Yellow Wallpaper

No, I am not pregnant (though having your baby turn two will inevitably induce some newborn hunger). We have a new family member ; you might think it's just a car, but since Mr. Fob took a number of pictures of it and put it on his desktop, I think our relationship with this new guy is on a higher level. I know I blogged a few weeks ago about my desire for a new vehicle, but at the time I really didn't think we were going to be buying something new any time soon. However, Mr. Fob and I got to talking and realized that it was probably time to upgrade. After a few test drives and a whole lot of time spent comparing every possible aspect of our favorite vehicles, we settled on the Kia Rondo . We got a good price for it, it has more cargo space and the option to seat more people, and the mileage is not any worse than our old car. Best of all: it has power windows and remote entry. Hopefully we'll be happy with it for many more years to come.

I have noticed during my time on the internet that blogging about being a mom tends to swing back and forth between two extremes. Either we work hard to reassure ourselves that we are alright as we are, that we are doing plenty for our children, and that it's perfectly fine to be "lazy". The other extreme is the ideal of perfection--that moms should work hard to provide decorated homes, nutritious meals, cute clothes, inspired teaching, and a variety of other things for their kids. I have pretty much always fallen on the "lazy mom" side, and have even caught myself feeling judgemental of those who expend extra effort on their children. I think where I'm at right now is trying to find some balance somewhere in the middle. Kids like the little things; they like stuff like fun invitations to parties, cakes shaped like buses, and nicely wrapped gifts. Doing things for others is a way to show that you care about them. I think the problem comes in when we do thi...

Two years ago I woke up on Memorial Day in the hospital. The night before, my water had broken and I'd rushed to the hospital to have a baby three weeks early. I know I've already written about Little Dude's birth on here, and I probably talk about it way too much, but I think it will always be one of those life-defining moments for me. Today in church we were talking about the temple, and one of the things mentioned was that the temple is a place to learn more about the mysteries of God. We often think that the mysteries of God are the big things, like the location of Kolob , but we also have our own personal mysteries. God's mercy and help in Little Dude's birth will always be a mystery to me, especially since I know people who have lost babies in similar circumstances. I don't know why his life was spared, or mine, especially when there is so much suffering in the world. So on Memorial Day I ponder all the mysteries in my life--my friends and family members...

Despite the fact that I grew up with a mother who was dedicated to serving us wholesome food, I still am not a huge fan of vegetables. Well, I can be, but they're not high on my list of things I daydream about. I'd much rather read a dessert cookbook than one about veggies. I will admit that I often eat vegetables more out of a sense of obligation to nutrition than for pure love of their taste. Lately we've been trying to increase our veggie intake, and one of the things that's helped is signing up for a company that delivers a bin of assorted organic produce to our home every other week (you can do it weekly, but we don't have that much money for food). Not only is the food fresh, but we get a variety of things that I wouldn't ordinarily buy in the store. Just this last week we've enjoyed kale, fingerling potatoes, spring salad greens, beets, cauliflower, and asparagus--plus I still have two artichokes waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. I...

Fifty-six people have taken my quiz, and the answers match what I had predicted from the outset. In fact, majority opinion matches all the animals in the book . If I had more time and a good reason to do it, I'd survey a bunch of books to see what kind of gender biases farm animals are subjected to in the name of children's literature. Now let's analyze the results: Pig: Three quarters of the responses were for male, one quarter for female. The book actually has two pigs and uses "they", so this won't match up. Pig is one that can kind of go both ways, but I generally think of pigs as being male. The Three Little Pigs are usually male, and so are Wilbur and Babe, so there's some strong cultural conditioning going on there. Horse: The same split: three quarters were male, one quarter female. In the book, Horse is referred to as "he". As one commenter pointed out, horse and cow are often seen as a pair, and since cows are obviously female (except i...

One of our favorite books lately is Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. In the book, Duck rides his bike past all his friends on the farm and invites them to come for a ride. What I found interesting the first time I read is that so often the gender assigned to each animal seemed to "feel right" to me. When I was discussing this with Mr. Fob, he actually agreed with many of my assessments. Obviously some animal names come with a gender, like rooster or cow, but many other animals seem to be more often portrayed as one way or another. Rather than reveal what my thoughts were, I thought I'd take a little survey and see what you think: Quizzes by Quibblo.com

As a mom, I tend to take the easy route for most things. This is why neither of my kids has ever really had a birthday party with friends and games and all that stuff. We've usually had some kind of family get together instead, and last year I just invited S- Boogie's friends over for cupcakes. This year, however, she is obsessed with birthday parties. She's also been to a few hosted by her friends and is eagerly looking forward to hers. The only problem is that we won't be here for her birthday in August. So I had the bright idea of having a going-away party for her; the only problem is that I realized the other day that we only have about seven weeks left here (I know!) and I don't know what I'm doing. So hopefully my online friends can help me out. Has anyone out there had a birthday party for their kid? First of all, I'm not sure about timing. I'm thinking a weekday afternoon, since Saturdays are usually full for people. Most of the kids are either ...

I've been thinking lately about identity and the way people see us, and how we see them. This was partly inspired by reading a friend's blog who was talking about how she teaches piano students and arranges music and things like that. I realized that most people who have known me for the last few years would probably not think of me as a musician, or even musical. Yet all through high school I thought of myself as "musical" and it was an important aspect of my identity. I was in band for the first two years of high school and I also played the piano. I played for Young Women's as well as for extra things like baptisms, enrichment nights, etc. I also spent nearly a year playing piano for sacrament meeting in the Spanish-speaking ward that shared our building. For a few years I planned and coordinated an annual sacrament meeting program that the Young Women put on (it was modelled on the Primary program with musical numbers and talks). I also loved playing piano sol...

When Mr. Fob and I were dating seven years ago, he got a new car. I went with him to the dealership to look at it and pick it out; I remember feeling funny because at the time we were just dating, but starting to get serious, so I was thinking that at some point the car would be "ours" and not just "his". I'd never owned a car before, and for several years the car was fabulous. It has air conditioning and a CD player, both features I had never been blessed to have in a vehicle before. It's been a good little car and we've appreciated having it. Unfortunately, like many relationships, ours is getting a little stale. I've grown tired of our car's flaws, like no remote entry and a not-so-powerful engine. The cramped backseat and tiny trunk are also getting on my nerves. Many of my friends have recently acquired new cars or vans and I'm beginning to feel some serious envy of their new vehicles. Today we had a one-day fling with a Toyota Sienna, a...

I've often heard the omniscience of God described as similar to that of parents who know their children well. God knows us so well he can predict our behavior in any situation. I'm really beginning to understand this as a parent. For example, yesterday I asked S-Boogie to change out of her church dress because we were going on a nature walk. She got upset because "all her friends wear dresses to play", so I pointed out a different dress that was more appropriate for play and said she could wear it to school in the morning. I figured she would probably get up and put it on, and sure enough, she did. Normally getting her dressed is an extended process involving a lot of whining and asking for help. This morning she was fully dressed, including tights, before emerging from her room. Just as I predicted. A little while ago Little Dude started a very bad habit of removing his pajama pants and diaper at night. So far the only serious incident we had involved pee, but tonigh...

When I was in Las Vegas last month, my mom and I went to the mall to buy me some new shoes. We went to a store that sells quality, comfortable shoes. Their image is very practical and certainly not flashy like many of the other apparel stores in the mall. I thought it was the sort of store where you go to buy some sturdy, basic shoes that will keep your feet happy for a while. Then I got home and opened up the catalog they had slipped into my bag. I was confronted by a full-page picture of a lady with sand stuck to her butt. And a guy staring at her (notice that he's not looking at her shoes--I didn't notice them at first either). All the other pictures in the catalog are just as ridiculous. Lean women in tiny sports bras and shorts--oh, and athletic shoes. A girl hiking in a ridiculous looking tube top. A close up of a woman holding flip flops at her waist, so the picture is just flip flops and bikini bottom. I don't know if all the ads come from the shoe companies (like ...

The last time I had a birthday party with someone other than family was ten years ago. My roommate threw me a party and forgot to invite anyone (she was a really sweet person and I totally forgive her for it). This year I decided that it would be fun to have a little get-together with my friends since I'm celebrating another decade. I gave Mr. Fob a list of suggested invitees and left the rest of the planning up to him. Tonight was somewhat of a surprise, although we both felt that the night before my birthday would probably be a good time for a gathering. I left work a little before eight and headed home, but then I started to feel really lame when I got caught in traffic and realized that my friends were all going to be sitting around waiting for me to get there. Thankfully I managed to get home without excessive delay, and thankfully Mr. Fob was a fabulous host. He made cheese balls with crackers, chips and guacamole, and this beautiful ice cream cake. He also graciously retired...