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The Baa-Studs of Wales-Amazing!

Happy Anniversary!

I just found these two commercials for the LDS Church. (see previous posts) They are so cute. We have not seen them at our house. This month marks the two year anniversary that our tv has been unplugged from the antenna.

We watch dvds and old videos. The kids think they are horribly picked on and can't carry on a conversation with anyone at school because they do not know what happened last night on ... (whatever the latest show is). Poor things.

I lived without a tv at our house from the time I was born until the middle of 6th grade. Our neighbors gave us a little 10" black and white tv for Christmas. Wow, were they rich! We didn't have videos or dvds and forget about renting them. They did not exist.

I don't miss the news, crappy sitcoms that make everyone look like idiots, or blood and guts shows with murder and more.

I do miss the old tv shows like the Brady Bunch, Little House, Andy Griffith, Perry Mason and The Amazing Race.

I would love to have tv with only uplifting shows and commercials. Since we don't have that, we boycott!

Swashbucklers

Runaway Stage

Hee Hee!

I first thought of Crystl when I saw this! Love you and all your little craft projects!

Laughter is Sweetness to the Ears

So, the girls and I have found this great website all about cake decorating. I thought Meg could get some really great ideas from it. She works at the bakery at the local grocery store. Anyway, we decided it is NOT the best place to find great ideas.

This website is pretty much all about "Wreckorators" who work at bakeries around the world. Some of their creations are hilarious, some make you shudder, and most of them leave you wondering...WHY?????

The hostess does post some wonderful ones on her "Sunday Sweets" and we ooh and awe and sometimes drool (sorry about that).

I thought you might enjoy some good laughs. The girls and I have been staying up too late at night to see all these. We aren't through them all yet. Happy looking!

"Show Boat" March 2009

Maddie opened "Show Boat" last night and it sounded great. I was in the box office for the first half and only got to see her at the ending.

These are two of the costumes I made. They are my favorites and only took me 6 weeks to make! I think she loves these dresses as much as I do. The plaid is a black and white taffeta. The fabric was fairly easy to sew on but I am no good matching plaids. I used a Civil War pattern and just moved the shoulder seams to the top of the shoulder instead of the side of the shoulder, the way it would have been worn in the 1860's. It has an under bustle pillow, huge petticoat, skirt and top.

The other dress is navy blue with small orange stripes and dark orange accents. It has an under bustle pillow, huge petticoat, skirt, back bustle, front apron and the top. I only needed 4 different patterns to make that outfit. Maddie has a great figure and looks wonderful in these dresses. Don't you think?

What?

Okay, so I know it's not Easter yet, but since all the stores are decked out with candy, etc. it must be time to put this up now.

It makes me laugh every time I see it. Happy Easter. (I'm looking forward to Spring)

This is my sister, Lori. She is a great friend to me and yesterday was her birthday. She is very busy with her five kids and husband but would help you with anything if you asked.

She keeps up with politics, helps at her kids schools, reads anything she can, has the patience of Job, (from what I've read; I never met the man), has funny kids who keep us all laughing, loves my kids, has more kids at her house at any one time than the zoo does on "free kids day" (hey! kids...zoo...lori's house...!)

I love Lori. She always makes me smile. Happy Birthday!

My friend, Lance

Last night I got a phone call from my little friend, Lance. He is 7. He said he needed to tell me "some stuff". First, though, he wanted to know if I like the DS or the WII better. I have never played with either one, so I wasn't much help. He told me how to turn them on and play with them, just in case I ever got a chance. I asked him why he wanted to know. He said that his big brother Ben had to do a survey for school and so he wanted to do a survey of his own.

He said he got in trouble at school and "lost" his friends. He was not looking forward to today. He also fell and got a big hole in his knee. He was not having a good week, I guess.

We talked for about ten minutes and he told me he got to talk to Ann Ann. He is patiently waiting for her to get back to his house!

A funny thing about Lance. When he was a baby, he and his parents and big brother, Ben, lived with us for a few months. They lived downstairs. He would crawl up the stairs every chance he got and just play quietly with me or whoever was home. I say quietly because when his mom realized he was gone, she would always come get him and take him back home! One day Ben got some fruit snacks and somehow Lance got them and started running away with the little bag held high above his head. I guess he thought that if they were up high, Ben couldn't get them! Funny boy! (Ben was a lot taller than Lance! But Lance was pretty fast!)

Thanks for calling me, Lancey-boy. I hope we get to talk again.

Maddie is 17!

So, Maddie is 17 as of two days ago. She is having a birthday party and I am hiding in the bedroom. I am very proud of her. She has a lot of good friends and loves to be with them. She is a happy girl most of the time and has a great sense of humor.

For the last few months she will get into bed and then call, "Mom." "Mo-om." "Moooo-oooom."
Then I am supposed to say "WHAT?"
Her: "I can't go to sleep until I get tucked in."
Me: I'm not tucking you in."
Her: "I promise I will go right to sleep if I get tucked in."
Me: (I tuck her into her blankets and she lays there and grins with her arms sticking out of her blankets--when I reach over her to tuck in the other side she tickles me and says "TICKLE FIGHT! TICKLE FIGHT!") (we both laugh but I am not supposed to)
Me: (flustered)"Good night."
Her: "I love you."
Me: "OK" and then I walk away

Maddie: "Meg." "Me-eg." "Meeee-eeeeg." and so on.

EVERY NIGHT! Of course we all laugh and roll our eyes. What a funny tradition! (It's from the movie "ELF" if you think it sound familiar)

Happy Birthday, Maddie! Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. She got on the high honor roll at school this last quarter! Way to go.

That took longer than I thought!

I made three costumes for Maddie and just need to do touch up on a couple more. They look great on Maddie and I am very happy to be finished. I will post pictures soon.

This month and a half has been quite eventful (and not all fun). Meg wrecked her little Ford Escort. She hit the back of a school bus (no one was hurt) and crunched the front of her car. It folded like a taco. The bus has a little skid red skid mark and that's it. She and Jeff went to the junk yard and got parts to fix her car back up. Meganne actually LIKED that!

Maddie got a date to Valentine's Dance at LHS. She found her dress at a consignment shop for 1/2 the marked price of $80. What a bargain shopper. It brings tears to my eyes! She looks great in this dress. It is dark brown and is very modest, too. I didn't need to do anything to fix it for her to wear it! BONUS!!!

Jeff has two more classes to go until he is DONE with school and then he will have his teaching degree. I am so excited for him and look forward to him being a member of faculty somewhere and having health insurance!

Hunter has been working very hard on his Merit Badges for Scouts. He loves checking stuff off and accomplishing new things. He has done a Family Home Evening lesson on the Word of Wisdom and even drew his own pictures for an activity. He made his Valentine box for his school class and won first place! It is a bank safe and looks good! He even started TWO of his own companies called: S.J.B.Co. & M.E.S.S. SJBCo stands for Sisters Job Break Company and his ad says: "Ever have parents nagging you to actually DO you JOB??? Don't worry, we understand. Just give us a call and we will help! Contact us for prices." He actually made $5 off Meg one day!

MESS stands for Meganne's Emergency Straightener Service "Ever have a friend coming over last minute? We can help! With quick and effective service, we get the job done." (fine print at the bottom says "Prices will vary with shorter notices")

Oh, yeah. Jeff and I were in a car crash on Monday. It was snowing and a young guy ran a stop sign. We spun in the snow and ice and ended up facing the way we had just come. We tore up a few layers of sod in the median. We were shaken up and bumped around some but we are ok. Our Outback is in the body shop getting the left back door fixed, the rear axle straightened and I don't know what else. Damages were around $4300. Glad the other guy had insurance. We are in a rental for the next few weeks. Also glad the kids were not with us. One of them would have been in that seat by the back door.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope y'all had a great Christmas and a safe New Year's celebration. I am gearing up to sit at the sewing machine for the next month. Maddie needs only three costumes for "Showboat"! I am so excited! Maybe it will take me less than a month! Hey! I have dreams and aspirations. I even have a toilet bowl that's springtime fresh. (haha! Inside family joke)Have a cool January!

Funny boy!

I found some videos of "The Waltons" tv show. I checked out about 6 episodes from the public library. Last night Hunter, Maddie and I watched the first episode. It was great! Oh, the good old days...Remember when tv had good shows that were worth watching?

Hunter just came to me and asked if we could "watch the next pioneer movie".

Merry Christmas!

"Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space."
~ Dave Barry

I like this video much better than the last one I posted.

"Annie"

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