Germophobe

One indelible memory of Laura has to do with germs. Although I don't remember this when Laura was young, in recent years she always wanted to make sure that I had washed my hands after using the bathroom. When in response to her query I replied that yes, I had indeed washed my hands, she was generally suspicious (with good reason, because I wouldn't admit to her when I had neglected to do so) and demanded proof. What proof? She insisted on smelling my hands to make sure I had used soap.

Eventually I got into the habit of not waiting to be asked, but after exiting the bathroom simply approaching Laura and holding up my hands so she could sniff them. On a couple of occasions someone else saw me do this and was quite puzzled as to my actions. "It's a family thing," was the only comment I could think to make.

In any case, I am now much more consistent in washing my hands before leaving the bathroom. And every once in awhile I have an urge to smell someone's hands to make sure they washed the germs away.

Tohrkey!

A lot of people wonder where the term of endearment "Tohrkey" came from between Laura and I. Well, quite a few Thanksgivings ago Laura and I were laying on the couch at Mom and Dad's (when we both lived at home) and Laura asked me what we were going to have for lunch. I thought for a moment and then asked her in our baby talk language, "Um......Tohrkey?!" (In a very high pitched voice) Laura thought this was so freaking hilarious that from then on I was her "tohrkey" and she was mine. Every Thanksgiving I'll think of Laura and how she was my "tohrkey."

Mummy Hands

I've seen figures suggesting that the average person in the United States uses around 60-70 sheets of toilet paper each day. Obviously, the researchers who collected this information never met Laura.

While I didn't collect data, it was very obvious that when Laura was home to visit or stay that we went through rolls of toilet paper much faster than normal. Why? Mummy hands!

Some people fold toilet paper and others wad it into a ball. Not Laura. Apparently her strategy was to make sure no part of her hand was visible or could be sullied while doing paperwork.
I could always make Laura blush when I teased her about mummy hands, but never did slow down how rapidly we used toilet paper!

Puppy Chow

Autumn and Prairie with puppy chow we made last week in the bowl that Laura gave us for Christmas 2006

I don't recall ever having puppy chow growing up. Maybe I did at a party or something, but it isn't something that my family ever made. So the first time I recall having puppy chow is from Laura. For Christmas in 2006 Laura made a number of batches of puppy chow for Christmas and bought these cute bowls from the dollar store to put the puppy chow in.

Now I had had a baby earlier that year, and had been working really hard to lose some of my baby weight, I had just recently started to actually lose some of that weight. Well I got that puppy chow for Christmas, and we drove to Texas, and let me say I most definitely chowed down on that puppy chow and then called her while I was in Texas to get the recipe to make another batch. I ate soooo much puppy chow that 3 weeks after Christmas I had gained all that weight back .... but it was Laura's puppy chow, sooo worth it!

Anyway I wanted to post the recipe as I remember it from Laura, with Laura's tips on making the best puppy chow.

8 to 9 cups of corn chex (I don't think Laura cared if it was brand name or not, but it had to be corn chex) in a large bowl

melt in a pan:

4 TBS. of butter

1/2 cup of peanut butter ( I always use all natural peanut butter because that is all we have on hand, but Laura always thought that was an abomination when I did that)

1 cup of chocolate chips (here is the true Laura secret she would do half semi-sweet chips and half milk chocolate chips)

when the mixture is smooth and melted add 1tsp. of vanilla then pour mixture over the corn chex, then stir until all the corn chex is coated. Then place the corn chex in a large ziploc bag or use a bowl that has a tight fitting lid, then add 1.5 to 2 cups of powdered sugar and shake until all the corn chex are evenly coated.

Laura thanks so much for teaching me how to make puppy chow, I love it and so do my girls.

Prairie being literal about it being puppy chow (she is pretending to be a dog and refused to use her hands to eat it, she was "lapping" it up)

Phone Call

image taken from http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/2008/11/vintage-cloud-phone.html

Yesterday Prairie wanted to call Ben on the phone, but I told her that Ben had clients so he wouldn't answer so we could leave a message, but she didn't want to leave a message. Then I suggested calling someone else, and she didn't want to call that person. Then she said she wanted to call Autumn at school, but I said we couldn't do that. So then I suggested calling someone else. Then we had this conversation:

Prairie: I want to call Laura

Emily: Laura Harper? (a lady that babysits her for an hour every week so I can go running)

Prairie: No, Laura who died.

Emily: We can't call her, there are no phones in heaven. What would you want to say though?

(Prairie tried to hand at humor now, not understanding what is appropriately funny in this situation or not)

Prairie: I would say you're welcome you are dead.

Emily: Why would you say that?

Prairie: No I would say, Laura you are dead. I miss you.

Then Prairie was done talking about it. Then in the van today after dropping Autumn off at school she brought it up again.

Prairie: I wish I could call Laura, but there are no phones.

Emily: That's right, there are no phones in heaven.

Prairie: I wish there were cloud phones. That had cloud buttons and they were made out of clouds. And I could call Laura, and everyone, even Jesus!

Emily: Yep, that would be pretty neat.

More "the face" pictures

These pictures were taken at Prairie's first birthday, May 7th 2007

The Face

Who started pulling "the face" in our family? I have no idea, but this seems to have become a tradition of sorts. Look through any of our family blogs or photo albums and sooner or later you will come across a picture of one of us that looks very ... interesting.

Perhaps this originated during a visit to Grandma Sullivan in New Mexico. I remember one evening Grandma laughing out loud as she watched the kids push and pull my face into a variety of distorted shapes (all improvements on my natural appearance, I might add!).

Soon "the face" became a way to greet one another, or an attempt to make someone laugh or smile, or even a subtle way of saying, "I love you." It was almost a way of taking someone's emotional temperature to see if he or she was doing okay. When I pulled "the face" and didn't receive it in return, I could be pretty certain that something wasn't quite right.

Here am I in training, being instructed by the master, Laura. She appears to be laughing at my effort, knowing I can never reach her level.


And here is Laura acting goofy. It isn't exactly "the face" but is still pretty funny.

And here is a memorable triple whammy!

Most of the time, "the face" makes me laugh. It makes me feel good. I have very good memories of "the face."

So whenever we come together as a family, I expect us to continue this tradition! A hearty laugh is good medicine for what ails you.

Slumber Parties

Dustin and I were hanging out at Ben and Em's this weekend and Ben and Em and the girls all dragged their mattresses into the living room to watch a movie and eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate.
It reminded me of when Laura and I were kids and we'd have slumber parties where we'd drag our mattresses into the living room in front of the tv, eat candy and watch movies. Laura would get so mad because I always fell asleep halfway into the first movie. She'd wake me up and we'd put another one on, which I fell asleep to halfway through.

This also reminded me of when Laur and I shared a room and we'd sit up after bedtime and talk.
We were such gigglers Dad would come in at midnight or so and threaten to send us to separate rooms if we didn't quiet down so he could get some sleep! Then we'd giggle even harder because it was forbidden. Laura, to keep me from laughing so loud, would shove a pillow over my face and whisper, "laugh into the pillow!"

What's buggin' Laura?

Some things really, REALLY irritated Laura to no end. Here are just a few examples:

• Playing "chopsticks" on the piano and ending with a discordant note. This was particularly effective when the end note followed a lengthy pause while the suspense mounted. Laura could not STAND to hear this and would attack me if she thought I was going to miss the last note.
  
  
• Pronouncing the word coupon as "cyu-pon" rather than "coo-pon." I have no idea when this became such an issue for Laura. I just remember watching my Ps and Cyus around her.
  
  
• And I'm sure you remember saying something like, "Thank you, Laura, for picking up that cup with your right hand." Why this infuriated Laura I don't know, but infuriate her it did.

Feel free to add to this list. I know you have more examples!

Halloween 2007

I found this on Barry's blog (Laura's friend, the one in the blonde wig on the left). This was from halloween 2007