Secrets and other conditions.....

Ok. Did you know I am a terrible secret keeper? Truly. I hide it well. In the olden days I was even known as a fantastic secret keeper but it was all a ruse. Sometimes I play a good secret keeper on tv but really I have to wear knee pads to stay safe and occasionally I use a stunt double. Her chin is slightly more single and boobs are less ski slope-ish. (A seamstress seriously told me I had ski slope boobs when she was altering my dress for Tawni's wedding. She said it very sweetly yet very matter fact-ly. I have often wondered how many other woman are plagued with this slope-y condition. A good bra and no one ever knows. Wow, how did we get there?) Anyway, just want everyone to know I have kept the biggest secret ever! (And no it was not the ski slope! hehe!)

Next. I happen to be a tooth brusher. Teeth brusher. Brusher of teeth. Mine and other peoples. Namely those under 3 feet tall residing in my home. (Ok, sometimes Wayne is so tired he tries to get me to brush his, but really one has to draw the line, right?) Oh, and I occasionally brush my dogs' teeth. They love that. I will brush my teeth anytime of the day. I love the feeling of clean teeth. Over the last 8 years or so I have worked very hard at not being type A so i don't carry a toothbrush with me anymore, but have been known to do that. Well somewhere, I got a tube of this kind of toothpaste. Crest Pro-Health that is.

Sometimes I am a little out of tune as of late and discovered that there was a big problem when I was brushing my teeth tonight. As Wayne lay reading in bed (I think this is his least favorite time of day because I suddenly (seemingly) have his full attention so it takes him a half an hour to get through a page. I do feel bad about this and I tell myself to shut up and let the man read but I have this insatiable need to talk to him, to have some good quality adult conversation. ok, maybe not even conversation. I don't even really need him to talk back a lot-just a little, just glance my direction occasionally. Yes, I would prefer some lovely banter but one takes what one can get ok?) So I lean around the wall and--I am sure in a total dead spot in Wayne's book, he is reading The Da Vinci Code (That was high quality sarcasm meant for any of you who have read The Code.)--I say in total disgust, "Do you like this toothpaste?"

Complete patience and calm on his face even though I have interrupted him 12 times in 10 minutes. Sometimes the man amazes me. He shakes his head, "no." This stuff is gross! I mean vile. VILE. It's cinnamon flavor. I love cinnamon. Who doesn't like cinnamon? This is like old molded cinnamon caulk (or what I imagine caulk to taste like.) You know, the white sealant stuff around your bathtub that starts to peal nearly the moment you put it on? (Seriously they can't make a better solution? We can make a bomb, go to the moon, clone things-although thats kinda weird, but they can't make a better bathroom sealer? I don't know, I just think it's fishy.) Anyway this stuff is gross. I found tonight that I was measuring the plaque level with my tongue to determine if it was necessary to brush my teeth. THAT is what alerted me to the problem. I am slow, but I eventually catch on. I think I will use Allori's Diego Bubble Gum flavor Colgate until I can get to the store to replace mine. Eww!

We went to San Diego this last week and had a fabulous time. We saw family and friends and tanned at the beach, visited Legoland. I have lots of pictures to share so as soon as I upload those, I will do that as well as share more about our trip!

Jena and Juliana came to see us today. That was really fun. They are tired but otherwise look quite well. We were outside when they pulled up and as their dad was parking Jena started yelling, "I want mama!" We mostly played outside. It's funny, we seem to have the same conversations with their dad, only reversed, with us still asking if they are being good and the girls nodding yes but him now saying, "Jena, how many time outs (did) you have?"

He said he will bring them next week. It sounds like he plans to visit weekly. It's nice to see them! It's also interesting to hear them recount things. "Remember when we stayed at your house for lots of days...?" I remember Juliana. I will always remember.

Addendum

to last nights post. HA! I thought this was hilarious! And If I can find it I may try it. :)

Spray-Spray

I know without a doubt that I went to the school I was supposed to go to for my higher education. It was the only school I applied to. I applied from my mission in Nashville, TN and my Mission President even had me take the ACT out there and phophecied that I would get a certain score (that incidentally would be good enough to get me in) if I did not study, and a higher score if I did study. I did study and got the number he said I would get.

I met canastas of people that I know I was supposed to meet, people that I am so much better for having met. Some of my roommates were seriously meant to be not simply roommates or house mates but lifelong friends, some stood up for me at my wedding.

One said roomie will not be named. She is however one of the very best. I would highly recommend this woman as a roommate although I think she has hooked her final roomie. Sorry. Anyway, back to our previously scheduled train of thought.

We learn lots from these said good people in our lives right?One of the things that I remember quite well from this dear friend is her saying very kindly, "Be considerate of me."

I think that was a few months before I had this done. From that moment on it became quite an issue to use





out of courtesy. But I thank her for that tidbit of information. Sometimes you jsut don't know, right? In my family we didn't really ever use spray-spray. I am a fan now.

Now, you might ask why this comes up now. Random right?

Well we are packing for our trip to San Diego and I happen to know that my aunt (denotes relation and as already said my family does not use this sort of spray.) So....I will be packing my own! Hahahaahah. I do not know why I find this so stinkin funny or why the long story gettin' here, but boy for just a minute I kinda feel like me. Yeah!

(Also, Wayne picked up my old standby Ambien (sleeping medicine, its hit and miss but by far the best one for me) So wish me luck and goodnight my sweet and lovely readers!

I wish......

Sleep is a natural state, yes? Then why does my body fight it? I want to do it. It sounds good. It feels necessary. I prepare myself carefully at night. I read until my eyelids are too heavy to hold open...this is my long time tom-foolery trick to go from day to night so I don't lay in bed thinking of all that went wrong or right during the day, or make plans and lists in my head. So my eye lids are too heavy, I usually take one more drink of ice water, go to the bathroom (I tell you its a total routine and the professions tell you you must have a routine so your body knows when its bedtime!) and at this point sometimes that was jsut a little much and I have to read a bit more, but if I am lucky and was able to stay tired through my trip to the bathroom (hahaha) then I flip my bedside lamp off, arrange my pillows appropriately and...hope.....for......the....best. Unfortunately there has been no best for the past couple of weeks. The moment the light goes off I am suddenly wide awake. Its like a big mean trick. So I lie there for a while pretending I will be able to fall asleep. Keep in mind, I have generally taken a sleep aid, to no avail. So after as long as I can handle it, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour...I flip the light back on and read some more and the cycle continues....eyelids get heavy, light goes off--SUDDENLY!...they are as light as feathers. Traitors. Both of them. I am on sleeping pill number 6 I think. This kinds that is. Can you believe it? I take a sleeping pill and lie there awake all night. My body just plain doesn't want to sleep. Well I suppose thats not true, part of me does at least only the other part clearly isn't cooperating.

One of my professors in college told us that sleeplessness had the same effects on your body as alcoholism.

Hmmm.

Well, I have had these cycles before, so at least I know it won't last forever, but it is bothersome while it is happening. I'd like to lay down like the rest of the normal world, close my eyes and fall asleep.

While I am on it, I would like to get up in the morning and feel decent and have energy too. LOL

So those are my wishes! Sleep, energy and just plain feel good.

Not yet, dear.

Last night I made a batch of Sparkling Strawberry Cranberry Jam. I love making not-your-usual jams. They are fabulous. both to the eye, and the taste buds. This one comes out the most beautiful bright sparkling red rose. I love the ruby color just about more than the jam, although the flavor is incredible.

We have 30 pounds of pears and 20 pound of peaches waiting on the counter to ripen. They look fabulous in their respective fruit bowls, punch bowls, whatever they would fit in. Allori asked about 10 times yesterday if the pears were ripe and even cried once because they were still not ripe. Thats how good they look. The watermelon, mango's, bananas, grapes and oranges that ARE ripe and ready for snacking on are apparently not sufficient. I can't blame the girl. We all want *some* things that we *can't* have, don't we?

(Blogs like these deserve pictures of the brilliant blushing heaven in a jar. Hopefully soon I will have a good digital and can supply such photos on demand. :) )

Diggin'

Allori has been trying on some new words for size.

The other day she said, "Mom, Josiah is diggin' on that fruit." Indeed he was. It caught me off guard. She has heard me say things like that but that was her first trial run of it.

Just now she was on her knees with her cake plate on the couch. I am tired. (I will probably blog about this monster day in a minute.) And she got up and came over to me and said, "I dig my cake." Hahahahaha. Straight faced I replied, "Oh, I am so glad you are en....(that about where the straight face turned into a huge smile)...joying your cake. I think you are awesome and so stinkin' cute!"

She is kind of a character.

Those Crazy Deli Guys....

So in preparation for the girls send off I called Smiths to order a 3 foot Sub. They have a fabulous 3 foot Sub. The bread-I don't know-its just good. I called only a few hours ahead, knowing it wasn't much notice. Here is what went down.

" Hello, I would like to order a 3 foot sandwich for today please."

"Are you the same lady who called this morning?"

"Uh, no."

" Are you Rosemary?" (No but I could be Rosemary's baby if we can't move this along.)

"No, I am Trisha."

"Oh."

"Ok, so about the sandwich...?"

"You have to order it a day and half in advance so the baker can make the bread."

"I understand but do you have a loaf of bread on hand to make the sandwich on?"

"No."

"Not any?"

"No. you have to order your sandwich a day and a half in advance."

"Ok. You don't have any bread?" (I was very sad and desperately wanted this particular comfort food.)

"I only have one footers." (Ding, ding, ding! then lets be problem solvers here!)

"Can you put three of them together and make a three footer?"

Pause. Sigh. "Alright, but next time you have to order your sandwich a day and a half in advance."

Ok, what does Mr. Deli care? If he has the bread anyway, it saves it from going bad, right?
Mr. Deli was not alone is his scheme of not wanting to work. When Wayne stopped by to pick it up Miss Deli walks to the counter and he asks for the sandwich under either his or my name and she,without going to look for his order says, "I only have one order of sandwiches and its not for you."

So Wayne calls me. I ask to talk to them, tell them how it went down. She goes to look for my sandwich and within 30 seconds comes back with said sandwich. For the love of all things Holy. I assume these people are being paid to work at the grocery and this is not a case of indentured servitude.

Here is the best part, we get home and open the three foot long box to find our three- foot long sandwiches right? No. It was a single- three foot long sandwich. The one they did not have. The one that three times Mr. Deli said they did not have. Crazy Deli guy must have glued the breads together!

(The order was of course wrong, but it still was good to have the sandwich. It was the bread I was after really.)

Isn't life sweet?

I captured this recently. We keep Isaiah on Friday's and I heard Allori say something like, "Isaiah, hold my hand and lets go over here." So I grabbed my camera and this is what I got. So cute. (Allori is in the stage of stage of getting her own clothes and trying new outfits, etc. This is for sure an upgrade from panties only! haha! She generally does not wear sleeveless things without a shirt under, but it is fun to see her grow up. I let it go sometimes if we are just at home. :) )

Rebellious Streak

So, we have two dogs right? We got Sherah first. She is full blooded German Shepard and I had tossed around the idea of getting a dog for several months-more probably (it's a big decision ok!). Well Sherah joined our family about 15 months ago as a free rescue dog someone listed online. She rescued her from a neighbor or something and wanted a good home for her, she already had her fill of dogs. Well I was definitely interested in a German Shepherd, they are beautiful and smart dogs so I inquired. She came to us at 9 months old having been terribly abused. She cowered from everyone, would not run, cowered if you even held a dog toy in her direction, did not bark-for ANY reason, but had a very sweet personality. We loved her immediately. After a few months I could tell she had being quite content, but would still not bark, run, touch a toy, etc. She didn't know how to be a dog and those were not things we could teach her. So I wondered if she might need a well adjusted buddy. And just when I was contemplating that, another dog was listed on my online group for free. She too was a Shepherd, but she was a mix, half golden retriever. Also a great family dog and quite smart. This dogs story was that the owner had gotten a different job and had to leave her alone a lot and did not think it was fair to the pup. She was 4 years old. She brought her over to meet us. We loved her and so did Sherah. Two weeks later, the owner brought her to us for good, about a year ago. IT took just a couple of months for Taya to teach Sherah to run, to bark, to play. She is almost playing with toys now but still has some reservations. I do not know what the original owners did to her. What can you do a dog to make them not run? Not play? Not bark? All I know is it wasn't nice. I am sure there will be a special corner in Hell for them.

Anyway, back to the reason for this post. Sherah is so stinkin' funny. She is goign to get me in trouble. She likes to run down the street and around the corner. I am not sure what she does down there, she doesn't stay long. By the time I realize she is gone and I go outside to call her, she will haul but home. And boy does she look beautiful running full speed down the road.

The thing is, in Albuquerque their is a city ordinance taht your dog cannot be out of your yard without a leash. And I like to have my front door open. So I try to be really careful to keep the dogs in the backyard when I open the door, etc. but the sneaky dog likes to have her daily run down and around the corner. She always comes right back and she always looks like her day just got better. (She is spayed, so I don't think she is meeting up with a male dog and she wouldn't come back so quickly.) I really think she just likes going for a run. And I think she likes to be a little rebellious. Like owner like German Shepherd?

Beautiful, right?

(photo: Sherah)

Going....Going....Gone.

Well, we have been preparing Jena and Juliana that they were going home to their Dad for a couple of months. I don't know that they get it, but they say they do of course. Today was the final day and 5 pm was the pick up time. So we had a little goodbye party. Jena cried about 15 times in the hour and a half she was home between school and when her dad got here-none of then had to do with leaving, just throwing little tantrums. You may think she was more upset than other days-no this was a normal day. There are lots of hour and a half time periods that she cries or tantrums that often. Super fun. We were still able to play and have fun and tried to help her keep her cool as much as possible. You never quite know whats going on in their minds. They don't seem to care that they are leaving. However, Jena who is now nighttime potty trained and has been daytime potty trained since February peed the bed last night and didn't think she needed to tell anyone. And at our "party" I heard some liquid hitting the floor coming from Jena's area, looked toward her and she was looking right toward me kind of bewildered as she continued to pee for about 90 seconds. I was beyond even reprimanding her at this point. (Marking her territory all over my house?)

We were able to get lots of fun tickles and cuddles in and then Dad arrived. I hugged and hugged the girls and wept. Jena turned to her Dad and said, "She's crying." Dad has been learning English very fast. He said. "She love you." I told them I was grateful I got to be their mommy and that I would always love them and I wept.

Then we loaded up the truck, loaded up the kids. Dad, Daddy Wayno and I talked some last minute things and the girls screamed that they loved me probably 30 times. I wanted to weep. I waved and waved and blew kisses and kisses and kisses.

I thought they would be sadder to leave Daddy Wayno. I am the one who was their disciplinarian. Wayno is a push over and they adore him. But I guess a mommy is always a mommy.

I will ALWAYS love you my babies.

(This picture is not the greatest, but I think is colorful and fun-Jena, Juliana, Allori)