Burnt Offerings

Some things I will never do. Like mow the lawn, skydive or eat live octopus. I know I will never do these things. Because I don't want to.

Other things I have tried and know I never will again like eat hot oatmeal, watch street hockey, or hold the leash of an angry dog. None of these things ended well for me.

But the other night I thought I could tackle the task of barbecuing. I mean really... how hard could it be? Thousands have taken on this challenge successfully and come out unscathed.

I would like to formally apologize to the meat and to my family.

What You Get

Brett is home from his 12 day trip to Hawaii and life is back to normal in our house... well as normal as it gets for our family. Before he left Brett made me promise two things: 1/ everyone had to be alive when he returned and 2/ I had to be there when he got home (no running away). At the end of the first day when he called me on the phone I confessed that I wasn't sure I could keep those promises. (Actually I never committed to those in the first place.) :)

But seriously... I know I was being blessed while Brett was gone in so many ways. On one of my busiest days when I wasn't sure how I was going to pull everything off a friend brought us dinner out of the blue. Wow! It was totally unexpected and totally appreciated.

But now that he is home I can ask for help. Of course he continues to surprise me at times with the results. Like tonight when I reminded him that Sunday is his night for dinner.

What we got....

Spaghetti tacos. Thanks ICarly.

Photogram Fun

A new semester has begun and I can't believe that I am already 3 weeks into classes. Last semester I took one photography class and did just fine so I decided to try two classes and see if "fine" still applied. I am crazy busy but learning so much in my Design class and strengthening what I already know in my Photography 1 class.

We did do something completely new to me today though in Photography 1 .... photograms. This was so much fun and I was sad when class time was up. We had to bring a bunch of items to play around with in the dark room on the enlarger.

Here are some of my results...

I have to admit that my favorite photograms are the ones using my kids toys and crafts.

Kids have all the good stuff.

Canadian No Longer???

They say that bad things happen in threes. I never really put stock in that theory but today on the freeway in a moment of shock and horror my unbelieving heart began to believe.

In this last week tragedy first struck when my beloved electric pencil sharpener that I received as a wedding gift died. Next to my weddings rings, it was one of the best gifts I received. I will have to think of a suitable burial. No sharpener has ever compared to this miraculous wonder and despite its ugly appearance it has worked its magic for years. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Tragedy number two ... my air conditioner froze over. Not something you expect in 90 degree weather. (add to that my doorbell breaking and my turn light going out on my car). So I have a list of items to fix in all my spare time. Thanks universe... I'll get right on that inbetween classes, groceries, doctor's appointments, homework (mine and kids') laundry, meals, sick kids and getting ready for the upcoming Primary program.

But onto today's revelation. As I was driving home from school a camper came into my lane without signaling. I had to jam on my brakes to avoid being hit. The Canadian in me SHOULD have slammed on the horn when I saw him coming over to say, "HEY! DON'T COME OVER!" and because he still came over then the horn just lets him know he is an idiot for not noticing you. Yes, Canadians are known for being polite... but don't cut us off.

I, however, did not honk. In fact, my hand did not even reach for the horn. When I looked down in horror at my horn I realized that even if I had slammed the heel of my hand down on the steering wheel I would have instinctually hit the center of the wheel - hitting the word "airbag" instead of the horn.

What???

It is bad enough that I have almost completely lost my Canadian accent and terminology but to lose my horn honking too? To not even know where the horn is on my steering wheel? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Oh the shame of it.

Please don't tell my grandmother.

Kid free - Not Quite

Last night my husband and I went out to dinner and before leaving I was sure to speak to (aka lecture) my little boys about the expected behavior while we were gone. Going to bed meant staying in bed. Coming out of their rooms would only be allowed in DIRE emergencies. I emphasized DIRE EMERGENCIES (I did not,however, suggest that a fire would be a dire emergency as I was afraid one of them might think of setting a fire just to have a valid excuse to leave said bedroom).

The first phone call at dinner was the report that Giggles was screaming and yelling over his books being removed from his room 3 minutes early. 3 minutes. I suppose for an 8-year-old you can't put into perspective that 27 minutes of reading is pretty good. You want your 3 minutes that you are due for your total 30 minutes. Don't rip him off of his 3 minutes or he'll make you pay.

The second phone-call was another tattle on Giggles who kept coming out of his room to tell on Smiley who he believed was climbing on his window sill. (I still hadn't had a chance to order my food because I kept having to leave the table in order to hear what the kids were saying on the phone - the restaurant was really loud)

Phone call number three came later. Sheriff wanted a piece of lemon cake. I had no problem saying yes after babysitting his younger brothers.

I'm sure that Sheriff wishes that when Brett and I go out on dates he could do this with his brothers...

But he is the Sheriff in name only. He doesn't really have a badge. And we don't have a jail cell in our home....yet. :) So he has to put up with his brothers coming in and out of their rooms while we are gone. And we have to put up with the numerous phone calls while we are on our dates interrupting meals, movies trips to the store etc.

How many more years of this?

I can't wait until they have their own kids and they call me to moan and groan about what their kids are doing and I can grin and remind them of what they did as kids. In Giggles own words this morning when he was teasing his brother... PAYBACK.