Stop and smell the roses

Last night I went to the grocery store in kid-less bliss. Well, it would have been blissful if I hadn't been going to the grocery store. I despise grocery shopping with a moderately high level of passion.

So I was cruising down the freezer aisle headed for some frozen fruit when I passed a mom and her 2 year old child. They had stopped shopping and she had plopped her patootey down on a freezer bin and was reading her little boy a Thomas the Train book while he sat in his Shopper Topper in the cart. I thought it was a bit strange that they were having story time in the middle of the grocery store at 9 pm, but I figured they were just waiting for someone and brought the book along to pass the time.

After I had gotten what I needed on the aisle, I passed by them again. As I walked by I heard the mom just finishing the book and asking her kid, "Ok, the book is over. Is it alright with you if I continue with my shopping now?" The kid nodded and they got on their way.

I actually laughed out loud. I was audibly astounded that this mom would stop in the middle of the grocery store at 9 pm with her two-year-old just to read him a book. I should have turned around and told her how lucky her little boy was. It wasn't a big act of good mothering, but it showed a lot about her. And it reminded me how I can do better with my kids.

Maybe it's my distaste for grocery shopping that would impede my desire to read my child a book in the middle of the store, or maybe it's the fact that my kids ONLY read books when it serves the purpose of prolonging their bedtime. But I seriously doubt it. I'm pretty sure that you would never find me doing that. I've never been one to stop and smell the roses with my kids. I'm always trying to hurry them along. Trying to make them grow up faster, it seems. Come on, hurry up! We're going to be late to the park! Oh no :)

Being patient, taking time with my kids, not rushing through everything. Thanks to you, Mom with Boy at Store, I am reminded of my weaknesses. I need to take a good long whiff of those flowers!

Miss-scale-ain'-he-us

1. Aaron figures that he making $5 an hour these days as a not quite board certified physician. The term I'm looking for... oh yes. Slavery.

2. Search has gone to bed at 4 pm the last two Saturdays in a row, and hasn't woken up until 6:30 am. The word I'm looking for... oh yes. Heaven.

3. Monday night for Family Night we had a lesson about the pre-earthly life. We struggled through it thinking that neither kid had gained anything out of it amongst their fighting and innatention. But, in the closing prayer Destroy proved us wrong. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for people, Miss Carly (his cute 20-year-old preschool teacher who he has a little crush on), books... and Spiderman." He then proceeded to mention everything we had talked about in the lesson. The parents were dumb-founded, open-mouthed, staring at each other during the prayer. Destroy was smothered in hugs after that.

4. A few weeks ago this guy came into our house and announced that he wanted to start a garden. It took me a few minutes to realize that this guy was my husband. Those of you that know Aaron know that he isn't a handy guy and that he really doesn't like doing projects around the house. In my mind I was thinking, "Is it still April fools day?" and, "OK, which gun is he trying to weasel his way into this time". All said and done, we have planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, peas and green beans. We plan to do pumpkins, corn and... well I think that's it. He knows more than I do so you can ask him.

5. Search has found a new love for diving into the pool. We go down into the deep end, he puts his hands above his head and dives in. He's pretty good about kicking himself up but I usually have to help fish him out. Hopefully a video to come on that. His older brother watches but won't try it. Destroy loves to be under water. His favorite game to play is the game where we go under water with him, hold up a number of fingers and he counts them while we are under water. After we come up, he tells us how many fingers he counted. They also love diving for rings. Goggles have made a world of difference for their swimming.

6. Last week Destroy gave a talk in church. It was a total of 12 lines and I promised him that if he could memorize them, we would make cookies after church. He colored the visuals, cut them out, and glued them on sturdy paper. He even wrote letters on the back of the pages to help him remember the first word of every line. He did a great job even though he needed a few prompts! And, of course, he makes the bribery known to all the teachers in there by announcing right after he sits down from his talk that he now gets to make cookies with him mom after church.

7. Search has become a lover of starfall. It's a great website for readers of all ages. Search sticks to the alphabet letters but he can maneuver around the website easily now. Destroy likes the beginning reading stuff that they have. This website comes in really handy during dinner to keep them occupied. Thanks Nicole for the recommendation!

8. I'm so lucky to have Poison Sumac (they don't have Poison Oak out here). I think I got it while dumping our yard waste out into the forest behind our house. I guess it serves me right for dumping our weeds out there :) Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was Poison Sumac until I had been scratching the crap out of it all day. It's so much fun now that it's spread all over my arms and legs. Lucky, lucky me.

9. Search and Destroy are very excited that we have finally started recycling. Destroy tells Search that he gets the cans and paper and that Search can have the glass, and "and, um, what's the other one, Mom? Oh, yeah, plastic". Indiana makes it very difficult to recycle. We have to pack it out and take the various recyclables to different places around town. Bless Oregon and all those other states who give you one big bin to throw in all in. But, of course, your tax money goes to all those poor souls who have to sort it all out.

10. If you've read this far, I'll finish boring you now. Right now.

Dooms Day Vault

Have you heard about the Doom's day vault that just opened in Norway? Norway spent a boatload of money to create this place in the arctic where countries can store seeds just in case of a global catastrophe. Many other seed banks around the world have been destroyed, but this one is supposed to withstand earthquakes, global warming, etc.

So I got to thinking about what I would store in my Doom's Day vault. Here are a few of the things that I would include:

A&W Rootbeer
Contact lenses
Wet wipes
Tampons
Mint Millanos
Clorox wipes
Peanut butter Twix
Backup CD of pictures

What would be in your Doom's Day Vault?

Check it out!

Have you heard about the guy living in IKEA? It's hilarious. He and the security guard go nuts in the ball pit, he brushes his teeth with... well let's just say it's not toothpaste. And he's having a house-warming party! Check it out now! http://www.marklivesinikea.com/

Michael Jackson: Changing from Black to White

Just for you all (the large volume of readers that visit this blog) I have changed the background color. Now you can easily find your cursor without cursing me for having a black background. Aaron would like to point out that I am pathetic. It's true. Posting about changing my background color is very pathetic.

Forwards

I am a forward-hater. The only forwards that I open are from certain people, who I know will only send me something funny or worth reading. There are other people who send me forwards that I don't even read because I already know what the forward it going to be about without reading it.

The first thing I do when I receive a forward, if I haven't already deleted it, is to scroll down to the bottom. If it says anything to the effect of "please don't just delete this. Pass it on, it will change lives" or "you are a heartless person if you delete this" or "please don't break the chain!", then I delete it without hesitation.

My friend Von is one of those who always sends me funny ones.

http://www.glumbert.com/media/weddingfirstdance

I also love this:

Why you don't leave your kids alone.

DISCLAMER: not my child

Harry Potter Wizard Challenge

Test your wizard knowledge here.
Thanks, Aisha!

Wildlife in Orange County

"Wildlife" and "Orange County" sound mutally exclusive. In the four years that I've lived in the middle of Orange County I have surprisingly seen a lot of different kinds of wild animals! The picture above is of a bobcat. We were walking home the other day from the easter egg hunt and we saw a bobcat running up the middle of the apartment complex! It was so crazy! I was a tad nervous because Search would make a perfect little snack but it ran up the hill. I did keep my kids close for a few days after that, though! We also saw one last year at a local park just down the street.

We have a new neighbor as well. There is a blue heron that comes to visit the lawn in back of our apartment frequently. The bird is about 4 feet tall and comes to stand in the same spot on the lawn every few days. It is very bizare. Destroy succeeded in scaring it away more than once. Go,Destroy (no scarcasm intended).

A few months ago I saw an owl sitting on a handrail right outside our apartment. Then, a few weeks ago while running I came across two coyotes. The route I used to take (notice the past tense) was up near the UCI observatory and there were no houses around, just lots of weeds and grassy hills. I wasn't so much afraid that they were coyotes but I wasn't sure how many and how hungry they were. So now I run elsewhere. I have also seen deer running across University ave.

I never thought I would see wildlife in Irvine but I have. It's fun to see things that don't really belong anymore but also strange because they do belong, we just kicked then out. How sad. Well, at least Irvine has a couple of wildlife reguges for the animals who are left to live in.