From Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale

People disappear when they die. Their voices, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living mempry of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continut to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humour, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.

--Diane Setterfield



Friday, September 16, 2011

If I never see a Flaming Hot Cheeto again...

It will be too soon.
On a side note I have never noticed until this afternoon how sweet, really, really sweet water tastes.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Quibbler August 2011

Our First day of August was fun. I got to help in Jaedyn's Nursery class at church and w made play dough. After naps I shaped it into my world-famous-snowman.
Jaedyn helped me take it apart and reposition the pieces.
I borrowed a Kitchen Aid mixer and made up some breads (bread, rolls, muffins and scones to be precise).
We have been in the midst of a huge drought and trying to find things to do inside (out of the heat). We sing with our friends every Wednesday and other days we do play dates. Fiona came over and the girls finger painted. Fun times! Jaedyn had more fun painting herself than the paper and we have subsequently started painting with no shirt / an apron.
We drove up to Dallas for an extended weekend trip to visit friends and have another Massage Party with the Fitch's. It was awesome. Justin and Leah are wonderful hosts. We played and socialized all weekend. Sunday we visited with the Case's from Coppell. They are such a great family. We expected to see them at church, but Tara was having a reaction to new medication and they stayed home. Lucky us, we know where they live and got to spend some time with them at their place. It was great to chat and catch up on their lives. I felt for Tara who, because of the medication, lost her train of thought often. I totally felt like that after I had Jaedyn. It was sad and funny to me to see what it must have looked like to those around me as I would forget what I was saying in the middle of a word. We played games with the Thrapp's and their friends. Boxers or Briefs, which was fun; and a made up game that was way more fun. It's a cross between pictionary and telephone. Way fun!
Jaedyn had a fabulous time with Justin and Leah's dog, Sailor, and has asked if we are going to Sailor's house when we get into the car all week. She took a nap and totally tucked herself into the bed.
We are so grateful to have such amazing friends.
Two weeks later we went to Houston for a quick luncheon at Taste of Texas. Eldon has been at Exxon for 30 years and they gave him a party there. It was very fun to see Grammie, Grandpa Eldon, Aunty Emm, Uncle Ross, and Grandma Bear and Papa Bear Latimer. Jaedyn was amazingly well behaved at the fancy restraunt. One day soon we should get pictures from the photographer that was there. The next Sunday was Aunt Tarah's birthday, but since she is living in Provo we didn't get to see her. I did curry a present her way with Uncle Ross. Thanks, Ross! I hear she likes the lotions and sugar scrub and essential girly stuff I sent.
When we got home I went to a book group and helped a friend who was preping her house for the return of her husband. He had been gone for over 8 months on business! We didn't scrub down the house like we wanted to, the scrubing-type friend was sick, but we tidyied and picked up and sorted and organized and hung pictures and wall art and the house lookes so much more homey now. She was so happy to ave him come back and we were so happy to finally meet him.
I made liquid laundry soap with a friend. It was really easy and had such a high yield that we split it and I will have enough for … the rest of the year or something. Especially if the drought continues and our water is 'voluntarily' restristed.
I had a lovely girls night with a friend. She was doing some research and I was working on a family photo album for the Quigley's while we watched Grace Kelly and Carry Grant in To Catch a Thief. It was so much fun!
Scott's birthday was August 29th and it was very uneventful. We didn't even have a party or anything. The plan was to have a party that weekend, but it never came together. I think we had birthday brownies.
Jaedyn started Preschool the last week of August and she is really enjoying it. There are 8 kids who get ogether once a week for preschool. We rotate houses and each mom teaches while the kids are at her house. We met and planned out the lessons for the year and who would do field trips and parties. I teach in October and our leson will be on “teeth”. I plan to use some candy experiments from my friend Loralee's blog and upcoming book to showcase ways to save our teeth.
There are no pictures of many of the events, because let's face it. Pictures of Jaedyn a more fun and easier to take, than say pictures of myself.
Other fun things from August include:
We had a family in the ward for the summer and at Music Time one week Annie (age 3) asked Jaedyn “Where's your brother?” She has two and it obviously confused her. The comment has stuck with Jaedyn because now everything is about brothers. Her dolls and toys are / have brothers. One day we were at a friend's house and she said to her playmate, “Fiona, you're my brother.”
So sweet.
She tells us about her dreams after nap time or in the morning. It's always the same. I dreamed about the park, again. When we got home from visiting with the Thrapps in Dallas she had a new dream. She dreamed that she threw a ball high up, up into the air and it got stuck on a cloud and then it fell down and Sailor (their dog) caught it.
We went for a family walk and she found a cell phone that someone had ditched on our lawn. It was battered and missing the battery. Now it's her phone. The first person she called was the train that runs by our neighborhood. She calls the train very frequently with different 'phones' (calculators, cell phones and a hand clapper / noisemaker) the next phone call she made was to Cruella DeVile. They had a lovely conversation. It went on for quite a while. “Hello, Cruella? Oh, HI! How are you? ...”
She has started potty training and LOVES to get a candy after she uses the toilet. She is very good at it now, she can hold it until she get to the toilet, (needs help with clothes most times) gets up by herself, wipes, and flushes; then she hops down and sometimes remembers to wash her hands. We remind her, but she gets up on the seat again and leans over to the sink all by herself. She is quite the climber and balancer.
Jaedyn has started using 'glass' plates and cups at the table now. She brings them over after she's done and puts them on the counter. When I asked her why she didn't put them into the sink she told me they would break if she put them into the sink, because they are glass.
Scott cleared out the garage and we have been able to park our car in it! It's SO nice to walk out to a car the is not sweltering.
It think that's about all for August.
We have been fortunate that the fires in Central Texas have not affected us.
Scott is looking for a job, nothing he had lined up has worked out. It's frusterating.
My Zinnas grew very tall! We got a wind sotrm that pretty much took them out, but they were amazing!
I need to download y pictures and put more in the next Quibbler. Keep your eyes open for a pictures overload next time!
We love you!



Running

Saturday I will be, among other things, running my first 5K.
One of my running friends asked me during my run tonight if I could tell a difference since I started running. I started running with them one month ago.
I can, but the difference I was looking for is not there yet.
It's still about 15 lbs away. Maybe 20 lbs. Basically I still look like me, I don't look like them yet.
Mind over matter though. If they can do it after having more kids than I have had. I can too. Regardless of what my genetic makeup is, right?
I think I'll puzzle over it while I eat this brownie...