Why am I so irritated today?

From the moment I woke up today I was grumpy, not the kind of grumpy that you let everyone know you are. I just turned every thought I had into a negative one (Maybe the car is actually fixed today- I can't wait to get it back so I can break down in the middle of nowhere with all the kids again. It's raining- I can't wait for the kids to track more mud all over the house! I wonder what Ky with throw a fit about today?) So I finally asked myself why I am just having such a battle with my thoughts today and I finally reflected on yesterday. Oh yeah, yesterday....

I woke up and cleaned all morning just to make Don feel bad. He had made a comment on Tuesday about the house being a mess after I had just spent two hours doing laundry. To top it off, I had just made him lunch! So yesterday I cleaned the bedrooms. In between cleaning I did more laundry. I swept all the floors and even had the children help vacuum and mop. I made sure I was too busy to make him anything to take to work to eat. I think he got the point.

After he left I still spent time trying to clean up so that when he came home he felt really bad.

I was looking forward to a night at my neighbor's house making homemade cards. I spent all day thinking about it in the back of my mind. With Don at work, I knew I would have find a babysitter for the kids. Lorinda told me I could bring the kids so I was set. I went over to her house and they had little kits all made up to make several different kinds of cards. I started making the first card and Kyath started up.

Kyath wined that he wanted to go downstairs with the two older boys. Lorinda had said that the baby was asleep downstairs and she wanted all the kids to stay upstairs. I told Ky "no" but he just kept pestering me about it. I told him that we were just going to go home and he decided he would stop pestering me. I started making the second card and he started wining again. On top of that Dresden was crying (Dresden doesn't cry that much so I guess I just wasn't expecting it.) I knew I was making the night unbearable for all the women that were there to chat and enjoy themselves.

I gathered up the family and went home. I sent Ky to his room as soon as we walked in the door. Then I told the kids to put a movie on and to give me time.

Some how Dresden didn't get the memo because she wouldn't stop crying. During the day I had lost her favorite binky and she just wouldn't settle for ANY of her other binkies. After an hour of her constant crying I decided it was time to buy her another binky. Zander was asleep and I really didn't want to wake him up. I knew if I told the boys I was going to the store they would insist on coming. I told them I was just going to drive around the neighborhood to get Dresden asleep. I drove as fast as I could to Smith's and bought a binky. I ripped the package open with my teeth and gave her it. There was no time to drive all the way home and get scissors. She needed the binky right then. She sucked on the binky and was a changed baby.

By the time Don came home Ky and Porter were still fighting going to sleep. Mind you, Don gets home at 10:30 at night. I had been trying to get them asleep since 8:30. I think they finally fell asleep at 11:00.

But today is a new day. I am trying to change my mood and change my thoughts.

ER Etiquette

Have you ever had to use the restroom at a public place and you are not sure if the restroom is occupied? What do you do to make sure that it isn't?

While I was at the ER for my most recent visit, I had need for use of the restroom. I knocked on the door and there was no reply. I opened the door half way in case there was someone in there, thinking they could yell out and I would close the door and wait till they were done. All I heard was a machine sound "psst...psst...psst".

The doctor walked by and I closed the bathroom door while I chatted about the next step for Zander's treatment. After our conversation I began the process again. I knocked on the door, no answer. I opened the door half way, "psst...psst...psst." I figured I was safe.

It wasn't until I opened the door fully that I realized that the bathroom was in fact occupied. There sitting on the toilet, looking me directly in the eyes was a Sudanese woman with her long robes that covered all the way to the ground. As our eyes locked I heard the machine sound once again coming directly from her mouth, "psst...psst...psst". I quickly closed the door.

So my question is...what is proper ER etiquette for making sure someone is not in the bathroom before you open the door?

Zander's Hospital Stay

On the day of family reunion, Zander woke up with a swollen eye. It almost looked like someone had hit him in the eye. I wondered if one of the boys had bumped him in the night or if a spider had bit him. I wasn't sure. But I thought, "Just my luck, we will go to reunion and everyone will think I hit my kid."

We kept an eye on him throughout the day. It wasn't until my mom said that it had really gotten worse that I started to worry. Don and I decided that we better leave family reunion early and take him in to get it checked. With it being Memorial Day, I knew a lot of the clinics would be closed. So we just went straight to Primary Children's Hospital.


By the time we arrived, his eye was pretty much swollen shut. They put in an IV so they could give him antibiotics as soon as possible. I was so glad Don was there. I usually go alone with the injured child while Don stays with the rest. But he was there to help hold him down. It was traumatic for all of us.

They started talking about a CAT scan to make sure that the infection hadn't spread to the back of the eye. I looked at the doctor and asked if she was kidding. How could something that started so little grow into something so serious, so fast? Don held him down yet again, this time for the CAT scan. But he was inconsolable and started crying out for me. I went in while Don stayed out with Dresden. I sang every song I could think of to try to keep him still. We blew bubbles, played with balls. They had someone there that brought all these toys in hopes to keep him still long enough to do the CAT scan. Finally they realized that it was pointless. They sedated Zander and were able to do the CAT scan.


As we sat waiting for the results, I was trying to keep Zander busy. I let him hold the camera and take a couple of pictures. I like this picture. This was the nurse that was telling us that the infection didn't spread and that it was time to start the antibiotics.

The doctor came in an started talking about having us stay the night. I was still in denial surprised that such a little thing could turn into something so scary. We ended up staying overnight and going home late in the afternoon on Tuesday. By the time we went home he had had four doses of IV antibiotics. His eye had just started opening again. They told us that he had Cellulitis resulting from a bug bite that was infected.

Zander is doing great now. His eye isn't swollen anymore and looks perfectly normal (Well, except for the bruise from running into a drawer on Friday, but that is another story!).

Dad- This one is for you!

My dad likes to shop at a place called NPS. He buys the wierdest things and brings them home. About 6 month ago he bought children's swimming caps and gave one to Darin for his kids and one to me for my kids. I forgot about it until the other day when I checked on Porter as he was taking a bath.

Family Reunion

My family had family reunion this Memorial Day weekend. We began on Friday with sealings in the temple. Dex, Dave, Shelley, Debbie, Ken, Darin, Don, Cami Derrek, Mom and Dad and I were all there. It was neat to be in a room with my family thinking how greatful I am that they are all members of the church and have a testimony of it. I am greatful for the example my brothers and sister are to me. They have always made good decisions and raised great children. When I grow up I want to be just like my sister.

Monday we began the day with a picnic that none of us made it to. Sorry Dave and Shelley. I think we were all just trying to get all the other stuff for the day packed and we all ended up running late.

We all me at a recreation center for swimming and basketball. My kids spent the entire time in the pool and loved every minute of it. Here is a picture of Robin and Chase in the pool.



Aferwards we met at Dave's ward for the remander of the evening. We played volleyball,





cards




and another game called "Human Battleship". It was the funniest thing I ever saw.




This one is of Jackson throwing a ball.



We had a BBQ. The men cooked out in the pooring rain. After dinner we watched "Enchanted" on a big screen in the gym.

Dave and Shelley went to a lot of work to put family reunion together this year. I really appreciate all that they did.

Memorial Day

I always like to visit the graves on the Saturday before Memorial day. It isn't something my mom has ever really taught us to do. She always taught us to enjoy people while they are still alive and to let them know that you love them while they are still alive. Debbie visits the graves every year. I guess I do too, but I don't bring flowers or really do the traditional grave clean up. I just go and hope that the ones on the other side see me and my family and know that I care. One year I remember reading my scriptures at my Grandma and Grandpa Vanderwerff's grave. It was kinda cool because there was just a quiet peaceful spirit there.

This year Don, the kids and I went to visit my dad's side of the family and to see my brother's grave. I try not to take the kids too much because I spend the whole time just trying to keep them from stepping on the headstones and tipping over the flowers. But this year, Kyath and Porter seemed old enough to start participating in the tradition and with Don there I knew Zander and Dresden wouldn't be too much trouble.


This is Ky by my brother's grave. He was a still born that was born after Debbie and before Darin.


This is Porter by his grave. He was looking at the flowers Aunt Fay had left.


Monday Debbie and I went to the other Cemetery together to visit my mother's parents.


We found them, but had trouble finding my Father's step mother. We ended the visit by stopping at President and Sister Hinkley's grave. I loved seeing all the flowers and people visiting his grave. It really left an impact on me.

The Wallet Thief

Okay, I lost my wallet a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't quiet sure where I lost it. I remember paying for a $5 pizza at Little Caesars and coming home. I went to work the next morning and my wallet wasn't in my purse. There was a customer at Little Caesars that did try to distract me. I wasn't sure if maybe he took it while he was distracting me or if I just left it somewhere. With the affairs of my house, it could be in my house never to be found again. I just didn't know where it was.

I cancelled my credit cards. But I wasn't going to start renewing all my cards just to find the wallet the next day. I was really convinced that it had just fallen out of my purse and I just had to look harder at home.

I spent the next week asking every place I went to if a wallet was turned in. One guy laughed and said, "You really think someone would turn a wallet in?" He thought I was crazy. I started systematically tearing the house apart.

Exactly a week from the day my wallet went missing I received a call from the manager at Little Caesars. She had my wallet. I was grateful. I was glad that I wouldn't have to renew all my cards. I was glad I could stop trying to figure out where the wallet was.

"Hi," the manager started. "You don't know me. I am the manager of Little Caesars in Bountiful and I have your wallet."

"Thank goodness!" I exclaimed. "I have been looking everywhere for it."

"I just have to let you know that I cut up your cards." the manager warned.

"Oh, my credit cards?" I responded. "That's okay, I already cancelled them."

"Your credit cards and all the other cards." she clarified.

I had to pause and digest what she was saying. "What other cards did you cut up?" I asked.

"All of them." she responded.

My gratitude turned to confusion. Why did she cut up all my cards? What would possess a person to do such a thing? I mean I understood the credit card thing. I would have never cut up someone else's credit card, but I understood it.

She explained that she had kept the wallet in the safe the whole time. She had her workers try to get a hold of me, but they were unable to determine how to get a hold of me. (Never mind that my address was on my drivers license and that these are teenagers that work at Little Caesars!)

She said that the wallet had just been at her store too long and she just didn't feel comfortable with in in her store with her workers. (So was she saying that she can't trust her workers?) So she started cutting everything up. She said she had started cutting up the last thing when she noticed that it was my business card with my phone number. That it was the first time she knew how to get a hold of me. Then she told me I could come and pick up my wallet and the cut up cards.

I went to the store with mixed emotions. The manager greeted me with my wallet and a breadstick sack filled with the cut up cards. I thanked her (What else could I do?) and went home to access the damage.


I already threw a lot of the cards away. But here is just some of them. I also had an Albertson's card, Smith's card, a Davis County Library card and a ton of business cards from other people.


This is the one that really threw me for a loop. She cut up my government coupons for the Digital TV Converter Box. These are worth $40 a piece. She also cut up stamps. I don't know about you, but it has really had me second guessing whether I will ever eat at Little Caesars ever again.


So the moral of the story is... I really don't know. Be glad that you are not me. Don't envy me. Don't try to be like me. Bad luck seems to find me no matter what. Just keep your space and you should be safe.