Gardening

I started my gardening today. I've decided to have water channels so I dug 2 so I can plant peas along one and carrots along the other. I then made some for my onions as well. We'll see how it works this year. What's exciting about it is that I worked hard today. I actually got some exercise! I was out there about an hour and a half, digging and then stomping. I'm going to be sore tomorrow and I'm tired now, but in a good way. I think my husbands confused by how productive I've been the last two days. I hung 2 loads of laundry as well. How good am I?

And Summer is here...

Wow. I know, it's supposed to be Spring still but it hit 79 degrees today. How is that Spring? It was 75 yesterday. The kids want water under the tramp but I keep saying no until the canal water is turned on. I can't afford to use city water as often as they want to. If the weather doesn't cool off, I could guess we'll be getting the water turned on in a couple of weeks. Can't wait. Shawn cleaned up the yard in a major way since he couldn't go to Jocelyn's Baptism with us so it was my turn today. I cleaned out the front flower beds. I think it took me almost 2 hours. That's what I get for not cutting my roses back last year. I think we're going to give it a few more weeks before we plant the perennials though. Tomorrow I'm supposed to work on peas, onions and carrots in the garden. We got about 30 strawberry starts planted last week. I cleaned out the pots for the tomatoes in the green house. We used mostly what we had from last year but it was buggy from the year off it had. Not good. We had a dismal crop of tomatoes and it wasn't from lack of trying. Granted we got started late, but we'll do better this year. I'm waiting until we get our tomato plants before I put new potting soil in the pots. Also, we got 2 100 ft hoses from Home Depot Saturday and found we needed one more. They were an awesome price ($16 each). We also got 5 hose cradles so we can hang the hoses up next to their spigots. Is that the right word? Anyway, I had to throw out 3 hoses that the stupid Tig dog chewed the crap out of. Holes everywhere. We are set now though. I'm a dork when hoses make me happy. Now we just need sprinklers. Tig chewed those up too. We're going to do a much better job this year of reigning that dog in.

I put on a pedometer this morning. I also tried to work hard outside. I'm tired right this moment. I need some new pants but I don't want to buy 14's so I'm trying to at least lose a size so I can buy a new pair of pants. I've read that vigorous yard/garden work is excellent exercise. Oh and my fingers hurt at the nuckle, but I think that's from knitting.

More Riley Quips

So, my youngest is a video head. Yes, at 5 he plays waaaayyy too much on whatever video game console he can find. His current favorite is the Original Nintendo that we hooked up. He loves Mario Bros 3. Shawn said he can hum the different tunes based on what level he's on. Shawn listened to it all morning long and when he got Riley to come spend some time with him Shawn was humming the one of the tunes. Riley told Shawn that he was humming level 5. He knows where enough warp whistles are to get to the end and he has played the first world so much that he looks like a pro when you first come in to watch. Too much video playing? Well, tonight he was in playing and all the sudden I hear, "I killed him! Hooray for me!" It was hilarious. That's my boy, full of self affirming comments. You will frequently hear him congratulating himself with "good job" or "you did it!" He really doesn't need anyone else to do it for him. He rarely lets an opportunity pass without a few words of self encouragement. Guess I don't do enough for him. Shawn says he is imitating the Mario in voice. I guess he will come up with some slight pizzaria accent and frequently says, "Mama Mia" and "Luigi" or "Mario" with accent. Shawn's going to try to record it.

Hunter's Education

So, since I officially passed Hunter Ed does that make me a hunter? Okay, technically I don't have a hunting license yet, but I can, legally, have one. As much as I've fought it, and when it comes down to it my reasons were completely valid, I finally succumbed and completed Hunter Ed. What does that mean? Well, that means I've done as my work supervisor strongly recommended I do, what my husband has been begging me to do, and what Kyler and Madison are happy I did with them. There was some serious stress. You can take the class at 9 in Idaho, but there was admittedly a point that I didn't know if a 9 year old could pass it. Or a 10 year old for that matter. We got down to our last day I remembered that I'd taken a practice test online once so I found it and took it. It wasn't exactly easy. You really had to have read the book to get them. So I called Shawn and had him make Kyler take it, and I called Madi and had her take it. And then they got to take it again. They both got somewhere in the 60% range. You have to get 80% to pass. Kyler did better the second time with his dad helping him, but I still had some seriously nervous kids before class. Madi was convinced that she was going to fail. Review, review, review, brake, review some more, test time. Finally. Okay, so to toot my own horn, I was the first one done. 60 questions, took me maybe 8 min to do. But hey, good short term memory for testing and I have worked there for almost 9 years. Give me a little credit. So, I missed one. Yeah, yeah, I've worked there almost 9 years, I shouldn't have missed one but I'm blaming it on the question. :) Kyler missed 7 which gave him and 88% and Madison missed 10 which gave her an 83%. WE ALL PASSED. Still had the field day, but we passed that too with flying colors. They really don't try to make it extremely difficult to do. And I hit inside the target all 20 shots with my bad eye! Oh, and the real kicker? That online test? It was soooo much harder than the real thing, but I guarantee those kids know their crap now.

So in all a good day. Long week, but good day. Proud of my kids. They did well. And the final result? My darling husband is telling me about all these hunts I get to do now and all this money is going to spend putting in on controlled hunts for me. Yeah, it didn't take him more than 30 seconds after I told him that I was taking Hunter Ed before he started daydreaming about my killing a cow elk. Yup. I knew this would be the case, why do you think I've put it off for so long? Ok, I'll go with him a few times, but I still stand by the fact that I've been putting in my time while he's been hunting all these years so that someday (sooner than later) I can pack them all out the door and stay home by myself while they hunt. That's my goal. :)

I'm Baaaaackkkkk!

Okay, so that was lame. And major sigh. I lost anybody that was actually checking my blog regularly by not ever writing so I guess I deserve to write this for myself. It's been busy. I'm taking Hunter's Education right now with Kyler and Madison. We have 2 more nights of class and then a field day. It's made for a really loooooonnnnngggg weeeeeeeek. Almost over, but it hasn't seemed like Spring Break. I'm glad the kids are doing it this week with no school rather than a week they have to deal with school too. We've had some pretty late nights. Riley's trying to type for me. Random letters here and there. He's having a tough day because his dad declared the rest of the day video game free. Serious sign of problems already starting. And late nights.

I'm angry with Wells Fargo right now. I used to pay my truck bill online and then last June they changed their websites and the one I went to told me I could no longer pay online if I didn't have a Wells Fargo account. Sucked big, but whatever. So checks it was. Well, about 2 months ago I didn't get a statement. I thought maybe someone else had gotten the mail that day and I just didn't see it so I called and made my payment ($10 service charge thank you). Last month, didn't get my statement. Hmmm. Fluke again? Didn't realize until bill was basically due so another $10 service charge. Didn't receive it by the 21st this month so I started watching REALLY closely. Nope, still not here today so I finally called (yes I should have 2 months ago, but I forget things and I really did think someone else had gotten it and misplaced it. It's not like it's an open line of credit...). Nope, current address was not 712 Victor Ave, did we have a different address? Apparently you have to call and verbally change your address. Guess I didn't. Mine was temporarily changed because of Postal Service forward information and when I didn't call their system more or less expunged all of that data after what, a year and a half? Nice. Even though I've been mailing everything from 712, with that address on my checks... Whatever. Okay, not whatever, I was mad. Probably wasn't terribly polite to the guy on the other end. He kept telling me that when you have a foreign address...foreign? How can my address be foreign again? Last time I checked Idaho was still part of the United States. Seriously, twice I responded rather baffled to his use of the word foreign. Then he decided to enunciate better and got out forward. Oh, and did I mention that the first time I finally got connected to a live person through their seriously twisty turny menus he put me on hold which shuffled me back to the very first menu you get when you call. Okay, so by the time I got to the second guy I was already huffy. Guess the good thing is my address is now officially changed and he told me they have a new site that I can pay my bill online through so life is better, if still not a little big irritating. Bill is paid and I'm happy-ish.

The real title should be...

Okay, so the real title of this blog should be The Life and Sayings of Riley. Tonight I got to meet Shawn for dinner with a client. Brett said he would watch Riley for me since the other boys were staying the night at Brian's house (Brian volunteered to take Riley too, but I'm not ready). I had a nice dinner with Shawn and his client (it was his birthday - and yes, I paid for my own dinner) and went to pick Riley up. Joan had been working in the garage and had no idea that Riley was even there. She came out when I pulled up and she was naturally curious why I'd come back (I'd picked up Madi & Brodi for wrestling 2 hours earlier) and I told her I was there to get my boy. She was confused and told me she didn't have any boys. :) Well, we had a nice chat but Riley didn't want to put his shoes on to go home. He wanted me to carry him so I said I would (easier for me too). We got to the car when the overwhelming urge to burp came over me & I did and then I said excuse me. Riley, thinking it was funny, pointed out that I'd just burped. Within seconds, he was plugging his nose though and in a very offended voice said, "What did you eat?!" I asked him why, trying very hard not to laugh, and he said, "You burped in my face!" It was hilarious. Seriously funny. I'm still laughing!

Two days later

Two days. It's only taken me two days to get back on this time! That's an improvement. I'm trying to actually get on. I've found that there is almost a direct correlation between me blogging and thinking about eating healthy. The time in between blogs doesn't involve thinking about cutting back, eating sensibly, or exercising. When I get on here though, it's an immediate thought, even if right now it's just about how I've failed so far. That's why there are always new beginnings. :)

So, Makenzie is getting baptised tomorrow. We're really proud of her. It will be nice to see everyone this weekend too. My parents are on their way here now. Yahy. I hate that word only because I just don't know how to spell it and no one will tell me. It's not yeah, and I know it's not yahy, but yay looks stupid. Blah.

Also looking forward to Angie and Trevor coming home for Spring Break. Another yahy would go in here if someone would tell me how to spell it so it doesn't look stupid. Thanks. They will get here just in time for Riley's 5th birthday. That's nice for us. Speaking of his 5th bday I just got a call from a gal in our ward. She wanted to know if I would be willing to possibly sing a duet at the Relief Society birthday party on the Wed after next. I think my immediate hesitation was a give away, but I did finally muster up the ability to get past the absolute shock that someone would actually ask me to sing, almost alone mind you(the awesome gal she was trying to get to sing with me is in the Primary presidency with me and she doesn't like singing in front of people either), in front of a group of women I know. I told her, as kindly as I could, that I wasn't comfortable with that. (I told my mom this and she told me that I was missing out on an enriching experience and I told her that I was just making sure someone else had an opportunity to enjoy that enriching experience. I'm so unselfish like that.) She then asked if I was comfortable enough to sing in a larger group, say 6 to 8 women. I told her, yes, that makes me more comfortable and I don't mind that, but what night was this again. I looked at a calendar and darn it! Wouldn't you know, it has the bad luck to be on the 17th. Well shoot. Guess I just miss out on all the enriching experiences this time around. :)

Oh, and this is going to be a long one. Angie won't text me back & I'm all sorts of chatty right now. I went to the public library and they had a bookmark with a picture of the two main characters of a new version of Emma on PBS Masterpiece Classic. I picked one up because I'm such a sucker for all things Jane Austen. I'd missed it, but I got onto PBS and they had it there. 3 parts later, I was done. Really enjoyed it. I always felt something was lacking in the Emma done a few years ago (actually quite a few years back since after it came out Melanie - my best friend from high school- gave me a copy of Emma with pictures of Gweneth Paltrow in it and on it from her version of the movie) and this was more satisfying. I'm a total baby when it comes to favorite books being adapted to film. Just ask Kristen, she'd love to enlighten you on this particular quirk. They did an excellent job following the film and the characters were much more pleasant to look at. I never liked the actor they picked for Frank Churchill in the last version. This one was much better. I also thought that Gweneth Paltrow's Emma was just a tad bit too likable. She never came off as really wrong and truly judgemental. Or maybe it's been a really long time since I've seen that version. Anyway, the PBS one was great. I noticed that you can rent it on Netflix.

On the back of the bookmark, I noticed that they've done a newer version of Persuasion as well. Now, while I liked Emma well enough, Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice are by far my favorite novels by Jane Austen. I admit that I struggled with the Pride and Prejudice that came out not that long ago with Keira Knightly, but I was able to get past some of that and accept it for what it was and not what it was lacking. I even bought it. It's not my favorite version, as that is reserved for the unbeatable version done by the BBC that is 5+ hours long with the adorable Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, but it was enjoyable none the less. Long way to get to my point about Persuasion. Wow, this might be too much for this post. There's a bit of a back story to Persuasion for me. Oh well, I will push onward and if you stop reading, well, I understand.

I read Pride and Prejudice my senior year of high school. I loved it. I then got more of her novels and the next one I read was Persuasion. I will admit that when I read Persuasion, I was baffled by it. I didn't understand the language and it just honestly didn't make a lot of sense. Shortly after I read it, I went to the video store with my dad. While wandering I found a copy of the BBC version of Persuasion that had two people on the front leaning in for a kiss. The man was handsome and the girl was very pretty. I showed it to my dad and he told me I wanted it just for the picture on the front. Maybe...But anyway, we sat down and watched it. Yes, my dad watched it with me. We watched it and we both tried to puzzle through it. We then decided we needed to watch it a second time to see if it made any more sense. So we did and it did. And I found I wanted to read the book again to see if it made more sense. Wow! It was suddenly very clear to me. So, that's how my love of Persuasion came to be. It has a much closer bond than Emma ever did, thus my apprehension in watching a new version of the movie. Now, the BBC version (which they both probably are in all actuality) was really only about 111 min long. Not quite 2 hours. The PBS one comes in at less than that by about 15 min I think so I wasn't terribly optimistic. Also, it wasn't on PBS so I had to rent it from Netflix. I loved Captain Wentworth. Not to be disloyal to the original (for me) Captain Wentworth, who I can pick out of any film I see him in, but I did like their Captain Wentworth choice. I like their Mr. Elliot choice too. Anne, was okay. I didn't hate her (my problem with Edward from Twilight) so I was okay with it. They definitely cut and rearranged, but I guess I can live with it. Is it a new favorite? No. Did I despise it? No. I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with the artsy 2 hour Pride and Prejudice, but it was passable and I'm okay with that. I would still recommend the other version because it was a little truer to the story than the new, but the new was passable. Oh, and the picture on the front of the video rental was sooo not pictures of the actual actors in the movie. They'd taken some other, more attractice people & used them. But the funny thing about that original version of Persuasion was that Anne was so unatractive at the start, but as the movie went on, she just got prettier.

So I'm finally done. Kudos to any who read this far. :) You're my favorite people.