Kiersten’s Blog

This evening on a whim, we jumped in the car and drove to the coast.  We got there just in time for the sunset.  We love to go see the seals, especially at sunset, and this time there were some smaller seals hanging around.  We stood on the wall and watched the sun drop behind the water.  The kids, of course, loved it.  Every time a wave hit the wall, Ashton’s raspy voice would shout, “WOAH!”  I’m always amazed by our Heavenly Father’s creations.  I’m glad that I can spend time watching nature in this beautiful place we live.

Toning shoes, rocker bottom shoes, Shape-Ups, EasyTones, or whatever you call them: I just don’t get it.  I know you’ve all seen them.  I know you even know people who wear them.  I know and love people who wear them.  Apparently they’re a huge market.  But here’s the thing.  They’re SO UGLY!  Maybe I’m a skeptic, but I’m not convinced that these toning shoes actually make that big of a difference that they’re worth looking like an idiot.  I remember the first time I ever saw these eye-sores.  I thought, “There’s no way these things will catch on.  They’re way too ugly.”  But people wear them!  People spend lots of money on them!  And when they wear out, they buy another pair!  You won’t catch me in them any time soon.  I’m sticking with my flip-flps and Roxys.

Until now in our life with children, when we needed a babysitter, we would first call a friend with kids.  Everywhere we have lived (except in Hemet, in which case we called Granny and Papa), we have lived very close to friends with whom we traded babysitting.  It’s a great thing when you’re poor and that’s the only way you can ever afford to get away from your children for a night out with your spouse.  Now Taylor has a good job, but I’m still a cheapskate.  I have, however, stopped calling friends as much, and calling teenage girls.  We would call girls in the past, but not as often as we do now.  There are 3 girls in our ward who are twelve and started up a kind of babysitting business.  They usually come in groups of two, so we get two sitters for the price of one!  And their rates are really, really cheap.  But those aren’t the only reasons I call them.  We love them!  They do such a great job.  My kids love them.  They always bring all sorts of fun activities and toys for the kids to play with.  We called one of them to babysit Ashton today while we took London on a tour of the Taylor guitar factory (which happens to be a block away from us).  He slept the whole time, which I expected, but what I didn’t expect was my house to be spotless when I got home.  It was kind of a mess when we left, since we left in a hurry and didn’t have time to pick things up.  The kids had been building towers in the living room with items from my pantry and London’s room definitely needed some help.  When we got home, thanks to our fabulous babysitter, everything was in its place and I could concentrate on getting other things done.

Since the house was picked up, I got a little carried away with the dishes tonight.  I made bread, brownies, and kind of a messy dinner all today so I had a lot of dishes to wash.  When I went to wash them, I figured that while I was at it, I might as well get some other things clean too.  An hour later my kitchen looks better than it has in a long time.  Taylor’s going to think I bought a new tea kettle in the morning when he wakes up and goes to put the water on for his hot chocolate (which, incidentally, I bought tonight for, well, nothing.  I had a $2 off coupon and the hot chocolate was only $1.02, so I made $0.98).  It hasn’t been that shiny since it was brand new.  And because I have a crappy sink, my sink always looks dirty, but right now I’ll say it looks decent and that’s saying a lot for that sink.  So I guess the moral of the story is, get a good babysitter so you can have a clean kitchen.

I don’t know anything about Todd Moore, except that he’s not so good at paying attention to details.  You know, like the little things that make a good mayor.  I’m pretty sure spelling the name of the city correctly would be a good start.

I have 24 boxes of cereal.  They don’t all fit in my pantry so some of them have found a new home in the garage.  11 of those boxes are Rice Krispies.  And I bought them all on the same day.  They were a good deal.  How could I pass it up?  Plus, they have the codes on them to get free movie tickets.  I spent something like $15 on those 11 boxes of cereal and they will translate into two free movie tickets.  Plus I get to eat the cereal too!  I’m thinking I got a pretty good deal.  Then other cereal was on sale a week or two later at another store.  Again, the bargain was too good to pass up so I bought more.  Of course I made Rice Krispy treats the other day.  I think it’s time to make more.

We just got home today from vacation. We left exactly two weeks ago and drove. A lot. We went all the way to Portland and back. Needless to say, I’m tired, have a lot to do, and am very excited to sleep in my own bed. Updates to come…

I think the picture says it all.  Really.  You women have husbands!!!  And children!!!  And, by the way, Edward is not hot.  He’s funny looking.  What’s the other guy’s name?  James?  Jacob?  I think it’s Jacob.  I don’t even know what he looks like, but I’m sure he’s not hot either.  Now go home to your husbands and tell them that you love them more than Edward.  Or Jacob, if that’s even his name.

I got the pie.  And it was good.  I went back to get it and once again, asked for strawberry rhubarb.  The girl took one look at the shelf in the front and said, “let me see if we have any more in the back.”  Then I started to get really nervous and wonder what I would do if they ran out.  Luckily they had more in the back.  She rang me up and I opened my purse to take out my wallet to pay, and lo and behold, my wallet is missing!  Then I started to panic.  I wasn’t so worried about my wallet.  I was sure it was somewhere around.  Maybe I left it at home?  I didn’t know.  My biggest fear, though, was that I wouldn’t get that danged pie!  I knew they wouldn’t hold it for me.  I ran with my kids out to the car.  Luckily I found it there.  So we all breathed a sigh of relief, bought the pie, and picked up Taylor…late, of course.

After my super productive morning yesterday, I was hoping for a repeat today.   I was sorely disappointed, but at least I’m still in a good mood.  Taylor had somewhere he needed to be at 10 this morning so the kids and I dropped him off and headed over to Marie Calendars to buy his favorite: strawberry rhubarb pie.  When we got there, they didn’t have any.  They told me that it would be another half hour before they were done.  They wouldn’t put one on hold for me, even if I was to pay for it.  So I ran a few errands in the area and came back a half hour later.  I unloaded the kids and dragged them into the restaurant once again.  This time they told me that it would be another hour and a half until they were done.  Really?  A half hour previous, I was told a half hour.  Now another hour and a half.  Pretty annoying.  Now it’s almost time for me to go pick up Taylor and, once again, try for a pie.  I’ll be REALLY mad if they don’t have any left.

We planted our garden a couple of weeks ago.  Okay, we planted zucchini and a tomato plant a couple of weeks ago.  I wasn’t sure exactly how to plant the zucchini.  I’ve always seen it planted in a hill but that’s not what the directions said on the package of seeds we bought.  So I planted them in a short row right outside my dining room window.  I’m guessing I planted about 14 seeds in a row about 18 inches long.  I didn’t expect them all to germinate, but now I have 14 little zucchini plants that are really close together.  I guess I better thin them out pretty soon.  It’s exciting to see them growing!