Korean clothes

I have to post these pictures. My mother-in-law made this outfit for Aidan. That is right she actually knit these all by herself and without mistakes as far as I can tell. She gave them to us on Thanksgiving to keep Aidan warm. Now I was unaware exactly what this was. I ask if it was a snow suit. But apparently it is for wearing around the house. Just a regular outfit. Both Matt and Sarah had them when they were little.

I think Aidan looks adorable in it and it reminds me of outfits I used to see the kids where on MASH. (yes that is all the exposure I have had to the Korean culture) My mother-in-law wanted us to put him in it for church but we thought it a bit to casual. It is a little big on him but my mother-in-law made it so that the pants could easily be rolled up and the waist band is a elastic.

Okay it isn't exactly within my fashion realm (because I am such a fashionista, LOL) but I still think it is amazing that she made this awesome little outfit. If I could make a scarf it would be a great day.

So if any of you want one for your kids let me know. It is incredibly warm and great for hanging out in. She could sell these at craft fairs huh? Plus tell me Aidan is not adorable in it.

Christmas Tag

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate- Hot chocolate. Egg nog is just gross.

2. Do you wrap presents or bag them? I start with wrapping. Then when I figure my wrapping is too ugly to show my mom, I start to bag.

3.Colored lights or white? I like white on the tree because it makes my ornaments look best. I like colored on everything else.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you decorate? Ideally right after Thanksgiving although that can be postponed for any number of reasons. It used to be that after decorating a nursing home the last thing I wanted to do was come home and decorate.

6. Favorite holiday dish? This is a tough one. I do like the Christmas eve tacos. But more traditionally, I would say sweet potatoes. Oh or the punch my mom makes with ginger ale (not Vernors) and white grape juice.

7.When and how did you learn about Santa? I guess I was about 5. I was standing on a stool next to my grandma in her kitchen and she just said "you know Santa isn't real." And that was that.

8. How do you decorate your tree? With ornaments. It is eclectic. I have some from when I was a kid. I have some that have been given to me and I have a large collection of ones I have made myself. (if anyone wants some of those, please let me know. I realized I have a ton of left overs.)

9.Snow-love it or dread it? I love it. I didn't know how much until I got to Kansas and we are still snow free. I am not a big fan of shoveling it though.

10. Can you ice skate? yes, but I don't do it very often. I am also a much better skater in hockey skates than figure skates. If I wear figure skates I can figure I will be on my butt a lot.

11. Do you remember your favorite gift? Yes, I have received many fabulous gifts in my life, but oddly my favorite is one I did not ask for. It was a Tune -a-Fish. A shower radio. It looked like a fish. I had it for a couple of years, then one day it lost its suction and that was it, busted in the tub.

12. What is the most important part of the Holidays? Being with family and friends. Giving. Remembering my Savior.

13.Favorite Holiday dessert? My Grandma's hand dipped chocolates. She only made them a few times a year. Christmas was one of them. They were awesome. She would bring out these tins full of them. Each candy was nestled in a little paper cup. Then when she thought we had all had enough, the tins were returned to their hiding place somewhere in the house. Apparently she had to hide them from the others who lived in the house. (Kenneth and Christina, oh how naughty).

14. Favorite memory? Last year we got Aidan a tickle me Elmo for Christmas. We got it out of the box and he freaked out. He cried and screamed and buried his head in my chest. He wanted nothing to do with that thing. We still have it up in his closet. He knows where it is. When I ask if he would like to play with it he always says "NO". He is not a big fan of possessed toys.

15. Do you have a special ornament? Yes, I have a collection of ornaments that were on my tree as a kid. The are old and faded but I love them just the same.

16. What do you do on Christmas Eve? I go to my mom's house for a Mexican themed dinner. I don't know why it is Mexican themed, but it is. That's right, tacos mean Christmas to me. Oh and when I was young and Beth and I had separate bedrooms we would take turns sleeping in each other's rooms. I guess that was so that one of us didn't beat the other to presents in the morning.

17. If you could have anything for Christmas this year what would it be? A trip home and a job for Matt. If I could get a two for one deal on that I would take it.

18.What do you do for your neighbors and friends for Christmas? I make ornaments. I do something different with glass bulbs every year. So if you need some ideas, ranging from way easy to "why am I doing this", I am your women.

I tag Beth, Holly, Caity and Kate.

Happy Birthday

Congratulations to Jenny and Matthew on their new addition, Colten David.

Welcome to the family baby!

A soft answer turneth away wrath...

Last night I learned something that sent me into the stratosphere. I was very angry. Very angry. I was going to blog about the whole thing then luckily I had a moment of clarity. I was going to call the offending parties and yell and scream. But then my daily scripture calendar said this,"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." (Proverbs 15:1) In light of this scripture I have decided to take a different slant with this post. I want to share with you what I have learned from this recent experience so far.

I have learned that actions speak louder than words. Much, much louder. Like actions are caring a huge megaphone and words are just a little mouse in the corner. After 20 years of being told one thing an action completely nullified those words. What a shame. I was never really sure that the words were the truth but I never thought they would be denied either.

Here is the bigger picture lesson is this: No wonder God says that it takes both Faith and Works to return to live with Him. It is fairly easy to say you believe something. It is even easy to fool ourselves into believing that we believe something by saying it enough. The true test is not just the saying but in the actions that follow our belief.

Much like the early pioneers. They not only said they believed, but when the call was made to move West they packed up their families and a few of their belongings and followed the command. Do we really believe enough to follow whatever the call? Are we as the pioneers or are we as this person who has ticked me off?

I know we have all had times in our lives when we have been tested and have failed. It is called sin. We know something is not right but we do it anyway.

But what is it that brings us back from that state of sin? We recognize our mistake and ask for forgiveness and God in his goodness forgives us.

Now here comes the biggest problem I am having with this analogy. I am wondering if in my imperfect state if I can forgive this wrong. I also am wondering what to do if no apology is made. I know that forgiveness is for me and not the other person but 20 years of lies? Somehow in my human weakness I am trying to calculate how one should have to pay for this. I know it isn't the way it should be, but my humanness is complicating it.

Do any of you have any wisdom on this for me? I know you do because I have the wisest blog readers out there.

Aidan says.....

Okay just a quick post. Aidan has been learning more about his bodily functions. Mostly related to using the potty. His newest phrase is "I poopin' da gas". Now my mom probably likes this since she finds the word fart offensive. So I let him keep saying it. It is actually pretty accurate right?

Hop on the Halloween Train

I am sorry it has taken me so long to make this post. I was having some technical difficulties. This year Aidan had a much better understanding of Halloween. He didn't really pick out his costume. A friend had given me the overalls and we bought the hat, bandana, and train whistle from Oriental Trading. I figured he loved trains and this would be fun for him. Another little boy at church was also a conductor but he had box held on with suspenders that looked like Thomas the Tank Engine. Luckily I don't think Aidan was very aware of the little boy during "Trunk or Treat"



This picture is from Tuesday night before we went to church for "Trunk or Treat". It was a little cooler that night than it was on Halloween.




The next night we made a pumpkin. I did all of the carving but Aidan choose the shapes for the eyes and nose. Granted he only really knows triangle, circle, and octagon. So it was pretty simple. I wanted him to pose by the pumpkin, but he wouldn't. I even tried to tell him that Ethan, Saroya, and Jaleigh had posed by their pumpkins. But no way.




He would sit on the porch without the pumpkin.



But this is what happened when the pumpkin was placed next to him. He went and sat in the yard and wouldn't even look at me. What a kid.


Those were the only pictures I got of the pumpkin because by the time Halloween arrived the pumpkin was destroyed. We had a very windy day and the pumpkin was blown off the porch railing. Lucky for us my mom had sent some decorations. So we decorated Friday night before we went trick or treating.


Here is Aidan with his pumpkin candy bucket. Isn't he cute!



We got one more picture and we were off to wait for trick or treating to start at Aunt Sarah's. We didn't know what time trick or treating started exactly but we thought that it either started when the tornado sirens went off or at dusk.

While we waited at Sarah's house we got to play with her dog Romeo. He is very shy but finally started to warm up to Aidan. They became best friends.














It turned out we had a long time to wait. We waited for over an hour. Finally, at about 7:15 pm, we headed out because a few kids stopped by Sarah's. I thought we would be bombarded by kids. We live in a neighbor full of kids and the houses are close together. So much like my neighborhood in North Muskegon. But no! There were maybe a third of the houses that were passing out candy and there were almost no trick or treaters. We had 2 come to our house. Which left us without much candy.

I had even made Matt go out and buy more candy. I guess I was in the nursing home mode still. We had gone through two big bags at church on Tuesday night so I was concerned about running out at home. But we did not have 300 kids and we did not run out. So we have enough candy to last until next Halloween. Unfortunately, I can't say that Aidan collected most of it.

Aidan was so brave about trick or treating. We had been quizzing him before we went trick or treating. We asked "what do you say when they come to the door?" Aidan: "Trick or Treat". Me: "What do you say when they give you candy?" Aidan: "Sucker"

We worked on that but we never did get it right. He would knock. He would say trick or treat. But when they would let him pick what he wanted he would still say "sucker". Then he would add a "thank you".

Halloween was sort of a let down. I guess I would have liked for the whole neighborhood to see my cute boy.

But to wrap it up here is Aidan fully enjoying his Halloween costume.

Oh how I love the "Cheapy Store"

I promised forever ago that I would tell you guys about the "cheapy store". Here in Topeka it is called Capital City Surplus. But thinking back I have had one close to where I live in both Utah and Michigan as well. I Provo it was Reams and in Fremont it was Brookside Market. I have done a little research on the internet about these stores. They are called salvage grocery or banana box stores or scratch and dent stores. There are some chains that have begun to specialize in salvage grocery. I also understand the Amish also frequently run these stores. In Fremont the store is run by the Amish. This store here in Topeka is actually a warehouse that distributes these banana boxes. So they are only open to the public Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And things are not as organized and you would find in many salvage grocery stores. There is a lot of digging and searching for what is available.

A salvage grocery store takes things that for a variety of reasons traditional grocery stores are not selling. Usually it is because the box or can is dented, the label is peeling, perhaps it is past its best by date, maybe there was an overstock of a certain item, they can be things that were limited edition items, or things that are no longer made. I am a firm believer that a dented box does not affect the taste of my hamburger helper. I am sometimes a little concerned about the best by dates. My mother told me that when she worked at Gerber one of the scientist there told her that food was good well beyond its best by date. I also think this is true in most cases. Or at least I hope it is because I rarely check the dates on things from my own pantry. Who knows how old some of the soup in there is.

Here is a picture of the items I bought on a typical trip to the Salvage store.

The total cost of these items was $7.35. Not bad right? I mean you could pick out just a few of these items and come up with $7. Although this is an example of how careful you need to be. The Justice League Teddy Grahams were rancid. Some things can be that way. They were well past their "best by" date. And since they obviously had oil in them I probably should have chosen not to purchase them. But I figure with how much I paid their was really no loss. That was an example of some limited special edition that the stores no longer sell. You can also see I bought soy chips. When at the store I rarely try things like this. I know I like potato chips. Why risk my money on a more expensive unknown? But for less than a dollar who cares. If I hate them, I know where the trash is.

I think I will list just a few of my favorite purchases from the cheapy store. Nutella, Jergens Natural Glow Lotion, John Frieda Blonde Highlights Shampoo and Conditioner, Pantene 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner, Icee Green Apple and Cherry Frozen Treats, a case of giant pretzels ($1), Edemame 16 servings ($2), giant bags of Nestle Semi-Sweet Morsels, Jiffy Baking Mix, Purina All Natural Cat Food, Johnny Cat Litter and Bags, Crest Tooth Paste, all kinds of cereal.

I get to try things that I normally wouldn't splurge on. For example I found some Kashi Orchard Spice Cereal there ($1.25) I have an old recipe for microwave cereal muffins. I thought that would be a good cereal to try it with and I was right. They were fabulous! With real apples and nuts and raisins in them.

So my advise is to look around in your area. Find a salvage store. Try it out. You might like it. You may not be able to do all of your shopping there but I usually go there first and then fill in the rest at a real store. If you need directions to the one in Fremont or want the recipe for microwave cereal muffins let me know.