Last Couple Weeks

The boys had a pioneer field trip where they dressed and ate like pioneers while visiting historical sites. They would come home and tell me all that they were learning about the Mormon pioneers in school. There's a lot of Mormon history here since we are so close to Winter Quarters.  What a blessing to have a Temple so close.  I go as often as I can.  With school getting out, it will be hard to go on Friday mornings.  That's too bad.  But I will enjoy spending my days with the kids and Mario.

Since Mario is away, I have been having date nights with the kids.  The twins and I went to Applebees one night and Jason's Deli another.  It's hard to find gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free stuff at Jason's Deli.  In fact, I don't like going there unless I can have the chocolate mousse, but I stayed true to Erin's diet plan and had a gluten-free chicken panini without the provolone.  Let's just say I won't be returning to Jason's Deli until I can eat flour and sugar again. The gluten-free bread was awful.  Erin and I went to Outback and that was way better.  I don't think the brand new server liked us though when we explained we needed our food cooked without butter, gluten, or sugar.  We told the poor guy that we had no allergies, so if they made a mistake, don't panic.  I'm sure he wondered why in the world we would give up all those things if we had no allergies.  We are pretty sure they added a little butter to our vegetables.  If they did, that's the only butter we've had this month.  We have until Thursday to finish up this diet.  Erin said that she will add dairy back in but no butter.  I am shocked, she is the butter queen.  I think the 3 boys have only used about 2 sticks of butter this past 3 weeks.  Our family used to go through probably 4 sticks a week when Erin was eating it and Mario was home.  Eric and I enjoyed a lunch date to Chipotle one day after his doctor appointment.

Erin wants to plant a garden, so I suggested we take down our old, falling over swingset in the backyard and put one there.  Never mind that it is totally shaded there, see that's why I can't grow anything.  I don't even get the basics.  The boys and I tried to get the fort/swingset apart but without the proper tools (a chainsaw), we didn't succeed.  I enjoyed watching the boys work together trying to figure out how to take it apart.  The neighbor loaned us tools and gave some advice and I really think he wanted to come over and help but his wife was doing lots of yard work so he felt guilty leaving her to come to our house to do some demolition.  He told me he'd prefer the demolition to the yard work.  I told him it could wait for Mario.

Erin had a piano recital.  She did beautifully.  If I can get video to work on this blog, I'll post it.

I barely see Eric or at least Eric alone.  He is always at work, school, or with his girlfriend Caitlin.   We all love her, including the twins and Erin.  They are all begging Eric to marry her.  That may be a little premature since they have only dated a month and he still has a mission and some college and she's Catholic.   Who knows, maybe they'll be the next Billy and Kristen.  Here are pictures that Caitlin posted to her twitter account.  She is a keeper because she enjoys the antics of Zach and Nate.  I wasn't home when these were taken so I'm not quite sure what they were doing but whatever it was, I'm sure they were up to no good since they were on Eric's truck.

The twins and I went to the Nebraska Renaissance Festival that is held within a few miles of our home. That was an interesting experience.  While standing in a long line to get in, we were behind a guy wearing full Renaissance clothing.  I thought he worked there and so was wondering why he was in line.  Nope, visitors come to the festival dressed up.  The boys and I were clearly confused on how anyone could get so excited about a Renaissance Festival, that they would come fully costumed. Whatever.  We went to the jousting tournament, which was equally as interesting.  The crowd was really into it.  I looked at the boys and they both just sat there expressionless (just like me.)  I felt like a snob.  Maybe we are snobby.  I don't know.  Maybe it's because we aren't from Nebraska and we have seen so much.  Maybe we aren't easily amused.  That makes me a little sad.  We would have left after an hour, but I had paid almost $30 for the three of us to get in, so I tried to drag it out.  We ended up watching a juggling show which was very entertaining but way too much adult humor.  The juggler was quite weird.  I would have gotten up and left because of the inappropriate humor but we were sitting in the front row, and I'm sure the juggler would have made us a spectacle if we got up.  But maybe I should have anyway.  Hopefully the humor went over the boys' head.  We dragged out the festival for 3 hours and didn't spend another dime despite them trying to collect money from us at every turn.

 
Mario is doing well in Virginia.  He has been very active in his ward there.  He went to chapel clean-up yesterday and he is giving a talk today in Sacrament Meeting.  I read his talk on Mothers and it was very good.  He sent me a box in the mail so I'm anxious for the kids to wake up so I can open up my Mother's Day gift.  I doubt he went back to the Bernina store, so I'm curious what could be in the box. Mario will be home in under 2 weeks for the long holiday weekend.  We are so excited.

Oh, something I forgot.  I have been slacking with Cub Scout stuff.  I keep getting emails from the leaders reminding me to have the boys work on certain requirements.  A couple Sundays ago, I finally got the book out and started trying to figure out the Webelos Program (I have never done a thing with scouts except help with Eric's Eagle project.)   I made some phone calls to the leaders and then got busy.  In the last couple weeks, the boys finished up citizen, fitness, and traveler badges as well as some belt loops.  They had their Webelos interview and are ready to start Arrow Of Light.  They began working on scholar and athlete badges.  We have been working on Cub Scout stuff every free moment we can and I tell you the boys are teetering back and forth between hating me for pushing the scouting stuff to wanting to complete all 20 badges by their 11th birthday.  But I think I earned the respect back from their scouting leaders.  I think they had given up on me, but nope, I'm on board now and we are accomplishing so much.  It feels good.  I just have to find a good balance.  That's why we took the break and went to the Renaissance Festival yesterday.

First Appliqué Block

I have begun "Sunday Ride."  I have done a much better job than I thought I would do with the blanket stitches. Far from perfect, but I was questioning whether I could do them at all.  I am unhappy with the middle sunflower's stem not being centered.  I have thought about taking it apart and trying to get it better but in the past with quilting, I have found that I often make things worse if I mess with it too much.  So I will probably leave it alone.  This quilt is a block of the month and I don't get the next block until the 15th of each month.  So now I have to learn patience.  It will take about a year to complete.  UGH!  I don't know how I can wait that long to see my completed quilt.

When I first saw quilts that were appliquéd, I never thought I would be able to even attempt one.  Now I foolishly picked a hard one for my first try.  But I love the quilt, so it will be worth it even if it's not perfect.  Mario and my boys are asking for me to give it to them, but this one is all mine.  Besides, it's girly anyway. Funny thing is, my daughter is the only child that hasn't asked for it.  But like I said, this will be a perfect quilt for my beach house.

Nate's Letter to Me

I can't find a picture of the front, only the back unfortunately.

District Pinewood Derby

Nate took 2nd place at the District Pinewood Derby race today. Wow! I was just sad Mario wasn't there to share in the happiness. I kept him up to date on the race by text though. I even did what I made fun of the Bishop for doing last year...I wrote down some of the fastest times of other cars to keep track.

Mario's Quilting Conversation

Mario called me a few minutes ago and told me about a conversation he had with one of the other students in his class, a guy in the Army.  He said, "Terri, I just had a half hour discussion with an Army guy. Guess what we talked about."  I guessed the church because that's normally what gets Mario all excited, sharing the gospel.  He said, "No, quilting."  I laughed and asked him why.  He couldn't remember why they started the conversation but Mario said something like, "I don't want you to think my wife is old or anything, but she loves quilting."  The guy laughed and told Mario that his wife also enjoys quilting.  Mario is just like me, I thought quilting was for older women.  But after reading many quilting blogs, I have come to discover there are as many younger women (younger than me) as there are older women that quilt.

Anyway, they spent the next half hour discussing the different brands of sewing machines, the cost of fabric and thread, etc.  Mario said finally a young Navy guy sitting near them leaned over to another guy and asked, "Are they talking about quilting?"  Mario overhead and he and the Army guy laughed. The Navy guy has only been married a couple years and his wife hasn't gotten into quilting yet, but I'm guessing he won't ever want his wife to get into quilting after Mario and the Army guy told him how much we spend on the sewing machine and all the fabric.  Mario told the guy that I tutor to support my expensive hobby.  Mario mistakenly told them that I spend $300-$400 on each quilt. Poor Navy guy.  I only spent that much making my quilt for my bed, and I don't even really like it.  So I plan to change it when I finish all my other projects and save up to buy that much fabric again.

Sophie the Garbage Disposal

Sophie wasn't eating yesterday and then I noticed she was throwing up grass and was pretty lethargic. I thought she probably made herself sick on stolen Easter candy.

But by this morning, I became really worried. I started googling objects being caught in dog's intestines. Sure enough, Sophie sounded like she had those symptoms. I decided to call the vet this morning.

I dropped her off on my way into tutoring this morning. They told me the vet had several surgeries today and he would see her as soon as he could. Around 2 this afternoon he finally called me and said she had a corn cob stuck in her intestines. We could wait another day to see if she could clear it but he didn't recommend it. She was severally dehydrated. I had thought so. She had gone from looking like a hyper pup to an old dog within just a day.

I asked what kind if price we were looking at (because when I goggled it, people were saying they paid between $800 and $3000 for the surgery. He first gave me this long list of things they would charge me for like vet visit, IV, medication, X-rays, surgery, etc. It seemed like he gave me a list of like 15 things. I braced myself for a $2-$3000 bill. Then he finally told me I was looking at $450 for everything. Holy cow! I told him I was expecting $2000. He said well he could send me to another vet clinic in town that would charge that much. I asked him how soon he could do the surgery. He stated he would do it as soon as we hung up.

What a relief! We can have our dog back for a month's worth of tutoring money. He said she will be a totally different dog tomorrow when she is hydrated again. He also said Sophie was a very lucky dog because sometimes these type of things can do severe damage to the intestines and then it can be very complicated (and I'm sure costly) to fix. I think we are lucky she's alive due to dehydration alone.

Poor Zach has been really worried about her. He begged to miss school to take her to vet. I would have allowed him to since he wants to be a vet but I knew I couldn't stay with her.

I have now gone to the store and bought new trash cans with lids and the kitchen one even locks. Now we just have to remember to lock it. We may have to shock her to teach her to stay out of the kitchen. Her life may depend on her learning to stay away from the trash.

Celebrating Eric's ACT Score

Eric scored a 34 on his most recent ACT test. He even got a 34 on the science section which I heard is tough because it's the last test section and you are worn out. So he chose to celebrate at Texas Roadhouse. Erin wouldn't join us because she didn't think she could find anything here that would be butter-free.

He says he's done taking the test. He is satisfied with his score now. Congrats Eric! We are so proud of you!

Eric makes me laugh because for all these years, he has accused me of being too strict. But I see him with his younger siblings and I tell him that he's going to be a stricter parent than me. For example, tonight at dinner, the boys wanted more rolls. They asked me if they could ask the server for another basket. I was going to say yes, but Eric jumped in and told them no that they didn't need to be a glutton. Then they wanted more soda. Again, Eric told them no. He and Erin no longer drink soda so now he doesn't want them drinking it either or at least not too much. So, I think I have proven my point. So when his kids ask for an IPhone (or whatever technology is available in 20 years) I'm positive he will say no even though he thinks I'm completely unreasonable for not getting him one now.

While at dinner I got a text from Cameron's parents. They have apparently come up with the money owed and want me to go back to tutoring tomorrow. That was a very short break (1 day) for me. They asked if they could pay me 2/3 tomorrow and the other 1/3 by end of the month. I agreed. But I really don't like playing the role of bill collector so I definitely have learned some lessons for when I do this tutoring full time. Lesson learned...have Mario take care of all the billing and collections. I'll just tutor. I think that's a good, fair plan.