A Philosophy question

Is being normal OK?

Yes.

Is being different OK?

Yes.

OK, that's two questions, make the topic....Philosophy post #1

Funny thing...

So, today while my children took a nap, Daniel and I had a chocolate fix. Daniel got an Oreo truffle out of the Freezer, and I pulled out some Chocolate Ice cream to get a little bit. I realized that I can't look at one of the Pet rectangular boxes of ice cream without thinking of Daniel's grandad, Pop. Before Daniel left on his mission, we would go over and visit a good bit. Many times we would park at Grandmother and Pop's house and walk to the USC football games. It was fun to spend time with them and get to know them better. One day, we got there after the game, and Pop says "Would you like some cake and ice cream?" I said "That would be great. Not too much, though." So pop gets us plates, and slices a HUGE piece of cake for each one. Then, he gets out a fresh carton of ice cream, a carving knife, and "Thunk", cuts off these huge inch to an inch and a half slices, one for each one. Ever since, whenever I am scooping out ice cream, I can picture that in my head. :-) Thank you, Pop, for such a fun memory!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. One of those national holidays we celebrate where the original pilgrims survived by the grace of God and Native Americans. Our ancestors repaid that kindness with 250 years of taking land. Manifest Destiny only furthered our insatiable appetite for land and...dang, already on a tangent after the first word!

Thanksgiving. Turkey. Food. Friends (more on topic). Sunday, August 22nd, we had some wonderful friends over for Turkey. We bought some turkeys after Thanksgiving for dirt cheap and stuck them in the bottom of the freezer for our eventual "Thanksgiving in July" we started. I dunno why we didn't do it last year...never mind I do, doesn't matter. July turned out to be pretty hectic with Shannon's miscarriage, our anniversary and our vacation/anniversary/Shannon's business trip to Chicago to plan for. We pushed it back to August and had 4 other families come, all with children, ranging from 10 years to 5-6 mos. I took out the extras from the halfway frozen turkey and placed it in our roaster before going to church.

When we walked in the door, faint smells of turkey wafted through the air. Shannon made mashed taters and stuffing while I cleaned the rest of the living room and moved chairs to allow for better seating. Sweet potato soufflé, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin and chocolate pie and banana pie all made their appearance. I started carving the Turkey as people got here and finished up everything for a Wonderful meal.

Why share this experience? I think Thanksgiving never be put off until November of each year every year. We have things to be grateful of throughout the year and should be celebrated. Does that mean we should eat Turkey 6 times a year instead of 1? Sure!!! Who doesn't want sweet potato soufflé and turkey more often? More importantly, we need to be able to show our thanks and more importantly, be grateful no matter what. Friends to be around is a wonderful blessing.

Finishing up my college studies is something I still am thankful for. Some teachers may get a bad rap because of how hard they grade but I understand that they try to push you to do better. My teacher in my class for the 20 page history paper in my last semester was one of those. She pushed us for perfection and unfortunately, I only learned that in the last 3-4 weeks. But she also recognized the hard work I put into it. I know there was no way I was able to get a "B" in the class but a "B" I received. My diploma came last week and EVERYONE around me for the last couple of years was grateful FOR me for getting it.

I look forward to November for more wonderful food and the chance to express more thanks for the marvelous wonders in my life. Oh, please pass the dark meat and the gravy. :-)

Confessions...

Okay, so I have a small confession. I'm not always the most obedient patient. I try, but I'm not exactly a "sit by and do nothing" type of person. It's just not me. (For example: What? I need to take it easy? Okay - I'll just take the kids to the zoo. No problem. Don't worry, it's only 95 degrees outside... we'll be fine! Lots of fluids? I'll just bring water bottles!) A friend mentioned that when the doctor gives me an inch, I'm a person who takes a mile when it comes to over doing. That being said, it's been a rough year for our family personally. With 3 miscarriages since the beginning of December (4 overall. I had one between Jed and Alyson), the most recent one being just a few weeks ago, it's been kind of hard on me in several ways. This is the first time I've had to have a D & C with one, though. The doctor was very... precise with his directions (And, knowing me, made sure to make Daniel aware of the directions). Take it easy, no heavy lifting, rest, and all that such for 2 weeks. No swimming, no baths, nothing very tiring. (And I'm sure that you realize this means other activities in that area.) I found it funny that the nurse said "Don't be brave, take the medicine." So, Daniel was adamant that I take the advice seriously. He pretty much wanted me home, feet up. I didn't lift heavy things, I didn't swim (despite the fact that it is summer in SC), I tried very hard to do what I was told, without sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I will admit, I had to keep busy somehow. I tried couponing one day, and the next day was very achy and tired. After that, I kept a much slower pace, though still couldn't sit still. So, what could I do? I decided to take inventory of all of our years supply items, which took a day. It's so nice to be able to actually see what all we have! I can just keep track with my spreadsheet when I add and subtract. The other thing I did was that I decorated Jed and Alyson's bathroom. I found the perfect paint for what I wanted at Lowe's a while ago, and I had everything I needed to paint a room. So, I taped everything off and got started. It looks fantastic. I painted it chocolate brown, and used a blue for the curtains. I eventually want to get a better shower curtain, but it looks better already. I was stir crazy! My mind does better sometimes if I don't have as many idle moments to think. I really am doing a lot better. We know that something is going on, but aren't sure what yet. We're hoping that we can figure things out soon.
Daniel and I went to the Craft and Hobby Association Convention with my work this past week. With all that happened at the beginning of the month, it was great timing for us to go away together for a few days. Jed and Alyson spent a wonderful week with Grandma and Grandpa Bass, and came home very tan and happy. With Daniel in the car with me, the 13 hour drive seemed to go fairly easily. We got to go sight seeing in downtown Chicago, and we went to the top of the Sears tower with the Hovermans. It was awesome. We even ventured onto the glass sky walk.
It has been forever since we posted anything, and we wanted to let everyone know what was going on. We hope your summers are going well!

Swimming

Hey, everyone! Just a random post! Things are starting to get back to normal a little. We've had a ton going on the last few months, and we're getting back into the grove of things. We painted Jed and Alyson's rooms (Alyson's is purple, Jed's is blue) and we're really enjoying our garden. We have watermelons that are getting bigger and bigger, tons of zucchini and squash, plenty of snow peas, and cucumbers. We should be able to start getting Tomatoes soon, and are enjoying watching them get bigger and bigger! The blueberry bushes have actual blueberries this year, so we're thrilled!
Jed is counting down the days till he starts school in August. (literally - he asks me all the time "how many sleeps till I go to school?") He has a calendar that he uses to mark off the days. :-)
I took a ton of pictures yesterday when we went swimming with some of my sisters' families, so enjoy! This week was the first time Alyson was willing to let go of me in the pool. Normally she grabs me with a death grip that doesn't allow much oxygen to get in, and if I try to ease the tension on my throat, screams bloody murder (which is, I'm sure, a fun scene when we're attempting to swim at the Y.) I typically just go with the lack of oxygen as long as I can. Easier than the looks of "what is she DOING to that poor child" that I get. However, Wednesday of this week was the end. I was done. Perhaps it was the pool at my friend Rebecca's employer's home has magical "Children, be brave" water, maybe it was that I was tired of feeling lightheaded after swimming with her, or maybe it was the ear infection I had and that I couldn't handle the noise... who knows. But I put her in a ring, and floaties, explained that she would be fine, and pried her little fingers from around me. Then I swam backwards, with her crying and kicking right behind me. She kept up just fine, and once I showed her how far we had gone, she calmed down. Hasn't had a death grip in a few days (and we went swimming yesterday for 4 hours!) Yay!!
Jed wanted to push baby Logan around the pool. They had a grand time. It was a ton of fun.

Graduation

I apologize to all my loyal and devoted followers, waiting for words of wisdom and uplifting to uplift and edify your lives but a much greater and pressing matter dominated by thoughts and energies for the past year. I have been working hard attempting to gain the piece of paper that tells the world I am finally knowledgeable. I descended into the depths of hell to retrieve rare and mighty artifacts. Dragons have been slain. Dozens and a half of damsels in distress were rescued. Evil overlords were thrown down and vanquished. The power of evil wizards were turned against them. I have finally returned and have sent the armor to repair the dents and scratches. Rust stains will be removed and everyone will rejoice!

While the journey was not quite as wonderful and harrowing as it sounds, it often felt like it, especially the evil overlord part. My final semester was probably the most difficult of them all, despite having just 4 classes instead of my standard slate of 5. My senior seminar, a requirement for all history majors, required one large "circa 20" pages final paper. It had to be related to the class subject: Movies of the Midieval Ages. Being fascinated with the Arthurian legend, I decided to do my final paper on Merlin. Not to bore you with the details but Merlin is a combination of 2 people with a host of different writers adding to the legend of Merlin. Everything didn't go as planned with my paper and didn't finish my revision. I turned it in 7 days before graduation, not even close to satisfied with the finish project or confident that I passed the class.

The traditional waiting period for grades is 3 days after taking the final exam/turning in the final paper. Tuesday comes around, no grade in this particular class. Now I have NEVER had acid reflux but anytime I thought about grades, my stomach would churn. Unfortunately, I thought about it too often. I finally had to take an anti acid OTC medicine. It sort of helped, made it slightly more tolerable and took the edge off but it was still there. Wednesday, no grade. Thursday, no grade. Friday morning, no grade. Friday afternoon, 2 grades in, not the important one. Friday I get home from work, no grade. Finally 14 hours before actual graduation time, I finally get straight 4 "B's" higher than I thought. 3.0 for the semester. I shed a couple of tears of relief when i went upstairs. The rest is history as the pictures show. Thank you Rebeca for the wonderful cake.

CARS!

So, I've been very lax about our family blog lately. Sorry! Well, I'm going to try to make it up a little. I have pictures today! Imagine that! So, tonight Jed, Alyson and Daniel were playing "Race Car" in the hallway, and it was just too cute. Every time Alyson would send a car down the hall, she would jump up and down, and do a little "I did it, I won the race" Dance. Anyway, lots of laughing and lots of fun. :-) Enjoy the pics!

News

So, Jed and Alyson have both had a few "Big" things go on this week! Jed and Alyson had their first Dentist visit on Monday (Okay, so he's 5, and I"m sure that sounds bad, but it was after like 4 failed attempts where he wouldn't let the hygenist look in his mouth at all and they said we'll try again later, and later it was the same... you get it.) So my friend Genean had me babysit her youngest while the others and her went to the Dentist a few weeks ago, and I asked who she saw and how her kids (around Jed and Alyson's ages) do with them, and she said that they did wonderful. So, I thought we would try again with a new dentist, (and it helped a TON that Smith LOVES the dentist and told Jed how cool it is, and how he would get a cool goody bag) and Jed went right back, and left me in the waiting room. No problems at all! He did Fantastic. And when he was back there, he started telling the dentist that the picture machine (x-ray) that they had was "similar to the one my Mom's doctor uses on her." and was asking all kinds of questions. When I got back there, they said "wow, he's so smart! I can't believe he knows all of that! And he used the word Similar, and understood what it meant!" It was very fun. Alyson sat in the chair next, and had her teeth cleaned and then the Dentist came in and checked. They are both Cavity Free! He said that whoever brushes their teeth does a great job, and to keep it up. :-)
Alyson's other news is that she is "Accident free for 3". We even were out and about all afternoon yesterday, and today we ran a few errands as well. She told me when she needed to go potty, and we went. She's doing fabulous! We have a goal to be in regular panties by Friday, and if so, we'll go to the store and get Princess big girl undies. She's so excited! We're so proud of both Jed and Alyson, and wanted to share!

Alphabets!

Okay, so we do a preschool group with two other families in the ward, and it works out wonderful. During Christmas time, though, I got ahead by two letters. So today, when my housework (or the lack there of) has driven me crazy, I made a decision: We are going to take a day off and have a play day. We went upstairs, and the kids played dress up, we built car tracks, train tracks, dressed up as super heroes and had sword fights, and played tickle monster (With me as the monster, of course. The kids were armed with foam swords, and I would grab the sword, pull them in and tickle them, then let them go and it would all start over again!) Well, in between helping with costume changes and things, I got so much done! My upstairs hall is cleaned out and looks like a regular family, not just a frat group lives here! The kids rooms got cleaned and everything put away (though after 4 children playing dress up, it needs to be tidied again), and I scrubbed the bathroom. Yay! I'm starting to get back into the swing of things! My house will get more organized! I don't do traditional "Resolutions" each year, I just set a few goals that I would like to improve on. I feel like if I say "I will lose 30 pounds" or "I'll do ______ every day!" then I'm setting myself up to fail, since with my luck something will happen, and it won't get done. My goal is to be better at housework and keeping things organized. So, it's out there now! I guess I'd better get cracking! I've taken a 30 minute break, relaxing and writing this, so now back to laundry and working on my bedroom. Wish me luck!

Recipe!

Chicken Corden Bleu Casserole (From the Hoods, with slight changes by Shannon)
1-1 1/2 lbs cooked, diced chicken
4 cups cooked rice
2 cans cream chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
6 to 8 oz ham (lunch meat), diced
swiss cheese (can be slices or shredded)
bread crumbs (optional)
Mix soups, sour cream and mustard. Mix 1/3 of soup mixture with rice. Layer in casserole dish in this order: Rice mixture, chicken, ham, cheese, remainder of soup mixture, then top with bread crumbs. Bake at 375, 30-45 minutes, keeping covered for first 20 minutes. This recipe freezes beautifully if you use parboiled rice. (Comes out of the freezer better than regular rice. Keeps its consistency.)

Adopting

We have some friends that are trying to adopt a baby. If you know of anyone, or have any contacts, their names are Ben and Sarah Tyhurst, and the link to their blog is under our friends and Family list. They are an amazing couple that we have known since before we were married (I've known Sarah since High School!) and are going to make amazing parents.

We're Baaaack....

Okay, so it's been a little insane around here lately. Here's our update:
My business partner Monica Coleman and I had a very successful Crop (Scrapbooking event) in November, and it was so much fun. We are having another on January 8th and 9th, if you know anyone who would like to come, our email is memoriesinthemakingcrops@gmail.com , and more info can be found at our blog, memoriesinthemakingcrops.blogspot.com
The new business has been stressful, but also a ton of fun. And I have the best partner in the world.
Daniel finished his second to last semester at USC, and had a 3.0 gpa. YAY!!! We're so proud of how well he has done, and are even happier that he will graduate in May!
The holidays have been so great, and we're starting to get things back to normal. When we went to see Santa, Jed asked for a new movie, and Alyson asked for Princess stickers. (I love my children!!! So easy to please.) Later we wrote letters to Santa, and they decided that they would each like their own living room blanket. Santa brought them those in their favorite colors, rocking chairs to sit in with them, and Jed got a new movie and Alyson got her stickers. I made Daniel a "Memory" quilt, and it turned out great. Daniel and the kids (With help from Grandma Janie) made me a scrapbook. I cried when I opened it. It was so perfect.
Right after Christmas, Jed caught a little bug, and last week I got a flu bug. Alyson and Jed seem to have gotten just the shorter one, and their fevers are now gone. I still sound kinda rough, but my fever is lower than before now, and we're hoping this thing will be gone in the next couple of days. I feel better today than I have in the past week! Daniel, of course, immune system of iron man, is still unscathed. (The rest of us might want to beat him, but we are thankful he was not sick with the rest of us and was able to get things done!)
So, that's our update. As I get some pictures together, I will try to post them! Happy New Year!