sillent night . . . at least for the moment

Mark has been giving me grief (and perhaps rightly so) because I've already started listening to Christmas music. In my defense, I've only played it in my car, at work when I'm alone, and just once in the kitchen. Really.

Tonight, however, I'm wishing I had the spooky sounds CD from the Target dollar section that Emily told me about. Sarah is having a slumber party at our house with three of her friends. At present I'm enjoying a blissfully silent night, as they're all out trick-or-treating (their first time alone--sans parents) and we've only had three--make that four--groups come to our door.

In an effort to get the girls to eat something "healthy" (a.k.a. non-sugar) before leaving, I made what I thought would be very cute Mummy Dogs that I saw in a magazine. Hmm. I'm reminded of some Martha Stewart bug cupcakes that Jessie made for Bella's birthday one year. Somehow they didn't quite look as good as they did in the picture. Their faces were a bit bulbous, and the cheese bubbled out, resulting in a sort of tumorous effect. They're scary, all right!

At least the paperware was really cute! Target, of course.

I was happy with the way Sarah's costume turned out, but am partially blaming it for my lack of blogging this week. She was a fairytale princess in deep midnight blue satin. My friend Linda gave me the fabric several years ago, so I only had to buy trim and a 99 cent pattern! Sarah also got to wear it to a ward Halloween party last night at church.


So for now, I'm enjoying the silent night. Once they return to sort their loot, play games, watch movies, and giggle into the night, I will likely wish I was away in a manger somewhere, or far, far, away on Judea's Plains. And by tomorrow morning, after I've fed them all breakfast and their parents come to pick them up, you'll be hearing Joy to the World! (Maybe then I'll have time to catch up on a few other posts that have been floating around in my head.)

blind spot

I am grateful that I have never not wanted to attend church. This is not to say that there haven't been times when my motivation to attend comes more from simply "the strength of good habits" (as our bishop's good wife once aptly stated) rather than from the pure desire to sit through three hours of church. I am grateful to know, however, that the most important thing I do on Sunday is to partake of the sacrament, and that anything I gain beyond that is just icing on the cake.

Today I enjoyed icing on my cake.

Our Sacrament Meeting was the annual Primary program, which always proves not only sweet and inspiring, but also entertaining at times. The Sunbeam class, all lined up in the front, sang louder and with greater gusto than the entire rest of the Primary. They knew every word to every song. Sarah sang "Called to Serve" with the rest of the Senior Primary kids (not too many, in our ward) and I loved hearing her clear, sweet voice ringing with conviction.

In Sunday School we're discussing one of my favorite parts of The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi when Christ appears to the Nephites. I really like our teacher--he is sincere, and unpretentiously real with a good sense of humor. We discussed 3 Nephi 18, where Christ tells the Nephites to "watch and pray and always." I noticed how many times the word "always" appears in this chapter--many. Interesting that it's always; not occasionally, when we have time, as needed, or at your convenience. ALWAYS. Our teacher, Brother Stamps, said that he thinks of Satan as being in our blind spot. We have to be mindful of his presence but not preoccupied with it. He said, "If I drove like this [head turned backwards looking over his shoulder toward his blind spot] all the time, I would crash." We have to keep our eyes focused on the road with an occasional glance at our blind spot to know what's there. He also reminded us that we can bind Satan with our righteousness. I not only love that imagery, but also the knowledge that what he said is true.

Finally, in Relief Society one of my favorite teachers taught from Elder Bednar's General Conference talk titled "Pray Always." She is a widow of nearly twenty years--one of the most cheerful people I know--and she always has meaningful experiences to share. Today she told us about a time when prayers for an ailing child were answered miraculously, and another time when the answer to her pleading prayers for her husband's life to be spared (he suffered from cancer) was that "Everything will be okay." At the time she assumed that meant that he would survive the cancer, but she now realizes that in fact, everything has been okay. Her prayers have been answered. I am reminded of something my mother often says, that sometimes the blessing comes in not being spared the trial but rather, in being given the strength to get through it.

How grateful I am to know that I have a Heavenly Father who has my best interest at heart and knows me--sometimes better than I do. How grateful I am today for the icing on my cake.

Ta-Dum!

Look how far we've come in one week! I guess it's not the final "Ta-Dum," because I don't have the furniture, bedding, etc. in yet. But considering where we were with the leopard print floor last week at this time, I feel quite accomplished.

As a reminder, here is a close-up of what the entire floor looked like last Friday night:


This is Mark working in the closet last week. Note the hideously dirty bucket of water, which incidentally had already been emptied five times previously.

This is what the floor looks like tonight, after mopping one last time. Whew! Now we're ready to move the furniture back in tomorrow, and evict Sarah from the girls' room and the dining room. Her stuff seems to have migrated everywhere.

Here's hoping for a productive and long Saturday!

What happened to the first half of October?

So what's up with it already being October 18th?

Here are a few October highlights I don't want to miss documenting:

• My mother's 82nd birthday on October 5th. For a beautiful tribute to her, see this post on Michelle's blog. Her birthday fell on Conference weekend so we got to spend a good deal of it together doing one of our favorite things! We also went shopping together on Friday and Mom bought a darling pair of black boots and a cute outfit at Ann Taylor Loft. What 82-year-old do you know who has a cuter wardrobe than you do? For Sunday's birthday dinner I made a good Rachel Ray pasta recipe with talapia (a good substitute for halibut, which I can't afford), and mom made this delicious caramel bundt cake. It has a burnt sugar syrup (made with cream) in the cake itself, which is also drizzled as a glaze onto the warm cake, and also folded into the whipped cream you serve in a dollop on top of each slice. I ask, what 82-year-old wears cute black boots and makes her own homemade birthday cake!

We honestly didn't plan on matching that day, it just happened.

• John had his first high school choir concert on October 9th and wore a tuxedo for the first time. He's a handsome one, that John--all 6' 2" of him! We love his choir and piano teachers, pictured with us. John sings Bass II and seems to really enjoy choir. I think he's finding that boys in choir make a lot of friends who are girls, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

• On the evening of the 10th, while I painted in her room, Sarah went with her friend Hailey to the school Sock Hop. It was sort of a last-minute decision to go and luckily I just happened to have a cute poodle skirt hanging in John's closet. She loves this one because the poodle on it looks like my dad's dog, Tyrone.

• That same weekend, my mom made two chocolate pies for Mark to take to work for his co-workers. Thankfully he brought some home, as this is my most favorite food in the entire world, for real. Can you blame me?

• On the 15th Sarah had track and field day at school. John happened to have early release that day, so he came with me to meet Sarah for lunch. It's a good thing he came, since I had to park far away and haul not only lunch but chairs. Sarah is the closest thing to an athlete we have in our family!

• And finally, Mark pulled up Sarah's carpet last night, only to find that the floor looks like leopard print. Yes, leopard print. The carpet pad was one of those composite foam-o'-many colors kind, and it had black, yes BLACK specs in it that stuck in tar-like spots all over the hardwood. As I write this, Mark is on his hands and knees scraping and washing the floor. Thankfully, it's coming up, but has put a bit of a crimp in our project.

Whew! Here's hoping the last half of October lasts a little longer than the first half did.

love-hate relationship

Novocaine.

paint progression

Although Sarah's room still looks a bit like a Bronco zone (for those non-Colorado readers, the Denver Broncos' team colors are orange and blue), we are making progress. The carpet isn't up yet but the walls, ceiling, doors, and most of the trim are painted--hooray! And yes, Serin, the ceiling really is orange, too. That stupid hole in the wall above the shelf used to have a hideous metal light fixture attached to it. What idiot thought it would be a good idea to have a light fixture 18" from the ceiling? I've got to find an electrical plate with which to cover the hole (or perhaps a cute piece of art to lean on the shelf).

My dad built me this shelf that I brought from our former house. It has been hanging from our garage rafters for over four years and I am so happy to finally give it a place inside. I got a little teary-eyed when I read this forgotten inscription on the back:

My dad always signs his finished work on the back in a black Sharpie marker. Finding this one made me want to record the one on the bottom of my solid hard-rock maple butcher block that he made me almost 23 years ago, the first Christmas I was married:

I will always love those little forgotten love notes from my dad. Mark had to saw off about 7" from the end of the shelf to make it fit in the room. I made him pose for this manly shot with a power tool--he's my man!

The next step is to pull up the carpet, but having had a headache in some form or other for the past several days, I just wasn't up to tackling it myself this afternoon. Mark said he would take it on tomorrow.

And I just couldn't let my favorite painting shoes go undocumented. They're an old, old pair of Dansko clogs that are SO comfortable and have seen me through more projects that I can count--cross-country projects in fact, ranging from Colorado to Pennsylvania to South Carolina!

Hopefully by next week at this time Sarah will be once again sleeping in her own room and I can start putting the house back to normal. It's always amazing to me when I paint a room in the house how it seems to throw everything into chaos. I'm ready for the chaos to end.

true confessions

While I usually love to iron during the Saturday session of General Conference, I opted this year to tackle a pile of sewing alterations I had been needing to do. The only ironing I actually did was a small pile of t-shirts (now there's a true confession right there--I actually iron jeans and t-shirts) and white Sunday shirts for John and Mark.

Which means that--in answer to yesterday's post--I did in fact a) manage to open the hood of my car in the parking lot of Sam's Club, jiggle a wire near the battery, and then start my car, and b) go to the gym with my friend Rachelle (also Charlotte's best-est bud from high school) and use not only the treadmill, but also an elliptical machine and a stationary bike--and actually enjoyed myself! For real. Thanks, Rachelle.

On a side note, Rob (my employer of nearly two years and a former BYU football player) responded, when I told him of my gym experience, "What shoes did you wear?" I think he was seriously wondering how pointy-toed, patent leather shoes would work on an elliptical.

And here's the proof!