voice activation....

I find myself often wishing for a voice activated recorder. It seems I do my best thinking when I am alone, which usually only occurs on my way to and from work, or when I am in the shower. I am a person who LOVES my personal space. I don't need someone near me every minute and yet I am constantly surrounded by someone. Anyway I digress.....When alone with my thoughts I frequently find myself thinking...Oh! I need to write about that...or what the heck??? Do people know this is happening??? I need to inform them...(Why I have the need to keep the world informed on what I think are the injustices of life is a topic to be discussed at a later date...maybe someday in therapy...) Anyway...my indignation usually turns into memory loss by the time I find time to be alone at the computer...As I sit down at the keyboard, my "hot" topic has disappeared and I can't remember what I was so passionate about, that I had to "put it on the blog"... The other day for example, as I watched the 9 millionth car, cut in front of someone in traffic, I had written an entire blog on the subject of line cutters, my outloud grumblings only to be interrupted by my outloud desires to have a dang recorder that would just start when I say "Recorder, start please...." (Mr. Scott where are you????) By the time I got home and found time to do a new post...the only thought I had, was how lame! I am so sure someone wants to read about line cutters, and what the heck was I going on about anyway? So! The moral of the story is...my blog posts are often spared the the musings of my overworked mind on the injustice to be found in the world. Somday maybe I can say..."Recorder...start please...and possibly it will come at a time, when there is something worth remembering...

Rain, Rain...

It's Raining...It's pouring...the old man is snoring...Do you wonder how some things never leave your memory??? I don't ever remember the rain coming without rushing up to my neighbors house pelting out that song at the top of my lungs! Nothing could thrill Brad and I more than riding our bikes in the rain. We loved it...there was a HUGE puddle in the pasture next to our house and we couldn't wait for the rain to ride our bikes through the hole! Pure bliss...I can't imagine that we were not soaked through and through but I never remember the wet, I just remember begging my mom to let me out in it...Living here in the desert we don't frequently get rain, and when we do my children act just like I used to...They love to go outside and act crazy! I can't say I blame them, I feel the need to act that way my self. There is something so refreshing and cleansing about the rain! My biggest problem with the rain now, is that it doesn't come often enough or last long enough! Somedays it is the little things that make everything right in the world...Today...the thunderstorm that brought us some rain for most of the day! Heaven on Earth...

Diaries of the food snob...

It is a well known fact, at least among my friends, and some who may not want to be known as my friends, that I am a food snob! I say this without any pride at all, I mean really who wants to be known for something of this nature, however it is true. I have to admit that I am! Let me clear the air however, to say it is not the same thing as being picky, as in picky eater...I like almost any type of food and like almost any type of food prepared in a multitude of ways, and I am always willing to try something new...however my problem is that I mainly like food, cooked in the way that I cook it! Not to say that there are not many good cooks out there whose food I love to indulge in, just to say that frequently I prefer my own version. It is rare for me to eat something and think OOOHHH! Perfection !!! Usually I eat something and think, OH! If you just did this or that, it would taste so much better! Before you all swear off of never cooking for me, or bringing me treats again, let me just say, that I do this to all of MY creations as well....I shared a recipe with a friend a couple of days ago, and she called to ask me some questions about it as she was making it. As she was telling me what she did, I kept hearing my self saying...Oh! I don't do it that way, and Oh! You shouldn't do that, and OH!! WHY didn't I tell you NOT to do that! I don't like them that way! I then had to spend the next few minutes reassuring her, that yes her cookies were going to be just fine, and yes they would taste good, and yes I freak out if mine don't turn out just so...and yes it is a finicky recipe, and yes I have a hard time duplicating it EXACTLY each time I make these cookies , but to remember that I AM the food snob and that all would be well, and that she would love the cookies....As I hung up, I was thinking well that was a disaster...way to boost her confidence and oh by the way, I am so sure she will be calling to get another recipe from me!! Why oh why can't I just leave well enough alone...Yesterday I made breadstiks for dinner...we haven't had them in ages, (except for some a week ago, that were made with love and left over from a function, were shared with us, and then sat on my counter for 5 days before heading to the recycle bin...) As I pulled the beautiful breadstiks from my oven, I had to do a fast recall of my CPR skills. My youngest son, was about to tip over from the sheer agony of waiting to sit at the table to eat! Moaning and groaning and about to expire, he finally got his turn when the plate was passed to him. One bite and OOOOOHHHHH the joy! I told him to stop acting around and just to eat his dinner. As I took the first bite of mine...I have to say my reaction was a wee bit similar to his. Perfection! It is no wonder I love my cooking...

Tales of the biker chick...

Vacation is almost upon us...We are heading up for our annual summer trip to see family and get out of the heat. We always have the best time up north and can't wait to get there and then complain about having to come home. We hate the heat!! This year we are taking the bikes. The boys have a couple of dirt bikes and plenty of space to ride them in, and David is taking his street bike so he can go on a "ride" with Stacey. He is so excited about this. Stace and Val met his family up at Glacier Park and they rode the "Going to the Sun " highway on the bikes. Had a blast! Just this morning found out Val and I are invited to go on the ride...Oh Whoopee! David will be thrilled, I think it is his secret ambition to be married to a biker chick! We took the bike to dinner with some friends a while ago, and he has NEVER stopped talking about it! Can I say I am so excited??? Helmet hair and butt cramps here I come!! Never let it be said I am not one for a little adventure...

Oh what do you do in the summertime???

Oh what do you do in the summertime????
.....family reunions...camping on the mountain....homemade icecream...fishing...sleeping in...game days with the kids...swimming...eating a homegrown tomato...
Oh what do you do in the summertime???
....trips to montana...boating on the lake...camping...visiting family and friends...mini vacation weekends...homemade jam...
Oh what do you do in the summertime???
...walking through the garden...trips to utah...picking peaches off my tree...baking...honey do projects...trying new recipes...
Oh what do YOU do in the summertime???

Thankful....

Love the windows of life that provide time for us to stop and count our blessings....
.....for simple times with family....campfires, cocoa, stories and laughter...
......for answered prayers...Safe journeys through troubled waters...
....... for the courage of 10 year olds...20 year olds...and 80 year olds...
.........for friends who listen with soft hearts...and pass on the flaws they see...
..........for life one day at a time, with all it's imperfectness....
...........for being just who I am...

De-bugging the bugs...

Virus...doesn't that word automatically put a picture in your head of something icky and disgusting?? We have had a major virus going on around here...or rather our computer has!! In a word?? It stinks...

It never ceases to amaze me, how dependent we can become on something that a whole world has lived without for quite some time... (cell phones come to mind?) if you think about the age of man and the age of computers...really they are brand new...and yet our life seems to stop if the computer goes down!

Thankfully we are on the mend...(notice I don't say fixed! I couldn't dare to be that hopeful...) only time will tell. We are not quite up to speed like I would like and if ever there was a time to push a button and say..."Mr. Scotty...damage report? How long will it take to fix us?" ...It would be now! However...

We are glad to be up and running again...I am glad to be back on the information highway with news, google, and more at my fingertips... If our de-bugging works, those little buggers, should be bugged out! Bugs on the run...sure sounds good to me...

Wisdom...

~With time, women, especially mothers gain weight because we accumulate so much information & wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we're enormously cultured, educated, wise and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I'll think, Good grief, look how smart I am!~

Thanks Lindsay...love it!

The turtle walk...

My sister- in -law recently completed walking in a half marathon! At least she claimed she walked, but I did see pictures of her running across the finish line. Running...at the end!...at the end of 13 miles!!! I don't know if she was so excited to be done (or maybe she spied a big can of pepsi.)..but somehow... it all seems to be bordering on insanity to me...

It seems she is not the only person I know who has recently become possessed with the personal torture fever! A couple of our friends recently competed in a full marathon...Ok really??? 26 miles??? I mean WHY???? I cannot possibly imagine what kind of a prize, could possess a person to go "Hey, what ya doing on the 10th...3 months from now??" "Nothing??, Hey great, wanna go for a run with me?? How about 26 miles??" "Oh, and did I mention, that we really need to run about that far...EVERY DAY...between now and then just to get ready for it????"
Then today I hear another friend, casual as you please say..." Gosh, I really want to run a marathon!"...What the heck???

I keep wondering if the world has gone crazy and I am the only one to notice it! I mean I am all for a little exercise...there is nothing wrong with some weight lifting every day.. I try to get in my 8 glasses of water every day...they weigh quite a bit if you think about it...and if you switch drinking arms every other time, you are toning your guns quite nicely thank you very much! Just think if you add in a few snacks during the day...and load up on the heavy ones, you could get in quite a workout! Not one to worry about only one part of my figure I have also noticed that if you do your leg lifts in the bubble bath, you can get the nicley toned legs you always wanted and keep your bubbles fresh and long lasting. Of course you don't want to be to strenuous here, since it is a bubble bath, and turning it into a jacuzzi bath could lead to water overflow!

The nice part of my brain is proud of my sister in law and my friends...although they may be ambitious over achievers with a death wish, or hoping for early asthma, or maybe a chance to do some breathing treatments...who am I to rain on their parade! If they want to run distances that most normal people would drive... I am not the one to say no...

As for me?? I am happy with the turtle walk...I am sure I will have plenty of company along the way and time to stop and smell the chocolate...(well eat it is more like it, but hey! there should be benefits to moving slowly!!) and we all know that the turtle will eventually get where he is going...

Curve balls....

Who can really hit a curve ball? Of course great hitters come to mind, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Mark McGuire...but really...who among us can hit a curve?....Most of us think we can handle straight up the middle, hanging just over the plate..."as long as I can see it coming..." We love to use phrases like that to talk about all the things we choose to do, and all the things we don't choose but that come to us anyway. Most of us prefer our troubles to come in manageable quantities and in convenient time frames...however, there is always the curve. Little things, big things, you can always count on a curve when you step up to the plate...

I went to a farewell open house tonight for a good friend who is moving. There were so many people there all of whom somehow fit into the "friend" category. People who are so different from each other, and yet who all share common threads that bind us together. Change is amongst us. In listening to many of those who gathered express love and appreciation for the one who is moving...it touched my heart just how lucky we are. No matter what form our curve balls come in... no matter who, where, or what we are our friends are there to cheer us on. They love us despite our imperfections, they see the good in us when others don't, they make us smile through our tears.

My friend isn't moving because she wanted a new house, she is moving as a product of a bad economy. She is going in a new direction...because a curve ball is taking away her home. While my mind is sympathizing with her for her loss, my heart is overflowing for her because of her blessings. She is truly among friends. She has been given the opportunity to see her impact on so many people and the chance to feel the love of all those she has touched. Amazing how we have been given, exactly what we need to step up to the plate and hit away...Curve balls....sometimes can be our greatest blessing...

When I get where I'm going...

Love this song... www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#brad paisley when I get where I'm going/all/1 Love the lyrics..each one means different things to me at different times...Played this song as they wheeled my dad out of his funeral...you would think it would evoke sad memories, but really it doesn't. I have loved it since the first time I heard it and I love it again each time I hear it. It seems to epitomize to me what we are doing here, and where we are going after we leave here...

My mom brought down some rolls of super 8 movie film that she has kept all these years (courtesy of my grandpa's movie camera) and we had them transferred onto dvd. We picked them up this week and were able to watch them the other night! Oh the memories...so many fun times. It was amazing to watch them. My sisters and I were pretty young in the films and it was so fun to see my younger parents, grandparents, and other family members. Camping in Yellowstone Park, riding in the parades, and horseshows, branding at the ranch, visiting relatives, and Christmas at home... We always did everything with family...always! It was so great to take a little trip back in time for a minute and go back there with family. It was so fun to see my sweet grandparents come back to life for a minute on the screen of the tv. It was great to see my aunts and uncles and even a short glimpse of my great grandpa...I didn't know he was on there, but there he was just like he looks in my memory...I can never remember a time, that we were doing something that my parents and grandparents weren't there, every step of the way...we have been so blessed by the love of a good family...

Brad Paisley says...
"yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears...
I'm gonna walk with my grandaddy,
and he'll match me step for step,
and I'll tell him how I missed him,
every minute since he left.
Then I'll hug his neck.

The first time I heard this song, I had memories of my parents and grandparents roll through my mind, like someone turned on the movie camera...My whole life has been wrapped with family...where I come from and where I am going...has been defined by these good people. I love my life...I love the crazy, busy, days that we are in...I love the chaos of 4 boys and all life's adventures...but when I get where I'm going...I will definitely hug their necks!

Treats...

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater....
What the Heck Happened to Easter??
All my chocolate..
All my eggs...
Have been gone,
For many days...
No more carmel, no more peeps...
I'm so sad, I think I'll weep...
Dry my tears...wipe my eyes...
I think I'll now go make some pies...

Perspective...

Had the chance yesterday to talk to an old friend of mine. I am saying old, because in my book, that means treasured, valued, and wonderful. Anyone who wants to be friends with me for longer than a day or two, deserves some kind of a medal in my book, let alone one who has persevered for almost 20 years. Turns out her mom had just passed away. Cancer no less...I got the news, placed the call, and started to leave a message when she picked up. Spent the next long while, grieving together, talking together, crying together and laughing together mostly through our tears. Such is the blessing of old friends. As I talked with her, I knew what she was going through. Not just the loss of a parent, but life with cancer. Her story could have been my story. I had just lived through what she has been living through. I could hear myself saying words and phrases that let her know, I had seen and been where she was. I had walked the same road.

Perspective.

A couple of days ago, I spent some time talking with my niece. We were discussing her grandma, my mother-in-law. My "mom" is remarkable. She has been on dialysis for too many years longer than she should be,she is eighty, she is getting frail. Most of us feel she is and has been living on borrowed time for a very long time now. She recently took a fall, her second in a few months. While asking my niece (who lives near her) how she was doing, we had a discussion about grandma's borrowed time. Things like, why was she still here, what she had lived with, and through and done. What she has accomplished in her life, what she has left to accomplish...all those normal topics you go through when watching your loved one move to the time when you know their time here is short. My niece offered her opinions of what grandma is going through and I offered mine. Different opinions by what we see and in what our relationships to grandma are. When I went to say goodbye to my niece she said..."thanks for the different perspective".

Perspective.

Webster defines perspective as the ability to: look through, see clearly. Another definitions states that pespective is: the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one. Most people would define perspective as a combination of these two definitions. Sometimes in life I think we are lucky enough to look back at our experiences and realize we have learned something. Sometimes I think we look back and keep looking back trying to answer and define WHY did we go through with this or that. Most of the time, I think we combine these two strategies and make peace within ourselves about the road just traveled and move on to the next step, the next road.

When my dad passed away, I experienced so many things. I could look back and see so much learning from that experience. I could list so many blessings that have come to us from that time. Pespective. The funny thing is though, even knowing and seeing what I have learned I still am asking WHY? The rational part of my brain can answer that question. My heart cannot. Perspective. I can grieve with a friend, and understand the myriad of emotion she is experiencing. I can talk with a niece and provide insight from a different road than hers. I can face each day with all of life's ups and downs, drawing on what I have learned from earlier travels, sometimes nervous, sometimes not, but always willing to go forward.

Perspective.

I am coming to appreciate this as one of life's great blessing...

Personality test...

Have you ever thought about the many seemingly small things we do, that define the type of people that we are?? Of course I was in my favorite shopping place yesterday. (Even on a Saturday...soooo dumb I know, but I bravely persevered.) I love this place! You can get so many good deals there, you can get things I have never seen someplace else there, you get free food that is usually really good (sometimes it is yuck and I am grateful, I wasn't seduced by the pretty picture on the box) and it is a really good people watching place!! I love to watch people...they are always so entertaining, in all their infinite varieties. As usual, we were strolling around, eating, and doing a minimal amount of shopping, I of course doing my normal amount of people watching which includes what goes in their cart. I get a kick out of matching cart contents to people...(weird I know but try it sometime...) Have you ever noticed people and their toilet paper?? I am of the philosphy that you can never have too much toilet paper. I usually always have about a 6 month supply on hand, lots of times even more...I mean this is something I don't want to have to find a home remedy for...Yesterday for some reason people were on a bathroom buying spree...It seemed like every other cart had white clouds in it. Or not! There were some shoppers who had the good sense to buy the best kind, others who bought the scratchy kind, with the icky green wrapper, some who bought the kind that will save the earth, (who really worries about this, at a time like that??)

I started noticing a trend in the placement in their cart too...Mr, I am in a hurry get out of my way, gotta get home and take care of business, (probably ran out and had to hurry over and get some...before...well you know...) had his ginormus pack in the basket of his cart!! Yep sooooo tall, he couldn't see over it. Trying to steer his cart, on a saturday no less, amongst thousands of sample hungry shoppers, by peeking around the edge of the cloud cover! To make it worse...the rest of his cart was empty! Who does that??? There are some who plop theirs right in the center of their cart and then try to fit everything else in around it, meanwhile hollering at their kids to get out of the way and hang on because their heaped up cart could topple onto them at any moment. There are the no nonsense shoppers who have theirs nestled appropriately on the bottom of their cart (where we ALL know it should go) with their basic cleaning supplies neatly arranged by room in the top, and NEVER buy anything frivolous or fun (samples???Eeek!free food in a PUBLIC place??) Then there are the embarrassed kind...neatly hiding it, or so they think, down on the bottom, gamely covering it up with laundry soap, and dryer sheets...as if you can hide 36 rolls of white....
I just had a chuckle or two or three as we made our way through the store and out to the car. Another day in paradise is what I was thinking. One more outing to reaffirm how fun it is to watch people. Yes it did cross my mind that there are those who would not agree with my personality assessments...however I felt pretty smart. Can't you just see a bestseller..."Easy Personality Match...Finding the Real You amongst the Clouds" As we were pulling away, I noticed Mrs. budget shopper and proud of it load her icky green wrapper kind in the cart and thought I had to at least give her kudos for buying more than enough for one or two days, like some of the crazy grocery store shoppers do...I mean really if you only buy 4 rolls, is it a gift for someone?? Do you ration it out?? Use it every other day?? Have only one person in your house who never goes?? I mean I don't get it!

However, I had much to do and couldn't let this occupy my whole day. Seriously with one birthday in the house and Easter Bunny shopping to finish, I had to move on. Busy day ahead...Finished my errands, visited a friend, did a good deed and finally my last stop before home, ran to the giant superstore which is my least favorite place (what a way to end my Saturday...and yes certifiably nuts for going there any day, let alone on Saturday before Easter...(screaming kids, crazy shoppers who buy pre-made icky Easter baskets, and blue vested workers were everywhere...even the cart storage cavern had no carts!) However a birthday gift resided there which I needed...I quickly grabbed my stuff, noticed a shopper or ten, ran across a lady I used to know, but didn't take time to yell across 3 aisles..."hey do you remember me".. and headed for checkout with my carefully counted "less than 20 items". (okay my carmel eggs put me two over the top, but really who counts anyway??) As I was standing in line, mentally categorizing all the multiple personalities around me, who do think pulled up in line right next to me??? Mrs. I have so many pressing needs, I will brave the crazed, shopper filled, so many people we were over the fire code limit, superstore. What was in her cart??? Nothing!! At first I wanted to tell her she didn't have to stand in line to exit the store, but then I noticed it...One little 4 pack of pure white toilet paper. Yep...another day in paradise...

Just thoughts...

I love the blogging world. I love the feeling of being connected and somehow in touch, by the pictures and thoughts that we all post on these pages. I am amazed at the talents which so many people display on the pages of a blog. I am continually surprised at the revelations and insight a blog provides about those whom are writing it. Blogs come in many shapes, sizes, and forms...I never seem to tire of reading blogs, I always feel enriched from the experience...and YES I am a blog stalker....I am one of those who will check my blog friends and then read through the blogs on your list...I don't do it to be nosy really, I do it more because I love the fresh perspective it provides to me. I love it for the exposure to so much out there that I don't know about...I am a very literal person and I am quite content doing things all the same way...all the time...It is good to have change and to be open to ideas that force us to evaluate where we are and where we are going...
For quite some time now, I have struggled posting on my family blog. I often have thoughts or reactions to life's daily windows, but somehow posting my personal thoughts always seems to me to be a little inappropriate for my family blog. Why this is...I don't know...I think mainly part of my brain wants to keep my little family connected to our friends and family out there...but I don't want to monopolize our "family" with just my own thoughts...hence the start of something new...I have quite a few closet personalities that seem to come out from time to time. Even when I think I know where I am going, I frequently end up somewhere else and usually that is okay with me. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up! I love so many things, I don't want to have to pick just one. In a nutshell, I have started this blog just to post my random thoughts come what may...I invite you to join the journey...