Caucus Meetings

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I don't know how things work where you live, but in Utah, March is the month for basketball tournaments and political caucus meetings. I had never been to one in my life (caucus, I mean)...until yesterday.  The leaders of our church have been concerned that not enough people are participating in the political process so they STRONGLY encouraged us all to get involved and attend either the Republican or the Democratic caucus meetings.  Both were held this week with record numbers.

The caucus meeting we attended started at 7:00 at our local middle school. It's about a mile from our house and my sweetie jokingly suggested that maybe we should just walk because we would never be able to find a parking place given the new emphasis on politics. But after we made the dance run, we really didn't have time to walk.

We loaded into our smallest vehicle (thinking it would be easier to park). The Dog Walker crawled in the back and folded his long legs up behind my seat. He was NOT excited to go, but his Government teacher offered extra credit...

We drove down the street and around the corner and cars were already filling up both sides of the main road. Walking would have definitely made sense, but we were almost late so we quickly parked and hoofed our way to the school. It was terribly crowded! Each district was put in a different room and we got the lunchroom.

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After we signed in, we established a seat at one of the extremely uncomfortable tables and waited. I didn't really know what to expect but we have always been politically-minded at our house. Every year we collect the fliers from the various candidates and share them with the kids. Then the kids help us choose those who best represent all of our interests and then those of us who are old enough to vote cast a vote that represents the entire family. I figured we were doing basically the same thing at a caucus meeting.

After some initial business we got busy with the nominating. The Dog Walker wasn't at all sure what was going on and at one point he became the lone negative vote (out of 111 people) on some point of business. The chairman just smiled at him and moved on.

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As our friends and neighbors started nominating people to become delegates for our group, the Dog Walker started squirming and suggesting names. Thank goodness we were on the back row! First he wanted to nominate his dad. I shot that idea down quickly. Then he picked another neighbor he thought might be good. I talked him out of that one right before they closed the nominations. My friend's wife was oh so grateful!

Then they passed out the first of many ballots so we could cast a vote. After the first round of voting, I let the Dog Walker run home. He had other homework to do and this meeting promised to be long and tedious. We had already been there an hour.

Almost two hours and 6 rounds of voting later, we were relieved to head out into the cool night air. We had to walk about three blocks to find our vehicle, so that gave us plenty of time to talk and review the process. It was hard not to feel like we had just wasted three hours of our lives. None of the people my sweetie voted for in the County round earned delegate honors and only one of mine did. It seems that those running the party would continue to run the party in our little corner of the world. And you know what?

That's OK by me. I was wishing I had run home with the Dog Walker.

New Jammies!

About a month ago I was in the middle of making costumes for the ballet. At one point I ran out of trim for the king's costume so I invited my sweetie to go to the fabric store with me. He doesn't love the fabric store like I do, but he does love me, so he agreed to go (after I assured him I was only looking for one small thing). I was a bit surprised that Curly was jumping up and down with excitement. How could I say "no" to that?

When we got there, I headed off to find my trims and I sent my sweetie to keep Curly entertained. Little did I know what that would mean...

It took me about 10 minutes to find what I needed and then I started looking for my boys. They were in deep discussions about which pieces of fleece would make the best jammies for Curly. They finally settled on a couple and we headed for the cutting table.

Sadly, Curly's fabric had to take a backseat until I finished the costumes.Every couple of days he would ask me when we were going to make his jammies. Today was finally the day! Besides his cute pieces of fleece, I had a pile of awesome flannels too.

We cut out seven pairs for him! He was so cute, helping me every step of the way. He even helped run the serger! PJ pants are the easiest thing to sew. Most patterns are only one piece now, so they are quick to cut too. When I taught my Scouts to sew, they were the first task. I love the fact that if they don't turn out perfect, it doesn't matter that much because no one will see them anyway.

Well, except for Curly, you are all seeing him...all ten of you..

You notice we left them long. This kid grows about an inch every week!

Pi Day

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Do you know that today is a holiday? It sure is...it's Pi Day! That's because "pi" is numerically 3.14 and that is the same as March 14. Now you all know that I don't love math, but I do love a good reason to eat a nice piece of pie. There's only one problem.

Do you remember the Drama Queen's guest post last week? She mentioned that we are trying something crazy around here. On President's Day, I offered the kids $10 each if they could go without sugared treats for 5 weeks. Most of them grumbled and said it wasn't worth it, but they jumped on the bandwagon anyway. Currently on the challenge are my sweetie and me (we had to set a good example!), Drama Queen, Teach, Dog Walker, Princess, Prima Donna, and Sport. (Crafty has been on and off...today she is on.)

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The first few days were the hardest. We were all a bit surprised how often we are offered yummy treats and we just eat them without thinking. Our idea was to raise awareness so the kids could make better choices, and this was a good time for us because there were no holidays or birthdays or so we thought. We totally forgot about pi day!

This tradition began about five or six years ago. Usually Teach brings us a couple of cream pies from the Village Inn and we split up and have at it. Not this year. The sweet and yummy will have to wait.

Yesterday when the kids were lamenting their loss, Drama Queen offered to make a different kind of pie. This year we will be celebrating with homemade pizza! Happy Pi Day!

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Why I Started this Blog...

For the question of the day I'm pouring my heart out...why did I start my blog?

I was thinking about that when my two youngest were eating dinner. My sweetie came home early today and made an amazingly huge pot of his famous meaty chili. As we gathered around the table, somebody was missing. It was Curly! He had gone with me on a Tupperware delivery and he fell asleep on the way home.  I lifted him from his booster seat and he snuggled against my shoulder. He is getting so big too!

I laid him gently on the couch and then headed for the kitchen to help my sweetie. At that point the only help he needed was tasting and I was happy to assist. As I scooped out big bowls of yumminess, I was grateful it was Monday. Monday is Family Home Evening for us and that meant everyone planned time at home.

After dinner I read the kids a couple of chapters from our latest book and then we all headed to the living room for a lesson prepared by Prima Donna. We were about five minutes into the lesson when Curly's sleepy head raised up from the couch. He was hungry and Dad's chili was his favorite!

I slipped quietly into the kitchen and scooped him a generous bowl topped with shredded cheese. I grabbed a package of crackers and a towel and headed back into the living room with Curly following close behind. I looked around for somewhere suitable for him to sit.

I finally grabbed an empty Girl Scout cookie box, tipped it over, and made him his own little table complete with a kitchen towel tablecloth. He was so excited! It wasn't long before Baby Doll decided to join his little dinner party. Remember, all this was going on while the rest of the family was focused on Prima Donna's lesson.

That's when I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a quick picture. And that's why I started this blog. For all the little sweet moments life has to offer. For too many years they have slipped by into oblivion. Now with the blog I find more reasons to try to record them as they come.

After the kids mostly headed off for bed, I parked myself in the laundry room and folded the half dozen batches I had washed today. Baby Doll came by for a minute and decided to help. Her idea of help usually means climbing in the baskets. This time she picked the dirty ones. That's when I saw it...another sweet moment that needed to be captured and shared.

Yeah, that's why I started this blog...it's certainly more rewarding that doing laundry!