Thanksgiving Day 2008

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Here is a poem I just made up in honor of Thanksgiving....(keep in mind I've been up since 6 AM)

Thankful....

I'm thankful for friends, old and new
Yes, this means you, and you, and you.

I'm thankful for memories of days of old
Of summers hot and winters cold.

I'm thankful for family far and near
(To those who are far, I wish you were here)

I'm thankful for sons and daughters, too
for parents and brothers and a sister true.

For friends who gather to share our feast
for turkey and stuffing and three pies at least!

Thankful for all that's been given to me,
I'm thankful, yes, thankful, as I can be!


I know it's not much, but remember, I'm sleep deprived! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

In memory of Robert Clayton Patch

I got word yesterday that my Uncle Bob had passed away. He was 87 years old. He was my Dad's oldest brother. You can read his obituary here.

Uncle Bob was one of my favorite uncles. Our families didn't spend much time together when I was growing up, as we lived in Minnesota and he in Utah, but the times we did spend together stand out in my memories.

I always felt welcome in his home, even when I dropped by unannounced, which I did more than once when I was attending college in Utah. One time, when I was struggling with which major to choose, and was leaning toward Philosophy (much to my father's dismay!) I went to visit Uncle Bob at his office at BYU, where he was a professor for many years. He acted as if he had all the time in the world for me. We talked about school and philosophy and I left his office loaded down with books on the subject.

Uncle Bob was one of those people who always made me feel like he was glad to see me. He never talked down to me when I was little, as some adults did. He always treated me and spoke to me as an equal. Impressive, since I could NEVER hope to measure up to him! He was one of the most intelligent men I have ever known. He was an unmatched scriptorian, an avid genealogist, and a devoted family man.

He will be greatly missed.

Sports Mom???

I am a sports mom extrordinaire. Over the years I have supported (financially and emotionally) my kids in such sports as T-Ball, Baseball, Soccer, Gymnastics, (church)Basketball, Swimming, Ultimate Frisbee and Cross-Country. I even coached one son's soccer team for a couple of years, and taught pre-school gymnastics to help pay for that same son's gymnastics team fees.


Recently, however, my youngest son has decided he wants to be on the wrestling team at his high school. As great as I think sports are for kids, I'm not too sure about wrestling. What good can come of a sport where the goal is to overpower your opponent and then slam him down on the mat??? So far, as I've picked this boy up from practice, I've been met by bruises, cuts, scratches and a bloody lip. I am NOT impressed!!



I was not impressed at the end of one practice where the boys were running from one end of the wrestling room to the other. One wall was concrete blocks, the other was a wall of mirrors. As the boys were racing from one wall to the other, you guessed it, one of them ran full on into the wall of mirrors and shattered one of the panels. The boy fell to the ground, and the glass fell onto the mat. Thankfully, the boy was okay, just one small cut and a little shaken up. You would think that this would mean the end of practice for the day, but no. The coach just moved the boys over to either side of the broken glass and contunued the drill.



I am not impressed with the amount of time wrestling takes. School gets out at 3:30. Wrestling practice goes from 4:00 until 7:00. That's the scheduled time. It's never over before 7:15, and often goes until 7:30. This is Monday through Friday. On Saturdays they go from 9:00 until Noon. On weekdays, this means that Peter has left the house at 6:00 AM to go to Seminary (a before school scripture study class) and isn't home before 7:30-7:45 PM. Then he has to shower and eat dinner. That leaves us about an hour of down time before bed at 9:30. When is he supposed to do his homework? What about family time? What about Wednesday night church youth group? What about Scouting?


But, while I'm not impressed by wrestling, Peter loves it. He loves the physical exertion. He loves the weight-lifting they do for an hour each day. He wears the bruises and bloody lips and cuts and scratches as badges of honor, earned by a hard fought battle on the mat. He loves the comaraderie of his team mates and how the coach demands the best they can give.

So, like any good mother, I bite my tongue. I try to ignore the cuts and bruises and instead focus on the light in his eye, his confidence, and how he is building not only physical strength, but strength of character as he meets and exceeds the demands of the sport as well as the demands of the coach.

I just hope I can make it through the season.

Magic 8 Ball......

On Saturday, Eleanor and her boys were playing at the park. As it got closer to dinnertime, they had this conversation...

Eleanor: "So, do you guys want to go to Burger King for dinner?"

Sirius: "It is decidedly so."

Do you think he's been playing with the Magic 8 Ball too much?

Pet Peeves......

I have a lot of 'pet peeves'. I'm sure most of us do.



One of mine is laundry. Now, I don't mind doing laundry. In fact, it's one of the mundane household chores that I almost enjoy doing. (shhhhh, don't tell anyone!)



It's very satisfying to see a pile of dirty laundry transformed into clean, folded, hanging clothes. I get a real sense of accomplishment from that (hey, I have to take what I can get around here! Sometimes a clean folded pile of clothes is the only productive thing I can do in a day.)



But the thing I hate, no, abhor, is washing CLEAN laundry. You know what I'm talking about.......the kids don't put their clothes away, then the clean ones get mixed in with the dirty ones and the next thing you know you're sorting through a basket of laundry and finding folded shirts and matched socks!! But you have to wash them again, because they've been sitting in with the work out clothes from wrestling practice or the wet, muddy clothes from the campout and everything smells like a campfire! I mean, really, I must do about a dozen loads of laundry a week, I really don't need more of it to do!



So, there you have it. My first (of probably many!) post about 'Pet Peeves'. Feel free to share some of yours!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own.......

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
--Benjamin Franklin

I've been going to bed by 9:30 and getting up around 4:30 every morning........

It's not working...........

A Veteran's Day Thank You.......

On Veteran's Day................

Thanks, Dad......and thanks to your dad, too. And your brothers.

Thanks, Joe. And your dad. And your brother. And your sisters.

Thank you.....to all who have served. And all who currently serve.

Thanks for the time and effort and sacrifice on behalf of our country.

Thanks for keeping us safe. For giving us peace.

Thanks for giving all that you have for Flag, Family, and Freedom.

And thank you to those left here at home. Holding down the fort. Raising the kids. Paying the bills.

We may not like the war. But we love those who serve. So today, let's give thanks. Let's stand proud and fly our flags and rejoice in the freedoms that we have because of those who have given so much. Today.....let's remember.

Do you 'Twitter'?

My daughter, Mary, is a Twitter maniac. (For those of you who don't know 'twitter', get with the program and click here.) Twitter is for those of you/us who don't always have time to write an entire blog but still want to give people a quick update on what's going on in your life. You get 140 characters to write your 'twitter'.

Mary has reached a milestone on her 'twitter'. As of Monday night she has posted 1,000 twitter updates. Yes, you read that right, ONE THOUSAND twitter updates.

Now, let's say that each twitter takes 1 minute to do.........that means that Mary has 'twittered' away 1,000 minutes of her life. That translates to more than 16 hours of 'twitter'. This would be a conservative estimate as she would first have to sign on to twitter, then decide what to twitter, then make it fit into 140 characters. Some take less time, some more, but you get the idea.

So, I thought maybe I would poll my faithful followers (yes, all three of you!) as well as any lurkers that may, or may not, be out there. I will list some alternate activities for Mary, and after the polls close (maybe after the first 5 votes or so) I will present my findings to Mary and encourage her to spend some of her valuable time doing something other than twittering. Here goes:

A) Get a job

B) Do your homework

C) Make cookies

D) Take out the trash

E) Forget it, Mary, keep on Twittering, we love it!!

Remember, vote early and vote often!! Feel free to add your own suggestions. I will report the results on a future blog.

I Just Forgot........

This could SO be me. I forget everything!! (Okay, maybe not everything, but I do forget a lot of stuff!)

I was at the movie rental store the other day. I was looking over the vast selection when I came across the movie "The Bucket List". As I was looking at it, I had this conversation with myself: 'Oh, yeah, there's "The Bucket List", I wanted to see that one. Wait a minute........DID I see that one?? I think we may have rented that one already. Did I like it? Hmmmm, let me think.........'

I finally decided that we had rented it a couple of months back, but I couldn't remember if I had liked it or loathed it. I was hard pressed to even remember bits and pieces of the plot.

I'm like that with books, too. I have read all 7 Harry Potter books, yet when my friend called my a couple of weeks ago to tell me that she had just finished book 6 (she's a very busy lady!), then exclaimed, "Can you believe that ending!!". I had to pretend that I remembered the ending and exclaim along with her, "I know, I couldn't believe it either!", when in reality, I had no idea what she was talking about. I do know that I like the HP books, I just can't tell you what happens in any of them. I remember Harry, Hermoine, and Ron go to Hogwarts. Mayhem ensues. That's about it.

Usually, this isn't a problem. I try to remember the important stuff like dentist appointments and teacher meetings. I remember kids birthdays, and (the big) holidays. I tend to forget that my visiting teacher's are coming over (very important!) until they ring the doorbell and I look around at the mess in my living room. I forget that Mary has to be at school on Tuesday nights and that I agreed to make cookies for a ward activity.

The good news is that when I watch a movie with my kids that I've seen before, I can't tell them how it ended or even what part is coming up next. Case in point: Mary was watching 'Apollo 13' not too long ago. It was late and she wanted to go to bed so she came upstairs and asked me, "Mom, what happens at the end, do they all die?" My reply, "yes, Mary, they all die, just go to bed." (Okay, so maybe I remembered a little bit about that one, but it was late, and she did need to go to bed. So if she ever asks you about the really sad ending of that movie, just play along, okay?)

The bad news is that if there happens to be an inappropriate scene in a movie that I've already seen, I've forgotten that, too, and when it comes up I'm stuck saying, 'Oh, I forgot about THAT part! We really shouldn't even be watching this movie!'

I forget why I went upstairs. I forget that I have ground beef browning in the kitchen. I forget to rotate the laundry. I forget what I need at the store. I have even forgotten to pick kids up from school, (though I will deny that one should you bring it up and claim that I got stuck in traffic).

I guess with all this forgetting, I should go easier on my kid who forgets to make his bed, or do his homework, or unload the dishwasher, or take out the trash, or give me that important phone message. And when I say to them, 'How many times do I have to tell you to..........(whatever)' I should think about how many times I've been told. Told to get my food storage, or do my visiting teaching, or read my scriptures, or magnify my calling.

So if I have something important to do, it's best if I write it down. Really, if it's not written down it doesn't have a chance of getting done. Because I know this about myself, I tend to make a lot of lists. I lay in bed at night with the light going off, then on, then off again, then on again, as I think about things to write on my list for the next day. Which reminds me......I have quite a list of things 'to do' for today. So I guess I'd better stop blogging and get moving.

If only I could remember where I put that list!

Therapy for Life.....

The kid will need therapy for life........

One of my sons (he will remain nameless for his own sake) has started keeping his toothbrush in my bathroom. He says that the 'little kids' mess with it if it's in the other bathroom.

This morning as I got out of the shower and started to dry off, the bathroom door opened and he started to walk in!! He shut the door FAST as I stood there with a towel in front of me so I'm not sure how much damage was done to his poor psyche. I had locked my bedroom door, but not the bathroom door. Apparently, he knocked, but because I didn't answer (as I was in the shower!!) he assumed that I must still be out on my morning walk, so he picked the lock and walked in. I don't think he'll be doing that again anytime soon!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own....

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

--George Bernard Shaw

I think that kind of says it all........

The frog of liberty and justice.....

Today, Sirius was demonstrating how they say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. He had a small American flag that he held up in his left hand while he placed his right hand over his heart. Then he recited the pledge.....

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice frog."

I asked him about that last part, and he assured me that's the way they say it in school. I must have missed that memo.....

The Morning After......

Here is the carnage that we woke up to the morning after Halloween. My grandchildren and the other kids in the neighborhood were devestated by the destruction of their pumpkins that they had carved. They were proud of their creative carvings that they had worked so hard on. After seeing the mess in the street, Sabian, age 3, said: "I'm mad at somebody!!" Sirius, age 5, said: "We call those people bullies." Claire, the 5 year old from next door, just cried and cried. I would like to thank the vandals for this amazing display of thoughtlessness. You have made a huge impression on my grandchildren. They have now felt the pain of having their personal property destroyed and as such, I am fairly certain the they will NEVER feel inclined to cause that pain to others.

Here is a 'before' picture, taken Halloween night.