The Afternoon Caper of the Pansy Thief

Saturday afternoon I found myself struggling to get my two girls down for naps. My husband was on an overnight Scout camp out and I was starting to lose it after so many hours alone in my house with three kids and no car. So I let Charlotte scream and cry in her bed while I tried to rock Jocelyn to sleep in the front room. I had almost drifted off myself when I heard a car door slam nearby. Fearing that some unannounced buyers were about to ring my doorbell and ask to look around, I shot a quick glance through the slats of the vertical blinds.

A white minivan was idling on the curb. A man ran distractedly up the sidewalk towards my house, bent down to retrieve something and hurried back to the car.

"That's strange," I thought, still squinting in the direction of the road. "I wonder if he lost something out of his window? But there's not really a strong wind today and he can't have been going fast enough in our cul de sac for something to blow all the way up to the house. Maybe he was after one of those stray dogs that is always running around the neighborhood? But I didn't hear any barking. Perhaps he was sent by the HOA to pull our weeds? We did get a notice this week, but the kids and I spent an hour out there just this morning. There shouldn't have been anything left for him to pull. Hmmm...."

The more I thought, the more suspicious I grew. Now that Jocelyn was finally asleep, I got up from the rocking chair to have a closer look. Nothing out of the ordinary. He hadn't even made it all the way to the front door to leave a pamphlet or flier.

"Oh well," I thought. "I guess I'll never know."

So imagine my surprise when I walked my brother out to his car this afternoon, and noticed that two of my potted pansies were missing! Seriously?!?! Some stranger ran all the way up to my house to steal my flowers? I don't know what is more irritating: to know that some jerk would "rob" me in broad daylight or to know that I watched it happen and didn't do anything about it.

And even though I didn't actually buy the pots or the flowers myself (they were a gift from my mother) and thus it is not a huge monetary loss; and even though it's getting too hot for pansies anyway (they are more of a cold weather plant - my mom has already ripped hers out and replaced them with a summer specimen); and even though we are moving in a few weeks and now I'll have two less pots to load up in the truck (so I should probably be thanking the guy for doing me a favor); I'm still pretty irked. Wouldn't you be?

Time to Grow Up

It is an unsettling feeling to be homesick before you've even gone anywhere, but that is the unique predicament I find myself in at the moment. You see, we're moving. Not just to a bigger house or a nicer side of town, but to a completely different city. And while plenty of you out there have done this before and are probably wondering what the big deal is, this will be my very first time, ever. (Okay, okay, so I did live away from home during college, but that doesn't really count.)

I've lived in this beautiful town of mine for my entire life. It is all I know, and I feel like I know it pretty well. I know the streets inside and out, I know the restaurants and grocery stores, I know which schools are highly performing and the safe neighborhoods to live in, I even know the names of the plants and animals that are native to our surroundings. But most of all, I know the people. My parents, in-laws, and siblings all live here. I know the lifeguards and librarians. No matter which Mormon congregation I attend, there is a familiar face. And while this has gotten me into trouble a time or two ("You're musical Maryann's daughter? You must be a brilliant piano player!") I like it this way.

I love bumping into elementary school friends at the mall, love seeing old swimming buddies at my husband's Christmas parties, love being saved by my box loading brother when my debit card doesn't work at COSTCO, love calling my siblings at a moment's notice to watch my kids while I go to the doctor, pool or movie, love noisy family dinners nearly every Sunday, love lugging a baby up 36 flights of stairs with my mother each Thursday because we think it's good exercise, love all the help we get with our house and all the stuff that we exchange, love, love, love everything about this place.

When I made my New Year's Resolutions to make friends outside of my family and cut clutter to find a place for everything, moving was not what I had in mind. But I suppose it's time to grow up. Now that I'm nearly thirty (well, in a few years anyway) it's time to cut the cord and start my own life. Time to buy my own stuff instead of borrowing it, time to fork out money for a real babysitter instead of using and abusing my family, time to try something new. It's scares the living daylights out of me, but I know you can't grow being complacent and that's probably what I've become. So here's to new experiences, new surroundings and new challenges. May I be a better person because of it.

Spreading the Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

Third Time's the Charm

Just last week I was thinking it had almost been a year since Addison's first high fever convulsion; maybe I would write an anniversary piece featuring the time my little sister had one. But instead, I'll just write more about Addison, because he had another one last night.

He and Keith were sitting at the table playing Castle Legos just before dinner. Charlotte was in her high chair hoping to get in on the action, Jocelyn was asleep in the swing, and I was lying on the couch reading a book. Keith was all ready to start "battle" when Addison apparently gazed up at the ceiling.

"What are you looking at Addison? What's up there?" Keith asked, craning his neck to spot whatever it was that had distracted Addison.

And that's when Addison fell to the floor with a THUMP!

I had looked up at Keith's comment, and saw Addison falling like a sack of potatoes out of his chair. When he didn't even cry out, I knew it was a convulsion.

Luckily, this one doesn't seem to have been as severe as the other two he experienced last year. He was breathing the entire time, albeit raggedly, so his lips never turned blue. There was only minimal twitching of the right arm and he seemed to be somewhat coherent, though his eyes were rolled back into his head the whole time. When I told him Daddy was going to give him some medicine, he did make an attempt to open his mouth and swallowed the Tylenol without choking. We put him into bed immediately, but he only slept for an hour and then demanded to do battle and eat dinner.

Maybe the older they are, the more mild the symptoms? Whatever the case is, I'm grateful it didn't last long and that he doesn't have a concussion from that fall.

I Hate Housework

"Housework, oh housework, I hate you, you stink
I wish I could wash you away in the sink."

-my adaptation of Shel Silverstein's "Homework"
(Only, I found one website that said it was by Jack Prelutsky so now I'm not sure.)

Anyhow, the point is, that I hate doing chores around the house.

So we bake brownies instead of washing the dishes.


And we lay around in our pajamas all day and read books instead of folding the laundry.


And, of course, we make faces at the baby.

Perhaps when my children are grown I will enjoy a clean house, but probably not.

New Year's Resolutions

Ten things I hope to do in 2010-

1- Grow a garden
I've been talking about it for years; now is the time for action.

2- Lose the baby weight
Generic, I know, but necessary.

3- Start a scrapbook for my kids
Addison is almost 4 years old for goodness sake!

4- Read 100 books
Not counting the millions of picture books I read to my kids.

5- Get my family to eat more fruits and veggies
(Perhaps the government recommended 5 a day for starters?)
We're carb-a-holics and that needs to change. Maybe the garden will help.

6- Host a social gathering (party/dinner/movie night) for someone other than my family
Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but it's about time I made some friends too.

7- Take a risk/try something new
Not a different entree at my favorite restaurant, something cool like surfing or white water rafting or hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim.

8- Submit a piece of writing for publication
Not a novel or anything, maybe just a story for a magazine.

9- Sell something on Craig's List
Never done it, but I've got plenty of stuff to get rid of, so why not try to make some dough before carting it off to DI?

Which should help with...

10- Find a place for everything
Remember how I am highly disorganized?

So now you know what I will be working on this year. You can hold me accountable and maybe offer some support? What are your resolutions?

Not the only one

You know you are tired when you awake at 3 am with an infant in your arms and you have no idea how she got there, how long she has been there, or if you have fed her recently. And the next morning, when you find the completely warm milk still hanging out on the counter hours after breakfast, and the washer still full of laundry you started three days ago, well, then you not only know you are tired, but you feel like an idiot too.

But then, when your three year old comes to tell you how silly he is for throwing the baby's clothes in the garbage instead of the hamper like you asked, you know you are not alone, and you don't feel so bad.