Tuesday Musings #10

Do you collect anything? If so, what? If not then, why…or what would you collect if you had to start a collection?

Well, today, all I feel like I collect is...

LAUNDRY!!!

With all nine of us wearing clothing everyday, it can get pretty bad. Every once in a while, I threaten the kids with "Naked Week", but I haven't followed through, yet. It is only a matter of time...

Sometimes it is sorted...

...and sometimes, like today (the first day home from vacation) it is just sordid.

So, how about a rain check on my real collecting fun and fantasy? I'll post all about it (with pictures!) when my laundry is caught up or before I turn 40, whichever comes first...

Tuesday Musings #9

Imagine your life is now a book. In 100 words, write the blurb for it.

Now you can travel the globe (only a little bit) with Amy, the beautiful (on a good day, in very forgiving light), daring (seven little dwarves), pampered (by her dh) daughter of gem mining tycoons (not! but I like my parents better anyway) as she solves the mind-numbing mystery of where the lost pacifier went.

Cringe with her as she cleans the boogers off the bedroom wall.

Grip the armrests of your chair while she dodges soggy, flying pancakes.

Most exciting of all, you’ll want to read about how she convinces her teenage daughter to do the dishes before midnight!

Tuesday Musings #8

Who was the last person you prank called? What did you say?

I'm not sure if this was the last prank call I made, but I made a series of calls in high school to my major high school crush. (This is embarrassingly idiotic.) He was kind of a weird kid from an interesting family. He claimed the reason they didn't mow their lawn was because they were all too romantic to like short grass. He told me once that I wasn't Machiavellian enough. He was weird. I was (am?!?) weird. I had an on-again, off-again crush on him for at least two and a half years.

I am the oldest of seven kids and there was a very distinctive background noise at our house, so I had to be extra devious when I made prank calls (see I made enough of them to figure this out). Do any of you remember the old rotary dial desk phones?


Well, you could unscrew the plastic covering over the mouthpiece and take out a metal thingamajig. Then, you could screw the plastic part back on and the phone would look normal to curious passing siblings, but the person on the other end couldn't hear a thing. So, to answer the second part of the question, I didn't say a thing. I used to call this kid's house and just listen. The fascinating (at least to me at the time) thing was, they would talk. To "no one". Yep, more than once (I said it was a series), for up to twenty minutes at a time, someone, either my weird crush or his older brother would just talk about who knows what. I can't remember what either of them said, probably because my sensible side (there, now you know I have one) has tried to forget how absolutely ridiculous I have been in my checkered past.

Tuesday Musings #7

If you woke up tomorrow morning and were someone else, who would you hope to be?

Okay, here it is my turn to choose the topic and I am the last one to post! If you look at the date above and the time below, you can see when I put the topic in, saved the first draft, and started trying to figure out who I'd be. Kind of like Rebecca, I kept thinking of downsides to each person I considered.

Here are some of the people I thought about choosing -

Benjamin Franklin - how cool to be both a silversmith and a founding father

Calamity Jane - pros - a great nickname and got to ride horses a lot
cons - hung around with a bunch of smelly guys and prostitutes

Joan of Arc - didn't she ride horses, too?

Artemisia Gentieschi - but would I really want to suffer that much just to paint with emotion?

and another artist - Sudcliff Maudsley

Carole Lombard - I think she was so funny, but that's where my admiration stops

Julia Child - hey, I'd just want to eat like her for a day

Neil Armstrong - he is still tempting, but I found someone more well rounded -

and the winner is -

Marie Marvingt

because she did everything I don't have time to do. She climbed mountains, wrote books, canoed, flew planes and balloons (that is my favorite), fenced, played tennis, rode horses (that is my second favorite) and even spoke five languages (including Esperanto)!

Woo hoo - wouldn't that be fun?

Tuesday Musings #6

Here's Claire's first blog topic. I think she likes to keep things interesting and challenging, which is one of the reasons I like her so much. That being said, I groaned inwardly when I first read it. She even altered it a bit when I complained (alright, so all my groaning did not remain inward). It took a little more preparation than Tuesday Musings has in the past. I researched on the internet, I agonized, I learned what iambic pentameter is. All in all, to quote P.G. Wodehouse, I could identify with Bertie Wooster when he said, about a writing assignment, "A deuce of a job it had been, taxing the physique to the utmost. I don't wonder now that all these author blokes have bald heads and faces like birds who have suffered."

Welcome to blog boot camp! No more of this free verse. This week I want a sonnet about one of the worst messes one or all of your children made.

So, here we go -

Michael is my darling son, and is three.
He loves to play with dirty, messy things.
He wants to play in mud and run scot-free.
When to a bath his feet I try to bring.

He likes his play dough, so maybe I'll sing,
Of fewer baths, less mess and cleaner rooms.
But life is not so good; it kind of stinks.
Play dough, indeed, is made to foster gloom.

He takes it out and thinks it might go, "Vroom!"
If thrown at baby, door or painted wall.
It's smeared on tables, chairs and very soon,
It's stuck to shoes, a chicken and a doll.

Whereas, before, my dirt was hard to find,
Dough stuff shows up for now and for all time.

P. S. I can hear some of you already complaining about how that is not a gross enough, bad enough mess, and all of you who were thinking that are invited over to clean it up off of everything next time Stan and I try to get something done and stop paying attention to Mr. Play Dough! You know who you are.

Tuesday Musings #5

What were your feeling or thoughts when you held your child/children for the first time?

All my labors were different. I was induced once, had oxygen once, had an epidural once, went without painkillers lots of times, almost gave birth in an elevator, used a birthing ball, impressed my doctor, annoyed another doctor, went ahead without any doctor, argued with lots of nurses and cooperated with even more, had stitches, didn't need stitches, got bored, cried with pain, cried with love and made it through the whole thing seven times.

On the other hand, right after giving birth was always the same - I had a big cheesy smile on my face and couldn't wait to hold the baby. Even more than looking at them (although that was fun, too) I wanted to hold them in my arms.

I'll never forget a friend telling me how after she had a stillborn baby (that they never gave her to hold), her arms hurt. They hurt badly enough that she went to see a doctor about it. The pain finally went away after she had her next baby. I could understand where she was coming from because I love to hold my babies from the moment they get here and it always drove me crazy when the nurses whisked them away. So, my first thought was always, "Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

Tuesday Musings #2, Part B

I was so excited to get a response to my letter, but I was disappointed when I read it. I was a bit consoled when I noticed that it came from a whole different state than I mailed it to, but it is still a form letter, even if someone had to send it up the east coast for someone else to send a response.


The problem with form letters is that they don't answer any questions, so in addition to my original search for a crocheted hammock pattern, now I have more questions running through my head and keeping me awake at night. Who do you think the "appropriate management" would be? Do you think their specialists would really be happy to serve me if I called between 8 AM and 5 PM EST? Could they help me or would it just be an exercise in futility to call and listen to muzak on hold? I'm pretty sure I'll never know...

Tuesday Musings #4

Where did you grow up/live up until the present?

I was born in Colorado and lived in New York (Long Island), Connecticut, New Hampshire (Manchester and then Bedford), New York again (Staten Island), Utah (college), California (Upland), Virginia, Utah again, and California again. I guess you could say I've moved a lot (which I enjoy), but done so with little creativity, as there are multiple repeats on the list. It is also sadly lacking in a place like Borneo, Mozambique or Lapland.

What is your earliest memory and how old were you?

I don't know how old I was, but I think it was in Connecticut (see, you move around a lot as a kid and you remember your life as places rather than ages) and I remember jumping on the foam pads that my brother and I slept on, throwing stuffed animals at each other.

Did you play piano or musical instrument at all or sports in high school or were you the studious type?

None of the above. I guess I took piano lessons for a few years, which I will be forever grateful for because of the basic knowledge of music I gleaned from them, but I don't know if I was ever proficient enough to say I played.

No, I went to ART school. The only sport available was basketball because the school was in midtown Manhattan - no track for us, although it is a shame. When I remember how fast we all were at dodging taxis, I think there was some unrealized talent lurking in the student body.

I was actually so anti-P.E. that I volunteered in the library all four years of H.S. just so that I didn't need to go play basketball in the basement of the school. Somehow I don't think it is as easy to get out of these days.

I was on the math team and was the best student in the entire school, even doing better than the boys a year or two older than I was, but before you get too impressed, remember, this was an ART school, so the math ability was not the cream of the crop.

Is there anything that you did that you think your parents didn't know about?

When I didn't want to go to school, I sometimes put the thermometer in the toaster to try and convince my mom I had a fever. I had to be really careful to let it cool down a bit first, or she'd think I was dead with a temperature of 118 degrees F.

In honor of Mother's Day...tell us something that you learned from your mother that you practice today and/or something that they did that you wish that you had started to do with your family or life.

It's funny, I was just thinking about this last week. My mom used to read aloud to all of us seven kids at bedtime. Even though I was old enough to read to myself (by more than a couple years), I enjoyed listening to her reading to us. It was a different experience than reading alone.

So, I was thinking maybe I'd try to read aloud at night to the kids this summer, while things are a bit less intense (one can hope). Do any of you readers of impeccable taste who visit our blog (you know those two things go together) have suggestions for a book to read aloud to children ranging in age from soon-to be-fifteen to three and a half?

Remember wishes can come true!

Tuesday Musings #3

It has been said by many that there are specific and profound moments/decisions in your life that change you. They leave deep and indelible impressions and you are never the same again, whether for better or worse. Write about one of these moments in your life, how it changed you, and whether you consider yourself a better or worse person for it.

I think one of the blessings of trials are the lessons we can learn from them.

After Stan and I got married, we wanted to have a baby soon, and having Summer less than a year later was really good for us and our relationship. I was content with one child, at least for the time being, but as the months past, I felt it was my duty to have another baby. I had a strong testimony of bringing children into the world, but that was the extent of my motivation. Out of duty, we were expecting another baby twenty two months after Summer was born. I wasn't excited or content. In my mind, we were doing the right thing, but heart wasn't in the right place; I was resentful and grumpy.

Well, I miscarried. I was surprised at how sad I was. Something I had resented and felt burdened by was taken from me and all of a sudden I wanted that possibility of a child back. My second question for the doctor after, "Why?" was, "When can we try again?"

It's another story how I came to know this, but I do know that that miscarriage was just a first try at Rachel. I will be forever grateful that she was still able to come to our family (she is such a joy) and for the lessons I learned. One of the most important ones was that children may be hard work and a lot of responsibility, our bodies may go through a lot to get them here and we may lose a lot of sleep between midnight feedings and freshman honors English essays, but the blessings far outweigh the difficulties. Each child is such a miracle and such a blessing.

I don't like to say I am a better person for this experience because I still have so far to go. I need to remember these grateful feelings on afternoons like I had today when dinner burns while I'm changing a stinky diaper and it all goes downhill from there, but even in the thick of it all, I wouldn't change a thing (except that diaper - again!).

Tuesday Musings #2

Thanks to Steph for today's topic (challenge?) -

Compose a...letter...to a large company/public entity.

Scan or copy-paste the letter into your blog.

Mail off the letter.

Post a response when and if you receive one!

April 29, 2008

JNJ.COM
P.O. Box 726
Langhorne, PA 19047-0726

Dear Johnson & Johnson Consumer Relations,

I am writing for a couple of reasons. The first is to tell you I really love Reach Waxed Mint Dental Floss. I love how clean it gets the spaces in between my teeth. I especially love the fresh minty taste.

While I was getting ready for bed last night, I was thinking how strong Reach Waxed Mint Dental Floss is. I have never experienced a floss breakage using your product and the wheels in my mind started spinning. I thought, “Wouldn’t Reach Waxed Mint Dental Floss make a great hammock – strong, smooth, minty. What could be better?” The idea of relaxing in a hammock in my backyard surrounded by a lovely mint scent was so inspiring to me, I thought and thought about how to go about it and decided crocheting a hammock out of floss might work.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a very original thinker and someone else has probably had the idea to crochet a hammock for their backyard out of Reach Waxed Mint Dental Floss, so that brings me to the second reason I am writing. I wondered if anyone in your company has a pattern or instructions for a crocheted floss hammock. I would be thrilled if I could have a copy. I’d hate to go to all that work and not have a functional napping spot when I was done. I would feel so much better with instructions in hand.

Thank you so much for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Amy

Tuesday Musings #1

My sister started writing in a blog group and I thought it was a nifty idea, so I got together a small one myself. Our first topic is a get-to-know-you one - How many different jobs have you had and which one was your favorite? So, I am going to reach into the dusty recesses of my mind and see what I can drag out :)

1 - babysitting siblings
I don't remember getting paid for this, except for one year when my mother bought me THE sweater for school one fall after a summer of lots of kid watching. I'm sure I moaned sometimes about the responsibility, but I liked parts of it, too. One of my favorite memories is holding my brother Tim and singing him to sleep when he was only a few weeks old.

2 - babysitting for money
I always appreciated the cash, but I had some horrid experiences watching unruly kids. Ugh!

3 - delivering newspapers, The Pennysaver and The Staten Island Advance, NY

4 - Saturday cashier help, Island Art Center NY

5 - intern/go-fer, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, NY

6 - waitress at Sizzler (some of the customers were even more unruly than the previously mentioned kids!), NY

7 - accounting clerk, Burson-Marsteller NY

8 - picture framer, Provo Craft, UT

9 - temp, you-name-it, NY
I actually got asked out to lunch by a complete stranger one time working at a bank counting customers. He took me out for sushi, which I got stuck in my teeth, spraying rice all over the restaurant and I was so embarrassed, I wouldn't go out with him again when he asked.

10 - library file clerk, Chadbourne and Parke, NY

11 - waitress, cook and lunchtime manager, Pie Pizzeria, UT
Does that count as more than one job? The best thing about working here was learning to toss pizza dough in the air.

12 - general help, BYU memorabilia store I can't remember the name of, UT

13 - book repairer, Book Repair Unit, Harold B. Lee Library, UT

14 - photo retoucher, Doug Martin Photography, UT
Ask me sometime to tell you about the van...

15 - part time nanny, CA

16 - photographer's helper, CA

17 - substitute teacher's aide, CA

18 - secret shopper, CA

19 - demonstrator evaluator, Nutro, VA and NV

Working at the Book Repair Unit was by far my favorite. I was good at it. It took skill, an artist's eye and even a smattering of math - all of my favorite things. Plus, I worked with fun people, my boss liked me and I didn't have to drive a van! What more could I ask?