Just in case you need to dress up as the Grinch someday.

I needed to look something like this.

First you need a santa hat.

Then you take your red fuzzy socks and you add white santa fur to the top of them.

You find a fuzzy kelly green sweater at a consignment store.

You stretch the arms out and draw your hand at the end of the sweater.

Then you sew on the lines and put your hand in the sweater to make sure you sewed the lines correctly.

Then you cut around the line, but make sure it's rough edges so it looks like grinch hands.

Buy green tights and get a pair of blacks shorts to wear so you aren't exposing your bootie to the world.

This is the sweater now with the grinch hands.

You beg your artist son to draw the grinch mask on green felt, then when it turns out too small you ask him to draw it a second time.  Then you cut it out and hot clue it to cardboard.  The color is really kelly green, but the lighting was bad.

This is the completed mask with it glued to the cardboard and cut out.

You get green makeup for your face.  You borrow a Santa coat from your friend.

In the end you look like this. 

Another view.

This is how I look normally.  Found this book in Target and had to have a picture with it.  Too funny.

Is it okay to spank with a belt?

I put this question out on Facebook to see what others thought.  I have taken the names and pictures off the comments for their privacy.  Why anyone would ever use an object to spank is beyond me.  So wrong in my opinion.  If you have to spank, and I have done it, then do it with your own hand so you have pain too.   What are your thoughts?

I said:

Is it ever okay to spank a child with a belt? It seems like in the last 10 years this is NOT okay, but yet before that it was? Why is that? What made it okay then and not now? I personally believe it is wrong, but would love to know what you think and why?

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• a person likes this.
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  This person said:   I don't think it was ever considered okay. Parents just had more rights then and children didn't. Now, everyone has an opinion and is quick to judge others. I don't know if using a belt or other method that has the intention of physically hurting a child was more effective discipline. Which is why it isn't looked at favorably now.

  23 hrs · Unlike · 2
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  Person 2 said: I was "spanked" with belts with large buckles and horse whips, wooden spoons.... I was terrorized... But then i learned to make them happy and do exactly what they wanted to avoid being hit again. For me It is wrong to "hit" children. I grew up being afraid of my parents even to this day.

  21 hrs · Like
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  Person 3 said:   I believe you should always hit anything with your bare hand....then there's always a chance you'll know the pain you inflict is real. Especially effective when used with walls!

  18 hrs · Unlike · 2
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  Person 4 said: NO!

  17 hrs · Unlike · 1
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  Person 5 said:  It's like slavery, or taking lead to ease digestion.
  
  Now we know better.

  15 hrs · Unlike · 2
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  Person 6 said:   My father spanked me with a belt... once. And never had to do it again. My mother disciplined in other ways... she had to do it continually! I still respect them both, but my disagreements with my father are much more rational.

  11 hrs · Like
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  Person 7 said:  Why should it matter if they're wearing a belt or not? 

  11 hrs · Like · 3
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  Person 8 said: I personally think any sort of spanking- hand or belt or whatever is wrong. Usually when you spank, its out of anger. And that makes it more of a hit than a discipline in my opinion. The only time I have ever spanked (my child)(name removed for privacy) is when she ran across our busy road without me and was in danger of getting hit by a car. That was only to warn her that by doing that, she could be hurt.

  9 hrs · Like

The real reason we celebrate

I shared this video on Facebook and I wanted to share it here too.

Click here to see the video.

Thanksgiving 2014

flowers for the table

Alyssa looking so pretty!

A cute little side table I have that I put some food on.

Alyssa, Scott, Brenden and Daniel

Here is my Dad and Mom.  My Dad kept hitting his head on my cabinet so I got him a hard hat to wear.  I think he looks cute in it.

My plate that I didn't finish.  

Caleb, my Mom, my Dad, and Jason.

Dan being goofy.

I took several pictures of the children.  This one is my favorite.  They are holding a picture of Jared since he couldn't be there.

When dinner was all done, I let Abby have a couple bites of turkey meat and I let her lick the turkey pan.  She was thrilled and cleaned it up really nice.

Caleb is home from his mission

Caleb's missionary picture taken in Anaheim, CA

The sign we all made him.  At the airport was Lance and Nancy and their family of three children.  Jason, Me, Daniel, Alyssa, Scott and Caleb's best friend in the whole world, Jacob.

Caleb and I after the HUGE first hug.  So great to see him.

First hug with Dad.

Caleb and Jacob.  Jacob is blurry.  Sorry about that.

 Today he will speak in church at around 12ish  noon to talk about his mission. Our Sacrament portion of church that he will be speaking in is from 11:30 to 12:-35.  Caleb will be speaking near the end of the service. Then we will have an open house from 3-5 p.m. with some small snacks to Welcome him home.  You are welcome to come to either thing.  Contact me for the address if you want to go to our church or our home.

Traveling back to Iowa

I keep forgetting to post this last post about our Utah trip. This day is the one we traveled back to Iowa.

Brenden on his way to school.  I'm sure going to miss him.

Brenden and Ammon.

BYU stadium in Provo, UT.  We were driving right by on our way home.

Adding a new temple in Provo, UT

Beautiful scenery as we drove out of Utah.

I saw this at a rest area in Wyoming and thought it was cool.

Passing right through Jared's mission boundries.

Cool sign at a gas station in Nebraska.

Cool statue on the hill.

Sign at a rest area.  Made me grateful I was traveling by car.

Funny license plate

New opportunity

About 3 weeks ago I saw a job posting at work and I thought, "That sounds like something I could do and I really think I would do a good job at that." So on a whim I applied. A few days later I had an interview. The interview went really well at first, but then near the end it was just okay. I was so sure by the end of the interview that I wouldn't be picked for the job. I wasn't asked the "typical" questions you usually get asked so I thought it didn't go well. I was told that by the next Friday I would know. I sent a nice interview thank you note to both interviewers and waited. 

On Wednesday, two days earlier than expected I got a phone call asking me to come down to a conference room. To my shock and pure amazement I was offered the job. I said, "Really!!!!" The person offering me the job said, "Well don't look so shocked! You were my first pick. I must have done a little happy jump in my seat and gasped and he said, "You look so surprised and shocked!" The details were discussed and I was told that I had 24 hours to make a decision. Since I had already given much thought to this new opportunity in my life, I already knew the answer I would give if it was offered. I accepted the job and will be starting the new job as the Loss Mitigation Specialist on the 20th of October. I am excited for this new opportunity in my life to learn more about the banking world.

I will still be at Hills Bank.  I'll just be in a different department than I am in now.  Currently I'm a Document Imaging Specialist.  I look at loans all day.  First I code them, sometimes scan them, check them.  Then I sort the codes to match each loan document, then count all of them.  The job keeps me super busy but it's not what I want to be doing my entire life and since I have to work full time I might as well really love what I'm doing, so it's time to move up, so I've been looking for another position at the bank for the last couple months.  I found this job and thought, "I can do that!"

If you are wondering what a Loss Mitigation Specialist is, basically it is the negotiator employed by a bank to represent their interests in a short sale transaction.  A definition online says this:

loss mitigation is the act of lessening the mortgage holder’s risk of foreclosure. A loss mitigation specialist can propose several plans or strategies to the bank or lender to put the loan back in good graces. Many banks and lenders want to avoid the foreclosure process since, on average, both homeowner and lender stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars. It’s much more equitable if a “meeting of the minds” can occur to agree on a repayment strategy in which both homeowner and lender can benefit.


Anyway, I'm excited and I hope I do well.