. . . zippers i've known . . .

. . . you won't catch me

on this ride at the state fair . . .

. . . ever . . . . . . one of these days

i need to learn to

"install" an invisible zipper . . .

. . . as for right now,

these are the

zippers i've been

worrying about . . .

{terrible photography}

. . . but, things are starting to look up . . .

. . . so now i believe i'll just . . .

. . . zip it . . .

. . . multi-tasking . . .

. . . from the looks of my posts . . .

. . . you might think that

vicarious back surgery

& burp cloths are my life . . .

. . . you might be partly right . . .

. . . especially lately . . . . . . the thing is . . .

. . . sewing, for me, is therapy . . .

. . . it is a stress reliever . . .

. . . & it has less calories

than potato chips . . .

. . . besides . . .

. . . say, for instance,

network coverage of the

olympics that night consists of

the women's marathon . . .. . . the . . .
. . . entire . . .
. . . race . . .

{when really, all i care about are the highlights

- you know -

one runner elbowing/shoving another to get to the water station,

a runner nearly tripping on someone's discarded water bottle,

muscle cramps, stuff like that}

. . . it's good to have a little project

to keep you busy . . .

- you know -

. . . multitasking . . .

. . . just wondering if anyone noticed

the giant step i took

out of my comfort zone? . . .

. . . orange? . . .

. . . are you kidding me? . . .

. . . seriously, though,

there is more to my life

than my husband's back problems

& sewing silly burp cloths . . .

. . . i'm also really good at

waiting for my missionary son's emails

every monday . . .

. . . i'm deep . . .

. . . tmi . . .

. . . warning: you may wish to

avert children's eyes . . .

. . . my poor husband is

{to say the least} hurting . . .

. . . imagine my surprise, then,

when i heard him say today . . .

"you should take a picture of this

& put it on your internet"

{i'm pretty sure he meant blog, but,

pain medication, blah, blah, blah . . .}

. . . that suggestion

& the fact that he's already shown it

to several friends in person {right, girls?} . . .

. . . led to this photo shoot . . .

. . . let me explain what it all means . . .

. . . the lower right owie

{the really yucky one}

is the site from which

the original battery was removed . . .

. . . on the left

{x marks the spot}

is where the new battery

was implanted . . .

. . . the smaller bandage is

where they made an incision

to anchor the newly implanted leads . . .

. . . & that, my friends, is the

END

of this spinal cord stimulator 101 lesson . . .

. . . honestly, you know you see

at least this much

every time michael phelps swims . . .

. . . one•o•one . . .

. . . it's sort of trendy to acknowledge

certain milestones on your blog . . .

. . . like when you reach

one hundred posts or something . . .

. . . yeah . . .

. . . totally missed that one . . .

. . . so in honor of post number

one hundred one . . .

. . . we're taking the one•o•one today . . .

. . . it's another surgery day . . .

. . . we've got our fingers crossed . . .

. . . competitive spirit . . .

. . . i don't have a lot of it . . .

. . . but i do LOVE to watch the olympics . . .

. . . as evidenced by the dark circles

under my eyes . . .

. . . or is it that blasted blepharitis? . . . . . . however . . .

{and i'm not sure who is to blame for this}

. . . why, oh, WHY must

the summer olympics

AND the presidential elections

be held in the same year? . . .

. . . because i'm a little tired of

seeing this face ↓ . . .

. . . and i'm downright nauseated
at the sight of this one ↓
during commercial breaks . . .
. . . now, i know it's inevitable
that these two will
continue to go at it . . .
. . . but, please,
just for a couple of weeks,
could this ↓ be
the only competition we see? . . .
. . . thank heaven for my dvr . . .
. . . and exciting 4x100m freestyle relays . . .

. . . popping up . . .

. . . like mushrooms . . .

. . . honestly ~ overnight

this little forest appeared . . . . . . spurred on, no doubt,

by crazy monsoon rainstorms . . .

. . . they are quite magical . . .

. . . halleigh is convinced

these are, in fact,

inhabited by gnomes and fairies . . .

. . . project of the day . . .

. . . a few little "back to school" treats . . . . . . for some super cute girls . . .

. . . what a blessing . . .

. . . remember this cute little guy? . . .

. . . he's a couple of months old now . . . . . . he got really chubby . . .

. . . and lost his hair . . .

{some fell out & some got buzzed off}

. . . today was his blessing day . . .
. . . this is his dad, chris, who did the honors . . .

. . . family pix with four little ones . . .

. . . is quite an adventure . . .

. . . take one: photographer ruins photo . . .

. . . take two: halleigh ruins photo . . .
. . . take three: best of the worst . . .

. . . {sorry, halleigh} . . .

. . . speaking of blessings . . .

. . . time for a blessing on the food . . .

. . . everyone's ready, i see . . .

. . . bffs tate and knuckle brent . . .

. . . {he can't say "uncle"} . . .

. . . i thought about calling this post

seriously, so blessed . . .

{because i am}

. . . but i just couldn't . . .

. . . four/twenty . . .

. . . well, one-third of a year has passed now . . .

. . . and the email we received this week

included NO PHOTOS . . .

. . . so, instead, i bring you

President Daryl & Sister Nansi Nancollas . . .

. . . they're new {as of July 2008}

to the Mexico Mexico City North Mission . . .

Their biography as published in the Church News {February 2008}: "Daryl Nancollas, *47, Murray 33rd Ward, Murray Utah Parkway Stake; counselor in the stake presidency; former counselor in bishoprics, ward Young Men president, high councilor and missionary in the Peru Mission. International Land Transactions Manager, Farmland Reserve Inc. Born in Calgary, Alberta, to Carl P. and Martha Strong Nancollas. Married Nansi Lee Richards, five children. A ward Relief Society president, Sister Nancollas is a former stake Young Women and Primary president, ward Primary president and counselor and counselor in ward Relief Society presidencies. Born in Preston, Idaho, to Leo Max and Phyllis LeFevre Richards."

. . . Drew's assessment so far:

"I met the new Mission President yesterday.

He's going to be awesome."

Stay tuned . . .

*who knew children could serve as mission presidents?

. . . possible sytycd boycott . . .

. . . william wingfield, age 21, eliminated . . .

. . . i realize it's been nearly a week now, but . . .

. . . is anyone else as mad as i am about this? . . . . . . honestly, people . . .

. . . he should have won the whole thing . . .

. . . it kind of makes me

not want to watch any more . . .

{but, i will}

. . . and yet, i can't wait until

the tour tickets go on sale . . .