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Pretty! But there’s no place like home. (I’m pretending I didn’t see that [final? fingers crossed] display of snow and cold).
We have popcorn popping on the apricot tree:
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree
and daffodils and hyacinths:
Could someone tell me why I didn’t plant more bulbs? I need better follow-through. I keep buying bulbs and then not planting them! That’s an expensive mistake and a sad one, when I see these and think there could have been more . . .
Having fun at Disneyland before the flu
Are you familiar with the debate about price-gouging laws? An anti-price-gouging law is one that seeks to prevent people from taking advantage of others during an emergency. For example, in the aftermath of a disaster, should a business be able to triple, quadruple or octuple the price of water, ice, or batteries? If people need water badly enough, they will pay almost anything for it. It makes us angry to see someone callously profiting from someone else’s distress. It just seems deeply, deeply wrong. That is why these laws exist. Economists tell us, however, that these laws are not a good idea. Profit is powerful motive. If profit convinces a shopowner to move heaven and earth to have ice shipped in–despite all the associated difficulties and hardship in a time of emergency–because he will then reap a fat profit, then, the argument goes, many will benefit. There will be more total ice available. We want extortionately priced ice in our time of need, because the regular cost ice will have already been sold or will not be available at all. Anti-price gouging laws result in fewer necessities being made available to the people for whom they are necessary.
We had a little experience with these concepts this weekend. Returning from Disneyland, Amelia suddenly came down with stomach flu (AGAIN–it just won’t leave our family alone) and was sick. Our minivan was significantly um, impacted. What do you do at 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night upon arriving in a city where you don’t know anyone (St. George, UT) and you have a difficult cleaning job ahead of you? Accessing water and/or electricity would be difficult and we didn’t have any of the appropriate cleaning supplies. I tried to think about what we could buy at Walmart to help, but our lack of access to water and electricity was an obvious limitation. It felt hopeless. (I had unpleasant visions of being the driver of a stained and stinky minivan for the next ten years–never mind the 4+ hours we would have to drive to get home). But Pdad is never without hope. While I told him that it was a waste of time to call the local car detailing places because they simply aren’t open that time of night, he called anyway. No luck, it seemed. But then someone called him back and made an offer–drive out to Hurricane (improbably pronounced Her-i-ken), pay me $150 in cash, and I will fix it for you. To put this in perspective, our local car detailing place would have done all the upholstery in the entire car for $25. Since the entire car was packed with vacation junk, we only wanted one seat done. But–it was Saturday night, it was late, and the guy already knew that vomit was involved. Sold for $150! I think it may be some of the best money we’ve ever spent.
Pdad stayed home from Church today with a pathetically sick Kate. When I returned home with the other kids, I saw this:
Table set, Dinner ready
The house smelled wonderful. I love being married to a man who can cook.
I also saw this:
Homemade bread, pesto spread, and charming note!
Pfamily January 2010
I will miss you.
Just in time for the waning days of summer, Duncan’s molluscum contagiosum has finally completely healed. I am so thankful. It has been an ordeal. He now has the all clear from Mom to wear shorts.
*Things to be thankful for:
1. While getting molluscum isn’t that great, it isn’t small pox.
2. After 4 months, the molluscum is finally gone.
3. Molluscum leaves no scars.
4. A healthy little body, and beautiful healthy skin.
5. Shorts for Duncan!
6. Dresses for Kate!
7. Kate can occasionally run clothing free (as 2 year olds are wont to do) without worrying Mom so much.
8. No more worry about accidentally infecting someone.
9. No more bandaids.
10. No need for Duncan to wear a swim shirt to the indoor pool.
11. No more wondering what treatments we should have tried.
12. No more excessive laundry. No more fresh pajamas every day of the week.
*I wouldn’t be Pmom if I didn’t feel compelled to reassure those of you who live nearby that we tried to act responsibly with Duncan during this ordeal. According to the CDC , there is no reason to isolate children with Molluscum from others at school or in the swimming pool. In fact, it is estimated that up to 10% of children will have Molluscum–but most, I trust, do not have it to the degree Duncan did.
P.S. If you are a hapless internet searcher looking for advice because this plague has struck your household, my advice is the following [the rest of you need to avert your eyes]:
Solomon wrote, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). Tonight I went to Amelia’s Back to School Night. I would like to modify Solomon’s statement a little for my own purposes: “Who can find a good teacher, for she is worthy of far better than rubies!” [tangent: Why don't we pay these people?]
Amelia is blessed to have a wonderful teacher this year. It was hard for me to sit still in my seat during the teacher’s presentation, because I wanted to get up and do a happy dance. Had the presentation been someone’s Facebook update, I would have sat there and clicked “Like” over and over again. I wanted to hug her. [Yes, I do tend to be over the top effusive when I like something, but what if I were only over the top down about things? Wouldn't that be worse?]
Anyway, basking in the moment of happiness that is realizing you probably got your child’s classroom placement right, that your interference and energy were not for nought, nor were to the negative either, I stopped to think on the excellent teachers who have blessed my life.
I have had a lot of teachers. Several of them were life-changing. Mrs. Long helped me to discover a life-long love of reading and an appreciation for science. Mr. Anderson brought history to life and taught us to recite “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Jabberwock.” Mr. Klag helped me to realize that I had talents. He was interested in who I was and what I thought about.
There was a teacher, whose name I have forgotten, who taught my 7th grade history class. He taught us how to soak paper in milk and a little lemon juice and then bake it in the oven to make it look ancient. He also assigned us to do oral history interviews with our neighbors. Mr. Larson taught us science, and you couldn’t doubt that he was excited about it. He also taught us French and humility simultaneously. He helped me to understand the difference between looking for checkmarks and looking to learn.
Mr. Johnson loved me, even though I didn’t love him back. Somehow, he tricked me into absorbing a lot of geography despite my pride. Mr. Jeppesen taught me the desire to aspire. Disappointing him was deeply disappointing to me. Mr. Hall was kind and tolerant. Mrs. Roylance taught us to work.
And that is just through high school. If it weren’t past midnight as I write this, I would have to continue–sundry Sunday School teachers and college professors easily deserve mention–and I know that there are others as well. All of these people were passionate about what they taught. All of these people were genuinely interested in their students. All of these people changed a life. Mine. I have found a lot of good teachers. Thanks to all of them.
My mom visited all last week and it was great. I enjoyed talking with her and I felt like it was a wonderful opportunity for my children to get to know her better. Duncan, particularly, was like a purring kitten after a little extra grandma attention time.
The only problem with having my mom visit is that it reminds me of what a poor housekeeper I am (Despite some at times half-hearted, at times a lot more than half-hearted, efforts to be otherwise!). Somehow the neat and tidy gene that both my parents seem to have has skipped me. I inherited their desire for neat and tidy but not the make-it-happen part.
Anyway, one of the truly helpful things she did while she was here was to organize our games closet which had fallen into a state of entropy so complete that some of us doubted it could ever be restored. Et voila!
The Pfamily Game Closet: What a difference a grandma makes!
I was so inspired by the transformation that on Monday I tackled my own clothing closet and completely cleaned it out. Take that, entropy!
***
This post is about entropy and grandma appreciation. Come back tomorrow for a discussion of which games are good/fun and why. I’d love to hear what’s in your games closet!
The weather, a few hours after our unsuccessful campground hunting odyssey
I had a nice day today. It was a surprise.
At the beginning of the summer, I’d planned to be on vacation this week. But at the last minute, Pdad’s week of vacation time became a day of vacation time (!) (I shouldn’t complain—his company has always been generous with vacation time. But if I never complained when I shouldn’t, I would be a better person than I am so far.)
Although I hadn’t done the advance planning that I like to do, I was hoping to salvage our plans with a last minute weekend camping trip. Yes, a lot of the sites were reserved, but there are also the first come, first serve sites, right? Um, not really. Although I hurried and drove up there on the ranger’s explanation that the campgrounds would probably fill up about late afternoon on Thursday, I was sorry to discover that in fact they were full already. Apparently, communication between the campgrounds and the rangers is poor. To learn which campgrounds have tent sites available, you must drive to each campground and locate the camp host. So my thought of hurrying up there to nab a spot? Well, it turned into a three hour round trip as we made our way to each campground in succession, finding no luck in the end.
However, it was a very nice ride. I was pleased with myself for having done it as I am such a timid driver. It was an accomplishment. The scenery was gorgeous. I surprised myself by being able to enjoy it even though I was busy trying not to fall off the mountain and not hit other cars, and even though I was having no luck getting a camping spot. Duncan and Kate were wonderfully well-dispositioned and surprisingly cheerful captive passengers and conversationalists (well, Duncan–kudos to Kate for sleeping). Best of all, next time, when I plan ahead, and make reservations well in advance, I know just which campground I will pick. Granite Flat sits just above a pretty turquoise reservoir, and I am already enjoying next summer’s trip in my mind.
Meanwhile, I arrived home just a couple of hours before the the thunder, the lightning, and the rain. I hadn’t checked the forecast when I hatched the last minute camping plan. I am not a fan of rain while camping! No worries though, because I am sleeping in my marvelously soft bed tonight. Yes, it has been a pleasant day.
An older woman I didn’t recognize rang my doorbell today. She asked me to tell her the name of the tall purple flowers in my stop sign bed (answer: “May Night” Salvia). I’ve had a few polite friends express interest before, but never a stranger. How exciting! She made my day. Perhaps I should pay this one forward. I’ve noticed yards of strangers with beautiful plants and wanted so badly to know what the plants were. Why not stop and ask?