Frazzled

You know how sometimes when you're driving around you see people driving cars that have big dents in the side? You think to yourself...hmmmm.....they must have hit a pole at the gas station or at the bank....what an idiot! Well, this morning, I'm an idiot. No, I didn't hit a pole at the gas station or the bank. It's worse than that.
This morning I woke up a little later than I normally do. I usually set my alarm for 7, but almost always wake up before it goes off. Well, last night I didn't set the alarm and woke up at 7:30. Not terrribly late, but we had to finish a little homework and practice piano before school. I went and got the kids up and got things moving for breakfast. I got flustered because the kids were moving like snails...just doing enough to keep me from freaking out, but not enough to be out the door on time. I had to constantly remind them of what they should be doing: brushing teeth, gathering homework, shoes and socks, etc. Okay, I'll admit it, I was freaking out by the time they left. I yelled for the last 1/2 hour they were home. They knew what they needed to get done, but because they don't care if they're late or not, they were just taking their sweet time about getting ready.
I finally tell them that whoever is not in the car in 3 minutes will be grounded after school. I go out to the van and load all my DI crap into the van because I've been on a cleaning spree, call my neighbor to go and pick up her junk, get Natalie buckled, load the scooters into the back so the kids can ride them home after school and I finally get in. I buckle my seat belt and am totally frazzled. I put the van into reverse and proceed to backing out.

WHAM!!

The first thought that went through my head was "I just ran over some kids bike, great." I wasn't, however, thinking: "I just ran into my own husbands car." Which, was the case. No, I didn't hit a pole at the bank or the gas station. I hit my own husbands car. I left a huge scratch on the side of my van and a good sized dent in Kim's front fender. Ugh!! I am pretty much tearing up at this point. I know I didn't look in my mirrors and that Kim's gonna be annoyed. I go in and tell him what I did and sure enough he says: "Didn't you look in your mirrors? It could have been one of the kids." To which I reply, kind of annoyed at this point: "I knew it wasn't one of the kids, they were all in the car, getting yelled at."
So, I drive off, checking my mirrors first, to take the kids to school. They are just about late at this point. As I'm driving I'm wondering to myself why Kim even parks in the driveway, right behind me. I almost always have to leave before him, and we have a second driveway that's on the other side of the house! When I get home I ask him this. He says that it's because where he parks now is closer to the door (by about 10 feet) and it's more convenient. UGH!
I accept full responsibility for being a bad driver this morning. I should have checked my mirrors. I'm frazzled and if I don't figure out some great new way to get my kids to listen to me, then I fully expect to have a few more days like this morning. I have also learned a lesson here: maybe the "idiot" who has a dent in the side of their car was frazzled too.
*On a side note: I cannot post a picture of my damage. My husband has since taken it to a body shop to see if we can somehow seal the huge scratch I made so that the paint will not continue to chip away.
*On a second side note: This new decoration that I have made on my van comes after a new huge chip in the windshield on Monday which will likely spider into a nice web-like pattern within a few days....

My Husband, the Expert

There are not too many household chores that Kim will voluntarily do. The one exception is vacuuming. I will admit that he does an excellent job, and that he really is better at it than I am. He is obsessive about getting every square inch of the carpet and sucking up everything that is, was, or could have been in the carpet. The other night as we were out to dinner, we had left the kids a chore list to complete while we were gone. Jake's chore on the list was to vacuum the TV room. We came home and I was putting the little girls to bed and Jake comes upstairs and asks:

Jake: "Mom, how do YOU vacuum?"

Me: "What?"

Jake: " Dad said that I had to ask you how YOU vacuum."

Me: " I don't know what you mean."

Jake: " Dad says that when I vacuum that I should do it like I mow the lawn. That I should make lines in the carpet and go back and forth just like I mow the lawn. Is that how you do it?"

Me: "Um, no, I don't mow the carpet. I just stand in one place and move it around until I can see that I got all the junk up and then I move onto the next spot."

Jake: "That's how I vacuum too and dad says that it's not right."

Apparently, Jake had attempted to vacuum the carpet. He had missed quite a few spots and Kim was making him "re-mow" the carpet. I had to chuckle as I walked downstairs to see Kim literally making mower lines in the carpet. But, boy-howdy was the carpet clean! I shouldn't complain and I should only hope for the day of retirement so my dear husband can take over all of the carpet mowing.

A Day of Deliverance - Part Two

Yes, it's true. I have been delivered from my misery. Today is the first day of school!! I sent three of my four children off to a full day of school. The reason for my title today is really, honestly true though! I think I had the hardest summer that I've ever had with my kids. They were bored and fighting almost daily. And when they weren't bored and fighting, they were wanting me to drive them somewhere. We spent the first two weeks of our summer on vacation. It was fun, the kids had fun, but I think that all the fun was had at the beginning of the summer and then nothing else. We didn't even go to St. George all summer. So, through no fault of their own, we had a hard summer.

Today, Abby is off to start 6th grade, Jake is off to the 4th grade and Emily is officially a 1st grader. Aside from the $100 a month it will take to feed my children school lunch, I am excited to see them back at school, learning and anything but bored. I am mostly excited for the routine it sets us back into: early bedtimes, homework schedule and regular piano lessons. We still have the occasional baseball game, theatre performance, but life seems to be slowing down a bit. Of course, it is the first day of school - give me a few weeks and I'm sure I'll be back to whining about how busy I am.....

A Day of Deliverance - Part One

Some 33 years ago today, in a balmy St. George Utah, I was born. Yes, today's title is and was a "day of deliverance"... I wasn't feeling too terribly old until last night my mother reminds me that I am now "middle-aged". And then, upon some reflection, remembered that when my own mother was 33, she was just about to deliver my youngest sister....and this would be her 7th child!! Now, I'm feeling old....
Kim took me out on Saturday for a birthday celebration - we got up at the crack of dawn and went golfing...Now, anyone who knows me, knows that golfing has been a source of contention between us for some years. For many, many of the years that we have been married, Kim has had golfing as his "out". I haven't had an "out". But, in the last couple of years, I have made it a priority for myself to create my own "out". Once a month I spend a Friday night scrapbooking with some good friends of mine. We go out to dinner, laugh a lot and scrapbook very little. I look forward to it all month long. Well, when we moved into our new neighborhood we met a very cute family that lives just up the street. We really enjoy hanging out with them and they have kids about the same ages as ours. Here's the catch: he golfs, and SHE golfs!! So, somehow, Jen has convinced me that I should try it - Upon pondering this concept, I came up with this: If I can't beat him (and it's very clear that I can't), join him. Although I will not take it up as my main source of fun and play, I decided that now that we have Abby old enough to watch the kids for awhile, I will, on occasion, go out to play golf with Kim. So, Saturday morning, bright and early, I swung a golf club more than once since 1993 when I had to play in PE in high school. I stunk at it, but it was enjoyable. My guess is that Kim enjoyed seeing me cave to his side more than anything.
After a rousing and frustrating game of early morning golf, we went to breakfast. IHOP to be exact. I can't remember the last time we went out to breakfast. It too was quite enjoyable. Then we began our day. Another birthday gift I gave to myself this year was: drumroll please....a full detail on my van! I don't mean a wash and wax, either! I dropped it off on Saturday morning and by 6:00 that evening I had a brand spanking new (looking) Honda Odessey!! They cleaned the carpets, cleaned the leather seats, vacuumed all the Captain Crunch cereal and got 4 pieces of gum off the floor mats! It looks and smells divine!! Happy Birthday to Me!! After we picked up the van, we ventured to PF Changs for dinner. It is such good food, but a little on the spendy side so we rarely go there. We ordered our food, feeling a little guilty, but ordered what we wanted anyway. I ordered this chicken dish and when I took a large bite of it, the center of the chicken was still raw. YUCK! So, the manager came over and gave us our entire meal for free! Happy Birthday to Me! This was an appetizer, meal and dessert! So, we had a nice evening out, in a clean car and movies on the couch with the divine dessert that they provided us.
Today, being my actual birthday, has turned out nice so far also. The best gift of all was sending my 3 older kids off to their first day of school (see A Day of Deliverance - Part Two) and then going to lunch with my friend Judy. When the kids get home, I'm off to buy myself a cheesecake at Costco and then the day will be complete! Kim was asking me what I wanted for my birthday and I really think that I couldn't have asked for too much more. I had a date with my husband, a clean car and a cheesecake...who needs more than that? Okay, a trip to Hawaii would be nice...

Ode to Brenna

My little sister Brenna is having a milestone birthday today and we want to wish Happy Birthday!! She hit the big 3-0 today...I am here to attest that the 30's aren't so bad. I will warn you that it comes with more frequent hair coloring and a few more aches and pains, but all in all, it's not so bad. I haven't quite gotten to the point where I need a hearing aide or a walker yet - I am in my EARLY thirties though, and so it's quite possible that those things are coming soon. I still can't jump on the trampoline, but I'm sure that the urinary incontinence comes from having 4 babies and not necessarily from being in my 30's!! Anyway, Happy Day to You!! We're grateful to have you so close and want you to know that we love you!

Hold On Tight!

Last weekend our family was invited to go out boating on Utah Lake with our friends, the Weekes. Kim is a water skier, and the kids like to knee board and I like to watch! We had a great time even though the water was a little rough. The kids each had a turn or two on the knee board and then on the 3 man tube. Even I braved the murky waters of Utah Lake and had a turn on the tube. Natalie was jumping in the water off the back of the boat and couldn't get enough of it all. The video is of Kim on the tube with three of the kids. Please ignore the few seconds in the middle where the camera goes out of control. I was taping and got a huge splash of water right into the camera! Mute the music at the bottom and enjoy! We had a blast - Thanks Brandon and Cynthia!!

When You Wish Upon A Star...

Jake has been begging, pleading and saving every lawn-mowing dime for two years to get a dirt bike. Kim and I told him that he had to earn half of the money and we would match it. He has been mowing our yard and the neighbors yard and earning anywhere from $5-15 each time. He has saved all his birthday money even. This summer he started getting pretty excited because he thought that he would be able to get the bike at some point. He was getting pretty frustrated looking because everything we looked at was so expensive and out of his league. This last week a friend of ours called and said he was interested in selling a bike and wanted to know if Jake was still saving for one. Kim and I decided to break down and let him use his money and have a "part-ownership" in a dirt bike. Jake forked over a hard-earned $250 and we paid the rest...I don't think I have ever seen Jake that excited! He sat on it and started it about 10 times to show off for the neighborhood kids. And, today, he went out with our friends to have a few lessons on riding. He knew the basics, but needed a big open area to practice in. Kim and I are very proud of him for being so determined to "buy" his own bike....we think he's learned a valuable lesson in life: that sometimes you can't always immediately have what you want. It takes alot of hard work and patience. So, in the end, we are now one dirt bike richer....

Breaking Dawn Breakdown

It's 12:15 am, officially on my computer...and, yes, I did it. I caved and fought off all common sense and went to Deseret Book and stood in line to receive my copy of the new Stephanie Meyer book, "Breaking Dawn". As I stood in line, I literally thought to myself "I have to blog about this when I get home". It may have been the most absurd thing I have ever seen. Now before I get too far, I want to clarify that I really wasn't planning on going early. I know that I really may not even have any reading time until Monday. But, Kim and I had just finished a movie - it was 11:40 and I could have and should have been in bed hours ago. But, my curiosity got to me and I caved. I pulled into Deseret Book at about 11:55 to meet about 50-60 other insane people waiting in line. I was the LAST person to get in line, but since I had pre-paid, I knew it would be fairly painless. That's when the screaming started. I'm not lying. Grown women catching a GLIMPSE of the employees bringing out the books and they began screaming with joy. WOW! It was in this moment that I decided that I will never act on impulse again and now I will be scarred for life with images of grown, yelling women with "I love Edward" t-shirts on.

Yes, I have my copy. And, yes, I will read it fairly quickly. But, I can officially say that I won't be standing in line for a midnight release of a book again. Insane.