Rent the movie "Grease".

Rent the movie "Grease'.

I shamelessly declare that I love, love, love the new reality series "Grease: You're the One That I Want!".

I now shamefully admit I have never actually seen the movie.

I'm the product of a three-brother household.

I have seen bits and pieces at slumber parties over the years but as I was more interested in torturing early sleepers with cleverly frozen undergarments and hands carefully placed in cups of warm water, I have never watched it in its entirety. I am officially adding it to my long list of "deprived- childhood-girlie must-sees".

I have, however seen this modern-day Grease favorite multiple times.

So I'm starting a list here and now, what other gems am I incomplete as a woman until I have viewed?

Stop Watching Local News.

While looking around on the local news website, this story caught my eye. I would love to have been the reporter who wrote this lead . . .

Pregnant Girls Attack Group Home Director, Escape

(KUTV) AMERICAN FORK Three pregnant teens living in a group home whacked the director in the head with a frying pan, tied her up and fled in a minivan, police said.

Stock car with Diet Soda.

Stock car with Diet Soda.

I just watched a news story about a Colorado lady who survived several days stranded in her car in freezing temperatures on 4 cans of Diet Pepsi. Brilliant. I wonder if Diet Coke would also sustain one through near-death circumstances. I'm totally adding it to my car's emergency kit.

I also find it a bit disturbing this found its way onto my local 10 o'clock news.

Love my dinnerware.

Love my dinnerware.

At least two of my friends have this dinnerware set from Pottery Barn. It's very pretty and I'm a little jealous.

I have this Corelle dinnerware from Wal-Mart.

















While getting out of the car today, the bag carrying the extra awesome cereal bowls (not pictured) swung off my arm and landed HARD on the driveway. I thought by the sound, they were for sure in pieces.

Not a scratch. Bet your Pottery Barn can't do that.

Have a Girls' Weekend.

Have a Girls' Weekend.

My awesome hubby stayed home with the kids last week while I flew out to California for a "Girls' Weekend" with old college roomies and blogger friends Brooke and Liz.

With a high temperature only in the 50's, California was in a state of emergency trying to cope with the sudden "deep freeze" (yes, I stocked up on avocados when I returned home before the produce price skyrockets).

While too cold for beach sunbathing, this turned out to be the perfect temperature for a day of jumping from one hot bath to the next at the Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa. As a huge disappointment to Liz, we did not meet any celebrities.

It was good for all of us to share recent stories and laugh about our old stories. And I'm now pretty sure my college days of rock-hard abs (at least this is the way I choose to remember it) came from laughing so hard, so often.

I then returned home to 9 degree weather, which was not considered any state of emergency.

Let's get together for another ab workout soon girls!

Eat healthier.

Eat healthier.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to eat healthier (I need to be in top shape for the ever-so-competitive women's church basketball league that starts this month--you know.) It was going really well until I made this totally 80's, totally fabulous mint chocolate chip ice cream pie a friend brought on New Year's Eve and my hubby and I fell in love with. It resembles this picture but is made true 80's style in a 9 x 13 casserole dish. It has been in my freezer killing my healthy eating ambitions all weekend and I think the best thing for me to do is finish the entire thing off tonight so I won't be tempted the coming week. Yes, I think that is definitely the solution.

Wear fleece.

Wear fleece.

Target has had the cutest sock monkey pajamas for boys, girls, men and women. I held out until it all went on clearance after Christmas and then couldn't resist what they had left in our sizes--flannel pajamas for Chase, a fleece robe for Taylor, and fleece pants for me. It was an unnecessary purchase but I don't regret it because they are our new favorite articles of clothing and we have worn them every day since I brought them home. Taylor walking around all day with her robe on over her clothes cracks me up but is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I went to another Target to see what else I could score but not only did they not have anything else in our sizes (I can't think of anything that would delight Jake more than me bringing him home some monkey flannel pajamas), but their things weren't on sale, bummer. Anyhow, I am wearing my pants right now and despite the fact they make me look about twenty pounds heavier, they are so warm and soft and perfect for these cold winter days I don't know why I haven't given in to fleece pants sooner.

Make New Year's Resolutions.

Make New Year's Resolutions.

I have had so much fun seeing family and entertaining friends in December but I am tired and ready for the new year. Bring on 2007 (and my 10-year high school reunion, yikes!).

I think the constant repetition of days, weeks, and years is the coolest thing ever. How awesome is it that we are constantly given a fresh day, week, or year as yet another chance to try again to do things right? Can you imagine just plowing through life without that constant refreshment? I'd rather not.

One of my resolutions this year is to run a half marathon. It has been 5 years since my marathon and I think it's time to test my legs again. So, the highlight of our New Year's gathering last night, for me, was (drumroll) ...conning the men into hauling my treadmill up from the basement into my bedroom. Oh yeah, we know how to throw a party.

Asthetically, I detest treadmills in bedrooms but strangely, so far, there is something comforting about looking over and seeing it sitting there by my bed. Maybe it's because it's still a symbol of this year's possibilities and not this year's failures, but, at the end of day one, so far, so good.

My goal for day one? To plug the treadmill in. And make sure it still worked after two moves and a year in storage. (Don't laugh, baby steps).

I am already rocking the year as I not only attained today's lofty goal, but surpassed all expectation when I got on it for a quick 30-minute jaunt in my new kicks (that's youth-speak for shoes-- yup, I may be 10 years out of high school but I am still hip). Oh, yeah.
Happy New Year!

Fill gas tank at Harmon's.

Fill gas tank at Harmon's.

I have taken notice that a new grocery store nearby consistently displays gas prices about 2 cents lower than the local competition.

To sweeten the deal, they also offer up to 30 cents off when you buy your groceries there.

A big grocery shopping trip there last week put me over $100 which got me 20 cents off--and put my price per gallon at $1.89!

I filled up my Tahoe for $35 and I saw it dropped another 2 cents a gallon this weekend. This time last year it was costing me $60 a tank. Time for a road trip?

Defrost Turkeys.

Defrost Turkeys.


Because my first turkey-cooking experience was so overwhelmingly successful, I decided to sign up to cook a turkey for the church Christmas party tomorrow night.

If that sounds crazy enough, I actually signed up to cook TWO. ha ha ha ha ha.

To top it off, they brought them to me just last night, all 36 pounds of turkey, still in an arctic deep-freeze.

They told me just "leave it out for 24 hours and it will thaw". If this is the advice they gave to all turkey cookers last night, the advice I have for those attending the party tomorrow night is "don't eat the turkey".

So because my name will be attached to any food poisoning epidemic this weekend, my entire day today is devoted to doing the safer"cold plunge" thawing method on them. I did run to the grocery store to pick up a bunch of Christmas goody supplies too to experiment on while I'm on turkey watch both today and again tomorrow while I cook them. Homemade caramel, fudge, chocolate caramel pretzels, peppermint bark and sugar cookies. Yum! I am so domestic.

Inside I am in a bit of a panic and feel a bit like Joey from Friends in the Thanksgiving episode where he gets his head stuck in the turkey.

Those were good times. Watch it here. (this particular episode is referenced about 4 minutes in)

Hang painting.

Hang painting.

While looking for toys online, I ran across this oil reproduction and with it already being over $100 off and me having a coupon for an additional 30% off that, that put this three foot square framed work of art just under $100. Although maybe not something that will evoke transcendent conversation, I like to look at it, it's colors looked warm and like they went with the house and trees and landscapes remind me of home so, obviously, I couldn't pass it up.

I picked it up from the store today and while I am a little disappointed the colors are much more vivid than pictured online, for under $100, it does the trick of helping fill up our huge empty yellow walls. Merry Christmas to me!

Now if only Jake and I weren't both too injured to hang it.

Shovel Snow.

Shovel Snow.

We got a LOT of snow last night.

It pretty much figures. I had been waiting two weeks for snow so that we could take our family photo outside with a backdrop of pretty Christmas white. Yesterday around noon, I got tired of waiting and had my mother-in-law come take a picture for us. So an hour later, what happened? The temperature dropped and the snow-fest began.

Also, conveniently, my hubby, who threw his back out putting up the Christmas tree two weeks ago but was finally feeling better, had a sudden injury relapse as the snow started piling up on the driveway.

Which is why I am now laying helpless on the couch with his heating pad on MY back after shoveling snow for TWO HOURS. Tell me again why I wanted my driveway that big? All I have to say is Santa better be bringing me my basketball goal to make use of that big, perfectly cleared basketball court.

Appreciate my work schedule.

Appreciate my work schedule.

I just read this article on Yahoo news about Best Buy going to a clockless workplace--meaning the new corporate philisophy is as long as you get your work done, you can come and go from the office as you please. I think the idea is brilliant. The real selling point though, I think was this quote:

"This is like TiVo for your work," says the program's co-founder, Jody Thompson.

Awesome. I then realized this is already my work schedule. Even more awesome.

Tune guitar.

Tune guitar.

I am ready to pull my guitar out of storage. If I can remember how to tune it, and probably re-string it after a two-year hiatus, I think I may even learn some holiday tunes.

You can now buy my guitar for half the price I paid in high school here.

This is still twice what I paid for my very first guitar, which was an "Oscar Schmidt" that my first guitar teacher (who plays guitar, plays harmonica and does vocals with Don Williams ) nicknamed "Schmidty."

Learn to draw.

Learn to draw.

My kids' favorite new thing is to ask me to draw pictures and for them to color them.

I am not an artist.

But I used to think I was. One of my older brothers used to challenge me to drawing competitions. I must have only been 7 or 8 years old when I distinctly remember a competition with him to see who could draw the best banana. I lost but only because he was the judge. Mine was much better. His banana was hairy, as I've discovered most boy/man drawings seem to be.

My drawings turn out best when they're more cartoon-y. (Although I did draw an awesome lifelike bird in fourth grade that my family insisted I had traced. I didn't.)

I have gotten pretty good at barn and zoo animals but my kids have started demanding more. Lately it's been princesses or even something more specific like Scooby Doo.

I have discovered an invaluable tool in this new stage of motherhood. They are called "How to Draw" books. They have them for about everything out there and I checked out about 10 from the library. The one pictured here is called "How to draw princesses and ballerinas" and it is my favorite one so far. I can draw a pretty cute princess these days. Watch out, before long I'll be able to illustrate some of those children's books I've written and then I'll really be in the big time.

Buy more headbands.

Buy more headbands.

This is my favorite new accessory. In an instant, I can go from looking like I was lazy and only threw my hair into a ponytail-- to looking totally put together.

I have two and need more for every day of the week because in reality, every day, I am lazy and do only throw my hair into a ponytail.

I have also seen this style overused on both The Bachelor and Desperate Housewives so it must be cute.

Decorate Christmas tree.

Decorate Christmas tree.

Jake got a killer deal on our 12-foot Christmas tree last year. He was up at the crack of dawn the day after Christmas, knocking down the door of Tai Pan Trading when it opened.

His keen eye spotted this gianormous pre-lit tree and after a couple of cat-fights with some serious lady shoppers, this beaut was his for under $100.

There was a catch. Turns out the 3000+ lights adorning it didn't actually work. So began the task of putting up our Christmas tree.

It took me 8 hours to cut off the existing lights. It then took us twice that long to string another 30 strands of 100 lights back on it. Then the rest should have been easy, right?

Not so much. I spent the entire day yesterday posed precariously on a wobbly 8 foot ladder trying to drape ribbon and hang ornaments. It turned out nothing like I'd planned but it's done and and until next year, so am I.

We had a group of friends over for dinner last night and the Christmas decor was up and totally worth it. Now I can relax and enjoy the season (besides all the present shopping, baking and card-making I have left to tackle).

Read instruction manuals for appliances.

Read instruction manuals for appliances.

I got some great new appliances in my new house. I can't pick a favorite, but I certainly love my double convection ovens.

Problem is, my cooking has been way off since we moved. I have been adjusting the temperature in my ovens for convection but things have been cooking with unpredictable results.

This includes the Thanksgiving turkey. My mother-in-law came over and did all the real work, and my job was basically to watch it. It cooked for five hours on regular heat, which shoud have been plenty of time since convection cooks about 30% faster. This should even have compensated for my hubby turning off the oven (my little helper thought he was turning off the oven light) for an hour before I discovered it.
But when it was time to serve the beast, it wasn't yet done. I considered calling and having my oven checked.

But first I thought it prudent to take a glance at the oven's instruction manual. Good thing I did. Turns out there is a different button I push to use the convection. All this time, I had been using the ovens without the convection. Brilliant!

Between this, and the fact I couldn't for the life of me spell potpourri in the family game after the big meal, I am pretty sure I am getting progressively dumber, Flowers for Algernon-style, in my old age.

Drink more hot chocolate.

Drink more hot chocolate.

I escaped the house and kids tonight (while my hubby was delighted to stay home and play his new XBOX 360 and watch basketball) and went to Starbucks for hot chocolate with a friend.

Hot chocolate is one of the few redeeming quailties of the cold winter.

We sprung for the peppermint flavor and it was delish. It reminded me of something and it didn't hit me until I got home that is was this. This stuff is heaven. It tastes like liquid chocolate. My mom buys it for us for Christmas and my husband literally hides it so he can have it to himself. I can eat this stuff right of the can, which is quite endearing itself (the can, that is, not me eating out of it).

Start a Christmas List.

Start a Christmas List.

I have no right to have a Christmas list. Our new house is my Christmas gift for the rest of my life. But if I did have a list, first up would be a basketball hoop. Now, my hubby made me call it a hoop; he made fun of me when I called it a basketball goal, is it not called that? I played b-ball all my life (albeit not all that well) and I swear this isn't that weird sounding, am I wrong?

Anyway, if I was allowed to want things, and I didn't have to worry about the construction workers working on the homes all around me and making fun of my shot, I would definitely ask Santa for this. He wouldn't even have to fit it down my chimney.