So, Maybe I DO Need a Cell Phone...

But, somehow, I still don't see my having one again for a rather long time.

You see, once upon a time (way back in college), Eric and I had cell phones. We had them for many years, until the lack of a job brought us to Arizona. We cut back on anything that wasn't essential, and a cell phone definately wasn't essential. It's gotten to the point that we just don't really care. Oh, don't get me wrong, I think that the new ones are pretty nifty, but really, who would I talk to or text? And until today, being cell phone free was all working out fine. (Although, I've decided that if the following events had happened at our old school, where Aidan had been for three years, and I had been a more active volunteer, none of this would have happened.)

Here's our own Comedy of Errors, of sorts: At 12:35 I loaded the kids up into the car to go and get Davin registered for Kindergarten. After arriving at the school, and unloading 3 kids, I noticed that they had registration times, and the next start time wasn't for 20 minutes. Not wanting to waste our outting, we went to Costco to get gas (3 miles away). By the time we were done and back at the school, it was 1 pm.

I went in, got our paper work all turned in (I was smart, I picked up the packet and filled it out at home first). While the secretary was making copies, she had us give the nurse our immunization records to double check. As I turned to go back to the secretary, I noticed my father-in-law. He had been called to pick up Aidan. I went back into the nurse's station, and asked about my son. And there he was, laying in the other room (he had a moderatly high fever). Apparently, after trying to reach me, and then Eric, the school called our emergency contacts. The irony of the whole thing is that I was at the school when they were trying to call me the first time. And I had been there for at least 5 minutes before Eric's dad showed up.

So, yes, if I had had a cell phone, none of this would have happened. As it is, I'm very grateful to our emergency contacts, it's nice to know that there are those you can count on in an emergency. I'll have to come up with a nice thank you, perhaps cookies, or maybe a key lime truffle?

3's

Why is it that bad luck comes in three's? I've experienced it enough times in my life to have seen the pattern. And today was no exception; although it all seemed to be localized to my hands, here's where I know I'm my mother's daughter. It began with getting my right hand pinky caught in the casing as I opened the window (OUCH!). It was painfully numb at first, and then, very quickly, went to beyond painful. Then at some point this afternoon, I sliced the nuckle of my left middle finger (stings), possibly on the plastic grape container. And finally, while using my straightener, I caught the same middle finger, at the nuckle (burns), I've NEVER done that before.

Although, one could count all that as just one thing. And if so, I should just go to bed before anything else could happen.

More Project Updates

I've gotten more of the dining room windows done, and I am really pleased with how they look. I had already made the roman shades, I just finished the scarves for them. I still need to do the upper windows, but I've got too many ideas floating around my head about what to do there.




I also finished re-decorating my family room (a few weeks ago actually). It took me a few weeks to make the valences for my windows, I had to save up my JoAnn coupons for the gromments. Seriously, they would have cost the same amount as the fabric if not for the 40% off. After the fall and Christmas decorations were all neatly put away, I realized that my mantle looked too plain. With just $20 of new things to mix in with some old things, I am really pleased. I especially like my fake reed diffuser-a pretty bottle with regular bamboo skewers in it. The slipcovers really made a difference for our rather, ahem, well used couches. I've just got to make a few pillows to match the curtains. And I must thank my handy husband, for once again turning one of my brilliant ideas into reality, as we now have a "new" entertainment center out of our old one. Well done Eric, well done.


We've still got the task of dealing with our office, it's a HUGE mess maker. But we're not sure how to deal with it. So, for now, we'll just brainstorm

I am Still in Shock!

A month ago I was feeling envious of mom and of her excursions to quilt shows back east. So I decided to check and see when there was one around here. I found out that the Arizona Quilter's Guild would be having their's March 12-14th at the Mesa Convention Center (5 minutes from here), I was so excited. And since it's in Mesa, I knew that I could get Eric's mom to go with me.

I noticed that they were still accepting entrants, and that if your quilt was completed by mid-September it could be eligable. The theme for the quilt show this year is "A Symphony of Quilts", that's when I thought that I could do this. I had finished Aidan's quilt by mid-August, and I had yet to "name" it. I just had one obsticle, how to spin the desciption of my quilt to get it to fit into some "recognizable musical theme or element", all in a mere 50 words. Sorry to say, I cannot remember what I actually wrote, this is almost it: "Like Queen Lili’uokalani’s song, Aloha O’e, my fourth quilt represents a loving embrace. My own design entails four unique 8” blocks forming each set. It is made with over 35 different Aloha fabrics. The quilted wave pattern echoes the gentle cadence of the song."

But, I guess that between the quilt's name, my 50 words, and a picture, it was all enough. You are now looking at quilt entry #5314, Aloha O'e. So, if anyone happens to be interested, you can check out my quilt at the Mesa Convention Center from March 12-14th.

Maddie's Crusin' Now!

Maddie has been taking a step or two for a little while now. At the rate she's been going, we've been pretty sure that she'd be walking at about 10 months. The boys both walked at 10 months (to the day), and Eme walked exactly one week after turning 1. Well, last Wednesday Maddie was 10 months, and sure enough, she was walking for real. She walked from one end of the kitchen all the way to the family room. She gets more and more stable with each day; although, she does have difficulty with the tile to carpet transition. Now if we could only teach her how to go down the stairs, we'd be set.

Socks

Emelia Miranda Jorgensen, aka crazy monkey #3, loves her socks. Socks? Yes, socks. I don't bother to fold and match her socks when doing our laundry. Why bother when she grabs them out of her drawer and carries them around the house (that and it takes too much time, I can barely keep up with the mountains produced by my crazies) Eme loves to put things in her socks, to which I'm sure many of you are asking, "why doesn't she just get the girl a purse?" My response, she already has four purses. But socks are perfect for carrying around bouncy balls (and throwing them, just ask Davin). By now you are wondering, what's the deal with a post about socks?! It's the background for the following adventure.

Last week I wanted to run to a craft store to see if they had a scrapbooks embelishment that I had wanted (they didn't-very disappointing and anoying when traveling with kids). So, while Davin was at preschool, and Maddie refused to go down for a nap (or she took a super short one), I decided to make a quick 3 mile jaunt to the store. I gave Eme her socks to put on while I got my shoes on, and then got her sneakers on. While walking to the car, Eme simply said "Ouch, you poked me mommy", I hadn't, I wasn't anywhere near her. Once in the car she said it again, when I replied that it wasn't me, she said: "it must have been Maddie". Walking into the store she repeated it again (by now I think this is either: a silly 3 year old's game, or else a piece of grass is stuck in her shoe poking her since she doesn't seem too bothered by whatever it is). After five minutes of walking around the store, and another compaint, I pulled off her shoe to get rid of the "poky", and to my great surprise I found 5, yes 5, plastic barrettes. This was one of those rare times that I had wished that someone else had observed what had just happened, it was funny and would have brought a smile and a head shake to the observer (I even looked around to see if anyone saw us). I thought of Jen walking through the store with Dallin when an extra pair of underwear fell out of his pants leg, and she was left holding a pair of underpants with a perplexed look on her face-I would loved to have seen that.

(I had just finished fixing Eme's hair for our trip out, she must have stuck the rest of her barrettes into her sock for safe keeping. But why did she put it on? And why didn't she tell me that she had barrettes in her sock? The only answer I could come up with is this: because she's 3.)

Seriously Sweet, and Rather Gooey

I think that sometimes we have those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days to remind us of how much good we really have. Pretty much all of last week was one of those days, as was yesterday. I won't go into the details, but it wasn't pretty, any of it. But last night, I was reminded of how good I really have it.

After a really long day, when Eric walked through the door, and kissed my cheek, I felt so tangibley lifted. My heart was lighter, just because he was here with me. I only asked if he could make Davin's bed for me (lower bunk), but Eric made all the beds for me because he didn't want me straining my shoulder (I've got tendenitis pretty bad). I had mentioned in passing that I'd really just like to bake some cookies, just as soon as I had gotten the dishes loaded. While I was feeding the baby, he unloaded, rinsed, and reloaded the dishes for me (sure, I had to rearrange them all later, but still). He got the kitchen aid out for me, since I can't. And while we waited for cookies, we played Mario Kart while rocking the baby to sleep.

As I look back on our evening together, I see all of the sweet romance of my marriage. If you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought was romantic, I doubt that I would have thought much of last night. But the truth is, it was full of love and kindness, and therefore, romance. I also love that my husband can still make me blush, I can still get him too. As I told a sister-in-law the other day, the inuendo, the looks, the smiles, only get better with time. And if this is how I feel after more than 10 years, I can hardly wait for the next 10 to go by.