Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 118)

I’m such a slacker.

Blog, what blog?

Anyhoo, how’s everyone doing? Me? I’m a little busy. Yesterday I was setting up the PTA dinner for the teachers, and my favorite kindergarten teacher said, “Are you SURE you aren’t subbing this year?” I had another teacher ask me that just the other day. Yes, I’m sure. I want to be thinking about my sisters in Relief Society and my family, not using all that’s left of my brain to figure out how to manage a squirly bunch of kids. And $65 dollars a day? Please. So, no, I won’t be subbing for a while.

I am super pleased with my chime choir, though. I have 25 kids in my two groups, and they are progressing so quickly (most of them). Because I have several returning kids, it makes it so much faster for the group to progress. John is in 6th grade, and I’ve been thinking about what to do next year. Should I quit teaching at the elementary school? But I’ve finally “built” a program. It’s my 4th year teaching there, and I feel like I’ve finally established the choir. And where would I go? I tried to break into the Jr High charter school, but it didn’t really take. Maybe I didn’t do all I could to promote the choir, but maybe this isn’t the year for that.

Change of subject.

This morning we had a little drama. Natalie has a debate tournament that is tonight and tomorrow. She thought she asked for Saturday off, but maybe she didn’t do it in time, because she is scheduled to work 3-10, and she hasn’t been able to get anyone to cover for her. So, we’re down to the wire, and she doesn’t know what to do. Add to that, she’s late, and doesn’t have shoes.

Which problem to work on first?

I went upstairs and brought down an armload of shoes from my closet that she could choose while she called her manager at work. She’s trying to keep it together while her manager tells her that she HAS to work her assigned shift, or get someone to cover it, or else she’ll get written up (or something like that), while stuffing her feet into my shoes.

After she got off the phone, she was even worse.

Mom takes over. Yes, I will drive you to school (text the neighbor to let her know).
Give me the numbers of everyone you can call or text and I’ll see if I can get someone to work even an extra hour.
Worse case, we come pick you up at the U of U and get you home in time to work at 3:00.
After I dropped her off at school, and put lunch money in her account, I sent a text to all her work people, begging them to please help us. I’ve already gotten one response, and I think if we break it up into small bites, we can get this shift covered.

I’m trying to help her understand that this is a SCHEDULING issue, not a catastrophe. No one is in the hospital. No one is in jail. It’s just a problem that we can solve.

Hopefully she can calm down and enjoy her debate event without super stressing about work, but she does need to realize that we keep our commitments, even if that means missing out on something else (which is also a commitment. Catch 22 there).

I’m hoping I can work my mom magic and I’m happy that I can be there to help her with these things. I only wish I could step back and be this calm when it’s MY problems that I’m stressed about.

During the summer, I discovered a water blister right by my ear. A day or so later, I had another one by my nose, and then two under my eye. And when they dried up, then it’s a flaky patch. I felt pretty much like a leper.

This reminded me of the rash I would get from gluten and wheat. Dermitiis Herpetaformis, they call it. But usually the rash was on my elbows and knees and buttocks, not face. Could it be the return of the gluten curse? After a few days of halfheartedly giving up gluten (by that I mean, give up bread, but it’s ok to eat a cookie), I get serious and cut out gluten, because the face was just getting worse. I felt so very ugly and it’s a very itchy and painful situation, too. By Friday, I had had it. I sent this message to Ryan,

“I didn’t get a great response to the chime choir sign up this morning. I don’t know why I get my hopes up. I feel gross, my face hurts and itches, and I’m terribly irritable. (I got an appointment with the derm doc on Wed. I may have to sequester myself inside and not go out into public from now until them, though.) I get home to find the kids doing what else, but lounging on the couch with the tv on. No one did any of the things I asked them to do. I’m about to cry.

And maybe so you’ll feel sorry for me and buy me some pretty shoes. ”

Yeah, I’m pitiful. But by Monday, the rash had started to clear up. Tuesday was even better, with no new blisters. Maybe it really is the gluten. Should I still go to the dermatologist? Yes. I should. To ask him if it was what I think it is, at the very least.

Today was the day of the dr visit. New doctor in a different building, but I found it ok. After I checked in, I went and sat down in the waiting room and took out my kindle to read. I only got through about two pages before they called me back. I followed the nurse to the exam room, told him a bit of my story, and said I had a mole thing to check, as well. He went out and got the doc. Immediately. Seriously, I didn’t even have time to read at all. Wow!

The doc came in. He’s one of those people with a presence. Tall, nice looking, and smiley. He looked at the weird thing on my ankle and dismissed it as not anything to worry about (scar tissue, basically), and then I told him about my face rash. He got right in close to look at my nose, eyes, cheek, and said he didn’t think it was associated with gluten. He said he’d give me a steroid cream rx that should take care of that immediately. Then he looked at the age spots on my face.

Yes, AGE SPOTS. Although he said they were from the SUN, not from AGE. Trying to be nice, that one. “I can zap those spots, he said, Freeze them, actually,” And he whipped out a gun thing and aimed it at me. “Oh, we’re doing that right now?” I said. I was a little unprepared for his efficiency. “This will just hurt a little bit,” he said and then sprayed that freezing air or liquid nitrogen or whatever it was at those spots. Yeah, it hurt, but not terribly. He told me that these spots will turn red, and then eventually fall off, and there will be new white skin underneath. Cool! I’ve hated these spots on my face for a long time. I wonder if it works on hands, too. So, for now, I have darker spots on my face. Makeup doesn’t really cover them, but I’ll try.

Not sure if I should continue with the gluten free (I ate bread today) or not.

I was so sad that I couldn’t audition for a play this summer. With a family vacation and exchange students and bells concert it just didn’t seem possible. So, I volunteered to help backstage with Mary Poppins. Natalie was in the show and that way I could still be a part of the fun, but without all the weeks and weeks of rehearsals.

Being a cast manager was interesting. It’s a lot different to see a play from the wings, especially with a headset on. The first time I was on coms it was exciting and kind of fun, but also stressful. Anytime the director comes on and says “Cast manager, there’s a problem with….” it’s something I have to either take care of when that person comes off stage, or find someone who can take care of it. There were always 3 cast managers there each show, and we were in charge of managing the cast. Mostly, that means cueing people, helping with costume changes for the leads, making sure vital props for Mary are there, taking care of emergencies, and getting the vast amounts of kids to their places on time. I loved listening to all the cues that were going on (Cue scrim, cue track 110, parlor, go). So much goes into making a show look and sound good. If it were just the actors on the stage, the show would be so boring (and no one could see or hear them). I have a deepened respect for the stage crew!

On Saturday night I was on the headset again, and a few things didn’t go quite so well. Bert’s pants were rolled up funny at the cuff…fix that.
Why isn’t Winifred’s mic working well? See about that.
We seem to be missing a prop…find that.
Michael has No energy. Cast manager, talk to him about that, see if you can get him to be less distracted. Ugh. The little boy playing Michael is super cute, but he gets distracted. He says all his lines, and he has a lot, but sometimes he’s lacking in enthusiasm. So, when the kids came off stage, I said, “You guys need some ENERGY!” I gave them both jolly rancher candies I had in my pockets. Big mistake. I didn’t realize they were going right back on stage. Ugh!
Cast manager, did you talk to Michael about energy? Now he seems to have something in his mouth. I was so embarrassed, I didn’t admit my mistake right then, but you can bet as soon as that scene was over, I held out my had to them to spit that candy back out! I told the lead cast manager my mistake. “Oh, I’m in trouble,” I told her what i had done. “Oh, I gave them mints the other day and they did the same thing!”
That made me feel a tiny bit better, but I still felt so very stupid and guilty.
After a few more scenes, Jane comes off bleeding. “I’m bleeding all over my costume!” She panicked. I knew I had band-aids there at the desk, but in the dark I couldn’t get them open fast enough. I ripped a couple open and slapped them on her arm. It took three band-aids to cover up the bleeding part. She had injured herself earlier on a scateboard, and when she fell on stage (part of the dance), she opened that wound. Luckily, she only had one scene until intermission, when we could bandage her properly, clean the blood off the dress, and get her set. Just a little bit stressful.

That night, I felt SO bad about my mistake, but I felt worse about not fessing up to it. I should have just said something right away. I couldn’t go to sleep until I wrote an email explaining to the director my stupid mistake. She actually wrote back the next day and said she laughed when she read it, and not to worry about it. (Sigh of relief).

As my assignment was nearing completion, I breathed a sigh of relief. I would so much rather be ON the stage than behind it, but it was a good experience.

Ryan and I took a quick trip to Ephraim last night. Megan’s car is still being worked on (long story there which I don’t want to go into), and she wanted to make sure she and her bestie are rooming together. We are trying to figure out how to get her down there for school.

So while she was working her last shift at Wendy’s, we took her stuff down to her new apartment. We were pleased to find that, even though the other 4 girls had already moved in, they had left one room vacant for Megan and Sarah. Two of the girls have been there for two weeks already. One is on the student council, and one is a manager for the football team. The apartment was clean, and the two girls we met seemed nice.

I’ve loved having all 5 kids here for the summer, and I hate to send them away. It doesn’t get easier.

My dear friend and photographer extraordinaire, Rachael, did a family photo shoot for us. I LOVE the pics!

But I love that she included in my cd the crazy pics it took to get the good pics.

Here we are arguing about something. It could be anything. Seems we argue a lot.

Mom blabbing on about something.

Megan standing up straight so that she is indeed TALLER than me.

Megan still trying to be taller, and Mom making a hideous face. Is that supposed to be a smile?

Natalie smooshing herself down. What?

Close. So close.

I can’t wait to get some printed up and put them on my wall!

Hubby has been out of town this week for scout camp with John. Of course, when hubby is gone, things stop working (I really can’t be trusted to manage things on my own, I guess). We haven’t had much tv this week, since we can’t get netflix to work. Seriously, I’ve tried signing in 10 times.

I would have turned the sprinklers off today since we had so much rain, but I can’t figure out how to do that. He just put in a new sprinkler panel and I honestly do not know how it workds.

With the power outage last night I’m sure we’ll have computer issues today.

I just spent 10 minutes wrangling with the dishwasher, but I won. I got it to start!

Of course, I DID take the suburban in to get the 4 wheel drive issue sorted out on my own, so I’ll count that as a win.

When you think of Seattle, you think of coffee, rain, art, and the space needle. Right?

We knew we wanted to see the sights, so we got the city pass for Seattle. That way we could pay once and see the sights for a discount. Day one we went to the aquarium.

They had animals native to the sound. We could even touch a starfish and sea anemone.

After seeing the fish and animals, we were hungry. Hungry is the enemy to vacations. Instead of making the trek to ivars for clam chowder, we are in the museum cafe. Everyone was able to find something they like without having to go anywhere else. And of course we ended up getting gift.

After we ate, we wandered.

We ended up at the pike place market. Wow. It is as busy and crowded as you think it will be.

I helped someone fill out a food order this week. Everything is firsts for me in this calling. I’ve been doing it for a month, now, and I’m still learning and finding things out. It’s hard to keep my personal opinions and prejudices out of the situation, since I really don’t KNOW the whole story. I’m just trying to help them without judging.

There was also another death in the ward. A 105 year old woman who was living in our ward, with her son and his family. She didn’t make it to church, and I think I have only seen her once since she’s been here. Her funeral will be in New Mexico, where she is from, so I don’t need to worry about that.

Mother’s day was awesome. We had some great talks in church, then COLE skyped with us and it was so wonderful to see his face. I know he comes home in less than two weeks, but it was still a lovely bonus to see him. I hope he works hard for the last real week. We are all very excited to have him home! I keep telling the kids that he’ll be a bit weird when he comes home, but they don’t really listen.

Then we had our Moms and Dads over for dinner. Our biggest laugh of the evening came when my mom was testing out our new whipped cream whipper that Ryan is so thrilled with (Best $2 garage sale find in quite a while.)

She didn’t have it straight up and down and when she went to put cream on her pie, it shot ALL over Ryan! We laughed SO hard! It was great. Ryan’s pants wash, so it’s no big deal, and we wiped everything up in no time

At dinner, Jenna asked what the oldest level of scouts is.
“The cubmaster,” I said.
“No, you’ve forgotten about the Silver Beaver,” said Ryan. Even though the silver beaver is an actual thing, we thought it was funny.
“Don’t forget about the diamond squirrel and the platinum mongoose, and the bronze gopher.” We all had one to add, laughing.
“The top honor is the tin chicken,” I said.
“Do not mock the scouting!” Ryan said. “What’s the highest recognition you can earn in Young Women’s?” he said in a somewhat mocking tone.
“Well,” Natalie said, “there’s the honor bee…and the Virtue Weasel.”
We all burst out laughing. There was no stopping us, now.
“It is the highest honor,” I chimed in, “You earn your Virtue Weasel anklet…No, Toe ring!”

Yes. We are so reverent.

For the first part of our spring break, we stayed home.

Friday night Megan came home and we went to dinner at the traditional birthday place, Los Hermanos. And we ate WAY too much. Darn chips and salsa.

Saturday, Natalie and I baked about 25 loaves of bread and delivered them to the people who had ordered bread. It was a LONG day for both of us. We’ll bake more bread in the future, but we either need to charge more money, or not deliver.

We also listened to conference, or tried to, when the Bosch and the wheat grinder weren’t making too much noise. Ryan also took Megan bow shopping. Seems the girl has gotten into archery and she really really really wanted a compound bow for her birthday. Yep, she’s just like Catniss. Only she and her roommate Sarah shoot hay bales, not wild game. They found one she likes, and the guy at the shop took about 1/2 hour to help her adjust the draw length, and also instructed her on her stance and corrected her grip, so it was like a private lesson. All that matters is she is happy with her present.

On Sunday, we all enjoyed the chance to sleep in and stay home.

There was some looking for easter eggs and candy eating, as well as waffles for breakfast. As newly called Relief Society President, it was nice to not have to GO to church and do all the church responsibilities. The conference talks were AMAZING! I really felt the spirit. After the last session of conference, we hosted a family Easter dinner. Lots of food and fun. It was just my sister Amy’s family, our family, and mom and dad, but that’s still kind of a crowd.

Monday I got the kids outside with me and we did about 45 minutes of weeding in the back yard. But it wasn’t all that warm, and there was of course much complaining. I had grand plans that we were going to weed EVERY day, but the weather didn’t cooperate so much. But at least we got that one weeding session in. Monday night we decided to take the kids bowling. It really is their favorite family thing to do. We had such a fun time bowling. The last time was with the Brazillian boys, and that was awkward, so it was good to go with just us, and with only 3 kids to pay for, it seemed almost a bargain.

On Tuesday, the kids were doing an awful lot of tv watching, so I encouraged John to find a friend to play with, and I got out the hair dye for the girls. Natalie had been wanting to do a bright pink on the ends, and Jenna wanted red. SO, I got to play beautician. The natural henna rinse I had picked up for Jenna took FOREVER to process, and it looked like green/brown baby poo.
It smelled AWFUL! Seriously. I nearly lost it several times as I was trying to comb it in to her hair. She put on a cap and got to sit for a time while I worked on Natalie.
First we had to bleach, then wash and dry, then color the pink. It was a long process! Both girls are happy with their new looks, though, so that’s a good thing. Then it was time to take John to the Orthodontist, just to check and see if he needs anything. nope. He’s good for a couple years, at least. When we came home, I decided to take the kids to see a movie. Paddington was the best option at the cheap theater, so off we went. Ryan was going to do a bike ride, but he ended up not going because it was just too cold and windy.

Wednesday, I had plans to attend a workshop learning about and sewing with DAYS FOR GIRLS. We want to do a service project with them and they had invited me to come to a training session. Before I could do that, however, my phone rang, and it was the Bishop of our ward, calling from California. A member of our ward had died in the night, and we would be responsible for the funeral on Saturday. Oh, goody! A funeral! Just what I had been dreading. But, we have a wonderful compassionate service person, who has done lots of funerals. I got on the phone with her, called my counselors, asked a few questions of the former RS president, and we figured things out. I decided I’d better go to Costco and get the hams today, since we have plans to be out of town on Thursday and Friday. It took a while to call, set up the sign-up list, email back and forth, but I think we have things under control. The Bishop and I will both be back in town by Friday night, so we can take care of this funeral on Saturday.

Oh, did I mention we are feeding the missionaries on Wed night? Yep.
It’s not Disneyland, but it’s still fun!