Reading Roundup July

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

This is meant to be a book about life as well as writing, and I remember enjoying it while I read it. However, a few weeks later I don't remember a lot. I did read it quickly, so maybe I should read it more slowly next time. And take notes.


Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje

An interesting memoir about his family history. Beautiful descriptions of tropical splendor, of course. In some way the eccentricities reminded me of my own family.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer


I'll just say it: I hated this book. Hated it. I felt somewhat indifferent about Twilight, but this one was just so obnoxious. I wanted to slap Bella the whole time. There is nothing interesting about a main character who has no ambitions or life of her own, who spends her whole time following around one guy or another, and who is so shallow she wants to die so she can always stay the exact same age as her boyfriend. Blah.


The Chosen by Chaim Potok

I'm glad I gave Potok another chance because I loved this book. The tensions between beliefs and the insights into family and religious life were fascinating. I can see why so many people I know love it so much.

A Strong West Wind by Gail Caldwell

It seems like I've read several memoirs lately by women growing up during the 1960s and 1970s. It sounds like a fascinating time to grow up and to experience first-handed the vast cultural changes that happened in our country. I liked the book, though it did feel a bit too much like many of the other memoirs I've been reading lately: girl grows up in small town, girl goes west and wanders with the hippies for a few years, girl goes east and gets a "real job", girl becomes a writer and a feminist, etc..

Falling Through the Earth by Danielle Trussoni

Reading this memoir so soon after reading A Girl Named Zippy was interesting. They are both written by woman growing up in small, Midwestern towns during the 1970s. Trussoni's, however, is about the effects of the Vietnam war on her father, and his family. Some parts of it were difficult to read, but the way she wove together her childhood and her father's life was well-done and it didn't feel manipulative in any way. A very timely reminder of the true cost of combat.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I have mixed feelings about short stories; the good ones I've read made me fall in love with the genre, but I've read so many bad ones that I'm now nervous about them. This was an excellent collection, however, and I realized that I enjoy reading a bunch of stories about similar themes by a single author. Most of these were quite good and I liked the collection as a whole.

Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee

I didn't know much about this book, but a friend mentioned it on her blog so I thought I'd check it out. I liked it, though I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. The themes of identity, language, and cultural diversity were well-realized but I had trouble connecting with the characters in any way.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

I was surprised by how good this book was; it was slow in the beginning and I'd been reluctant to read it after all the hype. But it really blew me away. Despite my initial indifference, I found myself drawn in and stayed up late to finish it in one day. I would gladly read it again.

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the third book by Ishiguro that I have read, and they all seem to have the same plot: the narrator looks back on his or her life and reevaluates the past through the prism of the present. The amazing thing is that every book I've read has been so beautifully written and so fully realized that they didn't feel the same at all. I really liked this book, although I would like to know more about Japan during the Second World War in order to fully understand it. I didn't feel bad about my ignorance, however, since the narrator was equally as unaware while living through the same time period.

Movies

Gosford Park

I spent the first hour of this film thoroughly confused, but started to enjoy it once I figured out who everyone was. Although it's billed as a 'murder mystery', it's not really. I think I would probably enjoy this more with a second viewing.

Todo sobre mi madre

I loved this movie; if you were to read the plot description it would sound like a soap opera, but Almodovar manages to find hope and humor in the messiness of life. The characters were all fabulous, the plot was complex, and the camerawork was great too.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We actually went and saw a movie in the theater; it's been about six months since the last time. I haven't read this book, and I felt at times like I should have so I could understand more fully who people were and what was going on. But I thought everything else about the film was well done and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

El espiritu de la colmena

Since everything I read about Spanish film references this one, I thought it was time to watch it. It is a gorgeous film and full of complex symbolism and interesting references to pop culture and child psychology. At the same time, it's very slow, has little dialogue, and not much happens in the plot. It was still worth a viewing.

All ye that labor

Since today was the fifth Sunday of the month we had a special meeting with the Relief Society and Priesthood combined. Our bishop spoke, and chose to center his remarks around the Stake's theme scripture for the year:

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28-30)

We first talked about the word "labor" and it's connotations. At that point I remembered that Joseph Smith used the same word in describing his struggles to find the right church; he says "I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists". Finding a testimony and seeking Christ is labor; it is work. One of the things I really liked about the new video about Joseph Smith the Church produced a few years ago was the way they dramatized Joseph's struggle for answers. They show the passing of seasons and the cycle of farm work that the family engages in. Throughout this entire time, Joseph is also "laboring" spiritually by attending churches, asking questions, reading and pondering. However, when he turns his question over to Christ, his soul finds rest. He cannot find the answer through his own pondering; it takes the intervention of a higher power.

At the same time, while we tend to regard the First Vision as the culminating event in Joseph's spiritual life, it really was only the beginning. He came away from that with more questions and spent the rest of his life involved in the struggle for answers, answers that often just created more questions. This is how my faith has worked in my life; it is a faith precipitated by questions, by doubts, and by work. At the same time, it is also built on a conviction that God hears me and answers my prayers. Josphe had that same foundation; he answered Christ's challenge to take his "yoke" (the scripture footnotes this to indicate a connection with "Christ's name") upon himself, and he found rest. Well, at least rest until some other questions came up. But the fact that we can find rest, that we have someone to help us in all our labors, is a vital part of my testimony. We don't have to labor alone.

12 Months

The other day I received a package in the mail from the BYU library. It contained my thesis, nicely bound in a blue cover and looking nice and official. I'm still somewhat in a state of shock that I really don't have to do anything else. I'm done. I have defended my thesis, passed all my tests, and graduated. I still don't feel worthy. What that really means is that the thesis cloud has lifted and I can move on to other projects. I have two children, so obviously I won't be spending lots of time on new things, but the freedom is exhilarating. So here are some of the things I would like to get done during the next year (after which I will probably be back in school):

1. Read a lot of books.

This probably shouldn't even be a goal. It will happen whether I plan on it or not. I'm an addict. I'm trying to decide if I want to be read some of the critical theory and some of the major works of Spanish and other world literatures that I am unversed in, or if I should just keep up my program of reading whatever strikes my fancy and shows up on my hold list at the library first. We'll see what happens; probably a mix of both. I'm still in recovery from my MA right now.

2. Watch more movies

Again, this will happen. I'm also trying to fill in some of my knowledge gaps here; I'm not sure Mr. Fob is as enthused. When I offered him the choice of a Spanish film or a Taiwanese one tonight, he opted to work on homework. Hmm....

3. Finish S-Boogie's scrapbook

In a fit of madness I started creating a scrapbook-style baby book for S-Boogie. Since it is still unfinished, you can imagine how enthused I am about the project. I need to just finish it (I'd like to get through the first year) and find a different system for the rest of her photos as well as a chronicle of Little Dude's life.

4. Finish cross-stitch project

I actually really like counted cross-stitch. However, it takes a bit of time and it's somewhat complicated to set everything up. It's great for doing while watching movies or TV on DVD. One problem I have with it is that I tend to pick it up for a while, and then forget about it for a few years. I have one project I've been working on for a number of years now that is close to finishing. I also think it would look really cute in a little girl's room, so I should probably finish it before she's big enough to choose her own decor.

5. Get in better shape

This is always a long-term, nebulous goal. I would like to establish an exercise habit and make it stick. In theory I should probably eat more healthily, but I don't know how likely to happen that is.

6. Submit an article or two for publication

I have at least one paper that I was supposed to submit last year, but I never got around to revising it. I think it would be wise to try and keep adding to my CV when I'm not actually in school.

7. Study another language

I got away with fulfilling the second language requirement for my MA by counting the fact that I took four semesters of Italian before my mission. However, for a PhD I need evidence that I have reading knowledge of one or two other languages. I should probably get a jump start on this before starting school.

Um, I think that's it. I think it will be interesting next summer to see how much of this actually gets done. It's always good to have some goals, even if you know you're going to fall short.

Heavenly Messengers

This morning on the way to the library I had a sudden urge to be spontaneous. Instead of going home for lunch, the kids and I decided to swing by McDonald's and get some lunch to take to the park. I was going to write a post about how I decided to eat at McDonald's instead of the local place across the street. The local place has better tasting food, but they don't have a drive thru. They also don't have healthy kids meal options like apples and milk. So I sold my soul to corporate America all for the sake of saving money and avoiding feeding soda to my children. Like I said, while at the park eating I was writing a post in my head about how it's OK to not always be "perfect". Wiggle room in the budget (and the diet) for Happy Meals is not a bad thing.

Then it turned out that S-Boogie was too distracted by the playground to eat any of her lunch. I wrapped her cheeseburger and apples back up and put them in the bag. I left the bag on the picnic table and we went off to play on the playground. A few minutes later I turned around and saw a cloud of birds surrounding the table. An entire flock of ravens attacked the Happy Meal and ripped it to shreds. I don't know if they ate the cheeseburger, but I couldn't find it. Perhaps the ravens were sent to remind me of my foolishness in buying fast food for my child. Next time I'll stop at Whole Foods or the organic bakery on my way to the park.

PhD vs MLS

It is now the end of July, which means August and September are rapidly approaching. That really means that it is time to start thinking about applying for more grad school next year. I don't want to be filling out last-minute applications in December. Right now I'm still trying to decide if I want to go ahead for a PhD or if I want to get a library degree instead. For some reason Blogger doesn't like me doing bulleted lists, so I'll try to be as coherent as possible.

PhD:

I enjoyed my classes so far; I trust my professors when they tell me I do good work and that they think I would do well in a PhD program; I like studying and researching. However, I'm not a big fan of writing or publishing. I'm also not totally sure about committing myself to academia exclusively.

I like teaching; I like discussing ideas; I know I'm somewhat timid and a bit of a "soft" teacher, but I think that at higher levels that wouldn't be such an issue.

I like the work schedule and I like the university environment. I don't like some of the politics. The departmental politics were probably one of the worst parts of my MA and I'm a little nervous about jumping into that arena again. At least at a different university the politics will be different.

MLS

I love libraries and I love reading a wide variety of books. I also remember books easily, so I think I'd make a good reference librarian. At the same time, customer service jobs haven't always been my favorite. And I have little library experience thus far.

UW has a really good online MLS degree, so I could easily do my degree from home. And I would be a resident here by next year so tuition would be cheap. It would take three years though, and just from what I've seen of Mr. Fob's coursework I'm afraid most classes would be really boring for me.

Job opportunities would be more readily available with this degree, especially combined with the MA that I already have. However, if I have the same degree as Mr. Fob we might end up competing or have trouble job searching because many places have nepotism policies that prevent us working together.


The truth is, I'm leaning more heavily towards the PhD option. My main objection is just sheer terror. I have a mental block that tells me that I really can't do it; I can't teach, write or publish. I'm not that smart or that creative or even that cool.

Odds and Ends

I have a lot of random half-written posts floating around in my head, but haven't taken the time to write any of them down. I promise I'll try and write a real post one of these days.

S-Boogie is doing much better. She actually hasn't even had too many side effects from the antibiotics, so far. And we managed to tweak the medicine schedule so we wake her up at 11 and give her medicine before we go to bed, so everyone is much happier.

We spent way too much time Simpsonizing ourselves the other night. But it was fun, and now I have a new profile pic.

I know I promised before and after pictures of the new dresser, but Mr. Fob did the switch while I was at church and didn't take a shot of the old one. Sorry.

The weather has been cold and rainy all week. Apparently it's not supposed to be like that in July here. We had a ward activity at a park tonight and it was very cold and damp. S-Boogie had a great time playing with her friends. My special raspberry/peach tart didn't win the baking contest, but I still think it was fabulous anyways. The ironic thing is that I thought my potato salad turned out kind of mediocre, but I got a ton of compliments on it. Go figure.

I really liked our talks in church the other day. One guy gave a great talk about following the will of God and used examples of modern pioneers, like the members in Brazil where he served his mission. I've been meaning to write a post about these pictures, but I'll just link to them instead.

We got the kids' pictures and managed to send them off to all of our family members. I also made graduation announcements and sent them out as well. I feel so effecient.

I think that's it. I'll try and write something more interesting one of these days. My brain has been tired lately.

S-Boogie Update

S-Boogie has cellulitis; according the handout we got from the ER it is a "potentially serious infection". Basically it happens when bacteria that are normally on the outside of your skin get inside it and decide to have a party. They probably got in through her mosquito bites. The "potentially serious" part comes in when the bacteria get into the bloodstream or if you get a scary bacterium like staph or that flesh-eating stuff. Thankfully none of that happened and her hand is looking much better. The only thing that sucks is that she's taking the extra-strength antibiotics that have to be given three times a day (every eight hours). That means that we get to take turns waking her up at 4 in the morning to give her medicine and a little snack to settle her tummy. I guess it's better than having her come down with a systemic infection or ending up in the hospital. At least she's an adaptable sort of kid and really doesn't seem to mind getting up to take medicine. I wish I were that cheerful about it.

Travel Plans

We've got two big trips planned for August. First of all, we'll be coming to Utah for a few days for BYU graduation. I'm getting excited because my little brothers are flying out and my sister will be back in the states, so my entire family will be together for the first time in three years. Should be fun. We probably won't be staying for a really long time because Mr. Fob won't quite be done with his school-related stuff. I also might have a job by then, so I don't know about time off. But we know for sure that we'll be in Utah for a few days around the 17th. We were talking last night about having some sort of get together with friends, so if it will work out we'll email you. If you want to be included and I don't have your email, send me one (address at the bottom of the page).

A week or so after we get back from Utah, we'll be flying off to Hawaii. We found tickets on sale ($320 round trip!) and couldn't pass up the deal. We're going to spend 10 days there. I'm already getting excited, because it's been two years since our last visit. The kids are both big enough that they'll have a great time at the beach. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the six-hour plane ride with them. I feel like I should warn people so they don't book the same flight as us.

Oh, and I'll post more on S-Boogie's hand later today after we see the doctor. It's already looking somewhat better: the redness is mostly gone and the swelling hasn't spread at all. She also hasn't had a fever, so these are all good signs.

For the record

After recently reconfirming my opposition to Disney movies, today I let S-Boogie watch Snow White and Pocahontas. When she's sick, I'll pretty much do anything to help her feel better. I also bought her strawberry ice cream.

I respond to stress by spending money. If you saw the amounts I spend, you'd probably laugh. But our budget doesn't have a lot of wiggle room so even little sprees add up. The funny thing is, I usually combine my penchant for spending with my need to eat to manage stress, so I end up blowing a wad at the grocery store. While waiting for S-Boogie's prescription I bought cherries, circus animal cookies, two kinds of pudding, and two kinds of ice cream. Then after I stopped by a different store to get new thermometer covers I stopped by Trader Joe's and bought a bunch more junk. Oh, and pizza dough so we can have pizza.

Insurance is a big pain in the butt. I shouldn't have to spend three hours and go to two different pharmacies to get the antibiotic that the emergency room at one the best children's hospitals in the country thinks my daughter should have. Would the insurance company rather pay for hospitalization than for an antibiotic? Apparently.

How the mighty have fallen

I know I've already blogged about my views on children and licensed characters. Before my children were born I vowed to never let them watch television and to ban any sort of toys associated with characters from our home. Since then I've learned that real life has a way of tempering your ideals. S-Boogie still doesn't watch Disney movies or own any princess things, but we are firmly stuck in Dora land and have been for nearly a year now. I still refuse to buy her Dora clothing or Dora bedding, but she is convinced she will be receiving a Dora bike and helmet for her birthday in a few weeks. I think I need to start looking at consignment shops right now, because the birthday fairy does not have funds for a new bike. Here are some tidbits from today's Dora mania:

1. "Dora and Diego got baby jaguar. They had to go down the river and through the jungle. We saw a jaguar at the zoo. It was sleeping. I love Dora and Boots. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." She said all this while pretending that her straw cup was a microphone. Then she invited me to share my testimony too.

2. "I know Mom! I can be Dora for Halloween. Oohh, and [Little Dude] can be Boots!"
She's really excited about this idea and I hope she forgets about it before the holiday. Maybe she can be Dora, but I'm not so hot about the Boots idea. Maybe if she does that I can be Map. Or Backpack.

At least she speaks some Spanish now. I love how she likes to ask me how to say things in Spanish. The other day I taught her to say "Abrocha tu cinturon de seguridad adentro del coche." So now she can be a bilingual flight attendant.

My love/hate relationship with Ikea

The first time I visited Ikea was the day I arrived in Seattle last fall. Since it was on the way home from the airport and since we needed furniture, we thought it would be a good idea to stop by and browse on our way to our hotel. Well, we quickly realized that even Ikea furniture is out of our price range, shopping with two tired children fresh off a plane is a nightmare, and Ikea is large and overwhelming. We did eat at the restaurant and I really liked the meatballs.

We hadn't returned to Ikea until last night. I'm not sure why, but for some reason it just didn't happen. Then yesterday I decided I had had enough of the kids' dresser. We got it from some lady on craigslist last year; we bought S-Boogie's bed from her, and she threw in the dresser for ten dollars. She even had her boyfriend deliver it to us. Unfortunately I didn't look at the dresser before agreeing to have it, and we quickly realized why she was desperate to get rid of it. The drawers wouldn't stay on track, no matter what we did. The back was cracked, which warped the frame. For the last six months or so Little Dude's clothes have just been piled on top. Some day I'd love to have a car big enough to transport furniture so I could take advantage of the great deals on craigslist. But I don't. So I've just been hating the dresser for the last six months or so.

Yesterday another of the drawers fell out and smashed S-Boogie's fingers. I decided it was time to find a replacement, so Mr. Fob and I thought we'd check out Ikea first. And I was craving meatballs. Last night I decided that I really do love Ikea. First of all, S-Boogie is big enough to play in the kid area now. So we got an hour to browse with Little Dude. He happily hung out in the sling playing with the rubber duckie the ladies at the kid area gave him. First we found these beauties for our CDs. Next came the real treasure:a dresser was on clearance for fifty dollars. It was beautiful. We don't need a changing table at the moment, but it should hold the kids' clothes and hopefully won't fall apart any time soon. (I was going to link to the dresser but it's a line they are discontinuing. If you are near an Ikea and need baby furniture, see if they still have some of the Diktad line, it's fabulous.) We also ate meatballs, so my night was fabulous.

Then today I decided that I hate Ikea after all. Putting the dresser together was a horrible ordeal. It was made especially complicated by the fact that one screw was supposed to go in a spot where there was a knot in the wood. I was glad we had a few extra because I stripped two screws trying to get it in place. But we eventually got the dresser together and I'm so excited to put it in the kids' room tomorrow. Now I can stop being embarrassed when people come over (I'll post before and after photos tomorrow).

One More Try

Just when you thought you knew everything about me, I got tagged again. This time by Kengo Biddles, who I think is cool. The interesting twist on this particular meme is that it has been dubbed "The 8 Random Gay Mormon Facts", probably because it is circulating among the Gay Mormon bloggers. I am not Gay, but I am Mormon, so I will go ahead and answer.

1. Part of the reason for posting this today is because I recently wrote a post on Northern Lights and I know I am getting new visitors who were linked from that post. I thought they might want to know more about me than cookbook reviews and musings on my lack of cleavage.

2. I mostly submitted that post to Northern Lights because it felt funny to put it on my blog. I started this blog two years ago as my personal space, and so it deals with all facets of my life, not just my relationship with Mr. Fob. I will probably contribute occasionally to Northern Lights because I like what they are doing and I feel better about contributing to the dialogue there rather than here in this space.

3. I have been somewhat uncomfortable with the celebrity/notoriety we have gained for being so public about our relationship. The truth is, I mostly encouraged Mr. Fob to publish his essay so we could earn a little money (and so he could get some publications under his belt). I really didn't intend to set ourselves up as "experts" in any way.

4. The other two public appearances were voluntary and I actually don't regret them too much. We were willing to put our names and faces to an issue that most people don't want to address publicly. I've discovered that ignorance and prejudice are a lot harder to sustain once you get to know people.

5. I went to high school during the early 1990s in California. My school was diverse and liberal, but this was before the days when coming out in high school was cool so I really didn't know any gay people. Most of my exposure to homosexuality came from movies like The Birdcage or Philadelphia. At the same time, my parents are very loving and tolerant and I do not remember learning, at home or at church, that homosexuals were evil or perverted or anything like that. For most of my life, homosexuality was basically off my radar.

6. The first time I went to the Evergreen conference I felt very uncomfortable. We were still at the point where we both felt that our marriage wasn't very affected by things; we didn't talk about problems, so we assumed they didn't exist. When I attended a session for spouses it mainly turned into a venting session with women sharing stories of the horrible ways in which they had been betrayed by their husbands. I hope that during the last five years things have changed somewhat and that there is a little more emphasis on the diversity of relationships. Basically I felt weird because at the time I was the only woman there who hadn't been cheated on and who hadn't found out about her husband's homsexuality through betrayal.

7. We have a variety of friends that are gay, straight, single, married, actively Mormon, inactively Mormon, parents, childless, etc. I can honestly say that I feel the same about all of them. I will admit that the first time we had a gay friend and his boyfriend come over for dinner I felt a little weird about it. Mostly because it was a new experience for me. But now I love them both and have never felt weird around them. Or any of our other friends.

8. Mr. Fob and I have decided that for now we would like to stay married and work things out. Some issues have not changed: he still doesn't want to attend church with me, I still want a PhD. But other things have changed; we've both been in counseling these last few months and have made a lot of changes in our attitudes and our interactions. I love him, he loves me, and we are recommiting to making our marriage work.

Cookbook Review

One of the best ways to get out of a recipe rut is to borrow a cookbook from a friend or from the library. I've even bought a few that I discovered at the library. One of my latest finds is The Vegetarian Five-Ingredient Gourmet. I like this book because all the recipes are simple and involve easy to find, fresh ingredients. I don't like the fact that most of the salad recipes don't include any sort of dressing besides "use your favorite vinagrette", but they are still good. I really liked the menu suggestions throughout the book, since they give you good ideas for combining things. We enjoyed sweet-potato quesadillas, where you mash sweet potatoes and green chiles together, then spread it on the tortilla and top with jack cheese. They were delicious. I also really liked this recipe for black beans:

Garlicky Black Beans

4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup water

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes just until soft (don't cook on higher heat because it will burn). Add the beans, water, and lemon juice. Turn heat up to medium and simmer for about fifteen minutes until beans break down a little and mixture gets soupy and thick. During the last five minutes smash some of the beans with a spoon to thicken things up. Serve with rice. The original recipe says to stir in cilantro, but I thought it was even better to top this with fresh salsa.

No deep dark secrets

After two posts in a row confessing all kinds of interesting things about myself I thought you might like to know some stuff that is utterly boring:

Today I had my first ever massage. It was pretty good. It wasn't as fabulous as I was expecting, but that's probably because I went to a student clinic. They did manipulate my intestines, because I'd checked the box for "chronic constipation" under "medical issues you have a seen a doctor for". I think it helped, too. Getting totally naked for a guy who looks like he is seventeen was a lot easier than I thought. I just reminded myself that I've had two babies and that I've been to the proctologist, so this couldn't be quite so bad. It wasn't, especially because he was very good at the draping. So I decided that getting a massage was a much better reason to get naked for strangers than most of those other times in the past.

We also went and got Little Dude's picture taken this afternoon. I was a little nervous because the photographer really was as annoying in person as she had been on the phone. Thankfully the session went really well. Little Dude smiled charmingly; and they have eliminated the table and now take baby photos on the floor, which reduced my anxiety level a ton. When the photographer looked at me and said "have you ever done bathtub shots?", I smiled sweetly and said, "No thanks. We just want one pose for the package." She was nice enough to just stop right there and not make me take off Little Dude's clothes unnecessarily. I think she was also worn out by the family in front of us that had four small children. Unfortunately we came back to see our photos before the two large groups ahead of us had finished their deliberations, so we spent way too long sitting around the photo studio with two cranky children. And in the end we decided to buy one of their cute "enhanced" pictures on top of our package. So we spent some extra money, but it wasn't a lot. It was hard to resist: She had a picture of Little Dude smiling and holding a letter I, then in the enhancement she added the rest of the word "smile" around him. It was too cute. We'll scan it and put it on the kids' blog so you can tell us we weren't crazy to spend the money on it.

Another true confession

A few days ago Miss Nemesis wrote an excellent post about the women in her ward who were obsessed with not being pretty enough. While that was a worthwhile topic, what really caught my eye were the comments by a few mothers who pointed out that those women should be grateful for what they have, because after they have children "their boobs will never be the same". I have a confession that I hope will not incur the wrath of mommies everywhere:

I don't know what they are talking about.

My boobs are the one thing in my life that never changes. When I was in sixth grade they started developing like everyone else's. I waited excitedly for the day when puberty would hit and they would blossom and grow and look all womanly. It's been seventeen years and I'm still waiting. At some point I stopped buying AA bras and started buying A, but that's mainly because AA is hard to find with my band size. I get the padded or shaped ones, but there's a fairly large gap between the bra and my body. If you bump into me, my bra will cave in on itself because it's hollow.

I guess I should be grateful that I have one constant in my life. If I gain weight, if I lose weight, if I get pregnant, they just sit there. I wear B nursing bras, but that's mainly because they don't make nursing bras with A cups. I guess for the first few weeks things are a little bigger, but it goes away quickly. After all the trouble I had feeding Little Dude I began to wonder if I have something called "hypoplastic breasts", which means there isn't enough tissue to produce milk. S-Boogie nursed for a year, but she also gained weight slowly and barely cleared 17 pounds at her one-year check-up.

And so I sit and hear other women lament the shape of their breasts, or the fact that their breasts jiggle when they run, or the fact that they can't find shirts that fit. While I may nod knowingly, I secretly hope that they won't notice that I have no idea what they are talking about. Please don't hate me because I'm flat-chested.

4X2=8

I got tagged by Becca, who is a friend of some friends of mine, to share eight things about myself. Since I've already shared a number of things about myself, I was trying to figure out what you possibly couldn't know about me. Hopefully these will be 8 unique facts:

1. Even though the entire process is a pain, I love having parties and entertaining. I'm not that big into making things look great (a la Martha Stewart), but I love to cook and I love to invite friends over to hang out and eat. We celebrated with friends tonight and it was a lot of fun.

2. I ran a red light the other day. I really didn't mean to, and the more I think about it the more freaked out I am. I just keep imagining a car running into the side of my car and smushing S-Boogie, and it would be my fault. Thankfully that didn't happen.

3. I used to hate capri pants. When they first started being the fashionable thing to wear, I thought they were ridiculous. Finally a few years ago I realized that I just don't like shorts as much anymore. I guess I'm officially an old lady now.

4. I have to hang all the clothes in my closet facing the same direction.

5. One of my new favorite CDs is Mind Control by Stephen Marley. I like to listen to it really loud in the car.

6. When I was a kid I used to like to eat uncooked oatmeal with milk and molasses on it.

7. I sweat a lot. Even in the winter I usually have sweaty armpits. That's why I don't buy very many dry-clean-only clothes and I always feel self-conscious about people noticing.

8. I once ate a dog biscuit just to see what it tasted like (I was 9).

I'm supposed to tag 8 people, but it's late and it's a holiday, so I will invite all my readers to share 8 fun things about themselves.

Something Different

I rarely blog about the good days, so I thought I'd write about our wonderful day today. For some reason Happy Mommy managed to get out of bed this morning, instead of the usual Grumpy Mommy. I think that was helped by the fact that both children slept through the entire night and that it was a warm, sunny day (and a "warm day" here means 80 degrees, not 100 like that other crazy state we used to live in).

We started the day off early; both kids were awake and hungry at seven. But I got a decent amount of sleep so I didn't mind too much. S-Boogie was upset that we didn't have good choices of cereal, so we mixed up some pancakes. We even put blueberries in them, since we visited the farm stand yesterday and bought some nice juicy ones. After we ate breakfast, we cleaned up and changed our clothes. Then I decided to load the kids into the jogging stroller and go for a walk. I quickly realized that I hadn't exercised for a very long time, but it was a nice walk anyways. Then we came home and Little Dude napped while I showered and S-Boogie watched Sesame Street on TV.

Before lunch S-Boogie helped me clean the windows in the living room. It's fun to see how much she likes to spend time with me and help me with things. Then Little Dude woke up, we ate lunch (including fresh cherries from the farm stand!), and went to the grocery store. S-Boogie played at the "fun center" while I got things for our barbeque tomorrow. In the middle of my shopping trip I got a call on my cell phone. It was someone responding to a resume I submitted online yesterday. The job is only part-time, but the pay is high because it would be tutoring for a test prep/tutoring service. The hours are flexible too, which is another nice bonus. I get to go in for an in-person interview and teaching demonstration in about a week-and-a-half.

We got home, put the groceries away, and had Little Dude take his nap while S-Boogie watched Dora. I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon to check out an unfortunate infection that keeps flaring up. Thankfully my friend was flexible enough to come to my house to watch the kids after Little Dude napped late. My visit to the doctor was quick and easy, more or less: I didn't have to wait long at all, but pelvic exams are never "easy". The medical assistant joked "having a vagina is a big pain, isn't it?" Yeah.

So I came home and we made some yummy noodles with peanut sauce for dinner. S-Boogie refused to eat them, and I fear for her bowels tomorrow. She had blueberry wheat pancakes for breakfast, cherries for lunch, and nectarines and vegetables for dinner. Little Dude only eats carbs. Combine their powers and I'd have a nutritionally balanced child. After dinner we played outside for a bit, then came in for bubble baths. Little Dude livened up the rinsing process by turning on the shower. Then it was jammies, stories, teeth brushing, and good nights for everyone. Little Dude even went to sleep after crying for only a few minutes (we're working on helping him fall asleep by himself).

Now I'm going to go eat an ice cream bar and maybe watch a movie. So there you have it. Something entirely different for this blog (and my life): a perfect day.

Hard Sell

I just got off the phone from scheduling pictures for S-Boogie and Little Dude. I feel kind of bad that I never managed to get Little Dude in for a studio photo of him as a baby, but at least I'm on the ball to get his one-year photo. We've done Target in the past, but the closest one with a portrait studio here is 50 miles away, so we're switching our loyalty to JC Penney. Besides the fact that I'm already nervous about Little Dude's behavior (I remember S-Boogie attempting to throw herself off the table at her one-year portrait), I am getting very nervous about dealing with the pushy salespeople. As much as I hate the actual picture-taking, I hate trying to convince them that I really only want my one pose, $7.99 package. That's it.

The lady on the phone today was very pushy. She wanted to know all about my children's ages, personalities (how do you describe the personality of a one-year-old?), full names, hobbies, what they were going to wear, etc... I tried to describe everything, but also kept interjecting that I probably only wanted one pose since I was getting the package. And I know that when I get there and they will insist on taking fifty different pictures in the hopes that I will stop being so chintzy once I see the cuteness of multiple poses. I acknowledge that multiple poses can often be cute, but the reason why we go through the trouble of printing off coupons is so we can save money. If they don't want people to be cheap, they shouldn't give us coupons. If I can get 24 pictures for only $7.99, why would I choose anything else?