Brought to you by the letter "C"

This week I am forsed to attend an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)klass. Yes, it is as mind-numbing as it sounds.

I just sit in the klass and think thoughts like,

"Who in their right mind makes us take this klass in order to keep our jobs?",

"Where in the world did they kome up with 300 as the number of hours we have to sit through this? This kontent kould be taught in 8 hours."

The only tidbit of information that has kaught my attention is that we don't really need the letter "C" in our alphabet. If it is a soft "C" we kan use "S". If it is a hard "C" we kan use a "K".

If we all agree then we kan eliminate the letter "c". Take my poll and tell me what you think? Why or why not should we eliminate the letter "c"?

debbie klayton

Loggerhead it is

Madison has been at a loggerhead as to what path she wants to take in life. The loggerhead has been solved. On July 20, me, my mom and Jensen will fly with her to Utah where she will live and work in Provo. All of the details have not been worked out but we have already purchased the plane tickets so there is no turning back.



This is a picture of Madison the first time she lived in Provo. Of course, she is in utero so you can't tell. Who is that skinny man standing next to me? I am the skinny one with the eighties feathers. The other girl is out friend Lynne Pelser.

I had this picture on our fridge as a "Before" picture. It's a sad day when you have to use your first pregnancy picture as a "Before" picture. Sad, sad day.

Withdrawals

"My veins feel dry and dusty of blood." Dashti in Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.

Our hard drive crashed and we lost tons of pictures but worst of all I have not been able to blog. You all know I am an addict so it has been a week of cold turkey detox. I think I will be ok.

Enrichment

This is Danette and I after an Enrichment Night where we learned beauty secrets. Thanks for your help everyone. It IS all about confidence.

80s aerobics unleashed

I participated in my first Zumba class yesterday. I use the term participated very loosely because what I really did was flail my arms and shake my booty occasionally whilst others Zumba-d around me. I did manage to keep up with the 60+ year old man. At least, from my perspective I did, maybe not.

I wasn’t planning on going but I was hypnotized by the pulsating Latin beat. Somewhere deep, deep down I must have the music in me. I just haven’t tapped into it, yet. I thought I would give it a try. Kristen Higley walked in so I decided to stay. We decided that Zumba is the same as 80s aerobics. It’s still the grapevine and side-together-side and the pony except now they expect you to gyrate your hips while at the same time raising your arms in praise to the unofficial Latin god of Dance. On the way down from the arm praise, you are to drag your fingertips along the sides of your torso as if to ask, “Don’t You Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me?”

I would manage to get a few of the steps but then the count of eight was over and they were on to the next gyration. Huh? I remembered from my 7:00am aerobics class at BYU that there was a cool down song somewhere. I kept asking Kristen, “Is this the cool down song?” She would reply, “Not yet, maybe the next one.” Me: “How about now?” Kristen: “Maybe in five, maybe ten minutes.” Me: “How about this one? This is it, right?” Kristen: “No, not yet.” Arrgh! I’m thinking the Latinos never disembark the Hot Tamale Train.

I looked over in the corner of the room and to my horror I saw two fifth grade girls that were in my inclusion class last year. I thought those poor, poor children. They are goin’ to need therapy. They were sitting against the wall like they were worn out. I motioned for them to get up. I wiggled over to them and told them that if I could do this then they better do it too. One of them said, “I asked my mom if we could stand beside Mrs. Clayton and she said we could.” I replied, “Ok, but you might get hurt.” I was thinking I’m just glad they are moving on to sixth grade at the Middle School. Maybe no one will believe their nightmarish tales of Mrs. Clayton and her seizures.

Thoughts on the instructors/contortionists: They could make more money if they did these moves in a different venue. One of them is a friend of Madison’s from school. We should have fed her more cake at Madison’s 7th birthday party. Who knew she would grow up to be a torturer to fat, middle aged white ladies (me, not Kristen)? All kidding aside, she is a very sweet girl.

I managed to finish the class in an upright position and I have to say that today my buttocks felt a tiny bit tighter.

Note to Self

Create a blog entry using the word loggerhead.

P.S. Look up definition first.

I Almost Got Kilt

Jensen doing her share.





See the wire in the middle of the wall? It was hooked to the hood. I thought I had turned off all of the breakers because the stove was off and the light was off. Who would think that there are THREE BREAKERS FOR ONE WALL OF APPLIANCES? That is absolutely crazy! I learned the hard way. As I was trying to disconnect the wire from the hood, the hood fell and the wires touched and BOOM! That's right, Fourth of July came early this year. Luckily, I had stepped away from the hood and was not touching it. That's when we decided to turn off all of the breakers in the whole house. Jensen was outside, in the tree, reading her book. I asked her, "Did you see the flash of light?" She said, "Yes, but I didn't hear you scream, so I figured you were ok." She is use to my antics.





Jensen after she found nasty, icky, funky stuff behind the nasty, icky, funky plastic tile.



I survived!

Extreme Home Makeover

Let me just say this: Blogging has taken over my life. I cleaned my kitchen so that I could take "Before" pictures. That is just sick. I know in the pictures that the kitchen doesn't "Look" clean, but keep in mind that this kitchen has never, ever been remodeled. That funk is stained. The house was built in 1957 or 1959, can't remember. Check out the crazy wiring in the cabinets and behind the stove. I am surprised that we have not been visited and warned by the ghost of Old Lady Leary.

One Worn Out Camper

This is Jensen after 3 days and 4 nights at Girls Camp. My mom made a quilt for Madison with a bunch of her old t-shirts. Look closely at the one nearest to Jensen, The Minnow Club 2006! Isn't that ironic? I'm sure Jensen is dreaming of her fourth year when she can become a member.

P.S. Jensen's team also brought home first place for Cross Country Skiing!!

Come to My Window

Before: Looking out my kitchen window.

I have been waiting for a few things to line up, a Saturday, cash in my pocket, a block of time, and gumption. They all finally happened at the same time. We have a neighbor lady that has a yard that could be featured on the front of Better Homes and Garden. Frequently, she will pot her plants and sell them for $1-$2. We have bought from her before. I had told Lew one of the things that I wanted to do this summer was buy plants from her and fix up the flower bed out front. He came home Saturday and said, "The Plant Lady is in her yard, do you want to go buy some plants?" Heck yeah. We walked over, knocked on the door and asked if we could buy some plants. She said that she would not sell them to us but she would GIVE them to us! Can you believe it? There are good people in the world. She took us around her yard digging up plants and educating us on their care. She said when she shares her garden then love grows. What a nice, nice lady. We ended up with a heaping wheelbarrow full and then some we had to carry. It will be a long time before our garden looks like hers but when it gets there, we will Pay it Forward.
After: A little sparse but it will fill in before long.

I'm Goin Back

Most Original

Canoe Come Out and Play?

Our awesome Level 1 girls won third place in the canoe races. Who knew they could paddle so fast? They have skills. Fantastic job Jensen, Melena and Brianna!!!!

What a bad day I had yesterday but it quickly grew better with an elixir of smiling faces and funny stories. Being with the YW is like a spoonful of sugar. It makes it all better.

Now What?

Work out at the "Y"

Read lots of books

Kitchen remodel

Finish bedroom remodel

Gather supplies for Hurricanes

Blog

Go to Nauvoo

Take Madison to Utah

ESOL (phooey)

Kayak (no, I don't have a kayak but I am telling the universe that I want one)

doctors, dentists, LHR, etc. all of the appointments that I don't have time for during the year

YW activities (YEAH!)

Locate a BA meeting (Hi, I'm Debbie. I'm addicted to Blogging, both reading and writing)

Hunker down

Genealogy

Finish reading the Book of Mormon by summer's end

Book Club

Become a minimalist

Serve Others

Turn 44 (phooey)

Run a 5k

Attend the temple oft

Hike part of the Appalachian trail

Yard Work

one ends and another begins

By 10:00 today, I was finished with all of my school obligations. Yeah! What a relief. It was such a burden lifted. Dorothy, Marilyn, Kathy and I had lunch at Uncle Wei's. Delicious. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and putting things away in our new room. They stuck the red-headed stepchildren in the trailer on the Back 40. One positive thing is that no one will bother us because it is too far to walk.

Jensen began her first year at girls camp. Roxanne, Mo and I drove out to check on the girls. Jensen informed me that she would not be able to spend time with me because they had a laundry list of "to do's" and then they had to go to bed. Then she shoo-ed me away. I miss you, too, honey.

Jensenpalooza

Why do birthdays last only one day? Well they don't at the Claytizzles. We celebrate for at least a week. It is a decision that the honoree makes. If they want something or want to do something they can justify it by stating that it is Jensenpalooza, Madisonpalooza or Parkerpalooza. This year, Jensenpalooza started on Wednesday. She wanted me to take her to Wal-Mart to just "look" at the mini-Puffer fish. I complied, after all Jensenpalooza had begun.

Fish-man Jimmy educated us in the pros and cons of the Puffer fish. They are not very social and very aggressive. In other words, we couldn't put them with any ol' guppy. They could, however, cohabitate with a "shark", aka "catfish". We deliberated. Jensen decided that the mini-puffer was just too stinkin' cute to pass up and the sharks were cool lookin' anyway. It would take 24 hours for the aquarium to regulate after it had been set up. An hour later we walked out with the aquarium starter kit.

Jensen's actual birthday was spent tye-dyeing t-shirts for girls camp. She didn't mind because that meant spending time with Jordan and Emily Mathews. We had to do the shirts twice because they looked more marble-dyed than tye-dyed.

Friday, Brittni, Brittany and Alana came home from school with Jensen for a sleepover. Melena came over later because apparently she thinks dance practice is more important (wink, Melena). Jeremy Watkins joined us for Kung Fu Panda. We just called him boy for the day because he was the only boy. Where is "the boy?"

Pizza and pasta were for lunch followed by a sprinkle cake from G-ma. Also in attendance were G-Pa, Jean and Elaine.

To finish the day we all went to the Primary pool party which was an absolute blast. Way to go Melody. It was only supposed to be until 6:00. I told Melody that she was going to have to tell me when to leave because I was judgement impaired. Relaxation was my drug of choice. She said she would. At 8:45 we all pretty much decided it was time to go. The kids' skin was wrinkled beyond recognition and Aislinn's feet were bleeding. That's hard core swimming.

Back to Jensenpalooza. Sunday, she graduated from Primary. Hoo-rah! I can't believe it. No more kids in Primary. At first, I was happy but now that pool parties are involved I might have to kidnap some younguns' for a ticket to the pool parties. We are so proud of Jensen and her accomplishments. She is looking forward to YWs and the Personal Progress program.

Jensenpalooza ended with dinner at the Ingalls. Jensen was the guest of honor so she got to pick the menu. Fry-bread tacos. Always a delicious treat. We were joined by Chris and Jessica. If you don't know the Ingalls I am sorry for you. They are the nicest, sweetest most generous people in the whole entire world. Thanks for a good time Roxanne and Mike.