What's in a Name?

I shipped off a package of kid clothes to Angela this morning at my UPS Store. I've shipped with this particular UPS store before and the employees are friendly and helpful. The owners of the store are often on hand to assist with my needs as well.

The owners are the Shippeys. Yes, that's right, the Mr. and Mrs. Shippey own the UPS Store.

Every time I go in to ship a package, all I can concentrate on is every little funny thing I could possibly say about the Shippey's owning a shipping store. I can barely hear what they are saying to me. (What? Next day air? OK)

I'm guessing that the Shippeys have probably already heard all the name related jokes in existence and they are probably sick of them, but this doesn't stop my mind of reeling over the irony.

It's like if Mr. and Mrs. Scoopy owned a Baskin Robbins or Mr. Drivey worked at a car dealership.

The urge to say something is almost overwhelming, but I just can't come up with something clever enough, and even then, I really, REALLY doubt I'd have the guts to say it.

It kind of reminds me of this episode of Friends where Chandler has a job interview.... (OK, it's a stretch, but it's a mind racing, lack of focus thing.)

Amphibians In The House!

Maybe you missed my December post about my poorly-thought-out Christmas gift for Jonah. It was a frog habitat. Read it here, or I will summarize why a frog habitat may not have been the best thing to buy:

1. Frogs make organic matter. (Duh! But for some reason I didn't really think about that fact.)
2. Frogs raised in the frog habitat can not be released into the wild.
3. Frogs live for up to 5 years.
4. Frogs eat live crickets and/or potato bugs.
5. Frogs have to be fed live insects every 2 to 3 days.

Today we received two live tadpoles in the mail . Currently the tadpoles are getting acclimated to their new home. They seem to be in shock, but the directions assure us that even if they float upside down, we should give them 24 hours to perk up. Our tadpoles are not floating upside down, but they are laying low for a while. I'm sure they are perfectly happy, or they will be as soon as we can start feeding them the tadpole pellets they came with. (We have to wait 12 hours.)

Too much food will increase the "organic matter" which we are supposed to clean out of the habitat with a turkey baster or large eye dropper. Doesn't this sound like fun?

I should probably download some kind of age appropriate home school unit on life cycles so I can get the biggest bang for my 5 years of frog misery. Jonah may as well learn something while we are sharing our house with a couple of amphibians.

Here's hoping for a 1 year life cycle.

Giving Up

Boy, I sure hate to do this, but I can't finish this book. Compounding the problem is that Fuse #8 gave it such a glowing review, I almost feel like I've missed something really, really obvious with Starcross by Phillip Reeve.

The first strike against Starcross is actually not the book's fault; it's mine. I was under the false impression that Starcross was the first book in a series of two and it turns out, it's second. I really should have stopped as soon as I realized this. Problem was, while I suspected it might not be the first book for the first 50-75 pages or so, when it finally became clear, I was 30,000 feet in the air on my way to Salt Lake City and, some of you may know, I have a fear of flying bookless. So I kept reading.

The second problem I came across while reading Starcross again, doesn't have a thing to do with the quality of the book. Traveling and sharing a small hotel room with two other family members does not lend itself to solitary activities like reading. Even though everyone knows a nose in a book is the universal sign for "leave me alone" my traveling companions insisted on doing things like talking to me and watching TV. Consequently I only got a page or two read before I lost concentration or had to discuss something with a real person. Reading a book two pages at a time doesn't make for excellent story fluidity.

Another issue (we'll call it problem #3) I have with this book, and the first which refers to the book itself, is the way the author simply cops out, in my very humble opinion, at very exciting times in the story by saying something like, "well, I can't go into all the details here, but we won the fight" or "somehow everything was resolved while we were away." Well, he doesn't actually say that second thing, but somehow a VERY MAJOR thing is resolved while the protagonist is off fighting the evil Moobs. The main character returns to Starcross, expecting a fight, having taken much time to come up with a plan of attack (a pretty weak plan, actually) and the excitement builds and builds and...oh, nevermind, all is well and we are drinking tea. Why don't you join us?

And the final problem is that every time I open this book to read I start to fall asleep. I can barely keep my eyes open after just a few pages.

So, no offense to the author but, I have a around 20-30 pages to go and I just don't care anymore. I'm pretty sure that if I'd started with the first book, Larklight, and read in a less distracting environment, I could have loved Starcross. I think I'm going to return this book to the library and just move on.

Musical Possibilities

Each week at Family Home Evening, we sing an opening and closing song and if I had a pair of shoes for every time "Once There Was a Snowman" was requested, I'd have to have an extra house just for footwear.

"Once There Was a Snowman" is a fine song: it gets the kids moving and they really love it. After a while, though, it does tend to wear on the nerves.

Not that my kids don't try to mix it up. Ethan has creatively altered the verses so the snowman melts in the first verse and grows in the second verse. He's a clever kid, what can I say.

On Monday we found ourselves in Deseret Book in the University Mall in Orem. Robert wanted some church music, but since we don't live in the hub of all things Mormon, we were seriously clueless about what was what. Robert ended up selecting a CD of kids songs by an a capella group called Inside Out and decided to buy it.

There is a nice assortment of variations on the Snowman Song which Robert, Ethan and I found both enjoyable AND hilarious. Most kids will not get all the musical references, but that doesn't stop them from laughing anyway.

If I did this right, you should be able to click on the title of this post (Musical Posibilities) to hear the songs for yourself. My personal favorite is "First You Were Tall." Forty points to the first person who comments with the musical reference. I'd give you a hint, but I think that would make it too easy for Betsy.

(Right now I'm only able to get one song to play by clicking the post title, but, maybe this will work...Click here to go to my box.net file with all the songs. Click on the little blue speaker and then you can open an audio file for each song. They are all very short.)

The Funeral

The funeral was beautiful with every detail just as Grandpa would have wanted it. Actually, Grandpa planned every detail of his funeral from the obituary (read it here), to the casket and the speakers at his memorial service. My favorite part was hearing the stories Uncle Andy, Aunt Paula and my mom told as part of their talks at the memorial service.

This poem that appeared on the back of the program (which was probably designed by grandpa) reminds me of Grandpa’s outlook on life. A note explains this poem, from the Boy Scout Handbook, had been an inspiration to Grandpa since he was 12 years old.

Equipment

Figure it out yourself, my lad.
You’ve all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began,
So start for the top and say “I can.”

Look them over, the wise and great
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes;
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you’ve all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,
You can be great if only you will,
You’re well equipped for what fight you choose.
You have legs and arms and a brain to use,
And the man who has risen great deeds to do
Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win.
So figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You were born with all that the great have had.
With your equipment they all began.
Get hold of yourself, and say “I can.”

Grandma M with Mom, Dad and Allyson

Jason, Andrew, Matt, Dan, (funeral director guy on the end), Baxter, Derek, Nate and Aaron

Sick

Who knew that coming to Utah for a funeral would become an exercise in trying to stay healthy.  But, that is exactly what our little trip has turned into.  

Last week the residents of Grandma M's house dealt with a round of the stomach flu.  Anna, Derek and Joshua all were sick, including Grandma and Grandpa M!  Then, Uncle Andy got sick too.  

We arrived yesterday to find that Aunt Paula was sick with the same flu and this morning my mom was sick as well as nephew Calvin!  

I have become a bit obsessive about hand washing and I'm being extra careful to not rub my eyes or nose which are dry, dry, dry!  (Did I mention it's really dry here?)

So far we are staying healthy, but you can bet that I'm ultra aware of every little anomaly to my physical comfort and suspect that everything could be the first signs of an illness.  I hope I can stay well enough for the memorial service and grave dedication tomorrow.

Distracted

We are leaving in less than 24 hours for my dear Grandpa M's funeral in Utah.

Am I packed? No.

Are the kids ready to go? Well, possibly, if you pretend that the two giant suitcases they filled with toys and their pillows this morning make them ready to spend the next three days with the neighbor.

As is often the case, when there is something pressing, I am an expert at making minor issues become major time wasters. And with that intro, I present to you...The Sandals I Must Own.

Are these not the greatest sandals you've seen? I love that they are orange. They are perfect and exactly what I have been picturing as my summer sandals 2008.

Are they priced higher than I normally pay for shoes? Of course!

Am I going to let that stand in my way of owning them? Nope.

Are they available in my size in this awesome orange color? Unfortunately, no.

So, since I need to be thoroughly distracted from the task at hand, I've made it my personal mission to locate these sandals (in orange) anywhere else online. The only place that sells them in orange is Zappos but they don't have my size. And you would not beleive how many shoe websites that claim to be something other than Zappos just link you right back to Zappos.

I've found the same style at other places in pink, light blue, tan, brown and black, but I want orange. I must have them! I will have them. Even if I have to travel all the way to the Born factory in... (googling, googling, googling...) Ok, I can't find out where the company HQ is located. It's a mystery that I will probably spend way too much time trying to solve as soon as I can find my new orange sandals.