The Perfect House

Lately I have become very fixated with looking at different houses, mostly because I don't have one and hope that someday I will. When I look around diferent neighbourhoods I have very specific criteria that I judge by. Houses need to be sturdy and solid, quality construction that will last and doesn't look as if it would blow over in a strong wind...this usually means red brick in my estimation. I also prefer that it not be a "cookie cutter" type house in a neighbourhood where everything looks like a theme and variation on the same thing. I like older homes that have some history and character, of course I would prefer that the older home be well maintained and have been updated with modern convieniances. There are some newer homes that fit this criteria, but they are hard to find it seems.
My preferences seem to stem mostly from the house I lived in for many years when I was growing up. My parents bought a beautiful victorian home built in 1901 in a small town called Gananoque which is about a half hour outside of Kingston, Ontario. It is in the heart of the Thousand Island area of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River and is a very beautiful part of the country. The house was three stories tall plus a basement that I think may have been used as a coal cellar at one time. My bedroom was the old maids room and I had my own private staircase that led straight down into the kitchen, this really impressed friends when they came to visit. I thought it was fabulous because I could sneak around the house at night without having to go past my parents bedroom! When my parents decided to move back into the city I was a very sad girl, I loved that house and still do. I have very wonderful memories of being a child there, especially at Christmas...that house was built for Christmas! I hope that someday I will find a place that will come close to measuring up ( and if I could afford it that would be great to!!)
P.S. The home (pictured above) is currently a bed and breakfast, Heather and Brad Pack actually stayed there one night when they came out for our wedding which I thought was a very cool thing for them to do!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my Dad's birthday!! I hope he has a great time and eats some cake! We love you!

A Better Day At Play Group

I posted last week about a not so great play group day...so I justed wanted to follow up and let you all know that it went much better this morning. My friend Dawn's sister in law was in town visiting from the DC area with her kids and she had a little boy Liam's age. At first Liam was being really shy and wouldn't talk or play with anyone, but then Dawn's nephew offered him a box of yogurt covered raisins to break the ice which apparently really won Liam over. After that he had a great time playing with his new friend and stayed out of the mud puddles.
(The picture included is of Lindley Park/Greensboro Arboretum where we meet every week. On the other side of the park there is play equipment for the children. It is a very beautiful botanical garden. Liam's school is across the street from this park.)

Sigma Sigma Sigma

Tonight after dinner we went on our traditional Sunday evening drive/walk to UNCG campus. On the way home we stopped into the student center so that I could use the restroom. On my way in I ran into a hoard of sorority girls heading home from thier weekly meeting, these girls happened to belong to sigma sigma sigma as evidenced by thier T-shirts. On my way out of the restroom I ran into another drove also heading home, although I am not sure which specific group they belonged to because thier sorority apparently has a dress code for meetings and they all wore black dresses and high high heels, were also mostly blonde and very very thin.
Ever since Bevan has started attending UNCG I have been fairly fascinated with the whole Greek system, probably because it is so foreign to me. The university that my dad works at had banned the system several decades earlier due to many of the problems that often accompany fraternities and sororities. Also, since I attended Ricks College and BYU obviously there were none around during my own college days. A year or two ago a read a book called "Pledged: The Secret Life Of Sororities", by Alexandria Robbins. It was an inside look at what goes on in these organizations, some of the incidents and issues outlined may have been somewhat sensationalized but from my distant observation much of it seems to be quite accurate. Each sorority has a certain image they are trying to portray and you can generally identify them from each other when they are all togethor. Depending on the sorority demands to be thin or wear certain styles and brands of clothes may be stronger than in others. Also some may have a stronger reputation for "partying" or dating only within the Greek system. But for many of these girls its seems like by and large this is generally just a means for social networking and a feeling of belonging when they are away from home, which as long as they don't get caught up in the negative aspects of the system I can't say there is anything inherently wrong with. I mean if I had moved away from home and didn't know many people and didn't have the church to rely on as a social support system, I would imagine that a sorority would be very appealing.
This past weekend when we attended the UNCG soccer game it was the designated "Greek Night" and we happened to be seated right in the Greek section. Bevan actually knew one of the sorority girls sitting behind us (they were chemistry lab partners last semester which cracked me up!) so we talked to them a bit and they all seemed like sweet girls and were paying lots of attention to Liam and Asher. UNCG actually requires all the Greeks to live on campus in designated dorms so they can keep an eye on what is going on so I think the drinking and partying might be lessened on this campus comparatively to others. Anyways...its a foreign concept to me that is fairly fascinating to watch, something along the lines of a car wreck I can't look away from.

General Relief Society Broadcast

I just got back from the General Relief Society Braodcast, and I am so glad that I went. It has been a rough couple of days at our house and I really needed the encouragement. Bevan has been gone a lot and I have been couped up in our little two bedroom apartment with two little boys who have alot of energy and not much space to burn it off in. Sometimes I feel badly that this is all I have to offer them at this point in time and wish that they could have a house with a yard or other somewhat basic things that most children seem to have. When we were first married and starting our family I don't think I realized what a struggle it might sometimes be, especially with Bevan still in school. I particularily didn't realize how long the schooling would stretch out in front of us and sometimes think was it fair of me to drag these poor children along with us for the ride? It's one thing for me to be alright with making these sacrifices but they are just babies and nobody asked them if they minded. Two weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon I took the boys to the mall to get out of the house while Bevan was at school studying for the day (it was raining and there was no where else I could think of to go), I had some spare change in my pocket and let Liam use it to ride on one of the coin operated cars. I sat there watching him ride and started getting weepy (which is very uncharachteristic for me to do) because that is the most I would be able to offer him and he deserved more. I know things could be much, much worse but now that Liam is getting older it is more difficult to see him starting to be able to recognize things that he doesn't have or can't do that other children can or do. Of course I am not big on spoiling children, I think kids do better to learn the value of work and be appreciative...but he has had to do without things that I guess I feel are inherent to childhood. For example after preschool when all the children have been picked up by thier parents they all go outside and play togethor for a while on the lawn in front of the parking lot. But because I have to work at the school for him to be able to attend he has to wait for me to clean up my class room before we can go outside. When we finally do get outside all the kids have already left and he gets very disappointed and asks, "Where did the guys go?". Of course he wouldn't be able to go at all if I weren't working but it breaks my heart for him to not be able to participate in something as simple as that.
Fortunately I know this is all temporary and that Bevan will be done school in a year and things will improve, but it still doesn't mean that dealing with all of this at the time isn't hard. So the messages in tonights broadcast really touched me, especially Pres. Hinckley's talk when he said that when we are old and dying it won't matter what a big house we lived in, the fancy car we drove or the expensive clothes we wore but that our children will be what matters to us and that we did everything we could to raise them right. So even though my poor boys may have to live in a little apartment and get shuttled around in a beat up Saturn I can still give them the things that will really matter. I can teach them the gospel, I can give them love and attention, I can teach them indepence and self reliance and a love of learning. Hopefully at some point we will be able to add some material advantages to that list, but we will be alright in the meantime.
It was also good to have reiterated that as sisters we don't have to be alone, we can reach out to other women at church and always rely on the Lord. Sis. Parkin stressed that as women we all need to feel the Lord's love for us as individuals every day, at this point in my life I especially know this to be true and it is something I need to be working toward. In the world's eyes I may not have much to recommend myself, but fortunately Heavenly Father loves me anyways, and just because I may not feel worthy or fall short does not mean that I should reject his love for me. In this day and age we all really have to know who we are as children of our Heavenly Father and understand our individual worth if we want to make it, I know that for sure.

Dinner With The Missionaries

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. We usually do this once a month since I am technically a ward missionary. I didn't make anything too exotic as I was a bit pressed for time since we would be going to a UNCG's soccer game(Conference Opener) later in the evening; so I made spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and herbed cheese bread. These are all old standbys...but I did try something new for dessert that I got from the Kraftfoods.com website, and it was actually low fat, low calorie and low sugar. It was called "Cookies and Cream Pudding", made with fat free - sugar free jello pudding mix, reduced fat oreos and Cool Whip Free. It didn't take even five minutes to make, tasted great and was a good source of calcium.
P.S. UNCG won the game against Coastal Carolina 4 to 0, HURRAY!

First Day Of Fall

Today is the first day of fall and the weather has changed right on cue! It is perfect here in NC, cool and crisp just the way I like it, Ahhh! (I am not a summer/hot weather person).
Happy Fall Everyone!

BREAKING NEWS!!

I just read this on the msnbc news page:

McDonald’s Corp. may soon offer its breakfast menu all day long as a new restaurant layout will make it easier to prepare a wide variety of foods at once, its chief executive said Wednesday.

I have been wanting this for years!! McDonalds breakfast is my favourite and I all to often would be digging around the house for spare change on a Saturday morning to find enough to take advantage of the two for two breakfast biscuit deal and then get there to late!! The article said they were going to make this change because breakfast has been there strongest growing performer in terms of meal sales and they want to capitalise on that. The article also said that they attribute this growth to new products like McGriddles....they were way off on that though, those things are nasty. Egg McMuffins (which are only six points by the way, if you happen to be counting), Egg, Cheese and Mystery Meat Biscuits...hockey puck like hashbrowns....that is what its all about.

A Play Date Interupted

On Wednesday mornings our ward typically has a play group that meets at a local park, we are regulars. This morning when we got there Liam apparently was just not in the mood to socialize. He wouldn't go and talk to the other kids or play on the jungle gym. He just moped around beside me and kept pulling on my arm to get my attention but wouldn't tell me what he wanted, (he was probably just jealous that some of my attention was being used to talk with the other moms there). Anyways, after a while of this he decided to make a run for it across a wet field to where the public washrooms are located. As I was carrying Asher it was very difficult to chase him. When I finally caught up with him he looked at me defiantly and then jumped into a very muddy knee deep puddle. Of course at this point it was time to go home. I dragged him and Asher back across the wet field to where our bags were waiting and as I was trying to gather everything up it turned out the one of ther mothers of the children in my Tuesday/Thursday class was there with her little boy and saw us. She came over and was trying to make pleasant conversation while I was dealing with a muddy, flailing and screaming Liam. What an impression I am sure we made!! Fun time at the park. After that we went straight home and mandatory early nap time was prompty enforced after a quick hose down in the tub.

A Warm Welcome

Big congratulations are in order for Adam and Lisa Buchanan who just had thier first child last night, a new baby girl! I haven't recieved official confirmation on her name but the word is mother and baby are doing very well. Pictures are available on Adam's website!

My Future Gymnast!

Liam seems to have inherited some of Bevan's tumbling skills because over the past day or two Liam has taught him self how to summersault. I am not sure how he figured this out or even got the idea to do it, but he was flipping constantly all afternoon. Here are some shots of my future gold medalist in action!

Sunday

I am back into the swing of things and teaching the Gospel Principles Sunday School class. This is my second week back on the job and when I opened the manual this weekend to see what the lesson would be I was surprised to see that it was "The Law of Chastity". Now I know it really shouldn't be a big deal but the lesson was fairly specific and I have never given a lesson or talk on this subject (On such occasions I always have flasbacks to when I was barely 12 and attending my first youth activity which was a stake standards night. To my horror, my very pregnant mother had been asked to give the chastity talk which apparently she was famous for giving). Anyhow, by and large it all went just fine since everyone there was married except for the missionaries(with whom I must admit I did avoid making eye contact with throughout most of the lesson), but it was very interesting to talk to people who are new to the church and learn what thier perceptions about things are (as it is with all the topics I have had to teach). Anyways, it was good practice for me for teaching my own children about this sensitive topic. A really good talk to reference should you ever need a resource on this topic is "Souls, Symbols and Sacraments" by Elder Holland.
Anyhow...here are some pictures of Liam and Asher in thier Sunday suits before church, I think they are sitting in a basket of clean laundry in the hallway.

Trapped

This afternoon I was ironing in the living room with the boys while we were watching a "show" (as Liam would call it), when I heard Asher crying. I looked up and saw that Liam had put an upside down laundry basket on top of him and trapped him. Liam thought this was was hilarious, Asher on the other was very upset. After Asher was set free Liam thought he would give it a try himself. Here are pictures of both of them being caught under the basket.

Ward Chili Cook-Off/Pine Wood Derby

On Friday night our ward held its annual chili cook-off and pine wood derby. The ward activities commitee decorated the gym with a NASCAR theme, which was fun and especially appreciated by Liam who is really into cars right now. My chili didn't win the cook-off, but oh well. Maybe next year! I keep trying a new recipe every year, maybe I should try a different stragey of using the same recipe but tweaking and improving each year. But most of the fun for me is trying a new recipe, winning would only be a pleasant by product.
Liam had a great time watching the race, he even entered a truck he had brought from home. It couldn't be an official entry though since it didn't meet the racing criteria. He didn't mind though, he was just glad to see it ride on the track.

Gate City Chop House

Last night I had dinner at a place called the Gate City Chop House. I was invited by a Regional CPA firm called Dixon-Hughes. It has three offices in the Triad area. High Point has 125, Greensboro has 60, and Winston-Salem has 40. The entire firm spread out in the Southeast, but the biggest office is in High Point. I interviewed with Dixon-Hughes this morning and had a great experience. Although it is not a Big Four firm, it is apart of Moores Rowland International and has clients all over the World. We sat in a private room that prestigous groups usually sit in. I was told the Duke Basketball team was one of these groups.

Here is what we had for dinner.

appetizers

• Shrimp with cocktail sauce (the sauce was hot like horseradish or wasabi)
• spinach mix with bread
• spinach clams

dinner

• 6 oz. Filet Mignon
• Zuchinni and other veggies
• Onion Rings

Dessert

• Mile High Chocolate Suicide Cake (it was 9 inches high, and came with a huge ball of ice cream. Just a bit bigger than the Great Wall of Chocolate Cake served at PF Changs

A lot of us ordered this for dessert not realizing what we would get ourselves into, none of us finished it. I sat and said, well I doubt JJ Reddick finished this. Then someone said, "Reddick would have choked on that, just like he choked in Tournament." We all had a good laugh. It was a Carolina table. I also heard another good joke about Duke. Appearnetly it is referred to by most as the Univeristy of New England in Durham.

The night went very well with a little pressure to stay, but I wanted to get home in order to be ready for the interview. Besides, staying around consisted of watching WV playing MD. It was 21-0 WV with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter. I didn't think Maryland would make a comeback.

Here are some quick facts about why it is called the Gate City Chop House.

The city we live in is called Greensboro. It is named after Nathaneal Greene, a general in the Continental Army who in 1781 lost a battle to General Cornwallis. However, this weakened the British significantly and soon thereafter had surrendered in Virginia. Nathaneal Greene was Washington's Southern General.

In the 1808, the founders of Guilford County measured out the county lines and built a 42 acre city right in the middle and named it Greensborough. It later became the Gate City because of so many railroads that came through. Today it has two interstates (I-40 and I-85). It will soon have I-73 and I-74 along with a loop. Throughout the past many years, many other things have come through the Gate City.

In 1923, an insurance company named Jefferson Standard built the highest building from Atlanta to DC. It is now the second tallest building in the city, second to Jefferson-Pilot tower. The building was constructed in a way that both buildings are connected. Certain floors connect evenly so that people can walk from one end of the building to the other. On the the tenth floor of the new building is where the Dixon-Hughes Greensboro office is located.

In the 60's was the very first sit in held at the Woolworths just one block south from the JP building. Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat in and were arrested. By the end of the week, police had to arrest almost 1,000 students for sitting in. Next to Woolworths was a Kress. So when Woolworths would shut down to stop the sit in, Kress would get a visit. It went back and forth like this for almost six months. Finally the president of Woolworths said enough is enough. Currently the Woolworths is being redone and will soon open as a museum. There is a plaque in from the honor the four men. It says, "Sometimes standing up for your rights means taking a seat."

Now the Gate City is soon to become one of the major transportation hubs in the nation. Dell recently opened up a facility and FedEx plans to open a transportation hub in 2009. This is good since, almost all of the furniture manufacturing in High Point has moved overseas.

Asher Can Clap

Unless you are my children's grandmother you probably won't care but Asher has started clapping this past week when he gets excited or happy. It is very cute and I have been trying to catch him in the act for several days and finally got a picture this morning when I had the camera handy.

Liam and Asher Update

Liam and Asher have been busy as usual but I thought I would take a minute to document some of thier recent antics etc... Last night I was working in the kitchen and the boys were both playing in the living room (I can see the living room from over the kitchen counter), I looked up to check on them and realized that Asher had found a half PB&J sandwhich in a ziplock baggie (Liam over the past couple of days has insisted on carrying a sandwhich with him just in case he gets hungry, since I just want him to eat something sometime at this point I haven't argued it) that Liam had left unattended. I caught him in the act but he did manage to eat almost the whole thing, mashing it up between his teeth/gums. This was after a large dinner of chicken, rice, zucchini and pears! Fortunately we don't have a family history of nut allergies.

Liam brought home a cute craft from school on Tuesday, a cut out of a mirror where he had coloured in and decorated a picture of himself on one side and poem on the other called "I am special" (sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle"):
I am special, yes I am, In my way I am a star. I have my own special smile, And I have my own special style. I am special, Yes I am, In my way I am a star.
Anyhow, I thought it was fun and wanted to document some of the things he is doing at preschool.

Beta Alpha Psi

Tonight I went to the one thing I had been anticipating all year. It is called, Meet the Firms. We met at the Alumni House on UNCG Campus. This house is so cool inside. I think it is mostly used as a place to hold wedding receptions. I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I was only going to meet firms, but they all these goodie bags. It looked like I just got done shopping at the mall. I came home and put everything on te floor and Amanda and I went through everything. Here is what we got:

• 2 water bottles
• 2 mugs
• 5 pens
• deck of cards
• 2 T-Shirts
• hat
• 2 stress balls
• 2 packages of jelly beans
• CD case
• letter opener
• 4 magnets
• 3 clips (for keeping bags of chips fresh)
• fancy key chain
• Chapstick with 15 SPF
• Calculator

The great thing about this night, everybody I talked to wanted to talk about College Football. I was out of practice, but luckily I knew how most games went. So the new rule is, make sure you know all the scores of every SEC and ACC game by Monday morning.

Texas Pete

If you click on the words Texas Pete, it will not take you to the website of the people who make this stuff, instead it will take you to the front page of Football for ESPN. The reason is, the recipe is intended for Monday Night Football.

25-30 chicken wings
3 TBSP of Texas Pete
2 TBSP of Butter

Bake the chicken wings on a sheet in the oven, 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. (if you get sick because you didn't cook chicken long enough it is not my fault.)

Melt the butter and sauce and put the chicken in a bowl and and sauce and cover it with saran wrap. Then shake it like a Polaroid Picture.

Now watch the game and enjoy the buffalo wings with bleu cheese dressing and Celery. (the celery is to make it look like you are eating vegatables)

A Good Food Day...A Bad Soccer Day

As you all are aware by now I am really into food...just about all food, and today was a great day for good eating. My friend Anh Dao from our ward is originally from Vietnam until her family moved to New Jersey when she was 15. Anyhow, Asain food of all varieties has always topped my list of food interests and Vietnamese is something I am not as familiar with as others. So the two of us met up at a place called Pho Hien Vuong for lunch. She walked me through the menu and explained what all the dishes were etc...it turns out it is very similar to Thai food (my absolute favourite) but with its own unique twist. We ordered the lunch special which was a fabulous $4.25!!! I had Basil Chicken which was a pleasant surprise with a hint of tamarind, rice and a Vietnamese spring roll with dipping sauce. The Vietnamese spring roll was very similar to a Thai one only it didn't have celophane noodles inside and was more meaty, very yummy. I couldn't believe it was so cheap and so good. ( And a big thanks to Bevan for watching the boys while I went out, I had been very crabby and needed some down time!)
Later this evening there was another UNCG soccer home game which was a must, so on the way to the game we stopped off at a campus hot spot called Yum Yum's. They have been serving hot dogs and ice cream to UNCG students since 1908, and I don't think the prices have changed much since then. A fully loaded hot dog is a mere $1.30 and a plain one a dollar!! All of us ate for under five bucks. Let me explain what "fully loaded" means here in NC, the hot dogs are topped with chili, slaw, mustard and onions. Also the weiners are "Red Hots" which for some unnatural reason they are an odd flourescent pinky/reddish colour. I am sure I will get about 4 kinds of cancer from eating one but it's a Carolina classic, mmmmmmmm.
Now on to the soccer game against The University of Alabama at Burmingham, not so good. We lost with the last point scored by us being against ourselves, shameful. Liam also had a difficult time since he missed his nap today and was a bit wrangy. Oh well, better luck next time.

Liam's Trail Mix

On Tuesday at school Liam's class made trail mix for an activity. All the children went around with a ziplock baggie and were able to pick all the different items they wanted to include in thier own personal trail mix blend. Liam chose a very appetizing combination of pretzels, rice chex, raisins and M&M's. As soon as we got into the car to leave that afternoon he wanted me to take the mix out of his back pack so he could eat it on the way home. He was very impressed with his snack.
Today I got called in to sub for my classroom because the other lady who takes over when I am off on Mondays and Wednesdays had come down with bronchitis. The program director had indicated to me that it would be fine for my kids to go to thier classrooms as well for the extra day since I was helping out. So Liam went to a Wedensday class (he usually goes Tuesday and Thursday) and of course it was a repeat of the previous days lesson plan. His teachers said he had a great time, but oddly enough when it was time for the trail mix activity he declined to participate. Apparently he had had enough trail mix. What a funny boy.

Pumping Gas

Today I had an adventure. A friend of mine recently bought a new house in Burlington, NC and I wanted to visit her and see her new home. So this afternoon I made plans to head out there to visit. For those of you who don't know I am a relatively new driver, I didn't get my licsense until I was nearly 25 due to a variety of reasons having to do mainly with my immigration and naturalization situation. So although my doing this might not seem like a big deal for the average 26 year old female, it was a pretty big undertaking for me to drive 45 minutes away to a town I am not familiar with to a place I have never been all by myself.
Anyhow I set out with my written directions and got on the interstate, so far so good. I got off at the right exit but unfortunately missed the next turn off and ended up rather far out of my way and somewhat in the middle of nowhere in a place called Haw River, NC. At this point I was nearly out of gas and needed some directions, so I got off the road at a gas station called "Venus Mart" (where the gas was actually a bargain at 2.56 a gallon). This is where things get tricky...believe it or not I had until this point never pumped gas in my entire life, I was feeling quite overwhelmed. But it had to be done and I more or less figured it out all by myself, so feeling remarkably empowered I headed into the station and managed to get directions and continued on my way. I made it to my friends house much later than anticipated, but I did make it there and had a great afternoon.

Asher is very Happy

This morning I woke up around 6.20 am as usual. I also kept snoozing my alarm every 5 minutes as usual till 7.00 am. I could keep snoozing the alarm, but i couldn't snooze Asher. I could hear him stirring, so I took the camera in to see what he would be doing.

Lately he does this thing where he gets up at the corner of his crib and waits. He was very happy to see that I had come in. He slapped the rail on his crib and squealed. He then got changed and a bottle of milk. I think the reason Asher is so happy, is because he is waited on gets lots of attention.

The bedding he has is new. We were at this baby store the other day and it was having a re-location sale. The difference between a re-location sale, and a going-out-of-business sale, is the the first one actually has good deals. It was selling Baby Bjorns for $32. Amanda got a Combi diaper bag for $14, and plenty of baby supplies for 70% off. Amanda got in the car and said, "We had a Kristi day"