Lost Childhood?

The other night David sent the kids on a Blizzard run. Honestly, I thought I would be the first one to send Katelyn on a frivilous errand, and maybe I still will be, since in this house a Blizzard run is NOT a frivilous errand. But I digress. When the children arrived back home, Carson was laughing and Katelyn came in exclaiming "This boy is impossible to drive with." Apparently, Carson thought that Katelyn getting her license granted him a whole new level of independence. He was sorely disappointed when his sister would not "See what this baby can do", wouldn't let him drive even "just down the block", and wouldn't let him crank the radio up even though "these are the greatest songs ever made (thank you 1980's)". In apparent complete and utter exasperation he cried "Come on, Kate. Have you lost your childhood?" No, son. Not lost her childhood, just moved forward one giant step in growing up. And because of this move, she has gained another level of trust, and therefore, independence from us. Learn from her example my young Padawan.

Oh, The Places She'll Go...

Now that she is a licensed driver. Yep, it's true, Katelyn passed the driving test on Saturday--after a small adventure at the Department of Licensing. Her cute little face was beaming and her dimples were out in force as she came back into the DOL building to find her dad and me. So what was the adventure and why were both Dave and I at the DOL? Well, remember how I told you Katelyn has a difficult time parallel parking and backing around corners? Her Grandpa Whiting was nice enough to let her borrow his Smart car to take the test in (thanks Mom for suggesting that to Dad). Anyway, she practiced all week and was getting dang good at all things having to do with backing up. She was pretty sure parallel parking was in the bag. We arrive at the DOL at 12:50 Saturday afternoon, 10 minutes before her scheduled drive. I go in to wait while Katelyn hangs out in the Smart car waiting for her examiner to come. I watch the clock and at 1 o'clock I see the examiner go out to meet Katelyn. Alright, Kate show 'em what you got, I think to myself and then go back to reading Sports Illustrated. Imagine my surprise when 5 minutes later Katelyn taps me on the shoulder and says "They won't let me take the test. The lady said that there is a brake light out." "A brake light out, are you sure?" "Yep, the lady said that the center light should go on when the brakes are applied. She said if we can get it fixed right away, she might be able to still get me out today." "Ok, you go back out and wait by the car and I'll see what I can do." Ok, deep breath. Let's think. First, call Grandpa to see if he knows anything about the center light being out. Nope. Ok, now call David to see if he can bring the Mountaineer. Next, cut in front of all the people who have drawn numbers and are waiting to ask what the heck the center light has to do with anything. Argue, unsuccessfully, with the nice DOL lady that there are 2 working brake lights and the center light is an accessory. Walk away from the counter, defeated and trying to ignore all of the glares from all of the people I have just cut in front of. Go outside to tell Katelyn and the examiner that another car is on the way. Examiner says that her next appointment is here and they really don't take anyone out after 2 p.m. (it's 1:20). Examiner leaves. David arrives with Mountaineer and Katelyn begins to balk at the thought of going out in that. Dave does a good job of building her up and convincing her she can do it. 1:40, the examiner is back and said that her 1:30 appointment must not have shown so begins going through the "pre-test" checklist with Katelyn. 1:42 the one thirty appointment shows up. Oh no, my heart sinks. The examiner goes over to talk to the guy. What, he doesn't have a current insurance card? Yes, Katelyn is back on. Dave is pacing. I said to him, "Don't talk to me. I'm going to say a prayer for Katelyn" As I am praying, Katelyn and the examiner get ready to head off. Katelyn revs the engine because she thought she had put it in drive. Oh, please let her pass. 2:00 Katelyn is back and you know the results. She still failed the parallel parking (I only prayed that she would pass. I didn't pray for the parallel parking). But the important thing is she passed. And she has the type of personality that allowed this adventure to not totally throw her for a loop--the same cannot be said about her brother. Yeh! for Katelyn.

Is This a Question of Ethics?

Today is garbage day. Our garbage can is overflowing! Our neighbor's garbage can is only 1/2 full. One of us thinks it is OK to put one of our extra bags into the neighbor's can because it is 1/2 full and adding to his can won't cost him any $$. The other one of us is not buying this rationalization and isn't comfortable adding the bag. One of us marches right over to the neighbor's, bag in hand and places it in the neighbor's can while the other one watches. And speaking of garbage, I heard on the news yesterday night that the average salary for a garbage man in Western Washington is just under $110,000. What the heck?! And all the jobs are union so you know they have crazy good bennies, too! $110,00-go figure.

Um, Grandpa, I Think This is Cat Food

Man I wish blogging would have been around when my kids where little. I would have had a million quotes to share. Instead, I just have to use the most famous lines as lead-ins to things that are happening now. So the cat food quote was uttered by Katelyn, age 3, when her grandpa tried to serve her refried beans. She was absolutely positive that what he had put on her plate was the same thing that her Grandma Graham put in the cats' food dishes every morning. Now we use this phrase when the food being served doesn't look quite right or the person being served is questioning whether they will like it or not. So I'm using this phrase with a little bit of a spin for today's post. My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Dishes with meat and potatoes are referred to as "man" food. These are his preferred meals. He is not exactly ecstatic when he is served meals that are to "froo,froo-y", too full of veggies, or quiche. These are labeled "girl" food. Well the other night it was summer-time warm outside and the last thing I wanted to do was cook. We didn't have anything to BBQ so I decided it would be a nice night to try a new dish. We had... Baby greens with grapes and chicken salad. It was dressed with a balsamic vinagrette, walnuts and blue cheese. It was yummy, light and just right. David was of course hesitant to eat "girl" food. But I saw him sneaking some before dinner--twice. And at dinner he said, "This is really good". Yeah for "girl" food that my husband likes. But I'll never get him to eat quiche again (very long, funny story about this that you can ask him to tell someday).

This Is Not Good, Grandpa

One day when Katelyn was about 3 or 4 my dad called, just to say "hi" and see what we were up to that day. Katelyn has always loved to answer the phone so of course she beat me to it that day. I can't remember the exact conversation or what had been going on in our house prior to the phone call, but the conversation went something like this: Katelyn: Hello. Dad: Hi Katie, how are you? Katelyn: This is not good, grandpa. I'm sure there must have been some minor disaster going on either with Carson (who would have been 2 or 3) or Pepper, our black lab who was notorious for getting into the garbage and then throwing up all over the house. Anyway, "This is not good, grandpa" has gone down in infamy. It is a phrase that is often said when things are going a little haywire. So I am saying it today because.... We have BIRDS making a nest in the vent to our microwave!! I was fine when they were nesting under the deck. But some industrious bird has pulled the cover off the vent opening just so it can make a nest in there. Oh the racket that was heard this morning. Fortunately, Carson noticed it and now David will be informed of the new tenants so he can serve up an eviction notice as soon as he gets home from work today. And then, David, the fixer, will have to devise a cover that cannot be removed. This was not the post meant for today so stay tuned for tomorrow's post about how a certain boy in the family ate "girl" food and liked it.

The Admonition of Paul

There haven't been any big "crash and burn" incidents, but there have been a few blips on the radar that signal that one teen-ager is having more teen-age "angst" than the other teen-ager. As a parent, I know that this is just a phase in development, but it still hurts when rumors are overheard that indicate this teen-ager is less than satisfied with things. I was studying some scriptures that were shared last week during a regional Relief Society training. I was reading these with my heart and mind pondering how the verses might be applied to my service in Relief Society, although in the back of my mind I was thinking about the struggles of the aforementioned teen-ager. I really wanted to know not how I could "fix" the teen-age angst --because I don't think there really is any fixing it, just enduring it until it passes. No, what I wanted to know was how I could be a better mother and maybe improve everyone's outlook (because I would be lying to you if I told you that the attitude coming from the child wasn't getting to me a little bit). So with all of that in mind, I came to the scripture in Phillipians 4:8. The end of that scripture hit me hard. I need to search out things to praise and think of these things, especially when dealing with teen-agers. It may not stop rotten attitudes from them, but it can stop me returning the unpleasantries. I want my children's memories of home and family to be positive. I want them to remember how much I love them. Because I really do love them--angst, warts, attitude and all. So finding the positive. Hmmm, that sounds vaguely familar. Oh yeah, it goes along with developing temperance. Jeez, I just can't get away from the need to develop temperance. I guess it was more than just happenstance that I decided to work on developing this particular quality this year.

The News

It's Monday and I have to take Carson to the dentist. Wish me luck. He went to the dentist last week, also, where they discovered that he needs a sealant replaced. Carson thinks that the dentist is the last vestiges of Middle Ages torture. He especially loves it when they have to put on the tongue guard--he has a very busy tongue that is constantly in the way when they are trying to work. In other news:

• Katelyn will be taking the driving portion again on Saturday. She is a good driver, but her downfall is all things having to do with parking and backing up. I blame this on both parents. Me, I genetically pre-disposed her to having difficulty with these skills. Dave doesn't even trust me to back the truck up into the garage. Her father, well if he had only purchased a boat a couple of years ago (when I was begging him to, I have since given up), Katelyn would have been the one who would have learned to back up the trailer--see previous explanation about me to know why Katelyn would have been the one learning.
• This week is a recovery week in my 1/2 marathon training. That means that the runs this week are only 4 or 5 miles long. I remember when only a couple of years ago, 5 miles seemed like a very long run. Now? Not so much.
• I'll be "single-parenting" for a couple of days this week. Sometimes I notice it and sometimes I don't, just depends how many things have to get done.
• And finally, today I will be making reservations for a zipline adventure, a cruise up the NaPali coast, and a luau to be enjoyed when Dave and I travel to Kuaui at the end of May. We will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. 20 years? I can't believe it's gone so fast! I can't wait for our trip. It's going to be FABULOUS!

Even Monkeys Eat Nuts

The idea sounded intriguing. The anacedotal evidence was promising. The lure of lower body fat was enticing. So I thought: "What the heck, why not?" And on Monday I resolved to be a......... Fruititarian (but only for a day). I was inspired by an article I read in Runner's World about a marathon runner who had improved his run times, reduced injury, and just felt generally better about himself after he became a fruititarian. And I'm always looking for ways to improve my running. Especially now that I have finally decided to go for a full marathon next year with the goal of running fast enough to qualify for Boston the following year. So really anything that even suggests it could make me a faster runner, I might give it a whirl--even if it means changing my eating habits. But what I didn't read in the article was ANY mention of how long it might take to adjust to eating only fruit (the guy didn't even consume nuts!). But I was determined to give it a go. So Monday morning I had mixed berries and mint herb tea for breakfast. But I was already cheating because I also added a handful of walnuts to the berries. Then I had a snack around 10 a.m. of one fugi apple. But then I had to cheat again because I was freezing and so I stopped at Starbucks in between schools and got a hot chocolate. Then it was lunchtime and I was totally done with being a fruititarian, except that I had only packed fruit for lunch. So I ate another apple and toughed it out until I got home. When I got home I had another handful of walnuts and another mint herb tea. And made a yummy dinner of greek chicken, quinoa with apricots and walnuts and a green salad. Oh and by Monday night my intestinal tract was done with me being a fruititarian. My tummy gurgled all night long and was still a little gurgley this morning. Glad this morning was a rest morning and I didn't have to run (every single pun you can think of is intended). I discovered I am most definitely an omnivore and will not be trying any sort of "arian" diet anytime soon.

She's Half Way There

Passing the knowledge test for a driver's license has been a test of endurance for Katelyn. Today was either going to be "Three strikes, you're out" or "Third time is a charm." Well, today was quite charming. I guess she just needed the right motivation. So what was the carrot that was dangled in front of her? Her father's declaration that as soon as she got her license she would get a certain coveted, long-wished for telecommunication device. We'll see how she does a week from tomorrow when she takes the driving portion.