We're old....

but we're still the youngest couple in the high priests group! Charles and I attended a high priests social last night and we were the only people in attendance that were under the age of 50:) I felt a little out of place but everyone was super nice. I think we were the only ones that still had children living with us. Well... maybe there was one other couple that had gotten a late start that still had kids at home. I only say late start because Charles and I started having kids the minute we were legal! I'm glad about that now though since I'll be barely 40 when my kids are almost all grown :)

Speaking of kids....summer is right around the corner. That means I'll have a few weeks with kids all day long. Don't get me wrong...I love my kids...a lot. BUT.... that's a lot of time to be around my kids. It's always nice when school first ends but around the 4th week of summer I'm dying for school to resume. My kids bug me..... as a matter of fact Ryan is bugging me as I type. I need another female in the house to understand where I come from. Charlie has been bugging us to death lately about how he needs a raise. The problem is, he wants money for doing nothing. We don't pay our kids for regular chores. However, Charlie wants to be paid for wiping his butt. In our house there are chores that you are required to do just because we pay their way. It's the price of having clothes to wear, food to eat and a bed to sleep in. Anything extra, that takes the burden off of Charles and me is a way to earn money. The problem with this though, is that Charlie wants to only do the chores that earn him money. If his regular chores aren't done though, he won't earn money for the money earning chores. I love being a parent :) I especially can't wait to be a grandparent and watch my grand kids bug their parents and tear all their stuff up :D

Anyway, I can't think of anything else for tonight!

Been a while....

and it's hotter than blue blazes in Arizona. We've been crazy busy and there just hasn't been too much for me to write about. I've been doing good on my budget but today I just had to go shopping and get a few things. I like to think that I don't "have" to shop but it just feels good to buy something from time to time. I had just returned home from my shopping trip when I received a call from Ryan, telling me he had left his bike lock key in the truck today when I had taken him and Charlie to the dentist. I drove over to the school to give him a key and the bitchiest teacher alive happened to be standing out there. Ryan ran over to the car to get the key and the teacher promptly told me that he wasn't allowed to walk through the cross walk to get to the car. I said ok and apologized and she told me I was blocking everyone else. Her rudeness continued until I was good and pissed. But here's the deal, I was in the park and wait lane. I was making sure my big kids weren't going to get to far ahead of the smaller ones. Remember, I'm nice until you piss me off. I told her the cars behind me could go around me in the other lane and she spouted something else off and I just said "ok, thank you, have a nice day because it sounds like you need one." See, Charles is in the bishopric now and I guess I have to conduct myself as so. It's a hard thing to do sometimes, believe me. Anyway, I didn't let her ruin my day. Although, I did let the incident irritate me for a bit. I'm all better now though :) I seem to be a magnet for tactless people lately. This is a big pet peeve of mine too. Maybe this is the Lord's way of making me more tolerant. Opposition in all things. You gotta deal with the crap to get over your weaknesses, right?

This week I've been trying really hard to eat healthy and stay away from all the delicious things I enjoy eating. I've done pretty good other than the 4-6 homemade, oatmeal-raisin cookies I enjoyed last night. You gotta indulge every now and again.

Ok, I like to think that we don't indulge our kids with too many material things. We did get them a cell phone to share, about a year ago. This purchase was more for my conveniance. Charlie tells us last night that he wants a new cell phone since all of his friends have cool ones and he gets made fun of for having a "dinosaur" for a phone. So he then proceeds to tell us how crappy it is and how every kid in America has way better stuff than him. So...Charles tells him since his phone sucks so bad we will take it back and he can have nothing! So there! I do not like when people feel entitled. Especially when someone else is paying. If you read my blog on a regular basis then you will know that I do not like moochers and people who can't pay their own way. So sweet, little Charlie has lost his phone for a time.

One more thing, can we please stop with all this swine flu mess?

Oh what a day.....

Today has been a long day. I had to listen to kindergartners read for an hour and then came home and did my maid duties. The people in my family couldn't care less what our house looks like. Although, Charlie is quick to tell me how messy other people's houses are when he visits someone else. So I'm pretty sure he appreciates my obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to cleanliness. That poor kid has picked up my terrible OCD habit. It's a curse. I love the thought of tile floors but they are very high maintenance.

Anyway, I made spudnuts today...and...they were a masterpiece! A spudnut is a homemade, good, delicious, deep fried, delightful doughnut. I made them with whole wheat so they were healthy!! Plus I deep fried them in canola oil so they are heart healthy! Healthy or not though...they were DE-LIGHTFUL!

Cody came to me last night and asks me if he can shower in my bathroom. I thought this request was innocent enough....until he was finished with his shower. He walks into the living room with his hand over the top of his head. I ask him "why are you covering your head like that?" He says "cuz." "Cuz why?" He then removes his hand and I see 4 bald strips down the center of his head! He had taken my razor and shaved the top of his head. It looks awful and the only solution was to shave his hair completely off. He did have to go to school today with the bald strips. Charles didn't cut his hair until this evening. Cody is always into something. He was embarassed about it today and wanted to wear a hat to school.


Well...that's it for tonight :)

It's a wonder...

what going to bed early does for you! Normally, I am a night chick and don't get in the bed until 12-ish and I have to be pried out of bed the next morning to get kids up. Last night was different though. I started to doze off around 8:30 and Charles came over to me and said "let's get in the bed early tonight." So off we went and I was sound asleep by 10 and my eyelids popped open at 5:30-ish this morning. SO NICE. I guess that's where the saying "early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." I am pretty healthy and I'm becoming more wise, now if the wealthy part will fall into place I will forever be a morning person!

Our baby chicks spent their first night outside last night. There was dust ALL OVER the office and I was tired of sweeping up their mess, so I moved them out yesterday. The weather has been blazing hot so I figured now was as good of a time as any to give them the boot. They did well. The kids were scared they were going to wake up to 11 dead, baby chicks. It does cool off a lot at night but they stayed safe and healthy.

Well, we got the shock of our week on Sunday. The stake executive secretary called Sunday morning and asked if we would be able to come and meet with the Stake President at 11:30. Now that is an hour and a half before church starts. We knew they were obviously going to issue a calling to Charles, we just didn't know what. We get there and the president was doing the getting to know you session and asked us a few questions. He then tells Charles his name had been submitted for 2nd counselor in the bishopric. WHOA! I immediately started bawling. I have no idea why. Maybe because I have spent quite a bit of time away from my husband for the last couple years. But I figure that time has prepared me for what is to come. Crazy, we NEVER saw that one coming. Charles is a good guy though and I'm glad I'm married to him. Plus, he's super cute and has a nice butt!

I think my kids think I'm an idiot. Ryan is constantly trying to pull one over on me and so far it has NEVER worked. He thinks I won't check up on him and he'll ask me how I find everything out. I can remember thinking that about my mother but the thing is, mothers ALWAYS find crap out one way or another. Charlie will try from time to time to pull one over on me but not too often. Today, Charlie comes to me at 7:07 a.m and asks if he can leave for school. I said heck no since it doesn't start until 7:45. He said some of his friends were at the door and wanted to know if he could go with them. First of all, one of the kids lives all over the place. This particular kid was telling me yesterday that his mom up and left to go to California to finish school. He's adopted and he and his younger brother are living with their 30 year old brother while mom is away. Well as of now they are staying with their grandmother because big brother is in Cali attending a concert with his girlfriend and the dad is living somewhere is Tucson. Did you get all that? It took me a while to figure it all out. So this is the kid Charlie is wanting me to allow him to go out with. Believe me, I'm not sure there is a mother out there that loves getting their kids out the door for school any more than I do. I love to drop my kids off at school and not have to worry about them all day, I ain't gonna lie about that. I firmly believe any mother that says they love having their kids around them all the time is a big, fat liar. Anyway, Charlie was just as pissed as he could be because I would not allow him to gallivant all over the neighborhood. I'd rather him be mad for a time than have a cop come to my door and tell me he's done something stupid.

Speaking of cops, when we first moved here I called the refuse department and requested a recycling can be delivered to my house. The lady told me it would be about 6 weeks before one would be delivered. Ok fine. Well it's been about 2 months now since that phone call. I called up yesterday to see what the deal was and they said their records indicate my can had been delivered on March 3. I said well that isn't possible because I have no can. She then proceeds to tell me that in order to not be charged for the can I need to call the police department and make a stolen items report. Can you believe that? So now, because I was trying to be green and help the environment, I have something else to take care of on my plate. I guess if it's not one thing, it's another. Dadgummit! But I can get another one once I make the police report!

A day in the life.....

of a crazy mother is CrAzY~ As I went about my day getting stuff done I had not peeked in on our baby chicks. Cody and Josh had been in there looking at them and Josh had even vacuumed up the mess they had created. Nobody noticed one thing out of the ordinary until I looked in there to admire the cute, little fuzzballs. Brownie, the one I was most excited about, was a goner. She was the extra one, of a different breed, the hatchery sent us. But....no more hope for her. Josh and Cody were absolutely certain she died because the other chicks were stomping all over her. Then came the idea that maybe she died because they would sneak in there and play with her without asking. I have no idea how long she had been dead when she was found. I swear these animals couldn't be anymore low maintenance. So....it was sad time and the kids wanted to do a proper burial but I just had Charlie scoop her up in a plastic bag and we softly laid her in the big, outdoor trash can. Josh and Cody were super sad about it. Cody wanted to know if Jesus possibly had a computer so we could get a hold of Him to see if He could come and perform a miracle. I told him probably not but Brownie is in Heaven happier than ever! I'm just a little confused as to how this happened. They were all doing so well and we hadn't noticed one thing out of the ordinary. I hope the garden does better.

Charles and Ryan went on an overnight camp out last night and aren't due back until later this evening. Those of us left home had a Smallville marathon last night since we were left without a car. I got up this morning to make donuts and the results were disappointing. There's another recipe in the Woods' family cookbook I am going to try and I will keep anyone interested, posted on that attempt. The ones today were NOTHING like a donut, dang it, I was excited about those too.

Cody is quite the business man and Josh is the gullible one. Cody had a necklace that he received for free. He conned Josh into purchasing it $1.50. Josh willingly handed over his cash in return for the loot. He was more than thrilled with this deal and so was Cody. I told Cody I felt like he stiffed Josh and he looks at me and says "what's stiffed mean?" The 2 of them were clueless and both were happy with the outcome. Oh well, I just hate to see folks get screwed. I've been on the receiving end of a good stiff. We all have to get screwed once though to learn our lesson!

The garden is somewhat up and going. We at least got it sectioned off and the tomato and strawberry plants are in. Now we just need to plant everything else. Hopefully Monday! I swear, one day, we're gonna live on our own compound and be completely self sufficient. We're gonna try really hard to do it and not look like freakish idiots in the process though!

Here's a conversation Cody had with his dad....

Cody~"here Dad" (handing Charles his wallet)
Charles~ " why is wet?" (as he grabbed it)
Cody~ " I dropped it in the toilet!"

I love that kid! He tries really hard to keep up with all of his brothers. He's small but he's mighty!

Here I go.....

Well folks....I have been put on a strict budget. Charles has cracked down with our finances and he gave me a certain amount to spend on groceries and other things. It's all for my own good though. When he returned home from Iraq I gladly handed over the finances to him. It was way too stressful for me since Charles always had these ideas about how things needed to be done. Anyway, I found it rather challenging to stick to this budget. In a good way! I meticulously planned our meals for the next 2 1/2 weeks and went shopping today. Now... I did have to go to 2 different stores to get the very best deal on everything. That was a little bit of a pain but at least I didn't have any children in tow :) After all was said and done, I had $20 left and felt great knowing I had conquered! Now I just need to know how these people come home with $500 worth of groceries and only spend like $7. Someone please fill me in on this. Our local newspaper has worthless coupons. Of course I don't purchase packaged products so this type of thing may not work for me. I spent more than $7 but felt like I did great feeding a family with 4 boys for less than $250 for 2 1/2 weeks! That price also included household items that weren't food related. I'm good!

Well our chicks have outgrown the brooder we were using and we had to graduate them to the coop. Think of the money I'll save when they start giving us eggs! Another way to save money....I'm going green. Do you know all the uses for baking soda? Check it out online, just google baking soda uses. I already checked it out and stocked up on that stuff today.

No matter what kind of budget I'm on now, I'm still going to Vegas in June!

Easter Sunday....

I'm kind of glad Easter is over. Mostly because we had to speak in church today and also because I couldn't stop eating the candy I had purchased for Easter baskets. I had to replace 2 bags cuz I couldn't stay out of it. It was a good day otherwise. Went to church, had a big, delicious meal and then let the kids dye eggs and had an egg hunt. Instead of filling the eggs with candy I had some spare change to put in them. The little kids got a head start since I knew the older kids would be acting crazy out there trying to scoop up all the ones with the money. Cody was pretty irritated when he came back with only 50 cents. Believe me, it wasn't big money. There was no more than 25 cents in each egg. There was one egg, though, that I had put a dollar in and that was the grand prize egg. Josh found that one. We were thinking there was another egg out there that hadn't been claimed and Cody was determined to find it. He searched and searched and came up empty handed. After the whining and moaning we had to hear I won't be doing money again.

Charles woke me up at 7 a.m. He got up to prepare for his talk and rustled in the bed until I was wide awake. So I decided to get on up and put the finishing touches on mine as well. We still had some time to snuggle in for a short nap. I already had the covers up to my neck ready to nestle back in when the phone rang. It was the 2nd counselor in the bishopric asking if he could stop by our house at 10:20. I said sure, knowing he was going to extend a call to one of us. So, needless to say, we didn't get to snuggle back in. I had to get up and get ready. It was actually nice since we weren't running around last minute getting everything ready. The visit resulted in me being asked to be the Primary 2nd counselor....again. I've had this calling before and I actually prefer being in Primary. I just don't like teaching or speaking in front of adults. I guess you do get used to it if you have to do it often. I just prefer kids. They don't judge you and they never know when you screw up.

Oh yeah, I do have more good news....I found someone that knows how to cut my hair decent! I'm thrilled! And it only cost $16.95.