Skiing 101

Today I planned to enroll Miles in his first ski school class.  It's a beautiful day, lots of fresh snow, not windy; a great day for ski school.  But I woke up today feeling sinusy and head-coldish.  Also, the ski day needed to be rearranged so it turned into an afternoon and night skiing day, not the best for a 4 year old, so I decided it would be best to stay home with Miles.  But that didn't mean he wasn't skiing today.  There are oodles of inches of snow surrounding the house.  The backyard has a nice, gentle north-to-south slope.  I decided to put Miles on skis in the backyard.  I bundled him up; stuck his helmet on his head, adjusted his bindings, wrestled his feet into his books, carried him out to the yard, "clicked" him into his skis, then pushed him down the hill.  Okay, I guided him down the hill while holding him upright by the back of his parka.  It worked okay.  Miles has no sense of balance on skis.  Forget trying to teach him what to do with his skis- "keep them together" was all he could handle. But we had fun.  He went down the gentle slope about 20 times and then decided he was done.  

Bouncy-Bouncy

A couple of weeks ago I was helping a friend out and dropped her son off at his kindergarten enhancement class. The class happens to be held right behind one of Miles' favorite things... the orange "bouncy-bouncy" on State Street. I let Miles get out of the car to watch the bouncy-bouncy do its thing. Miles did "bouncy-bouncy" right along with it.

Miles the Drum Major

Miles' obsession with marching bands has gone up a level.  Now when playing drum major, he uses a podium and has his very own salute (that is the same every time he conducts his "band").

Christmas 2012

Good day.  It was.  It was great waking up at 8:21 and realizing that all the kids were still asleep.  I showered, dressed, and got ready, and the boys still slept.  At 9:04 a.m., I took this picture.

Jonathan wandered up shortly thereafter, followed by Nolan, but Miles slept on, until around 9:45.  I bet future years will bring an earlier wake up time.  The kids attacked their stockings, then the stuff under the tree.

I think they were mostly pleased with their hauls; I only know of one disappointment.  Miles "got it" this year and loved opening presents.  He found 2 wrapped "extra" gifts and put them under the tree and stared at them for a while before ripping them open.  The big winner of the year?  The marble run game/toy/building thing.

And now it is over.  Back to the homework, instrument practicing, and mess clean up.  Yesterday I hit the "no more" point with the Christmas decor and packed it all away, with the exception of the now bare trees. 

Cardiac Stress Test

On Thursday I had a slew of doctor's appointments.  Jonathan and Nolan have asked that I don't post the details of them on my blog because they don't wish to relive the post procedure discussions ever again!  I can honor that request, at least most of it!  One test I had was a cardiac stress test.  It was the biggest disappointment!  Somehow I'd thought that the treadmill cardiac stress test involved running at a ridiculously high rate of speed for as long as one was physically able until the subject reached the point of collapse.  Let it be known that based on my conception of this test, I was a bit nervous, to say the least.  So I followed the directions I received and brought shorts, a t-shirt, "appropriate shoes", and a "non-underwire supportive bra" and presented myself at the appointed time for the treadmill test.  I was wearing jeans, 3" wedges, and a shirt.  First they had me undress from the waist up and put on a gown opening in the front.  Then they took my blood pressure about a million times and attached a dozen or so "lead pads" all over my chest and hooked me up to a bunch of wired that I attached to a device that they strapped to my waist.  Next the doctor came in and told me to get on the treadmill.  Keep in mind that all I am wearing is my jeans (and they are wide legged, long length trouser jeans that I would surely trip over and die if I wore them while running on a treadmill).  So I asked the doctor if I could at least put on my running shoes.  He let me, so I put on my shoes (who wants to be barefoot in a medical clinic anyway?) and pegged and rolled up my jeans and got on the treadmill wearing nothing but my shoes, my jeans, the leads and a medical gown.  Since I wasn't wearing anything "supportive" I was not looking forward to running.  The doctor explained that the treadmill would start at a dinosaur pace then increase in speed and incline until I hit my calculated "maximum heart rate".  So there I am walking nowhere with this hospital gown on that won't stay put.  I'm trying to keep myself "covered" while walking up at 14% grade at 3.4 mph and maintaining stupid chit chat with the doctor as he is regularly taking my blood pressure, and the transmitting thing they strapped to my waist is bouncing uncomfortably up and down with even step I take.  It was ridiculous.  It wasn't hard, I didn't have to exercise to the "drop dead" point.  It was actually a pretty ridiculous scene.  About 7.5 minutes after the test started I maxed out my heart rate, but the doctor decided to not end the test then; he wanted to see if I could exceed my "maximum heart rate".  So I kept going and shortly thereafter I did exceed my "MHR" and then the doctor ended the test and pronounced me "totally regular".  Two minutes later he retook my blood pressure, pronounced that I had returned to "normal" and left the room.  The nurse unstrapped the transmitting device and unhooked me from the wires, then told me to leave the gown on the table, unstick and throw away all the lead pads, and to get dressed and head out.

So the test was simplistic compared to how I'd misconceived it.  The "appropriate clothing" for the test was unnecessary.  The actual test with all it's components (my dress, the flopping transmitter, the chit chat, the blood pressure taking, etc) was comedic.  My final assessment of it is that for a woman, it's a strange situation.

(According to Blogger, every word in this post is misspelled.  Every word has a red line beneath it.  I guess I'm going to have to rely on my awesome proofreading and spelling skill to check this post)

Thai Garlic Noodles with Vegetables

Yep, part of what I bought at Trader Joe's.  It's Thailand's version of Ramen Noodles, but since I like Thai food, I was willing to give this a try.  So, I opened the packaging, and dumped the flavoring, oil, and "vegetables" into the rice noodles, then added the water and stuck the stuff in the microwave.  Okay, the "vegetables" were a joke, and a bad one at that.  The vegetables consisted of corn, "carrots", garlic, and "spring onions". 

Don't they look delicious and plentiful?  The soup was blah.  The whole thing was less than desirable.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 2.  Not buying again.  At least I got 56% of my USDA amount of sodium in a single bowl!

Gangnam Style's Biggest Fan

So PSY's lame YouTube video has more than 1,000,000,000 hits.  I thought it was relevant to add a hit to its YouTube count so I went to the official Gangnam video.  Jonathan left the room disgusted (because he knows it's lame) while Miles thought the video was the best thing ever.

Trader Joe's

Utah finally has a Trader Joe's and it's a happenin' place to be.  It may be the place to be in Salt Lake right now.  Yesterday I had some time to kill between doctor's appointments so I decided to go check out the new Trader Joe's.  To summarize my Trader Joe's trip, it was a madhouse.  First, the parking for Trader Joe's is woefully inadequate.  It's in a strip mall with an Ace Hardware and a Staples.  Those businesses have coned off parking stalls for their customers.  The lot was full; people were parking on the street.  Cars followed people leaving the store to their cars and vultured nearby waiting for the car to leave.  I was lucky and went far to the right and found a parking spot.  The store was packed with people.  There was a shopping route that you basically had to follow unless you wanted to be the swimming upstream fish and annoy everyone.  The store seemed miniscule compared other Trader Joe's I've been in; a clerk claims it's the same size as all the other stores, but I'm not convinced.  Maybe it just seemed smaller since it was so crowded.  After following the shopping route (seriously it was like being on a freeway, turn signals and brake lights would have been helpful), I went to the checkout.  The lines were long- 5 or so people deep; the checkers were slow but pleasant.  Finally I walked out the door and was stalked by an Audi that needed a parking place.  I casually made my way over to my car, loaded the groceries, put the cart somewhere safe, then did a 7 point turn about and left. 

My assessment- other than the parking being awful, the store being crowded, the lines long, and the checkers slow, this Trader Joe's is a Trader Joe's.  Same store as Trader Joe's Anywhere, minus the Two Buck Chuck.  Yippee.  The store is going to prove to be extremely successful and it's just a matter of time (minutes?  seconds?) until more Trader Joe's open along the Wasatch Front.

So, what did I buy?  Basmati rice, Gorgonzola crackers, blueberry preserves and blueberry sparkling cider-like drink (for gifts), a couple of frozen Indian dishes, a Thai noodle dinner (I have more to say about that later), animal crackers, Meyer Lemon cookies, meringues, some Ciabatta rolls, arrabiatta sauce, and cookie butter.  Oh, and I sampled chocolate cheddar cheese- yuck.

Higher Education, Again

I spent most of today up in Salt Lake.  I got home a little before 4 p.m. and checked the messages.  There was one from the Regent's Scholarship Office.  This was the scholarship Jonathan was applying for last week when I had the issue of getting Jonathan's transcript from UVU (they wouldn't give me a copy of his transcript without a permission slip from him even though Jonathan is a minor).  The message left said that while Jonathan's paperwork had been received, there was a problem with the transcript from UVU; it wasn't an official transcript so we needed to go get another transcript from UVU and have it in the mail by the deadline, preferably by the priority deadline which happens to be tomorrow.  While going out anywhere was the last thing I wanted to do, Jonathan and I went to UVU.  We went to the transcript place and Jonathan told them what the scholarship people said; I asked the guy for an "officially official" transcript.  Mr. UVU had no idea why the transcript wasn't deemed "official" but he gave us a new copy (free of charge!).  We headed to the post office and sent it off.  What is it with Jonathan and transcript issues? 

e-Readers Hate Me

I have the worst luck with e-Readers.  I have a Nook.  The first Nook I had died on day 2 of my ownership.  Barnes and Noble replaced it.  A few months later, Nook #2 wouldn't start up and it was replaced as well.  Last week, Miles got his "iPad" (Kindle Fire) and last night it died.  To turn it on, you push a little button which is now stuck in the "pushed in" position.  I called Amazon this morning and a new Kindle Fire is on it's way.  While I'm grateful for warranties, I seem to get the dud units!

Higher Education

Jonathan has submitted three of four applications to the universities that he plans on applying to.  The process has been smooth for 2 of the schools, but the U of U application process has hit a snag.  The priority deadline, which must be met if the student wants to be considered for scholarships, was December 1.  Every part of the application that Jonathan could take care of himself was completed prior to the deadline.  But as of yesterday, December 14, his application was still not complete.  For some reason, the U has never received Jonathan's THS transcripts.  THS has sent them to the U TWICE, once in October and again in November, but the U claims they haven't received them.  On Wednesday, I was told to go get a copy of his transcripts (sealed in a signed envelope), and a letter from the school with evidence that the transcripts were sent twice prior to 12/1, and then to deliver the transcripts in person.  Like I have nothing better to do less that 2 weeks before Christmas.  So yesterday I went to THS and explained the situation to the transcripts lady.  She was so helpful and accommodating.  She immediately got busy printing his transcript, writing the letter, sealing everything to ensure it was all Kosher, all while acting like it was no inconvenience for her.  Then I drove up to the U and hand delivered the transcripts and letters, and was assured that they would backdate everything so Jonathan would be considered for scholarships.  However, as of today, the U website still indicates that his application is incomplete.  Grrrr.

Jonathan is also applying for a scholarship that requires a copy of his THS and his UVU transcript so I had to go get a UVU transcript.  I went to UVU and was told that I have to have a permission slip signed by Jonathan to get a copy of his transcript.  I told the UVU student that was ridiculous because he's a minor and therefore I, as his legal guardian/mother, can have access to his "stuff".  Mr. UVU told me that in the eyes of the school he's an adult and therefore protected by privacy laws.  I told him that he's not a adult and has no rights and to give me his transcript.  They refused and I had to play their game.  Jonathan wasn't going to be home until late afternoon so I had to go to THS and track him down and have him write me a permission slip to get his transcript and then drive back to UVU and have them print it.  So I went back to UVU and this time, the clerk I was sent to knew me and told me that she would have just printed it for me.

So 4 hours of my time and 150 miles later, I complete the Higher Education projects of the day.

Early Start

On Friday, Miles decided that 4 a.m. would be a good time to start his day.  He came in to "visit" and never went back to sleep.  That meant that my Friday also started at 4 a.m.  I was really happy that it was a school day for Miles because that way I got a break from him and what I anticipated would be an ornery and grumpy four year old.  He happily went to school and had a great day!  He came home with a good behavior report.  He got a bit grumpy at times as the afternoon wore on, but considering that he'd gone to bed after 10 p.m. and up at four, he was really pleasant.  At 5 p.m. he asked for a bath and his pajamas, a very reasonable request that I agreed to.  However, I had plans last night and Nolan and Jonathan were going to have to babysit.  I asked them to try and keep Miles up until at least 8 p.m. so he'd sleep through the night instead of taking a late nap (okay, my motive was so I could get a decent night's sleep) and to be patient with him.  When I got home, Nolan reported that Miles was really good and was awake until after 9 p.m.  Wow.  I was expecting a nightmare day and Miles was great.  While this had better be an isolated incidence, the end result was the best possible outcome to a potentially disastrous day. 

Speech Therapy

Miles has a new speech therapist this year.  His name is Mr. Gary.  Mr. Gary isn't the best at filling out the "what we did in speech today" form so I'm usually not aware or up-to-date as to what he and Miles work on.  There have been four updates in 3 1/2 months.  The form is filled out so infrequently that I don't regularly check Miles' speech folder.  This morning I checked the folder and found out that the focus of Miles' speech therapy has shifted from "name the object"/vocabulary building to "using correct grammar."  I think that's exciting.  To me, it means that Miles will talk to Mr. Gary and that Mr. Gary knows that Miles can talk and they are now working on correct usage of English. 

Fire Hazards

Twice today I found hot "things" that could possibly have started a fire.  Not that at times I haven't thought that my house burning to the ground wouldn't be all bad because I'd be able to rebuild my house how I'd like it, but I need at least a 24 hour notice prior to the start of the fire to be able to remove anything important to me.  But, no house fire today.  This morning I went down to the basement and noticed that a light was left on in Nolan's room.  I headed towards his room to turn the light off and realized that I could smell a "hot" smell.  Nolan had left his floor lamp on and one of the plastic shades had come loose and was resting against the light bulb.  The shade was really hot.  I turned off the light and fixed the shade.  Potential fire #1- problem rectified.  This evening I was in my room.  The ironing board and iron have been hanging out in my room since the weekend.  A few times I've seen Miles standing on a chair and "ironing" with the iron unplugged.  Tonight I smelled "hot" again and found the iron plugged in (a la Miles) and set to the "cotton" setting and wassitting hot plate down on the ironing board.  I immediately unplugged the iron and moved it to a place where Miles can't access it.  The iron scorched the ironing board cover, but potential fire #2 was prevented. 

More Awesome Things Miles Says

During Miles' "mute" phase, I often wondered what he was thinking.  Now that he has decided to be verbal, he often tell us what is on his mind.  2 stories from today...

Miles must have had amusing dreams last night because twice I heard him laughing in his sleep.  When he work up this morning and came and found me, he said, "Miles have such fun sleep!"  While he didn't elaborate, I knew he was right.

Today it snowed a few inches, melted, and iced over.  It was 28 degrees out when I realized that I needed to make a quick grocery store run.  I took Miles with me.  We did the shopping then headed out to the car.  To help Miles stay warm, I put him in the car while I loaded the groceries.  I finished with the groceries and went to buckle Miles into his car seat.  He told me, "Look!  Man is all naked!"  I said, "What?"  Miles repeated, "Man is all naked."  Keeping in mind that it is literally freezing outside and being skeptical of Miles' observation, I asked him, "Where?"  He answered, "Man has no shoes on!"  I laughed and laughed at Miles' way of expressing his observation. 

Leftovers!

On Saturday, I visited my favorite Indian food restaurant owner... Amrik.  To all the locals who think Bombay House is the best, sorry, you are wrong.  Head around the corner to India Palace on Center Street.  Heaven!  It had been too long since I'd been to India Palace and to visit with Amrik; he even told me so.  My meal was excellent and the best part was that there were leftovers.  While I love fresh Indian food, I think leftovers are even better!  For dinner tonight I had a plate of Tadka Dahl, Vegetable Curry, Aloo Mutter, and Basmati Rice.  So good.  My mouth is burning and my nose is running.  Love it!

Christmas Band Concerts

This year we get to go to 3 school band Christmas concerts. Jonathan has 2, and Nolan has 1. Tuesday was the THS Jazz and Percussion Christmas concert. Jonathan plays tenor sax in the Jazz Band. I asked Jonathan if he wanted anything recorded from his concert and he told me that there wouldn't be anything worth recording. I took pictures though. The Jazz band was told they could dress festively for the concert. Jonathan took that to the extreme and wore a Santa hat and coat.

Nolan's concert was on Thursday. He played in the drumline, percussion for the Concert band, Kozan ensemble, Jazz band, and Symphonic band. In Kozan, he plays the nagado-daiko. He's the guy on the left side of the black barrel drum on the far left.
In Jazz Band, Nolan had a solo in Sweet Georgia Brown. (at about 1:30)
In Symphonic Band, he had another solo (Feelings) in Shrek Dance Party.  He's the trumpet in the back row, second from the left wearing a black shirt.

USPS Overachievers

The post office is losing money. They readily admit it and raise postage prices to increase revenue. Maybe they should look at how they spend the money they take in. Yesterday I got a piece of mail that was damaged by the USPS. It was a 59 page junk mail catalog that had been eaten by some piece of postal equipment. It was still delivered to me though. It came in a sealed bag with an apology for damaging the junk mail. I took it out of the bag to see the damage. Not that I cared, since it was junk mail, but I was curious. The catalog had been literally ripped in half and manually repaired by someone at the post office. Every page in the catalog and the order form had been taped back together. While it's nice that the USPS took responsibility for mangling this item, it still was JUNK MAIL. Someone took several minutes to "fix" a catalog that I didn't even want. Appreciated? not really. Was I impressed? Definitely. But, a good use of money for a company that is losing millions of dollars? I'd say not. Yes, they fulfilled their contract to deliver this company's catalog. Yes, their repairs did make me look at the catalog as I admired the matching up of the pages and the taping job, but am I ordering anything? No. The catalog is headed to the recycling bin.

The Reason for the Season

The house is ready for Christmas. Decorated. Nativities galore. This is the first year that we've tried to explain to Miles about the Christian significance of Christmas. We've been telling Miles that Christmas is Baby Jesus' birthday. He regularly walks over to a Nativity and asks us, "Who is that? and answers himself and says, "Baby Jesus." We respond with something along the lines of "That's right. Christmas is Baby Jesus' birthday." This morning, Miles pulled out a padded bench seat and lay down on it on his back very stiffly. He said, "I Baby Jesus." For some reason I asked him, "What does Baby Jesus say?" and Miles immediately answered, "It's my birthday!" I think he's got it.

Silent Night?

We have a tradition of finding horrible renditions of Christmas Carols on YouTube.  While I still think that the O Holy Night massacre still tops the list of "People who Should be Banned From Singing Religious Based Songs" list, this American Idol Audition is pretty awful.

Done! Done! Done!

And it feels amazing!  Yesterday I mailed off the last house payment!  Today, I logged in to the account and saw this...

I've been looking forward to this day for more than 15 years!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Freedom.
(And P.S.- Don't ever get a mortgage through Provident... they are a pain to deal with!)

Want to Hear Some Good Music?

Yesterday was the Alpine Honor Band concert.  For the second year, Jonathan was a part of the band.  This year, it was conducted by Don Peterson from BYU.  Membership in this group was determined by band teacher nomination.  They met after school on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday morning, then put on this concert on Saturday afternoon.  They played 6 numbers.  Bearing in mind that they rehearsed for less than 15 hours, they sound great. Below are 2 videos from the concert... But first, on Friday, Jonathan found out that he made it in the Utah All-state band again this year.  (Brag moment alert...) We also found out that based on the audition video, he was ranked as #1 clarinet!  Now, that doesn't mean he will be first chair in the All-state band since they will chair at their first rehearsal in January, but it's cool to know just how well prepared he was and good his audition was!  Now, the Honor Band videos...

John Phillips Sousa's Lambs' March


Marten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium

Cell Phone Insurance

I don't have insurance on my phone and Miles obsession with my phone makes me nervous as it's quite an expensive toy for a 4 year old to play with.  I have rules that he must follow when playing games on my phone- #1 being, he must sit down!  Well, on Monday I decided to purchase insurance for my phone.  I bought Miles a Kindle Fire so he can play all the games he wants on it.  My theory is that since it's bigger than my phone and also a touch screen, he'll like it more that my phone.  He's liking his Kindle.  He just went and showed it to Dan.  I heard Miles say, "my iPad; not a Kindle."  I'm in no hurry to correct his assumption; it can be an "iPad" if it keeps him away from my phone.

Most Wonderful Day of the Year

I've been looking forward to today for a month!  December 1st.  Best day.  Why?  Well, not because the advent calendars start today, but to pay homage to one of the advent calendars, I'd like to make a modification on its poem...

November first to December is the longest time of year.
It seems that the end of "No Shave November" never will appear...

Jonathan decided to participate in "No Shave November" and take the month off from using his razor.  This morning, it all came off.  He went from this

 back to this...

Unfortunately, he's looking forward to "Mustache March".