Another Monday....

I finished ready the Marie Antoinette book Saturday night. I must say that I had a weepy weekend because I cried for the last 3 chapters and then most of Sunday (we have a great teacher in Relief Society, Beth Wagnher (sp?) she teaches High School and is so talented! I love when she teaches a lesson, you can't help but feel the spirit). It didn't help that she lost 2 of her children (the first one was her baby named Sophie!) and knew she was leaving 2 more as she headed to our to lose her head. It was a interesting book, if this author was correct, she was swept away by rumors and only rumors, nothing was true. I guess we'll only know when we depart this world. I think I'll have many questions to ask the powers that be when I die.

Which reminds me, our lesson was about the importance of prayer. I have to say I have been really lacking in this area. So, I'm going to challenge myself and really try to get better at this. I'm trying to think of a way to make sure I remember, so any suggestions, I'll take them.

Joey did two things so opposite of one another this weekend, sometimes I wonder about him. I was asked to help lead the girls in Primary during the "Love is Spoken Here" song. There are hardly any girls in Senior Primary, so the Primary Chorister needs to focus on the boys. After we went through the song, they went on to the next, "This is My Beloved Son." I love this song! Joey has a solo on the 3rd verse, the Joseph saw to glorious beings, verse. So, I stayed to listen to him sing his part, since the Primary Chorister says that he is really rocking the verse and he sounds good. She was right! He did! It was gorgeous! He has such a clear, cute little boys voice. I don't get to hear it at home, because he is usually goofing around. It moved me to tears and I had to turn around while he was singing so I wouldn't make those sobbing noises. Very sweet! Just so pure...

Then, his opposite side, gone is the pure sweet spiritual boy, on comes the "of course I did all of my homework." Oh, I hate that he lies to me. I checked his stuff as he went along, but I can't keep up completely and I trusted him. I didn't know that I couldn't until recently and this drove the stake in the heart. Wow, it hurts to think he'll lie about homework. I hope that I can cure him of this habit before it involves more important things.

And now, to change the subject, since that one is bothering me. I'm getting ready for Sophie's birthday. Saturday, her actually birthday (the 29th) is such a busy day. Cub scout day camp, 2 birthday parties and then a birthday party that Sophie is sharing with her cousins. I'm very sad that her 1st birthday party isn't going to be just for her. But, her uncle wanted to host the party and I don't want to make waves and offend him. So, on Sunday, we'll have an official party for her at my mom's house. Right after I get out of church, which unfortunate, is 5:00. Next year we are the 8:00 ward, so from one extreme to the other. Anyhoo, she's too young to really know, and as long as she knows we love her and she gets some presents from me, I'm all set! And, of course, the cute shots of her getting cake all over herself!

Okay Amie, here's mine...but I do have to add Porn name (I know, but we did it in High School)

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Brownie Freestyle

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Chubby Hubby Oreo (That's crazy!)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)C-Cav

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Purple Frog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Ellen Jacksonville

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)Cav-Ch (That is from another planet)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")
The Black Pomegranate Sprizter (I wonder what my superpower is)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Willis Paul (or if I use one's nickname Bud Paul)

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)
Happy Chocolate

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )
Gayle Lynn

11. PORN NAME (first pet & first street name you lived on)
Brownie Puget (or now, with current pet and street) Shiloh Fletcher

My little guy

Well yesterday my baby boy turned 9 years old. Sometimes it takes me a second to fully realize that I have nutured and cared for another human being well enough that he has lived 9 years. Wow! Yeah me! He has survived unscathed! Well, except for the foot thing last year and when he biffed it on his bike, well realitively unscathed!

He had a birthday party on Saturday for his church/school friends and cousins. I kid you not he had 34 kids there! I know because I only had 34 goodie bags and they were all dispersed within seconds! Don't worry though, we didn't break the bank and we spent way less than we would have at home. Those parties were crazy!

Now on to the next birthday! Johnathen turns 6 years old on the 23rd. He just cracks me up everyday. On the way to a baseball game he and Joey were discussing the fact that Johnathen gets to be the ring bearer at his dad's wedding in November. Johnathen told Joey that he was not an animal and he was going to be a "Ring Guy" not a "Ring Bear!" Oh, too cute!

Then, to wrap up September, my little Sophie will turn 1! My mom is going to take her to have her picture done. Can you believe it, this is the first professional photo? Poor third child! Joey had his done like every month! Oh well, the digital camera is full of her gorgeous image. Don't worry about the party though, Sophie's will be small and intimate. As they can get!

Oops, she had homework?

I'm a terrible mom, I forgot that my kindergartener had homework. We finished it, but I have to say it's a dang good thing it's easy to do or we would have been in big trouble! Boy, times sure have changed, I don't remember having homework in Kindergarten. So, I decided to use a journal jar topic (refer to an earlier post on this one) to blog about today.

The Question is: How did you feel about school?

I loved school! Well, I loved highschool. Elementry school is almost a blur now. I remember certain friends and teachers. I remember the one girl in 4th grade that decided she hated me. This was the closest I have ever been to being in a fight. We were playing kickball and she was on 3rd base. I was at 2nd running to 3rd. I was going to be able to score a run, so as I rounded 3rd, she grabbed my high-on-my-head-80's-ponytail and pulled hard. I almost hit the ground. Well, I did the most un-Mormonlike thing I could do. I called her many names that I'm sure can be overheard being muttered by a drunken-sailor on shore leave. I'm not proud of it, but I did it. So later, she moved in for the fight. Confronted, I admit, I ran. I ran right to Mr. Farmer the music teacher. I did hard time for this fight. Detention during lunch recess.

Otherwise, besides the "pizza-face" comments I normally got, I remember having friends. I remember subject I really enjoyed. I loved music and art!

Art class was wonderful. I really enjoyed art, and I wasn't too bad at it. My drawings usually looked like they were supposed to. I was a little weird with my subject choices, for example I did a plaster cast of my foot instead of my hand like everyone else. I painted it black with eye balls on it. It could have sold for millions to some yuppie in New York. But, alas, my real love called me. Music!

My first choir experience was in 7th grade. I moved in too late in the 6th grade year to join, and my old school didn't have it, so I waited until 7th grade to try out. We had to audition with the classic tune "Happy Birthday." I surprised my teacher by being a soprano. I have a naturally deeper speaking voice, so people think it's weird to hear me talk then hit a high B or C (I have done it, but it's been awhile). But then, I just was a soprano. I made choir that year and the next. We had this crazy show choir that had a whole choreographed show. We always did popular music (go Whitney). It was fun! I didn't take choir freshman year of high school because I was taking Keyboarding 101, which by the way, landed me my job at the State (almost 10 years), so THANKS MOM!

Let's see....Oh! Kindergarten. I remember we had these books called Letter Books (creative!) Each week, a new letter and book. I liked them because they had pages with different smells. If you remember, the 80's enjoyed may different types of Scratch-In-Sniff, and the school district thought that learning the alphabet should also include scratching and sniffing. We also took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. We sat a common tables in kindergarten, so they partitioned us off with those cardboard building blocks that looked like red bricks. I remember poking my pencil in the holes between blocks. We got a cup of trail mix to keep our energy up while we were tested. I picked out all the good stuff and left the raisins (I still do that!)

I also remember we wanted to be in class with this one girl (between 1st and 4th grade) because her mom always brought in the best gifts for the class for Halloween, Christmas and her birthday. Quality stuff, like Tinkerbell nailpolish that pealed off.

Halloween was Halloween when I was in school. It was a huge costume parade. Everyone was in costume. We had a great party and ate HOMEMADE treats. I only remember one group of people not participating, the Jehovah Witnesses (funny, but I didn't realize that was a religion when I was little, I just always felt sorry for the kid that couldn't have a birthday party). That's it! Halloween wasn't evil, it was pure fun!

Christmas was wonderful also. It was Christmas. We had gift exchange. We made paper angels and colored Santas and sang Christmas songs. All of them, including the ones with Jesus! Oh, back in the day (as Dane says, that was a Wednesday).

I can't say enough about how cool High School was for me. I always encourage everyone to be involved in High School. Join clubs! I still have friends from those clubs! And, if I needed to prove how much I liked High School. '96-'97 Yearbook, Most likely to Return to Every Homecoming. PHS! Who's House? Cat's House! (I know all the words to the Fight Song and the Alma Mater, I'm a real geek!)

Back From the Dead!

Well today I'm back to work. I've been mostly dead for the last 3 days. Don't you love Princess Bride? Anyhoo, I had this horrible stomach thingy with a fever. Today I feel like I'm walking under water, I'm slow and drained, but now I'm mostly alive.

I finished The Good Earth, The Nanny Diaries and The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. So, here's a short book review

The Good Earth-Boy life sucked in China! Mostly for women. There were times that it was horrible, but because it was written a billion years ago, it wasn't graphic. It was tasteful. If you've read the book, you understand what I'm talking about with the women, but if you haven't when a girl is born, they call it a slave from the start. They usually don't even name them, just call them a slave. Wow!

The Nanny Diaries-Wow, rich people suck! Just kidding, mostly I'm amazed that people have children that don't really want them. Instead they pay someone else to raise them and then criticize the way it is been done. It happens all the time. The Nanny Diaries give you look into the life of a nanny. Only a couple bad words, no graphic stuff.

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon-Things can go bad in someone's life, but there is always hope that something will get better for them. I liked this book. Some of the subject matter is a little out there, but it is written for adults and it has a happy ending. I liked it, it was written by the same person that wrote Where the Heart Is.

Sorry that they weren't very involved reviews, but hey, I've only been mostly alive for about 4 hours!

Ode to my performing side...

Thank goodness it's Friday! Woo-hoo! This week has been pretty tough. Many things are going on at work, lot's of stuff going on at home. Fun, fun, fun.

Last night I got to see Hairspray. Go fat girls! To bad we didn't do that show when I was in high school, I would totally have gotten that part. Now I'm old enough to play Tracey's mom. But, since it's funner with a guy, I would lose that part too. So, I've decided to write about roles I have played on stage and the dream roles I would love to play.

Roles I've played (with a little desired roles thrown in)

• Mrs. Paroo, The Music Man-My first "real" part. My Irish brogue won them over and I was a 14 year old mother of two :)
• Olga Katrina, You Can't Take It With You-I've played this role twice. Once in High School and once in college. Again, I guess it was the accent and my old lady body :)
• Hello, Dolly-I had a crappy part in this, but boy do I want to play Dolly! The good thing is she is an older part so I could actually still play her. Whenever I go down stairs, I sing in my mind "it's so nice to be back home where I belong."
• Dr. Strauss, Flowers For Algernon-I played a part that was written for a dude. I also had to wear Sally Jesse Raphael glasses. For those of you too young to know, she was a talk show host that had these big, red framed glasses.
• Lady Thiang, The King and I-I loved this part. I sang "Something Wonderful" for my auditions for the Thespian Society Scholarship. I was a finalist, but lost to a girl that had money and didn't really need it. Irony. This was also the part when my voice really started to develop. I had spent the whole summer and fall before singing Barbra Streisand songs. I think the practice helped.
• The Baker's Wife, Into the Woods-Darn my tonsils! I had them out and lost the part of the Witch. Someday it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.
• Mabel, The Pajama Game-Always the heavy set side kick, *sigh* On a side note, I had to do a tap dance number in this show. If you don't know, I can't dance!
• Arthur's Mother, Silhouettes Against the Storm-this was a Stake musical. In Peoria. I can't really remember my character's name. I had only one scene. For those of you that know Pioneer Stories, I sang a song based on the story of the little boy that went missing in the snow and his father went out to find him with the mother's red shawl. When he found the boy he was supposed to wave the red shawl in the air so they could see it in the snow. Such a pretty song! BTW, they found him....
• Miss Tweed, Somethings Afoot-this one was fun. Again, an older lady, but a cute role. I died onstage. Cool.
• Ensemble, The Christmas Schooner-my first community theatre show. Theater Works. I hadn't done a show in years! Since right before I got pregnant with Abby. I decided to try out for a musical. This is a cool show, they do it ever year now at Theater Works (ours was the 1st year) and it has kids parts in it too, a family affair. It's about how German families brought the 1st Christmas trees to America, it's based on a true story. I have a book that they based the show on. It's really interesting if anyone wants to borrow it.
• Madame Ernestine Von Liebedich, Little Mary Sunshine-I really liked this show. I was Zoni nominate for this role. It also about killed me. I was pregnant with Sophie and was so nauseated I was miserable all the time. I also did Schooner right before this, two shows back to back, working full time, a mom and wife. Yeah, no wonder I have been ordered to take a break.

Roles I want to Play (Dream roles remember (some may be cheesy!), I may be too old, but they may do the show at the Senior Center and I'm in!)

• Narrator, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat-this role will one day be mine! I have the whole thing memorized. I'm still mad that they did it after I graduated.
• The Witch-as mentioned above
• Dolly Levi-as mentioned above
• Elphaba, Wicked-duh, I think everyone wants to do this one
• Maria, The Sound of Music
• Carlotta, Phantom of the Opera
• Queen Elizabeth-The Pirate Queen- I just love Queen Elizabeth and this new show has her in it! I have a book about this lady if anyone is curious
• Tracey-Hairspray
• Fanny Bryce, Funny Girl
• Eva, Evita

Well that's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure there are many, many more!

What's my ipod going to play?

I put my ipod on shuffle (I have a 30gig, video ipod-I love it and I'm addicted) and decided to see what were the first 4 songs it played and tell you a little about a memory I have of that song. Sort of weird, I guess, but I'm going for different....so....

1. Cowboy Take Me Away-Dixie Chicks-I love this song. I remember that I had a CD that I would plug a cassette adapter into my '93 Ford Escort and listen to this CD. I lucked out and got free tickets to see them when they were here in like 2000 or something. Before all of the controversy, when they still rocked-Don't believe everything you hear out there! Anyhoo, I would play this song on the way home from work and picking Joey up from Daycare. He was so cute, he would sing this song in his cute little baby voice. Adorable. Of course, he didn't realize he was singing about a guy....

2. One Day I'll Fly Away-Nicole Kidman-Moulin Rouge-I love this movie! Who doesn't love a guy that can sing and also kick butt with a light saber! Go Ewan!

3. November Rain-Guns N Roses-Whoa, let's get into the "Way back machine" I mostly remember this as a really long video.

4. Somewhere Over the Rainbow-by (ready for this) Israel Kamakawiwo'ole-I love this version. I first heard it in the movie 50 first dates. It was also used in commercials and stuff. It's really pretty. I love the ukulele in the background. If you haven't heard it, check it out it's beautiful. Anyway, another memory I have is James singing it to the girls when they are trying to fall asleep. James is a tenor, believe it or not, and can still hit some of those high notes!

As you can see, my ipod contains a strange mix. I love so many types of music, so I have a little bit of everything.

And Amie, you are right, blogging is addicting!

This is such a cute picture I had to put it on my blog. It reminds me of Abby. She would stand on top of our vents (our air conditioning vents are on the floor) and let the air blow her skirt.

The weekend is over...yuck!

I'm thoroughly bummed that my long weekend is now over and I'm sitting at my boring desk doing boring work. Seriously, whoever invented work stinks!

My weekend started out pretty good. I decided to hit the bookstore and pick up some books that went unpicked at the last book club meeting. A friend of mine is lending me the chosen book, Marley and Me. I decided to buy myself an anniversary present, since I knew James wouldn't get around to buying me anything or figure out what I actually wanted. Sunday, Sept. 2nd was our 7th anniversary. Only 7 married, 10 together and 3 months sealed. I have 3 anniversaries. But, I digress. So, I bought myself a Barnes and Noble membership. I know I'll get use out of it since I do prefer to buy my books in hopes that I can read them again or pass them on (and since I owe money at the library). I came home and told James how much I appreciated his present. So I picked up The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, by Billie Letts and for fun, The Nanny Diaries. I always like to read the book before the movie. Like The Devil Wears Prada, that was a great book! The movie was okay, but the book, fantastic! So, I'll be using my card to purchase more in the future. If anyone wants to borrow anything after I've read it, let me know!

I also got some things at Target, mostly for Sophie. I just love to get her things. She is so funny! James taped that Yo Gabba Gabba show for her and she loves it. It is very weird and the guy that hosts the show is the skinniest man I have ever seen! But, she loves it and dances to the music. Here's the website, just so you know what I'm talking about http://www.nickjr.com/shows/yo-gabba-gabba/index.jhtml Here's a picture for easy reference.
So, anyway, about my anniversary. It really wasn't anything special. I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip and regular chocolate chip cookies. Not from scratch, but from the handy little pre-cut circles the Doughboy has so lovingly made me. They were very good and after dieting all this time, they were exceptionally good. We did eat out several times and most of the weekend I felt bloated from all of the food! I'm back to dieting today, though. But, we didn't have any special dinner out by ourselves or anything. We spent it with the kids and it was good enough for me.

Labor day consisted of spending time at my brother in laws house. I'm not going to get stared here, but boy does he aggravate me. Can't we have one get together without consuming mass quantities of beer? He gets louder than usual, so picture a drunken Mexican dude, with a pot-belly yelling in a voice that sounds like Sylvester Stalone in Rocky. "Adrian!" On a side note, my sister in law looks terrible. She has been diagnosed with MS, and although I'm not a fan of hers, she has lost like 20lbs and she is looking a little like Skeletor (He-Man reference). She says it's from working. She just needs to take care of herself.

Tonight I'm going to the Diamondbacks games with my folks, my brother and my Joey. It should be fun. Joey is really excited. I'm considering it one of his birthday presents. He's almost 9!