tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65497917722782278732024-03-14T01:17:58.555-05:00Where is the Laugh Track?Electrical engineer turned domestic engineer for my husband and three kids. Loving life but sharing all the times I find myself saying,
"This must be a joke..."Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.comBlogger472125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-89129377098486446152018-06-10T01:39:00.002-05:002018-06-10T01:41:46.277-05:00Youth Battalion Free Printable<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxDfWX35aaKDt0-lW_bxoSx-qwWxSqXnUJV5sj2pOuP5DveC-LZVcG9WdXRNG1jlRfKLQoQkPPCzu3j1v7nHIkOAqWT5V04lKXRx0tS070ZQhWnF8Nb26Mh7T2pyIum1hL2dxckyJ7Bg/s1600/Youth+Battalion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxDfWX35aaKDt0-lW_bxoSx-qwWxSqXnUJV5sj2pOuP5DveC-LZVcG9WdXRNG1jlRfKLQoQkPPCzu3j1v7nHIkOAqWT5V04lKXRx0tS070ZQhWnF8Nb26Mh7T2pyIum1hL2dxckyJ7Bg/s400/Youth+Battalion.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
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Here is the handout I created for my young women based on Pres. Nelson's talk Sunday evening. I shared already on Facebook, but I think you can get a slightly higher res version if you click on the link below and save the jpg from there!<br />
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<a href="https://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2018/06/youth-battalion-jpg.html">https://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2018/06/youth-battalion-jpg.html</a>Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-15526504737550524102018-06-10T01:26:00.003-05:002018-06-10T01:26:56.785-05:00Youth Battalion jpg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-64953115151593948672016-06-13T16:06:00.002-05:002016-06-13T16:06:11.887-05:00Tiny Torch - Not So Tiny in My BookSo I've been trying out Tiny Torch as a way to post for my Jamberry business and for running online parties. It's been extremely helpful! In my book, the whole point of running your own business like being a Jamberry Independent Consultant is to keep your schedule flexible and spend more family time. But the best times to post are always in the evenings when I should be with family.<br />
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Thanks to Tiny Torch, I can post at the "best" time to get seen, but still stay sitting at the dinner table with my family, or spend the evening on "Netflix and chill" with my hubby. It also helps me spread out my posts when I get a burst of posting ideas. I can create them all at once, but spread out when they actually post!<br />
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Other than one short time when there was an outage and my posts didn't show up for awhile, I've found Tiny Torch to be extremely reliable in the about 6 months I've been using it.<br />
So I'm reviewing how helpful Tiny Torch has been in hopes of getting a free upgrade to Pro! I'd love to be able to post even more and to be able to post multiple pictures! *fingers crossed*Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-16557038630054870472015-07-16T23:14:00.001-05:002015-07-16T23:14:48.107-05:00Expedition Log: AC Incident (Ongoing)<b>Day 1</b><div>
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I returned from a recreational excursion late last night to find out from the co-leader of this expedition that the upstairs air conditioner was no longer operational. The system was installed a mere 7 months ago, so I am unconcerned. The residual cool was sufficient to sleep in my bed and the AC repairman said he will call early tomorrow morning. The only negative impact was some difficulty preparing our party for worship services. Cosmetics are difficult to apply while sweating.</div>
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<b>Day 2</b></div>
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It is now 10 in the morning and there has been no word from the AC repairman. We radioed a distress call to AC headquarters and have received word that help should arrive by 16:00 CDT. Last night the 3 natives in our party and myself abandoned base camp for an outpost downstairs. It is fortunate that the downstairs functions on a separate system. It is also fortunate that school is not in session for the natives, allowing them a more flexible schedule. It was possible to convince the natives that the temporary bedding and communal sleeping situation was a rare and desirable opportunity.</div>
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<b>Day 3</b></div>
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At 30 minutes prior to the AC repairman deadline yesterday, we had still received no word of their impending arrival. Headquarters was contacted and it was announced that help had just departed with a trajectory straight towards us. Upon arrival, the repairman did a full diagnostic and discovered the source of the malfunction. Now they have mounted a search and rescue operation for the necessary part. Optimistic estimates put them finding the part by end of day today, but sometime tomorrow is more likely. Last night the natives and I again bunked down in the living room to avoid the heat. Rotation of air mattress types kept things fresh for the natives and I added reinforcements to the support level of the cushions on the couch. The upstairs has become a veritable no-mans-land.</div>
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<b>Day 4</b></div>
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Received word that the part has been found, but before the system designer will allow it's use, an experimental new operation must be attempted. Attempt should be made sometime today. My colleague M has now abandoned base camp as well. My weathered joints struggled to accommodate the camping pad I was left to use last night. Many tasks need doing back at base camp, but return trips are becoming less and less frequent.</div>
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<b>Day 5</b></div>
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It has been five days since I dared to venture upstairs for more than a few minutes at a time. Things are looking grim. The operation was only partially effective. No radio contact from HQ since. The natives are growing restless. Couch again tonight.</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-36339064769608370352015-02-06T00:08:00.001-06:002015-02-06T00:08:56.573-06:00Do You Want to Build a Snowman?It's been a long time since I guest authored here but, as the father of two daughters and a recruiter for a tech company, there's an important message I want to evangelize. Now that most of the mass hysteria surrounding Disney's latest princess film has run it's course it's time to take a step back and address the social engineering baked into Frozen.<br />
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For the non-parents out there, let's quickly review the tidal wa<span style="font-family: inherit;">ve from <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Arendelle</span> t</span>hat swept over the parents of the world in the last 12-15 months. I was planning to see Frozen when it hit the cheap theaters but didn't. Because it never got to the cheap theaters. It stayed in the full price theaters morphing from regular showings into special sing along showings right through the DVD release ($1.2B global box office). In June, the <a href="http://www.billboard.com/charts/dance-club-play-songs/2014-06-14">Billboard Dance Club Songs</a> list was topped by a Disney song (Let it Go), and for the better part of a year parents had to sell heirlooms to buy Frozen birthday party decor off eBay. A year after it released, we went to Disneyland where Kate expected to meet Elsa and Anna. We got lucky. We had 3-day passes, so we got into the park an hour early one day. That day, G speedwalked from the entrance to the "Meet Elsa and Anna" fastpass line (yes, Elsa and Anna have their own fast pass line), waited in line for 45 minutes to get fastpasses, and managed to get passes for 2:20 in the afternoon. They ran out of passes before the park opened for general admission. When we returned at 2:20 we waited in line again for over an hour to actually meet Elsa and Anna. Apparently, before they implemented the fast pass system parents were waiting in line for over 5 hours to meet the princesses. A YEAR after the movie released.<br />
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The fanatical devotion that surrounds this film left quite a few people scratching their heads about what caused such an uproar. Certainly Tangled (Rapunzel), and the Frog Princess (Tianna) didn't produce anything like this. Why this one? I thought it over for a while and ran some ideas past G. It turned out we had independently come to basically the same conclusion. The way our kids put it was, "She's a princess, but with powers," which is a major departure from previous Disney princesses.<br />
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Not so sure? Let's review some other Disney princesses:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Snow White - Beautiful, kind, sickeningly optimistic and helpless before a simple disguise. She ends up waiting, half dead, for her prince to save her.</li>
<li>Aurora - Beautiful, loved by everyone, so trusting she dances with strange men who show up in the forest, but ultimately helpless before spinning needles. She ends up stuck in an enchanted death sleep, waiting for her prince to save her.</li>
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Of course these are really old examples. Maybe a more modern one will be better:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Ariel - Beautiful, but rebellious, and honestly not so bright. Helpless before a witch with a lousy sales pitch. She loses the guy, and gets transformed back into a mermaid after getting her father turned into a worm. She's stuck waiting for her prince to knock off the witch and then STILL needs her dad to save her from the disappointment of losing her first <strike>infatuation</strike> love. (Assuming that being transformed into an alien creature and separated from your family forever counts as being saved.)</li>
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Now let's talk about Elsa. She makes awesome stuff with her mind and a gesture, and runs a kingdom (without a guy even!). Halfway through the movie she "loses" her princess status and becomes Queen Elsa of Arrendelle. Most importantly, she does all this despite feeling unsure of herself. When she can't keep her fears in check anymore, she gives up the act, exiles herself for everyone's safety, and finally gets to revel in her own power. "Let it Go" captured the hearts of millions of girls. They will have to grow up a little before they really understand why its working title was "Elsa's Bad*** Song".<br />
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Disney is sending girls a big message here. You don't have to feel perfect. Hiding your abilities won't help in the long run. You can make awesome things. You can be powerful. This movie is about getting girls into STEM. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)<br />
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No, I'm not really kidding. Elsa describes her own soul as a spiral of frozen fractals. She likes to be alone, and her skin looks like she's never seen the sun. She can make her own dress, bridge, castle, and probably whatever else she wants to. And she's been doing it since she was little with no training. She can't stop changing the world around her even when she tries. Can you say "power geek" louder than this?<br />
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Someone at Disney really gets it. They understand what's keeping girls out of STEM. That's not really a surprise si<span style="font-family: inherit;">nce I'm pretty sure "they<span style="background-color: white;">" is <span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">John Lasseter (current Chief Creative Officer at Disney and former Pixar exec) and his Pixar cronies. Sound crazy? Lets review the "Pixar princesses": Merida (Brave), Ellie (Up), EVE (WALL-E), Sally (Cars), Mrs. Incredible. This group and the old Disney princesses have never met and it's not hard for me to see where Elsa belongs </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">(or Anna for that matter)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">. Since Elsa's real heritage is a computer animation studio it's not hard to convince me that the subliminal message coming from her is a whispered "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">grow up and work for us</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">".</span><br />
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Admittedly what I'm about to say could be biased, because I have a small sample set to work with but here goes. I haven't seen girls treated with discrimination in the engineering workplace since I started working full-time a decade ago. At least not in the traditional "you wouldn't understand, why don't you go get us some coffee" way. I can't imagine a team where people wouldn't listen to a woman's technical input just because she was female. I'm sure it still happens in some places, but I really don't think fear of being treated like a secretary is the issue. <br />
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The issue is at the social level. In a STEM workplace some girls will end up uncomfortable. A girl who shows up with a Luis Vuitton handbag and a perpetual manicure because that's how she rolls will likely get professional respect for good work, but she won't be one of the gang unless she's willing to keep her Paladin Blood Elf leveled up to the max or brew her own beer or something equally off the beaten path. But that's just work, not life.<br />
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The bigger problem is outside of work. The social scene is pretty harsh on girls who get serious about technical stuff. If a girl wants to go into biology that's OK. That's on the softer end of science. But as soon as a girl says <span style="font-family: inherit;">words like "astrophysics" or "focused ion beam", the guys who were going to ask for her number disappear faster than doughnuts at a hack-a-thon. Not only that, but the girls who were going to invite her along to the next Neiman Marcus shopping trip forget to call her and all her relatives stop buying her gift certificates to Ulta and start buying her pink screwdrivers. Halfway through college G started telling people at parties she was an "EE" major because a lot of them would just assume that meant Elementary Education and then treat her like a regular girl.</span><br />
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In the long haul, treating girls like they changed just because they are going into a new professional area needs to change, but for now girls need Frozen. They need Let it Go to sink in deep so they won't freak or feel guilty when someone is intimidated by them. They need to know that even if you do technical things, and do them well, you can still be a normal person with normal relationships because their abilities don't define them. It will be a tough process but the more girls go into STEM, the more people will realize that being smart and competent in math and science doesn't magically transform a girl into an evil step-sister or a witch. Or a boy.<br />
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I really think that ~15 years from now we'll see a small uptick in girls entering the STEM workforce, just from this movie. But to be honest, I have to find people to hire from now until then, and I don't care if they are male or female. If you have a daughter, or sister, or friend who hides what she can really do, and isn't heading down the STEM road just because of social pressure, do me a favor: open a door, climb a mountain, build a snowman. Only love can thaw a frozen heart.<br />
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Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583726916062205718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-92038272276772222972014-10-28T22:32:00.001-05:002014-10-28T22:44:22.790-05:00Judge Me By My Name, Do You?I got an unexpected phone call a couple days ago.<br />
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The phone rang and it was a local number, so even though I didn't recognize it, I went ahead and answered it.<br />
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G: Hello?<br />
Woman: Hello, is G*** S*** there?<br />
G: This is.<br />
Woman: Are you planning on voting come election day?<br />
G: Probably.<br />
Woman: Well, we'd just like to encourage you to get out and vote in this election because there are a lot of Asian-American issues on the ballot.<br />
G: **stunned silence**<br />
G [stalling while she puzzles this out]: Uuhhhh... what are the issues???<br />
Woman: Asians are the fastest growing minority in the Austin area and they are under-represented in local government. Also, election materials are only available in English and Spanish. They are not being translated into Asian languages, so we are pushing to make these materials available in Asian languages so that more people can participate in elections. It's really important that we get out and vote on election day to support these issues.<br />
G: Okay... Um, thank you.<br />
Woman: Thank you. Bye.<br />
G: Bye. [Hangs up phone]<br />
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<i>G explodes into hysterical laughter.</i><br />
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For the record, I am not Asian. Not even a little bit. I'm the whitest European mutt ever.<br />
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But it just so happens that when my dad was young, he served a mission for our church in Japan. He returned and studied Japanese in college. When he married my mom and I eventually came along, they gave me a Japanese middle name. And that middle name came in very handy when we ended up living in Japan for 3 years for my dad's work when I was a little girl. I went by my middle name then and I'm very attached to it. So of course I kept it when I got married.<br />
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It was interesting to catch a glimpse of the assumptions that were made about names when compiling that call list of registered voters. I'm not Asian-American, but I didn't really feel the need to disabuse them of that notion. I went along with it in the hopes that maybe someday it will lead to some sort of hilarious situation. M and I entertained fantasies of me being invited to some event, only to show up in all my huge white-person-ness.<br />
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(Apparently we're a little desperate for entertainment these days...)<br />
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But it's a good reminder:<br />
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A lily by any other name would look as white.<br />
<br />Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-68696894637888473042014-08-26T09:02:00.001-05:002014-08-26T21:55:46.360-05:00GrayI have gray hair.<br />
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There, I said it.</div>
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Not that I've been particularly secret about the fact that I dye my hair. But still, I've been running away from my gray for a long time now.</div>
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I saw my first gray hairs start popping up at 16 or 17. At first there were only a few and I told myself they were "white hairs." I told myself they were like blond hairs mixed in with my brown. I was already experimenting with hair color every now and then, so it wasn't a big deal. Since there were only a couple, I sometimes just pulled them out if they were too obvious.<br />
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Another year or so and then there started to be more grays. I realized I couldn't keep pulling them out. But I was having fun with hair color still every now and then, so most of the time they didn't show. I mostly had one streak of gray that was getting denser, but it only showed when I pulled all my hair back and when I had gone a long time without coloring. My blond best friend started saving her old dark brown mascaras for me so I could swipe a little on my streak when it started showing too much. Problem solved.<br />
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Then my senior project in college happened. It was a bit of a stressful semester. There were some all-nighters. I can't prove it, but it seems like I had quite a few more gray hairs when it was all said and done. And I wasn't all that okay with that.<br />
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I mean, I wanted to be confident about my natural hair. Really I did. But I was 21 years old. I was single. I was already the 5'10" electrical engineering major who talked too loud. I already stuck out like a sore thumb. It was already hard enough feeling attractive and getting dates. I just wasn't ready to add "...with the premature gray hair" to the list. Sometimes I wished I could rock a "gray streak." But I wasn't sure if my gray streak (or my self-confidence) was strong enough to make the gray interesting instead of just vaguely "off" and dorky.<br />
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So I decided that I would just dye my hair a little more frequently, at least while I was still part of the singles/dating scene.<br />
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Fast forward a little and I was married and still in my early-to-mid 20's. M knew I dyed my hair and we chatted about it a bit and I decided that I still wasn't ready to stop dyeing my hair. Someday maybe... but not yet. I decided that I just didn't want to be in my 20's with gray hair, so I would keep dyeing it at least until I turned 30. Then I'd re-evaluate.<br />
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Fast forward some more and I was 30. I still didn't feel ready to be gray. Now the problem was that everyone <i>already</i> thought I was so much older than I was. Having gray hair would only make it worse! Plus the transition was going to be so hard!<br />
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But the more I chewed on the thought in the back of my mind, the more I knew the time was coming. Eventually I would stop dyeing my hair. I just had to figure out when. It was never going to be easy. There would always be an excuse not to. So I started focusing on the reasons to do it.<br />
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There are a lot of reasons I want to stop dyeing my gray:<br />
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#1 - This is the hair God gave me. I don't want to be fake. It was so freeing a few years ago when I finally accepted that my hair was wavy/curly. I stopped trying to pretend to have straight hair and I finally learned to love the hair texture I had. I want the same thing to happen with my hair color.<br />
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#2 - I'm tired of all the money I'm dumping into maintaining an illusion. It's one thing to spend money to do something "fun" with your hair, but spending money just to make your hair unremarkable is so lame.<br />
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#3 - Also, the time. I'm sick of the TIME I spend getting my hair dyed. I'd much rather spend it doing something worthwhile. Or even just sleeping.<br />
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#4 - I want variations in my color without having to highlight. I look at the amazing red highlights the sun gives my mother's natural hair color and the blonde highlights in my sister's natural hair color and I envy all that gorgeous variation. Maybe I would get highlights from the sun too if I wasn't so busy covering my gray?<br />
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#5 - I want to remember what the natural color and texture of my hair is when it hasn't been dyed. Because honestly I'm not sure.<br />
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#6 - I want to see what my gray looks like. Where are my "silver highlights"? Is it everywhere? Is it just framing my face? How uniform or how chunky is it? The suspense is killing me! It's not often to we get to surprise ourselves! ;)<br />
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#7 - I am blessed to not have to convince anyone that I'm young. I'm happily married and I'm not competing in the workplace. If I look older than I am, why would it really matter? (Still working on believing this one.)<br />
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#8 - I'm not a granola or something, but I kinda don't love the idea of pouring all those chemicals onto my head all the time.<br />
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#9 - I'm not ready to burn my bra or anything, but I do like the idea of taking a stand against the false standards of beauty and youth that our society is enslaved to. And one of those standards is hair color. What's wrong with gray hair?<br />
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#10 - The longer I wait, the harder it will be. The more gray I have, the more often I will have to get it dyed if I want to hide it. (More money, more time, more chemicals, etc.) And the more obvious it will be when I stop dyeing it.<br />
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#11 - There's no reason not to transition right now. I'm not interviewing for jobs. I'm not talking to teachers about my grades. There's no weddings on the horizon for me to worry about how I'll look in the family pictures. It's as good a time as any to have funny-looking transition hair. It will never be an EASY transition, but there could definitely be worse times to do this.<br />
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#12 - In the end, I've got a bit of rebel in me. Just a tiny little benign bit, but it's there. And having gray is a whole lot more rebel than buying into the "norm" of women hiding their gray.<br />
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Today my youngest child entered full-day Kindergarten.<br />
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Today is my 34th birthday.<br />
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I have gray hair.<br />
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Am I young? Am I old?<br />
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Who cares! I'm me.</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-48468647314975588902014-05-15T13:00:00.003-05:002014-05-15T13:02:35.939-05:00Any Excuse for Snowflakes in May!!!Like every other little girl on the planet lately, Kate is really into the movie Frozen. So when her preschool teacher said she could choose a day near the end of school to celebrate her summer birthday with her class, she of course, OF COURSE wanted to bring Frozen cupcakes.<br />
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Well, she lucks out that her mother is semi-obsessed with snowflakes, because I was eager to oblige.<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-Dr97Dz5/0/X3/i-Dr97Dz5-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-Dr97Dz5/0/X3/i-Dr97Dz5-X3.jpg" height="426" title="Snowflake Cupcakes ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="640" /></a></div>
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She really wanted chocolate AND vanilla for the cake part, so we did half and half.<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XNPBrDQ/0/X3/i-XNPBrDQ-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XNPBrDQ/0/X3/i-XNPBrDQ-X3.jpg" height="424" title="Snowflake Cupcakes ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
I sprinkled white sparkling sugar over blue frosting then added the snow flakes made of white chocolate. (Normally I consider white chocolate an abomination, but for snowflakes I'll make an exception!)<br />
<br />
To make the snowflakes I melted white chocolate and put it in a little plastic sandwich bag with a corner snipped off. Then I piped it onto wax paper over a snowflake pattern. (I used a pattern for DIY window clings I found <a href="http://thefrugalgreenishmama.com/2013/12/create-diy-snowflake-window-clings.html">here</a>, then printed it at about half size.)<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-hTxJjZW/0/X3/i-hTxJjZW-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-hTxJjZW/0/X3/i-hTxJjZW-X3.jpg" height="507" title="Snowflake Cupcakes ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="640" /></a></div>
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This movie is a great chance to use snowflakes in some month other than December or maybe January. YAY!Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-66680553228036367442014-01-11T19:37:00.000-06:002014-01-11T19:37:42.858-06:00The Grilled Cheese Tragedy Kate usually really loves grilled cheese sandwiches. Most days she asks me to make her two for lunch and happily devours them both.
So last night when we decided to have grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner, I assumed she would want two sandwiches so I didn't even ask. She asked me what I was making her and I told her two grilled cheese sandwiches.<br />
<br />
She burst into tears. I was surprised and confused but reassured her that it was okay, she didn't HAVE to have two. I said I would just make her one.
But she kept crying saying she didn't want that. I was baffled. I told her I thought she loved grilled cheese sandwiches? I asked what was wrong - what did she want?<br />
<br />
Through her sobs she explained, "I don't want two grilled cheese sandwiches, I want THREE!!!"Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-59304095545587887322013-11-16T21:57:00.000-06:002013-11-16T21:57:42.916-06:00We Survived Our Road TripA few weeks ago M's sister got married in Washington D.C. The wedding was on a Thursday and the kids already had Monday off school. We only had to take the kids out of one extra day of school and then we had 9 days for trip. Because we had the extra time to work with, it was SO much more economical to drive instead of fly.<br />
<br />
If you don't factor in your sanity.<br />
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<br />
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</head>
<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>
<div class=WordSection1>
<table class=MsoTableLightGridAccent3 border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0
width=672 style='width:7.0in;border-collapse:collapse;border:none;mso-border-alt:
solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-themecolor:accent3;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:-1;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 2.25pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:
accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:5'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi'>Things We Hoped to Do on
the Road Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 2.25pt;
mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:1'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi'>Things We Expected to <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Really</i> Do on the Road Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 2.25pt;
mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:1'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi'>Things We <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>ACTUALLY</i> Did on the Road Trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:1'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:0'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Get
such an early start and make such great time and feel so alert that we just
drive straight on through the whole 1500 miles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Get tired slightly
past half way and find a nice inexpensive hotel to stay in for the night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wander around Jackson
Tennessee for 45 minutes trying to find <span class=GramE>a non-scary hotel
room only to finally find out that all the hotels are</span> booked up
because Lane college is having their homecoming that weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:1'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Set
the cruise control and make great time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hit a little traffic
here and there and get in later than hoped for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Get detoured to
small country roads in the middle of the night for 30 miles because the
interstate was closed just outside Memphis TN<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>AND hit such bad traffic in Virginia that we actually put the car in
park and<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>turned off the engine for 30
minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:2'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Enter
an address in the GPS and get accurate, concise directions for getting there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Listen to the GPS say
“Recalculating” every time we had to get off the freeway to pee.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Have the GPS lose
satellite reception every time we looked at it wrong.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Have it choose yet another slightly
different route for getting there every time we tried to drive to the same
place.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Develop suspicion that the GPS
is getting paid for every unique street it makes us drive on.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>End up renaming the GPS “Willis” so that we
can start saying, “What <span class=SpellE>choo</span> <span class=SpellE>talkin</span>’
‘bout, Willis?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:3'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Only
go to the bathroom at meal stops.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Make pit stops every
2 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pee early and pee
often. Have the dedication to pee 3 times in an hour, whether we need to or
not. Pee before the meal, after the meal, and again 20 minutes after we
finally get back on the road.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ALL THE
SAME KID.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Get our drink privileges
taken away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:4'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Stare out the window
bored.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pick up Kate’s
princess dolls from the floor of the back seat while telling the kids to stop
bugging each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:5'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Sing
songs together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Listen to music.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Have the kids yell
at each other to stop every time one of them starts happily singing a song.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:6'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Have
Claire and Scott do homework while Kate played happily with toys.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Let Kate listen to a
movie with headphones on while the big kids did their homework.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Inform Scott that we
were not going to play the Barbie <span class=SpellE>Fairytopia</span> movie
over again so he could hear it this time because we didn’t want his testicles
to shrivel up and fall off.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:7'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Read
out loud as a family from the Little House on the Prairie book series.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Watch a few movies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Try to ignore
threats from Kate that she will “be bossy” if we didn’t let her watch the
movie she wanted… again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:8'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Discuss
family goals and aspirations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tell the kids to stop
bugging each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Insist that Kate ask
politely before you pick up her princess dolls from the floor of the back
seat... again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:9'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Have
a neat, organized car because we had thought of everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Need to wash and
vacuum out the car when we got back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cleaned up spilled
orange <span class=SpellE>Powerade</span> with a pillowcase.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Get our drink privileges taken away… again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:10'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Have
the children entertain themselves so that M and I can read and talk about
grown up things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Risk throwing out our
backs passing out books and snacks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Risk throwing out our
backs picking up Kate’s princess dolls from the floor of the back seat… again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:11'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:132'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Eat
up leftover snack foods from around the house.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Let the kids pick
out few new snack foods from the grocery store.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wander around Wal-Mart
for half an hour buying snack food only to have the children crumble the food
up and leave it in Lake <span class=SpellE>Powerade</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style='mso-yfti-irow:12;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes'>
<td width=219 valign=top style='width:164.5pt;border:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-themecolor:accent3;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;
mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:
accent3;mso-background-themetint:63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:68'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Attend
a fabulous wedding where we get to spend time with family and friends and
celebrate the marriage of a beloved sister and her new husband.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=229 valign=top style='width:171.95pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Be present at the wedding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td width=223 valign=top style='width:167.55pt;border-top:none;border-left:
none;border-bottom:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:accent3;
border-right:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-top-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:accent3;
mso-border-left-alt:solid #9BBB59 1.0pt;mso-border-left-themecolor:accent3;
background:#E6EED5;mso-background-themecolor:accent3;mso-background-themetint:
63;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:64'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Attend a fabulous
wedding where we get to spend time with family and friends and celebrate the
marriage of a beloved sister and her new husband.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-91983041077306716182013-11-05T08:57:00.000-06:002013-11-05T08:57:00.110-06:00Pumpkins 2013It was a bit of a tight squeeze to fit pumpkin carving into the schedule this year. Like I said in my <a href="http://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2013/11/halloween-2013.html">last post</a>, my sister-in-law's wedding made my October a little crowded. Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have traded being a part of her beautiful wedding for the world. But it did mean our pumpkin carving was a little less elaborate this year.<br />
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In the past we've been able to get our pumpkins carved for the church party and still have them not entirely gross when Halloween night rolled around. But this year our party at church was almost a full week before the actual day of Halloween. Not gonna have carved pumpkins for both. Normally we would have chosen to have the pumpkins carved for our church party, but given our busy month, we ended up carving them for Halloween night.<br />
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We let each of the kids pick out a pumpkin and what they wanted carved on it.<br />
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Claire chose Angry Birds and did a lot of the carving herself:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-sKv6bhQ/0/XL/i-sKv6bhQ-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="318" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-sKv6bhQ/0/XL/i-sKv6bhQ-XL.jpg" title="Angry Bird Pumpkin ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="400" /></a></div>
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Scott designed his own silly face and we helped him execute it. The googly eyes were an extremely important design element for him:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-4skm9rL/0/XL/i-4skm9rL-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="318" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-4skm9rL/0/XL/i-4skm9rL-XL.jpg" title="Silly Face Pumpkin - Where is the Laugh Track?" width="400" /></a></div>
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And Kate really, really wanted a princess pumpkin. A Sleeping Beauty to be exact. And because she has me wrapped around her little finger:</div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-BvHwRvL/0/XL/i-BvHwRvL-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="318" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-BvHwRvL/0/XL/i-BvHwRvL-XL.jpg" title="Sleeping Beauty Pumpkin ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="400" /></a></div>
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And then the next day I let her decorate a gold crown to put on Aurora:</div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XmrrJrX/0/XL/i-XmrrJrX-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XmrrJrX/0/XL/i-XmrrJrX-XL.jpg" title="Sleeping Beauty Pumpkin ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="318" /></a></div>
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M and I wanted so badly to do a design of our own choosing too, but we were running out of time. In the end, we stayed up way too late rushing to carve one and I don't think really turned out. Can you tell what we tried to carve?</div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-Rgz45Md/0/XL/i-Rgz45Md-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-Rgz45Md/0/XL/i-Rgz45Md-XL.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
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<br />Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-19884563559206358712013-11-04T13:48:00.000-06:002013-11-04T13:48:21.347-06:00Halloween 2013Halloween didn't get the attention this year that it usually does around our house. M's sister got married (WOO HOO!) two weeks before Halloween, so we were pretty busy getting ready for that. Helping with wedding plans, planning and buying outfits for the family, making flower girls dresses and accessories, and planning a 9 day road trip to Washington D.C. meant that I didn't have the time I usually do to make my kids' costume dreams come true. (I'll be subjecting you to photos from the wedding soon too, trust me.)<br />
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Kate wanted to be Merida from Brave in <a href="http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Brave-Merida-brave-32908223-1440-900.png">the blue and gold dress</a>. I looked into buying the costume, but everything was either too expensive, too lame, or both. Some of the costumes didn't even look like anything Merida wore in the movie. Pshaw! <br />
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So I was going to try to make Kate's costume, but it soon became clear I had bitten off more than I could chew. My wonderful mother came to the rescue. She took the pattern and fabric from me and made Kate's dress mostly while we were gone at the wedding. I think she did a pretty awesome job:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-vD9t7ZD/0/XL/i-vD9t7ZD-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-vD9t7ZD/0/XL/i-vD9t7ZD-XL.jpg" title="Merida costume ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="388" /></a></div>
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M made her a little bow to complete the look. She LOVED it.<br />
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And before you ask, yes. That is Kate's real hair, not a wig:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-DLSnNML/0/XL/i-DLSnNML-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-DLSnNML/0/XL/i-DLSnNML-XL.jpg" title="Merida hair ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="427" /></a></div>
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I got the idea for Kate's hair from <a href="http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/20mins/get-meridas-fiery-and-curly-red-hair-disney-princess-hairstyles/">this site</a>. But I wanted a wilder look than that, so I used smaller sections, tied them in tighter knots, left them in longer, and separated the finished curls more. <br />
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I curled Kate's hair the night before using drinking straws and some mousse. I used the straws like you would do rag curls - roll the hair around the straw and then tie the straw in a knot to hold it. I went with a full square knot so they would hold up to a four year old level of abuse for almost 24 hours. And they did hold up really well. None fell out with her sleeping in them and then wearing them all day long (even at dance class!) until the party in the evening.<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-R75sPxK/0/XL/i-R75sPxK-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-R75sPxK/0/XL/i-R75sPxK-XL.jpg" title="Hermione Costume ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is a photo from the first time we did it for a church party. We went with rainbow straws. For actual Halloween we went with all red and orange straws to slightly give the illusion of red hair when she wore her costume at preschool earlier in the day. The second time I did it, I think I sectioned her hair even smaller than pictured here and it was almost too much. But I did cut the ends of the straws shorter the second time, and they were less cumbersome for her to wear, so I recommend that.</div>
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We're not going to talk about how long this took me. Suffice it to say that Kate and I enjoyed a nice movie together while we did this.</div>
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Then I untied all the straws and was left with a Shirley Temple look. Adorable, but unfortunately not Merida-like. I combed through all the curls pretty thoroughly with my fingers until we had a nice wild mane of curls. Then I hairsprayed it all. Finally, we covered her body and face in an old towel and sprayed her hair with a combo of half red temporary spray color and half orange temporary spray color.<br />
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The look sagged a little by the end of the evening, but still looked pretty great! It was so sad to put her in the shower at the end of the night to wash it all out, but I wasn't letting that hair color get anywhere near her bedsheets!<br />
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Fortunately, Claire and Scott picked some pretty easy costumes this year. I bought some robes, threw together some of Scott's, Claire's, and my church clothes, and sanded down and painted some sticks. A little eyeliner scar and some old costume glasses we already had from <a href="http://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2011/11/halloween-costumes-2011.html">M being Waldo</a> for Scott. A french braid that Claire slept in overnight (Yes, my fingers <i>were</i> cramping by the end of doing both Kate AND Claire's hair in one night, in case you were wondering) and... Voila! Harry Potter and Hermione Granger!<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-C5xQcff/0/XL/i-C5xQcff-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-C5xQcff/0/XL/i-C5xQcff-XL.jpg" title="Harry Potter Costume ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="265" /></a></div>
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It doesn't really show in the bloggable photos, but they REALLY looked like Harry and Hermione, if I do say so myself. It struck me with Claire especially. That girl basically IS Hermione, brainy sassy attitude and all.</div>
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And at the last second, I threw together a costume for myself out of a few things around the house:</div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XfLfH5p/0/XL/i-XfLfH5p-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-XfLfH5p/0/XL/i-XfLfH5p-XL.jpg" title="Fruit Ninja Costume ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="266" /></a></div>
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Can you tell what I was? I'll give you a close-up detail for help:</div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-x6gTN7W/0/XL/i-x6gTN7W-XL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-x6gTN7W/0/XL/i-x6gTN7W-XL.jpg" title="Fruit Ninja Costume ~ Where is the Laugh Track?" width="318" /></a></div>
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It was a very polarizing costume at the party we went to. It was immediately obvious who was familiar with the Fruit Ninja game, and who was not.<br />
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(Do most people have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jika-tabi">Japanese toe shoes</a>, a toy samurai sword, kick-boxing pants, and a balaclava hanging around their house?)Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-73645795947968743462013-09-03T07:51:00.000-05:002013-09-03T07:51:00.098-05:00Dance Class<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Kate has started taking a little ballet/tap dance class:</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">SQUEE!</span></div>
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And that pretty much sums it up.</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-33368681023914351522013-09-01T00:18:00.001-05:002013-09-01T00:18:49.265-05:00Back to School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Claire and Scott's first day of school was this last Monday.</div>
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<br />
It was a good first week of school. (We just won't talk about the fact that I'm already exhausted...)<br />
Somehow I ended up signed up as one of two room moms for Claire's class, so that will be a new adventure. But mostly with Claire in 4th and Scott in 2nd, this new school year thing just feels like old hat.<br />
<br />
But this week! The really exciting first week of school for me is this week. Kate starts preschool on Tuesday and it's 5 hours long!!!Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-45170639515032260272013-08-29T12:58:00.001-05:002013-08-29T12:58:21.963-05:00Rainbow Toes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9DRU4D90nGnHtbRbvuJu55YJlJjPXFqJNaR098yzt958sX2MLiXxBc36Y3zy5eTyUgF49R0EeqFdZLOY9QjDo_kGUwHLJt2ZvA6FZU1gBcZiOlGhjny7mn6X46peAIb57I7J5MPSymQ/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9DRU4D90nGnHtbRbvuJu55YJlJjPXFqJNaR098yzt958sX2MLiXxBc36Y3zy5eTyUgF49R0EeqFdZLOY9QjDo_kGUwHLJt2ZvA6FZU1gBcZiOlGhjny7mn6X46peAIb57I7J5MPSymQ/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I celebrated the big kids starting school by doing a ridiculously elaborate toe nail paint job on myself!Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-32040036069288441482013-08-29T11:48:00.000-05:002013-08-29T11:48:51.661-05:00How Did It Know???I have entered the 21st century. I got an iPhone.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Granted, I bought a used 3GS, so it's certainly not cutting edge, but for me it's pretty exciting.</div>
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<div>
As I've been learning the ropes, I've been tickled by all the times the iPhone has done exactly what I wanted it to without me having to tell it. So I went to set up the weather app. I was thinking it'd be cool to enter in some of the other locations I care about so I could see what the weather was like there. I went to check the list of other locations and the first one was Cupertino, California.</div>
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<div>
"How did it know I grew up in Cupertino???" I gasped. I was slightly creeped out.</div>
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And then I realized. Oh right. Apple headquarters is in Cupertino. It's not that my iPhone knows I'm from Cupertino. My iPhone and I just have the same hometown! You'd think that having grown up with mostly children of Apple employees, I would have immediately realized that. But I guess I'm still a little iPhone naive ;)</div>
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Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-85587592026104408592013-08-06T07:51:00.000-05:002013-08-06T07:51:00.324-05:00WalriWe are cruel, cruel parents.<br />
<br />
You see, we give the kids summer reading assignments AND make them answer questions about the books. Hard questions that make them consider, like, people's feelings and stuff.<br />
<br />
This summer Claire is reading a collection of four different books about young people living on their own. Hopefully Claire's take away will be to appreciate the cooperative nature of life in a family/community/our world rather than learning how to run away from human interaction...<br />
<br />
Anyway, Claire was particularly resistant the day she answered some questions for the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins." Check out her responses to these questions:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>What good luck contributed to the main characters survival?</b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Karana was lucky that there were whale ribs to build her
fence even though she still could have built a very strong fence out of many
more things. For example, sticks, tree trunks, branches, boards from canoes too
big for her to use; would you like me to
tell you the fifteen million other things I can think of???!!! She was
also “lucky” (according to you, Dad) that she had walrus tusks to build her
spear even though she still could have built a very strong spear out of many
more things. For example, sticks, tree trunks, branches, boards from canoes too
big for her to use; would you like me to tell you the fifteen million other
things I can think of???!!!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>What human realities does the author explore (love, fear,
trust, etc.)? Give examples of how they
portray them.</b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Trust is explored because Karana trusted Rontu and Rontu-Aru
that they wouldn’t run away or attack her. Loneliness is explored because
Karana has no one to talk to through the entire story except a dog and two
birds. Grief is explored because she is sad that her brother dies.<o:p></o:p> </i><br />
<i>P.S. In my life story, boredom and annoyance are explored
because I do <u>not</u> like
answering these questions!!! :(</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Later, Claire had second thoughts about her first response and re-wrote it:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>What good luck contributed to the main characters survival?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Karana was lucky that there were whale ribs to build her
fence because whale ribs are much stronger than most of the other resources.
You also wouldn’t find whale ribs very often even if you’re on an island like
that. She was also lucky that she had walrus tusks to build her spear. She
could have built a fairly strong spear out of many other things, but walrus
tusks are by far the strongest. She was also lucky because the walruses (walri,
whatever you want to call them) didn’t see her when the bulls were fighting or
that they weren’t there when she was getting the tusks. If they had seen her she
would have gotten really hurt. <o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I didn't tell her to re-write it, she just felt guilty I think. I was kind of proud of her for improving it, but I had also thought her first response was hilarious. I was really glad I had copied down her smart-alec first response before she changed it!</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-37991241490074396492013-08-02T10:46:00.001-05:002013-08-02T10:48:05.076-05:00Excuse Me, I Need to Go Drop Off Some U.N. PeacekeepersWe've been redoing some things in our master bathroom and we suspected our toilet of leaking. Once we took a good look at it, we realized it was probably fine. But the best it could be was fine, not great. Even in perfect working order the toilet would never be great. The distrust had planted a seed. It got us thinking about how we didn't really like our original toilet. We had already pulled it out. Maybe we should go ahead and replace it?<br />
<br />
When we first started thinking we might need a new toilet, I mentioned it to my sister. She immediately told me that she had bought and loved the one my dad had recommended. The American Standard Champion. The one that flushes a bucketful of golf balls:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/VQLPXImsHQk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Now when people in<b> <i>my</i></b> family recommend a toilet, I sit up and take notice. I come from a line of people who are infamous for clogging toilets.<br />
<br />
You know what? We're already talking about clogging toilets. If you're still reading this, then I'm going to assume you're not too squeamish. And we all know I have no shame, so I'm going to tell you a little story to demonstrate why a toilet that doesn't clog is important to me.<br />
<br />
Look, my body doesn't like "doing business" away from home. Without any conscious effort by me, it tries to wait until I get home. So any time I travel, it takes a couple days before my bowels accept defeat.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, I was newly engaged to M and flew to visit his family for a long weekend. The first full day I was there, M and I spent the whole day walking around doing touristy things in the summer heat. And I didn't really drink enough. The next day M had to go into work. I was at his parents' house alone with my future mother-in-law. And my body decided that it was finally ready to "let go." And I could tell I had <i>definitely</i> gotten dehydrated the day before.<br />
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There is nothing that quite rivals asking your future mother-in-law that you barely know yet if she has a toilet plunger you can use because you've plugged their toilet. Their ONLY toilet.<br />
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So yah, some toilets and I just don't get along very well. Our old one had left something to be desired. I really wanted one I could count on.<br />
<br />
Well, we had our eye on that Champion, but we still weren't sure. Then a couple days later, I mentioned in passing to someone else that we were thinking about replacing our toilet, and they immediately told me they liked the one that "flushes the golf balls."<br />
<br />
It was a sign. I mean, it's not often that people go out of their way to recommend ANY product, but when I get the same product recommended two separate times? And when that product is a toilet? It must be good.<br />
<br />
So we took the plunge (pun intended) and bought the Champion. And we love it! We have affectionately dubbed it the U.N.<br />
<br />
Why you ask? When M and I talk about toilets we often reference Dave Barry and the importance of a toilet's ability to handle <a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-04-12/features/1998102189_1_toilets-water-per-flush-act-of-congress">"acts of Congress."</a> Well, we quickly decided that this toilet could not only handle "acts of Congress," it can handle "U.N. resolutions."<br />
<br />
The next step was to get rid of our old toilet. We posted it for free on Craigslist and a couple of days later, I got this response:<br />
<br />
<i>Hi, I would like to pick this up for an underwater park for Scuba divers on Lake Travis. (No, I am NOT making this up).
My friend owns Windy Point Park and sets up underwater "finds" for scuba divers. The toilet he installed underwater is high and dry, and some kids destroyed it with rocks. The divers take underwater pictures sitting on the throne in their wetsuits.
</i><br />
<div>
<span a="" br="" delegation="" send="" the="" to="" u.n.=""><br /></span>
I don't know if I've ever been happier to give something away for free. This entertaining fate for our old toilet was the icing on the cake. Everything turned out so well and now I take every opportunity to announce to M that I need to "send a delegation to the U.N."</div>
<span a="" br="" delegation="" send="" the="" to="" u.n.="">
</span>Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-53595707075322773072013-07-01T13:04:00.000-05:002013-07-01T13:04:00.336-05:00Kate's 4th Birthday - Bike<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-HQDTmGk/0/X3/i-HQDTmGk-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-HQDTmGk/0/X3/i-HQDTmGk-X3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Kate had been asking for a princess big girl bike, and it was too much fun to oblige her! Seriously, could a bike BE any girlier?<br />
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When I tried to put the bike away in the garage, she broke out in tears and begged to please just get to sit on it in the driveway a little bit longer.</div>
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I think she likes it.</div>
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I am so glad we have Kate. She is just the icing on our family cake.</div>
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And speaking of cake, after church yesterday they served cake as a thank you to our bishop who was recently released. But Kate was absolutely convinced that the cake was for her birthday.</div>
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I didn't try that hard to dissuade her ;)</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-74710429730013256832013-06-30T22:44:00.000-05:002013-06-30T22:44:05.941-05:00Kate's 4th Birthday - BowlingKate requested going bowling as a family for her birthday.<br />
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We had a great time! Well... mostly.<br />
<br />
Claire discovered that the removal of bumpers alters the difficulty of the game significantly. Based on the bowling lanes policy, Claire was too old/too tall to use the bumpers. We encouraged her to try to learn to bowl without them. This was met with mixed reviews. By which I mean violent mood swings. She couldn't decide if she was proud of herself for learning to get better or totally pissed off that Scott and Kate were getting higher scores than her. It was not easy for my little natural athlete to score worse than her slightly gimpy little brother. I need to show her these photos though, and maybe she'll feel better.<br />
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Claire looked like she was learning to bowl:<br />
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Scott looked like he was having a seizure that serendipitously rolled a bowling ball down the lane:<br />
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Birthday girl Kate was adorable, even when she pushed her ball so slowly it didn't make it down the lane:<br />
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And what could be more flattering than a rear photo of you helping your preschooler bowl?<br />
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(I'm sure M is thrilled to be featured thusly.) Here, I'll try to redeem myself by showing him actually bowling:<br />
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In the end, I'm willing to post a picture of our score because I at least managed to break 100.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">And you can see why Claire wasn't too thrilled with her performance. I actually think she did GREAT for her first time without bumpers, but in her mind Scott and Kate's scores needed an asterisk afterword to signify their totally unfair bumper advantage.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">But none of this matters, because Kate will tell anyone who asks that SHE won.</span></div>
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And as part of the bowling alley experience, we ordered some food from the snack bar. (We may also have been hoping that a little blood sugar boost might help with Claire's bumper-bereft tragedy.) And since it was Kate's birthday, we got chips and guacamole:<br />
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Kate LOVES LOVES LOVES guacamole. Unfortunately while I was returning my bowling shoes, I missed getting a photo of her trying to lick the guacamole directly out of the bowl. We might have let her get away with it, but there were still chips left.Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-44069683031773237652013-06-17T07:23:00.000-05:002013-06-17T07:23:00.153-05:00Photography Challenge Day #23 - SunflareSo I'm going to bend the traditional photographic definition of "sunflare" on this one.<br />
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Because when you're at your parents' house and you see <i>this</i> sunset, you decide it counts as sunflare and take a photo of it.<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-JsNDzk9/0/X3/i-JsNDzk9-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-JsNDzk9/0/X3/i-JsNDzk9-X3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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--------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://whitepeachphoto.com/2011/05/25/photography_challenge/">30 Day Photography Challenge</a> even though the "official" challenge is long over. However, posts are definitely not daily.</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My rules for my self are:</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1 - Take everything in manual mode</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2 - No post-processing, only SOOC</span></div>
</div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-90266640673853382132013-06-14T12:05:00.000-05:002013-06-14T12:10:19.431-05:00Photography Challenge Day #22 - Hands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-jMkCXSR/0/X3/i-jMkCXSR-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-jMkCXSR/0/X3/i-jMkCXSR-X3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is Kate's favorite outfit right now. She was so proud of the stars I painted on her arm at Scott's end-of-school party to match the stars on her shirt.<br />
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--------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://whitepeachphoto.com/2011/05/25/photography_challenge/">30 Day Photography Challenge</a> even though the "official" challenge is long over. However, posts are definitely not daily.</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My rules for my self are:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1 - Take everything in manual mode</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2 - No post-processing, only SOOC</span></div>
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Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-28755153922460810912013-06-11T07:34:00.000-05:002013-06-11T18:50:40.308-05:00Phineas and Ferb CupcakesClaire and Scott had their birthdays several months ago, but they thought it would be fun to have a swim party at my parents' pool. So we waited until the weather warmed up and had a belated birthday/"Welcome to Summer Vacation!" party the day after school let out.<br />
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And what better theme to celebrate summer vacation than Phineas and Ferb?<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-gSvqpkg/0/X3/i-gSvqpkg-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-gSvqpkg/0/X3/i-gSvqpkg-X3.jpg" title="Phineas cupcake ~ Where is the Laugh Track?: Phineas and Ferb Cupcakes" width="265" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-dVMgKkf/0/X3/i-dVMgKkf-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-dVMgKkf/0/X3/i-dVMgKkf-X3.jpg" title="Ferb cupcake ~ Where is the Laugh Track?: Phineas and Ferb Cupcakes" width="266" /></a></div>
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There's <strike>104</strike> 86 days of summer vacation...<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-TWhnZkB/0/X3/i-TWhnZkB-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-TWhnZkB/0/X3/i-TWhnZkB-X3.jpg" title="Phineas cupcakes ~ Where is the Laugh Track?: Phineas and Ferb Cupcakes" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-NCVxVb2/0/X3/i-NCVxVb2-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-NCVxVb2/0/X3/i-NCVxVb2-X3.jpg" title="Ferb cupcakes ~ Where is the Laugh Track?: Phineas and Ferb Cupcakes" width="426" /></a></div>
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I used the same frozen buttercream transfer technique as I used on Kate's <a href="http://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2011/07/maows-and-bows.html">Hello Kitty cupcakes</a> a couple years ago. So easy! Made the little buttercream stickers on wax paper ahead of time and kept them in the freezer. The day of, I frosted the cupcakes, my sister helped me roll the edges in sprinkles, then we stuck the buttercream stickers on them! Voila!<br />
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But honestly, the cupcakes were about it. We had the same CD of aquatic-themed music from <a href="http://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2012/06/triple-pool-party.html">Kate's swim party last year</a> playing. We kept things low key. The kids had a blast swimming, so they didn't need much else.<br />
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Just to keep it real, the rest of the "decorating" was this table with a few wild sunflowers cut from my parents' property:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-PKWXSrX/0/X3/i-PKWXSrX-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-PKWXSrX/0/X3/i-PKWXSrX-X3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-82415084339419787722013-06-08T22:19:00.000-05:002013-06-11T18:54:32.365-05:00I Can Has Cheezburger Cake?My best friend's son wanted a cheeseburger birthday cake. When she called me up to see how hard I thought it would be, we both took a gander at Pinterest and then decided we could probably do it.<br />
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Yesterday I went over to her house and we had a go at it:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-n5W5sKC/0/X3/i-n5W5sKC-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="426" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-n5W5sKC/0/X3/i-n5W5sKC-X3.jpg" title="Hamburger Cake ~ Where is the Laugh Track?: I Can Has Cheezburger Cake?" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our hamburger cake turned out even better than we expected!</div>
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Nailed it!</div>
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But like, for reals, not sarcastic.</div>
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If you want more details on how we made it, you can check out my friends' blog post:</div>
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<a href="http://geekilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2013/06/do-you-want-fries-with-that.html">http://geekilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2013/06/do-you-want-fries-with-that.html</a></div>
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Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6549791772278227873.post-79345770354631436802013-06-07T09:14:00.000-05:002013-06-07T09:14:13.272-05:00Hair At Last!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-7kW49Gc/0/X3/i-7kW49Gc-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-7kW49Gc/0/X3/i-7kW49Gc-X3.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Kate had her last day of preschool and I took a few pictures of her. As I was looking at the pictures, I was able to take a step back and realize that she has long curly hair now!</div>
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When did that happen? Just 2 years ago we were here:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-2FgkzsP/0/X3/i-2FgkzsP-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-2FgkzsP/0/X3/i-2FgkzsP-X3.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
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At the time, Kate's hair seemed pretty straight and thin and it was growing SO SLOW!!! I guess I was comparing Kate's hair to the way Claire's was at the same age.<br />
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I tried to find a photo of Claire at almost 4 years old to compare to, but I didn't have much. I had to get creative to make it "bloggable," sorry. This is a photo of Claire's hair at almost the exact same age as Kate is now:<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-qZwT3NK/0/X3/i-qZwT3NK-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-qZwT3NK/0/X3/i-qZwT3NK-X3.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Claire's hair: Longer, thicker, and curlier than Kate. </div>
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Still, while it's not quite Claire's hair, it feels like all of the sudden I've woken up to discover that Kate's hair has really come into it's own.<br />
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<a href="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-q8kNVh2/0/X3/i-q8kNVh2-X3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://gretchensmith.smugmug.com/photos/i-q8kNVh2/0/X3/i-q8kNVh2-X3.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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(And thank goodness, because Kate is the one who actually requests that I do fun styles like this heart with her hair sometimes!)Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15603677261111811688noreply@blogger.com0