Flowerama

So last week was my week long job. It was crazy but fun. Monday we got in a shipment of thousands of roses and had to process them all. This consists of stripping bottom leaves in a cool little machine (this became my job), then cutting the roses underwater, then immediately putting them in a hydrating solution for a few seconds, then plopping them in a bucket of water. I wish I had taken a picture of the buckets and buckets of roses. We could hardly walk.

Tuesday and Wednesday consisted mostly of greening vases, and designing half dozen and dozen arrangements. So many of the roses were red, we got sick of using them and tried to find the more interesting colors, like orange or yellow. There were some cool purple ones too.

Wednesday night they called me and said we were so far ahead of schedule that they didn't need me to come in on Thursday. While I wouldn't have minded going in for a few hours, it was nice to have a day off. My hands were pretty scratched up from the roses.

Friday was insanely crazy. All day we were labeling arrangements for pick up, putting them in bags, wrapping up flowers, keeping the cooler filled, taking orders, helping people figure out what they wanted, finding and wrapping up specific bouquets. I had one guy who just wanted tulips, another who wanted daisies. I was running around all day and by the time I left my feet were totally sore.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, though it was tiring and hard to keep up on the housework and dinner and making sure the kids did their chores and stuff.

Job!

So as some of you might know, I have been interested in floral design for awhile. I had often heard that flower shops hire extra help for Valentine's Day, so I had been looking around. I got hired at Flowerama in Draper for the week leading up to V-day! I'm really excited to get some shop experience!

After a couple weeks on the counter, I finally tossed the masterpieces that were our gingerbread houses. Here are the pictures for posterity.

Cold!!

I can't believe how cold it has been lately. It's been close to 0 every morning. I feel a little bad for Aaron walking to school, but it's only 5 minutes and it would probably take longer than that with the crazy traffic of everyone else taking their kids to school.

So he bundles up--been wearing boots, snow pants, coat, gloves, stocking cap, and hood. They have been having indoor recess because of the cold. So yes, the heating bill is going to be horrendous, but I'd rather have it cold and sunny than having to deal with driving in more snow.

Mike drove to work earlier this week and saw a car in front of him driving sideways across the road, then the car right in front of him did a 360! He stopped in time, luckily. Next time it is like that, I'm going to insist he works from home. I was really hoping we'd be moved by now so he wouldn't have another whole winter of driving up there in the snow.

Super good posing in the canyon:

Aaron's birthday gift was finally realized last weekend. We arranged a trip for him (and only him!) to fly out to Denver to visit Ryan and Mary Kay. He took his camera, but of course took no pictures. I'll post them when I get some from Ryan.

From what I can tell they totally spoiled him and kept him busy all weekend long, including trips to an alpine slide, corn maze, and cirque du soleil!

He came back Monday morning (he had no school that day). That night he went to bed at 6:30 and slept allll night. Talk about party til you drop!

Last night at dinner Aaron asked Lily what her favorite thing in the world is.

With hardly a pause to think, she said, "video games."

We were in Boise a couple of weekends ago with Teri and Grant. Little known fact: There is a large Basque population in Boise. Teri and I went exploring with our cameras and found this on the sidewalk. I found the lyrics amusing, so here I post them for your own amusement.


This is a little washed out, but that is the Basque flag reflected in the window.


And then below, just another building.

Felix Campout

This past weekend we went to Heber with Mike's family. Yes, it snowed. It was cold, but we had a couple of space heaters in the cabin which made it bearable. But I don't think I took off my coat except at bedtime. And then I wished I still had it on.

It was great seeing everyone (except Dan and Courtney and Chris and Randi) and was really fun to watch all the cousins have so much fun playing together. Of course the older boys loved the fire. We had to convince them not to poke sticks in and out of it and to leave the hatchet alone.

Once the kids were all in bed, we all huddled around the campfire playing silly games until we got too cold.

The next morning started out okay (despite a restless nights sleep), but ended up snowing. Lily and Ellie seemed to especially love the snow. At one point Ellie thought Lily was going in and she grabbed her arm and said "NO!" It only snowed an inch or two. It started to let up so we decided the roads wouldn't be too bad and decided to stay (as planned) until after lunch.

We finally got the kids inside to do a craft, so a bunch of us were able to play a game called Werewolves (which is similar to Mafia if you've ever played that). Once we got the rules down it was quite fun.

Finally we squeezed everything back into our car and headed down the mountain. And cranked the heater way up when we got home. :)

Hmm, for some reason I can't get the slideshow to embed. So you'll just have to click here to see all of the pictures.

Sometimes lifeseems like the Truman Show

I drive Lily to preschool Wednesdays and Fridays.

We got in the car, then Lily made me turn on the TMBG NO! cd. Which normally would be fine. It's probably my favorite kids album we have. If you are a They Might Be Giants fan, I highly recommend it. But anything gets old if you've been listening to it for a week straight every time you get in the car.

We drive down the street and here's what I see every time I drive her to school. Oh, there are the kids waiting for the school bus. Turn the corner and there's my two neighbors out for their morning walk. Out of the neighborhood, there's the woman walking her two ginormous dogs. Further down, the other woman who walks down this street even though it doesn't have a sidewalk the whole way.

It just struck me when I was driving that I could be like Truman in the scene where he points out that he knows exactly when a yellow car is going to drive by. "My neighbors are going to walk around that corner, right....now!"




Still haven't heard about the job. I don't know if I should call or just wait.

6 Unspectacular Quirks

My cousin Jennifer tagged me with this. So I guess I will do it, if i can think of 6 weird things about myself.

1. I wiggle my leg when I'm talking if I'm embarrassed or unsure of what I'm saying.

2. I can't sleep if Mike is breathing on my bare skin. I have to move the sheet or a pillow or myself until I can't feel it anymore.

3. I love cold cereal. Some days I have it for lunch. I think if I didn't have to cook for other people that I would also have it for dinner.

4. However, I absolutely love it when someone cooks me dinner.

5. Apparently I sleep with my eyes partway open, but strangely I've never been able to observe that.

6. I am the most non-photogenic person I know. It takes a LOT of picture before there is one I actually look good in. And it's not just me thinking I look bad. I had a boy in college that I went to a dance with and he actually didn't give me the pictures because he thought I looked like I didn't want to be there. What he didn't realize is that is how I look in many of my pictures. For some reason candids of me usually look better than posed.

Now, here are the terms and conditions for those of you who are going to be "tagged" by me:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog.
List 6 unspectacular quirks about you.
Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them.

I tag Emily, Devin, Christy, Jennifer, Lis, and Ellen

Aaron got glasses!

Unsurprisingly (bad genes), when I took Aaron to the eye doctor last week, he had to get glasses. The doctor said he was surprised that Aaron hadn't been complaining about his eyes. I had noticed him squinting a little and he liked to sit close to the TV when he watched. Here's a picture. It's not the best, but he only let me take one.

It's been fun today watching him be amazed at things he can see clearly now. He doesn't seem embarrassed by them, which is good. When I got mine (2nd grade) I was reluctant to wear them, but my teacher talked to me and helped me feel better about it. (Though if you look back at the pictures, no WONDER I was embarrassed!)

When Lily saw me taking a picture of Aaron, she wanted me to take one of her, too.

Lagoon Day

I downloaded some pictures and totally forgot we had some from Lagoon day a couple weeks back. It was crowded, but the weather was perfect. Aaron was my ride buddy, and we even got Lily on a few rides (with much crying, though once on she generally enjoyed.) But since I was going on the rides (Mike dislikes rides), Michael had the camera, so all of these pics are his.


I wish I was as photogenic as my daughter. In that last one, she was "reading" the sign.

Philosphy of a 2 year old?

I was playing with Lily and she started singing, "there is no right or wrong."

Took me a minute to realize she was singing a song about art (there is no right or wrong way to draw a picture, etc.) that she had heard on Mickey Mouse earlier in the day.

Attitude

I am sick of Aaron's bad attitude.

Anything he can't get right the very first time seems to put him in tears and "I HATE *fill in the blank*"

Example. Today he had a friend over and I found some paper airplane instructions and printed them out. They were a little harder to follow than I thought. Aaron is nearly reduced to tears and of course announces how much he hates this stupid paper airplane.

His friend, nary a tear in site, said, "I don't hate it, it's just hard." Then pleasantly kept trying.

Any suggestions on how to get Aaron to adopt a similar attitude?

Happy Anniversary!

In 1998, the nation was consumed with the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. In 2008 the nation is consumed the the Clinton-Obama race for the presidential nomination.

I can't believe I've been married for TEN years. That makes me sound old. Today the weather is very similar to when we got married--Threatening rain clouds with periodic showers.

10 years ago, we went on a 4 day cruise down the West coast. This year, thanks to my parents and good friends Teri and Grant, we are off to San Francisco this weekend to celebrate. Thank you so much for watching the kids so we can go!

We've had a great 10 years! I love you Michael!

Potty training woes.

I think I'm going to give up on the potty traing for like a month. Lily still fights about it. I think she could do it, if she wanted to. She can hold the pee in. Bribing m&m's worked for awhile, but now it's like she'll only pee if she feels like having some candy. We got her a Wii game and told her she could only play it if she wears underwear, but she still won't.

But she also hates getting her diaper changed. It's a lose-lose situation here.

Stubborn little girl.

Fun things kids say, part 2

We were out shopping and the topic of port-a-potties came up. Don't ask me how, these things happen when you live with an 8 year old boy. Anyway, Aaron said, "Lily has her own port-a-potty--her diaper!"

Video Clip Friday

My sister, cousins, and I all had schoolgirl crushes on Richard Dean Anderson (or RDA as we liked to call him). So here's a tribute to Macgyver.



Also, there is a ringtone of the opening theme here.

Allergy season

Seems like Lily is joining us in our lovely seasonal allergies. Her poor eyes are all puffy and boogery. At least the Claratin seems to help.

Seems like allergies didn't hit Aaron til he was around 5, so I was hoping it would be the same for Lil.