Yellow Wallpaper

It's Saturday and now the week is mostly over I feel like I can finally post about it. It wasn't a bad week, just a busy one. Saturday night I returned from camping in California, then Sunday we had to get up early for church. Since the move and all our other traveling Little Dude has developed a serious aversion to nursery. Thankfully on Sunday I was able to help him go to class so hopefully the rest of the year will go well. This week I just hung out in the room, gradually withdrawing myself until I was able to leave because he was comfortable without me. I'm still hating the fact that being new in a ward means I cannot remember anyone's name, but church is going better I think. Sunday evening we went to my niece's baptism; it went well and everyone had a good time as far as I can tell. S-Boogie gave the closing prayer and did a good job up in front of everyone, even though few people could actually hear it. Monday evening we had a birthday party for S-Boogie wi...

Since my summer has not already been completely full, we're hosting a blog party on Saturday night. This is your chance to see our beautiful new home (don't get your hopes up too high) and to meet the fabulous, and elusive, Melyngoch . Party starts at about 5:30. We'll provide some food--right now I'm thinking spinach dip with baguette and maybe some couscous salad. Email me for directions to my home and if you want to bring a food item. Hope to see you there!

It's been almost two years since we last had a blog party, so we're long overdue for one. If you would like to meet us in person (or renew the friendship if you already know us), we'll be having a picnic next Monday night at 5:30 in Kiwanis Park in Provo. We'll provide chips and dip as well as paper goods. If you could indicate in comments or email if you plan to come and what you'd like to bring, that would be helpful. Or you could just show up and surprise everyone. As long as you're not a crazy blog stalker. Then you're not invited.

As I mentioned, last weekend was Mr. Fob's graduation as well as Father's Day. My parents and sister came up to visit, as well as Mr. Fob's mother, so we had a lot of fun entertaining everyone for the weekend. As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do is cook so I love throwing big parties. This time the food all turned out so well that I thought I'd post a few recipes. On Saturday evening we went to the park and had a nice picnic dinner by the water. I made chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, Asian coleslaw, potato salad, and chocolate-cream cheese cupcakes. We had friends who brought fruit and chips and it turned out to be the perfect picnic. Then on Sunday after church (we all went to see S-Boogie sing in sacrament meeting) we had vegetable quesadillas with guacamole, cilantro rice, black beans, and strawberries. For dessert on Sunday we had a cake that S-Boogie decorated at the grocery store on Saturday morning. Yes, I'm kind of sucker, ...

We had S-Boogie's goodbye party today and it turned out great! Thanks to everyone for the great advice , it really helped me out a lot. We had the party this afternoon; it was a good time for everyone and only two people couldn't make it due to family vacations. I got some cheap little coloring books and mini boxes of crayons from the party supply store to have out on the table when kids showed up. Those turned out to be quite popular and they spent a long time coloring. Then we moved on to having snacks. I did yogurt parfaits: I had a few kinds of cut up fruit, some yogurt, and then granola and raisins. One girl filled up a bowl with blueberries and another with yogurt and alternated bites between the two of them. I thought that was pretty funny. We did end up with a fair amount of wasted food, because there were a few kids that took food and then stopped eating after a few bites to go play ring around the rosey. That was a little difficult because then no one else wanted to e...

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 ...

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...

So the weather here has remained a cool, cloudy 70 degrees for the last few weeks. That should make one wonder why I am looking forward to strapping my family in a car and driving for 15 hours straight to a place in the desert where the average temperature lately is more like 95 degrees. I am actually very excited about this trip. I will probably remain excited until somewhere between Kennewick and Boise. Then I will probably want to strap the kids to the roof. The thing is, I'm vain. I'm looking forward to dancing across the stage in the Marriott Center chanting " I am so smart. S-M-R-T ". Well, not really. Because the dean would promptly withdraw his endorsement of my thesis. So, I will be in Utah for a few days next week. We are officially having a party for anyone who feels like they want to meet us and our children. The only requirement is that you bring something to eat. The party will take place in Provo on Saturday afternoon around five o'clock. I will no...

We watched the Academy Awards last night. It was a lot of fun, mostly because we had a party with a bunch of friends and way, way too much food. I woke up this morning with a nacho cheese hangover, but it was worth it. Whenever I watch the Academy Awards I think I need to watch more movies. I had seen hardly any of the movies that had been nominated. I also have never seen anything by Robert Altman, even though I've heard he's very, very good. This fact embarrasses me a little, since I'm writing my thesis about literature and film. But, I have watched a lot of old movies. I love film noir--now I just need to catch up on the last 10 or 15 years of film. I also realized that over the last year or so, most of the movies we have gone to see in the theater have been at the insistence of Master Fob ( Batman Begins , Brokeback Mountain , Dave Chapelle's Block Party). I'm not sure if this means that I no longer have my own opinions, that I don't care about movies as mu...

I would like to wish everyone out there a happy Three Kings Day . For those of you who don't know what that means, in many countries January 6 marks the day the Three Kings came to visit the baby Jesus. Thus, we must celebrate this day by eating too much, drinking too much, and giving presents to those whom we love. But seriously, in Spain and many Latin American countries children do not receive gifts from Santa Claus and they don't get them on Christmas. Instead, their gifts come on January 6, brought by the Three Kings themselves. The night before "Reyes", most cities have big parties and parades where the Kings appear and throw candy at you. Also, everyone eats lots of the traditional Kings Day cake called roscón . Last night we had some friends over for paella and roscón. Then we played Trivial Pursuit until the wee hours of the morning. I didn't get any presents this morning, but it was still a pretty good fiesta.

I think I get a little bit giddy when people come over. Last night I managed to tell people that I have been logging my bowel habits online, that sex is a wonderful free present for birthdays and holidays, and that I needed to eat more cake so that I could "fill up my pants" (I really did mean to say "fill out my pants").

Since I love redirecting traffic to a much more exciting website, the Fobcave, follow this link to an invitation to a party at our humble abode this coming Thursday. The occasion is ostensibly Master Fob's birthday, but we've decided to use that as an excuse to get together all of our blogging friends and such. As stated in the invite, please RVSP via comments and don't bring a gift. You may bring some food if you would like, but we will be providing that as well. (Disclaimer--the alien that has taken up residence in my womb is preventing me from finding any food appetizing lately, so if I reject any food you bring, it's not my fault!)