spt--i resolve....

I resolve to take more self-portraits with people I love.

me and Emma heading into the library on Friday

Sawyer and me snuggling on the couch before bed last night

me with my cute little boys at the sledding hill today

SPT-remember me

I admit I suspected a little trickery in Lelly's post announcing she would be stepping away from blogging. I'm happy to say it was just a good April Fool's Joke. I don't always do SPT but I am glad for Lelly's assignments. It is hard to get myself in front of the camera so I welcome the extra motivation.

This is not a self-portrait at all but I thought I'd share the pictures my mom took of me while in Colorado. I actually like them and that doesn't happen very often! She did really well for a beginner, didn't she!

SPT-- eggstra special weekend

An *eggs*tra special part of my weekend was getting these hugs and kisses from Sawyer.

Note the sorry state of his shirt. It only took three washes and lots of stain stick to get it out.

spt-what's in a name

Today's assignment was so simple. How could I not do it? Lelly asked why we chose our blog name. My simple answer is because "Color Me Red" is just so me!
My favorite color is red. I have red couches, red curtains, red dishes, red towels. I love to wear red. Having my world colored with red just makes me happy.

Also, in the color coded personality test, red is definitely my dominant color. I have mellowed out quite a lot over the years but I'm still a red--logical, practical, conservative, traditional, rule-following, confident, organized and often seen by others as a bit too domineering.

Red suits me so very well in both taste and personality. Knowing just that little tidbit of information actually tells you a whole lot about me.

daily december: 11

We do not have many ornaments on the trees that have a lot of meaning. When we got married, my roommate gave us a whole bunch of ornaments as a wedding present. I still think that is the best idea. I don't think we had a tree that first year because we celebrated in Colorado. The next year, we were in our very first home with a brand new baby and it was so fun to get a tree and decorate with those ornaments. Thanks, Jess!

We planned to buy an ornament every year to signify something special about the year. We got these reindeer in 1998 to celebrate our marriage. I was going to put the year on it but 9 years later, it is still blank. We got "Baby's First Year" ornament in 1999. Harry came to decorate the tree in 2000 because that was the year we first got introduced to those books.

And then we stopped. Not sure why. We did buy an ornament in Virginia in March of 2006 when we went to Great Wolf Lodge. It seems to have gotten lost in the move though so it never made it onto the tree. Sad. We haven't bought any others. Maybe we will have to restart that tradition this year.

The only other ornament of significance on the tree is Dave's little mouse from his childhood. The star says 1981.

They aren't significant as far as memories go but I still love my red and gold ornaments on the nice tree. We have a good mix of breakable and unbreakable (for down low), expensive and cheap but they all look great together.
Can you see me?

trick or treat

Emma asked me this morning why we celebrate Halloween. My thought was, "That is exactly my point as to why am against this holiday. There is no reason to celebrate Halloween." I admit it. I am a Halloween hater. Love fall. Hate Halloween. Wish we could do away with the whole holiday. I don't like spending money/time on costumes. I don't like going door to door for candy. I don't like my kids getting candy for no good reason. I don't like having to become the Keeper of the Candy who must dole it out (never in the amount the kids want) for the next few weeks. I don't like Halloween.

I do have kids though. And I do like them. I think the Halloween festivities this year were satisfactory to them. We made sugar cookies in the morning and then decorated them with our homeschooling neighbors (we get together every Wednesday).
We raided my sister in law's costume box this year so I managed to spend no money or time this year. We ended up with a witch, Obiwan Kenobi, Spiderman and a Musketeer.
I was so grateful for the mild weather this year and for the fact that Daylight Savings starts next week. Emma went off with a friend so I headed out with the boys to trick or treat in the neighborhood. We lasted for about an hour and a half. Dave made it home from Boise (YEAH!) around 7 and went with us for the last street.

Every year I want to plan a big party a few days before Halloween and then do away with trick or treating. Every year I don't. Perhaps, it is the fact that I don't want to warp my children even further. They are homeschooled after all. And their friends aren't supposed to bring presents to their birthday parties. And...and...and a whole lot of other things. So even though I don't like the holiday, we will probably keep participating. Maybe next year I'll get into it a bit more but don't count on it.

spt-black and white

A simple challenge this week. Black and white. What do you see? Can you see my true self?


I see slightly crooked lips, eyebrows that are in major need of a good plucking, and the plethora of moles/freckles that keep company on my face. What I don't see is my green eyes. I rather like them. Sometimes I think they are the only thing I've got going for me in the looks department. While this was a good chance for me to work on my black and white conversions, I must say I do prefer COLOR.

spt-comfort food

Each time one of my neighbors called me yesterday, she was greeted with the sounds of children screaming in the background. I let her know that my day was not going very smoothly. Unfortunately what she had called to tell me did not improve things at all. Bless her heart though she decided to bring me some comfort food later that day. Cookies, banana bread and juice. It was so thoughtful and went a long way to help end the day on a bright note.

I can always be comforted with food. Especially of the not good for you carb variety--ice cream, cheesecake, french fries, bread, cookies. My waistline wishes this were not so. If I weren't still in a bad mood, I would talk more about my favorites. Perhaps soon I will feel like really sharing my comfort food and the yummy recipes that make it. Until then...

SPT-childhood memories

For this week's assignment go here.

While I did go through all the emotional schtuff that most experience at school (making friends, fitting in), I look back rather fondly at my school years. I am a geek. I love learning. I love books, writing, tests even. I succeeded in school academically. Even now I miss learning in a classroom and think it would be the best thing to go back to college. Indeed, a geek.

I skipped kindergarten.
In first grade, I can remember wiping glue off my hands underneath my desk and being reprimanded by the teacher. And the most beautiful girl in my class had long, blonde hair and really cute clothes. Her name was Jody.
We moved to CO in second grade. My only memory of second grade is peeing my pants because I was scared to ask the teacher if I could go when I obviously needed to because she had said there would be no bathroom breaks.
I got the part of Dorothy in our school's production of the Wizard of Oz in third grade. I was teased endlessly about being the teacher's pet because I had already sung a solo in the Christmas production. When I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow the pianist forgot that he was supposed to play a lower note on ".....just beyond the rain". He instead played the high note and so I vocally slid my way up the scale to follow. I was so embarrassed.
I had Mrs. White in fourth grade. I loved her. She hated snow. She came to see me perform with Our Gang Singers at the Safari Club.
I watched the Challenger Explosion on TV in Mr. Kaslau's class in fifth grade.
I got my first C in sixth grade because I chose not to complete a major assignment, just because I didn't want to. I also read Gone with the Wind for the first time.
I was bored out of my mind in the beginning orchestra in seventh grade since I had been playing cello for two years already. I really loved Mr. McNeal though. He made everything fun.
I took Humanities in eighth grade and it is still one of my favorite classes ever. We mocked Mrs. Guest behind her back but she was a truly fabulous teacher. Our final test for the English portion was to complete a sentence diagram of the preamble of the Constitution.

In ninth grade, I felt like I finally fit in (mostly) with the popular kids. I had the biggest crush on Jeff Woodmansee. I even asked him to a dance. Brave of me. My best friend was Jenny Rejeske who believed she was a reincarnated brontosaurus.
So many memories of high school. Most of them good. I got my braces off in tenth grade. I had my first experience with a really gorgeous boy thinking I was cute. Ben Mishnik. He was so fine!
During my junior year, I dated Jaime Hancock (smoker, jerk and all around bad boy). What was I thinking!? Made some really great friends through choir/orchestra/theater who stuck with me through that relationship. Dated Chris Carlson the rest of the year. Vast improvement.

Senior year, I played the role of Little Red in Into the Woods. Such a fantastic experience. My mom made me go to senior prom with someone else (because he asked first and he was an answer to her prayer that some nice boy would ask me), only to find out Craig Michoski(!!!) was going to ask me the next day. Ended up dating Craig until I left for college. Craig's dad was my very favorite teacher of all. He called me short little Mormon person.

After doing this assignment, I now know that most of my childhood pictures have not been scanned. Need to work on that. Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me.