this is my story....

...and i'm stickin' to it!

does anyone else in this world have a hard time with sleep?

i try to go to bed at a decent hour and try to be consistent, like the experts tell you to do, but i am always so tired in the morning, and i have a hard time getting out of bed.

i think i have figured it out though... i could be wrong (this is a hard thing for me to admit, so help me with this one. please!)

i have come to the conclusion that i am a very light sleeper! we mostly go to bed at the same time, but 'donnie boy' is up 2 or 3 times in the night. he has to have his midnight treat. sometimes it's rice krispie treats, but most of the time its his favorite ~ dryers fruit bars. sometimes i might not hear him get up, but i always hear the crackling of the wrappers - clear from the kitchen, and then he brings them back into bed with him ~ (that's a whole nother story, i'll have to tell later!).

he has been working long, long hours the past little bit, and he has to be at work pretty early, so his alarm is set for 4:15 A.M. ( i didn't even know there were two 4:15's in one day?) and... the alarm clock is on my side of the bed. (d-u-m-b!, i know, but if it's on his side of the bed, i have to wake him up anyway, and tell him that it is ringing). so, at 4:15 A.M. the first alarm goes off, i roll over and wake him up. at 4:24 A.M. the alarm goes off again. again, i try to wake him. at 4:33 A.M his alarm goes off a-g-a-i-n! ... get the picture ~ every 9 minutes. so by the time he pulls himself out of bed, i'm wide awake! and that's way to early to get out of bed - don't you think?! by the time my alarm goes off at 6:10 a.m. i am way too tired to do anything except roll over and hit the snooze!

and bless his heart... being the thoughtful guy he is... the other morning, he woke up before his alarm went off, so he got up and got ready to go - he was sooo quiet. i didn't have to work that day, and he didn't want his alarm to wake me up after he left, but he didn't know how to turn it off, so he "quietly" woke me up to ask me how to turn it off ~ bless his heart!

I NEED SOME SLEEP!!!

flashback friday

so today as i was channel surfing ( sometimes when don is not home, i do that, but don't tell him). anyway i was amazed at what they call cartoons these days. What happened to the good ol' cartoons like 'casper the friendly ghost', 'the flinstones', 'huckleberry hound', 'mickey mouse', and 'yogi bear'. kids these days have no idea what a "REAL" cartoon is, and that makes me sad.

these cartoons were such a big part of my life. saturday morning cartoons were the best! we could watch them all day, and mom didn't have to worry about what we were seeing on t.v. they were on after school and i even remember watching 'huckleberry hound' and 'quick draw mcgraw' at night. other favorites were, 'tweety bird', 'porky pig', 'popeye and olive oil' (why do you think kids liked spinach so much... because they wanted to be strong like popeye!) 'roadrunner' and 'tom and jerry". am i really dating myself, or does anyone else remember when we were able to watch "REAL" cartoons.

skool daze

school started monday. do i miss those days? umm... NO! but i do wish i would have loved school more, back in the good ol' days. maybe the fact that we changed schools more than most kids changed underwear, made it worse. 1st grade i started school in phoenix, az. at baltz elementary. i actually got to go the whole year there. 2nd grade was the destroyer ! i started at baltz elementary, moved to utah and went to p.g. central for a few weeks, then moved to a.f. and went to greenwood elementary for a few months. we then moved back to phoenix and again went to baltz elementary for a month or so and then moved to tempe and went to rural school. ~ so i actually went to 5 schools that year. 3rd and 4th grade we stayed at rural school. 5th grade we went to a new school, same house, just new school - evans elementary. summer before 6th grade, we moved across town and so i started 6th grade at gilliland jr. high (a major upset!). part way through the year, we moved back into the rural school area, so we switched again. 7th and 8th grade i went to mckemy jr. high in tempe. after that, we moved to utah and i went to lehi high school for 4 whole years!

moving so much, i always felt like i was in the fog. never knew quite what was going on. ( but look at how cute i was in the 2nd grade!)(:

can someone get me some cheese to go with this w - h - i - n - e ?

busy, busy, busy!

no more right of way. yep ~ school started this morning, and if i don't get out of my driveway by 7:50 am, i have to wait until at least 8:10 am. it is absolutely impossible to get out between those times. buses, trucks, suburbans, minivans, big cars, little cars, whatever happens to be going down the street, will not slow down ~ not even one little ioda, to let me out! as if they had the right of way... guess i'm going to have to get my butt out of bed a little earlier from now on!

View from an Empty Nest

"Candlelight dinners, late-night chats, wild sex. Sounds like young love? Better----it's what happens after the kids leave." joe kita

(notice this quote was made by a person of the male gender, probably in one of his delirious daydreaming moments!)

I found this quote in a book at work and after I stopped laughing, I showed it to quite a few of my co-workers, all of whom are "empty nesters" ~ and... after they picked themselves up off from the floor (from laughing), we came up with our own version (more accurate, of course!) of this quote. Are you ready???

"First of all... Empty Nest ? Now how in the sam hills does anyone really think that that happens? It multiplies - like rabbits! No such thing as a "Empty Nest"!

Candlelight dinners would be, looking in the jockey box of the truck with the flashlight, trying to scrounge up any extra change as we go thru the drive thru at Del Taco or Arby's.

late-night chats... would be with myself. I talk to myself all night long. I wish I could tell myself to shut up so I could get some sleep! (I guess as long as I don't answer myself, I'll be ok.:) And for the...

wild sex, I've got my bee bee gun ready. Those neighbors cats have been at it every night the last few weeks. Sick it's just sick ! and for our husbands... well, that's only in their dreams!

~quirks~

1. Link the person who tagged you... Melanie
2. Post these rules.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them

i had to think about this long and hard. of course, i didn't think i had many quirks. but i did think of a few. so here goes.....

1. I HAVE TO HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE! i can't leave, sleep, watch t.v., eat, etc. (you get the picture) if my house isn't in order. don teases me all the time about having to vacuum up the popcorn on the floor in the middle of a movie (of course, he exaggerates alot). every time i walk in the door, i grab the dish rag and wipe off the counter. my bed has to be made. it drives me nuts to have things scattered around, and i have been known to clean things from right under donnie's nose. my friend ladawn has a saying in her cabin that goes something like this - "if a man should lay his tool or his sword upon his shelf, or upon the place wither he would keep it, behold, upon the morrow, he could not find it." i admit... it's me!

2. MY HAIR is another quirk i have! i could care less if i have make up on or the best of clothes, but my hair has to be just right! (but i have to stop and think what other's think after kendyl, my 3 year old granddaughter said to me one day, "gramma, i bet it was really interesting doing your hair this morning.") oh out of the mouths of babes!

3. I HATE PEOPLE WHO USE THE SYSTEM! i know that hate is a pretty strong word, but it really gripes me when i think of this... i'm working and paying taxes, so that someone else (who is perfectly able, but not willing), can sit home, eating bon bons (a luxury that most common people don't feel like they can spend their hard earned money on) and watching soaps, collecting the money the government takes away from me for their fun!

4. I DO NOT LIKE BEING LATE! for anything. but unfortunately, i have a husband that it doesn't bother. i've learned which battles to fight.

5. THE TOILET SEAT CLOSES JUST AS EASILY AS IT OPENS! nothing worse than getting up in the night, only to sit not just on the toilet, but in it!

6. GROSS EARS! picture this... you're sitting in church, you look to the side of you, only to see green "stuff" growing out of the kids ear that is sitting next to you. makes me want to grab a q-tip and start digging!

i tag: callie, gretchen, erin, alan and brigette, jake, and julie

blog blunder----------

okay... since donnie was released as bishop of the y.s.a. ward, we finally get to go back to our 'home' ward ( i have actually been able to set beside him again ~ after about 12 years)

anyway, last week i started going to young women's again. (y.s.a. to y.w, hummm, maybe someone is trying to tell me something!) as 'personal progress specialist' (or... maybe i am in need of some personal progress myself, who knows?) so... if anyone has any great ideas for p.p., i'm all ears.

but, i have to tell ya ~ i am the gramma! none of these young women leaders are much older than melanie (my oldest), and most of them are r.m.s. (hope they can teach me something!)

anyone have a walker that i can borrow?

grandma's funeral

HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY, MOM!

so... the past few weeks have been hectic, but so many memories come to mind as i reflect on the things that have happened. grandma's funeral was wonderful! grandpa knew exactly what he wanted and who he wanted to do what. he even knew what songs he wanted 'the congregation' to sing. he usually doesn't say too much, so when he said, "i've been thinking and this is what i want", we listened. mom looked so peaceful and beautiful. valerie, melanie, ann, bonnie (her 2 sisters) and i got to go to the mortuary and dress her in her temple clothes. and angie player came over to comb her hair and put her make-up on. i haven't seen her look that peaceful in a long time. i know that she is happy now. i'm sure she is up there celebrating with all of her loved ones that went before her. especially, dale, reagan and brady, and of course her parents and brothers. we made the comment that if we looked hard enough through the freezer, we could probably find a few pans of funeral potatoes that mom had made for the dinner after her own funeral services. she is happy now and can once again serve everyone around her instead of them having to wait on her (which she hated!)
valerie (don's sis) stayed with us the following week(well... she slept here at night), and was able to be with dad during the days following mom's death. it was good for dad and it was good to visit with her. it doesn't quiet seem the same anymore, to go down to grandma's and not have her there. she kept us quite entertained the past few months that she was with us. i'm grateful for the times i was able to be there to serve her. we are so blessed to have the gospel of jesus christ in our lives and to know that we will someday be able to be together again, as a family. so to say we weren't sad at her passing would not be the right way to put it, but to envision her embracing dale, reagan, brady and her other loved ones brings joy to my heart. this little poem is one that she put in all of the grand daughter's cook books, she put together with all of her favorite recipes. i love what it says and hope, too, that people, especially my grandchildren will be able to say the same about me. we had it put on the back of the program for her funeral services, and how wonderful... it has her signature on it. mom we love you! thanks for all the love and great memories we have as a family because of you! we'll take good care of dad. don told dad that you had to go first, because you had some 'big time bartering' that you needed to do to get them both up there, too. but...., please don't work too fast.