The Best Marketing Ever

Why I love the bakery's bags:  They don't order me around in a "HAVE A DOUGHNUT" type way.  They aren't ambiguous in their design with just a plain doughnut on them (am I suppose to eat it, or admire it?).  They aren't plain, making people wonder if I have drugs, liquor, or pokemon cards in the bag.  They reach me in just the right way, soothing the part of me that drove me to the bakery in the first place.

Well played bakery.  Well played.

This was the email I got from some church publication:

I know what they meant, but it also looks like it is telling you that their recipes are so good, they are worth dying for so your loved ones can eat the magical potatoes.  Maybe I'm the only one that sees the inappropriateness of the headline.

Random California Fun

When we moved to Scottsbluff I was very hesitant about moving to someplace so small, but there were a few things that made it tolerable. There was a bookstore, a Starbucks (best hot chocolate!), and a Little Caesars (our favorite pizza place, I know, we are charlatans).  The first to go out of business was the Starbucks which we lost within a year of moving here.  The Little Caesars left, came back, and then left for good.  The bookstore held on for almost 4 years, but it too left.  It has been a lonely, yummy free area for a while now.

So, while in California my mother-in-law took the kids on a picnic and when I was buckling them into seat-belts I smelled the most heavenly smell.  Luckily she is the nicest lady in the world and let me poach a little of the bounty before they left to be attacked by geese.

I think half of why my parents like having the kids visit is they get an excuse to do things like see the newest Muppet movie.  They have a great theater in Lancaster with extra leg room and higher rises between rows.  I'm sure this is pretty standard in the civilized world, but it is still pretty novel to those of us in Hickville.  The theater wasn't crowded so we were putting out feet up on the row ahead of us (which is pretty gross when you think about it, so I choose not to).  Livi wanted to get in on the action:

Why So Serious?

Why do you look so serious little one?

Oh, because you are in character.  Of course.

The Stuff of Nightmares, or Let's Go To The YMCA

As we walked out of one of the kids' soccer games I finally noticed ALL the unique murals on the wall in the hall of the YMCA.  I would like to think it was the pain pills making the faces extra creepy, but I wasn't on any pain pills, and looking at them again I think they have, if it is possible, gotten even more creepy.

Not so bad, maybe just an unattractive little boy...

maybe this boy just ran into a wall before he posed for this picture...

wait...

is that a child, and an old elf...

Okay, now they just look like gangsters... little tiny child gangsters...about to make someone talk.

Stop Ordering Me Around, Chocolate!

I remember Dove Chocolate having cute little fortune type messages on them. Sometimes a deep or funny thought. These just seemed like they were telling me what to do.

It says "Sleep under the stars tonight."

No, Dove, I will not. 

Excuse Me, Your Absurd is Showing

Every once in a while (okay, once a week) there is something in the paper that just makes me sit back and think "Wow, they must have 10 year olds on staff."


Good thing they gave us that quote.  We may not have understood what laughing sounded like.

Absurd isn't always a stupid thing, though. I loved how self aware the instructions were for Livi's Barbie Dreamhouse:

A Quick Recap, or I've Been Lazy

Things have been a little busy with Halloween coming up and costumes to be stressed over so here is a quick recap before I forget:

I got called as the Primary Activity Day Leader and my first thing as leader was to take all the girls to Cheyenne for a stake activity.  It was fun, but oh so loud.

Ethan went to a sleep over where THEY DID NOT SLEEP.  At all.  Not one minute.  He was pretty tired by dinner time the next day,

A client asked if we wanted "some" tomatoes.  This is what we got (soda can for scale):

Ella has excelled so much in school this year!  She was so far ahead in math her teacher made her, her own sheets for "1 minute math" that are harder and contain 20 extra problems (She even named them "Ella Sheets"). Thank goodness for good teachers that will accommodate smart kids too!

Ethan had to do a report on a foreign country.  Being a big Dr Who fan he picked The United Kingdom.  We tried to think of a traditional British treat to take and since I didn't want to make blood pudding I bought something else online.  Nothing says England like Digestives at tea time!  As a side note they taste remarkably like graham crackers.

Livi's preschool got to go to Perkins for National Pancake Day.  It was kind of amazing.

Livi put a napkin around her neck and said "Look Mom, an ascot," a true sign we have been watching too much Scooby Doo.

Part of Ethan's costume came and Livi LOVES it.  I have to keep taking it away from her...

and Elmo.

An amazing day on a walk with my two babies.

We already had snow and Livi made a Snow Owl, because Snowmen are lame.

Just Call Me A Copy Cat, or I am about to be a hypocrite

In Junior High I got a brand new outfit from the "trendy" store.  Unlike some siblings who will not be named, new clothes were not that often an occurrence for me, especially when I was that young.  I was so proud, I felt so cool when I wore that brand new outfit to school.  The next day my friend was wearing literally the same outfit.  She had gone out the night before and bought it after seeing mine.  I know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, blah blah blah, but is it so hard to see a good idea and make it your own?  It was the 90's, the time of uber coordination.  It was part of a group of clothes that she could have picked from for a similar look, but no, she got the exact same pieces.  It took away part of the specialness of the outfit.  I have hated copy-cats ever since.  I know it was stupid to feel that way, and the truly sad thing is that I never grew out of it.  As stupid and as juvenile as it is, I still HATE copy-cats.  I don't mind similar takes on things, but when it is 100% exactly what I have done/worn/played/said I just can't take it (unless asked ahead of time and credited).

Having said that I am about to be a jerk myself.  James recently has been posting the most interesting posts on his blog.  He is doing the 30 day writing challenge that Julia did a while ago.  Her posts were interesting in a way I could never achieve also. I know that nothing I write will be that engaging, but since I am not naive enough to think anyone but my mom and I will find this interesting I thought I would give it a try.  Also I find myself closing off from the world around me again, and I think it might help me at least take my mind in a different direction.

Here is my copy-copy cat post:

Day 1: List 10 Random Facts About Yourself.

1. I love houses.  It is not just when I need a house, or when I want to buy a new one, I just love houses.  Anywhere Eric and I have ever talked about ending up I have found a house, or many houses, in which I could picture my family living.  I love the different styles, the different vibe of each city, the way the yards are landscaped differently.  I love to peek in people's houses with the pictures from listed houses.  It isn't just the houses themselves though.  I love to know the "good" places to live, in the best neighborhoods and best schools.  It is a weird hobby, but I can't pass up a book with house plans at a bookstore, even if I do seem to have 200 rainforest trees on my shelf in the form of pictures of houses I will never live in.

2. One of my favorite college classes was Theater Makeup.  I wish I had kept going with it. My favorite day was the one where we had to age ourselves to our 80's.  I am not going to look very good in 50 years.

3. I wanted to go to culinary school or become a lawyer.  I cook everyday, and I am entrenched in the legal world, but it isn't the same.  It is like building a ship in a bottle instead of sailing on a real ship.

4. My dream car is a 1959 VW Beetle (or really any of the 50's or '37-'39).  Eric has strong feelings against this wish since they are basically as strong as a tin can in an accident.  The new Beetles have a more classic design, so maybe I could talk him into one of those some day...

5. I hate fish.  All fish.

6. I love teaching, but would never teach in a regular classroom.  I love the kids, I love the actual teaching, I HATE the parents.

7. I hate Miami.  Unless a loved one is dying and the only chance they have to survive is in Miami I will never go back.  It is a dirty, dirty, dirty city.  The people aren't nice, and there are cockroaches the size of my dog.  Orlando is about the only place in Florida I will ever go again, the rest they can just saw off and let float away.

8. I love to exercise.  I also love to eat, which is why I am still overweight, but I really do enjoy exercising.  Now that my knees have stopped hurting (after 2 very painful years) I have gotten back in the habit, and I love the feeling of working my muscles and the energy I have afterwards (until 7 that night when I am falling asleep reading to Livi).

9. When I was a child I had a My Little Pony collection.  My Grandpa Bud used to buy them for me all the time and I think they were the majority of my birthday and Christmas presents for a while.  When I was a teenager and my mom made me finally go through them to get rid of the them she said I could keep 50.  I had to give away 200.  No joke. Yes, I had this set:

10. I hate the sound of people eating.  Most nights I try to take my time eating just to keep my mind from hearing everyone else around the table chewing, slurping, and swallowing.  It is truly the sound(s) I have the hardest time listening to.  Yes, worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

37 3 30 16 51 11 9 36 81 46 95 75 98 73 70, or A Random Number Generator Named This Post

Livi is a great flyer, but we were hoping she would nap on the plane.  She did...for the last 5 minutes.

My very calm, gentle mother-in-law.

Eric holding Milo, the first cousin on the Stott side. The reason he looks so tiny is because he is!  He was only 2 weeks old!

Ethan won 1,000 tickets with one quarter.  He was thrilled...Ella not so much.

Bailey, the nicest, most neurotic dog in the world.  She has panic attacks when her parents leave.  One of the ways to calm her down is to give her a nice, strong, warm cuddle.  Ella was more than happy to oblige.

Livi "reading" to Lincoln.  She was great at making up the stories and I think he was happy to have someone little pay attention to him.

Flotsam and Jetsam

It has been a crazy month of random fun, and I'm too sick and severely dehydrated to write about it all. I'll highlight a few high (and low) points while I guzzle my Gatorade and try not to die.

I got to watch Carter and McKay for a few hours which gave me a taste of having triplets.  Three car seats, picking up siblings from school, and arranging snacks for 7 kids was fun for ONE day.

Ethan got sick and never got better.  After a few trips to the doctor he has been diagnosed with asthma and is now on 3 medications trying to get it under control.  I stupidly sat at the doctors shaking my head saying "No, no one we are related to has asthma.  This comes as a total shock."  Little did I know half of Eric's family has/had asthma and Joan even still has an inhaler and is on some of the same medication Ethan is.  Communication, it's a wonderful thing.  (On the bright side one of the conditions my kids have is NOT from my side of the family for a change! Woot woot genetics!)

Ella had her musical program for school and played Boom Whackers, which is a fancy name for a plastic tube cut to a specific size.  She did a great job with her Boom Whacker and her singing.  We have a true performer on our hands!

Livi had picture day at preschool.  When I curled her hair that morning I told her, her hair looked like Princess Aurora's hair, which Ella overheard.  We have been dealing with the jealousy issues ever since.

I bought a stash of Hostess products for my kids to try before they disappear.  I will probably lose about 10 pounds now that Hostess cupcakes and donettes no longer exist.  No joke!

Eric "caught" a deer.  A big buck that had to hang in my garage for a few days before it was butchered.

Which means I have a blood stain in my garage.  Hopefully we are never accused in any missing persons cases because the evidence will look pretty bad for a while.

It also means I got to see this macabre scene every time I went in the garage.  After the horrible odor of dead deer the fresh scent of bleach was a welcome change.... although, again, not good if we have crime scene units out to the house.

On the bright side we did get super yummy deer jerky that every one LOVES.  It is so good the kids ask for it in their school lunches.

On a super bright side I have the cutest dog on the planet.  What?  Your mind isn't blown with the cuteness of that picture?  Well, I give to you the cutest thing I have ever seen:

I know you want my dog now.  Too bad.  I might let you come visit and cuddle her...for a price...cookies, I want cookies.

Random Vacation Moments

Suffering for beauty.  I borrowed THE most awesome pair of my mom's shoes.  Because of the heat they seemed to have melted onto my feet.  It took DAYS to get it all off!

Excited to go to Dry Town!  Super fun but the sidewalk was SOOOO hot.  Note to Dad - buy sandals!

How Autumn watches T.V.

Nap Time

Bailey was cuddling with Livi during nap time.  She was also cleaning unmentionables right before I took the picture.  Loving, but so gross!

Some how this lady had a mullet which she was wearing in pigtails.  That is some fancy hair do!