I meant to blog this, but my son Cody did it first. So I'm just cutting and pasting what he wrote into my blog. If you'd like to comment to him directly ('cuz he's funny and cute) follow the link to the Kid With a Thousand Experiences blog over to the right.
"Commandment XII-
Thou Shalt Not Put Thy Arizona State Quarter in a Vending Machine
One day when we went to Costco to have dinner Curtis found a vending machine with a quarter in it. He put it in and pressed the coin return, and by chance the same type of quarter came out. So Curtis put in his Arizona State Quarter. And guess what came out? Not an Arizona State Quarter. So for the next 20 minutes we were putting quarters in the vending machine and pressing the coin return to get it. Finally, I checked one of the quarters and it was an Arizona State Quarter. It got a small yellow hue (from someplace I don't want to know) from the journey. Remember, don't do that."
Thanks Cody, I think you hit the nail on the head with that advice.
And nobody question my taking my kids to Costco for dinner! (Costco hot dogs are dirt cheap and they have a new turkey wrap that Ren and I enjoyed immensely!)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Lesson Learned in Sedona
As Ren and I were hightailing it down the trail after hiking for 2 hours, he suddenly stopped and told me to come and see the little egg he found. I was going so fast I hadn't noticed it. It was sitting on a piece of wood on the side of the path and was just beautiful, so I decided it was our new metaphor for life...
DON'T GO SO FAST DOWN THE TRAIL OF LIFE THAT YOU MISS THE CUTE LITTLE EGGS ON THE SIDE OF THE PATH.
DON'T GO SO FAST DOWN THE TRAIL OF LIFE THAT YOU MISS THE CUTE LITTLE EGGS ON THE SIDE OF THE PATH.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Twenty-four Hours in Sedona, AZ
So Ren and I broke a 4 year streak of not being able to be alone together for more than 2 hours (or less!) at a time last weekend and went away on what one of my friends calls a "Love Trip". We were given a free stay at the Hilton Resort and Spa in Sedona, AZ for Saturday night through the Executive MBA program at ASU (because Ren teaches in the program and they do all kinds of perks for the Exec MBA's). I had no idea what we were going to do with the kids until I bought a "weekend of babysitting your kids" from a member of our church in a Youth Fundraising Auction a few months ago. I think the person selling this item had envisioned someone's cute little 4 year-old and 2 year-old running around her house because her kids are older and she misses holding little ones. Instead she got 5 stinky, loud boys, one beautiful teenage girl and one cranky baby/toddler dude who won't go to ANYONE except his mama (okay, maybe a sibling under duress). But she was game and we were desperate so it worked out well for all. We got up fairly early Saturday morning to make the drive up into the mountains 2 hours away and we spent the afternoon wandering around the quaint Uptown section of Sedona with it's touristy shops, restaurants and art galleries. Ren and I love looking at all kinds of art (if we ever had to buy anything we wouldn't be able to because we'd never agree on something we both loved and would be willing to spend 1000's of dollars on.) But lucky for us, we were just window shopping the art world of Sedona (and saying all the time, "My mom can paint so much better than this!" which is true of my mom compared to so many artists we saw.) We accidentally found the Sedona Arts Center building which not only held paintings and such on exhibit, but also had studios where they held classes and a real "pottery barn" where they had a student ceramics exhibit amongst the pottery wheels and tables. It smelled and felt so arty, it just did my heart good! I'm dying to go back there some day with my mom, the artist, and take some classes. What a great art community!
When we got hungry we went to this little Mexican restaurant called the Oaxaca Rooftop Cantina. It looked cute and the menu said it was planned by a dietician, which sounded good for our new healthy eating kick. I guess the store bought salsa that came with the chips should have tipped us off that things wouldn't be all they claimed to be, but being temporarily intoxicated by the fat in the chips (it's been a long time since we ate chips...) we ignored the warning signs and looked at the menu. Listed in the appetizers, one of the "healthy" choices, a grilled Cactus Paddle served with a tomato and cheese sauce, sounded funky and interesting so we ordered it along with fish tacos and a salad of grilled chicken, jicama, oranges and tomato with a low-fat vinaigrette dressing. So they serve us our Cactus Paddle (this tiny pathetic looking thing swimming in a sea of sauce) and we each take a bite and go "Ewww!" It was sour and weird and nasty. But, hoping that maybe we'd get used to the taste (or maybe just having seen to many episodes of Bizarre Foods on Food Network) we keep eating it, torturing ourselves with each mouth puckering bite. Ren ate more than me, but even he had to give up and admit it was just gross. I tried to get the taste out of my mouth with the last of the store-bought salsa, but it didn't work very well. Then came the rest of the food which was overcooked, under-ripe, canned or just plain bland. None of it was good and definitely not worth the money we paid, but at least it was mostly healthy (why doesn't that make it seem better?) So much for yummy eating out.
We were pretty exhausted by this point, since we got up so early, so we postponed our planned hike until the morning and went back to check into the hotel and see what was there. We got a King Suite with living room, dinette area and fireplace and a teeny tiny little patio overlooking picturesque bushes which almost succeeded in camoflaging the parking lot on the other side. It had a nice view of the cliffs though and the weather was beautiful. We checked out the pools (one "quiet" with no children allowed and a bigger one for families). We chatted with a few of Ren's students who were starting to arrive (and drink)and then we hung out in our room and enjoyed the luxury of watching a movie in the afternoon and taking a nap. (When was the last time that happened at our house?)
That night was a dinner for all of the ASU MBA people (students, faculty, alumni) etc. where the food, I'm happy and sad to report, was MUCH tastier but much less healthy. I'm hoping that what I ate in Sedona stays in Sedona because I haven't seen a chocolate cake in a long time and it was too much for me to resist! We had a leisurely dinner with some of the students and their spouses and then headed back to our room around nine, declining their invite to a nearby bar. (They had apparently been drinking most of the day, how do you keep drinking into the night too? I just don't get it...) All I remember about the rest of the night is reading one page of an Agathe Christy novel that I brought and falling asleep with my neck in a strange position, ouch!
In the morning, we woke up at 6:00 a.m. to hike nearby Bell Rock. It was a gorgeous morning and we took our time on the way up the trail with me stopping to take pictures every few steps or so. Ren has come to expect this of me, so he happily carried my water and waited while I took 80+ pictures of the surrounding area. I made a powerpoint slideshow of my favorite pics which I'm hoping to be able to post with this, but we'll see how technologically savvy I am. A couple of hours later, we made our way back to the car with perfect timing as the trail was just starting to fill up with people. We went back to our room, cleaned up, ate breakfast and then drove back home in time for church at 1:30 p.m. (okay, not ON TIME, somehow we never manage to make it to church on time.) It was Zach's 16th birthday so before we left for church I got a roast in the oven and prepared stuff to make him fruit pizza. I'll do a little post on his birthday separate from this.
Sedona is one of those places you discover that becomes a little oasis in the desert of Life. I'm hoping to take the family back and really be able to explore all the hiking and beauty there, since we just scratched the surface in our wonderful 28 hours away.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Arizona State Quarter Day (or It was one of those days I was grateful I did my hair...)
Curtis with his quarterWho knew this was gonna be one of those days...when I'd be grateful I actually took the time to do my hair and put on make-up? After seeing in the paper yesterday that the new Arizona State Quarter was going to be unveiled today, we all got up early (8:00 a.m. 'cuz it's summer break) and drove to the state capitol park in Phoenix. Earlier, as I was getting dressed, I'd had this funny vision of myself on the news chatting animatedly about how our family just loves the quarter (I mean, who doesn't love the quarter?) Zach has been collecting state quarters for a few years now and is always asking us to check our change for a new one. We're just huge supporters of the quarter, dontcha know. So anyway, we actually arrived on time (due to my thinking it would be held a half hour earlier, don't say anything!) and joined the rest of the nerdy throngs there to witness the launch. The ceremony was fairly short, with the head of the national mint presenting the quarter and the governor of Arizona reading an official statement declaring June 2, 2008 Arizona Quarter Day (I bet you didn't know it was a holiday yesterday!) After the ceremony, Ren went to stand in an amazingly long line to buy a special commemorative quarter in a folder for $10 (Wow! What a deal!) while we stalked the governor's staff who were giving out a new quarter to all the kids 18 and under.
As I stood taking a picture of my seven children in front of the capital building with their shiny, new quarters, a reporter from Fox 10 news came over and started asking about the day. When I told her that these were MY seven kids, she was duly impressed (as she should be!) and asked if she could interview me and one of the kids. I know it's dumb, but I was so grateful to have gotten all cute this morning. I felt that I represented stay-at-home moms of seven kids everywhere and I didn't want to look frumpy and beaten down (I do that on all the other days of the weeek!) You'd think since I already practiced my interview in my head it would have been snappy and cute, but alas, all I remember is telling her that we came because we thought it would be a nerdy thing to do and our family's all about nerdy. Great. Then she interviewed Jonah who remembers saying that being there was "an alien experience". Um, okay. She finished up with Jonah, took some more footage of the kids and then got distracted by a nerdier kid who had his state capitol quarter collection with him. Oh well, we had a few seconds of fame anyway. While Ren continued to stand in the insanely long line of grown-ups purchasing $.25 for $10, we went to the nearby Capitol Museum where they were serving chocolate "Mint" ice cream cones (get it? Mint?) 
Gid and Eli were cutely, disastrously messy about eating theirs and we took more pictures for posterity of this momentous day.
It was then that we noticed Hannah and Ren were wearing "Mint" green shirts, so appropriate. Many eons later, Ren finally finished purchasing his super cool commemorative quarter and we headed home, satisfied with our nerdly family outing and a little bit more famous than we had been before (which wasn't hard to do.)
Tales from the Laundry Crypt
I have been waiting for 4 months to type this post.. and I am now thrilled to announce that I'm getting published! Okay, so it's just a local magazine being mailed out to Gilbert residents, but I'm still excited! Since most people who read my blog aren't from Gilbert, now that it's published I wanted to share my little article on my blog. The editor asked me to write another column for next month (I really hope I can be funny again!) so I'll keep you updated on that one as well! Yay! So here's my humor column:
TALES FROM THE LAUNDRY CRYPT
One recent morning, I was helping Curtis, my six year-old get ready for school. When I handed him a pair of socks to put on, he looked at them with delight and exclaimed, "Cool! Matching socks!" (Ah, such simple pleasures in life.) After I got over my chagrined amusement, I realized that the state of my laundry would definitely be scary enough to prompt such a statement. That's when it hit me -- MY LAUNDRY TELLS TALES! A light went on in my head and I had one of my famous “Aha! Duh,” moments. It finally hit me why they say, 'Airing your dirty laundry'! What better way to reach into the innermost chaos of a big, crazy family than to take a good hard look at what each kid in that family is wearing at any given moment.
Several years ago I was pregnant with Eli, my 6th child and in bed sick most of the time. In the morning the kids would come in to kiss me goodbye as they headed off for school. One time as they walked out, I noticed that Cody had on one ankle sock that had a suspiciously pink hue and one sock that went up well over his chubby, little knee and disappeared under his shorts, the heel hanging out in a strange bulge over the back of his shoe. I had to admire his creativity in the face of the large piles of dirty laundry everywhere, if not his fashion sense.
I’m sorry to say, even non-pregnant I don't seem to notice the sad state of what my children are wearing until my observant and helpful daughter Hannah points out to me that Jonah has worn the same shirt every day since...well, who knows when? (It's his official school uniform.) I guess I thought it was a different shirt because every day it had a new and interesting layer of dirt on it. Sometimes when I manage to do a load of wash that is FULL of dirty boy underwear, I wonder, with a fearful kind of shock how many months it’s been since I washed underwear, and even worse, what have the boys been wearing in the interim?! One time, Cody caught me throwing away old, holey socks from the defunct sock basket. He frantically rescued them from the garbage and cried in horror, “Mom! If you throw these away, where will I ever find socks to wear?” I hope no one turns me in after that revelation.
Curtis gets very creative with his clothing. Last month, for many days in a row, he wore the "Winter Clothes Box" ensembles, involving strange, little-used long-sleeved shirts with glow-in-the-dark skeletons and the like on them. They're usually 2 or 3 sizes too big and he finds them in boxes stored in the back of the closet. "Good for him for finding something clean!" I think, "Such persistence should be rewarded."
I figure I have one thing going for me in this whole sad situation. My kids have VERY low expectations as far as clean laundry goes. They don't hound me anymore about whether or not I got their scout shirt washed or if their favorite sweatshirt will ever get transferred from the washer to the dryer (they know that it will probably get re-washed 3 or 4 times before it makes the jump). They've learned the art of sifting through layers of "civilizations" to find their school spirit shirt or their other Sunday sock (and maybe one of them will become an archeologist when he grows up).
As for me, I'm thrilled with a compliment like "Cool! Matching socks!" It just shows me that if I were dependable, they'd never appreciate so much the happy smell of Downy on a towel or underwear that can't walk by themselves. All those other moms who get their laundry washed and folded and into their kid's drawers every day, just aren't appreciated like I am when I produce the Scooby Doo jammies clean again after being lost for 3 months. I love hearing their happy shouts of excitement at climbing into a bed with clean sheets twice a year. I only hope that their teachers can forgive me for the public airing of our dirty laundry – or at least ignore the smell.
TALES FROM THE LAUNDRY CRYPT
One recent morning, I was helping Curtis, my six year-old get ready for school. When I handed him a pair of socks to put on, he looked at them with delight and exclaimed, "Cool! Matching socks!" (Ah, such simple pleasures in life.) After I got over my chagrined amusement, I realized that the state of my laundry would definitely be scary enough to prompt such a statement. That's when it hit me -- MY LAUNDRY TELLS TALES! A light went on in my head and I had one of my famous “Aha! Duh,” moments. It finally hit me why they say, 'Airing your dirty laundry'! What better way to reach into the innermost chaos of a big, crazy family than to take a good hard look at what each kid in that family is wearing at any given moment.
Several years ago I was pregnant with Eli, my 6th child and in bed sick most of the time. In the morning the kids would come in to kiss me goodbye as they headed off for school. One time as they walked out, I noticed that Cody had on one ankle sock that had a suspiciously pink hue and one sock that went up well over his chubby, little knee and disappeared under his shorts, the heel hanging out in a strange bulge over the back of his shoe. I had to admire his creativity in the face of the large piles of dirty laundry everywhere, if not his fashion sense.
I’m sorry to say, even non-pregnant I don't seem to notice the sad state of what my children are wearing until my observant and helpful daughter Hannah points out to me that Jonah has worn the same shirt every day since...well, who knows when? (It's his official school uniform.) I guess I thought it was a different shirt because every day it had a new and interesting layer of dirt on it. Sometimes when I manage to do a load of wash that is FULL of dirty boy underwear, I wonder, with a fearful kind of shock how many months it’s been since I washed underwear, and even worse, what have the boys been wearing in the interim?! One time, Cody caught me throwing away old, holey socks from the defunct sock basket. He frantically rescued them from the garbage and cried in horror, “Mom! If you throw these away, where will I ever find socks to wear?” I hope no one turns me in after that revelation.
Curtis gets very creative with his clothing. Last month, for many days in a row, he wore the "Winter Clothes Box" ensembles, involving strange, little-used long-sleeved shirts with glow-in-the-dark skeletons and the like on them. They're usually 2 or 3 sizes too big and he finds them in boxes stored in the back of the closet. "Good for him for finding something clean!" I think, "Such persistence should be rewarded."
I figure I have one thing going for me in this whole sad situation. My kids have VERY low expectations as far as clean laundry goes. They don't hound me anymore about whether or not I got their scout shirt washed or if their favorite sweatshirt will ever get transferred from the washer to the dryer (they know that it will probably get re-washed 3 or 4 times before it makes the jump). They've learned the art of sifting through layers of "civilizations" to find their school spirit shirt or their other Sunday sock (and maybe one of them will become an archeologist when he grows up).
As for me, I'm thrilled with a compliment like "Cool! Matching socks!" It just shows me that if I were dependable, they'd never appreciate so much the happy smell of Downy on a towel or underwear that can't walk by themselves. All those other moms who get their laundry washed and folded and into their kid's drawers every day, just aren't appreciated like I am when I produce the Scooby Doo jammies clean again after being lost for 3 months. I love hearing their happy shouts of excitement at climbing into a bed with clean sheets twice a year. I only hope that their teachers can forgive me for the public airing of our dirty laundry – or at least ignore the smell.
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