strange dreams

I can not wait until we move! I have finally reached the point of stress (not bad stress, mostly excitement/anticipation) that I am having trouble sleeping. The other night I was up until about 3am because I could not turn my brain off - I was decorating our new house in my mind and deciding where to put furniture, etc. Anyway, I have hit the point where I am so wound up that when I do fall asleep I am having bizarre dreams. REALLY BIZARRE DREAMS! So strange, I actually remember them.
You PVHS people will appreciate this one: Last night I had a dream that Mr Eaton and Mr Lister chose to do a musical that was half in English and half in Russian. Mr Eaton was reading through the script with me, correcting my pronunciation of the Russian. (As far as I know, he doesn't speak Russian) The show was about a Mexican Revolution of some sort and I got to play one of the two main guys. Weird. Last night I impressed myself with the new degree of craziness which my dreams have reached! I am looking forward to the blissful, dreamless sleep that complete physical and mental exhaustion will bring after the move.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

I took my kids to the dollar movie this morning. They were showing the new (to me) Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I used to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks when I was a kid. I loved the show and got a kick out of the songs. Although I never could figure out why Simon and Theodore would continue to follow Alvin's plans after he had led them into trouble time and again.

But anyway, the one episode I really remember from my childhood was when the Chipmunks flew to Germany with Dave to do a concert and Alvin had a dream about the Berlin wall being torn down. They sang a song "Let the wall come down, tumble to the ground." When they landed, Alvin found out it wasn't a dream or something like that. It is so odd the things I remember from when I was a kid. I am sure some psychiatrist could write volumes!

Anyway, the whole point of this blog is that I actually really enjoyed the movie - so did my boys- and it was fun because it brought back memories. The only thing that I didn't like is that the chipmunks used to sing songs that were actually about something. With the exception of their Christmas song, which was a nod to the old days, the songs in the new movie were junk, kind of like most pop music today. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EkmnlmtNLo

Top 10 take 1

Top 10 Things I am going to miss about living in our old house:

(These are in no particular order!)

1. Our Neighborhood - we have the sweetest neighbors! We block off the street every year and have a 4th of July block party. There are lots of kids for the boys to play with as well as some older kids who love my boys and can babysit.

2. Our ward!!!! - There are so many wonderful things about our ward that it would take an entire blog to fill, if you really want to know, give me a call.

3. All of the windows in our house - I love natural sunlight so the 20+ windows we have make me happy.

4. Our nursery - We worked so stinking hard on this room to get it ready when I was pregnant with Samuel. I dreamed up the decor and it turned out better than I had imagined!

5. Being within biking distance from Dairy Queen- We love blizzards! Biking to and from DQ lessens the guilt and the calories a little.

6. I can walk through the house in the dark without running into things - I know this house so well after 7 years I can walk through the house in the middle of the night without turning lights on to get James a drink or Sam a blanket or whatever else they ask for at 2am.

7. Our friends - it is not like we are moving that far away, but when you switch wards and don't see each other each week, you tend to fall out of contact. I will just have to make the effort to keep in touch!

8. This was our first home - this is the first place where I really felt at home here in Philly. This is where we brought our boys when they were born. This house has so many memories and I am sad to leave it behind.

9. The tree in our back yard - the leaves turn the most amazing color of red in the fall!

10. The character of our house - this house was built sometime between 1900-1920 (we're not really sure when) and has a lot of really cool details. It has the gorgeous 3-4" trim around all the doors, windows and doorways. There are hardwood floors throughout the house with a cool pattern inlaid around the edges in a darker wood. We have the original glass doorknobs on the doors and the closets have clothes hooks from when people only had a couple of outfits.

flashback Monday

When I was in middle school and high school I became really good friends with Amy Workman and her entire family. We did shows together, sang together in choirs, heck, I practically lived at their house for a couple of years. I was even kind of adopted into the family. Mama Workman will forever be my extra mom. We used to have sing-things at the Workman's house. We would all get together with an amazing pianist and take turns singing whatever song we felt like. Those are some of my happiest memories. At one of the last sing-things Mama Workman sang "I Think I'm Going Out of My Head" with Laura and Emily in three parts it was awesome!

The Workman family in addition to being kind and funny are incredibly musical- some of the best singers I have ever met. They all have their unique sounds and can do the most amazing things with their voices. Laura, one of Amy's younger sisters can mimic any woman's voice you have ever heard. She has some YouTube videos that you have to check out! She dubs in her own voice for the Disney Princesses and honestly, you can not tell the difference.

http://www.youtube.com/user/disneydiva7

Laura and Emily are actually doing an acapella competition and win according to how many hits they get on their post so be sure to check that out too! Itis on the same site, the post is "singing sisters."

Workman Family, if you read this, I miss you!!!

attack of the mohawks

I have noticed an alarming hairstyle trend - the return of mohawks and something even more hideous - fauxhawks. The worst part is that most of the time it is kids sporting these looks. What were their parents thinking???!!! The 80s are over, let us keep them in the past where they belong. What could be next? Mulletts? Ugh!

favorite 4th of July memory

When I was in high school I spent a few summers with my sister Keri in Boston, MA. One of those summers we decided to brave the crowds and go to the Esplenade to hear the Boston Pops and to watch the fireworks. We left Keri's house around 10 or 11 am for the drive into the city and to score a spot where we could actually see the stage. We spread our blankets and basket of food out in a nice spot under a little shade tree and began the 8 hour wait. Being the east coast we spent part of the time with the blanket folded up and huddling under an umbrella. It seemed like as soon as we had spread the blanket out again, the clouds would move back in and we would have to fold everything back up again.

It was a novel experience for me being from St George and all so I actually enjoyed the rain and the concert was amazing! If I remember correctly Bebe Neworth performed along with the Pops as did the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Although, the hit of the concert was when Bebe Neworth came out with a yellow umbrella and sang Singing in the Rain. Man! She has a voice!!

deep thoughts

In honor of the 4th of July barbecue...


In this age of technology when all you have to do is push a button to access your bank accounts, have your car park itself, and even launch a nuclear weapon, you would think that the hot dog bun industry would have figured out how to fit 10 buns in a package so you don't have to buy two bags just to have enough for one package of hot dogs!

I was doing a search online for a picture of hot dogs and found this. I think it is hilarious! Do any of you dog owners have a picture that can top this???