College girl

4 of my favorite people

She came home for her very first visit after ever being away since August 20.  She loved being in her bed and sleeping in.  8am classes every morning have taken their toll.  Between being pre-Med, playing tennis 3-4 hours a day and classes she is one tired, and sick, girl.  She's had a sinus infection and nagging cough off and on since she left us but hopefully a visit to our wonderful doc her in St. Louis diagnosed and prescribed things to knock it out.

We had girl time (at Nordstrom & California Pizza Kitchen), Thursday night tv time, tennis (w/her old coach) time, visit w/both sets of grandparents time and a visit with our college working boy at the mall (who graciously used his discount at Banana Republic to buy his sister a pair of shoes).

College girl is loving life even though its hard.  I'm so incredibly proud of her and her drive to excel at her classes and her sport.  Her most recent tournament at Notre Dame she fought through feeling horrible to beat two girls from Miami of Ohio & Kansas.  She had some losses too, but is playing incredibly well.

Cannot wait to see her again at Thanksgiving.  This college thing is dumb dumb dumb.

My Stream of Consciousness

Wish I were better at blogging.  You'd think with only one child at home and a husband gone 75% of the time I'd have more time but, life gets in the way.  Going through each day I have so many thoughts.  May I share?

* I really do not enjoy picking up my dog's poo on our thrice daily walks.  She used to do this little duty in the back yard, but recently we got an electric fence to contain the little monster who was escaping the real fence.  Now, she hates the backyard.  So, I'm not running all over the neighborhood trying to find her anymore but I get to stand by the side of the road while she does her business.

*On those daily walks I've gotten to know my neighborhood quite well.  I pass one house where I know inside is a woman, 35 - mother of 2, dying of cancer.  I so appreciate my body and health each day when I pass her house and say a prayer for her and her family.

*My youngest plays too many video games.  His current favorite is a Spiderman Wii that he paid half of.

*Same youngest has had 3 friends over from school, all girls.

*I am so proud and grateful for my two oldest.  They work so hard in school and at their sports.  They are so good.  I am truly blessed.  (And my girl is coming home for fall break on Thursday - YAY!!)

*My husband is looking at Harleys.  I'm really excited about that.

*I want to renew our vows in August.  25 years.  I'm trying to convince my dearest that it will not be cheezy.

*Andrew's dream of a 10 pound praying mantis will be the basis of a story he has to write for school.

*I tried a TRX class at my gym yesterday.  Awkward, hard and I am so sore today - but I can't wait to go back.  http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/

*Thank goodness for Skype

*Fall clothes are way more fun than summer.

*I found peppermint ice cream at the store tonight.  The holidays are upon us.

I could keep going, but AJ is out of tub and ready to watch Biggest Loser.  Told ya, it would be random.

Fun on a Friday Night

I have to say that when my daughter came home one weekend night and told me she'd been playing beer pong I was none too happy - until she told me she plays with water.  So she taught us how to play at home and its kinda fun.  AJ decided that's what he wanted to do last night with his elderly parents, so we obliged.  Taping balls to the eyes is great fun as well.  

DEJA VU

18 years ago we had an unfortunate July 4th incident with Son A (Michael).  After a sparkler accidentally found his cornea and scratched it, we had an ER trip and some pain, but a happy boy the next morning.  What are the chances of that happening again?  

Fast forward to this past weekend and Son B (Andrew) was happily playing with a stick, fighting invisible bad guys, when he ran in the back door crying.  I knew enough from our last incident that an ER trip was in our future, so................

Where else does one enjoy spending a Friday night?  Honestly, its a pretty interesting place to people watch.  We got some great care, had a good night's sleep, sported an eye patch and glasses all weekend to keep out the light - and today he's good as new!

These boys are two peas in a pod (other than one being blessed with artistic talent and one, not so much).  

SPRING BREAK Florida

We were definitely the parents in the minority not allowing our daughter to head to Mexico for Spring Break.  So instead, she found the only other friend (Matti - who became Andrew's new best friend) who had such horrid parents as us and we all headed to Longboat Key Florida for a much needed bit of warm weather.  Problem was, for the first few days of the trip St. Louis had higher temps than sunny Florida - which was rainy and windy for the start of the trip.  

Things worked out just fine though.  Four days in the hot, Florida sun got the girls their much desired TANS

                                                             JOLLY COUSIN TIME
                                                    (Caroline & Andrew livin' the life)

                                                             COUPLE TIME

                                                            


                                                                    DAD TIME

                                              
                                           AQUARIUM TIME (evil sharks in background)
                

BEN TIME

                                                       TODD WITHOUT HIS I-PHONE

Even though "College Boy" couldn't make it, it was fun to have most of us together for an entire week.

If You Had an Extra $1,500 ....

What would you choose to spend it on?  A fun, warm getaway maybe?  Or some new furniture?  Or how about kidney stone surgery for your dog.  Oh yes, that's what I would choose.  Seriously, the cost of things in the dog health care world is worse than the people world.  We've already had x-rays and blood work to prepare for surgery day (tomorrow) and part of the special surgery package is sending the stones off to the University of Minnesota to be analyzed so we can figure out what special food she needs so this doesn't happen again.  So for the next two weeks I get to have a dog recovering from surgery with one of those cone things around her neck and I don't get a warm vacation or new furniture.  Good thing she is warm and cuddly!

Totally Random Post

My darling daughter likes to come home from school and make herself a nest on the couch to do her homework/text/catch up on American Idol.  Inside the nest today was hummus and carrots; dirty socks; a laptop; a backpack and assorted books; car keys - well you get the idea.  The nest was unoccupied as I was setting up MODERN FAMILY (Not a repeat tonight!!!) to record and I vowed to not clean it up as I normally do (nice mom that I am).  Daughter did not handle it well when I asked her to tidy up nest as she was heading out the door to a high school basketball game.  I held my ground.  I have reclaimed the couch!

My oldest boy is having an adventure - surfing, ALONE, in California.  I put my foot down, many times - but eventually caved.  He did master Italy last year, although not alone.  So, rental car and hotel, rented surfboard and purchased wet suit, he is having the spring break he wanted.  He's much like his mom who every once in a while needs a bit of alone time.

My little one - still so innocent and soooo sweet.  The other day we dropped off donations at the Shriner's Childrens' Hospital - unused Happy Meal toys and new books.  The kind man behind the counter wondered if Andrew might want a totally cool multi color light up sword.  Uh, yeah?  Even though these are very similar to the Made in China glow swords we succumb to every year on vacation that usually break by the end of the night, still - what boy can resist?  As we're back in the car he thoughtfully said, "Mom, I guess that's karma.  We did something nice for them and they did something nice for us."  How does he know what karma is?

I continue to be the work week widow of a man who travels the country - last week from Alaska to Seattle to El Paso with a cab that caught on fire somewhere in between.  We should downsize our house because he's here less than he's away.  He works hard and I am grateful.

As enthralling as this "random" post is, my Panera you pick two is now eaten and a brand new Modern Family is queued up waiting.  Thanks for passing the time!!

Hello Winter!

I don't mind winter too much.  Actually kind of enjoy it.  I've discovered I like to run when its cold out.  I like being at home and working on projects.  I don't mind the getting dark early.  What I do have a problem with is running errands in single digit temperatures with wind chills below freezing.  My day started with the garage door stubbornly opening about 7/8 of the way - making me a prisoner of my house unless I could figure out a way to get the car out.  When the McDonald's diet coke is calling you its a powerful motivator.

 After a few minutes on a ladder with a bungee cord,  I rigged up a solution.  We stayed tucked in the rest of the day, finally stashing all of Christmas away and not home schooling because when its your birthday and your 8, what would you choose?

Tonight, in the dark, empty streets I ventured out.    I did the Target, Qdoba (free salad), Walgreen's & grocery store circuit - topping it off with a visit to Petco for crickets and vitamins for Michael's gecko (a Christmas present from his girlfriend).  Her name is Belle (the gecko, not the girlfriend - that's Kirstin).  And Belle finally pooped today - am I really worrying about why the gecko hasn't pooped?  Yes, it was a little concerning.  All is well in that department.

The forecast is calling for even colder temperatures (yippee!!) but with my heated seats and remote start I think I will survive.   Hope its warmer wherever you are!

A New Year, A New Age

2010 46 2010 46 2010 46 2010 46 2010 46
So along with the world turning 2010, I get to turn a year older too - 46 sounds a lot better than 2010, but seriously - we're looking at 50 in the not too distant future. If there were a magic fountain of youth pill, I might be getting interested about now. I know I will get old, but I'm not feeling it yet, and I count that as a blessing every day. Having a functioning body and my health are true gifts. I don't need earrings, or clothes or a new camera (well, I kind of need a camera since I've lost mine) - a working, pain free body is the best gift of all.

We've become a fit family here at home. Sometime in 2009 my beloved decided it was time, once and for all, to drop a few pounds - 50 to be exact. He looks great and feels great. He runs, does the elliptical, shops for pants in normal stores. We don't run together, but I've developed a love of running - not too far - but I get it now, why people do it. Michael is on the cross country team at Maryville, Madeline runs all over the tennis court and Andrew is following in her footsteps with his Tuesday tennis with some home school buddies.

And because I can't think of anyway to segue into my daughter getting to play princess for a night with her beau Dan, but many of you have asked to see her pix - I'm including her night at the Veiled Prophet ball - a strange tradition in St. Louis Society, of which we're not a part but she's got the right connections and had a fun night.

Back From Hiatus

Life is just too dang crazy. Between Facebook, e-mail, regular mail, DVR, reading other people's blogs - my blog got a little ignored during the last few months. So, mainly because my friend Kelly Bishop isn't on Facebook (hint, hint) I shall try to jump back on the bandwagon. I think the last time I posted, it was the thick of summer. So, (a quick recap) we had a great time at the beach, everyone's back in school (Michael - junior in college, Madeline a senior in HS and 2nd grader Andrew), Todd still works in Chicago A LOT, but we make the most of our weekends together, I had a somewhat successful garden (if you like tomatoes) and a small amount of green peppers (4) and my dear dad celebrated his 81st b-day last night. I am so grateful for my parents and know how lucky and blessed we are to have them present in our lives.

After a very casual pizza and wing party at Gma's, the Jolly family took off for what can only be billed as the hayride from hell (at least to Michael and Madeline). What we thought would be an hour long venture into the woods ending in a bonfire, was more of a 10 minute ride capped off by 45 minutes of historical narration on the 2nd governor of Missouri (Frederick Bates, in case you were wondering). The hayride went to the Bates home where we were disembarked and listened to interesting (for the first 5 minutes) info on funeral practices in the early 1800's. Doesn't that sound fun? The big kids had the giggles so bad I had to pretend I didn't know them. Rarely, though, are the 5 of us together and it was fun to be out in the crisp, fall air as a family.

Am I the First to Break the News?

As I was perusing the Internet the other day, I found myself on the Church News website and saw new Temple Presidents announced - never dreaming that one of the pix that would pop up would be of Uncle Dick and Aunt Linda. Congratulations - these 2 never age. They are amazing!!!

Linda L. and Grant R. Oscarson

Grant Richard Oscarson, 74, Chesterfield 1st Ward, St. Louis Missouri Stake, called as president of the St. Louis Missouri Temple, succeeding President Wendell E. Brown. President Oscarson's wife, Linda Lochhead Oscarson, will serve as temple matron. President Oscarson is a patriarch in the St. Louis Missouri Stake and a volunteer assistant temple recorder in the St. Louis Missouri Temple. He served as president of the Sweden Stockholm Mission, mission president's counselor, stake president, stake president's counselor, high councilor, bishop, bishop's counselor and high priests group leader. The retired president of Enterprise Mentors International, he was born in Seattle, Wash., to Roy Wilhelm and Vera Brown Oscarson.

Sister Oscarson, patriarch's scribe and Relief Society music director, served with her husband as he presided over the Sweden Stockholm Mission. She served as a stake Relief Society president, ward Primary president, Gospel Doctrine teacher, Relief Society teacher, seminary teacher, temple ordinance worker and on a stake public affairs community relations council. She was born in St. Louis, Mo., to Angus Tullock Jr. and Matilda Evangeline Thurmon Lockhead.

Arrivederci (or Farewell)

ITALY!!! ITALY!!! ITALY!!!

Since the time we dropped him at the airport in St. Louis on May 4, Michael has fully immersed himself in all things Italian.  It couldn't be more perfect.  He's one of 2 boys in a group of 14.  The girls love to cook dinner for them.  He lives in an apartment with a balcony where he hears the church bells and can draw to his heart's content.  Sounds great - sign me up!  He is making the most of his month in Florence, and is taking all kinds of side trips.  Most days are spent 

DRAWING 

But weekends are for places like the

TREVI FOUNTAIN (he called from there to ask what he should wish for us)

Or at the quaint hillside villages of CinqueTerre along the Meditteranean where he slept on the beach with his friends one night (something about the trains on strike and no hotels).  Diving off Italian rocks is fun too!  As an Eagle Scout, I have to assume he checked the depth before he attempted that feat.

Doesn't look real comfy

He even found a "Jolly" good place to eat! (sketch pad in hand)

He called yesterday and was enjoying a slice of pizza sitting in Venice, while a gondola sailed by.  What a life!  As a parent, I'm so glad he has this opportunity.  Every time he calls he says how glad he is he did this, and of course wants to go back for longer next time.  I'm not sure if he'll go for longer, but next time, I'm going too!

My Favorite Things

So, Oprah has her favorite things show.  Well guess what?  I have my favorite things blog post.  It just so happens that some of my 3 favorite things are from some of my 3 favorite people.  They really hit the nail on the head with their Christmas presents this last go around.  

First up, this divine, shimmery, warm (but not too warm for those 40, 50ish days) cutest of cute puffy vest.  From my Katy who did not need to do anything so extravagant, but can I tell you I LIVED IN THIS!  It was so lacking from my wardrobe and it became my best friend over the winter.  

Next up, a battery operated pepper mill, you just turn it upside down and all your meals taste gourmet.  Flavored chunks of pepper instead of tiny, powdery nothing.  You oughta try it.  It's yummy.  Thank you my dear Kristi Worthington.  Love it on my Subway sandwich every day.  

And last, but not least, sticking out of the world's cutest "hugger" is a can of TAB.  I still drink it, the original diet soda.  But how cute is that polka dot holder?  I could pretend it was a hot, summer day during the blah winter.  Thank you Laura, who lives where it is summer all the time, lucky girl.  

As I've been packing away my winter clothes the thought came to me that these 3 things have been with me daily since Christmas.  As excited as I am about spring, I think, come October, I'll be a little more excited to welcome in the cold with my cute, cute jacket waiting for me.

Junior Ring Day

A big day in a Junior's life at St. Joseph's Academy is when you get your junior ring.  It's made me melancholy for mine - I lost it about 15 years ago on a trip.  It was a fun day for Madeline and all of her friends.  

 

          Showing off the ring!                                            Best friend Katy                                    

Rings (& manicures)

DANCE NIGHT

Her number one date!                                           Jack - taller than her without her 3 inch heels

The group - minus one date.  They left here and went for more pix and dinner for 70 at someone's home then on to the dance until 11:30.  St. Joe makes you stay at the dance until its over and this group likes to dance and have fun so it was a great night -  no after party and Madeline was home a little after midnight.  No wondering where she is late at night, no texts asking if she can stay out later - home early and happy.  

Chicago, Chicago!!!

My dear hubby has been making to trek for a year and a half now to "The Windy City" (which is not named the Windy City because of the wind, but I digress - you'll have to go on a tour of the Hancock Building to find out why).  I thought it was about time I see where he's been spending his days and nights without his family and meet some of the people he works with.  I headed up with Madeline and Andrew for a few days.   

We had a few highlights, such as:

A visit from our beloved Worthington family -

As mentioned before, the top of the Hancock Building - Not sure I enjoy being 94 stories high, despite the view.  And I know I really wouldn't enjoy this job:

Although Madeline & Andrew had a go at window washing (wink,wink) -

Poor Andrew was a trooper with the amount of SHOPPING we did.  The hotel was on top of a Nordstrom twice the size of our St. Louis store.  Madeline loooved all the "retail therapy" of Michigan Avenue and Andrew usually scoped out the closest chair with his PSP.

And sending us off in style - a limo on the way to the airport.  Andrew dug that!!

My Husband's a Lucky Man

Because I love to mow the lawn!!!  I grew up never mowing the lawn but in my years of home ownership I have become obsessed with this duty.  Today was the first day it really needed it after the LONG winter and I forgot just how much I enjoy it - the smell of freshly cut grass, the aroma of mint (planted long ago from Mema's stash at One Devondale), the chirping of birds, the beautiful pinkish sky, the smell of gasoline (is that just me? I did eat chalk while pregnant, so I don't know - and for those of you who didn't know that, perhaps I need a separate blog on that because I'm not weird, so I should explain it).  Speaking of pregnant (not - I'm 45) but many years ago while I was mowing the lawn 7 months pregnant and not caring about that one bit, my BeBe pulled in the driveway as she often did and had a look of shame on you on her face.  Pregnant ladies did not mow the lawn in her day.  The man of the house did that.  I do remind that man how lucky he is that he married someone who allows him to just cross that to do off his list.

Because I Have Been Given Much

In this day and age where we feel so much of what we have tangible slipping away (401K, housing value, money) it has given me the opportunity to truly reflect on the things which are most priceless that cannot be taken away, no matter where our economy is headed:

-Happy and productive children who think its fun to stay home on Saturday night and make a movie on the computer, laughing, giggling and keeping their little brother very entertained.

-Health and a body that can do all I want it to.  

-A man who still makes my heart swoon (minus the black socks and shorts, practical but oh so wrong)

-Spring!!

-My belief and faith in the Savior and the comfort He can give us through trials.

-Keeping in touch with friends and family through the blogosphere.  

-Love of country - no matter how much we don't like what's going on right now, we are free and have the ability to speak out against what we don't like without fear of retaliation.  

As I get older (and older...) I realize each and every day just what truly is important and how much I have been given.

Alfred's Fine Dining

I'm a bit behind with my holiday here, after a broken keyboard and flaky internet connection I think I'm up and running again.  

We never make a big deal about Valentine's.  Some little gifts for the kids, maybe something little for us.  We did get out to see a movie, just the two of us, and at home there was restaurant magic happening.  In case you don't know who Alfred is, he's Batman's butler.  Andrew decided it would be fun to serve mom and dad Valentine's dinner, so with a little help from big brother and the neighborhood Thai restaurant, we had a real treat.

We were welcomed into a cozy little spot, soft music and candlelight.   Alfred (aka Andrew - who got real upset if I would talk to him as my child and not my waiter) kept our water filled and provided fantastic service.  We of course tipped generously.   Best of all, they did all the clean-up.  

Hallowed Ground

Gorgeous, glorious day last week.  70 degrees in February.  I asked Andrew where he wanted to go - park, zoo, take Daisy for a walk.  He wanted to go see BB.  Andrew was only 2 when BB left us, so he has a special place in his heart for the cemetery.  He loves going there.  Its not hard for him like it is for others.  Thought I'd share our little visit:

It's been almost 5 years ago.  Doesn't seem possible.  Wouldn't you just love to know what she's doing?  I have no doubt we'll find out one day.  In the meantime, we'll have to settle for the little visits we have with her, and Mema and Papa, at their temporary home.