My Violin Playing Sons

April Catch Up / Grooming

Well April has been quite a busy month in our household.  We started our spring break with a quick trip to Virginia Beach with the kids.  We hooked up with another military family from our ward and hung out with them for a couple days which was nice.  We went to Busch Gardens amusement park in Williamsburg Virginia.  Can I just say how much I love Mr Anheuser Busch for honoring military families by offering free admission to active duty members and their families once a year?  That's a 60.00 ticket x 7 for us.  Way to go Mr Busch, and not for your beer but for your generosity.  I salute you!  We will keep coming for as long as you're offering and probably beyond because we're hooked on your awesome roller coasters.

The Griffin- I totally went on it (screamed the entire time).

After that we quickly came home picked up cousin L at the airport and overloaded her with our 5 children while T and I went on a 20th anniversary trip to Pennsylvania.  She was the perfect girl for the job being both an elementary education teacher, a riverboat guide, and a certified EMT.  She didn't have to use her rafting skills as there are no rapids near our home, but she did to a lot of kid entertaining and she had to stop bleeding for at least one of my kids.  We are really indebted to her.  I'm sure I could not have done a better job.  More on Little Boy's loss of the pad on his right ring finger later.  It's a long story and this post is already a doozy.

T and I escaped to the Omni Resort Spa in Bedford Springs, PA which seemed like a great place to start.  We were super impressed with the vintage feel of the place and the beautiful surroundings.  I loved the facial I got and when I mentioned to the lady doing it that it was my anniversary I think it took about 20 minutes for the chocolate dipped strawberries to arrive in our room accented by a chocolate ribbon with gold writing on it wishing us a "happy anniversary".

De Lish

In fact almost every time we'd leave the room another mystery visitor would leave us something like fresh water bottles and ice, or an HBO guide on a freshly made bed with the TV left on.  They must have an army of minions watching for when guests leave your room lending them an opportunity to offer another gesture of good will.  In the end we were a bit creeped out by it.  In one of their lobbies we did a very intricate baseball-themed puzzle made by a tricky puzzle artist.  We looked up the cost of such a puzzle since we had such fun putting it together.  Most of them were super expensive- like $1000.00!  The cheapest was about $200.00.  Crazy!  We took a photo instead.

Took us a couple hours!  The other guests were impressed.

We continued our trip with a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright home tours which were fascinating.  We spent a couple nights in Pittsburgh and went on a walking tour of the city in very windy weather.  We wanted to bike the Allegheny but found the weather uncooperative.  All in all it was a relaxing good time to be had.  Such a great way to celebrate our 20 years of happiness together.  Below we are in the sculpture garden at one of the house tours we took.

We are under arrest....(for loving)

The next 4 days were spent touring around DC with my niece L.  We had a great time.  Even though no laundry got done, we did discover an underground African American art museum and this lovely beaded VW at the Native American Museum.  If I live here 100 yrs I will never see it all in this city.

That's over 200 pounds of bead work done by 2 families.  It took like 9,000 hrs to complete!

The next week has been a blur of activities including: making pom poms for Big Girl's variety show yearbook photos, shopping for prom wear for Big Boy, getting him ready for his eagle board of review (crazy!), making cheesecakes for both the scout fund-raising spaghetti dinner and for a Mormon prom group date (that Big Boy wouldn't even make it to due the over-the-top board of review process).  I ask you, does it prove you are eagle-worthy material if you can stand up to a panel of grown-ups with a strange overboard affinity for scouting, grilling you like there's no tomorrow?  Some of them need to chat with Mr Miagi about balance...

Mr. Miyagi say:
“Lesson not just karate only.
Lesson for whole life.
Whole life have a balance.
Everything be better. Understand?

Go-Find Balance!”

I think many of them are doing a great job, but a fair number are way overdoing the whole scouting thing (in my humble opinion).  

Now I should really find some of that balance in my own life, because shortly after the prom I threw another big birthday party for my 13yr old.  It was an amazing-race-themed party and I overdid things a bit that day and threw out my back.  How I was wishing for a Mr Miyagi hand thunder-clapping heat massage that night!  Three days later I am feeling better thanks to a little help from our friend and seminary teacher who just happens to also be a chiropractor.  I'm still not 100% better but I will take the improvement.  

It's edible paper- isn't that amazing?

Yesterday was my actual anniversary and it was so great.  T took the day off and told me to wipe my calendar clean.  I'm so lucky to have him!  He let me sleep in and he took the kids to seminary.  He brought me home a lemon-filled donut (my fav) then took me to my favorite pancake house.  It was a lot of calories but I have been married a lot of years-so...  I got a huge bouquet of flowers, a card & some good lovin'. It was a great day!  

Its the biggest one he's ever given me.  The size of a small toddler really.

We went to a matinee movie I wanted to see.  It was Disney's Chimpanzee- (A frickin' mazing!)  Loved the photography, loved the story, cutest chimp ever.  The most surprising thing to find out was that they eat monkeys.  Yeah- monkeys eating monkeys (!).  Although, I just looked it up and Chimps don't have tails making them more like humans than monkeys.  Still... it seemed odd.  But the thing that struck home for me was the concept of grooming.   This was what I originally sat down to blog about, but just got caught up in all the details of catching up.  (If you have actually read this far I congratulate you.  Blame it on my friend Kathryn who left me a very flattering voicemail today telling me what a great writer I am on my blog.  Now I'm just all cocky and long-winded).  But back to the grooming....  The main chimp family you follow is headed up by an alpha male they have named Freddie.  In Freddie's group they do a lot of bonding through grooming.  When they groom they basically look through each other's fur for bugs, foliage, etc and remove such things for you.  It goes into details about why, saying that through grooming one another they trust each other more and it actually helps strengthen them as a group making them better fighters when defending their turf.  The rival group ends up losing a battle even though they have stronger males mostly due to their lack of trust (and not enough grooming?).  While I watched I thought of the turmoil in my own family.  Perhaps if we took more time to do caring service-related acts for each other then we'd be strengthened and win our fight against our biggest enemy these days- contention.  Today was one of the most contentious days.  I hate it when I have to break up physical fights between my boys.  It rarely happens but when it does I am sick for days and I start  thinking we need family therapy.  Possibly grooming therapy.  Yesterday when I came home from the movie I went up to the boy who has been seeming the heaviest of heart lately and gave him a proper chimpanzee greeting and started searching through his hair for bugs to eat.  It didn't help much I guess, because he was the one threatening his little brother for over an hour today, throwing his stuff out the window, etc.  I think that boy needs emotional grooming.  If only he'd accept.  I also had the thought that I need to be home when that boy comes through the door after school.  I was off playing with a friend today and didn't get back before they did.  This chimp needs his mom to hug him and ask about his day.  He needs grooming.  Don't we all?

Brick By Brick

Second day in a row and here I am typing out another post.  Miracles never cease.

Yesterday was a frustrating and unusually unlucky day.  I don't know who placed that black rain-cloud over my head but I hope they release it from it's duty today.  I've had a large amount of things on my plate lately.  Getting ready for two back to back trips, thinking up what I can do for T for our anniversary.  (No pressure there, it's just 20 years right?), visiting teaching (will I never learn to do it earlier in the month?), field trip volunteering, laundry, food, etc, etc.  On top of this I had play tickets for Little Girl and I at the Olney Theater.  Little Red Riding hood, one hour, just the 5 yr old and me.  It was her official 'date night' (only it was day). The date night where we take one kid at a time out on a date each weekend.  In a family my size it's pretty darn special and so she was requiring a smoothy from me afterwards.  But first I had to do major grocery shopping.  The play started at 10:00 am, so you can imagine my rush to the car from the grocery store at 9 something, making the decision not to take the food home before the play and betting that the chilly morning weather would protect my hamburger meat and low-fat milk.

I must have not been paying close enough attention to detail as I pressed forward to the van and noticed, too late, that a car was backing up right into my daughter.  Luckily the hasty man's windows were down a crack and despite his blue tooth conversation he was having he heard my screams.  He was obviously in a hurry too, parked askew in the handicapped spot, not displaying any handicap that I saw (except the inability to look behind you before bolting out of your parking spot).  He stopped just short of hitting her.  I felt an instant lump in my throat.  When I got safely to the other side of his car I stated in my firm voice "you just about ran over my 5 year old."  He heard me.  I was visibly shaken, and he did stop to apologize. I told him I appreciated his apology and then did my best not to have a crying breakdown in front of my daughter in the car.  I thought about all the 'things' on my mind that just about didn't matter one bit any more.  A seriously injured 5 year old is not what I wanted to get for T for our anniversary.

The rest of the days chaos included going to three places in search of smoothies, losing a cell phone, tripping up stairs and hurting my wrists, forgetting hash browns from the grocery store, getting a call from T insisting that we get the brakes on the van serviced before our trip in two days, about 5 loads of laundry, a toilet overflowing, spilled shampoo all over the bathroom floor, a ruined (new) roll of toilet paper caused by a non shower-curtain-closer, a broken lawn mower, a late night trip to Home Depot, and a fixed lawn mover, a very large and somewhat unexpected bill from our landscaper who refused repeatedly to give me a ball park figure (THAT's what we are now getting each other for our anniversary), a tick on the dog, guilt over not giving the dog her monthly frontline meds, judgmental stares from the vet receptionist, a call to my vet sister, and omelets for dinner.  One silver lining?  I got Little Boy to and from lacrosse practice on TIME!  No waiting in the car with his coach.  With all that was on my calendar and all that came up that day that is nothing short of amazing.  Another amazing thing was this awesome dixie up Wall of China that Little Girl made on the sly all by herself.  I'm so glad she was alive to do it! And so glad I got her those 200 Dixie cups at the store that day. And I'm pretty sure she did this one cup at a time just like I am going to get through all that I have to do today- one step at a time.  Looking very cautiously before I step.

Pretty Darn Amazing

Leaving the Nest

I have no idea what to write today but I need to get back into the blogging swing of things so here goes.  I read over some ancient blog posts of mine the other day.  Way back to when my family and I used to live in Korea in 2007.  It was fun to read over some of our adventures.  Like the time I snipped off my infants thumbs while clipping her nails in a post titled "First Blood" or the time my son was yelling at his new video game during a bus tour in down town Japan.  The lady said "here at this restaurant you can purchase a nice plate of food for around 15.00 American dollars" and he shouts out "WHAT?"  Good times.

I hope we are on our way to more good times this upcoming week. Today would be the last day of school before Spring Break.  It's a bit sad for me because it will be the last Spring Break where we are all together as a family.  Big Boy is heading off to college next fall (BYUI).  I am already thinking about how we are going to get a good family Christmas-card-photo of us this summer because. . . sniff. . . he will not be here in October when we usually get the thing done.  Do I even schedule a family photo shoot this year?  I need advice.  We are still a family without him right?  It's just another stage with one less.  So do we keep taking professional family photos just without my oldest? That is what seems logical to me, but sending out cards without my oldest duck seems wrong still.  Maybe it seems weird because he is still in the nest.

He is making my job of clipping the apron strings easier by occasionally being a big stinker.  Like last night when a new pair of much-needed dress shoes came in the mail.  I have to mail order shoes for him because of his size.  It's almost impossible to find a 7.5 in the men's section.  I tried my darndest to find the exact shoe he is currently wearing.  He's given me the go ahead before to just pick something for him, so that's what I did.  When I confessed and showed him a photo online of the Eccos I picked out, he took one fast glance from across the room and gave them a big thumbs down.  Seriously?  Does he know what a pain they will be to return?  They came yesterday and try as we might we couldn't even get him to try them on.  He sounds really particular I know, but I am convinced it's not that.  He just doesn't think he needs new ones and resents still being told by his Mommy what to do.  This turning 18 thing has been his license to turn his back even more on everything we offer or suggest.  Growing up is a painful process.  For all of us.

He usually buys his own casual clothes and we get the church stuff.  I told him last night that he would be getting his own this time.  Another cut of the apron string.  Maybe when he sees what a hassle it is he will appreciate my efforts more.  Maybe sometime in the distant future, and in a galaxy far far away.  Now I need to try not to look when he keeps wearing his old scuffed up hot messes to church.  He doesn't care in the least.  Should that make me happy?  It doesn't really.

And now I am off to take care of my other ducks.  Speaking of ducks take a look at this cute video.
http://www.godvine.com/Banker-Rescues-Ducklings-in-the-Most-Heartwarming-Way-1304.html

Gettin' Old.

I know I am getting older.  I know  because I recently placed a bid on Ebay for a soup tureen and I got all excited.  I'm classy enough now to know several good soup recipes.  And I have officially decided that serving soup to my guests (when I have them) directly from the pot is beneath me.  Snotty?  Older?  Maybe both.  Mind you, it depends on the guests I'm serving soup to.  19 yr old missionaries who come over once a month may not even notice/appreciate a soup tureen.  So having them over may not warrant a soup transfer.

Another sign of my age is the fact that some of the quirky glass-decorative items I received for wedding presents are now starting to appeal to me (weird!).  We received a lot of platters that I scoffed at when I was 23.  I was just wishing that we could just afford a vacuum cleaner.  I have an entirely new relationship with all those platters now.  They come in so handy at birthdays or ward functions.  We are on our 3rd vacuum cleaner, and I'd prefer not to use it if possible (old).

We have a temporary satellite radio feature that came with my husband's new car.  It's called Sirius.  Serious!  The free trial period is about to expire and I have enjoyed it so.  The main thing I love is all the 80's music I get to listen to.  Why oh why did I not discover the 1st Wave station sooner?  It expires in less than a month and I am tempted to just sit out there and listen to the radio instead of cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.  I'd feel free as a bird just like I used to in my youth with my sony walkman plugged into my ears listening to one of my two cassette tapes: OMD crush or Aha Hunting High and Low.  I didn't have a care in the world.  We'd be on a family vacation and I wouldn't even mind all the driving.  I was busy memorizing the lyrics to a mixed tape my friend made me.  It's amazing how listening to that stuff can take me right back to those days of careless bliss.  Alphaville's Forever Young came on this morning as I drove back from dropping my daughter at school, and I felt forever young!

I guess that's what they say right?  You only as young as you feel.  My outside might be wrinkling but my inside feels the same.  I'm trying to be more active lately and I can feel myself getting stronger.  That is so appealing to a woman of my age.  Yet my knee keeps bothering me as a painful reminder of the truth.  Youth is wasted on the young is another saying.  Looking back I'd say that is somewhat true.  You don't appreciate your youth until you are on the downward slope.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't think I am old yet.  43 feels pretty good.  I'm just aware of an awakening of sorts as to what is important in life.  I'm on the brink of pushing my birdies out of the nest and it's a solemn thought provoking stage.

The other day I was dealing with my younger girls doing our morning ritual of getting ready for school.  My older daughter was dressed and I was dressing my younger one (something this 5 yr old can do but prefers my help with).  Big Girl said to me "Mommy, can you stop helping E and come pour me some cereal?"  When I asked E if she could dress herself the rest of the way she said "No" I then asked A if she could pour her own cereal (she can).  She claimed otherwise.  I had both kids reverting in age and ability both wanting a piece of me.  A frustrating feeling that most mothers can relate to.  I made a joke and said "You can't put on your shoes?  You can't pour Cheerios?  What is this Baby Camp?!"  I had two totally different reactions.  Little Girl laughed herself silly repeating "Baby Camp!?" over and over.  And Big Girl cried. . . like a baby.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

T and I are about to celebrate 20 years of happy marriage together.  It's a good thing I didn't kill him after he didn't come back for 5 and a half hours on his bike the other day, or we wouldn't have made it to this milestone.  That, and I would have probably had to clean up a big mess.  I hate messes.

We had talked about the possibility of going on a cruise somewhere.  When you consider some of the deals out there a cruise seems pretty cost friendly.  However I do get carsick and I'd hate to spend our trip puking off the side of the ship.  Doesn't sound that sexy to me, and again -messy.  When the news hit of the recent cruise ship sinking, that settled it for us.  We wouldn't be doing a cruise.

Then there was the tiny issue of what to do with our kids while we were away.  Just a small hurdle really.  Our first thought was to call in T's parents.  But they are awaiting a mission call for our church right now and their availability was uncertain.  My parents are too old and tired.  I tried a sister, but no luck there either.  Her work schedule wouldn't allow it.  It was looking as if our 20 yr celebration may look like any other Friday night date.  Dinner and a movie.

Then I was hit with another idea of who to ask.  My niece!  She's perfect.  She's finished with school, between jobs, and home from and LDS mission.  She has a degree in elementary ed even!  You know, just in case my elementary school kid needs some help while she is here.  SO I asked and she agreed and she's coming here for ten days in April. Yeah!  And she knows how to use a GPS.  It's all you really need to know when watching my kids.  Because driving them around is all I do practically.

Now we needed to decided where to go.  T and I looked at several options and here is what we came up with. . .  Behold the Omni Resort in Bedford Springs, PA.  Rated as a top 10 resort spa by Travel and Leisure magazine.  Hot spring mineral water pools, messages, facials, outdoor fire pits with s'more kits, and deluxe cupcakes delivered to your room with cold milk!  I couldn't resist.

Then we plan on touring a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright homes.

Kentucky Knob House

Falling Water House

Next we head to Pittsburgh.  There's a bike tour that we plan on taking where I hope they rent a bicycle built for two since it's 22 miles.  You bike one way, turn in your bike and canoe back to your starting point.  I'm hoping for some great views and ice cream stops along the way!  What better way to say I love you and thanks for hanging in there with me for 20 years than a double bike, a canoe and ice cream stops?  And since I've recently lost 15 lbs I think I deserve a treat don't you?

We also plan to see the Andy Warhol museum.  His work fascinates me.  

And because T loves me he will pretend to enjoy the art museum I'm sure.  Much like he has compromised and put me first for our entire 20 years of married life together.  One of our mottos is "I'm first after you."

So it just goes to show that you should never give up on your dreams of spending your anniversary away from your kids doing stuff you enjoy together.  I'm sure we won't regret it.

Biking to Work? Or Giving Your Wife a HEART-T-TAK?

Sometimes something happens that is kinda bad and the only silver lining is the fact that it would make a great blog post!  This is one of those times.

My facebook status on Monday afternoon read as follows. . .

"I was searching for a recent photo to give the police officer when my 'missing spouse' walked in with some splainin' to do"

The day started in a pretty normal way with me sleeping and him getting up to exercise. . .  What?  I'm doing my cage fitness class on Tuesdays at 1:30 unless there is an orthodontist appointment or a sore back or something. And unless it's too cold I go walking with my walking buddies every weekday while our teens are in early morning seminary.  But today was president's day, a day off, and we were going to spend some quality time with our kids.  I'm not gonna lie, there was talk of bowling.

A couple of the boys were invited on a ski trip.  So T took them to a friend's home for a 6:00am departure and then he returned. As he dressed the dark he mentioned to me something about a ride.  I peeked at him and noticed the bike apparel heard the words "ride my bike" and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

When T goes biking I have no idea where he goes.  This is probably something we need to remedy.  I know my thoughtful brother always leaves a detailed note to his wife about his running route for the morning.  Not a bad idea.  Sometimes there is a group of men that my husband is a part of that goes for long Saturday morning rides together.  He had been seen chatting it up with a few of them the night before so I thought there was a possible ride going on that he forgot to mention to me.  Those rides are significantly longer, and I probably would have protested since it was a day off with family and that time is really precious.  Part of me started to get a bit irked that he might have purposely not told me about a group ride to avoid being told no.  That's really not like him though.

As time went by and he kept not showing himself I felt my irritability start to rise.  My cheerful mood in the early morning slipped away and I found myself bugged that there was no one around to help with cleaning up after breakfast.  Half my crew was on the slopes or on a bike.  Where was my ski trip or my solo bike ride?  I haven't even had time to blog lately.  Where's mine?  Wah wah wah!  T had just been in Texas with a neurology buddy for 6 days the week before, missing Valentines Day and Big Girl's birthday.  How could he do this now knowing how much stress I'd been under with teenagers while he was away?  I turned to my source of comfort.  The pen.  I wrote out my frustrations to him in a not so mature note and placed it on his pillow.  Then I went to cut Big Boy's hair.  I tried not to cut angry.

Big Boy asked me what was wrong.  How could he tell?  I mentioned to him that I was beginning to worry about how long his Dad had been gone.  As I spoke to my son I started adding up the hours in my head.  It had been about 4 hours.  That is a long ride for sure.  A long selfish ride I thought.  Was he thinking I'd go bowling with him after this?  He had another thing coming.  I finished the haircut and decided to start making a few calls.  Maybe one of the other biker-wives had more information than I did.

It took a few calls but finally I got through to someone.  It was one of his biker friends actually.  Not biking but answering his phone, and probably rinsing the dishes while he was at it.  He told me there was no group ride that day.  He also mentioned that my husband had said to him that he would be biking in to work the next day (today) to get a few miles in.  So that would account for the extra time this had been taking.  Why did I miss that part?  "Well I'm glad he told someone that" was my sarcastic response. When I'm upset you really don't want to mess with me.  I'm sad to admit it, but it's true.  So I'd just call him at work and we'd settle this thing right?  Not right.

I called his cell and got no answer.  His iphone reception is bad thanks to A T & T.  But he always gets his texts.  I tried to text with no success and then my mind started imagining the worst.  What if he never got to work?  Now it had been 5 hours.  Did he wear his ID wrist band?  What was he wearing?  What route did he take?  What would I do if he was hurt/dead?  I'd kill him if he were still alive.  I called the police about 30 minutes later.  They were sending over an officer to take the report.  I looked at the note I had written earlier and thought how stupid I was to be so upset with him when he was probably hurt or worse.  I moved the note off his pillow and turned it over.  I went downstairs to look for a recent photo of him for the police officer.  I found a family photo we'd had last October.  What a happy looking family.  Too bad he had to take up biking.

Look at what I just found on his laptop.  

The next time this happens I know just where to look for an ID shot

The next thing I knew he was coming through the front door dripping big drops of biker-sweat in the entry way.  I'm afraid I was pretty upset with him.  He was confused as heck.  He said he told me he'd be going into work on his bike.  The reason he couldn't answer his calls or texts was because he was riding home at the time.  I really should have thought that one through.  I guess I was just too panicked by that time.  I wasn't thinking logically.  I heard my son mention to us through the door in a meek voice "It was just a misunderstanding"  One I hope I never have to go through again.  I'm getting a white board like my sister for people to write on to tell me where they are and when they'll be back.  And the next time something like this happens I'm going to try and take a chill pill.  They should really market those for people like me.

'Bout Time

He'll either blow out his candles... or commit a heinous crime

Surprise!!!

Bout time I wrote another update.  We had Big Boy's surprise party on Friday and it was a hit.  Our house was pretty crowded with people and we had too much cake.  I was disappointed to find out that one of the girls I had invited just couldn't contain herself and went up to him the day before the party and spilled the beans.  It wasn't accidental either.  She said something to him like "you know what's going on tonight don't you?"  This poor dear is kinda needy and really likes my son.  I think she craves attention something awful.  She's the same girl who tried planting a kiss on his lips in the middle of the gym at a youth activity last week. He turned and took it on the cheek. We're a bit concerned about her.  I can't decide if I should call her out on the surprise ruining or not.  I think she's just a bit mixed up but perhaps she should know that her actions have consequences.  I won't be inviting her to my next surprise party that's for sure.  And my boys have been warned against her swift lips.

In other news Middle Boy is driving me crazy.  I am sure it's a result of all the attention his older brother is getting these days but sheesh!  I can't seem to stop him from irritating everyone.  He needs to get back into a sport that he likes because he has just way too much dead time on his hands.

Big Boy transformed an old remote control car into a car of Altoids.  They are his favorite candy.... so.... why not make them into a car.  It took a whole lot of hot glue but it was worth it.

Big Girl is gearing up for her birthday tomorrow.  She's already put in an order for waffles in bed.  I'll be glad when this week is over.  I may take a week long nap.

Little Girl stubbed her toe tonight and needed a half hour snuggle afterwards.  I guess everyone is a bit frazzled.  No wonder I have been too busy to blog.  I'm ready for a vacation.  "A vacation from my PROBLEMS!"  I love that movie (What About Bob).

Little Boy is cute as ever.  He hates his kitchen job though and I gotta say- it shows.  He is supposed to wipe down the table and put away the food after people finish eating.  You'd think I was asking the impossible.

Recently I went though a bunch of old videos from my early days a mother.  If I could tell that person something right now it would be that I needed to chill.  I saw several things that I wish I could change.  Why is it that we don't have the knowledge we need in this life until we go through stuff.  It's the only way we learn I guess.  I just wish I could put my 43 yr old brain into my 27 yr old head sometimes.  Perhaps as I read over my blog posts in the future I'll think that 43 yr old Kelly didn't have a clue.  No way out of this life but through I guess.  So I'll just keep doing the day to day stuff and hope I learn what I was meant to learn.

Perfection

For years my husband has been trying to make me the perfect fried egg.  I've told him how I like it.  Not too underdone, not too overdone.  I've coached him about keeping the heat down and not seasoning it before it's cooked.  He continues to try and I'm sorry to say that he continues to miss the mark.  I feel like a heel for not hiding my feelings about his egg when he offers it to me.  He asks, with eyes hopeful, "how was your egg?" "Good but a bit overdone"  Is usually my reply.  I am nothing if not honest.

I think, no I know there have been a few bad meals I have dished him up over the years.  He never complains.  Yet somehow you just know when the mark has been missed.  Bless his heart he really does try to get my eggs right but usually I offer to make one for myself... and he knows why.  It's because I know how I like it.  I also know how I like my pancakes but that's another topic for another day.

He just wants to please me and is so eager to learn so the other day I gave him a few more clues to the way I like them fried.  I suggested keeping the temperature lower and cooking it longer.  Making sure not to crack the egg into a cold pan.  He came and showed the egg to me while I was getting out of the shower.  Looked okay!  He put it on a slice of toast for me.  I was in a rush and thought I might have to get the egg to go, but there was still a few minutes on the clock for me to sit down and eat.  I cut into my egg and watched it run all over the plate.  Too runny.  You know it's really hard to get it medium soft!  I'm not quite sure how I do it but I think it's the experience I've had at the skillet making eggs for so many over the years and my internal clock just knows when to say when.  I was honest about my egg.  But I was also grateful for the effort and I ate it anyways.

At least T still has something to look forward to perfecting in his future.  He has to have one flaw : )

What's New?

Since I have been slackin' and I need to catch up quick, here's a short list of what has been going down at my place.

!-Big Boy has heard back from 2 of the 4 colleges he applied to.  Both said yes!  Utah State and and BYU Idaho.  We are now in the process of nagging him to fill out scholarship applications.  Wish us luck!  We still have our fingers crossed for BYU Provo.  Only because that is where we have a lot of family.  It would be nice knowing another mother is close by to knock him on the head when he needs it.

@-T and I had a NYC get away!  It was just overnight but it was sure fun to get away.  We saw a broadway play (How to Succeed) and T spoke at the Vetran's hospital in his dress uniform.  Walking down the streets of NY with him in full uniform was a funny thing.  He got lots of sideways glances, one salute and a hearty "Thank you Sir!" from one man.  I was proud to be on his arm.  And he looked pretty handsome too : )  I had about 4 thank-you notes to write we returned.  So many nice friends pitched in to help out with my kiddos.  Even when Little Girl was at high risk for barfing during her overnight stay.

PS our edgy hotel had zebra print light fixtures!

the ceiling at Union Station where we caught the early train to NYC

#- I am in hyper-planning mode getting ready for Big Boy's surprise birthday party on the 10th.  He turns 18 on the 8th so I plan on a simple family party that day and a big surprise shindig on the 10th.  Our theme (because I must have one) is a tribute to red-heads.  Guests are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite red-head or wear a provided orange bandana.  We will serve carrot cake, mandarin orange salad, and ginger ale.  Orange jelly beans will fill our new jelly belly dispenser.  We're having a game of "name that red-head" with orange prizes.  An epic orange dart gun war.  It might be embarrassing for him, but it should be fun too.  We shall see...

$-T and I are coming up on our 20th anniversary.  We are trying to plan a get away but it hasn't quite come together yet.  It feels weird trying to plan something when we just got back from NY.  We were thinking about a cruise (but no longer- thanks Italian cruise ship captain for confirming my worst fears about a cruise).  Maybe a beach house rental, a bed and breakfast somewhere... any suggestions?

%- Notice how I have been using symbols instead of numbers?  Weird how I made that mistake with Number 1 and accidentally typed !  So I just went with it for the rest of the list.  I'm wacky.  Even stranger is the fact that some of the symbols actually went with my topics.  Look again if you're in denial and believe me when I say it wasn't on purpose.  I got nothing for % so I better end.  Have a great Tuesday.