The Great Purse Flood of 2011

I am not a fan of bottled water so we don't often buy it.  Want to know why??  There's an excellent reason.  When I was pregnant with McKinley we were driving home from a trip and we stopped at a gas station to fill up and get drinks.  I was trying to avoid caffeine (I don't know what I was thinking) so I got a bottled water.  Somehow milk must have been spilled near the lid because it smelled sour.  An incredibly thirsty pregnant woman who had almost passed out smelling an over ripe cantaloupe just a few days earlier and sour water??  Those things just don't mix.  Either does that sentence, but we're moving on. 

That just ruined it for me.  That and I've lived in the same town most of my life and I like the water here.  It's very distinctively flavored.  Although as I've gotten older I do like it filtered a bit. 

So on to the actual story that goes with this post. 

You were waiting for that, weren't you?

We do often end up with water bottles though from various places.  Because I'm also cheap, we reuse them.  Recycled water bottles filled with my favorite water; best of both worlds! 

I had some volunteer work to do recently and on the way out the door I grabbed a snack and a water bottle and dropped them both in my purse.  Seven blocks later I reached into my purse to grab something and found that the entire bottle had emptied.  Now, you should know, my purse isn't like everyone else's.  I carry my camera, three lenses, an external flash, and my extra camera battery and charger. 

I instantly starting pulling things out and using my shirt to dry them off.  The only thing I could find in the house I was in that could be used was toilet paper.  My shirt seemed like the better choice.  The camera just had a few drops on it.  The lenses are all wrapped in something so they were fine.  Thank goodness so were the flash and battery.  Even my wallet survived.  So what saved all my precious items in my purse?  That would be the three purse sized packages of Kleenex.  What?  I'm an allergy sufferer. 

So I, and my camera and accesories, survived The Great Purse Flood of 2011.  And yes I've learned my lesson.  I have gone back to carrying my camera in an actual camera bag.  And I don't carry my recycled water bottles in my purse anymore.  Okay, often. 

Lesson learned.  Sort of.

The King

The King of our house is of course Shawn.  

I love him for many reasons but a big one is because he's always eaten whatever I cooked.  What...e...ver.  I haven't always been very good at this cooking thing.  He survived the first four months of our marriage with me, a hotel room, a hot plate, a slow cooker, and one cookbook that had a can of Campbell's soup in everything.  I have gotten to be a much better cook, but even a good one occasionally has a flop.  He's even eaten the flops.  Sometimes he doctors them up a bit, but he eats them.  He's also the king of leftovers.  He's not embarrassed to take them to work.  He's even been known to share!  At home it doesn't matter what it is, he will dump it together and eat it.  I love that.  In 16 years of marriage he has only disliked one thing.  A chicken, mozzarella, tomato sauce concoction.  I don't know how I messed it up, but I did.  That recipe was thrown away. 

But he reminded me of Elvis a little this morning with his choice of breakfast.  I don't lay claim to this recipe.

A jalapeno cheddar bagel, butter, peanut butter, red pepper jelly, and a banana.  I was a little afraid to kiss him goodbye.  He called later to say his creation was delicious.  Hmmm...makes me wonder if my cooking is really all that good if this was considered delicious...:c)

You've Been Goosed

I see a lot of fun things when we're shopping to stage a house.  I get a lot of personal shopping done as well:c)  I have had two new purses since I started my job, a new pair of sunglasses, new dining room curtains, the accompanying rod, and several pairs of shoes. 

Every time I come home with something Shawn will say, "I knew this job was going to cost me."  The fact that these items were purchased at a great discount doesn't always impress him.

So he was happy when on a recent day at work all I came home with was this picture.

How did I ever live my life without a cell phone camera?

Get A Clue

When we have family game night we usually stick with Farkle or a shortened version of Phase 10.  Every once in a while we play Life.  But really, when you're investing time in playing your Life, it needs a lot of time.  My two least favorites are Monopoly and Clue.  I would rather watch sumo wrestling than play Monopoly.  It makes me incredibly grumpy.  But it's one of Shawn's favorites, so I bite my tongue and enjoy the time with my family.  Now as for Clue...I just don't get it.  I'm pretty sure it's a fairly easy game to understand, but I just don't get it.  Shawn again explained it to me and I gave it a try.  I of course didn't win but probably won an award for asking which character I was too many times.  But the high point of the evening came when we saw this.

We're not sure when they wrote all of these things, but they were a wonderful walk down memory lane! 

I am happy to report that Mommy & Daddy are still together.  Gogo & Grampa are still together.  Reagan still loved Evan.  But the other two....they were so offended when they read what they'd written!

My trio!

Our church partnered with Swaziland several years ago and started fund raising and sending mission teams.  A new fund raiser was started this year, an auction and dinner.  It was $75 a plate and since I'm cheap, and we're busy, we didn't plan on going.  But then we got a call. 

A few years ago on a mission trip our music minister went with a mission of his own.  He had songs that he taught to the locals.  He then recorded them.  A few months later at church our choir, who had learned the same songs, sang with the Swazi recording.  It was amazing. 

For the dinner and auction they wanted to do a few of those songs.  Instead of getting a children's choir together and teaching them one of the songs, they called and asked if my girls would do it.  I of course said yes, for them, and took them to the first practice.  There wasn't music written for the three part harmony yet so our director just gave them the chord and off they went.  I know they're mine, but they are pretty stinking talented.  The director said they did beautifully but he'd still get the music written and send it to us. 

After I'd printed the music out I called the girls around the piano, figured out the sharps and flats, and started playing for them.  They kept getting ahead of me though!  They seemed to get annoyed with my long pauses and picking out notes with the Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine method.  So I just hit the notes that I could.  And they carried on just fine.

When we got there that night for their sound check I thought I'd go ahead and video it since I knew I'd be nervous.  Oh, and them, too!  I took some pictures during the first practice and whipped out the video camera I don't know how to use for the second run through.  I was feeling pretty good about my video skills when a friend and her daughter walked in front of me.  They noticed about halfway through and kind of ducked down.  But then the husband and dad came through and didn't feel the need to duck.  He sort of apologized later when I brought it up.  So I recorded the real performance when they sang.  From really far back in the back at the 'free dinner' table:)  And I was shaking a bit out of sheer nervousness of my girls singing in front of over 400 people.  And I might have been tearing up a bit.  Maybe. 

So here's the first video.  Even with the heads, it's still the best of the two.  And no matter what, I am one proud mom.  And that's the most important thing:c)