Perspective

I got Eva's bug Sunday night and was totally out of commission all of Monday and most of Tuesday. I am still queasy. That was some bug. In the midst of not feeling tip top....

I got my car back on Tuesday, but the ABS light was on. It was not on when I brought the car in to get fixed ONE MONTH ago. Should I have to pay $189 for the diagnostic test and who knows how much to fix the problem? I say no. The shop says yes. After several phone calls (to 4 different people at the insurance company and 2 different shops), and some slight (okay maybe serious) attitude on my part, it got sorted out. It only took a day and a half.
We got a dog over the weekend. He was cute. He was some sort of Chihuahua Beagle mix. Small (about 20 lbs). The girls named him Sugar. He LOVED me. He thought the girls were okay. He was not a big fan of Jared, but he tolerated him. Wednesday morning we dropped the car off to fix the ABS thing. Jared picked me up in the car. The girls and I dropped him off at home and set of for story time at the library. Apparently the dog was ticked off that Jared came home without me. He bit Jared. Twice. He bit THROUGH Jared's thumb nail. He drew blood.... lots of blood.
Jared called me more than a little irked, so we turned around to pick up the dog and return him to the Humane Society. (Can't have a violent dog around the kids, right?) Did you know that if a dog bites and draws blood then they are obligated to quarantine it for 10 days to make sure it doesn't have rabies. Then they put it down. I did not know this before that day. I felt TERRIBLE. The sad thing is that this dog (who is 2 years old) was probably that way because he was mistreated in the past. Someone did that to him so now he has to pay. :(
Anyway, the rest of the day wasn't much better.
Then... at 5:00 we were heading back downtown to pick up the Subie. A couple blocks from the shop there was a traffic jam in the opposite direction on State Street. A woman was lying in the road. Apparently, she'd been hit by a car.
My day wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

Tackling My Badunkadunk Thighs...

It's been a couple years since I've felt this strong of a need to inflict personal pain and humiliation on myself. Well, I'm getting the two year itch.

It's time again for the annual American Lung Association's Tackle the Tower event. In this race participants (me and my fellow crazies) raise money for the American Lung Association and for the privilege of racing to the top of the tallest building in Utah, the Wells Fargo Building. In addition to my regular craziness, I have opted this year to do the multiple climb (2 counts as multiple, right?) challenge.

If you would like to support my current cause, you can leave comments of support here on my blog, or you can make a donation in my name HERE. Please don't feel obligated to do either.

If you would like to join us crazies, our team is open to new members. Our name is "Victorious" Secret. (I will NOT be running in my underoos; it's strictly optional ;) You can join on the Tackle the Tower link above. If you're even thinking about it, I suggest you do it RIGHT now before your sanity sets in and you back out!!

Either way, I have just over 40 days to train for this sucker, and I'm starting at square one. wish me luck!

You Haven't Lived Until....

So, I must say, that you really haven't lived until you've eaten at the Cheesecake Factory.... and had your 2 year old throw up all over you, themselves, and the booth your sitting in.
We got a fabulous gift card to the Cheesecake factory from Jared's brother and his wife, and decided that yesterday was the day to use it. (Thanks Pam and Clayton!!) I've never been, but we tried to go once and the wait was insane. This time, we went early and got in right away! Eva was acting sleepy and uninterested in her food. I wasn't too surprised as we spent the day at the zoo and they were both tired. She was laying on my lap and asked me to feed her bites of broccoli (yeah, she's a weirdo too). Then she looked up at me and said, "My tummy hur..." You can guess the rest. Poor thing.
I rushed her out to the car and undressed the two of us down to undies and cuddled under the blanket we borrowed from My mom's house last week (thanks Neema!). Jared cleaned up as much as he could, paid the bill and brought Naiya out. We almost made it all the way home before... (Don't worry Neema, the blanket was washed in scolding water.)
I must say that I have been a little spoiled until now. Naiya has an amazing ability to make it to the toilet 90% of the time if she is gonna be sick. Eva not so much (more like 0%). You can guess it was a long night for mommy and Eva.

I have, however, made it a personal goal this year to find good things in all situations, so here goes...

I heart:
That if Eva can't aim for toilets/buckets, at least she is good at missing the rugs.
Freshly washed car seats that probably could have used it any way.
Sterilized bathrooms/bedrooms/kitchens that really could have used it anyway.
Nice clean sheets/blankets/snugglies that I was planing on washing today.
Pedialite.
Clorox Bleach.
Lysol.
My washer/dryer/dishwasher.
Free kids movies from the library.

A Big Day For Mommy

I did it! It's taken me 3 and a half years to get to this point, and today was the day that I took the plunge. Today was the very first time that I have left my girls with anyone (besides my family) for any reason. "What was the reason?" you ask. I feel that it's a good one. The reason is that I have been paying for a gym membership that I haven't used in MONTHS. So finally, I took the girls to the playroom at Gold's Gym for an hour.
Recently (like a whole month ago) I updated our membership to include one hour of child care per day so that I didn't have any more excuses not to go to the gym. I have made reservations for the girls twice and canceled. (Apparently I am much better at making excuses than I ever imagined.) Not today, though. I did it, and it wasn't even that painful. I only snuck back to check on them twice. Then I picked them up 8 minutes early. I'm such a weirdo.
The girls did well. They were playing with the same toy that I left them at each time I came to peek at them. When I came back to pick them up, however, they were standing at the gate peering through it as if they were in jail. Sad, but at least they weren't crying.
I asked them if they had fun and they said no. Eva said it wasn't fun but as we were walking out the gate she said "I want to come back next time." Naiya said next time she hoped there were no other kids there (apparently I should have started doing this a LONG time ago).
Now that I've done it once, I hope it becomes a habit. Not a once a month kinda habit either.

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

For Christmas this year, (among other things) my dad got me (and my mom and grandma) a whole day at the Falling Waters Day Spa. Last Saturday we had facials, did a hydro tub, had a massage, got a yummy lunch, had pedicure, had manicures and topped it all off with a deep conditioning treatment/blow dry. All the while Pa (my dad) watched the kids. It may be a little early, but I dare say it was the most wonderful day of 2009. At least it'll be tough to beat. Thanks Dad!!!!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

My girls are sick. Nothing serious just schmucky noses that drain down and make them cough much of the night. (READ: no sleep for anyone) As a result of this, I felt that everyone (mostly me) could benefit from the girls taking a nap after lunch. They got their snuggle toys. We read stories. I turned on their sleepy-time music at 12:45. I went downstairs to list the old truck on Craig's List and to blog about the new one.
At 12:50 they both came down. Naiya needed a drink of water. Eva didn't want one, but came anyway for moral support.
At 12:53 Eva wanted a cup of water.
At 1:07 they both came down again. Naiya wanted a cup of tea with honey. Eva didn't want one but once again came anyway.
At 1:20 Eva wanted a cup of tea.
At 1:40 they both came down. Naiya needed to go to the bathroom. Eva didn't. (The only bathroom in our house is UP stairs.)
At 2:05 Naiya needed to go to the bathroom again. Eva still didn't. I decided to stay upstairs to get some other work done and try to keep them in the room.
At 2:30 Eva came out with a poopy diaper... and Naiya had to pee again. I told them that enough was enough and that they were not to leave the room again until after getting some sleep.
At 2:37 Naiya called me into the room. She asked for a warm cup of soy milk. I said no. I told her she could have soy milk AFTER her nap. I took their books away (they had each stacked up at least 15 books on their beds since I first left them in the room) turned on the music again and tucked them in. Naiya told me "I just don't know why grown-ups are no fun."
It wasn't until 2:57 that I confirmed that they were both asleep. That's over 2 hours of trying to get them to take a nap.
At 4:03 Naiya emerged from the bedroom.
At 4:17 Eva was up.
That's just over an hour of actual sleep.

Fortunately I was brought back into their good favor by allowing them to play their new Leap Frog computer game that they got from Uncle Martin for Christmas. After Naiya finished her turn, she came to me, gave me a hug and said, "Mom, I'm proud of you." For what? I asked. "For finally being fun and letting me play the Thomas game." I guess Cindy was right all along... girls really do just want to have fun.

Good-bye Bessie... Hello BEAST!

*UPDATED WITH THE PICS... and all in one day! :)

Good-bye Bessie:

(Photo shown is not actually Bessie it's from carmax.com... which, I might add makes the car look far more glamorous that it does in person)

We took Bessie back to the rental shop today because Jared bought a new truck!
One that doesn't leak transmission all over our driveway.
One with zero tires that need to be inflated each morning due to slow leaks.
One that has heating and air conditioning... that works.
One that we can put car seats in.
One that I'm not afraid to drive.... (Well, maybe I'm a little afraid to drive it, but not because it might break down, just because I might be running over small animals and/or motorcyclist without knowing it.)
One that won't break down at any given moment.

It really was time to put "Ole Unreliable" (the old truck) down.
So.... Say hello to the BEAST:

(Okay, not actually the Beast either... I'm way to lazy to take/download pics today.)

BTW... I heart the BEAST.

Zoolights

One of the best things about the car accident (are there ever really good things about car accidents?) is that the girls were not in the car. Instead, they were with Neema (my mom) and Babi (my grandma) at Hogle Zoo visiting the Zoolights display. Although it was cold, they got so see a few animals (like the ones that are normally hiding during the day) and they got to ride the carousel. They also got to see Christmas lights, which is fascinating to them.

Here's a pic with Babi and my little Eskimos.

Naiya was asking why we don't have Christmas lights on the house all the time. At first I couldn't give her a reason (besides to save on the power bill ;). Then I realized that the reason is that it wouldn't be as special if we had it all the time!

Bessie

If you know me, you know I LOVE my Subaru. All-wheel drive plus snow tires and I'm feel invinsible. Snow? I laugh in the face of snow. BRING IT ON! Except that right now...and for the next little while I don't have my Subaru. I have Bessie. Bessie does not have 4 wheel drive. Bessie does not have snow tires. Driving Bessie in a snow storm is not fun. It makes my bottom sore from all the clenching. It makes my teeth sore from all the grinding. It makes my eyeballs dry from not blinking. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all Bessie has done for us the last couple of weeks. She has delivered my little family home safely on Christmas day when I thought it impossible. I will do my best to take good care of Bessie until the 16th (hopefully not much longer), but I can't wait to get the Subie back. I miss him. Thankfully he'll be back soon. For now, I will be taking the "Let It Snow" sign off of my door.

Subaru vs. SUV

First of all, Jared is fine. I am fine. SUV is fine... for the most part, and Subie will be fine... eventually. ;)
Here's the story... My mom had just picked up the girlies to take them to the Zoolights at Hogle Zoo. We were on our way to dinner with the Chamberlains and a little Kurt Bestor. Jared wanted an energy drink to stay awake, so he walked to the Sev that's about 5 houses down from us, and I finished getting ready and picked him up.
He, being the manly man that he is, wanted to drive for our date. So when he came out of the Sev, we switched seats. He got in the drivers seat and turned around in the parking lot, preparing to turn left onto the street. If you've been to our house between 5:30 and 6:30, you know that there is always a row of cars waiting for the traffic light down the block. It's hard to pull out to turn right let alone left. Traffic was backed up as usual. A car in the outer lane stopped to let us through. Jared started to pull out and was focused on the the two lanes of cars coming from the opposite direction. The inner lane (a right turn lane) was not as backed up. At least not until we pulled out in front of a car in that lane.
Fortunately nobody was hurt. I'm thankful that the SUV only had minor bumper damage (I would hate for us to have caused more damage to someone else). Then there's Subie. My sweet Subie. He made it through the rest of the evening. We made it to the tail end of dinner and to the Kurt Bestor concert. (Later that night I lost my wallet for a couple of hours. It was not on my list of top ten dates with Jared.) However when I went to take Subie in for a quote, (not before the front bumper fell the rest of the way off), and they pointed out that the radiator had shifted (and probably had some sort of hairline crack) Therefore Subie was unsafe to drive. and has been sitting there ever since waiting amongst mounds of other damaged vehicles for his turn at the shop. He should be done between the 16th and the 25th.(They originally told me it would be FINISHED by Monday the 5th, but I don't want to get into that.) For now, we have Bessie...

I Heart

- Two squirmy girlies napping at the same time.
- A hubby who goes to Home Depot yesterday to rig up my washer and dryer to work.
- The smell of clean laundry.
- Not making a New Year's resolution to not eat left over holiday treats.
- Space heaters in cold basements while I type.
- Having a little time.

Hope you've been able to find a little time today!

Happy New Year!!

Well, it's officially 2009! I won't say that 2008 was a terrible year, but honestly, I've had better; and I'm excited at the prospects that the new year brings.
In 2003 I got married and started teaching. In 2004 we got (and did a lot of work on) our house. In 2005 we had Naiya. In 2006 we had Eva. In 2007 and 2008 I feel like I spent a lot of the time trying to redefine normal while holding on for dear life. Having a husband, a house, and two kids all the sudden can turn your world up-side-down. Not that it's bad, it's just a completely different life that 5 or 6 years ago.
To be honest, I feel like I've been waiting for another big change the last 2 years. It's just been how life has gone for us. I guess I'm realizing that in 2009 I can start really getting it all together.
I'm excited for the prospects this new year brings. I want to get organized (I'm looking at this office/basement in disarray as I type this.); I want to establish good routines (i.e. get my butt to the gym on a regular basis); and I want to find as many ways to help/serve as I can (within my family, extended family, community and where ever). My theme for the year is a sort of a change what I can, and accept what I can't kind of thing.
I hope that you are happy wherever life currently has you and I'm sending you even more happiness in 2009. Happy New Year!!