A Walk Down October Lane

So, the month of October marks a very special occassion that occurred two years ago. That is, the purchase of my digital camera. :) So, in honor of that anniversary, I thought I would share a few pictures from the last two years' Octobers. From last October (2006), some pictures I love of Jethro and Hazel.

Here is our dog, Lindy, that we had at the time, but we gave her away as soon as we had Ethne cause I didn't like bad dog habits. But she was pretty.

And here was me. I have wasted away.....indeed, I'm a mere shadow of my former self. I need to go eat lots of icecream and chocolate. ;)

And October 2005.

Hazel was so little!!

So, after I was looking through those pictures, I went on and started looking through my journals at entries from Octobers. It's interesting because often I would write like maybe once or twice a year, but they often happened to be in October (or close to). So, because I think it's a pretty cool thing to see snapshots of my life through the years, I took some of the entries from my journals and compiled them. It's really long and you probably don't really want to know all this stuff about me, so feel free to skim or skip completely. I personally find it interesting because, well--it's me! and the last ten years of my life have been rather full, so it's cool to see where I was each year. Anyway, enough intro. Here we go-the last ten Octobers of my life: (one last time, remember I warned you this is long--you might want to break it up over several days. ;) )

October 2006
I went to my doctor on Monday (the first time I got to see my real doctor) and he said I was 2 cm dilated. Wow, I’m really having this baby soon! I got a temporary job scanning papers to .pdf files for an engineering professor.
Brett played with the kids this morning before church, wrestling of course with Jethro. Jethro loves being a “hero” and making ‘race’ noises while doing cool moves. Pretty funny. Hazel’s adorable. Sometimes I feel like—is she really mine? Cause she’s so beautiful. She loves her dolly and carries her around everywhere.
Brett has been working the last several weekends on getting the Mercedes sanded so he can paint it. It feels like it has been slow going, but he is almost there.
Oh yeah, I potty trained Hazel a month ago and she did great. Much easier than Jethro. [She still does better than Jethro even now.]

October 2005
Jethro is funny and he and Brett just play and play and play. Hazel is the cutest thing imaginable and she walks around getting into things and climbing on things and being so cute. She doesn’t say many words, just quacks a lot and she can say meow. Her newest tricks are giving kisses, folding her arms for prayer, and making funny faces—scowling and cheesing.
I have a paper route now that I started at the end of August to get a little extra spending money. It has been fine, but it is getting freezing cold now so I am going to quit.
Brett has several projects (of course) going right now. He makes biodiesel and is getting the Mercedes running. He also bought a heater to try to use biodiesel with.

October 2004
Things are kinda busy around here. We go to institute class once a week and tend the Behnke’s kids every other week so they can go to a class [we were the MSA reps]. I teach piano lessons to a girl in my ward and take lessons every other week from a person in our ward named Ginger. [A stellar piano teacher, I might add.] Brett had the idea that I should take lessons from her, so when Charlotte asked if I would babysit her son once a week, I decided to use that money for the lessons.
Jethro is so cute and growing up so fast. He talks really well and remembers so many things that he hears from movies or what we say. He loves daddy and helping him “fix” things, especially the Scout that Brett bought and is now redoing the engine from.
When I put Jethro to bed I have to say “goodnight, I’ll miss you, you’re my bestest boy” about ten times before I go out, and the other night when I went out and shut the door he started screaming and screaming, saying “I love you Mommy! I love you Mommy!” and so I went in and said, “What’s wrong?” and he said, “I love you. I’ll miss you.” And then he closed his eyes and was fine. It was so funny.
Hazel is so beautiful and I can’t believe she is 4 months old. She is a great baby---smiles so much and loves to be tickled.
Oh yeah, Brett got hit when he was driving the Olds, and it was totaled, so we were borrowing a car from the Ellis’ for quite a while while we waited for the insurance stuff to go through, and a couple weeks ago we bought a Crown Vic in Chicago.
Brett is such a wonderful husband. His new project is a Scout that he bought on Ebay and drove to Nebrasks to get. He has bought a lot of Christmas presents/tools for it.


October 2003
I am now writing in our apartment in West Lafayette Indiana. The summer was beautiful—one of the most enjoyable of my life. I had 3 online classes and no job and it was so relaxing. Brett worked at the Space Dynamics Lab and got most Fridays off (cause he’d work 10 hours the other days) and we’d do fun things.
It was sad to leave (Utah). We drove two days and spent the night at a hotel in Nebraska. Jethro only threw up on me once, and Brett had to replace the alternator in our truck twice.
I’m in 4 ½ classes and I’m a T.A. for a class. I’m gone so much and my classes go till late—Brett is home much more than me. We really wish we could trade. [This was my only semester at Purdue. After that, I quit the Speech Path master’s program.]
Brett and Jethro are the two cutest, most wonderful boys ever and I love them so so much. Jethro is starting to walk a little—it is so fun. And he babbles all the time.
Most exciting news for last—I’m pregnant! I should have the baby around July 1st or so. I am very excited and think it will be so fun for Jethro to have a brother or sister.

October 2002
Well, Jethro is about 3 months old and he’s the cutest baby in the world.
Kami met a guy named Leonardo when she was in AZ this summer. He just got baptized and they’ll probably get married.
I’m taking the GRE on Friday and Brett and I are trying to decide where to go for grad school. I can’t believe we’re so close to graduating! Brett just has spring semester left, and I have spring and summer.
Well, I need to study some more before Jethro wakes up.

September 30 2001
Yesterday was really exciting—at 10:00 we drove up to the Wind Caves trail with Andrew and his roommates and their dates. We made sandwiches and hiked up to the caves. Brett and I won, of course [sheesh—everything is such a competition to me!]. We all ate our lunch and Brett and I climbed up the rocks to a little ledge. It’s kind of cool that we hiked to the wind caves together because about a year ago we hiked to the wind caves with a group of people. We didn’t know each other then (in fact, I was on a date with a guy named Josh [pretty much one of two dates I went on at college that wasn’t with Brett]), but we both remember each other being there.
Brett and I jogged down the trail so when we were waiting for everyone else to get down, we took our shoes off and waded in the creek. There was a rope swing too which Brett swung on. Later, Drew said he was feeling the need to do something crazy (Drew?!), so he pulled off his shirt and shoes and swung and jumped into the water. [This was when I knew he was going to marry Jessica.] It was FREEZING!! His face was classic. Eventually, Brett and I jumped in too.
Later that night Brett and I went to the football game with Kami and her date, Clayton, and Andrea and her date Tim Young. They broke up before his mission but he’s back now and they’re dating again, so we’ll see. [They got married in December.]
Brett and I are both going to school and working. I work as a clerk/secretary at Intermountain Transcription Services and Brett works at Sprinkler Supply.
Brett is my best friend and such a wonderful husband…etc. etc. etc.
October 2000
Well, I’m at Utah State now, back in good ol’ Utah. Logan’s very nice.
I’m taking Psych 1010, Math 1050, Biology something, Honors Creative Arts, Aerobic kickboxing with Kami and Andrea, piano lessons and institute.
I have a job babysitting kids while their parents are in an English class.
Kami and I live in apartments opposite each other (about 20 steps away). I don’t like her roommates, but I go over there anyway. The boys that live next door to her are pretty cute. [That would be…..Brett and Drew. ha ha ha!!!! ;) ]
….more stuff about college….Money goes so fast. Who knew? Strange, buying your own groceries and zip-lock bags and stuff that was always just part of your house.
Anyway, I’ve had a lot of fun. Andrea and Kami and I have gone to a rodeo, camping, a Spanish Fiesta and other stuff.
The best weekend was when Dad and Mom came for my scholarship banquet. I have amazing, wonderful parents.

October 1999
This weekend was soooo much fun! On Friday we went to a Harvest Ball for Key Club. It was for some senior citizens. Kami and I had a ton of fun and after Thomas’ football game was over he came over as soon as he could, but they had just barely finished playing the last song, and wouldn’t play another one for us. I was so disappointed, and then someone asked me if I was going to the Moose Lodge Dance that was happening right then I thought it was a great idea.
So Kami and I zipped home and changed clothes and then Kami, Thomas, and I went to the Moose Lodge. We danced a bit, then went and asked the d.j. if he’d play a swing song if we gave him the c.d. which he did. Now this is the really awesome part—Thomas and I started dancing, and doing all of our lifts and jumps, and then everybody formed a circle around us and watched us the whole dance!! It was sooo exhilarating! We messecd up quite a few times, but we kept going- doing jumps and flips and everything, and everybody cheered when we did something cool. When the song ended I was sooo tired like I had just sprinted the mile or something, but Thomas and I were sooo excited!! Two girls from school came up and said how awesome they thought we were. Anyway, it rocked.
I’m so excited for this Wednesday, there’s a Key Club powder puff football game. The girls play and the boys are cheerleaders. We’ve had two practices, and I’m a running back. It’s so much fun.

October 1998
On Friday the 2nd, Kami and I ran home from school as soon as we got out. A little while later Amy walked in with Olivia [only grandkid at the time]---so we surprised mom and the little kids, who hadn’t known she was flying in.
At about 5:00 Megan and Jared got here from Grand Forks. Megan is looking so fat and cute! So we all went to the store to get balloons and streamers and we made posters and blew up a whole bunch of balloons with helium. Then we made a huge “Welcome Home, Derek” sign and went to the airport [he was coming home from his mission to the Dominican Republic]. When we got there the plane had come early, so he was already there—too bad we didn’t meet him coming off the plane. He was talking kind of funny, like he had to make sure he was talking in English instead of Spanish. We went home and visited and stayed up really late. It was fun.
Then Wednesday morning I had a drive at 6:00 in the morning for driver’s ed, and since I went first and we were near the church, I asked Mr. Ludwig if I could just go to seminary and he said sure, so I made it right on time.
The rest of the week we played softball, football, I worked at DQ, had a Mia Maids sleepover, and I played the organ for church.
The following week on Saturday we went to Bismarck for the temple groundbreaking ceremony. Ben (sigh) [yes, I actually wrote sigh in my journal], came and started talking to me and invited me to a party he was having at his house [corny story about Ben]…We played a couple games inside and Ben is so good-looking and Ryan is such a flirt, and we started to play Murder in the Dark, and when the lights turned off he grabbed me and hugged me, and then when the lights turned back on he jumped away, acting like he hadn’t done anything, and said, “We better not turn off the lights again—people could get really scared!” It was funny.
I went back to the hotel and we swam with the Nordquists. It was a great time—we would all jump in together, or have chicken fights, or push each other in. Then I got ready for the dance. I had such a fun time. Blah blah blah When I was saying goodbye to everyone Ben shook my hand, and pulled me in to give me a big hug-yay!-and my dad was there behind us, which I hadn’t known, and he was like “All right, all right!” joking about it. Then we drove back to Minot.
The other night, Derek and Kami and I went to Dairy Queen and had Blizzards. Derek was talking about girls and when we got home, he said, “Thanks. We should do it again, but as a triple date. Then he remembered that I’m not sixteen, but I said, “You mean as a group activity?” and he said, “Right. There’s ways to get around being too young and I know all of them.”
On Saturday morning I took the practice ACT and came home and helped rake leaves.

October 1997
[Rather embarrassing story about going to the library to hold hands with this one guy, then both of our dads showing up. Hmmmm.]

I'm an aunt for the first time! Amy had Olivia Leigh on the 21st.
On Fast Sunday Ethan walked up to bear his testimony [would have been about 6 years old] but when he got up there, he didn’t say anything, just kept looking around at everybody for like 5 minutes. He wasn’t scared or crying or anything, just looked around like he was checking out everything. Mom said, “Go up and help him!” but we were laughing so hard. It was hilarious. So I went up and helped him say it and then came down. Afterwards, Dad said, “That was the best five minutes of my life.” Haa ha.

October 1996
This morning at about 6:15 a.m. Kami woke me up and asked if I wanted to go to the airport with Derek to say goodbye [leaving to the MTC]. I didn’t feel very well, so I said no, but at the last second, I jumped out of bed and really quickly pulled on a shirt I knew Derek liked and ran out to the garage just as they were pulling out. We got to the airport and Derek checked in his bag. Derek said, “Kayli’s wearing a preppy shirt for my benefit,” and I was so impressed he had noticed.
Then we all hugged and mom cried, and we watched him board.

So, there's my life on the fast track. I could go back further, but will spare you. Have a nice October!

I'm back, devoted readers!

I am not dead, so you may all rest easy. Thank you for anyone who has expressed concern over my lack of posts--makes me feel loved. And it's a good excuse to give Brett when it is late and I am still on the computer --after all honey, my public needs me! hee hee. (And needs to see my BEAUTIFUL little Ethne!)

I have just been busy relaxing at my sister's house in Chicago. We left on Friday around noon, and we drove to a junkyard in Chicago where Brett wanted to get a transmission from (or from which Brett wanted to get a transmission--if you must have the correct grammar). There, we left him and I drove the rest of the way to Kami's house. Actually, that was the plan. I had a harrowing drive, but I got close to Kami's house, but wasn't exactly sure which direction to go to get on her street, so I asked someone where the street was, and they said to follow them, so I did, but unfortunately they took me to the wrong place, so I gave up and called Kami to come get me. Driving in big metropolises such as Chicago makes me nervous to the point of almost feeling ill. Kami said I need to see a shrink. By the time Kami came to get me (being rush hour by this time) Brett was ready to be picked up so we went and got him. He had taken out the transmission and purchased it, but it took us so long that they were going to close, so he returned it and hid it in a trunk of a car. He decided he would come back and get it on Wednesday, because it's half price on Wednesdays. Have I ever mentioned how I hate driving in Chicago? Anyway, it worked out to my benefit, because I decided to stay with Kami until Wednesday and then Brett came and got us.

That night we went out for Chicago pizza at Giobaldi's. It was FANTASTIC. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

The next day we went to the beach and we babysat some kids of a friend from our ward because it was Stake Temple Day. We had a very fun time playing and getting sunburned. The water was very cold and the kids were way braver than I was---I did not go in. Then Kami babysat for us so we could go to the temple that night. Thanks Kami!

We went to church at Kami's ward and seriously at least five people asked us if we were twins. Come on people---we do not really look alike! But we look somewhat similar maybe, and we both have short hair and glasses. We had Brett take a picture of us to examine to see if we looked alike, and we posted it for our family, and my dad said "how could anyone think you look like twins. Clearly the girl on the left looks like a weirdo and the one on the right is a strange little ducky. Besides, the one on the right (as you look at the picture) has a strange growth on her--you can just see an appendage of the growth holding her dress.FOG" (FOG stands for Fat Old Geezer)

Kami's husband Leo was not there most of the time because he was flying, and so Brett sat between Kami and I at church. He told Hazel to scoot over so that he could be sitting by both of his polygamist wives-since they should have equal treatment. Hee hee. Ah, it harks back to the days at USU when Kami was unmarried and had to share my husband. :)

The next day was a free day at the Field Museum, so Kami asked a girl in her ward if she wanted to go with us. This was awesome because she grew up in the city and knew her way around. So we rode the Metra/El and went to the museum. It was pretty cool. Jethro liked the snakes and dinosaurs. On the way home, it was rush hour and the trains were so crowded and I sortof felt like a moron with our big strollers and large amount of children. Oh well.

The rest of the time I just hung out at Kami's pad, enjoyed not feeling like I should houseclean, played around on youtube (it's so addicting!) and loved the whole fast internet thing. Leo, as I said, was gone, so Kami and I slept on her bed and let the kids sprawl on the floor. Here is a picture of how Hazel was sleeping one night. It was so pretty.

Kami was having a bit of a stressful time while I was there, trying to make some big decisions, so I felt a little bad for her (especially as I was just lounging) but we did play with her collection of hats one morning, so that was fun.

And some more pictures of cute Ethne. And one of, if you look closely, me. I found a Carhartt coat for Brett at a garage sale for $3!!!! woohoo!! And I tried it on and since I looked so dang good in it, I took a picture and e-mailed it to Brett at school. He told me that he laughed and laughed. I'm so tough. (It is a little scary though, since I kinda do look like a guy. Eeek!)

the latest and greatest, and some deep soul-searching questions

Here's what we've been up to lately. Did some geocaching (or deo-tassing, as Hazel calls it) tonight in the beee-YOOtiful weather. (Jethro has a bear in this picture that he got to take home for the weekend from kindergarten. So far in the bear's journal, no one has taken him geocaching, so we thought he'd enjoy it.) By the way, those of you who asked, you can go to geocaching.com to find out all about it, but in general, people hide 'caches' filled with cheap-o goodies, then enter the name of their cache, with it's coordinates, on the website, you use your GPS to find the cache. Kids love the loot (you bring some to trade) and after the initial cost of a GPS (ours was free from my awesome brother-in-law Blake, cause he had one from his work), it's free, it's everywhere you can think of, and it's FUN!

Jethro and Hazel being goofy.

And then falling off the train table which is where they were sitting for all those goofy pictures. (No kids were harmed in the shooting of this photograph.)

My cool kids.

I made some orange rolls today. I've never made them before, nor even had them before, to my recollection, but I saw them while flipping through the cookbook, and they looked tasty. And they were. (Though of course, I added chocolate chips, because really--I add chocolate chips whenever possible. Which reminds me.....sometimes life is really good to me. Like the other day, I was looking through the pile of old hats in Brett's closet for no reason at all, and I found a half-full bag of cadbury mini eggs. Which I ate immediately. They were sort of stale (I don't know what year they were from) but still--unexpected chocolate??? It's like a direct blessing from heaven!)

Hazel in the fridge.

Jethro, Hazel and I ran around the blocks several times the other night because it's been so lovely out. It was really fun. I enjoyed myself a lot. I was barefoot. I think that helps you loosen up and feel more like a kid. At least, for me it does. Here's a cool action shot of Hazel.

And now, on to the deep, meaningful questions for all of my readers. These are things that I've always wondered about, and I hope you will ponder, search your soul, and answer with all due sincerity so that my mind might be troubled no longer.

First, what's your favorite kind of apple? Mine has always been red delicious, because really, that is The Apple. Don't you think? But since being married to Brett, I have come to eat other kinds of apples because he believes red delicious get soft easier than other kinds. So, now I also like cameo a lot, and gala a little. But a red delicious in perfect ripeness and sweetness and crispness CAN'T be beat.

Second, do you usually eat cold cereal for breakfast, or something else? I'm a cereal fan all the way. I'm not fond at all of pancakes, and I don't like to eat too much in the mornings at all really. My dad never eats breakfast, and I'm kinda like that. Except when I'm pregnant of course, I have to make myself eat then or I get a little sick. My next favorite breakfast food is egg-in-a-basket, and then german pancakes.

Third, Do you wear rubber gloves when you do dishes? I never did until very recently, last winter, when my hands started getting super dry, and now I still do.

Fourth, how do you wake up in the mornings? I try to never wake up to an alarm clock. First, I like to sleep in, and secondly, it's such a rude awakening, and thirdly, my kids wake me up. Oh, except on Sundays when Brett wakes me up. He's an early-riser. Me, no. But I still love him.

Fifth, do you prefer facial hair on your spouse, or clean shaven? (Or, if you're a guy, do you prefer facial hair or not?) I think I've mentioned before that I'm all for the scruff. I like it muy much.

That is all. Please, PLEASE tell me your answers in the comments. It will mean so much to me. I will write a reminder comment so you don't have to try to remember all the comments when the screen changes. Have a nice day.

Baby Anika

My friend had a baby the other week, and I brought them over some dinner, so I got to see her whe she was brand, brand new. She was TINY! I think she was 5 lb 15 oz when she was born, so she was a little smaller than that when I saw her. And she was GORGEOUS!!! Just so cute. So cute that when I saw her my stomach did that little she's-so-precious flop and I thought, "I MUST take pictures of this doll!" so I begged my friend to let me take pictures. And I finally was able to (after a rainy, overcast several days), and I think they turned out cute, although whenever I try to take pictures it makes me mad that I don't know more. I really need to get working on the technical side of things--where I'm pretty lost. Ruff. Anyway, here is sweet little Anika.

The Horsepower of Light

My sister Kami said in a comment about Jethro that he's like a micro-engineer already. Yeah, well, look at this. Our ward is having an extreme pinewood derby, and we got the car the other day, so Brett was saying to Jethro, "We have to start making our plans!" After Jethro was in bed, Brett took out a notebook and started making some sketches.

The next morning, Jethro found the notebook, saw the sketches, and started making *several* of his own.

But the best part of all? When I was scanning these (I picked a very few of all that he had colored), I asked him what their names were. I don't remember which name goes to which, but here they are:

The Coolest Racecar in the Whole Earth

The Horsepower of Light and Space

The Horsepower of Stain and Braveness (I asked him several times if he meant "Stain" or something else--but that's all I got)

The Spirit of Life

Hazel bean.

It's interesting, since Jethro's been going to kindergarten, it seems like Hazel has gotten a bit pushed aside. She's not going to school, but she's not the baby either. I need to find things to do with just her and me.

She's also lately been really kind of ditzy. Walking into walls and stuff like that. At Enrichment, I had been just telling that to some ladies sitting by me, and later on, someone came to tell me that Hazel had gotten hurt in the nursery. I went in and one of the brethren was holding some paper towels on her foot. She had somehow cut it and there was a pretty good chunk of skin flapping open. Anyway, we band-aided it and Hazel thought it was as good as new.

Last week I was trying to get my floor swept (only swept!) and Ethne kept crawling into the pile of dirt. It was a very big pile because this was after all of our kitchen renovations, so I finally pulled the couch around to block off the entrance to the kitchen. She did NOT like that. But at least I could finally finish sweeping. Meanwhile, Hazel was outside getting into mud. Nice. What would have happened if I had tried something crazy like mopping?

When Hazel and Jethro both cheese it really big like this, I realize that they actually do look quite a bit alike. ;)

My son.

I just love this kid. The other day was school picture day, and I didn't buy any because they're so out-of-control expensive (even though I kinda wanted just to see how they turned out), so I took some myself and got some cute smiles.

He's getting to seem much more mature to me. I can talk to him more like you talk to an adult. (Not all the way, of course, just more so.)

Here's a funny story. The other day I grabbed his hand and was shaking it up and down saying, "Nice to meet ya, nice to meet ya," and he jerked his hand away and said, "You've ALREADY met me!!! Cause you're my MOM and I'm you're SON!!"

And I said, "I'm not you're mom--where'd you get a crazy idea like that?"

And he looked at me with a condescending look and said, "I KNOW you are."

And I said, "How do you know?"

"Cause you pick me up from school." hee hee.

So I said, "That's what makes me your mom? What if someone else picked you up--would they be your mom then?"

And he growled in agitation and said, "I've known you for YEARS and YEARS and YEARS and years and yeeeeeeears." Well, alrighty then.

At Enrichment, we got goldfish as prizes for a game, so I came home with two. Jethro named his Speedy Fish, or Fishy, and I named Hazel's Daisy. Anyway, Brett put water out to sit for the night, and before he left for work he put the fish in the water. Unfortunately, the letting it sit all night didn't work, and at 7:30 I was awoken by Jethro telling me that he thought his fish was dead. I told him something, I don't really remember what, and he left. But soon he came back really upset this time, crying, and said, "The other fish is eating my fish!" So I had to go flush his fish down the toilet and try to tell him it was okay. Then Hazel's fish died within another hour or so, and when Jethro told her her fish was dead, she said, "No, it's resting!" Mmmmm, nope.

This picture is of Jethro explaining to me what kind of fish he wants to get next. (I'm not really planning on getting another fish, so maybe after several years he'll forget about it.)

Ethne's headband.

I made a headband thingee for Ethne today to go with an outfit that I bought her for her 1-year-old pictures outfit. I thought it was so adorable that I had to take pictures now, even though I will take more when she really is one.

Anyway, I just used some ribbon that I had, and sewed a small piece of elastic headband stuff on the back. It's not very neat, but I figure, most people don't check. Then I bought some silk flowers from Hobby Lobby that matched SO PERFECTLY! and sewed them on with a button in their center. Sooo cute! And I just think Ethne looks so cute in this dusty rose color. Too bad she wouldn't smile for me. Too interested in eating the fence. ;)

Our kitchen

So, last weekend we were supposed to go to Chicago to visit Kami, go to the temple, and lounge on the beach. I was very excited. But, instead of many beautiful beach pictures, I give you---these. We had a plumbing problem the night before we left, so we had to do plumbing instead--rip out the wall and everything. Luckily, it was a fairly straight-forward fix, but then, since everything was already all ripped up, we decided to do a new countertop (which we had been kinda planning on doing for a while). I wanted laminate, but they didn't have white in-stock anywhere, so we did tile, because when my husband wants to do something, he wants to do it NOW. No waiting for an order. Anyway, the tile looks pretty nice, and once we get it all completely finished (it is MOSTLY finished except for one little spot under the top cupboard that we put in) I will post a larger finished picture.

Jethro helping Daddy glue PVC pipe. PVC stands for poly-vinyl chloride.

Hazel helping wash the cupboards off.

One funny story. At the very beginning, Brett had gone to work on Friday morning just for a meeting, and then he was coming right back. But he had pulled up the bottom of the cupboard under the sink and asked me to clean it up with the (wet/dry)shop vac. So, I was doing my job, but there was this dead mouse that I had to take out. It wasn't newly dead, but it wasn't just a skeleton. It was kinda dried out but it was intensely gross. So I sat there, wondering how I was going to pick it up, and Hazel was sitting beside me, watching the action--or inaction, rather. I kept saying "Ewww, this is soooo gross!" over and over. And I couldn't think of a good way to get it without having to, you know--touch it. Finally I said to Hazel, "How am I going to get it?" and she said, "With a foyk." Which means fork. And I was like, GENIUS! So, I had my rubber gloves on, and I got a plastic fork, and I had a plastic bag ready for it, but I still couldn't do it, it was just so nasty!!! So I said, "Hazel, why don't you get it." And she said, "But......but......but................. it's yucky." I know. :) Then she said, "Daddy can get it!" which was a great idea, except I knew I had to get it myself. And as I sat there, I thought that my mother would think I was being absolutely ridiculous and she would say, "For heaven's sake, just pick it up and throw it out and wash your hands." And you know, I talked to her on the phone later, and that's pretty much what she said. :)

Anyway, I did finally get it and throw it away and clean up. But yeah. That's what we've been up to lately.