Surprise! It wasn't bills in the mail!

I have this amazingly talented artist friend that I know from Alaska. Thanks to Facebook, we've been able to reconnect. The other day she asked me if I'd like some earrings that she'd made. I love her stuff, so of course I wanted a pair of earrings. I knew they were coming, but I didn't expect a package with tons of her artsy jewelry in it. This package made my day. I can't wait to put these pendants on something so I can wear them. This is one of my favorite, but heck, I like them all! Jen Grimes, you are one amazing woman!

Aren't the funny bone earrings just darling?

Above the cloud on the chain it says "Ode to Sitka." Hence the rain cloud. I love the matching earrings!

Check out the banana fish earrings. They're so whimsical! I love them! The pendant just SCREAMS my name, and I totally dig the pink stones in the other earrings. Is it bad that I just want to wear all of this at once? Man, I wish there was something....anything I could send back that even compares to the adorable, fun filled, smile inducing package I got today! Sadly, there's not....

It's an addiction really...

It may be a bad thing that our lives revolve around certain tv shows, but I can't get enough of Castle. I love it, I love it, I love it. Mondays were made for Castle. ABC, how we love your programming at my house! Is it horrible that Castle is the Family Home Evening activity? I think not! Thank goodness Castle and Lost are on the same network so we don't have to choose one over the other! Now, if only Castle and Beckett would just get together and get it over with!

Weekend update

I suppose it's more like a whole week update, since I haven't blogged in a week. Napping has just taken up too much time! So, without further adieu:

• January 30, 2010: The fourth and final pinewood derby! (pictures and a short video in the posts below)
• January 30, 2010: I missed a 10 stake singles activity that actually looked like it would be a blast in favor of spending time with my child while he still wants to be around me. He doesn't want me to date, and at this point, I don't think I want to date either. My crappy decisions have put him in this single parent lifestyle, so I guess I can deal with it for a few more years until the little teenage "I don't want my mom around" attitude kicks in. Actually, I'm pretty ok with it.
• January 31, 2010: My step brother Stephen reports his mission. Excellent talk! We really enjoyed hearing about his hard work.
• January 31, 2010: 5th Sunday. Ugh....this means no teachers in primary for sharing time. It's insane, so what do we do? Up the level of insanity by letting the music leaders go too. This means I get to play the piano in primary, which I'm actually getting to be fairly good at, and thoroughly enjoy.
• February 2, 2010: Bryan turns 11, however I don't know how, as I am no where near old enough to have an 11 year old. I replaced his iPod that was stolen and solidified my coolest mom in the world status, then we went to dinner, just the 2 of us. It's our tradition, and we like it. Bryan picks the place and I pay. After dinner Bryan tells me "Mom, I really love it that I get good presents instead of wasting all that money on a party and just getting a dumb present." Priorities!
• February 2, 2010: Lost season premier! Bryan recorded it on his new iPod so he could watch it after school the next day. Smart kid!
• Filled the next 5 days with work, nap, work, nap, work, nap......
• February 6, 2010: Went to a baptism for one of my primary kids and saw my BEAUTIFUL friend Ramanda and her adorable family. She's fun to blog stalk, but even better to see in person. Such a fabulous, hot mama and all around wonderful person. I LOVE her!
• February 7, 2010: SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!! Who dat? Who dat?! WHO DAT!!! The New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl! Amazing! I love a good underdog story! Amazing that the Saints won. I can't believe Peyton Manning pouted his way off the field before the game was officially over. Nice show of sportsmanship Manning~ at least he had a little bit more class in his speech later that night. It almost made up for his less than classy exit from the field.

My multi-talented cousin Riannon

It was the weekend of my step brother's missionary homecoming. Everybody had gathered at Allreds for dinner and while everybody was getting ready to go home, I captured this on my cell phone. Yes folks, this girl is texting while maintaining perfect hula hoop form. We Merrells are a talented bunch!

More pinewood derby 2010

A picture of Bryan's car winning. Woohoo! Notice the color....lime green....Hmm...a little influence from mom? It's not like I didn't give him a choice, it's just that the choice was "Hey Bryan, I will buy you the lime green enamal for cars OR you can use the purple spray paint we have at home." I just love it when I can make "Love and Logic" work in my favor!

The whole crew. These kids had a blast. It's a small scout pack, but every single one of the boys came to this pack meeting.

Pinewood Derby 2010

It's the last one!! I am beyond excited that we are finished with pinewood derbies. Not that they are not fun, but it's just a relief to know that I will never have to worry about a pinewood derby car again! And once again, guess who the idiot that forgot the camera was? Yep, all fingers point at Annalee. LG Dare to the rescue. Here's a short video of one of Bryan's winning races. It's not the greatest quality, but that's why I'm not a professional!

Massage day at last

Please forgive me if this post turns in to one big long run on sentence. It's not my fault. After a 90 minute hot stone massage to start  my weekend, I am one stress free and relaxed single mom. Yes, I did mean to use stress free, relaxed AND single mom all in the same sentence. It's probably the first time I ever have, and if I get my way with the massages, it certainly won't be the last, and it's most definitely something I could get used to. Nancy bought me a gift certificate to Senses Bath, Body and Day Spa for Christmas and it was put to good use today! Bless her heart, she knew just what I needed. After a hellacious week at work (no different than any other week) I took off at 3 and had a rare chance to just be me. Not mom, slave, boss or anything else; just me. I think I could end every week like that, if only I could find my money tree. Even better, after coming home, I curled up in bed and finished the last book of The Great and the Terrible series by Chris Stewart that I started last week and can now reclaim my life. Great massage, good reading, the pinewood derby car for tomorrow is all done and I'm off to soak in a bubble bath while Bryan does whatever he wants as long as it doesn't disturb my peace and quiet. Life is good.

Benadryl smoothies anyone?

I had a lot of plans for this weekend; too bad only one of them happened. Still, it was a good thing I was able to help out a friend. Here's how the weekend was supposed to go. Massage on Thursday, John Schmidt concert on Friday and ringside table at the UCE fights on Saturday.

The massage on Thursday got cancelled because the girl that was supposed to do it was sick, so it's rescheduled. Thursday night, a friend of mine's children had to spend the night at my house because her husband had to have surgery in Salt Lake the next morning. After being told at 9:00 that they had just received their first AND last warning about going to sleep and not playing, they all went to sleep much easier than I thought they would.

Friday morning at about 2:00, I heard 3 boys playing with hotwheels in Bryan's room. UGH!! I yelled at Bryan from my bed and they went back to sleep, or at least got very quiet for about 30 minutes, when they decided to play again. At this point, I decided I had 2 choices: split them all up and make them go to sleep again OR ignore them and let natural consequences take care of their decisions in the morning. So, I went to sleep and the next morning, 3 very tired little boys had to get up and go to school and live with their choices from the night super early morning they had given themselves. I dont' know about Logan and Adrian, but Bryan took a 5 hour nap after school! The kids spent the night at my house again Friday night because they all crashed on the floor at about 10:30 and their parents didn't get home until about 11:00. Since I didn't want to drag 3 restless boys to the John Schmidt concert, I just had to miss it, which stinks because it's so rare that someone that talented comes to Vernal, UT. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes with next year's concert series.

Saturday, the boys went home about 12:30 and Bryan retreated to his room to clean and stay out of the way while I schooled the bathroom and laundry before dropping Bryan off at Logan and Adrian's with the babysitter and heading to the fights with Kim, Jake and some other people I still don't know. Then when they were over, I had to work on my sharing time since we now have church at 9:00 which means I really can't just throw it together before church.

With all the extra activity this weekend, it's not surprising in the least to me that I took a 4 hour nap after church today. I feel super lazy after that, but it was worth it!

ps....If I ever need to have extra children on a school night again, I'm thinking benadryl smoothies as a bed time snack just might be in order...

Ringside at the Ultimate Combat Experience

First things first: I hate watching these fights on tv. I won't do it, I'd rather do almost anything but watch them on tv. That being said, I love watching them in person. It's absolutely amazing. Friends of mine wrestled in high school and my little brother did karate. This is like the best of both worlds. Thanks to a great friend of mine, instead of watching these fights from the stands, we had a ringside table. It was absolutely amazing! Instead of wondering what had just happened, we could see every single move, every take down, every hit, and every drop of blood. Not to mention every single muscle on the fighters, which just may have been one of my favorite parts. Our local fighters cleaned house like they always do, and this time they got to fight guys from the Warrior Training Center in Las Vegas that supplies a huge chunk of the fighters for the UFC, so it's not like they didn't have some serious competition. The highlight of my night: Ryan Beech, who used to work for me. This kid was an animal and won in like 1 minute and 20 something seconds in the first round. I look forward to seeing him again, but probably just because I know him. Good friends, a night out without any kids and a free seat at a $500 ringside table; Saturday night was good to me!

The water's not frozen!!

Are you wondering why the crap I took pictures of some dirty puddles in a parking lot? It's not like they're even pretty or the parking lot's cool, or they're in the shape of the Virgin Mary or anything; they're just some nasty puddles in a parking lot, but the Sitka girl in me LOVES them! The Sitka girl in me wants to go running and stomping through the puddles. I am thrilled with the water on the ground instead of ice. 34 degrees and some sun felt FABULOUS today; too bad I had to work inside. Fortunately, the whole working inside all day part spared me from the cold that probably would have followed if I ran through the puddles in the middle of winter.

Theiving little brats....

Bryan got an iPod for Christmas. Today, some theiving little snot got Bryan's iPod because they thought they needed it more. Three weeks. Hmm....that was an expensive 3 weeks. When I called the school, I was told that iPods aren't allowed at school for this reason. It would have been nice if the school let any of the parents know that iPods and other such items aren't allowed in the school. Anyhoo, I was venting about this on facebook today and got the response that in one of my friend's school district, the students aren't allowed to bring them, and if they do, nobody, including the school, will be held responsible for any broken, lost and/or stolen items. We survived bus rides without iPods and so can our children. Well, yes, I believe that we survived without iPods, but we did have walkmans and discmans and things like that, yet they didn't get stolen because our parents would have beaten us within an inch of our lives if they ever found out we had stolen something like that from anyone. No, I don't hold the school accountable for an iPod getting stolen, nor do I hold the child responsibile for having their iPod stolen from their desk or backpack or locker. The problem is that everyone seems to have the mentality that nobody can be held accountable for anything. Well, guess again. There is one and only one person that can be held accountable for Bryan's iPod being stolen. This person is not the school, it's not the principal, it's not the teacher and it's not my child. The person responsible would be the theiving little brat who stole the iPod from him. Hopefully the snot's parents will see them with it and think "Hey, I didn't buy this. Where on earth did it come from?" Unfortunately, I have absolutely no faith in people in general, and I think it will go more like this "Hmm...I wonder where that yellow iPod came from. Oh well, not my problem." If it were my child who had stolen the iPod, he'd better be calling the police to have them save him from me, but then he knows that so I shouldn't be having this problem. If only all parents taught their children that they are not entitled to whatever they want, whenever they want it, regardless of how they get it.

My piano playing "skills"

Since I inherited a fabulous keyboard to babysit for an unspecified period of time last year (Thank you again Anna Pope!) my piano playing skills have become exponentially less sucky. I'm pleased to say that some of what I learned when I was like 8 years old is slowly coming back and I can now play a little bit of everything. Of course this came in rather handy when I got to play prelude music for baptisms on a moment's notice several times this summer. Thank goodness there was always someone there by the time it was time for everyone to sing, because it's still just a little too nerve racking to play while adults sing. The kids in primary are no problem, but adults are another story all together! Besides, if I have to I can top hand it in primary and nobody really cares! So, I'm really excited to say that thanks to a few AMAZING websites I found that simplified some of the primary songs, and the simplified hymn book, I can safely play quite a few hymns, a couple of Christmas songs, a Baptism song, a Mother's Day song, a Father's Day song, some reverent songs, a few wiggle songs, a birthday song or two and some all around, generally good Primary songs with enough confidence (top and bottom hand) that I can almost convince myself that I am a decent pianist when I have to be. With that assortment, I can be fairly certain that we can cover anything that comes up in Primary, whether we have a pianist or not. Then if I throw in a couple of the classical pieces that I've known forever, I can just sit at home and actually enjoy playing the piano. I know it's said that perfect practice makes perfect, but perfection is something I'm still working for. For the time being, I'm just happy to say that practice makes for a relaxed Annalee who can play less sucky every day!

Our weekend activities

I shouldn't be as happy as I am about the service light on my car popping on, but we had no weekend plans, and I have a service plan that covers all oil changes, tire rotations and inspections for 5 years so that little check engine light means a trip to the city. Saturday morning Bryan and I woke up, hurriedly cleaned out all of the crap in the car and took off for Salt Lake City to get my oil changed and then get some delicious food at Chilis (Bryan's FAVORITE restaraunt.) While waiting for the car to be done, Bryan and I wandered around looking at new cars. Yay for me, there was not a single one of mine on the lot. While there were the same car as mine, there was not a single one in red, so all of the salesmen were checking out mine in the service bay. Nothing boosts the ego like some car salesmen checking out your car 2 model years ago car and one of them even offering to buy it. Bryan just thought it was sweet that the service manager let him go back with him and check out the dirty air filter before they threw it away and replaced it.

After leaving the car dealership, we made an impromptu stop at Cabela's in Lehi. Jerry would be proud; apparently it's Bryan's very favorite store in the whole world. We checked out the taxidermy room, the gun library and the aquarium and stopped at the shooting gallery before leaving. I think the only reason we didn't spend the rest of the day there was because Bryan was starving and would rather have Chili's than a buffalo burger from the Cabela's Cafe. He had some baby back ribs calling his name.

The last stop before heading home was the University Mall in Orem. We had to pick a couple of things up for a friend of mine and then stopped at Aeropostale so Bryan could get a hoodie. Heaven forbid we should go to a mall and not buy any clothes. You can't tell he's being raised by a single mom now can you.

Today, we FINALLY took down the tree. January 10th. The dang thing had been up for well over a month and I FINALLY convinced Bryan that it really was time to take it down after church. I am so glad to have my living room back! After taking the tree down and reclaiming my front room I had to head to the baptism preview that our wonderful new stake primary decided to do so we didn't have to do it on a ward level. Our new Stake Primary president is wonderful. Bless her heart, she has been the president for just over 3  months and just barely got her counselors today.  So while talking to her today at the baptism preview, I tell her that I was telling her little brother how amazing I thought she was and she tells me I should help them get him married. Hmm.....**this comment has been deleted by me after deciding that I REALLY didn't need to divulge that information on my blog.** It's been a busy weekend, and I can't wait for another one. Hopefully this week goes by fast!

Why I would like to become an illegal alien

Do you ever feel like you are working your butt off and just going in circles, treading water, barely keeping above your obligations? That's me right now. I've go so freaking much to do, but it's NEVER enough. On top of everything I have to do myself, I also have to double check the work of about 4 other people who should be perfectly capable of doing their jobs, but alas are not and I am sick and tired of getting in trouble because I simply can not keep up with my work load as well as everyone  else's. Go figure! Seriously, rarely do I ever work less than 45 hours a week and usually do that in 4 days rather than 5. MAYBE once a week do I take a lunch break, and usually those are spent running Bryan to and from one appointment or another, not an actual lunch but it's still NEVER enough. That being said, I no longer want to be a United States citizen. I'd like to move to Mexico, renounce my citizenship and then sneak back across the border as an illegal alien (which shouldn't be a problem since I'm white and they really wouldn't be looking too hard for a white chick coming into the country illegally). My reasoning for this is as follows.

• Free medical care instead of a full 10% of my gross income going to premiums for medical insurance.
• Low income housing which the government will pay for regardless of whether or not I actually contribute to society.
• Food Stamps = the government paying for better food than I buy for my family right now
• Most likely, the government will provide a vehicle or some other form of transportation.
• free education based on my new social status
• free dental care
• I don't have to pay taxes which means I can just put in 8-10 hours a day at less than minimum wage and STILL take home more money because I get paid under the table and the government thinks I'm flat broke when in fact I would have more money available to me than now.
• When I reach retirement age, I get social security and I don't even have to pay in to it!
• ALL of my prescriptions will be covered 100%, but it won't matter because I won't need the brain candy because I won't be working my ass off and getting NOWHERE!
• Should a military draft ever happen again, I don't have to ever worry about being drafted, since I'm not a citizen, but I'll still get to enjoy all of the freedoms that you fight for.
• If for some reason I feel the need to go on a crime spree, when my illegal status is uncovered, I'll simply be deported. Upon arriving home, I can simply purchase another stolen identity, walk my butt back across the border and start all over again, courtesy of our fine American government.

This sure is a great country. I don't know why we ALL don't just decide we want to become illegal aliens. It sure is a hell of a lot easier than being a hard working, tax paying American citizen. Go figure....

2010 primary bulletin board

Saturday morning we put up the bulletin board for this year. I love how it turned out, even though the yellow border on the red back ground reminds me of McDonalds... I had hoped we had enough blue, but no, and Staples didn't have black to match the lettering. We had more pictures of Christ we could have put up, and I know this picture doesn't do any justice, but we felt like more would have taken away from it rather than add to it. It turned out great, and we all love it!

Bryan's new suit

Bryan's been begging for a new suit since he grew out of his old one, but he had to wait for Christmas. He looks so handsome and grown up in it that some of the extended family didn't recognize him when he walked in the chapel for Kyle's missionary homecoming. It was so nice to hear Kyle tell about his mission. I don't think he used one note the entire 30 minutes he spoke, except for the couple of times he pulled out his scriptures and he did an AMAZING job! The homecoming was short lived though, since Kyle came home on Tuesday, December 22 and left today for college. AND, it really makes me feel old knowing that I remember when he was born and now he's home from his mission and off to college. As an added "let's make Annalee feel old," I saw Kyle this morning as he was headed out of town and he is one handsome guy. He's going to have girls all over him, and I don't think it's going to be long before I'm standing at his reception thinking "I changed your diapers and dressed you up in girls clothes." ( where are those pictures? They'd be great for a wedding album...) Oh, and perhaps plotting with Mindy on how to get revenge for the whoopie cushion on her chair at her reception...

I'd like to thank the academy...

And the award for most unfortunate time to misplace a memory card goes to.......

Annalee Foster, for her roll in "Holy Crap it's Christmas and I can't find my stinking memory card." Well, thank goodness my cell phone camera is at least a 3.2 megapixel one. Not anywhere near as good as the one on my real camera, but it'll do. Seriously though, who the heck misplaces BOTH of their memory cards on CHRISTMAS!?!?!?!

'Twas the night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and I can't find my stinking memory card that I took out to upload pictures, so it looks like I'm taking all my Christmas pictures with the cell phone this year. Bryan asked for an xbox this year; unfortunately, xbox pj's are what he has to settle for, but he doesn't know that yet. Notice the time, 8:10. Yes, I'm that good. Bryan was in bed and sleeping at 8:30pm on Christmas Eve. Yay me!!

4 shopping days till Christmas

It used to be that I understood the difference between regular days till Christmas and shopping days till Christmas. Today for instance, is 5 days till Christmas, but 4 shopping days till Christmas. What I don't understand is why we even bother differentiating between days and shopping days anymore. So many people are shopping on whatever day they want (yes I mean Sunday) no matter what, so really, why should we bother with days and shopping days? Don't get me wrong, I still count shopping days as well as regular days, but I don't really know why mainstream media even bothers to give the different countdowns, because mainstream USA really doesn't seem to care anymore. In fact, as sad as it is, mainstream USA really doesn't care if it's called winter holiday, holiday or Christmas anyway. That being said, please feel free to celebrate however you choose, but know that my family and I will be celebrating CHRISTmas and counting shopping days to Christmas as one day less than the actual days to Christmas. Merry Christmas!

Gifts for the neighbors

Ugh...I never know what to give to the neighbors, friends and family. This year was especially hard to figure out since I just flat out don't have the cash to do what I would have liked to, so I decided to make up something to go with a bag of microwave popcorn and a packet of Kool Aid. Here goes:

Our neighbors are angels. Our friends and family are sweet.
This Christmas we thought we'd make you some treats.
But the month got so crazy and our schedules wouldn't budge,
So we had to pass on the holiday fudge.
Then we thought maybe we'd make you some muffins,
But that would have meant late nights and probably some cussin'.
Finally we decided it would be "Kool" to pop by,
To say Merry Christmas from Bryan and I.

Yes, I know it's not grammatically correct, but who cares. Merry Christmas from Bryan and me just didn't work here! Sometimes I am incredibly grateful I can make up cheesy stuff like that without much thought. It worked out quite well for us this year! I just used some double stick tape to put the Kool Aid on the back of the popcorn bag, then wrapped the little poem around it all. Kind of cute, super easy and incredibly cheap! Good thing it's the thought that counts, right?

Christmas shopping with Bryan

Yesterday, I left work early and took Bryan to go Christmas shopping. I've been saving all of our spare change in this jar for the last year and a half or so. Bryan raids it for 7-11 money more often than I think I know, but when we took it to the bank, it had $84.10 in it, which I gave to Bryan. He was quite excited to have that kind of cash to Christmas shop with. He'd told me earlier that he wanted to give me something for Christmas that wasn't from scouts, school or primary and there was this gorgeous scarf at one of the stores in town that I've wanted since Thanksgiving. Money in hand, I took Bryan to Marellas and showed him a couple of things that I kinda liked and then showed him the scarf that I really really really like, told him I'd be in the car and left. He came out about 20 minutes later carrying a beautifully wrapped box with the biggest smile on his face. As soon as he got in the car, he wanted to know if I wanted to open his present. Of course I told him I had to wait till Christmas, but he wasn't going to stop there. The next words out of his mouth were "Fine, I won't tell you what it is either, but it's something you'll really really really like." Hmm....I wonder what that could be?!?! Dang I'm good!

Whew...it's finally over!

I think this year we had the latest primary program in the history of primary programs. We had such a disruptive year that this is about the only time we could do it. The last week has been a slew of practices and baking in preparation for the program, and it's finally over! Yesterday after a very wild 2 hour practice, I didn't have the highest hopes for the reverence of the children during the program today, but they surprised us all and sat very quietly and sang their hearts out. Yesterday after our practice and pizza party, I had some baking to do to get ready for today. We always like to bribe the children with lots of treats after all the hard work they put in. Each of us bring a couple of things and yesterday for some reason I decided to bake it all. Just call me Martha Freakin Stewart. I baked 6 dozen mini cupcakes, peanutbutter cookies and chocolate chip cookies, and frosted the cupcakes with super yummy cream cheese frosting. Then when there was WAY too much frosting left over, I did what any good Mormon mom would do....broke out the graham crackers and made some graham cracker/frosting sandwiches. Combine that with rice crispy treats, more cookies and delicious oranges and the primary children had themselves a well deserved, sugar filled feast during sharing time. The program was amazing this year, and took just the perfect amount of time; we didn't have to stretch at the end OR rush to get through it. We were also glad to be able ot put some Christmas in it as well, since we did it so late in the year. When I can get my computer to cooperate, I'll post it.

Letter from Jesus about Christmas

Letter from Jesus about  Christmas -- 

It has come to my  attention that many of you are upset about folks taking 
My  name out of the  season. 



How I personally feel  about this celebration can probably be most easily 
understood by  those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. 
I  don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My  birth, 
just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 

Now, having said that, let  Me go on. If it bothers you that your town 
doesn't allow a  scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of  
Santas and snowmen and put a small Nativity scene  on your own front lawn. If 
all My followers did that  there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the 
town square  because there would be so many of them all around town.  

Stop worrying about the  fact that people are calling the tree a holiday  
tree instead of a Christmas tree. It was I  who made all trees. You can 
remember Me anytime you see any  tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I 
actually  spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation  to 
you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten  that one, look up 
John 15:1-8. 

If you want to give Me a  present in remembrance of My birth, here is my 
wish list. Choose  something from it: 

1. Instead of writing  protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is 
being  celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from  
home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year.. I  know, they 
tell Me all the time. 

2. Visit someone in a  nursing home. You don't have to know them 
personally. They just  need to know that someone cares about them. 

3. Instead of writing the  President complaining about the wording on the 
cards his staff  sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that  
you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow  up... It 
will be nice hearing from you again.  

4. Instead of giving your  children a lot of gifts you can't afford (and 
they don't need),  spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and 
why I  came to live with you. Hold them in your arms and remind them  that I 
love them. 

5 Pick someone that has  hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.  

6. Did you know that  someone in your town will attempt to take their own 
life this  season because they feel so alone and hopeless?  Since you  don't 
know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a  warm smile; it 
could make the difference. 

7. Instead of nit-picking  about what the retailer in your town calls this 
day, be patient  with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and 
a  kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a  "Merry Christmas", 
that doesn't keep you from  wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on 
Sunday. If the  store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and 
let  their employees spend the day at home with their families  

8. If you really want to  make a difference, support a missionary-- 
especially one who  takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My  
name. 

9. Here's a good one.  There are individuals and whole families in your 
town who not  only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have  
any presents to give or receive. If you don't know  them,  buy some food and 
a few  gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity  
which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.  

10. Finally, if you want  to make a statement about your belief in and 
loyalty to Me, then  behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you 
wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that  you are 
one of mine. 

Don't forget; I am God and  can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do 
what I have told  you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the 
list  above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the  ball is now 
in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas  with all those whom 
you love, and remember :  




I LOVE  YOU,  

JESUS

 

 

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Now almost completely wisdom tooth free

I had the wisdom tooth that's been irritating the crap out of me taken out today. Not that it hurt, but I have good teeth and have NEVER had braces, so I wanted to get that sucker out of there before it gave me a nice crooked smile, or got cavities in it because it's next to impossible to brush. So, the appointment took all of 30 minutes from the time I walked in the door to the time I was back in my car. Piece of cake! Dr. Smuin was fantabulous, AND is a preferred provider for my insurance so the panoramic x-ray and tooth extraction cost me a whole $31. Of course, since it is me the bleeding that was supposed to stop within an hour kept on going for 3 more hours. Big surprise there seeing as child birth nearly killed me. After soaking through all of the gauze the dentist had given me, I snagged a tea bag from my mom which stopped the bleeding in about 10 minutes. Good thing too, since I don't think I could have handled the taste of the thing much longer. One more nasty little tooth to go, but it looks from the x-rays like it won't come in for another year or so. Let's hope Dr. Smuin is still around and a preferred provider for my insurance still, since every other dentist here seems to think an oral surgeon is necessary to yank a wisdom tooth...

Annalee's completely random thoughts

Just a few things that have been lingering in my mind today.

• Does losing a wisdom tooth have any effect on how big of a smart @$$ one is? I'll find out tomorrow....
• Why is it that teflon sticks to the pan if nothing sticks to it?
• Why is it that people seem to think being single is like having the plague? I'm picky about my shoes, and they only go on my feet. I'm even more choosy about what gets let in my heart and my little family!
• The older I get, the more picky and quirky I seem to become. I won't take the first lid at the convenience store for my drinks. Usually, I take one about half way through the pile so there's less of a chance someone has touched it.
• It's a good thing I'm allergic to cats, or I might have no choice but to become that crazy cat lady...
• Who decided that having a fever, cough, runny nose and other ailments would be called a cold? You're usually hot when you have a cold. Was it opposite day when they decided to name the ailment?
• Why is it that you have to get older to appreciate your siblings?
• I sure wish my mom and dad never let me quit taking piano lessons.
• Some of the songs that I love to listen to on the piano are actually a lot easier to play than I thought they were. Maybe that just means I'm getting a little better at playing again.
• I really don't like bangs on myself, but I keep thinking I want them. I wonder if I should just bite the bullet and do it.
• People that prey on the elderly should be executed. I'm glad Jeanne told someone before it was to late so we could get her checking account closed before some jackhole cleaned it out. Too bad I'm the one who had to take her to the bank because her own son was too busy to do it, but I'm glad to have had the chance to spend some more time with her!
• Every time I hear the Chestnuts roasting on an open fire song, all I can think of are the Jim Evensen lyrics, and wish I remembered the rest of them. All I've got is "Chestnuts opening on a roasted fire, Jack Frost picking at your nose. Yuletide carols being sung by a queer and folks dressed up like escargot. Everybody knows a turkey but don't like him much. So it helps to make the seasonings right. Tater tots with their eyes all a rot, we'll find them hard to eat tonight.." That's as far as I remember, but that's all I hear every single time the song comes on .
• Can it please snow!! I don't like the cold with nothing to show for it!

Thanksgiving weekend

We love Thanksgiving around our house. The time off, the massive amounts of delicious food, the family from Saint George coming up and Holly Days make it so much fun! Bryan and I thoroughly enjoy all the time with our wonderful extended family during Thanksgiving weekend. We spend Sunday absolutely exhausted from spending so many late nights with everyone, but it's well worth it. One of our favorite things is spending the evening on the day after Thanksgiving at the Holly Days celebration. Everybody else goes earlier too, but since I work in retail, that's not exactly an option for me. Our Holly Days celebration begins with dinner at Ken and Mindy's, followed by a short walk from their house to the light parade. After the last car/float/police car passes us, we book it down to Vernal Avenue to see some of the other festivities, score the free hot cocoa, churros, cotton candy and chestnuts roasted on an open fire (cue the sappy Christmas music) before everybody else gets there. Then we head to the courthouse lawn and watch whatever entertainment is around there, which has been an awesome fire dancer act the last 2 years, and wander around a little longer until the kids are all too tired, cold and/or cranky to go on any further. The night ends with a fireworks display that is almost better than the 4th of July fireworks.

Saturday always includes at least one trip to the Holly Days craft fair, which is always fun. This year, I dubbed it the crap fair. The name caught on and that's what it was called all weekend. I got to make one trip to it with Mindy. That trip was much more peaceful than the one made later with Bryan. Not once during the trip with Mindy did I hear "Can I have some more money?" Imagine that! Later, we headed over to Western Park to see the Trees for Charity display. Even in a recession, it absolutely amazes me the amount of time and money people put in to the trees they donate. I didn't go to the auction for them this year, but I'm guessing it was a lot like the previous years where some of the trees went for $500+, and then were given back to be auctioned again. The generosity of people constantly amazes me. Speaking of generosity, thanks Lois for the major score on the Bare Minerals makeup that you don't use. I'm addicted now!

Sunday morning always comes too fast. Lois and Kacei always leave before the crack of dawn so they have a little time at home to recover from their vacation before going back to work on Monday. One more Thanksgiving weekend gone. I suppose the only thing I like about time going by so dang fast would be that before I know it, it will be here again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been such a great day, and I have so much to be thankful for. I thought it would be harder to fill up the last couple of weeks with a blog post every day, but I could use more days to cover everything I'm thankful for. I think I'll just add to my list now, and then go to bed since I have to be at work at 5am tomorrow. (lame!) So, without further adieu, here are some more things I am thankful for.

1. Bryan, because my life would be much more boring without him.
2. My house, because as craptastic as it is, it is still a roof over my head.
3. I'm so glad to have a job, even if I don't always like it.
4. Diet Coke
5. Downloadable music
6. the ability to hear music
7. I'm incredibly thankful to my uncle Ken for marrying such and amazing person. I love Mindy; she is absolutely inspiring.
8. My friend Jen Grimes' status updates on facebook. They make ya think and are always so much fun to read.
9. My amazing friends, who make my life so much less lonely
10. KJ, because she is just like me, so I know she'll always get me. (and she understands what a pain in the @$$ ed is!)
11. all the men and women who have made and continue to sacrifice their time and lives to serve in the military to protect this country
12. the atonement of my savior, Jesus Christ
13. the missionaries serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (see what I believe at www.mormon.org)
14. being able to reconnect with so many great people from my past courtesy of facebook and dsl
15. grocery stores (I don't think I'd do so well with living off only what I can produce)
16. my amazing neighbors who make sure Bryan gets to and from school safely with their children
17. Parkers, for giving Bryan the opportunity to help with animal responsibilities so he can see that he really doesn't want to have all of them
18. My uncle Jerry for always including Bryan in the boy activities. He hasn't missed a Thanksgiving hunting trip in years, or a Father and Son's campout either.
19. a washing machine and dryer in my house, because some of the people that hang out at the laundromat are SCARY!!
20. freedom of speech
21. my health
22. the movie "The Blind Side" for restoring my faith in humanity
23. laughter
24. hugs from children
25. a comfy warm bed
26. the ability to read
27. the extra "food storage" I'm packing with me at all times (fyi, if we ever have to live off of only food storage, when it runs out I'm good for at least another 2 weeks)
28. my amazing extended family, who are all so supportive
29. that my sister's brain cancer has brought us all a little closer together as a family
30. eternal families
31. good jazz music
32. channel X94 for all the free stuff I won from them this year
33. all the extra hair on my head, because even though I complain about it, at least it's nice to know that a little thinning with age won't hurt at all!
34. The common sense to know that I really do not need the $800 Christian Louboutin heels
35. sweater weather
36. Braeburn apples from Seattle
37. the convenience of having a car that runs
38. toe socks
39. dansko shoes
40. gerbera daisies
41. scarves
42. 2 hour long phase 10 games with family and friends
43. enough imagination to realize that Edward is still WAY hotter in my head than he is in the movies
44. enough musical knowledge to re-teach myself to play the piano
45. the confidence to play piano in front of people even though I'm definitely not that good at it.
46. the simple fact that Bryan is responsible enough to trust
47. coconut shrimp Tuesdays at Cafe Rio

I could go on and on and on, but I won't because it would be boring to you, and quite frankly, I'm super tired and just want to go to bed. Yes, it's only 7:30, but I still want to go to bed. I'm tired, which I'm also thankful for because it means my days and nights have been filled with activities that kept us busy having fun with people we love. Actually, we're looking forward to another one of those nights tomorrow. If being dead tired means we've spent tons of quality time with great people, I'll take being tired over being well rested any day of the week!

My Family ROCKS!

Thanksgiving always means time with Lois, Kacei, Ken, Mindy, Josh, Alexa, Grandma and every other year the rest of the family. My extended family is so awesome. I am so blessed to have them all and LOVE spending time with them. It helps keep me sane. I am especially grateful to know Mindy, because she brings out the best in all of us and I love love love her! Lately, Thanksgiving tradition has begun to include a trip to the ice rink on Thanksgiving Eve. Josh came with us this year, but didn't want to skate, so I sat with him while Bryan, Kimra and Kacei skated. After a while, Kacei gave Josh her phone to watch, so we sat next to each other and texted. Josh thoroughly enjoyed it after he learned how to do it. His favorite word to text was poop and was included in all texts. Yes folks, he is a boy! After open skate ended, we had to watch the zamboni for a few minutes before we could leave; it was all Josh wanted to see, so we were happy to oblige. On the way back to Grandma's, Kacei and Kimra decided they were going to see The Blind Side, they invited us and we tagged along. I'm glad we did for two reasons. 1- the boys from the ice rink just happened to be going to the same movie and just happened to be there at the same time we were, so you're welcome Lynnette and Lois for babysitting the teenage girls. ;) 2-I really think this is the best movie I have seen all year. I loved it. We will own it.

One more quick side note: This Thanksgiving, I'm also thankful Janet decided to clean out her closet and send all the sweet shoes this way; it completely cured my need to shoe shop. (and that Janet, Mindy and I all have the same size feet!)

New Moon girl's night

Tonight I had the pleasure of having dinner with my mom, Melissa, Jani, Quinton and Bryan. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to just hang out at Mom's house before Melissa, Jani, Bryan and I went to the late show for New Moon. We were so lucky that Mom volunteered to keep Quinton so we could go. It was so nice to have a night out with the girls.....and Bryan. I wasn't expecting much from New Moon; I really didn't care for the book (at least the middle 300 pages where there was no Edward). Sometimes I feel like these movies are like a train wreck; you can't help but watch. It was no surprise to me that Kristen Stewart still isn't that great of an actress, Robert Pattinson still needs a visit to a salon for some waxing, and the glittering skin is incredibly cheesy, but I do love the soundtrack and there are some rather funny one liners. Bryan loved the movie and wants to see it again. Will we go? Most likely, since I would rather enjoy another chance to pick the movie apart. Lois, where are you? I need to discuss all the cheesiness with you!! At any rate, I'm thankful for a night out with my mom and sisters. It was great; we don't get too many chances to do that. And thank you Summit Entertainment for putting the Twilight books on screen and making Bryan actually want to read a 400 page book. Oh, and I'm kind of wanting to see your Romeo and Juliet movie with the stupid girl from "Mean Girls" that was a preview tonight. It looks pretty good.

Yes, this is my 10 year old in a pull up.

Jani left Quinton with me for an hour or so tonight while she ran to do some shopping without the help of a 2 year old. We had a wii play date, complete with wii bowling, wii tennis, wii baseball and wii golf. Bryan kicked our butts....excuse me, we don't say butt....Bryan kicked our patooties at everything but wii golf. We killed him at that, although as far as Quinton was concerned he won at everything. After a while, Quinton's diaper was rather stinky and since Jani hadn't left any diapers I was thankful I had some good nites left over from Bryan's bed wetting stage. Quinton was rather thrilled to put on a "big boy diaper" and yes, that is Bryan, my almost 11 year old, also wearing a pull up. He was all too thrilled to have his picture taken with his cousin in their pull ups. I'm fairly certain he was NOT thinking that his mother would post the picture on the internet, and save it for future blackmail. Making the thankful list tonight: left over pull ups in case of emergency, game nights with the wii, and the priceless 10 and 2 year old in pull ups picture.

Bryan's haircut

The days till Thanksgiving are winding down, and I'm sure anybody reading this is about ready to stop reading about what I am thankful for every day. Only 4 more posts. Today, I'm thankful for my hair clippers, scissors and mediocre little boy hair cutting skills. Not that you can even call them skills. Somehow all of the stars and planets must have been aligned right when I begged Bryan to let me cut his shaggy hair today because he agreed, but only on the condition that I dye it brown when I was done. Fortunately I had enough left over from last time I dyed his hair a little darker so I was happy to oblige, because my Bryan was seriously getting close to being called Brianna. After 20 minutes of complaining that it wasn't being cut right, we finally ended with a hair cut we could both be happy with. 10 more minutes to dye the newly cut hair and Bryan was happy as can be with the new do, and I was happy to have a clean cut little boy again.

Synthesis...part two

I have been jonesing for a good concert for 13 years. I know, I've seen Motley Crue, WhiteSnake, Quiet Riot, Saving Abel, Hinder, Papa Roach, Nickelback and some others, but what I've really been craving is some good classical and jazz music because I haven't seen anyone that fits the description since moving from Alaska. Tonight I got my fix! Bryan and I went to dinner at the Chinese buffet (his favorite restaurant), saw the aftermath of a truly heinous car accident (there is absolutely no way the driver in the car we saw survived) and then took in the 20 piece BYU jazz ensemble Synthesis. I say 20 piece, because even though there were only 19 members, the conductor also played in a few pieces so I'd say that counts as 20 members. I was particularly impressed by the woodwind section, who not only rocked the alto saxophone, but each one also played 3 other instruments. It was absolutely amazing. Tonight's concert was made of almost all original compositions by past and current members of Synthesis. Talk about some serious talent; these songs were to die for. Even better, Bryan actually enjoyed himself and there was not a single song that he recognized.

I was a little disappointed that the auditorium was only about half full, but I guess everyone else was up watching New Moon. Sad, because it's not like it's going to be here for the next 4 weeks at least! I suppose maybe I'm just used to being in a town where an opportunity to hear a jazz band that travels all over the world would result in a completely packed house. Dinner at the Chinese restaurant: $18, Tickets to a great jazz concert : completely free thanks to XRQ, otherwise $15, strawberry and chocolate frozen yogurt after the concert: $4, finally seeing a great concert in Vernal, Utah: Priceless! Tonight, I am so thankful to the Uintah Arts Council for bringing fabulous music to Vernal.

Bowling for Kadin's Birthday

Who has an expensive digital camera that she can never remember to take anywhere? That would be me. Good thinking my cell phone has a pretty decent camera included with it, since I can't seem to go anywhere without that. Yesterday was my nephew Kadin's 7th birthday so we celebrated with a trip to the bowling alley today. The kids had a blast, and thanks to the bumper lanes and the bowling ball guide, even the littlest of them bowled pretty decent games. Since my sister kindly held the party at 4 in the afternoon, I got to enjoy an early day off work to take Bryan to the party, so it was really a party for me too. Who doesn't like to get off early?! So today it looks like I'm thankful for 2 things: an early start to the weekend AND modern cell phone technology so I can document things that I could have captured with my camera if I hadn't forgotten it again.

Cub Scouts

Bryan earned his Webelos badge last night. Actually, he earned it months ago and we just went through his book and realized that he had earned it. Not only has he earned his Webelos ranking, but he is also just a few memorizations away from earning his Arrow of Light. I've watched him grow up so much since he first entered the cub scouting program at 8 years old. He has learned so much and become so much more confident and responsible in the last 3 years. I can't believe that in a few short months he will be in New Scouts and be able to go on overnight camps. We have had some of the best scout leaders along the way that have made this all possible for Bryan. Danielle, Alicia, Susanne, Denice, Josh, LynEve, Lane and Lisa: You have all been amazing influences on Bryan. Thank you for your help. We couldn't have done this without you!

Synthesis

Today I'm thankful for my lightning fast phone dialing skills. Today they won me free tickets to a concert on Saturday by the jazz ensemble Synthesis from BYU. I haven't been to a good jazz concert since I left Sitka 12 years ago so I absolutely can NOT wait. I'd planned on going anyway, but now since it's free, I'm making Bryan go with me, like it or not. Thank you channel X94 for coming through for me yet again this year!

Toasty wood stove heat

Today I came home from work early to spend some time with Bryan before I had to go back to work for a store meeting. While I was home, I decided to help Bryan get enough wood for a couple of days. Then, I decided we needed to split a little bit of it too, instead of just taking the stuff Paul and Jonathan had already split. After splitting a wheelbarrow full, I decided I'd had enough. This particular chore is not too kind on my tendonitis at all, and I wanted to get the fire going so I didn't have to do it when I got home again. It's a lot of work when I have gas heat anyway, but it's so much cheaper and warmer. I love a good wood fire. Today I'm thankful that Mom and Paul spent so much time hauling wood this summer so we could all have nice toasty wood fires while it's cold. I'm also thankful that I can count splitting wood as a workout today, so I don't have to feel guilty about not doing it tonight!

Remembering a friend

As we all went to bed 2 years ago tonight, none of us realized just how much you were hurting. I find myself sitting here with lots of wishes. I wish you knew how much you meant to everyone who knew you. I wish any of us knew what was going on in your head. I wish you saw in yourself what others saw in you. I'd say I wish we could go back in time and change the events of 2 years ago, but so many good things have come about since you left that probably wouldn't have happened if you were still with us. Today, I am incredibly grateful that I had the chance to know you. I'm thankful that knowing you pushed me to realize that I was not headed down a path that I wanted to be on. I'm so glad that knowing you made me want to be a better version of myself, not to get you or anybody else to notice, but just simply to be a better me. Mostly today, I'm grateful that you are no longer suffering, and that now, you truly do know just what you meant to everyone who's life you entered. Thank you Paul Millecam. We all miss you!

One Tree Hill Mondays

It's been our Monday night ritual for the last 2 years. Dinner and then a new episode of One Tree Hill. Bryan and I started watching it on Soap Net a couple years ago and got hooked, so now we can't wait for Monday nights so we can check out the new episode. I think we've almost caught up on all of the past episodes by watching them on Soap Net every Sunday morning. It's kind of a guilty little pleasure, but we both enjoy it and it's something we do together and I'm incredibly thankful we have this to look forward to every week!

Bryan and Quinton

Moments like this make me grateful that I have a fairly decent camera on my cell phone. Quinton is my sister Jani's almost three year old little lady killer. I'm so glad Jani is here with him for the next couple of weeks. The longer she stays, the better. Now I need to go dig through old memory cards for the picture I have like this when Quinton was 7 months old and living with me. These guys are growing up too fast!

My beloved Zomig

Thank you Astra Zeneca for creating that wonderful drool inducing, couldn't wake me with an air horn, if she weren't breathing I'd think she were dead, best sleep you ever had with a migraine medication Zomig. I have been a faithful user for the last 8 years and I must say, your product is even more useful when taken with Cymbalta. The drug interactions say to talk to your doctor before taking Zomig with SNRI drugs, so I did and he said it was fine. What he meant to say was it is actually amusingly fun. I briefly recall feeling like I was floating above my bed before passing out for several hours of fabulously dreamless sleep. This sort of thing might actually make me not HATE my migraines so much.

Today, I'm also incredibly grateful for a son that is respectful enough to leave me alone when I'm feeling like this so I can get over the nasty migraine in peace and quiet. I'm sure it didn't hurt matters that when I'm feeling that crappy, Quiznos for dinner is pretty much a guarantee!