My Castle

Every one's home is his/her castle, right? I know this to be true. In fact I live in a magical castle, just like Hogwart's from Harry Potter! Are you one of those people who say there is no such thing as magic? Some day you ought to come and explore my enchanted castle.
In Hogwarts, there is a secret room, the Room of Requirements aka as The Come and Go Room. I have one too! When you first walk into the front door om my house, the room magically transforms into a hall to the kitchen, complete with shoes and other miscellanea on the floor. Wow, huh?
I have so far been able to conjure up at least 10 different rooms from that very same spot.
The most common form this room takes is a dining room. Whenever we want to eat our dinner, the dining room appears, complete with table and chairs. Some times the room transforms into a room for art classes. It comes complete with cubbies for things such as glue and scissors, and paper for drawing flazzoiters. Once in awhile it changes into an art studio where there is much nicer art supplies such as prismacolor pencils and light tables. It has been known, especially on weekends when the kids are over, to be a game room. The game room is always stocked with the essentials... games, snacks, and the occasional paper towels to clean up root beer spews from laughing too hard. The room once became a kingdom in a far away place, complete with a newspaper castle. Another time the room became a bedroom, furnished with a bed, nightstands and two happy grandparents. The room sometimes appears as a sewing room, complete with tissues to wipe the tears from laughing so hard at things like inside out bean bags. During the holidays, the room changes into a staging room, full of baskets and bags of goodies to hand out to friends and neighbors. And even once, a long long time ago, it was a skating rink! I am sure there are many more transformations, but for now I am going to go and clean up the temporary food storage room so my husband can use the room for an office to pay the bills.
So you see? My home is a magical castle.

Random Chatter

Well we solved the giraffe infestation. We wrangled them all up, and the let them loose on unsuspecting victims. Muhahaha It was dark, we were attacked by all sorts of hobgoblins, and fairy folk. We took our giraffes and tossed them into their magic rucksacks, which made them run. Occasionally we were plagued by the same hobgoblins, but we were lucky enough to have plenty of giraffe ammo. We are now trying to translate their elfish language. Each time they would attack, they all yelled the same thing "trunkortreat". I am thinking it translates into "We are the Borg, prepare to be assimilated", or maybe just "Give Me"? I don't know, as long as it doesn't mean "To Serve Man" I am okay with it.
The loneliness of being a empty-nester Bishop's wife is getting to me! There is only so much you can say to the dog until she starts snoring. At least she keeps all my deep dark secrets, like the array of chicken suits I have in the back of my closet. My favorite is the neon green one with the little purple and yellow polka dots. Could you do me a favor? If you are reading this blog, can you post a comment? Just don't let anyone know about the chicken suits, it will be our secret. Thanks!

And so it starts

It is now official. It is the holidays. What makes it so official you ask? Because I just stowed away the big black box. In order to stow away the big black box, I first had to get out the other five big black boxes. And to get to the five big black boxes, I had to move a couch, open the drapes, rid the area of the giraffe infestation, and and get the step ladder. Yep, it is definitely the holidays, huh? I see you scratching your head with that puzzled look on your face. Okay, let me start at the beginning.
Back on April 1, 1964, in the town of Neenah Wisconsin a little red headed baby was born... maybe that is too far back.
It all started with a treasure hunt. I put on my boots and pith helmet, grabbed my flashlight and pitch fork and went exploring in the dense regions of the attached storage unit. (Known to most as the garage) After wrestling with the sleeping bags and various big hunks of metal, I found the treasure! An empty big black box! Those are very very rare!
Then, to the horror of all big black empty box collectors, I started to fill it. I put in all my knickknacks including the stone bird of happiness, most of my pictures, I even stuffed in that tatted doily from Great Aunt Norma.
I took that not so rare box upstairs. Now, all those who have never seen my upstairs, we have another storage unit... actually three storage units upstairs, but that is another story. In the storage unit known as the den, we put up ceiling to floor curtains four foot from the wall across one side of the room. We then made a nice little den out of the rest of the space including a couch!
I bet you can't guess what is behind the curtain? Wow you are good! It IS a big black filled box emporium! I moved the couch out of the way, opened the curtain, climbed the ladder and took out all five of the Halloween boxes which left me room to stow my big black box formerly known as rare empty box.
So Halloween is up, my knickknacks are put away until next year... You see? It is officially the holidays!
Now, what to do with the giraffe infestation?

How to Procrastinate

I have always been a dawdler, just ask my Dad. It took me three hours to clean my room when I was young. The first hour I would sit on my bed thinking of a plan of action on what to clean first etc. The next hour I spent meandering around the house looking for the right tools i.e. dust rag, vacuum, can of pop etc. The next thirty minutes I sat and drank my pop and wondered what I would do after my room was clean. The last thirty minutes I would actually clean my room.
Life hasn't really changed. I still procrastinate, but I try to do it creatively. So here is a list of ways to procrastinate the inevitable housecleaning.
1. Write in your blog. One of the things you could write in your blog is about how to procrastinate.
2. Ponder about your youth. You could sit and think about a time when you were younger. Maybe think of the time when you needed to clean your room and it took you three hours.
3. Stare at the monitor. Sometimes you get writers block, this is a good time to practice your "stare at the monitor" techniques. I am almost a professional at it. My mouth is slightly opened and I have just the right amount of drool dripping down to my shirt.
4. Plan ahead. A well trained procrastinator will be able to utilize a full half hour to plan ahead, especially if the professional has a can of pop. Planning should only be done if the plans are for after the work that you are procrastinating.
5. Take a break. Sometimes we should all take a break from procrastinating. The best breaks involve looking for the right tools, such as dust rags, vacuums and another can of pop.
With these simple ways, anyone can be a dawdler like me. We should get together and have a Procrastinator Convention. I will make the plans, right after I find the right tools, drink my can of pop, think of a plan of action, stare at the monitor etc, etc, etc. But first, I really should get back to my housework, now where did I put that can of pop?

Summer's End

It is almost the end of summer vacation. Just because my kids have graduated and are out of the house doesn't mean I can't have a summer vacation! I have spent the majority of the summer on the beach sipping lemonade and getting foot massages from my cabana boy, Ricardo. Some dream, huh?
Back to reality. I have had a busy summer, but it has been fun! Here are some of the highlights:

1. Ice Cream Brick! Now that was funny. My hubby and I went up to girl's camp. We wanted to treat them to some ice cream. Did you know that if you put a slab of dry ice on top and the bottom of an ice cream bucket it will freeze it solid? We almost broke our scoop. And of course, the Stake President was there, we will never live it down.
2. Avatar at 1am. Here I am lying on a bunk bed at 1 am listening to 5 girls talk about bending, and I don't think they were talking about exercising. It was Youth Conference. I still am completely clueless about the subject.
3. Monkey poo, wizards and spies. Three Fun Fridays with the Cub Scouts. The First Friday we went to the zoo for Starry Safari. We were able to go into the monkey enclosure, and as the monkeys ran across the trees overhead, we were warned to watch out for falling monkey poo. The next Friday, was my Friday, and of course we did a Harry Potter theme, complete with wizard hats, wands and potions. And the last Friday was "When I grow up". For my time, we were spies. It wasn't easy, every once in awhile we had to hide under the tables or lay flat on the floor to avoid being captured by the bad guys. Too bad we didn't have our Invisibility Cloaks from the week before.
4. I do. A new friend moved into our ward and I was honored to be able to help plan her wedding.

With all of that, as well as cows, visits, meetings, and getting sick at the planetarium, my summer has been well packed with activities. So what next?
Next week starts up with regular Cub Scout den meetings, and teaching art to my genius minions.
Good bye Ricardo, I will see you next summer!