Green Ideas for Back to School

It's that time of year again, back to school. I'm thrilled to have a child in school, so I can buy school supplies without my husband looking at me like I'm a little nuts (yes, we need these six pairs of scissors!).

The only thing I don't love about back to school is the reminder it is of the cars idling in the drop off lane. To all parents, consider walking or riding bikes to school, it's good exercise for you and your kids, it gives you more time that you can focus on your child, and it is better for the air that we breathe. I hate to see all the kids out at recess during inversions, and we can all do a little to make a big difference.

If you must drive, PLEASE turn off your car. No one is going to die of heat, or freeze to death in the 10 minutes it might take for your child to get out of the school and into your car.

Thank you.

For more information on what you can do to improve our air quality, see Utah Mom's for Clean Air.

Announcement

It's exciting, and it's sad.

It's something I never imagined myself doing.

My Mr. and I are building a new home in a new development (one that I used to refer to as the swamp).

To keep up on the developments, see Our House, Next Door To Theirs. As you might have guessed from the title, we're building next door to some really good friends, you might say, my best friend (we already had a discussion on how you can have more than one best friend...).

It won't be my "dream home", but it's a step in the right direction.

(if anyone wants to come live next door to me, there are still lots available, and I'm recruiting good neighbors, so lets talk...)

Date Night: Dinner and not a Movie

The boys are having a fun day with grandpa and sleeping over, so my Mr. and I decided we should do something fun. Go to a movie? Nah... Go out to dinner? Hmmm... How about go to Ikea? We can walk around without kids and look at everything, and then eat dinner there.

That's what we did, it was great. Even the food was good (certainly not zaggat rated or anything, but good).

Squeaky Clean and Squealing

It's been a little too long since baby CP's last bath, so I gave him one tonight, and now he smells so nice and his skin is so soft. If you can see in the picture, his hair is all fuzzy.

There's nothing like a happy squealing clean little baby.

Best Cousins

When I was little, my cousin K and I said we were "best friends and best cousins too". Here's to a new generation!

Lying

What to do....

My six-year-old (I can't believe he's six already!) has been lying lately. He'll tell us that his younger brother did something, little brother will deny it, and six-year-old will say "he's a liar".

Eventually he comes forth and tells us he was lying. How do I get him to understand that he can't lie? What is an appropriate punishment? He already lost TV privliges for a couple of days for spanking an adult at church (he thinks it's funny, but we've told him he can't do it). I guess he'll lose bike privliges too.

I remember going through a lying phase, but I stopped when my mom told me that there might come a time when someone would accuse me of something I didn't do, and if I lied to her she wouldn't be able to stand up for me and say that her daughter didn't lie... I've tried a similar phrase on my six-year-old but he doesn't seem to care.

Sometimes I have no idea how to hande things... :)

Spitting can be problematic and Miscellaneous things

My sweet, beautiful baby is 4 months old. He's growing so fast. Faster than my other children (at least it seems that way). I was talking to an old college roommate (Hi Miss C!) over email recently about how wonderful it is having a third child. Not that number three is better than the first two, but I have finally figured out how to really enjoy him instead of waiting for him to reach each milestone.

Today he's discovered that he can spit. I'd call it blowing raspberries because that sounds better, but spitting is more accurate. He thinks it's hilarious, I think it's one more thing that gets all over my pants. Luckily my most recent pair dries fast and you can't tell they got slobber/spit up/or worse on them (I promise, if they get worse on them, I do change).

To any friends who read my blog that I no longer see every week, I miss you! We should have dinner sometime, or get our kids together to play...

And finally my last bit of news.... I'm Open for business. The inventory is not complete yet, but I thought I'd start with what I have now. I'm constantly working at adding more products, so tell your friends and check back regularly. :)

Since I don't have enough to do...

Announcing Green Peas blog, discussion forum, and soon-to-be online retail store for all of your cloth diapering needs.

One word of warning with cloth diapers, they are addicting, and once you start you will want to convince everyone you know to use cloth.

Clean Slate

My friend L is getting married on Thursday (YEA!!!!). Last weekend we had a "girls night" party. We ate dinner at the Mandarin (if I was saying we ate dinner at Applebees, I wouldn't say "the Applebees", but it looks funny typing Mandarin the same way...). Then we went to L's new condo. It is nice! It is so clean, and mostly empty.

Over the last several weeks I've been decluttering and throwing things away, but now I really want to get rid of stuff. I went through a drawer in the kitchen that is always overflowing with pie pans and bread pans and glass measuring cups and an odd assortment of school lunch containers. It looks better now (plus I got rid of the can opener which has never worked well-I prefer the hand type).

My BEST friend N is moving soon, so she's cleaning out her house to get ready to sell it, so I've been looking at my house in a new way... If I was trying to sell my house, what would I need to get rid of? It's kind of difficult since the kitchen is not finished yet and I don't have places to store my wheat grinder or my kitchen-aid vegetable slicer attachment, so they are in the living room on the book case. But I'm doing what I can.

Sometimes a purge feels good.

What I'd really like to do is start over in a new house (and a new car). It's fun to dream.

Not SOCIALIZED healthcare!

Over the holiday I had the chance to discuss the state of health care in our country with some family members. It frustrates me that so many people seem to take the phrase "socialized health care" and run screaming with it.

Socialized health care! What's wrong with that? I hate to point it out, but what we have now is not working. My brother-in-law, who is wonderful in many ways, didn't have any reason for his knee-jerk reaction to the idea of socialized health care other than "people in Canada hate what they have and come here for medical care". Perhaps that does happen, but I can find just as many, if not more examples of Canadians who love their health coverage.

In our discussion we talked about the cost of the babies his wife and I both have had recently. Our medical insurance has a $5000 deductible on maternity, the bills came to $4995. He and his wife are "poor college students" and qualify for medicaid. I'm not sure if he paid anything at all for his baby. Yet, even after receiving free or very low cost health care he assumes that because he is a hard worker, he could pay any medical bills that he had to.

I'd encourage health-care-conservatives to actually read about "socialized" health care plans before dismissing them. The link is to the Barack Obama for President website. Also, it might be helpful to look up the definition of Socialism. I don't think anyone is advocating a complete switch to a socialist state. But what is so wrong with a health care system that is controlled by the state so that all citizens can benefit fairly and equitably. Think "Law of Consecration".

My husband and I have had to opt out of his employer sponsored plan because it has gotten too expensive. He works for a small business, and his bosses have a real concern about the possibility of one employee having a major medical problem and the entire company being priced out of the health insurance plans altogether.

It's passed the time for a change, and if you are lucky enough to have not realized that yet, take a look at some real people sharing their medical nightmares.

Going Tankless

I've been collecting information on things I want to include in my dream home. I'm currently researching tankless water heaters.

I'm leaning toward electric over gas because of the solar panels, but I wondered if any of my readers have any experience with tankless or on demand water heaters. My brother in law said he looked into them and decided not to get one because of the yearly maintenance. I can't find anything that says they require yearly maintenance.

I like the idea of not keeping a tank of water constantly hot. I also like that if we have company staying with us, we won't run out of hot water. My concerns mostly center around what temperature the water will be heated to and how well the temperature will be regulated when the temperature of the incoming water changes throughout the year.

Amnesty and Leniency

I used to read the comments on the Salt Lake Tribune Letters to the Editor section of their online paper. I've stopped for the most part, because it seems like the people who comment are Anti-Everything, and I find it a bit tiring. I did read some comments following a letter praising Orrin Hatch for voting against the immigration reform package (or maybe it was criticizing Bob Bennett for voting for it- I don't remember). There were lots of comments to the effect of, "stupid illegals, we shouldn't give them amnesty! Yea Hatch! Boo Bennett- just wait until the next election! Stupid illegals!" Nice things like that.

Amnesty is a pardoning of past wrongs. No one was suggesting amnesty. Only leniency (see Wikipedia).

People broke the law to be here and work, and there should be a penalty for that, but the penalty should be lenient to those who do not break other laws, people who just want to survive. Here's a question, what kind of a crime is illegal immigration? A misdemeanor? A felony? I read something from Tyler at Davis County Watch awhile back about how illegal immigration isn't a crime per se. Maybe he can enlighten us with the specifics, since I can't remember...

A $5000+ fine per person didn't seem terribly lenient to me. Our economy draws these people here, and then punishes them. Yes they broke a law to be here, and many of them broke another law by using fraudulent documents, but we could solve both issues if we fixed our immigration laws. "Secure" the border (as much as is possible), allow people to work legally without using other people's SS numbers (right there that solves a huge problem of ID theft), fine them, or sentence them to community service or some combination of the two, and then enforce the laws.

How long is it going to take before we fix the immigration problems?

Milestones

The baby rolled over today. He decided he had finally had enough with tummy time, and rolled to his back (from his left side if it matters). He was really mad when mom put him back on his tummy to see if he'd do it again (he didn't, but can you blame him! Sheesh mom, I just rolled over, why'd you put me back!?).
He's also been enjoying patty-cake patty-cake lately (for a few weeks anyway). If he's in the right mood, and you can find the right tickle spot, he'll even laugh. There's nothing like a baby laughing to make you feel good.

Phrase of the day

"I'm telling on you!"

In the past it's been, "I won't be your friend unless..."

My three-year-old came upstairs crying (and to "tell on" his brother) because his brother had hit him. I sent him back downstairs armed with the words, "please don't hit me, that makes me sad". I'm trying to teach them to work out their problems themselves. Based on their frequency of trips to report the others bad behavior to mom, I'm not sure that they understand the concept.

At least my children are better behaved than this little boy (Really, what is up with the lack of parenting there! I hope those parents were embarrassed enough by the media coverage that they realize they need to buy a book on child rearing).

Goodbye New Friend

The dealership called, our van is all repaired. My Mr. just left to take the "fun little rental" back.

I'm kind of sad about it.

:)

Smaller Vehicles

Our van is getting repaired. The transmission went bad (under warranty, isn't that nice!). I scheduled to take it in this morning to get worked on, then we'd have it back by the end of the day, but when my Mr. dropped it off, they realized the transmission wasn't in yet- so they gave us a rental.

It's a pretty metallic green Kia Sportage. I like it more than I thought I would. It's fun to drive and fits all the kids (and the dog) and it feels a lot smaller than the van. It makes me want to trade the van for something smaller (but I can't, so I'm trying unsuccessfully to push the thought from my head).

Clarification on Wishful Thinking...

Today My Mr. and I were talking to some family members about the sad news of his motorcycle sale. Someone started talking about little boys and crashes and broken bones (which really makes me want to live a motorcycle-free life) and I said something similar to "be careful Mr., talk like that makes me want to ban any future motorcycle purchases...".

My Mr. was not too happy about that, so I feel the need to clarify. I don't love motorcycles, but I do love my Mr. I recognize that motorcycle riding is a big part of his "family quality time". I may joke about selling his motorcycle when he's not at home (which is not what happened, I should point out), I may feel some kind of wishful thinking about a motorcycle-free life, but I would NEVER EVER actually demand that he get rid of his bike forever, or ban him from getting a new one.

Happy Father's Day

Why I Love My Mr...

-He works hard (and he can do just about anything). Yesterday he fixed the plumbing on our trailer where the gray water tank had fallen off last fall, then he welded some steel supports to make sure it didn't happen again. He also recently fixed our air conditioner, and my computer. He does it all.

-He always manages to surprise me. I've mentioned getting a push reel lawn mower before, and he wasn't so thrilled with that idea, but the other day he said that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Then, of course, there's something else he's done recently that really surprised me, but I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. (Edit: I can talk about it now.)

-He wants me to be happy. On days when he's been at work all day, and at school half the night, he comes home and gives me a foot rub and asks me if my day was okay with the kids, even though I know that he's probably more tired than I am.

-He's a good dad. He talks in a silly voice because it makes the baby laugh. He's good at playing monsters with the kids, and he lets them jump all over him. He also changes poopy cloth diapers.

-He's handsome. I said this in an earlier post... My SIL commented on how my Mr. is aging nicely, and I couldn't agree more. He just keeps getting better and better looking.

Happy Fathers Day Mr.

Sacrifice

My Mr. sold his motorcycle yesterday. He loved that motorcycle, and I know how difficult it must have been for him to let someone else drive it away, knowing that he won't be able to go on rides with his brothers anytime soon. It was actually even hard for me, which I didn't expect. A teenage boy is the new owner, and I kept wondering if he would take good care of "El Diablo". I felt the same way when we sold our pet Ferris the Ferret (ferrets do NOT make good pets for babies or small children). It's easy to get attached to things.

There are several things which led us to decide that selling the bike was a good idea. Here they are, in no particular order...

1.) My Mr. would like a new bike (the blue one pictured is his current dream bike, and is making the sale of the old bike easier to deal with) at some point, and this is a good time of year to sell motorcycles, and his old bike was still new enough that if we sold it now, we'd still get a pretty good price for it.

2.) Having a baby has been more expensive than we expected, and it came down to canceling some camping trips to pay the hospital bill or selling the motorcycle. We all decided it would be better to not have a motorcycle for a year or so and still go camping than to have a motorcycle that you can't ever take anywhere.

3.) My Mr. is currently in school and isn't able to ride his motorcycle much. He hadn't started the bike since february when he went to Moab with his brothers, so it didn't make sense to keep it around when he just doesn't have time to ride.

He may be going through a mourning period, but he'll be okay. I'm grateful that he was willing to sell it (it was even his idea...), and that his priorities are in the right place.

Another Grown-Up post

My last post on age has me wondering....

Sometimes I feel, as a parent, that I'm winging it. Most of the time.

I don't remember ever feeling like my parents were winging it. I never questioned that they knew what they were doing. Now that I am there, I think they must have, and it's an interesting position to be in. Kind of like when my Mister laughs when the boys get excited about "pulling through" in a parking spot because he remembers telling his dad to "pull through" too.

I am the parent now, and I remember how I viewed my parents, and it's scary and strange and fun to think that my kids view me in that same way.

I am the authority, for a few more years anyway.