My Person of the Week

Every Friday on the evening news (can you tell I'm married to a news junkie?), there is a Person of the Week feature in which they spotlight a person making a difference.

My person of the week is my hubby. Well, he's my person for eternity, but you know what I mean. He just returned from a weeklong trip from Israel. Just before he left, he:

1- Unclogged the drain in our bathtub (have I really lost that much hair?)
2- Made a massive grocery run so I would be set while he was gone.
3- Apologized for not cutting up the lettuce into a salad.
4- Did more things that I have now forgotten (I meant to post this earlier.)

When he finally stumbled off his 10.5 hour flight from Frankfurt at noon today, he:
1- Helped me unload a TON of groceries I'd gotten at the Bishops' Storehouse for a distant relative of mine.
2- Cleaned up a cat mess.
3- Let ME take a brief nap after an exhausting week.

Okay, I think I'm in love.

By the way, I just received an invitation to my 20th high school reunion next summer. 20 YEARS! 2 decades. 1/5 of a century. A score of years. I'm stopping now. I'm starting to feel old.

The Cat

I love my kitty. He's black and white and furry and was a birthday present from Lester.

His name is Yoggi, pronounced Yojee. We got him in 1999 at the animal shelter over by the airport, not knowing there was a much closer shelter. I told Lester it was meant to be. All the other cats were slumped in their cages, but Yoggi was pawing and meowing at us. The choice was easy.

According to the sign at the shelter, he was 2 months and 4 weeks when we got him. I've spent the last eight years trying to decide if 2 months and 4 weeks is older or younger than 3 months.

He was an expensive birthday present, as it turned out. He got congested as a kitten, so we had to stuff him inside a green bag the size of a makeup bag and zip it up until only his head was poking out. Then we fed him by syringe until he could smell his food again.

He has survived the birth of two babies-turned-toddlers, who, when they saw him would emit a high-pitched squeal loud enough to make any cat run off.

Now, when I'm writing at the computer, he is my muse. That is, he sits on my lap and purrs while I type. He's particularly helpful when he parks his fat carcass on the desk right in front of the screen.

Now, Brandon is in cat-loving mode. For instance, here is how his nightly prayer goes:

Mommy: Please bless Daddy, Mommy, Alexis, and Brandon...."

Brandon: "And kitty."

And today when I was in the shower, Brandon sat on the back of the toilet (no privacy for the mothers of 2-year-olds!) and wanted to sing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Who should be on that bus but "kitty." And who is on Old McDonald's Farm? Kitty. And when I'm drawing a picture of Thomas the Train for Brandon, who has to ride on it? Kitty.

Finally, Brandon shows his love by pulling Yoggi's tail.

Sad to say, it's a case of unrequited love. :-)

Blogging Moms are Coool!

We're so cool, we made the ABC Evening News! They profiled a mommy blogger who gets $4,000 a month from the ads running on her site, has been offered a book deal, and has received a request from Hollywood to write a sitcom based on her family. Most importantly, she has nearly 30,000 hits a day to her blog site. The article goes on to say that there are about 15,000 mommy blogs out there.

Let's hear it for all you Mommy bloggers out there!

A Daddy Fun Day

For those of you expecting a blog entry from Elizabeth, sorry to disappoint you ;-). This is Elizabeth's other half, Lester. While I don't have the literary flair that my talented wife does, I will be a "guest blogger" from time to time.

I wanted to relate a great day I had with the kids. It happened a couple of weekends ago when Elizabeth was at her cousin's wedding in Boise. After we dropped Elizabeth off at the airport, we kept driving east on I-84. After about 1/2 dozen "are we there yets?" and "my tummy hurts," we arrived at the Bonneville Dam and the fish hatchery in the Columbia River Gorge.

We first went to the dam and the fish ladders. Inside the dam are big picture windows where you can see the salmon swimming up the fish ladders. We then went outside where the kids were able to play house at the Bonneville Power energy-efficient model home ;-).

Then it was time for the picnic. We had a delicious (if not nutritious) meal of a ham sandwich, Cheetos, and a cookie. We discovered that the ducks that were swimming near by liked the bread crusts, but the Cheetos not so much.

After the lunch was eaten (mostly) and the area cleaned up, it was time to see and feed the fish. The fish hatchery has a beautiful area of gardens and ponds with the biggest trout and sturgeon you have ever seen. Of course, the fish are so big because all they have to do is swim around and gorge themselves on fish pellets that are thrown to them by eager humans. Alexis took to feeding the ducks, too, and almost lost a finger.

We then went to visit "Herman the Sturgeon." Herman is a very large sturgeon that lives in a pond that has a viewing area below water level. There are also numerous other sturgeon and trout that share the same pond. Brandon was fascinated (and a little intimidated) by the big trout. Alexis seemed right at home with Herman's little brother ;-)

After the coins for the fish food were gone, we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful landscape and took some time to take some pictures.

At last it was time to head home. I decided to take the scenic route home and take the old Columbia River Gorge Hwy. and stop off and visit some of the waterfalls. The waterfalls were beautiful this time of year, and it wasn't raining (always a bonus in Oregon in the fall).

After a short nap during the long ride home, we had another nutritious meal of pizza and tater tots for dinner (when the cat's away, the mice will play ;-), we ended our Daddy Fun Day by watching Meerkat Manor (a show we have started watching together on Animal Planet) and going to bed (without too much fuss). All in all, it will be a day that Daddy will never forget!!

Funny lines from the backseat of the car

Today we were driving up Miller Hill Road on our way home from music class. I spied a deer leaping across the road.

"Look, kids! It's a deer!"

Brandon missed the deer, but Alexis said, "Maybe Santa has been losing deers. He came from the jingles/bells [Santa's harness for his sleigh] from the North Pole to Oregon."

Poor Santa.

Then tonight we went to the Dollar Store to buy Halloween decorations. I bought each kid a trick-or-treat bag for Halloween. Alexis's is a spider and Brandon's is a monster with a big eyeball. I didn't pick up on the fact that it is a monster and not just an eyeball until later. So I called it an eyeball. This is important as you'll soon see.

Alexis was playing in the backseat of the car with her spider bag. Brandon wanted a spider bag. I said, "Hey, but you've got an eyeball." "NO eyeball! I want spider bag!"

Poor Brandon.

Wet Towels Everywhere (or, It's Just Not My Night)

I saw Mahina whipping up homemade waffles for her family for dinner. It inspired me to make pancakes for my hungry horde. Not having Bisquick on hand, I Googled a "simple pancake recipe."

This "simple pancake recipe" required the wet ingredients to be beat on high for three minutes. The author recommended using a blender. I thought that was so clever! So I carefully poured all the ingredients in, only to find I had put in 3 TABLEspoons of vanilla instead of the required 2 TEAspoons! Oops.

I ran the blender for nearly three minutes. I tried to pull the container part from the base, but the bottom part stayed with the base. In a matter of 10 seconds my counter, cupboards and floor are swimming in over-vanillaed (sp?) pancake mix.

This is where my normally helpful, sweet hubby lands in the doghouse. He observes, "Well, at least you can redo it with the right amount of vanilla."

Ha, ha.

Then I ask him to help. "It looks like you've got it covered." This, as my kitchen is oozing in vanilla pancake mix. I asked him to at least put a towel on the floor, which he does.

30 or so minutes later: Pancakes properly prepared and subsequently consumed by my hungry twosome. I take care of business in the upstairs bathroom.

A few minutes I hear the rushing of water. I thought it was Brandon playing in the sink. Forgive me, Brandon. I was wrong. It was the toilet overflowing. Ew!

Helpful hubby doesn't wait for me to ask this time. He plops another towel on the floor. A few gross minutes later, the towels are in hot water in the washer. Now I must get to work and hope nothing else in my house leaks, overflows, or otherwise gets liquified.

PS: My hubby more than redeemed himself by putting the kids to bed, doing the dishes, cleaning the counters, and doing two loads of laundry. He's so awesome!

This is sooo cool!

I'm so excited! My good friend Mahina showed me the intricacies of posting pictures and creating my own playlist. I'm so excited! Now I have some background music for when I'm working.

And it's almost 11 p.m. and Alexis is wide awake. Any ideas on how to get a reluctant sleeper to sleep? She's not scared, or thirsty, or hungry. Just awake. Arrgghh!