Accountability

Here I list my official fitness accountability. I’m planning to lose fifteen pounds by May 12th. And so I will be listing my weigh loss (or…gulp…gain) every week for the whole world to see. So please, if you admire my gumption, please don’t offer me any pizza or cookies!
Feb 29: -1 lb.

Like I said...

Not as productive today, but potluck Thursday was awesome! I had so much fun and so did the kids. But alas, that little blip of joviality cost me a clean kitchen. The horror! The horror!

How did Donna Reed do it? Oh, well, there's always tomorrow.

List of things I accomplished today that were actually on my to-do list.

That’s right, I’m feeling a little proud of the checks in the boxes, and so I’d like to record this amazingly miraculous and scarce day in history so that later I won’t be able to say “It can’t be done!”

1.)Worked out at gym for 45 minutes
2.)Went to story-time at the library with Mr. Bob and checked out books
3.)Went to post office
4.)Fed boys, put David down for a nap, ate lunch
5.)Cleaned up kitchen, then filled the sink up with water to let Stevie play with his boats.
6.)Only let Stevie watch 1 ½ hours of TV today, and NO SPONGEBOB!
7.)Read two chapters of the Book of Mormon.
8.)Did TWO loads of laundry, and that includes ironing, people!
9.)Folded clothes and put them away
10.)Made beds and picked up house in general.
11.)Took a shower (this doesn’t always happen) and made myself somewhat presentable for Steven.
12.)Tried a new recipe for dinner that we all actually liked.
13.)Actually had THREE servings of vegetables today! (And an apple… man, I’m on fire!)
14.)Got the boys in bed by 8:00pm!!!
15.)Finished 'Twilight.' (You're right, y'all, it was really good).

So, since I don’t have a teacher to give me a gold star for my work performance, I’ll just mentally high-five myself and marvel that I had such a productive day. But don't be surprised if there’s no update tomorrow.

Where Have All the Good Books Gone?

Have you ever felt like you’re running out of good books to read? I’m almost positive I’m never going to find one that knocks me off my feet ever again. Every book I read lately leaves me feeling sort of “eh.”

One of things that really gets me is a book (or a movie) that tries to substitute good writing or story or whatever with graphic sex and gore. I know this is just my personal preference, but it’s just gets so tiring. We get it…sex and gore are outrageous, explicit, or my all-time favorite cop-out--'real.' Honestly, it just seems like lazy writing.

I’d also like for authors to stop writing characters or situations in which they have no personal experience. When reading, you can just tell when someone really has no idea what they’re talking about…when they’re incomplete or worse, inaccurate. And my biggest pet-peeve is agnostic authors trying to write a pious religious character. They just can’t get it right, and the struggles their characters have with their faith don’t ring true. They’re always missing major details. So please, if you’re not sure you believe in God, please stop writing through the eyes of a devout Christian, Muslim or Jew.

I want a good story and true writing. I want characters who are beautifully flawed and complex but who I can commune with regardless. I want to truly understand points of view. I want to be left breathless now and again by poignant truth or heart-stopping reality. And yes, I’ll admit it, I want something… anything in the book that can move me to genuine (and not generated) tears.

Disclaimer: I have never tried to write a novel, and therefore realize I have no idea how much it entails. I do know that to even attempt to write a novel is an amazing accomplishment. Just don’t ask me to like it. And definitely, definitely, don’t ask me to try and write it myself.

Hand vs. Digi Scrap

Stevie found a marker while I was in the shower…sigh.

I’ve been torn lately between the practicalities of hand scrapping vs. digital scrapping. (I'm actually blogging about scrapbooking...the happy homemaker metamorphosis is complete) I’ve become so perplexed, in fact, that I haven’t scrapped anything at all for over a month. This doesn’t stop me, however, from buying all the scrapbooking materials in the $1 section at Target (I mean, come on, it’s only a dollar!)

I first got into scrapbooking last November, and became completely fanatical with it. I scrapped Stevie’s baby book almost in its entirety (just a few pages left). When I came close to finishing, however, I noticed that the book is CRAZY thick. I mean, this is only the first couple years, how am I suppose to keep record of all his entire childhood? I’ll have to have an entire bookcase dedicated to scrapbooks; and those of you who’ve seen my house, I ain’t go that kind o’ room.

So I naturally turned to digi-scrapping as the obvious solution. You can print the pages off and have a normal sized coffee-table book. Very durable, no worries of adhesive falling off, and still pretty darn cute.

But here’s the rub: you obviously have to have a PhD in computer science to work the software (either that or I’m entirely too computer illiterate…or lazy, which I am). PLUS, it’s exceedingly expensive for someone in my income tax bracket. So unless someone out there puts it for free on the internet WITH lessons, I’ll probably stick to hand-scrapping it. I could probably buy 1 or 2 good-sized bookcases with that money.

5 Things You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Me

Shannon tagged me and so here we are! Throughout my deliberations on what to write, I've realized I have lots of disturbing quirks. In order to keep from freaking anyone out, I'll limit myself to 5.

1.) I hate condiments. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, you name it, I hate it. I don’t like my food to touch (I actually have sectioned Cornell plates…seriously) and tuna fish makes me want to throw up. I literally have to leave the room when Steven (or anyone else) eats it.

2.) We constantly had pets in the house as a child. Brandy, Licorice, Heidi, Gretchen, Molly, Rascal, Lassie Lee, Miss Kitty, and Tammy the Hamster are just a few. Not to mention a 10-gallon tank of numerous unlucky tropical fish that inevitably ended up being flushed down the toilet. And yet for some reason, I’m reluctant to get a pet now.

3.) Every time I sing the first movement of the Brahm’s Requiem at choir practice on Monday nights I cry. It’s just so beautiful. It’s getting a bit embarrassing, but I’m getting better at hiding it. (The other choir members must think I have the dirtiest contacts in the world).

4.) I am a Law & Order junkie. I must have seen every single idiotic episode by now and yet that doesn’t stop me from watching them over and over again. I don’t like the other Law & Order shows, just the original. I also have what can only be described as an unhealthy obsession with real live murder/mystery shows like “The New Detectives,” “Cold Case Files” and “American Justice.”

5.) When I was fifteen I had an amazingly obsessive crush on Paul Simon. Not Paul Newman, that would be normal, but Paul Simon from Simon and Garfunkel. That's right, this man: I had a picture of him on my bulletin board and would concoct crazy schemes on how I could meet him. Don’t ask me to explain this…I don’t think I can. This crush lasted until I was seventeen, when Paul McCartney took over (Beatles Paul McCartney, not Wings Paul McCartney).

I TAG: Darcy, Elisa and Kristy

At what age does one cease to be cool?

I’ve guessed that for me, it must have happened around 28 or 29. I could have sworn I was cool before then, but that could very well just be wishful thinking.

My husband and I met in a band; my band, in fact. That’s right, folks; we were part of the wild and crazy Provo, Utah band scene. We played at such debauched and hedonistic venues as The Wrapsody or BYU Fall Fling or in someone's backyard. Okay, so we weren’t the most extreme music scene on the planet, but hey, we were in a band. That’s cool…right?

It was called “The Rosenbergs.” Not because I’m a communist spy sympathizer, but because I had a strange fascination with “The Jerky Boys” and “Saul Rosenberg” (this was a mid-90s phenomenon, children).

We had Josh the bassist, Mags on percussion, Jared on drums, Carrie on backup vocals and me on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. I could never find a really good lead guitarist, though, until Steven Grundberg magnanimously offered to play lead for us. He was fabulous, as you might imagine, and thus our romance ensued.


We even recorded a CD and sold around 200 copies. It was called “Space for Rent” and had all original songs on it. I guess a ‘chick band’ (as we were so labeled because the front-man happened to be a woman) was kind of vogue, or at the very least an oddity. We won 3rd place at the 1999 BYU Battle of the Bands.

College is one place that makes it easy for you to get together with people of similar interests and create surprisingly amazing things. And even though you know what you make probably isn’t life-changing or even important in the grand scheme of things, it’s an indescribably great feeling.

But then it seems we all grew up and got married. And doing so doesn’t easily lend itself to our once uncontrived coolness. Besides no longer having a venue to play to, we’re much too mom and dad-like to be authentic these days. To even try and dredge up all that nonsense is dumb and a bit pathetic, I know. But sometimes I really miss it…nostalgia overwhelms me and I want to be onstage, tearing up on my guitar with a microphone in my face and dancing people out in the crowd.

Things I am grateful for today...

1. My husband is kind and really loves people. He’s sincerely interested in every person he talks to. He’s s good friend to my dad, and my mom always loved him like a son. He is patient, talented, hilarious, and such a good father. He never uses his love as a weapon and is always the first to say ‘I’m sorry’.

2. My parents have given me nothing but love and support my entire life. They’ve never discouraged, insulted, judged or criticized me. They filled my life with confidence, light and love. I really hope I can give the same to my children as they grow.

3. I am relatively happy with myself. I have no crushing insecurities that keep me from loving others or being happy with others’ successes. I know this isn’t some kind of personal accomplishment, but something I credit to having such wonderful family and friends.

4. I have such wonderful family and friends.

5. My sweet, irritating, wonderful, perfect baby boys who fill my days with hilarious little moments and make me a better person. They require me, little by little, to be patient and unselfish even when I don’t think I have it in me.

Leaving for Galveston...

See you next Tuesday!

St. Valentine's--Family Style

We decided to go out to dinner Wednesday night, as a family, for Valentine's Day. Not the most romantic idea we've ever had, but practical, considering we had to pack all day today. We're driving a U-haul filled with the last of my dad's things to his new house in Galveston on Friday. Well, Steve will of course be driving the U-haul. I can barely handle the stick shift on his Isuzu, much less a big rig. I will be driving the six hours happily listening to Harry Potter audio books (yes, I'm THAT nerdy) while my kids watch DVDs in the back. (or sleep....please let them sleep!)

Dinner, as I mentioned before, was less than romantic. Stevie decided he'd much rather hide underneath the table than eat anything offered him. Later he decided it was also fun to try and slide Mom right off the booth (he succeeded once). It was nice, however, to have a delicious meal cooked and served to you by someone else--absolutely lovely, in fact. And though our comments tended to be like "put that down," "don't do that," or "stop eating that coaster," we did get to have some much-treasured family time that hasn't been very available to us lately.

I sure love my boys; all three of them.

Low Key Catharsis

Last night we went over to the Lundells for a BBQ and chitchat. We had a really great time. Stevie and Jared immediately dressed as superheroes the moment we arrived (Jared as Mr. Incredible and Stevie as Buzz Lightyear). David even put on a little superman cape. Too incredibly cute, actually. We even got them to flex their muscles.

Playtime at the Lundells was extremely therapeutic for me. I’d been kind of down and lonely all week. All in all your typical self-throwdown (or funk, if you will…they come and go but it never seems that way at the time). I’d been having a tough time with Stevie, and I was actually to the point of checking out the want ads.

Being the mom, you’re so often the bad guy. You’re in charge of letting them know they can’t punch people indiscriminately, shouldn’t leap wildly off of tall furniture, and can’t eat only fruit snacks all day, every day. All day long I repeat the word “no,” and then get my feelings hurt when the kids run screaming to Steven when he gets home from work. (Not that they shouldn’t, I just wish they wouldn’t do it like they’re escaping from a POW camp or something).

Jan L. is always such a great pick-me-up because she validates all my secret guilty feelings. She also makes me understand that no, CPS isn’t going to be at my door any minute and no, Stevie doesn’t have some mysterious development/behavior/brain deficiency that even the doctors don’t know about yet.

It’s so nice to have someone to identify with and help you put things in a better perspective. I was letting myself become overwhelmed by some very insignificant things. And honestly, whenever I’m feeling down, it usually turns out to be a direct consequence of focusing on myself too much. Not always, but usually.

By the way, new hair cut. Very short. Eek!

Stumped

So Steven and I were sitting around fruitlessly brainstorming for Ward Activity Ideas (needless capitalization? you decide). When he WASN’T involved in the activities committee, it seems we always had big ideas about how we could create the most excellent activity EVER. Now that we revisit these past ideas, we see that we were definitely not as cool as we once imagined. So we spent last night spouting out and poking holes in every idea under the sun. Luau, Lip Sync, Games Night, Movie Night …the list goes on and on. So here’s the $64,000 question: what is the ideal ward activity for a family ward?

Preschool Synopsis

Preschool was fun today. Crazy, but fun. It started off kind of hairy…the kids had a hard time believing us when we said they had to listen and participate. But after we got going we had a nice time.

We talked about the letter ‘H’ again (sorry, Jan, I just couldn’t remember what letter we were on) and practiced tracing the capital and lower-case letter H. Then we glued “h” pictures in our homemade mini books. For art time, Elisa had this adorable idea of making snow globes out of plastic toy animals and baby food jars. We also talked about the number “8”. First, we crouched low like frogs, counted to 8, and leapt into the air when we reached 8. Then we all got our own number eight on a piece of cardstock and used a stamp pad to put eight thumb-print ‘spiders’ on it with 8 tiny legs drawn in pen. Later, we read the story Where the Wild Things Are, one of my favorites.

The kids did a really great job. And I actually sang the entire goodbye song without messing up the words (I think I deserve a gold star here, Kelli!)

Potty Training...

is gross.

And yet, successful! Stevie seems to have finally gotten the hang of it! The first day was extremely unpleasant, and he continually looked at me like I was out of my mind, but a few well-placed bribes later, he was consistently using the toilet! YAY! No more number 6 diapers! And he’s so self-sufficient! He’ll come up to me and announce, “Mommy, I gotta go pee,” and then march into the bathroom and start the whole process all by himself.

I have to admit that I’ve really been putting the whole potty-training circus on hold until we lived in a place with a washing machine on premises, and believe you me; I don’t know how people do it without one. On top of everything else, I can’t say that I was generally looking forward to the general nastiness of it all. But tackle it we must!

Now, I’m still putting him in the “Good Nites” at night time. But he’s even getting better at that! It was considerably less wet the past couple of mornings. And believe it or not, he actually woke me up this morning (at the crack of dawn, mind you) with “Mommy, I have to go pee.” Now, I’m absolutely positive that he will never get as enthusiastic a greeting using that phrase as he did this morning by me.

The bad news is that he hasn’t quite gotten a hold of the other. You know, the much nastier other. He just doesn’t seem to know when it’s happening, and always seems genuinely surprised when it shows up in his underwear. I just have to remember not to be negative about it. I don’t want him hiding it from me like I’ve heard other kids do. But it’s very hard to remain positive and encouraging when you’re cleaning up something like that! How can I make him more aware of it, without freaking him out, so that he can get to the toilet in time?

In the meantime, watching him delightedly check out his new Cars or Thomas the Train undies in the mirror is definitely a Kodak moment. Who’da thunk I’d ever be so excited about someone else’s bladder control? I’m ecstatic!