Funny Thing for the day....

I've got to find amusement in being a mom.....otherwise I might just go nuts.
I found Anna in the bathroom. That's not a big deal since she is potty trained. She put lots of hand soap in the toilet and had splashed a ton to make bubbles in the toilet. At least she had flushed first. When I mentioned it to Dan, all he said was "At least it was antibacterial hand soap". Well, at least it was. But I doubt that makes it very clean.
Now I am off to the doctor with Caleb. He has a few warts that need to get removed. I couldn't find anyone to watch the rest of the kids, so we are all going. Rachel and Caleb are out of school right now. I am reminiscing how much fun Kindergarten shots were. I had to wrap my arms and legs around Caleb to hold him down while the nurses gave him his shots. What fun.....time for more fun now. :)

How Many Times have I called Poison Control since I became a mom?

The answer to that question is, "I don't know". Thankfully none of my kids have ever had to go to the ER.
Today was another day calling poison control. They keep a database. They have caller ID. They already know who I am when I call.
Anna got into the hair clipper oil this morning. I forgot and left it on the counter after I cut the boys' hair last night. She dumped it all over the kitchen. When I asked her if she drank any, she told me no. Then she told me yes. Then she told me no. I looked at the bottle, and it said "Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed". I called poison control, and they asked me all of the questions and told me what to look for. She didn't actually end up drinking any. When I mentioned it to Dan, he said "She wouldn't ever drink any of that. She won't even take a taste of dinner each night."
I got to thinking, what all I've called poison control over the years. Here's what I can remember, though I'm sure there's some that I don't.
Rachel brushed her teeth with Desitin. Not Poisonous.
I once found Rachel sucking on a washrag with Fantastik cleaner on it. Once again, she didn't ingest enough to poison her.
Anna also sucked on a washrag with some sort of cleaner on it. Not enough swallowed.
Caleb ate several children's tylenol. It wasn't enough to poison him. He also chewed up a couple vitamins (not children's chewables), but he spit them everywhere. He learned how to open childproof bottles at a young age.
Caleb ate kitty poop from a litter box when he was about one. Guess what? It's not poisonous. Gross, Gross, Gross. But Not Toxic.
Anna also sprayed Lysol Anywhere cleaner all over herself, from head to toe. She was fine after a good bath.
I know one of my sister's kids drank Visine. She had to go to the ER to get her stomach pumped.

Those of you who have never had a child get into anything, are lucky. But don't count your lucky stars. Chances are, you will be calling poison control someday. I try my best to watch my kids, but they can get into things in just a moment.

Provo River 1/2 Marathon

Today I ran the Provo River 1/2 Marathon. I was a bit nervous, since I haven't been able to train as much as I was hoping. For about the last month, my knee has bothered me a lot. I went to the regular dr, since the Sports Medicine Dr, couldn't get me in until late Aug. Thankfully, my knee didn't hurt. But I was only able to run 3 times in the last 3 weeks. (On a side note, it has been years since I have been injured from running).
Everything started out well. My mom ran it also. My mom is the greatest. It was fun getting up early and hanging out with her till the race started.
I felt pretty good. About mile 5, I got a side stitch. I had to walk for a minute to get it to go away. After that, went away, it was pretty much smooth sailing until mile 11. About mile 11, I felt really crappy and tired. I didn't walk. But I slowed down a lot. Usually at the end of races, I like to be the one to pick off the tired runners one at a time, and see how many people I could pass. Well, today it was the other way around. I finished with a time of about 1:47 (one hour, forty-seven minutes). That's the fastest half-marathon I've run. I haven't run many half-marathons though. I made it to the half-way point of the TOU Marathon a few years ago faster than that though.
Mom finished in about 2:08. I am proud of her. She hates that she is getting older and slower, but I hope I can run as fast as her when I am nearly a senior citizen.
At the end, there were lots of people and kids with "Go Mom" signs. But there was nobody there for me. I didn't expect Dan to come with the kids. It is really hard to take our little clan places, especially alone. But I did wish there was someone there to see me finish. I should have arranged a babysitter for our little ones, so he could have brought our 2 oldest kids to the finish. Oh well, maybe next time.
On the way home, Mom was telling me what she was going to have for breakfast: a hot fudge sundae with nuts on top. I was amused. But that much sugar sounded gross, so I didn't stick around at her house to eat one.
I was glad that I ran it. And I was glad it was only a half-marathon, not a full marathon.

Before and After

It has been nearly one year since we bought this house. It is slowly transforming. Our yard used to look like a dump. Now it is looking much better. We planted a garden. It is the tallest corn we have ever grown.

Some people might think we are crazy for buying trashed houses and fixing them. But we have had a lot of adventures together, and we've been able to build equity. I work with Dan as much as possible on the projects. We still laugh about tearing out the ceiling on our old house a few years ago. We only laughed and sang, while we worked because it was so horrible. The kitchen had a drop ceiling. The ceiling was tiled with ugly tiles, like the kind our schools had when we were in school. I don't know how long the drop ceiling had been in, or if it was original with the house. The house was over 50 years old. When we would pull out the ceiling tiles, dirt, gravel insulation, and mouse poop would start raining down in the kitchen. It seems like we yelled when it first started falling all over. Then we got to where we were singing, instead of "Raindrops keep falling on my head" we were singing about all the crap falling on our heads. The kitchen looked a lot better after we tore out the hideous ceiling.

Now at our current house, Dan started tearing apart the downstairs bathroom (aka the disgusting bathroom) on Saturday. I don't know what the former owners wer thinking, but the put sheet-rock up over the window in the bathroom. And they made the bathroom smaller, with just a shower. The bedroom next to it has an oversized closet. So, we are taking part of the closet from the bedroom, and make a regular, full-sized bathroom. I can't wait to get the whole house finished. That's gonna take a few more years though. We were hoping to add on a garage. But a few weeks ago, the transmission went out on our van. So, we used part of the garage money and bought another minivan instead.

A few years ago, back before I had this many kids, I swore that I would never drive a mini-van. But here I am, driving a mini-van, just like a typical soccer mom.

Caleb and Rachel started school last week. They are on year-round school. Caleb is in first grade, and Rachel is in third grade. Caleb gave himself a haircut on the second day of school. Now he has a buzz.