Forgot Vann"s

I am grateful for Vann's Thriftway for making really good food I can buy, put in my tupperware, and be complimented on for days.

Season for gratitude

What I am grateful for
by Marianne Hansen Rencher

I am grateful George Lucas made 6 Star Wars movies because that is all Seth will watch right now. He asks for "Bad Guys" and then shoots the tv screen when Darth Vadar comes on. He also shoots the screen when Dora and Elmo come on as well. It may be a theme.

I am thankful that we have a relationship with Santa who comes to our ice skating party, our trolley pary, and to our elementary school. Seth runs up to him and immediately sits on his lap. I am not grateful for the fact that Katherine asks for something different every time she sees him.

I am grateful for cheetos because my kids are quiet when they have them.

I am grateful for wet wipes for after the cheetos and for everything else that happens...

I am grateful for Lunchables that now come with water, a snack, a dessert and a main meal. I am especially grateful on Mon, Wed, and Fri when Katherine goes to school and must change a few times before her outfit is just right.

I am grateful that we are on first name basis with the owners of the new bakery. (Their kids see Kevin)

I am grateful we have enough money I can keep the car running when I run to get Kath from school or I run into the gas station when it is negative 22. I am also grateful that all the exhaust I am causing seems to be settling down in Utah and not in Montana.

I am grateful that it is above zero and my nose hairs are no longer frozen.

Finally, I am grateful for the Christmas season because I don't have to get 3 kids ready in the morning and I can ignore my children and read a book because we are ALL on vacation!

Doctor, doctor give me the news...

Ok. Summary. Drove to Missoula to see endocronologist. She took my blood to see if my prolactin level is getting higher, because the last time I took my meds was Thanksgiving. I guess the meds have a short shelf life so my itty bitty growth on my pituitary gland may have started growing back since Thanksgiving. If it has, there will be a high level of prolactin in my blood. If it comes back normal, I will not go back on the meds, but will "wait and see what happens" for the next three months or so. If no symptoms appear again then I just sort of hang out. She said that these tumors have been known to completely disappear or can come back after "awhile."

So what it comes down to is that if my blood levels are normal, I won't go back on the meds and then I will spend the rest of my life "waiting and seeing what happens." It may never grow back or it might grow back. There are no tests or MRI's to take unless I start to spontaneously lactate. That is the major symptom, people. I know, too much information. Just imagine how I feel. So if any of you reading this have not had any kids or it has been years since having kids and you just start lactating while, say, watching New Moon, you should go see your doctor. It isn't normal

The Firetower

Sunday, December 7
We get to church late and then spend an hour and a half trying to keep our kids quiet. James was amazing, but we were still handling two others. It didn't help that sacrament meeting - our first hour of church- went over by 20 minutes. Then Katherine went to class. Every LDS church in the United States used folding chairs, the same folding chairs. The adult chairs are a metal brown and the children's chairs are metal with a faux wood seat. We fold up the chairs after church. Katherine's teacher was teaching how to work together as a group. The teacher tried picking up the chair with one hand by the leg and couldn't and asked the class how she could pick up the chair with one hand. The answer was that everyone helps and they can together. Katherine said, "I'll show you how." She proceeded to fold the chair up and pick it up with one hand.
Then during the children's group meeting, she was asked what gift she could give to Jesus. She paused, thought for a minute, and said, "Well, I already do everything my mom asks me to, so I think I'll give him a kitten."

We get home from church and I have a message from the Festival of Trees that I have "won" something... I like how they tell you you won although you have to pay for whatever you bid on. Kevin and I have gone to the Festival every year for five years. If we bid on Saturday, we never win. People come on Sunday and always outbid. That is how it has worked for FIVE years. Some background info:

I wanted to give Katherine an American doll for Christmas this year. I have planned on it for a while and so I had the money for it. I know she is young for it but this isn't about her. It is about me wanting her to have it. Kevin was less than thrilled with the idea, but I had planned it and I bought it.

Every year at the Festival, a woman buys an American doll and then sews and knits five or six outfits for it. She quilts a baby blanket and a pillow. She puts it in a sleigh and it is gorgeous. This doll goes for $250-300 every year. It has never gone for under $250 for FIVE YEARS. I decided to bid on it. I thought how much it was all worth and I bid $150, knowing I would never get it because it has NEVER gone for under $250 in FIVE YEARS. I won. So now we have two dolls when Kevin wanted zero. I would have been in trouble except for what Kevin had done.

Kevin likes to bid on trees that have only one bid on them or trees our friends have made. He has done this every year and the only way we have ever gotten a tree is going back on Sunday right before the end of bidding. So Kevin bid on two Twilight trees as a joke, a flamingo tree because James liked it and then on a tree that had a model of the firetower built over it.

The firetower is a town landmark that was built after Helena burned down. They built this bell tower on a hill and people would watch for fires and ring the bell. I'm not sure why someone would build a miniature firetower over a tree and then they put a plastic train track and train around the whole thing. There is a lot of styrofoam and the tree is three feet tall and four feet wide and fits nowhere. Kevin won it. I apologize for anyone who made it but it is one of the ugliest trees ever. It isn't pretty or cute with little ornaments. It is really just a big wooden tower that takes up my whole kitchen table. I want to take the train off of it but then it would just be a tree under a firetower. He didn't bid much for it but he bid way more than it is worth. He should not have been shocked he won.

So I may have bid more on the doll, but it is a doll with clothes and shoes and a brush and ribbons and a necklace. It is usable. It is fun. Our daughter will love it. Kevin bought a model of a bell tower to warn us when there is a fire. Until we decide what to do with it, we cannot eat dinner at our table.

That was Sunday. How am I supposed to face Monday when that was our Sunday?

Bad Idea

I may have done something stupid. Boggles the mind, doesn't it? A Kirby vacuum person called and said I could get a "free room shampooed" if I listened to how great a Kirby is. I own a Kirby. The vacuum repair place here sells them, but he takes old parts and builds new ones so instead of costing $2000, they cost $200. That 0 changes things.

So the representative called and I paused. I had to think things through. I had to weigh getting my carpet cleaned to listening to the spiel. Last time a Kirby person came by, she had a sweatshirt on and torn jeans and dirty nails and there was no way I was buying a cleaning product from her. What can I say? I'm a judgmental person who believes if you are selling a cleaning product, your person should be clean. We will see what happens and if they really shampoo it, or just vacuum it. I think the Kirby now has a shampoo attachment which would be nice but I'm planning on getting hardwood floors. I am entered into a drawing to win $1000 off a Kirby, but I think I will be telling them that until I get new floors, I see no reason to buy a new vacuum.

I think this may be a bad idea. If I have to figure out how to get the guy out of my house two days before he actually shows up, it may be worth paying for it next time. Maybe I can fake labor.