Fan Page News

Quick update...

Burgundy is now in Finn's car seat facing backwards. Once they are 20 pounds they need to be in a convertible seat rather than an infant seat. Well she is almost 22 pounds, so it was time. I can't believe it. My babies are not babies any more. Burgundy is more like a little girl and less like a baby every day and Finn is just getting to be such a big boy. One who listens, follow instructions well, is responsible, and it's just so cool to see him come to his own little logical conclusions on things. Finn's new car seat is crazy. It is a car seat convertible to a booster seat when he's big enough - which Burgundy will probably be ready for before he is! It's like a La-Z Boy in the back seat. It's huge and looks oh so comfy. Burgundy seems to like her new seat as well. We had her old one by the stairs to go down and she was bouncing up and down and laughing while holding onto it as if to say, "there you are! I wondered where you went!"

Here is a fun video from Finn at My Gym last week. We got there a little early and were the first ones there. They turned on the music so he could go in and all 3 teachers played with just Finn for about 10 minutes. It was great. They knew he was a little shy to begin with so this really helped him warm up to it before class began. He then had a lot of fun for the rest of the class - not just the last few minutes! Here they are playing "follow the leader":



So we will keep at that for a while since he does enjoy it. I did a trial class with Burgundy on Saturday. It was fun and she seemed to have a good time, although I don't think I'll sign her up just yet. They don't have a class at a good time for her and I don't want to have to get up early every Saturday! (2 days a week is too many already!)

call me

ok, well luckily, and very quickly, I have a replacement phone. The Sprint people were supposed to call me at 10 this morning and did not. So I went to the Sprint store and picked up a replacement myself. (Sprint had left a message at 1150 saying, "um, you wanted us to call you..." yeah. have attitude - when you're the one 2 hours late. sure)

So, thank you for all the sympathy. It has been a rough 24 hours without a phone. Seriously. I was able to call and check messages and changed my outgoing greeting. No one ever answered it so I don't know if someone found it on the street somewhere or not. But I sure haven't seen it anywhere here or there.

But now I have a replacement phone so it is up and running. Now I just have to re-do all my settings etc. That will take a while. But I am very glad to have a phone again!!

losing it

my phone that is. No idea how it happened. (and my brain - but I know exactly how that one happened) Noticed it wasn't in my purse today as I was on my way to the store. Thought, "huh, that's odd". I can usually tell when my phone isn't in my purse because of the weight, but I had my iPod in there so it felt the same. Went home expecting it to be on the charger or the computer... nope. It is gone. Vanished. And on a massive PMS day, that is not a good thing. Sorry for my children, who probably got the brunt of my frustration.

Yesterday I was sitting out front with Burgundy in her stroller, watching Finn play with the neighbor kids. One of my hosts called me, so I know I had it at that point. I know I was trying to get 20 things inside the house. 2 kids, 3 of Finn's trucks, his bike & helmet, a stroller, my chair, etc. I know I set it on my bumper.

As much as I would like to deny this, I think that may be where it stayed. I know I walked past it once or twice and thought I'd better get that... But I really don't know if I did. I'd say since it's no where to be found, chances are I didn't. This is irritating beyond belief. I walked around the back of the car twice this morning to get Burgundy in her seat - how could I miss it?

So I still have mommy brain. Which annoys me non-stop. I feel like I have the worst case of ADD. I start 20 things and finish maybe 2. This happens hourly. I will walk past something at the end of the day that I thought "I'd better do/get/fix that" at least 20 times that day. It's ridiculous.

So I guess my poor phone is somewhere on the road between here and Layton. Sad sad sad. The good thing is it is a Palm phone so I just have to sync a new phone to the computer and get all my numbers, etc back. But I lose all my pictures (again) and have to re-download all my ringtones (again) etc. (you'll recall they had to hard reset my phone not that long ago because it wigged out so I lost all the info on it not that long ago)

I called Sprint and they said they will call me tomorrow morning and if I haven't found it yet they will send me out a new one. So that is good. I just can't believe I lost it. In so many ways...

sigh....

My Gym

So last week we went to My Gym, a new place that opened in Layton. Finn took a little while to warm up to it. At first he didn't want to go in without me, and once he did go in, if the male teacher even looked at him, he ran to the gate screaming for me to get him. So he watched for the first part of class. And after a few tries, he did go in and participate and ended up having a blast by the end. (Note the grace with which walks across this balance beam - my future Olympian)


Our neighbor took her daughter on that day as well for a trial class to see if she wanted to sign her up. She doubted she would participate but when I told her we were going she thought she would try and see if she would do it if Finn was there. She did not. (This is Finn's little girlfriend next door, Crystal, and ever since that day he has asked non-stop if he can go over and play with her, and if we are out in the car it's, "is Crystal in her car with her mommy?" or it's, "is Crystal brushing her teeth?" or taking a nap, or whatever he is about to do. Amazingly, Crystal is ALWAYS doing the exact same thing he is!)


So Marisel (Crystal's mom) was in with her and sat with her at my gym but didn't push her at all. Where as I used many thinly veiled threats to get my kid to participate - like, "well, if you're not going to play, we should just go home..." etc. Judge if you will but this is what works for Finn.


I would bet money that when the time comes for Burgundy to do things like that independently, we will be left standing in a cloud of dust. Whereas Finn needs a good, steady push. It is an almost-always obvious difference between my two children. Burgundy says when she is ready for the next thing, when she is done with what she's on; Finn will do the same thing ad nauseum until you nudge him into what's next.


But, the point of this rant is that by the end he had a great time. I would have had a bunch more photos but my camera's battery died early on. But these are what I did get. And he can't wait for next week!

(This reminded me of that scene in the movie Baby Boom, with Diane Keaton, where she takes her adopted daughter to the gym and they have the tiny children swinging, unassisted on a huge swing, several feet above the ground. And she quietly moves to the back of the line. Ha.)

Venting

ok, you see blogs about the crazy people that come into an ER or into L&D or crazy people listing real estate, I would like to add my professional crazy encounters as well.
Pampered Chef Hosts.
One in particular that I just would like to vent quickly about.
Mary (names have been changed) hosted a show at her home in Lehi (locations have been changed as well - the point is it was far away).
I am not at all sure why I agreed to do it, probably because I didn't know it was that far away.
So we had to cancel - which I was glad for, but then she rescheduled so I went and did it. It was an ok show. Nothing huge - and I did not make enough to cover the gas/miles on my car. So at her show I made it VERY clear that I love this business because I can commute if I want to and if I don't want to I won't. So if anyone wanted to have a catalog show, I would be happy to help them, etc etc.

So Mary Host is IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of. Even on the day of her show I was not sure if I was still supposed to go since I hadn't been able to reach her for weeks. But then she emailed saying yes it was still on.

At her show, all the gals were hanging out and gabbing at the end - which happens I understand, but it's like, people I have over an hour drive ahead of me - I'd like to leave please. And they don't remember where I live, fine. But Mary Host does, and she was the worst offender of this. Annoying.

Then, we were supposed to close the show on Wednesday and she e-mails me 4 more orders. Great! So she says when will we close? And I say as soon as I get payment. So send me checks or give me a card number. Ok fine. But I never get it.

Today she emails me wondering did I close the show and when will people get their stuff. ????? So I try to call, no answer (of course) so I e-mail and say no it didn't close since as I said I need payment before I can close, and not to mention what the heck do you want to order?

So she says ok I will give you my card number for everybody's. (emailing back) ok great - send me your order too so we can go ahead and close so your guests can get their stuff. I get another email saying ok I will call you at 8 tonight so we can close. It's 10 now. no call. wonder what kind of questions I'll get tomorrow.

And on top of that all, she has some friend who couldn't come to her show but who wants to book a show, so I should call her - and her husband calls me saying yeah we want to have a show - in SOUTH PROVO. what the f*%$?

Booyah

So I just have to take a moment to toot my own horn here. Last week I had THREE Pampered Chef shows. Tues, Thurs & Sat. It was insane. This week seems even crazier, if that's possible, because I am dealing with bookings from all of those shows, and getting paperwork in order for all three. Crazy crazy.

BUT... for all the craziness, I just have to toot away and say I am rockin' it. Let me tell you - Two of my three shows were THOUSAND DOLLAR SHOWS. Oh yeah.

So last week, I made about $720. And I didn't even have to take my clothes off. Sweet. Lasik surgery, here I come!

So that's all. Just wanted to say my September is smokin' and my October and November are nearly fully booked. I am making some bank. On my terms. Booyah baby.

Be effected

This is a response to my sister-in-law's post ("Deller Update: Small Player"). The women she spoke of made me so angry. I started to leave a comment on her post but it turned into its own post because I just could not believe how asinine and how small in their thinking some people are.

As I was reading the beginning of the post I thought of people in our parents' generation telling the story of "where I was when JFK was shot". I think that is a perfect comparison.

How can we as a human race not be effected by things happening in our world? And if we are not effected by things that we see and hear (but possibly do not experience first-hand) how would there be any change in the world? I was not in New Orleans when Katrina hit, but watching those helpless people on TV sure got me angry. I donated money to charities to help the victims.

I wonder if those "women" watch the news. They shouldn't. What do they care if it didn't happen to them? And do they go to church? They shouldn't do that either. Again - all just stories of how it happened to someone else. It should have no effect on them whatsoever.

How disgraceful would it be to simply forget 9/11? Ask any Jewish person about the holocaust. Chances are they will have a lot to say. Even if they weren't there. But their parents or grandparents may have been. Their PEOPLE were there and they have vowed to never forget so that it will not be allowed to happen again.

If human beings didn't LEARN, where would we be? Nowhere. What if we never learned from our parents' mistakes? And they from theirs?

There is nothing "cliched" about being effected to the point of being forever changed by something. This was an attack on our PEOPLE. An attack on our COUNTRY. An attack on OUR FREEDOM and our way of life.

And if it didn't effect you - then I feel very sorry for you. Be effected. Learn. Be the change you want to see in the world.

9.11... and where are the flags?

I just wanted to post (like many others) about 9/11. Today Finn and I went put to put our flags out and I am very sad to report that there was not one other flag on my block. This is very strange. At first I thought I had the date wrong. The boy scouts sell flags here and they come by and put them up in your yard/park strip every holiday. (at least I'm pretty sure that's how it works). I didn't buy any from them because I have my own flags that I put up. Well where were they today? I know they have been up every other 9/11 since we've lived on this block. And there are a handful of people with flag poles in their yards on this block and not one of them had it waving today. I am severely disappointed in this.

This, I think, is the MOST important day to have your flag out. Obviously, it is important to have it up on other holidays, not the least of which being July 4th. But to have it up on 9/11 is as if to say, "We will not be intimidated. We will not be defeated." It is to remember those who lost their lives 7 years ago in that most senseless and horrible act.


7 years ago I was working at 100 North LaSalle in Chicago. I walked into work and the receptionist asked me if I had heard what happened. I had been on the el so I hadn't. We all crowded around a small black & white portable tv and watched Peter Jennings tell the horrible tale of what was unfolding before our disbelieving eyes. They kept interrupting people they were interviewing to bring you new info. They had a split screen showing the live action and the other half showing Peter Jennings. Through the black and white static I saw the first building fall. I thought it was strange they didn't interrupt anyone to tell us it had fallen. As soon as I asked my co-workers "did that building just go down?" Peter Jennings announced that it had.

When the bosses got in we all moved up to the loft on the top floor of the building and we watched the rest of what was happening on the big screen. I sat there on the plush carpet of the 26th floor, and tears streamed down my face as the second building fell.

After that we hurried to go floor to floor with our bull horns telling all the tenants they should evacuate the building. Once all 24 floors had evacuated, we returned to the 25th floor and were told we should get out immediately because there were unaccounted for planes and it was thought one could be headed for Chicago. We debated whether we should take the el with the chance it could possibly stop or get stuck or pooling our money to take a cab that could be sitting in traffic for hours. We opted for the el.

As we left, I remember watching the skies and thinking how insane it was to think that seeing a plane in the sky would have been, at that moment, the scariest thing I could have ever seen in my life. There were no planes.

I couldn't get a hold of my boyfriend who was working right across from the Hancock building (the 2nd most famous building in Chicago). We were all scared. As the days passed and details unfolded we were all dumbfounded. As years pass, the memories fade and the fear subsides. But let us all remember that day, even if only on its anniversary. Let us all put our flags out. Let us all say thank you to those who died trying to help. Let us all thank God that we continue to live free.

one last post for the day...

Well I am trying to type without making too many typos. Yesterday I decided to get acrylic nails. They are weird. I haven't had them in about 10 years. They have actually come a long way. I never knew all the crazy options you have with different colors, styles, etc. My nails are just constantly breaking lately so I thought this could save them a bit. They are super thick and weird. But they're pretty, the color won't chip and they won't break as easily, so that's cool.

The other thing I just noticed is that Finn is in the same outfit in 90% of his pictures. That's funny. Probably no one would notice that but me, but now you can all see for yourselves. I noticed after my friend Kelly posted about our trip to the museum and Finn was in the same outfit. He wore it to the Gateway the other day and wore it Monday for the first day of school. What can I say - I guess I really like it and he looks pretty cute in it. I do actually wash it in between wears. And he does own more than one outfit. I swear.


My dad has been pretty busy during my parents' visit with a job he's trying to get out (he works independently since he retired), so he felt bad that he was MIA during their visit. So they decided to extend their visit until Friday. So tomorrow we will probably be going to the zoo, weather permitting. I am hoping that will go ok. Finn has preschool and then we will just go after that. Usually we skip his nap anyway on zoo days so I'm hoping it won't backfire. I was thinking he would be extra tired after school (all that playing/learning?) but Monday he didn't take a nap at all and then we went to Candace's for nails and he played with Ari and Cougan for 3 1/2 hours and never got cranky.


Sadly I fear we are approaching the days of no nap required. He still will take a nap, but on the days he does he has a hard time falling asleep at bed time and gets out of his bed a million times. On the days of no nap - he falls right to sleep without any stall tactics. It is just sad to think that the days of naps are coming to a close. I sure do enjoy nap time - because I can get a lot done and because I can take a nap too if I choose to. Very sad to lose that.


So tonight was my first of 3 Pampered Chef shows this week. It was insane. This gal had like 30 women there. She had to split the group between 2 rooms and I had to stand between these two rooms and talk to people. They were all friends and all just gabbed the entire show. I will be surprised if I still have a voice tomorrow. I was talk/yelling as loud as I could over everyone talking over me. I did a VERY abbreviated show and then just took people's orders - which took like an hour in itself. I didn't get any bookings sadly, but I think with her last orders that will be coming in from those who couldn't make it, her show may be my first $1000 show which sure would be cool!

Anyway, that's my news for today. Hope everyone else had a great day! Happy hump day.

The First Day...

Today was Finn's first day of preschool. Last night I hardly slept at all. I set my alarm for 745 thinking that an hour would be plenty of time. Wrong. Thank goodness my parents were here. Of course, Burgundy, who usually sleeps until 9, woke up at 745 as well because Charlie was in her room and started meowing to come out. So I had to get her up, get myself showered and dressed, get everybody fed and out the door. Somehow I thought an hour would be enough. Well luckily my parents were here and changed/fed baby, and got Finn his breakfast while I was taking a super-fast shower. So Wednesday, I will get up at 7 at the latest. Glad to have learned that lesson while I had help here!

So Cody and I have been building up school for Finn to be this amazing place, full of wonderment. A place where he will learn tons of new things, meet lots of new friends, etc. But while I was doing my hair/makeup, as well as all the night long while not sleeping, all I could think of was all the shitty stuff that happens in school. The cruelty of children, the learning of hard life lessons, embarrassment, awkwardness, etc. The skin and bones of growing up. Of course all these things made me who I am today. But I'm sure I would've turned out ok without having to go through some of those things, too.

Anyway, we took our pictures in front of the peach tree. That will be a good spot to take one every year at the start of school. Heidi came riding by with Brady at that time and got a family shot as well (thanks, Heidi!)

So we were off. I have made a promise to myself to not take Finn to school late. I was late to school pretty much every day of my life and have vowed not to do that to my kids. So we got there early, I took him in, took him in to the bathroom (since he didn't go before we left), hung up his back pack and he got started on a puzzle and off I went. He was perfectly fine and didn't seem to have any problem with me leaving. I didn't even cry. UNTIL I called Cody. And he verbalized every thought I had in my head.

How this is the first day of the rest of his life. How he will now (conceivably) be in school for the next 20 or so years only to either continue with more schooling or to go on to a job. Crazy. Hoping out loud that he will enjoy school and learning. That he will make friends easily. That the inevitable run-ins with horrible children will roll off his back. That he won't be too much of a day dreamer like Cody, nor too much of bookworm like me. Somewhere in the middle would be good. Just all our experiences of our 30+ combined years of school bubbling to the surface in worried-parent style.

But he came out of school 2 1/2 hours later, still my same little Finn. Smiling and cheery and telling me about what he did at school. Still asking for nuggets and ice cream for lunch. But as we came in the house, he went to his room and put his book bag and his shoes neatly away... Maybe school isn't all bad.

No no

I have started to say "no no" to Burgundy so that she can begin to get the concept of what it means. Like, "no no, Burgundy, don't whack the kitty," or "no, no Burgundy, don't chew on that power cord," etc.

So I shake my head at her while I say it and she is starting to get the jist of it and usually stops crawling towards the forbidden object, etc.

But the cutest part is, whenever I say it, she shakes her head at me. So I put this video on here just because it's so frigging cute.

Get Out!

So far during my parents' visit, we haven't been able to get out and do too much. So today we rectified that. We went to Discovery Gateway. If you have never been there - GO! It is awesome. Finn LOVED it. I didn't even know about it until Uncle Pablo told me about it when we went to the zoo last time.

So first, us girls took the boys to the train station. Finn & Papa (Guapa - like el Guapo... it's what Finn calls Papa) rode the Front Runner from Roy to Salt Lake and then we picked them up from the station and drove to the Gateway from there.


They had a great train ride, then we moved on to the Gateway. Here are a ton of pictures of what we did:

Finn & Guapa playing with the wind tunnels


Burgundy LOVED the see-saw


She also enjoyed the flower box


Finn & I in the "Heliocker"


Filling up the Jeep with gas

Shopping in the store

Time to check out!

My fearless daughter - she loved this

They had a little stage with costumes

The awesome thing about this place was that it was fun for everyone. I figured it would be for Finn, and Burgundy would just be along for the ride - but there was stuff there that she really enjoyed as well.


Afterwards, we went to eat at Applebee's. Here's Finn with ice cream on his face. Then we went shopping for a while before we all drove home (darn American Eagle - went in to get a pair of pants for Cody - 100 bucks later...). The Gateway is a place that in a few years, Burgundy and I will go to get away from the boys and shop till we drop.

So all in all, a very fun day. Lots of exciting and fun things. I am tired!

Little Miracles

Well this evening we experienced a little miracle. Cody & I went to parents' night at Finn's preschool, and when we returned Cody went out to the back yard. He found a little hummingbird just sitting on the deck. The first miracle was that no cats were let out while the little bird lay there. My mom had seen it an hour before but had just glanced at it and thought it was a leaf because it was so small and still.


So I rushed out to see what I could do for the little birdy. He just sat there, slightly wedged in the crack of the boards of the deck, panting. It didn't look like he was broken in any way, nor could I see any puncture wounds. I picked him up and sat with him in my hand in the grass in the sun. Cody got some sugar-water and we tried to get him to drink. Cody has saved many a bird who apparently just needed to drink. But a hummingbird's beak is so small you can't just pry it open like a chicken's! So we dipped the end of his long little beak into the water but he wouldn't stick his long little tongue out to drink it. We also tried to set him on the hummingbird feeder on the ground but he didn't drink. He sat with his feet on the rim but if I tried to move my hand he would just tip over into the grass.


He did flutter his wings a bit and once he did fly across the yard but he was very slow (for a hummingbird) and didn't quite clear the fence. So I picked him back up and just sat there with him for a while and he was very calm and just sat in my hand while I stroked his head with my finger. Finn came out and we said a little prayer that God would bless the little bird to recover so he could fly away and find his mommy. And if it happened that he passed from this world, we prayed that his little bird soul would fly up to heaven to make it a little brighter this day.


So we kept the cats and dog inside, and we put him in a box in the sunshine and put a little bit of sugar-water in it so he could drink if he wanted. A little while later, after the sun had gone from the yard, I moved the box onto the porch. Before dinner I checked on him and he sat in the box, in the exact same position.


After dinner, I went to check on him again - and he was gone. It was dark so I got the flashlight and looked all over. I checked in and around the box, I checked the grass under the deck to make sure he didn't fall, I checked the backyard as well as I could and around the fence line. I checked around the hummingbird feeder... he was gone. So I guess that maybe he had flown into the window and was in shock and maybe was able to snap out of it. Maybe he was able to fly away home. I'd really like to think that he did.


PS
These are some amazing pictures that Cody was able to take of a bird that you don't often get to see so still and close-up! You can click on the pictures to see them full size - they are quite amazing.

So Busy!!

To my faithful readers:
Sorry I haven't posted in a while! It has been CRAZY at my house! I would tell you what I've been doing but if I told you day-by-day it would take up a whole page. It is nuts! I have something to do every single day! And have pretty much for the last month! But I rather enjoy it. It's like I've been sitting at home for the last 3 years and all of a sudden I have all this stuff to do and I am loving it!


A few things, last Wednesday we had Finn's open house at his preschool which was fun. He really seemed to like it and his teacher seems really nice. He starts preschool next Monday. Then later that day we picked up my parents from the airport. The very next day I had my Pampered Chef Open House which was a TON of work (my parents are still recovering!) but also a great success. Thank you to all who attended! It really meant a lot to me to have you there!


Saturday I was able to go out for a girls' night out for my friend Adrienne's birthday. I had my dad take Adrienne and I to the restaurant and pick us up so we didn't have to have a designated driver. It was such a fun time! It was all the mommies in my playgroup. And you would think we see each other every week so why are dinner and drinks necessary? Well, when you have playgroup it is great to hang out with the gals and chat while the boys play - but, as with every day life, you rarely get to finish a thought. I leave and hours later think, oh I wonder what Heidi was going to say about... But going out to dinner was so great. We all agree that it needs to be a monthly thing! Just another step towards sanity! Hooray!

And I would also like to add that all these mommies are spectacular women and I am privileged to be able to call them my friends.


So, next month is shaping up to be as busy as August was, possibly more so! Next week I have THREE pampered Chef shows - in one week! Talk about bouncing back!

Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know what we've been up to - just running like crazy!