The Good, The Bad, and the Other Stuff

Hey, remember me?

I keep meaning to post. I really do think about it all day Saturday. But as those of you who have moved (and not only moved into a new home but moved into somebody's basement), it is time consuming adjusting and unpacking and sorting and all the stuff that goes along with it.

Plus, I keep having random thoughts that I'm not sure would make full blog posts, so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

Let's get the complaining out of the way first:

* - So we had a month with no insurance. I recently read a blog where a woman was in a similar circumstance (only her no insurance period lasted five months) and they were really blessed in that nothing bad happened to them, until the week they got their insurance and then kids were busting limbs and getting ear infections, etc.

Well, I got no such grace period. Right before General Conference weekend, my now 20-month-old was chasing his 3-year-old sister up the stairs because she had M&Ms. She didn't want to share (I know this may surprise some of you). The next thing I heard was "No!" and then thump, thump, thump, crying. I was worried about a head injury - and I watched him for vomiting or eye dilation or unintelligible speech (which, to be fair, he was only 19 months old. Most of his speech is unintelligible.) He seemed fine. After a cuddle he was off and running around.

Then on Monday, three days later, I noticed he wasn't using his left arm at all. Freaked me out. Ran to the pediatrician, got X-rays, and he had managed to break both of the bones in his forearm!

He was in a cast for awhile, and then suddenly the orthopedist called me after one of our weekly X-ray sessions to tell me that his bones had bent too much in one direction, weren't self-correcting and so the baby would now need to come to outpatient surgery so they could fix the bend themselves (they still won't tell me what they did to him - only that they had to knock him out to do it). He's in a new cast, supposed to get a shorter cast this week...and can you just imagine the medical bills for this one?

I'm also apparently grinding and clenching my teeth while I sleep...which led me to breaking off a large chunk of one of my back molars (which completely scared me because I have all these nightmares about my teeth falling out). I had to wait until Nov. 1 to get that taken care of (when the new insurance kicked in) - not a great experience (I get a crown next week). All very expensive, even with the "insurance." Fun, fun, fun.

* - Had a section here on the 14 fundamentals for following the prophet cited in General Conference, but decided it was probably too inflammatory and have since removed it (just know that when it was first given, Elder Benson was rebuked by President Kimball for it).

* - I now live in the safest place in America. Eagle Mountain.

First, to even get to me, you quite literally have to cross a desert (for those of you familiar with Eagle Mountain, I'm living near City Center). And I know it's a desert/range because we get to see the actual antelope playing near the side of the road all the time.

So you have to have enough gumption to commit your crime by driving to the Middle of Nowhere, but then you're going to have to choose which house to break in to very wisely once you get here.

Why?

Because a police officer lives in every third house. I'm not kidding. If you've ever wondered where your local policeman lives, I can tell you he lives in my neighborhood. Police cars EVERYWHERE from West Jordan, Orem, Sandy, Salt Lake, etc. Driving out of here to reach civilization is a harrowing experience because every other car is a cop.

And since there is no crime here, the local police officers hand out a lot of speeding tickets.

Which leads me to my next point -

* - I now understand why Utahns speed. It's because you have what is quite possibly the stupidest speed limits I've ever seen.

As I cross the desert, going to the Middle of Nowhere, you'd expect the road to be 50, possibly even 55.

Nope. 40 freaking miles an hour.

To take my daughter to preschool, here are the various speed limits I drive through - 25 to 35 to 40 to 35 to 45 to 25 to 50 to 25. And they just randomly change with little rhyme or reason. The speed limit outside the elementary school - 35 mph. Outside the high school - 25. (And I wonder whether this is some sort of indication that small children are faster than their teenage counterparts.)

So, as a result of the lame speed limits, I too am finding myself becoming a speeder.

* - Smith's doesn't double coupons. Epic fail.

* - Nobody wants to buy my house in Ohio. Double epic fail (and quite possibly the reason for the broken tooth).

* - We have to save 3.5% to get a mortgage for a new house. As our house in Ohio isn't selling, it will probably take a very long time before we can save that much money. I'm hoping to be out of my mom's basement before the oldest leaves on his mission (he's eleven).

But as today's lesson in Relief Society reminded me to be grateful, I will say that I am grateful to be here safe and sound with my little family. I'm grateful to be closer to our extended family, and I'm grateful that we have a place to live and can provide for our needs and that we have a job and that even though everything seems tough, we still have each other.

(And my kids are thankful for being able to walk to church. They think this is the coolest thing ever.)