Death of a light bulb

Have you ever witnessed a light bulb shine its last moments? Usually, light bulbs go out in a flash when you try to turn them on. Yesterday I turned the bedroom light on and watched the bulb "ebb and flow" as it lived it final seconds then fade out. It was reminiscent of a sci-fi movie when the aliens are attacking. But the only thing attacking yesterday morning was Joseph's diaper. Chad changed the bulb last night and did find some little tiny aliens that had lived their final moments in the light bulb cover. Yuck.

I pulled out the vacuum (don't die of shock) this morning to attack the main floor rooms. Just before I turned it on, I remembered that I keep forgetting to check the bag. When I reached down to feel the amount of debris we'd been collecting, I was shocked to find the bag fully inflated...with debris! Yikes! I've never seen a bag get all the way full. I'm surprised it didn't burst into flames a month ago (right about the last time I vacuumed). I have a much happier vacuum now.

I learned a little something about mop water this morning. It doesn't get nearly as dirty when you only wait a week to mop, as opposed to a month. The water was still so sterile after I finished under the dining room table, that I celebrated by mopping the 3 1/2 x 6 foot piece of floor by the toilet. (Luckily, the rest of the bathroom is carpeted, so my happy vacuum got that.)

So now that I've cleaned so much of the floors this morning, I'm ready for my visiting teachers to come. Unfortunately, they aren't coming until tomorrow night, so they'll never be able to tell I did anything today.

Quote of the morning

Strange is a scary place. -Leah

Why

I've wondered a few things lately. Sometimes I've really wondered, and sometimes it was really just complaining. Here is a sampling.

Why won't the books stay on the shelf? They are not stepping stones, yet they seem determined to pretend to be. Some books are naughtier than others. No matter where I hide them on the shelves, they are always the ones I'm picking up the next time.

Why do my kids think they are on a 3 foot leash? Every time I turn around, I'm bumping into one. And then I'M the bad guy! Sometimes they think they have to lead, so they rush to get right in my path and slow WAY down. Now I'm mean for pushing them a little faster or bumping them to get around.

Why does my hair get lighter after every baby is born? It's weird for a blond to have lighter roots. I don't know if it's from the drugs, the shock of the surgery, a physical change of having the baby separated, or a mental response to thinking, "That's another one I have to keep alive for the next 18 years." Currently, the "birth mark" is out about 1/2" from my scalp. At least I haven't pulled my hair out yet!

Why does Rebekah ask me "Why" so much?
Rebekah: "Are those Joseph's clothes?"
Me: "Yes."
Rebekah: "Why?"
I truly have no response.

Why do my kids think they deserve so much? Leah has a melt down if she doesn't get exactly what she wants. Nathan goes into "stand off" mode if he isn't satisfied. Daniel starts demolishing anything in his path if he has to do 10 minutes of homework (which IS NOT hard for him) instead of playing after school. Rebekah cries... (OK...she's 2). We try not to indulge the kids. They don't play video games, we don't have cable, we've never been to Disneyland and even only taken them to Lagoon once. We do have a TON of games that we hope will give us more family time. I actually kind of dislike those games because I'm always having to rescue pieces so they will stay in decent, playable condition. So I have no desire to get them out again to actually play.

Why are two of my kids left-handed? I only have 3 writers so far, and 2 of them are "South Paws." Isn't that kind of a high percentage? I think Rebekah is going to be right-handed. It's still uncertain. My Dad is left-handed and so is one of Chad's sisters. I don't care which hand they write with, as long as it isn't on the walls or furniture!

Why does Joseph sleep best when I'm half-awake, listening for him? When I'm conked out, he's ready to play. It's some kind of instinctive cruelty that babies are born with. Leah is still exhibiting some signs of it, even at 4 years old. And on a related topic, HOW do babies know when the person holding them sits down? You stand for half an hour holding them and soothing them to sleep. Just before your arms and back give out, so ever so carefully slip into a chair or couch cushion and POW! you're holding a screaming bundle of baby love.

I have more. But I also have laundry. (Why is there always so much laundry?) I'll leave you to ponder your own "whys".

Photos of Joseph

I captured these pictures over the past few days. I have to show you how cute Joseph is! I've snapped pictures from head to toe. And there is a video bonus! All this for free! Where can you find a better deal?
I had to get his feet. They remind me of little gorilla toes, the way they curl. They almost look like fingers!

I have to show you a smile. (This is more like a grin.) We don't see a ton of those lately, but they are coming more and more often. He's so handsome/cute/irresistible!

Here he was tucked into bed. All my babies have slept better with something against their cheeks. This blanket has so much stuffing in it that it folds over him but keeps an open space inside. I'm sure it will be limp and sorry looking after a couple of years of washes. For now, it's perfect.

Unfortunately, he was awake within minutes of this picture. It wasn't a real restful night.


And to reward your loyalty and dedication to reading this blog, here is a video taken today. I was hoping for a nap, but I got this instead. I guess it was worth the trade. (I am really talking it up. I am a mother in love! You may not be so biased.)

Conversation with Rebekah

Rebekah is talking more and more.

Here's a conversation we just had about 5 minutes ago.

Rebekah: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "Daddy's at work."
R: "Why?"
M: "Because that's where he goes every day."
R: "Bring his check?"

See how smart she is? She's already picked up on the real reason we let Daddy leave every morning! It is payday soon.

No rest for the weary

It was not a restful night. I know that Rebekah didn't wake up (at least I didn't hear her during any of the times I was awake). It's possible that one of the boys slept through the night. But one of them was up at 3:45 AM rummaging through some toys. I heard it over the baby monitor (I was awake then). When we questioned them this morning, they both denied it was them. So either they were playing in their sleep, or someone is lying. I don't know why they would need to lie. I don't even know what the punishment would be for playing with your toys at 4 AM. Having a sleepy day at school, probably.

Leah spent part of the night on our floor, by my side of the bed. Joseph spent part of the time he was sleeping in bed next to me. I never sleep well that way. I'm only half asleep so that I don't roll into him or he doesn't roll into me. And after so many hours of staying stuck in one position, my muscles start screaming at me.

Chad woke up a few times, too.

Let's see if I'm lucky enough for a nap today. At least school wasn't cancelled again.

Quote of the morning: "Mommy, Joseph is being haved in there." - Leah

Faces

I've just discovered that my 7 1/2 year old doesn't know who Donald Duck is. I felt bad for him for about 1/2 a second. I realized that he can name Nephi, Joseph Smith and Gordon B. Hinkley (and many more) from pictures. That's more important to me.

We do need to get him to Disneyland someday, though.

School is cancelled

Again. It's 9 AM and -12 degrees outside. It's gotten two degrees warmer!

A little bit ago Daniel told me that he didn't feel good. Doesn't he know that he doesn't have to go to school? We are very sensitive around here. We often don't feel good. I'm often saying, "Go lie down." (Actually, I say, "Go lay down" but I know that's improper grammar and don't want you to think I'm unschooled!)

Unfortunately, we all have to go out soon because Leah has her yearly check up today. She's very excited because (oh, Leah JUST told me her tummy hurts...see?) the doctor's appt. is all about her. Even though she knows she's getting a shot, she's still excited to be the center of attention!

I hear Joseph crying. He must not feel good. ;)

Funny English

You've heard of fuzzy math. We have funny English.

Last week, Leah said, "I'd like to brush my toastamony."

She was just giving Rebekah a "piggy bank ride."

Nathan likes to read "mazagines."

Daniel eats "prentzels."

Rebekah tells me all the time that she "wiln't" get hurt.

Chad called one of the boys by one of the girls' names last night (and didn't even notice).

I, of course, am perfect.

Keeping Warm

It was in the negatives when the boys got on the bus this morning. BRRR!!! I'm trying to keep warm by cleaning (because I feel less guilty than sitting by the propane stove). I've mopped so far.

Leah is playing with the Book of Mormon figures and testing my knowledge of their names. I'm not doing too badly. Just confusing Laman with Lemuel and Capt. Moroni with Helaman. Of course, the names are on the bottom so sometimes I don't even try to guess.

We've been dealing with a cranky baby lately and I figured it was something I was eating. Milk is always a stinker so I first guessed it was that. I went all day without ANY dairy. If you know me and my love of milk, you know that was a concentrated effort. I made do with the whole wheat bread I'd just made. That night (Saturday), I decided to get online to see how long I would have to abstain before seeing any results. TWO WEEKS??!! I also found a list of foods that can cause cranky babies. Most of it was stuff I'd been eating the past two weeks...then I saw WHEAT. That's one thing I've really increased my consumption of (too bad my colon didn't know it) over the past two weeks.

So I resumed my milk addiction and have eliminated the whole wheat bread. (It's so good though!) I can pass on the homemade bread for a lot longer than the milk. Joseph actually was a lot better last night. He's still cranky, but not so bad. And now Chad won't have to take it so personally. For a while there, I was the only human that could comfort him for any length of time, and sometimes even I wasn't good enough.

Our healthy streak seems to be weakening. We're still healthy, but now have colds. (I think of children with serious diseases or crippled bodies and don't think colds are much to complain about.) The girls are the grossest, but they are getting good practice at blowing their noses! Daniel is getting goopy, too. So far, Joseph is dry. :) Chad has been congested for a little while.

Now Leah is getting into Chad's closet. Why can't they play with the mess that's already out? I get so frustrated (and discouraged) to see the messes GROW instead of shrink. The kids just watch me clean and wait until I go past then close in behind me and undo the work I did. Don't think I'm not trying to teach them to help. I know there are people out there that think children shouldn't have their childhood interrupted by grueling housework and similar chores. I am not one of them! I just haven't figured out how to get four children to help me out without totally losing my mind or temper. The DI bag helps a lot. My philosophy: If it's too hard for you to clean up, then we'd better get rid of it. We don't want your life to be too difficult! (Read that last sentence with heavy sarcasm.)

Now I'd better get up and get back to work. Leah's going to die from malnutrition and I'm going to die from an overdose of whining. I've got laundry to fold anyway, plus a million other things to do before the house begins to look like someone productive lives here.

Here are some scrapbook pages I did yesterday. It was part of a challenge in our scrapbooking group.

Grateful for the little things

I would just like to put in a plug for the Fisher Price Cradle Swing.

This thing has saved us several times. Sometimes, it's the only thing that soothes Joseph. He likes to swing side to side best of all. Lately, Joseph's bed has been the swing. I get the most rest when the swing is going.

Now don't think I'm a bad parent, but sometimes he sleeps 5-6 hours in the swing. It doesn't quite catch me up on sleep, but I don't fall as far behind! If I put Joseph in the bassinet, he rarely goes more than 2 hours.

I LOVE this swing!

Two complaints:

1)Replacing batteries. We're running it all night. You can imagine how quickly that zaps the batteries.

2)Noisy motor. This swing is several years old (I bought it at a second hand children's store in 2002) so I figure that they've been able to improve the motor. I get annoyed when I "hear" phrases in the repetitious noise of the motor. Things like, "I look at that, I look at that, I look at that." So I may actually be telling you that I'm crazy, but I do hear things like that.

I know that the ones they make now have lights and music. Joseph is quite content to watch the 4 little stuffed animals that hang over him. He especially likes the zebra. I think he's told it some secrets!

This swing is now pampering at least its 5th child. We've never had any problems with it and I like the openness of it that makes it easy to get little bodies in and out. It's worth the $100 price tag it has (especially if it's going to be used for siblings)!

Update on the x-rays

OK...I'm going to try to make this quick. I never know when Joseph is going to call me and I have to go visiting teaching in less than an hour.

I picked Chad up from work yesterday afternoon so he could watch the 4 kids (Daniel was in school) while I had an ultrasound and a series of x-rays to find out why I have such a pain in my stomach. It's been a sharp, stabbing pain that had gotten worse over the month.

The only thing they could find in the results was that my colon was full. So I have pain near my navel because I need to poop? The doctor told me to take a few tablespoons of milk of magnesia for a few nights and give him an update on Monday. I was a little surprised by the result of the visit (especially since I had made very good use of the bathroom that morning), but a bottle of laxative is cheaper than surgery for something else! It's already working...the laxative, that is. We'll see if I feel anymore pain now.

How ironic that I've been wanting to lose weight and I was holding on to it all along. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Waste not, want not." I did weigh less this morning!

And into bragging mode: Nathan brought home his report card yesterday. Zero absences and top scores all the way down the sheet! He's such a good student. Maybe he really is the smartest one in his class! ;) I just hope this isn't a progress report for the whole year. I expect they have other things they didn't test the kids on yet that he's still learning. Let's hope, or we're going to have a bored little boy. I wish I could send Leah to school...all day (she's currently being grumpy).

Here's a funny: Daniel has a mid-week spelling test that if he gets 100%, he goes on to the challenge words for Friday's test. We practiced his words Tuesday night and he spelled them all correctly. In the car after school Wednesday, he said, "I missed one on my spelling test. Do you know which one it was? 'Food.' Do you know why I missed it? She said 'hot food' and I wrote 'hot'!" Poor kid! I laughed.

This is going to be a long one!

I guess it's time for an update. It's been over 2 weeks since I posted anything. I've thought about posting. Does that count? As it is, I know I'm not going to be able to finish this in one attempt. Joseph has not been very lenient with me this morning.

It's currently snowing. I like the snow. I don't like it on the roads. We have so much ice around here that I'm surprised there haven't been more accidents than have already happened. I had to "bank the van" last night at a stop sign since it seemed to be the only sure way of stopping. (I steered the right front tire into a snow bank.) It has been barely making it into the double digits lately. I can hardly believe that we'll be dying from heat in 6 months.

We attended the Rexburg Temple Open House Monday last week. It was a lot of walking and I kept stealing glances at Katrina to see if she was keeping up ok. I was glad that I wasn't pregnant, but then realized that I might as well as been since I was carrying a load of blankets and a hungry baby, had a big diaper bag around my neck and was still wearing a jacket. All of the rooms were beautiful, of course. The girls started getting a little bored. Rebekah had to be carried sometimes. Daniel was very attentive. He stuck right by the tour guide's side. He must be very good in line at school! When we got done with the tour and were in the neighboring Stake Center's cultural hall for refreshments, Rebekah nodded her head and said, "Temple." She's very perceptive. Only we weren't in the temple by then. :)

I suppose I can update you by person.



Joseph first. His blessing was two Sundays ago. I had been worried that he wouldn't fit into the blessing outfit that I started before we moved. No worries. He had at least an inch left in the legs. He was well behaved for his blessing. He was hot and cranky by the time church was over. So was I, come to think of it. The church building was full of people and very warm. We had lots of people attend his blessing. Our house was full that morning! Here are some pictures of the day. We had a few shutter-bugs that day!


He has been smiling for a little while now. It's very cute to see his jaw drop down low and expose his shiny gums. It's difficult to catch it with the camera, though. I was successful once. He's even laughed a few times, but they've all been while he's unconscious or nearly so. He must have really good dreams!

Joseph still sleeps a lot. I won't complain though because if he's awake, he's usually demanding something. I don't get much done if he's not sleeping. He was two months old this past Sunday.

Rebekah has been talking more and more. She surprises me with some of her comments. Some of her favorite things to say are, "Let me see", "I was sitting there", "I want (fill in the blank)" and "Be nice to me!" She has taken a bit of a break from her potty training. I haven't felt like pursuing it. I'm not sure how much she recognizes that it's coming. I should get more involved with that. (Ten minutes after writing this, Rebekah came up to me and said she needed to go potty. She was still dry and actually went potty! I guess I don't know what I'm talking about.)

Rebekah is the most polite of the kids. She says, "Thank you" several times a day. Many times when I tell her to do something, she says, "Oh Tay!"

Somehow, she's become very fashion minded. She keeps changing her clothes. I keep sending her to her room to change back. I really don't like to do laundry that much!

Leah finally started Sunbeams this year and now thinks she's quite special. While I agree with her, I don't think I'd mean it with the same attitude. She acts older than her age, which makes it hard for me to treat her fairly. I'm starting to expect more than she's capable of doing.

Apparently, I yell too much. Leah can now only truly express herself by yelling. That's how she starts. And ends. She's not very pleasant to be around sometimes. Other times, she' quite fun. I said something (unoffending...but I can't remember what exactly) and she grunted/whined, flapped her arms and stomped away. I was stunned for a moment then called her back into the room to ask her what was wrong. Nothing was wrong and she didn't know why she reacted that way. She was suddenly all smiles and pleasantness.

Leah is very motherly. She is good to play with Rebekah and explain things to her. Last week, she was following me around the house with a carpet sweeper. She paused in her housework to lean in to Jospeh and put the pacifier back into his mouth. Last night she engaged Rebekah in an endless game of "Ring around the rosie." But she changed the end to, "We all fall bottom" and insisted that everyone comply. I still don't get it.

Since getting her booster seat for the van, the screaming has decrease (yet not disappeared). It has been nice. She feels very mature in it.

Nathan is my least-like-the-family child. He is not fooled by reverse psychology. He is not bothered with ultimatums. He thinks he is the smartest child in his Kindergarten class. He is a smart little stinker, but I wouldn't go that far. He is the only one that doesn't ask to hold Joseph. He will debate with you until he gets disinterested or in trouble.

Santa brought the boys K'Nex for Christmas. Nathan spends HOURS following the advanced directions and creating things. Yesterday it was a helicopter.

He loves to do worksheets. He'll do a worksheet nearly every time I suggest it. But don't ask him to read. He'll be six in a little over 2 weeks.

Daniel seems to have beaten his pants-wetting problem. It's been a couple of weeks (except for one time) since he's had any problem. That was good medicine I bought! One application and he was cured! I still wish I hadn't spent the money on it. I think he was just affected by all the changes he'd been through in the past couple of months. Daniel is currently trying to tell the truth.

I had a conference with his teacher at school. All his grades are in the mid or low 90's. He is well behaved in class. He has the best handwriting in the whole class. He's a good reader (I actually knew that one.) He completes his work (although he can get distracted). Where is this boy she's talking about? We have serious struggles at home. He even told me that punishments wouldn't work to get him to do his homework! I responded that he didn't know exactly what kind of punishments I could come up with!

Daniel is slow to lose his baby teeth. The only two he's lost were pulled by a dentist, and one of them wasn't even loose. He's had a third tooth loose for at least a couple of months. He tried to yank it this morning, but ended up crying. Apparently, it wasn't ready to come out.

Daniel and I are starting to have more "grown-up" conversations. I'm finally starting to feel like a parent. Until now, I've just felt like a long term babysitter. It's an interesting feeling!

I have been trying to get the house organized (still). Joseph is making it a challenge for me. I don't get the sleep I want or need. Last night was not restful and the girls are paying the price today.

I am still working on my goal to show an increase of love. It's not easy, but I'm not giving up! I'm also trying to remember that they are all still young enough that they are not accountable for their actions...I'm holding them accountable anyway.

I am finally getting a calling at church. I'll be in the Primary, but still don't know what exactly I'll be doing. Hopefully, I'll get to know some women with children my age. This is the worst part of moving. I feel like an outsider all over again. That isn't to say that they aren't nice. They're friendly, just not friends. I'm very grateful that we didn't move very far and I can still reach out to my friends back there...and I do!

Many of you know that I usually have something go "wrong" each time I have a baby. This time it seemed that I had broken the curse. That may be premature. I have an appointment today to investigate why I get a stabbing pain in my gut. My doctor is stumped and has ordered some tests. It could be scar tissue, but seems kind of high in the stomach for that. I guess I'll keep you posted.

Chad has been working hard at the office with deadlines and meetings keeping him busy. He has started getting busy with the Elder's Quorum and is starting to get to know more people.

He goes outside in the freezing cold every day to keep the animals alive. Chocolate keeps destroying the containers we put his water in, so now Chad's shopping for something close to indestructible.

Chad is the only reason the boys get on the bus every morning. I am grateful to him for how much he does. I feel like I should say more about him, but his life is our family and that's all been said.

We haven't sold our old house yet. We're crossing our fingers that it won't be much longer. We hear that things are picking up. We've found that it's quite expensive to heat an empty house, so we're extra hopeful someone will buy soon.

We've been healthy for a long time now. I'm counting that blessing daily. I know it won't last forever. Let's get Joseph a little older before we start throwing the mucus around!

And now you're caught up. Whew. I'm glad there's one less thing to feel guilty about!

Happy 4th Birthday, Leah!

Leah turned 4 years old today!!!


We've ALL waited long for this day. It was a long day for Leah. She just wanted to get to that cake and the presents.

I wasn't able to decorate her cake last night, so she got to watch me decorate it this morning. She and Rebekah were quite interested in the process. And to my credit, I didn't get very stressed out having them there.

We let the birthday person choose where they want to have dinner on their special night. Chad and I both knew where Leah would want to go before we asked. So we had dinner at Wendy's tonight. At least I didn't have to get all dressed up! The kids loved their kid's meals and included toys.

Home for presents and cake. Everyone was thrilled with Leah's gifts. It seemed a little strange to me to be having a b-day so close to Christmas. I hope to get used to it soon. It's only been 4 years now.

Leah's biggest gift is a booster car seat. Truthfully, this is a present for the whole family. I have been anticipating this gift more than Leah. Maybe the car rides will be more enjoyable if she has less to be upset about. Leah's wiggles = our giggles!

Leah keeps us laughing and trying to guess what's next. She is a big girl stuck in a 4 year old's world. She's extremely energetic and stubborn. She's the social one and always tells us about a new friend she's made. She's a great big sister to Rebekah and can keep up with the boys in nearly everything. She'd love to take care of Joseph if only her mother would let her!

Happy Birthday, Leah!

Leah's cake. I'm not winning any cake decorating awards, but Leah liked it. She called it a Barbie cake. Rebekah actually saw me stick the doll in, so she kept shaking her head and saying, "Legs." She knew we were being a bit deceiving! It was our little secret which turned into a funny prank on the older kids when they pulled her out!

Leah informed us that she could blow her candles out all by herself. But when it came time to actually do it, she struggled a bit. At one time, there were three kids blowing on that cake. Ew! Yuck!

There was no lack of helpers when it came time to cutting the cake. We let Leah take the first stab. She looked like she was using a chisel rather than a knife!

Leah was looking a lot like a cannibal as she started eating the frosting off the doll.

Everyone enjoyed the party!

Happy 2008!

We had a New Year's Eve party with the kids. We told them at lunch time that they could stay up as until they were tired or until we went to bed - whichever came first. They were so excited and kept asking about the party. Even Rebekah was feeling the energy.

We started the evening watching Shrek 2. At 9 PM we started pigging out and playing games. We played Monopoly Jr. Leah won by $2. We played Book of Mormon Go Fish and two games of How Tall Am I?

About 10 PM I was feeling pretty tired, but the kids were all going strong. I was hoping some of them would decide to head to bed. At 11 PM, Daniel was reading from a chapter book with Chad. I couldn't believe that he could focus on the print!

We had family scripture time and prayer and got pajamas on at 11:30 then watched the last 10 minutes of the New Year's Eve TV coverage. I whooped and hollered when the ball dropped and the kids looked at me with blank stares. Don't they know that this is what they stayed up for?

Leah was lying there with her eyes half closed, but no one went to bed until the new year arrived. To top it all off, Leah complained that she didn't want to go to bed. Good old Leah. At least we know what to expect, unfortunately.

Joseph stayed awake most of the time, too. He's already a party animal!

Chad and I got to bed about 12:30. I guess the boys' alarm was set, because I heard someone rummaging through a bucket of K'Nex at 7:30 the next morning. Don't these kids need sleep?!?

The last of the New Year's festivities was to pack away the Christmas gear. We think we got everything except for one plate.

It's finally over! These past 2+ months have been tough. It's been hard to move, celebrate holidays and get used to another little person in the family. I look forward to 2008's holiday season being calmer and more organized = more enjoyable. It got so bad there for a while that one day, Daniel forgot his homework folder and Nathan forgot his backpack all together. I feel it's personal when the kids go to school unprepared.

I do have a resolution for the year. It's actually something I was already working on. I'm working on showing an increase of love with the kids. I criticize too much and don't appreciate enough. I'm using this scripture as my guide and reminder: "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy." (D&C 121:43) I think that will help Daniel with wetting his pants and hopefully Leah won't freak out so much. I've already seen how well the kids respond.

I have an Opinion!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080102/D8TU08S80.html

That's a link to a story you can read on your own. The general idea is about an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant battling with a couple who could really put it away. It's mildly interesting. My opinion comes from a caption quoted at the end of the article. It's from a sign posted in the restaurant. The more I thought about it, the more my opinion formed.

It says,' "Food is for eating, not toys for your child," reads a sign posted on a wall in typewritten text. A handwritten addition reads "Or 20% added." '

Now, I tell my kids to "start eating" all the time. Do they listen to me? Hardly. How does this proprietor propose parents get their children to not play with their food?

"If you don't stop playing with your food, I'm going to be charged another $1.50 and that's coming out of your allowance!"

Maybe you could just starve them all day so that they'd be willing to eat the napkins once they get to the restaurant.

Has the restaurant under priced their food and is losing money on what kids are heaping onto their plates then into the garbage? I would assume that once you pay for it, it's yours and if you want to play with it, then go for it!

Personally, I hate to see my kids waste food that I've paid for. I don't let them get too much at a time, and if they are not eating what they have, they certainly don't get to go back for more. But I can't swallow for them. If they aren't eating their food, I don't want to be the one who gets punished!

Luckily, this particular restaurant is in Louisiana. I doubt we'll have to worry too much.

This reminds me of the sign Chad and I saw in a downtown Salt Lake City's McDonald's while we were still dating. It posted a food consumption time limit of 20 minutes. (Do you remember that Mom and Dad Collett and Pamela?) They just wanted to you to get your indigestion and get the heck out!

Tagged (just like a head of cattle!)

My friend Kristy tagged me last week. I've never been tagged before.

For those of you who don't keep a blog, you "tag" someone to answer the same questions or write on the same topic that you just posted about. You can tag any number of people. Sometimes it's specified how many to tag in the post. It's a step up from chain letters...a little step with more personality.

So here I go.

5 Interesting/Quirky Things About Me
(some you may or may not already know)

I am a night owl. I take the long road to bed at night, finding lots of little things to do on the way. (It must drive Chad crazy to wait for me, but so far he has been kind.) Consequently (or maybe just coincidentally), I am NOT a morning person. (That 7 AM French class in college was a REALLY bad idea. I did not make that mistake twice!)

I own 3 flutes and can't play any of them. I have one fixed up for myself to learn to play on my own, but finding the time (ok, let's be honest...MAKING the time) has been difficult. I bought the other two off of eBay for cheap planning to fix up and sell for a profit. They're still sitting in their beat up conditions. Anyone want to buy a fixer upper? I DO own and play the clarinet and piano, although my skill levels are not impressive. I play the radio the best!

I often feel guilty. I think about how much I flake out on someone (Chad mostly, the kids, too) or how I spend money, or what I think about someone else, or if I cut someone off on the road, or if I start feeling too prideful, or how much time I spend on the computer, or if I haven't written in my blog lately, or if the housework is done, or if I'm reading too much...you get the idea.

I hate clothes shopping. I never find anything I like that fits and is something I can afford. I usually walk out of the store, empty handed, discouraged and wishing for a different body. But at least the only thing I'm spending is time, right Chad?

I love to create something. I have a whole sewing room with fabrics and craft materials. It's a necessity for me. I like to learn new things. I taught myself to cross-stitch in High School and to crochet 8 years ago. I used to know how to knit (when I was 4), but have plans to re-learn that as well as learn new crafts. For now, I'm enjoying Digital Scrapbooking and have plans for eye-popping projects. :) The best part is finishing something (like Joseph's Blessing outfit that needs to be done by Sunday).

OK. Now you might know me a little better.

I tag Amber and the Collett family bloggers.