Just A Cold . . .

Why is it that we always say, "It's just a cold?" Is it ever just a cold? And doesn't that make it sound like something that doesn't even faze us? I've come to the conclusion that just because it's referred to as "the common cold" makes you feel like you shouldn't be spending the day in bed. But I'm here to say, colds are miserable! Am I the only one that is wiped out for 2, maybe 3 days when a cold comes on? And it's terrible because you know it's coming. First you get a little sore throat and you think, maybe it's just the bad air. As the day wears on you begin to feel a mounting pressure in your head. You go to bed thinking, I'm sure I'm just tired. I'm sure it's not a cold. Some extra sleep will make it all better. But alas, you wake up, possibly at 3am, and now it's for sure. You have a COLD! You're congested, you can't swallow, and your head feels like it's going to pop. All of the indicators point to the fact that the next few days are going to be, well, miserable! Not to mention that for the next week you will talk funny and go through several boxes of tissue. And there's not much you can do about it. Sure, some of the goodies we have stashed in our medicine cabinet might make you feel temporarily better, but nothing's going to change the fact that once the cold sets in, that's it. It's got you. And you don't get much sympathy because it's "just a cold."

Yes, I've been sick, but it's "just a cold."

Yesterday I returned home from visiting teaching at 12:30 to find the door from the garage into the house locked. I wasn't surprised that it was locked--Ellie has developed a fondness for locking doors. This was, however, the first time that she had locked a door on her way outside. How could this be that bad you say? It really wouldn't have been a big deal had the key on my keychain worked on any of the three doors of our house. And it wouldn't have been so bad had it not been 12:30--past lunch and nap time already, for the kids and me--hey, I was sick, remember? So I called a friend and we spent the rest of the afternoon at her house. She fed us lunch and let us nap. She even made me a salad with chicken and other yummy, grown-up things on it. If I had been home I probably would have just eaten whatever bits of sandwich Anson left on his high chair tray and maybe the end of Ellie's banana (she doesn't like that part--don't ask me why.) It's good to have good friends!

I did go back to the house and try several more times. This was, of course, after I called Garrett, but he doesn't even have the wrong key on his keychain, let alone the right one! My neighbor just returned our spare to me last week, so no luck there. I kept going from one door to the other thinking that maybe, just maybe, this time it would work. I even sprayed the locks with WD40. I don't know if lubricant ever helps a lock, but it seemed like a good idea! No luck. So I called a locksmith--$65 to pick the lock! I knew Garrett wouldn't be pleased with that, so I knocked on my neighbor's garage door--yes, the garage door. You see, he has a quaint little bar set-up in his garage where he and his other old cowboy buddies hang out and smoke and drink and work on his old truck--and hand out candy to my kids every time they come outside. He's known in our circle as Papa Dick. Really, we love him. But I really didn't want to have to ask him because I had to before when I left my garage door opener in the truck at the shop and was dropped off by the shuttle. Tell me I'm not the only one that has done that!! Anyway, that was a couple of years ago, and he is really very nice, so he came over and pried off a screen. For the first time I was happy to have cheap windows that I can rarely get to lock anymore. Our adventure was over!

Right before this mishap on our way home from VT, I swerved out of the way to avoid being backed into. I said, "Whoa!" or something like that and Ellie starts laughing and laughing and saying, "That’s so funny Mom!" Then she stops all of a sudden and says, "Is it funny?"

Thoughts on marriage and meals

Here are a few highlights of the last couple of weeks.

Coleman: Mom, do you think someday I’ll grow up and marry Claire?

Mom: No Coleman, you can’t. But you’ll meet a nice girl and fall in love and as long as I approve of her, you’ll marry her.

(The next day)

Coleman: Mom, can I marry a boy?

Mom: No!

Coleman: Oh yeah, ‘cause then who would cook the food?

Ellie has also shown interest in the subject lately. For the past few weeks she keeps asking various members of the family, "Will you marry me please?" We were a little confused by this until we figured out that what she really meant was, will you dance with me? I put the puzzle together by taking the fact that she was always dressed in a princess dress when the question came, and by reading a princess book with her and hearing her say "Look, they're getting married," when we got to the end of Beauty and the Beast and she saw the picture of them dancing. So now we happily answer, "Sure, I'll marry you!" (at least Dad and Mom do anyway) instead of uselessly trying to explain that we can't marry her. We catch on to most things eventually!

Garrett took Claire and Coleman skiing with the Coleman family and the Salisbury men. Ellie and I opted to go to Reno to meet Maegan, the newest grandbaby in the family. She is super tiny and cute (that’s kind of repetitive) and slept the whole time.

Just a thought I’ve been having—I don’t think kids are as bothered by hunger as adults are. I guess I shouldn’t speak for all adults, but as for me, I don’t like to be hungry. I don’t like it at all. I avoid it as much as possible. The kids, on the other hand, seem to enjoy the feeling. Or at least they dislike eating more than they dislike the discomfort of hunger pains. One day Coleman complained of being hungry for a while in the late afternoon. When it was time to eat he said he wasn’t hungry. I said, “you were just complaining about how hungry you were!” So he says, (this tops my list of Favorite Things to Hear From My Kids) “Well I’m not hungry enough to eat THAT!” Priceless.

Ellie is the only one who dares tell us she’s hungry as she’s going to bed. We’ve fallen prey to her devices a couple of times and we’ve paid the price—A week of refusing dinner. Anson still has a cup of milk when he goes to bed, so he doesn’t notice the hunger yet. Claire and Coleman just hold out for breakfast.

I'm going to share a soup recipe that I made tonight in the hopes that your kids will enjoy it too. 3 of my 4 actually said, yum! Claire even said it was a keeper. Anson got tired of his bib eating more soup than him, so he just picked up the bowl and started drinking. I should have videoed it—not because it was so cute, but because he was actually really enjoying a meal that didn’t include any dinosaur shapes, peanut butter, or sugary milk.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1696601

For those of you that subscribe to Cooking Light, it's the cover recipe this month. I didn't make the fancy toasts to go with it, but it was still wonderful. It will be a new staple for me.

Here is a picture of something Anson will eat. Frozen peas. Yep, still frozen. He was really enjoying them this particular day with his cousin, Brooklyn. They couldn't get enough of them.

I'd like to post of picture of Claire's new super-cute haircut, but we haven't taken a picture yet. So with that suspense, I'll bid farewell!

The latest update

I'd like to use the blog instead of emailing everyone, so then you can visit the blog if you want--or not! We'll see how it goes.

Here are some of our highlights of the last month and holiday season. The first is this cute picture of our kids with our friends, Kayla, Ellie and Ethan at Disneyland. Since this is our "year of Disneyland" we decided we need to experience at Christmastime. It was beautiful! I was amazed at what they do.

Claire broke her little finger—it got shut in a door by her friend. The doctor had to pull the nail off, to the chorus of much weeping and wailing. This was compounded when he announced that it was broken (at the very tip). All of a sudden the pain increased ten-fold. But by the time we were driving home and the pain had subsided, all of a sudden it became a very novel, I’m-the-first-one-in-the-family-to-break-a-bone kind of thing. She was making calls to Daddy, Grammy, Grandma, and her friend to relay the gory details. She only had to wear the splint for 3 weeks, which actually came at a good time because we were able to put gymnastics on hold for the busy holiday season without losing our registration fee. So now she is just waiting for the nail to grow back—and showing her nail-less finger to anyone who cares (or not!)

It has been an exciting time for Claire because she also had a pallet expander installed. She talks really funny (I have to catch myself every once in a while cause the urge to make some joke about it is overwhelming) but she’s gotten used to the nightly cranking and the discomfort. She had to have it checked today and on the way she said, “What is he going to do?” and I said, “Just check it” to which she replied, “I thought he was going to take it out! Don’t I only have to have it for 2 weeks?!” Ah, if only Claire. Sadly she’ll be talking like she has taffy on the roof of her mouth for many months to come. The saddest thing is that it puts a real damper on her singing. Luckily her Christmas concert was over before she got it.

The highlight of Coleman’s holiday was going out to shoot rabbits in Tropic with his uncles. It’s a good thing we have others who hunt in the family, because Garrett has no interest and Coleman can’t get enough. Luckily, there’s plenty that they enjoy doing together. We had a great hike as a family, plus Grandma Dixie, up to a frozen waterfall and a cave with icicle stalagtites. It was beautiful.

Ellie has spent at least 90% of her day lately (that would be 24 hour day) in her Snow White dress that she got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa. She does everything but go out of the house in it. Yes, she sleeps with it over her pjs. Hey, I pick my battles.

Anson had the good fortune of being sick on the drive home from Utah because the normally 8 hour drive took us 14, thanks to road closures and CalTrans. He spent most of the time with his blanket pulled over his head in a drug/fever induced sleep. It made for a definitely-could-have-been-worse drive home. That and Claire and Coleman taking turns riding in Aunt Lyn's car--much less arguing!

I hate that now that it's a political thing if I say "Holidays" the implication is "not Christmas" whereas it used to just mean the whole season, pretty much from Thanksgiving to New Years. So despite the implication I have to say that our holiday season was wonderful. We spent a lot of time with family and enjoyed the Christmas spirit.