. : About me : .
Name::April_Mommy
From::Small Town, Arizona, United States
What information would be important here without being too personal? Hmmmmmm... I am a stay at home mommy who loves her kids. I started this blog as an attempt to have fun while keeping track of important things in my life. Alright, not everything in here is important, but it is all from me.
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. : About Sultry Husband : .
The ever Sultry man in my life has chosen to go by the name of Sultry Husband within the walls of my blog. Occasionally he will post his thoughts and experiences here as well.
A writer by trade as well as passion, he keeps our home a happy and inviting place.
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Friday, April 28, 2006
L's famous last wordsMe: "L, stop licking the computer screen!"
L: "I'm cweening it!"
Me: "That is so gross, we don't lick things."
L: "But it was dirty!"
Me: "Then tell me and I will get a paper towel"
L: "But I wan to wick it!"
Me: "If you lick it again, you will have to leave this room."
L: "Go away Mommy! I... WAN... TO... WICK... DA... PUTER!" (insert deep breath's between each word).
We then left the room and the door was locked. A time out insued, through which she cried that she wanted to lick the computer. Eventually she was distracted by the playdough that I procured. Mommy won, I think.
I wanted to do a meme today. Mostly because the inspiration for topics was just not there today, yet I wanted to post! Therefore I just went to Google and typed in "random meme". Here it is:
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.
Heh, this should be fun!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Oasis part 2- Arizona's saving graceLast night we invited a new friend up to our oasis for the evening. We roasted hot dogs, made smores, and just had a very relaxing evening together. The interesting thing about our oasis, is that the trees and everything look almost exactly like the forest at the top of my blog. That wide angle picture that I had never seen before, looks like our new favorite place. Makes my blog fit my personality even more than I thought it did :-) .
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M has a rock collection. I can't remember if I mentioned that before, but I finally made her move it outside the house. She finds beautiful rocks everywhere she goes. She has begun something that I find quit amusing however, she now names many of the rocks that she brings home. Last night was no exception. Throughout the evening, she gathered rock after rock, stopping to show me how beautiful they all were. As the evening drew to a close and we informed her that it was time to go, she panicked begging for us to help her load her precious cargo into the car. We knew that there were far too many rocks to take them all, so we set a limit of five. She spent the next fifteen minutes deciding which rocks would stay in the woods and which she would bring home to her collection. She decided on one rock in particular that she named "my little stripester" or "stripy" for short.
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As I put the dogs out one more time last night, I noticed something on my patio. My dogs didn't even notice, I was glad because I don't know what they would have done to the poor thing. By the time I returned with the camera and a very tired Sultry Husband, he had gone into the grass a little. He is very camoufllaged so I highlighted him in the middle of the picture...
I actually felt bad that my kids were passed out asleep because I know how much they would have loved to see this guy. M would probably have named him Froggie or Hopper... At least I can show her the pictures.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Of hoses and grass and suchToday we went to Saint George for some personal reasons. We left really early this morning so we could get back with enough time for Sultry Husband to get up to his office for some extra work. He is allowed to work from home, so he brought his laptop in the car as we drove, it was actually pretty cool that way.
On the way there however, the temperature gauge on the car began to climb. Way to high. It was decided that when we finally limped into town, we would take it to a mechanic to figure out what is wrong. Hubby dropped me and the kids off at the park first, that way the girls would not be stuck in a waiting room forever.
At first we had a lot of fun at the park. Lots of kids to play with, new slides to explore. Later on- about two hours later on- the girls were bored and Sultry Husband was still at the mechanic shop with the car. M, who loves horses, encouraged a group of about six little girls to pretend to be horses. They went out into the grass and before I could stop them, they had each taken a large bite! I ran over and explained that pretend horses eat pretend grass, but I was having a difficult time not laughing... M is a natural leader, but to get six girls from ages 3 to 7 to all eat a bite of grass is a feat in itself!
For the next half hour, they all crawled around the grass shouting "Nay!" at each other instead of words... That is what horses say after all!
The mechanic replaced the thermostat on our "Galloping Goose". On the long drive home the temperature was within normal parameters, so it looks like he did a good job. We were at the park for a total of three and a half hours today... Longer than I ever like to stay. When Daddy returned to pick us up the truly hilarious thing was that M asked him, "Daddy, why didn't you let me stay at the park long enough?" L was more than ready to leave... both of them fell asleep on the long drive home.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Blogger wierdnessFor whatever reason, Blogger would not let me post this morning. I wrote it up, saved it, then hit Post... at which time the page sat, and sat, and sat. I tried several times to figure out what happened, but gave up. Finally I was able to post again.
Feels like an attack of the SMETNA!
Even though Sultry Husband loves his job, the terrain where we live leaves a bit to be desired. He is a California boy after all, he needs green things to survive apparently.
Saturday afternoon we decided to explore a bit. We loaded up a bit of firewood, a picnic, and headed for the unknown. We had heard of a place called "Jacobs Lake" so we followed the signs and started to drive. We had never been there, so it took some time to find the actual lake, which was really just a pond that was even fenced off, so you can't even stick your toes into it. A strange place...
There was a good point to going up to Jacobs Lake though... We discovered a forest, I mean a real forest that only takes us about 30 minutes of driving to find! It was amazing. One minute you are looking out the window at desert terrain, complete with scrub oaks and sage brush. The next second you are in a dense pine forest!
We found a nice place to create a fire pit, cleared away the dry pine needles and started our fire. The girls ran around picking up huge pine cones and playing among the trees. It was a beautiful afternoon! Sultry Husband swears that we will go there at least twice a week... He has found his green oasis. It was a little strange at first to be the only people in this amazing forest. We could whoop and shout all we wanted and no one would hear us and be bothered.
My brother once told teased me about our camping practices on this blog... As he put it "Quit car campin' ya ninny"... I teased him back at the time, but I must now remind everyone that I have physical limitations that keep me from hiking back into the wilderness like I would enjoy... Therefore we are pretty limited to car camping as it were. This new place that we found is not well known, so the crowds are not present. Therefore, we can car camp and yet we can still be alone. It was very refreshing and put us all in a wonderful mood. We will visit Jacobs Lake again soon I am sure. Sultry Husband wants to go back this evening. I just laugh, nod my head, and know that we will go to the park instead.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
ParksI found a new park the other day. M and L absolutely loved it! The place has no less than 8 slides! There is a company down here that makes rubber stamps for scrap-booking. This company is the second largest employer in the town, and therefore decided to give back to the community. The interesting thing is that the playground has a thick layer of rubber cast offs instead of gravel, dirt, or wood chips. The stuff is so cool! As you walk on it, the shreds of rubber give you the feeling of bouncing. It is red in color, so it really doesn't get hot, you can run on it bare foot and not feel a thing. Not to mention that it just looks neat.
M was trying to learn how to jump out of a swing... She did a face plant instead! The really cool part was that when she fell, she just jumped right up and ran off to play. No tears, no splinters, no scrapes, nada. This is the coolest park ever! I just wish it was close enough to walk to, but no, we have to drive for about 20 minutes to get there... If we had two cars, that wouldn't be a problem.
We have been considering entering the world of two car families, but now it actually looks like we still have to buy a new car... Only we will be replacing the old one that is breaking apart. (Sultry Husband is stuck about 1 1/2 hours away from home right now because he broke down... I have no way to rescue him...) He has this tendency to name our vehicles, and this one is "The Galloping Goose". He also decided that the car was a female. I don't really care one way or the other, I just laughed when he named it. Let us hope that the Galloping Goose can run just a little farther, she only has about 160,000 miles on her, and until we can either sell our house in Idaho or find renters to live in it, we are stuck paying double bills. This is no fun! I think that we all need a trip to the park if Daddy ever makes it home.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Random MondayI have a few things to share today, so I am stealing Sariah's random day ideas... Here goes.
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Last year, M discovered dandelions. She found them pretty and picked every one from our yard that she could find. I had mason jars full of them all over my kitchen for weeks. This year however, we have no grass and thus we have no dandelions to deal with either. I may not mind, but she definitely has a problem with this development.
While playing with her and L in the yard the other day, we discovered that some of the local weeds have flowers. Thus a new game was born. Pick as many flowering weeds as you can. They are "pretty" after all right? M has also discovered some weeds that she calls "Ticklers" because they are somewhat feathered on the top and she attempts to tickle all of us with them.
I was given a new vase as a housewarming gift on Friday... I wanted to go buy some beautiful cut flowers to put into it. M decided that weeds would be much better.
While playing with her and L in the yard the other day, we discovered that some of the local weeds have flowers. Thus a new game was born. Pick as many flowering weeds as you can. They are "pretty" after all right? M has also discovered some weeds that she calls "Ticklers" because they are somewhat feathered on the top and she attempts to tickle all of us with them.
I was given a new vase as a housewarming gift on Friday... I wanted to go buy some beautiful cut flowers to put into it. M decided that weeds would be much better.
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The Easter Bunny came this weekend. Because of our girl's horse fetish, and the fact that they already have many stuffed bunnies around the house, the girls were each given a stuffed unicorn instead of a rabbit this year.
They set them up this morning on the table in my Living Room... They had separated out the candy haul to chocolate eggs and jelly beans. I was told that one unicorn was the guard of the eggs and the other would protect the jelly beans. Too bad the big bad mommy knows how to circumvent the guardians...
********************It is insanely windy again today. The corgi is confused with all the noise in the house so he keeps waking up from his nap to bark at the strange sounds... Wish I could comfort him, he is following me around like crazy today. Whenever I leave a room, he walks right in front of my feet. Only he walks slow so I will notice him. I am pretty tired of tripping over my new shadow. When I stop in a room for a while, he lays down for another nap. But you better believe that when I walk out of the room again, he is right there in front of my feet.
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Anyone who uses the phrase 'easy as taking candy from a baby' has never tried taking candy from a baby.
-Unknown
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Just meI really wanted to post something wonderful today. The inspiration just wouldn't come. I wanted to write a poem or a story that people would find inspirational or funny- but then I remembered that I am not Julia. I wanted to write something that would make people think so I could sound intellectual and brilliant- but then I know that I am definitely not Karen. I wanted to find some idea that would generate lots and lots of comments and encourage people to laugh- but I will never be a Fourth Fret. I wanted to write something that would show how I care or how passionate I am about things- but I am not Heather. Perhaps I could write about life in dry and desolate places and make it actually sound appealing- oh no, I am definitely not Dana. I would love to write something that would lighten and brighten someone's day- but I will leave that job to Sariah.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau
I can only be the person that I am, and today I feel that the person I see in the mirror is boring... Perhaps it is only because I am bored. I find that inspiration rarely comes on laundry day.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
ShiverI was told as a child that teenagers could be very cruel to each other. I didn't really care then, but I learned how true it was later, just when my fragile self esteem should have been developing. At the start of Middle School, I had many friends. We all came from the same neighborhood, we were all the same age, and our parents were all friends. What I didn't know is that it was social suicide to take upper level classes. Honors classes. I would be forever labeled a geek and thus would be socially unacceptable. Honors English. I loved the class, but if I were to do it all over again, I would have suffered the boredom of the regular class level. The fact that I had a very pronounced limp did not help matters either. I was the perfect target.
As I walked towards my locker, a shiver ran down my spine. What would I find inside today? Would my tormenters provide me with yet another testament as to how unpopular I was? Or would I find the locker blistfully empty. If I could possibly carry all of my books in my bag, I would have done it, but the attempt earlier that week had created the need for my parents to buy a new bag. Sweat ran down into my palms making it difficult to open the lock. I asked my friend who's locker was next to mine if he saw anyone put something inside today. As always, he replied that he didn't see anything.
I twisted the numbers just wishing that for once that the anonymous letters would not be found inside. Letters with language so offensive and pictures drawn of me in derogetory positions were always included. These were signed always with pseudo names to avoid detection. I slowly lifted the latch and heard the familiar click. Taking a deep breath I swung the door open. My eyes beheld the same sight that had bombarded me for the past month. A note, covered in terrible names, pictures, and over all, wishes that I would jump off the top of the school building assaulted me.
As I quickly limped for the bathroom I felt cold inside. Shivers wracked my body as I attempted to stifle back all of the tears that ravished my senses. My mother had advised me that no matter what, I should not let them see me cry.
Even when the school counselor discovered who the culprits were, things did not improve. If anything, it made me feel worse because the very friends that I had known for my entire life, including the boy who's locker was next to mine, were involved. In fact they were the ones who started the entire thing. Eventually the notes did stop, upon the threat that they would be suspended. The looks and comments behind my back as I passed them in the halls were always present. They never once offered an apology, I never asked for one. We all grew up, High School was much the same, but eventually many of us moved away to college. Yet as we visit our parents back home in the old neighborhood, we will occasionally run into each other. Through the smiles and well wishes for each of our futures, patting each other's children on the heads with exclamations of "Oh what beautiful children!" I have a hard time suppressing the ever present shiver that comes from the knowledge that they never cared about me enough to say that they were sorry. Even if they didn't mean it.
Have I forgiven them? Yes, I suppose that I have. I stopped caring what those people thought of me long ago. I will however, never forget those terrible few months in which I was afraid to open my locker.
Weekly Anamnesis #18
Friday, April 07, 2006
Memories of the past and dreams for the futureWe were fresh out of college, in our first apartment that was not deemed "student housing." We were in a new city, in a new state, feeling every ounce of excitement and comfort. We had a nice patio out the back where we set up chairs and spent every evening gazing out at the stars and dreaming about what the future would hold for us. My husband looked over at me and laid the bomb of all time in my lap. "Wif, (he has called me wif since we were married...), I think that I want to become a writer. I want to write books, I have always loved writing but now I want to seek the knowledge that could lead me to write a novel." My jaw dropped and I asked him if he would quit his job or something drastic like that to pursue this new venue for his creativity. Many assurances later, and the idea in my head that we would not have to worry because he would only pursue this dream at night, when our child was in bed, so she would not miss out on "daddy time".
Eight months later, his first novel was completed. Each and every evening he spent at least two hours writing at his grandfather's desk (the only thing he inherited from him). While the book was good, it was far too long and he needed to learn a lot more before trying to market and sell a book.
It has now been almost four years since that day on our patio. The job that we started out with ended long ago, as did several others. We are now in yet another new city, but the difference is that this time, my husband loves his job and it plays to his strengths. It is a good fit finally. We have even better news however, Sultry Husband has received his first book deal! A publisher is interested in producing one of his books... This is totally huge for us! He finished writing the thing about a year and a half ago, it has taken this long to market and sell it to a publisher. My husband will have his name on the front cover of a book that he wrote! It is not the first novel that he wrote, but it is still from his brain and it showcases his talent. I always believed that the writing dream would come true, and it is time for that dream to begin. I am so proud of him!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
WeatherI didn't know that a freight train would run through my back yard and pummel my house. I didn't know that my garbage can would tip over. I didn't know that the wind could be so fierce out here. Eastern Idaho, (which boasts about wild windstorms), has nothing on this barren desert plateau.
What I find interesting about the weather is how often I find my mood shaped by it. Yesterday when it was beautiful and sunny, we played at the park and I found my general mood to be uplifted. Today, we are shrouded in a foggy gloom, thunder and lightening frighten my children, wind is wildly waving the poor branches of the local trees and causing my television antenna to quit working. Today it is snowing again, or is it hail? It is both. Today I find my emotions shrouded in that same gloom that I find outside. Today is the day that I wish this good for nothing town had a respectable library, for I would love to curl up with a good book and disappear into it's depths.
Today I wish I was still in Idaho.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Mom?My daughter L thinks that she is growing up so fast. She just had her third birthday last week... When I tell her to hold my hand, she rips it away and says in a very defiant tone "I can do it my-self" emphasis on the "my" part... I really don't think that just writing the word does it justice.
L also climbs on top of the bunk bed, I really wish that she wouldn't. The one time she will allow me to help her is when she is stuck up on top because she can't remember where the ladder is to climb back down. I suppose that her climbing habit isn't so bad. She wants to pick out her own clothes now, so they rarely match now... If she could get away with wearing a pretty dress every day of the week, she would. Not just play dresses out of durable cotton, oh no they aren't "pretty" enough. They must be frilly, full of lace and netting, and over all lots and lots of bows.
I enjoy calling her my baby... She is still my baby, she will be until I have another one. However when I say "and how is my L baby this morning?" she will look at me with a very deep frown, eyebrows scowling at me and say "I not a baby, I a big girl!" I have to work on remembering that one, she really doesn't like it.
There is one very sad part of her growing more independent though... She now calls me Mom. I love being Mommy, I have identified with that title very well... Being called Mom just makes me feel old (I know, I know, many of you are older... Especially my brother, now he is OLD!) I just find it a little sad to change the title. Perhaps one of these days she will realize that big girls use the toilet. That is the kind of growing up I can handle.