SHOPPING AT COSTCO or A CART FULL OF WOE

The kids were here Monday evening through early Wednesday evening. Barely 48 hours. They went to Costco with Phil. Twice. I did not go. I am the lone voice of reason. This shopping trip is typical. It was in May.

Actually, there is one other voice or reason. She was outnumbered. She wanted soy milk. That was all. Just some soy milk.

"We can go now. Mission accomplished."

"But lookit! Peanut butter."
"And, lookit. Chips!"
"We do not need chips," said the voice of reason.

"But, they are Kettle Chips. I'm pretty sure that means they are special."
Look at the cart. Does it look like the voice of reason is winning?
"Oh, no. What has he found now?"

She speeds ahead. She must stop disaster.
It was too late. Disaster was piled high. Do you see one fruit or vegetable there? Me neither.

And that is how ALL trips to Costco end. You would be better off just walking by the door and throwing twenty dollar bills at them. At least you wouldn't have a bunch of junk...do you see the Oreos? And the chips? Chips of all kinds? Some chips are even masquerading as veggies. Veggie chips. Right.

The score: Costco one hundred and fifty-five. The voice of reason zero.

PS I hate to admit this but I am not actually the voice of reason. The Sun Chips were my purchase and probably other junk food too.

WOULDN'T THIS BE FUN, TO OWN THIS?

Now, I ask you, wouldn't this be fun to own? Maybe for just a week or two. It would be a parking nightmare though; maybe you wouldn't be parking it anywhere with lines, like a shopping mall. More likely by corals and fields, with horses and cowboy boots, caked with horse doo doo.

But, it did have such a nice feel, there for a minute, didn't it?

But the horse doo doo? Even with only a single "doo," well, that changes things, doesn't it?

So maybe never mind.

SHOPPING WITH THE DIVAS

Today I went shopping with the Divas.One of the divas loved these shoes. Too bad the mother said no.And no again.Another of the divas loved these shoes and since she's the mother she said yes. She said, "I bought this for you for Christmas." Oh joy. Luckily it will go with my fur lamps.

Then the divas found the sunglasses.

It didn't matter to them that they weren't real sunglasses.Or even on right side up.

"You can have that outfit but you must save it for school."

"SCHOOL? It's only June twenty-fifth!" It was a fun day with the Divas. Call me anytime, girls. I'll meet you for more adventures.

And...in case you are hungry, this salad is on my cookbook blog, here. It doesn't look great, but it is. I promise.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

They came to retrieve their dogs. The vacation was fun, they said, but they missed the puppies.

Are we ready to go yet, huh? Huh? Huh?Good-bye dogs. Be good boys.

I'm going to take a little nap on the way home.

This is the hard part, seeing them drive away. And not because of the dogs, either. Well, maybe a little bit because of the dogs, but mostly because of the kids.

And they forgot to take their pineapple. I think they should drive back down and get it.

And go to J-Dawg again.

And Costco--after all twice in two days is hardly enough.

And then they should move here.

"UP," THE MOVIE, AND ALSO A PLACE TO LOOK FOR COMFORT

These little people took me

to the movie "UP" last week. They were delightful.

The movie was delightful, too.

It was funny and a bit sad too.
It had high adventure.
And the cone of shame.

The movie was about friendship and

loyalty but it was about loss, too.

Today was a day of loss for us. A sad day. A day for contemplation and faith in Heavenly Father and believing him when he makes promises.

If you are having a sad day/month/year/life, remember that God loves you and is watching over you. He is sad at your sadness but He knows that everything will be all right, even when it's not. I find it hard to believe some days, like today, but deep in my heart I know it is true.

God loves you. He loves me and my family. He wants us all to be happy. Even when we are sad. Like today.

FUNNY THINGS I SAW TODAY

One of the first things a young boy wants to learn to do--once he learns he is "a man"--is to learn to spit. Have you ever seen a youngster trying to spit? There is no way I could describe it, spit dribbling off the chin, and all. But soon, too soon. they have mastered the skill and, it seems, it never departs.

As evidenced by the retired gentleman I watched today. He shuffled to the mail box. It took a while. Just before he got there--I was now thinking of him as a dear old soul--he spit. So much for the dear old soul, bit. Wow, could that old feller spit.

We drove to Salt Lake today and on the freeway we passed a plumbing van. I was bored and so read all the things written on the back. Just as it got interesting and I was reaching for my camera he took an exit. Here's what it said: "Courteous, Clean, No surprises. We wear belts. Cash back if you see a crack."

This is on my cookbook blog tonight. It was very tasty. Everyone at dinner pronounced it good. And if you are into food storage, most of the ingredients are things you can have in your pantry/basement/bomb shelter or under the bed. Where is your food storage kept?

Mexican Casserole.

PS I couldn't do without tweezers. I explained in the Mexican Casserole post. It is one of the four things I hate about growing old:

1. A turkey gobbler neck

2. Eye Boogers (Do you remember that comic strip in Bloom County where they called Eye Boogers "the great social equalizer?" One of the characters--was it Opus?--said, "even the Pope has them."

3. Dirty eye glasses

4. And chin hairs.

But I should have added #5. Bat wings. Every woman over the age of forty knows what I mean. If you know a remedy please let me know. I could probably sail a good distance.

WHY NO FATHER'S DAY GIFT?

Our ward always presents the mother's with a flower for Mother's Day. It's usually a geranium. One year it was a basil plant. After Sacrament Meeting the Young Men and Young Women bring the flowers in to all the women age 18 and older. My geranium is planted in a pot out front and is blooming nicely.

Here it is:

And here are some of it's buddies:

(These photos were taken in the dark of night and they are terrible but I never seem to plan ahead.)

When Father's Day rolled around this year there was nothing for the fathers in our ward. Years ago I volunteered to make caramels for all the men. I did that for several years. Once I made all of them in one week and was nearly dead by Sunday--the bishop kept saying, "No, Lynne, I can't let you do that." By the time he finally agreed he didn't realize that he put me in a terrible time crunch. The next year I started earlier and the following two years we had ten of the women in the ward help wrap. Those were the easiest years ever.

I think the men enjoy being recognized but the last two years, when I have volunteered to make caramels, I didn't hear back so I assumed there was some other plan. Next year I'm not going to ask. I'm just gong to do it by myself. How's that for feisty? I think the men need to be recognized for their great contribution as father's. Don't you think? I know the women will help me cut and wrap. After all, I think their husbands share.

And then a funny side note. One of these fathers, sitting behind me in Sunday School fell asleep four times during class. He snored! I had to use all my self control to keep from snickering. A little caramel would have kept him awake, I'm sure of it. Not that he would have eaten any during church, but still.

We had a family dinner planned here but it was Phil's first day with the new BYU ward and he was there about eight hours. Plus the weather has been nothing but rain for weeks. So we postponed. We will have a family dinner here in a couple of weeks. The two of us ate dinner and then both of us crashed and slept before Phil had to go back for family prayer so it was a quiet Father's Day for Phil, but a good one. I am very grateful that he is the father of my children and I love him very much. I know the children do too.

Happy late Father's Day to one and all.

A REAL BUMMER.

Today it rained. Again. It's rained almost every day for weeks. But today, because Her Excellency of Mousehole planted acorns out front one year and they sprouted and grew into oak trees and because every tree offers gifts, and our oak trees offer gifts of all kinds, IN ALL SEASONS, along with the maples out back, that also offer gifts, IN ALL SEASONS, our rain gutters were plugged. When they are plugged we are in serious trouble. The water drains onto sidewalk and onto and the water soaked flower gardens and then drains into the basement.

Phil got on the roof with the garden hose to unclog the drains. I stood on the front lawn to take his photo. I had a new photo card in my camera, one with more memory. When I loaded it into the old camera, the one I download to the computer with, the old camera wouldn't read it. So, I will have to quit cheating and learn how to use my new camera to download photos.

Bummer.

I hate bummers.

One of my sons hates bummers too. We now have something in common.

So, there is no photos of Phil--brave man that he is--on the roof in the rain.

This will have to do.

This is a photo of Phil, training the dogs that they belong on the floor. He is very stern, as you can see. The dogs are shaking in their boots. They will never be on a lap again.
Gordon,in all his lap sitting glory, while listening attentively to the lecture, has his eye on something.It's Minkey, who is doing his best to ignore those disobedient, lap sitting dogs.And those dogs? They are really listening well, they'll be off Phil and on the floor, where they belong, any minute now. Yup, any minute. Um hum, really, they will.
Just as soon as they finish their naps.

A PRODUCTIVE HALF HOUR

Tonight I went across the street to see how my neighbor was--her husband was taken to the hospital in an ambulance this morning. He is much better--he has pneumonia.

Then I thought of my Healthy Living Group and the commitment I made to walk five days a week. So I walked around the neighborhood.

Then I saw another neighbor unloading "stuff" for a garage sale tomorrow morning for the Cub Scouts. I went by to see if I could help and spied three bikes, which I bought at the pre-garage sale.

Tonight was a three-fer: A visit with a neighbor. Good news about her husband.

A walk to keep my promise.

Bikes for the grandkids to ride when they visit. (I went to the movie "Up" with some of those grandkids today. It was such fun to be with them and the movie was top notch.)

I have always been a night owl, getting more done late in the day than any other time. Maybe tomorrow night I'll actually get my new chapter out of my head and on the computer.

SCARY STAIRS

Couldn't you write a delicious

story about these scary stairs?

Me too.

GOING GREEN

Some of our grandchildren

take "going green" seriously.

Some take to totally seriously.
And some find it a total snore.