"Crazy" August Update

To arms! To arms!

The Stewart house has been under attack. We usually have the occasional ant invasion but the last couple of days have been ridiculous. The ants are everywhere. Mom spent pretty much all today just fighting ants. We think the problem is that Mom sprayed around outside the entire house and now all of the ants are trapped in the house and have no choice but to come out into the open. We are all going a little crazy.

The other thing increasing our craziness is the late arrival of baby girl Stewart. We are accustomed to the grandbabies coming early so we have been eagerly awaiting the baby's arrival since early last week. Now that we are several days past the due date we are going a little crazy. The phone rang tonight and Dad said, "Maybe Chelsea's having the baby." Anyone who knows Dad knows how unusual it is for him to even notice the phone is ringing, let alone want to answer it. Chelsea is handling the delay the best out of any of us. We went to the movies and out to eat on Saturday and she was still comfortable. Brandon even got her to go to an Angels game tonight. I think he was just hoping the baby would be born at the stadium and he would get permanent season tickets.

The other crazy thing is that we have been getting use to Ryan crutching and wheeling around the house. Most of you probably know, but Ryan was in a pretty severe biking accident last month and had surgery on his shattered tibia. Mom and Dad were up in Utah with him for awhile and then brought him to recuperate for about a week. It has been good to have him home for a bit. We have had some fun giving him a hard time. Brandon has been calling him "Tiny Tim" and Mom and I had fun getting him to open and shut her bedroom door over and over while we rested comfortably on her bed. He's been a really good sport and I will miss him a lot when he goes back to school on Wednesday.

Here are some pictures of his gnarly staples:

The yellow on Ryan's leg is actually bruising. He won't be able to put any weight on his leg for 3 months, so next semester should be pretty interesting for him. Especially since he lives in a 3 story condo.

I'll try to post some pictures of the baby once she finally comes.

Littering?

At least once a week, I find a flyer left on my car when I leave work. I am usually out of patience by the time I leave work so I take the flyer and drop it on the ground instead of taking it into my car with me.

My question - Is that littering?

I figure I am just moving the litter that someone already placed on my car. I have a hard enough time keeping my car trash-free without bringing flyers into the mix.

About a week ago someone left a small paper flyer under my windshield. I didn't notice it until I had already pulled out so it stayed there. I forgot about it by the time I got home so it was there the next day when I went to work. I decided to just leave it there and see how long it lasted. It survived a bit of rain, some fog, and several 80 mph freeway trips. It was still hanging on this morning when I parked my car and went into work.

But when I left, the flyer was gone. The funny part was that the crinkled old flyer had been replaced by a fresh flyer tucked into the driver's side window. I guess the flyer person saw my old flyer and thought I could use a new one.

Rembering to LOL

Megan and Jason helped me come up with the name for my blog. I liked their idea because of the dual meaning of LOL - life of Lindsay or laughing out loud. I usually try to approach life with a sense of humor and sometimes laughter is the best way to deal with the ridiculous things that happen all the time.

I had the following conversation recently (names have been changed, except for mine):

Relief Society President: So Lindsay, I was hoping that you would be Michelle's visiting teacher.
Me: Sure, I'd love to.
RS Pres: Oh, I'm so glad. I've been trying to think of a good visiting teacher for Michelle for a long time. At first I was thinking of Stacy because lives right around the corner from Michelle, but then Michelle's mother said Michelle didn't even want to be reminded or hear about anything to do with marriage or pregnancy.
Me (thinking): Oh yeah, Stacy got married recently and she is super pregnant so that would be bad.
RS Pres: But then I thought of you and I thought you would be perfect!
Me: Heh, heh. Great. (thinking again - so glad I came to mind when you were trying to think of someone who has nothing to do with marriage or pregnancy)


Funny stuff like this just happens when humans interact with each other. We're like ping pong balls caught in a wind tunnel. Sometimes we just bounce off each other the wrong way. You can either laugh at how funny everyone looks flying around or sit in the corner crying over a little bump.

My problem is that lately I have been having a hard time finding the humor in it all. Every couple of years I seem to go through a mourning period for my single and childless state. I get mad at myself for succumbing again to feelings that I thought I had conquered years ago. But today it hit me that I am not mourning the same thing over and over exactly. Being sad about being single at almost 30 is not the same as being sad about being single at 25. Because at 29 I am mourning different things. I have fallen further behind.

A couple of summers ago when Megan and Jason came out to visit, Megan was having a hard time because we kept talking about Heather's kids and how great they were. She felt like we were comparing Heather's kids with her little Josh who was starting to show some developmental delays. I said something to her about how she shouldn't let her sorrow over Josh keep her from being happy when one of Heather's kids did something good. I held myself up as a shining example and told her how I had learned to be happy for my friends when one of them got married or had a kid or had something else I was missing out on. I think I was a bit smug about my achievement.

That smugness is completely gone now. Because now when I see my friends' families going on vacation, purchasing homes, celebrating Mother's Day, etc. the ugly head of envy rears its head and I sometimes have to fight to be more happy for them than I am sad or angry for myself. I have a hard time even going to church because I am reminded the most there of everything that I want and do not have.

But don't worry about me too much. I have survived these mourning periods before. I have a Heavenly Father who comforts me whenever I remember to ask and pretty much the best family ever. Just excuse me if sometimes I hug your children a little too tight or buy them a few too many presents.

Mom Present Update

This post is really just for Megan and Heather. We usually go in on Mom's b-day and Mother's Day presents and I do the selecting and purchasing since I am the only local. It is a pretty good deal for me since I love shopping and I like wrapping presents for some reason.

So Megan and Heather - here are some pictures of what we gave Mom for her holidays.

For her birthday:

Here is the pomegranate tree we bought Mom. Mom and I planted it on Monday and almost died (slight hyperbole.) I thought it would take about half an hour but it ended up taking over two hours. Not because we are such super wimps but because we had to dig through two feet of solid roots and rocks. But it is a nice little tree and I am excited to watch it grow. Pomegranate trees are really pretty when they get bigger.

For Mother's Day:

This is one of these really cool wooden figurines they sell at Disneyland now. They are solid wood and really detailed. It is kind of hard to tell in this picture, but Sleeping Beauty's castle is carved on the dragon's belly. The dragon's eyes also light up but I forgot to turn them on when I took the picture. Malificent is on one side and the dragon is on the other. It is called "Casting the Spell."

You guys can see the presents in person in July. I can't wait to see you.