Lady of Perpetual Chaos

Inside The Life of A Purse

2012-01-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Every few months when my purse gets so heavy I can barely haul the thing around I decide to clean it out. And it's always fascinating to see what I find. A few weeks ago we reached the strap breaking point so I cleaned it out and took pictures. Isn't that what everyone does?

Included in all the madness is a flower clip, a recipe, and knitting pattern (I don't knit), the flower from Lolly's purple shoe, an inhaler, a paper fish, the cover to my taser, a face mask, green glittery bow tie and electrical tape. Franky, I'm not even sure why I had some of those things in my purse. Like electrical tape. But I think it had something to do with Halloween costumes. My purse is like the Swiss Army knife of accessories.

Book of the Week! The Quarter Acre Farm by Spring Warren

2012-01-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

I read this book last year and got so much good gardening information that I just have to share it with you.

And the thing I enjoyed the most about this book is that, as much as there is about all the amazing things she did and everything that worked, she also talked about the mistakes she made and the things that didn't turn out so well. Like the snails.

Friday Favorite-Days Off

2012-01-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

With These Two

Garden Report from....2011....yep

2012-01-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

It is January in Utah right now. It's cold. It's icky. The air quality is making me miserable. And I'm ready for summer. I'm desperate for summer. I need it NOW! But, alas, Mother Nature doesn't give a flying fig what I want or need. Which leaves me no choice....I have to go to my "happy summer place" in my head. So obviously I've been thinking about gardening, what I want to do differently this year, what new things I want to try, etc. Because I am a hippie garden nerd. And then I thought to myself, "Self, you never did a blog post on last year's garden! All that weighing and OCD note taking is going to go to waste!".

So, here I am. Talking about last year's garden. I'm an exciting person.

Every year I draw up a garden plan, figuring what we're going to plant and where we're going to put it. I even color it. And every year it ends up being completely different from what I plan. It's a good thing I spend all that time planning so we know exactly what not to do. Of course, that doesn't stop me from drawing up garden plans year after year. It works for us.

Last year I read this great book "A Quarter Acre Farm: How I kept the patio, lost the lawn and fed my family for a year" by Spring Warren. I got lots of great ideas from this book and for some insane reason I decided to weigh everything we got from our garden. At least, almost everything. Towards the end I slacked a little. Our scale can only weight about 3-4 lbs worth of produce at a time. The weighing thing got old fast. But don't be surprised if I do it again next year.

I decided to grow all Roma tomatoes since I had heard that they were the best for canning. I had planned on planting 8 Roma tomato plants. But because I am me, I ended up with 4 Roma tomato plants and 4 Celebrity Hybrid plants. Oops. We planted our garden (most of it) on May 28. We got our first tomato (Celebrity) on August 15. It was 18 ounces. One tomato, 18 ounces. It was huge!

Season Totals
Celebrity Tomatoes- 58 lbs. 11 oz.
Roma Tomatoes- 30 lbs. 8 oz.
From these tomatoes I canned 32 quarts of tomatoes (for spaghetti, etc.) and 12 pints of tomato soup.

Obviously, the Roma plants didn't produce nearly as well with growing just over half of the amount of Celebrity tomatoes and I couldn't really see much of a difference as far as canning the tomatoes went. I think this year I'll stick with the Celebrity tomatoes for all of my tomato plants. Let's just hope I can keep up!

We always plant one grape tomato plant that is referred to as our Tiny Tomato plant. My girls eat these like candy! But we learned after one year that planting more than one Tiny Tomato plant is not a good idea for us. Even with just one, we were giving away lots and lots of tiny tomatoes. We even went on a "Tomato Tour" one day taking tomatoes to quite a few friends in our neighborhood. Hopefully they appreciated it.

Season Totals
Grape Tomatoes: 16 lbs. 12 oz.

We planted 4 pickling cucumber plants this year and it was our most successful year with them so far. I've found that if I plant less then 4 plants, I don't have enough at one time to do pickles. But then I end up with lots of pickles. So I'm thinking next year I might trade with one of my garden friends because a family only needs so many jars of pickles!

Season Totals
Pickling Cucumbers: 37 lbs. 1 oz.
Pickles: 35 pints of bread & butter, dill and sweet dill pickles. See what I mean?!

Our green pepper plants did surprisingly well this year. We actually got some! We had enough for jelly, salads, stuffed peppers, lots of good stuff.

Season Totals
Green Peppers: 6 lbs.
I was able to make 24 half pints of pepper jelly. That's a lot. So if you need some, I'm your girl!

And then there was the corn that I hadn't planned on planting at all until I read a book called Soil Mates. It was a pretty easy book that talked about companion planting to prevent bug issues and to increase the health of your plants. In all honesty, I haven't had as many bug issues before as I did this year after trying to do companion planting, but that could totally be a fluke. Either way, we really enjoyed the fresh corn. I don't think I weighed the last couple of harvests but I know we got at least 10 lbs 14 oz. and were able to freeze 4 bags of corn from it. Although it's a little chewy so I'm thinking they may have stayed on the stalk too long or my kitchen table waiting to be frozen for too long. We'll see how it goes this year....

After planting pole beans for the last three years, we have come to the conclusion that pole beans just don't flourish in our garden. They grow well and have beautiful leaves and cover our garden wall, but they just don't produce all that well. This year we only got 3 lbs. 4 oz. of green beans. It's better than nothing, but I think we're going to give bush beans a try this year.

As for squash....this was a learning year for us. We planted a yellow squash plant in an empty area before thinking it through. Despite the lovely shade from the corn, our yellow squash was still able to produce 6 lbs. 7 oz. for our squashy enjoyment. Our zucchini squash didn't do so well either. I know, it grows like a weed. But not for us. I just didn't realize how shady it was going to be. Like I said...it was a learning year for us. Actually, every year is a learning year when it comes to gardening. And other things.

Although my attempts at growing dill didn't get very far, I did grow basil and just loved it. We had a super yummy margherita pizza with the ingredients mostly from our back yard! I also made up several batches of pesto and froze that. The only problem there is that pine nuts are so ridiculously expensive! $18+ per pound! But I'm growing basil again this year and I'm even thinking of expanding to some other herbs. And! I attempted to grow some garlic as well! I planted it at the wrong time, but it did really well until it got too hot. I've read you can either plant it in February/March and harvest in June or you can plant in September and harvest the following May. I didn't get around to it in September so we'll see if I can get it planted in the next month or two.

I haven't made our official garden plan for this year but I'm thinking of trying a few new things like potatoes, onions and artichokes. I'm really (pathetically?) excited! So, winter can end any time now. No really. I'm done with you winter. You couldn't be bothered to snow for Christmas so I have no use for you now!

So.....anyone else got any garden goodness to share? I love hearing about what other people do in their gardens. Remember....I'm the hippie garden nerd. And if you come to my house in the summer, I will probably insist that you come see my garden. Consider if fair warning.

This is before it got really crazy and unruly. Hard to imagine a Chaos' garden being unruly. I know!

And Then It Was New Years!

2012-01-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

This year we actually got to spend New Years' Eve at home! We usually spend New Years' Eve at CG's parents house, but this year the big bash was the night before so we got to get our party on at home. I realize this may sound weird to many of you, but by the time New Years' comes around, a fun night at home with the family is just so wonderful.

Dinner was Appetizer Night, which consisted of various appetizers purchased from our local grocer's freezer. It also required very little cooking on the part of the family "chef". We also had this yummy Cream Cheese Pesto Dip that I got from the lovely Emily of Is This Really My Life?!. We used pesto that I had made this summer with basil from our garden and it was just so yummy I can't find the words to describe it to you. It really was that good. And super easy to put together. Making it taste even better.

While we enjoyed all this yummy excess of food, we also broke out CG's Star Wars Monopoly!

We had a great time and played Monopoly for about 2 hours. Yes, they played Monopoly for 2 HOURS and were sad when it was time to put it away. The game hadn't actually ended, but Monopoly doesn't really ever end....if just goes on and on my friend!

Then we headed outside for our noisy welcome of the New Year. Technically, it was 8:00 p.m. and not Midnight, but there is no way that my girls could stay up until Midnight and not pay the consequences for many, many days. Even at 8, our celebration was awesome. Crowns, horns, Snap-Its and those noisy popper thingies were all involved.

And there may or may not have been a surprise attack of silly string by boring old mom. They never saw it coming....he he he....

And the last, official picture of 2011.

A Simpler Christmas

2012-01-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

As all ten of us know, I haven't really been in blogland lately. Or any land, really, besides the pharmacy. I've been waging some major germ warfare. Between mid-September and the beginning of December at least one of the three girls in our family have been sick. Usually at least 2 of us. And really, that's less than blogable. Do you really want to know how many square feet of vomit was cleaned up? Um...no. As a side not of blogability, I'm now a firm believer in the powers of probiotics. We started using it the beginning of December and the only illness that has affected the girls is a small cold. Loving the probiotics. I'm also going in to Lolly's classroom twice a week to clean every flat surface with antibacterial wipes because I am desperate to stop the madness of it all. I'm a woman on a mission. A mission of germ destruction.

So, now that we've got my blog absence out of the way, onto Christmas. Because everyone who is totally on top of things posts all about Christmas on their blog. I just do it in January. Because I'm not on top of things. Hence, the blog title. Ahem.....

The week of Thanksgiving I got strep for the first time in my life. Seriously, I had gone almost 33 years without having strep and I get it the week of Thanksgiving. And I thought I was going to die. It was HORRIBLE!!! I have a renewed sympathy for anyone who gets strep. It felt like I was dragging for days and days after that. It was brutal.

The thing that was weird was that not having a traditional Thanksgiving totally threw me off. It was like the Holidays didn't begin. And then I was in denial about the impending Christmas holidays. But the problem with being in denial is that Christmas still comes and if Mama's not making it happen....well, it's not going to happen. As a matter of fact, quite a bit of it didn't happen.

Since this holiday season seemed to be a season of firsts, I thought I'd go ahead and get a little laryngitis. It was relatively painless but mildly inconvenient. And then there was the blasted inversion. For the love of all that is holy, I had things to do! And no oxygen to do it with.

You know when you reach that point when you realize that in order for the holidays to be even remotely happy, then something has gotta give? Well, I reached that point. A couple of times, actually. Christmas cards? Hopefully next year. Twelve Days of Christmas Service? It didn't even come close to happening. But I did manage to get a few things done. The necessities were taken care of....present under the tree, special events attended and, importantly, a coping mommy so that the family could have a happy holiday.

We even managed to decorate a little gingerbread village.

Yes, most of my December was sponsored by large quantities of Mountain Dew.

Attended the event of the season...Babs preschool winter program. So adorable.

And the same day we attended the other event of the season....The December Traditions report. My Lolly's first oral report. (She did awesome!)

Dipped some yummy treats in fabulous chocolate from Utah Truffles. It's yumminess is beyond description. But this picture should be enough to totally make you drool and wish you lived by me.

And, of course, matching jammies on Christmas Eve.

And Santa, being awesome, did not disappoint. Although there were some concerns that he wouldn't come which were expressed around 2:30 in the morning Christmas Day.

Thankfully, I started my Christmas shopping last January (don't be too impressed, it was just 1 thing) and my mom came to watch the kids so I could wander through a few stores freaking out about not being able to find what we needed. Online shopping has it's perks. But it just doesn't have the same "feel" as real life shopping. Maybe someday I'll be a true convert. Either way, the girls were sufficiently (hopefully not excessively) spoiled and Christmas dreams came true.

Even Dexter got a few presents....lucky dog.

Despite all my best efforts and the drastic trimming of my to do list, Christmas Eve morning did include me making the last batch of grape jelly for family gifts. At least it was yummy. I think. But for all the seasons ups, downs, steroids and stress, we did have a wonderful time. And hopefully you did too.

Chaos And The Chocolate Factory

2011-11-17T10:54:00.005-07:00

Last month during the UEA school break I surprised the girls with a little family field trip. After having lunch with Daddy at work we headed to the Utah Truffles factory. Oh yes, we got a tour of the inner goodness of the local truffle paradise. Go ahead and be jealous. But don't feel too bad. I'm pretty sure that was my Super Mom moment of the weekend and things went downhill after that.

But, seriously, look at how cute these girls are!

We had a great time on the tour, even if we did have to stop about 5 minutes into it for a potty break. We got to see each step of their truffle making. So amazing. They had this huge, beautiful copper pot where they melt all the chocolate (sorry, didn't get a picture) before adding the coconut oil and flavoring for the middle of the truffle. It was really interesting. I'd take you on a virtual tour with pictures, but someone was a little too distracted by all the chocolate and forgot to take out the camera until the very end. *ahem*

In their lobby they have a chocolate wall of chocolaty goodness where they show off all their yummy truffle flavors and other chocolate goodies like chocolate dipped pretzels, orange slices, cookies and cinnamon bears.

And of course, the golden boxes of truffles. They would make the perfect hostess gift for the upcoming holiday season if you happen to actually get invited to Christmas parties that require hostess gifts. Or the perfect gift for your super skinny friend. Or your in-laws. The possibilities are endless. Plus you can stock up on them and hand them out when needed, if you're the organized prepared type. You can pick them up in person or order them here.

The boxes of chocolates range from $9.50 for 12 to $32.00 for 48. Plus! You can buy their amazing chocolate for your own home-dipping needs if you enjoy making chocolates for the holidays. It's only $5 per pound (sold in 10 pound blocks) and is way better than anything you would get at your average grocery store. It's better than you'd get even at high end places, but a lot more affordable. And did I mention yummy?!

So if you're looking for a fun, easy activity with your kids head on over to Utah Truffles for a tour. And be sure to eat a truffle for me.

**Although I was generously compensated with chocolate for this post, I honestly just wanted to take my kids out for a fun field trip and this did not disappoint. The chocolate was a bonus and also did not disappoint. ;o) **

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Sweet Potatoes or Yams

2011-11-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that there is a difference between sweet potatoes and yams. But I don't know what it is. And this particular recipe that my wonderful sister in law gave me last year refers to both sweet potatoes and yams. So I'll just let you make an educated guess and enjoy.

This recipe is actually pretty amazing. I'm not a fan of yams, but I really like this recipe. But I am still firmly against canned yams and putting marshmallows on them. That's just so wrong. On the other hand, these sweet potatoes/yams will me making an appearance at our Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
Combine:
3 cups yams, mashed
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

For topping combine:
1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal, crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter

Sprinkle over the top and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Kind Of Here But Not Really

2011-11-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

In lieu of an actual, real live post, I'm going to send you to an article someone else posted that has got me thinking some thoughts.

It's from the Huffington Post....right HERE.

It's about gaslighting. I found the article fascinating and fairly accurate. Plus it made me feel all snooty because I read the Huffington Post, which is always an added bonus.

SO. What do you think?

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T16:30:00.000-06:00

From Our Chaos To Yours!

In case you can't tell....Babs is Dorothy, Lolly is Glinda, CG is the yellow brick road and I'm the house that fell on the witch.

Wait....what?!

2011-10-27T11:00:00.000-06:00

Has it really been over a month since I last posted?! Why, yes...yes it has. The last month has been a blur of canning and various other craziness. I'd love to share all the details, but frankly, I can't really remember them right now.

We've been getting lots of goodies out of our garden.

And then I've been doing lots of canning to keep said goodies good for the winter.

And yes, the bottom of my canner is starting to rust out. But as long as it gets me through the next few weeks, it's all good. Plus, my cupboards are starting to look like this!

I've even tried drying some basil from our garden. Yum!

There was a pajama party at Lolly's school that Babs even got to participate in. I loved her jammies so much that I had to document them with a picture. And then share it.

Spent some time at the farm enjoying the last of the beautiful weather for the year.

I've also been spending lots of time bonding with my sewing machine the past week. It will all make sense by Halloween.

Hopefully this is not the last you hear of me for another month. Or maybe a once a month posting is good?

This Is The Cat's Meow! (Ba-doom-ching)

2011-09-23T09:44:00.000-06:00

To start your weekend off on the right note!

Chaos at the 2011 Utah State Fair

2011-09-21T08:15:00.070-06:00

Last week we went to the Utah State Fair (wahoo!) and attended the Taste of Utah Event. Local companies that make all sorts of wonderful goodies were there sharing their stuff and telling us more about their company. It was perfect for us because my kids love samples and I didn't feel like making dinner. A winning situation all around.

They had everything from yummy bread to fancy cakes to flavored milk to handmade soap. And cheese. Don't forget the cheese. Even though I don't actually have any pictures of cheese.

The root beer milk made a lasting impression on my family. Such an impression, that when CG was in Logan, Utah last week for work he may have just stopped by the Gossner Foods Factory to get some squeaky cheese and ended up coming home with cheese and a case of both root beer flavored milk and cookies and cream milk. All of which is very yummy.

And of course, we hung out at the Utah Truffles table. A couple of different times. Not only are they the BEST truffles EVER (I think dark chocolate mint is my favorite), but my wonderful friend Brinda was there. She was on my team for Tour de Donut and still likes me even though it took me forever to finish. We won't talk about how someone can work for a chocolate company and still be that skinny.

The one thing that struck me the most about this event (besides the yummy food) was how heartfelt they were. The people there were not just another faceless employee. This company is a part of who they are. The business success is their personal triumphs. It's so endearing. And so rare.

I even got a little side of public humiliation as I rode the blender bike at the Walmart booth. Thankfully, CG did not get any video of that, but cute Lolly got a chance to ride and had a great time! Also, I want one of those bikes for my house.

As a side note, I learned that night that Walmart buys all of it's in-season fruit from local growers. I'm a big fan of buying local whenever possible but shopping at Walmart helps me out with my budget so it's nice to hear they're making the effort to give business to local growers.

And of course we had to make a stop at the Little Hands on the Farm! My girls loved it and even remembered it from the last time we were there.

And, really, where else can you get such fabulous photo opportunities with large farming equipment?! Without getting in trouble, that is....

These girls even make farming equipment adorable.

**We were given tickets to the State Fair by representatives of Utah's Own. All opinions, flavored milk love, chocolate obsessions and cute children are my own.**

Children's and Maternity Consignment Sale!

2011-09-20T19:59:00.000-06:00

This weekend is the semi-annual consignment sale at the Hilltop United Methodist Church in Sandy, Utah. The sale is on Friday, September 23 from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. And Saturday, September 24 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

I went to this sale last spring and found some great stuff for my girls. I actually found quite a few things with the tags still on them. After learning the hard way, I would recommend taking a laundry basket and finding a spot in one of the hallways for it. That way once you get an arm full, you can drop it in your basket and keep looking. This is one serious consignment sale!

If you'd like more details, head on over to Adrian's blog.

Book of the Week! All Of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

2011-09-18T20:51:00.000-06:00

This book is the first in a series of truly adorable books. It chronicles the daily life of a young Jewish family living in New York at the beginning of the 20th century.

It's a chapter book that I'm guessing is on a reading level of about second grade. It has been a great first chapter book for us, although when we tried to start the third book in the series Babs started crying and kept saying, over and over again, "no more all of a kind family". From what I can tell she enjoyed the stories but was more disappointed in the lack of pictures that I had previously realized.

Although some children's books can be a bit mind numbing, I really enjoy these stories and have to keep myself from reading ahead. And they're not allowed to be read if Mommy isn't home for story time. I have enjoyed them that much. I'm sure Babs has too in her own little way.

Do Nice Guys FInish Last?

2011-09-09T09:54:00.000-06:00

Recently I read an article on CNN that got me to thinking. And I've decided that if I'm going to obsess about something then the least I can do is pass it on to you so you can obsess with me. What fun!

This particular article is titled "Not nice guys, but cowards, finish last" by Robert Kiyosaki who is also the author of (I think) several books including Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Which I haven't read. Have you? Did you like it? Anyway......

The article talked about a recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, "Do Nice Guys -- and Gals -- Really Finish Last? The Joint Effects of Sex and Agreeableness on Income," by Timothy A. Judge of the University of Notre Dame, Beth A. Livingston of Cornell University and Charlice Hurst of the University of Western Ontario. The study talks about how they have found that men who are "nice" or more agreeable tend to make less many than their more aggressive counterparts. The article was a summation of four different studies that seemed to have found similar results.

In this particular article the author talked about what communication skills and also what defines a "nice guy". He also talks about a business experience of his from the 80's where communication and constructive criticism greatly influenced his life. Although he didn't finish the story about what happened to his wallet business, which I kind of found annoying. He did share some good thoughts though.

"The world is full of people who make excuses, people who are cowards and people who use the term "nice" to cover up their inability to make a hard decision, say what needs to be said or defend themselves, their position or other people because they're afraid of how they'll be viewed or that someone won't like them anymore.

This is cowardly.

In my experience, many people confuse being cowardly with being nice. It's easier to aim to please and say what others want to hear than to form an opinion and fight for it, even if it means taking a risk or losing your job."

The author seemed to focus on the ability to communicate relating to financial success. And this is what got me thinking. I'm a big fan of healthy communication skills. Most likely because I seriously lack them. I can express my opinion, both verbally and written. And possibly excessively. But expressing my feelings verbally is a real struggle for me, especially if I'm upset. I have a fester and rot style of communication. I can usually get my feelings across by writing them down, but how often do you have the chance to do that in life? So teaching my girls healthy communication skills starting at a young age is really important to me. We communicate a lot around here. Feelings are talked about and expanded upon. Whenever there have been hurt feelings we talk about it. When there is tattling (can you imagine?!) the expression of feelings is encouraged instead of whining. There are days when healthy communication starts as early as 5:30 and doesn't stop until the girls are in bed over 12 hours later. At which point, I do sometimes appreciate a lack of communication for just a few minutes.

Now, I've been thinking about this article quite a bit in the last week. Honestly, I don't know from personal experience if nice guys/gals finish last, first or middle. But I do think there is something to be said about communication skills effecting your life. I think that having good communication skills in a variety of situations can make for a more contented life because you're not festering and rotting over things that you should have said. Or maybe shouldn't have said when you finally, completely lost it.

So, tell me, do you think nice guys finish last? First? Not at all? Do you really think that good communication skills are essential to success, be it financial or not? And is the only measure of success financial gain? (I think not) And, most importantly, do you think my fester and rot style of "expression" is making me age faster than healthy communicators? I think that's a strong possibility....

**And today I learned that if you push control + p it will not, in fact, paste something. It will post your unfinished blog post. So don't do that. Ya learn something new everyday!

Babs' First Day of Preschool!

2011-09-07T10:17:00.000-06:00

It seems like just yesterday she was my tiny baby just home from the hospital.

And now she's such a big girl!

Time sure does fly by.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from her first day. Lately she won't let me take her picture but she humored me a bit for today.

My baby is growing up just way too fast. I blink and she's two inches taller and a year older.

But she sure does love preschool.

Book of the Week! The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

2011-09-04T22:44:00.001-06:00

This weeks book selection is a book I recently read for our family book club. It was such a great book that I couldn't put it down. I actually read this book in a day. While on vacation. I stayed up late to read this book! And I don't stay up late since I get up early and I need my beauty sleep. Lots and lots of beauty sleep.

First of all, I just have an irrational love for novels that take place in the South. Sometimes I think I should live there. But I've never actually been there outside of a book so it might be a bit of an irrational statement. This book really has it all....Southern charm, mystery, romance and a little superstition. It really is a great read and fun escape from the dishes.

Garden-nerd-ing

2011-09-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

It's true. I'm a total garden nerd. Now, lest you think that means I know a lot about gardening and I'm really good at it and I enjoy pulling weeds, I'm here to assure you that I really am not any of those things. I enjoy the satisfaction that we get from the garden, although I dread weeding it in the spring so we can plant everything. I generally have no idea what I'm doing and have learned almost everything the hard way.

I have a few friends who also enjoy gardening and almost every time I see them I have to go all nerdy and talk about all things garden with them. Since they seem to enjoy gardening as well, so they put up with my nerdiness. And I love looking at other people's gardens. Everyone does things so differently and it's wonderful to see how they did it and why. Yep, I'm that big of a nerd. Don't worry, I'll still talk to you if you don't have a garden. We just won't talk about gardening. Because you would probably be really bored.

The garden started out the season in nice orderly rows. But seeing as it is the Chaos Garden, it didn't really stay in nice orderly rows. It is now a wild jumble of craziness to match the rest of my life of wild jumbled craziness. And, of course I have pictures!

On the right hand side of this picture is our grape tomato. One grape tomato. That has overgrown the cucumber plants behind it, which is okay since the cucumbers are now growing up the bean plants at the back. And there's a basil plant next to the tomato and cucumbers....right there in the middle. And see those little yellow flowers on the left side of the photo? That's more grape tomato plant. Taking up about 6 feet of garden space. But that's okay. It's a happy grape tomato plant.

And here's our corn. We decided to try growing corn this year. Thought it might be fun. And if you look closely you can see the large leaves and yellow flowers of the cucumber vines growing up the corn stalks.

See, there's a future pickle growing about 2 feet off the ground.

But look at all of the wonderful goodness that comes from all of the crazy.

That is a tomato, by the way, not a pumpkin. A freakishly big tomato.

Yes, my garden is chaotic and crazy, but it's flourishing so I'm happy with it. A few people have asked me what my secret is and I've decided to tell you. The secret to my gardening success is.....dumb luck. And positive reinforcement.

Thoughts On Diversity

2011-08-30T08:48:00.057-06:00

Personally, I think diversity is a good thing. Although I do realize that not everyone agrees with me. But it seems to be coming up a lot lately. A lot. And in less than fantastic ways, I might add.

Quite a few people around these here parts are relocating their children to different schools. There's lots of hemming and hawing and excuses about how the school is just not good enough for their brilliant child, but the one of the reasons I'm hearing lately is that "they don't like the diversity of the school".

They don't like the diversity of the school.

Call me crazy, but that seems like a fancy way of describing racism. It would be just wrong to say something along the lines of "my white child is too good to go to school with kids that aren't white", but somehow it's acceptable if you say that you "don't like the diversity". But, really, it's not any different.

It's disgusting. Appalling. Ridiculous. Ignorant. Racist, for heaven's sake. It just makes me feel sick inside. Honestly, in this day and age with all the rich racial diversity of this country, people still feel that they are better because they are white?! And that somehow if there are children of a different race in the class room, then their children are not getting a proper education??

There does seem to be a few tricks to making racism socially appropriate though. If you hide behind your concerns for your children's education then that makes it okay. Even though you're too lazy to teach your kid the alphabet you are still superior to the Hispanic woman who doesn't teach her kid the ABC's. Because you are white. Also, make sure you go to church every week because a good Christian woman would never be racist. She just won't be comfortable with the diversity at the school.

Yes, as long as your racism is veiled with an insincere smile and a condescending heart, you will be fine. You're only looking out for your children, after all.

Book of the Week! That Book Woman

2011-08-28T20:43:00.000-06:00

This is another of my favorite children's books that we stumbled upon in our library a while back. It's a story about a family in the Appalachian Mountains and the Pack Horse Librarian that dutifully comes to bring them books.

This is such a great story. Not only does it talk about how wonderful books are and how much we can learn from them, but it also includes details about a little known part of American history that included the Pack Horse Librarians. When I read this to my girls, I got all teary and how devoted this woman was and what a difference she made in the lives of that family. Yes, I'm that sappy. But it's a good book, so read it anyway!

Discounted Tickets for Mary Poppins at Capitol Theater!

2011-08-27T14:56:00.056-06:00

Going to the theater is such an amazing (and rare) opportunity. Last year, CG and I were able to go see The Lion King at Capitol Theater, thanks to my mom donating her tickets to us. (Thanks, Mom) It is quite possible that during the opening song of "Circle of Life" when all the animals were coming in to see the future king, I may have almost started crying. And I may vowed to myself that every baby should be welcomed in to the world in the same way.

In the program there was an ad for upcoming shows including Mary Poppins. And ever since I've been trying to devise a way to get there. It seems to keep popping up. Like in random ads on the tables of the Gateway food court.

Mary Poppins is playing at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City September 1 through September 25 and they are currently offering a 2 for 1 promotion for a limited number of shows.

The schedule of shows that are available with the discount are as follows:

Thursday, September 1-matinee showing
Regular prices $42.50-62.50, discounted prices $21.25-$31.25

Saturday, September 3-evening showing
Regular prices $65-$85, discounted prices $32.50-$42.50

Sunday, September 4, matinee showing
Regular prices $65-$85, discounted prices $32.50-$42.50

Sunday, September 4, evening showing
Regular prices $55-$75, discounted prices $27.50-$37.50

To buy your tickets, go here. Just use the promotional code "utahmama" when you're checking out to receive the discount.

**Disclosure: I was given two tickets to see Mary Poppins in exchange for spreading the word on this fabulous deal. All opinions and theater envy are my own.

Lolly's First Day of First Grade!

2011-08-26T14:55:00.000-06:00

My Lolly Girl started First Grade this week. In order to be prepared she made a special pencil box because first graders get their very own desk. She picked out the perfect box and the paint, which of course included red glitter paint.

Her lunch was packed for the day and included a note from Mom, as usual.

The perfect outfit was selected along with the perfect hair style. And of course, the obligatory first day of school pictures.

Here she is at the end of the day with her adorable teacher. She's brand new and I think she's going to be a perfect first grade teacher for Lolly. They were even wearing the same colors, as Lolly pointed out to me after school.

And, just because she is SO adorable, here is a picture of Lolly on the second day of school.

Because that's how we roll....

Book of the Week! The Green Mother Goose

2011-08-21T21:51:00.000-06:00

Ya see, I'm a total book nerd. I love reading books to myself, I love reading books to my kids and I love hearing about the books you're reading. When we go to the library I will randomly pick up books and if it looks pretty and sounds interesting, I'll check it out. And of course I pick up the books that I've reserved, sight unseen. I just really like books.

As with most things in life, books are better when they're shared. So I thought that I would highlight a different book each week. It will most likely be different kinds of books each week and possibly different days of the week. And maybe I'll even skip a week here or there. Or forget entirely. We all know that's how I roll.

But today, I'm going to share a new favorite kids book. We found this while wandering through our local library and have enjoyed it immensely. It's The Green Mother Goose by Jan Peck and David Davis.

This book contains many traditional nursery rhymes that have been changed to embrace going green. While some of them are over the top, they are all very entertaining.

One of my personal favorites:

There was a little girl who had a little curl-
On top of her head it glittered.
When she was good, she recycled all she could,
But when she was bad-
SHE LITTERED.

And this one:

Little Jack Horner
Changed bulbs in the corner,
Replacing the old incandescents.
Now the lamps on the sills
Cut his mama's high bills,
'Cause the lights are
all compact fluorescent.

Oh and I liked this one too:

Mary, Mary quite contrary,
Refused to garden green.
Her toxic sprays, a choking haze,
Spreading dangers, hurtful and mean.

Organic Mary, not contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With ladybug smiles and compost piles,
And pretty herbs all in a row.

Speed Hump Photo Op

2011-08-18T21:55:00.000-06:00

Our neighborhood is classy. Oh, the people are fine, but the street signs are.....well....blog fodder. Or joke fodder. Because we have signs like this:

In all honesty, I have mocked these signs a time or two. And someone has painted "me" in glow in the dark paint on one of them. It wasn't me but I do applaud them for their creativity.

But this week I saw something that I found to be a bit disturbing. Maybe I'm just a prude. Maybe I'm out of touch with modern day teens. But I was deeply disturbed.

Picture it.....

I was heading out of the neighborhood on one of the endless errands that has had to be run this week. I was stopped to turn and happened to notice two teenage girls standing by one of the signs. Judging from their faces, I would guess they were 13-14 years old. Judging by their appearance I would guess they were fresh off the Las Vegas Strip.

As I was watching, a woman (I'm assuming the mother of one of them) climbed out of the giant SUV parked (poorly) right near by. With a camera. To take a picture of two young girls posing with a "Speed Hump" sign. Not adults taking a picture of a tacky street sign to put on Facebook. But two children.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I thought that was trashy. Or maybe she was just thinking of their future and having them practice on that pole until they graduate to the next pole. So tell me...what do YOU think?!

You Know Your House Is Hot When....

2011-08-15T15:17:00.000-06:00

Our house is kind of hot. Not terribly hot, but just as hot as you would expect without air conditioning. Of any kind. In the past we have used window air conditioners but they're getting a bit old and last year the house still got up to 85+ and it cost us $200+ per month to run them. Now, most days it gets up to 85+ and doesn't cost us $200 per month. Very logical, actually. I've noticed that it's really not bad until it starts getting hotter than 85. If it keeps going above 85 then it can get uncomfortable. I have found that my personal breaking point of when the heat really gets to me is 89. Once it is 89 in the house, I refuse to do any one's hair or dishes. No exceptions.

Honestly, the house hasn't been too bad. We just hang out in the basement a lot, which is nice now that it no longer smells like our former renters dog pee. The lack of air conditioning in the van....well, that's just no fun. Cars nowadays are just not designed to not have air conditioning. There isn't great air flow. Or windows in the middle that open. But it is nice and loud on the freeway. And my hair always looks great after driving....pretty much anywhere.

So, short story long, I've decided to dedicate this post to all the signs that your house is hot. Mostly because I thought it would be funny. Perhaps the heat is getting to me. Anyway.....

You Know Your House Is Hot When:

*The basement is 81.4 degrees
*The antibacterial ointment melts
*The coconut oil hasn't been classified as a solid since June
*All chocolate must be refrigerated. Or drank.
*Cooking is unpleasant
*Washing dishes is even more unpleasant than usual
*The wood floor and tile is very warm to walk on
*The house sounds weird if there are not at least 3 fans running
*I have a completely neurotic way of cooling down the house
*But it totally works
*If it isn't respected, I get annoyed
*Possibly because the house might be reaching 89
*Standing in front of the fridge for no reason seems perfectly logical
*One Mountain Dew a day is no longer enough
*I don't even remember the last time I used a hair dryer
*CG actually takes his shoes off when he gets home

Please feel free to add to my list. Bonus points will be given for creativity.

Tip Tuesday-Bee Sting Relief

2011-08-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

Lately we've been having some issues with bees. Bees being in our house, in particular. They were our numerous and unwanted guests. Now, I realize that bees play in important part in our environment and in my garden, but in my house they are a nuisance. Nothing inside needs pollinating, thank you very much. We figured out where they were coming from (hopefully) and got it all taken care of. The only problem was that there were still a few rogue bees floating randomly through the house. Which was fun.

Last week, we were getting ready to head to the theater. I was taking my girls to see the Wizard of Oz in a local park and they were primping accordingly. Of course this primping included mood changing lipstick and various layers of jewelry for the girls. I was just hoping to get my hair brushed out and dressed in clothing that would be vaguely appropriate for our outing. Out of the blue, Lolly started screaming. She doesn't appreciate bees and she said that one was on her. Obviously I rushed to her (saw the bee on the floor) and she told me she had been stung on her face. I took her into the bathroom and CG was dispatched to, um...dispose of the attacker. I can live in peace with the bees, but not if they sting my baby.

To be perfectly honest, my biggest concern was that she would have an allergic reaction. She had never been stung before (despite having a bee stuck in her hair at school this past spring) and I was worried she might have inherited that particular allergy. I wanted to help her calm down and go from there. Within a couple of minutes her check went from being red all over to having two small red bumps appeared on her face so it was clear she had been stung. Twice. And she needed some relief.

I've only been stung by a bee once (I think I was 10) and I was at a friends house. When we told her mom that I had been stung, she got a paper towel and wetted it with cold water. Then she folded it into a square and put baking soda on it. She told me to hold it over the sting and it would help relieve the pain. Amazingly it worked! And it worked really well with Lolly too! I don't know if it's the cold water or the baking soda (or the combination of the two) that's the miracle worker, but Lolly calmed right down. And the red bumps were gone within 5-10 minutes. She also explained to me that the only reason she was so upset was because that was the first time she had been stung and she wasn't expecting it. My sweet girl...trying to help me feel better when she gets stung by a bee.

And of course my Lolly girl is my Lolly girl, regardless of the situation. When I asked (a bit out of paranoia) how her tongue felt, she looked at me and said, "It feels wet". And then giggled. That's my girl.

Tip Tuesday-Homemade Eco-Friendly Garden Bug Repellant

2011-08-02T21:18:00.001-06:00

Since starting to garden a few years ago, I haven't really had much of a problem with bugs. Seems my luck has worn off a this year though. At the beginning of the season the bugs were eating more than my plants could grow! I've actually had to replace several of my plants because the bugs ate them down to stubs.

Although I grudgingly share our backyard with bugs, this was going way too far. The bugs should not get to eat more out of our garden than we do! But I didn't like the idea of spraying a bunch of chemicals on the plants that would be (hopefully) growing the food that my family would eat.

I had heard about a homemade soap spray that was supposed to get rid of pretty much any bug so I decided to give it a try. From what I've read, it's about 3 teaspoons of dish soap to one gallon of water. But who has a one gallon jug with a spray nozzle attached?! So I washed out (really well) an old glass cleaner bottle and mixed 1 teaspoon of soap with enough water to fill the bottle. Then I sprayed my plants and crossed my fingers.

It worked! It worked really really well! And you can do it weekly if you have a serious bug problem. I used it on every single plant and didn't have any problems. One of the best parts was that my girls could do it too. They beg to be involved in the gardening (except weeding...can't even bribe them to do that) and this was something that would be safe for them to do and really helpful to me. Win win.

And here's an extra tip because I'm feeling generous. Fill the bottle with water before adding the soap. It's much faster that way. I might just know that from personal experience.

Do You Fear Change?

2011-07-31T20:36:00.000-06:00

Last week (or maybe the week before...who knows) I read a quote on Twitter that had me thinking. I can't remember who tweeted it or who they were quoting. My memory is awesome.

Oh wait, I just Googled it. I love Google. Here's the quote:
"It is the most unhappy people who most fear change."
Mignon McLaughlin

This quote has really stayed with me, which is astounding when you consider how many people post quotes on Twitter. And I think there just might be something to that.

So...what do you think? True? Not true?

Awesome graphic made by yours truly.

That's the power of raw talent.

Or the lack of finding another picture to use.

I even Googled "sad face".

Another Reason To Be Jealous of CG

2011-07-28T10:35:00.000-06:00

Yes, there are many many reason to be jealous of CG. The main reason being these two...

Seriously, they are the two cutest girls ever! Plus, he has an amazingly neurotic wife with a touch of the ADD and a dog that keeps running away. And a house that is slowly falling apart. And the car.

But now! CG is the proud owner of a SMART PHONE!!! The kind of smart phone where you can download apps and stuff. Or maybe it's upload. Either way, apps will be involved. SO, my smart phone friends, what are your favorite apps? And why? Where did you get them? And how much do they cost? We need all the details people!!!

And yes, I am insanely jealous. Thanks for asking.

Time To Head To Las Vegas!

2011-07-26T13:55:00.000-06:00

It seems as though I've been on a bit of a winning streak lately. No really....I keep winning things. Which is awesome, of course.

First, I won a ticket to EVO conference. (more EVO details later)
Then I won a necklace from the lovely Jessica of Duck Duck Cow. (more details after I order it)
Then while I was at EVO I won a really nice stroller and a 3 months supply of diapers from Huggies. (definitely more details later)
After I got home I found out I won a $50 gift certificate to Sportsman's Warehouse from Together Counts. (yep, more on that later)
Then I won a water bottle at the Tour De Donut. (I probably won't talk about that one much more)

Obviously it's time for me to head to Vegas. Not everyone gets my logic, but it seems pretty obvious to me.

ROAD TRIP!

The Ecomaids Save The Day!

2011-07-22T22:40:00.001-06:00

Well, okay, maybe they didn't exactly save the day, but they did a great job cleaning my house.

ECOMAIDS of Salt Lake has just recently opened up here in the Salt Lake Valley and I was lucky enough to be able to have them come to my home and give it a thorough cleaning...between piles of random crap. And they were nice about it!

After they had a little tour of our sprawling estate to see which rooms they would be cleaning, they got started. They use cleaning products that are Non-toxic, Chemical-free, All-natural and Biodegradable so it's safe for all members of your family whether they be of the kid variety, pet variety or sensitive to chemicals variety. Being of the chemical sensitive variety, I can tell you that these cleaners did not bother me or my asthma even the slightest bit.

And clean they did! My stove top has not been this shiny bright since the day we installed it. For the life of me I cannot get that blasted thing clean. But now I have a fighting chance since anyone can purchase their cleaning products directly from them.

I do actually manage to get my microwave pretty clean, but still....doesn't that look gorgeous?!

They vacuumed and mopped and dusted and were generally wonderful.

Paige even killed a spider for me! I was sorting through my kids crayons/pencils/markers (what? you don't neurotically sort things when people are cleaning your kitchen for you?) and a nasty, well fed spider climbed out of the artistic utensil holder I was cleaning out. I may or may not have screamed and ran across to the other side of the kitchen. It's only about 10 steps so I wasn't exactly winded but I was totally freaked out. And she didn't even laugh at me! She's a good sport.

One of my favorite parts? It has to be the fancy folded toilet paper. I may start doing that every time I use the bathroom just because I love the way it looks.

They were respectful and pleasant and Paige even listened to me prattle on about cycling and my dog (no connection whatsoever). They were even good to Dexter who tends to be kind of needy when we have company over. And when we don't.

And they left me a thank you note. For coming to clean my house. I feel like I should bake them cookies or something.

Overall, I've been very happy with my experience with ECOMAIDS of Salt Lake. They are professional and local and just plain nice.

And I was thrilled to hear about their involvement with Cleaning for a Reason which is a foundation that offers free cleaning services for women who are undergoing treatment for cancer. If you know of anyone who could benefit from this sort of help, please contact Cleaning for a Reason to submit their information. Plus you can request ECOMAIDS of Salt Lake!

Lucky for you, ECOMAIDS Salt Lake has generously given me two $50 gift certificates to give away to TWO lucky winners! Yay! And it can even be used with their Grand Opening Special which is their Full House Initial Service cleaning which includes your kitchen, living room, dining room area, entrance, hallway and stairs, one bedroom and one bathroom. All that for only $79 (regularly $159). So even if you don't win, that is seriously a great deal. (For more information check out their Special Offers Page.)

All you have to do to enter this awesome giveaway is leave me a comment going into graphic detail about the messiest room in your house. It'll make me feel better about the hot mess my house usually is.

AND for extra entries you can do any of the following:
*Like ECOMAIDS of Salt Lake on Facebook
*Like Lady of Perpetual Chaos on Facebook (don't you already?!)
*Become my "friend" on Google Friend Connect or follow this blog
*Tweet the following (or something like it) about this giveaway and leave the URL of your tweet:

"I just entered to win $50 to ECOMAIDS of Salt Lake via @LadyofPC. http://www.ladyofperpetualchaos.com PLS RT"

*Update your Facebook status with a link back to this giveaway
*Post a picture (pretty much anywhere...just leave me a link) to the messiest room in your house. It will make it more fun for all of us!

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry so you get full credit!

This giveaway will go until Thursday, July 28, 2011 at midnight. A winner will be drawn and notified by email. This giveaway is for Salt Lake County residents only. Unless you want to donate it to someone who lives in Salt Lake County. Then you'd be their favoritest person ever!

**Disclaimer: ECOMaids of Salt Lake provided me with house cleaning and the gift certificates for the giveaway. All opinions are my own and most of the mess they cleaned up is from my kids.

Daily Attempt At Making Dinner

2011-07-21T14:19:00.000-06:00

I'm not a foodie. Or a cooking diva. Or even a foodie in training. But, as anyone who has seen me in real life can attest, I like food. And I like to cook, most of the time. To be perfectly honest, I don't love cooking in the summer. I would rather be playing. Or napping. But I do feel that family dinners are important. And my family feels like dinner is important. So, naturally, we try to have dinner as a family every night. Even healthy dinners! It sounds like such a simple thing...eating dinner. And yet.....

Image from Google

Last night was a fairly typical night in the Chaos household. I had planned on making tacos for dinner since I had some ground beef in the fridge that needed to be used. The only problem? I didn't have any sour cream. Sour cream is such an essential part of family meals that I know better than to make tacos without serving sour cream. But no big deal. We were going straight to the library after CG got home from work so we could just swing by the store to pick up some sour cream on our way home. Easy Peasy.

I ran into the store to pick up the sour cream. I should take this moment to mention that it was dinner time. So of course, I decided to pick up a seasoned rice mix to go with the tacos. And then on my way to the sour cream section, I saw that they had tortillas on sale that weren't frozen so I picked up some of those. Continuing on to the sour cream, I found a loaf of garlic bread that was "manager special" so it was half price. And I grabbed that too so I'd have something for dinner the next night. I grabbed the sour cream and headed back to get some cheese for the pizza and even managed to grab a bag of chips on my way out because...they looked yummy.

So much effort for tacos. Surely my organization will be rewarded!

Then we get home and I pull the ground beef out of the fridge to find "Best if used or frozen by 7/16". Four days earlier. So much for tacos. But in a random stroke of good luck, since I had picked up the stuff for garlic bread pizza we still got to eat dinner.

And there you have it....a typical dinner time in the Chaos house. Obviously I need to go grocery shopping. And not at dinner time.

Wordless Wednesday-Tooth Fairy Strikes Again!

2011-07-20T01:59:00.001-06:00

Utah Tour de Donut Results

2011-07-19T14:05:00.000-06:00

Utah Tour de Donut 2011 has come and gone. And I must admit I was a tad bit nervous. The last race I was in I was.....well, a little traumatized. Remember? I was definitely nervous for this race. To deal with my nerves in the days leading up to the race, I just didn't think about it. This was a surprisingly helpful way to handle my crazy. I even continued on not thinking about it too much until well after we got to the race's starting location. I was able to register and apply my sunscreen while giving little thought to my increasing nervousness.

But then you reach a point when you can no longer ignore the obvious. For me, it happened as all the cyclists were lining up at the starting line and the count down clock was very quickly counting down to the start time. I was surrounded by people confident in their biking skills. These people were excited and happy to be participating in such a fun event. And I was terrified. Crazy, much?

As soon as the race began, the sound of all the cyclists clicking into their peddles was all around and hundreds of bikers were taking off! The butterflies in my stomach were raging against me and I was so nervous I was shaking. It is safe to say that I was FREAK. ING. OUT.

So I did the only logical thing to do in that situation. Once the herd of bikers had thinned out, I hopped on the bike, went to my happy place and started the race. And just kept going. And going. I finished the 21 miles in 110 minutes. The race ended at 100 minutes, but at least I finished.

The course was flat which helped immensely. Plus, my friend very generously let me borrow her road bike for the event (thank you! thank you!) and I think that made a huge difference. HUGE!

My personal goal for this race was to have a better experience than I did in the last race. I can happily report that my goal was accomplished. Not only did I finish the race, but I didn't cry a single time and was still in my happy place at the finish line. And, really, what more can you ask for?

Friday Favorite-Summer Mountain Dew Flavors

2011-07-15T11:55:00.000-06:00

Honestly, every year I look forward to the limited time only flavors of Mountain Dew. Because I don't have much of a life, but still. They're usually pretty yummy. And they're only available for a limited time! Which probably makes them taste even better!

This year I'm loving Mountain Dew Pitch Black. It's actually a summer flavor from a couple of years ago. I loved it then and I'm loving it now.

So go get one today! Like now! It's just not summer until you've had a limited edition Mountain Dew.

Utah Tour de Donut Countdown

2011-07-13T11:55:00.000-06:00

In just a few short days I will be subjecting myself to a little public humiliation with a side of exercise at this years Tour de Donut. A 21 mile bike race where you have time deducted from your finishing time for every donut that you eat. Seriously, does it get any better than that?!

I'm excited and working hard at not being scared since this really is going to be so much fun. But now the big question of the day.....will I see you there? If you will be there BE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT so I can hunt you down at the race...in a totally non-stalker-ish way of course.

Chaos at Disney Pixar Cars 2 Movie!

2011-07-07T01:38:00.070-06:00

Yes, you read that right. The Chaos family recently got to go see Disney Pixars Cars 2! In order to properly prepare, we watched the original Cars movie (again) a couple of days before seeing Cars 2. That way everyone could pick their favorite character (Sally & Lightning McQueen) and form strong opinions about the movie so we were ready for the full theater experience.

My girls....they were excited. Very excited!

The official sponsor of the event was Any Hour Services, which provides electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning services. They had some fun activities before the movie started which included Lolly shooting pretzels and confetti out of a cannon-thingy.

They had one of their technicians there to be put on the spot and answer questions from the audience. I heard one teenage girl ask if he was married, but most of their questions were more of the service variety. And when they say Any Hour, they mean Any Hour. I'm thinking I should put these people on speed dial considering how much my house wants to fall apart. Maybe we could even get a little air conditioning.

Then we were ready for the movie!

We were even lucky enough to sit next to a family (I don't know who they were) that happened to win one of the prizes and shared with Babs. We all know how hard it is when Pete gets to do something fun (like shoot off a cannon-thingy) and Repeat doesn't. So, thank you, to that kind family that sat next to us. You're doing a good job raising those boys to be so thoughtful.

So....what was the official verdict of the movie? We all loved it, of course. There isn't a Disney and/or Pixar movie that isn't met with great love at our house.

***The tickets were generously given to us by HalfPriceUtah.com. Surely you're already heard of them and all their fabulous deals and if you like them on Facebook here you'll get the heads up on all the local deals.

Wordless Wednesday-Patriotic Pedicures

2011-07-06T13:34:00.000-06:00

Tip Tuesday-Put Those Expired Coupons To Good Use!

2011-06-28T08:38:00.004-06:00

You may or may not already know this, but you can donate your expired coupons to overseas military families. The coupons can be used for six months after the expiration date in the overseas military commissaries. Food can be a lot more expensive and the simple act of sharing our expired coupons can help these families that sacrifice so much to help protect this great country.

There are various ways of sending them to the military. The following websites over a few options.

There is the Overseas Coupon Program where you can adopt a specific military base to send them to.

Then there is Troopons and Coups For Troops. You can send your coupons directly to them and then they distribute them to military bases that can use them.

It's such a simple thing to do. And it's the very least we can do to say thank you to these families that do so much for us.

True Colors Swap!

2011-06-24T15:29:00.000-06:00

As you know, I participated in Jessica G. True Colors Swap. The packages have all (hopefully) been mailed and gleefully opened by all the participants. Here's a picture of swap package I received.

You can probably tell that my favorite color is pink. A pink drink bottle, pink pencils, pink homemade soap (raspberry lemonade), pink bracelet and a pink fabric banner. I'm thinking that banner will go in my girls room that I'm hopefully redecorating this summer. There was also a package of silly bands that were immediately spirited away and divided equally among the natives. It's very convenient that those packages come with two of each sign. Otherwise, things could get ugly.

My swap partner was Lori of Morning Glories & Moon Flowers. Her current favorite colors are turquoise and yellow. This is a picture of the package I sent her.

It was so much fun shopping for the just right things for this swap. I was especially happy about the book box. My partner loves to read and loves turquoise and when I found a box that looked like a book, was turquoise and had pictures of books on it I was thrilled! We were asked to send something homemade and because I am completely crazy, I decided to make some earrings. But I've never made earrings, or any kind of jewelry, before. That's where the crazy comes in. Anyway, I was pretty happy with the earrings I made. So happy that I made myself a pair too!

Thanks for hosting such a fun swap Jessica!

Wordless Wednesday-Summer Solstice Toes & Sunshines

2011-06-22T10:52:00.001-06:00

Tip Tuesday-Sparkle Flip Toes

2011-06-21T20:52:00.000-06:00

Getting a new pair of flip flops each year is a big deal tradition at the Chaos house. They allowed to pick any pair that their little hearts desire from the $1-$2 racks of flip flops. That is a big deal. Total control over the purchase of the official sponsor of summer foot wear.

This year we switched it up a little. I took the girls to a local craft store to pick out their flip flops since they were on sale. Then they each got to pick out a bolt of ribbon to decorate the flip flops with. They got to pick out flip flops AND ribbon. Their joy was full.

For each flip flop I tied two pieces of different length ribbon to each side of the toe separator thingy. On Lolly's I did three pieces of ribbon since it was a more narrow ribbon.

From there I tied knots between whichever two ribbons I could get to tie and look cute. It only took about 20 minutes to do both pairs and the cost was $4 plus tax.

Voila! We have Sparkle Flip Toes. Although Babs prefers hers to be called Rainbow Flip Toes. Whatever you decide to call them, you'll have happy little people with happy little feet.

Now I think the Mom might need a pair of fancy Sparkle Flip Toes as well.

It's The Ugly Couch Contest

2011-06-16T14:26:00.000-06:00

(That title was sung in my mind to the tune of "Ugly Bug Picnic" from Summer Magic.)

(If you've never seen Summer Magic, you really should. It's one of the best movies EVER!)

In other news, I'm over at MMB today discussing ugly couches. So come on over and share. Or ask questions. Did I mention that I need some design questions for future posts? Because I totally do.

My Kindergarten Girl

2011-06-13T08:08:00.000-06:00

My Lolly Girl on her first day of kindergarten.

She had such a wonderful time in school. It's so hard to believe that she's already finished kindergarten! The last week of school was full of lots of festivities.

There was the official kindergarten program that included lots of cute songs and at least one mom we all know who cried through the entire video.

Isn't her teacher just adorable?! She is so good with the kids. We were lucky Lolly had her for a teacher and hopefully Babs will too.

Then, there was the awards ceremony.

And of course we couldn't forget the thank you treats for Lolly's classmates, class aid and teacher.

And the dance festival on the last day of school. SO FUN!

My Lolly Girl on her last day of kindergarten.

This year has gone by way too fast. And now I have a big first grader.

Tip Tuesday-Foamy Soap

2011-06-07T14:22:00.000-06:00

A while back, maybe a few years...I don't remember, I started noticing that our bathroom towels (used to dry hands) were ending up with big gray circles in the middle. These are bright, coral colored towels so it takes a lot of effort for them to show dirt. And, yes, I planned it that way.

After a time of much thought on the situation, I realized that it was soap residue from our recently potty trained Lolly drying her hands. So I guess it has been a few years. I decided to give foamy soap a try since it seemed easier for the kids to use. And it is! It's easier for them to get soap all over their little hands and much, much easier for them to rinse off. Problem solved!

Photo from Google

And then we were out of foamy soap. New problem.

I had read online that you can make your own foamy soap so I decided to consult with Google for specifics. I looked around several pages (I can't remember any of them now)(it's been a while) and decided to go with what seemed the easiest option. Because I am lazy. Or smart.

Here are my handy dandy instructions!
1. Buy a foam soap dispenser.
2. Use all that soap first.
3. When it's empty, put about 1 tablespoon of regular hand soap in the bottom of the bottle.
4. Don't measure, just guess. It will be okay.
5. Then add hot water to the fill line.
6. Shake and enjoy!

Not only does the foamy soap save your towels, but it will also save you money. Before I started doing this I would use up one of those large soap refills (I think they're a gallon or so...or not) in just a couple of months. Now, they last MUCH longer. At least 6 months! We usually end up replacing the foamy soap bottle once or twice a year since they wear out, but still a good deal. Good for the towels, good for the wallet. And it's probably good for the environment since you're buying less bottles of soap. Everybody wins!

Blog-iphany

2011-06-06T10:03:00.000-06:00

Recently, I had a blogging epiphany. I call it a blog-iphany. I really like making up words, in case you haven't noticed. My favorite so far this year is crapalanch, but blog-iphany works better for this particular moment. And in other useless and amusing facts, whenever I tell CG I had an epiphany, he asks if it hurt. Yep, we're classy.

Anyway, back to the blog-iphany. I haven't been blogging much lately. Surely that has been devastating to all, but I just haven't done it. And it's not like I don't have anything to blog about. I have lots of half posts and random stuff floating around in my brain just begging to be blogged. But I haven't done it.

And do you know why?!?!

I do...now. I've realized that I seem to not allow myself to blog much unless everything else is done. Everything. And everything...that's a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

There are two problems with this. Well, at least I'm going to talk about two of them. The first problem is fairly obvious. I NEVER GET EVERYTHING DONE!!! EVER!!! It is nigh unto impossible to get everything done. At least for me it is. And I'm assuming it's that way for most people. The "to do list" is never ending. For every one thing I accomplish, I usually end up adding two more things. Let's pretend that makes me ambitious. Not neurotic.

And secondly, the whole reason I started blogging was as a creative outlet for my creative self. And to talk about my kids. It's one of the few creative things I can do that isn't messy or time consuming. And it doesn't usually require a trip to the craft store. Or the fabric store. Or the emergency room.

I need to have some sort of creative outlet so that my brain, or what's left of it, doesn't implode. And to deny myself that just because there are no clean dishes or underwear in the house doesn't seem quite right. Clean dishes and underwear are good and all, but I still need to have some priorities.

Of course, I'm not saying that this means that I'll be blogging a lot more from now on. No promises or threats. But I will be trying to feel less guilty about spending 10 minutes to write a riveting blog post for all of us to enjoy. And if you don't hear from me in a while then you'll know that my house is a disaster and I'm trapped under a mountain of laundry and guilt. But I'll get out eventually....

NO WAY!!!

2011-06-03T17:17:00.014-06:00

I cannot believe it. I'm in total shock. I won a ticket to EVO! Seriously, EVO. I'm so excited! It's such an amazing conference and I am lucky enough to get to go again this year.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Mom It Forward!

A Swappin' Good Time

2011-06-02T23:59:00.001-06:00

It has been a LONG time since I participated in a swap. Way too long, if you ask me. Wouldn't it just be fun to do a swap to kick off summer? Why, yes....yes it would.

And thanks to the wonderful Jessica of Duck Duck Cow, we can! She's hosting a Favorite Colors Swap and I'm totally excited! I just signed up and you should too! Head on over here for all the details. But be sure to do it today because today is the last day to get in on the action. Hurry!

Lolly's Wish

2011-05-31T10:05:00.000-06:00

This past year in Lolly's kindergarten class they talked a lot about American symbols, American Presidents, American history. Did I mention American symbols? Because a star is no longer a star around here. It is an American symbol. Which is great! But there is one particular American symbol that my little Lolly girl became especially fascinated with. The Liberty Bell.

And when I say "fascinated" I actually mean that we talked about the Liberty Bell just about every single day. The very first day she learned about it she was thrilled beyond measure because I actually knew what the Liberty Bell was. Yes, I managed to pass Kindergarten American History with flying colors. And when she found out that people can actually go to see the Liberty Bell IN PERSON she was AMAZED!

She has been so entranced with the Liberty Bell that she even found a book at the library about it. By herself. And we go to a pretty big library. The girl is devoted!

We may have read that book one or ten times before returning it to the library. We all now know a lot more about American history and the Liberty Bell specifically. Yes, we're library nerds. Be jealous.

A few weeks later Lolly's class was doing a project involving the "Star Light Star Bright" poem. Lolly told me about her greatest wish....to see the Liberty Bell. In Person. She told me in the sweetest, most earnest way that I nearly started to cry. Her devotion is so pure and complete.

This little girl wants to see the Liberty Bell so much that we are constantly talking about it and how we could possibly even get to Philadelphia to see it. And because Repeat goes along with whatever Peat wants (sometimes) Babs is also enamored with the Liberty Bell. It has become a family obsession. But it's a healthy obsession and not a creepy obsession. Really.

So, my travel guru friends, how on Earth do I get my family to the Liberty Bell?! On a budget? Before it's too late and a family trip to see the Liberty Bell and other historical sites becomes lame?

Wordless Wednesday-Gardening Ensembles

2011-05-25T14:05:00.000-06:00

My Baby is FOUR!

2011-05-23T04:56:00.000-06:00

My Pretty Baby Babs just had a birthday and is now the proud owner of the age four.

We had our usual week long celebration for Babs birthday which included her picking out a week of her favorite meals. Totally stole that idea from Jessica of Duck Duck Cow. I highly recommend it because they think it's the best thing ever and it's not like you won't be making dinner anyway.

We had a special birthday dinner (macaroni and cheese, of course) with the grandparents. Then she got to open her presents, after waiting ever so patiently.

Even had her oh-so-helpful older sister helping out.

And the Princess Cake for the Birthday Princess!

This year she got to have her very first birthday party with friends. There was the old favorite of Pin The Crown on the Princess, cookie decorating and a butterfly pinata. The thing with birthday parties is that you're kinda busy and don't get much in the way of pictures, but here's the best I could find.

I'm pretty sure they all had a good time. And I know Babs was one happy camper afterwards.

Honestly, though, I cannot believe my baby is four years old. And she can't believe it's taking so unbelievably long to grow up.

Bike For Sale

2011-05-11T12:16:00.000-06:00

That is the title I planned for my blog post sharing all the nitty gritty details of my Goldilocks ride. I came up with it around mile 16. Don't you come up with blog titles while going throughout your day? Seriously, I can't be the only one that does that. Anyway...mile 16...bike for sale. But let me back up a little.

My day began bright and early. Well, early. At 5:30 AM. When I dragged my sagging behind out of bed. Luckily I found some padded bike shorts for under $100 so the sagging wasn't as obvious. CG and I got ready and let the girls sleep as long as possible. But we still had to be to the park by 7 AM. Although that didn't happen, it was the goal. I also made an eclair cake. Because...well, there is good reasoning behind my blog name.

So, we left and the girls were already happy and loud which made CG really look forward to the day. I was fine, but a little nervous. I was only a little nervous because I foolishly thought that a 20 mile ride was a reasonable expectation. Oh, how naive. I continually amaze myself.

The lovely ladies that I signed up with were doing the 40 mile ride and I was doing the 20 mile ride, but they let us start together since things were running a little behind. Before we were even out of the park I was suckin' wind. And I thought to myself, "Self, you really should have brought your inhaler". Yes, you read that right. My smart self completely forgot to take my inhaler. For, ya know, asthma attacks. Again, I amaze myself.

It probably goes without saying that I couldn't keep up with my 40-miler friends. I did catch up for about 5 seconds while going down a hill. But then there was the uphill part. Back to suckin' wind for me. I did manage to pass one person at one point but I lost count of how many people passed me. That's not really something that I wanted to keep track of anyway. Focusing on the positive....

My cute family met me at Skye Park where there was a rest stop. This was about 10 miles into the race. The first half was down and all I had left was the last half. I was halfway done! Well, almost half way done. I had read that the actual route was 21 miles so that's what I was working towards. Getting back on that bike at the rest stop was so hard. There was my cute family hanging out at the park and the van that could carry me and my bike off into the sunset. But I had to finish. For many reasons.

Right around mile 12 is where things got a little...ugly. Painful actually. Excruciatingly painful. And I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Really, I do. When I had Lolly, I was in labor for 30 hours with the first 15 hours of back labor being epidural free. But I didn't cry. When I was induced with Babs and I would have 3 contractions in a row, a 30 second break and then 3 more contractions, still I didn't cry. I even managed to be polite when informing the nurse that I was ready for my blessed epidural. I can take a lot. By mile 13 I was a crying mess trying really hard to suck it up and stop crying already. You just can not even imagine how embarrassing it is to tell you that. And yet here I am....sharing it.

Now to be honest, I'm not really sure if it's because of my little issue or because I was that unprepared or maybe a combination of both. I mean, I've been an off and on again spinner for 3.5 years and have been doing fairly well in my recent spin classes. It's not like I haven't been on a bike in ten years and then signed up to bike 20 miles. I really thought that I had set a reasonable goal. Are you amazed at my stupidity yet? Because that will be happening any minute now...

But I kept going. Into the wind. Through blood, sweat and tears. Doing the walk of shame up every. single. hill. on the second half of the ride. Even though a quick rescue was just a simple phone call away. You must really be questioning my sanity now. But I have a very good reason. Two reasons to be exact.

These two girls, along with their very supportive Daddy, were waiting for me at the finish line. Cheering me on. And especially for one little girl who is scared of trying new things. Because they need to see that you can do hard things. Even when it totally sucks.

So I dragged my sorry self across the finish line, which thankfully came just after a down hill or I probably wouldn't have made it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel triumphant in finishing. I just felt like a total loser that it was so ridiculously hard for me to finish those blasted 20 miles. 22 miles, to be exact. I also felt pain. A lot of pain. But I did finish. And I stumbled into a neighboring field where I cried and stretched and pathetically cried some more. Then I got up and carried on. And got some ibuprofen. Hopefully next time, I will have the same happy glow upon finishing that I saw on the other riders. I might even say it's "fun". Stranger things have happened.

All About Beige

2011-05-11T12:13:00.000-06:00

I'm talking about the good, the bad and the beige over on MMB today so head on over and join in the fun. And? If you have any questions leave them in the comment section. Design questions to be exact. But if you're really in need of some bad advice go ahead and leave any question you want.

Mother's Day Spoilage

2011-05-10T09:46:00.000-06:00

My Mother's Day this year included some homemade crafty goodness from my girls. Which we all know I love.

Lolly made a card AND a footprint picture in school. So cute.

And the girls filled out a "What I Love about Mom" paper at church. So of course I have to share.

Lolly's Answers
I love you because you're my mom and you make my lunch!
You are so beautiful when you wear the dress you are wearing today.
You are the best cook ever when you cook bread.
I love it when we read, snuggle and cook.
I know you love me because I love you! And you kiss me and give me loves.

Babs Answers
I love you because you love me.
You are so beautiful when you wear your dark pink dress. (That's the dress I was wearing. Apparently my girls really like that dress.)
You are the best cook ever when you make macaroni and cheese.
I love it when we play together and learn together and write together.
I know you love me because you smile and me and think I'm cute.

CG also got me some chocolate that I really like and a new watch battery. So...no more excuses about not knowing how to read a non-digital watch. Other than that I struggle reading a non-digital watch.

Goldilocks Confessions

2011-05-05T16:27:00.000-06:00

This Saturday morning I have plans. Big plans. I'm riding in the Goldilocks race. Now, I use the term "race" very loosely in referring to my own participation. I'm not racing. I'm riding. And hopefully finishing my 20 mile route. That is the goal.

See, when I registered for this lovely event (I think it was in February) I was so motivated. I'd go to my spin class once a week and I'd be even more likely to go since I was "in training". But then February came and brought along with it the plague. Actually, several plagues, one right after another. Then there was March. And April. Then, lo and behold, it was May. MAY!?!?!

As of last Saturday, my preparation had included two spin classes and some socks. I'm happy to report that this week I've upped my game a bit and now have a bike to ride. A road bike and my budget don't get along, so I got the lightest (and cutest) mountain bike I could afford. I even got a water bottle that attaches to my bike, a bag for some junk and some gloves. CG insisted on a monitor thingy that will make much more sense to him but will tell me how many miles I've gone. And because I can do simple math I will know how many miles I have left. I was planning on getting some padded bicycle shorts (hawt!) but rumor has it that they cost $100. I think I'm more likely to put a pillow down my pants at that price.

So, if you're going to be in Herriman this Saturday come on out and cheer me on. Or laugh. Because the biggest difference between my bike and the spin bikes is that my bike can tip over. The potential for humiliation is high. But that means the potential for blog fodder is high as well. Silver lining!

But I will leave you with this deep, although completely unrelated, quote that I read in my spin class this week.

"My goal is to be remembered for who I am, not for what people wished I was."

Form Is Totally Following Function Today

2011-04-27T13:41:00.000-06:00

Wanting a little unsolicited design advice? Well head on over to Mormon Mommy Blogs and check out my latest post on interior design. It will be well worth that click of your mouse. Hopefully.

Tip Tuesday-Dinner Time!

2011-04-26T09:41:00.000-06:00

It's Tip Tuesday time again and tonight I have to make dinner. Oh wait. I make dinner every night. That's a lot of nights, my friends. And a lot of dinners. There are (rare) times when I like to make big, elaborate meals. But those times are few and far between. With all the crazy floating around here, I just don't have the fortitude for big meals on most nights. And in the summer, I'm even less inclined to cook dinner. I like easy and healthy. And I like ideas. Right now, I'm desperate for ideas for dinners because my family actually likes to eat dinner EVERY NIGHT. Pshaw. So demanding.

Because I am such a generous person, I'm going to share a few of my recent favorite easy recipes with you. And then you can share with me some of your favorite easy recipes. Then we'll all make dinner and the world will be a happy place!

French Bread Pizza! So yummy and so very easy. All you need is a loaf of french bread, some pizza sauce, cheese and whatever topping you want to use. Or you could just go with cheese. I've also tried this with garlic bread (it was on sale and I was feeling adventurous). For the garlic bread pizza I didn't add any sauce and added cheese and toppings as usual. SO good. Especially if you love garlic bread like I do. I usually serve it with salad or **edemame or some fruit to make it a well rounded meal.

**Side note: LOVE edamame! We buy it in bulk in the microwaveable packets so it's super easy to make and the kids love it. And soy beans are so healthy. It's like a healthy toy since they play with the shells.

Scrambled Hamburger is also a crowd pleaser and comes together quickly. You can find that recipe right here.

I just recently tried making Crisp Bean Burritos. The recipe was shared by the lovely Stephanie of The Daily Blarg and my girls really love this one too.

And for a quick dessert or lunch box treat, I HIGHLY recommend these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are so easy to make and super yummy. Seriously, baking something yummy can not possibly get any easier than this.

And now it's your turn. Tell me....what's for dinner at your house? And can we come over?

Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-25T09:34:00.000-06:00

We had an eggsellent time celebrating Easter this year. And now I feel it is my duty to share it all with you. Using a gazillion pictures.

We decorated eggs of course. But that is a "no clothing required" kind of activity so I'll just show you the eggs. Ta Da!

The Easter Bunny was good to us this year.

The Easter Bunny even spoiled CG and Dexter a little bit.

After church we headed over to Grandma and Papa Van's house for The Hunt. Here are a few of the cousins comparing their haul.

Sneak peeks of their beautiful Easter dresses. Hard to see but SO beautiful.

Attempting to get one picture with all the cousins looking at the camera AND smiling. Not sure that happened but we still got some good pictures.

And the release of the cousins so they can get back to the good stuff!

We're big fans of the Easter Bunny.

And, yes, that picture is totally going on Facebook.

Lolly's Gift

2011-04-14T06:46:00.005-06:00

Lolly made her teacher a special gift this year and has been so thrilled. So of course I have to share it with you.

Here are the supplies you need:
a wooden apple cut out (although this would work with whatever shape)
red paint
green paint
Modge Podge
red glitter

I bought the wooden apple at a local woodworking store for only $.99. There are lots of variety so you could change this particular craft to fit your specific needs.

First of all paint your apple.

Lolly did the painting herself. Technically, I painted the stem. But she did the rest herself. She did an amazing job. My cute little crafty girl.

Then you Modge Podge one side of the apple and dip it in glitter. I just poured the glitter in a plate so we could place the apple on an even pile of glitter. Because we need our glitter even and thorough. Then, you do the same on the other side.

And.....voila!

Nothing says love from Lolly like red glitter!

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Taco Soup

2011-04-13T08:34:00.001-06:00

Everyone loves a good bowl of taco soup. It's yummy, easy, relatively healthy and crock pot friendly. I got a recipe for taco soup from my sister in law when CG and I got married and it's slowly evolved into the recipe that I'm going to share with you today. This particular recipe is a perfect fit for a 3 quart slow cooker.

Taco Soup
1 pound cooked ground beef or chicken
1 onion, chopped
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 can vegetable soup
1 cup salsa
1.5 teaspoons taco seasoning

Combine all ingredients and cook on high in the slow cooker for at least 1 hour. Serve with corn chips, grated cheese and sour cream as desired.

Now...multiply this by 6 and that's what I'm making for our luncheon this week. I'm so glad this is such an easy recipe. Long live the crock pot!!!

Teacher Appreciation!

2011-04-12T20:34:00.000-06:00

I may have mentioned a time or two in recent history that I'm kinda in charge of Teacher Appreciation at Lolly's school. Yep. They are that desperate. So here we are. Teacher Appreciation Week. And I'm going to celebrate it in true blog fashion...too much detail and lots of pictures!

First of all, we had Aid/Assistant Appreciation Week last week. There are 46 aids/assistants at our school. Each and every one of them got this little thank you...

That lovely bottle of lotion was made affordable by the fabulous online store All Things Good Store. See that little ad over there? On the right? With the sunflower and chickens? Yep, that store. This particular lotion came in a set of 6 different scents and are wonderful. They also got donuts.

And this week. It's the big week of appreciation for the teachers. First up was a cute set of note cards for each teacher that I didn't happen to get a picture of. But we can all imagine.

Today we were lucky enough to receive a generous donation from the lovely ladies at RubySnap. They have THE BEST COOKIES EVER! They are a wonderful local company and they give back to their community. Does it get any better?! So head on over them and get some of those cookies. You know you want their cookies! 770 South 300 West in Salt Lake City.

Wednesday is "Student Day" where the kids bring in their notes, pictures or small gifts. And they're supposed to wear their teacher's favorite color. Frankly, I don't know if that's going to work, but I had to try. And Lolly will be wearing pink for her teacher tomorrow. All pink. Every last item of clothing will be pink. Because we know how to celebrate around here!

Thursday....Thursday. I'm trying not to think about it too much or I'll get nervous. We're treating the teachers to lunch. I'll be making 3 crock pots...3 large crock pots....of taco soup. But don't worry. I'll share the recipe with you tomorrow. And several committee members are bringing in salads and desserts. Of course, I really shouldn't worry because the rolls? They are coming from Golden Corral. Whether or not you're a fan of buffets, it is a widely known fact that Golden Corral has the best rolls EVER and they were nice enough to donate them for our teacher luncheon.

Friday is the fun day. And what says fun better than ice cream?! I'll tell you...nothing! We're having an after school ice cream party. And not just any old ice cream party. An ice cream party with cool gifts to raffle off for the teachers. Gifts that include some wonderful lotion and soap sets compliments of Kristen Bowen Studio. These smell so absolutely divine that it will take all of my self control to give them away. They are amazing. I'm currently saving my pennies so I can buy the DVD/workbooks for lotion and soap making. It is that good. We also got a gift card that Kneader's was nice enough to donate. And they're all getting a super cool star fish key chain that comes with the story about the girl on the beach who keeps throwing back the stranded star fish because it makes a difference to that one. It's a good message....one person can make a difference. And the combined effort of our teachers is making a huge difference.

A lot of people have asked how I've managed to do it with a less than big budget. And now you know. The generosity of successful local businesses have made it possible to have such a great Teacher Appreciation Week.

And let's not forget the grand finale. In order to help me recover from Teacher Appreciation chaos, CG has generously donated a spa gift certificate and free babysitting so that I can go. During the day! Like I said, the generosity of others makes it all possible.

Tip Tuesday-Grocery Smarts

2011-04-05T11:11:00.000-06:00

As I've shared before, I was trying to feed my family of four for under $200. We did okay at first, but then I found that our food storage was going down and not being replenished. So I increased our monthly grocery budget to $250 a month.

Truth be told.....I'm struggling. A lot.

If we ate mainly pasta and processed foods, I could probably make it work pretty easily. But I'm trying to feed my family the healthiest, most well rounded diet that we can manage. In case you didn't know, fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive in the winter. And if you forget about them, they go bad even in the fridge. **sigh** But I cleaned out my fridge a while back so hopefully that will help with that.

I have found that for the $200-$250 budget to really work, I need to do the coupon thing. It does help, but not on everything. I've tried using the Grocery Smarts website, but haven't spent much time figuring it all out. Another thing to add to my to do list. **and another sigh**

But today we're not going to dwell on my failures as a grocery shopper. Instead, we are going to focus on a few little tips that make it easier to cook dinner and hopefully less expensive. Because I'm such a positive person and all.

First of all, I shop the ads whenever possible. When I find certain products on a really good sale, I try to stock up. Especially things like meat. It's not such a great idea for fresh fruits or veggies. Because of the aforementioned "going bad in the fridge" reason. Also, cereal is a great item to stock up on. You can frequently combine a coupon with a great sale price and pay less than $2.00 a box. And it's a lot harder for cereal to go bad. I have managed to do that, but it's more of a challenge.

This next tip isn't so much of a money saver as it is a time saver. When ground beef goes on sale, it's often for a large package. Sometimes it's called a "chub". Which makes me laugh and make jokes at the ground beef's expense. One option is to divide it raw, assuming that it comes in a format that makes this reasonable. OR you can cook it all up at once. I then divide it into freezer bags in one pound (or so) divisions. The wonderful thing about this is that when it's time for dinner, I just pull some out of the freezer, run the bag under warm water until it loosens and pop it into a frying pan. Frozen. I add the seasoning and some water and it defrosts, "cooks" and seasons all at once. It's a huge time saver and makes dinner time so much easier. Which is nice because by dinner, I'm tired and the kids are tired and a fast dinner is the only thing that will save us from the deliciously enticing drive thru. Or a breakdown.

The one thing that has really helped me to become more aware of our grocery budget and how quickly it's depleting is by using cash. You have probably all heard of the envelope method for budgeting and, although I don't think it's very realistic for your entire budget, it has worked well for our grocery budget. We've also used it for the eating out budget and entertainment budget.

I also make a pretty specific list and stick to it. That's the hardest part. Learning to stick to the list. Which is hard when you've had a rough week and you really need some sort of food related coping mechanism. Not that I ever do that....ahem......

I also hear that avoiding Costco at all costs is really good for the budget as well. Thankfully, I don't have a Costco card and only go when I coerce my sister into taking me so I can get clothes for my girls. And mango salsa.

Now, my bloggy friends, it's your turn. Clearly, I'm needing some of your tips for staying on a budget. Or fun stories about completely blowing your grocery budget. Or you can just tell me I'm pretty. I'm not too picky.

Charity Sale Ticket Winner!

2011-04-04T11:06:00.000-06:00

And the winner of the pre-sale ticket for the Hilltop United Methodist Church charity sale is....

Drum roll please.....

Marsha! She said "This sounds like a great idea. I would love to go!"

Get your shopping shoes ready Marsha and check your mail for your pre-sale ticket!

And don't forget to head to this great event this Friday and Saturday.

985 East 10600 South
Sandy, UT 84093

Friday, April 8, 9 am- 8 pm - No strollers before noon due to crowds

Saturday, April 9, 8 am – 2 pm - Clothes & shoes an extra 25% off on Sat.

Less Words Wednesday-Because I Can't Do Wordless

2011-03-30T20:56:00.000-06:00

Dexter has issues with running away. Probably because I'm a bad dog mom. He is horribly neglected and ignored, as you can tell by this picture.

The Escape That Wasn't

2011-03-27T20:22:00.000-06:00

Remember a few weeks back when I talked about Creative Estates? Right here. Remember? I was so excited to go. I don't get to do too much crafty stuff these days but I do love it. And hearing all about Creative Estates and the fun things they had planned sent my cold, craft-less heart all a-flutter. To say I was excited about going would be a slight understatement. I was thrilled! PLUS! I would be traveling in style in the Party Car with Steph and Tauni. It would be the perfect little escape for this overworked Mama.

And now? I can't go. When I realized the date I started getting unsettled. It's the weekend between Aid Appreciation Week and Teacher Appreciation Week which I am surprisingly in charge of. The PTA was desperate. But I thought I could make it work. Get everything done ahead of time, go a little crazy the week of, but everything would be fine. Then I looked at the soccer game schedule. The first game is on April 9. It will be Babs first game ever. And that just is one of those moments that I can't get back. How could I miss her first soccer game?!

I went back and forth trying to figure it out. To make it work out. Then I finally realized that I can't. I can not make this all work. Something has to give somewhere. And at this point of my life, my "social life" (let's pretend that I have one) is what had to give. We would all be upset about me missing the game. And as much as I hate to say it, PTA played a factor in it too. I don't think I can do it all and still keep family life normal AND go out of town. Although it is possible that I'm being overly dramatic and reverting to my natural assumption of my own failures. And that I'm more than a little nervous to be 12 hours away from my children for 5 days. But I don't know.

So I made my decision (kinda) and put on my big girl panties. I sent the email to Tauni axing my crafty vacation. And I really thought I was okay with it. Until I hit "send" and started to cry. I guess I'm not all that good at being a grown up after all.

I keep telling myself it's just that time of life. The small sacrifices I make now will have a big pay off for my children in the future. And being home, spending time with my girls doesn't really feel like a sacrifice at all. Missing out on Creative Estates feels like a sacrifice, that's for sure. I really hope I made the right decision. But soon my girls will be so grown up and won't need me anymore. And then I can do all the things that I put off doing now. They are so worth it.

Until then, I will wear my big girl panties, even though they are bunching, and I will carry on. Yes, I will be missing out on the most fabulous crafting conference to ever take place. Maybe next year. A time and season for everything. And right now....it's PTA and soccer season.

I Have Giant Papillaries

2011-03-24T21:40:00.000-06:00

My eyes. They've been kind of bugging me for a while. Since, oh, October. Of last year. I've been meaning to go in and get them checked out but it never happened. They'd bug me and then it would get a little better so I'd put it off and then they'd bug me again. I admit it...I'm not the greatest example of "self care" in the world. But don't worry too much. I'm going to go spend some quality time with my gynecologist next week and I'm giving some serious thought to going in to see a doctor regarding issues from the last time I broke my nose *ahem* 7 years ago. I don't think it healed right.

Anyway, I finally went in this week because my eyes had actually started to hurt, which was new. They'd been itchy, dry and goopy, but not painful. But this week they were hurting. Like a lot. So yesterday, off I went, telling myself that even if I was overreacting, it was better safe than sorry. My appointment went a little something like this:

Eye Doctor looking in my eyes. Me freaking out over it because I'm a baby about my eyes. Doctor turning my eye lid INSIDE OUT for a better look. Babs rubbing my back during the whole ordeal.

Eye Doctor: "You have giant papillary conjunctivitis."
Me: "So, is that like pink eye?"
Eye Doctor: "No, this is way worse than pink eye. This is the worst case I've ever seen."
Me: "Oh." (freaking out)
Eye Doctor: "It's pretty bad and you need to stop wearing your contacts right away so it can heal. No contacts for at least a month and up to 6 months. And you'll need to use these eye drops for the next 30 days." (It was super exciting to find out later that those eye drops cost $100. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!)
Me: "Oh." (freaking out a lot more)
Eye Doctor: "But it'll be fine. We just need to take care of it."
Me: "I feel pretty stupid right now."
Eye Doctor: "It's a good thing you came in. Don't feel stupid."
Me:..........

Later on, while the doctor was writing prescriptions, I was chatting with Babs. I told her that I have giant papillaries. At least we all got a good laugh out of it.

So, no contacts for a while. No big deal, right?! Except for the part that I don't have any glasses with the right prescription. And I'm blind as a bat. Maybe a big deal. Thankfully, I found a place close by that does glasses in one hour and accepts our insurance. And that's where the "fun" began.

You see, like previously mentioned, I've broken my nose a few times. And the last one didn't heal all that well. Possibly because I didn't go into the doctor. Either way, it makes choosing glasses a bit tricky. I've found that the glasses with the little nose pieces really hurt to wear so I was left to choose from the styles without the nose pieces. And it's a really good things that those glasses are in style right now and I had quite a bit to choose from. And I had my Lolly girl there to help me pick out the perfect pair, giving each pair a yes or no or "a little bit of both". This pair seemed to be the family favorite though.

So, how did we do? Doesn't the camera look stunning!

A little close-up....

Hmmmmm....I think I like them....

As I look through these photos with my hair actually done and make-up actually on, one thing stands out...even with all that, I still look tired. But, hey, I had my hair and make-up done all in the same day. It's the little victories that count. Also? Really don't love taking pictures of myself. I just never look like myself to me in these pictures. And I always feel stupid smiling like an idiot while trying to take a picture of myself or my reflection in the mirror. But I figured you would want evidence. And I'm a people pleaser.

And The Survey Says...

2011-03-22T08:06:00.001-06:00

Happy Tip Tuesday Everyone! No tips here, but a question. The question of the day, if you will.

How often do you buy clothing? And be honest now. CG and I have differing opinions on this particular subject so I'm taking it to you, my dear blog friends. It's for the sake of our marriage people, so it is CRUCIAL that you comment! Well, it's not that dramatic, but I'm curious to see what everyone else does/thinks.

*Do you buy new clothes/shoes seasonally?
*Do you buy trendy pieces? How often? Or are you strictly utilitarian?
*Do you wait to buy something new until the something old has completely worn out?
*How much would you guess you spend yearly on clothes for you?
*And this is an important part...where would you rate yourself on the "maintenance scale"? Are you High Maintenance, Medium Maintenance or Low Maintenance?

This Ain't Yo Mama's Charity Sale

2011-03-20T21:37:00.000-06:00

The lovely Adrian, of Adrian's Crazy Life, told me all about her church's twice-yearly charity sale. And now I'm passing that great info on to you!

*******

IF you are in the Salt Lake area.

IF you have little kids, a baby, or are pregnant.

IF you like to save money on stuff for your kids.

THEN I have something I think you'll be interested in. Have you ever shopped at someplace like Kid2Kid? They have some pretty nice stuff, the prices are low, and everything is organized by gender, size, and type of clothing. What if I could tell you about a place that was like about TEN Kid2Kid stores all in one place? Would you be interested? I'm betting that you would.

Adrian's church puts on a twice-yearly sale that is just like that. They bring in about 100 different consignment sellers who bring all of their inventory - clothes, shoes, toys, maternity wear, the works. Everything is gently used, but it is pre-screened by our committee. Any item that has a stain, a bad smell, or a tear is immediately returned to the seller and is not placed for sale. Only season-appropriate items are accepted. This isn't the time when you want to sort through coats & snow boots. Those are brought out for the Fall sale.

Everything is required to be hung on a hanger with all matching pieces attached and the price clearly marked. Then it is all set up on clearly marked racks for each gender and size so you can go straight to the items that will fit your kids.

Looking for furniture, toys, outdoor play equipment, or cute maternity clothing - they've got 'em. And the prices are about 70% off of retail. Like I said, this isn't your Mama's charity sale. I've been to lots of church charity sales. Whether they call it a rummage sale, a garage sale, or a yard sale, it's all pretty much the same. You can usually find a few good deals, but you have to dig through heaps of stuff and a lot of it isn't worth buying. Obviously, this is different. This is the good stuff and it is organized for Moms with a desire for a bargain who want to get in, find what they want, and get on with their day!

Let me give you some details and a chance to win an edge over the other shoppers.

985 East 10600 South
Sandy, UT 84093

Here are the sales dates & times:

Friday, April 8, 9 am- 8 pm - No strollers before noon due to crowds

Saturday, April 9, 8 am – 2 pm - Clothes & shoes an extra 25% off on Sat.

However, there is a little secret. There is a pre-sale. A very exclusive pre-sale that only lasts for an hour and a half - 7 PM to 8:30 PM on Thursday April 7th. Usually this event is only for the dozens of volunteers who help out with the sale. However, I'm going to give you a chance to win one of these exclusive pre-sale tickets.

Just FYI - kids are not allowed at the pre-sale. It's kind of a mob scene and we don't want anyone getting hurt. And besides, you need your arms free for grabbing all the great deals.

PS: If you don't win a pre-sale ticket, you might be able to volunteer for a 3 hour shift and earn one - if there are any spots left. Leave me a comment and I'll put you in touch with Adrian who can put you in touch with the organizers. 'Cuz I know people....who know people....

To win the pre-sale ticket - You get ONE entry just for leaving me a comment. You get a SECOND entry if you Tweet or Facebook this to your friends. You get a THIRD entry if you follow my blog. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

I will draw the winner on April 2nd-ish and I will email you immediately-ish to get your address to mail your pre-sale ticket. Please be sure to leave your email address in one of your comments.

And even if you don't win the pre-sale ticket, I hope you can go. This is going to be a great sale and all the leftover clothes and proceeds are going to go to local charities and to support the church programs. So you get a good bargain and do a good deed at the same time. Sounds like a winner to me!

Friday Favorite-St. Patrick's Day Festivities

2011-03-18T05:52:00.010-06:00

Breakfast? Lucky Charms, of course. And the prettiest rainbow I've ever seen.

The best dressed leprechauns in all the land.

Leprechaun Lolly

Leprechaun Babs

A super yummy dinner of Corned beef melts, Irish scones and Irish onion rings. Although onion rings may not be Irish food, they are definitely pub food. Surely you can see the connection there.

Fun was had by all!

Photo posted with permission from CG.

**Ever since my dot com upgrade a few weeks ago, I think I might be having some "rerouting" problems. So, if I'm lucky enough to be in your reader, please update the URL address. And if I'm not in your reader...well, then carry on... ;o) Have a great weekend!

Recipe Swap Wednesday-St. Patrick's Day Melts

2011-03-16T05:43:00.001-06:00

In all honesty, I have never actually made this recipe. This is just a recipe I stumbled upon that I decided to make for this year's St. Patrick's Day feast. It looks easy (famous last words) and I like easy. So I've decided to pass this recipe along to you today so that you actually have enough time to make it, if you so choose.

Also, another family favorite are the Irish Scones that you can find the recipe for here. The recipe is from way back when I first started blogging. Before Recipe Swap Wednesday was even born. But they're still good. And even better if you dye them green.

And just to be extra nice, I'll put the recipe up here. I couldn't make it any easier unless I came to your house and cooked it for you. Which I won't do.

Open Faced St. Patty's Melts

Ingredients

3/4 pound thinly sliced lean corned beef
4 slices whole wheat or rye bread
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 1/2 cups coleslaw
1/2 pound Swiss cheese, thinly sliced

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400° (or use a toaster oven set to medium). Heat corned beef in a skillet over medium heat until warm. While warming, place bread on a baking sheet. Stir together mayonnaise and ketchup, and spread evenly on bread.

Divide warmed corned beef among bread slices, and top with desired amount of coleslaw and Swiss cheese. Bake open-faced sandwiches until cheese melts and bread is thoroughly toasted.

Pick Your Paint Baby!

2011-03-14T11:43:00.000-06:00

Today I'm over at MMB talking about picking paint colors. Exciting stuff people! So head on over and read all about paint. Plus, if you have any design questions you can go ahead and leave a comment and it could be answered in a future post!

About Creative Estates...

2011-03-13T21:04:00.000-06:00

Have you heard about it? Surely you have. Creative Estates. It's a conference honoring all things creative and handmade. They're even having a handmade market. They'll have classes on everything creative from blogging your passion to vlogging to creating a community. They're covering all the bases.

The craziest thing about it? They're letting me come! Really!

The conference is in Phoenix, Arizona and runs from Thursday April 7th to Saturday April 9th. In Arizona. Where it is warm. At least until I get there. I have a special way of turning normally warm places cold when I travel there. It must be my warm, sparkly personality. The city is compensating. I know that sounds crazy but the last two times we've been to Las Vegas people had resorted to wearing parkas while passing out porn cards because it was that cold. We were in light jackets so I guess it's all relative.

Last I heard there are a few openings left for booths in the handmade market and only 17 conference tickets left. 17 tickets! So, if you've been fence-sitting about whether or not to go the time has come to make the decision...to Creative Estate or not to Creative Estate. Clearly, the answer is obvious.

So, the only question left is.....will I be seeing YOU there? And will you be my neighbor?

Behind The Scenes of Fresh Living

2011-03-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

As we all know, and I'm constantly reminding people about in person, last week I was on a local television show called Fresh Living. The behind the scenes scoop is always so interesting. Sometimes more interesting than the on camera stuff. So I'm going to share all the great details with you today.

Technically, the most exciting thing that happened "behind the scenes" was I made my poor friends Carly and Stephanie tell me if I had anything hanging out of my nose. I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of their day. I also put on lipstick. So perhaps I should focus on the pre- and post-show excitement.

Once I heard that I was going to be on TV I decided to get my eyebrows waxed so that I could, ya know, see. It's been a while. A couple of days before the show I finally had the time to get it done. I wasn't too worried...I've had my eyebrows waxed many times, even in the skankiest of "salons" where I am mocked in multiple languages and called a Cry Baby because it makes my eyes water to have hair pulled out of my face. My plan was fool proof!

Then the fool entered a local nail and waxing salon. It actually seems like a nice place and they were very nice, especially considering that I had my two darling children in two that love all things girly. And have to touch EVERYTHING. The woman who helped me was very kind and did a great job shaping them. She started with a powder (that was new to me) and then moved on the wax portion of the show, finishing up with cream after she was all done. Pretty standard procedure. But I noticed...my eyebrows were still stinging as I was leaving. Oh well, what could go wrong?!

The next morning I woke up around 4 am. It's so awesome when I do that. Gotta love a little insomnia. Then I noticed.....my eyebrows are still stinging a little. So a dragged my exhausted self out of bed and into the bathroom to check out the state of things. If it hadn't been 4 in the morning with everyone else in my family sleeping peacefully I would have screamed. Loudly. Not only did I have large red bumps surrounding both my eyebrows, my forehead above the brows was swollen so much that it stuck out further than the rest of my face. I was having an allergic reaction to something she used during the waxing. And? I looked like a Klingon. I was ready for my television debut.

Here's a picture of my hawt self 24 HOURS later. Not the best picture (taken with my cell phone) but you get the idea.

Thankfully, the swelling had gone down enough that you couldn't really tell from straight on and the redness was covered up by miracle Mary Kay cover up. I mean, you couldn't tell on TV right? Please tell me you couldn't see my Klingon forehead....

The morning of the taping I was super excited and slightly nervous. Or super nervous and slightly excited. Those feelings are often interchangeable. After doing about 5 feet of hair between me and all my girls, we headed out for the day. I went downtown and CG took the girls to a event at the school involving donuts. Everyone was happy.

I was making fairly good time, but had a hard time finding a parking space. I should say, I had a hard time finding an intersection where I could turn left to get to a great parking space. I managed a round-the-block maneuver and found my parking space, but thought I was running late. Then the panic set it...do I even have change in put in the parking meter?! I grabbed my wallet and pulled out a quarter and was overjoyed that I had a quarter. So overjoyed that instead of putting my wallet back into my purse, I plopped it on the floor in the front of my van. In plain sight. Yes. Then I put my quarter in the meter and wobbled my way to the studio as fast as I could wearing 3-inch heels.

Wait....$.25 isn't enough to feed a meter for an hour? And there's a little display screen on the back that tells me how much time is on the meter? Well....I know that now. I returned to my van (in the pouring rain) to find a love note from the parking police telling me that their love will cost me $15 if paid within the next 10 days and $55 if paid after ten days. It's a cruel, cruel love.

And as disastrous as all this sounds, it's pretty standard procedure at the Chaos' household. And I had a great time going on the show! I know! I always thought that people who said that they had fun were crazy. Well, I have joined the crazy ranks. Again, standard procedure. Now that I've had my local television debut, it's probably time to go national. I'm thinking America's Funniest Home Videos is probably the most likely option for me. Television Fame, Here I Come!

Tip Tuesday-The Laundry!

2011-03-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

Wow. It's been a long time since we had a little Tip Tuesday action around here. And what better topic to get things rolling than laundry. We all have it. Most of us do it. Some of us like it. A few of us even fold it. And I'm going to share a few little laundry tips that save me either time or money. Both things that we could all use more of.

First up, we have the laundry sorter. Best. Idea. Ever! Last summer/fall I bought a double laundry sorter for my girls room. It looks a little something like this.

Okay, it looks exactly like that. Then I cut out strips of felt to coordinate with the intended dirty clothes destination. Dark pieces on the dark side, light pieces on the light side. Like this:

Fancy yes? I explained to my girls how it worked then helped them (a vary little bit) sort their very full hamper of dirty clothes. They had that basket of laundry properly sorted in less than 5 minutes.

I can't even tell you how much time this has saved me. Instead of sorting through a large basket attempting to get every piece of whatever load of laundry I'm trying to do, I just grab what's in the designated bag and pop it in the washer. Yes, there is an occasional stray piece in the wrong bag, but considering that they are 3 & 6, that's really not bad. Plus, it would help younger children learn their colors and it has helped my children to become more familiar with shades of color. Also deductive reasoning since I no longer tell them which basket it goes in. It's educational laundry!

Next up is the laundry bins. I bought each girl a dish washing bin like you would use camping. Remember camping? Anyway, as I fold their clothes each week (when that happens) I put those lovely clean clothes into their bin, carry it into their room and politely invite them to put away their own laundry. Yes, my girls put away their own laundry. And my Lolly girl folds both her panties and socks. Then puts them away. Wish you were me yet? Because you totally should.

And finally...this is a tip that I've read a time or two and decided to give it a whirl. Use half of the recommended amount of laundry detergent for washing your clothing. Now, the first time I tried it I just happen to have a head cold so I wouldn't have been able to tell if the laundry smelled funky and I don't really recommend that. But even after the cold cleared the laundry didn't smell funky. Still doesn't. The only time I use the full amount is if I'm soaking something overnight. Or if throw-up is involved. Such a simple thing and it essentially doubles the length that my laundry soap lasts. And with as much laundry as I do around here, that really adds up fast.

So, now it's your turn. What are your laundry tips and tricks?

You're The Best!

2011-03-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Recently things have clicked in the reading area for my Lolly girl. And now she's reading anything that she thinks she'll be able to. Just the other day she was reading to me all the phrases on some of her Hello Kitty stickers. Until she came to one she was hesitant with.

Lolly: What does this say?
Me: Sound out each word.
Lolly: You...are...the...butt?
Me: (struggling not to laugh) Close sweetie. It says "you're the best".

And then I walked away and laughed like a crazy person where she couldn't hear me.

You're The Butt! I'm totally going to start using that in everyday conversation.

Friday Favorite-St. Patrick's Day Toes

2011-03-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Fresh Living Link

2011-03-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, so I have no idea to how to embed the video of the Fresh Living segment that I did this morning. So instead I am going to give you the link here so that you can go to the KUTV Channel 2 website and watch. It's the segment titled Mom's World:Mommy Bloggers. Yep, I'm a mommy blogger.

A Big Day!

2011-03-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day my friends! There are a lot of fun things going on in the Land of Perpetual Chaos. Okay, two things. But two BIG things that I'm excited about!

First of all, if you're living in the Utah area be sure to tune into Channel 2 at 1 PM. I'm making a little appearance on Fresh Living with the lovely Carly from Living the Scream and Stephanie from The Daily Blarg. You'll be happy (disappointed?) to hear that I didn't actually humiliate myself on local television. Yet. I'll also attempt to post the segment right here on my blog for all my many out-of-state readers.

Also! As very few of us know, I'm a finalist for the Sassy Scoops Next Top Sassy. My review is up today and it's right here. So if you have a moment to spare, head on over there and give me a little comment love.

It's Official!

2011-03-01T09:04:00.001-07:00

I am a dot com. And I come with a warning label. Awesome.

The Problem With Self Deprecation

2011-02-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

I confess. I self deprecate myself. It's just the way my personal sense of humor leans. I like funny. I appreciate it in others and on the rare occasion when I make a funny. Funny is good. Most of the time. But sometimes funny can be mean. Really mean. And then? It's not quite so funny.

So, my "humor" tends to lean toward the self deprecating kind. With a side of sarcasm. And I'm okay with that. It's not really mean and, frankly, I have lots of material to work with. See? Right there? Self deprecating. But I'm okay with that because I know I didn't just hurt my feelings.

I make jokes all the time about my many varied inabilities and the fact that I would probably be more successful in life if I had constant adult supervision. The thing is, most of the time I'm joking or just making light of a situation. I don't really consider myself to be the best at anything, but I manage to get through the day. I know how to make crafts, but I do other things as well. And in all painful, TMI honesty, I'm a total perfectionist when it comes to crafts so I take WAY too long on things. Which is why I don't do a lot of crafty things with other people. I can sew. Kinda. I don't have a great singing voice, but I can carry a tune well enough to make up songs that make my girls laugh.

But I've recently realized something. Not everyone gets that I'm joking. Some people actually think that when I sarcastically say something about my various "abilities" that I'm actually being serious. I've had more than one person say to me, "It's so easy even you can do it". Not in a joking way, either. In a "supportive" way. Of course, if someone is that rude, then I don't actually consider them to be supportive in any way.

But the reality is that I think it's far better to say something self deprecating than to say something mean about someone else. For me it usually relieves the tension. If someone is struggling with something in their life and see you as being successful at it, I feel way better making a joke about myself than telling them how awesome I am at "XYZ". The only purpose that serves is to make them feel worse. Again, not funny.

So I will continue on in my self deprecating ways. Although, perhaps my "sense of humor" isn't all that funny after all. Either that or I'm surrounded by people who think I'm an idiot.

Oh wait...that would explain a few things.....

Cycling + Donuts=Utah Tour De Donut

2011-02-25T15:30:00.003-07:00

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Self, if only there was a cycling event that included donuts. Then, I would totally be there!". Well, then do I have the EVENT of the year for you!

The Tour De Donut!

It's a 21-mile bike race that include a donut station every 7 miles. EVERY SEVEN MILES! And for every donut you eat, they will deduct time off your race finishing time. Yes, that means that it's encouraged to eat as many donuts as possible while still be able to ride a bike afterward to the finish line. You are rewarded for stuffing as many donuts as possible into your mouth without choking. It's really what every athletic event is missing.

And guess who's going to be playing this year? Why, yours truly, of course. I'm lucky enough to be on a very fun team with Camille, Emily and two of Emily's friends that I've never met. They're going to let me be o their team even with the constant threat of public humiliation that is my life. I'm so excited!

Not only is this event fun and challenging, it's also for a good cause. It helps benefit the Rotary Club of American Fork and the Huntsman Cancer Society. And really, it benefits you. Not only do you get to work towards completing a 21-mile race (and all the benefits that entails) but you get to eat donuts. And have fun!

Come! Have fun with us. Although I'm still in negotiations with CG, it's looking like he'll be participating in the race while pulling the girls in the bike trailer. He has the legs for it while I just...don't. The best thing about this event is that it really is for everyone. Single riders, teams, families, tandem riders, everyone! And if you can't/don't want to race, then everyone is still welcome to come and cheer along for your favorite team.

Race details:
Tour de Donut
Saturday July 16, 2011
American Fork, Utah

Be sure to register now for the Early Bird pricing. You can go here for all your registering needs. Be sure to let them know I sent you and let me know so that I can be sure to hunt you down in a totally non-stalker way the day of the race. And give them some fan love on Facebook as well.

I'll see YOU there! I'll be the one on the Huffy mountain bike. Yeah, baby!

Two Dumb Things I Did This Week

2011-02-20T22:05:00.003-07:00

Dumb Thing #1-

After a long night of sick Babs and general house upset, we were rushing to get both Lolly and CG ready and out the door for their day. CG requested that I make his lunch and asked that I make a sandwich and send a can of green beans in his lunch as well. Being the dutiful wife that I am, I followed the directions and plopped that can of green beans in his lunch bag without a second thought.

Later that night we were discussing his day and he brought up the green beans. And then, over 12 hours later, it hit me. He doesn't have a can opener at work. He always opens it at home and takes it in a container to heat and eat later on.

Oops.

Dumb Thing #2-A Conversation

Me: Can we swing by the library while we're out? I need to return a book today.
CG: Why today?
Me: I couldn't renew it online because someone has requested it.
CG: Was it good?
Me: I don't know. I kept forgetting I had it and didn't get a chance to read it.
CG: What book was it?
Me: (pause) Women With ADD.

After we stopped laughing....
CG: Maybe you should reserve that book again.
Me: Probably. If I remember.

Wordless Wednesday-My Snuggie Valentine

2011-02-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T08:57:00.003-07:00

Mmmmm.....donut......
Have A Sweet Day!

Chinese New Years Celebration

2011-02-09T16:16:00.004-07:00

This year our Chinese New Years Celebration came a little late, thanks to the stupid flu, and it involved Chinese take out and watching America's Funniest Home Videos. It was fun AND multi-cultural.

My Poor Babies

2011-02-07T15:14:00.004-07:00

My girls are sick. I hate it when my girls are sick. Hate. It. There are all the conventional reasons to hate it like the lack of sleep and the propensity to catching vomit on my clothing. But, really, those aren't the biggest reasons. The real reason.

The real reason is painful. It is actually, physically painful to see my babies sick. To hear their exhausted coughs and sad little sniffling. Babs has started telling me that she doesn't want to be sick anymore because the coughs hurt her tummy. It's misery watching their misery.

There is one thing that comes from this though. When my children are sick, I find myself feeling more gratitude. When I see my children struggling with being sick I am profoundly grateful for healthy children. Because I know that the cold will pass, the flu will go away (right? please say yes) and they will go back to being healthy, happy kids.

But not all kids are that lucky. And not all mom's are that lucky. And my heart goes out to those mom's with chronically ill children that much more. Because for them, it's not just a simple matter of being fever-free for 24 hours before they can return to normal.

So, as much as I hate it when my babies are sick, I will keep counting my blessings. Because there are so very many. Starting, and ending, with my girls. Pass the Kleenex, please.

I'm Famous! Kinda. And Still Alive! Sorta.

2011-02-03T19:11:00.002-07:00

So remember my whining from yesterday? I have the flu. The FLU, people! The doctor put me on Tamiflu and it has had the amazing ability to not make me feel any better at all. But that's okay. Because I have good news!

Finding Your House Style, my very first ever article for Mormon Mommy Blogs, is up! Yay!! I'm going to write articles about interior design and decorating on a budget. For as long as they let me. So, go on over and check me out! And let me know if I totally suck. But please do it in a nice way because I'm feeling a little delicate right now.

Don't Cough On Me

2011-02-02T12:54:00.003-07:00

On Sunday morning I was sitting in church. CG was sitting next to me and the only other person sitting within six feet of us was a woman sitting behind us. We were in the chapel so there was plenty of room to spread out.

As I sat listening to the lesson I couldn't help but notice the background noise. There was a lot of this background noise. There was coughing and hacking and horking out pieces of lung. It was a cacophony of disease. It reached the point that I could no longer focus on the lesson because I was so distracted and twitched violently with each new snort. It was all I could to sit through the lesson without jumping up and spraying everyone with disinfectant as I ran screaming from the room. But I didn't do that. Being all refined and stuff. I did leave the room though. But not before making one disastrous mistake.

I shook the bishops hand.

The bishop, who had probably shaken every hand in the room. And I didn't think to use hand sanitizer after because he looked healthy. I know. I'm a disappointment to germ freaks everywhere.

And here I am, three days later, sick, sick, sick. And a little mad. Okay, a lot mad. Although I was fine when I went to bed last night, by 4 AM I was coughing and gasping for breath. And panicking a little. And because of this, I didn't get to go to my Lolly girl's class today to help out. It is the highlight of our week. Hence the mad part.

I don't understand why people do this. It's like they somehow think that if they choose to go to work/church/whatever when they are sick then they are somehow superior to those that stay home.

If you are sick, STAY HOME. Please.

Oh yeah...my resolutions....

2011-01-27T07:22:00.004-07:00

So, remember last year when I posted my New Years' Resolutions for Groundhogs Day? Well, I think it's high time for my first update post! You'll be happy to hear that it is also my last update post for 2010 goals.

As you probably don't remember, my goals were broke up into small and large goals. I think I also threw in a ridiculous goal in there as well. Today we'll go through each goal in painful detail. But never fear! There will be pictures. And they will most likely be embarrassing.

Small Goals
#1-Make a new recipe each month. This is a great goal. Assuming you don't already do that. Which I pretty much do. So, thankfully, I managed a little success in this goal. It's a slightly hollow success, but a success none the less.

#2-Continue My Attempts at Healthier Living. Well, I guess you could say I did this. According to the Wii, I had made a goal of losing 10 pounds last year. That's not that much. And yet...didn't happen. I lost 5 pounds and gained 6. For some unimaginable reason, I did go down a size in yoga pants. I'm not sure how that happened but I have a feeling it includes a complex calculation involving spandex and geometry and I'm not really good at either one of those.

#3-Continue on with the grocery budget of $200 per month. I've done okay on this and I think that is in large part due to using only cash for groceries. I have found that although I can stick within the $200 budget for our groceries, it makes it hard to maintain and increase our food storage. I occasionally spend $250 for groceries and I'm considering making that permanent in order to afford the more healthy options. I also recall saying that I would blog some of my handy dandy tips. Didn't get around to that yet, but now I have another blog post idea for this year. Yay for us all!

#4-Updating our 72 hour kits. I got them fairly up to date this past year and just have a few things that I still need to purchase. Overall though, I feel comfortable with where they're at now. Maybe eventually I'll post a list of what I've put in them here. Since I am sure you must all be dying to know what is in them. Oh, the suspense!

Large Goals
#1-A Year of Savings. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha HA! <----Yep, that was my crazy laugh. We didn't even come CLOSE! Instead we opted for some financial hemorrhage action. Part of what made that goal reasonable was that we were renting our basement. Which didn't work out so good, to say the least. And after spending almost $3,000 to clean up the disgusting mess left behind, our savings account was just a tad bit further away from our goal. (In case you're wondering, dog pee has a weird sweet smell to it and not an awful smell like cat pee. Which explains Dexter's "indiscretions" last summer.) And I can't even talk about the truck. So, yeah, we don't have a year's worth of expenses in savings. I'm hoping to have enough to put in central air this year and replace CG's car once it becomes absolutely necessary. And when I say "absolutely necessary" I mean that we'll replace it once it "no go". If we're really lucky, we may get another year out of it...although CG may not see that as lucky.

#2-Organize Our Home. Ah ah ha ha ha ha HA! <----Again, my crazy laugh. I have such great intentions but really have no idea what I'm doing. I even took a before picture of the washer and dryer. See?

Before
After
Can you see the differences? There's a light on in the first one. And I think the pile in the second picture is taller. And there are less hangers. On a happier note, my shoes are still fairly organized. It's wonderful.

Ridiculous Goal
#1-Write a book. Oh, the ridiculousness of that goal. Ironically, I did make two books this year. I would qualify it as "writing a book" but they are in book form. Using Blurb I made each of my girls a book of their first year for Christmas this year. It's full of pictures and little details and stories that children love to hear about themselves.

As for this year, I haven't really made any goals. At least not yet. I have made plans to ride in a few cycle events/races. Thanks to the encouragement of my lovely friends Emily of Is This Really My Life?! and Camille of Make It Work Mom I'm actually going for it. And, bless their hearts, they're even happy to have me join their team and possibly embarrass us all. That alone should tell you how nice they are. Hopefully they still like me afterward. CG says that this should count as my New Years' Resolution, but it seems like the goal should come before the plan. But at this point, it's all I got.

Maybe that should be my first resolution....to make some real New Year's Resolutions! As for a word of the year....probably not going to happen. I have a phrase for the year. It's "probably not going to happen". After last year, I have nothing if not realistic expectations.

So! Now, I want to know....what are your resolutions? I'm looking for ideas....

Wordless Wednesday-Winter Blues

2011-01-26T13:10:00.002-07:00

A New Word

2011-01-20T12:35:00.003-07:00

I've invented a new word. And it's a good one. Crapalanche. It's like an avalanche. But with random crap instead of snow or other avalanche related debris. I was trying to sort through the various "important items" on my kitchen counter and, well, one thing led to another. And as it all came crashing down it came to me. I was experiencing a crapalanche. No other word can really describe it as well.

So, if you're wondering where I've been lately, now you know. I've been trying to dig myself out from under the crapalanche at my house. Feel free to send Mountain Dew, chocolate and other life sustaining items as you feel is necessary. Just please no paperwork.

Another Birthday?!

2011-01-10T14:30:00.006-07:00

Why, yes, it is yet another birthday post! My birthday! But that's in a minute. First, we have a completely random thing to discuss. I've been thinking about birthdays. Specifically the placement in my family. My mom's birthday is 12 days before my sister's birthday (oldest child) and 2 days before mine. My little Lolly girl was born about 2.5 weeks before my birthday. My sister's daughter was born 15 days before her own birthday. One of my aunts birthday happens to fall 13 days before her first daughter was born. And if I'm remembering correctly (probably not) another aunt's birthday is about 2.5 weeks before her second daughters birthday. I can't remember all the birthdays, but are we noticing a theme here? Also, my grandmother just happened to be born exactly 80 years before my little Babs. And her second cousin who was born just hours later. I warned you that tangent would be random.....

As I was saying....my birthday. The big 3-2. And we celebrated in high fashion. The only way to celebrate this year, in my humble opinion. We took the girls to the Hansen Planetarium. By way of The Train. Two train rides just 2.5 weeks apart?! That excitement can not be paralleled.

But first, I got to open my gift. CG was as giddy as my girls at the thought of my opening my gift, even though they didn't actually know what it was. But opening gifts....that's exciting. As much as I love my wonderful Nikon P80 that I got last year, it's a bit big. And I worry when I carry it around a lot that it'll get broken. Not for major things, but it's not the kind of camera that can be carried around in the purse for impromptu pictures. I've used my cell phone on more than one occasion but it's not exactly state of the art. It has been suggested about my phone that 1982 wants it's phone back from me. And after months of, well I wouldn't say whining, but out loud wishing for a point and shoot, CG delivered.
And it's PINK. He done good.
After we prettied ourselves up, we headed off for a day on the town. Lolly had gotten two children's passes for the Hansen Planetarium for participating in her school Reflections contest so there was one for her and one for Babs. If I didn't know better, I would think she planned it that way. And, thanks to UTA and the Mom Aboard campaign, it was a very budget friendly day.

On the train on our way downtown. Poor little Babs fell asleep on the way there, before the excitement even began!
Fun at the planetarium!
I love you to the moon and back!
Life on Mars...It's Fun
The ride home. Birthdays around here are always celebrated well!
Did I mention the flowers? There was also chocolate cake. That I didn't have to make. Yum.

To Party Or Not To Party

2011-01-06T09:31:00.005-07:00

That was the question for Miss Lolly Chaos recently.

We had plotted and planned for her 6th birthday party for literally months. She was very specific on the type of party she wanted. She wanted a "cowboy party". Not like a traditional cowboy party, but the cowboy party of Evo '10 fame. Remember?

So this particular party planning took a lot of thought and creativity on my part. The only sponsors available for this particular event were CG and I and we have, ya know, a budget that isn't really equal to that of a major corporation. Also, all things needed to be age appropriate for 5-6 year olds. But I did it. I figured out a really fun, budget friendly, kid friendly party. Except for the invitations. I was struggling a little with those.

But how can I make invitations without a final count for the party?! And so, the guest list making began. And went on. And on. Changing almost daily. Mostly getting bigger. Once we reached 16 kids (yes, SIXTEEN!) and growing, I finally had to break the news that we would need to do some editing. A lot of editing. Because 16+ kids at a party inside our house was just not going to happen. Winter birthdays=indoor parties. And that changes things. As we got into serious negotiations, Lolly started to get upset. She was worried that if she didn't invite everyone, that people's feelings would be hurt. And it's not like I could say that the kids feeling wouldn't be hurt. Anyone who has ever not been invited to a party knows. It hurts to be left out. And with kindergartners, everyone is "friends" and they are devastated to not be invited to any party....even if they don't know/like the birthday kid.

She was clearly distressed and I felt so bad. Birthday parties are not supposed to be upsetting! At least not for the birthday girl. So I gave her another option: birthday party with friends with a smaller invitation list OR family party (the 4 of us) at Chuck E Cheese.

She contemplated her options for about 2 seconds. Then she chose Chuck E. Cheese. And was a happy girl. I was actually disappointed. I'd spent so much time and creative energy planning this party!

And then I came to my senses. Chuck E Cheese it was!

We played. We had fun. We had pizza.
And birthday cake delivered by Chuck E Cheese himself.
Babs wasn't too fond of him.
A good time was had by all.
Then we went home.
And the rest of her birthday celebration week began. It was fun and exhausting all at the same time. We had Lolly pick out a weeks worth of her favorite meals to have during her birthday week. A wonderful idea that I totally stole from Jessica of Duck Duck Cow. It's a great and relatively simple way to make the birthday girl (or boy) feel special and celebrated for more than just 24 hours. I highly recommend.

The birthday girl in her special birthday outfit.
On her actual birthday the festivities included Babs and Mommy surprising her for lunch and the three of us having lunch at the school cafeteria. This was an unplanned surprise resulting after her incompetent mother forgot to pay for her requested hot lunch and having a very sweet lunch lady suggest it. Worked out better than planned. We even stayed for the lunch recess. Because they were a little short-handed. And I was there. The afternoon ended with her sharing Ring Pops with her class. It was quite the day.

After Daddy got home from work, Lolly got to open her presents. Birthday gifts included multiple Barbie's and an art kit made by mom. I didn't actually make anything, I just got some fun art supplies and put it in a cute Hello Kitty lunch box along with a sketch book and red beret for true art making.
Then we got all bundled up and headed out to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. We even got to ride the train (also known as UTA Trax) compliments of the Mom Aboard campaign. It was awesome and it's one of my kids favorite traditions.
My Happy Birthday Girl
It's hard to believe my baby is 6 but I'm so happy to celebrate her birthday and everything about her.

Holiday Highlights 2010

2010-12-30T20:38:00.006-07:00

Unlike most bloggers, I haven't exactly been on top of the festive blog posts. So I'm catching up today. With a photo montage. Because, frankly, that's really all the mental energy I have to give. And using the word "montage" in a sentence makes me sound smarter than I really am.

Gingerbread house making...sorry, no final product picture
A cute outfit that both my sister and I wore. Now Lolly and Babs have worn.
A Christmas Cupcake Conference
Christmas treats for family and friends
Christmas Jammies!
Yes, my girls did wear Cinderella dresses to the Christmas Eve festivities.
Santa was good to us.
And a very tired Mommy....

Merry Christmas To All!

2010-12-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Santa, Baby!

2010-12-24T11:29:00.005-07:00

Every Christmas Eve on CG's side of the family, there is a talent show. Most of the 24 grandchildren perform at least one talent. It's as thrilling as it sounds. Some of the adults even get in on the action. Now, as we all know, I'm just overflowing with talent. Ha, ha! Over the years I have frequently threatened CG with a riveting performance of "Santa, Baby" in all it's Marilyn Monroe glory but have never actually gone through with it. Mostly because I can't really sing.

So, this got me thinking this year. I seem to be thinking about Christmas songs a lot this year...have we noticed?! This time I was thinking about the lyrics of this Christmas classic and as amusing as it would be for me to sing them for a family party, they're not exactly applicable to my life at this point in time. So, OF COURSE, I decided to rewrite them.

Behold! New Santa, Baby lyrics....Chaos style.

Santa, Baby
Santa baby, just slip a sitter under the tree
For me
Been an awful good mom
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a 2010 Caravan too, light blue
I'll be sound asleep dear Santa baby
So hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the sleep I've missed
Think of all the boo boos that I always kiss
Next year I could be just as good
If you'd check off my Christmas list
Boo doo bee doo

Santa Baby, I wanna wife to help me out
With my life
Been a mommy all year
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa honey, one thing I really do need
A clean
House that stays that way
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie and fill my stocking with lots of cheer
And checks
For my mortgage next year
Santa cute, and hurry down the chimney tonight

I don't need you to trim my tree
My girls did a pretty great job for me
They really do believe in you
Almost as much as they believe in me
Boo doo bee doo

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing
To sing
This silly song next year
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry....tonight
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

On The Twelfth Day of Christmas...

2010-12-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

...my Mama gave to me 12 lucky charms. (Bracelets. Because a girl can never have too much jewelry.)

On The Eleventh Day of Christmas...

2010-12-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

...my Mama gave to me 11 pipes of licorice. (Here we go with the candy again....)

The Problem With Rudolf

2010-12-22T22:40:00.004-07:00

I've been thinking about Rudolf. You know, the red-nosed reindeer. I've heard the song a time or two this holiday season. It's popular amongst the kindergarten crowd. And the crowd that idolizes kindergartners and copies everything they do.

Google Image

Anywho...I've been hearing this song which in turn makes me think about this song. And one thought led to another and...I'm thinking that's it's not so great. I mean, Rudolf was a complete outcast until Santa needed him for the foggy night. Then, all of the sudden, everyone wanted to be his very best friend. Just because he saved the night for the Big Guy and was suddenly super popular.

It kind of mimics life, in a way. People who previously didn't give you a second glance all of the sudden want to be your bestie for one reason or another. But that "friendship" is fleeting. Which begs the question be asked....once the fog cleared, did they still let Rudolf join in all the reindeer games?