My favorite joke

As told to me by a cute ESL boy last Thursday:

"I have a joke for you."
"Ok, tell me"
"I want to tell you a joke."
"Please, I'd love to hear it."
"OK. Why six scared seven. Hehehehehe."
"Oh, I love this joke!!! It's my favorite! -Because seven, eight, nine! Hahahahaha."
"You get it? Seven, ate (making food towards mouth gestures), eight - the number, nine. Six, Seven, Nine, Eight. You get it?"
"Yes and that is my favorite joke in the whole world and I'm glad you get it."
"It's so funny."
"Yes, yes it is."

I think I'm going to through a few of these out to him:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The garden was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his post in the desert.
7) Santa is ready to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

The sentences came from The Heteronym Page.
Have a nice day.

Click to learn more about the story of Christmas.

Lot not for sale - house post #1

August 2012

This is the lot
that was recently bought.
 (well not really recently, but with all we've had on our plates and for the sake of rhyme and because I want to, I'm saying recently)

So now you can see
where we'll hopefully be
next year when the weather turns ugly.
(ok, I probably shouldn't say that because the weather can turn ugly pretty much anytime here in Oklahoma- here's the change...)

So now you can see
where we'll hopefully be
next year when the weather turns cold
or before we get more old
or that will not be sold (again)
or ...
let's just stop with cold.
It sounds better that way.

So now you can see
where we'll hopefully be
next year when the weather turns cold.

Done.

We purchased this land from a brother and sister who's mother had left it to them. For them, it had originally been a 10 acre plot where their family had horse fields and a very funky, awesome house (that is currently being renovated & looks very modern and awesome- so excited to get to know those neighbors).  The house sits on 5 acres (I believe) and just south of that there is a two acre field that was sold to the neighbor and it has horses on it. Our lot is to the east of the house. We were told it used to be a horse field. The August fires a couple of years ago went through and cleared things out and then nature took advantage and regrew beautifully. Last year, we got a machete and spent hours trying to make a path to see what we could see. We didn't see much and we didn't get very far. But it was fun and no one came out of there with ticks. Yay. 

We feel so fortunate to have found property like this in our area. When I met the brother & sister & their spouses (my mr. and I got to meet everybody because of the way Oklahoma conducts it's business), we had a great visit. I felt a kindred spirit in the sister and loved her positive sweet energy.
We hope to make our new home a beautiful, happy place - just like they had years ago.

Turkey Update 2013

 Yum Yum Yum

 Meaningful art experience

 Au natural

Maybe my favorite

Tradition again this year as we attended our little school's annual Thanksgiving feast for 1500. Phew.
Have to share my favorite disguised turkey or art turkey center pieces. Good thing there's so many first grade artists to decorate the tables!

And, FYI, our own turkey rocked this year! I followed this recipe and people - we have a winner!
Unless we get brave and decide to start frying, it will be our family's favorite.

Fresh

You can't see it, but there is a little silver boat inside a bowl of water inside the sink he is leaning on. He has a wet paper towel and a green cup. "I made a whirlpool and now here comes the rain" he says as he squeezes the wet towel over the little silver boat that's not supposed to sink but happily is because of his efforts.

Last Saturday, we had no "have to dos."
Tonight's were light.

It's nice to feel the freshness of choosing what to do instead of the stale "have to," even when the "have to" is a great thing.

It's nice to just be able to lean up by the sink and play in the water.
Or- hit the keyboard.

I believe- as far as my "have to" might constrain me- I am back.
Yay.

Word - I got versed.

Attention Blogger domain owners:

If you haven't found out yet, it's a major whoop-dee-doo to update your payment settings with the new Google Blogger deal.  It'll "Bloggle" your mind!

Please don't spend hours like me trying to figure it out - 

Get past that stinking "admin console invalid request" problem. Here's what worked for me... and finally got me past the awful "invalid request" message. Be sure to follow the directions. Where it says 'REPLACETHISWITHYOURDOMAIN.' you need to do just that. Replace it.

(Once I did the "Reset  Password" option, I found my eyeballs getting all blurry and it took about 10 more nervous minutes to complete.) Found at this link.

Best answer

LMcKin51-Power Posters/TC

Sep 3

Try reset your password

You will have to reset your Google apps Password now as Now when you purchase a domain through Blogger it will now automatic create a Admin account called BloggerAdmin  and once you reset your Google apps Password you will sign in as BloggerAdmin and with your new password and you can rename the Bloggeradmin  see link below also this is an Known Issue no ETA on when it be fixed.

Reset password https://google.com/a/REPLACETHISWITHYOUROMAIN.com/ForgotAdminAccountInfo
Instructions on how to reset the Google apps Password. http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=33561

Read blog on how reset Password step by step 

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/05/the-google-apps-bloggeradmin-password.html
Rename user name

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=182084
Read Blog  http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/12/after-using-buy-domain-blog-owners.html
 
If you can not see the Captcha you need change browser Google Apps does not Support  IE 7, 8 & 9 No more unless you have chrome frame plug in install.

Google Apps  support the current and previous major releases of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, Google  begin supporting that version and stop supporting the third most recent version.

Supported browser  http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=33864

I also learned having a scribe when my eyes are tired is fun. 

Typed by said scribe who I just kicked off the keyboard.

Who knew what anxiety the thought of losing this space would bring me. Apparently I have strong feelings for this little blog and will be staying a while. Yay.

It's time

It's time for me to start writing again.
Just been stuck at a rest stop for a very long time trying to determine whether the hard lessons I've been learning are ok to share or not.
I feel like today is the day to decide if I just stop or go on.

Last night I ran into an acquaintance & in our short visit I told her how I wished I could just have three uninterrupted hours to really work on a house plan. It's killing me that we haven't even got that far with the new house.

Last night, my car started having trouble. This morning it decided to get stuck in park - until the tow truck driver tried backing it out of the garage. Then it changed gears just fine. I took it in and hopefully it can be fixed - for not too much $.

The teacher I work with texted that she had a fever today and would not be coming in.
So, I asked if I she would mind if I just worked on getting my issues fixed today & she said that was fine.

I didn't realize I had so many issues.
The last year has really been hard.
Every time I think I've got things cleared up, something new pops up.
I had a little break down when I finally go back home.
Because- a little boy (j's age) in one of my school groups died (the same weekend anniversary of the time we almost lost j) and I've held it together pretty good so far
Because- my mr. is having to hard things for church that make me worried for him and he's got new responsibilities at work and I worry that he's ok
Because- miss s called and said, "I'm going to say to you what you would say to me - did you exercise today?" and the answer was no.
Because- we are over scheduled and I am really worried about Saturday
Because-  I read this - particularly #3 decide & #7

So
I need to decide
get off the road or get up and grow.

It took me an hour or two to realize what a gift the car problem is.
Someone heard my heart
and I am grateful.

When we're helping we're happy

From my Facebook archives of January 2013:

"Our boys were great helpers cleaning up the yard yesterday. It was especially fun watching little J follow his dad's instructions to 'run and put the bags over by the garbage cans.' (We were working on the other side of the house.) He literally ran each one over and this is what we saw when we finished."

 

Parenting makes great entertainment 

The List

(my very cute next door neighbor, L, took this incredible picture- she was standing at the end of our driveways-this was the Sunday of S's graduation & the weekend we met D)

I had been saying how much I loved my boring life. I shouldn't have tempted fate in such a large fashion. For more my sake than yours, here's a list of life events since August 2012. I'm sure I've missed something. Pretty much every item on the list could have three or four sub-items listed. It really seemed to amp up right before spring break. That's when we hired a new realtor and she hired a "stager"who wore stilettos on our wood floor and made a mile long list for us to accomplish in two days. It seemed like every time I thought we were getting a handle on things, there'd be a phone call or someone would come to the door or something would happen and we would not have a handle on things. So I'm going to take a big risk and say that life seems to be coming back to a more manageable speed as of this moment. Just this very moment, because I don't want to give fate any more ideas.

Here's the list:

bought property
worked almost full time
S college visits
H gets mission call
house on market (Nov-Feb, then March -April)
fun spring break trip with S, B & J
rocking on keeping house prepared for showings anytime
and on making dinner
H making different choices - of which we were informed in a letter dated April 1st
offer on house
hailstorm last Friday of April
car & roof totaled
new roof
re-imagined car
tornadoes
soccer season
tornado clean ups
swim team
end of school year
meeting H's friend D
S graduation
sold house
big news for H and D
finding rental
the move
got braces for medical not vanity reasons
taking S to college
the wedding
and reception
and open house
and open house
beginning a new soccer league for J - my mr. not coaching that little team anymore :(
adapting to life as a household of 4
soon to start back up again at work with a reduction of hours
flailing on keeping house up - but 10 freezer meals ready when we need them


There's  couple of doozies in there. I wonder if you can spot them or not.

I didn't list another major change because it happened in the spring of 2011, after the backyard was dug up down to the sprinkler system.

The dog moved to a 20 acre farm way north of us with a donkey and some cows and a twin chihuahua. She is very happy and so is her new owner. We were not a good fit for her, her new family is, and I am so happy for all of them. And us.

There you have it. Even though it's quite a list, I'm feeling very blessed to have experienced each moment of it. Life is good. Now we are looking forward to a year of building a new home, getting to know a son in law and dental work for me. Should be exciting.

The Big Picture

This came home from first grade sometime this winter. Shows us how this child sees the world. I displayed it in a frame in the hall and told him to be proud he sees the world differently than a lot of other people.  I hope I can always see the big picture like him.

Sunday School - my mr. the Bishop

That day.

 

Once in a while there are changes made in our church congregations that kind of rock member’s worlds. Things like changing Sunday meeting times once a year in a shared building, ward boundary changes, and changes in leadership our ward was rocked. 

In July of 2012, our ward was rocked. We got a new Bishop. 

Early last July, I got to go on a whirlwind road trip with the youth from our ward and stake. We went to Nauvoo, Illinois and other important church historical sights along the way. It was wonderful. I was finally in a comfortable place with those beautiful young women I’d been working with. I felt that now that I was comfortable and close to them, I would really be able to more effectively affect their lives and their testimonies of Christ.

I didn’t know it then, but I would not have much time left serving with those beautiful young women. Shortly after returning from that trip, my mr. and I were asked to visit with our Stake President and he extended the call to my mr. to serve as the new Bishop of our ward. My husband’s first assignment would be to find a replacement for me. 

It took some time for me to process, but I’m ok with it now. It would just be too hard for me to serve as the Young Woman’s President with him being Bishop.  We did have a couple Sundays and one Wednesday overlap and that about did me in. His time away coupled with the time and energy I needed to give was just too much.

This was the second major calling I’d had to leave because of changes with him (the first being in Washington when an employment change led to our relocating out of state). I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel a little cheated. But as we went through those early weeks, I came to the knowledge that I needed that time with the youth to help them with their connection to him. Because they knew me, they were more open to him.

I declared- “no callings for me until all the other people in this crazy big semi-transient ward have callings.” Which worked for a few months. I’ve been managing our family and a few other things for him - one of those things which has turned into an unusual calling of “new member specialist.” I am interpreting that to mean: meet the new people, help them find their way around, and plan a three times a year ‘new member social’ (aka- come meet the ward leadership because they want to get to know you & make new church friends & realize that it’s highly likely that the person you are sitting next to in church is new too – ok, I am exaggerating a bit on that one- every Sunday is not like this- we seem to have surges in arrivals and departures in June, August and January- this year’s been especially busy).

I’ve been shy to talk to our friends about what’s going on with him and church, but with all the commitments he’s had coaching the boys’ soccer teams and other things, I’ve had to let people know why he’s not around or why we need help with things.  Our non LDS friends have had reactions that surprised me a bit.  They’ve said things like, “what an honor,” “you must be so proud,” and other things along those lines. That made me feel a little uncomfortable- so I’ve had a chance to talk to them about the LDS way of running our organization. How it’s different. He didn’t apply for the position. He didn’t aspire to the calling. In fact, knowing what it required of a LDS Bishop, it’s a little scary.  It’s not a matter of pride, but a blessing that he’s lived his life so that he can minister to our brothers and sisters in this way.

That’s where the biggest change has appeared.

He used to be very uninvolved in other people’s lives. He used to be very quiet. He used to not want to talk much. He used to get in, get the job done, and get out. He’s always been out and about doing things.

Now he’s talking with and ministering to people. Now he wants to talk so much more. Now he gets in, gets the job done and stays around to visit. He’s out and about doing things. Now he just gets home later most evenings.

He doesn’t talk to me about the people he visits with and I am very thankful for that.  But he wants to talk about other things. A lot.  I think he’s got so much going on in his brain, he has to get some of it out. I am not used to that. I’ve had to learn to live with his quiet over the last twenty something years and it’s hard to get used to this new my mr.

He stands up at the pulpit and I think, “Is that him? Is that my mr.?” And when church friends ask how it is being the wife of the Bishop, right now my answer is “weird.” It’s just weird. Weird and incredible.

Labor Pains

We are in the process of moving out of our house because it sold. Yay. 

A week before close, our buyers/their realtor had some last minute issues and it looked like the deal might not happen. I'd already paid a deposit & first/last months rent on a rental. We were out looking for a fridge when we got the phone call. It was then that I realized that these few weeks I've been feeling like the first time I was in labor and all I wanted to do was stop the whole process, go home and return to normal. Of course I couldn't. And great things came of it. Now I'm telling myself the same about all this mess. I hope this labor is worth it. 

PS- I think I packed to much in that big box. 

PPS- Maybe someday, like next week (bahaha), when we get settled I can tell you all our awesome news. I can only hope. 

Cleaning List - It's the little things that matter

Here's a change - we've always had weekly "zones" that each family member is responsible for, I was still having to remind the other family members of the details that their "zone" entailed even though it was the same thing each week and each room. I grew weary, so I made a list.

This little list has become dear to my heart.

I especially love the "extra chores" section.
It enables flexibility. A flexibility that is the total opposite of what happens when something long and gooey hardens somewhere where it shouldn't.

Side note- once I broke up with a boy ever a booger. I think that is an important lesson for my young sons know. Their future may depend on it.  

My children are pot heads or Playing with change

Something changed in my little home office and I am typing on a much smaller keypad and looking at a much bigger screen, but the most exciting thing for me is that I downloaded the 750+ photos and videos off my phone (which I really shouldn't call a phone- for me it's more a camera that can communicate with the outside world). Well, they are still on my phone because I was too nervous to say yes to the "remove photos from your mobile devise" question. I will get to that later. (Yes, you may call me a virtual hoarder. And you may not look in my bedroom closet.)

So, I'm playing with my new toy and want to share some of the fun.

This has been some of what we've been up to while not being here with you:

I wish I could figure out how to post the video on here.

It's much more entertaining.

But, 

these will just have to do.

And, 

if you want,

you can imagine them running & spinning around like this in the driveway.

See- way more entertaining. 

(Even if the pictures are almost a year old.)

Whoop there it is

Little mr. j's basketball team's really grown a lot this season. They're taller, more coordinated, and a little more mature than last year.
My son, well, he's become versed in the art of drawing fouls.

Last weekend he told me his team lost because he missed two free throws. I told him they probably lost for a lot of other reasons too. I didn't know for sure because I'd only heard the 7 year old's version of the game as I was with miss s in Utah and missed the game. But I was told all about it later-according to my mr. - whom was very fired up about certain aspects of the officiators' using the rules towards the two teams fairly and equally- there were a lot of other reasons they lost the game. Phew. I'm kind of glad I missed it.

So today we went outside to practice shooting (specifically foul shots) and he was having quite a hard time getting the ball into the basket, so I gave him a suggestion.

I told him to hold his breath right before his foul shot.
Guess what- swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
High fives all around. It was awesome.

Apparently I have some latent basketball coach skills and now you know. Booyah, you've become versed.

We play that team tomorrow at 11am.
I will do best to keep my mouth shut.

Ch - Ch - Ch - Changes 2012

I have been quite absent this past year, but my time's been full of new lessons.

In the next few posts, you get the opportunity to check out some of ways my life has changed over the last 12 months (or 52 weeks or 366 days or 8784 hours or 527,040 minutes or 31,622,400 seconds - because some of these changes I look at in smaller measure to make them seem less big).

First change happened last February.
I started working regularly outside the home.
If you've been a reader for a while, you already know that my mr.'s 'one month non-voluntary vacation' threw me for a loop. I always thought that I would go back to work someday. Someday just came way sooner than expected.

It was a part time job that's turned into a 30 hour a week job this school year.
I'm a tutor that helps out a reading teacher.
I get to play with kids and help them learn.
If I need to be working, I'm blessed to be where I am.

Lessons: children will catch you yawning and don't even try resting your eyes for a bit, first graders pick their noses - a lot and it's a very common trait for the young men of that age to not zip up their trousers, liking your co-workers & what you are doing sure makes work life a lot more enjoyable (I'm really lucky with this one), planning home life (e.g. dinner) is top priority, every little person needs a champion (ok, that lesson is from long ago, but over the last few month's it's become more and more apparent), sometimes you are put in a place to do more than what the job description describes, and you can blow a grade-schooler's mind when you tell them 'See you next year!' right before Christmas break.

And when I say you, I mean me or "I," to be grammatically correct.

It's been a wonderful Christmas break. We all go back to school next Monday. I'm excited to see what this new year in school will bring and who did their reading.

Pictures of the fails

so I can get space back on my phone and they may be documented: