Groovy!

This is what happens when King Isepik combs The Purple Dragon's hair with a brush instead of a comb, and also chooses not to use any detangler or water.

If this doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will!

4/23/06

Lagoon!

Lagoon is Utah's amusement park. Yep, the only one. It doesn't compare to Six Flags or King's Dominion, or Disney World, but it is still fun.

My parents gave us season passes to Lagoon for our Christmas present. They are now open weekends, so we have been twice - once on April 8, and once yesterday April 22.

The kids love the rides - even some of the big "scary" ones, and we brought the camera today and got a few shots of them on the "little kid" rides. I thought I would post a few for your enjoyment.


The Purple Dragon rides "Uffy" the Dog on the Merry-Go-Round
(She called him "Uffy" because dogs say "Uff, Uff!")



The Pink Princess riding a horse on the Merry-Go-Round



The Purple Dragon riding in the Little Boats
I love this picture because I have one of me riding in the Little Boats at about the same age.



Daddy and The Princess riding the "LadyBug Bop" - it goes up and down and around and around!



The Dragon riding "Bulgy the Whale"



The Princess and The Dragon riding on an Elephant they dubbed "Dumbo"

Waiting

"You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting."

- "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss

Yep, this sounds very familiar. I am tired of waiting.

A Box Of Chocolates

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks,the woman got into the car.

Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a white bag on the seat next to Sally.

"What in bag?" asked the old woman. Sally looked down at the white bag and said, "It's a box of chocolates. I got it for my husband".

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: "Good trade."

It's a joke. Really. Nothing else implied. Just a joke! :)

What Am I Doing?

I don't really know what to write or where to start.

I had a MaryKay party last week. It was mostly fun, and for some reason I bought way too much skin care products. I kinda like 'em, I think. The other part of me is screaming "get this crap off of my face!" How about we just say that I am 'on the fence.' King Isepik was supposed to babysit, and he knew this, but somehow he ended up having a scout meeting. It was a bit annoying, but the girls were good, he was very helpful when he came back, plus he let me buy stuff, plus I'm glad he enjoys scouts, so... it all worked out. And he apologized on his blog. :) But I have to admit that it seems like every time I try to plan something be it a Mary Kay party or my supposed once-a-month scrapbooking, he is always trying to get out of babysitting. This may not be true - but more often than not it appears that way. My perspective could be warped -- yours would be too if you spent as much time in this house as I do. Anyway, I find this "escaping" a bit annoying, because he usually has at least 3 scout meetings a month (that I can think of), plus he tries to go gaming two nights a week, so it seems to me that he's getting a lot of time to himself. And I'm stuck here. So pardon me if I go completely insane every once in a while. I think it would be very different if we had our own house.

So, the great part about my MaryKay party is that I got to see an old friend of mine. Kind-of sad, really, because we've lived here for 8-months and this is the first time that we have gotten together. Anyway, she's an old friend of mine from Harrisonburg, Virginia - the very first friend I made in fact, probably on the very first day that I went to church. MerryNoelle! We've been in touch since she moved to Utah in late spring of 2004. And she came to my MaryKay party. Which was super-dooper-cool. Because that inspired us to get together today - where I helped her clean her kitchen. Which is a completely different story, but the point is that I had a ton of fun. I love being around her... we were pretty much instant friends, and we "reunited" just as quickly. She has 4 kids - a daughter who is the same age as The Pink Princess, and 3 boys, one who is about a year older than The Purple Dragon and one who is about 3 months younger than The Purple Dragon, and one more who is 18 months old. Those boys would wear me out, I think! I have no idea how MerryNoelle does it. I can't keep up with my 2, let alone 4. She's an awesome Mom and a very good friend. We're gonna try to take the kids to see "Curious George" later this week -- all the kids are on Spring Break.

The Pink Princess went to the Dentist today. They put sealants on her molars - for free. They had a program earlier this year called "Give Kids A Smile" (note to Dubby: Dentrix was a sponsor), and kids who qualified (low-income) got to go see a dentist for free, and pretty much all work that needed to be done would be done for free. So we went, and The Pink Princess had her teeth cleaned but completely lost it when they tried to do the sealants. So they gave us a referral, and I finally set up an appointment. The dentist was awesome -- he only does pediatric dentistry, and he's really nice. The Princess still managed to freak out and there were four of us in there trying to calm her down, but eventually the work got done, and The Princess got to write her name on the wall (yes, a real wall) with a big-fat-purple-sharpie. She thought that was very cool.

The Purple Dragon is still part puppy, part human. She panicked on Sunday and had to be brought to me in Relief Society. Apparently she decided her diaper was too wet. Once she saw me she narrated this ridiculously long story where she "told" on Daddy, and her primary teachers, etc, about how she needed to be changed and needed her Mommy, etc, etc, etc. It went on and on and on. The presidency member who brought her to me was staring at her in shock, and I happened to notice it and just smiled and said, "Guess you didn't know she could talk so much?" And she kind-of just nodded and said, "no idea." It was funny. And yeah, for the record, I KNOW The Dragon needs to get potty-trained. We are trying. She is not cooperating. ARGH!

King Isepik works hard. I am lucky to have him. His blog can tell you more about all of his adventures.

I am dreaming of a house. I found a lot for $40,000. I have no idea if it is even feasible to build on it. I think I will call someone tomorrow and get the real story. Based on its location there simply MUST be something wrong with it, right? $40,000 is a steal based simply on its location -- so there must be a catch.

I am also waiting for my "password" to access my credit report and score which is being sent by snail mail. I am beginning to wonder if it was a scam, because they didn't even send me a confirmation email. *stress* I went to a legit site to begin with, but maybe something went wrong? So annoying. At this point I don't think there is anything I can do but wait.

I'm wearing my contacts and my eyes are starting to hurt, plus my bladder is yelling at me! I think that means that it is time to go to bed. I know there is more to write about, but I can't remember what it is. Oh yeah... I woke up to SNOW. And yesterday was so lovely (albeit windy!).

Random Thoughts

I play the piano. Fairly well, I might add and that is probably being modest. So someone from church calls tonight and wants to speak to my Mom. Tough beans, she's out of town. The person proceeds to panic because who else in the world would possibly be able to play the piano on Sunday. I say nothing and wait as this person knows very well that I play the piano. She finally asks me if I would consider it. Of course I will, might I look at the music? She then decides it's too hard for me, so never mind. OK, whatever! Do I really care? No. Am I upset about it? Kind-of. Why? Not sure. Maybe it's just because she decided I won't be able to do it without giving me a chance. Thanks a lot.

I made my bed today. Yes, I know that sounds completely stupid. Here's the thing: for the last 8 months our bed has been pushed up against a wall. Do you realize how hard it is to make a bed that is wedged between a wall and a dresser? Extremely. So our bed was rarely made. But since our basement got flooded, we rearranged a little bit (still in process), and our bed is no longer against the wall. And I made it. And it was EASY. And it made me smile.

The Pink Princess had to go to the dentist today. It was a follow up from a free program we got to participate in because we didn't have insurance. This dentists ONLY works with children. He was totally awesome, his office was so cool, and The Pink Princess had a pretty great time. We were referred to him so that he could put sealants on her teeth... for free! Today was just an exam to make sure that no other work needed to be done, and we go back on Monday for the sealants. Yahoo!

And speaking of insurance, we finally have it! Right now we are only on a "emergency" plan - that's what I call it anyway, but it will cover us in case of car accidents or other horrendous things. This policy is only for 30 days. King Isepik's company is sort-of letting us get insurance a month early. See, we had this 60 day waiting period and since The King started work on March 3, we weren't supposed to get insurance until June 1 (60 days starting from April 1 - the first day of a full month). However, they must really like him, because they are letting him use a start day of March 1st. They figure since they hired him on that day (this is true), the count should start from that day. AWESOME. So we will have insurance through the company starting on May 1st. I'm very excited about this.

The Pink Princess continues to do well in school. She recently passed off her -10s and is now doing reviews. She has 6-8 review sheets, and then she starts on multiplication. She thinks that will be fun because she already knows all her zeros and 1s! Ha ha! We had to sign a letter of intent today that basically asked if we were planning on staying in the program or not. I said that yes, we were.

We continue to dream of a house, and I am becoming more and more frustrated as it seems that the prices are only continuing to rise rather than fall. I still continue to believe that this will all work out, I need only be patient, but I am really struggling with this. One of our concerns is keeping The Princess in her school. I know that she will adjust at other schools, but it seems that other school districts simply don't have the programs available that SLC school district has. I thought that maybe it was all in my head, and that maybe I was partial to SLC school district for no really good reason, so I decided to call Granite School District to get the real scoop on their Gifted and Talented program. What I found out is that they have no program until the kids reach 3rd grade! They would test her (or perhaps, in our situation, skip the testing) and possibly place her in an "Advanced Reader" class. This would be good, of course, but nowhere near what she is getting now. A very large portion of the valley is in Granite School District (much larger than SLC), so when we do move, there is a very good chance that we could end up in their district. So this is a big deal. What to do, what to do? I know it will work out... somehow.

The Purple Dragon is a lot smarter than I give her credit for. You've got to pull those thoughts out of her head, but they are there, and she is bright. I am being reminded more and more every day of how completely different my children are. I never thought less of The Dragon, but I also never really thought she was as smart as The Princess -- she was just "normal" or "average." Which was fine. I was ok with that. But I'm seeing now that there is a lot more to her than I originally thought. Dare I say that she might actually be brighter than The Princess? I am not trying to compare my kids -- I don't want to do that. But it sure is interesting to see how they develop... and The Dragon has a wealth of information stored inside that head of hers... but she is not willing to show it. I am inclined to think that she has an affinity towards numbers.

Funny moment on Monday. I went to pick up The Dragon from preschool and got there as they were serving snack. Rainbow Goldfish - yum! So all the kids start gobbling down their fishies except for The Dragon. She is very busy sorting them into colors. Once she has done that, she starts eating - NOT! She now must count them. Her teachers are stunned. I just sit there and grin. To top it all off, she not only counts them, but as she begins to eat them she babbles "I have 5 red goldfish, but I am eating one. Now I only have 4 red goldfish!" And so on...

My Dad is having a cleaning lady come to the house tomorrow. I am really dreading this. What am I supposed to do while she cleans? I think it's weird.

The Rains Came Down...

... And the floods came up.

Thursday, April 6, 2006. It rained today. It snowed too. It also slushed. A lot. So much in fact, that all the water in the world (ok, that's an exaggeration) found its way down a tiny little crack that led to a window well. The water slowly filled the window well. The window got upset and began to leak. I'll let you in on a little secret: windows are not supposed to leak. Water started pouring into our bedroom. No one was in the bedroom to notice it.

A little while later (3 minutes? 10 minutes? An hour?) I wandered into the bedroom and thought to myself, wow, it must be raining hard. It SOUNDS like it is raining hard. In fact, it sounds a little bit like a waterfall. I glance over towards the window and notice that it is indeed a waterfall. I watch in horror as water cascades off of the window sill, down the wall, and drips rapidly off of a multitude of wires that belong to our 4 computers. The water is busily dripping onto various surge protectors and back-up systems. I think I should panic. I don't. At least, not exactly. I do call King Isepik and explain that I need him to tell me right NOW how to turn off all of the computers (we have a server, so I needed to make sure that I didn't damage anything in the process). He does, and I do. One problem solved.

I don't think that I'll go into a very detailed explanation (HA, HA, HA, Isepik!), because I don't think I really know exactly what happened next. But here is what I do know:

I know that many, many towels were used in an attempt to mop up the waterfall. I also know that it is not easy to mop up a waterfall when the source of the waterfall is still full.

I know that Isepik eventually came home (early) and had to use a bucket to bail out the window well. This ended the waterfall.

I know that I carried lots and lots of stuff out of the room. I know that brother D and wife H came over to help get the big and heavy items out of the room.

I know the room smells like mildew. I know that we pulled up the carpet and pad as best as we could to assist in the drying proccess. I know that there are two fans running 24/7, and we open the windows during the day to help air out the place and dry out the carpets.

I know that I want everything cleaned up so that we can move back into our "house" before my parents come back on Saturday, April 15.

I also know that by no small miracle, all of our electronic equipment survived. Don't ask me how, it's the one thing I don't know.

Oh yeah, did you know that King Isepik can walk on water?

Roll Call!

Ok, so I got a little bit gutsy and invited a bunch of my friends (at least I THINK they are friends) to my blog. This is a little bit nerve wracking because every once in a while a "real" part of me sneaks out, and it's not something that I really want people to see. So if you were invited, well, you should consider yourself special.

Now, do me a favor and let me know that you are here by leaving me a comment. This will accomplish several things:

1. If a passing stranger reads my blog they might actually think that it's interesting because they might notice that a lot of people are reading and actually commenting on my blog. HA HA!

2. It will put a smile on my face because somebody read my blog!

3. I will feel loved. (Aaaaaah!)

4. It will let me know who NOT to write about because you are actually reading my blog. HA!

Ok? OK! Just leave a comment... puh-leaze!

So Tired!

Well, the party is over. Life is beginning to resume some degree of normalcy, except I am tired all the time. I find myself longing for a nap in the afternoon, and more often than not, I am heading for bed at 10:30 (or earlier). I suppose that I could still be recovering from the birthday party, or perhaps all of this "spring forward" stuff is getting to me. More likely than not I'm simply suffering from a poor diet.

As far as the family goes, we are doing well. We currently have the entire house to ourselves as my parents are out of town for a week and a half. It's so nice. When they are here, I prefer to stay in my room. They don't bother me as much then. But I'm pretty miserable. I hope with the weather turning warmer I will have more energy to spend with the girls outside.

The Princess finally passed her +9s math timings today. We got stuck in a rut, and I didn't think we were ever going to climb out of it. But Daddy helped her last night, and today she passed. Hooray!

The Purple Dragon painted a purple (of course!) picture at preschool today. I haven't actually seen it yet, but I heard all about it.

Both girls had earthquake drills at their schools today. The Dragon said it was really noisy and they had to pretend they were bears and crawl into their caves (under the tables).

I really want a house. We are trying to save our money (and we are succeeding), but we are trying to get together a 20% downpayment, and we're not quite there yet. We know we will have it in 5 more months (barring any major emergencies), but we are working hard so that maybe we will have it as soon as 3 months. Despite the fact that we have lived here for 8 months (barely), King Isepik has only been employed for 4 months (barely). So the fact that we are about halfway there is pretty good. I must say that our tax refund is paying a fairly large role in that.

On the other hand, all of these numbers are what we THOUGHT we were going to need. The reality may be completely different. Everything is skyrocketing here, and while I still have faith that we will find a house, quite frankly, I don't see how. I called one development today that was having an open house (in West Valley no less), and the base price for one of the homes that I was mildly attracted too was in the $290s! Yeah. And it doesn't help that interest rates just went up (according to a random bank teller, I haven't bothered to research it yet).

I guess only time will tell. Maybe time will be on our side.