Friendship

Potter Gold

Have I ever told you about the time
that I told LG that I thought Potter
would be a really cool first name for a boy?
I like surnames for boys.

LG looked at me
and said,
“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“Alice. Think harder.”

Me: “What?”

“Potter?”

“Yeah Potter.
Isn’t it cute?”

LG:
“Hmm. Potter.”
(giving me more time to think)
“Potter Gold.”
(said with his best British accent)

Me:
“Oh no!
Well, maybe someone else can use it.”

One, it just can’t go with Gold.
Two, everyone knows
we will never get a boy.

Here are some more photos of our
farewell to Potter.

Me and my main man.
Before the party.

Me as Bellatrix.

I love how this photo turned out.
Don’t mine the cleavage please.

Don’t mess with me.

This is Launi.

It was her party that we attended

for our final Potter premiere.

LG at the party.

I so wanted to use the real word on his shirt.

Maybe if we were still in TN.

I decided to censor

Mrs. Weasley’s

B word.

Making me a better mother.

Here is Mad Eye Moody

as a boy.

Harry Potter comes to the 21st

century as a middle aged boxer.

All the prizes.

The sorting hat.

Hagrid and Mrs. Trelawney.

I never knew they were married.

Doesn’t LG look so excited

about our big date night.

Thanks for being a good sport honey.

I wish LG could have figured out a way to

smuggle home Dobby.

Yummy couldron cakes

from Sweet Tooth Fairy.

Here is Lyndi Lou.

Launi is her mom.

I’m her visiting teacher.

I love this man.

I think that

Gryffindor’s beanie works for him.

Not quite the same.

But close enough.

Caroline sports Tom Riddle’s diary

for the matinee the next day.

Abigail pretending she is about

to get on the Hogwart’s Express.

Bella is as close as we are going to get

to having a real Potter Gold.

September’s Give Away

A while back I won.

Here are the girls sporting the spoils.

Funny that you can barely see the brown headband

when it blends in with the hair on Bella’s head.

I was so happy to get some

of Heather’s signature pieces.

So very cute.

{keep reading for the give-away}

Like oh my gosh!

(Heather will appreciate the valley girl talk

she loved the 80’s)

I was even more delightfully surprised when

she didn’t just send me one as promised

in the give-away,

but one for each of the girls.

Woo hoo. Bonus.

The giveaway was hosted

on a blog called scraps and scribbles.

Heather’s facebook page is called

accessorize with FG.

Go and like her, just to be nice.

Her crocheted stuff is awesome.

Check out her little cell phone purses.

They would be a great Christmas gift for that pre-teen

that only wants clothes and wants to pick them out herself

leaving her with only some cash under the tree.

I know from experience.

Get a little purse for the gift cards and cash

so big sister won’t be bummed out on Christmas Day.

Now on to the giveaway.
I know that’s the part you really care about.

I made friends with Shannon in Nashville
a few years back
when visiting Kristy Faye.
KFaye is one of my besties from high school days.
Shannon is now KFaye’s new bestie.
And Shannon is uber creative.
She sells her stuff
creativelyrecycledbyshannon
on facebook.

She makes cute things from recycled materials.

She has single rose clips for $5 (headband $7),

triple rose for $9 (headband $11),

adjustable rings for $5,

Hairbows for $5,

and necklaces start at $12…..

But guess what?
Shannon has already made something
that she has graciously offered
to one of my readers for
FREEEEEEEEE.

The giveaway is a triple rose alligator clip that can be used in hair, on a headband or even on a shirt as an accessory as well as a matching adjustable ring. Both items are made out of shirts.

All you have to do is like Shannon’s page on facebook.

and then leave a comment here.

3 clicks, I made it easy for you.

I hate those giveaways that tell you to do about 20 bazillion things.

That’s not a giveaway. That’s slave labor.

But really you have to go like Shannon

cause it’s her giveaway.

If you don’t have facebook, just leave a comment.

I am double dipping and this give away

is counting as my game this month.

So in your comment give me a link

to a craft that you’ve made that you are the most proud of.

Or if you are like me, the least proud of. tee hee

If you have no online presence,

then just tell me about it.

Just try to make me laugh, will ya?

I thought it would be so cute to send Shannon

some of Caroline’s outgrown clothes

and pay her to make me some keepsake flowers.

She would probably be game for something like that.

You can e-mail her directly

shansharris at gmail

Anyhow, I will be leaving the give-away open all month
and then will randomly pick a winner from all the comments
first thing in October.
Me screaming: OCTOBER, how did you get here so fast?

If you really want to be nice,
you can tell your friends.
I never tell my friends because I
don’t like to lower my chances for the win.
Rude, I know,
but strategic, yes.
So, don’t tell your friends about the giveaway,
but do tell them about Shannon and Heather.
They deserve a shout-out or two.

If fashion can make me laugh: I’m in.

Fashion: I don’t get it.
I have a friend who runs this fashion blog.
Every day it astounds me that people
actually put clothes on and take pictures of themselves.
Sometimes multiple shots from different angles.
I guess it’s the wardrobe equivalent of me
blogging every detail about my life on this little thing we call the blog.

Well this morning Sheila turned me on to a post
that is funny and fashionable.
Go and check it out.
You will never look at your accessories the same.
Thanks Sheila.

July’s Contest Winner!

Valerie Shedley won for the funniest joke in July’s contest.

Sorry it has taken me so long to formerly announce it.
I’ve been enjoying our last few days of summer.

Valerie as soon as you tell me what kind of gift card you want
and you message me your address your $20 gift will be on its way.

Here is Valerie’s winning joke. She was right when she said that fart jokes are always funny. The girls, LG and I, and four of my grown-up in-laws were all cracking up. Even if we had heard it before.

Once there were 3 people in an airplane, one took a bite out of an apple. She thought it was too sweet so she threw it out of the plane. The second person took a bite out of a lemon and she
thought it was too sour so, she threw it out of the plane. Then
the last person took a bite out of a grenade and he thought it
was too crunchy so, he threw it out of the plane. Then they
landed and decided to go for a walk. They first passed a little
girl who was crying and they asked, “little girl, little girl,
why are you crying?” and the little girl said, “an apple came
down and killed my new kitty”. Next they passed a little boy
who was also crying. And they again asked, “little boy, little boy, why are you crying?” and the little boy said, “a lemon came
down and killed my new puppy.” Then they passed a blonde sitting on the side walk laughing her butt off. They asked, “why are you
laughing so hard?” and the blonde said, “I farted and the
building behind me blew up!!”

Deanna H and Nadelie were the runners up, but sorry, you two,
you get nothing but kudos and thanks from my kids.
You’ll have to go back to the comments and read their entries along with all the others. They were all so funny.

I love you Val. I am thrilled that you were my winner
because you have made me laugh for all 37+ years of my life. Why stop now?

For those of you who want to win this month’s boggle contest, go here.
I might even write up nice stuff about you too.

Now a little more about Valerie Shedley (now Valerie Walker) who lived next door growing up. She was best friend’s with my little sister Renee. Therefore, she was like another annoying little sister to me. Valerie tolerated me, just as my birth sister did, but I think secretly Valerie really looked up to me. Ha!

Valerie and her brother Michael ate meals with us often. Valerie slept at our house often enough that she knew that she could always climb in a window if she needed a place to stay. Our windows were easy to climb. Our front door was also always unlocked, especially for Valerie. She was a Wills through and through. I am sure she even helped clean from time to time.

We played the shut up game. For some reason she and all the other neighbor kids thought it was fun. They had to “shut up” or I would hit them with a roll of newspaper. The next level was torture as a duntz in the corner, hat and all. The last and worst level, only ever attempted one time with my little brother David was a swirly in the toilet. I think they all wanted to play repeatedly because they were hoping to witness another swirly attempt. Wow. I had issues. But so did they! Seriously, they would beg for this game and no one would be satisfied until I forced their seating arrangements, sat in a chair in front of the fireplace, and stared them down daring them to make a peep. Crazy us. Good memories though. If only it was that fun when I wanted to get my kids to settle down.

Valerie has turned into a great lady. Against all odds, she has forged an awesome life with her hubby and three kids. Here is Val’s blip about herself from facebook. Don’t even try to tell me that she isn’t related.

I am awesome hahahaha I have 3 kids, yours mine and ours. Chloe is 13 (4 months older than Briana) Briana is 12 and Wyatt is 4 . I married my best friend and my soul mate. I am a simple girl, tom boy really, it doesn’t take much to make me happy it’s the little things really! I try REAL hard to see the good in everything but sometimes it’s harder than others. I like to have fun and laugh!
Food is one of my favorite things but I don’t like to cook, I just like to eat! Anything else you want to know just ask!

My favorite part of her info is her favorite quotation. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” I am pretty sure she got that from my mom, who got it from Jesus.

Valerie recently shared a touching story with me. It was about how much she loves my mom and and. They became her adopted parents. One time, Valerie recalled, they had no power. Her dad had nto paid the electricity bill. My dad ran an extension chord to the Shedley’s refrigerator so that their food wouldn’t go bad. That’s my mom and dad’s example to their children. It was not only nice but necessary to look out for one another. I wish neighbors were still as close as back in the day.

I really wish that Valerie could move next door. Oh my goodness Val, wouldn’t that be awesome. What would be even more awesome is if you bought your dad’s house and we bought my mom and dad’s house. I would totally let you use an extension chord whenever you needed it. Or visa versa.

My favorite readers

I am sure you have all been waiting all month for my write-up about

my two favorite reader. Please don’t feel chided,
you could be my favorite too if you would just comment
on almost every single post I write, no matter how bad.

I believe Holly beat Sheila by one in June’s contest,

but I decided that I should write about Sheila too.

If you want to make a new online friendship with someone who will always give you comment love, head on over to see Sheila. She is the greatest friend I have ever made online.

Holly has been my friend since the 80’s. She is the kind of person that you could sit and talk to for hours. Not only is she sweet, she is so wise.

I asked both ladies the same questions for this write-up. I thought you would like to see their similarities and differences. I rediscovered that I have friends from all backgrounds, but the one thing I seem to esteem the highest in people is their ability to love others. Both Holly and Sheila, have that ability. I aspire to make my heart as big as each of these two. They are such beautiful people with an amazing ability to love. That’s what they share in common and I am the lucky recipient of their friendships. They also both happen to have a pretty great hubby. Wow, I think I have a lot in common with them too.

Anyhow, I promised a post about them so enough about me.
It’s my honor to tell you more about two of my favorite people.

What is your favorite book of all time and why?
Sheila – First is this really a fair question… of ALL time? I will just pick the first one that came to my mind. Go Toward the Light by Chris Oyler. I remember reading this book in one night… staying up all night… I had 4 young kids and I paid for it the next day. I love that this book reinforces my belief that ‘families are forever’. As a Mother I can only imagine the pain anyone would experience after losing a child. I was especially touched by helping that child go toward the light.

Holly – I am so NOT an all time kind of person. My favorite book changes from year to year, depending, most likely on the stages of my life and the challenges I am facing. That being said, here are a couple that have stood the test of time. For non-fiction, The Book of Mormon and The Bible are in a tie for first. I am sure this is very cliché to most, but, these books ground me– they remind me of what really matters most, and what will truly make me happy in life.

As for fiction, my ALL TIME favorite is Pride and Prejudice. Yes, nearly every girl I know loves the movie, but it is the book that makes me weak in the knees. I admit that part of me is a bit in AWE of Jane Austen. I have such a desire to write, and write well, and she seems to pull it off flawlessly. But, the main reason I love it is because it is such an amazing character study on how people are quick to judge, and how quick judgement is usually DEAD WRONG. It is in coming to know a person more intimately that we see them for who they truly are.

My latest favorite fiction work is currently Sotah by Naomi Ragen. I read it a couple of years ago, but whenever someone asks for a good book to read, it is usually this book that is the first off the tip of my tongue. It is set in Jewish culture—which I admit to having a bit of a fascination with—and is a story of a girl who struggles to deal with the challenges that life brings. I don’t think I have ever read a book with such a beautiful story of the power of forgiveness, mercy, and love.

Of course, if you need something light that will make you laugh and keep you engaged during a six hour car ride (which I have had way too many of lately), my audible pick is The Actor and The Housewife by Shannon Hale. It must be listened to–the reader MAKES the book come alive. She is a fabulous storyteller. Six hours have never gone by so quickly!

(Alice—sorry that is so long. Never, ever get me started on the topic of books. It is one of my favorite topics:)

What is your favorite storybook character of all time and why?

Sheila – Pinocchio. I like to collect the messages inside fortune cookies… and one of my all time favorites is: A Half Truth is a Whole Lie. I believe in telling the truth… I would want others to tell me the truth. I love that Geppetto would easily know if Pinocchio was in fact telling the truth. If only real life was that transparent.

Holly – Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. She is everything I want to be—strong, brave, able to stand up to the pressures around her, and someone who sees through appearances and into the heart. Yup, Belle is my girl!!

If you could only leave your children with one life lesson that you have learned so far, what would it be?
Sheila – The Golden Rule… always treat others the way you want to be treated.
Holly – We cannot change others. We can only change ourselves. When we spend our energy loving others and praying for them, they will either have the desire to change for the better, or we will have learned to love them so very much, that those weaknesses that we thought were so HORRIBLE don’t really bother us anymore.

What has been your hardest trial in life and what has it taught you?
Sheila – I would say it has been losing my Mother. I didn’t have to lose my Mother to realize that no matter how you get… you always need your Mother. But knowing that I can’t run to her with all of the things I would like, wanting to, have made that truth more evident in my life.

Holly – The hardest trial in my life was the day that I sat across from the doctors who told me that my 2 ½ year old (and only) son would never talk and would likely never be able to have any kind of a normal life. They recommended that I begin to search for adult group homes and put his name on a waiting list.

I bawled for about two days. And then a small voice said to me, “Holly, they are doctors. They only know how to fix things with medicine and surgery. Who knows more about your child, them or God? Have a bit more faith.” And from that day, I learned to change my prayers from “God, please cure my child” to “God, please help me know how to help my child rise to the measure of his creation.” Miracles have happened along the way. The biggest one being that my heart has learned how to love in bigger, stronger ways than I could have ever thought possible.

If you could pick 5 words to describe yourself what would they be?

Sheila – Friendly. Kind. Understanding. Considerate. Tolerant.
Holly – Happy, Devoted, Faithful, Magnanimous (Those four are from my husband, but I won’t repeat the fifth), so I’ll add Contemplative

If you could have one week and a disposable amount of money, what would you do?
Sheila- Take a cross country Amtrak train trip.

Holly – I have always wanted to tour Europe, in a leisurely fashion. I long to see Paris, Rome, London, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Madrid (a longer stop in Spain, of course, since I can speak the language), and just because I would be close, a jaunt over to Israel would be fabulous!

What are your simple pleasures in life?

Sheila – I love watching a sunrise or sunset. I enjoy spending time with my family. Taking the time to look at old photos.

Holly – Hugs and kisses from Jericho and the girls

Homemade, right out of the oven, soft and gooey chocolate chip cookies

Early morning bike rides with the cool breeze blowing in my face (not a cold breeze, mind you. . . )

Curling up with a warm cup of herbal tea, and a soft blanket after the kids are asleep, and reading a good book

Snuggling up with my husband in bed as he tells me stories of hospital life

Laughing with friends

What are three moments in life that took your breathe away?

Sheila – Marrying my sweetheart. The joy of giving birth to my children. Watching my children’s successes.

Holly – 1. The first time my husband told me he loved me. He had just come home from his mission, and we were at the airport. I was headed on a walkway that lead toward my car, and he was headed down the escalator with his family to get his bags, and he turned around and saw me and mouthed the words “I love you”. (of course, he doesn’t remember this at all . . . )

2. I remember playing in a concert at BYU—I was a flautist—and we were playing a piece by Wagner. I can’t remember which piece it was—I am known for my complete lack of memory—but suddenly, the notes ceased to be just notes, and the emotion and beauty of the music swept around me and through me, and it was all I could do to not just BAWL right there in the middle of the concert from the beauty of it all. This has happened to me a few times while performing. I can’t force the feeling to come back again, but I ACHE for it.

3. I suppose this isn’t really the kind of “breath away” you are talking about, but I will never forget the night that I received a phone call from the NICU about my newborn daughter, Capri. She was born with numerous complications (see http://casosfamily.blogspot.com/2007/11/tuesday-tell-all-seasons-of-giving.html ), and was on the most powerful ventilator possible to help her breathe. The phone rang, and Steve answered it. The hospital

had called to tell us that Capri was not breathing well, and may not make it through the night. Needless to say, I could barely breathe. All I could do was pray—I had just come home from the hospital that day, and was very sore from the emergency C-section, and extraordinarily exhausted from the stress of the situation. We woke up the next morning, having received no more phone calls. She had survived the night. And has survived every night since. What a blessing!

What are the things you have taught your kids that you are proud of?

Sheila – When asked for anything… don’t ask questions… just give it to them. All of my children are extremely thoughtful and aware of persons with less than they… or homeless.
Holly – I believe that I have managed to instill in them a love of music, and a love of God. I hope that I have taught them to be women of action, instead of inaction (whining, and pouting).

What is something that your kids have inherited from you that you wish you take back?
Sheila – My temper.
Holly – I think I have unfortunately managed to pass along my inability to stay focused on a task for more than five minutes, and my incurable sweet tooth. . .

What is your favorite healthy meal?
Sheila – Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and corn.
Holly – I simply adore salad. One of my favorites is BBQ chicken spinach salad—Spinach, shredded BBQ chicken, crumbled blue corn chips, fresh corn, black beans, chopped red onion, chopped tomatoes and cilantro, with some Marie’s Ranch Dressing on top. Mmmmm. . .

What do you love about the most about each season of the year?
Sheila – Winter: brisk mornings Spring: budding leavesSummer: air conditioning Fall: knowing the summer is ending
Holly – Each Spring, I thrill at the sight of daffodils and tulips popping out in brilliant hues of yellow and red. Such a feast of color after a season of grey. There is NOTHING better in the summer than the beach—the smell, the sound, the feel of waves crashing over me and sand squishing between my toes. Of course, I usually make it to the beach about once every 6 years, or so. . . Fall brings smells of apple cider and a feast of color for the eyes. There is nothing more beautiful than fall in Kentucky. Colors EVERYWHERE in such vibrant hues of yellow and red and orange. Winter means that Christmas is coming. My house comes alive at Christmas time—full of magic and love. A feast for the heart!

What is your favorite scripture?

Sheila – Doctrine and Covenants82:10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Holly – This question made me laugh because every time we read scriptures together as a family, we will come across a scripture, and I will tell the girls, “This is one of my favorite scriptures” and they LAUGH, because, I mean really, how many favorite scriptures can one mom have?!

But, one (of many) which I have always loved is Proverbs 3:5-6

5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

There have been many, many times that I have had to trust the Lord, and let him lead me. I have never

regretted the paths that he has taken me on, even if they have not been easy. I have grown stronger as

I have learned that He will not fail me.

What is your greatest personal experience with the phrase love one another?

Sheila – I was blessed by driving my friend Lena to dialysis over and over in the last couple of years of her life.

Holly – I remember once when I was in charge of overseeing the organization of monthly meetings for the women of our church. There was another woman who was assigned to work with me, and a conflict arose. Within a few days many feelings had been hurt, and I wanted to crawl in a hole and just run away from the world and from the drama(I do not do conflict well). Around 11pm one night, I had the strongest impression that I needed to go over to her home. I really DID NOT want to do this. It was late, I was tired, and I had NO IDEA what I was going to do when I got there. But, I could not shake this impression. So, off I went. When I arrived, she was still up, and we went into a room to talk. As soon as I entered the room, the impression came to me that I needed to ask her to pray with me. Having no idea what ELSE I was supposed to do, I did exactly that. We knelt down (as far away from each other as we could, as I recall), and I began praying. And as I prayed, I felt the strongest love for this woman, who was one of God’s children, and whom he loved. My heart nearly burst with love for this woman, which thing I could have never conceived of even five minutes earlier. And all of a sudden, nothing else really mattered. The things that seemed so burdensome and irritating suddenly seemed of little importance compared to the love that filled the room. After the prayer was over, all I wanted to do was hug her and tell her I loved her. And so I did. And all was well again.

My 2 cents
How can anyone not love these ladies? I wonder if you found similarities with them too? Proverbs 3:5-6 is my favorite scripture. I love watching the sunrise and sunset. And I also share many more of their favorites.

I love you both Holly and Sheila. Thanks for being my most loyal commenters and two of my most favorite people. Now, when should we all get together for lunch so we can laugh for a good hour or three?

Let’s Party

In the past year, as I’ve delved into the facebook world, I have been amazed at the achievements of my high school classmates. (BTW – if you haven’t liked me on facebook yet, you can do it here, or on the sidebar.)

Joe Weirzbecki is a tea-party guru.

Alex and Chelsea are the founders of BreezyMama.

I already told you about Ted Johnson.

Jeff Keirns is a producer in the world of Reality TV.

Ty Gurney runs a successful surf school in Hawaii.

But some of the achievements that I have been the most impressed with are the ones I won’t reveal. They are the few classmates who have confided in me about their sobriety. I am so proud of them for realizing that they had a problem, and doing something about it. I am so grateful for Alcoholics Anonymous that helps so many people realize their dreams. I am such a huge believer in the 12 steps and have found great happiness in my life by following its principles with my codependency. Sometimes just living a normal healthy life is the best accomplishment of all. And really, we all have addictions to overcome. It takes a lot of courage to admit that.

My high school is a party school. Party party party all the time.

It’s no wonder to me that as young as high school, many of my classmates were forming an addiction to alcohol and marijuana. Their influences were everywhere. Many parents encouraged the partying. They were the cool ones back in the day. Maybe they still are.

I am anxious to go back to my high school reunion as the party scene is something I haven’t done in a very long time. Being around people who are drunk or high was something my husband never experienced in his life, until he became a juvenile attorney and a lot of his clients were addicts. He never knew what they are going to say or do. Here is a hilarious news story that all nursing mothers should read and laugh. They will then instantly lay off the booze. Unless they want to risk using breast-milk as a their weapon of choice against the law enforcement.

At my reunion there will be party before the parties. Parties after the parties. And parties the next day. Did I tell you that I attended a party school? Well, apparently the parties are still in full force.I hope my partying classmates will be respectful of the non-par-tiers. I hope they will realize that even if alcohol isn’t a problem in their life, that it has indeed stolen years from some of our classmates. I hope that they will applaud those who aren’t drinking, instead of naively pressuring them to party on dude. Surely, we are all old enough now to acknowledge the ill effects of drinking, especially for addicts. For those of my classmates that are sober (or Mormon), I just read today about a specialty drink called The Utah Sunset you can order.

It is such a different world being a Mormon. We went to my sister in law Jill’s birthday party last night. In attendance were a bunch of 20 somethings. There was no alcohol, but much laughter. They played ninja and whole body twister. And they laughed all night long. I believe they all went home with no regrets.

Now onto me.

All you loyal readers know how hard I’ve been working at sprucing up the blog so that I could monetize.

I am proud to announce today that I have a new lucky number.

I guess it’s now seven.

Today marks the day that I’ve had

1007 posts

5370 comments.

This month I’ve had 6,701 hits.

And the best of all:

I have earned my first 2.74 cents.

My old lucky number was 11.

It is now retired.

I have 211 spam comments in my spam box.

For some reason most of those tried to post naked pictures on Donna’s Birthing Story. Go figure. Trust me when I tell you that you should be very happy that blogger has advanced enough to know how to block the spam from publishing.

So,

I’m partying today.

Like it’s 1997.

The year I got married.

Not like, 1991, the year I graduated high school.

I don’t need alcohol for my happiness.

In fact, I believe my happiness is better when it can be achieved without alcohol.

Oh no!

I have been getting all kinds of updates from Knoxville.

Friends without power for days.

And just when they were almost in the clear,

another round of

tornadoes came causing more chaos!

Of all the updates I have received, Amanda’s post on Facebook has been the most entertaining of all, by far.

Her caption:

Oh, no! What do I do?

There is always humor.

Even in the midst of suffering.

I prefer the laughter

over the pain.

It’s soothing to my soul.

I am so grateful for friends that

always make me laugh.

Love you Amanda.

Potter and Johnson

I need to blog. I need to dig into some photos on my hard drive and share some fun stuff we’ve done.
I need to write some funny stuff.

But what am I doing?

Watching this of course:

Pottermore has my loyalty.

Even if that darn JK refuses to write another book!

I’ve also been looking for lost classmates for my 20 year high school reunion.

That is so exciting. It also makes me feel very old. It’s also puzzling a bit.
Why can’t anyone find Ted Johnson?

He has his own wikipedia page and the only way I could think to find him was to send his booking agent a note. I hope he will pass it along. It wouldn’t be the same without Ted. He’s the one that broke the news to me that I won at my election for Sophomore class president. I should have kissed him like this. You can get away with things like that in the moment of excitement. And out of all the boys I kissed in high school I really did my bragging rights a great disservice by not kissing the future SuperBowl champ. 4 superbowls people.

I am now really tempted to write nasty things about the Mormon boy who had the gall to call me a jack mormon in my yearbook who has repeatedly ignored my facebook friend requests. Funny thing is, he was a football player too. But never made it past college ball. And he was a kicker…not quite the same as sweet and hunky Ted the linebacker. And to think my friends thought he would be a match made in heaven for me when he moved in our Senior year. Blah on you Mr man who shall not be named Voldemort, but all of our classmates know who I am talking about. I dare you to show up at our reunion. Double dog dare. And Ted better be there to back me up. Oh forget Ted, I’ve got my husband to back me. And even though LG wouldn’t hurt a fly, he can outsmart anyone (o.k. most anyone) there I am sure. And after 20 years we better be past fist fighting.

So, I am now off to tumbling class. And then I will be slave driving all afternoon. These kids have got to do some chores! Sometimes I wish that the wizarding world was real. Accio clean laundry, please. Coming soon: the funny spells my kids invented.

I know you are dying for them now, but you are going to have to wait because I have to go and this post has been too long.

Show some love.

I have talented friends and family. In fact, I am pretty sure that everyone I know is uber talented.

I have recently been given two great opportunities to show some love.
They came through youtube.
Go figure.

This first video was done by the one and only Jimmy Hinson.
He writes music for video game. How cool is that?

Here is a song that he wrote to help earn money for his sister Emily who just donated her kidney to her sweet husband. The song is great and so are Emily and Jared. They are some of the sweetest people who deserve lots of love. You can imagine the financial strain of a kidney transplant on two college students, so send them a hug.

And do it in the form of a .99 c song purchase. Put the song on your ipod and next time you go and exercise, you can imagine yourself in a video game running to get to your kidney recipient in time. At the receiving end of your purchase will be these two sweet faces.

And you can also show some love to LG’s cousin Eliza and her husband Kyle.
They have managed to make a Jimmy Wong video that is a tribute to their shared love for each other and the BYU campus. Pretty impressive.