Our Functional Landlord

Our landlord is a fix-it sort of man. He always gets the job done in the most functional, efficient way possible. Unfortunately, his interior design skills could use some work.

When we first moved in we had a nice fireplace in our living room.

"Don't use the fireplace," our landlord warned, "because it really loses more heat than it makes. In fact, before winter I'll buy some doors to put on it to keep the cold out."

I pictured something like this:

Winter rolled around and he came over. "I just didn't like any of the doors I saw--I don't think they'd really keep the heat in. So I just made something."

This is what he made:

Functional? Yes. 

Beautiful? Well, that's debatable.

Recently our toilet was leaking. He looked at it and said, "Oh, it's just sweating because the temperature inside is colder than the room temperature. I just need to insulate it."

Here's his fix:

I thought INsulation was supposed to go on the INside. 

Functional? Yes. 

Beautiful? Well, I don't think that's even debatable.

Someday we'll own our very own house and can fix things how we want to fix them, right?

Baby Ivory's due date is 5 weeks from today!

35 weeks pregnant with Ruby

35 weeks pregnant with Ivory

Is it any wonder that my body hurts so much more this time around?

2013: How did it turn out? A list of excuses...

A year ago I posted my New Year's Resolutions for 2013 here. I just read through the list and I pretty much failed on each one of them... 

So rather than be upset about it, I think I'll just post my list of excuses here.

My resolutions will be in gray and my excuses will be in red:

January – Make it through the whole month without slipping on the snow. If successful, this may be the only January of my life to have succeeded in that (not counting the two Januarys I spent in South America).

Actually, I can't remember whether or not I did. So we'll say that I made it through the month--at least one resolution was off to a good start.

February – Act like a 26 year old. I’ll be nearing my late twenties, and ought to start acting like it.

As I reread this goal I actually was just stumped, "What does a 26 year old even act like anyway?" So, naturally I did what everyone does when they need the answer to a question--I googled "What does a 26 year old act like?" The first link were the Yahoo answers--most of which said 26 year olds should begin looking for a marriage partner. Um, I guess I already did that. So I can't very well do that now. Does that mean I'm acting like a 30 year old? 

March – Pinch at least 5 people on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve always wanted to pinch random strangers I see in the store who don’t have green. This year, I’m going to do it.

I guess since I'm too much of an adult, I wasn't going to do something so embarrassing.

April – Plan at least three amazing April Fool’s pranks (friends/family: beware!)

Rather than fooling anyone, I was the fool (you can read about that here, I don't really want to remember the details again right now).

May – There will still be snow. My goal will be to set a cap on how much I can complain about it: No more than four times per day.

I FULLY completed this resolution! In fact I didn't complain about the snow once! (We'll keep it a secret that I moved to Eugene before May and there was no snow here at all)

June – Celebrate Camm’s birthday . . . something comes up every year so I miss it (like I have a baby, or am in a different state, or a different country)

I was throwing up instead. Happy pregnancy!

July – Take Ruby swimming every day. Don’t forget to get it on video so that when she’s in the Olympics in 19 years they can have it play during the commercials.

uh, same excuse as above: throwing up instead of swimming every day. Oh well, there's always next year, right?

August – Eat a Pronto Pup at the Tillamook County Fair (haven’t tasted the goodness since 2007 – way too long).

This is getting repetitive--but throwing up again. Didn't even make it to the fair.

September – Figure out something academic-ish to start since I won’t be starting school.

Maybe I'll count my 6 month review at my job for this one...? Probably pushing that too much.

October – Plan my Halloween costume more than two hours ahead of time (this will be a first).

Does planning Ruby's a week or two ahead of time count? If so, I completed this one...if not I'll use the excuse that I was busy being a mom.

November – Embrace my consumerist-American heritage and join in Black Friday (just to see what it’s like).

I slept in and hung out at my cousins' cabin all day. Why engage in consumerism when you can be lazy, relax and eat leftovers?

December – Celebrate Festivus (somehow we missed it this year).

Missed it again. Forgot to invite anybody. Pregnancy brain is the excuse, I guess?

How did I do? Are my excuses good enough?

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day to the Veteran who has taught me the most.

I love you, Mom!

The awaited day...

For those who don't know, I'm pregnant! and today I have my 20 week check-up with the ultrasound to find out the gender.

We have an elderly widow friend down the street who we often visit. The other day she was alarmed to hear we were finding out the gender before the baby comes. "You don't want a surprise?" she seemed rather indignant. "Well, don't tell me what you're having early."
"I want a surprise," I told her. "I just want to have that surprise on the 18th instead of waiting till February." She laughed and told me I had a point and that maybe she would like to find out when we do after all.

That being said, maybe it's not a surprise that I want really at all--if I could have found out before conception I would have. But, since that's not possible I have done everything I can to guess.

According to ancient Mayan and ancient Chinese tradition (as explained by google), I should be expecting a boy.
When I took those Mayan/Chinese gender tests I asked Ruby what we should name our baby boy.
"Girl!" she exclaimed emphatically.
"I know you want a girl, Ruby, but if he's a boy, what should we name him?" Again, she told me "Girl". I tried to tell her that we can't name a boy "Girl", but she couldn't see why not.

A few weeks later I tried asking Ruby what she thought the baby would be, "So Roo, do you think we'll have a boy baby or a girl baby?"
She smiled up at me and said "Cheese baby!" I clarified many times to make sure I was understanding her correctly. There was no misunderstanding.

This morning Ruby crawled into my bed and starting talking, "My baby brother cute!" So maybe she's decided he's not cheese after all. Camm told her we were taking pictures of the cute baby today and we'd find out if the baby would be a sister or a brother. She kept insisting on calling the baby "my baby brother."

So in an hour and a half I will be finding out for sure whether I'm having a girl baby, a boy baby, or a cheese baby. Any guesses in the meantime?

The convincing power of a two year old

I was sitting on the toilet today when suddenly Ruby entered the bathroom stark streaking naked. “Uh hi Ruby!” I’m still getting used to the idea that my days of privacy in the bathroom are long gone.

“Mama, diaper, diaper!” She was carrying her wet diaper and obviously concerned about where to put it.

“Ruby throw it in the garbage. But why are you naked?” She really hasn’t entered the wanting-to-spend-her-life-naked stage that it seems like most kids go through. Rather, she hangs out mostly at the other extreme (always clothed, never wants to be naked, even to change clothes or take a bath).

Before she waited for me to even finish asking she was gone. A few minutes later she entered with a swim diaper on, “Mama! Swim suit? Swim Suit?”

“Um, Ruby I think it’s in the laundry room,” she was gone before I could add my next thought, “You know it’s just about naptime, right?”

She came back in struggling to get into her inside out swimming suit, “Help Mama! Swimsuit on peeze!” 

Once the swimsuit was securely in place she bounded out of the room. By this time I had finished my bathroom business and followed her. She was headed straight for my closet where my swimming suit lay in my swim bag. “Mama! Here! Here!”

Of course I obliged. I can’t very well rationalize discouraging her development of the hobby I love most. Both in our swimming suits we headed for the backyard. Overcast and chilly—the coldest day of the summer—we jumped through the hose and screamed from the cold.

A perfect pre-nap adventure. 

27 years of Camm: written by 27 people in Camm's life

"When Camm was 1 year old, he was an adorable blonde haired little boy who loved to play in the dirt with his cars and trucks. And he loved to tear up library books."

-Jeana

Camm’s Mother

"When Camm was 2 years old, he was a real daddy's boy. We had so much fun together. When I wasn't at work, we were inseparable. He would push his toy mower across the grass right behind me as I mowed the lawn."

-Lee

Camm’s Father

"When Camm was three years old, he was well-behaved and liked to read.”

-Grandma Peterson

“When Camm was 4 years old, he had super blonde hair and skinny legs!"

-Rachel 

Camm's aunt

"When Camm was five years old, he had hair as white as undriven snow. He was also the best friend a kid could have."

-Brandon

Camm’s first best friend

"When Camm was six years old, his Peterson and Dewitt cousins thought his name was Camuel (Cam-you-ul)."

-Elaine

Camm’s aunt 

"When Camm was 7 years old, he liked to hike at the cabin and he also went up to Ensign Peak."

-Grandpa Peterson

"When Camm was 8 years old, he liked swimming at Snowbird."

-Elvia

Camm’s aunt

"When Camm was nine years old, he loved sports and hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Clark's with his brothers and cousins. Pretty sure the seed of laziness was in a stage of germination at this point (just kidding) - he was a good kid at this age."

-Dain

Camm’s older brother

"When Camm was 10 years old, we would box downstairs in the basement when my parents were gone and he'd always give me a bloody nose."

-Nate 

Camm’s younger brother

"When Camm was 11 years old, he was very into Star Wars and he also enjoyed going to my grandparent’s cabin and to get together for family dinners like for thanksgiving and Christmas. We would have fun playing in the backyard at my grandparents’ house."

-Brandon

Camm’s cousin

  

"When Camm was 12 years old, we would go to the stake center and play basketball for three hours every night."

-Steve

Camm’s cousin

"When Camm was 13 years old, he tried to pass crushed rocks off as cocaine at scout camp."

-Mark

Camm’s friend

  

"When Camm was 14 years old, he wrote a neighborhood gossip newspaper and his only source was the moon lamp."

-Andrew 

Camm’s friend

  

“When Camm was 15 years old, he was not the most annoying but one of the top five in my Sunday school class."

-Curtis

Clark Family Friend

"When Camm was 16 years old, he drove the fanciest Lincoln town car in town."

- Erin

Camm’s friend

  

"When Camm was 17 years old, he tried to run Mark's mom off the road."

- Devin 

Camm’s friend

"When Camm was 18 years old, he laughed in a Lincoln and he was always the last one at the lunch table."

-James

Camm’s friend

“When Camm was 19 years old he was a powerful missionary, making a difference in the lives of everyone he met.  He was loved and respected by all of us who were touched by his goodness and hard work.  My love always.”

-Ron

Camm’s former mission president

"When Camm was 20 years old, he was one of the hardest workers that I've ever met."

- Curtis

Former Mission Companion

"When Camm was 21 years old, he came to dinner at my house and he tried to tell my sister he was going to marry her so he could be in Mark's family."

- Mary

Mark’s wife

 

“When Camm was 22 years old, he shot lightning bolts out of his eyes and killed everyone. He was a greek god when I knew him."

-Nate 

Camm’s friend

"When Camm was 23 years old, he once stared down a fully grown mountain goat in the eye and it ran away."

-Davin

Camm’s friend

“When Camm was 24 years old, he slept through Dr. Seipel's lectures on a daily basis, sometimes even sprawling himself out on the floor."

-Rosey

Friend from BYU’s MSW program

"When Camm was 25 years old, he was the best intern Scenic View ever had."

-Teren 

Friend from Camm’s MSW program

 

"When Camm was 26 years old, he got a job that really wasn't a job 'cause all he did was fun stuff like rock climb - and he moved so he didn't have to be Elder's Quorum President anymore.”

-James 

Friend in Klamath Falls

“When Camm was 27 years old, he was the best husband and Daddy we could ever dream of!”

–Moll and Ru

Camm’s wife and daughter