A Touch of Blis

46 Reasons I Love My Roomie!

2011-06-28T10:59:00.004-06:00

1. Karen is chronically optimistic.
2. Karen has raised 6 amazing and beautiful kids!
3. She has a beautiful little granddaughter now (which seems impossible)!
4. Karen has been a great example that it is possible to truly forgive and let go.
5. Karen has the most beautiful eyes and her smile can light up a room.
6. She thinks I'm funny (albeit inappropriate and borderline crazy).
7. She teaches her girls to take care of themselves and to take the time to look good before they go out.
8. She knows how to pull the "take away" -- in life and in dating!
9. She has a rock-solid testimony despite the hurdles life has thrown at her.
10. Karen knows the importance of balance in life... and works hard to juggle her responsibilities accordingly.
11. Karen has a way of making everyone around her feel loved, appreciated, and important.
12. Karen is getting in touch with her inner nerd... and it's awesome!
13. She knows how to take a compliment without sounding arrogant.
14. She is determined to better herself and her situation.
15. She is willing to work hard for what she wants.
16. She wants others to feel success and happiness, too! So she takes the time to help others along her way.
17. She is easily amused!
18. She can watch movies over and over again... "Meet the Robinson's" anyone?
19. She is a spectacular pre-screener!
20. She lets me be a pre-screener, too!
21. She constantly says funny stuff without realizing it: "My yahoo is stuck." "Did you lock the door on the door?"
22. She knows how to laugh at herself.
23. She knows how to laugh at other people, too. Time for another Dee's Dance...?
24. She puts up with my awkwardness... even when I interrupt and finish her sentences. I'm working on it -- I promise! I can't help it if I'm a super guesser.
25. She is kind and loving to Hannah.
26. She has been a great example of how to be a better parent... especially as Hannah gets closer to becoming a dreaded "teen-year-old."
27. She welcomed me and Hannah into her home 2 years ago, and has always made us feel welcome. Without her kindness, we would probably be homeless right now.
28. She reminds me of how nice it can be to work together.
29. She has a big heart, with room to love everyone around her.
30. She knows how to block out the noise of children without getting as irritated as I used to.
31. She is patient.
32. She taught me that "we will make it work."
33. She lets me vent without feeling like a burden. And even more importantly, without feeling judged.
34. She knows how to have fun.
35. She likes going to the movies, too!
36. She helped me realize how delicious sushi can be!
37. She taught me how to be gracious when I feel pulled in every direction.
38. She shows me again and again that being a mother can be difficult and trying and exhausting and rewarding all at the same time.
39. She showed me that sacrificing your own needs and wants for your child(ren) only makes you love them more.
40. She reminded me that there's still hope for finding a good man out there!
41. She helped me to realize that I don't want to give up on dating entirely... at least not just yet.
42. She taught me that sometimes you have to treat yourself a little in order to keep giving yourself to your kids. (Thanks, again, for introducing me to Wendy! I think we need to call her again...)
43. She showed me that sometimes a Diet Coke and a donut is just what the doctor ordered.
44. She reminded me that a night out with girlfriends can cure a lot of problems!
45. Karen knows how to say "NO" when she really can't do something.
46. I feel a hurricane a-comin'!

Thanks, Karen, for being such a wonderful person and a terrific friend! Who knew that two months at Altiris would turn into this? I can't tell you how much you've blessed my life!

Much loves and hugs to you on your birthday. And always!

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-11T12:24:00.002-06:00

I LOVE our new house!!!! It's still a rental, but it's FANTASTIC! It's the kind of place that I could settle into and be happy here for YEARS!

And with a huge family room downstairs, I might start hosting regular movie nights again. Woohoo!

Change is good

2010-12-21T10:54:00.002-07:00

Hi All... In breaking news, I'm not dead. In fact, I'm feeling better lately than I have in a long time thanks to a really good therapist and some low-dose medication. Yay for modern medicine! I missed my brain...

In other news, I'm starting a new job soon. My last day at the State Bar will be Thursday, December 23.

My new job will be MUCH closer to home, as it is less than 10 minutes away rather than 35 minutes on a good day. The biggest benefit is that I will be able to spend more quality-time with my adorable Hannah-Bug. I plan on volunteering in her class more often, and getting home at a reasonable time will be a major blessing.

So here's to a new year and new opportunities!

40 Reasons I Heart Cindy

2010-09-28T10:28:00.004-06:00

My friend, Cindy, is having a BIG birthday today! Here are FORTY reasons why I love her:

1. She is real, real smart.
2. She has traveled extensively.
3. She is SUPER artistic.
4. I try to copy her drawings, but fail miserably... She doodles better than I can draw when I'm trying really hard!
5. She inspires me to dream big!
6. She sets ambitious goals and ACCOMPLISHES them!
7. She loves her boys unconditionally.
8. She has raised well-adjusted, funny, responsible young men that are a joy to be around.
9. She is devoted to giving her littlest guy all of the love, attention, and assistance that he needs.
10. She has been through hell, but doesn't show it.
11. She is witty... which I LOVE!
12. She thinks that I'm funny, too.
13. She treats my little Hannah with love and respect.
14. She cooks delicious food - and makes it look effortless!
15. She is patient with me.
16. She motivates me to never give up... especially with school.
17. She is opinionated!
18. She stays apprised of current events.
19. She loves to travel.
20. She likes to try new things... particularly hole-in-the-wall restaurants. So fun!
21. She is a strong, independent woman.
22. She has fun (and slightly CRAZY) stories.
23. She doesn't judge me.
24. She took me to get my first pedicure!
25. She is entrepreneurial.
26. She is a writer!
27. She is empathetic of other people's struggles.
28. She is a licensed interpreter for the deaf.
29. She is a teacher.
30. She is a scrapper... ;)
31. She helped me to create a super-awesome scrapbook for my mom's 60th birthday.
32. She is happy to have Hannah come over whenever I do, which saves me the limitations (and cost) of a sitter.
33. She makes delicious beverages!
34. She loves to sing... and is REALLY good at it!
35. She has offered to give Hannah voice lessons in the future.
36. She talks to her boys the way I talk to Hannah... like they're on our level.
37. She is generous - with her time, attention, and talents.
38. She strives to better the lives of others... and goes to great lengths to do so. Like all the way to Kenya...
39. She gets irritated by stupid people - JUST LIKE I DO!
40. Because she's an amazing woman, and I want to be like Cindy when I grow up!

Love you, Cindy-Lou-Who!!!

Happy Friday

2010-09-17T13:50:00.007-06:00

My friend at work introduced me to this website, xkcd.com, a while ago. Remember my Nintendo Surgeon post? Same site... And the author posts new comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so it's easy to enjoy regular fits of giggles. If you like math, science, Lord of the Rings, romance, Star wars, Firefly, or computers then you might like it too. Fair warning: a few of the comics contain "bad words" but most of them are just fine.

Here are a few of my favorite. A few of the pictures transferred over a little smaller, but any attempts to enlarge the pictures only made them too blurry to read. I've linked the title for each comic directly to that comic on the xkcd site, though, so it's easy to get to the original:

#702: Snow Tracking

#730: Circuit Diagram

#155: Search History

#87: Velociraptors

This one looked like my brother's handwriting.

I actually googled the author, just to see if it was really Mark. It's not.

And perhaps my very favorite:

#135: Substitute

May these comics bring a little laughter to your Friday... Like they did for me!

Injuries and Imagination

2010-09-11T23:45:00.008-06:00

Tonight, Hannah and I were having some snuggle time before bedtime. Admittedly, snuggle time has been lacking a little lately since we've both been having a hard time sticking to the schedule. So by the time she's getting into bed, I'm nearing cranky time and we're lucky to get everyone to bed without any tears... At any rate, tonight I had warned Hannah that she had about 2 minutes before I came in to attack her and kiss her face. So she was already in her jammies and ready for snuggles when I got there.

However, instead of just scooting over like normal, she rolled onto her left side and curled up with her body pillow. I started to sit by her anyway when she said, "My whole side hurts.. It might be from the cartwheel (which must have been amazing, since she also managed to jam a finger when she fell doing it). Or it might be from getting slammed in the car door." Another fun injury from playing with her new friends up the street... a friendship that I'm beginning to question...

Being the concerned mother that I am, I asked her where her side hurt and to let me see it. She pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal a thoroughly normal abdomen. So I said, "Where does it hurt?"

H: Right here. (circling most of her left side)
M: (still not seeing anything) Where?
H: Right here... Where it's preparing for a bruise.
M: It's what?
H: Preparing for a bruise. I can feel it.
H: (now pointing at a higher point on her rib) See... it's really pink here.
M: (slight pause) That's because you're alive.

Snuggle time continued as normal... In recounting her day, she told me all about her genius but failed plan to swing in the baby swing on the playground in the backyard. She explained that she does this all the time. From the way she described it, she seems to almost perch on the swing as her legs don't quite fit in the holes anymore... I really wish I had a picture of this pose. (Note to self: See if Hannah will pose for a picture in the baby swing.)

Not Hannah, but this is how the swing SHOULD be used...

It would have gone just fine, but I had the audacity to call her while she was swinging, so she had to stand up in the swing - Don't worry, Mom, I was holding on to the chains - and then jump off the back of the swing. It was a total surprise that she subsequently fell on her face and may or may not have eaten dirt and wood chips.

M: You were eating wood chips???
H: Only the ones that got in my mouth.

Clearly, this was all my fault. So we went on to discuss the rest of her day and how she'll always be sure to check in with me so I don't have to call her and make her fall out of baby swings.

And then she showed me how she'd drawn her name in block letters which she was planning on coloring for an unknown purpose. This reminded me that a friend of mine, Ryan (but she goes by Girl just to keep things obvious), has an interesting favorite color.

M: Girl's favorite color is rainbow.
H: Huh?
M: Rainbow.
H: Oh. She like all the colors.
M: No, her favorite color is rainbow.
H: So it's all the colors...
M: ...but put into a rainbow. So all the rainbow colors. At the same time.
H: (subtly irritated silence)
M: She might have made that color up.
H: Maybe you made HER up.

Touche.

Catching up on some old Hannah-isms

2010-09-04T13:46:00.006-06:00

Ok - I went through a BUNCH of really old voice notes on my phone... Mostly of "Hannah-isms" that I should post. Here are a few gems that I found so far...

March 9, 2009
After hearing the song Gives You Hell by All American Rejects come on the radio, Hannah said this.

H: It's the Hell Song.
M: Well kinda. This song (which I really like but don't often leave on when Hannah is with me) is called "Gives You Hell."
H: It should really be called The Hell Song instead... Because he says "hell" alot.

Are there awards for awesome parenting? I'm surprised I haven't gotten one yet...

August 9, 2009
Hannah was just getting back home from visiting her Dad and his "sort of wife" Lesa. Lesa's 2 other children live with them, as well as their daughter together - Alyssa. Hannah and Mikayla, Lesa's then 12-year-old daughter, did not always do well. Apparently, Mikayla is really mean.

"She's worse than.... Casey (old neighbor-friend that was a little volatile), my dad, Grandma on a bad day, you on a bad day... all together. Plus 3. Which is pretty serious."

September 25, 2009
Playing Taboo with Me (M), Robin (R), and Grandma (G), while Hannah was giving the clues. Mom (Grandma) was getting a little tired so it was mostly me and RobRob guessing... This is a lengthy one (over 3 minutes on the recording), but the clues and the guesses were too fun to pass up.

#1
H: It's something that it helps you... Hang on. It helps you um...
R: Vin Diesel! (Or maybe she said baby seal... I've listened to it several times and can't tell... But I giggled after she said it, so it must have been good.)
H: No. It helps you work on important projects.
M: Is it a contractor?
H: No.
R: Computer.
H: No.
M: Um... a man.
H: No. It's like really cool ideas... like a clock.
M: An invention.
H: No! It's a tool...
M: A wrench
R: Screwdriver.
H: Yes! A screwdriver.
M: A screwdriver. Excellent.

#2
H: It's something that some people... It's something that fairy-tale people live in.
M: Cottages
R: Cheese
H: Yes.
M: Which one?
H: Cottage.
M: Really? Cottage? Excellent!
R: Cheese, Gromit!

#3
H: It's something that people use at work... I think. And it's a machine.
G: Car
M: Computer
H: No
R: Advanced calculator
H: No
R: Spinning wheel (Or fan blade? She was sitting across the room, so some of her comments were hard to hear when I play it back.)
H: No
M: Slide ruler
H: No. And it has the word "machine."
M: Ok... That's probably not good to say then.
G: Adding machine?
M: A fax machine?
H: Yes.
G: (peeking at the card) It IS a fax machine! Way to go!

#4
H: It's something that you can get books at.
R: A library.
H: (dejected) Yes... I don't think I was supposed to say books, though...
R: It's ok. We'll give it to you anyway.

#5
H: It's something that I do ALOT!
G: Talk
M: Talk? Sass?
H: No
M: Cry?
H: No
R: Dance
M: Laugh
H: No! Nooo....
R: Sing?
G: Draw?
M: Scream?
H: It's something that I'm getting right now.
M: Angry?
H: No. But it's...
M: Frustrated? Older? Tired? Sleepy?
H: No!!
M: I think it IS mad...
H: Yes. "Mad."
(laughing)

#6
H: I don't know if I know this one...
R: It's ok. We'll give it to you anyway. From whatever you say.
M: Just guess and we'll guess what you think it is.
H: Ok, I know it. It's a name.
R: Rigor mort. (Or Voldemort?)
M: Seven
H: Hahaha... No! It's a name!
R: Loch Ness Monster
H: ...and it's a student. A student name... And starts with an "a."
R: Plato?
H: And it ends with an "a."
M: uhhh...
G: Is it a famous name? (pause) Athena? (Side note: Amazing guess, Mom!)
H: (getting exasperated with our fruitless guesses) It's Ariana.
M: Ariana???
G: (peeking at the card) It's "arena."
M: So where did you get that it's a student name?
H: One of the clues was studium...
G: Oh! Stadium... arena!

Great clues, Bug! I loved it - and I love YOU!!!

More to come soon!

Lost in translation

2010-07-08T16:22:00.003-06:00

Last night, Hannah was out playing in the play area behind our house and was meeting new friends - as has been the norm of late. During one of her regular check-ins I asked her about the new kids she's meeting. She informed me that one of the kids is a little boy named Ishmael. Without missing a beat - and for obvious reasons - I said, "Oh cool. Ask him if he knows a big white whale."

Hannah seemed a little unsure about this latest unintelligible rambling, but she was anxious to get back out to play so she tried to verify the question she was supposed to ask...

H: A big fat whale?
M: No - a big, white whale. (pause) But he won't know. It's classic literature and it's boring.
H: Ok. But I'm going to ask him anyway.

So she ran off to sweat some more and I sat down to go over "Mom stuff" (schedules and bills and all the less-glamorous stuff that we moms do).

When she came in for the night, and before getting ready for bed, she was recounting all of her latest (mis)adventures. In the course of her tale, she brought me up to speed on Ishmael. And she was quite smug about it at first, I might add...

H: Oh - and he does know him.
M: Who?
H: Ishmael.
M: He does??
H: Yeah.
M: (doubtful) Really. Then what's his name?
H: Well, apparently, he knows LOTS of white people.

Come to find out, Ishmael is black. And Hannah asked him if he knows a big white male instead of a big white whale.

Minor detail, right?

Well it worked for Duck Hunt...

2010-06-16T12:59:00.004-06:00

I saw this on xkcd.com and wanted to share it with all my friends and family (Becky...) that still remember all the tricks that got our games to work.

Coming Soon...

2010-04-29T15:03:00.005-06:00

Ok - I know that I'm WAAAAY behind on posting... Sorry! Life has been a little crazy:

This Saturday is Commencement for my Bachelor's degree. Woohoo!
Me and my roomie, Karen, have been house hunting since her parents' home sold. Also good, but a little stressful. Wish I were a bajillionaire... Then I could just BUY a house and call it good.
Finished my first class in my Marriage & Family Therapy Master's program. It was Human Sexuality. Super-fun class, but I didn't write any of the papers. There were only three, and it relieved pressure to ignore them. Life happens.
Work has been crazy busy... The July Bar exam is coming up, so we've been processing applications all day, every day. And being new, I was much slower, so I felt the constant pressure to be fast and accurate!

Plus, I've been trying to carve out a little bit of time for dating and socializing with friends. I thrive off of laughter and communication with friends, so this is an important thing for me to include in my schedule.

Unfortunately, all of these things have been piling up and occupying all of my time. As such, I've decided to take a little break from school - just for 6 months or so - to let some of these other areas in my life settle down a bit... I'm sure that new problems will pop up, but I'm hoping to be in a better frame of mind for dealing with school in a few months.

And yes, I've been stockpiling quotes from Hannah. I think the voice recorder on my phone is just about full... so I'll post a bunch soon!

Overheard...

2010-02-22T09:14:00.004-07:00

Here are some more strange little comments from the last week, courtesy of Hannah. And for the record, I have no idea where she gets it...

"But I wanted to get in the bathtub with three penguins tonight!"
-This was overheard by the girls while they were driving home with Hannah. She was talking to me on the phone, asking me to get her another Penguins of Madagascar Happy Meal toy... as she's taken a renewed interest in baths (versus showers).

"Those are real teeth!! HOLY MOTHER!!!"
-This was heard while at Cindy's house on Saturday when someone stuck out his bottom dentures. No worries about misconceptions, though... He explained to Hannah that his jaw can detach but he doesn't like to do it too much because it hurts. (I'll explain it to her later... )

Then, last Wednesday night (Feb. 17), Karen and Danielle came downstairs while I was reading to tell me some of what Hannah had been saying upstairs. They were literally crying, they were laughing so hard. As I wasn't there, I can't repeat the conversation verbatim, so some of the middle parts are missing. And this is just a fraction or what was said back and forth... Even so, I imagine you'll laugh as hard as I did.

"I am just SICK of hearing high squeaky voices! (short pause) ...So I am going to stop talking."
-I think Hannah was hoping to manipulate the girls into silence, by example. The humor in her statement was lost on her... but not on us.

Jasmine: When you call people fat, Jesus hates you.
Hannah: Well I call my mom fat. And Jesus doesn't hate my mom...
J: What about ugly people?
H: Jesus doesn't hate ugly people.
J: Then why did He make them ugly?
H: He didn't! Their ugly parents made them ugly. (pause) My dad is ugly...
(more discussion along this vein, which I was not privy to... Alas...)
H: Well my mom is fat and my dad is ugly... (brief pause) ...And I'm pretty sure that's why they got divorced.

Excellent reasoning, Bug-a-Boo... And thanks for that. Good thing I love you!

More Quotables... by Hannah

2010-02-17T08:43:00.007-07:00

Long weekends are great for a lot of reasons. This last weekend was fun because I didn't have to work on Monday - AND because it yielded SEVERAL good quotes from Hannah. Enjoy...

On Saturday, Hannah and I were watching a recorded episode of The Mentalist together. At one point, Hannah said, "I think (character's name) did it cuz he got all quiet when they asked him." After a slight pause she continued, "...which usually means, 'Uh-oh. They know.'"

**********

Later on that day, Hannah and I were snuggling and I started tickling her. Unfortunately, when Hannah gets laughing really hard she either gets the hiccups or starts drooling... or a fabulous combination of the two. That day, she opted for drooling. So I said something about the fluids coming out of her face... and not to get any drool or bogies (aka: boogers - pronounced bow-gee) on me. About half an hour later, I was tickling her again and we were both laughing pretty hard when she said, "I don't have control of my fluids today, so be careful!" Point taken.

**********

Also on Saturday was this gem of an exchange:

H: You farted on my foot!

(awkward pause... ps - no, I didn't)

H: Don't worry... I don't lick it.

M: (incredulous silence plus a shocked, perplexed look)

H: What?!?! I said I DON'T lick it...

M: (words failed me)

H: You can toot on my foot all you want.

Thanks, but no thanks, Bug.

**********

Sunday had a few moments as well. She made another comment about not being in control of her fluids while she was hopped up on sugar and giggling before Sacrament Meeting started. While I shushed her to get ready for quiet time, I noticed that a friend in the ward heard the comment and was now giggling uncontrollably. I felt compelled to instruct Hannah to get things under control before the meeting started.

My amazingly vague and slightly irritated instructions didn't help. Go figure... I recognized almost immediately that reverence was clearly not an option, so I was left to hope for controlled chaos and no cranky looks from the people nearby.

Nailed it. Barely.

**********

Monday was a fun day. Any day where I get to sleep past 8:30 in the morning is off to good start. Then, I decided to take Hannah to the store to return a couple of duplicate birthday gifts and to spend the money that Auntie Gecky sent. All told, she had about $60 to spend. She decided to get some new clothes with part of the money and then a cake decorating set and a little FurReal dalmation puppy that wags its tail when you pet it. She'd much rather get an actual puppy, but that can't happen just yet.

Anyway, we had a great day together just shopping around. We even went out to lunch together, which was great fun. The only down-side was the repeated back-handed compliment she kept giving me: "You're just so happy today, Mom!" I'm glad we had a great day together, but I wish that more days with me were happy... so that it's not such a surprise.

Amid all the fun, Hannah managed to sneak in another funny moment... We were driving through a parking lot to get to Chili's for our lunch date and Hannah said, "Sometimes I get a little nervous when other cars get close to my side of the car."

M: Oh? Have cars gotten close today?

H: No. I just get worried that they might get close.

M: Oh. And what would happen if they got close?

H: Well, they might come in my side.

M: Bug, a car can't come in your window... Is that what you mean?
H: No. I mean they might crash into my side.

M: Oh. And that would be scary...

H: Well yeah. 'Cause then I would get damaged.

M: Ah... Well yes, I guess you could get damaged, huh.

H: Yeah. And I don't want to get damaged.

I don't want you to get damaged either, Bug! I'll drive real careful... to keep cars from getting in your side!

Mother, May I?

2010-02-05T09:29:00.004-07:00

On Wednesday of this week, I got home really late from work since I was I was finishing up paperwork to begin my Master's program. I'm happy (aka: terrified!) to get started, but I was sad to hear that I missed this moment while I was gone...

First, to introduce the pertinent people, let me explain that Karen is my friend and roommate. She has 3 daughters that still live at home: Danielle (17), Jasmine (13), and Sarah (11).

So, Karen was helping the girls get some chicken noodle soup made for dinner - one of Hannah's favorites. All the while, Hannah and Sarah were bickering back and forth, as usual...

Sarah: Well you shouldn't be talking while you eat.
Hannah: Well you're taking too much soup.
S: Hannah, quit...
H: Well, Sarah, you shouldn't...

At some point, Karen finally laughed and said, "You two mother each other more than anyone I know!" And then she quoted Thumper's mommy, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!"

**crickets chirping as all goes silent**

Slowly, Hannah and Sarah began to eat again, with a little less vigor... At some point, Sarah either got up to get more soup, or she said something... Karen couldn't recall...

H: Sarah, you.. (stops herself suddenly and goes quiet)
Karen: (after a moment of Hannah stuttering uncertainly) Did you have something to say, Hannah?
H: Well... I was gonna say... But... Well... (sigh) Except I don't quite know what "mothering" means.

Don't worry, Punkin... We'll look it up when I get home.

8 Things I LOVE About Hannah!

2010-01-27T11:17:00.004-07:00

1. She is still honest enough that when I ask her whether she's really sick or she just wants to stay home from school, she says, "Well, it's half and half."
2. She's independent, but still likes to snuggle.
3. She wishes she could sleep with Mommy, but doesn't.
4. She's precocious.
5. She promises she'll still want to tell me everything when she's a "teen-year-old." And I hope she does!
6. She's snarky, but adorably so.
7. She's starting to see things for how they really are without my having to spoil her idealistic view of the world.
8. And finally, because she loves me as much as I love her: "All the way to Jesus' head... And you can't get more than that!"

You're the best, Hannah-Bug. And I love you!!!

Fun with Friends

2010-01-27T11:08:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday was going to be Hannah's birthday party with her friends, but we bumped it back a week to this Saturday... One kid, Erick, didn't get the message. After stopping by - and being reminded of the change - he asked if Hannah could come to Carl's Jr. with him and his mom and little sister, to play. As I was busy baking a cake, cleaning up, and needing to wrap her presents before my family got there, I said sure.

Last night, I heard about the following short interchange with the little boy and his mother...

Erick's Mom (to Hannah): Hannah, you're pretty tall.
Erick (interjecting): Well Mom... I'm handsome tall!

Gotta love the English language!

Did I mention I got a job?!

2010-01-20T12:36:00.003-07:00

Yes - I finally ended my streak as an unemployed, non-contributing member of society. It was great to be able to finish school while I was not working, and the time with Hannah-Bug has been great, but I'm happy to be working again!

Can you say, "IKEA?"

2010-01-20T08:13:00.002-07:00

Yesterday morning, while trying to wake Hannah up, something a little strange happened... Which resulted in the quote of the day for Jan. 19th:

Me: Good morning, Hannah... It's time to wakey-wakey... Time to get up and get ready for school...
Hannah: Waigh shwea rabi huearte...
M: Huh? What did you say...? Was that even in English?
H: No... I was speaking Swedish.

Ahh. Well that clears things right up.

Quote of the day - 01.16.10

2010-01-16T18:59:00.002-07:00

In the car... just before getting home from SLC tonight after I criticized the car in front of us for going slow:

H: I bet police officers love it when it's icy on the roads... Because it makes people slow down and go the speed limit.
M: (non committal) Maybe...
H: But then they probably hate it, too, because if there's a major emergency it would be hard for them to get there.
M: That's true. That would make it a little tough.

(long pause)

H: Remember that time that you sneezed on my face?
M: (loud laugh... and maybe a little snort) Yes. Yes, I do.
H: Good times. Good times...

Quote of the day - 12.14.09

2009-12-14T15:44:00.002-07:00

Hannah recently learned how to roll over backwards, when she first managed to do it on accident last night. Just now, Hannah was trying to show me that she had gotten better at flipping. The following interchange took place:

H: This time is going to be awesome.
M: I'll bet so. Probably 100% awesome.
H: Maybe 105% awesome...
M: Maybe... Let's see.

(horribly ineffective roll in which she barely turned over on her side, as she failed to throw her legs back.)

M: (laughing) That was negative 5% awesome... Actually, that was so lackluster and hilarious that it was 100% awesome!
H: (laughing also) Yeah... I forgot to flail.

Quote of the day - 12.05.09

2009-12-05T23:36:00.005-07:00

Today Hannah and I were driving back from a fun outing this morning - to the Festival of Trees - when she saw a Public Storage facility. Enjoying her growing affinity for reading, she was reading the sign aloud... and commenting:

H: (sounding it out slowly) Public... Storage... Public Storage. P.S.
M: Yeah. It's a bunch of storage units, like ours... but different.
H: Oh cool. It says "P.S."
M: Yep. P.S... Public Storage.
H: Or, like, 'P.S. - That happened.'

Or that.

Hannah on quick getaways

2009-11-26T19:50:00.004-07:00

The other day, Hannah and I were walking into Mom and Dad's house through the garage. With only Dad's truck in there, Hannah must have been looking around more. At any rate, she soon noticed the entry point to the attic... (It's one of those escape-hatch-type doors way up in the ceiling that probably requires a ladder to reach it.)

Upon seeing the door, Hannah gasped and pointed, exclaiming, "MOM! Look! I found the emergency exit!"

Oh super. How convenient!

Quote of the day - 11.26.09

2009-11-26T19:47:00.003-07:00

The following educational moment took place between my mom and Hannah. They were sitting at the table chatting after we'd all enjoyed food-coma-induced naps.

Hannah: I know what whipped cream is...
Grandma: Oh? What is it?
H: It has some fat in it...
G: (interjecting) uh-huh...
H: And it makes us whipped.

I must admit that I feel a little whipped... My pumpkin cake would not be as enticing without whipped cream.

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T19:41:00.002-07:00

Here's a short list of things I am thankful for this year (in no particular order):

Wonderful friends
A great family
A beautiful little girl that I LOVE and that makes me laugh!
Finally finished my Bachelor's degree!!!
A new ward that I love!
A fun new calling that makes me be creative
A new house to get settled into (for now)
Finished the memory book for Mom's birthday (which turned out great - Thanks, Cindy!!)
Many options for continuing my schooling

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you had many things to be thankful for as well! Love and hugs!

Chatting with Hannah - 11.13.09

2009-11-13T18:19:00.004-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th!!!

Hannah and I were driving back from running a quick errand just now, when the following interchanges took place:

I was telling Hannah about Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, after she told me that she doesn't remember seeing them. I'm pretty sure we've watched them together, but it sounds like a refresher course is in order. At any rate, Hannah was trying to say Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but was muddling the words pretty badly so I said, "Be careful how you say that one."
H: Huh?
M: It's CHitty CHitty Bang Bang. With a C-H. Just make sure you say it right.
H: Why? Is it a bad word?
M: Not CHitty...
H: I mean "Bang Bang." Is that a bad word in another language?
M: Um no... Not that I'm aware of.
H: Because my teacher was reading us a story about a kid named Bang-Bang and some of the kids thought it was a bad word. (pause) Well, I thought it was a bad word.
M: Oh?
H: He was called Bang-Bang because he knocked on a lot of doors. And every time he knocked on a door, he pooped.
M: No he did not. You made that up.
H: Yes. I made that up... About the pooping. But he did knock on a lot of doors.

For the record, I have no idea what book she might be referring to.

Moments later - and completely out of the blue - she said, "I like people... ish."
M: (internal groan because we've talked about the proper comedic usage of "ish")
H: Well... I like people. I just don't like all grown-ups.
M: (short pause) That's ok. Neither do I.

And yes. Most of our deep and philosophical conversations take place in the car. Anyone wanna go on a road trip??

Hannah on Parenting

2009-11-11T09:09:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, Hannah made new friends in the neighborhood. This is fantastic! Her observations about them were even more fantastic...

H: They smell really good. I mean, I didn't go up and sniff em, but I could just tell... I mean, my old friends (at our old house) always smelled sweaty and stinky. But these kids smelled real good.
M: Well that's nice...

(pause)

H: I like their parents' parenting style.
M: Oh?
H: Yeah. 5 o'clock to come in and quit playing with friends. That's a good idea. We should do that. I bet I know what they do after that... They come in, eat dinner, and take baths, and then brush their teeth, say prayers, and then go to bed.
M: You're probably right.
H: And they probably go to bed by, like, 7 or 7:30.
M: Maybe...
H: My bedtime is 8 or 8:30.
M: Yes it is...
H: We should change it to 7 or 7:30. That would be better.
M: Well, if you'd like to do that, I'm sure we could work it out.
H: (brief pause) I need to get in a habit.
M: You mean you need a routine?
H: Yeah. We need a routine.

Yes we do. Thanks, Bug.

Quotes of the Day - 11.04.09

2009-11-04T21:50:00.005-07:00

Hannah: "I have to hold my pickle tighter."
Uttered after said pickle slipped out of her hand and onto the floor.

Melissa: "I can't even sew a skirt right, and look what they can make with leaves!"
Said while watching an old Destination Truth episode with Cindy, where natives performed a ceremony to ward off the dangerous Kikiyaon. The ceremonial dance was performed by an individual wearing a costume of the large avian monster - made out of leaves, obviously.

Whew!

2009-11-02T10:40:00.003-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been CRAZY! Here's a rundown of what has - and has NOT - taken place...

1. I finished school!!!! I am officially a college graduate, with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology. Woohoo! Last Tuesday, October 27th was my last night of class... But I can only enjoy this reprieve briefly, as my Master's program is scheduled to start in January. Eek!

2. I completed all of the required assignments for finishing my class. This was not an easy task as I had to write 2 papers, prepare and present 2 individual and 2 group PowerPoint presentations, as well as an Ethical Inventory (with summary), and a peer evaluation over the course of 5 weeks... while fighting a nasty cough and cold! And I would have gotten 100% in the class, but I was sick one week (and the teacher asked that I please not bring my germs to class) and missed my 4 participation points for the week. In the end, I finished with a 96% in the class, and a 3.67 overall GPA.

3. I was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting last week at the new ward - the Sunday before my last night of class. Excellent, since I had nothing else going...

4. I helped Hannah get ready for Halloween. This included making a tulle skirt for her Rock Star costume, which ended up not being worn because she decided she liked her jean skirt with gold sequins better. Thanks for your help anyway, Nancy... At least she has a fun dress-up skirt now!

5. On Friday I helped out in Hannah's class, for their Halloween party. I should have been working to clear out the old place, but I won't always be free to volunteer in Hannah's class, so I jumped at the chance... And then worked hard and fast at the house later, thanks to Robin!

6. I moved out of my old apartment. Most items went to storage, but a few things came to the new (temporary) place while I look for work and save money for a new, more permanent, home. I finished moving the last few items to storage and then cleaned everything on the 31st... Just in time to run home and get ready for the ward Trunk-or-Treat... which was followed by over an hour of hiking around our new neighborhood for some traditional Trick-or-Treating. By the time I got to bed, my muscles were twitching and everything hurt...

7. Yesterday I filled in for the Music Leader in Primary. This was later made more permanent, as I was called to be the Music Leader for Senior Primary. If you have any creative ideas or good links for ideas, PLEASE send them my way!!!! (I'm going a little crazy thinking about it...)

8. And then, after church, we ran up to Salt Lake to have a fun celebratory dinner with family and friends... which I'm not sure I have pictures of... but we had a great time!!! Thanks for coming, Cindy! I'll have to download everything from my camera and add pics later if I find some... Hannah commandeered my camera for most of the evening.

Here's what did NOT take place...

1. Carving of pumpkins. The insides are gross and I prefer not to actually touch them. If I had any painting skills, we'd do that. Instead, Hannah got to be disappointed. Sorry!

2. Sleeping. That happened over the last few days, when my body realized that the deadlines were passed and it could finally relax.

3. Getting well. I've had a cold and cough for several weeks. Due to the litany of tasks over the last few weeks, I couldn't risk taking good medicine that would make me sleep and let me get better. So I've just stayed sick. The last few days of sleeping have helped in the healing process.

4. Finding a job. I am determined to find something soon, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this next week will be the one that yields something promising (that doesn't involve commission sales)...

5. Cleaning at the new place. I was focusing all of my time and effort on the old place, so the new place got no love. I finally took the trash out tonight. It was overdue. Oh well... that's the great thing about housework, right? It will wait for you...

6. Reading of blogs (and books). I'm finally starting to get caught up on things, so please don't give up on me! And now that I can think straight for longer than 30 seconds, I'll make efforts to add fun, picture-filled posts more regularly. Thanks for your patience!!!

Moving update - Robin to be named "Mover of the Year!"

2009-10-24T23:55:00.006-06:00

As a reminder, Hannah and I are making a temporary move... and we're finally getting close to being done! But all the thanks goes to Robin, who has been a miracle worker!!! (But not the deaf-dumb-mute sort...)

Robin came down from Salt Lake three days in a row this week - and completely packed my house! Of course, my new neighbors will think that I'm a raving alcoholic, but what can I say...? The liquor store has great boxes!!!

Then, this morning, several men from my old ward came to help move my things into storage, and we got almost everything! There's still some random stuff that needs to find a home, and several things that need to come to the new house, but the old place is finally more empty than it is full... (And not in a pessimistic, glass-half-empty sort of way.)

So until I find a more suitable one, Robin, please accept this trophy for Mover of the Year!

You're a winner to me!

Quote of the Day - 10.23.09

2009-10-24T20:05:00.003-06:00

On Thursday, there were a couple different lines that were often repeated, so I'll share both...

Me (after my frequent coughing fits): *Hack - Hack* I'm ok! Ow... my head hurts!

Robin (while packing many boxes at my house): I can make it fit!

Quote of the Day - 10.20.09

2009-10-20T21:46:00.002-06:00

Tonight, Hannah and I were driving back home and found ourselves next to some guy in an old car with flip-up headlights, which Hannah thought were super-cool! Unfortunately, she did not feel the same about his choice in music...

H: If that [music] is from that guy's car, then that is really stupid music.
M: Yeah... it's not my favorite.
H: (switching topics slightly) My dad, when I went to visit him, listened to Texas-boys singing.
To clarify... Hannah thinks that anyone with a southern accent is a Texas-boy or a Texas-girl.
M: Oh. Yeah. He likes country.
H: (after a short pause) Did you guys have anything in common?

Not enough, obviously...

Quote of the day

2009-10-15T23:00:00.003-06:00

This was actually said a couple of days ago, while Robin and I were moving things from my old house to the storage unit...

"When did I buy THAT?!?!"

Don't worry, Dad, my days of impulse purchases are (mostly) over.

Life's Mysteries Revealed... by Hannah

2009-10-12T11:29:00.004-06:00

About a week ago, Hannah and I went up to hang out at Mom and Dad's. Great fun was had... And amid the Dirty Cheater Championship between Robin and I, a very interesting conversation took place. Essentially, Robin asked Hannah to explain what different things were, or how they worked. These things including concussions, heart attacks, what a "plate in your head" is, and my personal favorite: how to kill and cook a turkey. I finally had to go get a paper and pen to start jotting things down as fast as I could. I'm sure I missed a lot, though, so Robin may have to fill in some blanks... [Where necessary, I will note the prompting questions that Robin (R) or I (M) offered.]

#1. Hannah, what is a concussion?
H: It's something in your throat or your neck, or in your stomach. And it sometimes makes the person choke. So you want to get 'em to throw up. Or... you reach your hand in.
R: How far do you reach your hand in?
H: All the way til the thing that's making them choke. And then get it.
H: It's kinda like a seizure (pronounced see-jur).

#2. And what is a see-jur?
H: It's where the person's face turns blue or purple because they're not breathing. It's kinda like a heart attack.

#3. Oh... And what is a heart attack?
H: It's where people choke. And they have to start moving to do signals, or do sign language if you know it. **Here, she starts waving her arms over her head, to show how someone would indicate that they were choking. My writing gets a little iffy here, and I had to lie about why I was laughing so hard. The perils of having a really intuitive kid.**
H: Then the person chokes real bad, which makes their heart get messed up real bad. It happens sometimes when you choke...
(Apparently, choking is a real fear... Moving on.)
H: When a person chokes it affects the rest of their body.
R: Like what?
H: Like their blood tube.
R: (asking all the questions because I'm still unable to keep a straight face, let alone speak) What's the blood tube?
H: It's the big tube with blood in it. Well your body needs it (blood), but if your blood tube doesn't work, then your heart might get hurt. Like it's being attacked.
R: Attacked by what?
H: By no blood.

#4. What does it mean when someone has a plate in their head?
H: It's when one guy stabs another guy in the head with a plate. OR... it's when you cut a whole in the head and then put in a imaginary plate. It's a plate made of air. You know... like when everything's going wrong and it feels like something's stabbed your brain.

#5. What are x-rays?
H: It's where they flash a x-ray on you and then it shows what happened in your body. Like if you heard a crack in your knee, then you go to the hospital. And you don't move your knee on the way, just in case. Then you sign up for an x-ray doctor... to see if your knee is cracked or if it got hurt or broken. If it's not broken, the you ask what can help if it happens again. And if it IS broke, then you ask what you have to do... Like if you need to sign up for a different day.

#6. (Offered randomly, by Hannah) I know what shampoo is!
H: Shampoo has hair soap. It's like normal soap and then a little tiny drop of coloring, sort-of, to look like different colors. Mine's pink. And then a tiny drop of smelling. My mom always smells me after.

#6. What about conditioner?
H: In conditioner, the main thing is hair smoothing. It also has soap, but it's not the main thing. And it has smelling too. My new one is ocean breeze. It's basically the same as shampoo, but hair smoothing.

#7. (Another random offer) I know about lions!
H: Lions roar and look beautiful.
R: And do you know what a mane is?
H: It's the big, beautiful hair around their face, that poofs out real big.
R: Do all lions have a mane?
H: No. Only boy lions have the mane.
R: And which lions do the hunting?
H: The king lion does the hunting.
R: Actually, girl lions do the hunting. (A rare correction from Robin.)
H: Huh?!?! I thought they stayed home with the babies! Where they lick and clean them. But it's weird when it's a boy lion... cuz of the privates.

#8. (Last, but not least...) Hey Hannah, do you know how to kill a turkey?
H: You use a gun or a knife. You can stab it, but you might get blood on your hands. Or you can shoot it. But it's sad that most people shoot it in the head.
M: (getting my voice under control, but too busy writing to make eye contact) Yeah... that is sad.
R: (getting back to the task at hand) And then what happens?
H: Then, when it's dead, instead of picking it up with your bare hands, you can use a bag. A big, big bag. Like a leather bag that you can sew. And you'll want to use rubber gloves. [Thanks for being so safety-conscious, Bug!] Then you pick up the turkey and put it in the bag and take it home.
R: And how do you cook it?
H: Well, first you have to take off the fur.
R: And how do you do that?
H: You shave it or get it off with a knife or razor.
R: What kind of razor?
H: Like the kind my mom uses on her legs.
R: And then what?
H: Then you take off its head and feet.
R: And what do you do with them?
H: The feet, you can eat em. But you just throw away the head... Then you need to take out all the bones. And then you pull off the legs.
R: And what do you do with the legs?
H: You throw them away, or eat em.
R: And do you do anything else to the outside? What about the skin?
H: You leave the skin on. Well, sort of... There's lots of layers of skin, so you could use scissors to take off the fur, and then you leave just the one layer of skin.

We got interrupted here... too much giggling for such a late hour (sorry Mom!)... but I'm sure we'll be learning more from Hannah in the near future.

Thanks for taking care of the questions, Robin! You do much better at maintaining a curious, but calm composure! Did I miss anything?

Movin' on up!

2009-09-28T00:34:00.002-06:00

Ok friends... For those of you that haven't heard, Hannah and I are making a temporary move. I'll still be in Provo for now (boo...), but just until I can find a job and relocate.

I'm super-excited, and am enjoying the time above ground. We'll miss our little place, though, as many fond memories were made there!

Still lots of adjustments, but things are mostly good. And, with any luck, I'll find a job that I love really soon, so that we can be on to bigger and better things.

Love you all! Will update again soon... Lots of packing to do. Anyone do chiro or back rubs???

Office jobs

2009-09-28T00:27:00.001-06:00

And yet, I'm still looking for one...

Anatomy 101

2009-09-05T10:05:00.005-06:00

Hannah apparently fell yesterday and hurt her hind-end. I only found this out this morning, when she reported that her bottom still hurt. (This will prove to be important...)

First, let me note that it is Saturday morning. I'd like to still be asleep. But Hannah woke me up around 8 am. Well, technically, my bladder woke me up. But Hannah kept me awake. So I decided to be productive - and started researching some information for my next homework assignment. Around 9:00, Hannah went to see if any of her friends were awake and ready to play. Knowing the parents involved, I reminded Hannah to avoid doorbells, and to leave quietly if no one answered the door after 3 knocks.

She returned home shortly, reporting that none of her friends were awake to play. And since I just so happened to be awake and available, Hannah decided that we would play Polly Pockets. Apparently, "nap-time" was not on the list of possible games to play...

So Hannah pulled up her stool and I sat on the couch to play. A little while later - after our characters had attended school, a hip-hop birthday party, and a dance-off (with Hannah's character as the surprise winner ~ "Well I am the best dancer in school...") - Hannah was getting ready to put her toys away. On getting up from the stool, the following interaction took place:

Hannah: Ouch... My butt-knuckle hurts!
Me: Your what? (starting to giggle)
H: My butt-knuckle.
M: (can't ask question... too busy trying to control the giggling)
H: What...?!? Lindsey [her Tuesday night sitter] told me that you have a butt-knuckle.
M: (still laughing) Oh?
H: (noting the laughter) Well, I guess it's just our joke.
M: Did you know it was a joke when she told you?
H: (small pause) Well no. I thought it was real.
M: (quiet giggle)
H: (mildly indignant) Well... there is a hard part right in the middle of your butt!
M: Yes. It's called your tailbone. The coccyx.
H: Oh. (pause) I like "butt-knuckle" better.

Me too.

FYI: The coccyx (aka: The Butt-Knuckle).

Only 12 left!

2009-08-08T00:30:00.002-06:00

I am down to only 12 more weeks of class until I graduate! October 27th - HERE I COME!!!!

Long time, no post....

2009-08-08T00:13:00.005-06:00

I realize that I have not posted anything for quite some time, as my last post was still while Hannah was at her dad's... and she's been home for over a month. Sorry!

As a symbol of my contrition, I offer you some pics from the last of Hannah's visit to her dad:

Hannah and Mikayla on a ride at the fair

The ride in motion

One of the puppies that were born while Hannah was there.
She got to name this one, and chose SnuggleBuddy.

And last, but certainly not least,
a self-proclaimed "sexy calendar" pic of Chris and the puppies.
This was taken and sent after Hannah came home.

Even if this picture were truly sexy - which the wife beater, ball cap, and the classic-yet-uncomfortable pose will not allow - I'm not sure why he felt compelled to send it to me... Maybe I should submit it for review.

Hannah pics

2009-06-07T00:52:00.003-06:00

Good news! Hannah is doing much better and has decided that maybe she won't come home early. We'll see if she still feels that way next week...

So here are some pictures of what she's been up to so far:

She caught her first fish!
Well, Dad hooked it, but Bug reeled it in!
And yes, her hair is purple
Well, it has purple streaks... Something fun for summer

One of the new ducks at the house.
I think this one is Daisy... of Donald and Daisy.

Hannah and Dad (Chris) with one of the dogs... who's just her size!

She caught another - BIGGER - Blue Gill.
This one she hooked and reeled on her own! Nice job!

And she even hooks her own worms... Eeew!
I mean... Way to Go, Sweetie!

I'm so happy that she's doing better. I got several sad calls when she was bored, so having some fun activities with her dad and the kids has made a big difference. And she only sees them once a year... so I want her to have a fun time while she's there!

More pics to come... (Hopefully soon!)

Like Coldplay and Free Stuff?

2009-06-07T00:30:00.004-06:00

If yes, then you'll be thrilled that Coldplay is offering a free download of their album Left Right Left Right Left this week (on coldplay.com) as a thank you to all their fans.

No, Coldplay, thank YOU!

Missing Hannah-Bug

2009-06-02T23:21:00.000-06:00

Hannah has been gone for almost a week now... and she's probably called me over 30 times. Earlier this week, Hannah told me that she still hadn't gotten to see her older sister, Destiny. She proceeded to say, "If I don't get to see her soon, I might want to come home early... cuz what's the point?"

So I guess things are going pretty well, eh?

I'm Not Dead Yet!

2009-05-25T01:00:00.003-06:00

Ok friends... (if there are any of you left)... I'm still here. I've just been swamped with schoolwork and job searching. And catching up on sleep... :)

I'm also gearing up to send Hannah to her dad's for 6 weeks. She leaves Saturday morning (May 30th), and returns July 16th. It's bittersweet, as usual. I'm excited to have a break, as it's the only one I'll get during the year; but I'll worry while she's gone. And I know I'll have to do damage-control and some re-teaching when she gets back... so that's always fun to look forward to.

Recently, I got to attend a conference for the Utah Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, which was fantastic. But it lead to a fun little Hannah-ism. She was inquiring about the conference and asking why I'd want to go to it. So I explained that this would be my profession (aka: career) when I finish school.
She said: "So you're gonna be a pear-a-thist?"
Yep. That's exactly what I'm gonna be! A pear-a-thist. Or a therapist. Whichever.

I'll miss my little Hannah-bug while she's gone!!!

More travel pics

2009-04-08T02:53:00.019-06:00

Okay... so you suffered through the interminable post documenting our trip to California... Here are more pics - with less reading. :)

First, I must say that the worst part of a road trip (besides the fear of getting sleepy driving) is dealing with the speed limits. I did pretty well, though... MOST of the time.

I may have sped for a bit... but I got home faster!
Sorry about the dusty dashboard. It's time to detail.

Beverly Hills? In Nevada?
I have a feeling that it's just not the same...

Have you ever noticed that towns, especially in Utah, often put the letters for their city on nearby mountains? It appears that Battle Mountain drew the short straw in that situation...

Sorry, Battle Mountain!

I LOVED my time visiting Mark and Ellie. Their new place is great, and they were such fun to chat with! Plus, I got to hold cute little Sylvie and Hannah had a dedicated playmate!

Mark, napping with Sylvie. Adorable!

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco
Yummy!!!

Cool sourdough bread critters
The kids loved them!

On Pier 39 with cousin Griffin

Did you notice that sign behind the kids?
Yep! Stay classy, San Francisco!!!

A cone at the Jelly Belly factory on our way to Sacramento

Not too many pics with Gecky and Shana, but we had great fun playing Guitar Hero and AI Karaoke. Love you guys!

We drove by our old house, to remind Hannah.
Not much has changed... except there's a stop sign there now.

Then we headed to Karin and Larry's
for Sunday afternoon Conference and family dinner.
Hannah, Becky, and Shana out front

Larry, Karin, and Hector the cat

Then we had to bid California and the fabulous weather good bye and head back to Utah... (wipe a tear!)

I saw this cool old truck on the road home and had to snap a quick pic!
Isn't it gorgeous?!!

Traveling Hannah-isms

2009-04-08T02:53:00.011-06:00

On our trip, we watched the Sunday afternoon session of Conference at Shana's parents' home (Larry and Karin). After Conference, Larry went to get Grandma (Karin's mom) for the regular Sunday dinner. Upon entering the home, Grandma came to sit on the couch in the living room. Hannah immediately came over to me and said not-too-quietly, "I didn't know they could get that old!"

In her defense, all of my grandparents passed away long before she was born and she was too young to remember meeting her dad's grandma in Memphis. So "Grandma" usually refers to my mom... We all enjoyed a hearty laugh.

Hannah, Karin, and Grandma

On the drive home, Hannah was finding ways to keep herself entertained. At one point, she asked if she could look through my purse. No problem. So she starts going through my wallet to look at the cards, etc. Then she sees the "Important Numbers" card that I hadn't ever taken out. So she says, "What's this card?"
M: It's a card to put important numbers on.
H: Important numbers? Like what? Three?

I'm not even sure if I ever explained it any further... I was busy laughing.

The culprit

Travels and triumph!

2009-04-08T01:08:00.009-06:00

Hannah and I took our first real road trip this last week. Hannah kept telling me how much she enjoyed this "LIFE ON THE ROAD!" I just enjoyed getting to California and back in one piece... as driving typically makes me sleepy. And now I know that I can successfully make the trip alone. Yay!

So here's the low-down and the highlights (I'll pepper in pics to hide the length):

Tuesday was my birthday (31 on the 31st!) and I had class that night... So I agreed to let Hannah skip school to have some time together during the day. That night, Bug stayed at Mom and Dad's while I was at class, after which I went out with a few friends from class for some celebrating and karaoke. I even got up and sang for the first time. I was told that I have to sing alone next time... We'll see.

Anyway, I got home about 1:30 am - not too late - and tried to fall asleep, but Hannah woke up and was too excited to sleep. This meant that I didn't actually doze off until somewhere between 4 and 4:30 am. The original plan included Robin coming on the trip - and driving the first leg so that I could sleep a little - so I wasn't too worried. As is often the case though, things don't always go according to plan , and Robin didn't come with us. So, instead of heading out in the wee hours of the morning, I got up around 8 and we were on the road by about 9 am.

Hannah had a great time in the car, and loved watching movies and eating snacks all day. I mostly listened to music, and called Mom and Shana to let them know that I was alive and hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. ;o)

Hannah, licking peanut butter off her fingers. Protein, right?
Mr. Snugglebug is keeping an eye on things.

A little bit of snow in the beginning, followed by LOTS of high winds, and work zones with low speed limits slowed our progress, but we made it! I think we ended up rolling into Mark and Ellie's around 10 that night (???) and headed to bed pretty quickly thereafter.

Yay! We made it to California!
PS - Taking a picture while driving is harder than it sounds.

The next morning we got up bright and early (since my cell phone hadn't switched over to Pacific time, so my alarm went off at 8 am Mountain time...). Mark headed out for a crazy day at the office (see proof here), so Ellie and I decided to take the kids on a little day trip to San Francisco. PS - I've determined that you get to learn a lot of cool stuff about a city when you go with a local. Thanks Ellie!

Hannah and Griffin in the car on the way to San Francisco.

We spent a little time perusing shops on Pier 39 and even saw some seals out in the windy sunshine. After sitting through the Keith Show (think ShamWow + juggling) to escape the wind, we made our way to Fisherman's Wharf for some fresh seafood. The kids both had delicious fish and chips, and I had Garlic Crab and Shrimp. It was super yummy, but I think I like my food to involve less work.

Coming down from their sugar highs.
Standing in the wind, looking at the seals.

Plus, I'm fairly certain that Ellie stifled a giggle when I didn't know quite what to do with peel-and-eat shrimp. I couldn't imagine why people would want to eat shrimp with the legs still on them, but I figured what the heck... try something new. Thanks for stopping me!!! Next time, I'll stick to the crab cakes. All the deliciousness, with none of the mess (or work).

We finished off the trip with a sundae at Ghirardelli, and made it back by mid-afternoon.

Yummy!

Hannah and Griffin spent most of their time crusing around in his not-Barbie Jeep, going on various missions and fighting a lot of bad guys. These efforts were aided by the contents of Griffin's weapons box, including a bow with foam arrows, various guns, and a big stick or two. Luckily for everyone, Hannah is good at bossing and Griffin is very good at driving the Jeep and saluting. This worked out very well, and only a few tears were shed. If I can figure out how, I'll load a video of one such mission.

These sure are cute and happy kids!
Nice how Hannah's providing an unimpeded view
of her huge tonsils and her new front teeth.

And while the chilluns were entertaining themselves in the gorgeous California sunshine, I got to hold a VERY CUTE Slyvie!!! I loved it! She was happy and chubby and absolutely adorable! I miss her already!

Who could resist this little bundle of cute?!?!?!

Friday (April 3rd), we spent the morning with Mark and Ellie and then headed towards Sacramento to see Becky and Shana. We made an obligatory stop at the Jelly Belly factory where we got loads of yummies for friends and family, as well as a few goodies for ourselves.

This way to certain weight gain...

We stopped at Panera's for dinner (yummy soup and sandwich place we don't have here), and then got to Becky and Shana's around 8. The weekend was fairly uneventful, though we did play some American Idol karaoke and Guitar Hero World Tour. I felt adequately prepared by my recent karaoke activities, so I had great fun. Hannah didn't know many of the songs, but she danced her heart out nonetheless.

We got to go to Chevy's (another favorite we don't have near Provo) and had lunch with Becky, Shana, BrAngela, and Karisa. The food was delicious, and it was great to sit and catch up with everyone. We also got to attend a breakfast-themed recipe exchange, so I added some new yummy recipes to my breakfast options.

In fact, the only restaurant I didn't get to stop by (that we don't have here) was La Bou. I was really looking forward to a baguette with dill sauce. I guess I'll have to visit again soon!

Yesterday, we had to leave and head back to Utah... hoping the sunshine would follow us home. The drive was long, but speeding helped. We made the return trip in about 9 hours, but it will probably take me a couple days to get caught up on my sleep.

Sorry for the novella. More pics to follow.

If you made it this far, you deserve a treat. Come on over, we have Jelly Belly's!

More Hannah-isms

2009-03-17T15:57:00.002-06:00

#1 - Yesterday we went to go visit baby Eva in the hospital, as it was her last day there and she was finally getting to spend more time in the room with Mom and Dad. After loving on her for a while, it was time for Eva to go back under the lights for a while... Sunbathing to get her billyrubin count back down to normal.

As it was time for us to head back home anyway, we followed the nurse and Eva's crib out. I had a bit of a time getting Hannah to stay with us rather than follow Eva's crib all the way into the nursery, but I managed... barely.

Since we were still waiting for Miss Chats-a-lot (aka: Mom) to leave the room, Hannah was watching Eva get situated for her "tanning session" through the window. I decided to join her while we waited. That's when I noticed that she was leaning really close to the window and breathing on it, so that she could draw a heart in the fog with her finger. Knowing how irritating it is to clean fingerprints off of windows, I told her to quit it.

She promptly replied, rather sassily I mist admit, "I'm just doing the same thing I always do." She started to walk away and then she turned back and said over her shoulder, "It's called breathing."

Thanks Bug. I can't wait til you're 15 and really get in touch with that sassy side...

#2 - On the way home from the hospital, Hannah was expressing her frustration with grown-ups in general. She especially dislikes that they ignore little kids (like her). In particular, she was upset that she was being ignored at the hospital because it was "all about Nancy and Will, but she only wanted to see the baby." At least she's comfortable being honest...

After some frustration, we settled into a brief irritated silence. Then, out of the blue, she says

H: At least I don't live in the '80s.
Me: (quiet, trying to figure out what she could mean and how this could relate to her frustration at the hospital)
H: Then I'd have to wear ugly clothes.

Perhaps no relation to the previous conversation about her feeling ignored, but I can't argue with the truth. Good riddance wall-bangs and shoulder pads!

Babies make Friday the Thirteenth even better!!

2009-03-14T18:41:00.006-06:00

For those that don't know, my sister Nancy has been expecting a little girl - after 4 years of unfulfilled efforts to grow their family. Yesterday, she finally arrived!!! So here are the stats:

Eva (pronounced Ava) Marie Hale
born March 13, 2009 at 8:06 pm
weight: 8 lbs., 0 oz.
length: 19 1/2 inches

Look at those chubby cheeks!
And her skin feels like velvet. So kissable!!!

LOTS of soft hair!

And cute little feeties!
The pinkie toe curls under... apparently just like Daddy's.

Mommy and Daddy Hale
Recovering from the C-Section... and so happy!!!

The sign over Eva's crib in the nursery.

An Eva-burrito. Nummy!

*Unwrapped*
Check out this cute little nugget!
No worries... The IV is just for glucose since her sugars were low.
All better now!

Welcome to the family, Eva!!!

Cynic's Clubhouse?

2009-03-09T03:44:00.007-06:00

A few days ago, Hannah was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel while we were getting ready in the morning. For those of you that do not have children, or if your children are too young/old for this, let me explain. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a 30 minute computer-generated cartoon where Mickey and his pals get together for unrealistic adventures. There is always some kind of problem, which is promptly solved by the use of their Mickey MouskeTools. The tools are hailed by calling out "Oh Toodles!" which is apparently the name of their mobile toolbox who flies over when called. There are usually 3 visible tools and a "Mystery MouskeTool" which are used during the episode.

So I was putting my face on in the bathroom when I heard the characters call out, "Oh Toodles!" during the thick of another predicament. Hannah then made the following comment (paraphrased here because I could not find anything to write on fast enough)...

H: You know, on one of these episodes, one of those tools shouldn't work. Because then it makes kids think that if they have a problem and they just go, "Oh Toodles" then it will get fixed. And their life will be perfect. But it isn't. So why do those tools always work?!
H: (after hearing me chuckle at her comment; mockingly) Yeah... next time I have a problem I'll just go "Oh Toodles" and we'll see what happens. (She then proceeded to do so, quite sarcastically I might add.)

Hannah's comment parallels a similar comment made by my nephew while we were visiting them over a year ago. He was watching Bob the Builder and gave the hilarious (and honest) reply of "No we can't!" to Bob the Builder's familiar call "Can we fix it?!"

So are we raising cynics or realists?

Startlingly funny

2009-02-19T00:47:00.002-07:00

The other day I got a text from my friend Ryan during class. Hannah spends time with Ryan, his wife Becca, and their little son on Tuesdays while I'm at school - and she loves it. So, the other day I got this text. The only struggle was not to burst out laughing in the middle of class:

"... she came in tonight and said JESUS CHRIST really loud... i was stunned until i realized that she was talking about the [tapestry] of Christ we have hanging on the wall. she had just see it. we started laughing. it was so funny. we enjoy her being here."

Chalk it up to another Hannah-ism!

Note to self...

2009-02-06T04:38:00.006-07:00

...Save the more random explanations for a time when you're not drunk with fatigue.

Hannah and I went to IKEA the other day, to cheer ourselves up. It had been a long, difficult day already, and IKEA is one of my favorite discount shopping and decorating centers on the planet. And I desperately needed a reason to smile. So, after letting her go play in the playroom for a while - so that we could both say we enjoyed the trip - I finished shopping and checked out. After picking Hannah up from the playroom, and getting in the car, she asked if I had gotten her anything. (Typical.) I told her that I actually had - a little chandelier that we might hang in her room, but probably not until we get into a new apartment. So we continued chatting about how much fun that would be. After a few minutes, Hannah said, "Ok... But I don't even know what a chandelier is!"

M: Oh! Well, it's a hanging light. But it's all fancy.
H: Ok...?
M: (in a stammering sort of explanation) You know... It's a light, but it's more pretty than it is useful...
H: Uh-huh...?
M: I mean, it's got the light that hangs, but then there's all these crystally things that hang down and make it look real pretty.
H: You got me a diamond light!?!?!?!
M: Well, no. It's not diamonds, but it's cute. You know... little crystals... some are different colors. (blah blah blah... trying to explain it so that it made sense, but I was rather tired so I wasn't thinking real clearly. Normally, these explanations go a lot more smoothly.)
M: (finally) Does that make sense?
H: Yeah. (pause) Well, no. That doesn't make sense, but I don't want to hear any more.

Awesome. Can't fault her for being honest.

PS - She loved the chandelier, once we got home and she could see the picture on the box. Now she can't wait to hang it somewhere!

Isn't it cute? :)

Happy Late Birthday, Bug the Second

2009-01-26T03:28:00.004-07:00

Hannah celebrated her 7th birthday on Saturday! Yay!!! She's pretty proud of her new pierced ears. Here's a sneak peek:

Here are 7 things you might not know about Hannah:

1. She writes songs and then performs them for me (after leaving the room and then announcing her entrance). She is too shy to perform for other people, though, so don't expect a performance anytime soon.
2. Her lyrics are actually pretty good. I'll post a sample when I find one. Hannah had me write a few down for her and then she put them somewhere "safe."
3. She has excellent inductive AND deductive reasoning skills.
4. She has a fairly impressive vocabulary, but doesn't always use it properly.
5. She is GREAT at cutting paper, as is evidenced by the copious amounts of paper shards that I find every time I clean. She likes making little books with the tiny squares she cuts.
6. She knows to be honest with me, and does so to a fault. "I love you, Mommy... even if you have a big tummy." Thanks, Bug.
7. She REALLY wants a baby sister. She even informed me that one of the kids in her class wished on a star for one... and GOT IT! I told her that I need a hubby first, so she decided to ask for a boyfriend-turned-hubby for me next time she wishes on a star.

I love you, Hannah! You're the best thing in my life, and I only hope that I can be worthy of you!

Hugs and Smooches,
Mommy

Black holes?

2009-01-22T17:48:00.005-07:00

Today, Hannah and I were watching a program about the universe. It talked about galaxies and black holes and lots of things beyond her current realm of understanding. Good times!

At one point, they were talking about black holes, but showed a picture of a galaxy... Looking at the picture, she said, "That's a black hole??? It looks like a BLUE hole!"

Learning is fun!

Happy Birthday, Shana!

2009-01-20T04:13:00.004-07:00

31 things you might not know about Shana:

1. Shana is 2 months, 11 days, 5 hours, and 29 minutes older than me. (I can't remember if we took time zones into account, though, so give or take 2 hours: Cali v. Iowa)
2. Shana is the first Bug, and the inspiration for Hannah's BUG nickname.
3. Shana's middle name is Louise (even though her birth certificate begs to differ).
4. Shana is VERY artistic. Some of her stained glass windows are adorning her parents' home.
5. Shana loves to write and is quite good at it. I'll gladly be your editor if you ever write a book!
6. Shana only has 1 brother, but several of us girls have been adopted in as pseudo-sisters.
7. Shana has had many fictional boyfriends, including the White Ranger (of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' fame).
8. Some of her other boyfriends include, but are not limited to, John Crichton, John Shepard, Aragon, the Original Doctor, and Cloud.
9. Shana once made my dad guffaw by coming up to the house in a "grayish" shirt. Dad and I were in the garage at the time. When she was still at the end of the driveway I asked if it was a new shirt, to which she replied, "Nope. It's one of my (black) X-Files shirts, I just didn't bother with all the cat hair." Dad just about choked with laughter. And then Bug and I laughed... for a long time! We'd never seen such a gleeful response from Dad.
10. Shana secretly wants to be a 1940's lounge singer - and she's got the pipes to do it!
11. Shana's favorite breakfast cereal is Lucky Charms. Don't try passing off Marshmallow Matey's for the real stuff, though.
12. Shana once supermanned it into one of our big black garbage barrels. It made me feel better after I walked straight into a pole on our field trip.
13. Shana's high school car was an iridescent dark green, lowered 1984 Firebird - with a great sound system in the trunk!
14. The guys at seminary were super-jealous that we were pimping around in KITT, while they were hoofing it to school.
15. Shana and I didn't care for each other much when we first met. I was Molly Mormon and she was Sally Satan. (Well... she DID wear black fingernail polish!) Funny how things change, huh! ;)
16. Shana always had cable, so I'd escape to her much-cooler house. That's where I saw my first MTV video: Bobby Brown's My Prerogative, if you must know.
17. Shana bought an awesome house last year.
18. Shana's roomie is my little sister, Gecky.
19. Shana's cats are possessed. Zoe is the spawn of Satan, and Eryn steals Shana's hair ties.
20. Shana shares a birthday with Kami, one of our college roomie's from Miller #8.
21. Shana has over 600 dvd's and likes to host movie parties at her house.
22. Shana hosts the annual Boring New Year's Eve Party at her house... Complete with games, Cirque du Soleil dvds, and lots of tasty treats.
23. Shana served a mission in New England and had a wicked-good time!
24. Shana is a loyal friend, and would give the shirt off her back for a friend in need.
25. My mom didn't want me to be friends with Shana at first. Did I mention the black nail polish?
26. Shana's awesome parents introduced us to Sea Ranch... a now long-standing tradition of summer relaxation. More than 15 years now, right?
27. Shana and I got her parents to laugh hysterically with the Disney Resort's farting beds. Good times. Sorry you were in the MTC at the time, Wayne.
28. Shana really doesn't like it when meetings don't start on time.
29. Shana is an excellent Auntie. She's making due with my Hannah for now, until Wayne and Stacy start picking up the slack. ;)
30. Shana's date to TWIRP couldn't attend the dance because he'd been caught with drug paraphernalia the day before.
31. Shana has been my longest friend, and has loved me in spite of myself.

Happy Birthday, Bug!!! I am lucky to have you for a friend! And I hope that I can be as good a friend to you. Love you!

Winter Wonderland

2009-01-07T22:58:00.006-07:00

One of the "silver linings" of still being unemployed is that I don't have to leave the house to drive anywhere when we get over a foot of snow in 2 days. Well... until I had to go to school last night. (PS - Thanks, Will, for shoveling my driveway so that I could get out!) Here are some really cute pics of Hannah and her friend Casey playing in the resulting piles of snow today:

Hannah + snow = Snowman

Casey + snow = COLD!!!

After jumping into the nearest snowdrift

Surprisingly, Hannah does not make an effective sled.

My horn can pierce the sky!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T00:30:00.006-07:00

I have determined that 2009 is going to be MY year! I'm going to find a job and get my priorities straight, I'm going to send out my now New Year's cards, I'm going to get my house clean (no comments from the peanut gallery. Nancy - this means you! lol), I'm going to take my 2 math classes so that I can graduate on time in October, I'm going to start exercising for real and finally get rid of all this excess padding, and I am going to finally be a happier and healthier Melissa!

What are some of YOUR New Year's resolutions?

Christmas Wrap-Up

2008-12-30T20:27:00.010-07:00

I must admit that I thought our Christmas this year was going to be sparse... like unto Charlie Brown's Christmas. I had even been prepping Hannah ahead of time so she wouldn't be expecting too much this year. However, several of Santa's Helpers - and a family of elves - came out of the woodwork and helped to make this Christmas extra-special! Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity!!! (You know who you are!)

The "hall" of presents that Santa and the elves brought!

Thank you for my "iPod" Santa!

...and this is how the BACK of my new pants will look!

Does this make me a bad mom?

After opening presents, Hannah got to pick 3 toys to bring with her, and we headed up to Mom and Dad's house for a week of rest, refreshment, and relaxation. But first, we had to make it through some white-knuckle driving to get there - the roads were a mess, and it was a veritable blizzard in parts. But once we made it, we had TONS of fun! I read a few books and got some well-loved rest. We ate a lot of goodies, and then made up for it on Wii Fit (Mom and Dad's fun new Christmas toy). We also found time to do some sledding. Well, me and Mom watched while Dad, Gecky, Rob-Rob, and Bug did some sledding:

A sledding ninja!

Making it back up the hill was the worst part, but I love this pic!

Robin and Dad, preparing for the faces full of snow they're about to get!

The three girls, giggling before the fall...
We THOROUGHLY enjoyed your visit, Gecky!!!

Santa is on Jesus' Team

2008-12-17T18:51:00.005-07:00

Yesterday, Hannah and I were on our way up to Mom and Dad's house for some caramel-making festivities. They're really nummy, so you should probably be jealous that you're not eating one right now.

Now, I generally prefer to drive in silence and just listen to music in the car, but Hannah prefers talking. A lot. Anywhere. So she bestowed an hour of wisdom on me while we drove. And I heard at least 30-45 minutes of it. Among others, here are 2 of the goodies I gleaned from the conversation:

1. Santa is on Jesus' team

Earlier this year, Ellie introduced us to perhaps the greatest game ever: Your Team-My Team. (I recommend the rodeo if you want a great selection for opposing teams. Amy and I had lots of fun there this last summer - I'm just sad that we didn't capture the subjects on film.)

Anyway, Hannah hears me play this game a lot and has surmised that I have a Boyfriend Team that is peopled with extremely handsome men. Excellent observation, Bug! She seems to have determined that Jesus also has a team. Of good guys. Of which, Santa is one.

2. Coal isn't fair

At some point during our drive, Hannah asked what Santa gets the "bad guys." I told her that bad guys get a lump of coal. This little gem followed:

H: What's a lump of coal?
M: It's like a big black rock.
H: Well that's not very nice.
M: That's for the naughty boys and girls, though. Good little girls and boys get presents. Remember?
H: But Santa shouldn't just give bad guys a rock.
M: What should he give em then... a spanking?
H: No. (a thoughtful pause) He should give them a bobble-head bad guy toy.

I'll be sure to send a memo to Santa and the Elves ASAP:

"New Policy - Effective Immediately!

Nix the coal. Get started building some "Bobble-Head Bad Guys" for immediate delivery.

Thanks,
Hannah's Mom

PS - Any excess diamonds from the coal surplus can be sent directly to me."

We're still here

2008-12-09T12:49:00.004-07:00

Nothing new to report, but we are still alive... I'm wishing that we had gone on the recent visit to Mark and Ellie, et al with Mom, Dad, and Robin. Hannah and I are now the only members of the M clan who haven't held the new baby bird, Sylvie. We're trying not to pout about it.

I can't wait to snuggle this little bundle of cute!
Soon, I hope!

Bite me, please...

2008-11-29T15:39:00.004-07:00

Ok, after a second viewing of Twilight, I must admit that I enjoyed the movie exponentially more. I could ignore all the subtle irritants and just enjoy the story (and the view). And Jasper's staring wasn't nearly as noticeable the second time around... I was able to chalk it up to the painful struggle not to bite people, like it was meant to be.

And I could appreciate Edward a lot more, too. Tee hee...

Yep, I definitely needed the second viewing. I might even need a third now... ;-)

Food comas, here we come!

2008-11-29T15:12:00.003-07:00

We really like food! Here is a sampling of the goodness that we prepared - and are still enjoying via leftovers...

My relish tray...
The snap peas and olives got their own tray! Mmmm... :)

Robin's lovely centerpiece

Robin's apple pie - looks like a pro, eh?
See here for more details on the HAM situation...

I was in charge of the pumpkin cake this year. We missed you, Mark!
We tried to eat a lot of whipped cream on your behalf.

Our little gang, around the pretty table!

And to all of our friends and family that weren't here... You were missed! We hope you all had a lovely Turkey Day - full of food, friends, and fun!

And we hope to see you all again real soon!

Surprise visitor

2008-11-29T14:23:00.005-07:00

On Tuesday (the 25th) Hannah and I were heading up to Mom and Dad's early. Since I have class in SLC on Tuesday nights, it didn't make sense to find a sitter for Tuesday night and then drive all the way back to Provo after class - only to drive back to SLC the next morning to spend our holiday with Mom, Dad, and Robin. So we decided to head up Tuesday and get a jump on the week.

The week before, however, I got a call about a possible visitor... Chris, my ex-husband and Hannah's dad, was going to be making deliveries in Vegas, San Francisco, and Sacramento the weekend before Thanksgiving and would be driving back on I-80 which would bring him through Salt Lake City. Since we weren't positive that it would all work out - weather, timing, etc. - Chris and I decided not to tell Hannah. (No need for unnecessary disappointment.) As Tuesday approached, though, everything fell into place. Chris would be arriving in SLC just about the time we would be. So he got a hotel a few minutes away from Mom and Dad's house, and I agreed to let Hannah stay the night with Dad as he'd be heading back to Missouri the next morning.

I told Bug we were making a quick stop before getting to Grandma and Grandpa's, and then we stopped by the hotel. He was out getting ice, which kinda spoiled the surprise, but she was still caught unawares... wondering what her daddy was doing in Utah. She was excited to see him, but still met him with a "What are YOU doing here?" greeting... It was kinda cute!

Hannah and Dad

It worked out fairly well, so that Mom and Dad wouldn't have to watch Bug while I was in class. And then I was able to go out with a couple of friends after class, instead of having to rush back home like I normally do. I went and picked her up the next morning, so that we could start baking with Grandma.

The best part was that Hannah got to spend time with her dad before the holidays. This was especially good since we're not sure yet whether he'll be flying her out for a visit at Christmas or not.

A rare smile from Chris, while Hannah pretended not to have a smile... Can't win.

I did get a smile out of her, but never both at the same time... Alas.
Check out her two front teeth growing in!

Don't judge a book by it's movie

2008-11-21T22:40:00.004-07:00

Yes, I went to see Twilight this morning with Amy and another friend, Carolyn. We had been planning to take today off to go see Twilight, and even bought our tickets a few weeks ago. As our schedules recently opened up considerably, we made a morning of it!

I must admit that I was a little underwhelmed.

If you have not seen the movie yet and want to, then stop reading if you want to avoid a few spoilers (not that the storyline will be much of a surprise). Now, I recognize that book to movie transitions require a lot of changes, but I still have a few issues with the movie:
- Edward and the Cullens were not as reserved, inconspicuous, and distant as I was expecting.
- Bella managed to maintain a monotone for the entire movie.
- Jasper looked crazy, and not crazy-good.
- The infamous meadow scene was more awkward than it was romantical.
- They skipped the line-up of all three guys trying to ask Bella to the Spring dance, though it would have been easy and fun to include.
- The Cullens in the movie have strangely taken to the trees. Edward even calls Bella his "little spider monkey" and tells her to hang on while he leaps through the trees with her.
- Edward needs to work on his snarly angry face.
- The film came off as a bit low-budget, and kinda clunky... It felt like they didn't nail down the transitions and in-between scenes well enough.
- Much cheesiness occurred.

On the plus side:
- I LOVED the guy that played Charlie (Billy Burke). He might have been the best actor in the whole flick!
- Taylor Lautner (aka Jacob) mostly redeemed himself from his Shark Boy role. And should grow into a pretty good Jacob for any future films.
- The chemisty between Bella and Edward was pretty decent, which was a key redeeming quality for the movie.
- Robert Pattinson is still good-looking. And since I'd already gotten used to the idea of him as Edward, I could just enjoy the view.
- They did include a couple of funny clumsy-Bella moments.

I will admit that I unintentionally went in with higher expectations. I usually try to go in with really low expectation for movies of books that I love. I wonder if a second viewing would improve my level of satisfaction... Hmm. I might have to give it a try.

With any luck, they'll get a new director and screenwriter for the future films. The material from the books is good. They just need to figure out a way to edit it down to fit the time frame of a feature film... I'm available to help out, if they're short on staff! :)

Who else has seen Twilight? And what did you think? Am I being too critical, or no?

A rough week

2008-11-16T16:42:00.003-07:00

Hello friends. I hope that you are all doing well. I've definitely been better. I got laid off this week. And out of the blue. In fact, it was worse than "out of the blue." It was in direct contradiction to what we had been repeatedly told by our managers. Several weeks ago, our managers called an impromptu meeting to let us know that we'd be seeing emails and hearing about upcoming layoffs. However, they emphasized that we shouldn't worry, as these layoffs would not be affecting our team. They reiterated this several times, in various meetings: layoffs would be announced company-wide during the week of November 11, but our team would NOT be affected, so don't worry. Just "keep being better than we've ever been."

Then, Wednesday morning, we got called into a sudden and mandatory all-hands meeting at 8:30 am. My friend Amy and I were making guesses about the purpose of the meeting before things got started. Amy figured that it was either layoffs or that one of our coworkers, Jay, was getting promoted. I looked around as people were still filing into the conference room and saw a couple of our managers sitting off to the side, laughing together. So I said to Amy, "Well I hope it's a promotion for Jay. If it's layoffs, then I'd like to note that the laughter is inappropriate."

A few minutes later, we were told that our team would, in fact, be affected by layoffs... effective immediately. We were instructed to return to our desks and get back to work... the affected team members would be called in and informed by their managers. It was like a death watch. We all sat silently, waiting to see who would get a call and then leave their desks. I was called in 2nd or 3rd. I was told that in all of the budgetary cut-backs and outsourcing, my job had been eliminated. I was then escorted to my desk and out of the building. In total, 6 members of our team were laid off, including my wonderful friend, Amy. You can read her layoff story here. She includes some good points about our last supervisor, including his affinity for passing off work so that he could play World of Warcraft and other games at work, and his horribly disturbing habit of picking his face, and inspecting whatever he pulled off, while he talked to people. He was mostly a good-for-nothing hall monitor... milling around talking to people, keeping an eye on who was away from their desks.

Sadly, I found out later that our layoffs were explained a little differently to the rest of the team after we left. The remaining team members were called in around 11:30 for info about moving forward. After some fake tears by our inarticulate and underqualified director, the team was told that the layoffs were not personal, but were determined by performance. The managers indicated that they had taken all of the SCORE cards for our team, and laid off the bottom 6 performers. However, I know that this is not entirely true (if at all), as several lower-performing team members are still there and I'm out of a job. There were members of the team that weren't familiar with our product lines or typical research procedures, and they're staying while I was let go. One lady couldn't even find the on/off button on her laptop, but she's still there. I was the go-to girl for the Wise Solutions line of products and arguably the best person at compiling the difficult and often confusing purchase histories for Wise customers. Sales associates in our European and Asian sales offices frequently asked me for help, as did members of my own team, to no avail. Part of me hopes that they will struggle now that I'm gone... like a posthumous admission that I was a valuable member of the team...

Sorry if I come off a little bitter. I am.

I echo Amy's sentiments for the other 5 employees that were laid off. I wish you well in your searching. May we all find excellent and stable employment right away. I've struggled in this job, and have been irritated with my managers for quite some time, so I'm trying to appreciate the positive changes that are bound to come from this. And, if all goes well, I'll be able to find a job in SLC and be able to move at the same time. Until then, I'm trying to keep things as stable and normal for Hannah as I can.

Thank you, sincerely, to all of the family and friends that have offered kind words and prayers in our behalf. I have felt and appreciated your love and concern for me and Hannah. Thank you! I hope to have good news of a well-paying and more-enjoyable job soon!

Results

2008-11-11T14:23:00.003-07:00

For those of you that wondered about my 2 truths and a lie, here's the truth:

1. I DID make "porpoise love noises" with my friend Eric in the trunk of Shana's car on the way to the movies. We couldn't attend TWIRP since Shana's date got suspended a day before the dance for having illicit paraphernalia in his backpack. Shana and Dan probably would have left us in there, too, if I hadn't had the movie tickets in my back pocket... I feel the love!
- Fret not. The "noises" were made by Eric squealing into a plastic cup which ended up sounding like a dolphin. He thought it was hilarious, and called it "porpoise love noises." He liked to give inappropriate names to perfectly innocent activities. Thanks, Eric!
- Oh... and TWIRP stands for The Woman Is Responsible to Pay. It was like a casual Sadie Hawkins dance. And lots of fun!

2. This one's the lie... well, technically. I did want to have my own boutique and my own clothing line, but the Fashion Merchandising major was closed by the time I got to BYU. In fact, I never declared a major at all while I was at BYU. My first declared major was at American River College: English Teaching - so that I could teach High School English. Let me know if you ever have a British or American Lit question... I'd be happy to help! :)

3. Yes, we stole a flashing workhorse-type sign. We were TP-ing Scott K's house and decided on an additional last-minute lawn ornament. I think we broke his tree, too. Nice job, Michelle. Way to express your undying love and affection... by breaking his little tree.

Good times.

quirky

2008-11-10T10:40:00.004-07:00

Ok - I read a fun post about quirks after reading Celia's most recent Reader Appreciation Day post on Cynthia. So I thought I'd post a few of my own quirks (in no particular order):

1. I have a specific set-up with my pillows in order to be comfy for bed. And I get quite fidgety and upset if Hannah climbs in and messes it up.

2. I have to chew the same amount on both sides. So I either bite my food in half and chew some in each side, or I alternate bites... One bite on the left side, the next bite on the right side, and so on. But the bites have to be roughly equivalent in mass, so that I feel that things have been distributed equally.

3. I like air movement. Even now - November in Utard - I have a fan on 24 hours a day. I even turned my A/C back on a couple of weeks ago, when things warmed up a bit. In fact, my fan on my desk is on right now and aimed at my face, because it got a little warm and stale in our office.

4. I HATE being hot. I can't sleep when I'm hot and I get uber-cranky...

5. My daughter, Hannah, knows that there are 4 things that make Mommy cranky: being tired, being hungry, being hot, and/or Hannah not being in bed on time. Any combination of these 4 catalysts, increases my crankiness exponentially.

6. I have a stash of "possibly necessary" items at my desk which includes, but is not limited to: super glue, extra "girly" supplies, toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, first aid kit, sewing kit, lint roller, deodorant, pain meds, allergy meds, non-drowsy cold/sinus meds (of the Dayquil variety), return address mailing labels, stamps, envelopes, crackers, candy, soup, breakfast bars, various other food items, and a cache of plastic cutlery, napkins, saucers, bowls, and cups.

7. Eating foods that have a disproportionate ratio of creamy substances to solid materialmakes me gag. For example: eclairs, cream puffs, whipped cream on my shakes or sundaes, and most pies. That just makes us better friends, though, because I'll gladly give mine to you! And Mom loves it because she can sometimes sneak my excess frosting that I've scraped off of my cake or cupcake.

8. Watching other people eat such super-creamy things (like Mark having a spoonful of whipped cream) can induce my gag reflex, by proxy.

9. Hearing other people brush their teeth gives me shivers up my spine... Mom - I love you, but I have to wait to talk to you until you're done brushing...

10. I don't like being on speaker phone. In certain situations - like an announcement to a group of people, or if asked for my permission, I can tolerate it... but, in general, I dislike being put on speaker phone.

11. Oh - and I LOVE people-watching. I might even ad-lib a conversation for them - sometimes with accents! Or I'll mutter general announcements about a given person - like a sometimes-quiet PSA. These PSA's could be on various topics: the advantages of wearing a bra, the downsides of in-breeding, the benefits of pulling up your pants or monitoring your children in public, etc. Just ask Amy... during one lunch break, she threatened to leave me at the mall food court if I didn't cut it out (or at least talk quieter). Well someone had to tell those kids they looked ridiculous.

So - what are some of YOUR quirks?

I should book our next dentist appt now...

2008-11-01T02:17:00.009-06:00

I hope you all had a lovely Halloween! I know we did!!! :)

I picked Hannah up from school - a first, since I'm normally at work. They had a costume parade - Hannah was so surprised to see that I was there. Then we went trick-or-treating at Mom's work, where we had to empty her pumpkin just so she could fill it up again:

The haul from Mommy's work . Note all the full-sized candies! (minus some treats eaten in the car on the way to Cindy's)

We skipped the second building, limiting ourselves to most of the three floors of my building, and then went to Cindy's house. Cindy is in school with me, which is fantastic so that I don't go crazy or quit school... or worse! (dun dun dun...)

While at Cindy's we made home-made pizzas. More accurately, Cindy made super-delicious home-made pizza and we ate it! Then Hannah went trick-or-treating with Ashton, Corbin, and Cindy's hubby Chad. They were out for a couple of hours and went to tons of houses. Pickle Man Pete was Hannah's favorite house! Of the provided choices, Hannah picked the pickle on a stick, like most kids in the neighborhood do each year. It was between the pickle and random junk that he collected throughout the year (a magazine, a shark magnet, a rookie card of a nobody, and something football related - according to Chad). He had already run out of hard-boiled eggs by the time Hannah's group got there...

Hannah, with Ashton (werewolf), Corbin (lion), and Wigget (mini teacup Poodle - so no sneezing. Yay!!!)

Hannah's haul from Cindy's neighborhood

(Doesn't include her pickle-on-a-stick, as she consumed that immediately!)

Hannah fell asleep within 20 minutes of getting in the car. Then I had to make her walk in the house which was apparently a confusing task (and a bit hilarious for me to watch!). Upon entering the house, she stumbled into the bathroom for a little pit stop and promptly burst into tears. I managed to walk her through washing her hands and locating pajamas... then she laid down and was comatose within seconds. Whew!

We'll wash off the blood and white makeup tomorrow... No worries!

Sorry we missed coming to see you Mom and Dad! We wanted to come hug your necks and kiss your faces, but Hannah was just getting back from trick-or-treating when it was hitting your bed-time... We'll have to save the hugs and kisses for next weekend!

The candy pics above did not take into account the candy from the ward Trunk-or-Treat, as that had already been added to the candy bowl at the house... PS - Didn't Nancy's and Will's costumes turn out cute? Well-executed creativity, I must admit! Excited about a baby anyone??? :)

A look back

2008-10-31T09:46:00.011-06:00

Warning: There are no fascinating pics on this post. Just a look back at one of the formative events of my life... And since I don't think I've ever really documented the events of that night, I'm taking that opportunity now. Sorry for the length!
-----------------------

I would wager that, for most of you, Halloween 2003 was just another Halloween night - filled with costumes, fun, and candy. But Halloween 2003 was probably the most frightening night of my life... one that I will not soon forget.

Five years ago tonight, I left my husband.

I'd been preparing for it for weeks. I had been unhappy for most of the 3 years of our marriage, but I was committed to seeing it through - hoping every day that things would get better. For the 6 months prior to my leaving, I'd spent every fast Sunday praying that I could love him more or that I'd know what to do to fix things. Eventually, I started praying to know if I had done enough, so that I could be free to leave. Despite all my own suffering and the heartache of leaving my 3 stepkids, the final straw came when I realized that it was not ok to raise my daughter in that kind of an environment. I didn't want her to think that it was ok to treat other people with so little respect. And, likewise, I didn't want her to think that it was ok to let other people treat her with so little respect. So we had to go.

At the time, Chris was working the midnight shift at a local gas station, so when he'd leave for work, my night's work would just begin. Since I wasn't sure when or how my escape would happen, but I knew that it would likely be rushed, I started collecting and boxing things early. And on each box I wrote and circled a small red number - indicating the importance of that box. Thus, if I could only get one box out, I'd take box #1, if I could get 2 boxes, then #1 and #2, etc...

And since the basement often leaked and was thus acceptable only for storage use, I hid my boxes down there. And it was easy to explain away my new project if he saw anything... I was just "going through stuff" to remove clutter and de-junk. He abhorred clutter, so that worked fine. And he couldn't be bothered to check on boxes in the basement, so I wasn't too worried.

Now, Chris was scheduled to work on Halloween night, so I planned to meet my friend, Sarah, who would be visiting her parents in a nearby town. After some explanation about making sure that Hannah had fun and noting how long it had been since I'd seen Sarah and the kids, Chris approved it for me to take Hannah trick-or-treating with Sarah's kids and then spend the night with them at her parents' house, though this sort of thing would not normally be permitted. (Sarah was also my former VT companion in our Florissant, MO ward - before we moved to Tilden, IL.)

Now, Sarah and I had been planning my escape for a few weeks in advance, despite several hiccups along the way. She knew quite a bit about the situation with Chris and some of the abuse that had gone on, so when I told her that I was finally done and would be leaving him, she had offered to help in any way that she could. So here's the plan that we came up with:

- I'd go to work like normal, but bring a small suitcase (typical for an overnighter, so inconspicuous).
- Chris would bring Hannah to me at work, and Sarah would pick me and Hannah up from my work - halfway between her parents' home and my house in Tilden.
- Sarah and I would take the kids trick-or-treating like normal and then go back to her parents' home.
- We'd put the kids to bed and (try to) have a relaxing evening.
- Chris usually left for work around 10:30, so we'd wait until midnight to go back to my house.
- We'd leave the kids with Sarah's parents while we went back to my house to collect what we could.
- We'd collect everything and then go back to her parents' house to get everything sorted and situated.
- The next morning, Sarah would take me and Hannah to the St. Louis airport, where my parents had 2 tickets waiting for us - direct flights to Sacramento.
- And then Hannah and I would be safe, and free to start over.

My biggest fear came on Halloween day. I had gone to work like normal - with some extra items in my suitcase (glad he didn't go through my bag) - and had touched base with Sarah and my mom, to confirm that I was ready to go... I also informed my bosses at work, so that they would not be expecting me on Monday. The scary part came when I was waiting for Chris to bring Hannah to me. Sarah was already there, which meant that he was running late. I got really worried that he would know something was up and not bring her to me. Not just worried. I got panicky. Luckily, he showed up and we got her transferred over to Sarah's car with no problems. Chris told me later that he knew something was up when I just waved goodbye instead of giving him a hug and a kiss goodbye. Oh well - I couldn't fake it anymore.

So off we went. I was nervous the whole night, but more from anxious jitters than fear at that point. I was finally putting my plan into action - and taking action felt really good. I just wanted everything to go smoothly. Luckily, trick-or-treating in the cold October air of Illinois helped offer an easy excuse for my intermittent shaking. I remember that Hannah made quite a haul on the candy that night. She was not yet 2 and went dressed as a fuzzy bumble bee. And most people just ate it up!

Then it came time to put the kids to bed and start our evening plans. Luckily, the kids were pooped, so they all fell asleep pretty quickly and we started making some hot chocolate. Little did I know, but Sarah's parents had helped a few other women escape dangerous environments before. They were a great calming influence during the hours of waiting - and her dad even gave me a blessing, to help me feel safe and calm.

Once it got close to midnight, we started getting ready to go. I remember tucking Hannah in and then praying with all my might for Hannah's safety while I was gone, which could be a few hours with traveling. I remember asking that my Mom's parents could please come watch over her while she slept but that, if they were busy, any angels would do... Perhaps that seems silly, but I knew that G&G Hill would take care of her... which they did.

So I watched her sleep for a moment and then kissed her quickly and left with Sarah - praying that everything would go ok so that I could return to my little girl soon.

One stipulation that my parents made was that I not go back to my house in Tilden without the police. While I thought this was unnecessary and embarrassing, I had promised my parents that I would. So I called the local police department, and Deputy Bobby agreed to meet me and Sarah and accompany me to the house.

The real terror came when I pulled into the gravel driveway and saw that our van was still there. It was now past midnight and Chris hadn't gone into work yet. I considered abandoning the idea, and even made Sarah back up and pull down the street a bit. Deputy Bobby pulled up next to Sarah's van and asked me what the trouble was. I replied that Chris was still there... To which Officer Bobby asked, "Isn't that why I'm here?"

This was when I realized that I'd have to face my problem head on and let the chips fall where they may. So we went back and pulled into the driveway. I don't remember walking up to the back door (no one uses their front doors), but I remember having to push hard to get the door open. It always stuck. And then most everything else is kind of an out-of-body memory... like I'm watching another person's experiences...

I vaguely remember worrying about where Chris would be and what he would do. That worry was quickly put to rest when he stepped quickly toward the back door from the adjacent bathroom. Nude because he was about to take a bath, he came out with his fists up - ready to attack whoever was breaking into his house. And then it was almost sad. His fists dropped and I could see that he knew what was happening. He went back into the bathroom to put on some pajama pants, and then went into the living room.

The rest I just remember in pieces: I went into the basement to retrieve luggage and my boxes and Officer Bobby asked me if Chris had any weapons that he should be aware of. I didn't know where the machete and the baseball bat were (his preferred urban weapons - and probably next to the bed), but I didn't think they'd be a threat tonight... I remember gathering what I could - primarily Hannah's things and some of my clothes. I remember looking for Hannah's shoes and seeing them by Chris's feet, so I figured I'd get her new shoes. I remember leaving my yearbooks and photographs, and praying that Chris wouldn't burn them when I left. And I remember finding Sarah and Officer Bobby outside on one of my trips to the van. They were doubled over, laughing hysterically, because Chris was crying on the phone to his first wife, Chrissy. It was ironic and a bit laughable now, but I just hoped he wouldn't hear them laughing and decide to kill us all.

And I remember Chris's dejected realization that there was no guarantee that I'd be coming back. I'd told him that I wanted to leave a week or so before, and had gone through hell during that time - as he remembered and wanted to discuss many of the horrible things that he had done to me. I spent many sleepless nights telling him anything I could, just to make him stop. I'd managed to block a lot of those memories for a long time, so dredging all of it up again was fairly painful. And it was just a foreshadowing of the months to come: reliving old horrors in therapy, and saying anything that it took to get through the months of manipulative phone calls until the divorce was final.

After an hour or so of packing things up, I said goodbye to Chris, thanked Officer Bobby for his help, and Sarah and I drove back to her parents' house where I thanked Heavenly Father for watching over my sweet Hannah while I was away. I slept much better that night, but I could not relax until I was safe behind the security checks at the airport, and on my way home.

The next few months are fuzzy in my memory. But I remember the Maher ICU, where I was allowed to recover in peace. And where Hannah and I were fed regularly... They didn't like how skinny we'd both become. Now I long for those skinny (albeit malnutritioned and unhealthy) days.

And, believe it or not, I'm grateful for everything that I went through. I'm a stronger woman today because of it. And I got my angel Hannah from all of that - and I wouldn't trade a thing for her. And Chris and I are even friendly now - letting the past be the past...

I dare say that I've come a long way! (And so has he.)

I was TAGGED!

2008-10-29T22:29:00.004-06:00

My sister Nancy tagged me on her blog today - with a game of 2 Truths and A Lie:

The rules...

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 2 true facts about yourself and 1 lie.
3. Tag 4 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Have people guess which one out of the three is false.

Here are my 2 truths and a lie. Guess what you think is false... I'll confess what I have/have not done in a few days.

1. I've made porpoise love noises with a boy friend, while locked in the trunk of a moving car.
2. My first declared major was Fashion Merchandising, at BYU, hoping to have my own clothing line and boutique.
3. Me and some friends stole a flashing road sign in the cover of night and deposited it on the lawn of a friend we TP'd.

And here's who I'm tagging:

1. Amy
2. Mallory
3. Cindy
4. Jen

Can you spot my lie?

Rations

2008-10-29T10:34:00.003-06:00

Sometimes, I give Hannah too much information. I'm willing to admit that. And now I'm getting to pay for it... by not getting to partake in some of my favorite beverages.

They have been replaced... by these:

Because THIS little person is rationing my caffeine intake...

For now, I'm allowed "2 Mommy-Cranky-Juices" (aka: caffeinated beverages) per day, but she was clear to specify that I can't carry unused "caffeines" over to the next day. The 2 that are currently allowed will drop to 1 in a couple of weeks, and then none. After which we will ween me off of soda altogether, using the same 2 to 1 to none method.

The only ration-free sodas for now are Sprite and some root beer. "But root beer is a lot like a caffeine, so you shouldn't have too many."

My available replacement beverages are milk, juice, and water - with an emphasis on juice and water. And I'm supposed to drink more water, even when I still get my 2 caffeines.

Now when did she get so smart? If it wasn't such a good idea, I'd tell her to knock it off...

Support our Troops!!!

2008-10-24T21:18:00.003-06:00

There's not a lot that MTV does that I'd say is worthwhile, let alone support, but this is a rare gem. Our troops fight for our freedom... We need to support them in their service, and in their return to "normal" life!

Thank you to all our vets! We love you!!!

Choose or Lose

Halloween costume update

2008-10-24T08:48:00.007-06:00

For those that don't know, Hannah was planning on being a rock star this year for Halloween.

Then, a couple weeks ago, she came to me and offered this argument: "Mommy (uttered a bit too disparagingly for my liking). Halloween is about dressing up as something that you're not in real life. (An astute observation for a 6-yr-old I thought.) But since I'm gonna be a rock star for real, I shouldn't dress up as one for Halloween. I think I should be a witch or a werewolf instead." I couldn't really argue with that logic, so I agreed to a change in costumes.

I gave it a solid week or so, asking her about it every couple of days, to see if she would change her mind. But the only thing that changed was that she decided to be a vampire instead of a witch. (The werewolf was out of the running as soon as she found out that it was more of a boy costume.)

So my little princess is going to be a vampire for Halloween. Is this some kind of evidence that she has a macabre sense of the world? Or is a fascination with biting people and sucking their blood normal for a 6-year-old?

I won't be this exact costume, so watch for pictures later!

Quite the coif!

2008-10-15T14:34:00.005-06:00

Sometimes Hannah wakes up after I bring her downstairs on Tuesday nights. This is what she looked like last night... thanks to Ralph the Night-Hairdresser (and sleeping on Auntie Nancy's couch):

Sometime between 12:30 and 1:00am. Awesome.
Check out the eyes... Way too alert!

Wishes gone awry

2008-10-14T16:19:00.006-06:00

The other day, Hannah and I were sitting on my bed - probably negotiating a bedtime - when we had this little interchange:

(I believe the conversation started by talking about spiders, which was apparently the subject of a former wish made on a star... That all of the spiders in the world would die. Have I mentioned that Hannah really dislikes spiders?)

H: But it hasn't happened yet.
M: (silently trying to conjure up a response)
H: I even waited 6 or 8 weeks, 'cuz you said some wishes take longer to come true.
M: Ok...
H: But it's been almost a year since I made that wish, and it still hasn't happened. I thought maybe after 8 months it would happen, but now it's been like 10 months.
M: (Still got nothin...)
H: I even said the whole poem!
M: Well, honey... Some wishes don't get to come true...
H: (ignoring me, and cutting me off) Maybe it was a world, and not a star.

I am sure that's what kept that wish from coming true (...not the fact that spiders are an unfortunate but essential part of the food chain).

Watch out, spiders, she's gonna locate a real star soon... And then it's GAME ON!

Friendship defined

2008-10-09T11:41:00.002-06:00

Last night, roughly 3 hours past her bedtime (as usual), Hannah was regaling me with tales of friendship, merriment, and betrayal... Well, it was about her and 5 other 6-yr-old girls that are all "training" to be rock stars. Unfortunately, Hannah "had to kick one of the girls out of the group" because she sometimes liked to go play with the boys instead of practicing. The nerve! I mean, "we only have 3 recesses, and we're not in the same class, and not all of them go to Wunderkind (her daycare)." So, quite obviously, they should make good use of the time that they have together... But all of Hannah's yelling isn't making the other girls listen. (Don't worry - we talked about that part, too!) PS- I see trouble ahead for that other girl's parents... Already choosing boys over girlfriends...?

During this struggle with figuring out how to work with friends when things don't always go smoothly, Hannah offered this little nugget of wisdom about her friendship with one of the girls in the group:

"Camille thinks I'm a star. Not because I'm popular, but because of who I am. And I think Camille is a star, even though most people don't like her."

I've never been prouder.

I have a niece!!!

2008-10-08T15:21:00.003-06:00

Hi friends! I am so excited to finally have a niece, so I have to brag a little... Mark & Ellie had little Sylvia Paige on Oct 6 at about 4:30 pm (California time). Even being 5 weeks early, she weighed in at 5 lbs 14 ounces, and 18 inches of cute. I had to steal this pic of her, but isn't she adorable!!!

Check out more pics on Paige's and Lenore's blogs... Thanks to Ellie's sisters for keeping us updated! We love you!

PS - I'm insanely jealous of all the Greenbaum doula's for getting to hold little Sylvie already!

Here are some more pics, courtesy of Paige and Nor:

Yes, Ellie is always this beautiful.

Mark, waiting...

Brand new Sylvie!

Mark and Ellie (still gorgeous after delivering), with their adorable new addition!

Welcome to the planet, Sylvie!!! We already love you!

Words from the wise (aka: Hannah)

2008-10-07T11:02:00.004-06:00

As usual, Hannah and I were avoiding getting out of bed this morning, as that is quite obviously the most hateful part of the day... While I was trying to convince myself to get up and get ready, Hannah says, "Mommy... Since you're really smart, I'm gonna ask you a hard question."

Me: Ok. Ready.
Hannah: Does every single person fart at least once?
Me: Yep. [Considering that babies pass gas all the time, I think that covers it.]

a thoughtful pause...

H: Ok. I have an even harder one.
M: [awesome, because that last one was a bit of a gimme...]
H: When was John & Eve born?
M: Do you mean Adam & Eve?
H: Yeah.
M: [yep. good one. definitely harder.] I don't really know... We have recorded history that goes back several thousand years... So, before that.
H: (after a brief pause) Well I know when... 3,032 years ago.
M: (impressed, but expressionless) How do you know?

And then she just tapped her temple - as if to say, "It's all in here..."

You'd be surprised at everything that Hannah knows. I know I am... regularly! And I can't wait to find out what other gems are stored in that fabulous mind of hers...

Stay tuned!

When did I get old?

2008-10-06T22:52:00.002-06:00

This last weekend, Hannah and I spent some time at Mom and Dad's house, just to get out of Dodge for a few days. Except Mom was on a business trip (still weird!), so it was Dad and Robin at home. At some point, Hannah decided to invite us all to play a quick game of Silly Dilly's with her. Just one problem: Dad and Robin have played and Hannah and I haven't. As a secondary issue, I've been experimenting with not just letting Hannah win. So I told Dad and Robin to play normal, which, unfortunately, they did. As a result, they had all the disks within 8 seconds, and Hannah and I may have had 3 between us. I didn't give a twit whether I had any disks, but Hannah broke down immediately.

As Hannah-tears contain the precise ingredients for clearing a room of Dad and Robin, Hannah and I had some alone-time to talk about it. She was sad that she didn't win, but mostly because she didn't know how to play the game and everyone else (ie: Dad and Robin) did. So I explained that it's just that they've played it before, when we hadn't... And not to worry about it too much. To which she responded, "Well, you have to remember that you guys are like a hundred, and I'm only 6!"

Since when??? Last I checked, I was 30. Now c'mon... Isn't that old enough for now?

Giving up

2008-10-01T00:15:00.002-06:00

Do you ever get to that point where you just have nothing left to give and your world is falling apart around you? I'm there, and I can't win for losing.

Too good to be true

2008-10-01T00:07:00.003-06:00

For those that don't know, I found a fabulous 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath townhome in Pleasant Grove that I was looking forward to moving into. I've needed a change in my life for a long time now, and this felt so right. It was perfect for me and Hannah. More room, a big kitchen with a dishwasher and a pantry. Plus, I'd be close to work, closer to school, and within 5 minutes of my girlfriend, Amy! Unfortunately, good things don't just happen for me... And, par for the course, this fell through. Apparently there's still something for me to learn/accomplish where I am at - which I can't even bring myself to think about right now. I have no energy or desire to learn a lesson, so I guess this one might take a while...

Hope you all are well.

Finally official...

2008-09-23T15:22:00.006-06:00

Ok, since she's finally announced it, I feel safe echoing that my sister, Nancy, is prego! After some struggles and sadness, she and Will are gonna be parents! They're due on my birthday (that's March 31st, in case you want to send me a present later!). :)

She's through her first trimester now, which makes us all very happy!!! And if you want to see a bunch of cute pictures of her little peanut, check out Nancy's blog here.

Congratulations, Nancy and Will!!!

Be sure to fill Hannah in on the news. She will be SOOOO excited! Especially since I keep refusing to have a baby sister for her to play with. Perhaps we need to review the process... First, I need to meet a guy...

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

2008-09-19T17:44:00.004-06:00

Look what happened at school today.

Check out the new grill!

I'm growing up!!! Yay!!!

(And Mommy is panicking just a little... It all starts with losing the front teeth. Training bras and "the facts of life" can't be far behind... Egad!)

More Hannahisms

2008-09-18T10:43:00.006-06:00

Ok - The other night, during a mutual bout with insomnia, I vetoed the Disney channel in favor of the Discovery channel. So I was watching a show about dinosaurs - I think it was the Dinosaur Mummy show (really cool, by the way!). In an effort to assuage any potential fears about dinosaurs, I reminded Hannah that the video of dinosaurs was just a drawing, because dinosaurs are extinct now. She replied (rather quickly), "Oh I know. Because of all that rain."

Me (stifling a laugh and a smile): What rain?
Hannah (matter-of-factly): All that rain. It turned into mud.
Me: (stunned pause - Where is she getting this from???)
Hannah: It flooded and so they all drowned.
Me: (still paused)
Hannah: Plus, it was just time for the dinosaurs to die. People were coming alive (later specified by Hannah as "getting born by Heavenly Father & Jesus"), and they didn't want the dinosaurs around. [insert an implied "you know..."] ... so the babies could live.
Me: (waking from my proud stupor, and reaching for a pen and paper to document this moment) Oh. Well that's good they weren't there anymore then.
Hannah: Yep.

Later, still in the throws of this recent insomnia (did I mention that I need a massage???), we watched a second dinosaur show (Dinosaurs: Return to Life - watch a portion here) about the possibility of cloning dinosaurs through the genetic manipulation of chicken eggs, etc. Part of this show also included more CGI videos of "typical" dinosaur life (since we were there and know what that was like, obviously). One such video depicted 2 or 3 dinosaurs as scavengers, eating a larger dead dino. Again I explained that these videos were basically drawings of what we think it was like during the time of the dinosaurs. After watching for a moment Hannah asked, "Why are they eating the blood of each other?"

Me (trying to make scavenging sound less horrible): They're just eating the meat. Because they're hungry... It's just meat.
Hannah (after a second to ponder that): Wait! Am I made of meat?
Me: Yes. We all are.
Hannah (decidedly): Well I hope they don't make the dinosaurs again then.

True. Who doesn't remember Jurassic Park? That didn't exactly end well, now did it...

Hannah-isms

2008-09-12T09:50:00.004-06:00

"Big-year-old" - I think this is anyone over the age of 5, but not quite a grown-up.
Usage: "Babysitting a big-year-old is a lot different than watching a baby." (see below)

Another awesome Hannah statement came about last night. The good ones seem to happen when Hannah should be sleeping, but isn't. So, again, Hannah was having trouble sleeping, this time due to some anxiety about something that happened several months ago. We were talking through it (again) and I must have said something about learning more as we get older, because Hannah's much more memorable response was, "But I'm 6 now. I don't need to learn anything else. (sniffing and wiping more tears) I already know about digits and consonants and vowels..." I tried to control my expression, and confessed that I'm 30 and I still have tons to learn. She whirled to look at me, mouth agape, with purely innocent shock and unbelief on her face. It was adorable! I did my best not to laugh out loud, but I fell a bit short of the mark. So I proceeded to teach her the Socratic truth (or was it Aristotle?) that the more we learn, the more we realize how much we don't know yet. I'm pretty sure she got it.

Then, this morning Hannah started talking about Auntie Nancy, quite out of the blue. Let me preface this moment by saying that Auntie Nancy watches Hannah on Tuesdays while I go to class. Not always a happy day for Hannah, because Mommy is gone till after bedtime, so I told Hannah several weeks ago that one of the reasons why Nancy likes watching her is that it's good practice for whenever Nancy and Will have kids of their own. So this morning, while we're driving to daycare, Hannah says, "You know, Mommy... if Nancy wants to babysit, then she should find someone that needs to be watched every day. Because it's really different than watching a kid just one day. Cuz if she has her own kids then she'll have to have control every day, not just on Tuesdays. Plus, watching a big-year-old is different than having a little baby. And when she has kids, they'll be babies at first. Well, I guess she gets to watch babies sometimes, too... but maybe she should find a baby that she can watch every day...." These are the times when I sit back, don't comment, and just listen to her pontificate. It's generally quite interesting, albeit longwinded. Luckily we pulled up to her daycare just a few minutes later, so the "discussion" had to be cut short. I said something like, "I'm sure Nancy will do just fine, but that's nice that you're thinking of her." Something to indicate that I'd been listening and to show my encouragement for compassionate concern, and then promptly end the conversation so that she can go to her classroom and I can head to work.

Good times... and enlightening, as always.

Word of the day

2008-09-09T16:26:00.003-06:00

Anuptaphobia: Fear of staying single.

Not a debilitating fear, but it's there... in the background. I'm fairly certain that I do not suffer alone, though, so that's comforting.

A precious moment

2008-09-03T00:26:00.002-06:00

Tonight, while she was filling up her water bottle (when she should have been sleeping still), Hannah called to me and said quite matter-of-factly, "Mommy, you're pretty."

I replied with a sincere thank you.

She went on, "I mean, even just in your garmies... you're beautiful."
(Not true, but a sweet sentiment, and appreciated nonetheless.)

I said, "Well, thank you, sweetie."

Then she added, "Technically, it's because you're wearing your face."

No response. Just a smile and a warm fuzzy... Sometimes I'm not sure that I deserve her. I might be the luckiest Mom ever! :)

Boyz II Men - ABC - BBD...

2008-08-31T02:36:00.004-06:00

On Thursday of this last week, Amy told me that her sister-in-law, Lynn, had an extra ticket to a local concert and asked if I wanted to go. The ticket was free, so I wouldn't be out any cash either way. When I found out the ticket was for a Boyz II Men concert, at the Scera outdoor ampitheater in Orem, I was still iffy... But when the sitter situation fell into place, I decided to go. In addition to the concert tickets, though, we also had passes for a meet-and-greet before the concert, where we had dinner and got to meet the guys and get our pictures taken. So here's a pictorial review of my evening:

The men of Boyz II Men at the meet-and-greet

...with me!!

... with Amy and her hubby, Levale

...with Lynn. Thanks again for the tickets!

Our little group, with Alex Boyer, an LDS singer with a great British accent.

We saw him at the meet-and-greet also.

A close up of Amy and Levale. /le-vah-lay/ Aren't they adorable?!?!?!

Me and Amy in our seats.

It was a little crowded... over 4000 tickets sold.

Lots of fodder for Your Team, My Team!!!

Our seats were pretty close to the stage...

The guys looked classy, and they put on a good show!
I was pleasantly surprised, as it was much better than I expected.

Clever, for 6.

2008-08-27T14:09:00.004-06:00

Here's the latest gem of a knock-knock joke, courtesy of the smartest 6 1/2 year old kid EVER:

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

Knock-Knock

- Who's there?

I already told you: Knock-Knock! (duh!)

Thanks, Bug!!!

A new favorite!

2008-08-27T13:46:00.006-06:00

Several of these may be getting added to my cadre of cards:

And here's the link for TAMN's associated and super-satirical MoMom blog:

I laughed heartily!!!

Election spoiler...

2008-08-26T13:00:00.002-06:00

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Memories....

2008-08-20T11:44:00.003-06:00

Here is a little game that I saw on my friend Amy's blog, and I thought it might be fun!

Here are the rules:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is most memorable. If you don't have a blog and don't know how to sign in, please comment as anonymous.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you...either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!
3. If the memory happens to involve my daughter, please include her!
4. If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all. *

This should be fun, huh?!

*If you really have nothing nice to say, you can opt for a sarcastic or snide remark. (I know I'm full of them!) For the reading pleasure of others, though, please make an effort to compose your hateful tripe in such a clever way as to make it enjoyable for the rest of us. :)

First Grade

2008-08-18T10:49:00.004-06:00

Hannah was so excited to start school today! Here she is at her new desk, working on a little coloring task that was given to all the kids, to keep them busy while everyone got settled.

I can't wait to hear all about it when we get home tonight!!! :)

News flash!!!

2008-08-14T16:01:00.005-06:00

I have the smartest kid ever. Just in case you didn't know...

Held hostage by Gramma & Grampa

2008-08-11T00:48:00.007-06:00

The perils of procrastination... This post was intended for explaining Hannah's first weekend home, but is being posted now - a week later... Alas. So here's the belated post:

Well, we would have posted sooner, but Mom and Dad decided that Hannah and I should stay the night and come to church with them on Sunday... Had I known, I could have brought my computer and some church clothes. Instead, I got to buy a new skirt and wish I'd thought to pick up a toothbrush while I was out...

So here's the rundown of what we did with G&G:

Friends of Mom and Dad (the Carpenters, but not the circa-1970's singers) have 2 sons leaving on missions this month, so they had a joint, albeit unofficial farewell for the boys. We met at the park after church for a potluck picnic:

We are a classy bunch, aren't we?

Robin's future husband Brant (no idea on the spelling) is the handsome blonde behind her:

Mom is the queen of facilitating photo-ops, to nurture our stalking instincts.

Hannah enjoyed the opportunity to play in the sunshine:

Thank you, Mommy, for dressing me well and brushing my hair!

And to top the weekend off, we spent some time at the hangar - admiring the latest advances on Mom and Dad's pet project, The Plane (AKA - nothing can break up this marriage and we're willing to prove it!).

Hannah and Grandma by the plane. Imagine this with the propeller and a cover over the engine!

A proud Papa with his growing and expensive baby...

Pretty instrument panel!

A partial view of the spaghetti bowl that makes the instruments run.

Except Dad says he's only done wiring half of it... Egad! Good thing he's pretty smart!

Excitement abounded...

But eventually we had to head back to (pretend it's Opposite Day) Happy Valley.

So there you have it... Hijacked - Napped (important part, despite not being mentioned before) - Picnicked - Ogled (vicariously) - Admired (the plane) - Returned to Provo... A full weekend, to be sure!

Welcome Home, Bug!!!

2008-08-11T00:27:00.005-06:00

Traveling hair...

So Hannah's flight came in early yesterday, which meant that she was off the plane and walking to the gate counter just as I was. She ran up and attacked me with a hug before I could even get the attention of the attendant at the counter. She "missed me too much" and was so happy to be home!!! We spent lots of time talking about her tooth she lost and all the places she went to visit. She especially liked all of the "best hotels ever!" that she stayed at along the road. Motel 6 was her favorite, but she stayed at Super 8 Motels sometimes, too. I was super jealous!

YAY!!! I'm back home with Mommy!!!

Lots of hugs and kisses!!!

And Grandma got to come to the airport, too!
Hannah's looking tan and gorgeous after her summer trip...

Last full day with Daddy!

2008-08-08T14:20:00.003-06:00

As I mentioned before (I think), Hannah's gotten to go on the road with her dad while she's been visiting. One of the perks of these trips has been learning how to swim again. She used to be pretty good, when Katrina was her regular sitter (we miss you Hales!!!), but we haven't been to the pool much since moving to Utard, so any previous knowledge has been lost.

I made a point to talk to Chris about it before Hannah got there, to let him know that she'd really like to learn how to swim again. So Chris made it a point, in their travels, to find hotels that had pools. So, every day, Hannah got to look forward to "swummin' with Dad" when they got done driving.

As this is their last full day together, I suppose it's only fitting that I would get this video from Chris:

Yay, Punkin!!!! Good job!
(And thank you, Chris!)

I can't wait to kiss her face off tomorrow!!!

Excavating! (Skip this if you don't like icky stuff...)

2008-08-08T09:45:00.006-06:00

My doctor has been excavating recently... Ridding my body of two evil, precancerous moles - one under my arm and one next to my belly button. The one under my arm was cut off and cauterized, which sounded a lot like a soldering iron and smelled worse. He apologized for the smell, saying, "That's what it smells like when you stay in a burning building for just a little too long..." I told him that I didn't really care for the smell of burnt flesh - especially my own! And then, the one on my belly needed to be cut out, which left me with 4 stitches.

Any chance they could issue ear plugs when they're going to start snipping away at your skin? Just a suggestion...

Aside from some irritation from the sutures and bandages, the one on my belly did just fine, and is now healing pretty well. Mostly, it itches, which is probably a good thing.

The burnt-off site under my arm, though, got infected. I even managed to elicit a startled "Augh!" (coupled with a step backward) from a couple of nurses before explaining that it was mostly antibiotic cream under the bandage, so I was appropriately proud of myself... After getting a prescription for a better antibiotic cream (Silvadene), it's doing a lot better. It's oozing less now, which is good. I'm even leaving it uncovered at night just like the nurse told me to, even though it hurts when anything touches it... like my arm or my blanket or the soap and water in the shower... They said to watch it through the weekend and then come back if it's not doing better. So long as it stops hurting soon, I'll be just fine.

And, just like a good blogger, I am including super close-up photographic evidence:

The one on my belly... my skin REALLY didn't like the sutures and all the Band-aids!

The icky one under my arm. See - more redness on the sides, from all the hateful bandages.

I have to change them 3 times a day, so the skin gets ripped off regularly.
PS - Bandage peels are the latest rage in spa treatments. Coming soon, to a spa near you!

Ok - I'm done whining about it now. Sorry about the gross, and kinda blurry, pictures.

On the positive side, Hannah comes home tomorrow!!! YAAAYYYYYY!!!!! :) :) :) :)

Long time, no see!!!

2008-08-06T14:27:00.003-06:00

YAY!!!! I am happy to report that Hannah will be home on Saturday! She's driving to Denver with her dad over the next couple days, and then she'll fly from Denver to SLC on Southwest flight #689, arriving at 1:25. YAY!!!

Oh- and here's the latest pic. Apparently Chris and the kids made up a new way of playing kickball, with a slip 'n slide between the bases:

Hannah, running to slip-n-slide into base, after a MIGHTY kick!

I'm glad she's been having fun! And even Chris gets worn out by her bottomless energy... I feel so validated!!!

Done

2008-08-06T14:20:00.005-06:00

So, I suppose that I should report that YES I finished Breaking Dawn already... I finished it on Saturday so that I wouldn't have to stab someone for talking about it before I'd read it. I just wanted to give you the all-clear... It's safe to talk to me about the book. (But you may not want to post anything here, as I have no idea if everyone else is done... and I'd hate to have to let someone beat you for giving spoilers!)

(And yes, I was satisfied with the ending to the saga.)

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!

2008-07-30T15:24:00.009-06:00

One little blip on my schedule today was to stop by Hannah's elementary school sometime between 1 and 4 pm, to pick up her school schedule. More of a "piece of paper with her new teacher's name on it" than a "schedule," per se, but whatever...

So Amy and I headed over there during a later-than-usual lunch, expecting to just stop by and pick up the new information. I had no reason to expect otherwise, as there was no additional information provided in the packet that arrived a week or so ago. Alas - my expectations were laughable, at best. I'll confess that laughing was not the reaction that I went with. My reaction was a bit more colorful, and a bit less kid-friendly.

So here's what we walked into:

Well, in the absence of my camera, this is as close as I can get to showing you the absolute MAYHEM that was taking place inside the school gym... Mind you, we're on our lunch hour, and it takes at least 15 minutes each way to get back to Hannah's school, and we'd already stopped by the house to look for my badge. (That's a whole other story, and another $25 out the window... argh!) AND - we still hadn't picked up any food yet...

Keep in mind that every other parent brought their entire herd of hellions to the school with them, and have now released them into the wild - letting them run around like packs of wild animals around the gym. And half of these families cannot speak English, despite the geographic location of the school residing within the United States. Another point of frustration for me.

So I got in line. It took almost 10 minutes to get to the head of this line, which I discovered was only the first of many, and was just to pick up some registration forms, to register Hannah for a school that she already attended last year. They made the mistake of asking me how I was doing. I told them they probably didn't want to know. They made a secondary mistake of inquiring further. I informed them that this was perhaps the least efficient setup I had ever witnessed and that I was highly irritated. One lady made a tertiary mistake of saying, "Well if you have any better ideas, I'd love to hear it." (be sure to use a really condescending voice when saying this.) So I proceeded to whip out, "Well, you could have sent out all of these forms in the packet that you sent us a week ago, so that we could have had them filled out before we got here." To which she responded, "Well do you know how expensive that would be? It already cost us $60 to send out the original packets..." Then what are we "donating" $15 per kid for???

So I snatched my English version of the paperwork and proceeded to fill it out - fuming and muttering unpleasantries all the while. Amy and I proceeded through SEVEN other lines of ridiculousness... Including the mandatory "donation" line where I wanted to slap the lady but couldn't because she's my RS Pres, the lunch signup line, the nurse line (she was one of my favorite people, because she didn't make me fill out another unnecessary form), the after-school programs line (he was my other favorite because he gave me information to take home and look over without having to fill out or turn anything in today), the emergency contacts line, the OTHER emergency contacts line, the line where I finally got the ONE paper I thought I was coming to get, and the PTA line where I paid my $4 that our school apparently never sees. Awesome.

Upon completion, we tried to exit the gym, which did not have another exit, so we had to force our way through the new sea of people waiting to begin the inefficient and poorly executed atrocity they called "registration." I finally moved some wandering and seemingly parent-less child out of the way by her head, because she couldn't understand my semi-friendly warning (in English) to move out of the way... By the time we finally made it down the ramp and back into the unidirectional parking lot, I was so frustrated that I could have punched someone right in the mouth.

After getting in the car, Amy looks over and says, "I don't want to be rude, but... you live in a really lame area. I was looking around at some of those people and... there were some crazies!" To which I responded heartily, "I know!!! It's like a bunch of carnies... with kids!" And they are reproducing with wild abandon!

Did I mention that I have developed a loathing abhorrence for Provo?!?!?!

My only hope is that Hannah will get accepted into the charter school that I fell in love with...

If I had a million dollars...

2008-07-28T13:13:00.005-06:00

I'll admit that I contemplate this scenario far more often than is necessary and/or helpful, but it's so fun to imagine! So here's some of the things that I would do if I had $1,000,000 (after taxes, obviously!):

1. Pay off all my debt
2. Put at least $100,000 in savings (or investments) - to go toward Hannah's future college expenses.
3. Buy a house. Preferably in California. Maybe along the coast. Mmmm....
4. Buy a new car. I'd ask for Mark's advice before purchasing anything, of course, so that I'd make a good and informed choice. How else would I know what to buy if money weren't a big issue? (PS - Mark, I want a mid-size SUV type, preferably a hybrid or otherwise fuel-efficient vehicle. And curvy, not boxy - like a Nissan Murano or a Lexus RX330. And yes, I like Soob's!)
5. Get my teeth done. My top teeth moved back to crooked after my braces came off, but I had too much root resorption on my 4 front teeth, so I can never have braces again. My dentist said that my best bet is to get veneers, which can get a little pricey. But if I had a million bucks, then I could afford it, huh? And some whitening while I'm at it... Soda doesn't help with maintaining pearly whites, but it is delicious!
6. TRAVEL!!!!! I have an extensive list of places that I want to visit, so I'd have to carefully determine a list of Top 5 places and then plan a nice, long trip. I'm thinking Australia, England, Ireland and/or Scotland (to bag a man with a brogue), and maybe the Caribbean.
7. I'd buy some nice furniture and decorations for my new house. Maybe some Pier 1-esque goods. I love that stuff.
8. I'd build a glass workshop in my house, with a kiln, so that I can get back to doing creative things. I really like the dual-garage option (like Wayne and Stacy's house), so that I could just convert the 2nd garage into a workshop. I'd have to get a nice stereo setup in the house and workshop, though... I mean, who doesn't work better to some groovy tunes?!

And no, I wouldn't quit working. I mean, a million bucks doesn't go as far as it used to, so I'd really just make sure that the basics were taken care of and I didn't have all the stress of a mortgage and car payments, etc. And then I'd sock the rest away, so that it could start earning interest and building on itself. It's a good plan, if I do say so myself. Now if I could just find a million dollars...

I do realize that this is just wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be awesome?! :)

So what would YOU do with a million bucks???

Hannah-Bug

2008-07-25T12:39:00.004-06:00

I know several of you want to know how Hannah is doing, and she's doing well. She really enjoyed the first week, while she was on the road with her dad. He had to deliver cargo in Long Beach, CA and Denver, CO so he and Hannah just took a nice road trip. She'd call me to report which states she was going through - Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona... It was so cute! Plus, she sounds really grown up on the phone. It's weird to be the one on the other end of the line...

Things got a little more "iffy" for Hannah since being back with the rest of the family. She's called me several times, wanting to come home. But she only calls when she's not getting one-on-one attention from her dad. And since his girlfriend, Lesa, just had their baby, his attention has definitely been diverted. Little Alyssa was born on Tuesday the 22nd, I think. Baby and Mom are doing well and got to come home yesterday, so that is good. Unfortunately, that left Hannah feeling somewhat less important, which resulted in a tearful call to Mom. She said she felt "like a little drop of ink... smaller than a little spot." I was sad for her, but really proud of her visually-descriptive comparison. Now that's my girl!!!

She said that she's been really sad that no one cares about her, and then she started feeling angry, and now she "has to work on her anger issues." I asked her what she thought would help and she said, "I don't know. That's why I called you - because you'd know what to do."

Did I mention that Hannah is 6???

We ended up deciding that she should go tell her dad that she's feeling ignored, and ask to sit by him while he plays his video game. And maybe even take a little nap while Daddy plays his game. She seemed appeased, and I'm sure she perked up after the phone call.

And don't worry - I assure her every time that she makes these calls, that I'm ready for her to come home whenever she's ready. And I remind her that I love her and miss her!

I don't have many pics of her trip yet, but here are a few that Chris texted to me:

Doesn't even look like Hannah...

Hannah at the lake

A video of Hannah playing in the pool, with her brothers.
Chris said not to worry - she was having fun!