Kids Say the Darndest Things - Apr. '13 Edition

Taken from the sidebar...

Miss B was at the kitchen sink using the dish scrubber....
Brookelle: "I like washing! You know why?"
Me: "Why?"
Brookelle: "It's like I'm Cinderella!" 4/13

It's All Relevant

For the month of April, our topic of study for the Youth at church has been The Apostasy and the Restoration.
The introduction lesson went over the different events of The Restoration, and I was given this picture and asked to tell about it:

{Joseph Smith receives the gold plates from Angel Moroni}

This has been on my mind all month.  

It was my turn to teach the lesson yesterday, and my topic was "Why Do We Need the Book of Mormon?"

Basically, the answer to the question, that doubles as the lesson title, is found in an awesome talk given by President Ezra Taft Benson in 1986:

"There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book." 

What kind of POWER?

{Thanks for asking!}  I made a handout to give to my Young Women based on all the powers I found in a talk titled, "The Power of the Word."  if one will immerse themselves in the scriptures.

 

{These are NOT mild promises!}

THIS talk has been on my mind for TWO MONTHS, ever since it was mentioned in our February Stake Conference.

And THEN, tonight, I was going through our old photo files that are saved on our computer in preparation for a scrapbook retreat I am going to this weekend.  Coincidentally, I left off scrapbooking our Fall 2007 photos last time, so I pulled those up to send them to the photo lab to print.......and guess what photos they were?

It was the photos from a trip we took to upstate New York (Palmyra), namely the Hill Cumorah, to visit Matt's parents when they were serving a mission in the area.

 

(don't mind my closed eyes! It's good of everyone else!)

LOOK AT MY BABIES!  They DO look like mere babies in these photos!  Oh Dear.

It was such an awesome & beautiful feeling there on The Hill that day.  I remember it felt so good in the SUN - it just added to the good feeling from the SPIRIT.  Especially since the Autumn chill was beginning to creep into the air in other places - especially in the trees.

NO WAY!  I seriously haven't looked at or remembered these photos FOR YEARS (ever since I downloaded them 5 1/2 yrs. ago.  I thought it was just too incredible that these photos came back right when I was deep in my pondering and study of these events of The Restoration.

It's come full circle for me this month:

 {THEN}

{NOW}

BUT, SERIOUSLY....can you believe my children?  They were little, little (except for their chubby faces!)  It makes my heart go into a tiny bit o' shock!

A Silver Lining

My Mission President first taught me about "Silver Linings." As in, "Every cloud has a silver lining."
He taught that in the midst of difficulty - and there was PLENTY on the mission (our message was rejected, cancelled baptism dates, unable to receive permission from parents/husbands/friends who were opposed to and would not grant permission to their loved ones being Baptized, investigators dropping us, foreign languages to learn, WEIRD food, "No Shows" for appointments & church, The cold/wet/humid/scorching weather...on a bike, companion relationships, etc. - sometimes ALL in the SAME day! Aauuugh!)

But, then, he said, there was ALWAYS something GOOD that could come out of it.  Blessings were all around - even if we did not discover them until a WHILE after the desperate/unhappy/gloomy situations.


Soooo, in the middle of our Post- Ruptured Patellar Tendon life - and I say, "OUR" because it has totally affected our whole family...."Single parent" with one more "child" to care for, but only the same amount of [limited] time - and only ONE driver....

I found a SILVER LINING!

{compliments of our Orthopedic Dr.....I made the request, and a trip to the DMV, and voila!}

And what's better than having a handicapped parking pass?

Having TWO passes!  (One for each car.)

Being a whole foot shorter than Matt, with much shorter legs, I've always had to move along, it seems, with a slow gallop to keep up with him.  NOW.....I'm walking very S.L.O.W.L.Y. and I'm still in front of him.  So, the shorter distance he has to "walk" (what do you call it when one move on crutches?) the better!

BUT!  I will not abuse it.  I have been in the car all by myself, and I pass the front, handicap parking stalls and find one further away, even though.....legally, technically, I could get away with it.

I've noticed others do park in those "reserved" spots EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE A HANDICAP PASS.  And THEN WE have no where semi-close to park.  I'm totally bugged by that.  Don't do it!  There ARE people who really need it!!!

And it's good for 3 MONTHS!  SCORE.  (Hope & Comfort among the challenges.)  It makes my "Gratitude List."

--------------
On the same subject of "Silver Linings" - did you think I was going to write about the movie?  I'm upset that Silver Linings Playbook is rated R.  It sounds like a great idea for a movie.....that I won't be seeing.  Hey!  You movie making people!  Why do you have to ruin all these movies with crap that brings them down to a disgusting & inappropriate rated R level?  Don't do it!

(I guess it's "Opposite NIKE Day")

It's Justified!

I discovered Pinterest about a year and a half ago.  (Thanks Jill!) 

When I tried to explain what Pinterest was to my 70 yr. old mom, it blew her away, but it's really a similar concept to what's been around for a while...in her day, in fact.  When she understood what it was, she replied,  "OH, so this just takes the place of what I used to do when I ripped out magazine pages I liked and filed them away in my "Idea Folders" all those years!"

YES!!....except more high-tech....and less clutter-y....and easier to find all in one spot!

And now I have over 2,000 Pins.

WHAT?!?

How much time did THAT take?!?

Early on, I actually had to change my settings because I would get so many emails whenever someone liked or re-pinned one of my pins, and then I would go and check THEM out....and before I knew it, I'd been sitting at the computer for an hour! 

So, NO MORE of that for me.

With so many pins, do you think I'm ever going to get around to doing all (any?) of it?

Well, I have!  And I'll prove it to you.....

 

Exhibit #1:  "A Box (basket) Full of Sunshine"

It just so happened that my daughter's teacher's favorite color is YELLOW.
So, I thought this would be so fun! 

Dollar Tree had this yellow basket all ready to go for me!  ;)

I didn't end up using the same products that were shown in my pin, but once I got going,
it was super easy to find so many yellow things at the store,
in my pantry, and in my "emergency stash" at home.  ;)

Finished product.
My other daughter was really upset that her teacher's favorite color
was PURPLE and this didn't work out for her to do it, too!


Exhibit #2:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

I REALLY persuaded my daughter, Brookelle, to go this direction (forget the Princesses!)
for her 4 yr. old b-day party just because of the pins I had collected on this!

The invitation.

The decorations.

Reading THE BOOK.

{nice MOUTH action shot!}

The FOOD.  (everything the caterpillar ate from the book!)

Exhibit #3:  Favors for my Young Women at church

It's an excuse to go visit them all at their homes!

And teenagers love pop, right?

 {7*UP} lifting ways to start your first week of school

BECOME A "FAN" of GENERAL CONFERENCE

{if you haven't already!}

"Decide now to make General Conference a priority in your life.

Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that 

are given.  Listen to or read the talks more than once to

better understand and follow the conusel.  By doing these things,

the gates of hell will not prevail against you, the powers of darkness

will be dispersed from before you, and the heavens will 

shake for your good."

Paul V. Johnson, of the Seventy

And speaking of General Conference.....

Exhibit #4:  General Conference attention-getters

 If you're paying attention to WHO is actually speaking, you get to snack on their treat!  :)

Exhibit #5:  Necklace Storage - "No More Tangles"

 

I put these hooks in my closet shelf separator thing-y for my necklaces. 

Exhibit #6:  Hawaiian Birthday Party

Now THIS party was completely my 8 yr. old daughter's choice.  (no forcing encouraging like with my youngest)

She'd had the "Luau" theme chosen for over a year, but Pinterest gave me some inspiration.

(I actually didn't follow the pin's cheese ball recipe, just decorated it to look like a pineapple.)



Exhibit #7:  Dinner and Dessert!
Well, I guess I can't really call it an "exhibit" if I didn't take photos of it, huh?

How about I just make a list - with the links:

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Korean Beef

Ground Beef Risotto

Neiman Marcus Chicken Salad

Chicken Piccata

Shrimp Tacos

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Chicken Corn Chowder

Copy Cat Pizza Hut personal pan pizza

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

plus many more.....!

So, I'M TOTALLY JUSTIFIED, RIGHT?!?

 

;)

FYI: I'm at  http://pinterest.com/suzbaduz/

What Could've Been (or A Pity Party on a Friday Night)

Tonight we were SUPPOSE TO be getting on a plane to fly out to Cancun.

This was our "replacement vacation" for our failed Cruise attempt back in February.

Matt & I (no kids) had a week long reservation at an ADULTS ONLY All Inclusive Resort on the beach in Cancun, The Golden Parnassus.

We had a room booked with breathtaking views of Nichupte Lagoon and the Caribbean beyond.

 

We were going to eat to our heart's (tummy's?) content at any or all of the six restaurants at OUR resort and/or the ten restaurants at it's sister resort down the road.

We wanted to take advantage of the Spa part of the Resort, too.

BUT THEN THIS HAPPENED!!!

Which pretty much creates all kids of problems for a vacation like this.

 Matt can't even walk on his own, so....

I present to you Problem #1:

He can't bend his leg either.

Problem #2:

And he can't even get his knee wet.....

Problem #3:

{"They" say the Ocean's crashing waves against ruptured knees is also BAD = Problem #4}

And if he can't even drive a car, how is he going to manage any of these?

{Problem #5}

That "SUPPOSE TO" phrase I opened this post with, was the key word.  NEEDLESS TO SAY, we had to cancel our vacation.

{Boo hoo hoo.  Bwaaaahhhhhh!}

And, tonight, instead of flying to Paradise, I stayed home - on a Friday night - being crafty:

 

(Which would you rather be doing?) ;)

Imagine that:  TWO failed vacation attempts so far in 2013.

Don't you wish you had my "LUCK?"

Kids Say the Darndest Things - Mar. '13 Edition

Taken from the sidebar...

Brookelle: "My nose doesn't smell too well."
Me: "Why? Do you have a stuffy nose?"
Brookelle: "No. My nose is just turned off." 3/13

The Things He'll Do for [the love of] March Madness

Once upon a time my husband's Young Men's basketball team at church went all the way to the Region Tournament.  It was one of THE BEST times of his whole entire life.  He has NEVER forgotten that memory!  He never tires of talking about, thinking about, reliving with the boys "The Glory Days." 

{Matt #32 on the front row, far right}

So much so, that one year for Christmas several years ago, I gave him a "Church Ball" DVD that had all the old video taped footage of games on it.  He considers that one of his favorite gifts of all time.  (Until I gave him THIS gift.)

Welllll.....Because of his past experience, which created an extreme fondness for Church Ball, he's always  wanted to keep on playing it - he can't give it up - even today, 27 years later.  His biggest error of judgement, though, is NOT realizing (accepting?) he no longer is playing with his 14 yr. old legs & body!

Which leads us to a couple of weeks ago, when during a game, he jumped up for a rebound, and when he landed, he just fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Then he yelled out.

Everyone stopped, including me on the sidelines, and stared at him laying there on the court.

Then he started to pound the floor with his fist and chanted, "It's Bad!  It's Bad!"

The other guys reached out their hands to him to help him back up.

But, he informed them HE COULDN'T MOVE!

In the end, all those guys found one of the 6 ft. long folding tables at the church and transferred him onto that (amidst his yells of pain for them touching/moving his leg) and carried him out, Pallbearer Style, to my make shift Hearse (mini van with all the back seats removed or folded down into the floor.)

(Nice dinosaur-cell-phone pics)

We then spent the next couple of hours in the E.R.
{Complete with more yelling as they roughly handled his leg}
The E.R. was very familiar with Church Ball injuries - they all guessed correctly when they found out he'd been playing basketball that evening.

The Findings:  A Ruptured Patellar Tendon

They sent him home with his left leg in an immobilizing brace and pain killers, and instructions to contact our Orthopedic for necessary surgery (Who has a personal orthopedic?  Not us.)

Which led to Matt going under the knife four days later.

Pre-Op room at TOSH

Both Matt & the Surgeon had to each confirm & agree (with a written "yes") which leg would be cut open.

Can you tell that there's no "shape" to his knee?  The knee cap in floating up in his quad.

Miss B says Matt looks like "a Baker" with his required sterile head wear on!  ;)

It took him a [longer than expected time] to come out of the anesthesia.  When they finally allowed me into the Recovery Room, his eyes showed NO SIGN of recognition when I came into his view at his bedside!  And then the Effects lasted for a while..... 

I (the instructions were for "a responsible adult" - and he got ME) had to stay with him for the first 24 hrs. to monitor his state.

He was cold and requested the heater, and then he was hot and wanted the A/C.

He thought I was going up hills and down valleys on the ride home even though I was driving straight on the freeway.  

He said a lot of wacky things and asked all these questions that I finally just started replying, "Don't worry about it!" to him.  

At one point, he started playing his Japanese music through his SmartPhone and he held it up to his ear and was singing along (in Japanese) out loud.  

But, I think the funniest thing had to be when he was sitting in the La-Z-Boy and he, all of a sudden, says, "Do I have a THIRD nipple?" as he's feeling across his chest.  Then he lifted up his shirt and found this:

Apparently, the surgery team had failed to remove all the probes from his body before they released him!  ;)

Over the last couple of weeks, I've added another title to my duties:  Full-time Nurse.
I've been administering all his medication, (& documenting all his meds intake since I can't remember it all in my distracted brain), assisting with transfers, hooking up his ice machine, unhooking his ice machine, refilling his ice machine, aiding with bathing, toileting, dressing & grooming, chauffeuring, guiding him up & down stairs, calling the Dr. with reports of too much pain, calling my Pharmacist friend for advise on a better pain meds plan, calling the Dr. back with my suggestions for new meds - which they TOTALLY hate - and which makes Matt/me look like we are "addicts" asking for drugs, remove dressing wrap on knee (while wearing blue sterile gloves), perform infection inspection, re-bandaging his incision site, reposition for comfort, put on socks, take off socks, turn off the lights & tuck him into bed.

THUS the lack of New Posts to this Blog!

That first week, post-surgery, I felt like I had a newborn again, because I was setting my alarm to wake up every three hours to give meds, or take him to the bathroom, or change the ice.  And then when we or I tried to go anywhere, it took twice as long because I had to do a 10-point check list and get all our equipment before I was ready. 
Thank goodness we had people bring us in dinner the first several evenings since I had no time for that!!

It also happened to be the beginning of MARCH MADNESS, and since he had to be down anyway......he didn't miss a game!  Hmmmmm.....great timing!  Was this REALLY an "accident?" ;)   j/k.

He has to be in a straight-leg brace to immobilize his leg for 6 weeks, and then be in rehab for four months.

These days Matt can be seen wearing sport shorts or pants (the only clothes that work over the brace) and attractive panty hose (full-length compression socks), hobbling around on crutches.

He's come to reconsider if [Old Man's] Church Ball is even worth it.  What?!?  I never thought I'd hear him utter any such thing!  ;)