Thursday, March 31, 2011

Random Thoughts Thursday

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Did you miss me last week?

We've all recovered from what I am now calling, for lack of a better name, THE VIRUS OF DEATH (yes, the all-caps are necessary, trust me.)  It has been five days since anyone in our house threw up and we're all very excited.

I lost five pounds in three days.  Although I'm delighted with the results, I don't recommend the method.

I love how my kids' hands all still easily slip into mine when we're walking somewhere together.  All three of them are still happy to be holding hands with Mom in public, and it makes me smile.

This morning Ellie and I got to watch more police in action, frighteningly close, as they responded to another shooting call right around the corner from the fabric store we were heading to.  I would be happy to not have to be anywhere near police action again for the rest of my life.

What is it about the phrase "blue lips" that makes it so much fun to say?  Or is it just me?

Now, not only do I want a new camera, I actually need one.  Or at least to get mine fixed.

Being accepted for school would make me feel so much more excited if I hadn't received the acceptance email two minutes after submitting my application.  I guess as long as you have the ability to hit "submit", a community college will take you.

I'm scared to start school again.  I feel too old.

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Your turn!

If you do a Random Thoughts post on your own blog, I'd love to know about it!  Leave me a comment and I'll come read!

Friday, March 25, 2011

If I Call it an "Adventure", Maybe I Won't Cry

If I believed in karma, I'd be wondering what I'd done wrong.

This past week was the girls' Spring Break, and we left Chris behind and headed down to St. George for some Grandma & Grandpa time.  The plan was to fill our days with hiking, exploring, swimming, playing, and all kinds of craft projects, and my sister-in-law Emily was coming down with her girls Abbie and Savannah.

Our flight left late Friday night, so we spent the morning packing and the afternoon running errands.  Our neighbors, meanwhile, spent the afternoon in a gang-related shooting incident which caused our entire street to be closed off and filled with policemen.


For a while, it looked like we weren't going to be allowed to go home.  And not going home meant not packing and leaving again for the airport.

We eventually made it home, and in a crazy mad rush finished the packing, ate dinner, and left the house significantly less clean than I had intended to.  But we made it, and the trip began.

Among the items we forgot to pack in our mad rush: the girls' toothbrushes and my swimsuit.

Saturday we slept in and then went hiking at Red Cliffs Recreation Area.  Uncle Blaine and his girlfriend Mel were with us for the day.  This was BY FAR my favorite day of the trip.


Queen of the world!



This was a lot scarier than it looks - I'm so proud of her!

Sunday was spent playing with cousins, baking cookies with Grandma, and challenging Grandpa to a putting contest in the backyard "golf course".


This was also the day my camera broke.  Thankfully Vicki brought hers along, so I didn't have to worry about missing a day.

Monday was a rainy day, but we planned accordingly.  All the girls sewed matching pajama pants with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Emily while I ran around buying craft supplies and a new swimsuit (FYI: Walmart's choices in this department are rather unfortunate.)  We made flower fairies and went to Del Sol, where Grandpa bought us each a t-shirt.

And this is where my vacation ended.

Tuesday morning I awakened to the sound of Vicki throwing up.  Everyone else went hiking at Zion National Park while the two of us stayed home and watched movies.  Then they got back from hiking, with a vomit-covered Ellie, who didn't make the last 10 minutes of the drive.

Wednesday was another day of doing nothing at home.  I finished one book and started another, while Ellie watched movies and threw up a lot.  Everyone else went to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon, and Vicki came home with a fever.  Goody.

Ellie continued into the evening, so by 8pm I was on the phone with our insurance company's ask-a-nurse and the on-call physician at our pediatrician's office.  Both recommended having her looked at, so it was off to the ER, where it didn't take long to conclude that she was dehydrated and in need of an IV.  The poor kid was so miserably sick that she didn't even move when the stuck the needle in.  After another bout of vomiting, they gave her some Zofran, which I have nicknamed The Wonder Drug, and within 10 minutes she was sitting up, chatting animatedly about all kinds of things, and eating a popsicle, which stayed down.  If you ask her what the worst part about the hospital visit was, she'll tell you it was when they removed the tape that was holding the IV on.  It was the only time she cried.

After the Zofran

We returned home around 11pm to learn that Lexi had a fever.  Joy.

So on Thursday, Lexi lay on the same couch previously occupied by her sisters, watching movies while Emily and I cleaned and packed and Grandma and Grandpa took the rest of the girls to a park.  They came back to pick us up for lunch at IHOP, but Lexi elected to stay home.  Knowing I hadn't been out of the house in two days, Grandma offered to stay with her, but I only got out of the house long enough to make it to the IHOP parking lot, where Vicki threw up.  Again.  And where the energy was quickly fleeing from Ellie.

So I had one kid with a fever, for which Tylenol was doing nothing, one kid who was vomiting, and one who had absolutely no energy and complained of a tummy ache (mine would ache too if I'd spent 24 hours vomiting).  Two of them were also having issues with the other end, if you get my drift.  And I wasn't feeling so hot myself anymore.

Did I mention we had a plane to catch that night?

God is good.  I know this because after begging and pleading with Him for pretty much the whole day, we managed to make it home almost without incident.  The girls were in fairly good spirits during the two-hour drive from St. George to Las Vegas, and they managed to make it through security (bless forever the sweet security lady who must have seen the exhaustion in all of us and sent us through the "special" line - the one set aside for airport personnel and wheelchairs) and into the packed waiting area before crashing.  We found a corner and they all lay down and fell asleep.  Once we got on the plane, Ellie was asleep again before takeoff and Lexi about five minutes after.  We made it through the first hour of the flight before Vicki threw up again.  Thank goodness for barf bags and a kid who's old enough to know what to do.

The plane landed at midnight, and when Chris picked us up I sat down in the car and burst into tears.

We made it.

I don't believe in karma, but if I did, I'd have an awful lot of questions for the universe.  I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to deserve all that.  I do believe in God, though, and I know there's no way I would have made it through the day yesterday without His help.  I did not do that on my own - He was holding me up until I could do it on my own again.

And now, I need a vacation.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Random Thoughts Thursday

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It has been absolutely crazy around here lately.  My house has suffered immensely.  Today, I'm up to my elbows in laundry.

But tomorrow, I leave on vacation!  Woohoo!

Want to know how many boxes of cookies my kids sold?  Well, it doesn't matter, because I'm going to tell you anyway.  Lexi sold 211 boxes, and Vicki sold a whopping 586 boxes!  That's just 3 boxes shy of 800 when you put them together, and only 40 fewer boxes than Lexi's entire troop sold.  My girls worked HARD and I'm really proud of them!

And now, I'm DONE with cookies!  Well, until next year.

I didn't make any green food for breakfast, and I didn't decorate the house with shamrocks or gold coins.  I didn't bake cookies or put treats in my kids' lunches.  And guess what?  I don't feel like a terrible mother!

Today I got an anonymous card in the mail.  It just said, "Wishing you a wonderful week."  It totally made my day!

This morning, I got to watch Vicki receive a "Golden Pride Ticket" at school.  It's a high honor, and she was praised as being someone who represents the school well now, and who will, in the future, make the school proud.  Yay, Vicki!

I'm going to be pretty much without internet access for a week, so don't expect a Random Thoughts post  next Thursday.  I'll have to make up for it on Friday, I guess.

Hey, it's 1:00.  I should probably eat lunch.

And do some more laundry.

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Your turn!

If you do a Random Thoughts post on your own blog, I'd love to know about it!  Leave me a comment and I'll come read!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Some-Kind-of-Colored Small Fantasy Creature

Update: I think I was tired when I posted this last night.  "...asked what Daddy fun things was going to do..." makes no sense whatsoever!  I fixed it so I am no longer being publicly humiliated, but I left the phrase here so I can laugh at myself anyway.

Last night at dinner we were discussing the girls' and my upcoming trip to Utah.  We're going for a girls' week with Grandma and Grandpa E. (he's an honorary girl for the week...or something.)  And Chris is staying here alone.

We were talking about all the fun things we want to do while we're in St. George, and someone asked what fun things Daddy was going to do while we're gone.

Vicki said, "Oh, he's just going to eat junk food and watch junk shows."

Chris said, "Junk shows?" (probably thinking, rather accurately, that I'm the one who watches junk shows; Glee, anyone?)

And Vicki said, "Yeah, you know, like 'Blue Elf'."

Silence.

Blue Elf?

"The one you were watching that one day?  Where it was kind of like deja vu?  And they're on a spaceship, with a guy with an H on his head?"

And Chris almost fell out of his chair laughing.

She was talking about Red Dwarf.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Random Thoughts Thursday

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After that post about showering every morning, it's really embarrassing to admit that it's after 9:30 and I haven't showered yet.  In my defense, though, there's no school today (again), and Ellie has been planning since Monday to make pancakes today, so that took precedence over the shower.  It will happen, though.
Amazingly, I have only eaten one Cadbury Creme Egg so far this Easter season.  I'm very proud of me.  And we don't need to mention how many Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs I've eaten, do we?

Four more days until the cookie sale is over and I get my life, and my living room, back!  Woo hoo!

I'm really proud of my girls, and my Girl Scouts.  They went above and beyond expectations!

I want a nicer camera.

Yesterday I singlehandedly fixed the backseat of our van.  It involved screwdrivers and swearing only a little bit of blood.

We're up to the season 3 finale of LOST, and just when I think the show can't possibly get any weirder, it does just that.

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Your turn!

If you do a Random Thoughts post on your own blog, I'd love to know about it!  Leave me a comment and I'll come read!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Zen and the Art of Showering Each Morning

I'm not a morning person AT ALL, but ever since Ellie was born, I've made it a priority to get up early enough to shower before the girls are awake.  I never feel fully awake myself until I've showered.  It seems to make the day go better.  Also, I really enjoy the peace and quiet the shower provides.  I heard someone say once that she got a lot of her praying done in the shower, and since then I've discovered that she was really on to something.  The white noise of the water running, and the steam, and the yummy smells of shampoo and body wash make it a great time to pray and meditate and ponder and organize my mind.

Or at least try to.

This morning, my peace was interrupted by the ear-piercing shrieks of one of my children.  Even through the running water and closed door, I could tell that it was the same phrase, over and over, and I knew she was either yelling for me (even though she knew I was in the shower) or yelling at one of her sisters, neither of which boded well for my morning.

Then another child came into the bathroom, complaining that the yelling sister had whacked her in the face with a pair of pants.

Happy, happy day.

The old me would have lost it.  But, in my shower-induced zen-like frame of mind, I've become a new me.  A me who doesn't lose it quite so often.  A me who realizes (and, yes, it took me this long to realize it) that losing my temper over ridiculous things takes waaaay more energy than just taking a deep breath, counting to ten, and reminding myself that this, too, shall pass.

Because I kept my cool, by the time I got out of the shower everyone was friends again.  The pants-whacker had apologized for the pants-whacking, the pants-whackee had apologized for whatever it was she did to prompt the pants-whacking, and everyone was playing Webkinz and halfway ready for school, which, to be honest, was more ready than I expect anyone to be at 7:15 in the morning.

It's going to be a good day - I can feel it.  And all because I had a shower this morning.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Random Thoughts Thursday (late afternoon edition)

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Oh, yeah, it's Thursday.  I almost forgot.  It's been a little crazy around here.

Guess what happens when you're friends with the person running the show at the elementary school book fair?  You get phone calls that begin with the phrase How much do you love me? and end with you agreeing to spend two hours doing this:

I have never had so many hugs and high fives in one evening.
It was awesome.

I seem to talk about the girls' school a lot.  Well, you know something else I love about our school?  The kids get to take public transportation on field trips.  Maybe some people wouldn't see this as a good thing, but I do.

I'm actually making an effort to lose that stubborn last 10 pounds that have been hanging around since I had Ellie.  But I'm trying to do it without really changing much in my lifestyle.  Ask me how well that's going.  Cadbury Creme Egg season is not the right time to decide to get serious about losing weight.

I bought the girls new umbrellas yesterday.  We live in Oregon; they should probably each have had a working umbrella long before now.


I'm tired of the rain, though.

Two more weeks until Spring Break, and our second annual girls' (and Grandpa) week in St. George!  We can't wait!

I've been wondering, what if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

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Your turn!

If you do a Random Thoughts post on your own blog, I'd love to know about it!  Leave me a comment and I'll come read!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A Handy Guide for Parents

Several months ago we got to have The Talk with Lexi.  It was fun.

But oh, how I wish I'd had this handy-dandy "where you came from" guide, along with its stunning visuals.

It would have made The Talk a lot more fun for everyone.

I'm definitely bookmarking it for when Ellie's ready.  You can never be too prepared for things like this.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Not By Any Stretch of the Imagination

I'm a stay-at-home-mom.

I don't have a job outside the home - the home is my job.  I do babysit four days a week to bring in a little extra (which really isn't extra, considering there would be no piano lessons, dance classes, or Girl Scouts without it), but I have no other job than being a mom.

So why does it feel like I'm never home?

If my job description is going to include the words "stay", "at", and "home", it would be nice to actually stay at home.

But instead, I'm volunteering at the school, driving from store to store to store to store, leading (or helping to lead) Girl Scout meetings, schlepping kids to dance classes, piano lessons, and church activities, and, lately, standing outside various stores for two hours at a time hawking slightly overpriced (but really tasty) cookies.

No wonder my house looks the way it does.

It will be nice in a few years when I'm actually part of the workforce again, because then I'll feel like I have a truly legitimate excuse for letting things fall apart.

Until then, I would like to remind people who ask what I do that if I answer "I'm a stay-at-home mom!", I'm totally lying through my teeth.

There is no such thing.
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