Thoughts....

Every once in awhile, when life gets stressful, my family has a "we're thankful for...." discussion. It's been a busy week for me and a stressful one for Sam, so it's time. This is my list, it may reflect Sam's feelings, too, but I didn't consult him on this one. :0)

Big things I'm thankful for:
1. Our HUGE extended family. My niece Melissa commented on this blog that I have a lot of nieces and nephews. I do....AND a lot of brothers and sisters and in-laws, etc. I love them all, even when they sometimes make me crazy. I'm especially thankful for my sister who calls me almost daily, talks me over the rough spots, and tells me her funny stories. Mostly her "rough spots" are worse than my "rough spots" and it helps me keep things in perspective as she faces them all with determination and humor.

2. Our home. Even if it was in Barstow, I'd be thankful for that. Although, then I'm sure we wouldn't see as many of you as often. I cooked and served dinner (with Susan and a couple of friends) for some homeless women at a shelter this week. It made me extremely grateful to have a roof over my head, and a husband who is willing to work to provide it for us.

3. The gospel and the church. I love that we know The Plan, and what our purpose is here. I love that we have the church organization for guidance and friendship, etc.

4. Great, amazing friends who are examples of what I hope to be when/if I grow up.

5. That the temple is not TOO far away. I do miss having one five minutes away, but at least it's not days away. This is a blessing that we probably don't take enough advantage of.

Little things I'm thankful for:

1. Ry's Susan. OK, maybe that's a big thing. But I love that Ry found such a great girl to add to our family and be a big sister for Meg.

2. Chocolate (Ok, that's a given) (And maybe that's a big thing, too!)

3. That the sun is shining today.

4. For the internet that keeps me to connected to my amazing friends and family wherever they are.

5. That Meg is out of school today and we can hang out together, even if it's to do laundry, dishes and making dinner together.

Ok, that's enough for now, I really do have a ton of things to do today, we're going to the temple tomorrow so Saturday stuff has to get done, too.

Cars, ugh!

So, we're four car family. Stupid, actually, as only two of us drive. We have a Daewoo that was over 100,000 miles when we saw one just like it on the side of the road a couple of years ago for $3K. We bought it and about two months later the first Daewoo blew a head gasket. Sam's going to fix it someday (in all his spare time...at 10 mins a week, it may take awhile), so we still have it. We have a truck that is a 1988 beat up Ford with 180K miles on it, but it starts every time, and we use it haul feed from the mill and take the trash down to the curb. Last week, the bearings on the front went out. Hmm, better take care of that someday, we said. Yesterday, as Sam was coming home from work in the 2nd Daewoo, the transmission kind of freaked out. So, now we have three undriveable cars. My Intrepid has 130K miles on it, and it better not die for at least another year.

We're going to take the two Daewoos to a mechanic and get the engine from the new one put in the old one. (Actually, they're the same year car) We bought a not-quite-as-beat-up-as-our-current-Ford-pickup today for $1K. So now we can get feed and take the trash to the curb again. And this one has a radio that works. Bonus. Oh, and a heater. Which is nicer than having to wipe down the inside windshield every five minutes.

So, for a few days, we're a five car family. Six, if you count the little car we rented for a week so Sam could get to work. Six cars, three trailers. We now fit right in here in Prunetucky.

Maybe I'll take pics of our "fleet" tomorrow to post.

And, I did survive the 5th grade campout. Barely. Boy, did my bed feel good last night.

Nothing much happening here...

It's been a pretty crazy week. I only have a few minutes, so I'll just list the highlights.

1. I finished the wedding pics and FINALLY got a haircut. So I won't be a grey long-haired Prunetucky woman anymore, now I'm a grey short-haired Prunetucky woman, but I'll fix the grey thing in the next day or two. Jess was a beautiful bride...it always makes our job easier when the couple is good looking. :0)

2. The turkey that visited my deck a few posts ago showed up again a couple of days ago, and she has a little brood of chicks. They're awfully cute, but we have to be careful going up and down our road. She likes to parade them across the road, and has impeccable timing...usually when I'm in a hurry.

3. Our friends Monica and Trevor Cook came for the weekend and we had a small party for them, ate too much, went on a picture-taking day (Monica had a new camera and wanted lessons). Their kids sure are cute:

4. Last week several police officers followed some guys in a stolen pickup in a high-speed chase through our neighborhood. The pickup drivers saw my brand new wrought iron gate open (I was coming home from taking Meg to school) and tried to make the gate. They sort of made it...they got through but they totaled the gate, and headed off road up our hill, and eventually took out part of our east fence and headed up into the Strawberry field north of us. I was still standing outside when the pickup and three cops went flying by. They caught the guys eventually, but now my gate looks like this:

5. I get to go camping with approximately 60 5th graders on Thursday night. I'll let you know if I survive.

6. Hmm....I coulda sworn I had six, but now I can't think of it. Oh well, chalk it up to old age.

I'll just end with a picture of Pacific Grove we took Saturday. All the ice plant is blooming and the shoreline is bright purple. Very cool.

Uh oh!

Well, I was right. Sue and Chad both pulled ahead of us. Sue's at 14%, Chad's at 13%, I'm trailing with 12% and Sam's between 10 and 11%.

Sue's going to run out of pounds to lose, soon, though. Chad will run out before I do, but I'm not sure if it'll be before the July 2nd deadline.

Mark suggested lipo...Sam says we have a great shop-vac....

Meghan's Piano Recital

I know you were all dying to come to Meghan's piano recital, so here's a video of her performance. Unfortunately, the silly camera was not cooperating, so by the time I got it going, my finger was in front of the lens for a sec, and she was already into her first song. Oh well. We only video'd it so her Dad could see it, as he wasn't home from work in time. Not that he hadn't heard each song 1124 times over the past couple of weeks.

Elsberry Biggest Loser Update

So, Friday was official weigh in date.

I've lost 36 lbs, Sam's lost 32 lbs, Susan's lost 29 lbs, Ry's lost 20 lbs. Don't know about the rest of the Elsberry Famdamly, but Sue and my brother in law Chad were neck and neck right behind me last month.


Since the winner is determined by percentage of starting body weight, and Sue had less to lose than me.....she's gonna kick my fat butt if I'm not careful. She was trailing just behind me on the April 2nd weigh in, I think she's probably passed me now.


Eek! I already have the $1K spent!! Good thing the missionaries are coming for dinner today so I can feed them the rest of the cheesecake I inherited from the Women's Conference last weekend.