General Conference

Just a little note that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be holding its semi-annual general conference this weekend. It will be held in the Conference Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, with sessions beginning at 10am and 2pm MDT on both Saturday March31st and Sunday Aril 1st, but will be broadcast abroad. So, check your local listings, or watch it on BYUTV, or find a local LDS chapel that is showing the broadcast. What a wonderful experience to be able to hear the words of our beloved, humble, and true prophet of the latter-days, as well as those from the apostles-- those who have that priesthood authority and power described in the scriptures, and who are inspired to know of what we need to hear and know.

Two Little Girls

A friend from church read our blog not too long ago, and wrote me this great poem-- one I treasure and am sure you all will appreciate. Here goes...

Two Little Girls
Karen R. Allan

The day of a mom is filled to the top,
With Two Little Girls whose noises don’t stop
There’s two noses that run with no end in sight,
And there’s sleep that’s missed in the middle of night,

Allie answers the door when mom’ s in the shower,
(she’d finally got in though it’s late in the hour!)
Mom, dripping soap-suds, is truly appalled,
And later that day dad’s lock is installed.

It isn’t much later as you wade through the fray
That you trip over the toys with which your girls play.
You threaten and plead, or withhold their stuff
‘til they pick up those toys, ‘cause ‘enough is enough’!

Sami is whiny, but Allie’s stubborn and headstrong
And they both try your patience, and it isn’t too long
‘til Two Little Girls make you feel ineffective
and you wish you could find your patient perspective

It seems like it takes more than you know
So with Two Little Girls, you pray as you go
For patience in suffering, and more peace of mind
That you’re doing alright when stumbling so blind.

But Two Little Girls, sleeping at length,
Sweet like the angels, gives you the strength
To keep doing your best as you go through your days,
Teaching, and building those spirits you raise.

And Two Little Girls, in all their tomorrows
Will ease and erase all their little girl sorrows
They’ll grow up so quickly, when seen in review…
And before long you’ll smile ‘cause they are moms too!

My Weekend Epiphany

I hate sales parties. And I fully realize that in by advertising that piece of information, I probably never get invited to one ever again. It's not the social aspect of it that I hate, because I'm totally fine with get-togethers. After all, we just had a birthday party for the girls on Saturday, but I'll talk about that later. I just can't stand the pressure involved at sales parties-- pressure to buy something, pressure to become a sales rep of whatever the heck the product is, pressure to have a party yourself to "help out" the hostess, pressure to stay the whole time, etc. Here's what made me think of all this...

Saturday afternoon I went to a Princess House party down the street. My neighbor friend Ivonne had actually invited me to one about a month ago, but I couldn't go. Then about a week ago, she and her neighbor Ana came by the house to invite me to another Princess House party. I thought it was weird that they were having parties for the same product back-to-back, but I knew I didn't have anything going on that day, so I told them I'd be there. The invitation said 2pm, so come that time Saturday I walked over to Ana's house about five minutes late-- you know, the whole "fashionably late" thing. I ended up being the first one there, and thought, Ah man! I hate being the first one! Oh well.

I sat on the couch and tried to make small talk with Tawnya, the sales consultant-- trying to break down that "salesman" barrier, pushing her to talk about things non-Princess-House related, which she seemed extremely uncomfortable doing. Forty minutes later, only one other person had showed up, a cute, Honduras-born, non-English-speaking girl that drove from Jacksonville with her daughter. At that point, Tawnya told Ana to just get started since Ana really had no idea who was or wasn't coming. So, it was Ana and her daughter Martha (yes, "Martha", and not "Marta") who, by the way, are from Columbia and also don't speak English all that well, the girl from Honduras, and I. And I previously had known none of them. After wondering where Ivonne was, I found out from Ana that Ivonne had woken up sick that morning and wasn't coming. Dang it!

Tawnya got started first showing us a teapot. A teapot! Fantastic. What on earth is a Mormon going to do with a teapot? Then after a nice casserole dish that I'd have no room for, she showed us cafe mugs. Cafe mugs? Oh right, for all those cappuccinos I make. Duh! This went on for an hour-- for the most part showing us things that either I wouldn't use or wouldn't have room for. I only saw one thing that interested me-- a saucepan, and that's merely because I had just ruined mine a week ago, having burned spaghetti sauce to the bottom. I thought maybe I'd get that, when I glanced down at my watch. It was quarter to four at that point, and I had told Kev the party would probably only last and hour and half at the most. I didn't think we'd start it 45 minutes late! Martha had put my purse around the corner, so I went to it to check my phone to see if Kev had called. He had, so I called him back.

"Yeah, Kris, I was kind of wanting to go the the Scout shop to get some stuff, but if you're still doing stuff I can take the girls with me."

"Oh no, it's fine, believe me! I'll come home and watch the girls." Saved!

I went back into the living room, and explained how I needed to go. Somehow, they conned me into bringing the girls back to the party so I could purchase what I was interested in. I left... and walked home really slowly. After walking through the door, and getting the girls ready to go, Kev called the shop to discover they were closed anyway, but since Allie, our little "social butterfly," already thought she was going to see people, I had to take her with me.

Allie and Emily, the little girl from Jacksonville (she also was learning English), seemed to hit it off and began playing right away. We had arrived just in time to start purchasing items, which was good 'cause I figured it would be done soon. Once everyone finished purchasing, she told us we were going to play some "roll the dice" game, a seriously manipulative game at that. One where, basically, if you roll certain numbers, most of the numbers, you get a prize but have to have a party. See, if Ana could get two of her guests to commit to parties, then she could get free stuff. Normally, I wouldn't play that in a million years. Heck no, I didn't want to have a party! But since Ana only had three guests present, I kind of felt a bit obligated to play the game. And, of course, no amount of praying could keep those dice from hitting on one of those "magic" numbers. Sure I got a pretty little votive, but I also had to commit to giving a party. Then she spent the next fifteen minutes after that explaining the whole party process and then trying to convince me to become a consultant myself. I was pretty firm on that one, though. My CUTCO experience back in '98 was enough-- no more sales for me!

I finally got out of there at about 5:30. Yes, 5:30! And as much as I was grateful for the opportunity to get to know my sweet Columbian-born neighbor, I was so ticked off at myself for even feeling obligated to play that stupid game to "help out" someone I hardly knew. I was even more ticked off at all of her other friends that left her hangin,' and left me alone to "pick up the slack." So, I went home in a bad mood-- mad at the world. I really wanted to cancel it, and after talking with Kev about it, realized she manipulated me into making a commitment I felt I had to keep. Who said I had to keep it? It's not like I was going to be in trouble with the law for not holding a party! Last night I got up the guts and called Tawnya. She tried to convince me to still go through with it, using guilt as a tactic-- telling me about how I'd essentially how I'd be letting down Ana who thought because of my party she'd be getting some free stuff. I told her Ana would understand, and if she doesn't, then oh well. She even asked me, "Is your husband not letting you do it?" What?! Kev was sitting next to me reading, and had heard her ask that. He was tempted to grab the phone and yell, "Excuse me? My wife does whatever she wants!"

Well, I got out of it. I do have to return my votive, and go over and "break the news" to Ana. But I'm just relieved I don't have to put all my friends thought the crud I've been through. And if any of you out there had been thinking about inviting me to a sales party of some type, don't hesitate to do so. I'm fine to look at the stuff. But don't expect to be coming over to my house for one of those any time soon.

The Time Change

You know, I have been impressed. Time changes have never been easy in our household when it comes to children and bedtimes. And, I have to say, that I somewhat dread this time change in particular, not so much because of the whole losing-an-hour-of-sleep thing, but because it makes it lighter around bedtime. I get nervous that the girls will see the light and think, Heck, Mom and Dad, you're crazy! Why go to bed? The night is young! But, and perhaps I'm speaking too soon about this since they have only been in bed for about an hour, they actually went to bed on time without any unusual outbursts of protest. And, for some reason, Sami, instantly adjusted to the change when she woke up this morning-- she woke up at around 7:20, which is her normal wake-up time, which means she really should have slept in for an hour...

In spite of the time change part, I do like Daylight Saving, and in fact, I wish that's how things were all year long. I love having more daylight in the evening for outdoor activities, which would be feasible in Florida winter evenings. It drives me nuts when we get a beautiful 75-degree day in mid-February, and I long to go and take a walk in the evening, just for it to get dark at 6pm-- then we're just stuck inside watching Jeopardy or reruns of Growing Pains. What a waste! (No offense to Kirk Cameron). So, it was glorious after dinner when we were able to strap the girls in the stroller and mosey around the neighborhood before putting them to bed. It definitely needs to be like that all year-- at least in warm places like Florida. Maybe I should get into politics and lobby for it. Okay, that must be fatigue talking. Me... and politics? Frightening. That's a whole other topic, though.

It's All In the Past

Well, happy birthday to our dear little Allie! Wow, three years old! I just can't believe it, really. I also can't believe, too, that of all days to be sick, those punk germs had to take up residence in Allie's body on her birthday. Poor little thing. Sami is sick, too, actually. Man, I don't know why, but for the past two weeks, our house has been a literal snot factory. I think it probably had to do with the fact that I was getting too comfortable, and perhaps even slightly proud, of our "stout, healthy, invincible" immune systems. Mother Nature likes to kick ya in the pants when she sees that kind of pride-- "Healthy? Ha! Wanna bet?" Since this whole sick-cycle came into play, Allie has coughed little, dry fake-sounding coughs, And, in fact, I did think she was faking it, so I ignored her. Thursday we noticed she suddenly sounded like a chain smoker. Hoping it would go away, we kept an eye on it until Friday morning when I called the doctor to make an afternoon appointment for her. Dr. Nguyen checked her out, said she looked fine and that the only thing he could do was try to make a good guess, going with the hypothesis that she has mycoplasma, which most people know as "walking pneumonia." He prescribed something and sent us on our way, so now I'm just waiting to see if that stuff works. Man, I sure hope so, 'cause she sounds terrible. Plus, on top of that, she also caught Sami's cold, where Old Faithful ain't got nothin' on them. I mean, what could be more "faithful" than two little "geysers" that flow constantly. You sometimes think, Man, there just can't be anything more in there! And then Mother Nature steps in, rearing that ugly head again, laughing hysterically, providing the never-ending supply of mucus you thought just wasn't possible.

Oh, but going back to Friday... Some of you may be wondering why on earth I would wait until the afternoon to take Allie to the doctor. After all, any good mother would take her child in right when the office opened in the morning. All right, so that's what I usually do. But this time we were faced with a dilemma. See, we have a small temple-going group where we go all together once a month, with one of the couples babysitting all the children in the stake center (church building) across the street. This month happened to be our month to babysit, and Friday happened to be our temple day. Since we didn't want to leave everyone hangin', we took Allie anyway, since other than that cough, she really looked and acted fine. Kev, of course, brought his basketball, which Taylor and Cameron thought was pretty manly, I think. Later, while the kids were watching Cars in one of the classrooms, Kev stayed in the gym shooting the ball around by himself, and I wandered the halls with little baby Jane, who was tired, hungry, and missing her mommy. After a while, Kev came out announcing to me that he had just dunked on a regulation hoop for the first time in eight years! We wondered if it had to do with the whole losing-twenty-pounds-thing. So, good job, Kev! Heck, I never even dunked on that gimpy four-foot hoop they had at my elementary school. Granted, desire may have had something to do with that, but still...

I've also been proud of Kev for all of the household projects he has been completing for me, even though he hates it and would rather eat worms. It's nice to know he loves me more than he loves worms. That's what marriage is all about. But seriously, he put a chain and a peephole on the front door for me. And while I realize a measly little chain doesn't make me invincible, it makes one more barrier for a bad guy, and keeps little Miss Mischief inside. Here's what I mean... At the end of January, I got in the shower, having turned on the security alarm, as I always do just in case the little squirt tries to sneak out (she can unlock the deadbolt). In the middle of my relaxing, quiet moment, I nearly jumped out of my skin as the alarm sounded. Panicking, I bursted out of the shower, dripping wet, and ran to my bedroom door, poking my head out to see Allie frozen at the slightly open front door. I screamed, "ALLIE, SHUT THE DOOR!" She looked at me, completely distraught and confused, and I screamed again, at the top of my lungs (it's a loud alarm), "ALLIE, SHUT THE DOOR!" She didn't. I ran back and grabbed my robe. On my way to turn the alarm off, I remembered a termite inspector was scheduled to come that day. Oh no, I thought, so I glanced at the clock. I turned off the alarm, walked over to the the door, stood behind, and to see if someone was really there, said, "I'll be back in a minute!"

"Sure, no problem!" came the reply.

Aw, dang it! I shut the door, hopped back in the shower, rinsed my hair of the shampoo, got out and threw some clothes on. And needless to say, I taught Allie that in the future if someone comes to the door, she should not open the door, but come and tell me.

The next time the Terminix guy came to the door while I was in the shower, and she did just that-- came running in the bathroom saying, "Mom, go open the door!" Way to go, Allie! Man, I really need to get in the shower earlier.

And can you believe that Sami never woke up from her nap through that whole alarm incident? Gotta love that child.