Blonde moment, shots, and advertising.

 I took my 8-year old nephews Tim and Ben to the doctor this week for a check-up.  They were so excited/ nervous they could barely stand it.  I had to promise there would be no shots.  They asked what would happen if the doctor said they needed shots and I assured them we would just say no thank you and leave.

During the visit,  the doctor checked Ben's right ear, Ben took his hand and covered up his left ear.  Then when the doctor looked into Ben's left ear, Ben covered up his right ear.  Not sure what Ben was doing, I asked him why he covered up his ears.  Ben replied that he didn't want the doctor to see through to the other side...

Before we left the doctor's office the doctor asked if I wanted the boys to get flu shots.  Looks of terror crossed both of the boys' faces.  I shook my head, grabbed both of their hands and said "No thank you!" as we left the room.  The boys were so impressed---they thought they were totally getting away with something.  I didn't bother telling them that it was an "optional" shot.  (Good luck to Julie when she has to take them in for the real one!)

On the way home from the doctor's office Tim seemed very concerned that everyone was decorating for Christmas already.  "Aunt Mindy---it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!"  I agreed that it did seem early for Christmas decorations.

"But what about Thanksgiving?"  Tim anguished.  Then he started listing off reasons:

"Do you think they just don't like Thanksgiving?"
"Do you think it's because they are allergic to Turkeys?"
"Is it because they are on a diet?"

This went on and on...Then Ben chimed in:
"I think they might have just forgotten all about Thanksgiving!"

Tim replied," Maybe!"  Then after a minute:  "I know! Thanksgiving just needs to have better advertising...."

May 4, 2013

Ten years ago I had this really great idea.  This great idea involved texturing my living room walls.  I hired someone to come and do it but it didn't look like how I imagined it.  And then the tan color I picked out looked grey on the walls.  So basically it was like a cave in my living room.  Not quite what I wanted.  But since I paid to have it done, I figured I had to grin and bear it.

Since my son is home from college on a break and my sister is here to help, I decided it would be "fun" to sand and repaint the living room walls.  We got the sanding done in one day and it was amazing how much dust one room could generate. ( More validation that texturing the walls was a bad idea and could never be repeated.)

After priming the room I asked my son what color we should paint it.  He replied, "How about textured grey!"  Not funny.  We decided on a nice buttery yellow color.  Which totally lightened up the room.

After all the dust in the carpet we decided that maybe wood flooring would be nice.  After taking the carpet and padding out and spending the evening pulling out all the nifty staples in the floor, my 8 year old nephew Tim came in to check out our progress.

"I hate to break it to you," he announced, "but this wood floor looks really really bad."  We tried to explain that this was just the sub-floor and the REAL wood floor would go on top.  Tim was not impressed at all and before he left he added, "If you would have let me help, it might have had a chance of looking good." 

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get the wood floor in and make Tim proud.

April 22, 2013

It has been said that to become a man you must do 3 things:
1) Plant a tree
2) Write a book
3) Have a son

In order to begin his journey to manhood, my son planted a tree in our front yard five years ago.  We named the tree Roy.  Over the years Roy has managed to become part of our family.  Not only is he in most of our family pictures, one of the kids makes sure he has a scarf to wear in the winter, and we say good bye to him when we leave the house.

When we discovered that Roy was planted too close to the house and power lines and would have to cut down, there was great sorrow and murmuring.  In an attempt to appease our heartbreak, my husband decided we would try to relocate Roy.  This was not an easy task.

My daughter Anna refused to participate on the principle that she did not want to be involved in destroying her brothers manhood.  When she heard we would try moving Roy to the backyard, she reluctantly agreed to help,  because moving the symbol of Nick's manhood to the backyard is less traumatizing then actually cutting it down.

After finally replanting Roy in the backyard compost hole, we decided that maybe Nick could continue on his journey by writing a book.

Maybe the book could be called, "The uprooting and relocation of my manhood."

Heather has a special knack for asking for things that she really wants, at times that I just can't say no.  For example minutes after waking up from back surgery she asked to play the bassoon.  Guess who got a bassoon?


Anyway, my daughter Heather left for the Missionary Training Center today.  She's going to be gone for 18 months and only asked me to do one thing for her:  Update my blog every week so she will know what we've been doing while she's gone.

 So now I'm obligated to write---Luckily, I didn't promise her that it would be interesting---only informative. 

Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've blogged.  In fact, I've forgotten my password and it took me forever to get logged in...But promises are promises.  So let the good times roll.

P.S.  I made a fruit smoothie today and thought of Heather.  (Heather:  Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting the tomato in your fruit smoothie.)