The fireball explained... sort of...

After further investigation, we are pretty sure this crazy thing was caused by the high voltage powerlines that run along the back of our property. Apparently, lightning or something somewhere along the line can cause a power surge, which somehow sent out a bolt of lightning/electricity down to the tree at least 10 feet below it!It's hard to see in this picture, but this branch of the tree has the bark split right down the side all the way to the ground. Sam found this toasted bird nest on the ground underneath it and also some other burnt branches. Here's the patch of burnt grass all the way over at Ginger's. My neighbors across the street had plumbers at their house all day and they were tearing up her floor and found 4 places where the copper pipes had just burst, and they stopped at that so they didn't have to destroy the whole house! They are going to have to re-plumb the entire house through the ceiling! I don't know how it could be related to the electric explosion, but it's just too big of a coincidence to ignore.

CraftyChica Resin Magnets and an explosion

I was watching the news this morning and they had Kathy Cano Murillo- aka the Crafty Chica on and she showed how to make these awesome resin magnets! (borrowed the pic from her website)I tried to make some a few years ago but I didn't seal the images with craft glue before I poured the resin on and they didn't turn out nearly as cute as hers so I can't wait to try some more! She is also hosting a cruise- how fun! Click this banner button to find out about it.
NOW, for the explosion! Ok, I sat down here at my laptop this morning to post about Crafty Chica when suddenly I heard a LOUD BOOM- some kind of an explosion and I crouched down and looked out the window to the left and saw a fire ball coming at me I closed my eyes and waited for the burning. (no, I don't react well in emergencies) Well a second later, I realized I was still alive, and not on fire, so I opened my eyes and saw nothing out of the ordinary- no fire, no smoke, nothing. The horses were even standing around looking at each other. I tried to decide if I needed to call 911 first or gather my kids- I chose my kids- I ran to the stairs and yelled at them to come up here quick- they seemed unphased- like they hadn't even heard the explosion. (come to think of it, I never asked them) but I took them to the front of the house, and told them to wait there and I went back to the back window and looked out again, to see if I could see any part of my house on fire. Then I got my phone and called 911 and told them my story, and walked outside looking for any signs of fire or proof that I had actually seen and heard what I thought I had. No signs. At this point I'm starting to doubt my senses- am I insane? Is it possible that something in my brain snapped and made me experience this thing that didn't even happen? My heart was still pounding out of my chest when we went out front and I found my neighbor across the street running around because she had also seen the fire and heard the explosion, and then water had begun to flow up through her kitchen floor! Ok, I didn't imagine it. But we aren't quite sure what caused it. Other confusing evidence: a small fire burning in Ginger's yard down the street- she pulled up just after the explosion and saw it burning, but it was no big deal and burned itself out. There are some high voltage power lines that run along the back of our properties that may have had something to do with it? Sam did some exploring around and found a charred birdnest back near the back of Jessica's property (next door, and in the direction I saw the fireball coming from.) Anyways, I already am not exactly sure what the fire ball looked like, or even if it was a ball of fire, and I'm not sure how it sounded. I am quite relieved that this was not a creation of my imagination, and that no one got hurt! What an exciting morning!

Stage Mom

We spent Monday morning at a car dealership filming a commercial. I suppose some people consider this a perk since Sam does advertising, but I decided we will probably not do another one unless there is some serious compensation! Three hours chasing Miss E around and trying to keep her happy while big sisters tried their hand at acting was a little painful at times. (plus an hour of drive time) and all that for a couple balloons and a Subway sandwich! But they were pretty excited to see the commercial when it was finished. Click HERE to see our little stars as you are enticed to buy a Honda! Don't worry, Miss G is not having a seizure in the back seat.

Tagged by Laura...

Sorry it took me a few days to do this Laura- here are 7 random things/habits of mine.

1. I have a hard time getting rid of pretty things. Like junk mail with a pretty pattern, or cute tags from new clothes. Now I scan them and save them in a file on my computer so I can throw them out with just a little anxiety.

2. I cannot sleep if I don't wash my face before bed.

3. I do everything SLOWLY. I don't know why. Maybe there's a bit of a perfectionist in me that wants thing done exactly right. I hate that stressed/in a hurry feeling but the problem with moving slow is I end up late a lot, which makes me feel stressed and in a hurry anyways!

4. I leave the cupboard doors open. I never knew it until Sam informed me it drove him crazy- about 2 years into our marriage!

5. When my mind gets quiet, it starts a running dialog or everything I see or do "Then she walked over to the dishwasher and opened the door. She noticed that the pan on the bottom rack was flipped over and full of water. Then she wondered why that particular pan flipped over, and none of the other dishes did. Then she heard Miss E coming so she quickly closed the door." ETC- crazy, I know.

6. I really like being pregnant. (generally speaking- I don't like the 3 months of nausea, or the lack of sleep, or the getting huge and uncomfortable, or wearing maternity clothes, or the hearburn... I'm not sure why I like it.)

7. I ALWAYS use my turn signal- even in parking lots.

Ok, so I am tagging YOU- all of you who I link to in my friends section- and anyone else who might read this! (if you want)

Food

I think I have a somewhat troubled relationship with food- I like to eat, and I like things that taste good, and I too often choose what sounds best (or is easiest) rather than what would actually benefit my body best. I stress about what to feed myself, and even more about what to feed the rest of my family and I really wonder what "healthy" people eat, and what their kids eat, and how they grow children without food issues. So I was excited to see blogger NieNie do a series this week called "NieNie's Vegetarian Life." She shared what she feeds her family on a vegetarian diet. And most of it sounded good. So if that interests you, you can check out her blog HERE. The only thing missing is the recipes! If you know her, request she put on some recipes, and do another week! I really like some of her thoughts and attitudes towards being a wife and mother and how she seems to really "get" the spirit of provident living. I hope I can soak some of that up. Oh and she has lots of really cool pictures. And she MAKES her own marshmallows!
***Update! I wasn't the only one excited about her food posts and she has now started a food blog where she posted all the recipes and hopefully will do more! You can check out CuisineNie by clicking HERE.

Duct Tape Bandage

I'm thankful for these manly duct tape bandages that I got from Walgreens a while ago (one of their free after rebate items) Sam told me real men don't wear band-aids but I think some men might consider them a great Father's Day present. They came in handy when I knocked a bench over on my toe the other day because the regular band-aids just weren't big enough to cover the damage. Every time I take the band aid off Miss E runs away crying "Oh noooooo feeeeeeeeeet!" I will spare you all the details but it was VERY painful. I think I will recover though. Maybe you can't tell how tough these are next to pink toenails, so check out this:

You can make cornbread!

I needed something to go with my Chicken Tortilla soup tonight, especially since I didn't have any tortillas to fry or chips. I decided cornbread was the way to go, but when I looked at that little box of Jiffy Cornbread muffin mix, I wasn't getting excited, because they always turn out gross! So I tried a recipe from scratch and it was SO easy and SO yummy I can't believe I've never tried it before! Here's the recipe:

So long, farewell...

Our couches have served us well for nearly 9 years, and now, it's time to say goodbye. Out with the old and in with the new! Note the chewed arm, and the hole on the pillow- it was time to go!If you could see everything that has soaked into those couches over the years- all the spit up, ewwww! I loved them to death when we got them but the plaid has gotten a little old. I will keep them (if I can find a spot for them that is) and I want to eventually recover them and put them in my living room. That project seems a little overwhelming right now though. Here's the catalog picture of my new couches that arrived today, I am so excited! They let me keep one of the boxes and the girls had a blast playing in it tonight.

Line of Authority

My mom watched my girls while I was gone and she told me a funny thing that Miss G said. Someone was doing something and my mom asked them to stop, and they kept doing it, and Miss G said "You better stop because Jesus will tell Santa, and Santa will tell the Holy Ghost and then you won't get any presents." I guess we need to put a little more effort into the teaching part of our family home evenings.

Before Girls Camp

I spent a lot of time here over Memorial Day weekend- I read New Moon (sequel to Twilight and I LOVED it) and got caught up on a few magazines and it was wonderful! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend- Miss G and Miss B got to take turns with the camera too and they got some fun ones.

My other favorite girls

I'm back. 4 days of dirt and sun and giggles and singing and spiritual boosts and staying up too late and BUGS and ALLERGIES (or maybe a miserable little cold) I am glad to be home, and also glad that I went to camp! I truly love all these girls and am so glad that I get to work with them- I never thought I would enjoy being in Young Women's so much. It was even better because of the ladies I got to hang out with, (Mairsy, Holly and Shannon) and our afternoon Dr. Pepper/Diet Pepsi breaks, and really super good food! I was mistaken for a girl rather than a leader a few too many times though- any suggestions on how to get the grown ups to take me seriously next year?

Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chica Boom

Taking a blogging break to go sing silly songs in the mountains at girls camp! What's your favorite camp song? Mine was always Sippin Cider. I'll let you know if that changes.

Cutest Summer Invitation

Why is this so cute you say? Well, because it's a flip flop!I can't take credit for the idea, it's a card we made in a class at the scrapbook store but I just thought it was the cutest idea. You use those thin flimsy flip flops they give you when you get a pedicure- you can buy them at beauty supply stores then you just tie the information tag in the middle and tie whatever ribbons you like all over the straps. I wish I had bunko or some kind of a party coming up this summer...

I actually DID something!

back view:
It seems like my wannabe craft blog hasn't had many CRAFTS lately! But I actually did something tonight. This is embarrassing, but I gave this to my mother in law a few years ago for some gift. I knew it wasn't cute then, but I just couldn't figure out how to decorate it! I wanted her to have some kind of a journal/guest book at the ranch for people to write in when they visited. Every time I see it, I cringe so I finally decided to do something about it and improve it! It's not great, but I am very happy with how it turned out. Sam took the picture on the front and I used some denim scraps for the binding, tied on some twine and leather, a few silver charms (purchased a couple years ago during an obsessive silver charm shopping on eBay phase,) and then punched some holes and added eyelets and ribbon to close it. Oh, and I did rub-ons for the "please sign in" but I would type them on the picture before I printed it if I did it again.
So, hooray! A craft!

Meet the class of 2019!

That's what Miss B's kindergarten teacher said at their "graduation" today and it was crazy to think that 2019 will get here before I know it! I normally would consider kindergarten graduation silly and unneccessary (and maybe it is) but I was glad that they had one. It was sweet and the kids seemed to appreciate it. My smartie won the Good Citizen Award for the year in her class and we were so proud of her. They sent a microphone around and each kid told what they want to be when they grow up and we were surprised to hear "My name is [Miss B middle. last] and I want to be a social worker when I grow up." She does always say she wants to "help people" but I think her teacher helped her come up with that one. And it's a good thing, because if this class is a sample of our future, there are going to be a lot of astronauts and dolphin trainers and dance teachers, but very few social workers!

I love Shutterfly!

I haven't had much to blog about so I wanted to share a couple of my latest digital layouts. I printed a 12x12 book for Miss B a while ago with Shutterfly and it turned out so nice! Then they sent me a coupon for a free 8 1/2 x 11 book so I did some pages for Miss G and got her a book too. The quality is really good, and Shutterfly's customer service has been so great! On both of the books, I procrastinated to the very last minute (yes midnight) to order them before coupons expired, and had trouble, and when I e-mailed customer service they let me use the codes after they had expired! I won't do that to them again, but I th0ught that it was really awsesome they wanted to make me happy. I think I will do 8 1/2 x 11 or go to 8x8 for future books because the 12x12 pages were really big. If you don't do the digital scrapbooking, they have ready made books and you just tell them which pictures you want in it.

High Desert Retreat

Some of my favorite things about "The Ranch" are:
Watching the storm clouds roll by nearly every afternoon, sometimes bringing great thunderstorms.
The old collection of pottery they found there- it's illegal to collect it now, and unfortunately I doubt there's much left anyways. Slim and Slimette.
Michal's collection of whimsical southwestern art.

And antiques.

Climbing the twisted little treesIt's always Christmas there
Laying under the shade tree in the garden.
Collecting rocks.
Memorial Day weekend can't get here soon enough!

Need an easy summer dessert?

I was just looking through my Kraft Food & Family magazine and saw this awesome super easy ice cream cake:

Lindsey, is this what you made for Bunko? It was SO yummy and this looks looks something like I remembered. I think it will be Sam's birthday cake. HERE is the link to the recipe.

New Hair Cuts

The girls got their first REAL hair cuts (not trims) and I think they look so cute! They seem to think so too, and even Sam, who was not thirlled at the idea of chopping off their long locks seems to be happy with the results. Thanks Beth- you are the best!

Time to do some bzzing...

Have you heard about BzzAgent? Well, I am one, and it is really cool! It's a word of mouth advertising company. You get to try new products, tell people about them, and then report back the response and feedback you get. Right now I am "bzzing" Hillshire Farm Entree Salads. They sent me a coupon for a free one to try it, and then some more $1 off coupons to share with my friends who want to try it. (let me know if you want one, or check out their website to print one) I haven't been able to find them at Bashas or Frys or the Walmart Market near my house yet though but I saw them at Albertsons (when I didn't have a coupon with me of course!) But I am excited to try them and will let you know if they are good! They are a kit with meat, cheese, dressing or whatever toppings, and you just throw it in with a bag of lettuce for a complete salad meal- sounds like a great idea, especially if you work, an easy lunch to take with you right? Anyways, I also just joined a campaign for Off and Coppertone Sunscreen but I haven't gotten those kits yet but I'm excited to try it out and start spreading the word! If this sounds like something that would be fun for you, go HERE to sign up or find out more!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sad News, Silliness, & a Special Birthday!

So sad- last night I found out that there is only ONE MORE episode of Gilmore Girls left! Next week is the series finale. I knew it had to end, Rory is finished with school, but what am I going to look forward to now? (and if you watch Lost, isn't it getting creepy???)

Now for the silliness- CLICK HERE to see a totally ridiculous video that has been viewed almost 8 million times on You Tube. Charlie the Unicorn. The girls in my church class just thought it was hilarious and could reenact it word for word.

And a birthday! My adorable baby sister Diana is celebrating her 19th birthday today- Happy birthday Diana- I love you!I have a hard time thinking of Diana being older than she is in this picture:Did you ever wear rag curlers?

Free Money!

That's my ad- I signed up for Survey Savvy some time ago, unsure if it was legit, but it came on a good recommendation so I gave it a try. Once I got my first check, I told my friends and family about it. Since then I have only filled out a few surveys, and I guess a few of the people I told about it did too, and today after I finished a 5 minute survey, I decided to see how much money I had and there was $71 in my account! So click on this link, and sign up, tell your friends, and start getting some money. It's not exactly enough to go on a shopping spree, but who will turn down free money?

Martha Stewart Crafts

It's official- Michael's advertised the new Martha Stewart Crafts line in their ad today and you can see the website HERE. It looks really cool! Something that really caught my eye was all the food packaging products.
The downside is none of it is cheap, and you can't use the Michael's coupons on it right now.

Shopping

I have 2 slight addictions that balance each other out so they don't cause too much of a problem- over spending, and over eating. So I'm just *a little* fatter than I want to be, and I spend *just a little* over budget each month. The problem is, when I commit to really sticking to a budget, I can't stop eating, and when I go on a diet, I can't stop shopping! So I'm on a diet... and I found this really cute dress at Kohls.My measurements are slightly different than hers so don't let Sam see this picture. And I got it in black & white but I like it. And you can't beat that price, and it doesn't need to be ironed!

And something I want to buy, but have been holding off on, a new girly pair of Crocs! I don't know why these are so cute to me- in 10 years they will probably be something we laugh at, but they are so comfortable.

Get yer modest t-shirts!

Belle Clothing is clearing out the site and all shirts are $5. I haven't tried them but my sister's friend has and she likes them, so if you are interrested, go check it out! Click HERE.

And if you want to make your own special edition newspaper, click HERE to try the Newspaper Clipping generator I found posted at OScraps.

Don't forget about Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars tonight- yippee!