an update

Busy.

That's what I've been.

I know I have to post about two more places in Italy, then move on to Paris.  Which was so fun.  And anxiety producing at the same time.

But, caramel orders have already started to come in.  So that's what I've been working on.  Cooking, cutting, wrapping, washing pans, starting all over again.  And again.  And again.

I'm sorta in panic mode a little bit because I just realized I will be losing a whole week here pretty soon.  First, we are spending Thanksgiving in Utah (a first since we moved down here over a decade ago!) and then I am heading to science camp with Madison next week.

The kids are super excited about Utah.  We're cashing in frequent flier miles so we don't have to spend 2 of our 4 days in a car.  And they're all praying for snow.  Unfortunately, our idea of a "winter parka" is a hoodie sweatshirt. Also at least two of my kids don't even own long pants. Possibly three.  I know Christopher has some that fit, (hand-me downs from older brothers) but one of his "issues" is a total aversion to long pants.

So, yeah, lots of caramels. It didn't help that the other night I dropped one of my 4 cup measuring cups.  (I have two of everything and use them all regularly. One set is soaking while the other is in use.)  Anyway, the glass shattered everywhere and I was wearing my crocs cause they are the most comfortable to stand on the tile for hours at a time, and glass got in my shoe and I cut myself (I'm okay) so I'm standing there on one foot, totally surrounded by glass shards, dripping blood on the floor, screaming for Nick to come down with shoes on and sweep up for me, cause I totally couldn't move. And besides being a total inconvenience to only have one now, instead of making caramels like I was attempting to do, I had to meticulously sweep my floors to get rid of every single little shard so no one else would be maimed by walking through the kitchen.

Madison was in two parades this last week- she marched with her girl scouts on Veteran's day, (she's just right of center in the picture)

and then she was on a float in the Gilbert Days Parade for her dance company.  I didn't get to go to either. John and Nick went to the Gilbert days parade so they have pictures on their phones which I haven't yet got my hands on.

I think that's it?  I know I am missing something. Cause I have a running list in the back of my mind of possible things to blog about, and I remember taking a mental note, but I'm totally drawing a blank here.

Guess I should get back to the kitchen.

and PS- really, I do love it.  Making and giving away caramels.  And the extra money from selling them this time of year totally helps.  $8 for a bag of 20- plain or pecan.  Sometimes it's overwhelming, but it makes me happy that I can do something that people LOVE.  That I can make their day like that.  (I'm not just tooting my own horn, people have told me that)

Caramels, caramels, and more caramels

That is my life right now. I should be making more, but I ran out of pecans and Costco doesn't open for like 10 more hours.

I started to think this was the year that nobody was going to buy any, or like a fraction of last year, but the orders are still rolling in. I am having a hard time keeping my head above water. So to all you people whom I am related to (by marriage- those I am related to by blood can make your own) I probably won't expect to get a package in the mail until after Christmas. Sorry. The plan was to get yours out first, (cause so many of you never got your package last year) but then, well, life happened.

Life-

I turned 35. Madison turned 11. On the same day. I still need to write about that. It was a good birthday, and a nice break from the stove. I only made one batch that day.

Nick passed math!!!! 63.3% !!!! I've never been so happy to see a D on a report card in my life. Which is actually ridiculously unacceptable for such a bright kid, but we'll take it. He failed both semesters last year. He was hovering at about 60% for most of the semester, but he did really well on his final, so yay!

Speaking of Nick, I am probably crossing a line here, (which probably won't be the first time) but Nick finally figured out the name of the girl he has a crush on. She's in his EVYS with him. He's liked her for over a year. But until recently didn't know her name and was too embarrassed to ask. She's cute. I've seen her. I actually watched her chew him out for forgetting to dress up the day they had pictures and dress rehearsal. "I reminded you!" "You did not!" "Yes I did!" "No you didn't." "Yes I did." "Okay you did." I have three thoughts on the matter- firstly that is the kind of girl he needs. Someone who will keep him in line. Secondly, I'm happy to see he has already learned that the girl is always right. They playfully argued back and forth, but he eventually conceded. And lastly, I am not too worried. I was late picking him up once and he said "That's okay, her mom is always late and I got to hang out and talk with her". "Oh,would you like me to be late more often?" "No, that's okay, I'd rather go home and eat." I think I will really start to worry when food takes a back seat to a girl.

John is home FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. And get this- he had his annual review with his boss today, and got nearly perfect scores on everything except his work habits. It's not what you think- his boss actually told him he works too much and needs to balance his family life and work life a little better. Well duh! Then later in the day someone else was trying to convince him to spend 5 straight weeks in Europe. In February. They compromised. He'll be gone three.

That's about it. My brain is mush. It's after midnight and there are three batches of caramels I should probably cut and wrap before I go to bed tonight. I do really like giving them away. It's nice to be able to do something and give people something that they love so much. Warm fuzzies and all that. John took some to a work party and made this lady that helps him out with stuff cry today. "Thank you! you made my day! I've been looking forward to these all year!" And the extra money is always nice. I just wish I could figure out some way to spread it out over the rest of the year. I'd say "Christmas in July" and tell everyone they'll get their caramels then, but the last thing I'll want to do in July in Arizona is slave over a hot stove all day.

Life right now

hmmm. let's see. I've got nothing big to write about, so I'll just write about some of the little things.

- Christopher can now not only say his name correctly- he can spell it. All eleven letters. He's loving school right now. I can't even mention school until about 10 minutes before the bus comes, because he will be ready and waiting at the open door in about 5. He shakes with anticipation when he hears the bus come up the street. It's pretty cute.

-Nick has been home sick the last couple of days. I spent some of our time together attempting to give him somewhat of an impromptu musical education. We started with the Beatles, "They're an oldies group?", and I couldn't resist sharing Les Miserables. He likes the first half the best, too many people die in the last half. I knew he'd love it though. Being the little Orch-dork that he is. Ü Somehow I got a song stuck in my head, and had to listen to it while cooking some caramels. And Nick loved it. I have to get creative with entertaining myself while making caramels. I've read, played on my iphone, updated my facebook status, watched TV, and listened to music. (I can make caramels in my sleep- probably have to tell you the truth)

-Speaking of caramels, I've started spending at least a couple hours a day working on them. I never know how many to make for Christmas. I start compiling a list of friends, neighbors, family members, John's co-workers, and teachers that I'd like to give something to, but since I've started selling them, I have been getting frantic last minute phone calls (sometimes from people I don't even know) "Do you have an extra 10, 15, 20, or more bags that I could buy?" I spent all last December playing catch-up and I still think there were several family members that I never ended up sending caramels to, despite my best intentions. But it's frustrating because I need to plan ahead, except I have no concept of how much I am going to sell that year. Is this the year people get bored of them, and I will be stuck with more caramels than I know what to do with? Either way, if people want to buy them, or they don't, I just want to know. No offense if people don't, the money is fun, and I honestly love that people love them, but it's a lot of work.

-And the diet isn't going so well either. (big sigh) I'm not back where I started, but I seem to be ever so surely making my way back. "Starting tomorrow. I will work out 4-5 days a week, as opposed to the 2-3 I usually make it, even if my knees hurt and crunch with every lunge, and my shoulder feels like someone waggled an icepick in it, and even the act of putting on a sports bra makes me want to cry. And I will drink more water. And lay off my beloved Orange Creme hot cocoa, and those heavenly imported French baguettes that bake up in my oven in about a half an hour that I get from Costco. And eat more vegetables. Like salad. Even if diet dressing makes me gag. And I will not scrape out the bottom of my caramel pans, I will just put the pot into the sink and waste that last bit of gooey loveliness unless one of the kids are around to rescue me from it..." Dieting through the Holidays. That's my definition of Hell.

-John will be home for a whole week. Imagine that. They are (sorta) giving him the week of Thanksgiving off. They are letting him work from home. Then it will be back to business as usual.

I think that's about it. I've been working on this for 2 hours now- and also watching the Food Network (not a good idea when I'm trying to lose weight) Bobby Flay had a throw-down Thanksgiving Special with Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman- I've been following her blog for a couple of years now)

And I'm tired.

caramels, caramels, and more caramels

Just in case people start to wonder if I've fallen off the planet- this-is going to be my life for the next few weeks.

It leaves little time for blogging or doing anything interesting worth blogging about.- FYI

Mother of the year

I think I must be neglecting my baby. After reading up on the lives of my friends and family through their blogs, I walked down stairs to find this the other day-and then just other day there was this-
I was making caramels at night after the other kids had gone to bed. He had gotten a decent nap during the day so I thought he'd be up for awhile. I gave him a snack, filled his sippy cup, and put on a movie for him to keep him busy and set about my work. The problem with making caramels is I am dealing with very hot sugar and I have to stand there and stir and stir and stir. I am pretty much stuck standing next to the stove for close to thirty minutes per batch of caramels.

Christopher got tired and wanted me to hold him, but I just couldn't. It totally isn't safe, and I can't walk away. So he laid down on the floor to cry (his normal reaction to the word "no"). I had nearly 15 minutes to go, and I just had to stand there and stir and watch his poor rejected little face as he cried for me until he cried himself to sleep at my feet.

Mother of the Year- yeah, that's me.

Nothin' much

I try to post something every couple of days as this is the main forum for journaling for me around here. That and I know some of the grandparents like to keep tabs on what's going on. Some days the topics come so fast and furious, I have to keep a list handy, and then other days, like this, there's like nothing going on.

The kids seem to be all doing well in school, they are all trying really hard, and I am holding my breath that it is gonna be a good year. Nick's had his ups and downs already this year, but today we are on an upswing, so I'm happy about that.

Christopher is pretty much the same. He's a funny, happy stinker. All he wants to eat is junk these days and I can't seem to get him to eat anything good. I need to work on that, but that's gonna be a miserable couple of days for the both of us, I can tell. He's so stubborn. He lost my memory card to my camera, I left it in the card reader by the computer, and he popped it right out and took off with it. So my options are to a) ransack the house looking for it (probably in vain) b) steal the card out of John's camera, c) buy a new card, d) use John's camera, e) use my cell phone, or f) any and all of the above. It just bugs me, cause when something is lost it drives me nuts until I find it.

Our weekend was pretty boring. John and I went on a date to get Jamba Juice, browse Barnes and Noble, then do some grocery shopping. Party animals for sure. We took the kids out to their favorite restaurant, Serrano's, on Saturday after a full day of chores and laundry.

Oh, and I did teach a caramel making class this weekend also at another ward's super Saturday thing. It was kind of fun, I knew a couple of people, but I get pretty nervous about this kind of thing. I had new time constraints, (20 minutes to teach something that takes 30-40) so I came up with the plan to do two batches of caramels at once, and start one extra early, so there wouldn't be all that dead time in the middle, where it is a solid 10-20 minutes (depending on the stove) of me stirring, and stirring, and stirring, and feeling really boring and stupid. I brought Madison along to help me with all that stirring, but she burnt herself (not badly), so someone else had to jump in and help out.

I really don't mind teaching, if people are interested, but I think those big classes are somewhat a waste. They can't see anything, a more personal, in someone's kitchen, one-on-one would be much better. I think candy making is kind of a lost art. It's just different, so people are afraid of it. Sorta like how I am afraid of pressure cookers and bottling peaches and stuff. The lady before me was teaching pressure cooking, I brought home a hand-out, but I didn't bother sitting down for the class because I was too nervous to concentrate- I would have been going over lists and lists in my head, and she was using a $200 pressure cooker. Besides the fact that I am not allowed to buy anything for the house beyond what is necessary until we figure out whether or not we are going to be hanging around the good 'ol U S of A for the next few years or not, I'm not sure I would be willing to make that kind of financial commitment to learning a new skill. I guess you can cook a frozen pot roast in like an hour though. And potatoes take like 15 minutes. Still, my trusty crock pot might take 10 times as long, but as long as I remember to do it in the morning, it's no big deal.

Oh and in honor of it being a "lost art" and all, I tried to dress up all fifties (minus the lipstick and pantyhose) I wore a dress, heels, pearls, and my best apron to teach the class. And the outfit wasn't exactly vintage, just what was in my closet, I'm sure the joke was lost on everyone else, but it made me feel better.

John's birthday is tomorrow, but Tuesday is our crazy day with gymnastics, piano lessons, viola lessons, activity days, and scouts, so our Sunday dinner was John's birthday dinner of sorts. Pot roast, potatoes, green beans. He likes pie instead of cake, so I made him his favorite raspberry pie, but I'm still considering doing a cake tomorrow. The kids have been bugging me about this computer cake they found in a cookbook for years now, and I think tomorrow I will break down and do it. I am sure it will turn out ridiculous. I really should take some kind of professional lessons. Stay tuned, I will probably post pics for a good laugh.