Table for Eight

Here's my point with today's post: Dave makes me laugh at even the scary stuff in life. And I appreciate that so dang much. So, on with the post. **************************** A few years ago Dave and I both read a book by Richard Carlson (and his wife) called "An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love." The book is actually a letter that the author wrote to his wife as an anniversary present one year. And in this letter Carlson shares all that he would say to his wife if he only had an hour to live. It was hypothetical; he didn't really have an hour to live. He had 3 years. Only, he didn't know that at the time. Carlson died of a pulminary ambolism at the age of 45 (unexpectedly). It seems like a horrible irony--that this letter would somehow foreshadow what was to come. And it is. But the point of the book/letter (it was published after his death) is that we shouldn't take LIFE for granted. And, that life truly is a miracle/blessing/joy. It's a great message. ...

This is going to sound sacrilegious. Or maybe it is sacrilegious? But, I have to admit it: When I heard Carrie Underwood's song "Jesus Take the Wheel" on the radio this weekend I just couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it's because I have seen the YouTube parody, "Cleetus Take the Reel." (Which is HI-LAR-I-OUS!) Or . . . maybe it's just that image of Jesus moving from the passenger seat of a Toyota Prius over to the driver's seat that did me in. Yeh, that's it. You see, I LOVE metaphors. But for the last few days I've been thinking, "what if every metaphor were literal?": -- This room is a pig pen . (I'd bring in a real pig and let it reside there) -- I feel like a slug . (Which is really a simile). (I'd turn into a slug.) -- That sent me over the moon . (I'd be on a return flight from la luna.) -- Cat got your tongue ? (Chase, our cat, would be holding said-tongue.) -- You're over the hill...

  Happy Birthday Janae! Hope your day is special! And now, a birthday acrostic in your honor: J umps at the chance to help others (dinners, playdates, cards, plants, phone calls . . . and those are the ones I know about) A thletic (really, do you need to snowshoe if you don't live in Alaska?) N os, I mean KNOWS a good Savers' deal when she sees one A beautiful smile E verything a mom, wife, sister, friend, neighbor, blogger, and chicken-owner hopes to be (AND MORE)! Love you, NAE! 8)

Kaya had a really special 11th birthday! She opened gifts in the morning, had her favorite breakfast (chorizo and tortillas), she took some treats to her class, Cam and I checked her out of school for a special lunch, and she got a lot of phone calls, visits, and even presents in the mail (and email! Thanks Gma Mary, Gpa Rory and Gma Jo and Gpa Gary!). Oh! And a kind of fun thing about having a bday in March here in Utah: she had sun, rain, snow, and lots of wind throughout the day. (And today, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow!) PS: Even the pets made it a special day! Love you, Kaya.

  Happy Birthday Kaya! We hope it's a SUPER SPECIAL DAY! Love you! And now . . .  a birthday acrostic in your honor: K ind A lways thinking of others Y ou have a determination that is unlike anything I've seen A mazing monkey-drawer M om's life is easier because of you A natural athlete (who has biceps @ age 11?) R eally generous E ntertainer (love the 5 second dance parties) E lephants adore you! PS: Melissa, we love you too! ********************** PSS: Little Dane B.--hope your surgery went well. Rest and take it easy, buddy!

How can it be March already? I'm seriously cracking up. Time is just zooming by. So, I thought it would be a good idea to re-read my New Year's Resolutions and see how I'm doing: Dawn's 2010 Plans 1. Do yoga. (Doing this at least once a week, sometimes more.) 2. Do fewer dishes. (Dave started a chart and the kids definitely help a lot!) 3. Save money. (I have 11.00 in my savings. At least I have a savings account. I never did.) 4. Laugh more. (Defintely. Thanks, in part, to Modern Family. "Do you Mitchell? Do you?") 5. Visit family. (Not yet. But we do have a trip planned for Cam to see the Quads.) 6. Take a vacation. (We have an idea list, but no firm plans. LOTS of ideas.) 7. Wear more lipstick. (Why is lipstick so expensive? I may do permanent lipstick--BRIGHT RED. BAM! It would for sure make me a popular grandma down the road. Imagine the stories the grandkids could tell, "Dude, your grandma's lips are bright red.") 7. We...

Last month I ordered each of our kids a "PETA for KIDS" kit online. They day they arrived, I was so excited. The kit was AWESOME--and looked so cute: coloring books, stickers, and coupons for kids--all encouraging them to be kind to animals. SO, imagine my surprise when Kaya (who turns 11 on Thurs.) comes up to me and says, "Mom, this PETA coloring book is sad. I want to throw it away." I said, "What? Sad?" She said, "Yeah. It's about a stray dog that has babies in an alley. Only, the dog and her puppies have no food, so the puppies starve and die." I said, "WHAT?! Are you kidding me?" She wasn't kidding. Sure enough, that was the story. As I quickly skimmed the pages, I read the backpage: "SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS." Oh, I get it: they're just trying to encourage my kids to spay and neuter their pets. That's the reason for the tragic dog coloring book. Well, I'm pretty sure Kaya got...

The first thing that drew me to Dave was his calm. His peace. He seemed more content than any person I'd ever met. And I loved it. I felt like a life with him would be a life of facing challenges with peace. And for the most part, I was right. (With a few exceptions--like the Magna bike incident, etc. But those are other entries!) Okay, my point. Dave brings peace to everything he does. And I'm so thankful for that. It makes my life more peaceful and helps me cope with the many many many stresses I invite into my life. I love you, Dave.

It's been a kind of soggy Saturday. Indoors. Kind of ho-hum. Here's what we've done to entertain ourselves--in between laundry, schoolwork, and playing Legos (for HOURS!): These are supposed to look like Butterflies. Please tell me you "see" them--wings and body? I'm subbing in nursery at church tomorrow, so the kids helped me make these for snacktime. I thought they looked cute until I realized that nursery kiddos are under age 3--which means they can choke on googly eyes. (Looks like I'll be praying a lot tomorrow because heaven knows I'm not holding back my treat bags. LOL!) NieNieDialogues and SmittenKitchen are always talking about homemade Oreo cookies. I finally broke down and made them today. Holy insulin! If I wasn't pre-diabetica before today, I am now. We are talking SAWEET! (I think I'd make mini-Oreos next time. And yes, I'll make them again. I said SAWEET, not inedible!) Oreos up close. The idea is really way cute to me--LOV...

My brother, nephew, and DAD! Today's my dad's birthday! Hooray! Have a great day, dad! And now . . . the birthday acrostic: G reat father (and grandpa!) A lways caring R eally big heart Y ou deserve your own parade!

Life seems so contradictory. It's both happy and sad. It's fun and boring. Good and bad. Or at least that's the way I categorize things. I have an experience and then I sort it into either the "good" or "bad" category. And then I look at the categories. A lot. And I inventory them. And I think about them. And I wonder why there are more in one category than another. And I wonder why someone else's list is WAY long on the "GOOD" side, while mine seems WAY long on the "BAD" side. Do you do this? Okay, maybe it's just me. But for some reason today, I'm thinking, "enough classifying." Life isn't good or bad: it's just life. And really I just want my life to be filled with love and laughter (and some hormone-free/cage-free beef and veggies). Period. So, I'm setting a new goal for myself: don't sort life into GOOD and BAD. Just try to find love and laughter in everything that ...

Congratulations DonnaV is this week's Giveaway winner! Your zebra Snuggie and Hershey kisses will be on their way! (* For those of you with questions on "odds of winning." We have a small pool of entrants. This week had 4. Really, 4. Pretty good odds!)

Happy Valentine's Day weekend, everyone! I hope you have a LOVELY holiday AND that you enter our LOVELY Giveaway. Up this week: * 1 zebra Snuggie * 1 bag of Hershey Kisses Guidelines: 1. One entry per email address. 2. Previous winners may enter. 3. Contest ends Tuesday, February 16th @ noon (extra day because of President's Day). 4. Continental US entrants only. (Keeping shipping to a minimum. Sorry to my one reader from Helsinki.) To enter: 1. Send an email with SNUGGIE in the SUBJECT line to gardengnomesandcherrycola@gmail.com 2. Winner will be notified via email on Tuesday, 2/16.

("Grey Day in Paris") It's not often that I find myself short on words. But today the weather is gray, half the clan has a cold, sinus infection, or some other maladay, and I'm feeling kind of quiet. Actually, I'm feeling kind of blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah! So, rather than complain, I thought I'd post a new "Top Ten" list. This one has nothing to do with food--my latest obsession. (BTW--MSN's main page has an article today about how carrots are bleached before they are packaged. Awesome.) This list has to do with money and abundance. It's a list I posted on one of our boards two years ago. I look at it nearly everyday. I love it. It's by Wayne Dyer. (And I really really like Wayne Dyer.) It comes from a children's book he wrote about finances/money: 10 Lessons About Money and Abundance 1. You're not what you've got. 2. Live within your means. 3. It doesn't matter what "they...

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a little over-the-top with the whole SNUGGIE thing. I love them! (And yes, you can love an inanimate object despite what I tell my kids. Unless it's Top Raman. You can't love that and live in this house. It's cardboard, I tell you.) Anyway, in my opinion SNUGGIES are everything a consumer product should be--FUNCTIONAL and FUN. Seriously, anytime someone puts the SNUGGIE on, I laugh out loud. Which is why, when I saw the SNUGGIE for DOGS this Christmas, I had to buy one for our next door neighbor's dog Toto  (he visits a lot and we love the furry guy). Which brings me to today's thought: Why is there a market for the DOG SNUGGIE, but not the CAT SNUGGIE? Poor, Chase--the newest feline in our clan--he wants a CAT SNUGGIE! See? Here he is on Paigey's SNUGGIE this morning. Can't you just picture him with the little sleeves and cow-neck fleece? I'm designing a prototype as I type. (PSS: If Dave designed the...

It's not a BIG deal, but it is bugging me. BYU began a new parking "sticker" process for faculty this year: we no longer use a sticker as our permit, but rather our car license plate as our "permit" to park. You see, they/BYU purchased this amazing computer system and cars that literally "scan and read" our plates as they drive through the lots. This system allows them to check hundreds of cars in a matter of minutes--and it saves time/costs for faculty because we are no longer required to renew permits (paperwork, administrative costs . . .). But there is one problem: there's a glitch in the scanner that mis-reads your plate if it's a specialty plate. And I have one of those plates--a BYU specialty plate. I got the dang plate years ago because it has a little Y on it AND because each year a $50.00 donation goes back to the university when I register my car. I thought it was a cool thing. WAS being the operative word here. Afte...

This week's Giveaway Winner: drumroll, please . . . Jen J.! (Your Swedish Fish are on their way! Congrats!) (And remember folks, our next giveaway begins Friday 2/12.)

It's been a year since Fahjdi crossed over. We loved that dang cat so much. Funny how much a little furry creature can impact your life. That's the power of one, baby. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO, Fat-Fat. You made our world a better place while you were here.

We love you so much. Call me, girlfriend!!!

A weekly "full share" of produce from a local CSA. (The size varies from CSA to CSA.) I'm pretty sure I'm in the slow group on this one. I've been to Farmer's Markets before, but I really didn't know much about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Well, until last year. And even then, I didn't know much. But this year I get it! Community Supported Agriculture means local residents "buy in" to local farms and somewhat "sponsor" the farm. You see, most farmers sell their food three places (or more): 1. to restaurants 2. at Farmer's Markets 3. and to members of their CSA So, if you like to buy locally grown organic fruits, veggies, eggs, cheese, and proteins, then joining a CSA is one way to get 'em. And there are lots and lots of CSAs. Just Google the name of your state and CSA or Community Supported Agriculture, and you'll see 'em. This one is in Wisconsin--or Michigan! Can't remember. (LOL!) I...