Dating After Divorce

I just wanted to inform those of you who are interested. I started a new blog to document and record the funny stories that I hear from my single friends. It's a fictional blog, I wanted to protect names, but it is based on real live events.
Thought it would be fun to write about.
Let me know what you think.
http://divorceeexploits.blogspot.com/

Do I have to Share?

Sharing a special day with someone seems like no big deal when you are older, well it should be no big deal.

Elizabeth turned six on Monday. We had a small family celebration. She wanted to go to see the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". That was going to be the plan until her sister, "Say It All Sydney" decided to spill the beans. Sydney later admitted that she couldn't help it, Elizabeth kept asking her what her present was and she couldn't keep it in any longer.

So William decided to shake things up and took us to Wahooz. It's a little family fun center in Meridian. We played miniture golf. I learned one thing while playing Mini Golf with William. I am highly competitive and I want a rematch as soon as possible. I had a nice finish with a hole in one on the 18th hole, but William still beat me by six strokes. Oh It's On Baby. He won't be getting away with that kind of landslide win for long. Elizabeth got two holes in one on her round of mini golf, and most of the holes she 2 and 3 putted her way around the course. We were all impressed. Sydney wasn't bad either, she actually won the round between the kids. David, well he through his ball in the bumper boat pool on the 15 hole. I think he actually thought it would swim back and when it didn't he through his club and said he wasn't playing with us anymore. Hilarious!

Later that day, I frosted a cake that any six year old girl would giggle over. (I also know a few adults that would go nutsy for a pink cake) Not only was the frosting pink, but the cake itself was strawberry. Yes Elizabeth loves pink. Her grandparents and cousins got her this wonderful dollhouse. She is very excited.

Now, I must address the sharing of a special day.

Six years ago, I was pregnant with our dear little Elizabeth doll. Her due date fell on William's birthday. Oh but he wasn't having any of that. I made an appointment with the doctor to make the delivery happen a week earlier so that William wouldn't have to share his birthday with his daughter. However, the date of Elizabeth's blessed birth fell on our anniversary. So this monday was also the day that William and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.

Oh the Humanity!

I still can't believe that he still likes me. One day he will wise up and realize what a pain I am, in the mean time he is snookered into believing that we have an awesome marriage. From my end I couldn't be happier. I make jokes all the time that I should trade up, but in actuality there is no such thing. Can't get any better, I love William with every fiber of my being. And even if he is fooled into believing I am good for him, I hope to continue fooling him till the end of time.

I was really sneaky this anniversary and I purchased an engine hoist for him without him finding out. Pretty amazing. I usually can't keep my mouth shut. Well, where else do you think Sydney got that flaw?

Some Assembly Required. The directions called for two physically fit adults to assemble the hoist. David helped his Daddy to put together the new toy. That was loads of fun for a whole twenty minutes. William had to finish up without his little helper, because David had more pressing things to do. Like fly his airplane while sitting on the back of William's car. Very Important Work!

William gave me a sweet gift, she is a little puppy dog named Tabby. She taps her foot and bobs her head while wagging her tail to my music. She is a little robotic dog that plays the music off my phone, so that I can listen to the music while doing chores, primping, or doing work in the kitchen without having headphones on.

Needless to say Elizabeth's birthday was the focus of the day with our anniversary taking a back seat. Even though our anniversary wasn't mentioned much and we shared the day with our adorable daughter, William and I had many stolen glances, smiles and yes a few grabs and pinches that told us both that we knew it was our day too and that is all that mattered.

Faith Trust & Pixie Dust

I Can Fly, I Can Fly, I Can Fly.

Oh wait, no I can't. This was horrific for people who aren't afraid of heights. By the way, I am terrified of heights. It's more the falling part that really gets to me. Not more than two weeks prior to my attempt at suicide, did my sister fall from an extension ladder and do some serious damage to her lower leg and knee, which now requires surgery. This was in the forefront of my mind the entire time I was ascending the two story high wall without a safety harness.

What we do for people we love.

Okay Sharon, I hope you love your pink stripes because if you don't......TOUGH! I ain't going back up there if you paid me twice what you paid me to put those stripes up.

For what it's worth though, they really did turn out well.

Terror is written all over my face, good thing you can't see it.

My Mom and I took turns going Up Up Up, so that I didn't have to freak out every moment, just every other moment. Good thing that Sharon wasn't home for most of this project or she would have FREAKED!!!

The finished wall turned out so cute. I can not wait to redo her back splash and pull that whole kitchen together. It will be fantastic.

For all you fans of pink out there, eat your heart out. The next step to this painstaking process will be to fill her hundreds of candy jars with candy and carefully place them on her cabinets. What a candy shop themed kitchen this will be. I would love to convince her to put some canopy lighting up above the cabinets to really bring the whole look in. If I am crazy enough to suggest it, she actually might be crazy enough to let me do it. Scary to have so much to say about a project and have someone actually listen. I could really screw up this woman's life.

Onto the next little somethin' somethin'.

When Pigs Fly

Well this week as been full of activities. On Tuesday I had to opportunity to learn and laugh about the Swine Flu. Hence the title of my blog this time. ha ha ha.....yah I know bad joke. Anyway, our Relief Society put on a class and we had a couple of nurses fill us in and let us know how to prevent and treat the H1N1 virus. One thing that the class did for me, is calm my nerves about the whole PANDEMIC thing. It's hard for young people (kids) to fight off. So they are more susceptible to complications, but for the most part it's a flu. So this week I spent a lot of time teaching my kids the importance of washing their hands often and sneezing and coughing into their shirt sleeves rather than their hands. PHEW that was tough. (add hint of sarcasm)

This was our first full week of school and the toughest part was my problem, not theirs. The kids adjusted well to getting back to work. However, I was struggling with the idea of waking up in the morning. The birds singing and the sun shining and the wonderful weather, just not doing it for me. I am loving that pillow of mine. Another adjustment for me to make is teaching two kids. I have been worried about this all summer. I think we are working it out pretty well. I can honestly say, I am a bit spoiled though. Sydney's school only took about one to one and a half hours the last three years. This year it's taking closer to 4 to get everything done. A lot of that time is spent arguing with her about writing her stuff down. She hates to write. But it still takes a huge chunk out of the day. Elizabeth on the other hand only takes about an hour to get done. David, well he runs around and plays most of the time, but he frequently comes in to interrupt and ask questions that don't make any sense at all. The following pictures are the kids working on their first art project this year. They are supposed to be painting birds. Well, I believe that they will make great pieces of abstract art.

Just a side note.....Sharon has not finished with me......if you recall she is the woman that has a really effective strategy to consume my nights and days. We will be wallpapering her kitchen this coming week, which requires me to fly. Hence wings on a pig is wishful thinking. I also have a few more assignments from her. I am really excited about a mosaic piece that she has agreed to let me make for her kitchen. Totally psyched about that.

Twilight in Mackay

Well thanks a lot to Aleasha England I am addicted. Last year (I think) she lent me her Twilight Series and I read the series in about five days. ALL FOUR BOOKS. I neglected my housework and the kids but it was a great week. Well since the new movie is due to come out I have an obsessive compulsive behavior to read the book every time a movie comes out that is based on a novel (if there is an entire series, I have to read the whole thing. Harry Potter is another problem for me). I don't own these books and Aleasha has moved to Washington. What do I do? No, I can't go to the library, I don't like the time constriction. AND, yes, I know it will only take me a day to read each novel, but that isn't the point. I took my troubles to craigslist where I found a nice young man who was selling everything he owned so he could replace his game system that he broke. He has a good mother. Anyway Twilight was on his list of things that he was willing to part with. He had all four books, three of which were the hard back and he only wanted $50. Okay, I didn't want to pay $50 so I offered $40 and he took it. Good Boy.

I started the series for the second time on Tuesday, while we drove to Mackay to attend my grandpa's funeral. I felt it was a good tribute to pay to Alden. The man LOVED to read, so why not read the whole way there and home again. It's only a four hour drive there and back. YOWZER!

We decided to leave early so that we could go to Craters of the Moon. William had never been there. The kids loved it. Sydney thought that it was a great "Science Trip". I don't think they understood one bit of it. However, we all decided one thing, when Yellowstone finally erupts we don't want to be here.

The funeral was a bit surreal. I think that my mom, dad, and I were the only ones that cried. I could be wrong though. We are a bunch of boobs. Grandma held up really well. Alden's daugter Bonnie gave a nice synopsis of his life. The man still facinates me. I will miss him.

While in the graveyard I noticed that Alden was being buried right next to my Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. Alden married into our family less than ten years ago, but his final resting place is alongside a great love story in my family. These two people married on his birthday which he shares with me. Thanks Grandpa Dayle. Maybe it was so he wouldn't forget his anniversary. hee hee hee. Smart thinking.

I look at the pictures of my great grandfather I realize he would have made a great Edward. Can you guess which one is him? My great grandmother is standing right next to him, and I think I have picked out the perfect image in my mind for the characters in this series. They were cute ha? The creepy old people, well they are his parents. And the one on the left is his brother.

We decided to hit the one and only open steak house in Mackay. It was four in the afternoon and the other steak house didn't open till 5:00. By the way it was totally false advertising to call this place a steak house. We all had burgers.

The drive home I got through half of Twilight. I finished it yesterday and also finished New Moon. Today on the agenda is to read Eclipse. I am off to a slow start. I decided I better not slack off totally again. We will see if I can get Eclipse done and finish with Breaking Dawn by Sunday. Without shirking my other responsibilities, this will be a challenge. Like I said before, it's Aleasha's fault. I didn't want to read a stupid book about vampires to begin with. It turns out, it's a nice diversion. Grandpa Alden must have been on to something about this reading thing.

Creating a Casket 101

Well for the last three days our family, mainly my mom, dad, and grandmother, have been involved in the task of building a casket for my grandfather.

Tribute to Alden Betts
I haven't had the opportunity to get to know Alden as well as I would have liked. Here is a man who has lived a very long life in the church. His line of authority in the priesthood is amazing and fun to look at. He has read the Book of Mormon more times than he can remember. He has served numerous missions. Two of those missions I believe, he served in Nauvoo. He loves to read, and he loves John Wayne. He married my grandmother less than ten years ago, shortly after she had taken out her endowments. They would go on these little breakfasts together and that resulted in a courtship and marriage. Cute ha? Anyway, he is a fun man, with a good sense of humor, when he is feeling well. The last couple of years have not been the greatest for Grandpa Betts. My grandma and grandpa moved here recently so that my mother could help my grandmother care for him. He was taken to the hospital on Monday, and we were told that he would be passing away within a week or so. So sad to see him go. However, he has outlived his first and second wives, and I am sure that they are anxiously awaiting his return home.

If you Die, Make Sure You Stay Within Your Budget.
My grandparents don't have a lot of money, and Grandpa doesn't have much life insurance, so my grandma had to make some tough decisions. One of the decisions was to build a casket rather than purchase one. Coffins are really expensive!!
So my father, talented man that he is, jumped right in and started building him a casket. Following really general instructions off of a website and following guidlines given to him by the mortuary.

HERE WE GO!
My mother and grandmother have recently lost their minds, so after a dismissal from their Relief Society President, I took it upon myself to request help from our ward. I said it before and I will say it again....The Sisters in Our Ward Are The Best! I am not just saying that either. Whenever there is a problem or help is needed more than enough help is offered, and given.
We had the help from the three Staceys. Stacey Gooch, Stacey Nelson, and Myself. Ashley Sherer and Marie Hansen also came to help. I also got some calls from Connie Cunningham, and Franki Clements. Brother Campbell also offered to help. Wow what a response.
It only took two hours and Stacey Nelson's brain to put it all together.

The box was already done, well sort of. There was some last minute sanding and cleaning of the box. We just had to sew elastic to fabric, hem a few pieces and then staple and glue the fabric into the box. Easy as pie. Since we are all so experienced at making caskets.

OOOOOHHHHH yah right.

It was a very good thing Stacey Nelson turned her brain on this morning because the rest of us were just there waiting for orders. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing. You go girl. Marie Hansen got a little staple gun happy, you should have seen it. Ashley was scared of the staple gun, I really couldn't blame her. Stacey Gooch got burned a few times by the hot glue and we all almost got eaten by a wolf spider. It was an eventful project.

I wanted to give those women a great big hug, without seeming to weird, and tell them thanks for the help. It meant more than they could even imagine. So we will say goodbye to Grandpa Betts, soon. There wasn't much I could do for him but this was at least something we could do to serve a man who has contributed much of his life to serving the Lord.

Is it that time of year already?

Okay, I am one of those mothers that does things a little backwards. I have friends that dread the summers. More work, the kids are home, and rarely does the house stay clean because of that small detail.
However, I don't fit into that catagory.
Getting ready for the school year has it's ups and downs.

THE UPS

Well that is just the thing. UPS comes to visit us and we get boxes upon boxes of supplies. Usually I opt out of the school computer, but this year we got that too. Don't ask me why, I didn't ask for it. So there it is. We recieved about 12 boxes of school supplies. UPS loves this time of year. I am sure it ranks right up there with Christmas. The kids love it too. They act like all the boxes are full of presents just for them. In a way they are right. So that's the fun part, opening up the fun and seeing what's in store for the next year. My favorite "UP"....going to the office supply store and getting school supplies. There is nothing like buying new pencils and paper for the year. I still have unopened pencils from last year. But that's not the point, you gotta buy new ones every year, right?

THE DOWNS
There is work involved. I hide from work, I have been avoiding work all summer. Now I have to actually get back to work. UGH! I have to organize everything, and looking over all of the stuff I usually get overwhelmed with the idea that I have to teach them all of this. Granted, they are part of a very well thought out program and really it's on autopilot. I just read what they tell me to and the kids do the majority of it. However, there is the challenge of schooling two small people this year, Elizabeth and Sydney. To make things more difficult (my favorite thing to do to myself) I decided that Liz could probably zip through Kindergarten by Christmas, and hopefully start first grade and that way complete first grade and be in second with her friends next year. Yah, I am a bit nuts. We'll see how that plays out. I have serious doubts about my abilities.
The real challenge will be keeping David busy...he has the attention span of a monkey on crack. So I don't think I can keep him too interested in the Kindergarten activities that Liz will be working on. I will have some real issues with keeping him from destroying my house and possibly himself while I am busy with the girls.

Wish me luck.