Top 25 on the playlist, revisited

Things have changed since I posted my playlist over two years ago (April 25th 2007). To be exact, Josh took over my old iPod but still uses my iTunes to update it. Which poses a problem.

The problem is… he has about 12 songs he likes, a few of which he absolutely LOVES, and he listens to them over and over. And OVER. He plugs his iPod into the wall and puts them on repeat while he sleeps. It seems EVERY morning when I go in to wake him up, I’m hearing “Clocks” by Coldplay, so I don’t know if it’s that one song that’s on repeat or the whole playlist and I’m just lucky that way. Anyway, he has seriously skewed my top 25 playlist. You’re going to love these numbers.

1. Clocks – Coldplay – 1058!!!!!
2. Bella’s Lullaby – Carter Burwell – 305
3. Wake Me Up Inside – Evanaescence – 298
4. Blue – Eiffel 65 – 273
5. Supermassive Black Hole – Muse – 261
6. Viva La Vida – Coldplay – 254
7. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs – Fall Out Boy – 247
8. Shut Your Eyes – Snow Patrol – 237
9. That’s All – Genesis – 231
10. Orange Crush – R.E.M. – 223
11. Sabotage – Beastie Boys – 219
12. City Of Blinding Lights – U2 – 218
13. Move Along – The All-American Rejects – 195
14. The Hampster Dance – 90
15. Dead and Gone – T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake – 67
16. Eyes on Fire – Blue Foundation – 51 (Now we’re into my section)
17. Dear God, Please Help Me – Morrissey – 50
18. I Just Want To See The Boy Happy – Morrissey – 49
19. I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris – Morrissey – 47
20. Brand New Day – Ryan Star – 44
21. Please Don’t Leave Me – Pink – 42
22. The First of the Gang to Die – Morrissey – 40
23. Tremble For My Beloved – Collective Soul – 38
24. Let It Rock – Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil’ Wayne – 37
25. You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son – Wolf Parade – 35

So, funny, huh? Looking at the numbers now, I realize he HAD to have had Clocks on repeat all night long. I am trying to edumacate him a bit – I put the U2, Snow Patrol, Beastie Boys, Muse and the R.E.M. into his rotation, but the Rejects, Fall Out Boy and T.I. are all him. I guess I have to take credit for Eiffel 65 – I let him hear that song back when he was about 4 – it would motivate him to clean. He still loves it. All the kids do. I’m SICK of it.

As for mine, I went through a heavy Morrissey/Smiths period… if the list continued it would show a more diverse collection.

The Hike to the Y

A story from the trip. (I hurt my back yesterday and can’t get out of bed, so you might hear a lot from me.)

So. It was one of the planned activities to hike the Y on Sunday morning, meet at Aunt LeNae’s for brunch and go to church at 1:00 p.m. It would be a family event – anyone who wanted to would go! Multitudes of cousins were present at the reunion so the boys never were friendless at any of the events.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the term “hike to the Y”, it is a BYU thing. Almost a rite of passage. I thought it was a Utah thing, although after sitting around with Mark’s cousins after church I found that half of them had lived in UT for many years and never done it. Sad! Anyway, the new BYU freshmen are almost required to traipse up the side of the mountain. There is a HUGE “Y” up there, demarking the nickname for BYU. The Y is up there pretty high. It is kind of intimidating… and Sammy did NOT want to go.

We were kind of iffy anyway about whether we’d actually do it. Nobody else was going… one uncle had been sick throughout the night, wiping out a whole family of potential comrades… it had been raining, creating possibly unfavorable trail conditions. But we had NOTHING else to do. We had already walked around BYU twice, the kids were sick of the Bus, and we couldn’t show up unannounced at unsuspecting family’s doorsteps in all good conscience. We kicked around the idea of walking around one of the various LDS temples in the area, but Josh was being such a turkey and needed an outlet for his energy (as did Ben and even Jill), and I had just the night before bought shoes suitable for hiking, so we decided to just go.

As we wound through the streets in the Provo foothills (I never remember where the trailhead starts – we always walked up when I was a student – now there’s a parking lot!) Sam was teary eyed and adamant that he was sure this was a bad idea. I looked at Mark out of the corner of my eye and said, “Well, maybe we’ll only go up part way and come down.” He shot back, “No, let’s do the whole thing! We can DO this! What else are we going to do?” So I slunk into my seat for a minute and listened to the whimpering from the middle row. And popped some excedrin. I knew I was about to need it.

We found the trailhead – wow, they have improved it. Josh, Ben and Jill were off in a flash. Sammy didn’t even want to get out of the Bus. I put on my best encouraging voice and said we’d do it together. I handed him a water bottle and he got OUT. Half the battle.

I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, I had to hold his hand and literally DRAG him up the mountain for parts. We linked arms and I dragged him. I distracted him from the arduous task at hand by regaling him with funny stories of my childhood. And every time he sat down I’d stop talking. He’d say, “What happens next?” And I’d say, “I can’t tell you until you start walking again.” I kept VERY CHEERFUL, I tell you. It was helpful that I have some great stories.

We made it to the top, took pictures, and Jill AND Sam were both afraid of being up so high. Then Jill was being a momma’s girl and wanted me to carry her down… then she fell asleep on me almost instantly. So I carried a sleeping three year old all the way down the mountain, and my calves are still feeling it. Mark got the job of coaxing Sam down the mountain. Mark sent Josh ahead to catch up to me with the Bus key so I could put her down when I got there. Josh was in remarkable spirits through the whole hike. Amazing. And Ben was incredible. A total little trooper.

He asked several times, as we were going up, “What is the point of this??” We told him, so you can say you did it. For bragging rights. Because some of your friends in KS have never even SEEN a mountain, much less climbed one, and you can now tell them YOU have CLIMBED a MOUNTAIN!!! He was unimpressed. I thought giving him a few days’ space would give him some perspective on things, and the sense of accomplishment would begin to sink in. But as we drove home, we had to pass the Y from a distance. I said, “Look guys – the Y! Doesn’t it look high? Amazing that we were sitting on that thing.” Sammy didn’t even bother to look up. I think he’s still holding a bit of a grudge.

What a TRIP.

I am easily distracted. Do you all know that? Right now I am sitting here, getting ready to tell you all about the trip we just had to Utah, and I am distracted by what looks like green watercolor sprayed across my bedsheet. How did that happen? Why do I even ask? I have four kids. Mark asks questions like this all the time. He called yesterday from his first day back to work, and I picked up the phone and instead of saying hello, allowed the screams in the background to greet him, and he at first sounded alarmed. He said, “What *IS* that? Is something wrong?” And I said, “No, this is completely normal. Everything is fine. How’s your day going?”

ANYWAY. The TRIP. We got a whole 1 1/2 hours away from home before the van started smoking and slipping out of gear. (We were on our way to Utah for Mark’s family reunions – 17 hours away!) We pulled over, got it cooled down and were able to get it to a mechanic who didn’t have what we needed, but told us we could last to the next Honda dealer in Salina, and we got there just before they closed, so they had just enough time to advise us not to drive it any further and get it in first thing in the morning. Woohoo!

Luckily there was a hotel right behind the dealership and they had a two room suite with a bunk bed and a great pool and breakfast, and the kids had a blast… while Mark and I fretted about what to do about our van. We were already set back a day of driving, so we were faced with a LONG 15 hour drive to make the reunion in time. Mark went over to the dealership and found that we’d need a new transmission – over $4000. And they wouldn’t be able to do it until the next afternoon.

Ideas that were tossed around over the phone while I sat in the stairwell of the hotel, and he was at the dealer…
1) go home, scrap the reunion thing all together
2) buy a new van – but there were no Odysseys on the lot – and I pointed out that that would take hours, and we don’t have extra time
3) rent a vehicle from the dealer – they had 2 types available… an Impala (6 passenger, 3 in front, 3 in back NONONO!!!) or a 12 passenger VAN. No minivans available!!!! A quick internet check of other car rental places in the Salina area showed no minivans available anywhere. Sigh. So – 12 Passenger van, here we come.

It took him an hour or so to do paperwork and transfer all our junk from the minivan to the “bus” as Jill called it. Josh and Sam each had their own row. The kids were in great spirits! What an adventure!!! Until we hit about 10 minutes in and realized there was nothing to do. I had only brought DVDs and a couple of books to read out loud to them for entertainment. And a coloring book. With about 5 crayons. The older boys had a couple library books, Josh had his crappy iPod that used to be MY iPod, that I got rid of for a reason (it doesn’t hold a charge for longer than 45 minutes) and his cell phone that he could text on. Oh, and a few audio CDs mixed in with the DVDs. That’s about it.

So… throughout the course of the trip, Sammy had a mental breakdown in the form of sobbing quietly into his blanket for 20 minutes, and since we were in such a big van I was able to go back and talk with him and help him feel better. Before that, Josh had HIS major freakout when I tried to play Les Miserables and he started screaming and crying – “Turn this music OFF!!! You are torturing me!!! This is TORTURE!!!! You are doing this just to try to KILL ME!!!!” etc etc etc. I refused to turn it off, however, because there was nothing else to listen to, I don’t give in to fits, and he was being ridiculous. I did however, after he calmed down a bit, figure out how to balance the audio up to the front so it wouldn’t be *quite* so painful to his ears. After I had my counseling session with Sam I was able to have a session with Josh, then with Ben and Jill. Being in a big van had its benefits.

We arrived at around 12:30 a.m. Utah time. We had lots of fun seeing Mark’s awesome family, both his Mom’s and his Dad’s side. Lots of people put in tons of work and it was fabulous, and went too quickly. There are certain people in the family I particularly love to sit and visit with and wish I could see more often. I’d elaborate but this is getting really long… and my kids are starting to drive me nutso over here.

We decided to do half the trip overnight to cut down on fighting and whining about nothing to do. So we drove to Denver to see my parents, which was wonderful – we had missed them on the way out. It was too short of a visit. My mom has been losing weight, she looks fantastic. We left around midnight and drove all night to reach the dealership in the morning and pick up our newly transmissioned minivan and say goodbye to the Bus. We had vacuumed it out the night before and threatened the kids not to eat anything in it so we wouldn’t be charged with a cleaning fee. We’ve already spent enough! Sigh. So, $500+ for the rental. $4000+ for the transmission. Who knows how much for gas. Etc etc etc for food, lodgings, reunion stuff, an inverter for the bus to watch movies on the laptop, a haircut for Josh so he wouldn’t be nagged by his grandfather anymore…. Much deniero.

These are the things with which memories are made… right?

Test… and bedtime issues

Testing a facebook badge…

Stephanie Pearce Terribilini’s Profile

Create Your Badge

OK! Seems to show up. Now I’d like for it to show up in the sidebar. That’s an adventure for another morning when Ben’s not giving me detailed descriptions of the weather and needing breakfast, and Josh is STILL asleep.

Also – Josh thinks it is totally unfair that we make him get off the computer at 10:00 p.m. We also want him to turn off his lights at 10:30, but don’t really force that issue. I think the 10pm thing is perfectly reasonable. Does anyone else have an opinion? He’s giving me hell right now.

Hmmmm.

Can they take away your blog for non-usage?

Here’s the latest…

The disaster in the pantry -

Powdered milk tastes yucky

Sammy turned 9 -

Jill stays cute…

Josh thinks he doesn’t need much sleep but he DOES…

And Jillian got bangs!  She saw me give Sam and Ben haircuts the other day and very much wanted her hair cut also.  I had trimmed the back before when she had asked before, but I love her hair and am afraid that she will get the idea of cutting her own…  Anyway, she pulled out the stool I used for the boys and climbed up and patiently sat.  So I decided it was time to give her bangs.  She’s always sweeping her hair out of her face anyway.

I don’t think anyone’s really missed my blog, since I “see” many of my old friends on facebook these day, but just in case…

In case of emergencies…

Many people have questioned my sanity… well, for many reasons, but especially in respect to getting my 6th grader a cell phone.  He DID go a little crazy with the texting in the beginning, texting his dad and me things like “I like pie” and “I’m getting dressed now” followed twelve seconds later by “I’m coming upstairs” and then “I’m standing next to you”.  Enough for me to have a modified The-Boy-Who-Cried-Wolf talk with him.  His dad had already tuned out his texts, and I was losing patience as well.  Anyway, he’s calmed down.

The phone has been useful to keep track of him when he’s out in the neighborhood with his friends, and when I’m running a minute or two late, picking him up after school. It was also extremely useful when Josh and I were in a HUGE argument on the way to Denver for Christmas, and I had previously confiscated his phone, but I tossed it back to him after the argument started escalating to a shouting match and we finished the fight silently with messages – it was very civil and easier for him to think about what to say next, I think.

HOWEVER – he just made the most important call from his cell phone yet, tonight at around 10:15 p.m.  He called me from the downstairs bathroom to tell me he was out of toilet paper.  And when I finished laughing, and brought some down to him, he said, “this cell phone has been SO extremely useful.”

Ugly ha ha

Here’s a funny one for you -

Ugly Christmas Vests from Craftastrophe

Rockin.

Jilly is in a big girl bed!

I waited until we got home from our trips to make the all-important move from the crib to the BIG GIRL BED.  It was mostly for containment purposes while at my parents’ house – less worry about her wandering around the house alone at 3 a.m., rummaging through the knife drawer, cutting her hair, drawing murals on the walls… WHICH, by the way, she has been excelling at lately, but that’s another story.  But she figured out how to climb out of the portable crib anyway while we were there, so it was pointless.  And the walls were saved with some scrubbing and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers – love those things.

Anyway, we got home, and almost immediately we set up the Wii in a new room (because we have to have an entire wing of the house dedicated to our rock n roll lifestyle, apparently) and the crib went down.  And the BIG GIRL BED went up.  Withagateonthedoorjustincase.

The first night was tough. We all made a big deal about her new bed, and I got her ready in some comfy cute jammies with her dolls and bears and books, etc.  I left the gate off to see if she’d stay in bed… a few minutes later I saw her in a pink skirt and rainbow shirt and sunday shoes, chasing the cat into her brightly lit room.  She had even traded her pull-up for regular undies.  After several attempts to get her to sleep she finally (it was around midnight) stayed and slept.  Until about 4:30, when she woke up Mark to let him know she was finished with this sleeping business, and she had pooped, changed herself and put on yet another new skirt, but had forgotten to wipe.  Mark is severely grossed out by all things poopy but took it like a man and didn’t bring me in to deal with it, just made his report as he climbed back in bed after putting her back into her own bed.  At 5:30, he found her scaling her dresser, looking for her outgrown lime green tennis shoes on the upper shelves.  So he released her from toddler jail and set her up in our room in front of our tv, handed me the remote and said, “Mommy’s going to put Dora on for you.” and crawled back into bed.  That lasted a short while until she demanded chocolate milk, then breakfast, and then her cranky unreasonableness was overwhelming and I made her climb into bed between us where she slept peacefully for about 2 hours.  Oh no.

But it did NOT set the precedent I had feared.  The next night followed similar to the first except we were wiser – I snuck in after she went to sleep, turned her heater back on and made sure she was still wearing a pull up, etc.  I’m afraid afternoon naps are a thing of the past, and we’ll probably have to clear out all the toys and even her clothes for a while (because she went through yet another round of costume changes last night, ending with wet bedsheets this morning) but I think we might have success!

Shared with Flock – The Social Web Browser
http://flock.com

I just KNEW they were organized.

I found this memo tucked in the side of Jillian’s crib – I’m on to her.  ;)

Date: January 1, 2009
To: Child 4A0765B-1007@children.com, toddler_unit@children.com
From: Kevin, VP, Toddler Division
Subject: Quarterly Objectives

Happy new year, company members! As you know, our last quarter was a
fruitful and productive one. By working together to delay our
bedtimes, we acquired over 53,000 extra hours of valuable awake time.
That’s 53,000 more hours of running in circles. 53,000 more hours of
shaking our heads wildly and arching our backs. 53,000 more hours of
the Parents straining to communicate that toothbrushes do not go in
the diaper. We have seen the Parents falter and ultimately give way
under our consistent efforts, and we are proud.

It should be mentioned that some of our members have made great
strides in drastically limiting the variety of foodstuffs they allow
to enter their face-holes. We are thinking especially of Child
3A0762C-0908, who now ingests only raisins and lukewarm water sipped
from a plastic spork; Child 5B0755F-0528: ketchup on crackers and the
occasional mashed grape; and, most breathtakingly, Child 8A0576L-0108:
plain dried breadcrumbs licked off a moistened index finger.

For the first quarter of 2009, we’ve strengthened our resolve and
shown what a little determination and a lot of screeching can
accomplish. And we are ready for the next phase: Operation No-Pants.

Every morning without failing, the Caregivers initiate a dressing
procedure that is tiresome at best and scratchy at worst. It distracts
us from our viewing of Elmo and limits our access to our smooth smooth
skin. Their motives are puzzling: either they are jealous of our
smooth smooth skin or else are attempting to break our wills by
imposing nonsensical rules and demanding that we comply. But they will
not succeed, friends. Because we will resist.

So: no matter how sopping wet or poop-crammed your diaper is, refuse
to let Caregiver remove it. Declare that diaper to be your FAVORITE
DIAPER. Do not allow any larger beings to lay a finger on it. For
motivation, imagine that said diaper is part of your body, like a real
tushie over your tushie. If any attempt is made to remove it, you will
scream. Remember: the Scream is your friend. Caregivers live in fear
of the Scream. If you add to the Scream “No hit! No hit!” they’re sure
to back away for fear of the authorities coming after them.

Once a clean diaper is on very little can stop them from dressing you.
The soiled diaper is your last and best hope.

Now that you’ve mastered toddler-ese, use it! Declare your opinions at
each and every turn, and make sure that they are as vague and baffling
as your pronunciation. If Caregiver explains that dressing is a vital
step in a traveling-to-playground initiative, screech, “Murfy! TOO
MURFY!” Do not explain. Never explain.

But why do we resist, you ask? Why not get dressed and enter the
playground, where fun could possibly had? Because, that’s why. Because
because because. Because we must take every stand we are able to take.
Also! Because Caregiver is deceiving you. There is another, better
playground, a Naked Playground, with balloons and ice cream and cake.
The soiled diaper will lead the way. This is true, we think.

Onward!

Kevin

Blogged with the Flock Browser

So, to catch up…

Mark shaved…

He’s on High Council which means he travels more and speaks in church more than usual.  

I am now Young Womens’ President which means I’m over the teenage girls at church.  I’ve also taken on some responsibilities with the Homeowners Association, started a book club and am volunteering at the school.  Thank goodness everything in this town is so close or I’d be living in the van with all the back and forth we need to do.  In my down time I’ve recently become addicted to word games on facebook.  Come play with me!

It’s really late, and more difficult than I’d like to post pics on this blog.  So I’ll do pics of the kids later.  Love to all.