12

In case you haven't noticed, today's date is 12/12/12.  That's cool.
It's not going to happen for another 100 years.  I won't see it happen, you won't see it happen. Of course, you can say that any date won't happen again for a hundred years, and but still...
I think it should be  holiday of some sort. I think we should come up with any excuse to take a day off and party, so why not 12/12/12? And while we're at it, we should shoot off fireworks at 12:12 (am or pm, you choose. but it's too late now, because the next 12:12 is technically tomorrow).

Anyway, hope your day was a good one.

Sigh...

So, I admit I have been putting off blogging because I felt like I needed to do a long post about all that's been going on since I last blogged, and all the wonderful things we did, both significant and insignificant, before we moved back to Idaho, like...

swimming at our favorite pool about once every week,

picking up trash along the highway for a earth-friendly family home evening activity,

 going to the rodeo,

taking apart a broken etch-a-sketch to see what was inside,

celebrating the baby's first birthday complete with outdoor "hot tubs" 

 and water balloons

 as well as the traditional pancake breakfast and Jell-o birthday "cake,"

 going to the county fair 

and narrowly missing a downpour,

going on a picnic and wading in the shallow String lake in Teton National Park with friends and family,

(even the baby enjoyed the water, it's relatively warm)

picking wild huckleberries,

(They're gonna make the best homemade ice cream!)

going to Bear World with Grandma and Grandpa

where the kids got to feed and pet animals at the petting zoo

(accruing quite the collection of feathers from various fowl)

as well as ride kiddie rides,

(Grandma taught us the trick of following the feeding tour truck to see all the bears in action!) 

helping cut a big branch out of a large tree at grandma and grandpa's house 

(okay, so that was mostly my husband, but I gave great moral support from below),

roasting hotdogs over a campfire

Mmmm...

along with strawberry-and-nutella s'mores, 

Double Mmmm!

riding the ski lifts to the top of the mountain, 

going down an alpine slide,

finding a snake on my doorstep,

driving to a beautiful waterfall to try and take family pictures

then picnicking in a familiar camping spot,

and countless days spent playing at the parks --the ones with streams that the kids just had to get into,

(the crystal clear kind which were much too tempting even though they were ice cold!)

and ones with climbing walls (my oldest became quite the expert), others with ponds, or big hills,

or crazy toys... 

...not to mention all the wood chips you can eat!

They have it all there.

*Sigh*

I'm afraid life is a bit dull now, and I'm actually thinking it wouldn't be too bad moving back there again for one last Summer...  Am I insane or what?

I call it the "Lucky Charms Effect." (Or Marshmallow Mateys if you're more frugal like me, but that doesn't have the same ring to it).

I generally don't like Lucky Charms, but if I have to eat them (as in there's nothing better in the house and I need something, anything, sweet) I like to eat all the brown parts first, so that one-- there's no soggy brown parts, cause that's the worst, and two-- so I get a whole bowl of nothing but marshmallows at the end!  Awesome! (Yes, I know, I'm 30 years old... So?)

I also like to wash it down with some fresh cold milk at the end, not that warm sugary stuff that's left --it's just one of those things that delights me... Like the little tiny soap bubbles that sometimes puff out of my dish soap bottle and make me smile...

Anyway, even though I don't generally like Lucky Charms, after finishing off a whole bowl of just marshmallows and washing it down with fresh cold milk, suddenly I want another bowl of Lucky Charms.  I think that by ending on such a good note, I forget about having to choke down all the brown stuff and only remember how good the marshmallows and milk were.  My memory can sometimes be selective in that way --I guess it could be worse, I could focus on all the bad stuff, and sometimes I do, but either way, I still end up eating like three bowls of Lucky Charms!

Living in Jackson, and absolutely packing the last few weeks with all sorts of fun and exciting things makes me forget how stinkin' cold it is when I first move there, and how small the apartment is, and how expensive groceries are, and what a pain moving is in general --because moving from Jackson actually isn't that bad. After all, it's only a one bedroom apartment, and more than half our stuff is already boxed and in storage (-not to mention that the last two times I hardly had to do any cleaning myself) so I start thinking "that wasn't too bad, I can do that again" --and in the Spring I curse myself all the way.

This "Lucky Charms Effect" comes into play in a few areas of my life --like every time I decide to invite people over for dinner, or agree to do a babysitting swap (FYI -it's better to let the other couple go on their date first I think, so you have something to keep you from kil ...er, to look forward to).
(I am joking Sandi, we're still on for next week right?)

Even bottling fruit has a bit of a forgetfulness that comes with time.  I love bottled fruit, I love how it looks on my shelves, and the feeling of satisfaction I get when I look at all those gleaming bottles, and I  completely forget how tedious and time consuming it is and how horribly messy and sticky it makes my whole kitchen... *thinking of the several boxes of ripe peaches and tomatoes in the garage, ugh.*

I suppose the "Lucky Charms Effect" has its purpose. I probably do more stuff than I would if I really thought about it first. In fact, it's probably the reason I keep getting pregnant and having babies (they're just so darn cute!). But mostly it just gets me into situations where I want to pull my hair and cry out, "What was I thinking?!" or, "Why do I do this to myself?!"

Perhaps it is all worth it. I guess nothing good comes without a price.  Looking at this list makes me think that it really was worth it.
(I'm still going to petition for bigger accommodations next Summer though.)

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

What is your memory selective about and what do you find yourself doing over and over again despite your best judgement and the hardships involved?

Once in a lifetime....

...in the life of each car that is. But honestly, how many people have gone through life without ever seeing something like this?

Awesome.


Nearly 500 miles into the first day of our trip, we noticed that we had just missed seeing 122222 by two miles.  That just goes to show how far we went. I was lucky to catch this right as I pulled into our driveway the other day.

Why I burned dinner the other night.

Awesome!

So, you know when you think you have a good idea that's so unique and then you find that a million other people had that same idea way before you...

Well, when I wrote the post Happy Thoughts I really started thinking about expanding it.  I thought maybe some explanations would be cool, and I thought up a bunch of other things I could add, but then I found this book called The Book of Awesome, and got the wind blown out of my sails.  Now don't get me wrong, I loved the book, but it made my little list seem mediocre at best, and I'm not nearly as funny.  It's exactly the thing I would love to write (except without some of the entries that I have no experience with, like about drinking or guy things) to make people focus on the brighter side of life.
It's just a book about the awesome things of daily life, like finding money in the pocket of an old coat, or putting on underwear straight out of the dryer.  It started as a blog that the author decided to turn into a book (and apparently a calendar) but the blog is ongoing.  I bet it has altered the way he sees life now, going around day to day looking for something positive to write about and add to his blog. It definitely brightens my day when I try it.  So check it out.  (Just ignore all the advertising though, I think the success went to his head)

Oh yeah, and if you check the "Top 1000" in the side bar and you want to add your comment, realize that there are over 3,000 comments and it takes a long time to get to the newest ones.  I didn't realize this and started commenting on other people's comments before I realized they were written way back in 2009!  It was probably weird for them if they suddenly got an email about something they wrote 2 years ago. Yeah, I'm awesome (in a sarcastic sense if you couldn't tell).


Speaking of Awesome... Check this out:  My husband found it by the side of the road.

As if it weren't cool enough to find $20 on the ground, how about $20 with a plant growing through it?
Maybe it's a money-tree seed, and if I plant it, it will grow, and the leaves will be 20 dollar bills!

Now that would be AWESOME.