Dear Lisa,

Hey! I am doing fine, just fine. However, unlike you, I find myself suddenly with more time than I know what to do with. So, I sleep, clean (just a little), and I just started a new cross-stitch, which I am loving. I haven't sat down and just sewed liked that since I started going to school. And of course, you know what I'm talking about when I say that I have been making the rounds through the "cross-stitching movies." You know the ones we have watched so many times we don't even need to watch them, just listen- North and South, Little Women, Happiest Millionaire but I need a copy of Beaches. Cross-stitching just isn't the same without Beaches. Am I right?

But I have a plan, a cross-stitch plan. Every year we walk through the open class building at the Johnson County Fair and there are usually less than five cross-stitch submissions and every year I think to myself, "That blue ribbon winner is a chump. I could do better than that in my sleep." So my plan is to enter my latest cross-stitch in the county fair and clean the floor with it. Blue ribbon, here I come! (What, so I need a little ego boosting, is that so bad?)

I laughed when you wrote about riding the sky ride with Peyton and you felt like you were going to have a panic attack. That's exactly how I felt the whole time we took the kids on the big Dora Ferris Wheel at MOA. Could you tell? I tried not to show it, but you seem to always read me like a book. When you rode the Tidal Wave at Lagoon, did you shout "More taste!" or "Less filling!"? Do they still do that? I hope so.



(Why do we never get an answer when were knocking at the door?)



So, all my fantasies came true last night as I got to see the Moody Blues in concert. The venue was an old theater in down town Kansas City, not a bad seat in the house. The place was full of old ornate woodwork and red velvet. I walked in and kept waiting for the chandelier to fall and the opening score of Phantom to play. Justin Hayward still sounds just like he does on my records that he recorded in the '60's and '70's. And just like I posted on facebook, I cried. I don't know why, maybe it was the hormones and maybe it was just so amazing for me to be there and see them live and you know, me and the Moody Blues go back nearly 20 years now. (Oh shizzle, did I just write 20 years? I am old, how did this happen?)



(Love my new Moody Blues shirt. It has the words to Tuesday Afternoon in the background. Eeeeeee!)

 I do wish I could come to Boise next week. I am so proud of Taylor for graduating. It's a lot of work! But I will be looking for those texts and pictures you promised.
Love,
Leslie

P.S. It just occured to me that I could have been 15 and wrote about all this same stuff. I'm a dork.

R&R

Last Tuesday, my husband got the kids up and off to school. I stayed in bed. It was my first day of classes and I was glad to have the extra hour or so of sleep. I had been irritated for over a year that he has never once offered to do this, and finally, FINALLY, he was doing it. Thank God.

At first I wasn't sure he was going to do it. He has a tendency to "forget" things (Mostly he just doesn't remember anything if it doesn't directly benefit him), I was awake before the alarm thinking that I was going to have to get out of bed, but he got right up after all and even verified the kids' morning schedule: Get dressed, eat breakfast, potty, brush teeth, book bag and coat, then the bus at 7:50'ish am.

I did go back to sleep, I did....but I kept dreaming about how disastrous things where going downstairs. In one scenario, I walked into my little boys room to find him still hiding under the covers, with no clothes on and the bus arriving just then, followed by me yelling at my husband that he can't handle the simplest things. Nightmare.

But in reality, as I snoozed, he had things completely under control. The kids didn't even ask why I wasn't the one who got them up.

Later, I couldn't help think how funny it was that I knew I had the morning off (and had even been wanting it for a significant amount of time), but my body totally didn't . My subconscious was doing it's darnest to remind me that I had something to do and it was important, dang it!

I do hope that he is willing to do this again sometime (supposing that I am willing to out right ask him, shouldn't he be able to read my mind?).

I just also hope that I will be able to enjoy the extra sleep not dreaming about what I'm not doing.

Hey, look at me Ma!

Every year in October, the Jazzercise centers in the Kansas City area join together with the Chiefs to raise money for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. To participate in the half time program, each participant raised at least $150. I have wanted to do this every year since I started Jazzercising six years ago. (Yes, I said SIX!) This year, one of my beautiful Jazzercise instructors offered to sponser me so I could participate.

The Chiefs Vs. Panthers, October 24, 2010, I had an absolute BLAST!!

Coolest thing ever.

He Always Wants to be the Bad Guy

We've started calling him Justin Beiber (For obvious reasons).


(My little boy, also, Justin Beiber look alike.)





(Justin Beiber)

But I don't think he really appreciates it. I'll be all, "Hey, Justin Beiber, you want some white milk?" and then he'll be all, "I not Justin Beiber! I Jafar!"

Jafar? As in the creepy bad guy from Aladdin? Really?

Yep, it's been all The Return of Jafar all the time over here. He always Roots for the bad guys, what's the deal with that?

But anyway, the real point of this post was that he really, really needs a haircut.

Yeah, I'm a Hippie. So, What?

This video blows my little hippie mind...Yeah, it's NPR, so?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWIvfE01J0k.

Peace. :)

So...how's it goin?

Yesterday, my family gathered together in Utah for the baptism of my beautiful niece. I've lived away from my family for near a decade now, I miss family functions a lot. Even though its been a long time I still get a little homesick for my family when I know they are all together and I'm not there. I guess I just feel like I'm missing out on all the fun. (And maybe I'm a little scared that they don't miss me.)

I set out for a little reassurance in the form of a short, nonspecific, text message to my sister- "So, how's it goin?" and in response, I got these:

"Goin Good"



(My little bro Tay-luh and his cute wife Tara)



(My Mom on the right with my Aunt)



"We miss you"



(My sister Lisa strategically placed to show my cousins in the background)

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, and yes, I teared up for a sec. Thank you, Lisa! (BTW, super cute glasses!)



Rut-Rohh!

1. It's Fall again, and again I am obliged to say, "I hate fall!"
2. This is also the point in the semester where I think I'm horribly failing at EVERYTHING, but soldier on anyway.
3. I just can't seem to get enough sleep, and believe me, it's not for lack of trying. I've been taking naps and sleeping through the night, I'm just so tired all the time.
4. *Sigh* you guys! A few of my in-laws decided to show up to church on Sunday. Surprise! Yeah, thanks for letting us know, jack holes. I love walking into extremely stressful situations with my in-laws, at church, with absolutely no warning. It was lovely.
5. Going back to #4. Yes, there is now cause for repentance. Apparently, it doesn't feel good to be rude to someone at church, which just made me more mad. It was awesome.
6. My transmission went out. :(  I have to ride up to school with my husband 3-4 hours before my class starts. It's really not sooooo bad, except when it is. Also, I haven't been able to exercise as much as I want. I'm only getting 2 workouts in a week, which, lets face it, is lame-O. Special thanks to Steph who keeps giving me rides. She's so nice.
7. But all these crappy happenings aside, things really aren't so bad around here. It just seems like it, I promise.   **SMILE**
8. I made a nice diner and sugar cookies last night. I asked my husband if the fact that I cooked that night made me more sexy. He said that, yes, in fact, it does.
9. My little boy has another ear infection. It's one those really bad infections were the doctor seriously cringes when they see it, and there he was, jumping around, laughing and smiling. I swear if the school nurse didn't call me, I would never know he was sick.  
10. Oh this just in! I went up to school at 9am for my 12:30pm class (remember my car broke down) just to have my class cancelled. Hooray. I love wasting time like that.