Reprieve

So I wanted to post an update on poor Jared. After a healthy dose of teasing over the long weekend he returned to court on Monday in hopes of getting a restricted license to drive to and from work. Apparently the judge on Monday was well rested after the long weekend and granted his request. Still no midnight Taco Bell runs, but he is allowed to earn a living. :-)

I fought the law and it bit me in the A$$

So this post is about Jared, because being a law abiding citizen I would never fight the law. A couple months back Jared got ANOTHER speeding ticket. He gets one about every 10-12 months. He likes to go to court in hopes that his cop won't show up and the ticket will get thrown out. So he was at court today, the day before Thanksgiving, just sure that no cop would want to waste his time in traffic court on holiday eve. Well apparently the judge was miffed about being there. Jared's cop did show up and the judge decided that since his sorry robed ass had to get dragged into court he was going to punish anyone who had the nerve to appear. Jared not only got to pay his fine, he got his license suspended for 60 days. Yes that's right, he has no license and has bike down to 7-11 when he wants a slurpee fix. Haa haa haa haa!! Yes, I am cruelly enjoying this right now. So please, if you see him biking or walking, don't stop--honk and wave and keep right on going. In fact feel free to point and laugh, I know I am!

The Journey Home

About three weeks ago I lost my favorite cat Ming. She went outside for her regular romp in the sun and just never came home. After a week I realized she was not coming home. Then the most miraculous thing happened. Tonight, a little after 10 pm I got a call from the woman who has our old phone number. She told me that she had gotten a call from the local fire house that they had found our cat. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement. I immediately called the firehouse and spoke with Fireman Keith (my new hero!) who told me that indeed he had Ming, but she had just run outside to use the bathroom. I told him I was on the way. Our house was a flurry of excitement as we loaded the girls into the car to bring Ming home. When we arrived at the firehouse I saw three firefighters out back with flashlights, my heart sank when I realized she was still out and she might have slipped through our fingers again. I called and called but with all the excitement she wasn't ready to come out. Jared took the girls home to get some more cat food and bring me a jacket because he realized I was not coming home without my kitty. While he was gone I waited patiently and called to her and sure enough I started to hear a meow and then from the trees out came Ming! I was scared to startle her and have her run off again but all I wanted to do was run and grab her and hug her. She came right to me though and let me pick her up. She's down a little weight, but I'm sure she'll recover quickly. We are all so grateful to have her home! Thank you fireman Keith and thank you to the wonderful woman who passed on the message from the firehouse!

From Bad to Worse

So everyone I know has a cleaning obsession....I know you know what I'm talking about. Whether it's the grout in the tile, the baseboards, the nasty buildup around the faucets, the shower, whatever it is you know what I'm talking about. The second it gets dirty you fly into super cleaning mode and have to have it clean because it feels like the whole house is filthy as long as that part is giving you the stare down. For me, it's carpet. I hate carpet. I hate carpet stains, I hate lint on my carpet, I even get so paranoid by shadows and wear patters that I'll move furniture around to get it all even. So a few months ago I made the fantastic purchase of a Kirby vacuum to help keep my carpets clean. Because when you have a carpet obsession and they show you all the dirt your vacuum is sucking up...well you just can't help yourself. And this fantastic little guy had a bonus feature, carpet cleaning attachments. Oh I was over the moon I was going to have the cleanest carpets in history. Little did I know... So I shampooed my carpets and they glowed, then the glow started to wear off and I started noticing these spots, so I shampooed again and it got worse, let's boil it down and say I used the entire bottle of cleaner trying to shampoo them back to brilliance. Well after trying to ignore the spots, cover them up and contemplating re-carpeting I decided to give it one more go with no soap just hot water. Oh was that the wrong idea. I started in my office. I had three "major" bad spots in there, each about 6-8" in diameter and they were dark spots. So I got my nice hot water and my super sucker out and started off. It started so well, the water came out black and murky and soapy. Ahh! I had discovered the problem...too much soap residue. Hooray, now I could return to carpet perfection. So I continued onto the other two spots and after an hour and a half it seemed much improved. The carpets were still damp so I closed the office door, turned the fan off and headed off for a much deserved nap. While I slept something terrible happened. Those 6-8" dark spots turned into 24" white spots surrounded by a nasty black rings. I'd take a picture but I'm too embarrassed. So I have resigned myself to area rugs until I can buy new carpet. Very dark carpet, maybe made of plastic.

New Wheels

Last Christmas Aubrey asked for a pair of Heelys. This really surprised me and Jared because Aubrey is a real girlie girl and we couldn't see our little princess skating around in those. So we put her off, and put her off. And we thought she'd forgotten about them. Well about September when soccer season started she asked again for Heelys. We had a great strategy we told her she could get Heelys at the end of the season as long as she played really hard, went to all her practices and games, etc. So we thought we'd put her off and she'd forget about them. Oh no. On Saturday she asked if soccer was finished for the year. We told her she had one more day of games and then yes soccer would be over. She brightened up "So we can go get my Heelys!". Jared and I looked at each other, had she really remembered all this time? So Saturday afternoon we were off to Big 5 in search of Heelys. When we got home she wanted to try them right away and as I feared she fell and had Jared drag her across the garage instead of skating. I did an internal eye roll of "I knew this wasn't a good idea". Well bright and early she was up and wanting to try again. So we got them out again and back to the garage we went. She was starting to get the hang of it! Sunday night after her final soccer games she wanted back at those Heelys. I'll admit I was shocked! She practiced and practiced until she could momentarily let go of Jared's arm. Monday morning was the same routine. I was greeted by Aubrey, dressed, Heelys in hand waiting for me to get up. She went to work with Jared and practiced all day down the halls. By the time she got home Monday night she was skating the length of the grocery store aisle. I was so impressed! Way to go Aubrey--you skater girl!

Soccer Champs!

Our family spent this weekend cheering Aubrey at her AYSO U-8 (6 and 7 year old girls) soccer championships. The single loss elimination tournament began Saturday with 16 teams. The Ladybugs (Aubrey's team) won their first game against the Mighty Tigers and so advanced to round two later that afternoon. The girls also won their second game on Saturday and were off to the finals on Sunday. The final four teams each played two games on Sunday to determine 1st-4th place. After two narrow losses the Ladybugs placed 4th in the tournament. We were so proud of all the girls--way to go Ladybugs!

Loved and Lost

I am a cat person. Actually I probably go beyond what most people consider a normal cat person. I am (or would be) the crazy cat lady. My dream, if time and money were no objects, is to have a cat farm. A ranch with a barn where I could give refuge to any cat without a home. I paint this picture so you know how near and dear my cats are to me. Unfortunately, cats have a much shorter life span than humans and inevitably that means saying goodbye to my four legged friends. Ming has been a part of our family for over eight years. She was, without a doubt, my favorite cat. I found her in our garden well in our very first house in Spanish Fork, UT. Jared about went berserk when I brought home another cat (it brought our household total to 5 at the time). But Ming was the kind of cat that everybody loved. So this entry is in loving memory of my best cat, Mingus. You were loved and will be missed.

Happy Halloween

We have a few Halloween traditions here in the Palmer household. The first is the trip to the pumpkin patch. Now we don't go all fancy but there is a quaint little farm that's just one exit away from us that does pumpkins and Christmas trees and we've been there every year that we've lived in Riverside County. The girls like the hay bales and old wooden fort to climb on. I like that it's never crowded and the pumpkins are pretty reasonable.

We also attend our ward Halloween party every year where we have a chili cook-off, I'm so excited to say that my pumpkin chili (my sister's recipe) won third place this year! The girls also get to be in the costume contest, Aubrey's cheerleader was a winner. And the girls go trunk or treating. Natalie was very organized with her loot this year.Finally on Halloween we all head to Jared's work for his office Halloween party and trick or treating. The girls love parading around Daddy's office in their costumes getting candy from all the nice ladies at the office. Usually there is a haunted corridor but apparently that's become too scary and so this year the kids did crafts instead. After the office trick or treating we got home pretty late and so we convinced the girls they didn't need a third trip out and we stayed in to watch "Its the great pumpkin Charlie Brown". We got a record low of two trick or treaters this year! Hope everyone had happy haunts!