Stop Thinking About Me

And in honor of “Love” week I will be focusing on what I love.

I love my Gary!

Did you know that Gary is awesome?

Did you know that I am a brat?

It’s true.

Last month Gary started a project that I had been wanting him to do for a long time. He started tearing down a small section of wall to the opening of the closet where the washer and dryer are to make room for shelves that will hold baskets for dirty laundry. Remember my last post about laundry? I need serious help.

He had cute helpers…

But did you know that Gary is sneaky? He wasn’t really opening up the closet because I had a brilliant idea for a shelving system. No. He tore down a wall in our house so that he could make room for this…

He secretly bought me a brand new front load washing machine. And because I am a jerk, instead of smothering him with kisses and thanking him for the wonderful gift, all I can say is, “Why did you buy that? We can’t afford that right now.” (You know, as the author of this blog, I should really work on making myself look not so much like an ungrateful jerk.) 

I’ll admit it, I sulked for a little bit. All I could think about was every other project that will be on hold that much longer because home improvement money went into a washing machine when we already had one that works.

Until I tried it.

All it took was one load of laundry and I was in love.

Our old washer would use 45 gallons of water per load and the new washer uses only 13 gallons of water per load. The spin cycle wrings the clothes out far better than the old washer so the clothes spend less time in the dryer. For a full load of heavily soiled clothes I only need two Tablespoons of he (high efficiency) laundry soap. We are saving money on water, water heating, electric, and soap! Oh yeah, and it’s entertainment for the kids.

It turns out Gary knows what I want more than I do. Thanks for the new washing machine, Gary. I love it! And don’t worry, I still love you more. (But just barely)

Somewhere in all of that clean laundry are my two boys.

Holden and Gray-bee are sitting in the only spot on the couch not covered in laundry. At least it’s clean.

Not much has changed in thirty years. (click on pictures to enlarge)

Mom and Dad 1971

Mom and Dad 2001

Order Girl Scout cookies instead!

If you are interested in buying Girl Scout Cookies from a really cute little girl who has a mommy who is frazzled and forgot to ask if anyone wanted cookies until the last day, then order them now from Olivia! (How’s that for a sales pitch?)

You can order them by either leaving me a comment or emailing me at garyandheidi (at) gmail (dot) com. They are $3.50 a box and the best part is that you don’t pay any money now so you won’t have buyer’s remorse until the first week of March when your cookies arrive. (I think I’m just making it worse.)

If Liv were writing this she would tell you that the Tagalongs and Trefoils are her favorites. Then when you ask her how much a box is she will just stare at you until I answer. (She gets her amazing sales skills from me.) Get ready to drool, here are the cookies to choose from (click to enlarge)…

Since Liv is the one selling the cookies, she is also the one delivering the cookies so she can only sell within Utah and only family in Idaho. (Sorry Kerry, Austrailia is definately out.) 

If you want cookies please get your orders to me by tonight. I am turning the Cookie Order Form in to our troops Cookie Manager (yes, it’s a real title) tomorrow morning.

Support Girl Scouts… Eat Cookies!

Heidi, Holly, Scotty, Robby, and Heather holding Marky 1980

You may be wondering what I am doing in these pictures. I am sucking my finger. I was never a thumb sucker, it was always my finger. Left hand, upside down, index finger. I sucked my finger ALL the time. I sucked my finger for way too long and, amazingly, never had to get braces.

Heidi and Scott

I love these pictures because they capture something that was so me, yet I had forgotten how much a part of me it was. It drives me crazy that I can’t get my kids to stop sucking their thumbs, yet I forget that I had the exact same drive and determination with the exact same thing. I should be more understanding, but I have not been. I get frustrated and angry when I see their thumbs on “autmatic pilot” whenever they are watching TV or sleeping. For someone who “understands” so well, I sure could use some more understanding.

Our family got a Nintendo Wii for our “big” present Christmas 2008. I was the mean wife who bought it in September of 2008 and made Gary wait until Christmas to open it. Like I said, mean.

I just wanted to share some of the games that we love.

 Ultimate I Spy: My kids LOVE the I Spy books so when I found this game in Sam’s Club for under $20 I couldn’t pass it up. It has the classic riddle clues and there are objects to look for and mini tasks to perform. This one was fun to play with the kids and the kids loved the thrill of finding the “hidden” objects.

 Rayman: Raving Rabbids: We played this game first at Mark and Mel’s house and we loved it from the start. The game is filled with several mini challenges and as you pass each one you earn toilet plungers (yes, I said toilet plungers) that you use to aid in your escape from the Raving Rabbids. If you are easily offended by potty humor then this is NOT the game for you. (Morals are optional.)

 Just Dance: I first played this at my Friends house on New Years Eve and  I was NOT excited to play it. But I did. And now I LOVE it! Liv loves it too! My nine year old niece (who was at the party with us) also loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she bought it with her Christmas money the next day. This is a fun game that gets you up and moving. The less shame you have the more fun you will have.

 Sing It: HSM3: We have never seen any of the High School Musical movies, but when I saw this game on sale for $19.99 with the microphone included my inner bargain hunter was begging to be released. I checked the reviews online and they were pretty good so I bought the game even though no one in our house knows any of the songs from HSM. Liv LOVES it. The idea is that you earn points for getting the pitch right, but how accurate can it be if Gary got points when he burps into the microphone? Maybe he has perfect pitch burps. (It could happen) I have not tried this one personally, but that was probably because I couldn’t pry the microphone out of Liv’s hands.

Do you have any Wii games that your family loves?

A few months ago Gary and I were doing the usual 70 minutes of tag team wrestling with the kids during Sacrament meeting. We prefer the back seat so we are less “on display” and so that there is no one behind us wishing we were inactive. We had only made it to the announcements and I was already standing up in the back holding a fussy Isobel. That’s when I heard it. “We would like to read the records of *your high school cursh* and his family and welcome them into our ward.”

This is too funny.

I immediately lean forward and whisper to Gary, “That’s my high school crush.” to which Gary replies with a smile on his face, “Awesome.” And it was awesome.

At first.

And then it wasn’t.

You know when you are keeping a “secret” and it feels like the one person in the whole world you don’t want to know your secret the most, already knows? It’s like this boy knows that I drove by his house with my cousin ten thousand times in one week, giggling until I became bored with him and moved on to other crushes. (I like to talk as though we actually went out, it’s in keeping with the whole delusional teen era theme that it brought me back to. I can’t explain it. It’s a teenage girl thing.)

Every time I am roaming the halls with Isobel or dropping Gray-bee off in nursery he is there and he always has this stare like he knows my horrible “teenage secret”.

Gary and I have a ton of jokes about the whole thing, but there are times where I am wishing he were inactive.

Remember back in October when I told you about Holden cutting his own hair? Well, he did it again before Christmas. And again, for the THIRD time, last week. It’s. Getting. Old.

I called Gary in frustration after I found hair in the garbage and the scissors on the floor. He very kindly said he would take care of it when he got home. It was Tuesday and I had Girl Scouts so when Gary got home I was out the door with Liv. When I returned I found Gary in the bathroom with Holden finishing up his “punishment”.

Gary used the hair clippers without any attachments. Then he used a razor. We are hoping that this extreme “punishment” deters him from taking scissors to his hair again.

When Gary was done Holden looked in the mirror and said, “I look like baby Lee.”

I think he might be right.

Gary and I moved into this house five and a half years ago. I was out running errands when one of our neighbors came by to introduce themselves. When I got home Gary let me know that he met one of our neighbors. 

Me: “What was his name?”

Gary: “Greg.”

Me: “Oh.”

Then I thought about his answer…

Me: ”Wait a minute! You never remember anyone’s name! You’re tricking me! You just made up that name! You don’t remember, do you? Did a neighbor really come over or are you just teasing me that you got to meet them and I didn’t? Are you telling me the truth? Are you sure his name is Greg? Are you sure it’s not Gilbert? Is it Gerald? Gunther? Craig?”

Gary: “I’m sure it’s Greg, because that’s what everyone thinks my name is when they first meet me.”

Me: “Oh. Sorry.  …Really? You get mistaken for a Greg?”

It’s true. Our neighbors name was really Greg. (I wonder if people ever call him Gary…)

Gary and I had a good laugh about the whole thing (even if I do come off as the crazy paranoid wife in the story).

When I opened our mailbox shortly before Christmas I about wet my pants laughing.

The letter was from a local store, but more specifically it was from one of the employees that works there that used to work with Gary when he lived in Boise.  A “friend”.

I guess she wasted a lot of time and paper writing “Esther and Greg 4Ever”.

I need more time. More time to work on my projects for Christmas.

I plan on making this for Gray-bee…

…and this for Olivia (thanks Korby)…

…a blanket very similar to this for Isobel (almost done this one, maybe I should start on her fabric jingle ball)…

…and I am working on a project that involves these for Holden…

I am dying to make this for my girls…

…but must wait until next month to start on that project or I will never get my Christmas ”To Do” list checked off. And because I am seven years old I want to make one for myself as well. Heather, Korby and I will be ordering our fabric for it together next month so as not to give into temptation and start them now.

I have too much to do and not enough time. I almost forgot to mention the six pairs of pajama pants that I need to have done before Christmas Eve.

 Are you ready for Christmas? Becasue I’m not even close.