The Checker at Target

We all know Target is my favorite store. Love it. Found awesome deals this week. Again. And they carry Pretzel M&M's. Yummy!

I go enough that I recognize a lot of the checkers. Not that they know me from Adam. But I know who they are because I'm stalking them. Well, not really. I'm stalking the store. Weekly. Or more often.

There's the old guy with a long face. He kind of looks like he's just glad to have a job. And who isn't in this economy?

There's the funky-hairstyled Cashier Manager. He is always running around emptying hangars and putting carts away. He's always BUSY.

There's a few younger girls. There's a few Mom's that are probably happy to have a part-time job while their kids are in school.

And there's a youngish girl, tall, slender, longish hair. She looks really nice. And she is,she's the nicest cashier they have in the store. She's so friendly that she remarks every single time I come through her lane about my resemblance to Jamie Lee Curtis. Once I came through twice in a short period of time, like within the same week, and she told me both times!

I've gotten to the point where I avoid her line. I don't want to be the one to tell her that she tells me this all the time. But I don't want to be there the time she tells me about my resemblance and then it hits her she's told me this before because then she'll be embarrassed and I'll be embarrassed for obviously letting her tell me so many times. So, in the meantime I usually avoid her lane.

But the other day I accidentally ended up in her lane. It was okay because it had been months so I wasn't worried. And I was having a down day, maybe she would give me a little boost for my self confidence.

We got through the whole transaction and I was beginning to think she wasn't going to say anything this time. But just as I was packing up my bags she said, "Are you related to a Movie Star?" It took all my effort to not laugh.

"No, why do you ask?" Even though I've been getting the Jamie Lee thing for over 20 years now I keep thinking maybe it will be something different this time. I may not see the resemblance but I hear it a lot. Although I'm not that skinny. And I don't have short spiky hair. And I don't eat Activia. And I haven't been in any horror movies, much less watch them. And I haven't been on Saturday Night Live. And...never mind.

"Well, you kind of look like Jamie Lee Curtis. You sure you're not related?" Hahahaha! I think I'd know by now.

"No, but thanks. I'll take it as a compliment."

"Oh, it is!" And that is how our conversations usually go. Poor people behind me are probably thinking "Shut up and Leave already!" But you know, when you're 40 you've got to take the compliments as they come cuz they're much further apart than 20 years ago. And if someone thinks you look like a Movie Star you just have to run with it!

Quirks

Everyone has differences. We all need to try and appreciate those differences. One of Middle Child's differences from me is that he likes to Think Outside the Box. It drives me crazy that he doesn't think like me. That he comes up with ridiculous answers to questions and problems. That he doesn't respond the way I think he should. The way that he doesn't care about some of the things that I think are important. But it makes things interesting. And I think it's one of his strengths.

For example: He took this picture after Baby got some rank advancements at Pack Night. I know it's out of focus but it's the only one angled like this because I instantly told him to "Take the Picture Right!"

And he did. He likes not getting in trouble. But seriously? I wish the other picture would have turned out better because I like it. I need to relax a little and let him do things his way sometimes.

Tank saw that we were taking pictures and he sat and posed for a few! He actually sat there until we put the camera away. We didn't know we had a Dog Diva!

Crazy Halloween

Last week I made a new purse. With this Halloween fabric I fell in love with a few months ago.

 I loved the characters. I thought this waddle of witches was perfect.

And I loved this fun fabric, so I put it on the inside.

It's official, I'm the crazy Holiday Lady. I promise I won't wear Holiday Sweaters though.

How I Came to Believe Scouts was Great

Olaf has been in Scouts since the day I met him. He's been on endless camp-outs. Summer and Winter. He's worked with all ages of boys. He loves it. I endure it. I'm glad he loves it. And most times I don't mind it.

As our boys got old enough they also joined Scouts. They worked on rank advancements. They went to Pack nights and Court of Honors and many camp-outs. They loved it for the most part.

I knew it was a good program. I knew the boys were learning things that were helping them to grow into good adults and responsible citizens. But I never thought it was a program my boys could live without. I really felt like we were teaching them most of these things anyway. And maybe we were.

And then Calvin went to Timberline Training Camp the summer of 2008. He grew up a lot that summer. I just assumed he was growing up. Olaf felt that Timberline had been a big help in that growing up.

Then Calvin died that October. When we came into the cemetery after the funeral, the cemetery road was lined with Scouts holding American Flags. It was unexpected. It was wonderful. It was a tribute from the Scouts he'd been with at Timberline. They were honoring a brother of theirs.

Over time Olaf ran into and talked to several of the parents of those boys. They told Olaf how this event was so important to their boys.

After that small but important event I realized that Scouts isn't helping the boys to become better adults and responsible citizens, it's also helping them today. Right now. Helping them mature as responsible teenagers. I realized that if these boys who hadn't had much contact outside of Timberline camp could care about each other this much, then this was something Great, not just Good.

And that was how Scouting went from Good to Great in my Book.

My Boss

I showed up for work Tuesday morning and had a shock. My head boss had died suddenly the night before. I was in shock. I wasn't prepared. He was such a good man. He cared about people. One thing I realized after this is that I had never heard anyone say one single negative thing about him. I don't hear very many negative things, but not a single one? To me that is a testament to how great of a person he was. We will all miss him tremendously. Here's a link to an article in the paper about him.

Orem's Jim Reams remembered for his integrity, love of family

4-Wheeler

He's only Nine! I'm really looking forward to his Teenage Attitude!

Middle Child's Talk

Middle Child has been assigned to give a talk in church. In front of the whole congregation. Remember how I've mentioned the LDS church has a lay ministry? It is imperative that people learn to get up in front of others without losing their stomach contents on a regular basis, so at 12 the kids start giving short talks in front of the whole congregation on Sundays. Middle Child has already done one before, but just one.

Several days before the talk I reminded him and he got to work on it right away. After about 15 minutes he asked if that was enough.

I looked over and saw about six lines on the page. "Um, no. I'm thinking you need about 1 1/2 pages before you have enough material."

He got back to work. I would occasionally glance over to see how it was coming. I recommended he get some books to help him come up with ideas. He just ignored me. He's done this before, I'm sure he thinks he doesn't really need my help. Then I looked over and noticed the spacing has increased from single to double. And then the font got a little larger. That left margin kept creeping to the right. He was on a mission and he got that talk done!

Next time I'll tell him it has to take three minutes, not 1 1/2 pages. One day I'll get this parenting thing right.

Tis the Season

Can you guess what season is up and coming almost immediately?

And guess who got outfitted for his first hunt?

When Family & Snakes Collide

This weekend we spent time with some of Olaf's family. Down south in Fillmore, Utah. It's smack dab in the middle of the state and used to be the State Capitol before the founding fathers got wise and made the metropolis of Salt Lake City the capitol. Saved a lot of traveling back before cars were real common.

But we had fun visiting with family, some of which we hadn't seen for a very long time.

The kids had fun playing games.

And the Aunts provided plenty of games for the kids to play. Including a Jack-a-Lope hunt.

Which ended in this tragedy.

I won't mention which Baby broke this really cool snake. Although he may have been trying to save everyone in the search party from any ER visits, never any fun on vacation.

But he might look a lot like this tuckered out Baby.

Froggy Love

Baby still loves Froggy and his Friends. He still sleeps with Froggy every night. I adore it.

I slept with my Teddy Bear forever, I don't even remember when I stopped. I took him to college and sat him on a shelf. I had matured enough at that point to quit sleeping with him. But as you can see he's a little worse for wear. My roommate made fun of him. I was mad. I think I recommended she read the book The Velveteen Rabbit at that point.

And then I just told her that my Teddy Bear was well loved, not tattered.