a short story

When We Don't Lock the Door My Cat Opens It

When we don't lock the door, my cat opens the door. He smells dirty cuz he rolls in the dirt, and gets wet, YUCK! He is white and black. He rubs me and my brother Lander. Lander is five years old. When my cat sleeps on the couch, he is the funniest sleeper in the world. How does he do that? Sometimes he puts his arm under his head. It is so cute when he does that! I mean cute, cute, cute!

--Jake, age 7

Jake wrote this story for school last month. I corrected the spelling, but everything else is as-is. Jake's cat, "Barry", likes to sneak into our house so we have to lock all of our doors to keep him out. There isn't a knob that he can't open!

Quote of the Day

This quote, although gross, pretty much shows what my life is like surrounded by 3 boys:

Lander: looking out the window, "Hey Jake, look! There is smoke."

Jake: very seriously and condescendingly retorts, "No, Lander. It's just me. I farted."

---Oooh dear.

Memoirs of a harried mother

Do you ever have a day where you wonder what form of craziness possessed you to procreate? I sure did a few days ago! School got cancelled and my lovely little boys couldn't contain their excitement. They went from one "Boys, please don't do that" activity to another, starting with the pile of 20 blankets (as seen in "the LONG night" post), moving along to the yogurt food fight, and ending with this.

Any guesses what this might be?

little miss homemaker...

...has arrived! I finally decided to make jam out of the raspberries & huckleberries that I picked this summer. Yum-m-my!

the LONG night

Someone had a BAD dream last night and couldn't sLeEP. So he crawled into bed with mommy & daddy. His pillow in the new bed was haRd. He FelL out of bed once. Mommy woke him up as she cRAwLed over top of him to run to the bathroom. Everyone kept buMpINg into each other. NOboDy slept well. It was a LONG night.

He tried to get dressed for school, but the pile of blankets were so SoFt. So instead of getting ReADy for school, he thought he would just take a NAP!

His feet got cOLd, but mommy's pillow was cOzY.

Until mommy dRAgGed him downstairs for breakfast.

POOR boy!

7 Random Things About Me

The rules are: Link to the person that tagged you, (Beth) and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
1. I love, love, love cloudy days. I actually feel really depressed when it is sunny for too many days in a row.

2.I like numbers. A lot. I get so crazy about them that I run idiotic scenarios in my head. "If I won a million dollars, what would I do with it?" or "How fast can I pay off my house if I...". You get the point. My latest craziness? Creating a spreadsheet for Josh & I to use, should the other one die, to help us know what to do with the life insurance money during our grieving period. Weird. I know.

3. I have a phobia of social situations, especially when I host a dinner party. I get so stressed out that I fill my schedule to the brim so I won't have to participate.

4. I think it would be really cool to have a British accent.

5. I can't seem to outgrow the habit of picking at my lips, especially if they are dry or I am stressed. So instead, I constantly put on chapstick and read every day (my narcotic of choice) to keep my sordid habit in check.

6. My favorite place in the world is home, with no where to go. Unless you want to talk about vacations, then I am game for most anything.

7. Even though I love home (refer to #6), I am still filled with wanderlust. I just can't seem to get over it! Last winter I researched jobs in St. Croix, Tonga, New Zealand, England & Scotland, hoping that I could find a way to convince Josh that we should take our family on a little "sabbatical". So far, no luck.

I tag: Emily, Cameron, Camie & Dad

A life to be remembered

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the death of Fishee, who passed on to the next life sometime during the night.

Fishee began his life as a research fish for the firm of Synakowski-Farnsworth, dedicating his life to the advancement of science. We came to know Fishee at the end of his career when he was looking for other options. He decided to give the world of pet-dom a whirl, and moved into our home. He was a great pet, taking to it like a natural, always swishing his tail and swimming around in his tank. His smile brightened our days. He never complained of neglect nor of loneliness, but eagerly greeted us each time we brought him his food. We will miss our Fishee. Survivors include Fishee's owner, Lander, and Fishee's friend, Jake.

Interment services will be held at 8:30 am today in the downstairs bathroom for those interested.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch with Alan, Heather & baby Smatrick in utero the week before Halloween. The patch was small, but fun.

What a MAN

Last week was a blur. Scouts, work meetings, shopping for the family, helping out at school, helping a sick Jake, Young Womens, a 2-day nursing class, an over-nighter in Driggs, plus work and just normal household stuff put me far behind and made me pretty tired. I dragged my tired body home Sunday morning after working my shift at the hospital, a shift that included an extra hour (thanks daylight savings!) and collapsed into bed.

I woke up 8 hours later, but my body wouldn't cooperate. I was still so tired that I could barely move. Geez! So, my sweet hubby made me breakfast in bed, took care of the kids, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with me. We watched 2 hours of HGTV in bed, shocking because I don't watch TV and a real exercise in patience & perseverance for Josh as he gave up watching the more desirable football game. It was wonderful! He had already spent hours this weekend organizing the kids room, a task worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, and doing other chores to help me catch back up.

And then to top it all off, he tells me "thank you"!

What a man!!

I love you Babe!

like father, like son

Jake holding his catch near twin bridges,

South Fork of the Snake River.