I've done the unthinkable

Let me just stand on my soapbox for a moment and address the issue of Christmas arriving before we even eat all the Halloween candy (which tends to be November 1st at this house). Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and it just gets skipped over every year. I have steadfastly refused to 1. put up Christmas decorations, 2. listen to Christmas music, or 3. buy much in the way of Christmas presents until the Thanksgiving dishes are washed and dried (part of that, I will admit, is that I procrastinate everything until the last minute anyway - just check the postmark of the last Housley family Christmas letter...).

I am ashamed to say, I have failed on all three this year. It all started at Sam's Club, and I place all the blame on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Their CD was for sale, and rather inexpensively too! And then I saw CD's by Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, and Harry Connick Jr. And I found one that I'd never heard of, but looked promising: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Turns out they are neither an orchestra, nor Siberian, I'd guess. How did I not know that they were heavy metal? It's not that I dislike heavy metal music, per se, but it was just such a shock - the distance between what I expected and the reality was a vast wasteland of surprise and dismay. Mike and the boys all think it is cool, so there goes the option to quietly toss it in the box bound for goodwill. I love the Josh Groban CD, and enjoy Sarah Brightman, though I think Sissel has a better voice (gasp! You've never heard of Sissel! You are missing out!!!) I have managed to exert some self control and still haven't opened the MoTab CD - that I'll save for the way home from the family Thanksgiving dinner.
Then after visiting my grandparents, Esther and I stopped for a delicious trip to Target (our beloved Cache Valley has two, count 'em, TWO Walmarts, but no Target) and I found just the thing for neighbor gifts and Mike's co-worker gifts, something I agonize over every year. And then the excitement just hit me - I could be done gift shopping before December 24th! It truly is possible this year! After that it was a slippery slope, and thanks to a church craft night I am proudly displaying my countdown blocks and bobble head Santa/reindeer/snowman. I even started addressing our Christmas cards last Saturday (though I still lack a "here's what we did all year" letter and family photo, so I'm sure I'll still be racing to the post office on Christmas Eve, fully believing that if I can get them postmarked before Christmas Day, that it still counts!).

Merry Chr - I mean, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Popsicle Terrorist Camp

The kids and I were making popsicle stick bombs yesterday, and I got to wondering, does this teach them the fun of explosives? Am I creating future terrorists? I console myself with the knowledge that the thrill of blowing things up is inherent in the male gender, and has been a part of the male experience since the Stone Age/Garden of Eden, however you look at it. I'm sure Adam took a few of those lucious fruits and lobbed them, just to watch them splat. And maybe I'm being sexist - Eve may have enjoyed it just as much. I know Esther was having a blast (no pun intended) with the popsicle sticks. Caleb even invented a few new designs. Doesn't he need a haircut though? All three kids have a thing with building "forts" and I've tried to ban them but I guess I'm not specific enough. And the only reason I have tried to ban them is because they dump all the cushions off the couch and loveseat, haul out all the blankets in the house, spend hours constructing complex but unstable tunnels and dens (using things like potted plants and computers to anchor the edges of blankets), and then promptly begin to fight over the proper use and ownership of the elaborate. Then they get in trouble and get sent to their rooms and who has to clean it all up? mmmmmmeeeeeeee.

Still, I didn't specifically outlaw building a fort BEHIND the couch, I just said no using of couch cushions, so here is a picture of their latest creation. A few hours after the photo was taken, the plants did indeed take a tumble. Those are some hardy spider plants - they get dumped several times a year and yet they are still alive (and that is no easy feat for any plant in my house).

I do have to brag on Josh today. He has joined a county children's choir, and loves it. Finally we've found his niche! Today I drove the carpool, and planning to go grocery shopping, grabbed a water bottle for the road. I was trying to drive and open the water bottle - it was new and had a safety tab thing on it - and had it between my legs to secure it. I got the bottle open and my incredibly muscular thighs (ha ha snort!) put just enough pressure on it to geyser about a cup of water right into my lap. I hopped up out of my seat, grabbed napkins, knowing full well I had just soaked myself in a rather inconvenient spot, and had one of the kids hand me one of those reusable shopping bags to sit on. And yes, I continued to drive throughout! Bless those county roads... How am I supposed to walk into Sam's Club looking like I had just wet my pants? Then Josh came to my rescue, and offered to let me tie his jacket around my waist to disguise the obvious wet spot. Thank you thank you, my sweet boy! He didn't even mock me like a normal ten-year-old would!

I also have to publicly thank my neighbors Brandon and Kristin for coming to our rescue on Monday night. Mike finally got me to cut his hair, and 2/3 of the way through, the electric hair trimmer I was using gave up the ghost. I knew we needed a new one - it was so dang dull. Still, Mike was left with a sizable topknot of hair, and it was 10pm. I knew Brandon and Kristin would still be up, so I called with the hope that they had one I could borrow. They agreed only if I brought Mike down so they could see, and actually had a brand new set they were about to take back (Kristin finally admitted to herself that she had no desire to cut anyone's hair) and I was able to just buy it from her. So now I have a nifty new hair trimmer set, complete with an eyebrow guide. Anyone's eyebrows need a trim?

I know this post is all over the place, but I also needed to share my good experience with my grandparents on Tuesday. About a year ago, I felt the distinct impression that I needed to get their oral histories documented. I made one attempt to video my grandparents talking about their early life, then found myself too busy to keep it up. A few months later, my grandfather had a stroke that has left him unable to fully verbalize his thoughts, and it frustrates him a great deal. I have missed my opportunity with him and I will always regret it. Part of that guilt has motivated me to spend one day a week down with them (they live about an hour and 15 minutes away), and just help them around the house with whatever they need. My parents (who live four houses up the street) will help with Esther, though she seems to be the highlight of my visit to them anyway. This week I pulled out lots of the dead plants and just helped clean up their yard a little, and Jason (who had a day off of school and wanted to come) washed windows. They were so grateful, and it made me feel fantastic to have helped in some way. My dear grandpa, who has always been so sprightly and funny, struggled with what he wanted to say. I knew what he was thinking, so I just told him I loved him too. I know my time with them is limited, and I am determined not to let this precious time slip away.

I invested a few months ago in a BBC set of movies based on Charles Dickens novels, and just finished watching "Martin Chuzzlewit." Awesome. It deals with aging and heirs and those who love with no thought of being included in the will. I'd never even heard of the book, so I'll have to add it to my list. I want to watch some of the others, but I also want to read the books too, so I'd better get cracking. I'm almost finished with "Great Expectations" which I have read before but love even more this time. Can't wait to see the movie for that one! Speaking of movies... I am proud to say I am NOT going to see the Twilight movie this weekend, but only because we have a Housley family party at the same time that my sisters are going to see it. Rats. I've decided that books (and movies) like the Twilight and Harry Potter series are like M & M's - yummy, and I can munch right through them, but books written by Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, these are fine Swiss chocolates that have to be slowly savoured. Not as easy to get, but infinitely more satisfying. Trust me to come up with a good chocolate metaphor.

Things I've done/ have yet to do

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. It was interesting to find out that I had done more than I expected to have done, but there are some experiences I'm ashamed are still on my to-do list. Happy discoveries!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland - Disney World three times though!
8. Climbed a mountain - Mount Olympus in Greece
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - in 5th grade
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris - disclaimer: I toured Europe with my brother and parents when I was five, but I'm only marking the things I actually REMEMBER seeing
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train - on the way back to Athens from Mt. Olympus
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked - to get to the train station from Mt. Olympus!
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping - with my mom and sisters in Fiji
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - I remember my dad threatening to throw my socks in
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise - it was during a hurricane, so no pleasant memories there
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China - coming up next spring!!!
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - bought plenty though
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - Baskin Robbins while in high school - it was kind of mutual
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

There you have it folks. Enjoy going through your own list.