Garage Sale!

I'm just sitting down for a few minutes here and there at the computer this week. No time to blog. I'm getting ready for the big weekend garage sale. I'm hoping to make enough money to buy this:


And to supplement our gas money for all of our beach trips!

Planet Earth

My friend, Kristen, told me that they had gotten the "Planet Earth: as you've never seen it before" DVD's produced by BBC video for Christmas and that they were wonderful. They just couldn't stop watching them.

I got right on the list at the library. It took until last Saturday for me to be able to check them out. The kids have been watching them a little bit this week, but I've been busy. How much I've missed!

I decided that the kids and I would watch an episode last night before they crawled into bed. I meant to watch "Deep Ocean," but one about forests came on while I was switching the laundry into the drier. I'm not sorry at all! Intriguing. Beautiful. Enlightening. These are all about nature at it's best. A peek into a world that is rarely seen. If you get the chance to see them, please do!! I have to return them today, but I'm going right back on the waiting list!

Changing (Michigan) Attitudes One Person at a Time

The year I entered high school, my family moved to Massachusetts. My mom did not like this move at all and mentioned mostly the negatives to us kids about living in our new state. I couldn't really see much great about it either and I remember sitting in my 7th period study at the end of each day expounding on the many faults of MA to a new friend. One day she became fed up with me and told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to talk to her about this anymore. How would I like it if she moved to Utah and told me how horrible it was there? Point taken.

On to Michigan. I don't hear people saying that they LOVE to live in Michigan. As you may know from my previous posts, I LOVE Michigan! A lot of people I have known come to Michigan to complete some schooling or for their first job and can't wait to "get outta he-ya."

I admit the winters are cold (though not much colder than Utah or Massachusetts) and probably an even bigger factor is the lack of sunshine in the winter. I can see their point to some degree. I have done my share of complaining, but now I am out to convert even the hardest cases!

I was in Meijer (grocery chain) the yesterday and had such a fun experience. I could tell the cashier was a friendly guy and when I got up to the front of the line, I could see his badge. He had been given an award for his friendliness and now it was my turn to have a chat with him. He made some comments here and there about my purchases. We got to the sand toys and I explained that we are planning on hitting the beach this summer. At one point a comment he made (said he had been to the upper peninsula and was amazed to find that Michigan could be pretty), made me wonder if he was originally from MI, so I asked. He told me yes and asked me the same. I told him we were transplants, that we had come for school and loved it. We decided to stay. He told me that I was the first person he had ever heard say that before. So began my sales pitch.

"Where else can you live where you have an east coast and a west coast, where you can visit 'up north,' where you can see lots of pine trees if you want to and if you like snow activities you can do that too? The fall is absolutely beautiful and once spring arrives you are so glad to see it that it looks and feels magnificent."

He was amazed by this new perspective on Michigan. I think I left him considering it a little. He really doesn't need an attitude adjustment with his free smile and friendly ways, but even if he can enjoy our great state a little more, it was certainly worth it!

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Here's something to consider no matter which state you live in and whether you like your surroundings or not. This is from my friend Jeff, who has just arrived back to the Grand 'Ole US of A, from a year in Iraq:

America The Beautiful

When the flight touched down the crowded plane full of uniformed troops under my command erupted into cheers and applauds. “Thank God,” the Staff Sergeant and Miami Beach cop sitting next to me expressed with the deepest sincerity. His voice crackled. It sounded like he would cry.

“Yes, America!” shouted others while the clapping continued.

I was so choked up I could cry and shout all at once. The feelings were contagious.

My gratitude to be back in the land of the free and the home of the brave cannot be adequately described.

Also, it might sound funny but I want to run through all the thick, green bushes and roll around in the tall grass. I’d like to climb a tree and hug a branch, soaking up the scent of the leaves and feel them brush against my skin. Man, America is BEAUTIFUL.

…I can hardly wait to see my family again.

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For more of Jeff's writing, see his blog.

Insects

Sariah has been collecting insects to keep as pets. The first was a pill bug. She called it a pill bug; I grew up with "potato bug." She carried that up to her room in her hand, asking me what pill bugs eat and was sorry that it was dead in the morning.

Next was an inch worm, this time in a container with a leaf. This one apparently ate three bites and then went for a walk.

Today, she left a piece of apple out on the sidewalk for an ant that she almost squished to death. Some kind of peace offering, no doubt. She told me that later it would be covered with ants. I can't wait.

She found a book about butterflies and wants to know if we have the plants in our yard (milkweed) where the butterflies lay their eggs so we can gather some and raise our own butterflies. This is more to my liking. Maybe we'll hunt up some butterfly eggs!

Luxury Bed Sheets

This morning on the way to dropping the kids off for school, Sariah asked me, "What are bed bugs?" I managed to thoroughly confuse her on the matter as she kept correcting my descriptions by saying things like, "No, those are mosquitos." "No, those are moths." Thankfully, my bed does not harbor any of those little public health concerns. Which leads me to my topic ... bed sheets.

Back when I was going off to college, my mom gave me a primer in buying bed sheets. Never buy anything less than 180 thread count (TC). Less than 180 TC will pill up and be uncomfortable. Any of you parents ever bought the character sheets for your kids? Don't we know it! I think those sheets usually run about 130 TC. I'm obviously quite naive when it comes to sheets though, because I never put much more thought than that to buying them. I knew that there were "luxury" sheets selling for exorbitant prices. I thought maybe it was just the labeling?

Joseph and I have had our same sheets for a long time. I'm sure both sets are around 200 TC and 8-9 years old. One is a forest green color and the other a maroon color. I hate them. I must sound very fickle with my qualms about bed sheets when there are typhoons and earthquakes destroying everything in sight around the world. At least that's what I keep trying to tell myself. It hasn't worked so far as you will see.

I bought a set of sage green 200 TC sheets last week from Walmart. I walked around until I found the least expensive sheets and then made sure the thread count was acceptable. I was surprised to find that they even sell 130 TC sheets and they were more expensive than the ones I picked up! Then this weekend, I did a Google search for bed sheets, I can't remember why exactly, and ended up at Overstock.com. Wow! I never realized that there were 300, 400, 500, 600, 1000, even 1200 thread count sheets. A whole world has opened up to me that I never knew existed. I believe this is one of the reasons we are cautioned against too much web-surfing!

I looked around on there for a while and read some reviews. I learned that some people like sateen sheets rather than satin because with sateen, they don't fall out of bed. A hilarious mind-picture. I learned that high thread count sheets in cotton are a mess of wrinkles coming out of the drier. Some people iron, some people throw them on the bed, some people just live with the wrinkles because of the luxurious feel of their sheets, some people leave poor reviews that say, "DO NOT BUY THESE SHEETS!"

Well suddenly, my sage green 200 count bed sheets were not good enough for me. I picked them up and ran my hand over them. What? Is that a scratchy feeling? I can't sleep in that! I simply must have luxury sheets!! Plus Overstock.com is telling me that the retail price of these sheets is $199.99, but they are selling them for $46.99. My Walmart sheets were $11.00 for the flat, $11.00 for the fitted, and $5.50 for the pillowcases. About half of what I'd be paying for my luxury sheets. With shipping only $2.95, I decided to go for it. I chose ivory sheets with a 500 TC. They are on the way as I type...

P.S. From what I can tell, overstock.com's prices are really quite good if you are looking for high count bed sheets. It was a little tricky finding the size and color I wanted which is why I settle on ivory. Plus you can't beat their shipping. We are also considering buying some memory foam to get some more life out of our mattress. Those things are heavy and shipping is still only $2.95.

Google Earth

We are loving Google Earth around here!

On Sunday, Elijah traveled around the world. He went right down into the volcano on Hawaii's biggest island. (Did you know that there are cottages built right on the edge of that thing?) I saw him coming out of Indonesia telling me he couldn't find Utah. We went to visit his cousin's houses. I asked him if he'd like to see Houston where we'll be going next spring, he and I. We saw where Grandpa lives. We decided to check out Sea World in San Antonio since we'd like to go there. I had no idea of the death defying roller coasters they have there. Elijah says he wants to go on them. What do you think, Dad, are you game?

I've been using it to look up locations in Michigan we'd like to visit this summer. It gives me some idea of the surroundings and the size of the beaches. Really cool.

You can see the same satellite views on Google maps, but I don't think it's quite the same as Google Earth. It is free to download. Check it out!

Sucker Punched: The Sequel

Today, out of the blue, the same boy just punched me in the nose again. I must say, the shock was not as great as the last time, and I pulled him aside, and told him not to punch me again. He said "I had too much candy today! I'm CRAZY!"

He is on notice!

Tulip Festival and Early Season Beach Trip

On Thursday I kept the kids out of school so we could visit Holland, MI during "Tulip Time." We also went to two of Holland's beaches. Enjoy the photos! (For a travelogue, click here.)

The first beach we visited was Tunnel Park (because it has a tunnel through a dune to get to the beach). I have to say that I had great anticipation as we neared the tunnel where we would see the waters of Lake Michigan. My heart was in my throat and I was literally like a kid on Christmas morning. I haven't felt that way in a long, long time. Exhilerating!

Veldheer's Tulip Farm

One of the sweetest things I saw all day. Nathan said, "I forgot how nice it is to hold a little hand!"

Tunnel Park

We took our shoes and socks off to wade in the water. It was so funny when a wave came up and hit Brigham when he first had his feet in the water. I had hold of his hands and he retracted his whole body out of the water. Whoosh!

Ever since we visited Silver Lake Sand Dunes last summer and learned what happens to sand when lightening strikes, Nathan has been wanting a piece of fulgarite. It is rare to find it because it is so fragile, but that is exactly what he happened upon. A nice contribution to his rock collection. I don' t have a picture of it yet. Maybe he'll post that on his blog.

Holland State Park

Nice big brother trying to keep his sister warm!

A Card, a Message and a ZING!

This blog post is more spiritual in nature, but I feel like posting it here rather than my other blog.

Joseph and I have made each other some cards over the years. It started when we were dating and he made me a card for something or other. I was really impressed! He drew a funny little heel on the back of the card with the label "Heelmark: For when you can't afford to send Hallmark." College students...!

After he made me a few spectacular cards, I caught on and made some of my own. I've run across some of our cards recently. Today, I ran across this one that I made some years ago and the message was for me:



Have you ever had that feeling where some idea was trying to get through to you and then suddenly ZING! you got it? There's an idea floating around time and space for me right now, but the ZING isn't happening. I'm too collapsed, fearful and spending my energy trying to ward it off.

I'm going to try deep breathing!

Decorating

For Mother's Day this year, I asked Joseph if we could redecorate the living room. We're not getting rid of our 15 year old furniture, even though by the end of the day, the cushions have slid almost to the floor! Instead we're pulling down some of the wall hangings, repainting and trying to make the room tidier looking in general.

On Saturday evening some friends of ours watched our kids and for our date, we went shopping. We went to four different stores. I wanted some yarn (I'm going to crochet a new afghan), a small lamp, a new print for the wall, some baskets and a few other things. We found something in each store we visited and made mental notes of things we were interested in, but unsure of.

I know that I want more of a nautical theme and the walls are going to be painted a very pale blue. We found and bought some baskets to make the computer desk more organized. Like it or not, the computer desk is staying in the living room. We found and bought some wall hangings (sea star and scallop) for a grouping with the new print I'm going to get (Monet). We found and bought some jars to put shells into for display. We looked at a couple of yarns but didn't buy. We saw a really cool tree wall hanging, but didn't buy because it seemed too breakable. We saw some decorative pillows for the couch, but we weren't sure they'd match the blinds we have. We couldn't find a lamp that would work.

After we got home, I immediately regretted not buying the tree, but I also remembered that I had a 40% off coupon that we could use. I asked Joseph to pick that up. After I got the kids off to school I went to look at the yarn again thinking I had chosen, only to realize that the soft yarn I wanted had too much turquoise. Our couches are forest green and I just don't think those colors can mix well. I also walked through more of the Michael's store than we had on Saturday and found a lamp for half off that matches the wall hangings and tree perfectly in style and color. I tried again on the pillows and still didn't buy because of the colors. I found some silk flowers and rocks so that I could make a simple floral arrangement (see picture above).

As I was doing all of this shopping, I realized that my decorating life could be much easier. I could just go to Jo-Ann or Michael's or (fill in the blank store) and buy a bunch of things out of their nautical section and just be done. It was at this point that I realized that the searching and the mix and match are my style. I love it. I love getting things that work together from many locations. It gives me a thrill. I like doing this with birthday party supplies and other projects as well (the best example would probably be May's doll house). Though I usually like the end results of my searches, I have no idea if my versions of these fashions would be "socially" acceptable. That's not really what matters anyway!

I asked Joseph if he liked this as much as me. He said he'd rather just find it all in one place and be done with it. But he was happy to do it this way if I wanted.

It made me wonder what other people's styles/strategies are like, too. I wanted to make a poll, but I didn't know how to word it. How do you do these kinds of things? I know some people do the mix and match version to save money. Sometimes I fall into this category. I've been very pleased with thrift store finds, like an outfit that comes from three different stores and works perfectly together. Other times I probably spend more than if I were to just pick up all the items from one store and be done with it. It's these times when it's purely for the creative feeling I get.

Picture of the Day

Within this post, I'll keep my "Picture of the Day" for each date that I post one, and its caption.

5-6-2008

Springtime in Michigan includes lots of blossoms on bushes and trees. Joseph stated it best when he emphatically said, "I love Michigan's spring!"


5-7-2008

We've been listening to the 'Anne of Green Gables' series in the van. Every spring someone gives someone else (usually Anne) a handful of May flowers. My boy gave me these the other day.


5-09-2008

The waterwheel.


5-10-2008

"It's nice to hold a little hand."


5-11-2008

Surprise! Mother's day roses from my sweetheart.



5-12-2008

Boy meets tree.


5-14-2008

I love how my camera caught the last rays of sun as my little one enjoyed the freedom of the slide "all by myself."


5-15-2008

Everybody was very happy in this golden hour of a golden day. A bell in a church across the harbour rang faintly and sweetly. The moon was making patterns on the water. The dunes shimmered in hazy silver. There was a tang o mint in the air and some unseen roses were unbearable sweet.

Doughnuts and gratitude

So, tonight I brought Krispy Kreme home for the Family Night treat. The kids were eating them, and Sariah says "Pretend we got these from a nice person. We would say 'Thanks for bringing the doughnuts.'"

All hypothetical, of course!

Butter

Since giving up play dough, Brigham has taken up eating chunks of butter. Aren't you jealous of my fancy butter serving dish?

I Think I Two!

When Sariah turned two, Nathan turned out this little ditty (sung to the melody of "Happy Birthday"):

How old are you?
How old are you?
How old are you?
I think I'm two.

We sang that to Sariah a few times on her birthday and then to my amazement almost a month later, I heard her in her crib after I had put her to bed singing over and over:

I think I two...
I think I two...
I think I two.

(Note: you also have to imagine that with her water-proof voice!)

Now we are in the process of trying to recreate history!

Ready for Springtime Rain!

I have to get creative to keep this one busy, even if it's donning the raincoat and hat just for a few minutes to enjoy the rain!

Happy 2nd Brigham!

Good-bye baby!

Brigham woke up two years old today. We got a wagon for him and he couldn't be happier about it.

I decided to make a Googlepage to tell the miraculous story of his birth. You can read that here.

Play Dough

Just a week ago, Brigham was a one year old who ate play dough in little bits that he would snatch up as Sariah played. Yum!!

Today, he's an almost two year old who can roll, squeeze, and smash play dough with the best of them.




Oh, and he can do this:

the speech accent archive

This accent archive is right up Joseph's alley. I recognize the phonetic symbols from his time spent editing a Mayan linguistic book. Basically, the site hosts recordings of a passage of English, read by people all over the world.

Got some time to spare? Go to this site and click on "browse," then on "atlas/regions." It's kind-of cool. My only beef is that it's hard to tell where each little flag is before you click, so when you want to hear specific regions, you have to do some guesswork.

Posters

Here's another post about something that I needed to take pictures of and then throw away. These are some of the posters I've made for my kids' birthdays. A lot of them were used for some version or other of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." Coloring is surprisingly therapeutic (well, to a point).

Have you ever read the George and Martha stories by author/illustrator George Marshall? If not, you should check your local library. They have a humor all their own! These posters were for Joseph's party about four years ago. I told him that he had two surprise visitors coming to his party. He was genuinely excited about this because he loves having people over to our house. Secretly I had bought some stuffed hippos and dressed them up for George and Martha (you're seeing that this was more for the kids than Joseph). In one of their stories they go up in a hot air balloon. I created a hot air balloon, put the hippos in and sailed them into Joseph's party! The kids and I thought it was great!



Elijah's third birthday party:


May's fifth birthday party. We played pin the horn on the unicorn:



For Nathan's eighth birthday we held his party at the local science museum, but we were all really into Gumby and Pokey at the time, so I had to incorporate that:



Sariah's fourth birthday:


Elijah's fourth birthday. He's still a Curious George fan. We even have Brio train sets that were made to accompany some of the stories. I can't tell you how many Curious George books I've read:



Elijah's sixth birthday party, also held at the Science museum, but with a penguin theme (all the kids go crazy for penguins in Kindergarten because it's part of the curriculum):


We've had lots of Thomas the Tank Engine parties and we're going to have another one on Sunday. Brigham is already crazy about Thomas!

Memory Capture

If I want to capture all or part of my screen, I can use a program called SnagIt by TechSmith. I used this to grab the Google Earth images of our vacation. I really like the program. It has lots of options, but I won't pay $39.95 in a several days when my 30 day trial is up (Plus, my brother can probably tell me how to do this for free)! I wish it were as easy to capture memories.

Even if I carried my camera everywhere (which I know some people do), or if I had a notebook to jot down the things that happen as they happen, I would still miss things. It's not realistic to catch everything or keep it in memory. Besides, I'm not very good at stopping to take pictures (I'm usually the only parent in the room--every time--who forgets their camera). I'm also not very good at getting a journal out and writing.

Obviously this is on my mind a lot and my blog is getting a lot of overkill on the subject. It's just so intriguing to me! Going through all this stuff is getting to me; I've already said that. Also, Brigham is our last baby and he's turning two which in some ways is the end of babyhood. When I was in the middle of lots of little kids and not knowing when the end of it would be, I didn't stop and appreciate it so much. Now that I'm entering a new phase of life, I'm realizing that it's my last time to enjoy some of these little moments within my family.

Sometimes I walk around in peak awareness of the specialness of each moment. I haven't figured out which ones to record and which ones to leave, knowing that they will be there if I need them. Every so often I have remembrances from yesterdays gone by. Joseph and I share them together or we share them as a family and in a way they serve to bind the family together. They are here one moment and gone the next. Lately, I want to grab them and hold them down.

We are getting rid of all the little plastic animals and dinosaurs. When Nathan was three or four he used to play upstairs for hours setting these toys up in designs and in the end he'd tell me, "Mama, I'm making a birthday cake." At the time I thought it was cute, but mostly I was just glad he was up and playing and out of trouble while I attended to his two young siblings.

I'll sometimes get a glimpse of my little girl when she was sick and undiagnosed with asthma. I told her to bring her two blankets upstairs so we could use them for her nap. Diligent as she was she struggled to drag them upstairs and as I laid her down for her nap I noticed how labored her breathing was, her nostrils flaring. More air! Joseph took her to urgent care and the doc there said it would be faster for Joseph to transport her to the ER than to wait for the ambulance while she turned white, then blue, struggling for her life. In the days before cell phones were so prevalent, I waited in fear.

At times I remember the walk I took one spring day five or six years ago where I watched the ice churning and melting in the little lake next to our home. I learned a lesson about myself in that ice. It was amazing to me that I "happened" to be there to witness the miracle.

Occasionally I think of the one and only blue bird I've seen and wonder when I'll see another one!

I remember the day Elijah was born. I looked down at him, the very image of Nathan when he was born. It's humorous now, but I waited a whole month to get a glimpse of Elijah that was something other than what I remembered of Nathan when he was that age. Did I really have a different little baby in my arms? They were so alike.

On the drive to and from Florida I marveled at springtime in Georgia. It was like a mini-autumn. The leaves and blossoms were coming out in so many colors. I've never seen anything like it. Astoundingly beautiful. I made a mental note to try to remember it.

And on and on. Most of these memories aren't recorded anywhere. I'm trying to decide whether or not to use my blog to record these memories. It seems fitting to me because my blog is my family journal.

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A couple of fun things from the past few days:

In Primary on Sunday, the presidency did the spotlight as usual. Sariah was standing next to her new friend Brooke. Although they've been in class with each other for the first time, they seem to just have noticed each other ("Hi Sariah!" Brooke called. "Hi!" "Do you like my dress?" queried Brooke. All girl, isn't it?). I started to hear things in the spotlight that indicated Sariah. Finally, she stopped her chatting and started to take note of what they were saying, "This person likes Halloween best because they like candy." "This person likes to go to singing and storytime." And finally, "This person's birthday is on January 17th." Even from my seat in the row behind Sariah, I saw her head jolt out and a smile spread on her face. She went proudly to the front of the room to get her prize and then spent the rest of singing/sharing time glowing. Everytime I looked at her, she beamed.

Yesterday, we took cupcakes to Elijah's classroom. On the way out of the school, Brigham spied the buses waiting for the lines of kids to come. He started running, "Look, bus. Look, bus." (I want to look at the bus.) We went over and walked by the buses until he got his fill and then headed for the van.

Where are Memories Stored?

Joseph and I really like to conjure up ideas and build toys for our kids. Over the years, we've done some pretty neat things. We made a whole set of wooden blocks. We made a ball pit. We made a puppet theater. We made a doll house plus many of the fixins' (clothes, bedding, furniture etc.) for the dolls (see this previous post). For Nathan's fifth birthday, we threw him a Thomas the Tank Engine party and made these trains for each of the kids who came:


I found the extra trains that we had the other day and let Brigham play with them. I went back and forth deciding whether I would keep them or not. In the end, the face fell off of the Thomas and that decision was made easy.

All in all, I'm working to get rid of things even in the face of my version of practicality. For instance, why get rid of boy clothes that Brigham will eventually grow into? On the other hand, what is the price to store them for another five years until they fit him (and the elastic waistbands are likely shot)?

I also want to get rid of a lot of things that I think my memories are tied to (like the Thomas trains), because we just can't keep storing all of that stuff. (Do I sound like a broken record? Probably!) I was on the phone the other night with a lady whom I hope to get to know better (hi Jenny!). She talked about not letting the things that are in our homes define our memories. I thought that was wise. Somehow as I look at these things, it seems like the memories are captured inside them. If I remove the object, it seems like I remove the memory. In reality, I believe I just project the memory into the object. They are really stored inside me.

I haven't figured out how to keep memories differently. Maybe I do know how, but I've not effectively done it in the past. Surely pictures and journals are a big part of it. Sadly, I haven't done a very good job in the past of taking and making pictures available or of writing things down. My friend mentioned sending me the letters I had written to her over the years. I'm grateful for that because my journals are a desert during that time frame. (Wish I'd thought of sending people their letters before I rashly threw them out!)

My memories are important to me. I don't want to lose them.

P.S. For some bed-making fun, check out Lara's blog!

Happy 7th Elijah!

Yesterday Elijah came to me asking for 18 pieces of paper. "Eighteen?!?!" I said. He told me he thought he could use less by cutting each paper into four pieces and asked how many would he need to make 18. I told him and then asked what he was doing. "I'm going to make a card for all the people in my class telling them what time to come to my house for my party," he said, real cute-like. Ooohhhh! I had to explain that each kid had a big party last year and that we weren't having any friend parties this year, only family parties. But I spent last night and this morning wishing I would do a party for him because that was just so cute!

Elijah is excited for his birthday and to celebrate this morning he had cheese melted in a tortilla. But, he wasn't too keen on us singing to him because it's just not time. He chose basketball and soccer ball cupcakes for school and a chocolate-vanilla swirl cheesecake for the family party.


Elijah through the years (including two of the four scrapbook pages I've ever made):