Priorities

Long ago I gave up on the idea that Eli would ever have a job or a career that was anything less than active. He's 6 and he's been obsessed with firemen since he was 2 1/2. He wants to be a fireman, but he also thinks the military is really cool along with a smattering of a few other deadly occupations. I would like him to live past 18. I think whatever his career choice is, it will likely include hazard pay.

Today he was asking me if Nascar drivers make a lot of money and I told him that I was pretty sure that the ones that win make a lot of money, but I wasn't sure how much, and I dropped it. I'm really anti-Nascar on so many levels that I can't even speak to it's virtues. Are there any? Don't say yes. I'm totally closed-minded on the subject and I don't care to entertain any other point of view. Sorry...kinda. Not really.

Anyway, as we were talking Eli said to Cecily "What do you want to be when you grow up?" But, before waiting for an answer, he started answering it for her. This happens frequently because of her speech delays, and because of Eli's...shall we say... constant fluency of speech. I stopped him and said "Let her answer. What do you want to be when you grow up?" I won't lie, I had hopes of something sweet. After all, she's my only connection to sweetness. After considering it she got bright eyes and said "A fireman!" great. Eli got a disturbed and worried look in his eye. Cecily bounced out of the room and Eli whispered to me "Mom, I wouldn't let her do that if I were you. That helmet will seriously mess up her hair."

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Apparently we're more concerned about hair than mortality around here.

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Here is a recent picture of her throwing all caution to the wind with that helmet:

But we all know who the truly devoted fire guy is:

P.S. I'm sure that you would want to know that I'm now #1 on the library waiting list for Lark Rise season 3. I think I'll just stand outside the library eyeing people to see if they're holding purple DVD's. Not psycho really, right?

It's the TRUEST of true love.

You might think this post would be about Adam. Make no mistake, I love him. Very much. But a new love has borrowed my heart. The BBC knows a good thing when they see it/sell it. When half of the women in the U.S. (not an actual statistic) owns and loves the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, you have to capitalize on that love. And they have.

I have never watched an entire season of anything in my whole life. Even when I watch something consistently, I always miss a couple of episodes for one reason or another. Well, all that's changed. I'm in LOVE with Lark Rise to Candleford. Here are my significant others: I love them. Even that irresponsible scoundrel Twister, and the petty, back-biting Pratt sisters. Of course I love our sweet Laura and capable Dorcas and the queen of all wives, Emmy. I could go on on and on, but don't worry, I'll stop.

Adam's friend at work asked him what we did for Valentines day. He told her that we sat side by side in our fleece jammies in bed, and on the mini-DVD players that we use for long drives, we watched our shows separately. Isn't that romantic? We really go above and beyond. We laughed, we cried, he -for his X-men, me for my Lark Rise. Every once in a while we would look at one another and smile. Ahhhh. Bliss. His co-worker wasn't impressed!?

He's taking me to the Symphony this weekend. Maybe that will satisfy her? I'm sure I'll love it. Though I really hope it gets out early enough that I can come home and watch another episode on my 7" screen.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Have you ever spent 10 hours doing your hair? If you say "yes" I'm kind of surprised that we're friends because I've always been more of a 10 minute girl and you would probably reject my kind. Even 10 minutes sometimes cramps my style. I have a friend named Jen in Rochester that decided she would be responsible for keeping track of the back of my hair. It was that bad. I would do my hair and not look at the back and then go to church. She would come along, after having to look at it for all of Sacrament meeting, and fix it. One time I was growing out layers and they were driving me crazy. On a particular day I was really busy with Relief Society stuff and the hair was driving me NUTS. I found a twisty tie in my purse and used it in my hair thinking no one would notice. I was wrong. Jen (and a few others) noticed and found something much better suited for hair in her car and took care of me. I love Jen. BUT now that I live 3/4 of a nation away and I have one of those mirrors to help you see the back of your hair, I do try to give it a glance before going to church.

While I've never spent 10 hours on my own hair, I can now say that I have spent 10 hours in one day doing hair. Yep, Cecily's. I went to Hair Night for the transracial adoption group here and was totally inspired. Especially when I heard that this hair style was practically free (not an astounding $150) and could last 6 weeks!!! SIX WHOLE WEEKS!!! Hair is a big thing in our lives and not always a fun big thing so only doing it every month and a half has huge appeal. This is what we've been doing a lot of for a long time:

Cute, right? The problem is that so much unbraided hair is drying and opens up the possibility of major knots that we get to deal with in a few days when it's hair time again. Not to mention that it's cute on day one and two but by 3-7, the frizz takes over and we just have to live with scary hair. So after much inspiration (thank you, Diana!) and lots of movies and treats for her and braiding for me, here is the new hair:

We are loving it. She loves that she has long flowing braids and I love that I can oil it and style it easily and we're out the door with bouncin' and behavin' hair in no time! This is my favorite style:

So fun! The only down side is that she looks like she got two years older over night. Anyway, that's the latest change for Cecily.

Eli has made every new aquaintance aware of his big change:

Eli is all about doing things big! He didn't just lose his first tooth, he lost his first two teeth one right after the other. Big bucks from the tooth fairy.

And last but not least, Nater man. We FINALLY have 1) a house with room for a piano, 2) a piano, and 3) a piano teacher! Big stuff. Maybe not for you, but for me. So Nate's finally taking lessons and according to his teacher he's apparently progressing very quickly. Yay for Nate - he may be a true pianist someday! AND, yay for me- I'm not flushing my money from week to week!

Doesn't he just strike you as the piano prodigy type?

Nothing like a good find

Last night, while playing a game, I had to finish this sentence: "I can't resist buying... " I had a hard time filling in the blank because I can pretty much resist buying anything. I often put things in my cart that end up not coming home with me because I talk myself out of them before I get to the checkout line. Or going shopping and not buying anything at all. The only truthful completion of the sentence is that I can't resist buying anything that's a REALLY good deal. Now, make no mistake, "cheap" doesn't equal "good deal." I hate "stuff." For it to qualify as a good deal it has to be good quality and I have to need it or really want it for a specific, practical purpose (none of this "I might use it someday" business) and it has to be a great price. Better yet, free!

We have some recent finds that definitely fit the "good deal" requirements and one is really fun (to me) so I'm sharing.

The first is a chair that Adam found at the Salvation Army for $17. Reasons I love it? 1) It's my favorite color of yummy red. 2) We needed a chair. 3) It's short and so am I. 4) It's very clean. 5) It's extremely comfortable 6) It's well constructed with just a little wear on the right arm. I wish it had a twin! We do have to fix one button so it doesn't look like it has a dangling eyeball, but that's no bigs.

Behold the chair:

I know, not thrilling to anyone but me, but not bad for $17, right? And look at how cute two of my favorite people look in it. Oh and by the way, can you tell from the picture that I really love red? I do.

The next find was once again found at the Salvation Army. We love to go there and just look around. It's always humorous, interesting, and sometimes profitable. Find #2 was ONE DOLLAR. I'll show it to you first and then explain.

Do you LOVE it as much as I do? Well, you should! Isn't that just the house that you've always wanted to live in?! Well you can't have it because I already spoke it!

It's an original ink drawing that's initialed and dated 1966. It was falling out of it's cute, perfectly simple little frame because it was backed with cardboard and the stalest masking tape ever. I took it to our little craft store and had it re-backed, papered and new hanging hardware put on for $2.25. I realize that that expenditure was more than twice the amount of the original investment, but I'm still under $3.50 for original art and I'm feeling just dandy about it!

I have it hanging in a spot that I pass by just shy of a thousand times a day and each time I see it I'm so glad that I'm stingy (ahem, brilliantly frugal).

I live!

No, I'm not dead. Just lazy/busy/lazy. But I have clean toilets, so I guess I'm not that lazy. Just lazy about bloggy kinds of things. Truth be told, I'm probably only throwing something on here today because #1- it's the Sabbath, which knocks a lot of stuff out of the running and #2 - I lopped a chunk of my thumb off today, so knitting isn't a comfortable option.

We have moved. So that should probably be shared with anyone faithful enough to check in here once in a while. If you are checking in, you ought to get a reward for being among the truest of friends.

Here are the details: An internal transfer came available for Adam and he applied for it and got it, so we thought we ought to show up. And that's when we moved. We're in Kaysville Utah now. It's nice to have family much closer, and mountains even closer than that! I really like it. I miss many aspects of living in NY, but overall it was a good thing to do.

Just to get you up to speed, here is a picture of the kids as they never are:

Here are the kids in real life, almost. I mean, 3 happy at once doesn't always happen, after all. And, they don't generally lick each other.

Cecily's yelling "Pease hep me wipe my buns!" So I'm outta here until next time.

Who's up for a big funny lie?

I haven't posted for a very long time. I feel a tiny bit sheepish about it but I have to tell you why. We have had the MOST wonderful summer and who can blog when there's fun to be had? Not me. Last Tuesday, the day before school started, my kids and I laid on my bed and drew up a list of all of the fun things we did this summer. It filled a piece of lined paper and continued onto the back. Wanna read it? I know you're saying "YES!" right now. I'll spare you. BUT, if you want to see some great summer pictures of my family and read a very funny but completely untrue story to go along with them, then you should visit my husbands blog. One of the reasons we don't blog together is because I'm too pragmatic. I really love his blogging antics even if they're not exactly factual, and you might too, so go here: empirestategreenway.blogspot.com . Except the link isn't working for me, so either tell me how to fix it, or just type it in.

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I love Eliza in the picture above. She's the one that looks like she's crying. That's actually her REALLY happy smile. She's so funny. I love our nieces and nephews!

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So, sorry I was gone. Here are few shots of my beauties to whet your appetite and leave you saying "MORE! I WANT MORE GREENWAY IN MY LIFE!"

Aren't they so cute?

I could eat 'em.

Worth blogging about? Oh, I think so.

Have you ever loved a grocery store? Me either, until now. What's to love, right? They're miserable, cold places that suck the money right out of your pocket without leaving any satisfaction in your heart.

That's precisely how I felt until I fell under the Wegmans spell. When I go shopping I think "hmmm, I can either battle the hoards, never find what I want, deal with my crazy shopping cart barnacles and THEN have the money sucked out of my pocket, OR I can go to Wegmans. The difference? Everything.

First of all, I get to drop my 3-8 year olds off at the Wegman's play place with the nicest ladies that remember my kids names (couldn't be because I take them everyday, right?) and shop for an hour with just one small barnacle. I forgot to get a picture of it, but it's clean, fun and wonderful. Then there's the store...let's let the the pictures do the talking, shall we?

Feast your eyes on that happy little shopper. Why so happy? Free cookie, for sure. But often they have free samples of freshly squeezed tangerine or blood orange juice too. SO good.


Then there is the store itself. Look over Cecily's left shoulder. See the pretty floor? Cool lights from overhead cast pretty leaf images on the floor. I don't know why, but I love it.

Then, there's this guy:

who teaches me (and other passers-by) how to make wonderful food like Milanese Shrimp. And because of him I know the finer points on how to use stuff like pan searing flour. He's the one who showed me how to make the yummiest butternut squash/spinach/dried cranberry/candied pecans dish the world has ever known. Okay, maybe the only one but I could seriously lick the pan...mmmmm.

Let's keep moving.

Last New Year's eve I knew exactly where to go for celebration food. Wegmans! We had crab cakes and stuffed mushrooms ala Wegmans in 10 minutes.

But they also have great prices on the the everyday stuff. Milk there was $1.69 this week! Why fight it? But Cecily appreciates the milk section even more than I do and this is why:

See the train hovering over the groceries? That's a working electric train over the dairy section that entertains young and old alike! I'll admit it, I stop and watch it for a minute even when I run to the store alone. It's just so cute.

So back in my Kentucky days I had no problem with Walmart. I actually kinda enjoyed it, but it was almost my only shopping option. I can hardly stand it now. All because of Wegmans. Freakish that I would feel that way about a grocery store? Maybe, but I'm not alone. No, no. Conversations including tender feelings toward Wegmans are common here in upstate NY, better known as "Wegmans country."

like mother, like daughter

I think every parent has traits, beliefs, traditions and habits that they hope to pass on to their children. I certainly do. There are times that I do things and hope that my children learn from example and follow in the footsteps of their mother. Not very often, but sometimes. This isn't necessarily one of those things.

I walked in the kitchen a while back and this was the scene before me. I knew exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it.

Look closely at the thing in her ear. It's an orange wire connector that has been in the kitchen for a while. I'll bet there isn't an ENT in the country who recommends sticking one in your ear, but I know why it's there. Have you ever had sensory overload when 3 kids are swarming around you telling you everything that comes to mind and asking you the same questions over and over? Me too! This occurs most often between 4:00 and 5:30 when I'm trying to make dinner and Adam isn't home yet. I think most mom's feel that this is the hardest time of day. It's probably why "they" created happy hour, but since I don't imbibe, I find other relaxation techniques. To ease the insanity I sometimes wear orange earplugs during the nerve grating time of day. I can hear everything, it just takes it down a notch.

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More often than not I have a dish rag or a cooking utensil in my hand and hopefully a fairly pleasant look on my face, just like Cecily. So I'm sure when she dragged her chair over to the sink and saw the orange connector, she knew just what to do. Stick it in her ear.

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Maybe tomorrow she'll do a few loads of laundry and drive Eli to school.

*Forgive the asteriks, it won't let me create paragraphs in the second half of the post. Dumb computers.

Gonna keep 'em swinging baby, he's a real wild child

I feel confident that if I asked Eli what he loved to do most in life being on his bike would be at least part of his answer. He LOVES his bike. There are mornings when he wakes up and before going to the bathroom, changing his clothes or eating breakfast he puts on his helmet. The first word he ever read was "bell" because that's what it says on the front of his helmet.


We knew last year when he learned how to ride on two wheels without any instruction or help that he would be a good rider. Duh. So, he was nothing short of giddy when he found out they would be having a "trikeathon" at his school. We talked about it everyday. He wanted to take his bike 2 weeks in advance until he realized that if he did he wouldn't be able to ride it until then. Finally the big day arrived and he was thrilled. Here is a typical picture of the scene on that day. Lots of tricycles and bright and shiny new two wheelers with training wheels. The kids were all so cute and cautious. Then there was Eli. Dirt all over his bike from many puddles, bent and rusty handlebars, and zero tread on his back wheel from skidding out. It is his most beloved item.

Keeping Eli contained is a trick and not one I find much value in unless we're at a church meeting or attempting to refuel him (both difficult but important tasks). He spends lots of time riding up and down the sidewalk and he's pretty good at staying where he's supposed to be and checking in often. Last weekend Eli was out for a ride as usual and he ran inside and said "I have some tricks to show you but Mom and Dad both have to come out." I rounded up Adam and out we went. I thought he might show us that he could ride with no feet, or stop really fast but I certainly wasn't prepared for this. I mean, he's just 4.

Trick #1 - Feet through the handlebars. I really fought back the urge to freak out. Can you imagine what would happen if he fell over? I've learned with Eli that warning him or forbidding him from doing something is usually just a challenge for him so unless he's in spiritual or SERIOUS physical danger it's better to just let him go for it. I remember when he was trying to jump down the stairs from the landing to the basement and he was barely 3. I thought about it for the split second I had and said "Jump REALLY hard Eli or you'll go "splat"." I knew he would jump anyway so I might as well offer advice. I probably wouldn't feel this way if he didn't always pull off all of his physical feats of daring with out as much as a scrape. Anyway...

Trick #2 -Knees on the seat!

Trick #3 - feet on the seat!?! Even Nate, who is usually with him, doesn't know how he learned these tricks. I think he just tries whatever he thinks of and has the confidence to think he can pull it off. He went on to show us how he can stop his bike by putting his feet on either side of the front wheel and a few others that I can't remember and didn't take pictures of.

So after the show, we wandered in saving our lectures for another time. I've only known one kid just like Eli and last I knew he was being filmed in Nepal kayaking down some of the most treacherous waters in the world. Good thing Eli only wants to be a fire fighter.