Painful Experiences

Happy Memorial Day! We were planning on working in the garden today and finishing planting flowers in the yard, but alas, it is raining! So we went to Target. Taking Riley shopping is always a mistake. For one thing he hates shopping and he lets you know by disobeying your every request. If you ask him to stay by your side, he wanders off. If you ask him to stop touching everything, he has to touch everything. He has to touch the clothes, the tags on the clothes, the signs poking out of the isles that say 2 for $3. It drives me nuts! And his voice has two volumes: loud and louder. Aye, Aye, Aye! Then, I punish him by making him stay in the cart and he's all "I hate you! You are the worstest, meanest mom in the world!" I usually roll my eyes and ignore him. He hates being ignored. Luckily this time Kurtis was with us. He's very good at getting Riley in line.
So, I started going to physical therepy for my right S.I. joint. During the winter sometime I slipped on a patch of ice and hit hard on my butt. I got right up and was really embarassed, but other than that, I thougth I was fine. Then a little while later, my hip started to hurt. I could just walk off the pain, but right before I went to P.T., I couldn't really walk it off any more. So I called my doctor and she told me to go to a physical therapist. Well, at least I didn't need a hip replacement. The P.T. has given me some stretches to do at home and told me to ice my back for 10-15 minutes every day. Also, I have to go on 10 minute walks (or as long as my joint allows). He said this is a stubborn injury and could take awhile to heal. Which means he's thinking, "Cha-ching!" But it does seem to be helping. I went twice last week, and go back on Thursday.
Zachary has finished soccer until fall. Riley started T-ball. Kaleb has his last music class on Wednesday, and the last day of school is Friday! Zachary cried when I told him it wasn't the last day of school on Friday. Ha ha! He has four more days left!

Drinking Makes You Stupid

I haven't blogged in awhile because I didn't think I had anything to blog about. Whatever. Let me tell you what happened last week (I think it was Wednesday, April 30th). I was sitting in my chair, minding my own business reading the final book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, when I hear this crashing sound right outside the front of my house. I look up in time to see a truck hit my mailbox (and my neighbor's they're right next to each other)! I go outside to see if the person has stopped or needs help or whatever and they are speeding down the street as fast as they can go! No, I couldn't see the license plate numbers. I didn't know what to do, so I called Kurtis and asked him if I should call the cops. He said I should. So I did. I filed my first police report ever. Crazy. The cop came and took pictures just like in CSI. It was cool. (Not really) But I did learn that it was considered a hit and run, not just vandalism.
Well, later that evening (because this happened at like 4:00 in the afternoon!), I went outside to call the kids in to dinner and a man in a truck pulls up and asks if that's my mailbox that got crunched. I'm apprehensive of him because I don't know the guy and the person who hit my mailbox was also in a tan truck. I'm thinking, "So, you've finally come to confess!" He proceeds to tell me that he saw the woman hit the mailboxes, and decided to follow her and chase her down. He said that my mailbox hit her windshield and broke it. Ha ha! He told me that he followed her to an apartment building and tried to block her in with his truck while he borrowed some one's cell phone to call the police. She apparently tried to get away from him by moving forward instead of backing up into him and then came around the other side of the parking lot where he was still blocking her in. The cops chased her around and finally caught her. According to him, they had to "take her to the ground." Amazing. She was drunk (of course). I really didn't think that we were ever going to find out who hit our mailboxes. Our next door neighbors told us that this happened two years ago (we've only been living in our home for a year). I wanted to get a nice brick mailbox, but I don't know if every two years some drunk idiot crashes into it. It may not be worth the hassle.

Normal - Nothings

Well, let's see. I'm reading Twilight again for my book club on Thursday. I've read it before, but I still find it hard to put down once I start reading. I've tried limiting myself to five chapters a day, but that didn't work out so well today. I figure it's fine as long as the kids get fed (right?). The last time I read it, I finished the series (all three books) in like three and a half days. Crazy. Luckily it was a weekend, so Kurtis could pick up the slack for me. Ha ha.
This week well, not too much happened. I went to the grocery store. Weeded the garden (wait, no, that was Kurtis). Um, I took Zach to his soccer game. I don't think anybody won. Nobody scored. But he was running around after the ball instead of just standing around licking leaves, so that's an improvement.
An update on potty training Kaleb. He pooped in the potty at church today! He never does that. I let him run around half naked to see if that would help him potty train. He pooped in the living room and peed on the kitchen floor because he has issues about holding down his own wiener! It's annoying. But then after that adventure, he would go in the potty while he was naked. But if I put big boy underwear on him and his pants, he would pee in his pants. I don't know what to do with that kid. Maybe I'm just not ready to give up diapers. Wait a minute! Yes I am! I've been changing diapers for almost seven years straight! By the way, I don't let him run around naked any more. He always says, "Can I have my pants back now?" When I take them away. I think we'll try it again when it's warmer.

I'm really no fun...

Okay, so I wanted to comment on being mint chocolate chip last night, but it was way, way late and I had to teach Sunbeams in the morning, so I went to bed instead. I hate it when I stay up so late. My friend had that little quiz on her blog. I thought it was funny, so why not. I took the quiz and you know how sometimes there are like two answers that you could choose? Well, that's what happened to me and it told me I was vanilla. Whatever. I don't think I have a calming influence on anybody. Besides, I don't even like vanilla ice cream. I took it another time, and only changed one answer and I got mint chocolate chip. Well, okay. It's a good flavor, but it's not my favorite. Then I was just messing around and took it again. Suddenly, I was chocolate. Which is sounded sort of like me. I don't remember what it said, really. Something about being sexy and fun (I think - I really don't remember). I'm so not fun. Ask my kids. You know, I'm the kind of mom who will stop them from jumping off kitchen bar stools because I really don't want them to break their legs.
This week nothing happened. Monday was laundry day, Tuesday I watched my niece and took Zach to soccer practice and went to choir practice, Wednesday I didn't do anything cool, Thursday I volunteered at Riley's preschool, Friday I went to a costume fitting for the movie I'm being a "featured extra" in, Yesterday we weeded the yard because it was finally warm enough to go outside without a coat or jacket. Oh, and the most exciting thing of all - (imagine a drum roll) Kurtis' brother-in-law came over and helped us fix the toilet! Yay! It works again! (to be read as if I had tears in my eyes)I'm so entirely excited and would just like to thank Ryan for all the hard work and help and support that he has given us during these hard times of only having two toilets. I don't know how we survived, but we made it. Thank you. (blown kiss) Thank you. (Another blown kiss) Oh, and Zach had a soccer game on Saturday. His team won! It was their first win, so go Red Dragons!

Apparently, I'm fresh and new. And you are?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream wakes up people's taste buds, and you do the same thing when you walk into a room. The chocolatey bits represent your sweet, flirtatious side, and the minty flavor represents your high energy level. You are smart, witty, and you make a great first impression. Your friends value your advice, because you tend to see things from a fresh new perspective.

This is Kurtis. Hmm. You're as popular and relaxing as vanilla ice cream. You go with the flow, and get along with all sorts of people. You appreciate peace and simplicity, so you sometimes find crowds and loud noises overwhelming. You are a chilled-out, calming influence on the people in your life, and your friends appreciate how supportive and flexible you are.

I Want My Toilet Back!

Our toilet has been the bane of my existence for a month or two now. I can't think how long it's been since it worked. Let me explain. Our house has three toilets, so we are not hurting for having one on the fritz, but it's still no fun. Any way, the kids' bathroom toilet leaks sporadically from the bottom (at least, I think it's the bottom). At first, we thought it was leaking from the tank and we could just replace the bolts. This did not help, but our bolts are shiny and new. Very pretty. Then I thought, well maybe it's the wax seal under the toilet. I shared this brilliant new information with my scientific-mined husband (who, by the way, sucks at home improvement). I told him that we should lift the toilet off the floor and have a look. I know I am freakishly strong, but I don't think I can lift the toilet by myself, so I asked if we could do this together. For whatever reason, he didn't really want to pay any attention to me, and would just be like well we need to call a plumber. I would rather not pay for something we could do ourselves. Then like Monday or Tuesday this week, the toilet downstairs had water all around to bottom of it, too. I just thought that we had another wax ring leak, so I called my husband at work and told him the other toilet might be not working with the same problem. He decides to "Google" it. He comes home and tells me he thinks we probably need to get a new wax seal for the toilet. I looked at him, kind of blankly and said, "I've been saying that for a month, now." He is so infuriating sometimes! I have to tell you he does this to me a lot. I will tell him we should do such and such, and he's all Mr. Skeptical. Then his boss (whom he is really good friends with) will say, "You guys should do such and such." If he does that, Kurtis will come home and say, "Steve says we should do such and such, and I've been thinking about it, and I think we should." Ahhhh! Anyway, so we were all set to finally fix my toilet (yay!), but we can't get the plastic thingy that attaches the water line to the tank and you make it really tight so the tank doesn't leak to come off! It should just screw off. Maybe I could cut it off. Hmmm. Alas, no toilet fixed for me this weekend. Oh, and we started potty training Kaleb. He's starting to get it as long as he is not wearing any pants or underwear. I don't know what to think of this, but at least he's making progress! At the start of the week he would cry hysterically when we put him on the potty or told him to sit on his little one. So, the naked baby is a good thing. It can only get better - hopefully. :)

Tilt your head. Okay, now squint your left eye a little...

I feel like I travel to "the big city" so much we should just live there. But I like where I live, too. Anyway, I did go back and forth quite a bit this week. Wednesday, I picked Kurtis up from work so that I could go to a Relief Society function (it was very good, by the way). Okay, so being in the Primary means that you don't get a lot of information that you should. I picked up Kurtis, quickly ate dinner, and ran over to the church for some girl time, but low and behold, it was a stake function and in the chapel. I was wearing jeans! Ahhh! I should have been in a skirt. But nobody told me it was a stake function and nobody told me it would be in the chapel. Such is life. I enjoyed the program anyway. Seriously, who says you can't feel the Spirit in jeans? (I've been wanting to say that all week. Hope you liked it.) Thursday, Zachary had his school program. We have so many parents and friends and family members, that it had to be held at a nearby high school. Those kids did a bang up job. It was a broadway night where each grade sung a different broadway tune. Zach and the first graders sang "I Gotta Crow" from Peter Pan (I love Peter Pan). They were so cute. I've posted a picture at the bottom - Zach is the one folding his arms. Friday, I drove to my hometown to get new headshots taken. My brother is a photographer, and he's very good. But I hate getting headshots taken. He tells me to do weird things like squint my left eye, but open my right eye. Am I that lopsided!? Anyway, I went to Costco and got one printed, then I went and picked Kurtis up from work, and then went back to Costco to pick up the print. It sucked. The color wasn't right. So Saturday, I went back to try again. We got a good shot. This one should work. My hair looks redder in the picture than it is, but not, too red. There it is, my new headshot (to the left). And finally, I post a picture of myself. Oh, then I drove all the way to "the big city" for an audition. I can't wait for the weather to stop freaking out so that Kurtis can ride his motorcycle to work. He'll get home sooner, and I won't have to go get him - unless it rains and I forget to get bus money.