Noodles, noodles everywhere… December 30, 2007

Don’t you just love when you’re eating dinner with your family, laughing and having a great time, enjoying every one of your children for all that God made them to be? I was having just such an evening tonight, looking around my table, taking each little bit of them in as I gaze and think…

“My eldest:  smart, handsome, funny, clever, huggable- such a joy. My next oldest:  the one with all the silly nicknames, the ‘class clown’, so talented, loving, gentle- a darling. Next in line, the former baby of the family:  a chatterbox, charming, giggly, so snuggly, loyal-just adorable. Finally, the baby of our group:  the last of our progeny, our petite flower, a mimic,a little mommy, she’s just so cute…”

My thoughts are quickly interrupted as I notice something in her nose. Could be standard cold-season goodies, but it’s somehow different…there’s something familiar, something pasty, something also on my plate- it’s a NOODLE bobbing in and out of her nose! With every breath she takes it’s peeking, hiding, peeking, hiding. It’s truly a creepy sight. I mean, I’ve seen noodles-in-noses on America’s Funniest home Videos, but, like all really bizarre things, it’s even more so in person.  As I sit for just a second and contemplate what to do next, what I feared most to happen, happens. She snorts that noodle right up her nose! Not a delicate little sniff. A full-on snort. So much so, that she gets a tickle in her nose and her eyes start to water. And who could blame her?! It’s probably the equivalent of an adult sticking a Fig Newton up there.  Anyway, I watch for a minute to see if the noodle will rear it’s ugly head (or tail?) again, and sure enough, a few seconds later the noodle reappears and taunts me as I unsuccessfully grab at it. It becomes evident that this will be a two hand, maybe two person job…

I call for DH’s help and he and I book-it upstairs to try and prep for our little ones’ sinus surgery. First I try an ear canal cleaner-it only chops the noodle. Next I try rounded tweezers, only to achieve the same result (I guess al dente preparation may be easier to grab?). It’s really beginning to bother me that I’m seemingly so close to, but not actually, removing the thing.  This noodle was mocking my efforts, and it was time to get down to business.  So I sit her up (she had been lying on a towel with her head resting on the side of the sink) to figure out my next move, when out drops the noodle! Not completely, but enough to grab and yank. A few tugs and swipes later, her nose is clean and the whole episode is over, just like that.

So that was our little after-dinner adventure. Think of me and mine the next time you and yours are sitting together, laughing, eating.  At every opportunity enjoy those little children God has given us, just check their noses before they leave the dinner table…:0)

May you all have a safe and wonderful New Year!

Facebook-without a face December 21, 2007

Yes, I have recently delved into the world of Facebook. I know nothing about this strange land other than my husband is also there, so I’d like to be close by. :0) Apparently the idea is to have a kind of revolving door of information and pictures about yourself (or anything, really) available to your “friends” at anytime. So far, because I’m about as photogenic as an elephant seal, my Facebook profile has a gigantic question mark where my picture of choice should be. I’m thinkin’ I just might leave it that way. It’s so mysterious! A big question mark-what does that mean?? Who is this person?? What is she like?! Hmmm. It could mean lots of things.

For now it means I don’t know how to attach a photo to Facebook. Mystery solved.

I

Anger and Accomplishment December 13, 2007

OH, the weather outside is gusty

But here, it’s so, so dusty!

There’s kitchen-stuff in every room,

Where’s the broom? WHERE’S the broom? WHERE’S THE BROOM?!

Just a little Christmas carol for my friends able to decorate right now! I’m longing to be in the Christmas spirit, and I can usually jump right in when I get out my garland and tinsel. Honestly, there’s no room for anything else in my downstairs living area! We were able to move the kitchen table back into the kitchen last night, and use it when we ate dinner. It was lovely! It was so nice to have somewhere to sit again and enjoy foods that did not spend most of their existence in a wrapper. No, those four pounds of McDonald’s and Wendy’s (and eggnog-shhh) I’ve gained are not going to look good in my Christmas sweater.

The kitchen redo is moving along nicely. I think we only have one more day of clean up and touch up, and we are done! It’s took a little longer and cost a little more, but at the end of the day, I think we all would agree it looks great and is more durable than the materials we had before. I’m ready change ‘kitchen redo’ to ‘kitchen redone‘. :0)

Of course, almost no married couple can experience something as financially draining and cosmetically altering without some kind of altercation. We had our share of ‘discussions’ (we really don’t ever fight, do we honey? Honey?!) and they are usually talked out with little increase in decibel or throwing of any good china. I have to share this story, though, only because it has a good ending.

We had granite counter tops put in and apparently the matching of pieces that is to be done during fabrication didn’t get done properly, resulting in about a one centimeter swell at the seam intersection. I didn’t even notice it until my DH (dear husband) mentioned it. However, the granite guy, David, noticed it right away and said they would send someone out to fix it. Those persons came yesterday and did a great job (in my opinion) considering they were cutting granite on site! Well, my DH, who has been gifted with a strong attention to detail (unlike myself) seemed rather displeased with the end product and, again, in my opinion, just went on and on about it. I “suggested” that if he wanted it done again, he would be the one to call them, not me. He finally conceded that it looked 99% better. I asked if the other 1% was enough to complain about everyday for the rest of the time we lived in the house (rude, I know). He said he would think about it. I still haven’t heard back…

Grrrr. I was pretty ticked at this point. So I immediately went upstairs and start throwing stuff away. No, not his stuff :0) , just stuff that bothers me most of the time but not enough to do anything about until I’m bothered by something else and then it drives me nuts. The next thing I know, I have moved on and folded a load and a half of laundry and am putting away toys without even knowing it!

And this is the good ending: As it turns out, I think a low level of frustration may make my life go more smoothly! I will be much more productive if I have something (like a dumb conversation) to keep the rambling part of my head busy! If I could just get mad everyday around 9:00am, it should be worn off (I tend to think things out of existence) by the time DH comes up from work, and then we can all be happy again and the house will be clean! I’m not sure how this will effect my kids yet, but I’m willing to give it a go. I’m sure that it won’t take too long to get my house in order (haha) so maybe only a week of anger? I can accomplish great things in a relatively short amount of time (unlike on this blog- ramble, ramble) and probably honor my DH-by having the house in order!

We’ll see… It’s almost noon and I’m not upset at anything yet. Wait, I’m on hold trying to talk to someone, so this may do it… :0)

Have a pleasant, and productive day, everyone!

Pandora’s Box? December 2, 2007

If you’ve been following this blog you will know that we are about four days into a two-week kitchen redo. So far, so good, in general, but as my husband mentioned (warned) early on, this project may open Pandora’s Box. Case in point:

Just today we were at Home Depot, then Lowe’s, then Home Depot again to pick out a vanity for our downstairs bathroom. This bathroom is right off the kitchen and shared the same floor as the kitchen, so when the kitchen flooring went, so did the bathroom flooring. This was agreed upon before. No problem. The vanity was not, however, discussed at any substantial length, so it came as somewhat of a surprise (not like a birthday surprise, like a tooth-cavity surprise) to my dear husband, K.

Now my husband doesn’t verbally complain much at all (to me). He does, however, show his feelings in his posture. You know how sometimes a person’s countenance changes when he is downtrodden or hopeless? My poor spouse, while literally pacing between ‘Kitchen’s’ and ‘Bath’s’ at Lowe’s, was actually shrinking in stature. It starts with a slow kind of feet-dragging slide. It then moves to a head looking at the ceiling, shoulders down, feet still dragging “this is torture?!” kind of look. By the time we took our 5-minutes-after-we-walked-past-the-bathroom potty break (we had two kids with us), he was slumped over the gigantic carpet rolls, head between his hands.

I felt awful for doing this to him. I would have just made the decision and grabbed something if I didn’t care what he thought. I tend to second guess my decisions when they involve others, so I really wanted him to be involved on the front end to avoid buyer’s remorse later (someone to share the blame with, I guess!). Instead, I think I added to his stress level by giving him so many options and telling him more than he really cared to know. While he did ask questions and considered different angles, it came down to this conversation while in Lowe’s (my paraphrase):

K: Which one do you like the best?

Me: Well, I like the drawers on this one but I’m not sure about the bottom kick plate. Do you think it looks too cheap? Is this wood going to clash with the granite (temporarily forgetting that he hasn’t seen the actual granite being installed)? I like this one because of the fake drawer that’s actually a sink base but I’m not sure about the quality of the drawer on the bottom. Should we just get white, or wood?…”

K: Which one do you like the best?

Me: Ummm, the first one I showed you-the one at Home Depot??

K: Great. Let’s go get it.

See? It could have been simple. Just make a decision! It was simple for me to find a new dishwasher I wanted (today at Lowe’s). And the faucets we “need” to get? Not difficult to choose. And the special-order low-profile slide-in gas stove that will provide a great view of the new backsplash? Easy to order. Let’s don’t forget that ratty carpet and abused walls…

See how easy it is to lose control?! None of these things in themselves are wrong, which adds to the difficulty.

The interesting thing about all these decisions is that, although I am thinking about what still needs to be done, I am not dreaming about this kitchen! It has stayed in it’s rightful place in my heart as a physical space with tools for me and my family to honor and serve each other, not a thing to idolize (see previous post). And, you know, I could really serve my family well with a quiet dishwasher and a new special-order slide-in gas stove…