Archives for November 2012

My Denver Post column: Budget room makeovers and being consumed by the jaws of Hades

The two most dreaded words in my vocabulary are “assembly required.”

So the whole DIY (do-it-yourself) trend gives me hives. I am the very antithesis of handy, and eagerly defer to The Husband for home projects.

That is what makes the following story that much more shocking: I attempted to restore a set of cabinets. By myself.

While my house generally gets a passing grade for cleanliness, I fail when it comes to organization. I recently decided to do something about it and ascertained that a storage cabinet for my daughter’s art supplies would be a good start.
Read more: Johnson: One mom’s lessons from a budget child’s room project – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/smart/ci_21922553/johnson-one-moms-lessons-from-budget-childs-room#ixzz2BM6vV0ib

Hadley with Grandma after making over her room

Political Ads: Are Your Kids Noticing Them? (My 9News Interview)

The end is near.

No, this isn’t some doomsday announcement but rather I’m voicing my relief we will finally be witnessing a ceasefire for all the political ads, tweets and Facebook postings. I almost resolved to go on a media fast but then remembered, “Oh. That’s what I do for my job” so I’ve muddled through it, trying to remind myself this is a privilege! We live in a free, democratic society where people can openly voice their opinions!

Now, after tomorrow’s election, will everyone please shut-up? 🙂

Last week, TaRhonda Thomas from 9News came to my house to interview me about what to tell kids about the scathing political ads on television. Click here for the video.

If you haven’t already voted, remember to do so tomorrow. I’m Canadian so will be doing it in spirit. Last weekend, I scored this great “voted” badge from Colorado Ski Country USA at the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Expo.

I’m what I like to call “politically neutral.”

It’s a fall frenzy: in pictures!

My computer refuses to read my iPhone picture files so I have a backlog of pictures waiting to be uploaded. Which means I’ve had to email myself each picture and then save it on my desktop. Which means I can’t be bothered to do it.

However, fall is flying by and I’d be remiss if I didn’t make mention of at least a few things we’ve been up to. Haddie has started piano lessons and Bode has wrapped up soccer. Other activities include:

Swim team at the YMCA. Haddie is loving it and I’m loving I can go workout in the weight room during it.

Except for on Fridays when I bring Bode and his bestie Sean to swim. And yes, I said swim. If you’ve followed Bode’s swimming missteps, you’ll realize how truly miraculous it is that he’s finally swimming.

Then there was the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey’s DRAGONS.

Tennis. We’ve been playing every Monday night for FHE for almost two months. Bode, in particular, is obsessed and is begging me for lessons.  I told him he has to wait ’til spring. Even this Canuck has standards about running around the tennis court in the snow. But apparently no standards when it comes to taking over the skate park and using the bumps as a net.

Bode started basketball at the YMCA. Though all the players were a year older and a full head taller, he held his own. This is Jamie coaching nervous Bode about the rules moments before his first basketball game ever. It’s called death-bed repentance.

There was stargazing with our besties at the Pine Valley Ranch Park observatory.

That activity deserves an entire post unto itself. Which I plan to write in all my spare time.

Though I’ve been crazy-busy with work and meetings, I try to carve out a few days every week for an adventure. I’ve become moderately obsessed with biking every trail at North Table Mountain Park in Golden.
Well, in this case hike-a-biking because some parts were STEEP.

Then, there was Mount Falcon Park. Denver recently received a healthy dose of snow so my hike started with views like this. And changed to this as I reached the summit.
And yep, I was in my element.

Speaking of snow, we hit the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Expo where we skied.
If you count that makeshift ramp.

The kids also attempted the Gibbons’ Slacklines (think: hip tightrope), an insanely popular up-and-coming sport. They attempted it over and over again, only venturing out a few feet. Apparently balance ain’t our thing.

And my favorite activity of all: the Denver Curling Club brought a curling demo! As a Canuck mom, I finally felt like I was not failing my little half-breeds in the Ways of the Motherland.

Lest you think we’re all play and no work ’round here, service is always worked into our routine. Here are my boys at building clean-up day at the church. Haddie’s charter school threw a huge harvest festival that was a throwback to yesteryear with butter making, straw crowns and corn husk doll stations, chili and a charming dragon play.

My little bird

And, of course, these activities don’t even touch upon all our Halloween festivities, pumpkin patches and parties. This week, I’m supposed to go to Dallas for a conference Thursday through Sunday. Poor Bode and Jamie are sick so I’ll be nursing them back to health with chicken noodle soup and lots of snuggles the next few days.

I think we’ll all welcome the break after a fabulous but frenzied fall.

Another warning to parents everywhere

My dad and brother Jade are middle-of-the-night eaters. I am not.

However, I recently had an extreme lapse in judgment as I trudged to the bathroom at 2 a.m. We had eaten a light dinner and I spotted the kids’ candy bags, which we were erroneously storing in our bedroom to prevent them from snacking.

And at 2 a.m., Snickers sounded like a really good idea.
I partook of the forbidden fruit and within minutes, I was BUZZZZZZED. And on speed.

So, consider yourself warned: Snickers Really Satisfies…All. Night. Long.

P.S. Today is my brother Jade’s birthday. I dedicate my late-nighter unto him.

Halloween 2012: The Slime Bucket, Digging for Eyeballs and the Pumpkin’s Celebrity Encounter

This year, Jamie was delighted when The Great Pumpkin had an encounter with celebrity. TaRhonda Thomas of 9News fame was at our house interviewing me for an unrelated story and was flabbergasted with what she found when she pulled up to the house. And unlike some broadcast journalists I’ve worked with in the past (read: snobby), she’s every bit as fun and lovely as she appears in the picture.

One of the bonuses of having kids at different schools is they had their Halloween parties at different times so I was able to give each of them my undivided attention. I started with little B. The volunteers were divided up into different stations. The Room Mom asked if I wanted to do the craft.

“Err, no thanks,” I politely declined.
“Really? You look like the crafty type,” she responded.

I assure you that’s the first time THAT has ever happened.

I instead volunteered for the messy slime bucket, which was green jello that was refrigerated with plastic body parts. To demonstrate, I stuck my hand in it and pretended it was getting devoured. What’s Halloween without a bit of traumatizing?

For Dorothy’s party, she was thrilled she was the kid who got to put the finishing touches on her teacher’s mummy wrap and did a muzzle over her mouth.
I’m sure she was thinking, “That’s for all that miserable math homework.”

They did plenty of crafts and games and once again, I volunteered for the messiest of them all (sensing a pattern here?): Searching for eyeballs (marbles) in a mass of brains (spaghetti) with their feet. Disgusting. Especially when the brains got accidentally flicked down my shirt.

That evening, we met at our fire station where they handed out drinks, cupcakes, cookies, free HarperCollins children’s books and then a fire truck led a parade.

From the archives: 3-yr-old Bode at the parade. #Love

Our neighborhood pretty much rocks Halloween.

This is the first year we’ve been able to carve The Great Pumpkin because it’s usually rotting down the driveway. Since the weather was so nice (it’s been 70 degrees), we sat on the porch to hand out candy and could hear the stunned reactions of the trick-or-treaters. A large crowd was usually congregated around the pumpkin to take pictures. The Pumpkin Man was in his element.

Our neighbor Steve told us his wife Angella took a picture of their family with The Great Pumpkin. She’s a pharmaceutical rep and made it into a card to hand out to various doctor’s offices and clients. He said it was an awesome conversation-starter and opened a lot of doors.

Next year, I’m demanding a commission.

Mother of the Year Advice: How to comfort a child

On Sunday morning, I found sweet Bode melted down in a pool of tears in my bathroom. I had sent him in there to scrub off his Mario mustache from our ward Halloween party the previous night. His attempts were in vain.
“I CAN’T GET IT OFF, MOMMY.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Sweetie. You won’t be the first 6-year-old to go to church with a mustache!”