I just figured out that all blogs you "follow" using Google Friend Connect will continue to show up in your Google Reader and you won't loose them, even if private. What a breakthrough. 

Here's what you do if you're already a "Regular" around here: Even if you already follow (and if you see your icon, then you do) click on the Follow box on the left side of the screen. Then opt to follow using your Google sign in and you're set. If you aren't following, hello, what are you waiting for??

Here's what you do if you have a private blog: Make sure you upload the "Follow" widget on your blog layout page so that others can follow and have your blog linked to their Google Reader. It is so much easier because once you're signed into Reader you don't need to sign into each blog even if they are private and going private seems to be an epidemic with blogs these days. Wink!

I think we're alone now....

Have you ever been absorbed in a conversation with someone when an innocent but interested third party walks up to join your conversation? You don’t want to be rude and stop talking all at once so you give your friend the look that says “I’ll finish my story later” and smoothly transition into a generic topic of general interest. That is what my blog had turned into for me; just generic information about my family’s life.

I had friends who started blogging way back when and I stomped my foot and said I would never have one.  Then when Katie and Jacob moved to St. George I decided to start a simple blog that would keep her up to date on us without having to pick up the phone (but let's be honest, we still did that every day anyways, didn't we?).

My "simple" blog turned into my new hobby. It was an outlet for me to chronicle the random events of our lives and I could stretch my artistic muscles and create pretty things for me to look at and I loved it. I thought it would also be a great place to showcase the FibreNew work Olen was doing and I created a “Biz Blog” too. I linked to my friend’s blogs in my ward and around town and in about an hour I could catch up on ten or more family’s while sitting at my computer chair and in my pajamas. Then I learned that there was a whole blogging community and blogs about food, travel, politics, art, design – everything! You could gather followers by linking to networking blogs and the more comments you left around the www the more you could get back. It was mind-blowing.

If you’ve blogged at all, you know that you’ll get about one comment for every four or five people that actually visit your blog. The first time I got a comment by someone I had never met before, I got a little freaked out. This meant that at least four other people that I probably didn’t even know had read about what our family was up to without me knowing it. I changed our blogspot url from 'the-reynolds-rap.blogspot' to this current 'astoldbymolly.blogspot'. I started going back and deleting our last name and any personal information like the name of our ward or city. I deleted entire posts about our FibreNew franchise because I didn’t want any weirdo to find us through it. I remember feeling sick when I came to one post that actually said what school Porter went to.

Using code names and omitting information worked for me for a while then I started feeling limited to the things I could actually share about our family because I was never sure who was reading and I didn’t want to paint a misleading picture of our daily lives to those who didn’t know us. One time I posted about a hunting trip totally dictated to me from Porter about the time him and Olen and his uncles went hunting for coyotes. I re-read that post and it dawned on me that people who don’t know our family (or more accurately, the Reynolds side of our family) may think that we are totally barbaric and cruel. It bothered me that I felt that way, why should I worry about what strangers are thinking about my family? Dunno.

I’ve been tossing the idea of going “private” with our blog for a long time but always put the idea away because the competitive side of me was having too much fun showing off my gorgeous children and writing about the everyday adventures of our hum-drum lives. I thought, what do these popular “mommy blogs” (slang in the blogging world for stay-at-home-moms who blog about poopy diapers and casseroles) have that I don’t have? I can do this! But do you know how long it takes to gain readership? I was spending hours (usually after midnight) reading poorly written essays about some stranger in some place who’s kid did something that day that she thought was worth writing about. This person left me a comment and so I was leaving her one to keep the comments coming. Ridiculous, but that’s how it works.

For Spring Break I put myself on a mandatory blogging time-out. I was amazed with how much I could get done in a day when my mind wasn’t preoccupied with keeping up with who’s commenting and who’s posting. You know what? I didn’t miss it at all. I figured out that the people I really care about and the people that really care about us didn’t care if I left comments back or how cool my pictures are and they already know my kids are gorgeous and they were usually apart of whatever hum-drum adventure I was writing about anyways. So why was I wasting my time on these entire stranger’s blogs and making my real-life people suffer? Dunno!

When Chris and Katie moved to Colorado I started emailing our updates and a lot of my emails started out “Here’s the rest of the story I couldn’t write about on the blog…” (And I’ve sent a couple e-mails like that to my BFs too.) Now that Chelsea and Mitch have r-u-n-n-o-f-t to Virginia, I don’t want to write a blog for strangers and send separate e-mails to the people that really care about what’s going on. That is stupid. I’m done being stupid. And so I think that catches us up to where we are now! In our own secret club.

I don’t plan on blogging any more or any less. Actually the only changes will be improvements like getting to tell the whole story instead of cryptic details and I’ll use real names for people and places and I think this is going to be really rad. So, if you’re reading this, then you’re one of the select dozen or so people who I invited to continue this journey with us. I really want to keep this a small crowd, but if anyone actually asks me about the blog going private then they’ve passed my secret test and I send them an invite, too. Sometimes I am tricky like that. I just figure if people care enough to ask then they should be apart of our secret club. As long as they are people that I wouldn't mind knowing in real life.

But being one of like nineteen people, show a girl some love and leave me a comment once in a while, will ya? You must be someone we want to keep in our pocket as we go through this crazy little thing called life. So stick around awhile, take off your shoes and let’s get back to where we left off…

I'm going to gush about Olen rocking FibreNew now.

Here's a fun job he did a couple weeks ago. There were four seats like this taken from a jet that belonged to a guy in the [let's just say] magazine business. Yes, even the seat belt buckles are gold plated. Olen re-dyed all four leather seats black and I think they turned out pretty sharp. Andrew (my 17 yr-old little brother) started working with Olen this past weekend and Olen said he did great. I've always thought with Andrew's natual artistic ablilty the task of mixing and matching the right color of dye or repairing a rip or filling cracks in plastic would be a no-brainer for him. Olen is excited to have his new part-time employee and I think it's pretty fun too.

  

So yeah, Chelsea and Mitch are in Virginia now. I took only one picture last Monday afternoon before they left, but it's not something I can post even on a private blog. Sisters, mascara and water works, you get the idea. 

 

Here's my Cub Scout at our Pack Meeting last week. Yeah, we totally made that space derby the night before while watching The Blindside. Olen, Porter and I all took turns shaving, sanding and shaping the body of the rocket and then I put the motor together and Porter painted it. Can you guess why he chose that shade of orange? Yup. He wanted it to have the same paint job as the General Lee. He's priceless, I tell ya. Well, our last minute efforts surprised us all - he came in second! He was so proud and Olen and I were so relieved. Olen as the Cub Master and me as his den leader should be more prepared with this stuff. I'm thinking if we start now we have a pretty good chance of first place at the pine wood derby next month.

 "London, how does your face look when you feel sad?"

This girl...oh boy. She is a big reason I need to take a few steps back from the blogging thing. We're going to start preschool and field trips and other projects together. I can tell that she is going to be my challenge and I need to be her champion. I'm number two child inbetween an older brother and younger sister and I see a lot of me in London, so I know I've got my work cut out for me, except this time I'm playing the role of mother. I love this wild child more than words.

Last but not least, here's our Baby Blue Daisy Lou.

(This is a low-res picture the studio people gave me to tempt grandmas into buying photo packages.)

Daisy and I went to get her 5 month-old pictures done a few weeks ago. She charmed the photographer with her dimples and overall cuteness, and then fell asleep. She is such an angel, and I know that sappy parents say that about their babies all the time, but seriously, if you've ever held her you're probably nodding your head right now because you know I speak the truth. She really is such an angel. Sleeps from nine to six every night, only cries if she's poopy or hungry, she'll cuddle right under your chin and let you snuggle her for as long as you like and she even lets London kiss her head a few times before calling for help. Look up 'angel' in the dictionary and this is what you would find: 

Okay, I can tell I'm going to like this.

Thanks for signing in to read up on us, I know it can be a pain, but every secret club needs a secret handshake or password or something and I'm glad it's just us in  here.

Yes, this is going to be fun again.

It's Been Swell

“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than [people] to be loved.”
-Thomas S. Monson

Welcome to the last post on As Told By Molly. The blogging vacation I took during this past week of spring break has reminded me how much of my own life I’ve been missing out on while keeping up with the virtual lives of others. I needed that reminder. The time has come to start living my life again without devising the next blog post.

Now without further ado, I give you Spring Break. I lived and loved every minute of it.

Thank you for sharing your lives with us and don’t be surprised if you see a little letter m in your comment box every now and then.

Weekend of Awesomeness, Days 3 & 4: Hello and Goodbye

“Why does everyone want to go away? I love being home. But I don’t like being left behind.”

Beth March, Little Women

The last two days of our Weekend of Awesomeness were not that awesome. Saturday night was the good-bye party for Chelsea and Mitch who will be moving to Virginia. My memory card died and all pictures from this night went with it. Sunday was family pictures and dinner before Christopher and Katie leave back to their Colorado home. Both nights were great, really they were. I loved visiting with grandmas and grandpas and cousins and friends, but while celebrating my brother’s arrival and my sister’s departure I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’m going to miss them all over again when they go away. That's the not so awesome part.  

These are my people. Take a look and you'll understand why my life is awesomest with them in it.

Frequent flyer miles, meet Molly.

Weekend of Awesomeness, Day 2: El Cuatro Reunion

I’ve known these girls since I was fifteen, but we haven’t been all together at the same time for eight years. Until last night. Amazing grace, girls. Amazing grace.

Molly, Lisa, Camille and Briauna

Lisa's non-baby shower at Nandos.

Weekend of Awesomeness, Day 1: Sushi Happy Hour

Katie and Chris are home for a couple weeks.

Chelsea and Mitch leave in a couple weeks.

Just trying to make the most of these happy hours before they run out.

Wordless Wednesday: Cankle Glory

You Have The Right: My adventure with our judicial system.

On January 5th I was hustling home from an afternoon of errand running when I took a short cut that turned into the long way.

We wanted to take the kids to see ‘The Princess and the Frog’ and if I didn’t make it back within the next half hour, we would miss the matinee showing. I was speeding home when I abruptly came to a school zone at the bottom of a hill. I was driving alone and probably had my music turned up too loud. I didn’t slow down as quickly as I should have and as soon as I entered the school zone from the corner of my eye I saw the flashing lights from the policeman’s motorcycle.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” He had on those metallic sunglasses that only show your own reflection when you look into them.

Yeesh. Really? Let me guess… “Does it have something to do with the school zone?”

“Uh-huh. License, registration and proof of insurance please.”

Anyways. Turns out that I hadn’t put the new 2010 insurance card in the glove box yet and I was going 20 mph in a 15 mph zone. Double fines because it was a school zone. Ouch. But here’s the real kick in the crotch; he also gave me a ticket for the restriction I had on my driver’s license.

“Where’s your glasses?”

I held up my sunglasses that I had taken off and put in my lap because I think it is good manners to show people your eyes while talking, but that’s just me.

“No. Your seeing eye glasses?”

Huh? Oh! “I don’t wear glasses anymore. I had Lasik about seven years ago.”

“According to your driver’s license you should be wearing glasses. Get your eyes checked at the Motor Vehicle Department and they’ll give you a new license. Show it to the judge and he or she will drop the charge. Here you are. Drive safe.”

What the what?! I understood the first two, but this other citation for not changing my driver’s license was crazy to me.

I got my license changed; this required a four-hour field trip to MVD hell. I dug up the receipt for my Lasik and got a letter from the eye doctor saying I could see without corrective lenses. I got our current insurance cards that showed coverage on our vehicle at the time of citation. Then I took all this to the judge on my court date last month.

Olen came with me to court because I couldn’t convince him I would be alright on my own. When the judge called me up to the front she looked at my file on her desk and told me about my two civil citations and my one criminal offense (the driver’s license one). She said it was a Class 2 misdemeanor and then read me my rights (“You have the right to remain silent…etc.) and how a misdemeanor is punishable by a $750 fine and/or some amount of time in jail that I can't rememember because my brain blacked out when she said "jail". She said that with a guilty plea she could see my evidence and dismiss charges and jail time for the insurance and driver’s license charges and I could go to traffic school for the speeding ticket one.

“How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.” I don’t want a misdemeanor on my driving record!

She said if that was my plea then she couldn’t make any decisions and I would need to be rescheduled to appear again at court and show my evidence to the state prosecutor. She told me again that I wouldn’t have to do that with a guilty plea. Then Olen came up to the judge’s “bench” from the sitting area and freaked the judge out. She made him state his name and birth date and had him sit back down. Poor guy just wanted to hold my hand is all.

“Well, if I said I was guilty I would have a misdemeanor on my record, right?”

“Yes, but that means different things to different people.”

What does that even mean? “No. I am not guilty.”

“Okay, see my clerk and get your new court date. Thank you.”

First I was really mad at the policeman, but I don’t think he would have given me a ticket if he knew just how complicated it would be to correct the citation. Well, I like to think he wouldn’t. Then I was mad at the judge for wasting my time and the state’s money on making me come back. Then I made myself really stressed out that the prosecutor would not dismiss my insurance and driver’s license citations; I was fine with going to school or paying the speeding ticket, I know I did wrong there.

Today I went to court for the second time to fight this thing off. This time I made Olen stay home. I signed the check-in clip board in courtroom 305 and took a seat. I sat and watched the people around me get called up for parole and restriction order violations and DUIs and thought how laughable it was that I was there because I don’t wear glasses anymore, but my license said I did. (However, I do have glasses I wear at night because I get fuzzy halos around the street lights when I drive. It’s a side effect from my corrective surgery.)

Well, the sharp young prosecutor called my name and I followed him back to a small room with a desk and a couple of chairs. He opens his file and tells me my options again and some deal the state was offering if I pleaded guilty. Then he took a look at my receipt, new driver’s license and insurance card and with two strokes of his pen crossed them off my file.

“With the big ones out of the way, I think the state will move to dismiss the speeding ticket as well.” One more stroke of the pen.

“Dismiss? All of them?” Prayers were just answered.

“Yes. Just wait for the judge to call your name and he will give you your copy of the dismissal.” Then he smiled and I like lawyers.

On my dismal form it says “Reason for the motion:”, and under is hand-written, “In the interest of justice”.

Sunday Drive

When Olen proposed marriage he promised we would see the world together. The pages in my passport are still waiting to be stamped, but I have seen all of Arizona’s highways and byways and sideways. I’ve seen it all from the passenger seat next to Olen.

I think Sunday drives may be my favorite road trips of all. We’ve ended up at the foot of the Superstitions chasing the sun set for that perfect shot, circling Saguaro Lake talking about how we’ve never taken the whole family on the water yet, or just going the long way to grandma’s house for Sunday dinner. Sunday drives are the best.

Today’s drive took us to Tucson where Olen was able to participate in the baby blessing of one of his lifelong best friends, Johnny. We were loaded and on the road with the sun rise.

Porter and London thought a nap was a good idea except for Daisy who was wide awake and fascinated with the window and watching the scenery fly by. Olen and I played our favorite road game of “What would you do if we won the Powerball” and even though we always have the same answers it never gets old to dream about them coming true. We also discussed our crazy upcoming week and put some finishing touches on our Spring Break plans. London started to get car sick (she is very good at telling me, thank goodness) so I got to experience the only grocery store in Arizona City. It was super busy and they had only two lanes open but I’ve never been in and out of a grocery so quickly in my life, no rants here. Porter read the entire March issue of The Friend and then the rain started to come down in bullets. It rained and rained down the I-10. Olen talked about how full the lakes were going to be with all the rain we’ve been getting and the amazing fishing trips to come. I talked about how tall the weeds are going to be with all the rain we’ve been getting and the amazing yard work to come. Then just as I we were starting a discussion about our priorities, we were home.

I'm not that mean; he gets to go fishing plenty.

And I will most likely hire my little brothers to do the weeds anyways.

Porter started to feel sick after reading, so I told him to keep looking out the window. And he did.

London never keeps her hair clips in, but I do try.

I crawled in the back seat next to Daisy for a while. What can I say? I am such a sucker for blue eyes.

I love Arizona.

Olen, Johnny and James.

Friends since first grade.

Thanks again for the drive Rachel and Johnny. James, you're next!

Grocery Store Rant

I just started unloading my full shopping cart at the grocery store when the person behind me sets his armful of purchases on the conveyer belt. At first I was thinking, “Okay. Maybe he didn’t notice I still have a full cart of groceries to put up here.” But I was getting really steamed having to put one item at a time on the belt as his items (light bulbs, shoe polish, frozen pizza and 24-pack Pepsi) rolled closer to the cashier. I finally had to ask him to hold his things back while I finished unloading my cart. I tried to ask nicely, but not really.

Another time I was at the other end of my cart loading my bagged groceries while the cashier finished scanning the last of my items and totaled my bill. The line behind me had grown and the person next in line had already loaded the conveyer belt with their stuff and was leaning on the debit card swipper-thing with debit card in hand. I was in such a hurry that day and had no time for patience. I said, “I haven’t paid yet. Are you offering?” He looked shocked (Duh?!) and backed up. I ran my card and wished the cashier a great day.

And in closing; I don’t like these Walmart’s labels.

Aren't people interesting?

Do you have your own grocery store rant?

Go ahead, let it out.

Wordless Wednesday: Change is in the hair...er...air.