Trish’s Blog

Here’s Zoe in need of a bath and some floss.

Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

…unless you count the Lego Star Wars noise coming from the TV and random declarations coming from the 17-month-old.

I’ve got two kids here and two kids at camp. It feels very weird. I will be retrieving one of the campers tonight, but for the time being, it’s very quiet here now. No one is bullying or fighting or crying. Zoe just dragged a toy (Sarah’s old computer keyboard with the cord cut down) across the kitchen floor and now she has it on the window sill, happily pushing the buttons and telling herself she’s a good girl (sounds like “guh-goh”). Seth is playing Wii now that he is no longer grounded.

I got on the computer to look up a recipe, but got sucked into FriendFeed for an hour catching up on the rooms I’m subscribed to. And then I ended up here. If I Twittered, I would have made a one-statement post to no one in particular and that would have been the end of it. I just can’t get myself to Twitter, though, and only friends/family who read my blog care anyway, so that’s what I’m here to say. Of course, I’ve never really been good at one-statement posts or short blog posts, for that matter.

I got excited about the FriendFeed Swap – 01 box progress. Tina started a swap and a room for anyone on FF who wanted to participate. She also created a google map showing where the box is going (she’s geeky like that). It started in SC and has made its way up the East Coast and overseas to the UK and France. Every time someone gets the box, they post pictures to the room so we can see what kinds of things people are putting in the box. It’s also nice to put faces to the names that I interact with. The idea is to put a little in the box and take a little out. I need ideas on what to put in the box when it gets here. I can’t put in Armadillo road kill or a Texas Longhorn, but I’m guessing something from Texas is in order. Any suggestions?

I’m getting ready to send out a little box to Pennsylvania. Janet sent me a jar of delicious strawberry jam—I threw myself into her thread showing pictures of her making it and she had mercy on me. Strawberries are a weakness of mine. You send me something strawberry, and I’m yours. Sarah made something for her and Seth added his thanks for the Shoo-Fly Pie (she lives near or in Amish country). I’m throwing in some random Texas things and considering it my Swap Box practice run. I hope she likes the stuff in there.

I’m going to get that recipe and get off the computer now. Gotta take advantage of these quiet times. Don’t forget to leave a comment/suggestion on what I should put in the Swap Box. Help me out… all I can think of is chocolate, but it would be liquified before it left the state… it’s quiet and HOT here.

Posted on June 24th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Life | 6 Comments »

Sarah’s getting ready to go to her first Girls’ Camp ever. I always thought you had to be 14 years old (Mia Maid in Young Women) to go, but she’s 12 (Beehive) and she’s going, so either the rules have changed, the rules are different for our stake, or I was never paying enough attention to begin with. The camp is four days long and I have only a vague idea of what will happen. I have never been and all my knowledge is second hand. I look forward to learning more about it through my daughters and I will probably serve as a Girls’ Camp Leader sometime before I die… it’s highly probable, almost inevitable… I’ve already had a couple of close calls (heh, no pun intended) in the past. Anyway, I hope I’m ready for that day when it comes.

One of the things that Sarah has to pack is three secret sister gifts. The girls each get assigned a girl to give gifts to and I guess they have to give them to their secret sister without being found out. Sarah has been making friendship bracelets and we have planned that she will give them along with some kind of candy. I’ve also donated a little crocheted bag I made a while ago and must have saved just for this purpose. I’m donating another bag, too.

I have been wanting to try making a boxy pouch ever since I came across a tutorial for it, but I couldn’t do it because I never had any zippers on hand. I bought a few at a sale and then life happened and I forgot about it. Then I found it again on a different blog that I discovered through the Craftiness Room on FriendFeed very recently. I don’t know what it is about this bag that enchants me. Probably the really cute Japanese fabric. I have been making a mental list of things I would love from Japan if I ever go. I want a pattern book to make cute kid clothes, some fabric that you can’t get here, and cute origami paper. I want to try roasted chestnuts from a stand outside the train stops and get dressed up in a traditional kimono just for fun. Maybe my uncle will take me sometime. He speaks and teaches Japanese and his son works for Continental–great combination of assets, wouldn’t you say?

I digress. Back to my boxy pouch making story…

A while ago, I bought some Spoonflower fabric on Etsy. Spoonflower is a place online where you can get your own designs printed on fabric. Some people enter their designs in their weekly contest. The winner allows their design to be sold in Spoonflower’s Etsy shop for one week only. I had my eye on a pear design that I liked and when it won, I bought a yard. I thought it might make a good fabric for the boxy pouch. You be the judge and tell me how you think it worked out.

The idea of this bag is to use fabric scraps because it is really small. I decided that I would just fold the fabric over itself a couple of times and chop off the top. It was three inches bigger on each side than specified in the tutorial. So that’s the bigger bag in the picture, and it’s definitely not as cute. I had some issues with make the sides straight… a lot of times my skills do not match my ambitions. Sarah wanted the bag to fit in her hand like how I described it to her when proposing it as a secret sister gift. So I made it again with specified dimensions, but added loops on either side (one big enough to slip a finger through) to make it easier to pull the zipper. I think it came out so cute with the loops and wanted to embroider eyes on one side of it so that the loops were like ears. Sarah nixed that idea. Oh, well. I thought it might make it more Japanese since they seem to like cute faces on the most unlikely of things.

Here’s another link to How About Orange which has another link to a tutorial on making a boxy pouch that is lined. I like this blog because she finds links for the coolest things to make and then puts them all in one blog post. When I have the time, I go through them. Sometimes, I actually find the time to do them. Like I did this week.

Posted on June 19th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Crafty, Haley Kids | 3 Comments »

I saw this on FriendFeed and thought it would be fun for the kids. They were pretty excited at first, but as it turns out, they can handle doing this for one package of hot dogs, but two packages is pushing their attention span. Seth was the first to fold because for six years he was the youngest in our family and those years helped him to master the art of quietly walking away while no one is paying attention to go do something less like work. Zack noticed, however, and tried to tell Seth to come back to the table and help because the more people that helped meant the faster we could eat. When Seth could not be persuaded, Zack followed suit and made his way back to Pokemon Platinum on DS. Sarah then complained that Zack just did what he was harping on Seth not to do, but she stayed with me for as long as she could (she had a Young Women meeting to attend). I could barely stick with it, but got the rest of the cut up hot dogs speared with the dry spaghetti. I experimented by pasta-poking the dog and leaving them on the ends. I wanted to see if the spaghetti would stay in and told the kids I was making jellyfish.

The poked dogs went into the hot water, and a little while later, the kids were excited once again to see what they had created. Zoe really likes hot dogs (her first time), so even though she had rice and cut up hot dog to keep her busy during dinner prep, she tried a spaghetti dog (or whatever they’re called) with gusto. She didn’t smile or laugh, but ate and flung spaghetti with a serious face–the neural connections were firing so I could tell she was enjoying herself. The boys liked them, too. They declined spaghetti sauce, but Zack took me up on gravy which I tasted and approved. What doesn’t get better with gravy? I liked it both with and without.

I have to admit that the pictures I took look disgusting. I mean, it’s kind of crafty and fun, but they’re still just hot dogs. I like them better in a bun with mustard and ketchup. And being an island girl, I would like them next best on rice with furukake or better yet, in chili over rice. This was my first time trying hot dogs in pasta (strike that, reverse it) and I’d probably not do it again anytime soon. It was fun for ten seconds.

Posted on June 16th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids, Recipe | 5 Comments »

My friend Laurie set up a Girls’ Night Out at The Mudpie Company and brought her amazing brownies. She could have set us up in the middle of a parking lot somewhere and the brownies would have made it a special night. I love that she also brought grapes. She’s crazy healthy, does yoga, and exudes goodness. Whenever I’m with her I want to be my best self. It was nice to paint and chat with some amazing women with such diverse talents. We covered some down-to-earth topics that remind me why it’s good for women to get together regularly for these such occasions. Girls’ Night Out is sacred.

The location of this paint-your-own pottery studio is on one of the cutest Main Streets ever. I really like the small town feel of the restaurants and shops there even though I’ve never eaten or shopped there (unless you count the Chick-Fil-A that is just down the street). We did sign the closing papers for our house in this Town Center, but that’s about it. This was my first time painting at The Mudpie and I hope to go back when funds allow until I have a cupboard full of Mocha Mugs like the one I painted.

I’m pretty happy with the way it came out. I did learn what not to do (scratches will show) and what to improve on (more coats to hide the brush marks). But mostly, I love the shape and size of the cup! It can fit two cups of hot water and two packets of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate without spilling over. I can drink hot chocolate in any weather. It’s my favorite… right up there after strawberries. Swiss Miss is the brand of my youth, but I’ve recently discovered Stephen’s Gourmet Hot Cocoa. My friend Brooke gave me the Hazelnut flavor for Christmas and it maybe lasted a week. (For those of you not affected by the economy, please feel free to click the link and buy me some.)

Another thing I like about my mug is that it was painted while I was thinking about Grandma Pudge. Josh’s maternal grandmother passed away on the same date I painted on the bottom of my mug which is surrounded by hearts. Now when I indulge in one of my favorite treats, I’ll think of her. I like to think that she approves… she was cool like that.

Posted on June 10th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Artsy Fartsy | 1 Comment »

Happy National Do(ugh)nut Day! No matter how you spell it, you need to have one or ten today.  Krispy Kremes is giving them away for free, Dunkin’ Donuts is giving them away with a purchase. Neither establishments are in close proximity to us. Shipley’s Donuts, however, is. In fact, there are two in our neighborhood, but they are not participating in National Donut Day. That did not deter us in the least. Josh and I always get Apple Fritters. The boys always get Bear Claws. Sarah is partial to Long Johns. Zoe is lucky to get half a glazed donut, but she fell asleep during the donut run so we didn’t get any shots of her. Yet.

Posted on June 5th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids | 1 Comment »

This is the year that it all falls apart. I’m sure of it. The worst is still to come. If we think we are pulling out hairs or growing grey ones now, next year is going to blast us right between our parental eyeballs.

A few months ago, I looked up Rick Riordan on the web to see when his next book was coming out. I learned that he was coming to Houston for a book signing on May 6, the day after his book The Last Olympian was to be released. I thought it would be a great opportunity for Sarah to meet the author of one of her favorite series. We would have to get her out of school early that day because the presentation was starting right when school ended and we would have to drive to the other side of downtown Houston to the Westchester Academy. I fixed it all in my mind, talked with Josh, and then brought it up to Sarah. She was excited and very interested in going. When she told her friends, a couple of them asked to come along. We set it all up, and three very excited girls were going to meet Rick Riordan.

Savannah, Kristen, Sarah & Rick Riordan

I was excited to see him myself because I like Percy Jackson, too. In fact, Sarah and I argue about who started reading the series first. In my version of events, I bought the second book at a book fair a few years ago. I thought the cover was interesting and the summary was captivating. When I showed it to Sarah at the book fair she was not particularly interested. I thought to myself, I’ll buy the book and read it myself and maybe, just maybe she’ll pick it up and read something besides Harry Potter. Months went by and she did not pick up the book. One day after school, I sat on the floor in full view of the children doing their homework and started to read The Sea of Monsters only to stop and proclaim loudly, “Aww man! This is the second book.” I adhere strictly to reading a series in order because way too much is given away otherwise. I don’t think anyone in the room really batted an eye at me and my crisis. Eventually, I did get the first book from the library, read it and then the second, and the third. By that time, Sarah followed suit. She claims that she told me to buy the book at the book fair because they had read the first chapter in class and everyone was talking about it. WHATever. I know it’s not true but she won’t believe me so every now and then we bring up the argument and go at it only to end in smug looks and rolling eyes amid smiles. It has become a pet argument.

Regardless of how it all started, she is so much a fan of this series that she gently reprimanded me today for having left The Last Olympian on the floor. She forbids her brothers from even touching the book, and now I learn that it is not allowed to touch the floor either. You would think it a sacred text. My excuse was that keeping it on my nightstand would only make it fair game at the hands of a not-so-gentle toddler when Zoe awoke from her nap. I was merely protecting the hallowed pages.

I have not finished the book yet. I’m taking it slow because it is the last book of the series and we own the book, so there’s no deadline to return it. Still, I think my favorite line of the book occurs in the beginning of Chapter Six: My Cookies Get Scorched when Percy Jackson says, “In other words, it was totally awesome,” in regards to shadow traveling. It is one of the reasons why Rick Riordan’s series is such a favorite with kids. He knows how they think. I learned at the book signing that the series first started as a bedtime story for his son who is diagnosed with ADD and has dyslexia. Naturally, Percy Jackson is dyslexic and is diagnosed as ADD because of his demigod nature. How cool is it that a father would go to the trouble of creating a world where having dyslexia probably meant you were a demigod? I became an even bigger fan.

There were a lot of kids in the auditorium yelling and screaming and laughing at Mr. Riordan’s jokes. He announced that they were making a movie out of first book, The Lightning Thief. During the Q&A, girls wanted to know if the actor playing Percy Jackson was cute. He told everyone to go to the website and they could read all about it and see pictures. He announced that he was working on a new series centered around Camp Half Blood which Sarah is VERY excited about. We also learned how to pronounce his last name. I tend to pronounce unfamiliar words the same way I would Hawaiian words. So Riordan was to me Ree OR dahn, but in fact it is RYE or din.

Another thing I liked about him was his love for Greek Mythology and how he kept citing a certain English teacher for getting him started in it. I have one of those teachers. I first read the Iliad and the Odyssey in Mr. Peebles’ class at Canfield Junior High School in Coeurd’Alene, ID. He taught English as if it were a second language, so we made the t-graphs showing the conjugations of verbs and I actually learned more about English as a language and how we have so many exceptions to the rules which is what makes learning the language a bit difficult. Anyway, he was an interesting teacher and I had a lot of respect for him. I loved learning about the different gods and their different powers. You could tell that he loved it, too. If it were not so, I would have forgotten all about him, I think. I wish Sarah had a teacher like that this year, but until she learns to like teachers for what she can learn (and not just by whether they are nice or not), I like anyone who can influence her to talk kindly and reverently about their teachers, like Mr. Riordan did.

So here’s the thing… when I went to pick up Sarah early from school, she was not waiting in the front office like we had planned. Instead, I got a call from her stating that she was in the assistant principal’s office. She got busted for writing on a desk (her proclamations of boredom and starvation) for which she would have to serve a two-hour dentention after school on Friday. I told her that it was an incredibly stupid thing to do, and she agreed, however, it would have been better for her to realize that before her vandalism. I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her silly. If our planned excursion had not been months in the making, I would have made her stay at school and aborted the whole mission. I couldn’t, however, because two other girls were coming and I had paid for the book full price from the book store running the whole gig. I had to put all of my frustration on a back burner.

When it came time to revisit the issue, Sarah got her progress report from school. Not only had her grades dropped, it was the worst progress report ever. She has two each of A’s, B’s, and now C’s! She is enrolled in honors classes, but I’m convinced that the defect is her laziness, not her brain. She “forgets” to turn in make up work from being sick or “forgets” to ask what make up work she has to do and all the while, she is coming home saying she doesn’t have any homework. Grrrrr! On the one hand, I want to commend her for the good grades she did get, but I don’t want her to let school work slip completely off the radar over things like her hair, her clothes, her shoes. Do you think maybe I’m overreacting?

We have taken away her iPod, her books, and are restricting TV watching. The usual… plus, she has been working non-stop this weekend for a particular offense involving her new glasses. She has been doing dishes, making dinner, doing laundry (mostly because on Thursday night I came down with the virus everyone has had in our household), and helping with the baby. She was feeling pretty victimized at first, but she has since taken a new perspective and is rising to the challenges we are puting her through.

And the hits keep on coming… I received an email on Friday from her science teacher informing me that she is failing due to two zeroes that she can make up during tutoring hours or at home. At home seems to be too difficult for her, so I am giving her one chance and once chance only. Tomorrow she must find out what the work is and get it done. If she forgets to ask or comes home without doing it, I have threatened to *cue scary music* come to her science class in front of her friends to ask the teacher myself. What greater fear does a pre-teen girl have than seeing her mother in school and out of her correct setting? I am emailing the teacher to back me up and let me come during class. Hopefully, I will not have to resort to such tactics, but it might just be the perfect formula for motivation.

I know. I know. I should probably count my blessings that this is all that I’m dealing with as a pre-teen parent. It could be drugs or smoking or pornography. It could be cussing and premarital sex. It could be a fixation with death or depression. It could be fatal disease or kidnapping or molestation. She is a good girl. She practically begged to go to church today even though us sickies couldn’t go. I’m just worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, I guess. I’m thinking that this is the last good year of “normal” tragedies. Next year it may well be about peer pressure to drink or get naked. I hope she will stick with the promises she has made to herself despite my deficits in parenting.

Why can’t they just stay small?

Posted on May 17th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids | 3 Comments »

Tonight we had meatloaf with rice and broccoli. I served everyone on paper plates because real dishes tend to pile up at our house. It looks really gross in the pictures, but tasted really yummy. Zoe ate a few bites and then  fell asleep with her head on the table. When she stirred, I put my hand conveniently in place before her head came back down again, or worse, she woke up. She spent the day being crabby and not taking more than 15 minute naps, but I knew she was tired from staying up late watching Daddy play Mappy on the new TV last night. I was going to do everything in my power to help her stay asleep. I got Sarah to get the camera and took a few shots of everyone at the table, including myself (very myspace, I know). The boys hammed it up for the camera and Sarah ducked behind her hands and a mass of hair, but I got her on the second shot.

Now we’re going to head out to play volleyball at open gym night at QLS. Sarah wants to take it next year, so I’m going to give her my knowledge for free. She will fight me the whole way with wardrobe and hair issues, but I’ll try to focus on the big picture, just like I’m telling her to not sweat the details. While we’re out, Daddy will have the house to himself to do his Ffundercats podcast in peace and quiet.

Posted on May 1st, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Baby, Haley Kids | 2 Comments »

Easter is not a big deal to Latter-Day Saints. We celebrate Easter every week, so the only difference this holiday has for us is a new set of church clothes and an egg hunt. Some don’t even do that… it just depends on the timing. One of my friends said that she didn’t have time to sew a new set of matching clothes for her children (like she did last year) since she was busy preparing for and running in a marathon. Yeah. That would never happen to me, I’m afraid. For me, I was just late. Easter snuck up on me, so I found myself at CVS on Saturday night with my oldest child picking out things the Easter Bunny would bring the next day.

That is not to say that we do not teach the children that it’s not about the candy or the egg hunt or the new clothes… but it’s about renewal. That’s the word that was preached over the pulpit today that stuck in my head. It’s Spring, the dead branches of winter are sprouting new green leaves and mimic how Jesus died for our sins and lives again. He led a perfect life and was therefore a perfect sacrifice. He was the unblemished and first of the flock given in sacrifice for us. We no longer have to offer burnt sacrifices, the old law is fulfilled in his sacrifice, but he only asks that we come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And this we strive to do every week. If we are properly prepared — praying and reading our scriptures daily — partaking of the sacrament each week is an Easter celebration.

I was surprised by the comments made by my children earlier in the week… apparently, every year they get new Easter Sunday clothes. I was unaware that they had noticed this, and if it weren’t for a series of events, I would not have followed through this year. I had no intention of getting them new clothes until I was at the store on Saturday night (we had also gone to Walmart looking for plastic eggs and diet coke to appease the Daddy). We had paid our taxes earlier that day, and after months of stressing over it, it was a burden suddenly lifted. I was glad to be able to get them new clothes because the boys really need them anyway and Sarah has half my closet confiscated. I liked being able to get some of my clothes back and keep this family tradition.

We have another tradition that we started when we lived in Northern California and Sarah and Zack were the only little ones. No matter what the weather, the kids can count on an egg hunt inside as soon as they wake up. We do the Easter Bunny like Santa Claus… he comes after they are asleep. We use plastic eggs with candy inside. This year we got some creme eggs, marshmallow eggs, little wrapped chocolate eggs, Starburst Jelly Beans (because the old fashioned Jelly Beans are disgusting), and Peanut M&Ms. We also had a solid chocolate bunny and a chocolate smelling plush bunny in their empty baskets sitting on the table. This being Zoe’s first Easter as an active participant, we had a new basket for her as well. I used another basket to hold items that I had picked out from Tata and Nananita. She had called a few days before asking me to get something for them.

As a side note, my parents were planning a big egg hunt at their house this year and Nananita was sorry that we couldn’t be there. She said it would be the last party at their house, but I’ve heard her say that before, so who knows? Parties at my dad’s house are insane. Our family is huge, so it takes a lot of energy to throw a party. Lots of food prep, lots of parked cars line the street, and lots of cousins of all ages take over both the front and back yards. It’s one of the reasons I love being a Benavente. I have tons of memories as a child of eating, no, stuffing myself silly with my favorite Chamorro foods and running completely amuck.

For my children, their way of getting crazy was waking up at 4:00 am to hunt for eggs. It’s a good thing that I put a note next to the baskets asking the boys to wake up Sarah before they started (since she knew first hand what areas were off limits), reminding them to leave the eggs on the floor in plain sight for Zoe, and also not to let Zoe hunt until Mommy and Daddy were awake. They were generous enough to wake me at 7:00 am. I was in extra pain because I had been on the phone for an hour with my Mom and didn’t sleep until 3:30 am. I managed in my half-awake stupor to get some footage of Zoe hunting for eggs. The boys were really excited and Sarah didn’t make them go back to sleep when they woke her up. Plus, they said that Zoe was awake with them at 4:00 am. I saw her fall asleep in the middle of the boys’ beds (which are in the middle of the living room right now while their room gets a new ceiling and we get all repairs from Hurricane Ike done) and in the middle of all the commotion. It was sweet. She eventually woke up in time for a bath before church.

After church, we came home and changed (I regret that we didn’t take any pictures as a family wearing our Sunday best — and I even wore makeup today, dangit) so that we could go have Easter dinner with some friends at their house and die some eggs. I brought a pan of sugar-free Jello blocks, a pitcher of sugar-free fruit punch, hard boiled eggs for dying, and some sugar-free candy as a gift. It was out of respect for the diabetic father. What did she make? A ham, cauliflower done like mashed potatoes, jello salad with fresh pineapple, two-different kinds of rolls, and green beans. I felt like we could have contributed more, but she withheld information on how much food she was making. She’s the kind of person that finds joy in serving others, so I forgive her, but the next time she asks us to dinner, we’ve threatened to show up with a roast.

The food and company was very good, however, I had to bow out early because I was so tired and going through a box of Klenex like there was no tomorrow. I had spent the morning with a runny nose despite the Claritin I took. We didn’t get to play any board games like we planned, but it’s just as well. I went to bed when we got home and didn’t get up until 9:00 pm. It felt good to get some rest, but the draining just won’t stop. I went ahead and took a Claritin-D, even though the first one I took is supposed to work for 24-hours. It helped a little, but I ended up popping a Sudafed a few hours later. I’m not sure if this is just allergies at this point. I’m happy that it doesn’t feel like Strep Throat, either. Two or three more times of that this year, and I’ll have to get my tonsils out. My throat just hurts from the post nasal drip. Ugh. Doesn’t it make you swallow and gag just to read that? Ugh. It does me. Sorry, I’ll change the subject.

Right now I’m guessing that there are still about 20 hiding eggs. We hid 116 of them and they still had 40 to go when I counted this morning. The eggs will keep popping up unexpectedly as the year goes by. We recycle them every year, and I had thought we wouldn’t have enough plastic eggs for this year’s hunt. I didn’t buy any new ones because they were sold out. It’s probably better to keep the number around 100 anyway. A few more years of living in this house, and all the hiding places will be known.

“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:24

Posted on April 13th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Church, Life | 2 Comments »

Zoe says "CHEESE"

Posted on April 1st, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Baby | Comments Off