Yellow Wallpaper

We heard from university housing in Seattle two weeks ago that they actually had an apartment available for us, and were astounded because it was much sooner than we thought it would be. They didn't give us any details at that time, and it took them nearly a week to get back to us. Unfortunately, they finally replied that we would have an apartment ready in October, over a month after we need to be in Seattle. After much deliberation we decided that the best option would be to forget the idea of university housing and simply find another place, even though it would cost more per month. Well, the housing market didn't change much during the week we weren't looking for places and we still could find no one willing to even consider renting to us without meeting us in person. And it would cost us $400 each to fly up there and look at places. Then university housing got back to us with a firm move-in date of October 5, which really isn't too bad, especially since we are pret...

Plop a spoonfull of peanut butter in a bowl and sprinkle it with chocolate chips. Microwave for about 30 seconds until everything is nice and melty. Top it off with a few dry roasted peanuts. Peel a banana, dip it in the chocolate/peanut butter, and feel virtuous because you are eating fruit.

For anyone who only reads my blog and not Master Fob's as well, you are also invited to our final Utah blog party next Monday evening. We will provide pizza (probably from Costco, not homemade) and probably a guava cake since I bought all the ingredients for it a few weeks ago and need to use them up. Besides the pleasure of our company, you will also get the chance to pick through items we are trying to unload and that will be on their way to DI. Most of our stuff is so crappy it's not worth selling, but not so crappy that I wouldn't mind giving it away to friends (if that makes any sense). Off the top of my head, some of the items that may or may not be available on Monday are: a couch (the cushions are starting to get holes in them, but otherwise it's quite large and comfy) microwave cart (quite useful for extra storage space, despite the drawer with the bottom falling out) our older, sort of junky stroller (it is nice and small, though) assorted videos, cassette ta...

This afternoon we sent S-Boogie off for one final sleepover at her cousin's house. Master Fob was off work at 4, a little earlier than most Saturdays, so we celebrated by going off to have some fun while unencumbered by the interruptions of Little Miss "Look at ME!" (Little Dude is still pretty easy to take places, since he just curls up in his sling and goes right to sleep). The first place we headed was actually Babies R Us, since Little Dude had a gift card from grandpa that we needed to spend. We had been thinking of using the money to get a new carseat for S-Boogie, with the justification that Little Dude can then start using the convertible seat she's in now (we want to leave the infant seat here in my sister-in-law's garage so we don't have to worry about storing it in Seattle. It belongs to her and we're just borrowing it). But, then I started itching to buy a new stroller, one of the fancier models. I bought the one we have now two years ago on cl...

This morning we got S-Boogie all prettied up and trekked down to the Target photo studio for her annual professional portrait. And I remembered why we only do this once a year. Looking at the camera, holding still, keeping her hands out of her face and smiling all at the same time is apparently an impossible task for her right now. Also, the nice girl doing the photos thought we wanted perfection and just kept shooting after all three of us, even S-Boogie, announced that we were tired and done. Going in we knew what to expect and weren't too worried about the perfect shot--that's impossible with three-year-olds. But we got a pretty decent one and we all survived. And since I'm that crazy, we're going back on Saturday morning to get a shot of S-Boogie, Little Dude and their cousins (ages 5 and 10 months). Now that should really be a blast. Oh, and thankfully all S-Boogie managed to pick up from nursery was a bit of a runny nose. Crisis averted for now.

So yesterday at church when I went to drop S-Boogie off for nursery, there was another mom there explaining that her daughter had a runny nose, "but it was just from a sinus infection and she's been on antibiotics for a week now". The nursery leader kind of questioned her, but didn't send the girl home with her mom. I can understand, because it's annoying not to be able to take your kid to nursery, especially when you have three other kids there at church and it's not that easy to just go home. But today S-Boogie woke up with the first cold she's had since March, and I'm crossing my fingers that she doesn't have an asthma attack and that Little Dude doesn't get sick either.

1. Finish my stupid paper for my stupid class so I don't have a stupid incomplete anymore (can you tell how I feel about that one?) 2. Sell/get rid of a bunch of stuff, including a bunch of books to sell on Amazon and figure out some way to get rid of my wedding dress while still making some money off of it. 3. Clean out several closets, two filing cabinets, and S-Boogie's toy collection. 4. Decide what to do about school/thesis/registration, etc. Get my Honor Code endorsement taken care of and turned in so I don't have a hold on my account anymore (yeah, I'm a slacker). 5. Pack up everything and move to another state that I've never been to before. 6. Pray that none of us get sick or injured or have to run to the emergency room for another late-night battle with constipation. 7. Try really hard not to die from stress. (I just bought one-way tickets for me and the kids for Monday, September 11. I'm going to Seattle and not coming back).

When I was a kid, we had a set of Tupperware dishes that came in groovy colors like yellow, orange, avocado green and brown. For some reason, if you were lucky enough to get the brown plate, you were very special. And if Mom happened to give you the brown plate with the matching brown cup, you were definitely better than anyone else in the family. I've often wondered about how the brown plate acquired it's mystique, especially since that coveted status was later transferred to the blue spoon (the one spoon with a blue plastic handle that came in our flea market assortment of silverware). S-Boogie has already assigned special status to the blue diapers, for some inexplicable reason. Luvs come with a little design printed on them, either red, yellow, orange, green or blue. So only 1 in 5 diapers is blue. I've tried explaining that eventually the blue diapers will be gone and we'll be left with only the other, lesser colors. But, logic has no place in the toddler world. Lu...

Master Fob just got an email from UW Family Housing offering us a two-bedroom apartment. Hooray!! Affordable housing that's close to school, has washer/dryer hookups, decent management, and is in a nice setting with other families. And I don't have to call any more landlords and beg for a place to live. We'd kind of prefer 3 bedrooms, but I am definitely not going to complain at all. Hopefully it won't get too crowded over two years and we can just forget about moving again until we're done with school. I think one of the most stressful parts of moving is over. This decision is finally starting to feel like a good thing after all...

So far I've had one guy tell me I'm nuts for trying to find an apartment long distance, a lady who didn't really speak English and couldn't understand renting from out of state, and another guy who politely told us there was no way he'd rent to people with kids. At least we still have four more weeks to find something...

After a marathon doctor's appointment (we were there for an hour and a HALF!), Little Dude and S-Boogie have both been given a clean bill of health and are up to date on their immunizations. Little Dude isn't all that little anymore, since he now weighs 12 1/2 pounds--that means he's gained 5 1/2 since he was born 10 weeks ago! S-Boogie is still on the small side for her age, but definitely growing. This post was interrupted by cleaning up an entire cup of milk that was thrown on the kitchen floor. (Can you tell why I still usually give her a sippy?) I'm actually proud of myself because I did not get upset and yell, and I've been doing way too much of that lately. Unfortunately S-Boogie is still in her room bawling, because it's way past her naptime and she's tired (which she will vigorously deny while rubbing her eyes and crying). For the last few weeks she's been seriously fighting her naps, no matter what we try. Finally today I tried telling her that...

A little over 6 years ago I was on my mission in Madrid. I was transferred to new area at the same time as another elder. I remember asking him if was really from Hawaii, since he was so tall and blonde. We ended up serving together in the same district for nearly seven and a half months and had a lot of good times together. He was actually nice to the sisters and a hard worker, without being too zealous and overbearing. I knew he was going home just a month before me and planning on being an English major when he got back to BYU. When I was transferred out of that area, we exchanged emails and addresses and promised to get back in touch some day, like I did with a lot of other missionaries. I got home in January and started trying to contact some of the people I'd been friends with back in the mission. I emailed this particular elder and found out that he had gone to the computer lab that very day in order to email me. We started emailing each other and talked on the phone a few t...

The stage was actually set for this evening's disaster earlier this afternoon when S-Boogie refused to take her nap. She just hung out in her room for about 2 hours (I could hear her and even went in a few times to tuck her back into bed) and came out about 4:30 announcing "I'm not going to sleep". Lately she'll sometimes skip a nap and there's not much you can do about it. But, I knew that meant she'd be extra cranky after dinner and that the hour and a half before bedtime wasn't going to be very pleasant. It usually isn't anyways, since I haven't yet figured out how to handle a colicky baby, cooking dinner, and still getting a toddler to bed on time. Usually Little Dude spends a lot of the time screaming in his swing while I'm cooking or getting S-Boogie ready, and I generally end up eating with one hand and holding the screaming baby with the other. Luckily S-Boogie seems to be indifferent to his screaming. So, after dinner tonight I sug...

One of the nice things I did while on my vacation was read (big surprise). I've finally gotten to the point where I can nurse and read, most of the time. And I decided that even though I should be working on my thesis, I don't have any more classes to take so I can spend some time reading whatever I want. This time I decided to catch up on some contemporary fiction that I've been hearing good things about. Generally I don't read much contemporary fiction; if I read fiction it's usually something young adult or something old ("classics"). But, I decided to try a few books and I really liked them all: Peace Like a River: This was actually my least favorite of the books I read. That doesn't mean I didn't like it, but I didn't get into the story as much as the other ones. And I think I was supposed to like the little sister more than I did. But, it was still a very well-written book with excellent characters and an interesting plot. The Poisonw...