Roses On Your Piano

Did I give birth recently?

I don't recall.

But I must have, because Sugar Daddy came home with these beauties.


Only the second time in our entire marriage that I have gotten flowers without needing a C-Section first.

The other time was when we were fighting pretty good.

This time, no reason.

I'm suspicious.


*also, see here for the latest article.

Spring had Sprung

Spring was here. For one day, and one day only. We enjoyed a day of relaxing on the patio while the girls frolicked in the sprinkler. I had a big refreshing beverage, a salad from Chili's, and a bestie to chit chat with, and life was good. I garnered some sun on my arms, a little on my face, and the kids tanned nicely as well.

And then the next day came, and the rains came down. And down, and down and down. It's pretty much been raining here for 5 days straight. April showers and all that jazz, it's true. I do enjoy the thunderstorms, though. We certainly never got anything like this in Utah. The lightning is spectacular, and the worms that leave the grass in search of higher ground are fat and fabulous. You should see these suckers.

But for one day, life was sunny and good. A peek into what the summer may hold. I liked what I saw.


Gretta in her water shoes. She loves the water; the tub, shower, sink, toilet, sprinkler, hose, doggy dish, anything that can get her wet. No fear.


Mags was a little hesitant to get wet at first. After a few minutes of keeping the sprinkler on "low, mom", she was fine, and bouncing through the watery tendrils with the other kids.


Meet the other kids. Can you tell which one belongs to me? Emma and Shivani are total besties. They play at school, and at home on most weekends. She is a wonderful girl, and very sweet and kind, so I have no problem with them spending lots of time together. But really, could they look any more opposite?

The rest of this week is supposed to be kinda blah, but I think we're on an upward trend for sure. Pretty soon you'll hear me complaining about the heat, I'm sure. Already my hair is as curly as it gets, and I don't love that, but I'm dealing with it.

I Write

Well, it's official people. I'm a working gal. After exploring many, many avenues of what I would like to be when I grow up, I've decided to try something new. Again. This time, though, I can do it from home, I can express my opinion freely, and I get paid. Okay, so it's pretty much like a blog, only with a paycheck. But still, there's a paycheck. Did I mention that part yet? Seriously, getting paid to speak my mind is like, well, like getting paid to pee. I mean, we all know it's going to happen so why not make a little money at it?

Anyway, like I said in the email I sent out to my family yesterday, you can see the article here. Please, please tell me what you think. And be honest. And if you don't like it, then you can stick it.

Gettin' Smart

While I was in the Motherland, Sugar Daddy went all good-little-wifey on me, and took the girls to the city to see the Field Museum. Last year we had an annual pass to the aquarium, so this year he got us a pass to the museum. The kids loved it, and they didn't even get to see it all in their trip down there.

Gretta showing off her newest face.

The girls in front of some sort of dinosaur. I'm sure Maggie could tell you which one it is. She really likes dinosaurs. Which is surprising, since they are bigger than her, and I would think that would scare her.

Mags with the Cheetahs. Does this make her a cheetah girl? Hmm.

I've always said Sugar Daddy is a better wife than I am. If I had been stuck at home with the girls for a weekend while he was away, they would have watched a lot of movies, I would have caught up on sleep and cleaning, and we would have gone about the days just as any other. I'm glad he took some initiative and got the kids out and about. He's such a good little mommy.

Fun For Friday

This is probably much more fun for me than it is for you.


Either way, it's pretty dang fun. Student of the Month. I freakin love this kid.

Happy Friday!

It Could Go Either Way

My Maggie is a crack up. She loves TV. Pretty much any cartoon, or Disney show, will hold her attention for hours. She likes to be mellow, and keep the excitement to a minimum. But there is one show that will get her out of bed at 6:00 AM, and this show will keep her mesmerized until the very end, even if she's seen it a million times.

A Baby Story on TLC.

Seriously, she's obsessed. I don't really know why. And I certainly don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. She became very interested in it when I had Gretta, naturally, and it has just continued over the last 2 years.

But here's what I think about it. I figure this little obsession of hers could go 2 ways. 1, she will turn into a creepy pregnant-lady stalker. You know the ones. They rub your belly, give unfounded advice, and ask for all the gory details of your birth. Or 2, she will become a wildly successful OB/GYN, and possibly have her own TLC show, makes tons of money, and support Sugar Daddy and I until we die.

I like #2. Obviously.

I just hope this isn't doing her any harm. I don't want her to think that birth is something to be ashamed of, or that she should shy away from asking questions about her body. I like the openness of it all. But if she turns into creepy pregnant-lady stalker, it's not because I didn't try to get her to go to medical school.

Bonus Post

Happy birthday to my nephew, Eli. He's 5, and dang cute. I love him. He has a funny way of speaking, and he is very spunky. I could probably eat him, if I could catch him. Happy day, dude. I Love You!

Re-Turned

I'm back. I know, you're thrilled beyond belief. The Motherland was great, and warm, and not Chicago, so I was a happy camper. Add to that that all the sibs were together, and there was no stopping the fun. So for your pleasure I give you bullets.

• Driving myself to the airport at 5AM. I'm such a big girl.
  
• The bumpiest flight I've ever been on. But "Yes Man" was on, and it distracted me nicely.
  
• My bag was the first off the carousel. That never happens.
  
• Visiting with MIL. I love her. She's the bestest ever.
  
• Driving to Vegas with Dad and Noma and Madison. I don't think we had one lull in conversation.
  
• Seeing Gracie. I love that kid. Oh, and the other kids are good, too. And Jill. And Aaron.
  
• Sleeping in the bunkbed. Awesome.
  
• Mandalay Bay crab leg buffet. I love crab. Straight up, no butter. Just simple, honest, crack, pull and eat. Mmmm.
  
• The Las Vegas Temple. It's beautiful inside. And Pink. And Brother Whistle-when-he-speaks as a sealer.
  
• In N Out. Need I say more?
  
• Nutella shakes. That Troy, he's so creative.
  
• Driving home with crazy driver Josh and Meg. Crashing his family's party.
• Visiting with Julie and Chad and Chase, et al. Good people, they are.
  
• Getting my band filled. It's been a while, and boy, liquids for a whole day is tough enough, but especially when you have a 4 hour flight. Liquids in, liquids out, you know.
  
• Booking it through Detroit Metro trying to make my connection.
  
• A relaxing 40 minute flight back to Chicago from Detroit.
  
• Driving home in a semi-coma, and falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
  

And now it's back to the grind. Screaming kids, speech, school, music, talent show, blah blah blah.

Leave A Message At The Beep

Keli can't come to the blog right now. She is away enjoying a beautiful Spring day. She is celebrating the great weather by purchasing a new outfit from Old Navy, and picking up a back yard full of a winter's worth of dog poop. Please check back next week when she returns with wonderful stories of family crack-ups, and probably some drama, too.

Also, if you could please head over to Terrill's blog and wish Barb good luck on her knee surgery, you will be blessed.

Beep.

Go Girl

I have to admit something. I have a crush. On a girl. Okay, it's a crush on several girls, but either way, writing it out loud makes me feel a lot better. Seriously though, These women are intriguing to me. I'm sure they get that a lot since they're famous, but they are out there in the public eye, so it's an occupational hazard.

Now don't go sending me the latest lesson on same gender attraction, I've read it, and this isn't that kind of crush, so mellow out.

First up we have Ellen. Let's face it, this is one funny freaking lady. I have always loved her sense of humor, even back in her mullet days, but now that she's gone mainstream with her show, I think more people are apt to appreciate sarcasm, which bodes well for me. But really, she has her opinions, lives her life, and still manages to wrangle top conservative show hosts to come and chit chat with her. That ability to span the gamut of political and personal views so graciously makes me love her that much more.

Next up is Catherine Keener. How adorable is she? I admit, I don't know much about her personal life, but as an actress, and a babe, I love her. She was in 40 Year Old Virgin, one of Sugar Daddy's fave films, and she was in Sideways and Friends With Money, two of mine. She has a cute almost alternative style about her, but she manages to keep it mainstream enough to skim past the worst dressed lists. She has a great smile, and how can you not covet her hair just a smidge?

And here comes one from left field. P!nk. I know, I know, she such a biddy, and she has a mouth on her, and she dresses all slutty and what not, but I'm telling you, I like her. Her music is totally not my style at all, but I still like her. I like that she proposed to her husband, even though they're now divorced. I like that she rides a motorcycle. I like that every time I see her, her hair is a different color. But she has a ripped body, and it works nicely with her arrogant attitude. I'm quite sure if we were neighbors, she would scare the crap out of me, and I would totally talk crap about her behind her back. But here in internetland, I like her.

So that's it. My girl crushes. Lovely ladies that I admire for one reason or another. Perhaps one day I'll do a Boy Crush post. Although that would be much less exciting, I'm sure.

Overload

I totally understand if you're sick of seeing Easter glee on every. single. blog. you read, so if you choose to just skip over mine, I won't be offended, I promise.

But my kids are the cutest of them all. So now you know.









Aaaand, that was Easter.

Too much candy, good times with great friends, and a great Stake Conference on Easter Sunday, unusual, but wonderful, since we were able to hear from both Elder Dallin H. Oaks and President Monson. It was like a General Conference all over again, and just as good.

I regret to inform you that there will not be a Fun For Friday post this week, as I will be mid air between here and the Motherland. But next week is sure to reveal some great stories from family time. It always does.

Fun For Friday

This truck really gets around.

Have a happy Friday!

Product Review

Recently I've come across a few products that I feel deserve a review. Some good, some bad, some just down right ugly.


First up, CVS brand diapers. These were on sale, and with the ECB's I got back on them, coupled with the ECB's I already had, they ended up being free. How could I not try out free diapers? After a few days of dealing with soaked pants, and changing sheets each morning, I give these diapers 2 thumbs down. Way down. Even for free, I won't be getting these again. Ever. I love free, but I can't skimp when it comes to hygiene. Huggies for me, thankyouverymuch.

Next up, Bali's new bra with modesty petals. Where was this bra when I had to get up to give a speech at Meg's wedding luncheon? I'm sure if they made it in teeny tiny size, Jill and Meg could both use this. Really, though, it is one less thing I have to feel self conscious about, especially when I'm wearing a lightweight T-shirt. After my breast reduction, things have been quite perky, and this bra takes good care of that! 4 Stars, for sure!

Moving on, we try out the Swivel Sweeper. This is a little cordless rechargeable vacuum that looks similar to a Swiffer. It has a little LED light on the front so you can see into those dark corners under the cabinets and whatnot. As far as cleaning up goes, it's about average. I have to empty out the dirt trap often, even if I feel like my floors are clean. I guess that speaks to what kind of housekeeper I am, huh? I do like that my kids love to use it, and will just turn it on and start vacuuming up the kitchen. Whatever help I can get out of them, I'll take it! I give it a 6 out of 10.

Finally, it's Cascade Gelpacs dishwasher detergent. I've always loved Cascade, but I prefer to use some sort of tablet so the kids don't overfill the dishwasher. For the longest time we used Electrasol (now Finish brand) tabs, but I had a coupon for the Cascade Gelpacs, and with them being cheaper than Electrasol, I thought I'd better try them out. I like that you don't have to open them up like you do the Electrasol tabs. You just throw the whole thing in, wrapper and all. The wrapper dissolves in the water, making it easy and mess free. I have noticed a few of the packs being stuck together, like they got a little wet and started prematurely dissolving. They pulled apart just fine, though, and still cleaned wonderfully. I would say the cleaning is equal to Electrasol, but without coupons they are more expensive. I don't think I would pay full price for them. I give them 4 golden goblets out of 5, but the price is an issue.

So there you have it, my product review. I hope you can use these thoughts to make better purchases in the future.

No, I'm not getting paid to do this, either. Are you kidding? Paid to blog? That would be my dream come true!

Motivation

I've had a good couple of days. Actually, it's been about a week and things are still good. But I can feel a change. I can feel the mood sinking. I'm fighting it with everything I've got. I think it will pass, so I have to stay motivated and just work through it.

I think a lot of my mood change is coming from comparisons. I've started comparing my life with the way I perceive the lives of the women around me. I've begun to feel very inadequate. Suddenly I'm doubting my parenting skills, my craftiness, my humor, my home, my car, my clothes, my appearance in general, and whatever else I can find to compare. And I keep coming out on the losing end of it.

Comparisons by nature are not a bad thing. But when it comes to comparing one's self with what is perceived to be another person's self, there is no winning. We always put our best face forward, and hope to win out on the comparisons.

Normally I don't really care about what other people think about me. I really don't. I got past that insecurity long ago, and about 30 pounds ago. I also use my humor to mask any insecurities I may feel. It might not be the healthiest option, but I'm not really known for my healthy choices, now am I? The last few days have really brought out some underlying fears I have of being left behind. I have started feeling like I'm not keeping up with those around me. I don't mean materially, I'm getting over that, I mean humanly. I don't do a lot of what the people around me are doing. I don't see what I'm doing as wrong, or what they're doing as wrong, but I feel out of sync.

I think what I need is a good old fashioned dose of "keep it up, girl". I feel like my family is doing well, my kids are happy and well adjusted, and we have a good schedule going. I try to keep it as low stress at home as possible, and the kids respond well to that.

Then I see some people that give their kids the newest toys, go to the newest restaurants, see the newest movies, and I start to feel lacking. I start to feel that I have to do those things in order to make my family and myself happy.

I know in my heart of hearts that we're happy just as we are. But still the motivation to keep it up is deeply buried, and it's hard to see through the mumbo jumbo of every day life. I think I just need to see my kids thrive in a simple environment, and then I'll feel better. I'll give it a day, and hopefully that will help me feel motivated to keep it up.

A Blur

This last weekend is all a blur. I think the fact that it was preceded by a week of Spring Break for Emma, which means staying up late, eating junk food, and the like, made it seem like a strange weekend. Then Conference came, no church of course, and that only added to the strangeness.



I did love conference, though. Did any of you listen to Saturday's morning session? They sang "Consider The Lillies". We sang that at my mom's funeral. It was a real tear jerker. But I know it sounded better at the funeral, because even the MOTAB can't bring the kind of spirit that was in the chapel that day.

I'm sure it was a little awkward for the rest of you when President Monson said, "Pay attention, Keli, this part is for you." What? You didn't hear that?

I love him. He's such a good man. I met him once. Kind of. I was attending the viewing of my old Bishop, and good friend, Paul Cutler. There was quite a long line leading up to the casket, and as I approached his dear wife, I wanted to sneak a peek at his body. I was craning my neck to see, but there was a tall man standing right in my way. I said in a kind of loud voice, "I wish that big dude would move over a little, he's hogging the view!" I'm sure the "big dude" heard me, because at that moment, he turned around, and sure enough, it was President Monson. Turns out he was a relative of Bishop Cutler. I felt pretty dumb, but man, President Monson is a big dude!

This weekend also brought the Bi-Annual turkey dinner. Yummy as always. No precooked turkey this time, just a good ol' Butterball. Can't go wrong. I think next time I'll just do turkey, potatoes, and green beans, because I'm the only one that eats the yams, and no one else really loves the green bean casserole. Plus, then it's less work, and maybe I won't feel so guilty when I have to throw half the dinner in the disposal.

So that's the weekend. Now Spring Break is over, back to the schedule, and on with life. It feels good to be back.

Fun For Friday

Isn't this a little like building a John Denver Regional Airport, or a Michael Jackson Children's Hospital?

Coming Soon

* To a Craigslist near you. It's going for good.

** And really, people. As if. Can you imagine crazy me being a mother again? I think not.