Gender Neutral

No, these are not girly dollhouses...they are parking garages. That's where the real money is.

I had to remind Miriam that the dollhouses belong to me, not her, so if I said that Sterling could play with them...well, he could. She was not too happy about that. Oh well. Into each life a little rain must fall.

Sterling has a future either as an up and coming parking garage designer...or a valet.

Just Like Dad

Keira made a comment on Facebook about how she is becoming our Dad. I'm not sure exactly what aspect of Dad she is referring to, but I am getting to be like Dad too. It's sort of a good news/bad news thing.

The good news (and this one isn't new) is that, like Dad, I am a morning person. Here it is, 5:20am and I've got a few minutes to spare before I head off to teach seminary. I like being a morning person - I do some of my best stuff in the mornings.

The bad news...I have a feeling that as I get older, I'll be going deaf....hearing aids are in my future. Maybe not for another decade or so, but they're coming. It's not necessarily a bad thing...selective hearing is a fine art.

Bad News/Good News....

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on me...less than 2 hours after the grandkids move in with us, our big flat screen tv quits working (no, they didn't break it - it just quit). Great. It's not something I'm prepared to replace at a moments notice - after all, we've only had it for a couple of years. In fact, ironically, we have had it for exactly 2 years...as of tomorrow. Bummer for Costco...we have the 2 year warranty.

Quote of the Day

I was reading a magazine article yesterday about breast cancer "survivors". One of the writers (Shelly Lewis) wrote about her experience. She had had a small Stage 1 tumor removed, and then chemo and radiation. I love what she said about it:

"..."I am a cancer survivor" is a phrase my lips simply won't form. My definition of a survivor is someone who a) has had a serious brush with death, or b) has escaped it. By those standards, I don't qualify. For starters, I never felt as though I had a brush with death. It was more like death sent me a creepy postcard with "Thinking of you..." scrawled on it."

New Week, New Job

David is starting a new job this week. I told him he is being a bad example for his brothers and nephews - but did that cut any dice? Nope.

I don't remember the name of the company - but it has something to do with online video games....or something like that. I do know that "game" features somewhere in there. Great, now all his brothers will think that playing video games will help them carve out a career for themselves.

Oh well, here's to my favorite code monkey. Cheers and good luck!

Four Horsemen

The Revelation of St. John the Divine talks about 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. Death, War, Famine and Victory/Battle. They shall precede the 2nd coming.

We have our own "second coming" the McRae family is moving in with us again. Briefly. Stephanie is bringing her own "4 horsemen" aka the grandkids. I have decided to rename the 4 horsemen. Mine shall be termed:

Bedtime Is Always a Production: the battle to get 4 children in bed while various teenagers/young adults are partying upstairs.

Potty Training: the struggle to stay ahead of puddles...and encourage a 3 year old little girl to use the facilities.

Spilled Milk, Etc.: the reason why everything in the house will be sticky.

Drama: "let's act out the story of_________". Favorite activity of #1 grandson.

Let the games begin.

Rearranging.

I used to be a compulsive furniture mover. Steve would come home to a newly rearranged room somewhere in the house at least once a month. If not more often. It's a great way to deep clean a room - once everything is out, you can vacuum in places that were inaccessible before. Bookshelves and books get dusted (I don't really miss the gypsy bookcases...my built in ones are way better - but I don't dust the books as much).

This week looks like I'll be back to my old tricks again. I need to clean out Danny's room to make room for Stephanie & kids. We're still not positive that their house is sold - but it's looking pretty good this time. Whether it does or not, this week is the only time I'll have to get stuff moved and re-situated. Once Tuesday comes, we're off and running with fall stuff...

Tuesday: Danny starts school. Alex gets his wisdom teeth out.

Wednesday: Danny and I start seminary. I have 3 other kids besides Danny to take home - I'm the carpool driver for taking the kids home who are home schooled.

Thursday: Orthodontist

Saturday: Seminary symposium down in Seattle...Cory leaves for training.

As you can see, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for rearranging my house. With all the seminary planning and school stuff going on, besides various appointments the kids have, I won't have time to spit.

And now for a little fun...