in the midst of all the turmoil and strife in the world right now, i find great comfort in the company of my family and friends. we are living through some pretty tough times. but you know what i think?

i think we are going to make it.

no, really. we will hopefully be better people for having experienced this refining process. i mean, aren't we all just diamonds in the rough anyway? they say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. i say when the going gets tough,

eat more chocolate!

and read more books...good books. and play with your children more. and laugh more. and drink more

dr. pepper!

we have decided to have a homemade christmas. with limited funds, we don't have a lot of choice anyway...but to look at it as a conscious choice makes it seem more fun! i am excited! i had to wipe the dust off my sewing machine, but i am loving it! i didn't realize how much i missed sewing. and the kids are really catching the spirit and getting excited too. yea! we have fun designing and creating and cutting and chatting together. sometimes we watch a movie while we cut or stuff or iron. it's great!

maybe we have started a

new family tradition...

and in that same vein...when i get my gifts finished, i will start working on my etsy inventory. that's right...

i have an etsy!!! i feel so grown up. i can't wait to get some inventory made and photographed and put up for the world to see. you can check it out at

shabbytrunk.etsy.com.

please keep in mind that there is nothing there yet, so come back from time to time to see what's new. i hope to have quilts, aprons, children's clothing, purses, children's "church toys" (you know...the kind that are quiet) and maybe even some scrapbook projects.

happy holidays to you all!

c'est tout bien...

it's a boy!

we are now the proud

grandparents of three

beautiful little angels...two girls and a boy.

i was lucky enough to fly to utah thursday night to be here

when laura and blue had their second baby.

little ryder was born friday, right after noon...19"...7 lb, 2 oz.

the doctor was only here for maybe 10 minutes!

the baby was already crowning and it only took

one push to get him here.

then he proceeded to pee on the doctor twice

and on phil once! good one simba!

cambria loves her new little brother...calls him "mine".

loves to kiss him and pet his hair.

what a terrific big sister she will be.

we are getting tired of our long commute

and want to move back to mesa...closer to

everyone and everything we love!

plus, why are we paying twice as much

for rent as we could be paying to own our own home?

so when i get back, i will start trying

to get a loan and find us a house to buy.

wish me luck. life is great!

vita bella!

we are getting ready for

cody and krystal's wedding...

just two weeks from today!

yikes!

now that we live in b-bfe

( beyond-beyond freakin' egypt),

saturdays are the only day for running errands...

and that just doesn't give us much time

most of the time.

we are happy to have krystal

joining our dysfunctional family

...she's great.

all of our sons and daughters-in-law are great!

we love them all so much!

they have each been such a great "other half"

to our own children, that we just feel like

they have been ours all along!

wish us luck.

welcome to the family krystal!

i am actually feeling a little betrayed at the moment. for the past number of years, i have been hearing all the hype about the play"wicked". i even started getting hyped myself and had hoped to someday go see it. can i now say that i am SO glad i never wasted my time or money on such trash! people who's opinion i trusted, i now question.
to clarify...i had bought the book several months ago, but forgot i had it. then when we moved, i came across it. so when i needed some fun reading the other day, i took it off the shelf and started to read. i was never made to care about a single character and i was completely offended at the crudeness and vulgarity of the author. but i told myself, "there must be SOME redeeming quality to the story, because SO many people love it SO much" so i forced myself to keep reading...you know, give it a fair chance. but after 4 chapters, i was SO offended and SO disappointed, i put the book down and swore to never pick it up again! i had not found ONE redeeming quality or reason to spend precious time on one more page.
in those 4 chapters, we have drug addiction, adultry, promiscuity, vulgarity, cannibalism, to name a few.
the green baby has to have her mouth taped shut so that she doesn't eat herself or anyone else. her mother is afraid to nurse her, because she is afraid the baby will bite her "ti*s" off. the mother is a drug addict who has sex with every traveling salesman that comes along, because her husband is a soft, boring man who is "unimaginative" in bed. the mother doesn't even know for sure who the father of the green baby is, and her own nanny tells her that she noticed how many times a day she changed her "perfumed underwear" when she was a teenager to try and hide the fact that she was sleeping with all the boys in the neighborhood.
the father/husband is beat up and poops on himself and doesn't even get to clean himself until the next day. the midwives try to decide the best way to murder the newborn green baby. the mother is jealous of the green 2-year-old, because she is crawling around between the legs of a traveling salesman and that's what SHE would like to be doing...so ten minutes later, she is doing a WHOLE lot more than that! later, the green 2-year-old pees on the floor and then proceeds to bend down and smell her own urine.
phew!! should i go on, or do you get the picture? i mean, seriously...who writes this crap? and why would all my friends tell me how wonderful it is? i can honestly say that i was MORE OFFENDED by those 4 chapters, than by ANY of the R-rated movies i own!!
in fairness, maybe this garbage is left out of the play...but then what does that leave? i guess i will never know. so if you, like me, have not seen the play or read the book, at least you have been warned! i will not be the one you blame...that honor can go to someone else.
and next time i want a good book to read...nora roberts, nicholas sparks, or david gemmel, here i come! the rest of you can have gregory maguire all to yourselves. i have no use for him...