I have the right to Brag

It's the end of the school quarter.  We're moving in a week and lucky me - I got to meet with the teachers before we left.
Princess Monkey Eyes is still allowed to attend kindergarten. She's reading some sight words and sounding others out.  She's average.  Not great, but not to worry about, either.
Optimus Prime will be kidnapped by his teacher on the last day of school next week - she warned me.  He is her stellar student, pulling out straight O's this first quarter.  Okay, he got one S - but that's because it was a group grade and the others pulled him down (or so I've been told). So I'm counting it as an O.
Mr. Fantastic pulled out all the stops with his grades - pulling a nearly B+ up to an A and counting it in with the rest of the A's.  Straight A's Baby!

I'm one of those parents who knows how to reward my children the way they want to be rewarded.  I've finally figured out that money goes a LONG way with the kids.  Promises of ice cream or Mc Donald's is not going to cut it with these kids.  Alright, I'll face it.  They've figured out how to get me to cater to them.  Whatever.  I admit it.  I have to pay my children money to get good grades and be nice to each other (but that's another post entirely). 
So I busted out the wallet and gave each kid fifty cents per A (or O) that they got.  No money for any other letter grade.  Except if they get an F or a U/N, they have to pay ME!  Anyway.  They each got $3.  And they are all SO EXCITED about it.
So, good job kids!  With a new school coming, I hope they continue with the grades they're getting.

Exchange Alert!!!

Yeah, yesterday I posted about Halloween.  Let's just skip Thanksgiving and talk about Christmas, okay?
Just found out that there's an ornament exchange a-happenin'!!!  SOOO fun!
You should get in on it.  Ornaments are precious.  Each one that I hang on my tree has significance. Every year we get one that's symbolic for the family and then individual ones for each of the kids - symbolic of that year for them as well. 
For example: the year Mr. Fantastic lost his hearing we got a pewter "ILY" (that's the hand forming the universal 'I Love You' sign) hanging inside a pewter wreath. Of course they have their "baby's first year" ornaments.  There's the glass baby grand piano symbolizing when I got mine. There's a little cottage for the first year we owned a home...  you get the picture.  And I'm sure you all have similar traditions!
So - get in on this one.  You can hang the ornament on your tree to symbolize the friendships you've made through the blogosphere!!!
Go here and shoot Carrie an email (the address is on her post).  And spread the word!
Merry Christmas!

It's Halloween season.  Our favorite - scratch that - POPEYE'S favorite holiday of the year.  I was just reminded by how gross Halloween can become when I took a swig of my water bottle from yesterday. Evidently it has been sitting here for a day - and multiple little mouths have taken drinks from it.
Eew.
We'll be moving during Halloween and the kids are super disappointed that they won't be dressing up this year. I'm a little relieved because then I don't have to get creative or spend money.
Popeye wishes that we were in a house yesterday so that he could decorate for the spookiest night of the year.
I'm just stoked that I'll be somewhere in time for Christmas decorations to come out!
That was all very sporatic, I think.
Sorry.  Life is sporatic these days and I think I've found a house to move into.  We'll know more by the end of this week. Sweet!
That's about it.  My house is pretty pathetic right now.
yesterday Popeye and I cleaned out/packed the garage the rest of the way - so it's ready to move. Perfect. And we have the elder's quorum lined up to move the piano next Tuesday. And load up the moving truck which isn't a moving truck at all. It's a HUGE BIG RIG!  Our friend owns a trucking company and has agreed to move us for a fee. The fee would be the same as us getting a U-haul but we won't have to pay for gas for the truck. Nice. AND it will fit all our stuff in it - including the Blazer. So I'm relieved for that.
Anyhow. Things are moving along and within 2 weeks we'll be Wyoming-bound!
My camera broke. So I have no pictures.  But the Navy ball is in 1 month & if I lose 15 pounds by then (possible? yeah. Probable? maybe.) I get a new camera.  So it's crunch time - literally. My abs are on fire this morning!
Once I get my new camera I'll post lots and lots of pictures.

Anyway. better go over to the title company to make sure all my ducks are in a row so we can close earlier - hopefully next week.

happy fall, everyone!  It's starting to feel like it!

Popeye won't stop poking me.
Mr. Fantastic wants to tell me things.
Grand Duchess keeps pressing a button on the monitor making the color-scheme thingy pop up. (Dinosaur monitor in use since the monitor on my laptop is busted.)
Boxes everywhere.
Thor is probably trying to figure out how to get the m&m's off the shelf in my bedroom.

yeah - really productive day here.

Old is a state of mind, right?

This morning I got out of bed.
I know, off to a great start already!  And while I was brushing my teeth I looked in the mirror.
I've learned to look past a majority of the sleepy, wrinkle lines and dark circles to my hair.  And wouldn't you know it - I found a BRIGHT GRAY HAIR right in the middle of my head!  (My first, if you can't tell.)
I promptly plucked it out to make sure it was actually gray and not just the light reflecting weirdly off of a blonde strand. Yep, it was gray.
But yay me, I didn't crawl back into bed - as much as my graying head wanted to.
Now, what color should I go this time?  Stay brown or shoot for some red.  It is fall now, so perhaps some cooler colors might be fun!
And a new cut, too.  Popeye is digging my hair getting longer.  Me? Not so much.  In fact, I loathe my long hair so much that it is a constant thought for me throughout the day.  I should just cut it.  I've made myself a couple of cute hats that a cute little cut would look so great under with the flips coming up over the bottom of the brim. 
Yep.  I think I'll do it.
Suggestions on a style are welcome - but keep in mind that it has to be fairly easy to manage. And I have wavy hair - so no football helmet styles. 
What about this one?

The length is good.  I have some bangs already so those won't be an issue.  Yeah, I kinda like this one.
Thoughts?

The Seventh Sense

There are six senses.
Sight.
Touch.
Sound.
Taste.
Smell.
Mother's Intuition.

Well, my precious Thor (coming up on 4 years old now) has another sense.  It is the sense of sweets.  That boy can be anywhere and know when someone is secretively delving into her secret stash of sanity savers.
Case in point:
This past Thursday I went to my relief society self-reliance class.  We were shooting guns all night (I did well considering the last time I shot a gun was mine and Popeye's second date).  I had hired a sitter to come be with the kids and before relieving her of her duties, swung by Safeway to pick up some Haagen Dazs ice cream. (Mmmmmm.)
When all was said and done - sitter gone & kids in bed (presumably sleeping), I got out my ice cream and put in "Return to Me".  Not 3 minutes later that boy was at my side wanting to know if I had ice cream.  He was supposed to be sleeping!!!! I checked!
Oh, it gets better.
I lovingly told him to get into bed and that it was my treat (he had a fudgcicle earlier) and he obeyed. (Shocker.)
I didn't eat all of my ice cream.  I wanted to save some for the next morning's breakfast. So I put it in the freezer all snuggled behind the frozen veggies and ice trays.

The next morning I went to get milk for cereal and what would happen to be there on the shelf next to last night's pizza?  Yeah, my ice cream.
When asking the kids, they all denied having snuck any of it.  Even Popeye adamantly proclaimed he wasn't the culprit.  And I checked for lie dots.  Princess Monkey Eyes was telling the truth - she looked me straight in the eye, no blinking.  I got to Thor. 
Me: "Thor, did you eat some of my ice cream last night?"
Thor: "No. It wasn't me."
Me: "Thor, I'm going to look in your eyes for lie dots.  Did you take some of my ice cream?"
Thor: (Covering his eyes with his chubby little fingers) "No."

I laughed so hard.  That little imp had woken up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, snuck to the kitchen and ate some ice cream!!!  I would've never known it if he had put it back where he got it.

And the good parent that I am - I hugged him.  Asked him if he thought it was yummy like I did.  Kissed him and told him to ask next time.

Obviously my sixth sense of mother's intuition needs some fine tuning.  I should ask him for pointers on how to fine tune senses like that.  He's the master!

Mooooove over 10 virgins, we've got a new parable in town.

Yesterday Popeye was at work.  He sent me several texts getting more and more perplexed because there was a cow on the interstate.  (Yes, I know how that sounds.  Where else would you hear of a cow on the interstate than in the middle of nowhere, USA?)
Anyway.  He texted me a little while later telling me that the cow became smart and got back into the pasture.

Evidently, the cow got out of the pasture, which runs parallel to the interstate.  Popeye drove up and down that area, trying to find the hole in the fence.  Nothin'. He looked at the gate - it seemed pretty solid.  So he couldn't figure out where that cow belonged.  He would chase it down off the interstate back towards the fence and the cow wouldn't go back in the way it got out.
So Popeye thought to himself, "I've prayed for stranger things."  So he prayed that Heavenly Father would make the cow smart and remember how it got back in.  Then he got the distinct impression to "Go".  So Popeye left.  He came upon a couple of houses, thinking that they were the ranchers, but they weren't.  Then he thought, "Heavenly Father is going to pick up that cow and put it over the fence.  I'm missing it!"  So he turned around to see God's hand in action.
When he got back, the cow was still there, on the wrong side of the fence.  Popeye looked up the hill and saw a small herd come down over the ridge to this cow.  They conversed with each other over the fence.  The lone cow seemed perplexed because he knew he wanted to be with his buddies but couldn't find his way back.  He'd go up towards the interstate, Popeye would chase him back, the cows would talk and it repeated.
The group of cows finally gave up and walked away.
Popeye prayed again, "Heavenly Father, please make this cow smart.  It needs to get back to where it can be safe.  If he doesn't go over there, I'll have to shoot it." 
So what happens?  The cow runs down the hill, puts his nose under the fence post and pops up the gate and walks back in.

So how can we liken this parable to us today?

Sometimes we get on the wrong side of the fence.  We get into danger's way and can't seem to find our way back to the right side.  No matter how much coaxing we get from our loved ones and leaders of the church on the right side, it takes Divine intervention to let us in.  (Divine intervention meaning, the atonement and repentance.)  Only then, can we return to safety and security.

Good story, huh? Yeah, I thought so too.  So now when you see a cow, you'll remember the parable of the cow.  :)