I left my heart in San Diego

We pulled in last night at eleven after a long drive and a fun-filled weekend away with family. I thought I'd write a quick run-down of our vacation:

Thursday: We woke up bright and early at 4:30 with Little Dude, who informed us "it's Christmas in my bed". Thankfully we got him to go back to sleep until a more reasonable hour. Then we opened our presents, ate some breakfast, packed up our things, and hit the road (with only one small stress-induced argument). Then we drove through the desolation that is I-5 in northern California, dodging giant tumbleweeds and raging dust storms. The kids fell asleep somewhere in the mountains and slept through Los Angeles so we delayed dinner until Orange County. The only place we could find that was open was a McDonalds in Mission Viejo. We were all starving and tired so even the crappy service didn't mar our fabulous Christmas feast. The kids even got matching My Little Ponies. We were all very excited to pull into our hotel and unpack our things in our luxurious suite overlooking the harbor.

Friday: We actually slept in a bit and then had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel lobby. Little Dude and S-Boogie thought the free breakfast was one of the best parts of the trip. That afternoon we went to the Zoo with my family. The weather was cold and we had two-day passes, so we didn't do much that day besides taking the bus tour and eating some lunch. We also rode the sky ride, which was another highlight of the trip for the kids (not for Mr. Fob). That night we spent time swimming in the hotel pool and then played games with my family after putting the kids to bed.

Saturday: In the morning we headed back to the Zoo with my mom before the crowds showed up. I recommend getting there right at opening time because it's easier to see things and the animals are more awake and lively. We loved watching a koala climb around and eat, and were awed by the birds of prey that were as big as Little Dude. That afternoon we spent some time driving around the part of town that we lived in when I was little. It was somewhat disorienting, because I haven't been back for years and now my memories are all mixed up with the way things look now. My elementary school is mostly unchanged, but the house we lived in (and where most of us were born) was torn down years ago. Standing in the plot of land where it used to be was still a fun experience, and I'm sure even more rewarding for my parents who actually remember more than the scattered images that I do. We ate dinner that night in a restaurant in the hotel lobby, and it was probably the only meal of the trip that wasn't fried or outrageously portioned.

Sunday: We started the day with swimming in the pool. Unfortunately the hotel put too many chemicals in the pool and Little Dude ended up with a bleached swim suit and S-Boogie's eyes were red for the rest of the day. Then my sister went with us to Seaport Village with the kids; they still have a carousel, and although it's not the one I rode as a little girl it was still fun for S-Boogie and Little Dude. We also admired all the little vendors trying to get our money with various things like caricatures and fire-eating. In the afternoon the entire family drove out to the tide pools at Point Loma (another childhood spot). Unfortunately Little Dude fell asleep in the car and did not wake up until after dark, so Mr. Fob did not get to see the tide pools either. S-Boogie and I explored with my sister and saw lots of anemones, crabs, snails, and mussels. That night Mr. Fob and I went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory with the gift card we received from his mom. It was nice to go out; I think we need to do it more often. We decided not to do a movie because it would keep us up too late, and I'm glad we didn't since the next day was very busy.

Monday: We got a special treat and were able to watch the Holiday Bowl parade live from our hotel balcony. This bothered S-Boogie because she wanted to watch it down on the street (with the thousand or so other people) and did not appreciate the advantage of private seating. Then we went to Sea World and showed her what happens when you try to get anything done in a crowd. It was a fun day and I love Sea World, but the crowds were really overwhelming and we wasted a lot of time waiting around in lines. It has also become even more commercialized and it feels like every time you turn around there is someone trying to sell you some sort of food or mass-produced trinket. We noticed that Little Dude was looking kind of down during lunch time, and then right as the Shamu show started he puked all over Mr. Fob. Daddy was willing to take one for the team and drive the sick kid back to the hotel for the night while I stayed on for a few more hours at the park with S-Boogie, my mom, and my little brother. We were all really exhausted by the time the day was over.

Tuesday: Since our visit to Sea World ended badly the night before, we thought it would be a good idea to wake up early, quickly pack our stuff, and hit the park for a few hours before heading home (two-day passes are fabulous). It was a great idea; the park was relatively uncrowded and we were able to watch the Shamu show again as well as the seal and otter one. The kids got to talk to the dolphins in their tank and we went on a kiddie ride together. And as a bonus I ran into a friend as we were leaving the park--talk about random! Spending the morning at a theme park isn't the best way to start an eight-hour drive. We were tired and cranky, and the heavy LA traffic (and later fog) didn't help much. But we made it home and got ourselves in bed before midnight.

It was crazy weekend and not without a few moments of drama, but worth it in the end. After spending so many days in a hotel and eating out, I'm feeling a strong desire to spend our next vacation camping in the wilderness. My burger and fries craving should be satisfied for another six months or so. I've learned that staying in a suite-style hotel room is the best way to go when you have kids. Also, get the two-day passes for the parks and show up as early as you can. And even if you think your five-year-old is potty trained, bring an extra outfit. Or just have a generous sister with a really big hoodie that looks like a dress on her niece. Because that's what family is for: sharing clothes and making memories together (not to mention the pirate jokes).

To all a good night

The postal service did not deliver our anticipated package today, and the seller says she shipped it to us as soon as she could, so I found myself battling the crowds at Target to buy Little Dude a sleeping bag. It's not super cute, but it was cheap and he will love it. And now we'll have an extra kid-size sleeping bag on hand for when we need it. The yuckiness of Target on Christmas Eve was the only bad spot in an otherwise lovely day that included making gingerbread cookies with the kids and getting together with friends tonight. Tomorrow we're leaving for a few days, and even though we have to bring the computer so Mr. Fob can work, I've decided to try going offline for a few days. We'll see how that works out for me. Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!

In hopes that USPS would soon be there

So far we've had an enjoyable holiday season without much stress. Today we had some friends over to decorate gingerbread houses and it went well (except for the massive amount of extra candy left over--but that's not all that bad). Last night we had a fun little trip down to deliver cookies for the Thteed family and joined them for a tour of the temple lights. The kids had a good time and I always enjoy spending time with their family. I'm getting excited to see all my family and spend a few days enjoying a fun vacation in a warmer spot. We even managed to have our home teachers stop by tonight to get in their monthly visit. The only dark spot on our holiday is the delayed arrival of Little Dude's present. We found a great sleeping bag on EBay ten days ago and bid on it. I don't know what's happened to it since then. It wouldn't be a big deal if he didn't get that present until later, but I specifically wanted it for our trip. I know that he'll see S-Boogie's sleeping bag and spend the whole trip trying to climb in it with her. So I'm saying a little prayer that the Post Office will pull through and have a present for him tomorrow. Then I can relax and have a fabulous Christmas, right?

Brain Dump

I had a lot of grand plans for using my time off effectively, but instead I've gotten in a routine of spending time diddling around on the internet, and then watching TV until late at night. I recently discovered a bunch of old friends on the internet and I've spent way too much time lately on blogs and Facebook. Plus it feels like I spend the whole day doing something with one of the kids. Little Dude doesn't nap anymore and my days have been feeling long. S-Boogie is only in school for about three hours every day, and I think we'd both like it to be more. I realized the other day that things would probably be better for all of us if I tried therapy again (maybe the third time's the charm), and our stake directory handily has the local LDSFS number in the front cover, so I'm trying to get up the courage to give them a call and make an appointment. If I stop going to school we'll probably end up moving again next year, and I really dread going through the disruption again. I think it takes all of us about a year to adjust to a new place, so I'm getting anxious to just settle down somewhere. I'd love for it to be here, but we're far away from family and it's not very affordable. Plus there's only one good employer for Mr. Fob here in town and they haven't had any good openings during the last five months.

I have tried the last few days to just relax and have fun with the kids as much as possible. I worry that I'm going to struggle with S-Boogie for my whole life--she's just so intense that I get stressed out and overwhelmed easily with her. She's also been going through a very negative phase lately and the constant whining, pouting, and complaining get to me. Are all five-year-olds like this? It's hard to find a realistic balance between assuming I'm a horrible mom because she's never happy about anything and realistically evaluating what I'm doing. This afternoon we spontaneously made cupcakes, even though it involved cleaning up sprinkles all over the floor. The kids were very happy about the cupcakes--I almost said "no" because I know that next week will be one giant treat-fest, but it was a slow, cold afternoon. It's been too cold to play outside or ride bikes here so we've been trying to stay inside without going nuts. I have a few errands to run on campus, but it's either a freezing ten-minute bike ride or a thirty-minute walk so I've been putting them off. Any tips on riding a bike in forty-degree weather?

On the bright side, we're all counting down the days until next week. Little Dude keeps running around proclaiming "I'm so 'cited for Christmas!". Not only do we get to open presents, but after we finish the unwrapping we'll jump in the car for a drive down south. We're going to hang out with my family in a hotel for a few days and I'm so excited to see everyone. I love vacations. Mr. Fob's dad gave us some Christmas money to spend on the kids and I'm contemplating taking them to a theme park--probably Sea World but maybe Lego Land. The idea of paying a massive amount of money ($60 each, seriously!) on something so ephemeral seems so weird to me, but the kids would enjoy it and I think it's a better use of the money than buying more toys. Part of me still wants to spend it on some camping equipment, but the realist says that we probably won't really go camping all that often even if we have the equipment. Sea World was my favorite place when I was a kid and it will be great to take my kids. The massive commercial enterprise that it has become is nothing like it used to be when I was five, but I think they need to see Shamu at least once in their lives. I had hopes of taking some time to drive back through my old home and taking a look around, but I don't think it's going to happen. Hopefully we'll stay in California and I'll get a chance to visit there again some time in the future. At least I'll get to walk on the beach for Christmas!

Now I'm going to go eat another chocolate cupcake and watch the episode of Jeopardy! that I have taped. Is it lame that every time my phone rings I hope that it's the contestant coordinators calling me?

Reading Roundup: October and November

Yeah, I know it's already halfway through December, but I like to keep track of what I've been reading (and I don't know if anyone has missed this or not). The problem is, during the quarter I don't have time to read anything for fun, and this quarter I didn't get to read any novels, so I'm not sure what "counts" or not. I don't usually put most of my school reading on stuff like Good Reads, but I thought I'd talk a little about what I did this quarter. One of my classes was on literary theory, so just read a variety of articles from theorists, including Freud, Derrida, Benjamin, etc.

The second class I had was on Shakespeare; we focused on research methods and theory as well, so each week we read one play and two or three critical articles. Each week had a different way to look at Shakespeare, so we discussed things like animals in the plays, maps, gender theories, language theory, performance issues, and acoustics. We also read plays that are less-commonly studied, and most of them were ones I'd never read before: Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), Titus Andronicus, Pericles, Cymbeline, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Two Noble Kinsmen, As You Like It, and a comparative version of King Lear that had both the Folio and Quarto versions (they're very different). It was a good class, and I particularly liked Pericles and Cymbeline.

My third class was actually on contemporary Spanish film, so any reading we did was also critical articles. The specific topic for the class was social realist film from the 1990s and I thought the films were all pretty interesting. We saw:

Barrio and Princesas by Fernando Leon de Aranoa

Barrio is about three teenagers who live in poor families in a suburb of Madrid. Princesas is about a Spanish prostitute who becomes friends with another prostitute who is an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic. They were both really good movies, and I wrote my paper on Princesas because I liked it a lot. It's a very good movie, but it definitely has some "mature" content (not that much sex, interestingly, because the director was trying to make it about the characters' lives beyond the fact that they are prostitutes).

La flor de mi secreto by Pedro Almodovar

This is actually a very tame Almodovar movie, so if you'd like to try one of his it's a good one to start with. It's about a woman who is going through a crisis in her life and in her profession as a writer.

En construccion by Jose Luis Guerin

We all agreed that this was the most boring movie of the quarter. It's a documentary about gentrification in Barcelona, and is put together with very little editing and no soundtrack. Some parts of it are interesting, but it's also pretty long and slow.

Flores de otro mundo and Te doy mis ojos by Iciar Bollain

Bollain is a woman and a pupil of the British director Ken Loach (who is known for very "realist" cinema), so that should give you an idea of her style as a director. I really liked both these movies, particularly in light of the feminist theory we were reading regarding the view of women on film. Both are excellent movies--Flores is one I would recommend more to the average viewer because it's a nicer story about people learning to accept differences and to grow as a community. I thought Te doy mis ojos was the better movie, and I keep thinking about it. But I would probably never watch it again. It's about domestic violence and is one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen. Very well-done and I think very accurate, but it's an intense viewing experience. Not a lot of actual violence on screen, interestingly, but the atmosphere of fear the actors create is incredible.

Solas by Benito Zambrano

I thought this movie was somewhat interesting, but it wasn't my favorite of the quarter. It's a story about dysfunctional families in Andalucia. The main problem with it is that the first half and the second half of the movie were somewhat disjointed and didn't really seem to match.

That's what I've been up to for the last two months; maybe I'll read something during December that I can review here. I've been pretty busy this week but I've still managed to get most of the way through a book. We've also watched a few movies for fun, so maybe I'll put them in their own post too. Not sure if this one was all that helpful, but if anyone out there likes to read Shakespeare or watch Spanish movies about social issues now you know where to start.

I'm wearing my Christmas socks today

Christmas is only a week away and I feel like we've been doing a good job balancing our celebrating of the season without doing too much. Last night we printed off and prepared our Christmas letters for friends and family, and today I mailed them at the post office. I also mailed off our present for Mr. Fob's sister (his family does a name exchange, so we only have to get a gift for one other person), and a package for a soldier. Monday night for FHE we all drew Christmas pictures for a soldier in need, then yesterday I bought a few fun things for them at Target and we mailed it off. I wanted the kids to do some kind of holiday service, and sending nice notes and little treats to someone seemed like something we could do. My dad has spent the holidays deployed overseas, and I know that it can be scary and lonely without anyone to support you. So if you're looking for someone to send a little something to, check out this website for more information.

Yesterday morning I also finished up my Christmas shopping--I even found some cute pajamas on sale at Target for Little Dude and a Super Girl winter hat for S-Boogie. So the letters have been sent, presents are wrapped and under the tree, and we've scheduled some friends for helping us make gingerbread houses next week. The only other big tradition we have left is making and distributing goodies to our friends. That one has been changing a bit during the last few years, since we've often ended up getting together with friends for a little party on Christmas Eve. This year we do plan to bring some cookies down to our friends the Thteeds and stop by and see the temple Christmas lights while we're in the area (if you read this before I email you, let me know when you'll be home).

Although the giving of gifts to neighbors has become a fairly standard practice these days, and can even bring out a competitive spirit in some, when I was a kid I remember being one of the few families that baked cookies for other people. My mom tells me she started the tradition as a way to keep small children occupied on Christmas Eve, and it was always one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time (since I love cookies so much). I also know that my mom was inspired by her mother, my grandmother, who always loved to cook and share with other people.

On her blog, my mom noted that yesterday was her mother's birthday. My grandmother passed away two-and-a-half years ago and we all still miss her. This summer at our family reunion my uncle brought a video he had put together of memories of my grandma. One of the stories that touched me was my aunt telling about a time she went with my grandma to deliver Christmas treats. They went to all the lonely, sick, and poor people in the neighborhood and my aunt felt very humbled to realize how much her mother cared for all the people that she knew, even if they weren't the most popular. This story also touched me because I had recently read a similar story about President Monson--that he always reached out to the needy. When I read that about him, I had felt a little pang of jealousy that he was such a well-known and good man, but then I realized that my grandmother also set that kind of example of reaching out to everyone around her. Every time I bake cookies for my friends its because I come from a long line of women who just want to feed the world and I hope my own kids keep the tradition going some day.

These videos are just for my mom

Since she hasn't been to a California parade for a few years and I'm sure she misses the charro horses and the folklorico dancers. I made a last-minute decision to take the kids to a Christmas parade this morning and it was so worth it. Mr. Fob went to help someone in our ward move so I had the kids all by myself this morning. I was tempted to just let them sit around vegging on television, since the thought of taking them by myself just wasn't that exciting. But it was only about ten minutes away, and the weather wasn't that cold (I made them wear coats and hats and gloves). I'd heard that it was the largest Christmas parade in northern California, and they were right. It lasted nearly three hours and we stayed for the whole thing. Little Dude was mostly done after two hours, but S-Boogie really wanted to stay and see Santa on the last float. This parade seriously had everything: fire trucks, vintage tractors and fire trucks, horses, marching bands, church buses, church bands, motorcycles, CHIPs in a Camaro, a search-and-resuce boat (on a trailer), police on horses, Mexican dancers, Scottish bagpipers, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and of course the Shriners in their go-karts. That was the best part and the kids loved it. I wish they'd had a few more marching bands, but other than that it was a great experience. I found myself getting all nostalgic because we went to a lot of parades when I was a kid, plus my older brother was in marching band for four years, so I've seen a lot of parades. And I've been in a few. Such a lot of fun, and now as an adult I really appreciate the community spirit that comes from getting so many different people together to have a great time and show off their talents.

Winter Break

Yesterday afternoon I rode my bike down to campus and slipped my last paper of the quarter under my professor's door. It was a great feeling. I actually found all three of my final papers this quarter to be somewhat easy to write. I put a lot of time into research and planning (literally hours on my Shakespeare paper) and for once I had plenty to say for each one. I'm still afraid that my professors are just going to laugh when they read my essays and then fail me, but at this point I don't think that would be the worst thing that could happen to me.

So now I have three weeks of freedom; I celebrated last night by making a pear streusel cake, and then ate most of it today. Seriously. I made a conscious decision to have no self-control and just enjoyed myself. This morning Little Dude and I also went to the produce stand and had a heyday. It was awesome: broccoli for .33 a pound. I also spent $1.50 on five pounds of sweet potatoes. And I love living in a place where fresh mandarin oranges are only $1.00 a pound. We will be getting our healthy vitamins during the next week.

I know the next few weeks will fly by, but I am getting excited to finish up our Christmas plans. We're pretty sure we've found a good deal on a sleeping bag for Little Dude from EBay and then we need to get S-Boogie a present. I'm not sure yet what I'm getting for Mr. Fob. New socks? Tonight we went to the Christmas party at church and both kids actually sat on Santa's lap. Little Dude was very nervous, but he didn't cry. At risk of offending anyone involved in the planning of the party, I wasn't very impressed with their lack of consideration for small children (and there were a lot of them there). The party started with a potluck dinner at about 6:20. Which meant my kids were done eating by 6:30. Santa wasn't scheduled to arrive until 7:30, so they expected us to all sit in our seats and sing Christmas carols for an hour. There is no way my toddler is going to sit and sing for that long. I would have enjoyed a nice evening of socializing with the kids running around (like most Church parties) if there hadn't been someone getting on the microphone every so often reminding us to sing and to keep our kids under control. Not cool. Maybe next year they should set up a kids' table with coloring or something. Eesh. At least we got tasty pie from Costco. Yum. Not that I needed pie after eating most of a cake today. I'm throwing any sense of dieting out the window until school starts again.

Christmas Wishes

So I'm taking a little breather from writing papers to write a post. By Friday I should have my final projects all finished up and turned in and I hope I'll have a little more time to write things on here. I'm really looking forward to having three weeks of time off to do whatever I want. I've been having some trouble with my Amazon wish list, because the email connected to it no longer exists and I have no way to log in and update it anymore. Apparently changing the email on your Amazon account does not affect the email on your wishlist, but my password got changed and I don't know how to figure it out. I need to call customer service one of these days.

I'm not really sure what I want for Christmas; there are a few kitchen things I wouldn't mind getting, and I'd really like this book, but that's about it. What I'd really like is for an angel to appear and lay out my future for me (or for someone to make housing prices drop here), but that's not going to happen. At least I have a lot of good ideas for the kids, but that's also hard because it's difficult to choose what to buy. There are a few things they need, like S-Boogie could really use a new winter hat (and she wants a scarf) and Little Dude needs bigger pajamas because 2T isn't cutting it anymore. I would also like to buy them some slippers so they don't have to wear socks in the house and risk slipping on the tile floors. I think for Little Dude I'm leaning towards getting him a sleeping bag. S-Boogie's auntie bought her this one a few years ago and it has been fabulous. Little Dude has outgrown the travel crib, and I know he's going to be super jealous of the sleeping bag on our next trip. I just want to find something cute that is the same quality as S-Boogie's, because I love the fact that it's high quality and easy to wash. The kids already have some fun toys and books under the tree from family members and I know they'll be getting some more. I think I might get S-Boogie some clothes or other accessories for her Groovy Girls, especially because we recently bought one at the Salvation Army that didn't have any clothes.

Cacophony

For any of the parents among my readers: do your children scream all day long?

Mr. Fob and I have come to the conclusion that our mental health is suffering serious damage because our children make noise all the time. With Little Dude it's the usual toddler lack of volume control. Especially if you leave him in his chair at the table too long, he'll just start screaming his head off. Then S-Boogie will get sick of him screaming and start yelling at him to stop yelling. And then they have a nonsense argument at top volume. S-Boogie mostly just has a constant stream of noise coming from her. Usually it's some sort of humming or imaginary conversation, but sometimes it's highly annoying yelping. She's also decided that when she's scared or excited, the best thing to do is to scream as loud as she can. Oh, and then there are the numerous times during the day when one of them decides to take off running and screaming through the house, which means the other one has to join in too. Hopefully our eardrums and our sanity will last a few more years. Sometimes I look forward to the teenage years when they become mute. Although I can't see S-Boogie ever doing that.

My Two Latest Obsessions

If you have a Safeway near you, you really need to go try the following foods:

Pumpkin Pie yogurt--I've never seen this flavor before, but it is really tasty. It's a "limited edition." It's the Safeway brand (Lucerne). They also have pumpkin flavored cream cheese, but we haven't tried it yet.

Gingerbread Cookie Ice Cream--Also Safeway brand. It's super tasty ice cream with soft little gingerbread cookies in it. I think I'm becoming addicted.