Maybe sewing is one of my outlets... Look what I made!

Sam loves Thomas. He was with my friend Aimee at Joann's one day and when her daughter started begging for fabric he started begging for this Thomas fabric. Aimee lives down the street and is practically my sister. We are like second mom's to each others kids. We watch each others kids all the time. We tell each other we love each other when we get off the phone, a day doesn't go by that we don't talk. She was there with me the entire divorce and when it comes to dating she is like a mom, her standards are high-- she thinks nobody is good enough for me. I am mostly only allowed to go out with those who she finds for me ;) I'm a big girl and sometimes act like her teenager and go out with whomever I want. Anyway back to the fabric. She didn't buy it because, c'mon he isn't ACTUALLY her child. So she told me about it and Sam needed more jammies, so I got it and made him these. They are his favorites- mine too. They're made of fleece and so cozy, now I want some too! What's with the silly face? Its just Sam-- I love 'em!

I found this soft silky fabric with cozy flannel on the other side at Joann's and fell in love with it. Not only is it pretty, but you dont' have to worry about sticking to your sheets like regular flannel and the inside feels so nice! When the divorce first happend there were a lot of people that were there for me, but two in particular went above and beyond-- my two closest friends and yes Aimee was one of them. The one with the bird mask in my mice post is the other, her name is Shannon. I won't go into too much detail as to all the many things they did for me, but anything you can think of they pretty much did and probably more. So when I told them that I was moving to WA to live near my parents that very week, they sort of began to freak out-- Aimee even more so. She asked how I would move so fast and just matter of factly I said "I'll take what I can for now and come back for the rest eventually." Never mind that I couldn't eat or sleep, or even think straight, but I was making a huge life decision for me and my children and was going to pack up and move to WA just like that! People tried to talk me out of it, saying "you're moving tomorrow?! Maybe you should think about it for a little while. What about all the work you've done on the house?" My response? "I don't care about anything material right now- my house yeah its nice, but its nothing in comparison to what really matters to me." Well I undoubtably received more inspiration and blessings than I probably even know to this day, because each step led me in the right direction and I didn't leave. I eventually came to realize that I needed to stay here and at least get things figured out. A couple of months gradually had me in a strong enough postion to know I could do it by myself (and of course a little help from my friends). Hanging my own Christmas lights and catching my own mice were two things that gave me more credibility in my decision. So back to the Pajamas. I know I tell long stories with lots of tangents, I hope you can follow, if you know me you're use to it. It makes for easy conversation when you talk to me, we never run out of stuff to talk about! The nightgowns--I decided that since I had to be careful with money but I really wanted to give a gift to my two closest friends when I moved, that I would sew them a nightgown like the one you see Ashlin wearing. It would be something that was useful and nice and would cost a lot more to buy in the store. And its cheesy but I really wanted them to have something to remember me by after I left and knew when they put it on, a memory or two might flash into their minds. That was a comforting thought to me. So I began by sewing them these nightgowns. Shannon says her husband calls it her angel nightgown since she looks like an angel when she's wearing it-- of course that makes me happy. And of course she IS and angel . Ashlin loved them so much as did I, that we decided she needed one. You can tell when she puts it on she feels really good. She, not even knowing about what Shannon's husband had said, started calling it her angel nightgown. I love her in it-- she does look like my little angel! I want one now too :)!

9 dead mice, 9 dead mice, see how I run....

I promise she is usually much more stylish than this.. such a good sport!

So as long as I have lived in UT which ok, is only 2+ years (this is my 3rd winter here) there was talk of mice around the neighborhood, but none really to speak of in my house. We did catch one in the garage about a year ago. However, nothing could have prepared me for what I found this year! It all started when my mom was out here to stay with me. She was in the basement bathroom and saw a mouse run in front of her while she was on the toilet (hope she doesn't care I shared that bit) she came upstairs freaked out-- it was funny sight :). We put out a trap-- one of those metal and wood old fashioned kind. Well it didn't trip, but the mouse ate it CLEAN of the peanut butter I put on it. So then I ran out and got some more traps all different kind and placed those strategically around-- still nothing! Too smart of a mouse I guess. So we left town for Thanksgiving and came back to find food was gotten into everywhere in my cold storage room. I really didn't loose that much, a couple bags of chocolate chips and a bag of crackers. I went out and bought plastic containers to put everything inside of. The only thing out was a bag of wheat that didn't quite fit inside a bucket- it was in a burlap type plastic bag. I folded it up really tight and placed it on top of a bucket until I could buy another bucket for it. Well eventually did catch that mouse and disposed of it MYSELF, while on the phone and humming a primary song :). We remained mice free for a few weeks until all heck broke loose! I was walking down to the cold storage to get Sam some cereal he wanted. As we walked he said "Is there a mouse mom?" and I told him not anymore we had caught it, but a shiver kind of went through my spine, like "Um why would you say that Sam?" I opened the door and didn't even walk in because right in front of me is a TON of mouse poop trailing out from between two buckets, one of which had the bag of wheat that they had no problem getting into. I had left traps out just in case and decide to see why it hadn't caught these guys. I was about to go grab a trap and check it out when ....... (are you nervous).... I caught a glimpse on a lower shelf a sticky trap with mice on it. I ran screaming! There were two, a mom and a baby, whom she led to its death :(! The bit about the mom leading it to its death was a nice addition to the story from my friend. This is where my friend comes into the story. She is the one in the picture and she's awesome. I called her and said "Um, hi mam... Is this the mouse hotline?" She said it indeed was, so I shared my problem with her. Her service was good because she came quickly and dressed professionally, disposed of the mouse with great humor and stayed to visit with me as well! She also came later that day (each time wearing that snazzy mask) because I caught 2 more mice! I also called the mouse hotline next day when I caught one more mouse and it was still alive on a sticky trap! That was just too much for me to even think about doing myself! So we were at a mouse count of 5 now. A day goes by and now I'm out of traps. I finally got some more and put them out. I checked later nothing. Then I remembered I had put a sticky trap in the bathroom and decided to check if it caught anything other than spiders.... there were THREE more baby mice stuck to it! I disposed of those MYSELF while on the phone with the mouse hotline and singing 3 blind mice! Not one of my fondest moments. It was one crazy week, one mommy mouse and SEVEN babies, but we have been mouse free for a good few weeks now. I need to figure out where they are getting in!

Its been months since I've blogged and I'm gonna blog about boogers!

Hey everyone, I am not sure if I am back or not. I thought I would stop in to tell you something that is so great about kids. Its their nose picking! I catch one pickin' their nose and ask them not to (won't mention who because they might be embarrassed) but about an half hour later I hear the same child telling one of their siblings not to pick their nose! I love kids and how they clearly see the mote in everyone else's eye!

Alex turns 7 on Saturday. We are going to have a birthday party. Its a soda geyser party. I guess we will eat pizza and make soda geysers (you know like with mentos). He also wanted to make soda guns! Holy crap-- that is out of my area of expertise! He imagined something up that had a pipe of any type with a hole in it and a cap, that opens up to fit a mento inside then it explodes and you shoot it. A pretty cool I idea I must say! I thought he meant you shoot at each other, and when I said mothers would probably not like that, he said he meant a target. It was a good idea but we are moving to marshmallow guns instead-- I can do those! I'll let you know how it goes! Any other ideas in case it turns into total chaos and I don't have enough to do? A pinata is always good huh?

I hope to drop back in here every so often and fill you in on various parts of life! Most everyone who reads my blog now knows of the divorce I think. So I guess I am safe to talk about that. however I don't plan to tonight, other than to say things are going well. However as time goes on I might share a thought or to as a way to laugh or cry or vent or get an opinion. Ok so I just remembered a couple of you who don't know about the divorce. Crap... I think I'll post this anyway. I read back some of my older posts and decided that I really do like to blog as a way of journaling. I had forgotten the feelings I had during some of those events and the details. I am not the best journaler, but I do like to blog on occasion- its much more fun to share things with other people. I love you all! Thanks for the amazing support and love! I'll be in touch soon.