100th blog

Hello? (tap...tap...tap) are you in there? Is anyone still out there? I haven't been neglecting my blog as much as I have been avoiding it. I went to write a short note, that I really was alright after that last entry, when I noticed that my New Years blog was number 99 and that the next thing I wrote would be the mongo 100th blog. I couldn't waste my 100th blog on something lame like, I'm still here and all my kids are still alive. My husband came home and we and had a fantastic two and a half weeks together(he had to go back early...again).

So now I am sitting down at the computer very aware of the clock and the fact that the school age kids are coming home in one hour for a 4 day weekend.... ... ... Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand the kindergartner will get to sleep in and not throw a fit when being woken too early to go to school, of which he "does not like." And I might get a little help cleaning up. Or it could all go to heck in a hand basket and totally go the other direction. We shall see. We shall, we shall.

So I apologize for avoiding my blog. And neglecting the posting of my pictures of our surroundings and my most adorable children, especially Ellie. Even with her occasional *mood altercation* she still has the ability to melt my heart with her little smile. It makes me nervous as all get out, when she stands at the top of the stairs. She has yet to make it all the way down. She'll stop and sit on a step. and wait. for someone. This would be fine if she sat correctly on the step, but she sits backwards on it. One little kick of the feet and she'd take a header down the stairs back first.
So on to the 100th blog thing. I was tagged a couple times on Facebook with this "25 things" where you just name 25 random things about yourself. I think I'll paste that and then continue and I'll call it "100 things you didn't want to know about me and more."

1. This will probably take me forever to do, because I type like crap.
2. I have a slight caffeine addiction in the form of Diet Mt. Dew.
3. I'm very funny, especially to myself in my own head.
4. I love my own children, all 7 of them. I Like them most of the time, but there are days.
5. I am not a fan of other peoples children. If I like your kids that means I really like you.
6. I love to write.
7. I love to sing, even more than write.
8. I think the post office should stop raising the price of stamps, because real letters are so friendly.
9. I Really don't like the ages of 3 and 5. I have one of each.
10. Having a teenager really isn't as bad as people make it seem. I may have lucked out. I'll let you know when my next kid gets there.
11. I love french fry sauce.
12. I love really good hot chocolate and D.H.(from a box) brownies
13. I think my sister can be one of the funniest writers I've read, I come close, but she's better.
14. I love to perform. acting, singing, speaking, whatever if it involves practice and a performance, I'm all over it.
15. I am happy to live in the West again.
16. I love looking out my window and seeing pine trees, snow and mountains
17. I'll admit to occasionally missing things about Texas, mainly the people, shopping and the amphibious and reptilian creatures that lived in my yard. I am proud to say that we still own our house there, and if I wanted we could move back. Prob'ly won't, but could.
18. I love Italian food. And I'll never pass up a good Mexican restaurante either.
19. I love completing home improvement projects.
20. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist.
21. The first coat of paint is fun, the 8th and 9th get a little tedious. see previous 2 entries
23. My husband is awesome.
24. I Love being a Durrant
25. I love love love to see that baby girl of mine smile. Melts my heart every time.

26. I'm quite fond of kittens, I don't have as great an affinity for animals as I used to but they are still up there on the important things list.
27. I must admit to trying the *Samantha* from "Bewitched" nose wiggle AND the "I Dream of Jeannie" blink/head nod to get my house clean...didn't work.
28. I think my sock box idea is a good one, even though my husband hates it. All the socks go in one box, you find your own pair. see Tourist Season
29. I can play the piano. I just freak out a little when I have to play while people sing.
30. I've lost my knack for gutting fish, it's been a long time. I should have paid more attention when I was little. (Spencer brought one home after ice fishing, he couldn't gut it so I had to. I think I deserve a merit badge.)
31. Not a fan of spiders.
32. My favorite TV show is Smallville. Tom Welling is one dang good looking human-I mean alien. I also love all things Stargate, this I have in common with my husband and best friend, how cool is that.
33. This is my age, for another 2 months and 27 days.
34. Do I have a tattoo? Once upon a time in the land of *I'll do whatever I want* there was a rebellious little girl.....
35. I wish I would have been a nicer person at certain times in my life.
36. Chocolate Chip cookies are NOT my favorite cookies. Especially the store bought kind. blech.
37. My favorite childhood story was Sesame Streets "The Monster's 3 wishes"
38. My favorite store bought cookies are Oreo's. There is a story behind that.
39. My favorite homemade cookies are Oatmeal Raisin.
40. I like carrot cake
41. I also like lemon poppy seed muffins/bread/cake
42. I am not a fan of dark chocolate
43. I have a pair of and love my *hooker* boots. I'm actually on the hunt for another black pair, my first pair died.
44. I, on occasion, still play my flute.
45. I do not like gummy things. Except Hot Tamales
46. My favorite salad dressing is 1000 Island, NOT ranch. I also like Blue Cheese and I'm not afraid to admit it.
47. I believe that mint and chocolate were made to go together. I'll even tolerate dark choco. if paired with mint.
48. My favorite ice cream is a really good mint choco chip(surprise) and I love Rocky Road with the mini marshmallows not the swirl. There is hidden somewhere a childhood craving for pink Bubble Gum.
49. My nose is not my best feature. Too bad it's in the middle of my face.
50. I do, however, have great hair. It has a mind of it's own, and must be dyed every 6 weeks, thanks to having kids. But it's still great hair.
51. I love the Peanuts gang.
52. I miss REAL cartoons.
53. I wish I knew more about interior decorating. HGTV helps, but...
54. I would love to actually be TOTALLY organized, like Melissa H. organized.
55. My creative artist is frustrated. I have paintings I want to do, but due to the un-organization of my craft/art/office, I can't get them started.
56. Oh yeah, I'm an artist. My eraser is my favorite tool.
57. I like ironing
58. I love the smell of clean laundry. I don't mind washing, drying or even folding, I'm just not so good at the putting away part.
59. I have lived in 4 states. UT, WY, TN, TX. put WY in between and after TN & TX. Do we see a pattern?
60. Spring is my favorite season.
61. Rain is my favorite weather. I did like the rain in Houston, it didn't smell right though.
62. I love the smell on the plains, right before it rains.
63. I'm a poet
64. I have not read a single "Twilight" series book. that may change.
65. I did read all HP books and 3 Leven Thumps books and I ordered the 4th today.
66. I have not eaten out by myself. Nor have I gone to a movie alone. I don't believe the latter would bother me.
67. I try to be a very grateful person and very aware of my blessings.
68. I have a bad habit of taking my socks off in the middle of the night and leaving them under the covers at the bottom of the bed.
69. my space bar has issues
70. It's hard to find a good orange, therefore, oranges are not my favorite.
71. I feel the same way about apples.
72. I like berries. straw, and blue, and fresh rasp.
73. If you have Dish network, DVR is a must.
74. I like cool colors, HOWEVER, I am becoming quite fond of yellow.
75. If I could spend a WHOLE day with anyone, ALONE, it would be... my husband.
76. I would also like to spend a day with President Monson. Just to learn.
77. I DO NOT like large bodies of water. not a swimmer.
78. There are no erasers in my house, the baby has eaten them all.
79. I think Space Bags are awesome, but they cost too much.
80. I like my friends
81. My eyes are blue, with a tan ring around the pupil.
82. I think baby tongues are cute.
83. I love teddy bears.
84. I'm not a big jewelry person.
85. I love brand new babies. that's probably why I had so many.
86. I occasionally want to be a recluse.
87. I would love to cuddle my cat Mogli (pronounced Mowgli, just not spelled that way) more, IF he didn't drool.
88. I like Easter.
89. and Christmas.
90. hate Halloween.
91. is how old my grandma is going to be this year
92. I'm thankful for my faith, knowledge and religion.
93. I'm grateful for my husband and his willingness to support this ginormous family and I'm grateful for his job.
94. I believe music is a part of my survival.
95. I believe God is a very theatrical Being (not my original idea) using all of our senses to get our attention. " I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me."
96. I am grateful I have toes.
97. I am grateful for my health and the health of my family.
98. I am grateful for the faith and prayers from past/current friends and family on my behalf, that resulted in the changing of my life.
99. I am grateful to: a loving Father in Heaven for answering those prayers, my Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ for offering an infinite atonement, and to the speaker and comforter on their behalf, that is the Holy Ghost for pricking my heart and inspiring me to wake up.
100. I am grateful that I get to be with my family FOREVER. eternity is a long time to be alone.

So that's it. 100 things
good day to ya.

Warning New Years Blues/moment of weakness

I think that there comes a point in every body's life when they admit that they just aren't what they should be or what they could be. Not as good, not as strong, not as thin, not as pretty, not as organized, not as clean, not as pure, not as nice, not as quiet, not as smart, not as thoughtful, not as talented, not as creative, not as useful, not as right, not as serving, not as deserving, not as...you name it. There are times when we despise everything about ourselves and if given the opportunity we would sit in the corner of the shower until the water washes us, in all our imperfection down the drain in a swirling whirlpool. All at the same time we criticize ourselves for being such a mess and not having it all together. If you don't have clue as to what I'm talking about, you have never had a hormonal moment in your life and should probably stop reading because you won't get it. Maybe it's not entirely hormone related, all the time, but in those moments those thoughts are magnified 1000 times and the fix it solution seems so far distant and unreachable.
For those of you who wonder how I do it? With 7 kids and a husband who (very gratefully) has a job, a good job, but a job that takes him away for almost a month at time. How do I handle Christmas, and New Years and other holidays and traditions and birthdays and Dr. appointments and school programs and lost teeth and first steps and cleaning and dinner,(lunch, breakfast) and homework and vacation time and church and chores and niceness and disciplines and everything else including hormonal moments of weakness, without him?... Well sometimes I DON'T. My house is not clean and my kids are not nice. And sometimes I don't want to go to church. Someone gave a talk last week in church about how *it's NOT good to do things just because we're supposed to,* You know the "if your heart's not in it"talk. As Jacob was crawling under and behind the pew kicking the divider curtain(between the chapel and the gym) and as I was trying to keep the other kids on top of keeping the 128 crayons(they brought both boxes) and Cheerios from flying across the chapel, and being irritated at the teenager for wanting to color instead of listening or (heaven forbid) help. Jennifer was even there because she was going to accompany me to sing and she had the baby. It's really hard to prepare to sing with the Spirit while your having thoughts of beating your children when you get home. And when I finally caught Jacob and drug him by his ankles over the bench, I thought to this gal that was speaking "You don't have a FREAKIN clue" Sometimes we HAVE to do things just because we're supposed to, if we didn't then we wouldn't make it around to the *do it 'cause our heart's in the right place* time ever again. So I guess in this moment as I feed my children Muddy Buddies for New Years dinner, I admit that I give myself a big fat "F" in motherhood today. When you have to sit down and apologize to your children for being crazy and overwhelmed and tell them you're sorry that you aren't as good of mom as they deserve, your grade can't get any lower. I'll be funny later.

It ain't nothin'

So...I didn't take the kids to church (a week ago) on Sunday. The baby has the leftovers of a cough/cold and Joey and Gabe have the beginning of one. So out of courtesy I kept them home... I did, however, have an appointment with the Bishop for tithing settlement later that afternoon. So Spen stayed responsible and watched the kids while I kept that appointment.
I took a couple goodie-bags with Oreo Truffles (thanks Stefan for starting that horrible tradition in my house, they're pure evil) one for the Bishop and family and another for whomever else I ran into. Anyway, I went in and made my greetings with the people waiting for their appointment as well. This family happened to be that of my home teacher, so it worked out great to hand them a bag of truffles. I felt all *with it* and holiday-ish. So after a brief conversation with them about the Young Men's trip spelunking and the pictures of Spencer that they had captured, they went in for their meeting. This left me alone in the foyer. I walked over to the side table that had some leftover programs from Sacrament meeting sitting on it. I picked one up to see who had spoken and if I had missed anything. As I read down the list of speakers I got to the the special musical number and what do you think I saw? and I quote "Special musical number by......Sis. Naomi Durrant" Uh............really? I wonder how that went. Considering the fact that I wasn't there... and I didn't know about it. After I pulled my stomach out of my foot, I went to the talk to the guys is the clerks office and I wish I would have said something clever like "I sang today? How did I do? was it good. I wish I could have been there." But I simply admitted that I had no idea that I was supposed to sing, we all laughed and then they asked me to sing the following week, which was yesterday. This time I was thoughtful enough to show up.

good day to ya.

Way back in the, I don't know, late 70's early 80's (my sister could tell you) when we still lived in Utah, my mother had the great idea that we should make a Nativity Scene out of salt dough. I remember it being fun, and it all looked beautiful. I also remember every Christmas after that, bringing out the little figures and knowing that it was truly Christmas time. I began, with age, to be able to tell the ones I created from the ones made by mother and sister(they were much better). But I still loved every part of it. Some how that Nativity scene ended up coming to live at my house. I don't remember what all was in that first scene, all I know is what I have today: Mary, with a pink face and yellow robe, Joseph, in blue, bald with a brown beard, a shepherd in brown, a yellow star, a silver sheep(I think) that doesn't stand on its own, and a silver bunny with black ears. A bunny? you say? I don't know if there really was a bunny in the stable, but when your mother's name is Bunny, there are bunnies at everything. Anyway, about 8 years ago I decided that it was time to sit down with my kids (Spencer and Sariah and baby Gabe) and make another salt dough Nativity scene. My pieces were much better this time. We didn't paint them. I am assuming that after the process of making the dough and the characters and cleaning up and chasing the (Oh my) 3 whole kids I had at the time, that I just didn't have the heart to attempt painting. But nevertheless, we had our scene to add to the one of my youth. We even added a baby Jesus this time and a camel. Well this sweet little scene lasted and lasted... until this year. A child with the first name beginning with a J-(take your pick, there are only 2 and I really don't know who is to blame) decided to take the clear plastic box they were stored in, and shake it. 28 year old salt dough doesn't hold up well to a good shaking, 8 year old salt dough holds up even worse. I pulled out all of the really old pieces, Mary and Joseph had only minor damage, they lost their heads and a few bits off other places. The *sheep* and bunny were fine and so was the old shepherd. As was baby Jesus from the new set. The star lost its bottom. The other parts and people were shattered. I threw the unsalvagables away. And decided to attempt to fix what I could. As I was gluing for posterity sake, Jacob picked up the bunny and accidentally, but promptly broke off the ear. After I was finished with the others, I went to work on the bunny ear. I don't know if there was too much glue or if my gluing skills had been impaired at that exact moment, but I managed to get the bunny ear back on and glue my finger to the back of the rabbit at the same time. It wasn't just a little spot that I could pull free from. I was stuck tight to this stupid little bunny who wasn't and probably shouldn't have been there at the Nativity scene anyway. Now, how to get unstuck. Spencer, in his genius, mentioned that when he had read the super glue package it suggested using vegetable oil to get the glue off your skin. Maybe, off your skin, but definitely does not work to remove you from a salt dough Nativity rabbit. From past experience I knew that fingernail polish remover was the only thing that really worked. Question was, did I have any? I remember when packing to move, that I decided to throw a lot of half empty bottles of stuff away, thinking that I would just replace them when we got here. The *pack rat* me always advises against this. The *stuck to the bunny* me, is grateful that in the case of the almost empty bottle of polish remover, I listened to the *pack rat* me. But, where was it? I wasn't sure if I had unpacked it, or if I had left it in the *extra bathroom stuff* box. So of course, that is where I looked first. Come to find out, the *trying to be organized* me had put it away in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. all said and done, 15 minutes later I was freed from the bunny. It took a little longer for the acetone to cut through all the vegetable oil and I was really STUCK to that rabbit. Needless to say, I think we'll be making a new scene this year when the kids are home for vacation. Perhaps we'll add some more bunnies. Or maybe just a bunny trap.

Grateful

I am grateful that y'all read my posts in spite of my poor typing, stinky grammar, bad spelling and crappy proof reading skills. I can only imagine how crazy it must drive my teacher friends. Thanks for closing your teacher brains and reading anyway.

I am also grateful for super-glue. . . and finger nail polish remover. I'll tell that story later. I'm still recovering.

Angry Tree, part deux

Heather asked how cold it was. I could make something fantastic up and say that it was -25 and there was a blizzard a foot, but I can't lie this close to Christmas. The weather has been amazing and very Texas familiar. God has been very kind when we move, he changes the weather to help us acclimate better. It snowed on Christmas Eve the first year we were in Houston. And the weather has been very friendly to us now that we are back in Wyoming. So the weather was probably in the mid to high 30's. It's a different, dry cold. Not the sink to your bones wet cold that you get near the Gulf. So anyway back to the tree... The ride home was fairly uneventful. As uneventful as you can get with 7 kids, 2 grown ups, the *not broken* dog, and a tree tied to the roof of the family vehicle. We got home and got the tree off the roof and were pleased to find that the height we needed was exactly what we had chosen. No we didn't pre-measure. Come to find out our ceilings are almost 8 feet the tree was 7 1/2. We sawed off some of the lower branches and stuffed this 15 year old tree into our nice big sturdy tree stand. We filled the bottom with water and proceeded to decorate. Lights and all the old ornaments, and the little snowmen with the dangling mittens. And the snowmen heads with the bells for bottoms, so cute. These are the ones my mom-in-law sent us over the years. Anyway we got the tree decorated. And while it was pretty, it was still thin, and a tiny bit Charlie Brownish. So the next day I decided it needed some tinsel/icicles to fill in the holes. I used to love that stuff, but it's only fun to pull it out of a cat or child's throat just so many times, then it gets old. I must have felt pretty desperate to have to resort back to tinsel. I was a little upset after buying the tinsel and a few other things from a local store (of which I refuse to name because they are so over priced there,(most of the time), I get angry when I shop and refuse to give them any credit or recognition.) Tinsel in a package of 1000 strands at Wal-mart costs 50 cents. I paid $1.09, this was on sale from $1.99. And that wasn't all. We also needed more lights for our roof. So I paid $8 something, also on sale. I came home upset and then Jason went to go run an errand and took the lights with him just in case he found some cheaper some where else, he did. $4 thank you Ace Hardware. Anyhoodle, while he was gone the tree and I got into a fight. It started to lean a little and so I tried to straighten it out a little. And it fell on me. I have never EVER had a Christmas tree fall, let alone fall ON me. So I put it back up and tightened the screws in the base. This wasn't going to work. With the tree being so fresh it had soaked up all the water we had put in the base. The bark was sopping wet and had turned into mush, the screws had nothing to dig into. So what is the first thing that comes to my mind? Duct tape. It fixes everything. I put the tree back on the ground ornaments and all, actually I don't know if I put it there or if it put itself there, and proceeded to wrap duct tape around the trunk of the tree to give the screws something to grip into. I then put the now half decorated tree back up into the stand. I was irritated. And the lights were falling off. The only logical(hormonally logical) solution was to un-decorate the tree. So I started pulling the lights off. Spencer was trying to help. It wasn't really working, and just to prove that I wasn't the only irritated thing around, the tree fell again. That was all I needed. So I grabbed it, drug it through the house and threw it out the front door... and there it STOOD, yep, stood in its smug little manner. If trees had mouths it would have been smirking. Now there is a story, kind of a legend really, to anyone who grew up around Shumway's. It has to do with children being in trouble and a tree being vaulted out of the house, but that story belongs to Christin and if she chooses to tell it that's up to her. But we have heard it in my house and so when Jason came home he thought for sure the kids were up a creek in trouble, and that he would enter to find me a raving lunatic. He was relieved to find that I wasn't having any trouble with the kids, just the stupid @*&%#$#@ tree. He fixed it by screwing pieces of 2x4's into the trunk and wedging it into the base. Needless to say it'd probably stand until July if we let it. So I redecorated, with the help of super-glue of course, to glue the little bells back on the bottoms of the snowman heads that had broken on their jaunt through the house.
I typically have great reverence, respect and admiration for the trees we get to help us celebrate Christmas. I admire their beauty, being lighted and decorated with love, care and tradition. I'm always a little sad for the life of the tree that was shortened. BUT when I look at this tree, all I can think is how much I'm going to enjoy using it for firewood.

Good day to ya.

Turkey Makes People Grumpy, or Attack of the Angry Tree

Either that or I've just been hormonal for the last week. I'm guessing that is probably the REAL explanation. But the turkey excuse works for me, it's dead so it doesn't mind taking the blame. So Thanksgiving came and went and it was OK but I'd rather not talk about it. I cooked, we ate and there were leftovers. Our day after Thanksgiving family tradition is going and getting a Christmas tree. In Texas this involved a trip to Wal-mart or Kroger, followed by a lot of shaking, bug spray, and a hose, for the tree that is. This year we were able to continue the *original* tradition and go cut down our own tree, and it only cost $8 not $25-$75 (depending on how many bugs you want included on the tree.) Now there is something I must explain, I have a thing with Christmas trees. I have two. One is a fake fiber optic sparkly tree. The other must be real. I grew up under the false impression that I was allergic to pine trees in the house so my family had to have the short ugly fleece snow covered, fake tree. Which now, when I see it, brings back some nice fluffy feelings of carefree Christmases past. That is beside the point. I had a friend whose mother had 2 Christmas trees. The one downstairs in the family room was covered in the ornaments that the kids brought home from school or church, and popcorn strands or paper chains, etc. The OTHER tree was upstairs and decorated elegantly with the *no touchy* sort of ornaments. I thought this particular set up was brilliant and from that day forth I decided that one of my life long goals was to have two Christmas trees. And in the year 2002 I got my wish, and it has been that way ever since. (I'm easy to please what can I say) Anyway, where was I... Oh yes, this year we got to go up to the Big Horns and cut our own, no bugs included, they all got cold and took off. Now the interesting thing about going up to this particular mountain range from where we live is that there's a lot of up. For example, the conversation in the car went something like this "Oh look! There's a nice tree, did anyone bring the climbing gear? No? well lets drive on and see if we find a more level spot so we don't have to repel back to the car." Drive on we did. Now seeing that the majority of the Big Horn mountain range is available to Christmas tree cutting our options seemed pretty open. Had we been here three or four kids ago, this process could have taken hours, but my expectations have wained a bit and so I saw a decent spot that looked safe enough and we stopped. So here comes the exciting part. We then piled out of the suburban all 9 of us and the dog. I had the baby in the snuggli, she's 13 months old, snuggli's aren't meant for 13 month 22lb (give or take a pound) babies. So I guess it would be better said that I had the baby crammed into the snuggli. Sariah had Jacob. Spencer had the dog. Jason had the saw and Joey who wanted to be carried. And I think that Gabe and Caleb we're close on Sariah's trail. We followed a little closed road just a short way and came to a cattle guard. Now honest to goodness, half of my kids have never seen let alone crossed a cattle guard. That really didn't seem to be a huge deal unless you know that the dog hadn't had much, if any, experience with one either. (He has a past life so I don't know what he did before we got him) Anyway Spencer was the first one to the guard. I suggested that the dog would be fine crossing, so to proceed. I guess he went a little fast because halfway across, the dog freaked out, lost his footing and one of his back legs slipped through the grate. He got across, but was limping on the other side. "GREAT, " I thought, "we broke the dog." Jason crossed picked the dog up, (which is probably what we should have done in the first place.) Crossed back over and carried the dog to the car. He (the dog) was fine. Turns out he just scratched up the inside of his leg. Meanwhile back at the cattle guard, Jacob had figured out how to cross on all fours, hands and feet. It wasn't good enough to go just once he had to go over at least 3 or 4 times. Spencer learned that his feet are big enough to stretch across two rungs, so he went across 3 or 4 times as well, to his credit, one time was carrying Joey. Caleb and Gabe we're fine. And Sariah carried the saw. While we waited on the other side for Dad to return, I sent Spencer up the side of the mountain to check out potential victims, I mean trees. When Jason got back, we all headed up. It only took three times up and down to different spots to find the almost *perfect* tree. When I wrote earlier about my expectations, this is part of the change, I'm just not as picky anymore. Our tree turned out to be the first one I sent Spencer to check out. So we agreed, Jason sawed, we conquered. And then we headed down the mountain, across the cattle guard that bit the dog, to the car to have our leftover Thanksgiving lunch while dad tied the tree to the top. Which, after 10 years of practice, he has gotten quite efficient at doing. So we ate lunch, peed in the trees and on rocks (it's great having so many boys) and headed back home to decorate our trophy...
to be continued...