???

WHAT IS UP WITH OLDER PEOPLE AND EXPIRED FOOD? I SEE IT ALL TOO OFTEN. IF THE EXPIRATION DATE HAS PASSED - THROW IT OUT! CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIDGES PEOPLE!





ps. I Love You.

Review - A Girl From The Limberlost

When Matt and I first met he kept calling me A Girl From the Limberlost, which through the years has been shortened down to Limberlost. I've heard him refer to my sister as this and other red headed people, as well as myself. Apparently Matt's parents had a movie (Feature Films For Families) while he was growing up of this title and the main character has really white skin and reddish hair.

While I was last at the library, Matt and Sam just happened to be with me. I wandered over to the Young Adult section and found the book, A Girl From The Limberlost. Well, of course I had to check it out, just to tease Matt a little. Turns out, I love this book.
It has a very unique story with a very familiar plot and excellent character development. I loved the characters. I finished the book less than 24 hours ago and I already miss them. I totally recommend this book to people of all ages. And I borrowed the movie from Matt's Mom. Guess what we're doing tonight!

On a red headed side note, a few weeks ago I was at a friends house for a special occasion and there was a girl there who I wasn't very familiar with. In this story she will be referred to as "The Stranger". My friend has a daughter with the curliest red hair I have ever seen. She is also one of the cutest little things I have ever seen. Anyway, The Stranger saw the little cutie and commented on how cute she is. She then looked right at me and turning back to the mother of the cutie said, "If you HAVE to have red hair, it's GOT to be curly." Just another one of those moments where I can totally identify with Elizabeth Bennett.

6 AM

I have been thinking lately (a lot!) about the fact that I need to exercise. I have gained back pretty much all 22 pounds I lost the last time I was pregnant and so it has been "weighing" on my mind.

As many of you know I have been working at the rec center in the day care on Tuesday nights so that I can keep my membership. If you work there it's not free, but they will deduct a little out of each paycheck, so it feels free. So, I've been working one night a week to provide this for my family but guess what. We don't have time to go. There is something going on every night and most Saturdays to prevent us from going. No time is a good excuse, right?

Wrong! I can't get it out of my head. I'm pretty sure I could and should be getting up at 6 AM and getting it done. But I seriously hate getting up in the morning. I would sleep in until 9:30 or later every day if I could. Plus, even though I know I would eventually get used to it and end up with more energy after like two weeks, I don't want to go through 2 weeks of dragging and being super tired. And I'm not looking forward to going out in the cold darkness.

So this weekend while I was surrounded by family, I took a little poll, asking what time people got up. Most people said they get up at 6 or earlier. I am amazed!

Please take my poll to the right (even if you were asked this weekend) and let me know when you get up. And we'll see, maybe it will give me the boost I need to get my Large Marge Booty out of bed every morning.

Book Review - Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy's Diary

My book club read two books this month, Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy's Diary. I had read Pride and Prejudice before and I really liked it. While it is somewhat romantic, I would have to say it is one of the funniest books I have ever read. And I would not classify it as a romance.

I'm glad I read it again. I love the main character, Elizabeth Bennett, and I can totally identify with her. I won't give away any info here about the plot or character traits because I can't stand it when people spoil stuff for me. So, I'll just say that I love this book and I recommend it to everyone.
I also liked Mr. Darcy's Diary. I would sum it up with the word CUTE. As a Jane Austin fan I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was fun to see how someone else interpreted little things and went with it in another series of events of their own. I only recommend this book to those who have already read Pride and Prejudice. It's a fun,quick book.

The "C" Word

Last night (Sunday) we were invited to eat with a family from our ward. The evening was going great. Good food, great company, interesting conversation. The topic turned to New York because their 16 year old son and the mom were leaving the next day for NYC because the AF High school marching band will be marching in the Macy's Day Parade! Whooohoo! Let's hear it for the AFHS Marching Band!!!!!!!! Anyway, they had heard that I lived in NY while I worked as a nanny. I mentioned that I didn't live in the city though I went in a lot. They asked me where I lived and when I said Chappaqua the Clintons came up. But no, Clinton is not the "C" word as referred to in the title. I said the Clintons were planning to move in just as I was leaving. Matt said, "Yeah, the neighborhood went to crap as soon as Julie left town." They were shocked. Silence took over the room. You could cut the tension with a knife. Apparently Crap is a bad word at their house. The really funny thing is their kids are 20 something, 16, and 12ish. I'm sure they've heard worse. We all recovered and the evening went on and continued to be enjoyable.
Yes, Sam says crap. I can't think of a specific time but I'm sure he says it. Like father, like son. This was very evident tonight as we ate dinner. Sam was singing a little song as he ate his hamburger. "I love my mom, I love my dad, I love my cheese." (For those of you who don't know why this is so funny check out my husby's blog - link on the left - specifically the entry titled "Save Any Room For Dessert?".)

To Do List:

I just watched a little clip about a lady who thought to-do lists are intriguing and so she started a magazine and asked people to send her their to-do lists. Then she made a book and published the lists. It's called To Do List From Buying Milk To Finding A Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us. So here it goes.
1. Travel

• Europe
• Mediterranean Cruise
• Alaskan Cruise
• Hawaii
• Disney Cruise
• Take Matt and Sam to New York and go to one broadway play per night/day.
• Take the full church history tour in a huge RV.

2. Get a college degree. Not sure what I want it in yet but I'm leaning towards majoring in English.

3. Suprise Matt with something huge. Not sure what yet.

4. Get my eyebrows waxed on a regular basis.

5. Love myself enough to exercise, not because I have a weightloss goal but because I want to feel good and be healthy.

6. Get rid of cable. This sounds weird, like just do it.... But it's a scary thought.

7. Get a TiVo. (OK, now you know my inner TV watcher is conflicted.)

8. Make memory books for each of us.

9. Be a more attentive friend. (call more often, send cards on special occasions,etc.)

10. Appologize to those I've offended. ( My main problem with this one is when you do it on a daily basis, it's hard to keep track and then I don't know where to start.)

11. Take an institute class start to finish for each of the four years. I want to Know.

12. Read.

Things you may not know about me

Four Jobs I’ve Had?
1 - Sales clerk for Tandy Leather
2 - Live in Nanny
3 - Day Care Associate
4 - Instructing Assistant

Four Movies I would Watch over and over
1 - Goonies
2 - Finding Neverland
3 - Any of the Harry Potter Movies
4 - Nacho Libre

Four TV Shows that I watch
1 - LOST
2 - Survivor
3 - The Office
4 - Jeopardy

Four Place I’ve Been on Vacation
1 - Disneyland
2 - Pennsylvania Amish Country
3 - Martha's Vineyard
4 - Oregon - we went crabbing, it was awesome

People who email me regularly
1 - Matt - my Husby
2 - Becky - my sister
3 - Kathy - My Aunt
4 - Myspace to tell me that Amy has posted a comment on my page.

Four of my favorite foods
1 - Pesto on french bread
2 - Crab legs
3 - Steak
4 - Sushi

Four Places I would rather be
1 - New York City
2 - Hawaii (though I've never been there so this is just a guess)
3 - On a Mediterranean Cruse
4 - California

Four Friends I think will respond
1 - Jeanna
2 - Matt
3 - Becky
4 - No one else reads my blog. Except for Holley and she already did it, and Kim,but her blog isn't for this kind of stuff..... But she could email it to me. :)

6 things you don't know about me:
1. I am a Harry Potter fanatic who spends way too much time thinking about it, but it makes me so happy I can't help it. I even have a wand. And Sam and I day dream about flying on broom sticks and having pet owls.
2. I never make my bed, and then at bed time my husband makes the bed over me. It's my most favorite thing ever. It feels good, you should try it.
3. When I'm flipping through the channels and I come across a rodeo, I secretly count to 8 to see if they are doing good. I am an under cover rodeo judge.
4. I can't stand it when I can see people's toes moving or wiggling or touching something or rubbing together, etc. It makes me violently crazy.
5. I think I'm turning into a bird because I am growing feathers out of my hips. No joke.
6. I am really mad that my Suave coconut shampoo doesn't make my hair smell like coconut. As much as I really don't like fruity smells I really want to smell like coconut. I guess I'll just have to wear my coconut bra everyday.

Out of the blog closet.

So I started the blog thinking I would make some entries, keep them to myself until I was completely comfortable posting, and then I would spread the word. Boy am I surprised at how quickly people have noticed. And it's OK with me. I thought I would be a little more shy and guarded about it than I have been feeling. But if you found this blog on your own without me telling you about it, which at this point would be all of you, please don't feel bad because I haven't told anyone. So feel free to add me to your list of favorites and lurk around as much as you like.
On Monday night I started the blog and made my first entry and then went to bed and dreamt all night about blogging. I couldn't wait to get home from work to poke around the blogger dashboard. While at work on Tuesday Matt decided to start his own blog. So yesterday and tonight the war of the bloggers has started and we fight over who gets to the use the computer first, shouting things like, "I call the computer!" or "No, I had it first, see, I already turned it on." Poor Sam is probably wishing he could have a turn.
Speaking of Sam, today after reading a book he said,"Did the author draw these pictures?" and I told him that he did. (The author happens to be my cousin who wrote the book in like fourth grade as an assignment and his teacher had it hard bound. We got the only copy!)So then Sam said, "He made some really good characters, while I was reading I totally went into that world."
I thought this was hilarious coming out of a six year old.
So today at work the teacher I work with had a children's book sitting on her desk. She is an art teacher and has books of all kinds around for the students to refer to while drawing. Well this book was called the Beetle Alphabet Book and I wish I could remember the author and the artist because it was awesome. Besides the beautiful paintings and the very interesting text I noticed words hidden here and there on the Beetles. At first I was confused..... Like am I really seeing that and am I supposed to be seeing that. I quickly caught on that there were words hidden on every Beetle and then slowly I realized that the words were song titles from The BEATLES. Then I read their dedications in the front and and was sure of it. This book could have kept me entertained for hours. I didn't find them all but I will.

Reading

For anyone who knows me they know I love to read. It makes me happy. I'm pretty sure that there isn't a day that goes by when I don't sit down and read at least a paragraph of something. Reading is an outlet for me, a meditation, a release, in a sense an escape. (Not that I need to escape from my own reality all that often.)

I belong to a book club and I love it. I know I'm really nerdy, but I can't describe how much fun I have reading by myself, but knowing that there are at least four other women out there reading the same book and collecting thoughts and ideas about the same book I'm reading.When I'm reading and I read a particularly good or interesting part I get so excited to discuss it with the club. I find it extremely fulfilling. In fact if I could somehow figure out a way to read for a living, especially in the book club sense, I would be a millionaire because I would be so good at it.

Since this is something I can't live without I find it really hard to understand people who don't enjoy reading. And I'm married to one of them.
Once I got Matt to read The Life of Pi, which is a really good book that I highly recommend to any and everyone. So he started and he liked it. He read every night and I'd say it took him less than a week to finish. I loved seeing him read. It gave me a weird satisfaction. I loved talking and discussing the book with him. So, Matt, will you read the unabridged version of Count of Monte Cristo? And will you finish the Harry Potter Series? These alone will afford me the chance to see him reading every day for the next year.

There is a young lady(19 years old) who I used to work with on a daily basis and I couldn't understand why she didn't read. So I gave her some homework, (I know, I'm a freak show) which was to get a library card and then I gave her a list of books to read. I can't remember all of the books on the list but tonight she told me that she read the Twilight series. That's three books! Yeah, they are fluffy and you really don't have to do much thinking while you read them but it's a start. She enjoyed them. So I gave her a gentle reminder of the list pointing out that books are awesome and she could and would enjoy others. She responded by rolling her eyes at me.

Now about a little boy who is near and dear to me. Last year when Sam was in Kindergarten I had to drag him, kicking and screaming to school everyday. By Christmas break he still couldn't identify the whole alphabet. A health situation with his teacher caused them to have a new sub every week or so. Then once the Christmas break was over and the new semester started they moved his whole class into another teacher . This was good because they finally had some continuity, but I know Sam never felt loved or at ease about this teacher. It was a blessing in disguise. Regardless of how much we worked with Sam at home on his letters he wasn't getting it and it was so hard for us not to get mad at him. It is extremely frustrating to spend tons of time on something and repeat yourself over and over again and still no results. "Sam this is a G. Say G. Look at G. What is it? ( Shrug of the shoulders) IT'S G, I JUST TOLD YOU IT'S G!" It was really sad.
But this teacher who didn't make him feel loved, welcome, and who he said talked mean to him, decided to teach him the sounds the letters make before she taught him what they looked like. BINGO! That did the trick. He knew them all with in two weeks and started reading. Now my little first grader, who has a teacher that makes him feel loved and welcome, and who is ready for school and begging to go an hour early every day, reads at a third grade level and told me the other day that he knows how to read inside his head and that no one had to teach him. I loved this! Now if we could just get him to stop writing in mirror image.

Title

So, I have finally decide to take the plunge. After lurking on other blogs for months, and in some cases years, I have dug up the courage to start my own. And so far things are not looking good. It took Matt (my husby) and I over twenty minutes just to come up with a title for the blog.
Some of our rejected titles include:

Tater Tot Tidings - Matt has called me a tater tot since we were dating. He calls me this because of my beautiful orange complexion. It was rejected because we didn't want to get sued by a tater tot company once this blog is famous.(Hee Hee)
Pennylane Princess - Pennylane is the name of the little community we live in. Matt came up with it and it struck me as cute at first but then I thought it sounded kind of bratty, to call myself a princess.
ExLax - because two minutes into the debate I was struck with the sudden urge.
Matt's Merry Maid - I vetoed that. No explaination needed.

The really sad thing is that's all we came up with in twenty minutes. But we finally decided on The Orange Oracle. Matt came up with it, I thought it was funny and dumb. So there you have it.
I know this entry is lame but it's late and taking the leap has scared the wit right out of me.
Rest assured I will be spending my days looking and thinking of things to share with the world.