Don't count on it

So, this digital converter thing. Hmmmm. The ads were slightly annoying when they started (what seemed like) a year ago. "I am just trying to get through the day" I would think, "why are you bugging me about something that isn't happening in like, forever??" But then we moved here and the PBS commercials about this included an engineer from the station setting up a lady's digital box and new antennae. Maybe you yocals know the commercial I am talking about. The engineer is SO RAD. He looks a little bit like an overgrown elf- skinny with a plaid shirt and a long graying beard. Stephen and I think he is THE COOLEST and funniest. He looks like a lot of other earth loving, tree hugging, mountain scaling, old dudes around Seattle.

So we applied for that government coupon to get money off the digital converter on the last day possible. Every day since then we have looked anxiously in the mail for our coupon. It didn't matter what else was in the mail, I was always bummed we didn't get the coupon yet. Well, it turns out that the government ran out of money to issue the coupons and so they stopped printing them. Great. Apparently they will have some more money by June or something. And congress voted against waiting to make the digital switch. So those of us who waited are out of luck. We either go without PBS for a while or pay the full cost of the converter ourselves. I can't stand losing out on a deal that would have saved me money, I am grinding my teeth on this. I even hate seeing last weeks grocery ads- "oh man, I missed the $1.49 pork roast!!"
But when it comes to going without Curious George and all the dear little people that help me keep my children entertained, I think we would last about 2 days. Looks like we'll be dishing out the cash on this one ourselves. It's true what they say: Don't count on the government to bail you out!

I never do this

Lately, I have been feeling the vibe that I am going to win something. So I keep entering for giveaways and even the Publisher Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. I have won a small handful of things in my life, but I have always known right before that I was going to win. When I was in 4th grade I called the local radio station and barked on air and won a case of Barq's Root Beer (I knew my bark was best) . My sisters and I drunk it and ate pretzels and played cards and laughed all night and I felt drunk when we realized Barq's has caffeine in it and I'd never had caffeine before!
At my Senior graduation party there were all kinds of giveaways. They got to the microwave and when the announcer drew a name, I knew it was mine. I almost jumped up before she called my name out. We just buried that microwave last year. Such a good and loyal appliance over the years.
So I just found a link to a Bumbleride double stroller giveaway and I am increasing my chances of winning by blogging about it here. So, there you go. http://inevergrewup.net/giveaway-25-bumbleride-indie-stroller/
Here's the link and you all can try to win it too. This stroller is really great- it's not too wide, it can have a car seat attached, it has an adjustable handle, the colors are fun.
I just hope this vibe comes to fruition soon- the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes with 5,000 a week for life would be great, but a stroller would be too. . . I'll probably win a free bag of pita chips or something.

drawing a blank

I just can't come up with good titles! This post is just about fun weekend blither blather and maybe a Challenge update. But do I really want to confess that I don't have 100% of my points anymore? No. But there it is- I lost a couple this week and WHAT A RELIEF. Now I feel like I can commit to some of the things I feel are really important and if one or two slide each week I won't freak out. Much better balanced this way. Still avoiding sweets and eating after 8pm unless I need a fruit or veggie, in which case I happily violate the after hours rule. The Bores are hosting a treat feast tonight to celebrate our Sunday freedom. My chocolate bundt cake with icing is just dying to attend.
The last 2 weekends have been fun with local get-togethers. We have a dinner group (just randomly assigned 3 families from Church) and we hosted the dinner here last Sunday night. After checking with everyone, I decided to make an Indian dish with lots of heat to change things up. You know how usually for a dinner group you would keep it pretty basic to appeal to everyone, right? thankfully my group is full of ethnic food lovers like us, so I was given an enthusiastic green light. I made one of my favorite chicken dishes from the Quick and Easy Indian Cooking cook book I have. We love every recipe we've tried in it, it's fabulous. In Chicago we lived on the same street (albeit 6 miles away) from "little India" or "little Pakistan" and so I got all my spices while there and in great quantity. I LOVE Indian spices like cardamon pods, cumin and mustard seeds, and fenugreek and mixes like Masala and curry. Mmmmmm. Anyway, I think it was a hit and the best part was sitting around talking for 3 1/2 hours! Fun group.

Last night it was a girls night "in" at a friend's townhouse to watch the Miss America Pageant in our pajamas and have a Miss Seattle pageant of our own. We were judged on appearance, the snack we brought (talent) and platform and elocution (answering a panel question). Pretty tough stuff! Since there were no hideous old pajamas at Goodwill to be had, I went with my Japanese Yukata (robe) to represent the Asian population of Seattle. Since I had no great dangly earrings or long hair to tease and puff up, I opted for a purple and silver wig from my Halloween box.
This was inspired by the numerous people I saw at the mall the night before with various shades of blue and red and purple hair. (Has anyone noticed this hair color trend?). After viewing the YouTube link of that ill-fated Miss Teen America contestant that killed her answer about Americans not being able to pick out the USA on a map, I was inspired to make cream puffs as my treat because they are the most "air-headed" you can get your dessert to be. So . . . . it was a long and hard fought battle, but in the end I was runner up Miss Seattle. Unlike the show, there is no scholarship money for runner up Miss Seattle at a pageant held at your friend Jenny's apartment. I had to settle for the fact that the party went past midnight and the challenge participants started eating sweets because it was officially Sunday. So I toasted myself with a cream puff and was satisfied that the hideous wig that gave me a headache was worth it after all. So close to the title . . . . . I wonder if I'll have to be on any floats or anything??

A child's Prayer

Regardless of time of day, meal or no.

Odessa:
Dear Heavenly Father, please bless the foo-o-o-o-od.
Bless Ada not get sick.
Bless us not make loud noises at skunks, not shine bright lights at skunks. (repeat twice)
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
(result of Curious George episode where George gets "skunked" several times)

Ada:
"I'll doit, I'll doit, I'LL DO IT!!"
FA-THER
mumble, mumble
FOOD
mumble mumble
BLESSSSSSCHRIST
AMEN!! (very proud of herself)

He never promised you "the dream"

Many of you know I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have a women's organization as part of our church- the Relief Society and it is the biggest women's organization in the world. There is a General President of this organization and she is in charge (technically) of all the members world wide. She makes global visits to encourage, train and teach these women. On a local level, there is a Relief Society President in each congergation. She is called by the Prophet and President of our church to serve as General President, it's not something you campaign for. Our current General President is Julie Beck.
Sister Beck (as we call one another brother and sister) visited Seattle this last weekend! She met the Bishop of our congergation at a meeting in Salt Lake City last year and he invited her to come, speak to the women in Seattle and spend the weekend. She even came to our ward on Sunday and I sat one person away from her during our Relief Society meeting- so exciting. She had a meeting Saturday night for women all over the Seattle area. There were people who drove over an hour to see her speak.
I wanted to share in brief some of her message here because I think it applies to everyone, everywhere. She talked about meeting with a group of women (and this could be hypothetical as well as real) and one might say "How come my life turned out this way, I never got the chance to get married although I wanted to." Another might say "I married the WRONG man", another- "I deal with continuous illness", another- "I can't have children", another- "we're dealing with economic difficulties" and on and on. Sister Beck said (in the kindest way) that basically, we were never promised "the dream". We were never promised the "perfect life". We were only promised an experience. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe that we lived as spirits before coming to earth and obtaining bodies. We believe that Heavenly Father gives us this experience to come to earth as a time to grow and gain knowledge and learn to be obedient and find and accept His Son, Jesus Christ and His good news message of the gospel- that he atoned for our sins. He never promised us the perfect life, only Eternal Life if we repent and follow His commandments. Even people who seem to have "the dream" probably don't feel that way. Why do we waste so much time worrying about how imperfect our lives are and appreciate the experience? I don't know, but I am going to try and work on that. What a great message to remember and what a great lady- she was amazing.

Challenge, week 1

The challenge started last Monday. Tuesday night I was looking at grocery ads and said "I want to quit the challenge" and Stephen promptly called from the other room "me too!" much to my surprise. It was pretty hard the first week to avoid sweets and find 45 min every day to exercise. We found that our together time in the evening was eaten up by 15 min. study, exercise or just going to sleep so we could get the 7 hrs. I was feeling hungry, distant from my husband and cranky.

So, part of this challenge is journaling every night.
Thursday night I wrote: "I hate this challenge".
Friday night: "Going to bed HUNGRY AGAIN."

One night I realized at 10:30 I hadn't exercised early in the evening like planned! I resigned to just lose a point. Stephen was like "no, you can do it! get up and do your exercise videos! I'll work out too" (even though he had his 45 min for the day). So yah, I worked out at 10:30 that night. Unbelievable.

It turns out Stephen is super determined. He would have all his points if it weren't for a church activity that served only chili and cookies (no fruits or veggies). So he took a hit by eating after 8pm and came home and had a fruit and veggies. Me, he's kept on the straight and narrow so far. I am hoping this week is easier and the journal entries lighten up! ha ha

Some like it hot

Stephen and I like our room temperature on the cool side. I think this comes from default. Our married life has been spent in older, drafty houses and a duplex. Places that were too expensive to heat to a comfortable temperature. When we got here, we just didn't turn up the heat by default. So we just put on slippers and sweatshirts and keep our blood moving by doing the dishes or vacuuming or chasing kids. The kids, by the way, don't seem to mind the cooler temps. Stephen would also cover windows and buy stuff to cover cracks in door frames and such. When we moved here to Seattle, we got our first couple electric bills and figured into our budget that about every 6 weeks or so it would cost us $120. That seemed a little steep, but we do use a lot of water with all the laundry and I'm home all day using electricity. We just hoped it wouldn't go up come winter and using the heaters.
A few months seemed to go by with no bill. Then one day we got a statement that we had overpaid and had a balance of $59. Nice!
When we went home to Boise we experienced first hand people who want (and can afford) to keep their houses warm. Both our parents' houses were so HOT (to us)!! We admit to covering vents and cracking windows at night to sleep better. Our parents also made us aware that they think our apartment is FREEZING. My joke was "yeah, we keep it so cold that the electric company actually sent us money- they felt so sorry for us". ha ha!
Once again, it seemed like months since we had gotten anything from the light company.
When we got back to Seattle, we finally got a bill. After the credit, we owe . . . . . . $16! Boy, is this a sweet winter compared to the $250 a month our gas alone would cost us in Chicago at the dead of winter. And then there was the propane to heat the farm house before that . . . but we won't even go there. Maybe I can turn up the temp a little, what do you think?