A Dream Vacation Getaway Awaits You...

Tired of the daily grind? Bored with your same routine? Stuck in a rut? Want to get away from it all? Then escape to the beautiful western suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. You will be amazed at all this paradisical destination has to offer.....

white, sparkly sandy beaches snowy streetsbeautiful viewsdelicious cuisine intriguing local wildlife

a variety of recreational activities

Act now! Book your trip while you can--it's prime tourist season for sure. You don't want to miss the Midwest this time of year! See you soon!

A House of Order?

I'm in that mood again. The throw-away mood. The feeling of being overwhelmed by all the junk in this house. Too much clutter. So, with the sun shining brightly on this cold February day, I started "spring cleaning." My friend's daughter is in Andrew's kindergarten class, and she dropped her off to play this morning. With Andrew and Kate playing pirates and hide-&-seek, I was able to spend some quality time with my kitchen cabinets.

I can hear you asking yourself, What exactly did she do this morning? To the outside viewer, these pictures may still look like extremely cluttered and unorganized cabinets. But to the trained eye of one who visits these cabinets daily, I see marked improvement. The things I am most excited about? Finding a place other that the closet floor for my crockpot, creating a new home for my beloved muffin pans, getting all of Porters supplies in one place, and filling a huge garbage bag with mugs, cups, old cookbooks, mismatched plastic containers and lids, and lots more.

And, dear readers, this is only the beginning. Still on the agenda for today? New shelves for Emma and Leah's hordes of stuffed animals (if it fits, you can keep it--if not, it's out!), another round of garbage bags to be filled by the kids with junk from their rooms, sifting through the stuff in the various baskets around the house, and tackling this very desk I happen to be sitting at. Oh man, am I on a roll. I'll keep you posted...

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

I would have to say that my favorite day in California was Monday...we all rode the BART into the City by the Bay. I thought it would be fun to go to Chinatown since it is Chinese New Year, so Dad and I looked it up and found some fun places to check out. I was a little worried that it would be crazy crowded, but it wasn't at all. We walked past all the souvenier shops, found the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, oohed and ahhed over the red lanterns hanging everywhere, and ate some great mu shu pork at Chef Jia's. The only disappointment was that the "street fair" turned out to be ratty game booths run not by the local Chinese but by people who looked like they were pulled off the nearby street corner. Not quite the cultural experience we were hoping for. Also, the little Chinese outfits that I thought were for American Girl dolls turned out to be wine bottle cozies. Other than that, it was "filled with sights and smells that overwhelmed us." In a good way.



It was still early in the day, so Stephen suggested we head to Coit Tower. He warned up about the steep hills and stairs, but we were up for the challenge. He wasn't joking. It was quite a workout. But so worth it. The view was amazing. It was a perfect, clear day, and we could see the whole San Francisco area, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz to the East Bay. On the east side of the hill we saw some steps leading down. People were heading down, so we decided to follow, even though we didn't know where they lead. It turns out they were the Greenwich Street Stairs, which go right down Telegraph Hill between cute houses and beautiful gardens. We were also fortunate to see the famous "Parrots of Telegraph Hill." We walked right out the the Embarcadero, went out on Pier 2 to take some more pictures, and then walked back through downtown to the BART station. All in all, we walked almost seven miles and saw a lot of the city. We had beautiful weather, Jenna did great, and we burned enough calories to not feel guilty about our dinner at Sweet Tomatoes on the way home. I have now added this day to my list of the best days of my life...something I may blog about later. In the meantime I am just grateful to have had a day worthy to make the list!

Toto, I don't think we're in Cleveland anymore....

It can only be California when...

It is warm (high 60's) and sunny every day

Flowers are blooming in February
Your "Chipotle" dinner is the real deal

A one-car accident causes a 45 minute traffic jam, preventing you from attending the temple
You can find It's It ice cream sandwiches, a junior high snack bar treat, in the supermarket

These nubby trees are everywhere
You can have a s'mores / Reese's PB cup frozen yogurt

You get to be there for Jenna's first birthday party

Californa Dreamin'

My dreams come true today! California here I come! I will try to bring home some sunshine and warm weather for everyone.

A Sunny Snow Day

Yesterday the temperature dropped into the single digits and that's not factoring in the wind chill. There was blowing snow and ice everywhere. Sure, you'd rather be indoors in your pajamas, but who'da thunk we'd be getting a snow day out of the whole deal? And it seemed the schools made the decision pretty early...Melissa called me with the news around 9 last night, and the Ryans were called by their school district at 8!

The funny thing is that it is a nice sunny day...no sign of the blizzardy conditions from yesterday...until you go outside! It is bone-chilling cold out there. So that means that the kids are not going out to build snowmen in the sunshine. Well, we just make do. The kids and I got the basement cleaned up, I got dinner going in the crockpot after spending almost an hour on the treadmill, and then we've had a day of cousins. The Chattertons came over for a bit in the morning, and then Tyler and Becca came over for lunch.

Tyler brought over PS2, so Andrew was in 7th heaven. They played basketball, football, hockey, and snowboarding. The girls had a little American Girl olympics. The featured events were soccer, karate, gymnastics, and basketball.

The girls then decided to make some chocolate covered pretzel sticks for a snack and for the FHE treat tonight. They did it all by themselves and they turned out very pretty and very yummy.

So even though it feels like the north pole outside, we're nice an cozy inside. Andrew is wearing shorts and a t-shirt as usual, so all is right with the world.

Trimming the Fat

I love throwing things out to try and reduce the clutter in the house. However, not all family members are on board with this concept. In fact, no one is. Until this weekend.....

Friday night I was catching up on Oprah, and there was an organization expert who claims that you cannot lose weight until you lose the clutter. In other words, if your environment is not a healthy one, you will not be able to make healthy choices. They showed a family who of course was an extreme case of clutter, disorganization and uncleanliness. But SOMEBODY happened to be in the same room, on the couch next to me, working on the computer and this person must have picked up on some of the things the guests were talking about because.....

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I went to the church at 11 and was gone for a couple hours. I walk through the door and Glenn excitedly grabs me and says, "Come upstairs--I have to show you what I did!" I walk into our bedroom and see two huge shopping bags full of his old clothes! Do you realize how big of a deal this is?!?! Glenn voluntarily went through his things and set items aside to be removed from the house. I am so proud of him. He may have been inspired by me giving each of the kids a bag and telling them to fill them with junk from their bedrooms. Sometimes a little Oprah can do us all some good.


I am so excited for Friday, when the Purple Heart Veterans come to take away all these bags. Now if only I could lose the corresponding weight from my body.....