strange and delightful all in the same day...

We'll get to these 2 pictures later...ignore them for now.

Yesterday morning I probably asked Roo 7 different times to "PLEASE GET DRESSED". Finally, I jumped in the shower. When I got out (like the very second I got out - HELLO PERSONAL SPACE) Roo came in the bathroom and informed me her leg hurt. What I said might shock you, I said: "Oh, I'm sorry, GO get dressed". When I got dressed myself I found this.

Now, I am not very brainy sometimes, and since my Visiting Teachers (and their 4 kids) were coming over in 30 minutes, I just said: " your friends will be here soon, you better get dressed" and went about my business doing my hair and make-up. after a while I started thinking that it was very quite in her room, so I checked again, and found her exactly the same. Only then did it dawn on me that she was asleep! So, long story short, Roo took a nap and is obviously sick.

Roo and me making faces. Strange.

And now for Delightful...

This is our very first garden harvest. Mr Smith planted hoards of cold weather seeds a while ago and then put up his walls of water (the first two pictures in this post are his walls of water and what he planted inside of them- Blogger is not cooperating). They are designed to protect your not so hearty plants (tomatoes) from the wind and cold, keeping a nice greenhouse environment for them. The lettuce seeds that were planted under the walls of water grew like crazy and he had to pull them last night because they were choking his poor little tomato plants.

There isn't much Mr Smith like to eat more than a nice green salad, that is, unless it's a nice green salad he grew himself - in APRIL - in UTAH. This is his second bowl, he ate it too fast for me to get a good picture. By the way, he informed me that I should blog about our salad. The man is obsessed, I tell you.

This is Roo counting down the 5 bites of salad I told her eat. With ranch dressing on her nose.


PS Mom, I didn't tell her to eat her salad with a spoon. She's an original.

super new (to me) website...

I found a new fun website: Peachy cheap . It is a "one day, one deal" kinda thing, like woot but not as nerdy. Peachy cheap has cute crafty stuff you can buy and Woot has nerdy techy stuff you can buy at a screaming deal. Both are equally neat but one is much cuter than the other. And if you know me at all, you know that "CUTE" is most important.

Check it out.

BIrthday surprise...shoe shelves!

Mr Smith is the winner. Well, I am the winner for marrying such a guy. For months and months I have been saying all I wanted for my birthday was shoe shelves in our closet. I'm a bit picky, I wanted them built custom so they would fit perfectly at the end of our closet, and get the maximum shoe space for all my lovelies.

So, on Saturday ( the day before my actual birthday) Elasta Girl and I went out bumming to a boutique and crafty shop. When we came home Roo practically broke her legs trying to get me to our closet. "Mama, I want to show you, look what dad did!" she says.

This is what I saw, all my shoes lined neatly up on my FABULOUS and perfect shoe shelves.

Apparently, he had lied all week long saying he had some "patches" to go do when really he was in our neighbors basement working on them.

I had NO IDEA he was making them. He's awesome.

Speaking of shoes, remember these beauties? My "trashy younger sister" shoes from a post a few months back? They are definitely NOT made for walking. Not even a little bit. I think maybe they are punishing me for saying such rude things about them.

This is one of the 15 or so pictures that magically appeared on my camera after Meghan got a hold of it. This one's cute.... some are frightening.

Mr Smith wanted to make sure my leftovers were safe when we went out to dinner on Saturday.

This is Roo being cute, sitting on my Father-in-law's fancy walker. He is having bum knee problems and other issues that makes walking a bit sketchy. He's a good sharer.

I don't have any other Birthday picture to see since it was MY birthday and I can't take pictures of my own self opening presents or eating cake. But I did open presents and there was cake and both were excellent. I had a great birthday and am sad to see it go.

Good bye youth, hello wrinkles.

The end

Sleeping at night is way overrated...

At night you have the window open in both the bathroom and the bedroom thinking there will be a draft and you will be, oh so cool, and the wind blows and the blinds bang and the door is opening and shutting ever so slightly, so you get up and close the bathroom window and later someone's dog barks so you close the bedroom window and then your arms fall asleep and you have rotten dreams and you wake yourself up coughing because, probably, you don't drink enough water and possibly, you eat dairy, and your husband snores, with his head practically on your pillow, and he doesn't hear the dog or the banging but wakes up and goes outside in the middle of the night to bring in his tender seedlings from the greenhouse, and that wakes you up even more and after you are finally dozing off, your daughter gets up to go to the bathroom in the wee hours of the AM and leaves the light on, which shines right exactly in your eyes and your can't roll over because that arm was asleep too long and it is tired of being lay ed on. So you get up and...I AM NOT GRUMPY!


THE END

A worm excuse...

I have many excuses why I don't blog more often. Sometimes, this is what I get when I am blogging and not paying enough attention to my family.



Mr Smith sends in Thing 2 with treasures from the garden.


Or maybe, it's just because I've been telling people that they have worms, since I was in high school. But I don't think that's it.


YES, she was outside digging in the dirt in her jammies. And more importantly, Yes, I did french braid her hair like that. I'm awesome.

Happy 1st Birthday Danger...

It's the very first birthday of Miss Danger Girl Zan. Danger Girl is so spectacular she even has her very own blog. It's her twin sister, Pearl's birthday too, but she had more exciting stuff to do up in heaven so we will celebrate with her sometime later.


This is when she was a tiny brand fresh sprout.



Here she is wearing the very shoes I bought for her.



And here she is now, standing exactly all by herself. What a strong beautiful girl. Should I be concerned about the number of gates I see in such a small space?

Danger and her BEAUTIFUL mother Tierney. Tierney is my very favorite sister-in-law (that lives in California).

Happy Birthday Little Girl. I am happy to share my Birthday Month with you.
We sure wish we were with you to celebrate you super day.

Holy lobes...Hannah Montana

Yesterday, was FINALLY the day Elasta Girl has waited for ever since that pesky foreign nurse in the Tonsil area called her a "HE". I KNOW. The nerve of her .

Ear Piercing Day 2009.

It started off not so good. Roo woke up feeling REALLY ever so not well with a pesky cold, and it was looking like we were going to have to postpone. Which threw Elasta Girl into a weeping fit that rivaled the "Moo Cow" days of her mother. The trauma was fixed by my saintly parents, who came down to watch Roo, while we went on our day.

First, lunch at Village Inn, a cheese burger with the smallest particle of cheese that I have ever seen, hash browns (EG's FAVORITE food on the planet) and PIE. Yes, those are hash browns under all that Ketchup.

Eating her hash browns in (almost) under 90 seconds.

Next came the lobe holes.

Grandma Snyder told Elasta Girl before we left that she might want to take a TYLENOL before she went because her ears were going to hurt so much. Grandma Snyder has never had her ears pierced, so I ask you, how would she know?

After we were finished piercing, Elasta Girl said: "Grandma doesn't know what she's talking about". "It hurt for 2 seconds and now they just fell weird". Silly Grandma, bless her heart.

The cute earrings. I knew as soon as I saw all the choices she was gonna choose these ones.
Tiny little "diamondy" flowers with "blue topazish" middles.

After that, we went to the new Hannah Montana movie. Can I just say, it wasn't lame. I thought it was so cute and I usually don't enjoy that girl. It was cute and funny and a little heart warming all at the same time. We might even wanna see it again.

Dutifully cleaning the new ear holes just before bed last night.

TA DA.

The END

AeRRGGGHHHH...

Blogger is being a pain in my bum so I can't post about the HOLY LOBES. Maybe tomorrow. I just didn't want you all to think I hadn't tried.

loveyoubye.h

soon...very soon

I'm swamped. I brought it upon myself, but it still doesn't change anything. Spring Break starts tomorrow and Elasta Girl has booked me for 2 of the three days that school is out.

Her BFF Bailey is coming over to play all day tomorrow. We love her and am soooo happy she is coming, but since I am going to be home I invited my friend Jeanne to come over. We are going to cut and color her head and I am going to see her sweet baby girl, who I have never seen in real life and, is nearly 2. But that bring us to my - making a mad dash to clean my house, No I mean REALLY clean it. I can surface clean with the best of them, but as for deep down good smelling, dust the light fixtures clean, I'm lost. So today I am trying my best. Her house is ALWAYS deep down clean, and she has never seen mine so I have to have every nook and cranny sparkly. I might not though, since I am finishing a HAPPY book my Heidi mother-in-law gave me and it is much more interesting than cleaning crannies.

On Friday Elasta Girl and I are going on a date. We decided, after a retarded tonsil nurse called her a boy, that it was time to get her ears pierced. So on Friday we are doing that, and also we are going to a movie just us. Roo is going to play with my Mom, who will probably have to tell many stories to her.

That leaves Thursday. Thursday I am going to my Little Jessica friends house so Elasta Girl and Roo can play with her chillins'. But really we are mostly going so we can play, and her and I can trade hair doing. I have nearly taken the scissors to my own head a couple of times these past weeks. Plus, I believe Shan is coming and Shan is very exciting. You can visit all these peoples blogs if you just click on their names on the right side of my page. I recommend it. I have some good and funny friends.

I'm swamped. I have oodles of pictures to blog about and will so soon. Mr Smith is going fishing far away for the weekend so maybe then. Tootles.

I hate Nicholas Sparks...

Hate is a strong word, in fact, I try not to use it unless it is truly necessary. I strongly encourage my children to use other words in it's place, for example"you don't HATE peas, you just don't like their taste, right?"



But I HATE Nicholas Sparks. He is just plain mean and should be hated, because he writes WONDERFULLY romantic sweet books and then clobbers you with intense and deeply sad endings to those books. And it is MOST of his books too.



A harsh statement, I know, But here's the proof..



My first encounter with Mr Sparks: Late spring / early summer. 1999. I was working at Fantastic Sam's doing hair and barely pregnant with Elasta Girl. On most of my days off from Sam's, I would hang out with my parents. On one particular day, we chose to go to a movie. Message in a Bottle. And an even bigger mistake, my mom and I invited my Dad. You'll soon know why.





Neither one of us had read the book so we didn't know what we were in for - utter sadness. The movie went on nice and predictable with two people FINALLY falling in love and then it hit, as soon as the man decides to give the love he had for his dead wife to another. He goes out to sea with a goodbye letter (in a bottle) for her. He dies! Yes, trying to rescue a family from another boat. The other boat people are saved and he, and his hopes for love drown.



My Mom was sobbing, I was sobbing. My dad was sitting in between us. Not even a little misty eyed. Finally bored and a little embarrassed, he pats both of our knees, stands up and says: "It's only a movie". And walks down the isle to the car. He was not on our team. Not for a LONG time. To this day my mom said she would have bought that movie if they had just had the man clinging to a rock or something with the Coast Guard in the distance coming to the rescue.



My second encounter was another book made into a movie. A cute little movie with a cute girl and a very cute boy. By now I had read a book or two of his but they were happy ending ones. Probably the only two he has ever written. I went with my best friend Emily.







Sad sad sad. She's a nerd, he's the popular boy in need of some tutoring. She makes him promise not to fall in love with her. He laughs and agrees. But he does fall in love, all the while not knowing she's dying of cancer. Yep, I was suckered in again.



Then along comes The Notebook. I read this one first, and it's friend The Wedding. (Which wasn't sad) I wasn't crying so much for the ending as for the perfect relationship they had that I didn't. My hubby is great, and we are great together but theirs was perfectly beyond great.

I cried and cried. My friend Shan watched The Notebook too and wrote an email to all her friends afterwords. She was mad at that guy also.

Then last year, I was at Target, we were going to Jackson Hole for a family vacation and I was desperate for a book. I saw a new one called True Believer by Nicholas Sparks. Would I dare? I bought it and it was nice and happy. Then I noticed there was a sequel, At First Sight. I should have stopped while I was a head. I also should have read the reviews first. They used words like "multi-hankie romance" and "have plenty of tissues on hand".

That brings us to last Sunday. And the reason for this post. My in-laws buy movies instead of going to the theater, it is actually a good idea. Cheaper, and you get your own snacks, comfy seats and all the bathroom breaks you want. Anyway, I saw they had bought this:

Another movie based on a book by Nicholas Sparks, They hadn't watched it yet. Heidi told me to just borrow it. I'd read the book but couldn't remember what it was about. I think my memory loss was a coping mechanism. I told her I didn't want it if it was sad. She didn't tell me anything. She's mean too. But more lovable.

More uncontrollable SOBBING, but very quietly. Mr Smith was sitting in front of me and I was trying not to let him know I was crying. He tends to act like my dad. Boys just don't understand. I was a mess. And told Mr Smith right there that I was going to tell the world (maybe just the 6 people who read my blog) just how I feel about Mr Sparks.

The next day, at the foot Doctors (don't ask) waiting room I saw lady who had just started reading At First Sight. I almost warned her but I am to shy.

It is NOT just a movie.

PS, Sorry if I spoiled any endings for you. You should thank me.

Just some stuff...

The tonsils are better. The tonsil-less Elasta Girl headed off to school this morning. She was so excited to go, she was up and dressed before we were even out of bed.

She no longer looks like this:



Now she looks like this:

Which makes this person \/ (down there) very happy.

These pictures were taken before tonsil time. Elasta Girl went to Baileys house, they made sock puppets. Baileys house is much funner than our house. I know this because Elasta Girl told me so. And her mom is much funner than Elasta Girls mom. I know this because I am not dead or blind or living in a hole. They have all sorts of crafty ideas. I could have crafty ideas but I wouldn't have the supplies for them. Her mom does. She's awesome.

They also have a trampoline.

This is what happens to straight hair on a tram.

Oh, and over the weekend Roo was spazzing out on the couch (not really jumping but definitely not sitting still) when out of the blue she says: "I'm AWESOME"

She is, just ask her.

Next blog: why I hate Nicholas Sparks.

Are they implying that I am old and moldy?

I do not think this is funny, nor am I amused!




Plus, the special senior citizen offer wasn't that great of a deal. Sunset magazine thinks I am old AND DUMB.



The END...





PS Today starts my birthday month.