back to the Book Reviews. I've realized that I haven't read as many books in 2010 as I have in years past. Partly, the second kid is to blame. But partly, it's because I haven't made the time. So, I'm going to try to read a book a week so I can review them on Sundays. We'll see how it goes.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring.
Christmas was really good at our house this year. J. got what he wanted from Santa (a Hot Wheels toy) and Legos and a few games for the Wii, so he was a happy guy. A. was a little harder to shop for. She doesn't harbor any obsession like J. did (does?) at the same age and so Santa went with a kitchen set. I think she likes it and maybe it will help let me get things done in my own kitchen.
Speaking of kitchens, my Christmas present this year was a new dining table. We inherited Wade's grandma's 1970's kitchen table when we got married...10 years ago! It was ugly then and it has only gotten uglier. We started with six chairs, but over the last decade we've dwindled down to 2 1/2. This has started posing a problem considering there are four of us. Our poor two year old--who is roughly the size of a three year old--has been sitting in the high chair and it's time to retire that back down to the basement considering she's a little too big for it.
This purchase hasn't snuck up on us. We've been earnestly looking for a new table for the last THREE YEARS. But nothing seemed to fit the bill. I wasn't willing to drop that much money on something I didn't love and Wade lived in some fantasy world where he wanted a 12-seater table. Which, incidently, costs A LOT of money and aren't very asthetically pleasing so it seemed like we were at an impasse. It
got to the point where the local furrniture place knew us so well that they wouldn't even bother to come talk to us when we walked in. They'd just wave from across the store.
So a few weeks ago, we were back in the furniture store and Wade found a table he loved. It sat 10, but I can't say that I loved it. To be honest, I can count on one hand the number of times that we have needed enough seats for 10 people in the last year. And I don't think that finally having a table to sit that many people will make it so that people will make the trek out to our house. In other words, I don't think it's the table size that is keeping family from visiting all that often...
But I digress...
As we were walking back through the show area, I saw a table I really liked. But upon further inspection we decided it would scratch too easily. And then I saw the one we ended up getting. I liked it, though I couldn't say I was in love with it. What I was in love with was the bench seat though and that may have been the deciding factor.
We left that store and went to another store, where we found the table we LOVED. However, it was nearly twice as much as the table with the bench seat and with the little kids, I didn't want to spend that kind of money only to stand over it and keep watch so it didn't get scratched.
In the end, we went with the table with the bench seat. And Wade brought it home on the 23rd. It took him 8 hours to assemble it. And I LOVE IT! I'm glad we went with this one.
 |
| This is our last meal with the old UGLY table. |
 |
| This is our new table. Right now we have all six chairs around the table and the bench seat on the wall. I'm not sure if we'll keep it that way, but it seems to be working right now. |
Plus Some
Can you believe it's the end of the year already? Where did 2010 go? So, as customary to all the other years, I'm going to change things up here at the blog. Which is to say that for a few months, I'll change things up, but then I'll probably revert back to my same old (boring?) self. But, at least it will be a change for a few weeks nonetheless.
So, here's my proposed outline:
Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays I'm going to keep open to relay funny stories or not...whatever.
Tuesdays will become Picture Perfect Tuesday. J. got a kid's digital camera for Christmas and he loves taking pictures of the weirdest things, so Tuesdays are just going to be pictures of weird things and people. Some from him. Some from me. No words, so you'll get to decipher the meaning of the pictures.
Wednesdays will still be What's For Dinner. Incidently, these were my most popular blog entries of 2010 and also the most fun. Turns out, I enjoy cooking. Who knew?
Thursdays will become Thankful Thursdays. I plan on focusing on one thing I'm thankful for. This could get interesting...
Sundays, I'm going back to the Book Reviews. I've realized that I haven't read as many books in 2010 as I have in years past. Partly, the second kid is to blame. But partly, it's because I haven't made the time. So, I'm going to try to read a book a week so I can review them on Sundays. We'll see how it goes.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Cabo 2010 Part 4 THE END
I'm sure you can imagine that with the airport closed down, it was all fun and games while we waited for the planes to land. At least we were on ground and not circling in the air. And God bless the lady in front of us while we standed in line to get our connecting flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake changed. She had silly apps on her phone that entertained J so he would stop "entertaining" A.
Two hours later, we were allowed on board a plane and then we sat and sat and sat. An hour and a half later, after I had a minor meltdown with J because he wouldn't leave his little sister alone, we were finally headed home. And not a minute too soon.
In Phoenix, we ate dinner at Chili's in the airport. Mid way through the meal, Wade got a phone call from the airline informing him that our plane would be leaving in 15 minutes. We rushed out of the restaurant and back into the security line. Then we rushed down to the terminal.
Liars.
It didn't actually leave until 15 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. Where was that phone call, Southwest?!?
FINALLY, we were headed home. I was in charge of A for this go round and I was dreading the ride, but as soon as we took off, she was out. I got to talk to the guy next to me. He's a child psychologist who deals with behavorial issues and parenting techniques. He might have been an answer to a few prayers I've uttered over the course of the last couple of years. We talked about his suggested parenting techniques and he made quite a few observations that rang true. Plus he said some things that I've been needing/wanting to hear. I may or may not talk about it all in a future post.
A. woke up as soon as the wheels touched down in Salt Lake. We made our way off the plane and then to the luggage caurosel. Our luggage was nowhere to be found. After filling out the paperwork in the Lost Luggage Office where the infamous "I know that scream. You were in San Diego." comment was made, we made our way to my dad's parked Jeep and we were ferried to our home.
Ah, Home Sweet Home.
At 1 am, the airport dropped off our luggage. I just threw it inside the door and went back to sleep. It was so nice that the bed gently rocked me to sleep as though I was still on the ship.
The roundup:
I vow never to go on a cruise with a 2 year old and a 5 year old again. I realize part of the problem was that I was SO inadequately prepared. I was under the impression that the kids would be entertained and I would have next to no stress and I was sorely mistaken. I came home more stressed out then not. I can now understand the looks people would give us when we told them we were going on a cruise with our kids.
My kids have some serious issues with getting along. They are also both very intense people, which is weird because Wade and I aren't really that intense. At least I don't think we are...maybe that's part of the problem.
We'll be driving to Disneyland next year.
I love the cruise part of cruising but I was sick for about a week afterwards with seasickness. That hardly seems fair.
It was a bad idea to book something so close to two weeks of school vacation. I need a freakin' break!
The mere thought of a third kid makes me want to cry. Literally. I get sick to my stomach when I think about it. I will continue to hold on to my belief that if God wanted me to have a third kid right now, He wouldn't make me feel this way.
I love my kids, but the whining, the screeching, the screaming, the demanding, the teasing, and the willful disobedience has got to STOP before I go postal! That is one of my goals for 2012 and perhaps my seatmate on the way to Salt Lake was placed there for this very reason.
The above statement makes my kids seem like heathens. I don't notice that they're are any worse than other siblings their ages. But, I'm going NUTS! And most of the time they're pretty good. They do really cute things. And they say really funny things. And we have a lot of fun. We all just need SPACE.
What's up next? It's nearing the end of the year, so I have a bunch of things planned for next week. And it's Christmas. And I have one last recipe for the year. I'm excited!
Two hours later, we were allowed on board a plane and then we sat and sat and sat. An hour and a half later, after I had a minor meltdown with J because he wouldn't leave his little sister alone, we were finally headed home. And not a minute too soon.
In Phoenix, we ate dinner at Chili's in the airport. Mid way through the meal, Wade got a phone call from the airline informing him that our plane would be leaving in 15 minutes. We rushed out of the restaurant and back into the security line. Then we rushed down to the terminal.
Liars.
It didn't actually leave until 15 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. Where was that phone call, Southwest?!?
FINALLY, we were headed home. I was in charge of A for this go round and I was dreading the ride, but as soon as we took off, she was out. I got to talk to the guy next to me. He's a child psychologist who deals with behavorial issues and parenting techniques. He might have been an answer to a few prayers I've uttered over the course of the last couple of years. We talked about his suggested parenting techniques and he made quite a few observations that rang true. Plus he said some things that I've been needing/wanting to hear. I may or may not talk about it all in a future post.
A. woke up as soon as the wheels touched down in Salt Lake. We made our way off the plane and then to the luggage caurosel. Our luggage was nowhere to be found. After filling out the paperwork in the Lost Luggage Office where the infamous "I know that scream. You were in San Diego." comment was made, we made our way to my dad's parked Jeep and we were ferried to our home.
Ah, Home Sweet Home.
At 1 am, the airport dropped off our luggage. I just threw it inside the door and went back to sleep. It was so nice that the bed gently rocked me to sleep as though I was still on the ship.
The roundup:
I vow never to go on a cruise with a 2 year old and a 5 year old again. I realize part of the problem was that I was SO inadequately prepared. I was under the impression that the kids would be entertained and I would have next to no stress and I was sorely mistaken. I came home more stressed out then not. I can now understand the looks people would give us when we told them we were going on a cruise with our kids.
My kids have some serious issues with getting along. They are also both very intense people, which is weird because Wade and I aren't really that intense. At least I don't think we are...maybe that's part of the problem.
We'll be driving to Disneyland next year.
I love the cruise part of cruising but I was sick for about a week afterwards with seasickness. That hardly seems fair.
It was a bad idea to book something so close to two weeks of school vacation. I need a freakin' break!
The mere thought of a third kid makes me want to cry. Literally. I get sick to my stomach when I think about it. I will continue to hold on to my belief that if God wanted me to have a third kid right now, He wouldn't make me feel this way.
I love my kids, but the whining, the screeching, the screaming, the demanding, the teasing, and the willful disobedience has got to STOP before I go postal! That is one of my goals for 2012 and perhaps my seatmate on the way to Salt Lake was placed there for this very reason.
The above statement makes my kids seem like heathens. I don't notice that they're are any worse than other siblings their ages. But, I'm going NUTS! And most of the time they're pretty good. They do really cute things. And they say really funny things. And we have a lot of fun. We all just need SPACE.
What's up next? It's nearing the end of the year, so I have a bunch of things planned for next week. And it's Christmas. And I have one last recipe for the year. I'm excited!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Cabo 2010 Part 3
So where were we? Ah...yes. On a ship.
So, Monday, we boarded the ship and then we set sail for beautiful Mexico. It was a pretty calm sea and the weather was perfect. However...
I was under the impression that the child play area would be open. Which it wasn't. What was open, though, was the Lido Deck, where all the food was. So we ate. I think. If I remember correctly. We did a lot of eating on that trip.
Then we had to do an orientation for the child play area and found out that, in fact, it wouldn't be opening until the NEXT day. That kind of blew a hole in my plans to drop the kids off and lounge. Meanwhile in the orientation, I could kind of sense how the whole thing was going to go.
I would venture to say that being in charge of 60 kids while their parents go have fun would rank somewhere on the list between picking up dog poo and washing dishes (I mean, that's in my estimation anyways) and none of the people who were introduced to us as attendants in the play area, looked anything like the ladies at the gym running the day care, which is to say...maternal and forgiving and mothers themselves.
However, that was not going to deter me. I made note of the 10 am opening time for Tuesday and we left to go bide our time until our assigned 8:15 (note: 10:15, Utah time) dinner time. At some point right before dinner, J. complained of feeling a little sick so I gave him some motion sickness pills and we trooped off to the dining room.
The kids, surprisingly, were really good at dinner. J fell asleep half way through his chicken nuggets and A. fell asleep eating french fries, so Wade and I had a pleasant meal. We just laid them out on benches and smiled at everyone who laughed as they walked by. Then, we picked them up after dessert and carried them back to the room, where we all fell asleep at about 9:30.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and early and we ate breakfast. It was a little hairy considering thecats kids, but we survived. 10 am came not a moment too soon and we joined the throngs of parents dropping off their children at the play area. We were told to come back at 12:45 to pick them up for lunch. No problem. Nearly 3 hours of solitude. Can do. They both ran in and we scurried away.
Because A. is only 2, they gave us a cell phone to carry around should something happen and we were needed to pick up either kid. I was fairly confident in my children's abilities to play nicely with other kids and I didn't worry much about it. I left Wade in the room and went running.
I ran 86 times around the track at the very top of the ship. Why, yes, it was dumb. And yes, it started to hurt. And yes, people stared. But I had six miles slated for the day and I was bound and determined to do it. And I did.
After I was done, it was almost time to pick up the kids. We grabbed the kids and went and got some lunch. The play area opened back up at 2:00, but that was when they were doing the ice sculpting. And the kids were interested in that. So at 2:30, we tried, unsuccessfully to get A to take a nap and eventually, both kids ended up back at the play area. I was excited because we technically didn't have to pick them up until 10 pm. That would be 7 hours of free time.
An hour later, they rang the cell phone to say that A. wanted her mommy.
Ah...isn't that sweet?
I went to pick her up. Apparently, she had fallen asleep and then another kid had woken her up and she was less than thrilled about that. Totally understandable. I'm like that when someone wakes me up too.
J saw me and so we ended up taking both kids with us back to our little closet of a room. We played some games and the kids were, more or less, entertained. We fed them dinner and then took them back in hopes that we could eat our dinner by ourselves.
We survived our dinner without any interruptions, but I was on edge the entire time wondering if they would call. There's a lot of stress that goes into being nervous that your kids are acting up.
Bed came early again and, luckily, for us, they paged some missing soul at 3:30 in the morning. It woke me up and I never could get back to sleep, but the kids slept right through it. So, I gave up at 6 am and went to the gym to ride the bike. It wasn't any more interesting looking out at Cabo as we were pulling in then it is to watch tv at home on the big screen while I pedal. Stationary bikes are boring! However, I was really happy for the 80 degrees that was outside.
We took the kids into Cabo and found a public beach. It wasn't very crowded and the water was perfect. A. didn't like her swimsuit and it took a while to convince her to at least keep it this much on. I think the sand got in there and started bugging her. But she wasn't about to slow down any. I just had to make sure to sunblock up that little body because of her red hair.
.
We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours and then headed into town for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. A. fell asleep in her stroller on the way over to the restaurant and was quite the attraction for all the natives. They LOVED her red hair.
It was nice that the kids had some space to play and that they didn't fight because I was almost ready to leave them in Cabo when we arrived.
We bought them each a momento of our trip and then headed back to the ship to get ready to sail back to San Diego. I definitely could have used two days in Cabo. I wasn't quite ready to leave yet.
The sunset as we were leaving was gorgeous though.
Back on board, we (read: I) got the kids cleaned up in the itty bitty shower and then we took them to get something to eat for dinner. The play area was closed for something or another so we had some time to kill. We dropped them off for a few hours so we could eat and then called it a night. Luckily, again, for us someone knocked on the door at 3 am. We never did quite find out what that was all about, but obviously it wasn't very important.
Thursday morning dawned and the seas were getting rough. I have an uncanny ability to not be able to tell in what direction the boat is moving unless I'm staring at the water, but Wade has no such supernatural ability. He was pretty sick the entire day. After a rough breakfast in which Wade had to take J back to the room because he wouldn't cooperate and A didn't want anything I put on her plate, the kids were dropped off at the play area. Not even 30 minutes later, they were calling to pick up A. I went down to get her, but by the time I got there, she was fine. However, J saw me and he wanted out. I took him back to our room, where he was complaining about being sick. I gave him some more motion sickness pills. Then it was time to pick up A for lunch. I brought her back and she was acting kind of sick (maybe), so I gave her a little bit of the pills and within 15 minutes, she, J. and Wade were all asleep.
I snuck out for an hour and ate a quiet lunch and looked around. It was heaven! Definitely the highlight of the boating part of the cruise. The kids were still sleeping when I got back, so Wade went to get lunch. He got back about the time the kids were waking up. However, the play area was closed AGAIN, so we had to entertain them until dinner time. We dropped them off and then went to our dinner. Wade was too sick to sit through the entire thing, so he got up and left to go back to the room. I finished my dinner and left. I had wanted to pack before we picked up the kids because the room was so small and with four of us in there, it was a little tight.
I started throwing things into bags, and for the most part, I was able to get everything packed before picking up the kids. They were a little wired from their long nap, so it took a long time for them to fall asleep, but eventually we all did. And no interruptions either.
Here's a funny story: I never changed my watch at Daylight Savings Time and so Friday morning, I had no idea what time it was. We were trying to position ourselves to be close to the first ones off the ship so we could make our 10 am flight and at this point, you were going to have to handcuff me to the ship's railing to keep me from running off. I was DONE. I thought we were waking up at 5:30 am, but it turns out it was 4:30 and then we had to get breakfast, which was another lesson in managing cats on a ship. By the time we got to the deck where we were going to be unloading the kids were going nuts, the people around us were going nuts, and I was well past the nut stage. And we had all been up for three hours already.
We waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, my blood pressure was climbing at an exponential rate. Apparently, before anyone could be let off, they had to account for every. single. non-US. citizen on board. And apparently, those people were taking their own. freakin'. sweet. time. I was going bonkers. Our plane was leaving at 10 am and it was inching closer and closer to that time.
Finally, at 8:55 am, they let us off. We got in line and filed our way out. Then we booked it to the customs desk. Wade picked up A., I folded the stroller and handed it to J. then grabbed all three suitcases and we hauled it down the stairs. It was a feat to have witnessed, I'm sure.
We were one of the first families out of the customs area and onto the street. We hailed a cab, and jumped in.
"To the airport. Our plane leaves in 50 minutes." we yelled at the driver.
"Ha." he replied. "You aren't going anywhere in this fog. The airport is closed down."
And if you thought this was fun, wait until you hear about the airport...
So, Monday, we boarded the ship and then we set sail for beautiful Mexico. It was a pretty calm sea and the weather was perfect. However...
I was under the impression that the child play area would be open. Which it wasn't. What was open, though, was the Lido Deck, where all the food was. So we ate. I think. If I remember correctly. We did a lot of eating on that trip.
Then we had to do an orientation for the child play area and found out that, in fact, it wouldn't be opening until the NEXT day. That kind of blew a hole in my plans to drop the kids off and lounge. Meanwhile in the orientation, I could kind of sense how the whole thing was going to go.
I would venture to say that being in charge of 60 kids while their parents go have fun would rank somewhere on the list between picking up dog poo and washing dishes (I mean, that's in my estimation anyways) and none of the people who were introduced to us as attendants in the play area, looked anything like the ladies at the gym running the day care, which is to say...maternal and forgiving and mothers themselves.
However, that was not going to deter me. I made note of the 10 am opening time for Tuesday and we left to go bide our time until our assigned 8:15 (note: 10:15, Utah time) dinner time. At some point right before dinner, J. complained of feeling a little sick so I gave him some motion sickness pills and we trooped off to the dining room.
The kids, surprisingly, were really good at dinner. J fell asleep half way through his chicken nuggets and A. fell asleep eating french fries, so Wade and I had a pleasant meal. We just laid them out on benches and smiled at everyone who laughed as they walked by. Then, we picked them up after dessert and carried them back to the room, where we all fell asleep at about 9:30.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and early and we ate breakfast. It was a little hairy considering the
Because A. is only 2, they gave us a cell phone to carry around should something happen and we were needed to pick up either kid. I was fairly confident in my children's abilities to play nicely with other kids and I didn't worry much about it. I left Wade in the room and went running.
I ran 86 times around the track at the very top of the ship. Why, yes, it was dumb. And yes, it started to hurt. And yes, people stared. But I had six miles slated for the day and I was bound and determined to do it. And I did.
After I was done, it was almost time to pick up the kids. We grabbed the kids and went and got some lunch. The play area opened back up at 2:00, but that was when they were doing the ice sculpting. And the kids were interested in that. So at 2:30, we tried, unsuccessfully to get A to take a nap and eventually, both kids ended up back at the play area. I was excited because we technically didn't have to pick them up until 10 pm. That would be 7 hours of free time.
An hour later, they rang the cell phone to say that A. wanted her mommy.
Ah...isn't that sweet?
I went to pick her up. Apparently, she had fallen asleep and then another kid had woken her up and she was less than thrilled about that. Totally understandable. I'm like that when someone wakes me up too.
J saw me and so we ended up taking both kids with us back to our little closet of a room. We played some games and the kids were, more or less, entertained. We fed them dinner and then took them back in hopes that we could eat our dinner by ourselves.
We survived our dinner without any interruptions, but I was on edge the entire time wondering if they would call. There's a lot of stress that goes into being nervous that your kids are acting up.
Bed came early again and, luckily, for us, they paged some missing soul at 3:30 in the morning. It woke me up and I never could get back to sleep, but the kids slept right through it. So, I gave up at 6 am and went to the gym to ride the bike. It wasn't any more interesting looking out at Cabo as we were pulling in then it is to watch tv at home on the big screen while I pedal. Stationary bikes are boring! However, I was really happy for the 80 degrees that was outside.
We took the kids into Cabo and found a public beach. It wasn't very crowded and the water was perfect. A. didn't like her swimsuit and it took a while to convince her to at least keep it this much on. I think the sand got in there and started bugging her. But she wasn't about to slow down any. I just had to make sure to sunblock up that little body because of her red hair.
We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours and then headed into town for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. A. fell asleep in her stroller on the way over to the restaurant and was quite the attraction for all the natives. They LOVED her red hair.
It was nice that the kids had some space to play and that they didn't fight because I was almost ready to leave them in Cabo when we arrived.
We bought them each a momento of our trip and then headed back to the ship to get ready to sail back to San Diego. I definitely could have used two days in Cabo. I wasn't quite ready to leave yet.
The sunset as we were leaving was gorgeous though.
Back on board, we (read: I) got the kids cleaned up in the itty bitty shower and then we took them to get something to eat for dinner. The play area was closed for something or another so we had some time to kill. We dropped them off for a few hours so we could eat and then called it a night. Luckily, again, for us someone knocked on the door at 3 am. We never did quite find out what that was all about, but obviously it wasn't very important.
Thursday morning dawned and the seas were getting rough. I have an uncanny ability to not be able to tell in what direction the boat is moving unless I'm staring at the water, but Wade has no such supernatural ability. He was pretty sick the entire day. After a rough breakfast in which Wade had to take J back to the room because he wouldn't cooperate and A didn't want anything I put on her plate, the kids were dropped off at the play area. Not even 30 minutes later, they were calling to pick up A. I went down to get her, but by the time I got there, she was fine. However, J saw me and he wanted out. I took him back to our room, where he was complaining about being sick. I gave him some more motion sickness pills. Then it was time to pick up A for lunch. I brought her back and she was acting kind of sick (maybe), so I gave her a little bit of the pills and within 15 minutes, she, J. and Wade were all asleep.
I snuck out for an hour and ate a quiet lunch and looked around. It was heaven! Definitely the highlight of the boating part of the cruise. The kids were still sleeping when I got back, so Wade went to get lunch. He got back about the time the kids were waking up. However, the play area was closed AGAIN, so we had to entertain them until dinner time. We dropped them off and then went to our dinner. Wade was too sick to sit through the entire thing, so he got up and left to go back to the room. I finished my dinner and left. I had wanted to pack before we picked up the kids because the room was so small and with four of us in there, it was a little tight.
I started throwing things into bags, and for the most part, I was able to get everything packed before picking up the kids. They were a little wired from their long nap, so it took a long time for them to fall asleep, but eventually we all did. And no interruptions either.
Here's a funny story: I never changed my watch at Daylight Savings Time and so Friday morning, I had no idea what time it was. We were trying to position ourselves to be close to the first ones off the ship so we could make our 10 am flight and at this point, you were going to have to handcuff me to the ship's railing to keep me from running off. I was DONE. I thought we were waking up at 5:30 am, but it turns out it was 4:30 and then we had to get breakfast, which was another lesson in managing cats on a ship. By the time we got to the deck where we were going to be unloading the kids were going nuts, the people around us were going nuts, and I was well past the nut stage. And we had all been up for three hours already.
We waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, my blood pressure was climbing at an exponential rate. Apparently, before anyone could be let off, they had to account for every. single. non-US. citizen on board. And apparently, those people were taking their own. freakin'. sweet. time. I was going bonkers. Our plane was leaving at 10 am and it was inching closer and closer to that time.
Finally, at 8:55 am, they let us off. We got in line and filed our way out. Then we booked it to the customs desk. Wade picked up A., I folded the stroller and handed it to J. then grabbed all three suitcases and we hauled it down the stairs. It was a feat to have witnessed, I'm sure.
We were one of the first families out of the customs area and onto the street. We hailed a cab, and jumped in.
"To the airport. Our plane leaves in 50 minutes." we yelled at the driver.
"Ha." he replied. "You aren't going anywhere in this fog. The airport is closed down."
And if you thought this was fun, wait until you hear about the airport...
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cabo 2010 Part 2
A few words before I start in on Part 2: In rereading Part 1 I realized I neglected to mention that peppered in with all that fun was incessant whining and teasing and screeching and other "public unworthy" moments that made my face both red with embarassment and anger. Where are those angel children I told myself fifteen years ago I would have because I would be the best parent in the world, dishing out tough love like it was candy and not allowing my kids to walk all over me in public.
Public tantrums?? Seriously, who lets their kids do that?
and take pictures?? Honestly.
Okay, so now that you have the proper information on how the first part of the vacation went, I'll dive right into the second part.
Monday morning I woke up and donned my running gear and headed out to the parking lot. I wish I were one of those fearless runners who explore their vacation cities by foot, but the reality is, that I'm a little scared. Like, how will Wade ever find me if someone snatches me 3 miles from the hotel? Or what if I get lost and I wander around all day looking for my temporary home? Besides today's workout were half mile intervals. So I mapped out a half mile loop that took me around the hotel parking lot and down the street of hotel circle to the liquor store and back. Repeated six times.
Yeah, it sucked. But it sucked less than say six times around my own neighborhood in 20 degree weather. At least I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts during all this.
After my workout we went swimming. In hindsight, it might be a little cold to go swimming in December in San Diego, but that didn't deter us. Or the kids. I'm convinced that kids don't feel the same temperature changes that adults do. Then off to breakfast.
Then it was time for our grand adventure to really start. The hotel had a courtesy van that took us to the pier (Wade dropped the car off at the rental place the night before) and they dropped us off a good 4 hours before the boat was to leave. We were corralled into a big holding area where you have to go through customs and check in for the boat. There were HUNDREDS of people waiting in line. We got in line, but I knew instantly that this was not going to work.
Down the pier a little bit is an old aircraft carrier they've turned into a museum. Last time we were in San Diego, Wade had wanted to go see it but we had run out of time. Coincidently, we had plenty of time now, so we ditched the line (our baggage had already been taken, so bonus) and booked it down to the museum.
It was AWESOME. And so much better than standing in line with two small children. J was into it at first, but he quickly lost interest until we got to the planes that you could actually get in.
Up on the flight deck they had the planes they use to carry on the ship. That was pretty cool to see as well.
The museum is staffed by retired Navy guys and they give these short presentations on how the planes take off and land. I thought that was really interesting but J kept yelling "this is SO boring mom" during the guy's presentation and we finally had to move on.
Wade and J got to climb to the very top, where they could overlook everything in the harbor, but A was too small, so I stayed behind. After a tantrum that rivaled anything I had seen thus far, I was able to calm her down by walking around. We meandered out onto another deck and saw this:
It's hard to see how truly big this statue is but those trees are HUGE and that's an actual person sitting there on the grass eating lunch. Anyways, I've never seen this iconic statue before. I had no idea it was out there so it was a little bit of surprise to come across it. But very cool.
This is A's favorite doll. The thing is SO ugly. I gave her a new doll for her birthday, but she insists on carrying around this one. And we had to cart it EVERYWHERE. But if a pumpkin would have made her happy and not cry, I would have carried it around, so I should be grateful it's just an ugly doll.
I can understand why J and A were bored at the museum because I was like them as a kid. We'd get dragged to these things that my parents thought were so cool and we'd be bored, but the reality is, they are cool. And hopefully by continuing to take my kids to these relics in American History, they'll grow up with an appreciation of the sacrifice and the honor that has made our country what it is. Much thanks to my parents and their museum trips to instill a desire for my kids to experience the same thing that I did growing up.
The museum is a must-see for anyone going to San Diego. You get a true sense of what it's like to live on one of those carriers out in the ocean. And it's very fascinating. So different from what I had ever expected. Despite the temper tantrums and the whining and the crying, I'm glad we went.
The guys returned at about the time we were suppose to be boarding the ship, so we hightailed it back to our ship. The line was gone. We spent about five minutes checking in and going through customs. Then we were on the ship. Perfect timing! Our room was ready and all was good.
For the time being.
The actual cruise experience is too long to put in this post and I'm having severe anxiety from reliving it, so you'll have to wait for installment #3.
Public tantrums?? Seriously, who lets their kids do that?
Okay, so now that you have the proper information on how the first part of the vacation went, I'll dive right into the second part.
Monday morning I woke up and donned my running gear and headed out to the parking lot. I wish I were one of those fearless runners who explore their vacation cities by foot, but the reality is, that I'm a little scared. Like, how will Wade ever find me if someone snatches me 3 miles from the hotel? Or what if I get lost and I wander around all day looking for my temporary home? Besides today's workout were half mile intervals. So I mapped out a half mile loop that took me around the hotel parking lot and down the street of hotel circle to the liquor store and back. Repeated six times.
Yeah, it sucked. But it sucked less than say six times around my own neighborhood in 20 degree weather. At least I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts during all this.
After my workout we went swimming. In hindsight, it might be a little cold to go swimming in December in San Diego, but that didn't deter us. Or the kids. I'm convinced that kids don't feel the same temperature changes that adults do. Then off to breakfast.
Then it was time for our grand adventure to really start. The hotel had a courtesy van that took us to the pier (Wade dropped the car off at the rental place the night before) and they dropped us off a good 4 hours before the boat was to leave. We were corralled into a big holding area where you have to go through customs and check in for the boat. There were HUNDREDS of people waiting in line. We got in line, but I knew instantly that this was not going to work.
Down the pier a little bit is an old aircraft carrier they've turned into a museum. Last time we were in San Diego, Wade had wanted to go see it but we had run out of time. Coincidently, we had plenty of time now, so we ditched the line (our baggage had already been taken, so bonus) and booked it down to the museum.
It was AWESOME. And so much better than standing in line with two small children. J was into it at first, but he quickly lost interest until we got to the planes that you could actually get in.
Up on the flight deck they had the planes they use to carry on the ship. That was pretty cool to see as well.
Wade and J got to climb to the very top, where they could overlook everything in the harbor, but A was too small, so I stayed behind. After a tantrum that rivaled anything I had seen thus far, I was able to calm her down by walking around. We meandered out onto another deck and saw this:
This is A's favorite doll. The thing is SO ugly. I gave her a new doll for her birthday, but she insists on carrying around this one. And we had to cart it EVERYWHERE. But if a pumpkin would have made her happy and not cry, I would have carried it around, so I should be grateful it's just an ugly doll.
I can understand why J and A were bored at the museum because I was like them as a kid. We'd get dragged to these things that my parents thought were so cool and we'd be bored, but the reality is, they are cool. And hopefully by continuing to take my kids to these relics in American History, they'll grow up with an appreciation of the sacrifice and the honor that has made our country what it is. Much thanks to my parents and their museum trips to instill a desire for my kids to experience the same thing that I did growing up.
The museum is a must-see for anyone going to San Diego. You get a true sense of what it's like to live on one of those carriers out in the ocean. And it's very fascinating. So different from what I had ever expected. Despite the temper tantrums and the whining and the crying, I'm glad we went.
The guys returned at about the time we were suppose to be boarding the ship, so we hightailed it back to our ship. The line was gone. We spent about five minutes checking in and going through customs. Then we were on the ship. Perfect timing! Our room was ready and all was good.
For the time being.
The actual cruise experience is too long to put in this post and I'm having severe anxiety from reliving it, so you'll have to wait for installment #3.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Cabo 2010 Part 1
Deep breath.
There were some good moments. Like when we told J. all morning that we were going to the symphony. He had the most awesome look on his face when we told him what a symphony was--a quiet place where you go listen to boring music ALL DAY and you can't move or talk or do anything. He was utterly disgusted and spent the entire drive telling us that he was going to wiggle and dance and we kept saying "you can't! They'll kick you out." When we went to park the car, they gave Wade a parking pass and I saw this little head from the backseat lean forward and pratically shout "Give that to me daddy! That says Lego on it." And that's how he knew we were going to Lego Land.
And the time at Sea World where we were surrounded by Japanese tourists and a dolphin jumped out of the pool and splashed us. A. let out her infamous blood curdling scream and three video cameras immediately turned to capture my little red head for their posterity.
And the beach on December 8th (DECEMBER?!?) where it was 84 lovely degrees. That was definitely a highlight.
Flying into San Diego went alright. It wasn't completely smooth, but we were faring better than the parents in the seats two rows behind us with the six month old. The only bad part was when we transfered in Phoenix. We had to stay on the plane and wait for everyone to board from Phoenix. It was a fairly empty flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix, but it was full from Phoenix to San Diego. A. looks like she's just chillin' but she was a busy body from the moment the plane took off until it landed. She didn't like having her seat belt on at all!
It started to cool down really fast and at about 5:30, we'd all had enough so we headed to our hotel. Once there, we spent 30 minutes trying to decide what to eat for dinner. Meanwhile, the cats kids started fighting and my nerves were SHOT. I had been up since 5 am and I was beat! So we decided to order Italian from a place that would deliver.
We started watching a movie and dinner showed up like 90 minutes later. We all devoured it, climbed into our beds and we were all asleep by 9 pm.
Sunday, we woke up and started telling J. about the symphony. He was less than thrilled with the idea of listening to boring music all day. We stopped at McDonald's on the way to "the symphony", where A. befriended a homeless man who apparently use to be on the secret service. He also carries around the picture of three red headed girls in his battered wallet.
Creepy.
We ate a quick breakfast where we had a few fights over pancakes and syrup, but we managed to keep everything under some sort of control.
After McD's lovely meal, we headed to Lego Land. Lego Land turned out to be the best part of the entire trip. The rides were just the right size for our little kids and it's a really cute park with tons and tons of things made out of legos and activities to do. We're lucky because our kids are so tall so J could ride every ride and A could ride almost every ride if she had a parent with her. There were a few that she needed to be a little taller for, but for the most part, she got to ride the ones she wanted to.
We did the jeep safari where the kids were ecstatic to drive their own cars.
I look huge in the airplane, don't I?
We also rode this fire engine ride where Wade and I had to pump the entire truck down to the "burning building" and then all four of us had to jump out and Wade and I pumped water while the kids put out the fire. When you hit the target with enough water, you had put out the fire and a buzzer sounded. Then you had to jump back into the truck and pump it all the way back to the starting line. It was INSANE how much work it was. But, alas, I got no pictures because I was too busy working.
They also had a boat ride that let you drive the boats. We made the mistake of letting A. drive a boat. She didn't want any help from daddy and she didn't want to go the way you were suppose to go. That little monkey!
J and I had fun though.
J saw this lego guy and wanted a picture with all of us, so here it is. J. was so excited to get a picture with a real live lego man.
There were some good moments. Like when we told J. all morning that we were going to the symphony. He had the most awesome look on his face when we told him what a symphony was--a quiet place where you go listen to boring music ALL DAY and you can't move or talk or do anything. He was utterly disgusted and spent the entire drive telling us that he was going to wiggle and dance and we kept saying "you can't! They'll kick you out." When we went to park the car, they gave Wade a parking pass and I saw this little head from the backseat lean forward and pratically shout "Give that to me daddy! That says Lego on it." And that's how he knew we were going to Lego Land.
He's still disgusted by our mean trick
Note about my little red head: EVERYONE commented on her hair. I don't think there was a day that went by that we didn't get a least one comment about her hair. She seemed to have a special pull on old men and the Cabo natives.
Oh and the food...lots, and lots of food. Good, lovely food. Any thing, any time you want. And ice cream. An endless supply of ice cream.
And the beach on December 8th (DECEMBER?!?) where it was 84 lovely degrees. That was definitely a highlight.
So, overall, I guess the trip was a success. We all arrived safely. We all came home safely. There are no missing limbs. No arrest warrants. We realized, belatedly, that cats don't belong on planes or ships, but that isn't a complete shock. We were forewarned by numerous people.
But today, I only have enough in me to recount the few days we spent in San Diego before the actual cruise. Hence the Part 1 in the title. Tomorrow, maybe I can tell you about the cruise part.
So, when we booked our little vacation, we decided to add a few days at the beginning of the vacation to have some "family bonding time." We found a cheap hotel and some discount passes to Sea World and Lego Land and rented a car.
Flying into San Diego went alright. It wasn't completely smooth, but we were faring better than the parents in the seats two rows behind us with the six month old. The only bad part was when we transfered in Phoenix. We had to stay on the plane and wait for everyone to board from Phoenix. It was a fairly empty flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix, but it was full from Phoenix to San Diego. A. looks like she's just chillin' but she was a busy body from the moment the plane took off until it landed. She didn't like having her seat belt on at all!
J. kept peppering me with question after question until I was about ready to go bonkers. Man, that kid has a brain (and coincidently a mouth) that won't shut up!
We touched down in San Diego, got our rental car and then headed to Sea World for the day. It was a lot of fun and the perfect time to go. I can see why San Diego is called the Mainland Paradise. It was 75 degrees and there were hardly any crowds.
Here's a funny observation I made though. You know how here in the Arctic Zone of Utah, the big style right now is to wear the fur-lined boots over your pants. Apparently, it's the same fashion trend in Southern California as well. Despite it being 75 degrees. And I also noticed it in Cabo, where it was 84 degrees. Fur-lined boots, people, are not really meant to be worn with tank tops and mini skirts.
But I digress...
So we spent the day at Sea World where A. wowed the tourists with her enthusiasm and, simultaneously, her abject horror at getting splashed. We had a blast going to all the exhibits and shows.
We started watching a movie and dinner showed up like 90 minutes later. We all devoured it, climbed into our beds and we were all asleep by 9 pm.
Sunday, we woke up and started telling J. about the symphony. He was less than thrilled with the idea of listening to boring music all day. We stopped at McDonald's on the way to "the symphony", where A. befriended a homeless man who apparently use to be on the secret service. He also carries around the picture of three red headed girls in his battered wallet.
Creepy.
We ate a quick breakfast where we had a few fights over pancakes and syrup, but we managed to keep everything under some sort of control.
After McD's lovely meal, we headed to Lego Land. Lego Land turned out to be the best part of the entire trip. The rides were just the right size for our little kids and it's a really cute park with tons and tons of things made out of legos and activities to do. We're lucky because our kids are so tall so J could ride every ride and A could ride almost every ride if she had a parent with her. There were a few that she needed to be a little taller for, but for the most part, she got to ride the ones she wanted to.
We did the jeep safari where the kids were ecstatic to drive their own cars.
Then the kids rode a train over in the little kids area. We probably could have spent the entire day over here. They loved it.
A. was pretty upset about us leaving that area and let us know by being a stinker all the way through the next line.
We didn't notice until a couple rides later that they have these areas that are set up with legos to play with where one parent gets in line and the other parent takes the kids over to play until the line catches up to the door out of the play area and then you wait the rest of the way (about 5 minutes) together. That way your kids aren't bothering everyone else and they're not bored. GENIUS!
We rode some helicopters that both kids loved. After that, J. got to drive a car around a track by himself. I had to hide A. so she wouldn't see because she REALLY wanted to do that ride, but she wasn't old enough. So no pictures of that.
J rode the airplane ride by himself and LOVED it. Wade gets sick on those kinds of rides so I had to ride with A and J got a seat all to himself.
We also rode this fire engine ride where Wade and I had to pump the entire truck down to the "burning building" and then all four of us had to jump out and Wade and I pumped water while the kids put out the fire. When you hit the target with enough water, you had put out the fire and a buzzer sounded. Then you had to jump back into the truck and pump it all the way back to the starting line. It was INSANE how much work it was. But, alas, I got no pictures because I was too busy working.
They also had a boat ride that let you drive the boats. We made the mistake of letting A. drive a boat. She didn't want any help from daddy and she didn't want to go the way you were suppose to go. That little monkey!
There were a ton of cool things I didn't snap pictures of. Like the Christmas Tree. It's HUGE and it's made completely of Legos. And they have this area called Mini-town and they have these little cities in minature all made of Legos. Lego Land, as a whole, is a pretty awesome place and we had a blast. We arrived shortly after they opened and then they had to kick us out when they closed. It's defnitely geared towards ages 3-8 or 9, so I wouldn't suggest taking a carload of teenagers, but for what it was, it was great! I definitely recommend it families with kids in that age range.
After Lego Land, we went and got some dinner and then back to our hotel. We were all beat, so it was another early night.
Part 2, detailing "oh mom, this museum is SO boring" and the cruise will come tomorrow.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A PSA About Cats*
*This story isn't really about cats.
Cats are funny creatures. They are mostly loners. They don't do well when you try to integrate other cats into the household. They're stubborn. They're persistent. They will hound you until you feed them, and then they will take one bite and wander off. They lay on the heating vent and suck all the heat into their bellies so that at 5:15 in the morning, you wake up with blue toes. They glare. They huff. If they could, they'd roll their eyes at your mere existence as you walk by.
Now imagine you have one cat. And this cat possesses most of the qualities of the typical cat. And you love your cat. But then you get to thinking that if you love one cat, then surely you would love two cats. And your first cat would love your second cat as much as you do. And psychologists say that it's not good to only have one cat.
So you get to work on that second cat.
And the second cat comes home and the first cat sniffs around it, but the second cat doesn't do a lot--it's still tiny--and so the first cat doesn't care that much about the second cat until he figures out one day that he can get the second cat to make a horrific noise every time he pushes it. And it's funny. So the first cat pushes the second cat. And you try to get him to stop. You do everything you can think of, but he won't stop pushing the second cat. You are going crazy. You plead. You beg. You withhold treats. You punish. You ignore. Nothing.
So, like an idiot, you decide to take your two cats on a cruise. Maybe a change of scenery will help. You quickly realize that maybe it was a bad idea, like many of your recent ideas, but by now, you're sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with 2400 other people and you don't have a lot of options. You also realize that maybe it's not all the first cat's fault. That maybe the second cat likes to make the horrific noise that is shattering ear drums near and far. Maybe the second cat doesn't know how to communicate any other way. But you do know that the first cat is egging on the second cat and since the first cat is older, he knows better. And at this point you will do anything to make the second cat shut up.
You consider abandoning the cats, but people have already pegged you as the cat owners. You endure and finally, you are set free from a floating prison with your cats and your sanity mostly intact. Then you sit at an airport with grouchy, tired, bored cats. And strangers are giving you the stink eye and rolling their eyes at you and you want to scream: "I know my cats are annoying. I know that. But what am I suppose to do when the airport has been shut down because of some itty bitty fog? Huh, Mr. Eye-Roller-Who-Apparently-Was-Born-An-Old-Fart?!?" Finally, you're let on a plane and you take your seat with your appointed cat, who is still insisting on making the other cat, who is sitting behind you, screech. And you actually see your third seat mate--a complete stranger--take out ear plugs and put them in. And you sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half--longer than the actual flight--in complete embarrassment. Then finally you can't take it anymore and you have to change seats with the cat who is now BITING you and that's when you break down in tears. You made it 6 days in unfathomably tiny, enclosed spaces and it was the flight home that did you in.
Luckily for you, the cat you're in charge of gets scared when you cry, so he clams up and the flight goes smoothly for you, but maybe not so much for the other cat and her handler.
You repeat the scenario at the next airport, where you're delayed again, but luckily, after trading cats, your cat falls asleep as soon as the plane takes off and you get to talk to another human being of which you have no relation to. And it's pleasant. And enlightening. And an answer to many a prayer.
Finally, five hours late, your two cats and you are home, but your luggage didn't make it. So you're standing in the Lost Luggage Office at the airport and Cat #2 lets out a blood curdling scream and a lady standing behind you gasps and says:
"I know that scream. You were in San Diego."
That was 12 hours and 2 planes ago.
Ouch.
So what is the moral of this story?
(1) You cannot herd cats
(2) A third cat will not make cat #1 nor cat #2 any happier
(3) Do not take your cats on a cruise
Hey, speaking of cruises, we just got back from an awesome trip to Cabo. It was so much fun. As soon as my blood pressure returns to normal, my teeth unclench and the smoke billowing from my ears dissipates, I will tell you all about it.
Cats are funny creatures. They are mostly loners. They don't do well when you try to integrate other cats into the household. They're stubborn. They're persistent. They will hound you until you feed them, and then they will take one bite and wander off. They lay on the heating vent and suck all the heat into their bellies so that at 5:15 in the morning, you wake up with blue toes. They glare. They huff. If they could, they'd roll their eyes at your mere existence as you walk by.
Now imagine you have one cat. And this cat possesses most of the qualities of the typical cat. And you love your cat. But then you get to thinking that if you love one cat, then surely you would love two cats. And your first cat would love your second cat as much as you do. And psychologists say that it's not good to only have one cat.
So you get to work on that second cat.
And the second cat comes home and the first cat sniffs around it, but the second cat doesn't do a lot--it's still tiny--and so the first cat doesn't care that much about the second cat until he figures out one day that he can get the second cat to make a horrific noise every time he pushes it. And it's funny. So the first cat pushes the second cat. And you try to get him to stop. You do everything you can think of, but he won't stop pushing the second cat. You are going crazy. You plead. You beg. You withhold treats. You punish. You ignore. Nothing.
So, like an idiot, you decide to take your two cats on a cruise. Maybe a change of scenery will help. You quickly realize that maybe it was a bad idea, like many of your recent ideas, but by now, you're sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with 2400 other people and you don't have a lot of options. You also realize that maybe it's not all the first cat's fault. That maybe the second cat likes to make the horrific noise that is shattering ear drums near and far. Maybe the second cat doesn't know how to communicate any other way. But you do know that the first cat is egging on the second cat and since the first cat is older, he knows better. And at this point you will do anything to make the second cat shut up.
You consider abandoning the cats, but people have already pegged you as the cat owners. You endure and finally, you are set free from a floating prison with your cats and your sanity mostly intact. Then you sit at an airport with grouchy, tired, bored cats. And strangers are giving you the stink eye and rolling their eyes at you and you want to scream: "I know my cats are annoying. I know that. But what am I suppose to do when the airport has been shut down because of some itty bitty fog? Huh, Mr. Eye-Roller-Who-Apparently-Was-Born-An-Old-Fart?!?" Finally, you're let on a plane and you take your seat with your appointed cat, who is still insisting on making the other cat, who is sitting behind you, screech. And you actually see your third seat mate--a complete stranger--take out ear plugs and put them in. And you sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half--longer than the actual flight--in complete embarrassment. Then finally you can't take it anymore and you have to change seats with the cat who is now BITING you and that's when you break down in tears. You made it 6 days in unfathomably tiny, enclosed spaces and it was the flight home that did you in.
Luckily for you, the cat you're in charge of gets scared when you cry, so he clams up and the flight goes smoothly for you, but maybe not so much for the other cat and her handler.
You repeat the scenario at the next airport, where you're delayed again, but luckily, after trading cats, your cat falls asleep as soon as the plane takes off and you get to talk to another human being of which you have no relation to. And it's pleasant. And enlightening. And an answer to many a prayer.
Finally, five hours late, your two cats and you are home, but your luggage didn't make it. So you're standing in the Lost Luggage Office at the airport and Cat #2 lets out a blood curdling scream and a lady standing behind you gasps and says:
"I know that scream. You were in San Diego."
That was 12 hours and 2 planes ago.
Ouch.
So what is the moral of this story?
(1) You cannot herd cats
(2) A third cat will not make cat #1 nor cat #2 any happier
(3) Do not take your cats on a cruise
Hey, speaking of cruises, we just got back from an awesome trip to Cabo. It was so much fun. As soon as my blood pressure returns to normal, my teeth unclench and the smoke billowing from my ears dissipates, I will tell you all about it.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
#30 Participate in (and Finish NaNoWriMo) AND #5 Write a Novel
A few posts ago, I mentioned that I was working on something huge.
This is it.
What is NaNoWriMo? It's a yearly contest to spit out a novel in the month of November. It's short for National Novel Writing Month and people all over the world button down the hatches and write like mad. The goal is to finish a novel of 50,000 words or more by November 30th.
And despite the weird artery incident with my mom on the 1st and Wade staying out 2 1/2 hours late at a County Planning Meeting on the 3rd, when I was suppose to have met with my writers group to write late into the night, and my mom going back into the hospital on the 7th, and me making freezer meals for my parents on the 10th, and Wade's cousin unexpectantly passing away on the 10th, and a viewing on the 17th and a funeral on the 18th and Thanksgiving and staying up all night on the 25th and the great cake making on the 26th and the great cake disaster on the 27th and A.'s birthday and a host of other responsibilities like cleaning the house and making meals and keeping the kids alive, plus being deathly ill with the cough from hell pretty much the entire month and training for a half marathon...
You get the idea...
So despite all those things, I still churned out over 50,000 words in a 30 day period. Which was really more like a 20 day period because I didn't actually get started until the 10th. And last night at about 9:30 pm, I crossed the 50,000 word line and became an official winner of NaNoWriMo. What do I get? Praise. Accolades. And the personal knowledge that I have crossed one more thing off the list.
But at 9:30 pm, at 50,000 words I was still not finished with my book. So I kept writing so that I could also cross off #5, write a novel. And at 11:47 pm I typed in the last sentence of my first novel ("I'll be right there.") and threw my hands victoriously up in the air.
How did I do it? First, I gave up the idea that I was going to write the "Next Great American Novel." I just started writing down words. All the words that floated into my head. And I realized a lot of things. Like, writing a novel wasn't really that hard. (Note: I didn't say that writing a good novel wasn't hard. Just writing a novel wasn't hard). It was really just a matter of sitting down and plugging away. And I found that I didn't really like my story about half way through, but that I wanted to finish NaNoWriMo badly enough that I just kept writing along and then, towards the end, I really started to like the book.
Liked it so much in fact that I ended up SOBbing because a very minor character had died. And Wade looked at me like "didn't you kind of control this? I mean, you're the author. You wrote it in." I did, but I didn't. I was just writing down whatever was playing in my head. And when the script in my head took this turn, I tried to fight it, but I couldn't so I went along with it.
No, I'm not crazy. I only write what's down in my head. I don't actually act it out.
I found on a good day, I could write 2000 words in an hour. So, if I would have started on time and kept up, I only had to devote an hour a day to this craft to get the words. I also realized that you won't get anywhere if you go back and reread what you've already written. And chances are you won't like it and then you'll want to change that and not write anything new. It's a vicious cycle, so I refrained from reading anything other than the last paragraph I had written the day before. I know this means that I probably have some problems with consistency, but that's easily fixed (I hope.)
The most interesting thing I found was that I had PLENTY to say. There were only a handful of days where I sat down to write and it felt like the words were ticking off like molasses. For the most part, I'd write to a certain point or time and find that I had logged a lot more words than I had thought. And there was more to say. I never ran out of things to write about. I never sat in front of the empty screen, wondering what to say next. Oh, and I did my best writing with the television or my ipod on. Weird, but I couldn't write in complete silence. So that helped because then I could write while the kids were watching a movie.
Which I never did, because that would be neglectful. ;)
So what now? I'm going to spend December editing my messy book and then give it to a few people to look over. Maybe. Right now, I feel like it's drivel. But it's my drivel. And I'm damn proud of it. And it's given me the confidence to maybe start work on "The Next Great American Novel". Or whatever.
But most of all, it was a blast. I think maybe I'll do it next year too.
This is it.
What is NaNoWriMo? It's a yearly contest to spit out a novel in the month of November. It's short for National Novel Writing Month and people all over the world button down the hatches and write like mad. The goal is to finish a novel of 50,000 words or more by November 30th.
And despite the weird artery incident with my mom on the 1st and Wade staying out 2 1/2 hours late at a County Planning Meeting on the 3rd, when I was suppose to have met with my writers group to write late into the night, and my mom going back into the hospital on the 7th, and me making freezer meals for my parents on the 10th, and Wade's cousin unexpectantly passing away on the 10th, and a viewing on the 17th and a funeral on the 18th and Thanksgiving and staying up all night on the 25th and the great cake making on the 26th and the great cake disaster on the 27th and A.'s birthday and a host of other responsibilities like cleaning the house and making meals and keeping the kids alive, plus being deathly ill with the cough from hell pretty much the entire month and training for a half marathon...
You get the idea...
So despite all those things, I still churned out over 50,000 words in a 30 day period. Which was really more like a 20 day period because I didn't actually get started until the 10th. And last night at about 9:30 pm, I crossed the 50,000 word line and became an official winner of NaNoWriMo. What do I get? Praise. Accolades. And the personal knowledge that I have crossed one more thing off the list.
But at 9:30 pm, at 50,000 words I was still not finished with my book. So I kept writing so that I could also cross off #5, write a novel. And at 11:47 pm I typed in the last sentence of my first novel ("I'll be right there.") and threw my hands victoriously up in the air.
How did I do it? First, I gave up the idea that I was going to write the "Next Great American Novel." I just started writing down words. All the words that floated into my head. And I realized a lot of things. Like, writing a novel wasn't really that hard. (Note: I didn't say that writing a good novel wasn't hard. Just writing a novel wasn't hard). It was really just a matter of sitting down and plugging away. And I found that I didn't really like my story about half way through, but that I wanted to finish NaNoWriMo badly enough that I just kept writing along and then, towards the end, I really started to like the book.
Liked it so much in fact that I ended up SOBbing because a very minor character had died. And Wade looked at me like "didn't you kind of control this? I mean, you're the author. You wrote it in." I did, but I didn't. I was just writing down whatever was playing in my head. And when the script in my head took this turn, I tried to fight it, but I couldn't so I went along with it.
No, I'm not crazy. I only write what's down in my head. I don't actually act it out.
I found on a good day, I could write 2000 words in an hour. So, if I would have started on time and kept up, I only had to devote an hour a day to this craft to get the words. I also realized that you won't get anywhere if you go back and reread what you've already written. And chances are you won't like it and then you'll want to change that and not write anything new. It's a vicious cycle, so I refrained from reading anything other than the last paragraph I had written the day before. I know this means that I probably have some problems with consistency, but that's easily fixed (I hope.)
The most interesting thing I found was that I had PLENTY to say. There were only a handful of days where I sat down to write and it felt like the words were ticking off like molasses. For the most part, I'd write to a certain point or time and find that I had logged a lot more words than I had thought. And there was more to say. I never ran out of things to write about. I never sat in front of the empty screen, wondering what to say next. Oh, and I did my best writing with the television or my ipod on. Weird, but I couldn't write in complete silence. So that helped because then I could write while the kids were watching a movie.
Which I never did, because that would be neglectful. ;)
So what now? I'm going to spend December editing my messy book and then give it to a few people to look over. Maybe. Right now, I feel like it's drivel. But it's my drivel. And I'm damn proud of it. And it's given me the confidence to maybe start work on "The Next Great American Novel". Or whatever.
But most of all, it was a blast. I think maybe I'll do it next year too.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Great Cake Disaster of 2010
I mentioned a few posts ago how I have this desire to bake glorious cakes fueled on by the endless shows depicting (real) bakers (maybe not semi domestic housewives) making these splendid cakes. Part of the allure is that they make it look so...easy and...effortless.
So, I thought for A.'s second birthday I would embark on a glorious cake. Her birthday gets swallowed up in the whole Thanksgiving holiday and I wanted something to make the day distinctive because it also coincided with my family's Thanksgiving celebration. And the Utah/BYU game, of which we aren't going to discuss.
And distinctive I got.
I really like the Mad Hatter Cakes. They look like this:
I had grand plans to make my little Mad Hatter a Mad Hatter cake of her own. I decided to do three tiers. The bottom two tiers, I was going to make out of rice krispies because they're a much easier medium to work with than cake and then the top tier was going to be regular cake.
I made some templates so I'd have right size circles and found a website that talked me through the entire process step by step.
I began Friday afternoon. I made batch after batch of rice krispy treats, and after a lot of melting marshmallows and butter, I had the 2nd tier done. I froze each layer (3 for each tier) and took a nap (remember, I was out all night the night before shopping?). Then, I had to go shopping for the food for the Thanksgiving party/Birthday party. I ventured out in the freezing cold to the most hated place during the Holiday Season (walmart) and finally checked out with my groceries an hour later. I stopped at a friend's house on the way home, then carted in the groceries and then started to go back to work on the rice krispies when it dawned on me that I had forgotten to pick up more marshmallows.
If we had been living in an industrialized area, this would not have been a problem. However, since we live in rural USA, the grocery store is 8 minutes away. And it was like 19 degrees outside. I made a few phone calls but couldn't find anyone who had five bags of marshmallows hanging around. I drove to the gas station, but they didn't carry marshmallows either. So, it was back to the store.
Meanwhile, my body was rebelling because I had only slept 3 hours in the last 36 hours and it was starting to dawn on me that maybe my cake idea was going to implode on itself. But, like the captain of a sinking boat, I was in for the ride and wasn't about to give up quite yet.
I made like a bazillion more batches of rice krispy treats and FINALLY I had both of the bottom tiers done. However, to cut corners and save time, I tried to assemble the biggest tier without freezing the individual layers first. Almost simultaneously,it began to disintegrate right before my eyes. I ran it down to the freezer and started making the cake tier. I baked the cake just like it told me, but apparently, that wasn't long enough because each of the three layers fell apart upon removal from the pan and it was obvious that the cake wasn't cooked all the way through.
I threw all three cake layers in the freezer, threw my arms up in the air, and went to bed. At midnight.
The next morning, I woke up. I was not going to be able to finish the cake how I wanted with the half-baked frozen mush that was in the freezer trying to pass itself off as cake, so I decided to make the top tier out of rice krispies as well. I made MORE rice krispies, and learning from last night's mistake, popped those into the freezer.
Then I got to work on the actual decorating. I had bought some fondant at the store and I was trying to roll it out but I belatedly realized that I am freakishly too tall for the table and the counters didn't provide enough space to adequately roll out the fondant and at each passing second I was getting more and more frustrated and Wade was in the shower and J was picking on A until she was screaming bloody murder at an impossibly high decibel level and it was inching closer and closer to the time that the party was suppose to commence and then...
I'm not all sure what happened. The cake might have leapt out of my hands as I held it above my head. Surely that's what must have happened, because me--undomestically geeky me--would never admit to having thrown the cake I was making at the kitchen wall in a fit of anger fueled on by extreme sleep deprivation and stress.
Nope not me. Not cool little me. Nope. It must have been the cake's fault.
However, J. thought that it was me who had been the demise of the cake and he want crying into the bathroom telling Wade over and over again:
"I tried to save the birthday party, Daddy. I tried to save it, but mommy ruined it."
And my mom happened to call about 10 minutes after all this and Wade answered the phone and I heard him say something along the lines of:
"The cake went airborne, but you didn't hear it from me."
Luckily for A., my parents came through and bought her a birthday cake on the way out to our house. And it tasted much better than any cake I could have made. So the cake, deciding to leap out of my hands and against the kitchen wall was probably a blessing.
So, I thought for A.'s second birthday I would embark on a glorious cake. Her birthday gets swallowed up in the whole Thanksgiving holiday and I wanted something to make the day distinctive because it also coincided with my family's Thanksgiving celebration. And the Utah/BYU game, of which we aren't going to discuss.
And distinctive I got.
I really like the Mad Hatter Cakes. They look like this:
I made some templates so I'd have right size circles and found a website that talked me through the entire process step by step.
I began Friday afternoon. I made batch after batch of rice krispy treats, and after a lot of melting marshmallows and butter, I had the 2nd tier done. I froze each layer (3 for each tier) and took a nap (remember, I was out all night the night before shopping?). Then, I had to go shopping for the food for the Thanksgiving party/Birthday party. I ventured out in the freezing cold to the most hated place during the Holiday Season (walmart) and finally checked out with my groceries an hour later. I stopped at a friend's house on the way home, then carted in the groceries and then started to go back to work on the rice krispies when it dawned on me that I had forgotten to pick up more marshmallows.
If we had been living in an industrialized area, this would not have been a problem. However, since we live in rural USA, the grocery store is 8 minutes away. And it was like 19 degrees outside. I made a few phone calls but couldn't find anyone who had five bags of marshmallows hanging around. I drove to the gas station, but they didn't carry marshmallows either. So, it was back to the store.
Meanwhile, my body was rebelling because I had only slept 3 hours in the last 36 hours and it was starting to dawn on me that maybe my cake idea was going to implode on itself. But, like the captain of a sinking boat, I was in for the ride and wasn't about to give up quite yet.
I made like a bazillion more batches of rice krispy treats and FINALLY I had both of the bottom tiers done. However, to cut corners and save time, I tried to assemble the biggest tier without freezing the individual layers first. Almost simultaneously,it began to disintegrate right before my eyes. I ran it down to the freezer and started making the cake tier. I baked the cake just like it told me, but apparently, that wasn't long enough because each of the three layers fell apart upon removal from the pan and it was obvious that the cake wasn't cooked all the way through.
I threw all three cake layers in the freezer, threw my arms up in the air, and went to bed. At midnight.
The next morning, I woke up. I was not going to be able to finish the cake how I wanted with the half-baked frozen mush that was in the freezer trying to pass itself off as cake, so I decided to make the top tier out of rice krispies as well. I made MORE rice krispies, and learning from last night's mistake, popped those into the freezer.
Then I got to work on the actual decorating. I had bought some fondant at the store and I was trying to roll it out but I belatedly realized that I am freakishly too tall for the table and the counters didn't provide enough space to adequately roll out the fondant and at each passing second I was getting more and more frustrated and Wade was in the shower and J was picking on A until she was screaming bloody murder at an impossibly high decibel level and it was inching closer and closer to the time that the party was suppose to commence and then...
I'm not all sure what happened. The cake might have leapt out of my hands as I held it above my head. Surely that's what must have happened, because me--undomestically geeky me--would never admit to having thrown the cake I was making at the kitchen wall in a fit of anger fueled on by extreme sleep deprivation and stress.
Nope not me. Not cool little me. Nope. It must have been the cake's fault.
However, J. thought that it was me who had been the demise of the cake and he want crying into the bathroom telling Wade over and over again:
"I tried to save the birthday party, Daddy. I tried to save it, but mommy ruined it."
And my mom happened to call about 10 minutes after all this and Wade answered the phone and I heard him say something along the lines of:
"The cake went airborne, but you didn't hear it from me."
Luckily for A., my parents came through and bought her a birthday cake on the way out to our house. And it tasted much better than any cake I could have made. So the cake, deciding to leap out of my hands and against the kitchen wall was probably a blessing.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Black Friday Madness
I was the girl who swore I would never go out on Black Friday. I've teased my sister-in-laws about going. I always thought that a deal was never worth the effort and the crowds.
But I repent.
So, Monday, I was out to lunch with a friend and she mentioned that she was headed out Friday morning, but that this year she was going alone. And I felt bad.
Note: this is almost always why I end up doing something crazy/stupid/fantastic/life altering/crazy-stupid-fantastic-life altering.
I said I'd go with her. For kicks.
Thursday evening she called with her game plan. She wanted to hit the Wal-mart sale at midnight and then target at 4 am. Plus Toys R Us. So I said, why don't we hit Wal-mart, then drive into Salt Lake and go to Toys R Us and Kohl's and then to Target.
Have I mentioned that I have some serious time management issues? I figured we'd be home by 5. I've stayed up until 5 am a few times. It shouldn't be too bad.
So, C. (yes, the same C who also does insane runs with me) picked me up at 11:25 and we headed to Wal-mart. I had been pre-warned that Wal-mart is NUTS on Black Friday. And NUTS was an understatement. C needed four Zhu Zhu Pets for her kids. Apparently, so did everyone else. We found the Zhu Zhu Pets display roughly about the time the associates uncovered it--10 minutes early. Luckily, C found a little hole at the bottom of the crowd in which to squeeze her 5'1" 115 pound frame into and emerged victorious with her four Zhu Zhu Pets in hand. It was one of the most amazing thing I have ever seen. We each picked up a few more items and then I went in search of the check out line. Good thing because that line took forever to get through. And I ran into an old friend who had moved so it was nice to get caught up.
We next headed into Toys R Us, which was crowded but they had really good crowd control. Afterwards, we were going to go grocery shopping, but we couldn't find a grocery store open so we headed to Kohl's, which was going to open at 3 am. We got there at about 2:15 and a line half way around the building had already started to form. It was like 5 degrees outside. It was SO cold. So we sat in the car until about 2:50. Then we got in line. I was laughing with the ladies behind us and I said that we can't even tell our kids the sacrifice we made because they were presents from Santa. The line was around the building and then some. At 3 am the doors opened (by which I mean to say that one door opened) and we all filed inside.
CRAZY. I have never seen anything like it. C looked around for a bit and then went and got into the checkout line. I would periodically check in. I found some awesome deals on some things and I think it was worth the stop. But the checkout line took FOREVER! C would leave and go look for a bit and then I'd leave again and go look. We stood there for over an hour. But I ran into another friend and got caught up a little bit there too.
After our Kohl's visit, we headed to Target. There wasn't a parking spot to be found, but finally we got one. Then once inside, it was a madhouse. People everywhere! This particular Target had some people managment issues and while C was out looking for something I decided to get in line to check out. It snaked through all these aisles and I finally found the end of it. After C found me, I went to look for something and overheard one of the managers tell some people in our line way up ahead that this wasn't actually a line to anywhere.
Have you ever seen a large group of people who are sleep deprived be told that they have just spent the last 45 minutes in a line to nowhere?
It wasn't pretty.
But, eventually we found the line and I have to say that from a business perspective, Target had the right idea. They weaved the line through the aisles of the store. In hindsight I should have just gotten in line and done my Christmas shopping from there. However, I did end up spending probably 50 more dollars then I would have had I not been snaking through the store. And some of it may or may not been on someone besides myself.
We did find the cash register and all our teeth were still intact, so bonus points for us.
Last stop was Bath and Body Works and this is where I started to shut down. The store is small and there's all these smells competing with each other to see who can overwhelm the most number of people. It was another long line and by the time we got out, I was cooked.
And then Wade called.
"Where are you?" he asked when I answered.
"I'm on my way home." I replied.
"Do you know what time it is?" he asked.
"7 in the morning." It was late (early?), but I could still read the digital clock.
"Okay."
"I love you?" I asked, sensing his anger.
There was a brief hesitation. "I love you too." And then click.
Next year, I'm going with a game plan. Because, while in normal circumstances, I hate crowds, this was so mind-boggling fun and crazy, I can't wait. And I did get some killer deals. And I got to do some awesome people watching. Reminder: Just because it's 3 am, doesn't mean I can't see your underwear peaking out from the holes in your sweat pants. And, you aren't running to the grocery store because you have a sick kid at home and you need medicine. You're actually going out in public. So you should attempt to change out of your pajamas. Even if it's only into yesterday's pants. Yet, at the same time, it is 3 am, so you probably don't need to put on your makeup in line and wear 3 inch heels.
And, who would've guessed that I would be able to cross #14 off The List as well. Go me!
But even stories about my Black Friday Madness can't compare to the story of how A.'s birthday cake which I spent an insane amount of time on, committed cakicide by leaping off the kitchen table and hitting the kitchen wall approximately two hours before her b-day party/my family Thanksgiving celebration was about to start.
But that....is for tomorrow.
But I repent.
So, Monday, I was out to lunch with a friend and she mentioned that she was headed out Friday morning, but that this year she was going alone. And I felt bad.
Note: this is almost always why I end up doing something crazy/stupid/fantastic/life altering/crazy-stupid-fantastic-life altering.
I said I'd go with her. For kicks.
Thursday evening she called with her game plan. She wanted to hit the Wal-mart sale at midnight and then target at 4 am. Plus Toys R Us. So I said, why don't we hit Wal-mart, then drive into Salt Lake and go to Toys R Us and Kohl's and then to Target.
Have I mentioned that I have some serious time management issues? I figured we'd be home by 5. I've stayed up until 5 am a few times. It shouldn't be too bad.
So, C. (yes, the same C who also does insane runs with me) picked me up at 11:25 and we headed to Wal-mart. I had been pre-warned that Wal-mart is NUTS on Black Friday. And NUTS was an understatement. C needed four Zhu Zhu Pets for her kids. Apparently, so did everyone else. We found the Zhu Zhu Pets display roughly about the time the associates uncovered it--10 minutes early. Luckily, C found a little hole at the bottom of the crowd in which to squeeze her 5'1" 115 pound frame into and emerged victorious with her four Zhu Zhu Pets in hand. It was one of the most amazing thing I have ever seen. We each picked up a few more items and then I went in search of the check out line. Good thing because that line took forever to get through. And I ran into an old friend who had moved so it was nice to get caught up.
We next headed into Toys R Us, which was crowded but they had really good crowd control. Afterwards, we were going to go grocery shopping, but we couldn't find a grocery store open so we headed to Kohl's, which was going to open at 3 am. We got there at about 2:15 and a line half way around the building had already started to form. It was like 5 degrees outside. It was SO cold. So we sat in the car until about 2:50. Then we got in line. I was laughing with the ladies behind us and I said that we can't even tell our kids the sacrifice we made because they were presents from Santa. The line was around the building and then some. At 3 am the doors opened (by which I mean to say that one door opened) and we all filed inside.
CRAZY. I have never seen anything like it. C looked around for a bit and then went and got into the checkout line. I would periodically check in. I found some awesome deals on some things and I think it was worth the stop. But the checkout line took FOREVER! C would leave and go look for a bit and then I'd leave again and go look. We stood there for over an hour. But I ran into another friend and got caught up a little bit there too.
After our Kohl's visit, we headed to Target. There wasn't a parking spot to be found, but finally we got one. Then once inside, it was a madhouse. People everywhere! This particular Target had some people managment issues and while C was out looking for something I decided to get in line to check out. It snaked through all these aisles and I finally found the end of it. After C found me, I went to look for something and overheard one of the managers tell some people in our line way up ahead that this wasn't actually a line to anywhere.
Have you ever seen a large group of people who are sleep deprived be told that they have just spent the last 45 minutes in a line to nowhere?
It wasn't pretty.
But, eventually we found the line and I have to say that from a business perspective, Target had the right idea. They weaved the line through the aisles of the store. In hindsight I should have just gotten in line and done my Christmas shopping from there. However, I did end up spending probably 50 more dollars then I would have had I not been snaking through the store. And some of it may or may not been on someone besides myself.
We did find the cash register and all our teeth were still intact, so bonus points for us.
Last stop was Bath and Body Works and this is where I started to shut down. The store is small and there's all these smells competing with each other to see who can overwhelm the most number of people. It was another long line and by the time we got out, I was cooked.
And then Wade called.
"Where are you?" he asked when I answered.
"I'm on my way home." I replied.
"Do you know what time it is?" he asked.
"7 in the morning." It was late (early?), but I could still read the digital clock.
"Okay."
"I love you?" I asked, sensing his anger.
There was a brief hesitation. "I love you too." And then click.
Next year, I'm going with a game plan. Because, while in normal circumstances, I hate crowds, this was so mind-boggling fun and crazy, I can't wait. And I did get some killer deals. And I got to do some awesome people watching. Reminder: Just because it's 3 am, doesn't mean I can't see your underwear peaking out from the holes in your sweat pants. And, you aren't running to the grocery store because you have a sick kid at home and you need medicine. You're actually going out in public. So you should attempt to change out of your pajamas. Even if it's only into yesterday's pants. Yet, at the same time, it is 3 am, so you probably don't need to put on your makeup in line and wear 3 inch heels.
And, who would've guessed that I would be able to cross #14 off The List as well. Go me!
But even stories about my Black Friday Madness can't compare to the story of how A.'s birthday cake which I spent an insane amount of time on, committed cakicide by leaping off the kitchen table and hitting the kitchen wall approximately two hours before her b-day party/my family Thanksgiving celebration was about to start.
But that....is for tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
What's For Dinner Wednesday--Italian Wedding Soup
It's cold.
And when it's cold, I want soup. So today, that's what I got.
I found this on here. It's my new favorite website. She has some AWESOME recipes. And apparently, she just made this up on the fly. What I would give to be confident enough to do that.
So first up, I made the soup part. Her directions tell you to use a Dutch Oven, but I was lazy and didn't want to unearth mine from the garage. So I just used my regular soup pot.
Heat 1/2 to 1 tsp olive oil in the bottom.
Cook one yellow onion, finely chopped, 3 carrots, diced, and 2 stalks of celery, diced for about 3-4 minutes. Add in 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another 60 seconds while stirring constantly.
Now this is the part the screws me up every time. The recipe next says to add all these spices, but I don't have them out or measured or anything so then I have to take the pot off the stove and find all my spices and measure them out. I should just do that all beforehand right? This is not the first time I've had this thought either.
Add 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp oregano, salt and pepper, 1/2-1 tsp chicken bouillion granules, and 9-10 cups chicken broth.
Let this simmer for 45 minutes on low.
MEANWHILE:
Make these cutesy little meatballs by combining:
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp yellow onion, finely diced
2 T parmesan cheese
2 T fresh parsley (didn't have that, so I used dried, which is like 1 tsp of dried = 1 T of fresh)
1 egg
1/4 C bread crumbs
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
pinch of crush red pepper flakes
(incidently, I forgot the last three ingredients. I think that would have pepped the meatballs up a little bit)
Mush everything together and roll into little balls. I made probably about 24 meatballs. Preheat the oven to 350 and put the meatballs on a cookie sheet covered in foil that had been sprayed with PAM. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through. DO NOT OVERBAKE. You don't want crunchy meatballs.
Last thing is to make the star pasta. There is a pasta out there shaped like a star. It's a little tiny pasta, but I couldn't find it at the store, so I just used Acini de pepe (Frog eye salad pasta.) Cook that according to the package. Drain.
Add the pasta and the meatballs to the soup and cook on medium for 10 minutes longer. Add 10 oz of spinach (Spinach isn't my favorite vegetable to eat, so I just added a few leaves to each of the bowls) And voila!
Wade was a little skeptical of the meal because of the strong onion smell, but it turned out to be really good. Even he said it was. The meatballs needed some more zip in my opinion, but I think if I would have put in all the ingredients, it would not have been an issue.
This would have been a great meal to have with a hard crusty bread, but I wasn't on the ball enough to make it. Or buy it. So we just ate our soup.
And when it's cold, I want soup. So today, that's what I got.
I found this on here. It's my new favorite website. She has some AWESOME recipes. And apparently, she just made this up on the fly. What I would give to be confident enough to do that.
So first up, I made the soup part. Her directions tell you to use a Dutch Oven, but I was lazy and didn't want to unearth mine from the garage. So I just used my regular soup pot.
Heat 1/2 to 1 tsp olive oil in the bottom.
Cook one yellow onion, finely chopped, 3 carrots, diced, and 2 stalks of celery, diced for about 3-4 minutes. Add in 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another 60 seconds while stirring constantly.
Now this is the part the screws me up every time. The recipe next says to add all these spices, but I don't have them out or measured or anything so then I have to take the pot off the stove and find all my spices and measure them out. I should just do that all beforehand right? This is not the first time I've had this thought either.
Add 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp oregano, salt and pepper, 1/2-1 tsp chicken bouillion granules, and 9-10 cups chicken broth.
Let this simmer for 45 minutes on low.
MEANWHILE:
Make these cutesy little meatballs by combining:
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp yellow onion, finely diced
2 T parmesan cheese
2 T fresh parsley (didn't have that, so I used dried, which is like 1 tsp of dried = 1 T of fresh)
1 egg
1/4 C bread crumbs
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
pinch of crush red pepper flakes
(incidently, I forgot the last three ingredients. I think that would have pepped the meatballs up a little bit)
Mush everything together and roll into little balls. I made probably about 24 meatballs. Preheat the oven to 350 and put the meatballs on a cookie sheet covered in foil that had been sprayed with PAM. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through. DO NOT OVERBAKE. You don't want crunchy meatballs.
Last thing is to make the star pasta. There is a pasta out there shaped like a star. It's a little tiny pasta, but I couldn't find it at the store, so I just used Acini de pepe (Frog eye salad pasta.) Cook that according to the package. Drain.
Add the pasta and the meatballs to the soup and cook on medium for 10 minutes longer. Add 10 oz of spinach (Spinach isn't my favorite vegetable to eat, so I just added a few leaves to each of the bowls) And voila!
Wade was a little skeptical of the meal because of the strong onion smell, but it turned out to be really good. Even he said it was. The meatballs needed some more zip in my opinion, but I think if I would have put in all the ingredients, it would not have been an issue.
This would have been a great meal to have with a hard crusty bread, but I wasn't on the ball enough to make it. Or buy it. So we just ate our soup.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
