Snippets of life

So many blog-able things have happened lately, but getting on-line on our computer is a big pain! I mostly just read e-mail and other people's blogs.

Blog-able Story #1

On Monday morning the girls and I went to the library and had a hard time finding a parking spot. The place was packed! I pulled into a spot next to a VW with a woman in the passenger's seat. The spaces are narrow, and as I was getting the girls out of the car the VW woman got out, pushed her way past me and moved my door.

"I knew it! Your door dinged my door! I heard it from inside my car."

I felt terrible and apologized profusely. She was terse. I looked at the ding and rubbed away the dirt to find a tiny little spot, smaller than the size of this o. She told me it was very unfortunate. Again, I profusely apologized and tried to give her some money for a touch-up kit.

"Oh, that spot is too small to bother with a touch-up kit. It's just very unfortunate."

I promised to be much more cautious in the future. Just then, her two boys came out to their car, so I moved to the other side of mine so as not to be in the way. One of her boys was driving. As I looked down to buckle Ls into her stroller I heard, "SMACK CRUNCH!"

Her boy had just smashed into the car behind them, and the huge dent on their car was much worse than a ding in the paint. :-( Very unfortunate. I left before I could hear the aftermath.

Blog-able story #2

So about 3 months ago I started feeling very ill. I knew that I was pregnant, but this just seemed to be much worse than in the past. I just seemed to feel much more terrible than I had during the last 2 pregnancies. I figured I was just getting older and it would be harder to be pregnant now that I wasn't in my 20s anymore.

I lost my appetite, and one day during dinner I remarked to Mr. Amazing Husband, "It feels like there's a rock in my stomach." And then, the grand epiphany moment. Mr. AH said, "K, you say that every time your ulcers came back." Oh, duh to me. You'd think after all those ulcers I would recognize when they come back. I guess the pregnancy symptoms closely mock some of the ulcer ones. Thank heavens I just take some medication and three months later voila! I feel much better.

We've been able to see an ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. We are very, very excited and grateful. We were told we probably wouldn't be able to have any more children without expensive medical intervention. I'm glad Heavenly Father's plans were different.

Blog-able Story #3

This story also occurred on Monday. Mr. AH woke up early, he had started new classes and is gone almost the entire day. He couldn't find his keys and had looked everywhere. This was a problem, because there were keys to our apartment, his lab, and our car on them. I said a quick prayer asking where I should look. I got the impression to go out to our front door. I went out, opened the door, and there they were, sticking right in the handle.

We were very blessed and lucky for several reasons:
1. Those keys had been in the door since the previous day at 5:00.
2. We live on a busy, high pedestrian street where those keys would have been visible from the sidewalk.
3. There have been no less than 3 cars stolen from the 2 houses across the street from us.
4. Yikes! Strangers having the keys to our house? Yikes!

So thank Heavens for prayer. Yet another testament for its wonderfulness.

And to catch up, NiNa starts school in a few weeks. Sob. I'm really going to miss her while she's there. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. She is so sweet and cute, and she says the darndest things. Her laugh is so fun.

Our lives suddenly got much busier, and much more hectic, when Ls figured out how to hop over the gate to the kitchen. I didn't really have to baby-proof that much for NiNa. She never got into things or made big messes. Ls likes to do things on her own, explore, dive right in and grab anything she can find. So I find myself ever more occupied with safety. Admittedly, it is cute to see a tiny, petite little two year old climbing up the side of the food storage shelf so she can "eat gum!" Still...

Also, it took me some months to realize that because Ls had learned to jump over the gate that we didn't need to keep it up anymore. Brilliant, I know.

"Who's the wiser? Who's to know?"

A few weeks ago I was reading the paper and noticed a fun sounding short essay contest:

"What I learned from my own Julia Child."

I have always loved Julia Child, and essay writing is fun, so I entered. The prize? 4 winners would be selected to go to the pre-screening of the movie "Julie & Julia" and their essays would be printed in the paper.

I was very surprised to get a call about a week ago telling me that I was a winner! Valerie Phillips herself gave me a ring. My essay was printed in today's Deseret News, and it's also on Valerie's blog, Flavors.

Here's my essay:
____________________________________________________________
Growing up, in our house Julia Child was always queen of the culinary world. On Saturday mornings, Mom would shush us kids so she could glean any bit of wisdom from the greatest cook of all. We liked watching her too because of her great accent. We loved imitating her.

Inspired, Mom would whip up her own versions of greatness. She is an experimental cook, and was always coming up with some new culinary treat and chasing us around the kitchen with it. Her exotic creations included such dishes as “asparagus smothered in imported gorgonzola cheese atop a lightly toasted 7 grain bread” or “chocolate chili mole ala poultry.” Us kids, being so uncultured and ignorant of anything to do with the gastronomic scene, were often told by Mom that our “tastes had not yet matured.”

“Mayan kings used to love this!” she would say. “It was a great delicacy that only the elite royal class used to enjoy! Have a bite.” One day we were aghast to find a tray of cream cheese filled dates topped carefully with almonds. When we turned up our noses at it, she quickly chided, “Jesus used to eat this! It was one of his favorite treats! I can’t believe you would reject something that Jesus himself used to feast on!”

Aside from instilling a wariness of unknown dishes in us kids, Mom taught us one of the grandest lessons of cooking: you don’t need a recipe to make dinner. And, if your kids won’t touch it, tell them it was Caesar’s favorite dish.
____________________________________________________________

I have not exagerated anything to the least degree about Mom's cooking in this essay. We laugh about it all now, but she really did, and probably still does, say those things. I took her with me to the pre-screening. We had a fabulous time, and there were parts that I laughed so hard I cried. I am not supposed to critique the movie at all until it comes out on the 7th, so I'll give my impressions then.

Subtle? Maybe.

Technology is such a funny thing.
10 years ago, cell phones weren't all that accessible to most people. I remember my mom's first car phone. It plugged into the cigarette lighter and had a cord attached to a briefcase-sized battery. The phone itself was like a brick. That was probably 15 years ago. And it was expensive! I don't remember anyone ever actually using it.
Weren't the days when people went on vacation and you couldn't get ahold of them for 2 weeks nice? Yeah, not in the case of emergencies, but really it's hard to get away if you're connected to the world all the time.
We're not so much into cell phones. We've got a track phone for emergencies. It has come in quite handy at times, and we feel it's a necessity because of NiNa's food allergies. I'm glad other people have cell phones. It's nice to be able to get ahold of someone when they're at the grocery store. Still, I feel more free when I can go somewhere and not be reached. I know, it sounds funny, but there it is.
I bring this up because of the great conveniences we enjoy thanks to the Internet. (That was my original thought, and I got off on a tangent). It's really nice to keep in touch so easily. I love being able to just click off a message to anywhere in the world and have instant contact with someone. (Okay, not instant. We have dial up. It does make keeping in touch much easier, though). And it's really nice to read up on friends' blogs. At first I felt like things were much less personal that way, but honestly I feel like I know a lot of people better than I did before their blogs.
Which brings me to my last thought. It's kind of strange hearing big news over the Internet. I'm talking engagements, pregnancies, that kind of thing. Yeah, we can still call each other and say, "I'm pregnant! We're expecting a babe early this February!" Still, it is much easier and more convenient to just type it up in a blog. ;-)

Our little friend

We have a hummingbird that hangs out at our place.

Hummingbirds are curious little guys, flitting around and zipping all over. Ours peeps in our kitchen window to see what we're up to and what we're having for dinner.

A few years ago I was fascinated to see him above our roof, darting wildly in all directions. I think he was catching mosquitoes. Yay for hummingbirds!

Before the kids were born I was rockclimbing with Mr. AH up in the canyon. I was probably about 35 feet off the ground when I heard a strange buzzing noise and a slight breeze next to my right ear. I turned around and there was the cutest little hummingbird just hanging out. He was so close I could have reached out and pet him. He stayed there for quite some time (at least 15 seconds, which is a long time for a hummingbird) and stared. He was probably wondering what in the world I was doing up there.

Another time shortly after Mr. AH and I were married we were camping up in Logan and a hummingbird visited our campsite. He hovered about 10 feet away and just looked at us for a while.

The last time I saw our little friend he was checking out the red and white flag we had on our porch. Hummingbirds are attracted to bright red colors. The little guy was fascinated.

Maybe someday we'll put up a feeder. They're high maintenance, which we don't have time for right now. I'm sure glad our little friend comes by anyway.

If you're interested in hummingbird feeders, check out the Auduban's link here.

A fish story

Today we went down with our friend Lena to a 'community pond'. From what we could tell, this was the perfect place to fish:

- 3 acres of aquatic fun
- canoes are allowed
- the pond was just stocked with fish and was reported to be one of the best fishing spots around
- restrooms! yay!
- and finally, a playground for times of desperation

Also, it is handicap accessible, which was nice for Lena and her nifty wheelchair.

So we loaded up the canoe (and it made a buzzing sound, kind of like an exploding hive, the whole way down) and soon found ourselves with reels in hand waiting to snag the big one.

And wait we did.

At one point, we decided that our little lures weren't alluring enough, so Mr. AH set off to the local Wal-Mart (one block away. Ironic) and picked up some "fish crave this!" bait. Ha.

About this time, cousin Emily, River and Mocha (the dog) came. It was really nice to be outside, enjoying the weather and each other's company.

Too bad the fish wouldn't join us.

We did hear a kid down pond from us catch something. And then a few hours later a girl in a red camp chair across shore reeled in a large-ish one. Proof that at least something lived in this body of water.

And then, finally, all our waiting paid off. Lena felt a nibble and reeled in a beaut. It was a bass. A baby bass. About two and a half inches long.

Fish and chips, anyone?

shoganai

Life has been so busy lately, I haven't had time to wait for this dial up connection to post anything. (Really, I think I just haven't had patience. It's summer! Wheee! I'd much rather be running around outside than sitting in front of a computer screen).

And then the guilt comes. I love keeping in touch by reading blogs. It's so nice to just be able to click on a page and keep up on old friends (even if the pictures don't all pull up because of our aforementioned trial). I realize that I have suddenly become MIA as far as the blogosphere goes. Alas. Such conflict.

We could break down and go back to high speed, but that darn frugal side of me just can't imagine it. For now dial up is worth saving $50 a month. And contracts? Meh.

And speaking of all of this, I have been quite intrigued by all the goings on lately in the economy. I just can't bring myself to believe that no one really saw this coming. Sub prime loans in and of themselves were a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. It always seemed crazy to me to think that people would promote sliding interest rates. I have found myself praying for our leaders, our policy makers, right down to our Nation as a whole- for each one of us, that we will stand up for integrity and be honest in our dealings with one another. That is the only way we will really prosper. Otherwise, we're calculating all our gains on false grounds. I won't go into it, I usually just muse to myself.

Anyway, we have rented a canoe and will hopefully have some fish stories for you tomorrow! (Or whenever I actually post again... aah, summer).

sometimes

When I was little my house was out in the country and there were fields that spread out to the base of the mountains. An irrigation ditch ran through those fields, and gigantic trees stetched up to the sky all along the banks of the lazy flowing water. Those trees must have been planted by the pioneers that settled my beautiful hometown mountain valley.
I loved to climb up into those trees and look up at the leaves blowing in the breeze. On hot summer days it was the perfect place to cool off and listen to the bubbling water.

That place is gone now. Except in my memory.

It's okay, though. I'm happy with the place I'm in now.

Oh short lived fame

At least one or more people at a time have been sick at our place for the last month and a half.

Ugh.

NiNa had it the worst, she was sick for just about the entire last month and a half. Just when we thought she was getting better, she ended up in the emergency room.

3 double ear infections later (between both kid-os)...

We had something so nasty I won't even begin to describe it.

We did have a few cool things happen. NiNa, during one of her brief thought-she-was-well-again stints and I were interviewed for the 5:00 news. They were doing a story on food allergies, and we were asked for an interview by channel 4. NiNa was so cute later that night as we were watching it, she giggled every time they showed her.

When I got to the house where the interview was (they held it at another mom's house who has 2 kids with food allergies), the gal there had surprising news for me. (She's the president of the local FAAN chapter). She said, "Oh, have you checked out this month's such and such issue yet?" (I'm not mentioning the magazine or posting the link for the news interview. If you want to know what they are, just e-mail me. I don't want this blog to be traceable to where we live!)

Anyway, I said that no, I had not seen it.

"Well, you're in it!"

What? When did I ever submit anything to this magazine? I guess the group had submitted one of my recipes or something, and it was the main feature of the article.

Go figure. Guess we've had our 15 minutes of fame.

The most embarrassing thing... ever (or the best seat in the house)

The other day I went to a baby shower which was held in the nursery at the church. When I got there, there were scores of people from India dressed to the nines in beautiful traditional clothing. The women were in colorful saris and the men were wearing impressive shirts. They were having a celebration of some sort in the cultural hall (aka the gym). There was exotic Indian music playing, and I'd say between one and two hundred people in attendance. It was quite obviously a private affair for which they had gotten permission to hold at the church.

Meanwhile we gals were having a great time in the nursery at the shower. Most of us had our kids there, and NiNa and Ls were laughing and playing. We had to keep the door shut so the kids wouldn't escape, though, and this proved to be difficult.

As I was chatting with someone, while holding a tippy pile of food on a wobbly plate, the door opened and Ls seized the opportunity and shot down the hall. It took me a second to set the plate down, and when I raced out the door I couldn't see her anywhere. I went down the hall and looked in the coat room: no Ls. The chapel: No Ls. The foyer? Nope.

Then a terrible thought crept into my mind... maybe she was running around in the gym.

They had a side door open, and I nonchalantly walked over and peered in. I scanned the room. No Ls. And what would I do if she was in there anyway? I couldn't run in and get her. They were right in the middle of live music, with a man up on the stage singing and NO! Ls STANDING RIGHT UP ON STAGE BESIDE HIM! The horror! I was mortified. There she was, all two and a half feet of her, staring up at the vocalist. I could have died. I'm sure I was quite a sight as my hand shot to my open mouth.

I raced around to the back of the stage just as they were announcing so-and-so who had just sang with 'an international guest member'. The singer himself brought Ls down to me, and luckily he was smiling.

good thing we have band-aids

Our health insurance ended yesterday.

I realized this when NiNa nearly broke her nose this morning. And in the same morning not an hour before the nose incident, I had a freak accident with the shower's sliding glass door and nearly sliced my finger to the bone.

After these revolting developments, we say NO MORE ACCIDENTS! We'll just have to wait until we have insurance again.