What's on your Netflix Queue?

Lately Mia has been adding movies to our Netflix queue. She also knows how to send them to the top of the queue. I was checking it out tonight in anticipation of returning some tomorrow. This is what was on our list...

1. Barbie: A Christmas Carol
2. High School Musical 2 - we have yet to see the first one
3. Cinderella III: A Twist in Time - We have seen this
4. Tinker Bell
5. Flushed Away - We've seen it
6. Air Bud Spikes Back
7. Air Bud
8. Shrek (Widescreen) - we own it
9. Shrek 2
10. Shrek (Full-screen)-remember, we own it
11. Shrek the Third - watched it about a month ago
12. Horton Hears a Who!
13. Kung Fu Panda

That's my girl!!

Loopy

I about going on a 15 hour day on 4 hours sleep. I be loopy and I caint spell.
This is making the rounds on my girls' Facebooks. I think it would be mighty fun to assign ourselves to a personality and offer up who we think matches these personalities... Incidentally, I had many of these books when I was about six!
I think I am the geek and I will admit it, the annoying one. I think Valerie is about 4 of them and Matt is CLEARLY the "one that always gets hurt."

Uncle Roy

Two weeks ago, my uncle Roy passed away at the age of 87. He was my father's youngest brother, the last of twelve covenant children of John James and May Belle Fisher Croshaw to leave this mortal sphere. He was certainly a favored uncle of mine. Some of you may remember him. I regret that I did not make him a more prominent part of all your lives, as you would have benefited from knowing him. Mom and I attended his funeral in Utah. The experience confirmed what I have always known of him: his was a life honorably fulfilled. Following is the entry I made in his family's online guestbook. If you would like to read more of him, see his obituary.

Roy Fisher Croshaw was a benevolent, honest, and gentle man. All who crossed his path were the better for the experience. He impacted countless lives for good. It was an honor to call him Uncle.

We do not doubt his distinguished graduation to an exalted level of the Spirit World for a jubilent reunion with his progenitors. Together they will continue to advance the cause of truth as they did here in mortality. The world and we lingering mortals are all the lesser from Uncle Roy's passing. We are now left to follow his principled example, and fill the void.

Respectfully,
The David Croshaw Family

Idol II

I feel like this is a repeat of last week! Barf!

I do not like ANYONE but Allison, she really did a great job with "Alone!" It is SUCH a difficult song to sing! I did not like Kris at all and do not know what Simon, Paula and Randy were talking about, that Michael Jackson song was awful. I feel the same about Megan from SLC.

I wanted to like Matt, the welder, but I don't, though he is another "good guy."


Normund Gentle is funny though, but a teeny bit belligerent to the point I really don't want to see him back on in a couple weeks, but that is my opinion.












I did like Jesse though, I thought she did a great job with Bette Davis Eyes.



I was not a lover of Adam, but I am betting that Randy mentioning the word "Twilight" will get all the little girls to vote for him. Sigh.

Family Blog Evening, No. 2

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” Proverbs 16:32

I've learned something recently, and I thought it might be a good subject for FBE. I've been working really hard on controlling my negative emotions or at least the expression of them. I hope Alex forgives me for sharing something rather personal.

A couple of weeks ago I got upset at Alex for something, (the relevance of which is not important at this time) but I didn't tell him I was upset, because I've learned that many times when I'm angry I say things I shouldn't and then I end up feeling much worse than I did before I say them. But I was upset and I was justified and as much as I tried not to be angry, the angry feeling didn't go away. I sat and stewed over this issue for a good day or two, but I prayed that I would be able to see the sitaution through Alex's eyes and know if I was in some way not being fair in my assessment of him and the situation.

At the end of the second day, I went to bed only to be woken at about 3am as Alex was closing the bathroom door. I sensed that something was wrong, so I asked him if he was sick and he said "no". I then asked him if he was stressed, and he said "yes". He hadn't been able to sleep at all that night he was so worried about work and other family-related issues. We then talked about it a little bit and I held him tight and eventually he fell asleep. It was one of those intimate "growing closer" moments. We all have them with our spouses, our siblings, our kids or our friends. They are the moments when one is suffering and the other aleviates their suffering a little by just being there. I knew at that moment that had I allowed the anger I'd felt earlier in the day to overcome me, I would have missed this opportunity to peacefully and lovingly support my husband and strengthen our marriage. And not only that, the expression of my anger would have compounded the stress he was already feeling, which makes me cringe now that I understand the kind of pressure he was under.

I remember once shortly after I came home from my mission, Becky said or did something that made me really mad. (Of course, now I have no idea what it could have been.) I prayed in that moment that I wouldn't get upset and amazingly the feeling of anger vanished. Of course, at that time my levels of self-control and my proximity to the Spirit were probably well above-average, but still...it worked!

We all know that families and homes are destroyed because of anger. President Hinkley reminded us: "So many of us make a great fuss of matters of small consequence. We are so easily offended. Happy is the man who can brush aside the offending remarks of another and go on his way. Grudges, if left to fester, can become serious maladies. Like a painful ailment they can absorb all of our time and attention."

"I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you will do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful."

We all know how wise and good President Hinkley was and I know what he said is true, because I did it and felt the peace he described and my home was a better place because of it. This week, let's all commit to do a little better and not say things we'll regret. I'm sure if we do it, as President Hinkley has promised, we'll notice the difference in our homes...and ourselves.

croshaw home updates

i just erased my first blog. do not navigate away from the page when you are looking at the photos. the kitchen is almost done, and while we had the guy here working (rusty jackman), we decided to get a few things done in the pretty in pink bathroom. get your last look at the pink formica. any ideas on paint color? i would love green, but i already have three green rooms. i am thinking blue, dad is thinking not blue. anyway, we are excited. the tile is a bit dark upstairs, but it is really pretty. i am thinking of a light countertop. anyway, i hope you are all well, especially my darling grandchildren. xoxo mom/debby

p.s. included a photo of dad working on dana and jason's kitchen.

Three down, nine to go

Just have to say that I couldn't be happier about the way AI turned out tonight. I thought David and the Grace girl were the best, and I really wanted Michael, the rough neck. What do y'all think?

The Next American Idol

My picks from tonight

Annop

Tatiana

RickeyBraddy

Danny

Alexis

I am just going to put it out there.  I think Danny Gokey will win.  He is amazing, inspiring, humble, and cute.  And MAN.  He can SANG!

I also liked AnoopDog, and RikkyBobbi or whoever was second.  The only girl I really liked was Tatiana (say it aint so!).  Alexis did ok though.

I was so uncomfortable with the horrid performances that I fast-forwarded through most of the rest.  The girls were smoking hot, but terrible vocalists! TERRIBLE! Especially the one in the photo behind Danny.  

Biggest Loser a la Croshaw

Abby and I have been emailing back and forth trying to devise a new plan to get the whole family healthy. I personally have about 10 post-marriage lbs. I'd like to get rid of. Y'all remember the guys weight-loss bet that lasted for about a total of about 3 weeks before they all gave up, even with Abby, the Weigh-in-Nazi, hounding them for their stats.

We thought if we could do something like guys against girls we might inspire a little more competition. The guys have more to lose, but they gave up after 3 weeks last time. I'm just sayin'...

Another idea is to reward the biggest worker-outer (person with the most minutes on a treadmill, sidewalk, bicycle, weight machine, etc.).

Another idea and something that inspired us recently was something we read in the New York Times. (Leave it to them to state the obvious.) If you put money where your mouth is, you're more likely to stick with it. We're not saying $ has to be involved, but we are saying that if we did it, Abby or I would probably win. ;) (In reality, I'd love for Alex to win. Haha, just kidding honey...kind of.)

I forget sometimes that I have a public health degree, but I'd be more than happy to actually use it to inform and inspire us all on a weekly basis (via the blog). In fact, below is my first installation.

We're very open to your ideas, and want to get something going soon. So, comment away!

10 Super Foods (They have more nutrients per calorie than most other foods)

1. Berries- high in antioxidants. These little ones lower your risks of cancer, heart disease, stroke, cataracts, Parkinson's, Alzheimers and arthritis.

2. Broccoli- helps prevent cancer, heart disease and much, much more

3. Citrus Fruit- Vitamin C, Vitamin C, Vitamin C and if any of you suffer from digestive issues (you know what I'm talking about) eat an orange and with the fiber in that lovely orange fruit those issues will disappear.

4. Garlic- It's been called medicine in a clove. This little food wonder has preventive qualities, but can also be used to lower cholesterol, bloood pressure and reduce likelihood of blood clotting.

5. Nuts- protein, protein, protein and no cholesterol. In fact, they can help lower your cholesterol. Have any of you read section 89 of the Doctrine & Covents recently. We seriously all eat too much meat. Those of you with a real winter, have an excuse. The rest of us don't. Nuts can help us meet our protein needs without the saturated fat & cholesterol found in meat. However, beware. They are nutrient dense and have lots of calories, so pace yourselves!

6. Oats- packed with fiber, manganese, selenium and magnesium they help lower cholesterol and stabilize gluose levels. Diabetics (and the rest of us) should eat up!

7. Salmon- is rich in Omega-3s, which are essential for normal growth in young children. In adults they reduce the risk of heart disease by stimulating blood circulation. There is also evidence they help those suffering with depression or anxiety, and for all of you men they've been shown to slow prostate tumor growth. However, beware, because of the mercury levels found in fish these days, they say you shouldn't eat it more than once a week, especially pregnant women.

8. Spinach- Loaded with Vitamin C, fiber, calcium and much more, it is the best food you can eat to prevent macular degeneration (poor eyesight leading to blindness).

9. Tomatoes- These luscious red gems are near and dear to my heart. It's theorized that the first tomatoes were domesticated by the Aztecs in Mexico. They called them ‘xitomatl’ (pronounced zee-toe-má-tel). Loaded with vitamins C & A, they are powerful fighters against cancer and heart disease. You should eat tomatoes both cooked and raw. Lycopene, which protects against prostate cancer, is found in its most potent form in cooked tomatoes.

10. Avocado- Also a favorite, and also an Aztec food. Although the Aztecs originally ate it as an afrodisiac, it's actually a heart-friendly food that lowers cholesterol. Avocados are a fruit. They have more potassium than a banana and the highest fiber content of any fruit. They are also loaded with vitamins B, E and K.

Family Blog Evening

Crystal's post, below, is generating enough interest that it will serve as the Family Blog Evening topic for this week (see explanation on Feb 8 post.) I expect (hope) to see comments from Matt, Jason, Ray, and Alex. Wives, it's your responsibility to advise them accordingly. Next Sunday, Mom and I will be traveling, so Leslie, we deligate you to post the topic for that week.
Love you all,
Dad