It's Too Noisy

One of my favorite kids books is a book entitled "It's too Noisy" where a farmer with a lot of kids goes to a wise man to find out what to do with all the noise in his house. The wiseman tells him to put a new animal in his house each week. Finally, when the farmer has all sorts of animals in his house he goes to the wiseman declaring that his isn't wise at all because now he has more noise than ever. The wiseman now tells him to get rid of all the animals in his house. Lo, and behold, even though their is still crying, yelling, kicking, screaming, etc. in his house it seems quiet after having the animals leave.

I can now relate with this story somewhat. I had heard getting a dog was a big decision and commitment and that is why I couldn't ever handle getting a puppy. To make a long story short I was trying to handle having a big dog in our house and I found myself not only liking her but petting her and even letting her lick me.(when I found out that in dog language licking you means that the dog knows you are in charge). But I was getting more and more stressed about the amount of hair that she was shedding and the extra stress she was causing between everyone wanting the dogs attention etc.

About a week after having Emma, Joanna broke out with itchy blisters on her hands and feet. A call to the allergy Dr. confirmed that it very well could be from the dog and a week later when we got her in to the Dr. his test determined that she definitely is allergic to the dog (and cat). I also had Dallin with me at the appointment and he tested him since he has asthma and animals can cause problems for asthma patients. He tested fine to the dog but allergic to the cat! The dr. recommended no pets in the house. Now the stress level was bumped up as we determined what to do. It was decided we would get rid of Oreo the cat and keep Emma as an outside dog as we are all in love with her. We had to invest in an insulated dog house with a heated bed and water dish. We then started having to tie her up all day and the poor thing was probably wondering if her one "poo accident" in the house had determined her fate of never gettting to come in again. We have had to get used to not feeling sorry for her and I think that will be easier once we don't have to tie her up anymore. We decided to finish fencing our yard as she always runs away when we untie her and the kids get all upset when she leaves. Grandpa and Vickie relieved a lot of stress by being nice about the decision even though Grandpa didn't want a fence. (thank you)

Once we found Emma in Cindy's horse pasture and I decided to let her in the back of the car to get her home even though she was muddy. We quickly determined, by the smell, that it wasn't mud after all but horse manure that was all over her. (I was then beginning to wonder how in the world I got myself into this mess.)

Poor Joanna, who was probably in love with the dog the most, has had to deal with her disappointment of being allergic. Her rashes got pretty wicked before we were able to get to the Dr. for some cream and she has been living on zyrtec. The Dr. says that once we get her cleared up she should be fine if she always washes her hands real well after playing with her. She can take an occasional zyrtec if she needs to.

So these last two weeks I have been cleaning to try and get animal hair out of the house. Oreo has black and white hair and Emma has yellow so we have a good collection. I had all the carpets professional cleaned and then borrowed Vickie's steamer (thank you) and cleaned the furniture. I also washed bedding and I am exhausted! It feels so good to have the house clean and I have to admit that the one good thing that came from getting pets is that it has taught me to not be a clean freak. I hope I can remember this lesson and keep cleanliness in perspective.

Though getting rid of Oreo was stressful the kids were good about it and haven't seemed to miss her at all. Dogs are way funner according to everyone in our family. In fact I was laughing as I heard Dallin acting out trying to pet Oreo vs. Emma. Oreo would always scratch the kids when they tried to pet her but Emma loves it and tries to lick them.

Though the noise (and mess) level of the house is less without pets it is still plenty high. This morning when I got out of bed I thought to myself (again) that I was going to try and go a whole day without raising my voice. I should know by now that Satan knows exactly which days I try to do this and he sends enough challenges to make me never be able to do it. Well, this morning was no exception. I didn't think, however, that before it even got to be noon I would not only raise my voice but be yelling. And I didn't think that the person I would take my frustrations out on would be my poor innocent husband! (It was an Erma Bombock morning ,Eric.)

To cap the day so far: the jog with Emma didn't work. She keeps pulling me until I raised my voice at her and brought her home much to her dismay. I decided raising my voice at the dog didn't count and recommitted to try again. My voice was then raised slightly as I sent Robert out the door late and heard some "alarm excuse" again. We had family prayer and I reminded Lynn that when he goes out of town he should be the one to tell the kids he is going and not leave it to me or wait until they notice he hasn't been home for awhile and finally say ,"where's dad?" I then kissed Lynn goodbye for a few days as he is off to Wisconsin ( I am pretty sure that is where he is really going because I asked him a few times)

I was then hopeful that while I took a shower James could make blender pancakes because he did it last week and only needed help on finding baking powder instead of baking soda. So, I let him make pancakes while I showered and was only inturrupted once. I then helped Taylor with piano and then rushed to eat. We found out after one bite that James apparently needed help again this week telling the difference between baking powder and soda. We didn't notice the pancakes weren't good until we had all the syrup on and cut up so at this point we didn't have time to do make anything else. I encouraged and begged everyone to eat as much as they could until I saw Dallin gag to the point of almost throwing up. I then said that everyone could throw them away. I sent two kids to school hungry and knew the other two kids would be begging for a snack within the hour.

I then started dishes, and laundry determining which kid peed the bed last night. There is always at least one! I then actually made it to the computer and started typing on this blog until Emma started barking. Yea, the fence guys are here finally. We were told they would come last Fri. and then got posts delivered yesterday but didn't know if that was just to make us think they were getting closer. I got them started and remembered the salesman saying they would alway have someone that spoke English on the job. What he didn't mentioned is that the "English" would still have a strong accent and I ended up, as usual, hoping that what we had just communicated was right.

At this point the kids were begging for food and so I decided to make bread since we were totally out and I thought it might be easier than going to the store. My renewed resolve to be happy and calm today led me to let the kids help. We had hands washed and was right in the middle of it when we were interrupted from the fence guy. I gave the kids strict instructions not to add any more flour or do anything until I returned. When I got outside I didn't need to understand English to know that we had a problem. Sprinkler pipes were directly underneath every hole they had dug and are apparently right down the property line. I then resorted to calling Lynn who didn't answer the first time but knows better than to not answer again when I call twice in a row. Dallin then comes out covered in flour informing me that Kyle had broke my flour thing and is crying. I hand the phone to the fence guy who now tries to talk to Lynn about what to do without even seeing the situation. I then go inside expecting to see either my Bosch or my flour grinder broken on the floor but to my delight it was the "flower" thing he had broken and was a nice vase that had broken. The kids had no shoes on and were covered in flour so I got them changed and out while I was cleaning up. Before I know it the fence guy comes to hand me back my phone and tells me they are leaving . It was then that I grabbed the phone and yelled at Lynn!

After calming down I realize that it is better that Lynn help decide what to do about the sprinkler situation so it won't get done wrong and that it is only a few more days (since Lynn will be out of town) and eventually the fence will get done. I have handled the chain dragging on the deck for a month now and finding Emma when the kids let her loose so a few more days isn't going to kill me. But I of course couldn't see it that way at the time.

I remember thinking that by the time I came home from the Philippines on my mission I would have patience mastered because the people over there were so laid back that I had learned to be more patient. Now ,18 years of marriage and 6 kids later I realized my patience challenges had just begun. I will be lucky if at my funeral any of my kids can say that I mastered the virtue of patience. It is one I think I will always struggle with. It is humbling to me to look on peoples lives who really do have severe challenges and difficulties they are dealing with where they have mastered patience. I just have little issues and still can't keep a calm voice. So, I need to say sorry to my husband who is much more patient than I am and I have to resolve to never wake up in the morning and make a concious effort to not raise my voice again. If I do a certain someone will try extra hard to thwart my plan. I also learned that you NEVER try to not raise your voice when you are having PMS.

The bread didn't get done in time for me to feed Dallin before his school so I fed him graham crackers and milk. I then went to pick up Lynn's 1st councilor's boy to take to school. This is a family I admire so much. They just had their 6th child two days ago. (which weighed 9lbs 12 ozs) The dad was the one who broke both of his elbows a month ago. Their oldest child is 9 and I saw chaos at their house. Even with Kim's mother there it was crazy. It brought me back to when I brought Kyle home from the hospital and how even with my mom helping we couldn't seem to find time to even bath Kyle. I wrapped my arm around this faithful mom who hadn't slept all night and though I couldn't tell her life will calm down I could tell her she was doing a good job and that it was all worth it. When I take the time to think about the "big Picture" I can focus on what I am doing in trying to raise a righteous family with my husband and I can let the chaos and noise and messes be secondary. What cute kids I have and what a wonderful righteous husband who loves me even when I lose my temper. I also have good family and friends who just might take the time to read my latest LONG blog and cheer me on. I love you all and thank you for your love and support.

I don't have any pictures to go with this novel but I could have taken some good ones had I thought about it and if I was smart enough to be able to publish them on my blog without my husbands help whom I am way too dependent on.