These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Well, honestly, it's hard to think about my favorite things right now, when I have a hole in my heart the size of a pot of Granny's brown beans.

But as I watched granny lie there in her hospital bed today, with one foot on earth and one in heaven, I realized that she still has some favorite things. She is in a dream-like state, talking in words and phrases that obviously represent some things dear to her heart.

Here are a few of Granny's favorite things:

*Her dear dog Fred - at one point, we got to laughing that he must be more important to her than anyone, because she kept telling us to "let him in" or "let him out!"

*Cooking - she constantly talked about what she should get us or cook for us - "If you'll stay awhile, I'll put something on the stove for you" or "let's go cook something up!"

*Her family - almost everytime she opened her mouth, the name of one of her loved ones would pop out, like a Valentine. "Rex" "Judy" "Fred" One special moment was when she talked about my cousin's son Kyler... she went on for awhile about what a special little boy he is. If you could just have heard her say his name "Ky-ler" then you would know how she feels about him.

*Opening up her house for company - She always wanted to know who was coming through her door, whether a real or dreamed up person, she wanted to welcome them, whomever it was.

*God - As I prayed for her aloud she murmured lovingly "God" and "It is well."

Surprisingly, I didn't hear her say anything about sewing, but I still think she'll be sewing us quilts up in heaven. Maybe, though, God will have her in his kitchen. Probably so.

So in honor of Granny, here are a few of my favorite things about this Christmas:
Drinking hot chocolate and singing Christmas carols around a fire at Big Cedar Lodge.

The elf tuck in at Big Cedar Lodge. "Candy" the elf came for a bedtime story and gave out a stocking to each kiddo.

We had a Christamas tree in our cabin at Big Cedar. I love Christmas trees. And the smell of the pine that has been fresh and fragrant in our house this December.

The last moments we were able to spend with Granny over Christmas were priceless.

Ahhh, making Gingerbread houses is always such a treat.

We play Dirty Santa each Christmas Eve. The adults play a round and so do the kids. Here are the kids acting all nicey nice after they have stolen each others gifts several times.

Christmas morning excitment is still electric. Here is Luke with his Skateboarding Nutcracker that was sitting on top of his brand new skateboard.

Ellie got at least one thing off her list: a bow and arrow. She was thrilled.

Tom is gone for a lot of special occassions, but he is ALWAYS home on Christmas morning. That is one of my favorite things.

Getting together with family I only see once a year. This year's gathering was at our house!

Here are the "hat girls" Ellie and Aunt Billy

Cousins hanging out in the cul-de-sac!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling bad,

I simply remember my favorite things

and then I don't feel so bad....

Of Cell Phones and Toilets

This ones for Baloney. Just so she knows she's not the only one.

I won't get into the gory details, but I will say that my cell phone died in a toilet accident involving Luke.

And that it was ugly.

And that it required an extraction that in the end, didn't really matter.

The phone went to pot, so to speak.

The miraculous ending to my tale of poo, I mean woe.... is that it was the perfect opportunity to get a new phone. (Amazingly, my contract for my old phone was up too - the stars aligned!)

I have resisted. I have proudly carried around my Sony slider phone, telling myself that I didn't HAVE to have the iphone. I didn't NEED the iphone.

An iphone would not complete me. (harumph!!)

Weirdly, I did the same thing with capri pants. Back about 10 years ago, when the fashion came back in, I thought... I'm not giving into that! I don't have to wear THOSE to fit in. There must be a bit of a noncomformist ghoul lurking in me. I think I was the last person to give in to the fashion, but give I did. Thank the fashion Gods above. That's about all I wear now - some kind of cropped pant.

Well, you've guesssed it by now. I got the iphone. I was nervous, but my friend Lori took the plunge with me. I was thankful to have a friend who was going through the same iphone growing pains that I was.

And now, (brace yourselves) I tell you how truly complete I feel.

Not in the shallow way, like please see me hold my iphone. See me dial my iphone. See me talk on my iphone. Look at my signature: sent from my iphone.

But in an organizational, I have got-it-all-together kind of way.

Ok, I'll never have it all together, obviously, if I dropped my iphone into a pot of poo.

But wow, the myth of the iphone is no myth at all.

It is fantastic.
I have converted from a paper calendar to my iphone calendar.
Love it.
I have a camera with me at any given moment.
Fabulous.
The email.
he texting.
The GPS.
The music.
The way it stores your contacts.
The ease of the touchscreen.
The apps.
The APPS!!!
They are so creative and very useful.
I have the entire Bible on my phone.
I can pull up any version of any verse any time I need to.

No, the iphone is not overrated. It's genius.

Now if I can just keep from dropping it in the toilet.

Cookin Up Some Fun

One of the "out of the box" things I do as a mom is let my kids go wild in my kitchen by making their "own recipes." Once in awhile, I pull out our expired ingredients of our pantry and frig and let them go a little cooking crazy.

I remember doing this as a kid at a friend's house, and absolutely loving to experiment with combinations of liquids and dry ingredients, mixing them up into my own special cake or something somewhat resembling a cake.

So, when my kids were younger, I allowed them to try this, and we haven't looked back. They haven't quit asking, so I usually(but NOT always) take a big breath and let them do it.

This most recent time, when they each had a friend over, I actually let them try to create something edible, so I allowed them to use an egg, some oil, flour, and sugar and baking powder. Other interesting ingredients in these recipes were dry strawberry jello, peanut butter, cheese crackers, honey, and applesauce.
It's funny how seriously they took their cooking assignment, working for over an hour to get their recipes mixed to perfection. We even baked them, and then took (teeny tiny) bites.

As an aside, one of my WORST memories as a child was BEING MADE or BULLIED into eating one of my creations (it was a green rubbery thing). I threw up for two days.

Sometimes, I ask the little chefs to take note of the exact measurements of their recipes (thus learning tsp, TBSP, cup, etc.) and then we always do a big cleanup - required if you are gonna cook in Mama's kitchen!)

Take a look at cook Kami and Jenna's creation....and here is Ellie and Brooke's!

Because I Always Love a Good Letter Challenge

Dawn @ Dawn's Diversions had a fun diversion on her blog a couple days ago....

It's the Sesame Street Meme. Dawn was given a letter by Georgie, and she had to think of 10 things that she loves that start with that letter. So, because I love letters and words and challenges, I asked Dawn for a letter and she gave me.... P.




Quickly ruled out, Poison, Poop, Profanity, Peanut Butter (ick!) Partisin Politics (truly makes me angry), Puke, Potsmokers, Potholes, and Pain.

So, here is my list for letter P.

1) Parenthood - there's probably nothing I like more than being a momma. It just rings true in my heart.

2) Penelope's Pitstop - this is an awesome site that has some of the coolest finds out there - what she calls "Praise Worthy Paraphernailia." Since I hate to shop (I know, I'm weird), I love to look at this website for hip and happenin' ideas. I had been stalking this site for awhile before I discovered it's blog author is a friend of mine named PENNY!!!

3) Parties - I love parties! There is nothing more fun that putting together a fun party for your kids' friends or your own friends! I also love attending parties. Oh, and there's a party of sorts for Oklahoma bloggers coming up. I am going to that party! Won't you come too?

4) People - all of you people! I know I say this all the time, but I am totally inspired by you. I am a people person. Some of my favorite people: Kim Nicole Ashley Laura Lori Chere Chrissy Rise Tom Kerry Judy Ida Starla Dawn Amy Traci Laurie Erin Amanda Jessie Linda Suzanne Heather Ronda Kelly Rhonda Carolyn Renee Catherine Clint Kendra Katie Laurie Terri Ginger Julie Bruce Susan Leigh Michelle Paula I love you all!

5) Pictures!!!!! - I have a passion for pictures. I can't stop taking them. I pore over them like a mad scientest. Here is my favorite photographer.

6) Parents - Well, I literally would not be here if it weren't for my parents, but I appreciate them for more than bringing me into the world. Judy and Jim don't get enough blog time really, because they are the epitomy of wonderful parents and I love them so much even though sometimes lately when I talk to them it is like watching Frank and Estelle on Seinfeld. Love you guys!!!

7) Pummelling Opponents - That sounds bad, but most coaches wives will tell you that it is gut-wrenching to watch a close game... I'd rather just beat the bleep out of the other teams. Sorry, but it's true. Last night, when I left our game early, we were up around 25 and all I could think about was yelling at those players to "extend your lead!!" The rest of the evening, I had such a happy feeling in my heart and when I examined it, I realized it was because we had just annihilated the enemy.

8) Pardon - I love being pardoned from sin... the pardon given to us by Jesus when He died on the cross.

9) Palindromes - Words/Phrases that are spelled the same backwards and forwards - how cool are those? Like RACECAR and WAS IT ELIOT'S TOILET I SAW?

10) Pajamas - oooooh soft pajamas and a warm cup of Green Tea? PERFECT!!!

Ok, that was even more fun than I thought it was going to be. I totally enjoyed it and want you to play. Please play? If you want a letter, leave me a comment that you want to play, and I will assign you one!