Must Post This

Don't ask me how I stumbled upon this video. I don't search YouTube. I just happened to be on a Huggies website looking for coupons. Anyway, I saw this video and I think I've watched it about 6 times and I'm still laughing and crying. I especially love the look on the baby's face. Truly classic and I've seen that look on my babies' faces a time or two. Enjoy!

Going Postal

Warning: Long Post Ahead

I have thought about writing a post about this for several weeks now. I've been very hesitant. My loyal readers (thanks all three of you!!) probably have a good idea that I'm pretty opinionated about the kind of customer service I get. Anyway, this post begged to be written for other underlying reasons.

Let me take this back a little bit. Like many out there, I'm concerned about the health care system. It is failing in many ways. I've been amazed since we've started a full-time job and had to cover more of our health care costs how expensive and crazy health care is. We've been blessed have good health insurance. However, I'm extremely concerned about having government/national health care. I don't believe that is the best way to go. That being said, I don't know what the best solution is.

A while back during a conversation with good friends on the state of the health care system I posed this question: Name one thing that the government does well? It stumped us all. A prime example of what the government does poorly is the US Postal System. (Don't worry, I've already been black listed at my local post office so posting this won't affect anything.) How many millions and millions of dollars are they running in the red? And yet again, they are raising the price of a first class stamp. Are they timely and more cost effective than any of the private package delivery companies? And those are just a few reasons.

Since moving we've had several crazy experiences with the postal system. And the latest has made me even more concerned about government involvement in our health care. (Sorry if you don't see the link because I do.) Let me briefly describe.

We have a wonderful friend from college get married in February. Unfortunately, for various reasons we couldn't make it to the wedding. We bought an awesome gift and one Saturday I found myself at the post office with this huge gift along with half a dozen other items that needed to be mailed. Truthfully, if I hadn't needed to have some items specifically weighed I would have just taken this wedding gift to the local UPS store. This package would have shipped faster and cheaper at half the rate.

Well, that wasn't the case. Because of the weight of this package the postal worker offered to mail it 1st class for about $30. I opted for the parcel post rate ($12.51). I had never shipped parcel post before. I was told by the mail clerk the only thing different about parcel post is that it would take about 2 weeks to deliver. That was fine by me. I'm off on my merry way.

Six Weeks Later:
My friendly postal carrier is ringing my doorbell. He hands me a stack full of mail and tells me I have a package that has postage due. Me with an exceptionally confused look: "Postage due?" As I'm looking at the completely beat up package in his hand I begin to recognize it. It's the wedding gift. I can't figure out why it's come back to me asking for more money when I shipped it from the post office. Long story short. They attempted to forward the package and you can't forward parcel post and so it came back to me and I had to pay $11.81 to receive my package.

Hmmmm. As I'm contemplating how angry I am about this I'm flipping through the stack of mail my mail carrier gave to me. Not for me. Not for me. Not for me. Not for me. "Ummm, sir, none of this is my mail."

Confused postal worker: "Really? Sorry about that," as he snatches the mail back from me.

At this point I'm not to fond of the interchange and the carrier gladly pounces on the idea of my talking to a manager. That requires me going to the post office the next day. Oh happy day.

So I do that. I take the little card that was handed to me (which by the way, had the wrong address!) and drive to the post office address listed on the card. Did I mention my three small kids tagging along? Arrive at post office, wait to talk to a worker, they search the back room. No package. They call the main office, it's there. That's funny. I must have a hard time reading and following addresses. Get back in the car (with 3 small kids) and drive to the main post office. Wait 15 minutes in line (with 3 small kids).

After some more rigmarole I end up speaking with the postal master. I explained my extreme frustration and lack of understanding. Why doesn't the postal system forward parcel post? Why am I paying to have a package returned to me? Why didn't they tell me that there isn't forwarding on parcel post? Why was I sent to the wrong location? Why? Why? Why?

I had several postal workers involved at this point. No one could give me a straight answer. And no one was willing to cut me some slack. (I thought the 3 small kids would help but they didn't.) I wanted to know why the rules of shipping with parcel post weren't explained to me. One worker helpfully pointed out that there are so many rules for the postal service it makes up a huge, thick book. No apologies, no remorse, no sympathy, no give.

I refused to pay the money and left. [Clark went back the next day to pay the money and retrieve the wedding gift after having a rather heated discussion with a manager. And Todd, sorry we haven't re-sent it yet. We will. And also, I'm horribly embarrassed if a postal worker tried to hit you up for postage due on a wedding present for you guys. I had no idea.]

Here's my point with this long winded description: This is disturbing. On a lot of levels. I'm a customer but they don't think it's important to inform me. Some people might argue, well, it's just the mail, not a big deal. But if that is how a government run organization is going to be who's to say that a health care organization run by the government wouldn't be the same. Endless amounts of rules. Hidden costs for the tax payers. And mistakes galore. Lack of information. There are lots of lessons to be learned from this small scenario. Also, even though I was the paying customer in this case, I wasn't the customer. The government is. The government owns, runs, and subsides the postal system. They really don't care if they make me happy. Where else am I going to take my business. I guess I could rip my mailbox out.

Swimming on the Cheap

I felt inspired to share this tip after speaking to a friend this past weekend. I picked up this little tidbit from a woman I briefly met years ago during a visit to family in Las Vegas. She told me that swim diapers are washable. Obviously since they can go in the water, putting them through the washing machine isn't a big deal. Now why hadn't I thought about that? Don't put it in the dryer. Line dry or air dry. Usually I can get a good 4 or 5 uses out of a diaper. I have been known to wash a few diapers that were "wet" but usually I'll just throw them out. Anyway, I hope someone else finds this helpful. It's saved me tons of money because swim diapers aren't cheap. Enjoy the swim season!

Bathtime

In an attempt to bathe everyone on the same evening we figured we would quickly bath Eliza in her infant tub and then the boys could have their bath in the big tub after she was done. Well, it was too tempting to for the boys to join in Eliza's fun. I guess we are better off investing in a bathtub infant chair.

Everyone Grows

While on our trip we found this great little indoor play place called "Little Bitty City". It had tons of toys - all creative based. Blocks, slides, cars, trains (!), dress ups, play kitchen, etc. The kids had a great time. We took advantage of their wall ruler to do a little measuring of the growth of our little people.

Almost 4 (in age and height)!!

Our little Russy baby not so little anymore.Yep, 2 feet tall! She's catching up to her brothers pretty quick.
And she's smiling all the way . . .

Hot Springs

We spent months planning a trip to the historic boyhood hometown of Bill Clinton in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We were slightly disappointed. I'm not sure if it was because the visitor's center couldn't tell us exactly where Bill Clinton lived or that the hot springs we went to see were built on top of and commercialized by bath houses. We were attracted to the National Park in Hot Springs, aptly named Hot Springs National Park because we are becoming national park junkies. These bath houses still exist, only a few function today. While the city of Hot Springs is very beautiful we were disappointed in not being able to view the springs.

We took this picture specifically for my mother.

This was our first real family vacation. Clark and I were solely responsible for the planning and execution of this trip. If we got lost, it was our fault. If we didn't have exciting activities planned, our fault. We did have a slight moment of panic when we walked into our accommodations and realized the beds that pulled out of couches that I had been promising Jaron for weeks didn't exist. They had booked us into the wrong cabin. Thankfully we switched that relatively quickly.

The boys had a great time. They loved sharing a queen bed (Russell in a bed for the first time). They giggled and giggled and giggled at night. The first night they didn't fall asleep until 10:30 pm and one woke up at 5:30 am and then everyone else was up. Between them and Eliza futzing around in the crib all night Clark and I were pretty tired. But this is what memories are made of, right?


The boys were especially delighted in any opportunity to throw rocks and sticks in the water which we gladly obliged. I'm sure the boys wondered why we drove 6+ hours to do that when they could have easily done the same thing at a park just down the street from our house. We stayed in a lodge that was located on a beautiful lake. It was peaceful (that was until Jaron started yelling at the top of his lungs "Bird, bird . . . go away bird!")

Our best find was some woodland gardens. It had miles of beautiful walking paths. And a great model train track to boot - only it wasn't running.


It was a good trial run for family trips to come. It was a lot of work but I hope that we can continue to enjoy more family vacations like that one. Maybe with a little more sleep though.

72 Hour Kits

It's that time of year for us to take stock of our 72-hour-kits. I know several people who are in the habit of re-evaluating and rotating items around General Conference time. I also know a lot of people who think about doing 72-hour-kits but don't. A few years back I attending an awesome enrichment activity which inspired me to move forward on getting my act together in this area.

This has been on my mind for the past few days, but I want to clarify, my kits are a work in progress. I'm sure I'll always be re-doing them. However, it is nice to at least have something put together. Perfect or not. If I had to vacate the house in less than 30 minutes with my three little ones, I would be extremely grateful for what I've got.

I wanted to pass on a few great ideas I've picked up from that activity and a few other places:

• If you have kids in diapers, pack a size or two larger in a zip lock bag. (I pack about 20.) That way, you don't have to worry about having the "right" size diaper. It's easier to use bigger than smaller.
• Use adult sized sweatshirts for clothes. If you are like me, you probably have about a dozen sweatshirts you rarely use. For a child, who cares if it is too large. That can easily be adjusted with scissors and it's warm.
• Leftover Halloween candy - pack it. I filled two sandwich sized ziplock baggies with smarties, peppermints, etc. I'll replace them with next year's sugar candy I get. I don't know many kids who don't like candy!
• Make photo copies of a recent family photo and include it in a ziplock bag with an "ID" card for each family member. I've listed on a note card their full name, address, date of birth, parents name, phone numbers and grandparents name with city, state and phone number.
• WARNING: I'm neurotic. I listed on a spreadsheet the contents and date of each person's bag. It helps me know what we have and when to rotate it.
  

Great items to have:

• Hand crank flashlights. No batteries. Only about $7 or $8.
• Hotel shampoo, soap, etc. I love collecting that stuff.
  

Things I'm planning to add this time around:

• Crayons and notebooks for the boys. Entertainment is necessary for little ones and who knows what the circumstances would be.
• A matchbox car for each child.
  
• Children's Tylenol (I use the off brand) with a syringe I picked up from my local pharmacist. Total cost was under $3. It won't expire for a few years and it I never use it, big deal.
• A can opener!!
  

I'm looking for any great ideas or suggestions. Especially in the food area. It's hard to know what to pack. However, we store our 72-hour-kits (they are in duffel bags and back packs) in the closet under our stairs. Our safe place basically. We also have our food storage there. So in theory, if I have the time and I'm leaving in a car, I can probably grab a ton of my non-perishable food from the storage to stave us off for a few days.

Send me your ideas. I would love to have them!