The Trials of a Busy Mom

Author: Superpaige (Page 81 of 180)

The comedy of errors that is my life.

Oh the funny story of the pants.

In our rush to get ready between our trip to the library and a basketball game, Cole needed to get dressed up in Sunday clothes, because he was going to the temple with his youth group. As I was dishing up chicken enchiladas so that everyone could eat quickly, Cole called down from upstairs.
“MOM! I need pants!” he yelled, “Mine are in the wash.” Oh, yes, that’s right, I did put his church pants in the wash. Because that’s the kind of efficient, loving mother I am. Washing my kids’ clothes for them.
“Just pull them out of the washer and put them in the dryer.” Yes, that should work. We have 20 minutes.
“The washer’s full of water!”
Oh, yes, I guess I left that load soaking for a while, and it didn’t go through the rinse or spin cycle. Darn. There is no way those pants will be ready in 20 minutes.
“Don’t you have any other pants?” I yelled back up the stairs, “What about that suit?”
“I haven’t seen that suit in a long long time.” was his reply. Of course he hadn’t.
I dashed up to his room and found, on the floor of his closet, the suit pants. Proud of myself and my extra super finding skills, I handed them to him. “Here. Put these on.”
I went back to the kitchen to supervise the feeding of the children, and I heard him call again, “These do NOT fit!” Then he came downstairs to show me how MUCH they did not fit.
“Oh,” I said, “Those won’t work.” He had about two inches of waistband that were NOT coming together. Not to mention that these pants were at least three inches too short. Darn teenager. “Don’t you have ANY other church pants?”
“Not that FIT!” he was starting to get angry and frustrated, and so was I. We were down to 10 minutes before he was supposed to meet his group at the church. I was trying to feed everyone, including him, and he couldn’t find any pants that fit. I told him to just eat something, and I ran upstairs to rifle through Ryan’s pants to see if there were any that might do in a pinch. I found two that are too small for Ryan, and brought them down.
“Here, try these on,” I said.
“I got these buttoned up,” he told me. Sure enough, he did have the pants done up, but I don’t know how the kid was breathing.
“Well, do you want to wear those, or do you want to try these of Dad’s?” I asked, trying not to laugh at how silly he looked.
“I’ll just wear these,” he said in his sad and dejected voice.
“Well, we’d better get going, it’s already time for you to be there,” I said in my mom voice.
We pulled into the church parking lot, and then he said, “Oh, I forgot my recommend!”
We pulled out of the church parking lot, and drove back home. On the way, I had him call Megan and ask her to get the recommend and meet us out front. As we drove up to the house, there she was, in her socks, running with his little piece of paper. We grabbed that, turned around, and drove back to the church. On the way, we passed his leader. “That’s Them!” he said.
We turned around once more, and so did his leader, so that we could let Cole out. As he walked over to the other car, I could see some of the other boys laughing. I don’t know if they were laughing AT Cole and his floods, or if they just happened to be laughing. Let’s hope it was the latter.

While we were making this exchange, Ryan drove by, wondering what all the hullabaloo was. I pulled into the garage just after him, and he thought I had all the kids in the car. He thought we were already going to basketball. “If only it were that simple,” I sighed.

We did manage to get everyone in the car and off to Megan’s basketball game, which they won easily 11 to 22. That means they play again tonight. Megan was on fire, and scored 8 points. That means I payed her $8. Yes, I do pay my children to make baskets, want to make something of it?

When we got home, Cole was already there, and had already changed out of those way too tight pants. He had been home for “a while” according to him, and he was complaining about the garage door. It seems the battery to the keypad was dead, so he had to go next door and borrow a nine volt battery from the neighbors, put that in the keypad and THEN he could open the garage door. Yes, the torture and embarrassment never ends for the poor kid. Ryan wanted to know why he hadn’t take the battery BACK to them after he had used it to get into the house. “I will take them a new battery tomorrow. Don’t ask him to do it, he’s suffered enough.”

So, it’s been made abundantly clear to me that my poor growing boy needs more church pants. Buy the kid some khakis already! Oh, and add nine volt batteries to the list, too.

A day off from school

Today the kids had the day off from school. Teacher comp day or something like that. I decided to take them to go see Coraline, since I had won some passes which were only good at Jordan Commons. Unfortunately, Cole didn’t have his homework done, so he didn’t get to go with us. So the four kids and I went to the movies this afternoon, and it was fun.

My take on Coraline? Well, it was a little freaky, and kind of creepy scary for a kid’s movie. And why, oh, why, would they take the Lord’s name in vain in a children’s movie? Not just once, but two or three times! That’s not appropriate or necessary in a kid’s movie at all. It just irritates me, and makes me never want to take my kids out to movie!

When we came out of the movie theater, we were in for a surprise. Snow. What? Oh, well, it’s still March, so snow is allowed every once in a while. We ran to the car (we were sadly underdressed for snow) and cranked the heat. On our way home, I saw the lovely Ikea and asked the kids if they wanted to go to IKEA with me. “Yes!” they all shouted. So, we pulled into Ikea, and John and Jenna were practically jumping up and down with excitement. The kids’s play place is magical, and they hadn’t been there in a long long time. There was going to be about a 20 minute wait, so we went up the wonderful escalator to the kids’ section. The youngest two had fun playing on the teeter totter and little swing, and playing in the tents. Megan and Natalie entertained themselves by sorting the stuffed animals. Yes, you did read that right. They made sure the stuffed animals were in the correct bins. If there was a stray labrador in the beaver box, they would take it out and find where it went. No, it doesn’t sound all that fun to me, either, but they enjoyed it.

When it was time, Jenna and John got to be checked in for their hour of fun in Smalland. Oh, the joy. So I took the older girls with me. We picked out new laundry baskets, a kitchen timer and a lint roller (Yes, our shopping trips ARE exciting), and then deliberated over shelves. They did shopping cart ballet while I decided if I should get the $29.99 GORM or the $39.99 GORM. Decisions, decisions. We made a quick stop at the AS-Is, and then payed for our stuff. We still had 15 minutes left on our playland timer, so I bought the girls their hot dogs and they sat down to eat.

When we looked outside, we were in for a shock. The snow, which we thought had finished and passed up by, was coming down HARD. There was in inch of snow on the cars, and I realized we now had to haul our stuff out to the car. Ick! After the girls ate their snack, we pulled Jenna and John out of the play place and got them a snack. I found someone’s wallet on the floor, with money practically hanging out of it. Although I would have liked to look inside and see who left their wallet on the floor, I didn’t even look, and turned it into the guy at the food counter. Let him call the guy. While the little kids finished up their snack, I left Megan in charge and went and got the car. Ugh. Snow was coming down fast, and the car was wet and covered in snow. I could barely see out the side windows, but I managed to pull into the loading spot. Those GORMS take up a lot of room, and I was glad we were able to put down the back seat and still manage to fit everyone in.

The drive home was NOT pleasant. It was very poor visability, especially when we got off the freeway and onto the road that goes to Alpine/Highland. I could see the car in front of me, but only his brake lights. It was Nasty with a capital N. 1/2 an hour later, and we were safely in our neighborhood.

We were home about two minutes when Megan got a phone call and asked if I could take her to the church for a basketball practice. “Are you serious? We just got home.” I whined just a little bit. But I took her, and was pleased that the snow had let up a bit. Spring snow is like that.

So, it was a busy day. It was a fun day. It was a day off from school. It was a snowy day.

Oh, happy day, happy, happy Costco day!

I posted last year about this time regaling you with the joys of the Costco Amex card, where they send you a rebate check once a year. Well, I got my Amex bill a couple days ago, and it was sure cause for a party! I got a nice check for $432.22. So, after Megan’s basketball game in Lehi today (WIN!!! Hooray! 20 to 18, so they play again on Tuesday! I just had to sneak that in. Not that I’m a proud parent or anything. Shucks!), we stopped at Costco, and let it rip.

I haven’t been to Costco much this year, because I’ve been really trying to use coupons and shop sales, and since the new Smiths by us gives a discount on gas, I have been gassing up there and haven’t needed to go to Costco for all my gas. But, if I have four hundred dollars to spend at Costco, I am up to the challenge. First off, I bought two swim suits for the girls. I don’t know if they’ll fit and all that, but for $11 each, I can afford to bring one back if it doesn’t work out. We stocked up on lots of frozen items, got a pizza, got me some sugar free hot chocolate so I can enjoy a chocolate-y treat, batteries, milk, eggs, flour, dino nuggets, etc., etc. I did allow Megan one splurge item that she asked for. Sweedish Fish. They were $5 and change for the whole bag, and she did so well at basketball, I couldn’t say no.

My grand total at Costco today? $300. Gasp. I haven’t spent that much in one shopping trip in…well.. a long time. But after I gave them my check, they still had to give me $130 back!

Yes, when I look at my cash back earnings summary, it makes me choke a little. I mean, we spent $1,888.79 on gas in the past year (@3%, that adds 56.66 to our rebate). We also spent $1,295.46 eating out. Ouch! That’s the one I’d really like to cut back on. Traveling–we apparently spent $975.28 on travel. Hmmm. I don’t remember GOING anywhere last year, but Ryan sure did. So, maybe that’s from his card.

Anyway, we use this card for most of our purchasing, so it’s fun to get the little rebate each year. I think getting the rebate is actually even more fun than if they just knocked $400 off our bill this month, because then I get to shop and it feels like free money. Fun! Shopping with Free Money!!

Why, yes, I DID just go see Confessions of a Shopaholic last night. Why do you ask?

Sportylicious!

Last night I went to a VERY exciting basketball game. Both Megan and Natalie have been playing basketball this season, and it’s been a good experience for them. They’ve had good teams with their friends, and good coaches.

Now this may come as a shock to you, but I am not sporty. At all. *Gasp!* Shocking, I know. When I was a kid, girls did not play sports. Did they? We played all kinds of torturous sports at gym in school. But those sports are dangerous. Remember Mary, and how she broke her arm playing kickball in…what was that? Third grade? Never run with your hands in your pockets was a lesson learned that day. Oh, yes, sports meant running, sweating, and danger. And I would not willingly play sports “just for fun”. Are you kidding? And soccer? Soccer wasn’t even a sport when I was a kid. And even if people did put their kids in soccer teams at the age of 3 like they do now, I don’t know if my parents would have had the money for such extras.

Oh, sure, I played Young Women sports, but not very willingly. I endured many a basketball, volleyball and softball game, but I pretty much just went so that our team would have enough people not to forfeit. There we were…Joni, Suzi, Carolyn, Liz, Penny, and me. Sometimes we would have a few of the older girls, but really, YW church ball belongs to the beehives. And I was never very confident in my sports skills, so these games were just a series of cringing, hoping that the ball would not end up with me. I lived in fear of letting my team down. As soon as I was old enough to have other things other things to do, I stopped going to those sports events.

Oh, and field day! The bad memories are just pouring back into my head now. Remember Stake field day? When the whole ward would gather for track and field events, and everyone had to run some sort of race, and we all got sunburns? How I wish I could have enjoyed events like that, instead of living in fear. FEAR, I tell you. Because I was overweight even as a kid, and had next to no self confidence when it came to anything athletic, the thought of running a RACE, even just a 50 yard dash, was pure torture. So I would sign up for things that were not so scary, like long jump or shot put, and maybe the tug of war. I’m so glad that I’m a grown up now, and I can just say No Thanks to these kinds of things if I do not want to do it.

ANYWAY, instead of regaling you with tales of my torturous sporting events when I was a kid, let me tell you how fun it is to watch MY kids playing sports. And they are actually enjoying it. And some of them are really good at it. Yes, I know you’ve heard all about Megan’s soccer and how much she loves it. But she’s actually really good at basketball, too! Her team is in the play-offs, now, and it’s double elimination. They kicked some serious butt at their game on Tuesday, and then last night they played their second game against this big, aggressive team. Our girls were a bit intimidated by the other team when they started, and the first half did not go our way. At the half, I think the score was 4 to 19. If you have ever been to a game with me, you know that I don’t really pay that much attention to the game. In fact, I’m usually the one with a book, or chatting with a friend, so it’s kind of a wonder that I knew the half time score! I even started out the game reprogramming phone numbers in my cell phone, adding the stupid 801 to all the numbers in my phone book. But I had to put the phone away after only a few minutes because it was just too exciting. There I sat, surrounded by 3 of my awesome friends, and we were all cheering our daughters on. Our daughters who were giving their hearts and their very best efforts to this game.

The second half, our girls came out, and really stepped up their game. They were shooting, stealing, and catching up. We, the moms on the sidelines, were screaming, cheering, and clapping until our hands hurt. I brought out the Altoids to soothe our sore throats. Because our girls were closing the gap. With one minute left, and our girls behind by 3, we’re screaming “Foul!” from the sidelines, so that the clock would be stopped for the free throws, and those girls gave it everything they had.

They did not win this game, but we couldn’t be prouder of them. They came back from behind to a score of 23 to 26. They played so well against this bigger team, and they stood their ground. My Megan, who is not quite 5 feet, was all over the court, stealing, guarding, and even shooting. She is not intimidated by those bigger girls, and will go head to head with the best of them.

As soon as the game was over, our sweet Brittney started crying. Not because they lost, but because she had pulled a muscle in her leg in track earlier in the afternoon, but had played through the pain the whole game. Once the game was over, she was allowed to break down and cry. These girls have given it their best! We are so proud of them!

They play again on Saturday, and I’m hoping I can get a decent picture then. I may just have to get a faster camera so I can become a sports photographer. You think?

Movie choices

Last night my hubby went to the local grocery store. Not for groceries, mind you, but to pick up his free Redbox movies. Even though we never seem to actually have time to watch the movies. His choice of movies just astounds me. He got some action film for himself, and then he got a movie for the kids to watch. Beverly Hill Chihuahua?! Are you kidding me? He won’t watch High School Musical 3 with us, but he’ll rent Beverly Hill Chihuahua? There is something seriously wrong here. Well, as long as I don’t have to watch it.

Jenna’s baptism

We had a wonderful day on Saturday! After waiting a month to hold Jenna’s baptism, it turned out wonderfully. Instead of 10 am, they gave us the noon time, which gave us more time to get things ready at home. The girls had games early enough so they could go, so Ryan took Megan to her 6:55 am indoor soccer game, and Natalie made it to her 10:00 basketball game. I still had some set up to do, and was grateful for the family’s help. Even John was scrubbing the baseboards and helping out.

Jenna’s grandma made her dress for her, and Jenna picked out the ribbon color, so she looked quite springy, I think. She did not want her hair curled, but did let me play with it a little bit.

We had lots of family come, and her primary class was there as well as a few of her primary leaders.
It was just nice. My mom gave a talk on baptism, and Cole gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Even though I printed out what I thought was a great talk from sugar doodle, he insisted on writing his own talk. And it turned out just fine. I need to learn to just let them do things on their own. Her baptism went without a hitch, and then we had a fabulous lunch at our house.

cookie

It’s very nice that my family and Ryan’s family know each other, and things aren’t awkward when we get them both together.

We took this picture at the church so she could remember everyone that was there at her baptism. No, it’s not the best, and you can barely see some people (we should have had the first couple of rows kneel down, but oh, well), but I think it’s sweet.

I’ve got some moppin’ to do

I’ve got a busy day today, with Jenna’s baptism tomorrow (hooray!) that means we’ve got to get the house clean. I’ve also got some people to call, visiting teaching, and John’s got a field trip. I’ve got to workout sometime, too. But mostly there will be cleaning. And probably some mopping. Which brings me to this–my favorite commercial. Every time I see this, I laugh. Out loud. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. Ha, ha! I’m laughing right now.

Oh, the mop sent her flowers! Oh, that’s great! Doesn’t that just make you laugh? If you don’t think that is funny, there must be something wrong with you. So, I’m off to mop (Bwaaaa, Haaaa. Mop! That’s funny!) and chuckle a bit. That and Liz Lemon singing “99 Luftballoon” from 30 rock should get me through the day.

piano wars

me: Get your piano books, it’s almost time to go to piano lessons.
her (laying on the floor): I’m not going to piano.
me: Yes, you are. Get your books, please.
her: Why do I have to go to piano? I already went this week! I’m not going!
me (trying to stay calm and not end up in a shouting match with her): You did Not go this week, you switched lessons with your brother. If you do not go and get your books and get ready, you will get to pay for your own lesson, and there will be no soccer tomorrow.
her (begrudgingly getting up off the floor): Why do I always have to go to piano? It’s not fair!
her (from the other room as she’s getting her books): Why don’t I ever get to skip piano! It’s not fair!
me: You skipped last week, remember?
her: I don’t like piano. It’s not fair that you make me take piano lessons (and on and on and on while she gets her shoes on).

In the car
her: Why do you make me take piano lessons? You must hate me. You Hate me! And I hate piano lessons and I hate you. I can’t wait until I’m 16 and then I’ll NEVER have to take piano lessons ever again.
me (turning up the radio) I am not listening to you.
her (louder): Because you Want to Make my Life Miserable. You Hate me and you want me to suffer. You want me to live a painful life.
me: Here I am putting up my soundproof invisible barrier so that I cannot here you. I’m singing along to the radio as loud as I want because now I’m the only person in the car and I can sing as loud as I want. La La LAAAAAAAA!
her (shouting): I CAN STILL HEAR YOU! YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON IN THE CAR! I’m not going in. I’m not getting out of the car. You can’t make me!

pulling up to piano lessons
me: I’m putting down my invisible sound proof shield, now. Here we are. Hop out.
her: I’m not going.
me: Yes, you are.
her (getting out of the car): I hate piano lessons and I hate you.
me (rolling down the window): You’d better apologize. You cannot speak to me that way young lady. Apologize or I’ll leave you here. You can live here and have piano lessons every day.
her (quietly): I’m sorry. But I still hate you.
me: Not going to fly. Apologize again right now or you’ll be staying here.
her: I’ll just run home.
me: Fine with me. See you later.
her: I’m sorry.
me (driving off): -sigh-

Does this sound familiar to you? This is really how our conversation went today. And I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the fighting and the whining and the complaining. It would be so much easier to give up and let her quit. But I will not. I will stick to my guns and persevere and she will take piano lessons for 3.3 more years, even if it kills me. And it might.

I wasn’t going to post this, but when I told a friend this story, she laughed and laughed and insisted it was SO FUNNY! And looking back (this happened a couple of weeks ago), I guess it was kind of funny, if you remove yourself from the situation. But sometimes it’s just not possible to remove myself far enough.

When I checked my email this morning, I got this message from my husband:

FYI.

“A certain child” (only he didn’t say that, he said her name) is not allowed to play Wii or XBox or play on your computer tomorrow.

If she is mean to her sisters, that expands to being TV as well, through
Saturday (which means no XBox during Jenna’s baptism party… — Mean
Dad!).

and this one:

Oh, I forgot. She’s also doing her sister’s jobs tomorrow. Trash and Hall
Bathroom.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Playing

Boys can enjoy those littlest pet shops animals, too. When he asked me to play with him, I was surprised. Usually he plays with his little guys or cars and makes all the noises and the voice, and when I try to play with him, he gets mad. But he actually wanted me to play with him the other day. He handed me two of the littlest pet shops pets and said that was all I got. Two? And he got all the rest? Well, eventually we were playing together and shared the little pie and bones and ice cream and had a fun time.

Maybe I’ll get those out for him to play with today. I get to clean out the mud room. Wish me luck. So far this morning we’ve found Natalie’s missing library book and about four pairs of shoes that nobody claims are theirs. I’m hoping not to find anything dead or rotting. Maybe I’ll even find money! I *should* go and take a before picture, and then later take an after picture, but I don’t think I want anyone knowing what my mudroom before looks like. If you’re free right now and want to come help, I wouldn’t turn you away.

The Relief Society Diaries

When Ryan told me that a member of the bishopric had called and wanted to talk to me, I was a little surprised. Surely it wasn’t a call to give me a new calling. I’ve only been a Young Women adviser for a few months, so there was no way they would release me. Maybe they were wanting me to give a talk in church. Or maybe music specialist for the Young Women was an actual callling, not just something I was doing in addition to teaching. Either way, I wasn’t too worried.

But when he came by Thursday night right before dinner and asked if he could talk to both Ryan and I, I got a little bit worried. I may have even been a little bit rude. “You aren’t releasing me from my calling,” I said, “I have only been doing this for a little while, and I love it.”
“Well, we’d like to release you from that calling and give you a new calling,” he said.
“No. I’m not leaving”
“Well, it’s already done.” I’m sure he was trying to be gentle, but let’s face it, he’s not making any friends, here. “We’ve called a new Relief Society President, and she’d like to have you as her first counselor.

I think the color may have drained from my face. “What?!” Don’t these people know that I already HAVE a calling? A calling that takes me away from home at least one night a week? A calling from which (thank goodness!) they won’t release me for another 9 years?

Well, I told them yes, I would do it. It made me feel good when a friend told me that this president had her pick of everyone, and she chose me to be her counselor. When I asked her what she was thinking, she said, “We need someone fun in the presidency. I’m old and boring, and we need someone young and fun.” Young and fun I can do. But what about all that other stuff that comes with this job? How am I going to do that?

Sunday we went to sacrament meeting and they sustained us as the new RS presidency, but I didn’t feel any more Relief Society-ish. I just want to stay and have fun with my girls in the Young Women.

But–I will do this calling and have a good attitude about it. There must be some reason that I am meant to be in this calling at this time. Either I need to do this to learn and grow myself, or there’s something I can give to the women in my ward, or both. I am worried that it will demand a lot of time, and I’m already gone from home a lot, but at least it won’t be every Tuesday night, like the YW calling has been. That’s been kind of hard on Ryan to have me gone two nights in a row EVERY week, and then sometimes I’ve got things on Thursday nights, too.

So, wish me luck as I embark on this new adventure. The Relief Society Diaries. And, hey, I already know how to make funeral potatoes, so that’s one less thing I need to worry about.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Superpaige's Pad

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑