Rebekah-ism

As I was doing a little sewing this morning, Rebekah occupied the rocking chair behind me. Out of nowhere (which is where most of her questions seem to originate), she asks, somewhat incredulously, "Who in the world likes pain?" Her next question was, "What even is pain?" After I explained it, she was quiet for about 15 seconds. Then, "Beating is pain."

Yes, I suppose a beating could be painful; provided it is administered correctly. And then there is the beating Chad administered last night. About 20 minutes later, I returned the beating. It was too late to play a tie-breaker game. We love Settlers of Catan. :)

Pay It Forward

My friend had this game on her blog (she got it from another friend, etc.). I signed up to play. Who else wants to join?

I'll make something for the first three people to comment on this post.

Those three people need to have a blog and post the PIF Game so the fun keeps going. I have till December 31, 2009 to send a goodie package to you.

Please leave a blog link or e-mail in your comment so I have a way to contact you for your snail mail address.

If you're local, I don't need your address...unless you've moved since I last visited! (Can't actually think who that might be...)

Gambling - a lengthy discourse

Daniel and I had a little discussion about gambling the other day.

The story actually starts a couple of months ago when he opened a grab bag from the dollar store and found himself owner of a pack of playing cards. We don't have playing cards. We have so many other great games and don't even know how to play the games designed for gambling, that we've just decided to not enter into that area. I'm not implying that people who have/use playing cards are making bad choices. We have made a choice not to have them.

SO, when Daniel pulls these cards out of his bag, I think, "Oh, great." Then I forgot all about them until the other day when he brings them to me and asks how to play them. We had a discussion about the kinds of games those cards are designed for and a discussion about what gambling was and why it was so dangerous. I pointed out to him that Mommy and Daddy (He still calls us that. I keep wondering when he'll decide to make the switch.) don't have any playing cards because we have so many other great games and then there isn't a temptation to use them for gambling.

After we talked about how gambling can ruin families and lives and that it's addictive...blah, blah, blah, I asked him what he thought the best thing to do with the cards would be. He suggested putting them away, then he realized that I meant something a little more drastic. I told him it was his decision. He could pray about it and decide what he would do. I wouldn't be mad at him if he chose to keep them, but he knew I didn't approve of the cards themselves.

Apparently, he was really attached to those cards because then next thing I notice is that he's trying not to cry. I told him we could compromise = just get rid of the kings, queens and jacks. That way the cards couldn't be used for the gambling games, but would still be good for playing war or go fish or building card houses, etc. He decided to do that and felt much better. He's trying to make good choices, but sometimes those choices are so difficult!

So while this experience was still rather fresh in my memory, I ran across this AP article about a casino last night. Here's the link to the story, but the gist of the problem is that a casino in Pennsylvania sent out some vouchers to its most elite 1,000 patrons giving each of them up to $500 in slot credits and two free visits to the buffet ($14 each) - expires Jan 4th. Unfortunately, a mistake happened somewhere in the mailing of the promotion and it was sent to 55,000 people instead of just the originally intended 1,000.

Now the casino is frantically trying to save itself as it recognizes that it would cost more than $29 million dollars to honor the vouchers and meals. They are trying to "save face" and are offering $100 in slot credits and the two free meals if they redeem them by Christmas. They're hoping that the customers will be reasonable and not demand the original offer, but they're not sure how to handle it if they do.

I've been in a few casinos. We lived in Las Vegas for nearly 4 years. They often have little signs up about gambling addictions and a number to call for counseling. They also design the casino so that you have to pass through it to reach just about anything else in the building...including the exits. They booze you up, delivered by mostly naked women and make sure you have no idea what time it is by eliminating clocks and windows or see-through doors. They WANT you to stay and keep putting money into the machines.

They don't ask if you're betting your children's dinner budget or the mortgage payments for the next 5 months. They don't REALLY care if it's your last dime and have already declared bankruptcy twice before. And if you soil your pants while sitting at the slot machine, they think that's gross, but they clean it up and hope someone else grabs the seat soon. (It happens!)

So do I care too much that a casino now finds itself in the same situation that many of its patrons have been in? Nope. I think it's pretty low to ask for mercy when you likely haven't been much for practicing it yourself.

Bossy Turkeys

How was every one's Thanksgiving? We had a very busy trip south to visit with my family. My mom recently moved an hour closer to us, so the trip was pleasantly shorter, but that meant that we had more traveling to do to visit with other members of my family.

The kids bore the trauma and abuse of the road fairly well. However, we were nearly done in around the last 45 minutes of our trip home. I thought Joseph might head up a mutiny when we
got into the van for church today, but he was thankfully calm.

We had a big feast on Thursday. We had a nice prayer by my brother-in-law (thanks, Roy) before eating. I felt a little disappointed that nothing more than the prayer was said in regard to thanks and blessings. I have been more apt to notice my blessings recently and had been looking forward to hearing some others express sentiments, too. Oh well.

After the dinner, the kids went out to play and the remaining grown-ups played a couple of games of Imaginiff... Apparently, I was voted to be a sheep dog. My sister was thought to be akin to a Turkish Bath. Chad and I seem to be viewed in a certain light by my family as both of us often got unanimous votes from everyone at the table.

The next day was very busy for our little family. We stopped at the This Is The Place Heritage Park and took a train tour of the park. It was cold and misty = why did I bother with the curling iron? From there we drove 45 minutes to my sister's house for lunch (VERY yummy...thanks, Amber!) and a game of Settlers of Catan. We left there about 5 pm and drove an hour to my dad's for a 90 minute visit and dessert. We had another good drive back to my mom's and rushed the kids through a shower before putting them all to bed.

My dad and the kids

This isn't the best picture I got of this, but I had to laugh at Nathan's eyes. There's always something with this crowd!

The next morning was my niece's baptism, so we left the house at 9:01 (11 minutes late) and drove almost an hour to get to the church. After the baptism was a lunch at my sister's (thanks, Andrea!) and from there we drove to Hogle Zoo. (Tonight, while we were writing in journals, Daniel asked how to spell "Hoo-gi-lie." Everyone got a good laugh!) We walked around and did our best to stay warm for 2 hours. We returned to my mom's to clean up a bit, finish packing, lighten her leftover load and got on the road just after 6. We arrived home at 8:45, much to the relief of Joseph, Rebekah and Leah (and everyone within the sound of their crying).

Sunday truly is a day of rest, for which I am Grateful. It's nice to be home.

As with any family, ours has it's quirks. Sometimes I struggle with the things that happen more than others. As we were driving home, I was thinking about little things that affect me and trying to figure it all out. I decided I am part of a bossy family. The people in my family are all the smartest ones in the room. (Some are louder about it than others.) So no one in my family really ever asks for advice from anyone else. I mean, if you are already the smartest, who is left to get any good advice from? Right?

We're all so focused on being the toughest and smartest, that we fail to really talk to each other and get to know everyone.

You think you have it bad? Let me tell you about my experience...
You don't have that problem figured out? Let me tell you what you should do...
That's not any thing. Once I....

You know how it is. It goes on like this until everyone has gone home or gone to bed and then you really ARE the smartest (and only) one in the room. I would like to just sit down and have someone Ask me something and then listen...no advice, no competition. A little sympathy would even be better, but not required. I would like someone to feel like they could confess an insecurity or dilemma because it helps them talk to someone they trust. Period. I have many friendships like this, but none in my family. Well, maybe with my dad.

Anyway, this is my family's quirk. (OK, we have more than that, but who only has one?) So there were a lot of bossy Turkeys at Thanksgiving. I was one of them. I am a product of my environment. But I hope that there is a better future for us.

And having said that, here are some family group pictures of the turkeys in my family. We're only missing one cousin. (I hope they remember I need a picture of that missing poult before this Saturday!)

Mom and Michael

Us

Andrea and her family

Amber and her family

Aaron and his family

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.