Heel Salve

This is not a picture of my heel, but my heels have looked like this for years.  I have had painful cracks that develop in the winter time, and the scruffy, roughness was pretty much the norm, not to mention they don't look so great.  I have tried different products but finally lucked on to J.R. Watkins Foot Repair Salve. 

It comes in this tin, and I apply the salve to my heels each morning before I put socks on to exercise.  I use the tin to apply the salve without getting it on my hands.  So convenient.  It will take some time to work through the callouses I have developed over time, and this will be a necessary step in my day from now on, but my heels are so much improved.

Getting Around To It

I hung some pictures in the basement guest room and bathroom on Friday morning, added some decor to my bedroom, plus thought to rearrange a few other larger pieces  After two and a half years almost, with the picture frames sitting on the guest room floor downstairs, I figured it was about time I got around to hanging them up.  I thought it was funny though, my kids asked if I was bored because I wanted to change things around.

I need to change out the matting in these frames because they are old and discolored and matching mats would look better, but at least the pictures are now off the floor.

Cultural Celebration Practice

The girls along with youth from stakes in Colorado and Wyoming have spent countless hours in preparation for the Cultural Celebration next weekend prior to the dedication of the Ft. Collins temple on Sunday the 16th.

On Saturday, the girls had to be in Cheyenne, WY most of the day to practice.  All of the stakes had been practicing separately, and this was the first time they had come together to coordinate and practice together.  It was great that the weather cooperated so nicely.  Aren't they lovely chicas?

Misha Making Breakfast

I went outside for a walk on Saturday morning, mentioning to Misha before leaving the house, that she should make breakfast. (She was the only awake at the time.) I was impressed that she was actually up making breakfast burritos when I returned from my walk thirty minutes later.

Drain Cleaning

Another nasty job--cleaning the girls' shower drain.  And that's the problem with having three girls using the same shower who have long hair. They happened to mention when they were arguing over whose turn it was to clean the shower and over who never cleaned the hair out of the drain, that the drain was not draining properly.  It was pooling around their feet as they showered.

Alert**Graphic Gross Pics Included**As I cleaned the shower drain, I thought, "Ughghh!  And no one thought to mention this any sooner?"  The drain smelled like a cesspool. 

I pulled a huge hair ball out of the drain with this handy little tool.  Go ahead, buy a package of three. You'll need it if you live in a house full girls.

Scary Halloween Costumes

Kristen asked if we could check out the Spirit Halloween store at Flat Iron Mall when we were there on Friday checking out dresses for Misha.

This was one of the most scary costumes that Kristen and Sophie tried on:

Shopping for Homecoming

My girls are both planning to go to Homecoming this year, both with groups of friends.  I took Amy and Misha shopping a couple of weeks ago.  They both found dresses, though Misha's was long and formal.  After purchasing the dress, I suggested that maybe she would want to keep the long dress for prom (which was more formal) and see what Amy had in her closet that might work.  Misha wasn't too keen on the hand-me-down idea.  I told her I would take her one more time, but that we might not keep the long, formal dress.

Sophie W. came along, which was great to keep Kristen occupied while Misha tried on dresses.  We were fortunate to find a less formal dress for Misha along with some cute 1" heels.

In between dress and shoe shopping, we looked at a few stores and had dinner in the food court.  Kristen and Sophie both spent money at Fuzziwigg's, a candy store.

Don't these soda flavors sound delicious?

The Last Round

To say that Amy was not thrilled to get braces for another round, would be putting it mildly.  She had her first round with Dr. Lang to bring her two front teeth together so that her lateral incisors would could in.  Once those teeth had room to descend, the braces were removed and Amy's remaining teeth were allowed to come in.  Round One.

Round Two was a little more of our making.  Our dentist said that he could probably apply a few brackets to Amy's teeth to bring the gap together and then add a little brace on the back of the teeth to keep the teeth together.  Unfortunately, because of Amy's slight overbite, she kept knocking the brace off the back of her teeth.

After visiting Dr. Lang last spring, he suggested that Amy's jaw really needed to be aligned to make lasting changes.  Amy reluctantly agreed to another round of braces, AFTER her senior pictures had been taken.

As we drove to Dr. Lang's office on Tuesday morning, I had brought an apple to eat since we would be there for at least an hour.  I offered a bite to Amy and she took off a huge chunk.  She said she wouldn't be able to eat apples again for awhile.  I offered her another bite and again she ate almost half my apple.  I looked incredulously at her and said, "You're like a little gerbil eating all of my apple."  At least she laughed and was in a good mood.  I stopped offering my apple to her.

As she sat in the ortho chair, Amy made the stipulation to Dr. Lang that she wanted to have her braces off by graduation.  I added that graduation was at the end of May.  Dr. Lang said he would do his best to work with her.  She will have her schedule moved up and will see Dr. Lang every four weeks instead of every 6 to 8 weeks.  I think he wouldn't have agreed so readily if he thought that achieving the desired result wasn't doable by then.

She has a full mouth of braces, but still looks beautiful.

He Needed a Stool

Now this is rare site indeed at my house.  Not someone standing on a stool, because the fact that we have stools all around suggests that they get used (by me!), but Chris standing on a stool!  Make that TWO stools.  That is rare.

Early Canadian Thanksgiving

Today was a perfect day for a turkey dinner.  We enjoyed General Conference on tv and celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a week early!  Can't beat that.  And the turkey was delicious indeed. And the rolls.  I haven't made rolls in awhile.

Good Job Mom!

I had exchanged some clothes for Misha and tossed them to her as she sat on her bed.  Unfortunately, I tossed the bag of clothes a little higher than planned.  The ceiling fan caught the bag and flung it across Misha's room.  Misha looked at me with a surprised face and exclaimed, "Mom!"

Saturday Projects

It seems as though the Saturday projects are never-ending.  Chris and Misha worked on cutting the grass Saturday morning--Misha was more than happy to mow now that she had such a fun mode of transportation.

Chris took a short break to go into Longmont to help move a piano at noon and then came home to spend the rest of the afternoon scrubbing scum off the bottom of the jet skis.

I purchased 14 new "dwarf burning bush" plants (they were half price at Home Depot!); it took me much of the day to get them planted and move a few other plants around.  I also ran drip lines to each of the plants for watering lest you wonder why it could possibly take so long to plant 14 bushes!

Someday they will grow up and look like this:

I haven't even started to beautify the backyard.  And the beach....  The Saturday project ARE never-ending!  That's okay, Chris and I are project people.  We will always have something in the works.

Chocolate Milk

Every once in awhile, my kids will pour chocolate milk on their cereal.  Rice Krispies especially.   So, I was a little humored when I saw Chris followed suit one morning.

Kristen's Art Work

Kristen loves being an art and goes through reams of white paper practicing.  Her use of the kitchen cabinets, yarn, and bag clips to dry her latest water color creations was rather clever.

Front Door Handleset

I have really liked the look of the Aged Bronze door fixtures from Schlage, although the exterior fixtures have not retained their look so well.  I did a little research on restoring the shine.  Different websites, including Schlage's recommended warm soapy water using a mild soap.  I used the kitchen dish soap and got to work.  The cleaning removed some of the aged, dirty look, but did not restore the shine at all.

So, after a little more research.  I found this website that recommended using olive oil: 

http://www.simplehouseexpressions.com/2015/09/15/restoring-dull-oil-rubbed-bronze/

As I read through the suggestions, I noticed that the author would change to a drying oil next time.   I had grape seed oil in my cupboard, a semi-drying oil, and decided to try it.  The before picture is from the basement door.  I forgot to get a before picture of the front door, but its look was similar to the basement fixture in the before shot.  Not very pretty!

Here's an after shot of the front door.  A remarkable difference.  I lightly rubbed the grape seed oil on to the hardware and then buffed it with a dry section of the same cloth.

So, I took my soft rag and oil down to the basement door and applied it there as well.  I learned that using the warm, soapy water treatment FIRST on the other doors actually did make a difference.  I'll do that next time.

Misha Braces

This is not the usual face Misha makes at the Orthodontist's office.  She usually has a scowl because she has not enjoyed having braces for the second time.  However, this time she found out that she will have her braces removed on the next visit--October 19th!!!  Happy day!

Amy, on the other hand, will probably have full braces applied in a couple of weeks.  She was not thrilled, but she needs to get them aligned.

Kristen still has TEN baby teeth to lose before braces will be an option for her.

Chris at CNN

The company Chris works for, CA Technologies, launched a new product designed around understanding the "user journey"--how people interact with digital apps.  CNN was a partner and used the software on their new CNN politics app.  As part of the agreement, CA launched the product from the CNN studios in Atlanta.  While it was intended to be a customer webcast,  CNN provided a full production staff, rehearsal time in the studio, and everything else equivalent to the show airing on actual TV.

Chris was one of the presenters for the broadcast.  His portion was concise, easy to understand, and effective (besides Chris being some nice eye candy!)  He was such a confident presenter that he did not need to use the teleprompter.

It was pretty surreal to sit in actual anchor chairs and look into the teleprompter.  My portion of the broadcast was to explain and give real-world examples of the problems our product solves and to tie the CNN story into software we want customers to try themselves. 

A "watch party" was held at the College Football Hall of Fame down the street from the CNN studios.  Chris headed over there after the broadcast and was able to tour the facility as well.

I've Been Translated

Chris sent me this text earlier today saying, "I've been translated.... just not how we thought."

This is his bio for his Japan trip later this month:

クリス・クラインは、CA Technologiesアプリケーション・パフォーマンス・マネジメント（APM）ビジネス・ユニットのプロダクト・マネジメント担当バイス・プレジデントです。現職では、APMリーダーシップチームの一員として、CA APMソリューションの方向性と戦略を定めるとともに製品の改善点や機能リクエストの優先順位付けを行っており、お客様の声をAPM開発側に伝えることを主軸に活動しています。プロダクト・マネジメントに携わるまでは、長年にわたり、APMのテクニカル・プリセールス・コンサルタントを務めていました。Introscopeと関連製品については幅広い経験を有しています。

CAに入社する前には、IBMでミドルウェア・アーキテクトおよびITスペシャリストとして勤務し、ミドルウェア製品のWebSphere MQファミリーを主な担当製品としていました。また、エンタープライズ・ソフトウェアの管理/保守を支援する自動化製品の構築を主に行った経験も有しており、この革新的な業務を遂行するうえで、6件の特許を申請しました。さらに、UNIX/Linuxシステム上でのスクリプトと開発によるタスク自動化についても、高いスキルを有しています。

ブリガム・ヤング大学で、ビジネス・マネジメントを専攻して優秀な成績で学士号（BS）を取得したのち、情報システム・マネジメントで修士号を取得しました。出張で世界中を飛び回っていないときは、マウンテン・バイクを愛す3児（娘）の父としてコロラド州デンバーに暮らしています。

Amy's Senior Photo Shoot

Amy had senior pictures taken by Becky Payne of Bphotogenic.  She has been taking our family pictures for years.  I took a couple of shots of Becky and Amy through the process,  held the reflector, carried stuff, and helped Amy with clothing changes all while smacking the nasty mosquitoes.  Amy and I both came away with numerous bites.  Somehow they didn't bother Becky.  We'll post some of the final shots once we make our selections.  These are a few of my shots as I tried to stay out of the way yet still document the process.  I can't NOT take pictures.

My New Purse

Because if you have been following me at all, you know that I have to have just the right purse. And I have been on a search for the past year. I bought one purse from Amazon and realized that it just wasn't what I wanted.  Fortunately, I was able to return it.  Then I bought a second purse from Ebags through Amazon.  I had hoped it would arrive before our vacation this summer, but was excited to see it instead when I got home.  You can imagine my surprise when they sent me the WRONG purse!  Seriously, was I just doomed to not have a purse?  I had to work a little magic to get the purse returned through Amazon but with credit through Ebags.  And finally my new purse came.  The right one this time.

As I was sitting next to Chris in church following the arrival of my new purse, he noticed my purse and picked it up.  "Is this your new purse?"  I nodded.  " I would have picked something just like this for you.  I like it."  The stars were in alignment!

Making Bread

Misha has requested a few times recently for me to make my whole wheat bread, because, in her opinion, it is even better than the french bread I buy sometimes.  Since the weather has been cooler, and I remembered to grind wheat the day before, I made bread for Misha.

Sharing

Amy has been sick recently, so to minimize the sharing of germs, I asked her not to eat strawberries directly from the serving bowl but to get her own bowl.  She proceeds to grab a plate, adds one strawberry to it and keeps the rest for herself.

Cleaning the Front Porch

I am not one to decorate for Halloween, but my front porch was beginning to take on the look of spookiness with cobwebs and bugs and yuk.  I originally went outside to clean the window on the front door as well as the sidelight windows, but one thing led to another, and four hours later, I finally reached a stopping point.

I took the two big lamps apart using a step ladder to reach them.  It still wasn't quite tall enough for me to see the top of the lamp to unscrew the screws.  Ewww, the things my hands were touching!  I didn't even want to know what might be falling in my hair as I tried to brush cobwebs off the covered porch ceiling.  (Insert subconscious scratch of my head!)

Apparently the one lamp is a good perch for birds.  That poop was an inch high!

After cleaning the lights and assembling them back together, I cleaned the office window, swept the bugs from the stucco, swept the dirt from muddy shoes on the door mat, hosed down the concrete, and put everything away.

Clean makes me happy.