6 Quirky Facts....

Well, Kelli tagged me, and I just have to put a little disclaimer....cuz I did something like this like a month ago on my blog. The post is called, "Some Things About Me" and it's got ALL KINDS of my quirks on there. So if you haven't read it, then you should (Kelli!)....HOWEVER.....since I've been officially tagged, I'm gonna see if I can come up with something new. We'll see how it goes.

Now. This first one, is a repeat from some other people, however when I asked Parker about my quirks....this was the FIRST thing he said. And so I have to put it down....
1. I HAVE to sleep in a bed that's MADE. Even if it means making the bed just before you climb in. And it's true....if I don't, I lose the covers. Plus...I like to sleep straight as a board (well, not always but that's how I get comfortable anyway.....flat on my back). And I am so much more relaxed if the sheets are flat and tight all around me. No loosey-goosey goin on here.

2. I have to color-code my clothes in the closet from light to dark. (which results in a lovely rainbow in my closet whenever I open it up.) I tried to get Parker to do it, and of course he thought I was rediculous. THEN, one day I was putting his clothes away and I thought, "You know....if I DID color-code his closet, he wouldn't mess it up, cuz I'm the one that puts his clothes away." So I did it. And now there's two rainbows in our closet, and it stays that way, cuz I keep it that way.

3. We have these 8 big cups that we got for our wedding (no I have NO IDEA who gave them to us....those days are over) and there's two cups of each color. Two pink, two lime green, two orange, and two yellow. Now when I put them away, they can't just be thrown up in the cupboard. You have to put the colors in front of the colors so that there's four rows of colored cups. (see diagram)
Key: p = pink
y = yellow
g = green
o = orange
G Y O P
G Y O P
AND they have to bee in that order......green, yellow, orange, pink.....because that's the order of the rainbow. So if those 8 cups are messed up cuz someone else did the dishes.....I'll pull them down and fix them.

4. Okay, now I don't think this is a quirk, but Parker says it is, and he still can't figure out why it's that big of a deal. But what it is.......my purse has to match with the season. So I either swith or buy a new one every six months. Usually spring and fall is when I like to switch. Spring purses would be white (my favorite for Spring) or pink or green. But when fall comes around, I can't be carrying a white purse. It has to be fall colors, brown or black. Parker claims I am ALWAYS switching my purses, even though I think pretty much every girl does that anyway.

5. I have to sleep with the door open. I get away with it now because I just tell Parker that I have to hear Caleb if he cries (which is mostly the reason now). But what he doesn't know, is that it dates back to when I was a kid and I saw this unsolved mysteries episode about ghosts....and I was always SO SCARED that a ghost would open my bedroom door. So I used to keep it open so that if they DID come in, I wouldn't know because I wouldn't see the door being opened. Now it's just a habit and something I've always gotten comfort from. It's not like I can't sleep with it closed, but I prefer to keep it opened.

6. I like to listen to my music LOUD......and even louder if it's a song I really like. I just love to sing along to my CD's or the radio, and if I can sing at the top of my lungs then I will.

Seriously, I have way more quirks, listed on my "Some things about me" post. I don't think I repeated any, but if you think I'm weird now.....just take a few minutes and read some of that other stuff.
Now, I tag Melissa and Anna (my sisters).

A Day With Blake

Today my cousin, Jordan, asked me to watch his son, Blake, for a couple hours. And so Caleb got a playmate today. And isn't it funny that both of these boys are just little CLONES of their dads?! So cute. And I must say, for two-year-olds, they played together quite well.

Mostly they played with the trains. Blake was quite excited about the "thomas" train set. And he got even more excited when I turned on the Thomas the train movie that Caleb and I got at the library this week. They thought it was pretty great to play with the toys that were also on tv.

The boys had lots of fun together! Come see us again soon Blake!

Waste Not....Want Not

Today we decided that all the fruit falling to the ground from all those trees was simply unacceptable.
At my mom and dad's house, there are four grape bushes.....two peach trees, a plum tree, and two apple trees. AND one plum-peach hybrid tree. (No joke....they cross-pollinated with eachother to creat these little peaches that are the size of plums. And they're yellow. The fruit is sweet, but there's not much that can be done with them.

With all the fruit falling to the ground, we decided we'd better do some canning. And mom took this opportunity to teach us (Anna and I) how.

The apples we dried. We're also gonna make some apple sauce....however the apples weren't our priority cuz they'll be good till the end of the month.

Now....the GRAPES! We picked two buckets full of grapes, and we juiced them and made grape juice. Which is gonna be SO great because Caleb LOVES juice! It's literally like his favorite thing in the world. He lives and breathes for juice. And now we've got all this free juice that he's just gonna love. The rest of us will like it too, but I'm excited that we don't have to go through so much juice just for Caleb's sake. Now we don't have to buy it at all.

There weren't too many plums left on the tree. Lots of them got eaten by the birds, or they'd already fallen to the ground. But I picked all that was left, and along with eating them fresh (which is so yummy) we're gonna dry them into prunes. I am also gonna experiment with the dryer and see if I can make some fruit-rolls. (or some call it fruit leather). But I haven't quite figured out how to do it yet. I read the recipe, but I need to make sure we've got the right equipment.

So we got to use my mom's super-cool apple peeler/slicer/de-coreer thing. It was TOTALLY GENIUS! And not to mention FAST! I did three apples before I realized I might not have room for all these in the dryer. They fit, but combined with the plums, bananas, and tomatoes that we also are drying it was JUST enough.


So I laid all the fruit out on the trays, and now we just have to wait. Drying fruit can take anywhere from four to ten hours (depending on what you're making). But it's all gonna be yummy! I'm glae we could help save the fruit. I think I'm gonna do some more grape juice tomorrow. We haven't even picked HALF of those grapes.

OH! One thing I DIDN'T get a picture of was the peaches! We also made peach freezer jam! YUMMY! That's really easy too. And it tastes real good.





Here's a picture of us pouring the grape juice into the mason jars. Juicing is by far the easiest thing EVER! And I'm excited to get some concords done tomorrow.

Here's a picture of some prunes! YUMMY!

So the last thing we did today (that I also didn't get a picture of) was the pumpkins! We picked some pumpkins outa the garden and cut them up and boiled them till they were soft so we can make pumpkin pies and cookies when the holidays come. Hopefully preserving all this food will help us be prepared for our unknown future.

The Rope Swing

Well, I just had to post some pictures and videos of Caleb on the rope swing. Just a few weeks ago, we couldn't even get him to sit on it without help, and now he throws his legs over that thing, and you can push him all the way into the branches. He absalutely LOVES IT!

However, today was different, because uncle Derek came home, and he did something kinda funny. You see, there's this pumpkin drink at Starbuck's Coffee that he had the other day (and he swears it didn't have coffee in it) and so he went back today to get another one, and he knew how much he liked it....so he ordered a BIG one....I'm talkin' HUGE. Well.....what they gave him today, was NOT what he had the otherday. And he drank it........Needless to say, Derek was on a SUPER CRAZY CAFFEINE HIGH! He was so jittery he didn't know what to do with himself. And who takes more energy to entertain than Caleb? So we let them entertain eachother.

And I just have to say.....the rope swing is even fun for adults! I think Caleb and I swing on that thing AT LEAST once a day.

Can you adjust the shutter speed on a digital camera? All these motion shots are blurry! I'll bet not....but if so.....and any of my techno geek friends (Matt.....Jeff.....anyone else I forgot) happens to know how to do that (if it's possible) I would LOVE to know how!

So I just have to say a few other things in this post. The job hunt is going TERRIBLE. And every day, Parker and I (honestly....more Parker than me....but still both) are getting more and more anxious about not having an income. We're NEVER GOING TO GET A HOUSE! (Or that's how it feels at least). And there isn't a SINGLE dentist in the treasure valley that's looking for a hygienist. They definately didn't tell me about how hard THIS would be in school. We've decided that if we have to move to get a job (I'm thinking....Las Vegas.....or northern Idaho.....or maybe Oregon or Utah) then so be it. Parker can pretty much do whatever wherever. He graduates in December....so just a couple more months with that. Augh, it's so frustrating.

So the last thing I wanna say, I guess is about this totally awesome song that I just put on the playlist. I don't even know why it's one of my favorites EVER!......cuz it's not like it's the best subject (me and Mrs. Jones.....ummm....yeah they're being naughty) HOWEVER!........the jazz in this song is SO KICKIN'!! I just am powerless to do anything except sing along at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to go to like a club or something where they just play jazz music all night. I know they're out there.....downtown somewhere.....but honestly I've never known anyone who likes jazz enough to go with me......except in High School, and we got enough jazz on our choir trips, so we didn't need to go to town. But I still think I would just love something like that....cuz I TRULY love a good jazz song. Especially when Michael sings it.

And my last comment is about my quote of the day. Okay, the first one was WAY easy, and now I have SO many I want to do I can't pick what's next. However.....I know Parker will get this in a heartbeat....but I'm not sure everyone else will. Okay, I'm out!

Quote of the Day

Just so you know....I've decided that since so many people know me as "the movie quoter", that I'm gonna put a quote of the day on the blog. Now I'm not gonna lie......I may not update it every day (although I might at first....cuz it's just so much fun) but I'm gonna try. And if you can name the movie, and who said it.......then......well good job! Post it in a comment, or if you're not a blogger buddy (maybe you SHOULD BE!) then send me an e-mail....or just know to yourself that you figured it out. I'll post the results at the BOTTOM of the widgets once I've posted a new one. This is gonna be fun, I just know it!

Oh....and if you're wondering why I haven't updated the music in a while....welll I'm not gonna lie I've kinda gotten lazy, however the MAIN reason is because I REALLY like this first song! I haven't gotten sick of it yet....so I guess just keep waiting.

Terrible Twos

Every day, Caleb reminds me that he's two. Not only can he tell you himself...."Caleb how old are you?"..............."Um......two!" but his actions never fail to remind me.....EVERY DAY. The toilet paper strung all over the bathroom. Every parent knows it's in the cards. It's never a question IF my kid is going to do that....it's just WHEN. Of course! When they're two!

So yesterday I found Caleb in the pantry, and there was a bag of frito chips that was already opened. He was of course eating them (he loves chips). I took it away from him and he totally threw a tantrum. (that's kinda a new thing as well.....the tantrums just keep on getting worse). So then I gave him some soft potato chips. Then I went back to watch t.v. and a few minutes later, Caleb came in and said, "'ssss a mess!" So now I'm thinking.....oh no. Where's the mess? And he takes my hand and leads me into the kitchen. Sure enough, he wanted more chips and had tried to get them himself, and....made a mess. The chair was moved, and the chips were dumped on the counter, the chair, and the floor.
So today I decided it was time to start taking Caleb to the library. He just wanted to run all around the place, and I was trying to get us some library cards. Of course there's signs everywhere, "Please do not let children play with computers". "Please do not let children play with ropes" "Please do not leave children unattended" "Please do not set children on the counter." And OF COURSE, Caleb wanted to do ALL OF THESE THINGS! And whenever I picked him up to stop him, he's scream, "No no no no no!!!" and kick his feet. IN THE LIBRARY!! Augh! I guess it's time for punishment for tantrums, I swear it's totally new though. I promise I don't just let my kid kick and scream whenever he doesn't get what he wants. He's just........TWO! So I finally got him to focus, and he picked out a thomas the train movie all by himself, and I picked out some books for him, and a mickey mouse movie. Then I took him to the park (which was empty....weird) for about fifteen minutes and then we went home and he took a nap. Augh! Two year olds are EXHAUSTING!

Burley Homecoming

Today was Burley High School's Homecmoing football game. So Caleb and I drove down, and the whole way down Caleb was talking about it, "Garrett.......games!" He knew were going to Garrett's game.

ySo we dressed up in our green (except Caleb....cuz even though I actuall y went to the store and bought him a green shirt for the occasion.....today he got a bloody nose and it got all over his new green shirt, so we had to put a different one on. Anyway, we dressed in green and showed up thirty minutes early for the game. This was also Burley's first game on their new field with the new lights. It's REALLY nice. Caleb was pretty excited for the first few minutes of the game, but for some reason he woke up at six thirty this morning and so he was TIRED by seven thirty tonight. And he just kept rubbing his little eyes, and yawning. I felt so bad. I think the strep is still getting to him. He acts just fine......but then these moments come along and he just wants me to hold him. Finally I took him home after the halftime show, and after a little bedtime meal he totally crashed.

As far as the game goes, Burley lost. However I just have to say on this blog how much fun it is to watch Garrett play football. He has SO much energy, and his tireless efforts finally made him team captain. He is the most consistant player on his entire team, and he's just like a brick wall! He's always making these amazing tackles, and he's so good, that most of the time the opposing team puts TWO guys on Garrett cuz they know how powerful he is. These pictures aren't very good, but Garrett is Number 1 on the green team. He's growing up so fast! And before you know it, this year will be over and he'll be graduated, and then leaving on a mission. Then Paul and Claudia will be empty nesters. Enjoy this year guys, it's gonna fly by! And congratulations Garrett on playing such good football!