I'm taking my ball and going home

I'm with Rush on this: if McCain is the Republican primary winner, I WILL NOT VOTE FOR MCCAIN. I will not watch debates. I will not watch coverage.

Actually, if McCain wins the nomination I will vote for Hilary, assuming she is the winner. After all, we had to have 4 years of Carter to get a Reagan. . .

I'll be going to the Republican caucus on Feb. 9 to put in my 2 cents against McCain. I think he's sleazy.

Who needs TV when you have a Kat?

Off-the-wall comments by Katherine on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m.

"My bips (ribs) are hurting." - explaining a stomach pain
"Mom, don't send me to Jesus." - where did this come from out of the blue?
"Why are you making me have Jasmine hair?" - combing her hair after a shower
"I need to go potty. Oops! I just pee-peed on the floor. No! I didn't." - too busy to go potty, false alarm
"Once upon a time Marja went to the store and got me green pajamas." this is not true
"Doggy can't cross over. He doesn't have a bridge." I get the Jesus comment now. Our home teacher came and talked about spiritual bridges to Jesus. The stuffed dog is doing Evel Knievel from the coffee table to the sofa.
"Where's Marja?" I get this now, too. Marja is the name of her blond Polly Pocket

Political Heartburn

While watching Fox News for the Florida election results, Katherine entered the room and said, "Turn off the TV!" We explained that we were watching the election to which she replied: I don't like the 'lection. It hurts my tummy.

Our sentiments exactly. McCain gives me a stomach ache.

Dangerous Cheese

One of Katherine's favorite treats are little cheeses (mini Babybel) wrapped in red wax we buy at Costco. She calls them "cookie cheese" and can eat 2 or 3 at a time. A while ago she was snacking on cheese while watching a movie on our little DVD player. She went to Greg and told him that the DVD was broken. When he went to investigate he found that Katherine had taken the red wax coating of the cheese and ground it into the player. It was beyond repair.

No Surprise Here. . . My True Color

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Black

Your color is black. The color of night. Serene and mysterious, black conjures up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos, and gleaming limousines. Traditionally a symbol of success, black also represents power and an uncompromising demand for perfection. Not surprisingly, you tend to set challenging goals for yourself and do whatever it takes to achieve them — your strength of character is second to none. This unfaltering determination, along with your natural elegance, impresses people. But keep in mind that your personality might be intimidating to some. Try to temper your demanding side with a little softness — trust us, it won't kill you. Overall, though, black is the color of professionalism and achievement, which means it's clearly the color for you.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/rd/50651/color/index.jsp?testname=colorogt&resultid=G

Musical Mission Remembered

About a week ago I received a message from one of my cousins telling me that she is going on a music tour in Germany. Many of the cities she listed on the itinerary were places I served in or visited while on my mission. In such a musically rich environment I had many opportunities to share my talents and to visit inspirational places. Throughout the entire time I was in Eastern Germany I never had to give a talk and instead was asked to sing or play the violin. I also played the piano for sacrament meetings in a couple of cities.

After a zone conference in Leipzig, we had time to tour the cathedral where Bach composed for many years.
We attended a Bergmanishe Music Festival with investigators while serving in Schwarzenberg. Very Sound of Music.

One of my very favorite ladies. I carried sheet music with me and played the piano for many people who had pianos in their homes but didn't play themselves. Spotting a piano in a living room was a great way to break the ice and I was never rejected if I offered to play.

A P-Day visit to the Handel house in Halle. I can't believe the tour guide actually allowed me to play this instrument.

Singing at a ward harvest party. We sang "Because I Have Been Given Much" which had just been translated into German.

After receiving the news of my counsin's future trip, I was inspired to pull out the box of photos and begin a huge project. I have been scanning photos and/or negatives onto my computer and putting together a digital scrapbook. All of the photos are very grainy and I have had to do a lot of enhancement and cropping; the camera I had was horrible. So, that's where I've been--absorbed in a project long overdue.

This Made Me Laugh

"I don't drink coffee, sir. I don't drink hot liquids of any kind. That's the devil's temperature." - Kenneth the Page shunning the espresso machine on his desk on 30 Rock.

30 Rock is one of my favorite shows and I've watched it since the first episode. It makes me laugh out loud. If you haven't discovered Kenneth yet, maybe you should. Everyone should have a bit of naive optimism.

I Won't Need An Ambien Tonight!

Phew! A big win for my candidate in Michigan! I look forward to a good night's sleep and will look forward to Nevada and South Carolina. . .

A Moment for Mitt

I just read a funny blog post calling on its readers to focus all their "available chakra energy on Mitt at 9:00 AM tomorrow morning." It also asks the readers to "take a moment of silence to send positive thoughts to Mitt Romney and his Michigan field organization or positive karmic energy by whatever means you're most capable of using." Let's join this left wing blogger (I still don't know why he's a Mitt-er) and send out our positive thoughts and prayers. AND, if you know anyone who lives in Michigan, remind them to vote (for Mitt)!

Political Panic

I haven't posted in a while because I am OBSESSED with GOP politics. I'm a nervous wreck about the presidential election and particularly about my candidate, Mitt Romney. That's all I have to say: I'm a mess and so is the process, it seems.

Holiday Recovery

The past two weeks have been exciting and the activity has been non-stop. Today we all felt like crashing, but there was too much to do to try to clean up some of the Christmas chaos and to have a dinner party tonight.

As I started organizing the Christmas stuff, I had a really good feeling about our holiday. I don't have any wish I woulda's or coulda's. I feel like I was able to do what I had set out to accomplish:

• sewed nativity costumes for all of the kids
• made cookies and delivered to the neighbors
• hosted a successful book group at my house on the 20th
• had friends over for playdate/luncheon on the 20th
• tried out new recipes for Christmas Eve (avocado eggrolls were fabulous)
• played Christmas music on the piano
• read Christmas books to Katherine
• attended neighborhood and friend gatherings
• saw the Nutcracker with Katherine
• sent out the Christmas cards a week before
• kept an advent countdown with Katherine

In addition to these things I also kept up with traditions of the past like making quiche Christmas morning and other small things that I do every year. All of this adds up to being exhausted. It's time to end this post because I'm tired!

Tub O'Polar Bears

Polar Bear Soup!

Katherine is such a gutsy girl to try out the ice roll!

At the Komm cabin on the Pend O'Reille River, Idaho.

A Cozy Tradition

Since we were little kids we have opened gifts of new pajamas every Christmas Eve. I think it was part of mom's plan to have us looking good for pictures the next morning in front of the tree. This year she had PJ's for all of us. Trevor was really hanging onto the Mullah/Santa mix look for as long as he could.

We spent much of the last weekend at my parent's cabin on the Pend O'Reille River. It was snowpacked and beautiful. There is a long, sloped drive to the cabin from the main road and it made a great sledding hill for the kids. Katherine loves sledding, had no fear of going fast and wanted to go down as many times as possible.

"Santa Brought My Horse Back"

Katherine, after catching a peak of one of her Christmas presents (a black horse for her American Girl doll) was confused as to why she couldn't have it when she saw it immediately. I told her that I gave it to Santa who was fixing it up and making sure it would work and he'd bring it back for Christmas. The two Santas she talked to were asked to please bring the black horse back to her.

One of the other gifts Katherine was expecting was a Barbie fishing pole. I learned about this from her pre-school teacher after the Christmas party when Mrs. Havens said to Kat, "I hope you get the fishing pole you asked for." I did a double take to make sure she was talking to my child. I took Mrs. Havens aside and asked her what that statement meant. She informed me Katherine had been telling her for about 2 weeks that she was getting a Barbie fishing pole for Christmas. She had seen the silly thing at White Elephant and I assumed she would forget about it. Needless to say, I called Greg as soon as we were in the car and asked him to go to White Elephant and get the pole or we would be sunk. Success! And for $11.99, too!I'm calling this gift "What was Santa thinking?" The box full of makeup seemed like a fun mother-daughter activity, but Katherine left me out of the fun and painted her nails while sitting on the carpet. I must have taught her well because she had tissue under her feet.

Who Would "Fear" This Angel Face?

Katherine was the angel for our Komm Family Christmas Pageant. While the kids were getting dressed up Preston coached Katherine with her lines. It was so cute to watch 4 year old Preston (playing Joseph) telling Katherine: "Kaffrin, say, 'Fear not, good joy, Baby Jesus is born. Say that."

All of the kids were really good sports, and some of them were very enthusiastic, about wearing the costumes I worked so hard to sew for the past three weeks. I made the angel costume and finished Mary's tunic on Christmas Eve morning. I'm so glad I was able to have something for each of the kids. Watch out adults! Your costumes will be finished for next year.

I even made Travis, the oldest grandchild, dress up. I can't believe this kid is 14 years old and 6 foot 3? 4? and growing. . .

And then our little sheep, Haylie.

Katherine saying her lines.

Wise women came to see Jesus via an L.A. ghetto

Shepherds Trevor and Kyle

And the cutest Mary and Joseph ever!