Flu Pandemic Information

I've been feeling a sense of urgency lately about getting my food storage more complete and up-to-date. Also, I really want to learn to be better about using my food storage every day. The Church's Provident Living website is a wonderful resource in so many ways. I am so thankful that so much work has been done to make this task of food storage so much more manageable.

While reading on the Provident Living website the other day I ran across the section devoted to the Flu Pandemic. It caught my eye because I hadn't realized that the church was watching and planning so carefully in the eventuality of such an outbreak. Later in the week I received an email referencing said website along with a letter written by the doctor who keeps the First Presidency apprised of the latest research on the Avian Flu and other pandemic possibilities. She indicated that it is her belief that a pandemic will happen sooner rather than later and that, worst case scenario, it could conceivably kill over 20% of the world's population (over 1 billion people). Obviously a lot of those deaths would occur in third world countries where disease prevention knowledge is in its infancy, but it would also significantly affect nearly every person on the planet. None of her speculations are posted on the Church website (since the Church deals in facts and preparedness, not on scaring us all silly!) but I thought it was worth passing on her personal feelings on the matter.

Interestingly she also mentions the possible need for voluntary and involuntary quarantines along with social distancing (SD) to help stop the spread of the disease. In this eventuality it is very likely that we could each be quarantined in our individual homes for anywhere from 2-12 weeks. Isn't it interesting that the brethren have counseled us to have 3 months of food we normally eat stored at all times in our homes? ProvidentLiving.org has tons of terrific information on how to keep yourself healthy, how to plan and prepare, how to purify water and santized your home if need be, information on quarantine, social distancing, etc. I was fascinated with what I read and really, really encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.

Your mom (and mine) were right: It's always better to be safe than sorry!

Validation

I'm not really sure why I'm sharing videos today ... must be in a mood. :) Found this little gem by chance and had to pass it along. If it doesn't bring a tear, you are a cold-hearted snake (or I'm just really emotional)! I hope you get validated today!!! :)

Disclaimer: It's about 16 minutes long, so don't start it unless you have the time! :)

Come On 'People'

I have this little running dialogue with my friend Amber about 'people'. How ungrateful 'people' are, how 'people' are always looking to be offended. You know the 'people' I'm referring to. It's kind of my pet-peeve, the way 'people' are so quick to criticize, find fault, be unhappy, ...

She sent me this link to an absolutely priceless video that says it all. Perfect. Absolutely Perfect.

Why?

Why, oh why do I let so much time go by between posts? I hate it when I do that -- so let me do a quick catch up. Brad was in Ireland for two weeks working on a project for work (Glanbia is an Irish company, so headquarters are in Kilkenny, north of Dublin). While he was gone I just got extremely lazy and didn't post much. Then I was so glad he was back that I did a million things and didn't have the time. I need to work on MODERATION! Anyhoo, it has been incredible having him back on the continent. We missed him like crazy. They are 7 hours ahead there, so timing phone calls was a bit tricky since the kids are in school here during the evening hours there. We survived and are even more grateful than ever for our wonderful husband and father.

He had a great time, saw some beautiful and exciting places, ate some good food and brought home lots of fun souvenirs. I'm so proud of him for the good work he's doing in his company. The trip was a good experience for him. He'll be traveling a bit more in the coming months doing some inhouse trainings, but the furthest he'll be going is Chicago this time, and that will only be for a few days. I have gained a new respect for military families. What an incredible challenge and sacrifice they face without their mom or dad for such prolonged periods of time. It's an amazing sacrifice and I'm so thankful to them.

Brad returned home late February 13, just in time for Valentine's Day! We had such a great day together as a family. We decided to take the kids out for dinner (at Wendy's :)) and to see a movie (Mall Cop). Do we just scream high class or what?! We had a great time, and the kids were ecstatic to be going to the movie with "POPCORN AND EVERYTHING", as Kate said. Apparently we don't do that very often because it was a BIG DEAL!

The key to impressing your kids is to be incredibly boring, predictable, and repetitive, then every once in a while just spring something little and unexpected on them and ... VOILA ... you are a super hero!

When I get another minute I'll try to upload a few Ireland pictures. I'm not sure how they turned out since he took our old camera. We'll just have to see.

A Cute Valentine

I must preface this post by saying that I obviously have more time than sense. Read on ...


The librarian at the kids' school gave me this adorable idea for a cute valentine. Thought I'd share it with anyone who's interested.
Free hand sketch a simple sweater. I started out with a 3 inch by 3 inch square for the body of the sweater, then added the arms and tapered the neck in just about a quarter of an inch on each side. Then sketch a heart (or some other valentine symbol if you prefer) in the center of the sweater.

Cut out the sweater, but leave the heart intact for now.

Pin the paper sweater to two (2) pieces of felt and cut out.

You now have two identical felt sweater pieces.

Cut out the heart and pin it to a contrasting color of felt. Cut out.

Place the heart in the center one (1) of your sweater pieces.

Whip-stitch it in place with 2 strands of embroidery floss.

Once the heart is stitched in place, put the other sweater piece behind the piece with the heart. Blanket-stitch (or whip-stitch if you prefer) the two layers together, starting at the lefthand side of the neck opening and ending at the righthand side of the neck opening. **Leave the neck open!!

Now you're ready to stuff your sweater full of Valentine's Day treats. My kids decided on 1 Hug, 1 Kiss, and 1 mini Fruit Roll-Up or mini Fruit by the Foot.

I used several different colors of felt for the hearts with coordinated embroidery flosses. I also used varigated floss which turned out very cute. Another cute variation would be to use red felt for the sweater and white for the heart, etc.

I happened to have a bunch of white-ish felt and less of the red, purple, pink felt, so I went this direction instead.

Now to the comment about having more time than sense ... I actually made 61 of these little babies so each of my kids could give them to each of their classmates, plus a few extra for special friends and neighbors. It was a fun/time consuming project -- but because I already had all the felt and floss I only had to spend a little money on candy and -- VOILA -- not-so-instant but very cheap Valentines!!!

My six-year old, Kate, had a great idea. She suggested making the sweater pattern a little larger and then attaching a ribbon handle to it so she and her friends could use them as purses. I haven't tried it yet, but I LOVE the idea.

I'm sure you could use many different types of fabric, but I like felt since it's cheap, sturdy, forgiving, and requires no finishing on the edges. If you didn't want to stitch a heart in the center you could just use fabric paint to write a special, personalized message.

Hope you enjoy the idea. :)

Citizen of the Month

Kate was selected as one of the Citizens of the Month at her school! She recieved this nice certificate, a button to wear on her shirt, and a seat at a special lunch table during lunch today. Jack and I were supposed to meet her there, but we didn't make it back from Speech Therapy in time. In true "Good Citizen" fashion, she forgave us. :)

Jack - A Speech Update

Jack is doing an absolutely stellar job at speech therapy. I can't believe how quickly he has picked up on many of the sounds. He says p, b, d, g, t, c initial sounds almost all the time without prompting now!!! He is still working on f, j, th, s, sh, but those are coming as well. Amazing what a great speech therapist can accomplish in a short amount of time. Suzie (his therapist) is wonderful and she just adores Jack. Last week she proclaimed that Jack was the cutest client she'd had in all her 23 years of experience! He gets so excited every time he succeeds. It is definitely adorable, you can't help but have your heart melted by that little guy!

As I mentioned above, he is not able to say his f's at the beginning of his words very well, so the other morning when he came running in to my room I was a little perplexed to hear him yelling "Mom, change me ass, ass, ass!" It took me a minute to realize that he was TRYING to say, "Mom, change me fast, fast, fast!" Yikes.

Today he brought me his little red backpack and in true Dr. Seuss fashion said "Mom, put Jack-Jack packback on Jack-Jack back!" Oh, I love that little guy! :)

One last funny thing: We bought Jack some really rockin' Lightening McQueen undies in the hopes that he would show some small bit of interest in potty training. That was a month ago. No luck. This afternoon he found them in his jammy drawer and brought them downstairs to show me with a very excited face. "I wear McQueen, Mommy?" I said, "Sure, but you have to go potty in the toilet if you wear these cool undies, OK?" After a long pause he replied "I put them back, Mommy, K?" So much for that awesome plan. It was good for a laugh anyway.

As my friend Amber observed, I wonder how long Jack has been saying these adorable little things and we just couldn't understand him. Poor little dude, learning to speak has got to be a huge relief!

Night of the Notables

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Todd's Discovery class presented the project they've been working on since the beginning of the school year last Thursday night. Their program was entitled "Night of the Notables". Each student chose 1 person in history that was notable for his or her courage, then researched the person, created a large, 16-page accordion book full of facts, stories, quotes and pictures. They dressed up like their Notable, and each memorized a speech, book excerpt, or musical composition and performed it for the audience. Todd chose Beethoven. I LOVE the way his costume turned out. He was a little embarrassed, but felt better once he saw all of his friends in costume. He was a bit nervous, but really did a terrific job. We're so proud.

"Science Guy"

I happened upon Kate and Jack the other day playing together. I asked them what they were doing. They replied, "We're playing 'Science Guy'". Hilarious. :)

Kate in the Principal's Walk

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Kate earned enough AR points to participate in the Principal's Walk at school a couple of weeks ago. I'm slow posting it on the blog -- but it was a fun, special day. I love the way the kids all line the halls and give high fives to the kids who have earned this special privilege. :)