Yellow Wallpaper

I went to Costco today to return the other lotion and buy some new stuff. And now I like to sit here and sniff my arm because I really like the smell of it. Also, I will now confess that I really like cheesy Europop music (not sure if I've confessed that on here before). The other day in the car we were listening to Laura Pausini and S-Boogie asked me "why is she saying 'Safeway'?" The song actually says " se fue " (he left). Cracks me up now every time I listen to it.

This afternoon I was in Costco heading for the checkout when I rounded a corner and saw a large display of this lotion in front of me. A few years ago my dad brought back some Ahava products for me from Israel when he went on a business trip. I loved them, but after doing some research discovered that they are somewhat expensive and harder to get in the US. So I haven't used it since, but I do occasionally think about how nice it felt and smelled. Costco has a 14 ounce bottle (I think) for only fourteen dollars, which really is a great deal, but it still isn't the best price for lotion. My usual lotion is quite a bit cheaper than that. Plus I just bought a giant bottle of some other lotion at Costco two weeks ago. I haven't opened that lotion yet, so now I'm seriously considering taking it back and spending the money on some luxury for myself. I don't always have to go for the lowest price or the best deal, right?

Does anyone else think that beans are funny? Maybe it's because my dad always sang the "musical fruit" song whenever we'd eat them. As I've mentioned on here before, I like beans. We're transitioning to mostly meatless and have been eating more and more of them lately. Tonight I got to do an online survey all about bean consumption and for some reason it seemed really funny to me. I also laughed because apparently I cannot have eaten beans more than 150 times during the last twelve month period; they need to change their survey to accommodate the vegetarians out there. I liked the questions that asked things like "was your use of beans in this recipe spontaneous or planned in advance?" If you know me, you know I clicked on "planned in advance." Also, the eating more vegetables goal and the local produce delivery thing are working very well. Except that tonight Little Dude proclaimed authoritatively "toddlers don't eat chard."...

I don't often get political on this blog, and I'm hoping that this post doesn't result in an all-out flame war (please), but I just wanted to get the word out since I'm tired of hearing about this in my inbox. I've been getting a bunch of emails lately about FOCA , the Freedom of Choice Act . I just wanted to say a few things about it, and I'd rather do it here than in email. First of all, I appreciate receiving correct information about things rather than speculation. The bill is intended to provide federal government support for reproductive rights, to give an overall framework that would surpass the current network of state laws that vary greatly depending on the state you are in. It still has not passed Congress or the Senate (you can read the actual text of the bill here ). With the current Democratic majority in the House, it may pass. If you do not like this, write to your congressman and let him know that you don't want him or her to vote on it. Writ...

Even though we're halfway through January, I wanted to take a few minutes and tally up the books I read in 2008 to see how it compares with 2007 (see this post ). In 2008 I only read 73 books, as contrasted with the 100 or so in 2007. That doesn't count any of the critical readings or the plays I read for my classes in Fall quarter, so I probably spent even more time reading in 2008 than in 2007. I read 42 books that were fiction and 31 that were nonfiction. Fiction books included 2 short story collections, and the nonfiction included a variety of memoirs and a few essay collections as well as general nonfiction. This year I substantially increased the number of books by Mormon authors that I read, and I managed to include a few books that were written before the twentieth-century. I didn't do so well on including books originally written in languages other than English. I read 35 books by women and 48 by men, which is interesting because last year my count of books by fema...

We had another great Saturday; it seems like we have had quite a few of those lately. It's nice to always have the weekends free; well, free from work. I try to get my homework done during the week, but sometimes I need to take over a Saturday. Today I didn't have anything pressing so I skipped the school stuff. My classes are MWF this quarter, so it's great to have Monday off. Plus we're on the nice side of the weather system right now and enjoying warm, sunny weather. This morning we spent some time cleaning the house together and then went for a bike ride. There's a bike loop that goes through the entire town on various trails and we rode the whole thing. It's about twelve miles and I can't believe I did it. Since we were starving by the end of it we decided to splurge a little and ate a yummy burger spot downtown. I had a very tasty veggie burger with sprouts and avocado on it. Then Mr. Fob took the kids home and I spent a little time shopping with so...

It's been a busy week for me, which is why there haven't been any blog posts for a few days. I started my classes and they are going well; however, I ended up changing my schedule and it has resulted in a lot of stress. This quarter I thought I'd be clever and avoid signing up for three graduate classes by adding an undergraduate Italian class. After going to class on Tuesday night I realized that I needed more of a refresher. I sat on the feeling for a day or so, since the class is at a great time for my schedule and the book is cheap. I realized that although I could handle the readings, I would greatly struggle with writing assignments and in-class presentations. So I decided to drop down a level. Friday morning I went in to meet with the new professor, and first she gave me a hard time for suddenly adding a week into the quarter and for not having taken the prerequisites recently. I think she didn't want me assuming I could just speak Spanish in her class and get aw...

For the last two weeks I've been complaining to everyone that I had to read a novel over Christmas break; it was for a class I'm supposed to have on Mondays. Unfortunately my professor emailed us last night to let us know that she has a bad cold and no voice, so class was cancelled for today. The funny thing is I actually feel a little bad, because trying to plan a once-a-week class is hard enough without having to cancel, especially on the first day of school. I was still glad for the reprieve. Today was cold and rainy so I stayed inside for most of the day. It was a good excuse to make some homemade bread, and I made homemade chocolate pudding for our Family Home Evening treat (I had to use up the half and half we had in the fridge--can you tell how well our diet plan is going this year?). It turned out to be a very nice day; Little Dude took a rare nap this afternoon and the kids were mostly pretty well-behaved. We had a fun Family Home Evening and a tasty dinner to top off ...

Tonight I decided to use up the turkey broth sitting in my fridge and make some soup. I also decided to make some homemade noodles to go with it. I'd never made homemade noodles before, but I got out the cookbook, read the instructions, and made some tasty noodles. As I was in the middle of cooking them, I suddenly realized that I was doing something I'd never done before. And I wasn't freaking out about it or anything. There are so many times in my life when I think "I can't do this" or "I don't know what to do because I've never done this before." And yet I have full confidence that I can pick up a cookbook, read through a recipe, and make something. When it comes to cooking I also don't put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect (most of the time); I'm OK with experimenting and even making mistakes. I'm not like that in many other areas of my life. I imagine a lot of it comes with simple practice. I've been cooking for a...

I've always liked the new year; to me, January usually feels like Lent in comparison to the orgy of consumption that is December. This morning we thoroughly cleaned the house (thankfully Little Dude's exploding diaper happened before we had cleaned the floor or the bathtub), and now I feel prepared for the start of a new year and a new quarter at school. S-Boogie is more than ready to get back to school as well; maybe we'll try setting some goals with her now that she's old enough to actually have an opinion. Not sure what would be good goals for her to set or how to motivate her (I'm not a big fan of charts or stuff like that, but maybe we'll try one). What I really need to decide on is whether or not I need any goals. I wasn't sure I'd made any resolutions last year, but according to this post I did. The physical fitness one went well, I think. Although I didn't lose any weight I did get into a regular exercise routine. I don't get as winded o...

The Mother in Me: Real-World Reflections on Growing into Motherhood Ed. Kathryn Lynard Soper I have long been a fan of personal essay and Segullah is one of my new favorite sources for inspiration. Even though I'd already read some of the essays and poems in this book before, I was still eager to get my hands on it and read it all the way through. I wasn't disappointed--there's some beautiful writing in here that left me feeling genuinely uplifted. Now if only I could figure out how to write so well... Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt I probably did not have the best timing for reading this book and so I was left with mixed feelings. I just spent a quarter studying Shakespeare, but from an approach that is more or less the opposite of Greenblatt's . Plus I took a class on literary theory in which we studied some of Greenblatt's more scholarly writings. Reading this book, which he wrote for a non-scholarly audience, was...