I Melted The Face Off A Bunny, Dyed My Hair, and Ethan Started A Blog

So the title basically explains everything in a nutshell. First off the bunny. I tried to make more cake-pops and while they were delicious, they did look a little bit like funky aliens.

Next, I have a bad scale. I lose 5 lbs one day and gain 8lbs the next day. It brings to mind yo yo dieting, but in an immediate and literal sense. I weighed myself yesterday, changed the battery to see if that helped, and gained 5 lbs in the 30 seconds it took to change them. I don't know which weight was right, but either way it was depressing, so a few minutes later I had to go to my hair appointment and I ended up with...highlights.

For the first time in 10 years.

They aren't extreme, but they are the result of the perfect storm of my weigh in debacle and Livi constantly asking why no one in our family has yellow hair like her. The hair looks great. The hair on my face...not so much. I don't have the California coloring to go with the California hair anymore. I'm too pasty and I think the yellow is too gold for the undertones in my skin (which is saying something since she went with the ashy blonds and not the yellows). It's not a huge change, but I think at this point in my life darker might be better. We will reevaluate in a few weeks and see what I do next. You never know, she has bright blue she can cover the blond with and it this point all it would take was another day like Thursday and I could take "blue haired" to a whole new level in this retirement town!

Lastly, Ethan has his own blog. Well, Ethan and his friend has comics they draw that now have their own blog. Ethan wanted me to make 15 copies, each, of all of his comics, and he wanted to sell them at school for $1. I get his motivation, but since I wont let my kids take the fund raisers for school to our neighbors I am not about to let him hock his wares on the school yard. I decided I would post the comics on his blog and then if someone wants a copy they can order them. I thought it would save time (I'm lazy, I didn't want to make all those photo copies!) and I was wrong. Setting up the blog was not easy and removing all the personal information the boys wrote on the comics (like our phone number and address along with last names. They should have just printed their social security numbers on them) took a lot of editing.

They also have a name for their company (Sto-Bag Inc) that sounded too much like a bad name you would call someone, so although they are not changing the name of the company, I did convince Ethan to have a different title for their blog. They also are not the most conscientious of spellers so I had to do some creative editing there to make the final project reflect their original aesthetic. Sorry, rambling. If you want to check out the cover of their first (of several) comic books go to Two Funny Guys Comics and check it out. We would love any feed back!

I Think I Killed A Little Piece Of Her Childhood

Ella: Mom, time to wake up and do my hair!

Me: Arghflagenpa

Ella: Mom, you need to get up and do my hair. And your flowers look sick. Maybe we should water them!?!

Me: (rolling out of bed and trudging to the bathroom) All flowers are dead once you cut them. We give them water to make them last longer, but they are all going to die anyways.

Ella: (shock on face) Oh....

Yep, that right there is why I shouldn't be allowed to interact with people, especially little princess people who honestly believe in unicorns and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, before 10 a.m.

Ethan Should Have His Own Photo-Bombing Site

For those of you who don't know (Mom) what photo-bombing is, it is "The fine art of ruining other people's photos. Usually by running in the background or making a silly face in the background," or "Any picture involving someone with an awkward smile, or an open mouthed attempt" (according to Urban Dictionary). I'm not sure if Ethan does it on purpose or if he is just a natural, but there is no doubt he has skill.

I am in the process of making some photo albums and just in a few weeks in one summer he gave us these wonderful gems:I wonder what the fish said that made Ethan look so disdainfully at it? What could James have possibly done to have Ethan looking that way? Who knows, but...It is James.

Pretty Pink Pokka Dots, or Not As Bad As Meningitis

Today.... well the only good thing I can say about it is that it is almost over. I have to document it because it was so amazingly bad. Nothing on it's own was hard, but it seemed like I was playing a game of whack-a-mole where everywhere I looked something bad popped up.

First off I have a touch of insomnia where I can't get to sleep. Once I am asleep all is well, but getting there can take several hours. Last night was pretty normal in that it took putting the dog on my face to wake me up in the morning. What wasn't normal was Ella saying "Mom, Dad says the dog has green eye boogers so you need to take her to the vet," right as she placed the dog on my head.

Called the vet. Told them my dog had bacterial conjunctivitis. Was scoffed at and told most dogs get eye boogers. I told them that most dogs don't get bright green eye boogers, but she told me if I really wanted to have the dog seen it would have to be that afternoon (heavy sarcasm on her voice).

Thursdays I help in Ella's class from 9-10 in the morning. At about 9:30 Eric kept trying to call me right in the middle of my helping. I finally answered and was told Ethan had a dental appointment at 11:00 so I would need to run home and find his spacer that had fallen out.

Found it, ran back to school, got Ethan, went to dentist. Waited 30 minutes in the tinniest, ugliest waiting room while Livi moaned about getting doughnuts (I was about to start moaning with her, I wanted one too). Ethan finally got called back and 5 minutes later we were off to the bakery.

Ran Ethan back to school, ran home to feed Livi real food, and bathe the dog. If my dog was going in with gross eye boogers she was going to go in squeaky clean everywhere else.

Went to vet. They all yelled "Tonks!" like she was Norm from Cheers. She LOVED seeing all of her admirers again. She has bacterial conjunctivitis (wanted to yell "Nailed It.")

Kids come home from school. Eric texts me to tell me he stayed late at his hearing in McCook and wouldn't be home in time to stay with the girls while I went to cubs with Ethan (I was called as a cub leader on Sunday).

Make dinner. Dog throws up on carpet. Dog keeps throwing up on carpet. Called vet hysterically worried the eye drops poisoned my dog (I should know better, but I wasn't thinking straight). Vet told me to give her Pepto Bismol.

Has the vet ever given a dog Pepto? Basically I put it in her mouth and she spit it back out at me and shook her head around via The Exorcist.

Went to cubs and entertained 6 boys and my two girls who were up past their bed times and ready to scream with the littlest provocation (which Livi did frequently).

Here is a few pictures of the new redecorating by the dog:

Me and My Buddy, or Come To Nebraska I'll Show You A Lame Time!

We were so lucky to have James and Jes come out this weekend. It seems even more wonderful that we got to have them here knowing that they will never come again!

I've been really excited to have them come visit because:
a)they are really awesome and fun to be around
b)I've been really lonely, and
c)it gives us an excuse to go to the various "sights" we have here.

They got here Friday around dinner and we laughed and hung out.

Saturday morning I woke up with a sore neck but brushed it off as no big deal. We went to the bakery (one of the "sights") and over to Eric's office (one of the other "sights," yep it is soooooooo fun here!). The whole time my neck was starting to hurt more and more. By the time we left Eric's office I couldn't move my head and the pain was starting to reach excruciating levels.

It seems that as I slept I pulled a muscle that pinched a nerve and it got to the point if I moved my head, shoulders, or right arm there was a sharp stabbing pain that went from my neck into my head and made it feel like my head was about to explode. Luckily I found some muscle relaxants from the last time this happened (3 years ago) so I was able to spend the evening in a semi-normal state of mind (i.e. not yelling out or crying every time I moved or was bumped).

Basically we spent the whole weekend curled up on the couch watching Pen and Teller magic clips and Top Gear, which was totally fun for me, but I'm not sure I would have been happy to drive 8 hours each way to do it. James and Jes were totally gracious and it was great to have them here and hang out with them. We all loved having them around and Tonks totally wants to keep Bailey forever. Bailey was happy to go home, I think, since having a rambunctious puppy and 3 little kids around means she missed most of her naps.To top such a "wonderful" weekend for them this morning brought the first real snow fall we've had all winter. Plus the I-80 in Wyoming, their only way home, is closed. Awesome. Come spend a boring time at my house and then get stuck in Wyoming. I can almost guarantee they never come back here, but at least they can't avoid hanging out with me forever...there is always Canada!!!

Overdue Room Reveal

Since I am in this "showing off my mad skills" mood (ha ha) I thought I would show a picture of Ethan's new room. It has been done for a while, but Ethan is not as...tidy as Ella so it took visitors coming to get the room in order enough to photograph it.

Before: After:
Ethan picked out all the color himself. He felt very strongly about them, and luckily I loved the blue, red, and cream. He has also started collecting globes which is a fun and decorative.

Room Redo, Part Deux

Beautiful drawing by my brother James now hanging in the "new" room.

James and Jes are coming to visit for a "fun" weekend adventure here in Scottsbluff. I say "fun" in quotes because I do live in western Nebraska, which although a wonderful place to raise a family, is about a 2 on the fun scale. (1 being Kansas, and Miami being a -5, which means you couldn't pay me to visit there again). I have been trying to get things ready for them, but being the reverse procrastinator that I am (I do, do things, just not the thing I am supposed to be doing) instead of working on the bathroom downstairs like I should, I decided I had to redo the living room.

It was one of the first rooms I worked on when we moved in, and there are several other rooms that still need to be painted, let alone redone totally, but for some warped reason I just had to redo that room RIGHT NOW!!! It has always bothered me that the room turned out nothing like what I wanted, and that it was not a reflection of me in the least. It is the first room you see when you visit, but really there is no excuse. Instead of tiling the bathroom, or cleaning the kitchen, I repainted the living room.

For reference: Before, Interlude, Now First off, I painted all the wood work white, which looks amazing ("I'm very good aren't I", to quote Julia). There are 3 different colors of wood in the house and I've decided that I'm just going to have to paint it all white if the house is ever going to look put together.

It did turn out VERY teal, and not the lighter version I thought it would be (even after hanging those stupid paint chips up for weeks). It is super bright, but I smile every time I walk by. It is just a breath of fresh air after the stodgy darkness of before. It is now a reflection of me. It is my style completely. I may have to repaint if we ever have to sell this house, but in the mean time I love it. I can't wait to hear what my neighbors or ward members think about it! I'm sure they will let me know just how much they love it too (and by love I mean hate, just clarifying since sarcasm is hard to pull off in print).

Self Portrait, and Sheldon Coopers 3rd Grade Program

I had a hard day. Top ten as far as melt downs go. I went outside (because I figured it was a better option than running away) to try and blow off steam by taking pictures, as the light was awesome, but found out my camera's battery was about to die. I only got to take one picture and decided this was about all I could manage. ( I love how my hands are so ugly they look like a 100 year old mummy's)

Later that night Ethan had his third grade music program. Just for back ground, Ethan is a VERY shy person. He is not just introverted, he down right painfully shy. He is open and fun around close friends and family, but if other people are around he clams up and tries to get away. It's been a real struggle for us as parents to know the correct way to deal with his particular situations as they come up since I am not shy and Eric is neither introverted nor shy.

A music program is basically the epitome of all that Ethan dreads. He has to sing, dance and talk (they had parts) in front of not only strangers, but LOTS of strangers. His singing teacher pulled me aside at Church (we are in the same ward) and asked if I thought Ethan would be interested in playing Aesop, since the original had backed out. I laughed to myself and told her she was welcome to ask him, but I doubted he would want to. She asked and he gave a resounding "No," and promptly ran away down the hall. He did agree to two narrator parts, so I was pretty excited to see him "perform."

Well, it was overly crowded as only all events in Scottsbluff can manage (if you are even distantly related to someone you are expected to drop everything to see your 2nd cousin 4 times removed 3rd grade music program). We did manage to get seats, but the microphones were a little on the soft side and basically Ethan whispered his lines. I couldn't hear a single thing he said, but dang if I wasn't the proudest parent there.

He hated every second of it, I could tell. He hated the singing. Some times (ok, lots of the time) he reminds me of Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory." This was one of those times. He hated the dancing, but he did it. It wasn't the most enthusiastic performance, but he knew the words and the moves and he did it, begrudgingly.

He is on the back row, wearing a toga, between the girl in blue and the girl in green. Sorry for the wiggles in the beginning, I had a 3 year old on my lap.



In this one, the girl in blue (a girl from our ward that Ethan has a secret, even from him, "thing" for) was making him bust up. She is the best actor in the whole grade and was singing right to him, which made him embarrassed and happy and here is the result. Don't blink or you might miss it.

Needed a Good Laugh, and Got One

It's actually been a really good week. I've felt almost healthy for most of the week and I was actually able to make progress on my life (housework, dollhouse, errands, etc.) One of the things I got around to doing was giving the dog a much needed bath. She is getting better about the bath, and the blow-dry after, but once she gets released she goes...crazy. There is no other way to describe it. I don't know if she is itchy, hates the smell, or just wants to get completely dry but this is what it looks like:


I also got a bit of grocery shopping done. The kind where you pick up those things on the list that aren't immediately needed, and when you feel sick you just skip them. Bubble bath was one of those items.

The girls were very excited to take their bath, and when Eric's back was turned Olivia struck. The little turkey unscrewed the cap as fast as she could and dumped it right out in the water stream. It was like she had been going over the plan in her mind and executed it the second she got a chance. It wouldn't surprise me to learn she had been practicing in her crib, doing dry runs, so when the time came she would maximize the bubble output. Well, it worked.
She actually found the body wash and would have tried to add it too if we hadn't stopped her.P.S. A big "Great Job" shout out to my dad. I don't know if it was the recent ribbing I gave him, or the shame of having it written on the blog where his mom can see, or he was just REALLY bored while my mom visited baby Lincoln, but MY DAD CLEANED THE GARAGE!!! I truly almost don't believe it, but my mom said it is true. You still can't park a car in there, but he rearranged it all so Mom's stuff is closer to the door and things are put away a little better. Good job Dad! I guess there was a snow flakes down on some very hot people!