Dear Teenager,
When I ask you to put your clothes away, I don’t mean moving the whole laundry basket and putting it in your closet.
Nice try.
Love you,
Mom
Month: March 2009 (Page 1 of 2)
Yesterday, during church, there was a blizzard. I wasn’t in Sunday School (don’t tell anyone) because I’m trying to find out weird of unknown things about all the Relief Society Sisters for a get to know you game I’m doing at our Relief Society Birthday Party this week. Oh, excuse me. I meant our ‘Relief Society Commemoration Celebration’. Anyway, as I walked by the door and saw the snow blowing SIDEWAYS, I had to stop and look. There was another couple standing there in the hall, and we started talking about the snow. As each person came in, they were literally fighting against the wind and covered in snow. One older couple from the other ward came in, and once they got the snow shaken off of them, we started talking with them.
They told us about the Blizzard of 1973. There were snow drifts 12 feet high. Drifts that buried cars, and cut entire neighborhoods off from the rest of the town. She told us how she went to pick up her kids from school in American Fork, and all of the kids said, “Are you going to Highland? Can you take me, too?” So, she ended up taking all of these kids home, through the blizzard and snowdrifts. But then she had all these kids at her house because she didn’t want to risk getting stuck trying to take them all home. The funniest thing, they told me, was that the next day was a beautiful sunny day! When they emerged from their houses, there were cars burried all over the place, and it wasn’t until people got out the backhoes that they got it all cleared.
It was fun to hear a little more history of this small town that we love. It’s not such a small town any more, and we certainly don’t get that kind of extreme weather. But we still get the snow and we still get the wind. When we came home from church, we saw that someone’s blue garbage can had been blown out into the circle. Hey, is that OUR garbage can? Why, yes it is. It blew from it’s spot right by our garage, down our long driveway, and out into the far side of the circle. Thankfully it was still standing up and the recyclables hadn’t blown all over everyone else’s yards.
This morning it looks like we may need to shovel. There’s about four inches of new snow out there. Ah, Spring.
Why are kids so stupid? And so stubborn about it? They are stupidly stubborn. Don’t they know that their mother knows more than them? Arrgh!
I just spent 10 minutes in the car trying to make my daughter put on her gloves and her hat. It’s 31 degrees outside, and she’s going to be outside playing soccer for the next two hours. Don’t you think it would be smarter to WEAR A HAT!? I did manage to get her to put on gloves, but she ran out hatless, even when I told her I wouldn’t pay her for babysitting last night if she didn’t put. that. hat. on. Do you know what she said? “How much are you going to pay me for babysitting? Two dollars? I’ll go without the hat.” That is what she said to me.
“It was going to be THREE DOLLARS!” I felt like yelling from the car window. But that would let all that cold air in, so I didn’t do it.
The other day, on our first of three freezing snowing windy games this week, she came down dressed in her shorts and short sleeved soccer jersey. Um, no. “Go back upstairs and find a long sleeve shirt or sweatshirt to put on under that. You also need pants, leggings or tights,” I said calmly.
“Ti-ights?” she whined. She said the word ‘tights’ like it was a fatal disease and I was asking her to lick it.
She stomped up the stairs (the image of which just makes me think of 30 Rock and how Kenneth sees everyone as muppets, and Liz Lemon stomps on by with her arms all swinging. Ohh, that was SO funny!) and came back shortly with a turtleneck shirt under her jersey, and her favorite track pants that are her brother’s hand me downs that she would wear every day if I let her. And her shorts over that. Yes, it looked a little silly, but I wasn’t going to complain. She was, after all wearing pants. I then got out the glove and hat box (the box that I had thought we were DONE with this season) and found matching gloves, an ear warmer headband, and a hat. “Here you go. You’ll need to wear these. It’s going to be REALLY cold. That put her over the edge.
“This is the only thing I like in life, and you go messing it up making me wear hats and pants and gloves and stuff!” she said.
“Oh, this is too good,” I said. “Let me just get a pencil and write this down. Would you mind saying that again, because I want to quote you just right when I put this on my blog.” I found a sharpie and a post it note and wrote it down. “..’the only thing I like in life…’ am I getting this right?”
“ARUGH!” she stomped off while I laughed and wrote. She then tried to rip the post it out of my hands, but I’m just too smart for her. Which is the whole point of this point. I am smarter than she is, yet she won’t listen to me. I’m sure I was NEVER like this when I was her age.
Last weekend I was breaking out the capri pants and got a sunburn. We aerated the lawn and put down the preen. We felt like Spring had arrived.
This weekend I’ll be freezing my butt off at soccer and hoping it will warm up again soon. Well, not LITERALLY freezing my butt off. If that were the case, I would have no butt. Think of how much weight I could lose if my butt really froze off at last night’s soccer game. That would make the FREEZING cold temps worth it.
Happy Birthday, Cole!
I’ve been bugging him to plan something IF he wants to have any kind of party. Since it’s not really his party year, I’m letting him put together his own. Not until LAST NIGHT did he finally come up with a plan, and a list of people to invite. I guess we’ll be having a party on Sat night. Hooray.
The kids got up to make him a wonderful breakfast. I think Natalie did most of the work, and made him a ham, egg and cheese sandwich. The kids all made him cards, which I think is cute.
Here’s the inside of that card:
Natalie also did a card. 
Her sentiments are so sweet, don’t you think?
Cole likes turtles, hence all the turtle drawings and stuff. I would put in Jenna’s card, but now I can’t find it.
We will be celebrating and opening presents tonight. I’m not sure if that’s before or after we freeze our behinds off at soccer. And I don’t know what we’re doing for dinner, either. Real prepared, I know.
Happy Birthday, chap. I can’t believe you are 15! I hope it’s a GREAT day for you. You are a wonderful kid, a great son, a good big brother and example to the other kids. WE love you!
We have a lot of deer where we live. In fact, last year we received a nice letter from them thanking me for all the lovely tulips I plant. I read in Martha Stewart magazine that to repel deer, put Irish Spring shavings on the plants that you are trying to protect. Then when the deer lean down to nibble on the crunchy goodness that is your favorite tulip plant, they’ll smell the strong “clean as a whistle” smell and turn away.
I decided to give it a try. A few bars of soap is cheaper than the pre-bottled deer repellent, and it smells better, too.
First we grated our soap. 
The kids were a big help with this one, as they really like to use the cheese grater. 
Once they got the hang of it, they could do soap, too.
Of course, we found out that these little soap flakes also repel my dear husband. He came home from work and said, “What is that smell?” and began with the sneezing. We had a few shavings on the floor, I’ll admit, and there was a distinct soap smell.
Next we went outside and sprinkled the lovely green shavings on all the tender tulips. 
I had to show the kids which ones were tulips, and I must admit they put some on other plants, too, but I don’t think that will hurt anything. 
When Ryan’s parents came the next day, they asked about the bright green shavings on the plants, but after a day or so the color faded so it’s hardly noticeable. And I must say, there has not been any tulip munching going on. I do not know if the deer just haven’t been around, or if we are really repelling them. We’ll have to wait and see.
With the snow yesterday, I fear the effectiveness of the soap may have worn off. Or washed away. So we’re going to be giving them another sprinkle or two of the soap once the snow all melts.
Great idea? or silly soap waster? Ryan laughs at my “soap deer repellent”, but I am not deterred in my efforts to save my tulips.
Manly? Yes. But I like it, too!
It was a good day today.
No, I didn’t win the car yesterday, but I’ll tell you a funny story about the contest. Once I had tried my key and it didn’t work, I sat back by Ryan’s brother, Kyle, who is my contest buddy at this kind of things. When they called his number and he got up to win, I said, “Go win that car!” to him. When he got to the front to try his key, the announcers said, “What? No kiss for luck?” To which Kyle responded something like, “I don’t think my wife would like that too much. She’s my sister-in-law.” We both had a laugh at that one. Because Kyle wins so many things, when I call in and win, they say, “Erickson. Are you Kyle’s wife?” It was a beautiful day with the sun shining, though, and I did manage to get a nice sunburn on my chest. A lovely v-neck of a sunburn. Ouch. Oh well, I can enjoy that sunshine now that it’s snowing outside, and remember the nice day we had yesterday.
Today we had really good meetings at church. I was a little bit worried when, during Sunday School class I realized that I hadn’t seen the Relief Society teacher for the next hour’s class yet. I started to panic just a tiny bit. What if she doesn’t come? As the Education Counselor, does that mean that I would have to teach the lesson? Do I even have any IDEA what the lesson is supposed to be on today? I really should have a back up lesson ready for times like this….Oh, she just walked in. Big sigh of relief. Her lesson was really a good one, too.
After church we came home for lunch, and Natalie made cookies. I took a nap (sunburns wipe me out!) Later we went to the Dedication broadcast of the Draper Temple. Although it was a long time to be sitting in our seats, the kids did REALLY good, and I was so glad they all got to come with us. Well, everyone but John. John got to go hang out with our friends, who weren’t going to the dedication. There was a wonderful feeling there, and I can’t wait to go to the new temple.
After that, it was cold and the wind was blowing outside. We made a quick dinner of scrambled eggs, and then we let the kids watch an old episode of the Amazing Race (we have to screen them first before we let the kids watch), and then once they went to bed we watched this weeks episode. We were sad that it ended the way it did, but I won’t say any specifics just in case you haven’t watched it yet.
It was a nice day. Yes, it is snowing outside right now. I can handle it. Hopefully it will rain and rain and rain to water the hollyhocks I transplanted on Friday, and to soak in that fertilizer that Ryan just put down.
How was your weekend?
My little John had a fever last night. I wasn’t home to administer the necessary fever busting tylenol at bedtime, but I don’t think it would have made much of a difference. At 1 in the morning, something woke me up. It was John complaining that there was no toilet paper in the kids’ bathroom. He was groggy and out of it, and so was I. I took him into our bathroom, where there is lots of toilet paper. I felt his face and it was VERY hot.
I told him to wait in the hall while I went downstairs to get some medicine for him. I made it about three steps. I don’t know if I had gotten up too fast, or if I was sick, too, or what my problem was, but I found myself laying down on the floor in the hall, trying to gather the strength to go downstairs and get him some medicine. There he is sitting on the floor, looking at mommy, who’s laying on the floor, and he feels yucky, I feel yucky, we all feel yucky. I scooted down the stairs, as I didn’t trust myself to walk down standing. I grabbed him some medicine and a drink of water, and somehow made it back up the stairs.
There we sat, while he drank his medicine and some water. Finally, he said he was tired and we went into his room to get him back into bed. I literally crawled on all fours down the hall and into his room. He told me he didn’t want to have a nightmare, so I stayed by him. I sat on the floor next to his bed and smoothed his hair lightly and said a prayer that his fever would come down. There we stayed for a few minutes until his breathing evened out and I could tell he was asleep.
As I moved from sitting to all fours to try to get up, I realized I had been sitting on a small monster truck. Hmm. I thought something felt funny. I managed to stand up and make it back to my own bed, where I collapsed and fell back asleep.
I don’t know how long it was until he was there again. He was thirsty, and could he sleep in my bed with me? Sure, I said, and moved over. I would almost rather have my kids close when they are sick, so I know if their fever breaks or gets worse, and I can hear their breathing. It doesn’t mean I can really sleep with a child in my bed. Our moving around woke Ryan up for a minute, and I asked him to get me the pillow that was on the floor on his side, since John had taken over my pillow. I think I went back to sleep eventually, until John was moving around beside me. “Can I sleep in the middle?” he asked. “Sure.” I moved out of the way, so he could move over to the middle, disrupting both of his parents with his squirming.
Eventually, we all must have gone to sleep. I woke up when the other kids started to get up and turn on lights. John also woke up and wanted more water. Still feverish.
So, here we are. He’s still got a fever, and I’m wasted. I don’t know what was up with me in the middle of the night. Sometimes middle of the night wake-ups do that to me. I get cold sweats and feel like I may throw up or collapse. Does that ever happen to you, or is it a weird anomaly found only in me?
I found an ibuprofen in a different flavor that John will take without complaining, and he’s had some breakfast. He’ll spend a lot of time on the couch today, I’m sure. He’s got his friends, the wonderpets, to entertain him right now. And I may just crawl back upstairs and into bed. It was a rough night.
Nothing brings a gal out of a blogging slump like a new WalMart, I tell you! Yesterday was the grand opening of our new WalMart, and I felt like I was out of the loop. Was I the only person who didn’t go on that day? I picked up the little boys for preschool, and all they could talk about was going to WalMart and getting their free chocolate milk and fee cinnamon rolls. Well, we can’t be left out in the cold, so we went today.
There were plenty of cars in the parking lot, but it wasn’t TOTALLY crowded like it had been yesterday when I drove by. I was pleasantly surprised. Inside, we were greeted immediately by a greeter, and a storm trooper.
Made of Legos. I have no idea WHY there was a Lego storm trooper, but we had to get a picture. John did NOT want to stand close. Maybe he was afraid of touching it. I don’t know.
Besides Mr. Lego Stormtrooper, there weren’t that many people in the lovely WalMart! It was nice and clean, organized, and quiet! Amazing! It was wonderful! We went to the bird see isle, then wandered through frozen foods. And what do you know? We saw two people we knew. After chatting up the joys of this new and glorious walmart, we made it to the produce section.
Is that beautiful or what?
When we went to check out, there was only one person in line in front of us. At noon. I’ve been to other WalMarts and had to wait 15 minutes in the check out line. I can’t believe it! I guess I hope that it won’t always be that slow, because we don’t want it to close down or anything, but I felt like a priviledged “guest” shopper! I chatted with the cashier, and she told me that yes, it had been REALLY busy yesterday and that it had been a little busy today, but that it wasn’t too bad.
On the way out I passed the soft drink shrine.
I just had to take a picture. And of this one outside.
There’s a Subway sandwich shop inside the store, and as I was leaving, I realized that THAT was where the crowd was. You see, this store was built directly across the street from the High School. Wise. Very wise. Because at lunch time, where do they all want to go? To the WalMart. Yes Sirree. As I was loading my groceries into the car, I saw throngs of students walking over. Hoards, even.
Ok, this picture doesn’t really show the hoards of students walking through the parking lot, but there were lots. And they are going to keep that Walmart and the Subway inside in some pretty good business, that’s for sure.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The store was clean, well organized, smaller than the usual super Walmart, and everyone seemed happy to be there. We didn’t get free cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk, but we did get donut samples, chocolate milk samples, and orange samples. Best of all–it’s 1.5 miles from my house. I could WALK there. Not that I would, because then I’d be dragging home my groceries and I’d get pretty dang tired. But I COULD. If I wanted to.
I haven’t been blogging much lately. Have you missed me? Have you wondered, “Why isn’t Paige blogging regularly this past week?” Did you even notice, or have you not checked anyway? It’s not that I haven’t had tons going on that I could blog about.
I could blog more about basketball, and how Megan’s team WON THEIR GAME on Thursday against that super good team, but lost to them on Friday night, so they took second place overall in the under 13 bracket. And I could mention how I went to Cole’s Grand Concert on Friday night instead of going to Megan’s championship game, and how I was on the phone with my friends until just a few minutes before the concert started trying to get all the details. I could mention that I called Ryan at the game, and he was extremely short with me. “Score’s 11 to 15, the other team’s ahead. Can’t talk now,” was about the gist of my conversation with him.
Or I could blog about toilets. Yes, indeed, toilets. We’ve had some toilet incidences around here lately, and I actually bought two brand new plungers today while at Target. There ought to be something funny in that, right? But I couldn’t come up with a decent post about it, so it doesn’t get a post. I will share a knock knock joke that is in the toilet family, which I credit to my friend Courtney and her first grade students.
“Knock knock”
“Who’s there?”
“Freep”
“Freep who?”
“Bwaaa, haaa, haaa, haaa!!! Freep Who!!!! FREE POO!”
I know. Extremely funny if you are in first grade.
I could regale you with tales of our ALL DAY bell choir activities on Saturday. And when I say all day, I really do mean All Flippin Day. Seriously. We got there at 8 am, and we left a little before 6 pm. All day. It was exhausting. But, really, unless you are a bell ringer, you don’t want to hear my stories of our bell exploits and the guest director and what we had for lunch and the big old thick gymnastics pad that Lynda was smart enough to bring for us to stand on for all those hours of ringing. Do you?
I could tell about our fun family home evening that we had this week, where instead of having a lesson, we played a fun game called Burn the House down. It was really a trial run for me, since I’m also going to do that game for our Relief Society party in a couple of weeks. I think it went very well, and the whole family (21 of them in all last night) seemed to have a good time. My niece even left us a thank you note on a scrap of paper that said, “Thanks for hosting such a fun FHE!”
I could bemoan my constant failure in the “Biggest Loser Challenge” I’m doing with my sister and some of her friends right now. And how in 6 weeks I have only lost 5 pounds. I could probably write quite a lot about that. But it would be no fun to read, since it’s no fun to do, and I’m not succeeding at it anyway.
Or I could write something awe inspiring about the blossoming of spring and how I love hearing the birds outside and seeing the tulips and the daffodils and the crocuses coming up through the cold dirt. I could, really.
That is, I could write about those things if I had the tiniest spark of creativity in my brain right now.
(Sound of crickets chirping)
But sometimes there just isn’t any creativity going on. Sometimes I (gasp) can’t think of anything witty or even fun to write. Sometimes I’m just boring.
Sigh.
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