Nuts, Nuts, Get 'em!

There's a far side I saw a long time ago with a group of chipmunks huddled football-style together on a tree branch chanting, "Nuts, nuts, get 'em!" The title was something like, "How chipmunks psyche themselves up in the morning."

I entered the chipmunk zone today. That's what Ryan likes to call it anyway. It's the 'laying up in store' fever that's been hitting lately. I honestly can't tell you what it is, accredit it to too much Utah if you will, but I'm getting the biggest kick out of getting a respectable food storage, finding healthy alternatives to regular, store-bought food, and learning how to make things that I would normally buy because:

1-) They are ever-so-much healthier, no yucky bad for you additives and

2-) They're cheaper too, and who doesn't love saving money? ("Who doesn't love the zoo?!" Points to the person that can name that trivia)

So after a trip to the health food store (their bulk section is my new favorite place), and a quick but thorough showing-off of my purchases and savings to my ever-supportive yet snickering husband I made granola, and homemade instant oatmeal packets. I'm such a nerd, but it was fun, and I suppose I'm secretly proud that my family eats mangos n' cream oatmeal while the rest of the unfortunate world has to settle for plain old peaches.

Here's the recipe for the granola if you're interested to try it. So very yummy!

6 c. rolled grain- oats, wheat, etc.

1/2 c. wheat germ

1/2 -1 c. bran

2 T. vanilla

1-2 T. almond flavoring

1/4 c. each sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and sesame seeds

1 c. chopped almonds

1/2 c. coconut

1/2 c. canola oil

1 c. water

1/2 c. honey (you can add a little bit more for more sweetness)

1 c. raisins, golden raisins and/or other dried fruit (craisins, apricots, blueberries, etc.)

Mix grains, nuts, and coconut in large bowl. Mix oil, water, and honey separately and pour over grain mixture. Stir to coat evenly. Pour onto two well-greased cookie sheets and bake in oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Stir, rotate pans (move top pan to bottom, and vica versa), and bake another 10 minutes. Add raisins and flavoring, stir well, and bake another 5-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in jars or ziplock bags- this recipe freezes well. Serve with milk or yogurt and fresh fruit.

Enter the Artist!

For Christmas Ry got me this watercolor set, and the last few days I've been working on it. Seeing as how the last real art class I took was back in 6th grade with Mrs. Bittner, it was a little difficult. Especially since I seem to have almost no patience for actually LEARNING how to do it, it was all I could do to get myself to read the instruction book before picking up a brush and having at it. And of course there was frustration-- each of my grunts were followed by Ry saying, "I'll show you a few things about perspective next time." Or something like that. :) He knows all too well my impatience and "I don't need to learn, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it if I'm just really determined and MAKE it work." attitude. This is what I took inspiration from. :) Notre Dame.

All that being said, I have to say that this, my first painting, is coming out very well. I haven't finished yet, but I just keep looking at it on my little eisel (sp?) and sighing with utter satisfaction. Look what I did! Yay! I'm so proud!

drum roll please. . .

I'm worse than a kindergartener- "Look Mom, look what I drew!!"

That is all. I hope that you are aesthetically pleased, each and every one of you.

Ahh. . .January.

I thought I'd write an Ode to January, a difficult task seeing as it is definitely my least favorite month. Isn't it funny how all the snow and chilly weather that was a must-have for the Christmas season is suddenly unbearable once the clock strikes twelve on New Years Eve? Darker days combined with that never-ending list of New Years Resolutions ( I have recently heard them deemed "aspirations" and I like that much better) can feel ever so heavy.

As I was thinking about this yesterday (definitely a dull, blah day for me) I happened upon this excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth. Anyone remember that one from elementary school? Anyway, with the constant flutter of snow coming down lately and the less-than-cheery overcastness of it all I think we can all relate to Milo's visit to the Doldrums. So even though the sun has begun to shine this morning and I'm feeling much more alive and ambitious, I decided to make this little snippet my Ode to January, the Doldrumiest month of them all! Happy Reading!



"Well, if you can't laugh or think, what can you do?" asked Milo.
"Anything as long as it's nothing, and everything as long as it isn't anything," explained another. "There's lots to do; we have a very busy schedule-
"At 8 o'clock we get up, and then we spend
"From 8 to 9 daydreaming.
"From 9 to 9:30 we take our early midmorning nap.
"From 9:30 to 10:30 we dawdle and delay.
"From 10:30 to 11:30 we take our late early morning nap.
"From ll:00 to 12:00 we bide our time and then eat lunch.
"From l:00 to 2:00 we linger and loiter.
"From 2:00 to 2:30 we take our early afternoon nap.
"From 2:30 to 3:30 we put off for tomorrow what we could have done today.
"From 3:30 to 4:00 we take our early late afternoon nap.
"From 4:00 to 5:00 we loaf and lounge until dinner.
"From 6:00 to 7:00 we dillydally.
"From 7:00 to 8:00 we take our early evening nap, and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we waste time.
"As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating, and if we stopped to think or laugh, we'd never get nothing done."
"You mean you'd never get anything done," corrected Milo.
"We don't want to get anything done," snapped another angrily; "we want to get nothing done."
"You see," continued another in a more conciliatory tone, "it's really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us?"
"I might as well," thought Milo; "that's where I seem to be going anyway."

The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster

Stop that incessant drumming, already.

Ok, so is it just me, or has this holiday brought more than its fair share of drumming? What I mean is that every single time I turn on the Christmas station I am inevitably met with that horrible 1960's version of "The Little Drummer Boy". The one with warbling women's voices and underlying rat-a-tat-tats. I can't remember a Christmas when I've heard this song so much! The other day I changed from station to station and each of them was playing one version or another of the song. Oi with the poodles already!

Did they even have drums back then? I don't recall the middle east being known for their percussion- they strike me as more of a finger symbol or rainstick region. And at such a spiritual event a drum is definitely not the most reverent of instruments, I don't care how many ruh-puh-pum-pums come with it.

Its my own personal "Groundhog Day," only I feel pretty certain I'm not going to have the whole change of heart and end up embracing the Drummer Boy. More likely, I'd poke a hole in his little drum.

Beat that.


After that little rampage I think I'd better leave the Neil Diamond topic to another day.

Shake it!

I just dropped Ryan off at school and on the way back I turned on some Christmas music.

Lately I've been encouraging Reese to embrace her inner dancer- we go crazy in the front room, while we eat, and in the car. Little by little she's getting more involved- she's lately started a marching-in-place-while-punching-at-the-sky move. It's incredibly cute. Anyway, the more she sees me dance, the more she gets into it, so on our drive home I look in my rearview to see her shakin' it and of course I join in because I'm a mom. :)

In my peripheral I see someone in the car ahead copying my move.

'That's weird,' I think. It was still a little dark, but I could see at least five little high-schooler faces staring straight at me. They're craning their necks to see what's going on, so I go ahead and give them the performance one more time.

It must have looked pretty funny if you couldn't see the carseat in the back of the car, or if you could, the thought, "Why is there a reindeer in the backseat?" had to be boggling a few minds (pajamas, complete with antlers). At any rate, its just a good thing that getting embarrassed only happens if you care!

The Great Bearded Horror from the North

Its finally SNOWING!!! Yeah! Ry keeps telling me that this is normal, that snow doesn't usually come until December, but I'm an Idaho girl, and I'm used to trecking through the snow to go trick-or-treating. Needless to say, there has been something amiss in this holiday season, but now it feels like Christmas. :)

I have been especially crafty this Christmas Season, and i have to say that I am extremely proud of the stockings that I made a few weeks ago- reminiscent of my childhood stockings. Aren't they so cute?! Whoever invented iron-on . . . stuff was amazing.

Now for the topic that inspired today's title: Santa Claus. Who knew that the cheery bowl full of jelly, the man who brings gifts and good cheer to the entire world in just one night could extract such blood-curdling screams from children too young to know their own name?

Welcome to our Ward Christmas party. It was last Friday night- a wonderful pajama tradition filled with french toast (with a delicious coconut syrup this year), scrambled eggs, service projects, and of course, the annual appearance of the Main Man himself.

I've seen this several times. All the parents line up with their sometimes eager, sometimes whimpering children, all waiting to sit on Santa's lap. But I had never before in my life seen what we all saw on Friday.

It all started with Kris Kringle's entrance. . .and the horrific screams of one little boy. He tore across the gym in panic, and everything went downhill from there. One by one every kid in the room was placed on his lap, and every single one burst into tears! It was unreal- little girls' bodies shook with dramatic sobs, little boys skid across the gym floor as moms pushed them toward the fireside, the happiest, rolly-polliest babies in the world were reduced to wailing and tears! Three months or three years old, it didn't matter, the jolly fat man spread nothing but christmas fear.

And, of course, we couldn't help laughing our guts out. In fact, I think that more were gathered to watch this show than sung Christmas Carols.

Reese however, was the only one who didn't cry. (no pride there at all) She just looked at Santa like, "I don't trust you." He handed her a little christmas book and she deigned to give him a half smile. Unfortunately the friendship didn't last; St. Nick took her hand to shake without asking, "No? No?!" Reese told him as they shook hands, and pulled her hand away. She scrunched up her face and glared.

Oh well, maybe next year she'll look forward to the visit. But somehow, I don't think that Brother Smith will volunteer for the job again. Poor guy! That's gotta do something to you to have all those little kids take one look at you and lose it like that.

Catch-up time!

Hello all!

I haven't really written much lately so I feel like there's about a million things bouncing around in my head. I think I'll take on Thanksgiving first. :)

Oh the Joys of Travelling!

We spent Thanksgiving with Ry's parents out in Willard Missouri and had a great time. Poor Ryan and his siblings decided to drive the 20-ish hours out there to save $. I think that at one point or another as they anticipated the trip back I heard all of them say something about checking plane tickets to see if there 'just happened to be a last-minute killer deal'. Luckily they made it there and back without any problems other than the usual leg cramps and get-me-out-of-this-car-or-I'm-going-to-kill-someone fever.

Reese and I flew, and while the time was considerably shorter (which I am ever-so-thankful for!), it was filled with its own sorts of challenges. It was Reese's first flight, and my first with a baby so. . .oi! Luckily she'd incredibly adorable (as many will vouch) so we made it through security in record time (you'd think I'd trained her to bat those baby blues at all the uniformed guys on cue!), had help onto the plane, and made it through 2 hours of her confined to my lap.

Bless the couple behind us who made faces for about an hour,

and the poor bald man who's head was poked repeatedly,

and the girl eating the Rice Krispie Treat who suffered brutal glares after she refused to share,

and the very posh LA marketing consultant sitting next to me who tried to read her book, but

was interrupted every five seconds by Reese popping her head in front of it saying, "Hi!"

and. . . well, you get the idea.

The Great Feast

So, as always when we get together with family, even though we made sure to pack the camara we totally forgot to take pictures with everyone. Oh well! At least I got a picture of Kathy's turkey- it was beautiful!

I was astonished when she told me that she just sprays the inside of a paper grocery bag, pops the turkey in, and bakes it 10 min per pound. It was one of the prettiest turkeys I'd ever seen- such great color, tasted oh-so-yummy, and hello utilization!


It was quite the spread, and dessert was 6 or so pies. We won't talk about the pumpkin pies ;), but they turned into wonderful milkshakes!


The rest of the trip was a very nice R&R. Ry and I have been running non-stop for the last few weeks as most of his important projects and papers have hit, and the bakery went into overdrive for Thanksgiving, so I don't even know how many naps we took, but they were wonderful- and with a house full of anxious babysitters, how could we not?

We made the traditional stops at Lamberts, Andes Frozen Custard, and Bass Pro- here are a few pics of us in front of the bear, watching the fish and the ducks, and Reese finding a just-her-size tent in the camping section. Also our Daddy's girl sampling the Key Lime Custard.

Ande's- Frozen custard heaven

Definitely our kid- she loved the camping section. I think she pulled something off every aisle.

Reese and I watching the ducks and the fish.

She kept doing her 'bath' sign, but unfortunately we didn't strip her down and let her jump in with them. Parents are no fun.

Reesey with Daddy and Uncle Josh at Bass Pro

Like I said, it was a great trip and I'm so glad we went. Ry also got to take a look at Lincoln (for those of you who don't know we're thinking about doing a Masters degree at University of Nebraska Lincoln), and he took several videos as they drove through so I got a chance to see it too. It seemed like a very nice town.

For lack of time to keep going I'll wrap up and hopefully come back with a few of the other funny details as well as Christmas cheer for all!