Rewind to 7 months ago, first encounter with one of our backyard neighbors:

Nancy (name has been changed): What a cute adorable baby.

Lyle (with family on a walk around the block): Thank you.

Nancy: Blah, blah, blah.

Lyle: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Fast forward to last week at 7:30 am at my home...

-ding dong-
-ding dong-
-ding dong-
-ding dong-

Nancy: Your children keep throwing red lava rocks into my yard and it's gotta stop. My pup ingested one last night. That can be a very expensive vet bill if he should develope any complications and I'm not going to be the one to pay it. It's gotta stop.

Lyle: We don't have red lava rocks in our yard.

Nancy: I've seen your kids throw them.

Lyle: We don't have red lava rocks anywhere on our property.

Nancy: Your neighbors that used to live next door were always asking your kids to stop throwing rocks.

Lyle: They never said a word to me.

Nancy: Well they were always telling them to stop throwing rocks into their yard. It's gotta stop.

Lyle: If my kids were repeatedly doing something and were being asked not to, and our neighbors never came and told me or my wife, then that's stupid on their part.

Nancy: Well it's gotta stop. I'm tired of picking up red lava rocks in my yard.

Lyle: Show me where the red lava rocks are in my yard.

Nancy: You just need to tell your kids to stop throwing rocks. It's gotta stop and if my dog gets sick, that can be a huge bill and I'm not going to pay it.

Lyle: I'll tell my kids to stop throwing red lava rocks.


FYI: Our other neighbor that lives behind us has oodles of red lava rocks under their deck. Problem: Nancy is good friends with the owners of the red lava rocks.

You know you're not getting enough sleep when...

I work on the third floor. I've always worked on the third floor (at my current job of the last four years). The other day I was in a meeting down on the first floor and after it was over, I began the hike back up the stairs. I exited the stairwell, walked the full length of the building and turned into what I thought was my cubicle before I realized that I was on the wrong floor. Somehow I managed to make a course correction before the cubicle owner realized that I was occupying their space.

Three days later, I found myself on the wrong floor a second time. Fortunately, the error of my way registered in my brain a few moments sooner.

Well Said

How wonderful it is to have access to the words of apostles and prophets, so quickly and with such widespread availability. I totally loved Elder Uchtdorf's message that he delivered during the General Relief Society Conference last Saturday. Women are not the only ones that can benefit from his message about the Forget-me-nots.

Baby Hair Bow Blues

With the recent arrival of our little girl, came the urge to put cute little bows in her hair. It's been fifteen years since we've had to consider using any baby bows and we were on the look out for the latest trend in getting those pesky little bows to stick in the hair via non-permenant methods. My sister-in-law recently had twin girls and sugested using KY Jelly. My firt reaction was "Okay, that sounds reasonable. I'll just run to the store and buy some. How hard can it be." Little dis I know how much the world of KY Jelly has evolved.

Let's just say, that when I got to the right aisle in the store I was shocked at what I saw. I decided to pass having my little girl experience any tingling sensual feelings from having a bow in her hair. I passed on the opportunity to have a glow-in-the-dark- spot on her head. The types of KY Jelly was as almost as endless as the types of shampoo. All I wanted was plain, nothing special, no tingling, no glowing, no enhancing anything, run-of-the-mill KY Jelly to afix those bows.

Finally, I found what I was looking for... 10 minutes later (knowing I couldn't return home empty handed).

Needless to say, the bows are staying in her hair quite nicely... and without any usual side-effects for a two month old.

Hold Your Horses

I figured this cliché could apply to either one of two events: the birth of our second daughter (sixth child). I know many people that think we should have stopped at just one... maybe, just maybe even two. But six???? Are we out our mind?

Happily so.

E.M. joined our family on Saturday, the same day her mother was supposed to direct not one, but three single act plays. Which leads us to the next cliché of the show must go on right? In this case it did. All the kids involved did better than [I] expected. So bravo for them.

The other hold your horses moment with the show must go on refers to a certain rodeo in Utah that chose to move ahead in spite of the horse herpes outbreak. Instead of canceling the event, like other shows that involve horses have, they had the cowgirls riding on stick horses. Stick horses people. Doesn't anyone find that the least bit odd, not to mention embarrassing? These girls obliged the powers that be and literally held on to their stick horses.

Let's just have jockeys race with stick horses folks. I understand wanting to support the participants, but at what cost?

In the end, perhaps I should give the rodeo planners the same slack I ask of others, in terms of how large my family grows. Others are not in a position to make that call for me, just as I am not in any position to decide what goes down in a rodeo. However, in rodeo-land, with six, you don't get egg-roll.

There is no escape. The words cannot be severed. They find release through one medium or another. Time is my biggest enemy. The race is beyond marathons standards. Disjointed like a poorly pruned apple tree -still bears fruit. Some bitter. Some sweet. Ramblings and fragmented sentences, find the path of least resistance sooner or later. In a world of so many failures and disappointments, silence is the only loser. Losers are dead.

Thank you Monty for not being dead yet.

Waiting

Maybe. Perhaps. Whisperings in the wind.