Life & Times #7

Summers between semesters of college, my sisters and I would come home from BYU to work.  We were blessed with a dad who worked at Motorola and who could help us get jobs with the summer intern program.  I got to work as an admin in International Human Resources for three summers.  It was a small group of 4 women and then me doing whatever copying, filing, typing proposals, etc they needed. It was actually interesting to see how the company planned and compensated those employees they sent to work out of the country or who they invited to come to the States.   I couldn't have asked for a better summer job.

(Sitting here typing, I remember when my sister and I went to get our mandatory drug testing before that first summer.  Easy, right?  Just pee in a cup.  Well, I get pee-fright (it's real thing) and could not for the life of me produce anything.  The lady was NOT patient with me and just said to keep drinking water and to try again.   After an hour or so, the nice lady knew I was hiding something but said I would just have to come in a different time.  Resigned to having to go through this stupid ordeal again, we left.  Only we got about 5 minutes from the building before I had to relieve myself of the gallon of water I had just drunk.  I was in so much pain, we had to stop at a gas station during the 10 minute drive home.)

Anyway, one summer day I decided to run home for lunch and grab something to eat.  Our house was only 10 minutes away but this time I was running a little late, so I ran inside, ate something quickly with my mom and ran out to get back.

Only...my car wasn't in the driveway where I left it.  What??  I was sure I had parked right next to the walkway but there was now NO CAR.  I checked the garage just in case I had somehow parked there without remembering it?  No luck.  It hit me, "Someone stole my car!"

I began to walk around in a daze wondering who in the world would steal my car when I noticed two tire tracks at the end of the driveway.  Two tire tracks that led into the grass and down the lawn.  Two tire tracks that led through the backyard and right out into the pond that lay 50 yards beyond!

Apparently in my haste, I had forgotten to pull the emergency brake and apparently there was JUST BARELY enough of an incline to the driveway that the car rolled by itself to edge of the grass where it picked up momentum and launched itself down the hill and into, yep, the pond.

This is where I found it.

My mom and I called my dad who came home from work and called a tow truck.  My parents handled it all very calmly and didn't make me feel too stupid. :)

I had to get back to work so I didn't see the rescue but my parents told me when the tow truck driver pulled up, he said this wasn't the first time he pulled a car out of this pond!  We found out later that earlier that year he had towed out our stake president's car!  His family lived down the road from us and kept a canoe under our deck to use on the water. We were out of town but he had come over to check on the canoe and parked right at the top of our driveway, and before he knew what was happening, his car was coasting down toward the water. Our neighbor saw it happening and called out to his wife, but she didn't believe him because he was hung over from the night before. :)

Anyway when it was all said and done, I was beyond lucky!  The damage could have been much worse.  When the car rolled it actually swerved to miss the gazebo and swerved AGAIN to miss the dock at the edge of the pond!  Plus it hadn't rained in a few weeks so the water was super low.  The car ran into 10 inches of mud instead of the 3-4 feet of water that is usually there.  Our stake president had major water damage and a foot of water/mud to clean out of the inside.  This time the tow truck pulled it out of the pond, hosed it off and drove it back up to the driveway.  There was no damage at all!  Like I said, I was beyond lucky!

My not-to-scale, very rudimentary, very awful depiction of the events.

My dad had sent the Pond Picture to me last year saying it was one of his favorite stories.   I'm so glad.  It could have been a very expensive event for me!  Luckily, luck was on my side.

My sweetie turned 40!

1. He's the perfect guy to have at parties.
2. He is super frugal when it comes to himself.
3. But also is the most generous person I know when it comes to other people.
4. His crazy perfectly compliments my crazy so he knows how to support and encourage me.
5. He has big hands that make mine disappear when he holds them.
6. He is usually the first one to apologize after an argument, no matter who's fault is is.
7. He's patient & supportive with all my crazy projects even when he doesn't see the vision.
8. He is righteous man who follows Christ and serves diligently in every calling he has ever had.
9. He is a gifted teacher and knows how to draw out a good discussion.
10. He can talk in almost every accent from around the world.

11. He is not one who waits for an invitation to serve. He sees a need & gets to work.
12. He can do "Magic String" with his face.
13.  He served a righteous mission in Buenos Aires. 
14. He takes the boys swimming every week even when I just sit on the sidelines. (Cold water phobia. It's a real thing.)
15. He has read to Lucas every night since he was a baby.  Still does.
16. He took over putting Jonah to bed so they could start reading together every night.
17. He has a cute crooked smile.
18. He came from a wonderful family who I love dearly.
19. He rocks at Trivial Pursuit and is a Scrabble king.

20. He is one fabulous kisser.
21. He is always telling me I'm gorgeous and makes me feel beautiful, no matter what condition I'm in.
22. He plays board games with our family even though he doesn't like them all that much.
23. He has some pretty awesome dance moves.
24. He irons.
25. He has a mind for movie quotes and he's passed on that talent to both our two boys.
26. He picked my mother up and twirled her over his shoulder the first weekend he met her, thus adding a whole new dynamic to our family.
27. He was my rock throughout all our years of infertility treatments.
28. He likes to flirt with older ladies.
29. He's a mama's boy and still calls to talk to her regularly.

30. He works tirelessly to support our family, even at times when he has hated his job.
31. He's a talker of feelings and all things relationship.
32. He's always there to do the heavy lifting in my home projects.
33. He is the mighty wrestler of our boys.
34. He leads our family in scripture study, FHE, prayers & service.
35. He takes me to the temple on our dates and works hard to live his covenants
36. He is aware of his weaknesses and faults and makes goals to help overcome them.
37. He makes some mean scrambled eggs.

38. He is my greatest supporter and cheerleader, always encouraging me. My best friend.
39. He has unwavering testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, His gospel and His church.
40. He is wonderful father who is teaching our boys how to work hard, to serve the Lord and how to be men.

 Love this old man of mine.

My husband is a saint

I've wanted to make over the dining room for awhile.  And I wanted to start with a new table.  We've loved the one we have. Just an IKEA wood table we bought 7-8 years ago.  It's held up very well but I just wanted a change.  I searched around for a new table and every one I wanted was WAY more than I wanted to pay for it.

So, I decided I was going to make one.  (Of course you did. As my sister would say :)  I found instructions for a sturdy farm house table, started pricing wood, etc.  And then I thought I really just wanted to do a different table top.

Anyway, to make a long story short, after talking to Aaron about it, we decided to use the table we had and just add a new table top.  So much easier!!

We were going to make one that lifted off the existing table but then that got to be too much and too heavy, so the new top went straight onto the old one.

I already knew what I wanted to do.  A herringbone design.  So off to Home Depot I went to get wood, glue, sandpaper, etc.

I measured out the table and wood as best I could (me and my math skills) and then just went for it.  Aaron helped cut the wood since the table saw makes me nervous. I hate it when the wood kicks back and flies of the table if you're not doing it just right.

Then came the fun part.

I got out my handy nail gun I got for Christmas the year before.   Yippee!

And I basically just keep nailing until I covered the entire table.  Some angles got the teeniest bit off, so I had to fill the cracks in with slivers of wood and putty. 

Then came the messy part.  Sanding.  This table is big and heavy so we just kept it in the dining room while I worked on it.  So now I hung sheets over the doorways hoping to keep some of the sawdust out of the rest of the house.

I sanded and sanded.  And then Aaron cut off the edges of the nailed pieces of wood to line up with the edges of the real table.  I tried but I couldn't keep my lines straight! I added strips of 2 x 1/4 in to the sides to cover up the line between the two tops.

Now came the scary part.  I chose poplar because of price and variation of the wood but it is notoriously hard to stain just right.   I thought I could handle it but now that the time came I knew I was just going to mes it up.

This is where my husband's patience comes in.  I started this table in....yikes.  I just looked up when I took that first picture and it was Jan 17th, folks.   That's how long our dining room has been out of commission!  Ok, I've been done a few weeks now but still!  My sweetie is a saint and was just supportive as I figured out what I was going to do.

And I warn everyone that was where my own, personal Crazy started peeking. 

1. Tried "Driftwood" stain to bleach it out and add grey. The look I was going for.
2. One coat, waited two days, second coat.  And don't like it.  Just looks dirty, mottled, messy.
3. Sand everything down.  And set it aside for a week to come up with Plan B. (Yes, I did test it in a smaller piece of wood.)
4. Decided to change look completely and go for a dark brown finish.
5. Stain looked great!  But you totally lost the pattern I had worked so hard to make. Waited a few days, still didn't like it. Didn't take a picture.
8. Sanded it all down.
9. With the two different stains and sandings, the top actually looked like I wanted it!  Happy mistakes!
10. Polyurethaned it to finish, seal and protect.
11. Poly completely drew out all the yellow. So nothing looked grey or bleached out anymore, just yellow.
12. Found out most poly's did that.
13. Found a "non-yellowing" poly finish.
14. Sanded everything down again.
15. Used the non-yellowing finish on the table.  All the yellow was again showing up on the wood!
16. Decided "I hate this table." And just left it

 Aaron loved it. Or atleast said he did because was as done with this table as I was. I painted the legs a dark grey because that's what I had in the garage and then I decided I didn't care anymore and left it. 

  I

For about a month....but in the back of my head, I just didn't like it.  It's not what I had in my head and after mulling it over for a few weeks, I decided I didn't want to leave it when it wasn't what I wanted. 

I know. It's my Crazy.

I knew enough to wait until Aaron went out of town for two days so he didn't have to see this crazy.  And yes, I sanded it all down a.g.a.i.n.  No judging.  I am aware.

I decided to color my own wax from a stain I had and just used wax.  And I now love it!  No, the wax isn't as durable as polyurethane, but I'm not caring at this point.

Aaron handled it perfectly and just smiled when he got home and said he loved it too. 

I know it's not everyone's taste but I love it and when I get the whole dining room together, I'm thinking it'll all look great.

I have these whites Eames-knock off chairs I want to put in here with upholstered end chairs.
 

I also painted the room again. From a beigey-green to white.  Changed out the chandelier (which is a whole other story) and added curtains so far.  (I still need to hem them.)  I want to do a paneled wall and add art work but that comes in stages. I've moved on right now. We painted and decorated on of the guest bedrooms and I painted the playroom, which had paint test patches on it for two years.

 

Anyway, back to the table. I like that it's a bit rustic, nail holes, imperfect wood, etc.

I took a long time.  Longer than I ever thought.  But I'm pleased and I am so grateful for my dear husband who was patient and supportive the whole time, even though we had enough sawdust in the house you'd think we rebuilt the entire dining room. 

 I haven't told him yet but I've a hankering for more nail gun projects.  I have a few that have been rolling around in my head for a while.

But don't worry honey, these ones will take shorter than 4 months, I promise.

I'm a fake

I kill plants.   Every time.  I don't know what it is.  I always give them too much water.  Not enough water.  Too much or not enough of something.  Every time.

But I keep trying anyway.  This time I knew I had a lot stacked against me but I wanted pots out by the front door. Pots that would get very little direct sunlight.  Like hardly any.  I searched for shade plants as best I could, planted them, gave them a good watering and crossed my fingers.

I watered them every other day really well but of course it wasn't right.  Everything died on me, like always.  So I had a decision. 

- Buy more plants and keep trying to not kill them.
- Don't have pots out at all.
- Go fake.

I know some people are vehemently against fake plants but that is all I have in my house.  I love greenery but my thumb is just not green. Not even a hint.  And I'd never ventured the fake stuff out side.

Then IKEA and Michael's had some cute, semi-realistic looking greenery and I said to heck with it, Fake it is.

(Everything looks a little askew in this picture.  I've fixed the leaves but too frustrated with my computer to upload a new picture. And before we put up our little sign, we had solicitors stopping by to chat ALL THE TIME. I had to put a stop to it. Some still stop by even with a sign.)

I like it.  It fits my "Set it & Forget it" mentality of plants and nothing has to come to my house to die.  I consider it a win-win.

I also bought a new rug and saturated it with water-proofing stuff to help keep the stains and junk down. 

Yep, all about low maintenance around here.

Life & Times #6

This story actually focuses on our little sister Amanda. She kindly gave me permission to write this one out.  I would not want this story lost to our progeny.  For years she couldn't talk about this incident even though we all thought it was hilarious.  I guess you just don't understand unless you were the one left naked in the middle of the lake.

It was a holiday of some sort and we had gone to swim in a nearby lake with close family friends. I can't remember all the details but Dads and older sibling were not there.  I do remember it was cloudy and not too hot so we had Fox Lake basically to ourselves.    I was 13, our friend Heather was 13 as well and Amanda was 11.  We swam out a ways and played in the water.  There was nobody else around and things got boring real fast, so we came up with a most fabulous idea.

What if we all changed bathing suits in the dark water of the lake and then went into lunch and see who notices?!  We thought we were just hi-larious.  So that's what we did.  We quickly did the ol' switcheroo and swam back to the shore.

Of course our mothers noticed right away and were for some reason not as amused as we were.  3 preteen daughters changing suits out in the open water?   Not funny.

But we were so amused with ourselves. After lunch we swam back out in the water to change back into our original suits.  Both Heather and I made our hand offs without any incident but something happened with Amanda, and just like our mothers forewarned, she missed the toss and in a split second her suit was swept into the dark depths of Lake Fox.  Gone.

We searched and searched but that suit was no where.  Being the wonderful and supportive friend and sister, Heather and I busted up laughing from shock and the hilarity of it all. But poor Amanda, the one left with nothing to put on, soon f.r.e.a.k.e.d.out.  She starting hyperventilating thinking she was going to be stuck out in the lake until the cover of night and then Mom was going to kill her.   We tried to comfort her and calm her down all the while trying to stop laughing ourselves.  For some reason she did not see the tremendous humor we saw in our situation.

A man about 30 yards from us (one of about 5 other people at the lake) noticed how upset she was and asked if everything was ok and started to wade closer to us.  Amanda yelped and dove under the water while we assured him all was well.

Amanda was NOT okay at this point and was sobbing while Heather and I debated who got to go ashore and explain to The Moms what happened.  We had to decide who could keep the straightest face and look the most remorseful when we broke the news. 

Somehow I got picked to go in while Heather stayed to try and soothe my sister.   The moms reacted about how any mom would react and were somewhere stuck between anger, righteous "I told you so" and compassion for the daughter left stranded.  We had to figure out the best way to get Amanda to shore.  Luckily Heather's mom had brought her suit and handed it over so I could swim it out to her.

Amanda was so grateful and was finally calming down until she actually had to get out of the water realizing just how badly this woman's suit did not fit a 11 year old's body.  The long straps hung past her armpits and the crotch swung down at her knees.   We met her as far out as we could without soaking the towel but the sight of her having to wear this large bathing suit sent Heather and I back into fits of laughter.  Amanda was just ticked at this point, traumatized and angry.  She wanted nothing to do with us the rest of the day and just would not see the humor we saw in the whole event.

I remember we all went to a movie that night with Heather and I relating the incident to all the other family members and my sister getting all upset again.  In fact she would not talk about it for years.

I'm re-reading this and realizing how mean I was!   It was just so funny to me that I ignored how traumatized my sister was.  I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to my sweet little sister.  If we had to do it all over again...sorry, I probably would still laugh but not quite so raucously.

I love you Amanda! You're a good sport!

Life & Times #5

This happened when I was a teacher at the MTC.  I cannot remember which district it was or how long I was teaching, but this little snafu occurred during a vocabulary lesson.

The way vocab was taught when I was there oh-so-many years ago was that we wrote the Spanish words on the board, then while the missionaries stood, the teacher yelled each word in English or Spanish and the missionaries always repeated the word in Spanish.  We yelled I guess because it kept them focused and attentive??

For example: the word in this little scenario was "descanzo."

I yelled out "Desanzo!"

Missionaries: "Descanzo!"

I would yell it in English: "To take a break or a rest!"

Missionaries: "Descanzo!"

Me: "Rest!"

Missionaries: "Descanzo!"

Me: "Break!"

Missionaries: "Descanzo!"

Me: "Rest!"

Missionaries: "Descanzo!"

Me: "BREAST!"

Missionaries: .......*crickets chirping*

Not knowing how to react, I just silently turned myself to face the black board.

Then there was a stifled laugh.  And everyone busted up.  

I had yelled "BREAST!" to a group of little missionaries and no one just went with it.  They had to call me out with their complete silence.  I don't know who's face was more red, mine or theirs.

 One good thing: I doubt they ever forgot what "descanzo" meant.