Christmas was a great time. I love this time of year. We had the annual Christmas party at Brent's dad's house a couple days before Christmas. Brent's mom was able to stay with us over Christmas and we hosted Christmas night dinner- the first time we've done that since the year we moved into our house. I love this time of year with family, to remember how important they are to me. I also love the extra chance to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. There are innumerable things that I question in this world. However, Jesus Christ is not one of them. That knowledge brings peace to my life. May everyone out there have a peaceful, happy new year!
Zoe comes home from school and tells me she went to the principal's office today. Now I know something is suspicious because up to this point she's had model behavior at school (atschool, notalways at home but at school she's good as gold). She reminds me of this persuasive argument paper the 4th graders had to write to the principal a while back. She wrote hers on bullies. She was trying to convince the principal to help out the kids when they run into bullies. Good thinking. She mentioned these two boys who like to call kids names, they are rude and one day apparently one came up to Noah and screamed in his ear after school. Zoe had told me about this and the times they've called people names. I've basically told them to ignore them (unless they scream in Noah's ear again, they're not making my kid go deaf). They pretty much sound like small time thugs to me.
So the principal reads her paper and she was so convincing in her argument he wants to talk to her about it. She goes in the office and waits for him to call her and doesn't even know why she's there. She's all nervous, of course. Then he calls her in and asks her about the things she's written in her paper. He asks her their names and she tells him the name she can remember. He starts looking at his computer and figures out who the boys are, then takes off without telling her what he's doing. She waits there for a while then he comes back into the office with the two boys. He asks them if this really happened and they make some lame excuse about not remembering but the principal isn't buying it. He tells Zoe to let him know if they ever bother her or anyone else again and lets her leave, keeping the boys there.
Crazy story! But I gotta say I'm proud of her for being so brave. If I was her as a kid I would have been scared to death to meet any boys I accused of bullying, but then I was a big chicken girl. I'd say she's pretty darned good at the persuasive argument. Maybe I'll have her write him another paper on getting a security guard down by the path to keep the teenagers from taking kids' scooters out on joyrides.
School ended for me last week. I've completed my first semester back in school. Hooray! Two weeks into the semester I was sure I would have to be a quitter. I was stressed out and my mind and body always resist change like crazy. I kept plodding along and thanks to my not super difficult first semester back course selections I did well. This is significant because I have confirmations I am not an idiot. I for one am glad to have this confirmation because I really needed that confidence booster. It's funny, you're out of school for so many years and you're sure your brain is going to mush and then you see that you are actually capable of more logical thinking than you were back then because of life experience. I think. That and because raising kids is like daily solving the worlds most confusing puzzles and riddles. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely aware that come January something I could be curled up in a ball crying in a corner out of stress and stupidity. I'm just so happy my first venture back into the world of formal education went well. And right now, I have to say, I kind of Love school! Hear that kids? School is fun! Learning is awesome!!
And now to get that Christmas tree up and that house back in order after three months of semi neglect.
I'm flipping through the radio stations for a minute and I pause on a certain station and hear a sound bite that goes something like "Blah, blah, blah...SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD". Then it's immediately followed by "Family Values Talk Radio". I don't care who you want to shoot in the head. The former should NEVER precede the latter. Some days I'm just shocked at how messed up the world can be.
So Brent turned the big 4-0 last week! I can hardly believe it. He was 21 when we met. It seems like such a short time ago! I first saw him across the room at work, then a while later we started talking a little in the break room, then, well click here if you want to read about how we started dating. Who would think, when you take a summer job at a place you never in a million years imagined yourself working, that you will meet someone and eventually marry him?
He's had his goatee since I met him but about a month ago he started growing a real beard. At first I was unsure but he didn't get all Grizzly Adams about it or anything and I was also kind of like, "Dude, you're going to be 40 next month! Go for it!" He warned me years ago he'd have a long white beard someday. I don't think he's taking it there yet and there is still the distinct possibility that I will cut it off in his sleep if he ever does.
He likes things low key so we had a small family thing. Okay it was us and the kids. And I've finally perfected the birthday carrot cake with the addition of homemade cream cheese frosting and all whole wheat flour instead of half wheat half white. That was accidental but it was good. Semi healthy so you can eat without guilt or trans fats. Anyway, Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!
I ran into this funny thing out on the internet somewhere. It's taken from The Good Wife's Guide from Housekeeping Monthly: May 13, 1955. Holy Crap, I'm glad I wasn't a housewife in the 1950s! Although I do admit to listening to Noah read from the Dick and Jane book we have and thinking it looked like such a lovely, simple time. Reminds me of when I was at BYU and my roommates and I used to read from the book The Fascinating Girl and laugh hysterically. Okay, not all of us. There were a couple who found it to have useful advice. I especially like number six, can you say Stepford Children? And number ten. Huh? I'm all for striving to be a good wife, but come on:
(1) Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready in time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
(2) Prepare yourself. Take fifteen minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up and put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh - looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people.
(3) Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.
(4) Gather up schoolbooks, toys, papers etc... and then run a dishcloth over the tables.
(5) Over the cooler months of the year, you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
(6) Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
(7) Be happy to see him.
(8) Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
(9) Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to say, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
(10) Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late, or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he may have gone through that day. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
(11) Your goal: try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
(12) Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
(13) Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low soothing and pleasant voice. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
(14) Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
Brent and I went to see They Might be Giants in concert last night. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. We saw them once in '92 (incidentally, we were broken up at the time. Never date your ex while broken up, it's a sure fire way to end up married for 14 years with three kids.;) Anyway, I don't remember a ton about that show in '92, except for a bunch of accordion playing, of course. Fun time I think, not super memorable. So I just thought it would be: listen to some good music from way in the back where I would try to avoid being squished by pushy concert people. Turns out it was the funnest concert I have ever been to! The venue was very small and we were about twenty feet away from the stage. I swear John Linnell looked me in the eye. No one was pushy and obnoxious. The youngest looking person I noticed there looked to be about 25 so there were none of those obnoxious teenagers. Not that all teenagers are obnoxious, it's just that concerts seem to bring the obnoxious side out in them. It was just so fun, the music was great, they were funny, it was educational (how many concerts can you say that about?) There were even sock puppets for a few minutes (Part of their family show that is going on today, they do children's CDs too. Kind of wish I was taking the kids to that one.) Okay, that sounds a little too much like I'm into sock puppets, which I am not. It was kind of funny though. So fun, fun times with Brent and we got to stay the night in Salt Lake too while the kids were with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Karen.
The Which, the Goth Girl and the Scary Clown (Who wasn't really very scary because he didn't want to wear the scary mask. Which was fine by me because I prefer his cute face to the scary clown mask face.)
I have so little to write about lately. I'm just doing the day to day tasks with my family and studying for school. Things are happening, but nothing that seems worth blogging about. Last night I had a dream. Actually, this morning, right before I woke up. I dreamed that I volunteered to make lunches, and deliver them, to every kid at every elementary school in the Jordan School District. I don't even live in the Jordan School District. But I was feeling overwhelmed at the task before me. Thousands of lunches had to be made and delivered and it was 11:30 already. I was never so grateful for Brent to wake me up and kiss me goodbye for work. I was so happy I didn't really have to make all those lunches, and so happy I wasn't really so stupid as to accept such an impossible job. How dare they even ask a person to do such a huge task, by herself, in one morning?
In other news, I had a scratchy feel in my eye for a couple of days so I went to the eye doctor on Monday. Apparently I have small pit on my eye that is filled with bacteria. Nice. I have to put antibiotic eye drops in my left eye for a week. To keep the pit from burrowing into the center of my eye and making me need my eye surgically removed. (Slight exaggeration here.) The eye drops drip down my sinuses and I can taste them in my throat. Eeew. You didn't want to read that, did you?
Isabella's friend Amber.... Her mom asked some of us if we wanted to do a monthly cooking class with the girls, rotating months. So this month was my turn and veggies were on the menu. It turned out to be a lot of fun with the girls, no one was injured with all of those knives cutting vegetables, and I think they may have learned something too!
I did this blog post over the weekend but didn't like it so I removed it. I still like these old pictures that I had on the post though, so what the hay, I'll just stick them on:
Little Bella
Little Zoe
Little Noah
Can't a girl miss those baby days once in a while? Maybe I should cut my crazy hair off again too.
This picture was from Isabella's Kindergarten birthday party, six years ago. It cracks me up because it reminds me of the cover of an album from the '80s or early '90s.
Now off to study for my Computer Information Resources test I have tonight. I'm learning all sorts of things that 13 year olds already know.
I do not have my finger on the pulse of all things tween. I tend to think that despite that, I'm still a good mom. I've still got the whole Big Picture thing going for me. Today, however, I almost blew it as a tween mom. Tomorrow is Zoe's 10th birthday. Today I got a phone call from her soccer coach and was offered free tickets to Miley Cyrus. Of course I said,"Woohoo! She's going to love that! I'm going to be a hero! Thank you so much!" Okay, I didn't really say that. What I said was "No thanks, it's Zoe's birthday." The coach's response was, "Oh, she's having a birthday party?" My response to him was, "No". So I say goodbye and hang up on the man who just offered me FREE tickets to Myley Cyrus on my daughter's 10th birthday. Immediately I know I am now in the doghouse. She's going to hear about this. She's going to be sad because her BFF is going. I've just ruined my kid's birthday!
Isabella is going to hear about this too and how I could have gotten three tickets. Isabella asked me why we couldn't go to her concert a couple of years ago. My response, "I didn't even know she was coming until the day after". See, no finger on the pulse of what tweens want there. Then she asked last summer, "Why can't we go to Stadium of Fire and see the Jonas Brothers?" I answered, "Because we don't like giant crowds and traffic on the 4th of July and Stadium of Fire is just a little too Republican Rally for our taste. I prefer my holidays nonpartisan." (Don't be offended by this anyone, I'm just joking. I've never been there. Not joking about traffic though. 4th of July, 1989, Phoenix, AZ, literally FOUR hours in traffic!) She wouldn't have to ask me why we couldn't go this time, her answer would be, "My mom is mean and clearly hates me!"
Why did I think it was so important to keep my kid home on her birthday so we could open presents and eat cake and ice cream together? Because those are our big plans. Fortunately, I realized I was being stupid and insane and called the coach back up and told him I may have been the teensiest bit hasty in my initial response. Luckily, his offer hadn't expired and I was still able to get the free tickets. I'm going to have to milk this hero mom thing for all it's worth.
First of all, I'm sitting here on my computer typing while listening to my blog music on the laptop. Pernice Brother's, I like you, even if I first heard of you by watching a Sherwin Williams commercial. It's just more fun to use two computers at once, and the sound quality on the laptop is oh so superior. Gives a nice a.m. radio vibe. I've done pretty much nothing constructive all day because I've gone brain dead from studying for 3 hours for a five question online math quiz this morning. Five questions? Really? So my brain is all fried because I'm not used to counting so much and I'm not sure I can even always identify the associative property of addition at all times and places. I've also been thinking and reading way too much political junk lately. I know I shouldn't do that. Another reason to get off facebook. Would someone just give Glenn Beck a bunker already? So I have to go to the store, to buy chocolate, of course, to combat the buzz in my head from the math and the politics. I'm driving down the highway and a slow truck ends up in front of me carrying a load of wood board things from the Home Depot. Probably finishing his basement. He's driving way slow and next to him, driving slow, is an old man on a motorcycle with a baseball cap on. We all stop at a light and he pulls on his goggles. The kind you use as protective eye wear for power tools and in high school chemistry labs. No real point here except I thought you might enjoy picturing the old man in the baseball cap and protective goggles on his motorcycle. He did pick up some speed and totally beat the guy with the wood board things in the back of his truck. Anyway, I got my chocolate and felt better so I could do the dishes. So there you go, something productive done.
You may ask, how is school going anyway? Well, let me tell you. The first week we had a lecture in my computer class, the professor taught us how to format our computers, even though if we followed her advice being the clueless computer people some of us are (okay, just me) it could have had catastrophic results. Okay, catastrophic may be a bit dramatic, and she did say, "Do Not Do This!" Then why did you show me how too? I'll just stick with the more important information, how to name my C drive after myself. What else? The other day I got to school a few minutes early and was hanging out in what can only be described as the student union of a one building college campus. I was there maybe six minutes and two people asked me if I had an appointment. I never had that kind of service just sitting around between classes at BYU. But then I was usually asleep on a couch in a bathroom or at the library, drooling on my homework. Hey, you try staying up 'til midnight with your super fun roommates, going to work at 3:30 am on campus as a janitor, and going to your 7:30 am class without falling asleep in a puddle of your own drool on your homework. The good news is I can now remember how to add 3/5+79/8 and get the right denominator and all that. So I'm getting used to everything. It helps that the kids' first week of school is done and my blood pressure has gone back down from my brain being yanked around in twenty nine different directions. And I no longer feel like I'm ruining my kids' lives because I'm thinking about algebra at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon instead of my kids and how maybe I should go spy on them on the playground at recess because Noah is in first grade now and I'm lonely. The good thing about being alone so much now? My mind wanders off into lots of bloggable rambling. Okay, it's probably not very bloggable, but entertains me anyway. And that's the real purpose of having a blog, right?
Some cute back to school pics, even though they've already been seen by pretty much everyone on facebook. Worlds colliding again! Maybe they are right that facebook is a waste of time. Hmm.
Remember Pay It Forward? I finally got around to doing the projects for it sometime during the summer. At first I was thinking: What have I done? Why did I sign on to do this? But I had a project idea I was wanting to try out so I decided to give it a try and it was actually pretty fun. I do like a good craft every now and then, after all. I still need to send some out so send me your address, okay! Yeah, you! :)
It was a great summer with the kids home. I love having them home in the summer and I'm always sad when they go back to school. Yes, I'm the one with the red face and watery eyes walking down the hall on the first day of school after doing the drop off, trying to compose myself. Here are some of the fun things we did, trying to squeeze in fun 'til the last day:
*4th of July in Logan for a mini vacation. *We went to our first Real soccer game on the 24th of July. It was so fun! I knew soccer kicks baseball's and football's behind! *Trips to the Gateway to play in the fountain and visit Clark Planetarium and Discovery Gateway (the children's museum). *Trips to the pool. Noah can now swim and go down the water slide without floaties! *Playing in the water at Liberty Park. *Two trips to Lagoon this summer because I finally got brave enough to take the kids back by myself on the Bounce Back day (double the fun and nausea). They all dared to ride lots of roller coasters this year! *The annual camping trip where we hiked to Dog Lake and saw no less than 13 dogs, many of them swimming in the lake even though there was a water shed sign that said no dogs in the water. (Irony?) *Back to school shopping (of course). The most challenging back to school shopping trip to date. (Girl going into sixth grade, she's got her image to think of.) *Back to school weekend outings. Friday we had a picnic at the park, followed by the new Miyazaki animated movie, "Ponyo". Saturday we went to the Museum of Natural History up at the U., followed by dinner at Macaroni Grill. We even had something fun to do on Sunday. Birthday party for Grandpa Richard. Lots of fun packed in one weekend! *Kids got a lot of their summer school stuff done and the girls were even able to earn some money by tutoring Noah. Bribery or teaching responsibility? It's a fine line.
Every once in a while Brent and I play this game without trying where he tells a story about his childhood that he finds sort of crazy. We all have those stories, especially if you were fortunate enough to be a kid in the 1970s. He tells his story and then I tell my own version of the story and make his story look a little, well.... let's just say I win the story contest every time.
Example: Brent's talking while we're driving in the car the other day and tells me about the time he went down with the scouts to sand bag the State Street River (big flood around 1983 or so, as kids we all found it fascinating) and his parents let him ride in the back of So and So's truck, unrestrained. It was so unlike them. (Disclaimer to Brent's parents: You were great parents, otherwise Brent wouldn't have turned out so great!) So I tell my own story: That reminds me, when I was five or six and we were moving, we had this moving truck and after we unloaded the truck at our new house my dad let me and the sibs ride back to our old house in the back of the empty moving truck. We were running around in it, great fun! Then there was that time when we got a new car and you could put the back seats down to make more room in the trunk. My dad let us climb into the trunk through the back seat and put the seat back up then he gave each of us a ride around town while we were in the trunk. Or what about my Stepdad, Chuck? I remember when we were staying in a hotel and he told me and my brother to come around the corner to check out....( words I cannot in good conscience type on the internet) or when I was 19, shortly before I left for BYU, and a date came to pick me up...(words that would force you to gouge your very own eyes out) ...washcloth. These stories amuse, horrify and annoy Brent (annoy because I feel the need to win the story telling contest, but he will always beat me at strategy board games so we're even). This is why some people were raised in crazy, disfunctional families, so we can later amuse and entertain ourselves and those around us with crazy stories of way back when.
I do know my family wasn't the craziest family out there. If Brent had been raised by a couple of junkies or free loving hippies I'm sure his stories would win every time.
*Posts like this are what happens when you give your family your blog address and they have no interest in reading it. :)
Last night Brent and I watched the movie "New York Doll". It tells the story of Arthur "Killer" Kane who was a guitarist for the punk glam rock band (or something like that), New York Dolls in the 1970s. The band didn't have great success and after, he goes on to have a hard life with drugs and the typical washed up rock star stuff. After a terrible accident that almost kills him he joins the Mormon Church and it portrays his life as a poor, humble Mormon working in the Family History Library by the Los Angeles Temple (I think it's the Los Angeles Temple anyway). It was an interesting, sweet and sad documentary of his life as a Mormon and when he finally gets his shot at reuniting with his old band. One of the best parts was the interview with Morrissey (of the Smith's) in the extras when he calls the hair bands of the '80s basically no talents with no original ideas of their own (I thought it was funny), but I digress. Another interesting part in the extras was the creepy band leader singing the LDS hymn Come Come Ye Saints. He actually does a pretty good job.
So the movie ends and I guess I'm in a music documentary sort of mood so I pop in Gigantic (ATale of Two Johns). A documentary about the musical career of They Might Be Giants. Watching this reminded me of Christmas, 2003. I got this movie for Brent for Christmas in 2003. A few years before that I'd gone to my OBGYN who said after Zoe was born I could come for any old thing, not just baby and woman issues. (Don't listen to you OBGYN if he tells you this. First of all he doesn't really mean it. Second, well just look at the advice he gave me, enough said.) So I got a cholesterol test from him. He told me I had high cholesterol and told me to read the book "Protein Power". This book advised me to return my bread maker I had just got for Christmas, exchange it for a weight bench and start eating tons of protein. Okay, it didn't literally give me that advice, but that is what I took from it. Fortunately, I could never commit to my new meaty lifestyle and I never really got into the weight bench as I prefer DVDs and free weights (it ended up at the D.I. a few years later) but being on the verge of a heart attack was never too far from my mind. So in the early winter of 2003 I noticed my left arm started hurting. I should also mention there was some stress going on in my simple stay at home mom life. I had two girls and a baby boy who was almost one. It was also the year the Iraq war started and I tend to take trouble in the world very seriously. I started having pain in my left arm. I am a certifiable hypochondriac (semi recovered) so you know what pain in the left arm has to mean. I wasn't sleeping well at night. I'd lie there after Brent went to sleep and my heart would start to beat fast and I was afraid to go to sleep, lest I wake up dead. It got worse as the days approached Christmas. On Christmas Eve I remember we went to Brent's Dad's house for the traditional Pre Christmas festivities: scriptures, treats, present opening, etc. The whole way there I felt weird and sick and anxious. I continued to feel worse and worse while we were there. I couldn't eat anything, really. I do remember eating a couple of m&ms, wondering if they could mean my imminent end. We went home, got the kids to bed and anxiously awaiting Santa Claus. We went to bed shortly after that and I soon heard Brent sleeping. Do you know that feeling at night when you're the only one awake and you feel incredibly alone? I felt like that and I kept feeling strange and anxious, my heart beating rapidly. I was pretty sure at that point I'd be dead in the morning. I lay there waiting for the end to come and finally got up. I turned on the Christmas lights and turned on the TV. It was about 2 am and nothing worth watching was on TV. I remember settling on some weird show on PBS about apostate returned missionaries. It was sad and kind of strange. Finally around 4 am I started to relax enough to doze a little and I went back to bed and went to sleep. Around 7 or 7:30 we got up because it was Christmas morning and woke up the kids because Santa had come (maybe while I was dozing on the couch). Strangely, I felt much better but I was dead tired. We didn't have anywhere to go until the evening when we went to Brent's Mom's house for dinner. So I remember lazing around the living room in our pajamas for many hours and while the kids were playing with their new toys we put on Brent's new movie, Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). We watched it and I was feeling very tired but relieved I'd lived to spend Christmas day with my husband and kids. I kept having these "episodes". I'd occasionally wake Brent up and tell him I just felt weird. I'd be having heart palpitations and my arm still hurt. He'd humor me for a minute and then go back to sleep. He knows all about my hypochondria. The story neared it's end one night when I woke Brent up, sure I was having a heart attack and made him take me to the E.R. (Crazy!) So we woke up the kids and headed to the hospital. Of course I wasn't having a heart attack. The doctor's only explanation for anything was I had a pinched nerve. I had bought some three inch high heeled boots recently that killed my back whenever I wore them. Remember, I don't wear heels because they bother my back (probably because they force me to stand up straight and there's just too much back length there to regularly do that). This was the climax of my trouble. Having confirmation that I wasn't dying helped me relax some. I think what I was probably experiencing were panic attacks. The most irrational part of it all is I'd just lost 30 lbs. of baby weight and beyond by doing Weight Watchers. I was working out more than I ever could remember. So besides the extra Christmas treats I really wasn't doing anything to bring on a heart attack. I share this story not to make you think I am completely nuts. But because my kids will read this one day when they are adults or even teenagers and see that their mom had challenging times too. I survived and overcame. And maybe this will help someone else out there too. Who knows? Someday maybe I'll tell you about 2001 and the lead up to the year on happy pills (which were awesome to be on when 9/11 came around, by the way.)
I was starting to feel anxious about going back to school next month. But then I realized, I get to shop for my own school supplies this year. It helps, a little. Brent suggested I get a Trapper Keeper, however, they didn't have them at Wal Mart and I'd need the nerdy 1980s variety anyway.
The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?
1 Pride and Prejudice - 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - 6 The Bible- 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - 17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - 19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll- 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - 34 Emma - Jane Austen - 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne- 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood- 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - 52 Dune - Frank Herbert - 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen- 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - 56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens- 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez- 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck- 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - 63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas- 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - 69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie – 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville- 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - 75 Ulysses - James Joyce - 76 The Inferno – Dante - 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - 78 Germinal - Emile Zola - 79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray - 80 Possession - AS Byatt – 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White - 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - 94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -
I've read 15. Some I haven't (or rather never) finished, however. I'm sure many of you could do much better than I did. I love books but I don't completely love reading. I wish I did. Get bored and distracted too easily. I was surprised at some of the books on the list. "The Da Vinci Code" was entertaining but I wouldn't call it great literature or anything (just my opinion). I was surprised "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" was on the list. That was an obscure book I found for book group a couple of years ago, trying to find something different. Maybe it's not as obscure as I thought. We didn't end up reading it because there was a little too much "language" in it. Ended up reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter", which was a good book. I also like to read non fiction too but this is a good list to work on. The last book I read, a couple of weeks ago, was "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale. It's about a housewife who becomes best friends with a famous British actor. Improbable premise, but a fun read. Although it did have some irritating elements to it.
Books I'm currently reading (sort of anyway): Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I really need to finally read a Jane Austen book.) In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (How controversial could this book be, really? It was written in 1945!) The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman (Wal-Mart practically controls America, boring book though.) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
What are your thoughts? What would you add to this list? How many have you read? Go ahead, embarrass me!
Today I took the kids to the dentist. Ending my five year stint as an Anti-Dentite. No cavities! Maybe I'm not a complete failure as a mom. Maybe my dental insurance isn't the world's worst dental insurance. Maybe dentistry isn't a sham after all!
We went away for the 4th of July weekend and stayed in a hotel. Noah, of course, threw up on his sleeping bag. Isabella did too after drinking the big slushy drink and then going swimming and jumping repeatedly into the hotel pool. Luckily, she made it to the bathroom with no mess involved. What's up with my kids and throwing up in hotels anyway? So the sleeping bag has been waiting for me to take it to the laundromat to wash the barfy smell out of it. (The mess was wiped up well enough but the stink remained, of course.) I also needed to get the quilt on our bed washed since it is also too big to put in the washing machine and honestly, I don't recall ever washing it. So I figured, might as well make a day of it so I (and the girls) stripped every bed in the house, loaded up the van, and took off with the kids for the laundromat I had recently noticed next to the Albertsons. I know, I'm goofy, nutty, crazy, whatever you want to call it but I was so excited when I entered that laundromat. It was so clean! And organized! One wall full of nothing but washers and the opposite wall filled with dryers and lots of clean tables to fold things on! Impressive, I tell you. We got there just as a woman was unloading the four super-sized washers and filled them all up plus one smaller washer. While the stuff was washing, the kids each got their summer school workbook page done. The girls got their daily reading done while everything was drying. We had time to walk over to the bank next door too. It all took about 2 1/2 hours rather than the All Day+ project it would have been at home!
1 sleeping bag, 1 blanket, 2 comforters, 4 quilts, a bunch of sheets and pillowcases and shams equals: One Happy Me!
Remember when you became friends with your son's kindergarten teacher and she came over so you could go to the park for lunch with her and all of your kids? Remember when you went to the park and the kids were playing after lunch and your son decided to throw a rock at a tree to try to hit a piece of wood that was stuck in the tree? Remember how his aim was WAY OFF and he hit your friend in the head with the rock and she began to bleed profusely?
Remember that?
*She's okay. Didn't need stitches or anything. Still feel like crap about it though.
First it was all cold and rainy and we didn't know what to do. So we went bowling. Me and the kids. They all kicked my butt. I haven't improved much since I was a girl of ten and on a bowling league with my siblings. What was that score I got on that one game back then? Oh yeah, a 5. Five! Do you know what the highest score in bowling is? That's right, 300. And bowling is supposed to be in my genes. Well, I didn't do quite as poorly this time. Got into the 70s in the second game. And the kids were using the bumpers. The bowling attendant wouldn't let me use the bumpers.
Then it was too HOT! Just a week later. We had to get out of the house. Hot and bored. Bad combination. So into the "big city" we drive. I have a new scheme in mind. I want to learn to play the guitar. I know! My secret calling in life is to play kick *@&* piano on stage while singing songs with thought provoking lyrics. Oh, wait. That's not my life. It's Ben Folds'. Anyway, I haven't given up on my secret, inevitable passion. But I've moved on to the guitar. I thought, since I'm going back to school with hopes of pursuing a degree in elementary ed. some day, that learning to play the guitar could be a fun asset. Do a little "This Land Is Your Land" and "Kumbaya" with the students. Yes, I realize it is not, in fact, 1978. I'll have to learn some new songs. So Zoe wanted to go look at guitars so we headed out to Target. Just window shopping. It turns out that Adam Levine of Maroon 5 has his own line of guitars over at Target, along with a lesson manual with a few of his band's hits to learn to play. Who knew? Mighty enticing, but we're not quite ready to commit just yet.
So from there it was off to PetSmart to browse the pets. We have no pets, as you may know. But it can't hurt to look, right? Stinkiest store I have ever been in. But, pets we did see. Fish, reptiles, vermin, etc., etc. I was tempted to get a simple little goldfish but no one helpful was around and we've already had one regrettable fish incident and didn't need another on our hands. So I needed to know what to do to keep this thing alive at least for a couple of weeks. We all thought the little hamster and white mice were cute, spinning around in their little wheels. But then you see about six of them crammed on one wheel, spinning and spinning and spinning. After a little bit you start thinking too much about those little spinning rodents and you start to get a little nauseous. I start softening though and thinking: Oh, a little pet. Wouldn't it be fun for the kids? But then I remember. Every animal poops. I don't need the extra excrement. I was softening a bit, though. Maybe someday I'll cave in and my poor children will get that furry critter they've been wanting. Maybe a lizard.
We finally left the pet store and made our way over to the shady Jordan River Parkway. The pond and playground were looking up this time around. They've implemented a "Do Not Feed The Ducks" policy (and sign). The place is no longer full of bird doo doo. Or crazy ducks and geese. Yeah, it was fun feeding the birds, but not worth the mess. So I was happy about the change. The kids played on the playground for a bit then we went for a walk down the parkway path. Very patriotic people live by the parkway in this area. There was nary a home without a flagpole and old glory waving. Very patriotic. We made it to the bridge and the wind was kicking up again and the rain was on its way, and Noah was tired of walking. So we made our way back to the car and returned home from our hot summer's day journey.
So how did the twenty year reunion go, anyway? Well, let me tell you....it was kind of fun and kind of boring. There's not a ton to tell about the actual reunion. It was five hours of dinner and mingling. With a silly song performed by a couple classmates thrown in for good measure. The most notable thing was seeing a room full of people my age. Seriously, I live in a place surrounded by people who are a few years younger than me. Most of them are 5-10 years younger. A few are older. Very few are the same age as me. It's fine. Whatever. It's just a little surreal being in a room of around 200 people where nearly everyone there is 37 or 38 years old. It was sort of like, huh...so we're really not in our twenties anymore. Hmm. The next day was lunch with some of the old girlfriends. That was fun. This wasn't anything new. We get together every year or two when we're all around. A couple of days later was the Murray/Jordan shindig/brawl/smackdown/et al. Back in high school some of my friends and I had a group of friends from Murray High School. The Murray Guys, as they were known. Yeah, I know, not that creative. How do I describe them? I don't know. They were just great guys and tons of fun. It was great to see how they were, see and hear about their families. Tell old stories. Stories like when we got into the fender bender on the way to pick everyone up for the homecoming dance after we talked Sor into driving (even though his parents were out of town and told him, "DO NOT DRIVE THE SUBURBAN.") And how Barn (Brian) and Sor (Bryan) would drive around with Skippy (Chris) in the trunk of their car. Goofy teenage stuff. But they were good, fun guys. The kind of guys you hope your daughters will have as friends when they are teenagers.
Then
Jason, Candie, Sor, Becky, Me, Dave
Now Me, Becky, Barn (paper plate stand in), Steve, Mindy, Candie, Sor
I cannot believe I have been out of high school for twenty years! I was thinking I don't feel that old but I think I'm changing that to "38 isn't old, darn it!" Tomorrow is the Jordan High School Class of 1989 20 year reunion. I wanted to go, then I didn't. I'd seen all these people on facebook so I didn't think I really needed to see them in person since I'd seen their pictures, and kids' pictures, employment status, etc. But my good friend Becky, who I've kept in touch with all these years, talked me into going. So now that it's here (almost), I'm kind of excited. Don't have super high expectations. Don't have to settle any old issues or find "closure" with anyone. So we'll just be hanging out in the back corner, making fun of people. Okay, not really (not much anyway). I did hear of a fun game Brent and I can play if we get bored. It's called "Who Won". The way you play is you look at a couple and decide who got the best deal, or is the winner, in the pairing. I hear it's great to play while standing in lines at Disneyland.
You were wondering what I looked like twenty years ago, right?
School is officially out! Yesterday was the last day for Isabella and Zoe, Noah finished last week. I'll spare you the harrowing, psychological drama that is swirling through my head over having all three of my kids in school full time next year and how it's the end of a significant part of raising our family. A milestone moment, if you will....met with all sorts of mixed feelings!!!!
Zoe is starting off the summer sick, poor girl. Monday we will start our "summer school" books. Those are just workbooks we do on our own to make sure the kids brains don't turn to mush. Just a page a day and reading too, of course. I've got a million organizing projects to get done this summer. You know when you move into a house, like seven and a half years ago, and you stick stuff in cabinets and closets and never see it again? I've got lots of that to deal with. Plus the rest of the junk that has been crammed in front of it all. I'm not an organized person. Correction, I am surface organized. You know, everything you can see out in the open looks nice and neat (I actually consider it a compliment that I've been called a Stepford Wife before), but if you open a drawer or closet door it's complete and utter chaos. So we'll be working on alleviating this problem, at least until the next seven and a half years rolls around. I'll be cracking the whip at the children. Most of it for a nominal fee though. Teach them the value of earning a buck.
Other events on the horizon (So you know I'm not just a mean old mom): Swim lessons for Isabella and Noah Summer School for Zoe (her idea) Piano lessons for Isabella and Zoe (let's see if we can finally get this thing going) and hopefully some fun adventures!
I have to catch up. I've only done two posts in May. I had my blog anniversary in April. Can't sit back and let this thing just die a slow death. Today was Noah's kindergarten graduation. Sort of anyway. It was more like a sing along since there wasn't really anything graduation-ish about it. I think they should have taught them all to hum Pomp and Circumstance. That would have been fun. The other day I was reading this book to Noah. Actually, singing it. It has these silly songs set to the tunes of other songs like "I'm Still here In The Bathtub" instead of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". He was enjoying my singing, of course. Who wouldn't enjoy me belting out "He's Got The Whole Beach In His Pants" (world in his hands) with my untrained voice? I was doing a song to the tune of "The Wheels on The Bus" and he gets this look of recognition on his face and a big grin and yells out, "All through the town!" It was like the most exciting revelation anyone has ever discovered. It was very cute. Then he got his joke book and laughed hysterically at jokes he probably wouldn't even get ten years from now. I mean, come on. This book was published in 2003 and it had a joke with a reference to the actor Don Johnson. Huh?!? I've been trying to get registered for school in the fall. It looks like I will be taking "Math For Losers" and "Computers For Idiots". I decided to start at square one in the math since I haven't taken a math class in over twelve years. I didn't even bother testing into it or a higher class. I figured brush up on the foundations again so I can do well. After all, I'm constantly googling Isabella's math to remind me how to do simple things like subtract fractions. So it's a little humiliating that the class is considered "remedial". And to make matters worse, pour a little salt in the wound....They charge an Extra Fee for the remedial classes! Oh the humiliation!
Fourteen years ago today we were sitting in Brent's red Nissan truck waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for the rain to stop. The family and friends had all abandoned us after a few quick pictures and a few wails from the freezing children. We sat there and waited for almost an hour, us in one car, the photographer in the other. Good thing we got married on Memorial Day weekend or he would have been busy and probably would have been out of there. Finally it stopped and we got our pictures. The pictures we wanted taken at Memory Grove, because it was pretty and no one else we knew had wedding pictures at Memory Grove. After, we went back to the new apartment we would share, just the two of us, and we proceeded to scrub the mud out of the bottom of my dress. Then I ran over to the bridal shop, which was all abuzz on a Saturday afternoon with prospective brides doing their prospective bride shopping and just about yelled through the noise, "I need new shoes now!" It was my wedding day right then. Not these girls who would be waiting for who knows how many more weeks or months (or days, this is Utah after all). I needed new shoes to replace those shoes that were sitting in my new apartment, covered in mud. So I got my shoes and I was off to get ready for the reception or open house or whatever we were calling it. Mostly it was just me and Brent and about 40 family and friends hanging out in his Dad's backyard. Eating and chatting while Brent and I took snapshots of all these people and then some of them took snapshots of us. Good Day.
A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to removing my Barack Obama bumper sticker from the back of my car. (Someone had to represent the mini van drivers of America.)
It was time.
Since then I haven't noticed anyone tailgating me in big trucks driven by rednecks. Similarly, I haven't had anyone try to drive me off the road. Yes, it only happened that one time but after thinking it through thoroughly it was the only logical explanation of why someone would do that.
So is it a coincidence? We may never know for sure.
Earlier today Brent called me the homemaking version of the cable guy: "Oh, I'll get to it, be ready to leave, etc. sometime between 8 and 5...." It's true. I hate being tied down to doing things at a certain time. I much prefer in a while or later or I don't know to the concrete. This could be a problem when I go back to school in the fall.* He has also noticed I can't stick to a recipe (or any directions for that matter) without tweaking it to suit my own taste. Well, I just have better ideas I guess. :)
*Yes, for those I've yet to tell, I've been accepted to Utah State and will be going back to school in the fall at the local extension! Here come the recurring nightmares of me flunking out of high school again because I'm too dumb. No, I didn't flunk out of high school. My dreams just immediately sink me down to the lowest common denominator.
Maybe it's just because church starts at one and I have too much time to kill on Sundays. I was standing there in my dress. A dress that is clearly past it's prime since I bought it right after Isabella was born. It's an ugly dress. A jumper. I used to love the jumpers but they have long ago gone the way of rolled up jeans and midriff baring tops. All of which are certain to come back in style any day now. Most likely the midriff baring tops will make their way back first since they are never gone for too long. Unfortunately. So I'm standing there in my ugly jumper thinking how my shirt looks ugly with my ugly jumper. I've always liked the fabric and the length of this jumper (very long). Many times I've thought it would make a nice skirt. So right then I take it off and cut the top off and Voila! Instant skirt. I suppose later I should hem it up at the top. But not today, I'm wearing my cut off dress with my long shirt and cami covering the cut part. I don't think anyone can tell, at least not unless they read this. I do realize I am the last person anyone should take fashion advice from. I've been told repeatedly over the last twenty years by my own sister, no less, that I have no style. I don't think I dress like a complete loser but I'll be the first to admit that since I gained twenty unnecessary pounds I hate buying clothes. So, I ask you, is this crazy?
A couple of months ago I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at my sort of curly hair. Last summer I discovered I suddenly had curly hair. "Enough with the curly hair already!" as Brent would say. So I thought it was kind of cool at first so I decided to try to let it grow and see what would come of it. Well I was looking in the mirror thinking, "I hate that frizzy looking part at the bottom." It wasn't really growing into the beautiful crown of curls I had delusionally envisioned. So I took out the scissors and cut it myself right then. I had nothing but a four inch mirror to see the back of it. I know, this goes against the code of all that is sacred and true for a real woman. But then I don't paint my nails or wear high heels. I'd sometimes like to wear high heels, if for no other reason than to be six feet tall; but alas, they hurt my back too much. So I've always had a sort of "screw the code" attitude. In my defense, it was Friday afternoon so if I really botched it I'd still have Saturday morning to go fix it. It turned out to be one of the best haircuts I've ever had. I don't have much luck with professionals anyway. I've been to the expensive stylists and the super cheap stylists. The results are all pretty similar. Very few stylists have even an inkling of know how when it comes to cutting very, very, very, fine hair. And sadly, that is what I have.
Those are just two examples of things I do when no one is around to stop me. So I wonder, does everyone do crazy stuff like this when alone and left to their own devices? Or is it just me who is a little crazy? Either way it's okay. I'm of the belief that crazy begats creativity.
Isabella had to do a book report on a historical fictional character recently and dress up like the character for the report. She chose Anne of Green Gables and so she was Anne Shirley. I still wish we could have dyed her hair red!
We finally returned triumphantly from Arizona yesterday after driving for about a thousand hours. It turned out to be a good trip for the most part. We did some fun touristy stuff: went on paddle boats on Tempe Town Lake, visited the Desert Botanical Garden where we saw the Chihuly Glass (an exhibit from a famous glass artist named Dale Chihuly), toured the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff. Remember we wanted to see Taliesin West? Well that was out because of the price and we didn't really have time anyway. We ran into this place in Flagstaff, we were staying there on our last night and needed something to do and it was on the map so we checked it out and it was a cool old mansion that a prominent Flagstaff family lived in, built around 1903 in the Arts and Crafts style of architecture. Something a little educational thrown in for good measure. Brent wanted to show us this natural bridge place he visited with his mom last fall but it was closed due to budget cuts. Darned recession! Oh and we also visited Montezuma Castle (old Native American ruins) and did the usual visit to the neighborhood lake which is great to walk around at night. That and family stuff, of course. The kids loved playing with the Arizona cousins.
The sucky part of the trip was seeing Chuck, my Stepdad. He is now about 74, thin as a rail, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. My Stepdad has a good heart but he is also mean as the day is long. It's now like his spirit is broken. I was almost missing his embarrassing, demoralizing comments that he can make. He was so quiet and childlike. It's just STUPID that this has to happen to people often when they get older.
Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in some idiocy for good measure. Brent and I and the kids took Chuck out to lunch and he really wanted to go to the store and find a bike. He was in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago, he will likely lose his license as a result, so he really wanted a bike to get around. Made sense to me so we took him over to Walmart to look at the bikes. I didn't know if he'd be able to ride one but it couldn't hurt to see, I figured. Chuck used to be quite athletic, played lots of tennis, ran a few marathons. But now he's so thin and he hasn't exercised in some time so he couldn't ride the bike. He kept trying to talk us into going to another bike store but I didn't see the point unless he managed to strengthen his legs and recover some balance somehow. So he was naturally disappointed and I was trying to figure out how I could help him when I saw the scooters. You know how I love the scooters so I thought why not let him try one out. We went outside and he tried out Noah's, we had the kids' scooters in the van. He was doing fairly well so we went back in to check them out some more. He tried out one in the store and was doing pretty good but not so sure still so we told him we'd buy one and we could take it to the park for him to try out, if he didn't like it we'd just keep it ourselves since we had a scooter stolen recently. Well at the park he tried it for a few seconds and he fell. I felt terrible and was thinking, Great I broke his hip! He was all right but he and I both agreed it wasn't the ride for him. I was also thinking this reminded me of the time when Brent and I tried to buy Isabella a bike helmet when she was 4 months old (4 months old!) so we could put her in the newly purchased bike seat and take her on family bike rides. Another dumb idea. It shows the inexperienced should not be left alone with babies or senior citizens. So no bike or scooter for Chuck. I just really wanted to help him out if I could. Another interesting thing was seeing hobo cats at the park. We were at Pioneer Park, across the street from the Mesa Temple, practicing the scooter. They have an old train in the middle of the park that has a metal barred fence around it. The train had a bunch of stray cats that looked like they'd lived there since they were kittens. Someone had stuck cut open bags of cat food under the fence for them so they had plenty of food. The kids thought it was highly interesting and I named them "Hobo Cats".
