The Kristal Column

This one is special for you Kris- "Beverly" is an enigma.

Enigma: mystery: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; "how it got out is a mystery"; "it remains one of nature's secrets".

...................and I couldn't agree more.

My advice, Kristal: Steer clear of "BEVERLY" and keep a close watch over those most dear to you. Good Luck.

Advice for Cally

It's time to give up on "Beverly"! Let her GO!!!!! It's time to move forward home-slice. Good Luck!
Love ya, Miss ya, Hug ya, Tricia!

High School Musical

I wasn't really sure what the big RAGE was about High School Musical until recently. With Alyssa turning six soon, I figure I better get with the times. My friend bought the CD for her kids and brought it to my house to listen to. I fell in love in an instant! So, tonight I went and bought HSM and HSM 2! The music in both of them is so fun and uplifting. It's great to have something I can sing to with Alyssa! She's a great little buddy!

20 Priceless Things I Love!

Thanks Bonnie for the great idea. Here goes my list, in no particular order-
(Note:After each mentioned thing, say, ".....and an ice cold Coke." That's inevitable.)

1. A good PHONE conversation with any one really. And, on occasion, they are even better at 1 am.
2. Alyssa squeezing my bum, one hand on each cheek, to my surprise! Then hearing her laugh to my reaction.
3. When Mason wants my attention and points to anything he's curious about, he softly says, "Mama", and pats me two times. If I don't respond in 2 seconds, its' a repeat.
4. A glassy lake, a cooler, a beach, a boat, and ski's. I don't even need the sun.
5. The call I get from Bryan between 12 and 1 everyday for the last eight years.
6. Back rubs!!!!!! Foot rubs!!!! Warm Baths!!!!
7. Music. Anywhere and anytime.
8. Holidays, Sundays, Birthdays, etc.....anything I can use as necessary reason to have company over!
9. Having conversations with Alyssa on the drive home from school.
10. Pictures of everyone I love. I love the comfort I feel in knowing I can't forget a face if I have a picture to see.
11. Getting "fun" mail. includes but not limited to: homemade cards from nieces/or nephews, a new magazine, cards at Christmas time and coupons!
12. Watching Alyssa using her patience with her little brother. She is so mothering. So sweet.
13. I might live to regret saying this one, but I like forwarded e-mails. Especially the ones with an uplifting message.
14. Coloring with Alyssa in her coloring books.
15. When Alyssa's at school the house is so quiet, sometimes too quiet. I find myself wondering where Mason is and often he will be sitting quietly on the toy room floor, looking at picture books in the corner.
16. Mason toting his friend, "Snowman" around with him everywhere. I think its sweet he finds him so endearing. He takes his little friend everywhere!
17. Bryan whistling at me every time we are in a public parking lot.
18. When a cashier at check out greets me or gives me recognition. Or, greeting them when they say nothing at all......it's fun to see their face.
19. The Gospel and the faith it sustains me with everyday to keep me going.
20. The opportunity to learn something new. A recipe, a skill, a way to approach an issue.

No more boredom

Last week I said I was bored, and this week I was struck by lightning, only in the form of 4 trips to the pediatrician and 2 sick kids. First trip, Alyssa had bronchitis. Second trip, chest x-ray for Alyssa showed that her bronchitis turned into pneumonia and it also showed she has suddenly developed Asthma. Third Trip, follow up for Alyssa. Fourth trip, spontaneously 3 hours after the third, Mason got a turn to go. He threw up 9 times in 3 1/2 hours. And today, they both have diarrhea. So, between doctor runs and "the runs" I am no longer bored. After a flop of a ward movie night(Alyssa just so happened to have "the runs" while we were at the church) , we thought we'd treat the kids to Chik-fil-A because they were cooped up all week. While at Chik-fil-A, Mason threw up on everyone's ice cream. So people, if you wouldn't think of this yourself, learn from me, Pinky (the not so smart half of the Brain), DO NOT TAKE SICK CHILDREN OUT ANYWHERE. I think the four people that showed up for movie night wouldn't have been too upset had I just canceled it. Oh, and never admit you are bored. Lightning strikes with out warning! And aren't they cute little lightning bolts?

Bored Anyone?

Yesterday I was so bored. I'm not sure how I could be bored with laundry to fold.....because I so look forward to folding laundry.........again and again and again. Then my thoughts started running wild. I thought, "google holds all the answers!" So out of curiosity, I googled things to do when you are bored. This is some of what I found. (www.urban75.org/useless/bored.html)

THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Blink wildly and then close your eyes really tight for an interesting light show
(Amusement Potential: 1-5 minutes)
See a variety of blobs, stars and flashes. Try to make out shapes and see if your subconscious is trying to send you a message (perhaps that funny shape is saying, 'send all your money to urban75.com'?)

See how long you can hold a note
(Amusement Potential: 4-20 minutes)
Not that much fun, but it sure passes the time. Play with a friend, or try to beat your own personal best. Inhale deeply and then try and make a noise for as long as you can. Earn extra points for making your partner laugh or ending on an amusing note.

Try to not think about penguins
(Amusement Potential: 1-5 minutes)
This is especially hard, because by trying too much, you remember what you were trying to avoid thinking of. If you try too little, you end up thinking about penguins anyway.

Use your secret mind power
(Amusement Potential: 5-10 minutes)
Pick a passing by and try to use your mind power to command them do something, like drop their bag or knock into someone. The law of averages dictates that sooner or later one of your mind commands will come true, so you can convince yourself that you really have super human powers and waste even more time trying them out.

Pretend you're a robot
(Amusement Potential: 1-3 minutes)
Walk down the street with mechanical movements, adding 'zzzzzt' sounds with each motion. Pretending to have a motor broken in, say, your left hand can add at least 30 seconds more entertainment.

Scratch yourself
(Amusement Potential: 1-3 minutes)
Go ahead, scratch yourself now. Even if nothing itches, go ahead. Doesn't that feel pretty good?

Rate passers by
(Amusement Potential: 10-15 minutes)
Secretly award passers by marks out of ten as you go along, offering (unsaid) expert criticism over their clothing, hairstyle and footwear choices.

Repeat the same word over and over until it loses its meaning
(Amusement Potential: 1-3 minutes)
Pick a random word out of a magazine and say it aloud to yourself until it becomes a meaningless set of noises.

Pinch yourself
(Amusement Potential: 1-3 minutes)
What is pain? Why is it unpleasant? There's nothing physical about it - it's all in your mind. Plus, after pinching yourself for awhile, boredom will seem nice next to being in pain.

Try to swallow your tongue
(Amusement Potential: 1-2 minutes)
There's not much to say about this one. It is possible, but really stupid.

Pretend to be a car
(Amusement Potential: 5-10 minutes)
Make appropriate revving noises in your head as you walk along and add a racing commentary as you pass strangers in the street. Use blinking eyes as indicators for extra authenticity.

Make Star Trek door noises
(Amusement Potential: 1-2 minutes)
Stand by an electric door to a bank or something and make that silly "Scccccccchwop" sound heard whenever people popped on to the bridge to hang with Captain Kirk.

Look at something for awhile, shut eyes, study after image
(Amusement Potential: 2-5 minutes)
Another great time waster. It takes about 30 seconds of staring to create an after image, and the image is then viewable for about the same length of time. Fun to combine this one with pushing on your eyes.

Get yourself as nauseated as possible
(Amusement Potential: 5-10 minutes)
Best achieved by looking straight up and spinning around. Try to be so dizzy you can't even stand up. This is also entertaining due to the "makes boredom seem a lot better" effect (see "Hurt Yourself").

Invent a weird twitch
(Amusement Potential: 5-10 minutes)
Adopt a bizarre twitch (e.g. flicking your head irregularly, twitching with eye or busting out sporadic cough noises) and try it out when you go shopping.

Make a low buzzing noise
(Amusement Potential: 15-30 minutes)
Hours of fun in libraries! Keeping a totally straight face and looking nonchalant, make a low pitch humming/buzzing noise and see who reacts.

Of course, my favorite is Try not to think about penguins. They had several other ideas, so if you are bored enough to be inclined to ask the WWW what you should do, refer to the link above as I did. A little strange I know. But it was too funny not to share. Have a FUN DAY TODAY!!!!!

So Far, So Good

Given that it is the first Monday of the year, I can happily say that I haven't screwed up my resolution to have Family Home Evening. We did it! And it was fun too. Alyssa put together this beau-t-ful flower that represents the beauty around us when there is love at home! Very simple, easy to grasp lessons. I didn't do this alone, oh no......... I found a site that has many great ideas on it and wanted to share with everyone! It is www.ldssplash.com I also posted it under "websites to love". Hopefully I will be a frequent visitor. Check it out and have fun!
Our entertainment center made a nice "board". Maybe I will get motivated to laminate my lessons and do a felt board............maybe.

Kitchen Fun/ Happy Birthday KARI!!!!

I hosted a dinner for the Holiday's and wanted to pass along these cute ideas I found/stole. This first one is "Cheesy Snowman". Isn't he cute? My friend Patty made this for a birthday party. I loved it so much I had to make it. I revised it just a bit. I used all cloves instead of some cloves and some olives. I also dashed in some Worcestershire sauce too. Just to give it a different flavor. It was a hit. And the presentation is appropriate for the entire winter season.

Here is the recipe:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Celery, clove, pumpernickel slice, black olives, and carrot

In a food processor, combine cream cheese , 1/2 cup Monterey Jack, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Freeze until firm, 30 minutes. (I did this with my Kitchen Aid mixer)

Shape mixture into 3 balls; roll balls in remaining Monterey Jack. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.

Just before serving, stack balls; secure with toothpicks. (I used shish-kabob sticks) Use vegetable peeler to shave celery scarf; pin with clove. Cut bread into 1- and 1 1/2-inch rounds; pin hat together with a toothpick. Push through far enough so the stick doesn't poke out the top. Punch dots from olives with plain round pastry tips, and cut end off carrot; press in place. (I used all cloves so I wouldn't open an entire can of olives.) Serve with crackers.

This next one, I was skeptical at first when I saw the recipe. I really wanted to make pineapple up-side down cake. But it seemed so boring. Until I came across this on allrecipes.com. It looked too good to be true, but I was pleasantly surprised when they came out looking like this:

I didn't present them nice, but they were as good as they look. The things I did different: I used jumbo muffin tins and I cut a section out of the pineapple slice so it would sit flush on the bottom. Whatever I didn't have in pineapple juice I made up for with water. I used the whole cherry, putting it in the bottom before I poured the batter in. Ooooohhh.......these were fun!

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 (20 ounce) cans sliced pineapple
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 12 maraschino cherries, halved

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and butter; mix well. Spoon into 24 greased muffin cups. Drain pineapple, reserving the juice. Trim pineapple to fit the muffin cups; place one ring in each cup.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oils and 1-1/4 cups of the reserved pineapple juice; mix well. Spoon over pineapple, filling each cup two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
3. Immediately invert onto wire racks to cool. Place a cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.