Second Day

Annie was right, the sun came out.  Everything was going great today.  Great breakfast.  We cleaned the house.  Babysat a cute little boy.  I wasn't mad anyone or anything.  Feeling good.

Then I went to the dentist.

I've always had a fear of the dentist.  Why would any sane person NOT be afraid of  pain, sickening smells, and horrible noises that cost you hundreds of dollars.  It's why I ALWAYS had to use gas (not just to take the edge off the pain, but to take the edge off my fear).  It's why I don't like certain flavors (that I associate with the gas).  It's why I have rarely been to the dentist during my adult years.

All of that changed when I went to Korea.  My dentist in Korea......I love him.  He should be sainted.  After the first couple of visits I was never afraid to go again, and I went regularly.  The pain was minimal, even when giving those stupid shots for numbing (his method was perfection), even when doing a root canal.  I never needed the gas, because there wasn't pain and fear.  I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it was a pleasant experience, but it was definitely a whole new world for me.

Sooooo, when I went to the dentist yesterday (which was just for the initial exam and x-rays) I wasn't nervous.  It's like I had forgotten all the years previous to Korea.  And when I went today to have a filling done, I wasn't nervous either.  I just sat back, breathed deep, and was ready to go.

And then my dentist got started.

Even as I'm writing this, my heart is starting to beat faster, and my hands are shaking a little.

As soon as he started giving those stupid shots to numb me, I started to scream inside my head.  It's not like he was barbaric, but he was just like EVERY other dentist I had ever had before Korea - that is to say, he was NOT my dentist in Korea.  He did not have the perfect, magical method, where I could hardly feel anything.  It hurt.  Is it the worst pain I've ever felt?  Of course not!  The problem is, that specific type of pain is tied in directly to my fear of dentists.  As soon as I felt that pain, all the fear came rushing back.  They gave me a few minutes alone to wait while I got good and numb, and I sat there in a panic, my hands shaking, and a few tears escaping before they came back in.  I held it together on the outside, but on the inside my fear was magnified by the smell of the anesthetic, and then by the sound of the drill against my teeth.  And then it got worse, because this particular cavity just happened to be right up against a nerve, so the drilling started to hurt.  He had to stop and give me more shots, which didn't work, and then MORE SHOTS, which didn't work.  He finally put on a temporary filling and said I need to come back when the nerve has had time to retract.

I cried all the way home.  Like, ugly crying.  Of course, I'm still raging with hormones, so I'm sure that contributed somewhat.  I had to pull over to the side of the road just before I got home so I could pull myself together.  None of my kids are scared of the dentist, and I didn't want them to see me so upset, and then maybe get scared themselves the next time they have to go.

I'm asking for gas next time.

First Day

Ugh.  First day of a two-week Spring Break.  Usually I like having my kids home during the breaks.....and then I like it when they go back;)  But today was a rough start.  If this is any indication of the next two weeks, then I quit.

Kids fighting first thing in the morning.  Very. First. Thing.  There was a 15 minute ban on talking.  It's a good thing they took me serious, because I was ready to get out the duct tape (I'm not even kidding).

I may or may not have said, "I hope when you have kids you have one that's just like you."

Checked our finances, and we are not doing as good as we thought. (deep sigh).  Going to have to get creative this week.

Dentist appointment this morning, and 4 future appointments scheduled (including one tomorrow).  Lots of money that we don't have.  Thank goodness none of the kids had cavities. That's right, it's all me.

The dog peed on the couch, because she was so excited when I got home from the dentist.  I was not as excited to see her. Pretty much not at all. Pretty much I wanted to kill her.

Diarrhea.  Enough said.

The dinner I made was bland.  Actually, nobody complained but me, but I just wanted a nice dinner after a poopy day, and I didn't get it.

Thought we were all done with paperwork for our new assignment.  Not quite.

And to top it all off, hormones are raging.  Thanks Mother Nature.  Perfect timing. 

Because of the above mentioned hormones, I was just mad all day.  Just mad, for no reason.  It was irrational.  I even got mad at a stupid article on Yahoo that was trying to tell me how to make the perfect toast.  Toast?!  Are you kidding me?  That is the stupidest thing ever.  Doesn't it just make you mad?  No?  Whatever.

I should not be around people for a couple of days, but I have four little people that are here to stay.  It almost makes me look forward to my second dentist appointment tomorrow.  How sad is that?

I can just hear Annie in my head now....."The sun'll come out, tomorrow!"

It always does.

Get Your Groove On

If you know me, then you might know that I love to dance.  A lot.  Really.  A lot. 

It's very sad that my talent in this area does not equal my enthusiasm.  I am not a good dancer. 

I think I mentioned once that I broke up with a guy because I didn't like the way he danced.  It makes me cringe every time I think of it - not his dancing, but how dumb I was.  Did you know that the first date Joe and I ever went on was Latin dancing?  Joe is not as dumb as me, so he didn't break up with me for that.

So I was thinking of those memes I keep seeing on facebook - the one's that say, "What my friends think I do, what society thinks I do, what I think I do...."  Do you know what I'm talking about?  Anyway, I'm going to use that idea here about my dancing, in video form.  Do enjoy.

What society thinks I do.

What my husband thinks I do.....he might be a little biased ;)

What my friends think I do.

What my kids think I do.

What I wish I could do.

What I think I do.

What I actually do.

Or maybe it's more like this.

Or this.

And this is what I'll do someday.

The end.

My Month

The Blog has been quiet these days, but stuff has been happening, it really has.  Stuff and Things and Happenings.  You know, life.

In the month of January, so far...

We saw my brother-in-law dressed as Elvis (New Year's Eve concert/party)

We sent our three youngest kids back to public school (I've actually started to do things again like read, and sew, and clean)

Speaking of reading, I've read 5 books so far (or is it 6?)

I started serving as the 2nd counselor in the Primary (this means I can boss around the cub scout leaders....just kidding)

I celebrated 14 years with my favorite person

I fell in love with my good old Nikon D60 all over again (no pictures from it yet - I had to order a new charger)

We got colds.

I laughed at my kids, I mean WITH my kids:
          Cora - "Come on, that's not the can-do attitude that mom is forcing on us!"
          Madelyn - "Those acorns are not for food.  They are for death."
          Alex - "I'm almost founding a happy place."
          JT - Singing the wrong lyrics, "I'll jump on a train for you" (Bruno Mars)

We have enjoyed the unseasonably beautiful weather (usually this is our rainy season)

 



We forgot to put out the garbage two weeks in a row.

We celebrated 5 family birthdays, including this guy who I got lots of slobbery kisses from (some of the kisses may or may not have been stolen).

We went camping over the long weekend.

Oh, and I thought my mom might die.  Good heavens!  She's a tough lady, that mom of mine.  It started with a bladder infection that went septic (blood pressure of  about 50/30's at the time - not sure how she wasn't in a coma), which landed her in the ICU.  This may have weakened her heart, and she might have caught the flu there too, because a few days later she was back in the ICU with influenza, pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), and later discovered was a possible heart attack (that led to her being on a ventilator) and congestive heart failure.  A perfect storm, if you will.  My angel of a mother-in-law came to stay with my kids so that I could fly to UT to be with my mom. 

Long story short, it was scary for a bit, but she pulled through.  Maybe faster than expected.  I told ya, she's a tough lady.  Right now she's in a temporary nursing facility to get physical therapy, but I think she's going home tomorrow. 

I'm so grateful for my family.  I don't know why I was so blessed. 

Overall, not a bad start to the New Year.

Christmas Morning

I do so love this tradition :) Last year we had one of the stockings rip, and this year we couldn't find one, so these are new, but temporary stockings. I'm hoping to get some new ones in Germany next year!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men

My version of a last-minute Christmas card.

Better late than never?

 

Nothing Could Go Wrong, Right?

For Thanksgiving this year we wanted to get out of town.  We couldn't afford to go all the way to Utah, nor do we want to do anymore 4-day weekends there - it's just too hard.  So we decided to go down to San Diego.  We took our trailer, and brought along all that we needed to make our Thanksgiving meal (except for a turkey - the oven in the trailer is only big enough for a chicken).  We left Wednesday night, but we only went a couple of hours, and then camped for the night.  We headed out on Thursday morning expecting to arrive at our destination in the early afternoon.  We figured the roads would be clear on Thanksgiving, because everyone would already be where they were going for the holiday.  We were soooooo wrong.  Due to a bad combination of 1) having to drive 55mph, because that's the law in CA if you're towing a trailer, 2) very weak bladders of four children, and 3) insanely bad traffic, we didn't get there until 7:30 at night.  On top of that, there was NO phone reception at our Campsite, which I needed to be able to contact my sister, who we were meeting the next day.  We wasted extra time driving around, trying to decide if we really wanted to stay at that campsite or not.  We finally decided to stay, because at least we had wifi, and I could send messages on fb.  By the time we were settled in I was tired, frustrated, and in no mood to cook.  For our Thanksgiving "feast" that night we had 7-layer dip and 2 pies.  It was comical, almost, and reminded me of this.

It definitely was not what we had been looking forward to, but it was delicious, and we were just glad to be together as a family. 

Things got better the next day, especially my attitude;)  Marie and Antione had Thanksgiving with his family in Fresno, and they were coming down that Friday to hang out with us until Sunday.  While we waited for them, we went and toured the Midway museum, which is a decommissioned aircraft carrier.  Huge does not even begin to describe it.  We walked around forever, and didn't even see half of it.  At full capacity they said there was a crew of 4,500.  Joe is from Manti, and it only has a population of a little over 3,000.  I've just got to say, though, it is NOT big enough to accommodate 4,500 people comfortably.  It was so cramped in there, at times I was feeling claustrophobic.  I cannot imagine actually living on it.  But it was really cool to see.  They had a lot of planes on there, some of which the kids got to climb into.  And Joe was able to talk to a World War II vet that was there, and we also got to talk to a guy who had served on the Midway. 

Kids in the brig.

 How many of these knots can YOU tie?

 

After the Midway we had enough time for frozen yogurt, and then we met up with Marie and Antione at the Maritime Museum, which was right down the street from the Midway, and featured some other cool ships, including the Star of India (the world's oldest active sailing ship), the HMS Surprise (the second ship we've been on that has been in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies), a couple of submarines, yachts, and other boats.  These were a lot of fun to see, especially because there was hardly anybody else there (unlike the Midway, which was very crowded). 

 The HMS Surprise

She's queen of the world.

 

No head room for the tall.

 

The next day we got to go to SeaWorld.  It was a beautiful day.  Perfect weather.  The first thing we did was go to sea, I mean see the Shamu show.  I headed for the seats that were just above the soak zone, but everyone said they wanted to sit IN the soak zone.  Oh, how I tried to explain the consequences of the soak zone.  But my warning fell on deaf ears.  I especially tried to help Madelyn recall how unhappy she had been when she got soaked at California's Great Adventure, just a few months ago.  But in the end, I let people make their own choices.  Everyone went to the soak zone except for Me, Joe, and my sister's baby.  Here is the picture of the beginnings of the FIRST wall of water that landed EXACTLY where they were all sitting (Almost like it was planned that way.  Ya think?), immediately followed by 3 or 4 more walls of water .

 I really, really, really wish I had turned my camera onto video for that one, because it was HILARIOUS to watch their reaction.  They ALL jumped up and ran, but nobody faster than poor Madelyn.

She was not happy.  And you'd better believe I said, "Told ya so!", although I did not get to revel in that for very long, because shortly after that we went to the trailer (which we parked at SeaWorld) for lunch, and she was able to change her clothes. 

 After these people all ran away from the soak zone, we finished out the rest of the show ;)

 Later we watched the dolphin show, and NOBODY even thought about sitting in the soak zone.

 It was a fun day, even though there wasn't time to see everything that we wanted to.  It went by so quickly. 

There was a beautiful sunset that night....

 ....but once the sun was down, it got cold!  The kids were fine, burning off all their energy, but the adults were cold.  Finally we called it a night and headed back to the trailer for dinner.  That night we camped at a different spot.  THIS spot.

 Right on the beach!  It was awesome falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.  The next day we headed home.  Traffic was bad again, although this time we had expected it.  What we didn't expect was this.

We didn't even feel it - no bumps, no pulling, nothing.  A guy had to flag us down before we knew we had a flat.  We changed it quick, and got back on our way with no other misadventures. 

Overall, it was a good Thanksgiving, even though we didn't do any of our normal traditions this year.  There's always so much to be thankful for, if only we look and recognize.  This video is a good reminder to me to do just that, each and every day.