Suggested Retail Price

Don't you love that phrase. I've kind of become accostomed to not ever paying it. Most big retailers have frequent (enough) discounts that you can usually get a brake. I almost never buy food at that high price. One item I actually do expect to pay full price is books, especially local market ones (read Mormon). But toys, no.

So guess how I felt when I sent my sweet husband to Shopko for a buy one get one half off deal on Legos and he found a not-so-sweet deal. The Lego set we were looking for was marked at 150% of suggested retail price as listed online! So the 50% off deal was ridiculous! 150% higher than suggested retail price is like robbery! Crazy. Well, that purchase is OFF.

Winner goes to the lowest (convenient) bid, which right now is online. Beware of Shopko you toy buyers. I'm sure not all items are this bad, but you never know!

P.S. Have you started Christmas shopping yet?

Moving clip art around a word document

Okay, most of you probably know this, but I didn't and I'm going to share. Occasionally I have a clip art image that won't move where I want it to in Microsoft Word.

This is how to figure it out. Right click on the image so that the black squares appear. Then right click and select the "Format picture" option. Select the "Layout" tab. Select "Square" and then "other". You should then be able to move your pictures where ever you want (and make your Activity Days fliers!).

The people are freezing

207 people froze in Grand Central Station. Watch the video here. Totally funny.

Thanks Mom (and Aunt Luell).

Hema mystery

Okay, I have no idea what this is. But it's cool, and it made me smile.




Via Design Mom

Smiles--can you spot the fake?

I just took this test from the BBC to see if you can determine between a real or faked smile. Very interesting. I got 18 of 20 right, so don't try to fool me! Actually, while I was taking it, I wasn't so sure I wasn't flunking.

The real result though, is that it made me smile just watching the smiles. I resolve to smile more, real and fake!

Sunshine

The last few days have been beautiful. It really makes me want to get more done. I feel more motivated to do and get done than I have in a long time. I think I am going to silver leaf my mirror today. Maybe I'll get my laundry folded, too.

What is the sunshine fueling you to do today?

Super Tuesday

Go vote! Make your lovely voice heard.

Tag

I have never really wanted to play tag, I am 7 months pregnant after all. Once when I was pregnant I tried to play frisbee tag with a bunch of teenagers and I ended up sprawled on the ground. It wasn't pretty. But Paige, I love you and so. . .

1. 10 years ago I was 19, engaged to Matt at BYU, studying hard to be a nurse.
2. 5 things on my to do list today: laundry, nap, go to IKEA, keep 5 kids alive and keep myself sane while doing so.
3. If I were a Billionaire I would buy furniture, renovate my kitchen and many other parts of my house, get a new car, buy a house in CA and HI, help all my family, etc. All the usual. Matt would retire.
4. 3 bad habits: waste time on computer, put off chores, get frustrated with my kids.
5. 5 places I have lived: Newport Beach, Paris, Provo, American Fork, Cedar Hills
6. 5 jobs I've had: delivered newspapers, cemetery care taker, Subway sandwich artist, Mail Boxes Etc. guru and MOM
7. 3 Things people don't know about me: I like to burst into loud song, especially pirate songs, I am totally going gray, scratch that, they probably know that, I am a grand champion lamb showman, I love plants and thinking about gardening.

Mint Musketeers

The new mint 3 Musketeers are a little bit of a disappointment. Dark chocolate is good, but the mint stuff is hard and not that yummy. Bummer. Just thought you'd like to know.

Christmas vacation doesn't officially end until I have my Christmas stuff all taken down and packed away. Due to some wonderful (Dawn's baptism, family visits) and some not-so-wonderful (coughing, runny nosing, ear infecting, throwing up lousiness) circumstances, I am just getting to that today.

Tomorrow I should finish, if all goes according to plan. Then I will be done.

Then I will again return and post all about my wonderful Christmas break. See you soon.

Things that WILL make me happy today, or soon

1. Listening to Andrew whine in his bed because I know that he'll learn not to indulge in his 2-year-old rage
2. Scott's coughing because I know that we are all generally healthy and he hasn't passed it to anyone else yet.
3. The phone ringing with yet another political call before elections tomorrow because I live in a democratic land.
4. Mounds of paperwork because I have the means to pay bills, brains to throw most of it away and lots of opportunities.
5. Kids whining about errands because I get to be at home with them to run them and they aren't stuck in a daycare watching TV or learning all sorts of useful things like sharing germs.
6. My dirty kitchen floor, because it means I've been having so much fun with family and friends that leave a little love note there and I have no time to clean it up.
7. Feeling sick because I can lay down and feel the slight fluttering of a life coming to be inside me.

Ahh. I feel better already.

Funny

Today I couldn't find my cell phone. Weird. I called Matt to see if he knew where it was. Nope. So I asked him to call it for me. He smiled and said "Or you could." Oh yeah! Called, found, and left. I am still assimilating all this new technology. If only I could call my keys.

Later I got a call from my sister-in-law. I am trying to help them sell a car since they moved to Michigan without it. She got a call today saying someone was towing it. Ahhh. I felt awful. I'd just parked it in a new spot and it was being towed! I felt awful. As I drove home, I saw it. Still parked right there. No boot, no ticket, no nothing. Why would someone torment me so? I'll tell you, it really put a damper on the shopping high I was getting at the mall. Plus, it's a good spot. In a few days they've had over 12 calls! Do YOU want to buy a lovely Honda Civic? Because I do, but instead I paved paradise, went to Hawaii and bought food and clothing for 4 kids.

Faces in Places

I just saw this great blog, Faces in Places. It's great for a cheery computer break.

Here are a few of my favs.




Link via A Little Sussy

Mitt Romney

I found this article on Mitt Romney quite good. It seems to voice my own concerns of him quite well. I want to love him. But I find myself hesitant. I'm not sure what kind of president he will be. I, too, think he needs to show America his whole heart and trust that things will work out.

Take a look at this article and tell me what you think.

Make-a-list Monday, New things I'm trying

1. 3 kids in soccer, 3 games each Saturday
2. stretch pants and long shirts
3. pandora.com
4. emergency homework projects on Sunday night
5. no kids in kindergarten :)
6. new emoticons like :V:-| Person who cannot figure out why nobody wants to talk to him or her, little suspecting that there is an alligator on his or her head (Dave Barry)
7. living with only xy's for the majority of the day
8. new chore schedule with a 3-year-old in the mix
9. not reading any Stephenie Meyer books for at least a few weeks, I've got to get back to War and Peace

What are you trying?

One smart fellar

One smart feller, he felt smart.
Another smart feller, he felt smart.
Both smart fellers, they both felt smart.

Say that 5 times fast.

(You can thank my father-in-law for that bit of wisdom and culture!)

Make-a-list Monday, otherwise known as MALM, isn't that from Ikea?

At least that's what I know it as. Now you do too. Today's list hearkens from an earlier era, last week. I was thinking how it was a bummer that only kids get to learn new things all the time. Learn to swim, play the piano, soccer, video games, read, sing, violin, art, gymnastics, dance, and on and on. Why does it have to stop when you have a ring and 4 kids? So I am making a list of everything I want to learn before I die, or at least before I forget how to keep saliva in my own mouth and recognize my husband. So, here goes.

Things I want to learn

1. Play the guitar
2. Play the ukulele
3. Sing (vocal lessons)
4. yoga (downward facing dog and all)
5. How to sail
6. How to take personal and beautiful photographs
7. French, or maybe Italian, or German, Espanol anyone?
8. How to keep food on the table, sand in the sandbox, and excrement in the toilet
9. How to re-upholster furniture
10. HTML
11. How to make the perfect beach, this will definitely take A LOT of research
12. Oil paint, watercolor
13. Master Gardener
14. be hostess of the year
15. Be a city councilwoman
16. How get answers to prayers and be the answer to prayers
17. All about our nations great founders and beginnings
18. ?????????????????????????????

P.S. Today I am NOT going to forget to not do something. The reason I haven't added this part to my blog is because I haven't done even one thing every day like all summer. So what haven't I been doing? Work. Ha, I've been playing like all summer! So today I am not going to leave up my nursery decorations one day more. Yes, they are cute, but really, they are just tissue paper! Let them go.....

Making a sweet-smelling man

When they are little, a diaper change and a bath will pretty much do it. I shudder to think of what it will take for a teenager.

But a man can generally keep himself not stinking. My husband is generally smell-neutral. He smells like deodorant at best. (I love you dear, smooch smooch.) So I found this advice on Design Mom by a guest blogger, Ryan Wright.

Cologne - It's time to move your man away from his favorite high school smell. My all time favorite smell for men is Vetiver Oriental by Serge Lutens - striking. Masculine without smelling like aftershave. Sophisticated but uncomplicated. Delicious. It's difficult to find in the US though (aedes, apothia, lacremebeauty, or at Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman & selected Neiman Marcus stores. In Canada, try theperfumeshoppe.) I also like Burberry "Touch", Hermes "Terre" and Comme Des Garcon.

I'm going to go sample some of these as well as one for me that my mom discovered called Hawaii that she raved about. Something about smelling just like the tropical paradise we just left! Sweet!

The new look

Until I learn html, I have to stick with templates. But I was ready for another look. I just really want to put my own picture on the header. Is it easy?

Feeling summery?

You have to watch this video from JCrew.

Via {Frolic}