Hi, sorry, me again. So do you think it is kind of weird to give someone soap / air fresheners as a gift? I totally don't. For my birthday my friend gave me two Bath and Body works hand soaps, and I LOVE those and thought it was such a fun gift. So much so that when it came time for me to go and get a gift for a party I marched straight to Bath and Body works to get two soaps (and a pair of really soft socks). The gift got "stolen" in the gift game a couple of times, so I felt pretty good about it. And I happened upon such a great deal at Bath and Body Works, that I bought $30 worth of soaps (for only $20 because I had a coupon, seriously, if you don't log on to your computer and search for coupons every time you go out shopping you are missing out). And so I have been giving them as gifts. Today as Blaine was headed out to work I sent him with a gift bag and two soaps for his boss (who is female)....and for the first time I thought "I hope it isn't weird to give soap as a gift". As in I hope it doesn't imply that you think the persons personal hygiene is found lacking or something. Same with the air fresheners. Ever since Chelon transformed my car from smelling like a skunk who had rolled in rotting milk, nay rotting buttermilk, into a little Christmasy smelling wonderland I have grown to think of Scentsy car air fresheners as the best thing in the world, and consequently bought several for gifts. Now I am afraid to give them away for fear that I am sending the message "dude, your car stinks".
Would you be happy to receive nice soap or a nice car air freshener or would you be offended?
I for one am not offended.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Follow Up
I've been accused of never following up to my posts....so uh....here we go.
* I won't be able to find out my induction date until the week before it happens, but if I had to choose I would choose the earliest available option, which I am thinking will be the 29 or 30th.
* Here is Gwen's new "do"
Not bad eh? Just don't ask to see the back side because, well, it's not even. At all.
*I can't remember what else. I will be writing a letter to the librarian and until then Gretchen, let's go together .... or perhaps we could just stage a coup.
* I've been anxiously waiting to do a great post about my birthday, because it was a doosy! It involved 90lb milkshakes, a possum, and snowflakes! So hold on for that one (on and a pretty good one about what happens when Blaine helps with the laundry is in the works too).
Unfortunately though my days must be spent packing and wrapping and cleaning in anticipation of our upcoming trip. So the plan is to still go, but we are keeping our eyes on the weather and other stuff, so we'll see. So please don't give up on the blog, I am afraid I will be on a temporary hiatus. It may just last the duration of the drive, but it also may just last the duration of the trip. And If perchance I die en route to Utah - or even just give birth- (or actually my worst case scenario right now is that I go into labor while snowed in in our car in the mountains, we call 911 and they send a Life Flight helicopter and make me ride on a HELICOPTER! Agh!) , someone please tell Blaine "I told you so".
Till then! Merry Christmas!
* I won't be able to find out my induction date until the week before it happens, but if I had to choose I would choose the earliest available option, which I am thinking will be the 29 or 30th.
* Here is Gwen's new "do"
Not bad eh? Just don't ask to see the back side because, well, it's not even. At all.*I can't remember what else. I will be writing a letter to the librarian and until then Gretchen, let's go together .... or perhaps we could just stage a coup.
* I've been anxiously waiting to do a great post about my birthday, because it was a doosy! It involved 90lb milkshakes, a possum, and snowflakes! So hold on for that one (on and a pretty good one about what happens when Blaine helps with the laundry is in the works too).
Unfortunately though my days must be spent packing and wrapping and cleaning in anticipation of our upcoming trip. So the plan is to still go, but we are keeping our eyes on the weather and other stuff, so we'll see. So please don't give up on the blog, I am afraid I will be on a temporary hiatus. It may just last the duration of the drive, but it also may just last the duration of the trip. And If perchance I die en route to Utah - or even just give birth- (or actually my worst case scenario right now is that I go into labor while snowed in in our car in the mountains, we call 911 and they send a Life Flight helicopter and make me ride on a HELICOPTER! Agh!) , someone please tell Blaine "I told you so".Till then! Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A rant
Today I was handcuffed and escorted, kicking and screaming, out of our local library. Alright, not quite, but I very nearly could have been if I would have reacted the way I wanted to.
This post is a rant, so you really might not care about it unless you happen to visit the same library that I do.
We are going on a 24 hour car ride. I thought it might be nice to have some books. I thought we would visit our friendly local library.
Here's the thing, all of the adult books are on the second floor. The downstairs is all kids stuff and movies and books on tape. Fine, totally fine. Since my kids are crazy and I respect the people who study at the library I have always requested my books online a week before I go and then by the time I get there they have my reserved books waiting on the bottom floor for me. Excellent.
Then I heard through the grapevine that now you can only request a book if the said book is on hold. Which means unless I am reading a popular new release book, I have to go upstairs and get it myself.
So I was all prepared, I had my list of books I wanted with their shelving number on a piece of paper. I did all of my other stuff and was prepared to sprint through the second floor to get all I need. My speed was hampered temporarily when while I was reaching for a book Bentley somehow got his hands on the "same sex marriage" section of books and pulled them all to the floor. Fine, whatever, I cleaned them up. Then over to the other side of the room he started to cry. He cried for approximately four seconds (all the while I was desperately trying to calm him down) before a library employee asked me to leave because I was upsetting the other patrons. Are you kidding me? Literally four seconds.
And that's fine. I totally respect that it needs to be quiet there. I know that, that's why I was hurrying and trying to gag the crying child.
So here's the thing, if you are going to kick out people if their kids make a peep you need to provide an alternative. It's my tax dollars, and my fine money, that funds the library, I should be able to check out a book. Am I right?
So, local library, you should
* pull requested books and put them on the first floor for those of us hillbillies who visit the library once in a while
*provide a librarian who can run up and get our books that we want
* provide child care so we can go get our books
* or heaven forbid you should take that extra 1000sq feet where there is absolutely nothing and make some actual study rooms, you know, with doors and stuff.
Don't harp on me, I've been a student studying in a library, the thing about me is---- I try to not go up there, but when you give me no other way of getting books I HAVE TO.
Little stressed out here.
This post is a rant, so you really might not care about it unless you happen to visit the same library that I do.
We are going on a 24 hour car ride. I thought it might be nice to have some books. I thought we would visit our friendly local library.
Here's the thing, all of the adult books are on the second floor. The downstairs is all kids stuff and movies and books on tape. Fine, totally fine. Since my kids are crazy and I respect the people who study at the library I have always requested my books online a week before I go and then by the time I get there they have my reserved books waiting on the bottom floor for me. Excellent.
Then I heard through the grapevine that now you can only request a book if the said book is on hold. Which means unless I am reading a popular new release book, I have to go upstairs and get it myself.
So I was all prepared, I had my list of books I wanted with their shelving number on a piece of paper. I did all of my other stuff and was prepared to sprint through the second floor to get all I need. My speed was hampered temporarily when while I was reaching for a book Bentley somehow got his hands on the "same sex marriage" section of books and pulled them all to the floor. Fine, whatever, I cleaned them up. Then over to the other side of the room he started to cry. He cried for approximately four seconds (all the while I was desperately trying to calm him down) before a library employee asked me to leave because I was upsetting the other patrons. Are you kidding me? Literally four seconds.
And that's fine. I totally respect that it needs to be quiet there. I know that, that's why I was hurrying and trying to gag the crying child.
So here's the thing, if you are going to kick out people if their kids make a peep you need to provide an alternative. It's my tax dollars, and my fine money, that funds the library, I should be able to check out a book. Am I right?
So, local library, you should
* pull requested books and put them on the first floor for those of us hillbillies who visit the library once in a while
*provide a librarian who can run up and get our books that we want
* provide child care so we can go get our books
* or heaven forbid you should take that extra 1000sq feet where there is absolutely nothing and make some actual study rooms, you know, with doors and stuff.
Don't harp on me, I've been a student studying in a library, the thing about me is---- I try to not go up there, but when you give me no other way of getting books I HAVE TO.
Little stressed out here.
That's what I like about Texas!
(Okay, the title of the post is what Dairy Queen's little jingle is on it's commercials here in Texas...is it just me or does every state have Dairy Queen? I didn't have to come to Texas to get it...)
I love our street. I don't necessarily think we have the most amazing house in the world, it is great for what we need, we probably could have gotten a better deal or more square footage or something but we could not have gotten better neighbors (with the exception of whoever called the police on my dogs...grrr..). They hang out outside every afternoon and evening and let the kids run and play, just like the Mayberry Days. So my one neighber, the planner of the bunch, organized a progressive dinner for our Christmas party. At each house we would have a course (cocktails, appetizers, soup/salad, main course, dessert, hot drinks). The invitation mentioned, about a million times, that the Bassett's do not drink (so please provide them with something they can drink). I am totally not embarrased that I don't drink but I did feel self conscious that in every e-mail that went out it mentioned it somewhere : ). And at each house there was supposed to be a gift so we could play a little game.
At the first house where we had cocktails they were nice and had Diet Coke/Coke and something else I didn't quite hear when she told me my choices (later I found out it was this apple/cranberry martinellis type thing, yum, thank you thoughtful neighbors!). Anyway it was great and we played the game and luckily I was the one who got to open the last layer of the gift which meant I got to keep it. And are you wondering what my gift was?
A flask and funnel set! I'll be the first to admit, that I didn't really know what that was, but from the laughter and jokes that immediately followed I figured it out pretty quick! Isn't that awesome? A flask and funnel set! It's the perfect gift for the person that has everything. Our best idea was to fill it with juice and give the kids sips of it during sacrament meeting. They all got a kick out of that : ) Luckily though the next gift was actually some sort of alcohol....I can't keep them straight....Rum maybe? The guy who got it was real happy...if only he had a flask to keep it in!
The next gift to open was beer bread mix (in a beer can!). It was just so funny because everyone was waiting for there to be a gift for me to trade with them. Luckily at the next house my nice neighbor Bryan won some candles and traded it for my flask.
I was a little sad though, because, well....I've never had a flask and though I would never use it (the way it was intended at least), it would have made a great gift for the next ward Christmas party, or for Ralphie.
Anyway I love our neighbors and I love that they don't care that we don't drink and still invite us to their parties. They even had Blaine say the blessing on the food; I was afraid for a minute that he would try and say some non-denominational type prayer and wind up repeating that scene from Meet the Parents , but he did a great job!
It was a great party and I love that we had a neighborhood party! We never got to do that in Utah!
P.S. Did I ever tell you how big Blaine's eyes got when my mom gave us a six pack of beer for Christmas? (It was because the beer brand was my maiden name, she has hers proudly displayed in her curio cabinet, next to all of her manger scenes).
Merry Christmas!
Loony
Am I crazy? Seriously be honest. I can take it.
A couple of months ago Blaine and I had this great idea to go to Utah for Christmas. We wouldn't be needing our vacation days for a while since we would have a little one coming soon, and Blaine had sick time he could use for that. We missed our families last Christmas and with our ever expanding and aging family this might be the last year we actually could make it home.
So it seemed smart. Somewhere along the line though I didn't do the math that I would be leaving when I was 33 weeks pregnant and returning when I was 35 weeks pregnant. I didn't think about how we were leaving 75 dg weather to go to 20 dg weather. Driving across the country with two little ones and a bladder the size of a nickel? Oh baby. I didn't consider that it would snow the entire week before we got there and likely on our drive and that we would have to go through one of the windiest, sheer cliffs on either side of you, canyons in Utah....in our van which we are not used to driving on mountainous and snowy terrain. I didn't count on both kids getting sick a few days before we are supposed to leave. And I must have forgotten the stress that comes with trying to visit two families and make it to all the events and fun things going on without running our kids (and pregnant selves) ragged.
So I've had a weird feeling about going back home lately, and I don't know if it is just my paranoid self being nervous for a long trip....or if it is something I should really pause and consider. Is someone trying to tell me I shouldn't go? Sure it would be disappointing to ourselves and everyone back home if we backed out now, and since I am so dang smart and shipped all of our gifts to Utah we wouldn't have anything to open on Christmas morning; But mama always said, "tis' better to back out than to bare a child on the side of a snowy road on a mountain pass".
Oh and one little bonus; there is talk around Blaine's work that they might be forced to take mandatory vacation in February. Well, Blaine is using all of his vacation right now, so if he is forced to take some in February we will either go negative on vacation days (agh! We've got a cruise coming up in a year folks...a cruise. Remember how I was supposed to be going on one like next month but I got pregnant instead? We're scheduled, and booked, to make up for that Jan 2010)...or we will just not get a paycheck. And I don't know about you all, but buying diapers for two kids is hard to do with no paycheck....not to mention paying the mortgage. Anyway..... (P.S. I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, trust me I would rather have to take a mandatory vacation than get laid off!)
What would you do? Am I just being paranoid? Don't worry, part of me, a huge part is so excited. My kids are so dang cute and I want to show them off (Bentley just learned how to fold his arms on command....cuteness!), I want them to be surrounded by the energy and love that comes from a Christmas around lots of family. I want them to build snowmen and eat my sisters candy cane cookies. So what is this nagging feeling about?
P.S. I kind of feel like my blog has gotten too serious lately. Is that driving anyone else crazy?
A couple of months ago Blaine and I had this great idea to go to Utah for Christmas. We wouldn't be needing our vacation days for a while since we would have a little one coming soon, and Blaine had sick time he could use for that. We missed our families last Christmas and with our ever expanding and aging family this might be the last year we actually could make it home.
So it seemed smart. Somewhere along the line though I didn't do the math that I would be leaving when I was 33 weeks pregnant and returning when I was 35 weeks pregnant. I didn't think about how we were leaving 75 dg weather to go to 20 dg weather. Driving across the country with two little ones and a bladder the size of a nickel? Oh baby. I didn't consider that it would snow the entire week before we got there and likely on our drive and that we would have to go through one of the windiest, sheer cliffs on either side of you, canyons in Utah....in our van which we are not used to driving on mountainous and snowy terrain. I didn't count on both kids getting sick a few days before we are supposed to leave. And I must have forgotten the stress that comes with trying to visit two families and make it to all the events and fun things going on without running our kids (and pregnant selves) ragged.
So I've had a weird feeling about going back home lately, and I don't know if it is just my paranoid self being nervous for a long trip....or if it is something I should really pause and consider. Is someone trying to tell me I shouldn't go? Sure it would be disappointing to ourselves and everyone back home if we backed out now, and since I am so dang smart and shipped all of our gifts to Utah we wouldn't have anything to open on Christmas morning; But mama always said, "tis' better to back out than to bare a child on the side of a snowy road on a mountain pass".
Oh and one little bonus; there is talk around Blaine's work that they might be forced to take mandatory vacation in February. Well, Blaine is using all of his vacation right now, so if he is forced to take some in February we will either go negative on vacation days (agh! We've got a cruise coming up in a year folks...a cruise. Remember how I was supposed to be going on one like next month but I got pregnant instead? We're scheduled, and booked, to make up for that Jan 2010)...or we will just not get a paycheck. And I don't know about you all, but buying diapers for two kids is hard to do with no paycheck....not to mention paying the mortgage. Anyway..... (P.S. I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, trust me I would rather have to take a mandatory vacation than get laid off!)
What would you do? Am I just being paranoid? Don't worry, part of me, a huge part is so excited. My kids are so dang cute and I want to show them off (Bentley just learned how to fold his arms on command....cuteness!), I want them to be surrounded by the energy and love that comes from a Christmas around lots of family. I want them to build snowmen and eat my sisters candy cane cookies. So what is this nagging feeling about?
P.S. I kind of feel like my blog has gotten too serious lately. Is that driving anyone else crazy?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I looooooiike you
I love you. Those three little words are so often said and hold so much meaning and emotion. I can't say them. Well I say them to Blaine and the kids, but that's where it stops. It's not that I don't want to say but it is so darn awkward for me.
I know my parents love me (how could they not?), and I surely hope they know I love them, but we never said it much. Blaine was the first person (probably ever) that I actually said "I love you" to. When I dated other people whilst Blaine was on his "religious excursion" they would say "Kristi, I love you" and I would be like "uh.....that is so nice, you're....really great" (in my head I would think, "I love Blaine!"). Blaine's family is very easy going with the "I love you"s. And I do love them, I just can't bring myself to say it; especially in person, but not even on the phone!
And my Texas friends....woweeee... everytime we part ways from getting our mail my cute neighbor says, "love ya girl!" and I say, with a nervous chuckle "oh, yeah, you're awesome!" and usually do something cheesy like that little wink -while -pretending -your -finger -is -a -little- gun -thing. Or something.
So the emotion is there, but the words, they get stuck in my throat. So just know, I probably love ya (I can't even type love "you" way too serious), but I probably can't bring myself to say it.
Merry Christmas!
I know my parents love me (how could they not?), and I surely hope they know I love them, but we never said it much. Blaine was the first person (probably ever) that I actually said "I love you" to. When I dated other people whilst Blaine was on his "religious excursion" they would say "Kristi, I love you" and I would be like "uh.....that is so nice, you're....really great" (in my head I would think, "I love Blaine!"). Blaine's family is very easy going with the "I love you"s. And I do love them, I just can't bring myself to say it; especially in person, but not even on the phone!
And my Texas friends....woweeee... everytime we part ways from getting our mail my cute neighbor says, "love ya girl!" and I say, with a nervous chuckle "oh, yeah, you're awesome!" and usually do something cheesy like that little wink -while -pretending -your -finger -is -a -little- gun -thing. Or something.
So the emotion is there, but the words, they get stuck in my throat. So just know, I probably love ya (I can't even type love "you" way too serious), but I probably can't bring myself to say it.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Choices
Assuming everything is "progressing" by the third week in January, then I will be able to be induced early. Which means, to some degree, that I will be able to determine the birthday of this little girl. So, I pose to you a question.....
Would you rather be born on ...
January 29 - and consequently share your birthday with Tom Selleck and Oprah?
January 30 - and share your birthday with Teddy Rosevelt and Christian Bale? Oh and be born on a really convenient day - Friday, so that your dad can maximize his "days off" and so friendly wonderful people in the ward may want to help out with your siblings so you parents can labor in peace.
February 2- and share your birthday with Farah Fawcett (who doesn't want that?!) and be born on a Monday...meh.
The thing is, I would ideally like to go for January 30th, but (and this is totally shallow), doesn't February 2nd sound much more beautiful and refined than January 30th? January, what an awful name for a month. Plus, then you wouldn't get your "special" birthday until you are thirty, and by then it probably doesn't seem that cool. But then again, it's like you'll even notice it when you're two.
Anyway, just curious what you would chose.
Would you rather be born on ...
January 29 - and consequently share your birthday with Tom Selleck and Oprah?
January 30 - and share your birthday with Teddy Rosevelt and Christian Bale? Oh and be born on a really convenient day - Friday, so that your dad can maximize his "days off" and so friendly wonderful people in the ward may want to help out with your siblings so you parents can labor in peace.
February 2- and share your birthday with Farah Fawcett (who doesn't want that?!) and be born on a Monday...meh.
The thing is, I would ideally like to go for January 30th, but (and this is totally shallow), doesn't February 2nd sound much more beautiful and refined than January 30th? January, what an awful name for a month. Plus, then you wouldn't get your "special" birthday until you are thirty, and by then it probably doesn't seem that cool. But then again, it's like you'll even notice it when you're two.
Anyway, just curious what you would chose.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Twenty Seven
You know how when everyone hits their 100th blog post they write a hundred things about themselves? By the time I knew that was proper blogger etiquette it was way too late, so I was thinking that instead of celebrating my 350th blogpost by writing 350 about me I thought I would spare you by just writing 27 random things about me for my 27th birthday.
* Blaine was my first hand hold and first kiss....and every one of our significant dates doubles up with another (The first time he told me he liked me was 9/11/1998,the first time we held hands was on Halloween, our first kiss was on my birthday (wow, tomorrow is the ten year anniversary of our first kiss--- that's a lot of kissing!), we were married on valentines day, Gwen was born on the two year anniversary of the day he came home from his mission, et[.]
* I am deathly afraid of flying
* I can say the fifty states in alphabetical order in 19 seconds
*I have a knack for memorizing songs. Seriously, I remember all of the choir songs I ever learned and pretty much any song I have ever sang.
* I have a knack for not remembering anything that is not set to music
* I lose my keys CONSTANTLY
* I am a certified scuba diver
* I learned to play the violin (albeit not very well) while Blaine was on his mission
* I once caught a 32lb salmon (not kidding. My dad didn't enter me in the fishing derby, but if he had I would have one. He did, conincidentally, enter himself in the derby and didn't catch a single fish....that's the kind of luck my dad has ; ) ).
* The only bone I have ever broken was in my hand, and I broke it in a store trying on rollerblades (why was I trying on rollerblades? Because the day before I had the bright idea to hold on to the back of my friends car while on my rollerblades, and crashed into the pavement really hard ...did that break my hand? Nope. But standing up while trying on new rollerblades...of course!). There is some debate about whether or not my nose was broken as a kid. Don't know if you've noticed but I have the most atrocious profile because I have a huge bump in my nose and I distinctly remember getting smacked in the face with a basketball.
* I like to drive, Blaine doesn't. So I usually do and it freaks people out, and it really bugs me that it freaks people out.
*If I could live anywhere it would be in the pacific northwest
* The age span amoungst my siblings is huge! My oldest brother was 17 I think when I was born, and I became an aunt when I was 5.
* I once shaved off my eyebrow and cut my own eyelashes and told my mom the boy across the street did it (so sorry about that Jimmy).
* LOVE ice cream.
*I had braces for five years. I was supposed to only have them for one, but I am a very disobedient person, particularly when it comes to wearing elastic bands in my mouth and headgear.
* I have a thing for Hugh Grant. Not really "Hugh Grant" but nearly every person he plays in a movie.
* When I am pregnant I snore and I snort, a lot. Attractive isn't it?
* I love rollercoasters
* I hate, HATE the feel of those egg carton mattresses. I would rather carry shards of glass than carry one of those bad boys.
* I hold pencils and pens really weirdly. I can't explain it, but it creeps people out and it is really making it hard for me to teach Gwen how to hold writing utensils since I can't do it myself.
* One time my friend Julianne told me that if you take more than two steps to your bed after you turn out your light then gremlins will get you. I still never take more than two steps to my bed after the light is out : ). Same thing with shoes on the table, my mom once said that shoes on the table are bad luck and it really bugs me now to see shoes on a table, or counter, or anywhere elevated.
*For some reason I have a thing about people ringing doorbells. Just don't do it if people have children under the age of five.
*I've never seen ET, or like a million of the other movies that everyone else on the planet has seen.
* Blaine makes the money, I pay the bills.
*I'm no good at laundry. I buy perfectly wonderful looking clothes at garage sales that people have used for years. My kids wear them one day and they get stained and never look as good again.
* I love my family more than anything. Seriously, sometimes it almost hurts how much I love them : )
Kind of random, kind of lame, but hey. Happy birthday to me : ).
* Blaine was my first hand hold and first kiss....and every one of our significant dates doubles up with another (The first time he told me he liked me was 9/11/1998,the first time we held hands was on Halloween, our first kiss was on my birthday (wow, tomorrow is the ten year anniversary of our first kiss--- that's a lot of kissing!), we were married on valentines day, Gwen was born on the two year anniversary of the day he came home from his mission, et[.]
* I am deathly afraid of flying
* I can say the fifty states in alphabetical order in 19 seconds
*I have a knack for memorizing songs. Seriously, I remember all of the choir songs I ever learned and pretty much any song I have ever sang.
* I have a knack for not remembering anything that is not set to music
* I lose my keys CONSTANTLY
* I am a certified scuba diver
* I learned to play the violin (albeit not very well) while Blaine was on his mission
* I once caught a 32lb salmon (not kidding. My dad didn't enter me in the fishing derby, but if he had I would have one. He did, conincidentally, enter himself in the derby and didn't catch a single fish....that's the kind of luck my dad has ; ) ).
* The only bone I have ever broken was in my hand, and I broke it in a store trying on rollerblades (why was I trying on rollerblades? Because the day before I had the bright idea to hold on to the back of my friends car while on my rollerblades, and crashed into the pavement really hard ...did that break my hand? Nope. But standing up while trying on new rollerblades...of course!). There is some debate about whether or not my nose was broken as a kid. Don't know if you've noticed but I have the most atrocious profile because I have a huge bump in my nose and I distinctly remember getting smacked in the face with a basketball.
* I like to drive, Blaine doesn't. So I usually do and it freaks people out, and it really bugs me that it freaks people out.
*If I could live anywhere it would be in the pacific northwest
* The age span amoungst my siblings is huge! My oldest brother was 17 I think when I was born, and I became an aunt when I was 5.
* I once shaved off my eyebrow and cut my own eyelashes and told my mom the boy across the street did it (so sorry about that Jimmy).
* LOVE ice cream.
*I had braces for five years. I was supposed to only have them for one, but I am a very disobedient person, particularly when it comes to wearing elastic bands in my mouth and headgear.
* I have a thing for Hugh Grant. Not really "Hugh Grant" but nearly every person he plays in a movie.
* When I am pregnant I snore and I snort, a lot. Attractive isn't it?
* I love rollercoasters
* I hate, HATE the feel of those egg carton mattresses. I would rather carry shards of glass than carry one of those bad boys.
* I hold pencils and pens really weirdly. I can't explain it, but it creeps people out and it is really making it hard for me to teach Gwen how to hold writing utensils since I can't do it myself.
* One time my friend Julianne told me that if you take more than two steps to your bed after you turn out your light then gremlins will get you. I still never take more than two steps to my bed after the light is out : ). Same thing with shoes on the table, my mom once said that shoes on the table are bad luck and it really bugs me now to see shoes on a table, or counter, or anywhere elevated.
*For some reason I have a thing about people ringing doorbells. Just don't do it if people have children under the age of five.
*I've never seen ET, or like a million of the other movies that everyone else on the planet has seen.
* Blaine makes the money, I pay the bills.
*I'm no good at laundry. I buy perfectly wonderful looking clothes at garage sales that people have used for years. My kids wear them one day and they get stained and never look as good again.
* I love my family more than anything. Seriously, sometimes it almost hurts how much I love them : )
Kind of random, kind of lame, but hey. Happy birthday to me : ).
Monday, December 8, 2008
A wish.
You know what I would change about maternity clothes if I could? I mean, besides the fact that they are ridiculously expensive. Well, let's just say that while having shirts that tie in the back with long flowy little ties is really cute and emphasizes the smallest portion of your body, it doesn't jive well with having a bladder the size of a quarter. Just think about it, when you are using the ladies room upwards of twenty five times a day it's bound to happen that sooner or later, unbeknownst to you, your shirt is going to become untied and in your rush to "go" you may not notice....and then, well, whatchya gonna do?
I'm just sayin'......
Good thing it happened in the comfort of my own home.
I'm just sayin'......
Good thing it happened in the comfort of my own home.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Six feet?
I have to say, it is a little disconcerting when your parents call you to tell you that they spent their day at the mortuary picking out their coffins (are they coffins or caskets?). I mean, really? I wonder how that decision got made. "No good movies in the theater? No worries, mmmm, I guess we could just go plan our funerals. And hey then we could stop and get some ice cream". Really, they did, even the musical numbers. Since no one else in my family plays the piano we're assuming they want Blaine to. He could start practicing. That's how prepared they are to kick the bucket. Isn't that creepy?
It's really thoughtful though, if you think about it. We won't have to worry about how to pay for a funeral or worry about infuriating my mom by picking out an uncomfortable casket. (*oh my gosh do you think they actually laid in the coffins....that is SO weird! * ). But still, it's not fun to realize that the possibility of your parents passing on is so real that they have actual made purchases for the occasion, I haven't even made purchases for Christmas yet.
It also made me realize something. My cheapness has boundaries. Blaine and I were discussing our casket criteria last night and at first I was like, "eh, just throw me in, I'm dead, right?" and then I was like, "right????" and then I was like....ehhhhhckk that sounds so scary to be buried under the ground, I definitely want a coffin; preferably with like a cell phone...just in case. Then I started thinking how it's not even that fun of an idea to be in a casket, or even cremated. I'd rather a nice room be prepared for me in our home. With a bed. Maybe a little snowwhite setup...that whole glass encased bed thing. That sounds much better. Though it might frighten the children.
Anyway, I am sorry to talk so lightly of something so serious. I think that is my way of coping with it. To quote John Mayer "Don't know how else to say it, I don't want to see my parents go". Sure, I've always teased them about being old, even about kicking the bucket. But really? That will be a sad sad day. And so will be the day that Blaine and I go out on a date to pick out our coffins. I wonder if they make double-wides because, I want him there with me. I don't do scary things without Blaine.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Smokin' deals
It's a great day for a bargain folks! Today my new comforter arrived. I think my inner gambler (the one who is addicted to using priceline because I love getting random hotels and the intermittent reward theory that goes along with gambling)loves things like overstock, priceline, etc. because you never know what you are going to get, but usually it's something good. So I ordered a big poofy down comforter from overstock. I went through ebates which earned me 8% cash back on my purchase, making my total about $89 (which, coincidentally is about how much $$ I made from referrals the other day and all of you signing up and making ebates purchases, thanks for my new comforter folks!). Anyway, the comforter came today and I could see who made it and go and find out how much it would have cost me if I went through conventional channels. Turns out is made by Eddie Bauer and retails for $219 (okay, on overstock.com I just noticed that it told me upfront that that is what it retails for, but it was nice to actually be able to verify it!). So I feel pretty good about that purchase!
Then this afternoon I went to go and pick up some car air fresheners from Chelon, who sells Scentsy (sorry Stef, I totally would order from you but my car stinks in a major way that requires immediate attention; Utah friends you should order scentsy from Stef; Texas friends you should order it from Chelon!). Anyway, not only did she hook me up with majorly good smelling car fresheners, but also loaded up my van with some awesome little baby girl and big girl clothes, plus she gave Gwen a candy cane and me a scent of the month scentsy bar. Talk about a fun visit. And I have to recommend the Scentsy car scents, it totally took away the "whoops I left a bottle half full of milk in the back of the van for over two weeks and it smells like a skunk rolled in raw sewage and died back there" smell. That's pretty powerful stuff.
So anyway, it's a great day for bargains and blessings : ) Thank you overstock and Chelon!
Then this afternoon I went to go and pick up some car air fresheners from Chelon, who sells Scentsy (sorry Stef, I totally would order from you but my car stinks in a major way that requires immediate attention; Utah friends you should order scentsy from Stef; Texas friends you should order it from Chelon!). Anyway, not only did she hook me up with majorly good smelling car fresheners, but also loaded up my van with some awesome little baby girl and big girl clothes, plus she gave Gwen a candy cane and me a scent of the month scentsy bar. Talk about a fun visit. And I have to recommend the Scentsy car scents, it totally took away the "whoops I left a bottle half full of milk in the back of the van for over two weeks and it smells like a skunk rolled in raw sewage and died back there" smell. That's pretty powerful stuff.
So anyway, it's a great day for bargains and blessings : ) Thank you overstock and Chelon!
Disconnected
I am afraid of the phone. I am just gonna get it out in the open. Apparently one of my bigger flaws is that I don't carry my cell phone around, or keep it charged for that matter. Normally it's not a huge issue, I listen to my messages once every couple a' days and aside from getting a couple snide messages from Ralphie and a couple very agitated messages from my dad (who I think is the person my lack of cell phone carrying annoys the most), I usually don't miss much. E-mail me and I will e-mail you back for sure within 12 hours and more likely within 12 minutes; but call me and it's a gamble. Then once in a while something important happens. Like on Monday night after about two days of not knowing where my phone was I got a message from my friends husband about a family emergency and he needed help with his little boy the next day, which at the time I listened to the message, the "next day" was actually "yesterday". And I missed my chance, not only did I miss my chance but surely he thought I was ignoring his messages since he left three pretty desperate ones. I feel like scum.
So, what to do. I've tried to be better. I've made commitments and promises and all sorts of stuff, and I do better for like....a day and then it is back to the old way of not knowing or caring where my cell phone is.
I think maybe it all started when I was working for a pest control company and my whole job was to carry around THREE cell phones, plus my own and answer them consistently. That is a LOT of cell phones people. It was hard because Gwen was little and if a phone rang I would just throw her in the crib, shut the door and go answer it. So maybe I am trying to compensate for some of that neglect. I also really thought I was on the fast track to getting a brain tumor from so much cell phone usage back then, and I swore once I didn't have the job anymore that I would never hold a cell phone to my head again (I'm totally serious).
Anyway, now you all know. I don't screen my calls; if I have my cell phone and I am not busy doing something else THEN I will answer, no matter who you are. But seriously, if there is an emergency please e-mail me or call Blaine or Ralphie or come on over. At least until January when one of my New Years Resolutions will be to carry my phone with me always.
Do you prefer phone or e-mail? I mean, I seriously would rather drive over to your house to talk to you than call you on the phone. I'm such a freak that way.
The end.
So, what to do. I've tried to be better. I've made commitments and promises and all sorts of stuff, and I do better for like....a day and then it is back to the old way of not knowing or caring where my cell phone is.
I think maybe it all started when I was working for a pest control company and my whole job was to carry around THREE cell phones, plus my own and answer them consistently. That is a LOT of cell phones people. It was hard because Gwen was little and if a phone rang I would just throw her in the crib, shut the door and go answer it. So maybe I am trying to compensate for some of that neglect. I also really thought I was on the fast track to getting a brain tumor from so much cell phone usage back then, and I swore once I didn't have the job anymore that I would never hold a cell phone to my head again (I'm totally serious).
Anyway, now you all know. I don't screen my calls; if I have my cell phone and I am not busy doing something else THEN I will answer, no matter who you are. But seriously, if there is an emergency please e-mail me or call Blaine or Ralphie or come on over. At least until January when one of my New Years Resolutions will be to carry my phone with me always.
Do you prefer phone or e-mail? I mean, I seriously would rather drive over to your house to talk to you than call you on the phone. I'm such a freak that way.
The end.
Tarzan Boy
Last night at YW Betsy was telling a story where our bishop came up to her and asked if she knew the song that went "oh oh ohohohohohoh oh oh" [Okay this story is way more funny if you can hear it in person]. Which she sounded just like tarzan when she asked it, but we all totally recognized the tune. She I come home and with the help of my handy dandy husband did some serious google-ing and found the music video for the song. I've watched it about four times because I love it so much, and I am trying to convince Blaine that he should do it for our next Thanksgiving talent show. I would, but no one wants to see me in a toga, trust me. Also, it would totally be way cooler than me saying the fifty states in alphabetical order in 19 seconds which is what my talent was this year.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Neverland
The other night I was at Young Women in Excellence and an awesome talk was given by a sister in our ward. I enjoyed it so much and started thinking back and realized I also really enjoyed the talk this same sister gave at stake conference, and also the lesson she had given at enrichment a few weeks earlier. I full blownly admire this sister in our ward. I caught myself thinking, " I want to be like her when I grow up" and then, for the first time in my life, I realized that I AM grown up. And I had a little freak out.
Blaine also pointed out today that my strong desire to remain youthful crossed into absurdity when the last time I went to the store I bought Teen Spirit deodorant. To me, Teen Spirit, is still the epitome of cool. I mean, who doesn't want to smell like "pink crush" you know? I'd rather that than "powder fresh" or whatever old people deodorant smells like. I can see why Matthew McCounaghey just gave up on the whole thing all together.
Also a couple of months ago when my neighbor came and Mary Kayed me up she was showing me the different products. I was asking her about the moisturizer and cleaning products line that they have targeted for teens. She squinted her eyes, peered into my face and just said, "oh no, you're going to want the anti-aging formula". Anti-aging? Me? What?
Not sure when it happened, but I got old. I know, at twenty six it is not like I am laying on my death bed or anything, but still...I am running out of time to become the person I always thought I would somehow get around to being. I'm not the young mom in the ward anymore. I have a full blown family....soon to be even bigger than it already is. I've got stretchmarks, backaches, a mini-van and I am worried about triglycerides. Lame.
When do you cross the line from every year being excited about getting older to wanting to crawl into a rock at the idea that another year has passed by and you are creeping closer and closer to being a certain age that you distinctly remember thinking was really really old when you were younger. Thi....thir.....thirty. I can't even say it, it's disgraceful.
My mom had me when she was thirty eight and I remember feeling like I had the most ancient mother around (she will, no doubt, agree as I was quite vocal about the whole thing), but really, now I find myself arguing that thirty eight....wow, that's pretty young! You know? Definitely still in the prime of life.
Anyway. I'm getting older. I'm not who I want to be yet and all of the sudden I feel like I am running out of time. When am I going to learn to paint the walls in my house? To spend hours and hours volunteering? To go to Hawaii? And most importantly - to be someone that someone looks up to?
Well, until I can sort this all out I am going to continue wearing Teen Spirit, being the silly one at Young Women's, dancing to the HSM soundtrack and so on. And in the meantime, if you have any good ideas for a fast track to becoming someone really amazing, please let me know.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Nostalgia
It's hard to imagine that today is the one year anniversary of this little incident. To celebrate the droll and uneventful nature of Black Friday 2008 we decided to go and visit the botanical gardens at zilker park. It was the perfect day, nice cool breeze beautiful fall leaves, etc. We had an incredible time! Who knew that botanical gardens could be so fun, and so....free! We saw an herb garden, cactus garden, prehistoric garden, green garden, rose garden and best of all an Oriental garden, which was our favorite. There were lots of waterfalls and stone/bamboo bridges, and quaint little stone paths. The very best part were the ponds full of huge gold fish. I am talking HUGE goldfish. Probably there is another name that they are called, but they looked like big gold fish. And they had little stepping stones going around and through the pond that you could walk on. It was terribly fun. Especially for Gwen. Until she fell in the gold fish pond. And so the Black Friday disaster of 08 began. And really that's where it ends, but falling into a pond with fish the size of yourself is pretty traumatic for a four year old!
*Note: these are not my children. I just found this picture on the internet (it is the same area where Gwen fell in though, but unfortunately we did not take our camera, or video camera, on this excursion).
*Note: these are not my children. I just found this picture on the internet (it is the same area where Gwen fell in though, but unfortunately we did not take our camera, or video camera, on this excursion).
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Gratitude
Of course there are many things to be thankful for today. You know all the regulars; family, food, shelter, clothing, religion, and so on. I thought you might to hear something that I was the most grateful for last night at 6:55PM. The girl working at PaPa Murphy's.
I don't know why it didn't occur to me that 6:00PM on the night before Thanksgiving is not the best time to go to the grocery store. I could have gone anytime during that day. Instead I spent a lot of time trying to beat Robin's Word Twist score, and some time cleaning up, etc. Both things that could have been done in the same amount of time later in the evening. However, I made the decision to go to HEB and I had the brilliant idea to stop at Papa Murphy's for a pizza to take home for dinner.
I think I wound up parking further away from the store than it would have been if I would have just walked from my house. That presented a problem since I had to hold Bentley in one arm and hold Gwen's hand in the other. Not only did it leave no hands available to carry my reusable grocery bags (one of which is my makeshift purse ever since "the incident" which involved applesauce and an explosion in my previous diaper bag), but I was also parked so far away that there were no carts in site.
Anyway I exacerbatedly huffed and puffed my way towards the store and stopped in Papa Murphy's. The time was 6:20PM. I ordered my pizza and asked if I could just pick it up when I was done shopping; she said yes but as I was leaving out the door she hollered, "oh be sure you're back by 7:00PM because that's when we close". Awesome. I was banking on standing in line for an hour based on the sheer number of cars in the parking lot.
Amazingly enough I survived the store. I was nearly annihilated in the dessert aisle (who knew chocolate pudding was such a hot commodity for Thanksgiving!), when I had to do a u-turn in my cart....there were about fifty really angry people ready to mob me when I pulled that little number! I finally made my way back to Papa Murphy's and stewed about leaving my groceries and children (now I had a cart, a very full cart) while I went in to get my pizza. Otherwise I would have to unload the kids, and leave my precious Thanksgiving fare outside where it could get snitched.
And just as an aside, it is never a good idea, but particularly when you are pregnant, to think before you go to the store, "Oh, I don't want to go the restroom now, I bet if I have to go it will help me to be fast in the store. Surely I will make it back in time". Anyway. Yeah.
The girl who had taken my order spotted me outside and brought me my pizza. It was a small thing to do. She probably thought nothing of it. But it meant a lot to me! Seriously I was singing her praises all night long.
You should really do nice things for pregnant people or people who have lots of kids, or even just people who look like they really need to go to the bathroom and still have a six mile walk till they get to their car.
Thank you Papa Murphy's employee. You're a rockstar.
I don't know why it didn't occur to me that 6:00PM on the night before Thanksgiving is not the best time to go to the grocery store. I could have gone anytime during that day. Instead I spent a lot of time trying to beat Robin's Word Twist score, and some time cleaning up, etc. Both things that could have been done in the same amount of time later in the evening. However, I made the decision to go to HEB and I had the brilliant idea to stop at Papa Murphy's for a pizza to take home for dinner.
I think I wound up parking further away from the store than it would have been if I would have just walked from my house. That presented a problem since I had to hold Bentley in one arm and hold Gwen's hand in the other. Not only did it leave no hands available to carry my reusable grocery bags (one of which is my makeshift purse ever since "the incident" which involved applesauce and an explosion in my previous diaper bag), but I was also parked so far away that there were no carts in site.
Anyway I exacerbatedly huffed and puffed my way towards the store and stopped in Papa Murphy's. The time was 6:20PM. I ordered my pizza and asked if I could just pick it up when I was done shopping; she said yes but as I was leaving out the door she hollered, "oh be sure you're back by 7:00PM because that's when we close". Awesome. I was banking on standing in line for an hour based on the sheer number of cars in the parking lot.
Amazingly enough I survived the store. I was nearly annihilated in the dessert aisle (who knew chocolate pudding was such a hot commodity for Thanksgiving!), when I had to do a u-turn in my cart....there were about fifty really angry people ready to mob me when I pulled that little number! I finally made my way back to Papa Murphy's and stewed about leaving my groceries and children (now I had a cart, a very full cart) while I went in to get my pizza. Otherwise I would have to unload the kids, and leave my precious Thanksgiving fare outside where it could get snitched.
And just as an aside, it is never a good idea, but particularly when you are pregnant, to think before you go to the store, "Oh, I don't want to go the restroom now, I bet if I have to go it will help me to be fast in the store. Surely I will make it back in time". Anyway. Yeah.
The girl who had taken my order spotted me outside and brought me my pizza. It was a small thing to do. She probably thought nothing of it. But it meant a lot to me! Seriously I was singing her praises all night long.
You should really do nice things for pregnant people or people who have lots of kids, or even just people who look like they really need to go to the bathroom and still have a six mile walk till they get to their car.
Thank you Papa Murphy's employee. You're a rockstar.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hardy har har
Gwen: Mom, do you have a twentysixhead?
Me: A twentysixhead? Uh, I don't think so.
Gwen: Yes you do because I have a forehead, because I am four. For year old heads are called foreheads, so you have a twentysixhead.
Nice.
Me: A twentysixhead? Uh, I don't think so.
Gwen: Yes you do because I have a forehead, because I am four. For year old heads are called foreheads, so you have a twentysixhead.
Nice.
Monday, November 24, 2008
My name is Kristi
and I am a recovering sodapopaholic. It's been about one month since my last drink. With only three little "incidents" that I think were totally justifiable (#1- I was at a party and they had a slushy sherbety gingerale-y kind of thing and I didn't even associate that with pop until I had had a couple glasses. Whoops. #2- a few innocent sips of Gwen's sprite one night while out to dinner and #3 the day I took the dogs to the vet I stopped at Sonic and got an extra large cherry coke. Don't ask). But really coming from someone who used to stop at Happy hour at sonic about three or four times a week.... it's really kind of saying something. And I went to enrichment and they had free Dr. Pepper there. And we went to Sheyenne's house and she had ice cold Pepsi there. And, so many times I have held so strong. Go ahead. Tell me how awesome I am. Or not. Whatever, but I am a teeny bit proud of myself! Oh yeah.
P.S. I can't wait for our drive to Utah because the one "exception" to the "no pop" rule is on long car trips, as in longer than five hours. So, that will be fun ; )
P.S. I can't wait for our drive to Utah because the one "exception" to the "no pop" rule is on long car trips, as in longer than five hours. So, that will be fun ; )
Cruel and unusual
Last night Blaine and I were sitting and talking on the couch. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a monstrous dark mysterious thing over on the kitchen wall. I thought it was probably a killer tarantula or something. I walked over to find out it was a wasp. Seriously, aren't they all supposed to be dead by now or hibernating or just....elsewhere? (speaking of, I should do an entire post about "things that can sting" in Texas, did you know there are like seven hundred types of wasps and all of them are indigenous to Austin, TX? Seriously. Red wasps and black wasps are huge and mean and scarier than anything anyone who has lived in Utah has ever seen. Swear.)
So my valiant husband went on a wasp hunt. It took about five minutes of chasing it and swatting at it and girlish screams (I'm not saying whether they came from me or him), but finally the darn thing wound up in the sink, we turned on the water and the disposal and that was that. Except that wasn't that. Blaine felt so guilty killing it in such a ruthless way since it never did anything to us. Seriously? And then he went off on some kick about how the disposaled wasp would be waiting to torture him when he died and that made him nervous. Really nervous.
And that is when I reminded him that he sprayed pest control for a living for two years (or was it three?). And then we tried to grasp the sheer number of bees, wasps, and other creepy crawly things that would be waiting for him.
And for the first time I thought, maybe it's okay if we don't die at like the exact same second. Maybe Blaine needs like a ten minute head start. Because, ewwwwwwwwww.
So my valiant husband went on a wasp hunt. It took about five minutes of chasing it and swatting at it and girlish screams (I'm not saying whether they came from me or him), but finally the darn thing wound up in the sink, we turned on the water and the disposal and that was that. Except that wasn't that. Blaine felt so guilty killing it in such a ruthless way since it never did anything to us. Seriously? And then he went off on some kick about how the disposaled wasp would be waiting to torture him when he died and that made him nervous. Really nervous.
And that is when I reminded him that he sprayed pest control for a living for two years (or was it three?). And then we tried to grasp the sheer number of bees, wasps, and other creepy crawly things that would be waiting for him.
And for the first time I thought, maybe it's okay if we don't die at like the exact same second. Maybe Blaine needs like a ten minute head start. Because, ewwwwwwwwww.
Friday, November 21, 2008
What color hair does the milkman have?
Do you ever say something and then pause and then realize what you said came out totally different from what you meant.
Say you were talking to your neighbor about your sons abnormally large head. He happens to mention that he also has a large head. So you say something to the effect of, "Yeah, I should just tell the doctor....look, his sister has a big head she is fine, I have a big head and I'm fine, and the guy across the street has a big head too and he's fine. " and then you stop and think. Then you realize the implications of what you just said. And you don't know if it is better to acknowledge that the words came out horribly wrong or to just simply walk away and pretend you didn't notice what you said.
Blaine has a really big head, for what it's worth. And I am faithful and true to that big noggin.
Say you were talking to your neighbor about your sons abnormally large head. He happens to mention that he also has a large head. So you say something to the effect of, "Yeah, I should just tell the doctor....look, his sister has a big head she is fine, I have a big head and I'm fine, and the guy across the street has a big head too and he's fine. " and then you stop and think. Then you realize the implications of what you just said. And you don't know if it is better to acknowledge that the words came out horribly wrong or to just simply walk away and pretend you didn't notice what you said.
Blaine has a really big head, for what it's worth. And I am faithful and true to that big noggin.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
You've been waiting.
You've been waiting for a funny post, I can understand it and appreciate. All you get for your waiting though are shameless ebates plugs and now me presenting you with my current dilemma. Sorry about that. So, all I want for Christmas is new bedding. Love my bed, hate the bedding, my quilt like doesn't even cover the whole top of the bed and looks really silly. So I've been stewing about it. Should I do a duvet? I don't even really get what that is. So it's just like a cover that you stick a comforter in but it's cool because you can wash it, right? Do I just do a plain old comforter? Quilt? I'm at a total loss. Keep in mind I live in Texas, the land of 150 days straight of temperatures over 100. What's the best choice for that?
I've been looking at this little number
in the chocolate brown. I have chocolate brown curtains and light light brown paint in my bedroom. No actual headboard color to worry about. Gotta save my pennies for that one for a while.
What do you think? What do you have on your bed? Where did you get it? Do you like it?
Also. Bentley is getting a CT scan today. Merry Christmas Bentley. And I hope that it all goes well.
And also our garage door broke. Who plans for expenses like that? $700 for a new garage? I'll just park outside thank you very much.
I've been looking at this little number
in the chocolate brown. I have chocolate brown curtains and light light brown paint in my bedroom. No actual headboard color to worry about. Gotta save my pennies for that one for a while.
What do you think? What do you have on your bed? Where did you get it? Do you like it?
Also. Bentley is getting a CT scan today. Merry Christmas Bentley. And I hope that it all goes well.
And also our garage door broke. Who plans for expenses like that? $700 for a new garage? I'll just park outside thank you very much.
It's that time again...
The time when I casually remind you that if you haven't signed up for ebates, you are missing out on one of the best things ever. I just got a check for $44 for simply helping a good friend book a hotel on priceline and other misc. purchases I made online. Hello, that's 44 frostys. It's an especially wise idea today because you would get $10 just for signing up and I would get $15, and that would make me like you even more than I already do.
Also it is an EXTRA good idea today because www.restaurant.com is having an 80% off sale, with the coupon code "surprise". And if you click on restuarant.com from ebates you get 15% cash back (not to mention the $10 for signing up). So really you can get a $25 gift cirtificate today for $2 with the coupon code, plus you are getting 15% back, so that is $ 0.30, so really it's only $1.70. Hello Christmas shopping. Then if you count the free $10, then it is like they are paying YOU $8.30. Tis the season folks. Tis the season.
SIGN UP HERE
Now, I've used up my shameless plug for this quarter. See you next time!
Also it is an EXTRA good idea today because www.restaurant.com is having an 80% off sale, with the coupon code "surprise". And if you click on restuarant.com from ebates you get 15% cash back (not to mention the $10 for signing up). So really you can get a $25 gift cirtificate today for $2 with the coupon code, plus you are getting 15% back, so that is $ 0.30, so really it's only $1.70. Hello Christmas shopping. Then if you count the free $10, then it is like they are paying YOU $8.30. Tis the season folks. Tis the season.
SIGN UP HERE
Now, I've used up my shameless plug for this quarter. See you next time!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hypothetical...
So, say you're at the grocery store. It was hard to get there, what with the children and all, but you finally made it. You didn't take a list, because you're an idiot, but you're pretty sure you have everything you need to make some good meals for your meal deprived family (Cheerios, anyone?). So you are at the cash register loading your groceries onto the conveyor belt and as you lift your bag of bakery fresh rolls they all tumble out onto the floor. The Wal-Mart floor.
Do you
1- stick them on top of the candybars and pretend they're not yours.
2- buy them and throw them away later, it's not like you can just wash them off. You can't wash bread you know.
3- buy them and eat them later, because really, it's not like you are going to make it to the store again today before you make your french dip sandwiches and that roast in the fridge isn't getting any younger.
4- pretend you don't notice and carry on, leaving the rolls on the floor
5- give them to the cashier and ask for him to have someone get you new ones.
I know this may not be a dilemma to some of you, but just perchance it ever comes up, I am curious what you would do.
I bought the rolls and now am in a raging moral debate about if I can still use them. Logic tells me I shouldn't but my craving for AuJus sandwiches tells me I can suck it up and deal with it. Thirty second rule, right?
Do you
1- stick them on top of the candybars and pretend they're not yours.
2- buy them and throw them away later, it's not like you can just wash them off. You can't wash bread you know.
3- buy them and eat them later, because really, it's not like you are going to make it to the store again today before you make your french dip sandwiches and that roast in the fridge isn't getting any younger.
4- pretend you don't notice and carry on, leaving the rolls on the floor
5- give them to the cashier and ask for him to have someone get you new ones.
I know this may not be a dilemma to some of you, but just perchance it ever comes up, I am curious what you would do.
I bought the rolls and now am in a raging moral debate about if I can still use them. Logic tells me I shouldn't but my craving for AuJus sandwiches tells me I can suck it up and deal with it. Thirty second rule, right?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thanks and Whoops
Dear Person Who Left a Big Bag of Cute Clothes on my Doorstep:
Thank you. You're awesome. Seriously. Wish I knew who you were.
Warmest Regards,
Kristi (and Bentley)
So, I chopped off Gwen's hair today. YIKES!
Thank you. You're awesome. Seriously. Wish I knew who you were.
Warmest Regards,
Kristi (and Bentley)
So, I chopped off Gwen's hair today. YIKES!
Friday, November 14, 2008
The names blonde, really blonde......
So a long time ago in the midst of a little quarter life crisis I submitted my picture to www.hairthursday.com. It was a while ago, but I finally got posted and she thinks I should look like one of these people (but younger, obviously) (and I should probably not wear such revealing dresses). So, go to hairthursday.com and vote, or you could just tell me. She didn't really make it clear whether or not she thought the style would look good on me or just the color. Either way, I guess I have always been wrong thinking I look better with darker hair eh?
Oh and um, don't you think I chose the best picture of me ever to submit. "oily at the roots". Pssh. Whatever. Bentley hadn't slept in like six months and I probably hadn't showered in six days. I wanted to look extra desperate so she would feel obligated to save me : )
Oh and um, don't you think I chose the best picture of me ever to submit. "oily at the roots". Pssh. Whatever. Bentley hadn't slept in like six months and I probably hadn't showered in six days. I wanted to look extra desperate so she would feel obligated to save me : )
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I love MAM
I just got my new issue of Mormon Artist Magazine.....what? You've never heard of it? Well....check out this article!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Deafening
Remember how the blog all started? You may have noticed an absence of posts from my blog for the last couple of weeks, and most of it has to do with the fact that I am not as well humored as I was when I started the blog over a year ago. I pride myself in not taking myself too seriously. I like to laugh at the stupid things that I do , and pride myself in being able to find the funny in even the most trying of circumstances. And that, my friends, is why I haven't written a blog post. I can't find the funny.... I can tell that it would be funny but I think the hormones of pregnancy are messing with whatever part of my brain thinks public humiliation is funny.
It all started with my most recent run in with the law. The children and I were napping and someone rang the doorbell. Since I think people who ring the doorbell when they know you have napping age children should have their eyebrows plucked hair by hair, I was upset. So I didn't answer the door. Figured it was just a neighbor kid. So Blaine comes home a couple of hours later and as he enters the door asks... "um, did someone ring the doorbell at like 3 o'clock" to which I responded, "yeah, dang neighbors". To which he replied with a nervous chuckle, "try dang POLICEMAN". Yabbity whobity whatty? Police? So I am thinking maybe they want to ask me about suspicious characters seen traipsing about the neighborhood or something. Nope. They were coming to give me a $500 fine because me dogs were barking. In the middle of the day. Whilst I was hosting a visiting teaching lunch.
Have I mentioned that I have this lovely saying crocheted and hanging above my fireplace...
Need another example? I volunteered to decorate some cupcakes for our neighborhood HOA party the day prior to the aforementioned run in with the law. Blaine and I stayed up late and made some cool looking cupcakes (I use the word "cool" very loosely here). When we finally finished, near midnight, I packed up all of the supplies and put them in a grocery bag on my table. My friend came to pick them up the next day......and lo and behold, I guess the BLACK food coloring lid wasn't on tight because now my table looks like this....
Luckily after like a thousand attempts to get it off it's green instead of black, right? Hmm. I love how I do stuff like this when my mother-in-law is about to visit (you all remember the door, right?). Anyway, so I have two cases in which charity will faileth you. (Don't think I am a sacrilege, I know that overall in the giant scheme of things a charitable attitude is the way to go----someone want to donate a nice big kitchen table to me?)
So those incidents were fresh on my mind the other day when I took the numbskulls to get their shots. The numbskull dogs, not my children, still love them ; ). Since they chew through their leashes half the time and the other half run so hard against me that their leashes just break apart....I only had one leash, which had been broken and tied back together two times, with which to take them to the vet. I gathered up my courage and happy attitude and sang praises to my van on the whole thirty minute drive to the vet. I had both children, the sun was shining. Life was great.
So I get Bentley in the stroller, grab Gwen by one hand and had both dogs attached helter skelter to one leash. As I approach the vets door Swiper pulls a fast one on me and runs out onto the highway. Nice. Which leaves me with one dog on a leash trying his darndest to follow his brother and two children who will be squished by the door if I let go. And a big fat huge pregnant belly, which just complicates things and makes me look like a woman who has bitten off WAY more than she can chew. Some nice old lady attempts to come help me at which point Boots jumps into protective dog mode and like tries to attack her. I finally push my children to her and run and catch my dog...just in time for Boots to snap free. "Everyone look at that pregnant lady chase her two dogs! Someone get a video camera". I finally round them up and of course there are like a megazillion humongous dogs sitting in the vets office, so my dogs are on the defensive and bark their heads off. Nonstop. I try to smile and crack jokes, but it gets harder as people scoot away from me and roll their eyes and whisper to the person next to them all too loudly.
I wanted to stand up on the bench and shout "I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!" I know I am pregnant and that I have no control over anything or anyone in my life, but quit making me feel bad. I am excited about the baby and I already love her but man I HATE the looks people give me just for being pregnant with two little ones in tow. I can't blame the people who gave me weird looks for having two children and two dogs. My kids though, are really really well behaved. They were playing and laughing at the vets office, even making me smile, but others were just annoyed at my presence.
Anyway, TWO hours later. Not kidding. They called me back. Two full hours of barking. Back in the tiny waiting room the dogs stopped barking and started pooping. And Bentley decided it was his nap time so commenced screaming his head off. We were covered in dog hair since Gwen thought it was a good idea to lay on the floor of the vets office. I finally calmed Bentley down with a sucker, which he stuck IN HIS HAIR. And thirty minutes later the tears just started to flow. Screaming kids, barking pooping dogs, fatigue. I wanted to just leave and go back to junior high, eat a hostess cupcake and hop in bed and have someone take care of me. Then the vet walked in..."oh boy looks like you have your hands full today, can I give them a sucker"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO! NO YOU CANNOT GIVE THEM A SUCKER"
"really they can have one" he chortled
"They've had ten thousand suckers since we have been here three hours and they are sticking them in their hair and dropping them on your dog hair covered floor and then eating them again. Give my dogs their shots and let me leave!"
SCREAM
I think the main problem was that I was really worried about Blaine. See he went to the doctors like two weeks ago for a physical. They said that they would call if there was anything to worry about, but to just expect a letter if everything was fine. Weeks passed and finally I had gotten a letter. It sat on the counter for a couple of days and I had opened it just before leaving for the vet. "URGENT, we have been trying to contact you! Please call our office immediately". Oh. My. Gosh. Blaine is going to die! And he is going to leave me with three children and two dogs. I was pretty sure Blaine was going to be diagnosed with some rare disease and they wouldn't talk to me over the phone so Blaine had to actually call in and he was in classes all day and....
SCREAM.
Turns out he has high triglycerides. It makes you feel fantastic when your one job in life is to feed your family and it turns out you are killing them by feeding them too much fat.
Could not find the funny folks. So I apologize for lack of blog posting. I really didn't want to write this unfunny, poor poor me post. I know things could be worse. I really do. And I think that is why I feel so guilty feeling like I had a bad week, or day even, because really I have a great life. So I should be able to find the funny. And I will. I will find the funny and I will post about it later. I just wanted to explain my absence.
You know what is extra sad? We ran into the Wilkinson family (who has quintuplets) on Halloween and I totally wanted a picture of them with Bentley, so I asked and Rachel (the mom) was so nice and then we talked for a minute and I actually, sit down, found myself complaining to the mother of quintuplets. Are you kidding me? Wow.
And shush, I know it's a weird costume, but it was $2 at a garage sale. Zip it.
Anyway, funny blog post coming. I will find the funny. That's my new motto.
It all started with my most recent run in with the law. The children and I were napping and someone rang the doorbell. Since I think people who ring the doorbell when they know you have napping age children should have their eyebrows plucked hair by hair, I was upset. So I didn't answer the door. Figured it was just a neighbor kid. So Blaine comes home a couple of hours later and as he enters the door asks... "um, did someone ring the doorbell at like 3 o'clock" to which I responded, "yeah, dang neighbors". To which he replied with a nervous chuckle, "try dang POLICEMAN". Yabbity whobity whatty? Police? So I am thinking maybe they want to ask me about suspicious characters seen traipsing about the neighborhood or something. Nope. They were coming to give me a $500 fine because me dogs were barking. In the middle of the day. Whilst I was hosting a visiting teaching lunch.
Have I mentioned that I have this lovely saying crocheted and hanging above my fireplace...
Need another example? I volunteered to decorate some cupcakes for our neighborhood HOA party the day prior to the aforementioned run in with the law. Blaine and I stayed up late and made some cool looking cupcakes (I use the word "cool" very loosely here). When we finally finished, near midnight, I packed up all of the supplies and put them in a grocery bag on my table. My friend came to pick them up the next day......and lo and behold, I guess the BLACK food coloring lid wasn't on tight because now my table looks like this....
Luckily after like a thousand attempts to get it off it's green instead of black, right? Hmm. I love how I do stuff like this when my mother-in-law is about to visit (you all remember the door, right?). Anyway, so I have two cases in which charity will faileth you. (Don't think I am a sacrilege, I know that overall in the giant scheme of things a charitable attitude is the way to go----someone want to donate a nice big kitchen table to me?)
So those incidents were fresh on my mind the other day when I took the numbskulls to get their shots. The numbskull dogs, not my children, still love them ; ). Since they chew through their leashes half the time and the other half run so hard against me that their leashes just break apart....I only had one leash, which had been broken and tied back together two times, with which to take them to the vet. I gathered up my courage and happy attitude and sang praises to my van on the whole thirty minute drive to the vet. I had both children, the sun was shining. Life was great.
So I get Bentley in the stroller, grab Gwen by one hand and had both dogs attached helter skelter to one leash. As I approach the vets door Swiper pulls a fast one on me and runs out onto the highway. Nice. Which leaves me with one dog on a leash trying his darndest to follow his brother and two children who will be squished by the door if I let go. And a big fat huge pregnant belly, which just complicates things and makes me look like a woman who has bitten off WAY more than she can chew. Some nice old lady attempts to come help me at which point Boots jumps into protective dog mode and like tries to attack her. I finally push my children to her and run and catch my dog...just in time for Boots to snap free. "Everyone look at that pregnant lady chase her two dogs! Someone get a video camera". I finally round them up and of course there are like a megazillion humongous dogs sitting in the vets office, so my dogs are on the defensive and bark their heads off. Nonstop. I try to smile and crack jokes, but it gets harder as people scoot away from me and roll their eyes and whisper to the person next to them all too loudly.
I wanted to stand up on the bench and shout "I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!" I know I am pregnant and that I have no control over anything or anyone in my life, but quit making me feel bad. I am excited about the baby and I already love her but man I HATE the looks people give me just for being pregnant with two little ones in tow. I can't blame the people who gave me weird looks for having two children and two dogs. My kids though, are really really well behaved. They were playing and laughing at the vets office, even making me smile, but others were just annoyed at my presence.
Anyway, TWO hours later. Not kidding. They called me back. Two full hours of barking. Back in the tiny waiting room the dogs stopped barking and started pooping. And Bentley decided it was his nap time so commenced screaming his head off. We were covered in dog hair since Gwen thought it was a good idea to lay on the floor of the vets office. I finally calmed Bentley down with a sucker, which he stuck IN HIS HAIR. And thirty minutes later the tears just started to flow. Screaming kids, barking pooping dogs, fatigue. I wanted to just leave and go back to junior high, eat a hostess cupcake and hop in bed and have someone take care of me. Then the vet walked in..."oh boy looks like you have your hands full today, can I give them a sucker"
"NOOOOOOOOOOO! NO YOU CANNOT GIVE THEM A SUCKER"
"really they can have one" he chortled
"They've had ten thousand suckers since we have been here three hours and they are sticking them in their hair and dropping them on your dog hair covered floor and then eating them again. Give my dogs their shots and let me leave!"
SCREAM
I think the main problem was that I was really worried about Blaine. See he went to the doctors like two weeks ago for a physical. They said that they would call if there was anything to worry about, but to just expect a letter if everything was fine. Weeks passed and finally I had gotten a letter. It sat on the counter for a couple of days and I had opened it just before leaving for the vet. "URGENT, we have been trying to contact you! Please call our office immediately". Oh. My. Gosh. Blaine is going to die! And he is going to leave me with three children and two dogs. I was pretty sure Blaine was going to be diagnosed with some rare disease and they wouldn't talk to me over the phone so Blaine had to actually call in and he was in classes all day and....
SCREAM.
Turns out he has high triglycerides. It makes you feel fantastic when your one job in life is to feed your family and it turns out you are killing them by feeding them too much fat.
Could not find the funny folks. So I apologize for lack of blog posting. I really didn't want to write this unfunny, poor poor me post. I know things could be worse. I really do. And I think that is why I feel so guilty feeling like I had a bad week, or day even, because really I have a great life. So I should be able to find the funny. And I will. I will find the funny and I will post about it later. I just wanted to explain my absence.
You know what is extra sad? We ran into the Wilkinson family (who has quintuplets) on Halloween and I totally wanted a picture of them with Bentley, so I asked and Rachel (the mom) was so nice and then we talked for a minute and I actually, sit down, found myself complaining to the mother of quintuplets. Are you kidding me? Wow.
And shush, I know it's a weird costume, but it was $2 at a garage sale. Zip it.
Anyway, funny blog post coming. I will find the funny. That's my new motto.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Love
My sister is 14 years older than me. So I never knew the joys of being chokeholded by her for photos. It seems like it would have been really fun though. Kill him with kindness Gwen, kill him with kindness.
Runaway Social Sausage!
Okay folks we have the opportunity of a lifetime here. Apparently Blaine's work is having a 5k tomorrow that you have to be wearing your Halloween costume to participate in....and am I the only one who thinks it would rock the casbah to have the "social sausage" running through the streets of Austin? Blaine joked about it this morning but I told him if I got a petition with twenty five signatures requesting the sausages appearance that he would have to do it. At first I was going to give you all his work e-mail address so we could innundate his e-mail with friendly requests but then I thought that one through and decided it's a no go. So please please, leave a comment requesting (demanding) that he participate, for the good of the blog. He checks the blog daily and surely he would not want to disappoint all of my avid readers (*crickets chirping*).
Thanks!
Thanks!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Fe Fi Faux Pas
We had the opportunity to be hosts for Blaine's employer this weekend. This involves taking potential employees out and around town and to dinner etc. It's extra fun when the recruit has a wife because I get to be in on all of the action. So we were all at this nice dinner on Friday night and I was kind of situated in a weird spot right in the middle of the two tables in our group. I was going back and forth between conversations and trying to be socially delightful (which is hard for someone who's social calendar is full of things like going to Chick-fil-a and wiping snot off of children's faces during dinner). I was in a conversation on the one table and then overheard someone on the other table say, "I don't like pop". I thought, well now, that's a shame. I love pop. I should really say something in defense of pop. So I leaned over and like a drunkerd said, a little too loudly and robustly, "Well? Have you ever tried Cherry Coke??" the conversation halted like, instantaneously and Blaine, who had been involved in the conversation, looked at me like I was insane. Then after a minute, I was like "well? Have ya?" and the guy responded with saying something like, "I said I don't like hip hop". Awkward. They were totally talking about music and I totally halted two separate conversations to blurt out random comments about caffeinated beverages at a table full of BYU people. Awesome. Blaine said this might be the last time I get to "help" him with his job. If he still has a job.
.
.
A Case Study
I was able to teach the Young Women's lesson in our ward today. I hate teaching. I am not good at it (don't you dare say I am, it's okay to not be good at somethings, and it's okay to admit it and even embrace it : ). Anyway though I had a busy week I spent a lot of time thinking about and preparing the lesson. It was such a pity when I left my lesson at home. You can't tell me a good teacher does that! Luckily I did remember to bring all of my visual aids and I was able to remember most of what I wanted to talk about. I prepared a "case study" for my lesson that I thought you might enjoy... feel free to take the test and I will post the answers later...
Case Study #1
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Also, it took me printing this out THREE times before I made sure it said "Tessab" every time. Which reminds me, for my entire marriage (going on six years now), I have always said my name "Bassett, you know, like the dog", and I just found out like six months ago that "Bassett" like the dog is really "Basset". Whoops.
Case Study #1
Sister Tessab* is going to be teaching a Young Woman’s lesson on health habits on Sunday. She knows a lot about health and nutrition, though she doesn’t always put her knowledge to practice. In honor of her giving this lesson on Sunday Sister Tessab tried to be extra careful with her eating habits during the week. Newg, her daughter, turned four on Thursday and Sister Tessab bought the family a pizza to celebrate. Knowing that pizza has lots of calories, Sister Tessab choose the Veggie pizza and only ate two pieces (instead of the three that she wanted), and then had two cupcakes for dessert (they were small cupcakes after all). Later she researched just how many calories she had eaten. It turns out that each slice of pizza had 350 calories! That’s 700 calories of pizza , and each cupcake had 150 calories, that is 300 calories of cupcakes. That is a total of 1000 calories! How long will sister Tessab have to exercise to work off this simple meal that took her only twenty minutes to consume?
Walking her dog __________________
Playing Volleyball ____________________
Swimming Laps ______________________
Playing the accordion __________________
Running ___________________
Oh wait! Sister Tessab, due to excruciating lower back pain (due to being pregnant), doesn’t do any of those things! How long will it take her to work of the calories by….
Sweeping the floor __________________
Washing the dishes __________________
Vacuuming _________________________
Ironing __________________________
*Names have been changed.
---------
Also, it took me printing this out THREE times before I made sure it said "Tessab" every time. Which reminds me, for my entire marriage (going on six years now), I have always said my name "Bassett, you know, like the dog", and I just found out like six months ago that "Bassett" like the dog is really "Basset". Whoops.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
My day.
Gwen turned four.
Gwen threw up.
I threw up.
Some birthday.
(however, it must be said, that life as a working person as opposed to a student person is much more friendly to sickness. Blaine was able to stay home and help us all day and it was so nice. He even shampooed the carpets. Which were in desperate need, for obvious reasons).
Gwen threw up.
I threw up.
Some birthday.
(however, it must be said, that life as a working person as opposed to a student person is much more friendly to sickness. Blaine was able to stay home and help us all day and it was so nice. He even shampooed the carpets. Which were in desperate need, for obvious reasons).
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The truth comes out....
I'm here to tell you, I LOVE MY DOGS. I know, you're thinking no, you don't. I am an avid blog reader and one of every five entries is about how much you DISlike your dogs. Well, friends, I love them. Here are some of the many, many, MANY reasons I do.
*They don't shed. Really they don't. There isn't dog hair stuck on my couch, on my floor or anywhere. They don't shed.
* They clean up the floor. Seriously. When you weigh a million and three pounds it's hard to bend over to clean up messes left by a certain male child who has no problem flinging his steamed peas across the kitchen if they aren't cooked to his satisfaction. With Swiper and Boots around all we have to do is invite them in to clean up after Bentley has eaten and whalaaaa, sparkling clean floors. Sanitary? Maybe not, but clean, yes.
* They're funny to watch. Really. Swiper tries to bury his bones in my couch. Not like rip up the couch but he shoves his bone in the crevice between cushions. Funny.
* They are gentle with the children. Bentley can pull on Boots beard. Gwen can dress them up like baby dolls and they take it all in stride. Nary a growl to be heard.
* When they run away they *usually* come back all on their own with little or no effort on my part.
* FREE security system. Could any bad guy penetrate the fortress of security that is Swiper and Boots. Not likely my friends, not likely.
* They love us. For how much we used to talk about selling them, they sure do forgive quickly.
*When Bentley decided he didn't like the expensive baby meat sticks I bought him, the dogs came to the rescue by deeming me a superhero every time I gave them one.
Moral of the story? You want to watch my dogs while we go to Utah for Christmas. Really, you'd love it. We can't afford a kennel and both of our parents were less than thrilled at the idea of having house guests with four legs. Blaine suggested that perhaps the reason no one wants to take in our boarders is that I only say negative things about them on the blog, and I thought...true. So here's saying. LOVE the dogs. *You* would love the dogs. I know it.
True Friend
I've dedicated entire posts to how much I love Laurs before. So I'll try to keep it short and just say that a true friend is one who will send you a picture like this . . . .
at a time when she knows you feel like you look like this.....
Thanks Laurs. I feel inspired to grow out my hair. The funny thing is, I know that for my entire life I never felt pretty. Oh man if I would have known how cute I really was : )
at a time when she knows you feel like you look like this.....
Thanks Laurs. I feel inspired to grow out my hair. The funny thing is, I know that for my entire life I never felt pretty. Oh man if I would have known how cute I really was : )
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The most wonderful time of the year...
My favorite thing about Halloween (besides the candy) is that I get to pull out this picture....
and remind myself how awesome I am that I have a husband that once made a polish sausage costume out of grocery bags.
Now that's creative!
and remind myself how awesome I am that I have a husband that once made a polish sausage costume out of grocery bags.
Now that's creative!
Would it smell as sweet?
Meet Adilyn Paige Bassett. Isn't she lovely?
You may know her as Gwen Genessy Bassett...(don't ask what happened to the mop of black hair, I'm not quite sure...)
But see, she was "Adi" all the way up until the day she was born. I have video to prove it. I have doodles to prove it. But she just....wasn't Adi. We didn't want her to be in a long line of "Abby"s and "Maddi"s etc. So we tried to come up with something a little less common right at the last minute, quite literally. And I couldn't be more pleased. I love the name Gwen, and I love who she is named after, and I LOVE the response I get when I tell people her name.
So that is why I don't name my kids in utero. Because then they might come out and be something else and it throws everyone off. My mother, on more than one occasion, referred to newborn baby Gwen as "Adi" and who could blame her, we had been calling her that for months.
So, it isn't that I am afraid that you will steal our favorite name. In my opinion, names are public domain. If you feel like your kid needs to be named Gwen, and your other kid needs to be named Bentley, that is fine by me! Even if you were my sibling and you used the same name, no offense taken. Seriously. I don't know why it is such a big deal, someone somewhere, no matter how creative your parents are, will have your same name. It's okay.
The reason I don't really like to tell people the names we are considering is I am afraid I will respond to their reactions. Say there is a name I really like and they really don't like it, it might make me reconsider using it. For example, I really like the name Hugh for a boy, we didn't use it --- partly because of an overwhelmingly negative vibe when I told people about the name. A few months later someone near and dear mentioned they were considering the name. What the? Had I known that someone else in the universe liked the name I may have been more likely to use it.
Anyway, I am kind of stumped with girl names. When I was pregnant with a boy I thought of how easy it would be to name a girl, now I am kind of in a pickle. It definitely is more fun to name a girl, and since this may be our last child, we should really make it count.
So don't tell me if you hate any of these names, but you could tell me like your top three in order from my choices. And maybe put like four stars if you are totally in love with the name. Or if there is some really cool girl name out there that you think I should know about you could list it too. And I might throw in some random names that I don't really like in here, just for kicks. Okay. Here we go....
Ivy
Gretchen
Paige
Marlow
Bailey
Millie (Amelia)
Josie
Bruhmhilda
Lucy
Lydia
Tru
Marla
Top three please...and no sassy remarks ( Ralphie ). Thanks.
You may know her as Gwen Genessy Bassett...(don't ask what happened to the mop of black hair, I'm not quite sure...)
But see, she was "Adi" all the way up until the day she was born. I have video to prove it. I have doodles to prove it. But she just....wasn't Adi. We didn't want her to be in a long line of "Abby"s and "Maddi"s etc. So we tried to come up with something a little less common right at the last minute, quite literally. And I couldn't be more pleased. I love the name Gwen, and I love who she is named after, and I LOVE the response I get when I tell people her name.
So that is why I don't name my kids in utero. Because then they might come out and be something else and it throws everyone off. My mother, on more than one occasion, referred to newborn baby Gwen as "Adi" and who could blame her, we had been calling her that for months.
So, it isn't that I am afraid that you will steal our favorite name. In my opinion, names are public domain. If you feel like your kid needs to be named Gwen, and your other kid needs to be named Bentley, that is fine by me! Even if you were my sibling and you used the same name, no offense taken. Seriously. I don't know why it is such a big deal, someone somewhere, no matter how creative your parents are, will have your same name. It's okay.
The reason I don't really like to tell people the names we are considering is I am afraid I will respond to their reactions. Say there is a name I really like and they really don't like it, it might make me reconsider using it. For example, I really like the name Hugh for a boy, we didn't use it --- partly because of an overwhelmingly negative vibe when I told people about the name. A few months later someone near and dear mentioned they were considering the name. What the? Had I known that someone else in the universe liked the name I may have been more likely to use it.
Anyway, I am kind of stumped with girl names. When I was pregnant with a boy I thought of how easy it would be to name a girl, now I am kind of in a pickle. It definitely is more fun to name a girl, and since this may be our last child, we should really make it count.
So don't tell me if you hate any of these names, but you could tell me like your top three in order from my choices. And maybe put like four stars if you are totally in love with the name. Or if there is some really cool girl name out there that you think I should know about you could list it too. And I might throw in some random names that I don't really like in here, just for kicks. Okay. Here we go....
Ivy
Gretchen
Paige
Marlow
Bailey
Millie (Amelia)
Josie
Bruhmhilda
Lucy
Lydia
Tru
Marla
Top three please...and no sassy remarks ( Ralphie ). Thanks.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Good as dead.
I read an article this morning on "15 surprising reasons you may live longer than you think". I've got news for them, those 15 reasons surprised me, mostly because I didn't qualify for very many. So say your goodbyes and be really nice to me, because I am on a downhill ride my friends. Wouldn't you know I couldn't find the article again when I went looking for it, but here's what I remember.
#1: If you were born before your mom was 25 you are twice as likely to live to 100, did you know that?
My mom was thirty eight. All those prime eggs had been gone for years by the time I made my late entrance. Strike #1. And as a side note, good thing I am getting all of my kids here quick, eh?
#2 You drink red wine and eat lots of blueberries. No to the wine and I don't know that I've ever actually had a blueberry, are they good? I guess I am supposed to be eating a cup a day of them.
#3 You don't drink soda. Whoop-sie. I heart cherry-coke. And Dr. Pepper. And especially Mr. Pibb.
#4 You walk thirty minutes a day. I walk up the stairs and then have to take a thirty minute power nap...so really the whole process takes thirty one minutes, does that count?
Oh man, that's like all I can remember. There were like seven more that were bad. There were a couple that were good though. ..
*If you went to at least one year of college (woohoo!) apparently people who went to one year of school live 18 months longer than those who don't-- so while you feel like you are wasting your life studying, don't worry, you'll get that time back when you are playing bingo in the retirement home, totally worth it!
*If you don't eat a lot of read meat (thank you pregnancy!).
*If you have skinny friends (anyone every seen a picture of Ralphie? Let's just say I call her "Twiggy") . Except I am not 100% sure that my skinny friend one counts because this particular skinny friend has upped by butter consumption by like ten thousand percent since I have known her. So that may be a strike against me.
*Oh and if you were a healthy weight teen. Why yes, I was. Then I got married and that ruined everything (see post:portion distortion).
What was funny was that the last one was that you live longer if you feel good about yourself. I usually do feel pretty good about myself, but I guess reading that article knocked like five years off of my lifespan, thanks a lot!
#1: If you were born before your mom was 25 you are twice as likely to live to 100, did you know that?
My mom was thirty eight. All those prime eggs had been gone for years by the time I made my late entrance. Strike #1. And as a side note, good thing I am getting all of my kids here quick, eh?
#2 You drink red wine and eat lots of blueberries. No to the wine and I don't know that I've ever actually had a blueberry, are they good? I guess I am supposed to be eating a cup a day of them.
#3 You don't drink soda. Whoop-sie. I heart cherry-coke. And Dr. Pepper. And especially Mr. Pibb.
#4 You walk thirty minutes a day. I walk up the stairs and then have to take a thirty minute power nap...so really the whole process takes thirty one minutes, does that count?
Oh man, that's like all I can remember. There were like seven more that were bad. There were a couple that were good though. ..
*If you went to at least one year of college (woohoo!) apparently people who went to one year of school live 18 months longer than those who don't-- so while you feel like you are wasting your life studying, don't worry, you'll get that time back when you are playing bingo in the retirement home, totally worth it!
*If you don't eat a lot of read meat (thank you pregnancy!).
*If you have skinny friends (anyone every seen a picture of Ralphie? Let's just say I call her "Twiggy") . Except I am not 100% sure that my skinny friend one counts because this particular skinny friend has upped by butter consumption by like ten thousand percent since I have known her. So that may be a strike against me.
*Oh and if you were a healthy weight teen. Why yes, I was. Then I got married and that ruined everything (see post:portion distortion).
What was funny was that the last one was that you live longer if you feel good about yourself. I usually do feel pretty good about myself, but I guess reading that article knocked like five years off of my lifespan, thanks a lot!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Portion Distortion
Blaine and I did weight watchers in the summer of 2006. It was great. I was able to get rid of those stubborn last few (er....TWENTY) pounds from my pregnancy with Gwen and Blaine lost 21lbs in three weeks! We were only on the program for five weeks but both felt tremendously happy and beautiful (or handsome as the case may be) afterwards. We haven't formally participated in WW again, but we have tried to keep using the things we learned during our five week stint.
One thing Blaine has always been proud of is that he only has one bowl of cereal in the mornings. He figured out that a level bowl of cereal is two servings about and he tops it with coffee creamer instead of sugar. Anyway, this morning I noticed that I think that his "one bowl" of cereal habit is getting a little extreme. . . .
I don't know if you can tell but those bad boys are soaring about two inches (at least) over the rim of the bowl, but gall darn it he only has one bowl of cereal in the mornings! So get off his back : )
One thing Blaine has always been proud of is that he only has one bowl of cereal in the mornings. He figured out that a level bowl of cereal is two servings about and he tops it with coffee creamer instead of sugar. Anyway, this morning I noticed that I think that his "one bowl" of cereal habit is getting a little extreme. . . .
I don't know if you can tell but those bad boys are soaring about two inches (at least) over the rim of the bowl, but gall darn it he only has one bowl of cereal in the mornings! So get off his back : )
Newfound Profession
While out garage sale-ing last weekend I came across this book in a box for a quarter.
Funny how about six months ago I paid nearly twenty dollars for the same book.
See, this is the book that we are using to teach Gwen to read and I looooove it. Very good book. Very worth the twenty dollars.
So what did I do?
I bought the book for a quarter, and listed it on ebay, and today it sold for about $18.50. It cost me a quarter, the envelope to mail it will cost a dollar, shipping will be about two dollars and ebay fees about fifty cents. So it cost me in all $3.75, so that is nearly a $15 profit.
And guess what, fifteen dollars is how much money I spent all day on saturday garage sale-ing. And I got
3 really cute dresses for Gwen
1 pair of pants that actually fit Gwen
1 pair of Sketchers shoes for Gwen
1 pair Robeez for Bentley (um, those are $40 new)
about 10 items for the new baby (quarter a piece, sa-weet)
board game for Gwen
Leapfrog learning computer thing that teaches numbers for Gwen.
Not too bad for a quarter (technically)
I heart garage sales.
Funny how about six months ago I paid nearly twenty dollars for the same book.
See, this is the book that we are using to teach Gwen to read and I looooove it. Very good book. Very worth the twenty dollars.
So what did I do?
I bought the book for a quarter, and listed it on ebay, and today it sold for about $18.50. It cost me a quarter, the envelope to mail it will cost a dollar, shipping will be about two dollars and ebay fees about fifty cents. So it cost me in all $3.75, so that is nearly a $15 profit.
And guess what, fifteen dollars is how much money I spent all day on saturday garage sale-ing. And I got
3 really cute dresses for Gwen
1 pair of pants that actually fit Gwen
1 pair of Sketchers shoes for Gwen
1 pair Robeez for Bentley (um, those are $40 new)
about 10 items for the new baby (quarter a piece, sa-weet)
board game for Gwen
Leapfrog learning computer thing that teaches numbers for Gwen.
Not too bad for a quarter (technically)
I heart garage sales.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Conference project...
I know how you all love it when I step up onto my soapbox and preach to you about my world views. I try to keep my blog pretty neutral and to not weigh in on important topics or spout of my political views or whatever, but I do have to say, again, that I think you should recycle. It's only a dollar a week if you live in the city where I live. A dollar for a bin that they will come to your house and empty for you. Plus, then you save on garbage bags, like not kidding, we use one garbage bag every trash day now instead of like three. I hope you feel guilty every time you throw away a milk bottle or cereal box. The end.
In that line of logic comes my great and magnificent conference project. I want to stop using plastic bags. I am totally won over by the reusable shopping bag idea. The ones they sell though are too small and I think I can do one better. I am going to make my own reusable shopping bags out of my old, destroy the world, shopping bags. It's going to rock. Now I just need to find a mentor who will help me learn to crochet. I think Gretchen is going to, and that's why Gretchen rocks (and also because she can make sushi). So anyway, tomorrow for conference I am going to cut and tie my bags into yarn. Wish me luck.
Here is the project :
http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/2008/09/saving-earth-one-bag-at-time.html
* My apologies to all of you who read on google reader and get the previous edition of the post in which the link took you to a post about killing chickens. I don't kill chickens, at least not on conference weekend. I have my standards.
In that line of logic comes my great and magnificent conference project. I want to stop using plastic bags. I am totally won over by the reusable shopping bag idea. The ones they sell though are too small and I think I can do one better. I am going to make my own reusable shopping bags out of my old, destroy the world, shopping bags. It's going to rock. Now I just need to find a mentor who will help me learn to crochet. I think Gretchen is going to, and that's why Gretchen rocks (and also because she can make sushi). So anyway, tomorrow for conference I am going to cut and tie my bags into yarn. Wish me luck.
Here is the project :
http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/2008/09/saving-earth-one-bag-at-time.html
* My apologies to all of you who read on google reader and get the previous edition of the post in which the link took you to a post about killing chickens. I don't kill chickens, at least not on conference weekend. I have my standards.
Cheaters never prosper....
A month or two ago I saw this video on a blog and like the rest of American laughed at the plight of the poor woman involved and marveled at her vocal skills.
Then just a couple of weeks ago I heard the horrendous sound of her voice again, but only this time it was coming from me! Seriously, this is the sound of someone who has just dropped a glass jar on their second to smallest toe. It's a sound no one should have to make. The sound of toes breaking.
Very sad. And a little funny. You shouldn't cheat when smashing grapes.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Genius
Conversation between Blaine and I approximately 17 months ago- April 2007
----------
Me: "Wow, this is an amazing deal we found on the Accord. A 36 month lease for only (insert really good monthly payment here, think lower two hundreds) and hardly anything down. Really, it's a steal"
Blaine: "Yeah and to think we will be driving a nice car for three years and then we will probably just buy it at the end because we love it SO much, that or else maybe in three years we will be considering leasing a van and we can just trade it in."
Kristi: "Yeah maybe we will need a van in three years, even if we still only have two kids it would be nice for traveling back and forth to Utah, but surely, surely we won't need one before three years [lovingly caress my pregnant belly]"
Blaine: "This is perfect and we are perfect and we are so happy, let's kiss"
-----------------
Conversation from Blaine and I in April of 2008-- five and a half months ago
Me: My car [a 1998 Chrysler Cirrus] is a heaping pile of crud. I think we should get me a new car.
Blaine: Yes, love muffin, we should!
Me: We could look at vans, I know it's a little early but maybe we should consider it [spirit whispering "YES, consider it, we have a surprise for you!"]
Blaine: Yeah, cool.
Me ( after hours of research and looking at the possibility of gas being $4 a gallon minimum): You know, I was thinking, maybe we should just get you a commuter car that gets great gas mileage . We won't need a van until the Accord's lease is up and then we will save money and maybe by then we will actually be able to afford a van.
Blaine: You are so smart, and so pretty. I am the luckiest man alive.
------------
Conversation in June of 2008
Me: Surprise, we're pregnant....again.
Blaine: What?
Me: [Pointing to belly for emphasis] "You DA MAN"
Blaine: wow.
Me: wow.
-----------------
Conversation between Blaine and I in September 2008 two days ago
Me: You know what? It's okay that I will have to cram three kids in three carseats in the back of our accord. The accord is pretty big and it's only for like three months until the lease is up.
Blaine: Yeah. Good thinking. You are the hero here, that will be a pain but I am so happy that you are willing to do it.
-----------------
Conversation Yesterday
Me: Am I an idiot? Our lease isn't up THIS coming April it isn't up until April 2010. I am not lugging around three children in three carseats in the back of an Accord for a year and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-----------
So somehow in my mind since I have been pregnant I have not been too stressed about the car situation because, really like I will be going anywhere the first three months, and I guess I just forgot that we signed a THREE year lease instead of a TWO year lease. Hmmmm. Actually I think my mind is still adjusting to the fact that, yes, I really am having another baby and as a coping strategy it has skipped a year in it's thinking.
So the big question is.... what now? We love the Yaris! He gets like 36 mpg in that baby and it is so darn cute, but it's the only car we own.
Moral of the story? Don't forget how long your lease is. And use at least three methods of contraceptives unless you own a van.
Oh but I do think it is important to note, since I was so careful to always alert you to how overwhelmed and discouraged I was feeling about this pregnancy, that I am very excited to have this little baby. I wouldn't trade my situation for anything (now that the worst part of pregnancy is over!). I can't wait to meet her, and surely life will be crazy for like.....well, for the rest of it, but I love my kids a ton (really I think I may love them more than any other mom loves their kids), and I love this one too. Even though my back already hurts every second of every day : )
Now the question is, how am I to carry on in my "gallavanting around town" lifestyle when I can't fit my entire brood in one car. I had the great idea that Blaine should ask NI for a donation towards a van. See they bought the Wilkinson's one when they had their baby. Alright, so they had five babies.....all at one time. But still, we don't need them to buy the whole van, but we were thinking maybe 2/5ths would be fair. Ha. Kidding. We'll just walk. Wait. I don't have a triple stroller. Hmmm....must keep pondering.
----------
Me: "Wow, this is an amazing deal we found on the Accord. A 36 month lease for only (insert really good monthly payment here, think lower two hundreds) and hardly anything down. Really, it's a steal"
Blaine: "Yeah and to think we will be driving a nice car for three years and then we will probably just buy it at the end because we love it SO much, that or else maybe in three years we will be considering leasing a van and we can just trade it in."
Kristi: "Yeah maybe we will need a van in three years, even if we still only have two kids it would be nice for traveling back and forth to Utah, but surely, surely we won't need one before three years [lovingly caress my pregnant belly]"
Blaine: "This is perfect and we are perfect and we are so happy, let's kiss"
-----------------
Conversation from Blaine and I in April of 2008-- five and a half months ago
Me: My car [a 1998 Chrysler Cirrus] is a heaping pile of crud. I think we should get me a new car.
Blaine: Yes, love muffin, we should!
Me: We could look at vans, I know it's a little early but maybe we should consider it [spirit whispering "YES, consider it, we have a surprise for you!"]
Blaine: Yeah, cool.
Me ( after hours of research and looking at the possibility of gas being $4 a gallon minimum): You know, I was thinking, maybe we should just get you a commuter car that gets great gas mileage . We won't need a van until the Accord's lease is up and then we will save money and maybe by then we will actually be able to afford a van.
Blaine: You are so smart, and so pretty. I am the luckiest man alive.
------------
Conversation in June of 2008
Me: Surprise, we're pregnant....again.
Blaine: What?
Me: [Pointing to belly for emphasis] "You DA MAN"
Blaine: wow.
Me: wow.
-----------------
Conversation between Blaine and I in September 2008 two days ago
Me: You know what? It's okay that I will have to cram three kids in three carseats in the back of our accord. The accord is pretty big and it's only for like three months until the lease is up.
Blaine: Yeah. Good thinking. You are the hero here, that will be a pain but I am so happy that you are willing to do it.
-----------------
Conversation Yesterday
Me: Am I an idiot? Our lease isn't up THIS coming April it isn't up until April 2010. I am not lugging around three children in three carseats in the back of an Accord for a year and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-----------
So somehow in my mind since I have been pregnant I have not been too stressed about the car situation because, really like I will be going anywhere the first three months, and I guess I just forgot that we signed a THREE year lease instead of a TWO year lease. Hmmmm. Actually I think my mind is still adjusting to the fact that, yes, I really am having another baby and as a coping strategy it has skipped a year in it's thinking.
So the big question is.... what now? We love the Yaris! He gets like 36 mpg in that baby and it is so darn cute, but it's the only car we own.
Moral of the story? Don't forget how long your lease is. And use at least three methods of contraceptives unless you own a van.
Oh but I do think it is important to note, since I was so careful to always alert you to how overwhelmed and discouraged I was feeling about this pregnancy, that I am very excited to have this little baby. I wouldn't trade my situation for anything (now that the worst part of pregnancy is over!). I can't wait to meet her, and surely life will be crazy for like.....well, for the rest of it, but I love my kids a ton (really I think I may love them more than any other mom loves their kids), and I love this one too. Even though my back already hurts every second of every day : )
Now the question is, how am I to carry on in my "gallavanting around town" lifestyle when I can't fit my entire brood in one car. I had the great idea that Blaine should ask NI for a donation towards a van. See they bought the Wilkinson's one when they had their baby. Alright, so they had five babies.....all at one time. But still, we don't need them to buy the whole van, but we were thinking maybe 2/5ths would be fair. Ha. Kidding. We'll just walk. Wait. I don't have a triple stroller. Hmmm....must keep pondering.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Oatmeal
So, what's the big deal with oatmeal?
I have been thinking lately that I would like to eat a healthier breakfast. So I have been choking down oatmeal for the past week. Then today I compared the label of oatmeal with the label of cheerios and found that...
Oatmeal has more
Calories
Fat
Saturated Fat
Protein
Carbs
While Cheerios has more
VITAMINS A,C,D, B6, B12
Calcium
Iron
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Niacin
on and on
They have about the same fiber.
So granola friends I ask of you, what is oatmeal giving me that cheerios is not...besides more fat and fiber?
I have been thinking lately that I would like to eat a healthier breakfast. So I have been choking down oatmeal for the past week. Then today I compared the label of oatmeal with the label of cheerios and found that...
Oatmeal has more
Calories
Fat
Saturated Fat
Protein
Carbs
While Cheerios has more
VITAMINS A,C,D, B6, B12
Calcium
Iron
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Niacin
on and on
They have about the same fiber.
So granola friends I ask of you, what is oatmeal giving me that cheerios is not...besides more fat and fiber?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
There ain't no sunshine when he's gone...
Well, except there kind of is. Because tonight for dinner we had apples with peanut butter for our main course and then for dessert a bowl of cheerios. Last night for dinner we also had cheerios. Night before that? Ralphie took pity on us and fed us well. Night before that? Went out to dinner.
The other sunshine there has been is that, in order to maintain safety and security in the Bassett home while Blaine was out on business, we had to get the dogs groomed. My theory in this is that I wanted the dogs to sleep in the bed. Gross huh? Mostly because they have really good ears and I wanted to know if they could hear anything spooky or amiss in the house. But I wasn't going to let my stinky disgusting dogs sleep in my bed. So I had to take them to the groomers. And boy they look purty.
Anyway, so there is a little sunshine, but mostly we miss him. Oh and place your bets now....who do you think gained more weight this week... Blaine who was eating on the companies dime (which, I've seen first hand, can get out of control....appetizers? yes. Main course? Obviously. Desserts? Bring them on. Specialty drinks? No doubt about it). Or me who was eating non stop and absolutely nothing healthy (besides cheerios which are fortified right?). I am curious to see who wins. And by wins I mean gains the least : )
The other sunshine there has been is that, in order to maintain safety and security in the Bassett home while Blaine was out on business, we had to get the dogs groomed. My theory in this is that I wanted the dogs to sleep in the bed. Gross huh? Mostly because they have really good ears and I wanted to know if they could hear anything spooky or amiss in the house. But I wasn't going to let my stinky disgusting dogs sleep in my bed. So I had to take them to the groomers. And boy they look purty.
Anyway, so there is a little sunshine, but mostly we miss him. Oh and place your bets now....who do you think gained more weight this week... Blaine who was eating on the companies dime (which, I've seen first hand, can get out of control....appetizers? yes. Main course? Obviously. Desserts? Bring them on. Specialty drinks? No doubt about it). Or me who was eating non stop and absolutely nothing healthy (besides cheerios which are fortified right?). I am curious to see who wins. And by wins I mean gains the least : )
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Like an orange on a toothpick
Today I took the kids in for their annual check up and what do you know....Bentley's head size is off the charts. Like WAY off the charts. Like "oh my gosh I need to measure your head right now because your childs head is freakishly big" kind of off the charts. It happened when Gwen turned one too. We had to measure all of our siblings heads and parents heads, etc. to make sure that we are all big headed.
At girls camp they called me fat head. Really. And this isn't like when I was a camper at girls camp, it was when I was a counselor. My head is just big. I like to think it is to accomodate by big brain, but you know, whatever. So the weird thing is that the doctor measured my head and it really isn't that big (and I would now like an apology for all of those who called me fat head). I am in the 75th percentile. Gwen is currently in the 99th percentile. And from my basic understanding of how percentiles work it is impossible, but Bentley is in like the 150th percentile. His head is that big.
Anyway so everyone say a little prayer that when Blaine measures his head that it is really big. I mean, it seems pretty big, but we are hoping that it is honkin' huge so that Bentley's big head will be explained genetically and so we don't have to go and get an MRI. Yikes. I am fairly confident it is all good, but the huge head combined with the fact that the kid isn't even close to walking or crawling more than an army crawl has the doctor concerned.
In other well-child check up news... they did a hearing test with Gwen and you have to wonder about that. She asked Gwen to tell her when she could hear a beep. Gwen sat there silently and then the nurse would ask "do you hear a beep" and Gwen's response was "almost". Wonder how accurate those tests are...
Anyway, so this is Kristi-Big-Head-Bassett signing off. I'm going to go "cry myself to sleep on my 'uge pilla" (Please tell me you've seen "So I Married an Axe-Murderer").
At girls camp they called me fat head. Really. And this isn't like when I was a camper at girls camp, it was when I was a counselor. My head is just big. I like to think it is to accomodate by big brain, but you know, whatever. So the weird thing is that the doctor measured my head and it really isn't that big (and I would now like an apology for all of those who called me fat head). I am in the 75th percentile. Gwen is currently in the 99th percentile. And from my basic understanding of how percentiles work it is impossible, but Bentley is in like the 150th percentile. His head is that big.
Anyway so everyone say a little prayer that when Blaine measures his head that it is really big. I mean, it seems pretty big, but we are hoping that it is honkin' huge so that Bentley's big head will be explained genetically and so we don't have to go and get an MRI. Yikes. I am fairly confident it is all good, but the huge head combined with the fact that the kid isn't even close to walking or crawling more than an army crawl has the doctor concerned.
In other well-child check up news... they did a hearing test with Gwen and you have to wonder about that. She asked Gwen to tell her when she could hear a beep. Gwen sat there silently and then the nurse would ask "do you hear a beep" and Gwen's response was "almost". Wonder how accurate those tests are...
Anyway, so this is Kristi-Big-Head-Bassett signing off. I'm going to go "cry myself to sleep on my 'uge pilla" (Please tell me you've seen "So I Married an Axe-Murderer").
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Ode to Jo...
As in JoAnna Morris. You see, JoAnna Morris was the first person to introduce me to the fine art of "GS" or "Garage Sale-ing". I thought she was insane. She wanted me to get up at 6:30AM and go to her neighborhood garage sale. This was two and half years ago while I was living in Minnesota. I thought I would humor her and got up to follow the handmade route she had drawn up for us to follow. She had both of her kids in the van (and everyone say a silent prayer of gratitude right now that your husband is not a Surgery Resident... or any type of resident as were most of the husbands of my friends in Rochester, Minnesota home of the Mayo Clinic). Anyway.... I followed this crazed woman around for an hour and a half. She'd leave her kids in the van with a movie running, browse each sale quickly, slow down and drive by sales, peering out her window. The whole thing was quite hilarious. And then I found it..... a garage sale some lady was having who had twin girls a year older then Gwen and she was selling all of the clothes they had outgrown. It was awesome. Anyway, thank you JoAnna because now I am a professional garage sale-er and I love it (I love going to them, I do not love hosting them, I will never do it again).
Blaine was not a huge fan of the habit, he thought it was kind of hypocritical for me to accuse him of being a pack rat and demand he get rid of some of his junk while every Saturday I would go out and buy other people's junk with which to clutter our house, but he has since wizened up. I don't buy junk. I buy clothing. And sometimes toys. And I love it!
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I've been on kind of a losing streak lately. Coming home with one or two treasures (usually a dress for Gwen, which sale for about $1 at garage sales and are nice enough for church, but cost so little that she can wear them any day and I don't care!). But yesterday, my friends, I hit the garage sale jackpot.
Have you ever priced maternity clothes? For something that you are going to wear for five or six months maximum, they sure are expensive. Nice cute shirts from motherhood maternity cost over $20 and as a general rule I don't pay $20 for anything, except the mortgage. So let me tell you of my spoils of yesterday, the best garage sale-ing day in history.
Garage Sale #1
Maternity shirts at $1-2/shirt. I bought 6 shirts
Girls pajama sets (from the Disney store, two of every type of princess, long sleeve and short) $0.25 a pair! 7 pairs.
Boppy pillow with cute cover $10
Giant ziplock full of 10 playtex baby bottles $2 (Don't Worry, I'll clean them good!)
Brand new with tags infant girl outfit, very cute $1
Gwen size long sleeve shirts $.50/shirt 3 shirts
Total $27.50
Upon making my payment the woman brought up a brand new, never used Diaper Champ (one of the finer baby products on the market) and gave it to me for free because I bought so much stuff. AWESOME! Used those sell on craigslist for $10, new they are $25. I already have one but this one is newer, nicer and now we can have one downstairs.
And can you believe that I bought 7 pairs of princess pajamas for $1.75. I rock. This garage sale rocked.
Okay, now garage sale #2
Maternity shirts and dresses all from Motherhood Maternity or Old Navy $0.50 a piece. These are modest, wear to church, would have cost $40 each I am sure, dresses. I bought 5 dresses and many more shirts (maybe 6?) and a Halloween costume for Bentley ($2), total here? $9.50 ish MATERNITY DRESSES. I am sure I can resale this lot on craigslist--just the dresses for at least $20. Sweet.
Garage sale #3
Some insane couple was selling all of their infant girl clothing, which was all in excellent condition for TEN CENTS a piece. Dresses, pajamas, onesies, bibs, rompers, everything. These people are insane. I pilled up my stack so high and I thought it was a quarter a piece, when I found out it was ten cents I went back for more. I got 25 pieces for $2.50 and then I also bought a pretty new looking game of Cranium for $2. Total $4.50.
Garage sale $ 4
Two pairs of pants for Gwen (Old Navy), a sweater for Gwen and a long sleeved shirt for Gwen. Each $0.50. A Dora puzzle $0.25, and a Discovery toys set of shapes, hard to explain little thing for $.75
Total $3
Okay, in total I got an entire maternity wardrobe including sunday dresses; an entire infant girl wardrobe, nice supplements to Gwen's wardrobe, a brand new diaper champ, a few fun games and a puzzle and a Halloween costume for less than $50. That's how much two maternity shirts would have cost. I was so happy. Really, I was. A lot happier even than I was when I spent $50 on my new hair cut and color. All day long I just reveled in fifty cent maternity clothes and twenty five cent pajamas.
I know you don't care, but I want history to know what a saavy shopper I am and I am dreading the day when Gwen is old enough to think she is too cool for garage sale stuff. Oh and this is another huge benefit of living out of Utah, because here people have one or two kids and then sell all their stuff. It's awesome!
Blaine was not a huge fan of the habit, he thought it was kind of hypocritical for me to accuse him of being a pack rat and demand he get rid of some of his junk while every Saturday I would go out and buy other people's junk with which to clutter our house, but he has since wizened up. I don't buy junk. I buy clothing. And sometimes toys. And I love it!
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I've been on kind of a losing streak lately. Coming home with one or two treasures (usually a dress for Gwen, which sale for about $1 at garage sales and are nice enough for church, but cost so little that she can wear them any day and I don't care!). But yesterday, my friends, I hit the garage sale jackpot.
Have you ever priced maternity clothes? For something that you are going to wear for five or six months maximum, they sure are expensive. Nice cute shirts from motherhood maternity cost over $20 and as a general rule I don't pay $20 for anything, except the mortgage. So let me tell you of my spoils of yesterday, the best garage sale-ing day in history.
Garage Sale #1
Maternity shirts at $1-2/shirt. I bought 6 shirts
Girls pajama sets (from the Disney store, two of every type of princess, long sleeve and short) $0.25 a pair! 7 pairs.
Boppy pillow with cute cover $10
Giant ziplock full of 10 playtex baby bottles $2 (Don't Worry, I'll clean them good!)
Brand new with tags infant girl outfit, very cute $1
Gwen size long sleeve shirts $.50/shirt 3 shirts
Total $27.50
Upon making my payment the woman brought up a brand new, never used Diaper Champ (one of the finer baby products on the market) and gave it to me for free because I bought so much stuff. AWESOME! Used those sell on craigslist for $10, new they are $25. I already have one but this one is newer, nicer and now we can have one downstairs.
And can you believe that I bought 7 pairs of princess pajamas for $1.75. I rock. This garage sale rocked.
Okay, now garage sale #2
Maternity shirts and dresses all from Motherhood Maternity or Old Navy $0.50 a piece. These are modest, wear to church, would have cost $40 each I am sure, dresses. I bought 5 dresses and many more shirts (maybe 6?) and a Halloween costume for Bentley ($2), total here? $9.50 ish MATERNITY DRESSES. I am sure I can resale this lot on craigslist--just the dresses for at least $20. Sweet.
Garage sale #3
Some insane couple was selling all of their infant girl clothing, which was all in excellent condition for TEN CENTS a piece. Dresses, pajamas, onesies, bibs, rompers, everything. These people are insane. I pilled up my stack so high and I thought it was a quarter a piece, when I found out it was ten cents I went back for more. I got 25 pieces for $2.50 and then I also bought a pretty new looking game of Cranium for $2. Total $4.50.
Garage sale $ 4
Two pairs of pants for Gwen (Old Navy), a sweater for Gwen and a long sleeved shirt for Gwen. Each $0.50. A Dora puzzle $0.25, and a Discovery toys set of shapes, hard to explain little thing for $.75
Total $3
Okay, in total I got an entire maternity wardrobe including sunday dresses; an entire infant girl wardrobe, nice supplements to Gwen's wardrobe, a brand new diaper champ, a few fun games and a puzzle and a Halloween costume for less than $50. That's how much two maternity shirts would have cost. I was so happy. Really, I was. A lot happier even than I was when I spent $50 on my new hair cut and color. All day long I just reveled in fifty cent maternity clothes and twenty five cent pajamas.
I know you don't care, but I want history to know what a saavy shopper I am and I am dreading the day when Gwen is old enough to think she is too cool for garage sale stuff. Oh and this is another huge benefit of living out of Utah, because here people have one or two kids and then sell all their stuff. It's awesome!
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