Salt Shaker or Snow Shaker?

Today the salt shaker looks more like the snow shaker. We've had a storm that has just kept giving and giving and giving. Actually, the storm hit on Thursday with a pretty constant stream of rain for about 24 hours. It turned to snow last night and just kept coming. We got about eight inches just today.

I can think of nothing that makes A.J. happier than snow. He can play in it for hours. All he requires is a little hot cocoa afterwards. And if it is Steven's Chocolate Raspberry, all the better.
He especially likes it if our neighbors will come out and play with him too. Addison and McKenna always make everything more fun. And their dad, Ken is just a big kid at heart too and loves to play in the snow the way James and I just don't.
We had a similar storm last Saturday and they played outside for a couple of hours and made this ginormous snowball. Today, they turned that into the a snowman ready to play lineman for the Aggies.James even went out and helped A.J. build a snow fort. Me? I will go outside long enough to take the pictures, than I come right back in to sit by the fire and stay warm. I am just a big wimp!

But I do have to say, there is nothing like fresh Utah powder to put you in a holiday mood. It's so pure and white it just sparkles. Of course in a day or two, it will be ugly, but today I am looking at it and my son playing in the snow shaker.

Giving thanks, A little late

Today our family celebrated Thanksgiving. A little late I know but on the actual Thanksgiving we were traveling to visit our friends the Butlers and just ate dinner at the Cracker Barrel on our way to Boise.

But Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. A chance to eat really good food and to reflect on the things that we are most grateful for.

So today I cooked up a turkey breast, my famous stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls and my favorite thing this time of year: PUMPKIN PIE!!!

And now for the reflection on what I am most thankful for this year:

1) My little family. A husband who loves, supports and spoils me and a son that has been nothing short of a miracle in our lives.

2) My extended family. My parents who raised me right and my brothers and their families who put up with me. And my in laws and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents.

3) My friends. I know it is a little corny but you know the saying, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold." In this instance, I am rich.

4) The Gospel. Goes without saying right?

5) My Country. I worry that it is getting a little less popular to be proud to be an American again. But I am proud to be American and I am thankful for the freedom it gives me.

6) Access to great medical care. Don't know where we would have been this year without some great doctors, Primary Children's Medical Center and an insurance plan that took care of our little boy.

7) Being a SAHM. So grateful that James' employment allows me to be home with A.J. and pursue my interests without putting a huge strain on the family finances.

8) My hobby and little side businesses. Grants me a little sanity and a connection to people. I keep saying it is cheaper than therapy, but not sure if that is really the case. I think our insurance would cover a good share of the therapy.

9) My home. It may not be a mansion, but it suits our little family just fine.

10) Modern convenience. While I take a lot of this for granted, I am thankful for technology and how it makes our lives more convenient.

Really, I love to Blog

I know you would never guess by how infrequently I've been doing it, but I really do enjoy blogging. I've mentioned before that I love to write, and now that my boutique is over, maybe I'll have a little more time to do it!

Speaking of the boutique, it is finally over. It was almost exactly three months from when I first had the idea until we pulled it off, but we did it. And in my estimations it was a success. My partner Jen (the J of "PJ's Cozy Creations") isn't so sure yet because we are still totally up how much we made after expenses. But for me, it has been so great to have this creative outlet. I was in such a funk for about a month before we started this project and now I feel like I have accomplished something. And all of a sudden it hit me today that people actually pay me to do something I love!! How amazing is that!

And several customers have placed special orders with us so we still have some creating left to do. Just today, a wonderful woman in our ward asked us about putting together three scrapbooks for each of her daughters. Wow!

The hardest part has been pricing things though. We live in a humble area of town, not poor, but most of the people in this area either work for the church or work for the government. (Lot's of police officers, fire fighters and teachers). So they don't have a lot of money to spend on extra things like home decor. We didn't want to price our stuff so high that no one could buy it, while still making enough to make it worth while. Several people told us they thought our stuff was very reasonably priced so I feel a like we hit it pretty close to right, maybe a little low but we decided we'd rather not have tons of stuff left at the end than stuck with a lot of stuff.

But we do still have quite a bit. So if you are on our Christmas list this year, you know what you can be expecting from us!

Now I need to get back to my life as a mom and homemaker. A.J. has been so ready to have this behind us. As a reward, we are going to Hollywood Connection tomorrow afternoon with Jen and her kids and then taking our families out to dinner at Godfather's Pizza.

PJ's Cozy Creations and Updates

Seventeen days and counting until PJ's Cozy Creations first official Holiday Boutique. And it is pretty much all creating all the time. And everything else is suffering because of it. But we finally got around to taking some pictures of the things we've been working on today so I thought I would share. Here is the group picture with a sampling of the different types of things we've been working on. We just hope that we will be able to sell this stuff to make back some of the money I've invested in it.


And I can't believe I haven't blogged about my other little business venture. But then again, I haven't blogged a lot lately so is it really that surprising? Last month I took the plunge and signed up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I did it mostly to get the discount on the things I was already buying, but as it turns out, I am doing OK as a business demo too. I have my first workshop on Saturday thanks to my friend Janalee. And as part of our boutique, I will be offering free make and takes and Stampin' Up specials too. Not sure how long it will last, but I do enjoy teaching others the things I love so for now it's a good thing.

In other news, turns out this year's primary program will indeed by my last for now. I was released as Primary President on Sunday. I've actually known for a few weeks this was coming but because there are a few people in my ward who read this blog, I didn't want to post it too soon. When I told A.J. that I wouldn't be going to primary anymore, he asked me for how long I would be gone. I assured him that sometime in the next 8 years, I am sure I will be back in Primary doing something.

While I am really ready for this change, there are lots of things I am going to miss. I love the children in my ward. There isn't a week that goes by that they don't say something that makes me laugh and usually something that makes me think. The kids today know way more about the Book of Mormon and the meat of the Gospel than I ever did as a child.

And it will be really weird to be back in Relief Society again. I know I am going to have to resist the urge to jump up and down in my seat and say "pick me, pick me, I know, I know" when the Relief Society instructor asks a question. But I do think I am going to suggest that we add a wiggle song to the Relief Society meeting. In Primary we use these to settle the kids down. In Relief Society, we need one to wake up and get the blood pumping again! Can't you just see all the ladies in your ward doing "Once there was a Snowman" or "Do as I'm doing?" I think I might be on to something here.

Another OCD Confession . . .

I mentioned in one of my first posts that I have selective OCD and that some things bring it out way more than others. You can add car shopping to that list.

The summer of 2006 found us on our first two camping trips to the Columbia River Gorge and Yellowstone. These trips had two things in common: rain and a very cramped Subaru Outback. This started us thinking about getting a bigger car that could handle more camping equipment and would be a better "family car."

To me, that meant a minivan. I have lots of friends who just can't bring themselves to drive one because of the statement it makes about you. I say minivans say two things about the drivers: they are parents and they are practical. What's wrong with that? So we did some research and narrowed it down to the Toyota Sienna or the Honda Odyssey. We got a baby sitter and set out for the Southtown Auto Mall to do some test driving.

Our first stop was the Honda dealership. We asked to test drive an Odyssey. The salesman suggested we also drive a Pilot. Sure, why not. We are more minivan than SUV people, but what harm could a little test drive do right?

It was love at first drive. Suddenly, minivans seemed so yesterday and the Pilot was all I could think about. Besides, we only have one child and what if we never get another one? Do we really need a van?

But maybe it was just a passing thing and there would be another great SUV or crossover that could win our hearts over and cost a little less than then Pilot. We visited more dealership and test drove many more cars, only to discover that for us, nothing beat the Pilot.

Then rumors started floating around that Honda was going to redesign the Pilot for 2008 so wouldn't it be better to wait and decide if we like the new body style better? Meanwhile, I discovered that I had friends who were also obsessing about the Pilot and we would feed off each other and then start to convert others. Alas, when the 2008's came out, they were just like the 2007's and we all mourned together.

James just barely tolerates me when I get like this. Besides this went on for 14 months and still no new car. That is until last week when the stars aligned just perfectly. On Tuesday night I just happened on a listing for a used 2007 Pilot with leather interior and a DVD player with less than 10,000 miles on it for a steal of a deal. Turns out the seller had to have a Pilot in February, and then had to have a bigger house in October and her husband told her she couldn't have both. (I myself couldn't imagine picking a bigger house over a Pilot, but I guess there are some crazy people out there!)

It turned out to be the perfect opportunity for us. We were able to get an even nicer Pilot than we ever could have afforded new and we were able to get a loan for the full amount and still afford the monthly payments without touching our baby money. I did kind of have my heart set on an Aberdeen Green one, but turns out I like the Nimbus Gray just about as much. Who knew?

So now our Scubyroo has a new sister named Smokey (yes, we name our cars) and we love our new Pilot! Can't want to try it out on our trips to St. George in a couple of weeks for my Grandpa's birthday and to California for Christmas. It was definitely worth the wait! You'll have to ask James if it was worth all the obsessing!

A.J.'s First Primary Program and Paula's Last?

Today was Primary Program day in the Hunter 36th ward, and for those of you who have ever worked in Primary, ever had a child in Primary or ever been to a Primary Sacrament Meeting Program, you know what that means. Lots of work, lots of singing and lots of cute kids saying what you hope is the right thing.

I have been reminded of this the past three years by our Bishop. Apparently, five programs ago a primary child stood up and actually said, "Jesus was a bad man so they killed him." Keep in mind that it was our Bishop's first primary program and the Stake President's grandchildren are in our ward so he was there to witness it. I actually missed that program, but it is legendary in our ward. So every year, the Bishop reminds me that under no circumstances is anyone to say that or anything remotely close to it.

This was the fourth straight program I have had a hand in putting together the program in our ward - the past three as president and the one before as chorister. But this year's was a little different because not only did I have the normal role of writing the program and getting everything ready, I also was a proud mom of a budding primary program star.

A.J. had a very simple line, "I can be kind to others by sharing my things." He has been practicing it for weeks and says it all the time. (Unfortunately, I don't think the line has sunk in to impact his behavior yet.) But A.J. is also famous for getting VERY shy in front of crowds. In the three times he practiced giving it from the pulpit, he only said it once and that time I bribed him with a piece of candy.

So when the big moment came, I wondered what would happen. A.J. steps up to the microphone and starts his line, realizes how loud the microphone is and covers his ears and whispers the rest. Well, at least he got up there and gave it a shot.

And there is always next year. Well, for him anyway. Four programs is a long stretch for a leader. So I am not planning on being around in Primary for next year's myself. Then I can truly enjoy being a proud parent of a primary program star without all the stress of wondering whether one of the kids is going to commit blasphemy in front of the stake president.

But really, I was so proud of all of the Primary kids today. We had four or five that opted to sing solos instead of give talks and I was so amazed at how they stood up there and sang their hearts out. And no, no one said anything inappropriate so I am breathing a huge sigh of relief!

Oh, and A.J. was so handsome in his new blue Sunday best. I bought it after Christmas last year for a great clearance price and was so pleased today to see how cute he looked. Don't ya think?

Blog Neglect. . .

So I know my blog is suffering from neglect lately. I've been so busy being craft crazy that I haven't taken the chance to update what's going on in my life here. Basically, it's all crafting, all the time. And I think A.J. is starting to suffer a bit because of it. But never fear, Preschool starts this week and that give me 3 hours twice a week to have some guilt free mommy time! Couple of updates:

First, A.J. is almost completely back to his normal self. We had our post op appointment on the 23rd and the Doc cleared him for all normal activity. (Actually, that was a formality because there was no keeping him down before that anyway!) The nerve graft hasn't taken yet, but that is completely normal and could take up to 6 months before we see any improvement there. His nerve hearing is normal and the conductive loss isn't as bad as I feared and should be normal once we get the "anvil" fixed. We scheduled that surgery for mid January. We also go see the geneticist on Sept 18. I know we've asked for a lot of prayers before, but we need a few more as we prepare for that too. Mostly that we will find peace in the answer, whatever it will be.

Second, James returns to Georgia for more training this week. Luckily it is just one week, but it is hurricane season so we are keeping our fingers crossed that all storms will avoid the southern Georgia coast before he returns on his birthday next Saturday.

And third, in all the craft craziness, I had to revise my indexing goal for the month of August. But I still managed to get 3000 names done last month. A pretty respectable number. I'm sure I won't get nearly that many done this month though.

I'll post again soon because I have some pictures to share! But today I am off to Midway for Swiss Days! TTFN

Gone Craft Crazy. . . Be back later (maybe)

So I had a thought the other day. It was one of those very dangerous thoughts that starts innocent enough and then explodes all over your life.

I love to create but I never know what to do with the items I make, so I don't create often enough to really get the creative juices flowing. And since I love to shop for crafty things (almost more than I love to create) I have a lot of excess stuff that could be used to create things. So why not take this love of creating and combine it with my over flowing stash and try to make a little money with it all and host a craft boutique at my home in November and maybe start taking a few special orders here and there?

Then I talked my neighbor Jen into joining me on this craft crazy adventure and with in an hour we had a long list of items to make. Once you've discovered mod podge and chipboard, the possibilities are endless. And both of us lay awake at night thinking of other things we should be making and more uses for chipboard coasters.

This morning, we set out on a child-free (oh so rare for both of us) expedition to a few places to check out a few things, get ideas and of course take advantage of any great deals. Our first stop: IKEA, but Robert's Craft and Hobby Lobby just happen to be on the way so we didn't arrive at there until lunch time. (And can I just mention that I was a Hobby Lobby neophyte and now I think I am IN LOVE!) Then on to Tai Pan Trading and by time we got to Joann's we were pretty punchy and everything started looking like a great deal that we couldn't live without. Thank goodness some wisdom kicked in before we got to the cash register. But I think my stash has grown at least 25% just today!

Anyway, we are excited. We already have our first order for some assorted homemade cards for Jen's grandma. And I know we are going to be pretty craft crazy for the next several weeks getting ready for November. But it is great to have something to be excited about. I've been in a bit of a rut since A.J.'s surgery and this has pulled me out of it a little bit.

Now if I could just get my hands on some chipboard coasters. . .

Lovin' Hairspray!

When I heard there was going to be a new movie version of Hairspray, I knew I wanted to see it. But James wanted nothing to do with it. So finally this morning, my neighbor Jen and her 9 year old daughter McKenna and I went to see it.

From the opening number, "Good Morning Baltimore" to the closing number, "You can't stop the beat," the movie is full of catchy songs that get stuck in your head and make you want to tap your toes and dance along. It is impossible not to get sucked into Tracy Turnblad's life with her contagious smile and the fearless way she stands up for herself and others. The actress who plays her, Nikki Blonsky also is just so cute!

And the other actors are simply amazing too. It's hard for me to say who stole the show more, John Travolta as Edna or Michelle Pfeiffer as the evil station manager. Both give the sort of over-the-top performance that is essential in a musical. And boy does Travolta still have the moves -- and a few new ones too! Amanda Bynes and Allison Janney are too funny and Queen Latifah is larger than life as she is in everything she does. And Jen mentioned after the show that if McKenna didn't have a crush on Zac Efron, she did.

Anyway, if you can't tell, I loved the movie and give it a big thumbs up. The message that you should be comfortable in your own skin regardless of it's shape, size or color, and that you should stand up against injustice and prejudice is just as important in 2007 as it would have been in 1962.

Hero Worship

One of the best things about being the parent of four year old boy is that they think you are really cool. Well most of the time anyway. But in the past couple of days, A.J. has said things that let us know that we are the most important people in his life.

On Monday morning, A.J. was playing something and talking about cutting things and performing other medical procedures and I asked him if he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. Given what he has been through lately, I thought maybe he would want to inflict that kind of torture on others.

He answered, "No mom, a POLICE OFFICER!" (Duh, how could I even suggest that he wanted to be anything other than that.) So I asked him if he wanted to be a "real" police officer. "No, a pretend one so I can work with Dad!" (See in A.J.'s world, real police officers drive police cars and wear uniforms and federal agents are merely pretend police officers.) Of course, we want A.J. to be what ever he wants to be when he grows up, but it is kind of touching that he thinks his dad is that cool that he wants to be just like him.

Then later that day, I was telling him that someday he was gong to grow up and go on a mission and go to college. He said, "Mom, you're coming too right?" I told him, "Of course I will if you really want me too!" Now I know full well that when A.J. is 18, he isn't going to want Mom to be be anywhere near where he is going to college. But it is wonderful now to think that he doesn't ever want to be without his mommy. I'd like him to think that mom is cool for as long as possible.

A.J. always comes up with really cute things to say though. For the past couple of weeks, he has been talking a lot about a baby coming to our house again. Not sure why but it is on his mind right now. The other day he said, "Mom, how long did Addison pray for a baby?" Addison is A.J.'s best friend and her baby brother was born in April. I told him I had no idea how long
she prayed but that she is 5 now so maybe it was a long time. He's also been telling me that he needs a sister. When I asked him why a sister instead of a brother he says because he is already the brother so we need a sister. Hard to argue with that logic.

Caught the Indexing Bug

Last Tuesday, I was sitting on the couch and noticed the August Ensign was sitting on the table still in the plastic so I pulled it out and started leafing through it. What caught my eye was an article on a new program the church is introducing called "Indexing." I was immediately fascinated by it.

Basically, indexing is related to extraction work, only now anyone with Internet access can help out. You go to www.familysearchindexing.org and download the program, sign up and poof, you are now an official indexer for the church.

This work is in my blood. My Grandma spent many, many hours working in the extraction program for the church. My Aunt Maurine, would use a pencil to press the keys on the keyboard to enter names and places into the computer because her hands were too disabled to type anymore. And I am always saying I need a project to do. This seemed like the perfect thing for me.

Here we are 5 days later and I have already entered 1000 names. The current project is the 1900 census and most of the names I've been entering have been from Mississippi and Texas, but I have also worked on Virginia and Illinois too. Some might consider it mind numbing to endlessly read images and type what they say but to me it is very interesting. I wonder what these individuals and families lives must have been like.

Yesterday, I noticed in a batch from Mississippi there were several widows and widowers in their 20s and I wondered what would have taken so many so young. And then there were the former slaves who didn't even know the month they were born or where their parents were born, or maybe they did, but didn't trust the government enough to share that information. Today as I was entering the name of young boys, I wondered if they later served in WWI and how many of them weren't around for the 1920 census because of that.

I know none of this is actually my business but I am kind of curious. And I also hope that by doing this, I can help someone find information about their family that will provide the missing information they have been looking for. And at least I am not just wasting my time, doing who knows what. I've set a goal to do 4000 names this month and I am well on my way!

Back from Hogwarts

I finally made it back from a three year journey with Harry and his pals that only took me about a week. But like other rabid Harry Potter fans, nothing else gone done while I was "away:" not laundry or other house work and not much else either.

In anticipation of the movie release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I decided to watch the first four movies and then start re-reading number 5. Two big obstacles got in my way almost immediately. First, A.J. had his surgery and while I could get some reading done at the hospital, I found I was interrupted enough that it made reading hard. The second obstacle was harder to overcome. I didn't much care for Harry when he was 15. He was a little whiny and full of teenage angst. But book seven arrived on store shelves and I knew I had to get through five and six before I could read seven.

Starting last Tuesday, I made myself read 250 pages a day from book 5 so I could finally get it finished. And I probably would have skipped straight ahead to seven, after all I was growing increasingly worried that someone would let slip how seven ends before I got the chance to find out for myself. But I loaned seven to my neighbor to read and she kept telling me, as others had, that I really needed to read six first to refresh my memory of what Harry's mission was in seven.

So glad I didn't skip ahead because all I really remember (spoiler alert for six, if you haven't read it and want to better stop reading now) was that Dumbledore dies and that Harry told Ginny he couldn't see her anymore because he had a dangerous mission to accomplish. I had forgotten all about the horcruxes which are really essential to the whole plot of seven. And I vaguely remembered there was a prophecy, but not what it was.

I finished six on Friday but knew that I had to take a little break because of all the things that had fallen through the cracks while I was engulfed in the world of wizards and witches. After all, we had a Primary Activity on Saturday that I had to be ready for. But as soon as the activity was over, I was right back.

I won't tell you what happens, but I will have to say that I wasn't disappointed by the ending. Thank goodness. I am happy to know now what happens to Harry Potter. But I am also a little sad too because it is all over. No more suspense waiting to see what happens to the "Boy Who Lived." I am intrigued to see what JK Rowling might come up with next. I have never been one to read science fiction/fantasy books before, but the way she writes and the things she comes up with are just amazing to me.

So farewell to Hogwarts, and to Harry Potter and all his pals, at least for now. The fun will start again for us when A.J. is ready to start reading them. I've already told him he can't watch the movies until he can read the books. But that will be a few years.

And now, back to my life. Right now, I'm still trying to remember what I did all day when I wasn't visiting with Harry and his friends. Guess it won't take me too long to figure it out.

My Latest Creation . . .

My dear friend Vicki's birthday is today. Most years, it comes and goes and I some how seem to miss it. This year, she was in town and wanted to swing by and see us. Better not miss this one! She always tells me she likes the things I make (hopefully she isn't being polite since I made her wedding guest book and luncheon favors for her) so I started thinking late last week about something little I could make for her special for her birthday.

Seems like all of these little projects start out small and go from there. Took a visit to Roberts and Michaels just to get the right stuff for the project. Then since A.J. needed one more R&R day, I spent all of my Sunday putting it together. But I am pleased with the way it turned out.




I got the idea from Splitcoast (where else?) but this was my first attempt at modge podging all the sides of something. Actually the altered lunch box didn't take that long, but then I decided to make the matching cards and I am not sure why they seemed to take so long. But she said she loved it and her and husband were talking about where they could put it in their home. Makes the effort worth it.

Angels Among Us

We are finally home again after six grueling days at the hospital. Having your child have major surgery is not something I would wish on anyone. However, I have to say that there is no where I would rather have been in this situation that at Primary Children's Medical Center.

From the moment we arrived, everyone was so sensitive to our family's needs. As we prepared for the surgery, Amber, a wonderful Child Life Specialist on staff, came to our pre-op room and helped A.J. understand everything the nurses and doctors where doing. She made that very stressful moment of A.J. leaving our arms for surgery so much easier by holding his hand and walking back with him.

Those next eight hours were very long and very intense. I had barely slept the night before and was so tired but every time I closed my eyes, I pictured my baby on the operating table with his head cut open and I couldn't sleep. We watched dozens of families come and go as their operations were completed and still we sat. Yet there were two wonderful receptionists in the waiting room always full of smiles and cheer who were enough to brighten this very dark moment.

Once A.J. was out of surgery and in the ICU, two more angels in the disguise of nurses helped us through that first 20 hours post op. Tracy was our day nurse and Teresa our night. Both watched out for our boy with such care and compassion that I will never forget them.

Then on Saturday afternoon when A.J. was moved to the Surgical Unit, a whole other group of angels were there to help us. Everyone of them put up with A.J.'s stubborn determination to not take his medicine and not to let us put his eye drops in. A.J. averaged one new IV a day and the IV teams were amazing! I can't even begin to list all the names of all the nice people who took such good care of us.

And we feel very blessed too. During the surgery, our doctor discovered that the growth wasn't causing A.J.'s hearing loss in that ear. He is missing the "anvil" part of his ear and it is repairable. Where before we were faced with permanent hearing loss, we are now looking at his hearing being at the low end of normal. This was a hard way to discover this, but what a blessing to be able to fix it. Even if is does mean more surgery which A.J. insists he doesn't want to have. But this one will be super easy in comparison.

And there was a 14 year old boy, named David, who had surgery the same day A.J. did with the same doctors for a similar, but larger growth on his right facial nerve. His family traveled all the way from Billings, Montana for the surgery and this was his sixth surgery to remove a nerve tumor and he needs at least one more for the same thing on the other side of his head. I can't imagine the sacrifice forced on that family to have to be so far away from home so many times. We are feeling blessed to be only 17.7 miles away from this great institution.

But we still have a bit of the "griff" too. The reason David has had to have all these surgeries is because he has Neurofibromitosis 2 or NF2. This is the genetic disorder that A.J.'s doctors want him screened for. We are trying to take things one day at a time and not get too worked up about it, but at the same time, we can't imagine having to go through this yet again. We have the paper work from the geneticists ready to fill out, but while we know a lot about A.J.'s birthfamily, there is a limit to that knowledge.

In the mean time, we can't come up with enough nice things to say about our doctors, nurses and the rest of the staff at Primary's. I've always heard good things and thought they must be wonderful, but having experienced it first hand, I can say that there are angels among us and they work at Primary Children's Medical Center.

Gray Hairs

When A.J.'s preschool teacher asked him a few months ago to describe what color my hair was he told her gray. Very funny. I thought maybe he had just heard me complain about all the gray hair that I have and thought that what ever gray was, it was the color of my hair. So then I quizzed him on some things that are really gray around my house. He knew they were gray. Then I asked him to tell me again what color my hair was, and he answered gray.

In the weekend Parade newspaper insert, there was a little blurb about David Gregory, an up and coming news anchor at NBC who frequently fills in on the Today Show. I would describe his hair as gray and thought he was probably in his 40's. Still prematurely gray, but a bit older than me. Turns out he is 36! That is really not that much older than me!

Unfortunately, I seem to have inherited the tendency for premature gray from my mother's side of the family. My Uncle Francis has always had gray hair for as long as I can remember and now he has a beautiful head of snow white hair that makes him look very distinguished. My gray streaks just make me look and feel old!

But it does seem like stress plays some role too. I discovered my first patch of gray hair when I was in my mid 20's. I had been working on a pretty intense project at the Governor's Office that required a lot of late nights and a lot of details to coordinate. Not too long after it was all over, I noticed a gray patch right in my bangs. I was sure the stress from the project had caused it.

The second patch of gray hair seemed to come from the Olympics. I coordinated the creation of a joint information center which carefully balanced the needs of dozens of local, state and federal government agencies. It was several months of intense build up and about four weeks of long days and nights of operations. That gray patch grew right where my part splits on the left side.

Motherhood has blessed me with a few random gray hairs over the past few years, but nothing as stressful as the past week has been for our family. Having a son endure a craniotomy and nerve graft and then spend 5 long days and nights in the hospital fighting the nurses and doctors at every attempt to help him get better was enough to develop two or three more patches of gray hairs on my head. As I look at my hair today, I see way more than I did before we went to the hospital.

The only upside to this whole thing is that maybe I will be blessed with a beautiful head of snow white hair too once it all goes. In the mean time, thank goodness for hair dye!

The Dreaded Griff

Why is it that women worry? I've had this conversation many times with various friends in the past few months. Even when life if going well and things seem perfect, how many times do we start worrying about when the proverbial "other shoe" will drop. Welcome to the dreaded "Griff" or "Great What if."

I actually learned all about the "Griff" from this wonderful series of books my bookclub read called "In the Company of Good Women" by Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke, and Carol Morris. While the name was new to me, the concept was not. Seems I've had the Griff with me most of my life. When I was younger it was simple things like: What if no one talks to me at school today? What if I forget my lunch again? What if everybody laughs at me?

Then I got a bit older and started worrying about some of life's bigger what ifs: What if I don't get into college? What if my grades aren't good enough to get into grad school? What if I never get married? What if I never have children? What if I only have one child?

It seems like this week, with A.J.'s surgery looming, the dreaded Griff has taken over my life. What if I don't get my boy back after surgery? What if there is brain damage and my brilliant, active boy isn't anymore? What if this is the last chance I have to make memories with my son? What if he really does have neurofibromitosis and we have to do these surgeries for the rest of his life!?!?

Now I know most times the Griff posses irrational questions and often when the more rational "what ifs" come true the outcome is far less devestating that previously feared. After all, I never even applied to grad school and my life has turned out fine.

The chances of anything going wrong with the surgery on Friday are every so slight. Of course the doctors have to tell you about them to cover themselves but sometimes I wish they wouldn't. It only feeds the Griff. I will just be glad when it is all behind us so I can tell the Griff to take a hike!

New Family Pics. . .

Our adoption caseworker suggested a couple of weeks ago that maybe we needed to update our family photo that is attached to our paperwork. Ugh. The last time I took A.J. to Kiddie Kandids it was a nightmare and I only got one shot that was even half way decent. But we decided that the best time to do this whole thing was before A.J.'s surgery since we don't know how long the left side of his face will be immobile after.

It took us two tries at two different studios, but we got a family picture we can live with:

We got some other fun ones too:
I love the one of A.J. and James together! My boys, or as we call them around here, my bubby and my hubby. These must have been pretty important to me yesterday too because I was pretty upset after we left the first studio without a decent shot. And we ended up going to Sandy to get these taken.

I know some people think we do this too much. After all, we just had a great family picture taken a little more than a year ago and not much about our family has changed since then. I even have the same basic haircut! (Uh oh, must be time for a new one.) They do cost a bit of money too. But I also know that I never regret having them either. And I know I won't regret it this time either.

Of course all of this got me thining about our collage that is part of adoption paperwork too-- probably time to update that as well. But our new computer doesn't have Publisher on it so I've been trying out some new digital scrapbooking software. UGH! I don't know why I can't seem to translate scrapbooking from paper to digital and get it to look balanced and nice. Why is it so hard? Or maybe (more like probably) I am just making it too hard!

Children change EVERYTHING!

You all know that commercial for Johnson & Johnson products with the tag line, "Having a baby changes everything." It sounds so cliche. That commercial was really big right before A.J. came along. I would hear it and think, "Ya, ya sure. Everything will change. Of course it will." But HOLY COW! There is nothing anyone can tell you, or nothing you can do that really prepares you for how much change is really involved in becoming a parent.

For me, I feel like my adult life is divided into two chapters, B.A.J. (before A.J.) and A.A.J. (after A.J). B.A.J., my career was my life. I worked for the state for eight and 1/2 years in two different positions, both in public relations. But because I was in the right place at the right time, I did more in that time, than some do in 30 years. I wore suits and nylons. I traveled around teaching various aspects of PR and evaluating others work. I was president of my statewide professional organization and helped coordinate an Olympic operations center. I was respected by my peers!

A.A.J., none of that seemed quite as important any more. Motherhood changes the way you think and the way you feel. Movies that I had watched and songs that I had heard many times before, suddenly turned me into a blubbering idiot. Everything I did, I would stop and think, "how is this affecting my child." And the respect of my peers didn't seem nearly as important as the smile on my little boys face when he saw me.

But parenthood brings other changes too. I was reminded of this the other day when I finally cleaned my car. I don't rightly recall the last time it was done but I am sure that James is the one that did it. It all started because A.J. couldn't find one of his GeoTrax trains. (GeoTrax is another obsession around these parts.) Some how he got the idea that maybe it was in the car. I have no idea how or why, but we went out to look for it. Sure enough, it was under the driver's seat, along with several preschool projects, various happy meal toys, enough cheerios to fill a cereal bowl and other assorted necessities of childhood. None of these things would have been in my car B.A.J.

And I just got one of THOSE calls from the pediatrician's office. A.J. has very large tonsils, but I noticed the other day that the right one seemed unusually large and his appetite hasn't been the same since our trip. So I took him to the doctor who asked a million questions about how much pain he was in, how long it has been going on, etc. I knew the answer to exactly none of these questions because A.J. never mentioned anything about it until I noticed it. There was never any fever, or any lethargy or anything else. A quick strep culture came back negative so they sent us on our way. Today the doctor's office calls to tell me that he does indeed have strep throat. That means for who knows how long, I've been exposing every child in the neighborhood to it -- probably losing the respect of all my "mommy peers." Another thing that never happened B.A.J.

Still, I would never trade my A.A.J life for my B.A.J. life. A.J. turned our very upside down world, right-side up! And I don't know very many parents who would change things back to the way they were before their children joined their family either. Once those tiny creatures get into your heart, there's just no turning back. And that's a good thing.

Another confession. . .

I have another confession to make here. And I know that none of you will think I am the least bit biased when I make it. Here we go: my son is brilliant! Now I know that every mother thinks her children are special and brilliant and all that, but I know it is true about my son. His preschool teacher even told his grandmother that he was the smartest kid in the class and maybe she tells this to all of the moms and grandmas, but we all know it is true about A.J., right? So indulge a proud mother and read on.

Our first clue that we might have a brilliant child came very young. A.J. began speaking before he was a year old. At thirteen months, he could say 13 words, like aluminum and recyclable. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but he’s always been very verbal. This in spite of all the troubles he has had with his ears over the years. Now he always comes up with things to say that make us wonder. The other day he came to me and said, “Mom, I have an interesting problem. Maybe you would like to help me.” What? He’s four years old and he has “interesting problems.”

Right now, A.J. is learning how to read. I knew he would be ready for this before Kindergarten, but this is a bit earlier than I was planning. I never wanted to be a pushy mom but he has dragged me into this early reading madness. We’ve spent hours over the past couple of weeks talking about letters and the sounds they make and what words rhyme with each other. I can see gears in is head really working as he starts to figure it all out.

It’s very satisfying to teach your child something new that you know he will use for the rest of his life, but I don’t know exactly how much credit I can take for his brilliance. It’s the whole nature vs. nurture thing. We've tried to do something right, like read to him early and often, have lots of books in the house, set a good example by reading ourselves. But we've also done things that many experts warn against, like letting him watch too much TV. When it comes right down to it though, I think A.J.'s brilliance comes from nature, not from anything we've done exceptionally well.

Now, raising a child like A.J. isn't all academic joy! Brilliance comes with it's own set of "interesting problems." We bought A.J. a shirt a few months back that sums it up well: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." When we were painting our house a few months back, we had one of the neighborhood girls over to play with A.J. while we worked. After several hours of this, A.J. got bored and went upstairs I thought to go potty. But no, that is not what he had in mind at all. He went up to our room, grabbed my good craft scissors and used them to cut the cord on our TV, while it was plugged in. What would make a 4 year old do such a thing? Curiosity. And just ask my friends about the paint jobs he has done at their homes.

But there are plenty of joys too. A.J has discovered the wonderful world of jokes, just today. The first one, "What does a robot mommy sing to the robot baby? Row, row, row your bot!" And to follow it up, "What kind of key do you use to open a banana? A Monkey!" Of course because I laughed the first time he said them, now he wants to tell me them over and over again. I guess we'll have to find him some new material!

What is happening to 2007?

I just realized that as of midnight tonight 2007 is half over! Seems like we just had Christmas and already we are closer to next Christmas than we are to last. I guess it's true what they say about time going faster the older you get.

It's been an interesting six months for our little family. We made some changes and improvements to our home that required a steady stream of contractors in and out for about 3 months. I think we are finally finished with all of that (knock on wood). The last repair was done last week and I think we are ready to spend the second half of the year enjoying the fruit of our labors -- well, OK I guess it was mostly other's labors but we did have to write the checks.

And while having several home improvement projects going at once was total chaos, the stress of that was nothing compared to this year's other bump in the road: our little A.J.'s health problem. Most of you know all about it so I don't want to spend too much time on the details here but on July 13, A.J. will have surgery to remove a schwannoma, or benign growth, from his facial nerve.

This is something we've pretty much been dealing with since the first of the year. If I counted right, A.J. has seen 10 different doctors this year, and 8 alone just for this issue. (And that doesn't count all the residents we saw before we saw the doctor we actually had an appointment with.)

We were told at first that it wasn't a big deal, probably just a virus that was causing the facial weakness and that it would go away. I believed that for about 6 weeks, but then when it got worse again around his birthday, the neurologist ordered an MRI. That's when we found out about the growth. Then it seemed like every doctor's appointment we went to, the news kept getting worse and worse. First is was finding out the growth had caused hearing loss in his left ear. Then we found out that his face will never completely get better and that his hearing is as good as it will ever be. And then there was the news that he might have an incurable genetic disorder that causes these growths.

But the hardest thing was finding out how invasive the surgery was going to be. Knowing that two surgeons were going to cut into A.J.'s skull and move his brain out of the way and maybe his middle ear too was just a little too much for me. I cried whenever I thought about it, let alone talked about it. How could this be happening to our little boy? How could his little left dimple be gone forever? And what would happen to him when he gets to Jr. High and all the kids made fun of his crooked smile?

But then the miracle happened. It wasn't the miracle that everyone was praying for, but to me it was a miracle none the less and one that I really needed: Peace. And it seemed to come all at once. Suddenly, my ability to cope and my resolve to get through this increased and I just knew that whatever happened, everything was going to be all right. And I came to realize too that we were lucky to catch this now while he is so young.

Now I know there are hard days ahead. I know when they wheel A.J. off to surgery I will be a basket case. And I know when he comes out of surgery and he's in the PICU with all those tubes and machines, it will be difficult. And then we still needs to meet with a geneticist to find out if he has the genetic disorder and I've heard that can be very nerve wrecking.

But I also know that the prayers of many are going with us to the hospital. We've been touched by the outpouring we've felt from our family, friends and ward members. A.J. has been asking a lot about it lately and getting more and more scared and I keep telling him that everything is going to be all right because so many people are praying for him.

So I guess I do know what has happened to the first half of 2007. I spent a quarter of it at the doctors office, a quarter of it dealing with contractors and half of it rubber stamping.

$6.50 for a Nap. . .

Yeah! James is home and all is right with the world. His flight got in around 10:00 a.m. so he was able to take the rest of the day off to spend it with us.

James promised he would take A.J. to see Ratatouille, the new Pixar film just out today, when he got back. Sometimes when they go see the latest kids movie, I stay home and take a break. But I had heard such good things about movie, I decided to tag along.

There was only one problem with this: I haven't slept well the past few nights and I guess I was pretty tired. I got about 20 minutes in and could NOT keep my eyes open. I missed about 30 minutes of the film. And to make matter worse, James says I was snoring! Just one more thing to add to my "most embarrassing moments" list.

It was a cute movie from the parts I actually saw. Not as good as Finding Nemo or Cars, but still cute. It was also a little long for A.J. He kept asking when it would be over, but afterwards he said he liked it. Still $6.50 is a lot to pay to take a nap!

When the Cat's Away. . .

James comes home tomorrow morning from a 2 week work assignment in Virginia. So really instead of typing this, I should be cleaning the house so he doesn't have to come home to chaos. Not that he expects the house to be spotless. Just seems like it the thing to do.

James' job frequently takes him away from home. The longest was five months in 2004, so two weeks should be a piece of cake, right? No matter how long or how short it is, there are certain things that just don't get done around our home nearly as often when James is away, some because he does it and some just because I get lazy.

1. Cooking: I really don't mind cooking. I know some of you would rather do anything than cook, but I kind of enjoy it. However, A.J. would rather eat PB&J for breakfast, lunch and dinner than just about anything else. Me, I can only eat PB&J once a day. Cereal or eggo waffles gets us through breakfast, but dinner is a problem. I am programed to make four servings when I cook so most things last two meals. I don't mind leftovers twice, but I cannot eat Hamburger Helper for 4 meals straight! I'm not exactly sure what we've eaten for two weeks but some how we survived. I am looking forward to James coming home so I can start eating real food again.

2. Grocery Shopping: kind of related to the cooking thing. Yesterday, I went to the Super WalMart for the first time in three weeks! That must be some kind of record for me. I did make a quick trip to Smith's last weekend for a few essentials (we were out of ice cream and popsicles and since I was there I picked up some fresh produce.) Yesterday, I finally had to do real grocery shopping because we were out of Jelly.

3. Laundry: James is a big guy and his clothes take up a lot of space in the laundry basket. A couple of times in the past two of weeks, I realized A.J. didn't have any shorts to wear. How could that be? The laundry baskets are only half full. So I did a few loads a couple of times, but never folded them. That is something that James and I usually do together while we watch TV after A.J. goes to bed. Last night, I finally folded all that laundry and it took me two episodes of Alias to get it all done and put away!

4. Cleaning in general: I mentioned in yesterday's post that I am not a neat freak. Really, I am more of a slob. Now James isn't a neat freak either, but he isn't nearly as much of a slob as I am. And he does plenty to help out in this areas as well. So tomorrow morning, I am going to mop our kitchen floor and vacuum before he gets here. The bathrooms are just going to have to wait.

5. Parenting: OK, I don't give up on being a parent all together. But I sure am a better parent when I get a break once in a while. A.J. actually did awesome the first week. I don't remember that long of a stretch of naughty-step-free days. But this week it all fell apart. There's been a little too much whining from him, and a little too much yelling from me.

Now there ARE a few extra bonuses to James going out of town:

1. Guilty free crafting time. Once A.J. goes to bed at night, I've been known to spend hours down in my craft room. And if A.J. is entertained by a movie or surfing playhousedisney.com, I might get to sneak in a few hours during the day too.

2. I can put whatever I want on our Blockbuster queue. I rented The Holiday (total chick flick!) and I've watched a season and a half of Alias, (now there's a woman who doesn't take nothin' from nobody!).

But we've both really missed James and we are really looking forward to him coming home tomorrow.

UPDATE . . .

My new Stampin' Up catalog has arrived!!!! I was out running errands when I heard the good news so I stopped off at Bry's to pick it up. Oh, I had an order of stuff too which I am usually dying to get my hands on, but the new catalog was way more important! Lots of new stuff, lots of great ideas to "case" or "scraplift." Now I just have to start planning my purchases out over the next several months so I don't go broke all at once!

And one of my errands today was to Costco where I stumbled across a great buy on an awesome tote made by All My Memories. Did I NEED one? Of course not. But did I HAVE to have it? You bet! It was about half off of retail, so who could resist? It kind of looks like an electrician's tool bag that you would see at a hardware store, but it is all dolled up for crafting. I got the black one with pinstripes. So cute!

I have selective OCD

I have selective OCD. Those who know me well will not be surprised by this confession. I'm NOT a neat freak, germaphob, nor do I have to touch my food to my chin like the guy on Everybody Loves Raymond. But I do have my things that set off this tendency. Maybe it is more like an addictive personality or something. But here are a couple of things that set it off for me.

1. DISNEYLAND! We just got back from the happiest place on earth just a week or so ago. Keep in mind that A.J. is just 4 years old and this was his third time there. This time we went with our good friends Tera and Darren and their two daughters Brynn and Clara from Idaho. Here's a picture of our family by Big Thunder Mountain, one of my favorite rides!

I had to warn our friends when we started planning this adventure that I tend to go a little crazy when it comes to Disneyland and that they may not want their first trip to be ruined by a crazy woman who was gets up at the crack of dawn to get to the park BEFORE it opens. I spent weeks scouring the Internet for tips and trick and then meticulously put together an itinerary that outlined every ride we would go on and when we'd go on it as well as the shows and where we'd eat etc. See, I have a system and if you follow it, you don't have to stand in line more than 20 min for any ride. But I tend to be a little militant about it.

Well, we all survived and Tera and Darren say they even had fun. Not sure they'd ever go back to Disneyland with this crazy lady, but maybe they've learned a trick or two that will help them the next time they do go back.

The other cool thing, A.J. was tall enough to go on most of the rides and old enough to really experience the magic. His new favorite ride is "Soarin' Over California" at California Adventure. After we went on it he kept saying that he wanted to ride "Horin" again (sounds like whorin'). Took us a few minutes to understand what he meant and the poor kid will probably never live that down.

So, my obsession with Disneyland can take a break for a spell. Although, I am already planning our next trip in 2009. After all, the lines for Finding Nemo were too long so we HAVE to go back!

2. PAPER CRAFTING. And lately it's been RUBBER STAMPING! When I started scrapbooking about 9 years ago I purchased some white cardstock, some colored cardstock and a few stickers. I wasn't going to get that into it. Then I bought a few printed papers and some punches, some markers. Then I had to have brads, eyelets, the tools to set the eyelets. . .. You get the picture.

During all this time, I'd have friends invite me to Stampin' Up! parties and I'd fight it off saying I just know that if I buy one thing, I'd have to have it all. Well, I finally broke down about a year ago and bought that one thing and the dam broke. I blame my neighbor Michelle, who introduced me to her SIL Bry who is a SU demo. The rest (and a lot of our money), as they say, is history.

Then my dealer -- I mean demo -- told me about this website called splitcoaststampers.com. HOLY COW! There are other women out there who are just as obsessed about all this as I am. And we feed each others obsession and enable each other by telling each other about all the wonderful things out there that we HAVE to have.

Take for instance the Cuttlebug by Provo Craft. There have been die cut machines out there for years and I never had too much trouble avoiding purchasing one. I spend a few weeks reading what everyone is saying about this cute little machine and seeing what they are making with it and suddenly I am dreaming about it and thinking about it all day long. I finally had to buy one so I could sleep at night. But I do love my 'Bug and I do use it almost every time I do anything. Here's a card I made this week with the embossing folder feature.

This is a very exciting time over at SCS (as those of us who live on the sight call it) because Stampin' Up!'s new catalog debuts on July 1. The anticipation is killing us all! However, the catalogs are starting to arrive at demo's doors. Bry called today to tell me that she had her copy but didn't get her costumer ones yet. Maybe tomorrow. AHHHH! I feel like a kid on Christmas eve.

The kind of sad thing is that I haven't scrapbooked since last October. I have done more than a hundred cards and all kinds of other paper craft items, but not my first love. My goal for the next few weeks is to actually get around to doing some real pages. Let's see if I can do it or if I get too swept up in all the new stamps in the catalog to actually do anything.

BTW, SCS also give us a chance to post our creations for the whole world to see. If you want to see what I've been up to my new craft room, you can check out my gallery.

And so it begins. . .

I've been thinking about blogging for a few months now. I am a writer at heart and as a SAHM, I don't get many opportunities to do much writing these days. Not like the good old days of writing news releases, newsletters, speeches etc in my former life as a PR professional. I kind of get a rush out the click click click of a keyboard and my poor friends have had to endure mile long emails from me as I get my fix.

But I wondered what I should blog about. I spend a lot of time over on splitcoaststampers.com and so many of my SCS "friends"( can you call someone that who you've never met but see their avatar everyday on the web?) blog about their rubber stamping. That is a big part of my life, but I feel like I have more complex things to share.

So I am not quite sure yet what all I will be sharing here. Probably something along the lines of random thoughts on a random life. I'll give a shout out to my good friend Sabrina for the title "In the Salt Shaker" from something she told me many years ago, "It's hard to be the Salt of the Earth when you live in the salt shaker." Pretty sure I live in the salt shaker. Maybe Sabrina can let me know if that is true or not!