Poor Sicky

Again, needing to catch up on blogging, but Emma was sick today. Fortunately, Zen was home, and helped me out a lot today.

Zen was a good snuggler for Foofie, who just wanted to lie around and feel sick.

The Day I Killed the Mailboxes

Some days are good, some bad, and then there are days that you do something epically stupid.

Connor had been playing in my van today, and I forgot to go back out and see what he'd messed up. Well, he left my headlights on, and when I went out to go to Taco Bell to get some quick food for dinner (don't get distracted by my lame dinner fare, just stick with the story), that's when I discovered the battery was dead, or at least drained enough that the car wouldn't start. So, I let the car roll backwards to make room for Zen to pull his car in front of mine to jumpstart my car, and then I hung out in the house, waitig until he got home from work.

When Zen got home, zip, zip, I jumpstarted my car, feeling so smart and sassy that I could do some car stuff all by myself. I put my car in reverse, and whipped it around in a sharp reverse turn just like I always do when I leave my usual parking space in front of the house to run errands.

But I wasn't in my usual parking spot.

And that's when the big bumper-car crunch happened. I looked behind me, and to my horror, discovered I'd run over the neighborhood U.S. Postal Service mailboxes. Totally demolished them. Totally. Killed 'em. Yep, they're dead. When Connor came outside later, he kept saying, "What did you do?!!"


Although deeply, deeply embarrassed about doing something so stupid, I was secretly proud of my "tank", or The Beast, as Gil calls it. Dude, I totally plowed over the mailboxes bolted into the concrete, but that car, despite a now-jammed-all-the-time back hatch door, is still going strong. Tuff stuff.

I got out of the car, and just went and stood over the carcasses. My neighbor was sitting on his steps, and his wife came out, wanting to see what the big noise was. I just kind of ignored them, because I'd just done something so stupid. Several cars came and went, viewing the spectacle, and one stopped to ask if I needed any help. I stood there dumbfounded, kind of brain dead. What. Had. I. Just. DONE.... Zen eventually got me going, suggesting I call 911 to get them to come write a traffic report, so we'd have somethig to give to our insurance company. Inside, I looked around for a phone, and made a 911 traffic call. Zen had something along the lines of "Do you realize you could have hit someone?" No comfort for me. About 45min to 1 hour later, a policeman knocked on my front door, and he said something along the lines of, "I don't know if I should laugh at you or not." He wrote up a case file, so I'd have some info to give to my insurance co. and to have when I call the Post Office in the morning. He was really nice, and commisurate about it. It may be the first time I wanted to hug a cop. A girl can always use a hug at a time like this. Chuckling a little at me, but sympathetic too, it seemed. He asked me (referring to Zen), "So what does he think about all this?" I said Zen was just annoyed I had done something stupid.

Another Connor anecdote:

After both Dani and I yelled at Connor to put his melting popsicle in the freezer, he burst out into tears. A few minutes later, he came to me to tell me that me and Dani had "killed him" and that we'd "broken his heart."
Then, he wanted me to take a picture of his sad face. Weird kid.

Email Intrigue

Okay, here's the deal. I sent out my little INNOCUOUS email about some cute scrapbook paper, and this is what Sue sent me:

You're not allowed to buy ANYTHING between now and Dave Ramsey, remember?

Love-
The Little Devil on your shoulder :)

(For anyone reading my blog, who is outside of the loop, Dave Ramsey is a national financial guru with a radio program, famous for helping people get out of debt. We are all attending his workshop on May 16th in Salt Lake.)

And I wrote back:

Yes, yes, yes, but if you will notice, they are advertising a PRE-ORDER, so these are a while off anyway, I'm guessing about a month before they are in stock. So, that leaves me time to get my crap together, SELL off my existing crap, stabilize my budget, make some real money, etc., before I can think about buying anyway.

;-) Becky

And Sue wrote back:

You have a problem. Admitting it is the first step.

-Little Devil :)

And I wrote back:

BUZZ KILL!

I got "flagged" dude. Totally NOT awesome.

And that's the story.


P.S. I have soooooo much blogging to do, but I have to finish the secret Mother's Day jewelry, so it can ship tomorrow. Love you guys!!

P.P.S. Katie's post about NOT buying scrapbook crap stuff was appropriate, too. Sorry, I'll get around to commenting, I swear, after the jewelry is shipped. Whew!

P.P.P.S. My Funny Man said something else today. Dani was pouting about something, I can't remember what, and after she stomped out of the room, Connor said, "Hey, Mom, guess what?" "What." "Dani's totally cranky!" Yeah, man, I got your message. Big newsflash there.

P.P.P.P.S. Have I told this one yet? The day after my post about Connor saying "Totally" all the time, I figured out where he got it from. FINDING NEMO!

{low-pitched surfer voice} "Gimme some fin. Noggin! Duuuuude. Oh, intro. Jellyman, Offspring. Offspring, Jellyman."

{high-pitched voice} "Jellies?!!! Sweeet!"

{low-pitched voice again} Totally.

And now we have to quote that part of the movie at least ten times daily.

And I love it when Connor says, "That is totally. Totally. Stuupid," with the pauses between each word. How does a three-year-old get to be so funny? By watching the teenagers, of course!

Words of Wisdom

This is a new invention today from my Funny Man, Connor:

"You are a Cookiehead."

That's what happens when you have an older teenage brother. You invent new insults in self-defense.

Also, OUCH. Thanks for my email intervention today. But I was just saying, you know. Jeez.

Baby Deet's Ladybug Bling

Went to stake conference today, and to motivate myself, I fixed Emma's ladybug bracelet, which was just big enough she could pull it off, so I had to make it smaller. (Because eternal salvation has to do with putting matching bling on the baby.) Then, to really rise to the challenge, I made her a ladybug necklace in no time flat. I'm getting good at this beading thing. I only had one ladybug bead left, so it became the centerpiece of the necklace, with red and black beads surrounding it.




What is up with the name Deet? I refer back to blog post http://randomlyoddbits.blogspot.com/2009/04/ten-months-old.html, which has all her nicknames. But here's an updated list, with a few additions/corrections:

1. Deet-Deet (a take-off on her baby babbling, it just kind of developed when we were trying to mimic her baby talk back to her. You say it fast and high-pitched, like it's a cricket sound), it's like Chris' baby name Uttie. Deet-Deet, or just Deet, might stick for a while. You can say it like you think she's the cutest thing in the universe "Deet-deet!", or you can say it in lieu of swearing. "You Big Deet!"
2. Foofie, Foofie-Loo-Hoo, Foo-Foo
3. Baby Alligator - I say this to her sternly when I'm changing her diaper, and she won't hold still.
4. Baby Lovie (very brief)
5. Emma-Loo-Hoo, Sassy-Loo-Hoo (although this has been reassigned to Dani for the most part), Baby-Loo-Hoo. Occasionally putting "loo-hoo" on the end of names or words is kind of a "thing" these days. Sounds kind of Seussian, although that was not my original intent.
6. Bunny, Bunny-Loo-Hoo, Baby Bunny

Emma's favorite thing to do is to tear apart the container of hand wipes. She will screech her head off if you take it away from her. Hey, maybe I should invest in earplugs! She also likes to gnaw on my mp3 player, that has a silicone cover on it. It's like a chewtoy for babies. But why does it have to be my mp3 player? She has her own baby chew toys, why does she have to destroy mine?!

Shopping with Foofie Deet Loo, You Big Deet!

Okay, so I got together my shopping list and all my returns to make the Saturday trek to Wal-Mart. Yes, it's only five minutes away, but you try shopping at Wal-Mart in Rock Springs, WY on a Saturday, and then come back and talk to me. I swear, sometimes I go in there and I feel like I've stepped into communist Russia. Things are constantly out-of-stock on the shelves, and you wait FOREVER in line to check out. Sheesh!

On my way out the door, I check to see where Connor is, so I can sneak out the door and not have to take him with me. No, I did not leave him home alone, although at various times the thought has crossed my mind. Come on, dvds, popcorn, strawberry milk, and running water in the bathroom, what more could a kid want! But I digress. So, this morning it occurred to me that I could take Emma with me. I could be a dork and make cute baby noises at her as we shopped, and she wouldn't run away and hide in the racks or on the shelves behind the boxes of toilet paper. (Connor!!!)

But, it's been too long since I shopped with a baby, and I forgot what an extended shopping trip is like, or I NEVER would have taken her with me.

Dani was asking me yesterday or this morning, who was the loudest baby out of all four kids, and these days I swear it's Emma. She just peels paint, and induces the drop-kick feeling (thank you Lori!). Reminds me of Bill Cosby Himself (one of the top 5 comedy videos of ALL TIME). He talks about how that kind of sound travels up the spine of a parent, and they have to get up and go see what the problem is. Forget justice, they just want peace and quiet!

So, with my purse and cell phone in hand, we headed off to Wal-Mart. She was so cute today, in her pink sweater and matching pink crocs, and of course, her stylin' binky clip (I wonder where a person can get one of those?!).

She started off so cute and adorable, like baby sheep and kittens.

It didn't take long for her to get bored, and start chewing on my cell phone or throwing things out of the cart:

"Mommy, let's play the fetch game."

"This sucks! I want out of here!" Dogs three states away can hear her.

Finally we got around to the side of the store where the deli is, and I got her a little bucket of popcorn chicken to gnaw on. Whew!

Okay, so I guess I'll continue to leave her at the mercy of Dani and Gil as her babysitters. 'Cause shopping with Baby Nazgul isn't going to happen again any time soon. You Big Deet!

Yes, all I had on me was a cell phone to take pics. Guess what I want for Mother's Day?! A new camera phone of course, one of those that takes 3MB pics, and pretty decent pics for a cell phone. My niece, Annie, has a great cell phone, and I've been astonished at the quality of the pics she gets on hers. Okay, nobody yell at me, or "raise the flag", for my material lust. At least I'm eligible for a new-every-two phone discount of some kind on our current cell plan. A girl can dream, though. Sigh...

So Stinkin' Cute!!

This is what happens when you shoot 170 pictures in two days:

Connor played balancing on the bed while he waited for me to finish exercising Wednesday.

Do we look like this to kids all the time, from bottom-up? This next set of pics were taken by Connor, who I am teaching to use my camera. Maybe I'll switch him the the smaller point-and-shoot, so I don't cringe everytime he holds the camera...

This is a happy accident pic. Way to go Connor!

Connor took this one of Emma. Not too shabby, not too shabby.

More pics by Connor.

I had this big urge to dress Emma in one of her summer outfits I got last fall on clearance, although this one came from one of my daycare Moms. I couldn't think of a better outfit that fit my "don't you love spring?" frame of mind. She wore her ladybug dress plus her cute red shoes and ladybug binky chain.

I love this pic, I should frame it. I can only aspire to photograph like Sue...

Just gotta have shoes!

Does this dress make my butt look big? Don't answer that.

When Zen walked through the door last night, he brought one of his buddies from work with him. It was a good time. He asked lots of questions about the kids, and I made spaghetti & meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread while they waited. We actually sat at the table for once. The kids were kind of confused, especially Connor, I think. Can you say couch potato eaters?

Connor pouted all the way through dinner, because he wanted to take pictures instead of eat. Of course, he wandered back later wondering where his food was. Duh! Eat dinner or be hungry!

Connor got into this big jumping thing the the past few days.

"Mom! Watch me!"

Connor also got a Thomas the Train toy faucet cover when he weaseled his way into going to Wal-Mart with me. Trains are still his all-time favorite toy.

Okay, 2am, must go to bed. See you tomorrow!

End Post #89, 2009