Random Catch-up

I'm not usually away from the real world for this long, unless I'm in Europe and even then I think I checked in more than I have for the past week. To play catch up I'm just going to bullet point random things that have crossed my mind lately.

• Christmas is such a big build up and then you blink and it's over.
• I like giving presents better than getting them.
  
• I did get some good gifts though... a piccolo swab, a music stand shelf thingy, two Rachel Ray cookbooks and some other goodies (including a Bama shirt and a BYU shirt from my two college students.)
• Today is my daughter's 3rd wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary p&b!
• Rachel Ray's term "EVOO" has made it into the Oxford American College dictionary
• I never did find an easy way to get the Nintendo wii, so my son missed out on that one.
• Gerald Ford died, and I know the guy who (I think) will play taps on the bugle at his funeral.
• Shreveport is a LONG way from home, but didn't take as long as I thought it would because it's interstate the whole way. (Right now we are in a hotel just outside of Shreveport)
  
• Bryan liked getting a present that wasn't even for him. (I gave him the tickets to the Independence Bowl and told him it really wasn't for him even though it was for him. Made complete sense to me!) He's playing the the Million Dollar Band from Alabama so he didn't need a ticket, but he did want us to come and watch him. Seeing the football game is a bonus, maybe. Or maybe not. :-)
• I like Godiva's Double Chocolate Cheesecake, but half a piece is plenty.
• I'm sick of sugar.
• I took a lady who has cancer to get a bone scan yesterday and I felt like I was the one who was being served. She has such a positive attitude and lifted my spirits.
• I like Christmas lights, done right.
• My youngest is growing into a real teenager. AHHHHH!
  
• What IS the difference between sweet midget pickles and sweet gherkin pickles?
• I like roasted turkey breast. I fixed a real home cooked Christmas Day dinner for the first time in years this year. Yumminess.
  
• I actually made 6 gifts this year. Homemade crafty gifts. Painted gingerbread men boxes, two scrapbooks (one big 50th anniversary scrapbook for the in-laws, and a smaller mini book that I actually haven't given away yet!) and one scarf for Kristen.
  
• The scrapbook wasn't finished until Christmas Eve eve.
  
• When I was a kid I loved Christmas Eve eve. It was fun to have a holiday sounding name for a day that isn't really a holiday.
• I think we got 16 dvds for Christmas. That's a lot of hours in front of the tv.
  
• I like romantic comedies.
• I'm still 70 hits away from 5000 hits on my blog. I still want to know who reads my blog. Everyone. Even clarinet players.
• I want to learn to play the clarinet.
• If I go back to school I need to decide NOW.
• It will take me three years to graduate with a degree in music.
• I will have to take a math class. YUCK.
• And chemistry or physics. Double YUCK.
• But I also get to take an art or theatre class. Yay!
• I'll be mostly taking music classes.
• I think I'm over using this bullet thing.
• Sorry.
• I was very happy to have all of my kids home for Christmas. It's great being together as a family, if not always a happy family.
• All my kids hooked up together on a network playing Starcraft is NOT what Christmas is all about.
• At least they were together though.
  
• I like being a mom to such great kids.
• I still like Tetris.
• I'm going to stop now.
  

Short days

Yesterday was Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.

How come the days are so short when we have SO MUCH TO DO!!!

Not fair.

Blogging Milestone

Hey Guys, guess what?? I'm almost at 5000 hits.

Let's play a little game. See the comments button? Click on that and leave me a guess as to what hour and day I'll hit the 5000 mark. Even if you never ever leave me a comment, you can do it. Just click the anonymous one. I may even have a prize!

You don't have to be a blogger to leave a comment. You can tell me who you are if you want. I'm curious as to who these 5000 hits came from. My kids are the most frequent visitors.I know Becca's friends visit sometimes, and my nieces from time to time. How did you come to find my blog? I'm just curious I guess. Enquiring minds want to know... especially--- you know who you are! Satisfy my curiousity.

We'll see who's the winner...

Longest Concert Evah

Okay not *evah*. Some of those Grissom concerts were extremely long.

But I did just get back from the longest concert I've been to in a long time, preceded by a PTA meeting (no comment necessary. There were eleven different ensembles of various band and choir combinations on the program. It was actually not that bad though. Sitting next to Bryan provided me with a humorous running commentary on various band and choir flubs and trivia. (She was NOT wearing brown socks after all! Way to figure out why "We Five Kings" was called that! It's in 5/4 time.)

Josh's band was wonderful. They get a great tone for a middle school band. They performed a pared down version of the Nutcracker Suite. Josh fell in love with the piece and made me find our cd of it. He listens to it every night. He wishes his band could play the real one so he'd get that cool bass clarinet solo in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

I'm glad my kids like a variety of music. I've trained them well!

Ever wonder?

You know that there are the seven wonders of the world. But did you know that each state has a seven wonders? Ever wonder what the Seven Wonders of your state are? Check out this website. My hometown has a *wonder*.

7 Wonders of the USA

'tis the season

...for secret deliveries and packages and UPS and FedEx knocking on your door. Yesterday was a good mail day. We got several cards in the mail and TWO packages!

But alas, I got this message when tracking another package:
12/12/2006 2:48 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

12/12/2006 6:53 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

12/12/2006 5:32 P.M. THE PACKAGE WAS DAMAGED IN TRANSIT. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH THE DETAILS

12/12/2006 9:38 P.M. THE PACKAGE WAS DAMAGED IN TRANSIT. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH THE DETAILS; ALL MERCHANDISE DISCARDED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE

What the heck is that about? Has anyone ever heard of UPS discarding merchandise? How do I know that someone who works at UPS didn't just pick it up? What do I do now?

Unfortunately, I can't give you more information about the package's contents in case somebody reads my blog who I wanted to surprise with said contents. But if you knew what was in the package, you'd be scratching your head, too, at how it could be destroyed, and how easily someone else could take advantage of "discarded" merchandise.

So do I wait to hear from UPS? or from the sender? or ????

Magazine Mania

I was going through my magazines, purging old issues, and I realized I love magazines. I love reading information, seeing pleasing design on pages, yes, even advertising pages. There are design ideas everywhere. But can a person have too many magazine subscriptions? Here's our list:

• Muse
• Smithsonian
• The Ensign
• New Era
• Flute Talk
• Reader's Digest
• Simple Scrapbooks
• Creating Keepsakes
• Papercraft
• Memory Makers
  
• Beads
• Scouting
  
• Boy's Life
• National Geographic Kids
• Nickelodeon
  

(Simple and Backpacker recently ran out.)

And those are just the subscriptions. Sometimes I grab a magazine at the store, like Woman's Day, Family Circle, Instyle, Country Home, Scrapbooks, Etc. and Southern Living.

As I was going through and throwing out, I realized we get quite a few catalogs, like:

• Campmor
• Oriental Trading
• Music123
• Woodwind/Brasswind
• Musician's Friend
• ProVantage
• Deseret Book
• Seagull Books
• Emergency Essentials
• Eastbay
• Dell
• Office Depot
• Scrapbook.com

And then there are the Boeing, BYU and UAH things we get in the mail. I know I'm leaving some out. No wonder they can take over my family room and kitchen in the blink of an eye!

It's said that a mailman can tell alot about a family by what type of catalogs and magazines they receive. I wonder what our list says to him?

Probably "cut back on your subscriptions, lady!" No, then he'd be out of a job!

I'm So Dizzy...

My head is spinning...

Yesterday morning at 6:30 am I had one of the worst vertigo attacks I've had in years. I actually woke up grabbing the side of my mattress because everything was spinning. It's weird that you can have vertigo in your sleep... yes, even with your eyes closed. I felt nauseous. Even when I just moved my head to look at the clock. I stayed in bed until 11 am. I couldn't move.

When I did finally have the courage to try to walk, I felt so sick. I hate having Meniere's Disease. I'm thankful that I don't have these attacks all the time. I only get them once a year or so. But I don't know when they will strike or what causes them.

Maybe it was the two soft tacos from Taco Bell.

Unfortunately, I had places to go, things to do. I had a flute gig that night with the AAA middle school choir. But I could hardly walk straight, let alone hold a flute and play while standing in an upright position!

And let's not forget about the Christmas shopping that I need to be doing. I feel better today. So I think I will hit the stores.... after I bundle up. It's 18 degrees outside! Yuck. The things we go through for our children.

Naughty or Nice?

Nice...
Cute and Nice...Absolutely Darling and Nice...

NAUGHTY!!!
You'd better watch out... she's got that pout!
And how about those flailing arms! She is NOT happy. At least not in this photo.

Thank goodness she has more nice than naughty moments!

That Time of Year

It's that time of year when life gets busier than usual. That's my excuse for not blogging, and I'm sticking to it! I had a Christmas Festival gig that I played in this past weekend... seven performances! Whew. Now I can finally focus on getting up the decorations. I love Christmas! More later.