

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

It's a week-

...boy oh boy has it been a week. Some things I remember, in no particular order:

  • We were without electricity for 58 hours when a crow's nest caught on fire and burn up a transformer on the side of a steep hill (something like that) and it took awhile for it to be repaired. It effected several thousand houses, and school was let out early on Wednesday, canceled on Thursday, and apparently NOT on Friday. Not that I would know that the elementary school had electricity as we did not, nor did we have phone for over a day. Dany said something about the phones being on back-up batteries, an old system... and we don't have cell reception out here. Also, no electricity means no water being pumped from the well... we went to Ryan's parents house and slept there (they were in Utah) for the first night. We ran errands and visited family on Thursday until Kacy's art lesson and Maryellen's baby shower. Then we went home with some bottled water because sleeping over somewhere else was NOT fun. My kids are maniacs and I slept horribly.
  • I told the choir director that I cannot play the piano if the baby sitters in the Nursery watching the kids can't keep Ed safe- he was in the parking lot because "he escaped." Out of three weeks, it was the second time he wasn't in there when I went to get him. The choir director told my I "should spank little Eddy harder" and "little Eddy needs a good swat on the behind" (oh, yes- two different occasions) for escaping. What do you say to that? I said something like "Oh, spanking doesn't hurt on him, he has no pain receptors..." which sounds lame. (But SO TRUE!) I wanted to say "Please don't call him Eddy, as that is NOT his name." Seriously, it totally bugs me when people call him Eddy. He already goes by Ed, which is not his name. Can we not give him a nickname for his nickname? Plus it reminds of of Eddy Munster and Eddy Haskell (form The Munsters and Leave it To Beaver). Then she told me on Sunday that I need to be sure and practice the song "because it just sounds better when you hit the right notes." To which I replied, "Well, I've told you I have no piano at home, and I will not be doing this again. Don't ask me until after I have a house with a piano in it. I have to drive 20 minutes one way to the nearest piano, with my kids." I wanted to say, "I have ears on my head and can hear all my mistakes. Do you think I like to be bad?" with my eyes rolling to the heavens. The regular pianist is there and I'm not sure why she's not playing the song now. Something about wanting a break. My filter is breaking and I'm going to end up saying something mean. It could be a trial of my patience/goodwill, but I'm not sure if it counts if you say something halfway tolerable, but in your head you are wanting to swear at people.
  • Sunday was a fun-day- not. It was hectic, and after the horrible, no fun choir practice and almost forgetting the bread until the last minute, and having Ryan asleep at home because of the holiday weekend/late, late arrival home (it was so late, it could be called "early"), I'm grateful that my Primary responsibilties were minimal, we went to Ryan's parent's house as is our tradition. The kids were on one- they were all SO NOISY. But that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that Ed decided to poop in his pants outside. Too busy playing, I guess. I get him cleaned up and then Kacy and Nathan come in calling for Uncle Ryan to come see what Will did. Ryan had left, so it was all me... Will decided to use the bathroom outside. Like, he shouldn't have done what he did unless he had dug a hole and was in the mountains without three perfectly operable toilets 100 feet away. It was traumatic for me. I'm not sure why. I've been changing diapers for six years straight. I've had many nasty diaper/undies experiences. But this? This made me want to throw-up. I cleaned it up (with lots of dirt and a shovel and an empty field)...so gross. Jessie has had diaper problems since Sunday- the kind where I'm surprised she has any skin left on her little butt because it looks and smells toxic.
  • The kids dissected a snake with nippers and screwdrivers from one of Ryan's tool stashes. The snake originally met it's demise thanks to our trusty cat, Steve. It was a baby. It is now is pieces scattered around the yard, all dried up.
  • There is a BIG garter snake under our new house. Steve tried to get it, but I think he got bit. That was good watching for a whole 30 minutes. I think the snake is still in there, but I'm not crawling in there to go check.
  • I've been running, and can now comfortably run for 30 minutes straight. I have a three mile route, so that puts me at 10 minute miles. I feel like I could keep this pace for awhile, but I think I'll start working on my speed. I'm going to do a triathlon, I'll post a link for whoever wants to do it with me. The more people who show up, the more fun it can be. Plus, it's a sprint distance, so it's a great "I'm outta shape and need something to motivate me and all I want to do is finish it!"
  • I went to my parent's house where they are remodeling their house, and they have a pool. I had to threaten my kids that if they would not let me work with them in the pool, they would need to throw their swimsuits away and not swim the rest of the summer. My mom's pool is huge and has a beach entrance, so they have this idea of swimming that leads them to false confidence in the pool. My goal is to get them to be able to jump in the deep end and swim to the edge by summer end. They are all spastic about the water; it drives me nuts. As soon as their feet leave the ground they freak out. And I think the worst part is that they don't trust me. Like I'm going to let them get hurt... It almost hurts my feelings. Almost... I had to get all creative and cheer and clap... it was ridiculous. But I will win this battle, because it's a matter of safety. They want to be in a pool, but they need to learn to swim. On a positive note, they started to relax a bit after a couple of hours. And Jessie LOVED the pool. She's going to be my swimming buddy. AND as I was trying to show the kids that the pool is FUN, even under water, I was diving off the edge, and off the waterfall (I'm a terrible diver. My legs kept slapping the water.) I did somersaults, and hand stands. The handstands is what they loved the most- I came up after the first one and Kacy shouts, "Mom! They need to put you on the news! That was awesome!" She was serious.
  • I played on the swing set with my kids for a bit, and I can't do the things I used to do. I grabbed the rings (which are now no longer rings as they have a bar holding them together- something about safety? Aack!) and I tried flipping myself up so that my feet were near the top bar, my hands were on the rings, and I was hanging upside down. But I couldn't go it. But I will by summer's end. I want to be able to keep up and play with my kids, and they are only going to get stronger and faster, and if I don't do anything, I'm only going to get slower and weaker. It was a reminder for me of why I want to get/stay in shape. Or, it could be that I'm just really immature and want to play on the bars like when I was 8.


  1. You have been a busy girl! Sounds like crazy normal week! ;)

  2. You are so nice. That choir director would have been in tears at that point, not from me from my hubby. He has come to my defense on several occasions and it's never pretty!

  3. Karrie ... your filters are working just fine. Our choir director's filters have been missing for years and it is just not true. You know I would tell you about the whole looking fat in jeans thing, so believe me (as a musician) when I say that you are doing an excellent job with that piano ESPECIALLY when you take into account your lack of time/place to pracice, following both the accompaniment AND the vocal parts on the whim of the director, and so on! I am amazed that you manage to keep in perfect time while looking at 8+ different notes! As far as Ed needing to be spanked harder - I hate it when the subject of discipline comes up. I haven't met the mother yet who approves of everything I do (or don't do) with, for, or to my children. Ed is amazing - and, as many seem to forget, he is still a toddler. I am rather tired of our society expecting toddlers to act like adults and teenagers to be toddlers (that rant is for another day). Personally, I believe that with such strength of committment (or muleheaded stubborness), boys like Ed (and Will and Josh and Ben and several others I can think of) will turn out to be valiant young men who will be incredible missionaries and amazing husbands (and we will get to torture them with how much their children resemble them in moments of frustration)! You are still my hero Mom - and welcome to play my piano anytime you want (I have a fence)

  4. As I've said before I LOVE ED! He reminds me of Alex. I had several people I didn't know in stores tell me to spank him harder, it would make me cry. He was my first and I thought I was doing something wrong, I wasn't! Neither are you, all kids are different and I agree with Angie, they are going to be great missionaries!

  5. Ed is so funny. I always thought Ed was a little Karma coming back around for Ryan and all the antics he pulled. But it seems to be you, who is catching Ryan's Karma! He is a precious boy and one day you will laugh about all this when he has a child just like he was. I can't believe the choir director. I am appalled for you! She has some nerve! I am with you on the Eddy thing. Your posts are wonderful and I am sure therapeutic. Were coming home the end of June for three weeks...can't wait to see you guys!

  6. Okay I haven't finished reading everything, I stopped at the chior thing.... how oh how did you stop yourself from saying something mean!!! Honestly if one person knows they are in charge of Ed it isn't that hard to keep an eye on him! Besides (I can say this because he is not mine) he is way to cute to spank!

  7. okay I finished. Just one question about the chior thing, Are you still playing?
    I kind of feel like I had a relaxing week after reading about yours. Having children is a great excuse to keep doing things we love, like play on the bars. You know if you went to the park and tried that without kids people would worry!