Outward Bound

Yesterday I sent Lindsey away on a plane to Baltimore, Maryland, all by herself.

In April she brought home a certificate from school that said she was outstanding in one way or another, and of course I thought that was pretty cool, and I put the certificate away. But then, in May, I found out that along with the certificate Lindsey had won a scholarship from Outward Bound to participate in a ten-day summer leadership camp. Wow!


It turns out that Outward Bound works with expeditionary learning schools across the country, and they awarded two scholarships to each school. And Lindsey got one of the two for our school! They paid for the flight to and from Maryland, the ten days there, and even her hiking boots. While she's there Lindsey will be backpacking, rock climbing, doing a high ropes course, and participating in community service, as well as having some leadership training, and learning goal-setting.

At first she wasn't sure whether she wanted to go; it sounded a little scary--especially being all the way across the country. She's never gone further than an hour away from home by herself (well, to girl's camp). But I told her, "You really should do this! It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience! You'll feel bad later if you don't! It will be really cool!" And so after a day's thought she said she would do it. Then I started feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. Especially as the time got closer, I started thinking, "Oh, man! I'm sending my thirteen-year-old daughter all the way across the country all by herself."

We got to the airport early yesterday, got checked in and spent an hour wandering around, looking in the gift shops. Pretty soon we ran into Mitchell Davis (the other scholarship winner) and his mom. Mitchell and Lindsey are friends at Entheos, and his little sister is good friends with Kaylie, so I'm glad Lindsey will be travelling with him. But his mom, Lindsey and I (I don't know about Mitchell) were still a tiny bit nervous. We (moms) kept telling them both, "Just stick together!"

And now Lindsey is off. She was a little nervous just before boarding the plane, but still cheerful. (Unfortunately I didn't get any good pics--I only had my camera-phone which I'm still figuring out.) She called yesterday afternoon, just minutes after she arrived in Baltimore--the flight was scheduled to land at 2:20 and my phone said 2:23 when she called. She got there safely, found the Outward Bound people, and is on her way for ten days of adventure. I won't hear from her again until she gets back Wednesday night, July 8.

But I'm excited to hear about the whole trip!

A Tricky Test

A few years ago I home-schooled my kids. I just wasn't happy with public school (in fact, it still doesn't thrill me), so I brought all my kids home. Of course, at the time I only had three kids in school and three little babies at home, so it wasn't as big a deal as home-schooling eight kids. Eventually I felt like I just couldn't create curriculum fast enough to keep my kids going, so we decided to go back to public school after all. :-(

The happy ending is that we discovered charter schools, which we like pretty well.

Anyway, while searching for another document, I found this test that I wrote up for my kids. One of our courses of study was "Household Arts," which included cooking, and how to properly clean a house (they still haven't quite got that down). So, for your enlightenment, here is the Living Room Test that I made up for my kids. Do you think you could pass it?

Living Room Test
worth 55 points (+ 5 extra credit)

1. The first thing you should do when you clean the living room is:
   a. Run all around and somersault on the couch.
   b. Pick up and Put away.
   c. Vacuum.
   d. Lay on the floor and read a book.
   
   
2. To pick up and put away you should:
   a. Pick up only one thing and put it where it belongs.
   b. Hide everything in the closet, or throw it down the stairs.
   c. Pick up everything that is out of its place and put it away.
   d. Only pick up the things that are in the middle of the floor.
   
   
3. You should put away the things that are:
   a. Yours.
   b. On the floor.
   c. On, under and around the furniture.
   d. All of the above.
   
   
4. To dust the furniture you should not:
   a. Move things off of the furniture first.
   b. Use dusting spray and a soft rag.
   c. Take all the books off of the shelves.
   d. Put everything back where it belongs.
   
   
5. To vacuum correctly you should:
   a. Go over and over the same spot many times.
   b. Skip the corners and under the edges of the furniture.
   c. Do it as fast as you can.
   d. Grump a lot; say you hate vacuuming and frown at everyone.
   
   
6. To clean corners and places the vacuum won’t fit you should:
   a. Pick up each piece of dirt with your fingers.
   b. Use a long straw and suck it up.
   c. Use the vacuum attachments.
   d. Yell at someone else to do it.
   
   
7. What are the 2 P’s?
   a. Play the Piano.
   b. Pickles and Potatoes.
   c. Pick up and Put away.
   d. Pinch and Punch.
   
   
8. If the living room gets cleaned every day:
   a. You will be too tired to do anything else.
   b. It will be easy to clean.
   c. You will be scared.
   d. Mom and Dad will yell at you a lot.
   
   
9. Living room jobs should be done:
   a. Once a week.
   b. When you feel like it.
   c. Only when company is coming over.
   d. Every day.
   
   
10. If I play with toys in the living room I should:
    a. Leave them on the floor.
    b. Put them away when I am finished with them.
    c. Tell someone else to put them away.
    d. Leave them there while I go watch TV.
    
    
11. As soon as I come in the door I should:
    a. Throw my coat or jacket on the couch.
    b. Run to the bathroom.
    c. Hang up my coat and put away my shoes if I take them off.
    d. Get a drink of water.

Extra Credit! worth 5 points.

True or False? When I finish cleaning I should always put away my cleaning tools (like the vacuum cleaner, the dusting spray and the rag).

So, do you think you passed? Shall I post the answers later?

Am I an author?

I haven't been writing here lately because . . . I am writing a book! Sort of.

Actually I have been thinking, for a while now, that it would be really cool if I could make my blog into a book. Something that you can hold, and turn the pages. After pondering this for a while, I finally looked around and found a site that will take your blog and transfer it into a book. Cool!

With a free download, this make-your-own-book program (blurb) will "slurp" my posts and then I can edit them as I like. So I've been doing just that all week long; reading over my past entries and rearranging pictures on the pages, etc. And you know what? I am a rather fascinating person. Well, at least I am kind of interesting. Well, at least I have enjoyed reading what I had to say.

It's been time-consuming, in a fun, happy way. Unfortunately the printed book will be a little pricey. Unless I order about a hundred of them. So, if you know a hundred people who are clamoring to own the first anniversary edition of Loralee's Fancy, let me know! ;-)

Two Weeks

I've had some things I wanted to tell about—lots of things—but more and more kept coming up. So I'll briefly de-brief you on two weeks in the life of the North Family. [photo right: flitting fairy Kaylie]

On Monday, June 1, we worked on our garden plots. Lindsey went into the house to get me something I needed, and on the way back out she didn't see the screen door; so she banged her toe on it. She complained a lot—stubbed toes can hurt. [photo above: my kind of gardening]

On June 2 we had the final Entheos band concert. Jason on the trumpet, Lindsey on the flute, and Brandon on the saxophone, all performed. They are getting better and better! After the concert Lindsey was still saying her toe hurt, so we went to the after-hours clinic to check it out. After three hours we found out that she had sprained her big toe.

Fairy Friends, Madi and Kaylie

On June 3 the second grade performed the operas they had written earlier in the school year. Kaylie's class performed A Rockslide in Dragonland, and Kaylie was a fairy. We had to create a costume for her, and I think she was the cutest, most fairy-like fairy in the program. :-)

Also on June 3 Lindsey had to go have some surgery. She has had a mucoseal on her lower lip for most of the school year. A mucoseal is, basically, a salivary gland gone wrong. After some kind of injury the gland swells up and creates a bubble on her lip which fills with fluid, pops and then starts over again. It was getting pretty huge. She had one removed in February (they remove the entire salivary gland), but apparently the process injured the gland next door and created another mucoseal. [photo left: Lindsey before]

Anyway, I took her to the hospital on Wednesday morning (the 3rd) only to find out that we were a day ahead; her appointment was actually on Thursday. So instead of being a responsible mom and taking her back to school, I took Lindsey clothes shopping. I was planning to do this for her birthday, but since we had the time we just went for it. We had a lot of fun! [photo right: Lindsey after] Lindsey tried on half the clothes in the store—and looked super-cute in every single thing—before we finally chose an outfit. Then we went and got her some sandals, went out for lunch, got her hair cut, and bought her a little necklace. We both had a great time—and even Michael was impressed with Lindsey's new look!

This is what a day of shopping can do for a girl!

June 4 was the real surgery date. It could have been done with a local anaesthetic, but Lindsey freaks out at the mention of getting a shot, so it was done under a general. The surgery took half an hour, and then she was groggy and sleepy all day after that. Just as she was really waking up, her lip was also hurting. So, "Here—take some codeine," and out she goes again.

On June 5 Bruce and I took a little breather: We sent Jessica to Grandma's house for the morning while we just spent some quiet time together. Much needed, as school was nearly over with and there will be no peace (quiet) in the house for the next two months. ;-)

June 6 was Kaylie's baptism, which I already talked about. And June 7 was a Sunday—another breather, if Sundays weren't always so busy. But you know, I think Monday June 8 was relatively quiet.

On Tuesday, June 9, my sister-in-law Becky had her baby girl. How exciting! So I was up until midnight keeping tabs on Brad's facebook account. Lizzy was born at 11:30 p.m; she is a beautiful baby.

Jessica, holding baby Lizzy in the hospital

So, of course I had to go visit Brad and Becky in the hospital on June 10. Jessica was the first cousin to see and hold baby Lizzy. After our little visit we ran home for lunch and then picked up the kids—last day of school!

Thursday, June 11, our van got stuck in the mud. The planned grocery-shopping trip had to be postponed; pizza for dinner.

And on Friday, June 12 we got the van un-stuck. That evening we went to get a dog, only to find out that the chosen dog would probably kill our cat. On June 13 we got Tucker.

And that is the end of two crazy weeks in the North household. Funny thing is, we seem to have more and more weeks like that.

Never a dull moment!

Raining, Cats and Dogs

We have had an awful lot of rain around here lately. Rain every day for days and days and days; unusual. Will it stop?

But the big news is that I've had a lapse of reason, taken a break from sanity, and went out and got a dog for Jason. Well, he's a family dog, but it's Jason's fault that we got him. Jason has been wanting a dog for a long time. I have not wanted a dog. I don't particularly like dogs; they are gross. And it seems like buying a ninth, hairy, slobbery, under-your-feet kid. Oh, it's not that dogs are bad, and it's not their fault they're gross; they are just dogs.

But since Jason is just such a good kid, and since he looks at us with that hopeful, puppy face (and since Bruce has really wanted a dog, too; and since the other kids are pretty nice, too), I just couldn't keep saying "no." Besides that, Bruce took Jason to the Humane Society a couple weeks ago and Jason really fell for a dog called Chief, who probably didn't have much time left. So last Friday I relented, and we went to get him. Unfortunately, one of his statistics was that he eats cats—he totally hates them. We had to leave Chief behind, and there were some very disappointed kids.

Meeting Tucker

So Saturday morning Jason asked if we could go look again, and off we went to the Humane Society that afternoon—to look at more dogs. As soon as we chose one to take outside on a leash, so we could get to know him, it really did start raining cats and dogs. Rain and hail were coming down in torrents! But it cleared up—mostly—and we got to test-drive a few dogs before Jason finally settled on Tucker, a black lab.

Tucker needs some training: sit, stay, come, get out of my face, etc; but he is a sweet-tempered dog and he hasn't had any accidents in the house. He's still gross. Like, if I'm sitting on the couch, his head is almost level with mine and I get hot, doggy breath in the face; or when he walked past our lunch table and belched at us; or when I saw him drinking his water and noticed that his very fresh water was now super cloudy with dog spit—Gag! (I don't watch him drink any more). And he drools—but not nearly as much as a bull-dog or a boxer, thank goodness! And he takes up a lot of space in our little house. But none of these things are his fault—he's just a dog.

Lindsey and Tucker—with a tennis ball;
he'd prefer to have two or three in his mouth.

And, really, he is pretty cute. He loves tennis balls to the point of being ridiculous; we bought him three and he would really like to have all of them in his mouth at all times. Tucker loves the kids and he already adores Jason. And the kids—even Rachel (my self-proclaimed lover-of-cats, and hater-of-dogs)—think he's great.

Abbi, on the top bunk, sees Tucker in the bedroom doorway.
See the bottle-brush tail?

Abbi is pretty sure this is just another of my evil plots to torment her. First I bring in a bird that she can see, hear and smell, but not touch or taste; and now I bring in a big dog. As soon as Tucker came into the house her tail turned into a bottle-brush and she hissed a few times before running away from him. She's pretty much hidden in either my room or Brandon and Ryan's room since Saturday evening. (She favors the top bunk bed—and her hide-away box that I made especially for this occasion, even though she would have nothing to do with the box previously.)

But she'll get used to him. And I think I will too.

Jason and Tucker

Hooray!

So, at about 9:30 this morning all the guys went out to look at the van again. Yep. It was still stuck, but everything was a little drier.

Plan One was just to get in and see if we could miraculously just drive it out. That one failed.

Plan Two: They connected a come-along to the front of the van and to a tree in the backyard, then Jason ratcheted the come-along while the van was in drive, but Bruce was not applying the gas pedal. It may have moved an inch or two, but the strap was not heavy enough to haul a 3000-pound van, and it kept breaking.

Plan Three: They called the neighbors to see if someone had a chain. Our friend, Joe Rodman, had a chain, and a son (Philip) that he brought along to help us out. It was a little nerve-wracking to see Joe squatted astride that great big tight chain, with the cable for the come-along pulled taut in front of his face as he worked the ratchet-lever. I went in the house for that part. But they decided that wasn't working too well anyway. That's when they looked inside the van door and discovered that the van weighs 3000 pounds, and then looked at the come-along and discovered that it was only rated to pull 1000 pounds. They abandoned Plan Three.

Plan Four: They jacked up the back end of the van and shoveled rocks and dirt and sod into the holes under the tires, then let the van down and tried to rock it back and forth to get it out. But since the trailer was behind the van they couldn't back it up enough to get the forward momentum they needed. Next!


Plan Five: They re-hitched the trailer to the van and tried to back it out. That worked as well as it did the very first time.


Plan Six: They chained the back of the trailer to the Rodman's van; Philip drove their van. So the Rodman van pulled the trailer, the trailer pulled the North van, and Joe (who is a professional cross-country truck driver) backed everything out beautifully—missing both the corner of the house and the big tree in the front yard. Hooray for the Rodmans!!

Joe backs the trailer out.

And they got it done just in time, because this is how the weather was starting to look:





And this is what our yard looks like now:

See the tire tracks?

This is how the lawn looks.

This is how deep the holes got.

It takes a professional to do the job.

But I've got my van out and working! Hooray for the Rodmans!!

The Continuing Drama of my Garden

On Memorial Day I used my wicked wiles to get Bruce, Michael and Jason to dig out the weeds and till the garden. Not only that, but they started digging up some sod to make a space for me to put in a second garden that I've been wanting. Yea!

By the end of the day (Memorial Day) the guys were pretty wiped out, so my second garden wasn't quite as big as I wanted; but I was pretty happy, they had worked hard all day, and I wasn't going to press it. Instead I thought I'd work on it myself. After an hour and a half, a few days later, I had moved about 2 square feet of sod. That was it for me. So that afternoon I bribed Jason ($$) to finish it up.

But now the second garden needs to be filled in with more dirt. Well, at the water-treatment place you can get some nice stuff to use in your garden, so yesterday Bruce, Michael and Jason borrowed a trailer and got some. Yea! They got home with a big trailer of garden-filler, and started to pull it into the back yard. And then there was a problem.

This is perplexing.

See, we hadn't considered the fact that it had been raining pretty much all week, and our ground was very soft and wet. So Bruce got the van up through the front yard pretty well, but when it got to the side, where he intended to drive through to the back yard . . . well, bad things happened. The van got stuck on some bumpy curbing that used to be the edging for a little flower bed (put in by the previous owners, but the the flowers are long gone). And when Bruce tried to get past that the tires just spun out and dug big old holes in the ground. So now the van was sitting in four mud-holes, in the rain. We tried everything we could think of yesterday to get it out, but there it sits. :-(

Well, today the sun is shining, the skies are clear and they're working at it again. Can they get the van out? Or will it sit in our side yard forever more, while a trailer full of dirt sits on my front lawn?

This actually doesn't look so bad, unless
you consider it as a permanent thing.

Tune in later . . .

Kaylie was Baptized June 6!

Saturday was a special day for Kaylie. She was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Bruce and Kaylie practice "the dunk," in the living room.

We were the first family to arrive at the church (which is a first for us!) Kaylie is all ready to go.

Bruce and Kaylie, dressed in white.

Congratulations Kaylie!

Kaylie is such a sweet, beautiful, good girl. I am very proud of her.

First Date

Many moons ago, when I first started this blog and I was telling Piano Stories, I threatened to tell about my first date with Bruce. So, here's the story:

It actually starts in January or February of 1985. Bruce and I were really good friends, and we spent a lot of time chatting with each other. I kind of thought I'd like to go on a real date with him, but I was too shy to ask a guy—even a good friend—on a date. Anyway, on that day in January or February we were talking about the upcoming Senior Ball. I asked Bruce if he had a date yet (a good, broad hint is as close as I ever came to asking someone out. I only learned much later that guys just don't really pick up on good, broad hints.) He said he hadn't decided who to ask to the dance. "Who were you thinking about asking?" And he said he'd made a list of girls. He even told me some of the names on the list. This was my big chance to say, "How about me?" But I didn't. He ended up taking someone who was not me. :-(

Fast-forward to April of 1985.

Now the Junior Prom was coming up. Again, I hoped for an invitation from Bruce—but, no. Time passed, and nothing. We were just high-school friends, and I would graduate and never go on a date with him at all. Pretty soon it was Prom night. Oh well. [photo left: Kearns High School]

My parents were going to a wedding reception the night of the Prom (April 26) and I had resigned myself to a night of watching TV with my little sister, Denise. But then, one hour before the dance, I got a call—from Bruce! And he asked if I'd like to go to the dance with him! Would I! I told him I'd have to ask my mom first; she said yes, as I was sure she would, and then I gave him a definite "yes." Could I be ready in about an hour? Yep! "Where's your house?" I gave him the address, instructions to get there from the high-school, and told him, "it's the house with the really bright porch light." (I found out later that he thought the porch-light instruction was kind of weird, bordering on stupid; but he saw what I meant when he got there.)

Mom's front porch has a really bright light.

After we hung up I raced to the grocery store for some really important thing—probably either panty-hose or mascara—and I raced back home to shower and get dressed up. Fortunately I had a few nice, formal dresses—one from my sister Melanie's wedding reception, one from Jr. High commencement a few years earlier, and one from the church's Sesquecentennial Ball a few years before that. They all fit well; I chose the commencement dress, which was my favorite. And I was ready when he came to pick me up an hour later.

Wow! We look like babies in this picture! And kind of geeky too.
Aren't I brave to post this pic?

Here is the story behind his asking me out one hour before the dance:

Bruce had thought he'd have to work on April 26, and didn't ask anyone out. Turns out he had the night off—oh, man! So that afternoon he went and watched his friend David Kenley play a church basketball game and then went home with him. David was getting ready for the dance, and Bruce was sitting in the Kenley's livingroom feeling sorry for himself. But then David's sister, Kristen, came in and asked him if he was going to the dance. Bruce told her his sad story, and she said, "You have to go to the Junior Prom—you're a Junior! Isn't there anyone you know who doesn't have a date yet?" Bruce said there was one girl he liked, and he didn't think she was going. So Kristen asked who it was. When he told her my name she said, "She's in my ward!" and got him the ward directory. So I got the unexpected, but gladly received phone-call. (Kristen and David also told him it was easy to find my house—just look for the one with the bright porch light!)

Well, he came and picked me up and we drove to the dance. Now, believe it or not, I have a terror of dancing—-I mean, ballroom dance-style dancing. Because I don't really know how, so I feel kind of stupid (never mind that none of the other kids knew how to dance either). So I kept Bruce talking, and we wandered all around the reception center, inside and outside, and we had a lot of fun. Finally they started playing a big-band song that might be danceable (even for me)—In the Mood—and we walked out to the dance floor. [photo above: Jr. Prom reception center]

But, oh, horror! I felt the zipper of my dress pop, and it fell open to the small of my back. So I quickly excused myself to the bathroom where I spent a few frantic minutes wondering how I could explain this to Bruce without dying from embarrassment, and how we could get out to the car without losing my dress in front of half of my peers. But, oh, joy! It was a self-fixing zipper; zip it down and then back up again and all was well. Whew!

We enjoyed the rest of the evening at the dance, and when it was over we went to Leatherby's with Bruce's friends. David kept looking at me funny; I felt like I must be losing my dress again, but probably he was just amazed that I went to the dance with only an hour's notice. But it was fun! And it was the start of . . . something more than a beautiful friendship.

A short epilogue: About two months after the Prom, Bruce and I went to Lagoon (the local amusement park) and we saw the Kenleys there. Kristen said to me, "I can't believe you went to the Prom with him with only an hour's notice!" Wait! Whose idea was it? (But it was a good idea.)
And I still have the dress; it is yellowed with old age, and I'll never wear it again, but Bruce won't let me get rid of it. Awwww. Isn't he sweet (in kind of a silly, sentimental way)?

Lindsey models my aged dress.
It's almost a perfect fit—doesn't she look pretty in it?