One Reason I Haven't Posted Lately

Ever notice how many unpleasant words there are in English that do contain just four letters? That must be where the phrase originated! Here in the Kendrick Nut House, we have discovered another four-letter word: L-I-C-E. That's right! Three girls with beautiful long hair must have been their dream. I haven't had much time with all the late nights nitpicking. Why am I posting this? Because I think I figured it out and want to share in case these dreaded pests ever come to infest your house and hair.

It all started about a month ago when my friend called to say that just days after her daughter came to play, she found lice. Honestly, I didn't take this warning as seriously as I should, which was my first mistake. A week or so later, as I was brushing Missy's hair for church, I saw bugs crawling in her hair. Ew!!! A quick check also revealed some in Sunny's hair. Kandy's beautiful thick hair seemed clear, fortunately. Ben went off to church with the boys. Kandy stayed home, and the girls watched movies while I dashed around looking for a non-pesticide lice treatment.

We tried lots of things. I did find a gel that kills the lice through dehydration and followed the directions perfectly. I washed everything in VERY hot water for over a week. We vacuumed beds and furniture and did everything just by the book. Except that I forgot to do a second nitpicking a week later. Oops! Mistake #2.

We had them on the run after that with frequent head checks and more laundry, but they didn't go away completely. I tried a few more things. Just over a week ago, I found bugs on Kandy's head. And after everything I had learned, this is what I did:

First of all, I chopped off her hair. Sunny had been shorn earlier that week, and she was all clear of lice. Although Missy had just one bug that night, I chopped hers off, too. Second, I went through her hair quickly with a Robicomb, which is worth every penny!!! (It costs the same as one or two boxes of lice treatment, and it is reusable because it just kills the lice with electric shocks. Awesome!) Second, I sprayed her hair with NeonNits. The directions say to leave it in and just try to brush it out, but I had learned with the other girls to do it differently. I sprayed her hair and then washed it out. The nits were all pink, and the hair was back to its real color. I blow dried her hair, and then I went through it tiny section by section, carefully nitpicking. We did vacuum beds again, but we didn't do all the laundry in the hot water. With the short hair, we have just used the Robicomb every day or two and done a quick look through their hair to make sure it's all clear. I have not found a single bug in Kandy's hair even once since this treatment.

Pictures of their haircuts will be forthcoming! So, if you ever have to deal with this monumental pest, skip the expensive pesticides, and just buy the Robicomb (we even found it in the store) and the NeonNits. (I actually still have lots of this left!) In summary:
1. Cut the hair short. It may cause everyone a little grief, but it makes it so much easier! Our boys have NEVER had any lice.
2. Go through with the Robicomb.
3. Spray on the NeonNits.
4. Wash it out.
5. Nitpick carefully, pulling out every pink egg.
6. Kill the lice on cloth items. Vacuum beds and wash sheets in very hot water. Put away stuffed animals or wash/dry them at high temperatures. (The second time, I just tossed them in the dryer at high heat for 30 minutes.) If that is too scary, put them in a plastic bag for 10 days to two weeks. Without a human host, the lice will all die.
7. Check for lice every 2-3 days, both with the Robicomb and visually.
8. Keep doing this for at least 2 weeks after the last bug or nit is found.

I sincerely hope you never have to use this information. Lice are a major pain in the backside!

Sweet Afternoon

This afternoon I didn't go to work because Missy had stayed home with a stomach ache. (I detest stomach aches--it's such a non-specific symptom!) Anyway, as I was tucking the boys in for their nap, Abel said "I love you" for the first time. Both boys were sleeping on the floor so much that we took out the crib and toddler bed, laying their mattresses side by side on the floor. Buster asked me to snuggle with him. I laid down between them.

"Mommy," Buster said, "did you take your shoes off?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because my feet will be cold."

"Use a blanket."

"I don't have a blanket."

"You can use my car blanket!"

I obligingly kicked off my shoes and snuggled my legs in his car blanket. He was not willing to share his pillow, however, so I went and grabbed my own.

We chatted for a few minutes about random things, and then one by one, we drifted off to sleep. Well, Abel and I did! When my timer went off 20 minutes later, Buster was still awake. I left him, though, to go accomplish things in the quiet house.

I could have not have better spent that half hour, though. I love snuggling my little people, and it is always a miracle the first time they say "I love you!"

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween. We decided on a superhero theme. Buster was Iron Man, Abel was Captain America, Ben was Superman, I was Wonder Woman, Sunny was Spider-man, and Missy was She-Ra. (I made that costume. Thanks to my mom and Debi who helped me with finishing touches!) Kandy decided to be a 50s girl before we decided on the theme, so we fit her in by calling her the damsel in distress. After all, what are superheroes without a girl to save?

Sunset Play

Over Labor Day, Kandy got to go visit cousins in Colorado with her grandparents. While she was there, her aunt (a talented photographer) took this series of pictures. My sister-in-law wrote: "I haven't even messed with the colors or exposure or anything -- it was this pretty in real life."

I just had to share!

Lost

My mom always said that when you lose something, you should back-track to see where you left it. It usually works. The problem is when something is mislaid, and you subconsciously keep assuming it will turn up. By the time you realize it's really lost, you can't remember the last time you had it and it was lost. It's pretty impossible to track at this point.

Before Abel was born, I crocheted an edge around a blanket for him. It folded up so nice and small that whenever I took him to places where he would be having a nap, I took this blanket. A few months ago, I realized that it had been a while since I had seen the blanket. I'm sure I thought the first time I looked for it that it had just been put in the wrong place. I became certain that it was lost. Through facebook, I asked several friends at whose house he had napped if they had seen it, but they had not. It made me sad, but as usual, time helped me forget.

This morning Abel found the matching burp cloth, and he started asking for his blankie. Even at his age, he remembers.

I wanted to post this so I keep remembering this blanket I made for him. I also wanted to do it just in case any of you who read this blog remember seeing this blanket around your house!

The biggest irony is that I often have an almost super power to find stuff that my kids and husband leave in strange places in the house, but I can't find my own!

9/11 Remembered and Thoughts on our World Now

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. There was a wonderful and special “Music and the Spoken Word,” and KSL also had a special news broadcast this evening. I had the opportunity to talk to the girls about it. The world truly changed that day. Much has gone back to the way it was, such as the bickering and political infighting, but we do still have a sense of unity behind it all. It's kind of like a family: you bicker and argue with your siblings, but you still present a united front to others and dislike it when they pick on and bully a sibling.

We will never have the sense of security we had prior to this horrific attack, and although I understand the necessity, I get frustrated with the measures we take to increase security. I'm not certain they actually help prevent atrocities. I think they mostly inconvenience good people. As my mom says, “Locks are for honest people.” A criminal determined to steal will find a way to break in where a casual thief will not not. Terrorists are innovative and can probably find ways to circumvent much of the current personal violations that we suffer through in the name of security. Due to some articles I've read, I would trust a sniffing dog more than most of the machines we use! I think that some of the terrorists are laughing up their sleeves at how we have bowed to this necessity. They have succeeded in wounding our peace and removing our personal freedoms, albeit mostly small ones. We can still choose to fly, but we have to put up with inconvenience, and we are more restricted than ever about what we can take on a plane. For example, Ben once had to choose between throwing away a pocket knife and mailing it to himself at an airport. The people at CakeWrecks have decided that the security isn't worth it and have decided to conduct their next book tour by car! Finally, as we have necessarily gone to war (which I do support), we have lost many more lives than those they originally stole on 9/11.

ANYWAY...big tangent. I was not planning on jumping on my soapbox! Today was interesting to see what has changed and what has reverted during the past decade.

Smith Reunion 2011

On Memorial Day, we had a big Smith Reunion from my grandparents down. This is a tradition we all look forward to, and as you see, a lot of kids were there! Most of these are my nieces and nephews and kids, but several are cousins or cousins' children (my 1st cousins once removed, my kids' second cousins).

Because of the unusually cold and rainy spring, we had the festivities in a church instead of the traditional park. We played volleyball and elimination and had a blast. Here are just a couple pictures.

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The next day we went to the park with just Robin's parents and their descendants.

Buster and Abel on the swings

Several of the bigger cousins climbing

We went up the canyon for lunch.

One of the cars was gone buying stuff, so we packed our van full of cute little blonde girls and Abel.

Lunch up the canyon

Mr. M zonked

Cousins!

Hiking up the very muddy hill

Abel fell asleep very soon after we got in the car. Buster fell asleep just a few minutes after this picture.

A Little Behind

I am woefully behind. My sister-in-law recently updated six months of her blog at once, which inspired me to catch up on all the lovely things that have happened to us in the last few months. I was appalled to realize that my last post of something other than history or funny things my kids have said was in the middle of May. So...time warp!

This is a picture of our front yard on April 30. This is the year that summer took FOREVER to get here!

Abel holding my old bear and his bunny.
May 6, 2011

I love the fashions preschoolers pick. Buster insisted on wearing this ensemble to church.
May 29, 2011

Wrong Number

My cousin, Jonathan, walked up to Buster and said, "Hey, dude!"

"No, this is Buster."

Chopsticks

At dinner, Sunny picked up her rice with her fingers and ate it. Ben looked at her and said, "Sunny, what are you supposed to use to eat rice?"

Silly Sunny got a big grin and replied, "Chopsticks!"

Permission Denied

Missy: "Mom, Abel was making himself dirty outside by dumping dirt in his hair."

Me: "Well, I'm going to bathe him in a few minutes, so don't worry about it. Take him back outside."

Missy: "Can we make him dirtier? 'Cause it's lots of fun!"

Me: "No!"

No!

Buster woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He has been grouchy and contrary about everything. After he contradicted me on about the fifth thing, I said, "Did you wake up and just decide that you were going to disagree with me on everything I say?"

"No!"

Love Story

In honor of our 12th anniversary, I would like to post my favorite love story--ours. It's kind of long, but this blog is also our family history. I'm not sure if I've ever written all this down anywhere else besides journal entries and letters. So here goes.

Ben and I met sometime in our teenage years. We attended the same church building (but different wards), and we went to the same junior high and high school. My first real memory of Ben happened during his performance in "The Crucible" his sophomore year of high school. I had many other friends in the play, as well. Ben walked onto the stage, taking possession of it immediately with his dramatic flair. I felt a thrill and looked into my program, reading the name "Ben Kendrick." I remember thinking something like, "So that's Ben Kendrick." Perhaps my friends had spoken of him a lot, I don't know for sure.

During high school, we were both highly involved in the dramatic arts. Between the two of us, we were on stage in every single production at Bountiful High during our two years together, but we were never on stage in the same one. (I was on stage and he was in the orchestra pit for "Fiddler on the Roof.") I was always intrigued by Ben and wanted to get to know him better. I would not go so far as to say I had a crush on him. There are a few other memories of him, but not many. We did dance once together during a stomp (an informal dance). I think he was one of the few boys who ever asked me to dance at a stomp.

I graduated and went off to college. After my sophomore year of college, I came home for what looked like a very lonely summer. All the guys I had hung out with in high school were on missions. I hadn't been close to many girls in high school, and my best friend was pregnant and, quite frankly, a little psycho with hormones. In desperation one evening, I called another girl from the grade behind me with whom I had spent some time. We started hanging out. One night she said it was the final party before his mission for one of our drama friends, so I went with her.

Ben was there. Ben loved to organize parties and activities with all his friends. When he saw me, the first thing he thought was, "Oh, that's right. Robin's back from college. I should invite her to do stuff with us." This is kind of funny because as I said, we hadn't really interacted much before. I was profoundly grateful, though, as Ben swept me into his group of friends. Soon afterward, he received his mission call. We were both shameless flirts in our single days, and we soon started flirting more with each other than anyone else. I would arrive at parties early and leave late because I wanted to spend more time with him. It was only a matter of time before our friends started to tease us mercilessly. We maintained a fiction of distance for a couple of months. Ben's official position was that he did not want a girlfriend while he was on his mission.

One night Ben called and said his parents were kicking him out for dinner because they had company. I invited him to my house. "Actually," he said, "I was thinking we might go out." I felt a little silly for my invitation! We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory on our first date. We went on a couple more dates, but we still denied any relationship.

Ben used to host (and we hope to do it again when kids are a little older) an annual Star Trek Party where they would watch all the Star Trek movies in a row. This was usually done in January, but he wanted to host one more before his mission. He was leaving in mid-October. I was leaving for college at the end of September. The Star Trek Party was on September 28, 1996. Ben and I spent a lot of time next to each other, but the rule was that everyone had to be under their own blanket! For lunch, we ordered Chinese food. We started telling stories of fortune cookies that we had received. I mentioned that I had received a cookie some time before that read: "You or a close friend will be married within a year." I said that it must have referred to one of my friends from college because I was not getting married anytime soon. Someone teased that it might still be me, to which I promptly retorted, "It can't be me--I'm dating a pre-missionary!"

We received a standing ovation for that Freudian slip. Ben turned red, I turned purple, but there was no going back. I left for college on Monday. The payphones had a special at the time that you could talk anywhere in Utah for as long as you wanted for $1. Ben and I spent hours on the phone, and I came home all 3 weekends before he went on his mission. During General Conference, we were sitting on the lawn outside the Tabernacle. I had my head in his lap, and he leaned down to kiss my nose. I inadvertently moved, and our lips brushed. So admitting we were dating was an accident, and so was our first kiss!

Ben went on his mission. I dated and flirted some, but no one could hold a candle to him and the bond that we already shared. It really amazed me how quickly and deeply it had developed. We wrote letters, of course. Six months to the day after he went into the MTC on his way to Chile, I entered the MTC on my way to France. We continued to write. We planned nothing, although we both knew that the math was definitely on our side! He changed missions, which changed his release date. I returned home in October of 1998. He returned the first week of November. I thought that was kind of rotten that he was never home without me. If he hadn't changed missions, we would have come home within 12 hours of each other. Convenient, eh?

The next two months were fairly traditional. We spent all the time together that we could. Still in denial, we elected not to attend each others' family Christmas parties. This elicited much laughter and eye-rolling from our relatives.

I returned to college in early January. Ben realized he just couldn't live without me. ;) That next weekend, I returned home. My girlfriends convinced me to go ring shopping with them so they could help guide him IF we got engaged. That evening, we watched a movie at Ben's house with lots of friends. Time passed, and everyone left except our married friends, the Hoffmans. Cami and I were talking in my car, and Isaac and Ben were talking outside. I don't remember much of my conversation with Cami, but here is what Ben says to me about his conversation with Isaac:

"I don't really remember how it started, but Isaac directed the conversation toward marriage and exactly where I was going with the relationship with you. I said point blank, 'If I ask her to marry me, I know what the answer will be. I'm just not positive that I'm ready yet.' " He also says that Cami had gotten me to admit that I wanted him to ask me to marry him. "Essentially, they were pushing."

They left, and Ben got in the car to talk to me. In our conversation, we seriously discussed marriage for the first time ever. We also talked about how we thought the "engagement process" was stupid and that if we were to be engaged, we should be officially engaged. We even tentatively discussed possible dates, but the momentous question had not been asked. As the conversation was about to drift into other topics, Ben took me by the hands and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes!

It was not completely by accident, but it was rather spontaneous. Our parents were happy with our choice of companion. I went back to college, but I returned home every weekend. Ben often drove up to Logan to get me on Friday and drove me back on Sunday night. During the spring, after he had managed to get some money, he gave me a diamond ring and proposed officially, driving up to Logan to surprise me.

After a courtship of nearly three years, we were married on May 27, 1999 in the Bountiful Temple. During our courtship, we were actually living in the same city for about 2 months and lots of weekends. I worried about that a little at the time, but we have been unbelievably happy with each other ever since. We have our trials and struggles in life, but our relationship is not one of them. We often say we wish every one could be as happy as us!

Jack Spratt

I made bread this morning, and it was piping hot at lunch time. The kids were very excited to eat the bread, but most of them asked me to cut off their crust. I was beginning to think I should have just cut the crust off the entire loaf to save the hassle of cutting it off each piece of bread! Even Sunny succumbed to peer pressure and asked for the crust to be cut so she could be like her friend, "Joy." (Joy is the preschool girl I tend.) Some of them do like the crust by itself, though, so I was giving them their crust along with their bread.

I noticed that Buster was eating his apples and leaving his bread untouched. He hadn't asked for crust removal, but I whisked his plate away to give it a try. I handed it back and got busy with other things. I looked back, and his crust was gone. I gave him some of the other abandoned crusts, and his face lit up. His soft bread is sitting on his plate.

I'm glad I have someone to help me eat all these crusts!

My Sister, the Author

This is blog post by my sister-in-law that I just had to share.

well-loved: quilts and kids

My kids each have one of these beloved Bama blankies, too. Well spoken, Ally!

"I Done Had My Bath in May"

There are three things with which Buster does not cope well: 1) Someone sitting in the seat he wants, 2) Someone taking his food, and 3)Washing his hands.

Buster dislikes washing his hands a lot. He would rather cry in his bed than wash his hands, and he gets frustrated when someone gets the seat he wanted at the table because that child obediently washed hands and got there first. Double whammy! Anyway, this is a battle we must wage for sanitary reasons, especially when he has been playing outside or petting the dog.

On Sunday, Ben carried him off to the bathroom to wash his hands.

"I washed my hands!" he screamed.

"Okay," said Ben, giving him the benefit of the doubt, "When did you last wash your hands?"

"Wednesday!"

(My dad and I both responded to this by thinking of the quote from "Pete's Dragon" that titles this post.)

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Today Buster was watching the rain, and he and all the kids I was tending were talking about going outside. I don't remember the conversation, but I do remember how he talked about what you need to stay dry: a "bumrella."

Back to the hospital

Buster got his staples out on Saturday, April 30. On Saturday, May 7, Kandy was cleaning in the basement while the rest of us were preparing the garden. Someone went inside and came out to tell me she was hurt. I went in, and she had tripped over the dog bed. Her toe was pink, purple, red, and bleeding.

She survived the weekend, and on Monday, I took her to the doctor. The nurse took one look at the toe and said, "I'm going to get an x-ray form." The doctor agreed, so on Monday, we went back to Primary Children's for an x-ray.

Yes, the toe is broken.

In 10 years, we have been to Primary Children's a total of 8 times for emergency, suction shack, and x-rays. Three of them have been in the last month.

Lie, Cheat, and Steal

Sunny came home the other day and asked if she could do her homework downstairs.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because then Missy can give me all the answers."

I burst out laughing. "At least you told the truth!"

"Well," Sunny answered, "I didn't want to lie about cheating!"

Static Electricity

I had just finished brushing Sunny's hair, and I was asking why it was so staticky. (This, according to dictionary.com, is not a real word. The proper adjective for "static" is "statical." Who knew?)

Anyway, Sunny answered: "It's a good thing it has static because we're studying electricity at school!"

Buster's Adventure

We had an exciting afternoon with Buster a week ago. He split his scalp and got six staples. Want the long story? Keep reading. Pictures are at the end.

Buster, Abel, and the two kids I tend were playing in the living room, and I was getting ready to go to the Carl Bloch art exhibition with my mom. Buster had a stinky diaper. I called to him, but he wouldn't come. I went into the living room and scooped him up, carrying him toward his room. I stepped over the threshold of the gate and stepped on a glossy folder on the dining room floor. I started to do the splits and went down. I was looking right into Buster's face as we went down. We fell into the hallway, and there was a loud noise as his head hit something. I'm not sure if it was just the floor or if he hit the corner of the wall on the way down. He cried very hard, and I was a little concerned. Then I helped him sit up. There was blood on the carpet, and the back of his head was gushing! I put pressure on it with my hand for a moment, then I ran to grab a towel. I called the dad of the other kids. He was just about to leave, so he came quickly to get the kids. I called Z to come help me get Buster to the hospital. I told my mom that the exhibition was definitely out! (Sometime during all this, I did change the stinky diaper.) I texted Ben, and he managed to leave work early to come drive us to the hospital. I'm glad he did because that way I was able to maintain pressure on the wound by holding his head in both hands. He says he was worried because he could tell I sounded shaky and shocky on the phone.

Well, we went to the hospital. They took a look and said he would definitely need staples. The gash is about 4 inches long, if memory serves. It took 6 staples to close it, but at least they didn't have to shave his head. He did really well! Even the medical staff commented on how well he did. The worst part was that one of the staples had to be removed and redone.

It took about 3 hours from the time of the injury until we were in the car going home.

I feel bad about it, but there really wasn't any way the end of the fall could have been avoided. I am amazed that I didn't see that folder on the floor, though.

All things considered, we were blessed. Buster's injury, while bad, is not life threatening. We have insurance to pay for the procedure. Babysitting was all lined up, so I didn't have to worry about WHO could take Abel for me, and the girls were already planning on walking to the other family's house. Ben was teaching something that he could actually leave early, which is unusual.

I had a hard time looking at the wound, and it took some time to get used to the staples. So, you want to see some pictures? If you do, scroll down. If you are feeling a bit faint, that's fine. Stop after the first one!.

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Random Thoughts

BFF's
A few days ago, I was trying to figure out who I would name if I had to pick my best friend (besides Ben!). I couldn't quite choose. Yesterday I got a phone call from an old friend who wore the title "best" for many, many years. She was coming into town to get her car worked on and needed a place to hang out for a couple hours. We went to Discovery Gateway and had lunch at the food court. Guess what I learned again? Once a best friend, always a best friend! I just have lots of best friends from different places and phases, and I love them all. I can't pick a favorite for the here and now, and it doesn't really matter. You want my top 5? That, I could answer (maybe).

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Deposits and Withdrawals
These days two major things that stress me out are my bank account and my weight. I realized they have opposite sides of the same problem: One has too many withdrawals without enough deposits, and the other has too many deposits and not enough withdrawals. If I could just switch those, I'd be rich and skinny!

Surreal

I love being a real estate agent! I get to look inside other houses all the time. I love to see the way the floor plans fit into the exterior.

Today I had a very odd experience showing a house. I received a call from a client requesting to see a particular house in Bountiful. He laughed as he asked about it because he knows our family, and he realized that this house was where my father grew up! My parents were living there when I was born, too, and moved out when I was three.

It was a very surreal experience as we opened the front door. It was so familiar even though I didn't really remember much of it. I remembered the basic floor plan, and I noticed that the shag carpet had mercifully been removed from the dining room. I couldn't remember which bedroom was mine, though. My brother had a vivid nightmare involving the basement bathroom window, so just looking at it made me laugh! I showed my friend the back of the bathroom door where I decided to play school with lipstick in the middle of the night. I don't remember it, but the picture sure is funny!

My parents are out of town, but we called my dad and talked to him about it. He asked about the pool in the backyard. My grandmother was practically a fish, and she loved that pool. We have old family movies of my dad and his siblings helping to build it. It was a lot smaller than I remembered! Sadly enough, it had has been sorely neglected. My dad asked if there was water in it. "Yes," we replied, "rain water!" It has been used as a garbage and yard waste dump. My first memory is being taken out of that pool to get my diaper changed. Another early memory is standing on the back patio having my mom tie on my swimsuit.

My client liked a lot of things about the house. It might be his favorite yet. How strange and cool if he buys it! Either way, I'm really glad I had a chance to go look around.

My New Obsession

Greetings, fellow cyberspace citizens! Perhaps you have noticed that I haven't been quite so responsive or around so much lately. This is due to many things such as working twice a week, babysitting extra kids a lot, and other things. One of the reasons, though, is directly related to my new obsession. Allow me to elaborate. And yes, it gets long, but please humor me and at least read the headings.

About a month ago, I hosted a Pampered Chef party. The morning of said party, I realized with horror that I was going to have guests--including a near-stranger-- in my kitchen! I decided it was really time to dig into my kitchen and clean it out. As I cleared the counters, I was horrified and embarrassed as I really opened my eyes to what was there. Some things had no business being there, really, and lots of those had been there way too long. I tidied the clutter, I scrubbed the backsplash walls and stove, and generally spruced it up. When the kitchen was shining, I was so proud of myself. I was more than happy to welcome people into my kitchen.

Only two guests came: one of my best friends and my mom. (I got lots of outside orders, though, thanks!) The party was totally worth it for my clean kitchen.

The next day, I had dirty dishes in my sparkling kitchen. I just couldn't let them spoil the effect, so quick as a wink, I stuck them in the dishwasher. And guess what? The kitchen was still clean! When we ran the dishwasher, I emptied it quickly so we could refill it instead of letting them soak forever. The kitchen was still clean! It made me so happy that I put a chart on the wall to track "Days of a Spotless Kitchen."

They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. That was a month ago. As I said, this obsession has taken me away from my computer more, but it's not because I'm spending more time doing dishes. I'm spending more time enjoying other leisure pursuits that I used to neglect because my computer was the best place to spend time where I could close my eyes to the messes that surrounded me.

Now I want to share with you a few things I have learned this month. First of all, I used to wait for the Dish Fairy to come do my dishes. Logically, I knew this wouldn't be the case, but I waited for her just the same. She didn't ever come. By cleaning all the time, though, I have learned that while there is no Dish Fairy, the same cannot be said of her nemesis, the Dish Demon. He comes all the time when dishes are left out. He dries the food on and makes the job harder than it was in the first place. I am a big believer in the Dish Demon, and I really want to avoid giving him opportunities to visit again.

Second, I feel like I spend less time doing dishes. I can't actually say for certain whether I spend more time doing dishes now than I did before, but I can say, that it's nice to have it broken up into several small sessions instead of one mega-session. I do have to do less hand-washing because I know exactly when the dishwasher is going to be full instead of guessing how many of the dishes in the sink will fit.

Third, there is more time for baking!!! This is one of the reasons I can't gauge time. Since my kitchen is always clean, I can actually make goodies more often. When I used to get the urge to bake, I'd walk into my messy kitchen, and one of three things would ensue. Sometimes I'd bake in it anyway, more often I would have to clean it first, which meant I lost my window of opportunity, or I would just walk away and give up. Anyway, this in turn generates more dishes, but instead of walking away, I drop them into a sink of soapy water as I go and wash while stuff bakes. Goodies and clean kitchen. Win-win!

Fourth, the bar and table are clean enough that I don't panic if kids set down their homework. And I actually have work space on the bar instead of having that pile at the end growing, growing...

Fifth, I am so much happier. This has really been a blessing in our home, especially with me working two afternoons a week. I used to feed all the kids lunch and run around getting them ready for the switch to the babysitter/home. (I swap with the parents of the kids I watch in the morning.) I'd think I was in too much of a hurry to clean the kitchen. So we'd all come home about 5:30 to a messy kitchen and still have to make dinner. Hello, take-out! That gets expensive. I cannot describe how nice it is to come home from ANYWHERE and have a clean kitchen. With this priority shift, we have been late a couple of times. This is unusual, because punctuality is very important in our family. It is taking time to learn how to clean the kitchen and still be on time, but it is worth learning!

Sixth, I get more help! Even 3-year-old Buster is getting in the habit of putting his dish in the dishwasher every time. It was confusing before. "Are the dishes in the dishwasher clean?" someone would ask. They never knew if they should put their dish in the sink or the dishwasher. I wasn't consistent at asking for help because I wanted to procrastinate cleaning, too. It's a lot more effective to pull your kid back after 3-5 minutes down from the table to put away that pesky dish than it is to ask them 2 hours later--or during their nap.

So if you aren't one of the people who has already learned all this, I suggest you try it. Am I always so prompt? I'm as prompt as I can be. Sometimes it's upstaged by a stinky diaper or a fight, but I really don't sit down to relax anymore until my kitchen is shining. And I love it!

Mission Impossible

This is your mission should you choose to accept it:

With your husband gone, you must help a five-year-old do dishes. You must also help the same child build a leprechaun trap. Bathe four children and arrange all food for a funeral that will occur in two days. In your free time, assist the 10-year-old with her debate research. A three-year-old and a one-year-old will do all in their power to sabotage your efforts. You have 2 hours until lights-out.

Good luck.

And actually, you don't have a choice.

Clogs

We were at a friend's house, and Kandy and Sunny were looking at their curio cabinet.

"Look," Kandy said, "there are some clogs!"

"What are clogs?" Sunny asked.

Kandy answered, "Clogs are wooden shoes born in Holland."

Missy's Baptism

Missy was baptized on Saturday by her father. She has a cousin very close to her age, so they got to share this special day. Lots of family and friends came, and we had a great time. We are so proud of her! I took lots of pictures, but unfortunately, Buster had left his fingerprints on the lens. They didn't turn out too well.

Missy in her baptism dress

Missy with her Dad before the baptism

Well, fuzzy pictures are better than no pictures (we made that mistake with Kandy). It was a very memorable day. We are so proud of her!

Science Fair Follow-Up

Kandy had her science fair yesterday, and she won the bronze medal in chemistry! We are so proud of her.

I made peanut butter cookies today, and everyone said they were still sick of cookies.

Stump the Toddler

We have a computer game called Jump Start Toddlers. Buster calls it something that sounds a lot like "Stump That Toddler." It cracks me up every time!

Wiggle Worm

After church today, the kind brother who helped with Sunny during Sacrament Meeting came to talk to us. He looked at Sunny and asked if she was still being a wiggle worm.

"When I was holding her on my lap, she was wiggling all over the place," he continued.

"That's because I had to go potty!" Sunny exclaimed.

"Well, why didn't you tell us?" he said.

Yum, Science!

Kandy is participating in the Science Fair this year. Her choice of project? How exactly does the amount of baking soda affect cookies? Well, I'll post all the results a little later. I must say, though, that this is one time when science is delicious. We have had lots of chocolate chip cookies around this week! We have made cookies 3 days, and while they all look a little different, we haven't found one yet that didn't taste good--at least the first day. If you leave out the baking soda, they are chewy the first day and hard as bricks the third day. I don't know what (or if) she'll win, but I wonder if there is an award for the most fattening science project!

Successful Fiasco

Dinner was a successful fiasco tonight. How is that possible? Well, I would like to share with you our culinary experience.

It started relatively early in the day when I asked myself the dreaded question, "What should I make for dinner?" This was followed by typical questions, such as, "What do I want for dinner? What do I have in the house? If I make that, what would the kids eat?" I settled on a yummy Indian Lentil soup. Ben and I love it, and it is low calorie. (Granola is not a low-calorie breakfast, so I was looking to compensate.) So that's what I planned on. What should I feed the kids, though? Most of them won't eat the soup. I decided to try my hand at naan, which for those of you poor ignorant souls who haven't eaten Indian food, it is Indian bread. I found a recipe that while not exactly traditional, it caught the spirit of the thing and was bland enough that I knew my kids would like it. So it was all settled. Now, this particular soup comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, America's Test Kitchen's The Best 30-Minute Recipe. I have altered it for the Crock-pot sometimes, but I had to choose between making the naan and starting the soup. I started the naan, and the baby woke up. He was unusually grumpy and insisted on my holding him.

I figured I could at least assemble the ingredients and have one of the girls sort the lentils while I held him. I went to the cupboard. No lentils. I went to the basement. No lentils. No coconut milk, either. Oops. Meanwhile, the naan was rising, so I felt like I should stick with an Indian theme. I looked in the same book and found a recipe for Pork Vindaloo. Yum! I figured that in a pinch, a pork roast would do for a pork tenderloin. I did what I could with a baby on my hip until Ben came home.

Now, I love my 30-minute cookbook, but the recipes almost always take more than 30 minutes the first time I prepare them. Even when I'm experienced, a lot of them take 45 minutes. The beauty of it is, though, that you can make something in 30-45 minutes that normally takes hours, like lasagna. The soup took closer to an hour to prepare, at which point I realized in a panic that I had ignored the naan. I made the naan and rice as quick as I could, and we all sat down to dinner about 6:30.

I was fully prepared to hear my children complain vociferously about this weird soup I made. We dished some up for everyone, and I was totally surprised to hear: "This is great! I love this! Make this again! Can we have this every night?" Especially from my pickiest eater, Sunny. I was floored. And thrilled. And it was very yummy. It was as yummy as the pork vindaloo I have eaten at restaurants. The bread was too bland for me by itself, but dipped in the vindaloo it was a chunk of heaven! Butter and honey on it was also excellent.

The planning and preparation were a total fiasco. The final product and reception were a smashing success. We'll be having leftovers for dinner tomorrow, and they're all excited about it. I will never understand their taste buds! Sunny balks at spaghetti sauce but she'll eat pork vindaloo? Crazy.

Resolutions

In all the craziness of the holidays, I could hardly think of any resolutions. As things have calmed down, I have come up with three:
1. Lose 20lbs by June 1.
2. Exercise at least 3 times per week, even if it's just dancing with the kids for 10 minutes!
3. Write thank you notes. I have been terrible at this. Sunny just got a thank you card from one of her friends for a birthday gift. The mom wrote it, but the child signed it. It made Sunny so happy, and I know thank you notes lift my spirits. I have found thank you notes in storage from my wedding and from baby gifts! Some are written and addressed, some are missing addresses. They weren't sent though. Oops! So I want your opinion: Since they are already written, would you send them even though they are 10 years old now?

Why I Love Companionship Inventory

When I was a missionary, we were told that every week, we should sit down and discuss anything that was bothering us about our companion.

Since Ben and I are both return missionaries, this has continued as part of our marriage. Every Sunday night, we sit down together. We discuss the schedule for the week, look at our finances, track our progress on goals, and finally, we bring up anything that is bugging us about each other.

I prize this time together. Being on the same page with schedules helps the whole family. During Family Home Evening, we summarize anything that may affect the kids, and they tell us anything we forgot. This minimizes surprises during the week. Keeping tabs on finances and goals keeps us united or gives an opportunity to resolve any differences in what we want to spend our money on. On the occasions where something is really bothering me about Ben or our relationship, we have an automatic time built in to discuss these things instead of uttering the dreaded phrase "we need to talk."

Finances and relationship issues can be so emotionally based. When they come up, we're not always thinking straight, and we can say things we regret. If there is a relationship issue, I take a few days to calm down. Sometimes I realize it's not really worth bringing up. Often, though, it just gives me time to contemplate the best way to talk about it. In this environment, we can approach things with concern and love, and rarely do we feel attacked or get defensive, both of which prohibit problem solving.

I am grateful for my mission for a lot of reasons, and the fact that it taught me this principle is one of them. Ben and I have a very happy marriage, and I'm sure this is one of the reasons why. I look forward to this time each week. More often than not, we don't have any relationship issues to talk about, but when they come up, we have a great way to deal with it.

Why People Are Tech Idiots

Hi, this is Ben. I teach computers. I am constantly amazed at the number of Tech Idiots that parade their helplessness in all things tech through my classroom every day (almost). I have long searched for the answer of WHY? Why are all of these people seemingly unable to grasp basic concepts? Why, after hours of patient instruction in multiple methods can people still not know how to find the button that takes them up one folder in Windows Explorer? How can people miss buttons labeled right in front of their noses? WHY?

I think I may have a couple of answers.

But first, a flowchart: (Click to see the whole thing.)

This was a great post from xkcd, one of my favorite web comics, and a great many of my computer literate friends loved this flowchart, but I have found two major problems with it. Both problems can be illustrated with stories. The problems may be related.

The first problem is first decision point. Finding a menu item or button related to what you are trying to do. I have found a significant number of people that cannot even recognize what is and is not a button. Why? Because they do not deal with them every day.

A story: About a year and a half ago, I was remodeling the house I had just purchased. My father, a lifelong general contractor, was helping. Or more to the point, I was helping him for a great deal of it. At one point I was sent into the living room to fill nail holes from the paneling we had just removed. I was in there for about 30-45 minutes. I came out satisfied that I was done. My father came into the room and glanced around.

"What about that hole?" he asked, pointing to a hole I had missed. "And that one, and that one, and..." My father then proceeded to point out between 30-40 holes that I had missed all around the room. All it took from him was a casual glance, and he was able to see so much more than I. He looked at my astonished face and asked, "You didn't even see those, did you?" I mutely shook my head. Then he said something profound: "It's just like me on the computer."

Since that day, I have never been frustrated with my Dad when he has computer issues. I just recognize that there are a lot of things that he simply cannot see due to lack of experience.

The second problem that I have found with the flowchart applies to both the first decision point and the box that instructs people to Google for a solution. Googling for a solution would also include looking in the help file. This problem is that many people are conceptually illiterate. I just made that term up, but I could not think of one that I already knew that fit.

What I mean by that is that many people can decode words and understand, often slowly, the written word, but they are unable to understand complex sentences, or quickly evaluate textual information for any sort of value judgment. They also cannot generate a list of words that are related to their current situation that might not be the exact words that they are thinking of. They cannot act as their own thesaurus.

How is this a problem? Let me illustrate with a couple of stories:

1) A few years ago, a friend of mine, Scott, was teaching some graphic design courses for a local private college. He taught all about the elements of graphic design, and he had a class that really seemed to get it. They were able to produce very good images. The final test was a multiple choice exam with questions asking about design principles and the answers clearly in the choices. Every student failed the exam. (Scott, if I am telling the story wrong, let me know.)

Why, when they were clearly able to consistently produce images using good design principles, were they unable to recognize those same principles when they were in written form? It is because they are conceptually illiterate. They never learned to process and internalize concepts in written form. In effect, all but the most basic text might as well be gibberish. They can read the words, but they cannot understand the concept.

The second story. Recently in my InDesign class, I had a student who asked a couple of very specific questions to which I did not know the answer. During a break, I found the answer to both questions in under 2 minutes per question. One answer I found in the help file, and the other in a Google search. When the student asked how I found the answers, I told her they were simple searches. She asked me to show her the procedures to do what she had been asking. I asked if I could just point her to the solutions online. Her reply, "I really have a hard time following any sort of written directions." She also asked what search terms I had used, as she expressed frustration that she had also looked in the help system and in Google. When I told her, she just said, "Oh." I did not have the heart to ask what she had searched for.

Many times in my classes, I have attempted to teach people to use the help systems that come with computers. I have little success. The biggest reason is that I ask people to look for something in the help file, and unless the answer can be found using the exact words that I used, they are unable to come up with their own search terms. They cannot verbalize what they are looking for.

What are the implications of conceptual illiteracy, or the inability to process concepts from written language? People cannot understand contracts. People cannot understand terms and conditions. People cannot understand The Constitution of The United States or their own state. For those that are religious, they cannot understand the scriptures. They are cut off from what should be one of the most powerful experiences of their life.

The only question that I have, and that I have not found satisfactorily answered anywhere: can conceptual literacy be taught effectively after about the age of 12?

What do you think? Are you conceptually illiterate? Do you know those that are? How in the @#$%#@ do they cope with life?

On the other hand, they make failbook a funny place to visit.