To Save A Few Pennies

You get what you pay for.

I've always said it and I've always believed it. I think if you don't want to spend twelve dollars every single year on a toaster you should probably just spring for the fifty dollar one to begin with and have it last a decade. (That is of course unless you have a two-year-old.) Don't get me wrong. I shop the sales. I use coupons. I seek to be thrifty. But when it comes down to it, I still believe- you get what you pay for.

Monday my three older children headed off for their first day of school. (Wow. Listen to that angelic choir sing. ) Anyway, as soon as they were dropped off I headed to the city to go to what us country bumpkins like to refer to as "the mall". I had a coupon for Gymboree. Their clothes are really sturdy but also very expensive so I go there when they put everything on clearance and I have a coupon. Then the prices are almost but not quite as good as Target's. AND, the clothes there are not exclusively made in China which is a plus. The mall is a good 30-40 minute drive away and I wanted to get there early. I did. By early I mean that the stores didn't open until 40 minutes after I arrived. This presented a problem. See, I don't have the LUXURY of a double-stroller at the moment; something I have clearly taken for granted the last six years. (The stroller was a casualty in what we are calling The Despereaux Incident.) So I had Krptonite(1), MonsterTruck(3), Mr.Yuke(4), and a whole bunch of senior citizen mall walkers whom I had to keep from hurting each other for the better part of an hour without anything for the kids to do.

And that's when it hit me. That thing I had been waiting for had finally arrived. For those of you who live in places that have a sales tax, you know what always happens to the change section of your wallet after not too long. It becomes completely filled with pennies. Even if you try to spend them any chance you get, eventually the pennies will make it impossible to close your wallet anymore and you will hope that it is December so that you can give them all to the Salvation Army guy in exchange for three minutes of no-bell-ringing. My wallet has been in such a state for almost a month. Several times I started to empty it into my piggy bank (yes, I have a piggy bank- a real piggy-) but every time something stopped me. Somehow I knew there was something I was going to need those pennies for. And here it was. I could take the kids down to the mall pond by Macy's department store and we could throw in pennies until the store opened for business. Genius! (Yes, I actually had 40 minutes-worth of pennies in my wallet. Ah, the joy of sales tax.)

So we're throwing pennies. The boys are having a great time. They can't believe how fortune has smiled on them and they are getting to throw SO MANY PENNIES for SO LONG into the fountain pond thing. Even Kryptonite(1) who was sitting on my lap was getting into it. She hasn't really mastered throwing yet so most of her pennies ended up on the floor in front of me where the boys would scramble to be the first one to scavenger them. Occasionally hers would bounce into the water though, and this made her extremely happy.

Aim notwithstanding, she had good form. Her windup would have rivaled Paul Byrd. She meant business. On one of her bigger throws, she whipped that penny back all the way to my face, and then- she accidentally hooked my glasses and hurled them with her penny onto the floor. Unfortunately, this was one of those throws that had enough force behind it to bounce into the pond after hitting the tile.

Fortunately, the glasses landed where I could reach them if I got on my hands and knees and pulled up my sleeve and reached really far and hoped that while my face was turned away from her for 1.3 seconds she would not fall into the pond and drown. Remember those mall-walkers I mentioned? Yeah. I got several disapproving looks from them as they passed by, clearly not impressed with the hugely pregnant woman taking money (I WAS NOT!!!) out of the fountain. They tutted and averted their eyes and shot me second glances and crusty looks. I fished my glasses out and thank goodness did not have to catch any children in the process. I smiled at my children and was explaining how we NEVER put our arms into the pond except to reach our glasses and we don't touch the water and get back from the water please stop that right now- when I put on my glasses only to discover-

Remember when I said that my glasses BOUNCED into the pond right after they hit the tile? Well apparently, that collision caused the right lens to pop out, cuz- it just wasn't there. I looked all around the ground near the bench and the offending tile and everywhere within twenty feet. It wasn't anywhere. I KNEW it had to have landed in the water. GREAT.

The lens was completely invisible. I got back on my hands and knees, felt all around and searched with one eye/hand, while the other eye/hand tried to play lifeguard to a by-now extremely curious set of toddler/preschoolers. MonsterTruck(3) of course wanted to be extremely helpful and within 2.1 seconds he was laying on his belly with both arms in the water. That's when he noticed it. "Hey! There's money in here!" Um, yeah?

I palpated the bottom of the fountain every place I could reach for fifteen minutes and then realized I was going to have to resort to more extreme (and embarrassing) measures. I walked over to the Hallmark store and called to the employee through the gate. She looked at me with an insipid expression that seemed to say, "Um, are you like- stupid or something? Cause see that gate thingy? Yeah, that means like- WE'RE CLOSED." I said, "Hi. : ) I know you're not open yet, but could you please call mall security for me? My baby accidentally threw my glasses into the fountain and the lens popped out. I can't find it and I was wondering if they could turn the lights on in there?" She glared at me but she did call the maintenance guys who deal with this sort of thing.

We sat down on the bench again and waited for Mr.FountainPondRepairandMaintenanceMan for ten minutes. When he finally came he looked extremely harrassed, as if he was thinking, "Every day it's the same thing. You come to work and next thing you know you're fishing in the mall pond. If I had a dollar for every right lens I fished out of this stupid fountain, I could quit this glamorous line of work and follow my real dream of becoming a world-class figure skater...." He looked me up and down once, sighed and said, "Where did they fall in?" I pointed out the spot very specifically and then Mr.F. proceeded to use his pool skimmer ("shovel", according to MonsterTruck(3)) to scrape the bottom of the entire pond. Every single inch of it. Except for the 2 foot space I had pointed out. I actually paused to wonder if he was doing it on purpose just to make me wait longer because he was put out about having to leave the clogged toilet situation he was previously dealing with. I pointed out the area for a second, and then a third time but it was sort of like he had a blind spot. It didn't matter how many times I pointed out the area, he was not going to actually scrape the bottom of the pond there where I couldn't reach and my lens most likely was. He sat down on another bench across from me for a moment, heaved a big sigh, and said, "Wellp. There's only one other way." His gaze turned to a scowl as he began removing his work boots and socks and rolling up his pants. Okay, so maybe he wasn't ignoring me on purpose. Maybe he is just really dense.

I felt guilty now because it was obvious that he was very displeased at the turn of events from the looks he kept shooting at me and my children. The boys' eyes grew wide as they watched Mr.F. STEP DOWN INTO THE FOUNTAIN. You could see the wheels turning and I knew that from that moment on, for the rest of the years those boys live with me, I am going to be having to repeat to them each and every time we pass a fountain, "STAY OUT OF THE FOUNTAIN!!!! YES, I KNOW THE MAN DID IT ONCE BUT HE WAS A WORKER AND HE WAS HELPING ME AND YOU MAY NOT GET IN THERE!!!!!". It is going to be a long 16 years. : ) ("I just cleaned this fountain YESTERDAY." Um, sorry? Is my lens dirtying up the water that much?)

Well, Mr.F. walked the entire pond, feeling around with his foot. I cringed when he got to the area that I thought my lens could actually be in because, what was he thinking? That stepping on my lens was a better solution than not having one at all? But I did appreciate that he was actually in the correct vicinity for the first time in half an hour and had some little hope that he would find it.

He didn't. He emerged from the fountain at about the same time that MonsterTruck(3) realized how to remove the money from the fountain so that he could throw it back in. (Hey, at least he was occupied.) Mr.F. had me write down my name and number and said they would call me if they found it. I did so, telling him I was mostly worried because I live WAY OUT in the country and that's a long way to drive without being able to see.

Right about that time Mr.MaintenanceMan#2 came on the scene to join Mr.F. They conferred for a minute and then decided that if the lens was plastic maybe it floated away under the bridge to a different part of the fountain. They decided to try turning the fountain on to see if that would float the lens over to one side. They opened up some panel in the floor and fiddled with a lot of different controls, raising the water pressure in first one place, then another. Mr.F. was by this time CONVINCED that my lens was not actually in the pond at all and that it had somehow just evaporated. Mr.M#2 began scanning the floor around me and Mr.F. took the skimmer thing and scraped the bottom of the pond right in front of me one more time (actually, right there it was the FIRST time). As he did this Mr.M#2, with his hands held out as if he were about to stop a major car accident, shouted, "WAIT!!! I SEE IT!!!" (The mall stores had actually been open for quite some time by this point and his hollering attracted the stares of many unsuspecting shoppers.) Sure enough, right where I had pointed those three times that Mr.F. had either ignored me or did not understand what I was conveying about the pretty water, was my lens. Mr.F.: Well I SURE didn't feel that when I STEPPED there.

(And you thought God doesn't answer prayers. ( : )

Mr.F. handed me my lens and said with not a little malice in his voice, "If you go down to the optical shop we have here in the the mall they can TIGHTEN THAT UP for you." Me: Ha ha! Okay, thanks! REALLY, thank you so much for helping me. : ) He was annoyed enough that a "You're welcome" was quite out of the question. I have some nerve.

So, we gathered up our stuff and headed (FINALLY!) to Gymboree. So much for getting there early. Luckily, they weren't busy and they had just moved everything to clearance the day before when they got their new inventory in so there was tons of good stuff 20 and 40% off. I picked through the racks and racks of clothes and finally had my choices narrowed down to a couple shirts each for the boys and a few outfits for Kryptonite(1). I got up to the checkout counter pleased that I was going to be able to get the things I wanted to get last week, only now instead of paying full price, I would be getting 40% off AND I had that additional 20% off coupon I'd been saving. I pulled the mailer from my bag to tear out the coupon and my face fell. THAT STUPID THING EXPIRED AT THE END OF JULY. I am so glad I drove all the way to THE MALL in the CITY so that I could waste 400 pennies and an hour of my time apparently trying to scoop lunch money out of the fountain, so that I could save an extra 20% off the clearance price JUST TO FIND OUT MY COUPON IS EXPIRED!!!!! I needed a moment. The salesgirl asked me if I had any coupons today and I said, well yes, I thought I did but I JUST discovered it has expired. She smiled at me and said in a professional voice that if I came in on Thursday, everything in the store would be an additional 30% off. My head was about to explode. Um, okay. Can you hold these for me until then? She did and we went home to wait with anticipation (and dread) for our return trip to the mall.

So to save a few pennies, I threw away hundreds more and half a tank of gas and very nearly my glasses, but- you get what you pay for.

I'm expecting great things from these clothes.

This 'n That: Movie Edition

Okay, first- Twilight. For those of you who went to Indiana Jones in the last couple of days, you've probably already seen this. For those of you who haven't, all I can say is my faith is restored in Cedric Diggory. A little.

Now, if that was too short a bite and you had to watch it a minimum of six times in a row, try this one on for size. It's a behind-the-scenes look at filming and it changed my almost-made-up-mind about skipping the movie. It looks pretty action-packed.

Getting excited? Maybe just a teence? (Yup. Just made that word up. Actually no, I didn't. Someone really annoying one of my pseudo-brothers used to date used that word. A lot. She was a psycho cleptomaniac. Okay, I take it back. I'm sorry. I take it back. What was I thinking?) I digress.

Where was I? Oh, right. Excited. Well, this- in a round about way- brings me to the aforementioned movie recommendation. If you have not seen Penelope, I highly recommend it. It is a sweet, poignant, beautifully/artistically rendered fairy tale starring Christina Ricci and James McEvoy. James McEvoy has as much... I don't even know what to call it- appeal?- as ever. (Which I don't get, by the way. How can he be so simultaneously unappealingly scrawny and to-die-for desireable at the same time? It makes no sense.) Yes, in this movie you just love him. Again. If you haven't seen it, you can rent it when it comes out on July 15th. What, you ask, does this have to do with Twilight? I will tell you. The video of Penelope is going to have never-before-seen footage of the Twilight movie on it. So, for all you diehard Stephenie Meyer fans, the good news seems to be that they will spare you a Twilight famine by periodically releasing tidbits until the movie comes out. All the way in December.

For the two of you who've not read the Twilight books yet, you have time to read the three in print approximately ten times at average reading speed before the next book comes out in August. : ) HA HA HA! They're all right. Brain candy. But yummy delicious goodness.

I went to Indiana Jones. Husband is a true fan. The kind that has all the stuff. Stuff like a real, honest-to-goodness fedora purchased from the same Brazilian millinery company that made Indy's actual hat in Raiders. And a whip. And a hand-made leather jacket. And a sucker purchased in Disneyland when Husband was like eleven years old with Indy's picture on the wrapper. And other stuff. Needless to say, he's been checking on the progress of Indy 4 periodically ever since the Holy Grail (3) came out. It is the thing he loves. He has read the books. He owns all the Young Indiana Jones chronicles (special edition with the extra documentaries) on DVD. (Those are really cool actually.) So, naturally when they announced the premiere of the fourth movie, I knew I was taking Husband to see it.

Have you ever tried to get a sitter for 6 kids? You know that sequence in Cheaper By the Dozen when Steve Martin is trying to get some domestic help for his 12 kids and everyone in the phone book hangs up on him? Let's just say that I did NOT find that funny. At all. I was worried how we were going to swing the babysitting thing. Well, Husband did a shocking and wonderful thing. He actually took the day off to do something for himself. Granted, taking time for oneself may not sound like a milestone to you- it certainly isn't for me, I'm a regular. (It keeps me sane.) But Husband on the other hand, does not do things for himself. He is a very self-sacrificing person. Almost to a fault. So I was flabbergasted/overjoyed when he announced that he would be staying home on Thursday. My next thought was that I would have to secretly arrange the babysitting and purchase the tickets and then just shanghai the man to the movie theater because otherwise he would spend Thursday cleaning up the basement or something. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, he decided Wednesday night that he would like to see the movie on his day off. I jumped up Thursday morning and sat down with Fandango before I even went to the bathroom and purchased tickets before he could back out. Even as the receipt was printing I sensed he was balking as he asked doubtfully about the wisdom in purchasing tickets before we had sitters. But he was GOING, darn it! so I would make the babysitting thing work. I managed to farm out the kids to two friends and one entrepreneur (Thank you, StairstepMom and RanchWife!) and there we had it. A real-live date with no children, planned and paid for all before 9:00 am.

I knew that Husband probably wasn't going to indulge himself like this for another decade (or until the next Indy comes out- whichever happens first) once the guilt set in for doing something for himself this time, so I knew I had to make this one good. There is a new authentic "Virginia bbq" place in the town nearby where they have really good bbq pork that's not all saucy. After dropping Mr. Yuke off for his last day of preschool before summer, I headed right on down to the bbq and bought a pint of that delicious pig. Then I went to the local overpriced grocery store and got salt-and-vinegar Kettle Chips (I don't recommend this particular brand by the way. The original flavor is great, but those things are like the Altoids of salt-and-vinegar chips. Don't buy them! At least not if you value certain things like taste buds and intestines), because nothing goes better with bbq than salt and vinegar potato chips in my opinion. I also got Henry Weinhard's cream soda (Husband's favorite beverage, if not his favorite brand), and a medium bag of the Indiana Jones plain m&m's (Husband's favorite treat of all time. And the fact that they had pictures of hats and whips and relics on them, just made them near divinity). I took all that stuff back to the house and left it in the FREEZING COLD car (because TheWeatherPeople decided that summer vacation should start off in the mid-40's apparently) and sauntered casually into the house in order to ascertain if Husband was in the shower yet so I could pull off the suprise of the century. I walked in just in time to see MonsterTruck(2) jump back from a box of Cocoa Pebbles that he was about to swipe from the food storage with a look on his face of, "OH MAN!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT BOX OF CEREAL JUST ATTACK ME LIKE THAT?! RIGHT OUT OF NOWHERE! BOY I'M GLAD YOU GOT HERE JUST NOW! RIGHT IN THE KNICK OF TIME LIKE THAT!!!!!" Heh heh. Nervous laugh. "Mommy! You skeer me!" Heh-heh heh-heh.
Me: What were you doing?
MonsterTruck(2) drops the cereal box behind him with a thud: Nuffing.
Me: Is Daddy in the shower?
MonsterTruck(2): No, he's out.
Me: Did he already take one?
MonsterTruck(2): No. He not inna show'r. He out it.
Me: Ooookayyyyy....
I gave him the stinkeye just for good measure and went upstairs to check on the hygiene status of Husband. He was just getting into the shower. Yay! Now for phase 2!

I have this bag. Well mine is black with hot pink polka dots, but it's the same bag. They come in a million colors. It is awesome. It is the greatest bag of all time. It's good for many things but my favorite use for it is sneaking food into movie theaters. It looks small, holds a ton of stuff, yet is stylish and not cumbersome. For Indiana Jones I packed into my bag:

• 2 bottles of cream soda
• one full-size bag of potato chips (Okay, that barely fit- but it did.)
• one pint of bbq meat
• four whole wheat hamburger buns which did NOT get squished
• two paper plates
• two plastic forks
• four napkins
• 4 little cups of special sauce and
• a medium bag of m&ms

Buy the bag. You won't be sorry. I did all this, stowed the bag in the freezer-car, packed two diaper bags for different destinations, got MonsterTruck(2) ready to go, and hid all the evidence before Husband got out of the shower. He fixed sandwiches for The Pinkiest(5), Mr. Yuke(4) and MonsterTruck(2) to take to the sitters' and we were off. We dropped all the kids everywhere, and we headed for a during-school-hours matinee at the movie theater. Without children. Sorry, I just gotta type that one more time. Without children. Look! I've got goosebumps! : )

We got there, sat down, and like Mary Poppins I started pulling things out of my bag. Stuff just kept on coming. It was great. Husband was shocked. In a good way. The old lady sitting next to me did not seem too impressed however, but whatever. I'm pretty sure she thought the cream soda was beer. Oh well. It was a perfect date and thanks to my bag, a pretty good lunch too. The movie was all right, not the best one and not the worst either. I liked Shia LeBeouf, I don't care what all the diehard Indyfans online have to say about him.

It was a good day. I can't help lovin' that man of mine. Thank you Husband for doing something you enjoy!

Just So There's No Confusion

I stole this from a friend who stole it from a friend who....
But honestly, I couldn't have put it any better myself. And I apologize if any/all of these photos are copyrighted. I got them at http://enjoyingthejourneytogether.blogspot.com/.


I have wondered how many people are confusing my church with the FLDS church plastered all over the news because of the raid in Texas.


Some Mormon women sing...




Some Mormon women dance...




Some Mormon women write scary stories...


Some Mormon women have a lot of money and really great hair...




I know hundreds of Mormon women. They do all kinds of different things and live all different kinds of lives.


This woman served as a leader in the Mormon church. She recently spoke to teenage girls worldwide. She encouraged them to stand up to peer pressure, strengthen their families and serve others. (Click here for more.)

None of the Mormon women I know look like this...



None of them are marrying off their teenage daughters and-- although some may joke about wanting a sister-wife (preferably one who is really fat & ugly, does bathrooms and changes diapers)--none of them really want to share their husband with anyone.Furthermore...






Some Mormon guys can throw a ball...

Some Mormon guys can make scary movies...

Some Mormon guys have a lot of money and really great hair...

I know hundreds of Mormon guys. They do all kinds of different things and live all kinds of different lives.

This is one of the leaders of the Mormon church. Last Sunday he spoke about honoring women, especially mothers, and gave advice to husbands and children about how to treat the women in their lives. (For the whole story, click here.)

None of the Mormon guys I know look like this...

The Mormon men I know are honest and hard-working. They don't cheat, smoke, drink or gamble. And TRUST ME....the last thing any of them want is another wife.

Makes Me Cry Every Time

There are few songs that can elicit tears from me every time I hear them, but this is definitely one of them. I am sad they didn't include the other two verses for once, but hey- what can you do?

GOOD News!!!

Guess what?
You're "IT". No, just kiddin'. For reals- guess what? Flour Girls & Dough Boys artisan bakery and cafe (my favoritest place in Utah-) sent out an email today to let subscribers know that they have newly extended hours. They are now open

Monday-Saturday until 8:00 p.m.!!!

Go there. You can thank me later. Or just bring me a "rustic country loaf" of bread. Mmmmm....

Flour Girls and Dough Boys: Update and Pics

Someone emailed me cell phone pictures of the bakery. I added them to my other post.

Also, I forgot to mention some important things before.

• They have free Wi-Fi
• The employees are all absolutely wonderful. The customer service is first-rate (as are the samples!) and they remember you.
• I get nothing from that place for telling you how great they are. It is totally in self-interest. I love going there and I want them to stay open, ergo- I'm telling you it's worth your time. : )

One Day Cure For My Cabin Fever: Flour Girls and Dough Boys

One day was all I got. Sigh. Snow, snow, and more snow. I am so over it. Now for the cure: Anyone want to have a girls' night? Chocolate, chick flicks, chocolate. More chocolate.

OOOO!!! Speaking of chocolate- I just remembered! I found the most divine place ever! On a recent trip to a place called American Fork I found a bakery that I INSTANTLY fell in love with. (Kelly- SO MUCH BETTER than our bakery on Main Street.) Anyway, it's called Flour Girls and Dough Boys Artisan Bakery and it's located about half a block off of Main Street American Fork near the Towne Cinemas. 35 N. Barratt Ave. (150 West)

I walked in and was hit by the overwhelminly delicious smells of fresh baked Artisan rustic breads including Sourdough, Asiago Cheese (20% cheese!), Homemade Foccacia, Baguettes, and more! I looked up to their menu to discover some of the other wonderful smells surrounding me were coming from their made-from-scratch-every-day soups and paninis. Yes indeedy! It's a bakery AND A CAFE! I turned to look at the seating and discovered a quaint little setting with around half a dozen small tables in front of a hugh window. The paint on the walls was reminiscent of a Tiffany's Co. jewellry box. Over the table were hung antique crystal chandeliers and the whole place was shiny and said come here every day for the rest of your life! Sadly, I discovered the bakery the same weekend I realized I am close to my first goal of losing 10% of my body weight [GO Weight Watchers!] but hey- what can you do? I guess the name "Dough Boys" should have tipped me off but now that I know about that place I must return. Many, many times.) The place was immaculately clean, which I appreciated, having worked in a bakery once upon a time. It seems like a lot of good hole-in-the-wall bakeries are filthy and constantly covered in a thin layer of flour dust. Not Flour Girls and Dough Boys. The brass was shiny, the glass was fingerprint-free, and there was no dust anywhere. Next time one of us passes through that region, we'll be sure to take pictures of it for you.

Now, the food. Oh, YUM! They had every sort of pastry you could think of (except donuts and really, I think donuts are far beneath them. Donuts are not even in their league). Everything is made with real butter (no margerine) and unbleached, unbromated flour. I tried a few bites of a huge gooey cinnamon roll purchased for Husband, sampled the soups (I've been craving the house specialty- Tuscan Sausage and Bean- ever since), and bought a loaf of the sourdough which I thought surpassed anything I have ever gotten in San Francisco. My favorite thing I had that day was the Coconut Oatmeal Raisin cookies. THERE. ARE. NO. WORDS. And I'm not even a raisin person! They have three kinds of brownies, chocolate-filled homemade croissants, and every other good thing you can imagine.

The new snowstorm could have totally ruined my day, but thanks to this place and their delightful name which captured my attention the first time I saw it, I didn't even miss the sun.If you pass through Utah, as I do on occasion, FIND THIS PLACE AND GO EAT THERE!
35 N. Barratt Ave. (150 West), American Fork
763-9232
Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (<- Note that, it'll save you some disappointment when you get there on a Saturday evening.)