PBS junkie...

I've become a sucker for PBS' Masterpiece Classic. A few years ago they did the Complete Jane Austen and I was hooked. I DVRed every one and relished each movie. The next season they had a great line-up including A Room With a View, My Boy Jack (starring Daniel Radcliffe), and a star-studded Cranford which has become one of my favorite movies of all time. I was even suckered into buying the movie if anyone wants to come over and watch. This season has been another winner with Tess of the d'Urbervilles (a great book), Wuthering Heights (again, another great high school English book), and a bunch of Charles Dickens--the first part of Oliver Twist was on tonight.

If you love classic PBS/BBC movies like these, I highly recommend Masterpiece. They are SO much better than the Hollywood versions (i.e. Sense and Sensibility). You can also watch online if you miss them on TV.

If I dream it, it will come, right?

Anyone else yearning for spring? Winter has once again reared it's ugly head, after teasing us with spring weather for a few days. All this snow is like a slap in the face. . . And a kick in the back, as removing all the heavy, wet snow has given me an incredibly sore lower back. I figure I must have moved about 2 tons of snow from in front of the mailbox--all that crap the snowplows throw up on the sides of the road. And, of course, I always finish just in time for the plow to come mess up my hard work. Ugh.

I'm ready for spring. I'm sick of jogging on a treadmill, or around the incredibly small track at the gym. I'm sick of the short days and getting up in the morning before the sun (though grateful that they are slowly getting longer). Seasonal affective disorder...yeah--I'm a believer!

Harlem Globetrotters

A few weeks ago my sister invited us to go to the Harlem Globetrotters with her tonight. It was a lot of fun. We met at her house in SLC and had a quick dinner. Then the big kids (Bud, Missy, and Bug) rode Trax with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Ian to the E.S. arena, while Ben and I drove with the little ones. (It will forever be the Delta Center to me...I don't deal well with name changes.) Anyway, we had a ton of fun. It was a great show--even Lemur and Mister were entertained for the majority of it. Wishe we'd had time for autographs, but Ben had to get to work for the night shift.

Birthday pictures

Bug had a great birthday. Mister and Lemur helped me pick out his presents. They wanted to get him a "backyard habitat" where you can catch bugs (in a bug vacuum, which he also got) from your yard and put them in the little habitat. You can also send for tadpoles (and food) and get them in the mail to grow in your habitat.

He also got a butterfly treehouse where you can grow caterpillars (you have to send for these, too) into butterflies.

Fun with critters!

He also got a fishing pole. Yeah, I'm still thinking "what?" on this gift. When I was shopping, I asked Ben what I should get him. He came back with a couple of smart aleck suggestions, then said a fishing pole. Huh? My husband fishes? My husband wants to take his son fishing? Since when?! Anyway, he was serious in his suggestion, so Bug got a fishing pole. Made Buddy a bit jealous, but I told him we could get one for him, too.

Here's an interesting tidbit of info that I learned: tadpoles do not need to be fed during the time when they're growing their front feet and losing their tails. They get their nutrition from the tail being absorbed into the body. (*yech!*)

Singing Happy Birthday, and blowing out the candles.

Birthday Cake

I tried making fondant for the first time today. It was really fun and quite messy. I'm not great at it, but it looks pretty cool. It's a fun medium to work with.

I'll post pictures of the Birthday Boy later.

Much needed day off...

After working 10 days in a row, Ben finally has a day off. And, boy, am I ready for him to have a day off! I've slowly been losing patience with the kids at home. The noise is just getting to be too much. I often say the only way my mom survived 5 kids in 5 years was that she was half deaf, but I mean it! Sometimes it would be nice to turn down the volume of my kids. I need some peace and quiet.

Bug's 9th birthday is tomorrow. (I'm so glad Ben will be around to help me get everything ready tomorrow.) The little ones and I went to the store and picked out gifts. Bug's not sure what he wants for dinner yet, and he asked for a yellow cake, with yellow frosting (what else, it's his favorite color). I'm going to attempt fondant because I've been watching too much Ace of Cakes on the Food Network and it just looks so cool. Stay tuned for pictures to see if it turns out.

February exercise log

2/3--3 miles
2/6--4 miles
2/7--4.5 miles
2/10--snow removal's gotta count, right?
2/11--2 (?) miles
2/13--3 miles
2/17--snow removal again
2/23--3.5 miles with Erik :)
2/24--50 min. of racquetball, 2 mile jog
2/25--50 min. of racquetball, weights, 1 mile walk