Doggie Lovin'

Matthew and Penny

Adventures With Shadow: My 4 1/2 Month Old Puppy

Shadow does not like the car very much.  At best she tolerates it.  I am trying to get her used to it so I took her with me today to pick up the girls from school.  When she and I got to Lily's school, she barked like the crazy dingo she is and the hair on her back stood up in a Mohawk all the way down to her tail.  On our way to get Rebekah, she roamed the van and ate all the flotsam and jetsam she could find.  Who needs their car vacuumed?

After getting Rebekah, Shadow decided she wanted to sit in my lap.  She isn't the tiny thing she used to be.  She is 30 pounds of lean muscle, hair, and sharp nails.  As I maneuvered  my arms around her to accommodate her on my lap, she got scared and much like a mountain goat going up a steep cliff, Shadow tried to climb up me.  Except instead of a goat, it was Shadow, and instead of a steep cliff, it was my boobs.  She even was able to wedge one of her back paws INTO my bra, THROUGH my shirt.  That is talent, folks!

Her paw pushed so far down my bra as she tried to climb higher that when I finally pulled her foot out, I felt something snap.  Shadow tested the limits of my bra's cup-size and the under-wire in my bra lost. 

Shadow: 1         My Bra: 0

Now I gotta go buy a new bra.  Yes, I have other bras, but they are for working out.  I only had one good bra... well, I used to.  So, if you see me tomorrow before I get a new bra, don't laugh at my uneven lopsidedness.

Grotesque Display

I hate fly paper. I hate it with a passion.

I think it is tacky.  Pun intended.

The nasty brown of the sticky paper hanging from the ceiling grosses me out. Every time.

Then there are the flies and other flying pests that get stuck to it in a grotesque manner with their little arms legs all sticking out in an unnatural warning other flies to steer clear... Like when some places put skulls on posts warning others to stay away.

And when flies first get stuck, they are in denial of their plight.  You think I would be happy when one gets stuck - no more fly pestering me.  But the concentrated buzzing and efforts to free themselves don't make this any better for me. If anything, it makes it worse.

I can almost see how people become vegan, respecting every life.  Right now, as I type this, I hear the sound of a poor, helpless fly stuck and the reverberation of its tiny wings is reminder that I just killed one of God's (albeit annoying) creatures. A slow death.  An agonizing death. But it beats having to chase each one down with a fly swatter.  Ew.  That is gross. The fly guts on the swatter... the futile effort to find where the carcass landed.

I have to keep reminding myself that summer is almost over and there shall be no more flies (or spiders/beetles/grasshoppers/etc) to bug me anymore. Again, pun intended.

No more middle of the night waking up to that dive bombing fly.  No more returning from the bathroom and seeing a fly on my food.  No more waving and flailing my arms about to scare them away.  No more flies.

Yes, I hate fly paper, but I hate flies more.

My Jung Test Results:

ESFP -  "Entertainer". Radiates attractive warmth and optimism. Smooth, witty, charming, clever. Fun to be with. Very generous. 8.5% of the total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
Personality Test by SimilarMinds.com

Time Has Wings

Can someone cut time's wings?  It is going by super fast.

Evan Esar once said, "[It] changes with time: in youth, time marches on; in middle age, time flies; and in old age, time runs out."

Ain't that the truth?

When the girls were still very young, people would give me all sorts of advice.  Some advice was quite helpful, while others, not so much.  The one I remember the most is, "Savor and enjoy this time while they are young.  It goes by way too fast."   In the midst of 3am feedings, stubborn toddlers, and potty training, I could have smacked that person offering their so-called words of wisdom.  I couldn't wait until they were a bit older.  If I could just get through the teething.  If I could just get through the potty training.  If I could just get through the tantrums...  And a myriad of other things that I just hunkered down to just get through.

Yet now, as I look back at when my girls were tiny, I miss those stages.  Now, when I remember the struggles of raising toddlers, I don't remember the struggles as much as I remember the fun times.   The squishy hugs, the wet kisses, the crooked smiles, the hand drawn pictures, the giggles inside blanket forts, seeing the look wonderment in their eyes as they experience things for the first time, and so many other beautiful things that only the really young can bring.  That time flew by so fast.  I understand now what people were talking about.  They weren't stupid, they were speaking from experience.

I feel that this must be why grandparents are better at parenting - they have been there, done that, and miss it.  They don't mind the little messes the young ones create.  It brings to mind all the memories of a happy time that they didn't get to fully appreciate or fully experience due to the daily demands of life.

My mom once said she would take a roomful of 2 year olds than a room full of teenagers.  I now understand.  Don't get me wrong, I love my teenaged kids with all my heart.  They bring me joy beyond imagination.  Yet during the troubling teenage angst of my kids, I can't help but long for simpler times: Which Blues Clues video to watch? Which baby food to try today?   Yet even still, I will try my best not to let the moments now go by too quickly.  Soon enough, they will have grown up, moved out, and start their own families.

Time does fly.  We cannot clip its wings.  We just hang on for the ride and try not to miss the little moments in the now, for those will be big memories in the future.

Father's Day 2013

I am forever grateful for my father.  I would literally not be here without him.  By him holding the sacred priesthood, he brought me back to life as a newborn.  I am sure there were times in my teenage years that he may have second guessed that choice... ;-)  I was not the easiest teenager (to say the least).  I remember one night I snuck out of the house and went to go hang out at a friend's house down the street.  I'll never forget the "Oh NO!" feeling I felt as we heard a knock on my friend's door and opened it to find my dad there to collect me and take me home.  He didn't yell when he saw me.  He just said something like, "Get in the car."

I don't know how he put up with me and my teenage girl angst.  I am just grateful he did put up with me. :) 

I have many things to thank my dad for (besides the obvious: "Thank you for not killing me as a teenager.")  My love of a variety of music I get from him.  He exposed me to a variety of genres and music artists... from Led Zeppelin to Andreas Vollenweider to Eric Clapton.  He also plays the guitar and I love hearing him play.

My dad helped me learn how to be generous.  He and my mom would have our family do Secret Santa for less fortunate people at Christmastime.

Also, I even though my mom taught me a lot about baking and cooking, my dad also cooked and baked.  I learned a lot from him and how to be experimental with cooking and flavors.  When I was pregnant with Rebekah, he became obsessed concerned with my food intake.  After all, I was growing his first grandchild.  One time, about a month before I had Rebekah, he had me write down what he was doing so if the creation he was making turned out good, we could remember how to make it.  I really enjoyed doing that and watching him play with flavors that I wouldn't image putting together.

My love of games (video and board) come from him.  We make a great team when we play games and opponents beware!  We are extremely competitive and one of our most favorite games to play as teammates is Time's Up.  That and Pictionary... "Is that a mirror? Africa?"  Ahhh, the memories.

Because of my dad, I know how to look up information.  That may sound silly, but before the invention and common usage of the Internet and the ability to google things, I had to learn how to look stuff up.  Not only how to use a dictionary but how to use the topical guide in the scriptures to learn more about a certain subject.  I remember asking him what such-and-such meant and he would say, "Look it up."  At first I thought he just didn't want to talk or didn't know the answer, but I learned later that it was to help me be self sufficient.  Because of that, I became well versed in searching for information.

My dad loves taking pictures and I get that from him.  And those that know me, know I LOVE snapping photos.  I also hoard photos like it is another form of currency.  I may or may not have photos that belong to my parents of their childhood... :-)  Shhh, don't tell them!

Along with taking pictures, my dad was also at school things recording my brother and I.  I do that for my kids because it meant a lot to look out there and see my dad with the video camera.  He was very supportive of me.  I wonder if he still has the video of my 3rd grade play (the one I wrote and the class performed), "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig."  He also used to let my brother and I put on silly shows and skits at home and he recorded them.  It was from one of those skits that I learned not to say the word, "Bastard."

When we were young, he and my mom would wake us up early so we could listen to the scriptures on records.  Through that, I was shown how important it is to read scriptures daily.  My testimony is stronger because of those early moments.

Even when I say prayers with my family, I think of my dad every time I am the one offering the evening prayer.  The reason being one of the things he would always pray for, I now prayer for: that we would sleep well and wake up in the morning refreshed.

On the day I had my first child, his first grandchild, he was there in the room when I gave birth to Rebekah. (And the birth of Lillian.) I was able to give my dad his first grandchild a few days before his 50th birthday. I am so glad he was there to share in those moments.

Those are just some of the things that I learned from my dad.

I am forever grateful for my dad.  We became closer after I got pregnant with Rebekah.  Something about him becoming a grandfather really changed our relationship and we grew closer.

Thank you, Dad.  For giving me life.

I am all for safety.  Especially when riding in vehicles.  I have even written a paper on the importance of changing school buses to having seat belts. (Note to self: find paper and share at future date.)

That being said, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) have many new guidelines regarding rear facing car seats and booster seats. I already was trying to wrap my head around the fact that car seats now have expiration dates. (I am still trying to get that one to compute.)  Now there are new new car seat guidelines.

I feel these are a lot bit on the extreme side.  As a friend said on Facebook when I shared the new guidelines, "In 10 years we'll probably have to put them in bubble wrap before we put them in the car seat!"  Sarcasm aside, I wonder the same thing!

One is to keep kids in a rear facing car seat until they are 2 years old. I don't know about many other parents, but I am the mother where some of my kids have LOOOONG legs.  Had this gone into effect when my kids were younger, the poor things would be all cramped and have to sit cross-legged.  Which some parents say isn't that big of a deal.  And maybe it isn't, for their short-legged kids.  What about long car drives? I know that I couldn't sit crossed-legged on a road trip (despite the fact that I would most likely be driving) for long periods of time.

While reading said article I thought I was safe from these new guidelines... Nope!  According to the new guidelines: "New Boostering Recommendation: Children should ride in a belt-positioning booster (that means a high-back!) until they are at least 4 foot, 9 inches, AND 8-12 years old.....Best practice is also waiting until children are 80-100 pounds as well." Goodness, thankfully Lily is 12 years old and over 4'9"!!  Yes, she is a hair under 100 pounds, but I am not stressing it much.  Although, we have always joked that Lily is so skinny that she would have to bring a booster seat with her on her first date when she is 16 years old.  Now, it is almost a reality! If more guidelines come our way in the next few years, she very well may have to bring a booster on a date.  I can just see it now, "Hi, , can you help buckle me in?"

Yes, that sounds absurd, as do some of these new guidelines!