26 February 2009

David's Little Trick

David got stuck with the kids the other day while I was at class. He just happened to be home which was great because our neighbor who usually watches the kids has been having all kinds of health issues; things like unexplained fluid around her heart, possible Mono (I think they ended up ruling that one out), a concussion (she was chasing her kid and she slipped on some water on her tile floor. She was passed out for a half hour before her kids called for help because right before she went unconscious she said, "Don't call 9-1-1, I'm fine," and her kids didn't know what to do after that). I don't want to add to her stress, so I'm so grateful that David's schedule has magically worked itself out so he's been home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Drew was up to his usual shenanigans--sneaking upstairs to raid the pantry or the fridge (which is synonymous with "make a mess"). David had dragged him downstairs a number of times and was tired of it so he got creative: The next time he heard Drew sneak upstairs, David called the house phone from his cell phone. He let it ring and let the answering machine pick up, then he said in his most menacing voice, "Drew! Get back downstairs right now!"
Drew slunk guiltily downstairs and sat quietly on the couch. He stayed downstairs until I got home.

21 February 2009

Busiest Week Ever!

We had a crazy week this week. I had two projects and one quiz due for my classes. I also had two apartments to clean and a Jazz/Celtics game to go to. It's nice to feel like I'm done with it all. Next week looks much less crazy, so far.
My statistics professor likes to make us do projects. He is the only professor who has his class do this. He gives us a pile of numbers and asks us to put them into graphs and analyze the data as well as the graphs. We are allowed to work with a partner, but in my mind that makes it all the more difficult. I decided to work with partner for this one even though it wasn't required, because it will be required on the next project. So I worked with my new friend from Nepal. We handed that project in on Tuesday and already my load felt lighter.
On Wednesday I had to go clean an apartment for my friend's company (well, I didn't have to, except that I wanted the money and cleaning was a prerequisite for the money). I only got about 2 hours of cleaning in before David got called to work, then back home I went. Normally, two hours is enough time for one apartment, if the tenants try to clean even a little bit when they move out. These particular tenants had not tried. The walls were so grimy and had boogers all over in the living room and what I'm assuming (hoping) was the kids' room. In two hours I scrubbed the walls of the two bedrooms and they still looked disgusting. I told my friend he should probably just arrange to have the apartment repainted.
My sister came down Wednesday night so she could watch our kids while David and I went to the game. We had a lot of fun and of course the boys went nuts 'cause Roz always plays fun games with them and they'd been looking forward to her coming over for the last week.
Thursday, David and I went down to Salt Lake with some friends to watch the Celtics play the Jazz. We had a fun evening (even though it had a disappointing ending). We ate at Crown Burger; I had a Gyro. So delicious! Then we walked over to the WhatverEvent Center (I can never remember the new name), formerly known as the Delta Center.
There was a surprisingly large-ish amount of Celtics fans at the game, but we didn't sit by any of them. We sat a row behind an Australian fellow and his wife, and sat a row in front of his buddy (I guess they couldn't get seats next to each other, but at least they were close). They were the best hecklers I've ever heard. They didn't cuss or say anything that didn't make sense. Most of what they yelled was aimed at the Jazz, even though they were Jazz fans themselves. They yelled things like [use your best Australian accent to get the full effect], "Jerry Sloane! Start coaching!" and "Defense! You're lazy! Get your hands in their faces! Take the ball from them!" The kid behind us did occasionally yell at Leon Powe, of the Celtics, whose jersey number is zero. He would yell [again, Australian accent], "Hey! You're Zero! You're not even a number, number zero! You're nothing!" We had a bit of friendly banter with the fellow in front of us, and when the Jazz took the lead, he turned around and laughed and made some funny remarks, but nothing rude. There was a guy a few rows back, however, that we hadn't even talked to or seen, that ran down the bleachers, pushed me out of the way, and punched David on the shoulder. Then, brave soul that he was, he ran back to his seat as fast as he could. We were somewhat stunned. It's not like he hurt David; it was a wimpy little punch, but seriously, who does that?! Jazz fans, apparently. Weird. At the end of the game, which the Celtics lost, our Australian friends teased us a little and the wife said, "We still love you. We just love the Jazz more." All right.
We got home from the game at three in the morning on Friday. Later that day, I went to finish cleaning the apartments. The grimy-walled place took me another 2.5 hours to finish, but the one across the hall only took half an hour. The tenant had left it in very good condition, for which I was extremely grateful. I dashed home from cleaning with just enough time to take my Psychology quiz online. And I only missed two questions (out of ten), which is good enough for me since I only skimmed the chapter!
Friday evening, I cut Roz's hair. I only messed up a tiny bit, and over all it looks really cute. It's a short, spiky pixie-do. Very chic.
Today, I tried to get my house a little bit clean, so it won't turn into a grimy mess like that apartment. Then I b.s.'ed my way through a paper I had due for my Speech class. I was supposed to go to a meeting and evaluate it, but I never made it to any of the city council meetings due to lack of babysitter and general poor planning on my part, so I wrote about an impromptu meeting I witnessed last Friday at the Young Men/Young Women ski trip. I thought about not doing the paper at all; it's only worth 20 points and I didn't want to just make a bunch of stuff up. But David reminded me that even though C's get degrees, they don't get you into the Dental Hygiene program, and something is better than nothing. So he kindly took the boys somewhere (I actually have no idea where they went) so I could write my paper (and update my blog :) ). I didn't end up having to make anything up for my paper; the meeting didn't go well, but it served as a good example of how not to conduct a planning meeting, so I wrote about it from that slant. I think it will be okay. If not, oh well.
Now, I'm going to go catch up on my shows that I missed this week. Thank heavens for DVR.

12 February 2009

A Greener Pocatello


It's finally happening! Pocatello is getting a curbside recycling program! And there are already over 2000 people pre-registered for it (the program doesn't start til Spring)! Here's the crazy thing, though: I haven't registered for it yet, and I don't know if I'm going to. Don't get me wrong; I'm not against recycling--I'm very much in favor of it. The thing is, I already have a service come pick up my recyclables for free, and the city wants to charge five dollars. Five dollars isn't much. But it's more than free. Also, the company that picks up my recyclables is a residential home for adults with special needs. They go around the city picking up recyclables from anyone who has signed up for their free program, then the residents of the home sort the stuff and take it to the local recycling center and get cash for it (actually, I don't know how much sorting they even have to do, because I'm supposed to sort everything before they come pick it up from my house).


So even though I am ecstatic that Pocatello has realized the importance of recycling,* I'm probably not going to participate until I am no longer able to have my recycling picked up for free and benefit someone else at the same time.



*I feel like in these big, spacious, sparsely populated Western states there still exists a sort of attitude of "We'll never run out of resources, and there will always be enough space for landfills, and if not we'll just burn our trash. The skies are still blue, the grass is still green, Earth Day some other day." This is the vibe I get sometimes.

11 February 2009

Pay it Forward

My friend Madeline is doing this pay it forward thing. I decided to join the fun, this is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. But, you have to post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.

09 February 2009

Sometimes Life is Like This

I saw this on my friend Tina's blog. It made me laugh so hard, because I've been there (particulary Lessons 4, 7, 10--okay, all of them...)!


Thinking of Having Kids?
Do this 15 step program first!

Lesson 1

  • Go to the grocery store.
  • Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
  • Go home.
  • Pick up the paper.
  • Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
  • Methods of discipline.
  • Lack of patience.
  • Appallingly low tolerance levels.
  • Allowing their children to run wild.
  • Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast-feeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.
Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
  1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pound s, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
  2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
  3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
  4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
  5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
  6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
  7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
  8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
  9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night.
Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
  • Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
  • Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
  • Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
  • Then rub them on the clean walls.
  • Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
  • Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.
How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
  • Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
  • Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
  • Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
  • Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle .
  • Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Lesson 7
Forget the BM W and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
  • Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
  • Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
  • Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
  • Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
  • Get ready to go out.
  • Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
  • Go out the front door.
  • Come in again. Go out.
  • Come back in.
  • Go out again.
  • Walk down the front path.
  • Walk back up it.
  • Walk down it again.
  • Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
  • Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
  • Retrace your steps.
  • Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
  • Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
  • Go to the local grocery store.
  • Take with you the closest thing you can find to a preschool child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice).
  • If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat.
  • Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight.
  • Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.
Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
  • Hollow out a melon.
  • Make a small hole in the side.
  • Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
  • Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
  • Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
  • Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
  • You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12
  • Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney,Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon.
  • Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know,you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
  • Move to the tropics.
  • Find or make a compost pile.
  • Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it.
  • Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
  • Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy;'occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required).
  • Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years.
You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
  • Start talking to an adult of your choice.
  • Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above.
You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

07 February 2009

It's Just Ketchup

The other day I was thinking to myself, It'll be nice when the kids are more independent and self-reliant. I'll be glad when they can wipe their own bottoms, get themselves dressed, make their own snacks.
This morning I went downstairs to start breakfast. Apparently someone had started without me:

Drew had made his own "breakfast" of Kraft Singles and ketchup. He was very proud of it, but for some reason didn't eat it.

This afternoon Owen and Drew decided they were going to play in the back yard with Vito. Owen put his shoes on by himself:

He's wearing one snow boot and one shoe. On top of not matching, they're on the wrong feet. He also put his pants on by himself which is why his crotch seam is in front of his right hip instead of his crotch.

When I set up my camera to upload pictures to my computer, I came across this gem by Samantha; seems she's a budding photographer who specializes in self-portraits.

Drew took the following video of Samantha after she took a drink and a swim in Vito's water.

So it would appear as though my kids are becoming more independent and self-reliant. They make their own breakfasts, get themselves dressed, they even entertain themselves and each other. (It gives credence to the old adage be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.) Now if only the kids had the wiping thing down.

02 February 2009

Superbowl XLIII !

Three years ago; Drew's and Owen's first Steelers Superbowl!

Yesterday; Samantha's first Steelers Superbowl! (I wanted to put her in one of the shirts Drew and Owen wore, but it seems I got rid of them. So Samantha is dressed in Drew's Halloween costume from a couple years ago. Yep, she's a football.)

Love the timer pictures. Just push the button and run, and hope you get sat down and the kids cooperate before the flash goes off. This was the only one that looked at all like it worked, out of about five pictures.

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Fifth Birthday tickers
Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Third Birthday tickers