mom's home! mom's home!

Who wouldn't want to come home with a reception like this?

I get this text, "Photo day 10... self portrait and I don't see yours!"
I haven't done the last couple of days because the sun was hiding in overcastedness and my front door is... well, I just didn't do that one. 

But for my sister who is texting me at 10:00 pm for it... here you go.

Oh yeah.  Bathroom self shots.  I know you all have one.

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Don't forget on Monday you won't find us at this url any more.  Remember to change your links to us to circusofmine.blogspot.com.  :)

button, button, who's got the button?

I find it ironic, that on the day when the photo topic is "button", that I would put on my sweater for work, only to find that a button is missing. 

Why is it always a button in the middle?

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Dinner Plans

Today I was excited to share with you a photo of dinner.  We were going to have Taco Pizza.  I found it on pinterest and it has become a staple to our menu. 

If you are what you eat the I guess I'm fast and easy. Or at the very least Americanized Mexican.

But then I came home and found this.

Dinner became this.

No Super Bowl, Chocolate Fondue, and Mr. Popper's Penguins

Happy 33 to me.
Today's February photo project was "10 am".  I was at church with my circus.  This picture was actually taken a little after noon when church was over, but really, I wasn't going to pull out my camera and snap a picture in the middle of a Sacrament Meeting.  So we took one after church in the Young Women's room, which also doubles as the Middle School's Seminary, hence the desks.
Thanks for snapping the pic Ballison.  Love me some Laurels.

The Young Women's President gave me two papers to fill out for the new Beehives coming in.  New Beginings is next week and they want to spotlight the cute new Beehives.  They were for my daughters.  Can you believe that we have not just one girl turning 12 this year, but two?  It's like I always say... once one hits a a milestone in life, the rest are not far behind.  We don't do anything small around here.  Not even if we wanted to...

After church we headed home only to be greeted by this when we rounded the corner:

My dad and step mom drove 45 minutes to surprise me with this when I got home from church.  Apparently my step mom was being sneaky sneaky with The Man and was messaging with him over facebook about when we'd be gone.  When we rounded the corner we all gasped.  Cool Mom!  That Stephanie Rd. sign? Going on my desk at work.

The Man bought me a sewing machine.  I've never owned a sewing machine before and am super excited.  Especially since I've recently drawn up my first quilt pattern with the encouragement and email guidance of my aunt.  Who is a pro.  Really.  She owns her own quilt shop.  And the circus made me paper flowers with Granny Suzann.

We're pushing forward with the remodel.  Tomorrow a sheetrocker is coming to mud and tape the second laundry room we've created out of a large closet upstairs and the kitchen ceilling.  We've picked out the tile and West even said that while he was working on his project (the laying of the said tile) that I needed a project and could paint the second laundry room and kitchen any color I want. 
You are all my witnesses.  Any color I want. 

I'm thinking I should have gotten that in writing...

In preperation for the nasty dusty sheetrock mess we've emptied the kitchen, even putting the fridge into the dining room, and hung plastic.

When our house is finished, we're inviting you all over for a Hallelujah party.  See that pink counter?  It's next on my hit list.  Nasty thing.
All I wanted for my birthday is no Superbowl, chocolate fondue, and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Check, check, and check.

And now that I think about it, this would go good with our kitchen remodel, don't you think?

February Photo Project Day 4: Strangers. (And Brawling Over Clearance).

My day was full of strangers.  Did I take pictures of any of them? Well, not until the end.  I don't know, I think it would have been kind of creepy taking a picture of the people in line with me for the Plato's Closet grab sale... or the woman who was a head taller than me, working with the man who was a head shorter than me at the grocery store.  I think if someone were to take a picture of me I would have all sorts of issues with it.  Plus, I'm too awkward to be sneaky.  Truly.
But I have a really good story about my day with strangers, and then I did manage to get a picture, but it's at the end of this post.  And is part of a different story than the one I'm going to tell first.

Is Plato's Closet just a Utah thing? I love that place.  I mean, I love that place.  On the first Saturday of February they do a grab sale.  They give you a grocery type sack on your way in and you can go to specifically labeled racks and whatever you can shove into your sack is $10.  Total.  $10 for the sack of clothes.  Can you see the appeal to this? Last year we drove a few minutes after the store opened and saw how insanely busy it was.  I passed.  But this year, this year I decided to give it a real try.  So I headed down an hour before opening to get in line. 
And it wasn't too bad.  I people watched (without taking pictues of them) and it wasn't even that cold.  Finally the doors opened and we all politely entered in single file to receive our bags at the door... and then all hell broke loose.

The aisles in this store are tight enough as it is.  They had one side of  one aisle marked off for the grab bag sale.  At least a hundred people were jammed into one tiny aisle and I was very literally being shoved.  Blantantly.
It was insane. 
Lesson learned? Be one of the first five (I was only 20 back) or it's not even worth it.  Once people get in that aisle, they don't move, can't move and with frantic black Friday mentality, women get down right catty and rude.  Shoving? What are we, in the first grade?  I've never even had that problem in an acutal black Friday sale.
But, that being said, even when push came to shove, I have pretty good balance, and some awesome pride issues and I was immovable.  I'm stronger than I look, and I will move when I feel like it thank you very much, wait your turn, obviously, since you can't even get to the rack because you're back there waiting for us to get out of your way.
And I walked away with my bag full.
I regret not taking a picture after all of that.

West and I have been trying to select our tile for the bathroom remodel and have spent the last two days going from store to store to store.  I think we finally have it selected.  Progress is being made to finish it!
We met up with West's mom Suzann at The Old Spaghetti Factory for my birthday dinner.  I plan on being absolutely lazy tomorrow and have big plans which may or may not include chocolate fondue and Mr. Popper's Penguins (The Muppets is currently no where to be found).  So West, who spoils me more than I deserve, took me out for dinner tonight. 
Enter picture of strangers.

The atmosphere is pretty cool there and I was with my favorite people in the world.  My man and my circus.
Though everyone around us was kind enough to join in the singing of "Happy Birthday."
Tomorrow I wake up 33 years old.
I'm okay with that.  I have new clothes to wear for it.

February Photo Project Day 3: Hands

This is where my hands end up every single night.  Or even any given time that we find ourselves in close proximity on the couch.  And let's face it, if The Man and I are in the same room, we're in close proximity.  Some say we're still in the honeymoon stage.  Frankly, I plan on being like this even when we've been married for 7 years... or 13 years... or 25... right on to 60 years.  He's my sweetheart.  I'm so blessed to have him in my life.

I took a picture of where The Man's hands usually end up, but being as this is a family blog that my circus actually looks at, I figured it was probably best to not post it.

February Photo Day 2: Words

Since this is a photo project, I decided to take pictures of all the words throughout my day today.  But then I realized a problem with that... most of my day is actually dealing with words, but all of those words fall under the category of "Confidential".  So in the name of staying out of prison, here's what I came up with.

 This came over an email... So for those of you who have warrants pay attention, next time you're online you can check your bank account balance, check the tracking on your latest online purchase, say hey to some friends on facebook, and... check up on your warrants.  Useful, no?

 And one of my biggest grammar pet peeves is when people spell "probably" this way:

I spent the entire day fixing this mistake on someone else's typing.  You can't send a document to court with "probly" in it.  Are you kidding me?

February Photo Day 1: My View Today

{source of photo challenge}

 The picture below is on the window in one of the lawyer's office windows.  Bird poop on outside of window+post it note=

 How many people get to live at the base of such amazing mountains?

 I picked up Brynn from a friend's house

 And dropped Casidee's friend off

 And finally after a long day I came home.  I should work on this view...

 And then my view was book reports, animal reports, 1st grade math, and 6th grade autobiographies.

 But guess what? The ipod I've been missing for two weeks, suddenly made its pressence known! That's a view I can handle.  Though Tayler made fun of my happy dance.  But seriously, I've been moving furniture and tearing the house apart for weeks, and there it was all along, sitting on the bookshelf.  To which both Brynn and Cas say, "oh yeah, I saw that there a couple of days ago..." Thanks girls.  Thank you very much.

 Nice view here too.