A Sticky Situation

Today got off to a rocky start.

I was in the downstairs bathroom when Gabe tried to push his way in. 

“Gabey, go out!  I’ll be done in a minute!”  I said shoving the door closed and locking it this time.

“Mom, I need to teo you someting!”

(Me through the door)

HONEY!  Mommy is going potty!  Leave me alone for a minute!  I’ll talk to you when I come out!

We went back and forth like that a few times until finally Gabe gave up.  I read a page of my book (just to prove a point) and then came out.

Gabe was standing in the hall.

“Mommy, Gway-Gway is making a mess with da peanut butto.

Ahh.

Okay, so maybe today wasn’t the day to take a stand for quiet bathroom time.

This is what greeted me in the kitchen:

I personally don’t think it would be very comfortable having Peanut Butter packed into all my face holes, but Gray was enjoying himself immensely. 

Just in case you’re wondering if you ever find yourself with a similar mess on your hands (and on your table and floor and child…)

Plain water doesn’t work. 

Adding baby soap only makes the peanut butter soapy, but doesn’t do anything to move or remove it.

A fingernail brush, however, proved most effective at scouring the peanut butter off the surface of Gray's head. 

Just so you know for future reference.

P.S.  A few hours after these photos were taken, we took a spontaneous road trip.  We're in Utah!

Office Progress and Shopping Spree! Yipee!

So, we're shooting for mid-October to open Doug's practice.

The paint is on the walls and the new carpet is on the floor.  The equipment is arriving and being installed and the security system is secure.

The couch and chairs are on the way and should be here late next week.  And although I've gotten some art, I need to order a few more things and put things on walls.  (I want the couches and all equipment in before we hang anything.)

We've hired an office manager and are (just now) looking for two dental assistants.

Oh, and I've subscribed to a bunch of magazines using YOUR suggestions;

Highlights for Children
The Children's Friend
Family Fun
National Geographic for Kids
National Geographic (not for kids)  (Doug picked the N.G.'s!)
Newsweek (for me)
People
Entertainment Weekly
and maybe a few more I can't remember.
Vegetarian Weekly perhaps?  No, probably not.

(And now I see I need to add Reader's Digest to this list.  Yes, it may be a tiny bit nerdy, but I love it and I've loved it since reading it at Kristen Atkins house in high school!)

Yesterday, we had a meeting with our super hip web designer about Marketing.  (He tells me we don't say "hip" any more.  That's how hip he is.  He knows stuff like that.)  We're going to put new (awesome) signs on the building.  Possibly do a one-time mailer announcing our "Grand Opening", plan some contests and campaigns, and give away some cool stuff.  (Like a Wii or something.)

Things are coming together and it's getting exciting!  Hopefully, it wont be too long before Doug has a full schedule and enough income to pay the lease!  (Without accruing more debt.  Which seems to be a specialty of ours.  Dave Ramsey not withstanding.)

So anyway, today I realized:  We've ordered a bunch of different stuff.  But we haven't purchased a single  TOY for the kid waiting room!  So I went on a little shopping spree.

Since we have a vintage/retro theme going, the first thing I thought of was the old school Fisher-Price toys they've re-released at Target.  Target doesn't seem to have any currently so I checked Amazon.  Unfortunately, when I started reading reviews, it seems that the new versions have replaced wood with plastic, now require batteries, and are basically junk.
So I went to e-bay and bought this:

A vintage (used) Fisher-Price record player and a vintage (used) Fisher-Price "Let's Go Fly a Kite" music radio. (The exact one I had as a kid.)
And, it's possible that I have a bid in for the Fisher-Price Music Box T.V.

Yes, my nostalgia got the better of me, but I'm pretty sure the little kiddies will like them as much as I did.  (I would have gotten the F.P. Tick-Tock Music Box Clock, but didn't want the Office Manager to hate me.)

Of course, I bought some new stuff too.  (Mostly from Amazon.)
2 different Schylling retro style wind up robots:

and wooden nesting blocks from Educo.  (I like that they're not cardboard (slobber resistant) and not plastic (more vintage feel):

I WANTED to buy the Embossed wooden blocks;

 and the Radio Flyer push wagon but didn't buy them.

I think the blocks would just be dumped out and left out and the wagon is $99 so I have to run it by Doug.

I'd ALSO like some wooden animals with wheels (I've found some on Etsy) but they're expensive and I haven't seen any I LOVE yet so I need to keep looking.

Now for the older kids, I think it would be super cool to get an old school Pac-Man arcade game.  And maybe we will when we're rolling in dough.  But for now, we're getting two Play Station 2's and some games.
(There will also be a T.V. playing Phineas and Ferb in the kid area.)

So now please tell me--what do we still NEED??!?  
What am I missing?
What should I send back?
And is it an unwritten LAW that all dental offices have a wire/bead/maze thingy?  Should I buy one immediately???

7 Hours of 72 Hour Stress

Of course moving is stressful.  Everyone knows that.  I just never thought that 72-hour-kit location and placement would be at the top of my list of stressors.

And yet Thursday the 8th I went to a friends house for a play date and told her I was stressed that my garage wasn't yet unpacked and organized.

New Friend:  "But if all you have left is the garage, you're doing pretty well..."

Me:  "It's because I don't know where my 72-hour-kits are.  I know they're somewhere in there, it's just too crowded and disorganized so I can't find them quickly.  I told myself that would be the first thing I'd do when we got here--put the 72-hour-kits next to the garage door..."

The same day, a few short hours later, the dryer turned off suddenly.  I went outside and flipped the circuit breaker for the laundry room.  It didn't work.  Then I  noticed the power was off in the whole house.  I went outside and flipped all the breakers.

Nothing.

I figured we (Doug) missed a bill in the chaos of moving.

But that wasn't the problem:  The whole neighborhood was turned off.

Later, I learned it wasn't just the neighborhood.  The blackout extended into Mexico, over to Arizona, and up to Orange County California.

I may OR MAY NOT have had several minor panic attacks after acquiring this knowledge.

I will say that I pulled all the wet clothes out of the dryer and spread them through the house to dry as well as hand washed all the dishes due to lack of faith that power would ever, EVER be restored.

(And it's possible I started scheming up ways to go completely "off grid" and turn all pioneer-y.)

Clearly, moderate action needed to be taken to prevent major craziness.  SO...

Last week, we cleaned and organized our entire garage.  72-hour-kits have been located and placed in an easy to grab spot.  Online orders have been placed for additional needed supplies.  (I'm replacing our 72-hour backpacks with rolling backpacks, getting a few more lanterns, and adding a box of MRE's to our food storage.)  Soon, Doug will be purchasing one or two 55-gallon water tanks to fill and stick on the side of the house.  The under-stairs space has been cleaned and filled with shelves which will gradually be filled with cans of food.  (And hot chocolate mix.)  The can safe has been located and will soon be refilled with cash.  (It was removed for safer travel.)

And once again, we are--mostly/sorta/a little bit--prepared.  And I can go back to stressing about whether or not this new dental practice will bankrupt us.


How about you?  Do YOU know where your 72-hour kit is?
Had any blackouts or earthquakes in YOUR neck of the woods???

(I feel like much of this applies to my feelings after 3/11/11 as well...!  Really great article from The Washington Post)

9/11 destruction allowed us to spiritually rebuild

By Thomas S. Monson
The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow.  Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost lives and broken hearts.  It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining moment in the history of the American nation and the world.  This week, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, along with Tom Brokaw, will pay its own homage to the unforgettable events of September 11, 2001

There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.

Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.

Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.

But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.

If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.


The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.

It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm.

Thomas S. Monson is president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

No Sore Bums. Got it!!!

Okay, okay.  You do NOT want the "Modern" red couch if it's uncomfortable.  And I'm guessing (don't know for sure, mind you) that it's uncomfortable.
And the second couch was evidently hideously ugly.  (Who knew?)

So.

We found another one!
See, the Wes/Tami family were here for Labor Day weekend.

You may remember them as "the family who moved in with us after the earthquake and then left Japan way before us and broke my heart".  (I REALLY need to think of a good pseudonym for you guys, H's!)

While we were driving home from PIPES* one day, Doug had what you might call a gastro-intestinal emergency brought on by too much candy at the previous day's Padres game.  (Or maybe by the Padres performance?)  Anyway, he needed to use the little boys room a.s.a.p.  (Is this T.M.I.?  I'm notorious for over-sharing!)

We pulled into a random shopping center and parked directly in front of a random furniture store.  It just happened to be A MODERN furniture store called "Grounded".  While D was, eh-hem, busy, I ran inside with Tami.  I started sitting on couches.  Too hard.  Too low.  Too silly.  Too incredibly rock-like as to not even resemble a couch-like.

I did a circuit around the room and tried them all.  When I got to the last one, I let out a startled cry!
My bum sunk into the cushion!
I leaned back and gasped!
My back was comfortably supported!

Could it be?  A comfortable Modern couch?

Yes.  Yes, it is indeed true.  Tami agreed.  Doug joined us and he gave it two thumbs up.
Now for the final test...

What do YOU think?
(crossing my fingers that at least two of you like it so I don't have to keep shopping...)

This couch...

but probably this color.

And three or four of these chairs.

Yes, I know most of you did NOT want to share a couch with a stranger.  The individual chairs are for you.  The couch is for the mom with the baby, and toddler, and purse, and diaper bag/backpack/random jacket/book/grocery bag and child on her arm.  Plenty of room to sprawl comfortably.

Anyway, assuming the entire readership of this blog doesn't boo the above, we'll be ordering them shortly.

Last night I bought some of the Land of Nod wall art and two book shelves from P.B. Kids.
The paint is up and the carpet is in.  Things are coming together slowly but surely!

More pictures soon, but in the mean time, COMMENT and let me know what you think!  Unless what you think is that I'm an empty headed animal food trough wiper who's mother was a hamster.  Just keep that to yourself.



*Yes, this IS intended to make your mouth water and make you want to come visit.