Just this side of crazy

The Dog Diaries: The first bath

2012-02-02T08:34:00.001-08:00

Well, the vet said we brought home more than just one animal when we brought Chevy home from the shelter. He has a parasite. Boo. The vet gave us medicine and recommended we give him a bath.

Chevy is adept at avoiding the medicine. I've tried mixing it into his dry dog food, but in 4.5 seconds the dry dog food is gone and the medicine remains. I've tried wrapping it in cheese and putting it directly into his mouth, but he manages to chew up the cheese and spit the pills out. I even put the pills into the center of a donut. I snuck one of the the two pills into him that way, but he spit the other one out. Scott says that hiding it in cheese should work, but that I'm giving him too large of a slice of cheese. The goal, apparently, is for him to gulp the cheese without any chewing, thereby not noticing that there is a pill tucked inside.

The bath was less eventful than I feared. I called my friend Carrie to come help me and we brought the dog up into my bathroom. It's got a tile floor and a soaking tub, so that seemed like the best bet for the dog bath. (Note: someone else told me they put the dog in a tub of water in the bottom of the enclosed shower, but I don't think I have a rubbermaid tote big enough to put Chevy into.) Chevy did not want to get into the empty bathtub. I tried to coax him in with treats, but that didn't work either. Carrie eventally just picked him up and put him into the tub, and then we used a bucket of soapy water to scrub him down. He didn't wimper or cry, but the first opening he saw he tried to jump out of the tub. We were able to push him back into the tub. I don't have a spray nozzle in my tub, so we just dumped buckets of clean water over him to rinse him off.

That's when he decided he had endured enough and Chevy exited the tub. It turns out that my dog has a large shake radius. Who knew he could get multiple walls wet at once? I tried to towel him off as well, but it seemed like he stayed wet for hours afterwards. Am I supposed to dry him with a hairdryer?

Check out that tongue!

Hopefully that's the end of any pesky parasites!

The Dog Diaries: Week 2

2012-01-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Week 1 of the dog was certainly eventful. Week 2 is proving to be a little easier. Chevy continues to steal food, but we are doing better with crating issues. Just yesterday morning I put a new cube of butter in the butter tray and then went to use it a few minutes later. I couldn't find it anywhere. I thought I was going crazy until I remembered that I now own a dog. Sure enough, I found that Chevy had "borrowed" the butter tray and licked it clean. Hopefully the "back end" of that problem isn't too gross!

Yesterday I took Chevy for his first vet appointment. Thank goodness for qualified, caring professionals. Our vet, Dr. Erin Russell at Brookfield Vet Hospital in Redmond, was FABULOUS. She had so much to say and I, being a dog newbie, have so much to learn. My take home list of things to do/think about from the vet appointment is a tad overwhelming. Here's my "to do" list:

Register Chevy with King County
Order a chain leash that he can't bite through
give heartworm medicine tonight
give heartworm medicine again in 2 weeks
bring in a stool sample in 2 weeks for follow up parasite testing
order Trifexis, a flea/heartworm/parasite medication
look into Trupanion insurance for his first year
consider the Leptospirosis vaccine (because we spend time in Eastern WA)
review vacation boarding suggestions (for our trip in March)
get a dog shampoo with oatmeal for dry skin
buy some "greeny" dental chews for his teeth
get a Kong or related toy for playing with while he's in the crate
figure out a fence solution (no more playing fetch with him in the back yard without a leash! bad mommy)
consider buying a weighted vest for him to wear on walks to better exercise him
consider "calming" options to help him when we leave him alone and to help with training

a "behaviorist"
a hugging vest
a calming pheremone collar
herbal medication
doggie prozac

It may take me awhile to get through all that. The vet called back this morning and said that Chevy does have a parasite, so I need to get him started on some medication and give him a bath. Hmmm....I wonder how the first bath is going to go? I think Scott will be helping with that one!

The Dog Diaries: Days 7 & 8

2012-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

How I would love to tell you all that everything has settled down and the dog is now a well-behaved part of our family, but I’d be lying. Instead I must choose which of the stories of the last two days to tell…

Yesterday wasn’t actually too bad. The dog stole some food, chewed on a shoe, and knocked a kid or two into a wall, but he also played nicely in the yard, behaved for a trip to PetSmart, and handled the presence of lots of little children well.

Today it would be hard to give the dog a passing grade. Today he snuck past me to get out of the car at the bank, nearly knocking me over, slipped off his collar when I tried to catch him and generally refused to behave when I tried to recapture him. That was fun (for him). But that wasn’t the naughtiest part. The naughtiest part was when he locked me out of the house.

We’ve been working on crate training. This morning, Chevy successfully hung out in a locked crate for 15 minutes while I quickly drove my preschooler to school. So this afternoon, I thought I’d try it again for a half hour. I decided to take the kids door to door selling Girl Scout cookies. Chevy might have been hard to control if there were other dogs around, so I put him in his crate and gave him a treat to keep him occupied. Then out the door we went.

We were gone about 30 minutes. I knew I was in trouble as we walked up to our house and I could see the dog through the front window. Umm…wasn’t he supposed to be in his crate? Then (of course!) the kids started yelling “mom, the front door is locked, the front door is locked”. Apparently Chevy had been able to slide the catch on the top of his crate door and squirm out the top. The crate door was still locked from the bottom, but the top wasn’t. He must have really had to fight to get himself through the half-locked crate door because the crate was not in the same physical placement as when I left. Then he proceeded to the front door where he scratched the door, trying to get out. In the process, he turned the knob on the dead bolt…and locked us out. Of course, the garage door keypad was out of batteries and my parents weren’t home and I didn’t bring a cell phone with me.

It took me just a minute to figure out how to burglarize my parents’ garage door keypad to steal their battery and install it into my keypad. When we got into our house, I found that the dog had helped himself to more treats and spilled a glass of milk all over the floor. Besides that and the scratched front door, there wasn’t much damage.

Still, what’s next? Do I actually have to put a lock on the crate?

The Dog Diaries: Days 4 through 6

2012-01-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

Naughtiness continues...

After the first three days with the dog, I thought he was really well behaved at home and with the kids. He might have had some behavioral probalems when I tried to confine him or leave him, but he was great in our presence. I'm reconsidering that label of "great" and sticking with "naughty".

That dang dog is getting into everything. I've learned to be concerned if I realize he hasn't been in the room with me for more than 5 minutes. I realized last night that I hadn't seen him for a few minutes and went downstairs to figure out what he was doing. He had knocked a closed tupperware container off my kitchen counter, opened it up (all over my floor), and was proceeding to eat the chicken noodle soup it contained. Bad Dog! I should make him do the mopping. I'm fairly sure he ate some cookies off the counter too.

We've gotten pretty adept at ignoring him or shoving him away when he's pestering us at the dinner table. But yesterday, I had several different little children playing at my house during the day. The dog is bigger than the tots and his size is scary for them. I tried and tried to keep that dog from going over to lick them "hello". I finally put him on a leash and kept him next to me as I chatted with the moms.. What did that dog do? He ate through the leash again. Chevy says "what part of NO CONFINEMENT don't you understand?"

I booked a training class through the Seattle Humane Society that will start in 2 weeks, but how am I going to get through the next two weeks with a dog that can't be out of my sight? If I seriously have to spend my date-night babysitting money on a dog sitter so I can go to the grocery store, I'm gonna be unhappy!

On the up side, he laid by my side and snored while I watched TV last night. I had to turn up the volume a little to hear over the pooch, but I still kinda liked it. =)

The Dog Diaries: Days 1 through 3. What have we gotten ourselves into?

2012-01-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

We’ve been looking for a family dog. On Friday we headed down to the Humane Society and selected a lovely black lab/german pointer that we named Chevy. He’s a year old, but a pretty good sized pup. When we brought him home on Friday night, we put him in the back of our Honda Pilot. Unfortunately for us, he didn’t stay there on the way home. Despite our best efforts to keep him in the back, he was seated across Scott’s lap in the middle row by the time we reached Sammamish.
Knowing that we were going to need Chevy to be a good car dog (given all our trips across the mountains), we went out a bought a barrier system for the back of the Pilot. It’s a barrier system designed for large dogs. We thought we’d be fine.
So Sunday morning, Scott headed off to work and I put the kids and the dog in the car and headed off to church. Chevy started whimpering pretty quickly and by the time we were half way to church the kids were informing me that he was chewing threw the rear seatbelts. Seatbelt 1 was severed. What do you do when the dog is chewing the seatbelt? I could stop the car, but that would leave me on the side of a road with 3 kids, a dog and a severed seatbelt. So I kept going. I probably should have turned the car around, but I didn’t. I drove to church and took the dog out for a quick walk. I made sure he had his warm blanket in the back of the car and plenty of fresh air, and put him back into the car.
When I came back after 45 minutes, Chevy had eaten through both rear seatbelts, moved the barrier system so he could squeeze by it, and helped himself to whatever he wanted in the front of the car …including my coffee and the other three middle row seatbelts. I then tried securing him with his leash, but that didn’t take long for him to chew through that as well.
Sigh. I love this dog, but those seatbelts are going to be expensive to replace, not to mention the annoyance of not being able to use my car to cart my children around. Sweetness (I’ve really got to fine a new moniker for her during these tween years) cried all the way home from church; she was just certain that her mommy would never keep a dog that destroyed her car AND drank her coffee. I don’t want to get rid of the dog. I already adore him. I just need him to not be so…naughty!
So I find myself wondering, is it the confinement of being stuck in the back of the car, or is it the abandonment that we left him behind when we went inside? I’m leaning toward the confinement issue because he was chewing the seatbelts while we were still in the car with him. Still, I NEED to be able to leave this dog alone and I can’t trust him to leave him wandering around my house…so I need to be able to crate him and that’s confinement. But that’s non-negotiable, right? I’d better go look into some training classes.

Who knew it meant so much?

2011-11-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a loooong time since I wrote last. It took the death of my beloved Grandma to bring me back to the writing table. Grandma (my mom's mother, Dorothy McCleskey) passed away on Tuesday night and I spent the next day or two feeling unsettled, angry and sad. Then I cried my eyes out at my weekly prayer group and felt better.
Dorothy McCleskey somehwere around 2007

Yesterday I went to her memorial service, which was held at her home in Hoodsport. It is a long drive to Hoodsport. Usually around 2 hours and 20 minutes. It is often not a drive I appreciate, as it is a long time for the kids to "be nice" in the car. This time, I felt almost happy going...grateful for the chance to go be in Grandma's house again.

I was surpised when I got there how much I just walked around and tried to memorize the feel of her house. Every wall, every picture, every gilded knick-knack. Every lighthouse, every clock, every angel, every silk plant. Around and around I went, walking the hallways that I've walked for 25 years. My grandma didn't travel much, she liked to be at her house. Most of my memories of my Grandma are right there inside that house.

I realized last night that I felt connected to my extended family through that house. Not only are my pictures all over the walls, but my parents' pictures and my cousins' pictures and my aunts' pictures and my uncles' pictures and all our kids' pictures are in every nook and crany. When my relatives came to town, they always stayed with Grandma and we met them there, we ate there, we played there, we commisserated there...everything inside that house.

No items that I might take home from that house can give me what that house holds. That house holds my life with my Grandma with all it's tree branches that connect us. That house means family. Now Grandma is gone, waiting for me in heaven, and that house will soon be gone and we need to find new rituals and new routines to connect us. Losing her house is like facing a 2nd family death, yet the house couldn't live on without her.

So I find myself as reluctant to end this blog post as I was to leave Grandma's house last night. Afraid that once I move on, it will be gone forever. But move on we must, for life for me and my family moves ever onward. Goodbye Grandma and goodbye Grandma's house...thanks for the legacy of love that's left behind.

2011-07-16T07:49:00.001-07:00

This blog post will likely be hard to write. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day (light of the internet?). I have a feeling I want to explain, but I'm not sure I fully understand it.

I feel like an adult.

I sit here waiting for my MLS number to arrive from my agent (hurry, hurry, hurry). We are putting our house on the market. If we can get a good price for it, we plan to sell our home and buy land in the nearby area to build a new home.

It is a choice. My husband and I look across the table at each other (or across the bath tub) and discuss our choices. Do we want to sell? Do we want to rent a house or an apartment while we look for the next piece of land? Do we want to take our family in this direction or that one? I think those discussions are responsible for my new-found awareness of my adulthood. The choice to move my family to a new locale, a new environment.

Sure, we had choices before now. We selected jobs. We selected our first condo, then moved to our current house. But all those choices seemed more scripted, like stairs up to our current place in life. This choice feels more like stepping off the path that goes straight ahead and choosing a path that still goes forward, but in an optional direction.

In the past, most of those choices we made were just hubby and I deciding what we wanted to do for the two of us...Did we want kids? Did we want to live in town or more rural? Now we are weighing the pros and cons of each place (including the one we still have) for our kids too. Where will they ride their bikes? What environment are we placing them into? Does it measure up to living next door to their grandparents (could anything?)?

And what a blessing, really, to have choice? To live in a place and time where we aren't just struggling to survive, but can consider what we want for our family. And we know that however it turns out, whether we sell or stay where we are, that our family's direction is still set.
James 4:14&15 "you don't even know what tomorrow will bring -- what your life with be! For you are like smoke that appears for a while and then vanishes. Instead, you should say, If the Lord wills..."

So, whatever the Lord wills...

A jewel in a mountain of paperwork

2011-06-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, buried in a mountain of end-of-the-school-year paperwork, you find a jewel that makes your whole day.

I don't know if her teacher assigned her to write poetry about her mom. I don't even think I care. It is just so sweet. =) Here is the poem complete with artistic rendintion:

Strawberries...or the lack thereof

2011-06-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

I won a blog raffle a week or two ago. The raffle was for $25 worth of free strawberries. At least that's what I thought the raffle was for. Admittedly, I didn't read any fine print. So when a gift certificate showed up in the mail for $25 at Academy.com sporting store I was confused. But not so confused that I didn't immediately go out and spend the gift card.

I bought a swimsuit. online. Crazy, I know. Swimsuit shopping is the worst and I can try on 15 swimsuits and hate them all. So what luck do I think I'll have online? But it arrived today and I love it.

It has all the things that I need in a swimsuit.
1) the perfect straps! I hate halter neck suits and I hate strapless suits. One is a pain in the neck and the other requires me to keep one hand on the front of my suit at all times so it doesn't fall off. This one has cute wide band straps that are comfy!
2) the torso is long enough. I'm not that tall (5'7) but most swimsuits just don't have enough length built into them. I end up with my underwire trying to worm its way into my belly button. Okay, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.
3) it is a one-piece. Most tankini sets fail to cover the squish around my middle. What good is a swimsuit that doesn't cover the squish?
4) it is black, so it is both slimming and guaranteed to never become last season's hot color.
5) its got a retro-vibe, which I think is fun. The blog contest that I won was from Heather who blogs at UnitedStatesofMotherhood
. She has a great collection of old retro poster pictures that she will occasionally post and it looks like my swimsuit could have been from that era. Of course, the models in those posters are always more generously shaped than I am, but still the coincidence makes me smile.

So now I'm doubly glad that I won the blog contest. First, because it is just fun to win things. And second, because I don't have to go swimsuit shopping this year. Thanks Heather!

The theme continues...

2011-06-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Playing in the sunshine is lots of fun
Even if I don't get many runs
The pop of fly balls, the thrill of game
Without it Friday nights wouldn't be the same

Last week I learned that "its all good"
that stressin' isn't necessary when hangin' with the Herd
this week I learned to stand in my spot
even if that required the guys to talk a lot

then they gave me the team ball!
my contribution might be small
but they don't seem to care
maybe its all my flair?

So come find us next week
Tibbets field #5 is what you seek
'til the mercy bell rings
we'll be doing our thing

(yes, I'm planning to keep my day job)

Stress, Patheticism, and Softball

2011-06-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Who knew that I was such a stress-case? I laugh because I suspect everyone knows. Yesterday was my first softball game. My first game of my first team. And I stressed a bit about it. I was terrified that I would instantly pull a muscle when running for the ball (like I did in practice) and patheticism would set in. I suspect "patheticism" isn't a word, but "the act of being pathetic" surely sums up my fears.

My kids must have thought I was nuts. "quiet in the car on the way to the game; mommy is stressed". "Um, mom? Isn't softball supposed to be fun?" "Shhhh"

The first inning of the game found me hanging out in right field. The sunshine was lovely, the field green, my terror palatable, my children screaming.

Yes, my children screaming because the Big Guy fell on the sidewalk and scraped up both his knees. I can see my oldest daughter Sweetness holding him and trying to carrying him back to me, and I'm STRESSED because I know I can't leave my spot and Hubby can't leave his spot and what are we supposed to do? But, all things work out and someone comforted the Big Guy and the screaming stopped and my stress level dropped a bit. And then we came in from the field and it was my turn to bat and the stress level jumped right back up...until I struck out and mortification replaced stressification (another new word or two!).

Then I got to play catcher for awhile. That was fun. The ref (ump?) was quite helpful. He would say things like "you might want to move in front of home plate when the ball is in play so the runner doesn't clobber you trying to come home" and "if you stand back, the ball will bounce right to you". And more often than not, the ball found its way into my glove.

Right field is nice because the ball doesn't come to you very often, so it isn't very stressful. Catcher is nice because you get to be involved constantly, but then "the play" comes to home plate and you know everyone wishes you were more of a baller and could handle a 95 mph ball being thrown at you.

Anyway, my truly great moment was when I came up to bat and I popped the ball up. I thought it was coming down on my head so I ducked a little and the catcher 'bout knocked me over trying to get to the ball. She (the catcher) knocked the visor off my head, so I tried to right it...then I realized that the rest of my team was yelling "run, Lisa, you have to run". Apparently the time for righting your visor is after you've reached first base. Who knew? I swear I thought that ball was foul. Classic Lisa.

We played a double header and I think it was part way through the second game when I finally started to relax. Clearly the likihood of my making a mistake is pretty high, but a lot of mistakes get made in a game and life goes on. You are still hanging out with a great group of people enjoying the sunshine and the sport. Can't wait till next week!

45 Reasons why this morning Rocks!

2011-06-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm lovin' this morning! Here are a few reasons why:

1. The sun is out! Blue skies all around.

2. The birds are chirping
3. I won a flat of strawberries from a giveaway on www.unitedstatesofmotherhoodreviews.blogspot.com I love winning stuff and I can't wait to get my strawberries. BTW, United States of Motherhood is written by a local mom who has turned her blogging into a PAYING job...a paying job people. I think that's awesome. Go check her out and stay tuned for my "what I did with my free strawberries" blog post.
5. Today is the first park playdate of the summer for the Big Guys preschool group. I just like saying "playdate of the SUMMER".
6. Shay Shay is coming over to play math geek with me in the afternoon.
7. Homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight 'cause Costco cooked us a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night
8. The sun is out!

9. The doors are open (despite hubbys protesting)
10. My bathroom is clean (or clean"ish")
11. I got to sleep in till 7:30 this morning
12. The sun is out!

12. Hubby is going to work on trimming and caulking the patio door today. He replaced my sliding door with a French door earlier in the year and once he's got the outside all fixed up, I can power wash the patio and create my outside oasis. Then I can bug my family for a chaise lounge for my birthday.
13. Hubby and the Big Guy are conspiring together to fly a helicopter into my face while I'm blogging. Come on, that's cute...right?

Okay, that is only 13, but I gotta get going. God is good, people. God is good.

Its all about the Jersey

2011-06-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life sneaks up on you and you find yourself enthralled by something you hadn't expected. This week I'm unexpectedly enthralled by the jersey.

Sports jerseys are a fact of life for some families. They grew up playing on sports teams and the jerseys probably piled up on the floor of their closet. I didn't grow up playing sports. My childhood was filled with fun and friends and family, but the only sport I ever got to play was bowling. (Do you "play" bowling? It seems like you "go" bowling.) Sports just wasn't in playbook.

As I reached adulthood, I began to introduce myself to sports. I jogged a little. I rollerbladed a little. I wakeboarded a little. I skiied a little. I played a little ultimate frisbee at lunch with friends from work. It was all fun, but I didn't realize there was more to team sports than that.

And then I got invited to play on a co-ed softball team this summer. And I purchased a softball glove. And I purchased cleats. And I purchased gloves and pants. And then they handed me...a jersey. It's blue. It has MY number on it. It has MY team name on it. Its my first jersey. Yes, I know it is little more than a teeshirt with numbers ironed on...but it is a jersey to me.

I find myself smiling when I think of the jersey. I'm not even sure I know why. Does it represent the chance to make up for something I wish I had growing up? Am I thrilled to be part of a team? I'm not a very competitive person. I'm too busy worrying about how everyone else in the world is feeling to care about winning, although now I can worry about how MY team will feel if we don't win. Perhaps that will knock some competitive spirit into me.

Stay tuned for my next post...where we figure out if playing the game of softball is as fun as owning a jersey.

Lest you think my kids got the short stick...

2011-03-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

I know some of you were concerned that my children were getting a raw deal for spring break. Apparently my list of options was unimpressive. Some even suggested that the dentist, hair salon, and photo studio were not exciting outings for children. Pshawww.

True to the master plan decided upon by the SBPO'A committee, we've been doing one "special" item a day with the kids. We started on Saturday night with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe in SouthCenter (which apparently is not called SouthCenter anymore. Now it is the Westfield Mall in Tukwila. Why do they gotta mess with stuff?). The kids had a great time...it even felt a little vacation-ish.

...and, don't forget about the exciting roller coaster my kids got to ride!

That was Saturday night. On Sunday, we went to worship services in the morning and spent the afternoon with friends.

Monday's exciting schedule included swimming lessons and a trip to the dentist.

Now I ask you: Do these look like faces of children who don't want to go to the dentist? They nag me to make their appointments. I kid you not! They think going to the dentist is a chance to sit back in a lounge chair, watching the movie of their choice (ignoring that person poking in their mouth) and then getting a prize afterwards.

Tuesday's outing was haircuts!

Wednesday's outing was the movies. We took the kids to see Mars Needs Moms, which I thought was very cute. I loved some of the messages of the movie (be careful what you say to each other, moms that make you do your chores are the best, etc.). Unfortunately, Spunky Girl had an ear infection that flared up during the movie, so she isn't too happy in the pics. We got to visit the pediatrician directly following the movie; Lucky us!

(The big guy went to the movies too, but was too busy playing with the video games in the lobby to cooperate with my picture taking. Spunky Girl didn't want her picture taken either, but mom was pushy!)

On Thursday, the kids didn't get a special outing. They got to trail along with me as we visited the chiropractor, Oil Can Henry's, QFC, two banks, and Best Buy. There were errands to be done and sometimes that's just the breaks! =)

Friday we took the kids to Yuen Lui to get their portraits taken. Yea for Groupon! The kids did great and we took them to FatBurger for lunch afterwards, followed by a trip to the Lucky Strikes arcade.

Now it is Saturday morning and Spring Break week is nearly over. I think we'll get in one more outing, a bike ride at Marymoor Park, if the weather holds!

All in all, I think we had a pretty good time this week. I guess I'll have to wait to read what my girls write in their "What I did during Spring Break" journals to see if they agree!

Ummm...I guess it is spring break

2011-03-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

The winter/spring season has been the busiest I can remember. It turns out that Spring Break is next week. THAT snuck up on me. I've got 3 kids who are so excited to be off for a week and I've got nothing planned. I briefly considered several mini-vacations, but we've had a lot of vacations lately and are planning a trip for May...so that's not in the cards (or checkbook).

I chased down hubby this morning and invited (forced) him to discuss a Spring Break Plan O' Action. We are now on the SBPO'A committee. We came up with a list of fairly low-cost items that we could do and plan on implementing one per day. Here's our options:

* matinee movie (Mars needs Moms? Okay for a 4 yr old?)
* Kid-friendly dinner (Rainforest Cafe?)
* get haircuts
* Arcade at Lincoln Square
* Rollerskating at Bellevue Skate King (take the 4 yr old?)
* Go visit Great Grandma
* Go to the dentist (is it possible to get an appt for all 3 kids on the same day?)
* Get a kid portrait taken at a picture studio

So, anyone got an other ideas? Swim lessons for Spunky Girl and the Big Guy continue this week, as does the Big Guy's preschool (they couldn't possibly have the same Spring Break. Of course not.) We'll just have to schedule our other outings around those. Maybe I can think of some other inside the house things to do that would be fun too, but I can already hear myself saying "No, you can't have any more screen time" and "Please put the video games away and find a book" a million times.

Who's got other ideas for me? Other sanity tips? We're not supposed to have great weather next week, so sending the kids outside to play won't work most days. Even if they do go outside, I have to watch that they don't grab their gaming devices on the way out.
Apparently they don't find a yard full of grass as inviting as I'd hoped they would. Sigh.

A Daunting Task

2011-02-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

It feels overwhelming. I feel defensive. The reasons why it won't work come bubbling up faster than the hopeful thoughts of success.

Healthier eating. If it was just for me, I know I wouldn't do it. I'm content enough with my health that the extra efforts to control my snacking and cook healthier meals just won't happen. But when you bring my kids and hubby into the equation...then I have to try.

My kids aren't getting enough fuel during the day. Every morning, the girls get up and make themselves breakfast. They get themselves cold cereal (usally Cinnamon Life, Frosted Mini Wheats, or Kix) or they pop a bread item (bagel, english muffin, or Eggo waffle) into the toaster. I send them to school with a bagged lunch, consisting of a Capri Sun drink, half a turkey or ham sandwich, a piece of fruit, and some type of cracker. Spunky Girl, my 6 year old, never touches her sandwich. That means that every day she consumes only carbs and a light amount of fruit until 3:30 pm. That is just not the fuel she should have to run her brain and body throughout the day. I've tried sending other protein sources in her lunch (like yogurt or cheese) and I've tried making them smoothies in the morning (a lot of work and they only take one or two sips). It just never seems to stick because they prefer the carb options.

At snack time after school, I can usually talk them into some cheese...but only if I pair it with a carb. Sweetness, my 8 year old, loves nachos so she'll pop some tortilla chips into the microwave with cheese shredded on top. Spunky girl will have some slices of cheese with crackers or maybe some string cheese. They'll eat those things if there is no sugar-filled items to entice them, like a pudding cup or cookies.

The dinner plate always has three parts: the protein, the carb, and the veggie. Sometimes the carb and the meat are combined (like tacos). I found myself always placing a large carb item on their plates because I knew I would only get 2 bites of a veggie and 3 bites of a protein into them. At least when I offered a carb, I knew they wouldn't leave the table hungry. I try to serve water or milk only with dinner (although I've been talked into chocolate milk more times than I want to admit).

I look at all that breakdown and think "I'm not doing too bad. That sounds like a reasonable offering." but then I think about the breakdown of food that actually ends up in their body and I realize it is pretty much all carbs except for maybe 8 bites of fruit, protein, and veggie.

I think the hard part about making healthier food is that I have to mentally gear up for 2 things:
* the extra time it takes
* the resistance I'm going to get from the kids

Adding more work into the day is daunting when you already feel like the work you do is constant. There is already a long list of housework chores that aren't getting done. When you add to that the knowledge that the extra effort you put in will not be met with gratitude and joy, but instead with groanings and tears, it makes getting started a bit of an emotional hurdle. Do I really want to make meals an unhappy event? Do I want kids crying because I've only served pork chops and broccoli for dinner and there isn't anything that they want to eat? Do I really want to make myself get up early to cook a protein filled breakfast on the stove instead of letting the kids make their own breakfast?

So we gave it a try this morning. Hubby woke me up early (as he was leaving for work) and I started on breakfast before the kids got out of bed. I made eggs and sausage patties this morning. The kids loved it. Spunky Girl ironically commented "sausage is junk food" and happily ate it. Hubby commented "they probably shouldn't have eggs every day", which might be true from a cholesterol point-of-view. I feel good about sending them to school with a belly full of protein, even if it isn't low fat...at least it wasn't full of white flour and sugar.

I thought I might try to change one thing a month and then keep that one thing going. February will be trying to make healthier breakfasts for the kids. Maybe March will be trying to cut down their tv time, although I suspect all the sports that are starting in March (swimming and soccer) will help with that. Who knows.

got ideas for me? Things that I can do for healthier eating? I'm sure I've got a defensive reason why that won't work, but I might still give it a try!

The Sweet Spot

2011-01-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

My sister asked me today if I've given up blogging. I really haven't, but you sure wouldn't be able to tell that by looking at my recent blog activity. Hubby is watching the SeaChickens play, so I guess tonight is the night for my first blog post of 2011.

I found myself wondering the other day if I've hit a parenting sweet spot. I've always known that I'm not a "baby stage" parent. I just don't love the baby stage. I love the child, of course, and I love the new baby smell, but I don't love the spit up, I don't love the diapers, I don't love the back ache from carrying the kid in a car seat, I don't love the middle of the night crying, I don't love the nursing, I don't love giving them baths, I don't love being trapped by a sleeping child's schedule...and I could go on and on. It is amazing I had 3 lovely children given how much I don't love the baby stage.

I don't think the toddler stage is really my stage either. I don't really care for tantrums at the library, or the constant buckling and unbucking of car seats. It is cute when they learn to talk, but then go through that talking all the time phase where you constantly have to go "uhuh, yep, sure, uhuh, really?" I've been known to say "mommy seriously needs a break from all the talking".

So, when the kids got out of school for winter Holidays, I wasn't sure that 2 weeks of all the kids at home together was going to be tons of fun. But it was; it was tons of fun. We really had a good time. We went to the movies a couple of times (yea for $5 movies at Factoria), we went to Barnes and Noble a time or two, we went to the park to go scootering, we hung out together. I don't think I had noticed that the Big Guy was turning into a kid that could hang out, but it was sure noticeable that it was finally happening. No more "mom will stay behind with the Big Guy while Dad goes out to have fun with the older girls".

I remember my pediatrician warning me that the terrible twos for little boys runs about 1.5 years. Here we are...the Big Guy is 4 years old in 3 months...and we've gotten past it. I know everyone's experience is different. Some little boys don't have the tantrum-filled 2/3 year old behavior. But my little boy did and I was unprepared (although warned) for how much patience I would need. But now...SWEET SPOT!!!

Hopefully there is such a thing as a sweet spot and it isn't just a fairytale land in my head. Or, maybe even better would be that the Sweet Spot lasts for the rest of our lives. That's not too much to hope for right? Who doesn't love the constant drama of the teenage years?

Let's just capture this "sweet spot" in time with some pics:
Sweetness -- the leader of the pack

Spunky Girl -- the life of the party

The Big Guy -- the newcomer to the hang-out crew

A Child's Psyche

2010-11-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

This morning, as I walked my girls down to the bus stop, my Spunky Girl said "I lie to myself".

"What do you mean?" said I
"sometimes I lie to myself so I don't get so hyper" replied she
"hyper about what?" further inquired I
"like going to the cabin" said she
"like what kind of a lie" said I, still a bit confused
"like there will be no snow at the cabin" said she
"Of course there is snow at the cabin" broke in her older sister (who thinks life is a big candy shop)
"Yep, there is snow there honey" said I
"I know" she said "but I tell myself there isn't any snow so I won't get too excited"

The whole conversation made me realize how much nature plays a strong part in who we are and less of that nurture stuff.
Spunky Girl doesn't have life experiences that teach her not to trust that good things are coming, and yet she still keeps herself in check from getting too excited about them.

Sweetness, her older sister who thinks that life is all candy candy candy, can't imagine a world where anything bad happens. "Of course life is going to be awesome" she thinks.

I think perhaps it is too early to tell how the Big Guy, who I think I might start calling Cave-man, will react to life. I think he expects life to lay itself at his feet "right now"! Anything else will just be unacceptable.

Maybe someday, a high priced therapist will conclude that Spunky Girl puts up walls around herself to protect herself because of some trauma she experienced in her young life...but I will know better. And come on, doesn't mom always know better?

The problem with being noise sensitive

2010-10-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm noise sensitive. Little noises irritate the heck out of me. I can hear people chewing from rooms away. Gum snapping? You gotta be kidding me. Clipping your nails? Sends me to the moon. Random tapping? Uh...NO.

So, where's the problem, right? I'm the mom. Maybe I've got to put up with some of hubby's noises, but I sure don't have to listen to kid noises. I just ask them to stop whatever noise is irritating me. But the problem is that I model the behavior that my kids adopt. I teach them, by my behavior, that they don't have to accept somebody making noises that irritate them. I teach them to say "Shhh...that's irritating me" everytime I say "Shhh...that's irritating me". And when you've got 4 people saying "Shhh...please stop making that noise", it turns out that EVERY noise is irritating to someone. Do we really have to live in silence? Is it not okay for a person to hum a little ditty if they feel like it? How do I tell the kids that they can't keep asking everyone to be quiet when I get to tell people to be quiet whenever I feel like it?

It's not that I believe that children should have all the rights that parents have, 'cause I don't. There are definitely times when I think a parent gets to tell a child to be quiet because they are being irritating. But I also don't think I want to be the kind of parent that says "do what I say, but don't think it is a nice way to behave to others".

But...I don't my kids going over to someone else's house and making annoying noises either. Somehow I have to find a way to differentiate legitimately annoying noises (that must be stopped at all cost) and normal annoying kids behavior (which I need to learn to live with) so my kids can actually have a life without being told to constantly "be quiet" by their siblings.

I need to say that to myself again. I need to learn to live with annoying kid noises without telling them to be quiet. No more falling to the floor with my hands over my ears because my kids are humming the theme song to iCarly.

Sigh.

This may be a work in progress.

Refusing to get derailed

2010-09-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

4 weeks ago I started my 12 week fitness and weight loss plan. Then life happened. Life in the form of wisdom teeth removal (not fun, but not such a big setback), bone graft (super lame...took weeks to recover from), mole removal (scary, but trivial), plantar fasciitis (stupid, stupid, stupid...and just won't go away), and throwing my back out (again). So here we are 4 weeks later and I've neither become an athlete nor lost any weight. Sigh.

But I've got 8 weeks left in my original plan and I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. I've got too many cute pairs of jeans in one size smaller to get derailed so easily.

I'm waffling on whether I want to run the fun run that I was planning on in October. I really like the idea of being a runner. It fits into my frugalista game plan. Running is a heck-of-a-lot cheaper than working out in a gym. There is also something REALLY appealing about lacing up a pair of running shoes and being unavailable for conversation for about an hour. Imagine...nothing but the birds chirping for an entire 60 minutes. But, that plantar fasciitis thing (which is like a swollen muscle beneath my right foot...I think) gets worse when I jog or walk a long way.

So...if I run I risk making the pain worse, but if I don't run it feels like I'm giving up.

Regardless of whether I can make the running-thing work out, I am definitely restarting my calorie-counting. Tomorrow. I mean it. Tomorrow. Dear friend Donita has a bodybugg to lend me (Yeah!) so I'll go pick up that this week and start tracking on the bodybugg website. Until then, it will be calorie counting on livestrong.com.

That's the plan. I hope that 4 weeks from now I'm not listing all the things that derailed me for the last month, but even if that happens...I can always start again. Right? Right!

A letter to my girls

2010-09-16T08:16:00.001-07:00

Dear girls --
You've finally pushed me over the edge. You know how your dad has been saying that he is going to confiscate the clothes you leave out? And I haven't really been backing him up, preferring to lecture you a little bit and then help you put your clothes away? Well no more.

Today, little Miss Sydney, I found the shirt that I told you to change before school in my dirty laundry basket. It was there because you were too lazy to put it away, even after I was nice and went and got you a different shirt to wear to school. You didn't seem to care that I would have to sort it, wash it, dry it, fold it, and hound you to put it away because you put it in there...when you would have only had to put it away. Way more work for me, but essentially the same amount of work for you. Not cool.

So now we have this fun new system! If you leave clothes on the floor and I find them when I come in your room at bedtime, they are confiscated. If you leave clothes on the floor in the bathroom or living room or back deck (whichever weird place you've decided to change), they are confiscated. I keep them for a month, at which point you have to put them away anyway.

And little Miss Cheyenne...I heard you talking about stealing the clothes back out of the box. That would not be smart girl. You do not want to see the amount of chores you will have to do to buy those clothes back that you stole from me. You might as well choose to be a prisoner on the chain gang for Halloween, because that is what it would be like.

I'm glad we had this little talk.
Love, Mom

Consequated

2010-08-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

School starts tomorrow, so today I made one last trip down to Grandma's house while I still had time for the 2.5 hour drive. We sat down to watch Dr. Phil together in the afternoon. I choked a little bit when Dr. Phil used the word (?) "consequated". As in "the girl needs to be consequated for her actions."

What bothers me, I think, is not that he's making up words. It is that he is making up words so he won't have to use other, perfectly good words. Words like "punished" or "disciplined". Really, are those such ugly words? Crime and punishment is a fact in adult life. Why are we so scared to use those with regard to children? If we don't teach them crime and punishment as children, they'll have a rude awakening when they become adults. That's my soapbox for today. Thank you.

Summer's over...time to start watching things

2010-08-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is over folks. That's it. That's all you get. It has been an AWESOME summer. My friend Estelle says I overuse that word, but I don't care. It was AWESOME. Of course, I'll be paying for the awesomeness for some time to come.

This summer I've been bundling up large amounts of cash, say $200 a week, and lighting it on fire. Yes, folks, I'm talking about my grocery bill. I don't know exactly why I can't seem to get the grocery bill under control this summer, but steak and fresh fruit with Cool-Whip dip apparently adds up.

Another thing that adds up, apparently, is my weight. Don't try to tell me that there is a connection between the grocery bill and the amount of weight I've gained. That's just silly. Those two are entirely unrelated.

Seriously...I've packed it on this summer. It has been 6 months since my last weight managment effort and I've put on 10 lbs since then. That isn't maintenance mode. That is....I don't know...that is just...BAD. Especially when you consider that my last weight managment effort, during January & February of 2010, resulted in about 5 lbs lost.

So now I want to take off 10 lbs in the next three months. September 1st through November 24th...that's 12 weeks...and I get to end my diet the day before Thanksgiving. I usually just do some calorie counting, but this time I gotta step it up a little. I think my exercise effort is going to have to extend beyong my Wii. Running? maybe.

I think the BodyBugg is going to be my new diet "thing". I already calorie count like a champ, so adding the tracking of energy expended seems like a natural extension. Of course, I'm far too cheap to actually buy a new BodyBugg. They are $300, including 6 months of the website subscription. I've seen them on ebay and Craigslist for $75, but that is with no website subscription. I don't need a 6 month subscription though, three months should be plenty.

So, how 'bout you? Anyone else going to join me for some September 1st diet modification?

P.S. My husband is crunching tortilla chips in my ear. Several warning glances have gone unheeded. Someone may want to check to see if he is still living in a few minutes.

I'm just not 100% sure

2010-08-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight I asked Sweetness to help me with putting dinner on the table. I didn't give her an actual task to do, and apparently that gave her the wise idea to disappear before the actual chore-dispensing occurred. This ploy might have actually worked if she reappeared for dinner. But no. I got dinner on the table and started calling in the kids. The Big Guy sat down. Spunky Girl sat down. No Sweetness. I called outside for her. I called downstairs for her. I yelled up the stairs for her. Then I screamed up the stairs for her, using my hands like a megaphone around my mouth (classy, I know). Still no Sweetness.

So I started dinner without her. 5 minutes later, I'm fuming. I'm certain she heard me and is refusing to come to dinner. I start considering what her consequence will be. Should it be a minute of chores for every minute that she was late to dinner? More than that? 3 minutes for each minute she was late to represent the three of us that ate without her? Should she have to eat every bite of dinner (in our household, that makes the kids cry. I don't know why. I swear I'm not that bad of a cook.) Then I start to worry...what if she's not just too busy ignoring me to come to dinner...what if she's hurt somehow? What if she slipped in the bathroom and hit her head? What if she was actually playing in the backyard and was snatched? So I go looking for her again. I check outside and then I heard it...a little sound like someone is upstairs in my bathroom. I head up there and find my daughter listening to my ipod, watching herself dance and sing in the mirror.

"I'm so sorry" she cries "I didn't hear you call me". Yeah right. You scoot out when you are supposed to be helping put dinner on the table. You ignore my calls to find you. You sneak into my bathroom and turn on my ipod (which you are supposed to ask for first). And I am supposed to believe that it couldn't be your fault because you had a mysterious fit of deafness?

But somehow, I can't seem to punish her. What if she is telling the truth? What if her ear canals suddenly did close up and she didn't hear my screeching for her? I know it wasn't because she had the ipod up too loud because 1) I don't use earbuds, only speakers and 2)she had it quiet enough so I couldn't hear she had it on. So I really know that she could hear me, that she did hear me and just chose to act like she couldn't. And it really isn't the first time that I'm fairly certain that she chose to ignore me and said "but I really couldn't hear you".

And I think her behavior suggests that she heard me. She is acting all upset that I'm mad at her, but she's not acting mad. There is no indignant "you don't believe me" emotion, just a please-i'll-never-do-it-again-please-don't-punish-me kind of guilty response. And yet...I'm not 100% sure.

I'm 90% sure.

maybe 95%.

Shall I do a test? If there was another adult in the house, I'd go upstairs and turn the ipod on and have them yell up the stairs. I'm certain that I'd hear. Of course, sometimes hubby claims that he can't hear me...but I don't believe him either. And so I'm not sure...

but I think it is things like this that make my friends say I'm a parenting weanie.

P.S. I took pictures of all three kids with their fingers in their ears so Sweetness wouldn't figure out that I'm blogging about her. Is it me, or does she look the most like she's enjoying the experience?

The Sanfords go Camping

2010-07-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

This summer the Sanfords are getting out there. It is time to start tackling all the things we've wanted to do (or used to do) but thought would be too hard with little ones. The Big Guy, our youngest, is 3 now and we thought camping should be next on our list.

So off we ran this weekend to the state campground. Well "ran" doesn't quite describe it. I packed and prepped for two days for our one day adventure. Does this truck look like we're just going for one day?

Scott and I readily accept our limitations as parents. For example, we wilt under the amount of talking that three children do. And when you expose three kids to a totally new experience, you have to be prepared for a zillion questions. Very quickly, the number of questions became oppressive. "Are we there yet" was just the first of them. "Can we go to the river" "When can we have s'mores" "Are we going to cook our dinner on the fire" "Where am I going to sleep" "Why can't we play in the soot in the firepit" and on and on and on. I thought we were going to lose our minds. Our saving grace was that we were camping with friends and our girls were able to ride their bikes back and forth between the campsites while we got our campsite all set up. Once everything was set up, it seemed the question-train slowed and we had more time to answer the questions they did have. Then we tried to cook dinner over the fire.

Who thought it would be a good time to give three children poking instruments, a hot dog, and point them toward a fire? It was stressful. They had to get close enough to the fire to cook their hot dog, but not so close that they were falling into the fire. They have NO patience for actually waiting for the hot dog to cook. But what happens when you take their hot dog and try to cook it for them? Yowsa...lots of tears. Soon dinner was over...at least for them. I don't think Scott and I had even cooked our hotdogs when the girls were wondering what to do next. I think we threatened them with NO SMORES if they asked for some (again) before we finished our dinner.

The evening campfire was fun. We roasted marshmellows and made smores. It seemed like 8 pm turned into 10 pm before we knew it. It was time to break out the flashlights and take the kids down to the pit toilet for a bathroom break before laying down for the night. There is some thing so nostalgic for me about walking to the campground bathroom. It made me laugh; it is so not scary and I remember as a kid being frightened about every sound in the wood. We even had some german shepherds come up behind us on our walk to the bathroom and the kids couldn't see them until they were right behind them. I know that would have freaked me out as a child. It was fun to think of my younger self and what my parents (well, my dad anyway) must have gone through with me.

I really loved sleeping in the tent with my kids. The 5 of us were packed in there like sardines. It was great laying in the dark with them and listening to the raucous sounds of the campground. I loved hearing the kids ask "What was that" everytime an errant flashlight shone onto our tent. I giggled listening to Spunky Girl tell me her greatest fear was the river overflowing its banks and carrying us away. It was so great...and then we realized that our air mattress had a hole in it and our bums were hitting the ground. It wasn't long before both Scott and I were laying on the hard ground. We suffered until 2 am, united in our misery. Even that misery had a level of charm to it. Every contact point in my body hurt as I lay against the ground and yet the overall experience delighted me. It was almost as if it wouldn't have been camping if there wasn't some mishap involved.

Scott proved himself a hero when he began re-inflating the air mattress with his lung power at 2 am...with us still on top. I didn't believe he had enough hot air to lift our bodies off the ground, but he did and it was just enough time to get me back to sleep. By morning time I was in laying there in pain again, but I knew at that point I could solve the problem by getting my bum out of the sleep bag and starting breakfast...if I really wanted to.

It turns out that I didn't need to cook breakfast because our friend Lindsey cooked the whole thing. Bacon, eggs, coffee, water for hot chocolate...it was awesome. Apparently all that wasn't enough for the boys, though, 'cause they followed up breakfast with some early morning marshmellows. Lucky for me the kids were out on a bike ride and couldn't beg for some too.

We cut our camping trip a little bit short and left mid-afternoon on the 2nd day, but we had good reason! My sister gave birth to little Colin early Saturday morning and I wanted to go visit them all in the hospital. Of course, the little guy is as cute as a button!

All in all, camping was a success and we are looking forward to going again...but probably not til next summer. Can you believe it is only 28 days till school starts again? August is filling up and I don't think another trip to the woods will fit. I gotta start thinking about school shopping instead!

Thanks Mo Williams

2010-07-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Spunky girl had a hard time with reading this year. Her kindergarten class offered her a tutor and we worked hard every day on reading, but it was a challenge. One of the things that makes it the most challening is that children know they can't seem to get something that their classmates are succeeding at. They know they are in the last reading group. They know some of their classmates are reading chapter books. And that knowledge makes them feel bad about it and makes trying harder.

We got through the entire collection of Bob learning-to-read books (which are great) during the school year, but then found the jump into books available at the library a bit of a challenge. There are definitely books there for "beginning readers" but they still seemed a bit above her abilities. Often there was a lot of words on each page. Spunky girl would look at the 20 words on the page and not even want to try, much less read the whole book. Enter Mo Williams.

Mo Williams writes the Elephant and Piggie books and they are AWESOME. They are always about two friends, an elephant and a pig, and a conversation they have. Because the book is just a conversation, there is often only a handful of words on each page. The author tells the story not only with the conversation, but with the expressions on the faces and the different type faces he uses. Spunky girl can tell from the type-face if the character is yelling or giggling or sad. I Love That. She really enjoys being able to express what the character is feeling. And the characters are funny little buggers...just like her.

Spunky Girl has read 3 of the 7 books so far and she gains confidence every time she does. She'll tell people "I read this book and I read two other ones too". She is willing to read the book to other people and enjoys telling them the story. It makes my heart happy to see her delight in reading.

So, thank you Mo Williams, wherever you are. This grateful mom's got a kiss on the cheek waiting for ya...

Its been ages

2010-07-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I last posted. I think blogging feeds upon itself. The more I blog, the more I can think of things I want to write about. But here I find myself...sitting at my computer...with plenty of time to write...and no inspiration. Clearly I've been gone too long.

So, while I wait for inspiration to strike, I'll update you on my kids.

Sweetness turns 8 tomorrow. She is definitely working on a new phase of life. The "tweens" run from 8 - 12 years of age and I feel an eagerness in her to begin the phase. We allowed her to pierce her ears for her birthday. She assured me last year that EVERY OTHER CHILD IN THE UNIVERSE had their ears pierced. I wonder how many children she's met from distant planets. My guess is not many. I'm sure she would have said something about the encounter. She loves to talk and tell me about the things her friends have said. If I dare suggest that perhaps she shouldn't believe everything she hears at school, she is barely able to cover her obvious impression that her mom is so not "in the know". Despite the new glimpes of attitude, she is still a beautiful child in looks and in heart. She's become empathetic to how I can be pulled in a zillion directions at once and wants to help. If only that willingness to help wasn't followed by a "Mom, how do I...?"

Spunky Girl is 6 now. She has the cutest freckles in the whole wide world and they rest below her stunning hazel eyes. Sometimes I just stare at her in wonder, but usually I'm too busy trying to corral her to just stare. =) She is still the snuggliest thing ever. She loves to come into my bed in the morning and sleep together for the last half hour; she isn't content unless both of my arms are wrapped around her (which of course means that one of my arms is likely losing all blood flow). She is always giggling about something, and usually something inappropriate. It is hard not to encourage her, though, when she's so darn impish. Hubby and I just cross our fingers and hope that she doesn't ascribe whatever objectional things she's saying to us. Then we can pass it off with a "where do kids these days hear this stuff?".

The Big Guy is 3. He's my little man, my cry-baby, my sweet son, and my joy. Three goods to one bad...that's not too horrible, right? We're trying to potty train him right now. It is a big ole pain in the butt. He's stubborn like a mule (whoops, 3 goods to 2 bad) and so it is very hard not to turn potty training into a power struggle. It does melt my heart when he says "just like a big boy, right?". Yeah buddy, just like a big boy. He stopped taking naps about 5 months ago, but I really need a few quiet minutes a day so I still put him down for a half hour. He kicks the wall the entire time, just so I'm clear that he's waiting for me to come get him. I suppose that is smart, though, because I suspect if he was quiet I would be tempted to leave him up there a little longer. There's nothing like one of his hugs and his whisper "I really love you mommy". It definitely makes up for him coloring on my sofa with green marker, or hiding the drinking cups in the toilet, or getting into my lipstick.

I sent my girls off to overnight Girl Scout camp at the end of June. I can get stressed by all the people needing my attention at once, so I was excited for them to have an adventure and for me to have some quiet(er) time with the Big Guy. It turns out I missed them like crazy. It was so quiet in the house that even the Big Guy whispered when he talked to me...and I could hear him just fine. I complain about not having a nanosecond to myself but then it was a huge culture shock to be down to one child. I had to keep myself busy to not think about how uneasy I felt about them being gone. There is an irony there...that I crave alone time and then have to keep busy during my (sorta) alone time till my girls came back. I guess the lesson is just to find the treasured moments in every day.

I'll leave you with one last picture of my kiddos, taken after picking strawberries. Note that, as always, Spunky Girl just has to be a little different and holds her bag of strawberrries on her head.

Finding yourself in the strangest of places

2010-06-14T06:37:00.001-07:00

Ahh...the popular romance novel. I must admit that while I love reading romance novels, I don't really "get" the people in romance novels. I'm as likely to be involved in a "I hate you, no wait, I think I love you" scenario as I am to fly to the moon. The casual arrogance of most the male characters (at least in the books I pick up) is nothing like my own husband and I bear little resemblence to the intriguing spitfire female character who has no awareness of her own attractiveness. I don't think either hubby or myself would ever run through an airport and onto a departing plane and declare "I just had to tell you I loved you before it was too late".

But, I have begun to find characters in books and movies that I relate to...my only issue is that they are either the parents or the grandparents of the main characters. I think that is a sure sign that I'm getting old. Hubby and I watched the movie Whip It last night. It was a Drew Barrymore production about a young girl (17) whose mom wanted her to compete in beauty pagents and she wanted to compete in the roller derby. She, of course, falls in love with some dude at the roller skate rink. My heart didn't identify with the love she felt for skate-park-dude. My heart identified with the love her parents had for each other. Two people who didn't appear to have much in common (he, a beer drinking sports enthusiast. She, an elegant, uptight, beauty pagent mom), yet were devoted to each other and defended each other when the child raged about the unfairness of her parents.

I saw a future version of myself in the novel I read this weekend too. The novel was called Love Mercy and it was about a teenage girl who ran away from a crazy love affair to the home of her estranged grandma. The girl was just looking for a place to go where her boyfriend couldn't find her, but the story centered on the love that developed between her and her grandma. I, of course, didn't related to the grandma in that story. Nope, I related to the great-grandparents. The great grandparents had lived together for 60 years and had been through endless tragedies, but weren't consumed with bitterness. Instead they provided a happy positive place for their families to come, to celebrate life's joys and to find comfort from life's sorrows. I would love to be that person in 40 more years.

I've been working my way through a bible study on Esther (using the workbook and DVD series by Beth Moore). She made a point in that study on that people can be grouped into 2 categories: those who believe they have a destiny in life and search for it, and those who don't. I think those who search for destiny are the ones that people write novels about. People like me, people that don't look for any greatness or defining moments in their lives, don't make very exciting main characters. But maybe we make good supporting characters...and that's all right with me.

A Memorial Day spent at home

2010-05-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Before I regale you with tidbits and snippits of my exhilarating Memorial Day, I want to take a moment to thank my readers who have served our country in the armed forces. I know the freedoms we enjoy came at a price and I'm grateful to you who were willing to put your lives on the line to defend the country I love.

Now on to another scintillating post...

We spent Memorial Day at home this year. Our construction company, Pine Lake Construction, has had a busy spring. With the combination of construction work and finishing our own basement, we needed some downtime. (And, of course, there was endless rain...)

But I didn't want my girls to go back to school and have a writing project about "what I did on Memorial Day" and have nothing to say. So I decided we should rearrange the furniture in their room. They have 2 twin beds that have been located together in the center of the room to form a large king sized bed. It was functional (and allowed the girls to whisper and play at nighttime) but it took up all the space in their room. Today we put their twin beds together into a bunkbed and pushed it up against the side of the wall.

We also brought in their homework desk, which used to be located out in the hallway. The homework desk fit just perfectly between their two existing bookshelves and makes a nice wall of furniture.

I like looking at their room and remembering the origins of their furnishings and decorations. We got the amazing bedroom set because Scott's mom worked in interior design (interior merchandising?) for a local home builder and helped us buy a set they were no longer using. The beautiful quilts my mom made, although I made the coordinating pillow shams with their names appliqued. The pink and blue memory boards, hanging on the wall above the desk, were my gift to the girls for a Valentine's Day surprise. I remember making them late at night when Scott was at the firehouse while I watched home renovation shows on TLC. You didn't need to know all that, of course, but that is the memory it brings to mind.

I could also tell you about the stain in the carpet from the time one of the girls threw up fruit punch, or the dent in the wall from someone's head...but I think there has been enough sharing, don't you?

In a few minutes I'm going to fire up the grill and barby up some flank steak. The sun has finally poked out and it will be a perfect end to a good day. I hope your Memorial Day was just what the doctor ordered!

Like an arrow through my heart

2010-05-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Every week my Sweetness brings home her "traveling journal". It is a second grade class assignment. Every Friday during the school day she will write to me in the journal and then she brings it home. Over the weekend, I write back to her and she can read it during journaling time the next week.

This was her entry from Friday:

For those of you who might not be able to see the picture, it says:
"Dear Mom and Dad, yesterday was (career) project presentations. Alot of parents (were) there but you mommy, you forgot. I got mad but its okay."

I think the grammar is heartbreakingly sad and funny at the same time. "but you mommy, you forgot". Can't you just feel the dramatic pause? The accusatory tone? The finger wagging? Also note how the journal starting out being to "mom and dad", but it is clear that it becomes all about the bad mommy.

I did forget to attend her career presentation. I had it on my calendar and just forgot. I felt horrible. I figured it out by myself later in the day and ran upstairs to Sweetness' room to tell her I was sorry. I said "I'm so sorry I forgot to go to your classroom today" and she said "I know you forgot; that's why I was mad when I got home.". Hmmm....didn't really notice she was mad when she got home. I guess that is strike two on the "in touch with your daughter's world" scoreboard.

She decided that I needed to do a chore, just like I make her do when she forgets something she is supposed to do. I'm not entirely sure that is a precedent I want to start, but I felt pretty guilty so I agreed to it. She wrote "book me a playdate" on our chore whiteboard. I think I got off easy...

Lisa Spaces

2010-05-24T14:54:00.001-07:00

No, not like "Lisa spaces out" but like "these places belong to Lisa". Hubby continues to work on the basement and has our home office finished. It is so exciting. He and I had a few conversations about whose office it really was...his or mine. I think he has allowed me to call it "mine" even though he fully intends to command use of the computer chair whenever he wants. I picked up a file cabinet (off Craigslist, of course) that fits into a little alcove.

We moved the computer desk out of our bedroom and down into the office.
Note the second chair in the room? That's where we both expect the other person to sit while we're working together. The office is for our construction business, Pine Lake Construction. He needs a place to work when he writes up the invoices and researches the cost of building materials, and I need a quiet place to handle the rest of the bookeeping (taxes, accounts, filing, etc.)

As if the new office isn't exciting enough, moving the computer desk out of my bedroom also freed up valuable space and let me try some new layouts. Hubby helped me move the furniture around and I love the new room.

I have a coffee table that I think should go in front of the sofa, but hubby is concerned that I'll whack my shins during a midnight bathroom run and wake him up (he said he was worried about me hurting myself, but I knew what he really meant).

So, those are my new Lisa Spaces. What do you think? Also, tell me what I should put on my office walls. They are frighteningly bare.

Hey, I'm back to blogging

2010-05-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow...time to blog. Could it be? Or perhaps I am dreaming. Lately I've been bemoaning my inability to get anything done, blaming that on the zero seconds of time that I spend alone, uninterrupted, able to concentrate. However, there have been spurts of activity followed by task completions. Really...like check out my new white board:

I meant to install it myself, but hubby stood back watching me read the installation instructions to myself (aloud, of course) and decided it would be better for everyone (including the wall) if he helped out a little. I love my white board. It is part of my Self Sufficiency Initiative, Part II, which is set to unleash when school gets out. Part I has already commenced. I've been working with (on) the girls and "helping" them see all the things that they are capable of doing...instead of asking me for help. There have been quite a few tantrums when they realized that mom didn't intend to find their socks, or help them get their swimsuits on, or even make their breakfast. The white board is already coming in handy as a place for me to record all the chores they owe me when they fail to handle something on their own and insist on my help. Self Sufficiency Initiative Part II will involve things like morning chores and other things that must be completed before they have the freedom to go play. I remember HATING listening to my mom rattle off my daily chores, so I'm sure looking up their chore list on a white board will be much better. =)

Self Sufficiency Initiative Part II also includes potty training for the Big Guy. As soon as school gets out, that is my major focus. Some wise person suggested to me yesterday that I wouldn't dread the kids getting out of school so much if I hadn't planned so many "initiatives" to start the next day. LOL There may be something to that.

Okay, I'm off to start my next blog post. I've had 3 or 4 rolling around my head lately and I don't want my posting tally to be "1" for May.

The Monkey on my Back

2010-05-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't got enough time. I know it is an excuse, but it feels real. It feels like life moves at the speed of light and the only chance I have of keeping up is by operating on a dead-run, doing everything myself. Asking someone else to help out or do something themselves, regardless of whether that is the kids or hubby, slows down my progress.

This is a problem, though, because I can see that it is unsustainable. Not only is my burnout entirely predictable, but it isn't in anyone's best interest. My kids will not learn to be self-suficient, capeable people by me doing everything for them. They will not learn to use their brains to solve their own issues, they will not learn time management, they will not learn how the world really works. My hubby will not feel like a respected co-parent if I display to him through my actions that I can do everything better and faster than him.

For example, I help Sweetness (my 7 year old) pick out her clothes every morning, monitor her progress as she gets ready for school, and get her lunch and her backpack packed and ready for school. If I try to have her get dressed entirely on her own, without my assistance, she'll come down in something entirely inappropriate for the day (like a dress on gym day) or she'll be up in her room for 20 minutes trying to figure out what to wear and will eventually come down to me saying "I can't find my...". At that point, we're running late and I have to rush through whatever task I'm working on and go up and pick out an outfit anyway (or continue to let her do it herself, but resign myself to driving her to school because she missed the bus). I usually decide that it is just easier to pick out the outfit and have it lying on her bed when she goes up to get dressed. But the result is that I have a 2nd grader who doesn't really know how to quickly get dressed. I'm serious. It took her several MINUTES to inside out a pair of jeans. It was pure torture watching her. And that was just one step of the getting ready process...she still had to find a shirt, socks, etc.

Example #2: Spunky Girl (age 5) wanted breakfast when I was trying to get Sweetness to dress independently, so I asked her to get her own cereal. She was able to get the box down from the pantry, but managed to spill it all over the floor trying to pour the cereal into the bowl. It cost me more time to help her get that fixed than it would have to just pour her cereal myself. But I still have to let her do things herself because otherwise she'll never get any better at it.

Example #3: It is time to potty train the Big Guy...but the thought of adding potty training accidents and battle-of-wills contests into my already stressful days makes me want to crawl into a corner and cry. The thought of no more diaper changes should make that worth it, but to me the thought of adding more work into my exhausting days is worse than the thought of continuing diaper changes. But it is in his best interest to start potty training so I gotta find the personal strength to get started.

So I'm starting to work on this a little bit now with the thought of really ramping it up during the summer. Right now we are starting the conversation about personal responsibilities and I'm mentally preparing myself for things taking longer and requiring more work from me...for a bit. This summer the girls are going to get a crash course in self-sufficiency. They'll be figuring out what responsibilities they need to complete (like getting dressed, personal hygeine, chores) before they can enjoy fun summer time activities. And the Big Guy? Well... one thing at a time.

***I borrowed the non-Lisa photos from fotosearch...all royalty free of course!

Are moms a safe choice?

2010-04-27T08:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we held our usual Daisy Girl Scout troop meeting. The topic was "courageous and strong" and we used the time to talk about a variety of scary situations the girls could find themselves in and what is the right thing to do. We talked about getting lost in the woods. We talked about stranger danger. We talked about fire safety. My co-leader led the meeting, so she was the one deciding what advice to give the girls about all these situations.

Her advice about what to do if you get lost in a mall/grocery store is stuck in my head. She advised the girls to go to 1) a cashier or someone who works at the store or 2) a mom with kids and tell them you are lost. It was the "find a mom with kids" part that is keeping my brain cells occupied. Are we suggesting that moms with kids are less likely to be child abductors or pedophiles? I don't know...maybe that's true. There has to be stats on that somewhere. She didn't say "a dad with kids" so maybe we think that women are safer than men. But then I started to think about "finding a person that works there" and I guess they could be a child abductor/pedophile too. But we have to pick someone for the kids to go to. Isn't a mom with kids a good choice? Maybe we assume that a mom with kids has enough trouble...uh...children...of her own that she doesn't need to take anyone elses. No, I know what she means. She means that we all know how moms feel about their kids and any of us would be glad to help another mother/child out. We choose to trust each other.

But it still feels a little biased.

It was essentially the same topic that Dear Prudence dealt with in her post this morning. Should a Dad take a Daughter into the womens or mens restroom? Prudence felt like the dad shouldn't go into the women's restroom to help his daughter and that the daughter probably didn't need to see men standing at the urinals...so the best option is to find a family restroom or to have another mom watch his daughter in the restroom. Again, are mom's really more trustworthy than other women?

I don't know if it is biased...and when I really thought about it...I'm not sure that I care. I certainly didn't change the advice for my kids. I do want them to find a mom (or dad) with kids if they get lost and ask for help. Whaddya think?

testing -- ignore this

2010-04-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

My blog posts aren't getting posted to Facebook in a timely manner. The blog-before-last didn't get posted on facebook until my last post seemed to push it through, and then the two blogs came through together. So I'm sending this test message through to see if this message will push through the blog that hasn't posted to facebook in the last three days.

Testing Testing

Boy meets World

2010-04-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

I usually let Sweetness zone to 15 minutes of TV in the mornings while I grab a cup of coffee and try to turn into a useful human being. Today I noticed that old episodes of Boy Meets World was on one of the cable channels.

I remember loving Boy Meets World. I think about the current kid shows...iCarly, Big Time Rush, Zach and Cody...and the difference is stunning. I think the biggest difference that stands out to me is that the main character in Boy Meets World had loving, stable parents. iCarly has a dad out there somewhere, but she lives with her older brother (a bit of a dorky rebel who quit law school to be a sculpter, but hasn't managed to fess up to his father about that yet). Big Time Rush is about 4 teenage boys who move to Hollywood to become music stars. Only one of the 4 boys has a mother around. The rest of the boys apparently left their mothers behind in the midwest somewhere. Zach and Cody live in a hotel (or a cruise ship). Enough said, right?

See any parents or adults? Nope.

And the adults are hiding...

What's the deal with that? One of the main themes of Boy Meets World was the independence struggle that teens have with their parents. The sneaking out. The dealing with hard situations with their friends and needing adult guidance. The crushes. In the current kid television shows, there is no STRUGGLE for independence...the kids ARE independent. There are no "lets keep the door to the bedroom open while you study" scenes, because it is totally okay for the kids to date whomever they like...however they like...at any age. There is no parent around to say anything about it. It goes without saying that the kids are thrown into situations in those shows that no loving parent would stand back and observe from the sidelines. And really, that seems to be the point of all the shows: that the characters peer groups are their advisors and their families. That is who they are shown to interact with and that is who is important to them.

Am I making a big deal about nothing? Maybe. Perhaps Boy Meets World had its own 80's version of counterinfluence that I'm missing because I am a product of that generation. But I think that is exactly why this concerns me. Because I don't want my kids to grow up thinking it is normal for their friends to be their advisor and their parents to sit back and let them be independent when they are teenagers. I want to be there to provide boundaries...to see dangers before they see them and be willing to make unpopular choices to keep them safe. I get that the teen years is a time of separation from one's parents as they prepare to be on their own as adults...but that is supposed to be a process that runs throughout their teen years, right? Not as soon as they hit 14. It is supposed to be a little bit of a push/pull situation as both the parents and the teens learn what they can handle and what they can't.

Sigh. Okay, that's my rant for today. Stay tuned till next week when I blog about the dangers lurking in breakfast cereal commercials... (just kidding)

This one's for the Girl Scouts...

2010-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today was my first Daisy Girl Scout troop field trip. We had so much fun! We went to the Camp River Ranch, which is in Carnation by the Tolt River. It is a 425 acre property owned by the Girl Scouts. They host activities there (like the "help it grow" activity we joined today), as well as day camps, over-night camps, troop and family camping, hiking, and more. Today the weather was sunny and beautiful...just perfect.

Here we are, just after we arrived at the camp.

The camp staff started out the festivities with some story time. Our girls were great! They all sat quietly and listened. I must figure out the trick the staff used to capture their attention and hold it through 2 stories.

After story time, it was time for our troop to have "tea". Lemonade, cookies, carrots and cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches was hosted by a troop of Junior Girl Scouts. Most of our girls skipped the cucumber sandwiches, but at least they did it politely!

The Junior Girl Scouts then taught our girls a bunch of songs and played games with them.
The girls loved it and joined right in.

Next it was time for our girls to make their concrete stepping stones.
They collected pieces of nature and also used some colored glass to create a design in their pans.

After that, they were allowed to help mix the concrete and spread it into their pans.

It was a little messy, so some handwashing was next on the agenda.

Funny how even handwashing can be fun when you are allowed to do it outside and splash a little...

We had a few moments before our next activity started, so the camp director took the girls on a little hike. The girls loved the freedom to run around a bit and the Tolt River was beautiful!

The girls were given some time to explore the cabins used for overnight camping. A raccoon visited a nearby tree during their exploration, so the girls experienced some animal sightings too (they also saw dear in the meadow).

Now it was time for our gardening adventures. The girls planted cucumbers and beans.
They watered their seeds and also did some weeding in other areas. If the girls go back for any activities in the summer, they will get opportunities to see their stepping stones and eat some of their produce.

The last activity was playing games. The game leader found us a nice spot in the shade and led the girls in a bunch of running-around games. We chaperones were already getting tired, so it was time to tire the girls out!

One final Girl Scout circle with all the girls and it was time to go home!

If anyone has interest in seeing all the pictures, let me know and I'll post them on a share site for all to view.

Have you read this story?

2010-04-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm reading the story of how fellow blogger The Pioneer Woman fell in love with her husband...the Marlboro Man. Fellow blogger is probably overexaggerating our relationship. She has readership in the millions. I'm working on reader #12, last I checked.

I am enthralled by her story. The romance, her fumbles, her constant discussion of what was going on in her head...it keeps bringing me back to her site, reading chapter by chapter, eager to hear how it ends. Even when I know how it ends. That is the sign of a great book...when you know how it ends, but you are still so eager to experience it. Her story is called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.

I don't think I can turn the story of how I met and married hubby into a 3 page story, much less 20 chapters, but reading her book makes me want to try. I think I would have to make up a whole bunch of details because I have a lousy memory. Maybe I should write it...then whatever details I make up will find their home in my memory and I'll finally have a story worthy of telling our children. A made up story, but a story none-the-less! =)

Cooking through Rachael Ray -- Meal 1

2010-04-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

The first meal I tried from EVERYDAY WITH RACHAEL RAY was turkey burger drumsticks (Remember my last blog post?). This recipe caught my eye because I thought the kids would eat it and it only required 5 ingredients: ground turkey, evaporated milk, onion, cornflakes, cheese.

First, let me say that the 5-item recipe thing is a hoax. It is 9 items...apparently they don't feel the need to count salt, pepper, olive oil and the wood skewers. Not that 9 items is so bad, but it is more than 5. Let's keep it honest folks.

Second, it said I needed a medium-hard white cheese. I chose the extra sharp white cheddar cheese (black label at Costco). I don't think it was hard enough...or maybe it was too hard. Step one in the recipe was to stick the wood skewer into the chopped sticks of cheese. The wood skewers split the sticks of cheese wide open. So that didn't work. The sticks went into the garbage and we plodded on.

So you mix the ground beef with a little evaporated milk and wrap it around the cheese sticks. At this point, dinner does NOT look very appetizing. But we plod on.

Then you dip the turkey/cheese lumps in more evaporated milk and then roll them in smooshed corn flakes (only I used smooshed rice chexs). Put the lumps into a hot fry pan with olive oil (I used canola) and fry them for 6 minutes per side.

I'm pretty sure I cooked them for longer than that. I didn't want to cut into one of them to ensure the turkey was cooked all the way through, so I just cooked it 5 minutes longer. I'm glad I bought special white cheese for the recipe instead of using the yellow-orange cheddar I always have in the fridge. The cheese melts out of the turkey lumps while they are cooking and I think the yellow-orange cheddar would have looked icky oozing out.

Okay...so here's what they were supposed to look like:

And here was our dinner:

Yes, those are tater tots. Get over it.

Family rating -- everyone said they liked them (a modern day miracle at the Sanford house) and Sweetness went back for seconds. Spunky Girl and the Big Guy didn't finish their dinners, but they never do. I would say my first attempt at a Rachael Ray recipe was a success. The only downside is that it took me nearly an hour to prepare, which felt too long for me.

2010-04-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

I brought 4 back issues of the EVERY DAY WITH RACHAEL RAY magazines with me on our last trip. I don't subscribe to that magazine, so I've only read the magazine before while sitting in doctors' offices. I read through 3 copies before I realized that the point of the magazine isn't supposed to just be pleasureful flipping through the pages. Maybe I was actually supposed to attempt some of the yummy (yummo?) food pictured inside.

So I chose one of the magazines and tagged the recipes that met 2 of 3 of the following criteria:
* Do I want to eat this?
* Will my kids eat this?
* Is this a practical menu choice considering the cost of groceries?

Here are the recipes that I tagged from the Sept 09 issue:
* Vanillla Bean Crepe Mix from Target (okay, not really a cullinary challenge, but it sounds good. They recommend filling them with applesauce, butter, honey and pecans.)
* Turkey Burger Drumsticks (obviously a kid choice. I don't need my burger to be on a stick, but if it makes the kids eat...)
* Three Cheese Manacotti (with homemade noodles)
* Tilapia with Roasted Corn
* Horseradish Mac'n'Cheese with Bacon (this one is all for me!)
* Leek and Gnocchi Bake (I've always wanted to cook with leeks -- call it a dream)
* Pasta e Fagioli with Sausage
* 2 Alarm Chili Cups (bite size phyllo cups filled with chili)

So what sounds best to you? What should I start with?

Did I mention that I'm also calorie counting again. Hmmm.....

Visiting Grandpa Joe and Grandma Gayle

2010-04-05T15:50:00.001-07:00

Spring Break, and some bargain online shopping, allowed us the opportunity to go visit hubby's grandparents. We headed out Tuesday morning on a flight to San Francisco. Hubby's paternal grandpa lives in Santa Rosa, California with his lovely wife Gayle. Grandpa Joe and Grandma Gayle stay in a delightful retirement community and we always know to get dressed up if we've accepted an invitation to dine with them.

The kids were VERY well behaved, especially considering they traveled from 7 am till 5 pm in order to see their grandparents. The big guy let out some of his energy at dinner time by politely walking back and forth to the doorway and back. A few times his feet were tempted into a run, but he reminded himself of his surroundings.
(I guess Spunky Girl's plate on her head isn't a shining example of what to do in a nice dining hall, but I was still super-pleased with their overall behavior.) A little ice cream after dinner never hurt anyone!

Grandpa Joe and Grandma Gayle had a surprise box for the kids with lots of little easter gifts and books for the children. Those are always appreciated and come in handy on a trip! We returned to Santa Rosa the next morning to dine for breakfast and afterwards took a tour of the community grounds. They have lovely landscaping!

We're so pleased that we were able to visit Grandpa Joe and Grandma Gayle. I hope another opportunity presents itself soon!

And everything returns to normal...and its okay

2010-03-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

When I got back from vacation, my kids looked so beautiful. The Big Guy showered me with kisses and kept saying "I missed you on your vacation mommy". Spunky Girl followed me around a bit (actually pulled a chair into the bathroom when I needed to use the commode), and Sweetness wanted to tell me all about what she did while I was gone. They all looked so tall, too!

The first day, I experienced a sense of lightness in my parenting. Sure, I still had to deal with some sibling arguing, but it didn't irk me down deep. Sure, the kids were as noisy as a semi truck in a tunnel, but I didn't seem to mind. Sure, the Big Guy refused to take his nap, but I kinda wanted to play with him anyway. During dinner, Spunky girl knocked her drink over during dinner and I just grabbed a towel and cleaned it up. I didn't feel anything about that. Then she knocked her second drink over, actually into her plate this time, so I got her a second plate of food. And I didn't have any negative feelings about that. That's when I knew I was in the honeymoon period following my vacation. There is no other way to explain my lack of irritation when 2 drinks were spilled by the same child within 5 minutes.

Today (Sunday) didn't have that same lightness. Hubby was at the firehouse today, so I had the kids on my own. Getting the family ready for church this morning had its trying moments. When I tried to get myself ready for the day, the kids kept busting in and wanting me to do things for them. I felt frustration. I didn't want to be irritated at them...I just wanted them to do what I had asked them to while I finished getting my teeth brushed. And then began the correcting and repeating. "Let's get our shoes on" "Who has their shoes on?" "Please stop crying...I'll help find your shoe" "No, you can't wear crocs" "Could you please help your brother with his shoes?" "Hey, let her help. I told her to help." "No, I'll do it...just get in the car." "Just stop crying"

Sigh. I don't want it to go like that, but somehow I feel powerless to keep it from going like that. And then I feel bad about my inability to parent in such a way that avoids those moments, and that makes me angry at them too (because, even though I don't want to admit it, it is easier to be annoyed at them to admit that I feel powerless to stop the scenario from playing out).

And then suddenly, it hits me that the honeymoon period is over and from now on spilled milk is going to be just as annoying as it was before I went on vacation. I'm back to growling "Can you just give me a minute? I'm right in the middle of something" to the endless requests. And I so badly want to be the parent in the honeymoon period. The parent who can parent without so much negative emotion bubbling in my soul. The person who can correct bad behavior and encourage good behavior without having to choke down what I ought not to say.

And then I realize...that is it. No more wishing otherwise. I am going to be the parent who has to battle her irritation, temper, resentment, pride and selfishness because that is how God is making me into a better person. Only when I am faced with the reality that I am either going to battle against my limitations or I am going to fail to be the parent those beautiful children deserve do I truly go to battle against my faults. It simply isn't okay to say "well, that's just who I am" when my children deserve better. They deserve the best. God gave me those kids to raise and they will get the best mother I can make myself be.

*******
I wrote this post and then set it aside for 2 days. That is unusual for me, but I didn't want to throw something out there that made me sound like a bad mom or that I'm always barking at my children. But it is an honest look at what I struggle with, what I wish for, and an acceptance that it is okay. And maybe admitting it to myself and all of you will make it easier to keep plowing ahead with a positive attitude. Gosh that sounded all Pollyanna...

P.S. Who uses the word "commode"?

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 8

2010-03-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it is time to get packed up. We made it to Maui with just carry-on luggage, but we won’t make it home that way. We brought a little duffel bag with us, so we’ll use that as a carry on and check one of our suitcases. We also have to check Scott’s lumber. Paying $15 for checking the lumber is a lot cheaper than UPSing it home! I wish there was a prize for the largest souvenir.

Since I slept in till nearly 8 am (8 am!!!), we didn’t get checked out till 10 am. Scott got up at 6:30 am, but I have no idea what he did with his time because I was lost in dreamland. He did snuggle back up with me at 7:30, but I’m pretty sure he did that just to wake me up.

We had considered a number of plans for our Friday morning…kayaking out to see some turtles, snorkeling at black rock, swimming in the pool…but we just didn’t want to get all wet in the morning and then try to pack our wet clothes by our checkout time at 10am.
So we decided to go to the movies instead. The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler opened today and it had an 11:45 showing. We headed to the theater but started to have second thoughts once we were in line for tickets. If the show doesn’t get out until 1:30 and our flight is supposed to leave at 2:45…and we have to return our rental car…do we really have time for this? We opted to not risk it and just some time hanging around the mall and having lunch. There was a significant line at the airport, so we were glad we got to the airport at 1:20 instead of nearly 2 pm.

But…then we got delayed for mechanical failure, so it really wouldn’t have mattered if we’d taken the time to watch the movie. Hey, that’s the way the beach ball bounces, right?

We ended up with a 3 hour delay, which we decided to eat and drink our way through. First, Starbucks. Scott (I told you he always orders better than me) ordered a super yummy dark chocolate cherry mocha. My regular mocha was delicious, but not as delicious as his.

Then, when we knew it was going to be a long delay, we went and found Claire and Klye again. Since they were on our flight home too, we might as well spend our time hanging out. There was a Sammy Bar and Grill in the airport, created by Sammy Hagar "to help the children". I never saw it clarified which children he was supporting. Hopefully it wasn't just his own. Is it just me, or do the Winston's look a little too cozy with the gorilla?

When it was finally time to board the plane, we headed back to our gate. We saw Lily Jang was waiting to get on the same flight that we were. Lily Jang is a broadcast journalist for Q13 Fox News. She's a great newscaster and also happens to be super hot. Kyle stole a few dozen looks at her before it was clear to all of us that he needed to go introduce himself and say hi. His wife Claire offered to be his wing man, but he was still feeling a little shy...so we called him a chicken and that seemed to help. She was super nice and chatted with Kyle and Claire for a few minutes and took a picture with them. I did some quick research online when searching for a good "cute Lily" picture and it turns out that she's a big contributor to firefighter/burn foundation charities. Go Lily!!! She's an enthusiastic twitterati as well, so go follow her tweets.

So that's it people...the end of my vacation. We got in at 2:06 am on Saturday the 20th and were picked up at the airport by my super-sweet father, who didn't even complain about the time. The kids were already asleep at his house, so Scott and I crashed at our until 9:30 that morning and then reunited with our kiddos.

Thanks for reading all the way through my vacation blog posts people. Y'all make me happy.

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 7

2010-03-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Day 7 – Thursday

Scott and I were so excited about what we had planned for today. We had a 5 hour zip-line adventure planned with Flyin’ Hawaiian. 5 hours of zipping over Maui, dangling only by a cable…how fun does that sound!?!! Checkout www.flyinhawaiianzipline.com to see what they offer. Alas, as we were pulling out of the hotel parking to go there, they called and said our adventure had to be cancelled due to rain. Sigh. Bummer. The “up country” (what the call the inner part of the Island) gets a lot more rain than the beaches do. The only slight comfort was that it was going to be an expensive 5 hours, so at least I can feel better about not spending that cash…but still. Sigh. Okay, I’m still in paradise…let’s go have some fun in the sun.

Scott and I walked down to Whaler’s Village to get some frozen yogurt (hey, frozen dessert at 10 am makes perfect sense when it is 82 degrees out!) and revisit some of the stores. Scott loved the Koa wood carved turtles in one of the furniture stores. I checked the price tags on those turtles and thought I would dissuade him from buying those pricey carvings by saying “Hey you could make those”. Well, that started his wheels going…and before I knew it he had done research on where you could buy Koa wood on the Island and we were off to a lumberyard in Maui. Gotta be careful what you say around a boy that is capable of doing whatever he sets his mind to! He was able to find several boards that he liked. I was a HUGE help, of course, in picking out the right ones…that was before I got bored and headed back out to the car to read my book. The joy of a convertible (thanks honey!) is that I could still lay out in the sun, even if I’m sitting outside a lumberyard instead of on the beach.
Lisa in the fun convertible

We headed back to the hotel and I caught a few minutes of lying out by the pool. The wind was blowing a bit, so I before long I headed back up to our room and took a long bath and got ready for dinner. We had plans to meet Kyle and Claire Winston for dinner at the Mala restaurant in Lahaina. It is right on the ocean and we were able to watch turtles poking their heads out of the water from our seats inside. Loved that! The food was great there…definitely our nicest meal in Maui. We started the meal with an Ahi bruscetta appetizer and a tomato/mozzarella/flax bread tower with balsamic vinaigrette. Yummo. Dinner for me was a Prime Rib Eye and Scott had a fresh seafood choppino. Here we are at the restaurant. If you need any help, the tan people are Kyle and Claire. Scott and I are the whiter ones on the left. =) It was fun running into Kyle and Claire and having people to enjoy the paradise with. Plus...they know everyone that we know, so we could talk about all you people. They remind us a little bit of us, about 8 years ago before parenting blessed (took over) our lives.

After dinner we headed back down to the art galleries on Lahaina’s Front street. I thought it was really fun to look at the work of Peter and Madeleine Powell, who paint mostly junk food and crayons. Claire and Kyle introduced us to Victor Bregeda & Vladimir Kush. Both artists do fascinating work, but are a little too “out there” for our taste. Still, it is fun to look at their art and the art of other masters like Dali, Erte, and Picasso.

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 6

2010-03-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today Scott has his second day of Diving training. I went with him this morning so I could hang out on a new beach (Airport beach...named that because it was where they used to land planes. It is on the opposite side of the Island from Kahalui, where the big airport is). It was fun there. I saw some good whale action (of which I captured nothing with my camera) and got to see some humunguous beautiful homes on the beach. I also got to see Scott get all suited up for diving and descend into the water. There wasn't much to see after that, since he's submerged, so I took a little nap on the beach and then read my novel. Sigh...a morning well spent!
Airport Beach

Scott's all set to dive. The surf boy in the back is his instructor Zack.

There he goes!

Scott saw turtles, octopus, and eels while he was diving...in addition to a myriad of fish and coral

I spent some time blogging in the afternoon (ya think these posts write themselves?) and then headed back to pick up Scott. We came back to the hotel and rented some snorkeling gear, planning to snorkel at Black Rock so I could see more turtles. Scott wanted to get a few pictures of them on our underwater camera so he could show the kids at home. Unfortunately, the water was too murky (high tide) for snorkeling when we got there, so it was really just an expensive 2 mile walk in the surf. Great workout for the legs though!

We were forced to spend our time playing in the pool instead. By the time we finished hanging out in the pool, we were famished. We hurried back to our room, traded our swimsuits for dry clothes, and headed back out for dinner. We caught a beautiful sunset just as we were leaving.

We had planned all week that we would eat at Carl Jr.'s fast food restaurant at least once because Scott used to eat there as a kid and loved it (we don't have them in our town). We decided tonight was our Carl Jr. night, so we drove 30 minutes down to Kihea and went through the drive through for some Western Bacon Cheeseburgers. We took our burgers to Wailea (I don't think they allow fast food joints in Wailea...it is the most uppity part of the Island). We ate our burgers in the parking lot before heading in to the Wailea mall to check out more art galleries.

This one of the great things about hanging out with my hubby. We both can enjoy eating junky fast food, then going to peruse expensive art, and then drive back with the top down while rocking out to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Jethro Tull. How could we be more perfect for each other?

15th Anniversary Maui Trip -- Day 4

2010-03-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Day 4 Monday --
Monday morning was another shopping trip in Lahaina. I have to look in every store to make sure that I make my purchases at just the right combination of quality and price. Our shopping has centered on surf/dive/swimwear shops. We each want a rashguard to wear while we're out on the water and we want to bring our kids home rashguard swimwear sets as a "we missed you tons" gifts. We made some good headway on those, finding something for both Cade, Scott and I. Then it was back to the hotel to grab a boogie board and hit the beach.

I expected watching Scott boogie board would be more exciting. There was a really strong current, so he spent most of the time swimming sideways to stay in line for the good waves. A lot less action than I hoped. Someday I will see that husband of mine surf like he is Laird Hamilton...but sadly that won't be this trip.

Another sad, sad moment on the beach today was when my new hat went sailing down the beach and was crushed beneath a wave and driven into the sand. Sigh. I REALLY liked this hat (Forever21...only $13!!!). I'm drying out the hat now. Maybe it can be salavaged.

But it was super fun to play in the surf. Scott laughs at me because every little wave knocks me over. I am like a fish out of water!

After we played in the surf, we headed back for some time in the pool. We took advantage of the water slide at our hotel. Wheeeee.... (Any guesses how many pictures it took for me to catch Scott on the slide? HeeHee)

After our fun in the sun and water, we got ready to go to Warren & Annabel's Magic Show. We saw the Warren and Annabel show when we were in Maui 4 years ago and LOVED it. We're so excited to go again, especially as they have guest magicians performing right now so it will be a different show. The tickets for the show were compliments of my lovely parents for our anniversary (15 years and the reason for our week in paradise) and it was fabulous. Dinner at the show was awesome...Kahlua Pork wraps, coconut shrimp, crab cakes, chicken satay...all delicious and great desserts. We got to sit up in the front row of the magic show. The front row is where they put people that the magician is planning on interacting with during his show. It is the best seats for trying to see what the magician is doing and it is really fun too. The magician called me up to the front to have a white dove read my mind. It was hillarious and we had a really good time.

After the show, Scott and I walked through the Lahaina art galleries. We saw two pieces of art that we really liked. First we saw some beautiful photographs of the inside of waves. The pictures would look beautiful in the basement remodel that Scott is working on. The main room in the basement is supposed to be Scott's man cave (when the fam-fam isn't using it!) so I want it to reflect the design style that he likes. The photographs are framed (kind-of framed...more like covered) in lucite, so they are really sturdy and could take the wear and tear of a basement room. The pictures are bright blue...but also the same colors of green and tan that we used in our paint & carpets, so I think they would go fabulously. The only downside was the price tag, which completely knocked it out of the water for Scott and I. Now that I have in mind what would look awesome, though, I can start hunting for more price friendly options.

The second piece of art we liked was by an artist that we met at church on Sunday morning. Roman Czerwinski is a friendly guy who welcomed us to church and never mentioned that he was a world renowned artist. I noticed that a painting on the wall of the church building bore his name and was thrilled to see more of his work in the uppity art gallery's on Lahaina's Front Street. Here's a link to Roman Czerwinski's Art Bio. We loved the painting of a palm tree with a cluster of coconuts (which I cannot find online to show you...must be too new). It would be a fun addition to our house, but we couldn't in good conscience put an original Roman Czerwinski painting in our basement. As the most expensive thing we would own, except for our vehicles, it should have a more formal viewing area away from where kids could touch it. Alas, we don't have the funds for that artwork either (significantly more than the earlier photograph that we liked)...but it was fun to dream. If we are ever blessed enough to come back to Maui (please, please, please), I can't wait to come back and see more of Roman's art.

Monday was a fabulous day and now I'm tired...but hey, at least I made it till 10:30 pm before falling asleep!

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 5

2010-03-16T16:48:00.001-07:00

Day 5 -- Tuesday
...and so begins Day 5. We slept in till nearly 7am Maui time. Could we have finally adjusted to the time change? Will we sleep in till 8 am tomorrow, which would finally be a time that counts as "sleeping in" for us? It is so lovely to wake up and open the curtains and listen to the waves crash as you lie listless in bed. Sigh. A not-very-good picture of Lisa on our balcony

Today is Scott's first day at dive school. At 8:30 am, I drove him down to the dive shop and then I was on my own for the day. There are so many possibilities for my day. I can lay by the pool all day. I can lay on the beach all day. I can shop all day. I can sit in a hammock and read my book all day. I can even stay in my hotel room and blog and watch movies all day. Honestly, it feels funny to not have any direction on what to do. Usually I make my plans based on a to-do list and what will work best for my family, and then sneak in a few minutes here and there of what I want to do. Today is all about what I want to do and I have to force myself to not try to plan it out, but to just let it unfold as it will.

I opted for laying by the pool while I washed Scott's laundry. This may sound selfless, but the darling boy didn't pack a full week's worth of underwear because he was limiting his packing so I could bring all the clothes that I wanted for the week...and because we wanted to travel with carry-on luggage only. If that isn't true love...

Anyway, so I laid by the pool for awhile and then came back for a 10 am snack and some movie/reading time. Then I headed down for some shopping and paid FULL PRICE for some darling swim outfits for my girls. I miss them. I can't wait to give them the little treasures that I've been picking up for them.

After shopping, it is back to the hotel for some more reading/blogging time before I head back to pick up Scott. He loved his first day of diving and is really looking forward to getting his certification. It is something he has always wanted to do, so I'm glad we're making the time for it in our vacation. Of course, it means that after an early dinner at the Hula Grill he needed to study for a few hours...but I was tired anyway so a night watching television while sitting in front of my open patio door and listening to the surf and feeling the ocean breeze was fine by me. Bedtime by 10 pm, up by 6:30 am.

Lisa and Scott at the Hula Grill

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 3

2010-03-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we woke up early...again. We travel for umpteen miles to vacation alone in paradise and find ourselves still getting up at the crack of dawn. Seattle is 3 hours ahead of Maui, so when our bodies think it is 8 am it is only 5 am Maui time. You can only imagine the party animal I am at 9 pm Maui time (midnight Seattle time)...everyone who knows me well knows that I can't stay up late! Poor Scott. He kept mentioning before we left how wonderful it was going to be to sleep in. I suppose the good news about getting up so early is that there isn't much of a line when the coffee stand opens at 6:30 (but there really isn't a line any other time of the day either). Maybe the good news is that there was plenty of lounge chairs and hammocks available...cause baby, they are a hot commodity around here! People actually get up while it is still dark and go lay out their towels over their favorite lounge chairs to save them for later. Cracks me up...crazy people.
Lisa and Scott in a hammock on the beach at 6 am

Sunday morning we headed to the North side of the island to go to Bible class & worship services with the Church of Christ at Wailehu Beach. Two interesting things happened there. First, we ran into Kyle and Claire Winston, who is the son and daughter-in-law of my parent's good friends Cal and Kim Winston. Small world. We'll be meeting up with them for dinner on Thursday night. The second thing that happened is that the visiting preacher, Joe Johnson from Missouri, fell ill during his class and they had to call an ambulance. Scott was able to stabilize him and keep an eye on his vital signs while we all waited for the medics to arrive. My hubby the hero.

The guy that stepped up and spoke during the morning service in Joe's place (Paul Annis maybe?) did a great lesson on Colossians 3. It is a testament to the time he obviously spends in the Bible that he can get up and give an encouraging talk on just a few minutes notice.

After a great worship service, we did some quick shopping at Queen Kamehameha Mall and then drove up to the Haleakala Crater. It is a beautiful drive up through the middle of the island. The views of the water were breaktaking and the green rolling hills are beautiful. By the time you get up close to the top, you really can't see that much because you are driving in a cloud.
We hadn't planned our excursion to Haleakala so I was wearing shorts and sandals...not exactly the right attire for climbing around the rocks by the crater. (Hey, it is a page from my sister Krissy's playbook. She hiked the Alps in flip-flops.)

We stopped at Bubba Gumps for some dinner on the way home, which was fun, and headed back to the hotel for some hottubbing. We were back in our room a little after 9pm and I was sound asleep by 10 pm. =)

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 1

2010-03-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

Lisa and Scott on our flight to Maui

**** And so begins my blog about my vacation. You'll notice that I'm not posting my blog posts until I am almost home, just in case any of my friends' friends are home burglurists by trade. Hey, maybe you don't want to read a daily play-by-play of my vacation. I'm not sure I blame you. It might come off as boasting about my blessings and good fortune, which is not my intent. I enjoy blogging about my vacation though. I get to enjoy it twice that way: once when I experience it and again when I write about it. Call it my version of scrap-booking...and hey, if you don't want to read it...then don't. I'll never know. =)****

I'm in MAUI...80 degrees and beautiful. The heat as I exit the airport hits me like a tidal wave, of course, but I'll be getting used to it. We arrived around 5 pm Seattle time, which is 3 pm Maui time. By the time we got our rental car, drove to Ka'anapali and checked in, it was 4:30. I was a hungry, hungry hippo (remember that game?). Apparently the airline doesn't subscribe to my "let's eat something substantial every 2.5 hours" plan. Hubby and I made dinner our first priority and ate at the restaurant in our hotel. We wanted something light, so we both opted for fish. Hubby ordered a blackened Opa fish (which was awesome) and I had a macadamia nut encrusted swordfish (also good). He always manages to order just a little better than me.

After dinner we walked down the boardwalk to Whaler's village and started a little shopping. I think it is funny how many of the shops are repeated throughout the local shopping holes. There must be 16 ABC stores within the square mile. There are equally as many Honolua Surf Co. stores and Quicksilver/Roxy/Billabong/Element/Pac Sun stores. It must be like repeated advertising in televison shows. You know...when you aren't hungry when you start watching NCIS but desperately need a junk food fix when it is over because of all the repeated commercials?

Back to the hotel after some light shopping and we grab some haagen daaz for dessert. Yummy!

Saturday morning we head out first thing to go whale/dolphin watching and snorkeling at Lan'ai. It was FABULOUS. Amazing weather. The whales are so cool to watch, especially the mommy and baby calves. (Note that I cannot take a picture of a whale. I saw tons of whales on our trip and all I have to show for it is a bunch of pictures of the ocean. This, sadly, is the best one I got. What??? You can't see the whale? Shocking!)
They are expecting a bigger return of whales than they had in 2008, which was the best year in quite a long time. Snorkeling is awesome, but it always takes me about 5 minutes to quell the feelings of panic and stick my face into the water. Even though I recognize there is nothing to be fearful of (I'm wearing a bright yellow floatie, for goodness sake), I still freak out a bit. Hubby thought I wasn't going to make it for a moment, but I knew that I would eventually calm down if I could just stay with it for a few minutes. As soon as I had my face in the water and was distracted by a beautiful fish, I forgot to be so freaked out and my breathing calmed.

I love to watch hubby in the water. He dives way down to see the fish and coral. He's quick like a fish too. I spent most of my snorkeling time looking for the "elusive white human fish in the blue Hawaiian shorts".

My favorite time during the excursion was the way home. I love laying out in the sun, feeling the heat dry my hair and clothes, letting my body meld into the crashing movement of the boat, and chilling. After our excursion, we headed back into Ka'anapali hung out for awhile, making our first visit to the awesome 3 acre pool with the fun water slide. After that, all I had energy for was making plans for the rest of our week and watching lame movies on television. I was exhausted by 8 pm and fell asleep by 9:15 or so. Quite the little party animal, aren't I?

Lisa tries to tell a story, but it takes her a really long time.

2010-03-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

I was having dinner at my friend Keri's house the other night (we were celebrating the end of our diet challenge) with a group of Keri's friends. Keri was telling her friends a story about when I was getting ready to go to Disneyland and how I emailed everyone, trying to find some fanny packs. Of course, the point of telling that story was to point out what a dork and fashion imbecile I was to want those fanny packs.

***in my defense, I wanted the fanny packs for my kids to wear. I wanted each child to have a mini bottle of water, a pack of Kleenex and some contact information in case we got seperated. The fanny packs were never for ME to wear, only for me to force my children to wear.

It was a funny story and everybody laughed. The next day Keri sent me a text asking me if she had hurt my feelings by joking around about the fanny packs. I sent a text back saying that I didn't mind a bit, but unfortunately Keri never received my reply text.

***some times I am texting-challenged. I've been known to type in the name of the person I want to text to and forget to click on their contact name...which sends their message into the great unknown instead of to their cell phone. I'd love to say that only has happened to me once, but I'd be lying.

So, when Keri doesn't receive a response to her message, she gets more concerned that she did hurt my feelings. She sends two more messages, including a lengthy Keri-esqe voice mail, about how she was just joking around but never meant to hurt my feelings...yada yada yada. So I figure I'd better call her back and make sure she knows that I was totally fine with the conversation.

I call Keri back and we laugh about the text message that I know I sent, but yet-again she has not received. I forward it to her again and reassure her that I know that I am a dork and wasn't the least bit offended about being the joke of that fanny-pack story. ... and then Keri says "Oh good. I just know how sensitive you can feel about friendship issues and I didn't want to inadvertently hurt your feelings."

...

um...what? Did she just say that I am overly sensitive about friendship issues? Easily offended? Hyper-sensitive?

Yeah. I think she did. Of course, I cannot comment back to her about that comment because that would be acting entirely sensitive about friendships issues. And even if I am overly sensitive (which I probably am), I certainly don't want to be thought of as overly sensitive...and so I'll act like that wasn't a lame comment.

But then I'll laugh at myself later and post the entire story on facebook, so everyone knows that at least I can laugh about how overly sensitive I am.

Love ya Girl!

I did promise you a meaningless post....

2010-03-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you know that rule that says "if you haven't worn it in a year, you should get rid of it". Well, I blogged about these new white pants on June 1st of last year.Here is the original post about the white pants. Have I worn them since then? NO. At first I thought I just needed to lose a few pounds and I would like the pants better. But then I lost a few and I still didn't like the pants. The pants were super tight around my calves and pulled the pants down (yes, down like off my bum). I could have worn a belt to keep them up, but the sensation still wasn't that great. Anyhoo...

So I decided it was time to let the pants go or do something to fix them. So I hacked off the tight-calf part, rolled them up a bit, and sewed 'em back together. Whaddya think? Better?

P.S. My mother wouldn't be proud to see the unmade bed and the piles of clothes in the background of the pictures. But hey, we go for honest journalism...

Helping out? Or just doing my part?

2010-03-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Why does it feel like I'm helping hubby when I work in the basement? After all, it is my basement too. But somehow it feels like it is his project to finish the basement and any work that I do is voluntary. I expect a "oh honey, that was so nice of you. I really appreciate it" response when I clean up down there.

I tried to flip that around to see if I could justify that position in the reverse. Does hubby feel like he is helping me with housework instead of just contributing to the overall effort? Am I okay with it if that is how he feels? I've always expected him to help out, especially if I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off because people are coming over. I think it would irritate me if he refused to help and said something stupid like "that's your job", but I'm not sure I care if he is helping and his motivation is to make life easier for me...or if he wants to make me feel loved and supported by his effort. That seems okay...probably because I accept the primary role in the housework. Now that would be a different story if we are talking about taking care of the kids...but that would be a digression. Back to my "helping in the basement" post.

Here are a few pictures of our project, so you all can see my hubby's fabulous skills. First is my stairs. We call them "Lisa's stairs" because hubby doesn't see the attraction to wood stairs. After all, they cost more, are harder to put in, and are more slippery for people to walk on. But, as anyone who takes the primary housework role will tell you, vacuuming stairs is a PAIN. I think they are beautiful!

The following picture is the new family room, which is mainly designed to be a man cave for hubby. I'm sure it will also double as a place to send the kids during social events (assuming the men aren't using it) or a primo sleepover location. Do you like my new green accent wall?

The last picture is our new hobby room. Hubby built this room so we'd have a place to leave out our hobby's while they are "in progress". We've both learned from experience that you can't leave something laying around and expect the toddlers not to touch it when you aren't looking. The big question is "Can fishing stuff (fly tying, rod building, etc.) live side by side with sewing (quilting, mending, etc.)?"

Looking forward to your comments! (so leave me one, will ya?)

Saturday Morning Hike at Timberline Park

2010-03-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning, hubby and I took the kids down to Loew's hardware store so we could pick out some supplies for our basement project. Having 3 kids in a hardware store when you are trying to pick out home furnishing is no fun. No fun for them. No fun for us. After about an hour of that, I decided it was time to take the kids on our Saturday morning hike.

It was just me and the kids again, so I needed to find somewhere local to hike that wouldn't be too long or too taxing. Just down the road was Timberline Park. "No, I don't want to go there" I thought. "Why not?" I said to myself "it has been nearly 17 years since THAT day."

Timberline park has a special memory for me. When I was in high school, it was the park where kids went because they wanted some privacy while making out. That's not the memory it holds for me. No, Timberline Park was the location that my then-fiance took me when he asked for his engagement ring back. Well, asked might be the wrong word. He pretty much told me to give it back. Apparently the idea that I was planning on using it in a few short months was immaterial to him.

It wasn't the best day I ever had. So, here I am, 17 years later and still not wanting to return to that park? Come on...that doesn't make any sense. After all, God used that opportunity to bring me together with Hubby...who is the greatest man in the world for me. So, off to the park I went. I got there and my older girls said "Hey, we've been here before. Grandma and Grandpa took us hiking here." Then they climbed out of the car and scampered off into the exact direction of that fateful "ring-returning" encounter. And it turned out that the idea of going back to that park was much more disturbing than actually going back to that park. It is a lovely park. The kids loved it and I can't wait to go back. So I guess that turned out all right. =)

Surrounded by Workers

2010-02-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today I am feeling grateful for all the groups that surround me that participate in charitable activities. I know for a fact that our family wouldn't get involved in most of the fundraising or charitable activities that we do if it weren't for somebody else getting organized and providing us with the opportunity to help out.

This month our Daisy Girl Scout troop has several different opportunities because of work that other troops in the area participate in. Our Daisy's made rice sock/bed warmers for the resident's of Issaquah's Tent City because a nearby troop committed to every homeless person in tent city getting one. Next our Daisy's will be contributing items for Easter baskets for kids at Matthew's House. Matthew's House takes care of kids while their parents are incarcerated and is a charitable focus of our entire service unit (all the girl scouts in our area).

Through my kids' swimming program, they can contribute to Project Ethiopia. Our swim instructor encourages each of her students to make $8 - $14 themselves and donate it to Project Ethiopia so that a child there can get a set of clothes and be able to attend the local school. My husband's cousin recently traveled to Ethiopia for some mission work and that provided an opportunity to help out in Ethiopia as well (her blog can be found at http://hopeforethiopiasorphans.blogspot.com if you are interested in her work there).

My Father-in-law organized a fund-raising golf tournament for the SemperFi fund to help Marines and their families who need assistance. Our church group supports the missionary work & disaster relief in the Phillipines. Our preschool supports the local food bank. And the list goes on...

What's my point? All these efforts have been started by someone else...usually someone else that I know...and give us an opportunity to be a blessing to others. Some days it seems so overwhelming just taking care of my own family that I can't imagine putting the time and energy into a project like that, but then I wonder where would the world be without people like these who do dedicate themselves to organizing help for others.

I'm about to wander off into the political arena people, so some of you might want to start tuning me out now...

I think it would be awesome if all the world's ills could be fixed by generous people like this reaching out to help others. Ideally, I want us all to be aware of the needs of those around us and help out so the government doesn't need to step in with large scale, usually red tape filled programs to make up the difference. But that just doesn't seem realistic. I know many of those close to me (sorry dad) would just like the government to remove their hands from their wallet and let them choose whom to help and how much to give. I just don't think we are aware enough of the problems of society to do that. I don't think the "less pretty" illnesses would get very much assistance at all...and I think those groups need help too.

So, that's my $.02. I know I wandered off into a more serious topic than usual. Never fear, tomorrow I'll go back to wondering what color I should paint my girls' toenails. =)

Lisa's observations from the Bon Jovi concert

2010-02-23T12:01:00.000-08:00

1. Bon Jovi rocks.

2. Jon Bon Jovi certainly knows how to market himself to his female audience.
3. Many of Bon Jovi's female fans had more cleavage showing on the outside of their shirts than I have underneath. I really didn't think it was attractive. Maybe I'm just jealous, but I don't think so.
4. While Bon Jovi's newer songs are good, they cannot match the magic and nostalgia of the older songs.
5. Bon Jovi is a lot more politically active than I realized. It would not have been a good place to wear a "Dick Cheney is the Man" shirt.
6. Did I mention that Jon knows how to market himself to his female audience?
7. My husband does not care for middle aged women waving their hands in his face.
8. I think Jon must have taken a lot of ballet and dancing lessons to be able to bounce around the stage like that for 2+ hours. He kept jumping up on his tiptoes.
9. Richie Sambora can really play the guitar and has a great voice, but I cannot figure out why all those women dated/married him. It must be his inner person...
10. Jon had several clothing changes during the concert, but never changed his jeans. I think that is because it would take a team of people to get them off.
11. I really enjoy being able to sing, off-key, for hours without hubby asking me if it is karaoke hour. I couldn't even hear myself (which is also a nice benefit).

There's more...but I gotta run. Sigh.

Sorry we don't eat your food

2010-02-20T08:37:00.001-08:00

Last night I made a fancier dinner than usual. Which means that the kids hated it a bit more than usual. Which is hard because they usually hate dinner, so to hate it more means they really, really hated dinner.

I made a dish called Chicken in Puff Pastry. It was cubed chicken mixed with cream cheese, watercress, green onions, and butter wrapped in a pastry crust. My enthusiasm was good when I started making dinner, but my heart had sunk long before I finished the dish. I just knew they were going to hate it. While all the ingredients were things they like (well, maybe except the watercress and onions), they weren't going to appreciate them all mixed together. Unless the chicken is chunked, breaded, and then cooked, I'm unlikely to get a positive reception.

Usually I don't let it bother me too much. Usually I make them eat a bite or two and then they can get down. But last night it bothered me. I pouted. I glared. I complained. "Why can't you just try it? Not just a nibble of the crust, but actually take a bite out of the center and see if you like it?" "You are hurting my feelings" I said. "How would you like it if you worked for an hour on something and I couldn't find one nice thing to say about it?" I was irked.

Hubby invited to me to take a little personal time and soak in the tub. It was a generous gesture that benefitted the whole family, I think. While I was in the tub soaking (& sulking), he came in and showed me what the kids had been doing.

How can I be mad when they make me a big poster that says "Sorry we don't eat your food"? Sure...they aren't suggesting that they are going to make any changes, but at least they care that I feel bad, right?

P.S. I thought maybe that scribble on the right was their representation of my dinner, but they assured me it was just Cade's contribution to the poster.

New Readers & No Talking

2010-02-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Picked up an official new reader yesterday, according to Blogger.com. I do love official readers. I know many of you read me on Facebook, but you are part of the unknown masses unless you happen to leave a comment. I feel like I can claim someone who identifies themselves as my follower on Blogger.com...like I have a right to think of them as my audience...even if they never read what I write again.

So I had the pleasure of seeing my mother-in-law today and we were talking about the differences in men & women. She was saying that she had read a book on how important it was for men and boys to have time by themselves...cave time...time when they aren't connecting to other people. The book she read said that is starts about 2 years old for boys. It made me think of three things. First, boy am I glad that hubby has his time at the firehouse. I think it fulfills some of that cave time for him because the guys there can all decompress together and not talk if that suits them. Of course, having a talkative person on shift (I wouldn't DARE to suggest the gender of that person) with them would screw that up...but generally speaking it is a guy-friendly environment. It is nice that he comes home glad to see me and I eagerly await his homecoming too.

I guess that leads to my second point. I need a little bit of that downtime too. I feel like I spend all day being talked to. Requests fly in more often that any one person can possibly comply. I am the solution to every boo-boo, every argument that they can't work out, every homework conundrum, every "did you know" or "guess what I heard". Sometimes by 8 pm, I don't want to talk to anyone anymore. And two or three nights a week, when I get the kids to bed, I have 2 hours of no-talking to look forward to. Hubby is at the firehouse, I don't answer the phone, and I just unwind. I wouldn't want it silent every night, but I need it sometimes too.

And so my third point. Hmmm...I seem to have forgotten it. Was it something about the Big Guy talking too much? Sweetness wanting to converse like an adult? I can't remember. I'd better get my butt in gear and get Sweetness out the door toward the bus stop, so I guess you'll all live without my elusive third point. Happy Friday people!

Happy or Interesting

2010-02-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

I thought the following quiz was interesting. I borrowed it from a blog that I read called "The Brazen Careerist". Maybe it is interesting that I still read career-related blogs, even though I haven't pursued my career in years. I loved my career, but I love being a stay-at-home mom too. I'm just not sure I would enjoy trying to do both at once. Anyway, enough about my life choices, on to the quiz...

Test: Is your life happy or interesting?

Test: Is your life happy or interesting?
The culmination of my four-year obsession with happiness research is that I think people need to choose between an interesting life or happy life. (Note: This does not mean you are interesting or not interesting. I am talking about what values guide your decision making.) I think the things that make life happy have to do with complacency, and the things that make life interesting have to do with lack of complacency. If you want to read more about this, search on my sidebar "happiness" and "interesting" and you'll get a bazillion posts because I've been obsessed with the topic.

I have discovered that I would rather be interesting than happy. The good news is that even though I’m punting on the quest for happiness, I do have a good sense of how to know if you should be seeking happiness yourself, or if your quest for interesting makes happiness a lost cause.

Here’s the test:

1. Did you relocate away from family for a better job or another more interesting experience? Minus one

You would have to earn $150,000 more from a job if you were doing it far away from family, according to economist Nattavudh Powdthavee of University of York.

2. Did you relocate to be near family? Plus one

Happiness does not come from a job, or from being revered by your peers. It comes from personal relationships.

3. Are you nationally recognized as being great at doing something or do you have nationally-recognized expert knowledge in something? Or are you reorganizing your life in order to achieve this end? Minus one

Interesting people raise the bar on themselves. They are singularly focused because they recognize that in order to be great, you need to be focused. They will sacrafice other things in life for this obsession.

4. Were you a happy child? Plus one

Sixty percent of our ability to be happy is predetermined by our genes.

5. Do your friends pray? Plus one

People who pray are happier than people who do not pray, probably because having faith is fundamentally optimistic. (You can be any religion, and pray for anything.) Happiness is contagious, and we are more likely to be happy if our friends are happy.

6. Do you need your kids to go to a school that is recognized as excellent in national rankings? Minus one.

People who need the best of everything — maximizers — are not happy people.

7. Do you have fat friends? Plus one

Fat people are not generally maximizers. And if your friends are not maximizers than you probaby aren’t either.

8. Do you have an opinion on Picasso? Minus one

Peopel who focus on interesting are quicker to form opinions on subjective topics.

9. Do you have three friends who are a Jew, a Muslim and a born-again Christian? Minus one
Diversity is interesting, but in small groups (like friends) it does not make for happiness, according to Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect.

10. Are you a Republican? Plus one

Republicans are happier than democrats. This dichotomy is based a lot on personality. Repulicans tend to have personality traits that are uncomfortable with change, whereas people who lean democrat tend to have personality traits of change agents, according to personality research from Xyte.

11. Do you think Christmas is a national holiday? Plus one

Christmas is not a national holiday, because the US is not a Christian country. But regardless of what's true, homogenous thinking breeds happiness. It’s why countries like Sweeden and Finland are so happy. They are homogrenous.

12. Have you been to a therapist? Minus one

Peopel who are interesting but not happy have a point where they need to make sure they are okay. Also, they are interested in finding out about themselves even if they are fine. The ratio of therapists to citizens is lowest in populations that skew to optimizers (like New York City and San Francisco).

13. Do you know the difference between $70 eyebrows and $20 eyebrows? Minus one

It doesn't matter if you spend that much for eyebrows. But if you know why people who must have good eyebrows cannot take chances, and why most people have terrible eyebrows, then you took the time to find out enough about eyebrows to know what is best and how yours could be better.

14. Can you tell the difference between real diamonds and fake diamonds. Plus one

Trick question. An optimizer will have tried to learn to figure it out and will have learned that even experts can’t wihout a special tool.

15. Have you tried on a pair of $200 jeans? Minus one

If you are not intersted in seeing what they look like on you, you probably just want to be happy with how you are. People who are interested in new experiences are less likely to be happy, according to Psychology Today.

16. Do you think this test is BS? Plus one

Interesting people do not get offended that they cannot be happy. Happy people are offended that they cannot be interesting.

Scoring:

0 – 3 You have a desire for interestingness over happiness

6 – 8 You have a desire for happiness over interestingness.

4 – 5 You are suspiciously well balanced. Or lacking a self-identity. I'm not sure which.

Comment on: Test: Is your life happy or interesting?

Now, if anyone is still reading, I'm sure you can guess which I am. Come on...it isn't even a contest. And I am HAPPY that you know me so well.

I found myself making up a song in my head, so I thought I'd share

2010-02-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

Oh, give me a home
where the adults and the kids can all roam
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the voices are pleasant all day

Home, home at the Sanfords
Where the kids and their friends can all play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the voices are pleasant all day

Oh, a home it would be
where the counters are clutter-free
and the floors are all swept
and the dinners a hit
and none of it was done by me.

Home, home at the Sanfords
Where the kids and their friends can all play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the voices are pleasant all day

Does that chair have my name on it?

2010-02-12T07:24:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been a week since my last blog post. Sounds a little like going to confession, doesn't it? Here we are again on another early morning. The kids are parked in front of the cartoons and not quite clamoring for breakfast yet. A few stolen minutes.

I think one reason that I haven't been posting as often is because I've added two new things to my life. One is exercise. I'd love to say it happens daily, but we're on track to make it 3 times for this week....IF I make it happen today and tomorrow. =) The second is a plethora of doctor visits. I've been to the doctor 6 times with the kids in the last month, none of which were well-care appointments.

It all started out with Spunky Girl getting a rash on her leg, which I basically ignored, and then it got infected. By the time I got her to the doctor, they were concerned it was MRSA and gave her tons of strong antibiotics. It wasn't MRSA, but it turned out then that she had an allergic reaction to one of the medicines, which resulted a body full of hives. So back to the doctor. It was about that time that the Big Guy came down with croup. And then shortly after that Spunky Girl ended up with a case of Vaginitis...probably another result of the strong antibiotics. Poor Girl. We just about get all those cleared up and the Big Guy falls of the kitchen chair and knocks his head on the wood floor. No big deal, right? Kids fall out of their chairs all the time (at least mine do). Well this time he managed to smack the floor just hard enough and just right to give himself a concussion.

The poor kid stopped talking for 45 minutes and kept trying to go to sleep, which freaked his mother out, so the doctor said we needed to take him to the Emergency Room for a Cat Scan. Turns out my Big Guy doesn't liked getting his head taped into a big Cat Scan machine. Wow, that was FUN! And, of course, when you finish spending your evening in the emergency room (with the other kids in tow because you husband is OF COURSE at the firehouse that night), they remind you to visit your doctor the next day to keep the medical care consistent. So there you have it...6 doctors visits...one month...and that doesn't even count the trip to the dentist to have the Big Guy's front two teeth pulled.

How does one have time to blog with all that going on?

I have to say, though, my overwhelming feeling about this last month is gratefulness. While I didn't enjoy spending the month in the doctor's office waiting room, I am so thankful to have medical care to rely on. There is such safety and security in asking a doctor what to do about something and following their advice. It takes away the worrying about whether I'm doing the right thing or not. I used to feel guilty about so many trips to the doctor, like I was abusing the priveledge or wasting their time. But then I didn't go a few times when I should have, and that didn't feel any better. So now I just call the nurse advice line and ask if I should come in or not. I enjoy my pediatrician so much, it feels like we are friends. This month, I think I've seen her more often than I saw my friends.

As the health care debate rages on, I think this is essentially what it comes down to. Is there a way to extend the kind of health care that I have access to to others without care, without making that healthcare so expensive or reduced services that it isn't worth having anymore. I don't know if there is a way to do that, but maybe I'll include that in my prayers tonight.

Marymoor Park, Scootering, and Rice Socks

2010-02-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is...barely 7 am on a Saturday. Hubby is gone to work and all three kids decided on a pre-7 am start time. Isn't that peachy?

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution, I want to take the kids hiking this morning. I failed to remember to line up some adult help (usually my dad or FIL) so it will just be me and the kids. I'm trying to decide what to do. Part of me wants to grab the girls' scooters and just head down to Marymoor for the nice paved trail. In some ways it seems easier...less whining if the kids are zipping around, less mud, almost no hills, no need to layer up like Eskimos. But in some ways I think it could be more difficult. For example, Sweetness has a razor-like scooter which is MUCH faster than Spunky Girl's scooter. THAT could be an issue. Also, we could get a mile out there and one of the girls could fall off their scooters and want to be carried back. And when I say "No Can Do" to that, because I'm already carrying the Big Guy or pushing him in a stroller, they will try to find a way for me to carry their scooter and they'll limp slowly back to the parking lot...which will seem like a VERY long way back. Hmmm. Perhaps it would be better if I didn't consider all the possible outcomes and just went and did it.

Today I also need to find the materials to make rice sock/bed warmers. My Girl Scout Daisy troop is making these on Monday for the residents of Issaquah's Tent City (a homeless camp for those of you who are out of state or otherwise have your heads in the sand). Buying the rice and the socks is easy, but I want to buy stuff to put in them to make them smell lovely.

Rosemary, Lavender, maybe Mint. Anybody have any suggestions on where I can get that stuff? I figure I can buy Rosemary and Mint from the grocery store, but I'm not sure if the stuff in the refrigerated section is really what I want. It seems like getting rosemary twigs right off a plant would be better (and more cost effective?). And what about the lavender. I know there is a lavender farm on San Juan Island, but that trip won't fit into my day. I need somewhere local. Any ideas????

Okay, I'm off to get everyone dressed and going today. Hmmm...I think I'll start with me today! That's what people mean by "putting yourself first", right?

Today is the day

2010-02-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

Today is the day I take the Big Guy to the dentist to have his front two teeth pulled. Not only is today the day, the this is the hour. I have to leave in about 40 minutes. (Why are you blogging then, you might ask, but there is no good answer to that question.)

I slept awful last night. I couldn't fall asleep when I when to bed and then I woke up every few hours. I hate when I do that. It happens whenever I've got something I'm stressing about happening right when I wake up. For some reason my body wakes up every few hours to check the clock...I guess to see if I can stop stressing now becuase the time has come or if I should keep stressing in my dreams for a few hours. It is totally lame. And now I get to bring the Big Guy to the dentist when I'm exhausted and he is going to be a handful.

The first challenge will be the fact that he can't have breakfast. He is cranky when he first gets up and he always requests (okay, he really demands) either his favorite cartoon or waffles and cereal. I can't wait till I get to say "no" to both and instead demand that we instantly get dressed and head for the dentist.

Well, Spunky Girl is up now too and my time until I have to leave has shrunk by 5 minutes, so I'd better start getting ready.

Sure would appreciate any prayers for my baby boy as well as for my sanity. =)

You have GOT to be kidding me

2010-01-31T20:04:00.000-08:00

Way Uncool. Seriously Lame. Freakin' terrific.

That's what I have to say. I waited 31 days to check the scale...and for what? I've been good. No, I've been awesome. Working out 5 days a week. Only 2 days in the entire month did I exceed my calorie goals. I see my stomach getting flatter. I zip up my jeans a little easier. I met new holes on my belts. But does the scale reflect it? NO. A Big STUPID zero lb weight loss. ZERO. NADA. NILCH.

I know, I know. I can tell myself that it is surely just the addition of extra lbs of muscle that is offsetting my fat loss. But that is just what we say...what we say when we are trying to make someone feel better. You know that and I know that. I don't want to have to say that to myself. I want to say that I worked hard this month and the scale reflected that. But can I say that? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

So, what did I do today? Come on. You know what I did. I ate.

I ate whatever I felt like eating. I had juice to drink with my meals. I snacked on appetizers. I had swiss steak over mashed potatoes. I had dressing all over my salad. I had birthday cake. I ate with a vengence.

And then I didn't feel very good. Or very good about myself. Sigh.

So tomorrow I will go back to being good. I will ignore the scale (or try my best). I will resume calorie counting. I will resume working out. I will remember my goal of looking great for my vacation in 5 weeks. I WILL NOT feel bad that I haven't lost weight yet and I WILL be encouraged about my healthier body.

Sigh.

Letterboxing with Grandpa

2010-01-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today my Father-in-law and I took the kids letterboxing. Letterboxing is hiking, clue-finding, and stamping all at once. You use the Internet to look up which trails have hidden letterboxes and then use clues to find the boxes hidden in the forest. When you find a letterbox, you take out the stamp that is hidden inside and stamp your own notebook. You also bring a stamp with you and leave an impression of your stamp on the booklet included in the letterbox. Here is the link to the North American Letterboxing site: www.letterboxing.org There are letterboxes hidden all over the world!

Letterboxing was great fun for Sweetness and even Spunky Girl too...it adds another element to hiking to make it more fun. Plus, it is like giving the kids a license to go off-trail when their mom usually says "we should stay on the trail and not disturb the underbrush" when we're hiking. Here's a cute picture of Sweetness looking for a letterbox on top of this huge stump.

Here is a picture of Spunky Girl finding a letterbox (with Sweetness and Grandpa looking on).

There was one funny, slightly gross thing that happened while we were out today. Grandpa had the kids up the trail looking for a letter box, so I slipped away towards a fallen tree that I thought looked cool. Once I got back to the tree, I noticed that someone had littered a piece of paper back there...and it appeared to be the same letterboxing clue page that we were carrying with us. I thought I should do the world a service and clean up the other person's littering...you know, the whole "make the world a better place" thing. As I picked up the paper, I noticed that it had something brown all over it. Let's see...a piece of paper with brown on it, back by this fallen tree that would make a good place to sit privately. Ewww. I didn't make the world a better place after all, 'cause I left it right there and skedaddled back to my kids.

It was a lovely way to spend the morning. Beautiful scenery. The girls loved looking for the letterboxes. The Big Guy wasn't having a great day and he pooped out early, so I got extra exercise in by carrying him ALL THE WAY BACK. The little bugger is heavy! I'll leave you with these pictures of my angels:

The Big Guy:

Sweetness:

Spunky Girl:

That Neighborhood Boy

2010-01-20T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today Sweetness came home from school and she and I were in the kitchen chatting while she ate her after school snack. I heard the front door open and someone making noise by the front hall closet. I assumed it was my husband, since he was out on a hardware store run...but it was not. It was the neighborhood boy. He let HIMSELF in my house and deposited his shoes and backpack by my hall closet. He then came around the corner, prepared to hang out a bit.

Me: "Um...Cole...did you forget to knock before coming into my house?"

Cole: "Huh?"

Me: "You have to knock. You don't live here."

Cole: "But my mom didn't come to the bus stop."

Me: "It's okay. We'll give her a call, but you still have to knock."

This kid...he drives me crazy. Actually, I don't think he drives me crazy. I think his parents drive me crazy. I don't want to be judgemental about their parenting (after all, nobody wants the spotlight on their own parenting, right?) but Cole is NOT getting the life instructions I think he needs.

It isn't that uncommon for me to invite Cole into the house. He shares the same busstop as my girls and sometimes his mom doesn't get to the busstop in time (again, let the parent who has never had that problem throw the first stone). I either walk him home or let him come in and wait for his mom. As long as I don't feel like the mom is taking advantage of this, I'm cool with that. But once he gets into my house, he doesn't have great manners or obedience. He usually wants a snack, but is frustrated when my snacks aren't what he wants. If my big guy is taking his nap, I usually ask that Cole stay away from the upstairs bedrooms...but if I turn my back I know he'll sneak up there. That annoys me.

I know Cole's parents have their hands full with him. I also know that they do try to hold him responsible for his behavior, but I find myself judging their parenting. When Cole wants candy for a snack, I think to myself "who lets a behaviorally-challenged kid eat junk food?". When Cole lets himself into my house, I think "why haven't they taught him to knock first?"

I really want my house to be a place where kids feel welcome. I have this image in my head of my kids as teenagers wanting to come hang out in our basement with their friends instead of visiting the the pot-smoking hangout. In order to create that reality, I think I have to make our home a place where my kids feel like their friends are welcome...even if those friends don't have the best manners, language, or habits. The trick for me, I think, is clearly and kindly letting their friends know what is acceptable in our house and what is not. I guess Cole gives me an opportunity to practice that skill...

To Weigh or Not to Weigh?

2010-01-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

To weigh or not to weigh, that is the question.

I thought Scott and I had an iron-clad, till-death-do-us-part, agreement not to weigh ourselves till the end of the month. Apparently Scott didn't feel it was quite that firm and has been weighing himself. So, I have to decide if I'm going to weigh myself or not.

I liked the idea of not weighing myself. It felt exciting to see what my weight loss number would turn out to be. I think I'll be pretty thrilled if I've lost 5 lbs at the end of the month. But what if I'm not on track to lose that 5 lbs? Would I rather know that I'm not going to see that number? I don't think so...I think it will just bum me out and being bummed out makes me want to eat. How would that help?

However, I don't think I have the self-control not to step on the scale if I haven't made a commitment to someone that I won't. That's why I join all these stupid motivating weight loss challenges. Without a commitment to others, my willingness to stop my self from checking the scale (or snacking) goes away quite quickly. I fear that issue has a larger meaning in my life, but I won't digress about that now.

All right, I'm off to the chiropractor. I've been exercising, so hopefully he'll be high-fiving me instead of hurting me. =)

2010-01-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my first day to try my new workout program for the Wii. I’m using Active Personal Trainer from EA Sports. I loved it!!! I picked the easiest workout to get started and my legs had that rubbery you-are-going-to-hurt-tomorrow feel to them when I finished. It took me nearly an hour to do the half hour workout, but that is because they don’t count their instruction time as part of the workout. You can skip the instructions if you want, but the program is very strict that your form is exact. If it doesn’t track your form as being what it asked for, it makes you do the rep all over again…and again…and again. It can be annoying, but in the long run my body will be the better for it.

The workout was a good balance of cardio exercises (running, high knee kicks, boxing, etc.), weight lifting using resistance bands, and strength exercises like lunges and squats. You can choose to make custom workout programs, but doing the easy routine was good for me because it forced me to do exercises (like squats and lunges) that I would never knowingly put in my own routine because I hate them.

I’ve tried a number of new exercise programs in the last two weeks (dance aerobics, yoga/pilates Crunch, yoga) and after each one I thought “I don’t want to do that again”, but this one I’m looking forward to doing again...but not today. I think I'll wait until I can climb the stairs or sit in a chair without wincing. Plus, tomorrow is hiking day and I don't want to mess up my New Year's Resolution.

I've been bugging a bunch of people to join me in calorie counting on livestrong.com. So far no one has taken me up on it, except my dear hubby. In addition to entering my calories, I've been entering in my fitness activities. I love how livestrong.com adds the calories I've burned from my daily exercise right back into my allowed calories for the day. Why exercise if it doesn't lead to more eating, right? =)

8 weeks...but who's counting?

2010-01-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Another great morning

2010-01-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution, I took the kids hiking this morning. Today we tried Soaring Eagle park in Sammamish. I had been watching the weather forcasts all week and was expecting to see rain this morning, but it turned out to be a perfect day. Skies were blue, air was crisp but not cold.

I wish I brought my camera to take a picture of the huge mud bogs we trounced through. The kids loved it. Unfortunately, I had the kids hiking in their tennis shoes rather than their rain boots. Those tennis shoes will never be the same. I've got mine soaking in soapy water now (and should probably get all the kids shoes in the water). Even though I did say "please don't scoop up the mud" and "could you walk around that puddle" a few dozen times, I'm glad my kids got to enjoy some mud time. I want them to enjoy the great outdoors and not being willing to get a little dirty doesn't fit into that.

I liked Soaring Eagle park for several reasons:
1. The trail is really wide, so three people (a mom and a kid on either side) can easily fit.
2. The trail is surrounded by nature, including lots of streams, but you can still see quite a ways...which is advantageous when your older daughter always wants to run ahead.
3. It has nice rolling hills. It is really more of a walk than a hike, but I call it hiking for my kids so they'll grow to love hiking as they get older.
4. The main trail is the perfect length. It took us about an hour and a half to walk the main trail and back to the car. I think it would have taken about an hour if I didn't have a 2 year old with me.
5. Dogs and horses! The kids loved the other trail users. What is better than petting horses and dogs on your hike?

I can't wait to bring the family back here for some bike riding when the trail dries out. There are lots of side trails to explore too. Dad said he was going to come back and run them.

Hope your Saturday was awesome!

Saving my pennies

2010-01-07T13:30:00.001-08:00

I just got the look. You know the one. That look you get when you are making a budget-friendly decision and the rest of the world thinks you are crazy. Maybe you don't know that look. I get it all the time.

I got the look the other night when I made a comment about buying second-hand linens. I've gotten it for not pitching in "enough" for a group gift. Today I got it for refusing to pay for white fillings.

I had to go to the dentist today to have 3 cavities filled. I checked in with the receptionist and she told me my bill was going to be $195.
Me: "Aren't I covered for this?"
Her: "Yes you are covered at 100% for the work but you have to pay for getting white fillings instead of silver."
Me: "I haven't discussed with the dentist whether I wanted white or silver fillings"
Her: "We prepped for white fillings, so we'll have to get things set up differently for silver"
Me: "I think Silver will be fine"
and that's when I get the look.

Now look...I'm not crazy. If my cavities were in the front of my mouth, I would have paid for the white fillings. But they aren't; my cavities are on my molars. And, as I told the doctor, if I've got my mouth open wide enough so you can see my molars, my overall attractiveness is already compromised. And I already have silver fillings on my molars from previous cavities, so I'm just making them a matched set. So I don't need the crazy look people. Apparently my choices were shocking, though, because they had to repeat "she wants silver fillings" in hushed tones to each new person that came to work on me.

So here I sit. I've got silver fillings on my molars and my mouth is all numb which makes it hard to talk. I'm a vision of loveliness to be sure, but at least I've still got my 200 bucks in my pocket.

what is with me today?

2010-01-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Today the storm clouds have gathered. Patience...gone. Desire for the work...gone. Short tempered...oh yeah.

Maybe it is because it is day three of my diet. Maybe it is because it is the 2nd day back to school and we're all adjusting to getting up at 7. Maybe it is because I'm a truly a grouchy person and the nice-Lisa is really an aberration. Does it matter why? It just IS today.

I'm supposed to be helping Spunky Girl with her handwriting and reading homework right now, but I don't trust myself to do it kindly. You can only say "correct hand position please! It is a pencil not a club" so many times before it starts to come out like a growl.

It is "funny" how the same things that don't really even bother you on a normal day drive you absolutely bonkers on a crabby day. I'm looking at my girls' clothes that they've abandoned on my living room floor. I asked them to pick them up yesterday. Nope...still there. Yesterday it was not a big deal...today I'm livid about it.

Okay, so deep breath time. No speaking unless I'm sure it can come out pleasantly. I tried putting on some makeup and brushing my hair, hoping that looking better would help me feel better. Alas, my inner grump ruined that too...I came out looking like Goth girl.
Next time I need to stay away from the black eyeliner.

Hrmph.

2009-12-31T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are...the last day of 2009.

Normally I eschew all New Years Resolutions. I'm a pretty rigid person to start with, so adding structure to my coming year is rarely something I need. But this year I am considering setting a resolution, but I'm not sure what it should be. I think it would be fabulous if I could think of something that wouldn't be a temporary change, something that would actually stick in my life.

I could make some kind of resolution about exercise or weightloss, but seems an especially temporary resolution. It isn't that I don't think having a healthy body is important, but I think that goal will ever be before me. It is easily a goal that I could imagine having every year. While I am starting a 8 week diet/exercise plan on January 3rd, it won't be this years resolution.

I'm tempted to make my resolution something about my laundry room. It is always such a mess and right now I can barely walk into it. But...it seems like a good cleaning it probably just what the doctor ordered...I'm not sure it rises to the importance of a New Year's Resolution. I suppose my resolution could be something about not just dumping stuff onto my laudry room counters and making sure I put things where they really go instead, but it is such a useful way to quickly "clean" when people are coming over that I'm not sure I want to commit to not doing that.

Perhaps learning to pick up as I go, or making sure I clean the dinner dishes before I go to bed at night, or something about not leaving the half-folded laundry laying around could be my resolution. I do think that I would benefit from those things. But I don't know if I feel inclined toward any of those things. I'm kind of attached to my bad habits. Someday I want those things to stop being a part of my life, but I don't feel any impetus to fixing it right now.

The one thing that I do feel an impetus to change is my tendency to say things that I think are funny, but really shouldn't be said and might hurt another person who heard me joking around. I don't want to be someone who makes others feel bad for the purpose of making other people laugh. I don't know how to wrap my arms around this goal. My friend Zach taught me 5 "P" words to making a good goal. I can remember 4 of the P's. One was Personal...the goal has to personally relate to you for it to be effective. Another was Practical. There is no sense in making a goal that is too big to be practically completed. Another was Possible...is it within your control? Another was Provable. You have to be able to show that you succeeded at a goal. I can't remember the other P word. Hmmm...

So, does this goal of watching my smart-mouth comments pass the "good goal" test?
* It definitely passes the personal test. It definitely relates to me personally and is something that I want to work on.
* Does it pass the practical test? While I think it is a big goal, I don't think it is too broad. I'm not trying to work on every single thing I shouldn't say...I'm just trying to work on the things I say to be funny that aren't funny to the person I'm referencing. I'm going to say it is practical enough.
* Is it possible? Yep. Challenging for someone who likes to be comical, but definitely possible.
* Is it provable? I'm not sure how one would prove improvement in this area. It isn't like I know how often I actually do this...I just know that I do. I sure don't inform people that I said something terribly funny about you to another person and he/she really laughed. Snarkiness just sneaks up on me...

This goal has the possibility of being my resolution...but I'm not committed to it yet. I've got 16 more hours to think about it.

Your thoughts?

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Tis 7 am on Christmas morning and I sit alone, watching the lights of my Christmas tree. Tomorrow that tree will be laying out in the cold, stripped of its beautiful lights and ornaments and no longer the fire hazzard that it currently is (a result of buying our tree in November).

My Spunky Girl just got up, so this blog post will be shorter than I intended. She is so happy this morning. We tricked the kids into thinking Santa came early so we could open presents and stockings last night. She looks so cute in her new jammies.

I am astounded by how much my kids believe in Santa. When the girls were little, I told them Santa was just a game and not real...but that it was fun to pretend. Yet, still they believe. They write their letters to Santa, they wonder about what he is going to bring them, they constantly talk about him and look forward to his arrival throughout the holidays. Both last year and this year, my Sweetness said "Look mom, Santa uses the same wrapping paper that we do!". Uh...yeah...sure. They always wonder about how Santa knows what presents will go along with what they already own. I've stopped telling them it is a game and let them believe if they want to. We like to open our presents from Santa on Christmas eve, so we always make an excuse to leave the house and one of us will sneak back in as we are leaving and quickly set out the Santa gifts and stockings. Then when we return, we let the kids enter the house first and they find that Santa has visisted. Yesterday when we were returning to the house, Scott told the kids that he saw Santa's sleigh driving away. They were thrilled! It just makes me laugh to think of how much they believe when the evidence (the same handwriting on the presents...hello?) suggests otherwise.

********************************************************************
Tis 7 pm and I'm tired and happy. We've spent a marvelous, food and present filled day with family. My kids are all playing quietly (?!?) with each others presents without fighting. I feel so blessed by our family and how much love we are showered with.

Fell off the wagon so hard that my tailbone hurts

2009-12-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

My resolve has been slipping away over the last few days, worn down by awesome cream cheese dip with fresh cranberries...or homemade peanut brittle...or the Ferroro Rocher that I won at a white elephant party. It isn't the daytime that gets me, it is the post 8 pm I-quit-working-for-the-day-and-now-I-am-going-to-have-some-me-time attitude. Last night my resolve was no where to be seen.

My dad dropped by in the evening, as he often does, to chat and check in about my day. I was asking him if I could borrow a bag of Ruffles, a jar of French Onion dip and a can of Dr. Pepper from his house...knowing full well that he is dieting too and doesn't keep that stuff around. About a half hour after he left my house, the doorbell rang and it was my dad...back from the store with a bag of Ruffles, a jar of French Onion dip and a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper. How could I not indulge in the face of such kindness?

So indulge I did. I did not set out a serving size of each item onto a plate. Noooooooo. I put the bag of Ruffles on the sofa next to me, the dip in my lap, and a glass of Dr. Pepper (which my husband poured for me, so I wouldn't have to get up from the sofa) at my feet. Munch, crunch, dip, slurp, repeat a few dozen times.

This was my second time of indulging in Dr. Pepper during the holiday season. I'll remind you that Dr. Pepper becomes a bad habit for me very quickly. I need to make sure I don't start having a glass of Dr. Pepper every day, but there is now a 2 ltr in my fridge that will be haunting me.

My friend Melissa, who created my ab workout from earlier this year, is hosting a "Fitter in 2010" group. It is basically a diet and exercise support group for the first 8 weeks of 2010, where people are trying to lose 1 lb a week. There is a website where people can sign up, get motivated, and post their joys/agonys. There is a cash pot for the winner. My husband is going to sign up, I think. I'm wavering. 1 lb a week is certainly a fine goal. It would get me thinner before my March trip to Maui. Perhaps after another week of eating like this, I'll be ready to sign up.

Okay...I need to get moving on my day. It is the girls' last day of school before holiday break and the Big Guy has another dentist appointment to discuss pulling his front two teeth. Happy Friday everyone!

The Christmas Pageant

2009-12-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

I got this in an email from a friend of mine. I loved it!!! Hope you do too.

THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT
My husband and I had been happily
married (most of the time)
for five years
but hadn't been blessed with a baby.

I decided to do some serious
praying and promised God
that if he would give us a child,
I would be a perfect mother,
love it with all my heart
and raise it with His word
as my guide.

God answered my prayers
and blessed us with a son.

The next year God blessed us
with another son.

The following year,
He blessed us with
yet another son.

The year after that we
were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd
been blessed right into poverty.
We now had four children,
and the oldest was only
four years old.

I learned never to ask God
for anything unless I meant it
As a minister once told me,
"If you pray for rain,
make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses
of the Bible to the children
each day as they lay in their cribs..

I was off to a good start.
God had entrusted me
with four children and
I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day
the children smashed
two dozen eggs on
the kitchen floor searching
for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding...
when they started a hotel for
homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours
to catch all twenty - three frogs.

When my daughter poured
ketchup all over herself and
rolled up in a blanket to see
how it felt to be a hot dog,
I tried to see the humor
rather than the mess..

In spite of changing over
twenty - five thousand diapers,
never eating a hot meal
and never sleeping for more
than thirty minutes at a time,
I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise
to be a perfect mother -
I didn't even come close...
I did keep my promise
to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark
just a little when I told
my daughter we were going
to church to worship God,
and she wanted to bring
a bar of soap along to
"wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost
in the translation when
I explained that
God gave us everlasting life,
and my son thought it was
generous of God to give
us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came
during the children's
Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary,
two of my sons were shepherds
and my youngest son was a wise man.
This was their moment to shine.

My five - year - old shepherd
had practiced his line,
"We found the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes."

But he was nervous and said,
"The baby was wrapped
in wrinkled clothes."

My four - year - old "Mary" said,
"That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly.
That's dirty, rotten clothes."

A wrestling match broke out
between Mary and the shepherd
and was stopped by an angel,
who bent her halo and lost
her left wing.

I slouched a little lower
in my seat when Mary
dropped the doll representing
Baby Jesus, and it bounced
down the aisle crying,
"Mama - mama."

Mary grabbed the doll,
wrapped it back up
and held it tightly as
the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward
wearing a bathrobe
and a paper crown,
knelt at the manger
and announced,
"We are the three wise men,
and we are bringing gifts
of gold,
common sense
and fur."

The congregation
dissolved into laughter,
and the pageant
got a standing ovation.

"I've never enjoyed a Christmas
program as much as this one,"
laughed the pastor,
wiping tears from his eyes

"For the rest of my life,
I'll never hear the
Christmas story without
thinking of
gold,
common sense
and fur."

"My children are my pride
and my joy and my greatest
blessing," I said as I dug
through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants,
yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree,
yet they called Him Teacher .

Had no medicines,
yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army,
yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles,
yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime,
yet they crucified Him..

He was buried in a tomb,
yet He lives today.

Feel honored
to serve such a Leader
who loves us.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

2009-12-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

I woke up early this morning, before 6 am. For some reason I couldn't sleep. I don't know if the Christmas to-do list is what woke me up, but I'm fairly sure it is what is keeping me up. Only 3 days left for me to figure out teacher gifts. Only 4 days left for me to figure out what to bring to Grandma's Christmas event on Saturday. 12 days left for me to figure out what to get Scott...but I need a plan fast!

I've made some good progress the last few days. Sunday I picked up my Christmas cards and yesterday I made great progress on updating my addresses. Yesterday I also got my bro-in-law's present mailed, Christmas pictures sent out to all the Great-Grandparents, and a holiday letter written for our construction clients.

I know I need to narrow down today's todo list, but I really want to get everything done.
* Get the address labels printed
* Get the Christmas cards out the door
* Get a plan for Scott's gift
* Purchase the 2 gifts I still need for G-ma's house on Saturday
* Purchase and wrap the teacher gifts

Oh, and make a stop by the consignment store...and maybe...costco...and

Oh, and I hear the patter of little feet. My children are up and quiet time is officially over. Let the school day ritual begin.

You were a nice way to start my day...thanks.

Be Angry...but don't act angry

2009-12-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

This is my challenge lately. Be angry, but don't respond in anger. I DO get angry when my kids misbehave. I do get angry at the constant sibling rivalry. I do get angry when the Big Guy throws a tantrum. I can try to claim that I don't...I can even try to convince myself that I'm not angry...but I'm still angry. The trick is to not show them that I'm angry.

I love John Rosemond's book Six Point Plan for Raising Happy Healthy Children. It is a book that comes from a parenting era long past , but it resonates with my soul. Maybe that is because he talks about a parenting style that produces happy parents. He freely admits that parents ought to be angry when the kids act up. He argues that you should choose that moment, when you are angry, as the right moment for doing something about their acting up...and not to ignore it and pretend that they aren't making you mad. To ignore your anger turns it into rage, and in rage you make truly bad parenting decisions.

I know that the Big Guy responds better when I can calmly carry him to his room during a tantrum and drop him off. He doesn't respond to trying to reason with him, he doesn't respond to yelling back at him and he doesn't respond to ignoring him (oooohhh...that makes him MAD).

Sometimes I forget that I know this mantra (say it with me: Be Angry, don't Act Angry) and get caught up in the feeling that my girls should know how mad I am and then they might feel a stronger impetus to change their behavior. But I know that they will feel more respected if I can respond to them firmly & calmly, and that respect will help them to act positively.

Today my two girls have been fighting something awful. We already had several "discussions" about it when I told Sweetness that I was going to give her one warning to try harder to solve whatever they were fighting over and if they didn't make an effort, whatever they were fighting about was going to be taken away. It was only a half hour later when they were fighting over a stupid plastic apple. It happened as we were driving in the car, bringing my mother-in-law Jan back from the airport. There was no effort made to reconcile after my warning, so I told Sweetness to hand me the toy. That blessed girl actually chucked it at my head. Because Jan was in the car, my ever-so-sweet controlled self told my daughter that there would be consequences later and declined to deal with it right then. Had my mother-in-law not been in the car, I'm sure I would have lost my cool and discussed it with anger. After we dropped off Jan, I told Sweetness what her punishment would be and she accepted it without complaint and even apologized for throwing it at me. Somehow I don't think that would have happened if I had lit into her in the heat of my anger.

I wish someone would take a picture of me when I am angry and have lost my cool and am yelling about something. I have a feeling I would be horrified by how I look and perhaps I could keep that image in my head to remind me of who I don't want to be. Not that I want any of you chasing me around with a camera...

Car Conversations

2009-12-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

We are driving down the road (with elderly guests in the car, of course!) and Sweetness asks "Mom, what does that sign say with the funny purple letters?"

Me: "uh...it says Lovers".

Sweetness: "Oh, what do they have there?"

Me: "I guess some stuff for people in love"

Sweetness: "like what?"

Me: "stuff with lots of hearts on it, I suppose"

Sweetness: "we should go there the next time we need to get a wedding present"

Me: "Well, that's an...idea"

Spunky Girl: "Do they have dummy heads?"

You can always count on Spunky Girl to come up with something completely non-sensical and a little bit asinine to change the direction of a conversation. Sometimes I love her for that.

Being Thankful for what I've got

2009-12-06T19:57:00.001-08:00

Today I got the opportunity to go to the grocery store without taking my three kids along. I collected the groceries I needed without anyone asking for a cookie, or asking to buy junkfood, or without telling any kids to "knock that off" or "quit fighting". I didn't have to remember whose turn it was to drive the kiddie shopping cart or ask anyone to stop licking the produce (don't ask).

I selected a checkout line, and it was (of course) the slowest line in the history of mankind. I had a lot to think about while I was standing in line. The reason the line was so slow was because the lady in front of me didn't have enough money for her groceries. Here are a few of the things I was contemplating while I stood behind her:

1) Thank goodness my kids aren't in line with me.
I knew the right attitude to have while I stood in line for all of eternity: To be thankful that it wasn't me up there, trying to figure out what food I could do without. I was thankful for that, but I also knew it would have been a lot harder to remember that gratefulness if I had been at the end of a shopping trip with my kiddos. Those darn nice checkers always ask me "how are you today?" and the answer is always a crazy-eyed "fine but nobody else better touch anything or mom's gonna lose it". The thing is, I ought to be able to be patient with life's road bumps even with the kids in tow. I'm not sure I would have been. My kids are an amazing blessing on their worst day, but I think I get overwhelmed by the constancy of motherhood and lose perspective a few million times a day.

2) If she knew she only had $90 to spend, why didn't she add up her food as she shopped?
Okay, this sounds a litter meaner than I actually felt in the moment. I just felt so bad for her and wished she wasn't in this situation that she clearly felt mortified by. Then I thought...maybe she doesn't have the math skills to do mental calculation or even the math skills to add everything up on paper. I think a good education is something I take for granted. Maybe she didn't have the benefit of that, so adding up a bunch of items in a grocery store is a little beyond her. An easy time with math is something else I should be thankful for...

3) Why can't I look at her?
I found myself looking at everything in the store except for that poor woman. She was really embarrassed. She kept having the checker take a few items out and then retotal the bill and then try to run her credit card again...hoping to get under her credit limit I suppose. I didn't want to stand there staring at her, watching her trying to decide if it would be easier to do without the milk or the meat. I didn't want her to think that I couldn't bear to look at her or that she was somehow beneath my notice. I think the right thing to do would have been to give her an encouraging look...but somehow I couldn't master that and so I just avoided her gaze. I think Maybeth would have known how to be more supportive.

Just wanted to share my experience at the grocery store while it was on my mind. Just reflecting on people that have to struggle to buy food makes me want to do more to support local food banks. Let's all reach out to help our neighbors who are struggling this holiday season.

misadventures on ebay/craigslist

2009-12-02T16:24:00.001-08:00

As the Christmas season approaches, I find myself looking online for my desired purchases...hoping for some spectacular discounts. But...I'm pretty lousy at online shopping. I don't know what comes over me. Perhaps it is my excitement for "winning" the auction or getting the craigslist deal before anyone else, but I always forget to do my proper research. Then I find myself the proud owner of something that I thought was similar to what I am looking at in the stores, but in reality is 6 years old and lacking in features. Or...I don't notice the "like" word in the title and purchase some knock-off instead of the brand-name item that I wanted.

You would think that just one of these experiences would leave me smarter the next time. Apparently not. When Sydney was 2, I bought one of those Little Tykes climbers for the backyard via ebay. It looked delightful in the pictures, so I won the auction and borrowed a truck. I drove down to Olympia to pick it up and discovered that I didn't need the truck. It was a "mini" version of the little tykes climber. It was only 2 feet tall, instead of the 5 feet I thought I was buying. It didn't occur to me to confirm the dimensions.

Just 4 days ago, I purchased something for a Christmas present from Ebay, but realized afterwards that I didn't get the brand name I thought I was buying. I thought about writing this post then, but didn't get around to it. Then today, when I bought a different item of craigslist...and now realized that I yet again failed to determine if it was a current year model...the blog post became a reality.

I haven't learned yet if today's craigslist purchase will be a "Yippee...it is a current model" or a "lame...I did it again". While I am waiting to hear my fate, perhaps those of you on my Christmas gift list should be hoping that I'm not purchasing your present. =)

I learned something new

2009-11-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog post makes it sound like learning something new is a rare occurance for me...it's not...it is just that I rarely find such a striking moment to discover a whole new facet of one of my children.

I took my three kids to the memorial service for my Great-grandma Bea on Saturday. I expected I might have a few questions to answer about the service, but I was surprised by Spunky Girl's reaction. She seemed fine on the way to the service. She asked a few questions about death. We talked a bit about what a coffin is...she wanted to look inside (of course). I gave my usual speech to the kids about what behavior is appropriate during the service. She gave me the "we know, mom" response.

When the service started, she burst into tears. She crawled up into my lap, buried her face into my shirt, and just bawled. Spunky Girl isn't a quiet crier. She gets a high pitch hiccup-y wail that goes on as she cries, and her body shakes. It seemed like 5 minutes went by (but was probably more like 1 minute), and she pulled herself together. We were good for a bit, and then she started bawling again. By the time the service was over, she had such red puffy eyes.

I was surprised. I guess I would have expected Sweetness to be the one crying. She was much closer to Grandma Bea, as Grandma would often cling to Sweetness when we visited the Care Center. Spunky Girl and the Big Guy would usually just run around and play.

After the service, Spunky Girl was really thoughtful about the memorial. My Grandpa Jim died last year and now she realized that he didn't have a funeral. Actually, he did, but the Big Guy threw up all over everything on the way to the service so we didn't get to attend. I knew when Spunky Girl was talking about Grandpa Jim that she was processing death on a larger scale than just Grandma Bea.

I think I've learned that Spunky Girl has more powerful emotional swings than Sweetness does. I don't think Grandma's death is harder or will be harder for Spunky Girl than Sweetness, but I think that she feels things stronger in the moment. Im glad to learn that now...and hopefully I can remember than when we are in the midst of histronics and be more understanding and loving.

I'll leave you with a picture of my dear Great-Grandma Bea Hatfield. She was loving and funny and friendly. I'll always remember her, dressed in her white keds and ready to go for a walk on the beach.

Remember the excitement?

2009-11-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

My kids love changing sizes. Getting bigger means new shoes, new clothes, and a certified "I'm growing up" stamp of approval. Sweetness is thrilled to be wearing some size 10 shirts. She keeps asking me if this means she *IS* a size 10. The answer is not really...size 8's fit just fine too.

I remember when I was a teenager how excited I was to need a bigger bra. Of course, I missed the important fact that your cup size is what you want to get bigger, not your ribcage. Sigh.

Remember how exciting it was to have your 10th birthday? Being a double-digit age was a big deal. Or how great it was to finally be a teenager. They didn't have the term "tweens" back then, so you were either a kid or a teenager. I can't remember at what age I stopped being so excited to be another year older. I'm certain it was after age 21. I don't dread getting older now...but I'm sure not excited to see the years piling on. But I do dread going up sizes. Now my joy is when I can stay out of double digits clothing sizes.

How about you? Do you remember what age you stopped being excited about getting a little older?

P.S. I was struck by this thought as I wrote my post "how great it is that Sweetness is still excited to get bigger. I think it means that thus far, she hasn't bought entirely into the media image that you have to be tiny to be beautiful. I know she is impacted somewhat by wanting to be skinny, but not enough to be unhappy about changing sizes!"

Kidde Post

2009-11-17T07:31:00.000-08:00

How did I end up here? Suddenly I am den mother to 9 dogs. At first, the Big Guy had one favorite dog, "Pink Poodle". Pink Poodle belonged to his sister Sweetness, but he absconded with it and decided it was his own. Daddy didn't like his Big Guy carrying around a pink-anything, so "Nopo" a dalmation arrived on the scene. "Blue doggie" used to stay in his crib (a shower present from Barb Bass), but later became part of the dog posse that the Big Guy carries around. As his sisters acquired new webkinz dogs, they became part of the Big Guy's collection. It wouldn't be so bad if the doggie collection just stayed in one place, but the Big Guy insists on carrying them around. When we get up from naptime, all the doggies have to come downstairs with us. When we go down for bedtime, woe is the mother that is missing a dog.

I've noticed a dog missing before and tried to fool him, saying the dog's name as if he was already in the crib...but the Big Guy always catches me. "But I don't see my puppy" he says. I've tried telling him that he has plenty of doggies and he doesn't need me to go find the missing pup, but he just cries like his heart is breaking. "I need my Nopo, mommy". It is hard to stand there and say "no" when you know you can just go downstairs and find the stupid dog.

Doggies: Sparky (in his arms), Nopo, Bulldog, Scruffy, Gray doggie, Cheetoe, Puppy, Blue Doggie. (Pink Poodle is missing).

Oh...and how did the Big Boy bed experiment go? We're still working on that. He slept in there for 2 naps, although slept probably isn't an accurate word. He did make it through one nighttime, but last night he wanted back into his crib. On the upside, all my kids think it is great fun to hang out in the Big Guy's big boy bed. All the kids playing nicely in one room is good for mommy!

Okay, one last piece of business. I think the new Facebook layout means my blog gets read less...or it least it seems that way based on the comments I get back. For just this one blog, will you put your initials into the comment field (or a comment would work fine too), just so I know you've read my blog. I promise I'll only make you go through this once. Thanks. I appreciate it!

Dream time

2009-11-15T16:48:00.001-08:00

Nearly every week, I have a dream where I am in school and trying to get to my class and I can't find it. I search and search and start to freak out a little that class is starting and I'm not there yet. I had one of those dreams last night and have decided that it is worth a little analysis. After all, a one hour long dream every week adds up to a lot of hours as the years add up.

So, what possible meaning could there be behind the dream. I can think of three possibilities:

1. The dream represents my desire to go back to school. My analysis: I find this one unlikely. I do want to go back to school. I think it would be great to get my Master's degree and one day re-join the working world. But...I have NO desire to try to go to school right now with how busy I am raising the kids. Going to schools seems like an "oh-that-would-be-fun" luxury for when I have extra time on my hands. I don't think my subconscious would haunt me once a week because of a desire I have to go back to school someday, especially given that it isn't THAT important to me.

2. The dream represents some dissatisfaction with my life, that I chase after something that I cannot catch. My analysis: I find this one unlikely too. I'm not dissatisfied with my life, not at all. I feel like my life has purpose, that I have a opportunity and responsibility to live my life for Christ. I feel like I've been given a husband to love and three beautiful children to raise. I'm grateful for the life I get to live. Sure, there are moments of frustration, but I don't think that is lack of contentment.

3. The dream represents my frustration with being late. My analysis: I think this option has some merit. I had my dream last night after I spent the entire day rushing around getting ready to host a 4-course sit down dinner party. I don't want to just pick this one, though, because it is the only option that I have left. The reality is that I am usually on time. I do rush around like a crazy person, but that is so that I'm not late...not because I already am. I plan time into my day for a variety of happenstance and pitfalls that rarely befall me, but that keeps me from arriving late. Perhaps the dreams come on days where I've been pushing myself and stressing about being on time. Perhaps it isn't a reflection of my worrying about being late, but a reflection of a day spent under pressure and that pressure manifests itself in a crazy dream after I go to sleep.

I don't know...but I suppose that is possible.

What do you guys think? Any other obvious interpretations for my "I can't find my class" dreams? The setting for the dream is varied, BTW. Sometimes I can tell that the location is supposed to be the University of Washington, but other times I suspect it is a high school. The dreams are never set accurately at a campus that I recognize. I'm usually late for Math class...got any theorys about that?

It's BAAAACCCCCCKKKKKK

2009-11-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

At long last, I have picked up my camera from my Grandma's house. It is soooo sad that it took me nearly 3.5 months to pick it up. September brought school and sports activities and it became really difficult to find a time to bring the kids to Hoodsport. Welcome back dear friend (my camera)! Lovely to see you Grandma!

Hopefully having my camera back will help me blog more often. I blog about things that I photograph, so I have more to talk about when my camera is in my hand. Ironically, though, I am going to blog about Grandma's house...and I took no pictures of her house to show you.

My dad's mother (Grandma Bea) is passing away this week. She is in hospice care and they don't expect her to last much longer. Since she has had Alzheimers disease for years, she has lived in Memory Loss Care Centers. She hasn't had a home for years that is filled with "grandma-ness". Today I went to visit my mom's mom (Grandma Dot) and her house is filled with "grandma-ness". I think I was extra-sensitive today to all the things in Grandma Dot's house that I may not be able to experience in 10 years. Here is my highlight list:

The cushioned toilet seat
You know the one. It is the cushioned seat that slowly loses air as you sit on it, providing its own theatrics to whatever noises you've got happening as you use the toilet.

The large print Reader's Digest in the bathroom
I don't have to fear about this one. I'm sure I'll be able to order the large print Reader's Digest for my parents bathroom in another 10 years.

The endless silk flowers
Grandma has silk flowers everywhere. In the bathrooms. In the kitchen. In the sun room. On the deck. In the landscaping.

The wood fireplaces that keep the house at a toasty 80 degrees at all times
Woe to the person that forgets how hot Grandma keeps her house and wears a sweater to go see her. It is like your own personal hot flash for the entire visit. Of course, Grandma is always freezing and wanting to put on a third pair of socks. A side effect to being less than 100 lbs I guess. I wouldn't know.

The gilded gold mirrors and wall sconces
Clearly something from another time, but who knows...maybe they will return to interior design fashion someday.

Avon booklets
Both of my grandma always had Avon booklets for me to flip through at their houses. I guess I'll need to get my own.

There are also 2 experiences common to each visit to Grandma Dot's house. First, she tries to feed me constantly. Today she asked me if I wanted a snack as we were putting our jackets on to go out to lunch...like I'm going to faint from hunger on the 12 minute car trip. Second, and this one is always my favorite, Grandma's need to give me something of hers. Today I got a pair of Halloween tights and some support hose. Who could live without those?

What I learned from Wii Fit

2009-11-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

For all of my adult life, I've been scared of taking an aerobics class. I know that sounds crazy to most people, but it always seemed beyond me. I know normal women can do aerobics, but somehow I knew down deep in my heart that I could neither keep up with the foot steps nor make it till the end of the class without passing out.

Enter the WiiFit. Hubby bought one for the family last week and we've been having a fabulous, family-centered time playing with it. In a quiet, semi-private moment, I decided to try out the aerobics part. It turns out I was right. I absolutely stink at aerobics. It was so bad that hubby stopped by to watch the sideshow. I shooed him right out of the room. I don't think it would enhance his attraction to me to see me unable to follow simple foot steps.

I've gotten a tad better with practice. I'm fine as long as I'm familiar with the foot steps that are coming, but if I try to follow along with some new steps...I end up walking into a wall. I'm a long way from ever being willing to walk into an actual aerobics classroom. The good thing, I think, in all this is that I no longer feel like I have some weird self-esteem issue about aerobics, where I think I'm lousy for no apparent reason. Turns out my view of myself in this area was entirely accurate.

Another thing that I've found enlightening about the WiiFit program is the avatar you create for yourself in the system. I created my avatar to look like I'm a young, hip mom complete with pigtails. My oldest daughter, whom I affectionately call "Sweetness" but may have to change that as she starts rolling down into the tween years, also created her avatar...but she made herself look older and added a bunch of makeup. The end result? Sweetness looks like a 36 year old mom and I look like her 7 year old daughter. Hmmmmm. I'm sure a psychologist would have something to say about that!

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied. ~Oscar Wilde

Time for a new challenge

2009-10-30T20:50:00.001-07:00

My current personal challenge, the daily ab workout, officially ends tomorrow. How did I do? I did quite well for the first 6 weeks of the 9 week challenge. Of those first 6 weeks, I only missed 1 ab workout...which cost me 10 stupid dollars. But, by week 5 I was having serious back pain all the time. I don't know that the few minutes a day of ab exercises can be said to have caused the issue, but I do know that it was exacerbating the problem. By week 6 I had to take "medical leave" from my challenge. This week (week 9) is the first week that I'm not having constant back pain, so I guess it is time for me to restart my challenge. I'm not willing to restart the same set of exercises in case I start having the same back issues, so I'm going to keep up with the isometric (non-repetitive) exercises and add in other exercises that will be easier on my back.

Hubby and I are about to get serious about a diet and exercise plan. We both want to be hot-hot-hot when we go to Maui in March. We plan to start calorie counting on November 1st, stop feeding our faces when we sit on the sofa at night, and exercise. To that end, we bought a Wii!!! We're having fun playing with the Wii tonight and for sure are expending more energy that we usually do sitting on the sofa watching television. We know that the Wii games don't count as exercise, but hopefully we can score some Wii Fit games for Christmas. Those should be actual exercise. I know that Yoga and strength building exercises come with the Wii Fit and I also want to get the Daisy Fuentes Pilates program that just came out for Wii.

Hopefully working together on our weightloss and exercise goals, with our shared trip incentive, will be successful. Anyone who wants to join us should create a profile on livestrong.com. It is a good time of year to focus on eating moderately!!!

It is a sickness

2009-10-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

I love to torture my husband. It's true. I enjoy hearing him say something awful to me that I will get to remind him of over and over again. I love retelling stories where he looks like a jerk-husband and I look like a poorly-treated wife. Of course, nothing can be further from the truth...but for some reason I like telling the stories anyway.

I've told the following story a zillion times:
When hubby and I were first married, I wanted my first dinner to be memorable. So I decided to make beer-battered coconut shrimp with rice. It was bad. I burned the coconut on the shrimp, the beer batter tasted terrible, but it was the rice that was truly horrendous. Hubby took a few bites and then said "well, if I run out of grout at least this rice will give me something to grout the countertops with."

Come on...that's funny...but that's a horrible thing to say about your wife's first meal. It still makes me laugh (just as it did that night).

A few nights ago, we were watching The Amazing Race. The contestants had to go down a huge water slide in Dubai and were all wearing swimsuits. There was one contestant that looked cute in her suit, but wasn't super thin. I commented "I wonder how much weight I would need to lose to look like her in a swimsuit." Later that night hubby and I were talking more seriously about teaming up for some weightloss before our trip to Maui in March. He asked how much weight I'd like to lose before the trip. I said that I would be happy with 5 lbs. He paused for a moment, then looked at me and said "you're not going to look like that girl on the Amazing Race if you only lose 5 lbs."

Once again, the statement is true...but woe is the man that says that to his wife. So now I have to torture him by bringing it up every half hour. I drop little comments about how he said I was fat (he didn't) or how he hates how I look in a swimsuit (he didn't). Why do I do this? I don't know. I just know that it is fun for me; perhaps it is my way of paying him back for the lovely comment. I'm not offended. I wasn't mad when he said it. If anything, I was gleeful when he said it because I knew I'd have some torture material to work with for a week or two.

Maybe my desire to torture hubby is a sickness, but it isn't one that I'm looking for a cure to anytime soon. Can't wait for some new material!

H * U * S * T * L * E

2009-10-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hustle. That's all I'm asking for. I would like my kids to learn to hustle. I'm tired of standing out in the rain by their car doors while they slowly meander over for me to strap them in. I'm tired of saying "grab your shoes and let's go" and having them decide that it is a good time to look for a pair of shoes that have been missing for a month.

I've learned the hard way that trying to make the Big Guy hurry up by pulling him toward the car produces the exact opposite result. He digs his feet into the ground and refuses to budge. The girls aren't quite so difficult, but they don't seem to feel any inclination to hurry. Is double-time too much to ask for? I've tried to be cutesy and sing the Madagascar song "move it, move it", but that just makes them stop what they are doing and join in the song.

There is a part of me that wonders about the psychology of always telling the kids to hurry up. Am I teaching them to be just like me...always stressed that I'm late when I almost always arrive places early? I don't want to teach them that...but I hate the stress it gives me when I've allowed 5 minutes for them to get their shoes and coats on and it somehow takes them 20!!!

I find myself doing everything for them just so we can hurry up. It shouldn't be faster for me to put on three pairs of shoes, put on three jackets, and shove them into the car than for them to individually do those things themselves. Arghhh. Hey, wait a minute. Maybe they are being slowpokes on purpose because they know if they stall long enough I'll do it all for them.

Maybe next my next blog post will be about S * E * L * F S * U * F * F * I * C * I * E * N * C * Y.

bubbles in my pancakes

2009-10-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I attended a brunch event where the host was making pancakes for all the kids. I was chatting with her as she flipped the pancakes. I laughed as I said "who taught you how to make pancakes? You know you can't flip them till the bubbles start popping." She looked at me and said "we didn't all have mothers who taught us that."

That moment has stayed with me. I think it was almost 2 years ago that I went to that brunch. The host knew my mom well and knew without asking that she had taught me how to make pancakes.

I know that teaching your children to cook isn't necessary to being a good mom, but I'm sure glad that I had the kind of mom that taught me to cook...and taught me to sew...and taught me to clean house (not that I keep mine to her standards). About the only thing my mother didn't teach me to do well is to iron, and perhaps I just wasn't a very good student.

I've heard from other friends whose moms didn't take the time (or have the ability) to teach them things that they feel like they are behind everyone else, like others have a head start on life. I suspect that is more of a mental hurdle than an actual one, but a hurdle none-the-less. Just because my mom taught me how to crochet doesn't mean that I actually know how to crochet, but it does mean that I might have more confidence that I can figure it out. And I know who to call when I get stuck.

So, thanks mom, for all you did for me while I was growing up and all you still do.
(BTW...my dear mom takes HORRIBLE pictures. I had to really look for a good one! That is her mom, Grandma Dot, in the background.)

The neighborhood crazy lady

2009-10-07T10:24:00.001-07:00

We have a new neighborhood crazy lady and she is me (or she is I?).

We live on a private, barely-paved road. Officially it is a 2 lane road, but it is overgrown enough that cars have to slow down and pull over a bit to pass each other. With it being a private road, there is no stated speed limit sign. Generally speaking, people drive about 20 mph down the road. That seems a fine speed to me. Some, however, think 30 - 35 mph is better. They are clearly wrong, but who am I to specify the correct speed limit? I'm the neighborhood crazy lady, that's who.

I've taken to yelling "slow down" at the black cars that whiz by (and they do seem to be always black...either SUV or sports car). Sometimes the car just gets lucky and only receives the "slow down" hand gesture from me. No, not THAT hand gesture. The one where you make your hand flat and move it rapidly toward the earth. That's universally understood, right?

I walk the road 4 times a day...2 times down to the bustop and 2 times back. My children walk with me. There is no sidewalk. I think people should slow down when they see kids on the road. I know people without kids may not agree with that. They may wonder why my decision to have children should impeed their ability to drive at whatever speed they think is right. Actually, I think people should slow down as a courtesy when they see ANYONE on the road, but especially for children who could easily fall sideways for no apparent reason.

Curse me as one of those insensitive moms who thinks the world revolves around her kids if you want...as long as you slow down as you think that.

P.S. I think this is my 100th post!

The importance of everything

2009-10-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

I hate how everything is important. Really, the list of things that are important is endless. Off the top of my head:

* it is important to eat together as a family
* it is important to be on time
* it is important to eat healthy
* it is important to supervise your childrens' teeth brushing
* it is important to make time to date your husband
* it is important to turn off the radio in the car and talk to your children
* it is important to get the kids homework done
* it is important that the kids actually do some portion of that homework
* it is important to maintain relationships with your friends
* it is important to maintain relationships with your extended family
* it is important clean the house...repeatedly if possible
* it is important to pump the septic occasionally
* it is important to clean the filter in the dryer
* it is important to remember to feed the pets
* it is important to make and keep the kids appointments to doctors, dentists, etc.
* it is important to keep up with your vehicle maintenance
* it is important to pay the bills
* it is important to save for retirement
* it is important to save for the kids college
* it is important to take family vacations
* it is important to provide the kids with opportunities to play sports
* it is important to have at home bible studies with the kids
* it is important to bring the kids to church services
* it is important to have alone time with each of the kids
* it is important to maintain a certain (fairly low)level of safety
* it is important to take downtime for yourself
* it is important to make time for exercising
* it is important to make time for your own bible studies & prayer
* it is important to help out in the kids schools -- they depend on volunteers
* it is important to be active in helping others in your community and abroad
* it is important to replace the lightbulbs that continuously burn out
...oh yeah, and everyone should probably get bathed on a regular basis.

How can anyone possibly make time for everything that is important? And yet, which items can you really take off the list? And so, we get by with a little help from our friends, a lot of help from our family, and the commiseration of others who try along side of us. Oh...and we blog. =)

This cracked me up...

2009-09-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

maybe you've got to be a fireman's wife to find this funny, but hopefully not...

Ambulance Driver Reports - Fire/Rescue Memorandum

Office of the Fire Chief
To: All Ambulance Personnel
From: Chief of Operations

Subject: Proper Narrative Descriptions

It has come to our attention from several emergency rooms that many EMS (Emergency Medical Services) narratives have taken a decidedly creative direction lately. Effective immediately, all members are to refrain from using slang and abbreviations to describe patients, such as the following:

1) Cardiac patients should not be referred to with MUH (messed up heart), PBS (pretty bad shape), PCL (pre-code looking) or HIBGIA (had it before, got it again).

2) Stroke patients are NOT “Charlie Carrots.” Nor are rescuers to use CCFCCP (Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs) to describe their mental state.

3) Trauma patients are not “CATS (cut all to sh*t), FDGB (fall down, go boom), TBC (total body crunch) or hamburger helper.” Similarly, descriptions of a car crash do not have to include phrases like “negative vehicle to vehicle interface” or “terminal deceleration syndrome.”

4) HAZMAT teams are highly trained professionals, not “glow worms.”

5) Persons with altered mental states as a result of drug use are not considered “pharmaceutically gifted.”

6) Gunshot wounds to the head are not “trans-occipital implants.”

7) The homeless are not “urban outdoorsmen”, nor is endotracheal intubation referred to as a “PVC Challenge.”

8) And finally, do not refer to recently deceased persons as being “paws up, ART (assuming room temperature), CC (Cancel Christmas), CTD (circling the drain), or NLPR (no long playing records).”

I know you will all join me in respecting the cultural diversity of our patients to include their medical orientations in creating proper narratives and log entries.

Boy am I in trouble

2009-09-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

All kids are unique and special...but when I describe my kids as "unique" and "special" I am usually making a derisive comment. I don't know why it is easier for me to complain openly about my children than it is for me to brag openly about them...but it is...so here goes:

My Spunky Girl is going to be a handful. For some reason, that girl cannot keep her clothes on. When she was a little bit younger, I'd find myself getting weird looks at Costco and turn around to find her NAKED. At 4 years of age, she routinely asked people "do you want to see my bottom?". At 5 years of age, I have to keep asking her to stopping pulling her shirt above her nipples.

The other day I laid the kids down over some long paper and drew their outlines. The girls then got to draw in their faces, their clothes, etc. Sweetness, my eldest child, drew herself in a lovely green t shirt and mid-length blue shorts. Spunky Girl drew herself in an off-shoulder shirt with some bicep high matching gloves & a pair of capri pants. Somehow she even managed to give her hips a sexy curve. She doesn't own any clothes like that, of course, but that is how she drew herself. She is just really body conscious...but not in a "look at myself in the mirror" kinda way (that would be Sweetness)...more in a "who can I get to look at me" kinda way.

If I pull my hair out with Spunky Girl's antics at 5 years old, how am I going to handle her when she's 16?

Posting Blahs

2009-09-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well friends, I haven't been blogging as much lately. There are several reasons why, I think.

First, I'm climbing toward my 100th post. This might be screwing with my head a little. I want my 100th post to be something good, but we all know that I write about nothing. My 100th post will be about nothing unless something extraordinary happens in my life...like TLC deciding that I'm their next client on What Not To Wear and they whisk me away for a week of shopping in New York. Or I win the lottery, which I don't even play, and suddenly have $100,000 with which to remodel my basement and give to the needy.

Second, using an RSS feed to import my blog posts to Facebook changes the nature of my blogging. I was slightly more anonymous when I only wrote for Blogger.com. Yes, my picture was up there, but I wasn't specifically inviting all my family and friends (& my husband's family and friends) to read what I wrote. The ones that wanted to read my inanities had to go look up my posts. On Facebook, my thoughts push across cyberspace and land on people's front door...complete with a creepy picture of my face next to them. The posts that I would once write about personal issues (my underwear, sex, etc.) just seem WRONG on Facebook. Also before Facebook, I could write about people I knew. Even if I changed the names, too many people could guess who I'm talking about on Facebook and so I find myself refusing to post stories I've written because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. The flip side of the coin, of course, is that I've got dozens more readers on Facebook...so if I go back to only writing for Blogger.com, I'll have to accept that.

Third, my camera is STILL at my grandma's house. There are so many times that I'll blog about whatever pictures I've recently taken, and without my camera that just doesn't happen. I've got to find time to go get that back and visit my dear Grandma.

Who knows, mabye my post about not blogging will inspire me to blog more. This is post #95. Let's see how long it takes me to get to 100.