The Perfect Marriage

This is not a post about Matt and I even though we do have the perfect marriage- we never disagree, we spend all of our free time writing love poems on the bathroom mirror and rubbing one another's feet.

(shortly after this we got matching tattoos of one another's birthmarks so we could be birthmark buddies)

This perfect marriage involves two institutions that I have come to love dearly.

Amazon.com and the Salt Lake County Public Library.

Shut up- it's my blog and I'll write whatever drivel I want.

We spend an obscene amount on books- Audio, e-books, hardback, paper back, new releases, classics, junk from the bargain bin that we're never going to actually read......

(not our actual collection, but blog posts are better with lots of pictures, just like books)

We are lucky enough to have a house that has a giant family room to help house all of our books. I think we've filled up 10 large bookcases. We've actually read most of the books. While I know we should go to the library more and Barnes and Noble less, it's kind of a pain to do that and so much easier to just click a  few buttons and wait for the book to arrive in a few days from Amazon. It's even easier with my Kindle because I can have almost any book I want in about 5 seconds for about 5 bucks less than the hard copy.

Anyway- the SLC library offers many digital versions of books, MP3 versions that (supposedly) play on your ipod and quite a few e-books. I looked into it a few months ago and was annoyed because none of it ever worked on my mobile devices. I could play an audio book on itunes, but not my actual ipod. I could read an ebook on my laptop, but not my Kindle or phone. 

If I'm going to be on my laptop, killing time, I'm going to be on Pinterest or Facebook. 

It was super irritating.

A few weeks ago, I got a notice from Amazon that they were going to be managing the process for downloading Kindle books through most public libraries. I was sceptical,  but last night I finished Under The Dome by Steven King (way too much swearing, don't read it) and I decided to see if the Library had something for me to read to tide me over until October 5th when the latest Heroes of Olympus book comes out. 

I checked out am e book I liked and it said "download to kindle." 

I'd been tricked by this before, it never works for me. 

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, what kind of jerk are you? 

Still, who am I to learn from anything? I clicked the button and it took me to...Amazon.

Sweet home Amazon.

5 seconds later, the book was on my Kindle, easy peasy.

Thank you Amazon for taking over.

I wish Apple would do the same and have the company that actually controls the software and devices manage the process. 

I'm sure there is some super easy trick I just don't know, but I don't want tricks, I don't want more steps, I didn't pay 300 bucks for a music player the size of an index card with only 4 buttons on it if it meant I had to be smarter than a monkey to use all of the features. 

Anyway, you see by reading this post why my blog posts have been a little sparse lately.

 My life involves way too much time spent staring at flickering screens and clapping like a crazed toddler.

Oooh..I gotta go, it's my turn on Words With Friends.

We've Read the Book, and You Come Out on Top....

Saturday night we took the four girls to the Hale Center Theater to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I know all the music by heart and have seen the DVD a hundred times (as every respectable Mormon has, since it has Donny Osmond in it.)

 I had not, however, seen an actual performance of the play.

We took the girls to Into the Woods this summer and they loved it and all sat through the play, so we knew it was going to be okay to take them to a "real" theater performance. 

We didn't have to worry about a repeat of the time we took the kids to see Jim Gaffigan and Romy and Jane fell asleep while Greyson had a total meltdown under his seat. 

The kids are all old enough and know it's a big deal.

My first real theater performance was Phantom of the Opera, I went with Kristine. She told me that most people just wear jeans to shows, but she felt that the actors work so hard and it's so much more of an experience than a movie, so she always dressed up for plays. I took that to heart and have always done the same. It does make the evening feel more special.

 The girls and I all got fancied up and I did dressy updos on Emma, Kate and Jane. Romy was having none of it, but by the time I finished Emma's hair, I was running out of time anyway.

We didn't notice when we bought the tickets that it was for the final performance of the show. It has sold out almost every show here in SLC and they added tons of extra shows as well, over 80 performances in all for just this one show.  we had 2nd and 3rd row seats and every seat at Hale Center is great anyway.

We had dinner before we went and as we went to our seats, we were stopped by an usher who asked if Romy and Jane wanted to be part of the show.

Heck yes they did!

The usher had the task of finding 5 or 6 kids to be part of the opening act, and there were some kids behind me and I asked her if she wanted me to get their attention for her to ask and she said she was trying to ask kids who "looked nice." That made all the girls beam, because they all looked so nice and pretty just for the show.

I couldn't get a good picture of Roe and Jane in the show because you aren't supposed to snap pictures during plays, but I did sneak this one with the flash off.

The show knocked our socks off. Every scene was spectacular and the actors were giving it 110% because it was the closing show. The final scenes had many of them tearing up and I was bawling, too. It was a performance I will never forget, absolutely incredible. Donny Osmond has nothing on the guy that played Joseph for our show, sorry Sisters in Zion. Our narrator was fantastic, and the whole thing had us all smiling so much our cheeks hurt.

After the show, the kids met some of the cast members, including Joseph. That was cute because Kate was clearly having an "oh my heck, he's so cute I can't talk" moment as they posed for a picture with him. We found out later that before the show had started he came out to meet the kids who would be on stage and gave all of the girls a special color changing ring, so the little ones were swooning, too.

It was one of the best evenings of my life, and it was something we all needed. There was a lot of blended family baloney that happened over the summer that Matt and I just had to keep dealing with and it put a strain on things. That's what happens when one side needs to "win" and they cannot separate their children's feelings  from their own. A lot of that crap was brought into our home this summer and it took a toll on us.

Going to the play and having such an amazing, moving time was good for the soul, good for our family and helped welcome in a new season and put things behind us.

The last part of the journey has been pretty crummy, but I think our time together Saturday has helped us get back to the path we want to travel on.

May I return to the beginning?

The light is dimming, and the dream is too.

The world and I, we are still waiting

Still hesitating

Any dream will do....

Next up...A Christmas Carol for Zane's 16th birthday.

Have I mentioned how awesome it s to have kids old enough that we can see shows that have nothing to do with Pixar and potty breaks? 

It almost makes the moodiness and amount of food they consume worth it.

The Post Where All the Pictures Were Swiped From the Web

I'm back among the land of the living. 

Bleah.

That was un-fun.

And my house, oh my house! 

What a disaster. 

I remember complaining about crayon on the walls and toys on the floor when the kids were small. 

What was wrong with me?
 That mess was cake compared to the absolute horrors that teenagers can create when Mom stops nagging for a few days.

Toddler and baby messes are colorful. 

Teenager messes are greasy and smelly.

I love them so much, but ugh.

Oh well, it's a season. 

Before I know it this time will be gone and I'll wonder why I even cared. 

Houses get messy, houses get clean. 

It's the circle of life, Yo.

Speaking of the Lion King (sort of) I found out this week that Grey and Roe have never even seen the Lion King.

What kind of parent am I?

Parker was a big Disney addict, he loved the Lion King and wanted to marry Pocahontas (Poco Poco as he called her.) 

He loved Winnie the Pooh and would cry while watching his Dumbo video. He wore a Disney Hercules outfit on his first day of kindergarten.  Every toy he had was a Disney toy and he slept in a bed with Toy Story sheets and I read his Aladdin storybook to him at night.

All Disney, all the time.

Zane, lived in the world of cable TV and was all about the Nickelodeon shows, Rugrats were king and he had a passion for Teletubbies.

Grey was obsessed with Power Rangers- like, crazy obsessed. 

Romy was a PowerPuff Girls fan and had a crush on Hey Arnold. 

And Boobah, she loved Boobah because the noise the characters made sounded like tooting. One of her first phrases was a giggling declaration on "Beebah faaart" because my kids are appropriate like that. 

Boobah was mega creepy. 

The younger three pretty much skipped the Disney phase.  

It's not actually interesting to anyone but me, but it's my blog and I have spent the week in bed watching TV and eating candy corn- my brain is mush.

Anyway- my point- we're going to watch the Lion King this weekend, as Bob is my witness.

Also, I finished Matt's socks.

He's wearing them to work RIGHT NOW.

It's just one thrill after another here at the Olson house.

And just in case you didn't get enough hipster Disney, I swiped these off the net, too.

Enjoy them...... ironically.

Ears Are Cool

Yesterday was rough, I spent all evening in the emergency room....kidney stones.

No fun, but at least it wasn't my appendix.

This week has been pretty full and I'm still waiting for that back to school moment of zen to really kick in. Meetings with teachers, car problems and what feels like hours spent in the car dropping off and picking up has led to a whole lot of hurry up and wait.

I've filled that time doing a new yarn project.

While at Peach days we checked out the craft booths and Romy spent her own money buying a cute ear warmer in one of the booths. I looked it over and knew I could make one in no time and for a fraction of the cost. Romy paid 15 bucks for hers, I made a new one in about an hour for just the cost of half a skein of yarn.

Mine has ears, the one Roe bought didn't.

Ears are cool, just like fezzes, bow ties, Stetsons and glasses.

(Yeah, that's a nerdy Dr. Who joke....so what?)

I've got some ideas for a few more of these with different elements in the decoration, but Romy is loving the ones I have made so far. The dark pink one we made as a gift for a friend of Roe's birthday. If I don't get craft ADHD too quickly, this may be what you see every 5th grade girl wearing this winter at Roe's school.

Perfect Pizza Crust

A few years ago, Matt got me these great deep dish pizza pans. I don't use them as often as I should, but tonight I grabbed them from the high shelf in the closet and made pizza from scratch.

I had a new dough recipe I wanted to use, and the reason I don't make it is that I always feel like my dough is a little too heavy.

The new recipe was super simple and was a total hit.

It was light and flavorful and baked up evenly.

 We had a pepperoni and a half cheese half death by meat. There's half a pound of sausage under the cheese, Canadian bacon and pepperoni.

So much happiness.

I don't care if my butt is as big as a house, that was totally worth it.

Some of you have been asking to see the finished accent wall in the living room.

Pretend I don't have my TV right there. It's temporary- or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I love how it looks, it was totally worth the pain in the rear week of painting.

Pizza crust recipe:

makes 1 pizza or 2 thin crust pizza 

 I tripled the batch and made 2 deep dish giant pies

1 3/4- 2 1/4 C. flour (I used baking flour)

1 envelope pizza yeast (who knew there was a yeast just for pizza dough?)

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 C very warm water

3 Tb oil (I used olive oil)

---

Combine everything- but only 1 Cup of the flour. Mix with wooden spoon until blended and sticky.

Add remaining flour until you have a soft dough, will be slightly sticky but not gunk up your hands sticky.

Knead about 4-5 minutes.

Form into a ball, cover and let rise for 15-20 minutes.

Turn on the oven at this point so it preheats to 425

Press dough out into greased pan, top with whatever floats your boat and bake for about 15 minutes give or take, until cheese is melted and browning.

Eat until your pants no longer fit.

Peachy

Saturday we went to the Brigham City Peach Days event with some of the kids.

Jane and Kate were in the parade with a dance troupe they joined, they dressed like nerds and did a good job performing. 

That was a long parade, and only 3 actual floats. Lots of politicians driving through in cars, lots of local businesses with their employees holding banners and while I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, it made for an extra boring, extra long parade. 

 Yep, this was one  of the "floats" followed by four moms with their kids in a sling

Truth be told, I hate parades and so does Matt. 

Maybe I'm biased, but I think our girls were the cutest of the whole thing.

The Box Elder High School band did a good job as well and there was a tumbling group that did gymnastics trips on the moving float, trampoline and uneven bars. 

But everything else was kind of a snoozer.

Again, I don't enjoy parades, so I'm not one to ask about it.

We decided to go and brave to food booths. The smells were wonderful and we had to drop some money on carni food that was likely to kill us.

We found our bliss---the Deep Fry Shack.

We ordered 2 funnel cakes topped in sugar, deep fried Oreos, deep fried Twinkies and 2 deep fried Cokes to share.

Suddenly all issues from out former boredom have gone away while we all enjoyed  the artery clogging goodness together.

The Coke was just funnel cake infused with Coke Syrup and then more syrup gooed on top  of that, they top it with whipped cream and a cherry. Oh my.

Fried Twinkies were the BEST. So sweet and they had whipped cream and Bear Lake raspberry sauce.....so good you wonder if you need to repent after eating them.

After our dive into gluttony, we went to see the craft booths, but it was too crowded to be any fun, the rides also had lines a mile long so we just headed home. 

Surprisingly, the car was still able to carry all of our big, deep fried bums.