Feeling a Bit MacGyver-ish.

Today Braden was riding bikes with a boy in the neighborhood. Braden came in asking for band-aids for his friend while I was on the phone, and I kind of waved him over to where the first aid box was so he could get them himself. Minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the boys attempting to plaster a very large scrape with teeny, tiny band aids.

I quickly ended the phone call and went over to take charge. I sent the boy with the scrape to wash and dry his cut while I got out antibacterial goo. The scrape was quite large - a good 3 inches long and 1.5 to 2 inches wide. Clearly, none of my band-aids were going to cut it.

I looked for the giant gauze pads that I knew were somewhere, but I couldn't find them.

I couldn't send this boy home with a giant, oozing wound, but I had no bandages or gauze pads. I did have plenty of bandage tape, though.

Hmmmm. What to do?

I needed a pad-ish or bandage-ish something that was large enough to cover the wound. It needed to be very absorbant, but not stick to the wound or leave little fibers.

Hmmm. I did eventually find something in my bathroom that worked perfectly. I cut it down to fit, taped it on the wounded boy's arm, and sent him off with an urgent, "Tell your mom I had no bandages big enough and this was ALL I could come up with," and hoped she'd understand.

I'll give you three guesses as to what was taped to that boy's arm. :)

Pow! Right in the Kisser!

Well, just north of the kisser, anyway.

Our Christmas Day was dominated by a trip to the hospital. After opening presents on Christmas Day, the boys and their cousins all went outside to go sledding. Brogan and Braden, while riding together, hit a tree at the bottom of the hill. Braden just bumped his shoulder, but Brogan hit the tree with his face.

The boys helped guide him to the house, and Aunt T. carried him the rest of the way. When we took his hood off, his face and coat were covered with blood. It was hard to see where he was hurt, but within minutes his nose started to swell and we worried he'd broken it. Auntie T. wrapped him in a blanket, and we drove to the urgent care center, located right next to the ER. That was handy, as I wasn't sure whether this was an urgent care - type visit or an ER visit.

The doctor we saw was wonderful, and the nurses brought stickers and a giant stuffed bug (either a caterpillar or a centipede. We couldn't decide.) for him to cuddle as we waited to be seen. The X-ray tech was fantastic, bringing him a wheelchair so he could ride in style, and then patiently positioning him for 5 X-rays. That was very hard, as Brogan couldn't stay in position because his lip stuck out so far it would hit the machine and make him hurt.

Brogan's forehead was cut, as was the tip of his nose, and the inside of his mouth. His nose took a big hit, and swelled up so you couldn't see any contours of his nose. His upper lip swelled up and stuck out almost past his nose. Brogan didn't break any bones or sustain any serious head trauma, thankfully. A couple of his teeth were loosened, but haven't given him any trouble. He has a lot of swelling and has a couple of very colorful black eyes, but is doing fine.

He's a bit self-conscious about his face, and spent a few hours this afternoon wearing a Spiderman mask over his face. He's nervous about going to church on Sunday because he doesn't want people to laugh.

We're so thankful that his injuries weren't worse. He is doing fine and his bruises will heal in time.

Here's what he looks like normally: (Boy on the left)



Here's what he looked like 48 hours after the accident. We started to see more color, and his lip was not as swollen anymore. He was still pretty sore. Poor guy!


Here's his picture today. The swelling around the nose has gone down some, and it's starting to turn black and blue. But the startling thing is his eyes. The purple color started underneath, but now is spreading up and around to his eyelids. Here I'd gotten him to pull up his Spidey mask and smile a bit. It hurts him to crinkle his nose, so his smile is a bit awkward.

The Chronic (What??)cles of Narnia

Sunday night I was up late working on our family's Christmas newsletter. (The cover will be posted here next week, by the way.) I had the tv on in the background, so as to avoid hearing the footsteps of any unwanted guests that might be hiding behind the walls, and was doing a pretty good job of concentrating on my work until I heard someone rapping about (I thought) the Chronicles of Narnia.

What an odd thing to rap about. Girls, police killings, drug, bling, sure. Standard fare, I suppose. But a children's fantasy novel?

I turned to watch it and discovered, to my (Turkish) delight, that they were indeed rapping about Narnia. It was a short film done by a couple of obscure cast members of Saturday Night Live. It was the first thing I've laughed at on SNL in a looooong time.


Yesterday it appeared on the internet, and I'm linking it here. It's a short film called "Lazy Sunday." It aired originally on Saturday Night Live, so watch at your own peril. They bleeped out one word, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that word was.

Take a moment to watch this and let me know what you think.

'Dey Make Good Brats 'Der, Don't 'Dey?

Things About Sheboygan I Didn’t Realize I Missed:

1. Being able to say the word “Sheboygan” every day. With a straight face.

2. That lovely upper-midwestern dialect. (The one that everyone there denies having.) It brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. You betcha’!

3. Texas has “barbeques.” Minnesota has “chicken-ques.” Sheboygan has “Fish Boils.”

4. During the winter it’s completely normal and unremarkable to see people walking around town wearing ski masks.

5.Many, many places in town have coffee and hot drinks available during the winter. Gas stations, doctor's offices, bookstores, Great Clips, etc. McDonald’s even sells a couple kinds of cappuccino and hot soups during the winter! Yum!!

6. Waking up to a temp of –7 (not including wind chill). Then later, upon hearing the high temp. of the day had reached 4 degrees, I thought, “Hey! It’s really warming up out there!”

7. Parking meters in the library parking lot. And a $10 fine if the meter expires!

8. Being able to grocery shop at the Piggly Wiggly. And hearing Brogan try to pronounce “Piggly Wiggly.” (Pig-uh-wee Wig-uh-wee!)














9. Snowplows that actually plow during the snowstorm, rather than waiting until the storms stop.

10. The fog or steam or whatever it is rising off Lake Michigan in the morning. (The water is warmer than the air.)

11. The conclusion to "Polka Idol." We moved away before the winner was announced and I never found out which band won!

12. The Company Store!!

2005 Mensa Winners

The Mensa Invitational once again asked members to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's {2005} winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting sex.

5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

6. Giraffiti: ! Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Requesting Prayer, Please.

For reasons I cannot articulate at this time, I have had a really crummy couple of days.

I am not one to use profanity (I think the last time was during the labor/delivery of my first child 10 years ago), nor do I use crass language very often. So when I say that yesterday was an especially "craptacular" day, I do not say so lightly.

It. Was. Terrible.

I called my best friend, who thought she was having a bad day, until I told her about mine.

Ugh.

Today was better. But not much.

We could really use your prayers here. We know that God is sovereign, and nothing escapes His sight. But it's difficult to find comfort in that at this time.

I'll get back to blogging sometime this weekend.

Thank you!

Sledding

Friday morning, before the snow melted, the boys and I hit the local sledding hill. All the kids were back in school after the previous day's school closings, so we had the hill to ourselves. I like this hill because there's a large hill next to a small one, so there's something for kids of all ages. Braden flew down the large hill a couple of times, but the littles and I mostly kept to the smaller.

Brogan discovered that sliding down the hill is much more fun than climbing back up. After awhile he got the hang of carrying the sled back up, and setting it down so that it stayed and wouldn't slid, unmanned, down to the bottom of the hill. He and I slid down together, and crashed and rolled at the bottom. He was a good sport, though, and got up to tackle that hill again.






































Colson went down with me once, and then he was done. Turns out he's very particular about his snowsuit accessories, and he was NOT happy with the hat and mittens I'd chosen for him that day. That seemed to overshadow sledding. He played with the snow at the top of the hill, and then spent the rest of the time playing inside the van. (Which was cozy and warm from sitting in the sunshine.)





















Braden had a great time, taking all the jumps and bumps that he could. He patiently helped Brogan up the hill when carrying his sled got too heavy for him.


We had a great morning, and are thankful we could hit the hill before it all melted away.

Iowa Roads

On our trip, we spent most of our time enduring single-digit temperatures. And wind. While we drove, it seemed it was always snowing.

Driving through Wisconsin, the roads were very good, and we had no trouble. However, driving through Iowa was another story.

I'm not sure why. On the way north, we saw many slide-offs north of Des Moines. On the way south, we saw many more slide-offs. It took us nearly 2 hours to travel what normally takes us under 1.

In two-mile span of highway we saw over 30 slide-offs. We lost count at 30, actually. There were more. Only a few looked like the result of accidents, thankfully.

It was still scary to drive past.

Air Adventure Museum

Aunt T., 6 children, and I spent four hours in the Air Museum in Oshkosh, WI. This was a fantastic place, well worth the price of admission. Even the two year-old loved it. The museum has tens of planes on display throughout the museum, and several instructional films for the kids to watch.

Their favorite spot was the kids' area, where they sat in cockpits, tried air-related science experiments, posed in front of infared cameras, and tried their hand at the flight simulators. If we still lived in that area, I could see us buying a family pass and spending a lot of time there.



Colson loved the infared camera, and kept dragging us back to it. We had to lift him up so he could be in the camera shot.




Brogan's favorite was the jet fighter cockpit.



The kids are in the control tower here. They had several interactive displays. JJ is looking out at the runway and airplane hangars with one of several sets of binoculars in the room.




Aunt T. and I have an ongoing argument as to whether or not "Top Gun" is a romantic movie.

It started a year or so ago, when I asked if a movie she'd just seen in the theater was romantic.

"Well," she said, "There's maybe a little romance, but it's no 'Top Gun.' "

After I stopped laughing, I expressed my incredulity at the thought of "Top Gun" being a romantic movie. She was amazed at how I could NOT think of it as romantic.

Now it's a running gag. Somehow it works its' way into conversations, greeting cards, and now, blog entries.

So how could I NOT post a photo of Auntie T. in her flight gear.......

dreaming of Maverick......


or Ice Man.

We're Here! But We're Very Sleepy....

We've been on vacation all week, and we've spent the past 3 days at home catching up on sleep, I think. I keep meaning to blog about our trip, but then one boy or another wants to snuggle and snooze, and how can I pass that up?

M. had a business trip, and the kids and I got to go along. Once in Wisconsin, we dropped the boys off with their cousins, and M. and I had 2 nights and 3 days all to ourselves.


















The kids all slept in one room: 2 in bunk beds and 4 on the floor. Colson was so proud that he was at last able to sleep with the "big kids" instead of in a crib or playpen.





















The kids all went sledding on the hill in the backyard. Thankfully no one hit a tree. Well, they didn't hit hard, anyway.




















Darth Colson.






















This was Colson's first memorable experience with snow. He had a good time, though the gloves took a little getting used to.

The boys love visiting their cousins, and Uncle M. and Aunt T. take great care of them. While there, Brogan jumped off the top bunk and landed on a toy, cutting his foot pretty badly. He sat on the couch with a freezer pop taped to his foot to ice it down. (He got to eat the freezer pop when it was melty.) I got a phone call 2 hours later from a slightly worried Aunt T. letting us know he still wasn't walking. She and the kids pampered him all day, letting him nap in front of the fire, giving him big band-aids, putting pillows under his foot, and bringing his lunch to him on a tray. I worried about Brogie's foot, but knew he was in good hands.

By the end of the day, he still refused to walk on it, and we were starting to wonder if a doctor's visit would be necessary. When Uncle M. came home from work, Aunt T. told him about the accident, and M. called out, "Brogan, walk over here to me!" Brogan walked over, and then spent the rest of the night running around with the cousins.

We'd been hoodwinked. That kid is good!

'Tis the Season.

Nothing says Christmas like a goose nativity set.




Last week at the grocery store, I saw for sale a 9 foot tall inflatable nativity for yard display. ( It lit up at night, of course.)

There is nothing, apparently, too tacky to make and sell at Christmastime.

I found the Cavalcade of Bad Nativities at PariSarah's blog. Laugh out loud funny, and well worth a visit.