Off to Vanceburg, KY ... and a Mogert update

And what in the world is in Vanceburg, KY? you might ask.

Well, for this weekend, at least 2 of my uncles and 1 of the boys' cousins. Uncle Alan organized a clean-up of some ancestor's gravesites, and a little family reunion. I found out about it 2 months ago, and then promptly forgot. (I blame it on pregnancy brain!) But luckily, Missy and Dyan reminded me yesterday, so I'm packing right now, and leaving in a few hours. It's a 3-hour drive from here, so we'll get there this evening. I haven't seen any family from WA in 3 years, and the boys don't even remember anyone from there. I am taking BOTH cameras, just in case I use up all the space on one.

~~Mogert~~
I finally know what a Mogert is! I actually asked him where he got the word. As is with any mystery solved, it's not as fun to know as the want to know, so I've put it in white text. You'll have to highlight to find out. :)
In the movie "Spiderwick Chrocnicles", they fight the evil ogres, led by Mulgarath. When an almost-4yo combines "Mulgarath" and "ogre" you get: Mogert.

picture of my house

We live in Kentucky, while most of our extended family lives in Utah and Washington. So far, only 2 family members have visited us (my MIL in March 2007, and Karen & fam in May 2007).
EDIT: P-chan reminded me that my dad visited us first, in January 2007 (he actually helped us move in!); P-chan's BIL (with some of the kids) came to visit in April 2007 (I think ~ my arm was broken, so it was either March or April); and his brother Andrew & fam came in October 2007. I feel very silly for not remembering those visits.
I was informed by Vicky that she had yet to see my house, as it isn't available on any of the snazzy "live" maps...I don't know why it isn't. I swear I really do live at my address. LOL The closest thing I have found is on MSN Live Maps... I have to search for the street that leads to the subdivision, and even then, some of the streets are labeled wrong. LOL
Here's where my house should be (click for bigger image):

But the "live" picture is about 2 years old, so it doesn't even show the ground being broken for our house. for shame! And here is a picture of our house. We hate the house itself sometimes, but I do love living in this community and Kentucky.

I have more recent pictures (the trees are bigger and the grass looks better), but I cannot find my camera cord, so on the camera they stay. Here is one of the back of the house, taken after sunset, so it's dark. sorry. I just noticed that this is also before we did anything with the yard; now we have a garden and a swingset.

later!

mogert

Right now, Kenshin said:
"I'm shooting the mogerts! I'll be back soon!" and then he ran out of the room (he took his unloaded watergun with him).
From the other room: "We are thankful for the Prophet! And you're goin' down!"
Many shooting sounds, with cries of "Mogert, mogert!" abound.

I'll let you know when I find out what a mogert is.

albino zucchini...and etc

My Our garden is starting to have some delicious food ready to eat! We now have waaaaaay more lettuce than we would normally eat (4 different kinds, no less); sugar snap peas; strawberries; carrots; and of course zucchini. I don't know what I was thinking, planting 3 zucchini plants...probably that I like z.bread...but I failed to think of the fact that I am diabetic when pregnant. oops! As my dad used to say, "It's zucchini season, lock your doors." We already have 3 ripe, one being albino. What's that about? Also, our yellow squash (that the boys got from the trip to Slowpoke Farm) are coming in nicely. We are still waiting for the hot peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and honeydew to grow some actual fruit.

~mmm, bread!~~I made 2 loaves of z.bread today. P-chan ground some wheat for flour, so I used half wheat, half white. I also used the Splenda brown sugar for the brown sugar. I have NO idea what the ending carb count was, but I felt justified in having 2 thinnish slices with lunch. You know, fruits of my labor and all.

~~mmm, brown sugar!~~
As for the Splenda brown sugar: Dang that was expensive! $5 for 1 pound, which was enough for the 2 loaves, with some leftover. (So that makes the z.bread over $2.50 for each loaf. Not exactly frugal.) It has a very molasses-y smell, which is sooo yummy. It made me wonder if Karen could tell I made the bread with fake sugar....

~~New car!!~~P-chan's moped was delivered last week. If anyone knows where to find the $*%@# fuel switch, please let us know. The owner's manual was written by somebody for whom English is definitely a second language. ScooterDepot.us has less than stellar customer service. In fact, they are the worst I've dealt with. Talking to a live person is near impossible, and they have yet to return our calls. On the bright side, we have a huge box for the boys to play with, packing bubbles and twist-ties galore, a wood palette, and the metal frame from the box even gave us $1.28 in "scrap metal" salvage. LOL P-chan will have to take a motorcycle class, and get a license endorsement, so it might be another month before he can officially drive it. *sigh*

~~here, doggy, doggy!~~
I am dog-sitting this weekend. Well, sort of. Since Kenshin is scared-to-death of dogs (even the 15-pound beagle called Lucky), Lucky has to stay at her house, instead of coming here. I'm watching over Lucky, because Hugh tagged along with Jecka and Andrew over to NC for a friend's wedding reception. (Jecka would normally watch Lucky) So, 3 times a day, I drive over to Hugh's house and make sure Lucky hasn't messed on anything, that she has food and water, and let her run in the backyard to take care of business. And 3 times a day, Kenshin freaks out that Lucky might try to show him some affection. *sigh*

~weird bugs!~~
If you like looking at weird bugs, check this out: What's That Bug. If I weren't so nauseated from being pregnant, I would really enjoy that site more.

toodles!

good-bye to Pampered Chef

As you may know, I was a "cooking consultant" with Pampered Chef for several years. I started out doing it for the discount, and continued with it as a hobby. I really enjoy cooking, and meeting new people. When we moved here to Kentucky, I struggled finding a new customer base, and it became more like a chain around my neck, than the fun hobby I had signed up for. There were times in the past that I wondered if it was time to quit (really, how many stoneware do I need?? LOL) but it always happened that I would get a big order or a show to "keep me alive". This time, no orders and no cooking shows blessedly appeared (I think it's been 6 months since I turned anything in). I took that as a sign that it's time for me to hang up my hat. About the same time, there were several things that came down the line from corporate that really got my goat, so I am glad I made the decision. I decided to "blog" this decision because it makes it more final, somehow. Also, I want to list some things on ebay. ROFL
I may become a consultant again in a few years, but right now I'm focused on my other hobbies. The 2 things I will miss the most are hanging out with Penny at conference, and of course the discount. ;)
If you are looking for a Pampered Chef consultant, I can refer you to one. My good friend Penny is in Florida, and I think she's awesome!

games (or mindless ways to amuse yourself online)

Krillin has been playing a lot of Yahoo games lately. It started with P-chan showing him Magic Pen (totally cool, go play it!), and then of course he had to explore the others. Today, I heard very weird music coming from the speakers, so I went over to find out what game he was playing. Turned out to be a game where you "play surgeon", like removing an arrow from a leg. Yep, you get to cut a body apart. NOT COOL. I told him he'd have to get my permission to play any more games from Yahoo, or I'd remove it from the "okay" list on the computer. So he spent the next few minutes asking "is this one okay?" and having me read about them. Most of them are okay, but I banned a few of them.
Some of my favorites are Sleepless Knight 2, Crazy Pool, and Indestructable Tank. P-chan also like Doodle Defender (LOL's and OMG's attack you!).

random quote of the day

"I saw a robber once, and I had to punch him in the wiener."
~Kenshin

Kenshin is quite the story-teller. It's really easy to believe anything he tells you, because he's convinced it's true. For instance, he has a dad who lives in Florida. They do all kinds of fun things together, like have a dog named Lucky, who doesn't bite. I *think* that his desire to have another parent comes from one of his friends, whose parents are divorced, and he "has" two houses.

I hope you all had a fun and safe Independence Day celebration!

some scrapbook pages

I did some last-minute challenges at GDS on June 30th. Here are 2 of them:


This is a scraplift, please click here for credits


This is of my nephews when they came to visit last year. I blurred the name for privacy issues. Please click here for credits.

disappointment and fun

After I watered my garden last night, I left a bucket with dirt, some cups, and my pitcher (aka watering can) on the back porch. Then I went for a walk with the boys, around the block, while P-chan was on the phone. When I got back, I went to collect the items from the porch, and found that the pitcher was missing. I looked all over the yard, and it is nowhere to be found. And, the cups were inside it, but then were scattered all over the porch. So, whoever took the pitcher, left a mess. How disappointing. I hope the thief didn't drink out of the pitcher, because I had just used it for mixing the Miracle Gro. Then again....no, that's mean. I hope they didn't drink from it.

I've been having some mindless fun on Facebook. There are literally thousands of applications in which to waste your time, but I only have about 20 on my account. My favorites are the Green Patch and Knighthood. If you'd like to join me, find my address in my info here.

Krillin started a 4-week Summer Camp on Monday. It's from 9am to 5pm, at the local middle school. It has been weird and quiet with him gone during the day. The neighborhood kids still come around to ask for him, and then stay to play with Kenshin. Kenshin kept asking me (the first day) when Krillin would be back, but now he just plays, plays, plays all day.

Krillin is officially 6!

Our oldest son, Krillin, turned 6 yesterday. He had chosen a Superman theme two months ago, so I have been planning. It occurred to me on Wednesday of this week that I still had the "final preparations" to do. That included all the shopping, decorations, and cake. I must be a glutton for punishment. Wednesday was a horrible, terrible, no-good, nasty, no-good day. Ditto for most of Thursday, but I did get the cake baked. Friday was an 8-store, 4 hour shopping trip, including Office Depot (nametags and a poster), Dollar Tree (most of the party supplies), Hobby Lobby (clear vanilla), Toys R Us (Krillin's special Birthday visit, and some Superman decorations), Kroger (frosting ingredients, and lunch), Home Depot (garden supplies, nothing to do with the party ), B&E Salvage (they had tins of Altoids Chocolate-Dipped Cinnamon mints for 25¢. I bought 40.), and Rite Aid (rebate shampoos). Luckily, the stores were almost in a circle, so not much gas wasted. I took a breather when we got home, then it was time to start the piñata and put the cake together.


For the piñata, the boys and their friend helped me get the newspaper into strips, then slap them on the balloon. They actually were a lot of help, doing it quickly and efficiently. Kenshin lost interest soon, but the others kept on. My idea was to make it kinda spiky and pointy, like kryptonite, and then cover it with green crepe paper. I was trying to figure out how to do that with a round balloon, and then had the brilliant idea to use one of the mylar, helium-filled, star balloons that Krillin had chosen for decorations. Then I added some cones (actually hats left over from an Elmo party), and it was poke-y! Unfortunately, it took forever to dry, so I couldn't decorate it. I called it Grey Kryptonite. Highly dangerous, you know.

For the cake, I was all on my own. I did get some inspirations here and here. I decided to go with a round 2-layer cake; the bottom was blue, and the top was the Superman emblem. I couldn't reach Emily for her frosting recipe (she's out of town for a few months), so I searched and found this fantastic one. Best frosting I've had. The only hiccup I had was the coloring of the frosting, and that's my fault because my Wilton colors were dried out, and I didn't know it. oopsies! The blue and yellow worked okay, but the red still looked pink to me on the finished cake. I pretty much eyeballed the cutting for the emblem. I only had to re-cut the top part once. For the emblem's design, I used a basic emblem image, re-sized to 8 inches across, and cut out the yellow parts, so I could "pencil in" (I used a razor blade) the design. I did finally get hold of Emily, and she helped with the "how-to's" of the frosting. I was very pleased with the cake! I would post a picture, but after the cake was all cut and divvied out, I realized I never took a picture of it. mmmm.... it looked kinda' like this. But 2 layers.

Saturday morning, we had to finish cleaning the house, and I was not feeling good. The house looked great, but I didn't do decorations. Sorry, Krillin. P-chan put up the canopy so the kids wouldn't fry in the heat (the guests had started to arrive), and then we set up the Superman Training Course (inspiration from here). The piñata was finally dry, so P-chan filled it with candy, noting that the mylar didn't fly out like a rubber balloon would have. Then he ingeniously rigged a bunch of his sock garters together to create a hammock for the piñata, so it could dangle dangerously overhead in the canopy. And dangle it did! Jecka got knocked in the cheek, and I got knocked in the temple. Did I mention it was hot and windy???!! Then P-chan left to get the pizzas.

Superman Training Course:
1. Leap Over a Tall Building : we have a kid's castle, so the boys took turns jumping, climbing, etc on it and grabbing a Superman "flag".
2. Speed and Precision : we set up 2 kid chairs, put a 2x4 between them, and the kids had to walk the beam, pick up some Kryptonite (glow sticks), and drop it into the lead bucket.
3. Save Citizen from Danger : P-chan wasn't back, and I didn't feel like chasing anyone, so the boys pushed the little car (with Kenshin in it) down the driveway and back. Kenshin got to push Krillin.
4. X-Ray Vision : Using the "flags" they got in the first game, they tried to tape them on the poster-sized Superman. This was indoors, and it felt nice to cool off.

P-chan got back, so it was time to eat! Pizza was enjoyed by all, then the cake and Scooperman ice cream. I got a lot of "ooh"s and "aahhh"s on the cake, and Krillin had the biggest grin on his face, so that made my day! We sang to Krillin (no candles), and ingested a lot of sugar. I was good and only had a tiny piece of cake, and 1 scoop of ice cream.

Then it was time for the piñata!!!! Krillin and Kenshin each got 3 swings, and everyone else got 2. They all got 2 turns, and this thing (though falling apart), still wouldn't yield. Remember how I used a mylar balloon? Those things are pretty tough to break with a bat. The paper mache fell apart, but the balloon held on. Finally, an older boy smashed that thing apart when we told him not to use the blindfold. yay, candy!

Krillin opened his presents, and then it was time for everyone to go home. After they left, I realized I hadn't given them their loot bags. Oh, well.

A little after the Birthday Extravaganza, I took the boys and their friend to a game night at a local church. I decided to go, because I had a huge tub of ice cream, and it's not good for sugar to be tempting me. So I took it to share!

old MTV

Finally found some time to go searching on YouTube for my personal most-remembered videos from old MTV. Here they are:

Land of Confusion by Genesis
I was 8 when this video was released. It remains in my top 5 Favorite Songs.


I've Got My Mind Set On You by George Harrison
This remains one of my favorites, due to the cool animatronics.
There are 2 versions of this, here's the one I did NOT forget. lol


Take on Me by A-ha
I so wanted to be that girl!


and for the cheese topping: Shake Your Love by Debbie Gibson
I still can't help singing along with this song!


I've probably seen thousands of videos on MTV and VH1, but these are the ones I remember. I'm sure some more will come to me later. On a side note, I enjoyed the Pop-Up Videos on VH1.

Oh, and the pictures from yesterday were from the zoo. In fact, they were the only pictures I got before my battery died. oops! I did also get a video of a large turtle moving, but don't know how to load that.

~~Frugal thing for the day~~

When P-chan and I worked at DirecTV, we ended up with a lot of "free crap" with DTV and premium-channel brands on them. One was a coat from HBO Sports; we've had it for about 7 years. The last time I washed it, it left these weird blue plastic-like flakes on the inside of the washer, because the outer liner started coming apart. gross!
To make a long story short (too late!), I pulled it apart tonight. I now have 5 velcro patches, 3 clasps, a coat zipper, and 2 lengths of elastic-pulls (one went around the waist, the other around the hood), and the entire fleece liner.
The longest elastic was used this very night to fix the decrepit laundry mesh basket.
The velcro and fleece may be used soon for cloth diapers.
Any ideas for the others?

Wordless Wednesday

Yes, I'm pregnant!

Yep, I am pregnant. I posted the picture to be funny, but ended up confusing some peeps. my bad!
I am about 14 weeks along, due on December 16. P-chan was relieved that we'll get the tax credit for the Bean during 2008. We won't find out Bean's gender for another 10 weeks, since my clinic doesn't do it until 24 weeks. I would love to have a girl (who wouldn't?), but a boy would suit us just fine as well. You know, diaper cleanings are easier with boys.

Yes, this baby was planned. Honestly, I've been wanting another one since Kenshin was just a year old, but P-chan still needed some time. I got to thinking about it today, and Bean will be 5 school years behind Kenshin. yikes!

I complain (to P-chan, mostly) about having to drive to Ft Knox (45-min drive) for my medical care, but when I'm pregnant, it is a good thing. Mostly because I have to take Zofran (ondansetron; it prevents nausea and vomiting) 5 times a day, and Ft Knox carries this medicine, so we don't have to pay for it. When we lived in MacDill AFB, they didn't carry it, and the co-pay at Walgreens was $10/pill. Yes, you read that right: 10 bucks per pill. So I didn't take it with Kenshin, and lost too much weight (don't worry, I gained it all back ), but learned how NOT to throw up (mostly, I just sat there). So I'm thankful that I can get my medicine on-post, because this time, we don't have a sister living with us, who can watch the kiddies while I'm puking.

So I have 6 more months of nausea to look forward to (it's not just morning sickness, it's called hyperemesis gravidarum), but the reward will be sooooo worth it.

My favorite shirt

...Superman

^^the date says Sunday, but I wrote this Saturday.^^

In the car today (driving to the Mt Washington Fire Department for a FRED activity), I sang a line from the REM song "I am Superman"... "I am Superman, and I can do anything!" Krillin said, "Superman can't lift a house!" (by the way, that's how he measures everything...he compares it to a house) I replied, "Yes he can!"
"No, he can't!"
"Yeah, Superman can lift anything! He can even make the world spin backwards."
*pause* "You mean, he can make it go day-night-day-night, really fast?"
"Nope. I mean, he made time go backwards."
"Why would he want to do that?"
"Because Lois Lane, his girlfriend, had died, and he was sad, and so he made the world spin backwards, and it turned back time, and he saved her."
"She was his girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"You mean, he wanted to kiss her and marry her?"
"uh, yeah."
"That's not right!"
"You don't think Superman should kiss her?"
"No!!!"
"Do you think it's weird for Daddy to kiss me?"
"No, that's fine, because Dad is a regular man, you are a regular girl. It's just wrong for Superman to marry Lois Lane, because it's wrong for a not-regular person to marry a regular person."
I had to bite my lip SO HARD to stop from laughing, that I couldn't direct the conversation to why it's okay for different people to be together. Maybe tomorrow...

We were the only family (again) to show up for the FRED activity, so it was short. Nick read them "Just Me and My Dad" by Mercer Mayer. The kids got to pick a book and a treat from the FRED box, and a toy from the fire station. Kenshin chose the frisbee (because it has a firetruck on it), and Krillin chose the pink "super-duper bouncy ball". They were also given a coupon for a free treat from DQ.
Then we went on a tour of the firehouse. The Captain told us that if the alarm sounded, we would have to come inside until things calmed down, then we would have to leave. Kenshin was awed by the girl firefighter, and was shy around her. They got to look at all the things on the firetruck, and got to sit in it. Then they turned on the engine and the lights, and even did a bit of the siren (but not much, because those things are LOUD right next to ya!). Then they showed us the Ambulance. Krillin was more interested in the ambulance than the firetruck, and told everyone about when I broke my wrist {I just realized I never published that post, so it is published now. }. Then he remembered that Kenshin also had to have an ambulance, way back in 2006.
Right then, the alarm sounded and we had to hurry inside while the firefighters got dressed, and they left with the ambulance, too. I didn't ask where they were going, but I'm sure whatever it was, the people were well-taken care of.

What is FRED? It stands for Fathers Reading Every Day, and it's sponsored by the local adult education and community center. The kids get a story, and then get to choose a book. Many are "used", but like my kids care! I buy books from Goodwill all the time. Tonight, Krillin chose a Clifford book, and Kenshin chose a Curious George. The program is intended for fathers to get more involved in reading to the kids, but there were only 2 fathers at the opening night, and none since.

P-chan couldn't be there today, as he is in Terre Haute, IN helping tear out drywall in apartment buildings affected by the flooding. We got a call last night from our Elder's Quorum President asking if P-chan could volunteer in TH, needing to be there at 9am. I called P-chan at work (he works at Pizza Hut part-time to help save for our Emergency Fund), and he immediately asked PH for the next night off, got permission from his AF chain of command, and called me back. We called up the "chain of command" in our stake, but apparently nobody else was going, so he was going to drive there by himself (3.5 hrs away). Then I got another call from our home teacher, saying there's a guy from Louisville 4th ward (which is actually RIGHT NEXT TO US but because of the odd stake boundaries, NOT in the same stake--our stake center is in Indiana, go fig!) going up, and to give him a call right then. In the end, P-chan ended up with a ride there and back, and a sleeping back to boot (they had no idea where they'd be staying). So he got home at 1am, slept for 3 hours, got up, drove to the guy's house, and tried to sleep during the drive. Poor guy. He will be back sometime tomorrow, hopefully in time to tuck the boys in for bed.

some scrapbook pages, and a "Tag"!

Here are a few pages I made, using Andrea's 'Discover' kit. I printed these at about 5cm by 9cm, to fit into an Altoid Tin, altered the tin's outside with the 'block' paper, and then printed a title using Carrie Stephen's 'Cardboard Alpha'. I was really proud of my first time using Mod Podge!

I was Tagged by Victoria!

The Rules:
~Link the person(s) who tagged you
~Mention the rules on your blog
~Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
~Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
~Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

My Quirks:

1. I am lactose-intolerant, and soy-intolerant. End result: my milk is expensive.

2. I am the "tree-hugger" of our neighborhood: I have a garden, a clothesline for the summer, and I recycle, even though I have to drive it to the center (our garbage co. doesn't do it).

3. I bite my nails when I read books.

4. I don't like milk chocolate.

5. After living in one place for a few years, I start to get the "itch" to move somewhere else.

I'm tagging:
Melissa
Karen
Sheila
Ocha
Penny
Andrea

updates

My friend Penny commented that my blog is about random stuff, and I have to agree. I like it when people read my blog, but I don't really think about other people when I'm writing. No offense! LOL

I currently have a cold. My doctor thinks it's because I haven't been taking my allergy meds, so she told me to take them for another week longer and see if I get better. Since I'm not coughing, I will play along with that. But I do have a sore throat, swollen glands, my face hurts where my sinuses are, and my constant post-nasal drip is really gross. so there!

A few people have asked me if I ever did give Krillin his own key to the house. The answer: No. I decided that would be a really bad idea. I just make sure to leave Ft Knox by 3pm, no matter what (since that's usually where I was racing home, from).

Hmmm....what else? A year ago we read Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover, and decided to Get Out of Debt, and save 6 months of expenses. We participated in the beta program for Financial Peace University online, and had a blast! We paid off about $5600 in credit card debt by the end of 2007, so January we started saving. We are about halfway to our goal, and we think the Emergency Fund will be complete by the end of this year. Next year we'll still be saving (this time for Retirement and for House Upgrades), but we'll have a bit more for vacations and the like. We haven't been back to Utah since we left in 2002, so it's about time for a visit, eh? I'd also like to take some time in WA, but we've been back there about 4 times since we got married, so I think Utah will win.

Krillin's last day of Kindergarten was today. I almost cried! Since Mrs. Kessler will be at a different school next year, all her walls were already bare! It was so sad!!!! I made her a little Altoid-tin mini album, with pictures of Krillin. I also gave her a beach bag and several goodies inside that. I am so sad that she won't be Kenshin's teacher in 2 years.

There's something that I thought of, but then of course I talked on the phone and have since forgotten it. Oh, well. Blog at ya later!