Superpaige's Pad

The Trials of a Busy Mom

Author: Superpaige (Page 48 of 180)

Count those chicks

February 21, 2011 / / 9 Comments

Thank you to all of you who entered Ryan’s Chicken contest. It was fun to have so many visitors, and so many comments! Thanks!

But honestly, you are all OVER. Seriously? 57? Have you been to my house? It would have to be totally overrun with chickens. Not that I would mind, really, but you guys think I am totally chicken crazy or something. We’re not counting this kind of “chicken” in our count, by the way.

Mostly I just have a few accent chickens around, like on the entertainment center in this silly picture below.

The bulk of the chicken count is actually from my curtain hangers. (Sorry, no picture). But there are 8 chicken shaped hooks that my curtains hang from. And the grand total?

21. I guess if you added parakeets and cockatiels you could get the total up to 30, but we were going with chickens (as per Ryan’s rules).

Yes. Only 21. Joni was actually the closest guess with 23. So, congratulations, Joni! Come on over for dinner. But in the spirit of fun and frivolity, we’d like to invite ALL of you over for dinner! (I feel very much like Oprah as I typed that last part. “You’re all getting cars! Cars for Everyone!” Right?)

The kids are constantly bugging us and asking when we’ll be inviting people over for dinner, so NOW we will. We’ll be contacting you in the next few weeks to see if we can get a date arranged to get together for dinner! How fun is that? And if you chose to bring me a new chicken for my collection, I wouldn’t complain. We may not get to everyone until barbeque season, but we would love to invite you all!

Thanks again for playing along. Come back anytime and see what we’re up to! And don’t forget to leave a comment, because I LOVE comments.

Payoff

February 18, 2011 / / 3 Comments

I overheard my son and his friend “working on homework” in the living room. The friend said, “I would love to play the piano but it’s not worth all the time it takes to practice and all that.” Then Cole said, “the piano is so worth it.”

(What?) That’s me gasping in the next room.

And then Cole proceeded to show off with his most complicated Jon Schmidt piano song that he’s been working on for about a year.

So, all those years of lessons really ARE worth it. At least for this child.

We all just want to be winners

February 16, 2011 / / 5 Comments

I’m trying to win a car. Again.

I had to make a video of me singing about my love for a Mazda 3 (which is REALLY the car I would want. That or a Mazda 6). So I wrote the lyrics, then recorded the song. Cole helped film it and I thought it turned out cute.

I can’t figure out how to embed the video so it shows up right here on my blog, but here’s the link.

Now I have to get my friends and families to vote for my video so I can have a chance to win the car. Easier said than done. I guess people have an aversion to registering at Fox13 with their name, email and birthdate. Is that too much personal information to have to give, or do they just not want to take the minute it takes to register, or do they not want me to win a car? I don’t know. But I don’t have nearly the votes I thought I would. And I hate nagging at people to vote, and then nagging at them again every single day. I currently have 38 votes. Cheerleader girl video is in first place with 130 votes. But I’m surprised that there are several of those entries that don’t have a single vote. Why not? Do they not know that they can vote for themselves? If they went to the trouble to make and upload a video, you’d think they would at least vote for themselves, right? I feel bad for them and would like to go and vote for them, but I won’t. Because that would be one vote that I couldn’t vote for myself.

It’s a little discouraging to NOT WIN. People think that ‘Paige wins EVERYTHING’. That’s because they only hear about the things that I win. They don’t realize that MOST of the time, I lose. Really. I try for contests multiple times every day. And I don’t win. That means that every day, I lose. Over and over and over again, I lose. I’ve tried at least 10 times to win a car. I’ve qualified, then gone to the place on the appointed day, and I get my hopes up and get myself all excited. The ‘what if’ I actually win excitement and butterflies. That hopeful feeling. Only to have my hopes dashed when I don’t win. Again.

Nobody wants to lose. Megan’s basketball team is playing in their tournament right now. They’ve done GREAT with wins on Saturday and then again on Monday. Tuesday was their next to last game, and unfortunately, it did not end well for her team. They lost. By a lot. It was not fun. It’s not fun to sit through a game where your team is down by 20 points and you know they can’t win. By the fourth quarter, there’s no chance of a comeback, but you still cheer for them. And they still try. They did not give up, but played hard the whole game. I’m proud of them. But Megan is NOT happy. And to add insult to injury, her team is supposed to all wear dresses to school today. But she will survive. And even if her team does not win their game today, they will still be winners. But they may not feel like it for a while. Everyone just wants to win

I must have something wrong with me internally to have that NEED to win. I love winning! Even if it’s something dumb like silly movie passes to a movie that I’m not going to ever go to, or tickets to see Yani, there’s a thrill in winning. I guess life would be simpler and I’d have less disappointments if I weren’t always trying to win, but then I wouldn’t have the thrill of winning. Or the free things when I do actually win. And we have to lose some to appreciate the wins. Opposition in all things, right?

So, I will continue to try to win a car. And trips. And tickets. And I will invite friends to go to silly things with me when I do win. And some of those contests might involve asking my friends and family to vote for me. And I hope they will. But I’ll try not to let it hurt my feelings when they don’t.

And one day, I will win that car.

A Date?

February 12, 2011 / / 4 Comments

I don’t want to make TOO big of a deal about this, but it seems that my oldest son is actually out on a DATE right now.

I feel old. I feel glad that he’s finally asked a girl out, and glad that he has a group of friends that he can go out and do something with.

I hope he has a great time!

I had my chance

February 11, 2011 / / 2 Comments

Yesterday I got a text from my daughter, asking me to bring her a skirt to school. She needed it before her last period started. Since I didn’t look at my phone until almost noon, I had to scramble to her room and find a skirt. But wait! This was my chance! This is the daughter who, no matter how many cute clothes I buy her, she continues to wear the same ratty shirts, jeans and jacket. I’ve bought her cute skirts and dresses, as well, but we seem to always see her on Sunday in the SAME skirt.

Gone are the days when I can dress my girls like this.

or this

Sigh.

But she had no choice here! I could pick out the frilliest pink thing I could find and she would HAVE to wear it, right?


Wouldn’t she look cute in this?


or this?

Sadly, We dont’ own those cute dresses, because if we did, they would just sit there in the closet. I only had a few minutes, so I had to just grab what I could find in her closet. I picked out two things, to give her options. One was a really cute wrap dress that she has actually worn in the past, but not for quite a while. The other, a skirt that she has also worn, but it’s not her favorite. I also included some shoes, because she can’t just wear her ratty old gym shoes with a skirt, right? I guess I played it nice.

Not that it did me any good. Not long after I took that bag of clothes to school, I got a frantic phone call from the same ungrateful child asking me to find and bring her basketball shoes for the game that was starting in 30 minutes. FIND and bring? You have got to be kidding. I grabbed husband away from his work (working from home has it’s perks) and enlisted him to help me search for the shoes. And a frantic texting conversation went something like this:

Me: Where are your shoes?
Daughter: Look around my desk and chair.
Me: Not there.
Daughter: By my basketball clothes?
Me: (after pawing through the pile of dirty basketball clothes..ick) Nope
Daughter: Maybe in my cubby
Me: (running out of time, so running down to the mudroom to search for the shoes there) Not in cubby
Me: (looking in a basket under a pile of coats in the mudroom and finding the shoes) Found!

Then I sent Ryan to the school a few minutes early to get her those shoes before her game. It was nice that he was there, because even though I was going to go to her game, I still had to wait for all the kids to get home and take two girls to piano lessons. Then there was a junior high carpool mix-up and I ended up driving some kids home, so I didn’t get to the game until 15 minutes after it started. Which they won, by the way.

Oh, the things we do for our kids, right?

Christmas music–it’s not just for December (and a giveaway)

February 8, 2011 / / 6 Comments

Yes, I am listening to Christmas music in my car. Why not? There’s tons of fluffy snow out there and it’s below freezing. And I’m driving, so I have the right to chose any CD I want. Right? Not if you ask my kids. They think Christmas music should only be played from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Sure, if you are talking about the overplayed radio Christmas songs that every radio station plays the same exact version of over and over. On that, I agree. But when it’s a beautiful CD full of original arrangements, music from other lands, and the majestic sounds of an amazing orchestra and choir as well as the world renowned King’s Singers, that’s just not your everyday Christmas music. It deserves to be listened to all through the year. The King’s Singers voices singing beautiful Christmas music with the Choir is lovely and calming. Oh, and there are bells. Lots of bells.

Of all the concerts I have been blessed to perform in with the choir, the King’s Singers concert was my favorite so far. Every concert is amazing, and I can hardly believe I get to participate in these amazing concerts! But it is ok to have a favorite.

If you have never heard the King’s Singers singing “O Holy Night”, you have missed out, my friend. The heavenly sound of the mens’ voices blend perfectly with the orchestra and choir. It’s what I imagine Heaven sounds like. Seriously.

And since I’m in a giving mood today, if you do not have a copy of this Rejoice and be Merry CD, leave a comment here and I’ll randomly pick one comment to win this CD. Really. Because you should hear it for yourself. And because I’m nice that way. And if you don’t win, you can purchase this CD at Deseret Book.

Date Night

February 6, 2011 / / 2 Comments

I asked my dear husband out on a date for Friday. Yes, a DATE. I figured we hadn’t been out together just the two of us on a date since we went to a quick dinner on my birthday. We really should be able to squeeze in at least ONE date a month, you would think, but sometimes even that is difficult.

So, after my harried afternoon of ultrasounds and baking bread with the activity day girls (no, it’s not my new calling, I was just helping out), I made a quick dinner for the kids and the two of us snuck out. Thanks to my friend Lisa, I had won tickets to a concert/comedy night by the very funny and talented Jason Hewlett.

First we went to dinner at Cafe Rio and I got my fav, the Cafe Rio chicken salad. Yum.

Then we went over to the Waterford School for this fun benefit concert.

Even though I didn’t know Dan Sloane, by the end of the night we felt like we knew him and we hope for the best for him. And Jason Hewlett was AMAZING! So funny! If you ever get a chance to see him live, go for it.

The music was fun, the comedy was great, and I was glad to have been there. Such a great date night with my hubby! Does that count for our Valentine’s Day date?

I’m not a hypochondriac, I just think like one

February 5, 2011 / / 4 Comments

Unexplained symptom-heated calf.

I know. It sounds totally stupid and fake, right? But for over a week, my right calf has, well, felt….hot. Stop rolling your eyes at me. I know it sounds made up. Therefore, I tried not to whine and complain about it too much. Except for at home. Poor Ryan.

I’ve also had some other cruddy stuff going on this week that made me not so productive around the house. I’ll just say it was a stomach flu kind of a thing and leave it at that. Even after I’d made it through the worst of the sick part, I have been just SAPPED of all energy. If I’m able to do my volunteer commitments for church and at the school, I’ve come home totally exhausted and lay around on the couch not doing all the mom things I should have been doing. By Thursday, I had just enough in my energy reserves to make it through the book fair, a short shopping trip and parent teacher conference. I came home feeling ready to drop into a coma. But this leg thing, it was just driving me crazy! Was it really hot? If only there were a way to measure the temperature. Then I remembered that Ryan had picked up this crazy temperature gadget that is something like this HERE.

I waited until the leg was having a hot spasm (it isn’t hot ALL the time, just when it feels like being hot) and rolled up my pants and asked him to scan me. Sure enough, the right leg was TWO degrees hotter than the left leg. And when I measured it later, it was THREE degrees hotter.

HA! So I’m NOT just making it up. There really IS something wrong with me.

Then my worry level began to kick it up a notch, because there really IS something wrong with me. You may remember that time that I was pretty much convinced that I had a brain tumor because I kept smelling a strange illusive burning smell. That wasn’t much fun. But my point is that I am a worrier, so when I can’t figure out what is wrong, I worry, and it makes it worse.

I contacted our doctor to see if he thought it was a big deal. He asked me some questions and said it wouldn’t be a bad idea to come in to the office the next day. And he’s not just fishing for a co-pay. So, he squished me into his schedule, and at 8:15 the next morning, there I was. He checked out my calf, and sure enough, he could FEEL the heat. Even though I didn’t have swelling or pain, heat is one of the symptoms of a blood clot, and I’ve had a few minor blood clots before, so he sent me off to schedule an ultrasound at the hospital. They didn’t have any appointments until 3 pm. Ugh. I’m supposed to have 8 little achievement day girls over to my house at 4 to make whole wheat bread, but it’s that or 6, so I take the 3.

At 2:30, with my first batch of bread made and my kitchen cleaned up and prepped for the second batch with the girls, and there I was at the hospital. Sitting in the radiation waiting room is always uncomfortable, because I wonder what all these other people are here for. One lady has to drink some kind of special drink before her CT scan, someone else is there with their two little kids, and I wonder why they are there. Cancer? Darn it, I think, why didn’t I schedule a mammogram, since I have to be here anyway? The ultrasound tech took me early (thank goodness) and had me all prepped and covered with slime before 3. I tried to be all casual and read my book while she searched my leg for clots, but I was indeed worried. And then she was done. What was that, 13 minutes? Really? I sat up and watched her type “no evidence of DVT” into the computer before she left to share her findings with the radiologist. No clot, huh? Well, then what the heck is causing these weird hot flashes of the leg? I got dressed and then talked to my doc on the phone, who confirmed that they had found no clot, and that I should be relieved that I don’t have a blood clot.

Relieved? Yes. Still confused? Yes.

So I have….nothing? I wasted several hours of my day and several hundred of my dollars to find out that I do NOT have a blood clot.

Well, at least I can hopefully get over those nightmares about how I’m going to manage after my stroke.
And hopefully the leg hot flashes will also diminish when I stop stressing out about it. How do you spell psy-cho-so-mat-ic?

Top 10 reasons to Celebrate Groundhog day

February 2, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Top 10 Reasons to Celebrate Groundhog Day

10. It’s on nearly every calendar.

9. Helps relieve cabin fever.

8. Forecast is no less reliable than the National Weather Service.

7. At least one of them critters is bound to see things your way.

6. Valentine’s Day is too depressing for nerds.

5. Unlike the Easter bunny, he keeps his dirty paws outside.

4. As they used to say on radio: “The Shadow knows”.

3. It’s fun to say “Punxsutawney”.

2. If a rodent can bring us an early spring, more power to him.

And the number one reason to celebrate groundhog day..

When else can you make jokes about rodent that is basically a large rat?

Book Review ‘God Gave Us So Much’

February 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Recently I received the book ‘God Gave Us So Much’
by Lisa Bergren and Laura Bryant.

This book is a compilation of three books: God Gave Us the World,
God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven.

It’s a sweet book told through the eyes of a curious little polar bear. As she explores his homeland, she has questions about life, love and about God. Mama, Papa, and Grampa Bear, share with her the incredible miracles of God’s creation and the depths of His love for her.

I had fun reading this book to my children, and I LOVE the beautiful illustrations. It is nice to read a book that not only includes God, but assures children repeatedly of God’s love for them.

Of the three books in the set, I liked ‘God Gave us the World’ the best. Little cub learns about the world and that it is bigger than just the North Pole where she lives. There are even other kinds of bears that live in other areas of the world. I did find it a bit odd to have bears watching other bears at the zoo. Little cub learns “The whole world is like a mirror of God’s work…Out of all the places he could’ve put us, he chose this world, Earth, to be our home. He made it just for us. God gave us this special world and every creature in it.”

While I do think this is a little preachy for me, and this book won’t raise to the level of a favorite in our house, it is a nice book to read at bedtime. I think it could open up some conversations between parent and child about love, life, heaven, and God.

**I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review**

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