In Louisiana
In Louisiana, I had a mission companion who had a really hard time with a lot of things. She was a wonderful person, and I enjoyed her, but life was just hard for her. One thing she always did was have something she could look forward to having when she got out of bed in the morning. One of her big coping mechanisms was to always have good breakfast cereal. It literally helped her get out of bed and get on with her day.
It's hard to get out of bed these days. It just means the start of the whole thing again! (making lunches, making beds, etc.)
Also, it's so dark. It's cold. Today it is raining. Normally I really do jump out of bed and get going. I have always been a morning person. Lately, not so much.
Well, I bought some really good product. Shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, etc. That helps me get out of bed because I can take a great shower.
And maybe I should go to bed earlier, too.
I won't be sad...
...when Friday has come and gone. It's our school's Halloween Party. And it's a great party. But I will be glad when it's over.
I have been involved in our school district's PTA since Josh was in kindergarten. I knew I wanted to get involved, but wasn't sure how...then my neighbor invited me to be a co-chair of a committee with her. She moved four months later. For four years, I was on Executive Board, which meant I went to monthly meetings as well as did my responsibility. I had a lot of good experiences, and my favorite part was getting to know so many parents, teachers and administrators in our school community.
This year, after my 2 years as a corresponding secretary was over, I decided I wanted to be off Executive Board. Mostly since Tuesday nights are my favorite class at the gym and I really hate missing it for PTA meetings. So I volunteered to be on the elementary school's committee, which plans the Halloween Party and Field Day. Two events, lots of committee members, couldn't be so bad?
Then I volunteered to be the ticket lady for the Halloween Party because I'd rather have a job I can do at home than schlep all over town looking for Halloween supplies. This hasn't been too bad, a little time consuming, lots of phone calls, lots of busywork. This morning I told Sam (since he was the only one home) that if the next phone call was about the Halloween Party I was going to go crazy. It was.
So, don't let this discourage you. It's great to be involved and know who's who. I will just be glad when Friday's over.
Our week in pictures
Caroline doing Japanese folk dancing.
Kiku display at the botanical gardens...so beautiful.
Life with an older sister...meet Sam the pretty butterfly
Even superheroes must decorate halloween cookies!
Collecting treasure bags at the Darger farm
Showing off our treasures at the Darger farm
The Blaze--so fun! 4000 lighted pumpkins. Loved seeing Carma and family at the end!
There are more pictures to see
We're Batty for Matty
20th HS reunion
This is coming up this summer.
I wasn't sure how I felt about it until this summer when we went to Mark's 20th reunion. Then I got excited. He had a great time at the "grads only" night and then for the couples night I accompanied him and we had a really nice time. It was fun to meet his friends, fellow yearbook staffers, and everyone was so friendly and nice. I even ran into several people I knew independently of him.
My graduating class is small, and I can say that I am maybe in touch with less than 5 or 6 people on a regular basis. I did create a facebook profile this week to help me locate some friends and I was thrilled to get in touch with some Piedmont grads as well as other friends from various phases of my life (BYU, mission, DC, home, etc.) I had great HS memories flood back as we listened to the Music Man soundtrack on the way home from Mass. on Saturday. It was our senior musical, I had a small speaking part, and had a great time with my friends (and sister) who were in the show.
So, I am anxious to find out when the reunion will be...what kind of format it will have. I hope it works out that we can leave the kids in Utah with the grandmas and Baer aunties as part of our summer vacation...and Mark and I will have a fun weekend away in San Francisco. Hopefully the Giants will be in town too and I can show Mark that beautiful stadium. We will also walk across the GG Bridge and go to some other favorite Bay Area landmarks, and visit the Oakland Temple where we we married, and of course go to the reunion.
Fall Television Season=a disappointment
Yeah, not overly impressed.
Ugly Betty, while still highly entertaining to me, not great.
The Office, not laugh out loud funny. Why is Angela becoming such a main character? I much prefer her in the background!
Grey's, blah.
Private Practice, seriously?
New Adventures, really? Barb and Christine married?
Still holding out for 30 Rock...Tina, please save us from this misery!
Bones and the spa
Several Halloween's ago, Peggy made a skeleton for us called Bones. It's like the one Mark had when he was growing up and is very cute.
In the Baer family, it would be the equivalent of having Mom making us the Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus dolls [note to Mom: actually, we're just ready for Sammy's quilt : ) ]
Mark tells hysterical stories about how he and his brother John would hide Bones in the house and put him in all different positions, in people's beds, sitting on the sofa, etc.
Bones is a little thrased from being loved by our kids. He is larger than Matthew. A tibula has fallen off. The ruler that supported his head is long gone. He's a bit floppy now.
Josh said, "It looks like Bones need a day at the spa..."
You and me both, Bones.
It's been a crazy Yom Kippur. I made a couple of the new apple recipes --and will make the others pending a trip to the store for ingredients not on hand. Thank you so much--I used 12. I also watched the grass grow, cut out some paper pumpkins and supervised a crafting session --mom, cut me a mouth, glue this stem!), got my rainbow clown wig and vampire gear (apparently everyone in our county was at Party City today) and had my new dishwasher installed, thank goodness.
Also, an observation: isn't having cable shows "On Demand" teaching our children that they can satisfy every whim by the press of a button? Today Sammy was screaming on demand for "on demand"! Grape juice on demand is also popular at our house.
(I had Josh hold up Bones' leg by our newish print in our office/playroom--got it last year at a school trip to the NY Historical Society which is one of the coolest places in the City!)
Apple Time
Oh, Fall! We love you! Today was our first real fall day--so crisp. Leaves blowing from the trees. Lots of colors on the trees. Halloween aisle at Target (unfortunately NO vampire costumes or rainbow clown wigs...aargh!) New Halloween tees from Grandma in the mail today!
For the Jewish Holidays last week, Mark took Wed. off and we went apple picking. We went to the place that's just the apple orchard (as opposed to the place that charges you parking, admission, has a bounce house, corn maze, hayride, etc. etc.)
In fact, you park, buy your bag, and walk right into the orchard. And it's only 40 minutes away. And we got interviewed and put on the local news (about how we feel about the rising cost of pumpkins...which we feel fine about because you have to have pumpkins!) We've been apple picking every year since Josh was 1 and our dear friends introduced us to the Eastern tradition of apple picking.
It turned into a wonderful day because after we got our apples (and pictures of us picking apples), we went to an arboretum (free and beautiful) and a farm (again free and beautiful) with awesome animals (my favorite were the piglets.) And finished at the local ice cream stand.
So now I have a $20 bag of apples sitting on my counter, as I imagine most of my friends in NY do too (or else I would bring you some applesauce). I was happy to use 12 yesterday...4 in apple crisp and 8 in applesauce. But I need more apple ideas!
For the Jewish holiday this week, Yom Kippur, we will put up our Halloween decorations. I put up some just fall decorations a couple of weeks ago, but I tend to get burnt out on Halloween pretty easily, so I am trying to pace myself.
Please feel free to comment with your favorite apple ideas!
