Yellow Wallpaper

I hate it when I write a post about a bad day and then don't have time to come back and blog for a few more days. There are negative moments in life, but generally things are all right. I think I'm starting to recover from this last week (for the record, it wasn't totally bad, but there were bad moments). Yesterday and today were generally pretty pleasant days, although I really do need to find a better way to manage my time so I can get enough sleep. Yesterday morning I woke up to snow. This actually made for a good day; I love looking at snow and it wasn't enough to be horribly inconvenient. Mr. Fob shovelled the driveway so I could get out and go to church, and when I got there one of my friends had saved the bench in front of her family for me so she could help with my kids. They were actually well-behaved during sacrament meeting, but it was nice to have someone else spend some time holding the baby because she has become a super wiggly monkey lately. I did get the...

So remember how I posted last weekend about how wonderful and happy my life was? This has been a rough week and I'm trying to find that happy place again. The real culprits have been my lack of sleep (and yes, I'm posting this at 11:15 when I should be in bed) and my stupid hormones which always make me morose and weepy for at least one week in every five. Sleep deprivation, cold weather, and PMS are not a good combination to have when you're hosting a family gathering. The truth is, Thanksgiving went really well. We managed to find a lovely new (to us) dining table just in time for the celebration, my little brother survived the blizzard in Seattle and made his flight here on time, my parents drove up safely, and all the food was tasty and prepared without mishap. But it's still been a rough week. We finally received some news about a long-lost family member; this is mostly happy, but the story is not finished yet and emotions have been pretty high all week. Then on Th...

Yesterday was our ninth anniversary; I've written a few different anniversary posts over the last few years, but I still think my favorite is this one . Since the baby is a good sleeper and no longer nursing we decided to take a little staycation this year. Mr. Fob's sister was a fabulous auntie and came to spend the night with our three kids on Friday while we escaped to Salt Lake for the night. First we checked into our hotel ; we've stayed there before, and while our room did not have a jacuzzi tub, it was very comfortable and affordable without feeling like the Super 8 motel. From our hotel we walked over the The Copper Onion ; the food was fabulous and we left feeling completely stuffed. We shared a cheese plate and then I ordered the beef stroganoff and Mr. Fob had the fettuccine carbonara. Those may sound like ordinary entrees, but the cooking was amazing. We will definitely eat there again some time, but our budget can probably only handle it once a year. Then we wa...

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan I had read many good reviews of this book, but I never felt that interested in reading it. It turned out to be much better than I had expected. I realized that I had read much about the Great Depression, but nothing specifically about the actual Dust Bowl (they're not the same thing), and Egan's writing is both clear and compelling. He made this time period really come alive to me and a month later I still find myself still thinking about some of the stories he relates. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks This is another book that I'm kicking myself for not reading earlier; I think I had a misconception of what it was about from something else I'd read, but it wasn't what I was thinking at all. It was actually just my kind of book; I love 'literary mysteries' and I love historical fiction. The protagonist was someone I didn't particularly love, but at least I could understand her even when I did not agree with her...

For the past two years I have done NaBloPoMo , but I just didn't feel up to it this year. The year before that I posted two weeks of 'thankful' posts. Neither of those things is going to happen this year; don't worry, I'm still thankful for the same things I've posted about before. I just wanted to share a few of the good things that have been happening lately. Life still has its little annoyances and I never feel like I have enough patience, time, or sleep; that doesn't mean that there's not good to be found everywhere. We've been in our house for nearly a year and I love being here. I love our home itself; it's just the right size for us and so comfortable. I'm looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving with many of my family members here and I love having a home that gives me space to have family gatherings. During the last few days the older two kids have been playing together really well. A week or so ago we had a scary incident where they ...

Some days are just slow days. I woke up this morning and realized "I have nothing to do today." Obviously there are plenty of things I could get done, like cleaning my baseboards, organizing my pantry, preparing lessons for next week, cleaning my shower, and so on. There just wasn't anything pressing. I know that I have been blogging about how busy my life is lately, and most of the time it is, but this week is a slow one for a lot of reasons. We've also suddenly hit winter weather and all I want to do is hibernate So today I sat on the couch and read: part of a book, the new Ensign , my scriptures. I took pictures of Little Dude making block towers for the baby to knock over. I packed up Little Dude and the baby and took them to play at the mall playground for an hour. When my sister-in-law came over to use our scanner, I just hung out with her and looked at her pictures. Tonight I made an easy dinner of scrambled egg burritos and smoothies. Mr. Fob and I watched TV ...

I usually avoid controversy on this blog and I generally try not to get too opinionated about things. I have many reasons for this, but I'm not going to go into them here. I recently read an article about the controversy whipped up by a mommy blogger who posted pictures of her son dressed up like Daphne for Halloween. I'm fine with the fact that she is willing to let her son dress up as whichever character he chooses, and I'm mildly uncomfortable with the fact that she seems to be doing so as some sort of political statement. What I'm most uncomfortable about is the fact that she titled her post "My Son is Gay." I'm sorry, but just because your five-year-old wants to dress up like a girl doesn't mean he's gay. Being gay means that you are attracted to people of your same gender. Some gay men dress as women, but cross-dressing is not always related to homosexuality. There are plenty of cross-dressers that are straight as well. Gay men do not neces...

Books When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin Mr. Fob looked at my book and said "That title sounds pretentious." It does, and I suppose some could argue that this book is a bit pretentious; it's a memoir written by a man who has grown up as a white person in an African country and is now watching both his country and his father die. Some of the circumstances of his life seem almost too incredible to believe, but the book remains deeply personal and not pretentious after all. I was mesmerized by his writing and his story--I think this is one of the best books I've read this year. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton I've read this a few times before, but it was our book club pick for the month and I thought it would be great to read it again. This time I was struck by the nuances of the story; for some reason I had never noticed them in quite the same way before. Wharton is an amazing writer and I think I could easily read this book a few more times and en...

Netherlands We read some books about the Netherlands; S-Boogie particularly liked this one . For dinner I made hutspot with smoked sausage. It was really tasty. We also watched the movie Hans Brinker and ate some apple cake that I made from a recipe that I got from a kids' cookbook. New Zealand We read books and colored the flag; the kids insisted on reading this book many times and really liked it. We also listened to some music from New Zealand and ate meat pies for dinner. They were really tasty and a big hit with the kids--I cut the meat in half and added some diced potatoes. I don't have little pie dishes so I cooked them in custard cups; they were a bit of work, but a really tasty dinner and something I want to make again. If the kids were a little older I would watch Whale Rider with them, but they aren't quite big enough yet. I also wanted to make pavlova and I just didn't have time that week, so I felt a little sad about it. Nigeria Mr. Fob and I liked the ...