Remembering Paul

We learned sadly on Saturday that my step-brother Paul passed away in his sleep. No explanations as to why, except that he looked very peaceful. Its all very strange to us because he was only seven months younger than me. His life was only getting started really.

Some may think our family deals with tragedy in odd ways, and we do, but our coping strategy is usually to think of the good times and humor of life.

We were asked to write down some memories we have of him and mine mostly go back to his adolescent days (not sure if he ever got out of that stage.) When he came to visit for holidays or during the summer he always had some sort of gadget or device which could be used to torture us all. For example, one summer he got some humongous squirt gun. So you had to beware that Paul wasn't hiding around a corner waiting to drench his unsuspecting victims.

During a Christmas visit my friend Amity was over at our house and we all decided to engage ourselves in a game of Monopoly. Paul had gotten his hands on a can of mixed nuts and chomped on them during the whole game. Amity referred to him forever more as "Nut Cruncher."

In 2001 our family took a trip to Mexico and Paul had the time of his life. One night he and our brother Daniel decided to sleep out on the patio of our condo in the lounge chairs. He woke up with small bites all over his body from the no-see-ums. He looked like he had chicken pox. He was excited to show us all his spanish speaking skills and talked to all the locals, all the time.

Paul always had a grin on his face, sometimes it was the pure joy kind of grin and other times it was a mischievous grin. We all imagine that he probably had the pure look of joy on his face when his buddy Scarlet came and asked him to go to the dog park in heaven. We'll surely miss him and look forward to seeing him at another time, in another place.

Link to Paul's Obituary

What's Your Flavor?

What goes better with birthday cake? Ice cream, duh. (BTW...I have decided that my birthday week will start on my birthday, so someone can tell Boo he has a few more days to get me an awesome present, because I'm sure he hasn't yet. No electronics please.)



"Your personality is as friendly and appealing as strawberry ice cream (especially the kind with chunky bits of real fruit). You've got a slightly sarcastic sense of humor, and you rarely stress out or take things too seriously. You are cute and sweet, but with a mischievous side. You are a bit of a troublemaker, but only because you're determined to avoid a plain vanilla life."

This is funny, my friend A got the same thing which must be why we got a long great in high school. Apparently only 9% of the people who took the quiz were strawberry. I like being the minority sometimes. To find your flavor click here.

Birthday Week Continues

Two years old and counting....It has seemed like one perpetual birthday party around here the last few days. This birthday will go down in history as "the birthday of bubbles." Bubble wands, bubble fans, bubble guns, bubble tumblers, fruity bubbles, even colored bubbles. You name it, we've played with it.

After our St. George trip, Grammy and Papa Albertsen came to Arizona to help celebrate Noelle's birthday. We're so glad they came so that Noelle wouldn't have to sit alone while we spoke in church on her birthday. After some much needed Sunday afternoon naps we had birthday dinner, opened presents and enjoyed birthday cupcakes and ice cream. (Cherry chip cake, because it reminds me of Heather Sundahl.)

Grammy and Papa Mitchell sent Noelle a pretty dress and some lacy socks. Being that she's so smart, the socks went right on her hands. Grammy and Papa Albertsen gave her a new wagon and took her for a spin. When I went out to check on her, she was laying in the wagon still as could be as Grammy was pulling her around the patio.

Today we celebrated her birthday with some friends from church. We played a game of trying to blow bubbles and have them land in a target on the sidewalk, we had a few races, and flew kites. Some utility workmen were laughing at the effort of the moms to get those kites in the sky. When it came time to open presents, Noelle very carefully inspected every single one. She was especially in love with a Princess Ariel doll that goes in the bathtub. It was also the beginning of a Barbie collection.Thanks to all of our friends that came and played with us at the park. It was a fun morning.

Birthday Week Begins in St. George, UT

This past week we've been in St. George, UT, where we met up with some of my family to enjoy their spring break. Noelle and I left before the crack of dawn on Monday morning to make our trek north to meet up the the grandparents for a little R&R.

When we got to the condo, I thought it would be funny to call and let them know we had arrived in St. George, but that we weren't quite sure where we were going. Grandpa Ted gave us the directions for a second time and said he'd meet us outside and to watch for him. Little did he know I was calling from the parking lot. Ha ha! So we started down the sidewalk and as they were looking for us to come from the other direction, got to surprise them a little and that was when Noelle's birthday week began.

First things first, Easter basket. Grandma Kathy put baskets together for the other cousins and brought Noelle's to St. George. It had Elmo eggs and some books, sun glasses, bubbles galore and most important to Noelle, candy. They also brought out a large box which she recognized from the toy aisle at Target. A tickle Elmo. Oh boy! That was from Great Grandma and Grandpa Grow for Christmas.

We hit some Utah originals, like Chuck-a-Rama (Yeah, I like it) and the original Cafe Rio (new location, but did you know it all started in St. George ten or so years ago?) and St. George Pizza Factory.

We drove to Las Vegas and Noelle saw her first full length movie on the big screen, Horton Hears a Who. She did pretty good and was the keeper of the bag of popcorn.

We swam in the condo pool, which I thought would be way too cold, but was surprisingly warm and so much fun, hence the pictures.

But best of all we had a birthday party, which included more bubbles, balls, cute clothes, more Elmo and cake.

Noelle did a great job blowing out the candle too. No spitting or nearly burning her face off, but a nice gentle blow. It shocked me, I don't know why, maybe because I was expecting those other things to happen.

On the way home we stopped and stretched our legs at the Hoover Dam. I had never seen it, so on our way to Utah I was in awe a little, but we looked like such hobos I thought we'd take a picture at the Hoover Dam on the way home. Did you know they are building a huge by-pass across the canyon? That will make the drive a lot faster when its done, but looks a little scary.

We had a great week. Thanks family.

Easter Sunday

Being that our baby really doesn't understand the whole Easter Bunny

concept, we once again opted out of providing her with oodles and gobs of candy on Easter morning. Someday I'm sure she'll ask why she didn't get an Easter basket and then need therapy for not getting one in her early years. I can't wait.

I digress. After church we had an Easter feast with our friends, the Weeks. Given that they have four kids and two understand all about baskets, eggs and especially egg hunts, we were lucky enough to participate. Boo and A hid the eggs and then it was a mad dash to see how many we could find. Noelle was more excited about what was in the eggs than finding more. However, as almost all eggs were found she pointed up at the basketball hoop and said "Purple egg!" Who knew that she knew what purple was? Thanks Weeks' for a fun afternoon.

Playing at the Park with Dad

While I was at my painting class, Noelle and Boo went to the park to play.

Blog Neglect

I am not neglecting my blog, I'm just on vacation in St. George, UT, putting together a collection of photos to post. So stay tuned for a day or two longer and then there will be something good to read. 

BTW... I really love everyone who reads my blog, even those who read without leaving any comments and I find out that you stalk my blog regularly. I love it! I don't have to update you on my whole life the next time I see you and you won't have to ask me my baby's name. You should know my hobbies by now and won't ask what I do in my spare time. (I was asked this recently and realized that the person asking was neither married or had children and probably wasn't reading my blog.)

So to all my fans and not fans, thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

My Newest Masterpiece

For the last two Saturdays I have been taking some painting classes at my local JoAnn's store. Side note: The store by my house is like a Costco for crafting. Kind of crazy even. I couldn't believe having to take a number for the cutting table. And forget going on a Saturday, it ends up being me and all the old grandma's vying for a spot to park our carts full of fabric while waiting for our numbers to be called.

I digress. Back to my masterpiece. Today was the whole reason for taking the classes. I really loved it and hope to pull out my paints again soon so I can make another.

Its called "Bed of Tulips" (not my name, but what the class called it.)

Spider Man and Friends Not Welcome Here

There are many things that Boo told, or should I say warned me about before moving to Arizona. When he initially told me of the job posting for Arizona and I said "You should apply," he turned in his seat so fast and said, "Do you know how hot it really gets in Arizona? Take the coldest day in Boston and imagine that, but extremely hot." In reality, no I really don't know what I'm in for and I am in no way prepared for the day it arrives. Besides not being prepared for that scorching heat, I was in no way prepared for what was camping on my doorstep either. It seems that Spiderman and his friends were having a slumber party and we weren't invited. Not just any breed either, of the black widow kind. SCARY!!!

I'm definitely not open to the idea of letting them crash out at my house and have given them the one way pass back to spidey heaven. The Home Defense works fast.

Please excuse my lame pictures.

Waking-Up

Some people in this world choose to wake-up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning. For others, if they're lucky, they wake-up to the smell of a nice breakfast being made by a nice mom. Neither of those scenarios were the case for us this morning.

Lately, we've been battling some sort of virus, something very similar to Rotavirus. For those of you unfamiliar with this or similar sorts of viruses, it is highly contagious and is a 'hand to mouth' situation. We've experienced this one other time and it seemed to linger around our house for a good week. It hits the stomach region and causes all things bad that have to do with stomachs and butts. Luckily (knock on wood) I don't seem to get it. Maybe because I wash my hands a ton, or maybe because I was born and raised in a barn-like situation and I'm immune to such things. The latter seems most likely given my childhood (no offense to my parents, but we were kind of feral, just ask the Whipples.)

So here's to waking up this morning to the fresh smell of pooh. To rinsing it out of Noelle's pj's, and washing all bedding, blankies and things of the like twice. And to wishing Boo anything but a similar experience to his federal court one from the last round of viruses.

Food Critic

We went to a new Greek food establishment just up the street from us, Cyprus Pita Grill. Now if you know me well, then you know that I should have been born in the Mediterranean. I love that kind of food. Eastern European, not so much.

I digress. So this new place has some pretty good food. Not the best I've ever had, but I'd eat it often. Its not Yanni's Greek Express by any stretch of the imagination. (All of you in the greater SLC area should go on my behalf.) However, it seems they have a few operational issues. Where are our drinks? Where is the rest of our meal? Holy cow, can't you wipe off the darn tables?

So for all of the locals reading my blog, give them a couple of weeks, or just order it to go and you'll be much happier. Try the Greek fries or "frice" as it was put on the kids menu. (Said with an accent rice and fries kind of sound the same, but whoops we're in America now.) I should have taken a picture, but my cell phone is ghetto and doesn't have those kinds of features and even if it did I probably wouldn't be able to get it from the phone to my blog. Sorry folks.

Slight Observations

Ok, so maybe I lied and was closer to being finished with this quilt than I said I was. However I'm so glad so that it too can be shipped off to Boston. I really hope little Ben likes it. I promised it wouldn't have cacti on it.

This is one of my favorite patterns as of lately. The second with these same materials and the third of sail boats. Its fairly easy and so gosh darn cute. It reminds me of Boston too. Boy quilts are hard in my mind. I'd so rather put butterflies and flowers together.

Its somewhat therapeutic to see my quilts finished and photographed so that I can inspect them in a way that others do. When I hold them in my hands and look them over I usually go straight for the mistakes and laugh a little. But other people don't look for the mistakes (I hope) and seem really happy to have a 'Rachel Quilt' in their collection. To them I say "You're welcome as long as you use it."

On a different note as far as observation goes, I was laying in bed thinking about my substitute music leading in Relief Society yesterday. Two funny things happened and I know that people caught on. First I didn't look too closely at the music and thought for sure that I was off somehow and would just find my place and start over on the down beat. I did, about four times at least - little did I know that the measure continued on to the next line. How stupid. Then a little less obvious, I led the closing song backwards. It was in 3/4 time and instead of going down, right, up I lead it down left up. Still a triangle. One woman was just staring at me and I think it was because she was trying to figure out what was so strange. By the second song though I had the whole measure issue figured out. I think I just secured my position on the activities committee, won't be called to lead the music in RS anytime soon. Mom, don't be disappointed in my failed attempt at leading music. Beck, I can hear you laughing your head off.

Murmuring

I'd like to take this opportunity to murmur.

A few weeks ago, while my Sissy was in town visiting, a robo-cop took a picture of my car and sent me an early birthday present in the mail. Now I don't think I'm all that aggressive as a driver, however given my experiences of the last few years it was survival, necessity, the essentials to staying alive on the roads of Boston.
I guess I still have a little of that in me. So to celebrate I get to go to a driving safety class and pay the fine. It sucks, I'm not happy at all. And had there not been a website to view myself in the action then I would try to argue my innocence, but since I've replayed the incident several times, I'm sure my attempts would be futile. So happy early birthday to me. They should have just taken away my birthday all together.

In addition to that, we've been asked to speak in church, not for a few weeks though. So now I'm wallowing in my future approach to the pulpit and the anxiety which it causes me. Boo doesn't seem to mind speaking in church and I really don't want resist, I think it only makes matters worse. However I get up there and start talking fast and then I get all sorts of emotional and by the time I sit down I can barely remember what it was I said. Its like I black out. I come from good pulpit people stock. People who get up there ramble on, make good sense of scripture, add in a little antidote, some personal experience and then its all over. Somewhere down the line I didn't get that gene of confidence. So if I start begging for prayers from others I might actually make it through. Thanks in advance to all of you.

Quilting Season

Before moving to Arizona winter has always been quilting season. Really what else is there to do when its frigid out? But now the weather is nice and its making it harder to stay in and work on my quilts. Luckily friends having babies makes me a little more motivated. I don't claim I'll have it done before the baby's born or even a couple months after, but I'll do my best. This is the most recent completion, getting ready to be shipped to Boston. I have a second one with this same material half done (no intended recipient just yet) and two boy quilts which are about 40% done and hopefully will be completed by the end of March or sooner. (fingers crossed!)

Potty Update

So we went through three pairs of panties until I finally decided that it was time to put the diaper back on. As we were getting Noelle ready for bed I told Boo to put her on the potty one last time, and she went!!!! The first time she really peed in the potty. We had a major celebration over pee. Today she's gone twice, once in the big toilet and once in her potty. No poops yet. But the diaper went back on because we had to leave for Kindermusik and park time with the friends. We'll see what happens the rest of the day.

Potty Training

I am a fool for thinking that my child might possibly be ready to potty train? She's crazy about her new potty and thinks panties are fun, but she has yet to actually pee in the toilet or potty and has only had panties on for a total of a few hours. (we're only on the first real day, sort of) Am I giving her too much credit in thinking she's up for this? Am I giving myself too much credit for thinking I can actually do this? Please say a little potty prayer for us!

Blog to Book

If you don't read Lacy Finds then you might not know about this great site. I have been worrying about how to get my blog on paper for posterity reasons. I like to think someone someday might find it interesting and funny. Or just funny. So check out this site and get your blog on paper at least for the first year.

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook?tag=3_sf

Cooking Experimentations

Fri-ta-ta-ta - looks like a souffle, tastes kind of like a souffle, but you cook it and then bake it. It was yummy.

Souffle - It appears to have problems, operator error. I didn't have the right size "souffle pan" for this try and I wasn't willing to buy the whole six piece set just so I could have the 1.5 qt dish. Well now you know what happened because it doesn't look like it rose up, but it really did.

Spritz Cookies - Notice the two tones? Aren't they lovely? Auntie (AKA Tanty by Noelle) came for a visit last weekend and we broke out the cookie press and made the most delightful cookies. I think I'll make them again soon, but not until I forget how much butter it takes.

Balkers Beware

To all who balked at my wish list, I say poo-poo (like the French.) So far its worked out great. Mumsie sent me an early birthday present. My spice rack is in a drawer working almost like a charm. Only problem was that aparently my drawers are not standard length, so now I just need that sander to sand it down a bit. I won't really do that but it would probably work. I just re-arranged a few things and its great. Now I can see all my most used spices at once. No more digging through a cupboard which I'm really too short to see anything. I plan on making a trip to IKEA this week and will see if they have anything from my wish list for extra cheap.

Cooking Phenom

Its really hard to be a cooking phenom when you have inadiquate tools in your kitchen and possibly inadiquate skills. I can sharpen my skills through practice, but honestly there are some kitchen tools that I haven't even heard of. That's why swapmeets are good. There are booths full of stuff that you never thought you might need but secretly might want. This is how I obtained a small spatula and a dough cutter.

I added a "wish list" on the side of my blog of things I might need to make, say a fritata or a soufle, polenta (wish me luck on that.) Its not there to be vain or needy, its just things that might help out at some point and come my birthday or Christmas it will help my husband to not ask me fifty times of what I want or need. He'll only have to ask once since he never reads the blog. Let me know if there is a must have tool in your kitchens that I might not have that I can add to my list.

BTW... I have a cookie press already. Spritze cookies anyone?

My Funny Valentine

When this current picture was taken, I felt so silly. And shortly after we drove up to Maine where I stood and declared that I had an announcement to make... "We had engagement pictures taken today!" Ha, they all thought I was going to say something else. That was the best part. Anyhow, its actually kind of sweet and its not very often that just the two of us get to be together in a picture.

Which brings me to the next part of my story. A long time ago we declared that Valentine's Day was just a big let down. Boo commiserates that floral shops hike up the price of flowers which he is never willing to pay for. And I can never think of something clever and usually give up early in the hunt. I've hinted many times to the fact that Costco sells flowers at a discount all year long. This usually falls on deaf ears and I end up buying the flowers for myself a week in advance and just tell him that they're my "blank" flowers. (Insert any occasion for the word blank.)

So this Valentine's Day season he commented that he hadn't made it to Costco and wasn't sure if he would. Talk about 'anticipointment.' (thanks Sundahls) Anticipointment is the anticipation of something great and then being a little disappointed at the same time. There are two great occasions when this occurs: Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve.
So wallowing in my VD sadness and watching all these great VD surprises on Oprah my door bell rang. First thought was "Man I hope it isn't someone from church because I look like crap." But in reality it was Cupid bringing me my own VD surprise, flowers, even tulips that I love.

Boo got some Dove chocolates and a Tide-to-Go pen. How romantic and clever.

Noelle's Antics

Can you say 'hobolicious'? Noelle came in to see what I was doing on the computer and this is what she looked like. No idea where she found her hat, since we haven't been using it lately, one of my shoes and her pj's. Then as I go to take her picture she pulls a typical move and puts her finger up her nose. It doesn't get much better than that. Earlier she was carting around her goods in her doll stroller, in which case she was looking like a bag lady. Great things to come from her, eh?


This video is of Noelle saying "lasagna." She can't say it without making that face. However, she no longer will perform this trick for us, used and abused as it is.

Birthday Week Continues

We continued the birthday week celebrations on Saturday, Boo's actual birthday, by hiking around Papago Park in Phoenix. We went up to the Hole in the Rock, which was fun to climb around and see the cityscape.

As part of the park there is a tomb of George W. P. Hunt, who holds the record for serving the most terms as a governor in the U. S. From Hunt's tomb you can see part of the Phoenix Zoo. We could see the giraffes walking all around. We might have to visit there before it becomes too hot.

Our celebration continued as we took a driving tour of Boo's old neighborhood in Tempe. I don't think his parents would consider moving there today and probably would have moved away since. However, Boo has fond memories of running all around the area and couldn't believe his eyes at the development of the area. He even swears that he recognized the old man walking up and down the sidewalks.

On Sunday we had the best cake ever - Lindy's Coconut Cake. This was a learning moment and I'd like to share with you all. In this recipe it calls for "Cream of Coconut." So being the dilligent little cook that I'm trying to be we stopped by the grocery store to pick up the last few ingredients we needed. I marched to the ethnic section to get my cream of coconut and all they had was coconut milk. Well surely that wasn't what I wanted but I bought some anyway thinking that I would get home, Google it and find I could use this instead. WRONG! Not the same. I went back to a different store which had no better options for me. Again, I searched the web to find that indeed they were different. There are four varieties of coconut products to be confused with; coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream and cream of coconut. The first three can be used for each other if that is your only option, however cream of coconut is that goodness used for pina colada drinks. This is not the site I originally found but it does a good job explaing and telling you where you might find such things. http://www.sonic.net/~alden/Nondairy.html So for a third trip, Boo went back to the store and looked in the liquor section (or for those without liquor sections in your store, where the marquritas flavor mixes might be) and found it. Definitely not the same.

Two Quick Things and Then I'll Be Out of Your Hair

Earlier today I picked up our dry cleaning, no big deal. Since Noelle was asleep I thought I'd try out the drive-thru option. I've always wanted to try that, but never have. So I pull up and the sliding door is open and the cheery lady tells me she'll be right with me. As I look through the door to answer I notice that she's totally workin' it. You know what I mean? Butt out, tight jeans, some plummers crack and serious muffin tops. YIKES! I just couldn't help but to be caught in one of those mini seizures of staring off into space and thinking about how funny and sick that was. Poor lady.

The second thing is that I'm currently in the middle of making my first ever souffle. Obvisouly not for the faint of heart. I'm a little scared and mad at the same time. I see on my recipe that it calls for some cream of tartar, but can't find when or where I'm supposed to use the cream of tartar. Finally, Boo comes in clicks around on the recipe and finds that its supposed to help my egg whites stiffen. So lame, why the heck couldn't they tell me that before? Don't they know I'm an amature? Linda T. always says "If you can read you can cook." I can read and can't really cook, especially when a recipe from Gourmet Magazine leaves out the part of the cream of tartar as a helpful hint. I'll let you know how it goes.

Birthday Weeks

Its not official, but I think we have begun the celebration for Boo's birthday week. You all might be jealous to know that at our house we celebrate for an entire seven days surrounding the actual birthday. Whoever's birthday it happens to be gets to choose when they want to start it and then it ends a week later. I'm not sure why we started this? Maybe because Boo wanted seven days of nice wife or maybe because one of us was feeling jaded by our childhood and needs to make up for the difference by celebrating our birthday for an entire week. Probably both.

Since Boo can't find his head with both hands because he's been so busy with work I have decided that it started already and we'll celebrate through to next Tuesday. This gives him a few days prior and post that we all have to be nice and give him preferential treatment.

As a part of the birthweek celebration I jumped online and found a great web site that helps you plan meals for as many days of the week as you want and then compiles a grocery list so that you have everything you need for all of those meals. http://www.oneclickdinners.com/ LOVE IT! The first two meals have been successful - Jamiacan Jerk Chicken with special rice, beans and sweet potato stuff and tonight was Chicken Keiv with lemony asparagus and the left over rice concoction.

It was so good Noelle wouldn't touch it. Which I don't understand because she's a good eater generally. I even sat at the table with her for a long period of time, post dinner to see if I could will her into eating some. Not a snowball's chance... So I told her if she doesn't eat her dinner than she could go to bed and she said "Okay Mama." Without much incident she went to bed, however around 11pm decided she was done and wasn't going to lay down. Boo is a major softy and spends a long time trying to calm her and nicely ease her back to sleep. Me on the other hand, I rule with an iron fist. I guess that method of parenting is a little premature for my not-quite-two year old. Ooops, lesson learned.

PS. - I probably should have tended to the crying toddler since it is Boo's birthweek.