Patience

Do you ever feel strongly like the Lord is trying to teach you patience?
Do you ever wish you could hurry up and learn it so that you can move on to the next lesson?

Hanging Up My Chef's Hat

WARNING! This post is not pretty.

Today I made pancakes. Put batter in a blender because I couldn't find a bowl big enough. Made several pancakes, all the way down to the end of the batter. Realized there was A LOT of batter left. Pretty much ALL the batter was left; stuck to the sides of the blender. We all had watercakes for dinner. Sad. But that's what kids are good for. Gobbling down your cooking mistakes. They like syrup. Lots. And when you add enough syrup and butter to watercakes, they're actually not too shabby.

Lesson Learned: blender+pancake batter= watercaked embarrassing blog confession.
Lesson Learned: syrup+butter= clueless children
Lesson Learned: water+pancake batter= not as easy as it sounds.

It may be time to give up my chef dreams. Hmm.

Blog Clips

Time for another episode of blog clips:

Madisen and Shea had a very in depth debate the other day. No decision was made so I leave it to you for a vote. Shea asked why Elmo doesn't have teeth. Madisen replied that obviously he does have teeth you just cannot see them. Shea said, "Oh because they're black". Madisen rolled her eyes and tried to explain that, "No, Elmo's teeth are NOT black they are white just like ours. You just can't see them because his mouth is so dark." (duh).

Um, does Elmo have teeth?

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Ever can't get to sleep because you have a case of the nose whistles? You try unsuccessfully to fall asleep, but can't because someone in the room won't stop whistling, then you find out the person is you?
No?

Uh, me either.

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Does Madisen really have to start Kindergarten?

Poultry Predjudiced

A rooster is a chicken. It is. The male kind. A hen is a chicken. The female kind. Both chickens; different names. So why is it then, that when Lovetricity asked me the other day:
"A rooster is a chicken, right? So does that mean we sometimes eat Rooster?"
My whole world turned upside down? Flowers are one thing, but I don't think a chicken by any other name will taste as sweet. Chik-fil-A definitely looks different to me now. Just because their cow's never say, "eat more rooster" does Not mean there are no roosters snuck between your buns, right? So many questions follow this discovery!Does the fact that I am repulsed by the idea of eating a male chicken, mean I don't care about the female one's? Are the female chicken's any less important than the males? Are others of you poultry-predjudice as I am?





Rooster Nuggets? Grilled Rooster Breast? Rooster Cordon Bleu? No thank you! I'm a Roostatarian.

My Name is Jodi and. . .

I am a killer. A straight up, in your face, serial killer. Just ask my yard. The stories it could tell. I've heard of the green thumb. I always thought it was a myth. Never really paid much attention. After looking at my brand-new-just- five-days-ago-flowers however, I've realized not only do I not have any green appendages, but my thumbs ARE awfully brown and crumbly. Crispy like. I was told in ninth grade that all those crinkly lines on my hands just meant I had an old soul. Nope. Markings of a killer.
I may have misplaced my camera, so I've brought in some stand in pictures, so you can feel the pain like I do.
5 short days ago, we dug up a new homey dirt haven to place some happy plants in. I could almost hear them singing. They looked like this:


Sadly, under the care of ME, they now resemble this:



and this:


Although, mine are less "dead is beautiful" and more, "crisp like desert"

It's not as if I set out to do this. It just happened. I know, likely story. But I can't help myself. I feel sad for them. It's almost like they're gazing across the street with longing, thinking about how the soil is probably richer on the other side of the fence/road. Can't say I blame them. Erin's flowers are tauntingly pretty. I have one last weapon however. This time in their favor. "I can overcome this!" I think to myself, so we've layed it on thick with the Miracle Grow!
Ahem.

(This was of course BEFORE we realized, Miracle Grow isn't SUPPOSED to be layed on thick)

sigh.

Wiggle Derby

Ever since I turned 27, I've really been coming into my own as a mature, responsible woman. I've started to see things in a clearer way, and have realized I need to have a plan in place for the future. Thankfully, I have some awesome friends who have helped me realize which way I need to go. They completely suprised me last night with a trip to Leatherby's. Which is, by golly, THE best ice cream place ever! And like any mature adult, Misty decided our night would best be spent, not by going home, but instead Wiggle Bike Racing! I have now found my niche! I am to be the worlds best wiggle bike racer! Darn it, I guess I'm going to have to practice lots and lots!
Oh, you've never ridden a Wiggle bike?
Baby, you haven't lived!
Our night just got started at 11:00 p.m. when we shoved the teenage make-out couple out of the way to start our races. Sonia "The Madam" Morgan was to start us off down the hill. There was a 90 degree turn halfway through, before we were soaring down the sidewalk at lightning speed. There were only a few crashes, but a gazillion screams. That poor couple, they had no idea what they were in for when they chose that park for "snuggling". We were just finishing up, when the Pops showed up to let us know wiggle time was over. I'm so bummed, because I didn't have my camera, but no worries! Just check out out Misty "Stay-at-home-Mom" Startup's blog(funny farm) And look for our team next year at the second annual Jodi's birthday slash Wiggle Derby!




scroll down (Funny Farm) to the last two pics to see our team:
In the top one left to right: Erin "goin' on green" Lundgreen, "Shakin' it" Sheri Vaughn, Jodi LaLa, "Stay-at-Home-Mom", and "A Penny for Your Jenny" Child's

Bottom Pic: Lia "Lovin' The Lighning" Goldsberry, The Madam, Goin on Green, Lala, and Penny for Your Jenny.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Thanks so much to everyone who came, and I definately missed those who couldn't come, (ahem, Robyn, Jolene, Megan) it was a blast!

How About That?

It's my birthday and stuff. I'm livin it up loca style. So far I've gone to the nursery to buy flowers for my front yard, cleaned my house and took a nap. All that and it's only 4:52 p.m. If this is any indicator for how the rest of the day goes, then WOW! Lookout! Hot Spark is taking me out Saturday. Who wants to waste their birthday on a Thursday? I think my day has shown, I know how to party. Thankfully I'm not over the hill for a while. My Mom's generation went over the hill at 30, so they have been on the frowny side for a while. Nowaday's 40 is the new 30 so I still have about 13 whole years before I have to buy doilies. Anyway, I'm sure Andrew has something spectacular planned for this weekend. I'm sure because he has to. My birthday is 2 weeks before our anniversary. The very first birthday I had when we were married I told him:
"Our anniversary is coming up pretty quick, so if you want me to renew our marriage contract for another year, you should probably think really hard about what you are getting me for my birthday."

Still to this day he believes there is such thing as a marriage contract I get to renew based on his behaviour. It's kinda like grown up Santa Claus I suppose. If he does well, he gets to live with me for another year! Seriously, how did he get so lucky?! Yay for birthdays! I'm not like taking names or anything, but if you wanted to wish me an awesome HB there's only like seven hours left.

Campin' Stuff

We camped all week. It was fabulous!!! I love love love being dirty, grungy, and gross. Okay, the truth is I DO like camping I just don't like bugs. At all. It was very depressing to me to get bitten by a horsefly, and bring home a bazillion mosquito bites. (sad). It started out well though. We went down to Starvation Lake and started the trip off with a bang. The second we arrived we opened the car door and Shea stepped barefoot right into a cactus. Rockin'! I knew this was going to be awesome. The rest of the trip went really smoothly because I have an awesome extended family. Especially my cousin Callie's husband Charlie, who is super darn good looking, and didn't even ask me to write that into my blog. The sad thing is, I didn't take one stinkin' picture the whole trip. So you guys don't get to enjoy his beauty. If I had taken pictures I would put the picture of him here-------->
Also, if I had brought my camera, you would see cousin Travis shooting at bees with his pellet gun here------------>
You would see Lovetricity, hanging out on the rafts with the girls here-------->
My dog Kona diving under water for rocks here---------->
The Boy making a meal of dirt here-------->
And my natural good looks (even during a camping trip) first thing in the morning here------>
Isn't it almost like you were there? I bet you are jealous after these visuals aye? Since we've been home I've learned you can take the kids out of the camp, but not the camp out of the kids. We had an awesome meal at my Mom's house tonight. The Boy wouldn't eat a thing. He refused everything we gave him. After dinner, he stuck his nose up at the brownies we ate, ( uh, I mean Pete ate I would never eat those) but had no qualms about munching on a spoon full of ants. Go figure. It's all that camping. Turning him into a neanderthal. Well, no more news to report here, nope no more news NOBODY is having a birthday this week. No one. Not even me. If somebody WAS having a birthday this week it might be on Thursday. The 30th. That would mean there would only be 4 shopping days left. Hypothetically speaking of course. Peace Out!!

8oz Is For Wimps

Now that The Boy is one he's been eating a little more.






He's a growing boy, what can I do?

Kissing Cupcakes

Do you ever go to the grocery store hungry? No, right? Everyone knows that rule. If you go to the store hungry your food bill will go up and your waistline out. Not the best way to grow. I usually make it a rule to shop right after breakfast or lunch. However, since I wanted my children to eat today (I hate hate hate grocery shopping.. . it's been a while) I ended up arriving just before lunchtime. My tummy-growl check came back negative so I thought I could handle it. I was doing pretty good too, until I noticed I was making eyes at the Hostess. MMMMM, preservative chocolate cream cake. A quick self reprimand and I was back on track toward the milk. Only $1.50- Yay! When I hear a catcall, coming from behind me. I turned around determined to show the culprit I was definitely NOT appreciative( while internally noting that I've still got it) when I realized it was just the french bread, assaulting me with it's fresh, hot, scent. Now I'm feeling a bit dizzy and decide to get out before I end up embarrassing myself by proposing to the pastries. (love them) I feel pretty good now. I went in planning on spending about $20 and only spent about $50. That sounds pretty bad until I tell you everything I bought was on the list; I'm just really bad at cost predictions. Well, everything except the take-and-bake pizza that snuck into my cart who knows how? But I can justify that. Really. Just ask my friend Misty ("Funny Farm" blog). I can have pizza for lunch, because I didn't eat breakfast, and I'm going to run tonight. And it was take-n-bake which is probably less greasy and fatty than delivery. And, I mowed my lawn.
See? Learned my lesson.



Mmmm, cake.

Flack Attack

I've been getting a lot of flack lately. A few people in my family have been flackin' about how I haven't blogged lately. So, because I haven't blogged all summer, You're about to get a whopper about how I've spent my summer vacation. Ready? No? Fine.

So I just took my facebook fortune this morning. "If you want the rainbow, you must put up with the rain."
I don't understand this. Why put up with depressing rain? Rain is not fun. It's soppy. Haven't you heard that famous quote:
"Life is about waiting for the storm to pass, not about dancing in the rain." And famous quotes are usually right. Besides I don't have the time to deal with soppy, I'm a busy person. Yesterday, I went to church, then took a nap, then watched t.v. with Pete, then went to dinner at his parents. Super busy.

So the point of this story is I did a redo. Remember being little, and when you didn't win a game or race, you would pout and shout RE-DO? It still works.
My new fortune:
"You are Talented in many ways".

Much better.
Thank you.




p.s. For those of you who have flacked: Yes I will blog about Jared coming home, and Jack's 1st birthday. He's 1 Hurray!

To Kill A Spider

Directions for disposal of Arachnid-Hairius-Scarius-Maximus:

Step 1: Spot big scary hairy offender perched creepily on daughters sandal
Step 2: Squeal quietly so as not to alert children Give a full body shake to get rid of eeby-jeeby's
Step 3: Throw shoes mate from across the room in hopes it will land directly on spider sending him to a miserable squishy death.
Step 4: Say bad word.
Step 5: Grab vacuum. Place all attachments onto vacuum hose to make it as long as possible. Stand across room reaching with what you wish were"go-go-gadget" arms.
Step 6: Touch spider with tip and squeal a little as it walks away casually to underside of shoe.
Step 7: Say bad word. Take a deep breather and a little eeby-jeeby shake.Briefly consider asking daughter to come squish spider for you. Put on determined face. Step back in to battle.
Step 8: Holding breath, point inadequately short hose toward spider. Commit to not thinking about 8 disturbing legs. Place hose over offensive spider and watch his legs start to lift upward. Watch spider disappear into dark tunnel of death.
Step 9: Quickly drop hose before the dead spider thud hits. Jeeby shake, jump, and dance. Squeal loudly. Leave vacuum running considerably longer than necessary in case dead spider has any thoughts of haunting sequel.
Step 10: Run out of room to call husband and tell about brave war against arachnid. Embellish a little. Leave vacuum for husband to clean up.