A study in contrasts

Mid-July (and a few times a week since): I can't wait for school to start.
August 21: Is it time to meet my teacher yet? Now is it? Shouldn't we leave now?
August 25 (1st day of school): After waking up 30 minutes early, "I can't believe this day is finally here. I love school. Can I go to the bus stop now?"
August 25 (after school): School was the best. I sit by my best friend and I got a bunch of rocks in my jar (?) and the teacher only made one boy cry although another student almost cried. Here's my organized binder and my homework for today.

Mid-July: Don't even mention school.

August 19: Do I have to go to registration? I can't believe summer is almost over. Quit talking about school.

August 25: Five minutes before school starts, rolls out of bed, throws on some semi-matching clothes, doesnt say a word, hangs his head and walks out the door.
August 25 (after school): Monosyllabic responses other than, "Cooper already has homework. That's stupid."


Happy 1st day of school!

Innocent with a dash of intrigue

It started out innocently enough. I asked Hunter to bring down his whites and throw them in the washing machine. When I went to transfer the whites from the washing machine to the dryer, this is what I found:

Not the mouse. Not the mousepad. The baby booties. Why were there baby booties in my 16 year olds laundry? Why are they pink? His feet are big...really big. They couldn't have started out big size and shrunk to this size. Plus, Hunter has never had pink socks. Thus the intrigue.

How old am I?

Today is Kurt's birthday and he deserves a huge party with grandiose gifts....but that isn't happening. Instead, we are having a fun family day, eating rich chocolate layered cake, looking at used vans, and watching The Closer.

Kurt is old. Let me clarify, Kurt is old enough that he can't remember how old he is. Yesterday I was prancing around telling him how is excited I was about his birthday and how I couldn't believe he is turning 41. His reply: Am I 41? How old is my mom? Hmmm...I can't remember.

Shoot...that is old. The thing about Kurt is he always thinks he is older than he is...so it's no fun to tease him. I'm so glad he has Friday's off so we can celebrate his birthday all day. I'm glad I married someone who is laid back and easy going most of the time to offset my craziness. I'm glad Kurt is the kind of person who wants to help others. I'm glad we have insurance...oh, I digress.

Happy Birthday Kurt! ps. Some advice to all you girls and women out there. Marry someone who is older than you...you'll always feel young. UNLESS..you're Kelli. Then, it doesn't matter because you look so young you could marry a 12 year old!

Coming Soon

I know something you don't know, but I'll let you in on it soon enough!

Still around....kind of

I wouldn't consider this past week one of my best...nor my worst, but more towards worst on the horrible spectrum. After much anticipation and avoidance, I had my kidney stone blasted. I have one kidney, which means doctors sometimes overreact when I come walking through the door. What I didn't know is they also ignore your wishes sometimes. Once I found out about the stone, my urologist (the name says it all) really urged me to have lithotripsy. My dad has had this done several times and always looks like he is on some post-op tropical vacation afterward, so I wasn't extremely worried. My biggest concern, by far, was not wanting a stent placed in me during the surgery. I made my desires completely clear...crystal, talked to the surgical doctor and everything. I also stated if a stent had to be placed, that it be one I could remove.

Fast Forward, Wednesday, Doomsday: I go in and get comfy...totally comfy if you get my drift. I'm laying on the bed post-IV insertion when the nurse brings me a form to sign...a stent consent form. WHAT? Dirty rotten trick I tell you. The doctor I explicitly stated all my desires to had to go out of town and this was a different doctor, whom I have yet to meet. I told the nurses I didn't want a stent and they (I'm sure in complete internal hysterics) wrote in the word "possible" before "stent" as if I didn't know they're games. Then, they gave me a happy drug.

Fast Forward, Wednesday, the real Doomsday: Something I should have taken into consideration when using my dad as the pain example. This is the same man who walked around on a broken foot for weeks and who finished a softball game after getting a concussion. OUCH!!! I was in pain and nauseous and angry because there was a stupid stent inside of me and all I could do was curl up in a ball...kidding, that hurt too...and wish the minutes away. I feel better now, but not great. Still nauseous, dizzy, a little pain, and always feel like I need to go to the bathroom. One more thing...the stent, not the kind I can take out. So, I get to look forward to some clawlike contraption going the wrong direction on a one way avenue to retrieve a foreign object placed by an alien doctor. Until then...try to make do and somehow get back to taking care of life again.

I'm really working on not being angry and being grateful my kidney stone is demolished.

Random Tidbits

Happy Birthday to my cousin Ryan. He just turned 17 and thought it was a costume party.

Kelli made some spaghetti & meatball cupcakes. It was her first try making these fun new cupcakes and they were quite the hit.

Happy 4th Birthday to Bostyn, who thinks she is 20. When I called to wish her a Happy Birthday, she told me she got some new shoes. I asked her if they were jelly shoes. She started laughing and said, "I don't have jelly in my shoes". She is so darn cute!

• I was watching the Olympics with Cooper last night when Phelps won a gold medal. We watched as the top 3 were presented their medals and I told Cooper they were going to play our national anthem. His response, "Oh....I want to hear an anthem from another country".
• How come it seems the minute Hunter leaves to go somewhere in his car, I hear sirens?
• Do most people lose weight in the summer? If so, I'm not most people.
• Who am I going to vote for when the options I have right now aren't working for me?
• How come when you clean spots on your carpet the rest of your carpet looks nasty?
• Should High School fees total over $300? I think not.
• Does Netflix service normally get slower once the free trial is over? I really want an answer to that one.

Even more scenic than we thought

I had heard my grandmother mention she would like to take a train ride & I had never ridden on a train, so I booked us 2 tickets on the Old West scenic trainride by Horseshoe Bend. There were 2 open cars and the rest were regular enclosed cars. I was so excited to take grandma and didn't tell her where we were going until right before we left.


Grandma got on before me and found us a seat in an open car, which was what we both wanted. We wanted to make sure we weren't riding backward. As we were waiting for the ride to begin, I noticed everyone around us were wearing swimsuits. Then I realized most were wearing Scentsy Company shirts or hats. I asked grandma if she thought we were going to go through water, but we didn't think so.


Then the train started to move...and we were going backward. DANG!! There was an engine on both ends. There was a wild west skit put on, but we didn't pay a lot of attention to. After some nonchalant eavesdropping, we realized the train went to a half way point and these other people would leave the train and raft back. It was then that our devious plan to take their seats hatched. On the way to the half point we heard several people say rafters were mooning the train. Near the end, I started to get motion sick, so I stood up. I SWEAR I wasn't trying to see what those others were talking about, but I sure did. It wasn't 30 seconds into my stand that a man on the beach dropped his drawers and played (as Cooper put it) his bum drums. EWWWW!


The way back was a lot more fun. We rode facing forward and on the side that the Payette River was on. And...no mooners. The best part: Grandma saved my life by killing a deadly spider that climbed aboard next to me. I would love to try a Murder Mystery train ride....without mooners or spiders.

Creepy Fun

While my grandma was here, we went to the Old Penitentiary for a self-guided tour. It was my first time and I loved it. I might be a prison junkie..we'll see. There was a sense of despair and darkness that was almost tangible and Cooper picked up on it right away. The room above is a death row room. I found it interesting that those who are on death row get a cell to themselves while regular male & female prisoners lived 4 to a room. The women's cells were tiny, but there was a garden around the female prison so they could go out and tend it.

The most difficult room was the observation room to the gallows. Cooper really didn't like being in there, it just felt too intense. I really want to go at Halloween, although I'll probably be too scared. If you come to Boise, give me a call...we have a spare room and we'll take a little trip to the Old Idaho Penitentiary.