Superpaige's Pad

The Trials of a Busy Mom

Month: August 2007 (Page 3 of 3)

Why I need to buy myself yet another new pair of shoes

August 10, 2007 / / 6 Comments

I have a few pairs of shoes, ok? Show me a girl who doesn’t. And just the other day I bought myself (eek) 3 pairs of shoes on clearance from Target. (They were on clearance! And there were two pairs with animal prints, but different, and I couldn’t decide which one was cuter, and they were only $5 each so I brought them both home. If and when I decide which one I like better I may or may not take the other pair back. So there!) So I thought my shoe buying was done for quite a while.

But…… I joined Curves this week. Yes, I did. It’s close, and it’s convenient and I can go before the kids all have to get ready for school. And I’ve worked out 4 times this week so far. Hooray for me! Anyway, at Curves they have this little shoe policy. There are signs all over the place about how you are supposed to wear shoes that have only been worn indoors. What? Who has shoes that have only been worn indoors, for heaven’s sake? That’s why we have shoes–to wear them places. I guess the point is to keep the dirt and grit from the outdoors off their machines, to keep the equipment nice and new and clean. If you don’t have new (or only indoors) shoes, you are supposed to wear these little blue booties over your shoes. Like in the hospital. And I just don’t want to wear the booties. It’s just too embarrassing.

Sure, I’m there in no make-up with my hair in a pony tail or pulled back, and I’m wearing my bleached shirt and yoga pants and look OH-So-Attractive, but the booties just are too much. A girl has to have some shred of dignity, doesn’t she?

So I’ll be off buying some new shoes soon. I saw a really cute pair of tennis shoes the other day when shopping with Megan. I wonder if they still have those….

Clothes shopping in one hour or less

August 8, 2007 / / 5 Comments

After driving to Payson to return the borrowed flute (gave him a thank you note with $20 in Toys R Us gift cards, by the way), and before the afternoon showing of Shrek the third, I realized we had an hour to kill.  I was feeling a tiny bit guilty that I haven’t really bought my kids any school clothes.  Nope.  Nothing.  So, I hatched up a plan where I give them an allotment of money to spend on whatever they’d like to buy at the children’s clothing store.  I thought $20 was both reasonable and generous.  They are just kids, after all, and they still have a lot of clothes they can wear.  If they didn’t find things to buy, or didn’t use their full $20, they could get the balance–divided in 1/2–in cash.  So, if they only spent $10 of their $20, they would get $5 back.  Unfair and a bit arbitrary, you say?  Well, it’s my plan, and my money–so there.  I explained this to the kids on the way to the store, and Cole, always hard up for money, said, “Can I just take my 10 bucks right now?”  I told him to look around.  Maybe he’d find something he liked.

In typical Natalie fashion, she wanted to know exactly how much she could get, and was there any money left to buy more stuff?  A headband or two to go with her cute new outfit of a shirt and skirt, perhaps?  She actually went over by 50 cents.  She’ll have to pay me back.  Jenna wasn’t all that interested, nor could she make up her mind.  She did find two cute shirts and a headband, and I think she gets $2 back in cash.  Megan found some cute cargo pants that we can cinch in real tight to fit her skinny frame for a year or two, and a green stiped shirt to go with them.  $19 for her, so she’ll get 50 cents back.  Cole found a shirt for $6, and he’s happy to get $7 back (he needs money to buy the Ryan Shupe CD that we got autographed).  John doesn’t care about, nor does he need any new clothes right now.  Besides, he had been asleep in the car, so he was too busy hanging on me and whining and fussing to notice that we were even in a clothing store.

There you have it, folks.  Back to school shopping in one hour or less.

Oh, and Shrek the third was funny but too long.  And I really appreciate Jenna’s waiting to throw up until after the movie and the drive home.  That shows great self control, don’t you think?

How do you say thank you to a guy who loans you a musical instrument for two years?

August 8, 2007 / / 1 Comment

A couple of years ago, when Cole’s flute broke, and we found out it wasn’t a high quality instrument that was worth repairing.  Since it had been given to us by a kind neighbor, we weren’t out anything.  So, I asked on freecycle if anyone had a flute they wanted to give away.  Someone actually gave us a used flute, but it was also broken.  And then someone said they would be happy to loan us a flute.  Who does that?  Who loans out a nice flute to a total stranger and lets them use it for a couple of years?  Well, this guy in Payson does.  He actually has called me a couple of times just to check in and make sure we still have it, but other than that, no contact.  No signed agreement, no rental fee, nothing.  Wow.  Well, Cole has decided he doesn’t want to take band again this year, and we actually have another hand me down flute we can use if he changes his mind, so when he called me yesterday to ask if we were still using it, I figured it was time to give it back.  So, I got his address and phone number down, and agreed to return it to him today.

But I’d like to do more than just return his flute.  But how do you say thank you to a total stranger who lends you a musical instrument for two years?   Cookies?  A thank you note?  A gift card to a local restaurant (do they even have restaurants in Payson, I wonder)?  What do you think?

Imaginative Play

August 7, 2007 / / 2 Comments

As I was enforcing a time a time-out for John today, I overheard Jenna talking to a friend in the bathroom.

“We’re going to play doctor, where the patients all have to be cleaned so they won’t pass on any diseases.  And the kids don’t want to get those diseases, either, so everyone needs to clean each other.  I’ll be the doctor, and you be all the patients.”

I’m wondering what in the world they are talking about, but don’t go in to see just yet.

“How does that feel?”

“That tickles!”

“?”

Then Natalie goes in there to use the bathroom for something and says, “You guys had better clean that up!”

“I’m getting a towel!” says Jenna.

That would be my cue to see what’s going on.  They are ‘cleaning’ each other with a spray bottle of water.  Squirt, Squirt, Squirt.

A little while later, they had both changed into swimsuits and were headed outside to squirt each other while jumping on the tramp.  John found a squirt gun and joined in the fun.  Until they squirted him too many times and he decided they were being mean, that is.
Later still, I see them both in the sparkliest clothes they could find.  “Are you playing dress-up?” I asked.  “No, we’re dancing,” they said.

Do you remember when you could just play pretend all day?

Meeting an Icon

August 5, 2007 / / 10 Comments

Saturday was the Highland Fling, which is our big city celebration. We went to the breakfast, events in the park, watched the parade, the kids entered the art show, and we attended the big concert and fireworks in the park. It’s our favorite fireworks show, and such a fun time here in Highland.

At the pancake breakfast, we sat at an empty space at one of the tables; next to two little Asian women. One of them reached out her hand to Ryan and said, “I’m new in town. My name’s Mary Kawakami.” Ryan’s jaw must have dropped, I’m sure.

Flashback 15 or so years to when we were engaged or newly married, and there was a beauty school in Provo right on Center Street. It was called the Mary Kawakami College of Beauty. I had a friend, Lisa, who went to school there. She was in my carpool for the Mormon Youth Choir. So sometimes we would even pick her up there. I think I even went there to have my hair cut once. But Ryan always laughed at the name. He would say it jokingly, “Mary Kawakami College of Beauty? Do you go to the Mary kawakami College of Beauty?” Just because it was such a long and unusual name.

So, yesterday, when he actually MET Mary Kawakami–THE Mary Kawakami, it was quite an event. When I sat down after saying hello to a friend, he introduced me. “Paige, this is Mary Kawakami.” “Of the school of beuty?” I asked. “The only one. She had to close the school,” he told me, as if he was in the know, now that he and Mary were good friends. It was nice to meet her and talk a bit, and tell her about the fun things going on that day. After she left, we joked about it and I teased him that he was no longer able to make fun of that school name, and really, what are the odds of meeting her at the Highland Fling breakfast.

Have I totally bored you, yet? Because there’s more. The concert main event was Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. Cole is arguably their biggest fan. The only two CDs he has are of Ryan Shupe, and that’s the music that is filling his MP3 player. He even emails them jokes from time to time. He’s a bit of a stalker. We were worried that he wouldn’t be back from his scout camp-out in time to go to the concert, but he was home in time. He loved it and was singing along to all the songs (well, we all were). When they did “Oh how I miss you” and asked for people who really knew the “Ba-ba-ba” part to come up on the stage and sing, Cole was all over it. He went up and stood right next to Craig Minor (the banjo player) on the stage!

After the concert, we bought another CD and he stood in line to get it autographed, and he got to meet the band and get all of their autographs. What a thrill!

I have my own chance to meet my favorite…Donny Osmond. I’m trying to win “Donny’s biggest fan” for concert tickets and the opportunity to meet Donny himself. I won’t go on about my love for Donny, but I will ask you to help me. If you wouldn’t mind going to this website, and clicking on the “vote” section. I am contestant number 4 (you can see my picture on the other side, if you want. I think each vote has to come from a separate email address, so I can’t just vote over and over for myself. So, if you could tell your friends, your husbands, your kids, your dogs, your bloggy buddies, anyone with an email address, to vote for me, I would REALLY appreciate it. I’ve dreamed of meeting Donny for a long time, (ever since I cut my head open on the fireplace hearth running downstairs to see the Donny and Marie show) and this would be the greatest!  (I mean, if Ryan can meet Mary Kawakami and Cole can meet Ryan Shupe, I really should have a chance to meet Donny, don’t you think?)

Help! Let me out!

August 3, 2007 / / 6 Comments

Two days ago I go the wild stupid idea in my head to clean my office.  My office/sewing room/kids’ computer/craft room/ cesspool of a room where we put everything we don’t know what to do with.  I’ve gotten rid of my old office chair, some crummy shelves, and bags and bags of stuff.  But I’m still here, and I’m still not done.  Where are the clean sweep people when I need them?  I’m tired of doing this room, I’m discouraged, and I’ve made the rest of the house a mess by taking things out of my office and leaving them somewhere else.  Help!  Let me out!

Another use for a flyswatter

August 2, 2007 / / 5 Comments

A couple of weeks ago we had our dishwasher repaired. You remember that day, don’t you? (Shudder at the thought.) Well, when the repair guy was here, he took off the front panel of the dishwasher, and OH THE HORROR! You should have seen the crap that was there under the dishwasher. I wouldn’t let him put the panel back on until I at least attempted to clean it, so I got out the vacuum and did the best I could to at least clean up all the loose crumbs and things. The repairman kind of laughed at my silliness and said he’d seen much worse. EWW.

Well, that got me thinking about what kind of crap must be under my fridge. I know they sell those dryer lint long brushy things that you can also use to clean out under your fridge (why yes, I do occasionally watch infomercials on tv. Why do you ask?), but I don’t currently have one of those. So, I used my brain and came up with the next best thing. The flyswatter! If you take the flyswatter and reach it under the fridge, you can bring out weeks and weeks worth of crud that somehow makes it’s way under there. I was amazed at all the stuff I got out with only that little old flyswatter! Then you can vacuum or sweep it away. How handy is that?

And on another note, Robin has a very insightful and thoughtful post up (shock, I know!) that you should really go and read.

Here’s where you all tell me just get over it and bite my tongue

August 1, 2007 / / 9 Comments

I’ve got something brewing around in my head, and I think if I just post about it here and do my grumblings, I can let it go and get over it. I hope. So, if you aren’t interested in my petty griping, just click away.

We have some relatively new neighbors. I loved the previous neighbors and we’re having a hard time getting to know the new neighbors. I thought it would a great thing to have them there, because they have a couple of girls at just the right ages. They could be best friends with our girls and we would all be happy. But so far, the girls aren’t really friends. Not because they aren’t nice. They don’t throw things at us when we try to talk to them or go over offering muffins or cookies or anything like that; they are just extremely busy. And they don’t seem all that interested in being our friends. Which shouldn’t bother me, should it? I mean, I’m an adult. Not everyone has to like me, do they?

YES! They do, in fact. I’m a good person. We’re a nice family. Why wouldn’t they like us? I think I still have that middle school complex going on somewhere in my head where I just want people to like me.

Well, they’ve recently been doing a LOT of work on their house and yard. And I mean a LOT! They are relandscaping the entire yard, putting in a fabulous new playset, moving the inground trampoline from one side of the yard to the other, building a monster deck, pouring concrete pads, putting in a fence…..yada yada yada. Which means that there are trucks out there. All day every day. Lots and lots of trucks, with large equipment, lots of dirt and lots of noise. Trucks that for some reason don’t confine themselves to parking in front of their house, but they have to park in front of my house, too. In front of my driveway, in front of my mailbox. Which I can kind of understand. I guess they have to park somewhere. Over there would be nice, but I do not own the street, so I can deal with a little blockage of my driveway every once in a while. But when they started driving their large bobcat-like things with huge drills attached to them across my grass, I started to lose my patience. Why are they parking that big honkin thing on my grass? Can’t they drive across their own dirt to drill those large poles for their fence? Their fence that will in essence exclude us from enjoying the beauty that is their new yard? Must they gouge up my lawn?

I have been tempted to adjust my sprinklers so they just happen to go off on them while they are working, and leave them on for a very long time. Maybe turn them on while I drive off. Waving goodbye.

But I don’t like feeling bitter towards my neighbors. I don’t want to be that irritated next door neighbor who only finds fault. I really do want to be their friends (and not just so they’ll like me). So I’m admitting my petty irritations here in blogland, so that you can all understand how shallow and irritable I am, and tell me to get over it and move on.

Take a deep breath and let it go.

Then maybe I should go make some brownies and take them over there and share them with all their workmen.

All right, I’m not quite there yet, but I’ll try.

Thanks for listening.

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