Bowling Tip

Occasionally, Matt comes home with an extra tip from work. Hard cash is the best - it buys him lunch. Dinner certificates rate second in my book - it pays for a date with him, at nice restaurants usually out of our league! Occasionally, the tips take on a very different form than cash in hand. Case in point: a musical CD some lady personally compiled and burned of her favorite Christmas tunes. Perhaps if it were more along Matt's taste it would have been listened to... It's the thought.

Anyways, months ago, Matt came home from a long job with a pile of tickets in his hand. Something about the fact that the man he did work for is a big-wig with "Itex" tickets and he gave them as an added tip. I don't know the company, but I knew that the tickets in hand would be good for four free games of bowling, shoes, drinks and fries. Can't beat that price!

We set them aside - good time as a family, after time away from the family! We put them to use a few days ago.

All three kids spent much of their time down on the ground. Two hands "pushing fast." Bumpers helping the ball eventually make it to the pins. Two strikes in the last frame helped me nearly catch up to Matt's score, which was a good improvement over my first 5 frames of numbers that were sadly similar to Paige's 4.3 MPH balls!

Drinks and fries ended the day - adding sugar to two already hyper girls (them, not me!).

Someday, when I am rolling in the money (and actually pay someone else to do the work Matt does), I am determined to try and send each worker out the door with an unexpected tip. A tip that says in essence, "thanks for doing great work here...now go do what you really want to do...with the people you really want to be with!"

Butting Heads

During the daily height of rushing Meg to school, I tell the girls "to get coats and Meg's backpack and wait for me at the kitchen door." More often than not, I find them sidetracked and coatless when mere minutes remain to make it up the hill (doesn't matter what time the prep starts, there is always the last minute rush).

Yesterday, when I asked if they were ready I actually found them both at the door waiting for me to grab the keys and go! Huge help!

However, smirks and stifled giggles quickly led me to wonder what plans they'd been making. It took me a minute to realize that both girls had fit themselves into the straps. Paige eagerly explained her desire to go to school too. Maybe she could sneak in like when you take a mouse to school?

They called themselves the "two-headed monster." I snapped quick pictures from front and back. Mug shots of the moment!

I keep flashing back to this visual. Seems to be a pretty realistic take of our current reality. Two opposite personalities always found together. So often seeking each other out. So often each other's playmate. Too often getting on each other's nerves. Too often annoying and literally butting heads.

I hope the constant bickering I am hearing lately is a phase. I hope the day will come quickly when one can tolerate the other's constant singing. I hope that the day will come when one can figure out a better solution than slugging the other. I am tired of the 180 degrees switches - happy sisters playing together a room away one minute to an audible slap and tears the next.

As much as they want to be hooked at the hip, I find myself often finding two SEPARATE backpacks, so to speak, that can be sent into different corners of the ring.

Cars at the Grocery Store

Two moments at the grocery store had me shaking my head at myself this afternoon. Both involved cars. Both illustrate that juggling these kids are making have made me lose my mind. Completely.

First - knowing that I was headed in for a very short list, I did what I do only bi-annually. I told Paige that she could ride in one of the car carts. The HUGE-can't-maneuver-around-any-corner carts. All smiles, she climbed in and begin "steering." I buckled Tyler up top in the regular spot. Of course he wanted nothing to do with facing me. He wanted driver's seat with Paige. Reminding myself of the fact that I had a mere three things on my list, I switched him to the front. He was a happy camper. With it being a novel first-time experience, he did great. No limbs flailing out the side. No fingers dragged along the ground. No yelling for items strategically shelved at toddlers' eye-level. No punching sibling to get the horn that works.

It was an enjoyable ten minutes for all...

Until I realized the slip of mind. The bad move on my part. The lapse of judgement. The fact that I opened his understanding that said car carts do more than just park near the plain metal carts. I shook my head realizing the begging (baby grunts at his stage) that will likely happen on all future grocery trips from a previously oblivious kid. Great. Why would I move that cart out of parked position?!? Rarely are my trips a quick ten minutes in and out...so I'm sure the car cart will "be broken" next trip...

Anyways, letting both Tyler and Paige relish in the final moments of the car cart excitement (and keeping them in one place for as long as it was working), I pushed them all the out into the parking lot. For anyone in Utah's weather today, you know how windy it is outside. Windy and loud. I get to my car and begin scooping Paige out so that she can climb into her chair. I stop for a minute, thinking "that wind is so loud it sounds like the car is on." I glance up to see a neighboring car driving away from us. "Oh, it's not the wind. It's that car," I think. Relieved that it isn't me.

How could it be me? We just got to the car. I'm am only on step one of the re-loading process. I bend down and take Tyler out of his pint-sized driving position. I lean into the middle of our car where his car seat is... I peer to the front... and see nothing less than my keys dangling in the ignition. OF. MY. CAR. No, they shouldn't be there. No, I haven't gotten to step two of loading bags into the back...let alone step three of ditching the cart...or step four of climbing in myself and letting out a HUGE sigh of relief that that shopping horror is done...OR step five of inserting the key!!

Obviously the keys were in there the entire time. What's worse, the car was still turned on!! It was my engine I heard rumbling above the wind (maybe it's good the weather's noise hid my lameness from others walking past). On for the entire time we were cruising through the aisles.

I shouldn't be admitting this. You might now find yourself on the look-out for my Pathfinder sitting in random parking lots, ready for the free taking. Thank goodness the keys weren't locked inside, I guess. Thank goodness we were at Bountiful's Dick's market (during the day when the store is generally filled with slow moving senior citizens and other empathizing moms cranking car carts around the corners...), I guess.

I told Matt the (shortened/happy ending before the middle details) version of my "adventure" a few minutes ago over the phone. After a pause (a you're not kidding, are you, pause), he said "I would have been so mad" (if someone had taken the car). Phew, glad that was adverted. ;)

Seriously. My mind has been a mess since having Meg. My Kindergarten students use to fill in the words they knew I had meant to say when what really came out made no logical sense. My mind/memory didn't get any better after Paige. Add kid number three to the mix and I have admittedly lost all hope of thinking straight. Or of remembering any details/names/numbers. Or of acting normal.

Forget hopes of a waste line returning, I just want my commonsense back! Too much to ask?

Valentine's Dinner 2011

Valentines was good this year. Matt made it home by dinner - bonus! He took all three kids with him to get pizza - double bonus! I was able to put final touches on the table, undisturbed - ah! Red clothing was put on and pictures were taken without much complaint (or prompting!) - 'tis the season! Dinner was low-key and pleasant - the best!

Wanting to make a shorten personal version of table-talk cards, the center bowl on the table was filled with hearts...the red hearts were filled with paper strips...the paper strips each had a written sentence. Prompts such as "I LOVE when Meg..." or "I would LOVE to go to (blank) with our family." or "I LOVE to eat..." or "I am happy Heavenly Father gave me (blank) to LOVE." kept the conversation interesting. That idea will be a repeat next year, assuming the fam again participates "lovingly."

Ninth Life

It is one of those mornings that I'm grateful. Seems like a moment at the church pulpit when one claims "I'd feel very ungrateful if I didn't say..." I am grateful that things around here are working. Such is not always the case around here - things working nor my being grateful.

For the past week, I've tried to deny that our furnace was on the brink. The motor was certainly still up and running. The fan blew. Only problem was that the needed WARM air only lasted for the first 3-4 minutes of each cycle. Then cold air was pushed through the vents. Sure, it might be normal for cooler air to come out the last few seconds as the heater was shutting down after successfully raising the temperature to the set degree. But minutes of cold air?!? I didn't want to flip the bill for the energy that required.

Constantly I was asking one girl to "bend down and tell me if the air is warm." When the reply was "NO," I sent the other girl downstairs to manually "turn off the heater, it's not working." By turning the furnace on and off, on and off, and on and OFF again...and by moving around a portable space heater, we managed to keep our inside temperature around a balmy 62 degrees. Warmer than the outside freezing temps, but not comfortable.

Finally coming to terms that a functioning furnace was at its end, I posted such sentiments on Facebook. You know, put it out in the virtual void. I was humbled by handfuls of friends listing HVAC connections that'd likely have better rates and for several who offered portable heaters to see us through. In my mind, I had a short list of houses to drop by for heaters that could see us through the night.

But, I'd wait until Matt got home. I'd wait to see what he'd say and do.

He made it home just before 9:00. I asked if he needed the computer left on (my usual question as I shut things off for the night. His usual answer: "no, what would I do on that thing?"). Uncharacteristically, he said to leave it on. He spent some time looking up information on furnace parts (thanks Internet info). He spent some time jimmying a part. More time cleaning another part. Some time feeling the air coming out of the vents.

Just before I went to sleep he showed me the thermostat. It read 71 degrees. 71! Miraculously back in business.

Sure, we might just be setting ourselves up to limp along for another short while. Sure, I might be making big of something small. But, I wanted to record this time (among many) that things worked out for us.

I'm grateful that yet another repair bill was avoided. I am so grateful for the sound of the motor kicking on, for warm air blowing when it should, AND for a handy husband who SOMEHOW gives everything we own nine lives! I'm grateful that a blessing from above is keeping us warm here below - this morning I recognize it.

Inbox

There has definitely been a time when I stalked the mailbox - two LONG years while Matt was on his mission in Spain. Anticipation for a letter from "my missionary" would build up daily. My roommates, at different college apartments, knew how important a weekly letter was. My family likely remembers how obviously I'd check the pile of mail during summer breaks. Unknown to him, the mailman became one of my favorite people when he had foreign mail in his hand. When the mailbox was empty, however, I had to again busy myself until the next day's check time. Not such a healthy habit to have. But it was what it was back in the day when there was no such instant thing as dearelder.com.

Now, I recognize a time when many of us stalk our computer mailboxes. An empty inbox can be depressing - especially when an important reply is expected. On the other hand, an unexpected sentence from a friend checking in makes my day. How easy to log on and see if any new emails have come through cyberspace. How easy to log on multiple times a day from handheld cordless devises. How fun hearing the beep signifying new mail can be...

I love getting mail. Always will.
Emails are great, but a handwritten card in the mailbox takes the cake. That lost-art certainly brightens the pile of bills.

When I saw bright (cheap) mailboxes at the local craft store, I had to get them this year. I'd seen ways to craft your own from festive paper, but knew sturdy would prove key in our house. Nothing fancier than simple letters fit my style.

I figured there'd be no more exciting way for Meg to practice her writing right now. I knew Paige would join in with markers and stickers. Why not encourage the writing and reading?!?

So, extending Valentines past one upcoming day, we've been creating and receiving little love notes for the past week. Several times a day I have found the girls hunched over the table with a red or pink marker in hand!

The girls look for the raised flag each time they walk by - emptying it almost the moment it gets filled. If I don't check quick enough, I get a "you might want to look in your box" heads-up! And, with an exaggerated smile, Matt enjoys finding his small pile of heart-covered pages each night. It has been good for me to slow down during the day and compose a short thanks to Matt, a note full of sight words for Meg, a picture in favorite colors for Paige, and a treat for Tyler.

Hopefully, I'm not setting them up to stalk the mailbox as I've done in the past...but am rather creating a spot for them to experience sweets moments of love. Love in knowing someone thought of them and sent them something special. Love in recognizing how much their effort meant to another!

Really does it get much better than "a doll for Paige that a bird is carrying to her in its mouth"?

Or excessive lines on the letter E, heart heads, or a list of favorites?

Or intent eyes focused on the latest mail?