Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

Man-Man is a superhero. But he's more than just any superhero. To Alyssa, he is every superhero - Superman; Batman; Mr. Incredible. Tonight, Man-Man is Spider-Man, and he's on Alyssa's new shoes. Why does a sweet little girl have Spider-Man shoes? I guess you can thank her male cousins for that. These shoes are the same size as her Thomas shoes (which also came from the boy's department), but they allow for quite a bit more room top to bottom, which is what Alyssa needs. On an entirely different note, tonight is the annual recognition dinner for the Angel Flight West Utah Wing . Saying good-bye to that great group was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I can honestly say that the people in Angel Flight were the best bunch I've ever had the privilege of working with, and I miss them almost as much as family. Thanks, guys. I've been able to bury myself in the work that I'm doing here in Texas, and wrap myself up in a layer of delusion to maint...

Yesterday during Anna's acting class, Alyssa and I began walking over to the Ft. Worth Science museum when I decided to try and walk through the back roads of the Will Rogers Memorial Center , as I thought it might be a bit shorter. The stock show is still in full swing, and I think by doing this we inadvertently bypassed the admissions gate. Oops. While we were walking past the large livestock buildings, we saw a sign pointing to a free petting zoo, which Alyssa said she would like to visit. It had a bunch of pint-sized goats, (and a few half-pints) as well as ducks, chickens, and rabbits. Alyssa did great petting the animals, and I was glad I had brought the camera. If only I had checked the batteries first, I could show you some really cute pictures. As we continued our hike to the museum, Kara called to tell me that a group of inspectors had been at her clinic in Dallas. They were there as part of an effort led by Aetna insurance company to have the clinic shut down. The clin...

When Anna was about 21 months old, we were headed to the carnival at the Orem Summerfest. We had to park a few blocks away and walk. Anna was not interested in walking, though. She wanted to run. "I tast" she said, and ran at full speed down the sidewalk. Yes, you're fast," we told her, "but you need to slow down." "No! I tast!" And within seconds, we were picking her up off the sidewalk and cleaning off a couple of skinned knees. This week, both of our girls were fast. Last Thursday, Alyssa came home with something of a raspberry square in the middle of her forehead, right at the hairline. I asked her what happened, and she said. "Fell. P.E." Her teacher sent a note confirming the nature of her injury, with her usual dose of positive spin. "Her motor skills are just overflowing!!! In fact, she ran so fast today, she fell." She's doing just fine - no sign of trauma other than the little abrasion on her forehead. Hopefully A...

We're finding that everything really is bigger in Texas. The power bills are bigger. The auto insurance bills are bigger. The property tax bills are bigger. Grrrrrr... Fortunately, today was a fairly nice day, and we could let the sun shine in, giving the heater a little bit of a rest. We also set the chairs outside for a visit from our Home Teachers. We sat outside the garage, on the south side, so we could be in the sun and have a little shelter from the wind. Sometimes I feel like we're running for the title of "Strangest Family in the State." Sometimes I feel like we're winning. Our neighbors to the south are very understanding. I haven't met our neighbors to the north, but I wonder what they think of us climbing in and out the bedroom window all day. I did some measuring today, and figured out that all of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets that we won't be able to use in the house will fit along the walls of the garage. This will be a really great impr...

I met one of Anna's new friends yesterday. I told her she needed to be a little more selective in the friends she chooses. You see, this little girl is the second friend she has made who's name is also Anna. Now there are three Anna's, and I'm getting confused. Why can't she meet a nice Yolanda or Tiffany or Esmarelda? At least one of her friends is named Zealand. I don't get her mixed up with anyone. This new Anna's house happens to be on our regular bike route, so we met her while we were out riding. It was another beautiful day, and Anna (my daughter, not the friend - see what I mean?) rode home from the halfway point without taking a break. She's always had a lot of explosive energy with next to no endurance, but hopefully we're getting that taken care of. Today started out nice, too, and I thought we might take a bike ride down to a little park that's near our house. But by the time I got my big ol' task list done, the wind had come ar...

Yesterday was a beautiful day, with sunshine and spring-like temperatures. I made sure to get the bikes out so we could go riding after school. Anna decided that she had too much homework, so just Alyssa and I went for a short ride around the block. Alyssa is usually very quiet, but put her on the back of the bike and she talks almost as much as her sister! The ride wasn't very long, maybe three miles, but I got a much better workout than normal, as I didn't have to stop every half mile for Anna to take a break. Doug finally came and replaced the gasket in the water system. It seems to be working OK, but it took several days for the first one to blow. I've got my eye on it, and the 72 hour kits are on the other side of the garage. He was here until after 11:00 on Wednesday night, which meant I was pretty short on sleep again yesterday. I managed OK, but I was certainly not in my best form. So last night I pulled out all the stops and got myself to bed by 9:30, all set for a...

Nothing worth sharing really happened today, other than a trip to Wal-Mart. So, really, nothing worth sharing happened today. But don't despair. I have gone back into the archives and pulled out a half-dozen pictures of my girls to keep you entertained. Click the preview to see the full-size image. Anna was a bookworm in her school play. Good thing we had a pair of "Harry Potter" glasses lying around. Here are the girls at Halloween. These costumes were made by one of our great neighbors in Lehi last year, and they still fit! Here Anna and Alyssa dig for dinosaur bones at the Ft. Worth Science museum. We put the girls in charge of decorating the table for Thanksgiving, and I think they did a great job! Alyssa and Anna look great in their Christmas dresses. One more picture of the life-saving train at DFW.

Yesterday was Anna's first class at Casa Manana, a theater in Fort Worth that offers a variety of classes. Her big gift for Christmas was a n acting class, and when she finally figured out what it was, I thought she was going to cry. She was very excited, and I was excited for her. She really needs this creative outlet. To get to the class on time, we have to leave as soon as the kids are off the bus. In order to do that, I had to work straight through, without a chance to go to the ATM and get cash for parking. Since the theater is even closer to the Stock Show than the Science Museum, I was sure their lot would have sprouted a toll booth, too (see yesterdays post). Anna had mentioned that she had several dollars, so I asked her to go and get it. I had a buck and some change, so I figured we could scrape together $6, just in case. Anna showed up with a handful of coins - no paper money. So I got a jar and filled it with enough quarters, nickels and dimes to get us a spot, hoping a...

At the end of a week-long trip, it's important to hit the ground running. This weekend I just about ran my little feet off. But now it's Monday night, and I'm still standing. (OK, actually I'm sitting, but I deserve it.) The Jumbo/LARGE to do list is still pretty big, but I finally got all of the laundry done. I also drug the girls out into the rain to do grocery shopping. While we were gone, our "Mother of All Residential Water Systems" sprung a leak and soaked all of the 72 hour kits. Fortunately, my wise sister recommended that we put everything from the kits into plastic bags, so the damage was minimal. But the fact that we even have to put up with this kind of problem in a system that cost as much as a good certified used car..... In the mail on Saturday was a letter to Anna reminding her that she was giving a talk in Primary. I got up early on Sunday morning and wrote her a quick outline. Because I am a computer geek, I couldn't actually write it by ...

The girls and I found our way home to Willow Park last night. It was an uneventful ending to a good week. My friend Karl Beckstrand works at the airport, and he met us after we went through the security gauntlet. The bookstore had a copy of his new children's book, "Crumbs on the Stairs," so we bought a copy and he signed it for the girls. I miss a lot of things about Utah, but the chronic winter "urban haze" is certainly not one of them. It was especially bad yesterday as we took off from Salt Lake City International. Alyssa slept most of the way home, and Anna did her homework. By the time we got home from the airport, unloaded the car, and got everyone ready for bed, there were no more fifteen minutes left in the day. Today, I am faced with the jumbo/LARGE To Do list. First task is to wash all of the clothes that we took. It's amazing how many scents we picked up just being out and about, without even trying. It's also amazing how I don't notice t...

How does a voracious reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy get to be nearly 40 years old without having read the Chronicles of Narnia? Fortunately, thanks to the wonderful tradition of Bedtime Stories I am able to correct that deficiency. Not all that long ago, I was always in the middle of one book or another. Then life happened, and I ran out of time for reading fiction the way I like to. I still read quite a bit, but only newspapers, magazines, and children's books. Then, seemingly overnight, Anna was old enough to appreciate books that als o appeal to me, and suddenly I'm reading fiction again. As an added bonus, the once difficult-to-put-to-bed Alyssa will almost always fall asleep before a chapter is over. I thought we were going to have to skip our chapter in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" tonight, because Anna had played so hard with her cousins that she was in bed before Alyssa - an almost unheard of event! But she made sure to stay awake long enoug...

My employer, Onyx Graphics, has been very good to let me work from home in Texas while Kara is going through her recovery. My office is in one of the bedrooms, and while I have tried to stick to a fairly regular schedule, I must admit that there are times I start my work day wearing my pajamas, especially if there are pressing issues to be worked. After an hour or two, I finally get around to taking a shower and getting dressed for the day. It has been really good to be at the office in Utah this week. We have a lot of tools to help keep in touch, which is much easier than it would have been even a few years ago, but there is nothing like working in the same building as everyone else to really get a sense of community. However, I have been reminded that a long commute can be a real inconvenience. It's much harder balancing family and work commitments when I spend 45 minutes just driving - each way. Before I could start my commute this morning, we had a fair bit of excitement. I was...

The Tooth Fairy has been shown many different ways in art and media, but Art LaFleur's depiction, as seen in the Santa Clause movies, is probably the closest to reality - at least in this house. And when the Tooth Fairy visited Alyssa tonight, he needed to bring some extra dough. The poor girl left the dentist today with not one, not two, but three little treasure boxes, each holding a tooth. Alyssa has had at least a half-dozen crowns, plus a number of fillings and five extractions, and yet she still just loves going to the dentist. Anna hates going to the dentist, and that's why I didn't tell her until the very last minute. I was going to try and keep her appointment a secret until we got to the dentist's office, but when I told her to go and brush her teeth "really, really good," she figured it out and cried until we got there ten minutes later. Anna accused me of being mean, waiting until the last minute to spring the dentist visit on her. I maintain that ...

Willow Park finally got some real ice from our ice storm. Nothing like the poor folks in Oklahoma, but enough to really mess up our trip to the airport. I got up at 4:30 and made sure our flight was still scheduled to depart. Delta's online system said the plane was already at the airport, so we wouldn't be stuck by another flights delays. The driveway had a thin layer of ice on it. The ice on the car was a bit thicker - about a quarter of an inch. I had put a big piece of plastic over the windshield, so it was pretty easy to clean off. My biggest concern, as I tried to get the driver's side door open, was that the door handle would break before the ice did. But with a combination of firm tugs and body slams, the seal around the door gave way and, once inside I was able to push the other doors open from the inside. Watching the news, I knew we were in for a slow ride, so I got everything loaded in the car as quickly as I could, and got the girls out the door ahead of schedu...

I've managed to get the girls all packed up for our trip tomorrow, and thanks to the miracle of technology I already have our boarding passes in hand. This could come in handy, as I don't know how long it will take us to get to the airport. DFW is about 50 minutes from our house in ideal conditions, but tomorrow morning the conditions will certainly not be ideal. The ice is starting to stack up on the car, and the driveway was finally a little slick. Delta says the flight is still scheduled to depart on time, but we'll see what they say tomorrow morning. Hopefully, if our flight is delayed or canceled, it will happen BEFORE we leave home. It's going to be an early morning, and I still have a long night ahead of me. I have as yet to pack anything for myself, and there are still a few tasks I want to get done before I leave. Fortunately Kara spent several hours pulling together snacks and breakfast for us, so at least that is something I won't have to worry about. No...

So far, the ice storm has been fairly mild. We got a fair amount of rain, and I had to scrape the windows of the truck and kick the doors to get in, but the roads were OK. The forecast for tomorrow, however, is a little more dire. 1/2 to 1 and 1/2" of ice on everything, bringing down trees and power lines. I'll believe it when I see it, but just in case I went and picked up the generator this morning. I took Alyssa with me to get the generator and other emergency equipment. I enjoy spending one-on-one time with her, because she really opens up and will talk quite a bit. Understanding her words is hard, and understanding their meaning is even harder, but it's worth the effort. Today she was telling me an hilarious story about the kids in her class. I recognized their names, and I new it was funny because of the way she was laughing. I didn't quite catch any other details. Alyssa survived the long, disappointing ride home from the party last night, and only cried half o...

It's cold and rainy outside now. This is the leading edge of a two-day ice storm that's headed our way. They're only predicting1/4" or so of ice here in our area, but that would be enough. I'm not worried so much about being homebound, but I'm concerned about the power going out. We're a very energy-intense family. We do own a generator. Kara and I bought it back in 1999 as everyone was preparing for the disaster that was to be Y2K. It's still in the box, unopened. It, along with our 72 hour kits, are 15 miles away in a storage unit. Most of our earthly belongings are still in the storage unit. Most of them will only come out of storage when the weather is good enough to have a yard sale. Why we paid thousands of dollars to move things that we will never be able to use is one of the mysteries I haven't the time to ponder. Anna and Alyssa are at a birthday party tonight. It's a sleepover, but only Anna will be sleeping over. Alyssa is going to cr...

Here is the picture of Alyssa, Anna and I riding our bikes on Christmas Day. We started out with Anna running along next to Alyssa, holding on to her while I rode as s-l-o-w-l-y as I could. It took several trips up and down the cul-de-sac before Alyssa had the confidence to let Anna ride her own bike.

Well, here it goes. My first foray into the blogosphere. This is an attempt to share the accomplishments and struggles of my life and my family with friends and loved ones, as well as interested strangers who feel they can make a connection. I have tried (and failed) to make this connection with irregular email updates. The problem there was that I hesitated to flood the in box of the people I care about with email after email, but so much happens around here every day that soon the update was too big to write (and far to big to read) and so my attempt at communication ground to a halt. My hope here is that by committing to fifteen minutes a day, I will actually follow through with my updates. And by writing a blog rather than emails, I don't have to worry about becoming a "spam king" with daily emails. That intro took about half the time. Here's the quick update to fill in the rest: Work is going well for me. I had the chance to go to Korea for a week in December and...