Hannah went to Reno for 3 days to a leadership conference and apparently had a wonderful time, though when I asked her what she learned and what they did, she didn't really give me an answer. But she really has a blast.
Glen went to Henderson, NV with 3 of his students for the Nevada State competition. His students were competing in musical theatre. They all received "excellent" ratings and Glen and the moms/grandmothers with him apparently loved the thrift shops there and found a lot of good props for the set of "The Princess Bride" (which debuts April 6th, by the way).
For the last few year, my brother-in-law, Alan, has created a group on ESPN's College Tournament Challenge. Even though Glen and I don't follow sports and know nothing about the coaches or individual players (with the exception being BYU sometimes), we have a blast choosing our brackets and following the rankings. There have been some really exciting games this year.
Eric, Ryan, Glen, and I created brackets. Eric had Louisville winning, Ryan had Kansas winning, and both Glen and I chose Ohio St. to win. It's amazing that those 3 teams are in the Final Four. Not bad for a bunch of non-sporters.
If Jacob and I have done the math correctly, we are now at a point that if Ohio St. wins, I win the family tourney.
If Kansas wins, then Maddie comes out on top again.
If Kentucky wins then it's either Daniel or David who gets the glory. Daniel will get the glory if Kentucky beat Kansas and David will if Kentucky beat Ohio St.
Usually I only stay interested in the tournament until I no longer have a chance to win...and I've never been this close before, so it's really fun. I believe Maddie won last year and her prize was a purple cow (vanilla ice cream and grape juice float). Sounds good to me.
I lost my Kindle Touch back in January when we were in Utah with the theatre kids, which made me sad. But recently I learned you can download a free reader to your computer and buy books (or just download free ones) and read them on your computer. Good deal. So I downloaded my first free book (it was a play, actually) "Hobson's Choice" which was the base for a made-for-tv movie that I loved back in the 80s starring Sharon Gless and Richard Thomas. There is also an old classic movie "Hobson's Choice" that I haven't seen yet. I love "free" things. Of course, the laptop doesn't fit in my purse, but that's OK.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Ryan is set for college, Hannah's play wins, and misc.
Ryan and Michael signed up for the Prospective Missionary Program at BYU-I for the fall and now have housing. They will be in the same apartment, but not the same bedroom. Chapman Hall, 1st floor, room 365. I'm so glad everything is falling into place. One more quarter of high school to go for Ryan. Mind boggling, isn't it?
Jason's birthday was Friday. He and Eric came over, played some games, and then went to Glen's one-act plays before heading elsewhere to continue their traveling party. Happy Birthday Jason!
Speaking of Glen's one-acts, Friday night was the annual competition where the high school students direct junior high students in one-act plays. Hannah, Erin (the above Eric's sister), and Skylar co-directed and their play, "Nobody Famous," won first place! Glen was not the judge, just in case you were wondering. Congratulations Skylar, Erin, and Hannah! (hey Skylar, I hope you don't mind, but I stole the picture from your facebook post!)
We haven't had much this year, but I love it every time it does snow. We are grateful for the moisture.
Using a trick I learned online, when my eyeshadow broke into pieces, I added a little bit of rubbing alcohol and pushed the resulting paste into a corner, so now I can use the eyeshadow again.
stamping projects
Glen's project: he took old church pants and turned them into scripture bags.
my projects: I used spray adhesive to glue some patterned paper onto a clipboard, cut "celebrate today" out using my silhouette cutter, and then printed off a perpetual calendar from online, and I now have a new birthday chart. I think I need to add some color to the white paper next.
My recipe binder is a work in progress. For years I have been trying to get my recipes functionally organized. What I finally did was start with an empty binder, put in some dividers (I can now cut some on my silhouette, too) and page protectors. Now whenever I use a recipe, I just put it in my new binder. In the end, I'll have an organized binder that only has recipes I've used and liked in it without much effort.
Jason's birthday was Friday. He and Eric came over, played some games, and then went to Glen's one-act plays before heading elsewhere to continue their traveling party. Happy Birthday Jason!
 |
| Ryan, Jason, and Eric playing Tsuro |
Speaking of Glen's one-acts, Friday night was the annual competition where the high school students direct junior high students in one-act plays. Hannah, Erin (the above Eric's sister), and Skylar co-directed and their play, "Nobody Famous," won first place! Glen was not the judge, just in case you were wondering. Congratulations Skylar, Erin, and Hannah! (hey Skylar, I hope you don't mind, but I stole the picture from your facebook post!)
We haven't had much this year, but I love it every time it does snow. We are grateful for the moisture.
Using a trick I learned online, when my eyeshadow broke into pieces, I added a little bit of rubbing alcohol and pushed the resulting paste into a corner, so now I can use the eyeshadow again.
stamping projects
 |
| Michelle's card |
 |
| Becky's card |
 |
| my card |
 |
| Toni's card |
my projects: I used spray adhesive to glue some patterned paper onto a clipboard, cut "celebrate today" out using my silhouette cutter, and then printed off a perpetual calendar from online, and I now have a new birthday chart. I think I need to add some color to the white paper next.
My recipe binder is a work in progress. For years I have been trying to get my recipes functionally organized. What I finally did was start with an empty binder, put in some dividers (I can now cut some on my silhouette, too) and page protectors. Now whenever I use a recipe, I just put it in my new binder. In the end, I'll have an organized binder that only has recipes I've used and liked in it without much effort.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Alex is a Difference Maker and pinterest projects
Alex was chosen by his teacher to be the Difference Maker for his class for this quarter! We were invited to the assembly and told not to tell Alex. Glen couldn't make it, so I went alone.
At the assembly, they had live bagpipe music (for St. Patrick's Day). The piper even spoke briefly on St. Patrick (who was born in Wales, by the way) and Ireland. I really enjoyed that...
...also Josh Mauga (New York Jets #53) spoke on following your dreams (it was touching when he got a bit choked up about it)...
...and the Difference Makers received their recognition. Alex didn't know he had received it beforehand and didn't know I was on the bleachers. The little startled look he gave when he noticed me was funny.
Afterwards I was waiting for Alex to come by when a mother I didn't recognize told me that she knew that last year Alex had made a difference to her son. I was really happy for that unsolicited endorsement (not that I needed it as I already know that Alex really is a nice, helpful boy). Congratulations Alex.
Last Sunday we skyped with Andrew for the first time. I really like it better than using the speaker phone. I love technology! Andrew continues to do well.
I made my spring and Easter wood blocks this past week (it was past time to take down my valentine's blocks). I really like my spring set, but I don't like the Easter set, so I might redo them somehow:
I forgot to post that I made the Lemon Brownie recipe I saw on Pinterest for a family dinner, and we really liked it. http://rita-may-recipes.blogspot.com/search/label/cake
I also tried the yellow underarm stain remover recipe I found at:
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/11/goodbye-to-yellow-armpit-stains.html
The results were disappointing...but that might be my well water at work--or maybe my stains were too old, because it certainly worked for Jillee when she tried it and posted about it. Maybe mine need several treatments.
Then there's the scrabble tile coasters that I learned about here:
http://scrabble.wonderhowto.com/blog/word-nerds-unite-planning-scrabble-themed-wedding-0116783/
and the instructions from here:
http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Scrabble-Coasters-1058442
Then there's the pretzel crusted peanut butter cookie candy brownie bars I'm going to make for stamping tomorrow:
http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/02/ultimate-pretzel-crusted-peanut-butter-cookie-candy-brownie-bars/
Payday is next Tuesday, and I'm going to try something new with my budgeting. I like using my debit card, but the "experts" say that, for security reasons, you really shouldn't use debit cards at gas stations and grocery stores--which includes stores like Walmart (which is where I use my debit card 99% of the time, so where do I use my debit card now? I heard you have to be careful about ATMs as well).
I know someone whose debit info was stolen twice in the last few months and she's pretty sure it was at a local gas station, so I switched to using my credit card. We pay off our credit card in full each month, but it's been hard for me to keep track of my spending since the money doesn't come out of my account immediately. I know I could just pay closer attention and deduct the credit card purchases from my check register immediately, but I decided I'm going to try another route since I'd been toying with the idea for a year or two now.
Cash envelopes is a method touted by many. You supposedly spend less when using cash rather than plastic. I'm not really interested in trying cash except for my grocery store/Wal-mart purchases. This site below allows you to print off and make your own envelopes that also have a place for receipts, as well as a register on the front so you can write down your purchases, if you choose, on the outside of your envelope. We'll see how it goes.
http://www.todaysnest.typepad.com/todays-nest/2010/09/todays-money-budgeting-with-cash-envelopes.html
At the assembly, they had live bagpipe music (for St. Patrick's Day). The piper even spoke briefly on St. Patrick (who was born in Wales, by the way) and Ireland. I really enjoyed that...
...also Josh Mauga (New York Jets #53) spoke on following your dreams (it was touching when he got a bit choked up about it)...
...and the Difference Makers received their recognition. Alex didn't know he had received it beforehand and didn't know I was on the bleachers. The little startled look he gave when he noticed me was funny.
Last Sunday we skyped with Andrew for the first time. I really like it better than using the speaker phone. I love technology! Andrew continues to do well.
I made my spring and Easter wood blocks this past week (it was past time to take down my valentine's blocks). I really like my spring set, but I don't like the Easter set, so I might redo them somehow:
I forgot to post that I made the Lemon Brownie recipe I saw on Pinterest for a family dinner, and we really liked it. http://rita-may-recipes.blogspot.com/search/label/cake
I also tried the yellow underarm stain remover recipe I found at:
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/11/goodbye-to-yellow-armpit-stains.html
The results were disappointing...but that might be my well water at work--or maybe my stains were too old, because it certainly worked for Jillee when she tried it and posted about it. Maybe mine need several treatments.
Then there's the scrabble tile coasters that I learned about here:
http://scrabble.wonderhowto.com/blog/word-nerds-unite-planning-scrabble-themed-wedding-0116783/
and the instructions from here:
http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Scrabble-Coasters-1058442
Then there's the pretzel crusted peanut butter cookie candy brownie bars I'm going to make for stamping tomorrow:
http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/02/ultimate-pretzel-crusted-peanut-butter-cookie-candy-brownie-bars/
Payday is next Tuesday, and I'm going to try something new with my budgeting. I like using my debit card, but the "experts" say that, for security reasons, you really shouldn't use debit cards at gas stations and grocery stores--which includes stores like Walmart (which is where I use my debit card 99% of the time, so where do I use my debit card now? I heard you have to be careful about ATMs as well).
I know someone whose debit info was stolen twice in the last few months and she's pretty sure it was at a local gas station, so I switched to using my credit card. We pay off our credit card in full each month, but it's been hard for me to keep track of my spending since the money doesn't come out of my account immediately. I know I could just pay closer attention and deduct the credit card purchases from my check register immediately, but I decided I'm going to try another route since I'd been toying with the idea for a year or two now.
Cash envelopes is a method touted by many. You supposedly spend less when using cash rather than plastic. I'm not really interested in trying cash except for my grocery store/Wal-mart purchases. This site below allows you to print off and make your own envelopes that also have a place for receipts, as well as a register on the front so you can write down your purchases, if you choose, on the outside of your envelope. We'll see how it goes.
http://www.todaysnest.typepad.com/todays-nest/2010/09/todays-money-budgeting-with-cash-envelopes.html
 |
| the template, back, and front of the envelope |
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Hannah wins by a landslide and other stuff
Andrew sounds busy and happy. Job, school, fun, sleep, repeat.
Eric started a blog a few weeks ago...http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/ It's called Die Like a Disney Villain because he said he had a dream where he had a blog by that name. I'm enjoying it, though I have to confess, I don't understand a lot of it sometimes. But it's great fun.
Ryan decided not to be on the swim team this year. That leaves him more time for homework and for the job he hopes to find.
Yes, it's official. Hannah will be the Junior class Treasurer. She gets to go to a 3 day leadership conference in Reno towards the end of the month (March 22-24, right when Glen is in Henderson, NV with a few of his students for the State Theatre Competition). Should be fun for her.
Alex continues to do well at school and with his piano lessons.
One of my current projects involves researching gardening as Glen and I have been asked to teach a lesson on gardening at a ward activity in April (the 27th). The lesson will be followed by a barn dance...it will be held in a barn and not at church.
How do you teach such a topic to people who probably know more than we do? I've come up with a plan. Let's see if we can carry it out. Glen says that there's nothing to teach. He lays out the drip hose, plants a few seeds, and comes back in 3 months to see if anything's growing. While that is a little less involved than what he does, it's not too far from the truth, either.
I started some seeds and they started sprouting this week. Always exciting (even if experience holds true and they grow up spindly and weak and I wind up buying plants in town...)
Besides reading up on gardening, I have also been working on taking the posts on my family history blog and turning it into a printable book. It's really tough to figure out what to keep and what to get rid of. I have taken a few "lessons" in family history at familysearch.org/learn. They have some really great video lessons for beginning, intermediate, and advanced researchers. One of the things I learned was about a site where you can download your book, http://www.scribd.com/. If you ever need to change anything, you can edit your book. I just might give it a try.
Glen had the play "Box Office Poison" going on this weekend. He's put it on before, but I couldn't remember "who'd done it." Michael was great as a cranky sheriff who was trying to give up smoking. Glen had a smaller part (he's the first one who gets poisoned and I thought he did a fabulous job dying). Saturday night Ryan had a small part and did really well, too. He had a few lines and then later got to play a half-dead body. Good times.
Our weather is crazy (which seems to be the norm). We had a bit of snow on Tuesday. But we've also had some really nice days lately.
Glen found a sheet of metal and put it up inside my kitchen cabinet for me, so I now have a place for putting up recipes I'm going to use that day and for the kids' chore chart. I love it.
Can't think of any other competed projects for the week, but next week there should be some finished projects to show.
Eric started a blog a few weeks ago...http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/ It's called Die Like a Disney Villain because he said he had a dream where he had a blog by that name. I'm enjoying it, though I have to confess, I don't understand a lot of it sometimes. But it's great fun.
Ryan decided not to be on the swim team this year. That leaves him more time for homework and for the job he hopes to find.
Yes, it's official. Hannah will be the Junior class Treasurer. She gets to go to a 3 day leadership conference in Reno towards the end of the month (March 22-24, right when Glen is in Henderson, NV with a few of his students for the State Theatre Competition). Should be fun for her.
Alex continues to do well at school and with his piano lessons.
One of my current projects involves researching gardening as Glen and I have been asked to teach a lesson on gardening at a ward activity in April (the 27th). The lesson will be followed by a barn dance...it will be held in a barn and not at church.
How do you teach such a topic to people who probably know more than we do? I've come up with a plan. Let's see if we can carry it out. Glen says that there's nothing to teach. He lays out the drip hose, plants a few seeds, and comes back in 3 months to see if anything's growing. While that is a little less involved than what he does, it's not too far from the truth, either.
I started some seeds and they started sprouting this week. Always exciting (even if experience holds true and they grow up spindly and weak and I wind up buying plants in town...)
 |
Glen had the play "Box Office Poison" going on this weekend. He's put it on before, but I couldn't remember "who'd done it." Michael was great as a cranky sheriff who was trying to give up smoking. Glen had a smaller part (he's the first one who gets poisoned and I thought he did a fabulous job dying). Saturday night Ryan had a small part and did really well, too. He had a few lines and then later got to play a half-dead body. Good times.
Our weather is crazy (which seems to be the norm). We had a bit of snow on Tuesday. But we've also had some really nice days lately.
 |
| 3-6-12 |
Saturday, March 3, 2012
family happenings and this weeks projects
Mom: Um, Hannah, I think you need more campaign signs up.
Hannah: Mom, I'm running unopposed.
Mom: Really? Oh, OK.
So, it looks like Hannah has it in the bag and she'll be the Junior Class Treasurer next year. Congratulations Hannah. Voting was Thursday and Friday. I guess on Monday she'll find out how she did against "none of the above."
Hannah's on the Academic Games team. They came in 1st place at their meet on Monday in Dayton.
Apparently Tuesday was National Pancake Day. Hannah invited some friends over and they all had pancakes.
We thought Ryan would be starting college at BYU-Idaho on January 7th. But it seems there is a Prospective Missionary Program that he can go to during fall semester. There are 9 basic credits to take (including a mission prep class) and then you can take evening or online credits to go with it. He and his cousin Michael, who also has a January 7th start at BYU-I, will sign up together on the 15th. I need to mentally switch gears as I was set to have him leave in January--now I will "lose" him 4 months sooner. We are excited for the program, though. Michael and Ryan will both turn 19 during their winter semester, so this allows them to get 2 semesters under their belts before they leave on their missions.
Remember how Eric, Ryan, Hannah, and I picked up trash outside the dump as a service project? And it was very windy? I hope they made a lot of money off of us because it cost me $50 to get the sand/glass out of Eric's eye. Luckily it was in the white part, so though it hurt a bit, it didn't affect his vision.
PROJECTS:
#1
I played around at www.wordle.net and had great fun. The blurb from wordle is that it creates "word clouds" from text you type or copy and paste in. The words will be bigger the more times it is used and then you can play with color, font, and arrangement by clicking on different buttons. So I typed in something like:
GLEN BETH Andrew Eric Ryan Hannah Alex Fallon Nevada dairylife (if they aren't connected they will show up in different spots on the project) cows BYU WNC CCHS ECBest swimming reading tennis psych
I repeated our names several times so they'd come out larger. Then I just kept hitting the rearrange and recolor buttons till I liked how our names were arranged. I printed it out:
I didn't save it, however, because the button to save said something about being public and with the personal info on my wordle, I didn't want to save it for others to see. It's fun to look at the art of others.
#2
I painted the bottom of the shaving cream can that Glen keeps in the shower with clear fingernail polish to keep rust rings off of my shower shelf. I'm anticipating success.
#3
Add contact saline solution or moistening eye drops to mascara when you are down to the end and it's getting thick. This will thin it out a little and allow you to keep using it for a bit. It certainly got ride of the chunks, so I'm pleased.
#4
I followed the rules for cleaning my HE washing machine from a site I like, Jillian's One Good Thing. Basically you run a hot cycle with vinegar, then another one with bleach, then you scrub out the soap/bleach dispenser and the rubber ring. No big deal. Did it really help? I guess, a little.
#5
I cleaned my dishwasher in a new way (also from Jillian's blog). I usually use Iron Out, but I saw this cheap idea online and wanted to try it out. I got the instructions from "One Good Thing"
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-your-dishwasher.html#comment-form
First, run on normal wash with hottest water available with vinegar in a cup on top rack; then run it again, short cycle with a cup of baking soda in the bottom. Here are my photos:
Before getting started:
This is the dishwasher after the vinegar and baking soda cycles:
Didn't work. :( I'm guessing our well water just won't allow it to work for me like it did for Jillian.
This is the dishwasher after using Iron Out:
Ahh, much better.
#6
Made a new recipe--the Panini Caprese Strata with roasted red pepper cream sauce, which was the first runner up in a casserole competition LDS Living held. My family was not thrilled (I kind of was disappointed, too), but I think most of it was because they didn't like the pesto? I did not use fresh mozzarella, as called for, and I did not have fresh tomatoes, but drained a can of petite diced tomatoes. But I don't think my family would have liked it anyway. Maybe if I had doubled the cheese? http://www.ldsliving.com/story/67541-food-dish-lds-living-casserole-competition-1st-runner-up-recipe
#7
I "started" some seeds this week--tomato (roma and beefsteak) and pepper (bell and jalapeños) seeds. As nothing is sprouting yet, the success of this project is still in doubt. We've started seeds before, though we haven't done it the last few years. Our plants never seem to be as hardy as the ones we buy in town. I'm trying to change that.
And, I am pleased to say, that Glen's valentine's gift to me is still in effect--our dresser top remains clean!
Hannah: Mom, I'm running unopposed.
Mom: Really? Oh, OK.
So, it looks like Hannah has it in the bag and she'll be the Junior Class Treasurer next year. Congratulations Hannah. Voting was Thursday and Friday. I guess on Monday she'll find out how she did against "none of the above."
Hannah's on the Academic Games team. They came in 1st place at their meet on Monday in Dayton.
Apparently Tuesday was National Pancake Day. Hannah invited some friends over and they all had pancakes.
 |
| Hannah and Victoria, Al with spatula in hand |
We thought Ryan would be starting college at BYU-Idaho on January 7th. But it seems there is a Prospective Missionary Program that he can go to during fall semester. There are 9 basic credits to take (including a mission prep class) and then you can take evening or online credits to go with it. He and his cousin Michael, who also has a January 7th start at BYU-I, will sign up together on the 15th. I need to mentally switch gears as I was set to have him leave in January--now I will "lose" him 4 months sooner. We are excited for the program, though. Michael and Ryan will both turn 19 during their winter semester, so this allows them to get 2 semesters under their belts before they leave on their missions.
Remember how Eric, Ryan, Hannah, and I picked up trash outside the dump as a service project? And it was very windy? I hope they made a lot of money off of us because it cost me $50 to get the sand/glass out of Eric's eye. Luckily it was in the white part, so though it hurt a bit, it didn't affect his vision.
PROJECTS:
#1
I played around at www.wordle.net and had great fun. The blurb from wordle is that it creates "word clouds" from text you type or copy and paste in. The words will be bigger the more times it is used and then you can play with color, font, and arrangement by clicking on different buttons. So I typed in something like:
GLEN BETH Andrew Eric Ryan Hannah Alex Fallon Nevada dairylife (if they aren't connected they will show up in different spots on the project) cows BYU WNC CCHS ECBest swimming reading tennis psych
I repeated our names several times so they'd come out larger. Then I just kept hitting the rearrange and recolor buttons till I liked how our names were arranged. I printed it out:
I didn't save it, however, because the button to save said something about being public and with the personal info on my wordle, I didn't want to save it for others to see. It's fun to look at the art of others.
#2
I painted the bottom of the shaving cream can that Glen keeps in the shower with clear fingernail polish to keep rust rings off of my shower shelf. I'm anticipating success.
#3
Add contact saline solution or moistening eye drops to mascara when you are down to the end and it's getting thick. This will thin it out a little and allow you to keep using it for a bit. It certainly got ride of the chunks, so I'm pleased.
#4
I followed the rules for cleaning my HE washing machine from a site I like, Jillian's One Good Thing. Basically you run a hot cycle with vinegar, then another one with bleach, then you scrub out the soap/bleach dispenser and the rubber ring. No big deal. Did it really help? I guess, a little.
#5
I cleaned my dishwasher in a new way (also from Jillian's blog). I usually use Iron Out, but I saw this cheap idea online and wanted to try it out. I got the instructions from "One Good Thing"
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-your-dishwasher.html#comment-form
First, run on normal wash with hottest water available with vinegar in a cup on top rack; then run it again, short cycle with a cup of baking soda in the bottom. Here are my photos:
Before getting started:
This is the dishwasher after the vinegar and baking soda cycles:
This is the dishwasher after using Iron Out:
#6
Made a new recipe--the Panini Caprese Strata with roasted red pepper cream sauce, which was the first runner up in a casserole competition LDS Living held. My family was not thrilled (I kind of was disappointed, too), but I think most of it was because they didn't like the pesto? I did not use fresh mozzarella, as called for, and I did not have fresh tomatoes, but drained a can of petite diced tomatoes. But I don't think my family would have liked it anyway. Maybe if I had doubled the cheese? http://www.ldsliving.com/story/67541-food-dish-lds-living-casserole-competition-1st-runner-up-recipe
#7
I "started" some seeds this week--tomato (roma and beefsteak) and pepper (bell and jalapeños) seeds. As nothing is sprouting yet, the success of this project is still in doubt. We've started seeds before, though we haven't done it the last few years. Our plants never seem to be as hardy as the ones we buy in town. I'm trying to change that.
And, I am pleased to say, that Glen's valentine's gift to me is still in effect--our dresser top remains clean!
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