Superpaige's Pad

The Trials of a Busy Mom

Category: General (Page 5 of 11)

The morning breaks, the shadows flee

January 29, 2009 / / 1 Comment

Oh, it’s a rough morning here at the Erickson house.

Wednesday nights are rehearsal, which is great. But it’s exhausting, and I came home with an aching back, partly from ringing bells all night, and partly because I used 8 pound weights in my workout class on Tuesday instead of my normal 5 pounds weights. When I came in the house, I started the dishwasher, and then went to say hi to Ryan in his office. Only he wasn’t in his office. He was in bed.

Seems he’d had a violent reaction to something he ate for lunch at Apolo Burger (let’s hope it wasn’t peanut butter), and he’d been in and out of the bathroom all evening. Enough said? So, he was in bed not feeling happy. Well, I got ready for bed, too, and came to bed to try to sleep.

Here’s the thing. Ryan doesn’t usually go to bed at the same time as me. He is a night owl and I’m usually crashing into bed at the earliest possible moment. Seriously. If we don’t have anything going on that night, as soon as I get the kids in their pajamas, I get in my pajamas, too. Then once they are in bed, I’ll crawl in bed to read or watch tv and go to sleep. I’m not one of those people who say, “I get SO much done after the kids are in bed!”. Nope. After the kids go to bed, I breathe a sigh of relief and say I’m done for the day, and enjoy the quiet. But Ryan is one of those putterers, who works on projects at midnight or 1 am. I’ve tried to convince him that it’s not healthy to stay up so late, and he gives me the story that he’s not sleepy, and why go to bed when you’re not sleepy? Whatever.

At any rate, we’ve gotten into this routine that I usually go to sleep alone. In the quiet. With no one breathing or coughing or changing position to try to get comfortable. Get my drift? I like to sleep in the quiet. And when it’s not quiet, or someone happens to be there sleeping at the same time as me, I can’t go to sleep. I can try. I can pretend I’m asleep and hope that it happens. I can lie there thinking of all the things I need to change or work on in my life while silently hoping I’ll get so bored that I’ll eventually fall asleep. So, that’s what I did. For an hour or so. Until Ryan got up and visited the bathroom.

“Great!”, I thought, “now I’ll fall asleep while he’s in there, and then I’ll be asleep, hooray!” But, no. Sleep didn’t happen. I just lay there listening, wishing I knew where my earplugs were, and wondering how long he was going to be in there.

Eventually I gave up. I said goodbye, that I was going to sleep downstairs, but I would reheat my wheat bag so he could have warm toasty feet. Wasn’t that nice of me? I was sacrificing my own warm and toasty feet so he could have warm and toasty feet. Really, my feet were already warm, and he had cranked the heat up to -like-69, so it was plenty warm. I grabbed some blankets and went to go sleep on the couch. Nice plan that it was, I couldn’t really sleep on the couch, either. I must be getting old and stuffy because I want to sleep in my own bed. Sigh.

I did eventually sleep, but when one of the kids woke up to use the bathroom at 5:30, I decided I might as well haul myself back up to bed, so that when they all get up they won’t come and poke at me. I think I also must have turned my alarm off, so that it wouldn’t wake Ryan up when it went off. Oops.

I woke up at 7:26 with an “Oh, crap.” I hobbled down the stairs hoping that my kids had been responsible without me there telling them what to do. Sure enough, they were all gathered around the counter in various stages of getting ready for school. I told them I was so sorry I had slept in and wasn’t up helping this this morning. “That’s ok, Mom,” Megan said, “you were up late last night.” Wow. I had time to brush some girls’ hair, sign some homework, write a check for lunch money and have a prayer before the first group left for the bus at 7:30. I was impressed that they got up, got dressed and got breakfast without me. At least I think they got breakfast. I hope they got breakfast. The Jr High kids left a few minutes later and I breathed another sigh of relief. They did it without me.

That makes me wonder, what am I getting up for? They could just get ready and go to school on their own while I languish in my nice warm bed, right? Ha, ha, ha, ha! Things do not always go so smoothly.

But today I’m thankful that my kids can be responsible enough to get ready (at least today) without any prodding from mom. And I’m hoping that my sweet husband gets feeling better soon. So that I can sleep.

I can’t believe I forgot to give this post a title! Sorry!

January 24, 2009 / / 11 Comments

I want to tell you about my latest home decorating project. mirror I had mentioned before how my sister the artist drew some portraits of my kids for my Christmas gift. Well, after I got them all framed up, they just looked too washed out against our off white walls, so I decided I needed to paint. I had also bought myself this mirror for my birthday, and realized it would rather sit on a wall that wasn’t white, too.

Since Ryan had Friday off, he said he would help me paint if I would buy the paint. You don’t have to tell me more than once. I immediately went to Wal Mart to buy paint. I wasn’t exactly sure what color I wanted, but I knew it would be in the brown or gold family. I picked up about three different swatch colors and in five minutes had decided on a color. It’s called February Gold.

I actually liked the darkest color on the card, but I heard somewhere that you are supposed to go one shade darker than you actually want. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I did that, and ended up with this gold color.

With a little help from my number one helper, I got to work painting. Lucky for me, he had school that day, so I did the bulk of the paint job after he left for school, and by the time he got back, it was done. Ryan did the top edges with the cool edger thing, and I did the walls with the cool roller thing that sucks the paint into the handle.

It really makes painting go a lot faster, and there’s less drips and spills than using a roller and a tray (and no, they didn’t send me one to use and try out and review here, I just like it). I does, however, use a lot of paint. I used a whole gallon of paint on just two walls of that room.

Anyway, By the time the kids got home from school, I was pretty much done with the painting for the day, and the room looked kind of like this.
paint

I was feeling pretty good about the paint job and the color until the kids came home.
“WoW! Yellow walls!” they said.
“That’s gold,” I told them.
“Huh. It looks kind of like yellow to me.”
“Gold. See the sample? February Gold.” I said.
I guess they knew enough not to mess with me, because they called it gold from then on. Good children.

Saturday I did some touch ups, then called on some friends to help me figure out how to arrange my pictures. The sad thing was, that with the new mirror, none of my old “country” decor worked anymore. We stole a few things from another room, and decided that if I painted them all black they could work. But nothing got hung up quite yet.

Monday a friend happened to be coming over. A friend with a background in design. What’s the point of having a designer friend if you can’t ask them design questions? My point exactly. He gave me some different ideas that I really liked.

Tuesday found me spray painting a frame, a shelf and a chair black. I like spray paint! Tuesday Ryan also hung the pictures of the kids. I love them! Unfortunately, with the glass over them and the light from the windows and flash, I haven’t been able to get a good picture. I should have scanned them before I framed them (and actually, I tried to, but for some reason it only gave me 1/2 a picture. Hmmm). So, here’s how they look on the wall, but you can’t really see how wonderful they are from these pictures. You’ll just have to come over and see them in person.


Aren’t they great? This is actually the fourth set of drawings my sister has done for me. She give to me for Christmas every three years, and this is always what I want. If you are interested in having her draw pictures of YOUR kids, you could always contact her through me. She’s quite talented.

Here’s that wall finished.

Then I had to get busy on hanging the mirror and everything on the other wall. I had measured things out on the floor and got impatient and didn’t want to wait for when Ryan could help me, so on Friday I just did it. First I got the mirror up on the wall in the general place I wanted it.
Then I put the frame below it, the family picture to the side, and the shelf below that. It looked like this.

I looked around the house for things to put on that little black shelf, and found the ‘imagine’ sign in my kitchen and tried it out. It looked great, in my opinion.

So, there’s that wall of the room. It turned out quite nice, don’t you think? Last night, after I got it all arranged and took all the stray toys out of there, I just sat in there and read my book. Alone. Each time a child would come in, I would say, “Hey, don’t bring your stuff in here!” and they would slink out. I guess that’s what I’ve got to do to keep a room clean around here.

How’s that for random?

January 9, 2009 / / 6 Comments

It’s Friday! Hooray! It’s also the last day of the quarter for my kids. Hooray, again! In honor of Friday and kicking back, I’ll just tell you some random things going on in our lives right now. You don’t have to read on, if you don’t want to.

***Last night I dreamed that my husband was a vampire. And not one of those cool, sexy vampires we have all read about in Twilight. And I was going to get myself tested to see if I, too, had the latent vampire genes in my blood. What the heck? Thanks, Stephanie Meyer.

*** I watched Little Miss Sunshine this week. It was on tv, so I figured it’s edited, and it was SO FUNNY! I laughed very hard, and loved it. I’ve actually owned that movie for over a year now. I won it in a radio contest, I’m sure. I was originally excited because I had heard it was funny, but then when I saw that it was rated R, I was disappointed. I don’t watch rated R movies. I just wait until they eventually come on tv and are edited. Is that hypocritical? I don’t think so. I think it’s sitting here in my office, actually. (pause while Paige digs around her office) Yep! Here it is. In fact, if you would like to own this brand new never been watched copy of Little Miss Sunshine, leave me a comment and I’ll send it out to you. It’s VERY funny.

***I just found a bunch of Christmas candy hiding in my office. Now the dilemma–do I eat it all or save it, feed it to the kids, pretend it’s valentine candy, or what? I decided to stick it in the box of Christmas gifts and things for next year, and just hope it’s good in a year. Then next year when I pull out the box, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. “Oh, look! Holiday M &M’s!” What would you do?

***My sister did some beautiful drawings of my kids for Christmas.(which I’ve been trying to scan and post, but something’s not working out right with the scanning process, so you’ll have to wait to see them) But then I had to decide where they go. So I bought some frames, and figured out where they should go. But 5 is a hard number to arrange. I told my husband that we need one more child JUST so that our frames on the wall are easier to arrange. He was all for that, and suggested we work on that right away. Ha! I’m not having another baby just so that my frames on the wall look better balanced. Can you imagine? When he’s 5 and asked why he’s so much younger than everyone else, and we say, “Well, we really were done, honey. We didn’t want any more kids. But the frames didn’t line up right on the wall, so we had you so that we could make them match.” Yeah, that would be great for a child’s self esteem. So, I have new frames, and I bought a cool new mirror, and now when it comes to putting them all on the wall, I think, “I really would like to paint that wall a different color….” This is how it starts. I don’t want a PROJECT, I just wanted new pictures of my kids. Ugh. Maybe I can just put things up without having to paint. We’ll see.

***I took my kids out for what they might consider the perfect outing last night. I took them to the library, and then to Wendy’s for free junior Frostys (we had some coupons). It was free, and yet it made them happy. It made me happy that I had a vehicle that we could all fit in (that I borrowed from my sister for the weekend. Thanks!).

***Are you a Biggest Loser watcher? I watched week one of the new season yesterday, and I cried and cried. I think this is going to be a really good season. You should watch it.

***I’m trying to dig out my office. I’ve still got Christmas wrapping stuff, boxes, presents stashed, and huge amounts of clutter. I’ve got to get it cleaned up! Want to come over and help me? Pick up some paint on your way over and we can do both projects at the same time.

***My roomba keeps telling me to remove and clean it’s brushes, and then it stops doing it’s vacuuming after about a minutes. I keep removing and cleaning those dang brushes, and it’s still doing it. I need a more obedient robot. Maybe this one would do the trick.

***My girls start basketball games tomorrow. I guess we needed a diversion from soccer. Fun, Fun.

***Have you sent in a bill to the “Delete my debt” contest? Not that I need any more competition or anything, but you might as well try. You just send in a bill, you can black out the account number and all that, and then listen to the Arrow 103.5 for your name to be called at 9, 11 and 3. If they call your name and you call back in 10 minutes they will pay off that bill. I faxed in my American Express Bill. Yes, it’s a slim chance, but it’s still a chance!

So, that’s all I’ve got. If you made it through my random bunch of thoughts, good for you. What are YOU doing this bright and lovely Friday? Well, let’s make it a good one.

Welcome, 2009!

January 1, 2009 / / 3 Comments

Happy New Year to you all! Did you stay up late and ring in the new year? We had a casual, fun evening here. We invited our friends, Tess and David and kids over for a low key party. They brought the pizzas, and we turned on the Rock Band and Wii. We had fun testing out our inner rockers, and everyone got a chance to play. The kids also enjoyed some weird bunny games playing Rabbids. We tuned in for the New York New Year’s Eve ball drop at 10, so that some of us who don’t want to stay up all night could go home and go to bed. Perfect!

As we were talking about setting goals and resolutions and things, the kids asked us what we were going to be changing this year. Hubby said, “I’m just going to be doing every things 10% better. Same stuff, just 10% improvement.” How’s that for a concrete goal?

My goals are:
1-spend less. Using coupons, sales, rebates, and will power. I need to track my spending, make a budget and stick to it. Ick, I know, but it has to be done if I’m going to really see a decrease in spending.

2-play more. Spend more time with the kids and less time on the computer, and play with the kids and have fun.

3-weigh less. 20 pounds is my goal for this year. When I kick that 20, then I’ll feel like playing more, right?

4-exercise more. I want to be able to do a 5K this year, and actually jog it, and not just walk and jog. So, I’ve got to hit the treadmill, and go to my twice a week exercise classes and stop making excuses.

5-yell less. Less yelling overall would be nice. I’m not sure how to track and monitor this one, but I’ve got to make a conscious effort to stop the yelling or it won’t go away.

6-Organize more. Which really means be more organized, but I was trying to stick with the little more and less theme I had going there. I’d like to cut out the clutter, get rid of the junk, and clean up this place. I’d also like to be more organized in my meal planning, my time management and my lesson planning, but I’ll just leave it at “organize more”.

So, there you have it, kids–my totally original goals for the New Year. I’ll bet you’ve never heard any of these before, have you? At least I don’t have to quit smoking. That’s one I can cross off my list without much effort.

Happy New Year, and let’s have a healthy and happy 2009.

Well, that was fun….NOT

May 10, 2008 / / 4 Comments

You’ve heard that saying that every day you should do something that scares you? Well, I’ve got that covered. I just returned from an audition. For a play. And it did not go well.

Arrgh.

Talk about embarrassing and demoralizing. Why would I do that to myself? Why? Because I’m just that stupid, I guess.

Let me tell you a little about it. Alpine Community Theater is putting on the play Seussical. ‘A play,’ I thought, ‘that sounds like fun. I think I’ll audition.’ So I got 16 measures of a song ready and memorized, and went over to the school.

Well, right off the bat the humiliation starts. They have everyone get a number, then take their pictures (not so bad just yet, right?), then you fill out the application, and then you go to the next station where they *measure* you. For costumes, they say. Well, if I wanted to get measured, I would go Curves (where they also measure you when you join). Height, neck, arm length, waist, bust, hips, inseam, shoe size, hat size, dress size. HOW FUN IS THAT? And there are tons of people there. Theater
people. Now, I must admit that back in high school I was one of those theater people, but I haven’t been around them for quite some time and I forgot how flamboyant some theater people can be.

They put us in a group of about 25, and took us into one of the music rooms to learn the dance. OH, let the humiliation continue. Did I mention that I’m not a dancer? Well, I’m not all that coordinated, and me dancing is really not that great to watch. Ugh. So, we learned a few minutes of a dance, and then she had us do it in groups of five. Oh, JOY of JOYS I’m in the first group. I was pleased that there were not all ballerinas and dancers there, and some people even looked as bad as me. But only some.

After we did that step, we moved on to another room where she was supposed to warm us up. We did some vocal warm ups and then we were each supposed to sing our audition piece, and she would give us a suggestion or two to get us ready for the real audition. One guy gets up and sings a fabulous song (Theater major at UVSC who doesn’t even live anywhere close to Alpine, by the way), and then someone comes in and says, “They’re waiting for people, so just send in the first 10.” That would be numbers 80-90, and since I was 86, that included me. So, no warm up, no practice, just go onto the stage for the audition.

We go onto the stage (the same stage where Natalie and Jenna had their dance recital last night, by the way), and hand the pianist our music, then sit back down and wait for instuctions. Ok, they say, let’s have you up and dance. We ran through the dance piece once, and then had to do it in two’s. OH MY HECK, WHAT WAS I THINKING? ‘Do the dance, don’t trip. Just do the dance and then you can get out of here.’ Positive self talk, you know. I did the dance. I maybe wasn’t the worst dancer there, but probably in the bottom 3, I’m thinking. And I’m so thirsty! Why didn’t I bring in a water bottle?

After everyone did the dance, we did our songs–the one thing I had prepared for. I was fourth to sing. I was singing “Think of me” from Phantom of the Opera. Just the first verse. I get up there and started, and somewhere in the middle I totally forgot the words. I kept singing, but it wasn’t pretty. It went something like… On that day, when I forgot the words, and you are far away and free….. Oh, yeah, let’s just let the public humiliation continue shall we? Even David Archuleta forgot the words, once, right? So I guess I’m in good company. I can’t really compare my voice to the others singers, because I know they were all nervous, too. I was better than some, not as good as others.

I did get a tiny moment to shine when they asked if anyone had circus-type acts, and I said, “I can do balloon animals,” and they seemed impressed for a second. I made the judges a weiner dog, and the guy with the great voice who can also dance did a back-flip across the stage. I felt very old and fat and out of place.

Finally we got to read lines, and we all turned to whatever page they said to turn to and read the part they asked. I got to read TWO LINES for Mrs. Mayor. Two lines! How can they find out anything about me from TWO LINES? I did put my whole heart and soul into those lines, but really, since I had already botched the song AND the dance part, I’m pretty sure those two lines won’t carry me to a part.

So, there you have it, folks. As we were walking out, a nice girl named Jennifer mumbled, “I think I need to go shopping,” and I said, “I hear you, girl.” The last time I went to an audition (for the bell choir 3 years ago), my friend Melinda and I went to lunch and shopping afterward “so that the day wouldn’t be a total waste.” I felt like I needed to go out to lunch and go shopping after, this, I’ll tell you what. I auditioned because I thought being in a play would be SO MUCH FUN. But auditioning? Not at all fun.

Luckily a friend invited Megan and I to a mother and daughter pampered chef party today. I can’t wait. I’ll see if I can bandage up my bruised and trampled self esteem enough to go to a party. And why, oh why, did I tell my neighbors I was going to take part in this stupidity? Oh, yes. Because I had to borrow some music from them.

On Boxes and Chairs

April 7, 2008 / / 7 Comments

I may have mentioned that I wanted to get new chairs for my family room. The recliners we had in there were only 10+ years old, falling apart, and I hated them. So, I undertook the perilous job of shopping for new chairs. I liked something like this
or this
and I looked through a catalog at chairs like this , but then you have to pick out fabric and a chair site unseen, and I didn’t know if I could visualize that.

Finding those fancy furniture stores just too expensive, I decided to go to IKEA and check their selection of chairs. I liked the Ektorp chair, and thought it was great that I could just get slipcovers that come off and can be washed, or even changed up when I got bored with the color, but I kept in mind that Ryan was really set on having recliners. Even though I tried to convince him that we could get grown up people chairs and still be happy, he insisted that these would be tv watching chairs for the family room, and therefore they should recline.

I immediately fell in love with the most expensive leather recliner that IKEA carries, the Vreta. OK, maybe it’s not the MOST expensive, but it was quite a bit more than the old Ektorp over there. Isn’t that a beautiful chair? And it reclines, swivels and rocks! But maybe I was just drawn to the chair because of the great color. And I already have a dark red leather sofa in my family room, so I wasn’t sure how that would work out. Overwhelmed with the task of picking out the chairs by myself, I even called Ryan at work, and he made the long long trip to IKEA (in 10 minutes or less) during his lunch break. He tested my favorites and soon found that my favorite was also his favorite.

But what color? Could I pull off that much red in my family room, and would it match? Or could I possibly do white chairs? Yes, it’s lovely, but it’s white, and I have kids. Oh, the decisions!

In order to compare the reds, I took a picture of my red purse with the red recliner and then at home I compared the red purse to the red couch I have. No, they didn’t match.

I let all this circulate in my mind for a few days, and then when I thought I had it figured out I went back to the Swedish store, this time with my kids. They think we just go to IKEA for the fun of it. They all three (I only took three) got into the playland, and had a grand time there while I was deciding on chairs. I decided to go traditional, and picked out two of the brown Vreland chairs. Brown being my least favorite of the colors (I would have loved to buy the red, or the white), but seeing as the kids will be sitting in the chairs, and the close proximity of the family room to the kitchen, I decided that brown was the best choice. Conservative and practical, yes, but still really cool chairs. After ordering the chairs, I had to arrange for delivery, since they are not a chair that they keep in stock. As I was waiting for the delivery person, my pager went off and I had to go and pick up the kids. They were red faced and happy. Jumping into that ball pit wears you out. But they were also hot and thirsty! Next stop, snack bar! So, being the good mom that I am, and happily relieved to have finally made the big decisions, I sprung for hot dogs, ice cream and a soda! Woo-Hoo! That’s how you know it’s an outing, and not just a shopping trip, folks. If there’s ice cream involved. After the kids cooled off and finished the snacks, I went back to the delivery desk. The sweet lady working there was very relieved to see me. “Oh, THERE you are!” she said. “When I was done with the other customer I looked for you, and I thought that was you over there on the chair. I’m afraid I woke her up to ask her if she was ready to arrange delivery, and she looked up at me and said, ‘I’m just so tired, can I rest for a minute more?’ And then I felt so bad!” Oh, this sweet lady had been looking for me. How sweet. Not so sweet that so woke up that poor lady asleep in the chair in the corner with her tiny baby in the carseat. Her husband is probably shopping, and she took a moment to rest. I felt bad for her. Anyway, we arranged for delivery, and my kids and I were off on our merry way.

About a week and a half later, I got a call from the delivery company telling me they had my chairs and could they come the next day? OF Course! I cleaned up the family room, we moved the old recliners out of the way, and waited for the delivery truck to bring my new chairs. About 2:00, the truck came! It’s so exciting waiting for a delivery, isn’t it? I managed to get this out of the box, and then Cole came home from school, and I had him help me do the assembly. As you can see from the instructions, it’s pretty complicated. Since he did the “assembly”, he got to be the first to recline in the new chair
and then for an added bonus, he got to have one of the boxes. Think of it as a birthday present, son.

I can’t tell you how much fun the kids have had with these two boxes! The girls took theirs and decorated the sides, cutting out windows and doors, and even used the foam sheets that came in the boxes as ‘carpet’. Cole wants to save his box intact so that he can use it for a future magic show. As it turned out, the boxes came at a convenient time, because the next day I was to host a playgroup for john plus seven of his little compadres. Because we have 8 in our group, we’re all thrilled that our turn to host only comes along every 8 weeks, but when it does, we wrack our brains on what to do with 8 rambunctious little boys for almost two hours. Especially when the weather is cold. Well, among other things (like making cookies, decorating cole’s failed birthday cake, playing with play-doh and puzzles and trains), I let them play in the boxes. and at one point had seven of them inside the box. Maybe I should have just taped it closed then, and seen how long it would take them to get out–ha, ha. Just kidding! Don’t go and report me for child neglect or anything, I’m kidding! So, aren’t they cute, the boys in a box?

Fred?

March 23, 2008 / / 4 Comments

Today at church the little 8 year old sitting in front of us turned around and said to Ryan, “You look like Fred from I love Lucy. Especially this middle part.” Wow, that’s quite a….compliment. Or something.

Let me schedule that for you

March 6, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Well, I didn’t have to take John to the doctor today. I just asked him (again) how he felt, and he said in an angry voice, “I feel fine! I’ve told you a million times!” Ok, I get it. You feel fine.

But I’ve had some appointments to make that have been nagging at the back of my mind, so today was the day to make them. I called:
a-an optomotrist because my eyes have been doing some weird things, lately. I was “rejected” or told that they are not providers for my insurance. Hmmm. When I looked it up online to see who exactly would be a covered provider for my insurance, there were none. So, I called Costco to see if can do eye checks, and scheduled an appointment with them. After all, I can do my shopping while I’m there, right?
b-the hospital and scheduled a mammogram. Ugh. I am now at that magical age when it is recommended to get one of those things. Hip Hip Hooray.
c-scheduled the old pap smear and exam. It’s been (cough) quite a while since I’ve seen them, and I guess it’s time to go. Besides, the mammogram people asked where to send the results, so I guess I have to have a current doctor to send them to, right?
d-the dentist to reschedule some appointments for my girls.

Whew! Maybe I should schedule an oil change and an orthodontist’s appointment while I’m at it.

Greetings from the Land of Random

February 26, 2008 / / 3 Comments

While braiding Jenna’s hair this morning, the radio was on, and Donny Osmond did his little “8 track play back”. Among other things, he said that the Eagles released their hit “Hotel California” on this date back in 1970- something. I just had to chuckle, since just this very morning at Curves, I actually asked Chris, the circuit coach, if she could skip that song when it came on. I’ve never asked them to skip over a particular song. Usually I just keep on working out and try to ignore the song if it’s one I don’t like. But something came over me this morning, and I boldly asked if she could skip that song. “What? Hotel California?” She asked, “you don’t like that song?”

No, I don’t really care for that song, ok? Add that one to the list of songs Paige avoids. She actually went in the back and skipped to the next Eagles song. Thank you, Chris!

But then I thought it was really funny that Donny would mention that same song not an hour later. Maybe there is something to that Hotel California that I’m just not appreciating. Probably not.

*(*(*(*(*(*(

Last night for Family Home Evening we decided to all go to the library.
Since there is no library in our town, we have to travel about 20 minutes to our old neighborhood to go to the library. It’s not really on the way to anything, and not convenient, so we don’t go very much in the winter. As we were getting ready, I told Megan that she could still give us her “lesson” for FHE, since she was on lesson this week. So, in the car, she gave her super condensed lesson, which was to read 1 Nephi 3:7. Do we all have that one memorized? ‘I will go and do the things which the Lord commanded’, and then we sang the song Nephi’s courage. In the car.
It about drove Ryan crazy (he’s a real big supporter of “quiet in the car”), and after we sang that song, he said, “You know, kids, since we’re in the car, you don’t really need to be extra obnoxious.”
I had to chime in with a comment after that one. “Just the regular amount of obnoxiousness will be fine, thank you.”
And then John, behind us in the middle seat, pipes up with, “To the Library!”
They LOVE going to the library. You’d think I was taking them to a water park or something. Maybe for spring break, I’ll say, “We can’t afford to go to Disneyland like your friends are doing, but……..we get to go….to the LIBRARY! WOO-HOO!” Or maybe not.

They all enjoyed picking out books at the library. For Ryan, they had free Wi-Fi. Wow. So he wasn’t grumpy. I even splurged and got a few movies. As I was looking for movies, I wanted to find Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s been years since I’ve seen that movie and I realized my kids haven’t seen it at all. Can you believe it? My kids have NOT yet seen Raiders. What an unfit mother I am. (Wow, it says on Amazon that they have used copies for one cent! But VHS. Who watches VHS these days. Do any of you have this movie and you’re tired of it and just want to mail it to me? Anyone?) Well, they didn’t have that at the library, and we had to get this one instead. It’s not quite gonna do it for me, but the kids will enjoy it.

Baaaa

February 11, 2008 / / 3 Comments

My kids have been a little bit obsessed with a certain song, lately. It started when they found out I was going to be giving away their favorite muppet show video. I didn’t know it was their favorite muppet show video, and I doubt it would have even been their favorite had I not been giving it away. “Why do you have to give everything away, Mom?!” one little complainer whined. “I don’t give everything away,” I replied, “Do I give away your clothes? Your food? This house? I don’t think so.”

But we were watching that video before sending it away (they made sure I sat down and watched it with them, lest I miss out on something important), and we came to a sketch with the song “Sheep May Safely Graze“. When it started, I said, “Oh, we’re playing this song in bells!” And I was excited that I actually recognized it after only one week’s rehearsal on that song. Well, being the muppet show, they took a few creative licenses and the muppet version is quite different from Bach’s original piece, to say the least.

I hope it you laugh as much as we did. Then Cole, our Mr. Gadget Junior, recorded this version onto our whole house MP3 system, so this morning I awoke to the Rama Lama Ding Dong song. And now we can listen to it ALL THE TIME.

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