a morning in exile

I almost forgot about this experience last week until I was uploading digital photos to the computer and came across this picture and video. Let me explain:


Our story begins last week as I pull into the school parking lot to pick up the kids. A car that had been driving behind me followed me into the parking lot, where the occupants [good samaritans #1] informed me that one of my back tires was extremely flat. Fortunately a school bus driver [good samaritan #2] noticed me trying to pump it back up with a battery-operated gizmo I keep in the van and offered to pump it up for me in the school bus barn several yards away. Fortunately I was able to make it home just fine, but I knew where I would be the next morning: at the Costco tire center for a repair and an overdue tire rotation as well.


Collin and I dropped the van off and began our sojourn by wandering about town for the two-and-a-half hours that it would take for the job to be completed. We started off close to home by getting a bite at the Costco snack bar. Two hot dogs [sans buns], two drinks, and twenty minutes later, we decided to wander around the store for a bit. We found a new LeapFrog video for Collin's collection, but after 30 minutes or so, we were weary of perusing the warehouse. So, we buttoned up our coats and ventured across the enormous vacant field in front of Costco to check out the nearby shopping center. As we left I noticed our van still parked in the Tire Center Parking, the plastic yellow service hat perched woefully on the top. Hmmm. That doesn't bode well for us, I thought.


After picking our way through vast amounts of weeds, ruts, and other vacant field paraphernalia, we decided that some ice cream was in order. We headed straight for Coldstone Creamery, ordered our favorites, and settled in to kill some time together.





The above picture shows the contents of my bag by this point: my Costco work order, Collin's new video [it was either stash it in my purse or carry it around in some tuna fish box], a bow and arrow brought along by Collin to help pass the time away, Collin's partially eaten hot dog wrapped in foil, and my cell phone, which I checked constantly to make sure that Costco hadn't performed a miracle for me and called to tell me they had gotten the job done sooner than expected.

So, we hung out at Coldstone for awhile. Although Collin was being a real trooper, by this time, the poor little fella was getting pretty punchy! Watch the video to see him in action-he's pretty hilarious. He was having a good time being silly. We left a few minutes after taking this video to stroll around Michael's for a spell.

After meandering through Michael's, we headed back across the field to pick up the van. Mission accomplished! But, we weren't done with these tires yet. The next morning as Collin and I were getting into the van to run the errands that didn't get done the day before, I noticed that our troublesome tire was flat again. So, I flipped the air compressor on, filled it up, and headed straight for Costco for the second day in a row. This time the wait was only one hour, so we decided to stay in Costco the entire time. Neither of us had any desire to roam that day. We made our way to the DVD section, where we decided to just camp out on the floor in front of the flatscreen that was playing the BBC planet earth series. And there we stayed for the hour! Collin really loved seeing all the wildlife.

And I'm just glad our tire is fixed for good this time.

first sign of spring

Yesterday afternoon I was gazing out one of the windows that look out onto our front yard, commiserating over how ugly and destitute our yard was looking. Except for removing the leaves during the fall [and winter-it's Cali, after all], we have basically deserted all forms of yardwork except for the occaisonal sweep of the concrete. As I stood silent watch over the barren landscape, I tried to motivate myself into spending this Saturday getting our yard back into shape.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed something. Something purple. Purple! All at once I remembered the crocus bulbs I had planted near the granite rocks about four years ago, which continue to take me by surprise when they actually bloom each spring. The crocus were finally up! Even better than a groundhog, here in mild-weathered California it means that spring is definitely here.

I dashed out the front door, camera in hand, to capture the evidence that our bleak winter is nearly at an end. Goodbye cold, bland, grey winter skies! Hello sunshine, flowers, and azure skies all around! Of course that also means an eventual return to another blistering valley summer, but I'm not even going to think about that for very long. Spring has come!

why bother?

This morning Owen and I had a cleaning scheduled at our dentist. Although Collin had his cleaning done last month, he had the honor of accompanying us since he really has nowhere else to go! He came prepared with a backpack full of various cars and trucks to occupy himself, and as usual, was a very well-behaved little man.

Before we left the office, Collin was invited to choose something out of The Prize Basket for his stellar behavior. He chose the pictured paddle ball [with ball still attached at the time]. Within a few minutes of getting home, Collin informed me through the tears in his eyes that his ball had willfully detached itself from the string.

Of course I was prepared for the upset of having the toy fall apart, because they always do. But this time I started thinking. Why do companies even bother making stuff that can't even endure a few minutes of use? Has anyone ever had a paddle ball that lasted longer than ten minutes? I can tell you that none of my kids ever have! What is the point of making worthless cheap junk?

Don't get me wrong-I totally appreciate the fact that our dentist makes The Prize Basket available to our little ones to make a visit to the dentist more fun. It's just that it seems so useless to even produce stuff that promptly falls apart. Made in China? Most likely. Although the way things are going now, things coming from China are going to have to be more expensive just to bring them up to basic levels of quality control. Which probably will translate into less offerings at the dollar store and Oriental Trading Company. I love both of these places, by the way! It's not necessarily about how much you spend, it's about how you design and manufacture your product.

Anyway, I've had my fun. I've had my little rant and I'm over it now. It was fun feeling like Rush Limbaugh for a couple of minutes. I know in my heart that from the beginning of time, the concept of the paddle ball was probably never a sturdy one to begin with. It was a concept just waiting to get broken. Now I'm off to surreptitiously toss our paddle ball into the garbage before Collin sees it and remembers that it's broken!

boy scout merit badge fair

Here Owen instructs scouts for the Electricity Merit Badge as a merit badge counselor

Scouts hard at work on the Art Merit Badge

[Bailey is in the foreground while Grammie, our Art merit badge counselor, is busy in the back]

Last month our ward hosted a merit badge fair. We invited all the wards in our stake, plus two other nearby stakes as well. We also invited several BSA troops from around town to join in the fun. As Scout Committee Chair, I worked closely with the Christensens, our scoutmaster and his wife to plan, organize, and carry out this event, and we're happy to say that it went very well! We had over 60 boys attend and they were all very well-behaved and worked hard all day. We were even written up in the South Valley Bee, a newspaper in Fresno that covers things that happen down in this end of the valley. And the best thing about the article was that my mom was on the front page of the newspaper! In the photograph she is shown instructing one of the boys in Art from one of our wards. Click here to read the article, although sadly the cover photograph isn't included. Although I have copies of the newspaper article, our scanner is now defunct and so I am unable to include it here. If you want a copy let me know and I'll get one to you via snail mail!

It was a really good experience for our family. We all helped set up and clean up, Owen and I did a lot of the legwork beforehand [although our scoutmaster's wife Valerie certainly bore the brunt of it, I fear], and the whole family came to stay for that whole Saturday at the church. I had them camp out in the nursery and I used our walkie-talkies to communicate with Libby who was in charge. They snacked, watched DVD's, and played with the fun nursery toys, and quite frankly surprised me with how well they behaved from 7:30 am until after 5:00 pm. It was great having my mom volunteer as a merit badge counselor for Art and Pulp & Paper-everyone said she was so organized that they couldn't believe it! I spent time registering scouts, checking on classes, getting scouts from one class to the next, organizing lunch, and just whatever needed to be done. We're even thinking about doing one next year, although our scoutmaster wants to do it again in just 6 months! We'll have to see about that . . .

need a new nickname?

Sawyer has got you covered. Head over to ABC.com and get yourself a new one! All you have to do is answer a few little questions about yourself and voila! A new nickname, Sawyer-style. Just don't be too offended if you don't like it . . .

proud mama alert

Here's an update on some of the fun things the kids have been up to lately!

Last week, all of the 4th graders took a huge spelling test to find out who the best spellers are. The top two spellers win a trip to the spelling bee held at the end of this month to prepare them for entering the bee next year [they have to be in 5th grade to enter]. Libby was one of the top two and is going on the trip! They also go out to lunch afterwards, so she is thrilled at missing basically the whole day to have fun outside of school. The other top speller is also in Libby's class and is a friend of hers, as well as being LDS [although we're in different wards]. It will be a fun day for both of them!

In other news, this past Sunday was Bailey's first time playing the piano in Priesthood. He has been working on several hymns during the last few weeks and is really sounding good. He has played for opening exercises in Mutual a few times, but yesterday was his first time in Priesthood. He played [very fittingly, I thought] "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet." We're already putting those piano lessons to work! A special thanks to Grammie, who is Bailey's piano teacher [and the girls' as well]!

And here is an amusing incident from today involving Collin. This morning I was watching BYU-TV to hear the announcement of the new First Presidency. Collin was playing nearby. The name "Thomas" was being mentioned repeatedly as Thomas S. Monson had been called as the new president of the church. Everytime he heard the name, Collin would perk up, because for him the name Thomas is all about Thomas the Tank Engine. He kept asking me if Thomas was on TV. I told him that Thomas S. Monson the prophet was on TV and showed him the picture from our conference Ensign. He looked at it and repeated the name "Thomas S. Monson" with me several times, then seemed content with this particular Thomas. Funny little guy.

Julia has a performance tomorrow night at the school for Founder's Day. This being our first ever Founder's Day, I'm still not sure what it's all about, but as she has been learning a patriotic song, it's sure to be patriotic! Will have to let you know how it goes!

do you have all the missing pieces yet?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably already know that LOST returns to primetime TV next Thursday for a run of eight new episodes. You've seen the first three seasons. But, have you checked out all the "Missing Pieces" on the ABC website?

The missing pieces are short, two to three minute clips that have been newly filmed [well, at least before the writers' strike]. They are intended to give new info that happened in the past-no flash forwards here as of yet. You can usually tell about when they are happening since they will usually reference something that allows the viewer to place it in the LOST timeline. Right now there are eleven episodes, but I believe there are supposed to eventually be thirteen in all.

Anyway-watch them here!

poetry & prose

Libby grinning after the event!

Libby reciting the poem "Was It a Goblin?"

Each year the kids' school hosts a "Poetry and Prose" event for all the students. Students memorize and act out poems or other recitations, either individually or in groups, and perform their chosen work on the stage for the whole school. Libby was excited to participate in her first year at their new school and chose a quirky little poem titled "Was It a Goblin?" to perform.

After choosing and memorizing their selection, they first had to perform their piece in front of a group in the library to make the first cut. Libby [much like her mom] is somewhat anxious being in front of groups of people and was a little nervous about the whole thing at that point! But, she persevered and did just fine, making the cut for today's presentation in front of the school.

And she did a good job! Even though she was a little nervous [and a little too short for the microphone-check her out on her tiptoes in the above video!] she didn't forget anything she had prepared. Today they selected the winners to go on to the county competition, and even though she didn't get chosen for county, we are all so excited that she prepared well and got up there in front of the whole school to recite! That can be scary stuff!

Watching Libby up on stage reminded me of when I memorized and performed a poem I had written [I called it "Smiles"] for the equivalent of Poetry and Prose many years ago. I was probably in the 6th grade. I remember even performing in the county competition, and when I look back now, I don't even know how I did it. I would never do it now! I don't know-are we braver when we're younger?

"daycation"

I've been so stressed out lately with Primary and scout stuff that this morning I declared a "daycation" for Collin and I. Since we had already put in our workday on Tuesday at the school, we didn't have any commitments today and were therefore able to put the day to its true purpose: having fun!

After the kids left for school, we started off our morning by setting up Collin's train tracks again, as someone had disassembled the entire thing several days ago. After accomplishing that, we decided to give Thomas the day off and headed downstairs to play on the Wii!

We started off with tennis. I took a few minutes to warm up, since the first time I had played tennis on the Wii was briefly on Monday during family night. Then, Collin and I played each other, and boy, he was really kicking my patootie! It's not so much skill [although he does have this uncanny sense of coordination and timing] as it was his funny way of continually jumping up and down and waving his remote back and forth so rapidly that earned him so many points! Even though I won [thank goodness for my ego], he was really impressing me with his skills!

We also managed to slip in a quick game of Wii bowling before we headed off into the rain just in time to catch story hour at the library. We met up with some friends there, listened to lots of great stories, and sang some silly songs. After Miss Valerie handed out snacks, we ran back through the rain to our car to get home for lunch and naptime.

After naptime [and before we left to pick up kids at school] Collin surprised me yet again. Since I'm filling in for our pianist for the next month [only for the beginning part of sharing time], I was practicing some Primary songs on the piano. Collin hears the song I'm playing and comes downstairs to inform me that I'm playing the "Hello Song," which he's only heard maybe twice! I was surprised that he knew it, since as a Sunbeam he hasn't logged much actual time in the Primary. And last Sunday the chorister complimented him on his singing of "I Am a Child of God," since he was the only Sunbeam singing. What a funny little fellow.

So, even though I did have to sneak in some phone calls to take care of Primary and scout stuff this afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed my little "daycation" morning with Collin. We'll just have to make it a regular event!

parlez-vous?

During our fog day on Tuesday I took a moment to browse amazon.com to see if the new DS game I've been crazy for was back in stock yet. Since it was, of course I amazoned it and it arrived on Saturday. [Don't you just love amazon? I especially love how "amazon" has become a verb.]

I've been having lots of fun brushing up on my French skills with My French Coach. I took French in high school and in college, so I remember a lot of the basics, but this program is amazing, because it lets you record your pronunciation and compare it with a native's recording. Unbelievably helpful! Plus, it has a lot of nice features that make it a bonus to travel with, such as a glossary and lists of helpful phrases in case you're in a pinch. [In France. Or maybe just in French Canada.] Anway, it has lots of fun training games and it's been fun to see just how much French I remember-and how much I've forgotten since BYU! Bailey started a file as well, so he's enjoying his French lessons with the DS.

And I'm still having fun with the original, My Word Coach. Bailey, Libby and I all have our files on Word Coach and I've been having them do some every day [give or take] so they can work on their vocabulary skills. I love how they're learning while they play!

yummy

Tonight Libby and I made treats for dessert, and they're so yummy and easy that we wanted to share the recipe with you! We made these at Christmastime for our friends and family and they were a big hit. It's a great one to make with kids because it's simple and fast.


Chunky Mallow Candy

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 12 oz pkg chocolate chips [we prefer the milk chocolate but you can use semi-sweet]
4 cups [or more to taste] mini marshmallows

Melt together peanut butter and chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each one. Give one final stir when all is melted and combined and allow to cool slightly, so as not to melt marshmallows. Stir in marshmallows until completely coated. Pour into buttered pan and chill. Cut into squares and watch them disappear! [You may want to double the batch!]

science fair 2007

I've only had this video done for about two months now, so I finally decided to get my act together and post it for everyone to see!

In case you've forgotten, back at the beginning of school, all three kids had science projects due. Julia's class was only submitting collections [since they're so young], but Libby and Bailey each had to create a full-blown project to submit to the science fair. Here are some photos of their projects, of them working on their projects, and how they fared in the final judgement!

star scout

Here's a picture of Bailey receiving his advancement to Star Scout from his Scoutmaster during last week's Court of Honor. Next goal-Life Scout! Congratulations, Bailey! He also earned about 5 merit badges that night, so I was busy sewing on merit badges and new scout patches to Bailey's uniform over the weekend. Our ward is hosting a Merit Badge Fair at the end of the month and I wanted to make sure I got these sewn on before he earned a whole bunch of new ones!

I'm just hoping to get through the Merit Badge Fair. I'm still the BSA Troop Committee Chair for our ward, so there's a lot to do to get everything ready. Fortunately our Scoutmaster and his wife are really organized!

fog day

Some areas of the United States have snow days in the winter, where school and other events are cancelled due to an excess of snow that creates dangerous driving conditions. Here in California's Central Valley we have fog days. On fog days you may not even be able to see your neighbor's house across the street, even if you don't live in the country. Fog hovers over the ground in thick, unrelenting blankets, reflecting an eerie white cast on everything. On fog days you don't want to get in your car unless you really have to.


Yesterday we had a fog day. We awoke to a world bathed in white when we got the first call at 6:30 am to tell us that school was delayed for 2 hours. At 8:00 am another call came informing us that classes were now delayed 3 hours. And then again at 10:00 am came the final call to cancel school for the day.

Needless to say, the kids were thrilled! By ten o'clock they had already done their piano and instrument practice, finished their morning chores, and done the homework that they already knew was expected of them for that day, so they enjoyed plenty of free time. The kids read books, played games, did educational [and not] games on the Wii and DS, and in general had a nice, easygoing day. Fortunately for me, all of my kids have good imaginations and know how to use them, so it never seems difficult for them to find something to do. Which in turn helps me enjoy the day as well!

As for me, after I finished reading with Julia, I spent the day working on my knitting, piano, and getting busy in the kitchen. I made lemon bars using the first crop of lemons from our backyard tree [yes!] and whipped up some more of my gluten-free mixes that I use regularly to have them conveniently on hand when I'm in a hurry [which is nearly always]. All in all, a productive yet relaxing day for everyone. Of course, we have to make up the fog day at the end of the year when the weather is oh-so-pleasant, but I'm not going to think about that right now.

a word to the not-so-wise

Apparently someone is worried about me spending too much time on my blog. Click on this link to get the whole story.

Know someone who could use some advice as well? Make sure you take advantage of the offer at the end of the video! I will say no more-now you have to watch.