I lose everything. . .

I don't know what my problem is, but I put items down in random places all the time and then have to hunt for them. My keys are the worst. The stupid thing is that we have a hook right by the back door to hang them on. Another is my cell phone. The other day, it fell out of my pocket at Heidi's house when I sat down in her chair to change Emma's diaper.

My lastest blunder is an $860 prepaid visa card that has my legislative money allotted to buy classroom supplies. If I don't spend it, I have to pay it back. I really hope that it slipped under the seat of my car!!! Wish me luck! and maybe this time I'll learn my lesson.

The People's Champion

You knew he reminded you of someone--
You just couldn't quite put your finger on it.

Smoovies

Growing up just down the street from a 7-11, Heidi, Kevin and I developed a taste for Slurpees. We would ask my mom all the time if we could ride our bikes to the gas station and get one. Most times she just said no, but occasionally she would improvise and make slurpees of her own instead. All of us would get a turn to put one of the ingredients into the blender (1 packet of Kool-aid, 1 cup sugar, ice, and water) and then we would sit down at the table and enjoy or frozen treats. Mom saved some money and the kids were happy.

This was always one of my personal favorites. When I got a little older, I would make them for my younger siblings and we would spend a few minutes of our day sitting down to enjoy them. I remember one time in particular I was feeling like being nice (that didn't happen very often) so I made up a batch to share with everyone. I poured some for each of us into a glass and when we sat down to eat them---they stuck to our tongues! I have never tasted anything so horrible and what a sensation to have the ice bonding to your tongue. (If you haven't figured it out yet, I used salt instead of sugar! Now I know what an icy sidewalk feels like!) Everyone forgave me and we made a new batch. Sometimes we still laugh over it.

Since I have become a mom and an aunt, I have been the one to spoil my kids and nieces and nephew with this tasty treat. (Yes, I always make sure to use sugar!) It has been a fun tradition that has developed over nine years. Every time the girls or Cadance and Gauge come over to my house, we make "Smoovies." Each one of them takes a turn doing a job, they make a huge sticky mess all over my counter, and we laugh and tell jokes and act silly. For me, it is a little nostalgic--but mostly it gives me something special that the kids look forward to when they come and visit.

I LOVE VOTING!

My first experience with voting in the general election was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience.
My senior year of high school, I worked as an office aide at Mont Harmon in a work study program. I remember one day in particular, Mrs. Neeley asked me to run some stuff back to my dad in his office. When I got there, my dad was visiting with his long-time friend Brad King. Brad was getting a campaign together to run for the State House of Representatives at the time and was there to ask my dad to be a delegate for him at the upcoming democratic convention. My dad introduced me as I walked in as "his daughter that would be 18 soon and voting for the first time in November." Brad's face turned into an almost sarcastic smile and he said (jokingly, I think) "you should come and be a delegate for me!" My dad jumped right on the band wagon and before I knew it, I had agreed.
That was an experience I will never, ever forget. I started out on the grass roots level by attending the precinct caucus meetings. I had to be nominated by someone at the meeting (it was my dad, he he) as a delegate to attend the State Democratic Convention and then that motion had to be seconded. Once that had taken place, they had to take a majority vote within our precinct. My dad and I were both elected as delegates. . .the next step was off to the state convention.
A short time later, I was headed to Jordan High School with my dad and Uncle Bill. At first everyone congregated in the massive auditorium to hear speeches from the candidates on the state level. I was in awe the whole day. It was sort of like being at teen idol or boy band concert, but everyone was OLD!!! The speeches were exciting and so full of energy, it was hard not to jump on the band wagon. I wanted to vote for every person there! Once all of the candidates for state offices had been presented, we broke up into our districts. This was where my job as a delegate was important. We moved into the band room at the high school where all of the democratic candidates in our district presented their agendas. I didn't understand the point to all of the speeches, because I was under the impression that every delegate there already knew who they were voting for. Anyway, after all of the speeches were over, the delegates went to the polls to cast their votes.

On the way out, Brian Mullahy (a reporter from channel 2 news) caught my eye. I was gawking at how short he was in real life when Bill and my dad noticed him too. I said, "Isn't that guy from channel 2 news? Look how short he is!" and before I knew it, Bill was yelling out to him "We have the youngest delegate in the state right here!" and pointed to me. I felt my skin start to get hot and my face turn red and wanted to bolt for the door, which wasn't that far away. Bill started to laugh at my reaction and luckily the reporter didn't hear him. We all walked to the car laughing about the experience of the whole day.

To this day, every time I go to the poles I get the same excited feeling in my stomach that I felt that day. I love to listen to political speeches and research the candidates and items on the ballot. This is the fourth general election I will be voting in and even though the candidates for president are not the cream of the crop, I am just as excited as ever.

Click here to view the

Utah Voter Information Pamphlet

I'm too impatient to wait for it to come in the mail, so I looked it up online. It's not really exciting this time around (no gay marriage or public school controversy) but still worth reading to be informed when you get to the polls.

TAGGED--Forever ago and several times over, but . . .

6 Quirks

1. I hate using the same kind of shampoo all the time. For example, I used to buy Pantene, but I could never buy the same formula twice in a row. I tried them all: moisturizing, volumizing, texturizing, straightening, intense damage, and so on and so on. Once I had tried every kind of Pantene, I moved on to Dove and tried all of them. Now I have moved on to Herbal Essences. So far I have tried the purple for intense damage, the orange for frizz, and just the other day the red--for long hair.

2. I am obsessive when it comes to computer stuff. When I make a Word document or a PowerPoint or something, I obsess over it for hours. Everything has to be just right--down to my choice of font. Fonts are another area where I am insanely compulsive. I have downloaded hundreds off the Internet. What's really stupid is that I never even use half of them, but I might someday. (That's the teacher in me!!! )

3. I am a grammar freak when it comes to writing. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors drive me crazy. I apologize in advance if that makes any of you self conscious.

4. I hate baths. I hate them so bad, Derek hasn't even had one in, I bet, six months (That sounds really bad--yes, he is clean! Both of my kids take showers and have done since they could stand up). All I can think about is all of the goobers that are floating around in the water. However, for some reason swimming pools don't bother me--go figure.

5. Anytime my mouth opens, there is some wisecrack or sarcastic comment flying out of it. I think the part of my brain that is supposed to keep the "open mouth-instert foot" phenomenon in check is missing and I find myself having to apologize quite often.

6. I love to watch Soaps. I catch General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, and The Young and the Restless whenever possible. Luckily, DirecTV has Soapnet so that I can conveniently watch them at 8, 9, and 10 PM. However, since I've gone back to working full time I haven't been able to keep up as much as I'd like. I think that this quirk stems from the fact that I like drama, but don't have enough of my own to share. Well, not the juicy, gossipy kind anyway.

I tag six people who read this that haven't been tagged and want to participate!!!



8 things...

8 T.V. shows: As mentioned above--GH, Y&R, DAYS, Lost, Law and Order, Without a Trace, CSI (Las Vegas, not those other stupid ones, I absolutely can't stand David Caruso) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (Yes, I still love cartoons)

8 Things I did yesterday: Asked 2nd graders to be quiet, asked 2nd graders to be quiet, asked second graders to be quiet, yelled at second graders for not being quiet and made them stay in from recess, asked second graders to be quiet, sent 2nd graders home threatening that next week they better be quiet, enjoyed the quiet of my classroom after the kids went home for the weekend. Did I mention I hate friday?

8 things I'm looking forward too: Christmas vacation--17 whole days! YAY! My next paycheck, the Twilight movie, Halloween, buying my kids some new clothes, my first year of teaching to be over, and going to bed in a few minutes.

8 things I wish for: My first year of teaching to be over, that we didn't have to choose between McCain and Obama (dumb and dumber), to start some much needed home improvment projects, a new wardrobe or at least a bigger one, that I had a maid and personal chef, that there were just a few more hours in a day, a million bucks, and that my family is healthly and happy.

8 people I tag: Tiger, Kira, Annie, Sarah R., Hannah & Rye, RaeLynn, Autumn

So, my Mom told me this story. . .

. . .when I got to her house this afternoon to pick up my kids. She said that she had a presidency meeting at the church (or something like that anyway) and it was just her and Derek at the house today, so she packed him up and took him along. The meeting was in the Young Women's room and mom stopped at the nursery to pick up some toys so Derek would have something to play with while they were there.

I guess that after he had been sitting on the floor playing for a few minutes, he suddenly got up and hurried over to my mom's side and started hugging her like he was distressed. As he tried to climb up on her lap, he kept whimpereing "scary guy" "scared" "go away" while he was looking over into the corner of the room. The odd thing is that they were the only people in the building and the door of the room they were in was shut. There was absolutely nothing there that even resembeld a "scary guy." Mom put him up on her lap and he just kept eyeing the corner of the room suspiciously and repeating "scary guy" and "go home now." After a couple more minutes, he climbed down from mom's lap, stomped over to the corner he had been eyeing, stuck his finger out like he was scolding someone and yelled--"business!" (He likes to tell people to mind their business when he is mad at them or he wants to be left alone. Funny thing on other days, really odd today.)He ran back over to my mom and just kept insiting that it was time to go home.

My mom could tell he was freaking out over something, so they ended the meeting early so she could take him home. When I asked her what she thought it might be, she had no idea; just that he was acting really wierd.

My thought was "I see dead people. . . all the time."



I don't really know what the heck was going on, but it creeped me out. I remember when I was little and things used to scare me like that. It made me think--What things used to scare you when you were little? All of you Bates siblings should have some interesting "ghost stories" to share with us. 'Tis the season.

Happy Halloween Game!

Try this little Halloween game that Tiger and I came across tonight!!! It's just some fun to add to the spirit of the season. After reading all of your blogs, it seems like this time of year is a favorite for all.

Get your own Scary Prank Toy at pYzam.com

And then this, just to make you feel better about yourself!!!



Sorry everyone--What can I say. I have a twisted sense of humor!!

Tiger also wanted me to mention that there is a new funny video of him. Check out "Future Rock Star" on my side bar.