Downhill Racer

Q: What happens when your cat decides to bed down in your son's ski racing supply bag?
A: Your son equips him for the slopes!

Mandy doesn't seem to appreciate Ben's attempts to keep his noggin safe

Oh!  Mandy was displeased because his eyes weren't protected!  He's a lot happier now that his goggles are in place

Ben and I debated at length about this post.  I thought it was a good candidate for Tragedy-averted Tuesday given the clear safety orientation of Ben's work here with Mandy.  Ben thought this was ridiculous because no tragedy was actually averted. I think that's ridiculous since the fact that Ben wasn't scratched or attacked while dressing Mandy up is nothing short of a minor miracle and Tragedy-averted Tuesday is all about how we (Ben) should have lost an eye, finger, or burned the house down and didn't.  But since Tragedy-averted Tuesday is pretty much all about Ben (coincidence?  I think not) I figured I'd let him decide what's approved fodder for our recurring theme and consequently this post is relegated to Ferocious Feline Friday :)

Tragedy-averted Tuesday

You know how some people on Facebook do cute little weekly posts, like "Flashback Friday" or "Way-back Wednesday"?  Interesting, but definitely not a pattern I could follow for any period of time.

I have, however, invented a cutesie weekly post I think I could sustain indefinitely:

Tragedy-averted Tuesday

"Wha?  What's the problem?  Why you freaking out, Mom?"

Note: if Ben says he wants to heat up some soup, be very, very clear about the need to open the can of soup and empty the can into a non-metallic container.

Thanks to Mom's quick shrieking, no microwaves were harmed during this Tragedy-averted Tuesday.

Tragedy-averted Tuesday

Honestly, when I posted last week's Tragedy-averted Tuesday I meant it as a joke, not as a recurring theme. I should have known better - with 4 adventurous kids in the house, we can probably come up with at least one tragedy either mostly or totally averted per week!

This week's near-tragedy presented itself as I was working at the computer and heard Ben come in from the back yard behind me.  When I heard the words, "No need to turn around, Mom, nothing suspicious going on here" I knew it was time to grab the camera and intervene.  Not necessarily in that order.

"No need to turn around, Mom, nothing suspicious going on here"

I have no idea how an icicle of that size managed to grow above our back patio.  I definitely understand why Ben looked it and immediately thought, "I must have that for my own crystal sword!" And I'm grateful nobody lost an eye.

Tragedy (sort of) Averted

Long-time Morningstar Happenings readers will recall a short-lived but highly-memorable column called "Tragedy-averted Tuesday". Every few weeks we would showcase some terrible idea Ben had. It was always Ben. And it was always entertaining.

After this week, we may be reinstating the column.

Our Monday evening went like this:
Mom: Boys, why is the oven on? The timer is done. [opens oven]

Mom: Aaah! Dear God, what happened? [turns oven off]
Ben: [rushing upstairs] I was playing video games and forgot about the pizza.
Mom: Aaah! Dear God, what happened? [stuck in endless loop of incredulity]
[removes very well-cooked pizza, sees strange disc beneath]
Mom: Aaah! Dear God! [note the theme] Ben, you baked the cutting board in the oven!
Ben: [eyes widen in terror at the recognition of what happened] Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. [walks out of front door. Just can't handle it]
Dad: Did you make him eat the pizza?
Mom: No! That's like cancer pizza now!
Dad: Did you at least take a picture?

So, we spent a good portion of our week scraping up molten plastic off of the bottom of the oven, pulling hardened plastic off of racks, and melting/burning/scraping the oven clean.

The miracle is, it all came off and our oven is cleared for cooking again!

I'm not the only one hearkening back to four years ago when we narrowly stopped Ben from microwaving an unopened can of soup, right? The boy is nothing if not an adventure!

Tragedy-averted Tuesday

"Mom! I'm all ready to welcome our New Year's Eve guests!"

Great, great, I can't see how this could possibly go wrong.  For everybody who, like me, formerly scoffed at Utah's rule that minors can't buy any fireworks, even poppers, this is why.

Not Exactly as Planned

Unfortunately, this week we were foiled in our attempts at a Tragedy Averted Tuesday and ended up instead with a Semi-Tragic Tuesday.

It appears that my road biking skills far surpass those of mountain biking and I ended up with an interosseous membrane tear - a tear of the membrane that connects the tibia and fibula. Sigh. Apparently falling down the mountain instead of continuing on the path across the mountain causes scrapes and bangs and a temporary cessation of independent walking ability. I'll keep that in mind on my next biking excursion... once I can walk again...

But in the big picture this isn't too terrible an injury. No surgery is required and everything should re-attach on its own. I'll spend a couple of weeks in the boot and then should be able to hobble freely again without the boot or crutches (which sounds amazing). And the boys are secretly grateful for the injury because they get to catch up on episodes of How I Met Your Mother with an immobile mom. And the best part is that the doc said that as soon as I can walk again on my own without sharp pain I can start riding - I'll just stick to the roads for the foreseeable future.