I've been tagged!

Fortunately, Charlotte gave me a choice of which tag to accept, and this one seemed simpler. I'm not passing on the tag, but feel free to comment on any of the thoughts below, or tag yourself and answer the whole list on your own blog. I like learning things about family and friends that wouldn't normally come up in conversation. Here's a little about me:

Someday: I will learn to play violin.

I usually: can’t sleep past 6:30 a.m., even when my sleep-in alarm time is set to 7:15. (It’s a curse.)

I wonder: where the regulator for my pressure cooker went. (I bought another identical pressure cooker just to have the regulator.) I’ll bet Green5 knows where it is.

I regret: not visiting or keeping in better touch with my grandparents.

I love: Dark Chocolate Cookie Crunch ice cream.

I care: about getting only positive feedback on ebay. (Is that my way of getting a pat on the back?)

I always: bite the inside of my cheeks when I’m nervous or worried.

I worry: I am too hard on my kids.

I am not: too old to skip as a mode of transportation.

I remember: number digits. Phone numbers, car wash codes, addresses…you name it. (Fortunately I can empty them from my memory when I no longer need them.)

I believe: in ghosts.

I dance: freely in front of children; hardly at all in front of adults.

I sing: in my head almost all day and when I’m awake at night. (Is this normal?)

I don’t always: practice what I preach.

I argue: for school vouchers and cutting pork spending.

I write: in my scripture journal five days a week. In my personal journal once a year (usually when I’m upset).

I win: about half the time when Kent and I play card games at night. (Two-player Settlers of Catan is a favorite.)

I lose: and gain three or four pounds on a continual basis. Don’t know why; my weight is just always fluctuating around those pounds.

I wish: I knew what the stock market would do next so I could plan and invest accordingly.

I listen: to people cry a lot. Mostly because I’m daily surrounded by people under age five.

I don't understand: how the new particle accelerator really works, but it seems cool!

I can be found: snuggled in the covers with my electric mattress pad on high when nights are cold.

I am scared: of imaginary burglars when Kent is out of town.

I need: someone to cook for me once in a while.

I forget: my…no, um…I think I forget…hmm…I don’t remember.

I am happy: in my marriage, in my home, to be LDS, and with life in general.

Key To the White House

Are you sick of my punny post titles yet? Yeah, me neither. ;o)

Well, my sister has me a little freaked out about protecting my children's identities. (The post that explains this is at http://bodenfam.blogspot.com/2008/10/security.html) So I've changed their names to their favorite colors, for the purposes of this blog. (I hope I don't have to delete any of your comments, but I may if they include real names.) Here is the key to help you decode our family:

K = Blue
M = Pink
A = Magenta
G = Purple
H = Green

I was pretty impressed that when I was asking their favorite colors, H knew what we were doing and piped up with, "Reen!"

So, can anyone figure out why I went with colors to represent our family?

Whitey Tighteys

It's time for a celebration! I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH MY TEN-PLUS YEARS OF CHANGING DIAPERS!!!*
Some were not optimistic. Some said it couldn't be done. But yes! My baby is potty trained!

The process wasn't even as painful as with a few of my other four. Yes, I did clean mess out of several pairs of training pants. Yes, there were a few puddles on the floor (but only once on carpet). Yes, I found the toilet literally overflowing with a mountain of toilet paper one morning. But it's done! NO MORE DIAPERS!*

I'm a little disappointed to discover that even though he sometimes sits on the toilet, his aim takes the stream right through the gap between the lid and the ceramic, so that I still have a puddle to clean up. But an experience tonight makes up for that fact. As we were leaving his grandparents' home, I turned to Kent and said, "Did you get the diaper bag?" In unison with synchronized sly smiles, we answered, "Noooo!"

Celebrate good times. Come on!

*True, I change diapers on some babies I tend each week. But at least it's not all day every day.

FYI: I highly recommend the book Toilet Training in Less Than A Day. I think it was published in the '70s. Most helpful if you read it before making any attempts at training, but still good if you want to improve what you're already trying.

Can't Keep My Political Mouth Shut

I've wanted to avoid politics on my blog, but since I constantly have an internal debate about the candidates going on in my mind, a little of it is going to spill out now. I'm not positive who I'll be voting for this election, but I know it won't be Barak Obama. Glenn Beck had a guest on yesterday who presented a few examples of Obama's public and political past. The conclusion I draw is that Obama is not to be trusted. You can read the transcript of the interview at
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/15318/
The same guest will be on the radio show in the last hour tomorrow too. (Broadcast on 570 AM at 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. for those of you in Utah.) I'll admit that I don't like the way Glenn led some of the interview, but the facts still speak for themselves.

Driving Around In My Automobile

Today as I was out running errands, I saw several things I rarely or never have seen. I was struck by the fact that I saw duplicates of most of these and all of them within a total of 20 minutes of driving time.
1. I saw a car wreck almost happen right in front of me. Fortunately, both cars screeched to a stop and no other cars came into the intersection. This one is sort of typical, but along with everything else I witnessed today, I'm glad I didn't have to be a witness on a police record. Keep reading.
2. Leaving my neighborhood, I saw a Yellow Cab dropping someone off. This is the first time I remember having seen a taxi in Provo, not counting the airport shuttle van. Later, across town, I saw another Yellow Cab waiting at an intersection. Weird.
3. On my way to a store I was behind a car with a rear-window sticker that read: In memory of [a guy's name]; it included some dates and something along the lines of "We miss you". I found it interesting that someone would put an epitaph on their car. I've never seen that before. But then I saw another memorial, rear-window sticker on the way home. It read: "In memory of [John] 'The Stabmaster' [Doe]" with his birth and death dates. My thought at the second one was, "I wonder if his nickname has something to do with why he is dead?" So are these mobile epitaphs popular now? Are people hiding bodies in their trunks?
4. Here's a sight I've never seen in Provo. I was driving by a medical plaza and saw three picketers walking around with large signs. On each sign, written in huge, capital letters was "DON'T TRUST [SO AND SO'S] DENTAL!" I thought that a pretty creative way to protest bad service. Then I learned a lesson about myself. All three protesters were kindof white-trashy looking. My line of thinking was basically that their message would probably be wasted on most middle-class potential patients because of the type of people holding the signs. I was shocked to hear myself discriminating like that, but I still think it's probably true. I suppose we all learn some degree of being judgmental as part of our street-smart education. (Can someone back me up here so I don't feel like such a jerk?) :o)

Addressing the State of the White House

Now that you've seen the yard, I feel okay to fess up about the inside of the house. (This post was also inadvertently prompted by Charlotte. I was afraid she would tag me, so I'm taking a preemptive strike to just reveal my kitchen. You can imagine what the rest of the house looks like.)

This is a typical weekday (this past Wednesday, actually). Yes the three oldest were at school and I theoretically had time to clean up a bit. But if you read my previous post, you'll know I was outside and I only come in for food. So everything kind of accumulates. 

Let's play "I Spy". 

You'll notice the dirty dishes on the counter from breakfast and the sink full of dishes from dinner the night before...and the night before that too. 

The cooling rack was from Sunday's bread night. I really was going to put it away sooner, but the kids smashed Play Doh into it on Monday. One of the Play Doh containers apparently held red modeling clay, so my plan to just brush away all the Doh once it dried was foiled. I was going to have to wipe and scrub to get the clay off everything, so I had to stew about it for two days before dealing with it. (Why did I believe the six-year-old when she promised to clean up all the Play Doh mess as soon as she was done?)  

In the photo you can see a few Play Doh toys that need to be cleaned...including #4's shoes. 

Moving on. 

I have no idea why there is an Easter basket there; it's probably #5's doing. (He likes to walk around with his feet in baskets, holding on to the handles.) 

Finally, yes, I was attempting to make lunch in that little four-inch-square space at the bottom of the photo. I'm sure it was sanitary (i.e. #4 and #5 didn't get sick).

Cat Burps

A few weeks ago a I ran across the following post on a friend's blog: "On gardening (I hate it)". This took me by surprise. How could anyone hate gardening?! Her partial answer: "I hate sweating (which explains my related issue with exercising), I hate getting dirty, and I hate kneeling and pulling and hurting my back." Those are some of the very things I love about gardening!

All winter I spend the morning in our office/workout room getting 20 minutes of exercise while I listen to lots of ads and a little commentary on the radio. I love that as soon as the weather warms up, I can pass up that dreary routine to go outside to get my heart rate and weightlifting going while I till the ground or move rocks around for two hours. Sweating is especially rewarding when I can see the fruits of my labors all around the yard. I don't mind getting dirty, though I have to wear gloves so I don't get dirt under my fingernails--me no likey the idea of pin worms. And though it's not fun to have a sore back, it does feel good to know I've worked hard, in contrast to those days that I just sit around and eat chocolates. ;o) Truly, I actually prefer the heavy landscaping work to the wimpy weeding "work".

This year has been particularly enjoyable because we finally had some money to buy some plants. I made drawings of my dreams for the yard when we moved here five years ago. Now I am starting to see how those sketches look in 3D! For the sake of our budget, I try to restrain myself and remind myself that I have years to put everything in...but it's hard to wait! Kent keeps telling me that we have other projects that take precedence, including a mortgage that we want to pay off. So I've decided that whatever money I can raise on ebay will go towards my landscape. (If any of you want dance shoes, check out auctions listed by not_so_contrary, and watch how my garden grows!) Maybe I'll get some junk--EUC of course--cleared out and some tulips put in!

Another favorite thing about gardening is all the observing I get to do. I get to watch the sunrise turn the clouds from gray to pink to orange. I get to see the hummingbirds and bees at work. I get to say hi to joggers and dog-walkers. Sometimes I make discoveries: did you know that cats burp? Last week I was filling a #10 can with water to drench my rose bush, and one of the cats who lives here (I still consider them strays, though they adopted our house years ago) started lapping at the stream from the hose. So I filled the can to the brim so she could reach it easily. She was thirsty! When she had lapped away 1/4 inch or so, she turned away and made two soft coughing sounds. The cat had burped! I never would have learned that while pumping iron to the beat of talk radio.

In conclusion, gardening is good exercise and it produces a thing of beauty. Since gardening is not for everyone, let's strike a deal. After we're all resurrected and exalted, I'll take care of creation day four, Mindy and you other animal lovers can have day five, and Charlotte (mother of six) can have day six. But be warned, people who hate gardening end up like this:

Thanks Charlotte! (Sorry I didn't ask for the photo rights.)