Things I Didn’t Know in High School

My kids would end up going to the same high school I went to.

I would have five sisters-in-law that I went to junior high or high school with (and all but one would get divorced).

Coach Olson would still work there 20 years later and somehow look exactly the same.

I would have dreams about forgetting my locker combination, forgetting the dance choreography, forgetting my schedule, and forgetting to do my math homework for the rest of my life.

My teachers weren’t as old as I thought they were.

Some of the people I went to school with but never really talked to would become really good friends later in life. 

The boy who flipped a kid over in his desk during math class in 8th grade would one day be my brother-in-law and marry my best friend.

Some of my classmates wouldn’t live long past graduation. 

I didn’t miss anything by not getting a letterman’s jacket or class ring.

I would eventually reconnect with some of my teachers using something called “social media.”  

I would one day chaperone the dances. 

My high school would be the first in our area to have weapon scanners.

One of my kids would have their first kiss with one of my classmate’s kids. 

My parking spot would be converted to faculty parking. 

They would get rid of the Gate Lady (IYKYK).

It’s Officially Spring (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: I have big news - I got a new laptop today. I’m not blogging from it, though. Instead I’m posting in bed from my phone, which is always a pain, and I don’t know why I do it. 

Oh wait, yes I do. It’s because I’m too lazy to turn on a laptop and sit up to use it.

Fact #2: I realized recently that I have recurring dreams about doing the dishes at my grandma’s house. I’m always loading her dishwasher or scrubbing dishes in her sink, and I’m stressed about the amount of dishes. I have no idea why I have these dreams. I don’t have any weird memories of doing dishes at my grandma’s house. My grandma was always in the kitchen, but that’s the closest tie I have to her sink and dishwasher. 

Sometimes you just need to slap some dino nuggies on bread and call it dinner

Fact #3: Tomorrow is my day off. I haven’t really figured out how to manage my time on days I don’t work. There is always so much I want to do and so much I need to do. Right now I’m really behind on things at home. I’ve been wearing Scotty’s socks for three weeks because I’m behind on laundry, and I don’t know where my clothes have gone. Scotty has been doing a lot of the laundry lately, so maybe he’s hiding stuff. 

Fact #4: Even though I’m behind on things at home, I’m really enjoying working. I started with 12 hours a week, and then I increased to 18 (ish). I really like my job, and I’m strangely sad on days I don’t get to go to work. But I need that time to get home and family stuff done. 

Fact #5: We are already wrapped up in all of the end of the school year things. We’ve had a lot of performances and events to attend this past week, and it’s pretty much our lifestyle from now until school gets out in June. 

Daisy is going through a Michael Jackson thing since seeing MJ the Musical last month

Fact #6: For the past couple of months, Daisy has stayed after school for play practice. Now that the play is done, and she’s coming home right after school, I feel like I’ve lost daycare services.

The poor theatre teacher probably feels like he was running a daycare. He hasn’t come to school since the play ended. I told Daisy today that he might not ever come back.

Fact #7: This week I’m feeling very lovey dovey toward my friends. I have moments where I realize how many wonderful people I have in my life and how I am not fully embracing the relationships I have. I look around and wonder “Why are they still here? Why do they stand by me even when they’ve seen some of the worst of me?” And well… I guess I just feel very blessed. 

Nicky’s potter piece in the school art show (hopefully you recognize it as Delicate Arch and not a wonky pair of pants)

Fact #8: This morning our water heater pooped out. Luckily Scotty was able to get it working again this afternoon. When I asked him what was wrong with it, he used words I don’t know, so I zoned out. All I know is that he cleaned a part, and that seems to have done the trick. Yay for hot water! It’s definitely a luxury we take for granted until it’s not there. Then we realize how frail we truly are. 

Fact #9: The other day I had to fill out some paperwork for a school event for Nicky, and after I turned it in, it dawned on me that I dated everything 2025. I think I might have been doing this all year. I think I’ve been living a year ahead. Now I’m trying to get back into 2024, and I swear we already did this year.

Fact #10: I didn’t have any relevant photos to include in this post, so I decided to throw in whatever I could find. I hope you enjoyed the journey!

My brother’s dog

Thoughts at the End of a Weekend

It’s late Sunday night, and I’m not quite ready to go to sleep (I’m the last one awake in my house… I think… my big kids might still be up, but I don’t know). A lot of times at night I think I’m wide awake, so I start reading a book or writing a blog post, and within a few minutes I pass out. I get a false burst of energy right before I fall asleep sometimes. I say that because I start a lot of blog posts and never finish them, and that could be happening right now. I think I’m not tired, but my eyelids might betray me at any moment. I think I sometimes read in my sleep, but I’ve never blogged… that I know of (suddenly spends three hours combing through archives).

Anyway, I just thought I’d write a few thoughts at the end of a busy weekend. We had a lot of events and commitments over the last week. 

On Monday we helped move a set from our high school to a nearby high school for the region theatre competition. That was at 6:30 a.m. Then I went to work for a few hours and left early to go watch Nicky’s performance. That afternoon we moved the set back.

On Tuesday I was in charge of dinner for 40 theatre kids at the second day of region. I had a crew of helpers, luckily. Tuesday was also maturation for Zoe at school. We let our kids choose if they want to attend or not, and Zoe is the first one who wanted to go, so I left work early to go with her. 

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Daisy had her school’s production of Footloose in which she had the lead role!

You guys! My daughter surprised the heck out of me. I never imagined her getting up in front of everyone and singing solos on stage! 

Who is this kid??? 

It was so much fun to go to the musical every night and see the kids do their thing. There are some fun personalities in this group of kids. 

One of the best parts was seeing 5’7” Daisy (Ariel) with 4’11” Kyle (Ren). With Footloose, you’re supposed to be Team Ren, but I gotta admit, I was Team Chuck. His mom and I have wedding plans for him and Daisy. It’s gonna be a long seven years for us mothers-in-law.

Ariel and Ren

(Is there anything more “junior high?)

Ariel and Chuck 

On Saturday we went to Lagoon for opening day! I bought season passports without telling Scotty. Tee hee. I can’t believe I’m a Lagoon junkie. I have rules though. I only go first thing in the morning for about two hours, and then I get the heck outta there. 

Love the rides. Hate the crowds.

We were there from about 10:00-noon. Then we came home and did our chores before Game Night at 4:00. Chad and Carlie came over, and we played Ark Nova, Viticulture, Take 5, and Quixx. We had chimichangas for dinner and brownies and Rice Krispie treats for dessert. 

This morning (Sunday) I woke up early and made two desserts for a family party (one pan of lemon lush and one pan of pistachio lush because I know you want to know). We went to church, and it was my turn to teach Relief Society. When we started attending our new ward, I was very disappointed to find that our ancient building (that predates Noah’s flood) has chalkboards still. I asked the bishop at then end of last year about getting a white board in the Relief Society room, and he said he thought we could do that. It got installed this week, and I was the first to get to use it! That was more exciting than anything else that went on. The lesson was fine, but the white board was beautiful!

After church I had to go to a stake camp meeting. Then we had an Easter party at my mom’s house. Then we went to an Easter devotional. 

Today was kind of insane, and I spent the morning on the brink of a breakdown. I was overwhelmed, but we got through it, and now we get to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again!

Things the Kids Say: Episode 30

“Why are we allowed to have a stop sign in our yard but not a horse?”

-Zoe

—————

“Look how happy those grandmas are!”

-Eva referring to two ladies my age

—————

Car alarm outside: Beep! Beep! Beep!

Eva: Is that my car?

—————-

“Taylor Swift is so twelve years ago!”

-Zoe, who is 11

—————

“Our lives are going to change forever because Dad is a YouTuber now, but he’s not the kind that says ‘Oh my God!’”

-Eva after Scotty posted one video on YouTube

—————

Zoe: Occasionally I like big butts.

Me: Occasionally?

Zoe: Well, I don’t really know what that means.

The Bear Necessity

My friend Lynsie and I sometimes buy each other beautiful offerings from the thrift store and leave them on one another’s porches. In 2014, I found a ceramic bear on my porch holding a bag of lemon bars from Schmidt’s Pastries. 

Zoe was just under two years old, and she fell in love with that bear. 

She carried it around like a stuffed animal, and that thing got dragged all over the house for a few years. At some point, the bear broke, but we don’t remember how it happened. We just know it was devastating.

Last year, I was in my neighbor’s basement, and I saw this:

It was the same bear!

I took a picture and sent it to Lynsie, telling her I found a replacement bear, and I was gonna steal it!

(I’m a big talker. I didn’t steal the bear).

Sadly, my neighbor and long-time friend is now moving. On Saturday, she was having a yard sale, and at 7:00 that morning, I suddenly remembered the bear in her basement. I texted her the photo of her bear and asked if she was selling it. I don’t know if it was included in her original yard sale plans, but she said she would sell it to me! I promised to explain to her why I wanted to buy her bear and why I had a photo of it (creepy). 

Later that morning, we walked over to the yard sale to get the bear. Not only did she save the bear for me, she saved his friend! So I bought two coordinating, ceramic bears and brought them home along with a wagon, a beach tent, and a set of dominoes that I snagged before Papa G across the street could. 

My girls were so excited about the bears. Zoe remembered her love for “Beary,” our former bear of note, and she recognized the likeness of new guy right away. Eva named the other bear Harry, so now we have Beary and Harry, and they live in a cardboard apartment.

This probably wasn’t what my friend envisioned when I asked to buy her bear, but I’m glad she went along with it! I promise they will be loved and cherished for a long time!

Eight Photos From the Weekend with Zero Explanations

Things I Don’t Need to Write About

I usually keep a list on my phone of ideas for blog posts. Some of them never get written because, when it comes down to it, I think, “I don’t really need to write about that.” One thing about me is I can go on and on in great detail about very uninteresting things. Just ask my friend Shannon - I sent her a lengthy Marco Polo the other day about the colors of the spray bottles at the car wash, and how I can’t tell if the yellowish/greenish one is glass cleaner because it’s not labeled. I probably didn’t need to tell her that. 

(If you like hearing about topics such as this, please sign up for my weekly newsletter).

(I don’t actually have a weekly newsletter). 

(This morning I went ahead and used the yellowish/greenish bottle as glass cleaner). 

(I think it worked).

(I let Shannon know).

Today as I was reviewing my list of blogging ideas, I eliminated the things I really don’t need to blog about.

For example, I don’t need to write a tribute to the green bathrobe I’m throwing away.

I also don’t need to blog about how I pierced my own ear the other day (but if I die, please tell them that I used a disposable ear gun from China that I purchased for $2.50 on Amazon. I’m sure they’ll figure it out in the autopsy, but you might be able to save them some time by pointing them in that direction).

I’m not going to write a post about how I waited over an hour for an order of fries from Wingstop on Friday night.

And I’m not going to write about me being the only person in my family who likes Chex Mix and how that makes me feel very lonely sometimes.

Or a detailed description of why I load the dishwasher the way I do.

Or an elaborate commentary about how the pharmacy tech where I get my meds won’t hand me my receipt, and instead says, “Don’t forget your receipt!” as she walks away, and I have to remove it from the register myself.

And I’m most certainly not going to blog about the weather. Instead I’ll show you this photo of me channeling spring:

That’s a whole lotta things crossed off my list, so I’m going to need to come up with some new material.

The Post I Gave Up On

There’s no school today (I started this post on Friday), so we are all having our tech time. Me included. So how about a Q&A from my writing prompts board on Pinterest? Yes, yes. Then I don’t have to be responsible for coming up with a topic to blog about (though I do have a note on my phone with ideas for another day when I have more brain power) (I just woke up from a really long, much needed nap. I can’t brain yet). Here’s what I can offer: 

Are you happy? Why or why not?

Overall, I have a pretty happy life, especially if I go by my chosen definition for happiness which comes from a sociologist named Ruut Veenhoven and is “an overall appreciation for life as a whole.” 

In fact, this morning before I got out of bed, I scrolled back through my past year of Instagram posts and kept thinking “look at what a good life I have!” So either it is really a good and happy life despite its imperfections and struggles or social media is so deceptive that I’ve even fooled myself into believing my life is happy and great!

What challenges are you currently facing?

Parenting - all the decisions I have to make for my kids and not always knowing what the right choice is and how it will affect them. Discipline. Technology. Teaching them everything they need to know to get through life. Communicating love to them but also not putting up with crap. Raising them with values without imposing beliefs on them or making them resentful. The list is long.

I was going to list some more challenges I’m facing in sloppy, incomplete sentences, but that last paragraph fatigued me on this topic.

Do you have a solid, consistent routine? Do you like it?

Every day is a little different, but there are points in most days that are routine. Mornings on school days are pretty consistent with getting everyone ready and out the door. I have some variations in work days vs days off. Evenings vary based on the schedule, but we have a pretty normal dinner routine and bedtime routine. There are things I like and things I dislike about the routines in our household. We can always improve and make things more meaningful.

What changes do you want to make in your life right now?

I need to implement some healthier practices with food, money, exercise, technology, and relationships/communication. I just don’t feel like it right now.

What keeps you up at night?

Oh! A variety of things! But mostly stress and worrying about my kids. 

What is your favorite hobby?

Reading. It’s my most frequent hobby and the least messy. 

What’s the first thing you think when you wake up?

What time is it? And then what day is it? Then I assess whether I need to be awake.

Do you still maintain a lot of relationships from your childhood?

I have a fair amount of friends I’m still in touch with from childhood. I confess, social media is mostly responsible for that, but it also helps when you marry into the same family. 

———-

I ended up bailing on this post, so I’m just going to turn it in as is and take partial credit.

And for the sake of including a photo, here’s my BeReal from today:

I call it “Walking Home From Tarolyn’s House,” and it has no significance to this post whatsoever.

It’s Daylight Saving Time (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: I try to use proper wording as often as possible in life. For example, I make sure to say “celiac” disease and not “celiacs” disease. 

“Groundhog Day” and not “Groundhog’s Day.” 

“Young Women” and not “Young Women’s.” 

“Sisters-in-law” and not “sister-in-laws.”

The list goes on… but I just really want to say “daylight savings time” instead of “daylight saving time.” 

Fact #2: I also say “Legos” even though it’s incorrect, and each time I do so, I want to over explain my word choice even though no one really cares or even knows that the official stance of the LEGO company is that LEGO should only be used as an adjective. 

(Also, the amount of time I’ve spent going back and forth between LEGO and Lego in these last few sentences is utterly ridiculous). 

Fact #3: It’s 4:00 in the morning right now, and I’m wide awake contemplating solutions to all the world’s problems. I also have a toenail situation that is bothering me. 

Fact #4: When Chick-Fil-A first came to our area, I was always uncomfortable with how they would say “My pleasure!” It annoyed me because it sounded so unnatural. Now, several years later, it just feels normal, and it’s so expected that, if they say anything different, I don’t know how to react. 

Normally, at the drive through ordering box, they greet me with “It’s a great day at Chick-Fil-A… bla bitty bla bla…” but the other day, the gal came over the speaker and said, “When you’re ready…”

When I’m ready?

I was so confused by the lack of greeting… the incompleteness of the instructions… and the non-Chick-Fil-A-ness being presented that I thought maybe I’d misunderstood, so I said, “Pardon?” and she repeated, “When you’re ready…”

And that’s it! That’s all I got! I didn’t even know if it was a great day at Chick-Fil-A! 

As I approached the window, I was like, “I’ve got to see this person!” but I never did. Whoever served me at the window wasn’t the same person. Now I’m troubled with the knowledge of an employee at my local Chick-Fil-A gone rogue. 

Fact #5: Since I’m in my 40’s now…

(I fell asleep, and now it’s 7:00, and I have no idea what I was about to say right there).

Fact #6: I realized recently that I get embarrassed very easily. I’m not sure why I didn’t know this about myself already. But now I know, and I see where my daughters get it from. They, too, get embarrassed very easily, and they have some very painfully self-conscious moments. The things they get embarrassed about at their ages are very different from the things I get embarrassed about at my age, so I still have a hard time being sympathetic toward them sometimes. 

Fact #7: My calendar through the end of the school year is going to kick my butt. I’m going to have to be really “with it” to make it through. Every time I learn of another event to add to the schedule, I die a little inside. 

Fact #8: Nicky had jr prom over the weekend and was crowned Prom Prince, so that was kind of fun. He does not come from prom royalty stock, so we’re not sure how we ended up with a Prom Prince for a son. The Princess was his very good friend, Addie, so that was a joy! 

Nicky and his date

Fact #9: Nicky took a girl he has liked for a really long time. This was their first official date!

Fact #10: Scotty just got back from Brocation. This was the 7th time they’ve gone. The bros had a blast, but they are getting old!

Tales of Boys Past

This is the kind of post where the title will make my husband nervous. “Oh no,” he’ll think, “I’m going to have to read about all her other men!”

Well, not all of them. But a few. And they are most threatening!

Now that I have two teenagers, there have been romances coming and going. Crushes and confusion and giggling and new relationships and ongoing relationships and boys that are absolute turds and other boys that are so stinkin’ cute and all that fun stuff. Suddenly I’m a fourteen year old girl again! I forget that it’s not me… it’s someone else’s turn while I have to be a sideline observer.

We are bound to get our hearts broken multiple times before we reach adulthood. Oops! Did I say we? I mean… they. The kids. My kids. Oh, but who am I kidding? I cried for two days when Nicky and his first girlfriend broke up. My heart is on the line, too! 

Recent events have reminded me of a few of my early “relationships.”

When I was five, I was a flower girl in a wedding, and I fell in love with the ring bearer. We held hands for the whole wedding, and he showed his affection for me by stealing a handful of tiny toothpicks out of the sandwiches at the reception and presenting them to me. A while later, my parents took me to his house to see him (I was going to give him a pair of spurs because he was a little cowboy, and for some reason, I had some spare spurs). I was too shy to talk to him, and I hid behind my mom’s legs the whole visit.

Yee-haw

When I was ten, I went through an entire relationship without ever speaking to the boy. His name was Ernie (just had to throw that out there because… well… his name was Ernie). Think what you will, but all the girls had a thing for Ernie. The kid never gave me the time of day, but out of the blue, the girl who sat in between us in class said, “Ernie wants to know if you’ll go out with him.” Back then, of course, that meant being boyfriend and girlfriend without actually going anywhere. So I said yea, and we “went out” for a while. The only thing that ever happened between us was he picked me for heads up seven up. Then one day, the girl who sat between us turned to me and said, “Ernie is breaking up with you now.” Of course, I was devastated and had to hold my head high the rest of the school day and act like nothing was wrong. My boyfriend, who never said a single word to me, didn’t want to be my boyfriend anymore.

I tell these two stories specifically because one of my children is in a texting “thing” with someone, but they will not talk to each other face to face. They completely ignore each other in person, but the second they part ways, they are on their phones. This is something I always worry about in our modern society. I love texting - it’s so convenient, and I love the ability to quickly check in with my people without causing a big interference in their time - but I am so glad I didn’t grow up with it. 

My precious

I’ve been trying to help my kids develop healthy and effective social skills, but gosh, it’s hard, especially when I don’t feel like I have good social skills, myself. Deep down, I’m still the girl who wants to hide behind my mom’s legs. 

So I tease my kid a bit about this silent relationship, but at the same time, I remember not knowing how to talk to someone that I like in person. Whether you’re five, fourteen, or forty it can still be a challenge. I just hope that somehow my kids learn and grow from these experiences and come out of it all with reparable hearts.