The Return... Maybe

I got a bill from the hospital last week. Just for me, just for being in the hospital (no doctor's fees or anesthesiologists fees or assistants fees, etc) is $12,000.

Gulp.

No, I don't quite know what the next step is. Those of you have been following our billing woes will know that we were already pretty stressed about getting stuff paid for, but this just blows it all out of the water.

Pray for us. We need it.

*****

Aiden's preschool has a field trip this month. We get to go to a dinosaur museum!! It's going to be so much fun! Aiden has been asking if this is the day we get to go every day this week. We don't go for a few more weeks yet. We're pretty excited, and by we I mean Aiden!

*****

Did I tell you guys I got the winter guard gig I was hoping for?? If not.. well, uh, I got the winter guard gig at the high school nearest our house. I'm really excited. They seem like a good group of kids, and there shouldn't be a lot of drama going on.

I have an assistant, too. It can be a really good thing, but sometimes it's annoying. I kind of have to remind her I'm in charge, I think. For example, *I* should have the set of keys, not her. *I* get the final say on what music we're doing. And *I* set the schedule and call extra rehersals. So, yeah.

*****

Mr. Universe has his music educator's conference this weekend. It's nice that it's essentially here in town because I will still see him. Sort of. He still leaves before I get up (or want to, anyway) and he won't be home until late, but he's close if I need him and we don't have to pay for a hotel or anything for him.

It feels kind of odd to not go to the conference with him. I didn't go when we were in Nevada, either. But technically it is my career, too. I may not be teaching, but I'm still interested in all the clinics and concerts they have. It just costs too much for me to go, and besides, I don't want to have to get a sitter, especially since Parker is refusing to take any formula and my breast pump is totally dead now, so I have to be at his beck and call.

Anyway, I hope Mr. Universe comes home with lots of cool information to share. I'm interested in the Body Mapping class, but I don't know if he will go to that one.

*****

You know those Yahoo! Avitars? Laural and I were complaining to each other several months back that they didn't have any avitars with pregnant bellies. Well, now they do! They are cute, too. Of course, I'm not pregnant any more, and neither is Laural. But they do have a couple where you can be holding a baby, or there is a toddler that goes across the screen in a walker, or you can even have a baby in a stroller. So I chose to be holding a baby. If you want to see it, I guess you'll just have to see my Yahoo 360 page or talk to me Yahoo IM. I can't see a way to show my avitar here (I'm sure there's a way, but when you are so technologically challenged, as i am, you just don't know how to do this kind of stuff).

*****

While in Idaho, I got three new shirts from Old Navy. One shirt is so cool. It says, "I put the R in RAD."

Ches just laughed and said, "Who says 'rad' anymore?" I don't know, but I like it anyway. So there. Oh, and I heard someone on TV say it the other day, and it wasn't some old show from the 80's or anything either.

When I first started at Ricks College, I was very surprised to hear people using the word "rad". I mean, it was 1995, for heaven's sake! Who says rad??? It was such an 80's, Southern California word to me. (It helped that I lived in Southern California for most of the 80's, I'm sure) To hear what I thought were fairly intelligent people use this outdated word just made me laugh... a lot. And then one day, I used the word "rad". I was now one of them!!

It was kind of like living in the South. I did not want to ever use the word "fixin'". I have no problems with words like "y'all", but "fixin'" was just too much for this "Yankee" (why in the world they called me a Yankee... that's another subject.). One day, it just popped out of my mouth like it was the most natural thing in the world: "I'm fixin' to get ready for work. I'll call you later, 'kay?"

I never did use either word all that much, but they became a part of my vocabulary for a while there.

*****

Aiden wants me to turn on a movie for him, so he is standing here, next to the computer, saying, "Can you come now? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" He wants to watch The Incredibles, and then he asked me to type it. I said, "In just a minute, Aiden" and he said, "C'mon! Type it!" He is so going to be the one in his group of friends that talks everyone else into doing things:

"C'mon! It's okay! You can do it. What's the problem?"

This kid is trouble, I tell ya.

*****

Aiden's preschool teacher told me today how smart he is because of his knowledge of space. She said how impressed she is. She also said we must work with him a lot. We're doing a great job, and it shows.

Well, I don't know that we actually work with him a lot, but it made me feel good anyway. And I am extremely proud of my smart son.

*****

Taking bets on whether or not I do Random Friday again next week. Any takers??

Grumble Grumble Growl Grrr Argh

Okay, y'all.I'm sorry to switch things up again, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about this whole New Blogger businessand I'm trying to figure out all these new, supposedly cool and easy-to-use features. So I was stupid and ended up losing all of my links. I've pretty much got them back, and for those of you who have moved to Wordpress, I think I've got you in the right place. Be patient with me, everyone, as I try to update myself. If I somehow missed putting you on my blogroll, please let me know so I can add you!! Or if there was a link on my "Other Sites" list that I had but don't anymore, let me know of that, too.

Oh, and sad news: I have decided to let The Poetry Reading die. I still just don't feel in the mood to deal with it, and no one has been that active for quite a while. Thank you, Julia, for putting in so much effort. If you would like to revive it yourself, go for it! But it's time to let this one go, I think. I don't have it linked right now, but I won't cut it completely off yet, in case there was something there you guys wrote and may want to keep. Go get it! I'll shut it completely down in probably two weeks or so.

Home Again

I had a wonderful time in Idaho. Lo and family were awesome. Lo's daughter, A., was such a cutie!! She can tell a story like you wouldn't believe. It was actually hard to believe some of the stories, too (like when she said they brought a jaguar to her school and someone had to fight the jaguar. Do you know who they picked? A.! And she is the youngest in the whole school!! That was quite a story right there.). KeeJay said he wanted to come home with me. I asked him if he thought he'd fit in my (overstuffed) suitcase, and he smiled and said, "Yes!!" Parker did really well on the plane, bothing coming and going. He stayed pretty happy the whole trip, but you could tell he was excited to be home with his daddy and brothers.

I did miss Aiden and Dallin a lot. I know they missed me, and the hugs and cuddles I got from them when I got home were wonderful. Aiden was quite emotional on Sunday in church without me there, but he's getting back to normal now. Yesterday he didn't want to go to school. I made him go anyway. His teacher told me he was pretty good, but kept saying how tired he was and he needed a nap. At one point he started asking them to call me because his "lips hurt". I said, "Okay, Napolean! Just because you were born in Preston doesn't mean you have to act out the movie!" What's really funny is that I don't think Aiden has actually seen the movie. The lips hurting business was just something he came up with. Crazy kid.

One of the best parts of my trip was being able to go to my old ward in Preston. It felt like coming home. Everyone was so excited to see me and soooooo many people asked if we had moved back. They were pretty disappointed when I said no. I sat with a family that we often sat near, and it was just like old times. The mom and I sat next to each other in Relief Society, too, and we just whispered together like we did 3 years ago. It was so fun. I enjoyed seeing some of my young women again. They are all so grown up now! One in particular (who is part of the family I was sitting with) really just surprised me. When I was you YW leader, I knew she had a testimony of the Church and everything. I had heard her bear her testimoney at Girl's Camp and she would make really good comments in class on Sundays. This week though, I could see something so different. She is a freshman at BYU and you can see the excitement about what she is learning (not just in her secular classes, but in her religion classes, too). She just glowed from head to foot. She bore her testimony during sacrament meeting, and shared comments and observations during Relief Society. Her testimoney of the Church has grown by leaps and bounds. I couldn't be more proud of her! It really does sound so cliche', but she has truely grown into a beautiful young lady.

Lo and I took her family to Rexburg on Saturday and we went to our old stomping grounds at the Snow Building (the Fine Arts building). This picture is of Laural and me with Eliza R. Snow. Eliza took care of us while we were there as students, so we just HAD to see her again! :) All of you alumni would be soooo surprised at the changes in the Snow building! They have recently added 3600 square feet to the building. There is a very large rehearsal room (it's niiiiiiiice!), new instrument lockers, new bathrooms, a percussion "suite" (small ensemble rehearsal room, storage rooms, and Bro. Taylor's new office), new classrooms and practice rooms, a black box theatre, costume shop, ticket booth, and I can't remember what else for the theatre department (sorry Lura. But you know us musicians tended to ignore you theatre freaks as much as possible. heh). It was really cool to see the new stuff in the building as well as the old stuff.

We drove up on the hill and saw the Rexburg Temple. It's still being built, but when it's done it is just going to be gorgeous!! I think I was expecting to see one of the regular "small" temple designs, but the architecture is nothing like that.

The wierdest thing about being in Rexburg was when I got out of the car into the wind and snow. Now, I remembered that it was super cold there during the winter. I remembered that it was windy. There were many reasons why the town was nicknamed "Iceburg" by the students. However, my memory had faltered. I stepped out of the van and I'm telling you, the cold wind reached up and bit me. It was soooo cold! I can't even describe it! I said to Laural, "How did we live in this climate and walk everywhere??? This is miserable!" I loved my time at Ricks College, and I still try to encourage everyone I know to attend BYU-Idaho, but my goodness, I don't know if I could ever live in that winter again!

I had a great time with Laural. She's not my BFF for nothing! We had a whole afternoon of eating and shopping in Logan where we got to have lots of girl talk. Oh! And of course we stopped at the Pepperidge Farms factory and bought big bags of "seconds" from the Thrift Store. Mmmmmm, Milanos. Anyway, I miss hanging out with Lo. I hope you can come visit us soon!! And I really hope we are able to come up there this summer, too. It was not enough time. It never is.

THANKS FOR THE FUN AND RELAXING VACATION, LO! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!

Ice Cream

We went to Dairy Queen tonight for dessert. It was a real treat for all of us, as we rarely go out for anything anymore. Aiden got a vanilla ice cream cone (he says vanilla is his faaaaavorite ice cream in the whoooooooole world). He was very content with what he had, and even let Dallin have a taste. Then, Aiden offered Parker a taste. I told Aiden that Parker is still too little and he doesn't even know what ice cream is. Aiden's face lit up as he explained:

"Ice cream is a tasty, cold treat that is delightful and it tastes awesome and is delicious."

Who could come up with a better explanation than that??

Here We Have Idaho

Tomorrow night at this time I will be in IDAHO!!!!! WOOT!! Laural (Music Mom) gave me the BEST present ever for Christmas and my birthday: a vacation. I fly out tomorrow night to Salt Lake, then up to Preston until Sunday night.

I am so freakin' excited.

Preston is not the most exciting town (you've all seen Napolean Dynamite, right??), but I actually love it. Now that I don't live there anymore. It's not the place for me to live. But I love to visit. I have lots of friends and family there now. I have lots of good memories there. It's where Aiden was born. It's where Ches had his first job. It's where I got to party with Laural after the Festival of Lights parades every year. It's where the kids all called Ches "Mr. Sharp" and called me "Sariah". It's where the entire town saw me run across a football field right before the band performed at pregame when I was 9 months pregnant, It's one of the closest things I have to a hometown right now.

Laural and I have big plans, mainly involving our two favorite men: Ben & Jerry.

Heh. You thought I was going to say Ches and Jody, huh? WRONG!! We love our hubbies, but this is GIRL time. Ches is staying home with Aiden and Dallin, so I truely get a vacation. Isn't he great? We had the option of haivng Laural come here, and Ches would have loved that because Laural and Ches have been friends longer than Ches and I have known each other (about the same amount of time that Laural and I have been friends), but everyone agreed that I need some pampering, so I get to go to Idaho.

I'm madly doing laundry right now. I don't fly out until tomorrow evening, so I still have all day to get packed. Which is good. I seriously didn't do ANY laundry yesterday. Why jinx anything?

I'm going to miss Ches and the two younglings here at home. I look forward to time off, but it will take me a whole 20 minutes to miss them, I'm sure.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Ches will be just fine at home by himself with the kids. He's a very good dad, and very competent. I've had more people ask me if he can handle it. I've had so many people express surprise that I would leave Ches for that many days with the kids. Someone said to Ches, "So, you guys will have lots of mac and cheese, huh?" Uh, no.

Believe it or not, Ches is an awesome cook. And he's very organized and neat. Whenever I have gone away for a few days (happened once when Aiden was almost two and once when Aiden was three and Dallin was almost 7 months old) I came back to a cleaner, more organized house, two happy, healthy, well-fed, and clean kids, and Ches has even been able to do some school work, some trumpet practice, deep-clean some areas of the house, and flowers on the table for me.

He totally shows me up. But he misses me and loves me. It's okay.

So you won't hear from me for a few days because I'll be freezing in the snow of southern Idaho. I couldn't be happier about it though!!

Welcome 2007

Here it is! My first post of 2007. It's funny that as a kid, 2007 seemed so far away. So far into the future that IF I were alive then, I would be old and gray. Well, I do have gray hair, but I'm certainly not old. Okay, so as a kid 30 seemed really old, so maybe I'm just living up to my childhood expectations. Anyrate...

I was reading a bunch of traditions and superstitions that have to do with the New Year. I made the mistake of reading them a couple of days ago, and while I'm not normally a superstitious person, I have to say some of the stuff freaked me out a little. Like how you shouldn't do laundry on the first day of the year because then someone will be "washed away" this year, meaning they will die.

Well, duh Sariah! People die. That's the Circle of Life and all that.

You know how irrational I can be, right? Well, I read that and my mind starts going mad and my imagination kicks in overdrive and suddenly one of my kids is dead in my head. It's horrible.

I didn't do any laundry today. Even though I should have done some because I'm going out of town on Wednesday and I don't want to be stuck doing nothing but laundry all day tomorrow and Wednesday morning. I still didn't do laundry. Blame the imagination, the crazy way my mind works, the OCD, or the anxiety. I just didn't want to risk it.

Welcome, 2007! I followed at least one of the rules... Please don't punish me. I want this to be a great year! I want this to be the year that we get out of debt (or at least mostly out of debt), the year that I become Skinny Sariah again, the year that I am finally a contestant on The Amazing Race, the year that I grow spiritually and intellectually through my own personal study.

I didn't make those as resolutions, by the way. Why depress myself when I don't achieve something? New Year's resolutions never work out. I've usually forgotten about them by February 1st (and haven't been doing anything about them since January 15th!). Instead, I'm just trying to refocus my attention to things I've been working on a little bit the past few years anyway and making my focus that much stronger.

It's January 1st... Ready... Set... GO!!! My mind is refocusing right now. How about yours? Are you refocusing or making resolutions or not changing a thing?

Our Own Blue Man

Dallin is our troublemaker. He doesn't mean to cause trouble. He's just a very curious boy. And boy oh boy does he keep us on our toes.

Today Dallin got into the pantry and found the food coloring. That isn't necessarily a new thing, but today he actually opened the food coloring. Yellow and blue make green. In Dallin's case, a little bit of yellow and a whole lot of blue make a dark teal. Which he drank. And covered his hands in. I took him into the bathroom and immediately started the bathwater. I set Dallin on the toilet to take off his clothes. He turned, looked in the mirror, and started to laugh at himself. He pointed to his mouth and said "Mouth!!" I got him to stick out his tongue. He liked that, too. Ches got the camera and we got a few pictures, then threw him into the tub. The water immediately turned a very pretty blue color.

Food coloring doesn't just wash off. You can get some of with soap, water, and a bit of scrubbing, but with all the stuff Dallin had on his face and hands, it's just going to take some time. Until then, I will teach him to say "Mmmmm, Smurfs!" anytime someone comments on his new look.