Give Credit Where It's Due

Yesterday, I took my kids to see Santa at the mall. I took Brianna early in the day, and she just LOVED him. She wouldn't sit on his lap, but when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, boy did he get an earfull! Not much of it was distinguishable, but her whole face was lit up, and she was talking very animatedly. He got several high fives and "Merry Christmas"es from her. And he gave her a book about Santa's flight around the world.

So, when Ben got home, she was so excited to tell him, and she asked if he wanted to go see Santa. Ben was a bit skeptical. He's really been trying to figure out if Santa is real this year. So, he asked, "Where did you see him."
"At the mall" I replied.
"Then it's not the REAL Santa." he said.
"Well, he's as real as mall Santa's get." I said. "Do you want to go?"
"Yes." he answered.

I think this Santa just added to Ben's confusion. He had a real white beard and was a very sweet Santa. As soon as Ben and Brianna were done visiting with him, Santa got up and started walking through the mall. (I'm guessing he needed a bathroom break.) Brianna was RUNNING after him, calling his name. And Ben just kept asking me, "Why didn't he just use magic to get to the bathroom?"

When we left, Ben said, "Don't you think we should give him something? I mean, he gave us these books, and we didn't give him anything." So sweet.

After the mall, we drove around looking at all of the beautiful lights on the houses. There was one house in particular that I wanted them to see. It may be home to the Griswalds, . . . not sure. Well, when we got to that house, the lights weren't on yet, so we drove around that neighborhood, and then I decided we better get to the store and buy groceries. I told them that we would drive back by after the store to see if the lights were on yet.

Just as we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store, I heard a terrible sound. I stopped the car and got out. We had a VERY flat tire. So, I called James to see if he could come rescue us, and we went inside to do our shopping.

In the store, we bought stuff that we could eat right then, because it was dinner time and we were starving. After we paid, we ended up eating just inside the doors, with the kids seated in one of those car carts. Every time the doors opened, we froze.

James did get the tire changed, with the help of another shopper who ran home and brought his BIG jack. (Thank you, James! -- Oh, and other shopper!)

Then we loaded the kids back up, and I drove back to the Griswald's. We weren't disappointed. The house and yard were lit up in all their grandeur! After driving slowly by a couple of times, we headed home. I said, "Now, wasn't that worth it?"

Ben said, "Yes! That was totally worth it. It was even worth the flat tire. I think Heavenly Father worked in our lives so that the bad became part of the good."

Wow! Forget Santa. Forget the Griswald's. Ben's comment was the highlight of my day.

Careful! . . . It's Contagious!

Yesterday, when Ben got off of the bus:

Me: How was your day?

Ben: Great!

Me: How are you feeling?

Ben: Great!

Me: You're feeling really good?

Ben: Yup.

Me: Oh, I'm glad to hear it, because you've got gymnastics in a minute.

Ben: Well, I do have a fever, and my throat hurts. My head is hurting too, and I'm a little dizzy.

(I took his temperture and it was normal. He went to gymnastics.)

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This morning first thing as Brianna came down the stairs after waking up:

Brianna: Dad?

James: Good morning, Brianna.

Brianna: Fevers, Dad. Gotta Fevers.

(She definitely had the same type of fever as Ben.)

What's in a Dream?

Last night was a bit rough. The sleepy bug bit me hard at about 6pm. I couldn't believe I had another hour and a half to fill up before the kids' bed time. By 8:30pm it felt like midnight. James and I crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep.
At the real midnight, Brianna woke up. She has a horrible cough, and she just sounds awful trying to breathe in her sleep. I comforted her and put her back to bed. Within ten minutes or so, she had another coughing fit, and was asking for me again.
I gave her some cough medicine, and took her back to bed.
At 4am she was awake again and coughing like crazy. I rubbed her chest and back with Vick's -- which seemed to really help -- and carried her back up the stairs. On the way up, she coughed her horrible cough again, and I whispered in her ear, "Oh, baby! I'm so sorry you're sick." She whispered back, "It's o.k."
I slept the rest of the night in her room snuggled up to my baby.
I had THE strangest dreams. If you are a dream interpreter, please stop reading now. I really don't want to know.

First off, when James came in to kiss me goodbye and pray with me, he interrupted the team party. You see, I had just coached the BYU football team to their first ever SEC Championship! James was impressed, he said that no other BYU coach had been able to achieve that.

Then, I drifted back to sleep after he had gone. This time I dreamed that Ben and Brianna had a new baby brother. I rushed to the hospital with Brianna, where we found James lying in the hospital bed, holding our newborn son. Ben was also in the room.
When we came back to visit, I assume the next day, we found James mining for gold, with our baby strapped to his back. As I approached them, suddenly the baby was no longer strapped to James' back, but to the back of a tiny, fluffy blue bird. And, he had shrunk to about the size of an Andes mint. (James was still there, busy mining for gold.) I wanted to hold my baby, but as I reached for him, some LARGE bird of prey caught sight of the little blue bird and my boy and decided that they would make a tastey lunch. I hit the bird (eagle/hawk/whatever) with the umbrella which I conveniently had in my hand, which didn't make the bird too happy, but gave the little blue bird just enough time to disappear.
Then, I panicked because the little blue bird just disappeared with my boy on it's back. But don't worry, I found it hiding under the rocker recliner that was right there in the mine.

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If those dreams weren't enough to make your head spin, let me describe for you what Ben chose to wear for school today: The high temperature today will be about 45 degrees. He chose shorts and a long sleeved shirt, with a light jacket. He hurried out the door before I could see him. When I heard the door shut, I ran after him and called him back. (It wasn't even time to go to the bus stop, he was just trying to leave before I could give my two cents about his outfit.) When I called him back, I told him he was going to freeze. He said, "I have something on underneath." He sort of had that "up to something" look, so I pulled up his shirt to reveal: James' old wrestling outfit!
Well, at least I talked him into wearing a coat!

Andes Mint Brownie Cookies

1 brownie mix (I used Albertson's brand)
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs

Mix above ingredients.

Add:

1 pkg. Andes creme de menthe baking chips (found in the baking isle next to the chocolate chips)

Form into balls with an ice cream scoop, or two spoons, or with your fingers. (Eat a little dough.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes. Take out of oven and drop onto counter. Eat the deliciousness, and consider -- maybe -- sharing. . . . Maybe.

P.S. These are only REALLY yummy for two days, then they become quite stale. Of course, I continue to "suffer through" eating them, but thought you might want to be warned ahead of time.

Let's Play

O.k., so I've been tagged twice now. It's taken me quite a while to do this, I think I must have thought that I needed to come up with 6 SPECTACULAR quirks. That's nigh unto impossible. However, 6 UNSPECTACULAR quirks is much easier.



Here are the rules:

"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"

1.Link to the person who tagged you

2.Mention the rules on your blog

3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you

4.Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them

5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.



My wonderful friends who tagged me can be found at: http://fromthemixed-upfiles.blogspot.com/ and http://themanofsteelleg.blogspot.com/ .



1. I have phone-o-phobia. I intensely dislike, and get very anxious about, making phone calls. When I was a teenager, I worked in a strip mall, just two doors down from a Little Ceasar's Pizza. My co-workers and I would often get pizza to eat during our shifts. I was fortunate that usually whomever I was working with would place the order. However, one time I was at work with another phone-o-phobic person. Somehow it was decided that I would be the one to call. When the Little Ceasar's employee answered, I asked, "Um, . . . how do you order a baby pan-pan?" The employee, somewhat confused answered, "Uh, you say, 'baby pan-pan'." My co-worker and I were so embarrassed, and thought it was so funny, that we began laughing uncontrollably and couldn't speak -- so we hung up on the employee. I think we waited about two hours and then walked over and placed the order.



2. I make up songs each morning to wake Ben up. I usually sing to the tune of 'Happy Birthday'. This morning's song went like this: "Happy December 1st to you. Only 24 days until Christmas. You get to go to school, and learn a bunch of great stuff!" . . . What? These are UNSPECTACULAR quirks, remember?



3. I have an uncanny knack for planting my foot firmly in my mouth. For example, early in our marriage, I attended a wedding reception with James for a friend of his. When we first arrived, he informed me that there were like 14 kids in the family. I exclaimed, "14 kids!! From the same mother??? IS SHE DEAD???" As it turns out, not only was she alive and well, but she was standing directly behind me. Yup.



4. I have not yet mastered the art of keeping a clean car interior. Honestly, it's disgusting. The problem is, I usually (with this very moment being the exception) never think about it until we are getting into the car to go somewhere. I usually don't have time to do anything about it at that time. And, let's face it, if you travel much with kids, they tend to destroy any and all efforts toward cleanliness. I suppose I could not allow snacks or drinks in the car; never allow toys or books; and take ten minutes each time we arrive home to try to enforce clean up of the car, but I'll probably just continue to travel in filth.



5. I am addicted to your comments on my blog. If I post something at midnight, and then there are no comments by the next morning when I wake up and check, I'll say to James, in my saddest voice, "I guess nobody liked my post." I only check for comments about 30 billion times per day -- even when I haven't posted anything new.

6. I have a hard time throwing out food. Even if I know no one is going to eat it, I usually have to keep it until it looks like a science experiment. Then, I have no problem throwing it out. The exception to this was when we had a dog for two months. She was very good for taking care of any food that I knew we weren't going to eat.

P.S. I'd make up songs for Brianna to wake up to, but she is nearly always awake before me.

Um, I tag anyone who has not yet been tagged, and is anxious to share 6 unspectacular things about themselves with the whole of cyberspace.

Points to Ponder

A man traveling on a lonely country road got a flat tire. He found his spare in the trunk, but no jack. In the distance, he saw the lights of a farm house. He set off on foot toward the house to ask if he could borrow a jack.
After walking a while, he realized that the fields he was walking through probably belonged to the family in the farm house. He felt a little unsure as to how they might feel about a stranger cutting through their fields. But, with no other option before him, and the sunlight long behind him, he continued on.
A while later, the farm house lights turned off. "Oh great," he thought, "now I'll be getting the farmer out of bed." His imagination began to take flight, and he could just see the old farmer answering the door with a shotgun, and an unfriendly dog.
"It's not like I had a lot of options," the man thought defensively. And the more the man thought about the whole situation, and the more he imagined the farmer's cold greeting, the more he got upset.
Suddenly, he found himself pounding on the front door of the farm house. When the bleary-eyed farmer answered the door, the man shouted, "I don't want your %^*+#@ - >%^*+#@$# jack anyway!!!" And he turned on his heel and stalked back to his car.

*******************

An old man sat on a park bench near the main square of the city. A couple approached him and asked, "Excuse us, but have you lived here long?"
The old man replied that he had lived in this town his whole life.
"Oh, that's great!" the couple replied, "You see, we're thinking of moving to this city, and are wondering if you could tell us what the people are like here."
"Well," replied the old man, "what are the people like in the town you're moving from?"
"Oh, they're just the most wonderful people you'll ever meet! We can hardly bear to move!"
"Oh," drawled the old man, "I think you'll find people to be about the same here."
"Oh, thank you! We just knew it!"

A short time later, another couple approached the old man, and asked the same questions, for the same reasons.
Again the old man inquired, "Well, what are the people like in the town you're moving from?"
"Oh, they're just awful! We can't wait to get out of that town and away from the lot of them!"
"Oh," drawled the old man again, "I think you'll find people to be about the same here."
"We had a feeling," they replied and went on their way.

A young fellow had overheard both of these exchanges, and couldn't help but to ask the old man, "Why is it that you gave each couple such different answers??"
The old man thought for a moment and then replied, "It's my experience that your life is really a mirror of what is inside. I actually gave them both the same answer. What is different is what is inside of each of them."

*********************

In Mormon's parting words he counsels, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."

We ALL have imperfections. When we are made aware of someone else's imperfections, do we condemn them, or do we thank God for showing us so that we may learn to be more wise?

A Death, A Grounding, and A Gift

My desktop computer died. I mean really died. There's no pulse. It was really old, like a dinosaur. It had a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). The problem is: there was a LOT of important information stored there. Luckily, it was a donor, so it's possible that the hard drive could be used in a transplant. However, in the meantime, I've lost all of my e-mail addresses.

So, I'm asking a favor from my dear friends and family: please e-mail me with your address, phone numbers, and credit card # (ha, ha), so that I can create a new contacts list, I would GREATLY appreciate it. My e-mail address is the first initial of my husband's name, the first initial of my name, our full last name, at bresnan dot net.

THANK YOU!!!!!!


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Now for other news:

I am grounded from e-bay.

I very rarely go onto e-bay. I have made a bid a handful of times, sometimes on things I REALLY wanted to win. And have NEVER, I repeat, NEVER won a bid. However, approximately six weeks ago, I was feeling curious about how much a daybed with a trundle would cost to buy for Brianna. James and I had discussed the possibility of buying her a new bed for her birthday, . . . this coming June!

So, I got it into my head to start looking around. I searched all over the Internet, and it was looking way more expensive than I had thought.

When I decided to check out e-bay, it seemed an innocent enough thought. When I found a beautiful twin bed with a trundle, at just a fraction of the price of the others I'd seen, I made a bid -- without even thinking. I NEVER expected to win the bid. Did I stop to consider the gargantuan shipping cost? No, silly, I didn't stop to think about ANYTHING. I KNEW I would never win the bid. But, lo and behold, I guess there's a first time for everything.

We still haven't received the infamous bed. But, perhaps, I was not as crazy as I seemed. You see, shortly after said e-bay encounter, Brianna stopped sleeping in her toddler bed. She simply refused. She happily slept on the floor of her room. She'll sleep in other beds. But not the toddler bed.

So, last week, in an effort to gain some redemption (from the e-bay expenditure), I posted her toddler bed on Craig's list, and it quickly sold.

When I went to put her to "bed" that night, an interesting thing happened to me. I had been fine with her sleeping on the floor, when I knew that she had the option of a bed right next to her. It was her choice. But to put my baby to bed on the floor in a practically empty room, where she had no comfortable option, seemed criminal. I couldn't do it.

So, Ben and Brianna had their first sleep-over. Ben happens to have THREE beds in his room. He has the great bed that James built to go over the futon, but the futon is no longer in Ben's room. So, in a much wiser purchase, (off of craig's list) I bought a twin bed, with a trundle that fit PERFECTLY under Ben's bed. (It has already come in handy for guests, and now for Brianna).

This was all a really long explanation to get to the picture of what James found when he went to check on them later:

Good thing there are three beds in there.



**************************

And, lastly, when Ben returned home from school yesterday, he presented me with this gift:



He explained to me that this was a massage rock for beetles or medium spiders.

I assured him that I would use it whenever I found myself massaging a beetle or medium sized spider.

Am I BUGGIN' ya? I don't mean to BUG ya!

Ben was in a school program all about bugs. We had to create a bug costume for him to wear. We turned his black sweat shirt inside out, and put yellow electricians tape in stripes. Then we stuck orange pipe cleaners through a winter hat to make antennae. But the wings were the best of all. James made them from some wire hangers and bubble wrap! They looked really great.
Ben had two performances; one for the students on Wednesday morning, and one on Thursday evening, for the parents. When he got home on Wednesday, I asked him how it had gone. He replied, "Don't EVER make me wings out of bubble wrap again! Everybody kept chasing me around the gym to pop the bubbles! Even when I asked them not to, they just couldn't help it!!" I couldn't help it, I was laughing my head off when he told me! Then, he said, "And you made my wings too big! I couldn't turn around during the songs, or I'd be knocking people over!" You guessed it, that made me laugh even harder!
During the evening performance, when the other kids turned around during the song, Ben looked right at me, and we both busted up!

So, do ya wanna know why we were late for Stake Conference yesterday?? It was all Brianna's fault! She just looked so darn beautiful that I had to take some pictures of her!!

What beautiful children/bugs I have!!

Me, Just Thinkin', Friends, Misc., A Prayer

I'm not sure what to write. I haven't had any brilliant insights, or really any deep thoughts for quite sometime, it seems. I was re-reading my posts from last November and had the very distinct thought that I liked who I was one year ago, much better than I like who I am now.

Many key things have improved in my life over this past year. I am so very blessed. However, I am feeling a bit lost, and am trying to get my feet under me. It's all part of moving, I guess.

Last time we moved, it coincided with the beginning of James' rigorous training. He began working 80-100+ hours per week. I was in a totally new town, didn't really know anyone. I had a one year old, and was a stay at home mom. James was gone, and even when he was home, he was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. He had nothing left to give. Though I didn't fully recognize it at the time, I fell into a deep depression.

Strangely enough, I think it was my decision to go back to work after about eight months that started to pull me out of my depression. It was only part time, two days per week, but I see it as a turning point in my downward spiral. Perhaps it was having to be dressed up and to someplace on time. Perhaps it was the interaction with other adults. Whatever it was, it helped.

There were/are wonderful people in my last ward who reached out to me, and continued to reach out to me, and who didn't give up on me even though I was very hard to reach. My shy tendencies combined with the depression did not make it easy for them. I count them as some of my very dearest friends. Whenever I sing "Nearer My God to Thee" I think of them when I come to the line: "angels to beckon me, nearer my God to thee". They are sisters of my heart. Their strength, wisdom, examples, friendship, and the beauty of how they lived their lives and how they reached out to and served me and each other truly lifted me, and helped me to become a person that I actually liked. They helped me to find a voice and a confidence that I had never before enjoyed.

I'm afraid I've lost some of that now. I may be one of those people who needs a really strong support system in order to be a balanced, positive contributor to society. I'm struggling with not having any close friends here yet. I'm struggling with figuring out James' and my roles in our new situation. And, I'm afraid, I'm struggling with another downward spiral.

I want to get back to that person that I was and liked a year ago. But, I must say, I don't want any of the trials back that have passed, whether in full or in part. Although, I am grateful for the growth and blessings that have come from them. I suppose that this is a new trial, of sorts. I'm sure that new growth and new blessings will come with this new trial. Maybe I'll even start having insights and deep thoughts, and maybe a friend or two. . . . I wish I wasn't so hard to get to know.

Can a person take all of the wonderful things that they've learned and become, and still retain them even with a cross-country move that feels as if it's turned their world on end? I know a person should be able to; but can THIS person?

Oh, please, Father in Heaven, let me retain my old friendships, and create new. Let me build on the lessons and blessings that I have received, and help me to receive any new blessings and lessons that Thou hast in store for me. Help me to be able to make a positive impact on those within my circle of influence. Help me to enjoy the blessings that each day has to offer.

O Por Satrda

The lyrics to Ben's most recent song, entitled, O Por Satrda (Oh, Poor Saturday):

Oh, poor Saturday
Forgets his underwear
Forgets his socks
Runs into Mrs. Weirdy
Never sees the sun
Everyday is late for school
Goes to the Principal everyday
His mommy gives him spanks all day
Never lets him run or play
Oh poor Saturday!!

For your convenience, I translated from the phonetic spellings. I will try to get video of him singing this for you.