Free just isn't what it used to be

So the kids are visiting at Grandpa Sam and Grandma Janet's place, and I decided it will be nice to work on projects and run errands without interruptions. Off to Lowe's I went for some more evil caulk(all caulk is evil).
On the way home, I stopped to get the oil changed in the Honda. First I couldn't find the hood latch and the 2 guys were chuckling and smiling indulgently at the dingy woman. Give me a break, when you drive the same car for 10 years, it takes a while to get used to the new one. I think the very nice gentleman there felt bad for laughing, so he gave me a nifty little card for a free "super express" car wash.
The car wash was on the way home, so I thought,"Why not? It's free." A seemingly pleasant looking woman came out and I showed her the card and said, "I'd like to use this please."
"Oh no, you don't want to do that. I can give you a better deal. It's Tuesday and ladies get 1/2 off."
I sat in my car quietly for a moment, trying to determine when 1/2 price became cheaper than free.
"Plus you can get a Silver Wash for only $13 something, and I'll give you and extra 3 dollars off for this card, and then it will only cost you $10.75. Isn't that great? That way we'll detail and use Armor All on the inside."
"No thanks, I'm sensitive to smells and prefer to maintain the inside of the car myself. I'd just like the basic free wash."
"Ok, that will be $10.75, pull up into the canopy."
"But....."
She's long gone, so I tried to explain it to the guy working the wash. He said to just drive through myself and it would be fine. By this time, I'm skeptical about the whole thing and just want to leave with my dirty car, but sadly, someone has pulled up behind me and there's no room to turn, so I wimped out and pulled into the wash. I pulled around afterwards and the lady runs out and demands $10.75. So I smiled and said,"I don't understand. I said I just wanted to use the free wash card and now it costs me $10.75 to drive my own car through the wash?"
"You don't want an upgrade? I told you it's a great deal."
"No"
So then she bellows, "She doesn't want it, she's just going to drive off! She's going to drive off!" The look on her face would've led one to believe I'd stolen a $50 car wash or something, and everyone in line and on the lot turns to look at the crazy lady just driving off. I drove off feeling like an idiot. I thought if they did a good job, I'd go there again. Now I think not. That lady scares me.
I think the guy at the oil place set me up.

Oompa Loompas?

Wednesday the boys went to work with William for TI's annual "Take your son or daughter to work day." This is Aaron dressed up to go into the fab. I think he looks like an oompa loompa, but he didn't like hearing that much.

Jacob learned to "flash" a board and then used it to play on. I think William is secretly grooming him to become the next Causey engineer. He looks like he fits right in at the lab doesn't he?
The boys had a good time, and came home telling me about all their mad science moments. I think Sam missed it a little this year, as it was her first year being too old to go. (sigh)They grow up so fast.

March Madness: not NCAA related

We've been so busy this month! Jacob turned 11, and is thrilled beyond belief to be in 11 yr old scouts at church. He has been spoiled rotten by our families, and is in a spending frenzy. He is waiting to party until his friends are back from Spring Break. He has also earned his Arrow of Light, after working very hard this past month or so. Can't wait til the ceremony!
Aaron earned his Bear award in Cub Scouts. It's such a thrill to stand up and have him give me those little pins because the proud look on his face is priceless! He has already had his Webelos book out planning what to work on next.

Dad came down for Jake's birthday, and brought me a wonderful present: DIRT!!! I love it! I asked for it for Christmas and I think he thought I was deranged. But our stinky little patch of earth has no dirt, just a couple of inches of poor topsoil and yucky white rock. So it was way too expensive to put in a garden. Dad and Janet not only brought me dirt, they helped me dig out the old concrete dog run and put in the garden. I am tickled pink! I think it will have just enough room to grow ingredients for salsa. Yippee!
Spring Break found us dispersed in different directions. I went South to The Woodlands(Houston area)to a Time Out for Women. It was a wonderful weekend, spent away from the frantic pace of our regular schedule. Teryl and I had some adventures before the seminar started on Friday. We started by just wandering down the highway, tried shopping in Old Spring, and met a lovely lady at the tourist bureau there who recommended we visit the National Museum of Funeral History. I didn't know what to think, she had a huge smile on her face, and seemed absolutely serious that we should go. (was she messing with me?) Well, for lack of a better idea on a cold drizzly day, we went, knowing it would be an adventure we'd never have if we had kids along.
We pulled up to an empty parking lot, and noticed this sign

We took a moment to ponder if the "training institute" part of the sign might have something to do with the empty parking lot. There were some interesting exhibits in the museum, including the funeral bus. Designed to hold the casket, pall bearers and mourners, it was retired after an incident in which the mourners didn't appreciate having the body end up on top of them. Weird.

We also enjoyed a side trip to the Houston Temple, which was closed for maintenance, but we strolled the grounds anyway. They are just lovely, with really nice seating areas outside in the trees.

And after all that, we still got to be uplifted by the Time Out for Women speakers and musicians. Sometimes the insight that other people have into the scriptures just blows me away. I know the whole program is geared to increasing Deseret Books sales, and promoting their authors, but that's fine. I'll bite, buy books and enjoy it. Seems like I learn something from Sheri Dew every time I hear her. What a gift she has!
While I was away, William took the kids to Vicksburg to see his folks. It was part of our not so devious plan to do a makeover on Jake's room without his knowledge. We had to prime the walls before I left, so he knew he was getting painted, but I think he was truly surprised when he came home and it was fixed up with a shark theme. It was kind of strange coming home to a quiet house-notice I didn't say anything about not enjoying it. I had lots of fun painting and playing in his room at all hours of the day and night. I didn't do anything fancy, but he was so excited when he came home it was very worth it. Here's a couple of pics of his new decor:



In Mississippi, the kids had a great time with William's folks. His Uncle Lynn and Aunt Peggy came to visit, and his sister Laura and her husband Ronny were there as well. (sorry, no pics yet, I had the camera)They were spoiled rotten with crawdad boil for dinner, oreo balls for dessert, and Grandma played Triominoes with Aaron for hours. Yes, math based games are Aaron's idea of heaven. Sam loved the crawdads and went on and on about them when she got home. No fair! The boys "taught" Ronny how to play football. They claim he enjoyed it, we hope he won't run the other way next time he sees them coming. Sam managed to meet cute boys in the ward there, who Grandma reported had sudden mysterious needs to borrow sugar, newspapers, and other items that they needed to walk over and get for their parents. Sadly, Will and the kids had to return home Tuesday so William could go back to work. I have to admit, by then I was sick of the quiet house and thrilled to have them back home!
On top of all that, baseball season has begun. The boys are practicing a couple of times a week. That along with Will's new calling in Young Men's means we are home together 1 night a week tops. Glad we were able to slow down and enjoy the end of Spring Break together before the crazy schedules started up again. It's good to have everyone growing up and having great activities, but we sure appreciate quiet family time a lot more these days.

My cheatin' heart

It's confession time again. I've been untrue. I know it's crazy, and can never work out, but what can I say? I'm weak.
There's only room in my life for one true love, I know that. But something just happens to me. I see that sleek, muscular thing and I gasp. My heart races a little and I want to get my hands on it.
Yes, it's true. I will always be a Mustang girl at heart, but those new Challengers just do something to me. Is it so wrong? Couldn't I just drive one once?

Random lists and life's important questions

So I've been playing around on Facebook where all these lists are flying around; 25 Random Things, 48 Random Things, the Name Game,and so on. While I find them to be informative and entertaining,I really think our time could be better spent considering the more pressing questions in life. You know, the really deep important ones, not these trivial things like what color pants I'm wearing. (They're blue jeans, by the way.)
For instance: Where do all those bleep bleepity bleepin' socks go? I buy socks by the cartload, bring them home to the boys, and those suckers just go everywhere. I find them in the bookcases, in the car, behind the toilet, in the refrigerator, and millions of other places. I find them everywhere except with their mate in the laundry basket. Is there a little invisible sock gremlin in my home?


Also, are there really 24 hours in each day? I don't believe it. If you get on the computer or have multiple errands to run, time accelerates at an unnatural rate, and you never have enough. But some hours seem to last forfreakin'ever! Like sharing time in Primary on Fast Sundays. Am I right? This must be a grand deception.

And is there some kind of weird word twister thing in the air around mothers? You know, so when you say "go put that in your room" they hear "leave it in the middle of the floor so I will trip over it when I'm carrying a huge load of your dirty laundry." There must be, or some kind of hearing impairment that only occurs with the tone of your own mother's voice. That one I guess is ok, as long as they understand me when I say "I love you" it will all work out in the end. But life would be more pleasant without that doohickey.

Or, where on earth do boys put all the food they eat? I am sure that research grants given to study endangered belching frogs in a far away rain forest would be better spent discovering food that would actually fill those bottomless pits we call sons.

Oh, I have lots of others, like why does our dog Rocket always burp right in my face and nobody else's? Or why does the laundry multiply like tribbles when you take it to the laundry room? Why do I enjoy torturing my kids with the high pitched sound grenade that William can't even hear? (is it sick and wrong?) And on and on. I'm sure everyone has a list of similar questions that keep them awake into the wee hours of the night. Maybe we should post those on facebook and put the mighty minds to work on them. And if you have the answers, please leave them so I can finally get some sleep at night!

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Look out church dances- here comes Sam! She is so excited to be turning 14, just in time for Youth Conference and lots of church dances.

For her birthday this year, she got an ice day- no school! William even took his morning meeting call at home and stayed to make his fabulous triple chocolate and fudge muffins for her. And of course she was tickled to have a day free to spend with her friends. After a quick shower and a few thousand text messages, she had arranged to meet some friends for a fun afternoon.We went to Mimi's with Callie and Hailey, met Debbie,the patient waitress, and enjoyed fried pickles and brownie fudge sundaes. Here's a shout out to Hailey- I promised to put her fabulous picture on the blog.

Then we grabbed Rebekah and went to Walmart. We played our silly shopping game; everyone gets $5 and draws a name, buys something fun, meets back in about half an hour and exchanges crazy gifts. I don't know about the girls, but I had a blast. The girls were so creative and clever with what they bought, and we had some good giggles. They gave each other some funny things, like free paint chips and Chuck Norris folders. Sam got a new pet dinosaur, Dutch Boy, a doughnut, some lotion, and paint chips. Her gifts fit her personality perfectly. Do her friends know her or what?

Afterwords the girls came over to the house and gossiped, texted and giggled until time for Young Women's. It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with them and I am so glad Sam enjoys such good friends. The girls share a great sense of humor and I love to see the way Sam lights up when she laughs with them. Watching her today, I could tell she was really happy, and it made my heart sing. I hope she remembers this as a truly happy birthday.

Just a thought...

What does it say about the state of our nation that I've heard more buzz over Michelle's dress and Aretha's hat and Barak's blackberry than Barak's speech? Just something that's been playing at the edge of my mind this morning as I read blogs and news articles.

Way to go Jake!

Today Jacob competed against 9 other finalists in the school geography bee- and he won! All of the kids who were there did really well. Some of the questions were very challenging, in fact several of the parents who attended said they couldn't answer all of them. Now he gets to study, then take a written test to see if he gets to go to the Texas state competition with 100 kids. Wow!

Lyndell was kind enough to send us some pictures from the event. (thank you thank you!)

Woohoo!

Samantha made a goal this past semester to try out and make Honor band at school. She came in yesterday and proudly informed me that she made it! I'll try to get her to let me record her sometime. It's really been fun for us as parents to see how far she's come since she started with all those squawks and squeaks just a couple of years ago. We are proud of her efforts!

More Christmas

We also got to go to Dad's for a short visit during the Christmas break.We enjoyed opening presents with them, and visiting. Also,the weather was really nice, so the boys got to shoot, which they love. Look how serious they look with those little bb guns in their hands-

Jake also tried out the 22 again, but Aaron was frustrated about his arms being too short to hold it well. Poor kid.

We also love to sit out in the morning and evening and watch the cardinals come to the bird feeders. I know, how silly. But it really is cool when there are 8-10 males all sitting in one leafless winter tree. I tried to take a few pics, but with the dusk lighting it was tough to get a good shot before the kids made a ruckus and startled them.

We also had some excitement when all the boys went out to burn some brush Dad had cleared from his property line. The wind kicked up and the fire went right up in Will's face. His eyebrows and hair got burned pretty badly, but luckily his skin wasn't burned at all. Amazing! Much to his chagrin, we've had a bit of fun teasing him about his funny new haircut.