Our Poor Car

Our Honda Fit has had a rough couple of months. Two months ago Eric went to a meeting at someone's house and parked on the street. An old lady pulled out of her driveway and backed right into it. They had to replace a side panel behind the drivers side rear wheel, but had to repaint that half of the car to blend the color. The car was in the shop for 4 days and the cost was $1300. Her insurance would have covered it, but she didn't want to go through her insurance. Of course not, because she would have for sure lost her license (she's like 85 years old or something, and apparently blind while driving). Fine, her insurance didn't have to pay, but she sure did. She gave us a bit of grief about paying that amount, but wouldn't be talked into going through her insurance by us or the body shop. She also gave us problems about paying for a car rental while the car was in the shop, but she did finally pay. What a HEADACHE!!

This past Sunday we were on our way to my brother's house to play games. We were at a red light waiting to turn left. The light turned green and we pulled into the intersection and stopped to wait for oncoming traffic to clear so we could turn. All fairly normal and usual right? Yeah, it was until the car behind us slammed into us. I don't know what happened or why she didn't see us there (she had been stopped behind us when the light was red), but she hit us. We are all okay. And boy did I get some dirty looks from people as they passed me as I sat in the middle of the intersection. Um, do you think there might be a reason I've stopped my car in the middle of the intersection blocking on-coming traffic? Seriously, sometimes I don't know what's wrong with people. They must have been absent the day brains were handed out in Heaven. I guess they don't know that you NEVER move your car after an accident until the police arrive and tell you to. Trust me, my dad works in insurance. You might not have a case if you move your car. Finally after all the reporting etc. with the police officer we were able to go to my brother's house. This repair should go much more smoothly than the last one, because the other driver is going through their insurance company. We have spoken with them several times already, and should get the green light by Friday to take it into the shop. Eric took it to get an estimate yesterday, and it was $2000. The damage is of course all on the back, and it doesn't look too bad. But the bumper and the back door have to be replaced since they were dented.

I wonder what's next? Maybe by the end of the year we will have a brand new car - at least all brand new parts.

Tid-Bits

This is a totally random post. I just had some things I wanted to share because they were cute or weird, and none of them were worthy of an entire post. So, here goes...

Today we were driving in the car while it was raining. Emma looked at the rain drops on her window and called them polka dots of water. I loved it.

In the mail Eric received something I found completely odd. On the Envelope in large bold lettering it said "Important Graduation Information". Then we noticed it was addressed to Eric Meadows or Current Resident. Yeah, must be super important for Eric. Of course it wasn't, but I found it funny that they mailed it that way.

Emma is a Star Wars fan, and the other day was running around playing with her light saber. She was pretending to cut of just about all of our appendages and insisted we call her Darth Emma. Somehow I don't think that quite had the evil ring to it she was going for.

Emma's had a pink heart balloon ever since Valentine's Day. Balloons seem to last forever around here, and this one is no exception. Emma loves it and has named it. What is the name you ask? It's "Princess Heart Balloon". Eric and I think it's possessed. Have you ever known a possessed balloon? Not so much fun. I have twice been scared by this thing. Yes, twice. It slowly floats from room to room (or dances as Emma says, and with a boy balloon too - who is apparently invisible) and pops up at very unfortunate moments. The other night I went to check on Emma before going to bed. All the lights were out when I came out of her room. The balloon floated by, and since it was eye level, it completely startled me. Out of the corner of my eye it looked like someone standing there. The second time this balloon scared me was Saturday night. I was in the living room on the couch when the balloon popped itself slowly around the corner, as if it were someone who had broken in through one of the bedrooms. I was alone, so I knew it couldn't be Eric or Emma. Again, out of the corner of my eye it startled me. I can't wait until this balloon is gone.

Emma has been way too interested in what people think of her clothes lately. She just might be the most vain 4 year old around. It doesn't come off as vanity, but just looking at what she does and says it seems to fit. Every time we go into a store she asks if she can take her jacket off so everyone can see what she's wearing. Seriously, what's it going to be like when she's a teen?

And lastly, what does it say about me that sometimes my 4 year old is more mature than me? I won't give specific details, but does that seem sad to anyone else? Or is it perfectly fine?

In Case You Were Wondering

Just in case you were wondering, we have recently purchased new magnet letters for our fridge. And since we now have upper and lower case letters, we have two complete sets. So we probably won't have this same thing happen again any time soon.

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Here's a little limerick to get things started:

On St. Patrick's day people wear green.

Not to show that they're jealous or mean,

but that they are a sport

of the good and kind sort.

And to avoid getting pinched if they're seen.

I love St. Patrick's day. I always have. It's not a huge holiday, but there are still so many fun things you can do to make it an extra special day, and to help break up the monotony of regular day to day life.

We already watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People a few days ago, so I don't think we'll watch it again tonight. But it's a great movie! I highly suggest it if you've never seen it.

Yesterday we made a leprechaun trap. It's an improved model from last year's because we spent a little longer on it (meaning I remembered I wanted to do it more than 5 minutes before Emma's bedtime). I saw the idea for it online, and loved it. The leprechaun will climb the ladder to get the nugget of gold only to find the hat's top is only a thin piece of paper which he'll easily collapse, falling inside where he'll be trapped. The sign says: Do not climb the ladder! Since leprechauns are naturally mischievous and love ignoring rules, it will help encourage them to climb up. It seems to have worked. We caught a leprechaun, but he used his magic to escape (which, of course, he can only do if he leaves us some gold or something). Emma might be happier with her chocolate gold coins than a real leprechaun anyway!

Setting it up last night

The air was heavy with anticipation

This is what we found this morning.

This is what Emma started doing when we brought it inside.

I had to interrupt her chocolate eating so that she could have breakfast. She had some Lucky Charms cereal. This is actually the only time of year we buy it. We get it just for St. Patrick's Day. It seems appropriate.

Last night I made some rainbow cupcakes. They turned out great! Eric took most of them to work with him to give out, but I kept a few here for Emma to snack on. I told her this morning that I had a surprise for her, and she promptly asked me, "Is it the cupcakes?" I guess I was too noisy last night while I made them. Next time I'll wait until I know she's asleep.

Dinner was corned beef with cabbage and other vegetables. I am not a corned beef fan (and neither is Emma), but Eric likes it, so I made it for him. Emma and I ate some chicken along with some of the vegetables. For dessert I made some shamrock shakes. Mmmmm.

Emma really wanted to share her shake with Eric, hence the two straws. See below:

It has been a fun day (even though I'm Scottish, not Irish). I always love seeing these holidays through Emma's eyes. Her excitement is contagious.

Peanuts Anyone?

We have always had magnet letters on our fridge. Recently Emma has been spelling words with them. She's really good, but sometimes can't spell a word just right because we are missing a couple of the letters. Yesterday I thought I was going to die laughing when I saw what she had spelled. She showed me and told me she spelled peanuts. Here's the problem: T is one of the letters we are missing, and I guess she says it more with an I than a U. She also of course, didn't know about the A. After seeing the word I clarified with her a couple times what word she was trying to spell. Sure enough (and to my great relief) she was indeed trying to spell peanuts. Below is a picture of her spelling job. Do you see it?

Dress-Ups

Emma loves dressing up. Her toy box is full of costumes and accessories that help her dress up like anything from a witch to a cheerleader to a doctor to a hula dancer. Lately she's been dressing up like a princess and a super hero. She told me one day her super hero name was "Snow White Superhero Princess Holly Meadows Princess Pea". Sometimes she'll wear wigs and sometimes she won't. Here are two examples of what she's been looking like lately. One is with a wig (and isn't a very good one, but it's all we have from that day) and the other is without. I just adore how her imagination works and love seeing her act out all her many ideas.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations are in order. No, not for me (at least, not for anything other than being my normal awesome self!). It's for my sister. She is now a published author!! Her book is available as of this past Monday. Hooray! So, if you are so inclined, go check it out! It's available at Deseret Book stores among others. And if you know Jill, definitely send her your congrats!

Emma's Obsession

Anyone who knows me knows I love playing games. My family gets together quite often and plays bunches of games. We tend to like the longer, strategy filled games better than games such as Balderdash, but we love those too, and we are all fans of poker (don't judge us). Many (but definitely not all) of our favorites come from Days of Wonder in case you were wondering.

So, with all this gaming, I guess it comes as no surprise that one of Emma's favorite things to do is play games. Some days she seems obsessed with it. She has nine games right now, and always welcomes more. Almost every day she asks either Eric or me (or both of us) to play a game with her. And lately Eric has taken it upon himself to teach Emma a new game, and one of his favorites. Chess.

I know how to play chess, but I just don't like it very much, so I don't usually play with Eric. Sometimes he'll play with his twin brother when we visit Colorado (which is awesome to watch, because they are SO competitive with one another - I laugh every time), but that's not very often. So I guess he wanted someone closer to play with. I was amazed at how fast Emma picked it up. I think by the second day she already knew the names of all the pieces, but also how each piece moves. The pawn gives her a little grief, but that's only because the way it moves changes depending on whether it's in its starting position or not, and whether it's attacking another piece or not. She's already got a leg up on me, because I can never remember if the knight or the bishop goes closer to the king. I know they are next to each other, and I know which two spaces they occupy, but I can't remember which one occupies which space. And I don't really care either, since I almost never play.

And ever since he taught her, she wants to play almost every day.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Today at Emma's preschool all the kids were supposed to bring their favorite Dr. Seuss book. They had fun learning a little about him, and reading all these books. She came home with a Cat in the Hat hat, and decided that she wanted to wear all stripes to match it. Here is what she came up with.