A Dream Come True

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from my husband. This is nothing new. His cell phone is worthless since Tinker moved him to the old GM building and since everyone now has a cell phone, they no longer have direct lines to the work areas. So, we email throughout the day. But this email was not a 'Who has what after-school activity and what forgotten dinner ingredient do I need to pick up on the way home?' kind of message. This one was an invitation. And it got my attention immediately:

There was a press release from the American Banjo Museum sharing that they would soon open a temporary Muppet exhibit featuring the banjo used in The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Show and that Heather Henson would be in attendance at the ribbon-cutting. Accompanying the press release link was a note from Dave saying "I AM TAKING YOU."

And two weeks later, with much last-minute protesting from me because "there might be crowds" or "I might accidentally annoy Ms. Henson with my presence", we were on our way. We arrived about 30 minutes early and found only a handful of people were there. The staff looked a little stressed, so I introduced myself as a fellow museum director and we chatted a bit. I tried to look at the other cool exhibits, but when I discovered a screen and video loop of Rainbow Connection while watching Ms. Henson arrive and start to greet the museum staff and other visitors, I became focused on just the small area containing multiple panels highlighting Jim Henson's life and career and, of course, the red ribbon being drawn in front of one of the barriers sectioning it off from the rest of the exhibits.

I was especially impressed by an exchange between Ms. Henson and an extremely autistic young adult whose mother had driven him all the way from Tennessee to attend. He did a great imitation of Frank Oz and we all applauded softly. The crowd had grown at this point, but we all seemed to be fellow Muppet fans and somehow, it wasn't as bad as I had feared to be surrounded by a lot of people. During the ribbon cutting, I learned that the Muppet Show banjo had been an eBay find brought to Ms. Henson's attention by a friend. That the banjo museum had been told multiple times that they would not get a model Kermit puppet, but received one to add to their display thanks to Heather Henson and that the miniature banjo it was holding was one used by the 'Jim Henson' puppet that occasionally appeared in the Jim Henson Trio skits on The Muppet Show.

The ribbon was cut. The panels were scrutinized and photographed and I had taken great shots of the Kermit puppet and the infamous Muppet Show banjo. I was already happy and emotional. Dave asked if I wanted to get a photo with Heather Henson since she was circulating among the crowd, making polite conversation, signing autographs, etc...I said I didn't dare. So he asked her for me. I love the photo, but I loved more the five-minute conversation we had about how her father had inspired me, influenced the things I taught my children, turning towards Oklahoma history (Jim Henson's father was from Meeker, OK), the Harn Homestead, and how excited she was to tour Oklahoma City with the director of the Oklahoma History Center later that afternoon. I made sure to keep the conversation brief, as she was very much in-demand that day. But it felt very casual, relaxed, and friendly. And as if it could have gone on for hours if the right time and place had presented itself. I'm sure she is well-practiced at speaking with fans, but she is also Jim Henson's daughter and I like to think his ability to make people feel unique and special and part of something bigger than themselves continues to perpetuate itself in the world and that she is part of that effort. All in all, it was a bucket list item too big for me to have ever actually written down on one and a testament to how much Dave has come to understand me in the last 22 years because I never would have gone, much less dared to approach Ms. Henson while we were there had he not pushed me out the door and asked her for a photo. Looking at the photo critically, the humidity that morning was not my friend and I wish I was about 40 lbs. lighter. And also, I do not care. The morning and the photos are perfect. Thanks Dave. You get me.

Another Slice of My Life

This has been a really stressful time at work. Over the last two weeks we've had to put out annual campaign letters, write an important grant, and learn a new financial system while also making sure we stick to our budget down to the last penny because everything slows down in the summer. So, I submitted the grant on Tuesday, handed my first financial report over to the accounting firm on Wednesday, and was looking forward to a less stressful day when I got up this morning.

So, of course, the baby woke up with a low-grade fever. Not that I took her temperature to verify it-with 5 kids I'm not sure we still even own a functioning thermometer. But I'm a mom of 5 and I know a fever, right? So I resolved to take her to work with me and texted her home daycare provider to let her know. Then, I dropped the 8th grader off for her early morning biology class (a program called "zero hour" that lets 8th graders take a high school class before the actual start of school) and the two younger girls at elementary school. This left me with the 2 year-old and the 6th grader who usually goes with me to drop his little sister off since he prefers not to  hang around outside the school while his older sister is in class-except on Tuesdays when there is also 6th grade choir practice. But today, of course, is Thursday.

Since we weren't dropping off his sister, we decided to go back home so I could unload the dishwasher and start the washing machine and do some other general cleaning before he had to be at school. I texted my co-workers to warn them of my tardy arrival with a two year-old in tow and then the boy and I did some clean up around the house. About 15 minutes after we arrived, the phone rang. It was the elementary school informing me that my 9 year-old's cap had come off of her baby tooth and was bleeding. So, I rounded everyone up, dropped the boy off at middle school, and picked up the 9 year-old. The school health aide said she had packed Caroline's mouth with gauze and that the cap was in a baggie, Caroline waved the bloody thing in my direction and I nodded at it briefly before I told her to put it away without further examination. I texted husband (who had also been called) to let him now I had her with me. I texted my co-workers to let them know I had no clue what was happening for the rest of the day.

Then, my husband and I took turns playing phone tag with the dentist office and each other. In the meantime, my daycare provider texted me to ask what Alexis' temperature was. I am new to this home daycare and I love it! (She lets the kids wear cloth diapers and takes them to Monday morning story time at the library-among other pluses). I didn't want to admit to her that we didn't have a working thermometer in the house. I also had no clue what was going on with the dentist office yet. So...I took the feverish kid and the bleeding kid to Wal Mart because I am awesome like that.

We bought a new thermometer. We bought new toothbrushes for EVERYONE. We bought a second set of sponge rollers so the girls will no longer fight about who gets to have their hair rolled up on Saturday night before church on Sunday. We bought ingredients for tonight's dinner. And at some point, Dave called to fill me in on the dental drama that had unfolded while we shopped:

First, he was informed that the dentist we used had left their practice for another one and our insurance no longer covered the remaining dentists. So, he called the new office where he was informed that while our dentist had re-located there and that they took our insurance; it would be at least 24 hours before they could see her because they would have to process our "new patient" paperwork. And finally, the former dentist's office agreed to see her in this emergency. But only if we paid out of pocket. Neither one of us liked the thought of her running around with her cap off and a gaping hole in her jaw (it's a pretty serious cap because it was a pretty serious cavity), so we went with that plan. And agreed that we pretty much hated all dentists.

I paid for my groceries and had just enough time to drive them home before I was to meet Dave at the dentist office, leave the girls with him, and go do my job for three hours because he had just finished three hours at his. I stuck the perishables in the fridge, left the rest on the counter, and out of curiosity grabbed the new thermometer to check Alexis' temperature. AND IT WAS 98.6. Because I am not as good and instinctive with knowing when my kid has a fever as I think I am. (She still felt warm to me, though. But I took it three times. Basically, I am an idiot.) Then, en route to the dentist, Caroline popped the gauze out of her mouth and asked me about the tooth fairy visiting tonight. I explained to her that her baby tooth still wasn't ready to come out and that we would be getting her a new cap for it just like the one that fell out. And that's when she said: "But Mom, the rest of my baby tooth fell out WITH my cap. See? It's in this baggie." And, when I got to the dentist's parking lot and took a much closer look at it, indeed it was. And when I checked her gauze-free jaw, I saw that not only was the entire tooth gone, but that the adult molar was growing in already. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE USEFUL INFORMATION AN HOUR AGO.

At about that point, Dave pulled into the dentist parking lot. He took Caroline in briefly to ascertain that their services were no longer required and then moved the girls to his car. Caroline was headed back to school (to her chagrin) and Alexis was going to stay home because even without a fever she was cranky and clingy. A further examination of her jaw revealed that she is cutting her 2 year molars Not unlike the one in the baggie in her big sister's backpack. Did I mention I bought new toothbrushes today?

Needless to say, Dave and I had a good laugh, vowed to always look more closely at the icky baggies the school nurse sends home, and agreed that the biggest reason we believe in God is because we couldn't make this stuff up if we tried.

And then I went to work and spent my three hours preparing as much of next month's financial report as I could and double-checking my next round of grant deadlines. JUST. IN.CASE

The End.

A Salute to Summer 2011

All good things must come to an end, including summer vacation. This was a busy, but very fun summer. I'm writing this post as I wait for the laundry to finish, so I can go to bed for the night. So, in lieu of a real post, I'm going to hit the highlights in bullet-point style:

• Grand Assembly 2011-In 2010, I brought four girls and everyone (including me) worried that Norman Rainbow Assembly #18 was at an end. This year, I brought 10 girls and will likely have even more next year. This time, I had more adults to help, more girls to participate, and well, my daughter had several solos that made me cry. It was a good time!
• Cousins' Trip to Dallas: We celebrated Elisa and Kassidy's birthday's at American Girl Place. It was fun. It was such a quick trip though, that I didn't even visit IKEA. (But it's OK, I would get there before the end of the summer.)
• My turn to be "Martha": Growing up, I attended a Camp Fire Girls' Day Camp every year from the time I was a new camper at 7 years-old until the last year the camp was open when I was 20 years-old. For most of those years, it was run by an awesome lady named Martha. This year, I got to run the Harn Day Camp myself. I felt just like Miss M, without the crazy straw hats. I guess there's always next year...
• CCOC Kids' Camp 2011: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE-I still get tears in my eyes when I think about how awesome it was to have all three kids performing together. I've said it all summer, but this year was something special above and beyond the great things those kids usually do and I'm glad I didn't miss a minute of it. This was likely the best thing about our summer.
• Fourth of July 2011: We were under a burn ban and had just a handful of harmless sparklers instead of our usual homemade firework fest, but it was still awesome to have everyone here. I LOVE that the party always includes not only my parents, my grandmother, my sisters, and my nieces and nephews; but also my sister's ex-husband, his wife, her kids, and their new baby. It may seem dysfunctional to others; but it wouldn't be the same party without them. And my oldest niece's boyfriend joined us this year too. Good times!
• Conclave 2011: It's not just me who has come back to the lodge, there are a lot of us who have returned with our kids and to see if we can't get our adult leaders to finally ease up a bit, take a break, and let us take some of the burden from them. (So far, it's not going all that well.) It was so much fun to take the girls to Eskimo Joe's, to the dance, and to sit around eating pizza and laughing about the good old days with a lot of the people I experienced them with-even if we are starting to look and sound a lot like the old leaders we used to laugh at and still seem to be taking orders from. Good times!
• Seattle 2011: When the annual girlfriends' getaway was slated for the Oregon Coast, I saw an opportunity to visit my Seattle family too. I took Natalie for a promised visit to my cousin Eric and snuck little Caroline along for the ride too. I spent a few days showing my girls all the things I loved about my summer visits there and a few days with some of the best women I will ever know at a lovely house on the Oregon Coast. The best of both worlds! To top it off, my cousin's wife is expecting a baby and they may have Natalie come and stay with them next summer to help with some babysitting. She will be the same age I was when I spent the summer in Seattle as a nanny to my Cousin Megan-Eric's little sister. I can't think of a more beautiful circle than that. It was a lovely trip.
• Girlie Road Trip to Dallas: This was my most recent adventure, an all-too-brief visit to see Lanie and her new little man in Dallas with Chris and Vickie. I'm excited that Lanie's PhD got her such a good job in Dallas, even though I miss her. Somehow, it was comforting to see that it is only 2.5 hours from her front porch to mine. I hope we are able to go again soon. And yes, this time I got my IKEA fix.

I'm sure there is more here that I am forgetting, but my clothes are clean and ready for work tomorrow. And I need to get some sleep so I will be too. Good night! And I hope everyone had a great summer too!

Thirteen Good Things

I've always enjoyed writing the detailed travelogues I post after each trip, but today is as busy as ever and this weekend will be too. So, to make a long story short, I'm going to post 13 writing prompts for use at a later date about all the things I loved while traveling:

• All the 'full circle' moments: Watching Wall Street 2 with my cousin with whom I also watched the first one, talking about Natalie coming next summer to help take care of my cousin's expected baby just as I took care of my new cousin when she was little, watching my uncle and aunt dote on my girls as they once doted on me, driving the Oregon Coast in GranD's Caddy...
• Aunt Deb feeling SO much better after back surgery 3 years ago
• The weather!! Never hotter than the mid-70's and sunny for the whole trip. What a lovely break from the land of triple digits.
• The two-hour time change
• Pike's Market!
• Crab legs, clam chowder, oysters, salmon, and all of the other things that just don't taste the same here.
• Local restaurants instead of chains
• Emily's texts (and her impeccable timing)
• All the instant karma that seemed to flow so freely last weekend
• NO CELL/INTERNET service in Oceanside, OR (and I mean that in a good way-no one could bug me on vacation)
• 4 mile walks on the beach
• Marionberries
• Good times with good friends

Vacationing

So, it turns out that the latter prediction proved true. We are having too much fun for me to sit down and write about it. Highlights include: Pike's Market (twice so far!), the EMP, all of the fresh oysters, crab, salmon, and shrimp I can eat (sorry Chris-I know none of that is your favorite), taking the girls to "a fancy lunch" at Columbia Tower, sleeping "in" until 8:00 am which is really 10 am Oklahoma time, and lots of time with some of my favorite people.

And, for those of you who have followed this blog with good intent over the years, you will understand how touching it was to me yesterday to have my Aunt Deb call me into her room because she had "a little something" for the girls and I. The "little something"? A small pearl necklace for each of us. I didn't want to scare her by bursting into happy tears. But I really had to fight not to do it.

In many ways, it feels like this blog has come full circle.

CCOC's The Pirates of Penzance: A Redux

For four years, Natalie has enjoyed participated in the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company's Kids' Camp so much that she chose it over attending Girls' Camp for the first time last year. Since last year, I have debated whether or not I did the right thing in letting her choose because my name was certainly muddied in some church circles and more than one 'unfriending' on Facebook occurred as a result of this choice. (Which all seems pretty stupid now, but it hurt a year ago...) After this weekend, I am sure I did the right thing, but I'm also glad Girls' Camp doesn't conflict with CCOC Kids' Camp this year. ;)

Because Natalie has always enjoyed this camp and because I really wanted to believe Tristan could handle himself at an all-day camp AND because Caroline met the age limit this year; I sent all three kids to CCOC this summer. They had an absolute blast and I enjoyed this year's show more than all the other years put together-even the year Natalie had a major female lead. This year, Tristan and Natalie had featured roles and Caroline was so doggone cute that I about melted every time she took the stage. I could go on and on, but I think pictures are a better idea, so here they are:

In short, they sang, they danced, Tristan has some awesome comic timing, and over all they were absolutely brilliant. I am sure they will do other shows together because they really are some talented kiddos even if I am their mother. Maybe one day Elisa will join them. Maybe even Alexis someday. But I'm not sure anything will top the thrill I had of seeing them work together for the first time this summer.

And if you missed it. Shame. On. You.

Conversations with My Daughter

I wrote this and it seemed kind of silly. I saved it and debated deleting it until I read this post from Jaci (one of my favorite bloggers.) So, I'm posting it anyway:

Now that school is out, my kids are spending a lot of time hanging out at my mom's while I am at work. We usually take I-35 home, but on really bad traffic days it is not unheard of for me to exit to Broadway follow it over the bridge when it becomes Shields, and just keep going until it turns back into I-35 in Moore. With speed limits that never go over 45 mph and stoplights all along the way, it is definitely not faster. But it moves consistently and my cranky 2 year-old in the back seat seems to appreciate that more than riding my brake pedal on the highway for 45 minutes.

Anyway, with Natalie in the car, I started pointing out landmarks from various parts of my youth. "There's Grandma and Grandpa Leonard's laundry, I used to get to play video games for free there." "That's where your Uncle John and a lot of my other friends went to school," "old Myrtle Lodge was a few blocks that way," "there used to be a movie theatre there where we used to go on the weekends" and so on and so forth. It's not that I really think she's interested in the adventures of my younger days, I'm just passing time and I enjoy the reminiscing even if it bores her. At one point, she looked around and said "Mom, either this neighborhood was way different 20 years ago, or you guys were kind of ghetto." And since the neighborhood hasn't really changed, I guess we were. I don't think we knew that back then. All I remember is that we were happy. And we've all grown up to be productive citizens too.

And on that note, can I really call it a misspent youth if I loved every minute of it?

Um...Is This Thing On?

It's rare that more than 15 minutes of spare time coincide with a decent Internet connection at my house, so I thought I would seize the opportunity and update this blog:

It's been a crazy, busy time between all the end-of-school-year activity for both my own kids and classes taking field trips at work. Add in the annual trip to Grand Assembly (which I guess should be glad moved from Stillwater to Norman about 10 years ago) and a major grant due on June the 1st and you have all my excuses for not updating recently. But that hasn't meant I've lacked for inspiration. I would have liked to have written about my boy finishing elementary school and how scared I am for him to start middle school in the Fall. I would have liked to have written about seeing my gorgeous daughter get up on that stage at the Catlett Center and sing in front of 200 people like it was no big deal, and sound beautiful while she did it. I would have liked to have written about how being Mother Advisor and being a part of Norman Assembly after 19 years is worth every minute I spend doing it. I would have liked to have written about my "baby" Elisa turning seven. And most recently, I would have liked to have expressed my utter shock at being made Executive Director at the same place I once worked for free as a student intern.

And with the summer months upon us, the school year over, and the big grant deadlines in my rearview mirror; I still just might...

What a Great Weekend!

This week was a very long and trying one. Teaching oneself how to run a museum while already running it is tough. I had to do a lot of phone calls to solicit volunteers, I had to meet with insurance people to discuss our current policy in all its intricacies (when you have historic buildings and artifacts, your coverage is a bit more complicates). I had to teach three days last week. I had to give tours. I had some off-site training. And there was a lot going on the grounds this weekend. Several weeks ago, I had agreed to go with my friends to a play in Tulsa on Saturday; and I just didn't see how I could get away long enough to enjoy it.

My original plan was to spend two nights in Tulsa until my sister beat me to asking mom to watch kids on Friday night. And then, Tristan decided he wanted to audition for a couple of summer musicals and the earliest time available was Saturday at 3:10 which would have us arriving barely in time for dinner once the audition was over and he had been dropped off elsewhere. We were out of most groceries, paper towels, and toilet paper; so I knew I had to make a shopping trip that weekend too. Basically, I felt like life was (as usual) conspiring to make sure I was as stressed out as possible. I knew I couldn't bail on the show because friends had already purchased the tickets for us and we would have to pay for them whether we went or not. By Friday evening, I was shaking my fist at the heavens because nothing was falling into place until all of a sudden it did.

I woke up feeling great at about 7:45 on Saturday morning and was back from the grocery store by 10:30, far ahead of the weekend crowds. My parents dropped my nieces off early at my sister's house and picked my kids up for the night with assurances that Tristan would be on time for his audition. Dave and I drove to Tulsa. We did not have to break up fights. We did not have to stop at bathrooms. I listened to my iPod for the entire drive uninterrupted. We stayed at a nice hotel. We arrived at the perfect time to check-in. We all got cleaned up and met our friends for dinner. Okay, so the walk from the hotel to the restaurant involved walking over a higher bridge than I like to look over the side of, AND it was a few more blocks than I thought. It was still a nice evening spent in good company. And the walk back was even more entertaining-probably because I was the only girl NOT in heels.

We walked back from dinner to the Tulsa PAC and had a perfectly wonderful time laughing at a very inappropriate, very adult, and very fun show. (Avenue Q) Then, Dave, Chris, Sean and I did our best to close down the Daily Grill; but we must be getting old because it was still open when we left. We still had a very good time, though. This morning, I managed to sleep in until 8:30, and because Tristan got a call-back; we were out of Tulsa by 10:30 and I was home doing laundry and dishes for the coming week by 1:30. All in all, I think Dave and I managed 24 hours to ourselves, away from the kids, and having a great time. And all in all, that was all the time we needed.

McLinky Monday: Who Am I?

Those Real Housewives of Oklahoma (a.k.a. The RHOK) want to know what the most popular searches and posts are on our blogs. That seemed like a pretty fun game to play, so here is what Statcounter.com says are my most searched keywords:

That list may look pretty boring on the surface, but you weren't on that Bachelorette Party Cruise! ;) (Psst...It was to celebrate my girlfriend Lanie getting married. Today, she became a Mom. Everybody say "aww!") 

My most popular post is my Aunt M's Obituary and I'm not feeling all that inclined to link you to it. Instead, I'll link you to "The Necklace" which is easily the best thing I've ever written and posted here. (Or, for a good laugh, check out Lanie beating everyone up for the bouquet at my wedding in the pictures she and my girlfriend Chris guest-posted on my 35th Birthday. Good times...)

Thanks for checking in and thanks to the ladies at The RHOK for hosting McLinky Monday!

Week In Review

Reading

Have I read anything this week aside from work emails and grant applications? I'm thinking no. Unfortunately.

Watching

19 Kids and Counting

Can I tell you how happy I was to see Michelle Duggar's big ol' laundry pile?! It's nice to know her house isn't always spotless. I don't remember too many of the details of the episode (except, of course, for what Anna & Josh are having), but I was SO HAPPY to know I'm not the only woman with a huge pile of clothes on her laundry room floor.

Mr. Sunshine

As if I couldn't love it more, they gave James Taylor a cameo! I love this show way too much for it to last more than a season or two.

At the Movies

Just Go with It

I finally got to have a movie night with Deborah! We hadn't done that since she left for Germany even though she's been back in the Sooner State since December. We've managed phone calls and shopping, but we brought 'dinner and a movie' night back last Friday in Bricktown. We loved this movie, though I think it was a little on the long side. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Also, every time I see a movie with the lovely Jennifer Aniston, I want to punch Brad Pitt in his beautiful, 'takes himself too seriously' face. I hope she really is happy. And I'm kind of sorry that he is. Because that's the kind of gal I am.

Out and About

Relief Society Birthday Dinner

See? Sometimes I'm social at church. I could have lived without the tongue-lashing over me traveling and leaving my "poor husband at home with all those little kids." But it still managed to be a fun evening. Especially since one of my favorite 'partners in crime' actually showed up too. (You know who you are...)

Bolero's

Before the movie, we had some lovely tapas at this little place close to the Harkins theatre. The food was good and the proximity to the theatre and its view of Bricktown were enjoyable too.

District 1 Exemplification/Reception

The days of one car to get there and one hotel room to house all of Norman Assembly are over! As I joked with one of the other Mother Advisor's: My prayer used to be "Dear Lord, we need more girls." And now it is "Dear LORD, what am I going to do with all these girls?!" Natalie made it home safe and sound and in time to come with us. I also had wonderful help in the form of Wendy's mom who used to be Assistant Mother Advisor when I was in Rainbow. But when I compare this year's Tulsa visit with 5 girls to last year's visit with just two, I definitely feel how the game has changed. But I do think it's been for the better and I do feel that taking on the M.A. position was the right decision. Also, will I ever NOT cry when we sing that one song at the end of each meeting? (Probably not.)

And with all this craziness, maybe it's best that Spring Break is over so I can get back into the regular routine of school. Who knew I would EVER say that?

For a Change

I thought I would share something funny. This blog used to be good for a few funny and inappropriate stories and in the middle of all the memorial posts, I thought I should at least one of those:

If you need a present-day t.v. series character to compare my Aunt M with, it would have to be Emily Gilmore and if you watched the show Gilmore Girls (and oh how I miss it); you will understand why this is so funny. If not, rent the DVD's of the series and thank me later.

Anyway, as we were gathering clothing for the funeral home we came across a gift box. We opened it and were pleasantly reminded of many Christmases ago when Uncle Johnny was still with us. I've mentioned that he was a paraplegic and in the later years he found that it was just easier to hand my mother money and a Christmas list than to go shopping himself. A few years before he died, he and my mom put their heads together and came up with an evil and appropriately karmic plan for all the years Aunt Marguerite bought all of us "appropriate" undergarments and wrapped them up as gifts for public unwrapping on Christmas Day. This year, they decided to buy her the tackiest panties Mom could find and do likewise to her. I still remember her face when we opened them, and finding them still in their gift box in a drawer made us laugh.

Guess what was part of the outfit we gave to the funeral home for her burial? In the end, Mom and Uncle Johnny got the last laugh. And goodness knows they earned it.

Gratuitous Snow Pictures

We spent another couple of welcome days snowed in at home. I finished reading my book club book, Jurassic Park  and we finished our family reading of The Hobbit. Dave and I learned how to play ANgry Birds and may have developed slight addictions to it. Maybe. I made banana bread and turkey roast and again, we enjoyed our time together. Lest you think we spent it all as bookworms and couch potatoes though, here are a few pics of us enjoying the outdoors too! (For some reason Elisa evaded the camera. We will rectify that before the snow melts, I promise.)

Friday Flashback: That Was Then, This Is Now

Installed as Worthy Advisor on Sept. 16th, 1989

Installed as Mother Advisor (for the second time) January 30, 2011

Two Memes are Better Than One

I was going to do Crazy Texas Mommy's Wednesday Rambles like my friend Allie at Screwed Up Texan, but at 10 p.m., my nice warm bed (thanks to my friend the electric blanket) beckoned louder. I thought about going with my usual Thursday Thirteen stand-by instead, but I really wanted to do Wednesday Rambles. So, this list of ramblings will contain no more and no less than thirteen of the many random thoughts that have danced through my brain at some point this week. Maybe next week I will actually pick one and stick with it, but I wouldn't count on it:

• Today's blog post is brought to you by the fact that Grey's is a re-run. Also, tonight's Grey's is a re-run. Again!! Do. Not. Like.
• Tonight's dinner was brought to my family by the genius that is Ree, The Pioneer Woman. If she can inspire me to make good food, she can teach anyone. I can't recommend her recipes more. We had the grilled chicken and pineapple quesadillas-you know you were going to ask. We have also enjoyed her pizza recipes, the chicken cacciatore, and the chicken and dumplings. I really liked the blackberry cobbler (version #1) too.
• And the fact that I ate most of it over three days by myself is why I won't be making it again soon unless it it for someone else who will take it far away from me.
• One of my infamously deleted comments here referred to me as a "fat, lazy b*tch." I guess they got the fat part right. And I kind of wish that the "b" part was right too, because maybe then people would stop taking advantage of me. But as a working mom with 5 kids, I am definitely NOT lazy.
• The "lazy" part of that comment was what hurt me enough to delete it. The other two I can live with, sort of.
• My friend Chris made me promise not to delete anymore mean comments so she "can light them up like the 4th of July." Them=The commenter, though that one was Anonymous.
• I love Chris. She co-authored the 35th birthday post that appears on my sidebar. She also saved my life a few times. I wrote about one of them here. (Although I think I am actually combining the two in that flashback. It's funny, I remember detailed things from childhood through the present, but those two years are the only things that are hazy. Can we say PTSD?)
• I also love Lanie and her mom, Vickie. Lanie was the other author of the birthday post and the pictures were Vickie's. They let me live in her room with her from the time I graduated high school until I moved into the OU dorms, they too were trying to save me. Ultimately, it worked.
• While I lived there, I met this guy from Fort Ord who was home on leave and looked a lot like Charlie Sheen. He flirted with both of us until I made sure he knew I was 18 and Lanie was 16. He picked me and we went out a few times before he went back to California. I wasn't sure I would ever see him again. But...
• Seven years later, I married him. Chris was my Maid of Honor, Lanie caught the bouquet, Vickie altered the dress that I wore.
• I may have been short-changed in the mom department, but I have been blessed with some wonderful people in my life and I am grateful to have them.
• Of course this totally leaves out Wendy and her mom Mary Kay which just isn't right. They were just as important and just as instrumental in the whole 'save Melessa' project-Wendy just never had the opportunity to get in 'The Jerk's' face and make him run away like Chris did. But she totally would have. And Mary Kay did her fair share of letting me stay at their house too. (Edited to add:) And I can't sing their praises without singing Jen's too! I love you Jen, even if you did 'abandon' us for Wilburton and the love of your life. You came up with the 'blinky light revenge!' So let me reiterate: Me=Blessed
• I really didn't mean for this list to be so sappy and sentimental, but I'm not at all surprised that it did.

Meet the Cast

For years I've blogged about my family. I thought some of you might want to "meet" them. This is my Gran D with every last one of her grandchildren. This was taken at my cousin E's wedding last September. The last picture of all of us was taken at Christmas in 1990. We've changed a bit since then. But she says she is just as excited about this picture as she is over any of the ones we give her of our children-even if they are much cuter. I don't blame her, I love this pic too.

From left to right: Cousins Jonathan and Daniel, Gran D, Eric (he and Jonathan are more like the older and younger brothers I never had than they are cousins), my sisters Janet and Selena, me, and my cousin Megan. Jonathan and Daniel are the sons of "Uncle Buck" and Eric and Megan belong to Favorite Uncle Bob. I think our family cleans up pretty well and thanks for letting me share them with you.

McLinky Monday: Holiday Cookies!

I've been impressed by the other cookie recipes at RHOK today. I wish I had one to add to it. But, as I've mentioned, I'm not much of a baker. However, the kids and I ALWAYS make cookies on Christmas Eve. In the past, I've usually purchased those pre-made Pillsbury tubes of sugar and peanut butter cookie dough. Then, we roll out the dough for the sugar cookies so that we can use as many cookie cutters and colored icing as we have in the house. And then we make reindeer cookies with the peanut butter dough (though I think this year we may try the ones Dawn recommended instead). If the batch of homemade peanut butter cookies I made tonight is any indication, this new mixer may spell the end of my Pillsbury cookie dough purchases. But even when I wasn't baking from scratch, we have had some fun times on Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoy my little retrospective (it made me a little teary-eyed):

Things I Shouldn't Say, But Do

I mentioned my inappropriate sense of humor a few days ago. Today I have a few examples to share. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed saying them:

1. Recently we had a visitor at work who had complaints about everything she saw that day. I won't go into her entire litany, but one of her biggest beefs seemed to be that our entrance gates "are standing wide open right there in front of the parking lot!" Keeping in mind that she had been griping me out for about 15 minutes at that point, my response to that was "Well Ma'am, I guess we could close the gates, but the problem with shutting our entrance gates during our hours of operation would mean that people couldn't get inside the museum." No, I couldn't keep the sarcasm out of my voice-I'm just proud I didn't laugh out loud. And had my little comeback cost me my job, the look on her face when I said that would have almost made it worth it. Also, that was what finally shut her mouth and prompted her to leave. She said she wasn't EVER coming back. At least I held it in enough not to say "Can I get that in writing?"
2. Back when I was the PTA President, I had an irate mother approach me at Back to School night because we weren't selling school supplies. She asked where the principal was so she could tell him how mad she was. (I knew the principal would be on my side since he had asked me to be President about 10 days previously which gave me no time whatsoever to even begin to set up any kind of school supply endeavor.) My answer? "The principal? Sure. He's that man in the grey suit about 5 steps away wearing the name tag that says Principal." I am SO going to get beat up someday...
3. About a year ago, my good friend Jen made it to town after years of not seeing everyone. We planned to eat at BJ's because my girlfriends and I are addicted to the Pizookie desserts. I met Jen at her hotel while another friend went straight to BJ's to put our names on the list. As we drove over to meet her, she texted that my high school ex was there too and did I want to re-think dinner? I believe my words in the car were: "That jerk deprived me of my junior and senior year of high school, I'll be damned if he deprives me of my dessert too!" Either he was gone before we got seated or he did a good job of hiding because I never saw him. AND I got my dessert too!
4. Last weekend, I took the girls to Duncan for an official visit. We made a bathroom stop in Chickasha on the way home. Somewhere in the store they found a package of Lil' Smokies packaged by a company who thought it would be funny to sell them under the label "Big Bag O'Weiners." That was about as hilarious to a group of 12-15 year-old girls as one would think and they giggled about it the rest of the way home. At one point, one of the girls threatened to post that phrase on another one's Facebook wall. The other girls replied with "Please don't! Every guy I've ever liked..." and as she trailed off, my mind said "has a weiner?" which gave me the giggles. Her actual answer was "is my friend on Facebook," but because I laughed so hard I told the girls what I thought she was going to say. And then they laughed and deemed me "the coolest mom ever." I'm glad they'll have that to remember me by when I'm dismissed for my inappropriateness. Although, for the sake of all those boys she's ever liked, I certainly hope my statement is true. Because the alternative does not seem fun for them at all. In fact, I can't even think of an alternative. And I must admit that I'm grateful for that.

Wordless Wednesday: And a Good Time was Had By ALL!

Week In Review

Reading


Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan


Midway through the book and I am already getting choked up and teary-eyed while reading to the kids, much to the chagrin of my almost-teen daughter. Oh well, when they start talking about the youth-as-heroes, Mama's going to cry. Especially since I already know how it ends. But the kids are loving it. We try and have a 'no TV on Sunday rule' here, and when there's lots of Percy Jackson to read; we usually get away with it. I'm toying with reading The Hobbit with them next or maybe the Chronicles of Narnia even though I know that my older two have read them dozens of times already. On an unrelated topic, how cool is it to have a job where you can order the boxed set of Little House on the Prairie books because you genuinely need them for work purposes. Pretty cool indeed.

Watching


The Big Bang Theory


If there's anything I missed the first time in Season 3, I think I've seen it now. Also, what in the world are the writer's going to do about Kaley Cuoco's broken legs? I'm curious to see how it plays out this season. And finally, the kids and I have some hypotheses about what Amy Farrah Fowler does for a living since Sheldon would have already known her if she were a scientist of any note whatsoever. My bet is on Library Science even though I simultaneously bristle at the stereotype. Natalie went with English teacher, but I think she's been written as too matter-of-fact for that. Tristan said he didn't care as long as the show was coming back next week. And regardless of whether any of us are right, we can't wait for Thursday!! (And thanks to DVR, I'll still get my Grey's on too.)

Parenthood-


I'm glad the show is back, I'm kind of bummed about the Jasmine character spending the season in transit. I was actually a little bit underwhelmed by the first episode, but I adore this show and have faith it will get better.

19 Kids and Counting-


I'm glad the baby is home and healthy. That's pretty much what I got from watching two weeks' worth of episodes.

OU v. Air Force


Technically, I listened to this while driving to and from OKC. But...seriously Sooners? You're starting to scare me.

Extracurricular Activities


Bridal Shower


I skipped a precious OU game viewing because one of my former co-workers is getting married. It was like a mini-reunion for co-workers. Since it was a couples' shower, I got to see their spouses too. I had a great time getting caught up on what everyone is doing and how one of them is now expecting her first baby. (Squee!) Since Natalie was my date, I'm glad we didn't play some cheesy version of 'The Newlywed Game,' though one co-worker's wife aptly noted that Natalie would likely outscore Dave at such a competition. Alas, I think she was right. At any rate, a great time was had by all and I'm so excited for the wedding in a few weeks. (Squee again!)

This week was slow, next week is very full and should make for much better blog fodder. Provided I actually have time to write about any of it.