CTR 5's are Wild

With Dilbert out of town, it was going to be a hard CTR 5 day today, I could tell. I even called and got an assistant who has a degree in elementary education. She was speechless at their antics. But they were just being 4. The crier was okay today but it was because his dad came in with him again. But he ditched him during sharing time and the crier was okay. He kept asking where his dad was but I convinced him to stick it out. The twins and the smarty-pants were teasing each other through the whole thing. The ESL girl was in la la land most of the time until I took out the stickers. But we survived...

BNLFan and I were singing the RS song in the other ward so we ditched out sacrament meeting and went to Valley View's. I heard about it from the bishop, though. He said he recognized BNLFan for her advancement from Mia Maids to Laurels but we weren't there. Ooops. I told him where we were so he didn't think we were total slackers...

Frank Zigmunt came home for a few hours today. I fixed roast beef with all the trimmings to celebrate. N is making cream cheese brownies now so he will have something yummy to take home with him. He's doing so well. I am a proud mom. He brought his mission papers home with him for the bishop to sign so he can do his interviews in Provo. He puts in his papers in 30 days. Boo Hoo! I am so pleased he is wanting to go on a mission, but I am going to miss him soooo much.

Saturday

It has been a crazy couple of days.

First, my phone has broken. There's a crossed wire somewhere in the house. I've been without a phone for 4 days and it is driving me CRAZY. Just when I need the phone more than ever, I am without. I tried to forward my calls to my cell but they aren't forwarding. WHY? Because I badly need them to, I am sure.

We have had fun with cousins visiting from Washington. Last night was the not much sleeping over at Moms. I'm sorry she didn't sleep well. I did!

Dad came over this morning and tried to fix my phone. He found what the problem was but not where. That will have to wait for Dilbert to get back in town. I was so grateful. I gave him a razzleberry pie for his efforts. The sad part was I took a piece out for me before I gave it to him. I'm not THAT good of a daughter!

While Dad was here, I took BNLFan to a choir practice at the ward building. Her BFF's grandparents are speaking in church tomorrow, reporting on their mission to Holland and they are singing the song BNLFan played the cello in at the Relief Society Music Contest Recital. They snagged me at the same time and asked me to sing, too. I was glad to do it, but I'm not that great of a singer so I gave them plenty of opportunities to excuse me. They were very gracious and very desperate so I guess I am going to the other ward's meeting tomorrow to sing with them while BNLFan plays. I am glad to hear their mission reports anyway so it will be fun.

Dad brought all the girls up here to play while he fixed the phone but when it was time for him to leave, they wouldn't go with him! Go figure! I think it is the pancake puffs but they say it is because they want to play with cousins. Whatever! I know the real reason. I took N, Scout and BNLFan and two cousins and one of N's friends to the mall a while ago because they apparently don't have such cool malls in WA. Or maybe it is that they don't get dropped off there with cash often because they wont come home now.

While they were gone I installed the new bulb in our projector. It was a pretty penny which didn't make me happy since there was still 75% life still in the bulb. I think all the remodeling dust cut it's life short. Still, the $300+ price tag makes me weep big tears. But it lasted 4 1/2 years so I can't really complain too much. Okay, I can but I will try not to. The new bulb is great. It is so much brighter than the old one. You don't realize how dim it is getting until you get a new one. This one I can use while the lights are on in the other half of the room. Couldn't do that with the old one!

OOOH! Heidi made me chocolate chip cookies before she went to the mall. Delicious! They are going to have to be hidden if any are to survive until Frank Zigmunt gets here tomorrow afternoon. His roommate has a family thing up here tomorrow afternoon so Frank will come up with him. I'm glad because I have missed him something terrible. AND it is supposed to snow tomorrow so he can shovel. See? There's a reason I love my men.

We are going back to Mom's for dinner tonight. I just invited myself (shameful, I know!). It's fun to visit so I am glad for the opportunity. I bet Dilbert is glad he is out of town so he doesn't have to be subjected to all this FAMILY. Small price to pay for peace and quiet, though. He's probably in need of some clean clothes, besides missing us as much as we miss him.

Happy (albeit Late) Birthday, Little Bro!

Happy Birthday to my other Little Brother who is a fantastically smart, funny and wonderful Dad, Father, Husband and Brother. I love you!

An Athiest was walking through the woods...

An atheist was walking through the woods.
'What majestic trees'!
'What powerful rivers'!
'What beautiful animals'!
He said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!'

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'?
The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would b e hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'?

'Very Well,' said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke: 'Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.'

I was playing around with my kids yesterday on YouTube, something I don't recommend unless you have a lot of time and a strong stomach...

We were looking for Gidget (Sally Field) which led us to the Flying Nun... Watching that forces one to ask the question, "What were they thinking?" I would have loved to have sat in on that pitch meeting. Imagine--an American girl in a South American country entering a convent where she wears a ridiculous nun's hat which allows her to discover she can fly. Crazy hijinks ensue."

From there we had to follow the link to Fraggle Rock in Dutch. I mean, hey--who can say no to Fraggle Rock in Dutch? Don't they look Dutch?









That made me think of an old TV show that scared me to death as a kid... We had to look... Remember this?









I'm cowering under my computer desk now...

Typing Speed

94 words

Speed test

I've been published!

I was starting to feel like a looser because my review of The Peacegiver hadn't been published to ldsaudio yet. So when I sent in my next review today, I asked if there was a problem with it. This was the very nice reply I got...

Hi Shauna,

Your review of "The Peacegiver" was published today on blog.ldsaudio.com. There was nothing wrong
with it. In fact, it is one of the best reviews I've seen. We just have a
little back log due to some personnel changes.

I went there and, sure enough, there it was. Check it out if you have nothing else to do. Leave a comment, too, so I know you were there (you know, say something like, "Wow, you do a great review! You should be paid for this!")