Random Thoughts from the Week of sickness

168. New Words?

Sue: If Brunch is breakfast and lunch, what do you call it when you put together breakfast and dinner?

Thinking.....

Unnamed oldest: A midnight snack.


169. Good Help. My mom had one of my brothers helping set up for a dinner after church. Another mother had her son helping as well. (They're about the same age. Married. My brother has three children.) They both gave their sons very specific directions. And they worked hard.

They were both at my mom's later after church. My mom came into the room and said, "Gentlemen, you have both been well trained by your mothers." They simultaneously stood up and said, "What would you like us to do?" She was just going to say thank you for your help. She and my sister-in-law laughed and laughed.

170. Modern medicine, and the fact that this is not my first rodeo. This is something that makes me grateful, more than makes me smile. The S-Train has pneumonia. He was home all last week with a fever. Laying on the couch and watching way too much television. Thank goodness we've done all this before. I don't have that slightly panicked feeling that sinks deep in your stomach that I did the first time he needed breathing treatments at home. Wondering if you're doing this right and if it will help. Nope. I know how this goes. And I Know it helps. And I know it will end. His class sent him cards. And his eyes almost look normal again. Thank goodness.

Lou is keeping us on schedule with the breathing treatments. Every time it gets close to time she says, "Doesn't he need a breathing treatment?" And of course, he does. She is going to make a great nurse someday, because every time she says that, he is asleep. As his mother, I am NOT going to wake him up. A nurse might, but I won't. I'm pretty sure that if he can sleep his body is fixing itself. I'll give him the medicine when he wakes up. It usually works out about right.

He's on antibiotics, and they seemed awfully thick compared to ones we have used before. I wanted to make sure they were mixed right. So we went to check with the pharmacy. No one else being home, I took the S-Train with me. The pharmacist said, "That one's really thick when you mix it. It's nasty stuff."
Then she looked at the S-Train. "I mean, it's really good stuff."

:-p
She mixed us a new one any way, just in case it hadn't been mixed right. But you can hardly pour it. Yum.

And Mr. C is sick as well. His sinuses have turned on him. He was hoping to feel well enough to go to work, but instead he went to the doctor and came home and slept. Very unusual behavior for Mr. C. Hopefully he'll be up and around soon.

The unnamed oldest is not getting sick. She is getting chapped skin from washing her hands so much. Hmmm. Sick. Dry hands. Sick. Dry hands. We'll take dry hands for 1,000, Alex.

171. Cake and cooking. Mr. C had a birthday. We had cake. Some friends - who we are pretty sure have been exposed to whatever this is already - came and ate cake. Mr. C got up for seconds. And their mom said, "He must be feeling better, if he's getting seconds."
The unnamed oldest said, "No, he'd be feeling better if he were cooking."
Mr. C can still eat cake when he feels lousy, but he can't cook. (Not that we'd let him cook on his birthday, anyway.) Happy Birthday, Mr. C!

167. Building furniture. I haven't yet. But another blog linked to this website. Yum. I'm drooling over the pictures! New bookcases, anyone?

Ice Cream at the Rainforest Cafe

166.Determined Children. It's raining in my kitchen. Or, It would be if my dear S-Train could figure out how to make that happen. He has turned the kitchen/dining room area into the Rainforest Cafe. (We went there once. It stuck.) We have a tree that might someday grow to connect with the bird and monkey hanging on branches. The light has become a sun. There is a cheetah on the wall near one of the dinosaurs. There is green crepe paper on the chandelier for ambiance and Rainforest Cafe signs at each "entrance." There are open and closed signs. There is even a cash register (out of legos), money (pattern blocks), a notebook to take orders, a cell phone (also legos), and menus (made on the computer with the help of Dad and put into page protector sleeves when Mom wouldn't spring for actual lamination.) My neighbor keeps saying, "He doesn't lack commitment."

Many, many people I know ask, "How can you stand it when your kids do that?" Stand what? They are learning problem solving and the creativity involved is incredible. There are all sorts of skills being learned here. Including how to run a restaurant. After all, dishes must be done, and restaurants need clean counters and floors. ;-) (Also how to work with management when your mom won't let you make things exactly the way you envisioned.)

It's not always on my time table, but it certainly makes life fun. I'll only have this kind of excitement going on for a few more years. Then my walls will go back to plain boring and vanilla. My child will go on to design sets for famous movies or problem solve major logistical problems for a company somewhere because he knows how to GET THINGS DONE.

Meanwhile, I intend to scoop up every minute like it is peach cobbler ice cream and the sun is HOT.

Funny Pictures

165. Fun pictures. I was looking for pictures to use to change my header. My brother sent me some like this in an email awhile back. Always good for a smile. Of course they come from the website "There, I fixed it."


see more There I Fixed It


This one is titled, "You think Dad'll notice?"


see more There I Fixed It



see more There I Fixed It


And this one provoked a whole thermodynamics lesson, proving that smart science types like this kind of stuff. And like to explain it. In lots of detail. It's just funny, people.


see more There I Fixed It

Large Group Meetings

162. Stake Conference with an Apostle. It's not too often that you get to hear an apostle speak in person. but almost certainly there is something that will hit you as important to your life. I had two things. There were lots of great things in stake conference, but my two were. 1. Your body is a tool for your life. Satan wants to you to minimize its importance or misuse it. 2. Be of Good Cheer is a phrase found many places in the scriptures. Life is hard, but God is mindful of you. We are being of good cheer so we can not just endure to the end, but endure well.

163. The fifth Grade Hero Assembly. N was the representative from our elementary school. We helped with her hair. It was so fun! At the assembly the fifth graders were told to pay attention. It wouldn't be often that they got to sing with 2,000 people all singing the same songs. The medley of "A Song of Peace" and "This is My Country" was beautiful. Each side of the gym sang one part and then switched. Wow. Chills.

Doing these projects is a great way for these kids to figure out what the qualities of a hero are. It helps them to figure out who they want to be like, and why. As Bruce Coville said, "The big question isn't what do I want to be like, it's who do I want to be like."

Chills and tears for one hero they introduced. A pediatrician in the area has been routinely going down to Haiti several times a year to give care to children there. He arrived in Haiti the day before the earthquake. He is still listed among the missing. His wife and fifth grade daughter were at the assembly. We gave them a standing ovation in his honor.

164. Opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Always a great event. I love it when the world comes together to celebrate peace. It reminds me of all the sweet and good things in the world. It reminds me that when we aren't fighting, humans working together are capable of creating incredible beauty.

Things that Help make a Day Happy

159. Helpful strangers. I was making phone calls the other day, rounding up volunteers for the school carnival.
"Hi, Kelly, this is KT. I'm looking for volunteers for our school carnival coming up."
"Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to sign up."

So we worked out that she could work prize redemption (always a hard place to fill) and she was going to ask her husband if he could help out another shift and they could switch off. But her voice didn't sound exactly like the person I was calling. So I double checked as I put her name down in the google doc spreadsheet.
"This is Kelly, right?" (I was thinking that either it was Kelly or I had called the number just above hers. I check what I had dialed, it was right.)
"No, this is Kila H----." (At least her name started with the same first letter. We don't have anyone with her last name at our school.) Her elementary school (in our district but not very close to our school) apparently has their carnival coming up, and they are doing their sign ups.

We laughed and I told her it was a shame, but she really didn't need to come help out with our carnival instead of hers.

She was the person most ready to jump in and volunteer that I had called all night!

So, sometimes when you dial the right number and get someone helpful on the line, it may not be who you're looking for.

160. $170 Cashmere sweaters for $10. I think my kids are old enough that I can try cashmere. They are all old enough not to spit up or wipe their noses on me. I got an amazing deal at Ann Taylor with a one day coupon. For that price I can play a bit. Of course, dry cleaning is going to cost as much as the sweater, but It was fun to go shopping with a friend.

161. More Snow! Yeah! The universe is covering our lovely neighborhood in a blanket of white. Just enough to play and make things pretty, not so much that it's a nuisance. I love tree branches outlined in white. And I love it when cold is worth it. (Ironically while the Eastern parts of the country are blanketed in white, Vancouver is having to truck snow in from the mountain tops for the olympics. Wierd.) 4 more days!!!

Never Try to Out Stubborn a Mother

158. Perseverance. We are working on consistency with chores. I am trying to put in a reward/consequences system for the S-Train that will work without yelling and without temper tantrums. All right. Don't laugh! The S-Train is trying his endurance against his mother's right now. He doesn't realize that he will lose. Ok, well, he's beginning to realize it. But - eventually the full light will dawn. Day 1 - I don't care if I can't earn computer time or TV time or outside time. I'd rather show that I am an independent human being by refusing to do my chores no matter the consequences! Day 2 - first 1/2 - I can't do any of those things and I lost a few toys? No big deal. Second 1/2 - Now I'm stuck in my room until I do my chores? All right. There's plenty to do up there. Day 3 - first 1/2 - More fun in my room until I do chores? Cool. Second 1/2 - Oh - I kind of want to come down. All right. I'll make my bed and clean up. But I'll make it seem like it's all my idea. End of day 3 - Still one chore to do - but mostly done, and I got to go to my sister's band concert. Maybe she'll forget that I need to do my chores tomorrow. After all, I did them once. Mua ha ha. Dream on little grasshopper. Dream on.

Today is day four. Nope. Chores and consequences still didn't change. Dang. I was sure we were done.


ps - Mr. C told the no i-deer joke at work. He says he's never going to live it down.