Do Unto Others...

I've been thinking about that old saying, the Golden Rule. I am often reminding my children that the way it goes is "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" not "Do unto others as others have done unto you." (This is usually after one has justified himself by saying something like "but he never shares with me..." or "but he hits me all the time...") This little rule is definitely a good rule to live by!

However, I’ve been realizing lately that there are exceptions to this rule. Let me explain. I’ve been married over 16 years now to a wonderful man. We have a lot of things in common, but we are also very different. Here’s one way that we are different: I’m a complete neat freak, and he doesn’t mind (or even notice) clutter. As a matter of fact, I think he prefers to have his things spread out on tops of tables and countertops so that if he wants something, it’s right there at his fingertips—he doesn’t have to look for it.

Well, over the years, we’ve found ways to compromise. Which mainly means that he has a few choice spots (his nightstand, for example) where he is allowed to spread out his stuff and I leave it alone (most of the time!) and then in the rest of the house, I get my way. (Which actually means that I am constantly picking up everybody else’s stuff and putting it away where it belongs--but I digress.)

So recently I found the toothpaste sitting out on the counter when I went to brush my teeth. Feeling annoyed over this reminder that no one else in the house ever puts things back where they belong, I made sure that I put the toothpaste back in the medicine cabinet when I was finished. Later, when Frank came up to brush his teeth, he commented in a kind of hurt voice “You didn’t leave the toothpaste out for me. I left it out for you.”

Hmmm…reality check! How often am I annoyed by the things he does, when actually he is trying to please me? How often is he hurt because of the things I do, when actually all I am doing is doing what I think he will like? But here is the problem—I’m basing what I think he will like on what I would like. He’s doing for me what he’d like done for him. We’re forgetting that we’re two very different people!

I actually heard a story once that dramatically illustrates my point. I hope it isn’t true, but for what it’s worth, here it is: A couple was getting a divorce. She complained bitterly that he just didn’t care about her—that he was selfish and inconsiderate. The main thing that really stuck in her mind was that whenever he made a sandwich for her, he gave her the “heel” at the end of the loaf. He never ate the heel himself—he always gave it to her. Sometime after the divorce was final, she asked him how he could be so inconsiderate as to always do that to her. He was shocked, and then meekly explained that in his family, everybody loved the heel. Because they all wanted it, they always had to take turns who got it. When they married, he decided that he would always let her have the heel. It never occurred to him that she didn’t like the heel! Giving her the heel was actually one of the ways that he tried to show his love for her. So sad that she misunderstood his intentions!

So sometimes the Golden Rule doesn’t work. Instead of doing to others what we would like them to do for us, we need to stop and think a little harder. What would that person want the most? We can’t always assume that it’s the same thing that we would want!

I got out of the shower one day recently and found my contact lenses and deodorant sitting out on the counter, waiting for me. I smiled. He loves me!

Would You Like Some Salt & Pepper?

I've been meaning to do a post about a unique collection of mine for quite some time, but I needed to take some pictures to include first. Amy's post on her blog about Grandma Pew motivated me to get it done! So here we go....

My Grandma, Anna Jane Kleinman Pew, had a collection of salt & pepper shakers. She had a lot of them in a hutch with glass doors in her dining room (my Mom & Dad have that hutch now) and others scattered throughout her home in other curio cabinets. I used to love to just look at them! Many of them were in unique, clever shapes. I was fascinated by the fun variety that she had. My cousin, Sharly, who lived next door to Grandma & Grandpa, used to take them out to play with them. I never felt comfortable doing that--I was afraid I would break some of these precious treasures!

When I was around 9 years old, my Grandma told us that she wanted each of her grandchildren to have a set to keep, to remember her by. I couldn't understand how she could part with them (but I get it now--I'm a lot less attached to "things" than I was then) but I was thrilled to have the chance to own a set. I chose carefully--something I liked, but I avoided taking one of the sets that I thought was the "coolest" because I thought Grandma wouldn't want to give those ones up! I picked out a set of little rabbits. They are an interesting color--kind of blue / green. They look a lot like Thumper from Bambi. I would include a picture, but I forgot to take a picture of this set!

When my Grandma passed away in 1984 and we went through the house sorting out belongings, there were still 20 sets left. I'm not sure how many sets Grandma had, but I'm guessing she gave away between 30-40 sets, so she probably had about 60. Nobody else wanted the extra sets, so I was happy to take them and decided that I would start a collection of my own. Over the last 24 years, I have picked up new sets here and there, while traveling or just when I see one I like. I have also been given many sets as gifts. My collection has grown--including the ones I got from Grandma, I now have 80 sets! When I was a teenager, my collection was displayed on shelves in my room. Unfortunately, I don't have a good place to display them in my home now, so a select few are scattered around my home, but most of them reside in boxes under my bed, carefully wrapped. I have great plans for how I want to display them someday, though!

Recently, I decided to go through them and inventory what I have. I wish I had thought to take pictures of all of them while I was at it! But I cleaned them all carefully and decided that I really need to use them more often. Now every month I pull one or two sets out to use for that month. As I went through these little treasures, I found myself wishing I could ask my Grandma some questions. Questions such as when did she start collecting salt & pepper shakers and why? Which set was her favorite? Where did her sets come from? Did she get them while she was traveling , or did others give them to her? I'll bet there is an interesting story behind each set!

I asked my dad when he was visiting last month if he knew the answers to any of these questions. He said he wasn't sure, but he thought he had started her collection when he bought her a set of salt & pepper shakers in Oregon, right after he graduated from high school. That set was made out of some knotholes. I vaguely remember them, but I don't know what happened to that set.

Here's another question I'd like to ask her. Check out this set of cute little cats:

This is one of my favorites of all the sets I got from Grandma Pew. These cats are a little mysterious. Look at this view of the bottom of one of the cats:

That little cylinder on the bottom comes all the way out. When I tip it, a heavy disc inside moves back and forth. I have no idea what this little cylinder is! (There's a matching one in the bottom of the other cat.) The only thing I can think of, is that maybe at one time this little cylinder made a noise that sounded like a cat's meow. If it did, it doesn't work now. I guess I will never know! Another of the sets from my Grandma, a set of chickens, has the same thing in the bottom. That is one question I would like to ask Grandma if I could!
Here are a few of the other sets I got from Grandma:

This set was one of my favorites when I was a little girl--I loved the glitter and shells!

Fresh from the garden!

Little woodland creatures

I'm pretty sure these were a gift from our family when we lived in Texas

Another of my favorites!
Grandma had quite a few animals and birds

Here's a unique and fun little set:

The buttons on top cause the plugs in the bottom to move, leaving a small hole for the salt or pepper to trickle out. Here's a view of the bottom:

This set is one of my absolute favorites:

Where does the salt & pepper go, you may ask? In the beaters, which come off, like this:

If you look very carefully, you can see the holes in the top of the beater, surrounding the metal part.

Here's one more set from Grandma:

The basket has a big chip in the back, but it still looks pretty cute from the front!

Now here are some of the ones I've added to the collection over the years. I would like to get a set from each state eventually. Here are a few that I have:

These little garden houses came from Mt. Vernon, in Virginia

My mom & dad gots these dice for me on a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada

This clever set came from the Seattle Aquarium in Washington state

My friend Paula got this set for me on a trip to Washington, DC (Who knew that years later I'd live 30 miles from DC?)

I also have sets from Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, South Dakota, Utah, New Jersey, Idaho, Louisiana, Wyoming, North Carolina, Alabama, Hawaii, Florida, New York, Delaware, and Maryland. I've been to a lot of other states (and actually I have not been to a few of those states) but I haven't always been able to find salt & pepper shakers while I'm there. Or I find some, but I don't really like them. I like to get something that shows the uniqueness of that particular state if I can--I have seagulls from Utah and potatoes from Idaho, for example.

I have a couple of sets from other countries such as Chile (gift from Shellie) and France (gift from Hans). My brother Ben brought me this set from Germany:

Another thing I'm trying to do is to get a set for each month / season of the year. Here are some of the ones that I have:

I use this set in February--kind of reminds me of Valentine's Day

I love this set my mother in law just got me--it is so beautiful! I plan to use it for Easter and during the spring months.

I use this darling little set in the summer months, mostly in June.

One of my favorites--my parents got me this set to use in July (of course!)

I like to use this set in August--everybody around here goes to the beach in August! (Well, we never have....) These lighthouses came from Baltimore.

This cute little guy sat on our table during September. The acorns are actually the shakers--they come out of his arms! I saw this set at a Cracker Barrel store last fall and told Frank I wanted it for Christmas--hint, hint! He took the hint!

Here's my October set. I love that they found things that are black and white so you know which one's salt and which one's pepper!

These folks get used in November, of course!

These cute little elves grace the table in December. (I'll post a couple more Christmas ones when that holiday rolls around.)

These cute little snowmen (from my mother in law) will be fun to use in January and other winter months.

I also have a lot of "random" sets that I've picked up here and there because I liked them. I have lots of different animals--dogs, birds, a hen with eggs, bears, and these cute little cows:

I have fun objects like pianos, musical notes, teapots, milk bottles, pitchers, mushrooms, and these cute little soda bottles which I found at an antique store in North Carolina:

My grandma had a set of pop bottles, too. They were green, if I remember correctly. My brother Curtis has that set now, I think.
Here's one more set my mother in law gave me which I think is really cute:

I think someday I am going to pass my collection on to my grandchildren! In the meantime, I enjoy using these sets in my home. Every time I do, I remember my Grandma Pew.
What do you collect?
PS to my siblings--why don't you take a picture of the set that you have and send it to me? I'll post your photos here!

Weekly Review November 1 '08

I just have a few days to report on, really, since I just wrote last week's review on Monday. This week was a little more eventful than most, though, so I have a few things to write about.

Starting out with Tuesday, which was Jared's 10th Birthday! He was very excited about it the day before. He kept saying "I'm about to make it to two digits!" (Sorry, Jared--there's no going back!) Since Frank and Scott were both out the door before 6:00, and Jared was not awake yet, he had to wait until after school to open presents. He handled the wait very well, though. (I can't say the same thing about Scott a few years ago!) Seth and I went in to wake up Jared in the morning; I blew a couple of party blowers to wake him up.

The boys do not get a party every year, and this was not a party year for Jared. But the years that they don't have a party we let them invite 2 friends over to play and to have pizza and cake. We always tell the friends not to bring a present, but a lot of them do anyway. This year Jared had his friends Sage and Nicholas come over. They are both in his class at school, so I arranged to bring them home from school with me. I think Jared had a fun time with his friends. I think he really liked his presents. Frank did the shopping this year (with help from a list Jared made) and I think he made some good choices--a few things that were on the list, and a few things that weren't but Jared loved. We got him a Pokemon game for the Nintendo DS (Mystery Dungeon, or something like that), a thing for the DS called "action replay" which is a bunch of cheat codes--helps him unlock a bunch of new things in a lot of the games he has, the movie Night at the Museum, a big chocolate bar, and a package of differnt colored "sharpie" pens. He loved the tie tac Mom & Dad gave him and he is excited to pick something out with the money they sent. His friend Sage also got him a gift card to Borders, so he can go pick out some books. Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

What could it be? The suspense is killing me!

Excited Jared & Sage

Blow out the candles!

Here's a video of Jared's birthday (I've never tried this before, so we'll see if it actually works!)

I wanted to post the video of Jared opening his presents, but it's too long!

Wednesday was a busy day also. As I mentioned in my last post, I had my surgery follow up appointment that day. I wasn't sure I was going to be up to driving to Bethesda and back by myself (my eyes get tired easily) so I asked my friend Marci to come with me in case I needed help with driving. My appointment was at 11:00. I dropped the boys off at school at 9:00 (we ended up being late--I'm still not sure how that happened!), then I ran to the grocery store really fast, went home long enough to throw the groceries in the refrigerator, and then went to pick up Marci so we could head down to my appointment. We ended up getting a little lost (I had only been there once before and MapQuest failed me and gave me faulty directions) so I was a little late, but the GPS saved me (I should have used it in the first place.) I was nervous about getting the stitches out, but it only hurt a little bit. Seth sat on my lap through the whole thing and evidently watched very intently; the doctor offered to let him take one out! I said "no way!" After I was done at the doctor, we went over to the distribution center by the temple to make some purchases and then Marci took me to lunch. We were at a restaurant right next to a duck pond, so afterwards I took Seth out there to see the ducks, which he loved. He dropped his sippy cup, though--right over the railing--and there was no way to get to it, so the ducks get to keep it, I guess! We ran into some pretty bad traffic going home, so I just made it home in time to drop Marci off at her house and go pick up the boys from school. So long day, but it was a lot of fun to spend the day with Marci--we got a lot of visiting done!

After I got home we just had time for homework and dinner and then we were out the door again for our ward's "Trunk or Treat". Technically, it was a Primary activity, but the YM /YW had agreed to help and they really did most of the work--nice! They had 4 different carnival games set up for the kids to play. The day ended up being windy and cold, with rain threatening, so we ended up doing it all inside--we set up a big circle of chairs in the gym, and the kids went around the circle collecting candy from the adults. Here's a picture of our guys:


And here is Seth, moving around too much for me to get a really good picture, but still cute!:

He looked adorable in the little train outfit that Mom actually made for Scott 13 years ago! It is actually a little on the small side for him--if Halloween had been a month later, I don't know if I would have been able to get it on him (length-wise). Yes, he is eating some candy already! (And yes, it was blue candy. How'd you guess?) Seth caught on pretty quick with the trick or treating thing, and loved being able to pick a piece of candy out of each bowl as we went around. I didn't get a photo of me, but I wore a pirate hat and eye patch. I thought that was appropriate! I spent most of the evening blind, however, because I couldn't wear glasses with an eye patch!

My friend Rebecca sews incredible costumes for her whole family every year (herself, her husband, and her five children). She always picks a theme, but she also lets her kids decide what they want to be, so a few of them always have something that doesn't go along with the theme. But she and her husband, as well as 2 or 3 of her kids, are always in matching costumes. This year she chose Lord of the Rings. Here's a picture of Rebecca and her husband:

Here is her son:

At least one of her daughters was dressed to match, also, but I didn't get a picture of her. I thought you'd all enjoy those pictures. She is always so meticulous about the details--notice Frodo's hairy feet and all of their ears! (Rebecca does not usually have long black hair, either!)

After that action-packed day, I was pretty tired and my eye was hurting, but it was fun, at least. Thursday was mercifully quiet, and Seth took a long nap. That evening was busy also--Jared had soccer practice and Scott had a school-related open house to attend. I got Jared over to soccer practice, but Frank met me there on his way home from work and stayed so that I could go home. He took Scott to the open house also. It was for a place called the Career & Technology Center which is located at the local community college. They have a program where they partner with the high schools to give high school kids the opportunity to start learning and getting work experience in different trades. It sounds like a good opportunity. Scott was interested in finding out more about the culinary arts (one of the possible careers that interests him is to be a chef) as well as the computer programs. He found out he can get an associate's degree in computers by the time he graduates from high school. So he is looking into that possibility. Frank ended up having a long evening--he had some work to do when he got home that kept him up until 1:30 am. I am grateful that he did so much to help me out--after Wednesday I was very tired!

Friday wasn't very notable except it was Halloween, of course. Fortunately, the weather warmed up a bit (got up to about 61 degrees during the day) so it wasn't miserably cold for trick or treating. Tanner and Jared went trick or treating with their friend Joey from down the street--his dad went with them. Scott went with them also to help "supervise". He didn't collect any candy. They walked a long ways and were gone for nearly 2 hours, and Tanner and Jared came home with a truly appalling amount of candy! Frank and I took Seth around our part of our court (we live on a strange court that has three different branches). There were only a few people giving out candy, so that was perfect since he really doesn't need any! The rest of the night we manned the door. We really don't get that many trick or treaters here anymore, although we had a decent amount. We had too much candy as usual, so we were very generous but we still ended up with a couple of big bags leftover. Here's a better picture I got of Seth right before we left to go trick or treating:

And here he is later, trying out Tanner's Indiana Jones hat and whip:

This morning was busy because Jared had to help put out bags for the "Scouting for Food" service project at 9:00 and he had his last soccer game of the season at 10:00. We got to the service project right at 9:00 and asked for an assignment so we could get started immediately. They gave us a little housing development with just 3 streets, but we ran out of bags before we ran out of houses. We were out of time by then, too, so I went back over to the church (meeting place) and let them know which houses still needed to be done. Hopefully, someone else was able to finish it up.

We went straight over to the game after that. This week the referee was good--observant and fair. The other team was also one of the best teams we've played--hardly any pushing and elbowing going on. It was so nice to see that! Both teams played well, and the score was tied 2-2. Jared did a great corner kick to one of his team mates who then made it into the goal. It was a really nice way to end the season--on a much higher note than last week! Afterwards, they received medals and shared a great big chocolate chip cookie with their team initial on it. The weather was just beautiful today, too--sunny and warm--so that has been nice for a change! Here's a picture of Jared with his medal:

We are hoping to just enjoy the rest of today. We have some yard work to do, and maybe we will work on the kitchen, which still looks like this:

Not too pretty! But mostly, I hope we can spend some time outside--it is so beautiful today and I think we should enjoy it while we have the chance! I'm sure days like today are going to be really scarce between now and next spring!

My eye has continued to improve noticeably every day. It is starting to itch quite a bit, but I know that means it is healing. I'm trying not to rub it! I was thinking on Friday morning how incredible it is how the human body is able to heal! I was remembering how bad my eye was just one week before. Almost all the bruising is gone now and the scar is already starting to fade. I doubt many people would notice anything unusual about my eye now.

Seth has started saying "da" for "yes". I guess he was supposed to be born Russian! (At least he's not backwards like Scott was. Scott used to say "nein" for "yes". We have no idea why!) Seth was so very good on Wednesday when I was out and about all day. Ok, so he did try to climb on the table at the restaurant, but other than that, he was an angel--and he took two naps while riding in the car! Frank discovered this week that Seth has a molar coming in. It's funny that he still only has 6 front teeth and now he is getting one of his second molars!

That's our week, with pictures! We hope all of you are well.

Post-Op Update (Warning--Pictures Not for the Squeamish)

Just a little update on my eye--it is doing much better every day. Most of the swelling and bruising is gone now although a little remains. Yesterday I had my follow up visit with the surgeon. He removed the stitches (not too painful, thankfully!) and said everything looks good. I go back in 6 weeks to have the stint removed (they put one in to help keep the new tear duct open while it heals). Right now I have a pretty decent scar under my eye, but the doctor says that it will fade and be hardly noticeable a year from now; even in 3-4 months it will be a lot less conspicuous.

I forgot to mention before that while they were doing the surgery they discovered some tissue growth in the blocked duct, so they removed a sample of that and sent it in for a biopsy. They did not anticipate that it would be anything serious, but they wanted to make sure. They got the results of the biopsy back yesterday and it is just inflammatory tissue caused by the infections I've had in the blocked duct. So that was good to hear!

When the doctor saw me yesterday he seemed surprised by the pretty impressive bruise around my eye. He said "I don't remember you having a bruise after the surgery." Makes me wonder how soon those bruises usually appear. My eye was covered up by a patch when I woke up from surgery and I couldn't remove the patch until the next morning (approximately 16 hours later) so I don't know when the bruise appeared, but it was definitely there when the patch came off.

So here are some pictures of my eye--this first one was taken on Monday morning. If you don't want to look at them, I understand! (Just be glad we didn't take any on Friday through Sunday! There was pretty dramatic improvement by the time I took this picture.) This first one I took myself, so it's not the best picture.:

These other two were taken by Frank on Tuesday evening. You can see that my eye improved a lot just during those two days!:

Close up

Farther away

It's been kind of funny for me to see the reaction I get from other people. Some people actually don't seem to notice. These are the less observant folks (I think I fall into this category myself most of the time.) In their defense, I have my glasses on when I'm out and about, and they do camouflage my eye a bit. Other people get a concerned look on their face and say "Oooo...what happened to your eye?" Then when I tell them I had surgery, they add a sympathetic "It looks like it really hurts!" The third group is the most humorous. I can tell that they've noticed my ugly eye, but they don't ask any questions. I just know they are afraid to ask because they think my husband hit me or something!

Now that the stitches are out, my eye looks even better. The doctor says I can wear contact lenses again, but I am going to hold off for a while longer. I am not afraid to touch my eye now (I was afraid to come anywhere near it at first) but it is still tender enough that I am not anxious to be pulling it open to put a contact lens in. At first, it really bothered me to move my eye toward the inside corner, so if I wanted to look that way, I would turn my whole head. I am moving my eye that way a lot more now, but it still bothers me a little bit. I discovered why it was bugging me a few days ago when the swelling went down enough--the stint actually runs from the top duct opening in my eye to the bottom duct opening, so a little part of it is visible (if you look hard; it's clear) at the corner of my eye. When I move my eye that way, it rubs against the stint a little bit. The doctor says this is also normal and that in a week or so more I will not notice it anymore. I hope so! In any case, I will only have to live with it for another 6 weeks.

So that's the update! There have been far too many surgeries in the family lately (I just found out this morning that my father-in-law had surgery yesterday for a torn rotator cuff); I am just hoping that everyone else recovers as quickly as I am!

Weekly Review October 27 '08

For those of you who are really paying attention, you've probably noticed I'm a bit late getting my weekly review out. Sorry to keep you all waiting with baited breath (hee hee)...my excuse is that I had surgery on my eye last Thursday (the 23rd) and I have not been up to doing a whole lot since then. Especially things that involve using my eyes! Ok, I guess technically I could type with my eyes closed come to think of it, but I was just trying to take it easy. And guess what? I am not very good at taking it easy! There is nothing that bugs me more than being forced to lie around and do nothing when I can see that a lot of things need to be done. It's just a good thing that I am usually so healthy because I'd go crazy if I had to be an invalid all the time.


When I told people I was having surgery on my eye, most of them assumed I meant Lasik. I wish! No, I was having a blocked tear duct fixed. And by fixed, what I actually mean is they created a new tear duct--apparently for adults, there is no way to "unblock" a tear duct once it is blocked. I was suprised when I read up on the procedure that it's been around since the early 1900's. It's outpatient surgery and fairly minor, but for healthy me it was the most major surgery I've ever been through. My scheduled surgery time was 2:15 but the surgery before me started late, so they didn't get me back until 3:00.

I had an interesting conversation with the nurse who was helping me get ready. She saw on my chart that I had atrial fibrillation, and she started asking me questions about it. As I answered her questions, she looked more and more anxious. I finally told her not to worry, I was sure my heart would not act up during surgery; I haven't had any trouble with it since my last pregnancy. She said "Oh, I wasn't thinking about you...I was thinking about me. I've noticed my heart fluttering a lot lately, and I'm pregnant." I told her she might want to get that checked out really soon!

The anesthesiologist I had was an interesting guy. He came in, introduced himself, and said "I'm the man you'll be sleeping with this afternoon. But don't worry, my wife knows what I do for a living." I couldn't help it; I had to laugh! He asked about my kids, and when I told him their ages and got to Seth, he said "Oops!" I informed him that Seth was not an "oops!", he was a "finally!" He also commented that my 14 year old must be giving me a lot of trouble--I was happy to say that actually my 14 year old is a great kid!


So anyway, they did the surgery. I don't remember a thing about it, which is good! That's the fifth time in my life that I've been "put under" and coming out of the anesthesia this time was the worst experience I've ever had. It really didn't bother me the other four times, but this time I felt pretty miserable. The left side of my head was throbbing, I was incredibly dizzy, nauseous, my throat was burning (from the breathing tube they put down while I was out), and I was so cold I was shivering violently. I remember thinking in my head that I never, ever, ever want to do this again! The first thing I saw, though, when I opened my eyes was Frank standing at the end of the bed, holding Seth which was reassuring. After I recovered sufficiently, we headed home. I wasn't thrilled that we had about an hour drive ahead of us (I had to go to Bethesda for the surgery) through rush hour traffic (it was about 6:00 by then); I was afraid I was going to get sick to my stomach on the way (I'd already done that once) but thank goodness for the HOV lane...we got home quicker than I expected. And I didn't get sick again. I was still very uncomfortable all the way home and I really wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't seem to do that. I was more than happy to just crawl into bed when I got home!


After resting and drinking some chicken broth, I started to feel quite a bit better and I slept decent (although fitfully) that night. Friday morning the bandage came off my eye. It looked pretty nasty! It still looks pretty nasty, but now a lot of the swelling has gone down at least. I still look like I got a big punch in the eye, though. Pretty spectacular colors...purple, yellow, green, red. Oh, and those five beautiful stitches...lovely! I wasn't supposed to bend over or lift anything for 72 hours, so Frank stayed home on Friday and took care of me. I pretty much laid around like a slug all day Friday and most of Saturday, too. (Although I have to confess...I did start picking up a few things on Saturday!) On Friday I had to put ice compresses on my eye every hour--20 minutes on, 40 minutes off. On Wednesday I go in for my follow up appointment and get the stitches out. Fun! Enough about my eye!


What happened the rest of the week? Well, let's see...last Sunday Scott made English trifle for us. He had to do it for his cultures & cuisines class (he missed the lab where they made it at school because he was sick.) It was actually quite good. He had to make a shortbread-like cake and homemade vanilla pudding (brought back memories...I haven't made, as in cooked, pudding since I was a child!). Then we crumbled up the cake and layed it with the pudding, cool whip, and sliced peaches. Yummy!


I had a Primary presidency meeting in the morning and book chat in the afternoon on Tuesday, so that was a busy day. There was supposed to be a Court of Honor on Wednesday evening, but it got postponed because of a miscommunication with the district commissioner. Of course, we didn't find this out until after we showed up! I had gone over to the church for that with Seth (Scott and Tanner were both supposed to get merit badges and Scott was getting a rank advancement) but Frank stayed home because he was experiencing kidney stone pain most of that day. I was pretty nervous about that because my surgery was scheduled for the next day and I didn't want to have to postpone it since I'd been waiting to have that done for nearly 3 months! (Plus I didn't want Frank to have another kidney stone, of course!) I said a prayer that night, and I asked for a miracle. I said either the kidney stone needed to pass or it needed to move to a spot where it wouldn't be causing Frank any pain. That prayer was answered...by morning, Frank wasn't feeling any pain at all, and the pain has not come back since! I am grateful because I really needed him to be able to take care of me the first couple of days after surgery. Friday evening was Pack Meeting. Jared got his Bear badge. Frank took all the boys and went to that...I didn't go; I stayed home and "watched" Phantom of the Opera. I say "watched" because mostly I was listening while lying flat with an ice compress on my eye...and even when I was watching, I couldn't really see that well. I thought that was an appropriate movie for the occasion, considering half my face looked pretty ugly.


Scott and Tanner went to spend the night with a friend Friday night. Jared had a soccer game Saturday morning. We thought it would be cancelled because of rain, but the rain didn't really kick in until later that morning. I'm kind of glad I missed the game, because it didn't turn out to be very pleasant. Frank reports that the referee gave the ball to the other team every time it went out of bounds, no matter who touched it last. In addition, the other team was playing very rough and the referee never called any fouls on them. As a matter of fact, one player on the other team elbowed two players on Jared's team at once (sending them flying), then he slipped and fell, and the referee called a foul on our players, and gave the other team a free goal kick (which they made). Frank said at that point, he called out "call the elbows!" The referee looked at Frank and threatened to call the game right then if he said anything else! Frank says he was tempted to say "Go ahead. There's no way they can win anyway with the way you are officiating." but he bit his tongue and didn't say anything. The final score was 5-2; Jared's team lost. Jared was such a good sport about it, though--I was really proud of him! He just shook it off and moved on. I'm glad I wasn't there, because I absolutely hate it when I feel like things aren't fair. Just listening to Frank talk about it made my blood boil!


Kudos go to Frank this week for cooking, cleaning, running errands, and being the primary caregiver for Seth while I was recuperating from surgery. Oh, and he took really good care of me, too! He waited on me hand and foot. One of the things he made for me was something the recovery nurse suggested--ramen soup with an egg cracked into it. It's kind of like egg drop soup, and it's actually surprisingly good--try it! On Saturday Frank went out to get a haircut (very short--it looks great!) and to do some birthday shopping for Jared. While he was gone, I had the boys unload the dishwasher and re-load it with all the dishes that had accumulated on the counter, take out the trash, and fold all the laundry. I have often said that I am the only person who picks things up around here, and I think these last couple of days proved my theory!

Yesterday was our Primary sacrament meeting program. I think it went really well! I just might have stayed home except I really wanted to be there for the program, and felt like I needed to be there to help. We got there on time in spite of the fact that we got up an hour late, thanks to our "smart clock" which automatically resets when we go off daylight savings time. Too bad the clock was programmed years ago and now the date that we go off daylight savings has moved back a week! Our clock didn't know that, so it reset for us. We were having a leisurely breakfast at what we thought was about 6:45, when Frank noticed all the other clocks said 7:45. Yikes! Only one hour until we needed to be at church. I am proud of us for making it--especially me, since I am moving slower than usual these days. I skipped out of church a little early yesterday, though. It was my week to conduct and that wasn't easy because the kids were so totally wired (not too surprising). Any other time, I think I could have handled that, but since I wasn't feeling too great and kind of wanted to crawl in a hole anyway it was just a bit too much for me! About half way through the second hour of Primary I decided I needed to go home. Frank rounded everybody up, we went home, and I crashed for about an hour. I felt better after that.

Today hasn't been too eventful. I managed to get the kids to school and back, so my eyesight is improving. It was nice to be able to do some of the basic chores that needed to be done. Other than that, I tried to lay low.

We heard some sad news at church yesterday--a 17 year old boy in one of the other wards in our stake was killed in a car crash on Saturday. His sister was also in the car, and she is in a coma in critical condition. The boy was supposed to be taking one of the girls in our ward to homecoming that night. Just so sad! When Scott came home from school today, he said he didn't eat lunch because at Seminary this morning he found out that all the youth in the stake were having a fast today for Caitlyn (the girl in the crash). He doesn't really know them, but I think it is great that he wanted to do that! This kind of thing has been happening in our stake too often lately--less than two years ago a brother and sister in another ward were killed in a car crash. It makes me grateful that my kids are ok so far!

While I've been kind of out of it the last few days, Seth has not stopped growing. He can now point to body parts (eyes, mouth, nose, tummy...) and when I look at his little I Spy books with him, he can find all the objects he's supposed to find! When did he figure that out?

It appears that our really beautiful fall weather is gone. It has been much colder with rain a lot of the week. Today has been very gloomy, but still pretty with the fading fall colors and the pearly gray sky. Jared said this morning that the world looked "upside down" with the sky looking a lot like the ocean. He was right!

We just found out this morning about Rachelle's surgery--we hope it goes well and that she recovers quickly!

PS to October 18 Weekly Review

Here's something I forgot to mention in the weekly review. When Scott and I were at the pumpkin patch today, we were walking past the fields looking for a good place to take some pictures. The first field had broccoli growing in it. When we got to the next field, Scott said "what is that growing there? Is that cabbage?" I looked and said "Yes, I think it is." Scott's response was "Let's look for babies!" I thought that was pretty funny!

Weekly Review October 18 '08

This week was definitely not a typical week. The boys' school schedules were crazy! Because of Parent-Teacher conferences, they went in 2 hours late on Monday, 4 hours late on Tuesday and Wednesday (except for the High Schools-they were open all day on Wednesday), got out 3 1/2 hours early on Thursday and were out of school on Friday. None of the parents like weeks like this. I'd be willing to bet that they got very little done on the days they were in school, since it was only for a few hours each day. And yes, I didn't get much done, either!

The first part of the week we enjoyed having Mom & Dad here. Unfortunately, Mom got sick on Sunday. She didn't feel very well most of the day, although she did go to church that morning. But by evening she really felt awful. Frank and Dad gave her a blessing, though, and by morning she had improved a lot. We're glad she got better quickly and that Dad didn't get sick too! I didn't do a lot on Monday and Tuesday--just the things I had to do--so that I could spend more time with them just visiting. It was nice that the boys were out of school part of the day so that they could see more of Grandpa & Grandma also. We played Apples to Apples for FHE activity on Monday evening, and Mom won.

Mom & Dad flew back home on Tuesday afternoon. I took them to the airport after I took the boys to school, and then picked the boys up from school on my way back home. At least this time I didn't miss any exits--as Amy pointed out, I seem to have trouble getting to BWI and back without some kind of mishap! My track record is not so good-- besides taking an unplanned trip into Baltimore when I picked Mom & Dad up last week, once I took the wrong exit getting there and we got so turned around that Amy missed her plane. Last time Mom & Dad came to visit, the car died it's final death on my way home from dropping them off at the airport. At least that didn't happen this time!

We were sorry to have to say good-bye to Mom & Dad, but we are so glad that they got to come see us! Seth even let them hold him their last day here. We hope they enjoyed their visit and that we will get to see them again before too many years go by. That is the one thing we don't like about living out here--being so far away from all our families!

Sunday at church was busy for me because we had our first practice for the Primary program. It went pretty well, though. We even got through the whole thing, which is really great for a first practice! This Sunday the Primary president will be out of town (her brother is getting married) so it will just be the other counselor (Andrea) and I running the whole show. Hope that goes ok!

Scott didn't feel too well Tuesday morning, but I made him go to school anyway since he didn't have any serious symptoms. (He was only supposed to be there for a few hours anyway, so I thought he could handle that.) He was there less than an hour when the school nurse called and said he was there and wanted to come home. So I went and got him, and he did throw up shortly after he got home. This is the 3rd time we've had stomach flu in our family since school started! Enough already! He got a blessing that evening, and he also was doing quite a bit better by Wednesday morning, but wasn't well enough to go to school, so he missed the one full day he was supposed to have all week. He was feeling a lot better by evening--bouncing off the walls!

Seth hasn't been feeling too well this week, either. He seems to have some kind of cold--he's congested with a mild fever and he sounds a little bit croupy at night. He has not been sleeping well at all, which means Frank & I haven't been sleeping well either. Hopefully he will feel better soon.

I scheduled all the parent-teacher conferences for Thursday afternoon. I was able to get Seth down for a nap right before I left, which was nice because I didn't have to take him with me. Scott was supposed to come with me for his conferences, so Tanner and Jared stayed with sleeping Seth. Scott's teachers had really good things to say about him. His government teacher said he is really smart and that he is the "go to" person if he asks a question and nobody is responding because he knows Scott will give a good answer. His science teacher said he is the best student in the class and he really should be in honors science next year. Because he was absent, he has some work to make up, though, so he has been busy this week-end doing some catch up. Tanner has also been doing some more catch up--I found out he has a few more missing assignments. Overall, Tanner is doing well and his teachers like him. He just needs to get more organized and he especially needs to focus better. It takes him a really long time to do his work because he has a hard time focusing. This is not a new thing for him, but it is becoming more apparent now that he has more work to do. We are considering having him tested to make sure he doesn't have ADD or something similar. As it is now, I have to sit right next to him when he is doing homework to try to help him keep on task. Not much fun for either of us! Jared is doing great. I asked his teacher to focus more on spelling with him because I think he needs to work on that.

Jared was supposed to have soccer practice on Thursday evening, but when Frank took him over there was nobody there. We thought they cancelled it because it had rained a little bit and it looked like it was going to rain some more, but we found out at his game today that they had just moved to a different field because there were too many teams trying to practice on the same field. The rain on Thursday was unusual--mostly we are having just gorgeous fall weather. Crisp in the mornings, warm in the afternoons, and mostly sunny. I am loving it, and just trying to enjoy it as long as it lasts!

Scott, Tanner and I spent Friday morning doing homework. Jared had a cub scout activity. The Frederick Ward cubmaster planned an outdoor event with hiking, fishing, etc. and they invited our ward cub scouts to join them. Jared seemed to really enjoy that. After he got home he was invited to go play with one of the other cub scouts and then that evening his friend Evan came over to spend the night, so he had a busy day! Scott went to play football with some of the other YM in our ward that afternoon. I feel like I spent most of the day driving kids to their different activities, as well as helping with homework.

Last night about an hour after we went to bed we were awakened by fireworks! Some of our crazy neighbors were setting some off, even though it is completely illegal to do that this time of year. We weren't too thrilled with them for waking us up, so when the police showed up a while later and gave them a ticket, we were kind of happy about that. Evidently, someone else was even more annoyed than we were and called the police!

This morning was one of the days that we did not have gorgeous fall weather. It was windy and cold! Jared's soccer game was at 10:00. His friend Evan came with us to see Jared play. We were all bundled up in extra sweatshirts, but we still got cold. About 2/3 of the way through the first half, Seth's hands were ice cold, so I volunteered (big sacrifice!) to take him to the car. Evan came too since he was pretty cold by then. We could actually see a lot of the game pretty well from the car, and Seth was very happy climbing around inside the car, so that worked out pretty well. About half way through the second half, Frank traded spaces with me so that I could see some more of the game. Jared played the entire game--the first half he was on defense, and the second half he was the goalie. I didn't realize he was the goalie until I traded places with Frank. I don't like it when he's the goalie (makes me nervous!), but he did a great job--blocked lots of goal attempts--so I was really proud of him. I was pretty frustrated with his team as a whole--most of the kids on offense were just not really playing--but in the end the score was tied 2-2. The other team scored one of their goals in the first half, so they only got one goal past Jared. While we were at the game, Scott and Tanner got their homework done. They had to do that before they could play, so they were motivated to get it done!

This afternoon Scott needed to take some pictures for his digital photography class. He needed to get some in an open space, so I decided to "kill two birds with one stone". I drove him out to a pumpkin patch. Scott got his pictures taken, and I bought a couple of pumpkins. We got one large pumpkin to carve for Halloween and one tiny one for Seth. It turns out that today is the annual "Family Festival at the Farm", so as well as pumpkins to purchase, they had a petting zoo, hay rides, pony rides, face painting, etc--all free. I was sorry Seth wasn't with us--he would have loved the animals--but he needed to take a nap! Scott and I took a look at the animals and went on a hay ride. I think Scott would have got his face painted, too, except we had to go to the store afterwards!

At the store we got Sunday shoes and dress pants for Scott since he is outgrowing the ones he has (already!) I also got some shoes for Seth. Our trip was cut short because Frank got a call from a frantic client with an emergency, so he had to go down to Rockville to take care of that. Fortunately, he was able to get the problem solved fairly quickly.

Tonight Scott is going to his first dance--a barn dance for all the youth in our stake. I asked him if he was going to dance, and he said "probably not--I don't know how to dance". I think he is going for the food! Actually, they are going to have hayrides, games, and a pie eating contest as well, so it sounds like there will be plenty to do besides dance. Maybe he will work up the courage to try dancing, too. I told him he should find girls who look left out and ask them to dance--it would make their day! It will be fun to hear about how it goes later. Knowing the girls in our ward, I'll bet some of them will drag him out there and convince him to give it a try!

That's all we have to report this week.