alright megan...

for my lovely sister megan who i will be seeing in idaho on tuesday!!! also, i will be seeing my other/just as lovely/sister kara!!! also, my lovely mother, father, neices and nephew, and lovely cam, but no lovely chris. and hopefully my lovely sister-in-laws and brothers-in-law from utah and don't let me forget my lovely lambournes!!!!!!!!!!! hooray for some of my most favorite people!

The rules:
1. Post the rules
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite Shows
1. Any Food Network Challenge
2. The Office
3. The New Adventures of Old Christine
4. Numbers
5. Larry King Live
6. Martha Stewart
7. SNL
8. Divine Design

8 things I did yesterday
1. Laundry
2. A visit to the Waxing Studio
3. Ate at Great Northern Pizza
4. Went to Twilight
5. Quick trip to Wegmans
6. Went for dessert to Chilis
7. Ran on the treadmill
8. Dropped off library books

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Great Northern Pizza
2. Cafe Rio
3. Panera Bread
4. Jack Astor's
5. Any of the Gastronomy restaurants in SLC
6. The Desert Edge Brewing Co.
7. Macaroni Grill
8. PF Chang's

8 things I'm looking forward to
1. A nice quiet day of travel tomorrow (good one!)
2. Spending Thanksgiving with my whole family
3. Going to Sun Valley with just the girls
4. Picking out a good magazine or book at the airport
5. Seeing friends and family over the holiday
6. Christmas!
7. A modern/green dream house (maybe 50 years out)
8. Ella's 4th birthday

8 things on my wish list
1. A clean and organized home
2. World travel
3. Mini Cooper (5 door)
4. Becoming a yoga mast-ah!
5. A flat-ish belly
6. Early retirement because we have too much money
7. To give away money anonymously
8. A visit from the Merry Maids

8 people I tag
1. you
2. you too
3. you three
4. you four
5. you five
6. you six
7. you seven
8. and you eight!

thoughts on thanksgiving

“No longer forward nor behind

I look in hope or fear;

But, grateful, take the good I find,

The best of now and here."

~ John Greenleaf Whittier

"Gratitude is the heart's memory." ~ French Proverb

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." ~ William Faulkner

a very important person, that's me...

this week, monday, wednesday and friday i am a guest blogger on the tip spot. it's listed under good people, my friend christy, with a Y. i am sharing a few of my ideas on home decor. i'm sure you won't want to miss it. my ideas will change your life. and make sure you understand that i've pretty much copied these ideas from other people or places, but they do have my own spin. that counts, right?

have a great day!

good morning

i'm not sure what is going on with our weather...yesterday was plain awful...today is beautiful.

so, i took advantage of the warm (60degrees) weather and did my yoga outside this morning. it was perfect! a little cool and a little breezy. i didn't get too hot and sweaty, but got a good workout and some good breathing.

now i'm sitting down at the kitchen table eating a bowl of delicious pumpkin oatmeal. here's a picture of what it sort of looks like...

mine is much more orange colored. i accidentally added a little too much pumpkin.

here's how you make it...

1 cup water

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (don't use instant or quick, not as good for you!)

1 or 2 heaping tablespoons pumpkin (i just use plain old canned)

-put in the microwave for 2 minutes

then add any or all of the following or whatever you like...

a little brown sugar or honey

cinnamon

craisins

walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc

it is so good and so good for you!

have a great friday!!!!!

kids bored? make stove-top playdough!

i found this recipe in the western new york family magazine. it's easy peasy lemon squeezy and the children l-o-v-e it!

mix in a medium size pot the following:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar

combine and then add to the dry ingredients the following:
1 cup water
1 tsp food coloring (we love pink!)
1 tablespoon oil

cook over medium high heat, stirring continually, about 3-5 minutes. the mixture will begin to thicken and form a ball in the center of the pot as you stir. when you can no longer stir, turn the mixture out of the pot and knead into a ball. as soon as it cools, it's time to play! i stick it in the freezer to cool quickly.

recipes, tennis lessons, etc...

for all my fans out there (mom, dad) my cooking blog has been updated with a few more mouth-watering recipes. bon appetit!

it's possible this isn't the best picture, but you get the idea. aftie started tennis lessons again last saturday and was less than pleased with the whole thing, but tried it again this morning and was much happier. she was the "jailbreak" champion twice and did a great job in all other areas. she did mention after class that she was anxious to get back to her regular routine of watching horseland on saturday morning.

also, it's been around 70 degrees all week and i've been feeling like i'm in heaven. alas, all good things must come to an end. today it is overcast, windy and only 40. here comes the long buffalo winter.

this crazy world

isn't life interesting right now? i have so many thoughts running through my mind on so many different topics...president-elect obama, the wonderful history being made, the state of marriage, the financial crisis, the upcoming holidays, and how all of these affect my family.

first of all, i have to share a very sweet exchange i witnessed last week. i was helping out in afton's classroom (halloween party) and we had a bag of ghost marshmallows with a big rubber spider tied around the top. the kids had to guess how many marshmallows were inside. the answer was 70. the kids wrote down their guesses and we started out by asking who guessed more than 100. there were a few. then how many guessed in the 90s. then the 80s. finally we got down to the 50s. one little girl had guessed 50. no one else was closer, so we determined she was the winner. we gave her the bag of marshmallows, clapped and cheered and began to prepare for another game. all of a sudden, a different girl yelled out that she had guessed 52! suddenly, we were in slow motion or a stopping of time or something like in the movies. no one said anything. i think we (the adults) were trying to figure out the best way to deal with this. then, sweet little jessica (the original winner) looked at me, put a brave smile on, got out of her chair and walked the bag of marshmallows over to the other little girl. we all just watched her do this really good thing. then, the other little sweet girl took the bag, paused, and then asked jessica if she would like to share the prize.
i was just (sadly) amazed at the kindness of these girls. they were not mad, didn't throw a tantrum, nothing. they have both obviously been taught to do the right. i was almost in tears as i watched this take place. i felt such happiness at the realization that there is still a lot of good in this world. no matter what crazy maniacs are plotting horrible things, it's important to remember that there is still good stuff going on.

i believe it's important to AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE POSITIVE (Mister In-Between)
(Johnny Mercer / Harold Arlen)
You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
(To illustrate his last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
Just when everything looked so dark)
Man, they said we better
Accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
No, do not mess with Mister In-Between
Do you hear me, hmm?
(Oh, listen to me children and-a you will hear
About the elininatin' of the negative
And the accent on the positive)
And gather 'round me children if you're willin'
And sit tight while I start reviewin'
The attitude of doin' right
(You've gotta accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between)
You've got to spread joy (up to the maximum)
Bring gloom (down) down to the minimum
Otherwise (otherwise) pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
To illustrate (well illustrate)
my last remark (you got the floor)
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they say (what did they say)
Say when everything looked so dark
Man, they said we better
Accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
No! Don't mess with Mister In-Between

get on down and vote!

these girls are just beggin' you to get on down and vote!

they are both voting at school today and then we're headed to the local retirement community for ry and i to vote. i love how they are feeling patriotic and realizing the importance of letting their little voices be heard. (of course, i don't let their dad tell them anything, because he says it doesn't matter if you vote when you live in new york, because the democrats will win no matter what). he's being sarcastic.

you can't see it, but aftie would like to point out that there is an american eagle on her dress holding an american flag.
we tied a red ribbon around ella's blue hippo so it could be patriotic too.

on parenting

this came home with the school newsletter and i thought it was a really good reminder for me to really take time to listen and pay attention to my girls. often, i'm saying "uh, huh" as i'm picking up toys and clothes and walking around, while they are trying to tell me something. that just doesn't seem very nice when i really stop and think about it. it's important, I think, to treat children with respect, just as you would an adult.
so, here's a little something from our school social worker...

On a typical report card, there may be comments about a child's ability to stay focused and pay attention. But what if the report card was grading the adults in children's lives? What if our children were given the opportunity to grade us o the subject of "paying attention?"

What comments might be written?

No parent can give undivided attention to their child at all times. That is both impossible and unreasonable. In our busy, multi-tasking, technology filled work, we are distracted by many things. Work, chores, friends, pets, responsibilities and our own worries all seem to contribute to our distraction. For many, paying focused attention has become a lost skill.

It takes real effort to slow down and to pay really focused attention on our children-the kind of attention that is undivided with no interruptions. Luckily, paying attention doesn't cost a thing, and yet the payoff can be huge.

If you can pay focused attention to your children when they are talking to you about the daily small things that are important to them at that moment, it conveys the message that they are worth it and deserve your utmost attention. When a child feels this, it helps build a strong self-worth and sense of competence. If a child feels and knows this, when the issues are larger, they will turn to you. This message starts when they are young and is so critical as they become teenagers.

Remember, the attention that you are giving your children is going to teach them a lot about you, about their family and about how they should treat other people. Teaching your children to pay undivided attention to people when they talk is a great way to show you value and respect them and teaches them how to relate to others.

So what does your "attention report card" say today?