Toasting JB Weld

I went to Toastmaster's with Heber tonight.  Have you heard of Toastmasters?  No?  Well, it's an international club that meets weekly to foster improved communication and public speaking skills.  Heb has been going the last year and really liking it.  He presented his third speech and I snuck away to watch him give it.

He presented his speech on JB Weld.  I was just beaming with pride over what a good job he did.  He is funny, poised, a good communicator.  It was awesome and I was happy to be there to see it.  Here's the speech for you to read.  It's not as good as hearing it in person but I know you'll enjoy it.  And for the record, I only occasionally break things (or maybe every week, boo).  Good thing I married a handy man. 

Project 3 - J.B. Weld

Thank you Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, and our welcome guests. I have a little problem I’d like to share with you tonight. Two little problems, actually. Nearly every night when I get home I am greeted with big hugs and kisses from my two wonderfully curious and rambunctious children. But, before I even get a chance to say hello to my wife, my children have zipped away and returned with a bevy of items they have broken that day, wondering if I can fix them. Sometimes, my wife will add an item to the heap, mumbling something about how the kids got tangled up in her legs, tripped her and she dropped the now broken item.

They say you only need two items in your toolbox, WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, WD-40. It if does move and it shouldn’t, duct tape. While the duct tape would be an excellent way to contain my children for a little while, their steady diet of chicken nuggets and goldfish crackers provide them more than sufficient energy to gnaw through that duct tape and they would quickly return to their shenanigans. Fortunately, I have a third tool in my tool box, J.B. Weld. For the broken things, not the kids.

J.B. Weld is a two part epoxy that has saved me more time and money than I can count. To use it, one simply squeezes out equal amounts from each tube onto something you can throw away when you are done, like a note card. One tube contains the black colored glue, and the second tube is filled with white colored “magic”. You mix up the epoxy with a toothpick or cotton swab until you have a uniform gray mix and apply to whatever it is that needs repair. A little masking tape works great to hold parts together while the epoxy cures and a day later everything is right as rain.

The toys I have been able to save from the landfill are numerous. Endless matchbox cars that are crashed into each other, pieces of train track that are snapped by little hands still developing in dexterity, dolls that are inadvertently shut in car doors, and toy tools that do not have the same strength as the grown up versions.

Around my home you will find numerous glass beads and ornaments made by my artistic wife, and cracked in two by my inquisitive children. Those fine glass pieces are able to be rejoined with only the slightest evidence of previous traumas. One of J.B. Weld’s great strengths is that it can be cleaned up with just a wet paper towel. This means that I can keep squeezing those pieces of glass together and quickly wiping off the extra epoxy that squishes out until the crack is nearly imperceptible. This is a tremendous improvement over items that I have attempted to repair with super glue. Those items either got stuck to my fingers in the way that only super glue can achieve, or have big globs of glue highlighting the areas I clumsily tried to clean with nail polish remover.

The brand new kiddie pool that my children excitedly jumped into and cracked holds water again. The galvanized steel watering can that broke my wife’s fall when a toddler tried to dart between her legs, continues to deliver water to our garden without an errant drop.

When my wife and I announced that we were expecting our first child my father, with a lifetime of experience as an architect, built for us a robust and handsome crib. That crib survived my first child, then a cross county move, and then another cross county move, but not my sweet little red headed daughter, who is actively trying to prove the line from Anne of Green Gables that “her temper matches her hair”. There is no force it seems, like that of a red headed toddler who does not want to take a nap. My daughter has twice thrown herself against the ends of the crib with such force that the screws that hold it together have stripped clean out of the wood, knocking the ends of the crib right off. A little J.B. Weld however has ensured that that crib can survive even more children, even if my wife and I aren’t quite sure we could.

J.B. Weld is fantastic stuff. It has kept toys and household items out of the trash, is fine enough to repair delicate glass, and strong enough to contain a fiery red head. There is nothing that can’t be repaired with God’s gray glue, even my wife’s 1996 Saturn SL1.

My wife’s Saturn was a wonderful car. It got 40 miles to the gallon and you could repair anything on that car with just three screw drivers and a basic 10 piece wrench set. The car was incredibly simple to repair, which was both a blessing, and a curse because there was always something that needed to be repaired. One day my wife came to me and said that the car was acting sluggish. It just didn’t have the power it normally had and she was filling up the tank more frequently than usual. Poking around under the hood I discovered the cause, a leak where one of the fuel injectors attached to the engine block. I removed the fuel injector and found a pair of worn rubber O-rings that allowed the fuel to leak out. I ran over to the parts store plopped down 50 cents for a new pair of O-rings and quickly had the old ones replaced. After driving the car around for another week my wife informed me that the car still didn’t seem quite right. Another inspection showed there was still a little fuel leaking from that same fuel injector. So I bought and installed a whole new fuel injector, but still my wife informed me it just wasn’t right. Dejected that I had been beaten by a mere Saturn I took the car to a mechanic who quoted me $600 to repair the leak on a car that was worth about $1,200. I thanked him for his time, shoved his quote in the glove box and drove to the hardware store to pick up a package of J.B. Weld. That afternoon I glued my wife’s car back together. I smeared copious amounts of J.B. Weld all round that fuel injector until it was firmly sealed in place. Lest you think I was putting my wife in danger, J.B. Weld has a temperature rating of 500 degrees and I knew it was tough. My wife drove that car for several more months without any issue before we decided it was time for something slightly newer and I listed it on Craigslist for $1200. Soon a potential buyer came around for a test drive. He drove it around with great interest but I told him there was something I had to show him before we talked seriously about the sale. I lifted the hood and explained the work I had done. He looked over at me and offered me $1000 for the car. He handed me cash, I handed him the title, and as we shook hands our eyes met briefly. In that quick moment he and I both realized he was getting a great deal. Someday he and I would be gone, that car abandoned in a field somewhere. The tires would have long since rotted away, the frame and body rusted away too, but there would remain the engine block, with one fuel injector still firmly in place.

North Carolina Again

I ran away this week.  I did.  Nothing is wrong, I just get fed up with the day to day and need to get away sometimes.

The kids and I drove down to North Carolina to visit an old friend from Logan.  I really didn't have plans to go but I just did it.  Threw all our stuff in bags and we were on the road a couple hours later.  We all need an occasional crazy in our life. 

We didn't do anything big, we just talked and hung out with the kids.  It was wonderful to talk to her in person.  We talked about Logan and dancing and all that ancient history, about our parenting challenges and brainstormed ideas to be better.  I like my life in Virginia but I do miss talking to my best friends face to face.

I grew up driving a lot.  That's what happens when living in a small town.  We would drive all the time and talk.  Some of my favorite memories are being in the car with my sisters and mom on the way to dance lessons (a 45 minute drive).  There was a lot of life worked out in that car.  Driving is my thinking time. 

 

I came home renewed and filled with ideas to be a better mom and to make our home better too.  One of the many things I'm going to do is to institute a weekly menu plan.  I've never jumped on board of selecting a specific menu because I get to the day and am not in the mood for what I selected.  She instead plans a category for each night, a salad night, a soup night, casserole, family favorites, leftovers and a new recipe night and cooks something in that category.  I swear, I hate getting to 4:30 everyday and standing in front of the pantry trying to decide what to cook.  Now I will only have to decide what kind of salad or soup or whatever that evening's category is.  Awesome and so much easier!  

Gentri

I got an advertisement in the mail from Deseret Book.  Not sure how they found me here, but oh well.  I discovered a new singing group, it was a trio of men singing operatic style music.  Guess what their name was....Gentri.  That's right, Gentri.  They are a Gentleman's Trio.  Thus, it became Gentri.  Oh boy, I wish I was joking. 

Now, if people have a hard time with my name I can say, oh you know, like Gentleman's Trio, Gentri. 

The Dark Side

I am crossing over to the dark side.

It's true.  I guess you all should know...that I'm getting my real estate license.  Now, I know what you're thinking, Gentri, a real estate agent, no way.  Believe me, I'm there with you.  It was right up there on the list of things I would never do with things like becoming a used car salesman and wearing leopard print, and yet here we are.

I've been working on the online training for almost 2 months and am over half way through.  Everyday, I sit down and digest hours of videos and power point slides on things like deeds, foreclosure and loan types.

At dinner tonight, Heb was chatting about a friend of his and their terrible real estate agent experience, which got me talking about our terrible real estate agent experience, which led to another story and then my blood started to boil.  This is why I'm putting myself through this.  It's these experiences exactly.  I don't want to have to deal with someone else.  I don't want to play the game or be played, I want to have the knowledge.  Whoever said that knowledge is power was absolutely right.  So day after day I do it.

Do I ever expect to be a practicing real estate agent?  No, not really.  Luckily for us, we have a broker in the family and I'm planning on selling my own condo (hopefully soon) and purchasing a home and then I plan to hang it all up.  Perhaps I'll help an occasional friend or family member purchase a home.

So, there it is.  I'm doing what I said I'd never do and part of me thinks it's not that bad.  Maybe it's not so bad knowing all this stuff.  I'm thinking it will come in handy someday.

Or maybe....well, did I ever tell you a story about the real estate agent we met with a diamond embedded in her tooth?  Well, you never know what might happen.  Maybe I'll have to buy one of those classy blazers too.  Hmm, I wonder what Heber would think of that?  Oh, and what about a business card with some glamor shots of me...yes!  I can see it now.

The Ballet

I took a trip to the Kennedy Center on Friday.  A friend and I went in to see the ballet (do you really think I'd talk Heber into going?).  It was a collection of ballet companies from across the US who had produced original works.  We saw the North Carolina Ballet, Ballet Austin and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. 

It's been ages since I've seen something live.  Part of me forgot how powerful live performances can be.  Watching the dancers (who you know have trained their whole life to be in that moment), listening to the live orchestra (which was one of the highlights), it was just so uplifting.  I may have gotten a little teary eyed, at the ballet.

I think we got spoiled in Logan.  There was always a show going on or live music, the festival opera or Lyric Theatre.  I could go down to the tabernacle every day in the summer and see something live.  Perhaps it's having Leo or how spread apart things are but it's much more challenging to catch a performance.  There is an energy that is just so unique live. 

We capped off the evening with a stop at Starbucks.  I had to order a hot chocolate off the kids menu.  There was literally no non-coffee adult drinks.  Ah, living in DC. 

Leo and the New Bike

I found a bike for Leo this weekend.

I volunteered for a big consignment sale this weekend at a local church.  I never thought I would be a person to buy things second hand but he grows so fast and we can splurge and buy things that we wouldn't otherwise.

For the past few days, I thought it might be fun to try to find him a tricycle.  Can you just picture little Leo on a bike?  Well, I fought off the mobs to get this little beauty for $10.  It needs a little work, but Heber spent the day in the garage fixing it up (he loved that).  It will be bright red when he's done with it.

When Leo came downstairs and saw the bike, you should have seen his sweet little face.  It was this combination of joy and disbelief that this bike was his.  He just loved it.  I can't wait to see how he likes it all spiffed up.

Pineapple Ice Cream

One of the traditions in my family was to make pineapple ice cream.  Most people have never heard of it but I assure you it is delicious.  I'm pretty sure Leo thought it was.

The Last Minute

Heber and I are not really good planners.  I blame it on years of being students and having no idea when you're going to get done with homework.  We've been last minute people for years and tended to befriend last minute people too.  This is a bit more complicated with a baby and if friends have a baby.  Yet, we've managed to maintain our last-minutedness (not a word but totally works in this case).

This must sound crazy, coming from a person who planned events for a living for the past several years.  Somehow the planning never fully integrated into my personal life.

I realize that this is going to have to change someday but for the moment, it takes us on some pretty great adventures, and you know how I feel about adventure. The last minute is not about researching the absolute best restaurant or the neatest thing to see, oh no, it's all about the hole in the wall restaurant or neighborhood. It's about exploring and taking what you find.

We've had ample opportunity to explore.  When you move somewhere new, all you do is explore.  It's not such a bad thing (unless you accidently end up driving the opposite direction from where you want to go and turn up on a toll road with your GPS crapping out.  Awesome.). 

Last weekend, we were having one of those nights.  Wanted to get out but really didn't want to go to any of the old stand-bys.  So, we googled crepes (I love crepes) and into the car we went.  We drove to Clifton.  What?  You've never heard of it?  It's what I would classify as a tiny town amidst a big city.  It's out of the way and feels like there's not 2 million people a mere 3 miles away. 

I love pictures like this, mothering in action.

We went to the Clifton Cafe and were met with delicious hot chocolate and fresh crepes.  For me, always a dessert crepe and Heber had an entree crepe.  It's one of those places that becomes your place, it's so welcoming and cute.  We'll be back, I'm sure.  Probably at the last minute again.

Leo liked it too.

So, if you're a last minute person too, call us about 5:30 on Friday night, we probably don't have plans yet either.

Leo Today

Today Leo discovered clapping.  We have been laughing all day with him as we watched his two little hands come together. 

 

The Door Frame Incident of '06

I couldn't sleep last Saturday because I thought I hadn't locked the front door.  Don't you hate that feeling?  I can't let it go until I get up and check on it.  So, I made my way downstairs in the almost darkness.  It's a skill I thought I had mastered after MANY nights of getting up with Leo.  Apparently, I haven't.  I tripped down the last few stairs and landed with a big thud.  So now, I have a sore bum/back.  It's made sitting quite uncomfortable.  It seems to be healing up - which means I won't have to go see someone about it.  How do you even go to that dr. appointment?  Boy, that would be embarrassing.

I would compare it to the door frame incident of '06.  We were living in our first house, the old red brick one.  There were similar conditions: late night, me wandering around on the main level, it being past 11:30.  Of course, I hit my toe on one of the many door frames and broke it.  Pop and then pain.  If you have broken a toe, you would understand.  This happened to be 1 week before I was heading to DC for a conference for school.  That made for a fun week of hobbling around our Nation's capitol.   Now, I'll hobble around the metro area again with a sore back for a few days.

I'm hoping it will continue feeling better and I guess I should be thankful, it could have been worse.  But perhaps I should have learned my lesson from the door frame.  I really shouldn't be out of bed after 11:30.  Maybe I'll send Heber down next time.

Dear Virginia (the state),

Have you been reading my blog?  It seems like you have because just hours after my post on snow, we received a dusting that stuck.  You are good.  Keep it up. 

Hey, while you're reading, think you could do something about the traffic?  Heb would love a short commute this week.  That's all.  Thanks.

Escape

I dropped Hebs at the airport this morning. I wish I were flying out with him. I'm bummed that I don't get to be there with him, to see the family and celebrate the life of Grandpa Green. I'm thankful Heb gets to go though.

We've been thinking and talking about Grandpa Green a lot lately. On Saturday, we just felt like we needed to get away for a few minutes, step away from some of the hustle and bustle. We got ourselves a bucket of fried chicken (it was "fried chicken saturday." Ask Heb about that one sometime) and went down to Middleburg. It's a pretty rural area with picturesque farms and trees. I never knew that farms could look like that.

I think I grew up in a somewhat rural place. Even now, the smell of alfalfa reminds me of home. We rode horses (remember the Dun Mair?) and went with dad and Grandpa down to the Bingo (their cattle land). We played in the high stacks of hay and fed grass to the cows. We chased after the wild cats and chickens. We enjoyed mountain views and views of lots of weeds.

Let's just say, these farms did not look like that. They were show farms, the immaculate kind for breeding show horses and growing grapes for wine. They oozed of money and it didn't quite feel like home. One thing we did see was hills. That's right, rolling hills. You have no idea how rare it is to see that here.


Me and Baby.

There was a charming town with some shops. Honestly though, it was kind of a let down. One of the main reason we headed down was to see some of the famous fall leaves. There weren't that many out - it's late October, come on. It's time for fall leaves. After the lack of colors, the town (oozing money itself) just wasn't that exciting. We didn't even stop for ice cream, which is saying something. I guess for that day, all I needed was the company. Love that Heber. Hope he's enjoying himself out west.

A Little Bit of Magic

In preparation for the second natural disaster to hit our area this week, I was out on an adventure and discovered a really interesting place today.

I was down in Occoquan (don't worry if you can't pronounce it, most can't), what I would call a historic harbor village, at my favorite new bead store. This is a prerequisite for a happy life, I believe, to have access to a good bead store. Try it out, it might change your life.

Anyway, while there, I was wandering down the street trying to kill a few minutes and walked into this store.

It was on the second level of a building and once I had committed to climbing all the stairs, I figured I should actually go in. I was quite surprised to discover that it was....a witchcraft store. Yes, that kind of witchcraft, the one with spells and black hats...literally, black hats and cats. I guess I should have guessed by the sign. I blame it on naivety.

For those of you who live in Logan, you know that there is a Magical Moon there - it's a toy store. This was no toy store.

Apparently, I can take a full course on witchcraft and spells. I could learn about tarot cards and could even have a private consult for a special spell or concoction for that special person in my life. I passed on the gemstone infused candles, the collections of herbs and "ingredients" and even on the crystals. I didn't find one thing that I needed - although I was tempted by the stones that would bring good fortune into my life and the bottle of frankensense.

You see, another reason to come visit us. We can make a pit stop here for all of your spell casting needs or just to pick up the stone that will change your life. Believe me, we can take the time.

I guess the moral of the story here would be, you never know what you'll discover - especially after taking time to visit your favorite bead store.

The Winner

So, I am totally a week late picking a winner. It's completely my fault and have no one to blame but myself. Why oh why did I select a monster project?

Anyway, on to the good stuff. The winner of the first ever blog giveaway, randomly selected by Heber, is...

Lacey Sue!!

Congratulations to you! Drop me a note so that I can get them to you.

In no time, you'll have this pretty pair dangling from your lobes. Hope you love them as much as I do. Oh, and Loni, I'm already planning a pair for you for graduation in May!

What's Lost

I lost my hat.

I hate losing things. With a passion. I just want it to come back. I finally had a hat that could keep my ears warm in this frozen tundra. But alas, I lost it.

I was wandering around campus running some errands on a warm day (I mean like 40 degrees) and found my hat lost from my pocket. Drat those small coat pockets. We'd had some good times, me and the hat. But it was nowhere to be found. It happened the same day that our lovely university decided to charge me large amounts of money for things I never had to pay for before. I don't know whether to be mad that I have to pay it this semester or to be happy that I didn't have to pay it all the semesters before.

There was only one thing to do...talk my sister into making another. I finally broke down and hired her to do another. I am now the proud new owner of a hat almost exactly the same as my last and that's just how I like it. You know me and change, we don't get along.

So here it is...me modeling the hat. You know you wanted to see it.



Thank you Carly for making me a new one. I have one talented sister. She designs all of her own patterns and designs. In fact, I am going to put in a shameless plug for her online store, visit it online or here. She really is amazing and I'm not ashamed to do some advertising, I did get the hat at a very discounted rate.

Now my ears will be nice and toasty until June when it finally stops snowing. Thank goodness for that.

Last Night...

was awesome! My sister called me at 6:00 with free tickets to "So You Think You Can Dance" down in SLC. How could I turn her down? The tickets were for one of the luxury suites, now I see how the other side lives.

I was expecting a quiet night of dance rehearsal and homework (I know, my life is pretty darn exciting). I called my other sister to take the second ticket and hopped right in my car, I didn't even stop to touch up makeup.

It was pretty spontaneous. I'm not one for a lot of spontaneity. I'm usually the one that does what they're supposed to but for once I skipped practice and did something really fun. My sister and I had the best time watching and commenting on the dancing and talking together. Thanks for coming Loni.

The dancing was unbelievable. It's been a while since I've seen real dancing in person. The lines, extension, emotion... I could go on and on. It gave me the boost I needed to make it through the last few weeks of this semester. I've been a tad bit burned out (if you've talked to me in the last few days, you would have seen this).

Also, can I make one side note here? Did you realize that the show winner was a high school senior with everything going for her? As happy as I am for her, I almost wish it had gone to someone who had to struggle a bit before. Maybe it's the realist in me.

Thank you Carly and Jay for the tickets! Thanks to Mom Lawrence for watching the kids so Loni could come and watch the show with me.

All I can say is get out and do something spontaneous. It'll do wonders for your week!

My Big Debut

I just realized that I've left you all hanging. Believe me it wasn't intentional. Things have just been really stressful lately with my job (as you could read).

The big excitement was my NPR debut. On my unwritten bucket list was to be on National Public Radio someday, not just the local station but the nation-wide one. Never did I realize that it would actually happen. It did. Can you believe it?!

On Wednesday I got a call from Washington D.C. It was a person from Weekend Edition notifying me that I had won the opportunity to be on the Sunday Puzzle. For those of you who don't listen to NPR, this doesn't sound like a big deal but to Heb and I this is huge.This was the first time I had ever entered. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever solved the weekly challenge question, mostly because I hear it and then never really think about it again.

Heber was working on it in church the week before and I looked at it and knew the answer immediately. He entered me into the drawing and I jokingly said they'd pick me. Then I was selected out of 2,000 people.



By Thursday I was chitchatting with Lianne (the host) about our shared love of glass and meeting Will Shortz (via phone, of course). It was all a very positive experience, minus missing a few questions. Mostly it was just stinking cool to be part of something that we listen to every week. As you could tell from my last post, I really needed a pick me up after all of the happenings of last week.

Listen here.

What's on your bucket list? What is something you don't ever think will happen but secretly dream that it will?

Like Father, Like Son.

Just because this picture is awesome.

We have been doing some serious teasing of Heber's dad for his sweater collection. Now do you see why?

Wanting to Play the Game

We are currently obsessed with this game.

We want to play it every night. The only problem is that it is a 3 person game. Lucky for us we got our friends Tami and James addicted. Seriously, tonight will be the second night this week we will head over to play this game.

What games are you loving now?