ADHD Reader

One day when my sister-in-law asked if I was reading anything (we love to talk/share books) I had to laugh to myself. Yes, I was reading something. A lot of things. I had to come home and count everything I was reading. This is one of my problems. I want to read EVERYTHING! Sometimes I can't wait to finish one book before I start another and other times, I need a book depending on my mood. BUT this is ridiculous. I have reading ADHD. I did finish all of these - except the "Calm and Compassionate Children" which I didn't finish before sending back to the library.

You can tell my theme at the time was trying to be a better mom and homemaker. Thus the self-help books "Steady Days", "Organized Simplicity" and the "Calm and Compassionate Children". That last book Sarah saw and was offended that I was reading it. She said, "Hey, does that mean you think we aren't calm and compassionate?" (o: I got something from each of these books and would recommend any of them. Steady Days has ideas on how to create rhythm and a flexible schedule to days while raising kids, Organized Simplicity had a lot of great ideas that, quite frankly, I really need to work on. As you can see by the number of books I read, simplicity is not one of my strengths! (Which is why I feel disorganized a lot of the time.) "Calm and Compassionate Children" had some great ideas for activities with kids that help reinforce the qualities in the title. I will be checking that one out again.

Then I have my autobiography by our former president. I loved this book, it was a real eye opener to get a glimpse into the life of a president. It was fascinating to hear the real story of what was going on as I remember my "take" on events that happened during Bush's presidency. I really grew to appreciate how thoughtful and honest he was as he looked at some of his biggest decisions during his time in the White House. He is not afraid to admit that he made some mistakes (as all presidents do), but he shares his thought process and the reasons behind everything he did. I really admire him as a person and believe he took every decision he had to make very seriously. I loved that he didn't make his decisions based on how it would affect his popularity. He had core values that he stuck to. He is a good man.

I believe this is a great book to read whether or not you like Bush. Ironically, this book made me appreciate our current President Obama more than before. It helped me appreciate the kind of pressure and weight that a president carries. I also learned that the media and the press have so much power to twist truth to accommodate their agendas. I always have, but even more so now - take what they say with a grain of salt. There is no way for us to know the information a president has to base their decisions on. While we may not agree on everything a president does, we have to have faith that they are men trying to do what they believe is best.

I also had one novel for when I just wanted something fun to read. "Rachel and Leah" interested me because I was curious how an author would portray this interesting relationship of these two sisters. I enjoy reading historical fiction. I'm sure this was a huge stretch from the way things really were, but it was still interesting.

While these are all good and interesting books, the one in the picture that really makes the biggest difference in my life are my scriptures. All the other books have some good ideas, fascinating stories and inspiration; however, none of them inspire me as much or help my days go better than my good old scriptures. It's really the only book I need, the other books are fluff and entertainment. I am a better person when I remember this and spend good quality time reading the scriptures. I learn more about my Savior and how to be more like Him, I learn how to be happy, how to have courage, how to address my problems and struggles in life and most of all I learn (and remember) that I am a daughter of God and can make a difference in this world. What other book can make that kind of difference in a person's life?

Two thumbs way up. (o:

And along those lines, our Sunday School teacher suggested reading this book, "Jesus the Christ" along with our New Testament studies this year. I started reading it a few years ago and never finished. So I started it again and LOVE it. If you haven't read it and want to understand the Savior, the culture of the Jews and politics of the time that He lived better - this is an amazing read. It isn't an easy or quick read by any means, but I have learned so much.

I love reading!

Well, writing this made me realize I've been slacking, so I'm off to read my scriptures! (O:

Favorite Beach Shots . . .

From Blog Favorites #4

From Blog Favorites #4

From Blog Favorites #4

From Blog Favorites #4

Every once in a while, when you play on the beach, a sneaker wave comes in much farther than the rest and you can't tell until it's too late! This happened several times this day. Rarely do you happen to catch the event in pictures because they are so random. I was definitely lucky on this Friday the 13th. So while this may not be beautiful composition or lighting, this is definitely a favorite! Mo's* cell phone almost didn't survive this surprise!

From Blog Favorites #4

Mark defying gravity and leaping over the sun! Wow!

From Blog Favorites #4

From Blog Favorites #4

Awww - so cute.

From Blog Favorites #4

The flowers at the beach are so beautiful. These remind me of little ballerinas.

From Blog Favorites #4

Our attempted photo shoot on the beach was very disappointing. The timing of when we actually could make it was at the worst time for lighting - noon. The wind was blowing our hair all over the place and we really had to hike around to find a pretty spot on this beach. There was a ton of ocean debris (seaweed/kelp) along most of it. This was not on Bella Beach, but down the street. From the highway it looked pretty. We had to really hike to get here and oh yeah, it was FREEZING at the time I took this so the girls were whining about taking their jackets off. So all that trucking around with my tripod was not worth it. We'll have to try again another time...

My Smokin' Hot Boots

I didn't get any pictures from the fun outing to the Outlet Stores with my mom, dad and Chris. The older girls went to school on Monday and Angela stayed home with daddy while he worked from home.

We had such a GREAT time and found some awesome deals! I found a $60 purse that I paid $7 for - 75% off plus a coupon for more off. I also found a great shirt and matching necklace/earrings - also on sale. But the best part was finding these boots!! Bass was having a buy one full price, get two free deal! Holy Cow - how could we pass that up?? Chris and I tried valiantly to talk mom into some leather boots, but she went with something more comfy for her feet. Chris and I had fun trying on multiple styles of boots.

So basically, these hundred dollar boots were $30! Plus a nice lady, called mom, bought them! Thanks mom!

I know it's really shallow, but I feel happier when I wear these boots. I love how they look and they are surprisingly comfortable to wear. And they keep my legs warm. And they just look so darn cute. And, well, I just really like them. I don't consider myself a very stylish person, but I feel a little bit more stylish with my snazzy boots on. (o:

So shallow - I know...

We Heart Costco

I guess every fall, Costco has a night where they host an Intel night. (I'd never heard of it before this year.) After regular store hours, the store stays open for Intel employees. They have all kinds of fun things going on in the store. I was excited. Heck, I love to go to Costco even when nothing exciting is going on inside. Getting free samples is excitement enough to draw me in. (o: And did you know that our Costco here is the biggest Costco in the world? Aren't we lucky?!
Anyway, on this night they had face painting, cookie decorating, free cake and cider/coffee, a balloon artist, games and a raffle. When we go to Costco, Vern* always runs into co-workers, but this time, he obviously ran into quite a few more. (o: It was fun to see our good friends Mark, Michelle and cutie patootie Ruby and it was also nice to meet some of Jayson's other co-workers I haven't met before.

The most exciting part for me was winning one of the raffle prizes! WAHOOO! They did several prizes and were on the final prize when they called my number. Luckily, Vern* was paying attention. I figured I wouldn't win and was looking at a recipe book. I won a $50 gift certificate to one of several local restaurants like the Portland City Grill. Ooohh - we need a date so bad! It was the perfect prize to win! Thank you Costco! I love you even more now.

Getting Kicked Out of the Library . . .

Well, it has been insane around here for the last month. So fun hobbies like blogging have taken a back seat. I hope to get caught up soon. In the mean time, I thought I'd share a lovely outing to the library with the girls last week.

I "heart" the library.

I really do - maybe a little too much.

I am addicted to books. Seriously. One of my guilty pleasures in life is buying books. I love having books, reading books, looking at books. I LOVE looking at shelves and shelves of books. My favorite part of our house is our big living room bookshelf filled with books.

To control this book buying frenzy, I use the most wonderful place ever invented - the library. Oh how I love the library.

I especially love that you can put books on hold online and if our library doesn't have the book, they ship it from one of the other nearby libraries. When I have a subject that I want to learn about or a preschool lesson to teach, I do a search. All these wonderful books come up and I just can't decide, so I get at least 10. Really.

In one night I did a search for "running", "starting a business" and "healthy eating". I think I put about 20-30 books on hold that night. Then when I go in to pick up the books with the girls, I let them look around and we always get books for them. We check the audio books, DVDs, the magazines, the chapter books. Then we leave with arms full - all four of us.

We love it.

The only problem lately is that we go so much that I can't keep straight which books are due when. And when this last month hit and I didn't check e-mail regularly (they send friendly reminders when due dates are coming) - I got really messed up.

So I avoided the library for a few days because I was embarrassed about my huge fine - it was over $15! I didn't have cash, but really wanted to pick up a movie waiting in the hold section. Then the girls found a few things and when we went to the self check-out. (because I didn't want to face a human person who might see my embarrassing fines) I learned that you can't check out more books if you have a fine of over $10. I had to come clean.

On this particular library trip, I had more than my big fine to be embarrassed about. I was trying to lay low - I felt like I had a huge scarlet "F" for 'fines' on my shirt. I couldn't make eye contact with the librarians.

Just about the time I found my movie that was on hold, Natalie got scolded by a librarian for climbing in the window nearby. Whoops. So much for laying low.

Then, while attempting the self-checkout - Angela announced she had to go potty. I sent Sarah to the nearby kid's bathroom with Angela. A few second later she emerged saying Angela refused to go. I forgot. The library has self-flushing toilets. Angela hates self-flushing toilets. But her little dance told me that we didn't have much time for irrational fears. I took her in the bathroom and we had a little fight about whether or not she was going to get on. She was in pain. So I "helped" (forced) her on the potty and reassured her that it would not flush while she was on it. But I might as well have been saying absolutely nothing because she was screaming bloody murder. This bathroom is right next to the children's librarian's desk. She screamed for so long and so loud I was so afraid someone would come knock on the door to make sure there wasn't some kind of child abuse going on in there. Then finally Angela gave in and we walked out of the bathroom trying to 'act natural'. The librarian gave me a look. I looked apologetic at her and she either looked at me like, "I understand" or "holy cow, what the crap just happened in there". I couldn't quite tell which.

Now I had the matter of my fine to take care of.

I walked up to a very nice librarian and came clean. I confessed my sins of overdue-ness and got the amount of cash needed from their ATM. I didn't care there was an extra $1 fee (usually I do) it was worth the cost for a clean conscience. Ahhhh. I was so happy to get that taken care of, but ironically, as I paid off this huge fine, the librarian noticed I had two books still overdue. They were two other books that I thought were due the next week. I'm telling you, I have problems. Hopefully, I can eventually become completely clean from my embarrassing addiction and disorganization with books.

But our adventure wasn't quite over.

I felt a little spring in my step as we walked out with our books. On the way to the exit, Natalie asked to have a drink of water. "Sure! Anything you want." I was happy to have the scarlet "F" off my back. We walked back to the fountains. I waited nearby and suddenly heard Natalie screaming like a body part had been ripped off. It was one of those screams that gets a mom's adrenaline pumping. I was ready to put pressure on a bleeding wound or do CPR or something.

I found Natalie stuck to the drinking fountain. Stuck!

Her finger got caught somewhere under the fountain in the most random way. She continued screaming even when I freed her finger. It gave her a pretty good scare - along with those of us around her. There were no injuries - I think she just panicked that she was stuck.

After that, we beelined outside to the car.

You know on movies where there's a security room with lots of TVs showing all the surveillance video in a building? I pictured, if the library had such a thing (which I doubt with all the budget cuts these days (o: ) - the old guy watching the videos with his coffee to keep him awake at his boring job would have come running out right about 5 seconds after Natalie started screaming and escort us out of there. There's only so many offenses a family can make in one visit.

Lucky for us, the library can't afford to have surveillance and pay an old guy to watch out for people like us. Anyway, I hope they will forgive us or forget us. I'm headed back on Tuesday.

Michael Jackson Dies

I'm in shock.

For the last 20 years Michael Jackson's life has just seemed to spiral out of control. I'll admit I haven't been the most loyal fan. Once he started going through all his weird plastic surgeries, I just didn't know quite what to think and I moved on.

But back in the day, Michael Jackson was an icon, an idol. He was the pinnacle of fame and I was a fan through and through. Michael Jackson's Thriller album was the first cassette tape I ever REALLY REALLY wanted. Before that I didn't really care about any particular rock group or musician.

When I was in third grade, my aunt Amy bought me the Thriller cassette tape, (for a birthday maybe??) I still remember how much that meant to me and my joy in discovering my gift - I even remember where I was when I opened/saw my gift. We were at a mall and I was standing in a department store surrounded by clothes. The memory is burned in my mind forever - that's how important that moment was for me. (She also gave me a Culture Club cassette with it - anyone remember Boy George?) Maybe that's one reason why she's still one of my most favorite people! (o:

I listened to that tape nonstop and wore my Michael Jackson pin with the above picture on my acid washed jean jacket every day to school. We didn't have MTV at my house, but I remember visiting aunt Jill's apartment and parking myself in front of her TV hoping and waiting for the Thriller music video to come on. It was all anybody ever talked about in third grade - 1983-84. Just about every girl had a huge crush on Michael, boys tried to dance like him, everyone tried to do the 'moonwalk' - he was HUGE. There isn't really anyone I can think of that can compare to the near 'worship status' that Michael Jackson held for people back in the 80's. Not even close.

So even though me and millions of others kind of lost interest when Michael started heading down the path of weirdness, I still marvel at the icon he once was (and actually continued to be for many) and I mourn his untimely death. I'm grateful for the fun memories and will always love the Thriller album. It's classic and it brings back so many memories. We recently bought the Thriller music video off of ITunes and now I can watch it whenever I want. (in our day of instant gratification - "back in my day, we had to wait for hours for MTV to play the music videos we wanted to see.") I will always remember the Michael from those days - good times.

And as one friend I talked to today said, "I hope wherever he is now, that there is good therapy." (o: Poor Michael - he had such a tragic life. His untimely death, unfortunately, kind of fit the theme of his life.

He was an amazingly talented man...

Some of the Girls' Favorite Things...

I don't remember if I put that top picture in before, but it is so funny, it's okay to see it twice.

Top of the list of the girls favorite things right now is ... playing outside.

I'd like to introduce everyone to "wormy". Wormy is a special toy at our house. I think he probably cost about 15 cents so he was the best bargain toy ever. My girls got this at Sarah's butterfly birthday party when she turned 6. It was one of the party favors each of the kids got, a "caterpillar". It's about 2 1/2 inches long and the girls absolutely love it. Every so often wormy gets lost for a while, but when we find him it is a happy day. I recently found him after a 3 month sabbatical when I was putting some empty canning jars in boxes - lo and behold - there was wormy in the bottom of one of them. I remembered Natalie playing like he was a real worm and keeping him in a jar so he wouldn't squirm away. The girls eat meals with him, make block castles for him and love to carry him around everywhere. He is very portable. They always fight over whose turn it is to hold wormy. Who knew a rubber worm could be so exciting?

These two food items are a favorite for the girls AND they are good for them, so we always keep stocked up on Fiber One bars because we like to be "regular" in our house (o:

And we always have Trident in our gum drawer. The kids think it's a special treat and it is great for their teeth. Our dentist actually encourages them to chew a piece every day.

Sarah has been a big Junie B. fan for some time, but we recently discovered a very fun way to enjoy Junie B. Jones. We found books on CD at the library and we all have LOVED listening to the hilarious commentary on Junie B. Jones day to day problems and quirky ways of dealing with those problems. We all laugh out loud at some of the funny things she says and does. Even Angela understands the humor. We love Junie B.!

Below is a lovely picture of one of the girls favorite things to do outside...

Making "nature soup"

Doesn't it look delicious?

Stuff I Like

One of my favorite shows, The Office, had it's season finale last week. Good thing I enjoy watching them over and over and find new things to laugh about every time. I love all the characters, I think Dwight is my favorite. Kevin is a close second.
And American Idol . . . I was routing for Adam (guy on left, in case anyone doesn't know) until he sang U2's "One" - blah. His high pitched "aahh"ing with his tongue sticking out finally got to me and I couldn't stand it any more. He ruined a song that I really love. But he was always so darn entertaining - especially in his wacky "costumes". I'm glad Chris won - he seems like a really nice guy - very talented too. This was a fun season to watch - one of the most entertaining. P.S. the final show with the scene with Kara and bikini girl - T A C K Y. That was so so so dumb. I have no respect for either of them, but especially Kara. Lame - stooping to bikini girl's level. That's my two cents...

This is the book I am reading right now - I am really enjoying it, I like how Bronte inserts comments to the "reader", cool writing style, especially for how long ago it was written...

We discovered these at Costco recently and all I can say is...

YEEE UUUM! We ate the whole big old bag in a day - they are so yummy and pretty healthy too! Bonus!

Oh, this turned out pretty tiny - this is my favorite piano song at the moment... Moonlight Sonata - an easier version, of course, but nonetheless, still a very pretty arrangement. I love, love, love being able to play the piano - it is such a joy. I'm so glad that I decided to learn even though I'm so "old". (o: I had my third recital this weekend - I'll try to post a video of Sarah and I doing our numbers. This song wasn't my number, but one I've been working on recently. It is such a beautiful song.

Okay, this might sound like a weird one, but Hank* and I love this show. I guess I like to get freaked out a little. Ghost Adventures is the most interesting "ghost" show I've ever seen. These guys are pretty funny, the guy on the right is especially hilarious because he's kind of chicken. These guys take video cameras and other equipment to try and document ghost activity in haunted locations. They have someone lock them in at each location overnight - they've documented some pretty crazy stuff. While I'm not a big fan of people getting too preoccupied with this kind of stuff, as one priest put it, these guys are "playing with fire" - it is still so interesting to me.