Wax and Blue/Gold

Thursday was a busy day! Jonathan had his Wax Musuem presentation at school. This is where they do research on a famous Arizona person and then dress up as they are, standing frozen as in the 'wax museum' until they are "chosen" and then they stand and tell about their life.
Jonathan chose PAT TILLMAN.
My boys are no doubt, sports fans. With a Dad like Geoff, they had no choice. It goes from one sport to another in our home. Season tickets are shared with family members for most every sport in the valley from pros to ASU. But Pat Tillman is talked of often, simply because of his willingness to give up his love of football for his country and eventually his life. We've talked about the sacrifice, similiar to going on a mission. So when the list came home, Jonathan jumped on his name quickly.
He did such a great job! He researched, choose what he wanted to wear, and wrote his paper titled "FOOTBALL, FAME and FREEDOM". (He chose that title all on his own!) He was excited and nervous about the Wax Museum. It was so out of his comfort zone!! He is so shy and withdrawn sometimes. We talked with him about how this was for his grade, and he said he understood. He amazed everyone and we are soooo proud of him!!

Jonathan in his 'frozen' wax pose

His poster, which he made all by himself!

Scouting. Love it! Love the program, the leaders, my boys excitement, etc. I grew up with 4 sisters and 1 brother. Although I didn't pay much attention to his scouting then, I knew he worked hard and was very active in the program. He wanted to be the most decorated and earn the most he could. It was a personal goal for himself that he set when he turned 8. Well, whether it was my brothers example (he has his shirts framed in his office) or my sweet hubby's motivation but my boys LOVE scouts and want nothing more than to work on it everyday and earn as many awards as Uncle Ben.

Thursday night I took the night off from the theatre and we headed to the Blue and Gold Banquet. For you non-scouters, this is the annual awards ceremony and a big deal for the boys. Jonathan was determined to get his Bear and as many arrows as possible. Dakota his Wolf and as many arrows as his brother. Well, they succeeded beyond what I thought capable!
We ate chinese food out of chinese boxes - that our boys delivered to us, sherbet and fortune cookies.
Jonathan was awarded his BEAR, A GOLD ARROW and 4 SILVER ARROWS!

Dakota was awarded his WOLF, A GOLD ARROW and 3 SILVER ARROWS!

They participated in the Flag Ceremony and the highlight of the evening - the Chinese Dragon.

It was fun to see where our boys were by their shoes! :)

Jonathan

Dakota
We are so proud of our scouts and thrilled they are the motivators behind most of what they do!

My LUCKY Day!

I purchased these last night with CrazyMama from my favorite spot - The Dollar Spot at Target! You just can't beat 2 perfect-size-for-ice-and-one-full-can-of-soda cups! And 2 for $1? Even better! I bought 2 sets = 4 awesome and GREEN (me favorite color) cups!










THEN . . .
Went outside to get puppy and found this:




So, they may not be 4 leaf and some may call them "weeds" (which normally I might) - but today they brightened me up! Brought a smile to my face and made me happy!!!


Have a Great and LUCKY day!!!

All done.

Well, the day trip to St. Johns is over. It was definately EVENTFUL but very enjoyable as well. My dad decided to leave MUCH earlier than I anticipated and was extremely impatient. Therefore my sister and I decided to leave in the early morning instead, rather than deal with his emotional state in the car for 4 hours. I can't blame him - he just lost his sister. But still. We had planned to leave between 6-6:30AM in order to have enough time to change when we got there. (I wasn't driving that far in a dress and hose! UG!) Well, time slipped and kids shuffled (trying to get them to move before I left - worried they wouldn't make it to school on time) and we finally got on the road at 7AM. That's ok - even if we made it there right on time and changed just prior, that would be ok. Well, we were making really good time when we were chatting away and realized "this doesn't look familiar". We saw a sign - Bylas!! WTH!?!?!?! We have each driven and been to St. Johns 1000's of times in our lives - as drivers and passengers. NEVER had we MISSED the turn in Globe!! UG!! 45 minutes out of the way!! So . . . turned around and drove BACK to Globe and hit the turn off 1 1/2 hrs later than we had planned! UG!! Needless to say, we sped, we laughed, we sped, we were ticked with ourselves, we sped some more. We made it from Globe to ShowLow in record time - 1 HOUR!! WOO HOO!! We'll just make it or be about 10 minutes late. No problem!!
BIG PROBLEM!!! We saw this coming towards us, going the opposite way. But as he passed us, he flipped around and the lights came on. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister, bless her heart, had NEVER gotten a ticket in her life and here it was - on the way to my Aunt's funeral. In the words of my Aunt Karen - "Oh my hell!" He came up and asked for her license, insurance and registration. She obliged. He commented about she was going pretty fast. The conversation went as such:
Christine: "I'm sorry officer, we are trying to get to a funeral."
Officer: "Where?"
Chris: "In St. Johns."
Officer: "For who?"
Chris: "My Aunt - Karen Mineer."
Officer: "Just wait here please."
Within minutes he returned with a ticket, but he did cut us a break (so he says). Wished us a safe and slower finish of the trip, we left. Arriving in a not-so-timely manner at 11:50, the funeral had just let out. I was very disappointed but did not let my sister know. She was not doing so hot to begin with - upset about her first ticket. As we arrived, still in jeans, everyone was soo sweet and excited to see us. Cousins, aunts, uncles, relatives galore! We joined my parents in their car to follow in the processional - hearing details about the funeral as we drove. Which, I might add, was pretty cool. By law, you can't have a funeral processional on a state highway but my cousin's husband is St. Johns Police Chief (well for 2 more days -then he's retiring at 42 yrs old!) and he had the guys proceed on the main road in St. Johns to the cemetery in order to drive by Aunt Karen's house on the way. So sweet and touching! Everyone who knew her - knew that house. The door was always open and you were always welcome. I cried when I realized at that time that I had forgotten my camera! :( As we drove past her home, the recollection of memories flooded my head. I immediately asked my Dad, "What's going to happen to her door?!?!" She had a back door that all the grandkids would put their hand in paint and imprint her door with. It was covered with handprints and signatures of all her loved ones. I even have one or two hands on the door! No one knows but Dad said not to worry.
As we arrived at the cemetery, Dad walked us up to the plot and said, "Stand here - you have to see Aunt Karen's casket." I was expecting bling or something of the sort. She is always about the bling! Well, as they pulled the casket from the hearse, I started to weep! The casket was a beautiful white but all over it were paint handprints of her grandkids and kids from the night before after the funeral! It was beautiful and so sweet!! It was Aunt Karen! My cousin, Margot said that after the viewing they told the mortuary what they wanted to do and they just looked at them. Knowing Aunt Karen (it's a small town), he understood and left them alone to do what they needed.
After the dedication (by my Dad - which was beautiful and touching), we went back to the church for the luncheon. It was so fun to visit and tell stories and see family I hadn't seen in years! Some in over 20 years!!
The grandkids each shared one or two words that will help them to remember Grammy. A few of my favorites were:

*Magic Blankets - when velour blankets made their debut, she bought lots. Anything could be cured when snuggled in a 'magic blanket'!







*Ice cream for breakfast - well, only if it's rolled in crushed up Fruit Loops! Then it has nutritional value!

*Fork Cake - she loved to have a cake on the counter and in it was stuck numerous plastic forks. "Help yourselves! Just throw away your fork when you are done" Sometimes she had 2 cakes out at a time. "You never know if you want white or chocolate. Why not have both?"


I have a program from the funeral with her picture and my cousin is emailing me a copy of the pics of her casket. I'll post those together soon!

I'm back to reality now. Teaching, shows, kids, husband, house, laundry, etc. I did splurge and buy myself a new copy of Photoshop for my new laptop. When I figure out how to work it, it will loads of fun to play with. Anyone have Essentials 2? Is it worth purchasing? My copy came with a $20 off coupon for it and wondered if I should indulge. Tell me your opinions!

**UPDATE: I was not clear before but this will hopefully make sense. A phonecall came today, our cousin (the retiring Chief) cleared my sisters ticket. :) YEA!! It pays to have friends (or relatives) in the right places. He laughed and said the guy knew he had to give you a ticket but wanted not to since he knew Aunt Karen. He was happy to hear the Jim was 'taking care of it'. HA! Christine said she will forever be indebted and will not speed again! And of this - I don't doubt!**

In the words of Julie - RANDOMNESS!

I've been this kick for the past couple of days. You'd think I was pregnant or something. I'm working from the inside to the outside of the house. By Friday, I'll be ready to move to my poor pathetic yard and make it pretty again. But last night we bought a carpet cleaner. We rent a RugDoctor about twice a year for a couple days each time and clean our carpets. I don't know how it gets so bad! I was told last time we had a professional clean for us, that because I like to go barefoot it makes our carpet worse. The oils in our feet (ew!) soak into the carpet and thus 'attracting' more dirt. If we would just wear socks, it would be better. Umm . . . NO! I hate things on my feet - especially socks. I totally have to be in the mood for it. I know - odd. Call me an Arizona gal! I would much rather go barefoot or wear flip flops all day, all year! Even in the rain. :)
Well, while we were shopping for the carpet cleaner - we went down the cleaning supplies aisle to get soap for it. They had this product:

I've heard of it but never tried it. You just pour it on the stain directly and then after 5 minutes, blot it up. Well, it's the best $4.72 a bottle I've ever spent!!! It's a big bottle too - 32 oz. WOW!
It made this:

Go to this in about 2 minutes:

And then go to this in about 5 minutes:

And it even smelled good. A fruity alcohol-y smell. Hard to explain but not like chemicals. YAHOO!!!

Also, I've been going to Jenn's site on Fridays to see the Girly-Do's. I have never considered myself lacking in the ability to do my girls hair. But it's been fun to see variations on what I already do and a few new ideas! Thanks Jenn! Here's the pics of Maddi's hair on Sunday when I tried something a little different than I had done before with this basic twists:


Last, but not least . . . tonight I took my boys, Maddi and hubby to get haircuts. We love us some Sonya! She is a childhood friend and the kids had a blast!! Kylee and I have been going to her but tonite was the first time the others had gone. She does such a great job and if I was the good Mom/Wife - I would have taken the camera with. Such fun visiting and story telling. Even a few "good jokes" told to us by the kids. HA!! But the highlight of the evening was when she decided she was going to wax Geoff's uni-brow (the middle section) and he almost said some choice words. HA!! He DID NOT like it and we had a GREAT and LOUD laugh on his behalf. Aw! Here is a not-so-good picture from my cell of when she asked to wax the hair from his ears and neck! HA! HA! HA! Don't tell him . . .

Well, off to bed. My sister will be here in 5 hours to pick me up to drive up north to the funeral. Check in with everyone tomorrow night!!! Have a great Wednesday!!

We're all a little wierd. . . right?!?!?!

You Are 32% Weirdo

You're a little weird, but you'd be even weirder if you didn't have a few quirks. You are just strange enough to know it, but nobody else seems to notice your weirdness. That's because, deep down, everyone is a little freaky!

Are You A Weirdo?

Thank goodness for the truth!

I'm having a hard time with reality right now. My aunt died this weekend. She's became really sick and we've expected it for the past 2 weeks but when you hear the news, it's always shocking. Well, today as I talked with siblings and my Mom about who was going, when and how everyone was getting to and from St. Johns (SMALL northern Arizona town where my Dad is from) for the funeral - it HIT me! She is my Dad's older sister and the first to go of her generation in my family. Her husband died a couple of years ago, but suddenly. She was 71 yrs old - close to the age my Grandpa was - and very ill. BUT my grandparents are all gone now, so that means my aunts/uncles AND MY PARENTS are the next generation to "go". This is NOT a comforting thing. I'm NOT ready to lose my parents! My Dad is only 65 this year and my Mom a sweet "29" (or 61, for those who are really counting), but that's not the 'young parents' I remember. I remember them when they were MY age! Which in turn, makes me OLD too!!

Although I am very grateful and blessed with the knowledge that this life is just a small portion of our existence. And although the raw and mortal feelings of losing a loved one are real and hurt, I know that I will see her again and that she is enjoying the sweet reunion with her Dad (who she lost when she was only 20) and her Mom and her life-long love (married when they were 16!), my Uncle Kelly.

My siblings and I have such sweet memories of her. We 'lovingly' called her our "Cussin' Aunt". She was a small town gal who was not active in the church for many years. We would go and visit her in the summers on the way to the Homestead. This is more for me but I find them very fun memories of her:

*She had a windchime collection on her patio that we loved to hear in the wind. And it was always windy in St. Johns. (Up between Springerville and ShowLow on the rim)
*She lived at the top of the hill and we would walk down to the Maverick and get a Vanilla Coke. We were not allowed caffeine growing up and so if we could sneak one from Aunt Karen - it was a treat. (Sorry Mom!)
*We would arrive at her home with a BIG welcome! She would start talking and the 'typical' small town cuss words would enter her conversation. My Mom, horrified, would say "Karen, please don't cuss around the kids." To which she would reply, "Oh shit, damn and hell. Now they've heard them and it won't be a surprise." When I played Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, she came to see me. If you've seen the show, the first word that I utter is Bastard! And after that I slapped the man onstage with me. Afterwards, she came up and said "I loved your first word! That's my neice is what I told your Dad. I'm so proud of you!" HA!
*She would always tell us we could hit her back porch fridge anytime for a coke or whatever was out there, "but don't touch Uncle Kelly's beer - he's not good at sharing!"
*She always cooked! Breakfast was HUGE in her home!! And there was always something brewing on the stove - Uncle Kelly made the BEST green chile! YUM!! She introduced me to The Next Best Thing to Sex cake. But she renamed it. "Sex is good, don't get me wrong. But honey, I like to call this The Next Best Thing To Robert Redford." :)She also introduced me to my CocoMotion (hot cocoa machine) which she found after she became active in the church again and gave up her coffee. My kids and I LIVE on this machine in the winters. Her home was inviting, exciting and filled with FOOD and LOVE!
*She was always on the top of the fashion and trends. It shocked me how she could, being that she had to "drive to the valley and go shopping at the MetroCenter Mall". But she was always dressed to the hilt, a high stepper and had all the latest in trends. When cell phone charms were big, she came down to see us and visit my Dad when he was in the ICU (Cancer scare) and I was showing her my charms. She pulled her cell phone out and said, "those are cute but honey you gotta get more . . like me!" She could barely lift her phone it was so covered.
*Before she started going back to church, she used to smoke. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can't stand the smell. It hurts my eyes and gives me a headache. Maybe it was just love, but she never stunk to me. I can clearly remember hugging her and smelling the tobacco and the perfume. . . still brings a smile to my face.

She always made me smile and I will truly miss her! I love my Aunt Karen Mineer and am so grateful for the truth and knowledge that I will see her again someday!!