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Showing posts from October, 2010

Putting It Back Together -- A Little

To update: Our van was ready, then not, then ready, but not quite, then they gave up and rented us a van (which of course the kids liked better than our car. of course.) and then they promptly got it all working. I picked it up last night, signed my savings away and received a baseball cap in return with "ACTION TRANSMISSION" on the front and " get your shift in gear " on the back. That is the honest truth. The Most Expensive Baseball Cap Ever as the professor calls it. * * * * * I found out while folding clothes last week that Joss is a laundry savant. I would hold up a shirt -- any shirt -- and he would tell me who it belongs to. This included a brand new shirt only two weeks old, and others which were hand-me-downs from Will to Sebi. He is paying a lot of attention to people around the house. You might expect me to say "I should fold clothes more often! Who knows what else I might discover about my family!" But no. What I thought was "Now I can j

"I can take a chainsaw and make a treat:" Primary Halloween songs

(A guest post by the Professor) I am really lucky. I am the music leader for the "Primary," teh children's organization in our church congregation. I have the marvelous job of singing with 50-70 kids each Sunday morning. It is the best calling in the church--by far. Especially when the Primary leaders are not part of the Mormon Taliban who cry "Heresy!" at the least hint of un-orthadox behavior. The four women who are in charge of the Primary in our congregation are fantastic: very low-key and supportive. Even yesterday, when I pulled out some hallo-weeny upgrades of some of our musical favorites. The children have been very good and reverent for weeks on end as we have prepared for our annual program. They deserved a break. I told the kids that I had looked very hard and found Halloween hymns in our Children's Songbook, right before the Thanksgiving Hymns (anyone who knows the Songbook knows that you can look long and hard for anything spooky except for

Wait for it...Wait for it...

....and.....the heater just made a horrible sound and died. McFarlands: 0 The Universe: 5 Hand-washing dishes, chopping wood for the fireplace to keep warm: We're partying like it's 1929!

Black Monday

(Guest post from the Professor) Within 24 hours we have seen the untimely demise of the following: 1 Canon EOS 35mm Camera 2 (count 'em: both) of our automobiles. 1 Bosch Dishwasher. Combined with Joss' recent denuding of two laptop computer keyboards, a downstairs kitchen leak that left a gaping hole in the wall, the demise of a vacuum cleaner, an active leak in the roof and the impending death of our entire heating system, we are wondering of someone has Professor and Mary Ann-shaped voodoo dolls on their dresser.   On the other hand, our car carried us safely back from Idaho and Wyoming, and we are not currently stuck at a transmission shop in Evanston.  As the artist known as "Owl City" has sung: "Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining..."

Announcing . . .

our next study abroad. Check it out and tell all your BYU students to come! check out the amazing video here (I tried to put it on the blog, but it was too big!)

October's Menus

Rob thinks that I need to post this for posterity. I started planning menus after discovering Leanne Ely with her Saving Dinner method. It has made shopping with kids easier in the store, I've saved money, I have to do less thinking during the day, and dinner is on the table by the time my ravenous swimmers come home. It has also allowed me to keep a really poorly-stocked pantry! (I have used the Saving Dinner sample menus, shopping lists and recipes in the past. They're easy to follow, I love the fact that I can print out her shopping list, and my kids always eat them with gusto. I also used her make-ahead meals for the crockpot when I was pregnant with, um, someone (Joss?). Aside from the fact that I couldn't keep down green peppers, these were great too; take one out and throw it in the crockpot, then shut the door and run to the other end of the house until dinnertime.) I've done better and I've done worse through the years, but last month we had some big expe

We're Still Here!

So I guess that last post was also saying aloha to blogging for a month. I just can't blog. First, I took the camera in to be fixed. We were shooting everything at a sport film speed, nothing was in focus, and the repairman kept referring to some sort of "impactive event" . I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't a single event, but rather a lifestyle for this camera. Chasing toddlers over cobblestones has led to many, many impactive events. I'm still waiting to see if he can do anything about that, when Joss had a moment alone with my laptop. He flicked off the enter key, B, N, L, Y, +, . , / keys and the space bar! It is really painful and difficult to type these days, so I just avoid the computer. But things have been steaming along in the meantime, so here are a few soundbites. Will and I were at the table doing [frustrating] math homework. He was so angry and finally choked out "You guys are making my life THE HECK !" He repeated it