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Earlier this year, a group of popular bloggers went to Uganda with Compassion International. I read about their many moving experiences with tears in my own eyes. However, I have to admit that this post about the starving children in Africa is by far my favorite. (Chris, Lanie, Wendy, you all MUST read it. Trust me.)Yep...I'm going to hell.
you probably shouldn't write something mean. Which is why I haven't been blogging too much lately. Nothing is really wrong, just a million little annoyances that seem to need my undivided attention. Like a ten year-old with a teenager's attitude or several stake youth activities all converging at once, or little kids that play way too much computer and play way too little outside, not to mention a house that won't stay picked up no matter how hard I try to stay on top of things and how much I ask everyone else to do their share. (I refer you back to the ten year-old with attitude.) So, instead of writing a real post tonight; I will spend the evening putting away the clean dishes and laundry and putting away all the junk that seems magnetically attracted to the floor. Again. Sigh.
As I watch from the window while you scramble up a tree, I think that perhaps I should feel sorry for you and revoke your banishment to the great outdoors. But then I remember how you peed on my carpets and clean laundry piles, jumped from the second story balcony with a rather dramatic landing right at my feet, and then had the nerve to jump up onto the stove top (yes, stove NOT counter) and tried to eat meat right out of the pan as I stood there stirring it. It would be one thing if I had left it unattended for a minute or two, but I was standing right there.. Not smart, Kitty. Not even a little. Surely Kitty the Older has told you better. But if he did, you didn't listen. And that's why you are now you are outside playing a very one-sided game of tag with the dog. (Who is harmless and won't hurt you whether you believe that or not.) You ought to enjoy your time with him. You two will be together a lot this week. Tomorrow evening you will ride to the vet together. Then you will spend the night in their kennels so that you are ready bright and early for your respective Thursday morning surgeries. Poor boys. Maybe you can share bags of frozen peas and compare horror stories over the weekend. As both of you were dumped on us (in one way or another) as babies, I hope you understand that I'm doing this to both of you for the greater good and not because I derive any pleasure from your collective discomfort. Although in YOUR case, that might not be 100% true. It's a good thing for you that you are cute and that the kids love you. Enjoy your last night as a tom cat.
Love,
The Woman
(Who wishes that The Man would join both of you, but apparently he has to see a different doctor for such a procedure.)
Long time, no plan, eh? Yeah. And it was starting to feel that way around here too. With rising gas and food prices, I have decided to try and cut back on our dinner budget around here and planning ahead is pretty much the key to any money savings in this house. (Well, that and hiding Daddy's debit card-but it hasn't come to that yet.)
Monday-Janey's 'Cheater' Lasagna, salad, and French bread (I met Janey at last year's FRED. She made this awesome cheese ravioli lasagna that was WAY better than the recipe I had for it. She was nice enough to share that recipe with me and I'm going to attempt it tonight. Wish me luck!)
Tuesday-BBQ sandwiches (I made my favorite pork roast recipe last night, this will use up the leftovers-shredded and heated up with BBQ sauce), baked beans, carrot sticks, applesauce (another leftover)
Wednesday-Tortilla chip pie
Thursday-Crockpot chicken and noodles (calls for just 2 chicken breasts and I can use up the rest of the carrots)
Friday-Out for Thai with friends (also my birthday), kids will eat at grandma's
Saturday-Cookout hamburgers/hot dogs, tater tots, watermelon, corn on the cob
Sunday-Not sure yet-still working my way through our big meat delivery in the deep freeze (it will likely come from there).
For (lots) more menus, see Laura's blog The Organizing Junkie!
Now that everything is transferred and set up on the new laptop, it's time for another photo fest. Thanks to Sarcastic Mom (aka Lotus) for hosting it. (And if you want to see some amazing pictures, I suggest checking out some of the other bloggers who link there. My pictures are a lot more about fun and a lot less about talent. Though I do see some improvement from time to time.) This is more of a bi-weekly winner entry for me because there are some pictures from Tristan's party last weekend that are just too good not to share here.
Natalie and Tristan wanted a silly string fight as one of the games for his party. So, I bought a can for each kid at the party and sent them outside to work off that pizza they had for dinner. I think that they did:
(Wonder if she remembers how hard she worked at talking Tristan into this)
(Not that he was disappointed with the way things turned out.)
Shifting gears to show a few highlights from work last week:
The Pledge as it was written during the time the school house was in use. Please do not deface it in the name of "Jesus." He doesn't want you to. It's not 'what He would do.'
At the starting line:
GO!
Almost every week, the Pioneer Woman posts amazing pictures of her kids on horseback working hard on their vast, expansive cattle ranch. I post mediocre pictures of my kids goofing off when I've told them to pick up sticks on our 0.88 acreage. It's all good, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too.
I think there may be a meme called "Five on Friday." Whether there is or not, that sounds about as detailed a post as I have the time and energy for this evening. So, here are five things I'm looking forward to this weekend:
1. Monty's Radio show! Since Fridays are often spent at my grandmother's, I rarely get to chat while I listen; but either way it's always a party! (Neither the show nor the chat room are for kids, just so you know.)
2. Pizza night! (aka I don't have to cook)
3. Celebrating Dave's birthday!
4. Sleeping in tomorrow! (It isn't an option every weekend, but this one looks like it is. Yea!)
5. Having next Monday off!
My feet hurt, my throat itches, and I feel like I haven't slept in days. But it's Friday and that means it's all OK.
You Are a Marble Cake |
 Eclectic, inventive, and peaceful. You are never willing to accept what's "normal." You live to push the envelope. You find it hard to make up your mind. You prefer to have everything you want, right away! |
My new laptop is finally here! Needless to say, I'm having too much fun setting it up to write anything tonight. Welcome back to my world Windows XP!! Vista, I won't be a stranger and we will still see each other on Dave's computer. But it will be a lot less frequently...
Since I've already stepped on toes by mentioning the Land Run, I thought I might as well go ahead and share my thoughts on the whole polygamy drama in Texas. I mean, at this point, why not?
I will admit that I'm a little irritated at all the "As a MORMON, what do you think?" questions. As the media has been kind enough to clarify, we Mormons have very little to do with the FLDS church. This is not surprising as we parted company with them when the church abolished polygamy in 1890. In fact, the one tenant of the original church that they embrace most fervently is the one that would have been a deal-breaker for me had I been approached by the missionaries in the 1880's. I would even go so far as to say that the principal of polygamy is the only thing Joseph Smith ever did that I have had to seriously question and to reconcile myself to in the 15 years that I've been a member of the church. (And I remain a member, in short, because I've yet to receive a negative response to my prayers when it comes to the promise found in Moroni 10:3-5.) And so, I don't feel that I have much in common with those who have disavowed the church that I belong to in order to engage in such a practice, and if you ask them they will say that they feel disconnected from us in a similar fashion. Watching this media coverage has been akin to how Jimmy Carter must have felt when the spotlight shone on his brother Billy or how Bill Clinton felt when everyone was watching Roger. It's basically having to deal with the whole world watching the antics of your most backwoodsy 2nd cousins...and yet, as the coverage rolls on, I can't help but feel that kinship with them.
I'm not sure if the common denominator is the shared origin of our very different faiths, or if it's as a wife and mother, or even just as a fellow human being. But I have to admit that knowing that government agents acting on a tip of very dubious nature have been allowed and encouraged to storm into homes and split up families by force and to have their actions sanctioned by the court system is a little disturbing to me. This is not because I support or even condone the practice of polygamy, nor am I ever in support of underage marriages be it to younger OR older men; it's just that I feel this sets a dangerous precedent. Let's face it, the raid wasn't really over the phone call-that was just the pre-text. This compound has been an irritant to the citizens of El Dorado for quite some time. They were just waiting for an excuse to pounce. And isn't declaring superiority in the face of a lifestyle and culture that we don't understand and doing our best to show it who's boss is a time-honored American tradition? (If I learned anything from yesterday's discourses, it was that.) If I truly believed the raids had been done for any other reason than that kind of bullying, I might feel more positively about them. If I really thought they would make a difference in the grand scheme of things, I might be able to stomach what I've seen on the news. But if my church hasn't been able to convince them to abandon polygamy in the last 100-plus years, why do government officials think that they will fare any better? Instead, I think they *may* have changed the futures of a possible handful of young girls and caused unmeasurable damage to quite a few more young children and their mothers. Not to mention setting a very dangerous precedent in the United States for what it is and isn't OK to do to American citizens.
There is a slight debate in my comment section! I didn't think enough people read this blog for such a thing to occur. In the interest of time, I thought I would re-post what I sent to Sooner Scotty earlier today (I've modified it a bit to leave out some personal information):
One of the biggest parts of our Land Run is a thirty minute presentation given by a Native American speaker to explain their perspective about the Oklahoma Land Run. This year it is being given by our site manager's wife who is Kiowa. (I am 1/16 Cherokee myself-don't let the blonde hair fool you.) She starts out by telling the kids about her family's heritage and then having several adult and volunteer children be a Native American "family." She gives them a tipi and tells them to spread out across a wide, open space. Then, she had them pick up the tipi and some other supplies and move to a slightly smaller spot. She repeats this a couple more times until they are in a tiny, roped-off area (doing a rather good imitation of Pres. Jackson while she's at it) and then tells the kids that the same thing happened to the Native Americans. It's quite powerful and we feel it brings balance to our Land Run. She has volunteered in many capacities for our Land Run re-enactments over the years and, as she she takes great pride in her heritage, I don't believe that she would be involved if she disapproved of what we do (and if you had ever met her, you would most assuredly agree with that). I absolutely respect your viewpoint, but I just wanted you to know that we do try and present both sides when we do our land run.
A few of our staff members are also Native American and none of them have ever objected to our programming, and they know that they would be taken quite seriously if they did. Feel free to continue discussing this in the 'comment' section and feel free to email me with any questions. To protect my own privacy and that of my co-workers, I will not disclose exactly where I work in such a public forum as a blog; but will happily discuss it privately. We take the position of Native Americans in relation to the Land Run very seriously when we plan it each year and I will admit a certain reluctance to accept too much criticism from those who have never actually attended our daily program.
(If I seem a little sensitive, it's because last week some idiot trespassed into our one-room schoolhouse and wrote a lot of critical messages-vandalizing a chalkboard that is more than 100 years old and needs a lot of TLC-to express their displeasure that the Pledge of Allegiance written there did not contain the words "under God" in it. Did these people not know that the pledge didn't contain those words until the 1950's? I think not. Because our schoolhouse was built in 1897 and in its most active use in 1911 when the pledge was first published in A Boy's Life, and because our museum's primary focus is the 1880's-1920's; we use that version. It's appropriate. But I have to admit that I was amused that there are people who trespass and vandalize in the name of "Jesus." I'm sure He appreciates that.
And the version written in the 1950's was written by McCarthyists, so I don't necessarily consider it an "improvement" even though I recite it at my kids' school with pride every Friday.)
My friends and I managed our monthly get-together this evening and, among many others, had this conversation about our respective jobs (names witheld to protect our reputations-yeah, I know, too late!):
1-"There is nothing going at at work tomorrow. I swear it's killing my soul one small piece at a time to be there."
2-"I've got to do, or re-do, a lot of surgeries that I've already done. Can we say 'deja vu?!"
3-"I've got an IEP meeting with a mother from hell."
4-"I've got to re-enact the Oklahoma Land Run."
Can we guess which one was me? Oh yes, we can.
I also enjoyed the observation that, all things considered, we never had as much fun with the Skittles slogan "taste the rainbow" as we could have. Better late than never, I guess...
Without going into depressing detail, yesterday was BAD. The nicest thing anyone said to me was "Oh Honey, you look awful. Take a seat and we'll get you right in to see the doctor." That was the receptionist at Urgent Care, a.k.a. the nicest person I encountered yesterday. I was diagnosed with bronchitis, told to "take as much Motrin as (my) stomach can handle" for the pain in my calf where I pulled a muscle on Sunday evening; and to spend the next two days in bed. I'm not big on pain meds, I'm afraid of the inhaler they gave me, and no mother of four who is hostessing a birthday party tonight and helping with a Stake Youth Prom tomorrow can "take 2 sick days." Did I mention Land Run starts at work on Monday? So, I cried out of sheer frustration all the way home from the clinic and watched everyone blow off their house cleaning duties last night because "Mom has the day off tomorrow and she'll cover it." I heard my husband slip out for work this morning and I wanted to throw a shoe at him. I dragged myself out of bed to start waking up the kids when, lo and behold, DH came back home and took over the morning routine (which is good, because I am even worse today than I have been all week).
After I took a good nap, we watched Cousins (how did I miss that one?) and went to Toys 'R Us. I may not feel well, but we're still having a party tonight. I had no idea WHAT I was going to do to entertain all the little boys in my pathetic, coughing state when my DH jokingly commented that maybe they would have a Wii in stock, in which case the little boys wouldn't even notice my messy house, much less the lack of quality party games. We went to the electronics area and, as my title already mentioned, they had them! I'm not usually a video game fan, but after rave reviews from Toni and the Redneck Diva (among others); I've really been hoping to find one. How cool is it that I managed it on the day of my son's birthday party. I wonder if he will mind that we got him a Wii Pokemon game instead of the agreed-upon iPod Shuffle....OK, I really don't wonder about that at all. I'm just glad we found it. And even with such a magnificent distraction, I guess I really should still clean my house.
You have become far more than I can handle. I quit. Effective immediately.
Melessa
I'm told that today is Reader Appreciation Day, and since I have so few readers; I want to make sure all 15 (or so) of you know how glad I am to have any audience. I always dreamed of a professional opinion column, but I probably should have majored in Journalism as opposed to Latin if I had wanted to make that happen. (And even then, it would have been a longshot.) So, I started blogging instead. I enjoy it and I hope I write things from time to time that others of you enjoy too. (You must, or you wouldn't be here-right?)
To Anne, Chris, Christy, and my online mother friends-You all have been here since Day 1 and even before then. Some of you even directed me to Blogger in the first place. Most of you received my mass weekly update emails that pre-dated this blog by several years and gave me lots of positive feedback whether I deserved it or not. So thank you for being my friends in all aspects of my life. Thanks for letting me blog about many of our adventures (and misadventures) throughout the years. I enjoy reading many of your blogs too.
To those of you who found me through some common interest (i.e. church, another blogger, blog memes, being a fellow Sooner fan, etc...) thanks for finding my little life here in the Midwest interesting enough to read about every day. And for those of you from other faiths, thanks for respecting mine as much as I respect each of yours. (Or at least holding your tongue-that works for me too.) ;>) And I'm not kidding when I speak of your various beliefs with love. Those months I spent in college attending the Baptist Student Union are still some of my best memories and always will be. I still love to go to Mass and did so several times during my mission in Italy with great enjoyment. And I've had positive experiences at a variety of other churches throughout my life and will always have the up most respect for them.
And to you, yeah, you know who you are. I think I may have started this blog in part because I couldn't talk to you anymore. It's not that I need to talk to you daily, but when those things happen that only you would appreciate-it's nice that I can tell you about them. I like things the way they are now. As I once explained to John, it's hard to look in a mirror when one of the people who knows you best hates you. It's been nice not to cringe at my own reflection for the last few months. So thanks for that. (As if I didn't owe you enough already.)
For those of you who feel like you don't fit into any of the above categories, thank you for reading too! Stick with me, the best is yet to come! Or so I hope...
I know the music is very cheesy and my friend Chris isn't a particularly big fan of how sickeningly sweet she appears to be (and it IS pretty funny to see that if you know her in real life), but I thought it best to celebrate Tristan's 8th birthday by showing you his actual birth day. Don't worry, it's been well-edited and it's worth the download time. (In my very biased opinion, anyway.)
You don't see much of me in this because he was born before the camera lady got there and, once they took him from me, the nurses were busily trying to fix the epidural needle-sized hole that the nurse anesthetist accidentally put in my spinal sac. (They make you sign those waivers for a reason, Ladies.) Obviously, I recovered from it. Enjoy the video while it lasts! I had to use YouTube to upload it and I'm not really comfortable having it in such a public place for long. (But couldn't put it on Blogger without it being public, unfortunately.)
And if you think Chris looks cheesy in this version, you should see her patting me affectionately on the head in the outtakes. I had completely forgotten about that.
I had this gem of a conversation with Natalie on the drive home tonight:
Natalie: Do you know what I've noticed? Men with bald heads have really good singing voices.
Me: (laughing) Not your Uncle John!
Natalie: Well OK, not him. But most bald men can sing...
In John's defense, Natalie hasn't had a significant conversation with him since she was 18 months old and wouldn't know if he could sing or not. In Natalie's defense, it's still true. Sorry John.
I've been trying to post a little video clip, but it's just a little too big and editing it down surpasses my tech skills a little too much. Also, there have been play rehersals every night this week and two performances of the show for Dave and I to juggle attendance and babysitting duties. Tristan's baptism is tomorrow, so I wouldn't count on it showing up before sometime tomorrow night. Also, I may be dying of a sinus infection-or at least wish that I was.
BUT, I did manage to order a new laptop. Dude! I'm getting a Dell.
 |
*BONUS ANNOYANCE* I have a sore throat. It is not strep, it is viral. That means there is no way to treat it but it really hurts. Did I mention that I teach children's field trip groups Monday-Friday? A voice really helps with that. Let's hope mine comes back soon. |
I'm getting forgetful in my old age and with everything that's going on this week. Maybe if I make a list and post it for the entire Internet to see, I might be more inspired to stay organized.
Do you see why I haven't done much real blogging lately?
Reading-
Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card-
What with the BSG premiere this week, I've been in a sci-fi mood. I probably should move the knitting book back to the "read" shelf because I'm not likely to start any new projects for the next several weeks. There is just too much going on right now.
Watching-
Battlestar Galactica-
Oh how I love this show! Oh how I mourn that this is the last season! I am very glad to see Kara back on the ship and I very much hope she's not the 5th cylon. My husband speculates that she will fill some kind of unifying role in the end (notwithstanding the dire predictions about her that the Razor's Edge gal made) and that the 5th Cylon is Galactica itself. I'm not sure I agree, but it's an interesting theory, and I've got nothing better. Not that things are looking good for our Starbuck right now...And how funny is Baltar's new "safe haven." I never thought I would again see any scene with him that made me laugh but I stand corrected. I try not to go into spoiler details with these recaps since I know I'm not the only BSG fan, so suffice to say that things are off to a great start and as much as I don't want the show to end; I'm thrilled to have the final season underway.
John Adams-
I've been watching this since Episode 1, I just haven't been writing regular reports. Last week's episode was one of my favorites, yesterday's was just OK. Still, I am completely blown away by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney each week. It really makes me want to read this book.
LDS General Conference-
This is the third time I have sustained a new prophet since I joined the church. It never feels official to me until conference. I do have to say that I missed Pres. Hinckley's gentle wit, but I also found these sessions to be more inspiring than normal. In particular, I enjoyed the Sunday afternoon session. Even my kids laughed at Sister Monson's note ("Don't let Daddy touch...") and we re-watched Elder Ballard's talk for our FHE lesson (held last night because Natalie has nightly rehersals leading up to Saturday's Sooner Theatre recital). I felt like Elder Ballard's talk eased some of the anxiety that Sister Beck's now infamous "Mothers Who Know" talk created last Fall. (I knew Sister Beck personally when she was our MTC Branch "mom," and I loved her. Her talk just made me feel like a failure because I work part-time and struggle with home organization issues. I am SURE she didn't intend that reaction and I've resisted criticizing that talk because of my personal affection for her-but yes, it did make me feel bad. Elder Ballard's talk made me feel better. I have to wonder if that was intentional on the part of SLC. Regardless, it worked even though there are those at FMH who feel differently. And that's fine too.) And did I mention I didn't have to get dressed all weekend long? I LOVE conference.
Listening-
Great Mormon Women-
Long ago, my mom bought me a CD series of dramatized accounts of the lives of some of the more prominent women in LDS history. So far, I've listened to Mary Fielding Smith and Eliza Snow (no surprise that I chose them first). I have to admit that the acting is a little cheesy, but overall I'm finding these pretty enjoyable. (And I'm a bit embarrassed about that.) What most of you may not know is that Mary Fielding is a distant relative (and my only notable LDS relative at that). My patriarchal blessing notes that I have "a bit of her" in me. After hearing several accounts her stubbornness, I'd have to say it's more than "a bit." And now I guess it's time to start living up to the righteous side of her too. (But stubborn has been much more fun.)
Other Things Sucking My Will to Live, Cook, Clean, or Even Blog
Stake Meetings-
Youth prom and Girls' Camp are both coming up ASAP. Planning sessions and errands abound...Was I excited about this calling just a few weeks ago? (Still loving it)
Natalie the Drama Queen-
Between her regular Sooner Theatre Classes and last week's auditions and call backs for the summer musical, we're busy. Regular classes have their recital this weekend. There is also still Valiant Girls, Girl Scouts for Natalie and Caroline and Tristan's bowling.
Birthday Month-
We start with Mom's b-day on Wednesday, Madeline's on Friday, Keagan's on Saturday, Tristan's on Sunday, and Dave's on the 23rd. (With mine and Elisa's in May) It gets a little crazy. Add in afternoon and evening performances for Natalie on Saturday and Tristan's baptism on Sunday and it turns into absolute insanity. Such is life around here...
It turns out that sharing a computer with my kids is no fun at all. Maybe someday I will get a long enough turn to post a new blog. OR my yearly Aunt M check will show up and I will get that new laptop I've so painstakingly selected thanks to many reader suggestions. Until then, just be patient...
A funny moment from earlier this evening while my oldest daughter and my 12 year-old niece were playing some Zoo game.
V: Aunt Melessa? What's a giraffe stool?
Me: A what?
V: The game says to "check the giraffe's stool?" What is that?
Me: It's his poop.
V and Natalie: Hee! Hee! Hee! She said poop!
Good times.
If Blue Man Group isn't on the Stuff White People Like blog, they totally should be. Also, I loved their show tonight. Hey! I'm white, aren't I? They put on a good show!
(And no, we saw no familiar "faces" tonight. And yes, Chris hit me. And then we both died laughing when the opening act played one clip in particular from Office Space. Really, what were the odds?!)
I'm going to scribble out a blog post here between the 3:30 p.m. PTA Executive Board meeting and the YW Stake Presidency one at 7:00. Fortunately, I found this meme at One Gal's Musings. So, many thanks to The Gal Herself!
The task at hand is to write down the first song/artist/album/musical style that comes to mind with each word:
Camera: "Freeze Frame" J. Geils Band
Married: "Goin' the the chapel and we're gonna get married" (no idea who sings that)
Lost: Michael Buble's new song
Grin: "Put on a Happy Face" from the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack
Rest: a lullaby
Environment: acoustic guitar
Hippie: Janis Joplin
Betrayal: "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette
Emotion: "High on Emotion" (can't remember the artist)
Dream: "Don't Dream It's Over" Crowded House
Link back here if you decide to play along too.
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