Three for Thursday

Three confessions:

1. I hate most church music.

2. I have a fatty liver.

3. Sometimes I like when Joe is out of town because then I don’t have to listen to him snore.


Three things I do to beat the heat:

1. Think about how much I hated Arizona’s heat and that it really truly could be worse.

2. Try to ignore that annoying yet tempting little chunk of my brain that incessantly demands that I ignore my healthy eating goals and forge forth to obtain an icy cold cherry flavored Icee.

3. Ever since the 4th of July weekend I’m hooked on the awesomeness that is the kiddie pool of the local swimming pool.


Three life lessons, super skills, or new tricks I have learned this past month:

1. That the Ark of the Covenant was more than just a golden box full of scary face melting demons on Indiana Jones. It was a container or an ARK (DUH!!) that carried the Ten Commandments. I almost slapped myself for being so dumb.

2. I could welcome and love a fifth baby.

3. How to make a vinaigrette dressing from scratch.



Three things that motivate me to be a better person:

1. Fear.

2. My family.

3. My fatty liver.



Three things I would do if I wasn’t “Mommy”, married, and burdened with cares:

1. Travel anywhere and everywhere. Alone. Carefree. And naked. Just kidding…about the alone part.

2. Maybe actually like the Twilight series.

3. Wish I was “Mommy”, married, and burdened with cares.


Three people I call first:

1. My sisters

2. My mom

3. My trio of bests. (You know who you are)


Three things I changed about my parenting after testing them out on my guinea pig child (first child):

1. I no longer take toys to church.

2. I no longer feed my babies solids before 6 months thanks to experience with allergies and thanks to pure laziness.

3. I no longer apologize for every sound or movement my children make.


Three things that make me cry:

1. Dead buffaloes.
2. Marching bands in parades

3. Disabled people who beat the odds.


Three things I’m going to accomplish before the summer is over:

1. Lose 30 more pounds

2. Organize a few scary areas of my house

3. FINALLY get my picture frames up on the walls


Three pictures:

Elle was terrified of the fireworks this year. Poor kiddo.



Happy 4th of July from all my Red, White, and Silver Linings!



Tee ball season just started. It's going over better than soccer. Jeigh yelled from the field on the first day: "Hey Mom! I actually like this!"

 
Make sure to write up a 3 for TH of your own and leave your link in the comments below to be eligible for the weekly prize!!

3 for TH Prompt {07 July 2011}

I had every good intention of being here every day since I posted last week.

Umm. About that...

I think I was having too much fun hanging out with the family for a fantastic Fourth of July celebration. (Why did it have to end??) Now I seem too busy playing catch up from that fantastic weekend to be here.

Meh. Oh well. I bet you are all busy being busy too.

If you feel so inclined, here is the prompt for tomorrow's Three for Thursday.

See you tomorrow! Probably most likely maybe so.


Three confessions:

Three things I do to beat the heat:


Three lessons, skills, or new tricks I have learned this past month:


Three things that motivate me to be a better person:


Three things I would do if I wasn’t “Mommy”, married, and burdened with cares:


Three people I call first:


Three things I changed about my parenting after testing them out on my guinea pig child (first child):


Three things that make me cry:


Three things I’m going to accomplish before the summer is over:


Three pictures:

 
P.S. The winner of last week's 3 for TH threesome prize is...Leah at The Dog's a Boy Too!
 
Double P.S. A few people pointed out to me that a threesome prize could imply something other than the totally awesome package of three things that Leah is going to be receiving in the mail...
 
Thanks for ruining my catch phrase for me, ya pervs. ;)
 
Triple P.S. The ever gracious Sarah at Creating Sarah and the ever ambitious Katy at The House of Estrogen have consented to play co-hostesses with me for the 3 for TH. Each week we are going to take a turn hosting and sending out the--ahem--three-ish (darnit! It just doesn't have the same ring!) prize to the lucky follower/participant/winner. Three times the hostess! Three times the fun!
 
Sarah? You want to take a stab at this next week???

Three for Thursday: The Prodigal Meme Returns

Well hey there!

Look who and what is back. Me and Three for Thursday!

Katy from The House of Estrogen asked me if I could muster up a 3 for TH revival for the day while she is busy doing whatever a mom of four adorable little girls does. Just between you and me, I think this a clever little ploy to pull me back into the blogging world. And I have to admit...it just might work. We shall see.

So Three for Thursday is here today. I'm not exactly sure where it will be next week, but it will BE somewhere. I'll keep you updated.

Until then, why not join in today? Make sure to write your own 3 for TH post on your blog and link back below for a chance to win a threesome prize! (Not enough time today? Four for Friday works for me!)

Happy Thursday!

Three wedding day memories: (“Oh they say when you’re married in June, you’re a bride all your life!”)

1. In a rather spontaneous and overly excited moment, I leaped into Joe’s arms ripping out the zipper up the entire back of my beautiful wedding dress. I spent the rest of our wedding evening pinned together with dozens of safety pins.

2. My parents driving us the entire hour and a half car ride home from the wedding ceremony in my dad’s limo with the barrier window down the entire time. (Why didn’t I roll that stupid thing up?!)

3. Sneaking away from the crowds for a few minutes in between the ceremony and the reception to go pay my overdue cell phone bill.


Three guy movies I actually like:

1. Terminator Salvation

2. The Matrix

3. Star Wars (all 6 of them!)


Three things that I will try to sneak into heaven: (You can’t take it with you? Watch me!)

1. CHOCOLATE! Of course!

2. Some loud rock music

3. Joe


Three 4th of July traditions: ("Oh say can you seeeeeee...")

1. Eat peanuts and drink cream soda in the bottles

2. Watch fireworks getting as close to them as possible. I love to be right under them. The louder and scarier the better!

3. Dancing to loud music in my parents’ back yard.


Three words that describe me: (Only three?!)

1. Loud- Loud music, loud singing, loud activities, loud parenting, loud laughing. I don’t do much quietly.

2. Oxymoron (Did I just call myself a “moron”?)- I love crowds of people, but I love to be alone. I am loud, but I like some peace and quiet. I want to go out, but I want to stay home. I’m depressed, but I’m happy. I love my kids, but they sure drive me crazy. etc, etc, etc.

3. Tall- I’m 5’10” and proud of every inch. At least every inch in height.


Three favorite summer time desserts:

1. Cherry flavored Icees

2. Homemade ice cream

3. Chocolate (It never goes out of season!)


Three fictional characters I would like to meet in real life:

1. Anne of Green Gables. We would be kindred spirits.

2. Dwight Schrute from The Office. There has to be someone out there that is that crazy.

3. Superman. I kind of maybe sort of had a thing for him for a while. Lois Lane can take a hike!


Three group games that I could play over and over and over again:

1. Fag Tag (So inappropriately named, but what else do you call it?? People stand in linked arm pairs in a circle. One person is “it” and has to tag another person who is running around. The running around person can link arms with any pair and the person on the opposite side of the new linked pair has to start running away from the person who is “it”. Of course if the running person gets tagged, they are “it” and the roles reverse.)

2. The board game of Life

3. Signs (Everyone sits in a circle and each person has a self-created secret sign, such as scratching your head, patting your leg, winking three times, etc. One person stands in the middle as the circle passes their signs around. One person begins, slyly signs their own sign then passes it on by signing someone else’s sign. That person accepts it by signing their own sign and again passes it on by signing someone else’s sign. The person in the middle is trying to catch who has the sign before they can pass it on. If they catch the person before they pass it, that person is then “it”. Hilarious!)


Three favorite summer time TV shows:

1. We don’t have TV

2. but SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

3. is on Hulu.com!! Woohoo!!!


Three pictures:



Cee and Jeigh in our new bike trailer. The thing I like about this picture is that these girls are going to end up looking so much alike. This is like looking at Present Day Jeigh and 5 month old Jeigh. Crazy! It's like they have the same parents or something...




Cee learned how to spit. And does it all. the. time.




I really wish my kids would stop thinking snails are better than action figures or dolls. I'm getting creeped out finding them hanging around and sliming stuff up all over the house. *shudder*


***I can't get the link up tool to work right now and I don't have time to wrastle with it. Please leave your link in the comment section and I will pick a winner from there on Sunday night. Thanks!!***

A Winner and an Announcement

First of all, congrats to Lana at The Jeremy Cook Family for winning the prize for last week's 3 for TH. She won when I picked the third number in my street address, #2. Congrats Lana! I will get your threesome prize sent out sometime this week.

Second of all, I am going to go on a bit of a blogging hiatus. I really don't know how long. I am deactivating my Facebook account too. No drama. No hard feelings. I just feel the need to unplug for a bit. I hear it can be very liberating!

Who knows how long this will last? I'll probably deactivate FB and post this post and then have a million incredible ideas for blog posts and ways to manage my time for effectively. Ha!

If you need to reach me, you can email me at hangingsilver{at}gmail{dot}com.

And if you're having tons of fun with the 3 for TH posts, my dear friend Katy is going to take over for me for a bit. You can find her at The House of Estrogen. Don't worry. You are in capable and clever hands.

Thank you to all of you who read and follow and comment here at Hanging by a Silver Lining! I'll see you on the flip side. Promise. :)

P.S. I'll most likely still be checking in a couple times a week over at The Jolly Green Giant. Part of the reason I need to simplify here.

Of Chums and Chicken, Craisin, and Cashew Bowtie Pasta Salad

My dear friend Carli came for a visit yesterday. We've been trying to plan a get-together since...Well since I moved to Utah four months ago! It really was getting rather ridiculous that we couldn't seem to coordinate our schedules together to make it happen.

Psst...

It was 93% my fault.

With Carli's help, I finally admitted something to myself: I am busy. I went and got a life after all. That's all well and good, but it makes me sad to be "too busy" to simply have a lunch/play date with a friend. There's something wrong with the world when you begin to feel like you don't have time for friends.

I'm glad we finally made it work out. Thanks for coming Carli!

And thanks for being so patient with me and my fickle scheduling skills.

And thanks for liking the lunch I made!



Anyone want the recipe???

This is a great spring/summer salad! My little sister Camille served this at her wedding reception. It's a perfect combination of savory and sweet, crunchy and soft. If you give it a try let me know how you like it!

Chicken, Craisin, and Cashew Bow-Tie Pasta Salad or 3 C Salad

4 cups cooked chicken breasts, diced (*Feeling lazy? Use an already-cooked rotisserie chicken from the store. Just pull off the meat and dice it.)
6 cups bow-tie pasta, cooked al-dente (*I think the trick to this salad is to make sure the pasta is really, truly al dente. Cook it until it seems to still have a bit of "crunch" to it in the middle. Trust me. It works!)
1 and 1/2 cups green grapes, sliced in half
1 and 1/2 cups red grapes, sliced in half
2 (5 ounce) cans water chestnuts, drained and quartered (*eh...I would leave this out.)
1 (10 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained (*Leave this out too. Or don't. Whatever.)
2 cups celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced (green onions)
2 cups cashews, whole and halves
2 cups craisins (dried cranberries)

Dressing:

1 (16 ounce) bottle Hidden Valley brand coleslaw dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Miracle Whip

How to:
(Hint: This a great salad to make the night before. Giving it time to soak up the dressing makes a world of difference.)

1. In a large bowl mix all salad ingredients together, except cashews and craisins
2. Whip together dressing ingredients.
3. Toss dressing with the mixture in the large bowl.
4. Mix in cashews and craisins right before serving.

Three for Thursday

Three of my favorite Pandora.com stations:
1. Glee cast(a bit of Disney, Michael Jackson, and those debauched, angelic-voiced Glee kids)
2. Alison Kraus (nothing like a little bluegrass to take me back to the good ol' days)
3. Lenka (when I'm feeling a little melancholy)

Three lessons learned since I have graduated from high school:
1. I did right not to marry the kind of boy I was just certain was "right" for me.
2. I should have paid better attention to my grades. Time and money are precious. But so are friends. Balance. Balance is what I should have aimed for.
3. Hometown, Idaho isn't such a bad place after all.

Three people I was remembering on Memorial Day:
1. Auntie Jane
2. Grandpa Miles
3. Gma Riley

Three favorite YouTube videos:
1. Anything by the Shaytards
2. Be warned: Not for the faint of heart! Seriously. Don't watch this unless you have a strong stomach.
3. Kid History (Parts 1-4)

Three bad habits:
1. Telling people what crazy kids I have when they try to tell me what great kids I have. Example: Someone says about my daughter: "Oh my! She has gorgeous eyes!" to which I reply "Yeah, but she looks a little homeless right now." I HATE that I do that!
2. Pulling out my hair strand by strand when sitting idly watching TV.
3. Forgetting life lessons already learned.

Three foods I will NEVER put in my mouth:
1. Balut
2. Lima beans
3. beer

Three things that sounded like a good idea at the time:
1. Joining the Disney Movie Club. Boy! Did they ever snag me in with that get 4 DVDs for $1.99 deal.
2. Going up against the 6 foot something Brazilian foreign exchange student in high school PE. One torn groin muscle later...
3. Letting my pet rabbits play in the same cage. "Mom, why are they doing that?"

Three plans for Father’s Day 2011:
1. Dream of the BBQ grill I wish I could surprise Joe with.
2. Go to church.
3. Bend over backwards to help the incredible father of my children enjoy his special day.

Three things that make me a “mean mom” (aka a GOOD mom):
1. Off to bed you go!
2. No goodies until you eat the truly good stuff.
3. We go to church whether you feel like it or not.

Three pictures:


On our visit home for the Memorial weekend, my mother-in-law (far right) swiped Cee for a picture with her coworkers. Five ladies in the same office have had granddaughters born in the last six months. Here's four of them.


I must have been in a purply mood that day. Cee and I are twinners.


The things that happen when you run to switch out the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Can you tell she really cares for this lineup?

Now that you think I am pretty twisted (hair pulling AND mega-zit popping?!) make sure to link up below for a chance to win a prize. I need a chance to redeem myself.

I Can See Clearly Now, the Money's Gone

Last week I found myself being pressured by a salesman. And I totally caved into his sales pitch.

I am now the proud (and rather befuddled) owner of not one, but TWO brand new pairs of...

EYE GLASSES?!

Glasses! Of all things to be pressured to buy.

I'm shaking my head as I write this.

How did one little weaselly salesman pressure me into buying two pairs of glasses that were not cheap by any definition?

The guy wasn't attractive. At all.

He didn't even have that presence that some salesmen have.

He was just pushy and really good at taking me on an all-expenses paid (me being the one who's paying all the expenses) guilt trip.

"Your son is practically blind! You don't want him to be blind for an entire week while we fix his old glasses do you? Do you?!"

Okay. That's not exactly how he said it, but that's how it came through my Be-a-Good-Mommy filter.

I don't know if eyeglass salesmen make a commission, but he also gave me some sob story about his mom having a really expensive surgery earlier that year and that he was now broke.

I think he was trying to connect with me.

Because obviously a mom of four kids is definitely broke.

At least that's what he assumed (and he would be just about right, but regardless!)

And since I am a mom of four kids and probably broke that's also why he decided to try to sell me every bell and whistle that can come with a pair of eye glasses.

Super sonic hydroponic superfluous lens coating does what exactly???

Even as I found myself agreeing to the purchase, I looked at him thinking to myself, "I don't really like you and how on earth did I let you convince me to do this?"

But the whole transaction took place so quickly that I didn't even really have time to say, "HOLD UP!!"

I'm not even sure I got the frames I wanted for myself or my son.

See, the eye doctor was incredibly nice. So nice I wanted to pick him up, take him home, and adopt him.

But I believe he may be in on the scheme.

During my eye exam he put those nasty little drops in my eyes to dilate them and by the time I found myself picking out frames I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. I couldn't even see the price tags on the frames.

Brilliant sales tactic, no? Blind 'em, then take 'em for all they're worth!

I was kind of lucky to make it out of there with my wallet still in my bag and all four children accounted for.

I think I may have needed an interpreter or mediator or lawyer just to purchase my glasses.

Or at least a nanny because I'm fairly certain my four kids were in on the heist too.

How was I supposed to make a clear-headed decision whilst repeatedly telling three of my kids to stop running around the office and to pick up the toys they had scattered all over, bouncing a fussy infant on my hip, and stopping the receptionists from feeding tootsie rolls to my milk allergy kid?

All while squinting through Bambi-sized pupils.

Car salesmen could learn a thing or two from the vision office.

3 for TH Prompt {02 June 2011}

1. Three of my favorite Pandora.com stations
2. Three lessons learned since I have graduated from high school
3. Three people I was remembering on Memorial Day
4. Three favorite YouTube videos
5. Three bad habits
6. Three foods I will NEVER put in my mouth
7. Three things that sounded like a good idea at the time
8. Three plans for Father’s Day 2011
9. Three things that make me a “mean mom” (aka a GOOD mom)
10. Three pictures

Feel free to change any of these prompts up to suit your needs.

Didn’t make it by Thursday and still want to join in? How about a “Four for Friday”? Or a “Six for Saturday”?

And remember to link up below the weekly 3 for TH after posting your own 3 for TH on your blog for a chance to win a three-some prize!

Make sure to link back to me at hangingbyasilverlining{dot}blogspot{dot}com so your followers who want to join in know where to get the prompts and prizes.

Or don't if you don't want the competition. :)

And the 3 for TH Prize goes to...

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Memorable?

I had a great time playing with my family and doing my best to hang on for dear life in the dieting lifestyle change scheme during a holiday weekend.

And of course I am very grateful to all those men and women and their families who have given their lives physically, mentally, emotionally for the service of our country. Thank you more than I can ever say with words.

Now that we are home I have to retrain Cee to go to sleep when I lay her in her crib. Over the weekend she got the idea that she could sleep with Mama again, snacking at will all through the night.

That parenting phrase "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you" never had so much meaning as it does when it comes to the dreaded crying-it-out method. Ugh. Since she is doing that now and I can hardly think straight as I listen to her wailing, I'm going to make this short and sweet.

The winner of last week's Three for Thursday was decided when I asked Joe to pick three numbers between 1 and 10 (7, 8, 9). I added the numbers (24) and divided by 3 (8). This means that #8 K Lind wins this week's 3 for TH prize!!

I already have your address dearie! I will get your 3 for TH: Memorial Day edition sent out ASAP.

Thanks again everyone for playing and ya'all come back now ya' hear?!

Three for Thursday

Three favorite words:
1. methinks
2. dramantics (I claim I made that one up. Patent it! Patent it!)
3. breakfast

Three things that won’t be allowed in heaven:
1. Coconut
2. Snakes. Pretty sure Adam and Eve agree.
3. Lady Gaga. If she's there, I'm headed the other way just to avoid her.

Three crafty things I do:
1. Paper crafts with the meanings of a person's name (like accordion books and picture frames)
2. Rag flannel baby quilts
3. witch craft (Just kidding. Kind of. Just ask my kids and husband; they'll tell you I can be a real witch some days. So...possible.)

Three things I swore I would NEVER do when I became a parent, but now find myself doing:
1. Utter some of the phrases I loathed hearing my parents say.
2. Let the kids watch more than an hour or two of TV.
3. Enjoy breastfeeding.

Three favorite quotes:
1. "You get what you get and you don't throw a fet fit." (Dee's NV Kindergarten teacher)
2. "If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got." (Mark Twain)
3. "You can do hard things!" (Mom)

Three names I would never dream of giving my children:
1. Aiden, or anything like unto it (Brayden, Kayden, Jaiden, Maiden, Sadan)
2. Steve (Sorry Dad!)
3. Jesus

Three things I plan to do for Memorial Day weekend:
1. Not gain back the weight I lost over the last two weeks.
2. Not start any family drama.
3. Visit graves and try not to wax overly nostalgic or melancholy.

Three blogs I love to visit:
1. Anything by Sarah Cardell. She makes me happy just reading about her journey to find happiness every day.
2. Amy @ Involuntary Smiles is a new favorite.
3. CJane of course.

Three things that make my husband/partner the luckiest man alive:
1. I don't boss him around like other wives do to their husbands. My choice of husbandly persuasion is stormy silence. Thus far it has done little to provoke him into action. Maybe it's time to try bossiness.
2. He married a woman who knew how to make Monkey Bread, Jambalaya, and home made pie.
3. Three baby girls (Jeigh, Elle, and Cee) in a row? That's gotta be lucky. Plus, he'll be feeling pretty lucky when those girls are taking care of him in his old age.

Three Pictures:

Did I mention I am a master gardener now? My first attempt at a garden. I've got lettuce, carrots, flowers, pumpkin, tomatoes, basil, rosemary, oregano, and cilantro growing. Yes, that's right! GROWING! As in "not dead"...yet.

Dee's kindergarten program.

The playroom that will NEVER get cleaned. No matter how much I yell, beg, threaten, bribe, coax, cheer. UGH!!!!

Oops! How did that get in there?! Well since it's there...

Three things I love about this picture:
1. That she has enough hair that it floats in the water around her head like a little crown.
2. She's being oh so modest. Her daddy will appreciate that since I'm breaking his rules about putting naked baby pictures online.
3. How can you not love a chubby baby enjoying her bath pic?!

Methinks you should consider linking up below if thou doth want a chance to win an utterly awesome three-ish prize.

3 for TH Prompt

Late as usual. It's been a crazy single mom kind of week. 'Nuff said.

Here's the prompt for tomorrow's 3 for TH:

1. Three favorite words
2. Three things that won’t be allowed in heaven
3. Three crafty things I do
4. Three things I swore I would NEVER do when I became a parent, but now find myself doing
5. Three favorite quotes
6. Three names I would never dream of giving my children
7. Three things I plan to do for Memorial Day weekend
8. Three blogs I love to visit
9. Three things that make my husband/partner the luckiest man alive
10. Three Pictures

Remember to link up tomorrow to be eligible for the 3 for TH prize!

Ta-ta!

Peanut Butter Candy (Like They Made in Elementary School!)

Back in my elementary school days all the kids were absolutely nuts about this stuff called Peanut Butter Candy.

Me...Not so much.

I was everybody's best friend in the cafeteria on Peanut Butter Candy days because everybody wanted to trade something for that distasteful little chunk of peanut butter and chocolate.

Funny how your tastes change as you get older.

When we blessed Cee a couple of months back, my cousin Melissa (who eats gluten-free by the way) brought a panful of Peanut Butter Candy to the luncheon afterwards. People were practically elbowing each other out of the way to get to that pan of chocolaty, peanut buttery goodness. The little kids hardly stood a chance, unless they could reach from under the table and bypass the crowd of adults vying for a piece...or two...or three.

After the blessing and luncheon were over and everyone had gone on their merry ways, Joe and I talked about what a beautiful day it had been. Sure, we blessed our baby and all, but his lasting impression of the day???

Must. Have. Peanut. Butter. Candy. Recipe.

So I asked my cousin for it.

If I had only known how simple it was to make...I'd probably be trying to lose twice as much weight as I already am.

I made some yesterday. In fact I made a double batch yesterday. A pretty rotten thing to do to myself whilst in the middle of a weight loss journey. But I was a very good girl. I ate a few pieces, sent half with my sister who was visiting for the day, and half to the neighbors who had sent over some roast beef for dinner the night before. (Never return a dish empty, I say.)

Since I can't make a habit out of making these little bits of heaven, at least I can share some heaven with you.

Elementary School Peanut Butter Candy

3 cups Rice Chex cereal (for those who eat gluten-free) or Rice Crispies cereal, crushed (I've tried both ways. I thought the Chex made it a little more crunchy than the Rice Krispies did.)
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I bet you could use crunchy too.)
2 TBSP softened butter
1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar
Chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet, but you could use milk chocolate.)

Combine first four ingredients in one bowl. Mix thoroughly then press firmly into 9x9 pan.

Melt chocolate chips in double boiler: Fill bottom of pot with inch of water. Heat to boiling. Place glass bowl over pot of water and pour in chocolate chips. Turn down heat on pot. Chocolate chips will melt quickly. Stir every so often until chocolate is completely melted and creamy.

Pour chocolate on peanut butter layer. Smooth out chocolate. Then just try to resist Peanut Butter Candy while the chocolate cools and hardens. Place in fridge hoping to speed up the process.

Devour. Or share with your neighbors after daintily eating a piece or two...or...Don't.

I'm linking up my peanut buttery, chocolaty memories, recipe, and good behavior with Amy at Involuntary Smiles for Time Out Tuesday.

Stupid

I just wrote a long stupid post telling you how much I missed reading blogs and what a bad bloggy friend I was these days and that you should just stop reading my blog.

I just erased it.

It was dumb. Same old same old stupid excuses and pathetic writing.

Here's the gist:

I am a bad bloggy friend.
I have been really pathetic at reading and commenting.
But I don't want you to stop reading.

I do want you to know I think about you all often. (In my stupid post I had started to name names...Never a good idea.)

I hope this new (and improved?...Doubtful.) post finds you TRULY happy, healthy, and busy, in a good way.

Just like me.

I'm coming to grips with it. I'm busy. I may be JUST a stay at home mom but wouldn't you know it, I went and got busy (maybe why I have four kids...*drum drum cymbal*).

Having four kids will do that to a person.

We got soccer games, dentist appointments, eye appointments, doctor appointments, sick and well, dance classes, piano lessons, kindergarten, play dates, zoo trips, museum visits, piano practice, preschool lessons, scripture study, dinners, baths, bedtimes, potty training, exercising, play time, reading time, wasting time, no time, all the time, crazy time, on and on and on.

WHEW!

LIFE will do that to a person. Life is busy. Life is good. And it just is.

I keep trying to write a really thoughtful end to this post, telling you how I love you all and love your blogs and love your comments and just love your faces, but want to make sure my children are my number one priority, but it just sounds kind of uppity and cold. So forget that.

Not the kids, just the fancy ending.

Love you. Love my kids. Peace out.


P.S. Thank you to all who joined in on the Three for Thursday!! I finally got a chance to visit your links last night. I loved reading everyone's answers! It was a lot of fun! Sounds like few of us have had good experiences with epidurals...(Wish I had known that BEFORE I opted to have one.)

FYI: I'm planning to keep this meme going. I'll post the prompt on Wednesday night and post my answers with a link option on Thursday morning (I'll try to do better than I did this week. Yikes!). AND I'll pick a random winner from those who link up each week.

Speaking of...

This week's winner was randomly decided when I took the third letter of my third child's blog name, "Elle", and looked on my phone to see what number L was associated with on the dial pad.

That would be #5! Congratulations to M (I don't know if you share your name on your blog??) at The Roller Coaster of Life! Send me your address so I can send you your prize (a package of THREE goodies! See how we got a theme going here?)

P.P.S. To She Who Shall Not Be Named and anyone else who had trouble linking up this week: I don't think you could link up because your profile is not public. That's all I can figure out. :(

P.P.P.S. To those who asked where I get my Three for Thursday material...I just make this stuff up. I am the money maker. Got any ideas for me?

Three for Thursday

Three things that kept me from getting this post up in any kind of a timely manner:
1. An overflowing toilet full of...stuff.
2. An utterly pathetic workout constantly interrupted by 4 children.
3. The black hole my brain is every time I sit down at the computer.

Three home improvement projects: (once we FINALLY buy this house)
1. Paint a wall...or two or four. And get those dang picture frames hung up.
2. Figure out a way to construct some gardening boxes up on our hillside of a yard.
3. Tear off the 70's style Haun's Mill mural wall paper that covers an entire wall in our basement.

Three favorite songs:
1. "Dream" Priscilla Ahn
2. "Come What May" Moulin Rouge soundtrack
3. "If You're Not the One" Daniel Bedingfield ("Our" song)

Three dreadful things I’m really not looking forward to in the near future:
1. Returning the new cell phone that is too complicated for my own good.
2. Trying to think of something to make for dinner other than cold cereal.
3. Folding that mountain of laundry looming on the couch.

Three most surprising things about giving birth for the first time:
1. My babies look like little wrinkly old men
2. Epidurals don't always "take"
3. All the leaking afterwards. Leaking from...everywhere. No one told me about the leaking.

Three easy recipes:
1. Recipe for Disaster: Take 1 two year old. Add 1 toilet. Toss in one potty training accident, a package of wipes flushed down the toilet by the two year old, and one prayer that the water will please stop rising. Garnish with a few colorful words and serve to husband when he gets home from work.

2. Easy Chicken Burritos: Buy one rotisserie chicken from Costco. Strip meat from bones and shred. Mix shredded cheese and salsa with chicken. Place tortilla on plate. Top with chicken mixture. Microwave for 2 minutes. Wrap up tortilla and eat. Use a wheat tortilla and add black beans and diced tomatoes when feeling particularly healthy.

3. Semi-Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup: Put 4-5 chicken breasts in large pot along with roughly cut onions, celery, carrots, salt and pepper. Cover with water. Bring to boil and lower temperature to simmer. Simmer for half hour. Take chicken breasts out and cut up. Add back to pot. Bring water back to boil. Add chicken bouillon to taste. Add bag of frozen egg noodles. Boil 20 minutes. Serve.

(Poop and food in one answer...Classy.)

Three really totally awesome things I did today that make me a Super Mom/Super Woman:
1. Did not kill children
2. Prayed for patience
3. Set aside everything else to hold two year old and tell her I love her. Even if she does push me to the point of big, soppy, wet tears of frustration.

Three things I never leave home without:
1. My head. Well...that's debatable.
2. Children
3. A list

Three favorite movies pre-1970:
1. The Court Jester
2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
3. The Ten Commandments

Three best skills:
1. Crazy-mad number memory/recall skills (Just call me Rain Woman)
2. word games goddess
3. Tootsie roll molding

Three awkward happenings on the honeymoon:
1. When I got felt up in the hotel swimming pool by a bunch of pre-teen boys playing Marco Polo instead of by my husband who chose to snooze on the lounge chair pool side instead of swimming laps with me.

2. Returning to my parents' house the morning after (wink, wink) for our wedding gifts and my sister swinging open the front door only to greet me with a condemning "Hello, Non-Virgin".

3. When I stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a floor length, high neck, flannel granny nightgown. In my head it was going to get a huge laugh. Not so much.

Three pictures:

I found a series of pictures on the camera from one of my budding photographers. Here's one of about 20.



Dee walked in the house from school and whipped open his shirt to show me the paper his teacher had pinned on him for the day. It's a good system, but it just strikes me as ridiculously funny that my son is a paper mule. Paper held on by a sharp pointy object no less.



Our first Bountiful Basket goodies!



Happy Thursday! And remember to link up below by Sunday to be eligible for the random drawing!

Psst...Didn't get it done by Thursday? No problem! Four for Friday works for me.

Prompt for 3 for TH {19 May 2011}

Hey there!

There are a few of you who are really digging my new little accidental meme, Three for Thursday.

I know, I know.

I just called out all you repeat meme offenders , WITHIN a meme no less. Now that takes some chops.

What a hypocrite, right?

Ehhh...Right.

Well, here's the prompt for tomorrow's Three for Thursday if you've forgiven me and want in. (Most of these were contributed by a fellow blogger, She Who Shall Not Be Named. Have a few ideas? Send 'em my way and I'll give credit where credit is deserved.)

1. Three home improvement projects
2. Three favorite songs
3. Three dreadful things I’m really not looking forward to in the near future
4. Three most surprising things about giving birth for the first time
5. Three easy recipes
6. Three really totally awesome things I did today that make me a Super Mom/Super Woman
7. Three things I never leave home without
8. Three favorite movies pre-1970
9. Three best skills
10. Three awkward happenings on the honeymoon

And let us not forget...Three pictures

Feel free to change any of the prompt up for your own intents and purposes. It won't hurt my feelin's none.

Make sure to link up tomorrow if you want us all to head on over to your neck of the blogosphere...

(I think I'm feeling rather hick-ish today, can you tell?)

And just to make things more interesting, maybe I'll send a prize to one lucky linker-upper.

Whaddya say? Sound like a rootin' tootin' cow wranglin' time?

Well alright then. Ya'all come back now, ya' hear?

(Why not embrace it I say. Why not.)

P.S. Thanks to whoever suggested putting this out on Wednesday night. Bethany, was it you???

All Broken Up About It

I realized yesterday as I sat in my broken recliner holding my broken baby while not having my broken computer to work on that I was happy.

Truly.

And not happy because my life was so easy.

Happy because it has been hard.

(Not that it has been sooooo hard. I don't want this to be a whiny post. I hate when I go back and read my posts and they seem to be whiny. Example: yesterday's post. Sorry about that.)

No, my life is not hard, but no, it's not easy.

Because my life has not been easy and I have not always had every little thing I wanted all the time I am truly happy.

Because of that rotten, unhappy two years of imprisonment in Arizona, I now appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the majestic snow capped mountains I can see out the back porch from my broken recliner.

After living two and a half states away from my family, a two and a half hour drive with little kids in our one car is something to smile about.

Because of those two years spent in the hot, brown, dusty desert I appreciate the soft green grass growing in my backyard. After struggling through two intensely hot summers I don't complain anymore when the snow continues to cover that grassy backyard in April or May.

The small, ugly, gravel driveway of a "yard" we had in Nevada makes me thankful to actually have a backyard with grass and fences and nice neighbors who drop by to see how we are doing.

The teensy tinesy tin can of a trailer that came with that gravely driveway that I was so mortified to live in in Nevada has proven beneficial after all. Whenever I think of that "house" I am more than willing and happy to clean and care for this amazing house we live in now.

When I get frustrated with the children who keep the house in a constant state of chaos I think of the times I wondered if I was even going to be able to have children. Those heartbreaking months upon months of one lined pregnancy tests cause me to appreciate these four beautiful babies even when they drive me to craziness.

As I face health issues in the present I find myself wishing I had appreciated my good health when I had it. As I hopefully regain that health I will look back on times when it wasn't so great and appreciate how good it is to be of sound mind and body.

There is so much more.

But I don't need to tell you how life is hard.

I'm sure you know well enough from your own experiences.

But I want you to know too that I can be more than just whiny when my life is "hard". I can be happy when everything breaks because it makes me that much more grateful when things were much worse or when we didn't even have "things" to break.

The hard times are a blessing. They help us to be extra thankful for the not-so-hard times.

Today, I may be a little broken, but I am happy.

Broken

phone (prayer, good luck charms, and a wish on a star is needed to keep it turned on)

computer (1 two year old + 1 full glass of water + 1 working laptop = 1 not-so-working laptop)

car (not really so much "broken" as "needs to be returned to missionary brother who is now home wanting his ride back")

right ear (has been ringing since I woke up this morning)

baby (breathing funny, double ear infections, and possible milk allergy)

diet (emotional eater much?)

recliner chair (but still comfy!)

budget (didn't plan for all of this)

plans (so much for that trip)

bank account (ouch.)

spirit (Anyone got a bandaid?)


Time to get busy fixing things!

Three for Thursday

Three things that come to my mind immediately. GO!:
1. kittens
2. buying houses
3. It's already Thursday?!

Three things I did instead of blogging this week:
1. Ate healthy (it takes a lot of concentration for me)
2. Went to This is the Place State Park with my parents and my sister and her kids(Way more fun than I thought it was going to be!)
3. Gave out every bit of our personal information to a complete stranger in hopes they are a legitimate mortgage company. If my bank account gets cleaned out in the next day or two...it was my own fault.

Three things I would like to learn how to do:
1. speak Spanish or French or both
2. be still
3. quilt

Three things that are pressing on my mind:
1. Dee was at the top of his class in NV and is now apparently at the bottom of his UT class according to all the red ink notes we find scribbled all over his kindergarten worksheets everyday ("Is he even listening? He was the only one to do this wrong. Last to finish. I erased this and made him to do it again.")
2. How to make the budget and the need to get a second car work together.
3. How Cee has changed so much in just the last three days.

Three pictures:





Three personal pet peeves I have about blogging:
1. Grown women who talk like dirty gangstas (I'm not your "peep" and why will you "cut" me?)
2. Starting everything with a preliminary "Okay." ("Okay. Today is Monday blah blah blah. Okay. Then I blah blah blah.")
3. Meme after meme after meme. Where's the real writing?

Three people I find intriguing:
1. Justin Timberlake
2. The Noisy Plume
3. My middle daughter Elle

Three "surprises" I found this week:
1. A quarter sized snail that had oozed its way to the top of the glass sliding doors. Creepy. And it's still there.
2. The "popcorn" popping on the...whatever that tree is. (popcorn=blossoms)
3. That I had won Amy's @ Involuntary Smiles Time Out for Tuesday drawing!

Three things I enjoyed about Mother's Day 2011:
1. Watching my husband get out of bed before me to take care of breakfast and kids
2. Hearing someone mess up on the musical number in church, laughing out loud into the microphone, and starting over again. (That was a first.)
3. I know this is the part where I am supposed to say "my children" or "all the handmade cards", but I have to admit I was quite relieved to see them go to bed after much whining and bickering. There. I said it.

Three things I just can't resist:
1. homemade Oreos
2. Cee's cheeks
3. Putting off writing to watch episodes of The Office on Netflix

Three things I did for The Jolly Green Giant so far this week:
1. Ate lots of dark leafy green salad
2. Drank lots of water
3. Pretended like half an hour of playing the Wii "Just Dance" game with the kids was my workout

Three suggestions for Evelyn @ Hanging by a Silver Lining for following Three for Thursday link-ups:
1.
2.
3.

The linking option is below. Do consider it.

The Jolly Green Giant

I am a glutton.

A glutton for punishment.

and

if I was being honest (which I am especially today) just a plain glutton.

I'm a glutton for punishment because I did something kind of stupid.

I started another blog.

{nervous giggle} My husband is going to shoot me.

But wait! Gluttony for punishment is for a good reason! My new blog is my attempt at squashing the glutton right out of me.

I need to start a journey. And the blogger in me needs the reward of recording that journey.

So, here I go. And if you want to join me, I would gladly accept you as my companion.

Warning: It's probably going to get real ugly over there. It's going to be sweaty, whiny, venty, and probably hopefully a little boasty too. It's a take-me-as-I-am kind of thing.

Or should I say a take-me-as-I-become-a-better-"am" kind of thing?

Who Says Time Out Tuesday Has to Be on Tuesday?

It's Saturday. Perfect time to link up for Time Out Tuesday with my new bloggy buddy, Amy at Involuntary Smiles.

(I meant to do it last week. But I got busy. I meant to do it this week, but I had a theme going and just couldn't break away from my self-inflicted rut.)

Since Joe has been out of town for the last two weeks there has been no such thing as Time Out. I've tried to squeeze some "Me Time" in after the kids go to bed by watching episodes of The Office on Netflix or getting some writing done. But being on Mommy Duty 24-7 for two weeks straight takes its toll. Even these things did little to make me feel refreshed and refilled.

Joe's home now. And even though I have the chance to escape now...I don't want to.

These are the times that I really love being a mom when I have my husband here and we are working as a team to raise the little family we created together. As soon as he walks in the door I can feel myself relaxing...literally, physically and emotionally.

Happiness is being reunited as a complete family, laying in the grass in our yard, soaking in a mild Spring evening.

Time Out for Mommy will have to wait until later.