2017–week 4

Monday: we were participating in national lutheran schools week at preschool, and monday was pajama day!

tuesday: toby, being toby.

also tuesday: layla spent all of her birthday and christmas money buying herself a tumbling mat to practice gymnastics at home. it arrived today and she was so excited!

saturday: i found it amusing how toby was sitting with shane… kind of a consoling, pat-on-the-shoulder pose. like, “it’s okay, man. you’re a good guy.”

saturday: very exciting! some of layla’s gymnastics team went to see the UW vs. Utah meet, and got to participate in a workshop with the gymnasts and coaches afterward.

go huskies!

q&a with UW gymnasts afterward. the workshop itself wound up being a little bit lame and disorganized, without a lot of actual gymnastics or coaching, but meeting the gymnasts, the coaches, and using their equipment was pretty cool.

2017–week 3

sunday: better late than never. we FINALLY got out to celebrate dave’s birthday after two weeks of postponing it because one or more people were sick. dinner at varlamos.

teaching grandpa to dab… 

monday: no school for MLK day, so the kids and i did a costco run. layla was determined to heave the huge bag of dog food into the cart without assistance. it was quite amusing. and time consuming.

thursday: not entirely sure what sparked this situation. there was some styrofoam that micah got ahold and of and decided to do some sort of science experiment. it apparently involved a small container of water, two buttons, a toy helicopter, and an orange… it seems the plan was to attempt to cause the buttons to rise out of the water by using the blades of the helicopter as a fan… and the orange, it turns out, was just for a snack. i’ll go ahead and ease the suspense. it didn’t work.

friday: another meet for layla, this time in vancouver. we got to play hooky for this one (everyone but shane), and drove down in the morning, picked up aunt marilynne, and headed to the event center for the meet.

after, we met the portland cousins at the spaghetti factory for dinner. it was a lot of fun, and great to see them. layla got a fancy drink called a cotton candy lemonade, or something like that, and it showed up looking like something out of a dr. seuss book. there was also a balloon man, and he made micah a pikachu. 

the whole crew posing in the fancy spaghetti factory foyer.

saturday: toby seriously licked shane’s hand for about 15 minutes. he apparently needed a through bathing.

odd stuff

so, my dad has been v e r y  s l o w l y going though boxes in his garage, getting rid of stuff, etc. a lot of it is my mom's stuff that he has no use for or doesn't think he will use. protocol is that he shows it to me before he gives it away, in case it's something I want or could use. today's box was full of candles.

back when we lived in ohio, my mom and I went to a couple of partylite parties, and she even hosted one. all of my partylite candles have long since been burnt up, but she apparently still had a bunch, and my doesn't seem to think that scented candles need to be a part of his life. win for me.

so i'm sorting though this box to see what there is. aside from a bunch of partylite tealights and an awesome 3 wick brick candle, there were some candle holders, and then a bunch of assorted stuff and a big ziplock of the cheapy tealights we use in jack-o-lanterns and not much else. I already have my own big ziplock of those, so those will probably find their way to goodwill.

side note, I felt a little bit silly as I got excited and a little sentimental about the dog hairs that were stuck to some of the candles and in the bottom corners of the box. they were black. ahh... sophie.

but then there was a grocery bag of something. turns out it's a small supply of what can only be individual communion cups.

what?

so many questions.

why did my mom have these? why are they stored in a box with candles? was she planning to start her own church and was gathering supplies?

and, of course, what am I going to do with them?

a slightly lame thanksgiving, but not too terrible.

our thanksgiving was a little bit non-traditional this year. shane had left on Wednesday to spend the weekend in California with gramma laurie, helping with the community center thanksgiving dinner they have put on for the last 21 years. so he was absent at home. also, dave was sick, and spent most of the day like this:

 

note the Kleenex box...

 

but, that didn't stop us from cooking and baking, watching the parade and the dog show, having a yummy meal, playing scattergories, watching football, finishing up with coffee and pie, OR being thankful.

 

Layla helped with the apple pie. slicing the apples, and crimping the edges of the crust is her favorite part.

finished product. got to try out my fancy snowflake pie crust cutters that I got from a student last year. so pretty! I should really make more pies.



we always look forward to the rockettes during the macy's parade.

it starts with an onion and a whole stick of butter. can't go wrong!

green bean casserole in process. so yummy! and NO cream of mushroom soup. this recipe is so far and away superior!

national dog show. who doesn't love a basset! these dogs just make me smile.

my dad carving.

table is set! still sporting the hand turkey placecards that Layla made years ago. shane's spot is sadly empty.

traditional pic of Layla with the finger olives! I bought the "colossal" olives this year and they were so big, they not only fit on all her fingers, even the thumb, but were TOO BIG on the pinky!

happy husky x2 (actually 3, I just hadn't cleaned out the 3rd dish yet.

micah, demonstrating his appreciation for pie and coffee after thanksgiving dinner.

super-fun (creepy) trick Layla discovered she can do with the tooth that won't come out!

 

the only real downside came after dinner, when I was standing in the kitchen and heard a horrible shattering noise from inside the dishwasher. I opened it up to discover that the glass lid from one of my casserole dishes had apparently exploded in there! no idea why. it's not like it was wedged anywhere weird, and it's supposed to go in the oven, so it's not like it could have been too hot... at any rate, it was in lots of big pieces and hundreds of tiny shards. so I had to fish all that out of the dishwasher, rinse all the dishes off so we wouldn't wind up eating any glass and internally bleeding to our deaths, clean all the tiny shards out of the bottom of the dishwasher, and re-run the load to try and flush out any remaining. that was a pain. but I only cut myself a tiny bit, and the load seems to have come out glass-free, so hopefully we're good. i'm a little bummed about the lid though. and it's just weird!

totally lousy night of sleep.

making me feel kind of stupid.
so, dave is sick. yesterday was thanksgiving. all sorts of things making this not normal and not really a big deal, but I found it almost comical, how many times my sleep could be interrupted last night, without having sick kids or a newborn.
we sent the kids to bed around 9:30, watched an episode of Gilmore girls, and then I noticed dave was sleeping in the recliner. I wasn't really ready for bed, so I turned on some mindless episodes of friends on Netflix and cuddled up with my blanket on the couch.
of course, I fell asleep.
around 2:30, I woke up, put the dog in his crate, and turned out the lights. Dave was still snoozing away in the recliner, and I figured it was best to leave him alone. so I went to bed.
and couldn't sleep.
I was finally settling in when HIS ALARM WENT OFF at 3:15! in the morning! apparently this was still set from Wednesday when he had to get shane to the airport at stupid o'clock.
so I went back to sleep and then my alarm went off at 5:15! I thought I had turned all my alarms off, except this "bedtime" alarm thing I have that is not on the same main page as my other alarms. grrr.
and then at 7, my "bring in the milk" alarm went off. speaking of... still need to do that.
I think I went back to sleep after that, but micah showed up before 8, smelling of goldfish and sparkling cider, and asking permission to use some screen downstairs.
at that point, I called it good.
what a stupid night.
apparently I need to do a better job of prepping for days off!
i'm going to drink coffee for awhile now, and make a plan for the day. need to put all my fall décor away and get out some Christmas stuff. and i'm thinking a Christmas movie or two might be on the agenda. possibly some cookie baking. we shall see. for now, i'm just going to drink coffee and chill.

Testing again

Because why not a pic of food?

Testing 123

Will it crash?

meal plan monday

I've got this nifty new/old thing going on with my meal plans. I was seriously lacking in motivation in that department, so I decided to consolidate all of my go-to meals in one place where I can cycle though them in a somewhat orderly fashion so we don't get sick of stuff or neglect to have stuff we really like, but forgot about. so now I have all of my meals on 3x5 cards, along with a list of major ingredients I need for them and what I generally serve them with. I hole punched the corner of the cards and put them on a binder ring. I am also back to keeping the blank calendar page on the fridge and writing out my plans on that. so far, it's working well, and I feel much less overwhelmed by it all. I hate cooking and shopping much less when I have a coherent plan.

• Monday: fried chicken; oven fries; salad
• Tuesday: pizza; green beans
• Wednesday: taco casserole
• Thursday: thanksgiving dinner
• Friday: turkey rerun (how the smallbecks refer to leftover thanksgiving dinner)
• Saturday: big snausages; corn; salad (big snausages = Italian sausages from Costco)
• sunday: pancakes; sausage links

back on the horse?

and now I've discovered that, since the latest iPhone update, the blogger app does nothing but crash when you try to use it. apparently a much needed update to the app is late in coming. will wait and see.

so, here I am, on my computer, like I used to be.

I'm sick right now. I've been fighting this weird cold situation since over a week ago. it didn't get bad until about Thursday. I wound up taking Friday off of work, but I didn't feel too awful (just sounded like someone you didn't want your kid around) and spent the day getting caught up on laundry and general tidying around the house. I didn't really feel terrible until evening, when I sat in a daze at gymnastics, trying not to breathe on anyone. yesterday was much the same. I attempted a little productivity, which took me to about 3, when I went to take a nap. and pretty much stayed in bed (minus coming down to have some soup) until this morning at 9:30. today, i'm skipping church, but will have to venture out later to take Layla to the gym for team pictures. I suppose i'll have to do some grocery shopping at some point, too. unfortunately.

anyway, while chilling in my bed, I've been reading over old blog posts. like really old ones. and I've made some interesting observations of my "old life".

• even though our old house was small and kind of a dump, I really miss it. well, not the green carpet or the ugly kitchen. and not the squirrels in the walls, the mice in the garage, or the rats under the deck. but I miss the garden, the neighbors, the proximity to the library and grocery store, and all of that.
• I was very resourceful. I spent a ton of time and energy growing food in the garden, baking bread, shopping the grocery store sales flyers, and all that.
• I beat myself up a lot about the state of my house and how "lazy" I was. (nothing new or surprising there.)
• I was a psychological mess for most of my 30s. i'm actually really glad to have made it through all that without an intervention or being institutionalized.
• having young kids made me CRAZY, but I loved them so much. I honestly would go back in a second if given the chance. I love my kids now, and I wouldn't trade who they are right now, but I SO miss the little kid phase of things. I miss cartoons and playdough and naps and playgroups and ride-on toys and dress-up and invented spellings and my walls plastered with marker drawings.
• although it was busy, life was simpler.

I can't say for sure if life was better then or now. it's easy to idealize the past when you are experiencing dissatisfaction with the present. I also know that it's easy to idealize the future for the same reason. I think I did a fair amount of that then, too. or I idealized what I thought our life should look like, and bemoaned that it didn't. I think that i'm really good at the whole dissatisfaction thing. I should probably work on that. it's not that i'm ungrateful for the present. or that I was ungrateful for what was the present back then... I think that i'm always striving for what could be. always searching for the BEST way to live or be or raise kids or whatever. there always seems to be this unattainable goal that I want to reach. is that good? is that bad? I don't really know. I do know that it seems to be a constant, since THAT is one thing that has not changed in the 8 years since I started this blog..
wait. no. make that almost 9. NINE!!! holy smokes. that's a long time. I just totaled it up, and this post will make 948 posts. dang. I have a lot to say. not that that is any big surprise.

so... does any of this mean anything? not really. i'm just blabbing through my fingers, as usual. i'm going to try to keep up this blog more. I know, I say that all the time (well not all the time, just when I remember it, which isn't actually that often). and maybe I will and maybe I won't. I like the record it has kept. It has functioned like a journal for me, and I think that's important. some day, maybe my children will read it and see how much I cared about doing what was right (or maybe just how crazy I was), and how hard I tried. I don't know. or maybe i'll just spend a "sick" weekend sitting in bed and reading about my life. but I want it written down. and not just in snippets on facebook, or snapshots on Instagram. the space for thinking is lacking in those venues.

but now it's time for real life, kids and chores and errands, etc. we'll see where this goes from here.

hmmm... uncertain, the future is.

so, i'm kinda frustrated.
yes, I realize this is stupid, since keeping this blog up to date has not exactly been a priority of late, but still. I spent a lot of time getting my stuff configured how I wanted it and how it would function best and how to insert pictures easily and all that, and now it won't work.
ive always used windows live writer for my posts, and now, that is apparently dead, and it won't communicate with blogger and allow me to post.
so I can post here, right in blogger, but the picture configuring is heinous and I hate it.
or I can post via the app, but again, the picture configuring is heinous and I hate it.
so.
I can just not post, which has pretty much been protocol for the last year or so.
or I can deal with my less than stellar options, and do my best.
I miss blogging.
I kind of feel like social media stole it. no need to post pictures and updates, because I can do it immediately from my phone, the second it happens.
but I like the record of it all here. in one place.
at any rate, this is a stupid update.
sorry.
maybe there will be more that are less stupid, and maybe not.
we shall see.

Awkward!

The last two days have cemented the idea that I either need to install a door on the master bathroom, or have my kids evaluated. Probably both.

Our house has an obscenely huge master suite in which dave and I, as the apparent masters of the house, reside. It includes a spacious bathroom which includes a shower, vanity, and jacuzzi tub, with a water closet and a walk-in closet. It's really a pretty decent set-up, except for one thing. There's no door. 

Yes, there is a door on the water closet. (Thank goodness.) There is also a door on the closet. And obviously, there is a door on our bedroom. 

I guess the idea is that the bedroom door is sufficient to keep other family members out, and that couples only require privacy from each other when using the toilet or choosing their clothes.

I still find it a little weird. At any rate, we've had issues with kids walking in at various times, and we yell at them to get out or dive quickly behind one of the doors, and then lecture them about knocking and stuff like that. But mostly, no big deal. 

Except when it is. 

Like the other day when I took a shower without remembering that earlier, I had washed all the towels in the house and not hung up new ones. Oops. So I holler at layla to bring me a towel. No biggie, I just did my best to hide behind my glass shower door while dripping and shivering. Maybe I need to let the soap scum build up a little more. So she gets me a towel and brings it into my bedroom. But I can hear her talking the whole time. I realize she's on the phone with someone. But then, to my horror, I realize she's not just talking on the phone, no, she's FACETIMING!!!  So I start yelling "Hang up! Hang up!!" as she's getting further into the room, and she looks up all startled and confused, and finally just chucks the towel in the general direction of the shower and leaves. 

And then, the next day. I'm getting ready for my birthday party in the afternoon. I had just gotten out of the shower and was drying off, when Micah (who Had been off playing with his friends) barges right into my bedroom, dragging his 2 friends in with him!! It seems that my neighbor (the friends' mother) had sent them over with some zucchinis she had offered me and a croquet wicket I needed to borrow (we are 1 short for some reason). And so it seems that this entourage bearing gifts (you know it takes 3 boys to carry 2 zucchinis and a wicket) needed to deliver them to me at that very moment, regardless of what I may have doing at the time. So of course, I dove into my closet as quick as I could and screamed at Micah from behind the door to get out. And he replied about the importance of bringing over these things and all I can get out at that point is "KITCHEN!!! Put it in the kitchen!!" 

Good grief!

At any rate, I'm thinking that a door may be in order very soon. And another lecture about knocking. 

😳

Life.

When I got up this morning, I needed coffee. Like I do every morning. This is not unusual. My coffee cup was in the dishwasher. This, also, is not unusual. However, when I opened the door to get my cup, I found this:

In case you didn't figure it out, this is unusual.

It seems that the part that holds the upper sprayer arm onto the top rack is broken. We can get a new one and fix it. Happy/sad that we don't need a new dishwasher. In the mean time, hand washing dishes. Yay! 💃💃💃

Later in the morning, layla announced that she was going to finish off her birthday box of lucky charms. (If you don't know the deal with that, every birthday, I let my kids choose whatever birthday breakfast they want. Sometimes it's donuts or cinnamon rolls, usually it's some box of sugar freak cereal that I won't otherwise buy.) Micah got mad about this, since he's a whiny little brother and is bitter that she isn't required to share this box. At any rate, this happened, when in a fit of jealous rage, he attempted to steal a marshmallow charm from her bowl. 

With my lightning-quick reflexes, I called off the dog, who recognizes the sound of food hitting the floor, even in his mid-morning coma, and shoved him outside. I then told Micah to pick it up. Yes, all of it, and put it back in the bowl. 

She had to pick a few dog hairs out of it, but my floors are pretty clean, and yes, she ate it.

Judge if you must. 

And then there is this:

Sometime in the spring, Micah went to a birthday party at a bowling alley. My wonderful husband won him this ridiculous, cheapo bunny from a claw game. I hate those stupid, money sucking tanks of disappointment with ever fiber of my being. For 2 reasons: 1) you will probably lose. You just wasted a dollar on a gambling scheme that has all the odds stacked against you. 2) you might win. And if you win, you inevitably walk away, not with the stuffed animal you really wanted, no, that one was strategically buried between the purple frog and the dilapidated knock-off Olaf. You win the easy-to-get white bunny that the person before you grabbed and dropped at the last soul-crushing minute. 

Sadly, my husband is freakishly gifted at playing claw games. 😡

Micah got the bunny. 

The next day, its arm fell off. And he was devastated. 

And I have had to face his sad, heartbroken eyes at least twice a week ever since, and have promised to fix it. I just never said when...

Today, I was putting off something else I am supposed to be doing, so it seemed like the perfect time to tackle this job. 

It was heinous. Stitching that stupid thing on from the outside was every bit as awful as I'd built up in my head it would be. Two different times, my thread broke and I had to restart. 

But it's on. And we will just pretend we don't notice that one arm is obviously longer than the other, and the really bad stitch job shows. 

And if that sucker comes off again, it's the safety pin treatment. 

It matters!!!

Somehow, I have spawned a child who does not innately understand the importance of folding towels in a neat, orderly, and always-the-same methodical fashion. 

Today, I asked layla to help me out by folding a pile of towels. I have always folded on the half, half again (parallel to the first half, not perpendicular), and then a final half again (this time perpendicular). Layla started to fold them differently (I won't say "wrong", although it was), so I corrected her and demonstrated how I wanted it done. 

At that point, she asked the question.

"Why does it matter if they're folded the same?"

Really? 

"BECAUSE IT MATTERS!!!"

"But why?"

"So they will stack neatly in the linen closet!"

"I still don't see why it matters. It's not like you're going to have guests that will be looking into your linen closet to see if your towels are folded the same."

"It's important for my sanity, okay?"

Thursday 7/14

Before picking Micah up from his final day of scout camp, layla requested to go to a park. We decided to try out Lake Tye park, since we hadn't been there before. There were lots of swimmers and families there. We didn't have a ton of time, but layla declared the water warm enough to swim in, so we plan to go back next week. 

During the morning, we did housework, walked the dog, and discovered that we have some blackberries ripe on the street. Meant to go back and pick them, but forgot. 

Something hit me in the afternoon and I wound up with some crazy-unpleasant allergy attack. Had to take a Zyrtec, which rendered me unconscious after dinner, and in the meantime, didn't do anything for the incessant sneezing and dripping nose. Guess I should just stick to Benadryl, if I'm going to fall asleep anyway. 

Micah was ecstatic to have earned his whittling chip at camp, which grants him the right to carry a pocket knife, apparently, and is now very impatient to go and buy his own. 😳

Layla had gymnastics and my dad made us chili for dinner. 

I don't know what happened after that since I was passed out on the couch.

Wednesday 7/13

So, I'm wanting to get back into blogging more regularly, and decided that perhaps I should try using this as a bit of a daily journal. We'll see how that goes. Or more accurately, how long that goes...

Day 3 of scout camp for Micah. 

Came back to find that the dog got out. Gate was not latched and IF collar battery was dead. Found him visiting Gretzkie at the Smiths.

Reading a book on prayer.

Laundry.

Took layla to the library to return books.

Checked out audio book of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Layla listened to/read the whole thing.

Grocery shopping.

Ran home to drop off the groceries, then off to Layla's rheumatology appt at children's. 

Exam looked good. New dr. 

Ordered new x-rays.

Starbucks on the way home.

Smiths brought Micah home from camp. 

Made banana bread. Micah helped.

Cut cantaloupe. 

Ate pigs in blankets and cantaloupe for dinner. 

Dave was at the sounders game.

Shane was hanging out with Bailey.

Made blueberry muffins.

Blogged about Layla's birthday.

I really don't like this format so much. I'll try something different for tomorrow.

Shane's 17th

Right on the heels of Layla's 11th, Shane turned 17 on Tuesday. Back-to-back birthdays are no joke.

The birthday boy had to work all day, so we met up in the evening at Olive Garden for his choice of dinner. Somewhat predictably, he ordered the fettuccine Alfredo, this time with sausage. (I had the chicken parm, also predictably.)

Even though everyone was stuffed, they brought him a slice of cheesecake (which then went into a box) and we all sang.

Then we reconvened at home for gifts. 

Traditional t-shirts from layla.

A water thermos from Micah. Working construction in the summer, this is a good thing. (And a pack of Swedish fish, to make up for the ones he gave him last year, and then ate.)

Cards and money.

And then the "texted gift".

It was a picture of a truck and some speakers. We are helping him upgrade the stereo in his truck.

And then we stuck 17 candles into a tub of Papa Murphy's cookie dough and sang again. 

We were all still stuffed, so no one ate more than a spoonful.