Another What to do?

Some friends are aware of the saga of my minivan. If you are not familiar, let me bring you up to speed. We bought our van six years ago. It was used, but suited our needs. After about four years of our ownership it had broken 110,000 miles and was consistently giving us problems. However, my DH is one of those rare individuals who prefers to buy cars outright--not make payments. And of course we did not have funds on had to replace it at that point without making payments.

Two years ago there was some serious overheating issues I experienced on a trip to California and ever since I have not dared leave town in it (let alone drive across town).

About two weeks ago I started having additional electrical problems. I noticed the blinkers were not working consistently, as well as the windows, the clock, and the air system. It has been hit or miss. So most days my husband has been walking to the bus stop and leaving his car home in case it is a miss on the blinkers. Problem is that I need more seats than my hubby's car offers when running carpool.

So to sum it up, the van now has 130,000 miles and is not worth much. I want to replace it now; my hubby does not.

And now to the issue at hand.

During Sweetie Peach's b-day party earlier this week someone backed into our van. The man came searching for the owner and found me (my DH was not there to handle it). I went to check out the damage and saw the dent near the front tire passenger side. No serious impairment to the van, but definitely damaged. I got the guy's name and phone number and gave it to my husband as soon as I saw him.

My husband has been getting bids to fix the van and the ballpark is around $1500-$2000 (which is of course a lot more than the guy wants to pay). But it seems crazy to me to get it fixed--to make this man pay that much to fix a vehicle that is on its last legs. To me it is like giving plastic surgery to a 90-year old with cancer. Honestly, I do not think the van is even worth much more than the repair would cost.

I have bit my tongue and am letting my husband handle it, but am feeling stress over the whole situation. Am I wrong for feeling this way? What would you do?

Police Beat #26

Thank heaven for Fridays! I am looking forward to the weekend. Let's get it started off right with a good laugh:

Sept. 22: A female BYU student fell through the ceiling of the Thomas L. Martin Building while playing a game of hide and seek. The student was in an area of the building being remodeled where ceiling tiles had been removed for electrical work. Friends boosted the student into the opening where she fell through other ceiling tiles upon crawling around. She was not hurt.

(Comment: "Come out, come out wherever you are!" Thud!)

Sept. 26: A male student in Wymount Terrace reported his load of whites was stolen from the dryer in the community laundry room he had put them.

(Comment: Police interrogation question: "Gray, dingy whites or bright whites cleaned with the power of Oxyclean?")

Sept. 1: A building security officer was injured after biking down a grassy hill on campus. The officer did not see a bike rack at the end of the steep hill and ran into the rack. He suffered a broken wrist and elbow.

(Comment: He did not see the bike rack because was too busy keeping eye on a suspicious man carrying a laundry basket full of whites.)

Oct. 13: A student reported two male students throwing acorns off the bridge near the law building on East Campus Drive, hitting another student. When questioned, the male students said they were throwing acorns into the tops of trees to see the reactions of students who thought animals were making the noises in the trees. The students were asked to stop throwing acorns.

(Comment: Talk about a "corny" story. {sorry for such a poor pun:-})

Nov. 2: A student in Helaman Halls received a letter with a large sum of money in it from an address in Salt Lake. The student does not know who sent the money and the incident is under investigation.

(Comment: This was called in to the police? Who is this crazy person questioning a gift of a large sum of money?)

Nov. 21: A female student attempted to get the attention of two male students passing by Fox Hall in Heritage Halls by tapping on the glass window of the lobby. The female student shattered the glass window with her tapping.

(Comment: Yeah, that probably got their attention. Too bad she had to change her name and move away to get away from all the embarrassing comments!)

Scripture of the Day: Joshua 22:5

Daddy's Girl

I have decided to occasionally spotlight important people in my life. Today I thought I would start with my Dad. I have to admit that I am very much a Daddy's Girl. I admire my father a lot. Here's the 4-1-1 on him:


Name: Jim

Occupation: college marketing professor

Favorite color: green

Favorite saying: "Hi! I'm tall, slim, good-looking Jim!" (He is tall, and fairly good-looking. 2 out of 3 ain't bad!)

You see, my dad is very fond of corny jokes. In fact, we love to sit around as a family and just say the punchlines of all the corny jokes my dad tells. See if you know any of these:

"I woke up and my pillow was gone!"
"There's millions of them in Paris."
(singing) "Your sister Rose is dead! Your sister Rose is dead!"

Being such a lover of corny jokes it is easy to explain how positive my dad is--he generally always sees the glass as half full. I love that about him and wish I was more like that myself.

A few other great things about my dad:

He leaves little love notes hidden around the house for my mom whenever he leaves to go out of town for a few days. Sometimes if he is gone for longer he leaves extras for me to go and hide for him to "replenish" the stock for my mom.

He is a great public speaker. I guess teaching college classes for 25+ years does that for a person. What is extra fun though is whenever he speaks in public and I am there I will give him a challenge to use a crazy word somehow in his talk (with only five minutes notice). Once at a funeral I challenged him to use the word 'cataclysmic.' He used it twice in his speech!

My dad is not afraid to have fun or make a fool out of himself. When my mom was the gospel doctrine teacher, once she was giving a lesson on the Word of Wisdom and he came stumbling into the room as though he were a drunk. Then at the end of the lesson he came in again in a jogging suit pretending he was all fit and reformed.

He is a terrific grandfather! I have been trying to encourage my kids to want to continue in taking piano lessons. He told them that with every set of books they finished he would pay them a $50 reward. And he has! He prints up a certificate of achievement and tells them how proud he is of their accomplishments and then encourages them to continue.

Although he is certainly not perfect, he is a wonderful man. I really appreciate the good example he has been in my life. Thanks Dad!

Scripture of the Day: Alma 38:3

BOM Study with Toddlers

My 50th Scripture Tip!

I recently discovered a handy tool for studying the Book of Mormon Storied Scriptures with toddlers. Written by Becky Riding, the plan is to focus on one story per week. Riding writes this in her introduction:

"There are 104 Storied Scripture selections for the Book of Mormon. That means that doing one selection a week will take 2 years for the complete program. This is a perfect introduction to the Book of Mormon for young children, and preparation for a more in-depth study later on for 4-7 year-olds. I’ve separated the reading into 13 week units. "

Her strategy is to use the same story all week long. The story is repeated daily and supplemented with additional activities such as coloring, pantomiming, and asking questions. I love the repetition of the story and the activities planned; they are great strategies for helping toddlers learn. One drawback is that there suggested coloring pages, but no links to any.

Scripture of the Day: 2 Peter 1:5

Happy Birthday Sweetie Peach!

Today Sweetie Peach turns 6!

I can hardly believe my baby is getting so big. She has such a bright, shiny personality and I am so grateful she was sent to me!

These few pictures from out trip to Denver show how joyful she is to have in our family. We love her so much! Happy Birthday!

Scripture of the Day: Alma 7:23

P.S.: If you are a BYU alum and received your BYU Magazine, be sure to check out the announcement of my book being published. It is on page 76, bottom left hand corner.

P.P.S.: Late last week I sent my manuscript off to the publisher! Yay to have that goal checked off. Hopefully it will be accepted.

10 Things that Make Me Happy

1. Getting in a bed with crisp, clean sheets

2. Reading in bed

3. A beautifully set dinner table

4. Homemade bread

5. Seeing a finished photo book for the first time

6. Meeting a goal

7. Learning something new

8. Hallmark Hall of Fame movies

9. Clean floors

10. Gardens

Scripture of the Day: Enos 1:10

Year of Miracles #40

Last week while in Denver we had a rough patch the first night. Thinking back now it seems comical, but it was stressful at the time. Let me set the stage for you:

My brother (Jeff) and his family are the proud owners of very playful 1 yr. old dog; a golden retriever named Daisy. Daisy has not been well trained. In fact, she has a bad habit of running away and getting lost. My brother had purchased a special collar/electrical fence system that helped keep Daisy contained in the back yard, but the collar was chewed off and the fence was disarmed with the accidental fierceness of the weed-whacker. So, at the time of our visit Daisy was typically incarcerated in the house except for brief leash-regulated stints in the back yard or on walks.

The morning of the day we arrived in Denver, Daisy had escaped her leash and my sweet SIL (Alicia) had spent 45 minutes finding the runaway and bringing her home.

Then we arrived on the scene. And at one point in the evening my parents and I were on the main floor of the house while Jeff and Alicia and other juveniles were in the basement and elsewhere. Daisy scratched on the back door to be let out. Unawares of the broken fence/chewed collar situation, my mother let Daisy out in the back yard to relieve herself. And off she went.

As soon as the proud puppy owners were aware of Daisy's escape they were off hunting for her. Frustration started to grow as it was dinner time and everyone was hungry. Jeff stayed behind to start the dinner (steaks on the grill) while my mom and I assisted in other kitchen duties.

About a half an hour later Alicia came in the garage door with Daisy! The scoundrel had been caught. But at the same moment they came in the front of the house, my brother came in from his back porch BBQ grilling duties and left the sliding door partially open.

Can you guess what that darn dog did? Yep. She ran straight through the house and was gone again in the blink of an eye!

My brother swore as Daisy disappeared into the dark back yard and then took off after her.

My sister-in-law took off after him, worried he would slip and fall on the ice because he was so angry.

My dad, whose knees are nearing operation replacement, went hobbling after them on the search.

My mother asked me to take her back to the hotel because the stress was too much.

So we left my 14-yr. old niece there to babysit the kids while I took my mom to the hotel. When I got back I found Kitty in charge of four younger kids (including disabled Harrison). My niece and Patch had gone out searching ,too. A few minutes later Patch and my niece returned and I assessed that (now that it was 8 pm) the kids were all stressed and very hungry. We ordered pizza and then I knelt the kids down in a circle and we asked Heavenly Father to help find Daisy and calm everyone down.

Within 15 minutes my brother returned with Daisy. A definite miracle! He must have caught her about the time we finished our prayer. Isn't the faith of little children wonderful?

Daisy remained tightly locked in the house for the remainder of our Denver vacation.

Scripture of the Day: 1 Ne. 10:19