I did it!!!!

Oh my gosh! After messing with this stupid background for many, MANY hours, I finally figured it out and my blog has it's new facelift. So, that's that. Was it worth it? I think so, but I'm not sure if my neglected children do. Oh well, it is what it is.

Under Construction

Well, I thought I'd give my blog a little facelift, so I designed a new background with some fancy doo-dads on it. I followed some instructions I got on a blog designing tutorial, but they didn't work! My cute background (you can see it if you scroll to the very bottom of the blog) doesn't fit and now I've lost my last template with the HTML that my dh tweaked for me. I'm so sad my blog is BORING!!! It's too late at night to keep trying to fix it, so I'll just apologize for the stark look and keep trying to make my new design work. If anyone knows how to do this, let me know!

Addendum

Oops, I forgot my favorite room pictures! These are just boring and in color. (SEE POST BELOW FOR THE FIRST PART OF THIS EXERCISE)

This is the living room. I love the warmth of this room and of course, I love our piano. A major contributor to my loving this room is because it tends to stay mostly clean.

This is my office (and guest room). I love having my own space and I LOVE being on my computer! (it's so nice having seven bedrooms, so I get my own room too.) It could be cuter, but I'll take what I can get and someday I'll cutify.


Okay, that's that for the world's longest and most distracting blog tag!

Artistic Chaos

My wonderful friend Jenny tagged me for my worst nightmare. It's a photo tour of some specific places and people in my house. The rules went like this. As soon as you get the tag you go and take pictures (without cleaning or straightening anything first) of...1. your toilet, 2. your closet, 3. what your children are doing right now, 4. your laundry room (argh!!), 5. your favorite room in the house, 6. a picture of yourself and 7. your kitchen sink. Jenny should know me better than to subject me to such humiliation, but I'm making the best of it. Everything looks better at fun angles and in black and white, right? So here is my latest photography exhibit titled, "Artistic Chaos". Some are more artistic than others. =]

There's just no making this closet look good, but I hoped the black & white would help a little...CLOSET IN CHAOS
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Not bad for my laundry room...LAUNDRY ROOM WITH SHOE GARDEN
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I really like how this one turned out. Who knew I could enjoy a toilet shot so much (the enjoyment would have been lessened astronomically if I hadn't just cleaned it last night after a LENGTHY period of neglect!)ANGLED COMMODE
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Just a note here: My sink is full of dishes. You don't want to see an ugly sink (and it is ugly!) full of the Byers old food, etc. Eww, nasty. So, here are actual pictures of the dishes in the sink, I just didn't include the sink in the shot. (By the way, I hope you enjoy the snowman bowl. These are bowls whose shape and size I love so much, they grace my cupboards year-round. Other people might think it strange to be eating out of a snowman bowl in June, but I find it makes me happy to see him in the bottom of my cinnamon Life.)
VINTAGE DISHES I
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VINTAGE DISHES II
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VINTAGE DISHES III
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Here I've captured my kids in their natural habitats...

BIG DRUMMER BOY
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STIMULATING BRAIN CELLS
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DESTROYING BRAIN CELLS (or "We're not playing on the computer!")
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CHEESE CHIP CHILD
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LIGHTNING MCQUEEN GROUPIE
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MR. INNOCENCE (with artistic blue chalk smeared on his face)
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And finally, a picture of me. Remember the previous blog post when I went out looking SCARY? Well, I seem to be having a series of scary days, as this self-portrait can attest. So this is me, with yesterday's makeup on after working out. (That's what I get for checking my blog instead of showering!) I made the best of it...
WOMAN IN VINTAGE MAKEUP
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Now, (heh heh heh -- evil laugh) I'm going to tag Becky, Erin, and Heather W. May your homes not be in the chaos mine was when I got tagged! And remember, if you replace the word "old" with the word "vintage" you create art!

Dressed for Success!

Yesterday morning I fell out of bed, threw on a t-shirt and sweat-shorts and took Hannah to colorguard practice at 8:00 a.m. I was a lovely sight in my sloppy clothes and no bra; wearing yesterday's smeared make-up and a filmy, yellow coating on my teeth from falling into bed without brushing them the night before (I hear "Ewww,gross!" ringing through the blog-o-sphere, sorry! Just keepin' it real!) Need I say I wasn't exactly dressed for success?! As I dropped Hannah off, I realized that our house was completely devoid of milk, so I thought I'd quickly dash to the store to get some milk before the rest of the still sleeping family groggily made their way to the kitchen for breakfast. I did hesitate a bit as I looked in the rearview mirror and saw flakes of mascara on my cheeks, but duty called, so off I went.

I got to the store and entertained the thought of wearing my sunglasses inside, just in case I ran into someone I knew, but that seemed a little too Britney Spears-esque for a mother of 7 pushing 40, so I just determined to go as quickly as possible, get my bananas and milk and leave. Alas, pork loin and sweet italian sausage were on a great sale, so I had to stop and stalk up. Luckily I had no interactions with other humans, so I continued shopping in stealth mode and made it over to the milk. The milk took a little longer than I planned because 1/2 gallons were on sale for $1 and that meant I had to load 10 of them into my cart. Phew! I got those in and headed to the front of the store.

That's when I saw in front of me, this cute, white-haired store employee sitting on the ground, feather duster in hand, meticulously cleaning each claw clip in a large display of hair accessories. Before I knew it I was saying, "Now that's dedication! Dusting each clip individually, I'm impressed!" He looked up at me smiling and said, "Well, how else am I going to meet the nice ladies?" I laughed and tossed my greasy, pony-tailed hair as I continued up to the front, only realizing afterward that I wasn't really decked out for flirting with old men in front of the dairy case.

But, it put me in a happy mood anyway and at the check out I chatted happily with the clerk as she rang up my 20 pounds of meat, 10 -- 1/2 gallons of milk, and 1 bunch of bananas. She handed me my receipt and I happily pointed out to her that, while I had spent $48.16, I had saved $41.00! Only as I headed out the door and saw another lady from church coming in the entrance did I remember I was trying to minimize human contact while still in my non-human state of dress. Oh well.

I left the store feeling light-hearted, remembering that my mom used to chat with everybody at the store. She even knew many of the employees names and would greet them with a smile. She became friends with the people in line and generally had a wonderful time on each shopping trip. I'm pretty sure that she was always fully-dressed and made up when she went, but it's nice to know that even looking like I did, I can follow in my mother's footsteps and make the most of even the smallest of events, bra or no bra.

Thanks Jenny, I owe you one! (sinister laugh...)

Funny things happen in the house when I'm gone for 3 days at our church girl's camp. I came home and heard Eli singing what sounded like "Happy Birthday" but to the tune of Beethoven's 9th symphony, Ode to Joy. Was I hearing him correctly? Oh yes, thanks to my blog-stalking boys and my friend Jenny's funny birthday greeting to her mom (you can see it here). So I just want to thank you personally Jenny for bringing culture to my home while I was roughing it with the young women in my church. Now, if I can just get him to stop singing...

What I See When I Look at my Dad

I've been looking through pictures of my Dad the last couple of days, it being Father's Day weekend and all, and I realized he represents so many different things to me. Each facet of his being a father adds to the admiration and love I have for him, so I thought I'd share some of them in honor of him today.

So what do I see when I look at my Dad?

I see a man who loves, loves, LOVES his family. I love it when he gets all teary and emotional over the accomplishments of his children and when his soft side comes out with the grandkids. I know that his greatest joy is in his posterity and he's happy to proclaim that to all who will listen.


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I see the Scouter who I have ALWAYS wanted to spend time with. Dad was always working with the scouts and as a daughter, I envied those scouts like no other! But now I get to see this same wonderful man spending time with my kids and the other scouter grandkids, teaching them the legacy of patriotism, honesty, leadership and all the other great attributes of a boy scout.


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I see the sweet husband of my mom who has been so frail and sick for the last few years. My heart just melted at how tenderly he took care of her when she got sick here in Arizona. I am so thankful Dad got to stay with me for several weeks. It allowed us time to spend together talking heart-to-heart and reconnecting like we haven’t since I was a kid.


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I see the man who loves tradition (especially Christmas) and has passed that on to his kids and grandkids. My family was so privileged to have him here at the beginning of Christmas season last year to participate in "Grandpoo’s sock." He has a giant Christmas stocking he fills with presents for the kids. He hands them out after telling a fun tale or two from his childhood. This year he told the kids fishing stories and got them fishing poles. We love his stories and his enthusiasm for giving.


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I see the chef who taught Cody to cook pancakes, who ate Thanksgiving dinner with Curtis (who hadn’t “eaten animal in years!”) who loves food and shares it with the grandkids to win them over. I don’t cook like him, but I can appreciate a good steak with mushroom sauce grilled by him any time!




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I see the man who worked so hard for so many years to provide well for his family. He is still doing it and we all reap the benefits of his generous heart and his incredible work ethic. Two summers ago he took us all to Lake Tahoe for a reunion that was amazing.



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I see the spiritual giant whose testimony burns in him and overflows as he shares it with those he teaches and associates with at church. I love to hear him unfold the scriptures and bear testimony of Christ.


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I see my father who has taught me so much about being a parent and about being human. I love him for who he is and who he has helped me to become.

Identify Yourself, Please

Today I've been looking at my Site Meter to see who's checking my blog and from where. Well, there is someone who is consistently reading from Jefferson City, Missouri and I'm really curious to know who you are. Are you my friend and I'm just too brain dead to remember that I have a friend in Jefferson City? Or are you a lurker enjoying/laughing at my life (because it's bound to be more chaotic than most other people's)? Please don't leave me hanging in suspense! If this post applies to you, post a comment and tell me who you are.

Thanks!

P.S. About that Arizona State Quarter...

I meant to blog this, but my son Cody did it first. So I'm just cutting and pasting what he wrote into my blog. If you'd like to comment to him directly ('cuz he's funny and cute) follow the link to the Kid With a Thousand Experiences blog over to the right.

"Commandment XII-
Thou Shalt Not Put Thy Arizona State Quarter in a Vending Machine

One day when we went to Costco to have dinner Curtis found a vending machine with a quarter in it. He put it in and pressed the coin return, and by chance the same type of quarter came out. So Curtis put in his Arizona State Quarter. And guess what came out? Not an Arizona State Quarter. So for the next 20 minutes we were putting quarters in the vending machine and pressing the coin return to get it. Finally, I checked one of the quarters and it was an Arizona State Quarter. It got a small yellow hue (from someplace I don't want to know) from the journey. Remember, don't do that."

Thanks Cody, I think you hit the nail on the head with that advice.

And nobody question my taking my kids to Costco for dinner! (Costco hot dogs are dirt cheap and they have a new turkey wrap that Ren and I enjoyed immensely!)

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Lesson Learned in Sedona

As Ren and I were hightailing it down the trail after hiking for 2 hours, he suddenly stopped and told me to come and see the little egg he found. I was going so fast I hadn't noticed it. It was sitting on a piece of wood on the side of the path and was just beautiful, so I decided it was our new metaphor for life...

DON'T GO SO FAST DOWN THE TRAIL OF LIFE THAT YOU MISS THE CUTE LITTLE EGGS ON THE SIDE OF THE PATH.

Sedona Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of the photos I took on our hike to Bell Rock...

Twenty-four Hours in Sedona, AZ

So Ren and I broke a 4 year streak of not being able to be alone together for more than 2 hours (or less!) at a time last weekend and went away on what one of my friends calls a "Love Trip". We were given a free stay at the Hilton Resort and Spa in Sedona, AZ for Saturday night through the Executive MBA program at ASU (because Ren teaches in the program and they do all kinds of perks for the Exec MBA's). I had no idea what we were going to do with the kids until I bought a "weekend of babysitting your kids" from a member of our church in a Youth Fundraising Auction a few months ago. I think the person selling this item had envisioned someone's cute little 4 year-old and 2 year-old running around her house because her kids are older and she misses holding little ones. Instead she got 5 stinky, loud boys, one beautiful teenage girl and one cranky baby/toddler dude who won't go to ANYONE except his mama (okay, maybe a sibling under duress). But she was game and we were desperate so it worked out well for all.

We got up fairly early Saturday morning to make the drive up into the mountains 2 hours away and we spent the afternoon wandering around the quaint Uptown section of Sedona with it's touristy shops, restaurants and art galleries. Ren and I love looking at all kinds of art (if we ever had to buy anything we wouldn't be able to because we'd never agree on something we both loved and would be willing to spend 1000's of dollars on.) But lucky for us, we were just window shopping the art world of Sedona (and saying all the time, "My mom can paint so much better than this!" which is true of my mom compared to so many artists we saw.) We accidentally found the Sedona Arts Center building which not only held paintings and such on exhibit, but also had studios where they held classes and a real "pottery barn" where they had a student ceramics exhibit amongst the pottery wheels and tables. It smelled and felt so arty, it just did my heart good! I'm dying to go back there some day with my mom, the artist, and take some classes. What a great art community!

When we got hungry we went to this little Mexican restaurant called the Oaxaca Rooftop Cantina. It looked cute and the menu said it was planned by a dietician, which sounded good for our new healthy eating kick. I guess the store bought salsa that came with the chips should have tipped us off that things wouldn't be all they claimed to be, but being temporarily intoxicated by the fat in the chips (it's been a long time since we ate chips...) we ignored the warning signs and looked at the menu. Listed in the appetizers, one of the "healthy" choices, a grilled Cactus Paddle served with a tomato and cheese sauce, sounded funky and interesting so we ordered it along with fish tacos and a salad of grilled chicken, jicama, oranges and tomato with a low-fat vinaigrette dressing. So they serve us our Cactus Paddle (this tiny pathetic looking thing swimming in a sea of sauce) and we each take a bite and go "Ewww!" It was sour and weird and nasty. But, hoping that maybe we'd get used to the taste (or maybe just having seen to many episodes of Bizarre Foods on Food Network) we keep eating it, torturing ourselves with each mouth puckering bite. Ren ate more than me, but even he had to give up and admit it was just gross. I tried to get the taste out of my mouth with the last of the store-bought salsa, but it didn't work very well. Then came the rest of the food which was overcooked, under-ripe, canned or just plain bland. None of it was good and definitely not worth the money we paid, but at least it was mostly healthy (why doesn't that make it seem better?) So much for yummy eating out.

We were pretty exhausted by this point, since we got up so early, so we postponed our planned hike until the morning and went back to check into the hotel and see what was there. We got a King Suite with living room, dinette area and fireplace and a teeny tiny little patio overlooking picturesque bushes which almost succeeded in camoflaging the parking lot on the other side. It had a nice view of the cliffs though and the weather was beautiful. We checked out the pools (one "quiet" with no children allowed and a bigger one for families). We chatted with a few of Ren's students who were starting to arrive (and drink)and then we hung out in our room and enjoyed the luxury of watching a movie in the afternoon and taking a nap. (When was the last time that happened at our house?)

That night was a dinner for all of the ASU MBA people (students, faculty, alumni) etc. where the food, I'm happy and sad to report, was MUCH tastier but much less healthy. I'm hoping that what I ate in Sedona stays in Sedona because I haven't seen a chocolate cake in a long time and it was too much for me to resist! We had a leisurely dinner with some of the students and their spouses and then headed back to our room around nine, declining their invite to a nearby bar. (They had apparently been drinking most of the day, how do you keep drinking into the night too? I just don't get it...) All I remember about the rest of the night is reading one page of an Agathe Christy novel that I brought and falling asleep with my neck in a strange position, ouch!

In the morning, we woke up at 6:00 a.m. to hike nearby Bell Rock. It was a gorgeous morning and we took our time on the way up the trail with me stopping to take pictures every few steps or so. Ren has come to expect this of me, so he happily carried my water and waited while I took 80+ pictures of the surrounding area. I made a powerpoint slideshow of my favorite pics which I'm hoping to be able to post with this, but we'll see how technologically savvy I am. A couple of hours later, we made our way back to the car with perfect timing as the trail was just starting to fill up with people. We went back to our room, cleaned up, ate breakfast and then drove back home in time for church at 1:30 p.m. (okay, not ON TIME, somehow we never manage to make it to church on time.) It was Zach's 16th birthday so before we left for church I got a roast in the oven and prepared stuff to make him fruit pizza. I'll do a little post on his birthday separate from this.

Sedona is one of those places you discover that becomes a little oasis in the desert of Life. I'm hoping to take the family back and really be able to explore all the hiking and beauty there, since we just scratched the surface in our wonderful 28 hours away.

Arizona State Quarter Day (or It was one of those days I was grateful I did my hair...)

Curtis with his quarter

Who knew this was gonna be one of those days...when I'd be grateful I actually took the time to do my hair and put on make-up? After seeing in the paper yesterday that the new Arizona State Quarter was going to be unveiled today, we all got up early (8:00 a.m. 'cuz it's summer break) and drove to the state capitol park in Phoenix. Earlier, as I was getting dressed, I'd had this funny vision of myself on the news chatting animatedly about how our family just loves the quarter (I mean, who doesn't love the quarter?) Zach has been collecting state quarters for a few years now and is always asking us to check our change for a new one. We're just huge supporters of the quarter, dontcha know. So anyway, we actually arrived on time (due to my thinking it would be held a half hour earlier, don't say anything!) and joined the rest of the nerdy throngs there to witness the launch. The ceremony was fairly short, with the head of the national mint presenting the quarter and the governor of Arizona reading an official statement declaring June 2, 2008 Arizona Quarter Day (I bet you didn't know it was a holiday yesterday!) After the ceremony, Ren went to stand in an amazingly long line to buy a special commemorative quarter in a folder for $10 (Wow! What a deal!) while we stalked the governor's staff who were giving out a new quarter to all the kids 18 and under.

As I stood taking a picture of my seven children in front of the capital building with their shiny, new quarters, a reporter from Fox 10 news came over and started asking about the day. When I told her that these were MY seven kids, she was duly impressed (as she should be!) and asked if she could interview me and one of the kids. I know it's dumb, but I was so grateful to have gotten all cute this morning. I felt that I represented stay-at-home moms of seven kids everywhere and I didn't want to look frumpy and beaten down (I do that on all the other days of the weeek!) You'd think since I already practiced my interview in my head it would have been snappy and cute, but alas, all I remember is telling her that we came because we thought it would be a nerdy thing to do and our family's all about nerdy. Great. Then she interviewed Jonah who remembers saying that being there was "an alien experience". Um, okay. She finished up with Jonah, took some more footage of the kids and then got distracted by a nerdier kid who had his state capitol quarter collection with him. Oh well, we had a few seconds of fame anyway. While Ren continued to stand in the insanely long line of grown-ups purchasing $.25 for $10, we went to the nearby Capitol Museum where they were serving chocolate "Mint" ice cream cones (get it? Mint?)



Gid and Eli were cutely, disastrously messy about eating theirs and we took more pictures for posterity of this momentous day.




It was then that we noticed Hannah and Ren were wearing "Mint" green shirts, so appropriate. Many eons later, Ren finally finished purchasing his super cool commemorative quarter and we headed home, satisfied with our nerdly family outing and a little bit more famous than we had been before (which wasn't hard to do.)

Tales from the Laundry Crypt

I have been waiting for 4 months to type this post.. and I am now thrilled to announce that I'm getting published! Okay, so it's just a local magazine being mailed out to Gilbert residents, but I'm still excited! Since most people who read my blog aren't from Gilbert, now that it's published I wanted to share my little article on my blog. The editor asked me to write another column for next month (I really hope I can be funny again!) so I'll keep you updated on that one as well! Yay! So here's my humor column:

TALES FROM THE LAUNDRY CRYPT

One recent morning, I was helping Curtis, my six year-old get ready for school. When I handed him a pair of socks to put on, he looked at them with delight and exclaimed, "Cool! Matching socks!" (Ah, such simple pleasures in life.) After I got over my chagrined amusement, I realized that the state of my laundry would definitely be scary enough to prompt such a statement. That's when it hit me -- MY LAUNDRY TELLS TALES! A light went on in my head and I had one of my famous “Aha! Duh,” moments. It finally hit me why they say, 'Airing your dirty laundry'! What better way to reach into the innermost chaos of a big, crazy family than to take a good hard look at what each kid in that family is wearing at any given moment.

Several years ago I was pregnant with Eli, my 6th child and in bed sick most of the time. In the morning the kids would come in to kiss me goodbye as they headed off for school. One time as they walked out, I noticed that Cody had on one ankle sock that had a suspiciously pink hue and one sock that went up well over his chubby, little knee and disappeared under his shorts, the heel hanging out in a strange bulge over the back of his shoe. I had to admire his creativity in the face of the large piles of dirty laundry everywhere, if not his fashion sense.

I’m sorry to say, even non-pregnant I don't seem to notice the sad state of what my children are wearing until my observant and helpful daughter Hannah points out to me that Jonah has worn the same shirt every day since...well, who knows when? (It's his official school uniform.) I guess I thought it was a different shirt because every day it had a new and interesting layer of dirt on it. Sometimes when I manage to do a load of wash that is FULL of dirty boy underwear, I wonder, with a fearful kind of shock how many months it’s been since I washed underwear, and even worse, what have the boys been wearing in the interim?! One time, Cody caught me throwing away old, holey socks from the defunct sock basket. He frantically rescued them from the garbage and cried in horror, “Mom! If you throw these away, where will I ever find socks to wear?” I hope no one turns me in after that revelation.

Curtis gets very creative with his clothing. Last month, for many days in a row, he wore the "Winter Clothes Box" ensembles, involving strange, little-used long-sleeved shirts with glow-in-the-dark skeletons and the like on them. They're usually 2 or 3 sizes too big and he finds them in boxes stored in the back of the closet. "Good for him for finding something clean!" I think, "Such persistence should be rewarded."

I figure I have one thing going for me in this whole sad situation. My kids have VERY low expectations as far as clean laundry goes. They don't hound me anymore about whether or not I got their scout shirt washed or if their favorite sweatshirt will ever get transferred from the washer to the dryer (they know that it will probably get re-washed 3 or 4 times before it makes the jump). They've learned the art of sifting through layers of "civilizations" to find their school spirit shirt or their other Sunday sock (and maybe one of them will become an archeologist when he grows up).

As for me, I'm thrilled with a compliment like "Cool! Matching socks!" It just shows me that if I were dependable, they'd never appreciate so much the happy smell of Downy on a towel or underwear that can't walk by themselves. All those other moms who get their laundry washed and folded and into their kid's drawers every day, just aren't appreciated like I am when I produce the Scooby Doo jammies clean again after being lost for 3 months. I love hearing their happy shouts of excitement at climbing into a bed with clean sheets twice a year. I only hope that their teachers can forgive me for the public airing of our dirty laundry – or at least ignore the smell.