Busted

My new fancy car does not like to go slow. Seriously. It likes to go about 45 mph, and I have to really keep my eye on the speedometer to keep it in the 30-35 range in town.

Yesterday Sydney threw up at church, so I hurried and handed all my Primary stuff off to others and we loaded up the car and headed home. I was feeling a little tense and I kept thinking "I need to get home, I need to get home..." I did not want her to throw up in my fancy new car!

Sure enough, I came around a bend and noticed two things: flashing police lights, and the speedometer needle pointing to 45 mph. Yikes! I knew I was busted.

I pulled over and waited for the policeman - those flashing lights parked right behind my car was sooooooo humiliating! None of the kids were crying, and everyone was buckled nicely into car seats or seat belts. I also had my purse with me. Three plusses for me. It is a small miracle that I had my purse, as I usually head to church without it.

I think our Oregon plates and my Florida drivers license worried the police man, because he also asked if we were military. I pulled out our insurance and registration info and found that my insurance card expired a month ago (I don't think they have sent me replacement cards yet - I am going to check right now.)

While he checked my information the kids were asking all kinds of questions - When is he going to put the handcuffs on you? and What will we do if he arrests you? and How many tickets can you get before they take your drivers license away? and Why were you driving too fast? and What was the speed limit there?...


Courtesy Warning

The nice policeman gave me a Courtesy Warning ticket. Whew! Just a warning. I think my sick child story helped. I am supposed to slow down and drive safely. All the way home Sydney kept her eye on the speedometer and let me know how I was doing.

Time to get Goin' - edited x2 (does editted have 2 t's?)

It is 9:10am. I am sitting here in my work-out clothes, and I need to get moving. I am not a complete slacker - I made my bed this morning, made French Toast for breakfast, emptied the dishwasher, and wiped the counters. Emily and John are dressed but we have not fixed hair or brushed teeth (mine are brushed, if you were wondering) SOOOO - I am going to get off the computer and:

Vacuum the house
Fix Emily's hair
Brush teeth
Move the laundry
Exercise

before I get back on.
Ok. I can do this

Now it is 11:11am. I did those jobs AND I am showered and dressed AND I made a couple phone calls AND got the price of a half sheet cake from Walmart AND now we have a couple neighbors here and we are just about ready for lunch.

After lunch I will:
move the laundry
take a nap
pay bills
couple more Primary phone calls
pick up Syd
wrap gift for party
Syd to gymnastics
pick up Han
Syd to birthday party
rent a movie
buy pizza

It is 2:54 My neighbor offered to pick up Sydney, so Emily and I are watching Mary Poppins. That was fun to have my to do list up here, and kept me in line. I did laundry, and paid bills, but I didn't get a nap because Emily wanted to paint. But I did a little sewing and pulled out some fabric and patterns - I think I have just enough for a couple Spring dresses for Emily. I really am going to make my last phone call before we head out to gymnastics.

What a great day!

Being the Mom

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my job as the mom. I am reading a couple of mom books that have really made me think about who I am, and am I the mom I want to be? Then last night I caught the last half of Super Nanny and could see myself (minus all the bad words- yikes!) in that mom.

At one point the mom went outside as the kids were playing, and she sat on the porch to watch. She seemed a little excited about being outside and said to Jo - Wow, I don't usually come outside with the kids, usually my husband takes them to the park , etc. and Jo said - The kids don't want to play with the $2000 worth of outdoor toys, they want to play with you. Who will be the mom if you won't. (So the mom got up and played with the kids.)

I am often "too busy" to play with the kids, or if I do take them to the park, I like to bring a book so I don't get bored. And I feel like I'm doing great as I watch on while they play. But I think Jo might be right - who will be the fun mom, if not me? And when did I stop being the fun mom and turn into the referee?

So, we have almost 2 feet of fresh snow, and it is not too cold or too windy out there, so I am going to bundle up myself and the littles and go play!

Snow Day

The weather forecasters were right. We have big snow. A few inches last night, and more snow all day. I wondered all day yesterday whether I should find a sub for a Nursery class or not. I decided to wait.

This morning we dressed for church and I worked on my Singing Time stuff. I decided it would be best to plan to go to church, then if it was cancelled I would be happily surprised. At 8am I started getting calls from teachers that they wouldn't be coming in to town, and at about 11am the Bishop called to say that we would just have Sacrament Meeting. About a half hour later the Bishop called again and said that because of the No-Travel Advisory he had decided to cancel church all together. Yippee!

We have had a fun day doing Home School Primary. First we worked on memorizing this month's Scripture:
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto His servants the prophets.

Then we played an Apostle matching game and learned a little more about our Apostles today.

For singing time we learned the Jonah verse of Follow the Prophet:
Jonah was a prophet, Tried to run away.
But he later learned To listen and obey.
When we really try, the Lord won't let us fail.
That's what Jonah learned deep down inside the whale.

Sydney dressed up as our Prophet, and did the actions to help us remember the words (running away, listening) During the "whale" line she put on the shark towel - it was a crack up to see her down inside the whale. Hannah played for us on the piano - (I forgot to mention that when the Bishop called to let us know about Sacrament-Meeting-Only he asked if Hannah knew any hymns - I guess the only two pianists in our ward were not planning to come and he was a little desperate. She is going to work on learning one, just in case they need her again.)

Sundays are often a little stressful for me. When we get home from church at 4:45pm I am usually ready to crawl right into bed. It has been nice to just focus on our children and not worry about finding a last minute CTR5 Substitute or making sure the toys have been delivered to the nurseries. I could get used to this!

I hope your Sabbath was as restful as ours.

On the Potty Train

Wooooo Wooooooo

One week on the Potty Train and John is doing great. He notices that he has to go BEFORE he is wet. He even runs into the bathroom without me. Sometimes I don't even notice that he has used the bathroom until I find a bit of wet in the potty chair.

What a big boy! I have worried and worried about just how to potty train a little boy. But apparently I put it off long enough that he could just do it himself.

Now if we could learn the trick to helping Emily stay dry at night....

Hung Over?

Last night our spouse group had the monthly "Coffee" meeting, where we discuss upcoming squadron events, welcome new people, say goodbye to those leaving, and just visit with everyone.

St. Patrick's Day was the theme for the meeting, and there was green punch, and potato soup, and mint ice cream. During the meeting part of the evening I was sitting near the dessert table. Some sliced sweet-bread and cinnamon butter were calling my name. So while we talked about the upcoming Easter party I had a piece. Mmmm.. It was so good. It was like a spicey banana bread. So I had another piece. Then I got a piece for the girl sitting next to me. And I buttered one more for myself. I had a feeling it was best if I never knew the calorie count of all that buttery goodness. Little did I know...

Another girl sitting near me asked Barbie, the hostess, what kind of bread it was. It turns out it was Irish Wiskey Bread!!! Yikes! She said that the alcohol probably baked off, but......

I really had a great time. Usually I feel a bit awkward and just visit with one or two ladies that I know really well. But last night I had fun and enjoyed talking with a few ladies that I recognized but hadn't talked to before. Was it the Wiskey bread? hmmmm? we'll never know.... (anyone want the recipe?)

Snowman

Neighborhood Sledding

There is a slough near our home. In the spring, the reeds will grow and it will be nice and green and muddy. In the fall the reeds will dry out and the tops will make lots of fluff. In the winter it makes a nice sledding run. With schools running 2 hours late we headed over for a little sledding this morning.


Neighbors


Emily


Go John


Syd, Aubrie, John


In the reeds

I have a grey hair. I just noticed it today. I was sitting in the car waiting for Hannah after school and looked in the mirror. I noticed a light colored hair, about 2 inches long, kind of curly, just standing up there on my head. It seemed to be reflecting the light, and I could see that the color was different than my regular hair. When I tried to tug on it I found that it is much stronger than my normal hair, and it's texture is also different. Yikes!


Grey Hair 40x (not my hair)

Mayoclinic.com says that "Hair typically turns gray as a result of aging." I'm getting old! When did that happen? Next thing you know I will be hiding Nice 'n Easy behind my hair dryer and curlers.

This article talks about going grey - written by a 35 year old "salt-and-pepper" man. Warning ladies - not good news: On a guy, gray hair says, "I'm mature, stable. I can be relied on." .......On the other hand, women don't get a free pass. "It's not fair," says Diane Harris, a media image consultant, "but men see gray on a woman and they think she's old." Funny article - especially the last couple paragraphs.

Refueling

Nathan sent this picture and said I could post it. You can see the B-1 and also the refueling line. He was in that B-1 getting gas from the IOWA guard guys. Looks scary to me!

Dry Eyes

I wear contacts so that I can see. I like wearing contacts. They are comfortable, they are cheap, they don't pinch my nose or fog up when I open the dishwasher. But my eyes start to get fuzzy at night and one eye starts to blur, then the other. I think the contacts start to get dry and that is what makes my eyes less reliable. Being out in the wind really dries 'em out fast.




I especially notice how bad my eyesight is when I have to type in that code for leaving comments on other blogs. Was that an m? or an r and an n set too close together? Those squiggly letters blend together and sometimes I have to try a few times before my comment is accepted. aaach, maybe I am just getting old.




Babies like to break glasses, and 8 month olds are particularly hard on frames, so I haven't had a whole pair of glasses since Emily was a baby - nearly 5 years ago! John is two and a half, so maybe it will be safe to have glasses in the house again.




I have worn glasses since about Jr High. I was not a great driver in high school (no accidents, but talk to Mary about an incident near a chain link fence) and I think that was mainly because I didn't like to wear my glasses. I can remember driving at night, out on the highway up from Hood River to Odell, and not being able to read the speed limit signs until just before I passed them. Yikes. I am still a wee bit nervous about driving at night - but I never drive without my contacts in.




I think I am going to have to follow my eye doctor's advice and buy a pair of back up glasses, to wear in the evenings.




Any advice about picking out frames?


how 'bout these?