Look Out, I'm Pretending to Be Crafty

So our ward did their Super Saturday two Saturdays ago. They had some cute stuff to do. I signed up for pillows. I decided that my living room needed a little sprucing up and they seemed really easy to make. They were so easy in fact, I made a whole bunch more for my bedroom as well.

All you have to do is get a placemat that is two pieces of fabric sewn together. You undo the stitching on about half of one side and stuff it full of fluff. When you're done stuffing, sew it back up. Super easy. And I'm only pretending to be crafty because I had my mom sew the pillow back up. They were about $5.00 a piece to make. The yellow ones were only $3.00 - those placemats were on sale. Way reasonable if you ask me considering some throw pillows I saw at the store ran anywhere from $15-$25. Anyway, here's how our bed turned out. Don't mind the wrinkles!

Do You Still Have a ...?

I felt like crap when I woke up on Wednesday morning. I drug myself into work only because I told one of my teachers that I could cover for her in the afternoon for an appointment. I got out the sub list, found someone to cover for me and went home to go back to bed. Tim called the doctor for me and insisted that I go in to get tested for H1N1. I went. While they didn't actually test me for H1N1, the doctor seemed to think it was that considering the symptoms, especially the over 101 fever.

When Josh came home, I had my mask on. I told him not to get too close because I was sick and had a fever. Not a problem for him. He was happy just to play trains and watch tv. I headed back to the bedroom to take another nap. After Benjamin was safely in bed, I made my way back out to the family room with my mask on. I sat down on the couch. Josh looked at me and asked, "Mama, do you still have that beaver inside you?" Yeah Josh, I still have the beaver. Thanks for your concern. We've really got to get that kid's hearing checked.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Benjamin rolled over for the first time last week! I was thinking that maybe he never would because I never give him tummy time. Yes, I know, I'm a bad mom. I figured he would get it eventually. I mean, come on. So here's some pics and a video. It took a while to get the pics because once he got it, he didn't want anymore of this tummy time thing.Quilt is compliments of Tim's aunt in Oregon. We love it! Here's the video.

Take Backs

When I was a kid, "take backs" was a big deal. I could give someone something, but if I changed my mind, I could call a "take back" and it would be mine again. It was great. Sometimes, I was on the other end of the "take back" and it wasn't too great. We got smarter as kids and started calling "no take backs". You had to call it super fast after obtaining your new treasure or it could be taken back just as fast as it had been received.

This week Tim and I have been on both ends of the "take back". Tim was offered a new position at work a few weeks ago. We waited to hear what his salary would be for about a week, all the time hoping it would be enough for me to stay home. We found out the salary and it was enough! We decided that I would turn in my resignation at work. I gave more that the customary two weeks notice. This is our busiest time of year and this don't really start calming down until the middle of October. I wanted to give them enough time to find a replacement.

With three weeks left until my early retirement, I get a call from Tim telling me that his work had called "take backs" on his new position. Even though it sucked, we couldn't really do anything about it. Tim hadn't called "no take backs". Luckily, he still had his old position to go back to but without the new and improved salary his new position would have brought. This meant we really couldn't afford for me to quit. But I already had. Had my work called "no take backs" on my resignation? I hoped not. They opened my position internally last Thursday so it still hadn't closed. i hurred and talked to my boss to see if I could call "take backs". Thankfully, they let me.

With all the ups and downs and "take backs" the past couple of weeks, we really can't complain. Tim and I both have really good jobs and in this enconomy, not everyone can say that. Josh has a great teacher at school. Benjamin has an awesome friend watching him. Our goal is still for me to be able to stay at home. We'll just have to work a little harder and wait a little longer for it to happen.

I Don't Want to go on the Titanic

The other morning, Josh woke up and came out to the family room rubbing his eyes. He looked at Tim and said, "I really don't want to go on the fire boat." Tim asked, "What fire boat?" Josh responded, "You know, the fire boat that goes in the water." Tim asked again, "What fire boat?" Josh said, "The Titanic, dad. I don't want to go on the Titanic." Tim asked him why and Josh answered, "Because it's going to crash and go into the water with all the people." Tim was perplexed. Here our four-year old was having nightmares about the Titanic. What four-year old knows about the Titanic? Had he seen the movie somehow and we didn't know it? We don't own the movie and we've never even watched it at our house. Maybe he watched it over at someone else's house while they were watching him. Tim decided the best way to get to the bottom of this was to just ask Josh. The question was posed, "Josh, where did you learn about the Titanic?" The answer: "I saw it on Reading Rainbow." Thanks Reading Rainbow for giving my son nightmares. 'Preciate ya.

It's All About Who You Play the Game With

A long while back, Tim and I played a game with some of his friends called Munchkin. I was assured that it was a fun game and that I should play. Not so. That game was the most unfun game of my life. I had never played before, so the rules had to be explained to me as I went along. In this game you have to battle monsters. If you are unable to defeat the monster by yourself, you can ask someone for help. Sounds easy enough. I'm pretty easy going when it comes to rules in games;expect for Parcheesi - don't try to cross me in that game. Anyway, I came to the point in the game when I couldn't defeat the monster by myself so I was told I could ask for help. I said, "Okay, I'll do that." The guy explaining the rule said, "No...you have to say, 'Ramon, will you help me.'" Really? I looked at him with the crustiest East Coast look I could muster and said, "Ramon, will you help me?"

Since that day, I have refused to play that game. Tim has tried to convince me to play it and even buy it. No way. But, this past weekend we went up to Bear Lake with some friends. They were talking about the games they brought up. Munchkin was among them. Oh no. Was I really going to have to play this game I swore I would never play again. The nice side of my East Coast me won out and I decided to play. But, I thought I'd better tell my little story from above so they wouldn't try to pull any of that lame, "Ramon, will you help me" crap. My story was told, the game was played and now Munchkin is on the list for the next game we will buy! So, thanks Brian for a fun weekend at Bear Lake and for helping me see that Munchkin really is a fun game. While some may say, "It's all about how you play the game," I beg to differ. It's all about who you play the game with.

ps - some names have been changed to protect the guilty

Trains, Trains and More Trains. By the way, did I mention trains?

Josh is a train freak. It started innocently enough with Thomas the Tank Engine. Our neighbor downstairs liked Thomas so I recorded a few episodes for when we watched him at our house. Well, Josh was hooked. We watched tons of Thomas after that. He then moved on to the train table. His doctor's office had a train table and Josh loved to go to the doctor just to get a chance to play on it. I had to plan an extra hour each visit. We decided to get Josh his own train table at home and it has been the best purchase ever. Josh plays with his trains at least an hour each day. But it's usually more like two or three hours a day. It's even better now that he can build his own tracks - I don't have to come up with new and exciting tracks everyday! He can also point out any train in any book or show, even if it's hidden in some obscure place. And he'll remember when it's coming up in a movie. He'll say, "A train's coming" and sure enough, a train will appear somewhere in the movie. Just like I said, he's a train freak. Here's a picture/video trip down memory lane featuring Josh and his trains.

Josh on Christmas morning playing with his train.

Trying out new train track designs.

Josh found a train at a park in New Mexico.


Josh riding the Front Runner, a commuter train in Salt Lake, holding a picture of said train.

Josh is getting better at setting up his own tracks.Here's a video of Josh when he got his train on Christmas morning. This is before he was a total train freak. He's pretty excited at first and then just wants a snack.