Here's to You

Today is Memorial Day 2010, and in about an hour I need to leave to attend a BBQ at my brother's house. I'm looking forward to this because I'm particularly aware of mortality this year.

Without being overly sentimental, I would like to thank each of my loved ones who have passed - whether they served their country or not. I like to think that I possess a part of each of them and that I am a better whole because of these parts.

So whether my boys have your name or you taught me to appreciate my babies, played a mean game of Rummy, encouraged me to be a better daughter, helped my husband become the man he is, or encouraged respect through cleaning headstones on past Memorial Days, Thank you.

I also want to thank my Grandpa - thankfully he is still here. I don't think I tell him often enough how honored I am that he served his country, that he had the courage required to face a foreign foe in a strange place and that he came home, married my grandmother, and fathered my mom.

There are many others who currently serve our great country who also deserve my thanks. Davids Tipton and McIllece and Victor Ditingo - this one's for you.

So... I WON!!!

I've been watching all these giveaways going on across blogland (especially Thriftyba because she's been incredibly lucky lately), and I decided to enter a couple. What the heck?!

Guess what!!!

I won - both of them! You can see what I won here and here.

Thanks to the give-away hosts. Look for a giveaway right here - SOON!

Perfume Cloud

I was cleaning out my cedar chest this morning, and I found a box of stuff from my senior year of high school. It's got a pom-pom, some poetry books, the senior class panoramic photo, a t-shirt, etc. There was also a bottle of Jess.

My bottle's lid isn't so shiny - it's nicely patinaed. The problem is that the bottle is 3/4 full of a liquid that is several shades darker - honestly looks like urine and it is

r ~ a ~ n ~ c ~ i ~ d. 

I <3 this bottle but I never really did like the scent (hence it being 3/4 full)... So guess what I did...

I turned on the water in my bathroom sink and figured I'd just dump the stuff down the drain. Couldn't get the vaporizer off the top, so in my infinite blonde wisdom I started spraying away.

What?! It should have worked. Paint booths use water falls to capture overspray and control VOC emissions.Why wouldn't that work for 20 year old perfume in the bathroom sink? I don't know - it just didn't. My upstairs now smells like rancid perfume. I'm pretty sure that I can even taste it.

You know how Febreze is supposed to neutralize odors? Would that work for perfume? I really don't want to add another scent to this miasma. I've got windows open (thank goodness it's a beautiful sunny day!). Perhaps all those awful scent particles will dilute with the fresh air. I'm sure my scent glands have shut down by now, so I'm probably not the best judge...

Won't Jon be surprised when he gets home from work? Maybe I can blame it on Carson and Evan and say that they rotated the clothing piles on their floor - thus disturbing some boy funk.

Really though. I still have 3/4 bottle minus 17 or so sprays. How do I get that stuff out of there and keep the bottle intact?!

Evan's 7! (+3)

I've been trying to decide which photos to include in a 10-yr-old collage of Evan. One from each birthday? Halloween? Moon Lake? I decided to just put together a smackling. I wish everyone got his personality. He's the most sensitive of my boys, the most tempermental, the most stubborn, the most idiosyncratic.

So here you go: The Essence of Evan

This photo collage made with Smilebox

So NOT Mother's Day

It's 10:33 pm, and my boys are not yet asleep.

I've been struggling to get Griff to go to sleep in his bed (not mine) for the past few weeks, and it's not going so well. Part of the problem is that I LOVE snuggling the little guy. He knows how to curl up just right, and he gets all mommy-lovey before he shuts down.

I've had to stay out of my bed (where I'm usually reading at this time of the evening) so that he'll go to his room. He can see me sitting at my desk working/typing/playing/facebooking from his bed. Some nights I've gone in and snuggled him in his room, but I've even been trying to ween myself from that.

I know it's hard to end a day, but I get really tired of the attempts to put off sleep just a while longer. Tonight was full of

Mom? My tummy hurts cuz I'm hungry.

Mom? Can I get out of bed for a drink?

Mom? Can I get out of bed to go tell daddy good night?

Mom? Do you know where the clippers are? My toe nails are off my toes and they're going to tear off on my sheets while I'm asleep.

Mom? Can I get another drink?

Mom? The clipper?

I'd had it after the last question and lashed out a little too loudly and too quickly. The poor guy has been receiving mixed signals from me, and he's just trying to go not-so-quietly-into-the-good-night. I just heard in the faintest little voice all full of sniffles...

Mom. I think you'd better sleep in your own bed tonight.

He's a manipulator that one!

Epic Failure

On May 16, 2008 we bought a brand new Maytag Epic Z Washer and Dryer. Coming up on the 2-yr anniversary of front loading ownership.

This was monumental for my sweet Jonathan. He's not a big ticket item purchaser. To make this happen, I researched brands, prices, vendors, and rebates. Our laundry duo was purchased at a home store for about $200 less than I could find them elsewhere. Throw in the manufacturer, store, and energy rebates, and I had found a deal that was too good to pass up. Well, you know what happens when things are too good to be true? Uh-huh...

The first day that I used the washing machine, it locked up on me. This resulted in VERY STANKY LAUNDRY, which was fixed as described here.

Ever since the locking event, I've been wary of this washing machine. This is not a good thing when you do as many loads of laundry as are done in my house. Every. Single. Day. This past weekend I realized that if there were more than one pair of jeans (eventually even one pair of jeans - or one t-shirt!) in the tumbler there was no tumbling going on. It was like a wet blanket party - whole lotta noise, but not a whole lotta action.

I have some fabulous neighbors who washed, dried, AND FOLDED!!! an entire load of jeans for me. While the jeans were next door I got online to research the Epic problem. I found the part that seemed to be the culprit, and on Saturday afternoon Griffin and I took a drive to The Appliance Store to buy said part. Jon and his dad could tackle the part replacing - right? The helpful gentleman behind the counter said it was not a job for amateurs and figured that it was going to be around $400 to fix my washer.

SO. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.

I came home. Went to KSL Classifieds and found a 2-yr-old top loading Maytag for $75! That's right $75! Not that I wanted to spend $75 on a "new" washing machine, but it's a good feeling to have something that works and can't keep me away from my clothes.

Monday night for FHE, Jon, the boys, and I sorted our mountains (and that's absolutely accurate - ask my mom or my neighbor Gary) of clean clothes and got them all to the owner's rooms. Notice that I did not say that they are all put away. Griffin's laundry is done, and I have an entire 33 gal size garbage bag full of too-small items to prove it. Carson & Evan's room on the other hand? I'm scared of what lurks in there!

It is so nice to walk into my laundry room and see an empty counter. Almost enough to make it stay that way.

But that would mean that I'd have to fold and put away laundry.

SO. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.

Tell me - which is it that's an EPIC laundry failure? Me? Or that piece of crap that's sitting in my garage?