Someone Else's Experience is the Best Teacher

It's been said that experience is the best teacher. The idea is that you make some mistake and then you learn a lesson from it forever.

But why should you have to go through so many hard experiences yourself? Why not learn from the mistakes of others? I have learned a number of things just by hearing how others have erred and I know I will never make those mistakes myself. For example:

1. Never turn your back on a running vehicle. After hearing several reports in the news about people leaving their car running and hurrying into a convenience store "just for a minute" and then finding out their car was stolen in that brief moment, I learned you should never ever leave your car with the engine running. Even if you think you'll "just be a minute."

2. Never mix cornstarch with hot water. Of course, recipes always say to mix it with cold water, but some have told me they tried mixing it with hot, and the sauce or gravy got all lumpy. Lesson learned. And I didn't have to find out the hard way.

3. Always prick potatoes a lot before baking them. This is something that everyone seems to know, but still I heard it enough times that I will never put potatoes in the oven without puncturing them several times. So I never have to worry about exploding baked potatoes.

Now that I have shared a few tidbits of wisdom that I did not have to learn the hard way, I will give some advice that I did have to learn the hard way.

1.Sometimes a GPS can lead you the wrong way and you can get completely lost. Sometimes a map is better.

2. Never wash towels and clothes together unless you want to spend two hours picking lint off the clothes.

3. Don't buy diapers which come from a company that also makes canned corn. You might think you're saving money buying cheap diapers but you'll lose it all in the extra washing from the diapers constantly leaking.

So there you have it. My words of wisdom. If I have saved anyone from the inconvenience of getting lost, or spending two hours lint picking, or the frustration of cheap, leaky diapers, then the last 15 minutes I spent writing this have been totally worthwhile. You're welcome.

A Dozen Roses--For Free

From looking at this picture, one might think that I have a loving, generous husband who purchased a bunch of roses for me.

Just to be clear, I do have a loving, generous husband. But the roses came from my oft mentioned rosebush. I was actually able to take a whole branch full of roses and put it in my vase. Sometimes I would stop my housework for a moment just to smell them.

I would have brought inside each and every rose that bloomed but some I left outside for the neighbors to see. It doesn't seem likely that the neighbors even noticed, but I liked to envision some of them driving by and admiring my roses.

Parenting 102

When a new baby joins the family, the parents look forward to many firsts. First smile, first tooth, first step. However, there are some other "firsts" that are not so welcome. These are bound to happen, though. Fortunately, there is one way of dealing with all of them.

The first time your baby--
spits up on his nice brand new outfit
spits up on your nice brand new outfit
spits up on a guest's nice brand new outfit
defies gravity and shoots "number two" all up his back (I still can't figure out how this happens)
is getting a diaper change and decides he isn't quite finished and sprays all sorts of stuff on you

But don't think these not-so-welcome firsts end after babyhood. Nope, you're just getting started.

The first time your toddler--
says a very naughty word in front of you and you realize that his TV watching should be monitored more closely
says that same word in front of polite company
comes out into the living room naked in front of the same polite company
throws a tantrum in public
loudly announces in a public place not only that he has to use the bathroom but exactly what he has to do in there
locks you out of the house while you are outside checking the mail (OK, this only happened with one of my kids)

Of course, this is not a complete list. There are so many more, but I didn't want to make this blog entry so long that nobody would read it.

So how do you deal with all these episodes? You laugh! Come on. Our kids are babies and toddlers for a very short while. You have to enjoy these times even if they are embarrassing or frustrating.

Besides, what better way to entertain guests than by telling these stories in front of friends and family once your kids are teenagers.

Yellow Rose of my Neighborhood

So this is one of the roses from my rosebush that didn't bloom last year. I cannot take credit for how lovely it turned out. I tried pruning but I think I started too late. I gave them plant food but probably not enough. So why it turned out so gorgeous is beyond me.

I will however take full credit for the picture turning out so well. I just used the camera application in my phone. It was a little tricky because I had to hold the rose down with one hand and use the camera with the other. But it turned out great.

The rose smells lovely by the way. So if anyone wants to come by my house to stop and smell the roses, feel free.

And if anyone recognizes what variety of rose this is, perhaps you could let me know.

Garden Update

Now that it is late spring, my flower bed has changed quite a bit. The hyacinths and daffodils have passed their blooming time and have been cut back. But the roses are just getting going. I have also planted some pansies.

We have a concrete planter at the corner of one flower bed and I decided to put some strawberry plants in there. I haven't actually planted them yet so they are still in the little flower pots that I originally bought them in. But I saw something today that motivated me to get them planted soon. It was an actual little tiny green strawberry. (See top picture) There are other blossoms on the plant so I am hoping we get a little crop of strawberries this season.

The other picture is one of my rosebushes. Last year, we got quite a few roses, but only from one bush. The lower picture is of the other bush that didn't bloom. Why it decided to bloom this year is just as big of a mystery as what kept it from blooming last year. I am looking forward to seeing what color its flowers are.

As soon as I have more color in my garden, I will post more colorful pictures. After all, one reason why I started blogging is so I could post pictures of my flower bed.

Saga of a Tooth

One day my daughter told me she wanted to go to the dentist because the gum around one of her molars was swollen and painful. So off to the dentist we went. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a very long story.

Appointment 1: Food wedged under gum removed. Diagnosis: excess gum around tooth. Solution: something called a gingivectomy, in which excess gum is removed.

ONE MONTH LATER

Appointment 2: Arrive at periodontist for gingivectomy. Procedure not performed. Diagnosis: Tooth broken, removing excess gum pointless. Solution: Extract tooth.

Appointment 3: Dentist wants to confirm above information. X-ray taken. Diagnosis: They're right. The tooth is broken. How on earth did we miss that? Solution: Extract tooth.

Appointment 4: Partner dentist also wants verification. Diagnosis: What are they talking about? The tooth isn't broken. It's just in at an angle. Solution: Remove the excess gum already!

Appointment 5: Periodontist wants to verify what was found at appointment 4. Diagnosis: Hey, I guess it might not be broken after all. Solution: Let's remove the excess gum. But it might not be a permanent solution. Permanent solution: wait for daughter's jaw to grow or get braces. And stop chewing on that side pretty much forever.

My thoughts: You really think that at age 15 her jaw is suddenly going to start growing significantly? And we can't afford braces right now. But thanks for getting the procedure done.

Some might think that getting a second opinion is important. Well, I got FIVE opinions. And I didn't even ask for them.

The only good thing out of this whole mess is that both my kids have reached maximum benefits on dental insurance and we might not have to pay for any of these appointments. I wonder if they will reimburse me for the gas I used up in all this driving around?

Pinkish Daffodil

So my daffodils are finally blooming. And although I am pleased to see that they were not damaged by squirrels or certain cats using the flower bed as a litter box (namely Olivia), I was slightly disappointed that the daffodils did not turn out like the catalog picture.

The top picture is a photo of the rosy cloud daffodil. The catalog described its white petals on the outside and the fluffy pink double center. Also, the flower seems to be lifted up.

The bottom picture is my daffodil. It seems to be lacking somewhat in the fluffy center department, not to mention that it doesn't look very pink. And the flower is drooping down. It also doesn't help that the picture was taken on a dreary rainy day.

I don't know what was done to make the top daffodil look so pink and fluffy. The flower looks real. It just doesn't look like mine.

All the same, the fact that I have living flowers (and not just from weeds) in the flower bed does say something for my fledgling gardening skills. Maybe the pansies that I hope to plant soon will be more colorful.