Prop. 8

I spent my first night "working the corner" for Prop. 8 tonight. I wasn't able to go last week to hold up signs in support of Prop. 8 because my allergies were SO bad and the wind was terrible and I had schedule conflicts each time (really, I'm not making excuses). So I finally made it up to the corner tonight and it wasn't too bad. We had about 60 people from our ward show up for "Family Home Evening at the Corner" and only 4 people with "No on Prop 8" signs were there. It was a little awkward when Kelsie recognized that one of the "no" people was one of her friends from school, but Kelsie handled it quite well. I was very impressed. Trevor LOVES holding signs at the corner--tonight was his fourth time. He tries to get all the cars to wave at him or honk their horns--OK, so he's a little needy for attention--middle child syndrome. He also likes to keep track of how many flip him off. Branden likes going to, but sometimes I wonder if it's for the pizza, cookies and soda.

It's been a good experience for our family participating in Prop. 8. We've had some really good family discussions about the whole issue and I've been impressed with the willingness that the whole family has shown in standing up for something that we believe in. It's also been inspiring to see how many people from the ward are willing to give so much of their time to the issue (and not just for free pizza at the corner:) That being said, I will be SO glad when Tuesday is finally here.

Very Sad News

I started feeling a little better today until I read my sister's blog and learned that Mother's Cookies filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors on Monday. Yes, Mother's cookies--the makers of one of my favorite cookies, the pink and white iced animal shaped cookies. That is one cookie that I could never eat just one of (well, most cookies I can never eat just one of)...MMM. They even made them in patriotic colors for the 4th of July. They made other cookies too, like the iced oatmeal cookies and I'm sure others, but my favorite were the pink and white iced animals.

The company cited the rising cost of fuel and supplies as the main reason for closing their doors. Many people have lost their jobs and the world has lost a very fine cookie company. I am so very sad. I'm heading off to the store right now and hopefully I can find some before they're all gone. Maybe I can buy a bunch and sell them on E-Bay :)! Just kidding, I will eat them in remembrance of MANY fond memories of Mother's Cookies.

My Life of Leisure

We're having some closet addition/remodeling work going on this week at our house. We actually are paying someone to do this since we don't know how to frame and I/we really don't like doing drywalling or electrical work. We usually do all our home improvement work ourself, so I am feeling so spoiled seeing people carry things in and carry things out while I just sit and do nothing.

I really am just sitting and doing nothing since I've been sick all week. I feel really stupid because the guy who's doing the work is a friend of ours and all I really do is sit. I sit at the table and read the newspaper. I sit at the computer and do computer stuff. I sit in front of the TV--I don't have bon bons, but I've been eating oreos and M&M's (my comfort foods). But, of course, I am still a mom, so I do have to get up and take kids to school, buy groceries, do laundry, etc. I really just need to take a nap, but there's people in three of our bedrooms at any given time.

I think our friend (who shall remain nameless) thinks I'm a total loser. I haven't showered. I haven't worn any makeup. On Monday I stayed in my pajamas and glasses all day (such a pretty sight.) His wife has always worked so I'm sure he's impressed at what a stay-at-home mom does. I try to cough loudly when the hammering stops or when I hear him coming down the hall so that he can hear that I am sick. I think he just thinks I'm lazy.

Love/Hate Relationship

I HATE Santa Ana winds. I just HATE them. I hate how they keep me up at night, or even wake me up from a sound sleep. I hate how they make my already flat hair flatter. I hate how they blow little dust particles in my eyes which stick to my contacts and make me cry until I can take my contacts out and clean them. I hate how they make my dog (and kids) hyper. I hate how they make my allergies worse.

But yesterday, I was quite appreciative of the Santa Ana winds. As another huge fire was burning near Porter Ranch, I couldn't figure out why it looked so pretty out my window, when they skies should be filled with smoke. I went outside to check out where all the smoke was when I realized that the Santa Ana winds that I hate so much were blowing the smoke directly away from me and leaving my house in a little blue sky bubble--I couldn't even smell smoke!

The kids were hoping for a "Fire Day" (kinda like a Snow Day), but the fire's not quite close enough to us, so they had to go to school. At least they cancelled outside practices for Kelsie and Trevor due to the poor air quality.

Mr. President

This year, Branden had the option to stay at his elementary school for sixth grade or to go to middle school. Our elementary school has a excellent sixth grade program, so I was hoping he would choose to stay without me having to negotiate with him. He really wanted to stay because all of his friends were staying, but also so that he could run for President and so he could be in Junior Olympics.

Last week was the student body elections. He (and I) had to make a poster, make stickers for people to wear and give a speech. His speech was all about name recognition as he said "Branden O." twenty-five times in his speech. (There are two other Brandon's, a Braden, and a Brenden in 6th grade with him.) I thought I would be such a good mom so I brought the video camera to tape him. I was SO nervous as he was giving his speech in front of 450 people that I couldn't hold the camera still. The footage is completely bouncing around and I even have one of those anti-bounce cameras. Oh, well. I tried.

His motto was "All you need to know is to vote for Branden O." Not as memorable as Trevor's "If you're clever, vote for Trevor. And even if you're not clever, you should still vote for Trevor," His worked anyway, and he won! Congratulations, Branden O.