Why we're moving....

If anyone doesn't know yet, we are moving into my sister's house next week! When you're offered a 6 bdrm for the same price as you're paying for a 3 bdrm house it's sort of a no-brainer, even if you have to leave the best neighborhood this side of Utah County! We'll truly miss having our neighbors so close by!

I've been explaining to everyone what great things my sister has done to her house, and why I'm excited to move there, so here are a few pics she shared with me which I am now sharing with you, after all, very soon, it WILL be my house, lol!

First of all, underneath the stairs she had my SIL Marie paint this HUGE wall mural, and people came out and carved a niche for the kids to play, so a built in PLAYROOM! YEAH! Plus, a FENCED back yard, my boys will be in heaven! Sorry, no trampoline kids!


Then, here's the front room. Of course, I won't have the nice leather couches....But look at these built in bookshelves!



The kitchen:


Dining room: My table will fit there perfectly!


Downstairs to the playroom and the girls 3 bedrooms which they get to paint whatever color they want to later if they want to, right now they are brown, white and green.


What will be the boys bedroom:


Same colors in my office, but this I will paint red later, another benefit to renting from your sister!


The room that will be my bedroom: The walls are actually a metallic copper kind of color, the pictures don't give any of these rooms justice, they're even cozier at night time! I can't wait to add my canopy bed with purple sheer curtains hanging from it!


So, you see, we really are going to LOVE our new place even though we'll miss the neighborhood we're in right now! I'll be back every month for Book Group, lol! Go ahead and congratulate my sister for a job well done! It won't look the same with all my stuff, but hopefully the essence is still there!

New York City

Some of you know, I took my girls on a day trip to NYC. None of us had ever been. I've been planning on doing a trip for sometime, but we could never find the time. Sunday morning I woke up in a bad mood. I knew that I needed a getaway. I didn't want to go alone, so since the kids were off school the next day, why not take them! We tried to get out on a flight Sunday night, but didn't make it, so we went the next night. Let's just say I'm glad I did a day trip, but I would NEVER do it again. We took the shuteye flight out, spent the day in NYC and came back the next night! My body is just barely recovering from the trauma, lol!

And it was all to see this lady:


After riding the subways, she was our first stop! The most peaceful time of the trip for me. It was nice to be among so many other tourists after riding the subways and trying to pretend like we knew what we were doing.



The girls enjoyed the ferry ride:




Gotta love my eyes closed on this one, dang it!


Kei got to bring her BFF:


and the view from Liberty Island:


Had to take a picture a la Bill Bryson's book on my bookshelf:




Went on to Times Square:



Where I snapped a pic of this little Engine No. 4:


The girls loved visiting the ToysRus store:


and MandMstore:




back on the Airtrain to go home, whew, it was quite a trip!

Waiting at the airport, caught these pictures:


I don't know about that, I WOULD work forever with JetBlue to keep on taking these wonderful trips, so grateful for my job :)

She was worth it....

100 Truths

Found this on a friend's Facebook notes, decided I'd rather post it here. I tag anyone else that wants to play, it's a long one though, it should be titled 100 Reasons to Procrastinate! Okay, off to do my laundry I should have done an hour ago!

001. Real name → Clarice Tiare Applegate
002. Nickname(s)→ Clair, Clair Bear, Reece, MOM, Claribelle (yeah, hated that one)
003. Zodiac sign → Aries
004. Male or female → Female
005. Elementary → Franklin (k-3) and Sunset View (4-6) in Provo
006. Middle School →Dixon
007. High School → Provo High (9-11) International School of Manila (12)
008. Hair color → Black
009. Long or short → Long
010. Loud or Quiet → Oh, I can be both
011. Sweats or Jeans → Neither please.
012. Phone or Camera → Camera
013. Health freak → Trying to be, but not quite making the cut
014. Drink or Smoke? → No, but if the WOW changed tomorrow and I could have a glass of wine, that would be lovely! I know, shame on me, but that's "THE TRUTH"
015. Do you have a crush on someone? → Oh sure
016. Eat or Drink → EAT!
017. Piercings → No
018. Tattoos → No thanks.

HAVE YOU EVER?
019. Been in an airplane→ Yes.
020. Been in a relationship → Yes
021. Been in a car accident → Unfortunately, or fortunately, yes (we rcvd 15K for our troubles, lol)
022. Been in a fist fight → Does it count if it was with my sisters when growing up?

FIRSTS:
023. First piercing → I don't know, when I had my ears pierced as a girl
024. First best friend→ I'd say Julie Hayes, but that wasn't until 3rd grade I think...there were others I played with before, my cousin Jessica, someone named Sunny.
025. First award → Oh, I remember in MESA getting an award for Most Improved, lol 7th grade...
026. First crush → Can't remember the grade, but my friends had a crush on someone and I wanted to know who it was, so I picked a guy out of the crowd I could have a crush on and it was Aaron Stites. I still remember them making me call him and I was supposed to sing the Stevie Wonder song to him, "I just called, to say, I love you". I think I barely muttered that out of my mouth and hung up, lol!
028. First big vacation → Well, if Yellowstone and Disneyland don't count, then it'd be Tahiti when I graduated from High School.

LASTS:
029. Last person you talked to → Zane
030. Last person you texted → Ken
031. Last person you watched a movie with → Ken, we saw 7 lbs, weird movie
032. Last food you ate → Breakfast for lunch, eggs and toast...
033. Last movie you watched → That was 7 lbs.
034. Last song you listened to → Last night, some Rat Pack song on Ken's playlist
035. Last thing you bought → I don't know, let me go check my bank account...okay, if Gas and that stuff doesn't count, then it'd be a swimming suit so I could go to the pool with the kids.
036. Last person you hugged → Zane

FAVES:
037. Food → Kaifan
038. Drinks → Water
039. Clothing → Comfortable, but nice looking clothes
040. Books → The Red Tent, Middlesex, The Poisonwood Bible, The Life of Pi, The Time Travelers Wife, Surrendering to Motherhood, 100 Promises to my Baby
041. Music → UB40, Bob Marley, Rat pack stuff, Hawaiian Reggae, Eagles, and any new stuff with funky beats.
042. Flower → Tiare
043. Singer→ What, one person, ok, Jason Mraz
044. Movies→ Family Man, Hotel Rwanda, August Rush, Schindlers List, I Dreamed of Africa, Dragonfly, City of Angels
045. Positions → Just what kind of positions? Ok, political, I'd be a liberal Republican
046. Subjects → History, Psychology

IN 2008..... I
047. kissed in the snow → I hope so
048. celebrated Halloween → Sure, that was fun passing out candy, HA!
049. had your heart broken → Not by any "person"
050. went over the minutes on your cell phone → not I
051. someone questioned your sexual orientation → Sure don't think so
052. came out of the closet → Whatever
053. gotten into a fight → does arguing with DH count?
054. had a transformation → Not really
055. done something you've regretted → I'm sure I have
056. broke a promise → Again, probably so
057. hid a secret → As always, don't we all have something we don't share at some point
058. pretended to be happy → Of course, everything's always fine, don't you know that? What else am I supposed to say instead? Ah, the truth, hmmm.
059. met someone who changed your life → We'll see
060. pretended to be sick → Ha, do you think I have time to "pretend". It's for REAL if I am!
061. left the country → Should have....
062. tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it →Nothing comes to mind right now
063. cried over the silliest thing → Of course, just watching some tv show would have me in tears, lol
064. ran a mile → Run, no, but I will this year!
065. went to the beach with your best friend(s) → I wish
066. stay single the whole year → Impossible

CURRENTLY:
067. Eating → No.
068. Drinking → No
069. I'm about to → Go start a load of laundry
070. Listening to → The Nintendo Wii, sigh......
071. Plans for today → Take Kalel to see his cousin today, pick up Ken from work, etc.
072. Waiting for → to finish this dang questionaire so I can go do something productive

YOUR FUTURE:
073. Want kids? → HA, I have enough!
074. Want to get married? → Hopefully not, I already am!
075. Careers in mind → College professor

WHICH IS BETTER WITH GIRL/BOY?
076. Lips or eyes → Ah, how about both!
077. Shorter or taller? →Taller
078. Romantic or spontaneous → Romantic please!
079. Nice stomach or nice arms → Again, let's go with both!
080. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive
081. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship.
082. Trouble-maker or hesitant → Hesitant, I don't want a trouble maker

HAVE YOU EVER:
083. Lost glasses/contacts → Of course
084. Ran away from home → I tried to, didn't get much further past the laundry room to get my clothes when my mother stopped me.
085. Hold a gun/knife for self defense → Gosh, scary, thankfully not.
086. Killed somebody → No
087. Broken someone's heart → Don't think so
088. Been arrested → No, thank goodness
089. Cried when someone died → Sure did

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
090. Yourself → I try hard to
091. Miracles → Yes.
092. Love at first sight → Yes.
093. Heaven → Yes.
094. Santa Claus → Now that's a myth
095. Sex on the first date → Heck no
096. Kiss on the first date → Sure, that's ok, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → Yes.
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life? → Are you kidding me? I mean, it's ok, but it could be better! Financially, I mean.
099. Do you believe in God → Hi God!

100. Post as 100 truths and tag 10 or more people and why → because, I'm your friend

Pay it Forward

Pay it Forward

Your mission, if you choose to accept...

So a friend of a friend of a friend is doing this pay it forward thing. This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this will receive a hand made gift from me during this year - and you all know how crafty I can be - be excited! When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift

This should be LOTS of fun!

Why I don't bake.....

Oh, all you cake bakers will get a good laugh about this one! It was my mother's birthday. Of course she can't make her own cake! So, I get a recipe that she loves and tell her, "No problem, I'll make the cake"! Looks simple enough, chocolate cake with whipped creme filling. I can do that. I go to the store to purchase the cream and half and half that I don't normally keep in stock.

It's the day of her birthday and I set out to make the cake. Here's a picture of what it is supposed to look like:


Here's a picture of how mine turned out:


Granted, everything was going fine, the frosting looked good, the cake looked good. But when I went to put it all together, some law of physics thing started kicking in, and the cake started collapsing. I'm sure there's some tricks to the trade I must have been missing here.

I don't know if I'll ever dare to make a cake again. Well, as long as it stays in the sheet, I'm fine. Anything that requires assembling, no thanks!

I went to Costco and got my Mom a chocolate cake instead:


I kept the falling apart cake at my house, and guess what, it tasted good, even though it tasted like a HO-HO!

All in all, not worth the work for a cake that tastes like a HO-HO. Ho-Ho's are fattening, and if you're going to injest calories, they better be worth it!

P.S. The winner of my giveaway was #2 Kim from LM! I'll be getting in touch with you! Thanks everyone for the good book recommendations!