Macaroni

Things were really good for a few months. No markers on the wall, no lotion all over the carpet, nothing broken or damaged. I admit, I got a little complacent. It felt good to be out of the Toddler stage, where I had to watch him every second.

That's why I was a little baffled when Ty came screaming into my room that something was stuck up his nose. No worries, though, we'd get it fixed. As I went searching for my tweezers, he sneezed, and out came a macaroni. I laughed, and said how great it was that his body took care of the problem by itself, but that he really shouldn't put things up his nose. He laughed, too. I laughed again as I told his dad, in front of him. Daddy laughed.

Hmmm....I guess we laughed a little too much and instructed a little too little.

The next day, same story, second verse: Tyler came screaming to me with yet another macaroni up his nose. (Note to self: when you spill some macaroni in the pantry, clean it up. Today!) He was trying to sneeze, and nothing was coming out, and he was a little panicked.

"It's not coming out! It's not coming out! I'm sneezing and it's not coming out! It's supposed to come out when I sneeze!"

Wait. He did this on purpose, just so he could sneeze it out again and we could all laugh again? (Note to self: laugh more at the positive things he does. Today!)

I got the tweezers. Too far up there, macaroni turned a bit soft, so I only got a portion. Reminded me of the time I got a live moth trapped in my ear and my dad pulled out a single wing, while the rest of the bug was frantically beating against my ear drum. But I digress.

Next I remembered the time my nephew Reed stuck a peanut up his nose. My sister awesomely blew up the unclogged nostril and the peanut popped out. I tried that on Ty. Nothing.

At this point I started to get a little worried. I went back to the tweezers. Nothing. Encouraged him to blow out his nose. Nothing. Blew his open nostril again. Nothing. Held him upside-down by his ankles. That's how my mom saved me from choking on a butterscotch hard candy once. I know he wasn't choking, but give me a break, okay? Anyway, nothing.

Brad came home at some point during all this and Dr. Daddy took over. With the tweezers. He finally stopped when Ty was wailing and thrashing around so much that if this were the game Operation, the buzzer would have been a solid BBBEEEEEEPPP!

Finally, the inspiration came to Dr. Daddy: Neil's Nasal Cleanse. This baby has been known to flush out pieces of infection and gunk that were soundly lodged deep in the cavities of the sinuses. Its powerful stream reminds me of our trip to Yellowstone to see the Old Faithful Geyser.

After reassuring Ty that this would not hurt, Brad let that deceptively benign-looking contraption do its thing. Out popped the half-dry, half-soft macaroni into the sink. Cheers were heard throughout the neighborhood.

"Are you ever going to stick anything up your nose again?"

"No Mommy. I guess sneezing doesn't work everytime."

"Nope, I guess not."

Walls

We've lived here for five months now, I figured it was time to do something about our empty walls. We've still got more than our share of bare spots, but at least this helped a little.


I like to do art that means something personally to me, so I end up with a lot of photographs. These are ones that my dad and I took on the Oregon coast. I turned them to sepia on my photo software, then uploaded them to Costco.com, where I picked them up less than an hour later!

I know the wall quotes are a bit cheesy, and a lot of people do them, but hey--this is my home and I should put things in it that I like, right? I've always been a quote lover and collecter, so these fit me well. The top two I got at a site called Wall Chatter, but there are lots of sites out there. The bottom one I found at Target! It's by a Provo company called DCWV Home.

Easter

Tyler's First Suit

This morning I had an eight o'clock choir practice, followed by church at 9, so in order to celebrate all the Easter Bunny festivities, we would have had to wake up pretty early (for our household, anyway).

Thankfully, the Easter Bunny came through for us. As I told Tyler, we got an e-mail from the Easter Bunny on Friday, saying that evidently more people were believing in Jesus and His Ressurrection this year, so he had more people to visit. Since we had church early in the morning, would we terribly mind if he came then, istead? Tyler thought that would be just fine, so for us, it was great fun coming home to see that the E.B. kept his word and came during
church (Sunday School, in fact! How do I know that? Hmmm...just a guess.)

We're Not in Utah Anymore

One thing I have really enjoyed about San Antonio is its diversity. People of all colors, backgrounds, religions and lifestyles seem to mesh pretty nicely here.

But the other day we found ourselves in a situation where we realized we were a bit out of our element. We noticed a new clothing store had opened up in a strip mall that we often drive by. (We should have known better since it was in the same neighborhood as Sara's Haircutting Adventure!)

The first thing I noticed upon entering is that we were the ONLY white people in the whole place. And we weren't just white this day, we were pasty white: Brad, with his BYU gear on, looking all preppy, me--the suburban housewife in capris, Ty wearing OshKosh...Anyway, as I walked down the aisle toward the kid's section I took a look at the clothes on the racks, all with name brands that contained words like Urban, Phat, Gangsta, and Warrior.

Some cute outfits for me:

A couple pieces for my man:

And we can't forget the baby:

I was looking for a nice Easter outfit for Tyler, but after sorting through racks of what we dubbed, "Chikeziewear," (if you saw his orange suit on American Idol, you know what we're talking about) we realized this was probably not the place for us.

Trying to look perfectly at home, we sauntered back to the front of the store, avoiding stares the whole way. (You'd think they'd never seen a white person before!)

I didn't think too much of it until I heard Obama's Racism Speech today. He talked about how racism is still alive and real--from both sides. He said, "If we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges..."

Maybe we shouldn't have walked away so quickly. Pehaps if we'd spent a little more time there shopping , we could have helped to bring everyone together and fill the chasm that exists between the races. Then again, maybe not!

Great Resource

It's preschool enrollment time, and I have had the hardest time finding an affordable preschool for Tyler! All the ones I found had huge enrollment fees, supply fees, and tuition costs in the $200/mo range, all for a 2 day/wk, 9-12 time block!

I even got on the phone to call places that didn't have websites (big step for me, as I hate calling people on the phone!) but the prices were still high! The cheapest place I could find was $140/mo, which is still more than I want to pay!

Then I found a site called Mamasource, where you sign up for free and just have an opportunity to ask things of local moms. I asked them about inexpensive preschools on my side of town, and by the end of the day I had eight responses giving me suggestions. One of them turned out to be a really good school for only 80/mo, so I went and checked it out today, and it seems really great.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass that site along. I think they have it in all areas. It's very helpful, especially being new in town!

Another Meme

Carlye tagged me this time.


10 Years Ago...
I was serving my mission in Branson, MO. I had just found out that our first baptism there still had a smoking problem but was keeping it from us. We also met a Bible Basher that day who was totally in our face and rather than just walk away, my foreign companion tried to engage her in a scripture war. Duh.

5 Things on my T0-Do list today...

• Mop floor
• Clean up house
• Play with Ty
• Make dinner for missionaries (is it bad that I always experiment with recipes when the mishies come over? I always think, "They're missionaries--they have to eat anything!" Tonight, in honor of St. Patty's Day, I'm making a new recipe that I found here of corned beef and cabbage.)
• Practice our choir Easter music (I missed the last two practices because of camp meetings but the director said I could still sing with them if I practice at home!)

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...Ohh...I try not to let myself think too much about this--I start getting covetous! But I would definitely pay off our mortgage and student loans, probably move to a still-modest, but a little bit bigger home, save the majority, and use the rest to be able to travel wherever and whenever I wanted, with whomever I wanted! (Let's all go on a Cruise on me!)

3 of my bad habits...

• Not calling people back (I really dislike the phone)
• Procrastination!!
• Forgetting to switch the load from the washer to the dryer, and having to run it all over again.
  

Jobs I've had...

• Helper at a Child care facility
• Aid at a Nursing Home
• TCBY yogurt artist
• Office Temp
• MTC teacher
• Plasma donor (yes, that provided about $100/mo when we really needed it!)
• Nu Skin secretary
• Junior High Teacher
• And my current job, Household Executive!

5 Things people don't know about me...I'm really shy on the inside. Although I love extreme weather, whenever it gets a little stormy I worry a little that we'll get hit by a tornado. I love reading autobiographies. I hate mustard and pickles. I don't really mind cleaning toilets, but hate unloading the dishwasher!

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged!

Spring in Texas

Lots of things to do:

Riding the Train with Friends

Playing at the Park

Walking with the Cousins

Tenting in the Backyard




Presenting at a Families Supporting Adoption Activity

and much more, I just didn't have my camera. Like:

Winning our Ward Basketball Game

Camp Meetings

Playgroup

New Garage Door Opener

Ward Activity

Yardwork

Don't Ya Just Love Spring?

Camp Name

I've been called to be a leader for the YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) at Girls Camp this year. I'm excited--I love Girl's Camp, and this stake seems to have a really good one!

I have to come up with a camp name for myself, though, and I don't have a clue. Any suggestions? Others have names like Oreo, Sparkle, Uno, etc.

So don't be shy. Let's have a brainstorm!