Back in Black

Here's Doug's results:

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Black

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

Miscellaneous

Evie's Menagerie: bunny (bun, bun), fishy (sheesh, sheesh), both kitties, and the froggy all have to go ni-night in the crib with her and get up with her in the morning and follow her around all day. Of course the Bunny is still her most favorite, but suddenly she has a larger following... Where will it end?!

Sterling likes Daddy to take pictures and movies of him and then wants to 'see it.' When Doug sat down to shown him, Sterling sat on him, and then Evie came and sat on Sterling. It was the funniest thing ever to watch them.

And this is my husband y'all.

It's a little grainy, but he's digging through the theatre garbage can to retrieve something he wasn't supposed to throw away. Totally disgusting, but that's one of the things I love about him- he really didn't care a bit that everyone was staring at him pulling out nasty, soggy tubs of popcorn and garbage out onto the floor.

Little Helper

We started a reward chart for Sterling as a way to prevent too much negative reinforcement and to help me not "freak out" during the day when it seems like all he does is make messes, not eat his food, ask for candy treats, and antagonize Sissy. (Aaagghhh!) It seems to work pretty well so far. He gets smiley faces when he does the right things and at the end of the day he gets $.05/smiley to put into his piggy bank. When he has enough dough, he wants to buy Annie and Clarabelle.
ANYWAY. He has really done very well and seems to want to do a lot of stuff himself, so last Sunday he made the scrambled eggs all by himself (I helped stirring a little at the end), but it was a bit of a shock to me to see what he CAN do by himself already!

Then he made a big cereal mess in the living room (for the second time that morning), so I made him vacuum it up and he got every last piece!

Um. He also likes to feed Sissy water (yes, it's water!) from a spoon apparently... Whether that's really helpful is debatable.

It's Not Easy Being Green...

I don't know why, but I really like these things.

....Do it. You know you want to...

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

Scanning, Scanning, and more Scanning

I rummaged through my Grandparents' pictures to find a few to scan for posterity and found a ton! This is part of my Family History effort that makes a little progress here and there when I have time (and inclination). Scanning them takes FOR-EV-VER!

40 down, a million to go...

A Little Recognition

So I suck bad at gift giving. I'm not big on Valentine's Day, and I usually end up doing something last-minute for Birthdays and Christmas and Father's/ Mother's Day. It's not that I don't think about it beforehand and know that it's coming, I just don't seem to get an brilliant ideas until I have no time in which to execute them- let's just say I think better under pressure...

Last Friday, Doug turned 34. We went out to eat and saw a movie with my parents (his idea) which was really fun. Did I buy him a card? No. Did I make him a cake? No. Did I get him a present? No... How lame am I?! I didn't even make the waiters sing Happy Birthday to him! I really did have good ideas of what to do (at the last minute, of course) and then all the kids were sick and he stayed home to help which shot both of my plans all to heck! I may still use them, though, so I won't divulge them now.

SO, in honor of Valentine's Day and my Husband's birthday, which really got lost in the shuffle of family life, I am going to tell you all what kind of guy I am married to:

1. Nearly every morning, he wakes up at 3:45am to get ready for work and walk (regardless of weather) to the MAX station and catch the train, ride it 45min to downtown, and walk (or run) to the bus station to catch the bus going up The Hill to work, so that he can work a full day (sometimes more) and still be home in time for the kids to wake up from naps and help me with dinner and baths and relieve his pregnant, tired, and sick wife, and to spend precious time with his kids. I really could stop there and I think you'd have a pretty good idea of who he is, but I'll keep going.

2. Sometimes he does the same thing on Saturday mornings to make up for time that he took off from work during the week to help with sick kids, sick Mommy, or other projects that can't get done during other times; or to work a little overtime to keep up on the workload.

3. He details my car when the rest of us are all napping, so we have something nice to drive around in.

4. Even after his long days at work, he pitches in and does dishes, baths, laundry (even folding), and scrubbing bathrooms when I haven't been able to get to them in a while.

5. He secretly gave up his portion of his Christmas present from my parents last year to buy me some new Stainless Steel kitchen pans.

6. He goes "Red Ross" (skip to 3:25 on the Youtube movie) on anyone who's dishing me extra flack. (Every girl, no matter how independent, wants a defender).

7. When the kids were sick this last week with the "throw-ups," he devotedly cleaned up all of it to save his pregnant wife from dealing with the dry-heaves from the smell. He sat patiently and sweetly with Evie for days while she was so sick and only wanted her Daddy, and got up repeatedly at night with Sterling while he was sick and closed our bedroom door so I could get some sleep.

8. For several years he has made the long commute to work downtown, received A's in his college courses, and, while we managed apartments, helped me keep up on the long list of yardcare and maintenance requests; all in an effort to make a better life for his family.

9. He keeps particularly good treats from work and brings them home for me and the kids to enjoy. How he has the will-power, I'll never know!

10. Doug's not afraid of anyone or anything! I always knew he was stubborn with an innate sense of justice, but I never knew how truly either crazy or courageous he is until we managed apartments. It didn't seem to matter how skinny he was or how big they were, he still called them to book- Big, BEEFY men! Maybe crazy... Either way, I love that he so valiant and will stick up for what's right!

11. Trials have periodically come into our marriage that neither one of us could have anticipated, but he is ever-willing to overcome seemingly unconquerable obstacles and do whatever is in his power to keep a happy and loving home and marriage. A willing heart and hands can work any miracle, simple or great.

Now for some random facts:

• Doug was a DJ for several years and has quite a large (and now outdated, but still good) CD collection. He loves music of all kinds!
• He grew up on the shady side of town and "talked the talk," so one time when he was hooked up on a blind date and they finally met after talking on the phone, she said (almost disappointedly), "I thought you were black...!" He can still bust out some pretty funny stuff if you ask him too- he does a good "Raheem," too (if you know what I mean)!
• He has no problem with me reading anything I want to him- as long as I read it. When we were first married, I was reading all the Georgette Heyer books for the first time and laughing out loud, so he made me read one to him.... and then we read all the good ones together. He calls them my Scarlet Womens books, but secretly loves them too.
• If you want to know anything about house paint, Doug's your man. He sold paint for several years, and painted during the summer- he can "cut-in" around ceilings and floorboards without a guard like no other!
• And if you want to see any ostentatious dance moves: again- Doug's your man! He has a few he made up that are fun to watch (and nearly impossible to catch him doing) and he likes to dance on pedestals at dance clubs and with the Belly Dancer at the Marakesh. Oh! And he gets tips, too! "Ev'body in the club gettin' tips!"
• Um. Serious road rage issues. Only occassionally, but he's not afraid to slam on his brakes to startle tailgaters (and his wife- I swear we're going to get shot in the back of the head one of these days). One time (in early, early marriage), he chased a guy who cut him off down the freeway doing 90 just to cut him off and give him the bird out the window. ;) He got a pretty good wakeup call from his wife (who was seething) and I've never seen him do anything like that again (at least while I'm in the car).
• Doug has had a mullet and a perm (not at the same time, thankfully- poor kid). He broke out of the mullet and clunky glasses in high school and became the major hottie with big blue eyes, super-high cheek bones, and rosy cheeks who picked me up at Institute Class. ;)
• Some things Doug came to our marriage with: a collection of hundreds of comics, a microscope kit with slides, an Erector set, a snowboard, half dozen Disney movies, blueprints he made himself, and a basketball jersey from high school that says "P. Newton."
• He dated Miss Salem (at the time) and literally dozens of Jenny's (in fact, how I'm not a Jenny, I can't figure out).
• He used to skip school with his friend and go down to the bowling alley to work on their Hook Shots- he plays a mean game with enough warm-up time!

Do you get the picture now? Pretty diverse and unique and I couldn't live without him--- road rage, and all!

Happy Birthday and Valentine's Day from your bah-humbug wife!

Checkin' Out Shere Khan

Michelle has a Zoo pass that lets me and the kids get in free too- Yay! Sterling was so excited to go to the Zoo to see Shere Khan the tiger. I'm not sure how he made the connection, but then he said he wanted to see Bagheera and Mowgli, too. Doug replied, "You can look for Bagheera and Baloo, but there won't be any Jungle Boys there, I hope!" So we made the rounds in the frigid temperatures to see all the Jungle animals, Shere Khan included. We even tried to duck into the warmer Mole Rat exhibit, but Mamma almost tossed her cookies from the all-pervading smell of funk.

Sterling, Eli, and Evie at the Leopard exhibit

Behind the Wheel of one of his most favorite things in the whole world

Aunt 'Shell and baby Eli

Some Big Love on Valentine's Day

I really liked the colors in this picture!

As we were leaving, they began having the Sea Lions do tricks like open their mouth and roar and jump onto the platform from the water and back into the water again and spray water. Super fun for the kids to watch! .....and Mommy, too... ;)

Lots More Stuff You Never Wanted to Know

I've been tagged by Crystal.
This one is a little different from the last one, though:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Well, exactly 10 years ago, I was a Senior in high school and in and out of meaningless relationships. Why do I mention it first? Because apparently, it's all I could write about in my journal... (I had to go back and look). My high school sweetheart had gone off to BYU and I was about the only one in my group of friends who was left to finish the last dreary year of high school alone. I was working after school at US Bank as a Teller, was on the Seminary Council, and Laurel class President... (and still had nothing better to do than worry about boys). I thought it was the worst year of my life, and I think I still feel that way.

2. Things on my To Do list:
Short term:
- Find a cheap control panel & console assembly online so I can fix our blasted washing machine without paying some over-priced Maytag repair man who won't even do the job right! (Can you tell I feel strongly about this?!)
- Backup our computer files and wipe our hard-drive clean.
- Switch out my regular, girlie-figure clothes for behemothly large and somewhat frumpy maternity ones; and hang up the mass of clothes lying on my closet floor (which, lately, is the bane of my husband's closet experience, and I mean that in a strictly "straight" way).
Long term:
- Become fluent in French & German and visit Switzerland (where my ancestors are from), Austria, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, England (where my other ancestors are from), and Sweden.
- Raise wonderful, righteous, and valiant kids who all gain their own eternal families.

3. Three Bad Habits:
I already did this the last time I got tagged and it just depresses me... Refer back if absolutely necessary.

4. Places I have lived:
Hmm... Let me think, there are so many.

1. Cornelius
2. Hillsboro
3. Portland

Whew! What a workout!

OH! I forgot some-
4. Mountaindale (where nearly all the sordid stuff happened)
5. Vernonia for a summer with my friend

5. Things most people don't know about me:
I've been shot at by a true redneck (overalls, red handkerchief, no joke); ridden horse bareback; fallen off a horse and watched the hooves miss my head by inches; eaten rabbit (yum); almost drowned; still own several pairs of Wranglers and Rockies, a pair of Ropers, and a massive belt buckle as relics of former days; have owned a goat, chickens, and turkeys; caught air in a mini-van; broke into a house and stole a machete; smuggled Rum out my Dad's house into my Mom's house and drank with my friends (for the record- it wasn't good and I never drank again); dated a 20-year-old when I was 14 (in his defence, he thought I was 19, though he found out soon enough and still dated me for a month- if you can call it dating when your Dad threatens him with his "sawed-off" shotgun that hasn't held bullets in over 20 years and wouldn't let me leave the house with him); tried out for Dance Team (urged by my best friend and lifelong dancer), sucked royally during try-outs, then joined the Colorguard for a few months (I can do cool things with stick- yay!); drove 110 miles/hr on a two-lane country road sitting on the center console of a Honda CR-X between my boyfriend and best friend who both had seat belts (ah, the stupidity); skipped school more than I went until I was a Sophmore (most of the preceding events happened before I was a Sophmore, then I became a paragon of the virtues- hee hee); talked my way out of a ticket for running three red lights in a row (and nearly killing pedestrians)- that's my Mom's favorite story; did hair in a salon for 6 months and hated it; worked a year for my Grandparents remodeling their house (loved it!) in which I somewhat conquered my fear of heights and ladders, manually tore up a concrete driveway, did basic plumbing and electrical wiring, framing, sheetrock, demolition, became a quasi-expert at mudding, crawled under the house and pried up floor-boards to find some resident (and dead) rodents, and got insanely buff and tan arms (well, for me, anyway); the rodent experience came in handy when a lady who rented an apartment from us let out her pet mice before she abandoned her apartment, when we found out weeks later that she had left, we also found the uncanny smell of death that I eventually had to clean out from the motor in the fridge; I can make my tongue "belly dance" and my eyes shake really fast (stupid human tricks).

There are probably *good* things people don't know about me, but the shocking things are easier to think of. Sad.

Now I Tag: Jamie, Lara, Wendy, Heidi, Kristen, Kirsten, Alie, and Doug

And after all of this reminiscing, I went to look for photos from this time period and there were none, so I decided to post this little gem of the past that I think some will find amusing...

Summer of '96

Hardinger's house for a birthday party (I think Jenae's and Michelle's)

He Can Act AND Sing

Our little man has become fascinated with the movie player on our camera and LOVES to watch himself on it, so here are a few selections for your delectation.

I don't know where he picked up the faces, but it's pretty funny to watch him switch so easily (or sometimes not-so-easily).

Um. Missing some words (and perhaps sentences), but you get it. BTW, he's telling Daddy not to help him when he forgets his lines.

Watch out, Ewan McGregor and Joaquin Phoenix! Here's a young hottie who can act and sing, too!

A Very Candid Shot

Bedhead (as usual), potbelly, diaper, and "pick me up" booties. I have nothing else to say...

The New Experience of Primary

I have been neglectful in posting pictures of Sterling's first day of Primary as a SUNBEAM. Also here are a few pictures of his first Primary Activity.

If you want to see more (Mom), you can click on one of them and browse the rest of them on Picasa.

Sterling in his Sunday Best proudly displaying his new Book of Mormon

With his fellow Sunbeams before the start of the activity

Making a collage with Brother Famme and Brother Stott

Mommy helping to make a handprint on a leaf to add to

"das wunderbaum" (I just made that up) in Primary

Sterling taking a shot at the pinata

Gettin' Crafty

I saw something called "bath truffles" in a recent issue of O magazine that were dressed up all fancy like these ones from Bark Lane which cost $30!:

I thought, 'Certainly I can make those... and for a whole lot less than $30 for 6!' So I looked online and found a few recipes and gave it a whirl. Check it out:

Technically, what I made are called Bath Bombs, and I found I had to modify this recipe quite a bit to make it work (like lots more oil, twice as much food coloring, etc). Then I rolled them in sugar to make them shimmery.

I got some fragrance oil from the soap aisle at Michaels (these ones are Apple, hence the green). But, I also found a site online that sells thousands of different kinds of fragrance oils like a Buttercream that smells just like the Yankee candle of the same name! and for a lot cheaper than buying them at Michaels- I just didn't have time.

The only hard part is finding Citric Acid. You can find it at online soap supply stores but I was in a hurry and remembered seeing it at the little India Imports store down the street, so I just got it there (what do they use it for?!).

Then, I got some cute chinese "take-out" boxes at Michaels to put them in for gifts and these super-swank boxes that were only $1 apiece: Voila! J'ai fini!

Sterling's Bike

Artists for Hire

If anyone is looking for some cheap amateur artists who use unconventional materials & applications and have a real flair for the abstract, here they are and a sample of their work, too:




Toilet Paper, Lipstick "Hype", and Bare Minerals "Warmth" --- Stunning...



Evie evidently thinks so too. What can we say? Her work moves her to tears.





Sterling is feeling artist's remorse.



BTW, how do you get burgundy lipstick and russet-colored mineral makeup out of carpet...? Anyone...?