It Makes Perfect Non-sense

I think it is funny when people say that something makes "perfect sense" because in reality so few things make "perfect" sense. Indeed, more things make perfect nonsense than make perfect sense - and in the event that something does make perfect sense - something else (usually directly related) doesn't make sense at all! For instance, it makes perfect sense that I said "YES!" when B asked me to marry him - but his asking me still causes people to say, "Why? He seems like a smart and normal person!" Sense. Nonsense. See?

Well, it is my observation that the sense/nonsense theory is proved constantly with children. Today I am writing about their eating habits. Starting at the bottom; A loves tomatoes and salad and things spiced heavily with cayenne pepper and chipotle. She won't, however, take a single bite of toast, cookies, or sandwiches. She prefers fruit to cake and veggies to chips. Mind you, I am not complaining especially since we have her alter ego next in line. E only likes the frosting on the cake, not the cake. She refuses to eat any kind of fruit whatsoever! If they are crushed beyond recognition she will eat them, no problem, but if you can see them - forget it! Vegetables to her are a punishment (cruel and unusual - to be exact) but she loves a good ol' can of V8 and will eat salsa - even the chunky kind. Sense/nonsense. See what I'm saying? It reminds me of my brother, Bryan. He would not touch an apricot but he would eat apricot jam right out of the jar. He hated tomatoes and thought ketchup was a beverage. Go figure. C doesn't like potatoes. POTATOES for heavens sake! Who doesn't like potatoes? Her favorite food? Strawberries. She is another of my children who will eat an entire salad very happily - but she is a little more like me in that she eats it for the Ranch Dressing! M is a daring eater. Most often he will try something everyone else will only acknowledge with a gagging noise. I think he sometimes eats things just to gross out his siblings - but whatever works! T is getting better in his old age about trying things but he still thinks that green food is not fit for human consumption. It's not surprising when I hear B's mom saying that he still doesn't like green beans (in B's defense, he has been eating green beans the whole 12 years we have been married).

The moral of this story (besides just getting out a random gripe or observation) is that most times things make perfect nonsense and dang it - that's just how it is. So why is it human nature to try to make sense out of everything? My new philosophy? It makes perfect sense - nonsense, that is.

Favorite/least favorite food -

B - Favorites - Any spicy meat with a good homemade dipping sauce, breakfast food, homemade onion rings, cayenne pepper popcorn, pies - especially apple. Least Favorites - raw - plain tomatoes, crunchy food on soft bread/tortilla etc...

H - Favorites - Dark chocolate, Gazpacho, chicken on bruschetta with mint pea puree, cayenne pepper popcorn, garlic bread, garlic anything really, cake, anything Brad cooks. Least Favorites - Ramen noodles, salmon.

T - Favorites - meat pie, Ramen noodles, Zuppa Toscana, chocolate chip cookies, Farina. Least Favorites - broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers.

M - Favorites - Papa Murphy's pepperoni pizza, cheese burgers, broccoli, salad, tacos with a hard shell. Least Favorites - salsa, corn dogs, taquitos.

C - Favorites - strawberries, salad with Ranch dressing, garlic bread, ice cream, cake/cupcakes, muffins, eggs. Least Favorites - Fruit Loops, potatoes, vitamins.

E - Favorites - hot dogs, cold cereal, chicken nuggets, french fries, crackers, dippy pizza, BBQ chicken, grilled potatoes. Least Favorite - bananas, strawberries, mushrooms, lettuce.

A - Favorites - tomatoes, salad, strawberries, bananas, pizza, whole wheat pancakes, German pancakes, anything with syrup on it, eggs. Least favorites - bread.

Broken Bones and Dirty Diapers

When I was little there was a girl who used to come visit us because her mom and my mom were childhood friends. Her name was Erika Pack. She used to keep us awake at night telling us the most wonderfully scary stories in the world! One was a story about a haunted house. A man came to look at the house and he heard "Bloody bones and dirty diapers!" (said in a very ghostish voice) and he ran away. A lady came and heard "Bloody bones and dirty diapers!" (in the same voice, although when she ran I now believe it was because she was a mom who was terrified of having to potty train!) Finally a baby comes to see the house (why a baby would be house shopping alone was never a question in my mind as a six year old for some reason) and heard "Bloody bones and dirty diapers" and replied, "You keep your bloody bones and I'll keep my dirty diapers!" I guess the baby bought the house and lived happily ever after - not that any of this has anything to do with... well, anything - but we have had some musculoskeletal issues in our family lately and I do need to start potty training Anna, so recording a happy memory from my childhood as a lead in to all of this junk seemed like a good idea.


In order of injury awareness - not occurance:

On May 16 E was riding her new birthday bike (4 years old on May 10) when she tipped over into the grass and broke her left arm. She came in fussing but not hysterical and said her hand hurt. I looked at it but it wasn't even scratched. She sat on my lap and said after a few minutes, "Mom! It hurts too bad!" I asked her what she wanted and she requested a bandaid (which cures everything - well, nearly) and I was happy to give her one. When I asked where she wanted it, she pointed to her arm about two inches from the wrist. I took off her jacket and noticed that her little tiny arm was BENT! We rushed to the Urgent Care where X-rays confirmed the break and also revealed the severity. Their Dr. called an Orthopedic Surgeon for us and we ran over to Dr. Biddulph's office at 5:00 on a Friday evening while his family waited for him to go on vacation. He was super kind to E and did a great job of twisting her arm back into place (an action that usually causes much screaming according to him, but E was - although obviously in pain - quite calm for the events) and soft casting it. Last Friday she got her hard cast which is PINK! Hooray! On Sunday she told me "Mom, I can't wear a dress with long sleeves or no one will be able to see my pretty cast." So there you have it Paris and New York, broken arms are IN this year.

On Monday I visited the Podiatrist because just over a month ago E (who happens to be our calm child - ironically!) in a little fit of anger at being asked to kneel down for prayer (for probably the 10th time) dropped huffily onto the side of my foot with her knee. It has hurt ever since but has gotten worse lately. Podiatric examination revealed that I have a tendon that is torn or something and after an intensly painful injection of cortisone (I think) and a brace that I will be wearing for a month, I am on my way to recovery. I was even able to go up to my Cub Scout Day Camp yesterday at Krupp Scout Hollow. The four of us "Scouting Girls" took 17 Cub Scouts up past Rigby for the day and had a great time - despite Mother Nature's attemts to blow us away!

Now, for the third thing (don't they say accidents happen in threes? - well, thank heavens we are done!) Two months ago (or there about) B was playing basketball with the boys at the Church (not to be confused with "church ball" which is often fatal - but at least body-castable). As they were leaving (indeed the boys were already walking out) B threw "one last shot" and pushed off wrong causing much pain and an audible POP of the knee. Since it has failed to heal itself, he too visited Dr. Biddulph (we are going to pay for all of his kids to go to Ivy League schools by the time this is over!) and had an MRI and found that he has a large medial meniscus tear on his left knee which will be surgically repaired on June 24th.

And so, if forced to pick, bloody (broken, torn, etc) bones or dirty diapers, I think I would keep my dirty diapers too - now if only we could sell our house and get the haunted house...

Perfectly Imperfect From the Beginning...

I don't really care much what people think I should be doing - as a matter of fact I am nearly completely content with my life. There are just a couple of things that I think or wish I were doing that occasionally plague me. One is keeping in contact with friends (insert head nods here). I know! I love you or you wouldn't have been invited to view my blog - I just call about two people a week, email a couple more once a month or so, and only make personal visits when it involves a ton of chocolate or a near death experience. Sorry. I admit to being pathetic in this. The other thing I am nagged by is my lack of journal keeping. As a matter of fact I have a joke with Brad that if he writes in his journal for both of us I will read scriptures for both of us! Too bad it's like drinking water for someone else who is thirsty - not so effective! (and as a disclaimer for Brad, he reads his own scriptures but I still don't write in my journal). Because of these two things I have caved into the peer pressure of the blog world. I have to say, I love being able to glimpse into the lives of my blogging friends - so hopefully you will either get some laughs from reading this - or you will be able to block me as an email sender.

So here is the rundown for anyone who is seriously out of touch. Brad and I are living in Ammon with our five children - Tanner, Madsen, Camilla, Ella, and Anna. Brad started "Snake River Eye Associates" with our great friend Dr. Dennis Radford and he spends five days a week taking care of business while the children, who are now all gleefully free from school for the summer, and I having nothing but fun, making nothing but messes and then spending all of our time cleaning them up (just ask the poor overworked kids!)

As a surprise to most of you, we have had our house on the market for a few months (hence the obsession with cleaning) and are looking forward to moving closer to the highway this summer (Brad works three days of his week in Pocatello - which is about an hour south of Ammon). We have also just plain outgrown this house. We are dang out of room! As if to prove this point Brad just dumped a bowl full of blueberries and syrup out of the fridge onto the floor. Here goes the cleaning again. We have felt inspired through this whole process and are interested to see how it is going to work out.

It is surprising to think that with all of this fun and exciting news and all of my witty comments so far that I may have more to say in a day or two - but the reality is that I am a never-ending well of inspiriation and laughs - so tune in soon for more of my imperfect insight to my perfect life.