The Grocery List Game

Here is an article taken from an email list I am on. It's from Family Fun Magazine and it's the daily email from The Dream Team Daily. I love their short little articles that are full of great ideas, realistic kid challenges and humor. I thought this was a great idea and a good experiment to try out on children and husbands alike!

July 26, 2007
The Grocery List Game	by Kim B.

Once again, I found myself returning a sugary snack back to the grocery store shelf.

"Trevor, you know we have enough sweets. That's not on our shopping list," I reminded my 6-year-old son for the third or fourth time. I was losing count, and losing my patience.

"But Mom," he whined. "This is sooo boring. If I have to come, why can't we get stuff I like?"

Trevor enjoyed our weekly trip to the grocery store about as much I did — which means he dreaded it. But how else could our family get the food we needed to survive?

Obviously, we had to make our weekly grocery trek, but there was no reason it couldn't be more fun — and possibly less expensive — if I could curb his urges to add things we didn't need to the cart.

The following week, I gave Trevor a copy of the grocery store sales paper and his scissors, asking him to cut out pictures of the things we needed. He spent half an hour happily cutting out apples, lettuce, cereal, and ice cream as I made out our list.

"Can we get some fruit roll-ups too, Mom?" he asked. I said no, expecting some extra begging, but Trevor just turned the page, intently scouring the ads. Maybe hearing "no" was easier for him in the privacy of his own home, I thought.

"Do we need paper towels?" he asked next.

Paper towels? When did he start caring about such essentials?

After Trevor pasted his pictures on a sheet of paper, we headed to the store. Much like on a scavenger hunt, Trevor carefully shopped off his list, getting excited every time he could cross off an item as he added it to the cart.

"Here's the green apples," he shouted. "Next I have to find the bagels."

Soon we were done in record time, with no extras in sight.

Getting ready for the grocery store now takes a little longer, but his new-found eagerness to actually go is priceless.

Expanding my horizons....

OK. I have posted before about how I haven't tried much fruit. Well, now you can add two more to my list. :) YAY! I had a plum and a mango and I liked them both.

Here is a list of all of the fruit I have in my house at the moment:

• bananas
• strawberries
• apples
• plums
• cherries
• plums
• oranges
• watermelon
• grapefruit
• mango

....and I have been eating all of it! For those of you who know my eating habits you know that this is a big feat. I also have two bags of mixed berries and fruit. Angela, I wish I lived by you and I would be taking some of your berries too :)

OK. What is the next fruit I should try?

Safety First

My sister just sent me over a website where you can search to see how many sex offenders live in your area. It is sad to see how many people are registered on these things. It's sick actually. I did a search in my area and there are 45 sex offenders in my tiny little zip code and two or three of them are just one street over!!! In my zip code for work there are 24.

As creepy as it is, I think it is equally important to look at their pictures (especially the ones that are so close by) so that you may be reminded of their photo if you are ever approached by them. Let's pray that we will NEVER have to deal with that in our lives, but if we do I hope that we can possibly even avoid a tragedy by being as knowledgeable as we can about who is in our neighborhoods.

I know there are several more people that aren't even registered as they should be, but this is a start and we should use the knowledge from this resource to protect our families. Check every so often in your same zip code, especially when you move, where you work etc. so that we can all be a little bit more prepared.

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/states.htm#anchor198549

HP5 Baby!!!

So.....Dusty and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I LOVED IT!!!! I think it was the best movie so far. I like it because they are growing up and there is a lot more action and complex issues.

There is so much stinking detail in the books that you don't get in the movies so if you haven't read the books you are missing out. I think this movie captured the essence of the book despite a lot of missing details. I liked the 4th movie but I don't think it got the points of the book across too well. I think that in this series you can't explain everything or else the movies would be like 5 movies per book (I would like that of course but...whatever) After this movie (Order of the Phoenix) I was ready to see the 6th movie and felt like there was lots of action, a little humor, some dark and twisted stuff, a good climax and left me wanting to stay in the theater for another 2.5 hours and watch the next one.

Does anyone else plan on seeing it?


** Melissa, I think you will LOVE this movie. **

Another Recipe Site

I don't know why I am in to recipes like big time all of the sudden. I am going to claim it is Melissa's fault. :) Here is a site I thought was pretty cool. When you click on the link it takes you to a blog where the recipes are.

http://www.free-recipe-books.com/

Some more DC, Nauvoo Pics

My picture of the Vietnam Memorial.

This is a spot Susan took us to that not too many people know about. This is the grave site of many early saints whose graves Susan discovered in the 70's (I think) and she figured out their temple work had not been done and researched every grave site and did their temple work. This is also the spot where President Hinckley comes to see every time he visits Nauvoo. You have to drive a little ways out and then walk in the woods to get to it. It was very peaceful there and a neat place to experience.

Probably one of my favorite places in Nauvoo is the Woman's Garden. It is just so full of power and inspiration of what it means to be a daughter of God and a realization of how much loving power and influence women have in their homes, community and world. The garden has 30 statues of women and it represents the eternal circle of womanhood and all the phases of it. I am going to post more on this later because it is so beautiful and it meant a lot to me.

This was a play that the missionaries put on in Nauvoo called Rendezvous in Nauvoo. It was SO cute. That was the first thing we did in Nauvoo. These missionaries sing and act and tell the powerful stories of the early Saints. The play was too cute and had a spiritual message that I will never forget.

Here is a little camera trickery with the Washington Monument.
It looks like I am leaning against it. :)

Here is the Nauvoo temple from the view of the visitor's center. It is amazing how the whole town revolves around the temple. I love it! I can't imagine what it was like to just have the markings of the old temple there. It was a beautiful temple inside and out. Absolutely gorgeous.

My first time at the White House. We were there when Tony Blair was there for his last little shin dig with the President as Prime Minister. They had secret service and security everywhere. They were having a party on the lawn on the side. It was pretty cool.

Virginia, DC and Nauvoo Pics

Shipping Cupcakes

My sister Melissa has recently made cupcakes at Evan's 1st Birthday Party that still have people talking! She has promised to make me some and them ship them to me but she didn't know how....until now!! :)

Looky looky at what I found. http://cupacake.com/

Once you put a cupcakes in these containers you can turn them upside down and it still won't move. I can't WAIT to get a box of my sissy's cupcakes in the mail ;) Well at least get the recipe.....

Where dat gap go?

This is a picture of me where you can't tell I have a gap. I only have a few of these pictures and this one you totally can't tell I have one.

Dangers of Hand Sanitizers and Children

http://www.king5.com/health/stories/NW_062207HEK_hand_sanitizers_risk_children_LJ.522f7fd.html

Another Cooking Site

I have gotten a few recipes from this site that I LOVE and I wanted to post it here mostly for my addict sister :)

Creative Homemaking


p.s. I promise that I am actually going to start doing posts with substance very soon :)

Everyday Food

Here is a link to some recipes for my recipe-aholic sister (and everyone else). I love the show Everyday Cooking because usually the recipes they show really do have ingredients you have at the house.

Everyday Food

Dusty's Back!

And as you can see he had fun! I love this picture of him.

He's really in his element :)

Yummy Oatmeal Cookies

This was from a friend at work. She brought them in and they were so good I wanted to share. Nothing fancy but really good. I will try and post a new recipe every now and then!

Oatmeal Cookies

1 c margarine
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 c oats (quick oats I guess...)
1 bag chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together. Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 mins at 350 and voila! Makes 4 dozen.

Decide to Decide!

I think that one of my biggest problems as of late is that I am indecisive. I hate being indecisive. It totally stunts your growth. It is a stumbling block for you and most of the time it doesn't need to be. I wouldn't say that I am paralyzed by fear (as it says below) but I definitely need to work on just making decisions more quickly. My focus lately has been making more decisions in a timely manner. It's still a challenge and I am trying to get over it! Below was an email from Dr. Paul here in Utah and I wanted to share it.

Many people are paralyzed by fear when it comes to making decisions. Look at the similarities between these words:

DECISION

INCISION

EXCISION

You will notice a common root to all three - "cision", which means "cut". An "incision" is a cut "into" something, like in surgery. An "excision" occurs when something is cut "out", like having a nasty mole removed. A "decision" is cutting something "off". Any decision cuts you off from the alternatives, which is why many people fear decisions. This concept is even more powerful when you realize that you are always making decisions. Even when you avoid a decision, that is the same thing as accepting the passive decision, which cuts you off from whatever you could have obtained by making an active decision.

Decide to decide!

I never signed up for this!!

I never thought that I would be married to someone who loved nature so much. Growing up I was never much the camping girl. Sure I would go every once in a while but never had this feeling of just HAVING to be there in nature. It has taken me a while to figure out the extent of Dusty's passion. I have since understood that nature, snakes, reptiles, zoos and anything closely related with be a part of my life forever. And I am OK with that. (Note that I say that now and not when I find lizards and snakes in their pockets while doing laundry....)

Everyone who finds out about Dusty's hobby immediately asks questions like "How do they breed?" "Have you ever seen them do it?" People who come over usually get the full educational version of how male snakes actually have two penises. And from that point on in the conversation they are fascinated. The conversation lasts at least an hour of a nonstop Q&A session.

Let me tell you, I know more about snakes than I EVER thought possible. I retain that information too. I can tell you which snakes give live births and which ones lay eggs. I can tell you what is different about the Loma Alta line of Subocs. I can tell you some genetics of the snakes we have. And I can even tell you the Latin names of some reptiles. Oh yeah, I am a herpetologist in training :) (Disclaimer: Herpetology is the study of reptiles...that explanation was mostly for Mike....it's not the study of herpes which is what most people think when they ask Dusty what he studies.)

Why do I tell you all of this? Well, Dusty just left yesterday for his big West Texas trip. He is going on 8 days of camping, snake hunting (no they don't kill them...), he gets to meet his publisher and he gives a presentation to 3 Herp Societies. He is way excited and I know he will do awesome!! I am so happy he is there.

However, we have a lot of snakes to take care of. There are a lot of mouths to feed while he's gone. We have eggs in the incubator that will hatch any day and a snake that will lay more eggs any day. Luckily he has a great friend that is coming over to help him feed them the live mice they require. I'm just not there yet! I might be able to feed them dead ones....we'll see.

Dusty left me a list of things to do while he's gone and if the one snake lays eggs I am responsible to put them in the incubator. I think the only thing that is helping me to overcome this obstacle is knowing that by me putting the eggs in the incubator...it means more money in my pocket :)

OK. I guess I am just doing a little reflecting out loud because it dawned on me how different my life is. Now to the point.....

Dusty is gone. He's miles away in the middle of nowhere. A old neighbor knocks on the door. He speaks very little English and hands me a Coke bottle. Upon further inspection I see a snake in it! Without much conversation he just leaves. What the?! Luckily Dusty was in range with his cell phone when I called. He told me to just give it back and tell him to let it go, but the guy was already gone! Then I was instructed to put it with the other snake the guy brought by a few weeks ago. My biggest fear was taking the lid off of the Coke bottle. Dusty would be ashamed because he would start telling me how stupid and irrational that fear is. (But don't worry honey, I was playing that lecture over in my head and it got me through...)

Anyway. I couldn't just open the bottle and stick it in the cage because the cage was too small and the lid wouldn't fit over it. So I was standing there for about 30 minutes waiting for the snake to come out of the bottle while trying not to have the other snake get out of the cage. Everything worked out in the end but I kept checking the lid to make sure it was fastened good.

I realized how "unique" my marriage is and how cool people think that Dusty is too. Our goal in life should be to do what we love and I can definitely say that Dusty is doing that no matter how many people have told him he's crazy or there's no money in it...he keeps on keeping on with his vision in sight. I know that he will go far in this industry...he knows it like the back of his hand. A passion for something and solid knowledge of the industry is a good combination. So, no matter if I signed up for this or not, this is the lot I have chosen and I am excited to see where this slithery path takes me!

Chance of snow?!

OK. Today I wake up and it's cold (high is in the 50's), rainy and we have a chance of snow! Dusty skipped out just in time. He's in west Texas where it's in the 100's. I don't know who got the better deal.

Rhoads Rolls Baby!!

This is our new version of "Rhodes Rolls". Dusty got up early and cooked me breakfast and made some croissant rolls too....except he forgot to roll them! LOL Maybe he thought you roll them after they bake...

Quote of the Day

"Of all the Republicans to run for president in 2008, the one who's only had one wife is a Mormon."

~Orrin Hatch

Catching up....

Well, it seems I have a lot to blog about, especially my Nauvoo trip. Things have been pretty crazy around the house lately so I am short on time for blogging....but it is coming soon :).......