Gone (ice) Fishing

Hey folks! I survived the big work fundraiser and am rewarding myself with some girl-time with a mini-FRED (girlfriend's getaway) in Chicago! Why yes, it IS "cold enough" for me here, thanks for asking. But I am still having a great time. I promise a full trip report when I return that will include some of the following:

• why I will never again cheat on my beloved Southwest with another airline
• why I couldn't get a date to save my life when I was 23, thin, cute, and single; and hence my confusion at being flirted with by 27 year-old volunteer bartenders at work and some random stranger here at the hotel
• why you can't take me and my friends anywhere

Until then, feel free to check out my Aug. '07 & '08 archives for the adventures we had at FRED 1 & 2.

And the Winners Are...

Sharon D. who loves Chocolove Dark Chocolate with tart cherries and chilis :)

AND


Jennifer the Lady Riposter who love hazelnut things and Ritter Sport Peppermint. (Which I now have to try.) She also blogs about some delicious recipes at the above link! Show her some love!

Thanks to all of you for entering and congratulations to the winners!

Chocolate Giveaway!

Just before Valentine's Day, I was contacted by Ferraro Rocher and offered the chance to review their product. As I mentioned previously, I've been hooked on their product since 1994 when I spent 18 months in Italy. Prior to that, I had never experienced the joy that is hazelnut and chocolate. The huge advantage (to me) of this candy is that they are individually wrapped and, when I'm feeling especially well-behaved; I can make a package of them last for quite some time. However, now that my children have been introduced to them as well, I may not be so lucky. Here's what they had to say about the candy:
Tristan: "Well, I tasted it, they tasted really creamy and nice. I just loved the flavor."
Natalie: "I liked the crunchy part." My kids made pretty quick work of the box Ferraro Rocher sent to me, but the good news is that they sent me two more boxes to give to my readers. So, if you would like a free box; just leave me a comment telling me your favorite type of chocolate candy. This will have to be an abbreviated drawing because I'm going out-of-town Saturday morning. So, I will take entries until Thursday at 6 p.m. CST. I will post the winners that evening so that hopefully I will get a chance to mail the candy on Friday. Good luck and enjoy!

Random Updates

The Car-It turns out that both the brake light bulbs burned out simultaneously. All we had to do was replace them-no mechanics involved, yea!

Sick Kids-No one has thrown up in almost three days now. Elisa seems to have an ear infection (Dr. couldn't see us until tomorrow morning), but all that has done is make her cuddly and less prone to running around the house screaming. I want her to get well, but a cuddly non-hyper 4 year-old has been pleasant and I'm sure I'm a bad mom for admitting it.

The Dog-Had yet another encounter with a skunk (late Friday night, of course), but even my sensitive nose could no longer smell him this morning. Much better than his last skunk fight, for sure. (Why was it I wanted to live in the country?)

The Oscars-They're getting a lot of abuse today, but frankly I would happily watch Hugh Jackman sing and dance while reading the telephone book so they were still a big hit with me. Also, Kate Winslet finally got her Oscar. Oh, and did I mention Hugh Jackman was the host?

The Stake YW Event-Came together and was executed beautifully. Except that I should have brought my camera.

The Baby-I'm starting to feel some movement and I am not nearly as nauseous now. I almost have energy again which means that I now have to start pulling the house out of the disarray it falls into every time I get pregnant. I would be in favor of just getting rid of everything and starting over, but I doubt Dave or the kids would be on board for that plan.

Coming tomorrow...a giveaway!

Week In Review

Reading

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen-

I'm enjoying this one quite a bit. So far it is (to me) a bit more tongue-in-cheek than Emma. I am sad to hear that there hasn't yet been a satisfying movie adaptation of it, because with the right all-Brit cast, I'm thinking it could be hilarious.

Watching

17 Kids and Counting-

This week's episodes focused on a pre-Christmas mission trip the Duggars took to El Salvador. I was impressed by this. I get tired of hearing about how this family is cloistered with no exposure to the outside world when all we see on their show is the opposite of that. Not that I could handle a family that large, but I do think they are a good family.

Heroes-

Not enjoying the episodes right now nearly as much as I'm enjoying following the actors who play Ando and Matt on Twitter. Not that there's anything wrong with the show, this just isn't my favorite story arc.

Grey's Anatomy-

I knew nothing good could happen for the cute and in-love pregnant couple. This is, after all, a medical drama. I did not much care for the spoiler that Meredith/Derek "aren't headed where you think they are" because haven't we watched them endure enough? I am enjoying Mark's slow evolution towards human, though. And I loved Callie telling off the peds Dr., even if she was on a date. While this show isn't a favorite for me at the moment, I'm not ready to give up on it yet.

BSG & Star Wars: Attack of the Clones are still sitting on the DVR waiting to be watched.

The Barbara Walters Special & The Oscars are definitely on tonight's to-do list.


Extracurricular Activities

Stake Young Women Standards Activity-

For almost a year now, we as a stake presidency have felt very strongly about discussing a few issues with the wonderful girls (ages 12-17). When we planned this activity, we went with media and how it influences what we think, do, and wear. We wanted it to be informative, but we also wanted it to be enjoyable. One brilliant idea (not mine) was to do a fashion show based on items in the girls' closets. This was one of the bigger activities that we have planned since I was called as a counselor, and even a week ago, while very excited, my head was spinning from all the details and I wondered how it would all come together. I can now say that it came together beautifully.
While I am prone to getting emotional, I usually don't at activities like this because I am so very involved in the planning that I am more prone to thinking "OK, what's next?" to actually get caught up in the moment. That wasn't the case yesterday. Part of our opening was to have one of the ladies at church with a particularly beautiful voice sing "Walk Tall You're A Daughter, a Child of God." While I am not often familiar with church songs, I actually knew this one. It was one that was sung on a rare occasion that I was able to attend church as a teenaged girl. I've always liked it. I absolutely did not expect to flash back to being 14 years old and singing it in that same building, but I did. And there I sat on the stand trying desperately (and mostly failing) to keep it together. However, I think it did a perfect job of preparing me to go in and teach back to back workshops about how to keep the Atonement personal. I don't think I'm a particularly great speaker, and the topic was very intimidating. But, I did feel very good at the close of each session and received several compliments and 'thank you's' for my remarks. But more than that, I hope that I touched some of the girls. We felt if we were going to talk to them about raising their standards when it came to how they dress and what they watch and read, it would be appropriate to also remind them that the Atonement allows them to do this without the need to cringe or beat themselves up over the need to make any of those changes. And I hope all three of us accomplished what we wanted to with our workshops. (And by dressing modestly, we don't mean turtlenecks and ankle-length skirts. But we are tired of seeing "full moons and muffin tops" and shorts that we like to refer to as "denim panties.")
The fashion show was adorable and fun and I think the girls really enjoyed it. And what surprised me more was how much I enjoyed the day (though I did enjoy it more once my workshops were done).

Just So You Know...

Saturday was a much, much better day. But I still don't have any brake lights.

TGIF? *Now with updates!*

So far today:

• I missed Natalie getting a Terrific Kid award at her school. (As a 5th grader, this is the last time she will get one. Needless to say, AS a 5th grader she could have cared less that I wasn't there.) She was absent yesterday when the teacher usually slips the note in the Thursday folder, so I missed the 'head's up'
• Dave took Elisa to school without a coat because she was wearing a little jogging suit "and it already had a jacket." Uh, yeah-a WINDBREAKER jacket, nothing suitable for as cold as it was this morning. (He is trying to take the stress off of me by taking the kids to school, sadly he lets them leave the house looking like hobos which isn't stressful for me at all when I pick them up and realize that they looked like that all day.)
• Natalie got sick at school (yet again) and Dave had to go pick her up (yet again). I am seriously tired of all the puking going on at my house. I finally stopped doing it, that's not an invitation for everyone else to start.
• I backed into a parked car leaving the driveway after dropping off some carpool kids. The good news: I only scratched the paint in a couple of places AND the people who drive that car were very nice. The bad news: It isn't their car, it's a rental which means that while they may be nice, the people that actually own the car are probably not. And while you could get the same scratches in a parking lot and call it 'incidental,' being in possession of my name and phone number means that they will probably try and squeeze some money out of this. Great. Just lovely. (Dave is not worried. Dave is nicer and more trusting than I am.) At least it wasn't the nice people's actual car, though-THEN I would feel even worse because they were much kinder to me than I feel that I deserved.
• Favorite Uncle Bob called to announce that my Grandmother would soon be splitting her time 50/50 between here and Seattle and that she won't be here when the baby is born. This news came in the guise of a "congratulatory" call about the pregnancy. I never thought I would say this, but Favorite Uncle Bob can bite me. I want and need her here when I have this baby. ("But you'll have your mother!" Favorite Uncle Bob has always been a bit blind/clueless when it comes to his favorite sibling.)
• I would love to end this by saying that now, I'm going back to bed. BUT, there is that small matter of a Stake YW activity tomorrow morning. Which means that there are chairs to set up tonight and a presentation to refine. And nieces to pick up from their Dad's and deliver to Gran D's house since apparently, we only get 6 months of Friday game night's from now on...
• No sooner did I post this, than I went outside to put the kids in the car, went to toss some car trash into our outdoor can, and spotted a dead raccoon in there. Lovely.
• En route to Gran D's house, a nice man on Hwy 9 informed me that my brake lights were out.
• Seriously. I should have just gone back to bed.
• At least Gran D informed me she was NOT staying at Bob's for 6 months. She said she's sorry that upset me, but "that's what you get for believing everything Bob tells you." Too true.

That's More Like It

I went in for my Dr.'s appt. today, read the only good magazine in the lobby (I've already forgotten which one), and was called back to find I hadn't gained as much weight according to their scale as the scale in the bathroom at work. Then, I heard the heartbeat. For those of you who ascribe to the heartrate predicts gender theory, the number was 152, which would denote another girl. However, this particular theory has never been very accurate for any of my children. (Nor has the Chinese prediction chart.) So, I will hold out all guessing games until the 20 week ultrasound when I will know for sure. That has been scheduled for three weeks from today. Otherwise, it was an uneventful visit. All the blood tests they ran last month looked good, they drew some more blood today; and I'm due back in three weeks. They told me the results of this blood draw would be back in a week. I'm guessing if it's something really bad, they will call me. I'm guessing if it's not, they will tell me in three weeks. I say this because, as paranoid as I can be, all these blood test results haven't really worried me that much. Hopefully, I'll remember to call...

I celebrated my healthy, growing baby by shopping for maternity clothes. I love sales. I love finding the exact pair of trouser jeans I was looking for priced at $10 rather than $44. I'm headed to a mini-FRED (FRED=girlfriend's weekend) in Chicago in just over a week, and I wanted some clothes that fit for the trip. Mission accomplished! Now, I can relax...about the baby being healthy anyway. This next week involves a huge Stake YW Standards event (I'm teaching two 30-minute workshops, why did we think it's a good idea for me to teach teenaged girls anything, again?), setting-up, helping with, and cleaning up after my workplace's biggest Fundraiser for the year (at least I have a cute dress for it), on top of the usual fun of parenting four kids while their Dad works the night shift. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my trip!

Famous Last Words?

Natalie: Mom, remember when I twisted my ankle and Dad told me "just walk it off?" Well, he twisted his ankle a week ago and he's still limping around telling everyone how much it hurts. Why is that?

Me: That's just the way dads and husbands are, I guess.

Natalie: MY husband won't be like that.

Me:

(No response came to mind that wouldn't involve sarcasm, laughter, or a heavy amount of both.)

In about 15-20 years, I'll let you know how that worked out for her. But I'll bet I can guess right now.

Why I Don't Blog About the Pregnancy Very Often

When I announced my pregnancy here a couple of months ago, I mentioned that I might need some hand-holding. I have been blessed in my life with four uncomplicated pregnancies and four healthy children. What people may not realize is that I spent the time I was expecting each one of them just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I mean, clearly if I can get pregnant easily, something else has to go wrong doesn't it? It hasn't yet, but that's never made me less anxious and this time is no exception. I have reached that point in the pregnancy where I am no longer constantly nauseous, but can't yet feel the baby move. When I was 15, it was at this time in her pregnancy that my mother experienced a very dangerous miscarriage. And when you witness that as a 15 year-old girl; you don't forget it. It was also at this point in my sister's pregnancy that her Dr. told her sadly that the baby who had had a heartbeat just four weeks ago no longer did. While it was the last place in the world that I wanted to be, I was at her side when she woke up in the hospital following her D&C. (Did you know you have to walk past the newborn nursery to get to the post-op recovery area in the NRH Women's Center? That was some poor architectural planning in my opinion.) And you had better believe that experience has stayed with me too. While I have seen a healthy heartbeat for this baby, it's been almost four weeks now, and life experience has already taught me that there are no guarantees of all being well, as much as I would like to think so. My next Dr.'s appointment is this coming Thursday. It can't come soon enough. According to Dave, "you worry about this every time you are pregnant-all for nothing." I certainly hope he is right. And no, he's not much of a hand-holder.

Aren't you glad I usually stick to posts about funny things my kids say and all the crap I let them watch on TV? I thought so. Me too.

Week In Review

Reading-

I finally swapped out Emma for Mansfield Park in my car, so I should start making some progress on it this week.

Watching-

Heroes-

I felt a little bit out of the loop with the pre-empting and the fact that I missed it last week, but I refuse to miss the rest of this season and think I will get back up to speed as I continue watching. I will have more to say about the show next week when I feel like I know what's going on again.

Jon and Kate + 8-

I think I have to agree with others that this show may have jumped the shark with the new house purchase. I'll try it out again tomorrow, but last week's episode just wasn't as entertaining to me or the kids as they usually are.

17 Kids and Counting-

I may be a week behind or so, but we saw the Christmas parade and diamond hunting episodes this week. The parade was cute and I wish the family didn't feel the need to be so nice to cousin Amy because then we wouldn't have to watch her quite so much.

Grey' Anatomy/Private Practice-

Well Shonda, you finally figured out how to get me to watch your spin-off. That was the whole point of having characters from both shows crossing back and forth, right? And I forgot how much I love Amy Brenneman, so you just might have hooked me. Maybe. In fact, I was more touched by the lady suffering from post-partum psychosis on Practice than I was by any of the Grey's sub-plots, but mostly because the last thing one pregnant mom wants to watch is another one on t.v. having brain surgery. I did love the interaction between Taye Diggs and Chandra Wilson and the sparring between Derek and Addison's jerky brother. But the possibly dying pregnant woman? Not so much. Also, I have two words for the departing T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl: David Caruso.

Star Wars: Clone Wars-

This is actually a very cute show for a Cartoon Network original. Then again, this same network was also responsible for Dexter's Laboratory so I shouldn't be all that surprised.

Battlestar Galactica-

I finally got caught up on all the episodes I've missed the past 2 weeks. I LOVED (of course) the scenes with Lee/Starbuck and both guns blazing , but I already know how that will play out. He'll end up happy and she will end up alone. Poor Kara. (sigh) I wonder how Ellen will feel about Saul & the Six? Also, Dave is hypothesizing that Baltar is actually a #7 (Daniel) that somehow didn't get shelved. I'm not sure about that one, but I love Dave's theories. All in all, it's quite a final season. I'm going to miss it when it's over and done.

(Why yes, that IS a lot of TV this week. If you don't follow my minute-by-minute adventures on Facebook, my home and family were overtaken by a nasty stomach bug this week and that's about all we had the energy for-though obviously the kids don't watch Grey's, Private Practice, and especially not Big Love with me. BSG is on in their presence, but they have NO interest in it. Natalie enjoys Heroes though, and Dave and I are so tickled that she likes something sci-fi that we are letting her watch with us.)

At the Movies-

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace & Attack of the Clones-

Tristan's choice obviously, but Mom and Dad were proud. I remarked kind of sarcastically to Dave that I wondered how little Boba Fett got off of Geonosis after his Dad was killed there in battle. And, as it turns out, there is an entire book devoted to that. Who knew? (Besides my son.)

The Aristocats-

My all-time favorite Disney movie as a kid. I don't love it quite as much as I did when I was 7, but my 4 and 7 year-olds do; and I enjoy watching them watch it.

Extracurricular Activities

As I mentioned, a stomach bug sidelined most of us this week and although I never caught it; I still feel pretty drained from taking care of everyone else. Even so, it's been a good week. All the kids were better for their school Valentine's Day parties and I enjoyed catching the last few minutes in Tristan's classroom. I loved getting to see all my PTA friends who I never see anymore, and I loved how excited Elisa was about hers when she got home from school. I was most excited that Dave agreed to take on the Homeroom Mom role at Tristan's party so I could work at least two days last week and I'm told he did a good job at it.

Finally...if I learned one lesson this week (besides that fact that I need a back-up plan for how to get my husband off the floor when he passes out because I'm not strong enough to do it myself), it was to see the humor in things that weren't necessarily intended to make you happy. AND that of the quadrupled number of hits on my blog as a result of The Lost Ogle link, I only had to delete one idiot's comment. And that was mostly because he dared to accuse me of voting for Hillary Clinton. First of all, I'm a registered Independent who can't vote in primaries. And second, I may have a socially liberal track record when it comes to my voting history, but even I have standards, Doug.* Perhaps if you had left me some real contact information, I might have let your comment remain. I put myself out here daily with a public blog and an attached email address. If you couldn't be bothered to do likewise, then I didn't feel the need to let your comment remain. Especially considering how rude you were and how obvious it was that you had no clue what I actually write about here. (Anonymous comments, even critical ones, are usually welcome here if it's obvious from them that you read my blog from time to time and aren't just pulling a hit-and-run.)

Finally, I am more surprised than most of you to admit that one of the best parts of my week was preparing and teaching today's Relief Society lesson at my home branch today. When you have a stake calling, it is easy to get feel disconnected from your actual branch when you spend so much time visiting other places on Sundays. It was good to be "home" today.


*For those of you who may require an explanation, I admire the former Senator Clinton and I'm glad she is our Secretary of State. I followed her closely during her time as First Lady and as a NY senator and I have just never felt like she respected stay-at-home moms as much as she does those who have careers. I spent ten years as a SAHM and couldn't vote for someone who I didn't feel thought of me as an equal, as much as I would like to see a woman in The Oval Office. I was an Obama-mama, though I still have a huge amount of respect for John McCain and would not have been unhappy to see him in the White House.

Last-Minute Valentines? Why Not Share Something Sweet?

On rare occasions, I am asked by various sponsors to review something. This is not a huge blog, it doesn't happen very often, and I'm also picky about what I will actually plug. But last night something showed up in my Inbox that I endorse whole-heartedly! I first experienced Ferraro-Rocher candy at the MTC in Provo, UT when our Italian teachers told us it was the closest thing to European candy that we could purchase at the bookstore, and purchase it we did!

In honor of Valentine's Day Ferrero will donate $1 per Valentine’s e-card sent (up to $10,000) to Share Our Strength, a leading hunger-relief organization. All that my readers need to do is log on to Share Something Sweet and use it to "send something sweet” to their loved ones for Valentine’s Day.

Coming soon...a candy review and giveaway! (You knew there had to be something in it for me, didn't you?)

I've Arrived?

I've mentioned here before that I'm a bit of a walking contradiction. Personally religious, socially liberal, annoyed by Okie conservatism, outspoken in my defense of gay rights; but also lovingly protective and respectful of my friends and family whose views are a lot more typically Oklahoman. Overall, I'm very proud to be a Sooner even though my blood may be a little more blue than red. I think that possibly my biggest weakness AND my biggest strength is that I can see valid points on both sides of most issues which makes taking one side of any argument and simply dismissing the other completely impossible for me. So take that into consideration when I describe my reaction to possibly the biggest linkage my little blog will ever get.

We have a long-standing morning ritual at work of coming in, turning on our computers, checking our email, and then reading The Lost Ogle to each other. Between the six of us (small staff), we all have our particular favorites (I will drop everything to laugh myself silly at a Cardboard Jim post, which tells anyone reading this that my sense of humor is about twenty years younger than the rest of me) and we are quick to let each other know any time the website is updated throughout the work day. I know I've linked to them here and I know I also linked to them tons of times in personal emails in the weeks just prior to the election, usually with the words "my thoughts exactly" written in the subject line. I read in their comment section just today that they are beloved by ex-pat Okies who read to get a daily reminder of the craziness that is life in Oklahoma, and I know many of my long-distance friends agree with that sentiment.

As many of you know, I wasn't nearly as entertained by this post of theirs as I usually am by just about everything they write and I said something about it here earlier in the week. I probably wouldn't have bothered had they not closed the comments on the aforementioned post, but because they did, I used my own blog to respond and considered the matter closed. Until I came in from giving the 11:00 a.m. tour at work today to hear my excited co-workers tell me "You made The Lost Ogle!" Indeed, I did. I was a little nervous about what they had to say, but overall I was amused by the whole thing. So amused, in fact, that I promptly called my best friend on the drive home to tell her about it and to have her tell her husband who is also a regular TLO reader. I rushed home from work to help my husband finish up the homeroom "mom" duties at Tristan's class Valentine's Day party (Long story short-he had the day off and I didn't) and I told him immediately. (He's way too much of a Republican, not to mention a Sports Animal fan, to truly appreciate TLO, so he was all "Umm, that's good right?")

As my friend Chris said on the phone today, "Can it really be called a feud if you are excited about it?" And my thought is no, it can't. I know I should be annoyed. I know they didn't link to me because they think I'm a good writer, quite the contrary if you read their Comment section, but as it turns out; I'm a sell-out. I love that they 'noticed' me and that they linked to me even though I know I shouldn't. So thanks Guys! I know you don't like me and I know your commenters think I'm just a fat, stupid mommy-blogger; but even so I can't help grinning because today I made The Lost Ogle!

P.S. Chris, they did post my comments. I didn't spot them right away either.

You Might Be Pregnant If:

• Healthy Choice French bread pizza gives you heart burn for hours
• You cry when it's time for Nanny Deb to leave while watching a re-run of Nanny 911
• You dread clothes shopping
• Just the motion of walking from the bed to the couch makes you very dizzy and very nauseous
• Those nasty cherry sour balls they sell by the cash register at grocery stores and Hobby Lobby has become the nectar of the gods to you.
• Unless you eat one too many
• Then, they give you heart burn for hours
• Just like everything else
• Then you cry
• I've got 24 more weeks of this
• Aren't you glad I've been updating just a little less frequently?

A Walk in My Shoes

I was awakened at Midnight to the sounds of my son puking. By 6 a.m. my husband was doing likewise and one of my daughters was threatening it (a threat she followed through with a few hours later). When my husband passed out at the front door and seemed to have a seizure on the floor in front of me; I realized none of us were going anywhere today. I spent the day making pallets, handing out trash cans and large mixing bowls, getting drinks of water, seeing who could hold down what, doing laundry, and spraying Lysol on the toilet seat, door knobs, and at one point on my foot after stepping into an inexplicable wet spot on my living room carpet.

This blog doesn't often speak intelligently about politics, the OKC metro night life, or other witty and enjoyable "adult" topics. Sometimes it does...but more often than not, it is my outlet for dealing with days like the one described in the previous paragraph. And oddly enough, people still read it, enjoy it, and have nominated it for Okie Blogger awards each year of the last three. I've never won one, but I've had the pleasure of finding new blogs and, often, new friends among my fellow nominees. I'm not sure that anything I write here is particularly deserving of any accolades or recognition, but I definitely enjoy being part of the process. And I hope these gentlemen someday learn to do likewise, because this post makes them sound a lot more like a bunch of sore losers than the funny, witty guys whose posts we love to read to each other every morning at work. I expect and welcome their daily snark, but I feel that this post crossed a line and that they owe Georgie an apology. (Who was, by the way, a NEW nominee and a first time winner this year.)

Maybe we 35-40 year-old mommy bloggers aren't the most clever or the most interesting people to read, but we have hard lives sometimes, and funny lives sometimes, and inspiring lives sometimes too (sometimes we even manage all three of those at once); and we have every right to blog about them if we so choose. And other bloggers have every right to vote for us if THEY so choose. And, surprisingly enough, they do! And that's all I care to say on the subject.

Here's hoping for a puke-free day tomorrow...

*This just in...all comments left without actual contact information will be deleted. Hey! I'm a mom, I've got nothing better to do with my time than sit around eating chocolate and watching for trolls*

Quotable Natalie (and Dad)

Lately, my kids have become quite enamored of Jon and Kate Plus 8. That must be what prompted this exchange between Natalie and her Dad recently:

Natalie: Hey Dad? What if mom was having six babies at once instead of just one? Do you think we would get our own reality show?
Dad: I think the market for that is pretty flooded right now and there's just one baby in there, we saw it.
Natalie: But if she DID have sextuplets and they DID make a show about us, what would they call it?
Dad: Living Hell!

Week In Review

Reading-

Emma by Jane Austen

I finished this on Friday! I really enjoyed it and it turns out I didn't need to read the big, long professor-type introduction to understand it. In fact, I wish I hadn't because I spoiled a little of it for myself, but not so much that I didn't enjoy the story. Next up is either Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey, what do any of you suggest?

Watching-

Big Love-

I just saw last week's episode on Satuday. It was the one with the big reveal about Nikki and Kathy (Joey's wife) telling her story. A few thoughts...I really hope this isn't Bruce Dern's last episode because even though his character is loathsome, he is also entertaining. Also, as much as I used the El Dorado, TX situation to gripe about how their civil rights were being violated, the scenes with Nikki crying and Kathy's story must have really affected me because it's still very much on my mind today. And I'm just not sure how to feel about it anymore. I also loved the ending scene with Sarah and Ben-good song use, but that's one of the things I think this show does rather well. Tonight's episode just finished taping, so we'll see what happens next very soon. (And is it just me, or do the grandmothers on this show steal every scene? It looks like the addition of Ellen Burstyn as Barb's mother is going to be just as enjoyable as watching Mary Kay Place and Grace Zabriskie-my personal favorite.)

At the Movies-

The Quiet Man

This is Dave's all-time favorite movie and it was on after church today. Since BYU TV was featuring four scriptorians doing a very academic discussion on blood sacrifices, I was happy to make the switch. I always enjoy this movie, and Natalie and Caroline really liked it too. Roman Holiday was just beginning as I left for a YW camp planning meeting, and it's funny how I forget that no one else in this house understands Italian. I was laughing at little comments made by extra characters here and there and everyone kept looking at me like I was crazy OR to request translation. It was entertaining to me, anyway.

Extracurricular Activities-

After a few extra weeks in Seattle, Gran D finally recovered from her pneumonia and got to fly back home, AND I was less queasy than usual; so we did Friday game night. We were all so tired that it was much more low-key than usual. But, it's nice to be back in the habit. Natalie and Cousin J went off to see Coraline and all Natalie said about it was that "it's too scary for Elisa or Caroline, but Tristan would have liked it." By the end of the evening my sisters and my parents had made it over as well which is about as busy as it's been there on a Friday in quite some time. Apparently, the health care situation at Aunt M's has been drama-free since Mom and Dad got back from Florida. Thank goodness.

More Like the Maid of Honor

The results of the 2008 Okie Blogger awards are in, and yet again, I'm a bridesmaid rather than a bride. BUT, I did get runner-up for Best Commentary this year. Let's be honest, was I really going to beat these ladies? I'm just surprised that I came in second. Congrats to Today in Idabel Oklahoma! (And yay me for moving one step closer in the bridal party!)

Saturday Short

Is there anything more attractive than Hugh Jackman singing in his best Okie accent?



Then again, is there anything more attractive than Hugh Jackman?

Have a good weekend!

Meme Time!

Since I am feeling completely uninspired tonight, how about an iPod meme that I saw today at Wilsonworld? Will that do?  All righty then, let's grab my iPod and have a closer look at what I have on there:

How many total songs?

 

616 songs, 1.7 days, 2.33 GB

 

 

Sort by song title - first and last

 

First: "ABC-DEF-GHI" by Big Bird

 

Last: "1985" by Bowling for Soup

Sort by time - shortest and longest

 

Shortest: "Tune Up #3" from the Rent soundtrack

 

Longest:  "Bat Out of Hell" by Meatloaf

 

 

Sort by Album - first and last

 

First: A.M. by Wilco

 

Last: 80's Club Hits by Various Artists

 

 

Sort by Artist - first and last

 

First: ABBA

 

Last: Ziggy Marley

 

 

Top five played songs:

 

1. "(Don't You) Forget About Me" by Simple Minds (not sure why that's #1)
2. "Love Like This" by Natasha Bedingfield
3. "Our Last Summer" by ABBA (not surprised it's there at all)
4. "Please Don't Tell Her" b Jason Mraz (like his newer stuff better, BUT it hasn't been on the iPod as long)
5. "Me Love" by Sean Kingston (Caroline must be using my iPod behind my back, that's HER favorite)

 

 

Find the following words. How many songs show up?

 

Sex: 1 ("I'm Too Sexy-of course)

 

Death: 1 (Fantine's Death from Les Mis)

 

Love: 61

 

You: 93

 

Home: 8

 

Boy: 11

 

Girl:  16

 

 

First five songs that come up on Party Shuffle

 

1. "The Name of the Game" by ABBA

 

2. "People Will Say We're in Love" from the Oklahoma! soundtrack (the one featuring Hugh Jackman, might I add)

 

3. "Oklahoma" (see above)

 

4. "Fernando" by ABBA

 

5. "Desert Moon" by Dennis DeYoung (remember that one?)

  

Another Mom Post

Last Sunday my grandparents came here from T-town to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Caroline and my sister Selena (whose birthday isn't until the 16th, but my grandparents aren't as able to make as many trips down the turnpike as they once were). Because GranD likes to host a Superbowl party every year, we just combined everything into one big gathering at her place. I felt pretty icky most of Sunday morning, and almost sent the kids ahead without me. BUT, if my grandparents who are in their 80's can make the trip from Tulsa...I didn't feel I had too many excuses to stay behind. I'm glad I made the effort.

Among other activities throughout the evening, I also made sure to inform my grandparents and my parents about the baby. Yes, they are the last to know. I knew my grandparents would probably make a trip down for Caroline's birthday and I wanted to tell them in person. As far as my own parents are concerned, my mom tends to make my pregnancies miserable with her constant speculation about various things that could go wrong at every stage in the pregnancy. I'm pretty good at dwelling on those things myself without any help from her at all. So, I left her out of the loop. Also, this is the first time she's been in town for more than three days at a time since Christmas and, as I mentioned, there are some people I prefer to tell in person.

Throughout the course of the evening, I think it dawned on her that she was indeed the last to know. While the conclusions she drew from that could have been:

a) Wow, I'm out of town so much I'm completely missing out on my daughters' lives

or

b) I am such a voice of doom and gloom in all situations that my daughters no longer confide in me, I wonder what I can do to fix that?

Her answer will most likely be:

c) I have the most ungrateful, horrible daughters in the world and this is just one more example of why they don't deserve me as their mother.

And that's OK because my answer is:

d) Whatever! Just be glad I told you at all.

Week In Review

Reading-

Emma by Jane Austen-

Actually, very little got read last week between snow days and massive headaches. (They came back-sigh.) I'm hoping to read more regularly this week.

Watching-

I could almost 'ditto' what I wrote above, adding that Grey's was a re-run and Heroes debuts tomorrow. Also I am now 2 episodes behind for Battlestar Galactica. I had better be careful because this is how I missed all of season 3 (which I'm sure Dave bought on DVD as soon as it was released, but I still haven't managed to watch. In my defense, I tried and all the Six's both real and imagined were very confusing to me.

Out and About-

The Color Purple: The Musical-

I was very excited to see the musical version of this from the time I saw a scene from it on Oprah. But I wondered what it would do to my feelings for the movie version that I have loved since I saw it in 1985. It turns out that there is room in my heart for both. Nothing replaces the performances of Whoopi Goldberg or Danny Glover, not to mention Oprah herself; but I did like the way the musical followed the book more closely, loved the songs, and that tiny little thing who played Celie had one of the most amazing set of pipes I've heard on that Civic Center stage in all the years I've had tickets to their shows. I guess the best way to sum up the show is that if it makes Chris and I cry, it's pretty good; but when it makes Lanie cry-it's that much better.