Smarter than the Average Bear

Hey, Boo-boo! Have you seen any pic-i-nic baskets?

This past week I got a little sunburned at the pool, so come Thursday I was ready for an activity that involved air conditioning. Our local movie theater has a free summer movie series with two movies playing three mornings a week. We chose Yogi Bear which the kids had seen before but I had not. It was fun and silly and we laughed a lot! But I tell you, the funniest part of the whole experience wasn't part of the movie. Here's what happened:

During a very pivotal scene, Yogi and Boo-boo have to use their homemade Basket Nabber 2000 to save an endangered turtle. The humans, Ranger Smith and Rachel Johnson, give some last minute advice before the Ursuline duo take their homemade gliding contraption off a cliff. Mind you, this thing is made of boat paddles, lawn chairs, and picnic table cloths, and oh yeah, it's a half-live action, half-cartoon movie. So Yogi and Boo-boo save the turtle, ignore the advice, and crash the Basket Nabber. Hilarity all around, the kids and adults in the theater all laugh hysterically. All, that is, except for one lady sitting a few seats down from me. As we all laugh I hear her say, "Idiot!"

Yes, that's right, the woman called the cartoon bear, who crashed a flying glider made of lawn chairs and camp ground paraphernalia, an idiot. I about popped a button I was laughing so hard. Admittedly, the first thought I had was, "Yes, idiot indeed, madam. Idiot, indeed." But then I couldn't (and still can't) decide if her reaction was the result of a serious suspension of disbelief, some sort of brain damage, or a heart that is two-sizes too small. I mean, did you think it was real? Have you lost your will to laugh? Based on the previous forty-five minutes of the movie, did you think Yogi was going to be able to fly the Basket Nabber 2000 without incident?

Anyway, it was a reminder to me not to ever become too serious or forget to have fun. As for that poor lady, all I can say is, Lord help and bless her heart. Know what I mean?

Much Love,
J 

Workouts, groceries, and sharing

Yikes! Somehow I missed posting about our Monday happenings. Mostly we continued our lazy weekend right on into Monday. Holdyn was still feeling less than 100%, so he stayed home while the girls and I made a mid-day trip to the pool. We followed that up with an afternoon nap and early evening lawn work. K and I were aiming to head to the gym on Monday night, but, I tell you, if I can't go to the gym first thing in the morning it seems like forces plot against me to keep me away all together!

Yesterday was more productive. We hit the gym early (5:30-6:30), and it was great! I've added a little weight training to my cardio and I'm feeling stronger (and sore!). Later in the morning the kids and I went grocery shopping. I'm trying to overcome my "under-spending" tendencies which I've determined add more stress to what I consider an already stressful chore. Allow me to explain. I'm not a shopper in the first place and grocery shopping is (to me) the worst kind of shopping there is. It stresses me out. Add to that my tendencies to under buy, wait until the last possible minute (or later) to shop, and try to cram two weeks worth of shopping into one trip...it's not a pretty picture. So, in an effort to be more mindful I've decided to shop every week. I know, it seems counter-intuitive to shop more frequently, but really its proving to be much less stressful. My lists are shorter, my bill is smaller, my trips are quicker -- yay!

Holdyn was excited to spend his lawn mowing earnings. He's been hired by our neighbor to mow their front yard whenever he mows ours and he earns $10 each time. For a 10-20 minute chore that's a pretty great pay scale, score!

I had a meeting with a colleague about a review essay we're writing and then the kids and I capped yesterday off with a late afternoon swim.

Last night was our first official "Family Movie Night" and we watched the first disc of The Fellowship of the Ring. K and I love the movies based on the JRR Tolkien trilogy and the kids have never seen them. I think the first disc was a hit! It's it fun to share your favorite things with loved ones? It's especially nice when your loved ones like your favorite things, too!

What are you sharing this summer?

Much Love,
J

Days 4 - 5 -- The Weekend

Fruit salad with lime dressing. 
I pinned this on Pinterest from Dena at Oh! You Cook!

Saturday and Sunday were busy because of our church's stake conference, but it was a good kind of busy. We were spiritually fed. Saturday also included a visit to the grocery store and Sunday a trip to the library.
Speaking of fed, I've been cooking up a storm from recipes on Pinterest and have found several to add to our regular rotation. Yummy! This summer is shaping up quite nicely indeed!

Much Love,
J 

One-sentence, Day 1

So, I'm going to need more than one sentence. Just be warned I will break the one-sentnece rule, often!

Holdyn earned his Compass points badge, one compass-point, and three other activities pins at scouts last night.

Evie finished Bud, Not Buddy, which has 19 chapters.

Kallie and Evie are practicing roller-blading and getting pretty good at it.

I'm trying to convince K to join me jogging because I'll need a new exercise partner come August.

Much Love,
J

Beginnings -- Summer

Yesterday was the "real" first day of summer break for us. I've been out of school since early May and the kids finished up on May 23, but with two days of room cleaning, a busy weekend, and Memorial Day, yesterday was our first, do-nothing day of summer.

Hopefully, I can convince him to spend a lot of time like this over the summer!

We're reading, playing Uno, and trying not to spend too much time watching TV and playing video games (Holdyn). I've made a schedule. We stuck to it yesterday and I blew it this morning, by sleeping waaaay too late, of course.

I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's memoir, The Happiness Project. I really like it and have found some habits I'd like to cultivate. Foremost of those is keeping a one-sentence daily journal. I already keep a sort of Commonplace book or junk journal filled with to-dos, quotes, ideas, musings, scattered thoughts, whatever. But, I'd like to record our days and be better about keeping this blog, so maybe a one-sentence journal style will work.

My resolutions from New Years have been hit or miss successes. Hits -- I have kept up with exercising and I'm pumped about that! My friend, Mallory, and I have just about finished couch to 5k and are scheduled to run in the Color Run on Labor Day in Birmingham. I'd planned to run a 5k BEFORE my 35th birthday last year, but it didn't happen. The Color Run is Sept. 3, so I'll at least run a 5k DURING my 35th year. Revision is a great thing, no? Misses -- I have not been faithful in writing everyday and the take a photo a day project fizzled after about a week. To be fair, I write A LOT. It just doesn't happen everyday. I'm ok with that right now, but once I begin my dissertation that will need to change. Thankfully, a friend gave me the book Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. It will be a huge help when the time arrives. As for the photo project, I have no excuse except I guess I wasn't as interested as I thought I'd be. I'll try it again sometime, though.

Well, that's a VERY brief update. And I've left out a ton, beach trip, trip to Nashville, 5th grade graduation, end of the year awards, Memorial Day with the family.

Tomorrow...summer continues and the one-sentence journal begins!

Much Love,
J

Push My Button

I recently found this really great site, the Mormon Women Project. The site is a collection of interviews of the amazing, diverse women who belong to my church. I love it! Being a Mormon means we have a lot in common, but being human means that we're different, too. At different times in my life I've struggled with feeling like I'm not enough...not faithful enough, not devoted enough, not Mormon enough. Thankfully, through prayer, scripture study, and faith I've come to realize that it's Heavenly Father who has a plan for me and that's what I should be concerned with, not what Sister So-and-So or Brother WhoBob thinks I should be doing. That's the fantastic think about having a personal relationship with God! Through personal revelation and the Holy Spirit I can be comforted, guided, and assured.

That said, over there on the right side of the screen there's this "I'm A Mormon" button. If you want to know more about my faith and my life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints then you really should press my button. You'll be linked to the site Mormon.org where you can read my profile and then read profiles of other Church members, too.

Of course, if you ever want to talk to me about what I believe and how it influences the way I live all you have to do is ask. So, go ahead -- push my button!

Much Love, J

To Kallie

February 22, 2012

Dear Mrs. T’s 3^rd grade class,

I’d like to tell you a little bit about Kallie. First, you probably already know that Kallie has an identical twin sister name Evie. What you may not know is that Kallie and Evie were born two months early and weighed just over four pounds each. Kallie was born 5 minutes after Evie, so technically she’s the baby of our family. I think she likes that because she frequently reminds us that she’s our baby.

If you know Kallie then you know that she is a really sweet girl and tries to do things to help others. Kallie also loves animals and wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up. Giraffes are her favorite animal and she has a huge collection. At least 10 stuffed animals and several statues. But, what Kallie really wants is her very own, real, live giraffe.  She’s even made me promise that if we ever move to Africa that we’ll buy a pet giraffe!

Kallie likes school, reading, and soccer. She likes to ride her bike and play with her brother and sister. She’s very helpful and she gives great hugs. I really love her, and I’m glad she’s mine!

I could write pages and pages about how great Kallie is, but I don’t have to tell you – you already know her. Thanks for letting me tell you just a few things about my special Kallie!

Sincerely,

Jennie Vaughn (Kallie’s mommy)

A self portrait of my "baby" girl

This week Kallie was chosen to be "Star Student." She got to do something special each day this week and on Wednesday special thing was have a letter about her read to the class. I enjoyed writing the letter about my girl. I don't often take the chance to just sit and think and write about what makes each of our three special. It was a really special experience. I decided to publish Kallie's letter here, and I want to write one for Holdyn and Evie, too.

What things do you do to make your sweeties feel special? Do you find that writing can help you refocus your priorities or rekindle your emotions?

Much Love, J 

Thinking Days

Thankfully this semester I am blessed to have Thursdays and Fridays off. That's huge for me! In addition to allowing time to get chores and housework done, I have two full days for the grad student's trinity -- writing, reading, and research. I call these my "Thinking Days" and I meant it. These two days give me time to breathe, time to work, and time to think.

A photo of Evie from Kallie's iPod. Somehow it looks so tender and sweet. I love it

So, here's some of the things I've been thinking about...

Neil Gaiman's journal is really cool. I've known about Gaiman for a year or so now. I know, his fans probably consider that previous statement unfathomable, but what can I say? I'm learning. If you are interested in writing, writers, or Montana you should really follow this blog. I love to know how other writers (especially famous published ones) feel about the craft. I love to hear about their rituals and habits. If you do too then enjoy!

I am by no means even slightly knowledgeable when it comes to good photography, but like the Supreme Court, I know it when I see it. I somehow stumbled upon this blog, and I LOVE it! I am amazed by each photo, especially the portraits. I love to image who these people were and how they lived their lives. Seriously, add this to your reader now!

I guess this last thing ties the two previous sites together, sort of. Lately, I've become really interested in oral histories and specifically those of Southern women and literacy. The SFA has an amazing oral history/documentary project underway! It combines the things most important to Southern folks, food, people, and stories. I'm going to be beginning a little oral history project of my own. I'll tell you more about that as it unfolds. I'm really excited about it!

I'm using my Thinking Days for thinking about a whole bunch of other stuff, too. But this is the best of it. Gotta go, lots more thinking to squeeze in to the next two days!

Much Love, --J

Some days I wonder...

Some days I wonder what's harder, being a kid or being a mom? This week, I'm definitely choosing mom. Although, I'm having a hard time because of the hard time one of my kids is having. Does any of this make sense? Probably not. It barely makes sense to me! Anyway, I found this video clip about motherhood and through my sobs the words of Jeffery R. Holland brought peace to my soul. I wanted to share it with you; maybe it can help you, too.

Much Love,

--J

Phones

I got an iphone this week.  I know, fancy, right!  Anyway, that's not really what this post is about.  While setting up the phone (does anyone else find the process of choosing ringtones annoying?) the kids came in and wanted to hear the ringtone.  I'd chosen the tone called "old phone," it sounds like...duh...an old phone circa 1950-80 ringing.  So I played the ringtone and all 3 kids laughed and said, "What's that supposed to be?"

WHAT?!

That's when I realized they have never heard a phone with a bell ringer!  I shouldn't be surprised because we've not had a "landline" in all the time they can remember.  But still, it's a shock to the system to be reminded of how much things have changed just within my lifetime.  Both sets of my grandparents had those heavy, black rotary dial phones.  In fact, until I was a teenager my Granny had a "party line."  The old lady who shared the line was ALWAYS on the phone!  Could you imagine that today?  It's not like this is ancient history we're talking about; I'm not THAT old.  (Shut it!  I hear that snorting and snickering!)

My children have never lived without cellphones, video games, satellite TV and the Internet.  They are very savvy, not only technologically so but also environmentally and gastronomically.  They remind ME to turn off lights and not to run the water when I brush my teeth.  They sigh and shake their heads whenever they see people clearing land and cutting down trees.  They question the origin of their hamburgers' beef and want to know if their fruit is organic.  I'm amazed at their sophistication -- I did not teach them a lot of this stuff -- they are just products of their era.

Of course, they are still kids (thankfully).  They ride bikes, play outside, run in the house, and jump on the furniture.  At the same time I marvel at the differences in our childhoods, I smile at the similarities.  It all makes me wonder...what will they live through?  What will their children never live with and without?

Much Love,
- J

PS -- I'm not daft, I know this is not a perfect time we're living in, but I know there is more good than evil.  I would drown in fear if I thought about all the chaos, hate, and danger prowling today.  You can say what you will, but I choose to focus on the positive in the hopes that I can increase the amount of good, beauty, and love in the world.

WOW!

That's all I can say!  I stumbled across this awesome, inspiring blog last week.  Gayle is the mom of four kids and she (along with her husband) eat each week on a grocery budget of $60.  That's right, $60 a week for a family of 6 (including at least one teenage boy)!!!  That also includes toiletries but not make-up, clothes, etc.  Also, they only spend $40 per week on gas ($20/2cars).  They do have a garden and she homeschools the kids.  However, judging by our food consumption this summer that may not be a budget helper!  Perhaps my favorite thing about Gayle's plan is that she doesn't use coupons -- that's right NO COUPONS!  Considering that I absolutely loathe coupons, this chick immediately won my favor.

We used to have a much tighter grocery budget, but lately we've gotten a little lax.  I'm ready to tighten the reins; thankfully not because we HAVE to, but just to be more responsible.  We are wasting a lot and we know better!!  That extra cash could be used to pay off some debt and boost our savings.  I'm not sure I want to immediately cut back to $60 per week, but I'm really considering $80.  We'll see.

So, not to be nosy, but I'm wondering what do you spend each week on groceries?  What about clothes, shoes, gas, etc?  Just wondering...

Much Love,

--J

Finished...almost

Yesterday was the last day of my last class for my Masters degree!!!  I'm done, sort of.  Now I have Comprehensive Exams -- eek!  Thankfully, my English Comps are on a seperate day from my Education Comps.  I think I'd keel over if they were together.  Summer is plugging along.  The kids are loving vacation bible school this week, the library's summer reading program ended last week, and Holdyn's birthday is Sunday. 

I know I've been woeful in my blogging duties this year.  I'm not keeping a very good family journal, nor am I keeping up with my bloggy friends and family.  It looks like I'm going to have to break down and become a "follower."  You know I hate that term -- weren't we all taught to be leaders not followers?  So, I'm going to become a Subscriber instead.  How is that different?  I don't know, just humor me, umkay?

Anyhow, I pledge to better fulfill my blogging duties.  I'll get some pics up this week, too.

Much Love,
-Jennie

News

The Country Vaughns got some big news this week. I've been accepted into the PhD program in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Alabama. We are super excited at what all this entails! I've been offered a graduate assistantship as well, which means a move is required. In the next few months the Country Vaughns will be in full renovation completion mode so that we can get Vaughn Farms on the market and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed)sold. That's right, the plan is to bid farewell to this little piece of land and move the country mice to the city.

The kids are excited at the idea of living "in town" where they can ride bikes, play sports, and possibly (gasp) walk places!

For now, we're enjoying little league basketball season, my student teaching (I LOVE IT!!!), and just being together.

So, we'll see what happens over the next 6 months. It should be exciting, stay tuned!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010 is here - can you believe it? This holiday season was a whirlwind of fun, food, and family. We loved every minute of it! In addition to Christmas and New Year's K and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on 12/30. We enjoyed a quick get-away to Gatlinburg, TN and spent New Year's Eve and Day in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. The kids got to stay with the grandparents and were treated to a roadtrip to Chatanooga with Aunt Lacy and Uncle David. BIG thanks to those two brave souls! ;)

As we headed back to Bama from TN we were able to stop by and visit with K's brother and his family - the Knoxville Vaughns. We don't get to spend enough time with the Vaughn families and we miss them dearly!

Everyone had a great time on their respective trips and we're glad to be back home on "the farm" getting ready to head back to school and work next week.

I'll start my "Clinical Field Experience" aka student-teaching on Monday and the kids head back to school on Wednesday. Thankfully, I will be spending my semester at Ragland High so we can all go to school together until late April. I'm so grateful that things worked out that way!!

We hope that 2010 is full of blessings and happiness for all of our friends and family!

Much Love,
the Country Vaughns

Merry Christmas to All...

Well, we're in full-on Christmas crazy mode here! I'm going to unplug for the rest of the month, at least, but before I do I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Even though it is totally crazy here we are making a special effort this season to focus daily on the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This year, more than ever, we are concentrating on His love, birth, and sacrifice. We're thankful for all that we have been blessed with and pray that we can be instruments to bless the lives of others!

We echo the words of the prophet Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon who testified:
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father - That by him and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God"

We all are sons and daughters of God. Christ is our elder brother. They love us as we love our families. May these thoughts bring you peace in these perilous times in which we live!

--Merry Christmas and Much Love
the Country Vaughns

Life-changing

This may sound ridiculous but I've made a recent discovery that has changed my life! I love to cook and expecially love to bake; but, my free-time is venturing into the negative now with no remission in sight. In the past I've seen lots of recipes that call for using frozen bread dough but I've never found any at my local store. That is, until I noticed that Sam's Club sells their frozen pizza dough by the case. I really like their pizza crust and thought having some on-hand might cut down on the take-out and frozen pizza purchases. Plus, it is pretty cheap, $19.95/case of about 20-25 dough balls. Anyway, here's the life-changing part...

I've discovered that I can use this dough for all kinds of stuff - cinnamon rolls, hot sandwiches, calzones, really anything bread-related - just thaw, roll-out, and bake. AWESOME!! I'm so excited I just had to share!

Once again, something so simple and ordinary has made me happy. I doesn't take much!

PS - K just told me tonight that he actually got the case for only $16.00 at our Sam's even though it was marked as $19.95. Another use? Hawgs in Sleeping Bags (ie big pigs in a blanket). I rolled the dough out, cut it into long strips, laid pieces of cheese on the strips, and wrapped them around hot dogs. Bake at 400 for 20minutes - YUMMY!!!

My way

This week has been a dilly! Multiple ups and downs all around. Anyway, we've been struggling particularly with Holdy-boy this week. He's super sweet and so smart its actually scary but, he loses focus so easily I find myself having very un-Mommy-like meltdowns.
I think we both had a break-through this week after a lot of tears and strife. The climax came Tuesday after several school days of leaving/forgetting books, papers, and assignments at school I had had enough and snapped (it was not pretty). My snapping caused him to immediately tune me out (of course, wouldn't you?).
However, one comment brought all my self-righteousness crashing down and humbled me. We were reviewing his vocabulary words and got to "independent". The definition that he is to learn is something like "doing things by yourself, without help from others means you are independent." I, thinking that I was really going to teach this little punk a lesson, said "What does independent mean?"
Holdyn: "um, well, it means, uuuuhhh..."
Me mad: "Oh come on, listen, Daddy and I are trying to teach you to be independent; that means we are trying to teach you to do things, what?"
Holdyn: "Your way."
Me: no response, I felt like someone just got in a good gut punch.

Ephiphany - I should be letting him find his own way to do homework, study, and learn. My way isn't the only way. I can share my ideas with him and give him permission to find out for himself. If I want him to be independent, truly independent then he needs to fail, have hard times, and learn to think through his problems not just immediately employ my solution.

Needless to say, we had a good, long, rational talk. No yelling, screaming, and dictating. I listened to him. I'm embarassed to say that may have been the first time I actually listened to what my son had to say - what he thought and felt. While I'm not anticipating perfection from either of us in the future. But, at least on Tuesday we made progress and both matured a little.

Ya Follow?

photo from www.gamesetwatch.com

I've been thinking about this for a long time. Is it just me or is anyone else bothered by this whole "Followers" thing? Probably just me, but let me 'splain. Back several months ago when Blogger started promoting this whole following thing everybody started putting up their "Followers" widget and people started following their favorite blogs. I know its a nice way to always know when your faves are updated and all (I even have 5 followers of my own). But the whole thing really creeps me out. I think its the term "followers" itself. It conjures up images in my twisted brain of some crazed cult leader, wearing a bedsheet, black Nikes, and a feathered headress exhorting everyone to, "Drink the Kool-aid" of my blog. Weird, I know. What can I say?
As a result I have never become a "Follower" of any blog. Although, as you can tell by my own blog there are several blogs that I do, um, follow with a frequency that some might call religious. Oh Jeez, now I'm creeping myself out!
Another thing about following -- it's become quite the status symbol. People display their followers' cute little pictures on their sidebars and give extra giveaway entries for following their blogs (don't even get me started on Tweeting, RS subscriptions and all that nonsense). Please know I'm not judging anyone who follows or has followers!!! It all just seems creepy and wrong to me.
That said, I hope none of my followers decided to "un-follow"(?) me. I'm honored that you'd want to follow me anywhere or even care about my mostly incoherent ramblings on this here blog. Thanks!

Question: Who, what, when, where and why do you follow? Am I really the only person to think the term "Followers" is creepy? (I wouldn't be surprised if I am. I'm totally weird and over analytical) I want to know what you think, follow me?

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

It was "7th Circle of Hell" hot out today! We headed over to Hoover for a Rugby tournament today. My Bro-in-Law Blasen was playing but it was so hot we didn't stay long enough to see his game. We visited with my sister Sara, him, and the kiddos for about 45 mins. before the heat did us in. We poured our melted bodies back into the van and headed home. I love summer in Alabama but, there are days when going outside is just not doable - ugh. Today was one of those days!

The other Jennie Lee Vaughn...spooky

So, I'm the only one working in the office today. Needless to say, it's 3:09 on a Friday and I'm bored senseless. I've been on the internet passing the time after working on school work, listening to music and watching a movie on my ipod. Anyway, here's what I found when I "Googled" my name...

There is another Jennie Lee Vaughn out there an apparently she is an actress. She's been in a bunch of stuff (I've mostly never heard of). I, of course, never assumed I was the only Jennie Lee Vaughn out there but it is really weird seeing someone else with your exact name.

I'm sure she's nice and all but it gives me a little shiver to think about it. Plus, I wonder how many more Jennie Lee Vaughns are out there in the world? Yikes, now I'm freaking myself out just a little...

Question - Is there someone out there with your exact name? Who?