Hurry, Hurry! Mama Sita's Contest

My Mom is giving away a Book--her book on her Blog! Yippee!

The photo is above because I couldn't get it to insert here.


Many of you know that my Mom has put together a wonderful organizing book for families. It helps you keep track of medical issues, soccer coaches, outside interests, and emergency locations all in one handy-dandy little book. It is called the Family Record Keeper. It looks like a cookbook, so that you can keep it with your cookbooks for easy retrieval. It is a binder, so that you can take out the pages you don't need, and add extras if you want (not that you need to--Mom thought of everything). Click the link above to order your own book.

To try and win your own Family Record Keeper, do the following:

1. Peruse the Family Record Keeper website here.

2. Go to my Mom's blog here or at www.marysgreathouse.blogspot.com or click the "Mama Sita link at the left) and...

3. Leave a comment about why you think the book is so wonderful and/or why it would help you. Mama Sita is drawing for the winner on December 16th at midnight, so you better hurry.

P.S. I am not being paid to do this review, and any order will result in more work for me, but I want you to order anyway!

Orneriness

Dear World,

Today, I am ornery. I just thought that I should let you know, as most people can't figure out that I'm ornery because I'm still smiling.

Why am I ornery, you ask?

1. Because I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Credit Card services with them trying to explain how my card could be declined when I overpaid my bill. They took the block off of my card, and still could not give me a satisfactory answer.

2. I have to pay bills at work today.
--some company just sent us bills from last year. Like we can remember what they did for us that long ago! Makes it hard to verify the bill.

3. An employee told me he has a couple of questions ( I know, sounds stressful.), which I should be happy about because this is an improvement over the chewing out I got from him on why the company was ripping him off by requiring him to pay back his advance like he was told he was going to have to do.

4. Loo left.

5. People come into my office when I don't want them to and want me to be nice and I don't always want to be nice.

6. I don't know what to get Da for Christmas.

7. Because I want to be ornery. That's a good enough reason, isn't it.

Ornery regards to you.

Moo

P.S. maybe in my next post I'll write about happy things--maybe not.

Visit of the Coos

So, Coo's family came down to visit this last weekend and we had a lot of fun. I e-mailed some photos to some of you. FarmerBoy had special powers getting NooCoo to eat. We didn't do anything exciting while they were here, but we had fun visiting with them. Above, are some photos that NooCoo and I took using the webcam. We would take one pic and I would show it to her and she would say "AGAIN!" So, we took several shots in the style of photo booth pictures. Hope you enjoy them. I'd post others, but they are on my memory card in my camera next door, so these will have to do. Baby JooCoo is very fond of his food and would eat 24 hours a day if given the chance, but still maintains his long, lean figure through exercise routines of wiggling, and crawling. JooCoo also said his first word while down visiting us. The word was "daddy" which I think pleased his mom YooCoo as NooCoo also said her first word while at our house last year. Her first word "doggie".

The whole Coo family came trick-or-treating at our houses and I have posted a photo of this below.

Yes, I'm scared of my cat.

Every night, as I walk through the door from work, I am met by 2 dogs and 2 cats. It's not because I give them lots and lots of attention. They meet me for other reasons. The cats meow and the dogs talk for the next 15-20 minutes, letting me know that it is time to be fed. I let the dogs and one of the cats into the garage where I feed them in the following order: The cat (Callie)is fed dry food on top of the cupboard, so the dogs don't eat her food. Oscar is fed one scoop of dog food next because food is, arguably, the most important thing in his life. That and he will take the bowl from Zephyr if you feed Zephyr first. So, whether or not he is given food first, he eats the first bowl of food. Zephyr then gets a scoop on the side of the garage with no cars. This is because he picks up his bowl and moves it so that Oscar won't eat it, and he frequently leaves the bowl behind my car tires if he is fed on the side of the garage with the cars. Next, Oscar gets another half scoop--partially because he is bigger, but mostly because he tends to have bad food manners and has been known to steal the roast off the of the table or the beef jerky off of the radio. He knows he shouldn't do this, but he just loves his food too much. Thus, usually we remember to keep meat, cheese, and applesauce products in the middle of the table and not close to the edges.

Finally, I go back in the house and feed Tabitha (the other cat) on top of the terrarium. Again, so the dogs don't get her food. She gets a can of cat food of the poultry or beef variety. Why the canned? Because she bites me if she only gets dry food. Why the poultry or beef variety? Because she bites me if it is fish. If I don't feed her when she wants on weekends, you guessed it, she bites me. Don't worry, she always licks me before she bites because she is very particular about cleanliness and having a clean surface to bite.

I realize that this isn't logical to let her bite me since she is seven pounds and I am............a whole lot more than seven pounds, but apparently I'm scared of my cat because I keep letting her use her mind control powers to get me to feed her what she wants. I guess she does own me.

New Arrivals and Coloring Fun

So, FarmerBoy and I went to SLC and got a call from S.Q. letting us know that he saw Compost Chicken (the chicken that doesn't like the other chickens and lives at the compost pile) crossing the lawn with at least at little chicks. We have since found out that there are at least 11 chicks. We haven't named them yet, as we expect several of them to disappear to predators. The other day I went to take a picture of Compostie with her little family and the picture below is what she thought of the idea.


This next picture shows a few of the chicks (most of them are black). Tonight I had to wait for a bit while she got her family out of the driveway and herded out of my path:

Today, at work, I finally cleaned out my fridge that has been sitting unplugged for two months because I stole the extension cord for something else. It was truly gross and growing lots of mold. Loo would be proud of the science experience. I opened the front door and used some Clorox Cleanup, that I got on my pants, which ended up looking like this:

So, I used some of these:



And my pants and leg ended up looking like this:

I then washed and dried my pants to see if that would blend the colors and make them better. Here is the result:

Not what I was hoping for. I guess my lesson is learned. At least until the next time I get Clorox on my clothes.

The return of the lazy blogger

Dear all 5 blog readers, I have decided to create a new blog post, so as not to be outdone by Roo. You really should read her latest blog post about Dieter Dolls here.

Life has been going on slowly, but surely. I've actually had some energy lately, so I've finished several craft projects, some of which I may someday post a picture of if I remember. I've also accomplished several things at work that I have successfully postponed for months.

The Wii Saga
In my new purchases news, I bought a Wii at the end of May; however, said Wii is still not hooked up. Why, you ask did I buy a Wii when my parents already have one next door. Because I'm fat and would like to be not so fat...and I get sick in the heat and the parents house isn't very cool. I am only allowed to exercise on my Wii, should it ever get hooked up. All fun games must be played at Ma and Pa's house (at least until I lose my resolve) Why isn't the Wii hooked up? It isn't that hard, you say. Let me share the saga. I go to hook up the Wii and discover that all of the working ports on my switch box are full. So, I go buy a newer, bigger, better switch box and go to hook it up, only to discover that the power strip is full. I buy an extension cord to run from another plug (so I don't blow a fuse). I go to plug in said extension cord and discover (remember) that I live in an old house and all of the plug-ins have two holes and not three. I go buy several adapters so that I can plug in my extension cord (and other things throughout the house. I think I am ready to go as soon as I figure out which outlets are on which circuits.

The Smells in my Life
Also, my house currently has a very funky smell that I cannot figure out. There are no dead vermin that I can find. I found a puddle of water in the kitchen, which may be the source of the stench, but have not yet figured out where it came from. I tried to open the fridge to see if a more horrific waft of putrid air of the same variety would assault my olfactory senses. (Loo and I are very practiced at identifying and producing smells in a fridge. Ma suggested that the puddle of water was something that got in the house and died and then liquified. I informed her that I would have noticed the smell earlier. So, I have spent the last night and probably tonight next door at Ma and Pa's house, avoiding the nasty smell at my house.

As for the good smell in my life, I picked up food from my new favorite drive-through in Delta, El Jaliciense and it smelled fabulous. The smell of the churros and the healthier food mixed together was almost more than I could handle on the drive home. I do have to say that Chewy made a good decision selling water stock to open the restaurant.

Social News
All I can say on this front is that yesterday when Ron P. came into the office, I requested that he bring me back a husband from Scotland, when he, his wife, son Doug, and daughter-in-law go across the pond this summer. Note to MBC: You may also try to find me a Scottish husband while you are traversing the British Isles. Irish, Welsh, and English candidates are also acceptable.

Have a lovely day and enjoy this post. At this rate, you won't see another post for a month or two.

All for Names & Names for All

Growing up, we always named the dogie calves that we bottle-fed. We named them after food (Choco, named by Da stood for chocolate-oreo), t.v. characters (Radar from MASH) Princess (nothing in particular), as well as colors (Orange Calf, Black Calf). We even had one named after another animal (Doggie, who acted strangely like a dog). We also named the problem cows, some were named #$@%&#!* and one was named Francois.

Apparently, this makes the family think, (me particularly) that many animals should be named. Ma named the peahens Mabel and Gladys. We don't know which is which, but it doesn't matter as they are never more than 10 feet apart and seem to share a brain. We have a hen that has taken up residence near our "gunk" or compost pile. I have creatively named her Compost Chicken.

I also give another name to general species (usually of the pest varieties). I have given all spiders the named of Fred, George, or Jorge. Loo and I have named all mice Hermie. This mouse "nickname" has caught on in the family with Pa, Eliza B. and Loo's husband all using the term "Hermie" to refer to mice. Perhaps naming the vermin makes me feel as if they aren't as truly gross and disturbing as I usually find them to be(mice are more disturbing than spiders, in my opinion). Or...perhaps it is so that I can live in denial that there are pests around (no, I'm not telling you how "around"), but that the pests are actually "friends" around and this is all just a mental game that I play with myself. You should be confused after the last sentence. At the very least, "naming" the pests gives me a name to shout when I see said critter. As in "HERRRRRRRRMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE! Get Away! I do not want to see you."

Now there is a squirrel in the garage stealing cat food and eating flowers off of plants (see Ma's post here. So, I have decided that it is now necessary to give the squirrel species a "name". Now, I ask you blog readers to help out by suggesting nicknames. Here are the rules:
1. Leave a nickname suggestion in the comment section.
2. All names must be male nicknames, because males (contrary to some media reports, and with the exception of seahorses) do not have babies that infest your space.
3. Name suggestions must be submitted by Sunday, June 14, 2009 by 11 p.m. MDT.
4. After the close of suggestions, a poll will be created, so that you in blogland (aka my family and a few friends) may vote.

Disclaimer: We may or may not use the nickname that is chosen.

Moving, Moving, Moving

I've changed my blog background, and I realize that the font is a little hard to read, but you'll just have to deal with it, so there.

We moved cattle today and it went very smoothly--only one cow jumped a fence. That is pretty darn good. We move them 1-2 miles and my job is to stop traffic at the south end, where the cows turn. I had 12 vehicles stopped on the highway on my end and Ma had seven or eight. "A" came down to help with the fun and learned how to wave her arms to scare cows. You may visit here blog here for more details and photos. You may also visit Ma's blog for a more detailed account.

Not too much has been going on in my life recently. A mouse had the nerve to get in my car and die. This is my second car, and a mouse has died in each one. I'd appreciate it if they would choose someone else's car to die in. However, the smell has finally dissipated, thank goodness. Dead mice are a hazard of living on a farm. Live ones, too, but I don't want to say that. Work continues onward and has been a bit busy for the last couple of days, but I've still had plenty of time to stay up on my T.V. shows via the Internet.

I'm excited for "So You Think You Can Dance" to start this next week. It is much better than American Idol, though I wonder what MBC will do when she is in Europe for the summer. Guess she'll just have to watch them on YouTube.

Well, that's all the fun for today. I hope all you family members participated in our 1K walk today, so that you earned your participation prizes.

A Special Saturday Before Easter Post

I have changed my blog background special for you. The pink is a close-up of actual cotton candy bought in Delta for 25 cents. The "Jelly Beans" are actually Spring M&Ms that I photographed. Included below are pictures to help you feel like you were here!

Do Peacocks Poop in Apostrophes?

This morning as I was walking outside, I noticed that the peahens had pooped on Ma & Pa's porch and sidewalk. I also noticed that each of these poop spots were in the shape of apostrophes. I was going to take a picture to share, but Pa cleaned it up before I got my camera out. So, that brings up the questions, "Do Peacocks Poop in Apostrophes or Commas?" I'm voting for apostrophes because because it makes for better alliteration.

On to the NCAA championship game. UNC won, which I was not hoping for as I have very distinct prejudices against all North Carolina teams. This always hurts me in the brackets as I will almost always have them lose before the championship game. I would like to remind Loo and husband that they should not become fans of any NC team, even though they will be living in NC. I would like to remind her of a player that she referred to as a "cocky snot" that played for Duke, another NC team. I would like to amend my statement, allowing Loo to become a fan of small NC teams that are not well-known. In other words, underdogs that will never make it to the NCAA tourney.

I have created a poll so that you can vote on your reality shows. Why did I create this poll, you ask. I was bored, that's why. So you better all participate!

What are your favorite reality shows (Pick 2)
	Amazing Race
	Celebrity Apprentice
	Dancing with the Stars
	American Idol
	So You Think You Can Dance
	Survivor
	The Biggest Loser
	All Reality Shows are Stupid
	I like ones that are not listed above
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Photos for U

Where did I go?

Nowhere, that's where. I've just been slacking because I haven't done anything exciting. Work has finally slowed down a bit. I'm actually several days ahead on hours, which is amazing for me. Ma was kind enough to go to the St. George water conference with me. Monday night, our delegation was taken out to eat by the engineers. We went to a place where they brought your steak out on a hot stone. It was up to you to decide when it was done according to your standards. It was pretty good and kind of fun. I guess this way you can't send your steak back because it isn't cooked right.

I've spent the weekend watching LDS General Conference, which was good. My pet peeve about watching it here in Utah is all of the commercials in between sessions advertising the latest Mormon books. There is always syrupy sweet music in the background that drives me insane. Mom and I made a deal today. She could watch the programs, but I got to mute the commercials.

I got a new laptop, so I'd stop monopolizing Mom's all the time. Yea for me! I have been enjoying it thus far. An important feature for me is the number pad. Also, I had to turn off the fancy mouse settings, because I was always zooming in when I tried to type.

I've been staying at Ma and Pa's house since visiting Oregon. Why? Because I'm lazy. I went to move my stuff back last week, but the house smelled like diesel (which is what heats the house), and I couldn't air the house out because the wind has been constantly blowing and I did not want everything coated with a thick layer of dust.

An explanation of the above photos:
1. Ma's birthday & Mother's Day present, not that many of you asked what we were giving her or anything. Non-family members should not feel guilty.
2. Several of our cars parked in a row in Delta. What's wrong with this picture?
3. The inside of the "Eggs in a frame" that I made yesterday. Front and back. I wanted to make sure there was good presentation for the food, so I presented the non-black side on top. A nice surprise for the consumers of the food.
4. My new laptop.
5. A photo taken of me on the webcam of my computer, in honor of Alice and her many similar photos.

So, life continues on. I need to get out and visit friends in Provo one of these days. I got out my farm quilt to work on yesterday and was disappointed to learn that I had not yet cut out all of the pieces. That's what happens when it has been 5 months since you worked on a project. After that, I couldn't find the table, so I played a lot of Letter Linker. Maybe next week I'll try to work on the quilt again. Yes, I know that you are all jealous of the life that I lead. Perhaps I'll try to update the blog more often, but I make no guarantees.

Note to Coo: Heresy has occurred. The Easter egg hunt in Lynndyl begins 9:30 a.m. this year.

Note to Family Members: Remember to get your hot dogs and cotton candy this weekend for the Easter tradition. I'm not sure what happens if you don't eat hot dogs the day before Easter.

The Nerdiness of My Family

Note: In my family "Nerd" is considered a term of endearment.

So, for awhile I've been thinking about my family and crossword puzzles and word puzzles in general. We seem to have an addiction to them. We play word games online like Letter Linker and Text Twist. Of course, we do much better when there is a person or two helping over your shoulder. Letter Linker is great preparation for playing Boggle. At a ward board game activity a few years ago, some of us played Boggle. We only lasted one round because I beat everyone by so far they didn't want to play with me any more. They had no idea that this came from playing word games online.

A couple of months ago, I was looking around the house for a new crossword puzzle book that I had purchased and I asked several people if they had seen the book. They would reply with something like, "No, but don't take the one that is in __________ location." They were quite adament. You would think I was going to steal their money, not their crosswords. I personally prefer Cryptoquizzes, Bowl-a-scores and easy to medium crosswords. My family is fairly varied in the puzzles they like to do, so usually we get a good chunk of the variety puzzles completed. It is important, when on vacation, that each person has their OWN puzzle book. You wouldn't want to share. It is o.k. to swap, but it is important that every person can do puzzles at the same time, if they want to. If there is only one book, Ma will say, "Just tear out such-and-such page for me." Of course, the most popular place to keep puzzle books is in The Loo. (Not to be confused with the person, Loo). FarmerBoy has recently solved the issue of books with no pens, by buying a sticky holder to keep the pen is. We may have to fingerprint if the pen goes missing.

Also, if there is a puzzle started, but not finished, it is perfectly acceptable to complete said puzzle, even if you didn't start it. Puzzle books on the table are especially susceptible if left open to a partially-completed puzzle.

I often say that for my tombstone, I will have a crossword puzzle. To learn who I am and important dates in my life, you will have to solve the crossword puzzle. No, the answers will not be on the back!

So, do any of you have any favorite word games that you like to play?

New nicknames

Happy Birthday Eliza B!!!

So, after a bit of complaining from the peanut gallery, I suppose that I can change Squidgy's nickname to JooCoo (I contemplated CooJoo, but that sounds too much like Cojo) and his mother's name to YooCoo. However, JooCoo will still be Squidgy to me in my head. Just a not to YooCoo, I came up with the name while visiting you and even told you a few times, but my guess is you were too tired to notice:) If any of you would like to see pictures up to the Northwest, please visit my cousin's blog here. We did take a few photos, but I'm too lazy to put them up right now.

I spent the week recovering from my vacation. I have also sworn off sugar again. So far, I've gone four days without sugar. Yeah, me! Today, Ma and I went to the quilt show. I was impressed. They had 125 quilts displayed, much more difficult than the one I just finished. I'd show you a picture, but I forgot to take a picture before I sent it up to NooKoo. (Yes, I know that I change the spelling every time.) So, if Coo or Yoocoo, would take a picture and send it to me, I would much appreciate it.

Home again, home again

Well, I made it back from Portland safe and sound. Ma and I had a lovely time up there. We visited Coo, Cynth, NuKoo and Squidgy. Squidgy is the new addition to the family. He spent many hours telling me the secrets of the universe; however, I don't speak newborn, so I couldn't understand the secrets. NuKoo spent many hours on my phone, talking to various family members and imaginary people; however, the family didn't speak 2-year-old very well. NuKoo was kind enough to make sure that we were entertained the whole time. She is a very busy child and reminded us of Roo when she was little. It was very fun. We don't get to see many little children around here. I turned NuKoo into a jerky junkie. I didn't think she would like beef jerky, but I was wrong.

On our drive there, I noticed two different signs in Idaho (two to mention, anyway). One was your typical deer sign. The other was a game migration sign. Apparently, Idahoans felt the need to differentiate between deer and other wild game. I'd forgotten how cold Idaho is and how much colder the wind is. Nothing wakes you up on a long drive, like getting out in the Idaho winter without your coat on.

The New United States

I haven't blogged in quite awhile as work has been overbusy, and thus, I have not been very creative. Anyway, I was sitting around with the family tonight looking at a United States Map. We were marking the states that we had been to. Then we listed the countries that we had been to. Of course we also spent time planning trips wherein we could add more states to our list in one fell swoop. After awhile Uncle Isatalo and Pa decided that perhaps we could combine some of the northeastern states into one state. Then the group decided that perhaps they should even up all of the states based on land area. This would mean that Alaska would have 8 new states (or 12 people per Alaskan state). Texas would have four states, all retaining the name Texas in their name (East Texas, West Texas, Liberal Texas, etc.) as they would have a Civil War over who got to keep the name Texas. I also decided that we should square up all of the states in typical Monk fashion. If you did not live in a square, then you would be required to move.

And then it hit me--how many other families sit around redividing the United States, probably very few. I guess we're just unique.

What are all of your thoughts on this matter?