Ode to Indoor Plumbing

My Mom always asks, "Do you feel like a new woman?" after I take a shower. Yes indeedy, Mom, I DO feel like a new woman. Today I gained a new appreciation for hot showers. You see, I haven't showered in days (sick & teething baby=no shower for momma). As I washed my hair, I thought about what an awful pioneer I would've made. I hate having dirty feet and I'm sure those folks back then always had dirty feet. I love the fact that before I go to bed, I can go to the bathroom sink, turn on the water, and VIOLA!!! hot water to wash my feet. And yes, I do this every night. A little obsessive, I know, but we all need our rituals.

I must confess that I was tempted to just stand in the shower. I suppose I could have justified that one since I haven't showered in several days, but instead I figured I'd shave my legs. "What's the occasion?" you ask. No occasion.

That reminds me of the year I decided to be rebellious. Some pierce body parts. Some go get a tattoo (I'm so behind on the times...I had to look up how to spell tattoo). Some go do drugs. Me, I quit shaving my legs. I decided that I was no longer going to be a slave to society's vision of beauty. Plus, I was living in Rexburg for 8 of those months. When it's 100 degrees below zero (so I exaggerate) no one with an ounce of sanity wears shorts.

Even though my leg hair was pretty light, people did take notice. It was a great conversation starter. It's crazy what a big deal some people would make of it. I mean, it's just hair. All sorts of questions were asked, but the most common was this: Do you shave your armpits?

The answer was an emphatic, "YES!" Why? One word...Bacteria. (You can do your own research on that one) I didn't want to be known as "The Stinky Girl." Nobody wants to be her.

House Guests

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Mouse,

I've noticed that you have made yourselves welcome in my basement. Let me remind you that you were not invited into my home. I realize that it is very cold outside, but you'll have to vacate the premises immediately. Perhaps you could find shelter @ the neighbors...I hear their cats LOVE mice.

Sincerely,

Paige A. Knighton

P.S. Hope you enjoy the peanut butter!

What's Cookin'?

Early this morning (I'm talking just after midnight) I was awoken by a pounding from downstairs. Being very groggy, as I'm sure most of you are @ this point in the night, I just assumed it was part of a very realistic dream. Then, I heard it again. Hoping it would stop, I ignored it. But it didn't stop. So, I promptly leaped out of bed...quite annoyed, I must admit. As I passed through the kitchen to head downstairs I shut the oven timer off. (You may wonder why it was on. I'll get to that in a minute.)

I truck down the stairs and look in the boy's room, whispering to my first-born in a yelling sort of way (that may seem contradictory, but that's really how it was), "What are you doing?!?!?"

He whispers, "The timer."

NOW who had the right to be annoyed?


P.S. If you back up to about 10:45 pm, I'll explain why the timer was going off:

I was taking bread out of the oven and thought I'd just go ahead and cook the lasagna I'd put together for Wednesday's dinner. You see, my oven has a fancy feature that allows for unsupervised cooking. It only seemed logical to use the oven while it was already hot. So I set the oven to cook the dish for 1 hour @ 350 and I was off to bed. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I'm pretty sure the timer is not suppose to go off when the cooking is done. The oven is suppose to simply turn off. I figured the food would stay hot until I rolled out of bed a few hours later, but things rarely go as planned.

I LOVE THIS KID!!!

It occurred to me the other day that Carson will be 5 soon. Where did the last 5 years go?!?!


He is at a fun age.

He says silly things. He uses big words.

He throws fits on occasion, but gets over them quickly.

He gets hurt ALL of the time, but gets over that quickly too.

He is an obedient boy. It is pretty easy to persuade him to make good choices...

but every once in a while he throws me for a loop.

The other night, as we were kneeling down for family prayers, he decided that he wanted to kneel on top of a stool.

Very kindly, I asked him to kneel down on the floor with everyone else.

He responded, very serious, "Mom, remember, I'm my own self's boss."

I couldn't help but crack up in laughter.

Better to have laugh lines than frown lines.

Girls 09 Boys 11

We are excited to welcome the newest addition to the Knighton Family. Russell and Amanda had a bouncing (I suppose he's probably not bouncing just yet) baby boy early this morning. Apparently, they are pretty good @ the boy thing as well. That puts Frances and Gaven up to 20 grand kids...what a posterity! With 7 boys bearing the Knighton name I think we can be assured that this branch will not be dieing anytime soon.

Simon Russel and his Mama

Good work Amanda! We look forward to meeting baby Simon.

Make My Day

As a mom, there are definitely ups and downs. Some days I get along with the children wonderfully. Others don't go so well. I suppose I have to experience the bad to truly appreciate the good. It's nice to finish off the day by finding something like this on my pillow:

She melts my heart!

A night on the town

Doug took me out to his work Christmas dinner. It was fun to have a kid-free night.

We even held hands!

Reminiscing

Yesterday I mustered up the gumption to clean out my sock/underwear drawer. No matter how many times I tell myself I'm going to reserve this drawer only for my unmentionables, I end up with tons of odds and ends in the far left corner. Here's what I found today:

some change one of the kids probably placed for safe-keeping,
umbilical clips from 3 of my babies,
a bunch of keys from who knows what (I don't dare chuck them for fear that we'll need them),
a tuft of hair from Gabe's recent cut,
Lisa King's address,
matrioshka doll head,
a picture of Doug from our wedding reception,
a polished rock from my grandpa,
a Book of Mormon (yes, that is duct tape),
mother's cub scout pins,
a necklace from my parents,
an anniversary note from Doug, and
various other bits.

So, what should be a quick 5 minute job ends up being an hour long tour of the past. I'm glad the top drawer is mine. Where else would I put all my memories?

Don't let this sweet smile fool you...




This boy is TROUBLE! He loves to de-light the tree on a daily basis.

Speaking of lights, this is a ground breaking Christmas in the Knighton home.

I'm a white lights girl through and through. White is classic. It matches with everything. Come to think of it, my mom is a white light gal too. I must get it from her. Anyway, this year we've gone colored. And it's not because I had a great epiphany. It's just because I'm cheap. You see, we found this excellent artificial tree @ a thrift store for $20, lights included. I'm not about to go and buy new lights when this tree already has 2 sets of perfectly good lights, even if they are colored. So we shall have a colored Christmas!

As we sat admiring our colorful tree this afternoon, Garrett asked me when we were going to get "a star on top that lights up." I quickly responded that I thought those were kind of chintzy. When I think of a lit topper the first word that comes to mind is tin foil (I guess that's two words). I may change my mind. I may become really tacky in my old age. Who knows, maybe you'll peek in my living room window and see our tree topped with something like this:
And maybe we'll have tinsel too!

The Knighton Workshop

My Saturday started out with a quick clean of the house, then on the the designated project of the day: 90 Christmas gifts for the primary children. Can you say Insanity?!?! We had tried to get them done earlier in the week, but had MANY stumbling blocks along the way. (I think it was the devil!)

Aunt Jemima or Rosie the Riveter, you choose

I love power tools! (I can't figure out why this script is so small!)

the finished project, the top one's my favorite

After much nailing, sanding, painting and gluing, they were finished, without a moment to spare. I really mean it. The Christmas party was @ 6:00. At 5:45 I was gluing the last picture onto the frame, giving me just enough time to take a quick (and I mean quick) shower.

my very own handyman :)