I'm A Big Girl Now

This morning Talia asked to use the bathroom and she did it so we decided to just stick her in some of Petra's undies and potty train her. She went the whole day without a single accident. She didn't even wet her pull-up at nap time. I hope every day will be this easy!

Stuck

Yesterday when I went to pick Petra up from school, I got her into the car, and started to pull out of the school parking lot. I didn't make it. They had plowed the road right into the entrance to the parking lot. We were stuck there for 20 minutes! Finally, some passing strangers and a lady from down the street with a snow shovel got us out, but not before I'd ruined my favorite leather gloves trying to dig out the wheels. 

I love the Holiday Season. 

Good Gravy It's Been A Long Time

Today I was standing in the doorway of our bedroom. We don't have a door yet, because it used to be a family room, so we put up a tension curtain rod and a curtain for a little bit of privacy. As I was standing there, my dog jumped onto the curtain, pulling down the rod right onto my head and giving me a mild concussion. Ouch.

Laundry Room

Here are some photos of our Firth laundry room. It's kind of a long story why I'm posting them, and I don't have time at the moment.

Home Again

We are finally home from the hospital. We were discharged from PCMC on Monday, and she had a cast change at Shriner's on Wednesday. They had to change the casts because when they did the surgery, they split them open at the sides to allow for swelling. These split casts were not strong enough to last long term. Since we would have driven home just to turn around and come back the next day, instead we stayed in a hotel with my mother-in-law. She came down and stayed in the hotel the whole time I was down there, to help. Mom also did a great deal to help. She watched Tal, and she supervised the workers who came to my house to repair the windows and fireplace. Both of their efforts made the whole thing a lot easier.

Complications

Petra's surgery went very well, and in fact, the Dr.'s felt that she was doing so well after the intubation that they decided not to send her to the ICU, which they had initially planned. She slept most of the day, and Dusty left to go sleep at the hotel. Things were going fine, other than the fact that she was very hungry, but threw up up twice.

It started getting late, and we'd had to get up at 5 so I told Petra that she could keep watching TV, but I was going to sleep. I got into my PJ's and took out my contacts. I waited until the last minute to do that because I can only see about 6 inches in front of my face without them and my glasses are broken. Anyway, I tried to lie down, but she kept getting me up to do little tiny things. Finally, she admitted that she was getting tired, so I turned off the TV. That made her really upset, and so she started to cry. Well, I couldn't see that anything was wrong because I couldn't see her, but her blood oxygen level went down to 15% (it's supposed to be in the high 90's or even 100%). Her alarm went off and the nurse came in. It took me a moment to realize that something was really wrong. The nurse said that she was ashen and she wasn't responding, so the nurse called a code blue (which means that she stopped breathing.) In about 10 seconds there were about 20 people, doctors and nurses, in the room trying to help. She coughed and started breathing again, but she was very frightened. They took a portable chest x-ray and turned off the narcotics that she was receiving through an epidural. Narcotics can make kids not breathe (suppress their respiratory drive.) I called Dusty and he came back to the hospital. I think that she had a bunch of junk in her throat that she didn't want to cough up because her throat hurt and when she got upset she choked on it.

The doctors have decided that it was because she was receiving more narcotics than she needed. Whichever way, it hasn't happened again, but the doctor said that if it does, they will take her to the ICU and figure it out. It was a very scary night. She's doing fine today, but without the narcotics, pain may be an issue. Somehow, I slept okay, but Dusty sure didn't.

8 Things Tag

8 THINGS

TV shows I watch
1.Old episodes of ER (I couldn't even tell you who the characters are on it now)
2. House
3. Without a Trace
4. Law and Order: SVU
5. Project Runway
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Cake challenge (I'm not really sure what the actual name of that show is...)
8. Jon and Kate plus 8

Things that happened yesterday
1. Got Petra off to school
2. Finished a cross stitch alphabet that I've been putting into my design program
3. Went grocery shopping
4. Did the recycling
5. Got a free pizza for dinner
6. Had Family Home Evening
7. Bathed Tal
8. Worked on my Advent Calender that I'm making

8 Favorite Places to Eat
1. Olive Garden
2. Lazy D's (my friend's restaurant in Shelley)
3. Jack in the Box
4. TGI Fridays
5. Shari's
6. IHOP
7. Home
8. Happy's Chinese Restaurant

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
1. Moving!!!!!
2. Petra's surgery (in a sort of dreading it/looking forward to it being over kind of way)
3. Going to the temple to have our family sealed
4. Thanksgiving
5. Christmas
6. Decorating my new house
7. Dusty's next day off (I don't know when that might be, but I'm looking forward to it!)
8. Being in another play

8 Things on my Wish List
1. Decent pots and pans
2. Rock Band
3. A new house
4. A new kitchen for the new house
5. This to be Petra's last surgery and last time in casts
6. Talia to be magically potty trained without any work by me : ) (or accidents)
7. A new bed
8. PC Stitch Pro

Terrifying

I found this news article last night by chance. How completely horrifying. I just can't imagine a world where a man would bludgeon his wife and stepson to death with a hammer because she went to church. It makes me sick. You know, I watch crime dramas, and they don't really bother me because they seem so far from reality. Sometimes I wonder how writers can come up with all of that stuff--even to think of something so horrible! But maybe I'm wrong. Apparently. That stuff almost seems tame to some of the stuff you see in the news today. Does reading about it help? Does being aware of it make a difference? Or, are we simply becoming numb? The last days. Are these days really the last? I'm afraid. Very very afraid. This is probably nothing compared to what is to come. But really, how can it get much worse? I don't want to think about it.

Man convicted of killing Mormon wife, stepson over church
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/04/2008 03:32:49 PM MST

WOBURN, Mass. - A man was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday for killing his wife and 11-year-old stepson out of anger over the time she spent with members of her church. The jury found Jeremias Bins guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2006 slayings. Superior Court Judge John Lu sentenced Bins to two consecutive life terms in prison. Prosecutors said a bloodied Bins took a cab to the Framingham police station in May 2006, walked in and said he had just bludgeoned his wife and stepson with a hammer. He handed the couple's 5-month-old son, Phillipe, to officers and said, "I'm sorry."

Carla Souza, 37, and her elder son Caique (KYE'-ee-kay) had been found an hour earlier by police who responded to her 911 call. Souza was an active member of the Framingham ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About two hours before the killings, Bins called ward members and told them he did not want "you missionaries" at his home any more.

Some church members told police they knew Bins did not support his wife's involvement but they were stunned by the killings. The couple had met through the church when Bins, a native of Brazil, started taking English classes there. Souza, also from Brazil, helped teach the classes. Bins occasionally attended church services with his wife but he did not become a member.

SOLD

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!! I can barely believe it! We got them to come up about $7000 from their first offer. All we need to do now is negotiate a price on the new house. I am ready to move right now. I am really excited because we are going to include money in the purchase price to build a dinning room onto the kitchen. With that, we will be able to turn the "2nd family room" into a master suite and it will be a 6 bedroom house. A dream come true! I can't quite imagine living in a house where half of the kids don't have to share the same room and the other half have to sleep out in the open. I want EVERYONE to come to our house for Christmas. We can have a big party in our building.

Offer

On Tuesday, we got our fist offer on our house. It was really much too low ($11,900 less than asking, plus closing costs) so we countered it. But it is just SO exciting to be getting our first offer!

Halloween Costumes

We had a ward party last night, so the girls got to wear their Halloween costumes for the first time. Petra went as Misty from Pokemon.

Here's a photo of Misty for those poor souls who don't know who that is (our entire ward, for example)

Talia went as a pirate. Isn't she scary?

5 th Anniversary

The 23 (or 24, we can never remember) was Dusty's and My 5th anniversary! We didn't really do much, but I did make a cake. This time, I finally went the whole hog and bought fondant. Holy moly! It was SO easy to work with! I couldn't believe the difference. Really, it was like an entirely different medium. It wasn't sticky at all, it rolled out easily, and it even tasted good.
The best part is that now we can apply to Church headquarters for a sealing clearance. Pretty soon now, our family should be able to go to the temple!

Tagged by Heather

Sure, why not?
What was I doing 5 years ago:
1. Pregnant with Petra
2. Getting married (5 years ago Thursday!)
3. In college
4. Moving from IF to Firth
5. Getting a puppy (Eppie, still have her)


What are 5 things on my To-Do List today:
1. Clean house for showing
2. Surprise Dusty at work with lunch
3. Get last couple of items for girls' Halloween costumes
4. Go grocery shopping
5. Pay bills

What are my 5 favorite snacks:
I generally try to avoid snacking but...
1. mini rice cakes
2. soda
3. crackers
4. pretzels
5. whatever's handy

What are 5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a house
2. Buy a van large enough for my whole family
3. Buy a Smartcar for Dusty
4. Travel
5. Deposit it and live off of the interest

Five places I've lived:
1. Idaho Falls, ID
2. Firth, ID
3. That's it.
4. Really, there aren't any more
5. No, Seriously. Pathetic, I know.

Five jobs I've had:
1. Assistant Fencing Coach
2. Substitute teacher
3. Plasma donor
4. Full-time mother
5. Sanitarium warden :)

I tag...
No one reads this except for Heather, and she tagged me!

More "Fun" With Fondant

I made another fondant cake for a block party we had last week. I had hoped that it would go a little more smoothly, since I now had some idea of what to expect, but it didn't really work out that way. Making fondant is really something like making bread. It has a dough-like consistency that you roll out and place on the cake as opposed to regular frosting which you spread with a spatula. The hardest part about fondant is that you have to knead it for hours to get all of the powdered sugar worked in as well as get it to the right consistency. Last time, I didn't knead in all of the sugar it called for in the recipe, I just worked it until it seemed like the right consistency, and then I used the remaining sugar to dust the counter and the rolling pin to prevent sticking (which, incidentally, it didn't do. I really need a roll and cut mat for fondant--oh, well, my birthday is coming up!)Anyway, this time, I was using a slightly different recipe (chocolate fondant) and I decided to knead in all of the sugar. In addition to literally taking over an hour to do, it also resulted in some very dry fondant--it wouldn't even say in a ball, it just crumbled into bits. So, I gradually added water, but I was terrified to add to much because I was getting pretty sick of the whole business and I didn't want to have to add sugar back in. Finally, out of sheer laziness, I decided to just use it the way it was. I rolled it out, but, of course, it cracked because it was so dry. I figured I would just cover the cracks with cut outs, but still, it was like frosting a cake with tootsie-rolls.

Finally, I got the cake covered, and that part at least went more smoothly the second time. Imagine taking a sheet of flat paper and trying to smoothly cover a round cake. Getting it on there without folds or ripples is pretty hard. My last cake didn't go very well at all, and that picture was taken from the worst side, so you can really see the mistakes.

Now that the cake was covered, I had to make yet another batch of fondant for the cut outs. I decided to try using the electric mixer with the dough hooks so that I wouldn't have to knead it all by hand. It didn't work at all. Back to kneading by hand. I wanted the cut outs to have very vibrant colors, so I ended up dying my hands with all of the food coloring I had to use. The cutouts themselves went pretty well, the only problem being that I had to place them to cover up cracks, rather than putting them where I wanted them.

In the end, I was pretty disgusted with the end result. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted it to look like, and it just didn't turn out. I also hate to take something that is less than perfect to a party. I guess they liked it though. I got several complements.

My mantra. Learning experience. Learning experience. Learning experience.

Fun with Fondant or Leah's Cake Walk Returns

A couple of days ago, I decided that I really wanted to learn how to do fondant. So, I opened up my Wilton cookbook and looked up the recipe. It turns out to be very difficult to make and work with, which I kind of already knew, but here is my first effort. Not too bad, I thought. This is something that I would really like to be good at. I think it's fun to have an occasion, some sort of criterion, that I need to design for, and then to create edible art. Too bad desire alone isn't enough.

Petra Walks.... Again!

There and Back Again

Yesterday, Petra and Talia and I went down to Shriner's again for a cast change. I can't remember if I have written about this yet, so I guess I'll give a re-cap.

I was originally registered to go to school part-time this semester. All summer, I just had this thought in the back of my head that maybe I should drop out. It got stronger and stronger as the summer progressed, and finally in August I decided to make it a matter of prayer and fasting. That confirmed my feelings and I dropped out with absolutely no idea of why. A week later, we took Petra to Shriner's, and her surgeon decided to do a casting series and surgery in November. The series involves going down to SLC every other week to get new casts, which will gradually improve the position of her feet, making the surgery easier. A week after that, we decided to sell our house.

So, yesterday was the second cast change. Petra was so glad to get the first set off, she kept saying over and over again, "I'm just so glad to move my legs!!" It made it pretty tough to turn around and put another set on. Oh, well.

We drove home after we were done at the hospital, but we couldn't go straight home because our house was being shown for the first time. It was sort of a bad day for it, since I wasn't home to get everything sparkly clean, but I am so glad that someone finally looked at it! Instead of going home we went to Lazy D's which is a small restaurant in Shelley owned by a friend of mine from the theatre. We always have fun there because there are always theatre people hanging around to chat with. The food is also pretty good. Incidentally, Dusty has designed the web-site for the theatre, and it's pretty impressive. The URL is www.thevirginiatheater.com , if you are interested in checking it out.

For Sale

I have been working like mad for the past few weeks to get our house ready to sell. It has been a very frustrating process. No matter how hard I worked, I never seemed to get anywhere. I had to sort through and box up everything we didn't really need in the house, paint every singe room except for the downstairs bathroom (it was recently painted) and clean everything. In addition to everything I could do (basically the tasks that didn't require any real skill) there was tons for Dusty to do. He had to finish re-modeling the upstairs bathroom (everything in it is new), put a new light in the stair well (it's really dark), put new carpet in the stair well (can you say astro-turf?), and put in a new front door. He also helped me with my tasks as much as he could, but we ended up starting this project just as school started for him. We still have a little bit of work left to do, but, Saturday night, we finally got this place officially listed! I was tickled to death to see that sign out in front of our house. It's happening!

For those of you who don't know, this all started when we happened to find a house in Idaho Falls that we really want. My best friend growing up and her husband just bought a new house, and we went to visit them. Her house has 5 bedrooms, and is very nice. Well, I jokingly told her that we should have bought it out from under them, since we could really use the bedrooms (our current house has 3 bedrooms with 7 kids and 2 adults--do the math.) Anyway, my friend said that there was a very nice house just one street over for sale. As we left her house, we decided to just drive by the other house to see what it was like. We went past the one that she had meant, but we saw another house down the road that sparked our interest right away. We got one of the little flyer things that told all about it, and it showed that there was a large shop on the back of the property as well. Anyway, we just thought about it for a couple of days, and I thought, "I wonder how much that house costs?" So, I called up the real estate agent and asked her. And, it wasn't too bad. So we thought about it for a little bit longer, and I said to Dusty, "You know, I feel like we really should go and take a look at that house." Ever since then, we have been referring to it as "Our House". The shop could be our very own fencing building, something that Dusty has been dreaming about for the past 9 years. And there is an upstairs family room that we can convert to a master bedroom (complete with its own bathroom!) making it a 6 bedroom house.

Now, we just have to hope and pray that our house will sell and the owner's of the other house will accept our offer.

Here We Go Again

Today we went back to Shriner's, and began a new casting series on Petra's feet. We will go back down to SLC every other week to get these casts changed. The idea is to gradually stretch out the skin and tendons to improve her feet in preparation for surgery in November. The more progress we make with the casts, the easier the surgery.

Theoretically, she should be able to walk in these, but as the knees are bent, I honestly have my doubts. However, I dug out her walker, and with some practice, I think that she will be able to manage it. Until then, I'm going to be sending her to school in a stroller, a short-term wheel-chair.

Funny Girl

Yesterday, I painted the girl's room. When it came time for Talia's nap, I didn't want to put her in there because of the paint fumes, so I put her on my bed instead. She fussed for a little while, but then quieted down. I wanted to make sure that she was okay and asleep, so I opened the door and peeked in on her, but she wasn't on my bed anymore. She had climbed down and gone to sleep on the dog's bed instead!

RMNP

RMNP at sunset
Thunder Lake
The guys on a rest stop
I caught a fish!

Ryan called me and asked me to write my side of the Rocky Mountain National Park trip, and so, here goes.

The first day we hiked in from the trail head. It seemed like it took us a long time to get going, partially because we had a hard time getting the trip permit, but we finally managed it. I think that I managed the first 1/3 of the six-mile, up-hill-all-the-way, hike quite well. It started raining part way through, but that didn't bother me too much. I had a poncho, and it was actually kind of fun jumping over the stream that had once been a trail and splashing in the puddles. However, after we stopped for lunch, I started getting really tired. For the whole rest of the hike, I was pretty much just keeping my head down, and going, going, going. It took forever. Then, when we finally got to our campsite, I started getting really cold. My feet were soaked, and even my sleeping bag had gotten wet (despite the fact that it was covered in a trash bag.) I changed my socks, and huddled up in Rob's sleeping bag. I was feeling pretty miserable at that point.

The next morning, was much better. I had slept okay, despite the fact that my toes never did warm up. I was, however, very stiff and sore. We stayed in camp for two days, and during that time, I read (I finished Oliver Twist on this trip--Good book!!), I played my Nintendo DS (until the batteries ran down), I went down to Thunder Lake and fished (I caught 2 fish!), I played cards (31 with the family, and solitaire alone), and I memorized my lines for A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was kind of a neat experience to be memorizing those lines in the woods, because for most of the play my character is lost in the woods. Reed, Rich, Rob, and Dad all went on one or more hikes during that time, but I was kind of hiked out. Mom and I also had a camping cook-off. Reed had bought several dehydrated dinners for the trip. Most of them were of the "add two cups boiling water" variety, but two of them had to be cooked in a pan over the stove. Mom went first and made brownies. It didn't go particularly well. The trouble is that it is very difficult to achieve a low heat with the kind of stove that Dad and Rob brought along. For my cooking challenge, I made "I can't believe it's sausage pizza!", for which you have to cook the crust. It actually went quite well, despite the fact that everyone else stood around giving me advice the whole time I was cooking. So, needless to say, I won the cooking contest.

The final day we hiked down from the mountain. This was a verrryyy bad experience for me. I had slept very poorly the past couple of nights, and when I woke up that morning, I had one of my back/neck aches. It was a pretty bad one, too. I just could not imagine wearing 30 pounds on my back with it already hurting this much! However, I took 4 extra-strength Tylenol, got Mom to coat me down with Bio-Freeze, grit my teeth, and started heading down. Because the trail had been all up-hill on the way in, it was all down-hill on the way out. I just started off at a pretty good clip and refused to stop until I got to the bottom. I did stop to take a couple of drinks of water, but I didn't sit down to rest once. Actually, my back did pretty well, although I did have to take off my left shoulder strap periodically when it started hurting.

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. It definitely wasn't my idea of a fun vacation, but it was really nice to be with the family (except for Ryan *pout*), and it was a beautiful location that I could never have seen otherwise.

Fun in the Sun

Today we had fun playing outside. It was really hot, 95, so I just wanted to stay inside, but Dusty got the girls into their swimming suits and took them out to play in the wading pool/sprinkler. Also, I had bought some new sidewalk chalk paints (just like sidewalk chalk, only paint) and Petra wanted to do that so I went outside to set them up. Well, it was so nice that I decided to get on my own suit and come out to play, too. The living room didn't get cleaned up, but, hey, we all had a lot of fun!

Current Health Crisis

Last night, I had just barely fallen asleep when I suddenly woke up in the worst pain that I have ever experienced (excepting perhaps when Talia was born.) I had a fireball in my throat and my entire chest and upper back hurt. I took three Tums, but that didn't do anything, and then I threw up. I was still in agony for several minutes more when I couldn't take it anymore.

I woke up Dusty. He gave me two pepto-bismal tablets, but that didn't do anything, either. Finally, I asked him to take me to the emergency room. We ended up waiting there for three hours before they finally saw me. I was, of course, completely miserable, and I felt awful for Dusty because he was obviously exhausted. The only thing the doctor did was to give me some strong painkiller and anti-nausea medicine, as well as an antacid with a throat numbing medicine in it. It did help quite a lot. But now, I need to go in and have a camera stuck down my throat to see if I have ulcers. I have suffered from frequent heartburn for a long time now--I've even been on medication for it for a while--but this was absolutely beyond anything that I have ever experienced before.

Dusty and I didn't get home until 6 AM (fortunately, my mom came down and slept in our bed in case the kids had any problems--thanks, Mom!) I went straight to bed and slept until noon. Poor Dusty, I don't even know how much longer he got to sleep, but I'm pretty sure it was only a couple of hours. He has been so tired all day, and I feel really badly about that.

*sigh I am twenty-two, I would like to remind the universe. Twenty-two! I have seven children and a body that is falling apart, and I'm only twenty-two. I really hate to think what sixty is going to look like.

My Brothers Would Be Proud

Today I patched a bicycle tube all by myself. Dusty was in favor of just putting in a new tube, but I knew how to fix it (from my dad) and even had a patch kit (from my brother, Ryan). I was actually pretty proud of myself. Felt like I might have a little Abbott in me after all.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I have been really missing the theatre. It's been a while since I did a play, and I have missed it, and the people, so much that I have even been dreaming about it. That's why, when I found out that they were doing A Midsummer Night's Dream, I decided that I had to try out. Well, the long and the short of it is that I got the part of Hermia, who is the leading role!! I can't quite believe it! I am really, really, reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy excited!!!!!

New Things

Today, I got two new things. First, I got a new pair of hiking boots, actually, my first pair of hiking boots ever!

For some silly reason, this program put the picture up sideways! Well, you get the idea. They are Merrells, and they are the second most expensive pair of footwear I have ever bought (the first being my fencing shoes--but not by much!) Anyway, I got them in preparation for our Rocky Mountain trip this summer. I am so excited! I got them nice and early so that I will have time to break them in.

The second new thing I got, was a new haircut! This picture shows the front, and the back is really, really short. What do you think? I just couldn't stand long hair with the heat we've had the last couple of days. I've never had short hair before, but I think I like it really well.

Graduation

We had two graduations in our family last week. On Thursday, Sarah graduated from Kindergarten.

And on Friday, Petra graduated from Pre-School.

Of course, since Petra's not old enough to go to kindergarten yet, she will have another year of pre-school. But it was quite fun to see her graduate! I loved the garbage bag 'gowns'!

Mommy's Little Helpers

Burn Picture

Okay, I took this while she was getting her wound dressed this morning (three days after burn.) I actually realized that Reed was probably being sarcastic when he asked for pictures after I took it, however, since I did take it, here you go.

Talia's Burns

I just got my first look at Talia's burns since they bandaged her up in the emergency room yesterday. They actually look pretty good. She only has one big blister with pus coming out of it (interesting side note--probably not a good idea trying to spell the word pusy [as in, covered with pus] using an online search engine. Oh, and apparently it's not actually a word.) Other than a couple of other blisters that haven't popped yet, it's mostly just all red, like with a bad sunburn. Also, it looks like I'm only going to have to take her in twice more, rather than for a full week. Good news!

Talia and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Talia has been sick for a week. She had a terrible cold. Watery eyes, runny nose, sneesey, sore throat, nasty cough, fever... the works. It took her days to get over it. She was stuck in the house, when all she wanted to do was to go outside and play in the sunshine (the days it wasn't snowing of course.) Every time someone would leave, she would stand by the door and howl in this way that left you in no doubt at all that you were a terrible, heartless human being for leaving her behind.

Finally, finally, today she seemed to be feeling all better. She woke up in a good mood. I woke up in a fairly good mood. I did feel a little phlegmy (is that a word? Is now), but in high spirits. I thought, "What's for breakfast?" Cereal again? Perish the thought! Today was going to be a good day, and that meant a decent breakfast. Scrambled eggs. The girls love scrambled eggs. And... english muffins with honey. The only way to eat an english muffin is with honey. While I was getting the honey out, I thought, "Hey... honey-lemon drink. That will make my throat feel better." Brilliant. Usually I just mentally moan about this sort of thing. Do something about it, why don't ya? I put the kettle on. After a few moments, it started to rumble. I thought about taking it off, but changed my mind. "Let it get good and hot," I thought, "It may do more good that way or something." Talia climbed onto one of the little chairs in the dinning room, bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"AAAAHHHHH!" She yelled, pointing at each ingredient as I got it out for breakfast.

"I have to cook it first!" I told her. Try teaching patience to a 1-year-old.

The kettle started whistling and I took it off of the stove. I poured the steaming hot water into a mug, pre-prepared with honey and lemon juice. Perfect. "Petra, breakfast!" What luck! It had even coincided with a commercial break, the only chance in Hades of pulling Petra away from NickJR for something as trivial as food.

"I can't get up."

Never mind. I'll just get her. Usually, I make her do this sort of thing for herself, but why push it this morning? I went into the living room and turned off the TV. I was just picking Petra up when the screaming started. Inpatient for breakfast (Talia has never shared her sister's blase attitude towards food), Talia had gone over to the counter and for some inexplicable reason, instead of reaching for the plates of prepared food, had pulled the mug of boiling-hot water down onto herself.

Quickly, I unsnapped her onesie and pulled it off over her head. At first, she didn't seem to be badly hurt. She calmed down fairly quickly, and I thought I could just distract her with food. When I put her into the high chair, however, I saw the angry red skin with two blisters that she had pulled open. I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Should I take her to the hospital? Just try to treat it at home? I called her pediatrician's office and spoke to a nurse. When I mentioned that there were blisters and she had only just burned herself, she said to take her to the ER right away.

I wasn't even dressed yet! I dashed into the bedroom and pulled on the quickest looking dress and slip on shoes that I could find. Petra begged to get dressed, too, but I refused. "We have to go NOW." She just didn't get it. Four-year-olds have no concept of the word "Emergency".

The 20-minute drive to the hospital could not have taken any longer. Talia had stopped crying, but I couldn't stop worrying about how badly she might be hurt. We rushed into the hospital and, thank heavens, they took us right back to a room. The nurse had me put her directly into a sink and we put a wet washcloth onto her burns, the right side of her neck, and down over most of her chest. Periodically, the nurse would come back and pour more cold water over the washcloth, a process that infuriated her. She screamed and screamed, some thing that sounded way too much like, "I want Mama," to make me feel any less helpless. I kept the cloth on the burns, the only thing I could think to do to help. They gave her medicine and finally she calmed down. They put a lot of thick cream onto her burns and put gauze and a whole lot of bandages over the top to keep it on.

The sum total of it all is this--Talia has 2nd degree burns all over her chest. Fortunately, they said that we were really lucky--they don't seem to be bad. Now, we (I) just have to take her in every day for up to a week so that they can check the burns and make sure they don't get infected, remove any dead skin, and re-dress them. Fortunately, once we finally got home, she seemed to be in pretty good spirits. Moral to the story, kids? They actually know what they are talking about when they say not to leave hot things near the edges of counters. Oh, and no matter how well the day starts off, you can always end up in the emergency room.

One of the Best Moments of My Life

Today, I had one of the most touching things happen to me. My little daughter got up with all of the other primary kids and sang me a Mother's Day song. It's hard to believe that I have a child old enough to do this, but it was harder not to cry. One of those moments that "makes it all worth it" (cliche, I know, but there is a reason it's overused.)

The Baby is Hungry

Today, I was helping the kids sign Mother's Day cards in the kitchen. When I turned around, Talia had climbed onto a chair, and up onto the tray of her highchair! I guess she wanted something to eat.

I swear, every day she learns how to do some new thing, each and every one specifically designed to make my life more difficult.

Sure is fun, though.

Petra's Birthday

This is a few weeks late, but I was inspired by Heather's Blog.

For Petra's party, we had a Princess Tea Party.

I made her a princess castle cake.
She and her friends, Briley and Sabina, dressed up (Petra's was her gift).
And they drank "tea" (raspberry Kool-aid).
There were times when I thought that this day would never come. It is so wonderful to see what a big girl she is--how's she's growing up right before our eyes.

Grandma and Grandpa came over, too, and it was fun to see them. Dad kept falling asleep in his chair and Petra kept saying, "Grandpa, you can't take a nap!"

I Am Such a Wuss

I gave up on the diet. I tried, I honestly, really did. However, I was feeling SO moody and like I was being a jerk all of the time, which I HATE. Also, I was just plain out miserable. I know, I know, I should probably have stuck with it, but the thought of this going on for weeks was more than I could stand. So, there you go. I am a complete wuss. Nice to have it out in the open.

Agony

Well, I know that most of you do not know this, but I haven't been feeling well for a few months. I've been to a couple of doctors, but they don't seem to have the faintest idea what is going on. The last week or so, the problem has really coalesced into agonizing, perpetual back pain. No type of painkiller seems to work at all, and Monday, after spending 8 hours in the car, all I could do was lie on the floor and cry. So, Tuesday, Dusty stayed home from work and took me to a chiropractor.

Now, I will confess that I am pretty sceptical about "new age" type medicine, but nothing that anyone else did seemed to help at all. I also believed him when he told me that my back was severely out of alignment, so I figured that the chiropractor could help with that, at least. Well, one thing that I liked about the chiropractor was that he didn't just try to treat the symptoms, as other doctors have done. He said that there must be some underlying problem here. It felt nice to hear a medical professional admit it. However, he also put me on this insane "cleanse" diet wherein I eat only vegetables, fruits, vitamins, and this repulsive protein shake that tastes like vomit. I honestly don't think that I'm going to be able to stick to that. I did promise myself that I would at least do it until I see the chiropractor again, however I am NOT drinking that shake thing again.

Anyway, he did pop by back, which was excruciating, but helped, for a day or two anyway. Today I am just as bad as before, I think. It's maddening, because I can't do anything. The only time I feel remotely comfortable is when I am curled up on my bed with my back hunched over. Then my legs fall asleep. Basically, I'm completely useless at this point. Ah, well. I don't think that I would mind quite so much if only I knew that they could figure out what was causing it. Sometimes I think that God has a much higher opinion of my abilities than I really wish he did. Then again, that's the whole point, right?

Vacation Pics

Day 3 and Home Again

On the third day of our trip, we finally went to the beach. We got up early, because Dusty wanted to go and see the tide pools, so we had to go at low tide. However, that turned out to be a complete disaster. It was freezing cold, and we couldn't find very many animals, probably because it was winter. Plus, Petra was wearing shorts, and Talia didn't have a wind-breaker, because we forgot it at home. We did buy her a sweatshirt at Pier 39, but it wasn't nearly warm enough to keep up with all of the wind.

So, we got back in the car, and drove into Pacifica, which is where Dusty lived for a time when he was a teenager. We tried to go to a store to buy the girl's some warmer clothes, but it wasn't open yet, so we drove around and Dusty showed us his old house, and his old schools. It was really neat to see one of the places where he grew up. We got Petra some pants and got some brunch, waiting for the sun to come up and warm everything up a bit.

Finally, we got to the beach. It was still really cold, but the girls had a blast playing in the sand. They dug and built sand castles. Dusty and I flew kites. We had these really tiny kites that were only 4 inches wide. They didn't fly terribly well, but it was fun. Still, it was too cold to stay long, and as we were getting ready to go, Petra wet her pants. Got her cleaned up, rinsed sand off as best we could, got into the car, started driving, and Talia threw up all over herself. At this point, we pretty much knew the vacation was over.

However, that evening, we went into the American Fencing Supply Company store. I've never been to an actual fencing store before, and frankly it wasn't all that impressive, however, they also had a bunch of traditional fencing weapons there. They were sooooo cool, with twisted wire bells and things. They were very beautiful.

We went back to Pier 39 to play and eat dinner. There is a bridge over the road from Pier 39 to the parking garage, and as we were leaving, we stood there and watched the sun set over the ocean. Amazing.

We drove home all in one day. YUUUUCKKKK. We started at 7 AM, and drove until 12:30 AM, stopping roughly every 2-4 hours for a few minutes to eat or go to the bathroom. By the time we got to Twin Falls, I was going bonkers. I wanted more than anything to stop at a hotel, but it was only a couple of hours more, and Dusty was desperate to get home. We made it, at any rate.

It was a wonderful trip. I am SO happy that we got to go.

Day 2

Today was day 2 of our trip to San Francisco, and it was a really great one. We rode BART back into the city, and then took one (very looooong) bus ride to the Exploritorium. Fortunately, we met some really cool Germans who were chaperoning a bunch of high school students. They were fun to talk with. The Exploritorium was a very neat hands-on science museum. I think that Dusty and I were more interested in it then the girls were, but Petra seemed to think that they were just a bunch of cool toys. Unfortunately, it was overrun with rowdy kids, and she nearly got knocked down a couple of times. Also, we got there just at lunch time, and we were determined to eat dim sum in China town. We really only got to see a fraction of the museum before I and the girls were dying of hunger, so we left and caught another bus to China town (I'm getting pretty good a this public transportation thing!) We had a delicious lunch. With dim sum, they bring bring several dishes around to all of the tables, and you just say what you want. They put the plate on your table and add it to your bill. It actually turns out to be pretty reasonable. Anyway, it took me a while to get into it, because I was sooooo hungry, and they weren't bringing us any food! Also, we accidentally bought some really gross things. We ordered duck feet. The lady was like, "Duck feet?!?! Okay....." and she was right, we hated them. But it was fun to try new things. We went around to some of the shops, and I got a bag, Dusty got a shirt, and Talia got a cute little outfit. Also, we found some bakeries. I love the custard buns, and Dusty loves these rice cakes, which have a texture which is half-way between rice, and mashed potatoes (yuck!) The girls we exhausted tonight, because neither of them got a nap today, and Dusty and I are pretty sore, from all of the walking, but it really was such a wonderful day. Tomorrow, the beach.

On Vacation

We are in San Francisco right now! We are having a great time. We started driving on Sunday at about 4:30, after a lovely Easter dinner with Mom and Dad and Reed and Katie. The drive was pretty un-eventful, except for after I had been driving for a while and it was became dark. I was going through Arizona on a two lane highway, when all of the sudden, there were two deer in the road! I had to hit the brakes and swerve around them. It was quite the adrenaline boost! We spent the night in Wells, AZ. Then, we had to drive pretty much all day, but we finally got to San Fran (without any more excitement.) Our hotel is really nothing great, but we are very close to a BART stop, which is the public train system here. Today, we took BART into the city. We explored Pier 39 for a while, which was really fun. I bought a beautiful garnet and pearl necklace and earring set from an outdoor market. The weather here is pretty weird--it changes very suddenly from warm and sunny to cold and windy. At Pier 39, we went to the Aquarium. Petra got to touch a shark. Talia touched a starfish. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Ghiridelli Square and although we got some VERY good ice cream there, it really wasn't worth the walk. Tonight, we are very exhausted. We walked a very long distance today. Two more days here, and then the long drive home. NOT looking forward to that!!

My Current Hobby

I made a new cake today. Can you guess what it is? Hint--it's for Dusty's journalism class.

I am really enjoying decorating these cakes. I took a class at Michael's. I am going to take some more, but at the moment, my health won't really allow it. I wish that I could make some money by selling my cakes, but it just seems like Brolims could do it more cheaply. I thought about doing unusual cakes, like the ducky cake, but maybe I'm just not good enough yet.

The Joy of Motherhood

It is 6 am here right now, and I've been up since 4. Talia's sick. She has a fever and seems pretty miserable. She just keeps sucking on her favorite blanket, one that Natalie bought for her when she was born. Actually, it's not really her fault that I'm up. I just couldn't get back to sleep! The doctor gave me some new medicine for energy, and this is the result. Oh, well.

Random Thoughts

It's been a while since I've written anything and I'm a little bored right now, so I guess I'll write something. Let's see.... I am kind of hating Idaho right now. It just seems like it is ALWAYS either really, really hot or really, really cold, with nothing in between. I guess that's better than it always being really hot or always really cold, but I think that I would prefer something with a more moderate temperature. But I know that we'll never move (at least not for the next 13 years [because of Dusty's kids]), so I guess there's really not point complaining, is there? But my feet are cold.

I'm in school, plugging away. I'm trying to decide right now about something, actually. It's looking like I will finish my pre-recs in about two more years, so I can start my program in (I think) 2010. However, the program is always full time, 8 hour days. Talia won't start school until another two years after that, at least. Do I wait to finish school until she starts school? I hate to not be home with her, but I don't want to forget everything by waiting another two or three years. Also, I just really want to finish. Tough decision. I probably won't make it for another couple of years, though.

I really want to take a vacation. I feel like there is this pressure that starts building up in me with daily life, and I'm about ready to blow. I just want a chance to relax on a sunny beach for a couple of days. Is that too much to ask? Well, yes, it is, but why pop my soap bubble?

Castle Cake

I've baked another cake! Neil's birthday is coming up, so I made him a Castle Cake. This one was not nearly so exciting as the last one. I used two cake mixes because one just did not look like it was going to fill the pan and it completely overflowed and dripped onto the burner in the oven. Now it stinks whenever we use it. Probably better clean that. I also way over estimated how much icing I needed and made three batches. But, hey, I think the final product turned out pretty well. It's nothing like the picture, of course, and that always frustrates me, but I am going to be taking a cake decorating class at the local craft store starting next month, and that should be really fun.

Putting the Spice Into Life

Last night, after the girls went to bed, I was feeling really bored and hungry. I took out a bag of mini marshmallows and ate a couple. Then, I looked over at Dusty. He was just standing there. A perfect target. So, I threw one at him. And then some more. Pretty soon, we were having a full scale marshmallow war! It was the most fun I can remember having in a while. It was great. The dogs ran around eating up all of the discarded marshmallows (not the best dog food, I know, but they enjoyed it.) We were laughing our heads off. At the end, I put a whole handful of them right down the back of Dusty's shirt. It was tucked in and they went all the way down and out through the legs of his pants (after some rather comical shaking on his part.) Good times.

The Epic of the Duckie Cake

Talia's first birthday is in just a couple of days! For her cake, I bought a really cool 3-d cake pan in the shape of a duck. Yesterday, I set out to bake the cake. I started at about 9:00 am. I took out the mix I'd bought, which just happened to be a Funfetti-type mix. I mixed up the batter and poured it into one half of the duck mold. There wasn't enough to fill it! I didn't have another mix, so I pulled out a cookbook and mixed up half of a yellow cake recipe. I wanted it to match the other batter, but I didn't have any assorted colored sprinkles to mix into it. I did have, however, some from Halloween that were orange and black, and some from Christmas that were red and green. Close enough, I thought. I filled up the duckie pan, covered the bottom rack of the oven with aluminum foil (to catch any seepage [as per the instructions]), and stuck it in the oven. There was left over cake batter, so I decided to make two little heart cakes with some pans that I've had for a while. An hour later, the duck was done, so I pulled it out and put in the hearts. The directions said to cool for 5 minutes, take off the top half of the mold, cool for 5 more minutes, then to put the top half back on, flip it over, and remove the bottom half of the mold, then cool until it was completely cooled. I pulled off the top half of the duck mold. Beautiful. It looked great! But then, I flipped it over to take off the other half. The cake plopped onto the cooling rack and began oozing all over the counter. The bottom half had completely failed to cook!! Into the trash. I pulled out the heart cakes, but when it came time to turn them out of the pans, they crumbled into bits. Complete and utter failure.

So... I washed all of the bowls, beaters, and pans. I got my cookbook back out and make another yellow cake batch (12:00 by this time). Thank heavens I got a stand mixer for Christmas (thanks, Mom!!) I was a lot more nervous this time. I left it in for the longest time the recipe allowed (you know, "bake for 50-60 minutes at 350".) I let it cool for the first five minutes, then nervously removed the top mold. So far so good. 5 more minutes, and I flipped it and started trying to get off the bottom mold. It would not come off for anything! I had greased it, but it just would not come off. As I was trying to get it off, it started pulling apart, and I thought I saw some still raw batter in the middle. Nervously, I put it back together, and back in the oven. I even baked it for an additional 20 minutes. Finally, it was time to try and get that stupid mold off. The long and short of it is, it wouldn't come off. I finally just pulled the stupid thing off and a whole layer of wet cake stuck to it. There was also a big hole in the middle, presumably from letting it cool and then re-cooking it. The plus side was that I now had half of a duck cake, because the top half had, once again, come out beautifully.

Okay, this is a learning experience, I've never done this before. Try, try again. But if it didn't work this time, Talia was getting only half of a duck cake for her birthday. Or store bought. I washed all of the bowls. Again. And the beaters. Again. And the pans. Again. I mixed up my fourth batch of cake batter for the day. Suddenly, inspiration! Maybe that layer of foil on the bottom rack of the oven was preventing the bottom half of the cake from cooking! I took it out, and (prayerfully) put my cake in. And, finally, finally, finally, it worked!!! I was so sick of cakes, and hand-washing dishes, and dumb ducks, and most of all cooking, but, a mere 10 hours later, I finally had a duck cake!

Time to cook dinner.

Today, I decorated the cake. Here are some pictures of the finished product.