Of Yearbook Poems and Senior Portraits

Remember when I blogged about being pushed to put in a yearbook ad for Sis at the very last minute and decided it would be a fantastic idea to write a poem (even though it was 10:30 at night, I was exhausted and I don't write poetry?) Well, the poem has finally been released to the public via Sis's yearbook. Here it is at long last (with senior portrait goodness thanks to Sis's Aunt Karen of Sierra Springs Photography who is amazingly talented):

How'd you become so weird, so sassy, so wild?

How'd you become outgoing, opinionated and so confident a child?

How'd you become a grown up instead of a girl?

How'd it happen that the years flew by in a whirl?

The answers it seems, only you know,

So smart, so bright so ready to go.

I look for my little girl, but I am too slow,

You're already on to the next act of your show.

Time watching you grow has been cherished time spent,

I've sat back and admired your spunk and your talent.

Away you go, your own life to make,

Just remember a piece of my heart you will take.

I guess I didn't embarrass her too much. The day she got her yearbook, she texted me at work to say, " Thanks for the wonderful ad! I love you!" and then I texted back something sappy and we both got teary eyed.

One would think this whole graduation thing would get easier with each kid. It doesn't. Not in my case anyway.

I Have No Idea For A Title For This Post

Last night I danced at a local belly dance festival that is very loosely run. There's no real organization. A dancer makes it known either by myspace or word of mouth that she would like to dance, then the night of the event everyone shows up and finds out what the schedule is. Then there is much scratching out and rearranging of the schedule to allow for no-shows and costume changes and then we all dance for basically each other and whatever family members show up in the audience. VERY loosely run and getting worse. But it's a chance to dance, and that's rare up in these parts so we all grin and bear it.

I had one faux pas, not on stage fortunately. You see, I've gotten quite used to public dressing rooms and even when a few of us get together we all go into the same room and change in front of each other and never think anything of it. Well, last night I met up with my friends and we went backstage so I could change. I just went about stripping down and putting on my dance bra, without noticing there were men in the dressing room too! Oops! I was off to one side and I really don't think anyone noticed, but I realized that maybe I should be a little more observant before I change in a large dressing room again. Duh!

In other news:

I was picked up by the county office of education about 2 weeks ago to finish the year as an aide at a local preschool. They have regular kids and special needs kids together. My job is to be a one on one aide to a 5 year old boy with autism. He's fairly high functioning but can be a handful, so I carry around a star chart and give him a star for any positive behavior and when he earns 5 stars he gets his computer time. Some days he loves me and we have a great day together, some days I show up and he'll say, "No! Not you!" and I have to wait for him to warm up to me.

I enjoy it though. I get to interact with all the kids and it's fun to come home and have my kids ask me what I did at work and I get to list such things as: played with playdough, read books, played bounce and catch, colored, got hugs. Yeah, really gruelling work days! I have my fingers crossed that I'll get picked up as an aide when school starts again.

There's one little 3 year old girl that melts my heart. Her name is the same as my oldest daughter's and spelled the same way which is unusual. She even has brown hair with little curls just like Sis had. When she arrives she usually seeks me out to sit on my lap or read a book to her. What a treat for me. She has already caught on that I'm a complete push-over when it comes to her.

It's just very sweet to have this little girl to remind me of Sis, but it makes me all mushy too, because here Sis is, 18 and getting ready to graduate, and wasn't it just yesterday that she was a little bitty girl with curly hair wearing pink dresses? Sigh...

Fair Time Means Rides, Goats and Motorcycles...but not riding goats or motorcycles

Well, it's county fair time, and in this county it means the kids get Thursday and Friday off to attend and get to enjoy a long weekend.


Years ago my friend and I would attend all 4 days of the fair with kids in tow. We'd pack a lunch, throw a blanket on the lawn and let the kids ride all the rides (in those days rides were free with admission) to their hearts content. It was cheap entertainment to be sure.


Now it's gotten a bit more pricey, so I hadn't planned on attending this year at all, but when I found out that ride wristbands were going to be only $10 on kids day (kids under 12 free) and adult admission was only $6, I thought, what the heck, I think we can afford that.


The weather was perfect and we found friends to hang out with. I packed lots of goodies in our cooler so when the kids asked for some over-priced fair treat I could offer them chocolate pudding or frozen lemonade or pistachios (a rare treat) instead. And it worked.


We looked at all the animals. My favorites are always the fancy chickens. I love the ones that are so fluffy that you can't tell which end is which and I love the cute little bantam roosters. The girls however, loved the goats. They had the best time petting and talking to them.

Natalie was trying to kiss them (I don't know why) and she had one little goat in particular that was as enamored with her as she was with it. I started calling her the Goat Whisperer after this:

Then they found these adorable 1 week old babies:

Today we walked dowtown to see all the motorcycles. Our county fair attracts thousands of motorcyclists every year and our little downtown is one of their favorite hangouts. It's fun to see the entire length of Main Street lined with bikes, and to hear the constant roar of them moving through town.

I decided this one was mine:

I liked the olive green and black combo. I haven't seen that on a motorcycle before.

We spent some time cooling off in the creek and Nat spent time stalking water skippers which is her most recent obsession (we've been to the creek 3 times in the last week so she could harrass, er, I mean, "enjoy" them). It took some convincing for her to accept that they were on a "catch and release" only basis and not coming home with us!

So we are enjoying our long weekend thanks to the county fair!

Payin' It Forward - Anyone Want To Play?

Over a month ago I recieved a package in the mail after signing up for Laughadaisy's Pay It Forward challenge.

This is what I recieved:

The funny thing was that that very day I was in the grocery store trying to find a birthday card and getting more and more discouraged at the pricey-ness of a simple card! I ended up leaving the store without a card in hand and came home to this wonderful package of just-what-I-needed in my mailbox! Wow! Talk about perfect timing!

Laughadaisy hand made all these beautiful cards, and if you don't find that amazing enough, she has a preschooler and twin toddlers! I seriously don't know when she found the time and energy to do it.

At any rate, now that I got something fantastic, my job is to pay it forward to 3 people. Which means I have to make something and send it to 3 lucky commenters -- wanna play? Then, of course, your goal would be to make something and pay it forward to 3 more. Easy, right?

Now, you won't get a fabulous assortment of cards from me unfortunately, but I do have something in mind...

Just kidding! What I do have in mind is something that involves my sewing machine, which at the moment is MIA in our over-stuffed black hole of a garage, so if you're into procrastination, you're in luck, because by the time I find my sewing machine and make something and send it...well, let's just say you won't have to worry about your paying it forward for a while. I'm a procrastinators best friend!

I'm not going to be a stickler for rules here. Leave a comment that you want me to play, and I'll eventually send you something, and if by then you get around to paying it forward, great, if not, that's fine too. And if you want to pay it forward with something you actually didn't make, I'm sure as heck not gonna tell.

A Worrisome Sign

Seen on a sign board outside of a church today as I was driving by:

WORRY IS THE DARKROOM IN WHICH NEGATIVES DEVELOP

That really made me stop and think. My dad has always been a profound worrier, from the weather to the affairs of the world, he worries about everything all the time. He is also one of the most pessimistic people I know. I love him, but sometimes he's hard to be around because of his gloom and doom attitude. I really want to watch myself so that I don't develop a negative attitude from worrying. After all, worry doesn't change anything!

I think I need to get this tattooed somewhere...ok maybe not, but I'm going to remember it and take it to heart.

Town Donkey

Did my title fool you? Did you think maybe I had made an a$$ of myself somehow and was now the talk of the town? Well, thankfully, no. We really do have a Town Donkey. The other day the girls wanted to ride their bikes down to visit her (as we do a few times a month) and I thought, how cool is it that our town has a donkey for the kids to go visit?

When we have visitors and I ask if they'd like to take a walk and see our town donkey, they think I'm kidding, and they are usually surprised to see that there really is a donkey, and even a specified "Burro Parking" area near her corral.

The girls love to pick fresh grass for her in addition to bringing her a carrot or two. Clara is very sweet and likes to be petted or brushed with the brush that hangs on the fence. She was born right here in 1982, and I remember back when we had 2 town donkeys - Clara and her mother. I think her mother died about 10 years ago.

Clara gets lots of attention from visitors and although she has no official owner, several people take care of her on a daily basis. One of the local wineries even donates part of their profit for her upkeep.

I love this town, and our sweet donkey.

Made My Day

I have been on the substitute instructional aide (a.k.a. yard duty, classroom aide) list for our district for only a few weeks, but I've gotten a couple days of work in each week already so it's working out pretty well.

The only jobs that have been available have been in the special ed classrooms (there's a preschool and elementary level class) so that's where I've been helping out.

Many of the kids are pretty low-functioning (as they like to call it), meaning they don't verbalize much if at all, and they are mostly in their own little worlds and it's hard to draw them out. Such is the case with little B who has Down Syndrome.

I accompanied B to the bathroom yesterday and as he finished up and washed his hands we exited and the teacher asked if I had filled out the log for him (they keep track of each time he goes and such). Well I hadn't, so I walked back in the very large bathroom to the far end where the log was and began to write.

About this time B turns the lights out. I say, "B I need the lights on." and walk back to where he is at the door. He turns them back on. Cool. I go back to the log. The lights go out. Again I say, "B I need the lights on." but this time I hear a giggle. From . I'm thrilled; he's playing a joke on me. Wow! So back I go again and he turns the lights on.

Well, we do this 4 or 5 times before I can get this darned log filled out, but the more he giggles the more I'm loving it. Finally he's actually interacting with me and I've never heard him laugh! I could seriously do this all day. It was so sweet and I was getting such a kick out of him. The teacher thought it was pretty cute too.

We also went to the school assembly and one of the boys was getting a Student of the Month award. It was so hard for him to wait. He's one who has a hard time controlling himself and also blurts words. The teacher told him to squeeze her hand if he felt he needed to talk (rather than blurting) and I saw he was giving her hand a workout the entire time. Finally his name was called and he walked up to get his award with the biggest smile on his face. I barely know this kid and I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of him.

These little guys have such a tough road, but they are such a pleasure to work with. They don't realize how they have touched my heart just in their daily accomplishments. The special ed kids are special indeed. (Can you tell I'm attached to them all already?)

Stick A Fork in Her...I'm Done

My oldest daughter, Sis, turned 18 this morning at 6:42am. Funny, she woke me up about that time to tell me that her dad gave her her present last night -- a new Ipod, and she wanted to let me know that I could now have her old one. (Woo-hoo! A present for me too!)

It's funny when your kid turns 18. They're now an official ADULT. Yep, you're done. That's it. You've raised them. You did your best, now you get to look back and see how they turned out.

(She turned out fantastic despite me and all the ways I screwed up, by the way!)

Well, I know I'm not done-done, but it IS a landmark birthday, and now she is officially in charge of herself and her actions. I still plan on being her mom and doing all the mom stuff like nagging and such, but I know with her strong personality and her determination and humor that she will do great as an adult.

Happy Birthday to my little girl!

MS Walk

I took part in a 5K walk to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society this past Saturday. I like to do my part to help a cause if I can, and in the past my efforts have gone to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. I was a team captain for 4 years. It was tons of work, but rewarding and fulfilling as well.

Last year I didn't do Relay for Life (I think I had a bit of team captain burn-out) although I attended the event and supported it in that way, so this year I was ready to jump back into a fundraising cause.


Me and my sister

My sister suffers from MS. She was diagnosed about 8 years ago. She has had to go on permanent disability and takes weekly injections of a drug that seems to keep it somewhat under control. I know there is a lot she deals with in her fight with this disease, but she mostly keeps it all to herself and doesn't complain.

The girls, me, my sister, and my walk partners: Dave and Suey my dog

When I found out there was a walk to raise money for MS I was really excited and signed up to attend the walk in my sister's town. I decided to raise money as an individual (instead of on a team), and was actually one of the top earners of the event. Woo-hoo! It is hard to thank people enough for sponsoring me so generously in this economic climate. A lot of donations were made out of love and support of my sister by her dear friends.

crazy girls

My brother-in-law accompanied me on the walk and we left my sister in charge of Nat and Moo. I was really thrilled that Dave wanted to accompany me, and it was really nice to have someone to walk with (besides my trusty mutt). It was a beautiful day, a very successful event and a worthy cause.

MS has also touched our family as my Uncle Bill died from complications of it, and my kids' great grandmother also suffered from it. They have found no reason to believe it to be hereditary, but certain genetic links seem to make one more susceptible. More info can be found at NMSS website.

I encourage everyone to find a cause to fight for, whatever it may be. You'll be glad you did!

Califoniprocrastination (or Procrastination California Style)

I am one of those spoiled, uppity Californians with the attitude of "oh I can do/see/go there anytime" so I never get around to actually going, doing or seeing the great sights of California. Which is exactly why the last time I went to Yosemite I was 5 years old. Dang near 40 years ago people. The clincher being that I only live 2 hours away. I am completely ashamed of myself.

Well, luckily I got a chance to remedy my uppity Californistic attitude recently when Sis asked me to chaperone a field trip to Yosemite with her geology class. For me, I jumped at the chance to accompany Sis on one last school field trip before she graduates (I'm getting very nostalgic as the big day nears). I really didn't care where we were going (Cali attitude again). The main thing I was worried about was camping at that elevation in April. I generally don't camp in April. It still gets way too cold at night for my liking.

At any rate we left early Sunday morning. As luck would have it there were two vans that the kids rode in, and one car which happened to be Sis' boyfriend's parents, so I got to ride with them. No obnoxious teenagers to be cooped up with. Hooray.

The memories I have of being 5 in Yosemite differ quite a bit from the memories I made during my recent trip. As a 5 year old I was thrilled at getting to ride in grandma and grandpa's cab-over camper (even though I had a nasty fall off the bunk during the drive). I remember driving through the tunnels and camping with all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. I remember seeing a bear going through someone's camp in broad daylight and I do remember some of the sights, but it didn't awe me like it did this time around.

As a 44 year old, I came home with memories of getting soaked at Bridalveil Falls, hiking to Mirror Lake (where most of the kids jumped in to swim in the melted snow water), seeing the rubble from the most recent rock slide, looking up at El Capitan and spotting a minuscule climber, marveling at how picturesque Half Dome is, walking up to Yosemite Falls and being in awe of the power of falling water, listening to bears rattling the bear-proof food lockers during the night, and best of all hanging out with my daughter to enjoy all this with. Even the weather cooperated by being unseasonably warm for April. I couldn't have asked for more.

In fact, I started planning my next trip to Yosemite after I'd been in the valley all of 5 minutes. I want to go there again soon. I'm thinking maybe even as soon as next month. I can not believe that I haven't made the effort to go there sooner. I am really kicking myself. To think people come from all over the world to see this incredible place and I couldn't be bothered to make a short drive. Well, never again will I wait 40 years to experience Yosemite (or anything else for that matter). I just changed my attitude!

There Was A Crooked (wo)Man

Yesterday I had to get a physical at a physical therapy center to qualify for a food service substitute at our local school district.

It was kind of silly really. They determined my body fat, gave me a 3 minute step test, a hand grip test, tested my flexibility bending forward and sideways, made me lift a certain amount of weight, and had me transfer 20 paper clips from one container to another as well as pick a pen 20 times, along with many other little tests. I think the district could better use their money elsewhere, really. And if I was in charge of testing employees I think I'd rather spend money on a drug test than have potential employees spend 2 hours with a physical therapist picking up paper clips and answering questions.

At any rate, the PT pointed out that I have scoliosis (curvature of the spine). I told her I knew that, but the first time it was ever pointed out to me was by my midwife 7 years ago when I was pregnant with Nat during my prenatal physical.

As an aside, due to my "advanced maternal age" with Nat, I went 3 times to an OB specialist for level 2 ultrasounds. Each visit they would tell me that my due date was 3 weeks later than my midwife's date and they told me they were "officially" changing my due date. Then I would go back to Ellie, my midwife, and tell her and she would feel my belly and say, "No, the baby is right on schedule and will be on time." Guess what? Nat was born the day after the midwife's due date weighing in at 8 pounds. Technology vs. a midwife's knowledgable hands, and the hands won.

I remember getting yearly scoliosis screenings at school, but no one ever mentioned that I had it.Very strange. I do know that it has always bothered me how on one side I have the regular curvy indentation at my waist but my other side is completely straight. She also pointed out that on my left side there is only a couple inches of space between my ribs and my hip.

I guess there are exercises that could help. All I need is a referral from my doctor (and insurance and money and all that), so that has kind of piqued my interest and I've been doing some online searching instead. Who needs pricey physical therapy sessions when you have the internet, right?

I was also struck as soon as I walked into the office that it would be interesting to be a PT. I was really intrigued by it all and I've always loved fitness and learning exercises and everything. I wonder if it's too late to look into it as a career. Hmmmm....

This Was Spring Break

I love Spring Break or "Easter Break" as the kids' school principal accidentally called it on the Friday before it started at the school assembly. (Oh man remember the days when we had Christmas and Easter vacations from school? Those were the days. Poor principal will probably lose his job over this. Ooops!)

Anyway, anytime I get to do nothing but hang with my kids is the greatest time on earth, so spring break is fantastic and "Winter Break" is twice as fantastic ('cause it's twice as long of course!)

I didn't really have any money to spend but that didn't deter us from planning a quick trip to The City to see Bub and Cass, and a little jaunt to see my dad, sister and bro-in-law the following day. As luck would have it, the weekend before our trip I was the only busser to show up on Friday night (meaning I worked myself senseless but made bank in tips) and the following night I actually got to waitress plus we had no bussers, so I got to keep all my tips. Very fortuitous indeed.

Cass' roommate works at the Academy of Sciences in SF and she so generously got us all in free as her "family". Nice. Beyond nice. And the Academy of Sciences was fantastic. Especially the planetarium, and the rain forest, and the aquarium and the whale skeleton and the chameleon...ok, it was all fantastic. Wow.

Moo, Nat, Sis and her boyfriend Trav who was looking good all color-coordinated in purple

On the "Living Roof". Is it just me, or does this look suspiciously like Tele-Tubbyland?

It is flippin' hot in the rain forest!

Gorgeous fish

Nat got tired of walking so Moo gave her a lift

Because we were traveling in "economy mode" I made deviled eggs and cupcakes for snacks and brought a chicken curry casserole for dinner. My niece gave me the recipe for the casserole and I made it having never tasted it before. Thankfully it was so good. If it was bad I was going to blame it on her, but since it was delicious I took all the credit. (Just kidding!)

We even made a quick trip to Union Square where my poor son was a pack mule for Cass as she shopped. What a good sport he is.

The kids played Rock Band. What a cool game.

And because my son works at Godiva (I'm not sure I've bragged about this enough) I got to sample two truffles before they were released in the Godiva stores. One was milk chocolate and peach the other dark chocolate and mango. The mango was definitely my favorite. I was feeling pretty special about that...I'm not gonna lie.

The next day we went to the mall where Bub works and I had to embarrass him by taking his picture in front of his store. (Notice how I call it "his" store?) And his manager twisted our arm and made us pick out a truffle. What torture.

On to visit my dad (who is doing so much better than at Christmastime--it's good to see him all chatty again, even if he is all gloom-and-doom-the-world-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket. That's just dad for ya.) where my sister and brother-in-law brought gorgeous baskets for the girls.

On Friday I treated the girls to Panda Express (oh, the orange chicken...drool...), and as they sat there enjoying their food I looked at my watch and realized that we needed to get moving and fast if we were to make it home in time for me to get to work. Make it we did, and I had just enough time to unload my car, throw on my work clothes and go (seriously 5 minutes).

Ahhh...spring break. Easter is a whole 'nuther post.

A Big Ghoul

Today Nat announced that she's finally "officially a big ghoul". She still can't say her R's so "girl" comes out "ghoul".

She has been working for the past couple of weeks on shoe tying (at the encouragement of all of us who are tired of tying her dang shoes umpteen times a day), and she has finally mastered it.

She named off all the other things that she has done on her way to becoming a "big ghoul". Wearing underwear, taking care of herself, riding a two-wheeler, and now the shoe tying. Yep, that covers it. It's definitely official.

Apparently pronouncing your R's is not on the "big ghoul" list, but that's ok, I want to hear her sweet little girl voice for as long as possible.

Twitter-pated Deer Warning

I really don't have anything to post. So I'm posting anyway. Don't ask.



I just warned Sis as she went out the door to watch out for deer because I've seen more deer today than I've seen in the last six months. It's like in the movie Bambi: Spring has sprung and all the forest creatures are running around all twitter-pated and looking for mates. Unfortunately they're very suicidal when they're twitter-pated, so we drivers of fast motor vehicles have to be extra cautious.


And a driving tip for those who aren't familiar with suicidal deer tactics: If you see one deer cross in front of you, don't take a deep breath and think you're "out of the woods" (pun intended). Oh no. If you see one deer, chances are he has several buddies who are going to cross right behind him. Definitely slow down and expect one of those buggers to jump out in front of you when you least expect it!


For those of you interested (there are some, I swear!) here are some photos from our recent performance at Rakkasah:

Happy Birthday Mom! (with bonus cake recipe)

I always celebrate my mom's birthday even though she's been gone almost 7 years. (7 years!!!!) I guess maybe that's a testament to her memory and her legacy. It sure doesn't seem like 7 years has gone by because I remember her and think of her and even sometimes hear her in myself. In some ways she's still around, which is cool. I guess we should all be so lucky to have people that want to remember us always! That's the kind of person she was.

I generally make a cake on her birthday, and this year I was inspired to dig through her recipes and make her famous lemon cake. I'm sure the last time I had it was whenever she made it last, so it's been a while!

It's not a pretty cake. Just a cake baked in a pan. It usually turns out a little brown on top and just doesn't say, "Look out, I'm gonna knock your socks off". You don't even frost it. Yes, it's just plain and unassuming. And then you taste it. Wow. So good. I whipped some cream to dollop on top. Oh yeah...

When I told Sis I was making lemon cake she remembered this disaster, but once she tasted it, she declared that this was the cake she wanted served on her 18th birthday this year. Now there's a compliment!

So here it is, if you care to make it.

Carol's Lemon Cake

1 box of lemon cake mix

4 eggs

1 pkg lemon Jell-o (I used the big one)

3/4 cup water

Mix 2 minutes on med. speed

Add 3/4 cup oil

Bake at 350 in a greased 9x13 pan, 40 min.

Take from oven, put fork holes in cake. Pour icing over cake.

Icing:

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 cup powdered sugar

Ever Wonder About Those Princess Cakes?

Today at church I was teaching the younger class of 4-8 year olds (the Primary presidency rotates through teaching that class at the moment, and today was my turn). I had only Nat and another little girl who's 4 in attendance.

Our lesson was on baptism, and at the end they had a coloring page with a cake on it and the words "I can't wait until I'm 8" at the top (8 being baptism age). They were to draw 8 candles and then color their cake.

To pass the time, I asked them what kind of cake they would like. Nat wanted strawberry, and the other little girl said, "Princess". To clarify, I said, "Well, what flavor would you like?" Again she responded "Princess".

Nat and I laughed and I quipped, "I wonder what that would taste like?!"

Nat says, "Probably meat."

Ewwwww! (but funny!)

*********************************************

Way back when Nat was just a toddler she and I would play a funny game. I would pull off one of her shoes and sniff her foot and make a big deal about how "stinky" it was. This was always good for giggles (for her and me).

Well, our little game backfired one Sunday in church, as the sacrament was being passed and the congregation was silent. Little precocious Nat pulled off one of her shoes, held up her foot and said loud and clear, "Smell my stinky feet!"

I was so embarrassed, and when I looked up to see if anyone had heard, I saw everyone in the three rows in front of us with shoulders shaking trying to hold back the laughter.

The Case of The Missing Tweezers

I've been missing my best tweezers for over a week. I had already accused the girls and Mike and searched my make-up drawer to no avail. Where could they have disappeared to?

I, like most women, get the occasional unfortunately placed dark hair on my face and I like to keep those things under control, to say nothing of my eyebrows, so I was really starting to need those tweezers.

I had two other pairs of tweezers in my make-up drawer so I decided to try them (because by now I have three hairs that are taunting me). These stupid tweezers would not even touch my hairs! What's with that? Why does a company make tweezers that are so poorly designed that they cannot grasp a hair? What exactly are they intended for? Well, I promptly (and huffily) dumped them both in the waste basket.

I then went out to do laundry, and among the wet clothes I noticed my nice hoodie and put it in the dryer. I then heard a distictive "clink" in the bottom of the washer. I looked and, oh joy! My tweezers! NOW I remember what happened: I had taken the tweezers from my room to the girls' bathroom where the light is better, used them and instead of putting them back in my drawer, I put them in the pocket of my hoodie to do later, and the rest is history!

Yay, I found my tweezers! Wild hairs, here I come! But first to finish the laundry, so I put the tweezers in the pocket of yet a different hoodie I was wearing at the time (hmmm...I'm noticing a pattern here...), and then of course I forgot about my crazy, taunting hairs and my fantastic hair-pulling tweezers and took the dog for a walk instead.

To the best of my knowledge, my tweezers probably fell out of my pocket during our walk, and a search did not turn up anything. And yes, those hairs are pretty happy, and getting sassier by the day!

Procrastinating will get you in the end every time!

Post-Anesthesia Ramblings of My Teenage Daughter

So I'm sitting here with a sleeping daughter, propped up with ice packs on either side of her face, who just a couple of hours ago was crying in pain until the Vicadin finally kicked in. She is minus 4 wisdom teeth, plus she had an eye tooth exposed that never came in (they hooked a chain to it so it can get tied into her braces and dropped into position). Poor Sis.

She went in at 8:45 this morning, sullen and cranky, and 2 hours later I walked her to the car animated and chatty (with a full mouth of gauze no less). It was a pretty entertaining drive home as the drugs they gave her made her a little goofy (and kind of like a 5 year old).

Here are some highlights of what she said on our 30 minute drive home:

Am I done?

Where are we going?

That lady (the nurse) pet my head.

Am I all done?

Do I have gold in my mouth?

You can't go to Walmart. People are going to get shot at Walmart, but it's just a rumor. Texas, Indiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia...

Are my cheeks fat? Do I look like a chipmunk? I like chipmunks, they're cute.

I talked to Cam and he arm wrestled some lady in a bar on St Patty's day. (me: Did he win?) No, they tied.

How long was I in there? (me: About 2 hours) Holy smokes!

My cheeks feel fat like I swallowed an elephant. That would hurt to swallow an elephant.

Where's my nostril? I can't feel it. My nose is stuffy. Can I pick it?

Watch for deer! There's a lot of deer around here!

My tongue feels funny. (I tell her it's coming back alive after being numbed.) You mean it was dead?! I didn't even get to say goodbye. Did they have a funeral?

Do I have gold in my mouth?

Remember when I got that thing on the roof of my mouth and my tongue couldn't touch the roof? Well he can touch it now. He's happy now.

I'm hungry. My tummy's angry cause it got cheated this morning.

They tore out one of my arm hairs! They took the tape off and one of my arm hairs came out. (Just one? What, does she inventory them?)

That lady was nice. She pet my head and held my hand when I asked her.

I still can't feel my nostril.

I didn't get to count. (I told her they would probably have her count backwards from 100 as she went to sleep.) I had it memorized and everything but they didn't let me count.

I liked that blanket. How come they didn't let me take it? I could use a new blanket.

They kept asking me what my name was. They asked me 5 times! (I tell her they were trying to see if her brain was waking up yet.) Well why didn't they ask me what the square root of 25 was?

I feel like I swallowed a balloon.

When did I go to sleep? (me: Probably about 9.) Nine at night?! (No, nine this morning.) Oh. Well that makes more sense.

The doctor flicked my arm and said he was giving me something to wake up and I told him no, I want to sleep.

Did I dream? (Not sure how I'm supposed to know.) I think I should have dreamed. Maybe I dreamed but don't remember.

He asked me if I was afraid of the IV and I said 'No, let's get this show on the road!'

...and then the nostril thing, the story of Cam arm wrestling, 'they didn't let me count' and "do I have gold in my mouth" repeated a few more times.

I'm hoping her recovery goes smoothly. It's terrible to see her hurting and not be able to help. I hope she'll look back on these notes from her drive home and chuckle about how silly those drugs made her.

Horse Craziness

Last weekend I made room in my little bedroom for a bookshelf from the garage with the intent to get my books and videos organized and located somewhere where I could access them, and I also wanted to get my old Breyer horses out of their box and display them where I hoped my girls might enjoy looking at them.

I was very horse crazy as a girl and I enjoyed Breyer horses, or "horse statues" as I called them, more than any doll or other toy I had in my childhood. I played with them much like little girls play with Barbies. Each one had a name, some were teenagers, some were mothers, some were the wild little kids. They had conversations and adventures and I made bridles for them out of rubber bands and string. Sometimes a Barbie joined the play and was allowed to ride one, but mostly it was just me and the horses.

Well, today we found my box of horses. They have spent many years stored away during our numerous moves. It was bedtime for the girls, but I just wanted to peek into the box to remember what I had. Well, as soon as Nat got a look they all came out, were organized into what she percieved as families and were dusted. I was then quizzed on my favorites, and then she promptly carted them all off and put them on display in her room on HER bookshelf.

I have successfully passed on the horse-crazy gene. My work here is done.

I Got a HOLLA

Last night I went to Sis' Friday Night Live Mentoring program to recieve an award. I had no idea what for or why. I was just told to show up by the coordinator. There were lots of other confused adults there as well.

 

It turns out they were giving out H.O.L.L.A. (Honoring Our Local Leaders and Administrators) awards. They kids each nominated several people they wanted to honor. Those who nominated (sometimes a group, sometimes and individual) would get up and talk about the person they were giving the award to and describe that person without giving the name away (well, usually!), then they would name the person, and said person would come up and recieve their award with much applause and hugging. Cool.

Sis got up and told the crowd she was honoring her best friend, her comic relief, the person that's always there for her, who clothes and feeds her and gives her rides when she needs them. And that this was a mother of four and an awesome bellydancer (most of what she said she wrote on the back of my award, that's why I remember it so well). Then I got to come up and accept my award with tears in my eyes. Awwwww. I was so honored to be recognized by my teen!

It was such a sweet and touching award ceremony. Many teachers and parents were honored and the things the kids said about those people were so sweet. They really seem to get the sacrifices that parents make and the extra effort teachers put in to make their lives better.

Various Recent Occurences In My World

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post. Your responses were really helpful and inspiring. Yes, I (finally) paid my tithing. I know Jesus is not going to pay my car payment, but I really do have faith that we'll be blessed somehow.

I met a "soul sister" (her words) recently through blogland. Imagine coming across another bellydancing LDS mother of 4, with a house full of critters who likes to blog? I was so excited! Check out Shimmy Mom, my new bloggy dance sister!

Oh, and a couple days ago, I was shocked to observe Callie exhibiting some very unladylike behavior towards mama pig (I won't go into details, just use your imagination). I then had the girls bring me both baby guineas and I "compared and contrasted" their nether regions, and concluded that Callie must be male. Ooops! Hopefully we got him out of the cage in time to avoid another batch of babies! Right now Callie and Moe are residing in the old cage, and the girls are in the piggy palace. We need to do some serious thinking about re-homing Callie at this point and we have a nice friend from church who may be interested.

And last night my 2 dance sisters and I traveled to Vallejo to dance at Rakkasah again. We were a lot more confident than last year, and felt we did a good job. Because getting a spot to dance at this festival is a crap shoot at best, we danced at 10pm. It actually was a good time as far as having an actual audience (as opposed to last year), but made for a late night (I arrived home at 1:30am). We had a great girls night out, and really bellydancing is kind of like playing dress-up for big girls, so what's not to love? (I'll hopefully have photos to post soon.)

Well, that's the update!

What To Do?

I decided to pay my tithing this year. I had discussed this with a friend of mine who has a strong testimony of tithing, and it really helped me to decide I needed to do this and it was the right thing to do.

The thing my friend said that stuck with me was that if Jesus Christ has the power to meet your spiritual needs, he most certainly has the power to also meet your physical needs, so that if you tithe and need something, it will be taken care of.

Now, a dilemma. I have my tithing check sitting on my desk. All I have to do is walk it across the street to the bishop. That's it. So easy. But not.

Mike was overdrawn in his account, so I bailed him out, and what with me quitting my job and everything, I'm now stressing out about coming up with my car payment in about a week and a half if I do walk that money across the street and give it to the church like I should.

I really wish I had a strong testimony of tithing right now, and knew that somehow I'd be able to make that payment and pay tithing too. I just don't. What to do, what to do?

This Is A Really Long, Drawn Out Story About Cookies And Old Friends With Many Parantheses and Run On Sentences

Girl Scout cookies are wonderful things. They even bring friends you haven't seen in (doing the math...wait for it...gasp!...30 years?...are you kidding me?!) ok, 30, yes count them, 30 years back into your life. Wow. Amazing cookies indeed!

 

It all started when someone I knew through elementary and junior high looked me up of Classmates. On my Classmates profile I listed being a Girl Scout leader among my activities (even though I'm not right now--I need to go update that profile!) and my friend, in the quest for cookies and wanting to buy from someone she knew so their troop would get the money, contacted me for cookies.

 

Luckily Shelby is active and selling cookies so I responded, "sure...we have cookies, but do you have any idea where we live? You may want to look elsewhere." I figured like most folks she would have never even heard of any of the towns up here in our rural county let alone volunteer to drive 2 hours into what most people consider the middle of nowhere.

 

Surprisingly my friend's grandfather used to own property in this county and actually lived just around the block from us, so she was familiar with the area and even more than happy to drive up to visit.

 

Monday she drove out (in her really cute Mini Cooper) and we had a nice walk around town. She showed me her grandpa's old house and we had lunch and a nice visit. It was really cool. She's even a fan of guinea pigs (of course!). It was great getting to know her again after all these years, and like so many old friends both my sister and I have run into, my friend had very fond memories of my mom (hers involved my mom giving her a hand-me-down "maxi" dress that was my sister's) and how nice she was. (I always love to hear how much my mom's sweet spirit touched people and that she's still remembered).

Funny thing, when my friend met Shelby, she said, "She looks like your sister!" Among family we have always thought this, but then to have it confirmed by someone who hasn't seen my sister since she was a teen was very interesting.

 

At any rate, I'm so glad to have this old friend back in my life. We have plans to keep in touch and get together again soon (I promised to take her on a hike when the dogwoods bloom). And I have Girl Scouts cookies to thank for it!

Totally off topic, but my computer never did spring forward when it was supposed to on Sunday, and then it apparently just realized it's mistake, but instead of springing forward 1 hour, it went 2 hours so that when I glanced at the clock in the corner of my screen it showed I was late to pick up the girls from school and it gave me a minor heart attack! Stupid computer, sheesh!

A Week of Reflection

Well, it's been a full week since I've quit my job at the casino. And guess what? No regrets.

After what seemed like weeks of rain and snow, the weather finally broke, and this was what we saw right out our front door:

(If you want to know why rainbows are so special to me read this.)

Of course we had one more storm which gave the girls a snow day of sorts on Wednesday. The school called a 2 hour late start due to snow, but when Mike drove up the hill to drop them off (they still go to their old school in snow country) they had closed the school because of a power outage (meaning no heat...brrrr).

Since Nat had just taught herself to ride a 2-wheeler (when you're the 4th child you have figure out how to do things for yourself!), she was excited to take a bike ride on this surprise day off. We went to the park and saw how much water was in the creek and the girls rode through puddles. Too fun!

I worked Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at my old restaurant job bussing tables, and it was great. Low pressure, fun people to work with and good tips. Totally opposite of the casino.

 

Sis didn't even know I had quit the casino. That's how much I was seeing of her! She said, "I guess I have to read your blog to know what's going on!" Well not anymore, because I'm HOME! Yay!

 

Two of my dance friends and I are gearing up for a big performance on the 14th, but one of the gal's husband fell off a roof and fractured some vertebrae this past week. I thought for sure she would want to cancel with all that stress going on right now, but she was insisting that we still plan to do it. After rehearsal today I got a little insight into why, and now understand that she needs her dance outlet more than ever.

 

After doing the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life for 4 years, and then taking last year off, I decided I needed another cause to put my efforts into. I am now going to do the walk for MS (multiple sclerosis) for my sister who suffers from this disease. I have been really overwhelmed by the generous donations and am so looking forward to the walk at the end of April. (Want to sponsor me? Click here.)

And even though today was "spring forward" one hour, surprisingly I didn't have any trouble getting up on time for church. Of course it helped that shortly after 8am I was awoken by the screams of Nat after she discovered her hamster's cage had been left open and the hamster was MIA.

We haven't seen any sign of Otis as of yet. He apparently survived the plummet from the top of the dresser where his cage is kept, and we think he may have even survived sneaking past the cats and dogs to an unknown hiding place because we haven't seen any signs (if you know what I mean) that he met with an untimely death by one of his predators. Hopefully we'll find him tonight when he starts getting active.

 

All in all, a good week and I am SO thankful to be home sharing all these little day to day things with my family.

This Post is Absolutely NOT About Guinea Pigs

Ok, so I lied.

At risk of losing ALL my readership, and becoming the Guinea Pig Blog, I am going to post yet again about our critters. But wait, before you quit reading, just hang in there and check this out, 'cause at the end I think you'll admit that it's pretty cool.

One sheet of coroplast from the local sign shop (free)

 

Two sets of storage cubes from Walmart ($42)

A patient husband with good measuring and cutting skills

Two "really helpful" little girls

And 4 hours later, you have a new piggy palace!

And a happy pig family! (Their new place is about 3x the size of their old one, and cost less than half the price!)

(Thanks to this website)